#no one knows the characters better than the writers/showrunner

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

why are people so against oliver and ryan talking about buddie, don't we want this, don't we want buddie to be canon? i'm sorry are we rooting for buck to end up with tommy or something, like I don't understand why so many people are saying stop asking them about buddie?

If we want Buddie then shouldn't we be asking buddie questions? I mean I'm so sorry but I'm just very confused, shouldn't we be happy that buddie is getting this much press and love? Why are we against it?

Okay, this is going to be a long one.

There are a few reasons why people are concerned about publications teasing Buddie happening and using the ship name and asking Oliver and Ryan about the ship. I'll try to be as concise as possible.

I would like to note, I'm not going to answer a bunch of questions about this. Other people have answered similar questions plenty of times, if you take a bit to look around 911blr. I'm sure @catdadeddie has gone into this a few times.

However, I understand that we are getting a lot of new fans this season, and so I want to try and explain comprehensively for those who haven't been around. I hope this covers everything.

Whenever a ship is between two people of the same gender as opposed to two people of the opposite gender (I know, I know, but we can't get into the gender spectrum right now just play along with me), everyone involved has to be very, very careful when it comes to talking about that ship ahead of said ship going canon.

It is very easy to slip into something called "queerbaiting." I'm assuming that you and most people online and in fandom by now have heard of this term but just in case: queerbaiting is when a show acts like a queer ship might happen in marketing and promotion in order to draw in a queer audience.

Historically, this was done by having a main character played by a woman have a romantic thing with another woman (flirting, even kissing!) who was a guest star, hinting at the main character's bisexuality/queerness, only for that guest star to never come back and for the show to act like it had never happened. This was done during something called, IIRC, "sweeps week" which was basically an important week for TV viewer ratings in the 90s. It was a way to boost your numbers by drawing in queer viewers with the promise of actual queer rep that then wasn't realized. It's a marketing tactic.

Nowadays the nature of queerbaiting has changed a bit. It's an overused term that frankly people love to (mis)use whenever a ship of theirs doesn't go canon and a show dares to do things like having two people (like say Ryan and Oliver) who play the two halves of the ship do an interview together (whether you ship Buddie or not, they are close friends, and it makes sense that they'd do a few interviews together - that is not queerbaiting). A good example of real queerbaiting is Rizzoli & Isles which, among other things, took out billboards and magazine spreads showing the characters (two women) in suggestively sexual and romantic positions and with slogans hinting that the two had more than just friendship together, then never, ever delivered on it and in fact laughed at the idea of the characters being gay for each other.

(I WAS THERE, GANDALF!!!)

Because of this unfortunate treatment of queer audiences and the (historic) dearth of actual queer characters and queer ships going canon (it's getting better but still), networks, showrunners, and so on have to be very careful when, say, they want to make a queer ship canon.

Look at how ABC handled Chenford, a popular ship in their show The Rookie. Chenford was not a planned ship - the fans adored the chemistry between the two characters (Lucy Chen and Tim Bradford), the writers liked the idea and decided to lean into it, ABC gave the go-ahead, and the ship officially got together and went canon last season. ABC heavily promoted Chenford and the ship and made a lot of jokes about it in the last couple of seasons leading into the ship going canon, using the ship heavily in their marketing.

ABC cannot necessarily do that with Buddie, because even if Buddie is going canon, until that happens, they could get accused of queerbaiting. There's a much bigger minefield to navigate because of this historic misuse of queer audiences and queer characters.

So whenever journalists and publications use a popular non-canonical queer ship name for clicks and fandom interest, if that ship doesn't immediately go canon or if the network/showrunner/etc doesn't say "yeah they're totally gonna kiss! with tongue!" people accuse the show of queerbaiting. This is unfair to the show for two reasons: one, the network is not going to bother sending "shut the fuck up" letters to every single damn publication out there for using a ship name in their headline and talking about a ship - they'll be accused of homophobia and it draws even MORE attention to the issue re: the Barbra Streisand effect (look it up); and two, the people involved in the show are NOT going to spoil the anticipation and surprise by admitting ANY ship is going to go canon before it does.

This is simple marketing - the movie trailer doesn't (or shouldn't, anyway) show you the ending of the movie or everything that happens in it. TV shows want you to tune in every week and speculate and guess. They're not gonna spoil a ship ahead of time.

This means that when journalists and articles pull this shit, they're putting the showrunner, the writers, the actors doing interviews, and the network in a bad situation that they can't really do anything about. Not without causing more mess.

So that's reason number one why a lot of us are annoyed: by yelling about Buddie, these articles and journalists are setting the cast and crew we love up to get yelled at for queerbaiting if Buddie doesn't immediately happen, and there's nothing the cast and crew can do about it, and it's all so the journalists and articles can use us, the fandom, for clicks. So we're also kinda getting used here, and it doesn't feel great.

The second reason we're annoyed about Buddie questions is that it's being asked of the actors who, nine times out of ten, have ZERO CONTROL OVER THE STORYLINES.

Now, there are exceptions. Jennifer Love Hewitt, who plays Maddie, has pushed back on a couple storylines that were given to her and has therefore had a strong hand in shaping Maddie's character. One infamous (in a positive way) example is that Maddie and Eddie were supposed to be an endgame couple. JLH, however, immediately loved the character of Chimney and clicked with Chim's actor Kenneth Choi, so she asked if Maddie could get with Chim instead, feeling he'd be a better fit for her character. And lo, both the beautiful ship Madney and the insanity that is Buddie shipping was born because Buck ended up stepping into that co-parenting-Chris role that Maddie obviously would've originally filled.

However, it should be noted that JLH was an established star before coming onto 9-1-1, and her husband is friends with Tim the showrunner. I would argue that the only other two actors who have any power on their storylines are Peter and Angela, the latter because she can do whatever she wants forever, and the former because (like Angela) he is an executive producer on the show.

It's not that actors never ever get to have a say ever, but the writers, showrunner, and network have much more power. They create the storylines, they make the decisions. Not actors. So when the actors are repeatedly asked about a ship, they're put in an awkward position where they might not even know the full storyline for their character that season and now they need to answer in a way that doesn't reveal any information they do know, but also doesn't insult shippers or dash their hopes. This is a double minefield for queer ships because, again: historic insults to queer fans and characters, nobody wants to be offensive.

The third reason is that this fandom has, historically, treated Tim, Oliver, and others like absolute dogshit over Buddie not going canon. Oliver's left Twitter and taken big social media breaks because of how he was yelled at online. It's not cool, guys. Vent all you want but directing it at the cast and crew isn't okay and maybe if it was just you talking sternly that would be fine (maybe) but when it's dozens of people? It's bullying. Full stop.

Every single time Buddie has not gone canon instantly, the actors and others have gotten verbally abused on social media. Every time the actors have been asked about Buddie and not said "ohmygod yes I want it to happen so bad" (they are not allowed to say this because it might create false hope because again: historical queerbaiting) they've gotten yelled at. We are tired of the actors getting yelled at over something over which they have no control.

The fourth reason is that Oliver, especially, has gotten asked about Buddie a LOT. A lot. The poor man is very tired. He's been cornered about Buddie and asked about it aggressively by certain journalists (one journalist, Max Gao, actually tried to corner Gavin who plays Chris over Buddie - this was a few years ago so Gavin was even younger than he is now and I personally think that is an incredibly unfairly loaded question to give to a child).

If I may dive into speculation for a moment, given how the actors have been SO gleeful about the move to ABC, the fact that they've admitted ABC is letting them do storylines and little moments that FOX wouldn't, and a few other things I won't get into here because this damn thing is long enough already... I suspect FOX would not let Buddie happen. If this is the case, then actors being asked about Buddie is even more loaded because they are being asked questions about it and they can't say "yeah we want to but the network won't let us." THEY WILL GET FIRED FOR THIS.

But, whether or not my speculation is true, the fact remains that when you are repeatedly, over and over, aggressively asked if this fan ship is going to happen or not, you get tired. There's only so many times that someone can give a diplomatic answer before you just want to snap "stop fucking asking me!" Journalists love to take advantage of fandom and social media chatter to get attention for their articles so asking over and over again about Buddie isn't because they genuinely care or think it'll happen, it's to get shippers reading their article, and so bombarding the actors and writers with this question when they've already kinda said their peace a lot about it is frustrating. Just! Leave them alone!

And AGAIN: if this was a M/F ship there could maybe be room for teasing the will-they-won't-they but because of historically bad treatment of queer characters and fans, THEY CANNOT DO THAT. So the only option open to them is to KEEP THEIR MOUTHS SHUT. And keeping one's mouth shut and threading that diplomatic needle for years is EXHAUSTING.

We do want Buddie to be canon, nonny, and in my opinion we are going to get it. All this recent PR supports that, (again: in my opinion).

However, we have seen Oliver get bombarded with what he thinks about Buddie until the cows come home, and he deserves a break. There's nothing new he can say, there's nothing new he's allowed to say. We have seen other parts of the fandom scream that we're being queerbaited because Buddie didn't instantly go canon, without any consideration for the fact that a) queerbaiting is a marketing tactic and b) there might be other factors at play preventing it going canon. We have seen journalists take advantage of us, the shippers, in order to get attention, and we have seen them create an awkward and embarrassing atmosphere in interviews by repeatedly asking about the ship. We have seen shippers make us look bad by hounding the cast and crew on social media about Buddie, treating every woman actress who plays a Buck/Eddie love interest like shit (yes, I know about Edy, but she could be a saint and parts of the fandom would still go onto Instagram to call her names), and generally being absolute pills that would tempt any showrunner, actor, or writer to say "y'know what fuck 'em let's not make Buddie canon I'm not rewarding this shitty behavior."

"If we want Buddie then shouldn't we be asking Buddie questions?" No. Not like journalists and fans have been. It's something to bring up - in my opinion - sparingly and with an awareness of how queer storylines and ships and fandom have been mocked, ignored, baited, and so on over the years. They don't ask about Buddie because they give a shit. They ask because they want our clicks for their ad revenue and they want our retweets and likes and comments. And it's certainly not something to bombard the actors with on social media and bitch at them if it doesn't happen. It just makes the rest of fandom look bad and makes us look like children.

Additionally: These are not new questions! They're not only asking these questions now that it looks like Buddie will go canon, with serious hope and consideration based on the marketing and storylines. They've been asking this since season fucking two, when Buddie was clearly not planned, just to get fangirl (gn) clicks. They wanted to get attention and teehee over how Oliver/Ryan/whoever reacted to people thinking Buck and Eddie should touch dicks. 'Kay?

We know the pattern. So when every piece of media is screaming BUDDIE!!! we are not seeing it as "OMG could we go canon?" We see it as another round of being taken advantage of for article attention, another round of parts of the fandom being bullies and yelling about being baited, and another round of the actors being backed into uncomfortable corners.

That's why we're concerned, worried, and annoyed.

*collapses* I hope this covered everything and explained it all.

[jake-and-amy-are-married]

Actually, you know what? We don’t talk about this enough—we don’t talk about the fact that sometimes actors DO know their characters better than the writers and showrunners. They’ve been inhabiting these characters for so long that they KNOW what feels true to the story. And sometimes, the best thing you can do as a writer or showrunner is just LISTEN.

Krista absolutely RUINED Japril—RUINED it—with no real cause, no backup, nothing. She made Jackson run amok with no true storyline whatsoever. And then she dropped Sarah under the guise of "keeping the storylines fresh." Meanwhile, she had the perfect opportunity to write something so much better—something meaningful. She could have explored the pain and healing of grief as a primary conflict. She could have shown how people CAN reconnect with their one, true love through communication and the joy of building a new life together.

Instead, we got a messy, unresolved ending. Because apparently, the only thing Krista knew how to write was strange love triangles—not conflict WITHIN characters or “us vs. the problem” storylines.

And then what happened? Fans got SO angry that we basically staged a coup. We were ENRAGED. Jesse left after four more years of meandering, pointless storylines. And when they finally realized their mistake, they brought Sarah back to “fix it.” Now people are clamoring for a Japril spinoff, which could have been built so organically if they had just handled it right the first time.

This is a post about BuckTommy.

[livelaughlesbian00]

@toaverse made a great point that now that the writers and animators are speaking out, it's clear the Arcane team did not collectively agree on key parts of their storytelling, such as the dynamic of JayVik, and it actively harmed their storytelling further.

With the confirmation that Christian didn't see JayVik as romantic, but the animators said they specifically animated certain JayVik scenes to be romantically intimate, it made one of my thoughts clearer.

I'd argue that most of the praises people have about the series are because of the animators and despite the writing. But some fans are conflating the two.

Writers tend not to be heavily involved in the animation process unless they have multiple roles in a production process that would require them to be present for the long, large team process that is animation. Sure, showrunners and producer positions (also sometimes the writers) will likely check in on progress, writers might provide early rewrites (but idk how often that happens in animation & how the writers strike impacted writing this season), provide insights to the team, or give feedback at most. But they aren't overseeing every detail in a way that the animation team does. An animation team of many people ultimately has a vision to stick to, every tiny detail to consider, and a lot of work to do in limited time. People are right to say literally everything is intentional in animation.

Writers do block out some of the exchanges characters should have on screen, but in animation, you can tailor those blocking and interpretation details even better than you can in live action movies and TV.

All those tiny details, looks, body language of characters between spoken dialogue? Because of the animators.

All those Easter Eggs in the background? Because of the animators.

The blink and you miss it details that people only pick up for 3 frames and dissect like it's the Bible? Because of the animators.

The lingering glances and touches demonstrating the nature of characters' relationships? Because of the animators.

I hated the writing leading into that sex scene, found it to be very wattpad-y, and the timing for CaitVi intimacy at that point of the plot made no sense. BUT the choreography and animation for a lesbian make out scene seemed respectful, accurate, and not exploitative. That's because of the animators.

The character design details, even down to Vi still wearing the enforcer belt during her emo phase or Ekko and Jinx having matching paint designs in the Act 3 final battle? Because of the animators.

Very creative ideas like Jinx and Ekko's 4 frames per second dance in the AU? Because of the animators.

I'm noticing most of what people are praising about this show and having fun dissecting are certainly something the animators/ a design team executed, but we don't know if they were the writers' decisions. Some fans that think season 2 is perfect or amazing are assigning that credit to the writers when it's not certain these small details that they use as proof were the writers' decisions. It's especially uncertain given recent confirmation online that the writers' intentions and animators' executions contradicted each other, resulting in creative interpretation disconnect.

It's clear from the many plot, character, and pacing issues of season 2 that the writing fell flat in multiple areas. Yet as a member of the arcane critical community, I could tell the animators did their absolute best and remained the "attentive to detail" group we knew from season 1. Thank you, animators 💞

[barblaz-arts]

HELLOOO!! Im in LOVE with all your Chaggie (and Wenclair obv-) art!! I was wondering if youd be up to share your thoughts on the other hazbin characters? Simply cuz Im very curious and youve been a favourite content creator of mine for a while whose opinions and takes on different things i value A LOT! So id love to hear your thoughts on the rest of the main cast(and more if youre up to it hahha)!

@phantoswordsman15

The main cast huh

Hmmmmm I dont particularly hate them, but I have some opinions that people might not like and I'm aware there's a lot of uh sensitive people in this fandom, so I never said them unprompted

But since you asked!

Alastor

Let's start with the infamous Alastor. I think he's a very entertaining character! His horde of simps annoy tf outta me when they're being misogynistic and homophobic towards Chaggie and Vaggie, but I quite liked him when I make myself forget certain parts of the fandom. He's funny and conniving and intriguing. The fact that he apparently sold his soul is super interesting to me. I'm on board with the people theorizing that he sold his soul to Lilith. I bet he's cozying up with Charlie so that he can use it to break his contract somehow. Feel like he also used the deal with (presumably) Lilith so that he could be strong enough to be the overlord he became.

With that being said, I'm really surprised with the direction they took with him. You'd think that with him being a favorite of the showrunner and the fandom, he would probably be portrayed as the coolest mf in hell. But I really like that it isn't really the case within the show. Certain denizens dont even know him and older overlords like Zestial seems to scare him and Carmilla just dgaf about him. Hell, Alastor's loss to Adam was a lil embarrassing ngl. Like. I know he's one of the oldest human souls and that's why he's powerful but... It's Adam.

Something about him that I noticed is that he seems to be more bark than bite. In particular in his duet with Lucifer, initially Lucifer had the upper hand because he's objectively more powerful, humiliating Alastor with his angel magic, but what Alastor used to his advantage was his words and charisma, as can be expected of a radio host. He's always taunting his enemies, but does it actually make him stronger than them? He "won" that duet with Vox but Valentino said Alastor only"almost beat" him when they had an actual fight. He ruffled Lucifer's feathers but at the end of the day Lucifer is still leagues more powerful than him. He talked big when he was fighting Adam but he almost died and had a breakdown over it.

He's really a lot less "cool" than I expected the show would have him be portrayed as. Kinda pathetic honestly, how he's so insecure and angry whenever he isn't the strongest guy in the room. And i actually really like that! He reminds me a lot of Rumplestilstkin from Once Upon a Time.

Something I kinda hesitate to say tho is... I dont want him redeemed. I dont want him to actually care about the hotel crew and change his ways. I like him as the fucked up man he is and really want to see how fucked up he can be, just so that if he ends up being the huge antagonist, his downfall would be all the more satisfying. Like yunno that moment when Light/Kira was finally defeated? I wanna feel that again.

Angel Dust

I love him! We found his dialogue a lil annoying at first in ep 1 but the writers did a lot better in ep 2. He's a neat guy. His character gives interesting implications for me as to what makes a person a sinner in this show. While you have people like Alastor who obviously ended up where they did because a cannibal murderer, I get the feeling Angel ended up in hell because he was abusing his own body, which is a sad thing to think. If I remember right from my own catholic upbringing, abusing the body is considered a sin because your body is a temple. To think that Angel could be in hell for poisoning himself, not for harming others, is just sad man. I look forward to seeing more of his journey.

I'm not touching on how his SA was tackled btw. While I'm a victim of sexual assault myself, what i experienced was far from what Angel does on a REGULAR basis,so I don't feel like i have any personal or professional right to say anything about it. Not every victim's case is universal anyways. All I can say is, his line about purposefully damaging himself so he could be broken enough to no longer be Valentino's "favorite toy" hit me harder than I ever expected this show to.

Husk

Confession: I... I dont feel all that attached to Husk at all, I am so sorry Husk stans 😭

Okok that feels so mean to say I'm so sorry. I actually hesitated to say anything because I dont want to hurt people's feelings. But since you guys are asking and I dont like not being genuine, I'm telling the truth.

A lot of my feelings about Husk is heavily affected by the fandom anyways to be perfectly fair. Why? Because a lot of criticisms against Vaggie is easily applicable to Husk, maybe even more so, and yet I dont see even the same level of hate towards him that Vaggie received because his chemistry with Angel is so much better than Chaggie... Apparently...

I just dont see Husk as a character outside of being a plot device for Angel's development yunno? I get it, he isn't a main character like the main 4 are(Charlie, Vaggie, Alastor, and Angel), i just find it hard to well and truly like him because of the fandom's double standards. When we found out someone was gonna die in the finale, my brother and I actually thought it was gonna be him because he doesn't have a big enough role to play in the plot to be a HUGE loss, but has a significant enough connection to a main character to have an EFFECT. He very much just felt like the love interest for Angel and nothing else. Which isnt necessarily a bad thing, but is frustrating when i see sooo many people label Vaggie as such(when she isnt!) and hate her SO MUCH for it.

I wanna see more of him tho I really do. Like the man used to be an overlord. He said he wanted to find someone who could relate to "the gruesome ways in which he's damaged" but what does that even mean? Yes i know about the castration but aside from that what suffering is Alastor putting him thru when all he has to do is be a bartender rn? There must be more and I wanna see it and finally feel for him.

Nifty

I love her a lot. That's it. The character ever. Her gremlin energy reminded me so much of Peridot, it's great. Kimiko Glenn did a fantastic job as the comic relief character and I hope she gets her own song next season. Her basically being everyone's little sister was kinda adorable even tho she's probably the scariest person in that hotel next to Alastor. I hope she gets to stab Valentino next. Just kill that MOTHerfucker

[brigdh]

Okay. My thoughts on the Our Flag Means Death finale. Obviously I'm not very happy with the ending, though I'm also not as upset as some people are. I would say I'm discontent. Unsatisfied. Too aware of how it could have been improved, and a bit bitter that we didn't get a better version, but I also don't hate what we did get.

I know a lot of meta has attributed the problems to a shorter season, and absolutely I would have loved to get 10 episodes instead. I would have loved 22 episodes! Why don't we do that anymore? But I don't think the 8 episode length was the ultimate problem. A) The showrunner and writers knew they had only 8 episodes, so they needed to choose a story that fit into that length, but even more importantly, B) my problem is not that they had too much story for too little time, but actually that they had plenty of time and chose to fill it with too little story.

As I've sat with it over the last few days and thought more about the season's arc, it feels to me like we got eight episodes of filler. Filler episodes can be great! Filler episodes can have some of the funniest lines, the greatest scenes, the most intriguing ideas. But filler episodes do not progress character arcs or major themes, and that's exactly the problem this season had.

The only characters who got arcs this season are Izzy, and to a lesser and more rushed extent, Lucius. Which sure is a choice.

Ed and Stede and their relationship did not meaningfully change from S1. (Okay, yes, they had sex, they said I Love You – but these are external changes, not internal. They don't represent character growth. Stede realized he loved Ed and was telling everyone back in 1x10. Ed clearly would have slept with him in S1 if they'd had a little more time.) Ed and Stede in 2x08 are not different from who they are in 2x01. If Ed had asked Stede to be innkeepers in 2x01, does anyone think Stede wouldn't have immediately agreed? One of the big moments in 2x08 is Ed reading a letter that Stede wrote in 2x01! Stede's exact words from the very beginning of the season! What better way to underline that none of the subsequent seven episodes had important growth or changes?

Another one of 2x08's big shippy moments is Ed and Stede running to each other across a beach – deliberately paralleling the dream Stede had in 2x01. What are we supposed to take from this parallel? My original thought was that we're supposed to see how different the real version is from the dream, but there's honestly not many differences. Neither one has a beard, now? The dream mocked how Stede knew they needed to have a conversation about their relationship that he wanted to avoid, but they don't have a conversation in the "real" version either. They exchange about two sentences (which includes Ed's I Love You, yes, which is a big deal but still isn't a conversation) and then they charge right back into the fight, without discussing anything like Ed abruptly dumping Stede to go be a fisherman, Stede killing Ned Low when Ed asked him not to, their differences of opinion on being pirates, if having sex was a mistake or if that's only a thing Ed said because he was panicking, etc etc. They have just as many issues to address as they did in the dream, but just like the dream they act like everything is magically okay without talking about it!

So I think we're meant to take the beach-run parallels as "here's what Stede's been wanting, and after waiting for so long he finally gets it". Which is fine, a very sweet take-away for a finale. But it underlines what I'm saying is the problem of the season: Stede has just been waiting for eight episodes for his dream to come true. Not changing. Not growing. Not doing anything to bring the dream about, other than trying to get himself and Ed into the same physical location. Just... waiting.

This is an extra surprising development, because the show was really good at giving Ed and Stede character arcs in S1! Ed and Stede in 1x10 are significantly different than they were in their first introductions. Also, just to preempt some criticism, by 'progressing' I do not mean 'wrap up literally every loose end and make a firm final ending' – S1's finale is an excellent example of both moving the characters forward and leaving a ton of room for future stories. I wasn't expecting for 2x08 to show us a Stede and Ed who were perfectly on the same page and would never again have a problem. I was expecting them to be somewhat different than they were in 2x01, and I just don't see that.

Instead of arcs, we got little pieces of single-episode growth here and there that never added up to an overall whole. The season brought up a ton of potential arcs for Ed – violence, piracy, guilt, suicide, daddy issues, self-loathing, apologies, redemption, his tendency to idealize escaping into a different life – but didn't do anything with any of these options. Stede had nothing resembling a season arc at all.

Stede works to improve as a captain! Stede kills someone and has regrets! Stede confronts Ed's dark side! <- All potential arcs, but none of which lasted for more than an episode or had consequences. We don't even know what the ending means for Stede: does he want to be an innkeeper because he failed as a pirate in 2x07? Because piracy was always just a displaced search for love, and now that he has love, he doesn't need piracy? What does the crew of the Revenge leaving mean to him? Stede's understanding of their new arrangement literally happens off-screen and we're left to fumble at guesses for its significance to him as an individual.

Ed and Stede's last big conversation in the season is their break-up fight in 2x07, which is a shocking way to send off your main couple in a rom-com. Yes, there's the I Love You on the beach (again: two sentences) and the brief 'let's try to be innkeepers' conversation at the very end, but that's it for them in 2x08, except for their inclusion in some brief large group conversations about their fighting skills and the plan for escaping the British. How can you end your rom-com with the main couple exchanging only a paragraph's worth of dialogue in the finale? None of the stuff was brought up in the fishing fight in 2x07 is ever addressed at all!

Again, I don't think this is solely a matter of time crunch. Instead of using the eight episodes to progress the two main characters, we got a bunch of filler episodes that used the time in amusing side tangents instead of forward progress. I don't think that's the inevitable result of having to work with eight episodes.

Look, I can come up with a better Ed/Stede relationship arc without needing more episodes, and despite only thinking about this for a couple days and not having an entire writing room to work with:

(Note: this only addresses the Ed/Stede relationship. It doesn't fix Stede completely lacking an independent character arc and Ed having about ten thousand of them, none of which went anywhere.)

In 2x05 to 2x07, I would make Ed's motivations in their relationship very clearly that he's pushing Stede away so he doesn't get hurt again. Basically play up Ed's comment about "I was all in" in 2x04, and make him determined not to get 'all in' this time around. This aligns the "let's take it slow" conversation in 2x05, the "sex was a mistake" in 2x06, and Ed running away to be a fisherman in 2x07 into a single arc. He wants Stede, but he's afraid of what that wanting will do to him. He's trying to find a way to have a relationship without making himself vulnerable. He keeps pushing off commitment and openness.

Then, in 2x08, I'd make it more explicit that Ed thinks/fears Stede is dead when he sees the pirate ships burning. I think it's subtext in the episode as-is, but give him a line or two to make it really clear. Ed and Stede still see each other on the beach, have their dramatic run to each other, and Ed says, "I love you". Now this moment is Ed acknowledging his love, exactly what he's been avoiding for the last three episodes.

Near the end of the episode, Ed and Stede have a conversation where Ed says something like, "I didn't want to get hurt again, I was afraid of the risk of falling in love and you leaving again, but thinking you were dead made me realize that never loving you would be worse" (but better written, ha, this is a tumblr post that's already too long). (Also possibly you could tie in Izzy's death here to underline both Ed and Stede not wanting to lose another person they care about, if we must have that plot point for some reason.) We actually get to see Ed asking Stede to come be innkeepers with him, paralleling asking him to run away to China (and paralleling NOT asking Stede to a fisherman), Stede voices some of his worries (paralleling him keeping them inside in 1x09, but also giving him a chance to explain what piracy and love mean to him and why he'd give up one for the other), but ultimately they agree that they at least want to try.

This both puts them into a much clearer place for a happy ending, has clear growth from S1 and the beginning of this season, but also leaves open a ton of room for S3, because welp, it turns out trying to have a relationship entails all sorts of problems! Especially with these two. It also would make me feel like they'd at least addressed some of the issues between them.

Right now I feel like S3 will have to spend at least the first few episodes running through exactly the same "don't talk – break up – get back together dramatically" arc that Stede and Ed have already done twice but have never discussed and never learned from. I liked it, but I don't need to see it yet again. That will – ironically – feel like yet more wasted time, more episodes that are just churning through beats without moving the characters forward. I wanted them to have new, different fights in S3, but now I don't even feel like they've made enough progress to have a fresh set of problems.

[sytokun]

To anyone thinking or saying Dillon Goo is unworthy of acquiring RWBY, not because of anything realistic like finances or the size of his studio, but because he's "just an animator", or just a rando from the internet who cannot write or run RWBY:

Thanks for perpetuating the piece of shit mindset that every soul-sucking corporation and braindead consumer has: that animators have no value or are just there to push buttons and make pixels move for the real creatives.

Animators are artists and creators. They have to work with numerous departments to make things work: They have to know what the writer/director wants, and tell them if it's even possible to put to screen; they have to work with artists and character designers to tell if they can commit that art into moving parts. And for an animated show, they're kind of... I dunno, the entire backbone of its production.

Anyone stupid enough to claim that, by their logic, should claim that Miles and Kerry were "just writers" and don't have the right nor the intelligence to have any opinions on RWBY's animation, character designs or music. That's how I know you have zero fucking idea how any actual media is produced, because in your head, these positions all just exist as separate little boxes in your brain so it's simple enough for you to grasp.

It was "just an animator" who made RWBY in the first place, dumbass. A "rando" making animations on the internet that Rooster Teeth took a chance on, and now he's responsible for their best-selling IP. By comparison, Dillon is starting at a way better starting position than Monty was, with a successful YouTube channel, public support from multiple current and ex-CRWBY like J Grelle (Tyrian's VA), Kim Newman (former animator who animated Sun's gunchucks in V5) and Jessica Nigri (Cinder's VA), and multiple collaborations with big companies like Hoyoverse.

If anything, I'd expect an animator like Dillon to know and care enough about his staff to not give them near-irreparable spinal damage. Gee, I wonder why Newman would think he'd be a better employer to work with? Dillon would know how an animation project is run and budgeted. Him being an animator is a benefit, for god's sake.

Monty had character design sketches but needed help from professional artists to fully design them. He knew bits of the plot but needed help fleshing it out. Do you have enough brain cells to rub together to know that's precisely what Dillon can do, too? Fuckin', I dunno, hire people? For his studio??

I'd rather have an animator run RWBY because RWBY is an animated series and he would know precisely 1) what complements the medium best and 2) the precise limits of what can or cannot work within his budget. By your ass-backwards logic, I would rather get EC Myers to run RWBY's production over Dillon just because he's a writer and has been employed with RT longer.

That's another moronic argument: "He's only been employed by RT for 1 Volume". Man, I don't care if he's been there for zero Volumes, his work clearly shows a greater understanding of RWBY's aesthetic, mainstream appeal and style than its own showrunners have for the past 7 years. Or is seniority in a defunct company responsible for a steadily unprofitable IP suddenly a positive in this business deal?

I need you to be aware that RWBY as an IP is a joke outside of the bubble of its fandom, and I am telling you bluntly as a fan. Nobody takes it seriously and the ones that do only praise it for either its action choreography or its character designs, one of which is guaranteed with Dillon's studio. Diehard fans may love RWBY, warts and all, but all that love and support clearly wasn't enough to keep it alive, because its reputation was already cemented from its own mismanagement.

What you do is you get the right person for the job. And Dillon ticks a lot of boxes for it. If you think he's unable to acquire RWBY because he's not a big corpo or cannot meet Warner's asking price, that's 100% fair. If you think he's unable to create something on the scale of Volume 9, that's also 100% fair, but only if you're attached to the idea that you'd rather have Volume 10 or more of the same RWBY that was operating at a loss than any RWBY at all. Or if you'd rather see a season of 14 episodes 15 minutes long where 60-70% of it is made up of exposition, talking head scenes and increasingly overambitious world expanding, over shorter episodes with amazing RWBY action sequences with a story that never bites off more than it can chew.

But if you think Dillon is unqualified or worse, unworthy or undeserving (what a weirdo thing to say about a person, like owning RWBY is like inheriting the fucking throne of Gondor), all because he's "just an animator" or because he was smart enough to see RT for the meat-grinder hellhole it was and left to find success on his own, you're full of shit.

And if you disapprove of him because of his association with Shane, go find a restroom because your unsightly hateboner is showing. It's been almost ten years since the letter and you all have been holding this unfettered rage clenched between your buttcheeks longer than Shane's ever been with Rooster Teeth.

And for what? Pointing out Rooster Teeth is a fucked place to work at? Whoops, that was true and now it's six feet under for every scandal and worker abuse case they brought on themselves. For stealing and cannibalising their creators' IPs? Whoops, that's fucking true as well.

[funnyscienceman]

look s2 was ass and i hate ori in a pod and dictator cait shouldve been explored more and so much and so much theres so much wrong with it, the writers were ass, i fucking hate riot, never trust that company for anything ever, AND ALSO jayvik makes me fucking cry man. i was so deadfaced for most of act 3 (aside from bursting into laughter when it got so absurd i felt like i was losing my sanity) but then they started throwing the fucking flashbacks to s1 at you and there was viktor being himself again, happy and funny and him and jayce nerding out over science magic whateverthefuck, and jayce said "all i want is my partner back," and externally i was like slack-jawed, blinking, shocked. like wait really? we're getting a fucking she-ra ending? this couldve been built up to so much better this is coming from fucking nowhere but really?? jayvik is back it's fucking back it's real??!?!??

and it was so overwhelming. internally i couldve been bursting into fucking tears. im still reeling over it more than a week later, like. is this what it felt like when tfgraves finally got to have their thing in pride 2022? people are saying jayce and viktor died in that explosion and maybe, maybe not, but that didn't feel sad to me. i guess it could be, it's impossible for me to take s2 seriously from a storytelling standpoint, but this isn't about that. like. two guys choosing each other over everything and everyone else. the sheer fucking devotion between them that toed the line of text and subtext since season fucking one. it's right there, on full display, center stage, and this is the actual culmination of the story i guess. wasnt set up at all this cast was way too bloated for its own good, but the fact that it exists. the fact that it's been brought to the forefront, they are FORCING YOU to talk about it. that one showrunner fucking lost his marbles on twitter because it was so hard to ignore, because the love there was just so unabashed and shameless and visible

I'm. I dunno. This is dredging up a lot of old feelings of loneliness being a trans gay man feeling like an outsider looking in to the queer community. It's a lot. And it's like conflicting so much with how ass arcane handled both its queers and poc, like as much as i love jayvik i also haaaate how mel and sky got fucking shafted, like did you have to do it like that??? and idk how much of the jayvik ending itself is queerbaiting or crumbs or whatever — if it is at all, idk, im not a philosopher or analyst in that regard — but. i just dont know if i've ever felt so seen. is that even the word for it??? maybe my feelings are just all over the place because it's so fresh? my feelings could change, i dunno. i still dont feel like rewatching s2 in full, all the way through, because it was such a slog and it disrespected 99% of the characters so hard, viktor included (singed got out mostly unscathed and i still consider that a christmas miracle) the most i can handle are individual clips and thinking about jayce and viktor doing like a reverse Weathering With You in that magic space stuff was… what the fuck man. i'm breaking. i'm falling apart.

(throwback to this one thing i doodled aaages and ages ago hdmdhdndnc)

idk. i dunno if any of this made any sense. im like rambling into the void rn. um. sorry this is a mess 👍

[pearwaldorf]

I have been trying to write this on and off for a while. I figure the second anniversary of the show is as fine an occasion as any to shove it out into the world. It is not everything I want to say about it, but I think the important bits are there.

It is a human impulse to be seen. To be told, through art, you are not alone. It is universal, but of special importance to people who are not well-represented in media (i.e. everybody who isn’t cis, white, able-bodied, skinny, and conventionally attractive).   

This show speaks to me as a queer person who figured things out later than most of my peers. (Not quite as late as Ed and Stede but not terribly far off either.) It��s not super common to see queer media address this, and I didn’t realize how much I needed that reassurance until I got it. That it’s okay to find these things any time in your life. To be told “A queer is never late, they’re always fashionably on-time.” 

They’re not my first canon queer ship. But they are the first ones where I knew it was true from the get-go. Multiple people assured me this was the case. And yet, I still didn’t believe it until I saw it with my own two eyes. This experience is not unusual for fans around my age.  

After I finished up season one, I laid in bed and cried. It’s not something I thought would affect me so much, but it feels like a weight I’d carried so long I didn’t realize it wasn’t supposed to be part of me is gone.

One of the reasons people unfamiliar with the fandom seem to think it’s absolutely crazy (which some of it is, to be fair, but every fandom has that) is the way fans of the show get extremely super intense about it. It took me a few weeks to realize this is a trauma response. I’m not even sure “trauma” is the right word. It doesn’t interfere with my day to day function, but it lasted for years. Decades. So it was definitely something that fucked me up. And in the way you can only start to see something as you’re moving past it, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get my head around this. (I don’t know if I have anything to say about it yet. Maybe I need more time to sit with it.)

I know this sounds contrary, but I’m really glad David Jenkins does not come from fandom. Sometimes it’s good to know where a line is, and others it’s better to not know there’s a line at all. And this is, sad to say, remarkable to somebody who has had to deal with this for so long. With so many writers and showrunners aware of the line, and getting right up next to it, but never crossing it.

Imagine doing a show with a queer romance and not understanding why this was received with such emotion and fervor, because it’s just two people in love right? What blissful ignorance that this needed to be explained to him! And then he listened to people’s experiences with queerbaiting, and went “Oh my god you thought I was going to do WHAT?” And then you go “Huh. That is really fucked up.” 

The problem with being told something enough, even though you know it’s wrong, is you start to believe it regardless. All the excuses and hedging. It’s so very difficult to do they tell us, when we hear from queer creators how they had fight tooth and nail to make it as gay as it already was. 

And then comes Jenks, just yeeting it out there: majority queer and (not and/or. and) POC cast, an openly non-binary person playing an openly non-binary character. The ability to not have to make one queer (and/or) POC character speak for everybody, so you can inject a tiny bit of nuance into the conversation. The way you can tell more kinds of stories, like the one where the smol angry internalized homophobe comes into his own with the support of a queer community, even though he was a giant fucking asshole to them before.

So many people were like “You can just DO that? It’s really that easy?” And wasn’t that a fucking Situation, to have that curtain pulled aside. What next? Majority POC casts with stories about POC written by POC? Absolute madness. (Please please watch The Brothers Sun on Netflix. It’s so fucking good.) 

And people will scoff and say “Of course a cishet(?) white man would be able to get this pushed through.” But do they usually? The thing I don’t think people understand about allies is they use their privilege to wedge the door open. You still have to do the work to get through, but at least you have a place to start. And it really fucking matters.

The press keeps trying to tell me The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin is the OFMD substitute we need while we float in the gravy basket. I’m sure it’s a perfectly fine show, but I don’t know who has watched OFMD and decided the itch we needed scratched was anachronistic historical comedy.

I want stories written by people that reflect their lived experiences, with actors and crew committed to bringing that to life. And I would like streamers and studios to commit to giving them a chance, and marketing them properly so people know they exist. 

You can keep people satisficed with scraps for only so long. At some point, somebody is going to give them a whole seven course dinner and people will wonder why they’ve been putting up with starving this entire time.

[fukutomichi]

It’s review ramble rant tiiiiime! Decided to go on and post about my thoughts as the iron is still hot and my braincells are still firing. Lots of spoilers are gonna be in there and it’s looong as hell so you’ve been warned! Grab a cup of coffee or tea. Here we go!

Okay, the general feel about Season 2 is that it is slightly better than Season 1 for sure, better at some parts, but has shortcomings on others, BUT STILL, we got what we got and I think it was overall positive.

The first 3 episodes being aired was a direct response from the previous backlash that they had about Season 1 starting slow. And yes, those first 2 episodes were shaaaky as hell, but they found their feet in Episode 4 and then the series picked up with full steam ahead. This time to avoid this, they wanted to get the set up out of the way as soon as possible and then release at a weekly schedule. Was it a smart idea? It would have been. If the series was longer than 8 episodes? 

This latest trend of overblown streaming series with such small number of episodes, between A HUGE waiting period for each season, needs to stop. I get that the RoP crew would need more time, schedules with other actors, filming locations, building locations, writing, filming huge battle sequences, CGI. But I feel everyone is still chasing The Game of Thrones type of hype, and the studios need to realize that it ain’t happening anymore, not for a while. Just focus on making good stories with interesting complex characters and the viewers will come. Stop trying to make series be movies. I caught one of the directors in one of the BTS clips for Episode 7 saying “We’re not making series, we’re making movies” AND THAT’S THE BIGGEST PROBLEM. STOP DOING THAT. 

I would sacrifice all the big budget CGI sequences and wide beautiful shots for just a minute of conversation between Gil-galad and Cirdan. I don’t want “the Balrog shot that was 5 years in the minds of the showrunners”, I wanted people to see why Gil-galad respects Cirdan so much, instead of my non-reading Silmarillion friends asking me what’s his deal with him, and me having to explain that Cirdan is as close to a family member to the high king, that’s his adoptive dad. The series is very non-reading Silm friendly, but they somehow fail to explain some of the crucial relationships between characters. I KNOW there’s next season maybe they’ll expand on it, but some things like that need to be established IMMEDIATELY.

But with 8 episodes, what can you really focus on to adapt and show on the screen? This is why, AGAIN, stop making movies, we want a series. The biggest strength that a series has is CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND PACING. A series will always have the upper hand in that, and they are still trying to make a movie, cut in 8 parts. Please, arrange the pace for 10 episodes, so it doesn’t feel like one episode is laid back, and then the next one is rushing to the finish line. MAKE A SERIES, NOT MOVIES.

The thing that made Game of Thrones great those 4 first seasons was not the big battles or the CGI dragons. It was people talking in rooms. Their history and relationship with each other. Actors giving their A++ game with dialog which was moving the story. THAT made Game of Thrones worth the hype.

Learning about the fact that they have a change in the writers room can either be a good thing, with some storylines now being over and concluded so they might be preparing to change gears for Season 3, or with my mind going always in work corporate mode, writers not being payed as they should for their work so why stay…

The series did get a brush with the writer’s strike, which I will always support. YOU CAN’T HAVE A STORY WITHOUT GOOD WRITING! PAY YOUR WRITERS!! 

I think Episode 8 is where I felt some stuff were cut off and rushed, probably during the strike, that were set up in Episode 7, didn't land well. But I’ll get to that.

I started this in rant mode, but had to get it out of the way cause it bothered me the most. The series has SO much potential and it sometimes pains me to see fail on the most basic stuff. 

Okay, moving on with the juicy stuff now!

This season was The Charlies™ season, hands down. Absolute rollercoaster with Celebrimbor and Annatar/Sauron playing off each other on the screen. From the moment Sauron enters Eregion, to the final shot of him stealing Fëanor’s hammer. The showrunners were fully concentrated to that side of the story and, holy hell did they outdo themselves there. Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor needs to get some push for awards, or somehow ship one to him. I remember being a little a skeptic at first about his portrayal, since we got so little of him is Season 1, but as you rewatch it, you can see the foundations being set for his character. Season 2 is where he’s fully unleashed and, he is truly THE Celebrimbor. A sweet, sensitive soul that just strives to get out of his family’s shadow, by creating something unique that would be his legacy. A perfect victim for Sauron that finds his connection with Celebrimbor through that. I loved the fact that they filmed their scenes in order of the episodes and it shows the slow descent of both of their characters, helplessness and paranoia for Celebrimbor and Sauron barely managing his uncanny elf mask while trying to withhold annoyance and rage. Masterful acting by both. The last scene with them was MUCH more impactful than if we would have gotten the banner scene in the book. They started their pact alone in the forge, and they ended their manipulative partnership, alone in that same forge. With Celebrimbor getting the upper hand in death. Sauron AGAIN getting a knife straight into the heart, but with words instead of a pointy crown. Only this time, he won’t be able to get pay back for the insult. Because Celebrimbor in death, went where Sauron CAN NEVER go. The slow realization that he’s always gonna be a prisoner in his own cycle of violence. He has many names…And the cycle begins again.

Bless you Charles Edwards, thank you for being our Celebrimbor.

Charlie, be seeing ya next season you giggly perfect casting of Sauron’s messy character person you!

I was most excited to see were the elvish side of the story is gonna go after the end of Season 1, with the making of the three rings. And I think they did well! Robert Aramayo, I once again put myself on blast for ever doubting you as Elrond. My hubris must follow me till the end of this series. You have a shitty old phone, don’t know what a Brat Edit is and will never read this, but the universe will know of my foolishness. 

Elrond's feud with Galadriel HURT to watch. Those are two besties that want their best for each other and will protect each other no matter what. The rift that was going on between them and mending it in the last episode was so sweet, kudos to Morfydd as well for always bringing her A++ acting game. FINALLY we have a bit more of Gil-galad this season and IS STILL not enough. I ranted before about not a single blip of a Gil-Cirdan convo happening, but getting FREAKING BEN DANIELS for just a few scenes IS CRIMINAL!!! Also, still sad about that beard of his, he was already perfect damn iiiit.

I’m glad that we had this push and pull with the elvish rings, are they good are they bad, they are a new invention and the elves have no idea how to deal with them at first. Gil-galad and Galadriel’s visions were a nice representation of that. What are their power levels, what are they truly capable off. What I like to believe though, is that while Sauron had his hands on crafting the seven and the nine…guess who’s hands last touched the mithril that made the three. It was Elrond. With all his hopes and need to help his kind survive when he threw that nugget into the melting pot in the last episode in Season 1. And guess who wears those rings now? His closest family and the people he cares the most. When he finally decides to give Nenya a chance, we get to see the result of all his hopes and desire to protect those he loves the most in the last scene of this season. Rivendell. ELROND’S KINDNESS is the reason the elvish rings remain untouched by Sauron’s evil.

Galadriel vs Sauron. Oh! OH! I can only imagine Lúthien smiling and pointing at Galadriel, Sparta kicking him over the boulder. “That’s my girl! THAT’S MY GIRL! Wipe the floor with that bozo!!” If I’m being honest, spoiling myself with Bear Mccreary’s Season 2 soundtrack, listening to the track “The Last Temptation” gave soooo many vibes that something might happen to Galadriel that will leave me SHOOK, aka taking Sauron’s offer and Elrond being there to witness it, but Bear tricked meeee!!! She just fell through a tree! The clash was *chef’s kiss* though, Sauron constantly shapeshifting trying to mess with Galadriel’s feelings and even pulling the Halbrand puppy eyes card. But she wasn’t having it. Sauron gets denied, AGAIN.

Alexa, play Drive by The Cars for one dark lord. And conjure some of that sad rain again while you go waddle your way home to Mordor, you absolute clown.

HEAL YOURSELF. QUEEN.

We got more of the dwarves as well and the creation of the seven rings. I was a little disappointed that we got robbed of the Narvi and Celebrimbor friendship happening while making the Doors of Durin, but what can you choose to put in just 8 episodes, right? Sophia and Owain truly are such an amazing combo to watch as Disa and Durin, they did amazingly this season. I’m gonna miss Peter Mullan as King Durin, every scene with him and Owain was just beautiful and heart breaking. “Forgive me my son, King Durin”. I was choking in tears not even 5 minutes into the last episode. And will you look at that, forgiveness is the theme that starts off the episode, huh? 

The Uruk storyline…where do I even begin jfc. I went from Season 1 and loving Adar as an interesting unique character, to loving the entire Uruk story with its sad tragic end. Whoever was responsible for that, amazing job. 

I was sad when Jospeh Malwe left and his role was recasted. But HOLY SHIT, enter Sam Hazeldine and he just took that character to a new height. Adding more complexity, adding more black speech to his dialog, and being a representative of my favorite theme that I speculated is central to this season. Forgiveness.

The orcs being humanized was a great move imo. Because how else would we see the tragedy that is their entire kind being slaves to their own violent nature, that Adar sees past it, and Sauron can’t wait to exploit it. When Sauron tells Celebrimbor about the fall of Gondolin and the orcish blood rage I was FEASTING. THIS is how you introduce lore and expand on the history of the characters. They are a tragic invention of Morgoth, and yet are still sentient beings with names and feelings, that have been drilled and brainwashed about the fact that they’ll never be accepted by anyone, ever. Adar doing everything possibly wrong just to protect them, only to serve them right at Sauron’s feet as his new army. 

I’m sad that we couldn’t have had more of Adar’s character and he was absolutely full with potential, but he was doomed by the narrative from Season 1 and his actions had led to have little wiggle room for him to be left alive in the end. His last moments with Galadriel were beautiful. The very opposite of Sauron and Celebrimbor. He breaks from his cycle of violence and chooses forgiveness and peace. What happened after that though, was what we were supposed to be expecting about Adar's fate from the very first episode. Sauron never forgives and never lets a debt of insult go unpaid.

But what I DIDN’T like is the fact we never had a resolution between him and Arondir. Them stabbing each other and both of them still walking it off?? This is where the disconnect between episode 7 and 8 begins. Cause when they face off on the battlefield, you can see Arondir mouthing some words to Adar, but it must have been cut in the editing room. Adar was Arondir’s main reason why he lost everything and we will never have an appropriate closure between them I guess. Adar and Galadriel forgave each other, but he never asked Arondir for forgiveness. And we should have seen that. Instead, as one of my friends put it while we were gossiping about the last episode “And they just left Adar laying on that hill, huh?”

I want to believe he was Maglor, but hey, even with his elvish identity remaining a mystery, he still wanted the name he earned. I think that was nicely done.  They didn’t have the rights to the lore after all lol.

Sam Hazedine, I hope you get a huge bump up in your CV for playing such an amazing character and may you get other amazing acting roles in the future.

For now, what me and my friends group came up as a batshit “How do we still keep him in the series somehow” plan in 1am in the cafe drinking americanos, we figured he should apply to play as Glorfindel, but with a shaggy beard! Glorfindel is already half-maia at that point. He can get the wizard/elf vibes! Go with the grizzled dad look, no one will notice!! SEND YOUR CV, SAM!!

NÚMENOR!!! We’re slowly, but surely getting to the “and the island goes boom” storyline and ooooohhh I can’t wait. We’re getting hints of Isildur being the messy character that he is. As we slowly go through episode 3, we are hit with the biggest foreshadowing shot in the season, him basically seeing his own ending in the water. And what does he do there?? He steals from a dead man. He then meets and falls for a girl that’s already spoken for. What does he do? Tries to steal her too. Still riddled with guilt for the death of his mother, and using that to try to at least make up for it and cover his guilt with it. But this is Isildur we are talking about. Name a better combo than Isildur and bad decisions. But I love the fact that he was paired up this season with Theo. Similar experiences, both connecting through their loss. And I LOVE Theo’s arc so far, probably the character I’m most interested to see how his story will unfold. 

See, a friend of mine had an interesting theory that, while everyone is still going about Theo being either the Witch King or the King of the Dead…he might have another direction. What If Theo is Aragorn’s other side of the bloodline? Okay. Bronwyn falling for Arondir, human in love with an elf. Can you guess who has the same taste as well? Theo’s unknown lineage on his father’s side. It is almost as an open door to introduce the Dúnedain still living in Middle-Earth, and what better way to introduce them, then through Theo. A mainland Númenor vs. Númenor storyline? The paring of Isldir and him this season is also a hint. “The king’s hands are the hands of a healer”. And guess who’s the ONLY healer in Pelargir now? Theo ALWAYS choosing to stay with his people regardless if he’s been given a way out with either Arondir or Isildur…

Are we’re on to the showrunners or are they just throwing hints like this to lead people in one direction while they figure out his story? 

Back on the island, things are heating up for the Faithful vs. The Kings Men, and I’m here for the doomed story that is Miriel and Elendil. I’M HERE FOR IIIT!!! Pharazôn using both Kemen and Eärien as his tools to set himself on the throne was nicely done too. I was a little disappointed to see some Eärien hate going on though? Pharazôn, used her grief and anger for HIS means. After everything that her family goes through, she has the right to be angry and look for someone to blame. Why would she blame her father? He was under the queen’s orders, right? Grief makes you do terrible things and makes you blind, her respect for Pharazôn as the “smart” leader, falls right into Pharazôn’s hands in the right moment. And he uses it. He tries to turn her against her father too. BUT what does she do? SHE TRUSTS her father and goes AGAINST HERSELF to call the queen to help her save her Elendil, SHE KNOWS about their feelings for each other at that point, even if she doesn’t agree with it. Her love and loyalty to her family is stronger then everything Pharazôn threw at her. I never wanna see Eärien hate in the tags, as Galadriel says it best, heal yourself pls.

Kemen’s development on the other hand, I find really interesting. I get that he’s everyone’s favourite to hate right now, and Leon Wadham does an incredible job if people have such strong reactions to his character. Please don't be weird and don't harass him, he seems incredibly sweet compared to his RoP character. But there’s something really sad about him, you have this númenorian nepo baby that has everything on a golden platter, but the only thing he craves for is his father approval. And his father happens to be the worst person ever. He doesn’t want the scepter, he wants his father to have it. The moment he mentions to Pharazôn “us” he IMMEDIATELY cuts him off with a look and starts telling his own son how his dead mother had an ill prophecy about him. Cruel to the bone. And he blackmails him into telling it IF he does his bidding well. Of course, Kemen does a shit job at it, and we lost Valandil in the process, WHICH I DIDN’T EXPECT!!…BUT, I’m gonna take his death into advancing Kemen’s arc into a more villainous path, him arriving at Pelargir and seeing Isildur alive was such a moment, I had to cackle! The SINGLE PERSON RESPONSIBLE for the start of the domino effect of Númenor slowly going towards its downfall, turns up alive and is headed back home. Where Kemen killed his best friend, imprisoned his father, helped banishing his father, helped imprisoning Miriel and his sister is now target number one of Pharazôn. And Isildur saved Kemen’s life. Name a better combo than Isildur and bad decisions. 

Now, mentioning Valandil, I gotta rant about something else. And it’s about character deaths, especially for POC characters. Valandil dying, while not liking it, thinking it would happen much later when Númenor finally goes boom, it makes kinda sense for him to loose his life to Kemen, WHILE IN THE TEMPLE OF NIENNA. Lady of forgiveness, mercy and grief. Kemen even breaks her statue, which we should take as Kemen being beyond forgiveness. Advancing his character into a darker path. And then Nienna would be the first to forgive him lol.

But Rian?? Dying in the battle for Eregion like that? I get that her death represents a visual queue of the sheer evil and misery that is war. But, Vorohil surviving Boromor levels of arrows in his back, but not Rian? They couldn’t have switched their roles for that?? Rian being the messenger and Vorohil dying to protect his commander?? I’m kinda relieved that at least he survived from Elrond’s little party group, and Camnir is godknows where, but come on man. COME ON MAAAAN! Do better next time please, showrunners. If you introduce cool characters, at least don’t take them away like that, especially when they are POC.

And lastly…the Harfoot storyline. Oh boy. I don’t know if I’m in the minority, but for me this is probably this season's weakest point, A STARK difference from the previous season where I was invested the most. AND WE FINALLY GOT THE CONFIRMATION THAT HE’S GANDALF!! And it felt like, eh. We been knew.

This probably was the most cut storyline and felt like so many moments were missing. HAVING CIARÁN HINDS ONLY FOR A FEW SCENES!?! CRIMINAL!!! At least we got to see some Rhún scenery and got to see another clan of halflings. But the transition to the last episode felt like it lasted like 3 minutes, and then compare the previous season finale where everyone was still buttclenching if Halbrand or The Stanger was Sauron, right until the last conflict with the cultists! THAT was a nice ending of a climax. This season felt like they really didn’t want to bother with it anymore and now we have Gandalf going to Tom Bombadil, which is another perfect cast with Rory Kinnear, and Nori and Poppy leading the remaining Stoors, west. The gang is split. And it felt like a blip, compared to the goodbyes from the previous finale where emotions were high and you felt crushed and hopeful at the same time. But this storyline is now over, so that’s that.

I think that’s the overall general feelings for this season! Not going TOO much into detail, cause this will probably be a BEYOND long post lol.

Previous Personal MVP from Season 1 for me was definitively Daniel Weyman as GANDALF, having so little dialog, but using body language and emotions to act his way into the story. Season 2 MVP goes to Sam Hazeldine’s Adar. The dude swooped in and made the character his own and added so much more. To make me ROOT for the orcs? BLACK SPEECH making me emotional?! Unheard of!! Rest easy Uruk goth king, may you live in other people’s fanfics and be an inspiration for other amazing complex characters.

So…what do we expect now from Season 3 coming up?

Rivendell is coming up baybeeeeh!!! The first defensive bastion of the elves before the war with Sauron starts to heat up! Oh, that last shot was just beyond beautiful, BUT LIKE I SAID!! I would have had Ben Daniels just coming over and saying a few words than having that CGI shot. 

SO MORE CIRDAN NEXT SEASON, PLEASE!!!

I honestly have no idea where Galadriel’s arc is gonna be headed, but her connection to Sauron will always be there, now that she’s sort of marked? by his crown and the evil it’s made off, I wonder if it’s gonna come into play like Frodo when being stabbed by the Witch King’s blade. 

We didn’t get Celeborn as a surprise, and looking back, it was just impossible to get that. Season 1 and 2 are almost glued to one another and if you look at it from another side, it’s a full 16 episode season. This was basically Part 1….of The Rings of Power The Movie.

Hopefully more of the golden boi Gil-galad, give the man more twirling Aeglos moments, come on!! AND MORE GOLDEN FAM MOMENTS TOGETHER!! PLEASE. Some people still don’t know that Galadriel is Gil-galad’s auntie!! 

Sauron snatching Fëanor’s Hammer from Celebrimbor was VILE. And I loved it. He killed the only person talented enough to use it, and now he is left on his own to craft the final ring, by probably a) melting the hammer b) using it half-assedly and in the process messing up the One Ring so that’s why he ends up binding his entire life force to the Ring. BUT before he does that, he has the Nine Rings and he needs Nine Kings. So we’re on our way to seeing more Kingdoms of Men and that means we’re getting more casting announcements as the months go by. 

Pelargir!!! Theo being stuck with Kemen? Recipe for trouble. Hopefully Estrid gets some character development there, cause what we got so far from her was not enough imo. We’re already on our way to seeing the Ent’s promise getting broken. UGHH!! I don’t wanna see that, not when Episode 4 made me so emotional and is probably one of my favourites so far. We’re gonna get a clash with the Low Men vs Númenor for sure and this is where it starts.

We’re getting Khazad-Dum’s Game of Thrones!! NOOOOOO!! I don’t want them clashing with each other uughhh, especially family, but their fate is already written and it’s not gonna be a happy one. We will see if Durin will be tempted to use his father's ring as well. He did leave it to his son. So hoping they go for the emotions in that storyline. And in the mix there’s also the rift being open again between Durin and Elrond. And is it gonna get wider, or are we gonna see it mended next season? QUEEN DISA PLEASE PULL THROUGH!!

NÚMENOOOOR AGAAAAIN!! GOD there’s gonna be a lot of pain in there. And I was off with my prediction, we’re not getting Anárion this season, but we’re DEFINITIVELY getting Anárion next season!! Isildur coming home is gonna cause some chaos I’m sure, finding out pretty much like the pizza burning meme gif that A LOT of shit has happened during his absence. Are we gonna see a rift between Eärien and Isildur though? Her actions pretty much stem from his “death”, so it will be interning to see if the siblings clash or try to settle things first and find their dad and other brother. Pharazôn slowly setting himself up for the arrival of someone special AKA Sauron. We’re maybe still too far off from that plot, but as much as I enjoyed The Charlies™ and their scenes together, I CAN’T WAIT to see Charlie and Trystan being a combo act on screen. I LOVE Trystan’s portrayal as Pharazôn, he just oozes those charming but menacing vibes when he’s in his act. And to pair that up with Charlie? Which mask will he choose to manipulate him with? OH! CAN’T WAAAAIT!!

And then again lastly, as each season and episode, the Harfoots and Gandalf. It was nice to see that we’re getting the lore about how the halflings find The Shire, so we’ll probably gonna follow them on their travels to the west, and hopefully they meet some of the other key characters from the series. At some point, most of the characters HAVE TO HAVE A BRIDGE to meet up, instead of getting multiple separate stories. Hopefully Season 3 is that. Gandalf being mentored by Tom Bombadil in Rhún while the other wizard is still on the loose. The showrunners did confirm that Cirian is not Saruman, so that makes him one of the blues that failed their mission. They can go aaaanywhere with this storyline, but they better bring it up closer to Sauron and Galadriel. If they wanna show us the connection between Galadriel and Gandalf, and why Gandalf fears Sauron so much, I think Season 3 is the best point to start.

And that's pretty much it I guess.

Now the painful wait of TWO FREAKING YEARS begins for Season 3.

I'm gonna try to stay as active as possible with my gifs and plan out some sets, maybe including some of the other acting gigs of the other RoP actors, like my "Hazeldine cope mechanism for Thursday" sets, if my time allows it. But time is all we have now.

September flew by for me with this series. Like, 28th of August was two weeks ago, right?

So what are we doing next Thursday?

[hello-nichya-here]

Azula's mommy issues how it does (and doesn't) affect her personality and theoretical redemption

Ah, Ursa and how she ties into a possible Azula redemption. I recommend you get a snack and some water, because this answer is gonna be a long one XD

Before we even get to the dynamic between these two characters and how it informed Azula's actions, let's remember THE main thing that is responsible for Azula being the way she is: Indoctrination.

Her nation had been waging war against the rest of the world for 100 hundred years. Azula is 14. For 86 years her family had been telling everyone, including themselves, that the war was just, it was for the good of the world and of the Fire Nation, it was "sharing their glory", it was just them taking over land that was rightfully theirs because of "divine right to rule" (something Azula herself says to Lu Fang when she's taking over Ba Sing Se).

We see children cheering for a puppet version of Fire Lord Ozai in a festival, as he defeats an "evil" Earth Kingdom general. We are explicitly shown that Fire Nation schools lie about things like the Air Nomads, a pacifist culture, having an ARMY that Sozin's men attacked, framing it more as a mutual conflict between equals in which the Fire Nation won, instead of a sudden attack against an entire group of people that were just minding their business.

We see IROH write a letter about how he hopes his family can see Ba Sing Se IF THEY DON'T HAVE TO BURN IT TO THE GROUND to conquer it - and not only do Zuko and Azula both laugh, URSA is also laughing.

Azula was raised to believe her nation had every right to do all the attrocities it commited. And just like Zuko, she is still a teenager, not an adult like her dad, uncle or mom - and while they had less excuse than the Fire Siblings for not knowing any better since they were already grown, they do still have more excuse than Azulon and especially Sozin, since they were ALSO raised to believe that stuff was perfectly normal.

Even if Ursa had been a perfect mom, Azula would likely still be a villain, though maybe less bitter and insecure over feeling unworthy of love (but that would not disappear completely, since Ozai was still an abusive dad that very clearly expected perfection from his children at all times, which is way too much pressure to put on anyone, let alone on two kids. And since she was his favorite, she'd obviously try to copy him, so she wouldn't end up like Zuko, so her more cruel, ruthless side would also be very present).

HOWEVER, that does not change the fact that Ursa's flawed parenting had a deep impact on her daughter.

For starters, even the creators/showrunners and writers of the show have said Zuko is her favorite child - and a parent playing favorites is NEVER good, even if they don't downright abuse the one they don't like as much. And for a kid that is in an abusive home, seeing her brother be treated as completely worthless because he is not the favorite, it isn't that hard to understand how Azula concluded that, if her mom didn't like her as much as she liked Zuko, it's because she didn't like her AT ALL. Add in Ursa's concern over Ozai's influence over Azula and how it's shaping her personality, plus the fact that she said "What's wrong with that child?" WITH AZULA IN THE ROOM, and we have the source of her belief her mom didn't just dislike her, but also saw her as monster.

Because yeah, let's not forget Azula had TWO parents. Two parents that clearly wanted very different things from their children. Ursa was cool with all the imperialism stuff, but she was horrified at the thought of the family being at war with itself, fighting for the crown. She was a bad guy, but she had standards. Meanwhile Ozai was clearly on team "stab everyone in the back to get what you want, then rule by fear." Once her mom was out of the picture, Azula naturally felt like her dad had essentially proven his method was better, since he ended up getting everything he wanted (though Azula does question that in the finale, when she imagines Ursa of all people trying to make her see trying to use fear to force people into supporting/loving her would only further isolate her, showing some part of her DID internalize a point of view that did not align with Ozai's).

But even before Ursa was forced to disappear from her daughter's life, she was already failing to connect with her, but not solely because of Ozai. Think about it. We see lots of scenes of Ursa spending time just with Zuko, and some of her with both of her kids - but never do we get even a single scene just between her and Azula.

When Zuko immitates Azula's bad behavior (because he thought it was cool and funny) and throws bread (not a rock like the fandom insists, BREAD) at the turtleducks, Ursa is visibly shocked and distressed, but she EXPLAINS to Zuko why what he did was wrong (it hurt the baby turtleduck, and thus made the mother mad) in a VERY light-hearted way that he clearly remembers fondly. When Azula says things about Azulon being likely to die soon or Iroh being pathetic, Ursa is shocked and distressed - and either just says "Azula, we don't speak like that" or a very angry "Young lady, not another word" but without ever trying to explain to her why what she did was wrong.

Meanwhile, ZUKO actually says things like "How would you like it if Lu Ten wanted dad to die?" or explaining that Iroh gave up on conquering Ba Sing Se out of grief for his only child. Those two scenes were the CLOSEST Azula got to having someone actually try to explain things to her in a way she could understand - but obviously she's not gonna take her brother as seriously as she would an adult, and Zuko has his own stuff to deal with so he can't step up and be a replacement parent to her like Iroh was to him (and considering how young he was at the time, expecting him to do so would be unreasonable - hell, he likely didn't even notice just how badly Azula needed help until she had her breakdown).

Things get worse if we take the comics as canon (which I don't, but I know a lot of people do). On that version of the story, Ursa goes from "Making effort, but screwed up along the way" to "Neglectful/abusive piece of shit that should have her kids taken away."

Comics!Ursa's idea fo "quality time with her kids" involves talking solely to Zuko and ignoring Azula, instead of interacting with both of them. She doesn't encourage them to spend time with each other like she did in the show. When she is banished, she visits both her kids - but only wakes Zuko up. He gets a sweet farewell so he always gets to remember that, no matter what happened, his mom loved him and did not want to leave him. Azula doesn't get a single word, and is left to believe her mom didn't even bother with her.

Worse of all, Ursa CHOOSES TO FORGET HER OWN KIDS. After she had explicitly said she does not believe they are truly safe living with Ozai. After she explicitly said to Zuko "Never forget who you are." Not to mention, she writes a letter with the fake claim that Zuko is actually NOT Ozai's kid - because she knows he will read it and get mad. She risked putting her son in danger just to piss off her husband. That's what she did to the kid she LIKED. How low would she go if the kid in danger was the kid she didn't care for? Oh, wait the comics answer that too. She never bothered asking ANYTHING about what had happened to her all those years (nor to the kid with a scar on his face, mind you), showed more empathy towards her when she COULDN'T remember who she was (and even then it was just a "If I really am your mom, I'm sorry I didn't love you enough." That's it. That's all Azula gets), and she doesn't do ANYTHING about Azula running away. No asking Zuko or someone else to find her, no crying about losing her again, no indication that she is worried about her safety even though she is all alone and mentally unstable.

The comics really did Azula dirty, and I HATE Ursa in it. It reached the point of "I don't want these two to make up, I want Azula to give a whole speech about how much her mom sucks, just like Zuko did with Ozai" because that's what she deserves. Show!Ursa made mistakes, Comics!Ursa IS a mistake. The sympathy for Azula despite her bad actions grows significantly on that version of the story, because how the fuck can we speak her to not be so mad at the world after all that?

But at last, we need to make an important distinction clear here: It doesn't matter if we are talking about the comics or the show, if we like or dislike Azula, if we do or don't want her to be redeemed, the simple fact still is that she WAS screwed over her entire life, her troubled relationship with her mom had a deep and longlasting impact on her mental health, and there was no way in hell she would have EVER been an innocent little angel that is 100% against everything her evil father does. It's just impossible considering her backstory.

And there is a very clear double-standard in how people talk about the idea of a redeemed Azula VS the reality of a redeemed Zuko. Both start with the premise of "This bad guy has understandable, sympathetic reasons to do bad things, since they were indoctrinated from birth and had a terrible family life", both include the character having to see how their actions are hurting them AND others (including those they care about, Zuko's "victim" being Iroh, while Azula's are Mai and Ty Lee. Plus, they've both hurt each other in some ways, some more deliberate than others), and both culminate with the character turning their life around, confronting those who wronged them, and finding a support system for themselves.

Yet one is treated as revolutionary despite not being the first redemption arc ever (nor the only redemption arc in the story itself), nor being perfectly written (because perfect writting doesn't exist), while the other is labelled as lazy, out of character, or "making excuses" for bad people just because they had a tough life (like Azula is an actual person). There is no thematic or moral difference between redeeming Zuko and redeeming Azula, especially in a show that says "EVERYONE has the potential for great good and great evil" and ends with Zuko telling his abuser he hopes he'll also have a change of heart someday, even if he is not sticking around to witness or actively try to make it happen.

Redeeming Azula is no different than redeeming Zuko. It's perfectly fine to want to just one of these things instead of both, but it is NOT a superior choice in anyway, and it's very hypocritical of the same fandom that criticizes the idea of a redeemed Azula because "mommy issues isn't a good enough reson" when they can't stop praising the redemption arc that has "the villain had daddy issues" as it's core premisse. Personal preference is one thing. Being a dick about it is another.

[thestupidhelmet]

I’ve honestly never seen a fandom like this that insists they know the characters better than the creator of it. I’m thinking lots of thoughts

Truthfully, sometimes fans do. Or the actors do. Creators don't always put character first but plot or a punchline or whatever they think will make more money. The characters are then manipulated to act contrary to their established personalities or undergo what's called character drift.

As a novelist and short story author, whose education focus was creative writing and the study of literature, I learned about character consistency among the other elements that create a story and what's called its fictional dream by John Gardener (author and teacher of writing fiction). To quote him:

"If you're writing fiction then anything can happen -- so long as you earn it by making your world believable. Your readers will stop reading if you bore them or break their suspension of disbelief."

The T7S writers broke the show's fictional dream many times by manipulating characters to act against their established development (for plot and punchline). They even knew they were doing so in one particular instance and acknowledged it in the episode itself via dialogue (very meta of them, but the acknowledgement doesn't change the fact they didn't do enough to maintain the audience's sense of disbelief).

Major character shifts must be prepared for, grounded in the writing significantly, to make it a believable shift. It doesn't even need much, but it needs to make sense for the character. A good example of this is in the T7S episode where Red openly and serenely says, "I love you," to Eric. The whole storyline has Eric (among other characters) confused about Red's totally inexplicable change, a confusion the audience shares.

Later, the show reveals Red had been drugged at the dentist for a procedure and that the drugs hadn't worn off (substantiation of the momentary character shift) when he tells Eric he loves him.

A good example of a major character shift breaking the fictional dream and the audience's suspension of disbelief is Hyde drunkenly marrying a stranger during the two weeks he spends with her in Vegas. This change happens after Hyde spends almost a full season succumbing to then fighting against his marriage fears (from his traumatic childhood) to commit fully to the only girl he's ever been in love with for three years.

Struggling for a year to commit fully to a future with the girl he loves but able to commit fully to a future with someone he doesn't know longer than two weeks and doesn't love -- these are two different characters.

(It would have taken half a season to substantiate the change, another half a season to explore the change, another half a season for Hyde to understand his reasoning for the change and confront it, and another half a season for him and Jackie to reconcile. This storyline would have needed two seasons to make character-sense.)

This change goes completely against Hyde's long-established nature and development -- without any foundation underlying it. The writing doesn't substantiate the change. The season 8 showrunners expected the show's fans to accept the change without question. Their expectations were not met.

They broke the fictional dream to serve their own interests rather than the characters. If they didn't like T7S's seven years of development, they never should've taken the job. Instead, they warped the characters to their (the S8 showrunners') will until the characters were unrecognizable as themselves.

A show's audience is no different than the reader of a book. If a novel establishes that it's protagonist is a compassionate person, then readers expect that compassion to be consistent. It can be tested, pushed to the limit, even break -- but the choices must stem organically from the character, not the author's whim.

On Star Trek: The Original Series, although Leonard Nimoy did not create Spock in the character's most basic form, he did create much of what makes Spock who he is (as did one particular director in one early episode). Nimoy, the actor, imbued Spock with his own life experiences.

From the Vulcan neck pinch (logical, nonviolent Vulcans would have a logical, nonviolent way to subdue an assailant, he reasoned, rather than what the script called for: lots of physical fighting) to the famous Vulcan salute, to Spock's experience of being part of two worlds and feeling alien in both, all Nimoy.

Whenever a script veered from what Nimoy, the actor, believed was in Spock's character to do, he sent memos to whoever ran the show during whichever season, stated his concerns, explained them, then offered an alternative and in-character idea. Because he had the pull (no Star Trek without Nimoy, who was the show's biggest draw), his suggestions were always taken seriously and implemented.

And they were right. He did not create Spock, yet he knew Spock better than any of the writers did. Better than the man who created him.

And, yes, sometimes book readers or a show's audience know the characters better than the writers.

Gregg Mettler, the T7S writer brought onto T9S as a creator did not do his due diligence when creating the future of the T7S characters. By his own admission, the extent of his research was Wikipedia. He didn't rewatch the show. Quite frankly, he could have read the essays and metas myself and other fans have written to get a better handle (and understanding) of the T7S characters than he did from Wikipedia.

A portion of a show's audience often does understand and respect the characters better than their official writers. They put the characters first rather than creating buzz for the show, catering to network or actor or their own whims, or focusing on the show making money through stunt casting, etc.

While we can't affect what's put on screen, we have the freedom to discuss and debate what we see as character drift or character inconsistencies. To write fanfic that's more true to the characters than the show is.

I hold TV shows to the same standard of storytelling as I do novels. Unfortunately, the TV business does not. The all mighty dollar is what matters first, second, and third to many people in the industry. Not creative authenticity, originality, or consistency. I'm always pleased (and pleasantly surprised) when I watch a show where the characters are put first. These shows exist, but they're rare.

[mirageofadesert]

Give me more morally gray characters ...

Let me interrupt my regular program for a brief rant about Downton Abbey and Thomas Barrow… well, not really regular as I've been too busy to watch anything with subtitles for the past few weeks. Instead, I passively binged on Downton Abbey while working.

I love morally gray characters, be it Tantai Jin from TTEOTM or Spike from Buffy. One of my favorite characters is Thomas Barrow from Downton Abbey. (Spoiler Alert, TW // suicide, homophobia, conversion therapy)

Thomas is everything I need in a character ... unhinged, angsty and gay.

I loved him from the first rude line to the last. He starts out as a delightful troublemaker with a cruel streak born of fear, hurt and the desire to be respected, fit in and belong. He is, as Baxter understands so well, his own worst enemy, having perfected self-sabotage over the years.

A supporting character for most of the show, the footman-turned-butler's story is usually prioritized over his character development - meaning the writers know where they want him to end up each season, even if it contradicts previous characterizations. This leaves the audience with a character who can be hard to follow at times.

The writing really got on my nerves at times. From conveniently forgetting his medical training when they want him to despair during his job hunt, to pulling any kind of cunning out of him when they want him to appear changed (and depressed), Thomas is always what the showrunners need him to be, but not necessary what would make sense for his character. I'm still annoyed that they made him go through medical torture in the form of conversion therapy and a suicide attempt, and then glossed over these traumatic incidents in favor of boring other storylines. Or how they portrayed his war injury as an act of cowardice rather than desperation.

What I love about him is that he was still a coherent character who remained a morally gray character (the last film aside, because they sort of forgot to give him any of his character traits back). Thomas would still lash out when he was angry or hurt, would still manipulate others for his own gain, and would still feel wronged by the world. Once the world has brought him to his knees, he understands that he has only himself to blame, and he tries to do better - which has its ups and downs. The Thomas we see in the final and in the films still wants to belong, is still a desperate romantic, but he is also so incredibly insecure in a rather endearing way.

Younger Thomas was rather stiff but dignified, trying to appear immaculate, trying to hide the fact that he felt he was anything but. Once the mask comes off, he goes from being a reluctant cat to being full of nervous puppy energy. As a neurodivergent person who has recently struggled with not being able to masks well, I can relate a little too much to this version of Thomas.

Most characters, that start out as villains, either change completely (like Tantai Jin), their behavior will be excused (like Mo Ran or Spike) or they sacrifice themselves for the greater good to redeem themselves (like Spike). Thomas stays more on less morally gray. We understand the reasons better, why he would lash out at others, and we can feel sorry for him. He had a harder life than most, but that still does not undo the harm he has done to others.

All in all, the last film was a bit of a disappointment for me, mainly because a lot of the characters felt a bit off. I had to watch the film twice to get behind the romance with Guy Dexter. What Guy meets is Thomas desire to be respected as a person, to be seen as worthwhile, to escape the life as decorative wallpaper and to finally have a romantic relationship with someone that is rather enthusiastic about him. A lot of their relationships seems to have developed off-screen, based on Guy knowing who Carson was during his proposal and understanding how uncertain Thomas still feels about his role in the household. I wish them well - but not at the expense of Thomas being excluded from the rumoured 3rd film. I hope it takes place in the USA and we get to see him again!

I really wish we would see more morally gray characters like this, even through a quick look into the fandom of Downton Abbey shows me, that not everybody can handle it.

[valar-did-me-wrong]

Thank you soooo much for all of your posts on Adar and Sam! Feeling so sad that he's now gone from ROP (but all of your posts have helped heaps during this time of mourning). Do you think there is a chance the writers might bring him back as Celeborn through a reborn kind of storyline? Seems there is a theory being floated Celeborn will return in a similar fashion to Glorfindel... Or - just wishful thinking!

Awwww thankyou 🫶🏽🫂 imo the vibe in Adar fandom since 3rd oct has been

where all of us are all of these women ☝🏽 at the same time. (We're all helping each other grieve in one way or other I mean to say 🙊)

For the Sam Celeborn thing, I highly doubt they will do that. Celeborn is going to be a new actor & character (bless that actor he's gonna get so much hate btw) or the story at this point will get very convoluted & I doubt they'll want that!

I understand your pain of watching Sam leave the show though, I too desperatly want him to be in season 3 but him staying as Celeborn is just highly unlikely now :((

As for Celeborn returning with Glorfindel as an emissary from Valinor, that is an idea I adore because it can mean Celeborn also did nobel deeds in death to get to return back & it gives his character more substance & something to do going forward in the story other than just being Galadriel's husband.

The fangirl in me wants Adar to be back on the same boat too, I want him to be back SO BAD! But I doubt the writers who chose to finish him off in 5 minutes like an afterthought would be willing to write that for him without Jeff Bezos himself deciding otherwise. (Does anyone know how to blackmail this man btw?! Totally unrelated, my friend's asking)

I've lost so much hope on the showrunners regarding Adar, they have burned me with E8 so the best we can hope imo is flashbacks but that also is possible only if there is visible fan outrage & response cue my petition..

Now in the end if nothing works out we'll always have fanfiction & art 🫶🏽 the Adar girlies are talented af & way better at handling him with the respect he deserves..

Adar is ours now, he has many homes & he's safe 🖤

[infinitestalia]

What route do you think the showrunners will take season 2

Lol a bit late to respond now, but pretty much everything that has happened in terms of the bastardisation of Alicent's character. I said last season if she continued to bootlick Rhaenyra after B&C, she could go kick rocks. And somehow they've done worse than that. Doesn't give a fuck that her grandson was beheaded, doesn't care that Helaena's life is destroyed because of Rhaenyra, doesn't care that Aegon is a burned twig, doesn't care that all Aemond's villainy comes from being blinded in one eye by Rhaenyra's devil spawn. It's just boo hoo, I'm a bad mother, boo hoo, my bestie deserves better, boo hoo, I should be regent, hang on, let me drown myself after being the one to set everything in motion. Not exaggerating when I say one of the worst written characters of all time. I know S1E7 Alicent and that beautiful knife is rolling in her grave. This is the writers punishing her for daring to have one episode not hanging off Rhaenyra's ass.

I knew Aegon would be the most compelling character, despite these hack writers. I knew Team Black would continue to get pandered to. What I didn't see coming was them apparently axing Nettles for that boring ass Rhaena. Didn't see the complete idiot they've made out of Aemond- he has now been made the sole cause of almost every major Team Green downfall and don't be surprised when they make HIM responsible for Helaena jumping to further absolve saint Rhaenyra. But everything else is as bad as I expected.

[foxwitchaine]

Which is your most hated character in Miraculous Ladybug?

I wouldn't say hate so much as strongly dislike, as it takes a lot for me to outright loathe a fictional character. More often than not, I have better things to spend my energy on than hating a fictional character.

But if I were to answer that, five take the top spot:

1.) Lila Rossi

I know. Surprising, isn't it. Well, it's all fun and games until you actually meet one in real life. And it's frustrating as hell getting those with the wool over their eyes to listen until it's too late. I have to emphasize that it wasn't originally part of the plan to redeem her in the early drafts. It was thanks to Rafe that I even considered doing a Lila redemption.

Lila had a lot of potential in the early seasons. Of course, that was before she was turned into a one-dimensional villain with little in the way of making her interesting. It says something that I got the feeling the showrunners were trying to make her hateable without actually putting in the effort while reading the Chameleon transcripts. (I had to stop reading to settle my blood pressure)

All in all, Lila is just a symptom of a bigger underlying issue regarding the show's writing. I personally think she has a very nice design, but it looks better in 2D than 3D.

2.) Gabriel Agreste

He's a severely underwhelming main villain. At the start, he had potential. But as the series drags on, it's become painfully clear that the showrunners don't actually know how to make a compelling main villain. He was surprisingly much more intimidating and better-designed in the pilot PV.

Gabriel also lacks the charisma you would find with iconic main villains such as Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII, the rogues gallery in the first Powerpuff Girls, Batman's rogues gallery, and so on. I could make a whole post about how to write Gabriel better, but I don't feel like resurrecting a dead horse.

3.) Adrien Agreste

The poster boy for wasted potential. When Rafe and I first started watching Miraculous Ladybug, Season 2 hadn't been released yet. He was nice, if a bit bland. Could have used some flavorblasting in both design and personality (he's a fashion model, for crying out loud. Where's his fabulous wardrobe?)

And then all the red flags in Seasons 3-5 started popping up.

As it stands, he's nothing more than a plot device to humiliate poor Marinette. And a mouthpiece for the writers' very skewed morality. We weren't going to redeem him at first, but then it occurred to me a fantastic way to strike a devastating blow against Gabriel. I won't say anything more since they're spoilers.

4.) Alya Césaire

Ohhhh boy. Where do I even begin with this one? Disregarding the racism allegations towards the writers regarding her character, Alya is just an awful best friend, plain and simple. While it's true that she's a go-getter who isn't afraid to go for what she wants, that same trait has pretty much been solidified into a toxic trait courtesy of her refusal to question Lila later in the show. Even after Marinette broke down in front of her and confessed her secret identity in Gang of Secrets.

I will forever hate that episode just for how entitled everyone was about Marinette's secrets.

When Rafe and I were brainstorming who to use as our civilian antagonist to fill in for Lila, it was rather telling that Alya was among our first choices. It wasn't our intention for her to fall as hard as she did in The Wolves in the Woods, but honestly? It was inevitable.

5.) Caline Bustier

She's a non-authority figure who coddles the troublemakers in her class. I'm restraining myself at the moment because I've had teachers just like her in real life. Who look good on paper and are the sweetest people on the outside. But their inability to discipline a class regardless of behavior does a lot more damage in the long run than many would care to admit.

Bustier is a character who I could have grown to understand if the writers handled her better. The biggest brat of the school is the daughter of the city mayor. That right there is a beautiful setup for interesting conflict. We could have gotten a plot where we had a good, caring teacher trapped in a terrible situation by her superiors. Which is unfortunately something that can and does happen in real life. Instead, we got an airhead who can't for the life of her understand this simple thing called nuance.

I find it very telling the fandom prefers Mendeleiev over her.

Honorable Mentions:

Principal Damocles: Too much of a spineless noncharacter to really care about

Tom and Sabine: I try to understand the parents' side of things given parenting is far from an easy task

Bustier's class: A mixed bag here, since I don't think they're necessarily bad kids

Mayor Bourgeois: Again, another mixed bag here since he's another spineless "parent"

Zoé Lee: Too much of a blank slate to have an opinion on

Félix Fathom: What kind of a name is that?

Master Fu: He was done so dirty in his backstory

Chloé Bourgeois: Another with wasted potential

[sweetaprilbutterfly]

I will not wait for the release of the finale (although not all, but I know from leaked what will happen) to pass judgment on House of the Dragon and it is DISAPPOINTING SHIT.

Even when there was the first season, I didn't expect anything from hotd, the 1st season was normal, there were interesting characters, but in general the plot is simpler than in GoT.

I read about Dance of the Dragons in Fire & Blood and treated the changes as normal, because the general plot was more or less close to the book. But with the release of the 2nd season, the book became less and less with each episode and the characters don't resemble themselves, not even like themselves in the 1st season.

Like what have they done to Alicent���:

“The city is yours, Princess. But you will not hold it long. The rats play when the cat is gone, but my son Aemond will return with fire and blood” versus “When he’s gone, I will see to it that our guards throw down their arms and open the gates.”

Quote source X

Book Alicent would kill show Alicent for what she does in season 2. Alicent betrayed herself and her family for the "love" to Rhaenyra, this is so stupid and this is not Martin, but some kind of comedy or soap opera.

And I don't understand why Condal is so attached to the prophecy and why he so wants Rhaenyra to be Dany 2.0, when book Rhaenyra is better and more interesting than the show one and he will not change her fate, she will still die, although they will probably change how it will happen.

After the leaks, I'm no longer Team Green, I'm Team Aemond, even though the writers messed him up too, but I hate it when showrunners try to make someone "bad" on purpose to everyone hate. They could never make me hate you Aemond.

HBO needs to remove from the credits that it is based on the book by George R. R. Martin, and write that all this is the work of the mediocre Condal and has nothing to do with the books.

Condal and Hess and the other screenwriters should get a lot more hate than D&D. Condal & Co. are the worst showrunners in the world, to have a completely finished book material and to do what they did is just something incredibly terrible.

For all its faults, Game of Thrones was phenomenal and even seasons 5 and 7 (the worst GoT seasons in my opinion) are better than what Condal and Hess did in season 2.

The asoiaf fandom is so weird. After the final of GoT, the rating on imdb and other platforms collapsed, and here HotD already in the 2nd season abused the canon so much and the majority approves of it??? Yes, I'm one of those people for whom the finale of GoT is normal, but I still can't come to terms with the fact that Arya killed NK, it should have been JON and I don't agree with Jon ending, but in general the season is better than 5 & 7. So I hope all those who so unfairly condemned GoT will rightly condemn HotD and collapse the rating, and maybe the leaks will reduce the rating of the show.

The hotd cast are great, but I don't think I can watch season 3 after this shit, there's no hope of it getting any better.

Condal really wanted hotd to be like GoT, but it didn't work out, it's very far from the grandiose level of GoT, GoT was and will be the best no matter what.