#subplot: deus

[blood-and-better-honey]

new fiona and cake episodes have me curled up in a ball…. i really fucking need them to drop the soundtrack on spotify soon i will be listening to simon and betty’s song on repeat for the next hundred years

[gwmingm]

Archons Lore but with HSR Paths because.

Venti — The Remembrance; he took his best friend's form, is a bard who remembers and tells the stories of others so they aren't forgotten, Fuli coded behaviour, clearly has some whacky shit going on with him i.e his voice lines about meeting the traveler.

Zhongli — The Equilibrium; only ever makes fair contracts, a very mysterious man who also seems to know more than he lets on, a background deus ex machine of sorts i.e the chasm interlude quest when he saved Xiao, influencing things just as HooH does.

Ei — The Hunt; So deadset on achieving eternity for her people, caused bad things with the sakoku and vision hunt decrees, as Lan brings both destruction and salvation, a very fierce and powerful warrior.

Nahida — The Erudition/The Abundance; god of wisdom who is the face of a literal tree of knowledge, duh. Rukkhadevata snapping the purest branch of the tree to create her gives heavy Yaoshi vibes a-la Tomie.

Furina — The Preservation; girl kept acting for five hundred years and never once wavered as said by mirror-her, tenacity that would make Qlipoth proud. Their ideal for justice being the continuation of existence, sacrificing both her humanity and divinity for her people. It's plain simple.

Mavuika — The Destruction/Harmony; Initially, war. But knowing Hoyoverse plus the dropped Natlan Teaser, they're probably gonna take her and her nation's themes in the way they did with Penacony's Harmony vs Order subplot. (And from the first two Natlan Archon Quests, I was kinda right.)

The Tsaritsa — The Nihility/Finality(?); Still not 100% because we still don't know her story, probably more attuned to the destruction due to her and the Fatui's goals and actions and "burning away the old world". But I can see her as a Self-Anihilator like Acheron or the Stellaron Hunters.

[lostoneshq]

HALLOWEEN BEGINS.

subplot de outono!

Você acorda e sente que tudo está diferente. O azul das manhãs limpas de verão no Reino dos Perdidos é substituído por tons alaranjados, como se o céu tivesse adoecido. O sol esconde-se por trás de nuvens espessas e acinzentadas, mas não há previsão nenhuma de chuva. Com o passar do dia, raios arroxeados dão pinceladas sobre o laranja e abrem espaço para o entardecer em uma explosão de alaranjado e roxo... Logo em seguida, a noite cai, e ela é tão escura que as duas luas e as estrelas que caem do céu não são suficientes para iluminá-la por completo como antes faziam. O Outono chega. O Halloween começa.

Você não demora para descobrir que o Mundo das Histórias comemora o Halloween com tanto ardor quanto o outro mundo. Talvez até mais. Antes do Reino dos Perdidos, os eventos desse período do ano costumavam ser os mais esperados no calendário historiano — Fantasma da Ópera e Frankenstein fizeram as suas estreias no Mundo das Histórias durante o Halloween; Merlin e Feiticeiro casaram-se no Halloween; a Rainha Branca deu o seu célebre baile de máscaras que uniu todos os reinos também no Halloween; e, uma vez, Astrid e Soluço fizeram uma pegadinha de Halloween com os habitantes do Mundo das Histórias, colocando os dragões para perseguirem reis e rainhas de diferentes reinos pedindo por doces (ovelhas) ou travessuras (queimá-los vivos), o que resultou no banimento temporário do casal de Berk do Conselho das Histórias — mas eles voltaram depois! Há quem goste e há quem não goste, no entanto, uma coisa é inegável: os habitantes clássicos sabem como aproveitar a temporada do pavor... E eles não costumam fazer isso sozinhos. Na Floresta das Fadas, um castelo de pedras escuras se ergue entre as montanhas. As nuvens sombrias que pairam sobre ele relampejam à cada instante e os raios caem nos telhados pontiagudos, estalando contra os pedregulhos. Um caminho de barro serpenteia em direção ao castelo, porém, uma placa de madeira podre avisa: "CASTELO DO DRÁCULA — NÃO SE APROXIME SEM UM CONVITE. ESTOU FALANDO SÉRIO. NÃO SE APROXIME SEM UM CONVITE OU MORRERÁ!!" Você lê a placa e decide que é melhor não se aproximar sem um convite mesmo... Mas espera que possa ganhá-lo algum dia. Na Avenida Principal, uma feira se estende entre os estabelecimentos do reino. Pequenos comerciantes, aqueles habitantes que não possuem nenhum papel além de "figurantes" nos livros das notórias histórias desse mundo, ganham destaque na feira, vendendo os seus produtos voltados para o Halloween — comidas, bebidas, decorações muito realistas como aranhas vivas, sapos, olhos humanos e caveiras são vendidos na feira.

Em toda rua que você vira ou estabelecimento que você entra, há decorações voltadas para o Halloween. Nenhuma loja, nem mesmo a confeitaria da Vovó, escapa das teias gigantes de aranha, abóboras com expressões malignas, caveiras que se mexem ou coisas piores. É claro que como tudo nesse mundo, as decorações são mágicas e cada proprietário de estabelecimento entra no clima. Mais tarde, durante a aula do Centro de Contenção de Crise, você aprende que Drácula não é o único habitante temporário de Halloween do Mundo das Histórias. Alguns portais para o que se conhece como a "Outra Dimensão" estão espalhados por aí e muitos reconhecem Coraline quando ela aparece para dar as boas vindas aos perdidos mais tarde. Infelizmente, também não é qualquer um que pode transitar entre esse e o mundo de Coraline livremente: você precisa encontrar uma chave mágica antes de atravessar o portal e fazer uma visita à Outra Dimensão, ou ficará preso nela para sempre. As chaves estão por aí, então esteja atento! Em seus passeios por essa nova versão sombria do Reino dos Perdidos, você acaba encontrando com mais nomes que compõem alguns clássicos góticos do outro mundo e que os livros estão de passagem por aqui durante o Halloween: Jack, Sally, Dr. Jekyll e Hyde, Emily, Lestat, Carmilla, Dorian Gray... E até alguns que você não conhece o nome, mas que sabe que são figuras clássicas de Halloween, como fantasmas vagando por aí, vampiros, alguns lobisomens que não são parentes do Lobo Mau (e não pergunte se são!), esqueletos... Nenhum deles teve ainda a sorte de serem eternizados no Mundo das Histórias como Frankenstein e Fantasma da Ópera, mas nunca se sabe... Quem sabe uma dessas visitas não se tornará moradia fixa? Espere... Melhor não, né? Pelo menos não enquanto o Mundo das Histórias continuar nesse caos com as histórias sendo modificadas...

CONHEÇA A LOJA DE HALLOWEEN E COMPRE AS SUAS ATRAÇÕES!

OOC.

Esse foi o contexto do cenário do RP durante os próximos tempos. Nada disso aqui é o evento, apenas ADIÇÕES AO CENÁRIO. O evento de Halloween acontecerá apenas no final de Outubro. Os personagens não sabem qual será a temática do evento e vocês também não!

PORÉM, com esse subplot, teremos uma dinâmica de COMPRAS. Estou me inspirando no evento de Halloween que teve em outro RP meu, o Legacies. Vocês irão trocar interações, POVs e edits por moedas para comprarem atrações para o Halloween dos personagens de vocês no RP. Está tudo explicado na página da loja!

Esse subplot começa agora e não têm data prevista para acabar ainda, afinal, o Outono está só começando.

Personagens que são proprietários de estabelecimentos podem criar decorações para as suas lojas! Lembrando que tudo é mágico por aqui, então deixem a criatividade fluir.

Todos os citados, como Drácula, Coraline, Jack, Sally, etc, são NPCs! Mas vocês podem usá-los em suas interações à vontade.

De resto, tudo continua normal até o evento!

POR FAVOR, NÃO DESCUMPRAM COM AS REGRAS DA LOJA! Ou seja, não façam interações em lugares que precisam ser comprados, como o castelo do Drácula, sem terem, de fato, comprado. Eu mandarei excluir.

[moliathh]

This had been irking me so i have to say it. I know Hellsing is a horror media with a LOT of flashy action scene, however, it is unjust to see it as solely gore and fights. I've seen complaints about how adding a "romance" in will reduce the quality of the story as an "action horror". (specifically speaking is between Alucard and Integra because of course in the end of the day this is just ship war, not a serious discussion whatsoever) I would argue that Hellsing is never ONLY about the actions. Yall might have already noticed how Alucard is too OP, and it was not even because he got any tricks up his sleeves. He is simply invincible, his mechanism is just that hes a "deus ex machina". He did NAWT need to start out with zero and levelling up like your common action anime protagonist. It's not a first time a central character is overpowered in an unreasonable way. A way you could interpret this trope is that it was not about battles, not the physcial one, but the development in their characteristic, their thoughts and emotions and ideology all that stuffs. A classic example is Sir Gawain and The Green Knight (TGK), where all of their (physical) battles are nonsense and did not mean anything in terms of combat, they dont even fight each other, even the climax (the decapitation of TGK) was dismissed into a looney tunes moment. BECAUSE OF COURSE IT WAS NEVER ABOUT THE BATTLE NOR PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT, it was the internal struggle and maturing in character. THAT is what's happening in Hellsing IF yall look pass the very flashy facade of gore scenes Hirano put up. READ BETWEEN THE LINES, because he's not gonna hand it out to you on a plate. If you want to see how each character developed you have to look closely at their reactions and dialogues, not how they fight.

SO, imo, it's reducing the quality and message of Hellsing to interpret it solely as an action horror media, not the other way around. AND MIND YOU, romance subplot and action horror can coexist. For what does the character fight? A higher ideal? Power? Fun? Love? All that is noteworthy to think about when you engage in a media display many fight scenes. DONT YOU WANNA KNOW WHY THEY FIGHT THAT HARD ???? and in this case it is VERY obvious that Alucard is motivated by Integra. LIKE it cant be more obvious

And I'm so tired of seeing "Alucard only listen to Integra because of the seal and shes a Hellsing". Bestie, he literally ripped Richard's hand off, we dont even know the extent of the seal, like how far? or can it REALLY control Alucard? Besides, if you have read The Dawn you would see what a damn lazy ass Alucard was, Arthur sent him on a mission and he didn't even bother to walk on his own and just sleep safe and sound in his coffin until he felt like waking up??? Compare that to his enthusiasm to beg Integra on four just for her order and even purposefully tick her off by asking about her enthusiasm for war, oh and did we collectively forget this

(This is the Dark Horse eng scan if i remember correctly? i might be mistaken idk)

Sure it could just be a mere parallel, "The woman he personally desired" might only means Mina Harker and not directly Integra herself, I see. But, why bother choosing this parallel, and RIGHT after this panel he went STRAIGHT to Integra to ask for her order.

You know how enthusiastic he is with a fight and everything was already laid before him, worthy enemies and all. Yet he would not act without her words? I did not see him needing permission before ripping Richard's hand off... Also the seal did NAWT ask him to do all this

There are more of his sickening and excessive display of obedience but i don't have time to pull the panels out yet, but we all know its there since Alucard's submissive attitude and Integra's bossy demeanour is one of their most appealing traits, I know, because it is literally one of the BIGGEST selling points and running joke of the fandom, funnyyyy how people always love to call Alucard a sub and use words such as "freaky" and "slutty" to call him as if he didn't reserved this treatment for ONLY Integra. Sure Integra is a demanding boss to even her enemies, and it works like wonder everytime, because she's Integra, she mastered Alucard, others are just piece of cake to her. But that's not the same case with Alucard. Major literally said "She is the only authority Alucard recognizes". And have Alucard extended the phrase "My master" and all the begging and insinuating jokes to anyone else? It's so convenient isnt it, to just take one specific trait of Alucard's personality and make it his entire character without considering to WHO he directed those innuendos to.

Oh and I haven't walk us to the final chapter yet, like the seal did NAWWWWWTTT asked him to call her "Countess" (or Count, depending on the translators) and literally he could accept his death becoming a paradox? Wasn't Alucard had been craving an end for a long while now? Why the need to return just because Integra asked him to??? Be serious for a moment here

Also a personal interpretation of mine that could be a stretch or just pure delulu is that, in the manga AND the anime adaptation, the last word Alucard said after goodbye is "Integra" (In both Japanese and English dub, the word order is exactly the same), not "Master" or "Integra HELLSING". The same goes when he addressed how he can kill without remorse but the decision is in her hand, he also said "I am a monster, now regarding you, Integra". To me that is an indicator for how he CARED for her not just because she's a Hellsing or his master but she's Integra, from the first of their meeting it was very clear, that Alucard wounded A HELLSING to protect Integra.

So... even non-romantically, you cannot deny that Alucard voluntarily worked for Integra. They DO care about each other a lot, even platonically, their bond is almost like soulmates with how well they trust and understand each other. I just don't like it when people keep side-stepping the depth of their relationship just because you don't like to ship them romantically. These are the canon informations you can't just seriously unironically say that there was nothing there.

And oh don't even get me started on the "But he is a vampire, the enemy of her family and he hates Hellsing because of Abraham something something stockholm syndrome something she's ace coded she's lesbian coded she swore to be a virgin until death she wouldnt throw it away for the enemy of her family etcera etcera" you're saying it as if ace people aren't allowed to date or have sex and you're saying it as if Alucard isn't canonically genderfluid. Why always view the ship as solely heteronormative while they were never conventional to begin with. And MIND YOU, i thought everyone love the enemies to lovers trope?? they were BARELY stockholm syndrome at all did we forget about the Bird of Hermes analogy as a metaphor for loyalty voluntarily given.

If you care so much about "monsters and humans are forbidden" and "they are not canon" maybe treat every ship with the same attitude since MOST of hellsing most popular ships fit into that exact two sentences above, maybe except Pip x Seras is canon, but they're also human x monster, so what now???? Just hate on a ship all you like, I hate ships too and I hate them because I don't like them, that's all, no need to do extra mental gymnastic to prove the ship is "wrong" or their shippers are "wrong".

[longing-for-rain]

What immensely bothers me about the way Kataang was written is that it not only hurt Katara's character, but Aang's character as well.

The writers set up the subplot of Aang needing to let go of his idealistic vision of Katara and then... just completely ignored it throughout the entirety of S3?

While I'm not saying that every ATLA character needed to go through an extensive character development, Aang having little to no development as a person and a leader (I am not talking about his physical training as a bender here) is some extremely disappointing writing, considering he is THE protagonist.

It's actually baffling to me how much the show deliberately dodges most oppurtunities to develop Aang as a character and how much the poor handling of Kataang plays a role in it.

Instead of Aang slowly growing to appreciate Katara as a person with all her flaws and quirks and trying to understand her way of thinking and culture, which culminates in him EARNING his Avatar state, we get the inconsistent mess, full of unresolved arguments and overstepped boundaries, that is S3 Kataang, Aang getting the girl only because he's the Hero™ (even though their last interaction before the kiss was an unresolved argument) and Aang being saved by Deus Ex Machina. TWICE. All of which could have been easily fixed, if the writers actually capitalized on the development that was already set up to happen.

I would be more willing to accept the points "he's literally twelve" and "why are you getting so worked up over which fictional characters are dating", if the writing didn't waste the blatant oportunity to develop the character, and if the ship in question didn't nuke any development its characters recieved.

Like, you don't even have to be a Zutara shipper to see how Kataang basically shat on both Aang and Katara as characters.

Agree with all of this, but I want to focus on this bit right here:

I would be more willing to accept the points "he's literally twelve" and "why are you getting so worked up over which fictional characters are dating", if the writing didn't waste the blatant oportunity to develop the character, and if the ship in question didn't nuke any development its characters recieved.

Here’s the thing. Aang is the protagonist of the show. You know, the one character who absolutely should have a solid arc and experience meaningful growth. I’m not saying he had no growth. But it’s just like you said, there are some pretty glaring plot holes surrounding his story. Could be excusable for a side character, but for the protagonist? Really not great.

And people will also act like romance is no big deal, but I think it really shines a light on how Katara is viewed by the creators and fans in relation to romance. From Aang’s perspective, romance can be treated as a minor add-on at the end because it’s narratively framed as his reward for saving the day. Aang doesn’t have to fundamentally change as a character to enter into that romance. It is written in a way that centers him.

Katara, however, does change. That can be seen in any post-canon material. I know they’ll keep trying to retcon this, but Legend of Korra will always exist to show us how little regard for these people have for female characters they’ve relegated to love interests.

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

CHLOE BOURGEOIS (MIRACULOUS LADYBUG) (CW: Child Abuse)

1.) Girl was done so dirty… She was starting to develop and could've had a redemption arc and then they made her even more one-dimensional than she was at the start, dumbed her down, and the creator on twitter claimed she was never abused and that she never cared about her childhood friend, only his status. And in a scene that thankfully got cut by editors, her father was going to disown her, adopt her sister instead (who is like a "nicer" replacement for her) and pass Chloe onto her abusive mother.

And then a male character gets introduced who is also at first an antagonist with a backstory that gets revealed later, also a childhood friend of the same character, but it's acknowledged that he got abused by his parent and he gets a redemption arc and a romantic subplot and a spot on the hero team (which Chloe was excluded from because she was irresponsible with her power and revealed her identity publicly… Except he also did that)

This show is about girl power btw.

2.) Chloe was done so fucking dirty. So basically, the creator of the show (Thomas Astruc) created the character in the first place as a stand-in for his childhood bully (red flag no.1) Because of this, any development that she as a character got from the other writers (and it was a lot) got retconned, just because he hated her. Other, objectively much more evil, (male) characters (the main villain!) were portrayed as more sympathetic than her, because god forbid a hurt, abused, emotionally immature, unloved little girl be portrayed as anything other than an unlovable, unforgiveable unchangeable demon. Also she's obsessed with clothes, shoes and handbags, because she's a mean girl, don't you see, so obviously the nice girls (who don't wear makeup while Chloe does) are better than her.

3.) Stuck up spoiled rich girl is treated as worse than the actual villains of the show. At some point we get a glimpse into her awful traumatizing home life and she starts to be redeemed, but the second something doesn't go her way she backslides and is suddenly even more evil and dumb. Also her father is incredibly neglectful but it's portrayed as her somehow abusing him into doing what she wants and he's so sad about his awful evil daughter. He gets a redemption arc but never actually becomes a better father. She's seen as unfixable.

MILLA MAXWELL (TALES OF XILLIA) (CW: Inappropriate Age Gaps)

1.) Milla was the first female MC in a Tales game. Xillia actually has dual protagonists; Milla is a female demigod on a mission to stop global warming, while the other one, Jude, is a male med student who gets dragged into her quest. The game says that you can play as Jude or Milla… except it’s extremely obvious you are meant to play Jude’s route, and play it first. Why? Because Milla dies at the end of act 2. The plot continues in Jude’s route. If you’re on Milla’s route, you do not get to see it. Instead, you wander around heaven for a while until you’re booted back into the world of the living as a deus ex machina. It is impossible to follow. Milla doesn’t get to reckon with her own death, while her friends all get to reckon with it offscreen. All of this character drama is conveyed to her through two skippable conversations. Playing this was completely infuriating, not to mention confusing. Even in her own route she’s written as the cool, mysterious hyper-competent woman.

I have a lot of issues with the plot of this game (it’s bad!) but that’s the bitterest.

2.) 1.) If you decide to play Milla’s route, and not Jude’s route, there is a part of the game where Milla has her spine broken by the villain, and you are forced to play as Jude anyway. Her paralysis is resolved with little fanfare (the important part of this life-altering injury was Jude fighting to defend her honour, of course).

2.) (CW: inappropriate age gaps) Milla is 20, but she’s teased as a ship with the other PC Jude, who is 15 (despite being a university student? I have no idea why they did this; most Tales protagonists are 17-21). You might say “hey wait, it would be extremely inappropriate for her to be interested in him, as he is a teenager and she is an adult!” Well, first of all, it never actually seems like she is interested in him, like at all. This plot is solely about the fantasy of having a hot older woman attracted to you, presented for the presumed male audience, presumed to be playing as Jude. If you’re playing as Milla it is a totally bizarre informed plot that comes out of nowhere. Also, I guess to get around any objections to the age gap, the game pulls a “born sexy yesterday” type dynamic with Milla, where she might be a 20-year-old demigod but really she knows nothing about human society and Jude the prodigy has to teach her. Everything about this is extremely terrible from every angle—I don’t think the writers even thought of “teenage boy shipped with adult woman” as much of a problem because of the genders. And from Milla’s end the relationship is totally incomprehensible. They didn’t think about why she would be interested in Jude, because what’s important is that Jude has women who are interested in him (she’s one of 3+).

In the sequel, there’s an alternate universe version of Milla whose love interest is the PC of that game, a guy the same age as her. I was so relieved! They actually “are both adults” and “have anything in common”! Unfortunately this hint of a relationship ends when the alternate Milla is sent to super hell (not only dead but her soul erased from existence) for contrived plot reasons. We are supposed to be okay with this, because she believes she deserves to die. Why? Because her actions in this universe apparently indirectly caused Jude’s death as a baby. Even though she barely knows Jude, he is, of course, the most important person in the universe, and so the only moral option is for her to die by suicide. ARGH.

Again, I can’t emphasize this enough: she was presented as the groundbreaking first female PC of a Tales game. And we were let down SO BAD.

3.) Since you’re looking for propaganda, Milla Maxwell. Very skimpy outfit. Their justification? She has a handmaid that designed and created her clothes. But the handmaid is a 16 year old boy who’s in love with her. And she has no idea about human society, so she’s just like. Ivar put in so much effort, I’ve been assured this is fashionable. She spends a 2 hour section of the game in another plane of existence, in a skin tight white body suit with cut outs at the boobs and inner thighs

In the sequel, her outfit is almost as bad, but this time she chose it and they don’t even discuss it 🙃

[sonofthesaiyans]

Crack poll! I'm feeling controversial again, guys...

It's time I got back to these, it's been too long since the last one. And for you anime onlys out there still on your high over season four, well here's your latest sobriety test.

If you don't know by now which one I would have dropped first, then congratulations; you are a noob. No pity for the minefield you just stepped in to.

Too often have I seen fans refer to AOT as a masterpiece, undaunted by the massive spectacle of the final season. Well guys, all I see is an overblown, bloated, self-indulgent mess that completely lost any sense of what it was before we finally saw the ocean. Everything here just comes together to hit a brick wall bigger than Wall Maria, with the story taking on too many different directions while also taking on way too many new characters.

Remember when this show was about killing Titans?

For someone who was supposedly under a lot of pressure to get to the conclusion of his story, Isayama sure had a lot of time to waste on these little side quests that simply didn't live up to the hype. Nobody likes a filler arc, Hajime Isayama!

So I want to know, if it were up to you guys......What's the plot point you'd be content altogether it it made for a stronger conclusion?

Oh and if you're one of those fans who says the ending was perfect, or GOAT, and that you wouldn't change a thing, please just look the other way and do NOT respond because trust me; you DON'T want to get me started.

[butterfly--empress]

....About that Attack on Titan Series...

Well, well, well......I wasn't going to make this post, but fuck it, we here and I feel like ranting into the goddamn void, it's been a WHILE.

If you enjoyed this series from beginning to end and don't have the emotional maturity to understand that I don't fucking LIKE THIS SHIT. DO NOT REPLY

I don't have patience and I will block you on sight! As we fandom old's say: Don't Like? Don't Fucking Read!

Anyway onto the rant...

it's June 2024 and I finally after so many years, watched this show because it was recommended to me and I brought into the hype because I had NO IDEA just how derisive S4 and the series finale actually was back in the height of it's day.

I had always meant to eventually get around to watching the show and maybe even reading the manga alongside it, but as the years passed, I just never found the urge to pick it up.

And now that I have, after believing the show was great from beginning to end...

GOD, I sure wish I could get back the time I spent watching the entirety of Season 4, that Finale, and feeling utterly annoyed that a writer chose to end their story on such a nonsensical plot.

In fact, I sort of wished I never bothered at all to be quite honest.

The short of it: Seasons 1 to 3>>>>>>Season 4 and that awful ass Finale.

Very unfortunate too. This is just another case of 'great ideas, bad execution'.

And I'm not sorry but the more I think about it, the more I just cannot turn my brain off, suspend my disbelief and gaslight myself into accepting season 4 and that fucking finale as peak writing.

That shit was awful, the fact that seeing the latest interview from the creator himself, just reaffirms how strong the author's intent was when writing this last arc!

It wasn't the fact this was bad on accident, or that the creator ran out of ideas, OR the story got too complicated and complex, OR that he couldn't commit to what he already established in earlier seasons.

If his words are to be taken at face value from that interview:

It's not that this guy is a bad writer, Attack on Titan's last arc's messy writing:

-Plot holes and too many subplots that go nowhere

-Last minute ass-pulls and Deus Ex Machina that make no damn sense.

-Adding time travel-esque powers out of the blue, and it amounts to nothing in the end.

-Never giving an actual satisfying reason why Eren *couldn't defy his fate*.

--We not gonna talk about his mom...

-I'm not gonna bitch about that Ymir subplot about her loving her abusive ass slave master/husband, after what was already established before this point was fine by itself...nope, not going there...

-That god awful confusing asf 4yr time skip. (listen, I don't know NOR do I care at this point, if this time skip was elaborated on in the manga. This was just a poor attempt to hand wave away the obviously inconsistent switch OR lack of development to the characters I followed since ep 1.)

-The stagnation of already established characters we were with since the beginning and basically being replaced by new characters: the MINUTE the Marley characters took center stage, something in me just KNEW, the original crew were being replaced but hoping to GOD I WAS WRONG. --Turns out my gut feeling was correct and it makes me dislike these character more than I already did.

--Yeah, I really did not care AT ALL for the Marley crew. There's just something about shoehorning in new characters that I have no attachment to and telling me, they are now the real protagonists (who get sudden plot armor and make it alive by the end, with no real consequences...in a series that had no qualms about killing just about 90% of the characters I actually gave some fuck about and knew since ep 1 feels very contrived.)

-The unnecessary death of fan favorites that amounted to NOTHING

--I'm not...I'm just going to leave THIS ONE ALONE because I'll be here all fucking DAY and boy I'm doing enough ranting as it is.

~If You Know, You KNOW!~

-I'm not going to rant about the female characters because 1. we'll be here all day, 2. to be fair: most of the characters sort of fell flat regardless of gender anyway. (But I def get that the female cast in particular was done so dirty in the last arc. It's one thing for shounen writers to write one dimensional female characters...you have to be some kind of SPECIAL to create two-dimensional, even three-dimensional female characters only to downgrade them to their lowest common denominator. THE AUDACITY, THE INSULT TO MY FUCKING INTELLIGENCE!)

-I'm not going to bother about the shipping: it's obvious that a certain ship was going to be canon but god, do I really need to bitch about the utter lack of meaningful development to get it from point A to B?

--Then again, maybe it was supposed to be toxic? Lord knows it fits well into the clusterfuck of the last arc of this story.

--Honestly, I was more into a non canon ship that developed thru friendship naturally onscreen anyway, so I have no horse in this race.

-The BIG ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM of mixes messages, that maybe, certain extreme ideologies are correct and justified.

--Yeah, we gonna leave this one alone too...Honestly because this is actually the one thing I don't think was intentional, even if the blatant implications of it are there...and I don't want to make assumptions of the man's politics and what he believes, and his worldview (outside of his personal feelings about himself), I don't know him personally.

--I will however, rant to high hell and I do think he utilized and underutilized the allegory he borrowed from real life history; which led to the unfortunate 'Fantastical Racism' that happens in AoT.

--The slaughtering of poignant thematic themes, period!

--That bad ending (not that it's tragic per se, but just thematically bad).

~~Are you starting to see a pattern??~~

ALL THIS TO SAY:

He didn't WANT to allow his story to progress 'naturally' in the direction it 'wanted to go'.

Isayama didn't want to commit to anything he established. The story is the way it is, because he INTENDED it to be this way.

Eren fails to be a great hero OR antihero (depending on how one sees it) because Isayama doesn't think he, himself is a great person even if others tell him he is. (Ring a Bell?)

And I think it's a hard pill for a lot of people to swallow. Your time was wasted theory crafting, giving the creator the benefit of doubt, all for him to basically say, because he suffered from a serious case of 'Imposter Syndrome', you are an idiot for ever thinking this story was great, was suppose to be more than it is, and that his success isn't earned because he doesn't feel that way and you have to feel that way too.

The creator wanted a nihilistic, myopic, depressive ending. Worldbuilding, lore, cohesive storytelling be DAMNED, because he let his negative feelings about himself bleed way too much into his work.

He wanted the message if there was one at all: there's no point in putting hope in humans because 'we're all just trash anyway', people will always fight, good people shouldn't sacrifice their lives to help humanity or put any hope into humans evolving to change our ways, so why try to find another way, and maybe 'Hitler was right'.

It gets worse when the creator HIMSELF, out of his OWN MOUTH, stated; if he WANTED TO, he could have given the story a better proper send off. He knows what he wrote, and he knows that the natural, better progression of the story he created would have been better received by the fans and critics alike, if he allowed it to go in that direction, but he didn't want that.

Granted: I'm all for writers doing ultimately what they want with their stories, for better or worse.

But that's not what he wanted. And that's what I take from all of this.

However what pisses me off, is that he should have been HONEST about the story/themes/message he wanted to portray from the start.

I don't have a problem with tragic, depressive tales and it's themes, if it is done right. This was not done right and we know it wasn't, because you can look at past and even present discussions and arguments throughout this fandom and see that people have valid reasons to be very upset. (No one likes for their intelligence to be insulted when the story takes them out of the immersion to the point, that the critical thinking jumps in, and now a person is starting to realize that a lot of writing choices that they ignored before, because the story was still good, are now flaws. Stories don't have to be PERFECT, but once those flaws can't be ignored, people begin to see them as the red flags that they are. We might be hopeful, that these flaws or plot holes will be course corrected at some point, but we will not ignore, when we see the trajectory of a story's plot going downhill to the point of no return. AoT's story went beyond the Point of No Return...ON PURPOSE!)

What grinds my gears about this entire situation is that, we have a creator here, who purposely build up a story, world, characters, and themes that the audience expected would follow through and make sense, given what we have of the story.

Only for the creator to fail spectacularly by trying to fucking subvert the audiences' expectations, and seeming to really not give a damn that it's what he wanted to do from the start.

Despite whatever issues he feels or has about himself, it sours whatever sympathy I may have for the guy, because in a way, what he decided to do of his own free will, seems very jaded and quite narcissistic...

I SAID WTF I SAID

It's the audacity for me.

People were lead on, lied to, and wasted their time for nothing.

Character motivations, deaths, sacrifices, the themes, worldbuilding, all of it, amounted to NOTHING.

We were idiots to put good faith into the author. We were idiots to think, this story was worth it. For some of us, it felt like a slap in the face if you were an original fan since the story's inception and honestly, your resentment for sticking with it til the end for ten plus years for an unsatisfying bullshit finale is very valid.

TL:DR: AoT's ending is trash because the Author wanted it to be trash, and that's really, unfortunately what it all amounts to.

Soo, yeah, I don't think I can really say much more than that.

Man should have just stuck with Keeping It Fucking Simple Simon and just ended the story where literally everybody dies from fighting giant ass flesh eating zombies called titans.

Okay NOW I'M DONE WITH THIS!

Edit: GOD, and here I thought I finally fallen into another great shounen on the same level as FMA:BH after the constant disappointment, that is MHA's last arc.

...Maybe I'm getting too old for anime, at least 'shounen'....idk...anymore

At least Spy x Family can't hurt me...

[rockinlibrarian]

Post-Umbrella Academy S4 Reaction Part Four: On How to End a Story (obviously spoilery but under a cut)

Okay! I'm back and have a moment to write again! It's Field Trip Week in my real-life job which means I've been a LITTLE exhaused, and sunnymarbles has been having me dye their hair in sections each night which is taking some time as well (artists, you know). -actually I started typing this paragraph and got called to dye hair again because they're going out in public tomorrow so can't be having half-dyed hair. And I do still have work tomorrow (one last field trip!) so I ought to go to bed but DANGIT I'M SICK OF BEING INTERRUPTED FROM WRITING.

SO, when last I left you with my TUA S4 reactions, we discussed my favorite part of the season, so now it's time to discuss my least favorite part. As I said in my FIRST reaction post, I ENJOYED Season 4, right up until the very last moment.

The literal very last. Because until that moment, there was still time to turn it around.

Discussion about exactly why the ending didn't work for me, and me making shameless comparisons to Legion again, below the cut.

But see, the comparison is important this time, because both shows ended with the same cop-out twist: "Our characters have messed up SO BADLY that the only option is to completely erase the events of the show from existence!" The biggest difference, though, was that I finished Legion feeling peaceful, and thinking that if it wasn't a completely happy ending it was at least bittersweet. It was only later that I looked at the last episode and noticed the plot holes, the deus ex machina, the deliberate ignoring of earlier canon just to fit what they were trying to make happen-- it was actually a pretty messy ending.

But here's the thing-- the characters were ready. They'd all grown and learned lessons and forgiven trespasses and so forth. So I felt happy for them.

And the events of the show had been erased from existence, but time was happening over again, with the promise that THIS time things MIGHT go better. Not guaranteed. The fix-it I wrote for the end of Legion was merely putting the pieces in place to assure that.

But although the end of the Umbrella Academy was less messy plot-wise than Legion's ending, the CHARACTERS were still a mess, and that erased any feel-good feelings I could have had.

I suspect one reason I enjoyed all the rest of the season better than a lot of people was that my blorbo, Viktor, was the only one who hadn't backslid in his growth-- the only one doing relatively well, and, to be frank, the only one that really seemed to be doing anything useful to the plot in the course of the season. Everyone else was falling back on bad habits both tangibly and emotionally, getting into subplots that never reconnected to the main plot, and honestly most of them were back at the lowest points of their lives at the moment the Cleanse erased them. As I said in his essay, it would have worked if Viktor had made the ultimate sacrifice while saving everyone else, and that's because he would have been going out a hero. For everyone else it felt much more like simply giving up-- a hopeless suicide.

But again, I held out until the very end, the post-credits, hoping that they would at least, like on Legion, get a fresh start. Or if we could see them in the Afterlife working out their issues in a space that they couldn't destroy-- and it's not like this show DOESN'T canonically have an Afterlife where characters can hang out coming to peace with what their lives had been. The characters were not in the right place emotionally to end in a way that would leave the audience feeling good about it.

I feel kind of lucky that I'd already started noodling with a crossover where those characters really COULD work out their issues in...well, another universe, if not the Afterlife. Now it became all the more obvious-- the Hargreeves desperately need to end up at Summerland. They need therapy from people who specialize in people with superpowers. They need a peaceful place to chill together and reconnect into the family they kept threatening to be but somehow failed to be when the series ended. So I've got my little fix-it to work on.

But let that be a lesson for other creators. You can do an everybody-dies ending, you can reset the entire universe, but you've got to do it in a way that really involves all the characters and leaves us with a sense of hope. Otherwise, what was the point of the story you were telling? You have to end your story, not just let it fall apart. You have to convince the audience that this is inevitable.

Speaking of terrible endings, I shall now abruptly end this essay, because it's midnight and I have work tomorrow and I'm falling asleep at my computer. I will write more soon!

[polyhexian]

As much as I loved the final fight with Belos and all of eda and king and Luz fighting together... I wish the rest of the Hexsquad had been present- and I really think they should have actually had them there because the subplot they WERE doing was... Well! Irrelevant. It could have been completely cut. Have them wake up from being puppets and immediately leave to find her. Maybe even like... Maybe they arrive after Luz dies maybe, like just in time to see it. And then you know eda and king go ham on belos- just have the rest of the Hexsquad fighting, too. They're essentially keeping Belos from destroying the isles because hes focused on them, and the Luz shows up to actually turn the tide of the fight. Even with all of them all they can do is distract Belos, not kill him, but Luz can.

Also I think... The rest of the isles should maybe have been there too. Or... Relevant. Maybe literally have the collector snap everybody back to life in one go and then like. There's little Belos monsters everywhere, and the whole Isles fights back to defend against them. I think you could have used the cut time from what we actually saw of the Hexsquad to have all that.

Also some ppl have expressed being unhappy that Luz just got handed god power because so much of her arc has been about not being the chosen one and about earning everything she has through tooth and claw. And I disagree. The thing about it wasnt that she was given special powers because she's the protagonist, she was given special powers because she's worked so hard to prove she is the person who deserves it. It's what he says "well, you're here." There is a power, a deus ex machina that he can give to someone, and she has proved through blood sweat and tears that she is the person who can be trusted with that. She's the one that's handed the sword that slays the dragon not because shes a knight with a bloodline but because she has been fighting dragons without the knighthood or the bloodline. She's the one that gets trusted with the power to save everyone because she proved SHE is the one who SHOULD be trusted with it. Imho

[moviemunchies]

This movie’s pretty great, but it reminds me of how disappointing the third movie is.

Berk has adapted well to having dragons, and are now a part of everyday life. Hiccup has been using his time to map out the world around Berk, while his father Stoick wants to train him to take up his role of Chief one day. Everyone’s plans go to heck, though, when Hiccup hears of a new threat: Drago Bludvist, a warlord capturing dragons for his own personal army. And it turns out that there’s another dragon rider out there: Hiccup’s long-assumed-dead-mother, Valka.

[Quick disclaimer: I don’t know how well this fits into continuity with the television serieses; I’ve never seen them, and given how movie serieses tend to have television or comic tie-ins, and then ignore those, I don’t see much reason to.]

This, like the first film, is something that I think a lot of people expected me to go nuts for by virtue of the dragons. Dragons are Awesome. This is well-established. And to be clear, that alone makes this movie very memorable and interesting. I love that there are a butt-ton of different kinds of dragons all over the movie. Apparently to get a lot of the varieties of background creatures, they mixed and matched designs they already rendered. It looks pretty good overall.

I really thought that Astrid did more in this movie? She’s a character who does things, but it isn’t as if she has a distinct arc. Part of why I didn’t mind her role in the first film when rewatching was that I thought that she did more here that developed her character. She’s still cool, and all, don’t get me wrong, I just thought she deserved a subplot that really developed her as a distinct personality.

Valka has good development as a character when she arrives; there’s a large chunk of the movie that’s just good stuff between her and Hiccup, and then with Stoick. She’s a fantastic character. It’s a bit of a shame, then, that she doesn’t really do much in the climax of the film. It feels a bit like she was going to do more, but then the last third of the movie was rewritten for another purpose entirely.

[Also, “The Dancing & the Dreaming” is better and more romantic than any pop love song on the radio. There! I said it!]

Stoick’s death is heavy and carries a lot of weight. It’s an important beat in this movie, and it works, although! Minor quibble! He gets blasted by dragon fire, and the body’s not even burned? I remember pointing out to my friend in college after I saw it, and she pointed out that they obviously can’t show realistic maiming, but there aren’t even burn marks on his body. Again, a minor issue, but something that stuck out to me.

I also hold that the conclusion, with Toothless gaining power to be the Alpha over all the dragons and glowing and all? Is a deus ex machina. I remember TV Tropes saying that it’s not because Valka says something like, “Well, we don’t know everything about Night Furies!” as if that explains him suddenly having the exact power to solve all the problems right now, becoming the ruler of all dragons. There’s no foreshadowing or buildup of that. We like it, because we like Toothless; that’s not the same thing as it being a well-developed Plot Point.

Hiccup’s development in this film goes pretty well, though. The movie knows that it cannot just stagnate; the next film in the series needs to do something with the protagonist. Hiccup’s father is trying to prepare him to be the next chief, but he doesn’t want to deal with that. But he HAS to accept that change will happen, and with it, new responsibilities. It’s realizing that he has what it takes, even if he has to be suddenly forced into the role, that 

“Drago Bludvist” is maybe an incredibly corny name for a villain, and yet he’s surprisingly well-executed in the film? Supposedly there were plans to bring him back after this movie, and those were canceled, which is a shame because the third movie’s a mess. Drago, though? He’s menacing, original, and actually kills a main character! Dang, he’s a good villain for a Dreamworks movie.

Shame about the name, though.

And I love the final message of the film: that we’re all stronger together. I like that; it still hurts a bit hearing it, though, because the third movie decides that actually the dragons need to go away for the story. That was Dumb and I hated it. This movie, though, while not a perfect masterpiece, is a very good dragon movie, and I really enjoyed watching it. Even if all the elements don’t get their chance to fully shine, it still holds together really well, with memorable characters, a good villain, and lots and lots and lots of dragons.

[oleskyfm]

Imagining the version of Deus Ex that had this subplot

[lostoneshq]

SUBPLOT: OS QUE CHEGARAM E OS QUE FICARAM.

PARTE I: OS QUE FICARAM (O SONHO DOS PERDIDOS).

O homem que aparece em seu sonho tem o rosto de um antigo colega, Jacob Killingham, entretanto, sua forma de se portar e o sorriso que ele direciona a você não parecem nem um pouco com a versão que suas memórias têm daquele rapaz tímido e que não falava com muitas pessoas no Centro de Contenção de Crise. O sorriso dele é inquietante, quase maníaco. Você tenta desviar o olhar, mas não consegue. À essa altura, está ciente de que isso é bem mais do que só um sonho. A cicatriz na palma da sua mão começa a arder. “Não se lembra de mim?” Jacob pergunta com um esgar malicioso no rosto. “Ah, é verdade… Eu fiz você se esquecer! Por favor, permita-me lembrá-lo…” Você sente o peso das memórias ocultas da Noite de Despedida despencar sobre os seus ombros. Tudo começa a voltar e fazer sentido ao mesmo tempo: Lancelot, Camelot… Ele. Jacob… Ou a coisa que está habitando o corpo dele com o seu complexo de deus. “Agora você se lembra. Foi uma noite divertida, não? E eu disse que ia voltar na hora certa… Se não disse, tenho certeza que deixei subentendido. Bom, digamos que agora é uma dessas horas certas…“ O que isso significa? Estaria na hora de assumir o papel na nova história? “Não. Claro que não. Eu só estou começando! Você tem que concordar comigo que não seria nem um pouco divertido se as coisas fossem tão fáceis assim.” Suspira teatralmente. “Além do mais, eu gosto de experimentar, e é exatamente isso que estou fazendo, não percebeu? Pode me agradecer pelo rato cozinheiro depois então, e não se preocupe, porque ele não será o único. Eu finalmente descobri um dos maiores segredinhos de Merlin: como controlar as histórias que entram nesse mundo… E como removê-las também.” Mais um sorriso doentio. Remover histórias? Mas… Feiticeiro, durante uma aula no Centro de Contenção de Crise, disse ser impossível isso. “Magia proibida”, ele ressaltara quando um perdido levantara a mão para questionar mais. “É só uma amostra do poder que estou obtendo.” Jacob responde, lendo os seus pensamentos, é claro. “Nosso tempo está acabando, então vamos cortar o interrogatório. Você quer saber por que estou aqui: porque ninguém vai acreditar em você quando acordar e sair por aí dizendo que sonhou com a verdade. Merlin, Feiticeiro, Fada Madrinha, Morgana… Nenhum desses insolentes irá acreditar. Quer saber o motivo? Eles detestam você e o que a sua permanência no mundo deles simboliza. Todos eles, até aqueles que você pensa que podem estar começando a se afeiçoar… Eles odeiam você! E a cereja no topo? Lá fora, no mundo real, odeiam você também. Ou melhor, nem se lembram de você… Você está desaparecido há meses, e pensa que alguém está atrás? Pendurando pôsteres de ‘desaparecido’ por aí?” Seus pais, seus amigos, todos que você conhecia antes de ser puxado para dentro do maldito livro… Eles não se lembram de quem você é? Jacob balança a cabeça. “É como se você nunca tivesse existido.” Você acorda. Durante o dia, tenta falar com alguém sobre o seu sonho esquisito e descobrir se foi o único que viu Jacob durante a noite, mas nunca consegue. É como se as palavras entalassem na sua garganta porque você sabe que será chamado de louco...

PARTE II: OS QUE CHEGARAM.

Uma grande casa colorida é avistada nas proximidades do lago, onde é possível ver as montanhas. Quatro regentes peculiares, uma bailarina e um quebra-nozes caminham por aí, como se sempre tivessem sido parte deste reino. E um herói usa a sua força para ajudar em uma construção na Avenida Principal. Assim como Remy e Linguini, ninguém os viu antes... Porém, eles acreditam que nunca nem saíram daqui. Eram partes importantes do Mundo das Histórias como todos os outros e vieram até o Reino dos Perdidos atrás de respostas. Junto deles, onze novos rostos aparecem da noite para o dia no Centro de Contenção de Crise. Onze perdidos que não fazem ideia de como vieram parar em um mundo mágico. Eles dizem que abriram um livro e... Puf! Você conhece essa sensação muito bem... Não adianta buscar por respostas com a Academia porque eles deixam claro na primeira hora do dia que ainda não as têm. A única coisa que fazem de útil é convocar os perdidos novos, sentar com eles em uma sala, e explicar tudo o que precisam saber sobre esse mundo, o que aconteceu até agora, e como eles se integrarão à sociedade por aqui, dando alguns dias para que se adaptem antes de precisarem começar a comparecer às aulas e buscarem por empregos. O jeito é continuar lidando com o caos tentando não enlouquecer no processo...

OOC.

Então, o que aconteceu, para ninguém ter dúvidas: perdidos que NÃO pertencem aos skeletons novos sonharam com Jacob e agora sabem quem ele é e o que ele fez na Noite de Despedida, mas não conseguem falar sobre. Talvez seja magia, talvez seja o trauma de descobrirem que ninguém lembra deles, talvez seja porque se não falarem sobre, então não aconteceu... Cada um vai acreditar ter um motivo para não falar sobre!

PERSONAGENS CANON NÃO SABEM SOBRE O JACOB AINDA!

Personagens canon e perdidos acordaram e viram habitantes novos, mesma coisa que aconteceu com Remy e Linguini, mas dessa vez ONZE perdidos novos chegaram junto. Enquanto os CANONS das histórias novas acreditam terem estado aqui desde o começo e possuem MEMÓRIAS FABRICADAS sobre a sua vivência no Reino dos Perdidos até então, os PERDIDOS das HISTÓRIAS NOVAS sabem que chegaram agora e estão, de fato, perdidos, sem saber onde estão, tentando entender tudo. Eles terão alguns dias para se adaptarem a esse mundo novo, e depois terão que seguir o baile como todo mundo frequentando às aulas do CCC, trabalhando, etc.

Resumo do resumo: caos! Esse subplot ficará ativo até o nosso próximo, de Halloween, ao final do mês; então desenvolvam bastante essas confusões novas: o sonho e o fato de que agora os perdidos acreditam que ninguém lembra deles no mundo real, a chegada dos novos habitantes, a falta de respostas da Academia mais uma vez... Todo mundo ficando maluco.

Espero que gostem!

(!) IMPORTANTE: os perdidos que chegaram depois são APENAS os perdidos dos três skeletons que vieram junto com o subplot (Hércules, Encanto e Quebra-Nozes). Se você aplicar para um perdido de qualquer conto que não seja esse, ele terá chegado em Abril, junto dos outros. (!!) Os perdidos novos sabem do desaparecimento dos perdidos antigos? Resposta aqui!

[tobiasdrake]

Final Thoughts on Loki

It's hard not to feel like this show is rushed. You can basically cut it into three parts with two episodes apiece, each of which feels tonally and narratively like a completely different story.

Part 1: Loki and Mobius investigate time crimes.

Part 2: Loki and Sylvie take down the Time Variance Authority.

Part 3: Loki and Sylvie go behind the curtain of storytelling itself to break the shackles of MCU canon.

Of the three, only Part 3 really feels like two episodes are sufficient. And even that has its flaws.

Like. I hate to bring this up again but seriously. Your ultimate endpoint is about challenging the strict limitations in the kinds of stories writers will allow you to tell, and the way you're challenging it is with an intrusive heteronormative romance subplot? I'm giving you the sideways glare right now. The one typically reserved for writers who use the words "forbidden love" for straight romances.

And that, right there, is the problem with Loki. A lot of ambition, very interesting ideas, strong themes particular with regard to authority and the inherently brutal power structure that the T.V.A. represents and its dissertation on the nature of fiction.

But the execution is janky; It comes together in some parts, creating some phenomenal moments. And in others, you're just left scratching your head at the weird character choices and deus ex machina contrivances that the creators seemingly thought they could get away with.

On the whole, I would classify Loki as a good effort. Strong ideas, good characters, but I think the script needed a few more drafts. And maybe a couple more episodes added to the runtime, while we're at it.

[shin-meddlesome-hero]

So about episode 23...

I have to say that I find it underwhelming.

On one hand, the conclusion was expected; Eri had to die, her life had been unnaturally extended and unless Quiet Zero succeeded, she didn’t have too much of a future. If the writers planned to keep the protagonists alive but still wanted to make a bittersweet ending, killing Eri was the most logical choice, her death, besides being impactful can also kickstart Prospera’s redemption at the end. It also made sense that she chose to sacrifice herself to protect her little sister and her mom, “Cradle Planet” shows how much she cares about Suletta, so ever since then there was the possibility that something like this would happen.

On the other hand, see how I mentioned “Cradle Planet” before? That’s the short story that gives information of Suletta’s upbringing in Mercury while showing Aerial’s POV. This short story explains Eri’s actions in episode 18, however, it shouldn’t be an obligatory reading. If the writers of the show wanted us to know all that, they should’ve shown this information within the anime itself. I think it could’ve been done if the anime had more episodes or if the writers decided to cut off other subplots to make space for this. Anyway, my point is that the conclusion of Aerial’s arc made sense but we didn’t get enough build-up for that. With the exception of the prologue, we have only seen Eri from the perspective of other characters. Suletta keeps saying how important she is to her and Prospera uses her future happiness as an excuse for her terrible actions, but, we rarely saw what Eri truly wished for. We know that she wanted to keep up with Quiet Zero and that she didn’t want Suletta to be involved in any of it, but in the show we didn’t get to see the reasons behind these desires. Maybe the writers thought that it would be more gut wrenching to see her being an aloof older sister until the moment of truth when she sacrifices herself for Suletta, however, these omissions make her arc look incomplete. It’s like she’s just an element to keep the narrative moving instead of a rounded character.

But what if I’m wrong and she wasn’t meant to be a relevant character? Maybe she’s just the deus ex machina that saves Suletta and the metaphor of all the things that Elnora lost and that she can’t let go. That could be a valid interpretation except that if that was the case, and she wasn’t meant to be an important character, then why was she the main focus in the prologue? Why did they make us believe that she and Suletta were the same character for the first couple of episodes? Why write “Cradle Planet”? What was the point of it all if she wasn’t supposed to be an important character?

I think that the payoff of her sacrifice would’ve been more satisfactory if we had more information about her. It would have been better if the sisters had more time to talk during the final battle, maybe get a glimpse of Eri’s motivations and the reasons behind them, plus some admission that despite her desire to please her mom, she also cares about Suletta. Both the conflict and the character should’ve been more fleshed out. And now, I admit that I’m being completely biased here, but there are elements from the other siblings battle (like the cute flashback, the heart to heart talk and the utter preoccupation for the wellbeing of the sibling that’s piloting the Gundam and suffering while doing it) that would’ve been perfect in the Eri vs Suletta battle and that we didn’t get to see there. So yeah, I’m disappointed because there are a lot of missing opportunities that would’ve made this battle and its conclusion a lot better.

Now, there’s the possibility that Aerial didn’t die, but I have no idea where is her character arc going from there if that’s the case, besides, there won’t be much time in the finale to flesh her out, unless that doesn’t matter because we would be getting another season (which would be ideal, but sounds unlikely). So, unless I’m proved wrong, this is an unsatisfactory resolution to both the character and her relationship with the protagonist. Let’s hope that this is not the case for the conclusion of the other pending stories and character arcs of the series.

( Goodbye, Eri, we hardly knew you. The fact that she died and her voice wasn't heard that much is tragic both in and out of universe).

[incesthemes]

final thoughts: supernatural season 7

holy shit i finally did it. "it only took you a week" it felt like 5 years okay. i'm not good at watching shows.

anyway. overall i'm gonna say i liked season 7 more than i liked season 6, but the bad episodes were imo much worse than s6's bad episodes, at least from what i can remember.

season 6 was overall really disjointed and clumsily handled, and i just watched it 2 weeks ago and i can barely remember what happened in it now that i'm trying to. wow. season 7 was a lot more coherent and didn't try to cram 3 different miniplots into one season. i appreciate the effort honestly.

that said, some of the episodes really were. not good. and some of the ways they used to resolve conflicts and move on were bizarre and contrived (i'm absolutely talking about cas "taking" sam's crazy for himself. genuinely what the fuck was that). the filler episodes felt dropped in without any regard to the context of the rest of the season (why did the "sam gets legally married" episode happen immediately after the one where they're #2 on the fbi's most wanted list? that doesn't make any amount of sense) and a lot of the episodes were honestly just boring.

and i don't know why, but this season specifically had a lot of issues with pacing. too many episodes had way too much buildup only for a "quick fix" to be presented in the last 5-10 minutes. a handful of episodes like that can be fine, especially when you need the time to build up the overarching plot of the season, but this was like... nearly every episode. 30 minutes of nearly unrelated drama followed by "here's your deus ex machina! finish the episode so we can go home already." it just came off as unskilled writing to me. i know episodic storytelling has to tie each episode up with a nice bow, but there's only so many times you can throw a simple deus ex machina-like solution to the characters and not expect me to find it contrived.

now i do like the leviathans though. or at least the concept of them. i wasn't overly invested in their plot (though honestly? i kinda like dick roman. he's annoying enough for me to appreciate) but the idea of them is really interesting. you can see this conglomeration of several different monsters within the species, so they fit well within the context they've been given. primordial monsters that came before all the others? well of course they'd have traits of those who came after them. it's like evolution: the later-born monsters became more specialized to their environment i guess. the worldbuilding there is intriguing enough for me.

i'm sick as a dog so i'm having trouble coming up with other thoughts. i really liked meg's involvement in the season; i thought her role throughout was well-placed and well-developed. the weird romance subplot between her and cas is, well, weird, but i don't dislike it either. i'm a sucker for demon/angel dynamics, even if the angel is totally crazy. but every time they hint at it i keep thinking about the destiel love confession and start laughing.

crowley was kinda weird and boring this season tbh. very disappointing as a crowley fan. the ghost bobby plot was kinda interesting, but i'm not 100% sure how i feel about it. kevin tran is a loser and i'm a big fan of losers. i think the show tried a little too hard with charlie, but i don't dislike her. she's no becky though smh. my taste in fictional characters is bad and charlie is too good, i guess.

well anyway, dean and cas are in purgatory now and sam is a soggy sad boy as usual, so with that i'm going to take another break from this wretched show and watch something good, the haunting of bly manor :) i really want to get through mike flanagan's entire compendium of work because hoooooly shit he is a great idk. do you call him a filmmaker even though it's miniseries. idk the terminology. whatever