#on retrospect there is probably a scene I could cut but also its kind of fundemental for the timey-wimey why-am-i-in-dr-who plot so not rly
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Note
ok, i know in the past ive been on team "axe the trolls" but you make a really good case for keeping them. so how much of the trolls would we actually see? obviously we're not going to get shit like sollux losing his vision or troll romance or anything, but how much time are we spending on alternia? at first i was thinking basically no time at all, but now im considering making the back half of the movie a sort of pseudo-hiveswap where the kids go to the seat of HIC/LE's power to defeat them
the fact that we even see alternia at all in homestuck is one of those things which in retrospect is kind of like... why did this happen at all? obviously we can appreciate act 5 because it was fun to read and introduced characters we like but from a purely craft perspective it makes no sense as a digression LOL. even the way hussie talks about the introduction of the trolls kind of insinuates to me that the whole thing was an exercise in running away with an idea that seemed fun at the time and got a strong reaction from readers. so i think the trolls' inclusion in an adaptation needs to be tempered by awareness of that and steps taken to avoid getting similarly carried away. (but i'm sure these are all the same things you thought about when you came to the conclusion that they don't belong in the movie at all haha)
for instance i've taken it for granted that kanaya, karkat, terezi and vriska are The Troll Characters. you can maaaaybe stretch that to include gamzee if the cast ends up starving for antagonists but there's never going to be, like, a vriska and tavros arc. characters like sollux can EXIST for karkat etc to bounce of off in their introductory scenes, but ultimately the movie should be About the humans with the trolls as supporting characters, and there is obviously a limit to how many supporting-supporting-characters a film can feasibly hold the weight of. and to this end alternia and the trolls' individual backstories can pretty much be relegated to implication over explicit flashback.
& the thing about alternia and implications is that alternia as a concept is at its strongest when compared and contrasted with earth. so if you cut the literal alternia out of the equation and transpose all the troll stuff to earth, you can really make that comparison WORK for you; karkat's alien suburb is implicitly a dark mirror version of john's suburb in the comic, so why not make troll suburbs actually a corrupted version of earth suburbs, as the invading trolls corrupt earth in the image of their own homeworld? (again, basically just doing the 'synthesise salvageable parts of the alternia concept into post-scratch earth' thing that Act 6 already demonstrated is possible.) i agree journeying to alternia to beat English could be a strong backdrop for the climax, but it needn't be a literal journey; LE's villainy is best communicated thru his corruption of alternia, and i think in this version of the story the most explicit way to communicate that corruption is to have it happen to the earth before the characters' very eyes. from there you get to explore all these key homestuck questions about toxic cycles and regression vs moving forward and leaving them behind, ultimately approaching the realisation that 'the game', whatever it is, isn't about saving the earth from destruction (after all, the trolls are probably only doing this to save their own asses from extinction, right?) but rather creating something entirely new from the ashes and locking lord english out of his own origin story
that being said i can also see this being approached as a much more literal time loop story where the ending involves travelling back in time to caliborn's / the condesce's youth/s and breaking the loop. and that way you still get to do the whole riff on planet of the apes when they realise Evil Planet was actually Earth's Future All Along. but i think this is another point where it matters whether we're just doing one movie or a series
16 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text

Book 4 in the @batmanisagatewaydrug 2025 book bingo
š§āāļøFantasyāØ
The Wandering Inn book 1 by Pirateaba (audio)
Read by request of my partner (I gotta stop taking recommendations from him).
Long. So long. I know that's an inane thing to say about part one of what may be the longest work in the English language, but girlies, I am not cut out for epic fantasy. This one is 43 hours, volume 2 is 60 hours. You could probably get through the entirety of Tolstoy's work in the time it takes to listen to just 2 of the 14 (and counting) volumes of The Wandering Inn. You know, the War and Peace guy? The infamously long book, that's equivalent to one of these! Too long!
At one point during my slog I took a break and watched Conclave, the pope film, and it was good, but at the time I felt like it was the best thing I'd ever seen because it made its point in 2 hours and left. I could do other things! Anything else I wanted! I went back to my book. I don't want to be too harsh, it's a debut and it's self published, and it's certainly an impressive work. There's at least one normal books worth of decent writing in this volume, it's just that it's the length of three or four. I've learnt that there is also an updated version out there kicking around, so maybe it addresses some of my complaints. But it's 5 hours longer, somehow.
There's this tic they have of repetition, where a phrase will be said in the narration and then almost immediately put into the mouth of a character. The first time I noticed it I thought it was a flaw in the otherwise incredible narration, like she'd read a line wrong and it got overlooked in the edit, but no, it happens a lot. And then I noticed subtler versions of repetition, until there's a big horror monster fight scene near the end which felt like they put 50 words in a washing machine and made me watch it spin for half an hour.
There is also periods of... well calling them pop culture references is being kind. They're not references, they're straight up saying the names of bands and songs and doing little reviews. The part where, yeah, if was a film you could put music in it. But it's not, it's a book. Stoppit. Put your little character playlists online like god intended. Also a fixation on the boy wizard who shall not be named, which is cringe in the moment plus obviously unfortunate in retrospect.
The final problem is personal to me. I can't stand edgy. Severely allergic. The secondary POV character is all edge. I got so frustrated and upset at having to keep reading her, I actually put her on 2x speed, which I never do, just because if I didn't so something I wasn't going to finish it, and it was way too late to give up. Basically Ryoka turned the whole book into a repeating loop of this gif for me:
I liked the boring bits best. And the (unfortunately extremely occasional) jokes were pretty good actually. S tier narration. Andrea Parsneau is a generational talent, genuinely, the fact that she's seemingly exclusively working in LitRPG is a shame, but what a feather in the cap of the genre. A solid 3ā if I forgive the audacity of that one bitch.
2 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text


Today's compilation:
Beachbeat Shaggin' 1987 Beach Music / R&B / Soul / Pop-Soul / Soft Rock
Here's a little insular scene that you may have never heard about that really started to kick itself into gear on the opposite coast at around the same time that sunny southern Californian surf music was hogging up so much of the national spotlight in the 60s. Down in the south Atlantic, in the beach towns of the Carolinas, you could find a specific style of dance called the Carolina Shag taking off, with an uptempo and very upbeat type of R&B serving as its primary soundtrack, which, naturally, would end up earning itself the name of beach music.
Now, beach music, which is still regionally popular to this very day, is not really a distinct and unique form of music like surf is, which might be partially why it's never been nearly as recognized. A lot of beach music songs have not been deliberately made to have been beach tunes themselves, but because they seem to specifically pair well with the Carolina Shag, they've been retroactively categorized as such since by beach music enthusiasts. And, of course, once people realized that beach music was its own thing, there was more of a deliberate effort to make music for the shaggers too, but still, the music did not have a very unique and newfangled sound to it like surf did, and if you'd heard beach music without knowing what people were shagging to in the Carolinas, you probably wouldn't categorize any of it further than R&B or soft rock or pop-soul with a pretty light and highly chipper mood.
But perhaps the greatest aspect of beach music overallābesides the fact that its own initial development in the 50s had marked a small sign of racial progress in a still-segregated south, as a significant amount of white people were actively seeking out black-made music for what seemed like the first time in Carolinian historyāis that almost none of the songs that had formed this little music niche were all that popular outside of it. Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs' "Stay" is really the only piece of beach music to ever top the Billboard chart, and Freda Payne's "Band of Gold" was a pretty big hit too; but outside of those, beach music playlists have been significantly comprised of deep cuts, b-sides, middling chart hits, and R&B and soul nuggets that had otherwise been ignored, but met the genre's own sonic qualifications. And in that sense, and really that sense only, beach music is a whole lot like the UK's northern soul scene, which prided itself on crate digging for obscure oldies gems and giving them the proper due that they'd deserved but hadn't yet received.
But now here's where I'll really be honest with you all: it's not a totally across-the-board thing, but at a certain point in time, when this scene had developed enough self-awareness in order to produce its own bands who focused specifically on this type of music, a whole lot of this stuff really got to sounding like it'd been manufactured for white couples in a classic Viagra ad. Like, it gives an 80s promotional tourism VHS kind of vibe for a super touristy place like Myrtle Beach, where the opening shot, of course, comes from an overhead helicopter that's able to capture the sparkle of all the sunlight coming off of the ocean's waves. I've been throwing the word 'idyllic' around a lot in a bunch of these posts as of late, and this is another one where it definitely applies.
Perhaps it was just the studio consoles that were being used at that time in much of the R&B, soul, and adult-oriented music worlds writ large, but a lot of that stuff with a super polished and pristine sound ironically feels pretty soulless and hollow in retrospect, and when you apply those same glossy sonic qualities to a specific type of music that's already been selected because it also has a certain amount of escapist strifelessness to it, I think what you end up with is a sort of 'this-is-too-perfect-that-it's-actually-kind-of-disconcerting' Stepford Wives kind of scenario š¬. And unfortunately, that's what a lot of songs on this album seem to have in common, with something like Band of Oz's over-the-top "Shaggin'" serving as a prime example.
youtube
So, needless to say, my preference for beach music tends to be the type that didn't really seem to be obviously and purposely made for the scene itself, and that's pretty solely for the fact that the older and rougher tunes feel a whole lot more human and a lot less like I'm being subjected to the jingle for The Villages.
youtube
Click play, if you dare š.
Favorite song of mine on here I think is the very catchy "I Got the Fever" by Georgia Prophets, which really has a swift and sweat-inducing funkiness to it like no other song on this late 80s collection from the DCC Compact Classics label has. The early 70s single for this song never charted nationally in the US on the Hot 100, but it still managed to earn this North Carolinian group a gold record nevertheless. A really terrific beach music classic.
youtube
So I'm not overly crazy about beach music as a whole, but there's definitely some quality tunes to be heard from it, and the way the scene's been built over the years with a lot of individual, under-the-radar songs is pretty neat too. Kinda surprised that it hasn't produced too many pop cultural products, though, because you'd think a Dirty Dancing-type of script that accurately portrays this scene and its music could've practically written itself by now and given both beach music and the Carolina Shag a whole lot more exposure š¤·āāļø. And wasn't "Stay" also on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack too? What's taken people so long to get more than one movie about this stuff out there? š¤
And here's a Twitter thread of mutual aid groups that you can donate to in order to help those impacted by Hurricane Helene in the Carolinas and beyond. Every dollar helps! š

Highlights:
Swingin' Medallions - "Hey Hey Baby" Garnett Mims & The Enchanters - "Quiet Place" Freda Payne - "Band of Gold" Lenny O'Henry - "Across the Street" The Drifters - "Kissin' in the Back Row of the Movies" Tams - "I've Been Hurt" Georgia Prophets - "I Got the Fever" Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs - "Stay"
#beach music#r&b#r & b#r and b#rhythm and blues#rhythm & blues#soul#soul music#soft rock#rock#pop soul#pop#music#70s#70s music#70's#70's music#60s#60s music#60's#60's music#50s#50s music#50's#50's music#oldies
5 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
I was yelling (affectionately) at my friend about this, which once more made me ask myself the question "do I research to write fic or do I write fic to have something to research."
More rabbitholes I've fallen into over the past few weeks (potential fic spoilers ahead sort of?):
BG3
What happens to a soul in DND if someone dies? TURNS OUT IT DEPENDS ON A LOT OF THINGS (your religion, your race - elves reincarnate, if you have no religion, etc).
Can elves sleep? Why don't they? Why is 100 considered the age of majority for elves amongst their own kind?
How is Waterdeep laid out? How big is Waterdeep? What holidays are celebrated there?
What spells don't require verbal components?
Where was Drizzt in 1492? Did Drizzt ever go to Waterdeep?
What do you call an aboveground stone coffin? The only word I could really find was "sarcophagus."
Why do Gandrel's kids' eyes still glow red if you run into him in the sewer? I still don't know! And I had to watch a cutscene for it because I murdered him in my playthrough. Sorry, bro. I feel guilty about it in retrospect.
What's the layout of Cazador's palace? Especially the underground bit. Yes, I've played through that part but I have a terrible memory and I wanted it to be RIGHT. Or as close to right as possible.
Various cutscenes with Mystra and Cazador to try and get a better understanding of their voices. Ulma and Gandrel too.
What does a magistrate do? What are the actual laws in Baldur's Gate?
Hazbin
What kind of dance events were popular in the 20s/30s? This is why part two is even going to exist because I googled "sock hop" and found out that was a 50s thing but oh hey what's a dance marathon? ...Alastor would love this... All I needed was for Angel to offer up a suggestion about dancing to wear him out...it was just supposed to be a throwaway line...
Everything I could possibly find around dance marathons (rules, competitors, food provided to competitors, how long they last, were there any nonsegregated ones, etc). Apparently they were like a mashup of pro wrestling and reality tv complete with kayfabe, villains, fixed competitions, etc.
How much did a tv cost in 1930? How much did a car cost? What was the average salary for a radio broadcaster?
What's the Louisiana French word for mother? (mĆØre!)
How the fuck do radio waves/frequencies work? What's the difference in waves between television and radio? (the answer is witchcraft!)
How high can a deer jump?
What's the word for cutting something into like...carrot stick size?
What were some popular dances in the 20s? The Shimmy, the Texas Tommy, the Charleston, the Foxtrot, the Jumpin' Jive, etc.
What are the origins of popular dances in the 20s? A lot of them were inspired by/stolen from Africans and enslaved people! The Shimmy likely has its roots in Nigerian Shika, the Charleston was inspired by dances enslaved people performed after having their drums stolen for fear they were using them to communicate planned revolts.
How to write a good action/dance scene (because I started overthinking it because I know nothing about dancing and am not a super visual person)
Various things about what Alastor's human life may have been like in New Orleans in the early 1900s
1920/30s fashion for men and women
1920/30s music
...and this is all just what I can actually remember looking up recently, god help me...
But I enjoy it so fucking much. I'd be lying if I said I didn't. Researching always gives me so many new ideas. For example, I only have chapter five in my BG3 fic because I got curious about Drow culture. My BG3 fic that was supposed to be a one shot but is now probably going to tap out around 100k... Research is a dangerous thing... ā( ą¹_ą¹)ā®
My Hazbin fic was also only supposed to be a oneshot... I'm currently about to hit 8k words on it and Lucifer and Alastor haven't even fucking danced yet. And I already have an idea for a third part... (-ļ½”-;
Yet again, I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me so fucking happy to feel inspired/motivated to write so much tho. All good problems to have!
#hismercy's musings#fanfic research hell or heaven#my fics#my writing#ancient books and horror stories#save me from myself
0 notes
Text
Chapter Summary:
Marinette is not a morning person. Also, wine and assembling IKEA furniture do not mix. Thankfully she has a wonderful roommate to assist with both these issues! And if he renders her hopelessly flustered in the process, well...she'll probably survive.
First scene under the cut!
Marinette was not ready to be awake. Apparently her internal clock had yet to register that the semester was over, because sheād woken up several times throughout the night, panicked about deadlines that no longer existed. All she wanted now was to doze off again. To sleep until her body and the ridiculously comfortable mattress melded together as one.
Unfortunately, the room had the audacity to have an east-facing window, and sheād been too lazy yesterday to put up the blackout curtains sheād purchased. Plus, she could hear Adrien moving around in the kitchen, and knowing he was so close did funny things to her insides. She yawned and allowed herself one last stretch before reluctantly pushing herself up.
For a minute or so after, she just sat on the edge of her bed, hoping sheād spontaneously develop the ability to teleport into the kitchen. (Damn Monarch. Couldnāt he at least have left her the Horse Miraculous?)
Eventually, she resigned herself to the fact that sheād actually have touseher legs. She stood slowly, pulling the fuzzy blanket sheād taken to bed over her head like a hood. She hadnāt taken so much as a step when Tikki flew up to her.
āDonāt forget your bracelet, Marinette.ā Oops.
āThanks, Tikki,ā she mumbled. Or she tried toājudging by Tikkiās giggle she wasnāt sure her words had been coherent.
The wave of relief that washed over her as she slipped on the bracelet roused her a littleāforgetting that would have been a disaster. Sheād taken it off midway through the night, unused to sleeping in jewellery aside from her earrings. Clearly sheād have to adjust thoughāshe couldnāt risk forgetting it in her room.
In retrospect, the amount of times sheād left her house still wearing pyjamas really should have tipped her off to the dangers of leaving her sleep-deprived brain in charge of such decisions.
With another yawn, Marinette stumbled out of her room and into the kitchen. Adrien immediately turned around from his spot browsing the fridge to give her a bright smileāhe must have heard her grumbling her way down the hall.
āGood morning,ā he said cheerfully. Too cheerfullyāMarinette really ought to have considered the repercussions of moving in with a morning person.
She answered him wordlessly, with the most petulant face she could muster, before taking her usual seat at the kitchen island and slumping down on the counter.
Adrien laughed, whichā¦okay. That was a nice, warm, magical sound. The kind that probably cured sick kids instantly and made birds sing. Maybe she could put up with Morning Adrienā¢ļø for the sake of that laugh.
Maybe.
āWant some coffee, Sleepy Bug?ā
āMmm.ā
Another laugh, one that was over too soon. āIāll take that as a yes.ā
She heard him get a few things out of the fridge and set them on the counter, then his footsteps took him to the corner of the kitchen. Where the espresso machine lives,Ā Marinette thought dreamily. Before she knew it a cup was set down beside her, its pleasant aroma finally urging her to push herself up and meet Adrienās smiling eyes.
āOne espresso for my favourite hero.ā His smile was far warmer than the cup he slid into her hands. āFigured I should caffeinate you the quickest way possible, but I can also make you a cappuccino if you want.ā
āYouāre perfect,ā she sighed. āMarry me.ā
For a secondāabout the moment it took her to realize sheād made a terrible mistakeāAdrien just stared at her. Then a wild grin stretched across his face.
āAs lovely as that sounds,ā he said, āI donāt think youāre in any state to be making those sorts of decisions.ā
Marinette squeaked in response and buried her face in her arms again. As lovely as that sounds?!
At this rate, she wouldnāt survive long enough to enjoy that cappuccino.
#miraculous ladybug#my fics#coffeebanana fics#ladrien#and they were roommates#so much pining#and flirting#and even some snuggles#ladybug#marinette dupainĀ cheng#adrien agreste
33 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
Apparently I didn't do this the first time round (what was wrong with me?), so here are my 4x02 thoughts:
Really cool puzzles in this episode - both the magnetite map and the ATM have such great solutions. I wonder who came up with the creepy facial recognition gas-ATM.
I get why Patterson was so pissed at Boston to begin with this time around (the whole 'I coded a backdoor into Wizardville so I could snoop on people's phones' thing was a massive betrayal of trust, even if he then apologised and helped the team arrest his terrorist boyfriend), but why was Boston so mean to Kurt? 'You got one, Limpy!' I'd love to see you survive a gut shot, Boston (and let's be realistic, if they hadn't stopped the show at season 4.5, he probably would have gotten one, because gut shots are Blindspot's favourite injury - Mayfair, Jane, Roman, Patterson, Kurt, Keaton, Weitz...).
I've said it before and I'll say it again - as much as I love both Rich and Boston, the comedy gay couple/sassy gay friend trope makes me facepalm. I just don't get the sense in this episode that these men are attracted to each other, despite Rich's cooing. They have sibling chemistry, not ex-lovers who are still pining for each other, and they remind me of children squabbling over who gets the first cookie. š At least 4x08 goes a little way towards fixing that (until Rich ruins it by being a total asshole).
Remi's face when Sokolov describes the FBI as hamstrung by bureaucracy and ego is just awesome. She's like, 'Yep, this guy gets it.'
And again, the FBI's 'shoot first, ask questions later' policy comes back to bite them, because if Sokolov had lived, no 4x08... š¤·āāļø But also, I have no idea how they would have written it into the show, so...
The Remi and Roman scenes just made me so sad, because Remi is completely alone, talking to her brother who isn't there, trying to justify herself and her convictions (which we see at the start of 4x03, she isn't that sure of. 'Of course I can kill my husband...but not right now, that wouldn't be the right time.'
They really could have used the 'Zapata was on the plane, but not really' plot thread to make everyone cry, but they didn't bother. I wonder if they filmed a scene or two that were cut for length. I'll forever be sad that we never got any deleted scenes for seasons 4 or 5. š
Sometimes Blindspot is as subtle as a brick to the face with its cases and subplot parallels, but they did a great job with this episode. Sokolov being able to convince agents from multiple agencies to hand over documents, because there's no inter-agency cooperation, goes nicely with Keaton's complete lack of inter-agency cooperation re: Zapata (and why does it need to be kept so super secret that even a team working to take HCI Global down can't be read in, Keaton?). And Madeline's gleeful confession that she killed her husband pairs really well with Remi mixing up a little gift for Kurt at the end of the episode.
Audrey did so well with her 'I hate this undercover assignment' scene. Poor Tasha. Even though I don't see why Reade couldn't know, I do feel awful for her.
Madeline has such potential to be a great villain, but they just didn't bother to go anywhere meaningful with her. Helios was pretty masterful as a plan, but her underlying motives with her father are tissue-paper thin. :/ It makes all of the Helios arc feel kind of pointless, in retrospect. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio does a great job, but after Shepherd and Roman, Madeline is just meh. Plus Remi just steals the show with her plotting and scheming.
Remi turning an argument around on Kurt again is so much fun to watch, and especially the way she course-corrects with the giant eyes and 'I just want to help people, just like you' stuff. Makes me think of the Jane-as-Goth!Remi episode, where she's just overly bitchy. š
Brb, squeeing over every moment of Remi now! Especially her knowing that he'll be first through the door to save her, even though she doesn't remember anything about being in the field with him from being Jane.
10 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
So, I had the idea that, now that the trilogy is ending, I could write a retrospective on each game, reflecting on he intent behind them and on what elements did and didn't work. I'm putting Part 1, on the first Relics game, under the cut. I'll prob do one for 2 and 3 as well, with about a week between them!
Relics Series Retrospective Part 1: Relics of the Lost Age The idea for Relics of the Lost Age came to me, like most of my best ideas, in the pub, some time in 2018. I was talking to my old friend Pete about how, when we were children, we had both really enjoyed old-fashioned colonial-era adventure stories, things like Around the World in 80 Days, King Solomonās Mines and, above all, Indiana Jones. But also about how it became much harder to like these stories as we got older and more aware ā specifically, as the colonialism that underpins these stories became more and more obvious (do those artifacts really belong in a museum, Dr. Jones?). I spend a lot of time in my real job thinking about colonialism, history and archaeology, about how they intersect and have shaped the modern world, and itās very difficult to be committed to the idea of decolonization while also being a fan of something like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom! I started to wonder, over the course of that conversation, if it might actually be possible to save that kind of story in the modern world, to keep all the things that childhood me had loved about Indiana Jones (the adventure, the thrills, the sense of wonder about travel and the world, the romance, the humour) while also getting rid of the stuff that wasnāt so desirable (the covert and not-so-covert colonialism, the racist and patronizing depictions of non-European cultures, the white savior shit). Perhaps even to go further than that ā to write an archaeological adventure which actually questioned and challenged the role of both archaeology and adventure stories in advancing colonialist narratives. Thatās when Relics was born.
It took a while for me to realize that Choicescript might be a good vehicle for such a story, but once I did, it all started to come together quite quickly. I wanted pretty much every chapter, every major moment of the story if possible, to relate to the central theme of colonialism and its legacy, and I think I did make that happen. I also wanted it to be fun (after all, Indiana Jones is fun, and if I just let it turn into some kind of heavy political meditation on empire, there probably wouldnāt be much joy in it). In order to keep readers interested, I decided that each chapter should feel distinct, and be very different both in terms of setting and in terms of genre. The idea of making this a globe-trotting adventure helped too, both in terms of keeping the chapters varied and in terms of exploring the theme of colonialism. What I really want readers to get is a sense of is how connected colonialism is to pretty much everything, how so many of the issues of the modern world go back to that period. So I wanted chapters set in Africa (the starting-point of the colonial slave trade) and America (one of the final destination of that trade); in Europe (to think about how empire affected the colonizing nations, as well as the colonized) and Asia (to acknowledge that, though Europeans might have āperfectedā colonialism in all its shittiness, theyāre not the only ones to have ever practiced it). I want readers to see that everything ā from the roots of Nazi ideology to the source of modern global wealth inequalities to the febrile racial politics of the modern-day US and Europe ā can be traced back to that period in time.
Chapter 1 was designed to be a very classic Indiana Jones story, to set the scene and establish the bookās primary influences. It ticks all the boxes: Middle Eastern setting, Nazis as the bad guys, biblical treasure, lots of light-hearted action scenes. I also like the fact that the treasure being hunted, Urim and Thummim, connects back to a period of ancient imperialism (the Roman occupation of Judaea) ā a nice reminder of just how old this shit actually is and how far back it goes.
Chapter 2 was supposed to be a āhumans vs. natureā story with a bit of a Moby-Dick vibe, highly tense, as well as an exploration of Chinese imperialism.
Chapter 3, controversial though it was, is super-important to the project. One of the ways that old adventure stories sold colonialism was by establishing āhomeā (usually the US or Europe) as a safe, civilized space, and overseas territories (usually in Asia and Africa) as savage and dangerous and wild places. I wanted to flip this on its head by heaving a chapter set in the US, and showing how savage and unsafe it was at that time. The phrase that kept going through my head as I wrote this chapter was āAmerican savageryā. We all want to cheer when we see Indiana Jones punching a Nazi, but it's easy to forget that large swathes of Jonesās own home country were, at the same time as he was punching Nazis, implementing laws that were flat-out fascist and that in fact inspired Hitler. Nobody who reads Chapter 3 can persist in the illusion that the United States was āsafeā and ācivilizedā in the 1930s. Also, it was nice to have a chapter with someone other than the Nazis as the main bad guys ā Iāve always been a sucker for secondary villains! Generically, itās a Southern Gothic mystery with elements of the supernatural, which makes it very distinct from the other chapters.
Chapter 4 was meant to be closely connected to Chapter 3 (hence it featuring the same RO, and having related Relics). It shows you what was happening at the other end of the Atlantic slave trade. It contains a whole-plot reference to Joseph Conradās Heart of Darkness, and is meant to evoke older types of colonialist literature, 19th Century adventure stories of the type that influenced Indiana Jones. Both of these chapters were pretty grim and dark ā I expected that readers would need a bit of levity after the end of Chapter 4. Which is lucky, becauseā¦
Chapter 5 was a chance to explore what colonialism did to the colonizing nations (as well as an excuse for me to get a few digs in at the British Museum!) Itās a nice break from the dark tone, as itās pretty light-hearted, and it introduced the series tradition of having one ācomedyā chapter per book. It also introduced Maxie Gianturco, maybe my favorite villain: he has a real Heath-Ledger-as-the-Joker vibe, which makes him quite different from any of the other bad guys. Generically, itās a knockabout crime caper.
Chapter 6 was a mash-up of espionage fiction and Hong Kong cinema. Thereās not too much else to say about it. I think it basically works.
What Worked: The Congo Siege. Everybody seems to love this part. It was a real feat of coding for me back then, but I think it all came together and is a real highlight of the book.
Chapters 2 and 5. I think these are the most successful overall in terms of what they set out to achieve. Chapter 2 is tense, Zhuās introduction is very memorable, and even players who hate Stevo (and I did write him to be irritating) tell me that they ended up caring a lot about his survival. Chapter 5 is actually funny, is well-paced, has a great villain, good action scenes and a memorable cameo from the Amazonian too. The one part that doesnāt really work that well is the sealing of the Esme/Abdul relationship. The fact that the chapter takes place all in one night probably means that you donāt really have enough time with them to make this fully convincing. But the tight timeline adds to the chapter in other ways, so itās probably worth it ultimately.
MarĆa. Probably the standout character, certainly the one who gets the most comments. People seemed to react very strongly toward her, either positively or negatively. As a writer, I love it when one of my characters does that to people!
What Iām Unsure About: āToo Much Politics!ā Itās a fairly common complaint in the reviews. Iām unsure. To some extent, there are people out there whoāll make this complaint about literally any game / book that has anything to say, and Iād rather be a little too heavy-handed than take the cowardās way out of just saying nothing. The whole thing did start off as a politically-minded project after all. But there are some moments when I could probably have dialled it back a little. I think I do a better job in the later two games of being politically engaged without it being so intrusive on the narrative.
What Didnāt Work The ethnicity lock. I actively regret this now. I did this because I wanted the depiction of the Jim Crow South in Chapter 3 to be true to the actual conditions of the time, and the conditions of the time meant that a personās ethnicity could determine really major things, like what job they could do. I felt like I needed the MC to be at least āwhite-passingā so that they could have a job at Tulane, which was, at the time, a white college. Having the grandfather ethnicities helps a little in terms of representation, but in retrospect I think that it might have been possible for me to find ways to accommodate non-white-passing MCs through, for example, varying the MCās workplace according to player choice. (It might have been fun to be able to be a colleague of Cleo at Xavier, the Black college, for instance). At the time, when I was starting out in ChoiceScript, it felt like that would probably involve too much variation and just be unmanageable. Now, however, Iām a bit more experienced with the language and Iām pretty sure that it would have been possible, if difficult, to manage that variability. But hey, I have all kinds of ideas for future projects in ChoiceScript, and none of them require an ethnicity lock, so at least I know Iāll never need to do that shit again in the future!
The flashback structure. I wanted a framing narrative, and I thought that it would be cool to start in medias res. But those scenes of getting tortured by Paulus ended up becoming quite repetitive, and I think the unusual structure put some readers off. Iām all in favor of formal experimentation, but perhaps not with ChoiceScript: readers of Hosted Games seem to like having a beginning, a middle and an end in that order! Iāll probably lay off the experimentation in the future.
17 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
MVA In Memoriam (2/5)
The Comprehensive Account of the Butchering of My Villain Academia
(Introduction and Part One, Episode 108: My Villain Academia)
Part Two, Episode 109: Revival Party
Chapter 224 ā Revival Party
⢠Mr. Compressās side comment about how the distance Re-Destro wants them to travel means he must know they have warp capabilities. Also shortens his subsequent line, removing the bit about how their position has been locked onto, leaving only the marveling about the dude on the phone being the kind of person who has access to a satellite camera. Not a major cut, but it did strip out a bit of reiteration on how very Seen the League is. The warp line is another nod to how the MLAās been doing their researchāin particular, it ties in nicely with RDās observations about the Noumu. He talks, there, about something Dabi said after the High End fight, which means he must also know that Dabi was warped out by an āUjiko-san.ā
⢠Also Mr. Cās observation that they havenāt broken Machia yet, and his posed question about what to do. Mr. Compress, Iām so sorry that youāre so wordy and lose so many quips and asides because the anime was set on brutally scything out every line of non-essential dialogue it could find.
⢠Ujikoās extremely hilarious, āListening to Villain Radio is my new favorite hobby,ā line. Why would you cut this; this line is hysterical.
⢠The bit where Mr. Compress has the bright idea to use a High End Noumu like the one Dabi used, Ujiko rejects the suggestion out of hand, citing production woes, and Shigaraki says that he wasnāt going to ask for one of them anyway. Aside from being more cut Compress content (or āComptent,ā for short), it helps center the timeline somewhat at a point where the manga is jerking it around all over; it also shows that the League has been keeping up with news from the outside world. It also shows that at least one of them thought about using the Noumuāand since we know Re-Destro did some rationalizing on that scenario too, itās good to see that it is at least briefly on the table. Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Further, Ujiko provides a few rare details about the Noumu creation process. Firstly, that AFO is normally involved, so his absence makes the procedure much more difficult (though not, apparently, impossible). Secondly, that Hood-chan was the only Noumu whoād actually reached the testing stage. This will be important later, for Ujikoās agonizing about unleashing them early/Mirko having to fight four of them at once. Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Also, I just miss Mr. Cās funny little head wilt when Ujiko immediately turns down his āuse some Noumuā idea. Ditto Shigarakiās blasĆ© shrug and little grin. Again, not to harp on the art too much, but man I wish the anime had kept all the fierce little grins and tight, incensed smirks Shigaraki has through the majority of this and the phone call sequence.
⢠Spinnerās line, āWithout knowing squat about what weāre up against?!ā A minor cut, as these things go, but it reiterates that thereās a chance RD is bluffing and the League has no way to know one way or the other, and demonstrates that the League can give Shigaraki some pushback on his decisions without having to worry about getting dusted for the temerity.[1]
⢠Takes one of Spinnerās linesāāWait. I get it. Wherever you go, Shigaraki, heāll sniff you out and hunt you down.āāand gives it to Shigaraki instead. Because fuck Spinnerās growing understanding of Shigaraki and the way his mind works, I guess! Itās especially notable that Spinner figures this out when Mr. C had completely the wrong idea about Shigarakiās intentionsāit demonstrates the way Spinner is gradually aligning himself with Shigarakiās way of thinking, which weāll see even more clearly during the War Arc. Also, again, itās good to see the moments where the League weighs in on Shigarakiās plans.
⢠The visual of Twice lashing out at Dabi with his razor-edged tape measure over Dabiās dismissal of Giran, though all the relevant dialogue was there. Possibly this is because, having cut the CRC bit, the audience has no way of knowing that Twiceās tape measure is razor-edged, so why bother raising the question, āWhy is Twice trying to attack Dabi with a tape measure..?ā Possibly itās because showing that attack would require animating movement, and MAN ALIVE, did Episode 109 ever want to do everything it could to avoid animating movement.
⢠Slidinā Goās line about how Deika isnāt usually his turf, but today is a big exception. This makes the hearty affirmative with which Trumpet announces himself a response to Shigarakiās half-phrased observation about the reason behind the cityās emptiness, rather than a response to Slidinā Go. It works, more or less, and probably even flows more clearly, all things considered. Iām always sad to lose lines from the vanishingly few named/characterized MLA members we have, though. I like, too, that it hints at the machinations that have to have been involved with setting things up for the Revival Party, and the way those plans were carried out with confidence that Re-Destroās ābait the League into coming for their brokerā plan would work despite the total absence of a response from the League in any of the time Giran was missing/his fingers were cropping up on the nightly news reports.
⢠A few shots of cameras in the city, which foreshadow Skepticās watchful eyes and ability to track the League through the city. In retrospect, this isnāt surprising, since the anime went on to cut basically any indication of Skepticās entire plan re: the footage of the League attacking, so why bother keeping the cameras? (Oh, right. Skepticās whole thing is cameras and information/disinformation. Skeptic for second-most screwed-by-the-anime MLA member.)
Additions
⢠Showed Toga having stood back up somewhere during Shigarakiās explanation of their throw-Machia-against-the-MLA plan. A simply appalling choice. In the manga, she stays crouched down by Twice the entire time Shigaraki has his mask pulled off, because Toga cares about reassuring Jin-kun when heās in a bad way.
⢠Rephrased Compressās dialogue somewhat, also giving him a new line about the MLAās forces in Deika when the League was still in the hills looking down at the city: āThe so-called Meta Liberation Army has a force of 110,000 here.ā I assume it was because the scene falls in a different episode than the tactical discussion did (in the manga, theyāre the same chapter), so the anime was reminding the viewer of the stakes, but itās potentially awkward because, er, no, the MLA categorically did not bring their entire army to Deika. Weāll find out as much for sure later, with the note that the regiment advisors werenāt in attendance because they were occupied at the bases they command, but even with only the knowledge we have here, Re-Destroās statement about his numbers is that theyāre scattered all over the countryāhence the shot of Japan with a bunch of lights scattered across it to represent said numbers. Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā That said, to be (briefly) charitable, thereās no particular reason for the League to assume that, and they did discuss the possibility that there were going to have to fight 110,000 people. So it makes sense that Mr. C might state as much when recapping for the audience.
Chapter 225 ā Interview with a Vampire
⢠Re-Destro talking about Deikaās geography and why they chose it strategically. The anime dropped so much about the MLAās planning and information-gathering beforehand; it really made the MLA look ludicrously overconfident. And while they donāt lack for that trait, certainly,[2] this is also an organization that has meticulously grown its membership for generations right under Hero Societyās collective nose; you donāt get to where they are by being unduly foolhardy. Erasing so many scenes demonstrating their caution and forward-planning undercuts the threat they represent to both the League and society at large. Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Also too, the descriptor of Deika as a nice, quiet, isolated little town in the mountains gives us some hints about how the MLA has avoided notice for so long, when you consider how the Hero business works: because so many people who get into heroism want to make it big, like celebrities, they donāt want to stick around small-town beats, and so the rural areas are understaffed.[3] Thatās presumably why groups like the CRC and the MLA grow their numbers out in the boonies: much less attention from the Powers That Be. You can guess at some of that from how Spinner describes the placeāānot too small, not too bigāāand what Trumpet says about the percentage of the population thatās MLA, but RD adds that key āisolatedā descriptor, and says that itās a place where they ālay low.ā That gives us some potential insight into how manyālikely the majorityāof the MLA came to their beliefs: by being raised to them, because their hometown was infiltrated by the MLA generations ago and they have literally never known anything else.
⢠RDās phrasing, āCounter to point one,ā when he makes his second point about the Noumu. He acknowledges that itās counter-intuitive to his first argument, that he knows it would normally be an argument against that opening point, not in support. Itās just conversational padding, really, but āconversational paddingā like that does a lot to distinguish character voice, so that not everyone talks the same way.
⢠A panel showing a trio of unnamed MLA warriors strategizing about how to divide their forces now that the League has split up. Itās the little cuts like this that gradually remove the agency of unnamed characters, such that theyāre left looking like unthinking puppets instead of real people with the ability to register and respond to their circumstances. It also points towards the truth of what the MLA warriors are and one reason theyāre so dangerous (for all that the manga itself will neglect this most egregiously later on): theyāre trained in regiment tactics and accustomed to working in groups. This contrasts them both with villains, who might group together, but certainly donāt usually fight that way, and heroes, who are so unaccustomed to working in groups that itās cited as part of the reason to have named super moves.
⢠Curiousās little pageboy-cut middle school kid line telling Toga to back off when Miss Curious is on the job. This is an early example of how defensive the MLA are of people above them in the hierarchy, an important thing Spinner will pick up on and attempt to use against Trumpet. Again, itās little moments like this that both add some welcome notes of individuality to the MLA warriors (if only by virtue of Horikoshi and his assistantsā traditional talent for distinctive character design) while also fleshing out who the MLA are as a group, and contrasting them with the League.
⢠Deleted Togaās line IDing her āon-the-go suck-suck mask,ā but did insert a nice little bit of her expression shifting when she whipped it out. It lost a bit of the self-conscious silliness of her support item name in exchange for a cool little animation beat. I donāt dislike it, particularly, but I am, as previously stated, very leery of edits that make the League more polished in their villainy at the cost of their human foibles.
⢠Curiousās line about having come prepared to counter Togaās moves, which was supposed to further reiterate that the MLA has done their research on the League; they didnāt just decide out of the blue to target the most notorious Villains in the country without studying up on them first and planning accordingly!
⢠Curiousās line about how sheās going to get started with some background info while her people use their meta-abilities to keep Toga and her buddies on the ropes. A marvelously characterful line! It speaks especially to that edge of formality the MLA brass observe that even as sheās ringleading this attack, Miss Curious is still set on going through her interview process step by established step.
Framing Shifts
⢠Made some of Curiousās lines spoken dialogue instead of internal monologue. Thatās probably fine for when sheās waxing enthusiastic about Togaās lack of hesitation in committing murder or how sheāll use Togaās story to further the MLAās agenda. Itās less fine when sheās rattling out the entire name, brand and patent status of her support item for no particular reason when Toga is already halfway through trying to knife her (thatāll be next chapter).
⢠The anime implied pretty firmly that Curiousās bombers died. And like, yeah, thatās always made more sense than the idea that anyone could survive something like that, but I hate it anyway. For one thing, it makes it even harder to credit the idea that Togaās still on her feet afterward if Curiousās supposedly not-very-lethal explosions merk all her own people. People in this series survive ludicrous amounts of damage, and these random MLA devotees are no exception! For another, it leans into the narrative that the MLA higher-ups throw away the lives of their minions without the slightest care. Itās a lot harder to make that case when itās explicit in the manga that Curiousās people survive the blood explosionsāthe blonde in the tracksuit is unharmed enough to snicker about it, and the noodle chef is even doing well enough to continue attacking! Iāve always been of the opinion that the MLA are, yes, willing to spend the lives of their underlings on attaining goals, if thatās what they think is necessary, but that is not at all the same as gleefully throwing them onto the pyre to watch them burn.
Additions
⢠Some individual shots of Mr. Compress, Dabi and Twice fending off or fleeing from various MLA types. A nice try on getting the group split up, but it feels kind of budget save-y, when we could have gotten actual animation of those fights instead.
⢠Inserted a quick shot of a headline about Togaās first attack as Curious was rambling on about why sheās interested in Toga but not the League in general. Actually a fairly reasonable insertion, given how much text is crammed into her talk bubble in the manga while the dude standing next to her is already getting a knife in the neck.
Chapter 226 ā Bloody Love
⢠A panel of interviewees talking about Togaās first victim being sociable and popular. It gives a bit of context on what he was like, what people thought of him, but given that we know enough about Toga at this point to know that his popularity was entirely incidental to what she liked about him, itās not a huge loss.
⢠The detail of the broadcasted interviews censoring Togaās name. Considering how Japanese media normally treats minors accused of crimes, this is an eyebrow-raising changeāthe manga censors it because Japanese media outlets would have done the same. No idea why the anime didnāt, unless itās another of those places where it would feel too āreal,ā to have something that so closely mirrors real life treatment of criminals?
⢠Everything about quirk counseling, and whoo boy, that is a loaded cut. There is exactly one other mention of quirk counseling anywhere in the manga, and, curiously enough, it also comes up in relation to a villain: in the U.A. faculty meeting after the USJ attack, Midnight muses that maybe Shigaraki never received quirk counseling in elementary school. Itās a weird little non sequitur thereāexactly what sort of program did she expect could single-handedly make the difference between a well-adjusted adult and a gleefully murderous manchild with aims on killing Japanās Number 1 Hero? Just over two hundred chapters later, we get a hint: a program designed to fit people āneatly into societyās little boxes.ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Quirk counseling, then, is not about helping children find healthy ways to process their quirks, but rather, about teaching children what is and is not acceptable in terms of quirk useāand as Curious says, Togaās admiration of blood was never going to be acceptable.[4] This explanation doesnāt just tell us a lot about Togaāthat she wasnāt only failed by the hysterical condemnation of her parents, but also by a society that had no interest in helping her if it didnāt see a use for herābut also provides some insight on the viewpoint of the Meta Liberation Army vis-Ć -vis mandatory state-funded programs that dictate what ānormalcyā looks like to impressionable children. Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Curious is, of course, not a particularly trustworthy narrator in this, as one might expect of someone who uses language like āsocietyās little boxes,ā but it does track with Midnightās earlier musing of, āMaybe the anti-social dude never took the program intended to make sure he was a functioning member of society.ā That kind of statementāāState-sponsored educational programs are there to program children into becoming unthinking cogs of society, actually.āāis one that itās all too easy to imagine the people with an eye on broadcast standards taking issue with, even coming as it does from the mouth of a villain.
⢠Curiousās line, āLetās turn your death into a legendary tragedy, shall we?ā and its accompanying visual of two different papers with imagined headlines. The dialogue doesnāt strike me as crucialāCuriousās fervent belief in Togaās story is amply demonstrated elsewhere and her intent to turn that story into a legend reiterated in the line immediately followingābut it is a shame to lose the headlines. They tell us, in Curiousās own words, exactly the tack she was planning to take in telling Togaās story to the general public, without the constant namedropping of the Liberation Army that she does when talking about it in person. One headline in particularāThe Price of Suppression: A String of Bloody Murdersāis an especially useful reference for discussing whether the MLA actually wants, as is popularly claimed, completely unhindered quirk use, even for people like e.g. Muscular who want nothing more than to murder people with their quirks.[5]
⢠Curiousās initial wait what response to getting Floated, and her peopleās focus shifting away from Toga and onto Curious instead. On a surface level, that focus shift helps explain why Togaās able to zip around the ground and touch nearly twenty people before they even react: because theyāre afraid for Curious. It also hurts the ongoing characterization of the MLA rank and file as being fanatically devoted to their higher-ups which, again, is something Spinner is supposed to notice later. Itās the worst kind of plot device if that devotion is completely told to us rather than consistently shown!
⢠Togaās internal reflection that sheās seen Ochaco use her quirk, and knows how to use it. Itās obvious from the panel that she knows how to use it, but the manga implies that Toga transforming doesnāt automatically grant her an understanding of peoplesā quirks; itās only in observation (and possibly love) that she can reach this particular unlock. Leaving out that information leaves open the possibility that she can just do this all the time now, with anybody she transforms into.
⢠The reaction from the surviving crowd to Curiousās death. See above re: STOP FUCKING ERASING HOW MUCH THE MLA CARES FOR EACH OTHER.
Framing Shifts
⢠When Toga bolts, Curious in the anime sounded serious, her expression alarmed, like she was actually worried that Toga might escape, even though her dialogue said just the opposite. Maybe you could say that she was afraid Toga would die before she got her statement, but given that she tried to kill the girl herself moments later, Iām skeptical of that claim. Regardless, in the manga, she never loses her smile, and she flashes a Liberation salute as she stands up to give chase. Itās a characterization note, that sheās so wildly confident about this that she never stops being completely enthralled with whatever Toga has to show her.
Chapter 227 ā Sleepy
⢠The last of Togaās conscious dialogue, about how sheās lost a lot of blood, is fading out, canāt moveābut more notably, the way that this state of things makes her feel closer to āthem,ā that itās āthe same sensation.ā And who is ātheyā hereāher victims? The people she loves? More alarmingly, why does the line sound like sheās been this beat-up before, and remembers the sensation? Does that tie into e.g. her comment during the training camp that she doesnāt want to fight too many hero students at once because she doesnāt want to die? Has she actually been subject to this kind of violence before in the past? Does that tie into her still-unexplained ability to erase her presence? Itās an interestingly loaded little line, for being so vague, and illustrative of Togaās mentality on becoming the people she loves. Which also lets the scene segue nicely into Re-Destroās observation that, in Toga Himikoās world, thereās no such thing as āother people.ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā On which note, guess what else the anime cut?
⢠The entire fucking scene where Re-Destro actually reacts to Curiousā death, the motherfuckers. This lost: Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā 1. RDās talk about the way Toga sees the world and how that led to society casting her out, which he points to as evidence of said society clinging to old ideals even though the nature of humanity itself has changed. It calls back to his methodology with Detnerat, marrying his lines from the commercial to his overarching ideals; it also shows that he understood very well what Curious saw in Toga, and demonstrates that he can express that understanding and empathy even in the face of losing one of his closest allies. Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā 2. Skepticās reaction to Curiousās death, which is pretty sparse, but at least present. He says she never should have been on the front linesāan excellent reminder to the people whoāre always going on about how the MLA brass thinks themselves so above their followers: Curious was on the front lines, against the wishes of some of her peers!āand calls her a valuable resource.[6] You can theorize about Skeptic not caring for her beyond her usefulness to the cause, or just that Skeptic is a huge autist who processes his emotions differently than most, and isnāt going to stop to do that when thereās still a battle going on, but either way, you need this scene to do it accurately. Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā 3. Speaking of people who process their emotions in unusual ways, as I said above, this scene also shows Re-Destro openly crying over the deaths of Curious and each and every warrior diving into battle with their hopes for the future. Theyāre not crocodile tears, either. As was the case with Miyashita, thereās no one in this room that Re-Destro would need to perform grief for: Skeptic clearly doesnāt see a use for tears right now, so I donāt see him expecting them from Re-Destro, and the only other person in the room is Giran, a hostage who the MLAāvery probably Re-Destro himselfāmaimed! Itās not like RDās tears are going to change Giranās mind about him (indeed, Giran gets a comedic reaction beat at the absurdity of the dude who started all this up here crying about it)! But RD says life is precious and he cries anyway, briefly, before he ruthlessly turns it off. Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā RDās valuing of human lifeāespecially his own peoplesā livesācrops up in roundabout ways twice more, both leading the fight with Shigaraki (āIt angers me.ā) and ending it (āAny more would bring about meaningless death.ā). This, though, is when heās most open about it, to the degree thatāas with Machiaās griefāitās kind of off-putting and strange. Cutting it makes it that much easier for people to get entirely the wrong impression of RD as a character. Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā 4. The delightful scene where Skeptic berates Giran about asking brainless questions and then answers his question anyway. Fuckinā hell, why cut this?? So much of Skepticās character is in this scene! You get moments of his neuroticism later on, but never in so concentrated a burst as this (thereās one other sequence that could compete, butāspoilersāthe anime cut that one, too). The exchange also explains the cameras placed throughout the cityāwhich are visually referenced early onāand what the MLA is planning to do with their footage. Without that explanation, the audience has no idea how, exactly, the MLA was planning to use wiping out the League as a springboard for their grand return to the spotlight. That footage is the crucial part of how the rest of the country reacts to Deika in the Endeavor Agency Arc, and the anime never even mentioned it! The audience was just left to assume that all the media came in afterward, not that there was the slightest whiff of footage from the battle itself. Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā 5. Once again brings up Re-Destroās belief in the power of the heart to move other hearts. We get a bit of that in Curiousās flashback, but here he says it in his own wordsāas he will also bring it up to Shigaraki. Once again, Shigaraki is going to be challenged about his conviction, which ties back into what Spinner and Ujiko demanded from him earlier in the arc. With so
many people set to be grilling Shigaraki on this front, it tells us again what the arc is for: Shigarakiās conviction, and him demonstrating it to the people who think he lacks it.
⢠The panel of Spinner asking how long theyāve been at it and Mr. Compress responding. This line helps manage the pacing, giving the audience an idea how much time is passing as we cut around to different places. Itās also, you know, more cut Spinner dialogue, and shows the beginnings of Shigaraki and Spinner getting split off from the rest by Shigarakiās sleep-drunk staggering angling him off in a different direction. The rest of the scene is moved to after Togaās fight with Curious, but not otherwise tampered with.
⢠The other big reaction to Curiousās death, which is Trumpet using it to rile up the crowd. The group that attacks Shigaraki isnāt just some free-roaming mobātheyāre coming at him in a grief-stricken frenzy, which theyāve been goaded into by one of their leaders. Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā This sequence also introduces the campaign vanāa vehicle that will have several more appearancesāto events, and hints at Trumpetās meta-ability. Further, itās one of the scenes that outright states that the MLA is less an army than a religion, in Mr. Compressās line about how Trumpet is like a preacher rallying his flock. That understandingāthat the MLA may style themselves as an army, but what they really are is a cultāis key to the way the MLA members act, from the very bottom to the very top.
⢠Trimmed Shigarakiās flashback down, cuttingāamong other thingsāthe very first lines Hana speaks, and her namedrop. This moment is the first one Tomura gets back, and the very first thing we find out is that he was doing something he wasnāt supposed to be doing. The anime also failed to identify Shimura Nanaās relation to Tenko/Tomura and Hanaāhelpful to remind the audience of a plot thread they havenāt heard about since Kamino. It also cut out the silhouette of chubby baby Tenko and Tenkoās first line, asking why Hanaās showing him this, a line which clues us in that Hana was the impetus here, not Shigaraki as he was back then. Still not satisfied, it also cut the phrase, āDaddy said all that stuff,ā which is a clear and ominous warning that there was some conflict going on between young Shigaraki and the Father whose dismembered hand he now wears on his face.
⢠Left the dialogue but cut the silhouette of an airborne Geten with his enormous ice fists coming in hot behind Dabi when he was smarming about it not being his style to take the pacifist route. Itās not crucial, since we see the fists again shortly (itās the end of the chapter page, whereas the anime rolls right on into the continuation of the scene), but itās a shame, since framing Dabi from below with this sudden presence behind him is a much more fun, dynamic angle than the dead-boring medium shot the anime used. Also too, itās good foreshadowing for the fact that Geten can fly, since he certainly didnāt get that kind of air by jumping off the roof of the mini-mart across the street.
Framing Shifts
⢠The crowd attacking Tomura came at him from the back of the shot, whereas in the manga, theyāre surging forth from the front; that is, the anime had Shigaraki between the crowd and the POV of the viewer, whereas the manga has the crowd interposing between the viewer and Shigaraki. It makes a huge difference in the impact! Running up from a nebulous background distance, the crowd looked small and futile. Crossing directly in front of the viewer as they attack Shigaraki makes them look like the crashing human wave that they are. But, you know, coming in from the front would mean theyād have to be animated with more detail, and again, Episode 109, more than any other episode in the arc, clearly didnāt have the budget to spare on such things.
⢠The moment Shigaraki first uses the spreading Decay is horrifically clear in the manga. Itās full of speed lines, Shigaraki moving so fast he decays a dude mid-word, but the impact itself is spread over two pages. We watch his hand literally cleaving through the leading attackerās face, and then are encouraged to linger on the oversized panel below, the intricately drawn crowd, full of individual faces, still intact on the left, scattering to dust on the right, all fully lit, with Shigarakiāstill drawn with speedlines to emphasize his movementāthe focal figure in black at the center. Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā The anime rendered this moment in two stillsāShigarakiās hand about to hit the lead attackerās face, and then the crowd already decaying. There was virtually no movement to it, the crowd was so heavily silhouetted against a glare of daylight that it was difficult to tell what was going on, and the moment stayed on screen for only two seconds before Shigaraki landed and threw up, both actions favored with more animation than one of the signature moments of the entire arc. Hell, it even left the walls on either side of the alley intact, when the manga shows them dissolving into ash as well, decay traveling through the ground in a deadly, destructive radius around Shigarakiās attack. Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā The anime ever-so-graciously allowed Spinner his line to explain to the audience what just happened, but I think thatās mostly because it would be genuinely difficult to parse if he didnāt. It also gave him a flashback to what we had literally just seen, except this time it wasnāt silhouetted for some reason, so at least the audience got another chance to look at it, I guess? Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā āAm I seeing things? Just now, his decay effect spread to people he wasnāt even touching!ā Well, I guess weāll have to take your word for it, Spinner.
Additions
⢠A quick shot of a camera, there and gone almost too fast to register. I want to compliment the anime for adding a camera back in, since it removed the shot of the cameras earlier, but honestly, given that it cut all the scenes about how and why the MLA was gathering footage, I really donāt know why it even bothered. Also too, the camera was gone so fast it felt more like a marker for a scene changeāwhich it also was, segueing the scene from Toga collapsing (only to cut back to her later staggering down an alley) to Spinner and the rest still trying to hold their ownāthan it did something the audience was supposed to really notice.
Chapter 228 ā Wounded Soul
⢠Twice in the opening pages left out scattered members of the MLA that were around for the start of the Dabi/Geten fight. Leaving them out raises the question of where all the people attacking went, but itās also the first demonstration that Geten is a danger to his own allies. We donāt see any of them dying on-panel or anything, but we do see them having to dive frantically out of the way because Geten demonstrates no care to the collateral damage of his attacks.
⢠Cut a small flashback, presumably from Twiceās perspective, of finding the site where Toga and Curiousās fight concluded. You can see the ground covered in blood, and a body that looks a bit like Curious if you squint (distinguishable by the sleeves of her jacket), as well as a small group of people kneeling on the ground in various poses suggesting mourning and a paying of respects. Yet another shot demonstrating the depths of care these people have for their leaders, that theyāve completely let the battle fall by the wayside in favor of their grief.
⢠Drops the āthose zealotsā phrase from Twiceās, āIāll rip those zealots limb from limb for this!ā line. Damn, the anime really was determined to erase everything that even hints at the Liberation Army being something much creepier and more damaging than just an underground militia, huh?
Framing Shifts
⢠For all my complaints about the material, I generally like the voice acting quite a bit. I donāt love the first exchange between Dabi and Geten, though. Itās not a fault of the voice actors themselves, but rather the delivery. Geten was very cool and level-headed throughout, which is all right to a point, but heās a gremlin under that troll parka, and this fight is where we hear him as close as we ever will to how he is before the multi-layered humbling heās subject to over the course of this fight. Itās a bit of a shame to play him totally straight, without any of the snark heās so clearly capable ofāand without the tick upwards in vehemence his talk bubbles indicate in his last lines. Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Meanwhile, itās fine for Dabi to get more heated as the scene goes along, and indeed he does, but he also plays it pretty cool at first. You can tell in the shape of his talk bubbles that heās completely unruffled during his delivery of that, āConsider this a freebie, just for you: ice melts,ā line. The anime had him raising his voice for it, and it just loses a lot of the humor of Dabiās own snark to have him yelling it instead of just laughingly stating it, voice barely raising enough to give his talk bubbles some straighter lines instead of being all undisturbed curves. (For comparisonās sake, itās about the same level of angular as Getenās, āYouād best not think your little campfire can melt my ice!ā line, but the anime had Dabi shout his line, while Geten continued at the same unperturbed volume heād maintained since the beginning.)
⢠As with Shigarakiās first mass decay, the shot of Getenās ice dragon did not make the impact on me in the anime that the manga did. I think itās mostly the way the ice was colored? The clawās pretty good, but the head looks blobby and indistinct, more like blue soft-serve than the shifting, sharp-edged, brilliantly bright sculpture-in-motion of the manga.
⢠Twiceās voice actor did his best to sell the scene of him finding Toga, but I wish theyād kept that tight close-up on his mouth when he says, āGive it up. The girlās dead.ā They animated him leaning closer to the camera, but that doesnāt have the sharpness of that sudden cut to being right there on his lips, like some malevolent thing is using them to speak words so terrible that they canāt even be associated with the rest of his face.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā ---
Come back next time (and hopefully in less time) for Part Three, Episode 110: Sad Man's Parade.
FOOTNOTES
[1] We would, of course, have an even clearer idea of that had the anime not cut the scene of Spinner shouting in Shigarakiās face.
[2] It seems particularly strange to me that Curious and RD both mention quirk evolution as a thing they know can happen in extreme circumstances, but didnāt predict that backing the League into a life-or-death corner might provoke one or two members to undergo exactly that evolution.
[3] Mount Lady is the obvious example, but you can look to places like the island in Heroes Rising, too: one hero, and when they retired, a group of high school kids had to go sub in for a while until a replacement could be arranged. Itās not like retirements just happen overnight; the Commission had to have known it was coming. Still, they had to scramble to find someone. It doesnāt suggest they had anybody just champing at the bit to take the post, you know?
[4] In Chapter 140, we see a young Tamaki Amajiki in a class called āquirk training.ā Itās uncertain how connected this P.E.-like class is to quirk counseling, but Toga wouldnāt have been getting much help there, either, seeing as itās all about figuring out how to use oneās quirk in a way thatās āuseful to society.ā I can think of some ways, but nothing that I expect would be very popular or liable to be explained to a grade schooler in a country with as long a history with ritual cleanliness as Japan. To a Shinto mindset, Transformation isnāt just off-putting or unhygienic; itās spiritually unclean.
[5] The answer there being, no, obviously not, or Curious wouldnāt, in all apparent sincerity, be trying to characterize Toga using her quirk to murder people as an undesirable outcome, a cost society is paying for its current stance on quirk use. Yes, you can gather that much from her calling Toga a tragic girl, and Re-Destro concurring later, but listen, I will take every line I can get that I can use to push back against the wretchedly widespread idea that the kid whose name means Apocrypha is the be-all-end-all source on MLA ideology, somehow more reliable and trustworthy than every other MLA character combined, including Destro himself. I would very much like it if the anime had not deleted a bunch of my talking points while making good and sure to leave all Getenās most damning lines intact.
[6] Not that an anime-only person would fully understand why some random reporter was all that valuable a resource, since the anime cut the explanation of what Curious actually does for a living.
#my villain academia#bnha#bnha meta#boku no hero academia#my hero academia#my writing#stillness has salt
39 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
Okay, the promised is debt.let"s talk about Gintaka moments!!!
I said a long time ago I was gonna do a compilation of Gintaka/Takagin moments. And I will deliver right now! (op skimmed the jp twitter and is excited/canāt wait to see the movie )
Ok, no, this will be mostly my disorganized headcanons, moments where I can see the ship with my shipper googles on, some paralels? Haha, honestly just to show the ship some love!!!
Itās also my perspective on why I love this ship!!
Of course, I'm going to talk about all the series and go back and fort, so thereās going to be spoilers all around, so if you have not seen the manga end, best skip it.
The rest is under the cut, letās go!!!!!
So, I started shippingĀ Gintaka/TakaginĀ after the Shougun Assasination arc, bestĀ strangled friends story I have ever seen.Ā I like a lot of Gintoki ships, but it became my favourite really fast. Then, looking back, I noticed these haha:
the first meeting in the show (ep 17). I know it was threatening, but watching it again the fireworks exploded over their heads as they met.Isnāt thatĀ a romantic troupe? (and also in this scene makes Takasugi face scarier, haha). And also how Gintoki stopped Takasugi blade, so obvious for point one that they knew each other.(the interactions here are so painful in retrospective 'When his father saw his son's head, imagine the rage he felt?š')
(and then thereās also , in the extra episode where the yoroyuza go to China, they help a poor dude with his first date with a girl, and Gintoki comments how the first dateĀ should have fireworks, haha, at the time there were some images on pixiv of child Gintoki and child Takasugi seeing the fireworks together, it was so lovely, good headcanon!)
There's the Senbonsakura arc, and Takasugi appearing at the reunion scene looking at the moon, woah (there's also them crossing paths, but that's more dramatic of the ideologies maybe, still this a shipping post so ' them crossing paths there, the athmosphere of fated (rivals) people!!!')
( āThey both had sad eyesā)
I like how even as they are different their core is the same, even if not these character are so raw together in their feelings
Let's talk about the movies for a moment: in the movie version of the Benizakura arc, Gintoki dreams with Takasugi, and IDK, but for how haunting it is, it also feels intimate, and that makes it hurt most.

About the second movie when we saw it we didn't know what the hell happened to Takasugi, but looking back he's dead by that time....maybe. (why didn't you give us a clear answer at the end sorachi).Okay but for practical purposes of what the cast knows he's dead (maybe...ahhh let's says it's like that) and well, haha, gintoki of the future dying looking at the sunset haha don't think of him daydreaming things.(When I saw the movie I had the impression that takasugi was dead, for both katsura clothes that are not called as a joke, and future gintoki 'the only one that can kill me is me', if takasugi was alive, he wouldn't let gintoki claim that so hypotrically, that's what I believed.)
There's the mini arc of the underseas dragon palace, (I remembered this one because of takasugi 'monster' form) I'm just gonna said that even if I read too much into ot there are some interesting paralels maaaaaybe, this one is a strech.
Talking about far fetched things, you people remember the Love Chorris arc? The one with the virtual girlfriends game? I think I am not the first person to point this out, but if you analyze Gintoki girl:
Gintoki selects her and (accidentally)kills her son.After that, she is bend of killing him in return in revenge. With his son corpse at her back to haunt him too.
She later confesses to him that she knew he wasn't at fault for her sons death, and that she focused on blaming him to be able to handle the pain, that she's grateful of Gintoki for understanding this.
The spirit of her son aproves their relashionship.
Now tell me this doesn't remain you of someone in particular and his relashionship with gintoki. And this is gintoki mind perspective and hopes, and fears.
(Well it probably isn't that deep, its the chorris arc, but still)
The way you can see Sakamotoā jokes as a friend teasing because he knows they like each other. The fight when they to a red district gaining another lining.
The rajuko arc, when they exchanged blades to save the other newfound friends/family. The fucking red string of blood that they form together.

In the manga there was the famous saying attributted to takasugi historical counterpart :
'I want to kill all crows in the three thousand world, and sleep in with my heart's master'
This if I remember correctly because crows caw mark the morning, and in a brothel you have to leave.
So the meaning is ' I want to kill all crows in three thousand worlds(so that morning never comes) and sleep/stay in (forever) with my heart' master'
(Of course this could refer to shouyo, but it could be about gintoki, they go directly to meet the other)
It's a famous saying used in songs, I believe.
The part when he doesnāt want to see more rain, its of course because seeing gintoki's crying was imprinted in his mind for so long and influenced how he thinks. He is so important to him!!
And of course the final arc, where they are more open to each other,(the strangled friends are so happy to be together again) both Takasugi who finally let go of that 'burn the world down' and of Gintoki that walks besides him. The way Gintoki looks at Takasugi with a soft expression on his eyes. Matako ' I have never seen before Shinsuke sama with those eyes, I couldn't stop them'
The Glorious Days ending, that's when one (me) realises, 'oh ... this two care about each other and want to save the other' and while it isnt surprising for Gin, it was for Takasugi at the time.Rewatch the openings and endings in general, and see Takasugi place in them. IDK, he is usually the last alone waiting under the moon. And it gets me...cant really explain that.
The radio call, how we couldnāt see gintoki's initial reaction as Takasugi talked to him, gintoki even pretending not knowing (painfully bad) he didnāt know the other voice.
And of course the myriad moments in the final arc, Gintoki promply saying he is the one he wants to protect, the death sequence 'maybe we were just born under that kind of (tragic) star'
Gintoki teading takasugi that his parents would cry if they see the delincuent he is bringing home š¤£š¤£.
Fuck, in the spin off Takasugi as a student novel, when he and Gintoki meet they can't keep the skit up, they talk directly to each other.
Also about the special episode, there's another...uh this is more of a paralel, and purely a headcanon, but here it goes: the yorozuya meet with kamui while trying to help a woman about her mother setting her up in blind dates, and in one moment she starts mothering both kamui and kagura and they get, well their eyes are animated different in that moment, and then they start listening to her. They were probably remainded of their own mother. And then I realised that I have seen Kamui make those eyes before (I will look for a pic, it's a very distintive shift), when talking to Takasugi. Is in one op too.
Of course the childhood friends dynamic. Regardless of nature, nobdy can deny the deep connection these two have.

(Here's the image from the op, is less obvios in the ep I think...or I'm overthinking, that's more possible)
Hereās Kamui and Kaguraās eyes when tehy get scold by the mother:
(Iām not crazy, they are similar XD Maybe XD)
I remember thinking to myself at the time 'woah, Kamui shows a admiring expression with takasugi somentimes' and now I fully believe is a childlike more like expression because takasugi reminds him of his mother(subconsiously). I can see the resemblance, especially towards the end of the series. As Gintoki and Umibozuo paralel too(both of them act like Kagura's dads) I just....haha parallel things.
There's a hundred things more, I'm sure I'm forgetting some (may add in a reblog after). All their fucking dialogue with each other is so intense. I I just love this ship sooo much
Totally up to talk about this ship if someone wants to!!
#gintama#gintaka#takagin#gintama spoilers#the movie is close so just to be sure anime watchers arent spoiled#gintoki sakata#takasugi shinsuke#somentines I play a little game called 'which gintama end lyrics fit takagin better XD'#grammar mistakes probably#will edit later...probably#add more pictures since it's difficult on phone#also this post is really a continent away fron serious analysis XD#tumblr stop fucking with my paragraphs order challenge#Edit: there were some sentences out of order still#I added one or two more pictures#thanks for liking my rambles
107 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
the idiotsā guide to not despising your cousin
Determined to make the best out of the worst hand, Lloyd drags his newly-living pseudo-cousin on the road trip from hell in a desperate attempt to bond. Or get rid of each other for good, theyāre not sure yet.Ā
(This requires...a tiny bit of background, part one being that a while back i received a request forĀ āmore lloyd and sharksā. Except i misread it asĀ āmorro lloyd and sharksā which was like, odd, but i went with it and somehow ended up with 12K words of...this fic, thatās definitely 90% crack. Which brings me to part two, which is that this takes place in an entirely hypothetical au where Morro made it through the rift in s7, or somehow heās alive the details arenāt important shh)
In his defense, Morro never would have been caught dead in this situation if he hadnāt traumatized his sort-of-cousin by possessing him two years earlier.
ā¦alright, thatās not really a defense, but itās the only explanation he has.
āIām just saying,ā Lloyd isā¦saying, as he jabs his pointer finger at him. āI couldāve been a whole foot taller if you hadnāt starved me. You stunted my growth, listening to me for five minutes is the least you can do.ā
āI did not stunt your growth, you were already going to be a shrimp anyways,ā Morro counters, rubbing his right eye as he tries to focus on his book instead.
Lloydās eyes narrow. āA whole week. And all you let me eat was half a slice of bread and vodka shots.ā
āWould you ā shh, it was not vodka!ā Morro hisses, his eyes darting wildly around for Wu. His shoulders slump in relief as he confirms that he and Lloyd are still the only ones in the room, and he turns back, glaring at Lloyd. āI told you, it was juice.ā
Lloyd glares right back. āI could still taste, you know. Iām not that naĆÆve.ā
āCouldāve fooled me,ā Morro quips.
Lloydās green eyes flash a little too much on the neon side, and Morro backs down. āAlright, alright!ā He shakes his head. āIāll listen to whatever kiddie drama you want.ā
āItās not drama,ā Lloyd huffs, flopping down on the couch across from him. āItās a proposal.ā
Morro sneers. āOh, a fancy word.ā
Again, Lloyd sneers right back. āYeah, do you need a dictionary for it?"
In retrospect, itās probably a good thing Morro possessed Lloyd at that particular point in his life. If heād had to deal with this Lloyd, and all his newly-found confidence and sass, heād have dropped him off a cliff much sooner.
āListen here, you little punkāā
āOh, now you want me to listen to you,ā Lloyd interrupts. āSpoken like a true raging hypocrite.ā
āFSM, what do you want?ā Morro finally cracks, tossing his book on the couch beside him. Itās clear heās not going to be getting anymore reading done until Lloyd leaves.
Lloyd beams, looking infuriatingly pleased with himself. āAgain, I have a proposal,ā he says. āFor you.ā
Morro already hates this. āNo.ā
Lloyd continues as if Morro hadnāt spoken. āYou should go with me to the coast this weekend.ā
āNo.ā
āThe southern coast, so the one like eight hours away.ā
āNo, what theāā Morro stares at him incredulously. āWhy in the world would I ever want to do that?ā
Lloyd simply shrugs, as if he hasnāt just suggested the idea from hell. āBecause.ā
Morroās going to kill him, tentatively-redeemed status be damned.
āWhy, Lloyd.ā
Lloyd gets a look in his eyes, the kind that makes Morro shift. āConsider,ā he says. āA tornado.ā
Morro, unfortunately, does consider that. āThere is...merit, to the idea,ā he admits, even if doing so pains him.
āOkay, okay,ā Lloyd continues, like an enthusiastic salesman with a quota to meet. āNow, consider this: sharks. In the tornado.ā
Morro loses any and all faith heās ever had in Lloyd, which is impressive considering there was nothing there to begin with. āWhat.ā
āSharks, in the tornado. Like a sharknado.ā
Something flickers in the back of Morroās brain, snatches of a conversation heād heard from the living room one evening, along with a lot of screeching laughter and pained groans.
āAre you trying to reenact an entirely fictional and entirely garbage movie,ā Morro says flatly, mentally crediting Cole for that particular phrasing.
Lloydās lip juts out. āNo.ā
āThatās exactly what it is, isnāt it,ā Morro rolls his eyes. āNo. Find someone else to be stupid with you. Kai should be down, he always is.ā
Lloyd narrows his eyes, but he doesnāt take the bait. āWill you just ā at least hear my final point,ā he pleads.
Morro stares into the vast abyss of the ceiling panels, and already regrets answering. āWhat.ā
āThe look on the othersā faces.ā
Morro pauses again, desperately trying to stop himself ā but itās too late. The looks have been imagined.
Lloyd grins, sharp teeth poking out at the edge of his lip. āNow ā the look on Uncle Wuāa face.ā
Oh, curse everything. Morroās coming dangerously close to being made a fool by an idiot shrimp who calls himself his cousin. He quickly backtracks.
āNoted, but that doesnāt explain why youāre asking me.ā
āBecause youāve got the wind power for the tornado, duh.ā Lloyd makes a face. āAlso because the others will probably say something like itās too dangerous, or a high risk, or some other nonsense like that.ā
Morro highly doubts that Jay, or even Kai, of all people, would turn down the opportunity for such potent idiocy, but he does believe theyād tie Lloyd to a pole to keep him from rushing a shark.
āSo youāre asking me, out of everyone else in this realm, to drive eight hours ā eight ā with you to some coast in the middle of nowhere ā which includes water, by the way, so thatās already a strike ā just so you can recreate some awful B-movie scene?ā
āYup,ā Lloyd says. āAnd maybe drop the whole thing on my dadās head, if we can find him.ā
āRight,ā Morro sighs. āJust being clear.ā
He drops his head back, staring at the ceiling again. Itās the idea from hell, for certain. Morro would hate himself every minute of it, if he were to agree.
But the idea of hitting the road ā of escaping the monastery ā does sound tempting.
It has, admittedly, been rather boring at the monastery. Morroās interactions with the ninja, while not as aggressive as theyād been originally, tend to be strained at best. On the better days, Morro finds the most entertainment in listening to the increasingly creative ways Kai threatens to end his existence with, should he either step out of line, or within a set boundary around Lloyd. Both of which Morro threatens to break by going along with Lloydās plan.
Actually, Morro muses, thatās more of a reason to go than to not. Kaiās head might potentially explode if he were to wake up and discover Morro had taken off across country with Lloyd, and Morro would get the added bonus of seeing him chew Lloyd out for being the one to suggest it. So there are definitely pros.
None of them, of course, override the fact that heād be spending eight hours, in a car, with Lloyd and Lloyd alone. Both ways.
āEight hours is a long time,ā Morro finally says.
Lloydās expression drops, before his eyebrows crease stubbornly. āItās eight hours you wouldnāt spend being hounded by Uncle Wu to train with us.ā
Morro cringes. Lloyd has clearly prepared his arguments for this one with devastating accuracy. But still, eight hours. With Lloydā
āIf you do this, Iāll stop tying all your shirtsleeves together when theyāre in the laundry,ā Lloyd adds.
āThat was you?!ā Morro exclaims, indignantly. āNya told me the dryer did that on its own!ā
āYeah, sorry about that,ā Lloyd shrugs. āYou probablyā¦shouldnāt take Nyaās word on a whole lot of stuff any time soon.ā
āNow you tell me,ā Morro mutters, sinking further into the couch and bemoaning the universe on the whole.
Lloyd scoots forward on his own couch, his eyes wide and pleading. āPlease?ā he says. āItās just this once. Then Iāll leave you alone, I promise.ā
Morro meets his eyes shrewdly, chewing on his cheek. Heāll regret it, for certain. Probably hate himself and the universe on the whole the entire weekend. Butā¦he does, rather drastically, owe Lloyd. And he is trying to ā ugh ā make things right with him.
(As if thatās something that can be done.)
And at least thereās the promise of Lloyd leaving him alone.
Morro lets out a long, weary groan, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. āFine,ā he grumbles. āBut youāre paying for gas.ā
Lloyd gives a whoop of victory, before desperately trying to stifle his excitement. āYou pay for stuff?ā he cackles instead. āLamest villain ever.ā
āGet out,ā Morro snarls, hurling his book at him. Lloyd dodges with ease. āBefore I change my mind and murder you.ā
***********
Lloyd secures a vehicle with a speed and easiness that almost makes Morro doubt which one of them is the reformed criminal. Then he remembers that, technically, theyāre both reformed criminals, even if Morroās āreformedā status is still under hot debate (by himself included).
As it also turns out, Lloyd happens to have a not-so-reformed criminal friend as well, who Morro unfortunately recognizes when he hands the keys over to them.
Ronin abruptly cuts off in his lecture to Lloyd about engine safety as he spots him, his face paling. Morro pauses mid-step, mentally wishing heād just made Lloyd carry the six packages of Oreos out to the car himself. Lloyd simply smiles, like the oblivious airhead Morro wishes he truly was.
Heās not, though, because the look in his eyes says heās having the time of his life with this.
āOh yeah, I forgot to mention,ā Lloyd tells Ronin easily. āMorroās the other person I was talking about.ā
Ronin stares between the two of them, and looks as if heās lost about five years of his life. āHow hard do they hit your head in practice, kid.ā
āNot hard enough, apparently,ā Morro mutters. Ronin pins him with a glare, and despite his better judgement, Morro shuts up.
āItās all good,ā Lloyd assures him. āI know what Iām doing.ā
āFor some reason, I got trouble believinā you, kid.ā
āWell, you shouldnāt,ā Lloyd huffs, snatching the keys from him. āIām the Green Ninja. Also, if you tell the others about this Iāll start busting your Thursday night runs.ā
Roninās expression sours. āAlright, alright, if you wanna go on a suicide road trip, go on a suicide road trip. Just keep me outta it.ā
āGladly,ā Morro grouses, shouldering his way between them so he can dump the cursed cookies in the van already.
Ronin watches him through narrowed eyes, and makes a threatening gesture. āIf you even try and come back aloneā¦ā
āHe wonāt,ā Lloyd says, before Morro can reply. āPromise. I have it all under control.ā
āThatās what you all say every time,ā Ronin grumbles.
Ronin finally leaves them in peace, muttering something about āleaving his Thursday nights alone' before taking off. This leaves Lloyd and Morro and the incredibly hideous minivan, alone. They look at each other. Thereās a moment of silence, before they both scramble wildly for the driverās seat. Morro beats Lloyd out by a half-second, grabbing the steering wheel and shoving him back with a smug smirk. Lloyd glares at him.
āIām driving,ā he demands.
āAs if youāre old enough to have your license,ā Morro scoffs.
Lloyd narrows his eyes into slits. āAt least I was born when cars actually existed.ā
āOoh, Iām old, how will I ever recover,ā Morro mocks. āI got here first, Iām driving. Suck it up.ā
Lloydās face screws up, and for a half-second Morro gleefully thinks heās about to pout like a child.
To his disappointment, Lloyd blows his breath out, stands up straighter, and plays dirty.
āYou take control of the car, you take control of my body, ā he shakes his head, crossing his arms. āI guess thatās just how it is with you, huh."
Morroās hands grind where he clutches the steering wheel, and he resists the urge to smash his head against it. āHave you ever heard of abusing your power.ā
āHave you ever heard of abusing me.ā
āOh for FSMās ā you can drive, fine!ā
***********
Theyāre roughly an hour out from the monastery, when something strikes Morro as odd.
āBy the way,ā he says. āHow did you convince the idiot quartet to let you go?ā
āDonāt call them that,ā Lloyd says sternly, glaring at him. āAnd, uh, I didnāt.ā
Morro blinks. Then Lloydās meaning sinks in, and he lets out a long, pained exhale. āYou do realize,ā he says. āThat theyāre going to have multiple heart attacks, then hunt me down and murder me as prime suspect, right.ā
āOh, donāt worry,ā Lloyd assures him, cheerfully. āI left them a note.ā
***********
Kai stares at the slightly-crumpled scrap of paper in his hands and wishes, not for the first time, that Garmadon or Wu or Misako had put in just a little more time in raising Lloyd, so he could blame them for this and not his own example.
Alas, Kai is only able to bury himself in so much denial.
āWhatās that?ā Cole asks, striding into the kitchen behind him. Kai hands him the note, wordlessly. Cole frowns as he takes it, trying in vain to flatten the edges.
āāHey guys, heading out with Morro for a couple days, going toāā something somethingā¦sharks?ā Cole blinks at the note. āGeez, might need to look into Lloydās writing education agaiā wait, heās heading out with who for a couple what.ā
āRead the rest,ā Kai says, his eyes glazing over as he stares across the kitchen.
āOkay, uh⦠āātaking the vanāā we have a van? ā āshouldnāt go too far, donāt worry.āā Coleās eyebrows shoot up as he reads on. āāAlso my phoneās dead and I forgot the charger. Sorry.ā He wrote this while he was still here, he couldāve grabbed it!ā he exclaims.
āIām going to slaughter him,ā Kai states.
āUhā¦which one?ā
āWhichever one doesnāt run fast enough.ā
***********
As it turns out, Lloydās plan consists of a little more than just driving six hours to some random beach in the middle of nowhere. This is unsurprising, as Morroās been expecting Lloyd to spring nonsense on him at any given moment.
Having lived in his head for a brief stint, Morro also finds it unsurprising that Lloydās plan isnāt actually a plan.
āSo the tornado thing is easy, obviously, unless your powers suck,ā heās saying. Morro shoots him a look he hopes conveys the depths of his annoyance from where heās at the wheel. Lloyd switched with him back at the last gas station, having grown fed up with Morroās lack of skill in reading maps.
Itās not Morroās fault his reading comprehension rests around that of a nine year-oldās. Like Lloydās any better.
āGonna take that as a āmaybeā,ā Lloyd mutters to himself, squinting back at the map under the above-head car light. āItās the shark part thatās going to be a little more tricky.ā
āI hear they like blood,ā Morro says. āI can always skewer you a little, then toss you in. That should do it.ā
āHar har,ā Lloyd replies, drenched in sarcasm. āThatās obviously not the route weāre taking. Besides, itād be mean to lure the sharks out and not actually have anything they can eat. Iād probably end up poisoning them or something, with my mutant Oni blood.ā
Morro stares at him long enough to nearly run them off the road. He jerks the car back on track just in time, shaking his head and despairing.
āI was thinking, since thereās already an elemental master of nature, maybe thereās like, an elemental master of animals?ā Lloyd continues. āThen we could ask them to help us out.ā
āOh, Iām sure some random master would love to help us out,ā Morro drawls. āAn undead criminal who tried to unleash hell on the country and the son of Lord Garmadon.ā
āSpeak for yourself,ā Lloyd huffs. āPeople actually like me.ā
āShocker.ā
Lloyd ignores him. āPlus, youāre not even undead anymore,ā he mutters under his breath. āYouāre just regular boring alive, now.ā
Morro opens his mouth, because heās got a lot to say about that, then realizes he doesnāt quite have the words for it, aside from hanging his mouth open like an indignant fish. He shuts it, and Lloyd plows on.
āDo you think we should look for the master of like, fish or something, instead?ā he questions, frowning. āI mean, I donāt even know if there is a master of animals, but if there is, sharks are technically fish, and fish areā¦well, I guess theyāre animals too, but what if thereās like, a distinction, and all the hypothetical master of animals can summon are mammals, and we drive out of the way for nothing?ā
āI will pay you,ā Morro says, pinching the bridge of his nose tightly. āI will pay you so much to shut up.ā
āItās too much of a risk,ā Lloyd decides, ignoring him. āPlan B it is, then.ā
Morro doesnāt want to ask. That would be inviting Lloyd to run his mouth again, and Morro doesnāt hate himself that much.
But he does, regretfully, want to know how heāll be meeting his fate.
āWhatās plan B?ā
āSo thereās this park,ā Lloyd says. āFor performing animals.ā
***********
Morro and Lloyd are still arguing by the time they pull into the motel parking lot for the night. Ā That had been a different argument altogether, but as theyād had to sneak out around midnight to get on the road successfully, neither had really wanted to keep driving through the early morning hours.
āāno, no, I cannot make this clearer, no,ā Morro growls. āI am not breaking into some ā some stupid amusement park, just to steal their dancing sharks or whatever.ā
āOh come on, itās stealing! Thatās like, your favorite pastime,ā Lloyd shoots back. āA shark is nothing compared to body-snatching.ā
āThatās not going to work on me again,ā Morro seethes.
āOh yeah?ā Lloyd taunts. āWhy not? Did your morality meter run out?ā
āMy whatāā
āI can never dye my hair black because of you,ā Lloyd continues, eyes narrowed. āI will never know the teenage joys of horrifying your family by dyeing your entire head jet black, because of you.ā
āIt didnāt look that bad,ā Morro defends.
āIām talking about the trauma!ā Lloyd snaps.
Morro pauses. āYour trauma, or theirs?ā
Lloyd opens his mouth, then frowns. āMinātheirā both, both traumas!ā
While Morro wants to scoff back that having to endure the sight of Kaiās hair is equally traumatic for him, he also recognizes that Lloyd has a point. Which is inconvenient, because Lloydās beginning to use that point against him a little too well lately, but considering Lloyd also still wakes up screaming in the night because Morroās given him chronic nightmares, he decides not to push back against that point.
Because heās a nice person, like that.
He does, however, attempt to push for sense.
āStealing a shark from a theme park is still theft,ā he argues under his breath, as they make their way toward the motel check-in. āIsnāt that something youāre against?ā
āTheft, yes,ā Lloyd replies. āFreeing wrongfully imprisoned sharks from slavery, less so.ā
āOh, so stealing is an act of philanthropy when itās you.ā
āWow, look at you, breaking out the big words.ā Lloydās teeth grind together.
āYeah, you need a dictionary?ā Morro sneers back his words from earlier.
Lloyd looks as if heād like to throttle him, but fortunately for Morro ā or unfortunately, as heād like to see him try ā the receptionist at the check-in desk is staring at them with wide eyes now.
To be fair, Morro imagines they make quite a contrasting pair: Lloyd with his light hair in his green hoodie and green high top sneakers, and Morro with his black hair in his black shirt and black jacket and black jeans and black high top sneakers.
At least Lloydās basketball shorts are like, a grey color. For contrast, not that Morro cares.
He does care that theyāre both wearing high top sneakers, but thatās only because itās annoying.
Lloyd finally straightens, transforming instantaneously into a bright, innocent-eyed ray of infuriating sunshine. āHi!ā he greets. āCan we get a room for two, please?ā
āOh,ā the lady blinks, clearly blinded by the intensity of Lloydās beaming smile. āOf course, sweetheart, one moment.ā
Morro fights back the urge to inform the receptionist that Lloyd is actually a half-demon monster who could and would drag her on an eight-hour road trip from hell, with the sole purpose of stealing sharks.
He resists, though. Since heās a nice person, like that.
The receptionist hands them the keys with ease, but itās only as Lloyd struggles to get the room door open that the reality of their situation hits Morro.
Lloyd finally swings the door open, and Morro stares in horror at the small room. āWait, weāre sharing a room?ā
āUh, yeah?ā Lloyd shrugs. āUnless youāve got the money for two, ācause I definitely donāt.ā
Morroās jaw creaks. Lloyd knows full well he has about three cents to his name. āTell me thereās two beds.ā
Lloyd scoffs loudly. āPlease. Iām not completely insane.ā
Morro would beg to differ, because heās got them sharing a room, but heās true to his word, at least. While the room is about the size of a glorified closet, there are two single beds, neatly arranged side by side. In silent agreement, the first thing Lloyd and Morro do, after tossing their bags down, is shove the beds as far as they can from each other against the opposite wall. The bedside table relocates nicely as a barrier in the no-manās zone between the two. Morro would prefer, say, a five-feet thick vengestone wall between the two of them, but sure, the bedside table thing works.
They make camp on their respective beds after that, Morro skimming idly through his book while Lloyd flips through the little leaflet on the bedside table. He frowns, swinging his legs at the edge of his bed.
āDāyou think we should just order dinner in?ā he says.
Morro ignores him, continuing to thumb through his book. He hasnāt been particularly hungry since they finished an entire package of Oreos somewhere around the second hour in.
Not one to be discouraged, Lloyd continues anyways, mumbling to himself. āItās a little late, but it looks like there are some pizza places thatāll deliver hereā¦ā
Morro frowns. āPizzaās that cheese bread stuff, right?ā
Lloyd goes silent. He stares at Morro, his expression frozen. āWhat.ā
Morro shifts, uncomfortable at the stare Lloyd has on him. āWhat?ā
āYouāveā¦never had pizza?ā Lloyd finally gets out, as if the very idea is horrifying.
āNo?ā Morro offers. āYou know I donāt eat dinner with you all. I certainly donāt eat your disgusting greasy junk food, either.ā
āDisgusting ā youāve never had pizza,ā Lloyd repeats, scandalized. āThatās whatās disgusting here. Weāve gotta fix this. Not even you deserve to go your life without pizza.ā
āIām touched,ā Morro drones.
āShut up, and pick out a topping.ā Morro yelps as Lloyd suddenly materializes on the bed next to him, shoving the leaflet in his face. āSo the standard go-to is cheese, ācause you canāt go wrong with that, but pepperoniās pretty across the board, too. Kai and Nya like little peppers on theirs, so if you like spicy stuff thatās the way to go, but Cole swears by bacon bits, and Jay likes both. Zane likes the vegetable kind, but thatās just ācause heās weird, so thereās that and pineapple, if youāre a mutantāā
āIāll take the pineapple,ā Morro blurts, in a desperate attempt to cut Lloydās babbling off.
Lloyd wrinkles his nose. āYouāre not gonna like it,ā he threatens. āBut Iāll get us one of those split pizzas, so we can do like, two slices of pineapple, then the rest can be cheese and pepperoni, I guess, if that sounds good?ā
āI literally could not care less.ā
āTaking that as a yes!ā Lloyd says, cheerfully. āYouāre gonna love it.ā
āWonderful,ā Morro grimaces. āNow getāā he shoves Lloyd, sending him sprawling to the floor with a yelp. āBack over on your side.ā
It takes an unfortunately quick time for the pizza to be delivered, so Morro doesnāt have the chance to pretend heās fallen asleep before Lloydās invading his space again, shoving the pizza in his face.
āTry it,ā he demands. āOne piece, and Iāll leave you alone.ā
āThat better be a promise,ā Morro grouses, but he takes the slice heās being offered, holding it gingerly between two fingers. He makes a face. āThis is what youāve been going on about? I can see the grease dripping off it.ā
Lloyd rolls his eyes to the ceiling. āJust try it, geez. What are you, chicken?ā
āWhat are you, five?ā Morro retorts. He relents though, ever-so-carefully taking the tiniest of bites.
He pauses. Lloyd watches him expectantly. āAnd?ā
Morro knows exactly what Lloyd wants to hear, and heād eat rocks before heād let him have it. Unfortunately, his tastebuds are arguing a different case.
Morro doesnāt reply, but he takes another bite, this one considerably larger. FSM be cursed, itās good.
āHaha!ā Lloyd crows, rocking back where he sits cross-legged on the floor. āYou love it! I knew it.ā
āI do not,ā Morro argues. The mouthful of pizza he has doesnāt exactly sell his point.
āDo too,ā Lloyd grins, taking his own slice.
Morro hesitates, then goes for another slice, giving in. āThe pineapple stuff is pretty good,ā he admits, reaching for the fruit-laden pizza. Lloyd chokes, his triumphant smile evaporating as his eyes go wide in horror.
āNo. No, you canāt. I know youāre deranged, but you canāt be that far goneāā
āItās good,ā Morro shrugs, taking another bite.
Lloyd gags, looking as if heād like to cry. He settles for a sigh of despair instead, reaching for one of the slices of cheese. The edges of the crust are a bit blackened, but Lloyd doesnāt seem to mind.
āWhen I was a kid,ā he says, as he catches a trailing string of cheese with his fingers. āBurnt pizza was my favorite thing ever. It was super easy to get, if you hung out behind the restaurants. Theyād always throw them out in boxes and stuff, so it wasnāt as gross to swipe outta the trash.ā
Lloydās eyebrows furrow, and his expression drops. āUh, I mean, sorry. The guys get weird when I talk about that stuff, ācause itāsā¦weird, I guess.ā
Morro eyes him. Far be it from him to reassure Lloyd, but ā āI donāt think itās that weird,ā he says. āIād snag stuff from the trash all the time when I was on the streets.ā
āReally?ā Lloydās expression brightens. āThat was how I always ate when I was hanging in cities! Smaller towns not so much, since you could swipe stuff from food stands easier there.ā
Morro nods in agreement. āThe bigger cities are a lot better for scavenging, but smaller villages are where itās at for stealing. People let you get away easier there.ā
āYeah, exactly!ā Lloyd exclaims. He shakes his head, muttering to himself. āI knew it wasnāt that weird. The guys just like to overreact all the time.ā
āTell me about it,ā Morro snorts. āWuād always act like Iād kicked him in the shins when I brought that sort of stuff up.ā
āSounds like him,ā Lloyd giggles, before lapsing back into silence as they both finish the pizza.
If Morro didnāt know any better, heād call it comfortable.
***********
Sleeping, however, is not comfortable.
Morro stares up at the ceiling, his eyes wide open. Across the room, Lloyd does the same from his own bed.
āGo to sleep,ā Morro finally says. āYouāre creeping me out.ā
āYou go to sleep first,ā Lloyd responds, after a minute.
Morro grits his teeth. āNo, you.ā
āWhat, so you can murder me?ā Lloyd hisses.
āIām more worried about you murdering me!ā Morro hisses back.
āYouāre the ex-criminal. Maybe I donāt wanna wake up to the Preeminent at my throat.ā
āWell maybe I donāt want to wake up with the Serpentine at my neck.ā
āOh, shut up, you hypocritical jerkāā
āYouāre the one with a blabber mouth, you stuck-up wannabe-martyrāā
***********
In the end, neither of them wake up with slit throats. Neither of them wake up with marker all over their face, or tied up in their own sheets, or halfway out the window, either. It is, quite possibly, a miracle.
***********
āWell, Lloyd charged a pizza to my credit card, so we know theyāre alive, at least,ā Cole sighs.
āHe took your credit card?ā Nya frowns. āI thought Morro was the one whoā you know what, never mind, Lloyd makes perfect sense.ā
āHe redacted the location, too,ā Cole taps wearily at his phone. āWow, we really did raise a child criminal.ā
Kai moans into his hands where heās slumped over at the table, hunkering in the pits of anxiety-induced despair.
āYāknow, itās not too late to chase them down,ā Jay remarks. āCould be fun, we could all join in on whatever awful road trip theyāre having.ā
āSensei Wu said we need to let them go,ā Cole mutters. āSo they can āwork things outā. That, or he wants to collect on their life insurance early.ā
Jay makes a face. āAnd weāre listening to himā¦why?ā
āLloyd disabled location services on his phone,ā Zane says, dully. āAnd since the van was procured from Ronināā
āWe have no idea where they are,ā Nya growls. āIām going to slaughter him.ā
āMorro, Lloyd, or Ronin?ā Jay asks.
Nya exchanges looks with Kai. āWhichever one doesnāt hide well enough.ā
***********
āSo if weāre looking at this logically, I think our best bet is to just sneak in the park as tourists, so we blend in with everyone. Itās a pretty busy time of the year, so we should go unnoticedāā
āNext exit.ā
āāand then weāll be able to ā huh?ā
āNext exit. On the left.ā
āThe left? I thought it was the right. Are you sure you arenāt reading the map upside down again?ā
The vein near Morroās forehead throbs. āIām not, now get in the ā get in the left lane, Lloyd, or weāll miss it!ā
āI swear, if you make me U-turn in the middle of the highway againā¦ā Lloyd grits out, but he sends them careening across the freeway, darting into the left lane just in time to make their turn. Morro clutches the armrest with white knuckles, desperately trying not to cover his eyes with his hands like he has every other time Lloydās driven.
āYou drive like a maniac,ā Morro finally gets out, as Lloyd pushes the car well over the local speed limit. āWhoever let you have a license should be jailed.ā
āWimp,ā Lloyd mocks. āI donāt wanna hear it, with how you and your whack-job ghost pals would drive around.ā
āThat was different,ā Morro grinds his teeth. āWe had reliable vehicles and I was too dead to care. This is a bucket of bolts, and Iām unfortunately alive enough to not want to die in a fiery inferno because you crashed us head-on into a semi truck.ā
āSeriously?ā Lloyd rolls his eyes. āYou sound like Uncle Wu.ā
Morro turns to stare at him so fast his neck practically cracks. He continues to stare at Lloyd, his mouth half-open, too viscerally horrified to form a response.
He finally manages a croaked, āTake that back.ā
āNope.ā Lloyd is grinning.
āTake it back, I sound nothing like himāā
Lloyd says nothing, still grinning. Dying in a fiery inferno is sounding better by the minute, if it means dragging Lloyd down with him.
āSo anyways, as I was saying,ā Lloyd continues, as they pull into view of the park. āI think we should slip in the park dressed like touristsāā
āMm-hm.ā
āāwith tickets that I can buy on Coleās credit cardāā
āClassy.ā
āāwhichāll give our location away, ācause thereās no hiding that, but we should be clear out of here by the time he checks anywaysāā
āNobody cares.ā
āāalright, alright, so weāre in as tourists, then we justā¦grab a shark and, uh, borrow one of their big moving trucks, I guess.ā
Morro stares at him. āBorrow. The parkās semi truck they use to move sharks.ā
Lloyd winces. āWell, we canāt fit the shark in here.ā
They both give the minivan a once-over, and cringe in unison.
āSo let me get this straight,ā Morro rubs his temple as Lloyd pulls them into the parking lot, pocketing their tickets with the slightest expression of guilt and a whispered āForgive me Coleā. āYour plan is to justā¦walk into the park, pretending weāre totally normal people, then somehow stuff a shark in a truck and ā and what? Bust through the front gates?ā
āI was more thinking we could swipe park uniforms while weāre in there, and sneak out like Star Wars,ā Lloyd says, gesturing enthusiastically with his hands.
Morro buries his face in his hands. āI despise everything you are.ā
āItās a solid plan!ā Lloyd defends, kicking the car door open. āItās better than anything you have.ā
āPlanning for something this stupid would burn my brain cells to a crisp,ā Morro grumbles, sliding out of the van. He eyes the vehicle, something occurring to him. āBy the way. If weāre busting out of here in a park truck, what does that mean for this thing?ā
Lloyd pauses, as if that thought hadnāt occurred to him. āUhā¦ā he sweats. āIām, uh. Iām sure Roninās done something bad enough that he deserves us leaving it here.ā
āWeāre going to come out of this with so many people after our heads,ā Morro exhales.
***********
Morro lets Lloyd snag them clothes from a nearby gift shop, which is probably the worst mistake heās made in his life. Whether Lloyd is still aiming for a bit of revenge or his fashion sense really is just that appalling, the outfits he picks out for them almost succeed at burning Morroās eyes out on the spot.
āWhat is this,ā is all he manages to get out, staring blankly at the bright yellow, button-up shirt heās holding in his hands. It wouldnāt be so bad, if it didnāt have ugly orange flowers and pineapples printed all over it as well.
āItās what you get for liking pineapple on your pizza,ā Lloyd quips, as he pulls a garishly orange t-shirt over his head. His shirt has āI Went to Oceanworld and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirtā printed on it in bright pink script, which is at least better than the ugly flowers Morro gets. On the other hand, Lloydās stuck with a pair of truly hideous, neon blue running shorts, while Morro at least gets navy cargo ones, so thereās that tiny victory.
āAlso, these were the best options they had,ā Lloyd winces, having caught a glimpse of himself in a shop window as they head toward the park entrance, a crowd of people already starting to form around them. āHere, put these on.ā
Morro stares at the purple sunglasses Lloydās handed him. āAbsolutely not.ā
āThis too,ā Lloyd ignores him, shoving a neon green baseball cap on him. āSee, Iām letting you have the green one, ācauseāā
āIf you even finish that sentence, Iāll drown you in the first fish tank we see,ā Morro grits out, shoving the sunglasses on. Lloyd just gives him a sunny smile, tugging a vivid pink baseball cap over his hair. He, at least, looks like he fits in here, with his idiot smile and the way he almost starts bouncing as they mingle in the crowds. Morro, on the other hand, feels much as if he sticks out like a sore, sweaty thumb.
āYou know, I might actually take you up on that drowning thing,ā Lloyd mutters as they drift further into the park, tugging at the collar of his t-shirt. āIf only so I end up in the water. Itās so hot.ā
āMakes me miss your grandfatherās tomb,ā Morro mutters beneath his breath. Lloyd spears him with a glare out of the corners of his eyes. āWhat?ā Morro defends. āIt was at least cold there.ā
āI remember. I almost died ācause of it,ā Lloyd growls, his eyes flashing in warning.
āPretty sure you were more likely to die of starvation by that point,ā Morro remarks easily. āBut you were already a twig to begin with, soāā
He cuts off with a strangled shout of pain as Lloyd shoves him face-first into a sign, his nose crunching against the metal. Morro pulls away angrily, only to come face to face with a truly hellish, grinning shark on the sign, pointing its deformed fin to the right. Just below the awful shark is a small, printed square that points ahead, reading Park Maintenance: Transportation.
āJust so you know, Iām going to roundhouse-kick your teeth out for that later,ā Morro tells Lloyd calmly. āBut I think Iāve found our stop.ā
Lloydās expression switches from Oni hell spawn of doom to enthusiastic devil child in a heartbeat. āOh, seriously? That was fast.ā
āAw,ā Morro sneers. āDid you want to stop by the kiddie park before we left?ā
Lloydās eyes narrow, but he doesnāt spare Morro a second glance. āNah, but I wanted a picture of you in that shirt to immortalize. Kaiāll get a kick out of it.ā
Morro pales rapidly. āNo. No, Kai does not hear a word of this. This stays between you and me forever and then we die. Kai. Never. Knows.ā
āIāll keep it quiet if you give me your credit card.ā
āHa! You know this entire familyās broke.ā
Breaking into park maintenance is laughably easy ā or it would have been, if they werenāt dressed in the ugliest, most obvious colors possible. They make it through three different doors on the excuse that theyāre āpoor, lost cousins whose uncle left them to dieā, but after that they have to start knocking people out. Morro debates arguing for murder, because witnesses and all, but covering their stolen uniforms in blood before they even have the chance to wear them is probably a bad move.
At least the uniforms are a decent combo of white and sky blue, instead of a criminal offense on the eyes.
āJust like Star Wars!ā Lloyd exclaims happily, as they sprint for the truck.
It takes every bit of Morroās willpower not to lock him in the nearby fish tank. He doesnāt, though, because Lloyd somehow manages to locate the one shark actually scheduled for transport, which means all they have to do is subtly distract a few more employees and steal the truck before the furious horde of security guards on their tail catch up and send them both to the Departed Realm in style.
āI said subtly distract them!ā Lloyd cries, as Morro neatly finishes chopping his hand into the last employeeās neck, sending him into blissful unconsciousness. āNot that!ā
āDo not take the moral high ground with me now,ā Morro snaps at him. āI saw what you did to the other security guard, you absolute menace.ā
āThat was different, can we justā oh, good, the sharkās in the tank and everything,ā Lloyd pants, flicking through the little camera view screen on the truck dashboard. āAnd thereās the exit gate, and thereās ā oh, thereās security coming to kill us.ā
āWhat?ā Morro yelps, craning his head over. āThey shouldnāt have gotten through the door that soon, we havenāt even found the keys yet!ā
āDonāt need keys.ā Lloyd slides down, prying the compartment beneath the steering wheel open, exposing a mass of complicated wires. āStrap the shark in and lock the back doors,ā he orders, as he starts pulling at them. āIām gonna hot wire it.ā
Morro has about a thousand and two questions for why, exactly, Lloyd knows how to hot wire a car, but he immediately decides he doesnāt want to know. Well, he kind of does, because itās possibly the only cool thing Lloyd has revealed about himself, but running for their lives from angry, underpaid park employees doesnāt seem to be the best of times.
Morro sprints around the truck, yanking the doors open fully and hoisting himself into the trailer. The shark appears to be whacked out of its mind on what Morroās guessing is a tranquilizer, floating happily in its little tank, and Morro desperately hopes thatās not about to change with the chaotic horror that is Lloydās driving.
āHang tight, fish,ā Morro mutters, as he tightens the box straps. Satisfied it wonāt come loose, he stumbles out of the trailer, his hands shaking with adrenaline as he slams the truck doors closed, before skidding around the asphalt for the passenger seat.
āAny day now, Lloyd,ā he urges, watching the first of the guards come into view in the car mirror.
āAlmost got it,ā Lloyd hisses, the tip of his tongue caught between his teeth as he yanks at the wires beneath the steering wheel. āDrat, these things are so much more complicated than smaller carsāā
āLloyd, believe it or not, I really donāt want to kill anyone today.ā
āGot it!ā Lloyd exclaims triumphantly, slamming the panel closed as the car hums to life. He slides back up into the driverās seat, throwing the gearshift forward. āBuckle up, this is gonna be fun!ā
āYou and I haveāā Morro swallows a shriek as Lloyd guns the truck forward, his head smacking back against the passenger seat. āEntirely different definitions of fun.ā
āYou just donāt know what fun is,ā Lloyd accuses as he presses harder on the gas, angered shouts from the security guards echoing behind them.
āI know itās not what youāre doing,ā Morro shoots back, as Lloyd smashes them through several plastic barriers.
āWhat? How is this not fun?ā Lloyd gestures with one hand, the other veering the steering wheel to the right and sending the truck careening through the park exit, narrowly missing the transport shuttle.
āFun is me having control of this thing,ā Morro grits out. āOr having control in general. You know, like how I controlled you.ā
Lloydās head turns to him, his eyes narrowing. āYou are not bringing this back up now.ā
āWhat, itās funā eyes on the road, eyes on the road!ā
***********
By the time they make it on the interstate, well out of the city traffic, Morroās lost any doubts heās ever had that Lloyd is the actual blood descendant of the First Spinjitzu Master. Thereās just no other way to explain how they manage to evade the entire parkās security staff as well as the local police without trouble, other than divine intervention.
As all things do, though, even divine intervention runs out. Unfortunately, itās at the same time that Lloyd and Morroās adrenaline high runs out as well, leaving them both exhausted and heavy-eyed. And also considerably short-tempered, so when Lloyd fails to spot the pothole in the dark and punctures their front tire, Morroās already dangerously close to his breaking point.
Itās never a good place to be, when heās around Lloyd.
āI swear, itās in here somewhere,ā Lloyd says, his eyebrows furrowing as he roots through the glove compartment again. āThis is an official park vehicle, they canāt not have a manual.ā
Morro doesnāt comment, too busy trying to slide the tire jack in place. Itās his fifth attempt so far, and the failures arenāt exactly helping his rising temper. It wouldnāt be quite as difficult if the road they were on wasnāt in the middle of nowhere, perched at the edge of a steep ravine. But it is, and the tire jack clanks out of place as Morro misses yet again.
āAha! Got it. It doesnāt look too difficult, actually.ā
Morro grits his teeth. How no one has murdered Lloyd for his unfailing optimism yet is beyond him. Utterly beyond him. Especially when itās his fault in the first place.
āAll we really need is to get the spare out from underneath,ā Lloyd muses, skimming through the manual. āThen we should be good.ā
āStop saying we,ā Morro finally snaps. āWe did not destroy the tire. You did.ā
Lloyd blinks, then frowns. āYou didnāt exactly help,ā he murmurs beneath his breath, bending down near the flat tire.
Morroās fingers clench around the tire jack, his knuckles white. He is not going to lose his temper. Heās not. He is stuck in the middle of nowhere, with a stolen truck and a flat tire, with no help in sight, with Lloyd Garmadon of all people, but he is not going to lose his temper. Itās a waste of energy.
āLook, just ā no, youāre doing it wrong,ā Lloyd sighs.
Never mind. Morroās got energy to spare.
āWould it kill you to shut up? For five seconds?ā he snaps, whirling on Lloyd. Lloyd flinches back in alarm, and Morro snarls. āThis is your fault, would it kill you to stop making things worse for once?ā
Lloydās face pales. āI justāā
āWe wouldnāt even be here if it wasnāt for you,ā Morro steamrolls over him, not even giving him the chance to speak. Heās done, heās so done with this. Heās held it together pretty well this whole time, gone along with Lloydās stupid trip for a reason he doesnāt even know, but this is it. Being alive is not worth the effort, at all.
āYou dragged me on this, you and your stupid, selfish obsession with pretending everythingāll work out fine, like youāre some little kid,ā Morro stabs his finger viciously at Lloyd. āWell guess what? Nothing is fine, and neither of us are kids! We never got to be kids, and weāll never get to be kids, because your horrible family screwed up and you came along and made things so much worse!ā
Hurt flickers across Lloydās face, and his eyes look oddly shiny. Morroās too far into his rant to care.
āItās typical,ā Morro spits. āAbsolutely perfect. This is all your fault, I mean it. Everythingās your fault, every single stupid thing thatās gone wrong in my life, if it wasnāt for youāā
Lloyd punches him square in the mouth.
Itās not even the hardest hit heās ever received, but itās hard enough to send him staggering back a couple steps. Morro reels, so flabbergasted that heās unable to form words for a good half-minute. He blinks back tears of pain, staring at Lloyd in indignation. āYou ā you hit me!ā
āAnd Iām not sorry about it at all!ā Lloyd yells, fists clenched tightly by his sides, as if gearing up for another hit. āYou deserved it!ā
He punctuates this by hurling the tire block at him. Morro dodges easily, his own anger flaring back to life.
āYou call that a hit?ā he scoffs. āPathetic. This is why you were so easy to possess, you knowāā
āShut up, shut up, shut up!ā Lloyd cuts over him, kicking a rock at him this time. āFSM, whatās your problem? I donāt even know why I try with you!ā
āMy problem?ā Morro snaps, true and properly angry now. āMy problem is that some pint-sized brat stole my whole life from me, and now heās out hereāā Morro grunts as he throws the tire jack at Lloyd. āTrying to pretend weāre cousins!ā
āOh, your whole life,ā Lloyd echoes, derisively. āWhat is it about the green gi that makes you so entitled? Youāre like ā youāre uglier than some stupid runner-up in a beauty pageant about it!ā
Morroās teeth clack together like a steel trap. āA beauty pageant?!ā
āYeah!ā Lloyd shouts. āYouāre like a screaming toddler! Who runs onstage and attacks the winner because they didnāt get first place in a contest for a stupid outfit!ā
āItās not! Just! An outfit!ā Morro roars.
āI know that!ā Lloyd snaps.
āThen why didnāt you give it to me!ā
āBecause you donāt deserve it! Youāre a jerk!ā
āYou donāt even want it!ā Morro yells. āYou get the green gi and you donāt even appreciate it! This is why weāll never be cousins!ā
āGood! I donāt want you as a cousin! I hate you!ā Lloyd screeches, throwing the car manual at him. āI hate you, I hate you so much!ā
āI hate you too!ā Morro howls, throwing the tire wrench. It spirals wildly off-aim. āGods, youāre the worstāā
āDrop dead, Morro!ā Lloyd screams.
āMake me!ā Morro screams back. āBet you donāt have it in you, you sniveling littleāā
Lloyd, clearly determined to prove that he does have it in him, neatly cuts Morro off by tackling him around the waist, sending them both flying over the edge of the hill and rolling wildly into the ravine.
The screaming that follows is a lot less angry this time, and a lot more like the terrified screeching of two year-olds on a roller coaster.
***********
āDāyou think...hospitals will take..the green gi as insurance?ā
āSāworth...a try. Not sure, thinkā¦my head mightāve cracked.ā
āI think I heard my spine snap.ā
āPretty sure that was my knee detaching.ā
Morro winces, closing his eyes briefly before opening them, staring up at the starry night sky. Thereās a shifting noise near his head, before Lloyd curses, moaning in pain as it stops abruptly.
As it turns out, the ravine went a bit deeper than either of them had been prepared for. The end result is Lloyd and Morro both sprawled at the bottom of the ravine, staring into the void of space as they rethink their particular life choices up to this point. There had been a brief moment where they both attempted to shove themselves back up to continue their fight, but that dream had rapidly died as they both collapsed back into the grass, groaning in pain.
It did kill his temper rather effectively, Morro will admit. Itās difficult to keep screaming when your ribs feel like theyāve been used as a drum by a baseball bat. So they continue to lie there in silence, before Lloyd finally stirs.
āSo that, uh,ā Lloyd finally breathes. āThat was. A lot.ā
Morro winces. āYeah. That was ā I havenāt yelled like that in a while.ā
āAw, man,ā Lloyd laughs humorlessly, still staring at the sky. āI donāt think Iāve yelled like that since I was like, eight.ā
The crickets around them buzz loudly as they lapse into silence. At least the skyās stopped spinning, Morro thinks.
āI think. Um. I think I probably crossed a line.ā
Lloydās voice is so quiet, Morro almost misses it. He doesnāt miss the apologetic tone, though.
Morroās lips press together as something in his chest twists that better not be guilt. āI..might have, as well.ā
Lloyd hums. āI probably shouldnāt have compared everything you went through to a toddler.ā
āWell,ā Morro pauses, thinking back on it. āI mean. That crack about the beauty pageant was kinda funny.ā
Lloyd gives a breathless little laugh. āWanna know something awful?ā
Morro cranes his head slightly. āHm?ā
āI actually stole that from Nya. And she was, uh, talking about Kai.ā
Morroās eyebrows shoot up. āNo, you didnāt.ā
āYeah, I did,ā Lloyd giggles. āIt was after the whole thing with Chen ā you saw that, right, in my head?ā
āUh...kind of. Sorry?ā
āNah, I donāt care as much about that one. Anyways, he was a mopey mess after it. Nya was kind of bitter. I might have beenā¦a little bit, too. In secret.ā
Morro smirks despite himself. āThe Green Ninja, secretly bitter.ā
āIāll never be as bitter as you,ā Lloyd retorts.
Morroās smirk fades. āThatās fair, I guess.ā He looks back at the sky, scrubbing a hand across his eyes. āSorry I brought up possessing you again,ā he mutters. āThat wasā¦probably uncalled for.ā
āYeah,ā Lloyd says. āPretty uncool that you keep doing that.ā
āYeah, well.ā Morro sighs. āIām a work in progress. But still. Sorry.ā
āItās okay. I get it, I think. Not the bringing up the possession part, but the work in progress part.ā
āOh.ā Morro chews on the edge of his lip. āThen, uh, Iām also ā Iām also sorry I said everythingās your fault.ā He closes his eyes tightly. Curse it, the feeling twisting his chest up is most certainly guilt. āThat was definitely uncalled for.ā
āNo,ā Lloyd says, quietly. āThatāsā¦thatās fair, too.ā
Morroās eyes blink open, and he cranes his head back to stare at him. āWhat? No, itās not. Blame your grandfather, or your dad, or even Wu. Or that, um, giant snake thing, that kept popping upāā
āThe Great Devourer?ā
āYeah, blame that.ā Morro briefly squeezes his eyes shut again. Oh, this hurts to say out loud. āYouāreā¦youāre still a kid. Youāve been a kid, even if life sucks enough to make it feel like youāre not. Sānot fair to blame it all on you.ā
Lloyd is silent for a moment, and Morro hopes heās heard the apology in his words. Thatās a new hope for him to have, but itās genuine.
āSame goes for you, then.ā Lloydās voice is still quiet, but itās got that painful sincerity ā the kind Morroās heard before, but never directed at him. āI mean, possessing me wasnāt good, but⦠everyone deserves a chance to make things right. Youāre a kid, too.ā
āLloyd, you know Iām technically like, forty.ā
āYeah, in ghost years. Being dead doesnāt count.ā
āLike youād know.ā Morro breaths a humorless laugh. āEither way, it doesnāt change the fact that I went after a kid for getting slapped with the green gi.ā
Lloyd inhales sharply. āCould you maybe go at least five minutes without bringing that up? Just this once?ā
Morro blinks at the sudden frustration in Lloydās voice. āW-what?ā
The grass rustles as Lloyd shakes his head, but he blows his breath out, the anger seeping from him. āI just ā Iām sick of it. I get that you hate me, but you could at least have the decency to hate me for me,ā he says, wearily. āHate me for like, my obnoxious habit of repeating stuff, or my annoying voice.ā
Morro is quiet for a moment. āYour voice isnāt that bad anymore,ā he admits.
Lloyd snorts. āYou donāt have to lie.ā
āNo, Iām serious. It doesnāt do that squeaky-toy cracking thing anymore.ā
āWell that makes me feel so much better,ā Lloyd huffs.
āYouāre welcome,ā Morro grins. They lapse into silence again, and the grin slides slowly off of Morroās face. Oh, curse everything, why is his chest still twisting up in knots.
He finally puffs out a weary breath of defeat. āAnd I donātā¦entirely hate you.ā
Lloyd is quiet, digesting that. āHuh. Really?ā
āYeah. Hate your stupid gi, though.ā
āOh, same. You have no idea.ā
āStarting to get that, I think.ā
āHeh. I guess I donātā¦entirely hate you, either.ā
āReally.ā
āYeah.ā
āDisgusting.ā
***********
The tire is surprisingly easy to change, when theyāre not trying to bite each otherās heads off. Thereās no damage to the actual truck or trailer either, so theyāre back on the road before daybreak. Lloyd fretfully checks on the shark a minimum of twenty times, but itās fine as well, peacefully floating in its little tank. He lets Morro drive, in what may or may not be a peace offering, so Morro lets Lloyd choose the music, which is definitely a peace offering. Itās the only way heād ever willingly listen to the amount of acoustic music Lloyd plays them.
Wellā¦that heād admit willingly listening to.
They donāt talk much, but itās a surprisingly comfortable silence, and by the time they pull up to Lloydās beach, half finished with the horrendously cheap coffee they snagged from the gas station, Morro doesnāt feel quite as annoyed with the world on the whole.
In fact, he feels dangerously close to being at peace with it, which is obviously unacceptable, so he makes sure to stub his toe at least three times as they maneuver the now-awake and incredibly annoyed shark into the waves.
āHey, hey, cāmon buddy,ā Lloyd soothes, waist-deep in the water as he coaxes the shark toward him. āItās okay, weāre setting you free. Donāt eat us when thereās much more tasty seafood in the ocean.ā
āMaybe Oni is a delicacy for sharks,ā Morro suggests, his feet firmly planted on the shore. Heās been assisting with his wind, floating the shark down gently, and thatās already more than enough. āI bet seafood pales in comparison to demon flesh.ā
āYouāre disgusting,ā Lloyd says, but his lips quirk up. āIn that case, maybe I should just drop him on my dad.ā
Morro snorts, watching as Lloyd finally gets the shark to deeper water, where it swishes its tail happily, clearly overjoyed to be free from its tiny tank.
āThere we go,ā Lloyd smiles as it swims around him. āMuch better, huh?ā
Morro watches the shark swim a moment longer, wrinkling his nose as sand digs between his toes. He stifles a yawn, but the coastal winds are picking up around him, gently tugging through his hair and leaving him less tired as his element ghosts over his skin, as if whispering his name.
Heās missed wind like this. The gentler kind.
He finally turns his attention back to Lloyd, and his eyebrows furrow.
āYou know this is just one shark, right?ā
āMm-hm,ā Lloyd hums happily, letting the shark nose against his hand.
āThat doesnāt bode well for your shark tornado plan,ā Morro reminds him.
āEh,ā Lloyd shrugs. āI guess freeing a shark is as good as that. I can always get my dad back later.ā
āYou could dye your hair, that might do the trick.ā
Lloyd gives a wry smile. āIt wasnāt really about that, anyways,ā he murmurs, so quietly Morro almost misses it.
Morro doesnāt know if he wants to try and guess what thatās supposed to mean, so he averts his gaze instead, looking across the quiet, empty beach. Itās removed from the busier parts of the coast, almost abandoned. Certainly not the kind of place Morro wouldāve seen Lloyd picking out for a weekend trip.
āSo why this beach, in particular?ā he finally asks. āSeems pretty out of the way, just for this.ā
Lloyd is quiet for a moment, his hands creating tiny eddies in the water around him. His face falls a fraction as he watches the shark swim off, deeper into the ocean, and he dips lower into the water. Ā
āI came here with my dad, once,ā he says, quietly. āAfter he was⦠back to normal. Without the venom, and all.ā
āOh.ā Morro blinks. Thereās a lot of meaning behind those words. For some reason, heās almost frightened to try and decipher it.
Lloyd saves him from it, straightening up where he stands in the water. āSo, are you gonna get in, or what?ā
Morro blinks, then violently shakes his head. āNo. Absolutely not. Water and I are not compatible. You know that.ā
āYou werenāt before,ā Lloyd insists. āYou are now.ā
āWhat was that you were saying earlier?ā Morro reminds him, snidely. āAbout traumas, and stuff?ā
Lloydās brow furrows, in what could almost be concern. āYou donāt have to,ā he says, slowly. āBut this is a nice place to start.ā
Morro stares at the sand before him, a mere three feet from where the waves stop washing up on shore. He makes a face. Itās not like heās scared of water. He takes showers, and heās not afraid to sprint out in the rain if heās left a book or something outside. But those are just ā water in small doses. This sparkling blue hellhole of toxicity is different. Itās saltwater. Saltwater brings backā¦less than pleasant memories.
Granted, this particular body of toxic seawater doesnāt seem to be quite as deadly at the moment. Lloydās skin hasnāt slid off his bones yet, and heās floating up to his neck in the stuff.
āIāll pass,ā Morro finally says, stiffly. āItās, uh, a little too rough for me out there.ā
Lloyd looks pointedly at where the gentle waves barely lap the shore. Morro grits his teeth. Drat. That makes it rather difficult not to admit that he does, probably, look like a coward. Lloyd tilts his head to the side, studying him with the eerie red eyes he gets sometimes. Morro doesnāt like the look that forms on his face.
āWhy,ā he says, with a gleam in his eyes. āAre you scared?ā
Even though Morroās seen that coming a mile away, he still reddens. āNo.ā
Lloyd raises an eyebrow. āKinda looks like youāre scared.ā
āI am not.ā
Lloyd squints at him. Then, without warning, he splashes the smallest bit of seawater up toward him. Morro jumps back, with what heāll die before he admits is a high-pitched shriek, skittering away from the tiny droplets.
Lloyd bursts into giggles, and Morro feels his cheeks blazing. āThat was low, you little insectāā
āChicken, chicken, Morroās a chicken,ā Lloyd taunts over him.
āIāll kill you,ā Morro threatens.
āOh yeah?ā Lloyd flashes his teeth at him. āHowāre you gonna do that when Iām in the water?ā
Morroās hands clench into fists as he seethes. āI am not scared of the water.ā
āYes, you are.ā
Morro takes a threatening step toward him, brandishing his fist. āI am not a chicken!ā
āYes you a-are,ā Lloyd repeats gleefully. āChicken, chickenāā
āShut upāā
āBawk, bawkāā
āIāll break your spineāā
āNot with your chicken arms you wonātāā
āEnough with the chicken!ā Morro roars, shaking Lloyd by the collar of his soaking t-shirt. āI am not scared!ā
Lloyd presses his lips together, barely holding back whatās either laughter or another one of those infuriating smiles. āOkay, geez. You proved me wrong.ā
Morro blinks. Lloyd looks down, and Morro follows his gaze. He blinks again.
Heās standing waist-deep in the saltwater with Lloyd, waves swirling gently around him. His flesh is not melting off. He is not dying an excruciating death. It doesnāt feel like corrosive acid. It feels likeā¦regular water. Kind of cold, regular water, that smells a little like fish.
Morro stares at the water, letting Lloydās shirt go as his arms hang limply by his sides. He didnāt even notice putting a foot in.
āHey, look,ā Lloyd says, brightly. āYouāre not dead."
Morro should strangle him for this. Lloydās tricked him into the toxic death water by annoying him, and Morro didnāt even notice. He should celebrate this new accomplishment by holding Lloydās head under the water until he drowns.
Oddly enough, all he can find it in himself to do is stare at the water with the tiniest of smiles. āIām not dead,ā he echoes, quietly.
Lloyd beams at him, and he doesnāt even want to strangle him for it. Morro stands waist-deep in the water, completely at ease, and feels something odd bubble up in his throat. Itās light and easy, like his chest is filling up with a balloon, and for a brief second, he meets Lloydās beaming smile with one of his own.
Naturally, thatās when the beach blows up.
***********
On second thought, the ocean can die.
Morro immediately changes his mind about seawater as heās knocked beneath a large wave, swallowing a mouthful of disgusting salt liquid. Panic twists around his heart as he flails briefly, before a hand locks firmly around his arm and yanks, pulling him to the surface and dragging him forward.
āācanāt believe this, again?!ā Lloydās yelling in his ear as Morro splutters out saltwater. āWhat is it now, someone whose got aunt we got fired?ā
āDonāt be ridiculousss, you know your own worth,ā a hissing voice laughs across the water, and Morro struggles to find his footing as Lloyd drags them both onto the beach. āImagine my delight when I realized the Green Ninja was lounging on the beach!ā
Morro finally manages to push his sopping hair from his face, and he blinks saltwater from his eyes as his vision clears. Several paces down the sand from them stands a scarlet Hypnobrai, an admittedly intimidating weapon held in its scaly hands. Ā
āOh, of course!ā Lloyd spits. āStupid green power, would it kill you to let me get five minutes ofāā
He cuts off in a yelp as the Serpentine fires at them again, dragging Morro to the sand with him as the grenade blast streaks over their heads, exploding somewhere further down the beach.
āItās okay,ā Lloyd pants, as they scramble to their feet. āThis is ā itās all good, itās just one Serpentine. We can handle this, easy.ā
Morro whips his head across the beach. āYou do see the other four, right?ā
āThe otherāā Lloyd swears. āHow did they all get grenade launchers?ā
āThatās what youāre worried about right now?ā Morro shouts, as they narrowly avoid another three blasts. The lead Hypnobrai cackles wildly at them, waving his weapon like a war flag.
āHow did you even find me?ā Lloyd yells, as he and Morro sprint around the jetty for cover, stumbling over the protruding rocks. āThis is the middle of nowhere!ā
The Hypnobrai grins, sharp teeth flashing. āOh, we wouldnāt have! But I recognized the name on the credit card used at the gas station. To be honest, I was actually expecting the earth ninja.ā
āAre you kidding me?!ā Lloyd cries. āWhat kind of karmaāā
Morro grasps him firmly by the shoulders and yanks him down, just before another streaking blast of flame can take his head off. Morro cringes as the ensuing explosion rocks the ground beneath them, his ears ringing.
Lloyd crouches lower beside him, muttering frantically. āIām sorry, okay, Iām sorry,ā heās saying in the vague direction of the sky. āIāll never steal anyoneās credit card again, I promise, Iām sorryāā
āAre you ā apologizing to your grandfather right now?ā Morro gapes at him.
Lloyd throws his hands in the air. āThis has gotta be someone's fauāalt, move!ā
He yanks them to the side as another blast narrowly misses them, almost knocking them clear off their feet. Morro grits his teeth, frustration spiking.
āThis would be a great time for a plan, oh ninja leader,ā he snaps.
āYeah, yeah, Iām on it,ā Lloydās hands flash green. āJust follow myāā
He gasps, his eyes going wide at something beyond Morroās shoulder. Morro has a split second of confusion before Lloyd shoves him to the ground, bright green energy blazing to life in a makeshift shieldā
Just in time for the next blast to hit him dead on, sending him flying back into the jetty.
Lloyd gives a single, sharp cry before his head strikes the edge of a rock, abruptly going silent as he tumbles to the edge of the jetty, inches from being swept away by the water. He doesnāt move after that.
Morroās stomach bottoms out, his blood running cold as heās hit with a sudden rush of terror so strong he almost loses his balance.
Then the rage hits.
Morro turns on the Hypnobrai who fired the blast, his eyes flaming. The snake swallows, suddenly looking pale as he clutches at his weapon.
āUmāā
Morro roars, and the wind turns sharp and vicious, swirling around him in a vortex of fury. The Serpentine shriek in terror as theyāre swept up in the gale, Morroās wind howling as it tears the weapons from their hands. Morro barely hears them, his mind still stuck on the single scream before Lloyd had fallen silent. Anger blazes hot in his chest, and the wind grows bitterly cold, flinging water from the ocean higher and higher. Saltwater splashes against his cheeks, but Morro hardly feels it. He lets the water power his wind instead, sweeping into a furious storm.
He could easily kill them right now ā happily, even. But Morroās been an entire mess of conflicting emotions this weekend, and heās got more pressing things to worry about, so he sends their weapons flying far out into the ocean instead. He narrows his eyes on them in fury, before hissing out, āGet. Lost.ā
They donāt need any help fleeing after that, but Morro still launches them a good thirty feet away. For good measure.
He lets the wind die bit by bit, water splashing back into the ocean. Morro suddenly becomes aware of how his hands are trembling, shaking in the aftermath of adrenaline. Thereās a moment of crushing silence in the absence of his howling wind, and his stomach drops.
He whips around, his eyes searching the empty beach desperately. He wasnāt ā he hadnāt been thinking of Lloyd when heād kicked the storm up, but what ifā
āLloyd,ā Morro rasps, his throat closing over in fear. āLloyd, where are you, pleaseāā
āMāhere.ā
Lloyd stumbles from behind the jetty, coughing up a mouthful of saltwater as he sways dizzily, rubbing his head. āOw, ow, ow. Iām gonna feel that forāā
Lloyd cuts off in a yelp as Morro grabs him forcefully, pulling him in and wrapping his arms around him. Lloyd goes painfully rigid, his breathing uneven for a beat before he gingerly reaches back, awkwardly patting Morroās shoulder with his one free hand.
āUh, M-Morro?ā
He clutches him tighter. āShut up.ā
āMoāo, yer crushān me.ā
āShut up. Youāre terrible. Youāre horrible. I get why Kaiās so grumpy all the time. How does Kai not have grey hair. How.ā
Lloyd makes a muffled sound of indignation as Morro refuses to let go. He probably looks ridiculous, but he canāt find it in himself to care. A host of realizations are hitting him at once, and itās making him slightly nauseous.
For a second, Lloyd had been quiet. Heād been still and unmoving, and he couldāve been dead. Which would have been bad, apparently, for Morro, because Lloyd canāt die. Because if Lloyd dies, then Morro wonāt have a pint-sized blond cousin to yell all the angsty stuff out with, and if Lloyd dies then whoās gonna drag him out of his self-induced isolating depression and make him try gross food and break the law and actually interact in the world? Morro canāt lose that. Lloydās the only person whoās genuinely made Morro feel like a person, he canāt go die before Morro makes at least some attempt to apologize for being horrible in general to him.
It clicks, finally, like getting hit in the face with the blunt end of a shovel. Morro is, without a doubt, terrified of the idea of losing Lloyd. Oh no. Oh, this is awful. Because if Morroās scared of losing Lloyd, that must meanā
āAw, you do care,ā Lloyd croaks, his voice watery.
Morro, soaking wet and holding the one person heās wanted to see dead most like an over-sized teddy bear in need of love, wants to die.
***********
āYou tricked me.ā
āHuh?ā
Morro shakes his head, pulling the edge of his blanket up around his shoulders, shifting on the uncomfortable sidewalk that lines the parking lot. Theyāre both bundled up in emergency blankets they swiped from the truck, shivering in their wet clothes even as the sun climbs higher in the sky above them. Ā
āYou tricked me,ā Morro repeats. āYou tricked me into tolerating you long enough that I somehow got duped into liking you as a person. You irritated your way into my life.ā
Lloyd breathes a laugh, before wincing and pressing his hand to his forehead again. āYou should talk to Kai, I did the same thing to him.ā
āYou dragged him on a road trip from hell, too?ā Morro wonders if heās been too hard on Kai.
āNot exactly,ā Lloyd says. āI did get him stuck in a volcano though.ā
āTypical,ā Morro mutters. āI donāt even have trouble believing that. Youāre a menace."
āAw, cāmon,ā Lloyd grins. āDidnāt I hear you saying that you liked me as person?ā
Morro bristles. āNo,ā he says, firmly. āThatās your concussion talking.ā
Lloyd rolls his eyes. āI donāt have concussā ow, Morro, stop!ā
āHuh. Your head isnāt gushing blood, so thatās good,ā Morro remarks, pulling his hand away from the back of Lloydās head. āThatās still gonna be a bump, though.ā
āMy hair hides it though, right?ā Lloydās expression is slightly panicked. āYou canāt see it, right?ā
āThe bump? No.ā Morro gestures to Lloydās face. āThe black eye? Yes.ā
āOh, no.ā Lloyd buries his face in his hands. āThatās it, then. Iām toast.ā
āOh, youāre toast,ā Morro scoffs. āKaiās gonna wring my neck.ā
Lloyd lifts his face from his hands, shaking his head. āNo. Iāll tell him you saved me. Thatāll buy you points.ā
āKaiās gonna love that,ā Morro snorts.
āYeah, well.ā Lloyd sighs, pulling his blanket around his shoulders. āWhatācha gonna do.ā
Morro scoffs, pulling his own blanket tighter over his shoulders. The ocean breezes are still a bit chilly with their damp clothes, but the wind is as peaceful as it was earlier, lulling them both into a sleepy kind of haziness. Morro feels disgustingly at peace with the world again, soaking wet and sitting on a sidewalk in the middle of a half-destroyed beach with Lloyd, but he canāt muster up the energy to make himself feel otherwise. Being at peace for five minutes wonāt hurt, he reasons.
āBy the way, remind me to check the truck before we return it,ā Lloyd suddenly says, yawning. āI think I left Kaiās apology present in there.ā
Morro frowns. āHis what now?ā
āApology present,ā Lloyd sighs, scrubbing at his eye. āFor putting him through hell.ā
āHim?ā Morro gapes at Lloyd. āWhat about me? Whereās my apology gift for getting dragged through hell?ā
āYour apology gift is me not hating your guts,ā Lloyd huffs, pulling his blanket fully over his hair, like an incredibly ugly veil. āAnd like, forgiveness and stuff.ā
Morro opens his mouth, then abruptly snaps it shut as Lloydās words register. He stares at him, feeling a bit dizzy all of the sudden.
āYou ā what ā forgiveā?ā
āYou heard me,ā Lloyd yawns again. He perks up, blinking. āOh, hey, speak of the devil. There they are.ā
Morro just catches the familiar hum of Bountyās engine before the anchor crashes into the parking lot before them, splintering long cracks in the concrete. Lloyd and Morro stare up at the figures on the deck. Morro swallows.
āYouāve, uh, youāve written up your will, right?ā Lloyd gulps.
Morro shakes his head, wordlessly.
Lloyd gives a nervous laugh. āOkay, good. I havenāt either.ā He watches in trepidation as a red figure begins sliding down the anchor chain toward them. āMaybe shouldāve done that sooner,ā he whispers to himself.
***********
Kai doesnāt murder them, but itās a near thing. In the end, Nya comes nearer to committing homicide, followed closely by Cole.
āWhy mine?ā he wails, shaking Lloyd by the edges of his blanket the minute Kai hauls them both onto the Bounty. āWhy couldnāt you have snatched Jayās credit card? Heād at least deserve it!ā
āIām sorry,ā Lloyd wails back. āI learned my lesson, I promise, Iāll never do it againāā
āFor crying out loud,ā Nya mutters, watching them both before turning narrowed eyes on Morro. āWell, I was going to murder you, but somehow Lloydās still alive.ā
Morroās too tired to even fight back. āHeās like a barnacle,ā he says, hazily. āLike ā like those parasite things. You let them get to close and youāre stuck for life, those things, you know?ā
Nya presses her lips together tightly, but her eyes sparkle in amusement.
āHe got you too, huh?ā Jay remarks, studying one of the grenade launchers he fished out of the water. āJoin the club. Ooh, nice, this has got some real firepowerā¦ā
Morro buries his face in his hands. āJust put me out of my misery.ā
āHappily,ā Kai snaps, his eyes slightly manic from whatās either sleep deprivation or extreme stress. Zane catches him gently, tugging him away from Morro.
āWelcome to the team, I suppose,ā Zane tells him, with an easy smile.
Morro groans. He wants toā
Well. He doesnāt exactly want to die. Itās close, but he doesnāt. Not really.
Itās an odd feeling, whatever leaves him off-kilter as he steps below the deck with Lloyd. Maybe thatās just his own sleep deprivation, but still. He snags Lloyd by the elbow before he disappears into his room, and Lloyd pauses, staring curiously at him.
āWhat you said,ā Morro begins, hesitantly. āIn the parking lot, aboutā forgiāthat thing.ā
Lloydās eyes dart to the floor, but he sets his jaw. āThat thing. I, uh, yeah. No take backs, right?ā
Morro blinks wildly, his tired brain barely able to digest that. āYou know you couldāve gotten rid of me out there,ā he tries, desperately reaching for sense. āYou missed your chance.ā
Lloyd meets his eyes again, shaking his head. āOh, Morro,ā he sighs. āDonāt you know the best way to defeat your enemy is to make them your friend?ā
Morro stares at him. Lloyd gives him a sharp-teethed grin. āBesides,ā he continues. āWhatās the point in holding a grudge, when getting you to care about me is much better revenge?ā
Morro stiffens. āI donāt care about you,ā he protests.
āNuh-uh, too late now,ā Lloydās grin widens. āBefore you know it, youāll be calling me cousin. Eating dinner with us. Calling Kai buddy.ā
āI would never,ā Morro hisses.
Lloydās grin is positively sinister. āOh, you will,ā he says. āBecause you care now.ā
Morro is horrified, truly horrified, to find that saying no to Lloydās claim would be a lie. āYouāre a monster,ā he whispers.
Lloyd smiles brightly. āIāll see you in practice tomorrow!ā he calls cheerfully, before slamming the door in his face.
Morro stares after him blankly, the ugly Oceanworld blanket still hanging limply from his shoulders.
āI hate him,ā he finally tells the door, wearily.
Oh, curse everything. Morro canāt even convince himself the door believes him.
#lego ninjago#ninjago#lloyd garmadon#morro#this is so long i'm so sorry#i should probably start just linking these to ao3/ffn#instead of relying on the read more button#but i just!! lots of words!!#can't even write short about morro T-T#my fic
522 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
Ducktales: Terror of the Terra-Firmians!Ā (Lena Retrospective) (CommissionĀ by WeirdKev27): Launchpad Looses his Last Brain Cell and I Loose My Patience
Welcome back Weblena Warriors to the second part of my look at everyoneās favorite Emo Teen Shadow Lesbian Duck... and probably the only one but hey, semantics, Shadow Into Light, which was made possible by viewers like you, the ultra humanite and a commission from WeirdKev27. Picking up where we left off, we have our first episode that has a different intended order than airing order.Ā
As most of you probably remember, but some of you who joined later might not be aware of the broadcast order for the first half of season one is, in the academic sense, pretty fucked. Itās not Darkwing Duckās entirely fucked by a web of badger spiders and a queen snake on top to make it some sort of train situation, but by just sorta airing whatever episodes they wanted to, Disney messed with the character balance so Huey got less focus, not that he got a ton of focus this season but still, as well as leaning into the episodes focusing more on the kids with less involvement from the adults which gave the wrong impression about the series. While it IS very focused on the triplets and webby, the show isnāt entirely about them, but as Frank has mentioned a few times, Disney Channel apparently has this WEIRD thing where they assume kids wonāt like stories starring the adult characters.Ā
Yeah Iāve been wanting to talk about this for a while. Mostly how itās so dumb I could swear Pauly Shore was an exec at Disney Channel. And he might be I donāt know what heās doing these days and iād like to keep it that way. For starters, the Scooge comics, while barely published in the US these days, are still popular globally and have appealed to kids and adults for generations and are mostly focused on him, with the kids in a supporting role and Ducktales, you know the thing your directly remaking here, was also mostly about him with the triplets supporting, if a bit less than the comics. Most of the Disney Afternoon was about adult characters, with any kids in side roles in the main cast. And it comes off entirely hypocritical of them to say this when the MCU is easily marvelās biggest cash cow at the moment, and marvel properties have appealed to both kids and adults, like the duck comics, for decades. And if itās because the marvel cartoons werenāt doing well , Iāll let you in on a little secret: Those didnāt do well because they looked bland and from what Iāve seen of them felt kind of bland, though I havenāt seen enough to fully judge. Kids LIKE adult characters as much as kid characters, and also like teen characters despite not being teens. Focusing on either is valid and while I LIKED Disneyās youth starring shows I also want another X-Men cartoon before I turn 50, and I bet kids would like that too, with the last one only failing because you bailed on it because you were throwing a hissy fit over fox having the movie rights, and do not get me started on that. Point is this argument is horse shit and should stay in the stables.Ā
So yeah I do think this episode came too soon and itās placement effected it at the time and as such it dosenāt have the best rep with the fandom aside from the Lena bits and that includes me. The fact it was very early in the series and the characterizations hadnāt yet sunk in really hurt this episode in places but is it really that bad? Join me under the cut to find out
We open at the movies! Which scrooge apparently hasnāt been too since the 1930ā²s or seen any on video despite Della existing and being really stubborn.Ā
A rant for another episode. But the kids just got out of a Mole Monster movie, along with Lena, Beakly and Launchpad. Their reactions are as follows: Lena, Webby and Dewey really enjoyed it, Huey found it unrealistic... says the boy whose uncle fought a dragon made of gold a month or two back but weāll get to that, and Louie was bored and felt it didnāt have enough of the ultra violence, kids these days itās not about the gore itās about the tension. And Beakly.. is just pissed Lena tricked them into seeing this and said it was educational. And the more I think about it the more this sounds like BEAKLYS fault than Lenaās. BEAKLY is the one who likely bought the tickets, who saw it was likely an r or pg-13 and who as weāve seen HAS A PHONE, and ulnike scrooge probably isnāt so stingy she wouldnāt spring for a smart phone, so she couldāve just googled it, or whatever bird related pun is in this version.. gandered it.. yeah letās go with that, gandered it, and SEEEN it wasnāt appropriate or walked htem out of the theater and ate the cost if she was that bothered by it. Sitting through a Horror Movie you didnāt research, didnāt pull the kids out of and dindāt bother to even check the poster for or use basic common sense is YOUR fault. And this couldāve worked fine, had Lena talk the kids into begging for it or had launchpad take them and have Beakly find out after, having driven to pick them up as she didnāt trust launchpad to take them home. Instead it makes the former super spy look REALLY stupid and feels really out of character for a SPY to not to do research. And it wasnāt like they decided on this later, Bentina being a spy was part of the characterās backstory from day one and its made clear as early as episode 2 in both airing orders. This is just lazy writing to justify the episode and I expect better from this crew.Ā
But an argument errupts between Huey and Webby over the Terra-Firmians, a hidden race of rock people living in Duckburgās discontinued sewer system, allegedlys. So Lena suggest simply going down which gets a disapproving look from Beakly, despite you know this being their bread and butter, and the fact that if she had a problem with Scrooge not being involved.. she could just call him. Exploring fabled rock people is something heād be into. I mean thereās a low profit margin but it also costs him almost nothing to walk to the theater or have launchpad swing around and pick him up. Just gas which given how much he pays for jet fuel isnāt a big ask. But Beakly soon gets distracted by Launchpad whose convinced the film is real and is attacking the poster a grim sign of things to come as while Beakly annoyed me in this one on rewatch, especially after realizing the above... Launchpad annoyed me both times and for VERY good reason weāll get into. This provides a distraction and allows the trio to escape. Cue titles.Ā
After the title sequence, our heroes head deeper underground, thereās too much panic in this town... I mean props to Donald for trying something new but he really needs to rethink his cologne choices. Sex Panther is just.. not a good smell on.. anyone.Ā
So our heroes journey through the depths of the subway system, and we find out part of why Hueyās so skeptical, as he finds anything that isnāt in the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook to not exist, though the cracks in this already show as heās added anything that does. Weāll get back to this later but as you can tell the basic dynamic for 24 minutes is Webby being a wholehearted True Believer and Huey being a Skeptical Sally. And Lena is just sortaĀ āEh gives me an excuse for shenanigansā about it. We also get a peak into webbyās mind as we see her notes .. which really just come off as Terra-Firmian fanfiction involving a war of succession between two sides, the terraās and the firmies, something based on previous media, and also some doodles of a fictional candy called webby-dings and herself as a superhero, both things I want to see.Ā
But yeah the first third of the episode is pretty simple, just them journeying, the occasional shift in the firmament, and itās not bad, and there are a few great bits: Huey nerds out about rocks, and finds them way more interesting than a possible rock monster.

Which leads to the best gag of the episode as when Huey tries to pick up a big sample Webby, annoyed at his hyperfixation on the JWG, asks him to ask his book for help.. which he does by reading it and actually manages to pick the large rock up. This is halted though when Lena screams.. though she really just did it to draw them to an abandoned subway car full of glomgold posters for glomgold products because of course a failed subway project has his name plastered over it. You canāt spell glomgold without failure.. the failure is silent. Glomgold is not.Ā
The fun is interuptted though by a livid Beakly who had realized they were missing in an earlier scene, after telling the Manager that McDuck Industries would pay for the poster.. and then found out Launchpad also destroyed the toiletsĀ āThey come up thorugh the sewers!ā. Launchpad thatās CHUDS, Ninja Turtles and Rats who raised Ninja Turtles like their own sons, mole people dig or use old mineshafts. Itās basic mole science. Also Beakly really shouldnāt sweat it, I just assumed the city has had a runnig bill witht he company forĀ āMcDuck Family and Employee Related Accidents, Mayhem and Shenanigansā. I mean heās had Gyro on his payroll for at least a decade and a half by the series start, Gyro has leveled whole sections of city in an afternoon more than most giant monsters. Of which several have destroyed Duckburg. It got better.Ā
Point is sheās livid about them sneaking off with Lena pointing out their some sort of adventure family and Beakly.. saying she wonāt see them again, or at least implying it hard. Iāll put a pin in this, as the train buckles and a bit of seismic, or rock men, activity means their stuck. So they divide into teams: Beakly will go try and unhook the train car from the busted cars so they can ride out, Launchpad will go try and fix it, and we get this lovely exxchange as a result
Launchpad: Cool never crashed a train before Beakly: Canāt you try driving it without crashing it? Launchpad: Wha?Ā
His face in that scene is priceless. He takes Dewey along. More on that in a second. Webby, Huey and Louie are told to stay put with Beakly only bringing Lena along because she dosenāt trust her. So since we have three split plots for a second... letās split up gang, starting with the most aggrivating, middling with what you all came here for and why this is part of the retrsopective, and ending with the plot that directly heads into the final part of the episode.Ā
Launchpad and Dewey: GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Okay starting with the most infamous plot and easily the worst part of this episode, probably the worst plot in any Ducktales 2017 episode. Thatās not hyperbole itās really that bad and really pissed people off, as fans of the original launchpad felt they made him overly stupid. This is where the airing orderās a problem as putting an episode with a subplot where one of your characters is obnoxiously dumb right up front means they assume this is his charcter and not just one poorly written chapter in a very dumb but very loveable characters life, likely because the writers hadnāt figured out how to properly scale his stupidity with comptience.Ā
So as a result we get a good 3-4 mintutes if not agonizingly more of Launchpad assuming something he saw in a fucking movie film was real. That.. thatās his actual plot. Need I remind you, heās in his late 20ā²s early 30ā²s. Heās not much older than me. While other episodes have him as dim this one claims he CANāT TELL FACT FROM FICTION.Ā
There are lines you have to keep with your characters to keep the audience from hating them. They crossed it about 80 times with this plot and make Launchpad into a gibbering dunderhead who canāt do anything right versus a regular dunderhead whose good at one or two things and loveable enough for us to like him and not care about his numerous safey violations and child endagerment charges. Thankfully this is the ONLY episode that gets this bad and they clearly learned from this, but it dosenāt make it any less of a tough sit.Ā
Dewey spends most of the subplot with a look on his face that just screams that heās as done with this bullshit as we are, as Launchpad assumes heās a mole person and brought along a pipe to presumibly bludgeon him, because wanting to cave his best friends skull in over stupidity is a GREAT look> Thankfuly he does not. And when the lights come back on Launchpad.. assumes heās a monster because of bright light, GAH, and locks him out before they end up outside and the plto resolves itself by Dewey pointing out by Launchpadās utterly baffling logic that he could be a mole monster, so Launchpad.. assumes he is.Ā
The subplotās later buttoned up as he claimsĀ āI love being a mole monsterā, again diffrent subteranian creature launchpad, she says heās not and my suffering is thankfully at an end. This plot just sucks, itās bad, overly stupid and dosenāt work with an adult character. Someone like say Ed from Ed, Edd N Eddy, or someone who belivies in weird conspiracy stuff like Dale Gribble or Stan Pines. with either of them this plot wouldāve been fucking great. I could buy it from Dale and it just comes off as his normal paranoid weirdness. With Launchpad it comes off like he seriously needs help because the episode frames it as if he canāt tell ficton from reality, and his splotlight episode later would directly contridct this and make this episode even more aggrivating, as heās a fan of Darkwing Duck, and KNOWS itās acted out by an actor, so why wouldnāt he get this? Itās just....
It sucks, it sucks and I thankfully get to move on to a better subplot
Beakly and Lena: What You Are in the Dark
Beakly tells Lena sheāll never see Webby again after this.. then chastises her when she wonāt help despite you know having just said sheās going to force their friendship apart, which Lena points out. She then gets mad at Lena making a sarcastic comment at her. Okay sheās lived with Louie for at least a week in airing order and a month or two in actual order. She has to be used to this by now. Sheās insolent.. because you show her no respect, blame her for something that while sure she talked you into, you shouldāve known better, and top it off by saying you want to keep her from the kids because they have bright futures and come from good familes and asks who rasied her and her face.. well.
Yeah wheras Launchpad and Huey, more on that in a second, were hurt by this being some of their earliest big roles, Bentina wasnāt.. until later when we found out just HOW bad Magica is to Lena and how much she dosenāt care about her other than as a tool to use. At this point we didnāt know just how much Lena was playing webby, how much she was only manipulating her, and even with her heroic act here we didnāt know if she only saw Webby as her way to break free. The next episode makes it clear she dosenāt and genuinely does care, 100%, so in hindsight it makes Bentina come off as ghoulsih for horribly asssuming about a girl she dosenāt know, and even if she did know about Magica wouldnāt know the full story, just like us, and then BERATING her after already saying sheās going to rip her away from Webby, which itself is PRETTY bad as sheās the only friend the girl has and shāes doing so on... talking them into a horror movie, which as I outlined was more Bentinaās fault than Lenaās, and leading the kids into a dangerous place whicha gain, Lena pointed out is something she lets Scrooge do. And trust me i know that she actually knows Scrooge, and we later find out, as weāll cover next month, that she isnāt ware HOW dangerous things are with Scrooge. It dosenāt change the fact she knows they do dangerous stuff to a point and that Lena may just be acting out. It also dosenāt change the fact she drove three children, yes including launchpad, down here with her instead of sending them home with Launchpad.. granted that option isnāt the safest but itās safer than taking her with them thena cting like itās ALL lenaās fault when three of the children, again including launchpad, are down there because of HER. Not Lena, HER. Iām harder on her because sheās older, wiser and wasĀ āraised properlyā apparently. Though given the way she treats a random teen off the street she again knows nothing about and dindāt bother to ask... it begs the question.Ā
ITās a good question. I could see the classism coming from being raised in 40ā²s and 50ā²s britain, judging by the timeline.. but even then sheās seen the world, and while her nature is supscious, the classit bullshit makes no sense after presumibly working with, and later spymastering for, various agents of various backgrounds. How has she not dropped this in decades. Scrooge very clearly dropped the racisim and homophobia of his time, so it still standsĀ on her for not dropping this. And Lenaās hurt shows under hte mask for the first time, that beneath the snark and secrecy.. is just an abused teenager with nowhere else to go and no way out being bullied by an older woman whose cutting off the only light at the end of the tunnel nto for good reason but out of classist, overprotective mallice.Ā My issues, which to be fair probably were intentional in the episode but sitll are a bit overblown, aside we do get an absoluttley tremendous moment later as a car falls on top of Beakly.. and Magica, speaking once more urges Lena to leave her, let her die and let their plans progress. And while that iself is.. dumb, what if someone finds her or her corpse later, especially since Scrooge would likely perosnally want to retrive the body to give her a proper burial as sheās his only friend at this point, or the rest of the family questoin the story?, it fits Magicaās lack of foresight we see throughout the season. But Lena... saves her. While she later gives an explination, and a valid one at that, itās clear from her expressoin, her actoins and how she does it... that this is her. Part of it is defiance, as she glares at Magica before doing it, her own stubborn nature mixed with her hatred of herĀ āauntā, meaning Magica just made it all too easy for her to do this. But the real reason is clear: Itās the right thing to do. While pissing off her aunt and getting away with it is the cherry on top.. the real reason is that unlike Magica.. Lena is not a killer, not a monster, and not a heartless vacum ofa person. Even if she doesnāt like Beakly, for good reason.. she canāt, she WONāT leave her to die and leave Webby an orphan again. She loves Webby too much to do that to her and while she may deny it.. sheās too good a person to leave someone to die for something so petty. Even if she never sees webby again and the plans ruined. Itās better than the weight of knowing she let someone who wasnāt trying to harm her and whose actions, while terrible, were out of misguided protection of her granddaughter, die like this. She saves her. And as weāll see it pays off.. but before that.Ā
Huey, Webby and Louie: Into the Unknown This plotās a bit shorter, as Webby and Huey continue their argument, with Louie eventually making it clear, and not even hiding it when directly asked by Huey, that heās playing both sides with a delighted expression on his face as the movie was boring but this, this is interesting. Which it is. But itās interupted by dings on the roof and while Huey assumes iāts just a regular rock, it moves while their not lookiung.. and soon red eyed, horrifying beasts look out at them and the kids flee back to the car. This dosenāt pan out as the car starts to shake and is clearly going to collapse.. and while Webby and Louie are prepared to flee, rock monsters or no, Huey, in an utterly heart shattering image.. stays in place, terrified of moving.Ā
This is where this plot goes from mildly aggrivating, as Hueyās Skeptic shenanigans can get on the nerves.. to BRILLIANT. See at the time this was more annoying because it was assumed the skepticsim would be a part of Hueyās character and weād get more episodes of him being annoying only to be proven wrong, as he semeingly dosenāt learn his lesson at this point, looging the terrafrimians in the guide book. But on rewatch.. this plot is amazing.Ā For starters the plot subtly introduced the defening characteristic of Hueyās personality, one thatās become more prounounced in Season 3: His need for Order. He needs things to make sense: He solves stuff because he likes there to be order in the world and something he can understand, he can put in a box in his head. Like a lot of neurotypical people, myself included, he struggles horribly when the clearly defined boxes of his life and things he undestand have wrinkles or complexities he canāt get. I for instnace easily got it when I was introduced to the concept of trans people or being non binary.. they just make sense in hindsight: given how our brains are messya nd complicated it makes sense some people would be born in the wrong ones, and tht with all the science and medicine we have to correct that, should be allowed to transition if they so choose. It makes equal sense that some people just donāt have a gender or are gender fluid, being both or neither. Despite struggling with non binary prounouns due to force of habit.. I get the concept with no real difficulty. But when it comes to accepting I donāt have to apologize for everything and that everyone is not angry or that anger is natural and people sometimes get mad and you canāt and shouldntā fix it.. itās something I STRUGGLE with even knowing itās not right, because my brain is just wired that way.Ā
Thatās how Hueyās struggle comes off here.. he reveals heās willing to stay and die.. because heās SO scared of the unknown, that the idea of dying from something he at least knows what it is versus something he dosenāt.., so paralizyed by his own brain he canāt figure out the obvious.. it takes Webby reaching out to him figuratively and literally, to show him that sometimes you have to face the unknown. The unknown is fucking terrifying.. but it can be good and itās better than sitting there, scared and unable to move. You have to try, to grow and take that risk that things may not go well to really LIVE.Ā
So he does.. and they reunite with the rest of the group.. and soon find the terrafirmains.. who as it turns out once we get some light on them... are actually just goofy looking,Ā brightly colored, each one matching one of the kids, kids themselves, and Huey reaches out and touches one, which by ET logic means their friends now, and the terrafirmians help them get out. And this lesson sticks. While sure Huey catalogues it and it seems it didnāt.. heās never this skeptical again. This douchey skepticsim was only for one episode, his fear of the uknown replcaed with boundless curosity and from here on heās CURIOUS about new stuff as long as itās not trying to kill him. He loves taking in new experinces, maybe not to webby levels but he does actually try them and study them instead of just fearing them.Ā
Before we wrap things up, obviously we need to talk about the JWG not having entries on a lot of stuff. This would be corrected next season as it returns to being a big book of everything, but dosenāt completely contridct this as Timephoon! shows thereās stillcgaps.. which iām fine with. While it knowing EVERYTHING was fine for the original series here, with things being slightly more groudned, itād just be an obvious plothole if Huey didnāt use it every single time they ran into something and thatād get boring. Instead itās simply that it dosenāt know everything, and really in the comics at times it didnāt and the triplets found out new things. It knew almost everything mind you, but having some gaps for dramatic tnesion is fine with me and Seasons 2 and 3 decided on that instead of just having it being a scouting manual which wa sfor the best. And even by later in the season hit has guides to getting a small buisness loan, so they already course corrected.Ā
So everythingās wrapped up and while Magica berates Lena for disobeying her.. Beakly interputps, thankfully not seeing magica and admits she was wrong and invites Lena for pancakes, even taking a crack about if their actually pancakes or english muffins with syrup, which sounds like my own living hell, in stride, having clearly grown. And Lena explains to Magica that this was the better approach: now sheās got the in theyw anted, and is above suspcison for now. Still not so much that an obvious act wonāt be detected but enough that she dosenāt ahve to work actively around her anymore. Magica scoffs.. and while part of it is probably rage.. part of it is deep down both of them know she did it out of defiance.. and only Lena knows that she did it for the right reasons... she just dosenāt get why. She probably justifies it as playing the long game.. but deep down she knows somethingās changing about her.. and sheās not sure if thatās a godo thing or not.Ā
Final Thoughts: This episode is as you can tell a mixed bag. Itās 2/3 of a good episode, with the Lena plot, my issues aside, being excellent and the Terra-Firmian plot likewise fun, even if Huey can get grating the payoff is worth it, and the jokes are really high quality. Itās just bogged down by that fucking launchpad plot that just crushed my soul in itās palms every time it came back. I went on at length why i hated that one but boy oh boy was the hate of that subplot warranted and I stand by calling it the worst plot of the series. It is: itās not funny, it makes no goddamn sense, and it drags down whatās otherwise a pretty solid epsiode.
Next Time on Lena: Jaws the shark, lurking in the dark, in the depths of the bin one day of a lark decides to get rowdy, get real violent takes a vacay out to Duckburg er.. Island.. also Scrooge faces his greatest Nemesis.. a PR Tour to clean up his image after an unfortunate giant Beanstalk Incident. Be there and be hip to be square.Ā
Next Time on This Blog: I Tackle a DCOM for the first time for another commissioned review as we take a look at racisim, specifically Apartheid and breaking indoctrination, with The Color of Friendship. See you next Rainbow.Ā
#ducktales#ducktales 2017#lena sabrewing#webby vanderquack#weblena#bentina beakly#launchpad mcquack#huey duck#louie duck#dewey duck#terror of the terra-firmians!#disney channel#disney xd#disney plus#disney#disney ducks#comissions
32 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
Digimon Adventure 02 Appreciation Challenge -- Day 14
Day 14: A 02 moment that stayed with you after all these years
This is one of those questions where I have to stare at it for a whole hour and go āI have to pick only one?ā compounded by the fact that probably a good number of the ones I would pick would be covered by others, possibly in better detail than I could. So Iāll go for something unconventional.


02 is infamous for having quite a few famous scenes of mutual punching and slapping in its repertoire, but in retrospect, this is kind of odd because thereās only one actual punch between major characters in the entire series (the rest is slaps) -- one single punch -- when Taichi and Yamato actually got into some genuine mutual fistfights in Adventure. Like, Taichi and Yamato were punching the hell out of each other in Adventure episodes 9 and 45. Angrily. And I think, moreso than the sheer fact there was physical hitting in this series, the actual more important thing is contextual framing.
Again: Taichi and Yamato would beat each other up back in Adventure, and it was with the two getting violently angry with each other over disagreements, with everyone staring in horror. But here, Yamato lands one punch on Taichi, and itās explicitly in a āget a hold of yourselfā context. One second later, he bends over and offers a hand to Taichi. Heās reaching out to Taichi because he knows this is what Taichi also wanted and needed, and that Taichi himself will not see this as a malicious move and will understand his intent. He didnāt do this because he was angry or upset at Taichi, he did this because he cared about him and knew that words alone werenāt going to do it, which is something that Daisuke (very understandably!) has a hard time quite getting, but itās not like he was there to personally witness Taichi and Yamato having done a lot worse to each other in the past. And Taichi and Yamato now know each other well enough that they can do this kind of thing and understand each otherās intent perfectly without even saying it out loud.
And when the rest of the series involves slapping, theyāre all in that same āget a hold of yourselfā context -- the 02 kids end up emotionally invested in each other to the extent that the kinds of physical grapples Taichi and Yamato got in back in Adventure never get necessary (Daisuke and Takeru get close in 02 episode 11, but they end up ultimately working it out with greater ease, especially since Takeru isnāt the emotional fuse bomb Yamato is). None of these ever happen from anger or malice; itās all emotional frustration, and part of a wider context of going out of their way to reach out to the other person.
Anyway, back from the digression. This scene says a lot as to how Taichi and Yamatoās relationship has developed since Adventure, in that something like this is now something they do as part of reaching out to each other, instead of blowing a fuse and lashing out. And remember, the context of this scene is about the question of whether to potentially kill Agumon or not.

In this scene, Taichi is, understandably, conflicted. And maybe, back in Adventure, this is the kind of thing Yamato would have become an emotional fuse bomb at and blown up at him about, but theyāre not eleven-year-olds anymore, and while Yamato understands that Taichi is in a mental abyss to the point that punch might have been necessary, he doesnāt have any scorn or anger at Taichi for hesitating. Rather, he takes a moment to reframe the situation in a way Taichi will understand -- that Agumon himself would hate the idea of being turned into a destructive monster -- and, besides, this kind of observation is very much like Yamato, in that while of course heās not one to actively advocate for killing friends, heās the emotionally sensitive type to take the feelings of others into account, including Taichi and Agumonās own.
I touched on this earlier in my post about Jogress, but 02 spent a lot of time on what it means to maintain a relationship with someone, and the fact that effort often has to be put into it, rather than just hoping that things happen naturally. One very important thing about said relationships is the test of how you resolve disputes. Even when you disagree, or when your feelings arenāt quite in sync, you need to figure out how to communicate and reach an understanding rather than going straight to blowing up at each other. And Adventure was a little about this too, even if it didnāt put it front and center -- itās very important to take the above scene and compare it with how they would have reacted back in Adventure. Even one of the pairs of personalities most prone to extreme clashing managed to find a way to work things out, all while involving the very loaded topics of physical hitting and discussion about partner killing. And while theyāve certainly developed their own unusual definition of working things out through fighting, it still now comes with a huge, huge added part about actually reaching out to the other personās feelings, discussing why they feel that way, and addressing the core problem, all while having sympathy for their position.
(For what itās worth, I donāt generally endorse resorting to punching or slapping your real-life friends when theyāre falling into an emotional hole, but itās not like the majority of us are going through the same instant supernaturally inflicted emotional trauma smack in the midst of situations with high risk of instant death. As Taichi and Yamato imply in episode 11, the fact that they can do this is a heavy byproduct of the results of the kinds of things they used to get involved in, and the 02 kids are generally much more willing to talk things over and be less drastic when theyāre not running the risk of getting killed by a Digimon or something in the next five minutes. Some slack should probably be cut here.)
69 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
talkin bout fuckig manga
hey itās me, havenāt had internet for over a week and iāve been sick and uni and blah blah blah time for a rant about manga
this time its aboutĀ "Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru", tl;dr, good manga read it idk
lots of bullshit below the cut
Before anything I say gets too confusing or I go off on an insane tangent, just know my recommendation is that you read "Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru". It's not very easy to find online since it has an official English release (which my recommendation extends far enough to suggest I might pick up in the future, just to have it, but I am very stingy), but there's an alright torrent of all the volumes on your local anime torrenting website, and is at the very least worth the trouble of reading as such. There is also an anime that gets better as it goes, but the manga is my primary recommendation. Beyond this point I'm not gonna give much regard to what I write, so get ready for anything, read the manga and see if you agree with me, or don't and see if I care:
BOUT THE ANIME: The SoreMachi anime is one of those rare comedy anime you find where the animation and overall production is just really extra the entire time. Hopefully you know what I mean because I won't really be able to explain it any other way, it's simply one of those shows where the jokes are decent and it's a fun time for the most part. Unfortunately, the anime makes a couple of critical missteps that kept me from getting far into it when I first tried watching it about a year ago, and in retrospect seem even less reasonable.
Starting with the good, as an adaptation it does a good job with most chapters it covers, it properly sources where each chapter comes from incase you intend to read the manga and skip around to catch up, and the anime adapts some sections to have additional jokes that fit very naturally in to the story. It also covers up some of those problems only manga can have like having a concert segment without any actual music involved, until they invent mp3-paper it's just something we'll have to live with. Translation work was pretty good (I watched the [WhyNot] release for those who care), which is extra important for something as difficult to translate as jokes from another language. The set of episodes they chose to end on was very good, and was expanded to be a lot more impactful in the anime. If it wasn't for the last episode being as strong as it was I may have given up on finding the manga when I saw it wasn't super easy to read online.
As for what the anime fails in, some episodes feature some really blatant over-acting that doesn't really help make characters believable, and there's this obnoxious gag that continues the whole where through where most scenes have a few seconds long line from what is essentially a forced mascot character, which usually mean nothing and only serve to harm the pacing of many episodes (there isn't even any sort of equivalent bit in the manga so I really don't know why they did it, most of the anime original jokes are pretty good so I just really don't get it). The biggest issue the anime faces is that the source material is about 140 chapters, while the anime is only able to cover 24 chapters. This comes with a LOT of problems, the first being what I'd call the "required reading". SoreMachi is not a 1-note simple comedy where you can skip to any chapter and be completely okay; There are many small but meaningful subplots lying beneath, and characters have a fair bit of development throughout. What this means for the anime is that the first 3-4 episodes are just the first few chapters of the manga, which are a bit rough and not as good as the majority of the work, which is true of a lot of comics (god fuck I promise there will be more than a first chapter of my comic I promise it'll get better fuck). In terms of the anime by itself, I'd say episode 1 is decent, 2 is middling, and by 3/4 their still taking a while to introduce members of the cast, and I didn't immediately want to finish it. I put the show down for a long time until my internet started dying and I wanted to watch something fun. Slapping it back on at episode 5 I immediately had a great time and watched the rest of the show pretty soon after. While I understand the reasoning behind doing this, the anime does not pay off this structure, as beyond the first few episodes, the chapters start being presented out of release order and out of chronological order, kind of destroying any consistent throughline. This decision in and of itself isn't the worst, since the comic isn't always chronological, and the volume ordering is a bit different from the release ordering, but the inconsistency makes the first few episodes feel lessened without reason. The other large failure that comes with only animating about 1/7th of the entire work is that many themes and concepts that are core to the manga are not represented in the anime well at all. One of the biggest is the rare but unnerving supernatural chapters, of which only one is animated, and not a particularly good one. In order to talk about these themes I'll have to transition into talking about the manga itself, since they aren't part of the anime.
DA MANGA: So one last recommendation that you read the manga, the whole damn thing. Cus we're gettin into themes and character moments that take a long time to pay off, and obviously is all part of my interpretations, so if that stuff means anything to you don't let me ruin it for ya.
The title of the manga is, in essence, the entire manga's "punchline" in that every chapter could meaningfully end with simply the text "And yet the town still turns..." (My translation of the title, fuck "And yet, the town revolves" or "But the town moves"); by this I mean most chapters end in an anti-climax where a mystery is left unsolved, or a mystery is solved and undercut by the realization that life simply keeps on going without much change. This is used to essentially force your eyes open to all possibilities when reading, as the main character spends her time acting like a detective, and these mysteries end up as either misunderstandings, secrets, riddles, and sometimes something out of the ordinary happens that makes you unable to pin anything down firmly. Similarly, these endings aren't always read-and-forget scenarios. Several chapters come back in the form of a continued joke, a continued mystery, or contribute to some greater purpose later. Readers are properly rewarded for keeping everything they can in mind, while also tormenting such people with loose ends.
I enjoy Hotori as a protagonist due to her character being defined not in flaws and strengths, but in mindedness. Hotori seems like a simple "haha she's dumb" character to start, but consistently throughout she proves that her strengths are in memory, observation, and deduction, while lacking in some more common sense and abilities. Her brain works in strange ways that some people may or may not understand, such as her need to think through even the most trivial fictional scenarios, which I relate to deeply.
The art and paneling throughout are wonderful. Ishiguro Masakazu is one of those artists who draws very simple characters, but knows how to use details and depth to breath so much life into the artwork. He also clearly uses the occasional supernatural happenings as an excuse to draw what he loved, as all sorts of artistic depictions of the supernatural come out that simply look satisfying. These parts obviously meant a lot to him since he's been working on a primarily mystery-action manga that has a lot more of that stuff in it. (Also, as hindsight is 20/20, if you've read any of his new work you'll notice that the main character of it is eerily similar to a character who shows up very late in SoreMachi that the author obviously fell in love with, cus she just keeps coming back and even ends up with a really unsettling end to her character arc despite only being introduced as a component in a harmless mystery. Feel free to call me out for the same shit 30 years from now when I'll probably do the same shit)
I'd like to get into some of the major themes of this work, as a lot of them hit very close to my mind (which I guess is true of any theme you recognize for yourself, you wouldn't really "get it" if it didn't mean something to you...).
The simplest theme, again, comes from the title. The main character, Hotori, expresses a desire that the town she lives in continues going on, unchanged forever. This is obviously a fear of change, which ya know, same, but also an exploration of what it means to fear change. Hotori actively tries to keep businesses from closing down, keep friends from leaving, and keep relationships from changing, while simultaneously making all sorts of new relationships and solving mysteries. Hotori even comes to realize that simply learning the truth about something changes the world through your own perspective, and that such changes can't be undone. In spite of this, Hotori mostly gets her wish, any time she fears that a large change will impact the town, its resolved about the same as any other issue. Whether its a message that even time can't keep you from your loved ones and that change isn't worth fearing, or a concession that large changes to the setting would be a bad idea in terms of humor, I can't really decide. This theme reaches it's conclusion in what is one in a series of "ending" kinda chapters at the end of the series. Hotori is faced with a supernatural ethical situation, save her town from destruction at the cost of her existence, or live through the disaster, knowing her town and the people in it will forever be changed. While the actual result is that nobody disappears and nothing is lost, and the event may have simply been a strange dream, Hotori confidently decides that sparing the people in her town from a life altering event is worth giving up her memories with them. A kind of bold spit-in-the-face to the idea that change is okay, where we find that Hotori didn't fear change for herself, but rather for the people around her.
There's another major idea in this manga, which takes a very long time to pay off, and completes its arc at the very very very actual end of the series, the idea of "leading someone to be something". A character that rides that line between main and side character, Shizuka, is a writer of detective novels, who feels the best person to judge her works would be a version of herself without the bias of being the author. She tries to achieve this by leading Hotori to be interested in detective works (including her own) and generally be just like her, starting from a young age. The end result is a young girl dead set on being a detective herself (or at least another novelist), while Shizuka keeps her identity as an author secret. She then uses Hotori as a scapegoat for herself, attempting to see how she would solve various mysteries and use that as inspiration, and this is depicted as though Shizuka were some sort of villain, which she may feel like she is. The end result of it all, though, is that Hotori was likely already a detective-minded person, and that even if Shizuka pushed her down that path, it was Hotori's decision to continue down it, and the very end of the manga is a scene revealing that Hotori figured out Shizuka's secret at some point, and even still respected Shizuka and aspired to reach her, and the two accept each other for who they are. I enjoy this ending a lot, since as an artist I've worried that some of my love or aspirations for and from other artists came with an ulterior motive of wanting a better community for art to exist in, but people are people and will make their own decisions, and some day everyone may be able to become equals in a truly meaningful sense, where everyone is inspired by and guiding each other together.
So that probably didn't mean shit to nobody and I didn't even really talk about anything in the comic like most of the main characters or any of the shit goin on but ya know fuck you go read it, and thanks for reading this.
#long ass post#also gonna have finals on my birthday this week so awesome#im having a good time this year h-haha
24 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
Star Wars, the Last 20 Years or Can We Please Try to Stop the Blame Train?
I would like to touch a subject thatās starting to grate on my nerves a little.
Anyone here knows that I disliked The Rise of Skywalker heartily. And Iām not the only person here or elsewhere who tore it to shreds. But I am reading (again) over and over why and how JJ Abrams, Chris Terrio, Kathleen Kennedy and Co. made this mess. Instead of searching for culprits, this time I would like to point out a few things.
I. Star Wars Prequels
Jake Lloyd, Ahmed Best and Hayden Christensen had to endure awful harassment in their time: the audience largely vented their frustration on them because when the prequels hit theatres, they did not get the Star Wars they had wanted. Politics are a dry subject, and young Anakin and the Jedi Council were all too human to be liked by fans who expect coolness in a hero more than everything else; which is probably why Darth Maul is a huge favorite although we hardly learn anything about him and he says almost nothing. Ditto Obi-Wan although he is clearly not suited to train Anakin and itās him who maims him and leaves him to burn in the lava. (Until I saw the film, I had always assumed Palpatine had tortured Anakin to push him to the Dark Side.)Ā
The prequelsā messages in general were not liked: the Jedi were not perfectly wise and cool wizards, the Old Republic was stagnant, Anakin was a hot-headed, frustrated young man desperate to save his wife and unborn children. The films do not want to excuse what he did; however they portray him not as a monster but as a human being who was under an almost unendurable pressure for years and years until he finally snapped.

These messages may not be ācoolā, but they were realistic and most of all, humane. Portraying the Jedi as well as Anakin as powerful, flawless heroes and the old Republic as a just, prosperous and balanced place would have meant undermining a central theme of the original trilogy: the former generation could not have been all that powerful and wise, else the collapse of their world and the failure of their convictions would not have happened in the first place. It is a sore point, but still twenty years later Obi-Wan and Yoda denied that Vader was human and expected Luke to commit patricide.Ā
All of this goes to show that the Jediās moral standard was flawed and their attitude not rooted in compassion and pacifism the way they claimed. In the end, what they cared about was winning, no matter the cost. In this, they were no better than the Sith.
~~~more under the cut~~~
II. Star Wars Sequels
J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, Bob Iger and company were the ones who introduced the Star Wars sequel trilogy and with it its themes, characters, setting etc. to us in the first place: I think we should give them credit where itās due. Rian Johnson made a very beautiful second chapter with The Last Jedi, but he did pick up where the others had left.Ā
Kelly Marie Tran made experiences similar to Jake Lloyds or Hayden Christensenās when The Last Jedi was hit theatres. She was disliked for not being āStar-Wars-yā enough, chubby and lively instead of wiry and spitfire, and also taking a lot of screen time while many fans were impatiently waiting for some grand scenes from Luke and / or Leia.Ā
That Episode VIII, the central and most important one, was called āThe Last Jediā cannot be overstated. Luke was literally alone with the heavy task of rebuilding a religious order that was gone and destroyed long before he even learned about it, and at the same time he had to patch together his own family and atone for his fatherās sins. This is a crushing burden for anyone to carry. It was important both for Rey and for the audience to meet Luke to see that he was a good man, but still just a man.
When Luke spoke openly to Rey about the failure of the Jedi Order, it was the first time he ever spoke about it that we know of; this wisdom he obviously acquired only after his nephewās fall to the Dark Side. Luke has understood that the ways of the Jedi were wrong; but he does not know a better alternative. Force users are still born all over the galaxy, and they have to learn to use their powers - only how? Again, Luke is not to blame. How is he to know, when the Jedi of the Old Republic had lost sight of Balance in the Force for so long that they didnāt know what it actually meant anymore?Ā
Same goes for Leia, the princess without a realm, who tried to rebuild the Republic after the galaxy had been terrorized by the Empire and devastated by war for many years. She assuredly did her best, but she was only human. That she failed her son is of course shocking, but after the horror she had to endure at the hands of her own father it is not surprising that she would be terrified of her son possibly going the same way. Ben, like Anakin, was crushed under a legacy and responsibility that was by far too heavy for him. The tragedy of his life and the disruption - and in the end, obliteration - of his family was another proof for the failure of the ways of the Jedi.Ā
All of these lessons until now were not learned from. But letās be honest: how many of us come from dysfunctional families? If we do, was getting away from them enough to heal the wounds of the past? Did we find out what to give our children on their way in life, or did we fail them because we had not elaborated the past enough to make way for a better future? Such problems are very common, and to heal them is complicated and takes time. A āhappy endingā e.g. in form of finding a new family is not enough, on the contrary, it can lead to wanting to leave the past behind, leaving wounds unhealed that will fester their way through our lives again, sooner or later. Star Wars always was an allegory of the human mind, even if deeply cloaked in symbolism. The saga also abundantly takes inspiration from the Bible, and I think itās not coincidentally said there that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children.Ā
As fans, we would have wanted to see films that cemented the Jedi as guardians of the galaxy, with the Skywalker family right at the center. Which in itself is impossible because Jedi are supposed to remain unattached, making the mere idea of a Jedi having a family absurd. If the prequels told us that the Jedi were flawed, the sequels tore down the myth of the Skywalker family. And both trilogies showed that you canāt be a Skywalker and / or a Jedi / Force user and have attachments and a happy family of your own at the same time. At least, not until now.Ā
Ā III. Film production
Many fans of old complained because the sequel trilogy implied that the āhappy endingā of the original trilogyās heroes had not been so happy after all and that after having made peace for the galaxy, they had failed to keep it that way. Other viewers however liked the new trilogy and new characters right away and began to root for them. But they, too, jumped on the blame train when the trilogy had ended: expectations were not met, and now director, producers, script writers, cutters etc. are faulted all over again.
The first person coming up with the idea of Hanās and Leiaās only child turning to the Dark Side was Lucas himself. It always was a main theme of the saga that war separates people who actually belong together, like family, couples or close friends; that is not played for mere drama, but because it emphasizes the absurdity of war.
We as the audience do not know how production went - it is very possible that Lucas approved the general storyline, and there is always a whole team on board. It is not easy to purchase such a large and immensely popular franchise; it was to be expected that if things went not the way the audience expected, the Disney studios would be blamed harshly for having āruined Star Warsā. With the prequels, at least Lucas was still at the helm; it was conceded that maybe he had lost his magic touch with storytelling, but certainly not that he was trying deliberately to ruin his own creation. And the fans who could not praise the Disney studios enough after The Last Jedi came out, now blame them over and over.
The Disney studios have long-term politics to consider and contracts to observe, and we donāt know their contents. We have every right to be disappointed, but I think itās not fair to blame one or a particular group of persons who are trying their best to satisfy as many viewers as possible. If they simply wanted to satisfy the average dudebro who sees nothing but clichĆ©s, two-dimensional characters and Good against Evil - then why did they allow The Last Jedi to be produced in the first place? The studios obviously are aware that there are fans out there who are ready to look deeper in the sagaās themes, who wish to see the Force coming to Balance, who value family, friendship and love over āvictory at any costā, and who do not place the Jedi on some kind of pedestal.
In a sense, The Rise of Skywalker seems like a bow before The Last Jedi: the weakest chapter of the saga followed one of its strongest. Maybe the authors were aware that equaling or even topping what Rian Johnson had created would be next to impossible, so they patched up the open threads of The Force Awakens together with some fan service hoping to be out of the business as quickly as possible.
In retrospect, the infamous podcast with Charles Soule might also be tell-tale: Soule obviously is not elbows-deep in the saga and largely ignores its subtext. Since his The Rise of Kylo Ren comics are quite well-made, I assume that the general storyline did not stem from his own creativity and that he only carried out what he had been advised to do. The production of the whole sequel trilogy may have happened in a similar way. I am not excusing the poor choices of The Rise of Skywalker; merely considering that one or a few persons cannot be blamed in a studio that has thousands of creative minds on board.
I am still hoping for the next trilogy to finally bring Balance to the galaxy, and also into the fandom. Rian Johnson had negotiated the rights for the next trilogy along with The Last Jedi; I assume it is very possible that there was a clause about intellectual property saying that only he would continue Episode VIIIās topics, nobody else. This would at least be an explanation, given the embarrassing, jumbled mess that Episode IX was.
The overall title of the saga assuredly never wanted to inspire the audience to start online wars attacking the studios or the actors or other fans out of the conviction of being entitled to blame someone elseās worldview. The sagaās message is compassion. Both George Lucas and the Disney studios are telling us their story; the idea and the rights do not belong to us. Harping on āwhose faultā it allegedly is wonāt bring us anywhere; what we can do is make the studios understand that weāre not too stupid not to understand the subtext, the symbolism and metaphysics of the saga beyond the action story. If they listened to the Last Jedi haters, in all fairness they are bound to listen to us, too. š
Ā IV. Will Benās story continue?
My husband already warned me years ago that Ben most probably wouldnāt survive, or at least not get a happy ending. As Kylo Ren he had already been the head of a criminal organization for six years at the start of The Force Awakens, but all of that perhaps could still have been condoned within the scope of war. It was the very personal and intentional act of patricide, the killing of an unarmed, forgiving man, who turned him into a damned person. And after the deed, Ben was aware of it. He knew there was no way out for him, he had gone too far.
Many members of the audience did not understand that Kylo / Ben is not an out-and-out villain and that this narrative ultimately was about his redemption. Bringing him back to the Resistance after the Exegol battle alive and by Reyās side would not have been accepted; how was Rey to explain everything when she hardly understood it herself? How would the audience have reacted to the former head of a criminal organization, a patricide, suddenly standing out as a hero? Remember how in Return of the Jedi Luke asked Vader to come away with him. Now suppose Vader had complied? It would have seemed (and been) sheer madness. Nobody would have believed neither father nor son that the terror of the galaxy had had a sudden turn of heart. Nobody knew that he was Lukeās father; Luke himself did not know Anakinās backstory; nobody knew what had transpired between Luke and Vader so far. Yes, Ben was young and healthy, but he still had terrorized the galaxy for years and killed his own father. He knew himself that he was damned and could not go back to normality, as Vader did.
Rey was coded as the heroine: narratively, the sequel trilogy was her story. Ben couldnāt become the hero, with or without her, at the very last moment. She usurped power like her grandfather in his time, the Skywalker family was obliterated the way the Jedi were, she takes over another mantle (Skywalker) the way Palpatine did (becoming the Emperor). Balance in the Force never was truly in the cards, it was only vaguely hinted at in The Last Jedi by the Force mosaic in the Ahch-To temple. Balance is a complex and difficult subject; it would have been extremely difficult to develop it in the sequel trilogy together with introducing the new characters and giving the old ones closure.
However: if Ben is brought back in the next trilogy, his sacrifice for Rey will have been his atonement. If his role this time is not that of the villain but of the hero, it would reverse Anakinās path and make clear that he no longer is the same man. Vader was redeemed, not rehabilitated. His grandson might still have the chance to go that way.
- Luke had promised Rey a third lesson, and it happened. He also had promised Ben to āsee him aroundā, which has not taken place yet.
- On Tatooine, Rey watches the twin suns setting, same as Luke before he met the other half of his soul (his twin sister) again.
- The studios had said that the sequels would be āvery much like the prequelsā; the prequels were a tragedy where the Dark Side (Palpatine) won that was followed by a fairy tale where the Light Side won.
- The Skywalker saga is closed, so if Ben comes back it would be justified by his being a Solo, i.e. the story of his own family and not his grandfatherās.
- Given the parallels with Beauty and the Beast, the Beast died before the broken spell brought him back, making him a wholly new person - his past identity, purged and redeemed.
- George Lucas repeatedly said that the prequels and the classics belong together as one narrative, with Anakin Skywalker at its center. First news of the next trilogy came up with The Last Jedi. Since there are strong parallels between Ben and his grandfather, we may assume that this six-chapter instalment will be his; Anakin also was left for dead but came back with a wholly different role and name.
- When Anakin was reborn as Darth Vader, he āroseā slowly from the ground, clad in his black armor. Ben fell to the ground abruptly and shed his black clothes, disappearing. This could be another clue. (It was also already speculated that Leiaās body dissolved exactly in this moment because she gave her life-force to her son for him to have another chance to live. Both Han and Luke had done what they could to atone for their remorse towards Ben; this might be her turn.)
- Much as I love Luke Skywalker, I can understand that Lucas did not see him as the sagaās protagonist. The overall arch is not so much about Lukeās heroism than about Anakinās redemption and atonement. It is unusual because we expect the storyās āheroā to be the one who kills the Bad Guy; and indeed Anakin is, because he kills Palpatine in the end, the twist being that technically he is also a villain though not the archvillain.
- Ben had promised Anakin he would finish what he started. Anakin had been meant to bring Balance to the Force, and he had started a family. Until now, Ben did neither.
- If Ben and Rey are a dyad, i.e. one soul in two bodies, then Rey is in urgent need of her soulmate for her future tasks. She has her friends of course, but none of them gets her the way he did.
So, I still see reason to hope for a continuation, and, hopefully, satisfying conclusion of The Last Jediās themes.
Ā Film production: on a side noteā¦
In the Nineties, Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale were the directors both ofĀ Beauty and the BeastĀ andĀ Atlantis: two more different stories are hardly imaginable with regard to everything - drawing style, setting, characters, development, music etc. This outcome canāt have been only due to the directorās choices, there must have been a wholly different idea behind both films right from the beginning. Just saying.


#star wars#disney lucasfilm#george lucas#the rise of skywalker#the last jedi#the force awakens#rey#kylo ren#ben solo#bendemption#savebensolo#reylo#palpatine#darth vader#anakin skywalker#star wars prequels#star wars sequels#jj abrams#rian johnson#read more
46 notes
Ā·
View notes
Text
Callieās Disney Princess Retrospective: The Little Mermaid

(Snow White) (Cinderella) (Sleeping Beauty)
By the time of 1989, The Walt Disney Company was in itās Dark Age. Walt had passed, the Nine Old Men were retiring, and their films were viewed as jokes. The Dark Age tends to get what I feel is an overly harsh reputation, but thatās not what weāre here for. The cold hard truth is Disney was a shadow of its former self. Their films just werenāt getting the same praise as they once did, and now with Don Bluth gaining success, with films like An American TaleĀ and The Land Before Time, they werenāt even the top studio anymore. Their lowest point was the colossal failure of The Black CauldronĀ and while films like The Great Mouse DetectiveĀ earned some praise, it was just never enough. Theyād start getting some steam with Who Framed Roger Rabbit?Ā but considering that they commissioned Richard Williamās studio in England over Disneyās own animation studio, it seemed that even the company itself was losing faith in their own talents.
That all changed, however, with the release of their 28th animated feature. This would be the film that changed everything. It brought Disney back into prominence after years of being laughing stocks. It would enter the animation medium into its Renaissance, a time still fondly remembered by many. And for the purposes of this series, it is the film that both resurrected and revitalized the Disney Princess franchise. All of this would be due to 1989ās The Little Mermaid.
Overview

Ariel is a mermaid, but she dreams of one day being able to be part of the human world. Always collecting whatever surface world treasures she can find, to her fatherās disapproval, Ariel one day stumbles upon a ship celebrating the birthday of the handsome Prince Eric. Itās love at first sight, but as he is a human, her father King Triton reacts negatively. Hurt, Ariel goes to the sea witch Ursula, who grants her human legs at the cost of her voice. To remain human, Ariel has three days to get Eric to fall in love with her and kiss her. But Ursula has her own wicked plans for Ariel, plans that will endanger both land and sea. Will Ariel be able to get Eric to fall in love with her and become part of his world? Or will Ursula triumph?
Review
youtube
I have been waiting for this day for SO LONG. Do you want to know why I decided to do this series, to begin with? Aside from 2020 driving me to insanity? Itās because while the complaints against the Disney Princesses in general have frustrated me for as long as I can remember, there were two in particular that alwaysĀ made my blood boil because they made no sense. Cinderella was the first one, which I already covered. The other? Ariel. I think you all know what Iām referring to here, but letās put a pin in it for now. We have a LOT to discuss before we get to analyzing Ariel herself. First, let's go over the film.
The film is based on the story of the same name by Hans Christian Anderson. Walt himself had actually planned it long before, but sadly was never able to make it a reality. When the directors pitched it, at first it was denied due to Disney having already releasing a mermaid film called Splash not too long ago. But it was allowed to continue to be worked on as a future project and after a great deal of tweaking, expansion, and reworking, it was approved as a feature film to come out after Oliver and Company. There were a LOT of changes from the original story. The sea witch went from neutral to the villain, characters were expanded and added, and of course the story of unrequited love that ended with the little mermaid committing suicide was thrown out all together. A lot of the story basis was still there, but Disney was taking it and making it their own arguably even moreso than with the Classic Three.

The animation is fantastic. Many of the films prior like The Rescuers and Oliver and Company, while they looked nice, had this⦠roughness to it. I mean they were outright recycling animation for a good while, with Robin HoodĀ being the biggest example. But the animation here is some of the nicest, most fluid that theyāve had in quite a long time. Itās colorful, expressive, and grand in feel. This is especially true with the musical numbers. I mean Under the SeaĀ has SO much going on, and it is a true spectacle! Itās especially prominent when Ariel is mute. Since she canāt express herself with words, the animation hadĀ to be on point so that we could still understand her thoughts and feelings. They did an amazing job. From things like her visual glee at being human when going to bed the first night, to her annoyingly blowing her bangs during the canoe ride, turning into excited glee when Eric guesses her name. It helps Ariel feel more like a three-dimensional character and illustrates everything to us that words couldnāt at that point.
The biggest animation challenge for this film would be to convincingly portray the illusion of being under water. They had to convince us that Ariel was living under the sea, and Iād say they did a pretty good job. It is no easy task and trying to describe it is⦠hard. But I never had any doubt that they were underwater, especially compared to the scenes that wereĀ on the surface/ just look at how Ariel's hair is constantly flowing compared to how it sits when on the surface. Itās that attention to detail that I always appreciate. The opening especially, seeing the underwater landscape thriving as we see the silhouetted merpeople until the grand reveal of King Tritonās castle. Not to mention the seashore setting of Ericās own castle and kingdom, a perfect match for this sort of movie. As someone who loves water/seaside settings, itās always a joy to see!

While several of these people worked on the Dark Age films, this is really the first film that allows the then-new talent of Disney to shine. The directors were John Musker and Ron Clements, who are VERY important names to the Princess line. They not only gave us Ariel but also Jasmine, Tiana, and Moana. Theyāve been attached to many of Disneyās most beloved films and event cult classics like The Great Mouse DetectiveĀ and Treasure PlanetĀ (both of which you should watch). You also have animators such as Glen Keane, who would go on to animate Pocahontas and Rapunzel and work on some of the future princes (The Beast and Aladdin), and Mark Henn who would animate Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas (alongside Keane), Mulan, and Tiana. They both would be the supervising animators for Ariel, and go on to have veryĀ successful careers in future productions.Ā
But this film also gave us what may have been the best decision that the new management ever made. For the music, they hired lyricist Howard Ashman, who chose composer Alan Menken to collaborate with him. I cannot stress enough how important these twoās contributions were for this (and the next film weāll be discussing) production, especially the former. Ashman became very passionate about this project and was very influential on itās direction to the point of being credited as a producer. Menken of course would go on to have a LONG, successful career as a composer on many of the Renaissance films. Many of which weāll be touching on in this retrospective. These guys won two Oscars for The Little MermaidĀ for a reason.
I havenāt talked a whole lot about the music in these films outside a little bit about the main song. Thatās because while not unimportant, the music didnāt really move the story along. Like Someday My Prince Will Come/ is cute, but does it really drive anything forward? Or tell us anything about Snow White that we didnāt already know from Iām Wishing? Not really. Ashman, using his stage musical experience, wanted to use that kind of styling with The Little Mermaid. To use music to add depth to both the characters and to the story. Weāre all used to most Disney films being this Broadway-esque spectacle nowadays, but this film was the first to truly do so. Considering how this formula is still being used to this day, I think itās safe to say that it was VERY successful. Again, the music won two Oscars for a reason. Heck for a LONG time, the music was all that Disney was able to win from The Academy, so that says a LOT as to how good this was.
youtube
So now that weāve made it here, Iām going to discuss the vocal tracks individually and give my thoughts on each of the major ones:
Fathoms Below: Might be the most underrated song of the bunch. Itās in the style of a sea-shanty discussing the legends of what is below the sea. Itās a great intro to the film, letting us know right off the bat what kind of movie we are in for. I know that it sure had me invested~
Part of Your World/Reprise: Iām gonna go more into depth on the songās meanings when we analyze Ariel, but this song is perfect. Itās the song that tells us Arielās wants and dreams and Jodi Benson does such a great job putting so many different emotions into it. The animators also did a fantastic job with the expressions, fully showcasing Arielās longing, sadness, and desperation to be part of a world that she cannot. The reprise equally does a great job showcasing her evolving revolve, going from ālongingā to ādeterminedā. The song is fondly remembered for a reason⦠and it almost didnāt make it into the film. During screen testings, Jeffrey Katzenberg (the studio head at the time) wanted the sequence cut as the kid audience was āboredā and ārestlessā. The directors and Ashman HEAVILY disagreed and argued back, with Glen Keane ultimately being the one to convince Katzenberg to keep the scene. Thank God for it because this adds such a strong, emotional core to both the story and to Arielās character and it would have taken so much away if removed. I love it~
Under the Sea: This was the number that won the Oscar. I⦠find it the most overrated track tbh. Not that itās bad, FAR from it. Itās probably the best animation-wise with how much is going on. Sebastian somehow managed to conduct⦠all the sea life into a mass spectacle that certainly had me convinced to living under the sea. The calypso style is very fitting and fun, and Samuel E Wright sings it with so much passion. I guess that I find it overrated because I just like other songs more, but this is still a true showstopper thatās worth revisiting.
Poor Unfortunate Souls: Aside from I think Cruella DeVille (and even then Rogerās the one singing it), I think that this is the first true villain song in a Disney film. If so, then they started on a GLORIOUS note. I love this song! It was THE perfect song for Ursula. The first half with her fake reformed villain act but with this condescending air to it (Pat Carrollās delivery with theĀ āPatheticā line is perfection) was already grand, but the second half? Pat Carroll just lets loose and goes utterly insane. It is AMAZING and has so much charisma to it that you canāt help but be invested. Itās also very creepy, especially in the end with Ursula's cauldron bubbling and especially how she takes Arielās voice. This would inspire many great villain songs in the future and to this day remains one of the all-time greats.
Les Poissons: I never thought that seeing a chef cook would be so horrifying⦠the song is fine. Itās a silly sequence, albeit morbid from poor Sebastianās perspective, and Rene Auberjonois did a fantastic job despite the song being pretty short. Itās my least favorite track, mainly because it doesnāt really add or enhance anything. But it was fun⦠poor Senastian though XD
Kiss the Girl: The love song of the film. I love the animation for this one. I mean whatās more romantic than taking a canoe out on the lake? Thatās where Iād want my first date to end! The mood is set so well with the use of shadows and once more, Sebastian is able to conduct a spectacle effortlessly. Once more Samuel E Wright does a fabulous job singing, this time with a serenade style. Even if poor Scuttle didnāt get the appreciation that he deserved. Let the seagull sing, dang it! The only thing that ruins it is the eels capsizing the canoe, jerks! But yeah a beautiful serenade that is bound to convince anyone to⦠well, kiss the girl XD

And thatās not even getting into Alan Menkenās score! Alan Menken is my favorite composer of all time, so I love everything that he has ever done. I still remember the opening, hearing the instrumental of Part of Your World and immediately became invested in this film. The man is an EGOT for a reason, and this is only one of the many fantastic soundtracks that weāll be discussing in this review. He also did some additional music for the Broadway version of the film, and thereās a whole body of demo work that he and Ashman did that you can probably find on Youtube, Spotify, or whatever music streaming service you use. Listen to Ashmanās rendition of Part of Your World, you WILL be driven to tears.
So now we get to characters⦠and HO BOY do we have a lot. For the sake of this review we will be going over King Triton, Sebastian, Flounder, Scuttle, Ursula, Prince Eric, and as per usual Ariel will have her own section at the end.

King Triton, while not evil, serves as an antagonist early on in the film. By all appearances, Triton is a capable ruler who wields a great deal of power due to his triton. He appears just, and for the most part he is as well as a caring father. The only problem is⦠well, his anger issues. Triton HATES humans and the surface world. Weāre never told why aside from him calling them āfish-eatersā (the DTV prequel suggests itās due to the death of his wife, but the canonicity is debatable), but considering that his youngest daughterās greatest passion is learning about the surface world⦠yeah. Needless to say, they have issues between them. But he is otherwise loving and was even excited that Ariel may have found love until he found out about their species. With how overprotective he is, that was a nice subversion despite how brief it was.
Triton often gets the āabusiveā label thrown against him and while I do think that thatās a littleĀ too strong, there is no denying that his hatred and anger affects Ariel emotionally. He may have seen destroying Arielās grotto as for her own good and is likely the culmination of however long Arielās been going to the surface finally boiling over. But to do this right in front of her when she is begging him to stop and outright ridiculing her for saving Ericās life⦠yeah. Itās⦠itās a horrifying scene that does NOT make Triton look good and is what pushes Ariel into seeing Ursula. It doesnāt matter the reason, destroying your childrenās things is something that WILL scar them emotionally. To be far, the moment Ariel breaks down Triton clearly realizes that he crossed the line, but he just leaves because⦠yeah there was NO WAY that they were reaching a reconciliation at that moment.
Triton has a lot of issues, but the reason I donāt call him abusive and like him as a character is because after the grotto scene, he was clearly remorseful. After Ariel goes missing, he outright says āWhat have I done?ā and his demeanor expresses a lot of remorse. If that wasnāt enough, I think that him both selling his soul to free Ariel AND turning her human after realizing how much she loved Eric more than showed that he has learned his lesson. Triton had to learn to allow Ariel to grow up and choose her own direction in life, even if he didnāt like said direction. Itās very relatable to how some parents struggle to let go of their children as they grow up. My only real complaint is, as I said, we donāt know whyĀ Triton hates humans so much. If we did and saw him work through it, it may have helped us understand why he was so against Arielās passions and not come off as needlessly cruel as he did. Nevertheless, he realized his wrongs and made it right. His hug with Ariel at the end is one that gets me every time.

The sidekicks of the film are Flounder, Scuttle, and Sebastian. IDK why they named Flounder Flounder because he isnāt⦠well, a flounder. He looks like some kind of tropical fish. Flounder is kind of the kid appeal character, even being voiced by a child in all incarnations except Return to the SeaĀ since he had grown up. He is Arielās best friend who goes with her on her adventures, despite almost always being easily frightened. Heās well-meaning, but can cause more trouble like when he accidentally exposed Arielās excursion during the concert. But heās also a sweet little guy and very loyal to Ariel. The kid outright went out of his way to somehow recover the Eric statue, which is ten times his size, and deliver it to her grotto to make her happy. That is friendship. He doesnāt really develop, but heās a nice supporting character.
Scuttle is⦠well, dumb. But a fun dumb. Heās a surface creature and thus has more knowledge about surface world items than Ariel does⦠except he doesnāt. Heās not smart, but they manage to keep him entertaining because heās so sure that he knows what heās talking about. Imo, dinglehoppers are a MUCH better name for forks than forks, dang it! He tries to help, like it wasĀ his idea to try the serenade during the canoe ride⦠too bad that he canāt hold a note. Poor bird tried. They also DO allow him to be useful at the end, discovering that Ursula had tricked Eric and he amassed one heck of an army to humiliate her long enough for Ariel to reach the ship. It is one of the funniest AND most awesome moments in the whole film. Scuttle is just fun comedic relief who doesnāt overstay his welcome and his VA Buddy Hackett did such a great job~

But if thereās any character aside from Ariel that we remember from this film, itās Sebastian. This Jamaican crab is the royal musical conductor and Tritonās advisor. Heās often the one who has to watch over Ariel, which clearly frustrates him on multiple occasions. Tbh, Sebastian probably has the most character development in the film. In the beginning, while understandably upset that Ariel being a no-show ruined his conducting debut (though tbf⦠NO ONE bothered to make sure she was in place? Really?), heās mainly upset that /he/ looked bad. After the storm, heās more concerned about getting into trouble with Triton than about Ariel herself. He knows how much the human world means to her, and while one can argue that Ariel /should/ be more aware of how her actions affect others, Sebastian isnāt much better. He only discourages her to save his own shell, not for her own good. Which eventually leads to him breaking and exposing what happened during the storm when he should know damn well that Triton will explode. Yeah it was because he misunderstood, but still.
However, Sebastian isnāt a bad crab. After the grotto's destruction, he immediately feels guilty and tries to apologize to Ariel, but she angrily dismisses him. He tries to convince Ariel to not go to Ursula, but as sheās still upset she bitterly brushes him off and tells him to get her father since heās good at that. He therefore follows with only Flounder and at first, panics after Ariel is human. Itās understandable because⦠yeah, thatās bad. His first reaction is to get Triton to fix this, with Ariel trying to stop him. Once he sees the heartbroken look on her face, Sebastian realizes just how miserable Ariel would be back home. At this point, it's reasonable to assume that Triton will only be stricter about letting her have her ventures, and thus sheād be stuck in an unhappy life. This, along with the situation at least being partially his fault, convinces Sebastian to hold off and help Ariel win Eric over. Which he certainly tries his best.Ā

One of my favorite scenes is Ariel going to bed and being so excited to experience these new things as Sebastian tries to advise her on getting Eric to kiss her. But he stops when he sees that Ariel has fallen asleep with the biggest smile on her face, and he just affectionately calls her a āhopeless childā. The affection in his expressions and Samuel E Wrightās delivery is just so sincere and it really shows that for all his bluster, Sebastian does care for Ariel. The crab is also a seriously talented conductor. Like I said, he put together both Under the SeaĀ AND Kiss the GirlĀ in zero time and theyāre both amazing numbers because of it. He really tries hard to help Ariel and once Ursula strikes again, he decides itās finally been long enough and gets King Triton. Sure that doesnāt go well, but at that point it was absolutely the right call. He also helps fight off Flotsam and Jetsam, willing to put himself in harmās way to help both Ariel and Eric.Ā
Sebastian became a much more understanding, more selfless crab over the course of the film, realizing that he needs to care less about saving his own skin and to understand why Ariel does what she does. Itās especially notable at the end. In the beginning, he advised Triton to keep a firm grip on Ariel when he asks if he was too harsh. At the end? He advises him that children have to be free to lead their own lives, which is what convinces Triton to grant Ariel legs. Itās a really nice character arc and this along with Sebastianās two spectacular musical numbers leaves no question as to why heās so beloved.

But whatās a great film without a great villain? For that we get one of the best, Ursula the Sea Witch. She is a fantasticĀ villainess. Sheās a large octopus woman who used to work in the palace, but for reasons unknown got banished. In early versions, she was going to be Tritonās sister which would have added a VERY twisted dynamic to the whole thing. Maybe thatās where they got the idea for Scar in The Lion King⦠anyways! Her design was based on Drag Queen Divine who was also going to be the VA for Ursula, but she sadly passed away of an enlarged heart before any recording to be done. After going through various performers, the production staff settled on actress Pat Carroll, who did a spectacularĀ job. You can just tell that she is loving every single second of this role, and she has alwaysĀ happily returned whenever they need new Ursula material like in House of MouseĀ or in the parks. Just listen as she goes off the chain in Poor Unfortunate SoulsĀ that is some amazing acting.
Ursula is confident, manipulative, and a true actress. Her entire gimmick is manipulating vulnerable, insecure people into making deals with her. Deals that are pretty much impossible to keep and thus, she claims them as hers and adds them to her āgardenā. She targets Ariel specifically because of her passion for the surface world and since she likely knows of Tritonās hatred for it AND of his anger problems, sheās just waiting for the day he screws up and Ariel is vulnerable. Iām gonna go MUCH more in depth with this when we get to Ariel, but this is SO important to note. Ursula struck when Ariel was hurt, emotional, and not thinking straight. It shows just how manipulative she can be. This is who she preys on. She knowsĀ how to sway them to act how she wants them to. Sheās a saleswoman, and BOY does she sell it. It doesn't help that she gives Ariel very little personal space and manipulates her feelings for Eric to be further swayed. Yet Ariel is the stupid one because she was manipulated by a master manipulator⦠patience Callie, youāre gonna be able to let it out soon enoughā¦
youtube
Ursula works so well as a villain because of how smart and manipulative she is. Like I said, she knows how to prey on the vulnerable and insecure. But she also knows when to get herself involved. After Ariel almost kisses Eric on the second day, Ursula disguises herself and uses Arielās voice to hypnotize Eric. And even though Scuttle and his undersea army humiliate her and Ariel gets her voice back, she bought just enough time for the sun to set and the spell breaks. Ursula won. She captured Ariel, forced Triton to sell himself to save his daughter, and claimed ultimate power. It was a truly methodical plan that ultimately succeeded. You gotta give her props for that.
Donāt make any mistakes though. While Ursula is intelligent and confident, she /is/ still evil. Iāve seen people say that she should have won just because they donāt like the āabusive tyrantā Triton. Aside from what I already said about Triton above, Ursula is shown to be far, FAR worse. I mean⦠I hate to use the term, but she essentially s***-shames Ariel throughout Poor Unfortunate Souls. I mean she outright calls her a ālittle trampā after the canoe scene, which in this context is a G-Rated way of calling her a s***. To a sixteen year old. Yeah⦠plus we saw how power-mad she went once she got the triton, and it didnāt bode well for either land or sea. Tritonās temperamental, but he isnāt a tyrant. Ursulaās only redeeming trait is that she DOES care for her henchmen Flotsam and Jetsam, and their death at Arielās hand is what provoked her to go mad with power. This was ultimately her undoing as she was so focused on tormenting Ariel that it allowed Eric to take his ship and kill her. Itās a pretty gruesome Disney Villain Death (we outright see her SKELETON FLASHING at one point), but she brought it upon herself.

If you asked me what villain helped shape many of the ones we got during the Renaissance⦠Iād say Professor Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective. But Ursula was the first Renaissance villain, and she started it off right. Sheās enjoyable enough that we love it when sheās on screen, but still detestable enough that we want her to lose. Many complain about doing āpurely evilā villains. That villains HAVE to be sympathetic or nuanced, otherwise they are poorly written. While thereās nothing wrong with sympathetic, or even redeemable villains, having a purely evil one is also perfectly fine. Disney is the master of this. Ursulaās motivation is strictly to gain power, but it works because they give her character so much personality and charisma. Petty motivation, but excellent character writing that makes us not mind. Iād say if you want to learn how to do a Pure Evil character right, study Ursula in particular along with Jafar and Hades. Theyāre all great examples of how to do it right.

Finally we come to our leading man, Prince Eric. So far the Disney Princes have acted more as a necessity than anything. Itās as I said in the Sleeping Beauty Review, Florian and Charming fill out a plot point and while he was more proactive in comparison, Phillip fell into the same trap. Did Eric finally break the curse? Well⦠yes and no. He's a firm middle ground between ānecessityā and āactual characterā. Heās allowed FAR more than any of the other princes thus far. Eric is a seasman, he loves going out on the ocean in his ships. Heās adventurous, good-looking, and an overall nice guy. We see that he isnāt really into fancy stuff, outright cringing when Grimsby unveils the statue. He also isnāt interested in Grimsby trying to set him up with various noble women. Like Jasmine and to a degree Prince Charming, he wants to find love for love, but on his own time. These are the traits that attract Ariel to him. Plus heās also heroic, going back to a BURNING SHIP in order to save his dog Max⦠yeah Iād fall in love with him too.
After Ariel saves him, Eric becomes determined to find her. But he only briefly saw her face and heard her voice. Funny how NO ONE gets on Eric for this while hating on Ariel, but again weāll get to that soon enough. When he meets Ariel he recognizes her face⦠but since she canāt talk, assumes that she canāt be the mystery girl. Still, being a good person, he takes her back to the palace to give her shelter. Itās not long before he becomes endeared by her though. Sheās pretty, sweet, and even though she canāt talk he has a good time showing her around the kingdom. It's so clear by /Kiss the Girl/ that he has fallen for her, to the point that even Grimsby points it out to him. It gets him to give up on the mystery girl which is VERY important. It shows us that Eric didnāt fall for Ariel because she happened to be the girl he was looking for, but because of who she is as a person. It shows the audience that his feelings are genuine which makes us further root for him and Ariel⦠too bad that Ursula goes and ruins it.

As far as personality goes, Eric is more fun than his predecessors, but heās still stuck with the standard prince-like personality. Heās given more lines than all of them combined and has a real charm to him. You can see whyĀ Ariel would like a guy like him. Heās kind, fun, adventurous, and even a little rebellious. He is her ideal vision of what humans are like. The end of the film lets him prove himself as well, going out to help Ariel despite the danger and of course using his own ship to kill Ursula. It does cause Ariel to be a bit of a Damsel in Distress, but she DID save him much earlier and she stops Ursula from blasting him to smithereens, so it balances out. It was enough to prove himself to Triton, at least. So Eric is a nice step up as far as princes go, but weāre not quite out of the well with them yet. But it wonāt be much longer, heehee XD
Thereās other supporting characters that I really don't have much to say about. Arielās sisters are nicely designed, but ultimately bland. I think the series and Arielās BeginningĀ did more with them, but otherwise thereās not anything to discuss. Grimsby is fine enough, being the closest thing that Eric has to a parental figure (where ARE Ericās parents in all of this anyways?) and is stuffy, but otherwise a decent guy. Chef Louie is⦠crazy. Thatās all that I can say. This film has a lot of characters, letās put it that way. But of course, we have one more to go over. The titular little mermaid herself. Iāve been hinting at this throughout the review, so I think you all know exactly how this will goā¦
Ariel Analysis

I cannot stress enough how massive a step Ariel was for the Disney Princess line. As much as I have defended the Classic Three and standby all of that, there is certainly some repetition going one with them. All three are beautiful, passive, and canāt directly do much to accomplish their dreams. And at least two of them are dreaming mainly about a man, which is NOT a bad thing, but it was certainly getting old. Feminism has also been evolving since 1959, the last time a Disney Princess film came out. A lot had changed in those thirty years. Women in media could now be more proactive, take matters into their own hands, and have their own hopes and dreams that werenāt just about love while still being allowed to find love. Simply put, as much as I love Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora, the times had changed and it was time for Disney to get with those times. Thus we got Ariel, and she was exactly the right princess to take the line into a whole new direction.
The beginning of the film is a pretty clever way to set her up. The Classic Three are known for being angelic singers, and for good reason. Itās pretty much the first thing they do when we meet them (well, as an adult in Auroraās case) so the concert sets this up. Itās Arielās ādebutā and her sisters all have the looks and angelic voices that fit the archetypal Disney Princess. But then the shell opens up⦠and is empty. Then we cut to Ariel, who is about to go inside a sunken ship to look for surface world artifacts. It is an excellent subversion, setting up a Classic Princess move and flipping it on itās head. Itās shown very quickly that Ariel is adventurous and actively seeking out her dreams despite her situation instead of trying to just make do with the way things were and hoping for the best. We also get a fun sequence of her and Flounder escaping a shark, so first time a Princess got an action scene as well.
youtube
The film very quickly establishes Arielās love and fascination with the surface world. Exploring sunken ships, going to Scuttle to get more information, later we see her grotto that is filled with so many items that we would consider standard, but that she considers treasures. These mean so much to her. She finds the surface world āwonderfulā. But there are setbacks and consequences for her actions, in this case her forgetting about the concert. She didn't mean to and feels bad about it, and Flounder mentioning the reason why didnāt help. Itās clear that Ariel and Triton have been arguing about this for a long time, the latter failing to understand how much this means to Ariel and is at his witās end. His demands for her to stop upset her, causing her to storm out of the throne room and head for her grotto.
This leads to Part of Your World. This song/sequence is vitalĀ to understand Arielās character. This is the song where she expresses all her hopes and dreams. How she wants to be human. How she wants to learn more about the surface world. How she wants to experience things like walking down a street or finding out how a fire can burn. Throughout the film, we never learn how Ariel got so interested in human culture and just why sheās so passionate about it. But we really donāt need an in-depth explanation because this song conveys so much sincerity and emotion that it makes us believe in her passion. We understand how much this matters to her, and in turn it makes it matter to us. Itās why if it had gotten removed, it would have robbed Ariel of this depth and in turn, rob the film of something essential to its story. Thank God it remained intact.

This is a good time to talk about Arielās voice actress, Jodi Benson. Having originally been in Howard Ashmanās failed musical Smile, she was brought in originally as Arielās singing voice before being promoted to also doing the speaking the lines. This was not only her voice acting debut, but as far as I can tell her film debut as well. She did such a lovely job in the role. She perfectly conveys Arielās passion, drive, and sincerity while still coming off as a sixteen year old girl. Her singing voice has been rightfully praised, and to this day Ariel is often considered the best singer among the princesses. Benson has gone on to do other voice roles such as Barbie in the Toy Story films, Patsy and Ms. Doe in Camp Lazlo, and Aquagirl in Batman Beyond. She has continued to reprise Ariel to this day when needed and has always expressed so much love and gratitude for the film and her part in it, Sheās also supported others who have done the role like Auliāi Cravallho (aka Moana) for the ABC Musical and Halle Bailey for the upcoming live-action remake. Sheās a lovely woman and may she continue to do well~
Going back to the film, Ariel finds herself at a ship and this is where she sees Eric for the first time. Itās love at first sight. Of the Renaissance Era Princesses, Ariel is the one who gets the ālove at first sightā critique levied at her the most. Belle and Mulan of course didnāt have that issue and I usually see Jasmine and Pocahontas be given a free pass in this regard. Now of the five, The Little Mermaid IS the most blatant with the trope, but letās look at it through Arielās POV. This is the first time that sheās seen so many humans up close. Eric is around her age (to my knowledge, at least. His VA was 16 at the time IIRC). It is very quickly established that Eric is jovial, uninterested in things like statues in his image, rebellious as he has rejected all the women Grimsby has arranged him with, and wants to find love for himself. He has many of the traits that Ariel herself has, being a rebellious, free-spirit teen herself. But most of all he is heroic, as demonstrated when he goes back to his burning ship to save his dog.

In other words, Eric is Arielās ideal vision of what people are like. She saves him from drowning, the first time that a Princess has saved her Prince, and is able to look at him more closely. She is clearly infatuated and seeing this man, this good-hearted, handsome young man who is everything that she ever dreamed of. This is what pushes her from just dreaming about being human to swearing that somehow she /will/ be human. Yes, she gets motivated by love, but the goal was there before this moment. It just became a solidified goal. One that she is going to make a reality someway, somehow. She even notes in the Part of Your World Reprise that she doesnāt know when or how, but it doesnāt matter. Compared to how fleeting her hopes were in the main song, the reprise is so much more triumphant and determined and continues to show just how important this truly is to Ariel.
Sadly however she still has one obstacle in between her and her dream; her father. The next day she is so happy and lovesick and itās really cute, but Sebastian knows that this is going to cause major issues with her father. His big Under the Sea plea goes ignored, and Ariel is led to her grotto by Flounder, who has brought her the Eric statue. Sheās so happy and acting like⦠well, a teenager in love. But unfortunately due to Sebastian jumping the gun, Triton finds out and he is enraged. Not only is he angry that Ariel again went to the surface, but she both saved and fell in loveĀ with a human. Thus we get the dark scene of Triton, in his rage, destroying the grotto. Every item, treasure, and relic that Ariel has gathered for who knows how long has become nothing but a pile of dust. Including the statue of the man she loves.Ā

Say what you want about ālove at first sightā or Ariel being a lovesick dummy, but this is outright traumatizing. This sixteen year old girl, a girl who aside from forgetting a few engagements has done nothing wrong, had all of her hopes and dreams shattered by her own father all because of his own blind hatred. Imagine being a teenager and your parents destroying everything you love all because they hated something that you loved. Even if Triton regretted it, it doesnāt change the pain that he inflicted upon his own daughter as she breaks down. Sheās so upset that she rejects Sebastian trying to apologize and just tells him and Flounder to go away. They comply, leaving Ariel to cry in her now bare grotto⦠that is, until Flotsam and Jetsam appear.
So.. letās now talk about Ariel going to Ursula and accepting the deal. First, her going in the first place. When Flotsam and Jetsam bring Ursula up, Ariel⦠/refuses/ to go. She is aware that Ursula is bad news. She had no intention of going to her at first and outright tells the eels to leave. What makes her agree? The two knocking the remains of the Eric statue in front of her. At this point, Arielās pretty much been rejected by her father and all of her treasures that kept her seabound are gone, so⦠whatās she got left to lose? She follows and naturally Sebastian tries to stop her, but she just angrily tells him to get her father since heās good at that.

Ariel enters Ursulaās domain, and we come to theĀ scene. Ursula declares to have changed, demonstrates her power, and offers Ariel the deal to become human for three days and itāll be permanent if Eric kisses her. If Ariel fails, she not only becomes a mermaid again, but she belongs to Ursula. She also has to give up her voice as payment. Now we all know the big criticism against this, that being Ariel selling her voice and leaving behind her family and all that she ever knew and loved⦠for some prince that she hasnāt even really met yet, let alone spoken to. Now do I see why people dislike this? Yes. Itās a very rash, very stupid decision not just for those factors, but the fact that Ariel is essentially selling herself to the devil for this one thing. None of this is a good thing⦠but here is the big question, does the film do enough that this makes sense for Arielās character? Is this something that I can see her doing?
Yes, yes I can.

Letās look at this piece by piece. First, Ariel is clearly uncomfortable the entire time that she is in Ursulaās lair. Ursula continuously gets into her personal space, laying on the manipulation at every step. When she lays out the deal, Ariel is at first hesitant. She herself brings up that if she takes it, sheāll likely never see her family again. Sheās also hesitant when Ursula lays out the terms of payment, not just because she has no idea how sheād woo Eric without it, but just the concept of losing her voice clearly unnerves her. Look at her face when she grabs at her own throat, she is NOT okay with this. Even when Ursula begins to create the brew and poof sup the contract, Ariel isnāt excited or just jumps to it without thinking. She is VERY CLEARLY hesitant and unnerved about everything.Ā
So⦠why does she do it then? Well remember, sheās still emotional after her confrontation with her father. Her father has rejected her in her eyes and destroyed everything that she had worked for. At this point, her dreams and feelings for Eric are all that she has. She is hurt, emotional, and desperate and when we are hurt, emotional, and desperate we tend to make rash, even outright stupid decisions. Especially when weāre teenagers. Ursula waited to strike at this very moment for this exact reason; so that Ariel wouldnāt be thinking rationally.Ā These are the exact kind of people that Ursula preys on, and as I said above, she knowsĀ how to manipulate them to act how she wants. She gives Ariel the offer of her dreams, assures her that she can woo Eric without talking, poofs Ericās image up at one point, and makes it clear that sheās giving her very little time to think it over.Ā

With absolutely nothing left to lose and it being clear that her father will never support her dreams, Ariel reluctantly signs the contract. She outright turns her head away when she signs. She KNOWS that sheās making a big choice and she isnāt 100% okay with it. She didnāt just give up her life callously for a man like some like to make out. It was a rash choice, but she had reluctance and fears about it. But itās the only chance sheāll get to get her dream of being human and being happy, which is what ultimately drives her to make her choice. Given how she risked her life already against a shark, this is in-character for her and shows how far sheāll go for her dreams. And as weāll see, this is going to have consequences as we near the end of the film.
So the deal is made. Ariel loses her voice and is transformed into a human. Once she makes it to shore, she gets to see her new legs, and for the first time since the confrontation, is happy. She has legs. She is human. The one thing that she had wanted for so, soĀ long has finally come true. Naturally Sebastian wants to get Triton, but she stops him and gives him the saddest, most pleading look that I think Iāve ever seen. This is Arielās one and only chance to get what she dreamed of. Triton would not only stop her, but considering what happened before, who knows what else heād do if he saw her as a human. It is 10% understandable why Ariel doesn't want him involved, especially once it would just lead her back to a life of misery. Sebastian realizes this and agrees to help her, which pretty much gets her to forgive him for what happened before.

Thus, we get to the first true meeting between Ariel and Eric. Of course, Ariel canāt explain who she is because of her voice being gone, so Eric assumes that she canāt be the same girl he saw despite her looking like her. But he sees her in the makeshift dress that Scuttle got her into and assumes that sheās shipwrecked, especially since she canāt walk well. So he takes her to the palace, and Ariel is able to get refreshed and get used to walking on legs. She is clearly delighted by everything. She is now part of the world that she longed for,, and she is loving every second of it. Sure she quickly finds out that forks arenāt combs, but hey sheās learning exactly what she wanted to learn. She is in utter bliss throughout the two days that sheās on the surface, doing thinks like learn to dance and ride a horse-drawn carriage. Itās all she ever hopes it would be.
But of course, Ariel still needs to get Eric to kiss her, or all of her dreams will end. She almost makes it with Kiss the Girl, which despite not being able to talk she made it pretty clear that she was willing and ready for Eric to kiss her. Ursula ruins that, but Ariel HAS endeared herself to Eric and he even prepares to go to her after giving up on the mystery mermaid. But of course, Ursula disguises herself as Vanessa via Arielās voice and hypnotizes Eric into marrying her. Itās sad because when Scuttle informs her of the proposal, Ariel is elated. She runs down the stairs, excited and gleeful⦠then she sees Eric and Vanessa, and you can see her heart break in two. It especially hits hard as she watches the ship take off, broken-hearted. Sheās lost the man she loves, in moments she will be a mermaid again, and she will belong to Ursula fair and square. She pursued her dream, and it all seemed for naught.

But once Scuttle finds out about Ursula, Ariel quickly springs into action. With her friend's help, she reaches the ship just as Ursulaās necklace gets broken. This is a nitpick but I donāt like how Ariel ultimately wasnāt very active in helping rescuer Eric. Tbf IDK what she could have done, but Iād have liked to see her stand against Ursula before things go downhill. Otherwise it feels like this and the other events after⦠kind if feel handed to her by convenience and luck. But regardless she gets her voice back⦠but she fails to kiss Eric before the sun sets. Thatās right folks, the so-called selfish, stupid deal that Ariel made? She failed to uphold it. She reverts to a Mermaid and now belongs to Ursula, and Triton canāt break it as itās legally binding. So even if you DO think that Ariel made a bad choice, the film shows that yes, it WAS bad and she is now paying the consequences. Sure Triton sacrifices himself to take her place, but that still means that Ursula not only gets power, but her father is now a husk.
Ariel is enraged at this. Despite everything, I donāt think thereās any doubt that Ariel still loves her daddy. She was reluctant about never seeing him again before, and now seeing how her deal has lead to his fate upsets her. One big issue with Ariel is how⦠well, the film doesnāt make it clear that Ariel grew or learned anything. Sure there are consequences to her actions, but we donāt see her ponder over them. This is the closest we get to her showing regret as she tries to apologize to Triton and outright attacks Ursula for what she did to him. But she doesnāt express true regret for her actions. She doesnāt have a true reconciliation with her father so that the two can reach a resolution. I guess we can blame timing since weāre in the final ten or so minutes here, but it makes the end feel⦠convenient.

Eric saves Ariel from getting blasted by Ursula, and she manages to save him from Flotst and Jetsam. How? Bu yanking Ursula back and causing her to kill her own minions. Sure itās not the Big Bad, but again Ariel marks a First in Disney Princess History by indirectly killing a villain. This provokes Ursula to go kaiju and essentially torment Ariel, who is unable to do anything at this point as sheās caught in a raging whirlpool. While one CAN say sheās a Damsel-in-Distress here (hence why I suggested Ariel should have gotten to do more in the wedding crash), she HAS saved Eric twice now. Plus by allowing Eric to kill Ursula, he essentially proves his worth by saving both the ocean AND the surface, and it contributes to Tritonās ultimate decision.
So yeah, Ursula dies, Triton corrects his wrongs by making Ariel human, and Ariel and Eric can live happily ever after. As I said, it /does/ kind of hurt Arielās character as she doesnāt really learn a lesson and it feels like she got incredibly lucky at the end. But at the same time Ariel is still a good character, and she marks a LOT of progression for the Disney Princess line. Sure she is a little selfish (though she usually means no harm), but sheās also someone who actively goes after her dreams. She doesnāt have to wait for it, nor does it center on love. Sure Eric is the catalyst, but thatās it. A catalyst. Sheās allowed to rescue her prince. Sheās allowed to fight against the villain. Sure sheās still emotional, falls in love, and needs her friends help. But she is also a very proactive, curious, and ambitious girl. Her dream was by far the most impossible of the Princesses thus far, but she still managed to achieve it.

Ariel is divisive, and I get why. The film DOES have some narrative problems (minor, but still) and I get why Ariel may rub some the wrong way. Me personally? I love her. She was a refreshing breath of air in the Princess line. Sheās different from the Classic Three. Sheās a bit more bratty and far less classy, but she also feels the most like a teenager and she follows her dreams in a very different manner. Sheās still a good-hearted person, but sheās a flawed person. Thatās what I love about her, sheās imperfect. Could more have been done to develop her? Maybe. But her flaws arenāt so bad that sheās a bad character or unlikeable. Her actions make sense and stay true to her character. I understand why she does what she does. I care for her because I see the sincerity in her. I relate to her longing for something that seems out of reach. And while it was nowhere near as conflicted, I know what itās like to be in conflict with my father who loved me, but never truly understood who I was. But I loved him, he loved me, he ultimately would have let me lead the life I wanted, and in the end thatās what matters. Itās why Ariel and Triton at the wedding always makes me cry. Yeah, watching this two years after my dad passed⦠really hit hard.
The point is, I cared about Ariel. I related to Ariel. I did when I was a child, and I still do as an adult. Anyone who loves something or someone despite everyone around you not understanding or being against it I think can relate to Ariel and her position. Plus again, she set forward a new direction for the Disney Princesses. Itās a precedent that stands strong to this day. Iāve done my best to shed light onto Ariel, but it wonāt convince everyone. If you hate her, fine. I canāt change your mind and tour free to make all the arguments you want. But Iām allowed to stand by my argument, and I am. Ariel is one of my favorites. She inspires kids to follow their curiosity and their ambitions. It teachers parents to accept their children and who/what they love, and to let them go forward in their lives. One can even argue that her film teaches kids to be careful when emotional to avoid the mistakes that she made, but still achieve a happy ending as well. Either way, I think that the hate against this little mermaid is far too harsh and it ALWAYS centers on the deal without taking anything else into account. Itās time we change that.
Final Thoughts

I love this film. The animation is lovely, the music fantastic, and despite a few issues here and there the story is sound. I donāt remember when I first saw it (it came out four years before I was born so not then), but Iāve loved it since that first time. Iām pretty sure I love the ocean and mermaids in general because of this film. Sure it diverts a good deal from the original Hans Christian Anderson story, but honestly? As someone who found that story unnecessarily cruel? I will take this version any day (no offense to those who like the original story, this is just me talking). It is a masterpiece that changed the game for Disney, for animation, and for the Disney Princesses. Ariel was very much a huge inspiration for many of her successors, and I am grateful for all that this little mermaid did.
Upon its release, Disney was FINALLY able to step into the light after spending over 20 years stuck in the dark. The film was a monumental success. The biggest success that Feature Animation had had since Waltās days. They also finally beat Don Bluth, winning in the box office over All Dogs Go to Heaven, and returned to the top of the animation world. The Disney Renaissance had officially begun, and it wasnāt even close to slowing down. Just two years later, another Disney Princess film would be released. One that would achieve greatness, but also face great tragedy. So come and be our guest as when we return, we discuss a tale as old as time with 1991ās Beauty and the Beast.

Image Sources: Disney Wiki, Animation Screencaps Other Sources: The Making of The Little Mermaid: Treasures Untold
20 notes
Ā·
View notes
Note
Stiles?
[disclaimer for other folks before I start this one: I HAVE ONLY WATCHED SEASONS 1-4 OF TEEN WOLF.Ā I *am* going to finish it, and I have been carefully avoiding spoilers for anything past Season 4, including general impressions of whether or not people like various seasons, comparisons of quality between seasons, etc.Ā PLEASE do not reply to this post or talk to me about Teen Wolf unless you are scrupulously avoiding ALL discussion of seasons 5-6.Ā Thank you!]
First impression:
Positive!Ā I already have a weak spot for smart, witty side characters, so I liked him from the start.Ā But I didnāt get super interested in him until the episode with the parent-teacher conference - the sequence where each parental group is having a conversation with a different teacher and something is revealed about each of the kids is actually what got me hooked on Teen Wolf as a whole.Ā Before that, Iād been kind of casually interested in all the characters, but then the show turned around and was like,Ā āhey, remember the character tropes we set you up for with these kids?Ā SURPRISE, WEāRE SMARTER THAN THAT!Ā EVERY SINGLE OF THESE CHARACTERS IS FULLY ROUNDED AND FLESHED OUT AND DOESNāT FIT IN A BOX.ā
The whole way that sequence is edited is just fantastic.Ā How it cuts between what the teachers are saying and what the kids are doing at that moment - amazing.Ā The minute I heard about Jacksonās adoption/Scottās missing dad/Stilesās mom/Lydiaās intelligence + her parentsā separation, I was a goner for that show.Ā Ā
Impression now:
Love him.Ā Itās hard for me to sayĀ āfavoritesā with Teen Wolf, because I really do adore every single character.Ā But heās one of my favorites. XD
Favorite moment:
Way too many.Ā One of the smaller moments that I really love with him is during 3A when theyāre trying to escape with Cora from the hospital, and theyāre exiting the ambulance, and Stiles stops midway out and the scene kind of slows down as he stares at the intake form hanging on the ambulance door, because he just saw the signature line that saidĀ āParent/Guardianā and heās figuring out that Jennifer isnāt actually aiming forĀ āwarriorsā right now, sheās aiming forĀ āguardians.āĀ And then he takes off running, because he knows Jenniferās going to go for Melissa.
I love the way that entire scene was cut, and the way they start playing this song as he begins to figure it out, and the way everything else slows down and the world falls away as realization sets in.Ā I just really love seeing how smart he is - his brain is always working, even when theyāre in the middle of a crisis.Ā Like Lydia says,Ā āYouāre the one who always figures it out.ā
Speaking of Lydia - another favorite Stiles moment is at the dance in 1.11, when he tells her he knows how smart she really is and that sheās going to "write some insane mathematical theorem that wins [her] the Nobel Prize.āĀ I just - I will legitimately go to the mat over lazy, provably incorrect takes that try to argue that Stiles was just immaturely idolizing the āimageā of a girl he thought was pretty.Ā The entire point of their relationship is that Stiles has always seen past the airhead image Lydia puts on to survive their high school jungle - he doesnāt shame her for putting it on, but he doesnāt lie to her about believing the act, either.Ā He knows sheās a genius.Ā He admires her so much.Ā He thinks sheās the coolest damn person in the world.
[^Someday I will type up the infuriated rant that rises in me every time I see some unbearably misguided take on Stilesās relationship with Lydia falling into the āNice Guy (TM)ā category (when it is canonically the EXACT OPPOSITE), because every time I see someone say that I get the urge to start breaking stuff.]
Idea for a story:
Oh, boy.Ā Well, I have about 50k of unpublished Teen Wolf fic (from both Stiles and Allisonās POV) on my computer, which was all part of a massive two-part project that in retrospect I think was maybe a little too ambitious for me at the time.Ā Iām not abandoning it, because I love what Iāve written so far, but it needs to be seriously re-worked before it can be continued.
Ultimately, the project was my answer to some things about 3B that I found unsatisfying on a storytelling front, but it was a bigger thing than I could pull off successfully at that stage of my writing life.Ā Iāve been getting a lot more experience with longfic and plotting from my Merlin work, though, so I think once I pivot back to Teen Wolf Iāll be better placed to tackle this project.
Unpopular opinion:
If thereās anybody here who ships the Big Teen Wolf Ship, youāll probably want to go ahead and scroll on by this bit.
I have generally been very diligent about avoiding the TW fandom, just because Iām still avoiding spoilers for the seasons 5 and 6, but that doesnāt mean I havenāt been, uh...exposed to way more information about its ship distribution than I ever wanted to know.Ā And I remain BAFFLED about why it looks the way it looks.
I say this every time this topic comes up, but there are some ships that I just donāt care for, and then there are some ships that I literally cannot comprehend where on earth they came from.Ā Derek/Stiles is a ship where I canāt understand where it came from.Ā It squicks me so badly.Ā Literally just the tiniest glimpse of it makes me want to crawl out of my skin.Ā Ā
I donāt know if people just...donāt understand that Derek is canonically in his twenties?????Ā Or if theyāre all fast-forwarding the timeline and aging Stiles up; I donāt know.Ā Iāve never investigated.Ā But I donāt understand why this ship ever even occurred to anyone.Ā I donāt get it.Ā I was teaching high school when I was Derekās age.Ā There is NOTHING romantically compatible between a 16 year-old and a 22/23 year-old, in any non-fucked up version of reality.Ā Ā
So thereās the grossed-out factor, for me, and then thereās also just the fact that this ship isĀ yet another example of fandomās inability to read any relationship with a fascinating, complex dynamic as anything other than romantically-motivated, despite the fact that a romantic relationship is indisputably NOT present in the canon.
Anyway.Ā I could say more about this, but ultimately Iām aĀ āyou do youā person.Ā Iām not going to bother anyone for shipping this, and I donāt care what people do with their own fandom time.Ā But my personal unpopular opinion is that Derek/Stiles is the most bizarre, textually unsupported, squicky ship Iāve ever seen.
Favorite relationship:
Stiles and Scott, Stiles and Lydia, Stiles and Allison, Stiles and Melissa.Ā And STILES AND HIS FATHER.Ā Ā
Favorite headcanon:
This is WAY old, but to pull from an ancient post: a friend and I used to talk about the Great Flu Epidemic of 2005, which brought down the entire McCall-Stilinski clan over the course of a single weekend and which has never been definitively traced back to its source. To this day, the four of them still argue about who brought it home first.
Stiles does a science project on it in the fourth grade and on the one hand his teacher is actually impressed and relieved that Stiles was finally able to focus on something long enough to finish an assignment, but when little Scott McCall keeps interrupting Stilesās presentation to present contrasting evidence it turns into a Production of Epic Proportions and the class gets too riled up to focus on anyone elseās projects.Ā Ā
The call home that time is basically like:
Mrs. Gordon: āSo the good news is this project was surprisingly well-researched - ā
Papa Stilinski: āOh, god.ā
13 notes
Ā·
View notes