#screentime is too passive an activity

[goldennika]

may be a hot take but i think kids should experience being bored more

instead we have a generation of ipad kids (worse, ipad babies) who are being overstimulated from day one — never really having a moment to connect with who or what is around them as they are just absorbed in what is on their screen

there would be an entire generation who would not know the simple thrill of choosing the “winning”water droplet make it down the car window during a rainy ride around town or finding hidden animal shapes among cloud formations during long car rides

i fear they would grow up to always needing instant gratification — on-demand streaming culture, same-day delivery, AI — and worse, being absolutely bombarded by external stimuli that they do not get a chance to properly form an original idea that comes from taking the time to inspect, explore, and interact with their environment

[shmlnbstrcnd]

Arcane: Season 2 Leaks Rant (Spoilers)

Arcane: Season 2 is only a few days away. I've vagueposted a bit about the leaks, but now I'll go more in depth on my opinions on the first 5 episodes. Spoiler warning:

So many unwise decisions were made writing-wise. It's like they made poor choices at almost every turn.

"Should we focus on concluding the Piltover story arc in its own show before moving on to other regions? Nah, let's bloat the story with Noxus advertising that will eat up valuable screentime and leave a lot of casual fans confused."

"Should we prioritize concluding the arcs of our main cast? Nah, let's cram the story with a multitude of side characters that take screentime away from the characters who need it most. The audience will for sure be more interested in randos like Maddie, Isha, Salo, big enforcer dude, and that sorceress lady, rather than the main characters they grew to love in Season 1."

"Should we give more screentime to other Champions who aren't even close to concluding their arcs (Viktor, Ekko, Vi , Warwick, etc.)? Nah, let's spend a lot of screentime on Jinx meandering about in her lair playing with puppets, scenes which do not drive the story forward."

"It's the final season of the show with only 9 40-minute episodes. Should we massively trim down our bloated script to make sure the important story beats have enough development time, and remove unnecessary fluff? And if not, maybe add more episodes? Nah, let's just try to cram absolutely everything in here as if we have a 20 episode season and not 9. Leave absolutely nothing on the cutting room floor."

In my opinion, this Season 2 could have been greatly improved if they had omitted all the Noxus bullshit. Seriously, shoving Ambessa and Mel's plot in here was a big mistake. Shit takes up a sizable amount of screentime, is incredibly boring, and downright confusing for casual fans who aren't familiar with League. Season 1 received a lot of praise for being extremely compelling for non-gamers, but Season 2 has gone the opposite route. It also eats up valuable screentime that could be used for the Piltover/Zaun characters and narrative. A lot of people wanted Mel to survive because they thought her story could be interesting, but now I'm thinking she should've just been killed by that damn rocket. Along with Salo and that other Councilor lady. Seriously, only 3 people being killed by Jinx's rocket is such pathetic plot armour that undercut all the tension of Season 1's finale cliffhanger. They couldn't even give her a Pentakill🙄 Salo, a terrible minor character, takes up a lot of valuable screentime too.

Also if they omitted the new characters. Maddie is unnecessary. There were more organic ways to provide conflict for Caitvi than another love interest. Isha is unnecessary. There were more organic ways to provide development for Jinx and trigger the Caitvi breakup. Why was a random new kid the reason for their breakup, and not Jinx? The dynamic and conflicts between these three ladies were so perfectly set up in Season 1. Why throw that away and add a new character to achieve something which could've been achieved with pre-existing characters we already know? So Vi was perfectly okay with a girl she knew for 3 days murdering her own sister, but a rando mute kid is where she drew the line? Lol.

Cutting down on Jinx's screentime would also help. It's not like all her scenes were doing her character any favours either. Rather than the active protagonist she used to be who drove the plot forward, she is now relegated to bouncing around, mellow and passive. She had already reached the climax of her arc in Season 1's finale. She chose to be Jinx, hell-bent on destroying Piltover. Why is she still having an identity crisis in Season 2 and suddenly reluctant to fight Piltover? Give that damn screentime to other characters. Vi barely gets any organic development. Her entire character gets reduced to being hung-up on Caitlyn and then her story with Warwick rushed to the extreme. Viktor and Ekko get absolute dust. Again, you have only NINE episodes for your FINAL season. Not 25 episodes in a 10 season show. When you have this little screentime to work with, you have to be willing to part with beloved ideas, cut down on fluff, leave plenty of shit on the cutting room floor. If they weren't willing to do that, then making only 9 episodes and 2 seasons was the wrong choice.

This is a long post but I just wanted to share my personal thoughts on what went wrong and suggestions on how it could have been improved. This is all just my opinion.

[es46]

Found a sketch based on Monster Hunter I did a few years ago, decided to give it some screentime. Apologies for poor quality, but this one has a fond place in my heart. The basis of its design is dragonfly nymphs and webspinners. - NEOPHA CERRA Title - Larval beetle Monster class - Neopteran Known locales - Cold regions (e.g Hoarfrost Reach, Frost Islands) Element/Ailment - Sleep + Webbed Elemental weakness - Water (3), Fire (2), Dragon (2), Ice (1), Thunder (1) Ailment weakness - Paralysis (3), Sleep (1), Blast (1), Poison (1), Stun (1) Neopha Cerra is a neopteran endemic to cold climates. It is easily identified by its silvery-white exoskeleton and the myriad spines lining its abdomen, ending in reinforced cerci. The central and hind limbs are sturdy and allow Neopha Cerra effective mobility in each direction, whilst its forelimbs are used for handling and silk production. Its black eyes and antennae are highly sensitive to motion. Wandering the tundra and coastlines, it is a reclusive herbivore that makes use of its extendable labium to dig beneath ice and rock in search of lichens, tubers, and other forms of flora. Some ecologists contend that it is better defined as a detritivore, as Neopha Cerra will feed on carrion. Regardless, Neopha Cerra is considered docile and has never been known to attack humans unprovoked. Some researchers suggest it may be a potential endeavour to attempt domestication, though currently this is considered unreasonable by the Guild. Neopha Cerra is skittish, however, and field workers are advised to avoid sudden movements or getting too close lest the neopteran interpret the action as aggression. Neopha Cerra relies on camouflage for defence; by lying very still, it resembles a frosted rock, avoiding the attention of most predators. Its exoskeleton is significantly reinforced compared to most neopterans; it is difficult for an attacker to find purchase on its spiny form, never mind have the strength to crush through its shell. If pushed to actively defend itself, Neopha Cerra will either strike with its labium or turn its back and charge the attacker with its reinforced cerci. Neopha Cerra's forelegs contain silk glands that can be launched from its tarsus; this webbing maintains liquidity long enough to spray onto the attacker before solidfying, hindering movement. Its most effective defence are the spines on its abdomen, which contain a potent sedative. Attackers attempting to bite Neopha Cerra's abdomen are quickly dazed by the sedative. In summation, Neopha Cerra is an exceptional defensive profile that will take the opportunity to flee as soon as the attacker is webbed or sedated. Neopha Cerra is a lower ranked monsters (Low Rank -2, High/Master Rank - 1). Despite this, it is not ideal for practicing hunters. The defensive integrity and preference for retreat makes Neopha Cerra a frustrating target. Most predators in its environment prefer to avoid the hassle of contending with its hard spiny shell and webbing. The exception is Neopha Cerra's nemesis, a brute wyvern named Frezarion dedicated to preying on arthropods. Resilient against sedation and with liquid emissions to dissolve webbing, Frezarion is well-equipped to handle Neopha Cerra. While stronger individuals have a chance to repel the brute wyvern, Frezarion is the principle reason many Neopha Cerra never reach adulthood. But those that do reap their reward. Neopha Cerra is the larval state of a neopteran named Zykitin Cerra. In contrast to the passive nymph, Zykitin Cerra is an aggressive herbivore strong enough to contend with the likes of Legiana. Zykitin Cerra don't always remain in cold climates, but those that do are remarkably altruistic, leaping to the defence of any Neopha Cerra in distress. Zykitin Cerra is itself the nemesis to Frezarion, and any field worker seeking to research/ hunt Neopha Cerra must ensure Zykitin Cerra is not in the area. - Thank you for reading and take care.

[baronvonriktenstein]

Saiyuki, all multiples of 4

Thank you mari uwu

4. My favorite fanart from the fandom Hard to say, especially considering how long I've been actively and passively in this fandom lol. There are a couple fanarts hanging in my bedroom... hm I just scrolled through my old deviantart favorites folder and this one came up, and I do still find it striking. To be clear, I guess I'm drawn to all pretty fanarts of Hakkai esp. if there's blood lol.

8. Is there anything I wish people would write more about in fics? (A dynamic, an exploration of an arc, just a character that doesn’t get much screentime, etc) I haven't read fic in a long time tbh. But I'm definitely drawn to the Hakkai & Goku dynamic that's not as popular as the others among the 4. I guess it's something like that. OH yeah also compare and contrast Hakkai and Ukoku/Nii. That's high up on my list. Can't believe I forgot lol. AND Hazel finding out Hakkai was once human. idk it'd be interesting. So... 3 things lol.

12. How long I have been in the fandom Since the summer of 2005, iirc. So... over 19 years by now.

16. Favorite inside joke the fandom has What is it? I'll meme on the Sanzo-likes Mayonnaise thing but I don't actually like that joke that much lol. I can't remember anymore. is Sanzo getting drunk and stripping and singing an inside joke? idk. I DO know that's from the audio dramas though and I love it. (And the twitter thing with the emojis and the puppy pictures. haha)

20. Least favorite headcanon I think I've been so distant lately that I'm not really sure what the popular headcanons are. Anything that reduces Goku in current times to a child. But also Lirin too now that I think about it (just making her nothing more than a dumb kid, there are depths to her even if we don't see her that often in manga and like I don't care that much about the Kougaiji party COMPARATIVELY, sorry lol. but I do think it doesn't do her any justice)

idk it's been so long since i've actively engaged some of this is hard for me lol but I want so badly to. i love them uwu

thank youuuu

[illdesigns]

hii! i hope ur doing well! idk if u have gotten other asks ive sent or not but i was wondering where u went… u havent really posted writing or even fandom stuff period lol

i just want to clarify that this is like…the fourth or fifth message i have gotten, seemingly from the same anon due to typing styles and general content. i’ve been steadfastly ignoring them for a bit because it’s no skin off my nose but i’m honestly tired. so i’m sorry if i come off as unnecessarily mean during this but i cannot overstate the fact i’ve been ignoring this for a while.

i’m still blogging. i haven’t left or gone anywhere. yeah, i haven’t really posted writing, because i’ve been busy. because i’m a grown adult who does other things in my life. and i have posted fandom stuff - i am not immune to gifsets, fanart and jokes about media i like. but i am deciding to cease participating in fandom spaces because it’s not really for me any more. i want to focus more on my original writing and am not in a point where i can give a hobby and something i want to turn into a career the same level of attention.

and i know this anon probably means a Certain Fandom, as i’ve only been active in one the past few years. i’ve not felt the need to make some big announcement of a fandom flounce at my big age but i also don’t feel as if i have any particular place i fit in in the metalocalypse fandom any more. i’m glad for the great friends i made during my time participating in that, and i also met my current partner through the fandom and that’s given me a lot of nice opportunities in life too. so yay me.

however, if i may allow myself a certain degree of flounce since i’ve been pestered into sharing this information by somebody who seems to have had a bi-weekly alarm on their phone about sending me passive aggressive anons: i’m not particularly keen on a fandom space that, outside of an immediate circle of friends, has been an absolute minefield of social interaction. between watching drama and outright harassment my friends have dealt with and the issues i have faced myself (harassment to the point of changing certain social media accounts, having my locked twitter account put on blast by somebody upset i blocked people not in my immediate social circle so i wouldn’t deal with awkward follow requests, somebody in my dms threatening suicide over his traced ship art for months at a time, getting vagued constantly and associated with actual abusive people and/or practices because i liked a character with four minutes of screentime AND OTHER INCIDENTS)…i realized that was a lot of emotions for a cartoon. especially a cartoon ive liked for a long time, since it started airing, and it’s a cartoon i would like to continue liking.

so i honestly don’t know what else this anon would want from me. i’ve already lost a few followers from my drop in fandom related activity, which i’m fine with, so if another person or multiple people would like to unfollow after this that’s fine too! it’s just tumblr, babes! curate your dash as you see fit! just don’t randomly pester people about a lack of content that was barely supported when it was being made, by a person who was constantly getting shit on by randoms because of said content while posting it :)

[purplesaline]

Screen time isn't actually the problem.

The problem is a lot more complex than that, but some of the biggest issues are these

1) The balance between passive entertainment and active entertainment.

In this way computers and iPads and phones can actually be a lot better for a kid to spend time with than a TV. Active entertainment engages the brain and fine motor control in ways that passively consuming media doesn't allow for. Of course kids can and do just watch videos on these devices as well, but it's a good example of why what is being done with the device is more important to the discussion and it can't be over-simplified into device=bad

2) Stress management and recovery

For a lot of kids, especially kids with additional mental health concerns, sensory processing disorders as one example, school can be incredibly overwhelming for them and by the time they get home their poor brains are just Done. Trying to make them engage in more "appropriate" play that requires higher levels of processing by their overworked brains is actually harmful and often results in a meltdown or shut down. In these instances passive entertainment helps them de-stress and helps to block out unwanted and unnecessary stimuli that would continue to put more strain on their overwhelmed brains. Watching videos or playing simple, soothing games should be encouraged in situations like these, not demonized. Obviously this is a more nuanced issue and it will require a certain level of expertise (store bought is fine if you don't have your own aka don't hesitate to ask a therapist for help understanding your kid's needs) to determine how much time the kid needs to recover each day. For some kids screen time from when they get home until they go to bed many days can actually be a healthy thing, for others more than an hour would be detrimental. It's all individual and figuring out the right balance is as much an art as it is a science. What it boils down to is you can't just say "More than X amount of screentime per day is Bad".

3) Social interaction

For kids with Social anxiety, social development disorders, and kids who struggle with allistic/neurotypical social customs it can be a lot easier for them to connect with peers online. Removing the stressors of fave to face communication can really help these kids become more comfortable with their peers and is a great starting place in developing healthy face to face interaction. Especially through mediums like voice chat during cooperative game play. Of course this isn't a one to one replacement for face to face socializing and shouldn't be treated as such, but it can be an incredible tool to help a struggling kid become more at ease with their peers so when they do get them opportunity to connect and interact face to face there is less anxiety involved.

And these aren't the only considerations to take into account, just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

So yeah, stop with the "screentime should be limited to X hours a day at most or it's harmful to your kid" generalizations. It's not only wrong (in that it refuses to account for differing needs), it shames parents into avoiding the use of a tool that can actually be incredibly helpful in improving the well-being of their child.

And the same is true for us adults too, by the way. Don't let people guilt you for your screentime if it's not interfering with your ability to live a meaningful and fulfilling life. If you need help learning the difference between healthy coping skills that improve your quality of life and maladaptive coping skills that can be harmful I highly recommend speaking to a therapist if one is accessible, and if you can't access one there's a lot of resources online that can help you understand the difference.

I don't know how to break it to you all but a bad parent will parent badly with books and a good parent will parent well with an iPad.

Ipads don't make the "ipad kid". What upsets you is a child who is being given something distracting and potentially obnoxious to those around them so that the parent doesn't have to deal with engaging with their child. And it's not new.

I grew up before the invention of the ipad and the complaints were the same. It was "tv kids" and "Gameboy kids". And it was book kids too, though people rarely complained about those kids because it didn't make noise and bother them personally so they no longer cared. Because the "it's for the good of the child!" argument dried up real fast as soon as it was something that didn't affect them.

A good parent who is engaging with their child's interests can do so with an iPad or television. A bad parent can say "take this and leave me alone" with a book or a toy. The problem is that some kids were raised by objects. By whatever kept them busy and entertained and away from their parents. Sure, there are parents who need to realize that's what they're doing and would benefit from changing their parenting style by limiting electronics use, but "if you give your kid an electronic toy, it means you're a bad parent" is not the same thing and largely misses the actual source of the problem.

Your arbitrary standards of what "good children" doing "good child activities" is as restricting.

[scinnahunbun]

REMI IS BEST GIRL! (BUT TECHNICALLY NOT REALLY TBH AND HERE’S WHY)

Let me be clear, Remi is my number one favorite character in unO. Almost leaning to a comfort character. However, I do have some thoughts on her writing that I want to lay out. PLEASE take this as more of a ramble from an emotionally driven brain than a critique tho. I’m not shaming Uru for her writing, just vomiting my thoughts. I may get some stuff in canon wrong so I deeply apologize for it in advance!

As far as we are concerned, her and Blyke are the most morally good out of the characters in this webtoon. However, she’s not perfect. In fact, she makes a lot of mistakes in unO. I hate how fans only brush her aside as the “nice but naive one” or the “stock badass cute female charcter” when there are so much more potential to her. But sadly, there are times where I believe the webtoon itself thinks the same way as them. Remi is not as well-written as characters like Arlo and even *gags* John. She does seem like that at first but there are cracks in her that make her feel… kinda off. 

(sorry btw to the unOblr discord members. I know I’ve been annoying with these takes but i want to compile them in a post DX)

I do agree that she hasn’t been compelling since the Volcan arc. While she has her moments like her putting up the Safe House, it’s already predictable since she has been constantly shoved into the box of the “nice girl on the sidelines”, especially in the Rowden arc. I understand the need for spotlight to the other characters but it kind of hurts because I love Remi’s flawed side. My favorite scenes with her is when we see her vulnerable and reckless. When she prioritized her revenge over Volcan when Alana died over the danger of getting harmed herself or when she lost her cool and burst into tears over the idea of Arlo getting hurt like Rei. I love seeing this side of her because as much as she tries to be the active hero, she’s just a teenager with a hero complex who tries to do everything for everyone but ends up hurting the same people in the process.

With what we have in canon, I don’t buy that Remi “easily forgives” her friends, no matter how attached to them she is. Yes, she can be in denial for a while but I don’t think she would let them off completely. Arlo’s been trying to undo Rei’s hard work on the hierarchy for two years. Considering Remi’s persistent and active attitude and the influence Rei and her family has on her, I hardly believe she would tolerate what he did, let alone still be friends with him. It annoys me how every time he does her dirty or admits to doing something wrong, she just reacts with “>:( hmph, fine!”. And that extends too for Isen but it’s worse bc we don’t even see her get pissed at Isen. I like Remi and Arlo’s friendship in canon but since they are such good foils, it would be interesting to see them clash at first (not as intensely as John and Arlo tho) before having these small moments of friendship to have more of an impact.

I am okay with Remi being ignorant. I’m fine with seeing her on the wrong side. I just think it was handled poorly.  I can see Remi being naive but not to the point of complete inactivity. The only pre-Safe House Arc onscreen moments where I can see her fit into this “naive royal who does nothing and is ignorant of her actions” is when she does not apologize to John for Blyke shooting a beam at him (probably because jOHN SLAPPED HER AND CALLED HER A BITCH) or that funny haha scene in the webtoon’s first chapter where she playfights with Arlo for cake without the thought of accidentally harming others in the crossfire.  

Even though there’s not that much screentime of her being inactive, the same could be said for her work as Queen. Where was she for the past two years? Why was she so passive? She mentioned that she “tried to help others” during that time but that’s all we hear from her. We don’t see what she does or if she really does help low tiers before the Safe House arc. To me, it seems less that she’s naive and more that her existence was completely retconned for certain chapters just so John could have an excuse to absolutely roast her in that one episode (haha get rekt dumb bitch!1!1!1!1).

Remi is constantly overshadowed by other characters and honestly, I think it needs to be addressed. Yes, she has her own agenda but nowadays, it’s mostly swept away for Blyke or Arlo’s development or given a couple of moments to grow (X-Rei arc) only to suddenly be cut off so she could get beaten up by John.

On a related note, her giving up being X-Rei after a couple of scoldings by her friends just sounds so OOC, especially since most of her scenes are dedicated to the weight of Rei’s death in her and how far she went in order to. Thanks, I hate it. 

So that’s all of my concerns at the moment so here are the things I would love to see more from her:

Why was she a mostly absent Queen before Rei’s death? What happened to her in the past two years? Did she really do her part but Arlo’s efforts to dismantle Rei’s hierarchy were too much for her?

More platonic moments with her and Isen! I understand that she and Blyke are more close to each other because they are canon love interests but I would love to see more of her friendship with Isen with genuine concerned or tender moments since most of their interactions are just haha funny moments and scolding Isen for being a dum dum. I love the scenes where Isen puts himself out of the line to save Remi when she was fighting Volcan as well as Isen getting beat up driving Remi to confront John. I know that this is a Remi post but Isen feels like a third wheel comic relief most of the time and he deserves better—

Her thoughts on being coddled by Arlo and Blyke. I noticed they baby her a lot and while they have good intentions, it does come off as condescending at times.

Remi being a workaholic. I explained this in a post before but I really feel like this is a good main flaw for her. It also makes her a foil to Seraphina where even with Remi’s selfless intentions, she makes mistakes and it still drains her like how Sera was when she’s Queen. I’d love her to contemplate how she’s not good enough for anyone or always end up making things worse with her help or smth like that.

For a time before Sera’s Spectre arc, she was the only character who was literally breaking her back to uncover the Authorities and the one responsible for most of the improvement on Wellston since the Safe House. I want to see her tired and stressed out of her mind!

The first thing that caught my attention from her is how different she sees the hierarchy. Despite coming from an implied high tier family, it’s fascinating how we see her and Rei being raised with a more community-based mindset from their parents. I really like that and I love to see more of how it influenced her.

The influence Rei had on her besides his death. We get the idea that she had inherited a lot of values for him but I would love to see how much Remi tries to be him as a Royal and probably lead to an identity crisis on how much is the real her or her brother’s legacy—

Bring the X-Rei arc back. Please. 

Just her going apeshit in general. Make her scrunkly. Embrace her flaws. She deserves better.

I understand that we can’t explore this currently because of all the current events and having all the screentime be on the actual main characters. I don’t want a Remi-centered unO or anything but I still wish we had room for at least a few of these to explore. 

To address the title though, I would consider Arlo best girl okay bye—

[itsclydebitches]

re: that ask you posted a couple days ago about the male and female representation in RWBY, part of what makes RWBY's whole 'girl power' thing ring exceptionally hollow to me is the fact that there are like... no women in positions of real power in remnant. like at all. except the big bad.

winter is second in command to james. glynda is second in command to ozpin. all of the headmasters are men (for no discernible reason, imo; why theodore and not dorothea?). the leader of the ace ops was a white man (and then winter seemed to take over clover's position instead of either of the women of color on the team, and she was still second to james). RWBY is an all girl team, but JNPR was led by a boy despite a girl arguably being far more qualified (pyrrha). the happy huntresses are all women, and robyn had no real power to speak of--she didn't even manage to win the election, because jacques rigged it, and then the council ceased to matter. there was one (1) woman on the council, but she was so inconsequential that i can't even remember her name. (i suppose we're lucky it was the guy and not her who james shot lol) jacques controls the SDC instead of willow, even though he's not even a schnee by blood and actually married into the family for power. (and we don't even know how he got it over his wife.)

and then there's the white fang, which ghira led and not kali--and it's ghira who leads menagerie itself, while kali seems to be a housewife. sienna had five minutes of screentime before being brutally killed and her position assumed by adam, a man. cordovin is basically a one off lackey we haven't even thought about before or since. neo was second to roman. you have cinder, sure, who is a second but to salem, a woman, and raven as the leader of the branwen tribe--but what does it really say about your 'girl power' narrative when the only women with genuine systemic power in your world are villains or antagonists with massive bodycounts??

atla has the same sort of problem--a couple great female characters, but all the leadership positions are men (except the kyoshi warriors, an all girls group, and even then the leader of their island is an old man) and the one female mentor figure also turns out to be evil--but it at least has some great writing to help overlook that fact, and it came out in the mid-00's and so has some sort of excuse of being a product of its time. but rwby didn't even start until 2013 and it's still going and still making these kinds of decisions well into 2021.

where is this supposed girl power, exactly? am i really supposed to overlook the very patriarchal worldbuilding just because the title characters are girls?

That's an excellent summary of the situation, anon, and as with so much in RWBY, it comes down to the full context. Any one of these examples isn't necessarily going to mean much on its own. It's when you look at the pattern that you can start making a case for those conclusions: Why is the show marketed on "girl power" set in a world where men hold the vast majority of that power? And, more importantly, why is that setup not the point? We could easily have a story where that lopsided gender dynamic is the problem that the girls are looking to fix, but... that story doesn't exist. Like the problems discussed with Jaune, the supposed point here exists only on the surface. Dig just the tinniest bit — the above — and you hit on a lot of structural problems with this "girl power" world.

To add just a few details to what you've already said:

Salem indeed has power, but she's never allowed to fully use it. Each volume the frustration with this grows as Salem accumulates more abilities and then just sits on them. From literally hiding out for a thousand years to worries that she won't use the Staff in Volumes 9-10, Salem really isn't allowed to be the threat she's presented as on the surface. And yes, this is absolutely due in part to the "She's too OP and the writers don't know how to let her be that powerful while still having the heroes win" issue, but again, context. That problem doesn't exclude others occurring simultaneously.

Same double explanation with Summer. Yes, dead moms are an incredibly common trauma to dump on a protagonist, but it still left Yang and Ruby with Tai as their primary influence. And Qrow. The uncle becomes the extended family influence while Raven is the absent one/eventual antagonist. It's personal power as opposed to political power, but Tai, Qrow, Ozpin, formerly James... most of the mentors are men. Maria, a key exception, has been ignored in that regard. The story announced that she was Qrow's inspiration, setup her being Ruby's new mentor, and then... nothing. Nothing has come of that. She disappeared for a volume and then went off to Amity and was literally forgotten by the story when evacuating everyone was the finale's whole point.

Like that Endgame moment I mentioned, the Happy Huntresses feel a little too forced to me. Yes, it's the same basic idea as in ATLA, but ATLA, as you say, has a lot more going for it. The Happy Huntresses feel... on the nose? Idk exactly how to explain it. Like, "Here they are! Another team of all women! Isn't this how progressive storytelling works? Just ignore how this is a one-off team of minor characters compared to the world building issues discussed above." And if you're not paying attention, you miss just how insignificant they are, with a side of Robyn being, well, Robyn. The Kyoshi Warriors, at least, are based off of Kyoshi. A woman avatar who is a significant part of their history. That is, presumably, why they're an all women warrior group (but who notably still teach Sokka). The Happy Huntresses are all huntresses because...? There's no reason except that meta "We want to look progressive" explanation. Just like having all the women superheroes team up for a hot second so people get excited and ignore the representation problems across, what? 21 films? Don't get me wrong, I love that May is among the Happy Huntresses. I think including her in the explicitly all-women group was one of the better things RWBY has done in a long time, but the rest is still a mess.

RWBY is arguably about these smaller groups as opposed to systematic power (despite the writers trying to work that in with things like the White Fang and the election. Not to mention the implication that everything in Atlas is fine now that evil Ironwood has died and taken the symbol of wealth (the city) with him. We saw a human holding hands with a faunus after all. Racism and corruption solved, I guess.) So yes, our group is dominated by women... but Whitley is the one saving Nora, helping to defeat the Hound (plus Willow), thinking of the airships, and providing the blueprints they need to escape. Salem is our Big Bad, except Ironwood is the one the volume focuses on. Ruby is our leader, but Jaune is the one leading the group into the whale and getting praised for how heroic he is. Ren does more to shake things up, even if he's painted as the one in the wrong. Oscar gets to confront Salem and destroys the whale threat. Ozpin provides the information they need to evacuate. Meanwhile, when the girls do things in Volume 8 it's almost always followed by a long-stint of passiveness. Nora opens the door so she can be unconscious for most of the volume. Penny keeps Amity up so she can also be unconscious for a good chunk of time. Ruby sends her message and then sits in a mansion. Blake fights so she can tearfully beg Ruby to save her. Weiss, as said, takes a backseat to Whitley (and Klein). They forward the plot, absolutely, but comparatively it doesn't feel like enough.

It's that pattern then, no one specific example. More and more the personal power, not just the systematic power already built into Remnant, seems to be coming from the men. Not all the time, but enough that scenes like the tea drinking moment feel like a part of a much larger problem. Pietro taking control, Watts hacking, and Ambrosius literally remaking her when Penny is supposed to already be in control of herself and her fate. Winter being presented as the active mentor to Weiss, only to turn around and claim that Ironwood was actually responsible for everything. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and May straight up commenting on how awful things are out there while Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Oscar lead the charge against Salem — with the latter three doing the most to forward that mission (no fear, semblance, cane). As others have only half-joked, Yang's supposedly badass moment was bringing up a mother she's ignored for six volumes and briefly blowing up the immortal woman for a couple of seconds (with Ironwood's bombs). Even Marrow is arguably the most significant Ace Op after Clover. Vine isn't actually a character, Elm slightly less so, Harriet is there to go crazy and try to drop a bomb (notably before admitting to never-before-existed feelings for Clover), but Marrow? He's the one who breaks out. Who is meant to heroically stand up against Ironwood. Who comments on how awful it is that teenagers are fighting and, regardless of how messed up the moral messages are, is supposedly pushing for active change while all the women in his group, including Winter, insist on maintaining the status quo. Look at all these choices as a whole, it makes throwaway worldbuilding choices like "All the Maidens are women" feel pretty hollow. Why does it matter if Amber is a Maiden if she dies in a flashback so Ozpin can struggle to pass on the power? If Pyrrha dies before becoming one so Jaune can angst about it? If Raven is one and then disappears from the story entirely? If Winter has enough power to break Ironwood's aura, but supposedly had no power throughout every other choice she made getting here? If Penny is one, but is continually controlled by men and then asks another man to help her die? It's just really unconvincing, once you look past the surface excitement of a woman looking cool with magic powers.

When you do consider the whole of the story — both in terms of our world building and who is forwarding the plot in the latter volumes, getting the emotional focus, being proactive, etc. — there are a lot of problems that undermine the presumed message RT wants to write. They say, "girl power" by marketing RWBY with these four women, but too many of the storytelling decisions thoroughly undermine that, revealing what's likely a deeply ingrained, subconscious bias.

[piccolina-mina]

Our girl is thriving this season, but what the fuck is this Wyatt plot? I need your thinks about this one. I just knew you'd be six posts in on this by now. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

*sighs* For fk's sake, nonny. I don't even like talking about it because I get ranty.

What do you want me to say? Honestly, everything you can imagine I would feel about this, you're probably right. Because you know, I'm that b*tch always getting ranty about racism and stuff.

In short, I hate it. I think it's unnecessary, tone-deaf, random, pointless, lowkey offensive, and illogical. I legitimately find it triggering AF. And it doesn't make sense.

It's Unnecessary. There is a fraction of a chance that it will connect to something more significant, but even if that's the case, I'm confident that end result or connection could've taken place without this random reform racist Wyatt storyline. This series has struggled enough as it is properly utilizing all of its primary characters as well as providing them with decent screentime and arcs. It literally makes no sense to spend any of that time that could be used elsewhere on primary characters on a recurring guest star.

This isn't actually about Rosa, it's about Wyatt. Following up on the previous point, this specific arc caters to Wyatt. Revolves around Wyatt. Rosa is just a passive participant and vessel for this Wyatt storyline. So again, the arc itself is about a recurring character. At least when they did something similarly bringing back Cam to siphon time and arcs away from its main cast they found ways to implement it better and tied her to multiple main characters, so it wasn't a total waste.

The intended Wyatt/Rosa parallel is illogical. I know what they're intending to do with this storyline, drawing parallels between Rosa's experience coming back from the dead after ten years and trying to make sense of that and atone for things before and having this second chance to make things right and go down the right path and so forth and Wyatt losing his memory and his racist ways and having to reconcile with who he was to who he can be and all of that. I understand the concept they're trying to sell. It just doesn't work. Rosa's addiction is not equivalent to Wyatt's racism and violence. Her mental illness isn't either. It's dangerous to invite the comparasions with this storyline.

It's not successful redemption. True redemption is Wyatt knowing and remembering his actions and then trying to atone for them. It's not the convenience of amnesia wiping out his memory only giving him distance from his actions rather than really facing up to them. Because of the amnesia, to Wyatt, it's like he's hearing about another person. It's a cop out. He doesn't Actually have to do the work to redeem himself or atone or learn or grow. IF we're supposed to compare it to Rosa, she knew what she did and remembers and knows how she hurt her loved ones or whatever and she's actively trying to make amends for that as part of her program... a program that Wyatt isn't working or anything BTW.

They've contradicted themselves too much and are rewriting their own work and thus twisting everything up just to make this storyline work and it still doesn't. The timeline is all fkd up... what they established already all of it..The Longs were racist before Kate's death. Kate was racist. To suggest that a 10+ amnesiac blackout clean slates and erases all of Wyatt's racism is just wrong. As in it literally doesn't even make any sense. That is not how the amnesia works but they keep playing both sides of it trying to make it work. To sell us what they're claiming, he would have to have ALL of his memories wiped and have forgotten who he was completely.

Wyatt is behaving like he's shocked by racism in this town but they're also trying to argue that he was born into it. Wyatt was surrounded by racists and his friends come from racist families but he's acting like the very concept of him ever being ingratiated in it is some huge surprise. Wyatt looks affronted by things like Confederate flags. Wyatt being steeped in and surrounded by racism predates his amnesia period.

Kyle mentioned that line about Wyatt putting Whites Only on water fountains, and it sounded like a school prank. It also sounded like something Kyle was reminding Rosa of as if she was alive when that incident happened. Therefore, Wyatt was doing racist stuff before she died. Kyle would've been out of school by then so how else would he know that or why would he bother retaining it?

IF Wyatt and Rosa really were friends before (which holy retcon), then it makes no real sense that he would get psychopathically angry about his "friend" who does drugs getting into a car accident with his sister who does drugs. He would've mourned them both not jumped to severe racism and violence. But both he and Jasmine's family (who are MIA for all of this) did that... jumped to racism. So was Wyatt indoctrinated by his family or indoctrinated by message boards and shit? And if Wyatt and Rosa were friends than why was Kate such a racist bitch to Rosa?

They're backdrafting history JUST to make this storyline that we don't need with a character who isn't even a main one to work.

By not actually addressing that Wyatt has to unlearn racism and giving him an out through amnesia, there is the very realistic issue of that latent racism to come out at any given time. What happens when he's drunk? What happens when he's really angry at a POC?

Tying Wyatt's redemption with his clear affection for Rosa is again dangerous and irresponsible. I know we would all like to think that love is the way and through love it can heal racism, but that puts the responsibility on the disenfranchised person to be "lovable." Because if Wyatt WAS friends with Rosa once then that means the second Rosa did something unlovable she was just another *insert racist slur of choosing* right? It means that there's a possibility that if his feelings for Rosa dwindle or things go sideways in some way there's a chance that he could revert back to those racist ways. Loving Rosa(linda) and pinning all of his wanting to be better on her because of her makes his actively learning to be anti-racist conditional. Right now he's not doing this for him. He's doing it because of Rosa.

This entire storyline has placed the burden of forgiveness on Rosa, his victim. Without him ever having to actually make amends. It's this turn the other cheek BS that means there's nothing too big or harmful that can't result in forgiveness. It relies on Rosa and all that she represents to extend an inhumane level of mercy and grace to their tormentor and oppressor that was never once extended to them. It's such a consistent and problematic thing projected on disenfranchised parties that ONLY benefits the majority and makes them feel good. It's a narrative of meeting someone halfway when the playing field was uneven and the minorities are in actuality doing more work and making a longer trek. Halfway and meeting in the middle only works if both sides were even. They are not. It's the reaching across the aisle both sidesms when one side was clearly and actively more harmful than the other and than calling that peace and equity. It is not.

This storyline was meant to scintillate some viewers with this "what if" notion and teach others a meaningful lesson or be this poorly thought out gateway to exploring a complex storyline but it came at the expense of other demographics who actively have to deal with racist crap. And because of their problematic approach what is simply "just entertainment" to some who has the luxury of not having to think about it beyond that, is just gross and insanely triggering and uncomfortable to others. The others who deal with the reality of the subject at hand.

They wrote themselves into a corner with Wyatt so trying to dig him out of that no matter the cost or logic is absurd. This storyline could've worked better if Wyatt's racism didn't also include conscious, constant, extreme violence. But they spent all of this time making Wyatt the face of violent racism and now are trying to redeem him with no real effort. He wasn't just using slurs or making microaggressions. He wasn't some insensitive or aloof white person. He is a murderer. He has killed people. He technically murdered Liz in cold-blood. He knew she was in the crashdown when he shot up the place. The lights were still on. He beat up Arturo so badly he nearly killed him well after his friends even stopped. He attacked and intended to kill Rosa. And his handiwork was a constant thing, enough for Jenna to comment on it. And now we're supposed to ignore all of that because he has amnesia and has puppy dog eyes?

The fact that we can entertain (and for some succeed) Wyatt in all of his hot white dudeness' redemption after everything he has done slips into the inherent racism of society in the first place and is enraging. Because systemically and culturally and inherently society will bend over backwards to find a way to absolve a hot white guy no matter his actions. Flint and Noah couldn't get this type of redemption... So their intended storyline about evolving from racism STILL plays into the racist structures set up in society.

And because some people like it, there's this slippery territory of NO everyone who genuinely enjoys this aren't racist for enjoying it. But yes, this entire storyline and how it is playing out is at the very least racially insensitive.

In order for this storyline to work they would actually have to show Wyatt doing the work. They don't have enough time to dedicate to such a delicate storyline. It's been a C and D filler storyline with 45 second to a minute scenes. That's not enough time to explore this properly. We would've needed to see Wyatt returning home from the hospital. We would've needed to see Wyatt with his friends and it not feeling right and his discomfort. We would've needed to see Wyatt going through his yearbook and googling himself and the horror and disgust he felt. We would need to see this through his eyes. But we didn't have the time for that and we wouldn't have anyway because he's not a main character. We only get Wyatt through Rosa's eyes and they haven't even dedicated enough time to that for it to work. Rosa isn't conflicted at all. She didn't struggle to forgive him. She was reduced to a school girl with a crush and an insane level of grace and they just threw that at us with no buildup whatsoever. I don't know where Rosa's head is and how she got to this to place. Not really. And the only thing working about this is the chemistry between two actors who are allegedly dating so of course there's chemistry.

It literally feels like another instance of a favorite actor being shoehorned into a storyline just for the hell of it. Just because they didn't want to let Dylan go or something. Just to give him something else to do.

[empyrealarthropod]

yeah. to me, at least, jinx was such a central and indispensable part of the story in season one that giving her a satisfying arc and allowing her to have a large role in how the plot progressed would be a major part of whether season two was successful. same goes for vi, too. she had the most screentime in season one, and jinx had the largest effect on the plot, with her actions being the catalyst to set the other parts in motion. but now both of them are just so passive feeling?

vi’s emotional arc is weirdly paced and doesn’t make sense, her resentment for jinx is dragged out across multiple acts but we don’t get to see the process of how she changed her mind and went from wanting to fix her to wanting to kill her. her descent into alcoholism and pitfighting is crammed into a montage that was stylistically really well done and gorgeous, but narratively so short we have to make assumptions based off things we saw for half a second (just like several other montages this season). they showed barely any of her internal conflict about her actions as enforcer until she was placed in a situation that directly paralleled her and jinx’s past selves.

the part that frustrates me most is that neither her or jinx have any goals? but especially jinx since she’s usually so active and assertive. she’s not the sort of character who just reacts to what’s happening around her, she usually is the catalyst to set events in motion and the one taking actions that others have to respond to. but they’ve barely let her do that at all, especially in act 2. she doesn’t have anything she wants or anything that she’s aiming for or any purpose. and it could make sense for that to be something brief that she worked through before deciding what it is she wanted and what she was going to do about it, but 6 episodes in and not only is she going nowhere, isha’s death is probably going to be a major setback. she’s almost entirely external to the plot. noxus and the wild rune/hextech stuff are what’s propelling the story, piltover and zaun and jinx and vi are just along for the ride.

and the isha arc was sweet, i liked seeing older sister/single mom jinx, but it ended up going nowhere. they introduced isha to keep jinx busy and give her someone to care about, and then immediately killed her. and her attachment to isha didn’t cause any development of her character or motivate her in any way apart from her needing to do a prison break. i don’t know exactly how to put into words everything that frustrates me with that arc but it just feels like wasted potential, especially since connection with others is so important to jinx that giving her a new dynamic she hasn’t experienced before where she’s the older one having someone look up to her and depend on her could have really sparked some interesting changes in her character and goals.

it’s just there’s a difference between making a character go through a phase, or just twisting them into an entirely different person and acting like it makes sense for them to be this new, mischaracterized version.

in act one, where it was clear she was suicidal and gearing up to die, i had faith it was the former and that she would be herself again at some point. but now after act two, it looks like they’ve just completely rewritten her.

there’s a limit to how long you can let a phase go on before it’s just stagnation. jinx’s apathy and lack of motivation is a little out of character considering her decision at the end of season one, but i can see it as a temporary phase she would struggle with.

however, the show’s almost over and they’re not letting her do anything outside of it. it’s been 2/3 of the very limited runtime and she’s still not herself. she’s not scheming or planning, her homicidal tendencies, anger, insecurity, hallucinations, desperate need for connection, codependency, impulsivity, and willingness to be extreme are suddenly gone with no explanation, her usual strange anachronistic and unusual way of speaking and mannerisms are gone and have been replaced with mild sarcasm, and on the rare occasions they let her build something, it has no lasting effects and is immediately undone.

jinx’s creation of fishbones and the attack on the council was the culmination of her season one arc and one of the most dramatic moments in the entire season. but the effects of the rocket are toned down and brushed off. fishbones barely gets fired once before being torn apart by the hextech glitching, which doesn’t make any sense considering the gauntlets and rifle and sevika’s scar were all fine after the glitching stopped. her other guns are quickly disposed of as well, being torn apart by vi and overloaded by isha, and jinx only fires them a couple ineffective times before they’re scrapped. her bombs don’t do anything either, with a few harmless firework/smoke bombs being used as distractions and one that could actually do some damage showing up to magically un-lobotomize vander. she stops fighting back against piltover apart from one scene where she redirects the gray away from zaun and splatters a few buildings with paint. that can barely even be considered an attack. the arm that she builds sevika gets an interesting scene but it’s quickly reworked and destroyed as well. her inventions and creations are a huge part of her character and they’re stripped of effectiveness and meaning.

with better writing, maybe a slightly longer runtime, and shortening down some less necessary plotlines or cutting them out entirely to save them for one of the other shows they’ve said they want to make, it would be easily possible to show both jinx’s emotional vulnerability, grief about the loss of silco and disconnect with vi, connection with isha/sevika/zaun, and her usual weirdness and creativity and volatility. several of those things could be blended together and showed in the same scene. but they’re not.

they’re also just not letting her have any substantial effect on the plot or make decisions of her own. she doesn’t choose anything, she gets pushed along by the whims of others and what the people around her want. she’s not acting, she’s just reacting. and somehow her first thought upon seeing warwick is to go clean up and recruit vi? and then she doesn’t have any anger or complex feelings about the whole situation with vander returning but not silco? as soon as vander’s back she stops missing silco apart from when she finds his coat? she just cooperates with vi’s plan to get warwick healed and wanders around viktor’s cult aimlessly without a care in the world, letting everyone else do whatever while she sits around with isha? she doesn’t have anything she wants, she doesn’t have any goals, she doesn’t care about the piltover vs zaun conflict anymore, her anger about the entire political situation is inexplicably gone just like caitlyn’s.

i’m hoping that we get a few good moments in act 3, but considering that they just killed off isha right before the last act and now she’s going to be straight back to grieving, it’s difficult to keep my hopes up. also please no spoilers i haven’t seen the leaks and i don’t want to

[smolbrittana]

traits that suggest that brittany s. pierce is autistic

disclaimer: all of these are traits in people with autism (mainly woman and children) that i noticed brittany also has even though some of these could be explained by other things such as the writers just not giving her any lines or screentime. there is also other examples but i just used the ones that i knew off the top of my head.

• restricted interests combined with in-depth knowledge

winning with the brainiacs with her knowledge of cat diseases

•having difficulty adapting to a change in routine

when santana left and she was kicked off the cheerios she either acted out (beating up jbi with an umbrella) or was depressed

•difficultly with social communication

saying random things when there’s any sort of tension or drama e.g cheetahs have the fastest land speed of any living animals

•interests that focus on animals and people

having fondue for two which is focused on talking to people and finding things out about them and always bringing up an animal in a conversation. i bet the duck is in the hat, the goat ate it, i think my cat has been reading my diary

•better imagination

i know you joined a gang, happyville, i know you started smoking again

•a tendency to be shy

in her presidential speech she was shown to be quite nervous and shy the way she read off the paper, never looked up or made eye contact (any other trait) and also said it in a small voice

•a tendency to be passive

accepts things that others do without actively responding. e.g when the others are arguing she always just watches and never has an imput

•relies on others

she was always around santana and then when santana left she fell apart until she found someone else to be around (sam)

•low frustration levels

if you loved you as much as i do, you’d put on the shirt and you would dance with me, you don’t get it, you left me behind and it hurt, hitting jbi with an umbrella, always getting frustrated with herself when she can’t do something or when people are doubting her, they think i’m gonna say something stupid

•finding things very literal

wait, finn can fly?

•seeming blunt, rude or not interested

i hate you. shut up, tina. i blocked your voice out a few months ago. your face looks like a soccer ball, except for the fact that she and i are still together & pretty much everything she said in all or nothing

•noticing small details with things such as smells

wait, i can’t smell raspberry hair gel?

•liking to plan things carefully before doing them

when she wanting her wedding to be perfect and would then have a melt down when something went wrong. would you guys mind if i ritualistically slaughter this chicken? i want to counteract the bad luck of santana seeing me in my wedding dress.

•quieter

literally did not speak for a season

•difficulty with auditory processing

hence why she struggled in school, she wouldn’t of been able to process what she was being taught and therefore not knowing anything she needed to in order to graduate

•not asking for help or avoidence

when she was failing school and had known she wasn’t going to graduate yet still didn’t get help or even tell anyone until it was too late.

•appears naive and immature

writes with crayons, has barbies, wears clothes with animals on aswell as mentioning animals alot

•shows different sides of their personality in different settings

when she is alone with santana she’s more mature with her feelings and what she says whereas when she’s with the rest of the glee club she often is alot quieter and says the odd ‘quirky’ line.

•math skills

it’s been proven by a study that people with autism have superior math skills and knowledge than non-autistic people hence brittany s. pierce the math genius.

in conclusion, we deserved to see autistic!brittany become canon instead of just having her acknowledge that her brain works differently but everyone bullies her for it and has her be seen as not normal and have no one be punished for bullying her. it’s also pretty invalidating when people say that she was too ‘immature’ to be with santana as if autistic people can’t be in a relationship with someone who is neurotypical. it also would of been good to see them acknowledge her having autism as i always related to brittany because we had similar traits and yet i had no idea i was autistic until a few years later so it would of been pretty good to see that rep and recognise that i had it.

[ouyangzizhensdad]

As a mdzs/novel canon reader, how do you feel about the roles of Wen Ning and Wen Qing in mdzs vs cql?

I think one of the most important thing (for me) when thinking about how wn and wq are explored in cql is to remember the following two factors:

1. While the actress denied it, it seems that wq was indeed supposed to be a love interest for wwx in cql before fans made a fuss about it on social media: this is supported by the fact she was introduced as a main character in early talks of the series, the actress got the biggest $$ contract after xz and wyb, we got some leaked photos from set showing scenes that were filmed or were intended to be filmed but didn’t end up in the final cut of the series, and the simple reality that wq’s presence in the story was increased significantly (while her impact on the plot remained the same). Tbh that they chose to cast meng ziyi and introduced (and kept) a frankly bizarre (on a thematic and plot level) romance subplot between jc and her is proof enough for me that she was supposed to be a love interest for wwx (albeit a tragic one).  

2. CQL fundamentally modified the role of the Wens within the narrative by changing the whole subplot about modao, which then altered the role of wq and wn to a degree, and with which characters they interacted and when.

For me, these had an impact on the overall quality of the storytelling, particularly in regards to wq and her character (under the cut because I don’t know how to be brief).

WEN QING:

1. Even if she had been instructed by the director to play wq as close to possible to the way she was portrayed in the novel, I don’t think Meng Ziyi could have done it; for me, she doesn’t have the right presence, physicality, etc. to achieve a good performance of wq. Novel wq has such strong boss energy; she is high-ranking officer even if she is removed from the fighting, the best doctor, and someone who was in charge of the yiling supervision office, and she’s constantly snapping at people (I love novel!wq.........). Meng Ziyi just does not manage to embody that powerful energy--she has that female lead type of presence, and it just doesn’t mesh with who wq is.

Wen Ning nodded, somewhat embarrassed, “My sister. She’s really powerful.”

She was indeed powerful.

Wen Qing could be considered a famous cultivator of the QishanWen Sect. She wasn’t a daughter of the QishanWen Sect’s leader, Wen Ruohan, but instead the daughter of one of Wen Ruohan’s cousins. Although they were far cousins, Wen Ruohan had always had a close relationship to this cousin of his. On top of that, Wen Qing was exceptional in the liberal arts and studied medicine as well. She was a talent, and thus she was rather favored by Wen Ruohan. She often followed Wen Ruohan to the banquets of the QishanWen Sect, which was why Wei Wuxian found her face familiar. She was a beauty, after all. He had also heard from somewhere that she had an elder or younger brother. But, perhaps because he wasn’t as talented as Wen Qing, not many people talked about him.

2. In my opinion, making the wq a more active agent in the wen plot also takes away part of what defines her arc and character in the novel, and what she represents as a figure within the conflict. Let’s remember, we are only introduced to wq in the novel after Lotus Pier was burned down and jc lost his core--she is absent until then, and that is the point: she is not involved in the conflict. While morally upright, she is someone who passively benefits from the ills committed by her sect and who only takes calculated risks to help reduce the suffering committed to others. She becomes guilty by association despite never actively hurting others or helping wrh’s cause. It feels more organic and complex than the throne-room!threats we see in cql, and having her carry on missions for wrh.

Wen Qing cut him off, “What the Wen Sect does doesn’t represent what we do. We don’t need to be responsible for the Wen Sect’s wrongdoing. Wei Ying, there’s no need to look at me like that. There’s a beginning to all debts. I’m the office leader of Yiling, but I was ordered to take the position. I’m a medic, an apothecary, I’ve never killed anyone, much less touched the blood of the Jiang Sect.”

It was true. Nobody had heard of any lives lost by Wen Qing’s hands. There were always many cases that people wanted her to take over. It was because Wen Qing was one of the Wen Sect’s people whose way of doing things was actually normal. At times she could even put in a few good words for people in front of Wen Ruohan. Her reputation had always been good.

/////

Lan Xichen responded a moment later. “I have heard of Wen Qing’s name a few of times. I do not remember her having participated in any of the Sunshot Campaign’s crimes.” 

“But she’s never stopped them either,��“ Nie Mingjue countered.

“Wen Qing was one of Wen RuoHan’s most trusted people, “ said Lan Xichen. “How could she have stopped them?” 

Nie Mingjue spoke coldly. “If she responded with only silence and not opposition when the Wen Sect was causing mayhem, it’s the same as indifference. She shouldn’t have been so disillusioned as to hope that she could be treated with respect when the Wen Sect was doing evil and be unwilling to suffer the consequences and pay the price when the Wen Sect was wiped out.” 

[...] One of the sect leaders spoke up, “What Nie-zongzhu said is quite right. Besides, Wen Qing is one of Wen RuoHan’s most trusted people. You’re telling me she never participated? Well I don’t buy it. Is there any Wen-gao without a single drop of blood on their hands? Maybe it’s just that we haven’t found out about it yet!”

3. Making wq interact with other characters before the qiongqi path incident also makes their motivations harder to understand. For instance, jc having feelings for wq makes his motivations and actions during the aftermath of the sunshot campaign more muddled, imo? In the novel, instead, jc’s unwillingness to help the wen remnants is used to showcase a foil between jc’s and wwx’s understandings of duty/responsibility:

“You burn this corpse right now and return to them all these leftovers of the Wen Sect. That’s the only way to make the subject die!” As Jiang Cheng spoke, he raised his sword again, preparing to attack.

Wei Wuxian clenched his wrist.

“Are you joking?! If we return Wen Qing and the others to them, they’d meet nothing but a dead end!”

“I doubt you’ll even return all of them. Why do you care what kind of end they meet? A dead end it is, then—what does it have to do with you?!”

Wei Wuxian finally lost his temper. “Jiang Cheng! What- What do you think you’re talking about?! Take it back—don’t make me give you a thrashing! Don’t forget. Who was the one that helped us burn Jiang-shushu’s and Yu-furen’s corpses? Who returned to us the ashes that are in Lotus Pier right now? And who took us in when we were chased after by Wen Chao?!”

Jiang Cheng, “I’m the one who fucking wants to give you a thrashing! Yes, they helped us before, but why in the world don’t you understand that right now any remnant of the Wen Sect is a target of criticism! No matter who they are, with a surname of Wen they have committed a most heinous crime! And those who protect the Wen are at risk of being condemned by everyone! All the people loathe the Wen-dogs so badly that the worse they die the better. Whoever protects them is against the entire world. Nobody would speak for them, and nobody would speak for you either!”

4. Adding more screen time for wq and more interactions with other characters prior to/during the sunshot campaign ends up adding nothing in terms of her arc or her impact on the plot. While wq is a secondary character in the novel, she is crucial to the plot: her skills and her agency shape so many crucial moments and events in mdzs. Take away pretty much any scene with wq in the novel, and the events of the novel have to change. However, when it comes to what has been added in cql to make her more prominent in the series, it does not feel like it brings anything of significance to the plot. In the end, what is the point of the hair comb moment? it never sways jc to help or feel really conflicted over not helping the wen remnants? it never changes anything about the way wq acts? jc doesn’t come to wq’s defense at jinlintai the way lwj does. At best, it just adds to jc’s manpain. In the end, what’s the point of having a cute moment between wq and jyl, except to reassure viewers that wq is a good person and cares for her brother (all things we known in the novel in spite of the absence of this scene). In the end, what is the point of spending screentime with wq looking for the yin iron in the cloud recesses, and wwx being suspicious of her, if anyway lwj and him stumble upon it by chance? If wq were the love interest, it would make more sense to just pad up her screen time in the series, and these moments would probably pay off more. But as it is, it just feels very aimless and even at times confusing. 

5. i 100% headcanon novel wq as a lesbian and the fact that they even suggest she might have feelings for jc is an attack on my gay rights ): 

WEN NING:

1. Gosh I love wn. I think his role in the novel is so important and i have too much to say to end up saying anything remotely coherent. I also have to say that I love the actor they chose. Of all the casting choices, I’d even say it is the best of the entire series in my opinion. He really captures the essence of wn and he looks so adorable. So cute. 

2. Overall, i think cql did not change too much in terms of his arc and characterisation (the shy but fiercely protective person, coming to terms with what he lost, finding wen yuan and reconnecting with his history, finding a path of his own instead of following his sister/wwx). However I do find that some of the interactions are more meaningful in the novel. For example, making wwx and wn’s first interaction happen in the cloud recesses takes away the importance of wwx standing up against wn’s own sect members on their own turf. The fact that wwx and wn see each other more in the CQL verse also undermines the weight of wn’s choice and how significant wwx’s actions and words were to him, since he was ready to go against his sect for someone he’d met once. Once!!!! It says so much about wn and what his life was like--and how much impact wwx’s acts of kindness and care could have. If I let myself I would just end up quoting back most of Poison - part 4.Okay, I will just quote this part:

Red seeped through Wen Qionglin’s face to even the bottom of his ears. There was no need for others to beckon him away; he fled self-consciously. Wei Wuxian chased after him, “Hey, don’t run! Uh… Qionglin-xiong right? Why are you running?”

Hearing his name called from behind him, Wen Qionglin finally stopped. Head hanging low, he turned around. It seemed as though shame rippled from his head to his toes as he stammered, “… I’m sorry.”

“Why are you telling me you’re sorry?”

“You… You recommended me… but I made you lose face…”

“How did it make me lose face? You haven’t really shot in front other people, have you? You were nervous?”

Wen Qionglin nodded. Wei Wuxian continued, “Have some confidence. Let me tell you the truth—you shoot better than everyone in your sect. Out of all of the disciples whom I’ve seen, no more than three people are better in archery than you.”

3. I do wish wn as the ghost general was scarier and more violent in cql, but they tamed all of the horror/violent/gory aspects of the novel so it was to be expected. I just love contrasts.............

[hopevalley]

Don't see how Mike will have time to run the petroleum company AND be Mayor, so hoping that job goes to Lee. Apparently Lee isn't kept very busy running his own business, so let's toss him this bone. Being mayor probably isn't a full time gig anyway. As for he & Rosemary having kids...why does everyone think their life can't be complete until they have some? I think it's a very realistic to feature a childless couple getting over that disappointment & having full & happy lives anyway.

I’m sure the job will go to Lee, or they’ll do a huuuge dramatic plotline about it where there are cutthroat politics afoot. Personally I think it’d be a little insensitive to do that type of storyline right now, but 99% of this town would suck at being mayor.

If Bill wins: he’s the objectively BEST choice because he knows the most and is the most fair/likely to do the right thing always, BUT he’s also a judge so that seems like...a conflict of interest. If he quits being a judge it could work really well, though.

If Lee wins: he’s maybe a little too passive for mayor and would think too long and people would get annoyed with that. He is really level-headed, though, so he won’t be impulsive, but I hate the suggestion that his job doesn’t keep him busy enough. In most previous seasons Rosemary worked because Lee worked so much and she was lonely, so it feels stupid to throw that away now. He’s always been a workaholic...let him stay one.

If Fiona wins: she doesn’t feel like a part of the town enough to me to logically get elected, but it sure as HELL would reek of Hallmark pretending to be feminist just like they did when they randomly decided Abigail was head of the town council and thus Henry’s replacement in S4. No thanks... At least she’d be bossy about it, though.

If Mike wins: he’s a good guy and likely to listen to people but I don’t think he has the backbone that’s necessary, and he sure as heck doesn’t have half the knowledge he needs. He’d mean well, but meh.

I wish Dottie had stayed on because she would have made the BEST mayor: a big part of the town, she’d know everything about it from being married to a mayor (and having worked with Henry when he was one), she’s smart, she’s got good sense, and she’s decisive without being hateful. She’s always been written that way. She always made more sense than Abigail.

(I’m not saying there aren’t other choices, of course. Joseph would be so good at it with the right knowledge but he’s not integrated enough into the town yet. Neither is Minnie. I hate the idea of Jesse and Clara getting more screentime at this point. And on and on.)

Anyway, after this awful triangle, the LAST thing I want to watch are characters I like tearing each other down (or lying) to try and win. I can see the plotline already... Bill, Lee, and Fiona all at each other’s throats and either Mike wins by default because he’s too sweet to lie or be mean to anyone, or Fiona wins because Mike accidentally talks her up so much. I mean it’d be in character but I’d rather not see Lee and Bill look like jackasses for a whole season, thanks.

--

I absolutely HATE the fan desire to have Lee and Rosemary reproduce. I’m not a big fan of children to begin with, but the whole infertility plot needs to mean something. If they just magically get pregnant ~wow what a miracle~ I would never watch this show again. Just like the whole Becky plotline (where she magically didn’t need the wheelchair wowzer it’s just mind over matter haha!) it’s just cruel to dangle that in front of the faces of people who have experienced that kind of heartache. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’d LOVE an adoption plotline, preferably of a young teenager (or several kids). They did that in Avonlea and it was incredible. Imagine Rosemary latching onto like, three orphaned siblings. It’d be so sweet. 

Like, if children would make Rosemary and Lee feel fulfilled in life (and that IS the case for some people out there!) then they can adopt. Yes, it sucks that they can’t just have their own kids, but this is a time period where it was cheap and easy to adopt children, so there’s no real reason not to do it. They even know the right people to help them find the perfect kid match(es) for their personality and lifestyle!

(By this I mean, they had their infertility plotline, and now they’ve had a break from that to think about their future and themselves and with no baby in sight maybe it’s time to consider adoption as a valid way of getting what they desire. My favorite part of this is that it feels SO SO SO in character for both of them to be on board adopting because they could adopt kids who were a little older, better at communicating, not so messy and disruptive in their day to day life, and...they get to CHOOSE...so that kid (or those kids) would always know that Lee and Rosemary CHOSE THEM.)

I get emotional thinking about an adoption storyline. I just think with the option right there, and with it feeling like it would work SO well for the characters, it’d be silly to go the baby route with them. And I’m tired of the fans who want another pregnancy. Clara can get pregnant if they want that. It makes sense, it could kickstart an adoption plotline for Lee and Rosemary, and then everyone is happy.

Of course they could be childfree forever, and happy that way! But only if they’ve come to terms with the infertility thing and how it feels to have that choice taken away from them. Maybe they could conclude that it doesn’t really work very well with their chosen lifestyle anyway, and it’s for the best that it didn’t happen for them, but still feel upset that it wasn’t an active choice they were able to make. I just seriously do not trust the showrunners/writers to handle this in a sensitive way.

I’d prefer adoption if the plotline was going to be carried forward, though of course they could do that poorly, too.

[aha-chuu]

(to clarify I wrote my post before the animatic or DHIL's story quest released)

You make reasonable points, I don't think that any of the vidyadhara stuff has been explained well enough so far that I feel particularly differently from how I did back when I wrote that post. I still haven't actually done DHIL's story quest but ik the gist of it.

I've realised that some of the issues I have with DH aren't simply related to him, but to the Luofu arc as a whole. Characters aren't given time to connect with the MC, but DH specifically is the centre of the Luofu arc - and yet, he falls entirely flat thoughout the whole main story imo.

Like, okay. So DHIL's first character story pretty clearly shows the whole cycle of High Elders and how DH/DF has been stuck in this one position etc etc. He's always been burdened with these responsibilities with no opportunity to look at himself and decide who he wants to be. This is all a pretty interesting foundation for the character that I was on board with.

DF actually takes action to break this cycle, as far as I can tell. He recognises the flaws of the Vidyadhara race and sees how the rebirth cycle is limiting them. While in the text of the game this is articulated as DF wanting to solve their dwindling population problem, I think it's fair to interpret that him trying to create a new generation of vidyadhara matches up with his frustration at being burdened with the past. After all, he actively tries to create a new High Elder apart from himself in Bailu.

That is all really interesting.

DF's character & arc are already an extension of the foundation I discussed earlier. But this is all stuff that happens off screen with vague details, involving characters who are mostly either dead or too insane to remember most of it. As players, we can only realistically access this through DH.

Which is why it's frustrating that DH's entire character is circulating around not wanting to confront his past. DF already broke the cycle of being forced to be the High Elder, so I don't understand why DH would be angsty over that? It makes sense that he has issues with DF specifically, but you'd think that'd make him either a) embrace tradition (which DF rejected) or b) actually use his relative freedom to self-express as he'd been longing to do through all these lives. He doesn't do either. Instead, it feels like Hoyo wrote a really great arc, stuck it behind this moody guy who wants nothing to do with it and then also refused to do anything on his own either.

Anyway, 1.3 only made me like what Hoyo are doing with DH even less. There is a lot there and I understand the desire to see him turn over a new leaf, but he's had hundreds of years to do just that. If the issue was that his past was haunting him all this time (via nightmares and Blade), then it'd be nice to see him take an active role rather than remain passive. And if the idea is to start building him up as his own person now, then why does it feel like none of the High Cloud Quintet things have been resolved?

It's like DH's arc is on pause rn. He won't do anything about the past but he also can't move on until the past has been sorted, which seems to be down to Blade and Jingliu? Which just makes DH's screentime frustrating from a player perspective (or at least from my perspective).

Today's controversial post is that Dan Heng isn't interesting on his own. Like his whole thing is avoidance and "amnesia" and he's fun when he's making quips with March and Trailblazer, but the actual meat of his character is Dan Feng stuff. Dan Heng's entire characterisation is framed around somebody else, but since Dan Heng refuses to interact with that concept he just totally falls flat.

And, yes, refusing his past life is ~something~. But that doesn't work in this context, because hsr hasn't aptly set up DH's individualism outside of DF. His past (even in his current life) is entrenched in DF's actions; landing him exiled and pursued by Blade, eventually escaping to the Express. But DH has sunk so far into avoidance that he's literally like "this has nothing to do with me" when during his current life he's been dealing with this! Dealing with DF's bullshit is his main conflict, and so the DH characterisation can't hold up to him ever actually separating from it.

And because of this, as a player we know that DH can't actually let go of DF, because it wouldn't be interesting. It's not that DF is the only interesting thing about him, it's that DF is the only thing about him! So watching him struggle against this and refuse DF is like... "Okay, but get on with it."

And this is also why Blade actually works as a character, because he is tragically aware of the fact that he cannot escape his past - the sins are him and he's him and that's a flesh prison he's not escaping.

DH only works in one of two ways:

Like how we saw him in Belobog, where the whole characterisation is that he has a mysterious past that he's trying to escape. That is interesting by virtue of being vague.

Since we can never go back to that characterisation, DH has to embrace that he was DF and that he's stuck with that.

It does not help that all the info on DF frames his personality as much stronger than DH's, who is reserved purposefully in opposition to the past life that got him in so much trouble. And again, this would be cool and could be cool, but himself is so staunchly against the connection and keeps brushing off any mention of it, to the point that it's like "yes ofc Blade is pissed with you! I am too!"

And ik some people think that DH rejecting DF is interesting and it is a whole dynamic that's a strong enough foundation to build DH's characterisation upon. But then the story has to acknowledge that DH is really nothing without that past, and considering March and the Trailblazer's amnesia having pretty much already well-tread the "person without a past" Thing™, the only intriguing thing to do with DH is have him embrace that he doesn't have the luxury to follow suit.

[ditheringluminary]

hi :) can you do a session analysis for rogue of life, mage of void, witch of light, page of blood, prince of time, and bard of space? (also i noticed you did a session analysis just now. great job!)

Thank you for the compliment! Was pretty nervous cause it was my first one but im glad so many people liked it! :B

O-k lets get down to business! Well... you have a space and a Time player. That’s all id like to say on the matter for right now <:|. Buckle up. 

Representations:

Rogue of Life: The best resource you have to use is Life! This means support, healing and growth. Maybe everyone has first aid kits? No but really your friend group is likely very supportive emotionally. Be sure to use that to your advantage when things get tough!

Mage of Void: Okay look... This is loose speculation since the two Mages we DO have are... a dancestor and Sollux, both of which got pretty little screentime so bear with me. I think a Mage... represents what will permeate a session all throughout. Hence why they know so much about their aspect. It is and always will be a part of the session and its players. Meulin represented that Heart and love/romance drama would echo all throughout their session and even into the dreambubbles, and Sollux represented that Doom would follow the trolls even out of Alternia. That’s my best guess for Mage. Now, as a Mage of Void they would represent that... either new starts/blank slates will exist all throughout the session, or that NOTHING inherently permeates the session. The former implies a lot of do-overs and the like (possibly linking with the Prince of Time, abusing do-overs) and the latter simply means that the session has no clear... theme, I suppose. No one aspect takes center stage for the Mage to be its audience. A third interpretation is of course that Mystery is what is the lifeblood of this session, and that the Mage knows the answers to everyone’s questions but their own.

Witch of Light: The players HOPE to get luck, fortune, and knowledge. If witches represent what the players WANT to get rather than what they WILL, then this session involves quite a few... greedy folks, maybe. Not in a bad way, but they’re probably a group of people that organize and strategize in order to get the best drops in a video game. They want All The Things! All Of Them! The players wanna search every crevase of the game and get their rewards for doing so!

Page of Blood: Now, the end reward WILL be... Blood. Bonds and friendship. Kind of fits into the Rogue of Life, however one could argue that the Rogue of Life shows how everyone STARTS: they support one another, but other than that maybe they’re practically strangers or aren’t all super connected to each other. Through playing the game they will TRULY grow closer together and become almost like a lil family.

Prince of Time: The session has too much Time. The phrase “killing time” comes to mind here. The Prince in this session might be the leader, as they’re not only a very active destroyer class but also seem to have an innate want to work, even during downtime. The session might not have “too much time” in the literal sense, but there might be too much destruction going around and so a Prince can destroy Time’s innate concept of decay and allow for something new to be made, ghosting Space.

Bard of Space: Speaking of Space, that’s the session’s greatest challenge, As seen with the previous post, this can take the form of... something laying dormant, passively waiting until it’s the right time to unleash a terrible creation unto all. Perhaps this thing is the Genesis Frog?

Warnings: ...you might be toast. The Bard of Space is very likely to create a faulty genesis frog, or kill it or something. And a Prince is always likely to be overtaken by their opposing aspect, meaning that the Prince isnt going to help much in this faulty genesis frog making. Not to mention that the Space player has no Knight to assist them, meaning the Bard is left to their own devices which is always a terrible idea. I’m sorry Expresso (can i call ya Expresso?) but this session is riddled with holes. Not to mention that the Mage has... nothing to look into. Also watch your Witch. Light players have a nasty habit of turning to... morally-gray plans. And Witches love to break the rules of things. This can only spell for an uppity little bugger.

Upsides!: Your Rogue of Life and Page of Blood show a lot of potential in keeping the group together and keeping the Bard and Prince at bay! Heck, since the Page is ALSO a serving class like a Knight, perhaps they can fill in to help the Bard breed the frog. One can hope.

Look all I can say here is... good luck! The session still has a strong foundation of friendship on it’s back! I would use that to support the Prince and Bard and make sure the Witch has an eye kept on them. Maybe allow the Mage to step in. They might know something everyone else doesn’t. Don’t count on a genesis frog being made for certain... but a Prince should have no problem initiating a Scratch.

[kisilinramblings]

If I'ma be real, I think most of the investing side characters are female with their involvement in the plot, or analyzing their logic/motivation in situations. Alya, Chloe, Kagami, Lila, and Nathalie! Like I mean I love the guy characters too but most of them are kinda just soft/dorky (which isn't a bad thing to say), with the most interesting being Gabriel and Felix to me in looking more closely at them.

I must first apologize to you, Anon, I’m taking an awful lot of time to reply to you. Because overall I do agree most of the active characters are indeed girls and women. Especially when I first read your opinion, yet there was something bothering me and the more I re-read your ask, the harder it was for me to write a proper answer. 

I mean, let’s quickly look at the characters. We have Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Chat Noir are the main characters – the main heroes. The main villain is Gabriel/Hawkmoth. As for the secondary cast, we have Tikki, Plagg, Alya, Chloé, Nino, Lila, Kagami, Luka, Nathalie and Master Fu (up until end of s3). As for the rest of the classmates, from my perspective, they fall more into the supportive cast category. 

So, 7 females, 6 males. We could say the main and secondary cast is overall balanced during S3. But the more I think about it, the more I can’t help but think this is a matter of perception when we talk about character being active or passive. I don’t know exactly why, but it might have to do with what we expect out of their gender and what it the character do during their screentime. 

Let’s take for example Master Fu who had the role of the mentor. He gave informations related to the Miraculous. He worked on translating the grimoire, worked to decode the secret formulas to give new powers to Ladybug and Chat Noir. He guarded the Miraculous box and was there for Ladybug when she needed more allies. But he stay behind, hidden and never pushed training to either Marinette and Adrien. Instead, as it was shown to us during Syren, he waits for them to be ready. Just like Marinette had to find and meet him by herself, guided by Tikki.

Kagami, although competitive, confident and determined, was mostly shown through Marinette’s eyes. In Animaestro, she was the reason why Chloé and Marinette team up, but Kagami wasn’t doing anything wrong. She simply wanted to be in Adrien’s company. In Backwarder, Kagami observed Marinette but she didn’t badmouthed her or took actions against her either. Kagami’s “crime” was to be allowed to spend an entire weekend in London with Adrien, even though it was their family’s decision they travel together as her mother and Adrien’s father are business partners and both families were invited to the event. She is a skilled fencer and when there is an Akuma attacks, Kagami doesn’t hesitate to charge and defend even as a civilian (Desperada, Miracle Queen). We also know she can take the initiative or the lead (by disobeying her mother and solving all the riddles during Ikari Gozen even though Marinette was not cooperating) as well as being forward to Adrien when they are alone. 

Nino hangs with Adrien a lot… when Adrien is allow out. So we end up seeing them the most together when they are at school. Now, Nino is in couple with Alya and hangs with her as well. And since we follow more Marinette, we often see him with Alya instead that with Adrien outside of school in S2. Thus we can sometimes get the impression he is more of Alya’s boyfriend than Adrien’s or Marinette’s friend. And the Miraculous power given to him is a defensive one. However, Nino is shown capable of taking the lead, though he might tend to boss other a bit (Horrificator). In Party Crasher, he is the one who rallied the boys of his class to throw a party for Adrien while Gabriel is believed absent of the house and encourage them to lie to the girls so they can go on with the plan and spend the afternoon with Adrien. He is shown to cheer up his friends and wants to be there for them. Especially Adrien and Alya, two people he holds dear. For example, his speech to Alya in Puppeteer 2 when the Akumatized are people LB and CN helped and then proceed to tickle her. Or when during Bubbler, he went and begged Gabriel so Adrien could have a birthday party. He knows he can be powerless, yet that doesn’t stop him to try (Anansi was such a good episode for him). 

As for Nathalie, though she does help convince or reason with Gabriel, siding with Adrien from time to time, she still obey most of his orders as he is her employer and she is his assistant. From S2 finale, she takes initiatives more and steps in more to help him as Mayura. So her role gradually took in importance. She isn’t just assisting Gabriel. She is becoming his most precious ally and partner in crime as they scheme together some plans (like in Miraculer). In Ladybug, she bypassed Gabriel’s edict to no use the Peacock Miraculous and although scolded by Gabriel was also praised for her plan. So back in S1, I’m not sure people would have guess Gabriel’s assistant, become such an important secondary character as the show progressed. 

I’ll stop it here, but I think there might be some internalization when it comes of seeing male characters as supportive and kind. I ultimately don’t like when we say a mean character is more interesting than the kinder ones. Though I realize it might be hypocrite for me to say so as I love villains characters and likes to figure out what they are plotting and what makes them act like they do (it’s no secret I love writing analysis centered around Gabriel and Lila the most), but maybe it’s not much how mean or kind a character, how active or passive they are, that make them interesting, but the conflicts that challenge either them or the characters around them. And aside of Félix (but that is only because it will take me a few more episodeinvolving him to be consider him really) all of the characters you name fit the conflict criteria. Thus why you find them more active, more involve to the plot even though each character contribute to advance one or more character’s development.