#one of the only good parts of this episode

[jedi-enthusiasm-blog]

I mean they still coerce/steal children into joining them. And they left Anakin's mom to die a slave death. Like sure they aren't awful as an organization but they aren't always right?

Sometimes I wonder if I'm too harsh on Jedi antis. Then something like this happens and it hits me that no, if anything I'm being too soft.

Let's begin with the obvious, out-of-universe part. It's very rude to come to people's clearly tagged posts and say something like this. I love the Jedi I see in the PT and TCW, and I should be able to make, at least, vaguely positive posts about them without having to see this in the comments.

Now, onto your argument:

"They coerce/steal children into joining them."

You'd have a hard time arguing this, even using only Legends, the continuity that's most critical of the Jedi.

Baby Ludi doesn't offer us much information beyond "the baby's family was reasonably but incorrectly pressumed dead". Even then, these type of stories are used to show what the public opinion of the Jedi was, not what the Jedi were actually doing.

Children of the Force (the comic) is another of these stories. The Shatterpoint novel, on its own, contradicts every single instance of the Jedi being baby-snatchers or not being allowed to know their birth families/culture. Shatterpoint was written by Matthew Stover, who spoke with George Lucas personally and knew George Lucas' vision for Star Wars, and had that aside from his own personal interpretations that may or may not align with Lucas', unlike many other EU writers. This puts Shatterpoint very high in Legends canonity tier.

Jedi Path is stupid even when reading it in good faith. Movies, shows and later books with more canonity contradict it, so not good for argument.

Anything written by Karen Traviss is bullshit because 1. she disagrees with the good vs evil narrative of a franchise intended for kids, and 2. she only watched the PT halfway through, as a child. That's not getting into how she tries to paint both sides of the Empire vs Rebellion war as bad. Let me repeat, she's presenting the original heroes as bad. She's not engaging with the narrative presented to her, so what she writes is something else with the names of the Star Wars universe slapped into it.

In TCW this is trope of baby-snatchers is invoked and defied. A planet believes the Jedi steal children (manipulated by a Dark Side cult, so the people's worries were born out of propaganda), the Jedi stop going there, and the arc ends with them making up and solving the misunderstanding. To add to that, Children of the Force (the episode) is about Force-sensitive children being kidnaped by Cad Bane, and ends with the Jedi giving the children back to their parents; one of them was in the middle of an adjustment period to the Order and the other's parents had refused to give their child up, and there is zero indication that either child becomes a Jedi in the future.

In the PT the only introduction into the Order is Anakin, and the Jedi refuse. Until they can't refuse because Anakin is in danger of being discovered and brainwashed/stolen by a Sith, the Jedi say no. This is not how you portray characters to want to paint as kidnapers. Also, Palpatine (y'know, the Sith who's grooming and trying to turn Anakin against the Jedi) doesn't bring up anything related to child-stealing. If the main villain doesn't make that point, not even to be subverted later on, it's simply not true.

Coertion is an interesting argument because… it's never brought up. Yeah, you read that right. Never. Not even in arguments against the Jedi done by villains.

Jedi are not kidnapers in any continuity. Fandom made that up. Can that make for some interesting story about shady situations? Sure, if you're into that, but it's not canon. If you're critizing canon Jedi, bringing this shit up immediately makes you lose the argument.

"They left Anakin's mom to die a slave death"

No, they didn't. This post talks about her death, but something important I want to add is that she'd been free for years at the time of her death. Also, who's to say they didn't try? Who's to say they even knew she was a slave? Qui-Gon brought Anakin to the Order and then he died.

In Legends they actually had a hand in her winning her freedom, too.

You proved my point. You can critize the Order (I'm the first person to say they aren't perfect and some of their choices should be critized), but creating a narrative about the Jedi stealing children that has no basis in either Lucas', Legends or Disney canon to dunk on them is not being critical, it's just slander.

Friendly reminder that if you're gonna critize the Jedi, they have to be wrong.

"They told Anakin he wasn't fit to be a Jedi" Yeah, was he? He was unhappy the whole time, broke all their rules and eventually slaughtered them.

"They massacred the Sith Order" Yeah. Those "I'm better than everyone and everything and they all should kneel to me or die" people? I see no issue here.

"They fought in the Clone Wars as peacekeepers." Yeah. What was the alternative? Standing by as the clones, civilians and the Republic itself (the best government out those in the galaxy, although admittedly that's rather a low bar) were massacred by the Separatists? Yeah no. And peacekeepers ≠ pacifists.

"They forbid marriage." They are a religious organization, monks. Fobidding its members from marrying is pretty standard in monasteries. They also aren't celibate, friendship isn't discouraged at all and it's all but stated by Obi-Wan in TCW S6 that romantic feelings are perfectly allowed. Several of the Order's members practice their home planets' culture and religion and language (Barriss has a Mirilian Idol in her room, she Luminara Quinlan etc have cultural tattoos, many characters have accents which implies Basic isn't their first language and others don't speak Basic at all,etc). They have no dress code, they are allowed to drink, smoke, etc., even become part of other religions organizations (see Plo Koon)! Marriage being forbidden is nothing, literally meaningless next to the freedom Jedi have.

If you're gonna critize the Jedi, they have to be wrong.

No, they shouldn't change their whole way of life just because you don't like it.

[coimbrabertone]

Offtopic Offseason #3 - Clone Wars Rewatch Thoughts: Part I.

We're deep in the motorsports offseason and I've been on a Clone Wars rewatch for the past week or so. I'm in early season three right now, still before the timeskip, but I've been enjoying it a lot and it's gotten me thinking about Star Wars again, so I wanted to yap about it in a blogpost.

I think I'll even do a part two once I'm done rewatching the whole thing.

For now though, I'm going to talk about what I've watched so far, so seasons one and two, and the first couple of episodes of season three.

So...Clone Wars starts out pretty rough, I'm not gonna lie. The first few episodes are just a bit cringeworthy with annoying battle droid dialogue, the voice actors still finding their footing, and the animation is pretty spotty - I'll talk more about that in a moment - and of course the classic complaints of "Snips" and "Skyguy" and all that.

All of these problems started in the movie - which I most recently watched in 2023 but skipped this time because, well, it sucks unfortunately - but they are still apparent in the early episodes of season one.

The early episodes still have their moments.

The Malevolence arc is pretty competent, Rookies is probably the first legitimately good episode of the show, Cloak of Darkness and especially Lair of Grievous are good, and then from Trespass onwards the show really comes into its own.

That being said, I think season two is better than season one. Season three is another step forward, and from the timeskip onwards I think the show really hits its stride, especially because the updated designs look a lot better and fit with the animation bump.

That being said, already in season two I noticed the animation is getting better.

Season one has that classic CGI cartoon problem where the environments are rather drab, and they can't have too many characters on screen at once since it's expensive to do - and Clone Wars was an infamously expensive show - which led to a lot of battles consisting of...two Jedi and like three clone troopers against five battle droids with two super battle droids in the background. It's an understandable error, and they get much better about it as the show goes on, but it's pretty noticeable in season one.

That's a problem for a lot of CGI cartoons though. Watch Beware the Batman, Transformers Prime, or Jimmy Neutron and you'll notice a lot of these same traits.

Even some of the Barbie cartoons have those problems and it's really noticeable because it's like these blondes in bright pink colors against like a flat brown background. It's pretty trippy.

Alright, enough about the flaws of early 2010s CGI animation.

Here's a two-parter I didn't really pay all that much attention to the first two times I watched it - the first time back when it aired on Cartoon Network, the second time when I rewatched the whole series on Disney+ ahead of season seven - the Zillo Beast episodes.

Before I always just saw them as a pretty basic Godzilla homage - they awaken this giant monster on the Malastare battlefield, they eventually subdue it, but Palpatine wants to study it on Coruscant, it inevitably breaks out, and they have to stop it - but this time, it hit for me for whatever reason.

First there's the electro-proton bomb, and the nuke parallels there - they're obvious enough that I must've picked up on them before but I guess I didn't come to appreciate it - but then even when they wake the Zillo Beast, it never actually tries to leave the hole.

In fact, it doesn't until the Dugs force it out with the toxic gas.

Then the beast is clearly suffering when the shock tanks bring it down.

So, this giant, hurt animal gets sent to Coruscant in the laboratory, and Palpatine wants it killed so he can study its indestructible scales more quickly.

Only then does the Zillo Beast break out and go on its rampage, and even then, the rampage is focused directly on Palpatine.

Then they kill it with the gas bombs, and you can see it suffer as it dies, and the Jedi are so clearly disturbed by all this.

Palpatine, however, immediately tasks the scientist with cloning another one - and apparently that story is followed up on in Bad Batch season two which has unironically given me more motivation to actually watch the rest of Bad Batch than anything else I've heard about that show.

Anyway, the reason why I think this episode clicked with me this time is because this plan has Sidious written all over it, but he's forced to maneuver it as Palpatine.

He keeps trying to justify the Zillo Beast experiments but eventually his patience wears thin, and he just starts threatening the scientist to do his bidding, despite the fact he's supposed to be the kindly old Chancellor here.

Moreover, when the Zillo Beast is after him, it's probably the only time in the whole show that Sidious is in real danger, but he's with Anakin, Padme, and the droid so he can't do anything about it.

The whole show Palpatine is pulling the strings, controlling both the Republic and the Separatists, ensuring no side gets the upper hand.

Except for here, because the Zillo Beast wants to kill him, and he can't do anything about it.

He needs the Jedi and the Clones to kill the Zillo Beast for him, and once its dead, all he can do is task his scientists to clone a new one so he can try again.

It's such a cool thing to do with Palpatine/Sidious and there's a karmic justice to it all because it's entirely his fault too.

So yeah, I used to just dismiss these episodes as "oh I guess Filoni wanted to do a monster episode" but no, there's some substance here and it's pretty great.

It also goes to show that, even before the timeskip, Clone Wars was a really, really great Star Wars show. After the timeskip, it becomes the best as far as I'm concerned.

I'm excited for more Mandalore episodes, I'm excited for the Savage Opress arc - even if his name is even more on the nose than playing the Imperial March whenever Anakin does something evil - I'm excited for the Citadel, and Umbara, and the undercover Obi-Wan episodes.

I'm excited for Maul, for the Sabotage arc, for the Order 66 arc in season six, and I can't wait to finish strong on the Siege of Mandalore which is probably some of the best Star Wars content, period.

That's not even all of it. There's so much good stuff.

I love Clone Wars, it makes me happy.

[thee-cult]

The Kdrama Hell is other people/ Strangers from hell in my opinion is the best use of psychological horror.

Jongwoo is an incredibly unreliable narrator through the entire ten episodes of the show.

We can only see the show through his eyes, and he is constantly showing the audience an untrue state of events: I.e. the last episode. Episode 10.

He is showing the state of events in a contradictory way to induce self pity/make the audience pity him. Reducing himself to a victim

He has countlessly changed/confused the timeline of events; in an early episode Yoo Gi-hyeok steps out and says the same sentence Seo Moonjo says episodes later, doing the same action by stepping out into the hall once the gangster/Jongwoo gets too confrontational.

The show constantly tells two different versions of events. Jongwoo’s version. And the one we do not see, yet only in small cases such as episode 10 where we are shown the “true” events of what happened in Eden.

But it had happened further in the series.

When Jongwoo had gotten drunk, lashing out at everyone and was seemingly surprised when he and us as the watcher seen what had actually went down the night before.

Even 3 years after watching this show it still has its grip on me. It’s incredibly mind fucking every episode.

What I’m so interested in about this show is how much of it was true events, and how much of it was garnered from the novel that Jongwoo had started writing since he arrived at Eden.

I often jump between it was all purely fiction and Jongwoo was so driven by incredible amounts of paranoia while living there with albeit “odd” roommates that had drove him to murder everyone in Eden residence.

What if he was the only one who had murdered everyone? That the other residents were innocent, even if a little odd.

In his flashbacks to his time in the military, he’s seen beating people up, nearly to death in some cases. Being dragged away. Maybe he was already just wired to be a bad person, who did end up murdering everyone, before writing it off as being pushed over the edge, and blaming everyone else in the residence for provoking him because they were “trying to kill him.” Ultimately painting himself as the good guy.

The episodes are usually always filled with two separate versions of events. Like the when the gangster was attacked in his bed, until he wasn’t. He went unstairs to check out a noise, and that’s when he is attacked. Whether the first attack was a dream from the gangster character or part of the novel that had been scrapped is unclear.

But throughout the show, the timeline is unreliable and so is every single characters personality—especially Moonjo and Jongwoo.

The episodes often end with some creepy moments. Whether a creepy sentence coming from Moonjo or him making sinister faces, the next episodes always start up at the same scene, showing a different version of events. A different interaction.

To continue on that thought—throughout the series it is seen to show Jongwoo writing before cutting to one of the residents, acting suspicious in a way. Or constant transitions between some resident acting out violence to Jongwoo in some lighter, less gruely act. Usually at work or in his room. It shows contrast between what he is writing in his novel, and the real world in which he lives.

Or…

If they were all indeed cannibal serial murderers that had lay low in their murders for their entirety of living at Eden, until Moonjo had met Jongwoo.

So infatuated with making yet another one of them/him at Eden. Seeing the disgust or rage or natural human reaction to chew one another up and spit them out—seeing another version of himself in Jongwoo.

That one line in the dentist office when Moonjo was stitching up Jongwoo’s mouth still sticks with me LITERALLY EVERY SECOND I LIVE AND BREATHE.

Jongwoo: “what are you?”

Moonjo: “what do you think I am, babe? A dentist who lives at a residence? Or a serial killer you’d find in a crime novel?” “Well, it doesn’t matter.”

“I can be anything you want.”

Can we think on how insane that is for a moment?

what if Moonjo had snuck into Jongwoo’s room one day while he was at work and read his novel. Re-enacting parts of the half written novel and placing it into the real world to make this “masterpiece”, as he so graciously puts it. Becoming what he thought Jongwoo would have wanted, what he thought Jongwoo would have found the most interesting. Constantly putting Jongwoo in the center of it all. It was as though some switch was flipped and Moonjo’s goal was now Jongwoo. Hi world somehow revolving around him.

Delicious yaoi sandwich.

Kdrama: hannigram version.

I had more in my little pea brain but I am so tired and I lost my train of thought. Sorry chat.

[angelshizuka]

I have to wonder if the insane amount of hatred Helluva Boss gets, other than the internet getting off on hating Vivienne, is due to the amount of time there was between episodes so people had too much time to build expectations for the show’s direction AND because of the wait time, people treat the show like it had 4 full seasons, when we have only gotten 20 episodes released out of a 50 episode show.

I’ll never say that Helluva Boss is a masterfully written show with no flaws, but it is still a good show and I strongly believe it would not be getting this degree of hatred if it wasn’t an indie show that had a lot of time in between episodes.

I'd assume it's at least part of the reason.

Though I get the idea behind it, these people need to get it through their thick skulls that at the end of the day this is an indie animation show that can only make so many episodes a year. Especially at the start it didn't have as much funding compared to now where the process is a bit more streamlined. But based on the fact the animation has improved, it still takes long even with a bigger team and more budget.

Also "funny" how the antis who whine about these kinda things also complain the loudest about "those poor artists"... They do realize they can't have it both ways, right!? You can't claim to care about the well-being of the artists working on an animated show while at the same time acting like there's not enough content fast enough. They're not even trying to be subtle about their true intentions.

I know I haven't even been here a year yet and we've have had at least some form of HB content every month since, so I don't have personal experience with the long waits/droughts, but I do have experience with it when it comes to other shows/movies, so it's not like I'm unfamiliar with the feeling.

But that's exactly it, no one is claiming HB is perfect and it's unfair to expect any show to be perfect, wheter indie or corporate. Even Viv herself has said she's okay with people critizing her shows (actual crisitsm, not those echo chamber whine sessions the antis are doing), she's just rightfully not okay with them bothering her team... Boy, that recent drama really is something.

And honestly, even if this was a corporate show, most issues/flaws wouldn't even be a dealbreaker for me, it's still that good. Heck, I'd argue it's better than most recent corporate shows.

The main thing HB can't keep up with is the amount of episodes (20 episodes in 4 years, while most corporate shows would've pumped out like 3 seasons with like 60-ish episodes total in that time), but that's also because the animation industry is overworked in general with really strict deadlines (and why so many people expect Viv to magically fix all that by herself is totally beyond me).

Anyway, I feel like I'm rambling and I just keep adding things to mention, so I'll just stop here...

[dramaticallytotal]

TDWT Headcanons Pt. 8

Idea Post Part One Last Part

• Chris did provide jackets for everyone in the Yukon. Just because he didn't want to be sued again and he knew Courtney was itching to do so. Definitely not for his anemic kid- anemic assistant.

• Chris and Chef also provided board and card games for the kids for downtime or in between shoots as they know bored kids and dangerous kids. Plus, Izzy makes up most of that danger if bored, which means they have to include Monopoly since that is her favorite game.

• Noah's not allowed to play blackjack since he can count cards.

• Clue is a popular game to play amongst the kids, and because there are so many of them, they tend to team up. Noah and Izzy aren't allowed to team up anymore. Neither are Heather and Leshawna.

• Alejandro doesn't want to admit that he loves game days because it was something he never got to do in his family, but he really loves it. He's was only allowed to play chess, checkers, go, and the like. (He gets really excited to know Noah, Heather, and Cody play go they also play chess along with Courtney).

• Hide and Seek is another popular game they all play, and though Courtney and Heather like to pretend they're too mature for it, they end up the most competitive on finding people and hiding. Izzy, Noah, Leshawna, and Cody are almost always the last ones to be found. Alejandro loves the game but also has a hard time with it because José used to pretend they were playing hide and seek and then just leave Alejandro hiding for hours.

• Harold has hosted DnD campaigns for some of the cast between Action and World Tour. The common players are Noah, Cody, Owen, Leshawna, Heather, Beth, Lindsay, and Trent.

• Lindsay carries emergency lip gloss and chapstick with her at all times. Not just for herself! For everyone. No one knows where she hides them all. She even assigned specific scents/flavors to people. Everyone found this out in Yukon when she screamed about chapped lips.

• Even though she is pretending to not know who Tyler is, she makes sure to give him his favorite chapstick: Cake Batter.

• The kids are constantly quoting vines, and it leaves Chris and Chef really confused and done.

• Example:

Cody, seeing a road work ahead sign when they are staying at a hotel: "Road work ahead?"

All the contestants' heads popped up from their seats of the bus they rented.

Chef driving looks at Chris who looks baffled: "Uh yeah."

Chris: "Have you guys seriously never seen those signs before? It means-"

All the contestants in perfect unison: "Uh, yeah. I sure hope it does."

Chris and Chef looking at the contestants then at each other: -_-

• The contestants are allowed to change up their outfits in episodes as long as they consist of the pieces of clothing they were wearing when they got introduced. So, for example, Noah can take off any of his shirts as long as he's wearing at least one that everyone knows is part of his signature outfit. Izzy sometimes uses her skirt wrap as a shawl. Lindsay has convertible boots where she can switch out the height of her heel/different style of heel.

• Gwen makes sure to get a postcard everywhere they stop to give to her Nana after the show is over.

• Ezekiel has a room in the crew part of the ship, but there's a camera pointed at the cargo hold door with a motion sensor alarm for him to know if someone goes in. It's so he can sneak down and make some noise to freak someone out and to sell the whole "feral" plot.

• Tyler, despite being basically supernaturally clumsy, is actually a really good cheer leader. In fact, he is on his school's cheer team.

• In the London challenge, Noah was the one to distract the corgis....well more like they distracted him and everyone watching is baffled when Noah pulls out a bag of dog treats that should not have fit in his utility belt. The corgis fell in love with him, and instead of Owen putting them in a sack, they followed Noah out like ducklings.

• Owen, being more of a little shit when Duncan starts being buddy buddy with him, convinces the punk that if they want to stay on Alejandro's good side to call him Al. Later in the confessional, Owen just smiled maniacally and cackled.

• When Noah was eliminated, he did fall into the lake like in canon kind of. Each time a contestant jumps out, there is almost always a body of water, a landing pad, or something to help break their fall with or without a parachute. They always make it seem like they fell from higher up if it's a stunt with no parachute. So, thankfully, Noah hit the mat, but he hit the side and promptly slipped off into the eel infested lake.

• Luckily, he wasn't fully submerged and quickly got but not before he was attacked by one eel. It leaped out of the water and hit his leg. It was more of a graze, really, considering he was actively getting out of the lake. It wasn't terrible, but he still had to go to the hospital

• The kids also hella quote SpongeBob.

• First class does have a TV. But there are so many parental locks on that thing.

• Heather is getting really sick and tired of Alejandro's big obvious crush on Noah. She's trying her best to keep him focused on getting...ew...aleheather to happen for the cameras. She wants her promised bonus for it. But she also wants her friend back. So she wants this whole thing to be a speed run because it's breaking her that Noah won't even look at her anymore. She knows why, god she knows, but she hates it.

• If you have a deal with Chris or the network, you are not allowed to reveal it under any circumstances during the duration of the show with the penalty of doing so being immediate disqualification and a penalty fee.

• Which is why she can't tell Noah about her deal, but the distance between them hurts. It started when he confessed to Heather that he may have had a small, very small crush on Alejandro. Then, she had been told the producers wanted the flirting between her and Alejandro more present in the next episode. She did it, but she saw how betrayed Noah looked at her.

• Next thing she knew, he was eliminated.

• Gwen started to hide her sketchbook because she started drawing Trent a lot more like when they were dating, and she's afraid someone will see it and start to think they'd start throwing challenges again for something as simple as her still liking her ex.

• The fake "pregnancy" scandal Blaineley announced about Tyler was actually him trying on the 9-month baby belly they have for health class to see if he could bend down and sit down with as much ease as his buddies thought. (His parents sued Celebrity Manhunt for spreading false and demeaning information about him).

• And someone did die after cooking a recipe from DJ and his Momma's show, "Momma's Heaping Healthy," but it wasn't because of the calories, carbs, or cholesterol, or anything like that. It was because the person who made it didn't substitute an ingredient that someone from their family was allergic to, and the person ate the food at a family reunion. The person who served it tried to blame DJ and his Momma's recipe, but that didn't hold up, so he tried to sue them for not including substitute options. It's a very messy situation since some saw what was going on and decided to sue the mother & son duo for their excessive weight gain. Then, more people jumped on the smoking train and started claiming their food was the cause of multiple problems.

• DJ and his Momma used a lot of money to pay lawyers. They're not homeless, just a little low on funds at the moment. DJ wants to win to get them back the money they spent on lawyers but to also open a restaurant with his mom instead of the show. With a restaurant, they would have more insurance with bogus claims like the ones they were dealing with.

• Owen's ad for the Bellybuster 5000 was a satire commercial he did for a comedy show.

• The only true things Blainley reported were the raccoon adoption between Courtney and Duncan, Heather's weight gain, and the subsequent back and forth she and Gwen went through, and the Total Drama Brothers' split.

• It was because of the lies and the angry parents suing her and Celebrity Manhunt about them, plus the treatment of the interns was real, and they sued too. Also it was aired on live TV... Everyone saw it, and a lot of people were appalled. This is some of the reasons she was fired from Celebrity Manhunt.

• Leshawna didn't actually knock a tooth out of Heather, but they did fight in Germany, which resulted in them getting into each other's faces and Leshawna slapping Heather hard. She hadn't meant to do it so hard, but Chris took her aside and said the majority of the viewers missed her and Heather fighting, and he would pay her a large sum to amp up any fight they had. They had had small spats here and there because of Alejandro, but the one in Germany was the worst because Heather brought up something she had told her in confidence, which resulted in the slap.

• Alejandro is so whipped. He practically melts when he's the chosen cuddle buddy for the night. He secretly wishes that he was the only cuddle buddy, I mean, it makes sense! They fit so well together, and plus he runs hot and Noah is always cold, and they help regulate each other.

• Noah gave up trying not to cuddle with anyone once Izzy let it out that he's already been filmed cuddling almost everyone. He wasn't happy at all, but he knew it would keep happening, so he made a list of those he is okay cuddling.

• Him adding Alejandro is purely strategic shut up.

Next Part

[sulkybender]

hey! long time lover of your avatar works, and I have a question. I just finished watching arcane, and pls take this in good faith, but what is so compelling about Jayce? I definitely understand the hype/popularity around Viktor, but I find Jayce very boring in comparison to Vi's storyline, or Ekko and Jinx, or Mel and the black rose stuff - they're all very compelling to me, and as I watched I found that during Jayce's scenes I was kind of just waiting to get back to the other characters. I didn't really feel any tension between him and Viktor, which I know doesn't really matter in fandom, I'm just wondering what draws you to them instead of say, Vi and Cait. this could just be me wishing for more wlw ship popularity I acknowledge that. but I do want to understand what's so appealing about the ship :)

Aww hey! I’ll do my best.

I was hesitant with Jayce in season 1—he had a kind of prettiness I don’t always trust, and his earnestness was so earnest I didn’t know if I could believe him. And then season 2 really changed him for me (and, by extension, made me look at season 1 in a different light).

Part of it is his brokenness in season 2, which really humanized him as a character for me. And then his devotion, his loyalty, the pain and yearning in his eyes. If season 1 is about Jayce’s naivety and the mistakes he makes—if even the first episode of season 2 is about this—the rest of the season is about the lengths he’ll go to atone for those mistakes.

And a large part of what changes him, what teaches him, is living through what Viktor lived through—living in the darkness of the fissures in pain, crawling out of it on a leg like Viktor’s now, understanding him for the first time in an awful and moving way. If Viktor comes back wrong in season 2 so does Jayce. In post-canon fics I think about the way the show depicts his PTSD, how the arcane damaged his mind.

There are parallels between Jayce, Silco, and Singed—people who love so deeply and blindly they will do anything to save the person they love, even if they come back so broken and wrong. Jayce is the only one out of that trio who regrets it and tries to make up for it, and somehow his choices are always underlined as much by his love for Viktor as his love for the world and determination to save it.

And Jayvik just really has my whole heart when we see how their love for each other transcends bodies and time. He loves Viktor and tries to save him even when he’s a towering eldritch-horror god; Viktor goes back in time to save him as a child over and over, even when he knows that giving Jayce the rune, that starting Hextech, will be the end of the world. They love each other too much to let go of each other. And that kind of unconditional devotion is so beautiful to me, staggering, magnificent.

And when you go back to season 1 and see everything between them in silent gestures and unspoken pain—the way Jayce is always gently touching and helping Viktor without condescending to him, the way Viktor keeps his suffering to himself—I just find that unbearable in the best way.

There’s a lot of Sokka in this boy when you look. His inventiveness, his determination, his loyalty. His willingness to have his mind changed.

It’s funny you ask this now because I’ve been writing a post-canon fic that kind of focuses on everything I love about Jayce. Which is… arguably kind of what all my post-canon fics are like lmao. But that pure blind love, when you just know how much Viktor will need it if they come out alive together… Ughhh my heart.

This guy!!

.

[that-ari-blogger]

IDK How to Title This (King's Tide)

There’s something fascinating about meaning. Not just the answers we draw from texts, but how we do that, and just how much informs our readings thereof.

There are so many conflicting elements that change our perspective on things, from authorial bias to external circumstances, to coding, to our own life experiences. Meaning is dynamic.

The best example of this is actually Tumblr. There is a recurring thing on this website of misinterpretation caused by factors the original poster had no idea about. You said A but because I experienced B, I interpret what you are saying as C.

This is nuanced, and it’s important to understand when it is happening so you don’t pick fights with people who absolutely do not deserve it, but at the same time, on a smaller scale, it’s almost unavoidable. The variety of interpretation, that is. Don’t pick fights, that part is easy to not do.

In the context of The Owl House, King’s Tide was the last episode. There were no more afterwards. There was no season three. So, everyone who watched it knowing that got a very specific reaction.

But then we did get a Season Three, and suddenly this stops being the series finale. Suddenly, the meaning changes.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (The Owl House)

In 1994, American rock band Soundgarden released their fourth album, called Superunknown. It would go on to achieve iconic status and be the band’s breakthrough album, but more importantly, it would be one of the few albums that I own on CD.

This is the Black Hole Sun visual, despite the fact that it 100% is not.

Genuinely, I went mad trying to find this, because it wasn’t just that the vibes were aligned. I was convinced that I had seen this specific visual before.

I hadn't. I wasn’t on to anything here.

The cover for the single version of Black Hole Sun looks like this:

And the album cover for Superunknown looks like this:

They aren’t even close. So I, brought out my CD case, which looks like this:

Now, we are talking. It isn’t exactly the same, but it’s something I can work with. Once again, I came into this thinking I had seen the specific visual of a black hole in a beam of light before, and I was wrong, but I wasn’t off by a mile.

As a last-ditch effort, I looked up covers of the song and found one by Voiceplay that I listen to fairly frequently.

Slightly closer, but it came out in April 2024, almost a year to the day after The Owl House’s finale aired. I remember watching King’s Tide for the first time and doing the Decaprio pointing thing.

The Voiceplay arrangement is good, here’s a link to it so you can check it out. But there is no way their version could have rewired my brain if it didn't even exist yet.

Which brings me back to the question of why do I bring this up? If it is only tangentially relevant, what is the point?

Complexity of interpretation.

This is the closest shot I could find in The Owl House to any of the Black Hole Sun official imagery. But I want to stress that I am shifting the goal posts sommat savage.

Whether it was intended or not, my reading of King’s Tide and the draining ritual is inextricably linked to Black Hole Sun, and I actually think that is fascinating.

It is important for me to understand that this is my bias speaking and not the actual text, but again, it’s not something that is avoidable. It’s just something that happens in the human brain.

Meaning is complex, and in this case in a way that the creators most likely did not account for. But Black Hole Sun is a part of how I draw meaning from the story, and since this is a blog about my own thoughts and analysis, it needs to be dwelled upon.

Black Hole Sun is nihilistic, kinda.

It is one of those songs that resists interpretation because it wasn’t written with one in mind. Soundgarden was just trying to put lyrics to a page to support the atmosphere of the title, and as such the song is surreal first and foremost.

Combine this with the genuinely unnerving music video and you get a song that, to me, seems to be about a disillusionment with reality. It is the nihilistic “nothing matters” that is maddening and uncaring. It views life as a but a stage or a game for pantomime theatrics.

Hey, would you look at that? The draining spell is the manifestation of Belos’ nihilism brought about by his own bigotry. The man doesn’t view the Boiling Isles as real; he treats the world like a chessboard, that’s why it doesn’t occur to him that he can lose. Why would the pawns turn on their player?

This also relates to the Collector a bit though, doesn’t it. Someone obsessed with games to the point of cosmic indifference.

But their time to shine will come in another post.

Belos is interesting as a villain because he is fundamentally wrong. He doesn’t have a sympathetic motive that he took too far. He’s not out for revenge. He’s an eejit.

Black Hole Sun is, as has been stated, surreal. Which implies a lot about the mindset of the musician. The world is hopeless here, but that’s not how the world looks.

It’s fake, the entire song is pointedly distanced from reality. Nihilism is based in misconception.

This is foreshadowing. Eda's arm being able to detach is a Chekhov's gun in the final moments. But also... look at Raine's face. They are sad, and melancholy. They aren't smiling. It is imperative to understand that Raine smiles once in this episode, and it will hurt you.

As a side note, my thesis for The Owl House is that it is about freedom, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that in 2014, Chris Cornell (the band’s singer, drummer, and frontman) gave an interview with Uncut Magazine, in which he claimed the following in relation to the line “times are gone for honest men”:

“It’s really difficult for a person to create their own life and their own freedom. It’s going to become more and more difficult, and it’s going to create more and more disillusioned people who become dishonest and angry and are willing to f*** the next guy to get what they want. There’s so much stepping on the backs of other people in our profession. We’ve been so lucky that we’ve never had to do that. Part of it was because of our own tenacity, and part of it was because we were lucky.”

Freedom is stepping on people’s backs. It is something to be taken. Except that no it is not. Freedom is something you can claim otherwise, with a bit of luck, and a bit of willpower. You don’t have to claim it at anyone else’s expense.

I will talk more in depth about character design in a later post, but it is a character beat for Belos to take off his cloak as he comes this close to winning. Symbolically, he has been a witch hunter under it all, wearing the outfit under a mask and facade. But to him, he wants to win as a human, because he is a bigot. He wants to distance himself in his own head from the people he is about to mass murder. He wants to look the part. To whom? To himself. The man is acting, fantasising about heroes and villains. He is caught up in his own story. He is a dark mirror to Luz, her equal opposite. With the differences being that one, Luz could change and see the world as more than its archetypes, and two, Luz can see people as people, where Belos can only see them as characters in his own story. Luz is kindness and change, Belos is cruelty and stagnation.

There is another image of a blacked-out sun that has been used in real world history. The Schwarze Sonne, an icon in Nazi Germany and Neo-Nazi imagery. It is not my area of expertise and to my limited knowledge, the symbol isn't a direct one to one with anything in The Owl House. But I feel it would be disingenuous to not link the genocidal bigot to the aesthetics of the ideology that he invokes.

Just in case anyone was still unsure as to what kind of person Belos is.

Belos is also a poster child for something I will never miss a chance to harp on about. The futility and self-sabotage inherent in evil and cruelty.

He could have kept his trap shut. He could have told the collector to wait until after the draining spell. He could have kept the collector in his lab where he could see them. But no, he knew he had already won, so he chose to gloat, and that directly caused his demise.

The collector defeats Belos. They didn’t have a reason to hate him until he threw them off a cliff, and they didn’t have a way of getting free until he gave Kikimora a motivation to lead king to them. Belos is an eejit who claims to be a mastermind but is in reality just willfully ignorant.

That’s his dichotomy with Luz. Curiosity vs ignorance, kindness vs cruelty, expression vs restriction, freedom vs control, knowledge vs power.

Blight robots are instrumental in the end of the world. The rich industrialist has doomed the world for power. I am shocked.

To me, it is important that this doesn’t just affect Belos.

You can’t educate someone whose mind is closed, sure. I agree with that sentiment. You will just cause yourself more misery. However, their anti-intellectualism will actively do you harm as it will make the world worse, so you need to combat them in some way shape or form.

Facts and logic don’t work, so Luz has to appeal to his emotions to just stand in the same room as him. When that fails, she has to fight him outright.

Making a deal with the villain while half in shadow and half in light. Presenting the lit side openly while the hand in shadow is also hidden behind Luz's back to signify duplicity. I think there's some symbolism here but I just can't quite figure it out.

Speaking of whom, Luz is a mess this episode. She is trying to get herself killed, and that matches the rest of the isles. There is not going to be a tomorrow, there will not be another episode after this, so everyone is trying to go out in a bang.

Except, there is a tomorrow. There is momentum that has to go somewhere, and the only direction it has is forwards.

The final moments of this season, and of The Owl House, are of the brutal realisation that life keeps moving. You have to treasure the moments while you have them, because if you keep fearing the future, it will come, and you will have missed every opportunity to do anything about it.

That is a through line in this entire episode. The future is not what you expect. Every plan fails. The draining spell, the rebellion, the coven heads’ plan for paradise. Everything goes pear shaped. The future is never what you expect, just treasure the moments you have, and roll with the punches.

Always try to make the world a better place, don’t get me wrong. The show firmly takes the stance that evil can and should be fought against, but two things can be true. Treasure the moment and change the future are two phrases that must stand side by side.

And yes, that has been the theme of The Owl House as a whole, hasn’t it? Luz has been afraid of returning to the Human Realm because that signifies her future and maturity, meanwhile the Boiling Isles is the moment she is in, the treasure that she is missing out on because of that fear of the future. She can’t make a decision, so life chooses for her.

But rewind a bit. This episode is a masterclass in building dread.

Everything in this episode is pointing towards the one end point. The A and B plots are perfectly aligned in this episode. Both are trying to stop the spell, they are just in two different locations.

Usually, these disparate storylines are separate, with one usually acting as the main story while the other provides comic relief and supplements the themes.

Find me a joke in King’s Tide. There are exactly two. One at the start with Amity and finding out about her nickname, and the second at the end with Hunter’s expression when faced with the collector.

You will note that neither of these are particularly funny, but Hunter’s reaction to cosmic horror will draw out at least a smile because the entire episode leading up to it renders that moment hilarious.

Eda tries to find humour, but that actively worsens the mood because it draws attention to how out of place her comedy is. It’s not funny because of its context.

However, there is another plotline. Let’s call it the C plot, and that is King and the Collector.

This should be a deus ex machina, or god from the machine. This should break the story, the hand of the author shown to get the protagonists out from the corner they have been written into. But it isn’t.

We have seen King discover the Collector over the past few episodes. He hasn’t known what they were, but the two have been shown to be connected.

Now, we see all the dominos slot into place, then start falling. We see King, Kikimora, and the Collector all arrive in the same place, and we see King drastically misinterpret the power of what he is dealing with.

But I want to be clear here, why would he know better? Why would anyone know better? As far as he is aware, this is something that can stop Belos, and he needs a Hail Mary. What would you do if you were given those two pieces of information?

Add to this that he is a literal child who isn’t in the best place mentally because he has just had his entire world shattered by the revelation of his species. Of course he would make this decision. This isn’t a plot hole, it's an inevitability, that’s what makes it so tragic.

Everything moves forwards towards one event.

Pause. Could you please do me a favour? Raise your hand and move it as fast as you can in one direction, then try to stop it in place. Be sudden with the start and end, and take note of how it feels.

Take a moment.

Thank you.

You will notice that stopping moving feels weird. It’s shaky, and there is resistance to you stopping. At the risk of oversimplification, this is momentum in action.

Energy builds up and it needs somewhere to go, everything moves forwards, to where? If you stop the series, what happens to that energy?

In this case, it gets dispersed amongst the fans and then picked up later.

The Owl House was finished. The show ran its course. But then it got brought back to life, and that changes my reading of its purpose.

Perhaps I read this as the finale to the entire show. Life happens, deal with it. Consider this a warning.

Perhaps I read this as the finale to a season, setting up stakes for a final sprint.

Or perhaps I read this metatextually.

I think that The Owl House got revived in no small part because of the sheer drive behind King’s Tide. If I namedrop almost any other episode of this series, you will have to look up what happened, but King’s Tide is burned into your brain.

Maybe if you know the series off by heart you will do better, but for the majority of fans, Hollow Mind and King’s Tide are pretty much it.

King’s Tide built up energy, then gave it to you and ended in a way that was pointedly unsatisfying. It said “we aren’t done, and you can do something about it.” Yes, the characters are great, but The Owl House came back because it wasn’t finished.

This is a solid minute of shot after shot, each of which I could analyse individually for hours on end. But I linger here. It's a small thing, but it's the smile. The only time Raine smiles in the entire episode. They have saved Eda's life, and sacrificed their own, and they do not regret it one bit. But also, the light of the ritual cuts through their relationship, tearing them apart and as Eda tries to reach across that barrier, it burns her. She is forcefully separated from Raine, and she is powerless except to watch them fall.

Then there is this, the lives broken by machinations of people who don't care. The stories sacrificed for one man's game. The tears of tragedy.

There is a lot to meaning, and you can’t truly grasp authorial intent until you have seen everything they have laid out on the table. But you can draw conclusions based on what you have seen so far. That’s why theory crafting is so much fun.

So, going into the final season, here is what I want you to keep in mind:

The Owl House is about freedom. Freedom to be who you are without fear of bigotry and xenophobia. It is a fundamentally queer story more than just a story with queer people in it.

The Owl House is about knowledge and change. Luz’s journey isn’t over yet, and now she has to learn about the world she came from, the world she willingly left.

The Owl House is about hope. Things are bad, but they will get better. Everything can always get better. The point of no return is called the end, and we haven’t reached it yet.

Light, do not faulter.

Final Thoughts

There is so much to this episode that I want to talk about but I haven’t formulated thoughts on properly.

Like, Eda and Raine’s scenes with their more unsubtle visual storytelling techniques of memories and a big ol’ crack in their relationships as Raine passes out. I don’t have anything to say about that other than look at it, but it makes my brain buzz.

Similarly, everyone else with a coven sigil passes out, and yet Hunter, a child, is still standing despite it all. He’s obviously about to fall at any moment, but he is still gritting his teeth and facing down Belos. Once again, I this doesn’t relate to my point, but asdfghjkl.

Next week, I will not be covering Thanks To Them, and instead will be discussing the missing years. i.e. the fanart and fanfiction that kept the show alive until its re-emergence.

Stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[wanderingmind867]

My Batman '66 Episode Idea, inspired by the Cupid scenes in the House of Hades.

Episode Titles: Cupid sounds the Call/Batman against the Wall

Special Guest Villian: Dean Martin as Cupid

Plot of Part Two: We pick up where Part One left off, with Batman and Robin about to be killed via an elaborate deathtrap put together by Cupid. In ten minutes, an arrow will slice through the rope holding them and a giant glass heart in the air. When the heart crashes to the floor, the dynamic duo is sure to die. How are they going to get out of this trap!?

Well…their freedom all depends on Batman successfully managing to disarm the giant Cupid statue. His hands are just close enough to the utility belt for him to reach his bat laser beam. And then it becomes a simple matter of firing the thin laser at the head of the arrow. Once the arrowhead is broken off, Batman manages to slip one of his hands free of his restraints. Then he pulls out the batrope and throws it at the Cupid Statue. From there, he helps free Robin and they successfully climb to safety. And now it's back to the hunt for Cupid!

In the time it took them to slip out of their trap, Cupid's masterful scheme has begun at the monarch theatre. All the guests who drank his spiked punch or merely watched and listened to his performance onstage fell under his hypnotic spell. He got to all the major officials in the city, and Cupid is now master of all! By the time Batman and Robin manage to catch up with him, he's already making plans to redecorate Gotham Town Hall so it can become his own private office.

Now that Batman and Robin are really down and out, they need to think of a way out of this mess. Because Commissioner Gordon, Chief O'Hara, even Alfred and Aunt Harriet have all fallen under Cupid's spell. With everyone they trust out of commission, who can Batman and Robin turn to? Well, the answer there is simple. So simple that only a purely objective and analytical device like the Bat Computer can figure it out.

You see, Cupid's spell only works on those who either (A): Feel Romantic Attraction; or (B): Can see and hear him. This means the only people capable of defeating him are aromantic people or people with no sense of sight or sound. So this shows Batman and Robin how to save the day. They're gonna have to find an aromantic citizen or criminal or something to guide them, while they fight crime with ear plugs and blindfolds.

Now, I don't really know which villian or citizen the dynamic duo recruits to help them, but I could definitely see them ending up recruiting all the aromantic people in Gotham (which has to be at least a hundred or more people, considering gotham's size). And then a blindfolded and ear plugged Batman and Robin crash into City Hall. And with a legion of gothamites helping them in the fight, Cupid is swiftly defeated. Down for the Count, Batman and Robin haul him off to jail. But not before first thanking their fellow gothamites. "Aromantic you may be, but today you've shown you truly know the meaning of helping your fellow man. Thank you, citizens".

The last scene of the episode is back at Wayne Manor. Aunt Harriet and Alfred are recovering, and the news is reporting on how Cupid's crime wave failed due to Cupid underestimating the people of gotham (as well as Batman and Robin). But Cupid wrote a note to the Batman (he's not allowed to read it aloud, since his voice is so hypnotic), and the news is reading it live for the very first time. In the letter, Cupid swears he'll break free and have his revenge. One day, even Batman won't be immune to his charms! One day, he will conquer this pitiful city! One day…

Aunt Harriet then remarks on how ghastly it is, that a man like Cupid could use love as an instrument of evil. And then Bruce delivers a speech about how love can be used for both good and for bad, and how honest, noble citizens must always remember to use it in the proper way. And then Aunt Harriet proposes a belated Valentine's Day party, just the four of them. And we end on a sweet domestic shot of Bruce, Dick, Alfred and Aunt Harriet.

[glitterfairy-21225]

I definitely prefer Team Rational bc it's so crazy to think that everything they were driven to do was caused by group think getting way out of hand, and the majority of what happened was actually preventable. But also, I feel like there are so many things that wouldn't make sense as coincidences, like Travis seeing the tree stump during his panic attack or Lottie seeing the sick deer before it was hunted. So I guess I want it to be mostly mass hysteria with a few supernatural elements (but like, a lot less than the characters seem.)

Shauna in both timelines lol. I've never seen a character quite like her. Her descent from a flawed but normal teenage girl into the deranged character we have is my favorite character arc of the entire show. She's full of contradictions. She loves Jackie. She hates Jackie. She's the most kind to Javi. She beat Lottie close to death. She's just a housewife. She's a murderer. She's the sidekick. She survived and Jackie didn't. She’s riddled with guilt. Everything is someone else’s fault.

I'm not even sure this counts, but when Lottie says "Let the darkness set us free" and the score starts playing. I also love the use of Seventeen in the season 2 premiere.

Would yall kill me if I said I love Jackieshauna and Travnat equally. I also love Adult Mistynat, and I'm excited to see Misty develop an obsession for Nat in the past, though I don't see as much chemistry between Sammi and Sophie as Christina and Juliette have.

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi. I think every scene in that episode is a banger. Everything from the reunion, the bear scene, the Jackieshauna fight, Simone finding Biscuit, the Lottie reveal. And those are just my favorite parts.

Natalie for sure. I think it’s such a fascinating turn for the character. Bc when we meet her in s1, she’s very much an outsider despite being very important to the group. But in s2, the viewer starts to realize that this is a good thing bc while Tai and Shauna are sceptics, Nat’s the only one actually trying to wake everyone up. And that’s why I love that she’s made leader at the end of s2, (there’s sm I could say about that scene, from Nat’s grin to Ben’s reaction, but I’ll stay focused). Bc if Nat is the AQ, then the Wilderness’ biggest challenger becomes its biggest symbol. And I think this change is going to be motivated by the acceptance and importance she feels (which she never felt before) from this position, but she’ll risk losing it in s3 bc she’s still holding onto her morals, and she’ll ultimately have to choose. This also makes the guilt Adult Natalie feels so much more tragic.

I’ve rewatched the Jackieshauna fight and Jackie’s death scene so many times. Sophie Nelisse is one of a kind. I also fucking love the bacchanal feast.

Unfortunately, I’m now a Hillary Swank is Melissa truther and I will be until proven wrong. I get so attached to the most random characters lol. I also like the theory that she’s actually Melissa sister though. I’ll take this a step further and say that I hope Shauna is confirmed sapphic and has a toxic, Jackie-centered fling with her (I’d prefer this storyline with Lottie but Melissa works too).

My friend didn’t get me a birthday present despite saying she would (and it was just gonna be chocolate), but instead she got her crush a really thoughtful present even though her birthday was a month later and she didn’t even like my friend back. And I thought about how to talk to her about this, but instead I decided to eat all the edibles my brother gifted me myself even though I said I would share them with her. So, all this to say Shauna. I also look like her a lot.

Um... I once threw up on my carpet bc I drank too much cherry juice during a rewatch. The stain's still here.

I guess that I like Walter. I mean, he's far from my favorite character but he's okay. I get that most of the hate stems from how many unnecessary male characters are in the adult timeline, plus him resolving the cop storyline for Shauna was... weird. But he was funny and I'm never gonna complain about two absolutely insane ppl matching each other's freak. Obviously, Mistynat is vastly superior but if she marries Walter or whatever, I'll be fine with it because I know their wedding's gonna be absolute chaos. Also, the Caligula musical number is enough to justify his existence to me.

No pressure tags! @javiimartinez @missmillicentalyssa @mantiswitch @imsososolesbian @antlerqeen @moonagedaydreamsofrhiannon @hellhouse-of-horrors @justme-andmyfandomfeels @heartz4shauna

Starting a Yellowjackets tag!

I want to get my mind off of things so: If you want, answer any or all of the questions below and tag 10 people (or however many you want) who also might want to share! I would love to see what you guys have to say!

1. Are you team Rational or Supernatural?

2. Who is your favorite teen timeline character? Favorite adult timeline character?

3. What is your favorite needledrop?

4. What is your favorite ship?

5. What is your favorite episode?

6. Who do you want the Antler Queen to be?

7. What is your favorite scene in the entire series?

8. A theory or prediction you have about Season 3?

9. Which character do you relate to the most, and why?

10. What is the craziest thing you’ve done in the name of Yellowjackets?

Bonus:

11. What’s your most controversial Yellowjackets take?

—

Here’s mine!

1. I am mostly Team Rational because I love the way this show depicts trauma but I also love seeing the supernatural side of things through the survivors’ eyes if that makes sense.

2. Natalie in the teen timeline because I love her compassion and softness underneath the front she puts on. Lottie in the adult timeline because I love her internal battle with herself and how afraid she is of her own mind. Misty is a close second in the adult timeline!

3. “Cornflake Girl” playing while Nat sees the mossy tree for the first time, Callie seeing the Adam Martin driver’s license in the barbecue, and Shauna eating Jackie’s ear. It just goes so perfectly with everything that’s going on (especially the elevated piano while Nat and Travis are scaling the mountain and the lyrics while Shauna takes the bite!)

4. LottieNat is my favorite ship I can’t help it Nat and Lottie are my favorite characters so having them together is a dream (TaiVan, JackieShauna, and TravNat are up there, too).

5. 1x09 “Doomcoming” is just amazing and captures everything I love about Yellowjackets. I love when they let the girls go batshit crazy, hoping we get more Doomcoming vibes in S3.

6. I want the Antler Queen to be Natalie because that would show a true descent for her in the Wilderness from being the most morally grounded one to the leader of the group at their most unhinged and primal. But honestly I think that Shauna might be the AQ after all…

7. I think the Jackie-eating scene is the best in the entire show. The “Climbing Up the Walls” song choice, the bacchanal feast flashes as a way of coping with the horror of what they’re doing, seeing them go fully feral for the first time, it’s such a well crafted scene.

8. I know this probably won’t happen but I’m just going to throw it out there that Cabin Daughter is alive and she will be revealed to have been Javi’s “friend”!

9. I relate to Shauna the most because I also admittedly have a bit of an obsessive/intense personality and I, too, internalize my emotions to a very unhealthy degree sometimes. I also grew up being in love with my childhood best friend who is very, very much like Jackie (and now we have been dating for 7 years!)

10. Mine is a mix of going to a Yellowjackets panel and sitting like 5 feet from the showrunners, doing everything in my power to score early screening tickets to Heretic and Companion, and pretending I was sick so I could go home early from work the day that the S3 trailer came out.

11. The male characters on this show get too much hate🫢 I like Travis, Jeff, Kevyn, and Walter (even though his introduction and storyline are rushed and forced). I don’t like them more than the female characters, but I like them nevertheless and appreciate their contributions to the plot.

No pressure tags! (I’m tagging 15 bc I feel like it) @before-it-felt-like-a-sin @baked-potatoes-rule @jackiesnats @deerest-deer @whodoesnataliehave @stilllsage @fairytwles @glitterfairy-21225 @lesbianforlottie @tr4vnat @lauraleetaylor @cassioo @natsboygirlfriend @soapyjackets @pinkkkkat @natgf123 +literally anyone else who wants to!

[columboscreens]

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Hey now, Let her cook!

[unadulteratedloathings]

Our fates are sealed. But I think we have one move left.

We can try.

[otnesse]

To be fair, a large part of Shudo's opinion on Misty was framed by his coworkers, namely Hidaka based on something ultraericthered posted here: https://www.tumblr.com/ultraericthered/141152740790

And considering Hidaka was the same trash who outright said the Pokegirls only exist for sexual eyecandy purposes (ugh... that sounded so wrong considering they're either explicitly or implicitly 10...), yeah, let's just say he DEFINITELY was a negative influence on Shudo and the show.

But yeah, really didn't like how he downplayed Misty there. Even moreso considering even he put in a very blatant hint at Pokeshipping in his own novelization. Now, don't get me wrong, I myself don't ship Ash and Misty, or really any ship, but when I see someone actually include a fairly obvious hint to the ship in what is 100% their own work, I really don't see any reason not to call attention to it. Besides, I if anything found Misty to be a very STRONG presence in the show, found that ever since Princess vs. Princess where she... well, didn't follow a crowd I guess we'll put it:

During the scene announcing that contest (I'd post the timestamp, but I'm trying to wait until Pokemon TV releases ALL the episodes before I bingewatch all of Ash's journey. But I can tell you it was probably around the 10 minute mark, 12 minute tops). The episode itself wasn't all that good (my mom didn't like how girls were portrayed in that episode. I believe her exact complaints were how they were loud, whiney, and obnoxious in that episode. She also specifically mentioned Misty was not that when I asked her. Was the only one besides Jessie who didn't basically devolve in mindset to animals when Fiorello was mentioned. I know that there's a couple others who had similar complaints about the episode, though unlike me, they also didn't like how Misty was handled there.), but Misty herself did well all things considered, especially in that scene. It's actually thanks to that scene that I dedicated much of my life trying to bring her back (oh, and that scene plus Love Hina was responsible for my hatred of May and Dawn. Only Iris came close to matching Misty, and that was before I found something that definitely confirmed that she was similar to Misty in that respect. Serena... well, since I never watched XY, I really had no way of saying one way or another where she'd turn out.). She DEFINITELY had to have a pretty strong presence just to get me, and several others, to go through fire to try and bring her back, something that ultimately was successful about 20 years later.

EDIT: Why the heck does editing posts cause Youtube videos to be deleted?!

translation of Shudo Takeshi blog on Kasumi and SatoKasu

#201 “I’m sorry. I forgot about Kasumi” 09-11-2011 To make the TRio prominent in „The Revelation Lugia”, I also had to firmly depict individuality of every other character that appeared less in the movie. I had a hunch that my preparations were done well, but to make assurance double sure, I tried to look again at the appearing characters. As a result, I noticed that my depiction of one important character is weak and I panicked a little. It was the main girl who was travelling together with Satoshi, Kasumi. Why is she travelling together with the leading character Satoshi? I wrote about this earlier, but there’s an answer to Kasumi’s words „It’s just a coincidence that the place where I want to be is where Satoshi is”. „The Revelation Lugia”’s guest character, Flora, said provocatively „Are you Satoshi’s girlfriend? He has such a bad taste” – however it was a provocation towards Kasumi’s existence in the movie, so to speak, they were inflammatory, tit for tat like words. There were also people who felt that there’s a hidden agenda in the line „It’s just a coincidence that the place where I want to be is where Satoshi is” - implying love interest in Satoshi which wasn’t even noticed by Kasumi herself. But, this was a fake (cheat) scene prepared by me to make Kasumi’s presence stand out. Kasumi doesn’t feel love for Satoshi. If her love for him became one of Pokemon’s plots, it would break all the Pokemon series’ structure. Pokemon’s theme is relation between fictionals creatures and people and also growth through think and thin of the young boy (this means an age period for both boys and girls), Satoshi. At least this topic was intuitively decided during the time when I was responsible for Pokemon series’ structure. I already stated in this column that Pokemon’s important theme was like in the movie “Stand By Me”. Even if people don’t want it, they get older and become adults – I came up with this extremely universal human theme in the episode of “The Magic Princess Minky Momo”. In Pokemon however, the most important theme is relation with fictional creatures, which was added to that theme. For Satoshi, who’s a child, Pikachu is th partne he can count on. For example, even if Kasumi fell in love with Satoshi, it wouldn’t be able to interrupt relation between Satoshi and Pikachu. If it was implied that Kasumi developed a childish kind of love for Satoshi, Pokemon would be constructed from different topics and the fundamental theme would not only become complicated, but dispersed. If Kasumi’s love towards Satoshi happened in Pokemon, it would be nothing more than seasoning added to cooking - and, to be honest, for Pokemon’s theme, seasoning that makes taste complicated would be only a disturbance. So from the start, there’s no such factor in Kasumi’s character as love towards Satoshi. Surely, it may be that Kasumi was in the ager when girls fall in love, but “Pokemon” isn’t either a shoujo manga nor a cellphone novel. That’s why, out of all the characters appearing in the Pokemon anime series, the one with the weakest existence is Kasumi. It was decided from the start, when Pokemon anime was during planning, that Satoshi will be character travelling with friends, because if it was only the boy and Pokemon it would become tasteless and it would be hard to introduce to the girls’ audience. This existence could be compared to a parsley in a dish. It doesn’t need to be there, but the dish looks better if you add it. Occassionally, there are people who like parsley in their dish, but it’s a minority. To make matters worse, in the early days of the series’ construction, the scriptwriters of Pokemon were all men, so Kasumi’s character lacked individuality. It would be good if she expressed delicate subtlety of changeable girl’s character, but in reality, Kasumi is only a stereotypical tomboy. Even if we don’t appear much, we’re the real main characters telling Pokemon story… that is, self-aware TRio (that’s what I told voice actors, which they understood at once and since the first TRio’s appearance they were memorizing the motto – I’m ashamed about this, but even if I wrote it, I couldn’t memorize it – I wrote about this earlier, but they were enthusiastic to make it popular at all costs) who are different from Kasumi. Since the beginning, you could feel the TRio’s presence in Pokemon anime much more than Kasumi’s, who’s ranked as the main character. In reality, when I was thinking about the Pokemon anime at first, my last intention was to make the TRio eternal main characters of the Pokemon world who’d surpass growing up Satoshi. Let’s come back to Kasumi. I’ve been worrying about Kasumi’s weak sense of presence since the anime first started. That’s why I took into consideration Kasumi’s presence in my script, even if it might be superficial. I also tried to make Kasumi’s lines hold emotions unique for her. From the start, I was put under great responsibility for the initialization of the Pokemon anime. My attempt to raise Kasumi’s sense of presence was out of sympathy. Pokemon is the anime that carried out a replacement of the main character Takeshi, because of some facial features of the Asian people the foreign countries might not accept. But in the end, we could see that he was accepted even in the foreign countries and came back to the anime as we know. As the show continues, and the ratings start to go downhill, the drama that is substitution of the main characters and rivals under the pretext of strengthening is held. And when it came to substitution of the main characters, the most endangered one was Kasumi with her low sense of presence. It’s not like that I wanted to replace her. But charming personality and sense of presence was necessary. I was making efforts, but to me, the TRio’s sense of presence was more important. The TRio also had skills of their voice actors as their presence felt satisfactory. They couldn’t be replaced. Even if 10 years have passed since I stopped writing scripts for Pokemon, the TRio’s existence is firm. Once in a while, there seem to be the episodes when I don’t know what they’re for, but if the TRio stopped appearing in Pokemon, it would be no longer Pokemon. I’ll go so far as to say that they’re landmark beings of Pokemon. Even when other villains appeared, the TRio was unperturbed. It’s impossible to substitute them. I feel sorry about Kasumi, but I considered the TRio to be the most important. Moreover, it may be only my one-sided view, but both higher-ups and and scriptwriters of the Pokemon production were mostly male. Men in this business, are attracted to various female charms, but they’re poor at getting them out (but this is my own, narrow view). In reality, according to my experience, many people of this business are unskillful in making advances to women. So, in my opinion, the secret of courting women is getting their charm out and praising them. As a digression, I have a strange theory, but I think that when courting a woman, it’s more efficient to tell her 100 times “You’re pretty” or “You’re beautiful” than attract her attention. Of course, it’s not worth considering if you don’t know her beautiful features nor features you want to get beautiful…. If you do so, your partner also will become beautiful for real. I agree with the opinion saying that it’s because both partners, a man flattering a woman with compliments and a woman who’s being complimented get under influence of autosuggestion. This is also the secret of creating a charming woman in the script. This is another digression, but in the most recent movies, dramas and anime created by male scriptwriters and supervisors, women are so uncharming, that it’s shocking. Even if it may look like they’re charming, but this is only thanks to actress’ looks, acting ability and sense of existence. Occasionally, when charming female characters appear in various productions, it turns out that supervisors and scriptwriters are female. In other words, women understand the charm of their own gender and they’re good at getting it out. And then, you would think that male supervisors and scriptwriters are good at creating charming male characters, but it’s not like that. They appear as male figures distorted in some way, someone who you wouldn’t want to associate with as friends. Back in the old days, there were male supervisors and scriptwriters who were skillful at getting out female charm, but I wonder what happened to people these days? But enough of digressions. The one who couldn’t create charming Kasumi was me, responsible for the series’ construction. I was planning to do it in some way in “The Mewtwo’s Counterattack”, when Satoshi said “I wonder, why I’m here?” and I wanted to make her to tell the theme of the movie with a meaning “We exist because we exist. And it’s fine this way”, but as the TRio said “Somehow it’s a very good feeling” in the last scene, Kasumi’s existence was blown off. In “The Revelation Lugia”, I prepared a scene where Kasumi rescued Satoshi who nearly drowned in the sea. She was resuscitating Satoshi by giving him artificial respiration, but in the script she was really only knocking many times Satoshi’s chest as he wasn’t breathing. If Satoshi dies now, what will happen to my existing position in the Pokemon? – it wasn’t like she wanted Satoshi to live because she loved him, but rather, I had an intention to show her filled with anger that her own existence would become even weaker, if Satoshi died. Because higher-ups thought that this scene could have been misunderstood by people in foreign countries as being too violent, knocking has been erased. As you couldn’t see Kasumi’s anger in this scene, it unfortunately made people get the wrong idea that Kasumi’s desperate attempt to save Satoshi was a sign of love. However, in this case, she’s nothing more than general, stereotypical girl. She ended up being very ordinary girl buried among many individual characters in “The Revelation Lugia”. Later, new series of Pokemon appeared and Kasumi was replaced by another girl. However, whether the new girl was more charming than Kasumi or not, was beyond my control. One of the things connected to my job as the series constructor I feel sorry about is that I couldn’t pull out Kasumi’s charm. I also felt sorry for the voice actress, but even if I was being told by other people that “Mr. Shudo is good at writing girls”, Kasumi’s case was quite painful for me. Ah, that reminded me that I’m not done yet with “The Revelation Lugia”’s talk. I can hear just now voices of the TRio saying “Write whatever you like! After all, the TRio are us…”. Also, the editor of Anime Style is telling me “Let’s get beyond ‘The Revelation Lugia’ talk arleady”. I’m sorry. Please forgive me, because next time I’m going to write about the TRio’s role and their awareness in “The Revelation Lugia”.

[rhaenyraism]

baela giving jace the chance to talk about his father, not just his named one, but his birth one as well.

“he loved us, i think,” jace states, unsure after all these years of doubt and insecurities, “of course he did!” she proclaims, she can’t imagine a world where jace isn’t loved, by anyone, but least of all her. “i miss luke,” a shared solidarity between two grieving children.

baela, sensing he’s in need of comfort, reaching out a gentle hand; reminiscent of when they first met, when baela needed kindness during one of the worst moments in her life, how baela reaches out again, now, when jace is in need of that same comfort.

[beaulesbian]

Luffy & Zoro in Wano || One Piece ep. 897

[bigskydreaming]

Imagine looking at a character whose entire premise is that in every stage of his life, he's made every version of himself into someone that inspires people to such a degree that EVERY SINGLE VERSION OF HIM has people wanting to literally follow in his footsteps in some way or another.....

And coming to the conclusion that like.....the most important things about him are the sum of all his trappings. His entirely homemade developed from scratch could not exist if not for what he already was and brought with him BEFORE crafting this newest version of himself trappings, with his greatest trait throughout all of it being his adaptability; his ability and willingness to roll with the punches and not try to simply weather any opposition or changes to his life but instead reshape himself as needed to better fit INTO whatever new shape his life and the world around him takes. All while managing to carry the most innate, fundamental and necessary aspects of himself from one version to the next. Thus every single version of himself is different but simultaneously every single version of himself is also undeniably the same person.

The strength of this character, to me, will always be that he can be so many versions of himself, he can become so many things, all without ever actually losing or discarding any of the aspects of himself he considers most essential, the things he's not willing to lose or give up just to keep going. Finding that road not taken by most, usually because most never even think to look for it as an option. But one that he's always able to find because the one trick he's mastered in his tumultuous life is threading that needle of not just digging in his heels in an unproductive way but rather being selective about when and where he makes a stand and decides "this is not a thing I'm willing to compromise about" but here are places and ways I can and will change and evolve and adapt in order to make it possible for me to hold onto these parts and keep them as they are.

And that's why its always so mind-boggling to me that so many writers can't seem to think of anything else to do with Dick Grayson other than invent some new reason for him to just....not be that person, or to like just take the character whose most basic fundamental trait he's NOT about to compromise on is willingly giving up his spot in the driver's seat of his own life.....and make him just a passenger in his own life and stories.

Dick Grayson at age nine....at age nineteen...at age twenty nine....the one core thread running through all versions of him is the only way he's standing back and letting you call the shots for him or putting him on the sidelines in some way is over his dead body.

HOW he goes about that, what that looks like, who he becomes and what aspects of himself he plays up at some times and what traits he lets fall by the wayside at other times when they offer less in service to his primary goal here....that changes constantly. He changes constantly.

But those changes are almost always (or at least they used to be/should be IN MY OPINION) made with the intention of keeping certain things about him or his life as consistent as possible.

That's the duality of Dick Grayson that I'm here for. The inherent contradiction of him that COULD allow for endless conflict and breaking new narrative ground in all sorts of ways if mined properly:

His eternal willingness to compromise....but only ever in pursuit of doubling down on the ways he's not willing to compromise.

Forever walking that tightrope in ways that only a kid born and raised in a circus could ever hope to.