#tagging as spoilers since i basically went over the plot

[saline-coelacanth]

What was Arin, Sora and Wyldfyre reaction to Oliver crystal king form? I can see Lloyd telling them to not be scared before giving Oliver tofu to calm him down

Ok, so first I feel the need to explain a bit of the timeline idea I had from rewatching part 1. So Oliver joins the team a little bit before they go to Imperium, and although he is initially told to stay at the monastery with Kai, he ignores that order and ends up following them anyway. He mainly ends up sticking with Lloyd for a bit until the part where Sora regroups with everyone and then she and Arin go off to save Riyu.

This is another point where Oliver is told to do one thing and then he ignores those orders to do his own thing as Lloyd tells him to stick with him and the others, but Oliver gets worried about Sora and Arin's safety and decides to go after them. He gets chased by some of the Imperium soldiers and this is when he goes into Outburst/Crystal King/Whatever I end up calling this form. Pretty much, he gets tired of these soldiers getting in his way so he goes a bit apeshit and just starts destroying anyone in his path. He eventually does arrive to help out Arin and Sora and they are both pretty terrified when they see him.

For added context, Arin grew up in Ninjago. He knows about the Crystal King and he knows all the stuff the Crystal King did. So, he is rightfully freaked out to see Oliver busting into the room, beating up bad guys relentlessly while looking EXACTLY like how he did when he was the Crystal King.

Sora doesn't have as much knowledge about the whole Crystal King stuff other than things Arin probably told her, but Oliver is still very intimidating. It doesn't help that she's dealing with the whiplash from first meeting him and realizing, "Oh, he's kind of just a goofball. A little weird, yeah, but he seems harmless." And then she sees him being a genuine threat to the enemies, she sees him fighting Ras and holding his own, and also seeing Arin's reaction to this whole thing would definitely make her freaked out.

Now eventually, Oliver does calm down and turns back to normal when he sees how freaked out his new friends are of him. He panics a little bit and tries to explain everything, but it's a stressful situation and they don't really have time since they need to get Riyu to safety and get back to the others, so they just put a pin in that for now.

After things calm down, Oliver pulls Arin and Sora to the side to explain some things and also to ask them not to tell Lloyd or the others about what happened because he's scared of what they'd think if they knew how ruthless he was against Imperium. They promise not to say anything and are pretty supportive of Oliver since they realize that he really does care about them and has a good heart.

And for a little bit of added context, Lloyd and the others haven't seen Oliver for a really long time. And even before the merge, he had been doing a great job at keeping his cool and trying to be good to make up for everything he did as the Crystal King, and the fight at Imperium was the first time Oliver had snapped like that in a long time while the ninja were around (or in this case, just Arin and Sora). He probably had some outbursts while on his own, but again, the ninja weren't there to see it. After Crystalized, Oliver puts a lot of pressure on himself to be good and to not fall into his evil nature, so even though he was ultimately using this other form for good, he's still scared that the others, especially Lloyd might not see it that way. Because his Outbursts, even when he was a little kid, has always been a bit of that evil nature coming out and making him violent.

Yeah that was a long explanation but TLDR, Arin and Sora were pretty freaked out, at this point in time Wyldfyre hasn't seen him in that form yet (and also pretty much just met him), and Lloyd and the other ninja don't even know about him being able to do that yet so they wouldn't have any reason to talk to Arin, Sora or Wyldfyre about it as of now

[alicesadventuresinffxiv]

Thoughts on Dawntrail MSQ

May as well write up my thoughts on the Dawntrail MSQ while it’s still relevant! (full spoilers for that obviously)

What I Liked

-The new characters (especially Wuk Lamat, Erenville, and Koana) were great! Wuk Lamat in particular started out rough but endearing, and conveying her development into a empathetic and decisive leader was, in my opinion, the main place the story succeeded. In the past I’ve often felt that FFXIV short-changed the arcs of its female characters (Moenbryda, Ysayle, Lyse… even Zero left pretty abruptly), but with Lamaty’i I ended the expansion feeling satisfied with her arc rather than frustrated because I wanted more.

-Thancred, Urianger, and Estinien had just enough screentime - and impactful stuff to do during that screentime - to feel well-used but not overshadow other characters. Estinien showing up as a mysterious stranger in the Wild West was just hilariously perfect.

-The final zone felt a bit like it was trying to have its cake and eat it too with the ambiguity over whether the Endless were people, but I didn’t care because it still repeatedly got me to tear up. Plus the whole conceit of the finale to the Americas expansion being Evil Parasitic Disneyland that you slowly but surely shut down was inspired. And I loved how even before you shut it down, if you went exploring past the warning cordons, you could see the front is just a shallow facade over the machinery that makes the magic happen, just like real theme parks!

-That interdimensional key is definitely related to Azem and I am VERY curious where the story will go with it next!

What I Disliked

-Is it just me, but has the writing felt a lot more… hand-holdy? since 6.0? It’s hard to put my finger on, but it seems like there are a lot more instances where characters basically turn to the camera and explain the subtext of whatever just happened in the preceding scene. Like, there will be a great moment showing how Zero/Vrtra/Wuk Lamat/Koana/etc. has changed as a character… and then the next scene will have the Scions directly talk about “wow [person] sure has grown!” It’s a minor annoyance at worst, but a lot of what I liked about the writing of characters like Fordola and Emet-Selch is that the game trusts you to understand their complexities without handing them to you on a plate…

-Villains are often what make or break a story for me, and in my opinion DT’s trio were the weakest since Heavensward. Bakool Ja Ja was fun as a cartoonish bully, and even more fun as a boisterous “huh, doing good feels good?” new ally, but the transition from one to the other felt really abrupt. (Why bring up consequences for him if they never happen?) Zoraal Ja was a lot like Thordan in that he was critical to the story’s themes but not very interesting or entertaining to watch as a character. And Sphene… I really wanted to like her, the phase transition in the final boss makes me kind of want to ship her with Lamaty’i… but she seems like she’s intentionally written to feel flat and hollow because she’s ultimately more program than person.

-When the twins and the WoL actually got to do some mentoring, it was nice, and I enjoyed the WoL taking more of a backseat role! But most of the time, it felt like the three of us were interchangeable and underwritten, just here to fill out Duty Support roles for Wuk Lamat. Which leads me to…

-As a Krile fan, Krile was by far the biggest disappointment. She tags along the whole journey, she has a personal reason to be invested in the plot… and yet she barely has a character arc. Even after going on this journey and meeting her parents, it didn’t change anything about who she was as a person or what she wanted to do with her life. And despite participating in combat encounters now, she came across even more passive in the narrative than in prior expansions, where at least she did things like tease the other Scions and go behind our backs to recruit Zenos. Here… here she mostly exists to carry around a Plot Trinket earring and wait politely for answers to her questions.

Where’s my lil’ shit who ruthlessly hunted Estinien down with a smile on her face? Hopefully in the patch story…

Overall

I certainly had fun with Dawntrail, but it's not especially high on my ranking of expansions. Of course it couldn't capture the highs of ShB and EW bringing a close to a huge narrative arc, but I wasn't expecting it to. Ultimately, I think I'd place it between StB and HW - losing out to StB only because I am very much a Stormblood Enjoyer and love all the characters from that expansion. Dawntrail's characters haven't grown on me as much, though who knows? Again, maybe the patch quests will change my mind!

[lloydfrontera]

Haven't even finished either story yet (just reading both at the same time and eagerly consuming spoilers - for tged since there is basically NOTHING for the sequel 😭), but I'm still thinking about what an au where Lloyd's swordsman guard is Damian and rakiel is stuck w Javier would be like...

bestie you're telling me i went from a fandom with 100k fics to one with 1k to one with 100 to one with 0 i am starving over here 😭 i think i'm literally the only one in the tag for rakiel and i don't care for twitter so tumblr is my one contact with the tged fandom at all and the situation is,,, dire,,,

y'know i had written a pretty lengthy and thoughtful response about how i think lloyd and damian would respond to each other according to their character and circumstances but then my computer turned off and i lost it so instead you get this:

they both get where the other is coming from, they understand each other perfectly. doesn't mean they have to like it!

lloyd is trying to get out from life ruining debt! he can't afford to have a knight with a high salary who demands bonuses and raises constantly! damian is coming from nigh slavery, of course he wants to have financial security in any way he can get it! they both know the worth of money, how important it is to have it and to demand what you're owed so of course they're simultaneously in the same boat while being directly opposed.

not that i'm saying lloyd is a bad boss, he's very fair and just, always paying on time (something damian actually calls rakiel out on lmao) but he's a penny pincher and likes to save as much as possible. which is something i do see damian having a bit of an issue with because one of the things he really likes about rakiel is how generous he is with people, both with his time, effort and resources despite seemingly getting nothing for himself (of course not knowing about the bonus life lol). and we know lloyd does nothing for free and is shameless about it. so their relationship would be them constantly butting heads as they both try to squeeze as much of each other as possible.

on the other hand, i think lloyd would actually have an easier time getting damian to like him than with javier actually lmao. like, let's be honest, damian isn't the paragon of virtue javier is. as long as he's getting paid and isn't being asked to, idk, burn down an orphanage, he's pretty down for anything. heck, he didn't give a shit about rakiel, the imperial crown prince, being replaced by someone else, because he liked the other guy so he wouldn't give a flying fuck about og!lloyd, recognized hooligan, being replaced by someone who actually cares about the estate he works for.

and damian would be much more direct with lloyd too. he would not keep it to himself if he knew about lloyd being kim suho, that boy would tell him the first opportune moment he got lmao now the question is whether lloyd would come clean or go total denial the way rakiel did,,,, mmmhhhh many thoughts for later,,,

and javier as rakiel's bodyguard! mmmhhhh now this au would require a lot of thought, because so many things of the plot depend of rakiel using the asrahan mana absorption method. but if we go by vibes alone and ignore all worldbuilding, the i think,,,, mmmmhhh what do i think actually,,,,

well honestly to begin with i don't think there'd be too much trouble actually. like. at all. javier is,,, javier. he's thee protagonist, he's good, he's honorable, he's all you can ask for from a main character. he gets rescued from the gladiator arena by rakiel, you better believe he'd pledge his life to him from there. and like, unless we want to make him a carbon copy of damian, then he wouldn't even ask for a big salary like damian did. he'd just stick to rakiel and protect him at all costs. we see how loyal he is in tkbi and tged, he gets saved by arcos and he never serves another master after that, he decides he wants to protect lloyd and he literally ascends to another plane of existence to do it. if rakiel rescued him, there'd be no power on earth that would make him leave his side. and that would only increase as he sees rakiel push himself over and over again to treat and save people by seemingly no reason but that he wants too (again, no one knows about the bonus life lmao). he'd push himself just as hard to be helpful to rakiel and protect him, like he does in tged with lloyd and like damian does too.

and in this particular au i don't even see him having an issue with the whole 'replaced by another person' thing. after all, in tged the point of conflict was that javier is a knigh for the frontera family, not just for lloyd. so it was technically his duty to let arcos know that someone had replaced his son, even if that someone had saved them all from total ruin. but he didn't, because he trusts lloyd and because he thought they deserved to heard it from lloyd himself first.

but in this case, javier would be rakiel's bodyguard. he isn't anything from the emperor, he isn't even a knight, heck, he never even met the real prince, as far as he's concerned he's only loyal to the rakiel he knows which is lee han. he has no reason to be conflicted because he swore loyalty to lee han and lee han is his prince rakiel.

oh and he would hate javilon's guts. utter hatred. like it's on sight for him go straight for the neck lmao

somehow i think he'd be even more protective of rakiel than he is already of lloyd. like lloyd can handle himself pretty well. rakiel can too, but he looks like a strong gust of win will blow him away. it messes with his brain chemistry a little.

and he'd take being the vessel for the demon king pretty hard. especially when he accidentally hurts rakiel. and when he gets sick. like that'd be pretty close to how damian reacts in the novel too.

as for rakiel,,,, i have a harder time deciding how he'd feel about javier. i feel like pretty much the way he does with damian?? i don't think much would change tbh. much of the banter between rakiel and damian comes from damian asking for more bonuses and rakiel complaining about it, and if javier doesn't do that then they'd have to find something else to bicker about. probably rakiel's terrible stamina lmao

so,,, yeah aksdka

[greatfunkystatic]

Oneshot - World Machine Edition (2016)

Brace yourselves, this is a long one. Forewarning, most of the thread is spoiler-free/vague talks about my experience with the story, but near the halfway point there's some spoilers, which I will tag with a very big spoiler warning beforehand. Anyways, enjoy my insane ramblings after 20 hours of staying up for P3R and ending up not playing it till the day after anyways.

What a beautiful and tight-knit story. I've never had a game that I love so much and also will never touch ever again (appreciative). Niko and the other characters are so fantastic, and I am glad to have partaken in their story. Maize #1 BTW.

I went into the game absolutely blind, aside from knowing Niko's design and....That's basically it. And if you're interested, I would advise keeping it that way. Maybe read a small bit of the steam page for the game synopsis, but that's basically it. It's hard to get into the game too much without spoiling, so pardon me if I start to sound very vague/generic with how I describe everything. The story itself was really beautiful and heart-wrenching, telling so much about the world and the characters that reside in it in far less than 10 hours than other games I've played that spent over dozens with.

Niko as a character was definitely one of the game's strongest points, from the absolutely adorable design and demeanor to just how strong-willed they are to go through everything that was thrown at them. It's rare to come across protagonists that one can attach to so hard- And even start to develop a partner/overseer relationship with. Even in during some of the more serious parts of the game, there tends to be one or more places where you get to just goof off with Niko for a short moment of respite, and it really gets to show more of Niko's childlike joy and wonder.

The rest of the story's characters weren't lacking either. Despite the such short playtime, the characters genuinely felt really enjoyable to meet and interact with, containing its fair share of goofy side characters for gags and recurring characters that you can grow an attachment to. I genuinely believe that anyone playing this game will find a character they can really attach to, with just how varied the personalities the world possesses. Even with some characters that you don't see as often, there are bits and pieces about them in the world that just add so much more to them. A letter of appreciation in someone's room, short one-off comments from other characters eluding to some past relationships, etc. It's really the culmination of the small bits that really help flesh out the world and the people living in them.

Along with that, I love the little "extraneous" things you can choose do that don't really progress the plot along but just "feel right" to do, whether it be from your own self-judgement or something that Niko would do. The game really invites you to just explore and enjoy the game at its own pace, never really feeling the need to beeline the story or having some tedium dragging you down. The world itself is really pretty and felt a lot bigger than it actually turned out to be, without also having the issue that plagues many games since the Xbox/PS3/Wii days of big areas without much to do. The traveling feels intentional and honestly I forgot about the fast travel option for the first 7 out of 10 hours I played, because it genuinely didn't feel necessary and walking around the world just felt fun. The game overall lasted me about 10 hours, but I felt the experience of many more hours.

If I had to describe the experience, I would say that the pretty small-scale world was just so jam-packed that there was never a dull moment. The story itself, was absolutely phenomenal. On its own, it was a quite touching game with a strong and heart-wrenching message of permanent consequences, heavily compounded upon by just how easily you can grow attached to everyone in there. Me personally, I couldn't think of a character in there that I didn't care for, let alone disliked.

Again, it's really hard to delve too much into the story without touching on spoilers, and there will be a spoiler point at the end to read about some of the later content. But from what I can say, the progression of the game felt very organic. (play windowed btw) It just seemed like things that would naturally come to mind without getting too sequence break-y. The most I've experienced on the latter is just maybe talking to someone after having already found some other info/items that they might need and missing like, 2 lines of dialogue. Oneshot also does a really good job of somehow both having the arcs being very chunked but also flow exceedingly well from one part to another, along with having some very unique ways of the game handling the story through its own medium. Some more cynical people nowadays might lambast it as "quirky indie game shenanigans" but honestly, IDC. It was handled very well and even the simple stuff caught me for a surprise, and I would hope that if you go into the game you would do the same.

Overall, this is one of those games that it would be really hard to find someone who enjoys playing games would dislike. It's also somehow a game with either some good or absolutely zero replayability. It honestly just depends on how you connect with the ending. Now, as I stated before it's quite hard to delve into some aspects of the game without touching spoilers, so from this point onwards it will be hard spoilers.

SPOILERS FOR ONESHOT FROM START TO FINISH, DO NOT TOUCH IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE EVERYTHING.

Going back to the "Quirky Indie game shenanigans", I personally felt that they handled the out-of-game experience with reading the files to be quite enjoyable, and I had a very decent surprise when I saw my wallpaper change. Although most of the stuff wasn't really original, it really doesn't matter because of just how well executed it was handled along with just how well they managed to contain the amount of times you do out-of-game stuff so it doesn't get tiring.

Jumping straight to the ending of the original game, I felt the entire Tower climbing experience was a joy, with things starting to really break down between the world and presumably "the author" fighting for different goals on how to handle Niko. Especially at the end, the final decision (and the whole reason why the game is called "Oneshot") was absolutely incredible and heart-wrenching. I was stuck on the final screen agonizing for minutes to my friends I was streaming to on what to pick. Finally at the end, I wanted to pick the option of saving Niko. It was honestly 50/50 with which I would've picked, and the game does a great job of making you feel like there is no real wrong (or even right) answer with how half of the NPCs constantly talking about how the world probably won't even be saved with the sun and planting the idea in your head, with it coming to a head at the final decision. Honestly, the most agonizing part at the end was not even my own decision but moreso just how both options would affect Niko. Stuck at such a crossroads, Niko turned to YOU to cast the final judgement, even knowing that they would be the one having to bear the burden of the consequences, and not you. It genuinely made the already-hard decision even harder.

YOU THOUGHT THERE WAS ONE SPOILER TAG? NAH, BEWARE. DO NOT PASS IF YOU *REALLY* HAVEN'T FINISHED EVERYTHING. I WILL MEET YOU AGAIN AT SOLSTICE'S END.

Now this is the part where I start talking about the "Solstice route". First and foremost, I will fully state that I am of the personal opinion that this route should be taken after a big time gap after beating the original route, not right after the end of the original route like I did. I think that might've changed my experience with it a bit but not enough to say utterly devastating. I think you gain more from the wait more than you lose from binging start to finish (to finish).

Now I'll be real, the introduction of the Solstice route started to get way too meta for me and started to detract from the original ending, but they really managed to pull it back and provide a satisfying yet still fitting end to the whole story. I realize now in retrospect that the feelings I had towards the game was similar to how Niko was handling the news, with lots of confusion and feeling very upset. I do very much like that, at least for a bit, Niko is upset at you for causing all of this all over again, but both you and Niko come to terms with the fact that you both now have a shared goal of trying to override "fate" and try to save everyone. The whole narrative of how you, Niko, and The Author are actively trying to find a way to be able to right the wrongs and finally put an end to this story that was meant to be only done once yet constantly was repeated really held faithful to the original ending of the story while going such a drastically different route. Many other games that try to go for a "true" ending route tend to fall into a pitfall of making you feel like the previous endings feel inconsequential or lesser, but the game does such a great job of re-contextualizing the original ending from a permanent decision to one that would keep you and Niko trapped in an infinite loop, with everyone coming together at the end to try to right everything. It also handles the turning of the antagonist of the original route from one that is actively working against you to one that is both handling an existential crisis while also not being able to control itself very well.

There's also some great foreshadowing in the game by having some unsolved threads in the original route like meeting Rue in the original route, along with having the clock room there to explore but locked without any information or mention in-game until the Solstice route. On top of this, the minor sprinkles of areas that seem just an arm's length away from being accessible but just felt like they had a missing piece (the mine, the graves, etc etc.).

Now is the part where I write about some of my gripes with the Solstice path (don't really have any for original). There were really two, with one of them being the meta thing that I mentioned earlier (that sort of got reconciled by the end of the game and looking back in hindsight), but the biggest one I had was the way that there were some things that were implied in the original route that got outright explained as the plot progressed in Solstice that I would've rather be left implied. I think the biggest example I can think of was the concept of taming robots. I understand that for the sake of the climax of the route (along with Niko's constant confusion over it) it would need to be explained, but I personally would've liked it if it was explained to Niko offscreen but was left as implied for the player. It was really fun how it was talked about from time to time but never fully explained but very easily pieced together through context clues at the same time.

But even with those complaints (and one mostly being resolved before the route even finished), I still very much did enjoy the Solstice route and think that it added more to the original story than it did take away. I am very glad though that the game never actually showed The Author, even with just how close it got with Cedric, Proto, and Rue. I feel that the implications for everything being pieced together on your own about the Author's actions in the original route and despite how much breaking of the game happens, there is still a sort of barrier between the World Machine and The Author that really added to the game. It's fun to think about the Tower sequence, the constant mention of them in vague terms by everyone else, and the constant archival of things was greatly compounded on in the original route with the little bits of implications of the who and what, and the Solstice giving the last bits of implications of the why.

AAAA I FORGOT TO TALK ABOUT THE DREAMS.

God I fucking loved the dream sequences you can see in the game whenever you sleep, and I never passed by an opportunity. It's also once again very great foreshadowing towards the "original happy ending" of the world becoming a dream that Niko wakes up from and moves onto their own world. It's one that is perfect to be done as a addendum "true" ending rather than the original ending, which I can't overstate just how well the whole connection between the original route and Solstice route was handled. The final screen especially adds to it all, with Niko waking up in the original closed off room, with the light of the sun peering through the one window and a portal towards Niko's original home at the other end of the screen. Once again, it draws parallels to the original ending with Niko walking off the game's borders but in a completely different context.

The Solstice route is just chalk-full of these parallels and I cannot give it enough praise for how well it handles it. This ending scene was truly cemented the idea for me that I will never touch this game again, after everything the entire cast went through, and the stress I got from the constantly repeated worlds. I want the happy ending to stay forever. I say this as someone who would go back to almost any game they beat and just go through to get the achievements whether it be as a form of appreciation towards the game or just feeling that 100% trophy itch. If I could, I would leave the game on forever on that final screen so everyone can live on in their own worlds offscreen, but alas the best I can do is to never delete this game, so that everyone can forever stay (at least in stasis), with their issues resolved.

Breaking off from the spoiler to give my last thoughts, I just want to again praise Oneshot for how great of an experience it is, and it will definitely stay up as one of my most treasured memories in games for a very long time. To think that I booted up Oneshot for fun to pass the time while I was waiting for P3R to come out, it ended up completely overshadowing my start of that game today (which btw, P3P is one of my top 5 games of all time). I only wish that I hadn't held off on this game for so long.

[prysmartin]

Ready Player One's stuck on my mind again, so

I made this account to post long, ramble-y things occasionally that wouldn't fit on other social media sites. Might as well put it to good use!

Fair warning - Ready Player One spoilers ahead. It's been out long enough that I doubt anyone would care, though, especially after taking a brief look through posts with the tag.

It's a story that's a sort of boogieman for me. Every couple of months, my brain meanders back to this part of the woods, sees the beast, and roasts it relentlessly for how ineffective it is, despite its promising appearance. ...Promising appearance? Shoulda gone Intimidating instead, maybe? I dunno, this metaphor was a weird choice.

A few years ago, our teacher forced us to read it and we all went out as a class to watch the movie. The entire class - teacher included - absolutely hated the book, but found the movie fine. Well, outside of the plot holes, at least... What do you mean no one drove backwards in a race for FOUR YEARS? I'd do that in Mario Kart if I was doing poorly! It's funny!

We unanimously hated the book not because most people hated reading - everyone was pretty invested in the class, as it was "writing and literature in video games", and everyone was more than willing to participate and invest a lot of energy in the class - we all hated it because it was poorly written. We had some other points, but I don't want to get too side-tracked from the main thing I wanna focus on.

In the latter half of the second segment of the story, our Protagonist goes out of his way to play Pac-man. There was, like, an entire page or two dedicated to this. I decided to skim this part, since none of it seemed relevant. That is, until the very end, when our protag gets revived by the random quarter he got doing this sidequest. Turns out, the coin was just a free in-game insta-revive you got for playing pac-man on the buggy 256th stage?

This book was filled to the brim with reference slogfests, and every one before this one was basically one-and-done, having little to no impact on the story as a whole, or even the scene it was tied into. How was I supposed to know this was going to be any different? And even if I did know, why would I want to read through all this when it's not obviously moving the story forward in some way? The coin wasn't even mentioned between its introduction and the final battle! (At least, from what I remember. Maybe I skimmed that over too when it was buried in another reference I couldn't care less about.)

The movie, meanwhile, took the coin and tied it into a relevant point. Our protagonist didn't get it from some random side-quest - he got it from the museum's curator, who gave it to him after he went out of his way to research the guy who set up the main plot about acquiring ownership of the virtual reality world. He learned about something impactful to the guy's life, found a relevant piece of information that would help move him forwards, and THEN got this seemingly innocuous coin that would later save him in the final battle. Sure, it wasn't mentioned until the very end either (at least, not that I recall), but because it was better introduced, it felt like an actually earned moment rather than pulling plot armor out of his rear-end.

...maybe that's where he was hiding the coin in the book?

The weird thing is, the basic plot outline of the story was far more impressive. The movie didn't include any segments of the main villains, IAI, blocking off access to one of the keys with digital Wizards and using the fact that the key was in a no PVP zone to their advantage. It didn't include the main character turning himself into IAI under a false name in order to get high in their ranks and sabotage their grand plans. It didn't include one of the five major key-holders getting thrown off a thirty-story building to his death.

The book had all this and more. Its premise was AMAZING and I love the story it was trying to tell. Emphasis on trying. What the book had in potential, it lacked in execution. The movie, while dulled down in its concept, was better built for its creative medium and better realized as a story, even though it was more of an action movie.

If there's anything to take away from all this, tl;dr: Worldbuilding will only do so much for you. As with any sort of creative medium, it's good to dream big, but better to practice with smaller, more manageable projects.

...that last bit is more just good life advice rather than a real takeaway from everything I said before. Eh, whatever. I could ramble more, as I have MANY more problems with the book, but I think that's enough for one post. Plus, this is only my second post on this site...

[hangingfire]

Yuletide 2022

Another Yuletide fic exchange has come and gone, and now it's time for the reveals post.

First: my wonderful gift. It's the Christmas special The Bear deserves; funny, moving, sharply observed. It is, as Sydney Adamu would say, fire.

Sunday Special Author: LearnedFoot Fandom: The Bear (TV 2022) Details: Rated T, Gen, 2073 words Tags: Sydney Adamu, Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto, Richard "Richie" Jerimovich, other characters make appearances too, Friendship, Found Family, Christmas, Post-Canon Summary: The Bear stays open for Christmas.

Second: my recs list for Yuletide 2022, a work in progress. It's an eclectic bunch of stuff right now, including Stand By Me, Piranesi, 17776, Ask a Manager, and more.

And finally, my works.

Below the Waves for rueckenfigur Fandom: Polar Explorer RPF Details: Rated G, Gen, 1813 words Tags: Francis Crozier, HMS Terror, Historical, Sailing, Franklin Expedition, Ross Expedition, POV Inanimate Object Summary: "A ship can have favourites; sailors know this in their bones. And Crozier—quiet, steady, respectful—was hers." Notes: This isn't a Terror fic per se, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't heavily influenced by that show. I mean, I went and stuck a quotation from the show in the epigraph, and Lt. Little in this story maybe owes something to Matthew McNulty's portrayal in the show. In any case, my recipient had asked for a story about Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier, and after a speed-run through assorted works of nonfiction, this is where I ended up, telling his story from the point of view of his ship, HMS Terror, who still dreams of him as she lies 21 metres below the surface of Terror Bay. The title is from Heidi Berry's song of the same name, and the mood of the story is basically that song as well.

Bell, Book, and Candle for BeccaLee Fandom: Control (Video Game) x Piranesi - Susanna Clarke Details: Rated G, Gen, 1533 words Tags: Emily Pope, Original Characters, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Found Documents, case files Summary: Correspondence relating to OOP27-UE. Notes: I wasn't sure if I was going to manage to write anything other than my assignment this year, but I'd been listening to the audiobook of Piranesi while doing some long pre-holiday drives. So I went poking around the prompts and found that BeccaLee had requested both Piranesi and Control. I did very much like the idea of mashing up the House and the Oldest House, and also the idea of there being other Oldest Houses. There's not really a plot here per se; it's more of a vibe, and in particular the shared vibe of both canons that suggests something Larger and More Powerful At Work. And of course the characters from the world of Control would see Piranesi's House as something creepy at best, and outright dangerous at worst.

The Cunning of the Goose is Immeasurable; Its Mischief Infinite for Lielac Fandom: Untitled Goose Game x Piranesi - Susanna Clarke Details: Rated G, Gen, 1133 words Tags: Piranesi | Matthew Rose Sorensen, The Other | Valentine Andrew Ketterley, Goose (Untitled Goose Game), Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Prequel Summary: Entries for the Fourth Month in the Year the Albatross Came to the South-Western Halls. Notes: Lielac had requested Untitled Goose Game fic and their prompt offered a blank cheque for crossing the game over with literally anything. And, again, since I had Piranesi very much on the brain, I thought, well, why not have the Goose pay a visit to the House? What if the Goose is an agent of mischief and chaos that transcends space and time? Once the idea formed, the story practically wrote itself. I also constructed it such that it is set a month before the beginning of the novel, which averts spoilers of any significance. I'm tempted to expand on it—probably the only reason it's not longer is that I literally wrote it two days before the collection went live, and I wanted to get it done. But really both Piranesi and the Goose deserve more shenanigans together before the Goose buggers off to wherever it came from.

[autumnalwalker]

Empty Names - 19 - Shire

Author's Note: In which Sullivan continues to follow the background plot that was established back in Chapter 6 and runs into a couple of characters that have been mentioned a couple times before but only now have shown up "on screen." Back down to a more reasonable length after the last couple of chapters, as Sullivan's tend to be. Also, we're now just past one year since Chapter 1 was posted, so that's a bit of a milestone, I suppose. Didn't quite reach the "chapter every other week" schedule I originally planned, but between the average chapter length having basically doubled since I started (Chapter 18 was longer than 1 through 4 combined) and the three side-stories, that's averaged out to about 2,600 words a week this past year on Empty Names which actually isn't too far off from the pace I originally tried to set for myself on this project. That said, I do plan to get Chapter 20 out before I take another hiatus. I like keeping these chapters in sets of four for the POV cycling. See the tags for more spoiler-y commentary. Word Count: 7,354 Content Warnings: Fantasy fight scene violence. An interrogation. A building being blown up.

<-Previous Chapter Masterpost Next Chapter->

On the eastern side of the Atlantic is a country with royals Sullivan had never bothered to pay much attention to since arriving on this world, having had more than his fill of royalty as a child.  In that country is a county called something-or-other-shire that Sullivan paid little attention to the name of beyond musings about if old John ever had any idea how much those books of his would impact the collective consciousness and influence the sorts of worlds anchored to this one.  In that county is a quaint little village that Sullivan did pay enough attention to memorize the name of as part of an address on a slip of paper that burned after reading.  In that quaint little village is a picturesque little brick house surrounded by other picturesque little brick houses that Sullivan has been paying a great deal of attention to for the past week and change.  In front of that picturesque little brick house is a hedge that Sullivan is fairly certain no one else is paying attention to.  Inside that hedge, Sullivan is in the middle of a phone call.

“You’re still hung up on that?”  Sullivan says into his phone while keeping his eyes fixed on the house across the street.  “You’ve had two other jobs since then that went off without a hitch.”

“A child got hurt on my watch,” his friend’s voice says from the other end of the line.

“Not a child,” Sullivan corrects, “a thousand year old vampire necromancer who walked it off after a decent meal.  You’re being too hard on yourself again.  From what I read in the techie’s report, you stopped it from being worse than it could have been.”

“But it could have been better.”

“I doubt that.  I know you.  You did everything you could have done.”  Sullivan’s voice softens.  “You’re already the best, you don’t need to be perfect.  No one can be, so stop tearing yourself up for not meeting impossible standards.”

“But-”

“Hey.  Take the win and move on.  What’s done is done, so no point in dwelling on it.”

“Right.  Just got to keep moving forward down the road.”  His friend forces a laugh at their own pun.

“You got it, but maybe take a rest every now and then.  You have people working for you now.  Let them handle some of the cleanup every now and then.

“Sure,” his friend says in a tone at odds with the word.  “So, how’s the stakeout going?”

“Mind numbingly boring,” Sullivan says, adjusting his crouched posture inside the garden hedge.  “If no one takes the bait by the end of the week I’m calling it.”

Sullivan has been watching the alchemist Lachlan Whelan for over a week now, ever since getting the address on the safehouse the paranoid little man had holed himself up in.  Sullivan had hoped that leaving him untouched as bait for whomever Lachlan had faked his death and blown up his own lighthouse laboratory to run away from to come finish the job, but so far nothing.  

Sure, just asking Lachlan who was out to get him was technically an option, but Sullivan was fairly certain he would do something inconvenient like try to run again the moment he found out his hiding place had been compromised.  No, far more efficient to let the bait remain ignorant while on the hook.

Or at least it would be if the fish were competent enough to find the bait.

“If it took you this long to find Lachlan, maybe anyone else looking for him already gave up?  They might have even simply assumed he died when his lighthouse blew,” his friend suggests.

A reasonable conclusion, if not for the fact that Sullivan had intentionally leaked the location in certain circles likely to attract interest.  He’d left that part out of his regular check-ins with his friend.  They wouldn’t have approved.

Breaking into Lachlan’s safehouse and rummaging through his things without leaving a trace, however, was the sort of thing that Sullivan’s friend simply assumed he would do one way or the other.  This particular safehouse had been one of Eustace’s cheaper offerings, short on magical defenses and trying to make up for it by location; out of the way but in just populous enough of a mundane area that any flashy attempts at forcing entry would risk a masquerade breach.  Moreover, Sullivan had been practicing the fine art letting himself into places he shouldn’t since the tender age of seven (only two years less than he’d been practicing the fine art of letting lives out of bodies via knife wound), so that part had been easy enough even without the changes Carnette had made to him.

Not that doing so had yielded much more new information than watching the house from the outside.  The few alchemical supplies Lachlan had salvaged in his flight from his erstwhile home and laboratory had been locked in a safe and gone untouched.  The one notebook among those supplies was nothing but formulae and theorems.  Lachlan himself seemed to be going a little stir crazy without his work, but didn’t even have the good courtesy to talk aloud to himself for Sullivan to eavesdrop on while standing just outside of his peripheral vision.  He just spent every day pacing back and forth, distracting himself with the safehouse’s supply of yellowed books and degraded VHS tapes that hadn’t been updated since the nineties, and slowly eating his way through the supply of canned goods that might have been slightly newer.  After a couple days of interior observation, Sullivan had given up and gone back to hiding in the surrounding foliage to watch for visitors and/or hitmen.

“I’d like to think that anyone capable of a low-footprint large-group teleport and wiping out entire smuggling rings without leaving a trace would be a little more thorough,” Sullivan says.

“Assuming that it’s even the same group.”

“Yes, yes, assuming th- Gonna have to call you back.  Someone just showed up.  Take care of yourself.”  Sullivan hangs up without giving his friend a chance to respond.

It’s actually two someones walking up the sidewalk toward the unassuming safehouse, and they’re not any of the local residents that Sullivan now knows by sight after the length of his unsleeping stakeout.  The woman in front is of a middling height, similar to Sullivan’s own.  Auburn hair loose down to the shoulders, purple-framed glasses, beige knit sweater, red scarf, blue jeans.  Checking an old model flip phone as if verifying the address.  Some niggling familiarity about her appearance that Sullivan can’t quite place.  

The second woman, walking stiff-backed one pace behind and a shoulder-width to the left, towers head-and-shoulders over her companion - no, her superior, unless Sullivan misses his mark.  Silver hair pinned back in an elaborate bun, expressionless face, amber brooch pinned to a white cravat, dress of maroon so dark it’s almost black with so much frills and lace that it leaps out of the realm of antique and into the territory of gothic.

Sullivan blinks through his filters and the taller woman’s face takes on a porcelain sheen and the ball-jointed segmentation of her hands becomes apparent.  Another blink and the next filter reveals the leash of metaphysical strands linking the two women heart-to-heart.  A witch and her arcane doll?  Sullivan didn’t think they had those in this world cluster.  No, far more likely to be a superficial similarity born of convergent evolution.  More likely an unorthodox familiar bond with a construct.  Either way, he suspects that once the mage is dealt with (witch, wizard, or otherwise is hard to say without seeing her in action) then that should cut the puppet strings on the doll and make for easy pickings.

Sullivan produces a knife and licks the venom onto it that Carnette modified him for at his request.  The venom had been his idea of a gift for his friend; something to put their mind at ease knowing he had a less murderous option for dealing with problems.  And his own little joke about how often he’s been called a snake and a spider in his time.  One prick and the mage should fall into an easily manageable sleep while he drags her and her doll into the safehouse for a group questioning session with Lachlan.  Quick and quiet before the two of them even know what’s happening and before any nosy neighbors take notice.

Too bad he and his friend had had their falling out over what happened with Carnette before he could show the venom off for them.

But that’s in the past.  Now, in this present moment, Sullivan’s skin ripples and writhes from that which is beneath it.  The mage and her doll are nearly upon the doorstep.  He steps forward out of the hedge, warping space and crossing meters in a single step, ready for his knife to caress the front of the mage’s exposed neck ere his foot falls.

The world jerks sideways and suddenly his feet are dangling above the ground as porcelain fingers obscure his view and a glyph-etched glowing palm covers his mouth.  

The hand gripping his face then proceeds to brusquely introduce the back of his head with the ground.

He feels the pavement crack beneath him and knows that if he still had a skull these days it would have shattered.  From between the doll’s fingers he glimpses the surprised face of the mage above him harden into determination.  She claps her hands and the blue sky turns mauve, the concrete beneath him goes smooth, and water seeps up from the ground until it’s several centimeters deep.

The doll silently lifts Sullivan’s head just enough to slam it back down into the stone again before dragging him over grinding dirt, pebbles, and roots, scraping away skin and sending up a spray of blood-free water all the way.  The mage speaks a word he can’t make out through the water in his ears and the color of the glow leaking out between the doll’s palm and his mouth shifts to an angry red-orange.  Heat grows on his lips for a quarter second of warning before his head is engulfed in a jet of flame that instantly evaporates the surrounding water into a cloud of steam.

The doll releases its grip on Sullivan’s face and steps back from his unbreathing body while the rest of the interminably large puddle sloshes back in to fill the boiled-out space around him.

Sullivan counts the seconds to give the two of them just enough time to suspect he might be dead before standing back up.  He makes a show of it, letting his body go totally limp with the intent of being as unnerving as possible when he bends first one knee and then the other to get his feet flat on the ground before raising himself up simply by straightening his legs in defiance of the sort of leverage the human musculoskeletal system should be able to provide from that angle.  He allows his arms to hang and his head to loll back as he rises with deliberate slowness.

Six gunshots ring out in rapid succession just as his waist starts to bend forward again.  Six bullets trailing comet tails of brilliant green light tear holes in his chest and chunks out of his shoulders.  They fail to knock him back down.

The punch to his still-regenerating face from the doll doesn’t.

Rude.

Some people simply have no taste for the theatrical it would seem.

Sullivan rolls his punch-imparted momentum into a backwards somersault to return to his feet just on the other side of the dissipating steam cloud from where the doll’s foot stomps down just a little bit too slow to catch him on the ground again.  At this point he’s given up on drawing out the steam-shrouded sight of that which lies beneath his skin pulling his ruined head back together.  Just not the properly receptive audience for that sort of intimidation.  A pity, but a curious one.  Particularly when paired with his bullet wounds being just a hair’s breadth slower to close than normal.

He flicks his wrist to produce one of the bullets that went into his chest and inspects it while sidestepping the doll’s continued silent onslaught.  Silver and engraved with runes of divine blessing.  He searches his memory of Carnette’s infodumps, trying to match a tradition or magic system to the carvings and the light that had trailed behind them when fired.

And then the steam cloud fully disperses and he realizes that he’s in the middle of a forest clearing instead of in front of a picturesque little brick house surrounded by other picturesque little brick houses.  A forest beneath a mauve sky and uniformly sunken into a handsbreadth of water.

Curious.  He should have felt a teleport, even if he was distracted at the time.  But wait a moment; that great fallen log there is in the same place as the hedge and fence separating the safehouse from the street should be, just like the safehouse itself has been replaced by an oddly squared-off hillock.

Ah, that’s it!  A witch’s barrier.  A temporary small-scale phase shift for avoiding Masquerade breaches by staying out of mundane sight and limiting collateral damage to muted bleed-throughs into analogous structures.  The surrounding treeline is most likely the space’s border.  Cross it and he would be back in the “real” world.

Sullivan utters an understated “Huh,” that is all the acknowledgement he’s willing to give of being impressed.  Not many mages could manage a barrier more than a meter or two across with so short a casting time.  Even fewer could keep casting additional spells while maintaining it.

Additional spells?

Oh bother.

He turns his attention back toward the mage as she is saying the final words of an incantation in an eldritch tongue.  It’s an invocation, almost a prayer - definitely a witch then, not a wizard - to Ftagxurshagaalga’k.  Which one was that again?  Carnette had namedropped so very many of the more common and relatively safe eldritch to draw power from with over the years.

A spectral web weaves itself between the surrounding trees and the drowned ground beneath Sullivan’s feet and snaps into as much reality as everything else in the barrier, ensnaring him in place.

Oh right, Ftagxurshagaalga’k, the Spider Mother.

Sullivan tries to cut the web with the knife he still hasn’t dropped this entire time, but can’t quite get a good angle with his wrist bound as it is.  That which is beneath his skin stirs, space warps, and then the web snaps space back into its proper shape, leaving him where he started.  Void Without, he’s grown sloppy.  Was it these past few years of inactivity with both his friend and his wife gone, or the near-decade of being nigh-immortal?  Probably both.

He sighs and looks back to the witch who’s now standing with a glowing-chambered magnum revolver trained on him while speaking a new invocation, this time in one of the anchor world’s local languages (hardly worth the effort to tell them apart with translation magic in play).  Her flip phone from earlier is now hovering just below the gun’s barrel and projecting floating symbols around the witch as a digitized holographic grimoire.  Some of those symbols anchor themselves to the gun, acting as aiming reticle and enchantment both.  Others float around the witch’s head, keeping arcane runes and lines of text in view for easy focus and reference.

The thought crosses Sulllivan’s mind that Lacuna could learn a thing or two from this one.

“O Green World, answer this mere traveler’s call.  

Rise up so that we might bury this unclean thing.”

The doll backs off of Sullivan, keeping itself between him and its mistress as thorny vines sprout from the ground and begin working their way up and around his legs.

“A little overkill with the bindings, don’t you think?”  Sullivan chimes as recognition of techniques finally clicks.  “Say, is that Appalachian Greencraft blended with Rhode Island Esoterism?  What a deliciously counterintuitive syncretism.”

“She’s not a wizard,” the doll intones in a hollow monotone.

“I can see that,” Sullivan croons, “I know a witch of few peers when I meet one.”

“Then you should expect better,” the doll says, “than for her to monologue.” The slight tilt of its head and mid-sentence pause somehow gets across all the smug satisfaction that its emotionless voice fails to.

“Pierce and purify, be sweet and swift the fall.  

Even that which knows not death still may feel your sting.”

The vines grow higher, climbing his torso and ensconcing his arms.  If he still had a normal perception of pain the digging thorns would probably be agonizing.

“What, am I not allowed to pay my respects to one who’s gotten the best of me?  I would think one such as you would love to hear your mistress complimented.  I mean, a tradition of magic with a long history of binding and casting out the eldritch and blended with teachings from a school dedicated to calling upon it and drawing it in?  It would be a feat even if they both hadn’t fallen largely out of practice for the better part of a century.”

Suddenly the doll is gripping Sullivan’s wrist, crushing it through the layers of webs and vines.  In response, he drops both the second knife that had just appeared in that hand and the knife he’d been holding in the other since the beginning.

The doll leans in close to Sullivan’s ear. “Do not think you can distract us with your prattling.”

“O Green World, by my blood and breath forestall. 

Starlight of the Dark Forest nevermore must sing.”

The vines ascend Sullivan’s neck and wrap themselves around his head, leaving him almost completely encased and blinded.

“So, about that…” comes his muffled voice from beneath his living green bindings.

In the unnatural quiet of the witch’s barrier that follows the spell’s completion, the sound of a pin dropping into the shallow water may as well be another gunshot.

Sightless as he momentarily is, Sullivan contents himself with merely imagining the look on the witch’s face as she and her doll turn to look at the bulge in the vines where one of his hands is now making a fist around a round object.

“Fire in the hole.”

To the witch’s credit, her vines are a strong enough binding that the grenade only obliterates Sullivan's right arm, half his face, and a large chunk out of his torso where his lung ought to be.  Even still, what vines and webs aren’t burned off of him are blasted away.  The thought that, due to the cloud of vaporized water and kicked up earth and shrapnel, the witch and her doll won’t be catching more than confusing blurred glimpses of the inky shapes moving from within to weave back together what was lost pleases him.  Even back in the old days of lurking in shadows without a drop of magic to aid him, he’d always thought that a little bit of obfuscation went a long way towards dramatics.  Yes, so much better to let the darkest parts of their imagination fill in the gaps in their perception as they frantically try to keep track of him when he darts and leaps around the doll’s attempts to catch him again.  Better to keep them guessing as to if that was a third knife he just drew from somewhere and removed three of the doll’s fingers with or if he recovered one of the other two.  So much more fun that way to hear the gasp he finally manages to elicit from the witch as he emerges blade-first from the cloud of debris whole and pristine once more save for his clothes.

Really though, this was nothing.  Carnette had been far rougher with him than a mere mundane grenade ever could be.

Space warps in a familiar way once more but, for once, not around Sullivan.  The witch’s form blurs in front of him and with a pop and splash of displaced air and water she swaps places with the doll.  Sullivan drops his lunge into a slide to pass beneath the jet of flame spewing from the doll’s outstretched palm and come up behind it.  

Sullivan leaps up.  The doll spins around.  A rising slash of a knife towards the back is met with a descending chop of a hand towards the wrist.  The knife drops from the left hand to the right.  The right hand moves in an arc.  That which is beneath skin ripples and writhes.  Space warps.  The world jerks sideways.  Porcelain fingers grip a face.  The arc of the right hand completes.  Knife blade meets ball joint.  A hand of porcelain is severed.  A left hand of flesh rips it from the gripped face and flings it back toward its reeling owner.

Sullivan dashes across the sunken glade, spraying up water behind him as he bobs and weaves his way between the ectoplasmic tentacles rising from beneath the surface.  He slips through the curling grasp of the last tentacle, closes in on the summoning witch reading from her spellphone’s projections, and readies his knife with a smirk for what will be the final stroke of this invigorating little spat.

The witch blurs.  Space warps.  Air pops.  Water splashes.  The knife is thrown backwards.  The doll’s elbow comes down.  Sullivan’s faces crashes into the ground.  Six gunshots ring out.  Six comet tail impacts pierce the water and light up six points of a hexagon around his fallen form.  Water rushes inward.  Water rushes upward.  Sullivan is carried upwards.  The column of water freezes.

Everything goes still.

Sullivan, suspended in ice, most of all.

Through frosted eyes he can see the witch and her doll standing side by side in front of him.  The witch’s lips move but he cannot hear the words.  Focusing on her exhausted face, recognition tugs at the edge of his awareness once more.  Where has he seen this woman?  

Something - someone - else touches on the edge of his awareness but slides off, unable to find purchase.  Just as well that his face is already frozen into a bemused smirk.  The witch will have to try a whole lot harder than that to get inside his head.

After a few more failed attempts at mental communion the witch gives up.  The doll steps forward with a palm glowing red-orange and touches thumb and forefinger - its only two remaining digits - to the ice in front of Sullivan’s face and rotates them in a circle.  The ice melts away to form a window just wide and deep enough to allow him to speak once more.  Or rather, just enough to allow him to answer questions.

“What,” the witch pants, “and who are you?”

“Sullivan Bridgewood, nee Prince, nee quite a few other things,”  Sullivan purrs.  “The Golden Death, the Xanthous Reaper, or any other morbid epithet you care to name involving that slice of the color spectrum.  Beloved husband of the dearly departed sorceress Bridgewood.  At my service.”

The witch’s eyes that had been struggling to stay open shoot wide.  Good.  She knows his reputation.

“And… oh, Assassin In Yellow… were you here to kill me or… the man in that house?”

“Neither.”

“Neither?”

“Neither.”

That shocked look of surprise and confusion layered on top of tired eyes.  That’s it!  Oh yes, a most familiar resemblance indeed, now that he’s looking for it.

“Then why…”

“Did I attack you?  So I could ask you why you want Lachlan Whelan dead,” Sullivan lilts into a dramatic pause before adding, “Morgan Tucker.  And if I might add, you look considerably younger than your photos.  Nary a wrinkle or gray hair on you.”

“And how do you know her?” the doll interjects.  Clever toy.  Initial acknowledgment of a Name by a companion is a loophole around most nominal theft that leaves the owner relatively safe in the future.

“Oh, I do my research,” Sullivan answers.  “Although I may need to apologize for my overeagerness getting in the way of initial recognition.  Depending on your answer of course.”

“Stand down Stella,” the witch - Morgan Tucker - says.  “I’m not here… to kill... anyone.  But I do… have reason to believe… someone is after him.  And…”

“And you think that we’re both here for the same reason then,”  Sullivan finishes for her.  “Well, in that case, how about you let me out of here, I’ll get you that antidote, we’ll all go inside, and have a nice long chat with our alchemist friend to clear up this whole misunderstanding.”

Morgan slowly blinks at him, struggling to understand.  Or to stand at all for that matter.

“What antidote?”  the doll - Stella - asks.

Sullivan grins wide and gestures downwards with his eyes.  Morgan follows his gaze to the gash on the leg of her jeans and the cut on the calf below, barely deep enough to break the skin.

“Oh, f-”

The witch falls to the ground.  Sullivan drops to his feat.  The sky turns blue.  The forest, the water, and the ice are gone.

A picturesque little brick house remains.

*******

“Because I’m a both a witch and a marine ecologist,” Morgan explains, one antidote and one introduction to a very nervous alchemist later.  “When someone drops a parasite-infested kaiju-class dragon corpse into the ocean I take notice.  Once I found out that a presumed-dead potential witness was both still alive and in hiding, I couldn’t not follow up on it, especially after any enquiries through official channels got repeatedly stonewalled.  Although knowing now what you’ve told me I’m hardly surprised at that.  The powers that be in Crossherd always clam up about anything involving Culescu.  So, your turn Mr. Whelan.  Are you ready to share what you know about this supposed ‘pulse’ that happened right before the dragon and the ship appeared?”

The four of them, Lachlan Whelan, Sullivan Bridgewood, Morgan Tucker, and Stella Platina are seated around the safehouse’s dining room table.  A cheap chandelier buzzes overhead with old incandescent bulbs to make up for the cold iron shuttered windows.  Stella holds the severed pieces of her hands together, patiently waiting for the golden glue on them to dry.  Morgan looks expectantly at the alchemist while drumming her fingers on the table in a rolling motion.  Sullivan fusses with the tattered remains of his shirt and vest, wishing Carnette had given him clothes capable of regenerating as well as his body, but knowing full well why she didn’t.  Lachlan shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

The alchemist is another case of autogenesis being less than pleasant to those highly susceptible to it.  The dangers of embodying an archetype too fully, Sullivan supposes.  Whereas his three uninvited guests are all older than they look, he’s far younger.  Barely into his forties, according to Sullivan’s background checking, and he already looks like a parody of wizened age.  Deep wrinkles upon wrinkles.  Scattered wisps of white hair that barely even left him with the ghost of a beard, much less anything on top of his head.  A spine bent into an inverted J from countless hours bent over instruments, scrolls, and tomes.  Eye sockets grown cartoonishly large in his skull to better drink in the secrets of the universe only to be locked into a near perpetual squint from reading rare ancient formulae too fragile and precious to expose to anything brighter than a dim candle flame.  Frame shriveled and shrunken to gnomish proportions.  Only his teeth and the steadiness of his hands seem to have been spared the ravages of extreme conformity to a role he on some level associated with strange centenarian hermits.

“I’ve already told you,” Lachlan starts, “I’m not going to say anything about -” he practically chokes on whatever word he was about to say “- whatever it is you think you’re talking about.  You could ask me all day and it’s not -” he stops and seems to reconsider his words yet again, as he’s repeatedly done for the entire conversation up until now.  “Just don’t.”

“Then what about the people whom you’re hiding from?”  Morgan asks.  “Please, let us help you Mr. Whelan.  Whatever they have on you or whatever you think you have to fear from them, you’re in the presence of some of the few people who can almost certainly protect you.”

Well, someone thinks highly of herself.  Normally he would have gone for saying that he’s the one the alchemist should be more afraid of, but this is a job on his friend's behalf.

“And if it’s a matter of compensation,” Sullivan adds, “that can be easily arranged.  A new laboratory, perhaps, once this has all blown over?  Constructed assistants to lend extra hands that will never try to steal your secrets?”  He stops himself short of telling Lachlan to name his price.  Even implicitly putting anything of Carnette’s collection on the table is a last resort.  And it’s only even that for his friend’s sake.

“There is nothing.  Nothing at all.  That you could offer me to make me - to make me say what you want to hear,” Lachlan says, increasingly agitated.  “And threats won’t work either.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to collect what little is left of my things and activate this place’s escape hatch now that you two have compromised it.  Safehouse my arse.”

Sullivan leans over and puts a hand on the back of Lachlan's chair to keep it from scooting away from the table.

“Now now, Mr. Whelan,” Morgan says, “are you really so sure you want to be so dismissive about the efficacy of threats in front of an accomplished witch and an infamous assassin?”

Lachlan quails, shrinking back into his chair.  Sullivan stands up, steps behind him, and slides the chair in closer to the table, pinning the shriveled little alchemist between the two.

“You bleeding idiots!” Lachlan shouts.  Frustrated, not terrified.  How curious.  “I’m tr-”  More choking on words.  “That w-  You can’t -  Idiots, the both of you!”

Morgan and Sullivan look from Lachlan to one another, back to Lachlan, back to one another.

Stella looks up, staring at some spot on the white popcorn ceiling.

Morgan slaps a palm to her forehead.

“Goddesses, Green, and Void, we are idiots, aren’t we?” Morgan says.

“You said it, not me,” Sullivan replies.

“It’s so obvious.”

“A classic really.”

“Why didn’t we see it sooner?”

“I would have expected better from a witch of your calliber.”

“I would have expected better from Bridgewood’s trophy husband.”

“Touché.”

“The most annoying kind of curse.”

“Or contract.”

“The one you can’t talk about.”

“Even worse than the one you can’t remember.”

“Are you familiar with the telepathy loophole?”

“Invasive, but effective.”

“It’ll be for his own good.”

“And you’re not worried about inducing geas rejection syndromes?”

“Eh, he seems to be fine despite us figuring this much out from his hints.”

“This is why I love working with anchor world mages.”

“Hold him still for me, please?”

“Since you said please.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, but why not have your doll do it?”

“Because someone broke her hands and the glue’s still drying.”

“And again, touché.”

“Want him unconscious?”

“It’ll work better if he’s awake.”

Lachlan looks up in what is finally fear at the two discussing him as if he weren’t there.

Stella continues to stare at the ceiling.

“What are you two talking about?” He tries to wriggle out of Sullivan’s grasp on his shoulders.  “What are you going to do to me?”

“I’m sorry Mr. Whelan,” Morgan says, flipping open her spellphone, “I really am, but you will literally be safer not knowing.” The phone projects a floating text display of an invocation to yet another eldritch being above the kitchen table.  “Normally I’d tell you not to resist in order to avoid accidental damage, but in your particular case you’ll be wanting to resist at least a little bit to avoid long term side effects.”

“You’ll just have to thread the needle on this one,” Sullivan suggests unhelpfully.  “I’m sure you’ll manage.”

Reaching across to place a hand on Lachlan’s forehead, Morgan continues, “Now, I really do apologize, but this next part is going to be unpleasant.”

*******

Five minutes later Sullivan and Morgan are standing over the unconscious body of Lachlan laid out on a couch with a pillow under his head and a blanket draped over him.

Stella is still staring at the ceiling.

“There, he’s all comfy after you’ve rifled through his brain until he passed out,” Sullivan says.  “Now would you be so kind as to share what you saw in there?”

“Men in suits,” Morgan says.  “Corporate, maybe government, or at least someone playing the part.  Nothing to identify who they worked for.  They showed up on his doorstep almost a year ago with a box, a briefcase full of geass-enforced NDA contracts, and an offer.  Sign the contracts, don’t ask questions, and allow them to install the device in the box in his lighthouse, and in return the people they represent would provide generous pay, delivery services for whatever he wanted to spend that pay on, and whatever ingredients and reagents he might desire for his experiments.”

“And of course the implication was that if he didn’t agree, he wasn’t someone that anyone would miss.”

“Exactly.  But when this device of theirs gave off that ‘pulse’ the guy you rescued described and made a ship show up and immediately wreck, his conscience caught up with him and he called your friend, Road.  While you lot were out playing coast guard - seriously, though, good work on that - he was already getting everything ready to bug out.”

“At least that corroborates that this mystery ‘pulse’ exists.  Any idea what it was?”

Morgan shakes her head.  “I wish.  Lachlan might have been a fairly talented alchemist, but he was no mage, and I’m limited to whatever he was able to sense about it.  I just know that it’s strange he was able to sense it at all.  Best as I can describe from his perspective is a cross between a deep soundwave and a static charge, but it definitely originated from that device, whatever it was.  And before you ask me to describe it to you, memory doesn’t work like a video camera.  It’s more impressions than true visuals and as far as Lachlan was concerned it was simply weird computery bullshit that he was getting paid not to think about or question and probably burned with his home.  Same goes for the men in suits.  If he were the kind of guy to pay attention to what people’s faces looked like, he probably wouldn’t have holed himself up where he’d hardly ever have to look at them.”

Sullivan rolls his eyes.  “Fine then, what impressions did he have of whoever it was that sent him running?”

“Later that night, after you all had left and he had watched the dragon and ship had fully sunk down into the ocean and become my problem, some two dozen paratech combat robots ported in through a temporary bridge outside his perception filter ward and started making a beeline for the lighthouse that they shouldn’t have been able to see unless they already knew it was there.”

“Robots?  That doesn’t make any sense.  You’re sure it wasn’t just people in armor?”

“Eh, they looked like robots to Lachlan, and local paratech’s catching up pretty fast to offworld imports these days and full magic constructs have been around forever.”

“No I mean I patched a monitor into the perception filter ward that detected them enter and leave.  The last I checked, no one in this world cluster had cracked the level of synthetic sapience required to have triggered that monitor; not that’s able to survive for more than a few days on this anchor world anyhow.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Morgan counters, “Stella’s definitely a person, metaphysically speaking, even though she didn’t start out that way.”

Just superficial convergent evolution then.  A pity, that.  Sullivan and his friend hadn’t spent much time passing through the empty spaces of that world cluster full of dolls on their way to this one, but the embracing of not-a-personhood that defined that cluster’s magic had always struck him as a potentially merciful end state if his friend’s condition ever truly devolved into a worst-case scenario.  Having a local dollmaker of that sort on hand would have made for a comforting insurance policy.

“Speaking of your doll, what’s she doing over there?” Sullivan asks, gesturing to where Stella is still staring at the ceiling.

She doesn’t respond to him.

“Stella,” Morgan prompts.

“There is a disturbance some distance up,” the doll answers in her hollow monotone.  “I am attempting to determine if there is something above us or if it is merely interference from the safehouse’s defenses.”

“As you were then,” Morgan says.  “Let me know when you make up your mind.”

“Doll,” Sullivan says, “when did you first notice that disturbance?”

No response.

“Stella,” Morgan prompts again.

More silent staring at the ceiling.

Morgan shoots Sullivan a sidelong glance.

“Stella,” Sullivan addresses the doll, slathering on politeness sweet as rotten honey, “would you kindly tell us when, precisely, you noticed this disturbance?  Please.”

“Shortly after Lachlan Whelan called you an idiot,” Stella answers without taking her glassy eyes off the ceiling.  “Roughly zero point one zero two five seconds before either of you made a verbal acknowledgment of your realization of his condition.”

Well, that’s not a good sign.

Sullivan spins around on his heel to face Morgan.  “Tell me,” he demands, “that you weren’t followed.”

“Excuse me?”

“Were you followed?”

“Not that I could tell.”

“Not good enough.  Yes or no.  Can you say for sure that know one else knows you’re here?”

Morgan’s lips start to form a “yes,” but she hesitates.  “No.  Not with how you got the jump on us.”

She was absolutely followed and any minute now, whoever followed her will probably make their move, and he has no idea what it will be other than most likely violent.  Normally he’d welcome the complication, but if the witch and alchemist get hurt his friend will surely beat themself up over not having been here to help and the techie would be devastated. 

Void Without, he hates playing the good guy. 

Sullivan grabs Lachlan off the couch and slings him over his shoulder.

“Leaving.  Now,” Sullivan says, already walking towards the safehouse’s kitchen where the stairway down to the basement bunker is.

Morgan, recognizing a red flag when she sees one blatantly waving, follows, but not without question.

“What did I miss?” she asks.

“Lachlan broke contract,” Sullivan answers as he passes back through the dining room, past Stella, “or at least came close enough when he clued us in to trigger an alarm.”

Morgan makes a gesture and Stella stands up to follow to the basement stairs, still keeping her gaze fixed on a point somewhere above the safehouse’s ceiling.

“That tip on Lachlan’s location you followed to get here was bait,” Sullivan continues.  “I leaked it to draw in whoever might want to find him and tie up loose ends, but instead I caught you.”

He fiddles with the lock on the vault door at the bottom of the staircase.  Lockpicking is so much more inconvenient one handed.  Morgan reaches over Sullivan’s shoulder into the unconscious Lachlan’s pocket and produces a key.  Sullivan takes it and opens the door to reveal the interior of a concrete-and-steel box nearly the size of the upper house itself

“But if our men in suits had the same idea,” Sullivan conjectures as he strides past cots, a freestanding shower, a safe, and a pile of canned goods stacked in a shape only the exceptionally bored could imagine towards another door on the far side, “then it would have been in their best interest to wait and see if someone else took the bait and then kill the two birds with one proverbial stone. Good thing all of Eustace’s safe houses come with -”

“Barrier!  Now!” Stella interrupts.

Morgan claps her hands and the bunker beneath the safehouse becomes a cave strewn with mushrooms and moss.  

In the same moment, Stella raises her hands, palms up, and a glowing purple dome forms around the four of them.

In the next moment everything is swirling dust.

The moment after that a sound that is to thunder what thunder is to a pin drop catches up with perception.  Only being both a half-step out of reality and behind a shield keeps Morgan’s and Lachlan’s eardrums from rupturing in a bloody mess.  Or the rest of their bodies for that matter.

The moment after that the golden glue holding Stella’s hands together melts away and so does the shield.

The following moment of stinging dust and falling stones is the longest yet, but the shield has already done its job.

Sunlight from a mauve sky begins to filter through the dust to reveal a crater where once there was a cave beneath a hillock.

“What the actual hell was that,” Morgan manages, more exclamation than answer.

“Figure it out later,” Sullivan says.  “As I was saying.  Single use, one-way self-collapsing emergency bridge to a secondary location comes with the safehouse.  If we are very lucky and you are very good at what you do, then you might be able to rip what’s left of it open and get yourselves out of here before whoever did this -” Sullivan waves an arm at the sudden lack of a safehouse - “realizes you three aren’t a fine mist.”

“You say that as if you are not joining us,” Stella observes while Morgan closes her eyes in focus.

“I’m not,” Sullivan replies and then thrust Lachlan into Stella’s arms.  “While you lay low, I’ll be reaching out to some contacts of mine to manufacture some convincing evidence that you definitely weren’t here today.  I’ve got my own methods of making sure things don’t trace back to me.”

“I’ve got it,” Morgan says, opening her eyes.  A point in space behind Sullivan that had also been behind a door a minute ago begins to twist, setting the dust about it into a swirling vortex.  Morgan bends down and picks up her doll’s hand and fingers from where they’ve fallen once again.

“Wonderful.  I already know where that portal leads, so I’ll be catching up with you later.”  Sullivan’s skin ripples and writhes from that which lies beneath it.  “Oh, and one more thing, give your niece a call once this all blows over.  I’m sure she’d love to hear from you and share what she’s working on these days.”

“How do you know about Lacuna?”

It’s difficult to keep a solid crescent of a cheshire smile when the rest of your flesh is writhing, but oh so worth it.

“She works for me.”

Space warps and takes Sullivan beyond the edge of the witch’s barrier.

*******

“In conclusion,” Sullivan says over the phone to his friend, “I’ll be back in a few days and in the meantime we don’t breathe a word of this to the techie.”

“She deserves to know.”

“Eventually maybe, but for now she has plausible deniability if anyone comes around asking questions.  I checked her phone and flight records, and the last time she had contact with her aunt was before you recruited her.  It’s the safest thing for her.”

“Since when do you care about keeping people safe?”

Since it’s for your sake more than hers.  Since anything tracing back to her means tracing back to you.  Since anything happening to her would mean you blaming yourself.

“Since you made her into an asset to preserve and invest in.”

“Promise me this isn’t just another one of your stunts of holding back vital information for the sake of a dramatic reveal.”

“I promise.”

“Thank you.”

“Always.  Now then, I’ve got documents to forge and paper trails to  obscure.  I’ll see you soon.  Take care of yourself.”

<-Previous Chapter Masterpost Next Chapter->

[scandalsavagefanfic]

Hello! I am a huge fan of ur writing. I've loved everything I've read of yours. I've read alot of what you've posted, except for a couple of the tags that are squicky for me (so I'm very thankful you tag very thoroughly). No judgement for the squick, it's just not for me. & when I'm having a bad day, I usually just go thru ur ao3 and find something to reread. I think about Therapy's Bruce & Jason every damn day. While I obvs appreciate ur darker more "problematic" content (I really vibe with some of the themes you write about bc of my own trauma, & so it's very cathartic to read about in a fictional setting), I am truly a sucker for ur more happy content. The Happily Ever After verse also lives in my head rent free. Idk more wholesome stuff just seems more special when you write it. Anyways. I would die for you. But the point of this ask is cause I'm curious as to why you don't like Urban Legends? I'm sorry if you already talked about it here or on twitter and I missed it. I was just wondering because I really enjoy your take on things and would love to hear why you dislike it. I've been enjoying it so far personally, but I am always open to DC comics criticism.

Aw thank you so much! I'm so flattered by everything you just said. You're so sweet ❤❤❤❤❤

I haven't talked about Urban Legends here or twitter (I haven't been very active in either place lately. Just a lot going on and no energy 😔) but I'm happy to do it here.

Before I start though, I just want to add a standard disclaimer and make it clear that if you like it, there's nothing wrong with that and you don't have to let me ruin it for you lol. Like what you like.

That said, since you asked...

I said this when I was talking about it on discord, that there is a difference between hope and expectation. I always hope that a new story centered on Jason (or anyone really, but things have been especially egregious for Jay for 15 years) will be good or at least treat the character with a minimal level of respect (to be honest, the bar is super fucking low). But my expectations always temper my hope, to keep it from getting unrealistic. Because my expectations are based on experience.

The long history of Jason Todd, since even before his resurrection, has been one of retroactively trying to make him "a bad seed" in order to absolve Bruce of any responsibility in his death.

I don't even expect DC or their writers to start honoring the fact that Jason was not an angry, reckless Robin (and less of the later than Dick or Tim and definitely Damian). There plenty of ways that retcon can be folded into his history and be compelling and sympathetic. And if they're going to stick with that retcon, I'm only asking that they do it in one of those compelling and sympathetic ways because Jason was 15 when he died, heroically, in one of the most selfless acts in comics, to save a woman who literally handed him over to be brutally murdered. He was 12 when Bruce plucked him off the streets, he'd been homeless and fending for himself for at least two years. I personally think that Jason's story hits harder for him and Bruce if their original, canon relationship, of Jason as starry-eyed and eager to learn and absolutely devoted to Bruce and Bruce to Jason, is preserved. But Jason's origins does leave room for a meaningful interpretation of him as angry and frustrated at the lack of meaningful results of Bruce's methods.

And that's really where my irritation at stories like Batman: Urban Legends, Cheer and Batman The Adventure Continues has it's roots.

Every time one of these stories comes out, I think (or hope, rather) that this will be the one that remembers and respects the origins of the Jason and the Red Hood, that takes into account the changed sensibilities of comics readers in the 30 years since Jason's death and the subtle, 20 year, retroactive campaign to make him the "bad Robin". The "born bad" trope is played out and literally no one likes the message it implies. That some kids are just bad eggs and there's nothing parents or the adults around them can do. Especially when it's played as the kid's fault. If Jason's time as Robin is going to be characterized by anger, then it should be rooted in anger at the social injustices he witnessed as he grew up in an impoverished, crime-ridden, area and the horrors he faced raising himself when every day was a battle for survival. There are topical, meaningful, stories to tell with that backdrop.

But those are never the stories we get.

⚠⚠ Spoilers for Batman: Urban Legends, Cheer ⚠⚠

I'm particularly disappointed in Urban Legends because for the first issue, it looked like that was the kind of story we were going to get. I was put off by the first flashback of Jason being mesmerized by Bruce's guns, and I got that feeling in my gut that it was a bad sign. Jason depicted as impatient and overconfident and the scene with the guns is heavy-handed foreshadowing that got my spidey-sense tingling. I had a inkling then (in the first three pages) of how this story was going to play out, but it was early and I could still see many narrative paths that could lead to a satisfying story. My concerns were soothed somewhat and the little flame of my hope fanned, with the flashback of Alfred scolding Bruce, with Barbara's concern for Jason. A bit of worry returned with the way Jason ruthlessly pursued an addict who didn't appear to be a dealer and with the ending of the issue. The stuff with the addict sat wrong with me but the ending was tempered some by how despicable Tyler's dad was written. The scene was clearly set so that the reader could sympathize with Jason's decision and the scene with the addict could be brushed aside as a side-effect of comics over-the-top need for constant action, so I still held hope.

Issue 2 made me uncomfortable and it's where my hope starts to take a backseat to my expectations. I can dismiss Jason's self-deprecating internal monologue as unreliable narration, except that the flashback reinforces his thought process to explicitly show that it's not unreliable narration, and should be taken at face value. Jason faces physical abuse at the hands of his mother's drug dealer and when the flashback continues later, Jason kills the drug dealer. To be clear, this is a pre-Bruce Jason. His mom is still alive. He's like... 10. He kills this guy for shoving his head into a wall and implying Jason's mother paid for her drugs with sex. This is a scene that serves a single purpose. To show that Jason has always been prone to violence.

In the spirit of full disclosure, there is the small chance the drug dealer might not be dead. But the story obviously wants the reader to think he is, and it hasn't done anything to change that yet.

Starlin already did this story with The Diplomat’s Son in 1988 and he did it infinitely better. AND that’s still technically canon. So now I’m supposed to believe that Jason lost his cool bad enough to kill two douche bags before his sweet 16? Like it’s totally normal for abused kids raised in poverty, who’ve led hard and heartbreaking lives to just... haul off and kill people? That’s bullshit, and when taken with the Jason in the third issue, who is little more than an idiot thug, this story is really doubling down on some fucked up stereotypes.

Which brings us to the most recent issue. I went into this installment with very low expectations. I thought this story was going to be about Jason, through this experience with Tyler, a young boy with a similar background to Jason's, coming to the realization that Bruce's way is the best way and that Bruce did his best by Jason.

That would be annoying (in no small part because it takes increasingly absurd levels of plot armor to keep Bruce's no kill rule relevant, let alone irrefutably right). But I can probably live with that, if only because maybe if Jason officially falls back into line with the Bats crusade, maybe I'll get stories that treat him with respect, stories that don't relegate him to comic relief, dumb brute, or a background body with no lines in a story about the Joker burning Gotham (like Jason would just fucking stand there quietly for that).

And that may still be where the story is going, Jason realizing Bruce is right.

But holy shit do I not have the right words to describe how fucking insulting and gross issue three is.

From start to finish--including the flashback--Jason is written as cruel and fucking stupid. Like straight up dumb.

The entire issue is Bruce explaining the fucking basics to Jason like it's his first day. And Jason flies off the fucking handle and terrorizes a doctor he knows isn't a part of making the Cheerdrops, beats the shit out of some random addicts, and finally, when he can't accomplish anything on his own because he's a dumb brute he calls Barbara for help and rushes in with no information where he's promptly incapacitated and must now wait to be rescued by Batman.

This panel is the least of the issues sins but I can’t screenshot the entire story but it’s representative of the tone for the whole issue (and retroactively tainted the prior two issues).

This is beyond insulting. The only conclusions Jason comes to in this issue are the ones Bruce leads him to by talking to him like he can’t make the simplest connections. And like... in this story Jason can’t make the simplest connections.

This (and the Jason throughout the entirety of this issue) is a far cry from the Jason we fell in love with in Under the Red Hood, who was competent and strategic and intelligent enough to seize control of Gotham’s underworld from Black Mask (who’s no fucking slouch, he’s the first and only person to unify organized crime in Gotham) AND elude and manipulate Bruce until the time and place of his choosing.

This is a far cry from even the Red Hood and the Outlaws Jason who is competent enough to fight the League of Shadows and Ra’s al Ghul (among very dangerous and skilled others) and smart enough to create antidotes for mind control nanotech viruses.

As he should be, by the way. Jason Todd is one of the best, most comprehensively trained fighters in DC’s stable of non powered vigilantes. He’s not irrational or hot headed. He’s pragmatic, tactically minded, and patient. He’s a detective. Right now. Has been since he was 12. Bruce doesn’t have to make him one because he already is. 

Jason is not a stupid thug who uses his fists because his brain doesn’t work. And I can’t tell you how so very exhausted I am by this narrative. 

This is actually the most egregious example of Jason’s skills and intelligence being not just undermined but dismissed entirely. Even Morrison’s Jason had some degree of competency. 

The one, single redeeming factor of this story is the art. It’s beautiful. And Marcus To is a godsend he seems to be one of only a couple of artists who remember that Jason was a child when he was Robin and I’m literally only buying this book because of him. 

Anyway, I’m sorry. I didn’t want that to come out so... um... passionately lol. I’m just very very tired. My intention with this isn’t to ruin it for you, if you like it, that’s fine. 

But this issue shot this story to the top of my "Vehemently Despise” list. 1) Batman: Urban Legends (Cheer), 2) Battle for the Cowl/Morrison’s Batman and Robin, 3) Batman The Adventure Continues.

I hope the next issues somehow salvage this dumpster fire. But I’m not expecting it.

(Damnit. That sounded harsh again. To reiterate, I’m not trying to judge anyone who enjoys it, I just personally hate it and you asked me why lol 😅)

[fill-me-with-your-memes-daddy]

Watching the Rise of the Titans movie and I'll be documenting all of my thoughts/reactions here. [Spoiler Warning]

So instead of reblogging every new update, I'm just going to have this post up on my phone as I watch and type my reactions in a bullet list format.

Nari's human disguise is so cute. As someone who does have a cottagecore aesthetic, I want to cosplay her so bad

Are Skrael and/or Belroc non-binary coded? Regardless, I'm also obsessed and I want to fuck Skrael and be Belroc.

STEVE CARING ABOUT JIM BEING HURT YESSSS!!! My god his redemption has probably been one of the greatest there is because he doesn't just suddenly go from being a bully to a completely good person. You can see the gradual shift in learning better throughout the shows which is awesome.

IN NEW YOOOOOOORRRRRRRK!!!!!! CONCRETE JUNGLE WHERE DREAMS ARE MADE OFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!

The mugshot montage reminded me of season 1 of trollhunters when toby and Jim were arrested at the museum.

STRICKLER PUT A RING ON IT??? HE'S THE ONLY DILF IVE EVER ACTUALLY AGREED WAS HOT WYM I CAN'T HAVE HIM??? well I'm still really happy about his arc over the series probably one of my favorite character growths.

Eli my guy got his growth spurt!!! As an 18 year old who is still 5'0", I'm happy but envious for him

So I went into this movie without watching any trailers or promo, but I doubt anything could have prepared me for the existence of mpreg. In fact, I wasn't going to document my reactions until I saw that.

NAMURA!!!!!!!!! MY BELOVED!!!!!! I CAN STILL THIRST FOR YOU WITHOUT GUILT

The coach teacher just called the kids zoomers so I have to dock one point from my final rating just because of that. Unforgivable

Those husky animation models suck lmao

Oh fuck the titans got power ranger zords!!

God why did they include the mpreg??? This movie would have been perfect without it.... After that plot point being revisited only one time I'm already beyond done with it

Like it's bringing me back to the v*ltron days where they're was a suspiciously high amount of klance omegaverse and mpreg fics and art created and it physically hurts because Steve and Keith's voice actor is the same person meaning this is especially cursed to me since I was unfortunately in the v*ltron fandom and remember all of that

But like on another note, how old are these characters again??? I haven't checked any wikis because of spoilers but is Steve an adult??? I know aja might be technically a lot older than 18 because alien but is whatever age she is equivalent to an adult as far as emotionally and physically in Akaridion development??? IS THIS A TEEN (M)PREGNANCY IN A KIDS SHOW????

Like bruh I saw a singular post on here before going into the movie that was like "rott spoilers without context" and there was a pregnant belly but I was absolutely not expecting the actual context of it. I'll find the post after I finish and edit this post to tag the creator right here: @makoden

This entire post is just gonna be me ranting about mpreg huh

Anyway I love the whole roundtable allusion to the legends of king arthur (not the toa version but the one he's based off)

THERE'S 3 TO 5 BABIES????? I need to take a break bruh this is just too much

Alright I've taken a 30 minute break got some food and did some things i love (decompressed by tactile stimming with some owl plushies and watched some videos on my favorite owl, Garu. He lives in Japan with his owner and is a domesticated eagle owl who basically just acts like a sky cat. If anyone else needs some eye bleach, here is their YouTube channel)

Blinky and ARRRGHHH!!! saying their "if one of us doesn't make it" talk my god one of them is going to die I can see it and I will be utterly crushed. Jim can't lose another father figure and Toby can't lose his wingman again I will riot if this happens

On a similar but unrelated to the movie note, can we just talk about how toa started with Jim having 0 dads and (if strickler and blinky live to the end) will end with 2 dads? Like I just really feel happy for him that he has two dads who actually figured out how to put the past behind them to not have any infighting between them so that both of them are healthy father figures. Jim has already been through literal hell and back losing his actual humanity in the process so if he loses one of them, I'm going to be really pissed because at this point, this is just Jim torture porn. Y'all know how as SpongeBob SquarePants went on, the show just became Squidward torture porn? It's starting to feel that way for toa and I really hope they cut the shit by the ending

Jlaire is such a good ship but like I feel like it's too perfect they never disagree with each other

YESSSSSSS Someone finally doesn't treat toby like a fat waste of space who messes stuff up!!! I think out of all the characters that would have been most deserving of a rewrite, it's Toby. Sometimes I just feel he's only comic relief and any heartfelt moments he's had in the series was also born of stupidity (ie his flour baby project being unharmed was seen by him as divine intervention from his parents but was actually just Eli and Steve behind the scenes).

Ohhhhh yesssssss Archie's father!!! I was hoping I'd see him again because we got so little of him last

Ooooooooooh Asian trollmarket!!!!!

Oh never mind slavery trollmarket

Bruh titanic camelot

I feel like we're not seeing enough of the villains because I completely forgot about the power ranger zord things

NAMORA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY LAST CRUSHHHH

STRICKLER NO NOT YOU TOO PLEASE

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE ONLY TWO CHARACTERS I SIMP FOR ON THIS SHOW DIED WITHIN FIVE MINUTES OF EACH OTHER

THAT WHOLE ASS RANT I WROTE IS COMING TRUE FUCK THIS MOVIE THIS SERIES IS JUST JIM TORTURE PORN

WAIT JIM'S SPERM DONOR INFO?

Oh thank God I don't want to know anything about that person

For the record, I call that man Jim's sperm donor because he has no business being called a father to him. All he did was donate some swimmers to the creation of him and give him abandonment issues

Oh another blind troll elder???? This fucker is just if vendel was a bad guy

Bruh I was grieving

PACIFIC RIM WITH GUN ROBOT VEX AND THE BELROCZORD? I've never seen that movie but I know the reference

Bruh Blinky doesn't read horoscopes? Does he realize conspiracy theories are just the manly version of horoscopes?

NO DON'T KILL VEX STOP KO-ING FOUND FAMILY MEMBERS

Oh thank God he's okay

NO NOT ARCHIE AND CHARLEMAGNE OH MY GOD

oh never mind they're just gonna coup de tat I believe in them :))

But I want to see him again

But I'm glad to see vex

Yay they're in arcadia!

But yeah I wondered why the trolls and Merlin didn't keep the whole "daylight doesn't hurt trolls" feature from the eternal night but now Guillermo del Toro I see you were playing the long con in that just to kill my girl Namora :(((

Oooooh I love the animation of the Narizord over Chihuahua!! It looks very good and realistic (if only they could have put some of that into those huskies from before smh)

Bruh the character designs of the arcane order are so good I want to be them

Nari making sure the Skraelzord doesn't crush the bus

DAMN DOUBLE HOMICIDE

Bruh I'm just glad we finally have an answer on why arcadia had everything going on as opposed to literally anywhere else!! I always found that as a weird coincidence for plot convince.

BRUH WERE BACK TO THE MPREG IM SO JEALOUS I FORGOT ABOUT THAT EVEN THOUGH IT WAS BECAUSE I WAS GRIEVING THE LOSS OF MY LOVELIES.

Oh that's real convenient that the ninth configuration meant all of them. Way to not decide which character gets more attention. Though it probably was a smart way to not have any infighting in the fandom between each character's stan group.

Bruh I just realized where is Barbera did they just ditch her on the Camelot ship???

And where are the other trolls that migrated at the end of trollhunters s3? They said something about new jersey but obviously Jim and the other main characters got on Camelot instead.... This feels like a plot hole

And we never learned the process of how changelings are made and bonded to humans and stuff. We just know it's super painful but I'm curious ffs!!!!

THE DONT THINK BECOME HERO SPEECH ALL SAID TOGETHER!!!

BRUH THEY REALLY HAD TO SHOW HIM GIVING BIRTH??????? WAS THAT AN ABSOLUTE MUST??????

Plus the main audience for this series is little children (the rating for the movie is literally TV-Y7) so even though my adult ass is not in the target audience, I STILL DONT UNDERSTAND WHY WOULD MPREG AND ANAL BIRTH WOULD BE AN IMPORTANT THING TO 7 YEAR OLDS???? THIS IS A LITERAL FETISH HIDDEN IN KIDS CONTENT ITS ELSAGATE ALL OVER AGAIN Y'ALL 😭😭😭😭😭

Though it's probably hypocritical of me to think fetishes don't belong in kids tv when I've openly admitted to thirsting for strickler and namora

HUZZAH

NEW AMULET WAZ GOOD????

STAB THAT BITCH JIM

WAIT NO I SAID STAB NOT GET STABBED

Alright good job just missed the directions at first but you fixed it

SEVEN KIDS?????????

T O B Y ????????????

W A I T NO

N O

IS HE ACTUALLY

OH MY GOD THERE'S HOPE

NO THERE ISN'T

F U C K THIS SHIT THEY REALLY JUST HAD HIM TO BE BULLIED THEN KILLED

Y'ALL IM ACTUALLY CRYING THIS NEVER HAPPENS

I NEVER ACTUALLY GET SO EMOTIONAL OVER MEDIA THAT I CRY IT ONLY HAPPENED ONCE AT THE END OF VOLTRON BUT AHHHHHHHH

W A I T

HE'S GONNA BE BROUGHT BACK?????

HOLD UP THEY'RE JUST GONNA BRING ALL THOSE DEAD PEOPLE BACK??????

WAIT IS HE

BLINKY CALLED HIM A SON

HOLD ON IS THIS GOING TO BE A CLIFFHANGER???????????

BRUH THEY REALLY JUST CAN'T END THE SERIES WITHOUT CLIFFHANGERS like there's always an open ending

TROLLHUNTER TOBY????? You know what forget the whole rants I had on how toby was written they just redeemed it all

And that's all! I'd rate it a 6.5/10 because it's definitely the weakest of all the sequels but still had amazing animation and some good plot points. It's just really hard to look over the bad stuff enough to rate it any higher.

[vickyvicarious]

Just as I was about to go to sleep last night, I got a brain flash that went basically "something something flashback episode thiefsome themes???" so now in the light of day let's re-examine. This still isn't anything too polished, but... I think there's some interesting stuff to be found here.

Putting it under a tag so it doesn't clog up peoples' dashes too much, but the gist is that their roles actually represent their relationships/desires at each respective point in canon quite well, and it's giving me some thoughts about what a possible flashback with Hardison/Eliot would look like.

In the van Gogh Job, we get flashback Parker/Hardison. Obviously it wasn't them and the names are different and all but I'm just gonna call them f!Hardison and f!Parker because it's easier.

f!Hardison is brave, clever, determined, and deeply in love

f!Parker is loyal, comfortable, just as deeply in love, but terrified

Their flashback story is a cautionary tale as much as it is a romance. F!Hardison shares so many traits with Hardison himself, and f!Parker is a clear representation of current Parker. They make no bones about it, the parallels are extremely obvious and are even what makes the guy start telling Parker his story in the first place. Parker loves Hardison but she has found a place to belong in the team (flashback town/roller rink) and is afraid of what will happen if she disturbs that status quo by getting into a relationship with him. She's too scared of losing him (flashback to her racist dad/his buddies killing or hurting him, modern to the possibility of death mostly) to take the step to actually be with him, even though they both know she wants to. I love that there isn't any hint of her doubting his feelings or that he will remain devoted in either flashback or modern; the focus is entirely on her own fears for him and how she would handle that, not ever of him in any way.

Regardless of the timeframe, it's clear that (f!)Hardison loves her and will respect what she is willing to give him, even if that means leaving her. In the flashback, f!Parker still loves him and saves his painting in his honor for the rest of her life, remaining loyal to him despite never seeing him again. None of the emotion is in question at all, and it's clear that if she is willing to give it, her faith in him will be completely justified.

The episode basically just acts out Parker's fears (puppet-style?) and demonstrates to her that even though she would be fine if she doesn't take the leap - she'll be so much happier if she does. There's no guarantee of a happy ending, but Hardison is still himself and that means that before that ending comes at the very least, she will be happy. (Much like Sophie's beautiful speech to her.) Parker was already beginning to ease into a relationship with him, and this episode doesn't exactly drive her to jump in headfirst, but it's clear when we watch her reaction to the story what she will choose. She's going to build up her courage, but she's going to take the risk.

.

Now, given how transparent that episode is on their pairing, I kind of wondered what would happen if I look at the one that pairs Parker/Eliot's flashback selves: the D.B. Cooper Job.

f!Parker is understanding, supportive, loyal, and gives him a place to belong

f!Eliot starts out doing something bad for the sake of someone he loves, is drawn to her, and later feels wracked by guilt and seeks redemption by helping others

The focus in this one obviously isn't on the romance. It isn't even on either of these characters, so much as it is on Nate and his flashback self. But the parallels between modern and f!Eliot are still pretty apparent, if a bit watered down in that f!Eliot has no intentions to hurt anyone and in fact takes pains not to do so.

But as far as pairings go, I think what they do between these two is pretty interesting. Their flashback characters are drawn to one another, feel a kind of understanding and recognition that they can't quite explain. It's why f!Parker stops him before he jumps and never gives him up, it's why f!Eliot trusts her in the first place and why he shows up at her door after it is all over. I think this is a really nice parallel to the way Eliot and Parker understand one another and have this connection that is different from the rest of the team.

The other thing I like a lot is that in this episode, f!Parker is the steady support. She represents the home f!Eliot longs to have, even if she isn't the one who eventually offers him the chance to help others and make his own redemptive efforts. In fact, him working with f!Nate starts out for selfish reasons and only later evolves into a place where he feels he belongs. That's another obvious parallel to the Eliot we know, but the Parker in this episode is a little less immediately recognizable. Sure, she's an incredibly loyal person and will obviously not care overmuch about crime or whatever but mostly it's harder to see her as much in that role.

But I think she serves much the same role here as f!Hardison in the other episode. Though modern Eliot isn't hearing this story and making any resolutions based on it, the casting still represents their relationship. Parker is growing steadily into the position of leader/mastermind, and at this point she and Hardison are openly together. She is someone who understands Eliot on a very deep level, and she is coming to be the person who is his rock. While I'm not discounting Hardison's importance at all, Parker more closely fits the role of the person who encouraged him to take the job in this flashback. She's the one who, only three episodes later in Rundown, verbalizes a promise to change together. She (and also Hardison) represent the home Eliot craves to have, the belonging and support necessary for him to grow and to do good in the world. What's more, f!Parker is accurate in representing her side of things as someone who wants that for him. She wants to invite him in, wants to support him even if it's from a bit more of a distance at first (pre-relationship) but would absolutely welcome him inside as soon as he shows up at her door (once he's ready, she will bring him into the thiefsome).

And Rundown shows us that in action, again only three episodes later. Not in the sense of canon thiefsome, but Parker and Hardison are absolutely supporting Eliot leaving his darker past behind, changing with them for the better - and not just getting away with his own hands clean, but doing the extra work to help others (going after the guy who tried to hire him instead of just leaving town; again when they realize how serious the situation is but stay to fix it). The episode even ends with Eliot literally throwing away the crutch that would allow him to walk on his own, and pull them both in to support him instead. He's in the middle, he's deciding to join them even if he could get by alone, it's all representative for them welcoming him into the relationship too. (I headcanon something went down between them here but it isn't all cleared up relationship-wise until the Toy Job, but either way the themes are there!)

.

So with this in mind... The flashback with Hardison/Parker focused on Parker and her fears/decision to enter into a relationship with Hardison. Similarly, the flashback with Eliot/Parker focuses more on him and his desire to join the relationship. For both of them, the episode represents a shift in their relationship with one another, something not entirely unknown before, but a step that is challenging for them personally. Still, this step leads to greater happiness and growth.

All that in mind... what would a Hardison/Eliot episode look like, if we got it in Redemption? I'm getting into slight spoiler territory here, so leave now if you haven't seen the first few episodes.

.

.

Okay, so since we've had more focus on Parker, and on Eliot, this episode would focus most on Hardison. It makes sense as well for his role in the new series, because while Parker and Eliot are a little more stable, Hardison is the one entering a challenging new period of his life that is difficult but helping him grow.

I don't have any kind of full plot figured out, but here are some things I think we might see:

f!Eliot is supportive, confident, and believes deeply in him

f!Hardison is bold, struggles with self-doubt, and upends his own life in order to change the world for the better

I think Eliot's role in this flashback would be smaller, but he'd love f!Hardison deeply and the focus would not be on their relationship developing, but on the challenges it would face as f!Hardison embarks on... whatever it is. It has to be something f!Eliot knows he cannot do, and maybe even something that might mean the end of their relationship (though much like the van gogh job, the love between them is never in question).

I've seen people mentioning a Stonewall flashback episode for these two before, and that's possible. But another thing we could see is f!Hardison working against racist laws or something. Whatever the case, he needs to be doing something that benefits many, many other people, and it needs to put him at personal risk. I'm not entirely sure on what would be holding Eliot back from helping in the same way - it may just be as simple as f!Hardison gives amazing speeches and inspires so many people, while f!Eliot just doesn't have that skill. Maybe he is sick. Maybe, their relationship does end up attracting violence, and he gets hurt (doesn't even have to be their romantic relationship, if we're going a race angle and setting this episode further back, it could just be an open friendship with their romance kept secret. the themes would still be there). Whatever the case, f!Hardison has to leave Eliot behind.

And yeah, this has already happened in canon. We're already here. But if we wanted this episode to happen, I think it would be possible for the themes to still be relevant and the challenge to still be there for Hardison's character, if something brings him back to the team. If something goes down and he isn't there, and it terrifies him that he wasn't there, and he has trouble leaving again even though his work isn't done. Or if he organizes something on his end of the world that goes horribly wrong somehow. Sometimes it's not the first step that's hardest, it's keeping on even after the first big challenge. No road is free of bumps, after all, so Hardison might well think he's fine at first but start having doubts even after things have been going well for a while.

That is where you can bring this episode into play. That's where you start - f!Hardison is already getting involved in activism of some kind, but his own fame brings about negative consequences or something unrelated happens, and it scares him and makes him consider giving his work up. The episode can be bittersweet, with them never reuniting, or it can have a happier ending where he returns and f!Eliot is still waiting for him. But it's important for Eliot to represent a home that Hardison is already comfortable in, and one he has to leave in order to help others (however temporary the leaving is). And we need to see him away from the team, thriving and growing and improving so many peoples' lives in ways that never would have happened without him - both in the flashback, and in the modern part of the episode. In fact, Hardison doesn't even need to actually be physically with the team at all in the modern part of the episode. It can be more like the Broken Wing job, where we get hints at what they are doing but the focus is entirely on him and his struggle.

Of course, I have no idea how this would tie in to a modern heist. But maybe the format could be changed up, if we focus more on Hardison outside of the team. I'm sure there's some way this could be worked. And I think it would do really well in completing the trio of thiefsome episodes, and giving equal emphasis on all three of them in each one.

[not-poignant]

Hi, Pia, would you mind sharing a little bit information about your current and future or maybe future projects? Like M&M, the Ef+Gary fic and Daemonos?

Only if youre ok with doing so tho. Thanks x

Hi anon!

There's actually a Mallory & Mount tag already set up so all the posts I've made about it (and there's quite a few!) can be checked out if you scroll down.

There's also an AU fic already that introduces you to the characters here, called Three Choices :D

I'm not comfortable talking in too much detail about the Ef/Gary fic until I know more about it, because I don't like locking things down until I have more, however there's already a playlist, and the title will be Underline the Black. I've said here and elsewhere that it will be omegaverse, and feature Efnisien being sent to a facility to be rehabilitated as an omega. I posted an excerpt the other day in the Discord so I'll post that here too:

Red galaxies fired beneath Efnisien’s eyelids. He was aware of pain all over and thought for a moment he was back on Crielle’s metal table, and he took a breath and held it despite the pain in his chest and his ribs, like he’d been beaten. He was no stranger to that either, and a perverse pride flowed through him, because he was alive, because he wasn’t whining like some bitch omega.

If I go ahead with Underline the Black, which is looking more and more likely, it won't start until after Falling Falling Stars has finished.

Daemonos is literally a project that's 5-10 years away (and with the cancer I have, I might not even be alive then - though here's hoping), it's coming after Mallory & Mount, so aside from a playlist, and like two posts, I'm not really comfortable saying much more than that. It'll focus on demonolatry, but if I say much more that's basically giving away a plot, and I have sadly had people steal my plots before, so I'm just...not really prepared to give much by the way of details, especially since it's so far away in the grand scheme of things that I might get interested in a new project between then and now, and it may never get written!

These days I'm a bit more wary about talking about projects in too much detail if they're like half a decade away, or alternatively, could be spoilery without me realising (i.e. a detail I decide is fine to reveal now, could end up being really handy as a spoiler later on! The Ice Plague went through huge huge changes from concept to execution as well, and me saying 'I'm going to do this' and then doing something completely different risks letting people down! So while I do like talking about future projects, we're talking about a timeline so far off into the future I'm not sure if I'll even still be writing at all, and it becomes more of an existential exercise than a fun one lol)

But hopefully that helps!

[tigris-types]

How to fix Barbie: Big City Big Dreams

Give it more screen time.

And I have some ideas how to fill up that screen time, spoilers below.

So this movie was only an hour and I feel the story was trying be similar to Rockn Royals with spotlight solo at the end, but it didn't have as strong of a story as Rockn Royals. More screen time could help with this, but I think changing the conflict a little would work too. Here is how I see my "rewrite" going:

Movie opens up the same with the daydream and meeting Brooklyn. They still arrive a day early, but they don't become best friends right away. They figure out nicknames and start to unpack. They sing about what their goals are for the program. Brooklyn sees this as a stepping stone to Broadway, Malibu sees this as an opportunity to extend her viewership by gaining more skills (continuing the goal from princess adventure). Both want the spotlight solo and know of it beforehand. This song sets up their motivations and our expectations for the plot.

They finish unpacking, still have time left in the day, and even though they are competitors, and Brooklyn has lost friends over competition before (as mentioned in the song), she agrees to show Malibu around New York. They become friendlier towards each others, but idk if I would want to use Before US here or not. (I think I have a better place for it)

The conversation happens on the subway as it does, they make their pact. And Barbie doesn't fall asleep, she is on California time, and shouldn't get tired until after Brooklyn who is on NY time. Brooklyn however mentions jet lag and how her mom is a pilot so she knows if they don't return now, Malibu will regret it the next day.

This is where we get Malibu sleeping in as they attend the first day. They have the announcement for the spotlight solo and the hint that Lee is more than she seems. Malibu is falling behind and they sing Work It. Ken calls, Barbie mentions how she doesn't know how Brooklyn does it, and he suggests she asks her. Ken also says, "I believe you can be anything" because I think it would be a funny way to bring in the tag line for Barbie dolls.

Anyways, she she ends up asking Brooklyn, and even though they are competitors, Malibu says competition is about bringing out the best in each other. So Brooklyn helps, they become better friends and then you have Before Us, but more focused on surviving class than exploring New York.

The song ends with one of the teachers praising Malibu and Brooklyn is just a twinge jealous. As they leave class, they run into Gato and meet Rafa. Now that classes have begun, it makes since he would already have dresses prepared (instead of on the first day, cause that made no sense to me).

Brooklyn and Malibu go the park, try on the dresses, they work with spinning, maybe we should mention this to Rafa. Same as movie.

They return to class and reminders for auditions for the spotlight solo are either heard or seen in posters. Malibu and Brooklyn comment on how they both want it, but it would be even better if they could win it together. (This line is a set up for later)

They meet Lee at the cafeteria and her identity is revealed, same as the movie. And idk, I feel like there should be another song here, maybe about Brooklyn's and Lee's past and how fame isn't all that great. This is a musical, and there could have been more songs.

The day next Lee's dad comes and they have their confrontation. Rafa films class and the accident. Malibu assures Brooklyn it is an accident and while she mostly believes her, Brooklyn does know competition can do crazy things to people. She suspious, but brushes it off.

In this version, I'm not sure how Good Vibes would work. Maybe the lyrics are rewritten and its about lifting each other up instead. It's a call back to how Malibu asked Brooklyn for help, and now Malibu can help Brooklyn. Both girls help Rafa with the spinning-shimmer dresses, and Malibu helps Brooklyn with cruth choreography for the spotlight solo audition.

When they return to school, the Barbies are called into the dean's office. Malibu is expelled for sabotage and is told she will be on the 7pm flight out of New York (idk times, it just needs to be dramatic) Malibu walks out sadly as Brooklyn walks in. Malibu is too sad to say a word to her and walks off screen to her dorm. Rafa tries to call out but doesn't follow. Brooklyn talks to the Dean, and as she leaves the office Lee walks up and says she just saw Malibu packing her things, whats going on? Brooklyn explains and exclaims how she knew it all along that Malibu was out to get her. Rafa and Lee try to comfort her and Lee tries to say how maybe it's like her situation and things aren't what they seem. Brooklyn doesn't want to hear her it and sings Playground of Our Dreams.

Rafa and Lee talk, they remember the video, Rafa goes to the Dean as Lee tries to find Brooklyn (gotta repair that friendship). The Dean is shocked at the video and agrees to reenroll Malibu but her flight is about to take off soon. But luckily, someone knows a pilot!

Brooklyn calls her mom to stall the flight and she meets up with Malibu at the airport. She interrupts a phone call between Malibu and her parents as Malibu tells them the bad news. Brooklyn explains, and then Malibu tells her parents the good news. Her parents also decide to fly out to New York to support both of them in the spotlight solo auditions. (Basically Malibu stays in New York and doesn't return home because that made no sense.)

They return to school, and we see Lee confronting her dad. As it turns out, after Brooklyn went to get Malibu, Lee confronted her dad about it like in the movie. Expect this takes place at night instead during the day. She also now has audio evidence to her dad admitting what he did (a nod to spy tech from Spy Squad but this time its from Rafa).

The next scene is Malibu and Brooklyn practicing for the spotlight solo. It's a montages and they sing See You at the Finish Line. They are competing against on another, but together at the same time. The song ends with them preforming on the audition stage. The Dean commends them on their effort but says only one can have the spotlight and results will be posted tomorrow.

It says Barbie Roberts. But the girls have an idea, since it's both their names, both of them should get the spotlight. Lee says she might be able to make that work and Rafa says he has the perfect costumes for them.

Lee goes to her Dad who is talking with the Dean and is in the process of trying to cancel the spotlight since his daughter didn't get it (or try to change the candidate to someone more worthy, like his daughter! He says as she walks up to him). As Lee walks up,, the Dean gets a call and excuses herself. Lee then threatens to release the audio of her Dad admitting his interference if he doesn't back down. He back downs and then complains about business and how he was "only" trying to help "his little girl shine". The Dean returns and say their MC of the even just got sick and they need a replacement or Lee's Dad might get his wish.

Lee then steps up and says she could MC, she does know Emmie Lee after all. *wink wink nudge nudge*

Lee makes it possible for both Barbies to have the spotlight, and she introduces them like in cannon. This time, it makes sense why she is hosting. They sing Big City Big Dreams, and when the camera pans to both their families it's also makes sense they are there.

Movie ends, curtains draw, and that's how I would fix this movie.

[eagles-translated]

Analyzing the writing of Eagles

Here's a post I've been wanting to make for a while! I've expressed my thoughts on some of the storylines in previous posts, but I've never done a complete post on the writing of the whole show. I've divided this post into separate parts, focusing on each season and its plot points. Keep reading to see my analysis of the writing in Eagles! 👇 Word Count: 18k

If you've stumbled upon this post from the Young Royals or the Beartown tag (tagged them since I've drawn some parallels from those shows), here's a brief summary of what Eagles is, which you can watch with English subtitles here. This post contains Eagles spoilers from 1x01 - 3x10.

Eagles is a Swedish TV show that revolves around a few teenagers living in the Swedish ice hockey town Oskarshamn while experiencing friendship, love, and rivalry on the ice.

To start this off I would like to say that I have no experience with professional screenwriting and if anything, this is just a way for me to procrastinate on actually writing my own projects.

I love experiencing new stories and when I discover one I really like it's just natural for me to branch off with "what ifs" and to start wondering how the story would've turned out if some things were changed. Sometimes it's with a storyline improvement in mind, and other times it's just out of plain curiosity.

You might feel like this post is leaning towards the critical side, and I can definitely understand why since there are a lot of small details that I've picked apart from all seasons. I added a section for each season with things that I thought were really well done so this post wouldn't be too negative.

I actually did enjoy all seasons and I feel like the quality of not just the writing but every single thing has steadily increased each year.

Season 1: Tropes and clichés

Eagles premiered its first season in 2019 and was, despite many negative reviews, a big success among its target audience. Every episode on SVT Play amassed around 700 000–800 000 views and there didn't seem to be any doubt that the show would get renewed.

What the critics had issues with were that "Eagles rarely takes the unexpected path, and feels like a slightly soulless product of studied target group thinking a little too often," (Karolina Fjellborg in Aftonbladet) and "In Eagles, the characters seem to be locked in the role of a "teenager" but the humanity is missing. They've simplified the construction of the character," (Django Lorentzson in MovieZine).

Eagles was unfortunate enough to constantly be compared to SKAM in its infancy, and that's a tough comparison to live up to. SVT sort of shot themselves in the foot as they were the ones who contributed to it. While the show was still in the casting process, SVT wrote an article hyping the show up as a Swedish SKAM (which has since been edited, but led many to falsely believe that it would involve all the familiar SKAM characters with some hockey elements sprinkled in).

So, why exactly did critics think the first three episodes of the show were predictable and soulless? Well, it's pretty simple. They'd seen it all before. The setting, the characters, the storylines—just in different TV shows and movies.

Season 1 for me is nostalgic and very enjoyable despite its clichéd nature. I also felt like I'd seen the show before due to its generic storylines, but there is a reason why tropes are tropes and why clichés are clichés. It's because they're tried and true, and actually somewhat good writing tools as long as you expand on them. The keyword here is to expand—a story doesn't magically become good simply because you mimic something another writer has done. Tropes are fine to use but you can't just apply them and stop there. Everything in a story needs to be developed in order to be good.

It's safe to say that it's pretty much impossible to write a story without any tropes that have been used before. Striving to avoid clichés at all costs in hopes of making your story as original as possible is harder than it sounds, and almost impossible to boot. Here's a great piece of advice for aspiring writers written by a user on Carvezine:

[...] if you look down at your story and are worried it’s already been told before – don’t spend another second thinking about it. It has. A million times. The only difference is that it hasn’t been told by you. Accept that regurgitation is part of writing, and just do your best not to regurgitate the same way as the guy next to you. We’d all do well to acknowledge there is at least a portion of our stories that are really someone else’s. [...] Beyond that, write with the motivation that if you don’t get around to telling your story, eventually somebody else will.

Even the greatest books have storylines with some clichés. And that's not really a bad thing, either. Think about it. How many times have you decided to binge a TV show solely because it reminded you of another series? Or picked up a book simply because you love a good enemies to lovers romance, a battle between good and evil fantasy, or whatever it might be?

I found this article from Masterclass that perfectly describes what tropes are and why they're used. It's written from the perspective of novel writing but it is still applicable.

A trope in literary terms is a plot device or character attribute that is used so commonly in the genre that it’s seen as commonplace or conventional. For example, a trope in superhero stories is a villain who wants to take over the world. Tropes are popular for a reason—if something has been written about over and over again, there’s a good chance that it’s something readers enjoy reading! Tropes can be helpful, but a novel made up only of tropes will quickly start to feel stale and predictable to readers. That’s why you need to read up on tropes—and then innovate. Deliberately taking a favorite trope and turning it on its head is a great way to put your own unique spin on the genre and keep your readers interested.

Eagles, in its first season, didn't really do a lot of expanding upon the tropes they used and it's understandable that they were still trying to find their footing. I can also imagine it's difficult to do so when you only have eight 20 minute episodes in the season.

However... There definitely should've been more work put into these characters to make them their own. It's tricky, yes, but still achievable if you don't abandon them in their cookie-cutter form and try to actually decorate them with something unique and fresh.

So, how did they write their characters?

Felicia's character and backstory

To start off, Felicia is a famous influencer known for starring in a reality show next to her former NHL professional father. There's already a clear disconnect because it's hard to relate to a character with such a public past and large following. But it is 100% possible if you let the viewer know the character has humane qualities just like the person watching the show.

Look at Wilhelm from Netflix's Young Royals, another Swedish TV show. Wilhelm is the prince of Sweden, set to attend a prestigious elite boarding school, and is the heir to the throne. That doesn't exactly sound like a relatable scenario, does it? And yet the writers make it work because when we're introduced to Wilhelm we realize he's just like everybody else. He wants a normal life, he latches on to his older brother for support, he has anxiety, and he struggles between following his heart versus doing what his family is expecting him to do. A lot of these factors are relatable among the audience.

So, let's look at Felicia Kroon. She is in many ways portrayed as the main character of the show. Eagles starts off with her family having moved to Oskarshamn and the following episodes focus on her developing relationship with Ludde as well as her traumatic past. There's almost too much focus on Felicia here, and I'll get back to that.

Comparing Felicia to Wilhelm from Young Royals, they're both well-known teenagers with famous parents. Of course they have different circumstances considering Felicia is Instagram popular and Wilhelm is a blood royal, but in the grand scheme of things they're similar. Felicia is even referred to as a "Kroon princess" because of her last name Kroon bearing a resemblance to the Swedish word kronprinsessa, meaning crown princess.

The students of their respective schools treat their attendance as a big deal when they first arrive and then Wilhelm and Felicia start spending time with the "popular" crowd despite not really fitting in there.

I personally found it easy to relate to Wilhelm but difficult to relate to Felicia. Some people may feel differently, but her character is basically a popular party girl who attracts the attention of one of the school's star players and is "welcomed" by the popular crowd on her first day of school. I put welcome in quotation marks because Klara, the leader of the girl group, isn't exactly the most welcoming person but she does welcome Felicia to the school. My point is, Felicia doesn't have a lot of relatable traits in the first episodes.

Felicia then goes on a date with the guy she's met, Ludde. Okay, so there haven't been that many layers to her character yet. We're at the third episode and so far she's been kind of flat.

Near the end of the third episode, we get some depth to the character and we hear her back story.

Felicia: [...] We don’t have a good relationship, my dad and I. And that’s probably why we moved from the beginning, because he’s an idiot. We’ve never been close, but… Elias and he have been since they’ve had hockey. [...] And mom has been really involved, so… And I… They’ve never really cared about me. And… And I haven’t really been a problem either. I’ve had good grades, good friends, and… I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I don’t talk about it to people. [...] I just felt so fucking lonely and invisible. I was worried all the time, couldn’t sleep, panicked because I couldn’t sleep… So I started going out more. It went overboard. It started affecting school, my grades slipped… I started taking things to be able to concentrate. Everybody does stuff like that. And then I still couldn’t sleep, so… I started mixing with sleeping pills. And there’s always wine and booze at our place. I don’t want this to come out, that’s really important. Ludde: Of course, I’d never tell. Felicia: One night, something happened that made me… Act out of control more than usual. I woke up the next morning in the hospital. So they sent me to rehab. It was really rough for mom and dad that I was suddenly in focus. When I woke up, dad wasn’t even there. Ludde: What made you take too much that night? Felicia: I’d forgotten my phone at home, so I ran up and got it while my friends were waiting in an Uber. Then I came into the hall and I heard noises. You know, like, when somebody is doing it. Ludde: Okay. Felicia: And I thought it was really weird because mom wasn’t home. So I went into the living room… Dad was fucking my mom’s best friend. On the rug below the couch.

This gives Felicia more layers and does separate her from every other "popular pretty party girl" trope that you see on TV. But this is a huge info dump, and that's a problem. I would've liked to see this happen on-screen instead of only being told what went down. The golden rule of Show don't tell, as people like to say.

Show, don’t tell is a writing technique in which story and characters are related through sensory details and actions rather than exposition. It fosters a style of writing that’s more immersive for the reader, allowing them to “be in the room” with the characters. In his most commonly repeated quote, Chekhov said, “Don’t tell me the moon is shining. Show me the glint of light on broken glass."

This back story could've been more impactful that way if, perhaps, the show began with Felicia in a hospital bed with a strong headache and hazy flashbacks of that night where she saw her dad sleeping with another woman. Then we're introduced to her mother and brother sitting next to the hospital bed tired and worried, and Felicia notices her dad isn't present. They tell her Felicia is being sent to rehab and then there's a time-jump before we see the Kroon family having moved to Oskarshamn.

That's just an idea I threw together at the top of my head, but you get my point. It would've been more interesting if we knew from the beginning that Felicia had a traumatic past like this, leading the viewer to want to know more about what actually happened.

We did get a brief flashback at the very beginning of the show—we see Felicia partying with her friends and taking some pill before lying unconscious on the ground. There's also a glimpse of Ludde's car accident with Andreas yelling at him to get out of there.

That segment only lasts for around 45 seconds and it's easily forgettable upon your first viewing of the show. It's also hard to even recognize Felicia in the dark nightclub setting with the flashing lights. Some dialogue in that short scene could've made it more memorable, because I found that when I first watched season 1 I remembered Andreas yelling at Ludde despite that being drowned out by the music.

Ludde's backstory was way more well-done, in my opinion. We see him having crashed the car and bleeding from his head. He looks terrified and almost frozen by fear, needing to be pulled out of the car by a panicked Andreas yelling at him to bring Ludde back to the reality of the situation. We see Andreas yelling and pointing, telling Ludde he needs to run now. It's more powerful when we get to see it.

And in episode 8, when we learn the truth of what happened, it's not a long and dragged-out monologue. It fits into what's going on in the story. Felicia and Ludde have known each other for a few months now and are much closer than they were on their first date. They've had disagreements and fights, but at this moment they're in a good place.

And it feels like the right moment for Ludde to come clean about what happened to him.

Ludde: Hey… There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you. Felicia: What? Ludde: About… My brother. It’s not really as everybody thinks. Felicia: What do you mean? Ludde: That night when he crashed… It wasn’t Andreas who drove the car. We were on our way home from one of his buddies. We’d had some fun drinking. And then… I’d just started learning how to drive. So I nagged and nagged at him. Felicia: So you were the one driving? But he’s an adult- Ludde: He was drunk as hell. He was going to leave the car, but I thought it was so cold and it was only three blocks away so I thought that I could drive. Felicia: And what happened? Ludde: It was slippery and really dark… And a car came. I hit the brakes in time, but it… Yeah. Right after he pushed me out of the car and yelled that I should run home straight away. He really didn’t want me to get into trouble. So, yeah… It was fucking bad luck. I want to just gather everybody and scream that it was me. Felicia: Hey… I love you. Ludde: I love you too. I love you so fucking much.

As Ludde is telling Felicia what happened as the other car came, we see a silent flashback of it along with Ludde's voice narrating. We see Andreas pulling him out of the car and yelling. Cutting to this scene that we've already seen in the beginning but might've forgotten about is a smart choice and makes the story Ludde is telling more real. We see it unfolding as Ludde is telling this to Felicia. It's a powerful scene.

We then see Felicia hugging Ludde from behind, a sign of support with no words needed. She tells him she loves him and Ludde says it back. It's an honest and sweet moment that comes at a perfect time in the story. It's not too early like Felicia's backstory was.

I sort of understand why Felicia's backstory was info-dumped because it was right before the drama of Mats accidentally spilling the beans to Klara's family. They wanted the audience to know what happened to her early, so they could move on to the plot point of Felicia thinking Ludde was the one who told everybody.

But we don't need every single detail of Felicia's story. Let it come organically. The only thing that was really needed was for Ludde to know that Felicia had struggled with drug use and was sent to rehab for this storyline to work. The reason why could've been saved for later, and it would've made for a more interesting reveal. Maybe just have Felicia allude to seeing something that night, but don't tell the viewers right away what it was.

In 1x06, Felicia is incredibly upset when she hears that her dad was the one who told Klara's family what happened to Felicia in the US. And rightly so.

Felicia: Don’t you get it? You ruined everything! Mats: What? Felicia: You told the whole damn town about me! About the US! Mats: I really didn’t mean to disclose you- Or disclose us. Sorry. Hey, sorry. Flisan, please. Hey. Felicia: Did you tell them you fucked mom’s best friend too? Yes, I saw you.

If this had been the moment where we first find out what Felicia saw, it would've been more surprising. Our reaction would've mirrored Mats's, and it would've been more heart-wrenching to know that Felicia was traumatized by an affair her dad had only to be cheated on herself in the very same episode.

Ludde's problematic nature

One of the scriptwriters of Eagles, Fanny Ekstrand, was interviewed in the behind-the-scenes documentary Edvins Skådisdrömmar. In this interview, she states:

Ludvig, he's the one who's been the easiest to retain the personality of. Because he's so... He's calm and friendly, but he makes dumb decisions. Ludvig isn't a typical hockey guy. He has a bunch of other qualities—music being one of them.

I found myself slightly disagreeing with this take, despite knowing Ekstrand is literally a part of the writing team and most likely helped shaped Ludde's personality. I just interpreted Ludde's character (at least in season 1) differently.

I also didn't find him that much different from any other typical hockey guy just because he happens to have another interest. That's a bit like saying Archie Andrews from The CW's Riverdale isn't a stereotypical jock because he also plays the guitar.

In season 1, we see Ludde break into the rink because he wanted to test out the ice. He just loves hockey that much. He also uses it as a way to express frustration and anger, which we saw in 1x05. He flirts with the new girl in school and in the beginning he even uses it as a tactic to gain a position on the main hockey team. This was confirmed by the creator Stefan H. Lindén in his Q&A, where he said:

My idea has always been that Ludde was blown away by Felicia and that he really likes her but that they both initially interacted and met to go swimming because Felicia knew it would piss her dad off and Ludde knew that it might throw Elias off since they were competing for the same position in the team.

I would say that the characteristics of a typical hockey guy would be someone like Adam—obsessed with the sport, flirting with girls, going to parties, and just spending a lot of time in the rink. Ludde checks off all of these points. However, I will give this the benefit of the doubt since season 2 Ludde seems to change a lot and it's easier to interpret him as the calm and friendly guy he was supposed to be in season 1.

So to me, Ludde wasn't calm and friendly at all. In season 2, yes, but when we're first introduced to him?

Ludde shows anger issues and violent tendencies in 1x05 when he head-butts Elias and breaks his nose. It's violent and messy. He then yells at Felicia to leave when she's trying to communicate with him and belittles her drug problems solely because she's rich. To me, Ludde wasn't a nice person in 1x04 either when he let his friends make suggestive comments about Felicia and what she was like in bed.

Omar: I can tell you one thing - you’re not borrowing my towel today cause I don’t know where that dick has been. Adam: It’s nice when she sucks, right? Omar: Can’t you tell us some more, does she bite you or is it just really, really nice? [...] Adam: Is that what you sound like when you’re coming? What does she sound like?

This was described as "locker room talk" and the writers probably wanted to show an authentic view of what being a hockey player is like. I understand that. But it's a little problematic when it's later swept under the rug and treated like something that we're just supposed to accept.

Elias: [...] it’s not very fun to sit in a hockey locker room where people are talking about how nice it is to fuck my sister. Felicia: Ludde would never say anything like that, you know that. Elias: He wouldn’t? It’s a locker room, Felicia. That’s the only thing they talk about.

It did not sit right with me how Felicia seemed to be the one Elias blamed in this scene, and Ludde and his friends never faced any real consequences for what they said. Elias did lash out at Ludde, but there was no severe consequence for Omar and Adam's comments.

Compare this scenario to another Swedish show, Beartown on HBO. Beartown is similar to Eagles and focuses on a hockey team in a small town with one of the star players hooking up with a girl who's recently moved to their small town.

This girl is raped by the hockey player. And because of his status as the star of the team, he has almost the whole school behind him. The girl however is labeled as a lying slut. It's unfair and frustrating to see it happen, but it's authentic and done in a way that doesn't glamorize the ugly side of hockey culture.

Eagles is not as dark as Beartown so this comparison might be a little unfair. Beartown's whole storyline did revolve around this incident while in Eagles the hockey culture is treated more as a side thought. It's like they decided to throw in a taste of what goes on in a locker room just to create drama without really addressing it further.

Beartown did a much better job of portraying the problematic and toxic elements of hockey culture without making it seem like it's just something normal that we should accept. It was honest and raw. If you haven't seen the show, this short video does a great job of depicting how much thought was put into the toxic hockey culture, winning mentality, and subsequently hockey players thinking they're entitled to do whatever they want.

So, to respond to Ekstrand's quote from Edvins Skådisdrömmar—I did not experience Ludde as a "good guy" who only makes dumb decisions at all. In season 1, he's a bad person for letting his friends sexualize a girl he likes and letting her brother hear their disgusting comments. He's a bad person for fighting with her brother and later yelling at her, saying her drug issues are insignificant despite acting supportive of her only two episodes earlier.

I don't mind conflicts like these because they drive the story forward. I didn't particularly like Ludde in season 1 because of the reasons I just stated, but they're necessary to create drama and make the show interesting.

It's just weird to me how one of the writers is saying that Ludde is a calm person and a good guy when that is not at all how I interpreted his character.

Eagles is a show targeted towards a young audience, among them probably a lot of easily influenced pre-teens. What kind of message does this send to them when the guy letting his friends sexualize a girl he's slept with and on top of that laughing at their inappropriate comments is referred to as the good guy?

Klara is mean... What else?

From the moment we're introduced to Klara, it seems obvious that she'll play a living and breathing version of the infamous Alpha Bitch trope. She's also a prime example of the basic Popular is Evil trope and has her own Girl Posse consisting of Sara and Amie.

Klara feels threatened by the arrival of a potential new popular girl, Felicia, and does everything in her power to bully Felicia to show dominance. She barely shows any good sides of herself.

The only instance I can think of where we sort of see season 1 Klara in a positive light is when she talks to Amie in 1x05 about their friendship and then accompanies Amie to her audition for the school band.

Klara: Ever since Felicia started at school… It’s felt like you only hang out with her and that you’ve forgotten about me. She like took you from me. Amie: But I haven’t forgotten you. Klara: No, but do you get what I mean? Amie: I get it, but I haven’t forgotten you. Klara: No, I know. Amie: I know, but it just turned out that way when school started. Klara: Okay. Amie: But I’m sorry. Klara: It’s fine. Amie: Are you sure? Klara: Yeah. You can make it up to me when you go on your world tour.

Klara is really supportive of Amie's musical endeavors, but she also uses her support as a way to alienate Felicia from the girl group. It's very on the nose and kind of feels suffocating in the way it's written.

Klara: Amie, did you remove the clips? Amie: Yeah, she said they weren’t good. Klara: She’s just jealous. It’s so obvious. I mean, I’m jealous. You sing absolutely amazing. I don’t know, I just think it was really rude of her to sit in the cafeteria and criticize you like that Amie: Yeah, maybe. But she apologized. Klara: But still. That clip of you in the bathroom… Like… Sorry, but I’d be so mad if someone had posted something like that of me. I mean, you were standing there without makeup, completely non-fixed up. And the whole thing with her filming you without you knowing. That’s really weird. You don’t do that. Don’t you think so?

I'm sure there are plenty of people who act like this in real life. And maybe that's part of the problem, because Klara in season 1 really isn't an interesting character. We've met this person before and we know exactly what she's like. There's nothing new to discover. So season 1 is essentially just Klara being petty and rude every chance she gets, and to me it felt like a large part of her character was written just to stir up drama.

In 1x06, we see Klara backstab Amie by filming her making out with Ludde at her Halloween party. But I thought it was established in 1x05 that Klara feels like Amie was taken from her? And if Klara actually cared about Amie and didn't want to lose her as a friend, she wouldn't just stand by and watch with her phone recording the whole thing. It doesn't make a lot of sense.

Klara even made that whole point about how it was really weird of Felicia to film Amie without her knowing. So why would Klara do it, when she expressed that's weird and not something a normal person does? Is that supposed to be foreshadowing? Because if so, that's a clear contradiction and not how foreshadowing works.

When Sara happens to see the video on Klara's phone she immediately says that Klara should delete it.

Sara: What is that? Did they know you were filming? Klara: No, of course they didn’t know. Sara: Oh my god, Klara. You should probably delete it. Klara: I’m going to! But it’s crazy, right? Sara: Yeah, god. But seriously, delete it. Klara: I’m going to.

So Klara says she's going to delete the video. But it's still unclear why it was filmed in the first place if Klara insists that she's going to delete it. It's not like she filmed it just to show it to Sara either, since Sara wasn't meant to see it and only saw it by chance while swiping through Klara's photos on her phone.

It doesn't make sense for Klara to film a video like that of her best friend that she's supposed to care about. It doesn't make sense for Klara to film a video of anybody without their knowledge when she previously made a big deal about how you shouldn't do that.

What Klara's character is, is a bad attempt at the classical mean girl. She's clichéd, boring, and full of tropes.

Even her eventual character development is riddled with tropes like the Heel Realization where a character realizes they're actually one of the bad guys. This realization seems to come in 1x08, where Felicia calls Klara out on her behavior.

Felicia: You know what, Klara. I’m so fucking tired of your fucking comments. You didn’t get to be Lucia this year. Poor you! Was dad unable to fix that? Cry then, Klara. Cry. You’re so fucking mean. Everybody here is tired- Everybody here is scared of you. Even those who liked you once, they can’t take it anymore. Klara: That’s not true. It’s not true. Felicia: Yes, everybody is scared of you. You know what? Look around. Show people some fucking respect. Klara: Well say something, Amie! Amie: What is there to say? She’s right.

Klara needed a wake-up call like this. It's just unfortunate that she goes back to her mean girl behavior and posts the video after Amie insinuated that Klara wasn't a real friend. Klara already knew that Amie felt that way since she said Felicia was right in her assessment of everybody being scared and tired of Klara. So wouldn't it have made more sense for Klara to post the video right after that moment instead of during Amie's performance?

Or rather, why not pull a Subverted Trope and not have Klara post the video at all after she realized how horrible she'd been acting? That would've made me respect her so much more and be a great introduction to her character development in season 2.

The Halloween Incident

To me, the whole Halloween episode was questionable. First off, we never got actual confirmation of what happened in that room between Amie and Ludde. Some viewers insist that they only made out and others believe they went all the way. Here's what the creator of the show, Stefan H. Lindén, had to say about this in a Q&A post he did:

I think if you went into the writers room of Eagles and asked all of us what really happened in that room [between Ludde and Amie at Klara's Halloween party] we would all have different answers.  I know what happened, but I’m not sure we will ever truly know for sure, unless Ludvig or Amie eventually are open enough to admit to anyone what really happened.

This is kind of a vague answer, but that's fair considering that when Stefan did this Q&A the latest episode that had been released was 2x05 and he probably didn't want to spoil anything. However, looking back at this answer knowing how the season turned out I still feel like it's unclear what happened. It's also strange that Stefan seems to be saying that they never actually decided what happened between them since the writers "would all have different answers".

1x06 was just an odd episode for me overall. Lots of things felt rushed and underdeveloped. Let's not forget that this episode also contained, in my opinion, some of the weirdest lines in the whole show (along with Elias's strange monologue about plague vampires).

Ludde: Hey, I only have like 3%. Do you have any power? Adam: Are you wondering if I have a power bank in my shorts? It’s coming-

Ludde: I like shellfish. (said to Amie, wearing a lobster costume)

Up until this episode, Ludde has shown zero interest and attraction towards Amie. We are basically told that Ludde only hooked up with Amie because he was so drunk that he practically had no idea what he was doing.

In 1x02, we see a drunk Amie try to kiss Tobbe and upon getting rejected she moves on to make out with Adam. She gets overly friendly when she's drunk so the fact that she makes out with Ludde later is... Weird, but not entirely out of the realms of possibility.

Ludde on the other hand is moping about Felicia all night. He regrets how he yelled at her at the end of 1x05 and it shows. He's trying to drown all his problems in alcohol and it seems to be working, because when it enters his system he seems to be on top of the world.

What I found kind of ambiguous in this incident was if Ludde even remembered what happened that night. He was drinking so much compared to Amie, who doesn't really need as much alcohol before she reaches her "overly friendly" state. I thought for sure that Ludde was oblivious to the situation when he woke up in his bed the next day and immediately messaged Felicia.

There are just so many questions to unpack here that were never answered. What prompted Amie and Ludde to go into that empty room? Why did Ludde come with her? Why didn't Adam seem to care about this, when he'd been sitting next to Ludde and taking care of him most of the night? And as I wrote before, why would Klara film this video of her best friend when she previously expressed that was a weird thing to do?

There's just too much in 1x06 left unanswered. The Amie/Ludde hook-up was a badly executed plot twist because there wasn't anything hinting that this would happen. It just came out of nowhere.

Unbalanced screentime and Elias's wasted potential

A large portion of season 1 was dedicated to Felicia. This was kind of a let-down for me since I thought more focus would be placed on Eagles as a hockey team (after all, that's what the show is named after). I also thought more attention would be on Elias since he's the talented star player who's supposed to live up to his father's legacy.

The show starts with a couple radio hosts hyping up how Elias Kroon, son of the legendary Mats Kroon, is going to join the Eagles hockey team.

Host #1: [...] It’s finally official. New center in the junior team - Elias Kroon, son to the legendary NHL-pro Mats Kroon, who has now chosen to move home from the US to his hometown where Elias will play in his father’s old club Oskarshamn Eagles. Host #2: This is so freaking cool. Who doesn’t want a Kroon on their team? Host #1: We hope that he’ll take a spot on the A-team.

But we don't learn a lot about who Elias actually is in the first episode. The attention is on Felicia and her interest in Ludde.

Elias is so discarded that he barely has anything to say in the first couple of scenes we see him in. Here are all his eight lines in 1x01, and I'm not even joking.

Elias: Yes. Elias: Shut up. Elias: Ow. Elias: It's fine. Elias: Really? Elias: Fucking hell. Elias: I'll stay here. Elias: No, it's fine.

In 1x02 he has even fewer lines. Three, to be exact, and all he says is that his injury is a sprain and that it's fine. Essentially just an echo of two of the lines he had in the previous episode. It's nothing new.

There's a way to have a character stand out when they don't have many lines, but Elias just fades into the background with every other extra. There's too much time spent on having other characters talk about Elias than us actually getting to know him. So when we do meet him, it's pretty underwhelming.

Compare Elias to his sister who gets so much more attention from the writers. I don't really understand why either, since I thought Elias was a much more interesting character than his influencer sister. Felicia's character only seems to revolve around a guy. I wonder how many times we've seen that before?

In 1x02 we see the Eagles hockey team play their first game, but Elias is unable to play and has to sit in the stands for what was supposed to be his debut match. Why? Because during a hockey practice session in 1x01, Adam rams his stick into Elias to purposely injure him. I mean, fair enough. Adam is trying to get Ludde on the main team since he and Elias are competing for the same position. The shot of Adam smiling after Elias sprains his wrist is a bit too on the nose, but whatever.

What this does is minimize Elias' presence in season 1 by a lot. We don't see the son of the legendary NHL professional play an actual game until 1x05, which is more than halfway into the season. It's kind of disappointing but I understand the injury is done to dramatize his situation.

Elias barely gets his own storylines in the first few episodes. He just has things done to him instead of acting on his own. When we do see him on screen he gets injured by Adam, reprimanded by his father, and later told he can't play in his debut game.

His sweet side (or any side of him, really) isn't shown until 1x03 when Amie wakes up at the Kroon house and Elias reassures her that they didn't do anything together and that she can borrow Felicia's clothes.

Elias doesn't really do much for the plot until he hears Ludde's friends objectify Felicia and he starts a fight with Ludde and confronts Felicia about it. That's when it feels like Elias is actually a part of this show instead of just being an extra shoved into the background. His actions are finally affecting the plot.

Elias's potential in season 1 was hugely wasted. The only episode where we actually got to see him shine was 1x07, when he travels to Karlskrona with Amie. We find out he doesn't want the hockey arrangement his dad has planned for him and that he's actually a pretty goofy guy who likes making jokes (and eating green candy).

If less time was spent with Felicia and the distribution of every episode's 20 minutes was more balanced, season 1 could've been massively improved. It got much better in season 2, but season 1 suffered and made many people think that Felicia was a basic and unentertaining character.

The side characters and their comic relief

So one thing that I found really disappointing with Felicia's amount of screentime is that we barely got enough time for the other main characters, let alone the side characters.

What I mean here is that the only people we really know on the Eagles hockey team are Ludde and Elias. Ludde's friends, Adam and Omar, just feel like comic relief sidekicks. We don't really know what they're like, besides the fact that they like to make jokes and mess around.

This issue is largely created by the short running time the episodes have along with season 1 only having eight episodes in total. That's definitely understandable. It did get better in season 3 where we see Ludde having a deeper conversation with Adam and Omar and they finally don't just feel like the comic relief characters, but actual people with layers.

Ludde: I’m going to quit hockey. Adam: Are you serious? Omar: What the hell are you saying? Ludde: It’s not the same anymore. I’m not passionate about it. I… Yes, it sucks, but… I’ve thought about it for a while now. Omar: We make jokes about it and all, but… Yeah. It wouldn’t be the same without you. Kingelikingen. Adam: I get that it’s a tough choice. But yeah… You’ll work things out. You and Felicia. You always do. Ludde: You guys are pretty awesome sometimes, actually.

This scene was really sweet, and I wish we could've had moments like this between the guys in season 1. Just one scene to show that they're not just the "typical hockey guys". It feels like Ludde was the only person on the team in season 1 who wasn't just a background character. Even Elias, who you would assume should be at the forefront, isn't properly developed until 1x05 where we see him defending his sister and starting a fight with Ludde. Otherwise, it very much felt like Elias was kept in the background.

There are also guys on the team called Herman, Simon, Näslund, Ekbäck, Hoffmann, Berglund (even Montell, which was a fun nod to the show's director)... But who are they, actually? Do you even remember their names? To be honest with you, I don't. Because they're just names—not actual characters.

None of the other guys on the team get any depth. They're just sort of there as extras and to give the audience a sense of comedy with their "hockey team shenanigans". This was illustrated in 1x08, where Adam and Omar make their teammate Liam do a "sexy dance" on a table because he lost his virginity. Or a more extreme example—Jönsson, who only exists to be the comic relief and the unlucky guy who just can't catch a break.

In 2x04, Jönsson is told by Jack to do extra time in the gym and gets told off when he only spends a few minutes on the exercise bike. Later, Jack also makes a joke about how he should get Jönsson a defibrillator. In 2x09 Jönsson invites Ludde, Adam, and Omar to come to his mom's place to hang out. After he's left, Adam makes a comment about how there's no way he's going to "rot" in Jönsson's apartment that doesn't even have a balcony.

Don't get me wrong, these scenes aren't bad and I don't mean they should've been scrapped. Comedy can absolutely have its place in a show like this. Let's take the scene where Ludde flashes a couple of unfortunate old ladies on his first date with Felicia as an example. It feels like something a teenage boy would do to try to make a girl he likes laugh. It's a brief scene and it's nice to see Ludde being able to goof off only moments after talking about Andreas. We know that's a touchy subject for him.

However, it feels slightly overdone sometimes with how almost everybody on the hockey team is only there for comedic purposes and to fill space. It's more refreshing when they're shown to be multi-dimensional. I wish this is something that the writers would've considered when the show is literally titled after the hockey team, yet most of the hockey players are hardly in the story.

To add to this, it felt like Sara and Tobbe completely disappeared from the story in season 2. With Sara we understand that she probably didn't want to hang out with Klara anymore after knowing she filmed the Halloween video and posted it on Instagram, so that's fair. But it would've been nice to see Tobbe stick around in season 2, and I'll get back to why I think that.

The potential of season 1

When I look back on season 1 I feel really nostalgic. No matter how many small details that irked me, I can't deny that the setting of the show is beautiful and I really appreciate the depiction of it. Instead of showing Oskarshamn as a boring small town, we're shown the beauty of it which is incorporated into the storylines.

Some examples would be Ludde and Felicia's first date at Gunnarsö and walk through Havslätt, the gorgeous view of the Oskarshamn harbor from Klara's house Villa Högklint, and Badholmen where the school band performs and we later see Elias and Amie walking by in season 3. All these places are listed on the Eagles Oskarshamn site and I feel like they did a great job tying the storylines in with the locations.

Another aspect of season 1 and its writing that I really enjoyed was Elias and Amie's budding relationship. They just have a natural chemistry together and the dialogue between them also felt authentic and sweet.

Season 1 is just a very polished teen drama overall compared to some of SVT's previous series.

Back in 2007-2010, SVT used to air a soap opera-style show focusing on a few teenagers living in Gothenburg that was called Andra Avenyn (translation: Second Avenue). I was only seven at the time but I watched this show religiously as it aired three times a week. Just mentioning the show brings a lot of nostalgia.

Andra Avenyn amassed around 500 000 viewers per episode and was, just like Eagles, nominated for a Kristallen television award. But how good was it, really? If I take off my rose-colored glasses for a second and actually consider the show's highly dramatized storylines and unlikely scenarios, it had a tendency to drag on (which usually happens with soap operas). It didn't offer a realistic view of teenage life and on IMDb it currently sits at a rating score of 5.6 stars out of 10.

Comparing this old teen series to SVT's newer one, Eagles season 1 was a huge improvement and continues to be the most popular teen series that SVT has aired so far.

This idea and all the characters have lived in Stefan H. Lindéns mind since 2008, while Andra Avenyn was still on the air. It's actually amazing how high the quality of most TV shows has risen since then. Eagles has a rating score of 7.4 out of 10 stars on IMDb and has become internationally known in a way that Andra Avenyn never was.

Eagles season 1 laid the groundwork for SVT's most successful teen series of all time, and that's a huge achievement.

Season 2: "Subverting expectations"

When Eagles came back for season 2, the script made it kind of obvious that the writers had listened to the critique of season 1 being predictable.

I did find season 2 a huge step up from season 1—the directing was so much better and when it came to the script we got a deeper look into all the characters that they hadn't really scratched the surface of in the first season. My main disappointment however was that it felt like they threw in a bunch of weird plot twists just for the sake of "subverting expectations".

The core idea of subverting expectations can be great if done correctly. You lead the audience to believe they know what's going to happen, but then you surprise them with an unexpected and clever twist.

A post in Cinematography written by Mason Leaver defines the phrase of "subverting expectations" as:

[...] a method of surprising the audience with some element of a story, be it the plot, themes, characters, etc. This goes beyond a “twist” in a film. Expectation subversion actively works within the genre of a story, and attempts to reinterpret or subvert the conventions of that genre, breaking patterns in surprising and interesting ways. However, this method of surprising the audience is not always well received- it can sometimes be the source of heavy criticism from fans of the tropes which have been subverted.

This included "unexpected" relationships such as Elias/Klara and Amie/Ludde. The former actually worked, but the latter? Not so much.

Amie's crush on Ludde—make it make sense!

Amie and Ludde were my biggest issue with season 2, and it felt so out of character of Amie to be head over heels for Ludde. They work great as friends but romantically they're a huge mismatch.

But they have music in common, I hear you say. Yes, they do. But having a shared interest doesn't mean people are automatically a good match. You have to consider their chemistry and overall compatibility.

Before actors are cast in a show or movie where their characters will be romantically involved with each other, it's common to do what's called a chemistry read. Here's a neat description from an article in Backstage written by Caroline Liem:

Chemistry is the complex emotional or psychological interaction between two people. If this were a romantic article, it would be about love. Instead, we are discussing the astonishing rapport between two actors, and how that connection is achieved in order to book [...] the role. A chemistry read is an opportunity to read with actors being considered for a role opposite yours, usually lead roles. The main purpose is to see how you instinctively connect and work with the other actor.

This obviously wasn't done for the actors playing Amie and Ludde, since there didn't seem to be any intention of having their characters be involved in a romantic relationship.

That was even confirmed by Stefan H. Lindén in his Q&A of season 2, where he said that a love triangle between Ludde/Felicia/Amie was planned but later scrapped.

I can confirm that from the beginning of development of the series and the first version of the storyline a triangle drama was at some point intended for season 1 but later removed  – however when creating the characters, Ludvigs skill in music and arts was always there from the beginning so by knowing that, we always knew that interactions would appear between them. When looking back at Season 1, in the first scene by the lockers when Amie tells Felicia who Ludvig is, she does know exactly who he is and she is well aware of that his friend Tobias is a music guy that Amie wants to get to know. Also when looking at it, when I was the same age as Ludvig and Amie I, and I am sure a lot of people can relate to it, fact is that we never really knew if it was love or friendship in the beginning.

Knowing that the triangle drama was scrapped for season 1, it makes sense why it seems so arbitrary. There was no groundwork laid down for this pairing before it was hastily thrown together in 1x06 for a cheap plot twist. This continues in season 2, where Amie and Ludde start spending more time together. Yet it's hard to see Ludde as a potential love interest for Amie in the way the writers want us to. They still come off as friends despite having hooked up at a party.

I mentioned that Tobbe should've stuck around for season 2 and here's why. Tobbe was written to be the leader of the school band that Amie later joins, and he was friends with Ludde before the video was posted. He would've been a perfect fit for the Amie/Ludde music storyline but he's completely absent. He had the potential to be the person who could've helped them with the song a little and then later picked up on whatever there was going on between them.

I think the Amie/Ludde storyline could've hugely benefitted from a scene between Amie and Tobbe, where Tobbe asks if she actually has feelings for Ludde and we get to hear exactly what Amie is feeling. Maybe she's torn, not wanting to get together with Ludde because of how much they hurt Felicia, but at the same time finds it hard to suppress her feelings. A scene like that would've allowed us to get into Amie's head and make the Amie/Ludde storyline much clearer.

To add, this storyline was in desperate need of more interest from Ludde's side. There needed to be some indication from him that would make Amie believe he liked him back, even if that wasn't the case. All we get is Ludde complimenting Amie's song and then a hug in 2x05 when Amie says the record label in Stockholm wanted a meeting. And apparently, that was enough for Amie to think Ludde was interested in her despite him blowing off the Stockholm meeting and Amie hearing Ludde say that the Halloween incident was a mistake.

Ludde and Amie don't really mesh as well as Elias/Amie do or even as well as Ludde/Felicia do. Elias and Amie had sparks flying from the very first scene they shared. That pairing is one of the main reasons why the show became popular internationally, and why is that? Because of the actors' chemistry.

Amie and Ludde are a clumsy attempt at throwing together two people who don't really work together with the intention of "subverting expectations". And I suppose that's what the writers wanted to depict—an awkward crush that doesn't really make sense, which I'm sure many people have experienced as a teenager. That part is fine. But what I didn't like about this storyline is that Amie had no good reason to believe Ludde would be interested in anything with her beyond a platonic friendship.

While season 2 was airing, I was convinced that Amie wasn't actually in love with Ludde. She was just lonely after the aftermath of the Halloween video and mistook her feelings for Ludde as love when she just appreciated his company. Here's what I wrote:

So as we know, Amie kissed Ludde in episode 6 when he was in the hospital after having been injured during the hockey game against Karlskrona. She immediately seemed to regret having done that and ran out without an explanation, leaving Ludde alone and confused. I honestly don’t think Amie has any romantic feelings towards Ludde. I think she might mistake her feelings for a crush or something, when in reality she’s just lonely and appreciates Ludde always being there for her and giving her compliments on her musical ability. Ludde was complimenting Amie at the hospital, saying she was amazing, and I think Amie was just really touched by that and maybe wanted to thank him somehow, and ended up kissing him. And then she freaked out and left because oh my god did she really just kiss Ludde. It was an uncomfortable and awkward situation and that’s probably why she ran out. However, I really believe that if she had just stayed to explain and apologize, Ludde would understand and they could’ve just laughed it off. But this is a drama show so of course that wouldn’t happen! Do I think the writers are making them into a couple? No, definitely not. They know that season 1 was sort of predictable and cliché, so they’re making season 2 as different as possible by including these unexpected pairings such as Klara & Elias and Amie & Ludde. But Amie and Ludde won’t ever be a couple, because Ludde is still very much hung up on Felicia. I don’t see them as a couple either - yes, they have music in common, but they work way better as friends than in a relationship.

In Edvins Skådisdrömmar, which is a behind-the-scenes documentary of Eagles season 2, writers Fanny Ekstrand and Michaela Hamilton discuss the writing of the show in the documentary's third episode. The third episode is mostly focused on the lead-up to the scene where Amie kisses Ludde at the hospital. Adrian Öjvindsson, who plays Ludde, says:

Filming the kissing scene was [...] awkward and weird, actually. And that's how it ended up. Yandeh and I haven't really had any intimate scenes. In this case you could take in that it was weird, because that's also what the scene wanted to depict.

When Edvin reads the script, he describes the scene as a "nightmare" scenario. I agree. And the lazy build-up to this Awkward Kiss trope doesn't make it any better, because just like the Halloween incident this doesn't make a lot of sense.

It's supposed to be awkward and weird, just like Adrian said. But he also mentioned one of the most important details: Yandeh and I haven't really had any intimate scenes.

Before this kiss scene, there was nothing that indicated any chemistry between them. No accidental hand-touching, no longing stares, no nothing. Just a friendly hug. A proper build-up to the kiss scene would've made it feel less out of place.

The love confession from Amie to Ludde in 2x10 really threw me off as well. The confession to me made no sense and honestly felt like a prank call. There was no feeling behind it and zero reason for Amie to believe that there was a chance Ludde liked her back.

At the end of 2x08, Felicia goes to Ludde's house after he's confessed the truth to the police about the Andreas situation. Amie happens to overhear the conversation and she hears Ludde very clearly say that he's not interested in Amie.

Ludde: Felicia, there’s nothing between us. Between me and Amie. It was really the biggest mistake of my life. Felicia: Goodbye, Ludde. Ludde: Felicia, please!

Amie, now having her heart broken, crosses Ludde's name off the contract while crying. She knows he doesn't feel the same. So why would Amie even bother to call Ludde up to tell him she's "in love with him"?

Amie: [...] Hey, Ludde… Ludde: Yeah? Amie: It feels really weird to hear our song now. Because I know who the lyrics are about. And… And I… I really like you. Or, well… I’m in love with you. I just need to know how you feel. Or if you feel anything. Just tell me. Ludde: I’ll always want to be your friend, Amie, but… It’s Felicia I’m in love with.

This moment is on par with the awkwardness from the hospital kiss between them in 2x06. The second-hand embarrassment with this one was really rough, and what I don't understand is why this was even added to the script when Amie had already gotten the confirmation that Ludde didn't think of her in a romantic way. This storyline could've ended in 2x08 after Amie overheard the conversation between Ludde and Felicia.

It really didn't need to drag on for the whole season, essentially making Amie's whole storyline in season 2 about a guy. Her moment of finally getting signed to the record label was ruined when it could've been regarded as a fresh start if the storyline had just ended where it should have.

What this storyline did instead was ruining my favorite friendship of season 1, which was Amie/Felicia. This mess made it so hard for them to reconcile and they didn't end up properly addressing it until 3x09, spending almost two whole seasons mad at each other. It sucks that the writers decided to drag out their fighting and disagreements for this long when they could've instead shown two girls in solidarity who don't let a guy get between them and their friendship.

Amie apologized in 3x03 for how she hurt Felicia, but Felicia made it clear in 3x06 that she still harbored ill will towards Amie for what happened at Halloween (which in the timeline of this show was more than a year ago).

Felicia (to Amie): Are you going to start slobbering with [Elias] now too? Just give me back that sweater first, I don’t want slobber on that. Thanks.

I talked about how much I disliked the Amie/Ludde storyline in this post, with my main reason being that it really messed up the character dynamics that were established in season 1.

This storyline [of Ludde and Amie hooking up]—along with Amie falling in love with Ludde—is by far my least favorite one because it messed up the whole character dynamic. I feel like Amie and Felicia won’t ever go back to the kind of friendship they had in season 1 before the Halloween incident because the trust was so broken, and Amie really should’ve tried harder to apologize to Felicia like Ludde did instead of going after her best friend’s ex in season 2.

If there's just one thing I could change about this show, I would 100% get rid of the Amie/Ludde storylines. There is nothing that annoyed me as much as those storylines did.

Amie's musical ambitions

I've talked about this a bit before in another post because this was something that really bugged me about Amie's character in season 2. Here's what I wrote:

I honestly still feel like Amie’s whole storyline with sending in a rather basic demo written by two teenagers with little to no experience and then getting praised on it [by the Stockholm music producers] with comments such as “it’s going to be a real summer hit” felt so unrealistic to me. Maybe they only said that so Amie would accept their offer or something, but that’s still very strange because she would have still said yes without a doubt. I can understand that they thought Amie was marketable as a person and there was this bonus with her having gone viral before on Felicia’s Instagram, but that demo did not seem good enough for me to be immediately released as a single and then have them decide on the spot that Amie would be given a contract. I mean, come on. It never felt earned because we never really saw Amie struggling with her songwriting journey to achieve this dream. Sending in one demo to one record label and having them immediately want to make a whole album with you just doesn’t happen in real life unless the song is extremely good or you have a very unique voice. Amie is really talented but there are hundreds of people just like her, if not thousands. I was never convinced by her getting signed so quickly in season 2. I understand that they wanted to establish her as a successful artist [at the beginning of season 3], but that felt so rushed. I was so sure that the record label would screw her over and steal the song rights to record it with another artist who was already established, and that we’d have to see Amie work even harder to achieve her dreams. But we didn’t get that at all. Where was the struggle? [...] Of course I wanted to see Amie achieve success (and I was happy when she did), but the journey there was so bizarrely easy. She didn’t start to seriously work on making her music career become a reality until season 2. Amie had dabbled in music prior to that, like when she auditioned for the school band and did that performance of Follow, but she didn’t truly start to work towards it until season 2 when she decided to have her work sent to professionals in the business. And then, just five episodes later, she gets contacted by the record label in Stockholm. To put this into context—season 2 took place somewhere around March, and episode 5 around three weeks into April. So when Ludde first started helping Amie it took less than two months for her to get signed. You could argue that the song was just that good or that Amie is just that talented, but it never felt like a realistic storyline to me.

It's tricky to write a storyline like this when you only have ten 20 minute episodes in the season and a limited amount of screentime for every character. All that is understandable. But it's strange that they didn't opt for a time jump to really sell this storyline and make it believable.

Eagles uses time jumps a lot, but somehow this particular plot point was omitted from that and kind of glossed over. I don't really understand how they expected us to buy this storyline. The viewers aren't stupid, and more effort should've been put into this storyline.

In the post where I wrote this, @gajana18 also had an interesting thing to add:

[...] it's equally unrealistic that this huge record company would be hounding Amie, a teenage onehit wonder essentially to come back to the label- don’t they have other bigger artists?

This is a very strong point. Considering how Amie kept expressing that she wanted to finish school and then proceeded to ignore their calls, it's weird that they didn't just decide to discard her contract when Amie clearly wasn't taking her singing career as seriously as they wanted her to.

So, back to season 2. Maybe they could've gone with the record label stealing the rights to Amie's first song and screwing her over. This fuels her to try again and after a time jump of a few months we see Amie having worked really hard on a new and better song. Maybe even a whole album. And this time, she's learned from her past mistakes and improved her songwriting. This time, she's successful in her endeavor and it feels so much more earned after knowing the struggles she's been through to get there.

I also feel like a storyline like that would've made people sympathize with Amie more in season 2. It was really hard to root for her when she had nearly screwed Ludde over by not giving credit to his songwriting and saying "fuck him" when he didn't return Amie's feelings.

Klara's character development

When we're introduced to Klara in season 1, she's a stereotypical mean girl with wealthy parents who is the popular girl at school and has her own followers.

In season 2, the writers decided to develop the character. We find out Klara has issues at home and her mom is barely there. When she is, her parents will start fighting. Klara is feeling really lonely and doesn't really hang out with her friend Sara as much as she used to.

I appreciated the added depth, but it seemed like a drastic shift. The changed perspective could attribute to that but when you step back and really look at s1 Klara and s2 Klara, they're like two completely different people.

Maybe Klara's reputation suffered after she posted the Halloween video? Maybe she had a change of heart after Felicia finally confronted her during Lucia? I mean, I guess.

But what most fans (including me) didn't like about Klara in season 2 was that there were no clear consequences for her after she posted the Halloween video. Klara still hangs out with what seems to be the popular crowd and she has people to go out with. In a post I wrote last year about my thoughts on season 2, I wrote this:

I actually wish that Klara would’ve become more ostracized from her school friends to emphasize how alone she is, but she seems to still be pretty popular so that was kind of disappointing. I thought the fall-out of her posting the video would be worse, but I guess not. Anyway, I like that they’re taking a disliked character and making her into a better person. Feels like it’s been done a few times before, but I still appreciate them doing it. I hated s1 Klara for being so one-dimensional, but s2 Klara is well on her way to being a pretty good and nuanced character.

Her character development sort of comes a little out of nowhere, though. Her reputation wasn't ruined by posting that video and she didn't really lose any friends besides Sara (she had already lost Amie prior to posting that video considering what Amie said to her after Lucia in 1x08).

So what prompted Klara to become this whole new person who actually considers other people's feelings in a relatively short amount of time? Here's a conversation between Felicia and Klara in 2x07.

Felicia: Was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about? I understand that we’re not best friends just because you and Elias are together. We’re not here without a reason, right? Klara: No, I get that this feels weird for you. And if you don’t trust me after everything that’s happened - or that I’ve done. Felicia: Klara… Klara: I know that I haven’t acted like the world’s best person. And I regret that. Sorry.

But why does Klara regret her past behavior? What made her realize she hadn't acted like the "world's best person" if the ramifications from posting the Halloween video were so minimal?

Was it the relationship with Elias that made Klara change? No, I don't think so. When they first start talking at the bar in 2x03, Elias tells Klara that he doesn't always agree with Felicia and that he has his own viewpoints. In 2x07, he says Klara wasn't the one who messed up, but rather Amie and Ludde. And in 2x09, the script tells us that the Elias/Klara relationship seemed to bring more change to Elias rather than Klara.

Felicia: What did you do to him? Klara: What? Felicia: He’s smiling. Elias is like a whole new person since he met you. Klara: Stop. Felicia: I mean it!

So what made Klara change? In 1x08 she's mocking Felicia's drug problems and posts a video that will for sure ruin Amie's reputation. But at the start of season 2, she's suddenly become more withdrawn and considerate of people's feelings.

I can only name one factor that actually makes sense, and that's the fighting between her parents. Klara seems to turn into this quiet child when she has to listen to her mom and dad yelling at each other. This is something that didn't really begin until season 2, when Ola's company GECED started going under. This storyline was very well done.

But the other things, like Klara's reputation and friend group which you would assume would be affected, remain as they were in season 1.

Jack's sudden character change

Jack came into season 2 as a charming and charismatic character, seemingly fooling everybody into thinking he was a good guy. He knew the Kroon family from before and both Felicia and Elias were none the wiser when it came to the eventual reveal of his true colors.

Here's what Stefan H. Lindén had to say about the Jack character in his season 2 Q&A:

Bringing Jack in was actually originally not my idea, it came from my writer colleagues after that they revised my storyline notes for Season 2, while I was still down in Oskarshamn shooting Season 1. We had always intended for a character to come in and raise the stakes but I never imagined it to be Jack. When we started to develop the character, we all started liking him so he was kept in the story. Like with any new character we never really know who they are and what [the] point of them for coming in is [...]

Personally, I feel like the point of Jack's character is pretty obvious. When he first comes to Oskarshamn he is very much the embodiment of the new love interest coming in to date the girl who has broken up with her previous lover, while the previous lover still loves her and does anything he can to get her back although she's dating someone new. Jack is the Romantic False Lead trope who later becomes an alpha-dog Jerkass.

What I found interesting about Jack compared to Klara (in season 1) is that Jack isn't just a bad guy. He's very clever with his manipulation tactics and can easily charm people with his good looks and charisma.

When Felicia accuses Jack of cheating in 2x07, he manages to spin the whole thing around and make Felicia apologize to him and say it was stupid of her to believe he would cheat on her. I talked about this in a post while the season still aired, before Jack's true colors were revealed. Here's what I wrote:

I still don’t know if Jack really is cheating on Felicia with Olivia (the girl that texted him) but I would say he is. Jack is incredibly confident and charming, which makes him able to easily lie and manipulate people. We know he’s not an entirely good person since he’s already lied to Elias about not knowing that Mats would bring him back to Eagles. I wouldn’t be surprised if he really did hook up with Olivia and ended up being a really good liar. The fact is that not only did he deny it but he then shamed Felicia for blaming him and causing a scene, ultimately shifting the focus in the argument to her and making Felicia feel bad that she even confronted him in the first place. Jack says that maybe they shouldn’t even be together, which causes Felicia to backtrack and apologize. It’s actually pretty impressive how Jack was able to spin that around to blame Felicia and make her apologize.

Jack is able to take a small detail and use it as ammunition to get what he wants. In this situation, he brings up the girl in the Stockholm club that Felicia partied with and also kissed.

Jack: You shouldn’t accuse me, either. Felicia: What? Jack: I saw on Instagram, you and some girl in Stockholm. Have I whined about that? Coming here and blaming me for things, it feels really immature. Felicia: Fuck. Sorry, Jack.

Jack wasn't bothered by that at all. It happened before Felicia and Jack were even an official couple, and all they had done was hooking up at a party while Felicia was high. Jack, having cheated on Felicia, couldn't care less about the random girl Felicia kissed. That was just something he used to manipulate her.

When we discover that Jack is actually cheating on Felicia, he immediately reverts to a one-dimensional "evil" character. He's become the 2.0 version of Klara in season 1—written in just to stir up drama.

This "master manipulator" version of him just goes down the drain and Jack turns into a manchild who starts petty fights, files a police report because Ludde pushed him, and says to Felicia "I'm gonna tell on you!". Alright, maybe those weren't his exact words, but you know what I mean. It's a sudden shift and you start wondering how Jack was able to hide this version of himself so well before.

In 3x05, Jack sees Ludde and Andreas after a hockey game and fumbles trying to find any insult he can to hurl at Ludde. Everything he says from that point on is just line after line to really solidify that Jack is the bad guy. You didn't forget that, right? Here, let's have Jack call Felicia a druggie so you know just how shitty he is. And have him call Andreas a junkie later for good measure—there, that should be enough for people to understand that Jack is the villain here.

Jack: Johansson! Ludde: What the hell are you doing here? Jack: What does it look like? Ludde: I guess it’s you I should thank for the victory. Nice work. Jack: What is Felicia doing these days, then? Does she miss me? Ludde: Hey, you’re shutting up now, do you get it?! Jack: Jesus Christ. Do you think you can save her? What do you think she even sees in you? You two play in different leagues, Ludde. Ludde: You have no idea what we’re like. Jack: Come on! You should leave her. While you can. She’ll just pull you down into the dirt with her. You’re no hero, Ludde. Isn’t she still doing drugs? Once a druggie, always a druggie, right?

Jack is a horrible person, but at least he was able to pretend to be a good guy in season 2. And that was actually really fascinating. I wish we could've seen more of Jack's manipulative side that he showed in season 2 instead of making everything coming out of his mouth be a half-assed attempt at insulting the other person. That's a pretty boring villain, in my opinion.

Jack's backstory of his father being an alcoholic and him starting to resent the whole Kroon family because they had everything growing up while he didn't is interesting. It would've also made more sense if his anger was only directed towards the Kroon family since they're the ones he grew up with. They're the ones he was after the whole time.

His anger towards them feels cheapened when Jack also starts insulting Andreas (who he's probably never met before) for no good reason. It's like Jack's human qualities are just gone and all that's left is this empty shell made to start fights. His backstory didn't really make anybody sympathize with him, either.

The improvements of season 2

What I liked about the writing in season 2 was that they explored new ideas and had some solid storylines (besides the mess that was Amie and Ludde). Elias and Klara actually worked pretty well as a couple, even if they were pretty much the 2.0 version of Felicia/Ludde as the "wealthy, popular pretty girl starts dating the star player on the sports team".

Felicia finally gets some more depth. The scene at the end of 2x02, where Felicia and Leila park their car near the harbor and just start crying, is so powerful.

2x05 is also one of my favorite episodes of the show, as well as the ending montage of the 2x10 season finale. In Gameday, we had a very touching scene between Felicia and Mats where they finally communicate. It's not the most understanding conversation but it's a start. It's an interesting contrast between their talk in 1x06 where Felicia revealed she saw Mats cheating on Leila versus the talk they're having now.

Another one of my favorite scenes is when Felicia and Ludde meet up at their bench in 2x10 after Ludde has called her up asking Felicia to come if there's any chance of them getting back together.

The dialogue is simple and to the point. There's no long-winded love confession for the sake of drama. It's a moment that the whole season has been building up for, and when we finally get there we realize that this is how love should be.

Easy and simple.

Ludde: You came back. Felicia: Yeah, I did. Ludde: Do you remember our first date here? Felicia: No. I’ve forgotten. Ludde: I was so freaking nervous. Felicia: Everything you said… Did you mean it? Because you hurt me, Ludvig. And I… I’ve really tried to hurt you back, but… It’s not possible. I can’t… Not love you. Do you think… Do you think it can be us again? Ludde: What do you think? Felicia: I don’t want anything else.

Ludde admitting how nervous he was on their first date is sweet and shows us how much they've been through. Felicia is struggling to find the words to say and she's acknowledging how hurt she was, but still can't seem to find it in her heart to hate Ludde. It's honest.

Another plotline that I think was a little underrated in season 2 is the GECED company going bankrupt and Ola, Klara's dad, is under investigation for financial crime. This isn't a storyline you would usually see in a teen series. It's much more serious. It also gave us a really touching and poignant scene in 2x08 between Ola and Klara sitting on the floor of his office, where Klara has to comfort her father who starts crying.

Ola: When you were little you used to sit like this. On the floor, while I was working. You had your own room, but you wanted to sit with me. “Help daddy work”. Mom’s doing the right thing by leaving for a while, don’t blame her for that. Klara: What, you can’t just leave because things get a little tough. Ola: Maybe you should get away for a while too. You know, I never wanted you two to… That you… Everything’s gone. Klara: It will be fine. It will be fine. Ola: Sorry. I’m sorry.

In 2x09, Klara is at a party when she notices a bunch of missed calls from her dad. She immediately senses something is wrong and rushes home to find her dad having attempted suicide. It's executed very well and I really liked the more serious tone they went for in season 2.

It set up season 3 perfectly, which continued with the darker themes but balanced them very well with the more light-hearted moments.

Season 3: Finding one's footing

Season 3 was a highly anticipated season. I thought the season 2 finale was masterfully done and it left me wanting more. When season 1 finished on its cliffhanger of the video leaking, the focus only seemed to be on that.

But with season 2 there's Felicia/Ludde getting back together and Ludde having been sued by Jack, Jack threatening that he would leak all of the Kroon's family secrets, Klara's dad passing away, Elias deciding to get on the train and go to the draft combine anyway, Amie having finally become a recording artist but being isolated and heartbroken... There's so much to unpack, and it's a lot more interesting than the ending of season 1.

Where's Jack?

Jack is supposed to be the main villain but he's gone for most of the season, failing to show up until 3x05. In the season 2 finale Jack makes a huge deal about how he's going to destroy Felicia's life. He's threatening her in a very violent and abusive way.

Jack: [...] I know a lot about you, Felicia. And your nice family. It’s enough for me to leak to one news site. I can destroy you. Do you get it? I’ll tell them everything. The drugs, the cheating, your abortion! Felicia: Shut up! Jack: Hey. Huh? Did you seriously think I wanted to be with you? The little Kroon princess, who has gotten everything for free her whole fucking life! You and Elias! Like spoiled brats! You don’t understand what it means to fight for something!

In 2x10, Jack decides to report Ludde for assault but he doesn't follow through on destroying this family that he hates. If there's anything Jack seems to despise above all, it should be the Kroon family, right? So why did he fight back with Ludde but not the Kroon family?

I expected Jack to leak all the Kroon secrets at the beginning of season 3, but Felicia seems strangely calm at the funeral which I'm assuming only takes place two weeks or so after Ola's passing in the season 2 finale.

Then, a whole year passes with no indication that Jack is ever going to leak anything. As season 3 was airing, I commented on how strange this felt in an ask I received:

One of my main questions about the time jump is the whole thing with Jack saying he was going to ruin Felicia’s and the Kroon family’s reputation in the press. It seemed like nothing really came of that? I’m pretty sure that detail hasn’t been abandoned entirely and that Jack will come back (we’ve already seen a glimpse of him in the third episode), but it feels strange that Jack threatened to leak all her secrets and then just never did. I got the impression that Jack was a person who, when having his pride wounded, would do pretty much anything to get back at the person who insulted him. And yet there’s no mention of where Jack has been during that time or what he’s been doing. I feel like I would be pretty paranoid about this if I was Felicia, but we don’t see this haunting her until episode 3 when she sees a flash of Jack before realizing it was just some random guy. It seems strange that Felicia was relatively at ease during the funeral (which I assume took place not long after Jack first threatened her) and after the time jump. We don’t really know what’s been going on during that year, but Felicia seems to be fine and like she hasn’t had any thoughts of Jack at all. Maybe she assumed that his threats were empty and that he wouldn’t actually leak anything to the press, which is reasonable but at the same time I don’t understand why Jack has yet to do anything after a year. He was really pissed off in the season 2 finale, after all.

Going to repeat one of the things I wrote here because it deserves to be mentioned twice, and this point is one of my biggest issues.

I got the impression that Jack was a person who, when having his pride wounded, would do pretty much anything to get back at the person who insulted him.

I feel like this was kind of a plot hole that wasn't explained. Jack is ruthless and doesn't hold back at all when his true colors come out. He has no problem talking about the sexual relationship he had with Felicia in front of her father. Jack is just that horrible.

So what prevented him from ruining the Kroon family's lives earlier, when it seems to be the thing he's wanted for years?

Michael's predictable predicament

Michael first appears at the end of 3x04, where he calls Amie up to tell her he's her father.

Man: Hey! Sorry for calling so late. Is it Amie? Amie Condé? Amie: Yeah. Man: I saw you on TV the other day. I’m Michael Condé. I’m your father.

In the next episode, we get a voice-over of the continued conversation between him and Amie.

Michael: [...] I understand if it’s shocking. I’m in Oskarshamn for work for a few weeks and— Could we meet up someday?

So, it's clear what the writers are going for here. It's the estranged father who returns into the child's life when they've become successful. We're made to believe it's a Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You trope when Michael meets up with Amie and tells her why he left.

Michael: So Petra, she— Has she said anything about me? Amie: Well… That you moved from Sweden before I was born… That you’re working as a lawyer. That you didn’t want to see me. Michael: I was… I was young when we met. Your mom and I. And everything went really fast. I was in love, but she had feelings for somebody else. And when she found out that she— That she was expecting you, then… She didn’t want me there. She said I wasn’t father material. To some degree she might’ve been right, but… I wasn’t much older than you are now. I had just gotten into a law school in Berlin. When I finally came back to Sweden, then… She didn’t let me see you. I had already lost you by then, but I want you to know that I— I’ve thought of you. And about a week ago, I… I’m seeing you. On TV. There you are. With my last name. I’m so proud.

However, it's pretty easy to identify the holes in Michael's story. To be honest this whole storyline was predictable from the very start. Before Michael even came into the story, I made this post which pretty much summed up Michael's whole character when we didn't even know he existed yet (this was when 3x03 was the latest episode that had aired).

I don’t think we’ve heard any mention of Amie’s dad in the whole series except for 3x02 when Amie was being interviewed and was asked about the Condé name where she said that while Samuelsson was from her mother’s side, and Condé was from “the other side”. I found her word choice a little interesting. I don’t think Amie’s dad has passed—but rather that he’s alive and just chosen to not be a part of her life, which is why Petra seemed to be a little offended when asking Amie why she didn’t want her last name anymore. This might also be why Amie said “the other side” rather than “my dad’s side” because they have an estranged relationship. [...] I’m not really sure if they’ll do anything with Amie’s dad (maybe they’ll go for that trope where the parent who previously abandoned their child returns after the child has accomplished something big/something major happened and the parent wants something from them for personal gain?).

When we actually get to meet Michael and hear his explanation of why he left, I wrote this post pointing out some of the holes in this storyline.

Michael meeting Amie only after she’s become famous is a little suspicious, but it’s understandable if he previously thought she didn’t want to meet him and then sees her with his last name on national television. Obviously he would contact her after that. I feel like there were some question marks with Michael’s whole story though, and the fact that his work just conveniently happened to send him to Oskarshamn after he’d just seen Amie on TV. Maybe I’m missing something here, but how did he know Amie had gone back to Oskarshamn if he saw her living as a pop star in Stockholm? Was this information about Amie quitting the tour and going back to her hometown even online? If Elias (who actually witnessed Amie saying she was done and quitting) seemed taken aback when he saw Amie in Oskarshamn, then how did Michael know?

I do think Michael will return for season 4 though, so hopefully this storyline will be straightened out a little. We don't really know what Michael has been up for the past few years and if he has a family of his own. Maybe he'll contact Amie again to tell her she has some younger half-siblings?

They ended on sour terms, but if Michael does have his own family it's something Amie deserves to know and she can decide whatever she wants to do. I'd also like to see a Michael/Petra reunion, but I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

This storyline wasn't bad, and I do appreciate we got to find out what the situation with Amie's dad was. I also liked how I was able to sympathize with Michael. He's not entirely awful, even if he did put a lot of blame on Petra. It's one of those situations where you don't really know what it's like to be in Michael's position unless you've experienced it, and it's very realistic.

Plot holes

Some of the plot holes of season 3 that I've already mentioned are how Jack waited a whole year before leaking the Kroon family's secrets and how Michael conveniently knew Amie was in Oskarshamn when nobody seemed to know she was coming except her mom.

I actually don't mind that it was never explained how Michael got Amie's phone number either, because that's usually pretty easy to find with a Google search. Things like addresses, economic status, and even your criminal history are easily accessible in Sweden when googling someone's name. So finding someone's phone number is probably fairly easy as well.

On the other hand, one of the most glaring plot holes appeared in 3x08. In this episode entitled Lost, the Kroon family is frantically searching for Felicia who has gone missing. Leila and Elias knock on Petra's door to see if Amie is there and might know something about Felicia's whereabouts. Petra tells them Amie isn't there and they leave.

Someone left me an anonymous ask which I answered in this post, pointing out how it was strange that Elias didn't just call Amie to ask her when she wasn't at home. We know Elias has her number because they've been talking on the phone and texting each other several times before in the season.

In 3x08, when Elias and his mom go to Amie's house and ask Petra if Amie has seen or spoken to Felicia or whether she's home, I couldn't help but wonder, uh Elias why not just call Amie and ask her if she has seen or spoken to Felicia? [...] if Elias had called her and she heard how frightened him and his family were and police being involved she would have told him and then there would be no point in the 3x09 episode really.

This is a very strong point. You could argue that maybe Elias just didn't think of that but if they went out of their way to visit Amie's house only to not find her there, it would seem like calling her instead would just be a logical next step in the situation? Here's what I wrote in response to this ask.

This is an issue I had with 3x08 and 3x09 as well. I had a hard time actually enjoying the moment between Felicia, Klara, and Amie knowing that her family was getting increasingly worried for her and even thought for a short moment that Felicia was lying dead at the bottom of the ocean. All that could’ve been avoided. To add, it didn’t make a lot of sense to me that when Klara finally decided to call someone she called Amie instead of Elias. An ex-friend of Felicia’s instead of her brother who could’ve helped a lot more. What was Amie supposed to do when she showed up at the hotel, exactly? I know there was the thing with Klara only knowing Amie’s number off the top of her head, but there is no reason why she couldn’t have gone down to the reception while Felicia was sleeping and asked to use a computer just to get a quick message to Elias. Like, “hey, Felicia attempted something bad but she’s safe with me, we’re at this hotel in this room but she didn’t want me to call anybody, I don’t know what to do”. That would’ve been so much better than keeping quiet about the situation for nearly 24 hours. I know that Klara probably has trauma from leaving her dad at the hospital after his suicide attempt and that she probably didn’t want to go against Felicia’s wishes. I understand the first part 100%. But Felicia was in a very bad place emotionally and was thinking that her whole family hated her when that wasn’t the case. I feel like in a situation like that you kind of have to be the bad guy just to ensure the family that Felicia was safe. Even if everything turned out alright in the end, it could’ve gone so much worse if Felicia had wanted to be kept hidden for longer. [...] Elias calling Amie would’ve been an easy solution to this whole debacle but we would’ve lost the drama. It’s still somewhat of a plot hole though, like you said.

I understand it was done this way for dramatic effect, but that doesn't really patch up the plot hole.

I also found it strange how many people turned on Felicia after Jack ruined her reputation in the press. I talked about this in an ask I received.

I don’t understand why the public turned on Felicia so harshly. And Leila too, for that matter. The way Jack told the story about how these two women had things done to them should indicate that they’re not the ones to be blamed. If I read this article and found out an 18-year-old girl got pregnant by a “violent criminal” who forced her to abort and then abused her I would not be angry with the girl. I would be angry that she was physically abused and also outed on her sexuality for being bi. If I read this article and found out Leila had been cheated on by her husband repeatedly with her best friends, I wouldn’t be angry at her. I would not agree with the decision to turn to alcohol (same as Felicia turning to drugs), but I wouldn’t blame them. And I feel like a lot of people should’ve been on Leila’s side after finding out the reason why they divorced. I don’t understand why people are saying they’re disappointed in Felicia and calling her fake when she’s been through so much trauma in her life. I feel like if this actually happened in real life, all the blame would be shifted to the men because they’re the ones who—in this story—are painted as the bad guys (with the exception of Jack, considering he was anonymous).

I got another anonymous ask sent in after this, pointing out how the anger directed towards Felicia was considerably more about her drug use rather than the abuse she endured. Here was my response to that:

[...] the drug use should’ve been understandable considering the stuff Felicia had been through was also written in that article. I don’t know. I can understand people unfollowing her if they didn’t want their young children to be exposed to all the controversy, but it’s still strange that everything Felicia received was hate messages. Did everybody just skip over the part where the anonymous source stated that Felicia was violently forced to have an abortion by an ex-criminal and probably did so out of fear for her life? Yes, we know this is fake, but why didn’t anybody seem to mention this? [...] they seem to have written this storyline with the idea in mind that the public was against the whole Kroon family. Felicia got comments such as “So fucking disappointed in you and your family”, “What a nasty fucking family”, “You and your family are so fucking disgusting”. So I think Leila received plenty of hate for drinking instead of divorcing her husband sooner and basically turning a blind eye to all the problems her family went through. That’s what Jack told the press, at least. The anger seemed to be directed towards every member of the Kroon family and that didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Again, this is something the writers did to dramatize the situation and they kind of forgot to consider that what Jack actually told the journalist wasn't as incriminating for Felicia and Leila as it were for Mats and Elias.

The magic of season 3

What season 3 really excelled in, to me, was delving into some more serious topics as well as showing the gradual development of Amie and Elias' relationship. Amie and Elias are the prime example of how a slow burn is so much better than having a couple get together too fast, like Felicia and Ludde did back in season 1.

While season 3 was still airing, I wrote a post dedicated to questions I had received about Elias and Amie. Here's one of the things I said about them:

I think Elias’ interest in her really started to grow after he saw how caring Amie was to Felicia, and later on connecting with her on how they both ended up back in Oskarshamn after following their dreams which didn’t exactly turn out the way they expected. Yes, Elias has always sort of been watching and admiring Amie from afar, but that interest didn’t start growing until he actually got to know her. The experiences they had in the US and Stockholm, respectively, probably changed their mindsets and in my opinion it makes so much more sense for them to get together now than it would’ve in season 1 or season 2.

I still believe that Elias and Amie are the best-written couple of the whole show (at least so far), because they just make sense. We'll see what season 4 has in store for them because we have yet to actually see them in a romantic relationship, but I feel like their personalities and characters just fit together really well.

Another thing I really appreciated was the depiction of Felicia and Ludde's declining relationship. Things like that happen so easily, and I liked how we see Felicia do this huge gesture of planning a picnic for Ludde in 3x04 but there were still underlying problems between them. It's like that in real life too—no matter how big of a romantic gesture you make, communication will always be the number one priority in any relationship and that's where Felicia and Ludde fall short.

The obvious disconnect between them when it comes to money is also important. It's been like this from the beginning, but season 3 gave us an actual conversation about it.

Felicia: Please, I can’t talk about this. Seriously. It was stupid of me to bring this up from the beginning. Fuck, I get such anxiety talking about the future— Ludde: You get anxiety? I’m the one walking around with no money in my account. Mom and dad had to get a loan to pay off mine and Andreas’ fines. I’m playing on a shitty old synth, and living off you like some leech. That’s anxiety. Felicia: Everything isn’t about money. Ludde: Says the one who has money. Felicia: Move out then, if it’s so fucking hard to feel like a leech.

This felt very realistic. Of course a person like Felicia wouldn't think money is everything when she's never experienced financial issues. She's able to move out into her own one-bedroom apartment as soon as she's turned 18, it seems, and doesn't worry at all about the cost of furnishing and decorating it. She didn't even pay for it herself, because Mats mentions he's the one on the mortgage loan. It seems like Felicia has never had an actual job either, and that's starting to worry her because she has no idea what she should be doing.

Felicia: [...] I don’t know what I’ll be or what I’ll do in the future. I don’t know that. Ludde: You’re still an influencer— Felicia: Don’t say I’m an influencer, please. Do you think I want to be that my whole life? It’s not even a career. I'm— I’m graduating next year, and I… My grades suck, and— I have no plan. I only have you. Not like that—I have you. That’s what I have. I want to be here, in Oskarshamn. I don’t want to go to the US and chase some dream and be a hockey wife. That’s not a life. Sometimes I wish neither of us had a plan, just us together here.

Felicia's character finally offers something interesting here, which I've waited for since season 1. She's not just a party girl anymore who has issues with drugs. She's a privileged teenager who is co-dependent on the guys she meets and who has anxiety about the future, to the point where she wishes she could stay in Oskarshamn in her little apartment forever stuck in limbo.

She has to face a harsh reality when Ludde decides to break up with her, and later on when her name is slandered in the press and people all over the country are sending her hate messages. Her own family is furious with her and Felicia has nobody. She's pushed away a lot of people and her mental state is just crumbling in front of our eyes.

It's a strong storyline and actually very well executed. Almost everything gets taken away from her, and at the end of 3x07 you can almost feel what Felicia is feeling. We've been with her through this whole journey, almost, and we understand why she feels like suicide is the only answer.

It's tough to watch that final scene of 3x07. It's greatly amplified by Alva Bratt's superb acting, but the writing of the journey there is also amazing. It's very difficult to write a sensitive storyline like this.

Overall, I don't have a lot of critique towards season 3. I loved most of the episodes. I elaborated on this further in a separate post:

[Episodes 3x04 and 3x05] showcased what Eagles should be all about so well, which is relationships plus the struggles you go through as a teenager in a small town, and then of course hockey. The hockey game episodes are really good, even if I don’t think 3x05 topped 2x05 (the game where Ludde got tackled and knocked out). I loved the contrast in Date night of the budding relationship between Elias and Amie and then that fight between Felicia and Ludde on the cliff. [...] It was interesting to see how this sweet gesture from Felicia turned into a fight between the two of them. I thought that was very realistic, because no matter how big of a gesture Felicia made to apologize there were still underlying problems that they needed to talk about. I also loved the “non-date” between Elias and Amie in this episode. It was cute to see them goofing off before the movie started and then talking about it on the way home. I liked how Elias could connect to her on how they had both returned to Oskarshamn. The recent episodes that dropped last week (3x08 and 3x09) were very strong and discussed some important subject matters [...] They were dark, but not necessarily bad because they needed to happen. However, I have to say that I prefer Eagles when it’s about hockey and teenage relationships. 3x04 and 3x05 made me kind of nostalgic for season 1 and I liked the vibe they both had.

Eagles season 3 is in my opinion the best season of the show so far, and we haven't seen any signs suggesting that there is any reason for season 4 to not be even better.

Season 4: Hopes and wishes

Considering how each season has been increasing in quality bit by bit, I have pretty high hopes for the writing in season 4. I'm excited to see how the transition from teenager to young adult will be portrayed in the main characters, and what their future will hold for them after they've graduated.

My main questions are if Felicia and Ludde will find their way back to each other or if they'll remain broken up (that would be realistic as well), if Klara will reconcile with her mom, what's in store for Elias's hockey career, and if Amie will leave her label and maybe opt for something more independent.

I also want to see how Felicia deals with the new home she's checked in to, and if Ludde will in fact go to the school now that it seems Andreas will be getting into trouble again.

Amie and Klara are kind of wild cards here, because it somewhat feels like they've already reached their happy endings. Amie is famous and successful in her pop music career, and Klara has found her place as a businesswoman following in her father's footsteps. Maybe these developments should've come in season 4 instead of rushing them.

Nonetheless, I have faith in the writers. The writing suffered a little in seasons 1 and 2 but it has gotten better. Most of the things I pointed out about season 3 were just small details in an otherwise stellar season.

In conclusion...

This post was critical, but I tend to be critical of every show I watch. Eagles is still a very special show for me and having grown up in a Swedish small town myself I'm very fond of the show and its characters.

So huge thanks to the creator, Stefan H. Lindén, for making this show a reality and also to the director Carl-Petter Montell for contributing to the writing in season 3. And of course the writers of the show which include Michaela Hamilton, Fanny Ekstrand, and Anton Nyberg (plus Amanda Adolfsson who helped write 1x02 and 1x05 and Simon Ekbäck Nordström who is credited for helping with the hockey scenes in 3x05).

I hope you guys enjoyed this long, long post and major kudos to you if you read this far!

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Sapere Aude - Part 5

Book: The Royal Heir

Pairing: King Liam Rys x Queen Riley Brooks

All characters belong to Pixelberry.

Catch Up Here

Series Description: I developed a theory of what I think will happen in TRH Book 4, and I was encouraged by some very lovely people to turn my theory into a fic, so here it is. Basically, Riley is recruited to join the Via Imperii, this series will follow her as she joins them to try and bring them down from the inside, and all of the drama and bombshells she learns along the way. Sapere Aude is Latin for “dare to know” it seemed like an appropriate title.

Rating: PG-13 Adult language, allusions to smut (but nothing graphic), discussions of death, conspiracy, blackmail, and other adult themes.

Warning: The Royal Heir Book 3 Spoilers all over the place.

Word Count: 3,189

Notes: This is kind of a transitional chapter, no major plot movement (but there is some major Uncle Drake time, if that helps). If I had combined it with the next chapter, it would have been way too long. I promise I’m going to make up for it in the next chapter. 

As always, one love to my pre-readers @texaskitten30​ & @txemrn​, I’m surprising you both with some extra content that was not in the preread (chapter 6 got way too long, so I took the opening fluff and added it to the end of this chapter). And thank you @twinkleallnight​ for my moodboard!

Tags: Everyone is tagged below, whether or not you get notified of said tag, I guess that’s in the hands of the Tumblr gods 🤷🏻‍♀️

Riley’s eyes slowly fluttered open as she took in her surroundings, she was in an ornate bedroom that she didn’t recognize. “Oh good, you’re awake.” Mara walked toward the bed from the corner of the room where she had been sitting. 

“Mara, what happened?” Riley asked.

“You passed out, you had me worried for a moment there.” Mara poured her a glass of water from the pitcher on the nightstand. 

Memories started coming back to Riley, she remembered being at the event and taking mental note of the members in attendance. Then she remembered the speaker approaching the podium, it was Liam’s mother. Nope, that can’t be right. I had already passed out at that point. That was a dream, some weird Wizard of Oz shit. Just then, there was a knock on the door. Riley watched as Mara rushed over to the door, opening it slightly and saying something to the person on the other side. Riley tried, but she was unable to hear what was being said.

“Who was that?” Riley asked as Mara closed the door and headed back to her bedside. 

“Just someone checking on you. Tell me what you remember about what happened?” 

“Nothing really, I remember being in the room and looking around, then everything went black. I had the weirdest dream while I was out though. Liam’s mother, she was up at the podium, giving a speech.” She took in Mara’s serious expression, and started feeling uneasy again. “Mara, that was a dream...right? Liam’s mother died a long time ago.”

Mara took a deep breath, “Actually, that was not a dream, Eleanor is the leader of the Via Imperii’s Cordonian chapter.”

“But why? How? She’s been alive this whole time?” Just when I thought this couldn’t get weirder. Maybe I’m still dreaming, I haven’t woken up yet. Yeah, that’s it. She pinched her arm and quickly flinched in pain. Nope, definitely real life. Liam’s mother is alive, she has been this whole time. Liam has spent most of his life mourning a woman that not only betrayed his family, but that wasn’t even dead. How is it possible that things are still getting worse? 

“I believe that is something she is more qualified to answer herself. She is outside waiting to speak with you. Should I let her in?”

“I don’t know. What do I say? How am I supposed to act? What does one say to their dead mother-in-law that isn’t actually dead?” There was a slight tremble in her voice. “Mara, I’m freaking the fuck out here. What am I supposed to do?”

Mara sat on the side of the bed and put a comforting hand on Riley’s shoulder. “It is entirely your decision, but I promise you, things will become much more clear once you speak with her. I know this is a shock, but just listen to her.”

Riley closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to center herself. “Ok, let her in.” 

Aside from a few creases along her mouth and eyes, you would have sworn that the woman entering the room had stepped right out of the many photographs Liam had shown Riley over the years. Damn, I guess faking your death is a pretty good anti-aging cure. As Eleanor approached, Riley sat up further on the bed and leaned her back against the headboard. 

“Riley, I can’t tell you how happy I am to finally be sitting down with you. We have so much to discuss.” Eleanor took the chair from the vanity and placed it next to the bed.

Understatement of the century. “I have so many questions, I don’t even know where to start.”

“I’m sure you do dear, and I will answer all of them, but you have already been through so much tonight. You need your rest.” She patted RIley’s hand soothingly. “I just wanted to make sure you were alright. I would like to come by Valtoria tomorrow for brunch, we can talk then.”

“Valtoria...my Valtoria? But you’re supposed to be dead, everyone will see you. Drake will see you, he’ll know who you are.” Riley started to panic. “Eleanor is there...I mean, my Eleanor...Eleanor the second?” 

“Shh, it’s alright Riley. As much as I would love to meet my granddaughter, you are absolutely right, she and Drake can’t know that I am there. Just tell them you have a meeting, and ask Drake to take her out for a bit. Knowing him, I’m sure he’d be more than happy to take her on a little nature walk. As far as being seen, I’ve managed this long without my secret getting out. Don’t worry, I have my ways of running under the radar.”

Riley could only nod, her head still swimming with all of these thoughts and questions. Eleanor stood, giving Riley a kind goodbye and leaving the room. 

After a little more rest, and time to process the conversation she just had, Mara escorted Riley out of the estate and brought her back to Valtoria. Riley was looking forward to the comfort of being in her own home, and seeing her daughter. Eleanor was no doubt asleep already, but even just checking in on her and seeing that little face, was the most calm Riley could hope for at the moment. 

As she entered her daughter’s bedroom, she smiled to herself. Eleanor was asleep on her Uncle’s lap, while he also snored soundly, the book they were reading long forgotten on the floor in front of them. Riley gently lifted her daughter out of Drake’s arms, causing him to stir. 

“Hey Brooks. Sorry, she must have really worn me out.” He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he stood out of the oversized armchair. 

Riley gently laid her still sleeping daughter in the bed, and kissed her forehead as she tucked her in. “Trust me, if anyone understands it’s me.” She turned to her friend and gave him a hug. “Thank you so much for staying with her, Drake. I always feel better leaving her with a friend when Liam and I can’t be there.” 

The exhaustion and stress were evident in Riley’s voice. A concerned Drake nodded toward the door, signaling that they should leave Eleanor to sleep. “Are you alright? You’ve been acting weird, different, all day.” He asked as he gently shut the door behind them.

“Yea, I’m good, I promise.” Riley lied. “This event tonight, it was just one of those things that would have been so much easier with Liam. I mean, they all are, but you know what I mean.” Drake nodded as he put his arm around her shoulder and they walked toward her room. “Hey, do you mind taking Eleanor out for a bit tomorrow, like late morning-ish? I had someone tonight request a meeting, and it’s kind of time sensitive.”

“Of course, that’s what I came for. Maybe I’ll take her fishing. Would that be ok? I’d love to teach her.” 

Riley smiled at his enthusiasm, but the smile didn’t quite meet her eyes. Drake noticed. “I think that would be a great idea. I believe the gear you got her for her birthday is in the sporting shed.” 

“You know I’m not going to let this go, right? Something’s going on with you and Liam. You’re my best friends, I’m not going to just sit here and pretend something isn’t bothering you guys.”

Riley checked either side of the hallway before leading Drake into her room. As she shut the door with one hand, she raised the other to her face, signaling for Drake to be quiet. She grabbed her phone and opened the notepad app, typing a message to Drake.

Do you know how to check for bugs?

Drake furrowed his brows and nodded his head. 

Do it. 

Drake did a full sweep of the room and the balcony, and returned to Riley, who was now sitting on the bench at the end of her bed. “Alright, we’re good. Now what the hell is going on?”

She explained about the Via Imperii to Drake. She didn’t tell him everything, and she definitely didn’t tell him that Liam’s mother is alive, or that that was the meeting she was taking tomorrow. Drake listened intently to everything, his only interruption was a ‘fucking Neville’ when she was telling him about the other members. She told him that one of the higher ups from the organization wanted to meet with her tomorrow, not a lie, and that’s why she wanted him to take Eleanor out of the estate for a while. 

Everything that had happened since she and Liam stepped out of the palace doors that morning suddenly made sense to Drake. And it now made sense why Liam had asked him to go with them instead of Maxwell. He wanted protection for his family, not just someone to keep them company. 

“Ok, so who else knows? What can I do?”

“Liam wanted to wait until we had some more information to tell anyone else. I know I probably should have waited to talk to him first, but tonight was awful Drake, just so damn awful. And I can’t call Liam and tell him, because I don’t know if they’re listening to our calls, and I can’t keep it all to myself for another 48 hours.” She sighed deeply and ran a hand through her hair. “He just didn’t want us accidentally telling someone that was part of it. I’m so sorry we didn’t tell you. It’s not that we didn’t think we could trust you. It’s just, finding out his mother was involved, it hit him hard, Drake. I think he just feels so betrayed by her, it’s making him extra cautious of our inner circle.”

Drake pulled her into a hug and held her close. “Hey, it’s alright, I totally get it. If I found out something like that, I mean, I can’t even imagine.”

As they separated, Riley let out a yawn. “I should probably at least try to get some sleep. Thanks Drake, for everything.”

“Yea, of course. You guys are my family, I’ll always be here. You sure you’ll be alright?”

Riley nodded and walked him to the door. They said their good nights, and Drake headed down the hall to his room, while Riley shut the door and changed into her pajamas. She laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. She spent most of the night wondering what Eleanor would say to her tomorrow, and listing out all of the questions she was going to ask. She was grateful that she was given a chance to gather her thoughts before having to go too deep with her. She would finally be able to walk into a Via Imperii interaction prepared. Or so she hoped. 

Riley never got a good night's sleep when she and Liam were apart. She had grown accustomed to falling asleep in his arms, and no weighted blanket on the planet could replicate that feeling. The emptiness of her bed, combined with the events of the night before, and Riley wasn’t sure anything that happened over the last couple of hours could even be considered sleep. She nodded off a couple of times, but every time the REM cycle started to kick in, she would see Liam’s mother and be jolted awake. Finally, she couldn’t take the tossing and turning any longer, so she got out of bed and decided to work with Gladys to make preparations for their meeting. 

Before she did that, she wanted to go get Eleanor and make sure she was up and ready for her fishing date with Uncle Drake. As she entered her daughter’s bedroom, she saw Eleanor sitting at her table, with her back to the door, having a tea party with her stuffed animals. “Good morning, Princess.”

Eleanor turned and smiled, immediately running up to her and wrapping her arms around Riley. “Hi Mommy, come have tea with us!” She grabbed her mother’s hand and walked her to the small table. She moved one of the stuffed animals out of it’s chair, kissing it on the nose and placing it on the bed. “Sorry Woogie. Mommy, sit.” She pointed at the now empty chair. 

“Eleanor, remember our manners?” Riley raised an eyebrow at her. 

“Mommy sit...please?” She looked up with a questioning expression. 

“That’s my girl.”

They sat and ‘drank tea’, Eleanor explaining every moment of her evening with her uncle the night before with so much enthusiasm. Riley watched Eleanor’s arms gesture wildly as she talked about the game of hide and seek that they played. 

Eleanor stopped her story at the sound of Riley’s phone ringing, and squealed with excitement at the sight of her father’s face on the screen. “It’s Daddy, it’s Daddy!”

“Here, you answer it, he’ll be happy to see your face.” Riley swiped accept on the video call request, and handed the phone to Eleanor. 

Riley sat back and watched the two most important people in her life talking and laughing like there wasn’t a care in the world, when Riley knew that that world was actually in the process of crumbling. She made sure that Eleanor got the phone first so that she could take that time to compose herself before she talked to Liam. They would talk, but she couldn’t tell him anything about last night. Even if she could, a FaceTime call was not the way to deliver that news. She snapped out of her thought when she heard Liam from the other side of the phone.

“I love you too, princess. Can you please give the phone to Mommy?”

As Riley took the phone, she stood from her seat, giving Eleanor a kiss on the head. “I’m going to go talk to Daddy, Finish up your tea party, Uncle Drake is going to be taking you fishing soon.”

“YAY! Fishies!”

Riley exited the room and leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath before holding the phone up to her face. “Good morning, handsome.” She smiled softly at the sight of her husband on the other end.

“Hello, beautiful. How did you sleep?” 

“Do you really need to ask? You know you’ve spoiled me all these years, I can’t fall asleep without you.” She was determined to keep the conversation light. If it veered away from that at all, she wasn’t sure she would be able to hold back. Especially with the lack of sleep she was experiencing. 

“Trust me love, I understand. I’m already on my third cup of coffee, just one more night, and we will be together again.” His eyes said everything he wasn’t able to say in that call. They were having a silent conversation about how awful the previous night had been for Riley, and how sorry he was , how badly he wanted to be there to hold her and make it all go away. 

“It’s going to be the longest night of my life, just so you know.” She sighed, checking her watch briefly. “Liam, I have to go. I had a last minute meeting come up, and I have to go get everything ready.”

Liam nodded, knowing exactly what the meeting was in reference to, or so he thought. “Of course, I have to get ready for my day as well. I will call you later on to check in. I love you Riley, I will see you tomorrow.”

“I love you too, Liam.” She ended the call, and a single tear trailed down her cheek. She wiped it away and stood up straight. She didn’t have time to break down, she had a brunch to host. 

Riley worked with Gladys to prepare the solarium for her brunch meeting. Liam had told her how much his mother loved the gardens at the palace, so she thought that this would be an appropriate setting for their meeting. Sure, the circumstances were anything but pleasant, but this was still Eleanor Rys. This woman brought Liam, her Liam, into the world. No matter what happened in this meeting, or what became of this relationship, she would be eternally grateful to this woman for giving her the love of her life. 

She impressed on Gladys the importance of privacy for this meeting, all food and beverages were to be set out ahead of their guest’s arrival, chafing dishes and coffee carafes sat on one of the tables to ensure no servers needed to enter the room. Once the door was shut, nobody was to enter until the Queen said so. Eleanor had gone this long living under the radar, Riley certainly wasn’t going to be the one to ruin her life as a dead woman. 

Once the instructions had been laid out for the staff, Riley moved to the entryway of the estate to see Drake and Eleanor off on their fishing adventure. She walked in just as Drake was handing Eleanor her mini, hot pink, fishing rod. “Here you go, kiddo. Make sure you hold it up like this, so that you don’t poke anyone while you’re walking.”

She got a mischievous gleam in her eye. One that Drake instantly recognized from the countless times it flashed across Riley’s face, right before she’d do something that drove him crazy. Eleanor turned the rod, holding it horizontally, and jabbing it into Drake’s shins. “Poke poke poke!” 

Riley burst out laughing causing Drake to snap his head in her direction, and giving Eleanor the encouragement she needed to continue her assault on her Uncle. “To be fair, you kind of asked for it. You gave her step by step instructions.”

“Of what not to do! I guess I forgot who's kid I was talking to.” He gently took the rod out of Eleanor’s hand. “Here, I’ll carry it out to the car for you princess.”

“Thank you Uncle Drake!” She ran into her mother’s arms. “Bye Mommy!”

“Bye baby girl. Be a good princess, and make sure you do everything Uncle Drake says.” She gave Eleanor one more squeeze and let her go before approaching Drake. “Thanks for doing this, I know you didn’t expect to spend the whole weekend on babysitting duty.”

“Hey, it’s nothing. I wanted to get some fishing in while I was here anyway, always nice to have a little company.” He ruffled Eleanor’s hair as his face turned more serious. “You going to be ok?”

“The image of my daughter ramming a fishing rod into your shins should be enough to get me through it.” 

“She hangs out with you too much. She needs to spend more time with Liam so she can learn that stoicism shit.” They both laughed as he pulled her into a quick hug. “We’ll be back in a few hours.”

Riley waved as they exited the estate. Yup, that’s my daughter. Taught her everything she knows. She smiled to herself at the thought. She saw Mara approach out of the corner of her eye, and turned to face her. 

“Your appointment is here ma’am, she’s waiting for you in the solarium.”

Continue Reading

Tags: @txemrn @texaskitten30 @kingliam2019 @anjanettexcordonia @twinkleallnight @mile9213 @kittypryde-bipride @motorcitymademadame @kat-tia801 @bebepac @gkittylove99 @khoicesbyk @jessiembruno @queenrileyrose @athena-penrose @pixie88 @eadanga @choicesficwriterscreations @iaminlovewithtrr @hopelessromanticmonie @annarenee355 @burnsoslow @shewillreadyou @imturaxamara

[elpercotreviews]

Violet Evergarden: the Movie Review

Okay I’mma keep this short cuz WTF was that ... This is gonna be more of a rant than a review tbh. OBVIOUSLY SPOILERS OF THE MOVIE AND OF VIOLET EVERGARDEN IN GENERAL

I was hyped to watch this movie cuz I had been waiting to watch it for FOREVER. The movie only came onto Netflix recently, and idk why I just didn’t watch it on my illegal anime website or anything. I’ve only watched Violet Evergarden through Netflix.

And ... I hated this movie. Cuz what the fuck. Character development? GONE. Plot holes? EVERYWHERE.

Okay lemme just explain the gist of what happens in the movie. The movie is told in this like flashbacky type of thingy, like reflecting on the life of Violet, but tbh I wasn’t that emotionally invested in Ana’s daughter or whatever, it lacked a lot of sincerity idk. So this whole flashback/reflection aspect didn’t really matter.

The real beef of the story, and of course what anime-only Violet Evergarden fans were all waiting for was ya know, WAS THE DUDE ALIVE OR NOT??? Well we get our answer. No shit he alive. But this fucking movie made me wish he was dead. Yep it’s Kaze Hikaru all over again, where I’m wishing my faves just died because it somehow would have made the story BETTER.

Okay so yeah the Gilbert guy somehow miraculously survives that whole thing that happened and is obviously separated from Violet since she ran off. Ignoring the obvious plot hole of how tf he got outta there and was able to get medical attention and all that, he ain’t got his dog tag anymore, so when peeps find him, they don’t know who tf he is, but that brings up the extra plot hole of wouldn’t they recognize his army uniform and what country it was for??? IGNORING THAT TOO, he gets better and just .... DECIDES TO FUCK OFF TO AN ISLAND???????????? Mans literally ran away from his responsibilities as the head of the family, being a commander, Violet, all of that, and just lives on this small town on an island????? AND he told no one too that he was alive, even though he had the complete ability to head back into civilization or ya know just send a letter or whatnot. So literally his whole family, friends, EVERYBODY think he dead fr fr. And ya know how I said this was like a flashback thingy? So yeah mans parents and everybody went to their graves thinking he died like wtfffff.

Also while he stayed on the island, since he didn’t contact anybody or do anything, he had no idea how Violet was doing either, mans just left her to fuck off and fend for herself like HUH???? AND THE WHOLE MOVIE AT THIS POINT IS JUST HIM REFUSING TO SEE HER WHILE VIOLET IS TRYING SO HARD TO SEE HIM???? They deadass only talk face to face at like the last ten minutes or so of this goddamn movie. AND THE WORST PART IS THAT SHE FUCKS OFF TO THIS ISLAND TOO????? All that character development in the TV, everything about her developing emotionally and learning to live without the Gilbert guy?? BYE TO THAT YALL LOL The moment that she properly reunites with Gilbert she decides to live with him on the island and basically runs the post office there. And it’s just so damn weird and random feeling cuz the movie makes it like “yay everyone is happy and it’s so cool and Violet was loved and awesome.” but like ... sis already gave up her damn arms for this guy and now she gave up her whole life basically and her whole growth just to stay with him. I am so damn fucking DONE.

And what makes me even more mad is like THE LIGHT NOVEL ENDS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. I haven’t read the light novel itself, but based on a bunch of people’s reviews and commentary, it looks like in the light novel, same thing Gilbert is alive and all that, but he’s actually been supporting Violet secretly in the shadows this whole time, making money as well as keeping his position as the head of the family and protecting Violet from being used in politics/military. And ya know IT’S NOT A SECRET THAT HE’S ALIVE IT’S JUST A SECRET TO VIOLET IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE YEAH SHE DOES EMOTIONALLY GROW AND WHATNOT. So like, in this one, he had a genuine reason to not see her, and their reunion made sense, he met her when she was matured and more understanding of the world and such. While in the anime, he refuses to see her out of like shame??? For the whole running away part???

I’m just so done, and I feel so robbed of what this anime could have been, especially knowing what the plot actually was in the light novel. The anime movie reverses all of Violet’s growth and absolutely changes her and Gilbert’s personalities. Like it genuinely baffled me how someone who cared SO MUCH about Violet just didn’t even bother to check how she was doing for so many years???? And how he was so responsible and caring but said fuck my family and friends, let them all think I’m dead! It was so bizarre and out of character and just overall nonsensical. And the fact that Violet didn’t GAF about that at all and just went to live with his pisses me off. I’m so done and I can’t believe my memory of such a beautiful and emotional anime series is muddled and made bitter by this movie. 

IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE YET THEN DON’T. I REFUSE TO SEE IT AS CANON.

I should add though, that I LOVE KYOANI. And I’m aware the development and production of this movie was delayed due to the tragic arson attack. I am in no way criticizing the movie on that sense. The animation, the music, and all the “elements” of the movie were still excellent. It’s just such a shame that they didn’t follow the plot of the light novel.

[illusionsofdreaming]

have you— have you read new 662 chapter?... like i just did and idk if i should scream or straight up die

and r u ok with stuff like that?? since ur blog is clearly not tcf blog and i dont want to litter ur ask box with unnecessary stuff

first of all, yessss, I welcome all talk on this blog regardless if it’s requests or plain discussion on any of the fandoms celebrated here! 

so this took a while for me to answer because not going to lie, I had not caught up to the most recent chapters because I can easily consume a hundred chapters in a sitting, I decided to let it accumulate - anyways I only had 60 or so chapters to catch up on so now that I’m all caught up - let’s talk business.

But before that.

SPOILERS! In case that wasn’t obvious! Please don’t read ahead if you don’t want to be spoiled about MAJOR PLOT POINTS in TCF!! 600+ chapters and above!

━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━

can I first mention about how it feels like we’re quickly speeding towards the end of TCF and BOY. do I feel sad about it already. I can already feel the emotional drop from finishing a really good series from miles away and I’m sadly not looking forward to it. I always had a hard time parting from series and I already know TCF will hit hard. Perhaps when that time comes, I’ll have to drown my sorrows and release it out through stress writing.

aw man but where to even start? not from where I picked up because WOW author really packed A LOT in 60+ chapters and phew, this will turn into a thesis if I went and commented on it all- so Chapter 662- actually chapter 663. Because by the time I started writing this a new chapter has been updated so-

Right. Where to even begin?? First thing first will be to address the niggling issue at the back of my mind- because I’m a bit confused and not sure if I’ve understood it correctly. 662 really unpacked a lot of information.

So basically why White Star looks like Kim Rok Soo in TCF is because technically when he reincarnated again for Xth number time, he took over Kim Rok Soo’s TCF baby body, which forced out Kim Rok Soo’s soul to leap to Earth 1 and be born there instead. Now Death God decided he’s going to fix this anomaly (and TCF world) by offering to OG Cale Henituse the chance to regress + switch places with Kim Rok Soo, which essentially brings back Kim Rok Soo’s soul back to his original world albeit into a completely different body.

Now, here’s my issue. If this is fixing something, technically Death God fixed nothing? Because technically Kim Rok Soo wouldn’t have been the only soul that has been forced out by White Star in his many, many times of reincarnation cycles. Wouldn’t that mean there would’ve been other ‘Kim Rok Soos’ floating about on other Earths? So what I’m seeing is that, because TCF Earth is facing a crisis, he decided you know, since this world’s gone up in flames might as well try to salvage it by picking the most convenient dead soul- Oh look, a dead Cale Henituse! Great! Here, go to Earth 1 and that lost soul can return and fix this mess! Am I confused? Yes. I hope it will get answered in the future, about what happened to all the other souls that got pushed out of TCF because of White Star and Death God’s true motives.

At 660 chapters +, Author really did try to fit more plot into TCF didn’t they? I appreciate it haha

Next up Thames Family’s dark history - Are they modern people? TCF people? Variables themselves? Half immortals? Or are they the lost souls that’s been pushed out by White Star and brought back to TCF thanks to X God? I can appreciate that Author tried to lighten up the heavy mood with that little bit of humor in 663 (really going to make us think that Drew didn’t leave a single good clue for our dear Cale huh?) and finally, we get some flash backs to the world tree and the dangerous stick they handed over to Cale. Everyone sensing the ‘I’ll stab myself and it’ll turn into the strongest weapon’ moment coming towards us like an oncoming freight train.

Alright, give me your thoughts and your screams about the most recent chapters up to 663 guys. Remember to tag spoilers because we want to protect all our sweet new readers joining the TCF fandom! Meanwhile, I’m going to let TCF sit and accumulate for another 60+ chapters.

Peace. -drops mic-