#now this is what we call character development..

[luckystar2025]

Kagami: (scoffing) “Man, this chess app is full of tryhards. Some guy just checkmated me in seven moves.”

Konata: (grinning) “Ah, yes. The dark souls of board games.”

Tsukasa: “Chess has lore?”

Miyuki: “Well, it does have a long and storied history, dating back to—”

Konata: (interrupting) “No, no, no. You don’t get it. Chess was originally an RPG, but the developers abandoned it.”

Kagami: (sighs, rubbing her temples) “Oh no. Here we go.”

Tsukasa: (blinking) “Wait, what? But... it’s a board game?”

Konata: (leaning forward dramatically) “Now it’s a board game. But think about it—why are there ‘kings’ and ‘queens’? Why do pawns ‘level up’ when they reach the other side? Why does a knight move in an L-shape, like it has a special movement skill?”

Miyuki: “That’s actually called an ‘equestrian move,’ reflecting cavalry tactics in medieval warfare.”

Konata: “Uh-huh. Or—and hear me out—it was a class-based strategy RPG, but the devs never finished balancing it. Look at how broken queens are. No way they playtested that.”

Kagami: (crossing arms) “That’s because it represents medieval power structures, not because it’s ‘broken.’”

Konata: “Oh yeah? Then why can’t kings do anything? He’s the ‘main character,’ right? Shouldn’t he at least have one special ability? No mobility, no attacks, literally just vibes.”

Tsukasa: (soft gasp) “He’s like a quest NPC...”

Konata: (nodding) “Exactly! Meanwhile, pawns are literally just cannon fodder. And they have permadeath, too. What kind of RPG doesn’t let you revive your party members?”

Miyuki: (adjusting glasses) “Some historical interpretations suggest—”

Konata: (ignoring her) “And let’s not forget the final boss. You’re not even supposed to kill the king, you just put him in ‘checkmate,’ which is basically the game’s version of a cutscene trigger. Like, ‘Congratulations! You trapped the king in an unskippable defeat animation!’”

Kagami: (annoyed) “That’s just how chess works! It’s a strategy game, not a stupid gacha RPG.”

Konata: (grinning) “Oh, but if it was a gacha game, you’d have to pay to unlock a second queen.”

Tsukasa: (shocked) “Oh no…!”

Miyuki: “If I may, there are variations of chess that—”

Konata: (cutting her off) “Nope! The devs just abandoned it. No DLC, no updates, just community patches for centuries. That’s why we have things like ‘Blitz Chess’ and ‘960 Chess.’ Those are just modded servers because the devs went radio silent after launch.”

Kagami: (pinching the bridge of her nose) “I hate that this actually makes some sense.”

Konata: (smug) “And that is why I refuse to play chess. I don’t support dead games.”

Kagami: “You played Tibia for, like, three years.”

Konata: (pointing) “That game still gets updates.”

Tsukasa: “So… if chess got an expansion, would you play it?”

Konata: “Maybe. But only if they nerf queens and buff kings.”

Miyuki: (thinking) “Perhaps we should consider Shogi instead?”

Kagami: “Not another one...”

[maxdibert]

1. We’re talking about a high-class bully considered an aristocrat in his world due to his blood status, who also operated with numerical superiority when attacking and, conveniently, had a working-class half-blood kid as his main target, whom he literally attacked for “existing.” The classist conditions are quite evident, and the power dynamics are clear. If you don’t want to see them because you need to justify your love for abusive, privileged brats, that’s not my problem. I fully acknowledge that Severus had plenty of flaws and a terrible personality, but what I won’t accept is blaming him when, in this dynamic with James Potter, he was clearly the victim and the one who was socially and economically at a disadvantage.

2. Excusing abusive behavior with “it’s just humor” is like excusing people making racist or homophobic jokes under the same premise. If we understand that one thing is wrong, we should apply it across the board. Making jokes with a misogynistic undertone that directly ties to the systematic, traditional abuse of women is not funny—it’s a demonstration of the power and impunity that privileged white men have over certain social groups, in this case, women. I’d love to see you defend the same attitude if it were Severus or Lucius Malfoy saying the same thing. You probably wouldn’t be saying the same.

3. Can you tell me where in canon it specifies that those spells were created for being a bigot? What we know is that they were created for “enemies,” and “enemies” can easily be understood as the group of bullies who had been tormenting him since he was 11 years old. Interpreting it as him creating them to target innocent Muggle-borns is something you’ve completely fabricated because nothing in the canon suggests that. It’s your own prejudice driving that interpretation. I’m basing this on canon, where his book specifies it was for “enemies.” Therefore, the knife analogy is correct: I carry a knife to protect myself from enemies, who in this case are guys who might try to do something to me at night. If those guys grab my knife and assault me with it, is that my fault? Victim blaming?

4. No, my dear, you started with the nonsense, so don’t come to me with excuses now. Sorry, but it seems like some of you get very upset when someone calls you out and debunks your fallacies. Well, that’s not my fault. Sorry!

5. James starts picking on Snape the very first day of school on their way to Hogwarts. Was he a bigot then? Did he butt into the conversation and mock him because he was a bigot? How did he know? Was he psychic and saw the future? Also, when the book explicitly states that he decided to publicly strip him because Sirius was bored? Why doesn’t it say they went after him because he was a bigot, but rather because Sirius was bored and his way of having fun was to find Snape alone and attack him two-on-one? Shall we also remember that what happens with Lily happens after they strip him and publicly humiliate him by choking him? Or are you conveniently skipping that part to keep throwing around argumentative fallacies at your convenience?

6. Basic concepts of character development 101: show, don’t tell. Rowling manages to show the reader that James could also be a terrible person through his actions, but when it comes to his “redemption,” she doesn’t show it—his friends just tell us about it, and they were clearly far from objective. Where is this change? Where is the maturity? Where does she show it? You can say something a thousand times, but it can’t be taken seriously if you don’t show it, and Rowling fails miserably at convincing us about James by not showing this so-called maturity she claims he has.

I love it when Marauders stans try to portray Lily as the ultimate feminist icon when any woman with half a brain and even the most basic understanding of gender studies knows that you’d be safer locked in a cage with a hungry lion than with a rich brat who publicly strips people and blackmails you into dating him in exchange for not committing sexual assault. Like, what world do you even live in? Seriously?

[sundove88]

Weekly Shonen Jump: YuYuYu AU

Hello, people! In an attempt to try and make Jump Force 2.0., I veneered off course and decided to binge an underrated Magical Girl Anime- Yuuki Yuuna Wa Yuusha De Aru!

To put it very lightly, Yuuki Yuuna Wa Yuusha De Aru, or Yuki Yuna Is A Hero, is a magical girl anime that has a group of middle school girls (Including one who is a wheelchair user) that help out people in their day to day lives. BUT WAIT! One day, their phones ring, and they’re sent into this place called the Jukai to do battle with creatures called Vertexes that threaten a gigantic magical tree known as The Shinju, and they become magical girls to battle the beasts and protect the world. There’s a lot more- novels included, but I won’t give away any spoilers so I don’t ruin anyone’s viewing experience.

Now, I know what you’re saying and then some, “But this has nothing to do with Weekly Shonen Jump!”, oh, you’re wrong.

Because in my spare time, I did so much researching into Shueisha’s extensive catalog, picking out every single series, going into prolonged studies of Florigraphy and Hanakotoba (The meanings of flowers in both Victorian England and Japan, including modern ones), and choosing weapons that fit each character, as well as writing scenes and doing TONS of worldbuilding and lore development. All with the help of my buddy @sam-rexian.

And oh my Kami, I think I just put more effort into this AU than Bandai even did with Jump Force (No Offense). Because it is HUGE.

We’re talking about:

OVER 250,000 UNIQUE CHARACTERS FROM ACROSS SHUEISHA’S 100 YEAR HISTORY

OVER 1,000,000 UNIQUE FLOWERING PLANTS- ALTERNATE COLORS INCLUDED.

WORLDBUILDING THAT CONNECTS ALL OF THE ANIME WORLDS TO OUR OWN REAL WORLD.

NO POWER CREEPS- EVERYONE IS ON AN EQUAL PLAYING FIELD HERE WITH THE HERO FORMS.

ORIGINAL CONTENT INCLUDING AU EXCLUSIVE SCENES AND STORIES.

AND RAISED STAKES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE IN THE BATTLE FOR EXISTENCE ITSELF.

Yes, you read that right. The stakes aren’t tied to a tiny island (Shikoku) anymore. THEY’RE TIED TO THE WHOLE MULTIVERSE (Aka our real world, all fictional media worlds, and who knows how many worlds we have yet to discover) AND ALL OF EXISTENCE!!!

And if you wanna ask me for the Google Doc, just DM me and I’ll send ya the link!

And I think I’ll make a sideblog for this AU.

[moonlight-bloop-rambles]

Big Wild west smp lore Theory

Spoilers for all recent Wild west smp lore! A few Disclaimers bevor:

I don’t know how coherent this will be as I do not keep up with all POVs but I has the theory for so long now and with the talk Spur, Jax and Olwyn had about what Sniper said in Jaxper’s last stream it just became more real.

This also might be a bit of a long one so it goes to Tumblr as to not overflow the Discord.

I hope this makes sense. It’s essencially a big brain dump because I need the theory out there in case I call it and in general. I apologize for grammar errors.

---

Alright here we go.

Things we know so far:

Ness has confirmed that he is a computer or something similar to at least Olwyn

Ness has also referenced to others as “players” and “entities”

There is a higher entity outside that can heat and see everything and is the reason Ness has to write certain things in Number code

Sniper consistently refers to themselves and a few other people on the island as “Not real”

Sniper said they are “as real as the ground they stand on”

Jay “became real”

Sniper says they were created

X is here to help the island

---

Now I want to mention a Film and a Series,

“The Trueman show” (should be familiar to people) and a series called “Westworld”

2 disclaimers:

Westworld is an ADULT SHOW if you are a minor PLEASE DON’T WATCH IT

I have watched neither of them, I just mention them here for what they are roughly about because its important

The Trueman show:

“The Truman Show is a TV classic all over the world. Since his birth, Truman Burbank has been the main character of the series without even knowing it. Producer Christof designed an artificial world in which Truman is observed by over 5,000 cameras 24 hours a day. To keep the facade from collapsing, his wife, friends and relatives are all actors. In episode 10,909, however, various accidental incidents occur that make Truman suspicious.” (google)

Westworld:

“In the 2050s, Delos Inc. operates several theme parks, including the American Old West-themed Westworld. Each environment is populated by the "Hosts", biomechanical robots indistinguishable from humans. The Hosts are programmed to fulfill the guests' every desire, and will engage in—and be subjected to—every kind of violent and/or sexual activity. However, the Hosts' programming makes it impossible for them to harm any living thing or allow the guests to be harmed. The park's operators create narratives for these Hosts to carry out while interacting with guests, but the Hosts' memories are wiped after each narrative is completed. Delos Inc. asserts that the Hosts, being machines and hence incapable of experiencing pain, cannot be truly harmed by these scenarios the same way that a human would be.“  (Wikipedia)

---

Now to my Theory:

I believe that the Island is somewhat of a Stage or something similar. Like a place marketed as “fun Wild West experience” to people. Be that an actual place or a digital world / game. The people that are “from the island” are either actors, robits or as we chat know “NPCs”.

The Cacti Hivemind

In my mind Senspa is already in a robots body and Ness and Senspa are like computer programs. That’s why the cactus hivemind exists. Its not real or magic in any way. Its just a “Senspa Programm” basically being installed into a new cacti body.

Jay

Jay “becoming real” is him gaining his own sentience that he was not supposed to have. Its what Sniper talks about when they have Jay. Jay is not supposed to have to eat, or sleep or love but because of the way Jay is he developed this love for the people around him and got sentience. Making him real. Now they still are linked to the others, able to sense Sniper, Jax and Spur and according to Sniper is something “in between”. Jay is not like the players. He is still and NPC or Programm. But he is no longer just that / mainly that.

Ness

The same thing happened to Ness. They where originally installed to help Senspa get back into the original program. To stop senspa from gaining consciousness too. That’s why it was also programmed with the sense of “Not interfering” as to not get attached and not develop that Love for the People.

Weird ways of talking / Not able to say certain things

Its also the reason why, I think, Scout talks so wildly and explaines things with analogys like the “Milktooth claw” thing and why Sniper, Senspa and Redbite could not say certain things. Not because something they are afraid of would hut them. No they can literally Not say certain things and Ness talks in code about certain things. It goes against their programming to say things so they have to talk around it.

Jaxper and Spur

Jaxper and Spur with the X in them are, according to Sniper, Something else. They are no like Sniper, mainly NPC/ Programm, or like Jay, between an NPC that is no longer mainly that. I think both Jax and Spur are still considered “players” that uploaded / created their own programming.

The “higher being / dangerous being ouside”

The being outside the border could very well just be a myth of the director / boss of whatever game the island is. Its called a Monster / higher being as to scare the “players” and keep them from escaping. Beckett did not know about that being and they were able to escape.

Redbite / The cicles

The people that came in on the train came in the first place to have fun and relax but it got out of control the Moment Redbite, also a Programm, gained a sentience she wasn’t supposed to have a long long time ago. She got attached to the players and changes the original main coding of the island creating the cicles.

This is the last cicle because the director being is unable to restart it as long as redbite is loged in the system. She is essencially a virus

The X

The X is here to fix the island and help it according to Sniper. I think is a different Programm / software trying to fix the damage Redbite did to it when making the cicles

The Biomes and Ruins

Because the Software / Island / Game is trying to fix itself with the X while the Virus is still there and has trapped the player inside the game. The Game is glitching and bringing back old elements from past cicles.

Ocie

Ocie was the first person to eat X. She put X a place where its no supposed to be. She was the only person to eat it and not immediately throw up or be at least somewhat uncomfortable. Spur and C.W., while not in absolute Pain like Jax and Josie after eating it, still said that it did not feel great. Ocie was fine while eating it till she wasn’t and switched to her alternative diet. I think because of for how long she has eaten X and how regularly she is eating it she glitched out part of her, giving her player stomach a virus essencially and putting her stomach on that level beyond player. Now with her alternative diet she is slowly putting it back to being a player.

At this point this is all I have on the Theory. If more comes up I will add onto this. I apologize for how long this is and how rambly. You are very welcome to add onto it and things.

[danadiadea]

I am pretty sure Severus didn't see Lily's face "twitching"? I mean, he was hanging upside down with his cloak covering his face, so it was not about that. I think it was mostly about James's attempt to emasculate him because he was defended "by a girl" (didn't they start calling him Sn*velus because Lily brought him out of conflict in the train, huh? i'm telling you, james potter loooves women), and quite possibly about the rejection of his friendship with a muggleborn he encountered in Slytherin, but also about the way Lily defended him.

I don't think Lily's attempts in defence were flirty (even though Rowling clearly assumes they are and fuck that sick misogynistic idea of romance), but they truly were half-hearted. I would have understood if Lily hadn't moved on to more serious actions, because her character was described as calm, gentle and not inclined to fight, but this is not the case for Lily. She chose to interfere, but not to stop them.If, while I was being physically and/or sexually assaulted, my friend instead of calling authorities (teachers) for help, disarming the aggressor, or at least helping me get back MY weapon, had just stood there and verbally shit on the abuser while they continued to endanger and assault me, I wouldn't have gone to apologize to them ever, I would actually expect apologies. Slurs are harmful, but if Severus had called Lily a fucker, I would have no complaints against him.

Lily had a solid right to end their friendship with Severus, of course, but that's not the same as leaving one alone when they are defenseless in front of a crowd of people who are determined to cause them serious harm. If Lily had made sure that nothing was threatening Sev's physical safety and then called him a complete idiot and ended their friendship, I would have no complaints against her either. I don't care if you are friends or not, I wouldn't leave the biggest scumbag in the world in a situation like that.

It seems to me that most of the hate that is Lily gets exists because she was extremely idealized (in quite a few parts of the fandom and in the books and the films and rowling interviews), and now this is the backlash. She actually is just a fifteen-year-old girl, she doesn't have to possess exceptional empathy, be extremely selfless or understanding beyond average. She wasn't an ideal friend to Severus, and Severus wasn't an ideal friend to her, because they were just messy teenagers in difficult circumstances. I mean, when Voldemort came to her house to kill her family, she literally started blocking up the door with boxes and a chair! Obviously, she's still just a teenager in a way. But when she is painted as an absolute saint, whose choices are the measure of moral goodness and impeccable logic, a lot of people look at this and see the incongruity and become pissy.

Oh, and regarding the werewolf prank, Lily didn't know what exactly had been that danger to Severus' life or how serious the situation was, because he couldn't tell her. Yes, she gaslighted him about his traumatic experiences, but she simply couldn't understand what Severus is going through, not only because she has not yet fully developed empathy and a lot of life experience, but also because Severus himself speaks sparingly about his problems, which we see when he talks about his father for example. Sev is admittedly not good in being vulnerable, and the environment didn't help. It's not Lily's fault that she can't fully understand him, nor is it Severus' fault.

However, I understand the fandom's desire for their favorite character to have a more reliable and supportive "perfect" friend to handle all his traumas, because can't we have that unrealistic shit at least in fiction?

for all that us snape fans say how we love his character because he is flawed and complex, i find it disappointing how many of us can't extend that line of thinking towards lily, while pretending that young severus was entirely innocent. i've noticed this a lot recently and it's been bothering me quite a bit so i've felt the need to defend lily, or to be exact, analyse the downfall of their relationship without basically giving her all the blame and instead looking at both characters and especially lily more critically.

so. let's talk about the conversation between her and severus after the werewolf prank. some snape fans harshly criticise her in this scene because she insists that james saved severus and doesn't acknowledge how serious this prank was, while insisting that at least the marauders don't use dark magic.

and i agree that she should have been more on severus' side in this case. after all he could have died or gotten seriously injured, turned into a werewolf etc and she downplays the severity of the situation and generally doesn't acknowledge how the marauders bullied severus very much. so yes, she could have been a better friend here.

but at the same time, from her perspective, she was already noticing that severus was spending more time with his housemates, all of them aspiring death eaters, how he had always looked up to lucius and was slowly heading down that same path. how he didn't truly disapprove of his housemates disgusting actions towards muggleborns - her own kind. even though it's not entirely logical, since we see through the marauders that light magic can be used to do harm aswell, this also explains her dislike of dark arts, which these (aspiring) death eaters all were fond of and using to do awful things to her friends (and hogwarts also pretty much teaches that dark magic is pure evil). by this point she had most likely also experienced discrimination at hogwarts for being muggleborn. she knew the situation in the wizarding world wasn't favourable for her, and now her best friend was starting to agree with those people?

the next notable event was of course snapes worst memory (sigh, here i go talking about it for the millionth time). and i really don't like how some people on our side of the fandom talk about lily in this scene (of course, this is not all of us).

first of all we saw that she initially smiled upon seeing severus be bullied, and yes, this was honestly quite disgusting. we know that severus saw this and was rightfull hurt, and this very well could be the reason why he snapped at her. but that is her only 'crime' in this scene. because she then does quickly turn against james and this entire crowd and defends severus. only for james to insult and threaten her, and severus to call her a 'filthy little mudblood'.

now, people say she should have done more to defend severus, that her attempt was quite half-hearted. i don't know. maybe she could have done more, but she did tell the marauders to stop, you can't say she didn't try. some say she should have hexed james herself or bring up her prefect role (although i'm not sure it's confirmed she was one at this time). but say she was a prefect, her job would be to stop fighting, which she tried to do, not to get involved in fights herself. and you can tell that james is entirely dismissive of her and clearly won't let her stop him no matter what, even threatening her in the process. lily also genuinely seems to still hate him at this point in time, she is described to have been disgusted with him to the point where even harry questions his parents marriage. so i don't believe it's fair to say she was just 'flirting' with james here.

furthermore, people believe she should have forgiven severus for being called a mudblood. i used to agree that it wasn't that serious, but i feel differently now. because it wasn't just a word, it wasn't a one time mistake or slip up or even the first time she noticed that he was slowly turning into a future death eater. that's why i brought up their conversation after the prank. lily knows that severus' descend into the death eaters arms had been going on for months, years even. being called - not even just mudblood, but hearing the words "i don't need help from a filthy little mudblood like her" out of the mouth of her former best friend was just the final nail in the coffin. it was her confirmation that severus was finally too far down that road, and she, as a muggleborn, could no longer justify surrounding herself with him. so she abandons him at the scene, and i can't blame her one bit.

of course this post is not meant to be severus bashing in any way, he is and always will be my favorite character, but i don't enjoy pretending he was completely innocent, even his younger self. this is also not to excuse the marauders, as their bullying never had anything to do with severus possibly being a death eater and was really just for fun and because they could, and because he was an easy victim. but i truly believe that lily deserves some grace and also to be analysed as a complex character like severus, rather than painting her as one dimensional, either fully good or fully bad.

severus becoming a death eater is the tragic result of his background and surroundings, and when we analyse him we factor all of this in. lily was wealthier, had a better family, was pretty, smart and popular and had a good support system in and out of hogwarts. she couldn't understand why severus made the choices he did. maybe as an adult she would have looked back and understood it all better. but as it was, she was just a teenage girl watching her best friend turn against people like her and not knowing what to do about that. and what's also important to me to point out is that it was not her job to try and stop this, to try and fix him or whatever. it was first and foremost the adults in severus' life who failed him over and over again, not lily.

finally a lot of us can't understand how lily ended up marrying her former friends abuser and use this as an argument against her, but i honestly don't want to go too deep into this topic. i personally strongly dislike this relationship, because james treated lily herself like shit too, aswell as other people. we have to believe that he truly did change, even if there is not much to prove this. even if he did, i personally wouldn't have been able to forgive him. but i don't believe that marrying james makes lily a bad person by extension or anything. ultimately, if she was able to find happiness, i'm happy for her.

[yuujiheart]

YOU EITHER DIE LIKE A TRUE HATER

OR YOU STILL DIE BUT END UP BECOMING WHAT YOU HATED

No wonder he didn't speak about yuji.. He was embarrassed... 😭😭

[marshmellowtea]

ngl i do hate this post and i think it's a byproduct of fandom's obnoxious lean toward this idea that in order to be a true fan of anything you have to be ~critical~ of it which is a sentiment that pisses me off immensely. that being said this is a little bit how i feel whenever i point out chris's conservative leaning as a result of his parents on this website ghlkajfd

[riddlerosehearts]

??? okay after seeing that those early development sheets from the pokemon leak say elesa is fifteen in BW i'm choosing to take all of this as just. initial ideas that most likely shifted during development because it literally makes no sense like that would make her and bianca around the same age when she's very clearly portrayed in the game itself as an adult with far more life experience than bianca who's able to advise her and get her father to back down from babying her. it also makes skyla/elesa a little weird as a ship since skyla's character sheet says skyla is 18 and it makes the way elesa is drawn in a lot of official art just plain creepy, like?? 😭 to me this is a prime example of why you can't take things like this to be fully canon because things are always changing from when a game, or movie, or basically any media is initially concieved to when it's completed. i'd bet anything that the devs may have originally thought she should be 15, may have drawn up some concept art or sprites for a version of her that was 15, and then changed their minds later and aged her up. because there is just no way at all.

[yolowritter]

In Defense of Chloe Bourgeois Part 3: Why Thomas, WHY?

Hello everyone! In case it wasn't obvious by the title, this is a part 3 to this post right there! I'd sincerely recommend reading it since you'll need the context. Anyhow, moving right onto where I left off! Yes I copied the message too, it's 2am leave me alone.

[...]

Mind you, I'm not saying that there shouldn't be one at all, but that Miracle Queen was absolutely not the right time to go for it. Assuming that Chloe's fall was planned from the start, then I'll admit that it was the right call from Astruc and Co. Why? Because Seasons 2 and 3 give us an excellent analysis of Chloe as a character, and a lot of time for her to try and acclimate herself to the new circumstances of actually belonging somewhere. But...they also don't provide Chloe with the oppurtunity to figure herself out that much. She's preoccupied with Akuma fights whenever she's Queen Bee, and doesn't get much time to actually talk to her would-be friends as herself, at least outside the context of beating up this week's fashion atrocity, courtesy of the local Butterfly Man. And to be honest? The only reason I don't love Miracle Queen as an episode is because Chloe's fall didn't get proper buildup. If Astruc had devoted time to show us what was happening, then I'd be head over heels for the sheer amount of potential doors this storyline was opening!

Unfortunately...Thomas decided to double down on a terrible writing mistake...with Queen Banana. Dear Nooroo, the sheer amount of hate I have for this episode is almost as bad as my seething rage for Ephemeral! I'll talk about that disasterous stew of rotten eggs and horrendous writing some other time, but Queen Banana nearly takes the cake for my least favorite episode in Season 4! Would you like to know why? Because I was inhaling one thousand cubic meters of copium when I predicted that Astruc would actually bother doing something worthwhile with Chloe! And I'll admit, I do see what they were going for here. Make Chloe as bad as possible to replace her with Zoe. But that just ended up undermining both of them so badly that it actually hurts me to watch Queen Banana and Sole Crusher! I honestly don't think it was 100% intentional to make it look like Zoe was her half-sister's replacement, but the fact that it even looks that way from what I believe to be a decently unbiased point of view...is a problem. Don't get me wrong, I love Zoe! She's amazing, and Season 5 made her even better! But her introduction was so poorly written that it feels that way.

And Thomas certainly didn't help matters with the way Chloe was portrayed in those episodes. People have said that "she was being nice to Zoe at the start" and that "Chloe was trying to help with the movie, she had a really cool idea!" and both of those are true, yes, but look at the way that she goes about it. Chloe cranks up her "Audrey-ness" from the 8.5 we see on a good day, to the 10 of Style Queen...to a good ol' 27. Mind you, this could have been very well done! It could have been made obvious that Chloe is intentionally falling back into old habits as a defense machanism or a way to cope by deluding herself into thinking she doesn't need anyone because she's a Bourgeois! Would have made for a wonderful plotline, especially since she broke off her and Adrien's friendship. If I recall correctly, he told her she's being unreasonable, which Chloe absolutely was the entire episode, at least in the way she went about interacting with people. Naturally, Chloe insists otherwise, and decides that she doesn't need him either! This would be a wonderful moment to have her cry in the limousine, or maybe we could have gotten a scene where she's regretting cutting him off in Sole Crusher! Even at some later point in the Season! It would have been great! It would have given Chloe proper depth and made the approach of her fall in Miracle Queen have actual consequence in regards to her character! It would have severely complicated Chloe's relationship with the now only positive influence in her life, Zoe!

Speaking of Zoe, there's a huge theme hanging between her and Andre about breaking cycles of abuse. I won't talk about it here since it fits into a future post, but there's already a lot of analysis posts out there, especially about their relationship, which I personally find fundementally flawed. Andre is in general a really shitty person who I don't think ever should gotten a redemption arc, especially one that amounts to "Oh well, the problem child (that I am responsible for failing to raise) is gone now, time to receive zero consequences and enjoy my life after being a corrupt politician for almost a decade!" Can you tell I do not like that by the way? Can you tell? I swear I am giving this man a downfall arc to end all downfalls in a fic one of these days...

Anyway, point is that Chloe and Zoe are both screwed over by their incredibly horrible parents! And to anyone who says "but Zoe isn't a bad person, she's just different", kindly think about why that is. Chloe spent her entire childhood begging for her mother's attention and then being taught how to bribe, extort, blackmail and bully people into submission by Andre. Which is canon by the way! Meanwhile Zoe spent a significant amount of time with Audrey, and therefore doesn't idolize the mom she never knew.

Now, I'm not going to speculate on Zoe's childhood, but it seems pretty logical that Zoe was at the very least witness to a frankly ludicrous amount of Audrey's "you're ridiculous, utterly ridiculous" moments, to the point where she's sick of it. Like c'mon, if you had anybody in your house firing their unpaid intern 27 consecutive times in the span of maybe an hour, you'd quickly get used to it, get annoyed by it, and then promptly decide the behavior isn't worth emulating. Especially if you're sick of their shit by that point, which we can logically Zoe is. Therefore, she doesn't act like Audrey. Considering Andre didn't know she existed, he never poisoned her with his slimy politician ways, Zoe's behavior is different from Chloe's. As an aside, she still does try to emulate her actions when she first arrives at Dupont, if only for a couple minutes. Zoe wants to fit in, and even if she doesn't like what Chloe does, she's willing to play the part at least for a moment to get close to her sister. Fits really well with her wanting to be an actress, so I wanted to highlight it!

Anyway, the point is that there is some great foundational material here! Regardless of whether or not Chloe "fell" in Miracle Queen, there's amazing potential for a proper conflict between these two! Because as a reminder, we deduced earlier that Chloe was jealous of Marinette because of the latter having what she didn't! Zoe presumably had Audrey's love (in Chloe's mind at least), hence she would treat her differently. Be it either with seething hatred or jealousy is up to whomever writes the story. Alternatively, Chloe could (in the scenario where Miracle Queen didn't happen) believe that Zoe is a similarly abusive situation as she, and we go from there for a plotline between the two. Irrespectively of which route they wanted or could have taken this, any potential for character development between these two is utterly ruined from the very moment they first interact on screen.

This because Chloe is now reduced to a one-dimensional "school bully" character, which would have made logical sense if the writers explained it as a self-defense mechanism, but without any context or exploration of her mental state post Season 3, it can only be seen as character regression, which is never a good idea! Not to mention that Lila Rossi exists specifically to fulfil the role of antagonist for Marinette's personal life now! I know as well as everyne else how much Lila gets ignored and underused in this show, but the fact that Thomas and Co. took time to forcefully shove Chloe back in a role that no longer fits her instead of using the villain they spent three Season Finales hanging in front of us like a carrot on a stick is ridiculous to me! Therefore, Chloe's entire character development, which I would have been completely fine with if anybody bothered to treat her downfall with even the minimum amount of respect it deserves, if solely from the perspective of not leaving a gaping plothole bigger than the cavern in Gabriel's basement in the middle of their storyline! I know I already brought up me having an aneurysm once because of these crappy writing decisions, but we are well past the point of a mental breakdown and headed directly to a freakin' heart attack!

Why? Why??? How do you even manage to disrespect your own character to the point where you ruin two villains simultaniously, and the new heroine you're introducing??? Thomas Astruc! Have you ever taken a Writing 101 class before? Do I need to borrow Nathalie's crossbow and force you into one? Yeah okay, we get you don't like Chloe, but I honestly cannot accept that her botched downfall would spiral into the utter butchering of two more characters with unlimited potential, one of whom is supposed to be the villainess for your protagonist's personal life and the new Hawkmoth! I am well aware that Thomas doesn't even know I exist, but the sheer amount of beef I have with this man solely for being incompetent it honestly starting to become too much! I'm sitting over here desperately trying to retcon and re-write his characters in my head to at least make logical sense! And he just adds even more steaming-hot garbage to the pile of inconsistency, insanity and bad writing decisions! Meanwhile, we're missing 100% of logical sense, character respect, or at the very least some kind of way for the audience to understand what you're trying to communicate! Just tell us in a twitter post at this point! Please, be clear with your writing!

Okay...I'm sorry, this post has gotten way too long. Ridiculously long. Including this paragraph, it's actually almost 7.5k words in total. Hence why I've split it into so many parts. I sincerely hope you got the point. To summarize, regardless of if Chloe was redeemed or not, there were incredible oppurtunities for storytelling, and Thomas missed the wide side of a barn with this one. If you ask me I can go into way more detail, and yes that's despite the 7.4 thousand words in this series of posts. Anyway, I am now going to cool off, and quite possibly (maybe) sleep. I'll see you all next time (when I wake up from my coma), but until then, Stay Miraculous everyone!

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[emdotcom]

*remembers what they did to Vanny* 500 FUCKING PIPEBOMB ATTACK.

[lem-argentum]

there is a lot that undoubtedly sucks about instagram however letting you add songs to posts is the best thing in the world because there's NOTHINGGG!!!!!!!! i love more than subjecting people to my music. 💛💛💛

[nomsfaultau]

Bro I just started reading your fic like three days ago and I’m already on chapter 14 BUT BRO THIS SHITS CRAZY ITS SO FUCKING GOOD YOUR TECHNO CHARACTERIZATION IS MAGNIFICENT

I love how everyone is trauma trauma mental health disaster angst and then Techno “voices in he head” Blade is out chilling with his inner demons. The Foundation tried to get to him and he was like ‘bruh thanks for the offer but I’m good’

He’s so wonderfully comfortable with himself and his flaws. Well I mean he’s an awkward dork, but still. Of course he’s downplaying his own trauma since that’s how he rolls, but overall he’s having an alright time while causing huge problems for everyone else lol

Shows up 150k words late to the fic in the middle of a disaster with a potato smoothie:

“Hullo did I miss anything?”

[cherrymoonvol6]

.

[afterlife-2004]

THE 🔥FLAMES🔥OF DISASTER⁉️⁉️‼️

Here’s a link to the original tweet by @//FurabioOtoMAD on Twitter :D!

They also uploaded the video onto YouTube! XDDDDDDD

Go check it out!

[the-voice-of-night-vale]

social anxiety can be really funny in retrospect bc it will have you saying shit like 'is it weird to call a doctor's office and schedule an appointment?"with 100% sincerity and panicking about it as if that's not the silliest thing in the world

[palebloodpresence]

what if i said my genuine opinion of "rom the vacuous spider" is that she's actually not like, peaceful because she's stupid, she's just extremely fucking chill bc she's so enlightened. like she WILL defend herself but really she just wants to hide in her cool lake world and hide dark rituals