#or that there's not really an overarching story line to tie everything together

[gxldencity]

i'll also say that for a webbed site that loves dragon age 2 you sure dont like that people can choose not to focus on the flaws of veilguard and just enjoy the damn game lmao

[myrfing]

ok finished cloud cuckoo land by anthony doerr. it’s alright he’s good at weaving together stories and it has a strong central thread that binds a ton of seemingly distant narratives together. his prose is good; the dude loves stories and it shows. and I love stories about stories so I immediately picked up this book when I read the backing.

err weaker points is that it’s frankly one of those things that you can tell the writer is like…a center-left white american guy whose main purview into political issues is from the seat of the safe spectator trying to write a story encompassing all of humanity. politics, violence, and change wrought by humans instead of time is scary and almost always portrayed as senseless, power-obsessed delusion that’s beyond the grasp or interests of common men. to his credit he tried to extend a great amount of personhood to a character he even classifies as an extremist terrorist (who are like, leftist ecoterrorists; terrible chinese commies who “senselessly” call an american soldier an imperialist pawn also make their appearance—the question of the soldier being in a foreign land fighting the war is never addressed beyond his personal unfamiliarity and the plight of the american soldier) and puts a lot of effort into weaving a circumstance that explains why this “guileless boy” gets radicalized into anarcho eco communism through youtube cult figures (lol, interesting choice considering the reality of things) but he still classifies and grants these roles according to his belief yknow. all of the female characters get married and pop out a bunch of babies in the end and their function as such is supposed to be some narrative tie in to the theme of hope. he writes this passage:

and pretty much only reflects on it later on to have anna (the girl) be like Well he doesnt treat me like a possession. and of course here they’re only playing into an illusion to survive the absurdly cruel rules of their world, but they fall into the illusion in the end, and she, who had such a deep and compelling narrative before, pretty much loses all agency at the point their tales meet. she spends the rest of her life childrearing and learning the language of her conquerers and sewing haphazardly, which she hated as a child, and to be a “carrier/symbol/memory of hope” and is content while her husband’s life and journey continues. this is their return home and the end of the monomyth. and this isnt unintentional or a mistake it’s just written as a part of this overarching theme: the world is forever cyclical in the same way, everyone is the same, through stories we are able to just bear it and stave off death, and so “the world as it is is enough”. everything is in its place. it sort of believes that if only people understood that that they would settle down and not seek great change and foolish notions of a better world. but then it also sort of touches dotingly on this aspect too; it says the fools are just human and being a fool and dreaming of better things and not understanding all while tangling the threads of their mistakes and misguidedness more are what makes them human.

it’s sort of the reason why j0yce from DE (YESSS im going unto the epic crossover again) is the one to say an extremely similar line: “This world is enough.” it’s a lovely line and it does ring true, and it’s something that staves off despair which is a huge central thing to his story, but the outcomes of it are different for everyone. this doesn’t really occur to him and he writes like the power of this idea will always result in the same inevitable outcomes. people realize the world is enough; they abandon the cloud cuckoo land and return home and are granted peace and happiness and truth, for a time, and its enough. he both sideses everything in his story except this. and this whole story reminds me of when DE’s writers mentioned they moved elysium from the middle ages to modernity after realizing they couldn’t cling to antiquity and the middle ages and the old days when “history was not so complicated” to convey what they wanted to convey. doerr sort of instead clings to it instead; the entire narrative is spun around the idea that the myths of old are undying and unchanging and hold a sort of immortal truth that will forever govern human lives.

im not a huge fan of this personally, obviously, and reading through the book was like someone showing me a ton of ingredients I love and cooking them up real fancy with a lot of flourish and then coming out with something that tastes pretty good but is a little bland, like something is missing or there was some misunderstanding of what flavors could have been created. but it’s a fun tale to read with great pacing and great skill in running parallels between all the stories involved and it says something nice enough about human hope and living memory

[hyuninho]

Can I get a quick intro to gore and horror?

I’m so sorry it took me so long to respond to this one! I kind of wanted to have another short story out before I answered anymore asks, but oh well! ^^ (also for some reason I mostly used examples of movies and games in this answer?? For that I am so sorry, it is 3:00 am and my brain is short circuiting. I’ll probably update it later with more book recs!)

To kind of prepare you for everything I’m about to say; no, I cannot give a short intro to horror. I can try with gore, but I doubt it will be very short (I apologize in advance! ^^;). I say this all to you also with the warning that I am not like, A Horror Professional, I’m just someone who has spent an unreasonable amount of time silently observing and absorbing my favorite type of media.

So, anyways; gore by itself is, yes, technically probably a genre, but it’s also a great plot device in media that may not actually be considered gore. Pulling just from movies here as an example- the Final Destination series is creatively gorey, and are definitely considered gore films in their own right; however, I wouldn’t consider The VVitch gore. While getting pretty nasty with the gore & graphic imagery in the last third, it serves to kind of draw to themes in the story & to symbolize. Midsommar is a great example of both- a very gorey film in retrospect, BUT the deaths and bizzare body horror shown all served either some sort of symbolism, a parallel that could be drawn, or did it’s plot job of showing us how messed up and unsettling the cult was. I would say these 3 examples are kind of okay-ish benchmarks to how gore can be divided.

For gore (this goes for horror too, really!) I find it incredibly helpful to divide media I interact with not by its genre, but more by the themes within the story & effect it had on me, as a reader. Using ‘Fridge horror’ to describe a couple of books instead of looking at each one individually and being like, “ok, this is a sci-fi body horror, this is a splatterpunk, this is a supernatural slasher-” etc, really helps me out, because I’m someone who tends to read the same type of horror, rather than the same genre.

All the categories I use personally I’ll list below, but I warn you these are very specific to me because I read a lot of the same thing, & I like a good character before anything else. I think that shapes a lot of the media I interact with. I don’t know if everyone uses all of these, or if no one’s used these and I’m just a funky little loser, but this is my personal system;

Fridge Horror; A story that becomes terrifying after you’ve read it and let it sink in. For gore specifically, I find it’s less actual gore, and more “wow, you just compared a house to a human and now that thought will never leave my mind lol”, OR, gore used as weird obscure symbolism for the actual thing going on at hand- and once you’ve figured out what that thing is, it puts the piece of media into a whole new perspective. (ANATOMY by kittyhorrorshow is a wonderful game, and prime example of both!)

Obsessive Horror; Stories & Media that uses gore & body horror as a way to describe a character’s mental state (and usually obsession with a specific concept/idea) OR a set of characters' mental decline but obsession with each other. I would say the movie The Perfection (2019) does this well!

Sad/Vulnerable Horror; kind of self explanatory, but very similar to Obsessive Horror- the only usual distinction between the two is that instead of obsession being the overarching thing to tie it all together, it’s usually grief, or a character struggling with some sort of obstacle that has forced them to stop- a character being unable to move on from something and it getting gradually worse. Midsommar is a great movie for this!

Philosophical Horror; in a gore sense, I do find it funny that this one tends to be less like. Human oriented and usually has some sort of monster involved, but it’s usually something along the lines of like “what makes us human?” (insert violent gorey scene here) lol. Very entertaining. I’m gonna come back and edit this post to add specific media examples for this one, because none come to mind right now except for fanfic, but it’s also… 3AM please be patient with me haha ^^;

I don’t have any recs for ppl just dipping their toes in, because everyone is different and I don’t know what preferences work for everyone- but I would just say to engage with the media that’s kinda popular and seems to interest you in the horror genre- and work from there. It really helps to make accounts on sites like goodreads & letterboxed just to kind of stalk what other people are watching and reading! On goodreads I joined a couple of groups, and while I’m not the best at having a one on one convo with someone just yet, it really helps me to look through the forums and conversations available and to be like “Oh, shit, this person also likes B.R. Yeager? And is recommending another book in relation to Negative Space? I’ve gotta check it out!” You don’t even have to engage with people if you don’t want to in these kinds of settings- you can silently stalk forums discussing media they liked and why- its glorious and a good way to quickly add to your collection & get more into the swing of things without feeling bad because you’re never gonna read the book you got yourself 2 years ago & now sits untouched on your shelf lol.

(Definitely not a self call out.)

I don’t really know how to end this one, so I’ll end it with my favorite kind from the list I previously mentioned; Vulnerable Horror/Gore. (SPOILERS FOR KATHE KOJA'S THE NEGLECTED GARDEN INCOMING).

I personally love a good piece of media that has character specific body horror- things that frighten us, because, holy shit that sounds awful to experience- but also have an innate and personal terror to the character it’s happening to;

Kathe Koja’s short story, The Neglected Garden, is a perfect example of this. Throughout the entire story, we never learn the narrator’s name- only the name of his girlfriend, Anne, and the impact she makes on him after he attempts to break up with her- which she responds to by crucifying herself to his fence. You understand the narrator’s reaction to Anne’s crucifixion- and as it continues and gets worse- how she ended up there in the first place. Obvious parallels are drawn to their relationship before she went to such extreme measures; both too cruel and stubborn to be together- but too desperate and obsessed with each other to ever break up. The narrator is arguably, not at all sympathetic- but you still understand the horror of what he witnesses. Koja goes into graphic detail when describing Anne’s initial crucifixion, and then, the slow growing of grass and flowers as she stays still and unmoving. Her body slowly morphing into a disgusting infected carcass that’s somehow still alive is described with alarming depth. But it serves a purpose to the story, and the characters- or rather, it serves as a vehicle for understanding their relationship.

So… yeah! Lol, I’m sorry, this probably wasn’t as helpful or as informative as you were hoping, but I hope it’s still enough to kind of get a general idea of where to start. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money on specifically splatterpunk (general subgenre of gore) books, I highly recommend godless.com, as they have a lot of short story collections & stand alone pieces that you can buy for sometimes as little as 50 cents! I do warn you though, sometimes there’s a bit of odd fetish content on there? Lol so… have fun with that.

Sorry for the ramble, thank you for the ask! Bye lol

[maxbegone]

hi! I hope I’m not overstepping but you mention grief a lot with lone star this season and I saw your reblog of 308 and how you appreciated it. It’s really been such a prominent thing for TK this season and I just wanted to see if you could talk about it more? Again I’m sorry if I’m overstepping!!

hi! you're not overstepping. i personally find this really cathartic to talk about. my fear is that i'm talking too much about it, but i've found so much comfort and familiarity in season 3 with this overarching plot line that this is my way to process.

season 3's subtitle should literally be "grief" because we're seeing it from the get-go. i'm going to talk about tk for a minute before i get into the fact that he is in no way the only one grieving — and said grieving is not just about death. and i don’t think i can fully do this justice without acknowledging the prominence of grief in every character this season. 

i kind of went all out on this this is going to be long, so i'm going to drop all of this under the cut. special thanks to @doublel27 for taking a quick look at this.

way back in the pilot, when we meet judd, it's on the back-end of a tremendous loss and accompanied by so much trauma. he lost his entire crew to an explosion on a call and we watch him process it throughout the entirety of the first season. we get bits and pieces as the series goes on, but for the most part the currentness of it remains in season one.

now, let's jump to the obvious grief this season — tk and gwyn. all of 3.08 was about tk processing losing his mom so suddenly. he kind of blinked and she was gone without realizing, only to find out however many hours later. as someone who has been through this sort of immense shock very recently (funnily enough, this episode aired just around a year after i lost a parent), it's an interesting thing to think about. you're just going about your day when suddenly you get this news that completely rocks you and changes you forever. i've written about this ad nauseam, but i wasn't kidding when i said i can keep going.

i find 3.08 so heart-wrenching and raw, just like it's meant to be, but also so comforting. these are characters, sure, but i see myself in this story, i feel the fatigue, the shock, the numbness, the pain. it is, truly, a beautiful depiction of grief and one of the most beautiful episodes of television (take that with a grain of salt, i do not watch a lot of tv). not only is he grieving the loss of his mother, but he’s grieving the loss of jonah’s mother — his little brother will never grow up with her, and now it’s up to him to show him everything she’s taught tk over the years. they’re going to go through that together.

something i truly appreciate about tk's grief especially is that the writers didn't tie it off with a neat little bow at the end of the episode. they so easily could have, but instead they it carried on somewhat prominently throughout the following, and we see featured it again in 3.13 and 3.18. gwyn was tk's lifeline. she was his guide, just as much as owen has been, but she was always there. now that's not to say owen wasn't later on, but the relationship tk has with his father is surrounded by work. neither of them are great communicators, and we learn this season a little more as to why, particularly with owen.

grief not in death:

alright, this might take a minute to explain, so bear with me. but something i've recognized in the last year is that grief is not synonymous with death — you can grieve the loss of a friendship, lost time, loss of a childhood home, etcetera, and we see that with all of the characters this season.

owen: in the beginning of the season, we find out that he's absconded to hill country, tucked himself away in a cabin and is avoiding all of his problems back in austin because he feels he's failed the 126. he mentions this in the waiting room of the icu in the beginning of 3.04. he’s terrified, and during the sequence later on in the episode, he becomes so overwhelmed he collapses out in the snow. as the season goes on, we see him suppressing more and more of his anger, only to have the harsh reality of what it might become blown up in his face in 3.14. this is due to years of suppressed grief. yes, he's grieving gwyn — how could he not? she was the love of his life, she made him a better person, she's the mother to their son — but come 3.16 and we discover owen lost his brother at a very young age and fully blames himself. his family falls apart, he and his mother move to new york, his relationship with his father is non-existent, and when the time comes to confront him in hospice, he discovers his father's new family. it hurts, of course it hurts, but that doesn't mean owen isn't grieving then, too. if robert hadn't encouraged his father's second wife to leave the room, owen might not have had a chance to say what he wanted. and a really important beat in this episode, while short, is the facetime conversation he has with tk. they both acknowledge the fact that their relationship has been strained and promise each other that they're going to work on fixing it. there is grief there — you can't tell me these two hadn't been grieving the closeness they once had prior to that moment.

tk: i already mentioned gwyn, which is the most prominent version of his grief, but there are several other instances. he and carlos are broken up in the beginning of the season and there is no way he isn’t grieving that. he got scared, blew it up, and ran. come the end of 3.12 and into 3.13, he’s grieving the loss of his sobriety, his loss of choice. all of 3.13 is about tk coming to terms with this and restarting his sobriety, all while carlos learns to take a step back. this is his first time going through it without his mom, and he needs to learn to navigate this part of his world without her, too. during that call in the same episode when that boy watches his mom die and becomes nearly inconsolable, tk falls right back into his grief. he pulls out old photo albums, stares at them, and says he would give anything to be as happy as he was in those photos. it’s a beautiful, painful thing. it strikes deep. fast-forward to 3.18, and we see the grief come in again with the harrowing idea that he might lose his dad — either in the building collapse or to cancer. it’s even in his proposal to carlos: “my life has been scarred with loss.” so while tk’s grief is absolutely the most prominent this season, we can’t just lump it solely about gwyn’s death. 

carlos: absolutely, he’s grieving. like i said before with tk, he’s also grieving the loss of their relationship. he wasn’t given any real explanation when trying to surprise tk, only to have it blow up, and suddenly he’s left heartbroken in the home he bought for them to build a life together. nancy asks him to come to the hospital because tk wants to speak to him, only to discover that he’s suffered hypothermia and is in a coma, rapidly heading in the wrong direction. by body language alone, we see the numbness in carlos’ grief, because he begins to mourn the loss of tk before he’s even gone. everyone in the 126, near and far, is grieving tk while they wait on bated breath, but more than anyone else, it’s carlos (and, of course, owen.) andrea shows up, encourages him not to give up hope, to speak to tk even though he might not hear, and that grief and fear is gone once he wakes up. we see it again a little bit in 3.08, grieving with tk over the loss of his mother, for tk when no one is sure the plane will land. in 3.11, it could be argued that carlos is grieving the choice he made deploying his taser on the suspect at the beginning of the episode. it lead to his death since he fell on a kitchen knife, but there’s also a lot of anger and frustration (that he doesn’t fully admit to) as he and grace investigate further into what went down. 

grace: hers is a little less evident, save for what we see in 3.11. she’s angry, yes, because she and carlos got played, but she’s grieving the loss of the victim of a prank, too. yes, things work out in the end, but you can’t say that anger doesn’t coincide with grief. now, going back to 3.05 with the introduction of wyatt, judd’s son that he didn’t even know he had, she mentions she’s angry, that she shouldn’t be, but she is. this isn’t someone she would’ve ever known about, but there’s lost time in this relationship for judd and wyatt. is this grief? maybe not, but it could be read as such.

judd: yes there’s the old crew, but more of a focus this season is judd’s lost time with wyatt. he comes out of nowhere, shows up and rocks judd’s world, but he doesn’t write it off. in fact, he makes it a point to get to know this boy — his son. at first he’s convinced they have nothing in common, and sure, maybe they don’t at surface level, but the deeper into the relationship we get, the more we see it. they can both ride, they both get arrested for doing something dumb. gotta love that parallel. but wyatt mentions it first: he’s mad about the time they didn’t have together. and judd’s mad, too. so, this is grief; they’re grieving the loss of the time they could have had together in the past, but they’re going to make the most of it now. 

tommy: although her grief is much more prominent at the end of season 2 with charles’ death, it does carry into season 3 a little bit. she’s struggling with moving on, and a call to the curandera we meet back in season 1 with michelle, gives her the push to do that. the candles relighting at the end of 3.06 is something tommy needed to see. we watch her attend these grief groups, which she takes tk to at least once, we watch her step back into the dating life (however messy the second part of that is), and ultimately allow herself to not be as “buttoned-up” as she had been in the last year. it’s not like she isn’t going to grieve charles, because of course she is. that was her soulmate, the father of her children, her best friend. judd and grace give charlie that name in honor of him, an honor tommy sincerely loves, if evident at all by her reaction. she carries on at the end of the season, but she carries on with charles in mind.

paul: paul had some major developments this season. as a result of the hypothermia he suffers from in the beginning of the season, he develops a rare heart condition that very nearly kills him. he has the option to get a pacemaker implanted which will greatly increase his projected lifespan, but decides against it. this is his choice, one that marjan, his best friend, his ride or die, is distraught over. when she says he’s going to end up like his dad, who died from a heart attack at 36, paul responds with the wish that he could only be half the man his father was. they end up in a fight, and although she saves his life later in the episode when he goes into cardiac arrest, paul completely loses his choice because the doctors operated — thus implanting said pacemaker. that right there, and you can agree with me or not, is an avenue of grieving. paul is grieving his loss of choice (which easily mirrors with paul being trans and his loss of bodily autonomy he’s fought for), and he’s angry about it. he’s allowed to be, because marjan went against his wishes, and what we see in the following episode is paul spiraling. because the loss of choice has kind of moved to the back burner while grieving the loss of this incredibly important friendship takes the helm. he asks about marj but doesn’t reach out, and all the while she’s angry.

marjan: more than anyone else, she takes losing the 126 the hardest. but, she also fights the hardest. she’s out there putting herself at risk chaining herself to the station, resulting in her arrest, driving up to find owen and drag him back to austin, and deals with a (very) dirty cop. but more than anything else, she’s the only one showing up, and she’s mad about it. we hear her call multiple people “abandoners” throughout the season (the crew in general in the premiere, and mateo later on in parental guidance). she’s grieving the loss of her found family, of the firehouse she’s come to know and love where she uprooted her life to move to. a place she considers home. and now it’s turning to rubble. fast forward to the end of 3.04 and she has the single biggest smile of anyone at the 126. but when we move into the arc between 3.09 and 3.10, she’s furious. and although that’s true, she’s also grieving the loss of this best friendship. she’s waiting there fore paul to reach out when mateo alludes that maybe she should take the first step. marjan foresees several people abandoning her (mateo for the 129, and of course paul). once again, the 126 is falling apart like it was in the beginning of the season and she’s losing all hope. it works out in the end, but remember that there is anger in grief, and this was her way of showing it.

mateo: his is a little different. he’s not in the icu with the rest of the 126 when tk’s comatose, he’s instead working with judd and the 122. but when the captain from the 129, captain tatum, a man who treated him kind of shit while he was there, comes back into his life, mateo is witness to this man losing both his memory and a member of his house. he’s offered and accepts the position of lieutenant, steps in at the funeral when tatum can’t remember what to say, and deals with it when his mind goes and calls mateo probie, going back to the whole treating him like shit thing all because he wanted to protect him. in this instance, mateo is grieving second-hand, but in a similar way, he’s really not. this kid has a big heart and he just wants to help, which is exactly the reason he steps up to the plate. he wants to ease tatum’s pain, however invisible it might be. and when he has to make the difficult decision about reporting tatum to the fire chief about his dementia. ultimately, beautifully, tatum accepts and acknowledges that resigning is the right choice for his safety as well as others in a scene that parallels the beginning of the episode. a quick nod to 3.18 when owen gets caught in the collapse and mateo nearly loses it yelling for him, somewhat reminiscent of tk in 1.04. 

nancy: i wrote a whole thing about it already, and i have to give credit where credit is due to brianna baker, but nancy does lose her two best friends while on the job. she obviously loses tim in season 2 to volcanic debris on a call, but she also loses tk. she and tommy manage to get his heart started again out in the snow, but the whole thing is incredibly touch-and-go, resulting in so many unknowns and what-ifs while in the waiting room of the icu. imagine if she did lose tk permanently. i can’t say nancy would still be doing the job she does today. because while she wasn’t able to save tim, she was able to save tk. she’s still grieving tim, even if it’s not spoken or evident, because she’s human and it’s part of her character. that was her best friend. and as much as tk is as well, he’s still standing. in 3.12, after resuscitating a dnr patient despite seeing the bracelet saying otherwise, she decides to resign. tommy talks her out of it, to arrange something with the patient and her sister so they can have a conversation in spite of the lawsuit. but in this moment she’s grieving the loss of her livelihood, the reason she gets up every morning. nancy has only ever wanted to save lives, and while the decision was wrong and went against the patient’s wishes, she’s just trying to do what’s best. ultimately she doesn’t resign, but she mourns a little with the sister at the bottom of the episode. like most things this season, it does work out in the end, but we know it’s something nancy is going to carry with her.

alright. wow. that was...a lot. but, like i said, i have a lot of feelings on the matter. anon, i hope i didn’t lose you reading this (and to anyone else). 

if anyone would like to talk about this more, i would absolutely love to. 

[khizuo]

okay seeing as mcytblr is finally starting to be a lil bit s2 critical I’m going to jump in and talk about the two things that have been bugging me about s2 for a few weeks now because I think I’m a little safer from being mass unfollowed.

(please don’t mass unfollow me)

Okay so the two things are: a lack of a central storyline due to an absence of communication, and the fact that there are way too many ‘parallels’.

On point 1: Dream SMP has many running storylines right now. We’ve got El Rapids, the Badlands and the egg, Tommy’s exile, Techno’s revenge at L’manberg, the Butcher Army, Eret’s Knights, and so on. And this is wonderful! These storylines are all interesting and unique in their own right. But I think the reason why I got really invested in season 1 was because ultimately, everything was pulled into one main plotline. Most people were involved in the L’manberg plot in one way or another — Pogtopia, Dream’s faction, the Badlands, even Jack Manifold. George’s cottagecore house had plot/humor significance. 

Now, Wilbur’s writing was not perfect, and the L’manberg plot was definitely somewhat Wilbur/Tommy centric. He also needed to deal with fewer subplots and characters. But you could tell each cc had a part to play in the story. And this was what I was looking forward to most in s2 — another overarching storyline, but this time with further involvement from characters and plotlines that had been more sidelined in the L’manberg conflict. We could finally see characters such as Niki, Fundy, Badboyhalo, and the Dream Team fully embrace their roles and find greater plot significance.

Except that’s not what happened, because we didn’t end up getting a second overarching storyline. I’m still holding out hope that it will happen — that the Badlands, Dream SMP faction, Drywaters, El Rapids, and L’manberg can all find a way to tie their respective storylines together. But the first step to creating that is communication. We’ve got a lot of separate parts right now. I’d like the parts to come together into a whole that’s greater than their sum. I would have preferred them to have developed alongside each otheer, so as to have a natural synthesis around each other, but what we’ve got right now is still ripe with storytelling potential. 

Okay, about point two: I made a post about this a little while back. But yeah, essentially, I feel like the L’manberg plotline has too many callbacks and parallels to s1. I feel like there’s a point where parallels just become one story bleeding into another, and the current season is skirting that line a lil bit. I know the idea that violence and trauma are cyclical is one of the themes of the SMP, but I wish there was a slightly more nuanced way to express that than just “president alone again.” “festival part 2.” “let’s get some more withers in l’manberg”. And especially if Ranboo is the one who’s gonna be in trouble at the festival, that is really going to be one parallel too many.

The thing is, I think there are several neglected plotlines that would really neatly fit into addressing both problems, if they were expanded upon more and if everyone in the SMP was made aware of them. For example:

- Ghostbur and Fundy’s conflict. This is not a parallel to anything in Season 1, but rather a resolution to it. It also involves so many major characters — Philza, Eret, even by extension Tommy and Techno. 

- Eret’s knights, and the Puffychu dilemma. Eret is king of the SMP. Essentially a puppet ruler for Dream. They’re trying to expand their power and so she’s recruited Hbomb and Puffy as knights. Meanwhile, Puffy is also pursuing a relationship with Niki, who is loyal to the L’manberg crew, who Dream opposes. This involves so many minor characters, and yet it also has the potential to involve major characters who are related to the L’manberg and Dream conflicts. Why has this left been in the wayside???

- The Badlands could be so much more than they are right now. They’ve got a huge supernatural element with the egg and also all the demon lore. How does this fit into the history of the SMP? How has Dream not dealt with them in a significant way yet, when he hates faction so much? I feel like there are so many ways Dream can get involved with the Badlands plot, since he also has a supernatural element about him, and yet there’s been nothing.

All of these plotlines fit into the themes of conflict that are so central to the SMP, but they’re not a rehash of plots that we’ve seen before in S1. They involve minor streamers who want to be a greater part of the lore. Literally there is potential here! 

Now, I will say — I do not think any of this is intentional. Some members of the SMP are naturally better at asserting themselves in the story. Every story will have bigger characters and smaller characters. However, I do think that the Dream SMP members as a whole really need to sit down and discuss what kind of role everyone wants to play in the storyline, as well as how major events will map out in the future. This will create a more immersive, enjoyable experience as a whole, with less of a sense of disconnectedness between the streamers.

I don’t want major conflict on the SMP to purely revolve around SBI + Tubbo. Communication, and treating every storyline as an equal part of the main plot, is key. Otherwise, we end up with stories that are poorly paced, disconnected, and rehashed from older material.

[alightwhendarknessfell]

Album Review: From Filth And Dust - Lilith Czar

First of all, I'd like to say that this album completely blew me away. From Filth And Dust perfectly showcases Lilith's (formerly known as Juliet Simms) vocal abilities and songwriting skills. The lyrics are meaningful, witty, and raw with emotion. The vocals are clean with just the right amount of grit and pair beautifully with the instrumentals. The album tells the story of a woman who has been through hell and back, who has fought battles both external and internal. The sound is pure rock n' roll. It's not a passive album. You can't help but sing along, experiencing all the emotions the songs pack in.

The album cover, music videos, name change, and new look all work perfectly to create a stand-out album in Czar's discography.

Song Breakdown

Intro Poem: I'm a huge fan of albums with intro tracks. I think if done correctly they can really add a lot to an album and set the tone. I really liked this intro, the transition into Feed My Chaos is phenomenal. It does a good job introducing Lilith and the overarching thems of the album.

Feed My Chaos: Easily one of my favorites on the album, this song is, for lack of better words, badass. One of the heavier tracks, it's loud and in your face with hypnotizing vocals. I think this was the perfect full-length track to start the album off with.

King: The message of this song is exactly what the world needs. The lyrics are powerful and meant to ruffle the feathers of any man who thinks women should shut up and stay in their place. The first time I heard this song I remember thinking "wow, that's exactly how I feel". I hate that we live in a world that is male-dominated, where there is an innate privilege in existing in a body that is seen as "male". If that's the way the world is, then I'm not okay just being a "queen" still subservient to a man. I want to be king, equal power, and equal respect. This song perfectly captures that feeling.

Anarchy: Another one of my favorites, I'm a big fan of political songs and messages in rock. The beat of this song and vocals are top-notch. After the past four years of political insanity and the deliberateness in which the rights of oppressed communities were targeted, this song is cathartic. The end of the song really puts the exclamation point on this track; shots, sirens, and a man's voice over a loudspeaker can be heard in the background. It made me think back to last Summer and the volatile state the country was in. Very nice touch to the song.

100 Little Deaths: Another strong rock track, this is a song easily chanted from the top of your lungs driving down the highway. The message of overcoming your personal struggles is an inspiring one. I also think its placement before the next song, 'Lola' was a great choice. The messages flow together quite well and I like the dichotomy of such a hyped-up song being followed by a slower emotional one.

Lola: This song has grown on me a lot, and I really like it. There is raw emotion in Czar's voice which easily takes center place in this track. It'll have you on the brink of tears but also ready to rise up and sing your heart out. Anyone who's ever hit rock bottom and had to fight to find themself again can relate. The is one of the most open tracks on the album and I think that's what makes it so impactful. One of my favorite lyrics from the album is in this song "Time flies by when you're 25 n' about to die"

Edge of Seventeen: Stevie Nick's fan or not, I think everyone has heard this song. There's a risk that comes with covering an iconic and beloved song, and it really paid off for Czar. This is an amazing cover, her voice fits this song very well.

Bad Love: Another one of my favorites, this song is a masterpiece. It's sultry, exciting, and catchy as fuck. The song speeds up on the chorus and then slows back down for the verses; a rollercoaster that you'll have on repeat for days.

In My Head: When this song started I thought "I'm either going to really, really like this song or hate it". It did not disappoint at all. Clearly a song about fighting the demons in well... "in my head". As someone who struggles with mental health and my own thoughts this song hits home. Lyrically this is probably my favorite song as well, I mean "It gets me off like nothing else, no one fucks me like myself" come on, that's just a fucking cool line.

Unholy: Fuck... I love this song. When I saw the title for this track I had really high expectations because I love rock songs that use religious symbolism with just the right amount of blasphemy. This song gave me everything I wanted from it. I've had it on repeat all day. It's a tie between this song and the next for my #1 favorite on the album.

Burn With Me: This song reminds me of Automatic Love Letter (her old band). I love the sound of this song and the lyrics. This is my type of love song for sure. You can't help but dance around the room while singing along. Czar shows off her vocal abilities and control over her voice, hitting notes that make you go "damn- how the fuck did she do that?!?!".

Diamonds to Dust: The perfect closing song, a slower acoustic track that sums the album up and leaves you wanting more. You can literally hear the emotions in Czar's voice, and like Lola, it's a very raw track. Amazingly well done.

I rarely find albums in which I like all of the songs, but this is one of them. None of the songs feel rushed or unfinished, incredibly well done. Anyone who's written Lilith off before should honestly give this album a listen and let it speak for itself. She's an incredibly talented singer, songwriter, and musician and this album is proof of that. I've unfairly judged her and her music in the past, and I'm so glad I decided to give her and her music another chance. I believe in the message of this album and women supporting women. I can honestly say that I love this album and I highly recommend it.

Total rate: 9/10

Top tracks (in my opinion): Unholy, Burn With Me, Bad Love, Lola

[slickbackdani]

Batman Movie Villains Ranked from Worst to Best

Recently, a YouTuber I follow by the name of Mr. Rogues released a list of Batman villains ranked from worst to best. I have nothing but the utmost of respect for Mr. Rogues as a content creator, but I took issue with his list because his long-standing biases were often the deciding factor in many of his rankings. So, I decided to do a list of my own.

I’ll be going over every Batman villain to appear in the movies, briefly analyzing their portrayals and ranking them on a scale of 1 to 5. To prevent the list from being too cluttered, I’ll be separating the villains by which movie series they’re part of. Here we go!

Burton/Schumacher Tetralogy

Bane: Perhaps the only villain in this series I’d call “bad.” The calculating tactician of the comics is nowhere to be found here; instead, he’s reduced to a monosyllabic, brain-dead stooge for the other villains. Overall, he does nothing that couldn’t be done by a random henchman. 1/5

Two-Face: A deeply layered villain in the comics, Two-Face sadly gets upstaged by the other major rogue in the movie, but that’s not to say he doesn’t leave an impression. Tommy Lee Jones gives him a manic and mercurial demeanor that, combined with his colorful design, wouldn’t be out of place in the Adam West series. The size and scope of his criminal organization make him a genuine threat, and there’s something darkly fitting about Batman’s former ally being responsible for the creation of Robin. 3/5

Poison Ivy: Mr. Rogues for some reason ranked her as the worst Batman movie villain of all time, and frankly, I don’t see why. Like Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face, Uma Thurman gives this character a delightfully over-the-top demeanor that combines with a colorful, comic-booky ensemble to make for another great “what-if-this-character-appeared-in-the-Adam-West-series” take. She does a good job juggling the differing facets of Ivy’s character: she’s the put-upon cynic, the craven opportunist, the radical eco-terrorist, and the suave seductress all in one package. 3.5/5

The Penguin: Fuck the Razzies. Danny DeVito made this role his own and set the stage for the character for years to come. He’s a bit of a departure, but a welcome one: far from the refined gentleman of crime Burgess Meredith portrayed, this Penguin is an animalistic thug warped by a lifetime of anger and hatred of the society who rejected him due to his deformities. His signature wardrobe, trick umbrellas, and Penguin gimmick are all there, but DeVito sells the role by showing amazing versatility: he can go from a comical and pitiable weirdo to a terrifying sociopath at the drop of a stovepipe hat. 4/5

Mr. Freeze: I honestly can’t say much about this character that my mutual @wonderfulworldofmichaelford hasn’t already. Arnold Schwarzenegger perfectly encapsulates both popular versions of this character: the flamboyant, pun-loving criminal genius from the Adam West series and the Animated Series’ traumatized scientist desperate to cure his loving wife of her terminal illness. Sure, the puns and hammy one-liners are what this version character is known for, but Ahnold definitely knows when to apply the brakes and give a greatly emotional performance as he tries desperately to cure his wife. 4.5/5

Max Shreck: Probably the only time you’ll see a movie-exclusive character on this list, and deservedly so. Corrupt businessmen are dime-a-dozen in Batman stories, and most of them have little personality outside of being greedy scumbags who either get defeated by the hero or betrayed by the other villains. Shreck, however, is different. Not only does he have an eye-catching fashion sense on par with any of Batman’s famous rogues, but Christopher Walken brings his signature manic intensity to the role, creating a character that’s as wicked and sinister as he is cool and stylish. You totally buy that the general public sees him as the good guy. His warm relationship with his son is also a delight to watch. 4.5/5

Catwoman: Michelle Pfeiffer does a lot to really make the character her own. She gets a lot of genuinely badass moments, but underneath all of her coolness lies the undercurrent that she’s a broken, traumatized character lashing out at the people who abused her and took her for granted. Even when she takes these ideals to unreasonable extremes, you never stop feeling like the retribution she brings on her enemies is at least a little warranted. Also, she has amazing romantic chemistry with Batman and her costume is fucking metal. 5/5

The Ridder: It’s Jim Carrey. 5/5

The Joker: This role is perhaps the one that set the standard for future Jokers to follow: Jack Nicholson’s humorous yet unnerving performance signaled to audiences early on that this would not be the goofy trickster of the Silver Age, but a different beast entirely. This Joker is a film noir gangster on crack: a disfigured mob hitman who quickly takes the entire criminal underworld by storm and unleashes his special brand of chaos and destruction across Gotham. He’s an artist, a showman, a charismatic leader, and the man responsible for ruining Bruce Wayne’s life. 5/5

Christopher Nolan Trilogy

Talia al Ghul: You know that recent trend in Disney movies where a side character we thought was harmless and inconsequential turned out to have been the villain all along in a twist with no buildup or foreshadowing with the reveal happening too late in the movie for this character to really do anything cool or impressive before being unceremoniously defeated? That’s Talia. DKR is the weakest of the three Nolan films, and I feel like it would’ve been much better received without this twist villain contrivedly shoehorned in. Also, while I could kinda forgive the trilogy’s whitewashing of other villains like Ra’s al Ghul and Bane due to the talent their actors display, Marion Cotillard doesn’t get a pass because she just doesn’t have the charisma or screen presence needed to pull it off. 1/5

Victor Zsasz: While the idea of redefining Zsasz as an over enthusiastic mob hitman instead of a serial killer is very interesting, it’s ruined by the fact that he barely even appears in the movie and doesn’t really do or say much of anything despite the buildup he gets. 1.5/5

Two-Face: Aaron Eckhart portrays Harvey Dent as a character of tragedy in a slightly different way than other tragic villains in superhero movies: he’s lashing out at a society he feels wronged him, but instead of being a lifelong outcast or put-upon loser, he was a handsome, successful crusader for the common good who lost everything he once held dear all in one fell swoop. You really feel for him even as he does horrible things. If I had to nitpick, though, I am slightly bothered by the fact that he plays some comic book movie cliches straight (i.e. they never call him by his alias and he dies at the end,) but it’s a solid performance overall. 3/5

Scarecrow: I’ll be upfront and admit that I’m more than a little annoyed that certain facets of the character had been changed in the name of “realism” — once again, they never call him by his villain name and he never wears a comic-accurate costume — but other than that, I can’t complain. Cillian Murphy plays the character with a smarmy, eerie charm that really makes his scenes stand out, his willingness to ally himself with other villains suits his character well, and the fact that he appears in three consecutive films with a different evil scheme in each really helps tie the movies together. 3.5/5

Catwoman: Much like other secondary villains in this trilogy, she really doesn’t get a chance to shine compared to the main antagonist — and, once again, it pisses me off a little that they do the whole “never refer to her as Catwoman but vaguely hint at it” thing — but she’s everything a modern Catwoman should be. She’s sly, manipulative, really holds her own in a fight, has great chemistry with Bruce Wayne... it’s all there. It’s also great to see Anne Hathaway break away from her usual type casting to play a role this dynamic. 4/5

Ra’s al Ghul: He’s a character that was in desperate need of mainstream exposure, and by God that’s what he got. Making him Bruce Wayne’s mentor adds a layer of personal tragedy to the climax where our hero has to stop the man who made him who he is from destroying Gotham with his admittedly brilliant plan. Add in a strong, captivating performance from Liam Neeson before we found out he was a racist asshole, and we’ve got one hell of an overarching villain. 4.5/5

The Joker: Everybody’s already discussed this version of the character to hell and back and likely will for years to come, so I’ll keep it very brief. He’s funny, he’s badass, he’s terrifying, he has great dialogue, it sucks that Heath Ledger didn’t live to see his performance reach the audience it got, and he basically makes the entire film. 5/5

Bane: Mr. Rogues actually ranked Bane higher than Joker on his list, and keeping it 100, I actually agree with him here. Finally, after decades of being dumbed down and misrepresented outside of comics, Bane is finally portrayed as the tactical genius from the comics. Tom Hardy plays Bane to perfection, being very believable as the peak of human physical and mental achievement, the man who broke Batman physically and emotionally. His design is iconic, his every line is quotable, his voice is weirdly fitting, and the memes are funny. 5/5

DC Extended Universe

KGBeast: Another point where I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Rogues. He is absolutely wasted in BVS, being nothing but a generic henchman for Lex Luthor. He doesn’t wear his costume from the comics, he’s never referred to by his alias, he doesn’t have his signature cybernetic enhancements, and he never does or says anything noteworthy. 1/5

The Joker: Ugh. I don’t know what’s worst: the tacky clothes, the stupid tattoos, the weird Richard Nixon impression that passes as his voice, the fact that promotional material hyped him up as a “beautiful tragedy” of a character even though he’s only in the movie for like 10 minutes and barely does anything, Jared Leto’s toxic edgelord behavior on set done with the flimsy pretense of “getting into character,” or the fact that he’s just trying to copy Heath Ledger instead of making the role his own. 1/5

Victor Zsasz: Chris Messina proves undoubtedly that Zsasz CAN work as a secondary villain in a Batman movie. He’s once again a mob assassin who enjoys his job a little too much, but unlike Batman Begins, he really gets time to shine. He’s just as sadistic and depraved as in the comics, but he also has this disarming, casual demeanor about him like he’s just indulging a hobby instead of slicing innocent people’s faces off. His close friendship with his boss Black Mask adds some depth to the character as well. 3/5

Killer Croc: Sadly, he doesn’t get much time in the spotlight, but he’s pretty cool nonetheless. The makeup and prosthetics used to create him look amazing, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s deep voice and imposing body language make him really stand out as an intimidating presence. He’s often in the background, which fits his role as an outcast by choice and a man of few words, but whenever he does get focus, he has everyone’s attention. It really would be a shame if this character’s only appearance was in a mediocre schlock action movie, but he makes the most of what he has. 3.5/5

Deadshot: Another highlight of what would otherwise be a forgettable film, Deadshot is just as cool and competent as he’s always been in other media, but this portrayal stands out for one simple reason. Will Smith was a very odd choice to play the role, but it worked out for the best here because you get the sense he truly understands the characters. He’s ruthless and pragmatic, but has just as enough charm and depth to make him likable. 4/5

Black Mask: I, like many, was skeptical when I saw early trailers depicting Roman Sionis as a foppish weirdo who doesn’t wear his signature mask, but upon seeing the final movie, I really feel like he has the high ground over other DCEU villains. Ewan McGregor is endlessly captivating in the role, portraying him as a swaggering dandy who is nevertheless dangerous due to his boundless narcissism and explosive temper. Sure, those who deal in absolutes would be put off from the differences with his comic counterpart — who is far more cold and humorless — but from a certain point of view, this flamboyant take on the character isn’t so much a departure as it is an addition to make him stand out while keeping his role the same. Black Mask has always been a middleman between the traditional mobsters of yesteryear and the colorful rogues that plague Gotham today, and this portrayal perfectly encapsulates that. He works in the shadows, but isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty; he flies off the handle and gets reckless at times, but there’s no question that the whole operation was his idea. 5/5

Harley Quinn: Margot Robbie owns this role. She’s unbelievably dazzling as a badass, funny, sexy antihero who deals greatly with tragedy and proves that there’s always been more to her than her initial role as the Joker’s sidekick. Again, not much to say, but she’s almost perfect. 5/5

[steven-falls]

The Strengths of serialization: A Disenchantment analysis

Note: this is a script for a video I’m making. There are some generalised statements in this script, that will be accompanied with visuals in the final video to help specify what I am referring to.

So, Netflix just dropped part 3 of disenchantment, and with the new batch of episodes came a slew of worldbuilding, lore, characterization, laughs, adventures, and Elfo abuse. But, instead of giving an overview of everything that happened in the season (or part) I want to focus on one specific aspect of part 3 and compare this to parts 1 and 2 and that is, the serialisation of Disenchantment.

In television shows, there are two main formats a show can take: A serialized format and an episodic format. A serialized format has continuing storylines that span over the course of the entire season. Think of pretty much every drama show. By contrast, an episodic TV show presents each episode as a self contained story. Meaning you could jump in at any point in the series without needing much prior knowledge to understand what’s happening. This is the format that most animated sitcoms, such as Disenchantment’s contemporaries, The Simpsons and Futurama, went for.

Disenchantment was an interesting case as it seemed to be going for a mix of both serialization and self contained episodes throughout its first two parts, which made up season 1. The first few and last few episodes of both parts 1 and 2 had a serialized format, where the cliffhanger ending of one episode would lead directly into the opening of the next. For example part 2’s opening episode ‘The disenchantress’ ends with Bean walking down a staircase to hell, which is picked straight back up on again in the next episode, aptly titled ‘Staircase to hell’. It’s required that an audience member watches these two episodes in order, otherwise they would be confused by the opening of the latter.

But then the middle episodes of parts 1 and 2 were stand alone episodic adventures, that didn’t always directly tie into each other. For instance, the heist plot of ‘the Dreamland job’ has little to nothing to do with Derrik’s character journey in the following episode, ‘Love’s Slimy Embrace’. So not much would be lost on an audience member who watched these two episodes out of order. The main throughline between them is Lucie buying and owning the bar. But that’s a rather minor element of ‘Love's Slimby embrace’, it’s not like you need an explanation of why Lucie owns the bar to understand what’s happening in that episode.

Where Part 3 really differs from the previous two parts, is that it sticks to a more serilized format for most of its run. Pretty much every episode develops on something meaningful established in prior episodes. For instance, In the first episode of part 3 it’s revealed that Pendegast has been murdered, so the third episode ‘Beanie get your gun’ is spent investigating what happened to him. They find out it’s the priestess, and chase her down in the next episode, which naturally leads into the steam land sega covered in episodes 4 and 5, and then the boat trip back to Dreamland in episode 6. Even when an episode doesn’t end in a cliffhanger, the events that occurred in the previous episode will still be playing on the character’s mind in the next, keeping a constant narrative flow throughout part 3.

Now, I do not believe that serialized Television is inherently better than episodic Television. There are shows that owe their success to their episodic format.

But I think in Disenchantment’s case, serialization fits the tone and scope it’s going for.

Disenchantment is basically a mystery show, Part 3 opens with several overarching mysteries that are investigated over the course of the season, and Bean literally plays detective in two episodes.

Part 2 also presented several mysteries in its opening episodes, like Bean’s heritage and the secret treasure the elfs are looking for. But this became a frustration I had with part 2, as it felt like it was presenting the audience with several tantalising mysteries, but then avoided expanding on them, in favour of more non sequitur adventures. Take the episode ‘the lonely heart is a hunter’ for example. That episode has a subplot about Bean investigating some old runes that are hinted to have a connection to her mother. But this basically leads nowhere as Bean gets scared and gives up on investigating them. We don’t find out anything about them for the rest of part 2, halting that story in its tracks. What the episode chooses to develop instead is the relationship between Zogg and a bear woman named Ursula, a character who has only appeared in this single episode to date. I do actually enjoy this plot line, I think it’s funny and gives Zogg some decent character development. But when the episode prioritises a somewhat frivolous love affair over expanding on the mysteries it’s already set up, it can be frustrating to sit through, because I’m just waiting for them to get back to that mystery.

There are still some instances in part 3 where they bring up an unresolved mystery or plot line but don’t follow up on it straight away. Like it should annoy me that they mention Leaveos quest early in the season, only for it to not develop any further until the last episode.

But it doesn’t, because there’s a narrative excuse for the other character’s to abandon Leaveo and his plot line. They have the more pressing issue of Dagmar to deal with in that moment, and after that I’m so swept up in the murder and betrayl stuff that I don’t mind them leaving Leavo’s plot thread for a little longer.

Another result of part 3 taking a more serialised approach is that it makes meaningful changes to the Disenchantments status quo

After part 1 ended with several series altering cliffhangers, that seemed like it was taking the show in a radically different direction, I was disappointed by how in part 2 everything reverted back to normal by the end of episode 3. Sure, there were a few status quo changes, but for the most part, part 2 still followed Bean, Elfo and Lucie’s shenanigans around Dreamland, not that fundamentally different from part 1.

But this isn’t a criticism I can level at part 3. For one thing there are no episodes of Bean just goofing around drinking, she’s always trying to get somewhere, figure something out, or face some threat to the kingdom. The constant rising urgency prevents the show from feeling as if it’s in some stagnant status quo.

The only time I was in fear of Disenchantment resetting to a status quo was at the beginning of episode 3, ‘Beanie get your gun’, when Derrik reinstates power to Zogg, the towns people don’t care about Bean supposedly being a witch, and Zogg’s forgotten about Odvals and the priestess’s coup attempt

The characters even comment on how weird the situation is.

With Bean and Zogg being reinstated it almost seemed like the whole coup subplot had been entirely pointless, especially as the opening of the episode hinted that Pendergast might not actually have been killed.

But the episode’s ending underlines the lasting impact this coup had, by confirming Pendergast’s death and having the priestess become a fugitive from the kingdom, basically writing out two major supporting characters.

On the subject, Pendergast’s death is the first one in Disenchantment that I was genuinely shocked by. Just because of the show’s willingness to kill off a recurring character without going back on it. They have done similar deaths before, like when Jerry was killed. But Jerry was divorced enough from the main cast and the setting of Dreamland that his absence didn’t feel as noticeable. It’s not like his death bared any repercussions on how Dreamland functioned as a kingdom for example. But Pendergast’s death does, you’re reminded of his absence any time you watch a scene with Zogg losing his mind, or see turbish and Mertz without their commander. Even if Pendergast is somehow brought back later, his death was still felt throughout the whole of this season.

Part 3 of Disenchantment managed to capture my intrigue, by taking its story and characters to interesting new places. My hope for part 4 is that everything part 3 built toward gets a decent payoff. By the end of part 3 most of the plotlines have still been left open ended, with even more opening up and others being teased at. In one case it looks like they might be rehashing an older plotline.

My fear for part 4 is that all these storylines are going to trip over each other. That part four has to juggle so many different plotlines that it’s not going to be able to devote enough time to each of them, making their resolutions feel rushed and underdeveloped.

I think its on part 4 to intertwine all these plot threads, so everything comes together to form one satisfying conclusion. Unless they’re planning on continuing the show after part 4, in which case I hope part 4 is a more streamlined and focused version of part 3.

Speaking of satisfying conclusions… I couldn’t think of one for this video! So let’s end off by discussing three times Disenchantment part 3 referenced 3 other Matt Greoning cartoons.

Starting with the most obvious, the ‘Trip to the moon’ rollercoaster seen in the episode ‘Freak out’ is a reference to the second Futurama episode ‘’The series has landed’, where the planet express crew visit a theme park on the moon. In particular the rollercoaster’s moon face bares resemblance to the mascot crater face. Look, it even has part of the rollercoaster going through its eye, just like how craterface always has a beer bottle shoved through their eye. Which itself is a reference to a silent film from 1920 called ‘A Trip to the moon’. Wait actually maybe the rollercoaster is just supposed to be a reference to that.

Seconally, the joke about the kings servants Vip and Vap living in unlawful cohabitation is a reference to the characters Arkbah and Jeff, who are a gay couple from Matt Groening’s comic, Life in Hell. They also share similar character designs.

And finally, I don’t think this was intentional, but Elfo skating on Dagmars oily back reminded me of Bart Simpson skateboarding. Now try and get that image out of your mind! Good night everybody.

[labratinspace]

On Hannigram, bonds, and the sharing of scars.

So I was watching the deleted epilogue just now when something caught my eye (and I’m sure this has been discussed already, but bear with me. Also forgive my low quality screenshots, I did my best).

As the scene unfolds, we see that Hannibal has a scar across his right cheek. He definitely didn’t get it during the fight with Dolarhyde (I checked - the only blood on his face is from Dolarhyde's throat, and it's all around his mouth). It is entirely possible that he got cut when he and Will were falling off the cliff, but then the camera shifts focus from Hannibal to Will, and…

(The original is on the left, I jacked up the lighting on the right to make it clearer.) The right side of Will’s face is completely fine. Which is weird, considering he did get stabbed there pretty brutally by Dolarhyde. You’d expect at least something, right? Yet there isn’t a trace of the fight on him.

And okay yeah, it could also just be a super long flash forward with Hannibal being scratched up from a more recent fight. But this is a scene already so steeped in visual symbolism, and as the epilogue, it would have followed a very memorable fight, with very memorable injuries. Which makes me think there's more to it.

There are several ways this could be interpreted, and my favourite is that it's showing the extent to which Will and Hannibal shared that moment at the cliff house, and the connection that they share now. They are two halves of a whole and the entire series has been building up to them coming together. In killing Dolarhyde, that process is complete, and it is conveyed with Will's scar on Hannibal's face. Everything that one of them has experienced is being reflected in the other. It's a great way to tie up the overarching theme of the season that the lines between them are steadily blurring. Since this was an epilogue, the culmination of the story would be that any separation between them is now gone. Like Hannibal said, all of this really was for the both of them.

This also makes for an interesting foil to Will's empathy. Whereas Will is able to connect with someone on an emotional level, a scar is physical in nature. It just further emphasizes that their bond goes beyond simple understanding of one another. They are connected mentally, physically, in every way imaginable. Even in ways that should not make any sense whatsoever to anyone who isn't them. Hell, especially in these ways - so much of Hannibal's affection for Will is rooted in Will being the first person Hannibal could recognize a part of himself in, and vice versa. So why not throw in something as crazy as scar-sharing into the mix.

That said, even in Bryan Fuller's Hannibal universe people don't bear the scars of another person's injuries. It's physically impossible. So I do think that the entire scene is happening in a mind palace. Will's? Hannibal's? I have no idea. Knowing them, they've figured out how to do the Vulcan mind meld and it's both of theirs. More sharing of themselves with each other, it's all very on-theme, I swear. 

(I think another way you could potentially see this moment is that it's symbolic of Hannibal bearing the weight of what he's done to Will. Without Hannibal, who knows if Will would have ever truly embraced the darkest parts of himself, and he most definitely would not have acknowledged that he finds this darkness beautiful. But Will resisted and fought against Hannibal's influence for so long, and the process was not without its losses and hardships for him. While Hannibal was always very much aware of what he was doing and the consequences, he is the master of keeping a cool facade, and I think that coolness was something Will struggled with for some time. So the scar could be mind palace!Hannibal's way of acknowledging what Will has gone through more openly? And maybe even taking on some of it himself? This interpretation is definitely a bit more of a stretch, but I do think there is room for it.)

Or it could all be a whole lot of nothing, and I'm just reading way too much into a scene that ultimately didn't make the cut ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[violethowler]

Highlands Poppy: An Analysis of Clone Shiro’s Role in the Story of Voltron Legendary Defender

It pretty much goes without saying that Shiro’s consciousness being merged with his clone in S6E07 Defender of All Universes was a controversial decision with the fandom. Many had been expecting the Clone Shiro plotline to be resolved the way that such stories usually go in your typical science fiction story. The clone would go through an existential crisis realizing that everything they know about themselves is a lie before eventually deciding to build a new identity for themselves independent of the original. So from that perspective, many fans saw the merging of the clone and the original as one character being killed off because the other was seen as more real, and therefore more important. 

However Voltron: Legendary Defender is not a purely science fiction franchise. With its druids and magic, and the Altean basically being elves in all but name, the show has the trappings of an epic fantasy set in outer space. So when discussing Clone Shiro’s role in the overall narrative of the series, we should not be looking at it from a purely sci-fi perspective. Meaning that despite the name “Operation Kuron” and being labeled as such on-screen in Seasons 6-7, “Kuron” does not align with traditional sci-fi tropes about cloning. To more accurately describe what he is, we should first look at the function that both Shiros fill within the overarching story of the series. 

A recurring narrative device used throughout VLD is to link two different characters or events by framing them as parallels. These parallels thematically tie the two together and serve to link the similar elements together in the mind of the audience, often with the additional purpose of highlighting the parts where the two are different. The most immediately obvious example would be the fight against the gladiator robeast in S1E03 Return of the Gladiator, where Voltron’s battle against the robeast intercuts with brief flashbacks to Shiro fighting the warrior it was built from back in the gladiator arena. 

However sometimes these parallels are more subtle, and aren’t directly pointed out in the narrative. Instead, the more subtle parallels are depicted through similar elements, or through visual details that signal that the events being depicted are of a similar nature. For example, despite being separated by at least 18 episodes, Pidge’s grief when she finds Matt’s grave in S4E02 Reunion parallels Shiro mourning Adam in S7E09 Know Your Enemy. Meanwhile, the bits of light floating off Lotor’s body in S8E10 Knights of Light: Part 2 resemble the ones seen coming from his parents’ eyes after their resurrection in S3E07 The Legend Begins, signalling that Lotor is not dead, despite WEP removing all trace of his survival from subsequent episodes.

After Allura transfers Shiro’s consciousness into the clone body, his eyes fill with a solid pink light that contracts before fading to show his pupils as the merger of Shiro and Clone Shiro completes. After this point, Shiro has all of his and the clone’s memories (although thanks to WEP’s meddling with Seasons 7 and 8, we did not get to see this shown on screen). The only other time in the series where we see this visual of a character’s eyes lighting up with a solid color before the light contracts and fades to reveal their pupils is when Haggar leaves Oriande and completes her transformation back into Honerva. 

From a storytelling perspective, this signals to the audience that what Honerva experienced in Oriande after forcing her way past the White Lion’s trial in S6E01 Omega Shield is similar to what occurred with Shiro and his clone in S6E07 Defender of All Universes: a merging of two selves. This connection ties in to an existing pattern that has been present in the show since Season 4 and still remains in Seasons 7 and 8 despite the extensive executive meddling that resulted in the culmination of this plotline being removed.

When speaking with Lotor in S6E05 The Black Paladins, Honerva refers to her Haggar persona as something she was transformed into. Something different than who she really is that she was changed into against her will. Lotor also treats Haggar and Honerva as separate entities in the same episode, and in S4E05 Begin the Blitz, even though we as the audience know for a fact that they are the same person. Shiro, too, makes a distinction between his own actions and those of his alternate self in S7E06. 

But despite her claims to the contrary, we are shown that the only difference between Haggar and Honerva is her memories. Even before she took a bath in the rift on Daibazaal, Honerva was always willing to push ethical boundaries in the name of science. She does not react with horror at her actions after regaining her memories, and despite attempting to separate herself from her Haggar identity, she still adheres to the same tactics to stay in control of the people around her.

In the same way, the biggest distinction between Shiro and his clone is their diverging memory post-Season 2, and the fact that the events of S3E5 The Journey added more trauma on top of Shiro’s PTSD from his time as a prisoner of the empire, making him more short-tempered and less patient. But the Shiro in Seasons 3-5 at his core is so identical to the Shiro of the first 2 seasons that despite the Operation Kuron line in S3E5, many fans before Season 6 did not believe that he was a clone at all. 

We do not get any on-screen acknowledgement of Shiro having two sets of memories, however the Season 8 episode Clear Day points out that Honerva and Haggar are the same person despite the change in her name and appearance. This indicates that we should have gotten a similar acknowledgement of Shiro’s situation at some point during the final season. We should also have seen both characters be forced to confront the reality of their situation in order to move forward. 

The moment where Honerva is forced to confront the fact that she cannot absolve herself of her actions as Haggar was more than likely a casualty of Lotor’s removal from the final season. Her final conversation with Lotor would have forced her to accept responsibility for her actions as Haggar, and Lotor would likewise be forced to acknowledge the cruel witch Haggar and his mother Honerva as the same person. 

While Honerva’s confrontation was centered around Lotor, Shiro’s most significant relationship throughout the overarching narrative is his bond with Keith. It would make perfect sense, then, for Keith to play a major role in helping Shiro reconcile with the memories and actions of his alternate self. And since all of Keith and Shiro’s personal interactions were cut out of the season in order to No-Homo their connection, scenes that acknowledged the merger of the two Shiros were left on the cutting room floor. 

TL;DR: Shiro merging with his clone at the end of Season 6 is an external representation of what happens inside Honerva’s mind at the beginning. The two were each meant to have moments in Season 8 where they admit that their other selves were a part of them instead of separate entities, but these scenes were cut as a consequence of Lotor’s removal from the season and Keith and Shiro being No-Homo’d. 

[petracore101]

The Conflicting Narratives in RWBY V7

We’ve officially reached the end of the volume, so I’d like to share my take on why the final episodes were so controversial, and how the wild variety of reactions to them is rooted in the conflicting narratives of the volume. (And, to close a very long post, a hopeful note).

Part 1: What Drives a Narrative?

Before we can dig in, we’ve got to talk about how narrative arcs progress. Typically, stories are driven either by their plot (and thus focus on an external goal or enemy) or by their characters (and thus focus on internal struggles and growth). Though almost every story has a bit of both plot and characters driving the narrative, they’ll usually fall primarily on one side or the other.

At first glance, RWBY seems to fall into the plot-driven category. The characters are essentially working to stop Salem and save the world. But I would argue that it is actually a far more character driven show. The first 3 volumes are devoted to establishing our main characters, their internal struggles, and their motivations for what they do. Only after all that buildup are we told the true ‘mission’, but even then our characters do not revolve solely around that goal. We spend v4-5 exploring the personal trauma of each character, and only return to pursuing the plot goals in v6. That volume, too, was largely character driven, with our heroes confronting the potential futility of their mission and how to overcome that internal conflict. But, ultimately, these character-driven arcs are all set within one overarching plot-driven story. And that makes RWBY a complicated show to write.

It is in this inherent complexity that I think the conflict around V7 resides. The first 3/4 of the volume is almost exclusively character driven- with interpersonal relationships and internal struggles taking the vast majority of screen time. The team’s reactions to Mantle and Robyn, Ironwood’s development, the Ace Ops’ views on teamwork and friendship, the Schnee family dynamics, and Penny’s return/emotional conflict are all deeply personal character-driven arcs. But, like all of RWBY, this is set against the backdrop of a plot-driven main conflict. The goal is ultimately to keep Salem & co from doing to Atlas and Remnant what they did to Beacon. And though we focus on the character driven story elements at first, the end of the volume must wrap up the plot. And so the must narrative become more plot-driven.

Part 2: Satisfying Character Arcs

The (arguably) biggest challenge when balancing character and plot-driven narratives is to ensure that the choices the plot needs characters to make are set up or explained by their internal and interpersonal characterization. If you start with a plot-driven story, you need the resulting character reactions to satisfy the plot lines you set up. If you start with a character-driven story, you need the concluding plot elements to satisfy the character arcs you’ve established. Basically, character motivations must naturally lead into what the plot requires. Otherwise the story you tell just isn’t satisfying, and you leave your audience feeling confused or cheated. Weaving those elements together can be incredibly challenging, hence why most stories let one or the other drive the narrative.

In v7, RWBY failed to adequately show how the character arcs in the first part of the volume would motivate their plot-required actions in the final few episodes. While the plot’s direction was somewhat clear from the start, the character-driven narrative simply did not organically tie into the plot-driven one. So, while the final episodes make perfect sense from an external, plot-grounded perspective, they do not make sense from an internal, character-grounded one. How well this goes over with an audience is really perception based, but I’ll get there in a bit. For, now, let’s look at some examples of what I mean:

Ironwood’s plot-driven narrative is that of a general willing to do whatever it takes to stop the greatest threat to mankind. Despite authoritarian tendencies, he tries to work with RWBY&co, and eventually learns to trust his fellow leaders and work with them in a last ditch effort to save his cities. But he is pushed past his breaking point when Salem uses his compassion against him to threaten everything he’s charged with protecting. In a final bid to keep from losing on every front, he betrays his new allies and abandons many of his people to protect the relics and those he thinks he can still save. Now, that progression makes sense. The plot works, it seems like a solid arc. The problem is that his character-driven narrative does not set that ending up. In the early volume, we see him repeatedly face down impossible odds, choose to trust those around him rather than silence them, and refuse to give in to fear even when confronted with his biggest PTSD trigger. We are never shown a moment where he gives into fear, or sacrifices lives to save others, or even acts on some suspicion towards RWBY & co. We are told about past actions, and we can thus infer what the plot implies about him, yes, but the character narrative does not establish the conditions for his final plot plot choices.

Clover has a similar issue. The plot tells us that he’s a top special operative, wholly devoted to Ironwood and willing to follow his orders into anything. He tries to reach out to Qrow, to form a working relationship, but typically does not see professional partnerships as personally meaningful. When given an order to arrest Qrow, he does so without question, certain his general has due cause. And when Qrow won’t go quietly, he does everything in his power to take him in by force. Again, all that makes sense, from a plot perspective. But that does not match the character that the early volume developed. Instead, almost all of Clover’s characterization centers on Qrow. He is kind and flirtatious with him, has virtually no interactions with anyone else, and Ironwood is rarely even mentioned. Clover’s relationship with Qrow characterizes him as easy going and reasonable, and they do not show any focus on his devotion to Ironwood or even to following orders. Because he’s only ever developed on screen by his interactions with Qrow, that’s the only character driven narrative we have for him. So while his plot arc makes sense for the character concept and plot beats, it isn’t supported by his characterization.

The same could even be said of Qrow, who chooses to work with Tyrian to stop Clover when he can’t get Clover to stop attacking him. The plot essentially tells us that he thinks it always comes to this with his friends, that Qrow will always choose to do what he must to survive and keep fighting. But Qrow’s v7 characterization has been about fear of hurting those he cares for, and relief at being around someone he might not inherently endanger. Even with Raven, he never aimed to truly hurt her, even when she sided with Salem. The past several volumes, his journey has been about learning to let those he loves be near him- which he has done with RWBYJNOR. There were no character moments in v7 indicating that he still had massive doubts about that choice. And he’s certainly shown no indication that he would ever work with someone he despised, especially not against someone he cared for. While his plot makes sense for a tired older man who’s used to being alone and has already lost so much, his previous characterization in this volume simply does not match the decisions the plot demands he make.

Likewise, Robyn’s willingness to square off with Clover on the airship makes sense for her plot. She’s the rebellious hometown vigilante hero, passionate and willing to fight for what she believes in. But her characterization has repeatedly shown that she knows when to back down and live to fight another day, when to manipulate those around her to get what she needs, and when to run so she can do more good elsewhere. We’ve never previously seen her turn to useless violence out of anger, even when pressed (as with the cargo blockade or election night). Her primary concern has always been show to be the people of Mantle, and she’s always smart about placing herself in the optimal position to help them. And she’s very good at finding another way when faced with horrid choices. So choosing to fight Clover in a tiny airship (while a completely justified response), doesn’t match the character we’ve seen established. That character might have ditched the plane to go help Mantle, might have convinced Clover to let her get to Ironwood, might even have convinced Qrow to fight back against Clover. But trying to take Clover out when the odds are entirely against her, and Tyrian’s still a threat? That choice only matches her plot.

In some ways, the Ace Ops as a whole have a similar problem. Though, for them, it is more that we got very little initial characterization, and not much screen time showing their relationship with team RWBY. This doesn’t bother me as much, because they are truly just side characters, but it does make the personal stake they seem to have in their battle with RWBY seem odd. Again, the character narrative did not adequately set up relationships between them, so when the plot demands they feel personally betrayed by RWBY’s dissension, it falls a little flat.

While none of these choices are really out of character when taken in the context of the plot, they are not actions that would naturally arise from the character narrative. And so, regardless of how many plot points there are telling us that the character will act this way, it still feels inorganic because we’ve never seen them act this way. The arc might make sense in the plot, but it’s not satisfying.

Part 3: Perception of Narrative

How a moment feels to the audience is dependent on how they’re engaging with the material. There are lots of ways for a viewer to engage with a show, but they are generally focused on what lens the audience member is using to view the narrative. For the purpose of this discussion, we’ll compare people who see stories through the eyes of a character(s) and those who see them through the context of the plot. Neither is inherently better, but both offer distinct perspectives on the narrative.

When viewed through the lens of plot, v7 is a coherent and well executed story arc. But because the plot-driven and character-driven parts of the narrative in v7 often don’t match up, people who view the story through the context of plot see a very different story than those who are viewing it through the eyes of the characters. This is particularly true if the characters an audience member engages with have been characterized differently by their internal struggles than by the plot. Some characters (like team RWBY, for example) have had plot actions which are largely consistent with their characterization and internal motivations. So viewers who see the story through their eyes may not see any major discontinuity in the narrative. But other characters (like those in part 2), made some choices in the last few episodes that do not follow naturally from their previous behavior. Though there is plot justification for these inconsistencies, viewers seeing the story through their eyes will still find the discontinuity jarring. And that impacts the perceived validity of the narrative.

And thus we get some parts of the FNDM furious over inconsistent or poorly written character arcs, while others see them as perfectly in character and well written. And again, neither perspective is better. They are simply viewing the story with entirely different context. And because v7’s final episodes did not smoothly transition from a character-driven to plot-driven narrative, that different context creates conflicting perceived narratives.

Part 4: Writing and Sacrifices

So how did we end up its such a big difference in how the narrative was perceived? Well, I think it has a lot to do with RWBY getting a new writing team.

Don’t get me wrong- I’m SO glad they’ve brought on some new writers. They absolutely needed more hands on deck, and some of my favorite moments this volume have come from the new folks at the writing desk. But learning to work with a new team is a hard process. Balancing this many characters and story arcs is hard even when you only have to communicate with yourself, and the more people you add, the harder it gets. Weaving together character and plot driven narratives is never easy, but trying to do so with a writing team that is still learning how they work together? That’s damn near impossible.

Overall, I think the team did an incredible job, especially since it was their first volume together, and they were taking on a massive amount of material. But I do think that they bit off more story than they had time to chew. Limited runtime makes it challenging to fit in enough connecting tissue without sacrificing other aspects of the story they wanted to tell, and honestly I’m not sure it would even have been possible if they’d been working together for decades. This was a somewhat short volume, without many long episodes. We started with a lot of characters- RWBY, JNOR, Qrow and Maria- and then added Pietro, Penny, Ironwood, Winter, the Ace Ops, the Happy Huntresses, the Schnee family, the Council... Not to mention juggling Watts, Tyrian, Cinder, and Neo. There just wasn’t time to establish all of them, let alone weave all their motivations and identities into a coherent plot.

I don’t think there was any way for the writers to give everything the screen time it needed to develop. We didn’t even have time to introduce everyone to each other, even with most character growth postponed to allow time to show us a few key dynamics. Already established dynamics (like those among RWBY and JNOR) aren’t given a lot of focus, because they can just be inferred. So we got a volume where most of the main cast has a flat or nonexistent character arc, and side characters whose brief moments of characterization have to focus on humanizing them and getting the audience interested, rather than establishing a precedent for their future decisions. And all the rest gets told to us outside the on-screen events of the volume, or through rapid/fire exposition. Which works well for some people, and is still good from a plot-focused perspective, but throws others entirely out of the narrative because it doesn’t allow for a character-driven one.

I get the feeling that the writers were faced with limited time and a lot of story to tell. And so they chose to sacrifice some continuity in character development in order to fit more of the plot they wanted, rather than lose any plot points or spread out the arcs. And while I understand the reasoning behind that choice, I’m not sure that the sacrifice was worth it.

Part 5: A Personal Note

For me, the most interesting and uplifting thing about RWBY is how much the character’s choices are their own. Despite living in a world that seems built to force them on a certain path, they stubbornly continue to choose their own destinies. Even in the face of destruction, their choices always matter. I love that in a story so focused on destiny, choice is ultimately the greatest power the characters have. It’s such a beautiful message, and it’s a big part of why I love the show. So to have their internal motivations overlooked for the sake of plot feels, well, wrong to me. As if it contradicts the very core of the story’s meaning.

This volume’s conclusion has left me feeling... disappointed. The message of the plot still matches the story I fell in love with, but, for me at least, that message is undermined by the way we got there. The journey will always hold more meaning to me than the destination, and the characters more importance than the plot. That said, RWBY is still one of my favorite stories, and a journey I am glad to be on. I hope that the writers will learn from the criticism of this volume’s end, as they have from criticism in the past. I’ll keep loving and supporting this show, it’s characters, and it’s creative team. And I’ll keep hoping that the next chapter in this story will be better than the last.

Because, ultimately, that’s what RWBY means to me. That it’s worth it to keep on hoping, to keep on loving, to keep on opening your heart to the world. To just... live.

[takaraphoenix]

Buffy: Season 2

I took a slight break from my BtVS rewatch because some new seasons to shows dropped that I didn’t want to put off until after I finish the rewatch. But now I’m back on it and I just finished season 2!

1. Favorite character of this season?

Cordelia! She has come so far already since the airheaded, self-centered cheerleader, to see her integrate into the Scoobies, her relationship with Xander but also the way her dynamic with Buffy and Willow changes is amazing.

2. Outstanding minor character (positive or negative)?

Oz. Considering he is in less than half the episodes this season, I would count him as a minor character at this point. And I just love Oz so much, he is such a sweet, gentle weirdo. Him becoming a werewolf, getting put in the know, his relationship with Willow. He's so adorable and fun.

3. Favorite character dynamic?

The Angelus-Spike-Drusilla dynamic is amazing. For one, I love Spike/Drusilla so much but I also truly love the way their dynamic flips this season. Season 1 was all about Spike taking care of Drusilla during her time of need, season 2 is all about Drusilla taking care of Spike.

Only that this season also adds Angelus into the mix and it is so fascinating to watch. I love the bickering between Angelus and Spike, I love the love-triangle they have going on. Seeing Angelus as just this pure raw bad guy and the contrast to Angel, as well as getting to experience this dynamic of ¾ of the Fang Gang is so great.

4. Favorite canon romantic ship?

Tough choice this season, because there are both Xander/Cordelia as well as Oz/Willow, which are both two of my favorite ships. Xander and Cordy are one of the very few straight couples where the bantering and bitching actually works for me, I love the growth they shared together.

And yes, as a lesbian, I am loving lesbian!Willow very, very much, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the Oz/Will in the time-period it happens, not to mention... I can really make that work, even with lesbian!Willow, because Oz is literally the safest guy to fall for, honestly. First he is the most cliche guy to fall for because guitarist in a band, but then we get to know him and he is just so kind and accepting and soft and sweet. If you're a lesbian in deep denial about your own sexuality yet, that's the kind of guy you can easily pick to look straight.

5. Least favorite canon romantic ship?

Mh... tough one this time. I love Spike/Drusilla, Oz/Willow and Xander/Cordelia and I don't dislike the Giles/Jenny either, it works while it works. If I'd have to go least favorite, which doesn't mean dislike, it'd then be Giles/Jenny. Mainly because of the lying. Everything could have been avoided if Jenny had been upfront about this after learning who Giles and Buffy really were. Because then the rules would have been clear too – no sex for Angel – and thus... this entire season could have been avoided. Instead, she kept her heritage and reason for being there to herself, no one made the rules clear so they could be broken and chaos could ensue, breaking Giles' heart in the process. Also... not a fan of the fridging, though unsure if it'd really count as fridging because while her death was used for the sake of Giles' man-pain, that wasn't the reason for her death – she did die for valid reasons. Like, the bad guy killing the one person who gets close to stopping their plans? Makes sense.

6. Favorite episode?

It's a tie between two two-parters, actually. If that is too much cheating, I would take the conclusions of each two-parter and say those tie. But it remains a tie.

The two-parter episodes 09 and 10 “What's My Line?”. Kendra! Seeing those two slayers team up. The personal contemplation Buffy has to consider about her possible future, or lack thereof. Also really loving Drusilla/Spike as villains.

And the finale, episodes 21 and 22, “Becoming”. It was such a good conclusion of everything this season had been working toward. Yes, I am still very salty about Kendra's death and I hate that she only returned just to be killed off, but the rest of it and the conclusion where Angel's soul had been restored but Buffy still needed to sacrifice him and it just breaks your heart.

7. Least favorite episode?

Harder, because there were three duds in this season for me. Episode 5 “Reptile Boy”, because just... college boys preying on high school girls to sacrifice them to a reptile demon...? Really?

Episode 12 “Bad Eggs” was just... bland. There's always a bland one, one so boring that I kind of forget about it. Season one's was “Never Kill a Boy on the First Date” and this season it's this.

And the third in the set was episode 20 “Go Fish” which is just so weird and also cringey in a way, because the coach sacrificing Buffy to become the fish monsters' sex-toy was... yikes? And the body-horror of skin splitting open and fish-people emerging from them? Just, everything about this episode aside from the Xander/Cordelia was real bad.

8. Favorite Monster Of The Week?

Harder, because this season didn't have a lot of those, actually. Most episodes came with obstacles that the vamp trio put into their ways. I guess Ethan Rayne? I loved how he brought another layer to Giles' story and character, I also generally love the Halloween episode.

9. Least favorite Monster Of The Week?

When “sudden child-death” was turned into a German monster in episode 18 “Killed by Death” and Buffy literally got to fight Death in a hospital? That was just... strange. Like, even with the episodes I disliked, the villains were kinda “meh” or at least reasonable, but this one was off.

10. Rate the overarching villain!

Amazing. Honestly, I truly love Angelus and the contrast this paints considering we have seen kind, loving, good Angel in season 1. Also, major props to David for his acting. Angel and Angelus are so distinctively different yet still share enough characteristics because they are the same character. I also love the moral dilemma this puts Buffy in, to go up against her former lover.

Bonus: Other thoughts?

It was already annoying last season that they just... don't tell Joyce the truth, but this season, it becomes simply ridiculous. If Buffy's secret was something she would be guarding close to her heart, yes, okay – but between Giles, Willow, Xander, Cordelia, Oz and Jenny, she honestly just tells it to everyone who is even remotely close to her.

And last season, Darla already went into the house and seriously injured Joyce, could have easily killed her. A thing that would have been avoidable if they had looped Joyce in and she'd know not to invite strangers she never saw before into her house. For me, that episode will forever be the one where they should have told Joyce. But now we're one more season and many more dangers in.

And there really isn't any valid reason not to tell Joyce, because we tell literally everyone else.

Sure, she then learns the truth in the finale, but not because she is being told, rather because she witnesses the dusting and Buffy's hand is forced, which just sucks.

Aside from the Joyce-thing, I really did enjoy this season, there were a lot of episodes I really liked, even beyond the four that tied for my favorites – honorable mentions go to Oz becoming a werewolf in “Phases”, naturally “Halloween”, Giles-centric content in “The Dark Age”.

[buzzdixonwriter]

Avengers, Disassemble!

I’m going to tell you a story to make a point, a true story, but in the words of the late Jack Enyart, I will change the names “to protect the innocent and confound the guilty.’

. . .

Once upon a time, w-a-a-a-y back before we had word processors or the Internet or even bulletin board systems, Producer Pete got the rights to do an Avengers TV show.

All of us who worked for Producer Pete Productions kvelled at this idea:  The Avengers!  Marvel’s mightiest heroes!  We couldn’t wait to jump on it.

…and we didn’t have to wait.  Producer Pete got the rights on a Monday, called the network on Tuesday to pitch the idea to them, the network said send us an outline for the pilot and some sample art and we’ll let you know.

Send it by Thursday.

This Thursday.

In the morning.

First thing.

(Oh, did I mention Producer Pete was in Los Angeles and the network suits were in New York?  I didn’t?  Well, keep that in mind -- along with the fact we had no such thing as the Internet or emails back in the day.)

Producer Pete appraised us of this late Tuesday.  A complete detailed outline and production art in 36 hours.  A tough challenge…

…but it could be done.

First we hammered out a format for the show: An hour in length, not a mere half hour, and thus with six segments instead of three.  Each episode would tell a big overarching story, but segments 1 through 5 would be standalone adventures focusing on just one of the Avengers while segment 6 would wrap everything up in a big bright bow.

We quickly came up with a story idea and even called in a couple of freelance writers and artists to get everything done by 6pm on Wednesday, which was the latest we could drop the material off at FedEx and hope to get it to NYC first thing Thursday.

The Avengers team assembled.  Producer Pete put me in charge of shepherding the project.  I gathered the writers and art crew around noon on Wednesday and ran them through the broad strokes quickly:

“Al, you write the Captain America segment,  That’s our opening.  Make sure Cappy does A by the end of the segment so it can tie in with Bob’s segment.

“Bob, you write Namor’s segment.  Take A and add B to it so Carol can pick up where you leave off with the Vision.

“Carol, you take A and B, add C so Dave can add D; Dave, pass A, B, C, and D to Ed; Ed, you make sure to add E and when you’re all done I’ll go over the entire thing and write the last segment where all the Avengers assemble and do A through E together.”

I then gave out similar assignments to the artists.  They didn’t have to reflect exactly what any of the writers wrote, but they needed to make sure Cappy did A, Namor did B, etc.

Six writers, six artists, six hours.  It could be done.  We were off and running…

…except for Bob.

Bob was a talented writer, wrote very funny stuff, but he was as deaf as a post and vain about his condition.

I went over the beats at least twice with everybody in the room, each time asking the assembled crew:  “Have you got that?”

And they all nodded and said they did.

Even Bob.

And I also told them that if they had any problems, come straight to me, I’d help work ‘em out ASAP.

Six writers.

Six artists.

Six short written segments.

Six pieces of art.

Six hours.

Piece o’ cake, right?

Bob did not hear me telling the crew to come straight to me if they ran into any problems.

Instead he went to Producer Pete and said, “I can’t figure out what this thing is regarding Namor and B.  Howzabout if instead of B I did 2?”

“Sure,” said Producer Pete, sealing our fates.

Four o’clock rolls around.  The preliminary art looks great, the artists are inking and coloring.  Al and Carol and Dave and Ed turn in their segments, and everything fits together perfectly.

Bob drops off his Namor segment.

The segment with 2 instead of B.

“Whoa!  Whoa!  Whoa!” says I.  “What’s this?  Bob, we need Namor to do B not 2.  Go back and fix it.”

Bob goes back, but he doesn’t fix it.  He looks up Producer Pete instead.  “Buzz doesn’t like your idea about 2, he wants to do B.”

“Tell him to do 2,” says Producer Pete.  Once he put his mark on a story, it was going to stay that way, regardless of what had been discussed and agreed upon earlier.

Bob relays this news to me.  I go see Producer Pete.  Producer Pete listens to my explanation why we need Bob to write B instead of 2, nods, and says, “Do 2 instead.”

Well, this throws a monkey wrench in the proceedings, because we can’t have the Avengers doing A, B, C, D, and E in the last segment, can we?

The writers are ready to leave but I corral them and explain the situation.  They are not happy, but they know what needs to be done and get back to work.

I intercept the artists and explain they need to redo the art to reflect 1 through 5 instead of A through E.

They are even less happy than the writers, but they start redoing the almost completed art.

I alert the office manager and tell her she needs to keep a couple of typists on duty (remember, this is before word processing; we writers handed in rough drafts, frequently corrected with red pens or literally cut and pasted together, and a secretary or typists would need to retype the material in presentable form).

They’re even less happy than the artists (who at least have the benefit of chemical enhancements).

But there’s more bad news: Because the art needs to be redone, we’re gonna miss the 6pm deadline for regular FedEx service.

Fortunately, the office manager has a replacement -- more expensive, but available.  If we can get the work done by 7pm, we can take advantage of a special courier service used by banks and big businesses.

Well, ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right?

And Bob?

I told him he’d done a great job and that he could go home.

Wasn’t gonna keep him around to screw things up again.

(Don’t think I bore any grudge against Bob; I realized the fault lay with me not making sure, not him failing to understand.  I worked with him a couple of times after that, but never on any projects with crucial deadlines.)

We plunge ahead.  Now we’re getting desperate (well, not the typists; they’re merely getting cranky).

Producer Pete needed to attend some function that evening so around 6:30pm he starts heading out the door.  The office manager and I intercept him with a vital question:  If the artists haven’t finished all six pieces of art by 7pm, can we got with what we’ve got?

“No.  I promised ‘em six pieces of art, they’re gonna get six pieces of art.”

So off he went, and back I went to do what I could to speed the artists along.

You can only lay down inks and colors so fast, and this was not merely a case of new art but old art to be retouched in order for the new to go over it.

And that didn’t include mounting said art on large boards for a professional looking presentation.

7pm starts breathing down our necks.  We’ve got four pieces done.  We contact Producer Pete at his function and ask if we can go with four instead of six.

Long pause.  “Is the final segment among the four?”

=groan= No.

“Don’t send it unless you can include the big climax.”

7pm zooms past.  We do not notice the lovely sound Douglas Adams claims it makes.

Now we’re really at wit’s end.  Contact Producer Pete at his function again.  He is not happy.  Explain the situation.

Fortunately the office manager found an even more expensive solution:   A special service that will send a personal courier across the country via red eye flight to deliver the presentation first thing in the morning.

Not only does it cost a huge hunka cash to hire this service, but said courier must fly first-class round trip.

I tell Producer Pete he can buy me an economy round trip ticket and I would personally deliver the presentation.

Producer Pete asks me to put office manager on the line.

Tells office manager if necessary, she is to shoot me to prevent my having any face-to-face encounter with the network.

Fortunately the last two artists finish their pieces just minutes shy of the super-expensive super-exclusive courier’s 8pm deadline.

He shows up at the front door, we thrust the presentation into his arms, spin him around, and shove him into the cab.

He makes it to the airport, catches the flight, delivers the presentation the next day as contracted.

The art crew and I and a couple of writers who wanted to see if we’d make it or not decide we need to blow off some steam.

Problem: Producer Pete’s studio is w-a-a-a-y out in the boonies; there are no nearby places to get a meal or a drink.

Solution: We commandeer Producer Pete’s liquor cabinet and drain it dry.

P.S.: The network rejects the show.

P.P.S.: Producer Pete buys a liquor cabinet with a lock on it.

. . .

So why tell you all this?

I get criticized a lot for being extremely specific and precise in my details.

Now let me state, this isn’t true 100% of the time.

I don’t need to micromanage everything.

But if I know what I want, then I want that, not something close to it, not something approximating it. 

If the final product doesn’t need to fit a precise need, I’m typically fine with letting people do what they feel best.

But when I give explicit instructions, I’ve got a reason.

And sometimes why I want it is so involved and complex that’s it’s just easier for me to say “Do it at 700dpi” than explain we’re anticipating the artwork being repurposed at some point in the future.

Just.

Do.

It.

…or refuse…

But please don’t say you will then ignore what I tell you I need.

. . .

Ironically, the exact opposite of this scenario also plagues me.

If you include a detail in your instructions, I assume that detail is important.

If you tell me to contact Jane in the accounting department, I’m gonna contact Jane even if there’s a half dozen other people who can help me just as easily.

Don’t distract me with superfluous details.

“Contact the accounting department” not “Contact Jane”, comprende?

(I’m not the least bit surprised I need to explain this to many of you…)

 © Buzz Dixon

[mephsation]

5, 7, and 9 for Black Sun, 2, 3, and 4 for Wicked Game?

5: What part was hardest to write?

Chapter 12! Everything was finally coming together and I had to tie up all the little details from before, give explanation of what was going on, and keep it all coherent. And the story was nearly done, so I was a bit stressed over that.

7: Where did the title come from?

Black Sun by Death Cab For Cutie. The lyrics spoke to me, and the symbolism and imagery really fit. I feel like the lyrics could be either of them talking about the other. And I never said I was original :P

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

Alternate scenes and ideas that I played around with, yeah. The overarching plot was always the same, though. At one point, the title would have gone to a small fic based off the music video for the song, but then I realized that ‘Black Sun’ fit way too well for this demon thing I was writing, so I scrapped that idea. 

2: What scene did you first put down?

For Wicked Game, it was the very first chapter! I just sat down and started writing. I had a plot in my head and I wanted to get it all down. The only thing written out of order was the ending, which I wrote probably around chapter 4 or 5. 

3: What’s your favorite line of narration?

Oh, this is hard to answer. There are quite a few that come to mind, but,  

“It was a shitty house in a shitty neighborhood. A thin building with a sliver of bare dirt to serve as a yard. It was almost identical to the houses next to it. Something about the line of tired houses reminded him of the old steel mill towns that were littered throughout the Midwest.” 

This would, at the moment, be my answer. I was hoping the style shift would make a reader feel like something was off from the first sentence, then realize this wasn’t Ryan’s POV by ‘Midwest.’

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

Another one that’s hard to answer! Either, 

“You know I would do anything you asked, right?”  Because it’s a key phrase that is a huge understatement and I hoped it would be picked up on. Or at least be suspicious. Or

“I would have said yes.”

Because drama. 

Thank you for asking!

[chiseler]

Imagine Electing Pete

On September 12, 2019, during the Democratic Primary debate in Houston, Texas, something strange, even epiphanous occurred. At least for me. The current Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, one Pete Buttigieg, evidently (for this was by no means visible to the eye) fell into a trance-like state and began to channel a voice that was, oddly, not of the spirit world.

The voice was that of Disc Jockey Glenn Beck, and the words were from a 2009 Mission Statement that he had composed for some extraordinary thing he'd started called the 9/12 Movement; a kind of protest/support group for those citizens longing for the rare fragrance of unity and togetherness which intoxicated all of America, we were told, on September 12, 2001; just one day after that thing happened in Lower Manhattan. "We were not obsessed with Red States, Blue States or political parties, the color of your skin, or what religion you practiced. We were united as Americans, standing together to protect the greatest nation ever created. We want to get everyone thinking like it is September 12th, 2001 again." Beck continued. "On September 12th, and for a short time after that, we really promised ourselves that we would focus on the things that were important -- our family, our friends, the eternal principles that allowed America to become the world's beacon of freedom." Amen. I suppose. Of course, how formidable the words, and how entirely sincere (or not) the sentiment may have been -- one cannot, I suspect, locate much nostalgia for that moment beating in the hearts of this country's Muslim communities, ever since marked for harassment (and frequently far, far worse) at the hands of those basking 'neath freedom's beacon -- it seems to have been a uniquely durable one. Personally, I had completely forgotten that . . . anyone . . . had told ev'ry little star just how sweet they thought everything was on that day. What I remember most Is the kind of unusually animated daze people were walking around in. The American Imagination was in high style that day. All anybody could talk about was What Happens Next, with many of these people consumed with their own, homemade fantasies of national vengeance toward those responsible. Their hearts were full, and grim. The Mayor of South Bend, as I say, appears to remember things rather differently, and one cannot question it. Six years later -- the clear sky of American unity having, for the rest of us, clouded over once more -- Buttigieg would remain so enthralled by this singular hour in Our American Story that he would leave his two jobs (it was, yes, that kind of economy) as a consultant for McKinsey & Co., and as a Fellow at the Truman National Security Project. He would enlist, voluntarily, in the United States Navy, jumping into our ongoing war of military aggression against the country of Afghanistan with both feet for a period of fourteen months. He ran numbers and drove officers around. Not exactly Audie Murphy in 'To Hell and Back' . . . or Abbott & Costello in 'Buck Privates' for that matter (if he triple-tapped an elementary school or watched our drones wipe out a house party or two, he has not admitted to it) . . . but it provided this future Presidential candidate a chance to build character (and, naturally, his resume). So, unlike a professional grifter such as Glenn Beck, when Buttigieg waxes nostalgic for those days of unity, one doubts his sincerity at one's peril. Buttigieg, during the debate in Houston, stated "All day today, I’ve been thinking about Sept. 12, the way it felt when for a moment we came together as a country. Imagine if we had been able to sustain that unity. Imagine what would be possible right now with ideas that are bold enough to meet the challenges of our time, but big enough, as well, that they could unify the American people. That’s what presidential leadership can do. That’s what the presidency is for." He concluded, of course, with, "And that is why I’m asking for your vote." To someone like Buttigieg, September 12, 2001 is a day that, I'm certain, he wishes could have gone on forever. But whatever he wants people to think, it was a day when the entire country was crouching as one, it seemed, gazing at everyone around them in fear and outright bafflement; a day that our rulers could have done (and in some senses did do) anything they wanted with us, and we probably would have gone along with all of it because we didn't know what else there was to do; a day, in other words, when our empire was never more firmly in the grasp of those who own it. Despite the loftiness of his rhetoric on the debate stage -- a mode of high school valedictorian speech he is often given to -- Pete Buttigieg is, underneath it all, a born technocrat; a classic, Eisenhower-era Republican; a creature of our institutions. He is not Franklin Roosevelt (that Bolshevik). He does not aspire to lift a frightened nation out of its slough of despond and keep its people safe from Capitalism's consequences and depredations; or anything, by all evidence, more inspiring  the citizenry than the 'Shut Up and Shop' society finally urged upon us in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. He is only here to apply for a job to manage this empire of ours, nothing more. But I can't help feeling there's something quietly monstrous about his true, evident nostalgia for that time when unity was accessible to some Americans and not to others. I had my first inkling of this a couple months back when he had to get off the campaign trail for a day or two because the cops in South Bend had been for too long conducting themselves like Cossacks under Nicholas II, rampaging with too much impunity through that city's Black neighborhoods (safely separated from the more upper class College Town South Bend is known for being), finally dropping too many bodies with too little pretext. After pleading to the national press that he had essentially no control, no control at all, over the police in his city, and every poll showing that Black voters utterly despise him, he headed over to the part of town in question to inform the residents to please stay on the line, as it were; their questions and concerns were important to him. In full Damage Control mode, Pete Buttigieg read his statement through a bullhorn to a group of women, members of a grossly victimized community, all of whom had had enough and were giving their Mayor the earful his White ass deserved. And he stood before them, this diminutive block of American cheese in shirtsleeves, collar and tie; the guy who blankly tells you he's sorry, but you're being let go and there's nothing he can do about it; standing with a bullhorn in his hand and not a hint of emotion in his voice as he droned into the instrument to his city's Black community: "I'm not asking for your vote." Some people in this country, you see, are asked for their vote; others are not. Matters of race aside -- and not much good can be said on Buttigieg and that subject; which is not to suggest, I hasten to add, that the man is racist. With his background he's probably never had to think very much about race -- one thing was clear to me: He's a real calm customer, this guy; doesn't break a sweat. Everyone says so. Smart as a whip, too. You hear that one constantly from his supporters: swooning over his credentials, his evident intellect, his grasp of languages ("Norwegian! Can you believe it?!"). It all feeds into the overarching perception of his ability to handle crises with the right character of detachment. Our media adores him, largely for this reason; and why shouldn't they? He's perhaps the closest thing to a polar opposite in this race to the dread Donald Trump without his skin being at all darker. With Pete Buttigieg as President, I have been told, we won't have to think and worry so much about what's going on in the world, the way we do now. We won't be on pins and needles, waiting to see what the President of the United States does next. We can, at long last, relax again; get some sleep. He's got this. I can understand the enthusiasm for Buttigieg on the part of those who wish to see him elected President (there aren't too many of them, if polling has anything to say about it, but they do make themselves known). I even can find it in me to share it. To some extent, anyway. There is, after all, true intrinsic value in the election, should it happen, of the first (openly) gay President of the United States; just as Barack Obama's election possessed similar intrinsic value; just as the election of our first Woman President will when it happens. It's the only, unambiguously good thing about a prospective Pete Buttigieg Presidency. But beyond that, and the fact that most of what is claimed for him is probably true, I actually dread his ever being President (that he is not the only candidate currently in the race who I can say this about does little to ease my anxiety). Last night's single file march down 9/12 Memory Lane tore it for me. I know what he is now, and no mistake. He is a living, breathing, competent, talented, educated, cultured (no Alfred E. Neuman for this guy), credentialed throwback to the brain trusts and planners of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Rostow, McNamara, Bundy; every Ivy League war criminal Halberstam wrote about in 'The Best and the Brightest', who cooly, carefully ran the numbers, made their calculations, and executed a wholesale genocide in Southeast Asia. Buttigieg has the potential to be precisely the kind of cool, detached, analytical monster that will tell us, sorry, but entitlements have to be cut (numbers don't lie) or, worse, successfully oversee the ongoing, unending US war on Islam while our once again fat, dumb, happy country sleeps an untroubled sleep. In that sense (if no other), Pete Buttigieg is the most dangerous of all the candidates currently in the race. He's what Noam Chomsky warned us about fifty years ago.

by R.J. Lambert

[captainpikeachu]

Here are some interesting tidbits from Anson Mount’s interview with CinemaBlend at the TCA 2009 event.

in regards to references to Pike’s canon past/future:

We will be referencing canon associated with Pike, but probably not in the way that most people are imagining

in regards to Pike and Spock’s relationship:

It was really a matter of feeling it out as the writers figured it out. And I got lucky be handed an actor as incredibly talented as Ethan Peck. That guy right there is gonna be a big time movie star, he’s got it all...some of the cues came from our own friendship on set. He’s such a lovely guy.

in regards to Pike’s growth and journey in season 2:

I mean he goes, he goes through some major emotional challenges in this season and can't talk about any of them...I was challenged as an actor on this job as much as I've ever been.

-----------------------------------------------

so judging from this interview, we will somehow get more references down the line that will tie into what we already known in canon about Pike - we did know from comic con and interviews, Alex Kurtzman has talked about the return of Talos and the Talosians in some way, but I am curious to see how they fit into this overarching story in hunting for these signals.

my prediction on this front is that somehow either through the Red Angels or the Talosians, Pike may see a vision of his future, specifically, the accident that will leave his body permanently damaged that we see in The Menagerie - the producers and Anson have spoken before about how this portion of Pike’s story in season 2 is a second act, and how they want to shape the story in a way so that the decision Pike makes to stay on Talos in The Menagerie is not a “tragedy” but a “victory” - and what could be a more victorious thing than seeing where your future will, knowing this accident is going to horribly injure you forever and end your career, but still going to face it head on - if the story of this second act is Pike knowing this accident is coming and he still went in to pull those cadets out years later in that training accident, that he accepted this fate because those cadets and their lives mattered more than anything he would give up, then that is how Pike’s story isn’t just this sad tragic accident happening to a great man, but rather, it becomes a story of Pike knowing his destiny and still walking into the fray to face it - it would be his choice and not just a horrible accident that happened to him

now as for Spock and Pike, i am thoroughly excited for their reunion on screen, which we see a glimpse of in the trailers, but i have no doubt Anson and Ethan will do magic together and i can’t wait to see that relationship be fleshed out more (and maybe for them to get their own show!!!!!!)

and lastly, this talk about emotional challenges is what excites me the most - Anson’s Pike so far has been this great heartwarming and charming presence that lights everything up and that is wonderful because it allows the ship/bridge to also relax and have more personality - but anyone who’s seen Jeffrey Hunter’s version of Pike knows that there is this darker melancholy side of Pike who almost gave up his captaincy because he was so depressed and tired and burned out of what this job was costing him emotionally - we did see a few glimpses here and there with Pike in episode 1 talking about the toll it took on him and his crew having to be forced to stay out of the war, you see that clearly there is pain there, and that is something i want to see explored more - because Pike needs to be more than just a one dimensional charming cute nice dad figure, there needs to be complexity and nuance for the character to not end up being one note or just a nice guy archetype - we need both light and dark, we need to see him struggle and deal with pain and trauma and challenges, that’s what makes the light side of him shine even more, it’s what makes the good times then more worth it and special, and allows him to be well rounded character - and besides, Anson is such a wonderfully expressive actor that it would be amazing to watch what depth he could bring!