#reminds me of Deus Ex

[kobadit]

Rogue City was so good, you guys

[self-shipper-snowdrop]

Looking over the old TFP fic again after editing it a bit and fixing some typos, damn.... Bronwen is a fashion icon in that story.

She struts onto the scene in rockabilly dresses and heels daily, matching lipstick and all, no fucks given and still kicks ass. I can't lie, I kinda wanna draw her outfits. She has a new one basically every chapter and it's epic.

[danni-whatshername]

As someone who was active when rod was just coming out. It’s hilarious to see it’s a beloved book now. The amount of VITRIOL at the book and hate at the writers was craaaaazy back then.

[deus-ex-mona]

aUAUAUAUUZUZUDUXUCHWHSHWJA ASUNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[dawnssummers]

sorry i enjoy when characters have combination issues and trauma and lash out because of it this is about angel when he was liam and connor. like yeah be an angsty bitch you deserve it. though the repetition in liam's father kicking him out and angel doing the same to connor that hurt . different circumstances leading to the same place angel loves connor but can't be a father to him if connor doesn't want him to and also probably just feels like he doesn't know how to because he only ever seemed to disappoint his own and he already watched connor get taken from him and then connor for his part is left open to being manipulated and feeling increasingly alone and unloved. okay yeah that hurt

[electrosquash]

Davine Lu Linvega = DLL = Dynamic Link Library ...

[smileflowcr]

Gyeong Bulyeong alias 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈 / 𝙟𝟬𝙨𝟯. capricornio.

Prototipo beta para el cuerpo de Adán

Posee una sangre única y muy especial, la AB con RH positivo.

Tiene dos alias, el primero (𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈) fue adquirido tras escapas de las instalaciones y como una forma de camuflar su verdadera identidad, el segundo (𝙟𝟬𝙨𝟯) le fue dado cuando es seleccionado para el proyecto beta del deus ex machina. Últimamente prefiere ser llamado 𝙟𝟬𝙨𝟯.

Fue ‘ofrecido’ por las personas que lo trajeron al mundo, creyendo que el niño tenía algo especial.

Fue llevado a unas instalaciones donde conoció a otros niños como él o a otros cuyos padres los vendieron por un poco de dinero. Bulyeong siempre ha sido alguien reservado, así que no fue nada fácil acercarse a los demás.

Ha sido sometidos a cientos de experimentos desde que pisó ese lugar y a pesar del dolor nunca lloró frente a los adultos, comprendiendo que no detendrían sus actos.

A pesar de ser callado logró ser amigo de un chico muy distinto a él llamado Sooan. Este era una gentil luz, siempre con una sonrisa en su rostro y quién tenía la esperanza de ver los paisajes en los libros que tenía acceso o las constantes simulaciones que les presentaban. Hicieron la promesa de, cuando esto terminase, buscarán el colorido lugar plasmado en las páginas para vivir.

Con el paso del tiempo los sentimientos por Sooan comenzaron a brotar, pero no era el único interesado en él. Un tercero aparecería en la vida de ambos y por desgracia, terminó conquistando el corazón de su amigo. Bulyeong nunca intervino en su relación a pesar que el corazón le dolía cada vez que les veía juntos, porque para él la felicidad de Sooan siempre fue los más importante.

Los años pasaron y todos los niños con quienes se crió, su familia, perecieron al no ser capaces de resistir el constante sufrimiento, siendo desechados como si fueran basura y él no podía hacer nada, solo rescatar el juguete favorito de cada uno como una forma simbólica para que el mundo no los olvide.

La sangre en sus venas le brindó también un fuerte cuerpo, siendo elegido como el cuerpo de Adán pero sufriendo modificaciones en sus brazos y piernas, los frágiles huevos han sido reemplazados con metal irrompible, dándole la capacidad de usar su propio cuerpo como escudo sin sufrir daños.

Al quedar Sooan, el otro chico y él es que deciden huir del lugar antes que el corazón de Sooan y el cerebro del segundo fuesen transferidos a Bulyeong y así terminar el proyecto.

Decidió hacer su propia vida, asumiendo que Sooan nunca podría amarlo como amó otro chico, manteniéndose en contacto a través de cartas hasta que dejó de esperar un "te amo" por su parte a pesar que Bulyeong no es capaz de olvidarlo hasta el día de hoy.

Trabaja de pirata cibernético o en misiones por encargo que requieran su fuerza bruta. No sabe porqué sigue viviendo, a veces se pregunta si alguien le echaría de menos al desaparecer o acabar con su vida, pero siempre que tiene esa idea la imagen de Sooan sonriendo aparece entre sus recuerdos.

Tiene su hogar en la ciudad 11 pero suele moverse por todas, así que rara vez está en casa.

[caramel-ribbons]

I love how the Titan isn’t a God; he’s a father who has used his power to try and communicate with the girl who has shown nothing but love and compassion towards his son. She wears the Bad girl coven shirt. There’s a Hooty piece where he’s missing an eye. Her last words to her son are “I loaf you” because she knows he likes bread puns. The Titan has more in common with witches and humans than he does with the immortalized version Belos created.

I love how Belos intentionally turned the Titan into this Godlike figure because he’s a colonizer. White colonizers thrusted their religious beliefs onto the people they deemed lesser. They actively took over entire continents and actively stole from and killed people because of their perceived superiority. Belos thinks he’s better than the witches, and so he stole the magic from the Titan, appointed himself its ruler, and attempted genocide against the witches of the Boiling Isles.

And I love how Luz saves the day, not because she was a chosen one with some innate power, but because she’d proven to the Titan that she deserved power.

“Almost as if the world wanted to hide them from me.”

“Almost like the Titan himself didn’t want me to have that knowledge.”

Because he didn’t. Because the Titan knew Belos didn’t have good intentions. But she showed the glyphs to Luz. He chose to show his power to her because he knew she would use it for good, and she did. Unlike Belos, Luz appreciated the culture of the Demon Realm and she learned to love the people of the Boiling Isles, including King, in a matter of months. Belos was there for centuries and yet he never bothered to treat the Boiling Isles with any respect. Why should he earn the Titan’s power when he can’t even respect her or any of the beings she shelters?

I’ve seen a few people (mainly on Twitter), reducing all of this to a “deus ex machina” or, “another cult metaphor”, but it’s so much more than that. It’s about respect. Respect of land and the people who occupy it. It’s about respecting people enough to understand them and their culture without forcing your own beliefs onto them. More than simply being an obvious criticism of the witch trials and the Catholics responsible for them, it’s also a criticism of people who use religion as an excuse to hurt people. Belos used the Titan as a substitute for his own God and then weaponized her against her own people, while Luz treated her offspring with nothing but love and respect.

Luz won because she loved and looked after the Titan’s son and thus, loved her. Belos lost because he didn’t even bother to learn anything about King, his Dad, or the people he protected.

Edit: A really nice commenter reminded me it was the Puritains and not the Catholics who were responsible for the witch trials. Thank you for that. Message still stands but just keep that in mind.

[dandelionjack]

something about the fairies taunting jack with rose petals no less. something about the toymaker covering the unit hq in rose petals while he gets shot at. you’ll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you blessed you with the curse of eternal life

jack loses everybody he loves over and over again and as a reminder of that, rose petals.

the doctor loses everybody he loves over and over again and as a reminder of that, rose petals.

tell me that doesn’t sound remarkably similar to the way fifteen describes the goblins to ruby. the goblins are part of the toymaker’s “legions” — ancient and mysterious entities from the dawn of time, slipping in through the cracks in reality, stimulated by human belief and superstition. goblins abduct little children for their own ends and so do the “fairies”. you don’t know where the chicken or the egg is, where history ends and mythology begins: did the folklore emerge from sightings of the real creatures, or did the creatures coalesce like an egregore because of the proliferation of the folklore about them, a manifestation of humanity’s deepest fears come alive ever since the toymaker changed the rules of the game?

but was it the toymaker? could this all be a chain reaction, kickstarted billions of years ago (or only nineteen, depending on how you look at it) when one headstrong young woman looked into the time vortex and turned herself into a literal deus ex machina, defying all laws of reality, raising the dead and disintegrating the death-bringers? could that have been the moment (lol.) when it all began to unravel?

i haven’t seen classic who. what do i know. but maybe it wasn’t the line of salt at the edge of the universe. maybe it was one girl, seeing everything that ever was, everything that will ever happen, anything that ever could be. the fairies haven’t stopped pursuing jack ever since: he’s the living evidence of her miracle. they slaughter his entire train carriage but they don’t touch a hair on his head. other children are the fairies’ chosen ones, yes, but jack is the chosen one of their goddess. the bad wolf

i wonder who that jonathan groff character in the upcoming series is.

[notmoreflippingelves]

So like I'm pretty much in complete and total agreement with everything said here, but I'd just like to build upon what you said a bit more especially in the reference to the writers largely ignoring Esteban's trauma. Partly because "well, it was kind of his fault" and partly because "this guy spent 41 years in captivity wallowing in guilt and desperation without a break or a friend" is admittedly rather a lot to put on the eight-year-olds watching.

But even knowing that does not make it any more frustrating to watch as an adult. I already did a little word vomit of my own about how "Island of Youth" is actually rather heartbreaking in an understated way. But at least, he does get considerable focus in that ep, unlike the other microagressive moments in S1-S2 which Esteban's past experiences (or even the man himself) are either ignored, played for laughs or both.

Don't think I didn't notice how quick everyone was to ignore his stated wish for a quiet, traditional Navidad at home with the familia in the first holiday episode ! Even though he has probably been dreaming of that very thing for decades! Nope, this idea is not even worth considering for everyone else. (At least, he got his family Christmas time the second time around).

Don't think I didn't notice that he straight-up *wasn't* there during the "family" vacations in "Royal Retreat" and "The Gecko's Tale"! (And yeah, he was probably working but would it really have been so hard to have someone quickly say "It's really too bad Esteban was too busy with that trade agreement to join us. Next time, we'll take him with us even if we have to pack his entire study to lure him here.")

And on a similar note, his absence in every Dias de las Muertos episodes is also super-glaring. Word of God says he's visiting his parents' altar but like... you could've showed that and you chose not to. Because apparently, he's the only one who isn't allowed onscreen grief on the day where people remember their lost loved ones.

But all of that is absolutely nothing at all compared to the glaring hole of wasted potential/unexplored complexity that was Esteban's characterization in S2 in particular. (Adding further insult to injury, he's not even listed at all as either a "main character," a "recurring character," *or* a "supporting character" on the official wiki's page for S2. King Verago's listed and he's only in 1 episode. Esteban is in 8-9 but apparently he's a non-character).

It's incredibly frustrating considering that S2 as a whole is arguably the most plot-consistent and has the least filler. More importantly, Esteban has long-standing and very important connections to the driving forces of said S2 plot (namely Elena, Shuriki, and Victor). And yet, the only real things of substance the S2 narrative gives us for him (apart from a few funny moments) are his rap battle with Elena and the Navidad episode. (Ironically, both of those are only peripherally related to Esteban's connections to the S2 plot as a whole)

Even both of those great moments are undercut by the fact that in the latter case, he has to share focus with Elena, Mateo, and Naomi all of whom get at least 1 additional character-focused episode of their own that they don't have to "share" with anyone else. And in the former case, the fun Hamilton-esque beat makes it far too easy to ignore what is actually happening during "The Right Thing to Do." Namely, Esteban doing a literal song and dance in order to convince the Grand Council to protect Elena from Shuriki--since Elena sure as hell isn't going to protect herself.

However, the most aggravating to me personally is the absolute wasted Esteban potential in "Song of the Sirenas." This is arguably the most important episode of the show since "Secret of Avalor" and it should've been nearly as huge for Esteban's character as it was for Elena's. He comes face to face again with the person who manipulated him and terrorized him for forty-one years, (!) the person who had thought he was finally free of but turned out to be mistaken (even if the reunion was mercifully temporary). The narrative owed him a direct interaction with Shuriki, one that would've brought him closure or at least would've acknowledged how painful and terrifying his situation is. I would've gobbled up that delicious angst like Esteban gobbles up tres leches cake.

Instead, we get only two tiny little character moments from Esteban in the episode, both of which involve his "cowardice" being played for laughs and neither of which stop to consider that his self-preservation instincts are normal considering what he's been through.

The first of these moments is Esteban immediately darting behind Francisco for protection when he sees that flash of green smoke for the first time in two years.

This is especially striking as it's a direct contrast to his behavior in S3. Long before his sacrifice in the series finale, we see multiple occasions where Esteban inserts himself as a physical barrier between Elena and Ash Delgado. Even though Elena sees him as the "enemy" and arguably "more" of the enemy than Ash, Esteban still refuses to let any harm come to his cousin, even if he has to put himself literally in the line of fire.

And yet when Esteban sees his former queen, his first instinct is to hide behind his grandfather like a scared little boy. Shuriki terrifies Esteban in a way that nothing else in the show seems to--not even Ash or Zopilote or Cahu. He reverts to being the child he was forty-three years earlier and waits for the older, braver man to save him from the nightmare.

The second notable Esteban moment in "Song of the Sirenas" is pretty similar to the first and nearly as striking. And it's played for laughs even more so than the other. After Esteban, his cousins, the abuelos, and Marisa are locked up in the tower ("for now" as Shuriki made sure to remind them), they are rescued by Naomi, Gabe, Mateo, and the jaquins. When Mateo asks who should be taken to safety first, Esteban's response is an immediate "me, me, me." And then two seconds later, "Or Isabel."

Unsurprisingly, Esteban's first instinct is to protect himself from the person who made his life hell for decades. But equally telling is the fact that just a few short moments later, his priorities reorient towards protecting the youngest and most vulnerable person in the room. Even though no one was able to protect him when he was nearly as young and nearly as vulnerable. (I'm fairly meh about Mateo overall but my opinion of him did shoot up dramatically when he subsequently decides to save Isabel and Esteban at the same time. You done good, wizard boy. Keep it up)

It's all so much and Esteban is just so much, the most character. But still not nearly as much character as the narrative should let him be.

Both my twitters are locked now due to the increase in spam and bot issues since the Muskrat's hostile takeover but here is the original "losing my mind about Esteban Flores" thread for posterity and your reading pleasure*

[tossawary]

I still think that the ending of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" was poorly foreshadowed, specifically the lion turtles and the energy-bending. (Not Aang not killing Ozai! I like that part! It suits the themes, it suits the characters! That part is fine. I am glad that the last airbender found a way forward that respected his people and beliefs.)

Like, I saw ATLA when it was originally airing and I thought these things kind of "came out of nowhere" at the time. I have heard the arguments to the contrary over the years and I have never really been persuaded by them, while at the same time personally agreeing that the lion turtles and the energy-bending absolutely do fit the world and lore! They are fitting elements! They work! I like this ending at the same time that, in my personal opinion, I think it was poorly established.

I think that the story BEGINS to establish lion turtles and energy-bending well enough. We meet both many other spirit beings and bending-capable animals earlier on, including the Moon and Ocean Spirits who apparently gave the world water-bending. S2 introduces Ty Lee's chi-blocking techniques and Guru Pathik teaching Aang about chakras. There are also a handful of lion turtle easter eggs in the background of some episodes, the most prominent perhaps being on a scroll in Wan Shi Tong's library.

But the story then jumps from these various establishing elements all the way to "lion turtles are real and not extinct and telepathic and can also energy-bend and Aang has suddenly mastered this new art well enough to take someone else's bending away permanently, and these relatively new elements are going to resolve the main conflict of the show". It feels like "1+1=3" to me. I think that last jump in the story is too big. Like, we're REALLY close, but I personally needed another 1 in there somewhere to bridge that final gap and get to that 3.

(Includes some fic ideas / suggestions on how to maybe add to strengthen the foreshadowing under the cut.)

The fact that a lot of people, especially more casual viewers, were really confused by the way all of these elements suddenly came together at the end says to me that, no, the foreshadowing that WAS done (there WAS foreshadowing, I cannot rightfully say that it all came completely out of "nowhere", but it) was not good enough. Or maybe I should compare it to someone presenting me with all of the necessary ingredients for a cake and then telling me that it IS cake? Yes, all of the right ingredients are HERE, I agree, this COULD be a really great cake, but... you still have to mix it all together in a bowl and then put it in the oven to bake to get that specific cake. It's not quite cooked yet.

(Okay, wow, that sounds kind of mean. Maybe I should compare it more to a missing stair? We have MOST of the staircase, I just need one last step to get to the Deus Ex Machina at the top. To be clear: I don't think a "Deus Ex Machina" is inherently bad. I often like them a lot. I just wanted a little more foreshadowing than the stuff that is already there.)

In storytelling, there's this technique casually called "The Rule of Three". (And yes, of course, rules were made to be bent or broken depending on what story you're trying to tell, but usually, these rules exist because they are effective.) This rule is also sometimes known as "Introduction, Pattern, and Payoff". (It has other names, but that's how I remember it.)

Very loosely, this rule states that an important element of the story must appear at least three times. 1. It must be introduced / established in the world. 2. It must appear again to remind the audience that it exists / and establish a pattern such that the audience begins to expect it to appear again later. (And is hopefully excited for it.) 3. Payoff. The element returns in an important way, probably to resolve part of the plot. The previous two appearances have acted as foreshadowing for this ending.

There's also a "Rule of Two" version of this general storytelling technique. Like, "If this special crystal can zap the bad guy and save the day, we have to have shown or at least told the audience that it can do that BEFORE the big final fight scene."

In regards to ATLA, no, I don't think that a scroll in a library or a statue in the background of some scene served as adequate introduction and reminder for the existence of lion turtles, so it didn't necessarily feel like a payoff for me that they solved the main conflict. (It's the "solved the main conflict" that's most of the issue for me. If the lion turtles had just appeared in another episode as a random cool thing like those sea monsters by Kyoshi Island, I would not have cared.)

I actually think that the establishment of other spirits like the Moon Spirit and bending-capable animals like sky bison and dragons can serve as a decent enough "Step 1) Introduction". Though this does not establish that lion turtles specifically exist, we have established that powerful creatures similar to lion turtles exist. But I still needed a solid "Step 2) Pattern / Reminder" that would have established that lion turtles specifically exist and are important BEFORE one shows up at the end like that.

I think that there's at least one episode somewhere in Book 1 or Book 2 that could have been cut in favor of an episode where the Gaang meets and rescues a young lion turtle baby or something.

Maybe Guru Pathik could have learned his ways FROM a lion turtle? Aang could have gone to an isolated village somewhere (with more brown people besides just Guru Pathik?) where people are living in harmony with a lion turtle, or maybe even on the back of a lion turtle! That would be cool!

Concept: Aang encounters Guru Pathik living alone on the back of a lion turtle which doesn't talk to people anymore (Aang swims down to look at its face and it doesn't even look at him), because its kind have been hunted nearly to extinction and it's tired of violence. Guru Pathik learned his ways from his old teacher, who learned from his old teacher, all the way up the teaching lineage from a person who once learned from the lion turtle itself before it gave up on the world. Guru Pathik tends to this nearly empty temple on the back of a silent lion turtle who ignores him, because he will not forsake his teachings even when the world seems uninterested in hearing them and the old lion turtle seems like it could die any day now. The people in the fishing village on the shore think that Guru Pathik is crazy and most of them don't even believe that the floating island really is a lion turtle, it's just weird geography.

Guru Pathik could also have chi-blocking abilities! We could see him demonstrate them in self-defense! He could teach a few chi-blocking moves to Aang, who could later go on to use them occasionally in Book 3, and it would have been really cool to see Aang exploring non-bending skills. We don't need Guru Pathik to explicitly name energy-bending here, but I would like to connect him just a touch more strongly to chi-blocking. Like, he IS connected already by helping Aang clear chakras, which is kind of like a reverse of chi-blocking, but it would be nice to establish Guru Pathik as somewhat capable of the opposite but perhaps not liking to use the skill.

Aang really vibes with this dying culture of pacifists, but he still has to leave Guru Pathik before he can finish the training. Later on, he can encounter Guru Pathik and the silent lion turtle again, and he can confess to them how desperately he doesn't want to have to kill anyone, no matter what his past lives say. He just wants to STOP the violence and restore balance to the world without sacrificing himself. And THEN the lion turtle could wake up and gift him with energy-bending.

Or something like that! The foreshadowing doesn't have to be THAT heavy-handed, but SOME brief appearance by an actual lion turtle would have served as a better "Step 2) Pattern" to me.

Things like chi-blocking, chakras, water-bending healing, water-benders losing their bending when the Moon Spirit was killed, and even Zuko's spiritual turmoil serve as a good "Step 1) Introduction" to the concept of energy-bending to me. The ingredients are THERE. But again, I would have liked some clearer "Step 2) Pattern" that had actually baked the cake in regards to this being a skill Aang had specifically.

The above episode concept with Guru Pathik on the back of a lion turtle could have worked as a "Step 2) Pattern / Reminder" for energy-bending.

ANOTHER option would be to have Aang temporarily lose his bending at the beginning of Book 3, after Katara resurrects him with that special spirit water after Azula killed him at the end of Book 2.

I think Aang losing his bending for at least 3-4 episodes would have been really good for him / the show. So much of Aang's identity is tied up at this point in being the Avatar and the responsibilities of being the Avatar. Losing his bending, especially his AIR-BENDING, and his connection to the spirit world and his past lives would send him into a personal crisis. The Gaang could worry over whether or not a new Avatar has somehow been born or if the Avatar powers are gone forever. The characters could confront the fact that perhaps they've been relying too much on Aang as the Avatar and what they'll do now without the Avatar.

Also, it would be really funny if Aang woke up and picked up his glider to jump off that boat, then just fell into the ocean, and Katara needed to fish him out. (Which would then transition into the dramatic revelation that he has lost his bending!!!)

Katara could use her healing abilities to tell Aang that what's happened to him feels a lot like Ty Lee's chi-blocking. Katara would then probably try to emphasize with Aang, who gets angry with her and says she has no idea what this feels like! Katara could then have a really good intimate scene with Aang over how scary it was when the Moon Spirit was killed, what it physically felt like to lose that spiritual connection, and how scared she was even afterwards about what it would have been like to permanently lose that connection to her people and her culture. Aang then apologizes to Katara and they resolve to find his bending again.

Aang then goes on some spiritual journey with his friends to reconnect with his bending and his past lives as the Avatar. Probably some partially internal spiritual journey with Guru Pathik's teachings. Katara and Toph could both talk about what bending means to them personally as different people, and also what it feels like to them as they interact with the elements of the world around them.

Aang could have some cool fight scenes where he dodges some random thugs using all of his bending skills (martial arts) without the actual bending, air-bending techniques, water-bending techniques, and earth-bending techniques, and then finally some chi-blocking techniques that Guru Pathik showed him. There could be some scene where Aang saves a kid from these random thugs and realizes that he can still do good in the world even if he's not the Avatar! Even if he's not a bender anymore!

There could also be some REALLY funny scenes of Aang trying to get Appa and Momo to teach him how to reconnect with his air-bending. Aang mimicking their movements and so on. (Sokka: "Is that... working so far, buddy?" Aang: "NO! They're terrible teachers!!!" Cue sad Appa bleating and offended Momo chittering.)

You could even do it in a cycle of sorts, where Aang reconnects with his air-bending first using Guru Pathik's teachings and his friends' help. (He is OVERJOYED.) And then Aang slowly regains water-bending and earth-bending over the next few episodes, culminating in him having to face his fears learning fire-bending again. I think you could accomplish this storyline by squeezing it into about 3-4 episodes, or else starting off with losing then regaining air-bending plus the Avatar state in the first 2 episodes of the season and then threading relearning the other elements in the background through later episodes.

ANOTHER option where Aang temporarily loses his bending is after the eclipse, because he has a spiritual crisis over the fact that he was resolved to kill someone and he really doesn't want to do that. I don't like this option so much because it feels a little too late in the season compared to kicking off Book 3 with the drama of Aang losing his bending(!!!), but it's an option.

See, if Aang temporarily loses his bending and has to find it again somehow, then the show could establish what this kind "energy-bending" and spiritual manipulation within a person looks like. If Aang has had to get his bending BACK, then it would better establish Aang then using this ability he has now practiced on himself to take bending away from another person. It's a pleasantly surprising twist that Aang figures out how to reverse a previously established energy-bending technique and successfully uses it against Ozai.

And then the ending, though arguably still in the realm of a Deus Ex Machina (which is cool), would feel more like "Step 3) Payoff" instead of "What just happened?" We needed to see more obviously that Aang was capable of ANY kind of energy-bending before it saved the day like that.

Anyway! This post became way longer than originally intended! I hope this has made it clear that I like both the lion turtles and energy-bending as concepts. I think there are many elements in the show that begin to introduce lion turtles and energy-bending as Aang uses it as things that COULD exist. I just think that the show needed some kind of additional baking step in the middle to establish a pattern and use those ingredients to foreshadow that specific "an ancient lion turtle teaches Aang energy-bending and Aang then uses it against someone else" ending.

[bloedewir]

Don't want to get my hopes up because there's almost zero chance to know the truth but...

I really REALLY would like to know everything about elvhen rebellion.

How did Fen'Harel manage to succeed? I mean, there's 8 evanuris, Mythal is out, so it's 7. Seven most powerful mages called gods. How did he trapped them? How did he trick all of them? Someone must've helped to achieve it. And it wasn't the slaves he freed. Who? Forgotten Ones? And then what.. he tricked and trapped them too but not in the Fade but in the Abyss? So it wasn't just one great plan but two in one? Double strike??

And why does it remind me of a chess move called castling? (I'll mention it in the end).

Not trying to be rude here but we already had: Corypheus and the orb (confirmed fail), Vows & Vengeance (fail under question) and Veilguard prologue ritual (either fail or cunning plan). No offence, Fen'Harel, buddy, but it's messy anyway, not in the slightest impeccable. And defeating 7 godlike evanuris is something different. Something like that requires to be perfectly planned.

Not to mention creating the Veil. The idea itself is a novel concept. How did he end up with this? Just woke up one day and: "Hm, why wouldn't I create a thing that will separate Fade from the reality? Seems like a good idea. Ambitious". How much power did he possess to change the whole world? Where did he take it from? How did he create a prison no one of seven could escape or break? How did he trapped Forgotten Ones? Why did he end up as the most powerful of them all? All alone?? HOW???

It's either Deus ex machina and we'll never know or bad news for Rook because Fen'Harel isn't trapped at all and it's just a part of a bigger plan that remains to be seen.

And here I go back to start and mention the castling. The only move in chess that allows somebody to move two pieces simultaneously - King and Rook. (It keeps King safe and quickly develops Rook).

22 days left

[vethbrenatto]

Curious what your thoughts are on critical role season 3/campaign 3 continuing to bring back previously main characters from 1&2?

Idk I’m having a hard time with this campaign and the way the party seems to have badly analysis paralysis and it seems so dragged out with the characters not wanting to make decisions.

So when I see that they keep bringing pre established characters in for the story instead of focusing on things NOW, I’m a bit exasperated lol. I’m glad they’re having fun and it does make for some good moments! But I’m just feeling bleh overall atm

i actually stopped watching c3 somewhere in the 90s so i can't really comment-

what i can say is that this is not a storytelling device i particularly enjoy; it particularly bugged me early in c3 with the intervention of vex and keyleth and even pike (my girl, my love, my light) as these sort of god-like deus ex machina figures. i have a lot of old posts detailing why i didn't like it then, but a lot of it is sort of a stakes thing, right? vox machina and m9 have saved and saved the world... what the fuck is bells hells even qualified for in comparison? why not just let the professionals handle it (story, that's why)?

and then we get this sort of culmination that i've heard about recently where the cast has been swapping between parties and conceptually that's really cool, even if it doesn't appeal to me.

what it comes down to is that this is matt's vision for the world- an interconnecting web of events and people. in my ideal version, the world is an expansive place and these are 3 equally important but unconnected stories. set in the same place but never directly connecting- just some little overlap to remind you it's all in the same place (i.e. the allura cameo in the m9 campaign). but, quite simply, that isn't what matt or the cast want.

i am interested to see if this will be the last campaign for the main cast, or the last exandria campaign overall because the plot does seem so dramatic and "it all connects/comes together" that i have no clue where they could go from here.

c3 overall was hard for me to connect to since the mid campaign (i also think watching CR live is probably my least favorite way of consuming it- i do think the content works better on a binge) but maybe ill catch up at some point.

TLDR; i am not currently watching but agree that the return of past characters doesn't appeal to me specifically, though i know the fandom and the cast probably have the opposite opinion about the returns.

[divineerdrick]

Homestuck: Beyond Canon Upd8 for November 11, 2024

*flops*

Don't mind me.

Just gonna lie here while I do the Homestuck liveblog thing.

I am going to give a heads up. If my next migraine treatment brings me a bit more back in line, I'll be doing VLogs again. I have a bigger video project planned, but it's not Homestuck related. I'll be posting the updates here though, so you'll still know when I blog an upd8. Then you'll all get to see my haggard and aged face.

We begin with the monthly news upd8 from James. Except no! It is in fact an upd8 from Miles! James fades into the background, and apparently Miles will be our flattering correspondent from now on.

It looks like Miles is putting potential spoilers in the news post, so I might have to be careful in the future. Of course these might be jokes. We'll have to see.

Work continues on the planned [S] page and more Beyond Canon merch. We won't be getting an upd8 for December, but they will be running the Patreon. The next upd8 looks like it might be as late as February.

That's all unfortunate. But I fully support if the team wants to take a well earned holiday.

Upd8

Tavvy has decided to join Yiffy on an adventure. This can't possibly end well. His attempts at being her lackey have so far landed him mostly in trouble. And there's a heap of trouble brewing on the soon to be battlefield.

Yeah that's not happening.

Heh! Harry brought the trail mix.

Oh wow. And oh no!

OH NO!!!

That can't possibly count as Heroic though. Getting sniped while performing a purely tactical role is not a hero's end. Still, Rose is probably glad the kids aren't seeing that.

And button.

Interesting view to cut to.

Again, I don't think this will count as Heroic for anyone. But a lot of people are about to die. And let's not forget, none of the trolls currently outside for the Plot Point are God Tiers. This is bad. This is really bad. This is the kind of moment that calls for an extreme, deus ex machina, like the Plot Point has the potential for.

But we're not getting to see it yet.

Edit: @vriedi reminded me that Meenah is a God Tier. Though this does make me wonder, what happens when a dead God Tier dies?

Orange curtains.

Okay! Legitimately fantastic Psyche Out. They actually got me pretty good there.

Okay, we have a new troll it I think.

gavageCunctation is messaging Vrissy. Though that doesn't necessarily tell us much, except that a new player may have entered the drama.

And they're "negging" Vrissy. So this troll clearly sees themselves as a "player" too.

We've got a "game" that's about to be played. A game being run by a TC. Now Gamzee is dead, but that doesn't mean he didn't setup something before Vriska killed him. Still, it's likely these are two completely new troll kids.

We've got a new AA too. So we might be seeing more troll descendants. After all, they used cloning to kick things off. This troll is typing in purple, but blood typing may not be universal anymore. I do find it interesting that we're continuing the nucleotide pairs though. They could have gone for a different motif. Maybe they're trying to symbolize that these are potential paradox clones for a new session?

AA is apparently our chronic auspistice for this group. And potentially our Seer, though we've had fake-outs on that before.

And our actual cliffhanger ending is this new GC's computer exploding.

So yeah. Something has to happen for a lot of our beloved characters to not bite it. I'm also curious how Rose's vision of future events can come true if Jane has unleashed her weapon. But I mentioned last time that Rose is playing a dangerous game here. I don't think any of our God Tiers are in trouble, and I'm pretty sure the Plot Point is fine.

I'm wondering if this is how Calliope ends up sacrificing themself, if Rose was even correct there. Either way, this a dark ending for the year on a community that's already seen some dark endings.

*Returns to flop*

[thekingofwinterblog]

To me the best sign of the fact that MHA kinda went down hill in the second half is that all the stupid, delusional, trolltheories not coming true... Is disapointing.

Because of course AFO being Deku's dad would be stupid and cliche and contrived - of course introducing time travel to make the "Bak U Go" theorie work would be parody levels of crazy, even Eri turning Shigaraki back into a child Tenko would be an obvious asspull to fix a difficult situation in the most deus ex machina way.

But in retrospect, compared to what we got, that all would be more satisfieng. Cause thats the problem - the real thing we got was just boring, so nothing, just a wimper that seemingly went out of its way to be as unfulfilling as possible.

And the final chapter is the culmination - ofcourse shipping all the charachters together just for the hell of it and giving them kids is self indulgent and formulaic - yet atleast that would give something, make people debate about wacky relationships that make no sense or whatever - but this "wow everyone just went on, vaguely continuing their one dimmensional arcs, solving racism etc" Hell, even just making quirks disapear would be cool, especially if heros lived on, showing that truely being a hero doesnt mean having a flashy power but doing the right thing, with the costumes being reframed from stupid consumer crap into a comitment to do whats right no mater how one looks

One of my buddies descrived the MHA ending as a "no risk one", and honestly, he is absolutely right.

The BIG problem with the final chapter, the reason i describe it time and again as a "Nothing ending" is that it is painfully afraid of committing to ANYTHING as far as how the heroes ended up.

Izuku endes up in a bad outcome ending, where ended up quirkless, and became a teacher at Yuei? Okay, that could work just fine, so long as you emphasise both his regrets but also how much he is fullfilled at his new school... Whatsthat? We never really get a sense that he truly does have regrets? Also we get only the briefest of glimpses into his life as a teacher?

Okay, so who did he end up with? Showing Izuku's partner and maybe q kid or two would go a long way to show that Izuku did not end up like All Might, a man who sacrificed any chance of a normal human companionship to a frankly unhealthy degree the manga critiqued. Also wheter or not he ultimately ended up eith her, Uraraka confessing her feelings is ctitical to her character arc ending on a high note, so jow did that end?

...okay so we get no suggestions that he ended up with anyone? That he seemingpy just resigned himself to be alone forever, just like all might?

All right then, but at least we're committing to an ending where Izuku no longer is a Hero, right?

No wait the twist at the end is that his friends swoop in to finance it all.

...okay? So... Why wasnt the chapter about this? If 1-A loved Izuku so much they were willing to save 5 years worth of Gathered funds to help Izuku, why did we get nothing else in this entire chapter to remind us that they actuqlly loved him still, and instead the entire chapter emphasized how distant Izuku had become?

These two things, Izuku slowly growing distant from his friends in a realistic manner, and them ultimately going all in on helping him out to let him live his dreams, are completely at odds with each other.

In the question, the idea of MHA ending on a "Realistic" is described as by default Boring, but it didnt have to be, so long as it focused on the right things, and actually committed to it to the hilt.

It was more than poasible to Have Izuku ending up as a teacher at Yuei withouth a quirk, teaching the new generation work as an ending, if you actually committed to telling that ending all the way. Realistic does not have to mean boring or unsatisfying.

Similarily, there was absolutely a good way to tell an ending where Izuku lost his quirk and ended up a Tech based Hero as well. So long as you committed to that, and didnt relegate it to the last three pages as a twist ending joke that still wants you to take it seriously.

Ultimately, the ending was a failure because it failed to commit to anything, or to put it another way, it was afraid to take any risks at the very end.

Any shipping resolution in any way? Well, that would absolutely go a long way to hammer in the feel of a realistic ending, because that is how Human beings' work... But that would have been a risk, as someone would have been pissed off by it.

Izuku and ochako getting together? Would have pissed off the bakudeku shippers, the uraraka x toga shippers, and Uraraka x Bakugo shippers.

Him getting together with anyone else? Would have pissed off the Izuku x uraraka shippers, and most certainly the Bakudeku shippers as well.

And on it goes.

Kirishima getting together with Mina? Eould have pissed of the Kirishima x bakugo shippers or the people who headcanon him as gay.

Him getting together with Bakugo? Would have pissed off the ones who shipped him with Ashido.

Aizawa finishing his character arc of growing to actually love teaching and his students by going back to miss joke and finally reconciling with her, and addmitting she was right all along, that he really did want a "household where the laughter never ended" as she put it?

Would have pissed off those who shipped him with Present Mic.

Now im not saying the lack of shipping was THE thing that ruined this ending(other than Izuku x ochako whose lack of resolution one way or another is a massive structural weakness), but it is absolutely a sympthom of how this ending was absolutely terrified of actually committing to any risks.

It is the thing that defines this entire chapter, and honestly the final arc as a whole.

Just to give one example, the reason why Bakugo has NO thematic climax or satisfying ending at the end, is because it is painfully clear that His story was absolutely going to end back on the platform.

Before Hori's editor made him change it, and demand he got a bigger role, Bakugo's thematic ending was going to be that he was murdered while stalling Shigaraki.

He was not going to get to be the Hero who defeated AFO, or even come close to becoming number 1... But he WAS going to get to die a hero.

That was a bold, and very much not safe direction to end one of MHA's most popular characters.

It would also have been a great thematic ending where Bakugo actually did get to be a Hero like he always wanted... while at the same time NOT ultimately rewarding him for the horrible he treats Izuku through the Manga.

You know, like what happened to Endeavor.

There were no happy endings there, with one of his sons rejecting him once and for all, while leaving his firstborn's thoughts on him on a note where we ultimately didnt know how it went, while at the same time ending up crippled in a wheelchair.

Enji was a terrible man who ultimately did become a true hero... But he was not rewarded for it. And that's why it actually works so well.

And it certainly was not the safe way to end it either.

This is also why the villains in MHA ended up on amuch stronger thematic note than any of the heroes.

None of them got safe, nothing endings.

With all of them, Hori one way or another committed himself to have an actual ending that said soemthing, as opposed to the wishy washy final chapter that had no spine to go in either direction.

Dabi burnt himself out, and now has to deal with the consequences of trying to kill himself and everyone else, only to fail at it.

Spinner and compress gave everything for the cause, only for his side to lose, and him ending up in jail, and now has to deal with that.

Toga spent her entire life searching for someone who didnt reject her, and wanted to understand her, and ultimetely though she did not get a relationship with thay person, she went out on her own terms.

Shigaraki tried to destroy the world, having decided to commit himself all the way to becomign the greatest supervillain of all time... Only to in the end, be defeated and being killed, like he himself did to so many others.

None of these were safe options to end these characters on, and there are plenty who werent happy with it... But they are endings where Hori actually committed to going through with it all, wheter to succeed, or fail.

The Heroes by contrast get none of these.

Izuku does not get an ending where it actually commits to... ANYTHING because by doing so, he would piss off some part of his audience.

Bakugo couldnt die at the platform, because he's popular, no matter how much sense ending his story there might make.

Uraraka couldnt confess her feelings and either hook up with, or be rejected by Izuku because that would piss someone off.

Mina and Kirishima couldnt hook up because it too would piss someone off.

We could not get deep, important looks into the Heroes family lives 8 years later, because it would piss people off.

MHA's ending(as far as the heroes are concerned) would have been so much better if the manga was willing to end on an ending that actually take real risks that would have had the possibility to fall on their face.

Or as Wit from Stormlight Archive puts this kinda thinking oh so well:

“All great art is hated. It is obscenely difficult - if not impossible - to make something that nobody hates. Conversely, it is incredibly easy - if not expected - to make something that nobody loves.

This makes sense, if you think about it. Art is about emotion, examination, and going places prople have never gone before to discover and investigate new things. The only way to create something that nobody hates is to ensure that it can't be loved either. Remove enough spice from a soup, and you'll just end up with water.

Human taste is as varied as human fingerprints. Nobody will like everything, everybody dislikes something, someone loves that thing you hate - but at least being hated is better than nothing. To risk metaphor, a grand painting is often about contrast: brightest brights, darkest darks. Not grey mush. That a thing is hated is not proof that it's great art, but the lack of hatred is certainly proof that it is not."

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

😑😑😑

"Aang is a bad main character because the world has to adapt to his world view. Meanwhile I love Zuko for his brilliant arc that concludes with him making his nation to adapt to his world view now that he is in charge" fuck these people. "Younger generation fixes the problems the old ones created" is only bad as a theme when they don't like the kid in question.

"He has to save Katara, the weak damsel in distress" So we're really just gonna ignore all the times she saved his ass, and how she literally BROUGHT HIM BACK FROM THE DEAD just to pretend the show is sexist?

"He has to pretend the world isn't in agony" Are you high? Aang is constantly pushing himself to do things he doesn't wanna do (go with Zuko willingly, confront Hei Bai, go to the Fire Nation on the solstice, intentionally trigger the Avatar State, cross the serpent's pass despite having permission to go through a safer path, let go of Katara and risk losing her in the battle for Ba Sing Se, and even accepting he'll have to kill Ozai in the finale) just to innocent people won't suffer. For fuck's sake, he has plenty of compassion for the guy that SENT AN ASSASSIN AFTER HIM. Just because he's still holding onto whatever childhood innocence he can, doesn't mean he's blind to the issues around him.

"Zuko's arc is independent from Zuko's" They have a fuck ton of parallels, and entire EPISODES dedicated to said parallels. Zuko himself said chasing Aang fueld his fire - and he said that when he learned a higher form of firebending ALONGSIDE AANG, who had just saved his ass from being burned alive by the dragons by figuring out they were supposed to dance together.

Zuko was so obsessed with Aang he tried to engage in a conversation AFTER AANG'S SOUL LEFT HIS BODY, and he had a weird fever dream where he literally BECAME Aang. We get confirmation in book 3 that Zuko never forgot how Aang mentioned the possibility of them being friends if things were different, and the show ends with them as best friends in an obvious parallel to Roku and Sozin.

You know who had fuck all to do with Zuko's arc though? KATARA, yet these people keep insisting she's totally important to it.

"Episodes centered on Katara and Sokka are good because they ignore Aang" No they don't, he's just not front and center, same for Toph, or Zuko, because that's how FOCUS works.

Also, for all the shit "The Headband" gets for supposedly being "filler", it's shocking to me how people act like "Sokka's Master" was briliant and not at all rushed. It's honestly as irrelevant as "The Great Divide" for me.

"Aang had lots of Deus Ex Machinas" He had one, the lion turtle. The Avatar state is introduced right away, and explained in depth a whole season before the finale, AND it was not that easy to use.

Katara bringing him back from the dead is even less random. In the first episode of season two, we are introduced to the concept of "Aang can still be killed in the Avatar State and that is REALLY bad", to the the character that will kill him and how she'll do it (Azula with her lightining), and to the water of the spirit oasis - which the show goes out of it's way to remind us of before Aang is even dead. That's a fuck ton of foreshadowing and proper narrative set up.

"Deus Ex Machina" does not mean "Protagonist survives major battle" or "Hero defeats a super powerful villain", it means "Day is saved by a thing that had never been mentioned in the story before so the audience could have never guessed what would happen." These people want to talk shit, but only show they have no fucking clue how some REALLY basic storytelling stuff works.