#or writes meta about how she ‘needs to face consequences’

[heavencasteel420]

I don’t actually believe this, but I do think it would be funny to introduce this point to tired years-old discourse: even if Nancy did cheat on Steve, it would be chill because she gets a freebie after he falsely accused her of cheating via extremely public libel in S1. Not her fault he manifested it!!!

[nanomooselet]

Little but Fierce IV

Of course, you can't talk about Meryl without talking about Roberto. He's only there because of her. He's easy to dismiss - oh, drunk old dude who condescends to his female protégé - but he shouldn't be, no more than than Meryl herself should be dismissed.

Roberto is a teacher. He's there to impart lessons. He's also a journalist, so he's there to tell stories. Put them together, and you have the local critical thinker, as well as a good excuse for Meryl to back out if she decides it's too dangerous. He exists to give her choices and to shield her from the consequences of her mistakes, until she's firm enough on her feet to have learned.

And boy howdy, does she need to learn. Meryl got a lot of raw confidence, but it's punctured when she encounters situations she doesn't know how to navigate, mostly the trappings of adulthood - planning ahead, economic hardship, encounters with the law. But also partnership and teamwork.

I pointed it out before but Meryl doesn't have a poker face. Everything she feels or thinks tends to show clear as day. Roberto's more controlled - especially considering he doesn't like or trust the MPs. He uses the slight authority he has to get some information out of these guys, and then Meryl misdirects them. Without ever really discussing it, they form a partnership to protect Vash, and they had to do it together. Roberto wanted to leave him tied up, Meryl was too startled over his identity to talk. And Vash is happy to see it! It's stuff like this that he loves most about humans. (Though he's also playing up the gosh-I'm-just-a-silly-little-guy bit.)

Also, consider the other definition of adult you might know. Check this out.

Meryl goes from marching in like the sheriff to peeking over the edge of the counter like a kitten. Why? Well, apart from the place falling silent and someone yelling that this isn't a place for kids, what did she see?

Sex work probably hasn't played a big part in her life so far. Every character up until these two has worn quite modest clothes, and look at the way these women look back at Meryl. They're not ashamed, they're almost... endeared. They think she's sweet. Girl's just a wee bit intimidated. And Rosa's disinterested hostility probably isn't making it easier.

Meryl's prone to raising her voice and going on lectures, but Rosa tells her to speak up, and that's when Vash and Roberto find her. Specifically, Vash suspected she'd head to the diner and guided Roberto to it, and Roberto sighs that Meryl's a lot of trouble/needs a shorter leash - they formed a partnership to protect Meryl.

(I wonder if these ladies will appear again.)

Roberto's purpose is threefold. 1) Protect Meryl 2) help her achieve what she wants 3) teach by information and by example. He almost never acts outside of those parameters.

I could probably write a whole other series of meta posts about the English dub (and don't think I'm not tempted, but also trapped in meta factory somebody help) but for now, here's one of my favourite exchanges in the first episode. Never mind the exposition.

Meryl: Any day now I'll get my big scoop! Roberto: Any minute now, I'm sure. Meryl: I'll be running the entire bureau before you know it! Roberto: Then could you give me a raise, boss? Meryl: I'm being serious! Roberto: So am I.

What's he being serious about? Money? Nope. (Or only a little.)

He agrees. Meryl's the boss.

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part V

Part VI

Part VII

Part VIII

Part IX

[justtosealmyfate1]

HP, the press and what is means to be a celebrity: meta

One of my favorite topics is the media and how that would play out in the Potters’ lives post-war. I touch upon this in the reaction to Albus and Scorpius getting together. There’s a media whirlwind after the photos of the two of them kissing are released. 

(this is about my fic, the fates, which is about when Albus and Scorpius’ relationship is found out.)

A lot of HP fics take the tone of “the media is so intrusive and ruining everyone’s life” which is fair to an extent, and also the precedent JKR set with Rita Skeeter’s character in the original books. She’s clearly a parody of British tabloid writers. Celebrity is also explored differently across fics. In the books, Harry is very famous, and a politically important figure. He’s always in the newspaper! The Minister of Magic is coming to his Christmas dinner to court him! This notoriety would only grow after he defeats Voldemort. I see Harry as (this sounds so dramatic for talking about a fictional character) an Obama, Nelson Mandela, Malala type of celebrity. A political figure, a hero, a survivor but also a mainstay in popular culture. Plus, he’s married to an attractive Quidditch player, and I’m sure they captivate the world with their Posh and Becks, Taylor and Travis type love. This is all to say that I think the Potters are megacelebrities, and Albus is a celebrity child who would reap the rewards and face the consequences of that. 

The American media landscape (while of course not without its flaws) is very different from the British media landscape, particularly the tabloids. British tabloids are crazy. It’s brutal. The Daily Mail is a disgrace to journalism. I think this culture would also bleed into Wizarding media. 

However!!...the relationship between celebrities and celebrity media is symbiotic. The “royal reporters” at the Daily Mail aren’t actually doing any journalistic work (even though they should be… like tell me what the fuck is going on with Kate Middleton), they’re being fed stories by the palace. This absolutely happens in the US too. Publicists will feed stories to friendlier publications, like People. When “a source close to Taylor Swift” is telling Entertainment Tonight exclusively that Taylor and Joe Alwyn broke up, it’s her publicist. 

What does this mean for the Potters? Well, they absolutely need a publicist, they need to be working with a PR team and they need a media strategy. It’s funny to think about that in the context of the books, but that dynamic was seen in the Order of the Phoenix. Harry’s “PR team” of Hermione and Luna got Rita Skeeter to write a story about Voldemort’s return. That’s political news, not celebrity gossip, but it shows that Harry knows how to use the media to get what he wants. While I don’t think as an adult he’d be doing the Wired Autocomplete interviews, he’d know how to navigate the press to further his agenda and protect his family’s image. 

I think the Potter children would be pretty protected from the press. Rita Skeeter wrote in her 2014 Quidditch World Cup article that the Potters are wizarding royalty, which informs my opinion of how the mechanisms of their celebrity would play out. I wrote in the fates that Harry and Ginny release curated photos of their children in exchange for not taking paparazzi photos of them, a la the royal family. While Harry is more of a statesman-like celebrity, who has a carefully crafted image and is more likely to be seen at charity events, diplomatic summits and ceremonies, Ginny is different. As a Quidditch player she’s more of a traditional celebrity. She’s canonically popular but a guarded person. She strikes me as the type of celebrity who masterfully makes you think you know her, but you actually know nothing at all. 

As for the kids, I think there would be a lot of media attention and interest in them. Would they lean into that, like North West, or shy away from it? I think they’d shy away from it, especially Albus. I think James would be more open to press attention. 

The three press stories I wrote for the fates all reflect different types of celebrity news. There’s the traditional, factual Daily Prophet article, the Daily Prophet opinion piece, and the Simmering Cauldron radio show. The Simmering Cauldron is entirely based on Wendy Williams. Don’t tell me she wouldn’t do something exactly like that! The DP article is expository, and then the opinion piece is meant to showcase the discourse surrounding their relationship. 

There’s a whole debate to be had about how celebrity children should be treated and the role of celebrities in our culture in general, and Albus and Scorpius are great vehicles to explore this.

[mdhwrites]

What did you think of Anne's sacrifice/death/rebirth, especially compared to Luz's? Do you think it's the sane Anne, or was she replaced by a copy?

So I've talked before about how the death/rebirth of Anne is beautiful. How death is the greatest change we as humans have to ever face and Anne embraces it to save the community she cared about. It's pitch perfect thematically and her understanding she's still a dumb teen and STILL embracing death instead of godhood not only helps keep the thematics on point but also is just great for her character.

As for the clone... Why does it matter? A large part of Amphibia's optimism with change is that our experiences shape us. That they and the people we have met along the way will always be a part of us and shape who we shall be. Since this Anne has all of her memories, all of her experiences, all of those connections... Why should we argue about whether the cells and the like are the same? That is Anne.

It's actually a fun parallel to the Ship of Theseus that doesn't require transfer of souls or the like. That is Anne because she has the spirit of Anne. The personality. The heart. She could be placed into a giant monster or a tiny robot and it would still be Anne. Arguing if she's the same or not is pointless.

Also, comparing it to Luz is laughable. TOH doesn't have themes that fit trying to portray death as an accidental thing you can't control, the only reason The Collector needs saving is due to stupid writing, the choice isn't hers and her going to see the Titan pretty much purely exists for LITERAL GOD to pat her on the head, give her a cookie, tell her she's special and then let her go. Hell, the fact that Luz gets given a choice barely works on a meta level, let alone a narrative one. Do you want to go back, save all your friends, be beloved by all and get to live out the same sort of consequence free fantasy you've always wanted to? Or do you want to die and let everyone you know die for no reason? Especially no reason when you've gone through THREE different character conclusions IN THIS SEASON about you forgiving yourself for your singular mistake that barely mattered to anything.

That is INFINITELY more stupid and meaningless than "Do you feel confident to control the fates of UNIVERSES or do you have humility and accept that you did good and are willing to die with that?" Because remember: Anne isn't revived because she asks to be. She's revived because her willingness to believe ANYONE can improve and no one is flawless, INCLUDING HER, convinces the god that hey, if I think she's ready now, just imagine what more life experience will do to her? Before she gets revived without it even actually being her choice. Though, she does say that she'd like to live again which stops it from being like the guardian is doing something she doesn't want.

It's beautiful and part of why I had to talk about how the fandom undersold it because sure, you can describe it as "Anne dies saving Amphibia and then is revived by god," but that is leaving out JUST how good the writing is. Then again, much of Amphibia looks just fine on paper but looking a little closer almost always yields so much more than you'd expect.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[purgemarchlockdown]

God I know I said I wouldn't talk voting discourse but- Choose to be DISTANT from her Milgram fans, Choose to shun her, Choose to Stay Away from her. Is the fear of the possible risk greater than the reward of her being safe? Is the consequences too great? Milgram has put us in a situation where the seeming solution is to Shun one of the most vulnerable people in this place...

Except we caused that didn't we? We didn't have to vote her guilty T1, and we voted her guilty to...save her? To fix her? To train her? That's what happened, punish her so she'll learn that what she's doing is bad.

This is the Consequences of Our Actions, we found one of the people who is "the worst" we found the weakest link, the bad apple. I don't talk about this enough but Purge March deliberately portrays Amane as someone "scary," that's a purposeful choice in framing.

Like look at this! The way her face is constantly in shadow, and how she's framed when she punishes herself. She is Looking Down on us, her expression unreadable, the shadows even darker on her.

And how later on the bright eyes pierce through the shadow and seem almost inhuman and unnatural. This is a Purposeful Artistic Decision to make Amane Momose seem Scary

You are Supposed to be Scared of Amane Momose. It's what your supposed to feel, you are supposed to feel scared of this sinful, horrible, evil, child who needs to be punished Now or else she will hurt someone. This is an Evil Writing Decision and I am Living For It. (This isn't the only time they do this sort of framing by the way but uh-not relevant to this discussion)

(Note: I know most guilty voters arent doing her to hurt her and would rather not hurt her but Im a good percent sure this is subtext and meta commentary in the text so...)

[veritascara]

veritascara’s fics and meta

Started writing this post ages ago and decided I should finally get it online. These are links to all my fics and lengthier meta posts, both for Star Wars and Doctor Who. Please note that you must be logged in to AO3 in order to read my fics. Enjoy!

AO3 / Teaspoon

Star Wars Rebels

Kanera Fic

Clarity/Sight - Separate, they’ve both been blind. But together, they can truly see. A fix-it fic in two parts for the episodes Jedi Night and Dume.

Ad Astra Series - Through hardships to the stars. Follows Hera’s journey from Jacen’s conception to birth. (canon compliant)

Synchronicity - Creating moments of profound intimacy in the midst of chaos is nothing new for Kanan and Hera. But Hera discovers afterwards that this particular moment may have unexpected consequences and makes a fateful choice

Binary - During a frustrating morning’s meditation on Lothal, Kanan makes a startling discovery and is forced to face a fear he’s never experienced before.

The Signs - A childhood lesson she hoped she’d never need comes back to haunt Hera, and she isn’t sure how she feels about it.

Ghosts - When the dust on Lothal has settled, Sabine returns to their ship to sleep. She finds Hera there already, who delivers some shocking news.

Dehiscence - An unexpected holo-call reopens wounds, both new and old, for Hera and creates a rift she never intended.

Four Doors - Hera and the Ghost crew return to Yavin IV, where she must confront tough decisions about what her future will look like.

Quickening - Sabine visits Hera on Yavin IV, bringing with her a poignant gift.

Grounded - In the quiet of the evening, Hera takes a few moments to meditate—both for herself and for the baby.

I Promise - When the Rebel Alliance faces its greatest battle yet, Hera is drawn into the fray to help, yet quickly finds herself confronting a crisis of her own.

- Ad Astra Spotify Playlist

Rebels Meta

Jacen Syndulla: Answers to All the Big Questions

Hera and Heritage - A Meta In Pictures

When a Shoulder Touch Says Everything

When Hera Calls Kanan “Love”

Of Father and Daughter

More on Hera Mentions in Lords of the Sith

Kanera in the Junior Novelizations

Doctor Who

Doctor/Rose Fic

Jump 137 - The number of realities Rose Tyler has crossed in her search to find the Doctor again feels nearly endless—until a single jump changes everything.

Dreams of Another Life - Separated from his Rose by the walls of the universe, the Doctor dreams impossible dreams. But across the Void, those dreams may not look so improbable after all.

Fic Rec List

Long Fics for the Rose Tyler Lover’s Soul (fair warning that this list is quite old and has not been updated in a few years—a number of fics are no longer online)

[lais-a-ramos]

#sorry to jump in but YES

no need to apologize, your addition is perfect!!!!!

in my meta, i tried focusing more on why the show isn't doing a #girlboss thing and it makes no sense to treat laura lee or any other character as a "villain" in case they felt conflicted and stuff 😅

but i wanna say that i loved your addition and i agree 100% with everything you said

especially this part:

"i can't see the laura lee that dies in s1 participating in a hunt, or letting javi drown. but, like op said, a lot happens to them during winter that changes people. a laura lee that ate jackie, that helped shauna through agonising hours of labor only to lose the baby, that aimlessly searched for crystals body, that watched shauna nearly beat lottie to death, that is watching her loved ones slowly starve to death? that would be a very different laura lee. not to mention the glimpse we get of her inner steel - it is laura lee that strips coach ben of his power before her flight. "

you really had surgical precision on this one.

i'm usually the first one to complain about mischaracterization and stuff, but the thing is that the characters who survived in 90s timeline up until season 2 have gone thru all of these traumatic events and have changed because of them, and it makes no sense to affirm that laura lee couldn't change as well

same goes for jackie, who is also someone i've seen being thrown around in these discussions as well

the, let's say, secret for writing metas or headcanons or fics about these characters who died earlier in the show to try to identify their main internal issues and dilemmas and try to build upon that, imagining plausible ways for them to react to these changes based on said internal issues

and the truth is laura lee already had many issues way before the 2025 flight plane crash, including issues about her faith

that's something we can see in her flashback on episode 1x08, "flight of the bumblebee"

she is shown in pool scene with an apathetic and detached look in her face before she jumps in the shallow side of the pool, indicating that she did that on purpose to try to take her own life or as another form of self-harm to feel something

not only that, but she seemed very misplaced amongst all those happy kids, indicating that, inspite loving her faith and Christ, she felt disconnected from the people at church

those scenes on episode 1x08 serve to show the audience why laura lee was so certain that flying the cessna and saving her friends was her purpose, bc it's relatively common for ppl who escaped death to search for a reason why they survived

so, really, if she survived the cessna plane crash or didn't fly for any reason, and ended up going thru all the stuff that happened post-1x08, there's no reason to believe that laura lee wouldn't change as a person

she's a human too, and no human would come out of these things unchanged

also, as jane widdop has said in the interview i always cite as THE laura lee interview, the one for the yellowjackets buzz podcast, laura lee is also very impulsive

so, really, that is a perfect storm for a faith crisis of sorts, which could have many different consequences, especially those that you mentioned above

the problem is that this fandom has a tendency to flanderize the characters, to pick just 1 or 2 traits and make these traits the characters' entire personalities

and, specifically about laura lee, there's also another thing, something that deserves its own post because there's so much to unpack here: the way people tend to treat laura lee as if she wasn't a 17-18 year-old girl like the others just because she is a devout Christian, which is very sexist, since it underestimates her based on stereotypes

so, ppl end up not seeing how complex she is as a character and the potential for all the things that could have been explored in the show if laura lee didn't die in season 1

since the whole discourse on whether laura lee would engage in cannibalism and stuff was brought back again, here's my two cents ig

listen, i understand thar ppl have different interpretations and that is a consequence of art reaching out to different people and different audiences

and there are definitely many heads to analyze in this discussion, like psychological aspects as how laura lee's suicidality in pool scene was a fuel for her religious fervor and the need for a purpose and how this could develop in the wilderness had she survived

but now i wanna talk specifically about how ppl seem to see lottie and, by extension, the other girls, when they bring out this argument to affirm that laura lee wouldn't engage in the cannibalism

it's definetely a bit bizarre that ppl talk about the topic, especially when it's about laura lee and lottie, as if lottie herself was #1 enthusiast of ritual cannibalism right from the start

many ppl seem to straight up forget that lottie was absolutely horrified when she found out via misty that the others killed javi and that they started a hunt in her name which resulted in said killing

(actually, that's probably one of the main reasons why she passed the "crown" to nat, bc she thought nat's moral integrity would be able to keep the others in check -- tho, it's safe to say based on pit girl scene that this idea didn't work at all)

there is a huge difference between the teen lottie who was horrified with the circumstances of javi's death and the one who participated in the pit girl feast, as much as there is a huge difference between that brutal lottie and adult lottie

this show is all about the proccess, the ways in which these girls made those choices

so, as by the end of season 2, we can't say that lottie has reached the point of pit girl scene yet, even if she did commit an atrocity at doomcoming along with the other girls -- the sexual assault and attempt to murder travis

what is more concearning tho, i guess, is ppl framing the brutality of the girls as if it was only a positive thing, and if laura lee or jackie or any other felt conflicted feelings about those things then it means they would be in the wrong

listen, i'm the first one to defend the idea that the wilderness allows these people to set themselves free from social conventions and that includes social structures like racism or LGBTQ-phobia or misogyny

but, again, what ppl miss is that one key word: NUANCE

the showrunners have mentioned a few times, including on that vulture fest panel last year, that the wilderness is some type of double-edged sword, it brings that freedom but also cost these characters a lot

and when ppl act as if doomcoming or other of these moments as purely some "girl power" type of moment, they are missing the entire point of the show

the show isn't trying to be a girlboss moment or witchy, especially bc, if so, then that would be sort of very disrespectful towards actual real life practitioners of Wiccanism and Neopagan religions by associating them with something that might be evil or, in the case of the supernatural not being real in the show, dismissing it as insanity

what yellowjackets is trying to do with that fictional belief system that has no correspondence in the real world is a discussion that crosses different fields like anthropology, philosophy, history, psychology etc, which is trying to understand how faith and belief work

and what makes this show able to attract ppl as different as practicing Christians, Jewish ppl, agnostics, atheists, Neopagans etc is that it never treats ppl as foolish for being believers or non-believers, these characters are just treated as complex human beings dealing with extreme survival circumstances and just trying to navigate life

another important point the show is trying to make is about the violence

bc there is this long discussion, which in Western civilization we can trace back to the 16th century philosophers and perhaps even further, on whether the human nature is purely violent or not, and that is something that's become a theme in the very same intellectual fields i mentioned above -- anthropology, philosophy, history, psychology etc

the most famous example, especially when we consider these survival stories or any story that turns "lord of the flies" in a trope, is 17th century english philosopher thomas hobbes with his idea that, roughly summarized, human beings were so leveled in the state before the creation of organized societies and governments etc (a state that is called "state-of-nature" in the philosophy studies) that they could never be free of the fear that other would do them harm and, since everyone had the right to everything and resources were scarce, people lived in a scenario of perpetual war against each other.

this state of perpetual war could only be stopped by the creation of civil society and the idea that the social contract was unquestionable.

this idea could apply to different social organizations, but hobbes' role model described in his most famous work, leviathan, was basically absolutism/absolute monarchy, which is very authoritarian

now, i know all of this is too academic and ppl who read this might ask what is the point, but, please, bear with me

what makes all of this be relevant is that, even if you're not familiar with this type of academic stuff, you've probably have seen movies, fictional books, tv shows etc that have some variation of the idea that human beings are naturally violent and even evil

it's actually very common in stories that try to portray gray morality in a way

but this is not what yellowjackets does

yellowjackets doesn't treat these characters as naturally violent and evil

on the other hand, it also doesn't treat these characters as naturally good either (something that also comes from philosofical discussions, except that this time it comes from the myth of the noble savage, which french philosopher jean jacques rousseau was wrongly accused of perpetrating when his work was actually just stating an earlier version of the idea that inequality in economy and education was the source of social issues)

what yellowjackets does is actually make us question these assumptions we have about Good and Evil, and show that we human beings are not naturally one thing or another, but that our choices in certain situations can tend to one or the other

most of all, yellowjackets doesn't give us easy answers or stereotypes, it just invites us to think about what it means to be human by showing the good, the bad, the ugly etc in human experience, with most of the characters having all of these things inside them at the same time

so, because yellowjackets isn't a Good vs Evil type of story, it makes no sense for ppl to act as if laura lee, or jackie by the way, would be an antagonist to lottie or the other girls, let alone treat being an antagonist as something positive in a fight against evil, or, which seems more common, something negative as an obstacle to #girlpower

yellowjackets is a show about people in a very desperate situation making desperate decisions with tragic consequences

and it's because laura lee is a human being, and all of us human beings can end up feeling desperate, that having her joining wilderness cult is not something absurd, implausible or out of character

it's a bit of a disservice to act as if lottie is all monstruous and manipulative when all the characters are morally gray and we have yet to see all of them truly embrace brutality as a method

it's also a disservice to the work that the writers and also courtney eaton and simone kessell put to make lottie such a complex and compelling individual, someone that we sympathize with even when we can't support all her actions

and, perhaps, even a bit racist and psychophobic for ppl to assume that lottie is all violence when she, just like her white counterparts, is a morally gray and complex individual

the same way that making lottie a helpless victim is bad bc it strips her from her agency

as my favorite lottie article, "yellowjackets: the unknown through lottie and the use of static" on the latina media website, says, lottie is "a complicated character in the static"

and it's a bit patronizing and sexist to reduce laura lee to her religion and treat her as helpless when compared to the girls her age just bc she is Christian, the same way that it is to idealize her and put her on some pedestal for the same reason

it's also a disservice to the hard work that the writing team and jane widdop have put into making laura lee be more than just a Christian girl stereotype and feel like a fully fleshed individual

anyways, this is a topic that we can discuss for days and days bc, while no show is perfect and flawless, yellowjackets is so well-written and the actors are so amazing that we can analyze it over and over again and always find new stuff to talk about

but the point is that we can't really begin to understand this show and these characters if we only focus on stereotypes and judge a book by its cover

[thekitsunesiren]

Dc x Dp Prompt #27

Technically speaking, despite all the teasing, Johnny 13 and Kitty really are Danny's ex's. No matter how short they dated.

So, of course Johnny and Kitty would be some of the first of Danny's rogue gallery to become more friendly with him. What he didn't expect for them were to be so couple like.

Fast forward a bit to where Danny moves to Gotham to go to Gotham U. He really isn't a hero anymore, but he still flies around as Phantom and gets to fights every now and then with a stray ghost. Sadly for him, the last fight he got into was with Johnny and Kitty.

The same Johnny and Kitty who were slowly riding alongside him as Danny walked down the streets of Gotham in his human form, head down to stop the embarrassed flush from being seen from others.

"C'mon, Danny, babe! It was only a bit of fun!" Johnny said to him as he kept his bike steady as he rode down the street. Though, with how chaotic Gotham is, he could probably crash into a few street signs and trash cans and no one would bat an eye.

"A bit of fun? Your 'bit of fun' left bruises all over me! Especially on my neck. I have to wear this because of you." Danny hissed in return, tugging on the long hoodie that he was wearing.

Kitty rolled her eyes from her spot sitting behind Johnny, leaning over and brushing a hand against Danny's shoulder before he pulled away deeper into the sidewalk.

"Don't be like that, hun. You know that they'll heal quick." She said, causing Danny to roll his eyes.

"Oh please. That's what you said last time. Honestly, it's like you guys try to get me as bruised as much as possible." Danny grumbled.

Johnny scoffed and looked away from Danny. "Bet you don't complain this much when you fight Ember." He muttered to himself. But thanks to Danny's advanced hearing, he most definitely heard it. of not by the glare he was giving the biker was anything to say about it.

"You see, this is why I broke up with you-" The argument between the biker couple and student continued as the three argued with each other all while keeping the same pace down the road.

Damian Wayne, having been forced to go out with both Tim and Duke for some sort of bonding time as Drake had called it, was confused with what he just saw before him.

He recognized Fenton from recently joining his school and found that while he wasn't social, there didn't seem anything that he found seriously searching into. But now, as he watched said classmate walk away while arguing with a seemingly known biker and his girlfriend. Both who were seemingly in a past relationship with him.

"Heh, look at that, Damian. Seems like you're the only one in your school who isn't in a relationship." Tim teased, ruffling Damian's hair. The young Wayne scoffed and immediately pushed Tim's hand away from him. "I have no need for such relations. Even now it seems that Fenton is facing his consequences. Whatever they may be." He said, walking down the street to return focus on what they were out for in the first place. Tim chuckling as he followed behind him.

The two made a few feet away before they stopped and turned when they realized Duke wasn't following them. "Duke? You alright?" Tim asked, turning and seeing that Duke was still in the same spot as before where they watched Damian's classmate disappear down the highway. But something about it had Duke's attention. And that had both Tim and Damian standing up straight in alarm.

"They were bright. Super bright." Duke murmured, rubbing his eyes as if he just had a staring contest with the sun. With how bright and opposing they were, they probably equaled the sun.

"What? The exes? What do you think then, some sort of meta?" Tim asked, thinking they would have to look into the biker couple.

"No-yes. Both!" Duke screamed, surprising Tim and Damian. "Both the couple and that kid were super bright. Brighter than anything I've ever seen!"

Edit: I just realized after writing this that the conversation could either sound like they had a fight or a rough night of sexy times XD

[therealvinelle]

That post about Edward not really loving Bella is amazing! I would love to hear more of your thoughts on their relationship. Maybe one day also an analysis on how Bella doesn’t really love Edward but the ideal of him she created in her head.

(Anon refers to this post)

Well, you just said it yourself, Bella’s in love with an ideal. But I’ll happily give you more words, because it’s a very particular ideal.

My thoughts on the relationship are really a post of their own, so I’ll just say that I think it’s a disaster and Bella is his prey, not his lover.

Also, once again I must link this meta because it is so good at explaining why Bella goes for Edward the way she does. And I’ll just link this post as well because Bella’s view of everything is fundamentally skewed. Vampires, the Cullens, and Edward, she sees it all through rose tinted glasses.

So, what gets Bella interested in Edward in the first place? At first, he was just the creepy ass from Biology who really hated her. A beautiful one, but still an ass.

Still, she was very attracted to him, and intrigued by the mysterious Edward Cullen who doesn’t talk to anybody. And so, when he initiates conversation she’s down for that.

What happens next is that this girl who has the lowest self esteem, who believes herself to be the least interesting little mouse on the planet, is suddenly lavished with attention by the guy she’s lowkey crushing on. There’s nothing, ranging from her favorite books and why she likes them, to her relationship with her mother, that doesn’t interest Edward.

Now, anyone would love to be center of attention from a hottie like Edward. But it means more to Bella than it would to most.

Bella doesn’t value herself, and so, when Edward starts doing it for her, she lets him. She lets him make her his invaluable human, the Juliet to his Romeo. She becomes entirely wrapped up in their romance because by Edward’s side she’s worth something.

(It’s telling that she later tries to repeat this with Jacob - Bella can’t build herself up on her own, she needs someone else to do it for her. Our girl may be a Feminist™ who writes essays about misogyny in Shakespeare, but she doesn’t actually understand female liberation and she’s light years away from realizing it. If she did, she wouldn’t need a man to give her value.)

As for why she latches on to Edward the way she does, and what about him she loves - it’s the vampirism.

The attributes Bella notices about him, and grows to love and know about him, are his inhuman attributes. His impossibly beautiful face, that perfect skin, those golden eyes, his hypnotic voice, his scent, his grace, his sparkle, his strength and speed. Loving Edward for these things is so obvious that Bella never really looks for other reasons.

(It’s almost poetic, that they love each other for the things the other hates most about themselves. Except the similarity is slim, at best. Edward is a predator, and Bella a neglected teen who got into a relationship for the wrong reasons, and now is stuck with the consequences.)

Bella wants to be worth something, she wants to love and be loved, and this angelic boy who can offer her a better world offers it all. Of course she’ll take it. (Yes, I was tempted to make a Persephone reference. No, I didn’t.)

[thewriterowl]

Miss owl, can I ask your opinion on the sequel trilogy?

"Unfortunately" I am one of those people who hated it.

But I don't judge, although I keep wondering how they managed to ruin something that was so beautiful.

I'm not sure where they're going, I mean The Mandalorian was spectacular but The Book of Boba Fett is letting me down a bit.

I'm seriously scared for the Obi Wan series, I think it's either going to be spectacular or it'll suck, with no middle ground.

My expectations are very high, I want them to explore Obi Wan's pain and the consequences that the collapse of the republic and Anakin's betrayal have had on him.

Above all, his main mission is to protect Luke so I hope to see that too.

I am...torn. Honestly.

I think the Force Awakens could've been a lot better (needed more Luke and the OG-Trio) but I honestly really enjoyed it. I thought Kylo Ren was interesting as this guy who had everything but turned out poisoned, that Rey was amazing and how she had nothing but turned out so good, that Finn was sweet and had such growth, that Poe was funny and bright and so talented, and that the chemistry between all felt really good and could grow into something great.

But the decision to change who Luke is, all to give an excuse to Kylo was where, I felt everything began to shift negatively. They wanted to make Kylo into a brooding anti-hero who needed a woman to forgive him to heal. They made Rey his redemption. All of a sudden, in the Last Jedi, the story was taken from Rey (and it even felt the story itself was taken from Luke and Anakin) and given to Kylo. They wanted him to become Star Wars' face and, by god, they were gonna shoehorn him in to make him appealing in anyway possible...and to do that, they had to erase everything they worked up to in Force Awakens.

Almost all the weak writing scenes that had to do with other characters could be tied back to this desperation to put Kylo in the forefront and put him intertwined with Rey as a love-interest. The Canto Bight, the random non-Ezra guy who never appeared again, the guy they were there to actually get, the animals, Luke's choices and his bitterness and willingness to kill, Rey's fawning and all of a sudden ease in the ability to turn soft when she was feral beforehand, Leia's movements, the resistances, the side-quests of Poe....it all comes back to this need to change everyone to build Kylo up.

Push Finn with Rose means he becomes a side character who now has a love-interest (and while I do think there is some layer of homophobia and racism, for sure, I also believe it was mainly cause people in charge were so horny for sad white-boy Kylo as a specific reason that was brought through by the horrendous issues the set had towards their POC cast) and is no longer in the way of Kylo's and Rey's affection. Get Poe looking like an idiot who is a playboy and he can just be a not-as-important-Han wannabe. Make Leia just do something sorta cool in space, but mostly just not be there (except for Kylo angst) and we got some girl power...it was like they were trying to check off all the Woke Stuff as limply and quickly as possible to get back to Kylo.

And it hurt them. We didn't get anything that was built up. We were just torn down because they wanted Kylo to sell so desperately.

It's one of the reasons I don't like Kylo Ren and it is for a very meta reason. I'm fine with bastard characters. I'm fine with villains. I'm fine with the idea that we take this spoiled kid who had love and turned terrible and maybe not get a redeeming arc. I'm fine with that. It's actually really interesting to make him more like that, this layered character who was tempted into hate when he had everything, than what they made him out to be.

That is why I have more faith in these shows.

I admit, Book of Boba has some pretty weak writing moments. There are choices that are lackluster and some choppy movements. But I feel like, overall, the show is giving us a shift and focus of Boba. This is about giving Boba to Temura. It's about giving him more character...but not necessarily redeeming him for the audience (cause he sorta didn't need it; he was on the villain side but he was always a gray character doing things for himself) but about him growing for himself. And I love that. I feel that we are going to have a decent show as a whole once it all comes together. Yeah, probably not the strongest of the SW shows, but it is by no means bad in terms of character damnation like the sequels are. Book of Boba may not be the hottest series, but it is not going to ruin Boba's character (knock on wood).

And I think the same for Obi-Wan. Do i hope it is a destroyer of worlds, knocks us back, hits us in the feels, lets us see more of Obi-Wan like we want him? You bet I do. But i am aware that it may not be amazing. But I feel confident that while the show may not be brilliant, they are gonna do the character right.

We can say all we want about those at the top of LucasFilm and Disney (and it should be said and they should be ripped into) but while they have their own weaknesses and problematic tendencies, Jon and Dave have shown their writing and guidance and respect of the characters in Star Wars (and for the fans) are loads better than others who were in charge during the sequels. They actually listened and they actually love Star Wars and these characters. So, I can see them slip on a story-line, yes, I cannot see them slipping on the characters.

Cause at the moment for these shows, Jon and Dave are involved. To me, it feels like they don't trust others to touch these projects. are they gonna make bad choices on writers and directors? Yeah, sadly, that will be the case from time to time, especially as they really get these SW-series rolling, but I feel like they are making themselves aware of the fans and are aware of what is wanted and they are keeping a close eye on the characters (and maybe at times that will make them blind to other weaknesses...but man, if I don't get another Luke fiasco I can forgive them for some story slip-ups...tho still peeved on the Tusken-choice).

So, that was a bit long...and I don't want to elevate Jon and Dave too much because, again, they have problems...but I do, still, have more trust in them and how they are overseeing the series than I do with anyone who was really involved and had control over the sequels.

[bigskydreaming]

Hi! I was reading a fanfic and it brought up Roy and Dick's fight, which I see a lot of in fics but never what they fought about and consequently why they don't talk. I thought it was a vague excuse/reason why Roy was Jason's friend not Dick's anymore but this fic brought up when Dick was batman so I was wondering if there was actually a fight between them? Btw I really enjoy your metas! They're v thought out and well articulated. Also it's v easy to separate what's your opinion and what's fact which is. Very helpful for me

Yeah this is one hundred percent a fanon thing that's kept deliberately vague to justify why Roy in his friendship with Jason seems to have no positive thoughts or concerns about Dick whatsoever. Now granted, Dick and Roy are not nearly as close in the New 52 as they were pre-Reboot. The lack of their friendship there is definitely one of the things I disliked most about the Reboot - and I actually don't care if Jason and Roy are friends tbh, its the total erasure of his history with Dick as if he can't be friends with both, that like, bugs most.

But so like, yeah, Roy and Dick aren't super close when they interact on the Titans in the New 52, but there's literally nothing in any of their interactions that explains the complete absence of him from Roy's life or a reason that Roy would like, hate him the way he tends to in a lot of Jason-centric fics.

When you factor in pre-Reboot stuff though, it starts to get a LOT more.....uh wyd? And this is why I have trouble buying that people just write Roy and Jason the way they do because its the only thing they know from recent comics. Like one, most fans talk about how they don't even read the source comics, so there's no reason their knowledge of the characters or events would be limited to just recent comics if they're going off wiki summaries and scans anyway. And second, most fans AREN'T limited in their knowledge to just recent comics.

Like, the second people start writing Roy and Jason and Kori but with their pre-52 characterizations and references to events from THAT timeline, it all gets very messy, the way they're like, completely antagonistic towards Dick a lot of the time. Because Roy and Dick were always solid. Yes, they fought. A lot. But they always, ALWAYS made up afterwards. They had conflict about Roy's drug addiction - it didn't stop Dick from being there to support him through rehab, or Dick being the first person Roy called to help him get Lian after he learned of her existence. Dick literally held Lian before Roy ever did? He's the one who first put her in Roy's arms for the first time.

(Which is the prime grudge I and most Dick Grayson fans have about Roy and Jason fics which make Jason like, the absolute apple of Lian's eye. If you want to expand Lian's circle of loved and trusted ones to include Jason as Roy's friend and thus her uncle, like go for it! But there's zero reason that should require invalidating and erasing the fact that Dick was this little girl's adored godfather and uncle for pretty much her entire life. And the way Dick is just shoved offstage from Lian's life entirely, to slot Jason into his place as though they're completely interchangeable, its like....THAT'S the kind of thing that gets people irey about how Jason 'steals' Dick's dynamics and character relationships.

Because there's nothing saying they both can't be major players in Roy and Lian's lives! But just that they're not interchangeable! You need to develop the specific role Jason plays there WITHOUT just overwriting everything Dick actually did in relation to the two of them pre-Flashpoint, which is what you're drawing from the second you write Lian, unless you're specifically going with the few appearances we've had of her within literally just the last year.

But I mean, when people just search and replace Dick Grayson in all Roy and Lian's pre-Reboot stories and act like Jason was the one doing all of that instead.....why wouldn't fans of the source material be annoyed by a character getting credit for interactions and things done for Lian and Roy that Jason literally NEVER DID, while at the EXACT SAME TIME, conjuring some mysterious, unnamed 'Falling Out' that Roy and Dick had, that was clearly all Dick's fault, and resulted from him being basically excised entirely from Roy and Lian's lives?

Same with Kori, for the record, and like despite being Dick's ex, she and Dick have NEVER been like, estranged? She and Dick have often been close even after their breakup. None of it makes any sense, and the fact that a lot of fans don't even try to make it make sense or justify it, and expect other fans to just be fine with settling for an inexplicable reversal of Dick's every actual dynamic with these characters while setting up Jason to occupy the exact same role Dick played in these other characters' lives, like.....lol. Its fun.)

Anyway, back to your question, like, there are fights you can go with pre-Reboot as the source of various conflicts between Dick and Roy - but again, I maintain its just as crucial that they're always written as getting past them. They have a very tempestuous relationship because they are the two people MOST likely to call each other on their shit, two of the two people WITH the most shit in common due to the parallels in their childhoods and the roles they've occupied in the Titans and the superhero community in general, and the two people most resistant to being called out on their shit by each other, lol. Mostly in that case because like, they do recognize that they have a lot in common and understand each other very well, so the second the other is calling them out for something, they're usually like "ugh, if HE'S saying this, its probably true and I am just not prepared yet to be wrong about this. I need more time being unjustifiably rawr about things." Its like that thing where they both look at each other doing something that feels familiar or calls back to their own reasons for doing something and they're like ugh I'm in this picture and I don't like it.

So they clash. A lot. But always with the implicit bedrock of like, there's nothing either of them can do or say to the other that will push the other away for good.

They fought over Roy replacing Dick as leader of the Titans when Dick's wedding fell apart, even though Roy actually didn't want to do it and was kinda pushed into it by the government, but again, Dick like, got over it and realized it was for the best and forgave Roy for it that very same issue. And on and on. It always went like that. So there's plenty of stuff that can be used or pointed at as a source of conflict between the two, but the part I'll always call unbelievable is the idea that they never make up after one of these fights. Why now? What fight, specifically, is so bad between them that despite everything else they've gone through AND gotten past, they can't get past this one? Y'know?

So yeah, that's my take on this. There is no definitive falling out between Dick and Roy as many fics like to point to in order to shove him offscreen and make room for Jason in Roy and Lian's lives, and personally, I just don't find it necessary and I actually think it makes Roy look REALLY bad. Because when you're not specifically detailing all the things that Dick has actually DONE for Roy, the lengths to which he's been there for his friend, and like, specifically invalidating each and every one of them as something that never happened in a particular fic, then literally anyone who reads that fic and has their own awareness of Dick and Roy's friendship is kiiiiiinda likely to be reading that and thinking wow what an ungrateful asshole, when Roy's just written as bitching about Dick with Jason and sandbagging him without any real explanation as to WHY, beyond just 'oh they had a fight years ago.'

(And coming up with some random awful thing that Dick did to justify Roy hating him now isn't like, a superior alternative, lmao, because again, its still just trashing one character for the sake of getting him out of the way of two other characters' friendship and people are going to think what they think about that).

Anyway, my now standard stock disclaimer that like, there doesn't actually need to be a canon fight obviously, for people to just write things this way and handwave that Dick and Roy had an epic falling out years ago and now they just hate one another or whatever, or just Roy hates him or vice versa. Obviously people are free to do what they want. They don't need a reason other than "I want to write it this way so Jason and Roy are friends and Jason doesn't have to 'share' him with Dick or have his friendship be overshadowed by their greater history together." That just happens to be a reason that no Dick Grayson fan is ever really going to be happy about, lol, for what should be perfectly obvious reasons, so it honestly shouldn't be surprising to people that fans of the source material often gripe about it.

Because yeah fanfic is a tremendous opportunity to transform the source material into something better, but if what's better for some fans actively takes away what was working perfectly well for other fans the original way, they're going to say that. Especially in a fandom where so many new fans take their view of the characters and their dynamics from fics rather than the source material - when fandom has that much of an influence on what new fans perceive to be 'canon,' fans are perfectly within their right to emphasize what is ACTUALLY canon and what isn't, so that new fans at least have the opportunity to determine for themselves what take they want to go with, instead of just accepting at face value that the nature of say, Dick and Roy's relationship is just that Roy hates Dick because of some mumble mumble ancient history vague mumble details not found mumble mumble fight.

[wizardofahz]

Sentinel vs. CatCo

Kara sighs internally as she spots the Superfriends whiteboard.

While it has become a permanent fixture in Andrea’s office, it doesn’t always feature so prominently. The focus of the meetings determines its location. If it’s an internal meeting unrelated to the Superfriends, it can be pushed off to the side: towards the balcony or in front of the cabinets. If the meetings involve board members or anyone Andrea wants to impress, it’s tucked into a corner and discreetly covered.

Today, the Superfriends whiteboard stands right beside Andrea’s desk, which means their meeting is going to entail more requests for Superfriends interviews.

Kara braces herself.

And then Andrea says some of the worst words possible: “I want an interview with Sentinel.”

Kara wills herself not to react. On the other side of William, Nia actually snorts.

Nia has worked her way back into Andrea’s good graces, but Kara very much doubts that openly snorting at their boss’s request will lead to another mental health day. Before Andrea can react, Kara says, “I, uh, I don’t think she likes giving interviews.”

“That’s what Nia said about the Superfriends,” Andrea says, completely undeterred, “and we have since gotten interviews with most of them.”

As much as Kara hates to admit it, Andrea’s right. They never participate in puff pieces about what they do for fun, but when they have a cause to promote, they lend their voices in support.

Through his PI work and with his deep ties to the alien community, J’onn had been encountering many others who were also the last of their kinds. With an interest in preserving these alien cultures, he had dedicated a portion of the Mars space in the planetarium to a rotating exhibit of those cultures. He had also teamed up with Kara to revive her Aliens of National City series for a special feature.

Brainy had volunteered for a live public service announcement when a toxic chemical spill had breached the boundaries of an industrial complex and threatened nearby neighborhoods. He had been a little too thorough with the technical details though, and Dreamer had had to intervene to make it more vernacular friendly. His PSA had been big with the scientific community, where some of his equations had been beyond current understanding and sparked contentious debates.

Nia had done a fantastic interview of the new Guardian about marginalized human communities. To quell any curiosity, Guardian briefly mentioned that she wasn’t ready to reveal her identity, but she did reveal that she had the previous Guardian’s blessing to pick up the mantle. Annoyingly, most media outlets chose to focus on that rather than the deep dive into intersectionality.

Alex hadn’t done any interviews. None of the Superfriends had thought twice about it.

Until now.

Knowing how private Alex is, Kara can already picture her reaction to this request.

“If it’s about the ratings, I could get another exclusive from Supergirl,” Kara volunteers. “You said she’s the ideal Superfriend for interviews.”

“Mmm, but we’ve had Supergirl,” Andrea says. “We’ve had all the other Superfriends. We don’t know enough about this Sentinel.” She taps the board under Alex’s picture where it says “HUMAN?”. “Is she fully human? What is her motivation? If she is human, how did she come to join the Superfriends? I want to know.”

“And if Kara’s right?” William asks. “We seem to get interviews with the Superfriends on their timeline, not ours.”

“Then get yourselves on their timeline,” Andrea says. “But I’ll be generous and give you a week instead of 24 hours. If you still fail, well, you’ve heard me say your alternatives enough by now.”

On their way out of Andrea’s office, Nia passes by Kara and mutters, “I’m not touching this one.”

Kara cannot disagree with that life choice.

“What did Nia say?” William asks.

“Nothing.”

...

Alex looks up from her console as Kara enters the Tower. “Hey, what did you want to talk about?”

Knowing how little Alex will appreciate the conversation, Kara says, “You love me beyond measure, and that will never change, right?”

Alex turns around completely, resting her back against the console. She crosses her arms. She knows the difference between Kara approaching her abandonment issues and something Alex will find unpleasant. “Yes? Am I going to change my mind?”

Kara grimaces. “Andrea wants an interview with Sentinel.”

The look of horror on Alex’s face would be hilarious in any other circumstance. “Why?”

“Because you’re the last Superfriend not to give an interview. Andrea thinks that makes you mysterious and intriguing.”

“Not happening.”

“I figured as much. I tried offering up a Supergirl exclusive instead.”

“I love you.”

“Well, she didn’t bite.”

At that, Alex’s head drops back, and she stares at the ceiling.

“I'll write something up anyway,” Kara continues. “Hopefully it will keep Andrea happy in the meantime.”

“Thanks.” Alex gestures for Kara to come in for a hug. “I know you don’t like puff pieces either.”

“It’s okay,” Kara says into Alex’s shoulder. “I’ll find something meaningful to write about.”

...

Alex glances around the downtown street. Luckily she, Brainy, and J’onn had arrived in time to stop an Infernian from destroying a private lab. The police had also shown up and set up a perimeter, which was helpful as a crowd had developed to the south.

“Sentinel!”

Alex spots William Dey at the front of the crowd. "Oh, hell no.”

She normally likes William well enough, but given what Kara told her about Andrea’s request, he’s now on her list of the last five people she’d want to see at any given moment.

“I gotta get out of here,” Alex tells J’onn. “You and Brainy got this covered, right?”

They look over to where Brainy is explaining his containment technology to the police officers taking custody of the Infernian.

William says her name again.

J’onn glances at William then back at Alex with amusement. “Go. We’ll be fine.”

...

“Sentinel!”

Alex looks across the chaos of overturned cubicles and office supplies to see William Dey approaching.

Alex frowns. How did he get here so quickly?

Luckily they are on the fifth floor of the building, which means Alex has an exit strategy William doesn’t. “Supergirl, meet me outside.”

“Copy that.”

A few of the windows were broken in the fight. Dreamer already has the offending meta-human contained, so Alex doesn’t feel bad leaving William behind.

Alex picks the window with the cleanest break and jumps through.

...

Andrea drops something on Kara’s desk. “What is this?”

“An interview with Supergirl,” Kara responds after a quick look.

Andrea sighs. “Kara, I know you heard me when I said I wanted an interview with Sentinel, not any Superfriend.”

Kara shrugs. “I couldn’t get ahold of Sentinel, neither could William, and Supergirl had something she wanted to say.”

“Did you ask Supergirl about talking to Sentinel?” Andrea asks expectantly.

Kara blinks. “I think they have more important things to do than to act as messaging services to one another.”

“It’s not your job to think about their priorities. It’s your job to think about CatCo’s priorities,” Andrea says. “Get me an interview with Sentinel. You, specifically. And again, I don’t think I need to give you the consequences spiel. You have 24 hours.”

Kara reaches out to clear the Supergirl interview from her desk, but Andrea snatches it back up.

“I’m still publishing this.”

...

Kara looks apologetically across the couch.

Just as Kara had tried to give a Supergirl exclusive to spare Sentinel an interview, Alex is now giving an interview to spare Kara’s job.

“Okay, I have to make this on the record, so let’s maybe do a rehearsal.”

Alex sighs but shrugs her agreement anyway. “Yeah, okay.”

Kara hands over her notepad where the questions are written out. “These are the questions I’m going to ask you.”

“You already know the answer to most of these,” Alex says as her eyes glide down the page. “And there’s no way we can publish them.”

“I know. That’s why we’re rehearsing. We’ll have to come up with something that’s real but not revealing.”

Alex balks. Kara doesn’t have to wonder which question its at because Alex reads it out loud. “‘You’ve been a super hero for a while now, but this is your first interview. Why now?’ Seriously?”

Kara grimaces. “Yeah.”

“Because my little sister’s boss is a pain in the ass.”

“Alex.”

“Right, come up with a fake but real answer.”

But their quest for acceptable answers is a tedious process that comes up short.

“I can’t do this,” Alex groans and flops back into the couch cushions. “How about I promise that when I have something to say, I’ll say it to you? You can have that promise on the record.”

“I’ll try,” Kara says. She’s also tired, and she hates forcing this on Alex.

Andrea won’t be thrilled with it, but Kara will make it work.

...

The next day Alex sighs in relief at Kara’s single emoji text.

A thumbs up.

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

Pacific Rim (2013) and the Chance to Try Again

So I re-watched Pacific Rim (2013), per an anon’s request that I write a Pacific Rim-based Voltron AU. And I know this movie is clearly a love song to mecha genre as its ultimate goal. But in re-watching Pacific Rim in 2021, an odd moment really spoke to me. It was how badly Mako Mori struggled in her official debut in Gipsy Danger, how dangerous her triggered reaction was to other people around her, and yet how Raleigh Becket had an empathetic reaction that helped Mako get back up, resulting in her ability to reclaim her agency against a reputation as a traumatized failure.

I guess a little background to explain further, and why this meant so much to me:

So here’s this Asian woman who’s been asking for years for her chance to prove herself. She’s been told by her guardian, Marshall Stacker Pentecost, that she will fail to function in a drift setting because of her inexperience with reigning in emotions/a need for vengeance. But Mako Mori finally gets the chance to be a co-pilot, finally connects to a very real drift inside a very real jaeger…and then, oop. Becket has a negative reaction to his own memories and falls out of phase. This sets up Mori, who is unexperienced in handling this situation, to “chase the RABIT.” She has a genuinely traumatic breakdown that nearly kills her own comrades in the Shatterdome. She unintentionally activates Gipsy Danger’s weapons to protect herself from the ghosts of her own memories.

The team has to actually shut down the jaeger to protect themselves from being annihilated.

Upon shaking out of the drift, Mako Mori knows she has validated Pentecost’s fears and judgements about her. She is pretty sure she’s lost her chance to achieve her goals.

And clearly, her father figure Stacker Pentecost—who does love her and is as such overprotective—has been struggling the whole time with accepting Mori in a jaeger. The standard Toxic Masculinity figure of Chuck Hansen has a hissy fit that Mori is too inexperienced, and he actively tries to get her pushed out too, even accusing Becket of standing up for Mori only because he thinks Raleigh has romantic interest in her.

But it’s Raleigh…this very masculine dude with the somewhat over pronounced man-strut in his step lol, who does something that I really appreciated seeing.

After everything, Becket fights for Mori’s reinstatement when Mori has lost faith in herself and is trying not to break down in shame. And then he sits by her and actively tries to empathize with her about how rough a drift can be.

And Raleigh doesn’t do this because he thinks she’s pretty, or because he’s trying to take pity on Mori as some kind of male savior for her weak emotional constitution. This is the guy who is most likely to die first if Mori screws up in real-time, and this is the guy who can acknowledge that he helped set Mori into a no-win situation.

And unlike Pentecost (who initially wants to protect Mori at the cost of her own agency) and Hansen (who believes Mori is too incompetent to function above reproach), Becket knows what Mori was capable of. He believes in her 51 drops, 51 kills simulator score. He believes in her physical and intellectual capabilities based off his interactions with her, which are things that both Pentecost and Hanson immediately forget when Mori fails her first real drift and endangers people.

Becket knew what Mori could do if people just…invested in her and gave her a chance, now that she knew what drifting was like. He saw his own struggles in her and empathized with her as a human being. He takes some responsibility even over the fact that she was not simply made aware of/prepared for what she could face in that drift while also being hooked up to a weapon of mass destruction. Because as we see later in the film, once Mori knows what to expect, she can function very well as a co-pilot.

Had Raleigh not believed in her, had Pentecost tried to permanently ground her out of fearful love, and had Mako Mori herself accepted a reality where she was only a failure—the kaiju would have absolutely decimated multiple cities. Because Mori did not remain tied to her initial failure, the resistance lived to fight another day.

The more I thought about the fall and rise of Mako Mori in this 2013 film, the more I really appreciated those moments.  

Because if a woman makes a mistake and big-time screws up their debut, it’s usually a death knoll, and even more so if that woman is already living in an environment that makes her a second-class citizen to begin with. People often act like a Chuck Hansen and write her off as incompetent/dangerous, or they pull a Pentecost and assume her to be too weak/too emotional to be of use. There’s not a lot of forgiveness for a woman. Whereas, there’s generally a lot more forgiveness for a man to screw around on the goodwill that he has potential. So it’s pretty rare to see a woman mess up as Mori did, especially in an emotional, traumatized way with such potential consequences…and to see someone still fighting to reach out to her. To empathize with her. To offer her the second chance they knew she could handle.

So it hit me that when the computer in the movie asked, “Drift sequence terminated. Would you like to try again?” and no one answered, Raleigh Becket didn’t have to. Because he had already answered yes, and he had been saying yes for every second he was trying to reach Mori.

And as the movie unfolds, yeah it might be redundant that Raleigh talks to her out loud while they’re fighting. But he takes actual time to warn and prepare her for what they’re facing—because he’s been here before in the real world, and she hasn’t. He’s trying to keep her in the present and to keep himself grounded too so he personally doesn’t bog her down. And it’s in this environment that we see Mako Mori absolutely bloom into one of the best jaeger pilots the world has ever seen, not including that she’s part of the first team to ever single-handedly take down two category four kaiju in one night. And furthermore, we see a Mako Mori who doesn’t just internalize her emotions. She uses those emotions to carry on the fight and to rally Becket to another charge, even when he believes they’re out of options.

So I guess to wind down this rambling meta, I felt that this wild and fun movie contained some content that, whether intended or not, spoke to me today in a new way I hadn’t seen it as before. I thought it was pretty cool how in this movie, women can rise above a failure and try again, successfully even. The message that men can feel empathy with a woman or understand their struggles is still wildly progressive in today’s world, where it’s more acceptable for women to empathize with men than the other way around. The message that trying to understand helps everyone rise together is lit. And I didn’t really expect to be flailing over this movie and this concept in 2021, but here we are, lol.

[luulapants]

Teen Wolf and Perceptions of Character Age

There is a certain discussion that I find myself having (in different variations) over and over again with other Teen Wolf fans: how the age of the actors, compared to the age of the characters, affected the way we perceive and empathize with those characters. Studios have good reasons for not using actual underage kids in their shows - work hour restrictions, school arrangements, limits on racy/sexy scenes - but using adults in a show depicting younger teenagers drastically changes how we interpret their stories.

It’s easy to brush off with some of them, to think, “Oh, well it was a 19-year-old playing a 16-year-old. Not that big a difference.” But I’m going to challenge that notion with a few examples:

Erica Reyes:

Gage Golightly was about 19 when she played 15-year-old Erica. Erica was unpopular, struggled with epilepsy and medication side-effects. She was offered the bite, given the opportunity to make the life-altering decision to become a werewolf. She had no support in making that choice, and the consequences were fatal.

Remember how bad you felt for Erica when she and Boyd were being shot full of arrows, begging Allison to stop hurting them? Well, now imagine that scene with Gage Golightly as she actually looked at age 15-16:

Look at that picture. That is a child. Probably a child that thinks she’s an adult (I know I fucking thought so at that age) but a child nonetheless. Imagine that face being offered the bite. Trying to kiss Derek. Having the shit beat out of her as “training.” Being tortured by Gerard. Being killed by Kali.

Isaac Lahey:

Daniel Sharman was 25 when he played Isaac, who was 15-16 in S2.

Again, we had some really harrowing, emotionally difficult scenes with him. His father abused him. He was offered the bite. Derek beat him as part of their “training.” Chris sent him, alone, into an arms deal with the Japanese mafia. His girlfriend was murdered. Now, I couldn’t even find a picture of Daniel at 15 or 16, but here he is at 17:

How does picturing that face change Isaac’s scenes? His whole story arc?

Scott McCall:

This is a big one for me. Tyler Posey was only 20 years old when he played 16-year-old Scott, but the difference still made a stark contrast in the audience’s expectation of him as the hero of the show. I constantly see people wondering why he didn’t make better decisions, why his priorities weren’t right or why he reacted poorly in dire circumstances.

This is the (admittedly youthful) face that we see going through all of Scott’s S1 challenges. He gets attacked by a monster, turned into a monster himself, has his life threatened by multiple adults, is put into multiple deadly situations within the span of a few months, and is thrust into a position of leadership as the protector and savior of Beacon Hills.

Here is Tyler Posey at 15 (couldn’t find a great 16 pic):

I’ll admit that he was one of the more youthful looking actors in the early seasons. But by season 6, where he is supposed to be 18 (still younger than S1 Posey) but Tyler Posey was 26? When Scott was leading an army and clawing his own eyes out?

What is my point?

My point is NOT that we need to re-interpret the entire story in the context of them being children. Because, clearly, the writers didn’t treat them like real children either. And that’s part of the problem. TV shows present us with teenage characters that often look, act, and feel like adults. When it’s convenient for the plot, of course. We get glimpses of immaturity when that’s convenient, too.

Having older actors gives writers permission, in a way, to write about children in situations that we, in reality, would never want to see a child in. Who would be able to stomach watching a 16-year-old Daniel Sharman being beaten? Or 15-year-old Gage Golightly being shot full of arrows? The show suddenly goes from exciting and suspenseful to outright horrifying.

Maturity-wise, how different did 18-year-old Lydia Martin feel from 24-year-old Jordan Parrish? Not very. So when you see part of fandom freaking out that it was an inappropriate and predatory relationship and another part of fandom like “Are you joking? No, it just... wasn’t,” it’s not necessarily because that second part of fandom would actually see that sort of relationship in real life and think it’s 100% okay. It’s because Lydia Martin wasn’t portrayed as an 18-year-old physically, emotionally, or intellectually. Holland Roden was 30 years old by season 5. They just put her in a high school.

Similarly, there are people who think Sterek is an inappropriate ship. And I agree that it would be VERY creepy for these two to date:

But that’s not what we saw. Dylan O’Brien was 20. Tyler Hoechlin was 23.

Some people have very clear mental pictures of what teenagers look and act like. When watching shows like this, they will project age-appropriate thoughts and expectations onto those characters. Others don’t have that clear picture. When you are that age, you don’t think of yourself as being young, and if you’re not around people that age afterward, you probably won’t develop a clear sense of what a 16-year-old is or is not. For those people, they’ll take these depictions at face value: adult-like people walking around a high school. It produces two very different watching experiences.

So when one person says Derek is a horrible monster for abusing children in Season 2 and another says that he was just training his army to prepare them for the real danger... that’s what that is. It’s not that one is right and the other is wrong. The first person was watching an adult beat children. The second person was watching a 24-year-old, pretending to be 20-mumblety-something or whatever the fuck Derek was, giving tough-love training to three people who, by function of appearance and how they were written, were his age and older.

(Side note: Derek was actually playing someone his own age, but only retroactively. Originally, his character was meant to be “a few years older” than Scott and Stiles but that was retconned due to the Kate Argent plotline.)

Oh and here’s Shelley Hennig at 17 vs 27 and playing 17:

Here are some who I couldn’t find pictures of at younger ages, but whose age gaps from their characters are significant:

Sinqua Walls was 26 when he played Boyd, about a decade too old. There’s a whole mess of complicated implications with perceptions of black boys being perceived as “looking older” in that casting.

Crystal Reed was also 26 when she played 17-year-old Allison Argent, and was 29 by the time she left the show. Allison was still 17.

Keahu Kahuanui was 25 when he played Danny, who was 15-17.

Arden Cho was 29 when she started playing 16-year-old Kira.

Colton Haynes was 23 while playing Jackson, who was 16 or 17.

It is interesting that, starting in Season 4, they began hiring actors and actresses a little bit closer to their characters’ ages. Someone else write a meta on that, plz.

[rainhadaenerys]

I really hate Daensa. It’s a ship full of Sansa stans and Dany antis, and if they’re not outright hating Dany, they are being demeaning to her to prop up Sansa. The banner of the announcement post of Daensa week of this year was made by a Dany anti. Dany antis constantly post Daensa content like art or edits in order to pretend that they don’t hate Dany (like, seriously, there are Dany antis who have thousands of anti Dany posts in their blogs, who have made Daensa edits).

And then you have the Sansa stans who “don’t hate Dany”, but are constantly demeaning to her. One day I saw a Daensa artist make a Daensa video game AU writing in the tags that “Sansa is smart and calm and and tactical, while Dany would just use brute force and douse her opponents on fire until they die”. Other Daensas will write metas saying “Dany is a conqueror, while Sansa is the smart one that knows how to be diplomatic and that’s why they would complement each other”. And this is such a disrespect to Dany! Dany is smart, Dany is tactical, Dany knows diplomacy. She is not some idiot who needs Sansa to teach or do these things for her. For many Daensa shippers, they’re all about praising Sansa for her “cleverness”, while demeaning or denying Dany’s cleverness and reducing her to someone who is just good for war or an instrument of brute force.

Then there are other Daensas who like to paint the ship as some kind of good girl and bad girl thing, with Sansa as the good girl and Dany as the dark one. I’ve seen this plenty of times. I’ve even seen Daensas arguing with each other because one of them was saying that “I ship Daensa, but you have to admit that Dany is dark”. And today I’ve seen a post by a Daensa saying that if Jonerys happens in the books, book!Jon “won’t follow Dany around like a little lost puppy, he’d be more of a challenge to her”, because how dare Jon agree with Dany, huh? He needs to challenge her (because obviously Dany is wrong about things and Jon needs to challenge her, show!Jon was bad because he agreed with Dany). And then they finished their post with “will we see a darker Jon?”, (implying that obviously for Jon to like Dany he needs to be “darker”, since Dany is “dark” and good!Jon will never love someone like that). And by the way, I just went to this person’s blog and they just reblogged a post from a known Dany anti saying that book!Dany is “darker” and that show!Dany “didn’t face the consequences of her actions” and that the show was wrong to treat Dany as a hero. And then they have the gall to write a post saying that “the daensa fandom has no toxicity, only vibes”, saying that  “you can like both dany and sansa for what they are without woobifying their characters or making them out to be the worst person in westeros", as if they themselves weren’t vilifying Dany, claiming that Dany stans “woobify” her and demeaning her intelligence to prop up Sansa or as if they weren’t literally reblogging metas from Dany antis that have zero knowledge about Dany.

I just don’t trust Daensa, many of them are just Dany haters in disguise.

[aspoonofsugar]

The “One” Divided Into “Two”

Hello anons, hello friend,

these asks can be answered together!

First of all:

Hello! I just want to say that I love your RWBY metas! So I'm wondering, have you ever done metas about Emerald and Mercury?

Thank you! And yes, I have written a little bit about Mercury and Emerald here. I would also recommend this wonderful meta by @hamliet because it has an interesting Mercury theory in it.

Now. this answer is gonna mix some analysis with speculation because Emerald and Mercury’s story must still enter its climax. Once it does and we are given a specific interpretative key I will be happy to write more metas on them!

I’ll start with this:

Those two are so out of place in Salem's faction and the last look they share made me doubt that Mercury is rotten to the core and more of a kid who didnt know what he's in for. Since Em has switched sides, is it possible that Merc might follow? I really like him, so I'm hoping that he won't go down like Watts.

In my opinion, yes and here is why.

CHILDREN LOST IN A NARRATIVE

1) Emerald and Mercury have been child-coded since their first appearance:

Roman: Oh, look! She sent the kids again! This is turning out just like the divorce!

2) Both have received a save the cat moment early on:

Emerald: It's almost sad.

Mercury: Emerald, get up, we need to go. (...) Emerald!

Both child-coding and save the cat moments are often used to make characters more sympathetic and this applies to both Emerald and Mercury, even more so than Cinder.

This is why, for example, the major death they are directly involved in:

turns out to be a temporary one.

As a side note, I like thinking of Emerald and Mercury as the Cat and the Fox in Penny’s story since they act as false friends to the main cast, betray them and cause Penny’s first death. Moreover, in the novel, both characters end up suffering consequences for their life-styles. The two murder kids are the same:

At the same time, details about Emerald and Mercury’s backgrounds and motivations are given to the viewers pretty early on:

We are shown Cinder recruiting both and these scenes clearly paint them as two vulnerable kids that get manipulated and groomed:

Raven: Two children you’ve tricked into following you.

Emerald is presented as a scaredy cat and Cinder wins her over by promising the bare minumum aka some security and basic care.

Mercury is given even less aka a narrative to keep himself together:

Cinder: And you're his son. We saw your fight from the treeline. He's taught you well.

Mercury: Guess so.

Cinder: What's your name?

Mercury: Mercury.

Cinder: Mercury... Tell me, are you anything like your father?

Mercury: All my life, my father trained me to be a killer, an assassin like him. And then moments after I killed him, you two showed up looking for someone with my exact skills. Just felt like it was meant to be.

Cinder praises his abilities and frames his trauma as something that makes him strong, not broken. And Mercury has completely embraced this narrative since then.

In short, Emerald and Mercury are framed as two kids lost in an illusory narrative Cinder has crafted. That said, they are also characters in a proper narrative and they are given sympathetic backgrounds and positive qualities that hint they can be better than they currently are.

In particular, Emerald should overcome her emotional dependence on others to make the right thing:

In both volume 3 and volume 8 she is shown the destruction of a city. However, the first time she puts distance between herself and others’ pain, as symbolically conveyed by her looking from above. In volume 8, though, she is shown the same pain up close and she can’t ignore it anymore. This is why the others drag Emerald towards the people crying and light invades the screen when she finally meets the sheltered crew. She is forced to face an uncomfortable truth she wants to ignore.

Mercury should instead let himself depend on others more. He should open up to others and fight for his one positive bond:

Mercury: Back off, freak.

Which leads us to:

What do you like most about Emerald and Mercury's relationship and bond as it is explored in RWBY?

EMERCURY: COMPLEMENTARITY

Emerald and Mercury’s bond being a key one is conveyed both symbolically and in terms of their respective abilities.

When it comes to their abilities, I have written about it in the meta linked above:

In short, Emerald mostly relies on her semblance, while Mercury mostly relies on his legs and fighting prowess.

This detail adds to the idea that Emerald and Mercury have been acting as a unit and have been complementing each other. Emerald acts as the “soul” and Mercury as the “body”.

The soul is one’s personal essence (like the semblance). It is where (once again) wishes reside. The body is what protects the soul and is animated by instincts and self-survival.

They complement each other. This complementarity is shown in Emerald and Mercury’s fights.

In the Vytal festival, Mercury takes on both Coco and Yatsuhashi for a short while, so that Emerald can size her chance to fight Coco at her own terms (and she wins by using her semblance).

In the Battle of Heaven, Emerald uses her semblance to help Mercury fight and, in a sense, she compensates for his lack of one:

The human soul is about wishes, but also duties:

Penny: I feel like I wish I could do both the things I need to do and the things I want to do. Is that normal?

One must accept their feelings, but also struggle with them:

Winter: But yes Penny, we must still acknowledge our personal feelings, wrestle with them. It ensures us that we’re on the right path. It’s what makes us human.

And must do the right thing out of their own free will:

Winter: Penny. The general is making hard choices so we don’t have to.

This is Emerald’s personal struggle. She must let go of her feelings for Cinder and fight her own fear in order to do the right thing.

The human body lets people feel both others’ warmth:

And others’ cruelty:

However, Mercury refuses to feel both. He refuses to truly process his own trauma and pushes his feelings of care for Emerald away:

As far as their symbolism goes, they are linked in at least three different ways.

1) One of the attributes of the Roman god Mercury is that he is the protector of thieves and Emerald’s surname capitalized means thief. What is more:

Mercury: Ooh, Emerald! Master thief! Please don't take my money! I barely have enough to get by!

2) Mercury/Hermes is also the god of alchemy and the one who wrote the Emerald Tablet aka a tablet with the truth of alchemy on it. You, @hamliet​, have written a meta on it, so I won’t add more.

3) According to at least some traditions, emerald is the gemstone associated with the planet Mercury.

So, it is clear the two characters are meant to be important in each other’s arcs.

Let’s now look at Emerald and Mercury’s bond, as it is explored through their interactions.

Mercury clearly cares about Emerald and gets along well with her. She is the only person he shows vulnerability to.

This is what their scene in Lost is about:

Emerald: Why did you come with us, the night Cinder and I found you?

Mercury: Why are you asking--

Emerald: Just answer the question.

Emerald is trying to open herself up and wants Mercury to open up too. This is why she gets annoyed when Mercury gives her a superficial answer. Still, in that conversation, Mercury is genuinelly trying to answer Emerald’s feelings:

Mercury: I'm sorry you didn't have a mommy that loved you, but I had a father who hated me! He never went easy on me! Every day of training was a beating. And when I unlocked my Semblance, he stole it with his! "This is a crutch!" "This makes you weak!" He told me I could have it back when I was strong. So I got strong, but I never got it back! I've had to work harder than anyone to get where I am. You may not like it here without Cinder, but I think I'm right where I'm supposed to be!

Here, Mercury is telling Emerald details of his past he would not be sharing if he did not trust her. He can’t let himself be completely vulnerable, though, so he discloses them by lashing out at Emerald. He mixes violence with authentic vulnerability and also with care:

Mercury: Cinder doesn't care about you! She doesn't care about either of us!

He has seen how self-destructive Emerald can get when it comes to Cinder:

And he is trying to have Emerald move on from her obsession.

However, Mercury’s small steps towards opening up and caring for another person are constantly challenged:

Tyrian: Oh yes, the world is mean, and I'm a big, bad man now just like the others.

Mercury: How long have you been standing there?!

The moment he opens up to Emerald, Tyrian appears to threathen and mock him.

Mercury’s positive development lies in accepting his own feelings of pain and in sharing them with others, so that he can be helped. However, the environment he is in goes in the way of it:

Emerald: Mercury, I wanted to...

Here, Emerald is trying to either apologize to Mercury for their fight or to at least check out on him. Still, Mercury is not listening to her because he is too frightened by what Salem is doing.

Mercury’s current struggle is conveyed in a nutshell by the glance he gives to his left in Midnight:

Is he looking at Emerald out of concern?

Or at Salem out of caution?

It is not clear. Still, what is sure is that Mercury should focus on Emerald, but Salem goes in the way. He deep down wants to care about others, but he is too scared to do so:

Tyrian: All you ever learned was pain and violence, and now you're too afraid to leave it. Such a tragedy.

At the same time, Mercury is for Emerald what she has been looking for in Cinder:

Emerald: We don't need him! Everything was going fine!

She initially refuses him, but it is clear that with time Mercury becomes the thing most similar to a family Emerald has:

She has been so fixated on Cinder and on how she can be worthy of Cinder’s love that she has missed how much Mercury has tried to protect her all along.

This is why Hazel is important for Emerald’s development:

Hazel: No more Gretchens, boy.

His sacrifice is about breaking his personal cycle of pain. His story starts with Gretchen dying when she was only a girl and it ends with him preventing another girl’s death. At the same time, he also helps breaking the cyle of abuse between Emerald and Cinder.

Emerald is told the truth about her relationship with Cinder by Mercury. Moreover, it seems something finally clicks for her here:

She observes Salem’s manipulation of Cinder and understands Cinder has been manipulating her in the same way.

However, it is thanks to Hazel’s sacrifice that Emerald sees what a genuine parental bond should be like. It should be about the parent protecting the child:

Hazel: What Gretchen would have done. And that starts with getting you away from here. Both of you.

And not the child protecting the parent:

Emerald: I know I can’t beat you. But I can fill that thing full of holes before you take me down.

It should be about the parent caring for the child unconditionally:

Hazel: Go.

And not about the child working hard to gain a parent’s love:

Cinder: You… You brought me back here. We failed.

Emerald: Cinder, you were hurt. I was just trying to help.

At the same time, Hazel’s death has taught Emerald the pain of losing a loved one:

And has forced Emerald to stand on her own two legs:

Oscar: I've seen what you can do, Emerald. However this fight ends, we could really use someone like you.

She can’t be protected forever, but she should start protecting others. She is powerful enough to do so and she must accept this responsibility.

So

I think Emerald could be key to Mercury's redemption

I think so too. Emerald saving Mercury is the perfect objective for her personal arc. It forces her to act as the savior instead of the one being saved.

Moreover, Mercury told her the truth about herself:

Mercury: You're in denial.

So Emerald might do the same for Mercury. This would also fit with her being the Emerald Tablet. The Tablet is written by Mercury to convey the truth to the world. Here, it might very well be the inverse: the Emerald Tablet might convey the truth to Mercury.

In general, Mercury and Tyrian’s foiling has to pay off, just like Emerald and Hazel’s:

The set-up is there for Tyrian and Mercury’s subplot to be about breaking cycles as well. Mercury’s story is about a child left alone with his abuser. Nobody comes to save him, so Mercury is forced to save himself by killing Marcus. Still, this only leads to him being stuck in the idea he is nothing, but an extension of his father. Right now, the cycle is repeating, but it is possible this time things will go differently because there is at least one person who cares about him.

Not only that, but (and this is nothing, but a baseless theory) even Qrow (aka a character who has unfinished business with Tyrian) might be a thematic fit to help Mercury:

Mercury: Bad hair, used a scythe, and smelled like my dad after a long day. It was him.

After all, Mercury himself draws a comparison between Qrow and his father since they are both alcoholic. However, Qrow has started a journey of rehabilitation for the sake of his nieces and their friends.

Qrow sees himself as bad for others and fundamentally unlucky because of his background and his semblance. So, his third fight with Tyrian being about saving a kid, who, in a sense, is even less lucky than him and has no semblance might be thematically fitting.

Despite it all, Qrow found a family and a place to belong and he might help Mercury find his (Emerald) as well.

SEMBLANCE OF THE SELF

Got no gun But I gleam like a blade and I'm harder than iron

Delusion I'll steal til your blind and defeat you from inside your mind

Emerald’s best weapon is her semblance, while Mercury’s semblance was stolen, so he could become a weapon.

This difference symbolizes their respective reactions to abuse.

Emerald uses her illusions as a coping mechanism.

This mechanism is well conveyed in CEM’s fight against Amber:

On one hand, Emerald creates a child version of herself who is well dressed and owns a bike. It is a rich version of Emerald because she must think that is the kind of child others would stop by to help. She does not believe she is likable or lovable. This is why she makes an illusory alter-ego, which is both true (she deep down is a crying child) and false (she is a street rat with nothing).

In general, this is Emerald’s way to approach others:

Emerald: Just left the stadium after your amazing fight! You guys were awesome!

Ren: Because she's scared. Just like us..

Emerald: Or maybe because I know how to get out of here. Anybody coming?

She either fakes an overly friendly demeanor or acts tougher than she is. In any case, she hides her true self.

On the other hand, Emerald is symbolically trapping herself in an illusion together with Amber. Amber can’t see the dangerous thief in front of her, but Emerald too can’t see the generous woman who is offering food to a crying child:

Cinder: Follow me, and you’ll never be hungry again.

Cinder promises Emerald food and love and this lie makes the girl unable  to see the genuine article when it is right there.

So Emerald tricks both others and herself. This is how she survives abuse.

This is why she keeps believing in Cinder while she is gone:

Emerald: You’re here! I knew you’d co--

And this is why symbolically her semblance grows stronger in an abusive environment:

Emerald: I’ve been working on my Semblance. I can help. I won’t tell anybody.

Salem: You really have been honing that Semblance of yours.

After all, this is when Emerald gets a “power-up”:

She has just lost Cinder and finds herself stuck with Salem. Her reaction is to have a breakdown and to project an illusion in the minds of nine people, when she had previously stated she could only do one/two minds at most.

Mercury weaponizes his trauma.

This is why his legs are Mercury’s true weapon, while Talaria is there just to cover and embellish the pain and ugliness under it.

Mercury fights Amber with only its bare legs because symbolically his trauma is still fresh and he has yet to work out a structured coping mechanism to it. His meeting with Cinder is the first step in this construction that evolves in the following months and is still evolving:

In CEM’s fight against Amber, Mercury uses his unfeeling legs to whitstand the violence of the elements:

Fire

Earth and Water

Air

He goes through the whole cycle without feeling any pain simply because his trauma has made him unfeeling:

I'm the one That was ripped from the earth and exposed to the sun

Marcus has literally turned Mercury into Iron:

But I gleam like a blade and I'm harder than iron

Still, the point is that mercury as a metal is not as hard as iron, but (in the alchemical scale of metals) is way more refined and closer to gold. Mercury can be better than his father, but his way to survive abuse is to repress himself.

This is why his semblance was stolen by his abuser. It is because abuse has taken away Mercury’s personhood.

So, both Emerald and Mercury face abuse by masking or repressing themselves. The difference is a matter of degree. Mercury can suppress his emotions and needs more, while Emerald can’t.

Theirs is a foiling about feeling too much to the point of self-harm and of feeling too little to the point of negation.

So, Emerald must struggle with her feelings not to be controlled by them, while Mercury must aknowledge them.

Emerald’s Hallucinations is a Semblance of The Self because it hides both Emerald herself and the truth.

This is interesting because, as stated above, the Emerald Tablet should convey the truth about alchemy. However, Emerald’s environment has turned her into an inversion of herself:

I'm the one Who rose out of filth and was loved by no-one

She is a gemstone, but is currently covered in dirt. She needs to polish herself, so she can shine and fit better in her allusion.

Mercury’s stolen semblance is a Semblance of The Self because it is linked to Mercury’s self-expression, which he must claim back.

Until then, he is bound to be stuck in an abusive cycle as nothing, but a weapon.

In general, there is some symbolism around Mercury which needs unpacking:

Mercury quoting Marcus:"This is a crutch!" "This makes you weak!"

Firstly, he has clearly interiorized what his father told him here. He refuses the idea of weakness and crutches to the point that his prosthetics, which are literal crutches get turned into weapons and even covered by other weapons. However, this refusal of crutches means Mercury can’t heal. After all, crutches, bandages and treatment are necessary to become healthy once again.

Secondly, there is this: 

I'll run circles round ya, I can touch the sky

The God Mercury’s main attribute is that he can overcome any boundary. He can go wherever he wants in no time. However, Mercury is the opposite because no matter what, he can’t leave his abusive environment. This has to do once again with his father’s abuse which culminated with Marcus taking Mercury’s legs. This is symbolically why Mercury is trapped.

Like for Emerald, Mercury’s arc should be about growing into his allusion, so that he can finally be free.

Still, how to turn Emerald and Mercury in the positive versions of their allusions? The answer has to do with this question:

(I think Emerald could be key to) maybe Cinder's (redemption) too

I’M THE ONE

Emerald and Mercury are two parts of the individual (body and soul) and two parts of a Huntsman (semblance and weapon):

Ren: A common philosophy is that a warrior's Semblance is a part of who they are.

Ruby: Just weapons? They're an extension of ourselves! They're a part of us! Oh, they're so cool.

Together they make a unit. Together they make Cinder. They are two sides of her trauma, her two sins:

Emerald: Actually, I was wondering, do you have any copies of "The Thief and The Butcher"?

And the wounds behind those sins.

This is why Cinder takes them in, but also why she abuses them.

She uses them as weapons:

In CEM’s fight against Amber she lets them go in first and has them take the majority of Amber’s hits.

Not only that, but she uses them as “red herrings” she hides behind.

She acts as if Amber’s blow takes her out of the fight, while Amber focuses on Mercury who resists her attack:

She has Emerald display her semblance at full force, so that the girl becomes Amber’s first target:

She makes her own illusion where Emerald and Mercury are her smokescreen.

However, her two disciples are not just things she can use as she pleases. They are two people who depend on her:

Mercury: You mean--

Emerald: She's alive?

They are literally two kids she takes in framing their relationship as parental/hierarchical hence she is responsible for them.

However, she fails them and leaves them in a dangerous environment. This is why they both leave her out of self-survival.

Narratively, Emerald and Mercury are two kids that must grow up. Right now, they are in some kind of adolescent phase. They have started their emancipation from their “parent”, but they have still to grow until they’ll be able to truly face Cinder.

It will probably be in this confrontation that they will affirm their growth. Right now, Cinder does not need to be coddled, but to be called out. Both Neo and Watts try to, but Cinder ignores them and retaliates against them. She needs a call out she can’t ignore and Emerald and Mercury are too rooted in who she deep down is for her to be unaffected by them.

At the same time, it would mark Mercury and Emerald’s first step into adulthood. Only then they can stop being a “half” and can truly become “one”, so a whole person.