#pointless post bc i'm sure no one reads these but its mostly for me to put my thoughts somewhere

[mikodrawnnarratives]

I guess it is mostly lackluster when compared to the other books I mean.

I intend to getting around to rereading all of the books ltr but from what I remember Supernova felt like it failed to deliver a good ending (in my opinion) for what they had been building up to in the first and second books

Like, in both Renegades and Archenemies, we get to see through Nova and Adrian that both the Renegades and Anarchists are complex and having interesting reasons for what they do. It isn't as simple as "the anarchists are in the wrong and the heroes are in the right"

The anarchists were a sort of family to Nova, albeit not perfect but she had people that cared about her. Honey was like a mother figure to her and at the time, we thought Ace was a good uncle. Nova had a solid backstory and motivation and Ace Anarchy really did start the effort to gain rights for prodigies. (Which now that I'm thinking of it, it'd be kinda interesting if the next book(s) in the trilogy talked about that part of prodigy history, now that everyone is a prodigy)

It was when Adrian took the spotlight in other chapters that we saw the damage the anarchists did as well.

The renegades were far from flawless too. I thought there were some interesting parallels to how some of the renegades acted and police brutality when I was first reading the books. Some of them got away with murder! And the existence of Agent N and how the second book discussed the morality of it was very interesting!

The third book isn't AWFUL by any means, but only disappointing to me. Nova is caught and imprisoned and it is never brought up again how inhumane it was. How much it put Nova through. None of the prison characters come back which was a wasted opportunity and Nova easily forgives Adrian afterwards.

Though, I haven't read the book in its entirety for a minute so I could easily be forgetting some of the ways Nova's character reflected how being imprisoned affected her. Outside of feeling more confident around the renegades since, she's gotten away with being caught before and it isn't as scary anymore.

Winston's arc also felt very out of place to me. I'm still not sure what Marissa Meyer was trying to do with him. I guess he contributed to the book's quick decision to say "Renegades were right the whole time 👍" Cuz Agent N was beneficial for him. (again I don't remember specifics too much so I'll probably talk abt this in another post ltr when I've refreshed my memory lol) I've come around to agreeing with a lot of ppl in wishing Winston had survived. I don't think it was a good decision to kill him off when it would have been much more interesting if he had survived. He would have gotten his powers back and that would challenge if he could stay "good"

It also would have been nice to see Nova keep ONE anarchist friend (given we don't know if Leroy is gonna be staying with her post supernova)

Speaking of Agent N, conclusion to that seemed to negate the sacrifices other characters made during the battle. Quite a few characters lost their powers during the fight and for them to get it back made the fight pointless. A lot in the ending made the build up the trilogy had feel pointless honestly.

I've mentioned a lot about how the take away felt like they were saying "renegades have always been right, boo anarchists" and that is because the Renegades really don't face that many consequences by the end.

I don't think Frostbite's group faced repercussions outside of briefly losing their powers, Adrian's dads (mainly Hugh) are pretty much excused of fault for Nova's parents deaths bc PLOT TWIST it was her UNCLE and they Actually really DID try to protect them!, which I wish wasn't the plot twist since if Evie was found and cared for by the Renegades I think that could have nudged Nova to believing in them more, the prison system isn't abolished, I don't believe much lip service is given to the fact the Renegades had so much power that they could take away people's POWERS, etc. A Ten Year Old had to clean up the mess they made (granted "they" is both the anarchists and renegades).

I think the book tried to be balanced with the introduction of the Rejects, but if we're honest, they didn't really do much. They mostly just melded into the renegades.

But I do hope that future books amend this. Marissa could take the direction that Maggie hints at in the epilogue that things AREN'T perfect now. It's really the only perspective that points out anything is flawed. In future books the areas in the system that are still flawed can be tackled and resolved, and give more time to show the Rejects affects on the system. And I highly bet it will go this way cuz if Cinder's Adventure is any hint at the future

Then it will be addressed.

Outside of the ending, there were some things I think were handled poorly. Like how Honey begins to act worse in this book. I don't think Marissa Meyer did enough to show Honey can both be like a mother figure to Nova and simultaneously be ready to stab her in the back. Pun not intended. I think there could have been better build up if her betrayal had to happen.

But one of the aspects I think could be interesting if intentional is Nova losing pretty much all her family in the renegades. It would have been nice to let Nova have some of her family after the fact, but since she didn't there is plenty to think about with how it affects her mental state. By the end, she's lost so many people in her life, she's weak and injured, and the only people she can turn to is the Renegades. Who else is there?? Leroy maybe but the anarchists were struggling before and didn't have their secrets so openly known.

It is a good thing that she has trust worthy people to depend on in the renegades, like team sketch and Adrian, but it is a very sudden change.

Again, I may change my mind on some of this later cuz I will be rereading stuff eventually, but here are my cents on the books flaws rn. And I DO have a lot of hope in marissa meyer going the direction that could forgive the mistakes the third book made. And maybe Marissa Meyer can do something in the next books to make Winston's death mean something who knows

If Maggie's gonna be the protagonist plsplsplsplspls then the renegades are DEFINITELY gonna have a hard time getting out of this one without fault. We need Hugh's perspective on that night and it looks like he'll be hardpressed for why he didn't notice Maggie was alive the whole time. Hopefullyyy that'll invite back more criticism of the renegades that isn't easily fixable

i think being in the renegades trilogy fandom has taught me a new way with how to cope with canon being... garbage

Supernova was lackluster in SOOO many ways and I could have JUST gone the route of "This was bad and THIS is what they should have done to make it good" which obv I still do.

But I also have been trying to make the best out of what we got y'know. Like, I don't LIKE that Maggie and Nova didn't get a resolution BUT I have found a lot of fun in imagining Maggie's life after Supernova and what the epilogue set up. Granted now that we got confirmation we'll be getting more books, those headcanons are likely to be squashed but they are fun to play around with still

And I don't think I ever did that with miraculous ladybug. I think I saw a WHOLE LOT of salt for it in 2020 and didn't realize I could and SHOULD HAVE blocked the ml salt tag cuz ml partially got ruined for me when I COULD HAVE gotten to see the positives in even the crappy stuff we got and make the best out of it

TLDR Imagining what could have been is fun but making the best out of what u got rn is also great

[likeadevils]

uh well there’s gansey (?) and adam (I am only certain about this bc of this post and I’m pretty sure gansey and adam are from the same series) and blue? blue might be from that book with blue in the name though. there’s another boy with a very british name though (willam or something) cause I think it’s like four dudes and one girl.

yes! 4 dudes + 1 girl. gansey, adam, blue are all there, but blue is in all 4 books, it's just the 3rd book that has the word blue in its name. and it's kinda blue-centric so you got the vibe! the 3rd boy is ronan (so irish) and the 4th boy is noah!

and uhhhh I get it mixed up with foxhole court a lot??

soo valid because get this: the 4th book in trc is called "the raven king" which is also the name of the 2nd book in "all for the game" (book #1 is "foxhole court").

But I’m pretty sure the raven cycle is modern day? it might be about immortals? or gods? this the one about resurrecting some king? I’ve been told it’s among the heroes of olympus school of like, good characters but badly thought out plot.

yes, modern day is right! and yes, it's about finding and waking up a dead welsh king. i'm kinda biased about the plot because while i agree that it's not very Structured i really vibe with it so i personally would not call it Bad. but also i'm mostly into the characters, themes and writing style hehe

I think people ship adam with gansey. i am certain that whoever they ship adam with, the fandom is invested in their relationship more than the main character, who I’m pretty sure is blue. that might be because the boys just have more character to invest in but it might just be misogyny, I truly have no idea.

i think most people ardently ship adam with ronan, they have a whole r-ship going on, but gansey x adam is a very popular ship too, but usually simultaneously going with ronan x adam. blue is technically the main character but in the sense that it's an ensemble cast, pretty much equal focus on the gangsey (yes that's the fandom name for it), with their families and other characters being supporting. the best ppl in the fandom are those who know ships are pointless because they are literally all 1 big queer polycule 👍 they're all very much in love with each other it's a running theme in the books!!

im pretty sure it came out like 2015-2018, it’s part of that post dystopian ya craze that focused on fantasy and morally gray main characters. i think the boys are homeless or at least low class. Idk

came out in 2012-2016 and idk about that second part bc i wasnt around in that time but that makes a lot of sense! no they're not homeless (except adam for some time) or low class (except adam and blue) because the other 3 are all Very Rich... trust fund rich so yes balances them out lol (the class differences informs a lot of the dynamics too, esp b/w adam and gansey)

I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF NOAH IN MY LIFE also im so sorry for calling an irish person british I will make up for it by ronan being my favorite character now (unless i really don’t like him)

thats literally so funny of the authors there’s already so much The Animal Fantasy Title books and I feel like this is an snl skitch in real life

I have literally only pieced together this plot through aesthetic mood boards I am very excited to have something about it conformed and also now I feel like reading it

the literal first thing I thought when you brought up the second ship was like. oh this is some good poly material. love a good everyone just loves and supports each other in different ways vibe

the only reason I thought there was a homeless plot line is because most of the mood boards had like, abandoned buildings and people walking places and a general wanderlust-but-sad-about-it vibes. also bro you really know how to sell me on a book

[heoniebebe]

damn my brain rly revolves around work

[ambered-glazed-sheep]

Please do go on about Doomslayer and his morals. I'm legit fascinated by him since starting the let's play I'm watching and I'd love to hear your take on him (I know literally nothing about the Doom franchise other than lots of blood and violence against demons and also badass music)

You know, a year ago when my friends asked me 'hey do you wanna play minecraft' and i said 'yeah sure' i would have never thought i would one day have a minecraft sideblog where i get questions about the personality of the main character of a shooter fps game (of all things!) that is known for its incredible violence.

But here you go:

(prepare yourself this has gotten way longer than i thought oh god, and also it has nothing to do with hermits whatsoever. warnings for language and descriptions of violence? and i assume the readmore won’t be working the way i want it to)

Ok so, Doom!

First of all, i know nothing about the old games, and i’ve only seen a minimal amount of Doom Eternal Letsplays. Most of this is based on Doom (2016). 

Ok so we all start out thinking Doomguy! It’s the guy you play in Doom. The hand that hold the gun YOU are shooting demons with. And sure, you can go trough the whole game with that mindset, but that’s boring and we are overthinking fictional characters in this house.

ID software actually managed to give Doomguy/Doomslayer a TON of personality despite him never saying a word, barely any cutscenes to show what he does when you don’t control him (at least in Doom 2016), and not a lot of other characters to interact with despite enemy monsters.

The game just leaves you little hints and snippets and that’s what makes Doomslayer so exciting to think about. Just the right levels between ‘cryptid half-god who never shows emotion and is a player-insert’ and ‘this dude’s got an AGENDA. he has PLACES TO BE’. You are him as you play, but sometimes he makes decisions on his own. But personally, i could never find myself to disagree.

First, you got the intro sequence. 

You got a unknown voice telling you: 

“They are rage. Brutal, without mercy. But you. You will be worse. Rip and Tear, until it is done.”

First of all, YO. WOW. HOLY SHIT.

The scene immediately shifts to Doomslayer waking up. He’s naked, he’s chained down somewhere, theresa SHIT TON of scars littering his arms and hands. First thing HE does, on his own behalf, is ripping off the chains by flexing a little (literal iron chains!!!), smashing a zombies head against the sarcophagus he lays in and completely obliterating said head into a bit of blood (mind you, three seconds after he woke up from a thousands of years long coma!! but we only learn that later), and then promptly gets up, picks up a pistol, and now it’s your, the players turn. This takes like 8 seconds in total. This man means BUSINESS. That’s the first thing we learn.

Second thing that strikes me is the interactions with Samuel Hayden. 

Doomslayer is patient when a computer voice tells him the status of the base. He is patient as he looks at the screens to see what is going on. (a demonic invasion, thats what). But then dear Dr. Samuel Hayden calls. 

Dr. Hayden says “Hi, i’m the boss here, i’m sure we can work together in a way that benefits us both uwu”. Doomslayer immediately grabs the PC screen and pushes it aside. His gesture says, i’m done with this. im sick of this dude. this guy is full of shit. And he’s right! And that after barely hearing two sentences from Hayden!

So the second thing we learn is that he has no time for people trying to exploit him. He hears Hayden, he has a gut feeling that this dude is a little fishy, maybe he just plain doesnt like higher ups and heads of facilities. But we learn that he IS. NOT. going to listen to this man, and his body language makes that very clear without being actually violent against the person (he doesnt destroy the Screen either! just pushes it aside very annoyed. He isn’t mindlessly destroying property here.)

This continues. 

Hayden goes ‘hey maybe don’t destroy that energy source!’ in the few seconds you dont control him, Doomslayer listens. He hesitates. He considers. Then he destroys the thing anyways. Hayden keeps telling him to stop, but Doomslayer doesnt listen. He’s got his own mind!

This was mostly about Haydens Company, the UAC, harvesting hell energy, and hurting people in the process. 

There’s a scene where Doomslayer rides an elevator. Hayden, over the comms, tells him that everyone that has died in the demon attack was a nacessary sacrifice that will bring a new future or some shit like that. the camera pans down to show some poor sods corpse at those very words. Doomslayer cracks his knuckles. he is NOT HAPPY about that, so we know he doesnt like it when human lifes are sacrificed. He destroys the communicator, so he doesnt have to listen to Haydens voice telling him lies and trying to sway him anymore. 

(then he takes out his shotgun, the doors open, metal starts playing and the doom logo is shown, but that’s more about making the player feel epic than showing doomslayers personality,,)

Now i would like to talk about VEGA, the AI that controls the mars facility. 

VEGA occasionally talks to us/the Slayer. He is very straightforward, tells us what to do and why to do it, and is generally very polite. In the story, Doomslayer listens to Vega. 

Now why does he listen to VEGA but not Hayden? 

I think it’s because Hayden tries to get him to do things that just benefit him, and Hayden is very manipulative in his words (or tries to be lol), while Vega just says (if you destroy this thing, that door will open. I think Doomslayer appreciates it when people are honest to him.

And in the end, Doomslayer on his own decides to save a backup of VEGA. VEGA didn’t ask him to, Doomslayer did that on his own. It’s not relevant to his mission, he doesnt need VEGA to go to hell to close portals and whatnot. But he does save him. Why? I think it’s because he cares. Because he’s come to like VEGA. Because Vega didn’t try to manipulate him and screw him over. 

Next up is the Slayers Testament. 

These are a bunch of writings/recordings that you find scattered in the hell levels. (i highly recommend listening to them/reading them, they are metal as fuck and give me such an immense feeling of power bc they are talking about me, the doomslayer)

These testaments were written by demons. They were genuinely afraid of the slayer. 

Quote:

Unbreakable, incorruptible, unyielding, the Doom Slayer sought to end the dominion of the dark realm.

As said, i don’t think these are purely talking about his physical strength. They are talking about his... well, mentality. His Codex. They see him as an unstoppable force. He is incorruptible. Let that sink in. Man walks trough hordes of demons and at no point ever thinks ‘yeah maybe this is a bit much’ or ‘they just keep coming this is pointless’. No. He’s unyielding. (Can you tell how much i love the words in these testaments? It’s just got such a nice ring to it.)

In battle, the Doomslayer is BRUTAL. He tears apart demons, rips their eyes out, all that. He stomps on heads like they’re water balloons and isn’t fazed at all. Nothing stops this man. (except players like me who fall off the map 5 consecutive times, but lets just imagine the doomslayer is actually like he would be if someone played the game perfectly. player skill shouldn’t be considered in my headcanons jahdjhgd) One could even argue he has fun at this, because there are some animations like ripping off a zombies arm and beating the Zombie with it, or feeding a demon it’s own heart.

I feel like that says a lot about his personality as well!

He doesn’t hesitate. He doesn’t doubt himself. He doesn’t question his cause! He fights to get rid of the demons, not just the ones in his way, but every. demon. He will go out of his way to kill more demons. You could either take this as him having fun, or him following his own moral codex to get rid of every demon, or him being a not-quite-human war machine, or wanting to protect humanity from them. 

I would say it’s a healthy mix of all that :D

In older games, there was this whole backstory snippet of him returning to earth, finding that the demons had invaded his planet but also killed his pet rabbit (Daisy), and he then goes onto a 2-game long revenge trip.Take that as you will.

The last thing i would like to mention is this post.

Please watch the video. Doomguy walks trough the rows of random human guards. This is the walk of a man who doesn’t owe them SHIT. Yes, he wants to save humanity. Yes, he cares. But he also knows who he is. He knows what he did, and what he will do. He doesn’t have to justify himself in front of these shady scientists and jerky guards.THEY owe HIM, in fact. This video emits the sheer CONFIDENCE of someone who has walked trough hell multiple times and knows none of these people could even touch him. Yes, he would never kill them. He would not harm humans. But he doesn’t care about making them uncomfortable with his presence, either. He doesnt ask for permission.

(i think by now i am using the exact same words they did in that post. really, its worth the read. i think there’s a lot of repeated things between this post and that post by now but i encourage you to watch that video. its worth it.)

Also, the impact he has on the people in this room! they trip. they walk backwards. they go quiet, stutter. they are intimidated. They know he’s technically here to help and save them, but now, standing in front of them.... just wow. it really puts things into perspective. it tells the player that all the demons that he’s killed, all that the doomslayer has done... its noted. it has an impact. 

I’m not really sure where i’m going with this anymore, but watching those NPCs react to the slayers presence just adds so much more to his character. it tells us how people see him, and boy.... do they see him. 

i think it also ties a lot into how the player is made feel, controlling doomguy. all these head stomping and limp tearing animations, the guns, people being scared, watching doomslayer destroy important equipment from first pirson or pushing open doors or whatever... it just gives me such an immense feeling of power! i can’t even describe it. (...it also has nothing to do anymore with the original question but holy shit did i love playing doom for the sheer atmosphere of it. despite me being horrible at playing.)

(at the end of this i’m realizing that all of this never addressed if doomslayer is happy and content murdering demons, or if he just wants his peace and quiet but can’t help himself every time he sees a demon. i would propose to leave that up to headcanons. mine is a mix of both but in a way that makes it not angsty. like he loves to have his calm moments, but is just as happy to rip some demon’s spine out. probably gets a little itchy and impatient if he hasn’t fought in a while.)

also if you’re interested in game design and way more professional people talking about why doom 2016 is great i reccomend this documentary

...anyways it’s past 1am and this has gotten way out of hand but

tl;dr: the doomslayer is metal as fuck, he has a lot of agenda he is following, and i love him so much