#tbh pretty much all of them have reasons and motives to become a villain

[d4rk-x-w0lf-17]

list of characters that i think would make for really fun and interesting villains

[millylotus]

Super Villain Summer Internships [Everlasting Trio, DpxDc]

Everlasting Trio don’t know what they’re going to do for college, so they decide to just bite the bullet and do a few internships. Although they all forget to tell each other that they’re each interning with villains.

Danny is with Mister Freeze, going under the name Blizzard

Danny is basically the one doing a bunch of intern work while also not, at first he was just kinda there cause he liked being cold

But then he and Freeze begin to bond over feeling responsible for things that aren’t really their fault, Danny promises to help Freeze revive Nora

They have a father-son relationship, in how they’re actually pretty similar in personality & powers

Sam is with Poison Ivy, under the name Blood Blossom

Sam is the only one to have a legal internship because Ivy actually wrote her down as her legal lab assistant

She and Pam are very Big Sis-Little Sis energy, Sam is the annoying younger sibling who wants to do everything their big sister does

Pam finds this devotion to their ideals adorable, and supports Sam in their joint endeavors

Tucker is with Bane, going as Ruin

Tucker acting as Bane’s tech guy, he’s been working on a new type of venom for Bane he doesn’t get into many fights but if he needs to he doesn’t back down

They have an Uncle-nephew relationship going on but also Tucker gets a bit obsessive about making the best venom that they have Frankenstein & Frankenstein’s Monster going on too

It’s mainly just Tucker getting to cackle evilly while Bane just say “Alright chiquito, have you eaten breakfast yet? You get angry when hungry.”

The batfam is not prepared to deal with two mini rouges and a secret mini rouge who they haven’t met yet but are still worried about

A couple weeks into their internship the Gotham Rogues have their bi-monthly meeting where The Everlasting Trio is introduced to everyone

Ivy, Freeze, & Bane were also surprised to see that their interns actually knew each other/are dating

The Everlasting Trio are the entire reason why the Gotham Rogues are even talking to each other at the moment

Now the bats are even more confused & concerned because the rogues are usually at each other’s throats

It’s the only thing keeping them from taking over tbh

When the batfam find out that the three interns they’ve had to deal with for like most of June, all know each other and are actively in a polycule, they feel like everything makes so much more sense

The trio do have an ulterior motive to this whole thing, at first it’s just indulging in their less than stellar morals

Until it’s not

They become more enthralled in their ambitions, Sam begins to care less and less about the world outside of plants, she cares less about the civilian casualties, she begins to use ecto-science on plants

Pam & Harley are very concerned because they’re both on their path to redemption and Sam is going in the other direction

Danny becomes just as obsessive as Mister Freeze with trying to bring back Nora, he’s bringing in ecto-science in an attempt to bring her back through re-bonding her soul back to her body

Freeze isn’t against this exactly, but he’s unsure if it’ll bring the real Nora back, he’s still gonna go with it

Tucker has fully fallen into the mad scientist idea, he wants to make Bane the best version of himself the best human possible, his new version of venom is directed by ecto-science and such

Bane of course wants to be stronger but he knows at some point Tucker is gonna go to far, so he’s willing to hold the kid back if need be, but he isn’t going to actually do it he wants Tucker to go bad

By the time the Trio reaches the point of no return their bosses realizes this is not going to go their way anymore

Everlasting Trio: You’re just afraid to take it, One. Step. Further.

The fight to take back Gotham from the Everlasting Trio is a long one

Sam has complete control over Robinson Park [biggest park in Gotham] along with its botanical gardens and such

The surrounding neighborhoods are overrun with plants, she has people asleep and under her control for the most part

Tucker has most of the upper districts running wild on the venom he’s made, people are now more powerful than Superman himself and have lost their minds in their blind rage, they’re all mainly under his control

Danny has the east bays and the graveyards near by, everything is frozen over, the bodies in the harbor and in the ground have been reanimated into ice soldiers and are under his control most of the time

Ivy, Harley, Freeze, & Bane have to call in the bats for help with the Trio and their plans

They split up to go for their kid, with a few bats behind them to back them up

Ivy & Harley pull on Sam’s care for the rest of the world

Bane brings Tucker down from the high, making him think this through

Freeze gets Danny to realize that nobody he brought back is who they first were

By the end of it the trio is subdued after a big fight and some impassioned speeches

They’re admitted into Arkham Asylum, they promise their mentors that they’ll do better, that they’ll get better & make them proud of them

Admittedly I completely forgot to mention the trio’s family back in Amity

Let’s just say they don’t all know the nature of their internship

Jack & Maddie are aware that Danny is interning under an important doctor but they weren’t sure who he is

Angela & Maurice don’t know what’s going on with Tucker he hasn’t given them any stable information, he wanted to keep it that way with them thinking he’s still a good kid

Jeremy & Pamela know exactly what Sam was doing, she made sure of it, she wanted them to know they’re baby girl was running with villains now

Jazz is actually living in Gotham while this is going on, she going to college at GU for psychology, she’s interning at Arkham

She’s actually close with the bats, having met Jason, she’s one of the few psychs they trust at all

She knows that Sam is working with Ivy, she’s tried reaching out to her but Sam refuses to talk to her

She’s only ever seen Blizzard from afar, and was unable to connect him with Danny

She didn’t even know Ruin existed until the bats told her, and even then she didn’t know he was Tucker

When they’re taken down Jazz finds out who they are and she’s crushed, she feels she not only failed Sam, but also Danny & Tucker as well

Since the trio are all 18+ by the time they’re arrested nobody from Amity is sent anything to tell them they’ve been arrested

For about a week Jazz is actually their therapist at Arkham before she’s re-assigned when it’s realized she knows them personally

Jazz ends up telling the Foleys and the Fentons what happened

Then Amity gets the broadcast of their very own Samantha Manson being arrested in Gotham, New Jersey for eco-terrorism

Everything else just blows up in their faces after that, The three families don’t even dare show face around for awhile

They go to Gotham to actually visit their kids in Arkham

The Foleys are so disappointed in their son for what he’s done, Tucker can’t even look them in the eyes as the yell at him about everything

For the Mansons it sprouts into a huge shouting match with Sam almost jumping to table to try and physically fight her parents

All the Fentons do is stare at each other, they try to ask Danny why but he’s not cooperating with his biting remarks and not wanting to even see them for almost a week

Regarding their sentence and institutionalization the trio only has about five years or until they show sufficient mental stability for two years straight

This is another one that's been sitting around for awhile. And I also remembered the the banner i made for Batfam & Everlasting trio content

Main Story Index [It's kinda messy but it's got links to most everything]

[shzmluvrs]

very very specific request but 2019 freddy x clown collector reader? like reader collects clown dolls and all that kinda jazz and just how freddy would feel about that

(😭)

For some reason, as I go through dark times, this triggered such motivation and inspiration within me, so I thank you deeply🥲🫵🏽🫶🏽.

Also, I'm gonna name you bc I can pretty much guess you have a thing for specifically 2019 Freddy and that's pretty unique about you, so your name is 2019 (unless you have something more creative in mind lmao-).

~ Star✨️

Circus Baby

Prompt: The weird and overly fan-obsessed didn't particularly have a place at Fawcett Central. But, there they were, anyway, to be gawked and mocked at by the relatively common and "normal" student body. And while yes, Freddy was a prime suspect in the 'overly obsessive' category, he had to admit you definitely took the cake for the 'weird' department. In a good way to him, of course. Besides, who else is he gonna jokingly refer to as a wanna-be Gotham villain?

Timeline: Post Shazam! Pre S!:FOTG

TW/Content: Clowns (if they scare you, you not gonna like this at all, I'm sorry😭)⚡️Cursing⚡️Mentions of insecurity/anxiety and whatever relating⚡️Me being a little unhinged about this subject (for some reason-)⚡️Cringe? A little. But get over it tbh...

Reader: Fem! She/Her/Hers Pronouns! Clowncore Aesthetic/Style!

Requested By: Anon (2019?)

Back to Master List

I know you said clown collector, but because I'm literally insane, I wanna take this a step further...

Reader who is just full steam ahead into the clown-lifestyle😻🤡!!

Surely, it all started at a young age with your odd habit of collecting any bit of clown-related memorabilia you could get your grubby little hands on. But it soon escalated (and I'm betting startling your parents💀) into you basically being a clown.

Well, not literally.

I mean, you entertained the idea that you were decently humorous, and the occasional animal balloon tricks were attempted, but besides that, you managed to take something known for its silly (sometimes scary) wackadoo nature, and made it ✨️girlboss✨️.

And it helped that you didn't exactly shy easy, so you were proudly showing up places in your colorful, rainbow, clown-esque outfits...

Unless, of course, you happen to have a specific and favorable color, to which then it was your clown-esque wear themed specially in that color.

And your creative makeup that managed to be both cute and clown. Clute, if you will. Or maybe Cu-own...? Uh...😬...

And you could never forget about your hair. Unless you're a huge fan of styling and coloring your actual hair in cool, funky colors and ways, wigs were your best friend...

"Places" included school, for the most part, and you had thankfully become desensitized to the rude and teasing stares and the unprompted comments and whatnot... And at some point, so did the rest of the student body and staff, because it was clear no matter what they said, you weren't gonna tone down yourself for them.

Plus, it was fun! You felt as though the positive outweighed the negatives, thoroughly enjoying the bright-eyed and excited looks on younger grade's faces when they saw you occasionally pass through their section of the building, or when you'd actually receive compliments on your makeup from some of your peers. Plus, you were routinely asked to do other people's theater makeup, so-...

You got to try out new looks, new styles, new whatever every day without a care in the world!

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It was something Freddy found himself admiring about you from afar. It's not like you were exactly hard to miss, but it didn't change the fact that every seventh period, he'd wake himself up from an exhausting school day in complete, full anticipation for your arrival. He adored your outfits, your makeup, your hair, and once the day came when he'd finally gain the courage to speak to you, he'd hopefully adore you as whole, too.

That day came when you two were assigned to be partners for an upcoming project. A bittersweet emotion ran through his chest. Wasn't this what he wanted? The perfect excuse, chance, opportunity to get to know you? He was so nervous, he broke out into a cold sweat. Hands growing shaky and clammy, watching as you approached through the gaggle of other students shuffling around to get to their partners. And once finally sat, he stared, completely tuning out the teacher's next set of instructions.

At first, he couldn't bring himself to speak. For what seemed like the first time in a long while, Freddy Freeman was speechless. In complete awe by your presence (and ecstatic you hadn't grimaced or groaned when he was announced to be your partner), he admired every single detail of your purposefully paled face, the random little specs of glitter, elongated eye and mouth features thanks to eyeliner, and the outfit was definitely another one for the books.

At first, this boy's intense stare up and down your figure made you hope he wasn't actually the weirdo he was coming off as. Granted, you...did look like a clown, but once the stare surpassed the entire rant the teacher had gone on and then some minutes afterwards, you felt it necessary to speak up.

"Um... So, do you know how you wanna go about the project? Or...?"

"Sorry for- Oh my god, I-...Sorry for staring, that was probably really creepy for you and that's, like, the opposite of what I wanna do here-. I just think that this, whatever this is, this whole..." He used a big hand gesture to reference your ensemble. "...Is the coolest ever and I'm literally blown away."

"?!?😃 Oh my god, thank you 😃?!?"

And that was all it took before the two of you were hyperactively conversing back and forth on, not even just style choices, but on any and everything else that came to mind. It was like a force had been sparked between you two, the fire unable to be put out, let alone dimmed. It led to the start of an immediate and solidified friendship. Which, of course blossomed into something more. But I wanna focus on more of the "firsts" for now.

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Aka, The first time you had entered his home and met his family, which was the same day y'all met. He hadn't prepped you or anything, simply guaranteeing that they were bound to love your company and to pay no mind to any comments they might make. And while sure, you were pretty much used to having that mindset already, for some reason, this time made you nervous. Nervous like the very first time you had truly discovered you even liked this style and wanted to go out in public dressed as such, nervous. It had you adjusting your pins, clothing, and other accessories the entire walk there, and you swore that you had probably stress-sweat all of your hard-work makeup away.

To keep this short and sweet, every interaction was... unique, to say the least. First, there was a tall brunette sporting prep-wear, waltzing around the house with her phone pressed against her ear and determination in her voice to ace this interview for a nearby community college. But upon seeing you, stopped dead in her tracks and (much like Freddy) s t a r e d.

"That's Mary." "Your sister?" "Yes, out of two." "She's pretty."

"Freddy, why is there a clown in our home? Darla's birthday isn't for another four months."

Ngl, that stung you a little, but nothing you haven't heard (or expected to hear) before...

"Wh- No, shut up, that's not- She's a friend from school, we have a project together. This is just what she looks like, this is how she looks." "...Oh :). Well, you're gonna have to teach me how you have such a smooth base, because my products could never. Anyways, talk later, interview..." And with a shy point to her phone, she left you with a grin that you returned, growing flattered at the compliment on your makeup.

Then there was a boy, about shoulder height with glasses, who barely gave half of a glance in your direction. It's not that he didn't see you at all. He just... didn't care. Clearly, too focused on the TV screen that he stood basically directly in front of. "Optimal gaming stance, he claims..." Freddy informed, swiftly pulling you along before you could become engrossed in the Mortal Kombat fight yourself.

You were lead to the kitchen, Freddy rummaging through the pantry and fridge on the hunt for proper sustenance while you worked together. It was there, you were met with his mother, who gave a very "mom-happy" yet clearly confused smile. "Hi...!" She greeted suddenly, which urged you to awkwardly strike out your hand for her to shake. If you knew you were gonna be literally seeing his entire family same day, you would've toned down a little bit, at least. Just to let them get used to it all... but alas...

"Hi, I'm (Y/N). I'm just here to work on a project with Freddy." "Oh, I see! A theater project."

"Nah, science." Freddy corrected with a tone of casualty, kicking the fride door closed with the stub of his crutch, his other hand/arm supporting the weight of all of his gathered snacks and drinks.

"Oh." Rosa smiled again, still innocently confused. And before you could try to explain, Freddy was already insistent on the hurry to his room. It's okay, though, because once Rosa realized what you wore was just a creative, style choice a while later, she found it just that. Creative. And totally supported and compared it to alternative styles she'd seen back in her high school days, bless her heart🥰😭.

On the way towards/up the stairs was where you encountered what you had to assume was Freddy's father and older brother, who breezed past the two of you at first, but then did quick double-takes. "Ohooh, you look sick! What is this, like a statement, or...?" You received an immediate compliment from Victor, a chuckle leaving your throat along with a shrug of your shoulders.

"Something like that, I guess." And then Pedro, who did a scan up and down your figure much like Freddy had in class, before giving a satisfactory nod.

"Cool." "Thank you :')."

Walking down the hallway en route to Freddy's room, there was one more escapade that involved your purse accidentally falling open and your makeup going everywhere. It was the glittery stuff, too, so not only was it an expensive loss, but it was now going to be permanently marked onto the hardwood floor (yes, you felt beyond terrible, but it doesn't really matter bc a. There's already stains and glitter and whatnot everywhere in that house that are permanent, Rosa and Victor have given up on them, you can't convince me otherwise. And b. They ended up renovating by the second movie anyway, so it's fine😭).

It didn't stop you from desperately trying to scoop it all up, anyways, though (cuz I would, too, ngl-). Freddy informed that he'd go to his room to set the food down and would be back to help you, which was fine, but it left you in his hallway desperately scrambling at loose makeup like a weirdo. But clearly, that isn't what Darla saw when she poked her itty bitty head out of her room at the commotion. In her eyes, you were a mystical, magical being that harbored one of her favorite things in the whole world (glitter, duh), and she squealed so l o u d-

It scared you at first, especially when she came barreling towards you and almost managed to tackle you in an unexpected but returned hug. Rambling on and on about what a honor it was to meet you, "...whatever you are...!" She added, which pulled a giggle from your lips, and how excited she was and how she had so much to show you and-

"Oh my god, D, why..." Freddy sighed, having left for what was barely even a minute or so and had come back to find his youngest sister perched in your lap and talking your ear off. He should be doing that! Well, I guess minus the sitting in your lap part.

Unless you're into that🥴.

Idk. Anyways-

"DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS, DID YOU KNOW SHE WAS HERE?!" "😐Yes, I did. I brought her here. She's my friend and we're BUSY, so you need to go back to your ROOM, and mind your BUISNESS, please."

It took a lot more convincing, but after promising you'd converse with Darla another time (without Freddy💀-), she did as told and you two had finally entered his room. You found yourself quiet impressed with his superhero memorabilia, something about it reminding you of your own "little" collection back home. Maybe the obsessiveness of it all, or simply just how much of it there was. But you didn't have the pleasure of questioning, because-

"What the hell...?" "Dude, don't start-" "-I wasn't gonna say anything." "You literally were, I can tell by that dumb look on your face." "Freddy, I guarantee you, I'm not the dumb looking one in this room. And don't get me wrong, it isn't her either..." "Harhar, you're so funny. Why don't you leave and go do stand up comedy? I think you in particular would make an excellent CLOWN, don't you think, (Y/N)?"

"I... uhm...uh... ;-;." You weren't expecting a fifth sibling, that's for sure. His family was clearly very diverse. And at first, you couldn't quite tell if he was getting ready to bully you or not, seeing as Freddy was very quick with his wit in order to defend you. You wouldn't doubt it. Billy seemed to suffer from a bad case of RBFS.

Resting Bitch Face Syndrome.

"Ignore him." Freddy advised, whipping open his laptop while Billy scoffed.

"I'm right here, y'know. This is my room, too, you guys can't just-" "Okay, fine, then ignore him harder."

You giggled. It was grounds for Billy to address you separately/on his own.

"I like your outfit. It just...caught me off guard." You smiled, giving a nod of understanding. "Thanks, I get that a lot."

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The first time Freddy visited your house was months after the initial meeting. Not for any particular reason, there just hadn't been any real excuse until now...

"My parent(s) have been dying to meet you, like, I swear, if they keep pestering me about it, I was going to actually go insane. On some Joker type shit."

Freddy laughed at your last remark, but as we all know, the boy is quick-witted and smart-mouthed, so it was always easy for him to launch off of literally anything you say with a teasing remark that... sometimes you swore was him actually flirting. But, you couldn't be too sure. You didn't wanna ruin a good thing.

(You say as you literally bring him home to your parent/guardian(s) as if that's not the literal thing you do when-...nvm).

"Oh, so you've been gassing me up, huh~? Cute, cute... D'you tell them how much I adore you? Wouldn't want them thinking I'm neglecting you or anything." "Stop it." You giggled, nudging at his shoulder before pulling out your house key.

Freddy didn't exactly know what he expected upon entering your household. He supposed it'd reflect yourself. Colorful and creative, lots of little knick-knacks and trinkets, endless amounts of stuff to fill any empty space... At the very, very, fantasy like most, your house would be some foreign cottage in the woods that resembled a lot like the witche's candy house from the Hansel & Gretel tale (before it rotted, ofc).

So naturally, he was a little thrown off to find it was his very least thoughts that had come to play, the house almost gray compared to you. White walls, furniture organized hyper-symmetrically, every last item in its very clear-cut place. Not a spec of dust or dirt, not a thing out of place... and quiet. Almost eerily so. Well, maybe not. It could just be the fact that he wasn't used to seeing and hearing a house as such, given his living situation (loud family, messy-homey-actually looks lived in house...). But regardless-

"...I'm home!!" The call out to your parent(s) startled him for a moment, and though you did receive an answer back that sounded like it came from a room close by, it was almost like it echoed against the silence. Freddy shook it off. You didn't judge anyone or anything when you had first come over to his place, so he wouldn't do the same. If anything, they were just loose observations he couldn't help but make/notice.

But anyways- You lead him into your kitchen and there, he met your parent(s), who was quick to make a comment on how surprisingly "normal" he appeared to be. And usually, something like that might sting a little (for you, because like, uh, rude?? But dw, they meant it in a teasing/jokey way). But to Freddy? Normal? That meant the world, seeing as usually, most people couldn't see past his crutch, should they choose to see him at all. But he supposed the apple didn't fall far from the tree in the "non-judgemental" department. You must've got it from them.

That went relatively well, but here came the part you were always nervous about when inviting guests into your room...

"Woah..." The same way he was captivated by you was the same way he felt about your room. It was the splash of color amongst your house. Figures, all of what he'd expected of the whole/entire house would be crammed off into your one room, I mean, duh, where else would it be? It was littered with posters and trinkets and stuffed animals, clothes lying around that you scrambled to pick up and shove into your closet out of sheer embrassment. Even the walls were painted the color(s) of your choosing/liking, and my god, did you have so many different shelves full of things he wanted to mess with. He wouldn't, for now, waiting for the right time to ask permission before touching anything.

And then...he saw it. The corner of your room dedicated to that one specific, niche little thing you loved so much and based your entire personal being around...

The clown corner🤡.

"Oh...my god..."

You quickly spoke up before he could say anything more, the initial shock of your odd clown figurines, dolls, books, whatever the fuck else could possibly be clown-themed/related collection being enough for you to just assume the worst of thoughts he may have. "I know, it's weird. I mean, weirder than normal weird. But-" "I love you." He had whipped his head towards you just as fast as the confession left his person, a lazy smile etched into his features while you grinned almost manically because like, huh??

"...Excuse me😃?"

He shook the expression away, shaping himself back to normal as fast as possible at your reaction.

"No-! I don't. I mean, I do! Like, I meant it like, I love how you're like me, with the whole, "corner of the room being dedicated to this thing," thing. Superheroes are my thing, clowns are yours... obviously, and I love that. I love that you're me and I'm you and we're basically one."

"Freddy-..." You sighed, only able to laugh to yourself and at his rambling before gently pulling him closer to one of the shelves by the hand. "Look at this..." You encouraged, watching him lean closer to inspect some of the figurines and newspapers and other lose things in one specific place on the shelf.

"Oh my shit, that's Harley Quinn...!!" He gushed while you nodded proudly.

"My idol." You added, Freddy turning to you as you explained. "I know people consider her a villain, or whatever. Or that's she's crazy. But, I don't understand how that could be possible when the woman literally has a PhD and was an entire psychiatrist before she met Joker. Not to mention, the only reason she did half of the crazy shit she did was 'cause of that cunt-wad, so when I heard she finally emancipated herself from him, you have to understand... I literally love her."

Freddy didn't know how else to respond. Here he was, in your room, being one of your closest best friends, you talking to him (willingly, might I add, because even after all this time, he still can't even fathom how and why you genuinely love spending time with him and being his friend even though you remind the poor boy 24/7😭), and rambling to him about his favorite subject no less! And how it relates to your favorite subject! A combination of niche interests!! He-!

"I'm going to kiss you on the lips, (Y/N)." "Pfft-!" You snorted, the second confession catching you off guard in a flurry of amusement and surprise once again. But this time, he didn't have any excuses to back the claim up. Like, surely, he could easily pass that off as a joke or an intense way to say something along the lines of, "You don't know how much this topic interests me, especially coming from you, and it's making me so excited and happy and I want to talk/hear more."

But at the same time...

"What, like, actually?"

So now, you've presented Freddy with the option to mean it. For real. Which, like...

"I- Uh, like, only if you'd let me or you did it first or something." He laughed boisterously. "I wouldn't just do it without asking, that'd be craz-"

's m o o c h !'

You giggled. You had left some of that white and red behind on his lips.

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Okay, beyond this point is just some random other stuff I thought of...

DOING THE MAKEUP!!! Omg the way this boy BEGS you do his face the way you do yours, and girl, lemme tell you, you pop off...! You turned him into the clown-boy of your dreams, call that a Laughing Jack makeover/cosplay.

...*coughs*...ignore that, I had a phase, don't judge me.

Anyways, seriously, I think Freddy would rock the clowncore look so well, especially if you take advantage of his freckles and make them all individually a different color against white/pale foundation.

I also think he teases/flatters you by randomly gifting you trinkets he finds to add to your collection. So dolls he finds in thrift stores, or figurines he saw at a random strip mall shop, things like that.

Hella Harley Quinn discussions ensue, y'all love her.

Kissing him or him kissing you anywhere on the face is always funny because the white/pale foundation will transfer and it's the cutest thing. Or when you hug him and he's wearing super dark or super light clothing so your makeup is just smeared across his shirt and he's looking at you like, "😐" and you're looking at him like, "😕my fault bro🙂."

He also likes to steal some of the dolls/stuffies you might have, so if a clown is missing, you know that he probably has it. Y'all be treating them like your lil' babies, naming them and all😭. He sends you blurry, chaotic, cutsey type pictures of them and it'll have a corny ass caption like, "Jester won't lay down for his nap, I think you might need to come over and cuddle for a bit or something" yk💀.

Him stealing your wigs, too. And just literally any loose/baggy clothes of yours that will fit him. But it's okay bc you do the same with his when you're dressed down for once. He actually is so used to you all clowned up that when you're bare face and in one of his sweaters and shorts, you look like this cute little random girl to him.

"Who are you and what have you done with (Y/N)😧🫵🏻🙊?!" "Dawg😐..."

Ngl he hates sleeping in your room at night. He loves you and all of your quirks, of course. And don't get me wrong, he loves y'all children (the clown dolls n stuff)...but look man, they a lil' scary at night, just staring down at him from the shelves and shit and it freaks him out more than he wants to admit. You have a night light just for him when he stays over, though (it's a jumbo ladybug pillow pet you've had since you were like, eight, but the shit is so bright, it'd be a waste to just throw it out. Plus, it now helps Freddy sleep at night so win-win).

On that topic, bro has been jumpscared so many times bc you play too much and like to place your life-sized dolls around the house. He'll be thinking someone broke in and will be on the b r i n k of saying "Shazam!!" out of total fear before he realizes it's you just fucking with him. And is mad he can't do it back bc you're too used to seeing them💀.

Nicknames!!! Lord, this boy has some many! Just to name a few, "Circus Baby" "Harley" "Funny" As in he'll use it the same way one uses "Pretty". "Hey, Funny, you feelin' okay? Yeah? Okay, good." Also, "The fourth Flying Grayson" which you find pretty distasteful🥴.

If you post on social media, he spam likes and comments on all your post, especially if you make TikToks. He doesn't care what content it is, either. It could be you just talking about your stuff, it could be you posting little scenarios, it could be you showing your makeup routine, you could be making cringey ass thirst-traps for all he cares. You're posting and showing off your style? He's giving you all of his support and love shamelessly. He always does and will💙.

This was long but that's okay, that's just what I do lol😆.

Sorry again for my long hiatus, y'all. I do be struggling in this economy😔✊🏽. I hope anyone who sees this is doing well, Moon and I love y'all's support so much, it makes our day🫶🏽!

~ Star✨️

Back to Master List

[andoqin]

The Ingenious One

What a ride this drama was! From the stunning shots, to the smart writing, to the plethora of well acted side characters it just had so much to give me. 

Let’s start with the characters:

Snipping this for length.

Yun Xiang:  Driven by a need to avenge the death of his 300 people family village, eradicated for seemingly no reason, he goes on a quest to find out who did it and why. For a Wuxia drama it’s very interesting to have our hero be a person wholly lacking in fighting skills, in fact the only thing he can do is run, and even that doesn’t last for very long. He is not someone who has a heart of gold in fact his plans will sometimes even endanger his friends, though the more he gets to know them the less that part becomes and he uses his brain to help them where he can.

Shu Yanan: Orphan, adopted by someone of Yun Xiang’s sect, she vows to avenge her adoptive father’s killer and thus her paths cross with Yun Xiang. In contrast to him, she is one of the strongest fighters of the show and physically is much stronger than him, which often makes hilarious things happen. The two of them are immediately drawn to each other and their bond is a big part of what carries the show for me. Shu Yanan is a cypher for the first half of the show, not letting the viewer know most of her thoughts and putting on a mask, even in front of Yun Xiang (but then again, he too changes masks so often it’ sometimes hard to keep up) and only in the latter half of the story does her true motivation/storyline come out but I didn’t mind that. The first half was used to build up their connection and the second half was used to delve deeper into her origin (story) which provided a very nice balance.

Su Mingyu: Initially a spoiled princeling of a rich merchant family with no business aspirations but Big Dreams about being a HERO of the Jianghu but no actual knowledge of what that means. Well he learns, pretty quickly, that despite appearing awesome and brave, actual fighting involves blood and death and the show makes it a point to drive that home. He is a skilled fighter and later on learns to become a man that can support his loved one and family but it does take him some time to get there. He is an AMAZING boyfriend tho, 10/10 in that regard, as far as spoiled rich princelings go you can def do worse.

Ke Menglan: Daughter of a disgraced official, cast down into the lowest societal tier in the very stratisfied Ming Dynasty (or at least it’s based on that) where upward social mobility was all but impossible, she tries her best to get back to the “normal” citizen-tier because she does genuinely love Su Mingyu and their marriage is literally not allowed. She is the very capable manager of what later becomes Yun Xiangs gambling house and their little club-hub and I love that she got her own story about dealing with who and what she was and loved the resolution for that arc since it was her choice and she has faith in SMY.

Jin Biao: Last but certainly not least in the main character gallery is my sneaky bigass sword dealing 10 gold jin per head demanding softie. His plot such as it is, is the simplest, but how can you not love a dude who uses his murder-gotten gains to support jianghu orphans??? Also I loved his little romance plotline, happiness for them always.

And this is just the main characters, there are SO many side characters that play an important role, some that come in later in the story, some that are dispatched earlier (usually bc they’re villains, or bc they get to go on a long deserved trip with their butler/assassin bf) and to put them all in here would cause my fingers to fall off, so i’ll just put a few favourites here:

Mo Bufan (and Kang Qiao): MBF is technically a senior of Yun Xiang, but he’s kinda let go of their sects teachings for the most part and embraced that capitalist lifestyle with his ... protegé? (I always read them as a couple tbh). Like YX MBF is not really a fighter, and they have a very interesting connection because of that, because it takes them a long time to be more than reluctant allies but they do become such great bros it is a delight to see.

Liu Gongquan and Princess Mingzhu: They come in towards the latter half of the story, one as the daughter of a Prince and the other as a former protege who is now an imperial investigator. He is at least as smart as Yun Xiang and it’s great to see them sort of work at cross purposes, feeling each other out and then coming to a tentative alliance. The princess is the usual sheltered naive girl type, but she shows these occasional flashes of smartness that are delightful to me (and LGQ hehe) and it’s great to see that clearly it is mostly a case of her lacking experience and not brain.

This is not nearly all of them, once again but man I gotta swivel to the villains now, because nothing in a show like this works without villains and oh do we have some interesting ones here:

Tang Xiao is our first initial big hurdle, and by god is he a slimeball par excellence. As the owner and proprietor of most of the cities gambling establishments he wields a lot of money and influence and uses it to menace women, be a creep and probably smell really bad. We get to see how he comes to hold on to his position though, because he is clearly adept at wheeling and dealing with people by any means necessary, though in the end that bites him in the butt. What makes him more interesting to me though is the fact that he has two very devoted underlings, one of whom is a female fighter who doesn’t talk much, wears an iconic hat and generally has a terrifying aura but who is very gentle to one of the female sidecharacters who gets caught by Tang Xiao, drugged (and probably abused). I had IMMEDIATE Black Sails Anne flashbacks in my head and though i am loathe to even put Tang Xiao and Jack into similar categories I do wish we could have explored the relationship between TX and his female underling (sorry I forgot her name) and just *why* she did the things she did for him.  At least Tang Xiao did have a very deserving end and I cheered hahaha.

Kou Yuanjie: He was the second Big Hurdle, but he was more of a “stock standard” bad guy: Spoiled Bratty princeling who was power hungry and Big Mad that his older sister is better than him in pretty much every regard: fighting, brain wise, not a psychopath, etc. He can’t stand any minor inconvenience and will use people as he sees fit, even going so far as to let his one devoted underling, who adores him for reasons unbeknownst to me, get killed. She even suspects he’s being shady, but then he kisses her and makes her forget her doubts, basically walking to her death, it’s not great. 

The Big Bad: I have to say as far as villains go, he left me a bit cold because he was using circular rhetoric to justify his end goals/plans, but the impact he had on the story and our characters is significant so I was fine with it.

So yeah, the fact that even my goldfish brain can retain so much for these characters should tell you that they left a lasting impression on me, which is truly not easy.

Let’s talk about the plot now, because on its face it is a fairly standard story, but the characterwriting especially lifts it above and the way the show manages to not spin its wheels but keep the tension going by introducing new revelations slowly but also giving other storylines the ability to breathe while not losing focus was very good for me. I think the ending is not the blockbuster type that I personally would  have preferred, but after everything it felt earned for our characters and I am happy with where they ended up. 

NOW LET’S TALK VISUALS, because this show knows how to set up a scene, how to block a shot to tell a story. So often visual storytelling in cdramas is an afterthought at best it is especially noticeable to me when a visual language is established in a drama and made clear to the viewer. This is not to say this is some Every Frame A Painting sort of show, but whenever the drama wanted to put emphasis on something, it did. 

One of the main ones was the focus on characters’ eyes and faces, there were a lot of closeups of the actors’ eyes and or faces and that’s where having expressive actors helps because I didn’t need dialogue to tell me what a character was feeling. Sometimes it was more obvious, sometimes less so, but it displayed an interiority to these characters’ lives that I feel is missing from many many many other shows. 

The gorgeous cinematography can just speak for itself tbh.

FINAL VERDICT: 9.5/10 maybe a 9 depending on my daily mood but mmmm so good.

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

Thank you so much for the Jason review rec list! It motivates me to start reading his comics, tbh. It helps tremendously that you put so many details of his characterization in it, because it prepares me of the way hes written in it! :D I do have a question, which is: in your opinion, which of runs have the most consistent writing/characterization? Ive heard that hes written.. very inconsistently bcs they dont know how to write him (wont let him be an anti-hero or challenge batman, which also brings me to another question on what counts as his true characterization; is it him before the n52 reboot?) Thank you!

I'm really glad to hear that! I hope you have lots of fun exploring Jason comics :D

Wow are both of those questions very difficult to answer! But I shall do my best to under the cut!

Most runs are very internally consistent with regards to his characterization. Jason will stay mostly the same throughout the run, or have an actual character arc that keeps him feeling like the same character throughout.

Batman and Robin (2009) is a notable because Jason is written by two different authors in it, and Grant Morrison's Jason and Judd Winick's Jason have very different vibes.

What people usually mean when they say he's written inconsistently is that every author has a different take on what Jason should be like, and they all have a different idea about what kind of story they want to tell using him.

Judd Winick read Hush and thought something along the lines of "Wow this story would have been so much better if Jason had actually been the one behind everything that happened here!" and so he wrote Under the Red Hood, and made Jason into Evil Batman: someone with all of Batman's methods and techniques, yet without the commitment not to kill and with a serious thirst for vengeance.

Grant Morrison wanted a much more traditional Batman villain. Villains who blame Bruce for all their problems despite Bruce not actually being at fault and then killing people about it are pretty common. Morrison took that idea and used Jason to fit this mold in a new era where Bruce was gone and Dick Grayson took up the Batman mantle.

Scott Lobdell wanted a story about redemption and healing and family. So Jason gets repeatedly paired with other people to care for or to love and shown parallels in his own life that force him to confront his own unwillingness to forgive and become a much, much gentler person.

The authors of The Man Who Stopped Laughing were faced with the challenge of finding a suitable antagonist for the Joker. Jason is a character with enough of a violent streak to actually be menacing to the embodiment of all evil that is the Joker. But that requires bringing out that murderous streak, and thereby countering Lobdell's characterization.

Which of these is the true characterization?

None of them.

All of them.

One True Characterization can't exist in comics. Especially not DC comics which has a policy of almost routinely destroying their entire multiverse and building it back up from scratch.

Every character's personality is an aggregate of all the different stories that have been told about them. Those stories are told by dozens of different people, in a constantly shifting setting, full of characters who are also written by dozens of different people. What is and isn't canon changes constantly. All you can do is read a bunch of comics and get the general vibe of a character from that.

Jason's characterizations in particular have been so widely different that it's hard to figure out what exactly you should count as being true to him.

The reason many people may point to pre-new52 comics as 'true' characterization is that an important part of characterizing is keeping in mind the events the character has gone through and how those might impact their thinking and worldview. During the time span of around 1980-2009 DC comics were written such that it was pretty easy to make a timeline of events for any given character. Post-new52 I and many others find it nearly impossible to tell what history any of the characters have.

In between 2009 and now there have been at least two or three reboots. So, for any comic passed 2009 here is a list of questions about Jason that I can't answer:

Has Jason ever been to prison?

Did Jason fight Tim in Titan's Tower?

Was the Red Robin identity originally held by Jason?

Did Jason ever attempt to be Batman?

Has Jason actually stabbed Tim before?

Did Jason ever shoot Damian and Dick?

Does Jason remember the time he spent multiverse hopping with Donna Troy and Kyle Raynor?

Did he ever have tentacles?

Does he know that Dick has killed people? For that matter: Has Dick killed anyone?? Did Blockbuster ever exist??? Is that time he killed the Joker counted as canon still????

Did Jason ever kidnap Mia Dearden?

How many people has Jason killed? I can't even tell you if he's killed less or more than 100

Did the All-Caste thing happen?? Did Lost Days happen???

Was he involved in Hush?

These are really important questions! The list does not stop there either!

This uncertainty does not invalidate the newer comics, but the nature of the reboots does mean that the already difficult task of getting a 'true Jason' is impossible. You have to take every reboot as a reboot, meaning that new-52 Jason and Rebirth Jason and 2005-2009 Jason are literally alternate universe versions of each other. This is both true on a meta level, and has been written into the canon of the fictional world he lives in. Arguing that one is more real than the other is futile.

(Though it does mean that if you want a stable timeline, starting with 2005-2009 era comics is a good idea. It's easier to follow along with what is supposed to have happened and when. It also contains the majority of the events that fandom likes to play off of.)

The versions I like best reside mostly in the 2005-2009 era, and that's true for most of the other Jason fans that I follow on Tumblr, but I know of a few blogs who much prefer Rebirth Jason and neither of us can definitively prove that one Jason or the other is more valid or canon or true or whatever.

Most arguments about which Jason is the true Jason will just come down to personal preference anyways. Many, many people could write essays, pulling up sources and comic panels, to argue very effectively that I'm wrong about Brothers In Blood and Batman and Robin (2009) #1-#6 being in character for him. That's okay. It's cool even! The fact that he is messy and complicated and can be interpreted so many different ways is great! As you read, you'll find out which versions appeal to you best and they might be very different than mine!

My biggest advice is to read each author's rendition of Jason with an open mind, and an open heart, and just see if you like it!

Don't worry about searching out the real Jason. Just vibe with the stories that have been made about him and think about how each appeals or doesn't appeal to you. If you start reading, you'll develop an understanding of him. Your personal interactions with the art/stories will always be more valuable than figuring out the fan or authorial consensus about him.

[inflammatoryfandomblog]

Tbh that Aaravos being responsible for every conflict in the last millenia gives me major degenerate cospiracy theory vibes and of this quote of a show that I am not a fan of https://youtu.be/Mq1EphvZGMg

I like how the greatest danger coming from him is implied to continue rickrolling and "trust me bro" some mages (which he already does?) rather than possessing magnificent cosmic powers?

The main characters get dragged along with the plot of stopping him without stopping and reflecting for a moment, you could literally ask them why he needs to be stopped and it'll be something like, "because he is making stoopid humans do war against xadia, duh"

And Apparently Ezran's ancestor/dynasty founder from 300 years ago betrayed him? And humans, elves and drakes worked together to imprison him? Yet their relationship still didn't improve at all??

Yeah I prefer reading dnd's filled to the brim complicated lore over what that is, a villain whose motives you do not know until this point isn't interesting and I yet haven't seen anything morally gray about him and I don't think he should be near women for some reason. His ruthless actions make sense in the situation he is in, I guess, but he is still an asshole?

Like what does he want? Become an Archon with his mindslave mages?

Lmfao the Diamonds from Steven Universe were more menacing

i wouldn't lob that at the showrunners; i mean obviously conspiracy theories like the illuminati have been pretty far-right in recent years, which has made some plots that involve them a bit uncomfortable in retrospect. but the far-right aren't the only people to fall for them, and for fiction they're an attractive way to have the focus on the characters rather than writing a societal treatise or whatever. dealing with Issues that require consideration is hard, writing wise; it's much simpler to have a final boss.

i think it's just sort of easy to show that a character is an mastermind by having them be responsible for literally everything. aaravos is more like lucifer than an expy of any group of people, i mean he's a fallen star and seems to have heavenly brothers/people, you can't really get more on the nose than that.

which like, the concept isn't *inherently* bad even if i hate it, like aaravos could just be successful because maybe he exploits faults that were already there in society in the first place or he's a metaphor for something, or whatever. it could work in theory, but this sort of plotline is so botched like a good 99.99% of the time (so much so that just the use of this trope is a pretty big red flag) and without a lot of work it really DOES undermine the "cycle of violence" theme completely if everything is the fault of one guy.

the dragon prince is just not good at showing the different sides of any issue with any depth of consideration, especially when it comes to the human side, so i'm not really holding my breath.

as for his motivation, idk the fact that the dragons are so afraid of him and that he could solo them means that he has a lot of power, he just wants to fuck about for some other issue other than just to gain power, like maybe revenge against somebody else (or to gain power over bigger fish than the dragons/elves and fucking about lets him do that), probably because he wants to stick it to his former star-people or whatever. who knows, there are literally no hints in the show as to why he might do this. it doesn't really matter to our characters or literally any other conflict that has emotional weight behind it, so i don't really care.

yeah the fact that a human was the one to bring to light aaravos's deception is... kind of weird, that the relations didn't improve at all. on one hand it probably explains why the dragons have been more ambivalent about humans than the "kill on sight" border patrolling policy they have would suggest (though at least one, rex igeneous, seems to disagree with it.) on the other hand... there's that "kill on sight" border patrolling policy they have, and also you'd think the existence of a primal human mage wouldn't be unknown for the first few season if she was literally buddies with a queen pivotal to the history of katolis. but the whole “callum is the only person ever to have wanted to be a primal mage badly enough” is not as compelling as the writers think it is.

"i don't think he should be near women for some reason." yeah. in his interactions with the female characters there's this very harass-y element to how he's portrayed (for example, khessa's death--not the obliteration itself, how he handles it just before). he also uses the word "ravishing" unironically, which... lmao. tryhard reddit vocabulary.

[rigginsstreet]

I'm not going to be teying defend Jason here. Some of his actions were terrible. The fact he felt the need to go all vigilante and round the town in like that was insane (like fucking Gaston over here) and that scene where he's intimidating Nancy is pretty godamn sketch. His friend threatens to break Erica's arms and that was really fucked (I did find an old ask of yours where an anon said that Jason said he though Lucas "was one of the good ones" but I can't find that anywhere, but obviously pulling a gun on him in the first place was very bad)

That said, as someone with a lot of religious trauma, I really understand his fear regarding the situation. Like... he saw that shit happen with Patric and with what he believes about the world, of course he would think it's some kind of demon shit. Honestly, if I was even just , like, medium religious and I saw that shit, I would probably become a bit of a nut too.

Now I didn't get a lot of talk about dnd but I did get a lot of fear mongering about ouija boards. I just thought that... idk, I'd bring it up. I see a lot of people talking about how people are shitting on Billy without addressing his abuse, but then those same people never talk about how Jason is clearly in so much emotional distress which is propagated by a system that people unfortunately just fall into. He's harming other people, yes, but it's clear he's terrified of just everything constantly, because the kind of religious circle he was probably indoctrinated into really drill that into you and then he's experiencing these gruesome murders. Who wouldn't become hysterical?

I try to be understanding of Billy even when it's hard to watch him get violent like that, but I see little grace for Jason who I relate to to an extent (as someone who was raised in a cult, funnily enough), and then the people who wholeheartedly support and defend Billy will act like Jason didn't have any understandable motivations. They'll literally make fun of people for even bringing up that his girlfriend died so it makes sense he'd be emotional.

I'm sure you'll try to dunk on me about this too, but I think that both Jason and Billy or morally gray and are both products of their environments and they're both sad. So... do you have any thoughts on that?

I mean I haven’t watched season 4 so any thoughts I have on Jason come from what I’ve seen others say, so truthfully I cannot give a firm opinion on him because I just don’t have the full context.

But I also have an interest in religious cults…(watch a lot of documentaries and YouTube video essays lmao) so I do often think about those aspects coming into play with Jason and the brainwashing that goes on. I get mad at a lot of religious discourse in tumblr for these same reasons cuz I don’t think people ever consider that these people actually believe what they’re doing is for the greater good/trying to help people get into heaven etc etc but that’s a whole other topic we don’t need to get into right now

So I can totally understand how in Jason’s mind he thinks he’s being a hero (which most good villain ideologies operate this way tbh. Or at least should). Like I don’t hate Jason. I’ve come around to him to the point where I joke about shipping him and billy. I’ll include him in things from time to time, granted not in the best light but if i straight up hate a character I simply do not include them at all

I think the difference between Jason and billy is that we SEE where billys trauma comes from. We have visual canon proof of it. So it’s a lot easier to look at that and go “ok now everything’s making sense”. With Jason, it’s not canon he was indoctrinated into anything (unless it is. Again, didn’t watch season 4). For all we know he could just live like that. Yes it can be easily assumed since he is still a teenager it is most likely his parents are also cuckoo and passed their ideologies down to him, but again, without any real confirmation, it remains a guessing game.

I also think with billy it’s like, he went after the people he went after for good reason (to him). Max gets his ire because they’re pitted against each other by neil, he goes after Lucas because he’s directly tied to max and everything that gets billy in trouble, he goes after steve for lying to him and being a creepy weirdo with his underage sister

As far as my knowledge of the Jason situation goes…there was no reason to go crazy on Lucas and Erica? Like yes they know Eddie and I guess it was about Jason thinking they were hiding him or something? But it’s like why do they need to be physically attacked (or threatened) so aggressively for it? The two situations in my mind are not the same. And maybe it’s because I’m a billy apologist. I’ll own that. But it comes down to billys safety specifically was in jeopardy the entire time, which led him to act out vs Jason just going on a vigilante crusade that ultimately had nothing to do with him

[butwhatifidothis]

Who on your side is going to call you out? Literally every recruitable character except Bernadetta and Lindhardt? And you CAN'T objectively say that the route leaves an objectively worse off Fodlan. A lot of the characters have the exact same single endings they do in other routes. Meaning a lot of their endings are nice and happy and hopeful despite the fact they aided in the conquest of a nation. Hell, some single character endings specific to crimson flower STILL end happily despite this. Alois happily moves to remire and becomes a farmer with his family. Mercedes opens up an orphanage. Also you can't really use Felix' single ending as a mark against Crimson flower, seeing as that's also his ending in all his non blue lions endings.

Those quotes aren't actually addressing Byleth's actions beyond said characters being pissed at Byleth. 

The demonic beasts are never mentioned. The fact that you are aiding in conquest and genocide isn't talked about, just the fact that you are on the opposing side. And some of those characters that are pissed at Byleth and questioning them ALSO *conviently* forget those grievances once they're recruited. Suddenly everybody's all for blindly following byleth in their aiding the conquest of fodlann and the potential genocide of the last few nabateans.

So what, is edelgard "im going to assassinate my classmates and immediately get murdered by bandits in that attempt and nemesis did nothing wrong!" Adrestia suddenly master manipulator? Are all the characters just so blindly loyal to byleth that they're willing to ignore their morals? a

You broke down exactly why, no matter how you look at it, villain route or not, CF falls flat! Because inconsistent writing dictates that 3H can't go all the way with making CF/Edelgard too bad! The full scope of Edelgard's actions never being addressed, even off of CF (the Demonic Beasts are never called out, but the use of them is very clearly villainous given what they are, to use one of your examples)! This is why I have issues with CF - not because oh shit you're the bad guy, but in this regard they don't go far enough! This is exactly why my feelings are mixed towards CF, because of these exact flaws within it.

But even with that, there are still some things of what you said I don't quite agree with?

Like, Edelgard's and Hubert's endings apparently don't point to CF being a villain route, but Alois and Mercedes' do point it to not being one? Why are the latter's endings being given more weight than the former's?

"Those quotes aren't actually addressing Byleth's actions beyond said characters being pissed at Byleth."

...Um... yeah they are? Because they're pissed at Byleth for siding with Edelgard and the Empire? They're not just randomly mad at Byleth for no reason - the characters know what Edelgard and the Empire have done, they don't have to go down the laundry list when they express their anger at Byleth joining her/them. When Ignatz says “We can’t place the future of Fódlan in Edelgard’s hands. If you’re allied with the Empire, I have no choice but to fight you," him not specifically laying out every single crime Edelgard has done does not suddenly mean that those crimes aren't what he's referring to. Shamir saying “You still align yourself with the emperor? What a shame. Let’s make this quick. I don’t want the loser to suffer," doesn't mean that she's just peaved at Byleth for no reason. Ingrid’s quote, “You have chosen to assist the Empire, even while knowing of their deeds. I am truly disappointed in you, Professor. Prepare yourself, heel of the Empire! A wretch like you will never be qualified to rule over Fódlan!” very clearly lays it out that it is all that the Empire has done that is the reason why she’s mad at you and why she thinks you’d be a shitty ruler (and if Byleth is shitty for choosing to side with Edelgard, then that inherently means that Edelgard is also shitty).

Why are they mad at Byleth? Why are they criticizing you specifically joining the Empire? Why are none of them saying “Gee Byleth, it’s pretty ass of you to join Claude’s side, you heartless bitch” on VW? Or similar statement towards Byleth on AM and SS? Why is the Empire unique in being called evil, bloody, savage, etc.? It’s because the action of joining the Empire - joining Edelgard - is a bad one, one that throws away morals to chase the false image of “revolution” Edelgard posits. 

So what, is edelgard "im going to assassinate my classmates and immediately get murdered by bandits in that attempt and nemesis did nothing wrong!" Adrestia suddenly master manipulator? Are all the characters just so blindly loyal to byleth that they're willing to ignore their morals?

The answer? Yes. The same way that Byleth is blindingly loyal to Edelgard and throws away their canonical hatred of TWS to follow her, the other characters throw away themselves to blindingly follow Byleth. Byleth places their trust in Edelgard despite all of the horrible things she’s done, and their character becomes worse for it - the same thing happens to the cast that foolishly decide to continue placing their trust in Byleth despite siding with the villain Edelgard. They either stagnate in their character progression or outright regress, the exact same as Byleth, because CF as a route is all about regression. That’s Edelgard’s whole motivation. It’s not moving forward to a new future, it’s going back to how Fodlan used to be - back under complete Imperial control, with a Hresvelg as the one ruler of Fodlan. 

And Edelgard having one shitty plan and being wrong about history doesn’t mean she doesn’t know how to make others look worse than her, how to prop herself up as the hero of the story - we see this from Ladislava, someone who is genuinely completely loyal to Edelgard specifically, that characters genuinely fall for Edelgard’s words. We see this in how she makes Dimitri and Rhea and Claude into these targets that must be destroyed “for the good of Fodlan,” that she can easily shove any and all responsibility for her actions onto her victims. We see this in how she’s just “taking back humanity’s freedom” when she slaughters a heartbroken and maddened Rhea - maddened due to her actions - only to shove humanity under her actually tyrannical rule. Hell, her being ignorant of history again falls back into how CF is partly about ignorance - you’re always ignorant to the depths of your horrific actions due to blind loyalty, so being wrong about history and never being corrected is par for the course.

Where CF falls short is the following: 

the aforementioned endings that always remain the same even on CF, 

where certain characters aren’t given enough attention despite being on CF (Ingrid definitely needed a Felix treatment for specifically this route, since she’s going after the Kingdom directly, for example), 

where even with the idea of the BE getting influenced by the regression of CF they still way too easily side with Edelgard (Ferdinand is by far the worse victim of this), 

where the end result of Fodlan is unification no matter what route you do (more the game overall that suffers from this tbh), 

where the characters don’t mention the depths of Edelgard’s actions off of CF (which is partly why the BE staying with Edelgard on CF comes across poorly, because they never really delve into her actions so them not doing so on CF doesn’t come across very well) - VW is the worst offender of this, as while it makes some sense to have Edelgard be a sympathetic villain on the other routes, doing the same here makes literally no sense (you only know her as a warmonger trying to murder you).

I know this isn’t like, the most popular opinion, but I don’t find it to be an intrinsically bad idea to have the player initially think that they’re not playing a villain route until they go back over the numerous, frankly loud undertones of villainy and evil you help participate in and realize “oh shit wait a minute.” Dragging down characters with you on your path of ignorance and regression? Sounds cool! Playing the other routes and seeing what you essentially look like to all of the people you fight on CF - a heartless conqueror stamping down on all opposition - as you play from the infinitely more heroic POV of the other two lords (+ Byleth’s independent POV) and see Edelgard in the light of a villain (that light the non-recruited/non-CF characters see you in)? Neat! Realizing that you’ve helped a lying, racist, imperialistic warmonger get exactly what she wants as she drags down Fodlan in darkness and tyranny? Interesting! The water is just muddied by poor writing decisions/oversights, but it is very much still (villainous) water. CF is flawed, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t what it is.

But I will ask you this nonnie, if you don’t mind! If you don’t think CF is a villain route, what is it to you? Genuinely curious! 

[theboookwitch]

Finished “Moonshine” and I have so many [good] feelings. I’ve seen other people review it and post about it and it did not get good reviews, and I just disagree wholeheartedly and will fight about it. It’s not the perfect show, but it was perfect for me. I will say upfront - the women are 90% of the reason I loved this show...

Women + Friendships

First of all, I actually LOVED every single woman in this show. So many times in Kdramas the FL is a pushover who does dumb or reckless things because of some emotional whim. And a trend I’ve noticed in historical dramas is that the women are just motivated by blind ambition to get their son on the throne (or something along those lines) so you end up hating them for being malicious. Often, the women side characters are not given any depth or character development and they’re just used to move along the ML’s plot or character arc. In “Moonshine”, I ended up understanding and truly enjoying all of the ladies. Even the Royal Consort who at first was questionable became a character that I loved. She just wanted to protect her son, and she could’ve just blindly followed what the Chief Royal Secretary made her do, but in the end, she made the right choice. 

I loved that the women weren’t pitted against each other. In most other dramas, Ro Seo and Ae Jin would have been rivals and Ae Jin would’ve inevitably been made to be petty or something. But the way that they worked together to smuggle alcohol and later to defeat the CRS, was so good. I loved that they became family. When Ae Jin slapped the Crown Prince for being an idiot, I literally cheered alone in my house lol Also, Ae Jin having a shoplifting phase because her life felt out of control? I felt seen. The Queen could’ve easily been a villain who only wanted her child to be on the throne, but she ended up being such a morally strong character who wasn’t blindly led by some bad guy in maroon on the court (they always wear maroon). Ro Seo and her bestie were so such badasses, never backing down no matter how many times their plans got fucked up. Ugh I love all of these women. It was so refreshing to have these fully fleshed out, strong women who weren’t just doormats. I think that’s also why I loved “Rookie Historian” so much as well. 10/10

The Rest

I saw a lot of reviews that complained about the pacing, but I actually didn’t mind it. Maybe because I binged it in three days, but either way, I was hooked and always excited about the next episode. I loved how there really wasn’t a huge Noble Idiocy plot line and even the misunderstandings were cleared up pretty quickly. I loved the dynamic between the romantic leads. He started out as a stickler for the rules who saw everything in black and white, but his character grew so much because of Ro Seo’s influence. I thought their chemistry was really good and the fact that they both had their eyes closed on their first kiss and didn’t just do a dead fish moment - FINALLY GOD IS IT SO HARD!!!!!! Also, I’ve already posted it, but when Nam Young says “I will count to ten and to ten again. And even then, it is you for me.” ARE YOU KIDDING?! One of my favorite confessions. I replayed it multiple times tbh

I loved that the Crown Prince and Nam Young became friends and grew because of each other as well (even though the Crown Prince was a massive idiot for some bits). And Oh My God...the thugs becoming her loyal followers. I LIVED for it. I love any storyline of rebellion against the ruling class, and doing that by taking over the illegal alcohol industry? They really said “gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss,” and I’m here for it. 

One of the best things was the storyline between Woon Sim and Sim Heon. It was really well done and even though I didn’t love that she took her life, I definitely get it. Losing someone you love, whether it’s romance or family or friendship, is devastating and after facing so much loss, I truly understand not wanting to go on. Plus she took control and took her death into her own hands when she would’ve inevitably been used or killed by the Chief Royal Secretary. (As a side note - Sim Heon was so fine...)

Also, I loved the random goofiness - from the music that sounded like the “Seinfeld” theme song to the like moments where it kind of broke genre and did like comic book things...it was so good to me. 

Final Thoughts

Yes, I understand that this drama isn’t perfect. I think they revealed the bad guy and his intentions a little early so that did feel kind of dragged out, but honestly...I think this is going in my top 5. It just hit all the right notes for me, and I think the fact that the women were so strong and truly led the show really set it apart. Anyways...go watch “Moonshine”.

[normal-thoughts-official]

I would have loved to see more interactions with the seelies- people who can’t lie but are crafty and secretive sounds fascinating. Think of the dialog! Alec going to magnus for advice since he has centuries of experience talking to them, Alec playing mental chess while trying to maintain peace. Would have loved getting more- but let’s be real, Cassaundra and the show writers weren’t clever enough to actually make any conversations like that of value.

SAME!!!!! honestly i would have loved to see so much more of the seelies. like bro do you understand that their culture predates the VERY EXISTENCE OF HUMANITY??? they are the ONLY kind of downworlders whose culture is completely detached from any human culture, not only because of predating it, but also because of the relative isolationism - which means human culture barely had any influence on their culture and history AS it developed

so like you can literally go fucking bonkers??????????? you can make ANYTHING. they have a whole ass society that doesn't have to have ANY ties to mundane concepts or history AT ALL. complete creative freedom. you could do ANYTHING! and don't get me started on the potential this has, within storytelling, to contextualize a lot of stuff modern western culture sees as natural or timeless as actually pretty fucking specific - like monogamy, cisheteropatriarchy, the gender binary, racism. all immortals have that potential of course since they can come from an array of different cultural and historical backgrounds but seelies in particular have SO much potential that is NEVER! FUCKING! USED! it all goes to waste and they are just a generic vaguely monarchic society that behaves literally exactly as modern western cultural standards. WHY. i'll never stop being salty, especially within sh where all this potential was there and instead they just villainized the seelies like no tomorrow for nO FUCKING REASON, and included a whole plotline about their ruler being a terrible power-hungry person and then proceeded to act as if that would have no influence on the seelies under her rule? thanks for nothing

like i know the seelie queen was so badly written that her own motivations even as a power-hungry wacko didn't make sense or were consistent (like why give simon the mark of cain for example, and for god's sake what kind of power-hungry crazy bitch gives their main enemy the power to literally kill her and destroy everything she has at the blink of an eye, like??? she literally tried to assist in her own genocide, it makes no fucking sense, i fucking hate it here) but if they are going to make her Terrible the least they could do was show how that impacted the people under her rule, especially if they are going to have meliorn be fucking tortured and either forced to display the marks of said torture or choosing to display them themself, like? please give your plotlines one singular thought

but of course it's easier to villainize seelies and reduce them to their obviously tyrannical ruler so they can go back to focusing on the shadowhunters and their issues. nevermind the fact that seelies are obviously equivalent to native ppls/third world countries resisting colonialism/imperialism in sh's stupid ass racial metaphor, which makes making their ruler a big bad unequivocally evil villain that is ruining everything A Choice. and a particularly choicy Choice considering they cast a middle-eastern man to play the most important seelie character. but if they are going to do that they could at least address how the people under her rule suffer and how that's a direct consequence of shadowhunter colonialism and interference, but why would we fkcnig thdo that!!!! when we can have love triangle drama or whatever

and tHEN there is the whole aspect of being unable to lie which is bound to have such an impact on their culture and history since they have to rely on other forms of communication to protect themselves - and considering the whole "tyrannical rule" plotline, to further the queen's agenda in the first place. and how telling the truth without preamble would probably be considered a huge display of trust in a society that has culturally developed so many ways of talking around things. like again the potential of the cultural and historic background for that society! it makes me go insane!!!

anyway all of that to say #JusticeForSeelies and #SeeliePlotlinesNow 2021 and forever. and YES i would have loved to see more interactions between them and other characters, particularly magnus because 1- admittedly i'm a hoe; and 2- magnus was clearly the one that had the most experience talking to seelies and that others relied on for that communication. he also seemed to be the most comfortable with them, which indicates there is either some sort of history there, or magnus just happens to feel relatively at home with the workings of their culture. which makes sense, because magnus also had to develop pretty similar defense mechanisms due to his, A- work as a warlock representative who has to interact with shadowhunters on the regular; B- history with having to deal with asmodeus, which required him to be very smart about what he disclosed and how, especially considering that he had to have been planning banishing asmodeus for a long time before he got to do it; and C- just history with abuse in general. we've seen the way he closed his heart off to new people; but at the same time, magnus is obviously an extrovert and likes to be around people in general. this meant that, in order to be able to both be in the kind of environment where he thrives and protect himself/his heart/his feelings, he had to learn how to interact with people while putting on a convincing façade, which requires pretty much the same sorts of wordplay and defense mechanisms that seelies use

magnus is good at wordplay, he's good at using talking to his benefit; we've seen that. he is also good at hiding and deflecting. he is notably not good at directly lying - every time he directly said A Lie such as "i am perfectly fine and not bothered by this at all :)" it was way less convincing than it was a clear display that he wouldn't budge. even alec, who has difficulty with social cues, noticed the lying and seemed concerned about it. so like. clearly his defense mechanisms were less lying and more dancing around subjects, directing conversation to safe topics, and guiding people to making certain assumptions and seeing sides of his that were safer and he preferred

so in that way it makes sense that magnus is somewhat in his element when dealing with seelies. i think "comfortable" is a strong word because this whole song and dance takes a huge toll on anyone's mental health and energy (which i think is something that could be very interestingly explored in seelies, their collective psyche, and their culture, the way they build relationships, etc. let meliorn have partners they feel 100% comfortable talking without preamble with 2k21), but it's something he is used to and a dynamic he can fall into without as much effort as others who would be second guessing themselves more and going slower, which clearly gives the seelies, who are used to it, an advantage

and like i know that i'm implying a confrontation or sort of situation where they are on opposing sides to seelies here, which i kind of am because i am thinking mostly about magnus' interactions with the seelie queen specifically, since she was the seelie he had the most meaningful interactions with. his interactions with meliorn were very few and almost never relevant, i barely remember them happening outside of generic downworld cabinet interactions tbh. but i don't just mean that because again, stop villainizing seelies 2k21

i also mean just generally that magnus would be in a more comfortable position talking to seelie strangers and slowly working into building a relationship and mutual trust. and just generally understanding them and the workings of their culture because he can empathize with the way they have built their social defense mechanisms. no one is 100% truthful to strangers, but seelies always seem kind of- analytical. and the cultural difference + anti-seelie racism makes them seem untrustworthy to most people, but magnus Gets It, so the potential for friendships! and the mutual understanding and the relative comfort around each other! and both parts understanding the enormity that is letting their walls down gradually and being more direct as time goes by. like.... aaaaaa

and yes magnus becomes a sort of reference on talking to seelies, mostly because he is good at "playing their game", but also making it a point to humanize seelies and making the other parts understand where they are coming from and how they feel :) and just improving their relations, particularly with other downworlders

im not going to get into alec because 1- the relationship between shadowhunters and seelies is already filled with oppression and a lot of complications, and particularly now that the seelie realm is politically fragile due to the loss of their ruler (however terrible she might have been), it would play into either white savior narratives or just straight up colonialism, especially given how alec as a leader already has a history of trying to build tutelage over downworlders (i don't care what his intentions were, it's still true, and although he's learning... well. he's learning, continuous action); 2- that would be more a relationship of opposition and i'm not that interested in that. but i would love to see seelies rebuilding themselves and their relationships and alliances with other downworlders particularly, and all the better if magnus is playing a part in that :)

in short:

more seelies

more magnus with seelies, especially friendships

more focus on the politics of seelies now that the seelie queen is gone

more seelies

more seelies

more seelies

[kanohivolitakk]

Some ramblings about Memory and why I’m happy it wasn’t canonized

Honestly the more I think about the story, the happier I am that Memory (a winner of the Memories of the Dead canonization contest) was never officially canonized. And Im saying this as someone who absolutely adores Nidhiki as a character and would've liked to see more content of him, especially one that explores his psyche in a nuanced manner.

Before we go on a few disclaimers. First off, yes, I'm aware that Memory is fan-made and that some people see critiquing fanfics as bad, at the very least unless the author personally requested it. And I completely understand that sentiment given that fanfics are hobbies and the writers may not always want critique on stuff they worked on for personal fun and passion. Thing is, Memory was not only submitted to a canonization contest, but was one of the winners. The only reason it (and the other winners of the contest) weren't canonized was because Greg wasn't allowed to visit BZPower anymore (or had it to do with LEGO quitting Bionicle g1 completely in preparation for g2, don't remember tbh). In other words, Memory was this close getting canonized, and was only left out due to external circumstances. That makes criticizing Memory fair game in my opinion.

Secondly: I actually like Memory as a story. It's well written, explores Nidhikis character in an interesting way and has a really interesting theme of how some individuals are forced into roles they didn't want to by circumstance. I think it fills in gaps from the lore nicely (especially the ending). And not only does the story use Mimic (a Dark Hunter I desperately wish was used in canon) it characterizes and uses him rather well. Him acting as a pararell/comparasion to Nidhiki is a solid way to showcase the storys central theme. All in all, it's a solid story in vacuum. Even as part of the larger Bionicle mythos I do like some elements of it and have adopted them into my headcanonverse.

That being said, I have one major issue with the story specifically regarding how it relates to the greater Bionicle canon. And that is, giving Nidhiki a "my original teammates were killed by Dark Hunters and now I desire revenge" type of backstory doesn't work for his character and arguably makes him less interesting.

First off, I understand why the writer chose to do this decision, to paint Nidhiki in a more sympathetic light. In canon, Nidhiki isn't really a sympathetic character (or at the very least wasn't intended to be one, ymmv whether or not he can be seen as one). He is selfish and his reason for betraying toa Mangai boils down to desire for glory and self-preservation. So wanting to give Nidhiki a more sympathetic backstory in order for the reader to understand why he is like that and thus sympathizing with him makes sense especially given how Bionicle doesn’t really have that many sympathetic villains to begin with and Nidhiki is one of the few who could easily be written in a more sympathetic light without making his character worse thanks to his backstory being rather tragic and there being a few hints of him being a more sympathetic character than the canon presents.

Thing is, by giving Nidhiki a desire of wanting revenge against Dark Hunters, I feel the writer misses a major part of Nidhikis character, one that could be easily expanded on to make him a more sympathetic and understandable character: his pragmatic opportunism born out of survival instinct.

Nidhiki is largely driven by pragmatism and self-preservation, by making actions that benefit him. This sense of pragmatism most likely comes from him coming from Tren Krom Peninsula: a harsh climate where you had to be pragmatic in order to survive. Pretty much everything from his characterization boils down to this survival instinct, this desire to survive taught by harsh living conditions. This is the core of his characterization and something worth keeping in mind  both when trying to understand him and writing him. And while the writer of   Memory does understand this to some extent, I feel they only saw it as part of his character rather than the main core of his characterization and driving force of his actions.

While Nidhiki loosing his teammates does add more fuel into him not trusting anyone and developing this pragmatic mindset (something Memory does pretty good job showcasing), I also feel that it's kinda unnecessary. It feels as if it exists as this big push, this big traumatic event that shaped Nidhiki's mindset into this pragmatic self-survival we see in canon and I just...don't feel that suits him. It makes more sense if rather than one big traumatic event that made him what he was it was a series of smaller events, it was him living in a place with a certain mental climate that forced a certain mindset just so he could survive.

The backstory also feels that like it exists largely to give Nidhiki a history with and grudge against the Dark Hunters which just...doesn't make sense at all when you give more context into canon. Like, if Nidhiki had a grudge against them I doubt he would've interacted with Lariska the way he did in BOADH let alone agreed to betray his team, no matter how good opportunity it felt like. Well at least it gives him one more reason to despise TSO and his organization and that’s always a plus if you ask me.

However,the main reason I don't really like this is because it feels kinda cliche and makes Nidhiki less interesting than he could be. Like, it feels that the easiest way to make your audience to sympathize with a villain is to give them a tragic backstory of them loosing a loved one that made them bitter and cynical. It just feels like a cop-out, an easy shorthand. It feels such "been there done that" and does more harm than good for Nidhikis characterization, feels like its there to make him more sympathetic through tried and true means than actually trying to understand him and what makes him tick, and building up a more sympathetic portrayal from there.

What makes this all worse is that I do think you could make Nidhiki a more sympathetic character without resorting to cliche tools like that. And thats by focusing on expanding on whats already there: his desire for survival and self-preservation. While it does make him rather selfish, its also what makes him understandable and (for lack of better term) real. While we want to talk about how self-righteous and good we are, truth is that desire for self-preservation and survival is a driving force that can override (or at the very least heavily affect) our moral compass, especially if you come from a traumatic upbringing. And like I said, the harsh survival of the fittest nature of T.K Peninsula certainly was that kind of place where Nidhiki was essentially forced to adapt a certain mindset. It’d be cool to see him slowly develop this mindset from the environment he grew up in, to have whatever potential goodness and optism he once had be eroded through him having to come in terms with the messed up nature of the world. it would’ve made him much more interesting, sympathetic and tragic character than he is in canon, all while feeling unique

That being said, I understand why the writer did the way they did. Like I said, Nidhiki isn’t exactly the most sympathetic character in canon, and wanting to give him a backstory that’s easy to sympathize with is an easy and good way to do that. It’s also worth pointing out that Memory was an oneshot, so the writer didn’t have time to go through everything Nidhiki went through before becoming part of Toa Mangai and as such, it’s easy to understand why the writer choose to give one big event that changed his mindset. I also dont think giving Nidhiki revenge motive is inherently bad (I mean its basically canon he wanted revenge against Lhikan), nor is making him more emotional and not just a pragmatic opportunist (if anything making him emotional is more than welcome in this house). But I feel that Memory just kinda, changes his character in such a drastic way that didn't sit with me, at least not completely. It kinda makes him an archetypical "I'm aloof and refuse to work with others because I lost my friends against these villains" type of character. Not only is that rather cliche that's also not what Nidhiki is like...He's more interesting as an opportunist who became such due to the harsh nature of Tren Krom Peninsula rather than your archetypical edgy shonen anime rival whos aloof because tragic backstory murder.

So yeah, Memory is a good story but I’m happy it isn’t canon because while it was an interesting take of my favorite Bionicle character, it being canon would’ve done more harm than good for his characterization as whole I feel. Also you can make a character sympathetic without having to resort to “they saw someone close to them die and desire revenge because of that”, especially when it doesn’t fit to that characters characterization as whole.

[ducavalentinos]

How would you rate Sabatini's biography on Cesare? I love it, but I wondered if you had any other (English) recommendations? Also take a shot everyone Sabatini interrupts his narrative to talk about how hot Cesare was sfhttjjggj

I think as far as Cesare bios goes, I’d rate his biography 7/10. I have conflicted feelings with Sabatini’s work, because I love his writing style, his sense of humour is great, it matched mine right away, and he has such a genius way of pointing out the hypocrisy and double standards applied to the Borgia family. He cleverly shows how much of the Borgia myths and general accusations thrown their way are connected to politics (shocker!) and to their Spaniard, and less nobly origins. Not to mention how he exposes the historical bias against Cesare, and general dishonesty with him, from primary sources to modern historians such as Gregorovius, that paragraph Sabatini wrote about him was truly a moment in the Borgia historical literature for me, I'm glad he said it. I just wish he hadn't fallen so hard for the Machiavellian Prince archetype about Cesare. The more I re-read his work, the more it becomes clear to me he took Machiavelli’s writings about Cesare at face value, fell in love with the image presented by him, and then proceeded (whether consciously or unconsciously) to apply this interpretation, one that has its limitations and flaws on their own, to all the facets of Cesare’s character, and all the other aspects of his life lol, which resulted in this too strict, robot-like persona. There is no nuance, no deepth to Cesare’s Sabatini, he exists only as the stoic, unscrupulous, unfeeling Machiavellian Prince. It’s a mistake I see being made time and again by most of Cesare’s biographers, many who follow Sabatini too blindly, or just Borgia biographers in general tbh, but Sabatini’s bio acutely illustrates this particular issue better than the other bios I’ve read I think, (with the exception perhaps of Beuf’s “work”, who somehow managed to outdone Sabatini in this Machiavellian presentation of Cesare, taking it to new extremes with super dramatic and misleading writing, for the most part). And you know, I always get the impression Sabatini had his own conflicted feelings in regards to The Prince, and its clear-headed, pragmatic politics. He seemed to admired it and feel repulsed by it at the time. And those mixed feelings sometimes ended up leaking into his view and writing about Cesare and some historical events, and what he believed had happened (e.g., the take of Urbino), and I find that very interesting. In any case, the point is: Sabatini’s Cesare is unrealistic, and it constantly enters into conflict with what Sabatini also presents as evidence for his history. I mean, he insists throughout the book in reaffirming Cesare was a utter egoist, cold man. Only moved by his ambition and thirst for power. He was incapable of kindness, or of being considerate with others, of feeling compassion, without ulterior motives involved. All of his actions were always calculated to only serve his own interests. Everyone around him were pawns to be used and discarded when they were no longer of any use to him. We are to believe he was a cynic, a block of ice, essentially. We are also to believe he never had genuine emotional bonds with anyone, much less with women. Women were interchangeble to him. Sabatini was convinced he was a man incapable of having a sentimental side, of loving or of having any connection with them beyond the physical aspect. But then, in between chapters, sometimes pages, he also tell us how Cesare seems to have deeply grieved the death of his cousin, Giovanni Borgia, whom he refers as Mio Fatre in his letters. He gives an honest, if quick, account about the marriage and relationship between Cesare and Charlotte d’Albret, in which Cesare’s obvious feelings for her can be seen, as well as his kindness and respect towards her. Sabatini admits the evidence shows they may well have loved each other, and that when leaving Charlotte in charge of all his affairs in France, as the governor and administrator of his lands and lorships there, as well as his heiress in case of his death, Cesare shows “his esteem of her and the confidence he reposed in her mental qualities.” And of Cesare’s policies and behavior as its ruler in the Romagna, it reaches a point where his mere self-interest doesn’t quite alone explain his relationship with this romagnese subjects and many of his decisions. It undermines Sabatini’s claim that it was for show and for his political gain. Last but not least, what is one supposed to make of the hypothesis he posits to the what I like to call, the Dorotea affair? This event is the peak of his contradiction and his mental gymnastics, because to be sure, his hypothesis is not far-fetched. I will concede I thought it was the first I read his bio. But over the years, between carefully separating fiction from history and reading other sources, then going back to his bio, I recognized his hypothesis is one of the plausible ones, certainly more plausible than the official sensationalistic narrative of Cesare simply abducting the innocent maiden Dorotea out on a whim, to satisfy his lust, (the fact Borgia scholars  are still repeating this narrative with a straight face is beyond my comprehension), I can see Cesare doing what he proposes, it def. aligns better with my understanding of him, and all the historical material I’ve read about him and his times, however, this hypothesis is completely irreconcilable with Sabatini’s Cesare. So, he says one thing, then he says another that’s incompatible with the first thing he said, and then proceeds to show evidence that either puts into doubt or confirms the opposite of his characterization of Cesare. And that’s only considering the historical info he dedided to include in his bio. If he had included some of the info Alvisi presents in his Duca di Romagna, a work he must have checked out, if not read it all, given one of the languages he spoke was Italian, and Alvisi’s bio is the best and most authoritative historical work made to date about Cesare and his life, I believe he would have struggled a lot more than he did. It just seems like he enters into a trap of his own making. Turning an already difficult task more difficult than it needs to be, honestly. Ironically, his stance is as messy and contradictory as the aforementioned Gregorovius in his Lucrezia Borgia, where you also have two Cesare(s): the one he sees and wants to present versus the one that emerges from the his own writing at times and historical material he himself exposes it. Overall, his work frustrates on some fronts, and I think it could have been better. It has its faults, some the typical faults/vices fond in Borgia biographies, others very much his own, but nevertheless I have a fondness for his bio which I do not share with others bios on Cesare, or the Borgia family. It is the only bio in the English language I find myself reading again and again, and the one I would put it first as better, or more decent, in this language about Cesare. I admire his honesty, and his bravery in challenging a little bit of Cesare’s dark legend, and the baseless accusations attached to his name. I appreciate what he tried to do, the very least of what I expect from a serious historian when dealing with figures as infamous in popular imagination as Cesare and Rodrigo Borgia. There is no denying his work was one of the main works which advanced Cesare’s historical literature, and the approach to his figure. Moving slightly from the literary, colorful, villain-like character of the Italian Renaissance, towards starting to be more seriously studied as a historical figure properly. And oh my god, yes, interrupting the narrative to talk about how hot Cesare was. It’s funny you mentioned that, because I don’t remember him doing that so much (time for a re-read!), but that's one of the characteristics of the Borgian/Cesarean historical literature heh. I’m yet to read a bio where authors do not feel the need to take a moment to talk about how hot he was, some even a poetic way lol, it’s so amusing, and always the one thing I know I will agree with them, if nothing else. Also, I think Borgia bios have huge potential for drinking games! Like: take a shot of tequila every time Cesare gets badmouthed for no reason, or baselessly asserted guilty of questionable murders, fratricide, rape, and abduction. Or when Juan and Cesare envied and hated each other narrative is repeated. Or when Guicciardini, Sanuto, Cappello and Giustinian are uncritically used as credible sources for Rodrigo and Cesare. Every time Lucrezia gets painted as the Good Borgia, the pretty, passive doll who was the helpless victim of the terrible Borgia men. Or when authors get uncomfortably shippy with the Cesare/Lucrezia relationship resulting in exaggerated claims such as: Lucrezia was Cesare’s only exception, or they were unusually close as siblings, etc. And of course, whenever Cesare’s hotness and allure has to be talked about dsjdsjsj, the list is long, and I think it will get you drunk very quickly. I know I couldn’t keep up back when I was reading Sacerdote’s bio, and I was drinking wine so. As for recs in the English language, I would say Woodward’s bio has its value in terms of sources and historical documents. I also think his analysis about politics, about Cesare’s goverment in the Romagna, and also concerning the conclave of 1503 are generally good. His last five, four chapters are the best ones imo, so if you are interested in these points I mentioned, it might be worth checking out. I would just open a caveat saying that as far as a biography about the person of Cesare Borgia is concerned, it is weak and to be read with a grain of salt. I was mostly unimpressive by his work on that front, and I thought about quitting time and again. He likes presenting himself as the impartial historian, (a big red flag that only makes me twice as cautious when reading any historical work) writing in a mostly sober tone, but of course like all scholars, all people, he has his bias, and they do come to surface from time to time. He displays an peculiar antipathy and ill will towards Cesare at times, which leads to harsh, confusing, unsubstantiated claims about his character and some of the events about his life. In contrast, you can see he is more benevolent and fair towards Rodrigo Borgia, and a constant thought I had while reading his bio was that he obviously chose the wrong Borgia to write a bio on. Had he chose Rodrigo as his Borgia subject, I believe we would have had a pretty good bio about him and his papacy.

[rip-a-dip-dip-you-potato-chip]

what have I created?

idk if yall like this, but they just exist not i guess :/

ok the the first one is Royalty AU

first things first, when I say Royalty AU, I don't mean the classic shit we've all become accustomed to. Im talking about the good old Chinese royalty! And I want to emphasize that these guys will/should be dressed in century appropriate attire. As someone thats read a handful of 'marinette, princess of china' fics from the ML Fandom, I've noticed a common trend. Marinette wouldn't be in the culturally appropriate clothes, always ballgowns. Not that there's something wrong with it, its just most of if not all these fic are set in China, so I'd expect Chinese royalty to dress as THERE dress code calls for. And since this AU takes place far in the past like, it won't make sense for any of the characters to be in royal clothing that wasn't from there region. I'm not trying to white knight/gatekeeping. Im Guyanese not Chinese. But since JTTW and Monkie Kid take place in China, it's only right. In my opinion that it. You don't have to outright agree with me.

With out of the way, it's time for that good old AU crack

- Wukong is the king of the Flower Fruit kingdom(or a different one if you'd like, again I'm only familiar with what western culture has taught me, but I'll try my hardest) 

- he’s single but rumor has it he used to/still is dating the Vigilante/thief The Six Eared Macaque

- *chants ShadowPeach violently* 

- no one know whether it true or not

- On of his wanders around the kingdom he finds an abandoned baby in a basket. 

- and no shit sherlock it's fucking baby Xiaotian 

- I think we all know where this is going because i'm a simp for Monkey Dad & Monkie Son shenanigans

- Xiaotian becomes prince

Shit, ill be referring to Xiaotian as Mk from now on, I mentioned this before in a fic I wrote for lmk that Mk's a nickname for Xiaotian for some reason- wait i don't have to explain my self to you people!

- Sun loves his son

- MK is treated differently by staff and others because he's not blood related to the king

- no one mistreats MK per say, because there King loved his adopted son, but words are said behind his back

- Sometimes MK hears what’s said, and he feels as if he won't live up to his dad’s legacy.

- He meets Mei during a festival

- Mei is from a noble family, that wouldn't mind if they got a connection into the royal family.

- but it becomes hella clear to Mei’s family very fast that the two are just friends, and will always will be. but hey there daughter is bffs with the prince so that's a plus.       

_

- the Demon Bull Family is rules a kingdom as well, I dont/am not creative enough to think of a name I leave that to you.

- It's a common misconception that DBK is a tyrant, when he’s not. 

- most of the time...

- they have been at war with the Monkey King for some time now and settled for a peace agreement.

- that agreement being there sons to marry

- oooo original i know

- MK and Red Son are roughly the same age, Mk being 20 and RS 22

- RS is revolted/disgusted at the idea of being wed to the Monkey Kings child, even more so when he realizes MK is adopted,

- but, that all changes the second he meets MK while he meets him by accident when he gets kinda lost in the palace when he and his parents go to discuss the arrangements.

- the second he looks at MK, he's instantly in love. MK less so, he's nervous and honestly kinda bummed he's not marrying someone he loves but it's for the good of his ppl, and he'll do anything for them.

- RS isn't even aware that MK is Suns adopted son until MK walks him back to the meeting room.

"Oh There you are MK! I was about to have a servant go fetch you!" Sun Wukong says, gesturing for his boy to come sit with him.

"S-sorry for keeping you waiting I got caught up in my lessons with Mr. Tang" MK responds, sitting next to his father. Red Son looked gobsmacked. The beautiful young man he had bumped into, was the prince of this land? Damn, life truly blessed him. Or cursed him depending on how you looked at it.

- the two are left alone in a separate room for a while.

- And MK straight up tells RS why he's agreeing to this union.

"Look Red Son. I've dreamed about meeting my one true love for a while. And I would give almost anything for that dram to be real. But I wouldn't ever dare give up my people, for as there price they mean more to me. I'm doing this for them, no other reason" MK says, his back straight and hands folded neatly in his lap. The look in his eyes was a mix of sadness, but that was drowned out by loyalty and determination. It just made Red Son fall for him even harder. Clearing his throat Red spoke.

"I understand, for im doing this for the betterment of my people to. But I propose a wager"

"A wager?"

"Yes, if i can make you fall in love with me by years end, before our marriage, we can live together like in the fairy tales from far away. But if I fail, in a years time afterwards you will be permitted to find your own path in life" Red Son stated. MK took a moment to process what was happening.

"So, if you succeed in making me fall in love with you, before our marriage we can live happily ever after?" Red Son nodded in response, letting the younger continue.

"And if I shouldn't fall for you, in a years time after our union, im free to leave?" Red Son nodded once more.

"So, what do you say?"

...

"Deal"

In the end, your free to choose their fate, should Red Son win the hart of Mk? Will he fail? Or will he let him go, and let him travel the country, after all Mk's a free spirit and keeping him trapped in a big house is like keeping a cannery trapped in a cage only for its song, only for it to dul. Or will the unthinkable happen and will both boys find their freedom? together or appart? I don't know, because that's all up to you 😉

personally, I’m partial to where MK and Red Son both find freedom together. Like they straight up run away together to somewhere far away and just live out there lives together. 

this could also be genderbent thing as well. MK or Red as their respective counterparts. Again it doesn't have to be, but it’s whatever bro. im just spitting out the idea. 

Also, there is a main side plot that they fight the WBS throughout the year as well, along with other shenanigans you wanna throw in.

____

The second is a My Hero Academia/BNH/MHA AU

truth be told i'm not a big fan of MHA i think it to over hyped(this is also coming from the same person that’s a Fairy Tail fan lol), and the fandom i don't even know how to describe that mess, but I will admit not the whole of its toxic since every fandom has some toxic members, some even more so. 

I just sometimes find myself enjoying MHA AUs like the Fullmetal Alchemist, Danny Phantom, Evil!Deuk AU and several others. 

to make it clear I don't see this AU taking place the same time as the main plot of the actual Anime/Manga. This could be either like 6-10 years before or after the plot idk bro. But i’ll do this after the main story plot of MHA, so keep that in mind ya? another thing, the gang is still in China, the top hero school in the world just so happens to be in Japan, and it’s only ever mentioned by Sun wukong and other pro heros. So MK never attended AU. in short it’s only ever mention/ reference.  

_

- Mk was considered Quirkless as a kid. 

- he was just a late blumer, i swear  

- Mai’s Quirk is called Dragon. 

- it pretty much works the same way as it does in the show(duh)

- Tang’s got a knowledge Quirk, 

- my man can retain information and he’s basically an archive of information drawback being his personality lol 

- Piggsy is a Animal that gained a Quirk

- in cannon to my current knowledge, there are two other characters that can confirm animals can become sentient. the characters being Fumikage Tokoyami, & Nezu the principal at the school UA.  

- Sandy is just Conner Kent, aka he like superman but can't fly, or shoot lasers from his eyes. And blue.  

I have two scenarios for Macaque and Wukong  

*- The first one is that, Sun Wukong & Macaque are brothers. twins to be exact. 

- they where legit people, but have mutation quirks that made them too like monkeys. 

- the added powers were just a boues. 

- Sun and Mac are close growing up, like there brothers but also best friends.

- the draw back to there quirks could honestly be whatever you want bro idk, same with the others tbh. Personally I like to think Sun just has lack of motivation, and Macaque needs to draw on other people's energy.

- Sun is a hero, Monkey KIng and Mac is a villain Six Eared.

- Sun was always treated has the golden child in the family, Mac always resented that, but there shitty up bring didn’t stop the two from being good brothers to one another.

- soon tho the resentment became hatred when Sun was able to attend UA in Japan, while Mac didn't.

- Mac be angy 

- so he became a villain, and joined the Chinese branch of the LOV(league of villains)

- Sun doesn't know this till he finds out during the all out war during the main story. and by that time he’s a full on hero with is own agency(The Flower Fruit agency)    

- when the hero's ultimately win and Mac is arrested 

- This ultimately hurts Sun a lot, his brother was in jail now, arrested for his involvement and wrong doings, he knew nothing about this! this brother, his blood. A bad guy? why? he hadn't seen his brother since he left for UA, he hadn’t seen him when he came home, and started his agency. 

- this just puts Sun into a funk so he’s not as active as he used to be, and he starts thinking he might need a successor 

*- The second one is that they were two separate people that had similar quirks and both attended UA but Sun ended up in the hero corse. so 1A.

- Both Macaque and Sun have similar quirks, Sun’s is obviously more light based while Macaque’s is more shadow based(this applies to the first one as well)    

- Macaque was placed in class 1B, U.A.’s High's Heroics Department, I believe, you can correct me. 

- In cannon Class 1A and 1B both went to the training camp. I can see the teachers pinning Sun and Macaque against each other to hone their skills. 

- And because of that they become great friends    

- In fact when they graduate they both co-found there hero agency together in China and are a duo.

- But due to Monkey King’s popularity and Six Eared's association with shadows(people sometimes saying he has more of a villains quirk than a heros) the public see’s Macaque as Sun’s sidekick when thats far from the truth. 

- now it’s up to you whether you think that Wukong and Macaque would be in a relationship together, but knowing how cooked we all are, ShadowPeach is a thing here more than likely. 

- If you do or don’t support/ like the ShadowPeach aspect, the two would be living together regardless since its more cost efficient. 

- They my be heroes but living costs are expensive!   

- I would imagine there would have been a huge fight/argument between the two in privet of course, at there home.(or in there shared office if you want the extra angst of the other people they work with hearing them fight)   

- If the two are dating, then this would either lead to an out right breakup, or Macaque just up and leaving with Wukong thinking he’ll come back once he’s cooled off. But after a week, with no sign of his partner, or him answering texts or calls, not even coming into work. Wukong gets worried that something might have happened to him. so there wouldn't be a confirmation if they were still a thing or not. 

- But Wukong remains hopeful, despite the nagging at the back of his head, and gut telling him to go find Macaque, or atleast make a public statement, or even just tell another pro hero about it.   

- on the not so shippy side, Macaque and Wukong still have there argument, and much like the ShadowPeach esc side, Macaque up and leaves, and isn't seen for weeks. the only difference here is that when Wukong comes home one night to there flat, most if not all of Macaques stuff is gone. 

- where as if this was the ShadowPeach side, Macaque leaves all of his possession in the flat he and wukong share. for the simple reason being, he still loves him and wants to go back, but Macaque being Macaque can’t bring himself to do it, especially after seeing just how hurt Wukong looked when he yelled at him just before he left.  

- in other words, ANGST DIALED UP TO A 10 BABY  

- in either case, its a news report that confirms Wukong's suspicions that he desperately didn’t want to believe, and that is Macaque turning into a villain.

- much like if the two were brothers, Wukong just can’t take it and is no longer as active as he once was, and is thinking about, either A) Retirement  B) Saying, “Fuck Society, Be Gay Do Crime” and join Macaque as a villain himself, or C) find a successor, and a way to bring Macaque back to there side, but most importantly, back to him.    

- also extra points if you're after people's hearts and want to make them suffer;  - If there dating, Wukong curle’s up in the bed he and Macaque shared, holding/wearing something of great value to Macaque and just crying himself to sleep, where as Macaque is getting wasted on alcohol, as he stumbles out of the bar he’s in, he either see’s something that reminds him of Wukong or while he’s trying to put his wallet back into his pocket, a photo of them on their first date fall’s out. and Macaque just cries in a nearby alley way. And it’s there where he gets indoctrinated into the League.

       - If there just friends, macaque heads to the nearest forest and just levels it, where as Wukong just gets engrossed into his work, trying not to think about it. you could add you own spin on this, again i'm just spitballing.             

- NOW BACK TO MK! :D     

- Obviously MK is a huge Monkey King fan     

- at Twenty MK has come to terms he's quirkless (HE’S NOT)

-for ANGST reasons MKs fokes kicked him out at this realization at 13.

- he works at Piggsy's Noodle shop, and has been since he was 14.

- don't need a quirk to drive or cook!

- the boy lives a content life with his new family, till DBK happens :D

- DBK runs a Mafia(in conjunction with TLOV) and has been in jail for like 5 years thanks to Monkey King, PIF and RS brake him out one night when MK's out making a late night delivery since Piggsy had the bright idea to go 24/7 service!

- one thing leads to another and Mk somehow manifest what looks like the Monkey King's staff, but its not, it’s MKs powers, it just so happens to be the same power the Monkey King has. And it practically goes down the same way in the pilot. 

- but unlike the pilot Mk and Mei go straight to the FF Agency, after making a panicked call to Pigsy and Tang.

- one way or another Mk are lead into Wukongs office. Mei being forced to stay in the lobby.

- they have there convo, butterfly monkey squishing included.

- "And so, I want you do be my success-" BOOM 💥

- from there they rush downstairs and see that the lobby has been infiltrated by the DB fam, and you know fight.

- once the DB family seems like there down, PIF wisks them away. Much to Monkey King’s displeasure.

From there stuff kind plays out like cannon, the calabash ep is just a conjoint quirk the Demon bros have. As for EP9, ill have to script that one out myself lol. I'll get onto it as soon as my will to commit stabs me in the face. Till then have a dancing Kermit the frog.

Now if you'll excuse me, am about to Kermit a felony :D

(For legal reasons thats a joke)

Psst @writingamongther0ses its done

[yjhgvf]

make a whole post why the toublemakers suck. i got this from ur previous post lol

Anon, I hope you do not mind. But I’m about to go on a tiny rant/ramble. This also took forever because I have the complete inability to organize head thoughts into typey words.

~~~

Ok, so. Uh, first and most important reason, their designs suck ass. Like, go look at their fit. Right now. Fucking do it. Go to the Team Umizoomi wiki and go look at their character designs. The color palette is mostly this bright ass orange combined with a nice looking tbh dark blue and as an artist I can confirm that it does not look good in the fucking slightest. Combine that with a light purple, and my eyes aren’t gonna like it very much. It’s not just the color palette either. Their goddamn clothing choice is ass too. Why does the pants have a stripe? Why is the shirt just not a jacket. Literally make the pants one color and make the shirt into a shirt and jacket and it becomes 10 times better, but for some reason, they just didn’t do that. I don’t know why it’d look so much better. Also their hairstyles don’t look good imo but that’s just nitpicking tbh

Another reason why I don’t like them is because they have no motivation for being villains. You know that scene in the SnapCube Sonic Adventure 2 Fandub where Eggman, Rouge, and Shadow are on the island and Shadow says “I don’t have a character motive.”? That’s basically the Troublemakers’ personalities in a nutshell. They have no established reason for them doing the shit they do. The only reason I can think of is the implied reason of “We do it because we feel like it lmao”, which is a stupid reason. The other villains in the show at least had established reasons, even if some of them (cough cough Shape Bandit) were fucking stupid reasons. If the one off villains like Grog and Zilch get established reasons for being bad people, why do the villains that appear the most times in the entire goddamn show not have an established reason?

On the subject of character (great transition me), they have none. They have no individual personalities. Big is evil and chaotic. Little is evil and chaotic. They could literally be one character and there’d be no difference other than the absence of a second character. I’m pretty sure they’re supposed to be an anti-Team Umizoomi of sorts. And I think that through their names and the tiny scraps of ‘character’ that we sometimes get, they’re supposed to be ‘opposites’…? But why is the show not showing this? According to the (admittedly unofficial) Team Umizoomi wiki, Big’s established as the leader. So why don’t their personalities and dynamic reflect that? It’s not that hard to give them preferences and character traits. They feel like the same person. Character can be reflected in the smallest of things, like food and drink preferences, sitting styles, the ways they fucking address each other. Why do they never address each other by their names? They never even had canon individual names until Season 4 Episode 11. AKA, their 7th appearance out of 8. And even in and after that episode, why do they just address each other as ‘you’ all the time? Why don’t they use nicknames or titles? There’s been so many opportunities throughout the show for showing character and yet all of them were wasted.

They also just have so much wasted potential. I get that it’s a show for toddlers and as such the standards aren’t that high, but I still feel like they could have done more. They appear the most out of every villain in the show and appear way more than every other villain in the show. Yet I feel like so much more could have been done. Team Umizoomi instantly knows who they are in their first appearance and there’s a clearly established rivalry between both teams, so why not play on it? Why not have the Troublemakers have the mentality that they’re the only ones allowed to mess with Team Umizoomi? Why not have both teams work together in an episode or two? Or even for a scene or two? As an example: in Season 4 Episode 3, there’s a scene where Umicar’s birthday present ends up at the top of a hill and both teams have to race for it. Both teams have a desire for the present, and they clearly want it intact, so why not have a scene where the teams are forced to work together to save the present from being broken somehow? Oh wait, sorry, the heroes aren’t supposed to work together with the villains, my bad. (/s) In all seriousness, I personally think it’d be a really interesting dynamic. A dynamic that we’ll sadly never get.

So, uh, that’s it. That’s why I don’t like them in canon. I’m sorry that this is so long, I just wanted to rant about something that, honestly, I had pent up in me for quite a long time. I honestly wanted the Troublemakers to be good villains, and I’m disappointed that I just don’t like them. Thanks for waiting so long for this response, anon. And I hope you find my response adequate enough for the long ass wait…

ALSO THEY SUCKED ASS IN S4E19 BUT S4E19 IS THE WORST FUCKING EPISODE IN THE ENTIRE SHOW AND DJKLSCNFFUVG3JQHLI

[lit-in-thy-heart]

you know one thing that really bothers me about bbc merlin? morgana's motivations. and this has probably been said a hundred times before but i'll say it again because it really gets on my nerves.

her initial motivation is to kill uther, right? fair enough, she reckons that by doing that she can then claim the crown (though tbh i don't think she would have even gone for that if morgause hadn't pushed her towards it; she has/had a good heart but she had no idea how to run a kingdom) and legalise magic and overturn all the oppression. and that's pretty valid. perhaps murder isn't the best option but she's trying to break free from a very controlling father figure and taking vengeance along the way.

but like. after uther's dead she just goes after arthur for no real reason. i mean it's implied that it's due to him not legalising magic and her wanting the crown to do that, but her attitude completely changed overnight. she completely turned on gwen and her own brother (i'm not counting merlin because as much as i love him i completely understand that poisoning someone will probably ruin your friendship) and there's no concrete reason??? if morgana's hatred of uther is so strong, then she would want every opportunity to piss him off, which would include secretly encouraging the relationship between gwen and arthur. i know she exposes them because she's hoping arthur will be disinherited and she'll be named successor (or at least that's what i got from it, it's been a while since i watched it) and she's had visions of gwen becoming queen but the change is so. sudden.

when morgause is around there are strategic plans that have been properly thought out. after morgause dies and morgana is left on her own her plots are a series of half-baked disasters. and it's not just because merlin is awesome and can stop everything, i think it's also because her heart isn't really in it. it was morgause's dream to rule camelot through her sister -- and i don't think morgana ever recognises that, as much as morgause loves her, she is using her -- and morgana has no real desire to be queen, she's just going through the motions that have been left for her.

maybe morgana realised that she didn't particularly want the crown but it would be far too late to backtrack and make amends so she sticks with what she knows and gradually becomes more and more twisted. but it makes no sense. because arthur has effectively ruined uther's legacy anyway. yeah, he hasn't legalised magic, but he's married a servant, stopped all the war and expansionist campaigns, and has made commoners into knights. by destroying that, morgana cancelling out that destruction of uther's legacy.

people with magic don't have it easy under arthur, but they're not brutally persecuted like they were under uther. the public executions in s4/5 are only when related to outright treason, not just sorcery. and you'd think that would make morgana hate arthur just a little bit less.

essentially she just falls into the stereotypical trope of evil because we need an antagonist and her complete personality shift out of nowhere does not track at all with how she behaved in the first season. like unless there was actually some damage after her fall, it seems to just happen for the sake of plot. and they had the potential to go in so many different directions with morgana's character, but just went for the basic trope of hating the hero because that's what villains do.

[kingreywrites]

What do you think of people who think that Eugene got everything handed to him without working because he was Rapunzel's boyfriend, and that it was unfair to Cassandra? (For example his life in a castle, becoming Captain... or even discovering he's a prince while Cassandra discovered she was Gothel's daughter?)

Eh. I kinda get where they're coming from, and kinda don't

Like honestly for his life at the castle I've seen takes like "he didn't deserve to live in luxery just because he discovered Rapunzel's tower, he should have worked for it" and like... what they don't realise is that, technically, Rapunzel doesn't deserve to live in luxery just because she's a princess either. No one "deserve" to be privileged for no reason, but when you only target Eugene, you're basically saying that "royalty deserves by blood to be privileged, and everyone else must work for it" which is... meh. Monarchy is fundamentally unfair you know, so I don't feel like it's a criticism that should be addressed to Eugene asfhdjkd no one should have to prove themselves worthy of good living conditions, they should just get them, and I'm glad nothing was framed as Eugene having to earn his keep just because he isn't royal by blood

Is it unfair to Cass? Idk, was it unfair to Eugene that Cass got to live with the Captain after being abandoned while he was basically homeless and on the run all his life? That's a weird question, right? Thinking about it in terms of fairness between the two of them just takes away from the fact that it's fundamentally unfair that royalty gets better treatment just for being born in the right family 😅

I understand better for the Captain thing though. But honestly, Eugene didn't seem to actively work for it on screen because the show didn't care enough to give him a good fleshed out arc asfhsjdkd like it would just make sense to build up such a big change for him, just like it made sense to show how motivated cass was in s1 and, tbh, it's bad writing that they gave us the captain thing out of the blue at nearly the last minute.

To be fair, though, at that point it would have done more harm than anything for Cass to become Captain, because even if they focused a lot on Gothel, she was unhappy being a servant, and captain wouldn't have been much of an upgrade (she would be a fighter yes but still a servant to the monarchy). But like, s1 Cass and s3 Cass seem so disconnected in terms of arc, I wish they did a better job showing us that evolution, so it could have made more sense for Eugene to become Captain

Like idk if I make sense but basically, in itself I think Eugene becoming Captain and Cassandra breaking away from Corona was the right choice, but the way they executed it was pretty unsatisfying for me, and I do understand where Cass stans are coming from (but again, it's less of a Eugene/Cass issue and more a "what the hell is going on with s3's writing" issue)

Annnd for the dark prince vs gothel thing it's the same idea, they don't care enough to show us Eugene having a good arc BUT cass needing to be a villain, they pilled up a lot of drama on her. Which is unfair I guess but also sometimes bad stuff needs to happen to characters 🤷‍♀ how would her arc work if she had everything she wanted and nothing bad happened to her ever?? They didn't want Eugene to have a major arc, so they didn't make him go through many bad things, because bad things spur the story into new directions, that's just how it is.

Basically my interrogation here is are these people able to recognise that if Eugene had to go through more hardships and Cassandra through less, we would have followed his character more than hers? Which I wouldn't have complained about asfjskgjd but yeah, bad things are unfair to irl people, but Cass is a fictional character who needs to be driven by something, and it can't be sunshine and rainbows. Eugene honestly had issues they could and should have addressed imo, but the fact that they didn't is not a failure of Eugene the fictional character, it's a writing problem