#tdp rant

[fujosh1dreamer]

It was a little underwhelming...

I have a lot of thoughts, some good, and some bad.

Good things: loved everything that was going on between callum and rayla and the rest of the moonfam. They were all so cute and funny together. Enjoyed the stuff with Terry, Aaravos, and Claudia at first but it got pretty stale towards the end. There were some really great animation sequences, and the voice acting was on point. Loved seeing more of queen Aanya. Finally sorvus... I know they're not technically Canon but I felt the unspoken implications when Soren almost fell off the cliff and Corvus grabbed him.

Onto the stuff I didn't like... there's a lot:

I hated every scene with karim... like I seriously wanted to turn my TV off when he showed up, which means that I also didn't like the janai and Amaya story line either because they were connected. Loved seeing Aanya but she deserved a stronger impact on the story, if felt like she was just there to have Ez not be alone. Like we went to her kingdom and didn't even get to see any of it, just some red rocks. I was happy that Terry left, but I was annoyed that Claudia didn't seem to care... she didn't care about anyone or anything this last season her motivations changed on a dime. I don't understand her wants or motivations at all. Barely any soren he felt like he should've had more stroy.

Ezran really annoyed me this season, he was willing to let Aanya shoot Rayla and he hesitated to stop her when she was about the shoot callum. He was wildly out of character and inconsistent. Also literally no one even attempted to mention to him that king Harrow killed Zyms dad first. Like what??? It's not a matter of him being a child and not being able to handle his emotions his response to Ruunan was fine, but him being swayed by aaravos and being mad at callum made for an exhausting watch.

Don't get me started on Aaravos we don't even get to see the other startouched elves. It looks also felt like he got nerfed, he doesn't use magic at all when he's in his normal giant form he just gets knocked around. Also I understand the final sacrifice of the old dragon dying to create an opportunity for happiness for the young generation, but the story didn't feel like it was leading up to that. The story never depicted the humans, elves, and dragons who helped seal Aaravos aways as in the wrong and needing to atone. That was setup for the startouched elves the ones playing god. The finally just doesn't really make any sense. Also what's the deal with callum and dark magic? Can he teach others to use primal magic? What's gonna happen in seven years?

My disappointment stems from wanting more and the story feeling very rushed, I'll probably give it another watch through but these are my initial thoughts.

One final point, and the thing that kinda pissed me off the most...

This!?!?!?!!? Really!?!?!?!? No thanks!?!

[imminent-danger-came]

Thinking about Callum being confronted by a Dark Version of himself that he then refuses (but who is still undeniably a part of him), and how then Viren confronts an Uncorrupted Version of himself who he then accepts as still part of him. And that happens through the mirror for Viren, but for Callum it happens through the cube. And in order to connect to the ocean Arcanum Callum had to accept that dark part of himself, the part that would do dark magic, that would do "anything for his family, however dangerous, however vile". He essentially un-made his s2 choice to deny Dark Callum.

[akiraarabella]

PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND SOMETHING!

(A tdp rant in disguise lol)

So we know that cosmic justice or whatv tf they are called gave the order for leola's execution bc she 'gave' humans magic, yes they specifically said gave. Not taught, not showed but "gave". Thats what they said. They also said that "...This act, however motivated, is the beginning of the end. The start of the long slow spiral to chaos..." Suggesting that cosmic order is now broken.

So these startouched elves are just chilling around doing nothing instead of protecting the cosmic order but the second its broken they're the ones who find people at fault as if they're not the actual reason for it???

Im sorry but that whole conversation is just weird. If they see leola's act as "the beginning of the end" that only proves that they have the knowledge of future. They HAD to know what was gonna happen in the future to find her guilty, that is the only explanation for them to give a death sentence to leola. And that only begs the question of 'if they knew what was gonna happen why did they still let it happen instead of trying to stop it???'

Idk they could have not let leola have any human friends. If this is about the ORDER of the COSMIC then i like to believe that its important. So they could've just warned Aaravos bro. Tell him the reason of it so that he could keep an eye out for his girl so she wouldn'tt get snatched by some random startouch elf. Also if the golden dragon (aka sol regem) saw leola and immediately snitched to the cosmic council that means he also knew what she was doing would break the order of the cosmic. Tf is that about? A random dragon knows about the cosmic law but not Aaravos, a startouch elf??????

Plus, If they can see the chaos of the future then shouldnt they also take Aaravos to this cosmic justice since HE is the one that ACTUALLY causes half, if not all of the damage to get revenge???

AND EVEN SO, THE WHOLE "THE LONG SLOW SPIRAL OF CHAOS" SHOULD HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE STATE OF THE WORLD RIGHT??? LIKE IT BASICALLY MEANS THE WORLD IS GONNA BE FUCKED IN THE FUTURE, AND THE ONLY DANGER FOR THE WORLD RIGHT NOW IS AARAVOS! IF YOU HAD THE POWER TO KILL A CHILD BC SHE IS THE TRIGGER FOR THIS CHAOS, WHY NOT KILL THE FATHER TOO SINCE HE IS THE ACTUAL CHAOS?!

im sorry im mad lol

Its just stupid. The so called cOsMiC cOuNCiL is nothing but BS. Leola had no reason to get executed. Bring me those elves i just wanna talk.

[its-leethee]

I am so accustomed to seeing the adults in children's media portrayed as antagonistic obstacles for the child protagonists to outwit and overcome. So, I really appreciate how in The Dragon Prince, Callum, Ezran, and Rayla are able to approach and rely upon the adults, strangers even, that they meet during their journey. The specific examples I want to talk about are both from 1x07: the doctor and the mercenary.

When Ezran and Callum meet the doctor, he is genuinely concerned for the boys, even though he can tell that they're not being completely upfront with him. He gives them his hospitality and listens without judgement or reproach while they tell him about the accident with the egg. When he realizes his expertise is inadequate, he keeps his promise not to tell on them, and points them towards hope.

Rayla's meeting with the mercenary is more tense; he is understandably skeptical of her intentions after she chases and corners him in an alley. But when he realizes her sincerity, he heeds her plea for help. His words ("but it'll burn you") and his body language (his hesitation, his worried facial expression) belie his empathy - at least, until he sees that she's an elf, and his prejudice overcomes him.

I also want to give a mention to Villads and Lujanne, who stepped up as mentors/guides for the trio, and offered their assistance, advice, and kindness without expectations of recompense.

In reality, most people are good and want to do right by others(1). The vast majority of the strangers and people you meet are not scheming, nefarious opportunists-in-waiting. If you approach with vulnerability and ask someone for help, they will honestly try to assist you.

I just find it such a refreshing, appropriately wholesome take. Grownups aren't out to get you, kids. As someone who was raised in the "stranger danger" era, I am glad to have tdp's more nuanced and honest version of reality to show and discuss with my own children.

[yuripira4e]

I’m binging the dragon prince rn and am not finished so take what I say w a grain of salt but I really really hope when Runaan gets released and him, Rayla , and Ethari meet up again that it’s all not just perfect and perfect. Like Ethari was grieving his husband and had every right to be angry and sad, but in doing so he also abandoned the girl who saw him as a father and the only person she could have put her complete faith in. It’s a very complex situation but to a teen girl that got adopted, he basically told her that without Runaan, she couldn’t be his anymore and that is so agh. Anyways I hope they address that and the way that trust has been basically shattered even if she doesn’t blame him for doing so (also taking into consideration Moonshadow elf culture of completely exiling those who abandon their posts- it’s just that Ethari didn’t really care about that and just that she let runnan die)

[thatartiststudios]

Ughhh... Ok... So, I have a lot to say...

So, I want hanging with my parents this evening and showed them some of my unreleased AMVs ahead of time, and while I was pointing out a parallel I made in the edit between Callum with Claudia at the Nexus in S2 and Callum with Rayla at the Nexus in s6... And his Claudium conspiracy fueled behind came up again...

He was all "oh, y'know, when you have no other options, you tend to gravitate towards...those with...shared experiences"

And then, when I pointed out that she was already with Terry, he had the nerve to say that "Terry is nothing."

Both me and my mom just went off on him, then up and left to another room in the house.

Like, I'm sorry, Terry is good for her, okay? If Callum and Claudia were really meant to be together, then she would've been his One Deep Truth, but guess what? It wasn't, it was Rayla.

And what do you mean "when you have no other options"? You think Rayla's just gonna up and leave him if he goes too far? It's already been proven in 6x03 that she was more concerned for him than angry at him.

I literally can't. I love him, but I just... Can't...

Contribute your thoughts in the notes...

(Also luv you mom, you're such a nerd like me <3)

[starry-skies-writes]

Also who tf is the Merciful one. Why are they called the Merciful one??? I shall think about this tomorrow

They probably granted mercy to Aaravos but HOW.

[bisexualenbyblueberry]

Honestly I think that "Rayla is worse than both Aaravos and Viren combined" is the most fucking stupid and upsetting takes of the fandom. Because, as has been said before: RAYLA WAS A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD TRAUMATIZED GIRL WITH A FALSE SENSE OF DUTY FROM GROWING UP IN A WORLD THAT MAKES MURDER A RESPONSIBILITY WHO MADE ONE FUCKING MISTAKE. ONE. Sure, it was a big mistake. But compare that to the literal remorseless crimes of Aaravos and Viren's abuse, and the fact that he LITERALLY ATTEMPTED TO MURDER CHILDREN TO GET POWER, leaving your boyfriend to deliver justice really is not all that bad. And you know what? She apoligized! She undestands what she did ws wrong, and she fucking actually tried to fix burnt bridges! Aaravos didn't do shit! Viren hasn't talked to his son in years and didn't mention him at all during his redemption speech! Terry literally killed someone and none of you are calling him a terrible person/worse than Aaravos! So fucking leave her alone! Please!

[malicedafirenze]

so I finally got done watching S5 of The Dragon Prince and ghgnghghggngh why do I have such a mixed bag love hate relationship with this show (spoilers)

I want to love this show but there's so many things that just don't land and don't work, and yet here I am, hooked once again, because after 8 episodes of cringe humor and weird dialogue it fed me some crumbs of delicious Aaravos content.

I find so many of the accents so goddamn stilted and awkward. The french sun fire elves are the worst. I don't object to french-sounding elves in principle but dear lord does it sound unnatural and strained

SO much of the humor just does not land and the pacing of individual scenes is just ??? ATLA had some very kiddie humor here or there too, and I love the somewhat darker and more mature tone of TDP but jfc it feels like they need to hammer every joke home with so much time that you'd think they were planning for a laugh track

ep 8 and 9 were so much better than the whole rest of the season because once this show lets itself focus on action and drama, it's actually pretty fucking good, but for some reason you need to get through a first half season of awkward goofs.

Terry annoys me so much. Yay trans rep, but why the utterly random coming out out of nowhere (that was S04 I know but I watched it very recently okay) and his whole sounding like a therapist shit towards Claudia, like yes, it could be funny that this random wood elf does aroma therapy on his dark mage gf but everything somehow turns awkward in the execution

The library showdown was generally cool but the framing for why Amaya told them to leave without her was so fucking weird: you have this moment of Dragon Ex Machina, Zubeia wiping away the demon bears with ease, and then suddenly when Amaya is back in the frey after grabbing Bait, they're suddenly out of time and need to leave that instant??? Like I see what they were going for, obviously Zubeia was under real threat from the demon bears, but imo the framing/visualization of that threat did not work at all and I audibly went "WHY" at my screen at the random "you have to leave without me" thing.

That being said there's some shit that goes extremely hard and I'm here for it:

Rayla just fucking dismembering Claudia apparently wtf??

I enjoyed the sexy fish pirate man, I hope he survived getting eaten

I am an utter addict for Aaravos' voice and even the flashback repetitions in Janai's nightmares were legit enough to get my attention again

I am very excited for how someone is going to end up saving Viren's life against his will and I will gladly read fanfic of it

I had the 'our child' thing spoiled by being careless on tumblr but seeing it actually on screen was better than expected, love that for my OTP, toxic af parenthood is just what they needed

I really expected there to be more Aaravos since this show got renamed to Mystery of Aaravos false advertising smh.

They got creative with Dragon designs this season and I support that

out of all the things I found weird and cringe, I am 100% here for Zubaia getting randomly healed by a funky little gnome that calls himself the mushroom mage, 10/10 no notes

young viren hot

Rayla and Callum worked much better for me towards the end of the season when they got more comfortable with each other, love that for them, some delicious drama when the sexy fish man tortures them in front of each other, good for them, that's my shit

Considering all the things I liked about the last 2-3 episodes I feel nitpicky and weird for complaining about the first 7 or so but UGH it was a bit of a pain to get through them tbh. There is so much I deeply, deeply appreciate about what this show tries to do, as a high fantasy kids show with an overarching story, gorgeous visuals and explicit lgbtq and disability rep that I feel like an ass for complaining about it so much, but god damn there are so many things that are just unbearably cringe about it and OH MY GOD I just remembered the god damn "maybe you should express your love like a bee, here just move your tushy like that" scene holy FUCK can someone please give me an edit of this show with about three times the Aaravos screentime and all this second hand embarassment removed

[m4rs-ex3]

the ability tdp has to never make me hate characters is astounding

i mean i obviously have my blorbos but i literally love every character in this show and that is so incredibly rare cuz let's be real i'm discriminatory and am only drawn to queer teenagers but oml

all the main characters are just perfection and every minor character is immaculate and even the super complicated ones like claudia n avizandum n ???? what the fuck ????? VIREn ?!????!! how they managed to make me feel for him i do not know

and even the straight up assholes are too cool/smoking hot for me to not love them i mean aaravos, finnegrin (he's on the edge,) my lawfully wedded wife kim'dael and that absolute whore slut stupid ass beautiful gorgeous stunning bitch miyana

(karim is the exception i just hate his ass [in a good way show wise])

and what's more impressive is the ships???? aka everything involving claudia aka everything morally questionable??? bc i am The most violent vehement shipper but i cannot be mad. like callum + claudia is wild bc i love them individually so i love them together but i also despise them together but i also LIVVEEEE for the tragedy that is their love. and claudia and terry bc tbh imho terry deserves better and i'm kinda hoping they're not endgame but i'm also not at all angered by their on screen presence in fact i enjoy them what is happening

[fujosh1dreamer]

Viren is an abuser.

Abusers exist in many forms, his looks don't changed the fact that he hurt his wife and his children.

I can't believe i have to say this, but there are people who just don't understand. Lissa had every right to leave, he hurt her. Also Claudia choose to stay with Viren, neither Soren or Claudia hate their mother. They just don't know why she left, that's the whole point.

Viren defenders are worse than aaravos defenders. Viren literally admits to being in the wrong and having regrets and yall are still like, hE,s a GoOd daD.

[imminent-danger-came]

Do we think moonshadow elves make note of what phase of the moon it is when they're born. I think it'd be neat if Rayla was born under the half-moon.

[tategaminu]

I'm once again asking for part of the fandom to stop Runaan's uwufication

Ezran has all the rights to be pissed, he killed his father. Ezran is a 12 y.o who's going way too much at such a young age in a short period of time.

Rayla loves her father and Callum loves Rayla and knows how terrible losing a parent is (he lost three), that's why he was okay with freeing him, but Ezran has a total different relationship with Rayla and different views from Callum, on top of that, he just lost his kindgom.

Runaan is a grown ass man who killed Ezran's dad and trained his empath daughter to be an assassin, trying to kill her later when she opposed him. He's not a "uwu gay bean" he's an adult with terrible life choices and Ezran arresting him is a total valid response.

[venice-1987]

As much as I would enjoy a kiss at their reunion, I do think the dragon prince crew would do something softer when (not if <-clown emoji) Sorvus is made canon. I'm picturing Corvus and Ezran and Callum arriving at the castle like in the promo image, them checking up with Opeli and she reveals everything is fine.

But Corvus asks about Soren. "Where is he?" he asks, his mind already wandering to the possibility that Soren...hadn't made it out. He will himself to remain strong for his king, but his body fills with dread. Thankfully, Opeli points him to the river.

There, Soren sits on the banks. Corvus sits beside him, noticing the same pained look in his eyes that he had seen on the ramparts the day Soren asked him to become a crownguard. Now, that same pain encompassed how he sat, how he stared mournfully into the waters.

Corvus asks is he is alright, and Soren can't even answer, holding back what emotion he can to maintain his cheerful attitude. He is failing miserably. Something more terrible than the Storm Spire must have happened. Something worse than Katolis burning down.

Corvus lays his hand over Soren's on the rock. Soren looks from it to Corvus, then shifts so that he can hold Corvus's hand back.

Like Janai and Amaya, its a confirmation.

and, of course, at the end of arc 2 or start of arc 3 (affirm affrim, manifest manifest, like to charge reblog to cast) then we get a kiss, teehee

[dress-and-impress]

I find it so crazy how corrupt Viren actually became because of dark magic. Because in season 1 Claudia was like “do I save Soren or the egg” intending it as a joke… but then Viren says “the egg” (this was when her and Soren had to get the egg back from Rayla, Ez and Callum).

Also not to mention the gaslighting Soren got when Viren told him to kill the princes, but then he straight up said “no I never said that your lying” to better BENEFIT HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH CLAUDIA BECAUSE A RANDOM STRANGER SAID SO.

But now we know the full story of Soren being a sick child and Viren going through extreme measures to SAVE SORENS LIFE and ultimately destroying his marriage. So from this it’s just so devastating to see how little he cares for his children. Not just Soren but Claudia too because as we all know, she never deserved any of this torture and pain that came along with this dark magic power she learnt was good and for the benefit of humanity.

[thatartiststudios]

Okay so, mini rant here

So, I've been able to spend some time recently rewatching TDP with my family, mostly in prep for season 6.

And because we're really on time we just started season 2 (sarcasm), but anyway. We just finished episode 3, and while we were watching it, my dad had a theory, and me being the nerd that I am asked what it was. The regret was immediate.

He was saying that it's a possibility that they could come back around to Callum/Claudia, if perhaps, he went too far into dark magic, driving everyone else away.

Now look, I'm a huge fan of ship and let ship, (I'm a fan of the canon crack quartet, I know) but like, as someone who's shipped Rayllum pretty early on, and doesn't ship either them with anybody else, I will admit I was kind of offended (Read: repulsed).

And especially during Rayllum month, like, dude

Anyway, and he was really passionate about it too, not that I don't like sharing the fandom with my family and we all enjoy it together, it was just a curve ball I was not expecting.

Like I said, ship whoever you want to ship, but in my personal opinion his idea is blasphemous.

So... yeah, that's how my evening went