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princess-peregrine · 5 years

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I made a short thing a while back so i'm gonna post it now, you can ignore it

please forgive me i don’t know how to make an under the cut post, just scroll really fast

Storm Hawks is a show that takes place in the fantasy world of Atmos, world of a thousand mountain top kingdoms., each protected by a sky night against the forces of darkness. These include beasts, rogues; and worst of all, Cyclonians. The Storm Hawks are an individual group of a wandering military force called sky knights. In the show a sky knight squadron is assigned or stays at an individual Terra, which are what cities on the mountain tops are called. The characters that we focus on are members of the Storm Hawks, which is the meaning of the title. The Storm Hawks are the only squadron that roams from Terra to Terra which is beneficial to the story. Storm hawks as a show is episodic and not streamlined which creates a much more free environment for the writing of the show. While there may be call backs; although rarely, they are unconnected an unnecessary for the episodes story. In modern television there is a push for a more streamlined story structure in episodic stories. And unfortunately to the detriment of other shows, an episodic structure in a streamlined show. You can see the examples of this in shows such as Steven Universe and Star VS The Forced of Evil. Steven universe is a show that has a goal and an overarching plot. But there are many throwaway forgettable episodes intermixed with story progression, and often in the times of high intensity which diminishes the value of the story. And Star Vs The Forces of Evil is a show that in the first season was focused mainly on episodic contained stories but as the second season aired there was a clear push for a more streamlined story and romance plot while trying to keep the episodic nature of the show. A benefit of Storm Hawks is that in it's fifty-two episode run only three are streamlined episodes with a clear connection to the rest of the show. Those episodes would include the first episode that establishes the show and the two part season two finale. The story follows the six person crew of the ship called the Condor. This includes the primary main character who is the leader of the crew, Aerrow. The additional main characters are: Piper, Junko, Finn, Stork, and Radarr. Their roles on the Condor, stated in the intro, are as follows: Piper, the specialist. Junko, the strongman. Finn, the marksman. Stork, the helmsman. And Radarr, the copilot. Storm Hawks, the show, benefits in writing from having a wide cast, as characters are usually introduced each episode and provide the conflict or journey for our main characters. Episodes are either taking place on or off the Condor. Which seems like an obvious distinction but there are many episodes where the conflict or main story surrounds the Condor as a ship that it is an important distinction. The ship, weapons, and all appliances are powered by an energy source of crystals. In the show crystals are naturally occurring magical items that are the main driving force of the villains. While episodes that focus on the Storm Hawks themselves have a wide variety of possibilities, the plot lines with a primary villain involved normally center around the obtaining of crystals. These primary villains are the raptors and Cyclonians. Raptors are a race within the world of Storm Hawks that are anthropomorphism lizards. This race is almost entirely depicted by a small cast of Raptors0 that are continuous. The Cyclonians are an apposing military faction from the Cyclonia, or Terra's that belong to Cyclonia. Very often the Cyclonians are represented by repeated models with identical masks and armor, infrequently distinguished by mustaches. There are however three generals of the Cyclonian army that are frequently occurring and leave impacts on the main cast. There is Snipe, an extremely strong oaf that prefers to hit first and never think that often is in the Storm Hawks way to create meaningless conflict. Secondly there is Ravess, a tall slender pink haired violin player that is much smarter and has more meaningful involvement to the story. Ravess and Snipe are siblings in the show and that is a good source of comedy between the two. Lastly there is the Cyclonian General, the Dark Ace. The Dark Ace acts as a foil to our main character Aerrow as Dark Ace is the murderer of the previous Storm Hawks. Dark Ace appears very frequently often to simply fight Aerrow one on one as the interactions between the Dark Ace and other protagonists besides Aerrow are very limited. Furthermore there is a leader of Cyclonia, Master Cyclonis. Master Cyclonis is seen as the ultimate threat, often depicted as the smartest and most dangerous person. She, similar to Piper is a crystal-mage, someone who is proficient and very skilled in using crystals. Cyclonis acts as the foil to Piper similarly how the Dark Ace is a foil for Aerrow, although in a much more subdued sense. Cyclonis' strength is much more implied than shown in the show. I'd like; unfortunately, to bring about a comparison to the Show Avatar the Last Airbender. I'd like to avoid singing the shows praises but as mention earlier, the effectiveness of streamlined and episodic storytelling. Avatar is a show that is streamlined, if you watch episodes out of order you would find yourself struggling to piece the story together unless you re-watched the episodes many times. Which is what re-runs allowed for. However With an episodic story there is no need and no frustration to understand the story because things rarely carry over if at all. And Storm Hawks and Avatar the Last Airbender are very similar with their stories, albeit lacking forwarding of plot. As the setting of Storm Hawks similarly takes place in a world where the main villain is the leader of their own military force and generals that directly jagskdfa;sldfhafhksdhfasjdf;la okay I'm done, I don't feel like writing anymore because now I'm stretching and I just wanna talk about how gay I think piper and Cyclonis are for each other and I mean seriously, I just wanna talk about the anti Nazi episode that focuses on Junko's character development. And tbh it would just be a rant and not an essay so you know what, I type faster when ranting anyway.

Okay so like, in the second season there is this episode, a wallop for all season. And I think this episode in particular is one of the best in the entire show, possibly the best. And ok, so throughout the series Junko is constantly either fixing bikes, or doing something strongman characters do like fixing and making. He makes weaponry for the storm hawks is what I'm getting at. Clearly he is a very intelligent character. All but one of the storm hawks are. That being Finn who is a total doofus but I love him and he is amazing and needs to be protected. Even if he has fought in tons of serious battles he's just dumb. But Finn and Junko in the show are depicted as each others best friend. Two sides of the same coin. They share interactions with each other more than the other crew. Alright so stork is up there with who they hang out with but stork is almost always on the ship. But the thing wallop for all season does is acknowledge that Junko is smart. Throughout the series he is just a second idiot on the ship. He is shown to always hold the dumb ass brain cell along with Finn mainly for comedy. Okay so in a wallop for all season Junko is sent to take over the family business by the wallop tribe leader. Oh by the way, all wallops are super strong and look like rhino's. And while Junko takes over the business the other Storm Hawks find out that Cyclonians are on the Terra with them. And there is a confrontation with the tribe leader to get them off the Terra and the Cyclonians want to take the Storm Hawks prisoners and kill them. And the leader is all like, we have a peace agreement with Cyclonia and the Cyclonians are welcome here and that isn't going to change. And Junko is all like Change it or else. Now earlier I said the anti Nazi episode and I understand that saying Nazi is a reaction word these days for cartoon villains and movie villains that are completely separate, but the thing is it's a base word to explain how evil the villains should be viewed as because of the real world emotions sympathy and parallels. And this episode, okay you know that phrase that's like, if there is a Nazi sitting at a table, and ten people sit at the table, there are eleven people sitting at the table? Unrelated in a way but I like the phrase. Mainly because I hate Nazi's and white supremacists and am definitely not changing that. But anyway where was I? I just got home after a long time out. Ok right. So I forgot where I was going with the phrase thing. But to be back on track. Junko is all, change it or else. And the chief is like, you challenging me to be tribe leader? And Junko is all sure if that's what it'll take. And then they go out to the woods to fight and they're arguing the whole time during the fight. And Junko is telling the chief that he could change it, they're going to be betrayed by Cyclonia anyway. And the chief is all, this is for the benefit of the wallops Junko, I'm just doing what's good for everyone else. And Junko is all, good for everyone? Wallops hate helping other Terra's and other people, why don't you fight back like normal. And like, after that it's my second favourite line of the episode. The chief screams the reason they're sided with Cyclonia, the reason that they're letting the bad guys do what they want and why the chief is afraid to do anything about it. “CYCLONIS, IS, TOO, STRONG!” it's in caps bc if I remember right he throws a tree at that point. And basically the end of the fight Junko is a swing away from winning and he gives mercy to the chief and forfeits and the chief calls him weak for that. And when Junko is leaving he gives a little speech. “i used to be ashamed because all the other wallops were bigger and stronger than me. I thought being strong was the most important thing. But strength means nothing, unless you have the courage to use it for good.” that's the first half then an exchange with the chief. And then the rest. “I am a wallop, and I'm also a Storm Hawk, the good guys.” And Junko has had other episodes. But all of his other episodes don't show his strength as a character. They normally only surround his physical strength, the first of his episodes primarily focusing on his strength. Although this is the first episode of his, and unfortunately it's near the end of the series, that has an impact on characters not in the main cast. We see an exchange that goes along these lines between wallops hiding from Cyclonians. “I think Junko was right.” “But what can we do?” “We'll meet tonight, just because Thrag supports Cyclonia, doesn't mean we have to.” And yeah this is a small exchange but the impact it leaves is from being a show where normally episodes are goofy and joke filled, same with this one, that don't keep up a serious story line.

So like She-Ra, it's a streamlined show. The episodes are very specifically meant to be played in order. Some episodes are able to stand alone without knowing the story, unfortunately that's a lie. Whenever story lines could be regarded as episodic, that's primarily the B plot of the episode. And like, the show likes to jump back to the second main character, Catra, in the horde who is always doing something to progress the story. Honestly I have a problem with binging and the style of show Netflix puts out but that's a different issue entirely and just an opinion of mine. You know what's not an opinion? Storm Hawks is a great fucking show. Like for real, it's sloppy and sometimes rushed but it is always amazing. Except for the home movie night episode, that was a clip show episode, those are always terrible.

The point is you should watch Storm Hawks. What the hell. There's this episode called number one fan, and it's a stinker of the series. But you know what? It's fine, it's not too important at all, and if anything it's a love letter to the fans. Because number one fan is just, prophetic, it knew what was gonna happen with people like me. And basically the episode is about the storm hawks finding a fan of theirs, of the sky night squad Storm Hawks, and are totally flattered. Except Finn, he doesn't like Finn. And Finn's plot of the episode is trying to get the fan to like him. And the Storm Hawks are indulging him and letting him ride on their bikes and giving him a good day. Then predictably they say something the wrong way and he gets sad and upset and they leave and the villains come in to save the kid and bada bing bada boom the episode is over. And you know what, I don't like that episode, I don't enjoy it save for the one scene in it that had Cyclonis. But you know what? It was still a funny an well written episode.

There's also the fact that I holy fucking yes love the Cyper ship, or pipcy, I just say piper x Cyclonis like i'm from 2009.

IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH I START TALKING ABOUT PIPER BUT THEN I DIVULGE INTO A STREAM OF THOUGHT THAT CONTAINS MY THOUGHTS ON GAY REP AND ALSO SPOILERS FOR STEVEN UNIVERSE.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR STEVEN UNIVERSE IN THIS PARAGRAPH.

let me rant about Piper for a second. First of all she is a main character. Most of the time she is in the spotlight and the driving character. Hell, a few episodes taken away and Aerrow is no longer the main character and Piper is. And you know what else, one she's a girl so there's that. And two, and this is the big thing, SHE IS BLACK WITH A REALISTIC SKIN TONE IN A CHILDRENS CARTOON IN 2007! Like holy fuck aside from that one episode of 6teen where the girl says she's gay and already has a date to the dance, this is like the best shit. Also she has blue hair which I sometimes forget about but she always, no matter what, wears the orange headband. And it's not like it's necessary because of character design. She has been in many different outfits. Plus I'd like to mention that this was 2007, and it's a 3d show. Like, the quality of the animation is still amazing. And the fight scenes are always stunning to see happen. And oh oh, her bike has helicopter wings on it. Like aside from it being a jet she has helicopter wings like that is just a personalized Piper thing. And I'd like to mention that Piper is very high key bi, although never said in the show. And if you're going. Not said in the show? Darn ):. well let me fucking remind you, it has never been stated in she ra or shown, in the show that Anyone is a Lesbian or even Bi. All we have are just things from the creators that they say OUT OF THE SHOW when very clearly they could devote literally 2 seconds in show to say “I'm gay” and keep going like holy fuck. If Catra and Adora are lesbians then so are Piper and Cyclonis. And it kinda upsets me because then we have a wedding in Steven Universe but they still go, can't assign labels to them still gotta remember they're rocks and even when in the same supposed gay wedding episode the worse than Stalin diamonds come down and fuck their shit up. And this is all happening when a straight guy, let me repeat that, A STRAIGHT WHITE GUY ON NICKOLODEON WROTE THE BEST GAY REPRESENTATION IN A CHILDRENS SHOW YET. You remember all that? The most bland, normal, everyday shit for gay people was put in the loud house and it's the best representation for children's media ever, par for the 6teen thing. I just wanted to say that I ship Piper and Cyclonis but I wrote all this. Shit. Anyway Cyclonis x Piper for life, they're married and ruling the Atmos together and have a kid, XOXO

Okay now I'd like to address the idea of a continuation or a reboot. Personally, I want a continuation, not a reboot. Most of the other fans would like a reboot that is edgier and more serious but I think they might have missed the point of the show. Even lightning-arrow, the main storm hawks fan blog second only to my might which will one day crush all in it's path, I'm so ahead of my time that my time left me behind to remind time to make this time mine. Many people like to look at the concept art and story and think, wow I would have liked this show. And they aren't wrong, they would have liked that show. But I think they would have liked it less. Storm Hawks is a comedy show first and and action show sometimes. Very often the episodes are joke filled and very tame on action. Yet some people would like an edgier and darker show, to which I ask, why? Did you not like when Finn made a fool of himself at a talent contest by doing the air guitar? Did you not like when a chicken interrupted a very serious fight between Aerrow and Dark Ace? Did you not like every single one of Storks lines? Now is a good time to mention Stork in this argument for edgier and darker Storm Hawks. Stork is the dark character, the sarcastic character, the witty and depressed one. Stork is very obviously an emo, and that is intentionally displayed in his character design. If you want to know what I mean, he has the dark hair over half his face thing going on. That's how emo we're talking. And all of his lines are paranoid, sarcastic, depressing, or condescending. And almost 100% of his lines are jokes and are always funny. Stork is the darkest character that makes jokes about death that always manage to get a laugh. The problem with making the show more serious and edgier, is that his character might as well be pointless and thrown away. In a cast of characters that aren't jovial and all grim, where's the need for another grim character? Stork is yang of the group, while everyone else is happy and smiling, he provides the contrast, that is his character. He is meant to be a foil for the rest of the entire cast, protagonists and antagonists. And I believe it's easy to forget about all the jokes that the show made you laugh at when you go a long time without watching it and only remember the serious pieces. The fact of the matter is that the jokes and humour and lightheartedness is what made the serious moments stand out to people that want it to be darker. When people ask for a darker story what they're asking for is the same feeling of contrast when the heavy moments hit. It's like eating ice cream with your best friend and in the middle of the conversation you bite the ice cream with your teeth and at the same time your friend punches you in the gut. And then going to your weaver friend and asking them to hit you in the gut, with no ice cream and you're ready for the impact. Why did I use this specific example? For zero reason and I'm not at all salty about dropping a chocolate ice cream cone with the blueberry shell at dairy haven stop asking questions.

The point is storm hawks is amazing and you should watch it. It's my favourite show after all.

Oh shoot I went through Aerrow, Junko, piper, Finn, and Stork. I forgot to mention Radarr. Radarr is a squirrel. That's it. I'm not joking. Radarr is a squirrel. Oh right maybe I should have mentioned that earlier. Um yeah guys, the reason a darker show wouldn't work is, hmmm, I don't know, one of our main characters is a squirrel that squeaks!!!!

oh yeah thought of another thing. I don't thing people realize that when the characters were chosen for the show, and their old pre-show character designs were rejected. It's because the creators themselves, decided the ones we got were better. And thank god for that because if I had to look at Aerrow in hi 5th grader learned what anime is and picked up a how to draw manga style book and skipped to the last picture design I would probably never have watched the show. Also people for some reason want Piper to keep her old arc about her being a miner, and just, no guys. Think about that for a few minutes, just no.

Also I'd like to mention how fucking glad I am that the Master Cyclonis design changed. Before her name was Master Anarchis and that is just awful and should never have been on the table. Master Cyclonis is a powerful name however. Anarchis makes me think she's gonna turn into a spider.

And also also, I don't particularly care about what isn't in the show. Oh the backstory was explained like this, and the lore of the atmos was explained on the site before it was shut down. Yeah ok, that's neat, but was it in the show? Was that the content we got as average consumers of the media? No? It requires a different platform and doesn't actually affect the show? Then it might as well be pointless to me. Sure you can have it but don't expect me to be convinced to write my fanfiction of them according to those standards. Granted no one has actually told me that, but being on tumblr is very personal to me and makes me feel like I'm talking to people. Conclusion, Storm Hawks is good and you should watch it.

#storm hawks

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