#the whole show exists because of their compelling arc and nothing else

[catofoldstones]

I don’t know when this undercurrent of “it’s Rhaenyra v Aegon” rose and turned into the entitlement of “why is alicent still here weh weh” but it’s scary as hell. We all watched the same first season, right? What’s not clicking?

[clownprince]

Look. Don't get me wrong. I love the batjokes fandom literally everyone I've interacted with has been SO nice for such an insane ship it's a surprisingly chill fandom.

That being said... sometimes I feel Weird because a lot of the community (not all! but a large part) is like haha yeah my favorite fucked up toxic problematic ship love how twisted it is >:) batman wants to fuck that clown even though he literally killed his whole ass son it's so fucked I love it.

And that's fine! No problem with that. Power to you.

But I'm just over here like... what if they both got better together and processed their trauma and Joker made amends with everyone and everyone was happy and content as a family.

Like, the most compelling thing for ME in Batjokes is easily Bruce's refusal to view Joker the way most other people do. Even in arcs where he does dehumanize Joker, he at the very least makes an attempt to understand him. Everyone else is just like yeah, he's evil, he's just doing this shit because he enjoys it because he's a monster. But even when their relationship is at its worst, like in Joker War, Batman tries to understand where Joker is coming from. He doesn't just assume oh yeah Joker is just doing this because he's evil there's no logic behind his crimes he just enjoys it.

Bruce actually understands that Joker is trying to show him something, i.e., that he isn't being Batman right (in Joker's opinion). And even after Joker literally tears down his life, fucking reanimates his dead father figure to torment him and re-enacts his childhood trauma on the city, Bruce STILL ends up agreeing that he had a point!

Like to ME... Batjokes is about loving someone so transcendentally that you devote your entire existence to helping them. It's about having compassion for someone even after they commit horrific atrocities. It's about loving someone who everyone else hates and views as a monster. It's about someone loving the parts of someone that they consider terrible and unlovable. It's about being misunderstood your entire life and finally finding someone who gets it. It's about love for one person motivating you to stay alive in a world that's been nothing but cruel to you. It's about finding someone who makes everything awful that's ever happened to you seem worth it. But most importantly it's about the refusal to give up on someone who everyone else has long since declared a lost cause.

[irkendogma]

i know they're pretty lacking in tak aside from some ship segments, but do you have any favorite issues of the invader zim comics? call me basic but i adore the zimvoid arc especially

man i feel bad about like every anon i've gotten recently because i'm certain i keep coming off as an absolute hater (which may not even be inaccurate but i DO have love in my heart as well) but i honestly don't like the comics that much. i feel like both my grievances and my favorite issues/moments can be summed up by things from a conversation i had a little while back

like, obviously this is not exclusive to the comics - the show itself very much leans on the nonsense comedy angle because it is, in fact, a comedy aired on nickelodeon aimed at children. i'm not about to complain that a 2001 kids cartoon doesn't take itself seriously because i would be insane to expect it to. the problem is, when the comics were released, florpus hadn't even come out yet - the primary audience for them was no longer the "kids" element of the original demographic but the "watched in 2001" element

these comics EXIST to be fanservice - what fuckin 8-year-old is going to a comic shop or browsing online to buy the marketed revival of a show they don't recognize? - but they're written more like meaningless, substanceless comedy than even the original show ever was. there was a fucking wealth of material the original show never got to touch on prior to cancellation, and barely any of it is ever adapted, to say nothing of the entire original cast besides zim and dib playing bit parts to unrelated nonsensical comics characters IF they even appear at all - the fact that many fan favorites, my own included, receive a cameo at the end of a single special issue and nothing else across the comics' like fucking 50-issue run continues to bother me

and rest assured, the comics themselves are at least a little cognizant of this, because they will take every fucking opportunity they have to lampoon and create strawmen out of fans asking for more or even just...making fan content in general. remember mopiness of doom? chammy wamboo is here to make sure you feel stupid about interpreting anything that happened in that script as zim and dib having any form of fondness for each other, and she's going to spend an entire fucking issue doing it (with a very halfhearted attempt by the narrative to go "maybe she has a point about friendship?" that ends up undermined by other instances of the comic doing the exact same thing as this issue). think that the comics themselves aren't as good as the original show? virooz is a fat, sweaty, conventionally ugly manchild of a stereotypical strawman here to puppet around zim's body in dramatic poses that never fail to be drawn as stupid and unfitting in his belief that zim "fell off" from his earlier days. sure, occasionally there are grains of truth or genuinely funny things from them, but overall the whole thing feels incredibly meanspirited and more interested in bashing fans for being invested than rewarding that investment of time, energy, and sentiment into the material

even zimvoid...i WANT to like zimvoid. conceptually, i really like zimvoid. but the comics are deathly fucking allergic to allowing any stakes or sincerity to persist across the plot and it makes a lot of fascinating elements with a painfully compelling antagonist hit like a wet piece of tissue paper slapping on a brick wall, any impact stuff like zib's confession that he lied and winning over zim ultimately didn't earn him anything is soundly undermined by the fact that zim fixes the problem instantaneously with a spontaneous time travel loophole that even the story itself repeatedly lampshades makes no fucking sense whatsoever

maybe i'm just not the target audience for the comics, honestly, but in a fanbase that for nearly 20 years has consisted mainly of adults suspending their disbelief to more seriously adapt the story and melodramatic teenagers doing the same with less self-awareness, i don't know who is the target audience

[cheetee]

⭐

I reblogged this ask meme then passed out immediately. Whoops! Anyway, you had the misfortune to send me this just as I finished my entire series. I'm about to hit you with literally every thought I've ever had.

EncantoTV: A Retrospective

My goal in Encanto fanfic is always, as best I can, to re-create the tone and style of the original movie. I called the series "Encanto TV Episodes From Another Timeline" because that's the level of canon compliance I wanted, not just from the plot but also from everything else, with the tone and the humour and the themes and the characters we focus on - I wanted to write something that felt like Disney had greenlit it.

(It's entirely PG except this part, which I removed briefly in early 2022 and then remorsefully put back because I literally couldn't replace the line "de-bitched their grandmother".)

Fun fact: I literally did not care for Camilo one iota the first time I watched Encanto. I don't mean I didn't like him; I mean I straight-up forgot one of the characters could shapeshift a couple of different times during the movie and had to google who the hell he was afterwards.

I put Camilo in When the Cat's Away because I thought he would be a funny narrator to a story that was primarily about Mirabel and Bruno, and then by necessity of being the narrator he got his own character arc, and that character arc spiralled into being the main emotional hook of the fic. Whoops.

The character who did get plenty of screentime from me, though: Bruno!

Here's the thing about fanfiction. Most people watched Encanto (2021), a Family-Adventure-Comedy, saw Bruno, thought he was hot, and then proceeded to write fiction about him that was also hot, such as porn, angst, porn/angst, and the great many variations of those things that exist on AO3. I watched that movie and went: "Great! I want more of this attractive, compelling character. He is a side character used primarily for comic relief, with a tragic backstory that is only ever minimally explored. Therefore, that is exclusively what I am going to write."

Hence: Bruno only appears as a major supporting character, and his main roles are to act as foil to Mirabel and comic relief, much the way he does in the original movie. I don't know what it is about that that I enjoy writing when, as far as I can tell, every other Bruno stan on the internet went down the logical route of writing fic that was about... well, him. Maybe a bit of narrative irrelevancy is just something I find attractive in a man?

Whatever about Camilo and Bruno, though. I thought Mirabel was a great character when I first watched Encanto, and now, having written 100,461 (fuck!) words about her, my feelings have only deepened. Mirabel, my daughter, life of my life!!! I adore you!!!

Seriously: I love this girl. I wound up spiralling into a whole series because there's just not enough I could say about her. I love the way the world feels when you're at a certain point in your teens, and you're smart and empathetic enough to understand the injustices of it, and you've got this whole life ahead of you to fix them and all these things to do around you and suddenly, for the briefest period of time, you have nothing but big ideas and burning passion to see them through. I wanted to capture that type of kid, somebody who's clearly very passionate and brilliant and inspired, despite the crushing lonliness and insecurity that sometimes comes with being fifteen.

Mirabel and Bruno's relationship is very dear to me. Mirabel is a teen who's pushing away her parents and the other adults in her life, feeling misunderstood. Bruno knows how to interact with the teens in a way that makes them feel treated and seen as adults, that validates their adult feelings and actions, while never actually crossing the boundary into being a friend. Bruno is a mentor, good at showing vulnerability when he needs to get through to someone and holding it back when they need strength instead. Mirabel desperately wants someone who makes her feel seen, and she needs an adult in her life she can trust. They go together like that.

The thing I'm proudest of about EncantoTV, though, is the plots. Because deciding that something is meant to be a cartoon TV episode, not a movie, not a novel, is just... a different type of story. TV plots can be bad. There are holes, there are wildly unrealistic natural disasters and uses of weapons, people run on and off the screen, and the whole thing needs to get wrapped up in a way that you can theoretically miss this episode and it still makes sense.

My finest achievement? I have gotten SO good at writing plots that are STUPID AS ALL FUCK. I'll write fucking anything in there. I put a ghost in the Encanto. I destroyed a whole fucking mountain then NEVER referenced it again. I brought back Bubo. Antonio went to JAIL. The places the characters go in Birds of Paradise? That shit makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER when you look at the timeline, because they could only have been walking for a few hours AT BEST but they still hike an entire watershed AND drive the same distance within AT MOST a couple of hours.

And you know what? AIN'T NOBODY IN THE COMMENTS TELLING ME IT WAS STUPID, CAUSE THEY CHECKED OUT BEFORE THEY GOT THAT FAR. Belissimo.

Anyway, it's 4am, and I'm definitely rambling. Here's my last point, which is about having readers!!!

My webcomic used to get a comment every 2-3 months. My fiction has been rejected from a couple of litmags. Something that has been mind-blowing, life-changing, awe-inspiring? Readers! People who read what I wrote and they liked it, and not only that they told me they liked it!!! I have written lots and lots of things, and I have never, in my life, had people go out of their way to contact me and tell me what they enjoyed and why, the way that people have done for these fics, and it's... damn!!! It's world-ending!!!

This was a long-ass post, I guess being my goodbye to the series... I want to thank you, @youmaycallmeyourhighness, for sending it, and for the various comments and messages, that shit means the WORLD to me. I am a humble college student, my grades are bad, and it is surreal that my writing is something that interests you.

To @bitchykuromi, @malewifebruno, @pinwheelwhirl, @greenvillainredemption, @originalavenuefox, @ramblesanddragons, and several others who either aren't on tumblr or I just can't find rn because it's 4am: I hope you all know how much it means to me that you liked my fics enough to read them over all this time, and find the time to tell me about it, and you are all such cool people it brings me such delight to think that I actually might have made you laugh irl.

THANK YOU WORLD FOR THE EXPERIENCE OF MAKING ENCANTOTV: IT'S BEEN REAL. Goodnight!!!!!

[danggirlronpa]

Speaking of “intentional bad writing is still bad writing”, I will never forgive V3 for killing Tenko because it had to have the double murder and the shock value of the inc*st reveal. Instead of, you know, having characters make actions that make sense.

Even more egregious that Korekiyo acknowledged that using only Angie’s murder to escape would have been smarter, but he did an unnecessary second murder for basically no reason.

Honestly, this whole trial is one of the weakest in the series. The murder itself has a whole host of issues - the motivation has nothing to do with the story, provides almost no new or interesting information about the world around the characters, acknowledges within itself that the double murder was unnecessary, and relies entirely on the shock value of "this time the murderer IS the guy who seemed like a murderer!", which is not exactly an effective subversion. And the trial is frankly an affront to Angie directly. But its greatest sin for me is that it destroys Tenko and Angies' potential character arcs for seemingly no reason.

And not because they died early in their arcs! There is some very effective tragedy to be found to in killing a character just when they are starting to change. Hiyoko is a great example of this - in the exact same chapter where Hiyoko starts to drop her many barriers and open up to people she once hated, she is brutally murdered in her first attempt to follow a fellow student's advice, and Hajime is specifically striken by the grief of knowing someone who had just started on the path of recovery had their life taken by the cruelty of the game without any regard for them. That's effective tragedy!! That's fucking SAD!! And while I personally feel that Hiyoko surviving would've served the overall themes better than some other chars (sorry Kazuichi), it's easy to recognize that this, too, was a compelling story.

Angie and Tenko don't receive this sense of tragedy, because Angie and Tenko don't get character arcs. They never change or learn in any significant way. Angie in particular never truly is allowed any character depth beyond a surface-level gimmick - even her FTEs are just more of the same, particularly the ones with Kaede. Angie and Tenko are completely flat characters whose sole purpose in the game becomes, in chapter 3, to prop up Himiko's character arc.

THAT SUUUUUCKS. They have so much potential!! There are so many interesting and compelling directions their stories could've taken! And it removes the little existing nuance to their characters as their flaws become irrelevant compared to How They Make The Survivors Feel. But instead Spike decided they would have one shtick, and once people got bored, they would die. (Korekiyo suffers from this too but it's overwhelmed by...everything else they do to Korekiyo.)

This has gone on too long I think. But to sum up I pretty firmly believe that V3 Chapter 3 was created by picking three characters to die and then making up a ton of other stuff to make it work because the writers were tired of them. And it shows.

[pleuvoire]

anyway since i finished faiz last night here are my thoughts on the infamous ending arc (under cut for spoilers) (and for walls of text jesus how did this get so long)

so faiz definitely falls apart in the last 10 eps. no doubt about that. compared to the absolute kino that was the 30s... man, it’s like night and day. and this comes down to what i keep saying, which is that faiz is at its best when it focuses on the core seven characters, and at its worst when it focuses on... literally anything else. and what did we get in the 40s? yuka dies, kiba fucks off to do whatever, and takumi is reduced to a background character in his own show for much of the 40s, to say nothing of keitarou and mari. the entire thing is about mari’s stupid adoptive dad and the orphenoch king and the ryuusei school and all this stuff that i DO NOT CARE ABOUT. give me the core trios!!! give me the core character stuff!!! give me takumi and kiba entrusting their lives to each other instead of kiba treating takumi like a stranger!!!

because hoooo boy was kiba’s whole deal poorly executed. on paper it’s compelling - the kind person who believed in humanity finally experiences too much cruelty to handle, loses faith in humanity, and defects to the side of humanity’s enemy. but for the change in his personality and worldview to be so sudden, so complete, and so permanent, it was just bad. it was just bad! on top of that, yuka’s death meant the show was minus one of my favorite characters, and kiba basically becoming a different person meant it was for all intents and purposes minus another of my favorite characters, and between that and takumi doing jack shit for like 5 whole episodes i really did not care what was happening. also - he ORDERED TAKUMI TO BE EXPERIMENTED ON??? FUCK OFF!!! HE WOULD NOT DO THAT!!!! YOU CAN’T JUST MAKE HIM A WHOLE DIFFERENT GUY!!!!

side note: kusaka’s death. was really looking forward to that and in the end it was just kind of meh because i had no idea what was happening at that point in the show at all. like, random incoherent stuff happened before my eyes, and he got his neck snapped on the beach as a result. yay? i will give inoue this which is that i’d heard that the narrative really wants you to feel bad he died but i didn’t get that vibe so much, it kind of just felt like everyone going “wtf kiba straight-up snapped that guy’s neck that’s so fucked up” and also mari being sad which makes sense because she was attached to him. the thing is that again the show was simply not coherent enough at this point for me to feel like it was taking a real stance about kusaka dying. takumi getting Really Pissed at kiba about it was so lame though like omg who caressssss

that said, i think the show managed to regain a bit of its footing in the last two episodes. i liked the trolley problem it set up - kill this kid to save humanity, or kill humanity to save the orphenochs. it was still kind of dumb and not as compelling as ryuki’s trolley problems but it was something. i really liked the thematic thread, woven through all the bullshit, of orphenochs as this group of people who were never meant to exist, and are either fighting a fruitless struggle against their inevitable disappearance or simply accepting it. it contributed to the feeling of quiet hopelessness and depression that faiz is good at. the impending specter of takumi dying soon was really good and also contributed to that feeling. when he said to kiba he was scared of dying but wanted to live his life to the fullest i was like ououougghh. so yeah some good stuff in there.

still though, that ending...? i’d heard that the last episode was infamously rushed, but while i was watching it i was like huh this is no worse than faiz has been for the last 10 eps and also has some compelling stuff (mentioned above). and then with 5 minutes left it cut straight from the climatic blow of the final battle to several days later and i was like OH LMAO. INOUE YOU REALLY BEEFED THE PACING ON THAT HUH. real “oh shit this essay is due at midnight and it’s 11:55” energy. so that just ruined a whole bunch of stuff right there. like kiba’s death - i knew he’d die from takumi’s rider kick, but i didn’t realize he was sacrificing himself to keep the enemy in place for takumi to kick him, a real interesting and potentially compelling last-minute redemption, except then we immediately cut away from it and it’s never mentioned again in the Five Fucking Minutes of the show left to us. so like great job on that huh.

and the question of, is takumi still dying or not? what happened to that? the shot of him looking at his hand with blurred vision seems to suggest that, but it’s such a weak thrown-in-there reference in the middle of what looks like a “happy ever after” type of scene i’m like man what??? i knew it was ambiguous if he dies or not, but i was expecting, like, you see him close his eyes onscreen and the question is whether he died or just passed out. something that would give a real sense of finality and grimness to it. so to have it be that vague and open-ended and contradictory was a letdown :/

anyway. yeah! faiz ending! it wasn’t as bad as i was bracing myself for. that’s my review, i guess? i mean i just finished kiva a month ago and that was TERRIBLE so this is like, fine ok, in comparison. there’s my review: Not As Bad As Kiva. high praise! it’s still pretty bad though. i agree with the people who maintain that it really needed just one more episode and a lot of problems with the last ep would have been fine, but that still wouldn’t have fixed the problems of the entire show gradually losing coherency, along with half the stuff that made it compelling, in the last 10 eps. like if you gave it another episode it would probably have done a much better job of tying all the themes together and would probably have made me cry, but even that would be a major downgrade from the lovely thematic clarity and relative plot consistency of the first 10 episodes. but that’s inoue endings for you. at least it’s not kiva

[askshivanulegacy]

SHIPPING MEME!! 2, 3, 4, 5 (>.>), 14, 15, 26!

THANK

2. Talk about three of the most important ships throughout your life.

HMMMM. I'm going to include platonic ships in this, and they're all ships I've RP'd. Also, there are definitely more than 3 super important ships, so these are definitely NOT all of them.

(Platonic) Zack/Angeal/Genesis/Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7. My first-ever set of online RPs. Really how I got into RP and art and writing! Still love them. I want to pick up the new games at some point, and I still have old fics on my to-do list.

Blakk and Saare-ha. An unplanned ship, but so good. the RP here is how I got into SWTOR. Still my canon storyline and I hope to finish some day!

Blakk and Ahuska. One of my current major ships and responsible for a few other most excellent ships, as well as some most excellent projects. >3

All of these ships and ones I haven't mentioned are of course responsible for hooking me up with my most bestest online friendships. What could be better than stories and fandoms and friends? ♥♥♥

3. What’s your current OTP?

I have several ships with Blakk that I love: Blakk/Ahuska, Blakk/Der, Blakk/Zim, Blakk/Zim/Der/Ahuska. Ofc, as my main OC, I love all my ships with him, even if they aren't listed. ♥

ALSO, I love Watcher Five/Cipher Thirteen/Crow aaaaand whoever else may or may not get wrapped up into that. 8) Cipher 13 is my newest trash child and he's amazing. >3

4. What’s your current NOTP?

Ahahahaha ... Shuri and Namor (Wakanda Forever). There's SO many things about this ship that I find extremely disagreeable.

Namor's entire arc starts with a gaslighting trip ("it's your fault I'm attacking you because you won't join me in worldwide genocide"), followed by the lovely murder of Shuri's mother. Despite his supposed agreement to stand down from his warmongering ways, he ends the movie with a renewed commitment to beat Wakanda the moment he can find a way to do it. Not once does he express remorse or any genuine desire to co-exist with Wakanda. As long as they refuse to be his tool to take over the world and/or commit mass genocide, they are his enemy. Shuri certainly (and rightfully) showed no interest in him in the whole movie. She's honestly got better things on her mind, not the least of which is her mother's murder. It's a sign of her own character growth that she even let him live after his murder spree. But at the end of the movie, Namor had no character growth: he's the same as he was at the beginning, except beaten.

I look at this ship and all I can ask is WHY. Maybe there's room in a future movie for him to develop as a character (after all, this was Shuri's story, and not his), but right now it's a ship I just can't stomach lol. It's such a weird ship. It doesn't recognize anything that happened in the movie. I appreciate a good bad guy ship, but there's nothing compelling in Namor even as a character to achieve that the way he was portrayed. And the funny thing is that it's not even presented as the random OOC ship it is, or even a solid hate-ship, it's presented like there's a basis for Shuri and Namor to actually have a loving relationship ... and there isn't. She's a child. He's a centuries-old child throwing a temper tantrum that nobody else in his entire underwater kingdom probably understands. He murdered her mother and said it was their own fault. Just nope.

People can ofc ship whoever they want, but this is the first ship I've seen that I've been so opposed to even seeing the art on my dash. These tender, loving glances between Shuri and Namor?? Wot??? Like, did we watch the same movie?? Doesn't seem like it, lol.

5. Do you have any poly ships?

I DO IN FACT. 8)

(SWTOR OCs) Watcher 5/Cipher 13/Crow +/- Ulfran is a CURRENT FAVE. Ahuska floats around on the fringes. 8)

Derrick/Blakk/Zim/Ahuska is another fun one, and I've had a couple others over the years. >3

14. How do you feel about will they/won’t they?

An excellent trope, especially in slow burn action. >3

15. Have you ever “shipped at first sight”?

Not that I recall, actually. The characters have to reveal themselves first, along with their motivations and how they tie into the story. I don't ship just anyone, and I don't do it just based on the appearance of characters. I'm also not a super frequent shipper either. I default to canon relationships all the time with zero desire to change it and zero desire to delve into fanfiction. I have to really connect to the characters and want to see more of them before I think about shipping.

26. Have you noticed a pattern in your shipping? Is there a romantic dynamic you’re more drawn to?

Now that I think about it I GUESS THERE IS.

I seem to lean strongly into angsty bad boy + heart of gold, or angsty bad boy + power figure. Honestly, as long as there's a stabby, desperate, angst bucket, my shipping radar boots up. XDD

[antianakin]

I also don't disagree that the Umbara arc is about the clones, nor have I ever said otherwise. I'm focusing on the Jedi because Krell is, in fact, a Fallen Jedi. You might notice the original ask was about Krell, what he was like prior to having fallen, what his feelings about the clones may or may not have been and whether they were always negative or if they changed over time. The whole point of this post, from ask to answer, was about speculating on Krell AS A JEDI. So yeah, I'm focusing on the Jedi portion of who Krell was and the impact that his being a Jedi that Fell has on the overall story of Star Wars.

TCW has an episodic structure but people often treat it like it isn't. It's clearly built, in many ways, to be a bridge between AOTC and ROTS. And a show with this episodic of a structure quite honestly doesn't work very well as a bridge. The characters seem to sort-of evolve and develop and change over time, but there's zero references to things that might have changed them or caused this development because all of those things are stuck within the vacuum of their episode or arc.

As someone who likes the Umbara arc and wants to focus on the clones to the exclusion of everything else, I'd imagine you find it a little frustrating that there's ZERO reference to Umbara and Krell in the Zyggeria arc even though it seemingly immediately follows Umbara and puts Rex in a position of being a slave which presumably would be a VERY difficult situation for him to be in so soon after Krell. You'd think that recent experience of being treated like an object without worth might be sort-of meaningful in an arc focused around slavery and where Rex is in fact enslaved. But there's nothing. Somehow it just... has zero impact on Rex's experience in Zyggeria at all.

So yes, I do find TCW's episodic structure frustrating and a bad choice for this particular show. It doesn't mean an episodic structure is bad IN GENERAL or that I dislike it every time, it just means that there is a time and a place for it and this wasn't it. A structure that's more like Rebels or TBB where it's more of a happy medium between episodic and serialization probably would've suited TCW better in the long run.

This is why I'm refusing to budge on saying that my analysis of Krell in this post is coming from looking at this character through the lens of his place in the GREATER storyline being told in Star Wars which actually ISN'T about the clones. It's not about the Jedi, either. It's about selfishness vs selflessness, it's about fear and pain twisting people into monsters if they can't control it. And Star Wars OFTEN uses Fallen Jedi and dark Force users to represent these themes, starting with Anakin himself. But you can also look at characters like Dooku, Ventress, Maul, and Barriss. If I extend beyond TCW and the films, you find characters like Reva, Trilla, Cere, Malicos, Bode, and Dagan. Kylo Ren is meant to be this character in the Sequels. I cannot emphasize enough that Fallen Jedi characters tend to be used to represent this theme OVER AND OVER AGAIN throughout Star Wars. One of the very few who isn't used this way is Krell.

And yes, he's there for a specific purpose in this story because it IS hyperfocused on the clones and the story being told through them, but that doesn't mean that the Umbara arc or Krell exist within a vacuum either. TCW ISN'T Visions, the arcs in TCW aren't intended to be completely disconnected from the rest of Star Wars, quite the opposite actually. So while I hear your point about the part Krell is intended to represent within this specific story, I'm not going to accept your argument that his being a Jedi simply doesn't matter when analyzing him as a character within Star Wars as a whole.

Maybe if I'd been asked about the way Rex or the other 501st clones felt about Krell after the Umbara arc, I would've had more to say about the story that clearly is more compelling to you, but I wasn't.

If speculation about this character through this lens isn't interesting to you, then that is of course your prerogative.

Pong Krell. It’s universally agreed that he deserved worse than what he got and I get that. I just wished we got to see what he was like before he Fell. Did he always hate clones, was it gradual? Did he suspect something off and went over paranoid?

I’ll say this one and I’ll say this probably a thousand more times but I wished the creators focused on more details with characters. It’s absolutely fascinating that they created a Jedi that Fell but did nothing with it besides outright evil.

How other Jedi reacted to learning that a fellow Jedi betrayed everyone? How did the Republic?

I just wished they did more with him than just, yeah that dude was a dick and killed clones.

Yeah, it's one of the things I don't like as much about TCW, the extremely episodic nature of it means that there really is never any build-up to anything or lasting impact from anything. Unless it's happening within one of the 2-4 episode arcs, we RARELY get to see any kind of build-up or fallout. It's one of the major issues with Barriss, too, we see her ONCE in season 2 and she's calm, kind, methodical, and selfless. And then three seasons later in season 5 she's suddenly ruthless, selfish, doubting everything and everyone, merciless, etc. There is NO BUILD UP to that radical 180 to her character and there's no real exploration of how Ahsoka really feels about that particular betrayal afterwards, the focus in later episodes after the Wrong Jedi focuses only on Ahsoka feeling betrayed by the COUNCIL and her feelings about that. Nothing since TCW has ever touched it either (Rebels, Mandalorian, the Ahsoka show). Satine's death never really comes up again after it happens aside from Bo-Katan being an asshole. Obi-Wan goes from being totally fucked up about Maul coming back to being chill enough to take on Maul and Savage alone and winning without us getting to see him actually deal with those emotions.

Pong Krell and the Umbara arc IN GENERAL falls into this category easily (so do the Zyggeria and the Deception arc tbh). Krell is such a basic evil character, there's so little nuance to him and we never get to see the Jedi react to the revelation that one of their own turned at all. Dooku turned after he had already left the Order as far as any of them really know, but Krell was still IN the Order when he decided to betray them and it would've been really interesting to see the impact of that on them. It would've been ESPECIALLY interesting to explore that more during the Wrong Jedi arc in particular in how the Jedi feel like they can't trust their own people not to betray them anymore after Dooku and Krell.

Krell is presented with like. Zero nuance. He is just unequivocally evil and despite Anakin greeting him in a friendly way at the beginning, the visuals tell you this dude's no good right from his first appearance. There isn't really any chance that he's going to be a good guy at all. So all we are left with are headcanons.

And I remember discussing my Krell headcanons somewhere, but I think it might've been on a Discord server I've since left, so I unfortunately cannot find them again. So I'll try to remember them and immortalize them here, I guess.

Here's the thing about Krell. NO ONE suspects him. So he cannot be overtly acting like a bigoted asshole from the jump at any point, he HAS to be acting in such a way that it's not trickling out to the other clones and to the Jedi themselves that Krell is an absolute monster. Even Fives takes a moment to decide that Krell is suspicious and only brings up Krell's casualty numbers after he sees Krell's behavior for a minute and combines that knowledge with what he's now personally experiencing and is starting to come to conclusions based on that. He doesn't go into the relationship thinking Krell is worse than any other Jedi already.

And based on what we know of EVERY OTHER FALLEN JEDI (Dooku, Anakin, Barriss), they didn't start out as monsters. Dooku was a highly respected Jedi Master who seems to have had a really positive relationship with Yoda and Qui-Gon and simply became disillusioned with the Senate and his care for the people of the galaxy got twisted into something darker over time. Barriss was kind, selfless, compassionate, brave, and resourceful, and it was the war that caused her to start letting her fears and pain consume her into turning on the Jedi. Anakin was kind and spent years having his fears and doubts twisted into selfishness and greed and darkness that allowed him to justify murder and genocide for power. So it wouldn't make sense to me that Pong Krell wouldn't fall into the same pattern where he was once kind and good and selfless and brave, but that the circumstances surrounding the war caused him to lose faith and fall.

My headcanon is that he lost an entire battalion early in the war, much like we see happen to Plo Koon during the Malevolence arc and that that loss and failure just BROKE him. Krell DID care about the clones, he cared about his men, and he FAILED them all. And I think that he saw all of these clones dying by the dozens in all of the other battalions and instead of choosing to let go of his pain and fear and lean into his compassion, he chose to distance himself from them entirely to make it hurt less. If he didn't care about the clones, if he just saw them as the cannon fodder that the Senate treated them all as, then it would hurt less when they died. Maybe the Senate itself even dragged him over the coals for that initial loss. Or perhaps it was the opposite, maybe most of his battalion was killed, but it ultimately ended in a victory anyway because they were forced to just keep going despite the consequences. And so Krell decides to enter this mindset where he is disillusioned with the Senate and just CANNOT allow himself to care about the clones, because it won't change what the Senate is going to do to them anyway, so he may as well just treat them the same way.

And this wouldn't have happened overnight. It wouldn't have been a sudden 180 where he decided he was just going to treat them like shit. But he maybe decided to put some more professional distance between himself and his new battalion, not get close to them, not use their names (although he still knows them, still remembers them all). Maybe one day they're in a tricky situation and all of his options are bad, he HAS to sacrifice some of his men in order to salvage the situation at all, and it's a choice between a full retreat that he KNOWS the Senate won't take well, or sacrificing the men to achieve the victory. So he sacrifices the men. It's not an entire battalion, it's not even a whole company, but it's more than it would've been if he'd retreated. Maybe next time, there's a choice between going back to save some of the men even if it poses a risk to his own life or the mission or something, and he chooses not to go back for them because the mission is more important, or he rationalizes that his life is more important as the Jedi General. And it's just more and more little decisions like that that add up over time to being able to see the clones as nothing more than tools.

The disillusionment with the Senate leads to him sort-of agreeing with things Dooku and the Separatists have said and he can look at the war and realize that it's entirely possible that the Republic is going to LOSE, and he CANNOT be the one who loses again, so maybe he starts bouncing around the concept of maybe switching sides. And of course initially he rejects the idea. He's a Jedi, he won't just abandon the Republic, he can't be a traitor, who in the Separatist side would ever trust him anyway. But once that seed is planted, it doesn't go away and it keeps coming back up and he keeps finding ways to rationalize why it might be a good idea and then deciding not to do it over and over again. Until one day, he can't convince himself that it's a bad idea or that it wouldn't work. He tells himself it's the ONLY option, if he doesn't change sides then he's dead. But Dooku WON'T trust him unless he can prove that he's not on the Republic's side, so he has to come up with a plan to gain their trust. And what better way to earn that trust than to ensure a Separatist victory in an important campaign by double-crossing the Republic.

And once he's chosen to go down that path, it's even EASIER to stop caring about the clones because, well, they're all dead anyway. The Republic is going to lose, the clones are all dead men walking no matter what, so why bother caring about them or trying to keep them alive? He can't lose so often that the Jedi or the Senate become suspicious of him, of course, but it's REALLY easy then to get to Umbara and treat the clones like crap and turn them against each other and intentionally try to get them all killed. They're dead anyway, he's not the one killing them really, is he, the Senate is, the Jedi are, the war is. They were dead from the moment they were created in that test tube because they were created for this specific purpose. It's not his fault.

And much like Barriss turns against the Jedi in part because she did LOVE the Jedi and was devastated by what she saw happening to them and the pain of seeing her people forced to become something they were never supposed to be, as much as her actions were intended as some kind of message to try to sort-of save the Jedi from a course of action she saw as their downfall, I think that Krell turns on the clones because at some point he DID care about them. A lot. And that care became his downfall, the pain at what was being done to them just absolutely gutted him and it threw him down a path that ultimately led him to turn against the very people whose deaths had hurt him so badly just a few short years ago.

Krell might not have been the most effusive or emotional person prior to the war or anything, he might've been a more reserved person similar to Mace or Dooku or Luminara, but I think he probably was a perfectly good Jedi who was kind and selfless and compassionate once upon a time.

And none of the headcanons above have even touched what his relationships with other JEDI must have been like. It's just as possible that he did have friends and people he considered family among the Jedi. Maybe he had a padawan once at some point. And maybe all of those people had died by the time we get to Umbara. Maybe he had to watch a lot of the people he was closest to just fall like flies, and so it starts feeling like nothing matters. Maybe one of the Jedi who died on Geonosis was a former padawan of his, but Krell himself obviously wasn't there and the pain of THAT loss and the guilt he feels at not having been there (even though this padawan had been knighted for a while and there was a good reason Krell wasn't there that day) just sticks with him, too, and he never quite manages to let that go, either.

I think a lot of people choose to just headcanon Krell as having just always been kind-of an asshole even when he was a Jedi, but that doesn't work for me. If Krell was always an asshole, I feel like the Jedi would've stepped in at some point before the war even HAPPENED and tried to manage that situation. And it doesn't match up with the way pretty much every other fallen Jedi has ever been written, where they were GOOD PEOPLE once upon a time who saw awful things happen that they couldn't stop or had an awful thing happen TO them that they couldn't stop and the pain of that experience consumes them to the point that they spiral into darkness as a result. Krell should be the same way, which means he likely was a perfectly good normal Jedi before the war. He would've been kind, he might've been good with younglings (he's tall, maybe he was the one the younglings went to all the time for piggy back rides, maybe he often taught dual wielding to padawans who asked because of how clearly proficient he is at it), he might've taught a student of his own successfully, he would've been wise and selfless and compassionate, he would've loved the Jedi and the people of the galaxy.

Like, to be frank, if Tales of the Jedi HAD to explore a fallen Jedi story, they should've explored Krell instead of Dooku. Dooku has been explored before, we know quite a lot about him and his motivations and his backstory, but Krell, as you noted, is left a mystery and is stuck in the realm of being just purely evil for the sake of the story they were telling in this one arc. Krell needed more nuance in a way Dooku just did not.

[yuuminni]

Maki Zenin, and the promise a shounen protagonist can’t keep

jjk manga spoilers to chapter 150!

At first, Maki Zenin seems like a classic shounen protagonist: she starts off not being very good at the thing the story revolves around (jujutsu - she can’t use curse energy + do not have curse technique etc etc), but she also has moments where she shines because she has a unique ability (extraordinary physical strength that rivals everybody else’s.) She’s an underdog, but she won’t stay that way forever – like every single 16yos out there, she feels the immense need to prove herself to everyone – and especially to the family who constantly deems her useless.  And so we are compelled to cheer her on – yes leave the Zenin clan, and only come back when you are to become head of the clan!! Show ‘em what you are made of!! (doesn’t that remind you of “I will become the Hokage!!!”?)

One of a classic shounen protagonist’s traits is their constant, unyielding effort to improve themselves – charging forward no matter what, sometimes to the point of being self-destructive (think deku and breaking bones, allen walker and literally ripping his fucking arm off to become a sword what the FUCK lmao)

Look at her!! She’s a classic shounen protagonist!!!!!!

And so in her confrontation w/ Mai at the Kyoto sister school event, when Mai asked why won’t Maki stay with her at the bottom, Maki’s answer seems obvious: because she would’ve hated herself if she did. She’s a shounen protagonist, and being stagnated is the worst thing to happen to her kind – a curse, even. And so in her quest of self-improvement, the promise she made seemingly half-heartedly to her sister:

is seemingly forgotten.

Now fast forward, a few hellish arcs later, we learn that Maki Zenin’s motivation to become stronger is not just “to prove myself to the Zenin clan” anymore:

look at this panel. it fucks me up it fucks me up so bad it fucks me up it fucks me up it f

I feel a normal amount about that panel. Anyway, I know that a lot of people interpret this as Maki adding a new reason onto her miles long list of “reasons to get stronger” after the confrontation with Mai in the Kyoto sister school event. Me, personally, I want to see “to make the Zenin clan a better place for Mai” as being one of Maki’s initial motivation for leaving the Zenin clan in the first place and not a reason she adds on later, because it adds a whole new layer of depth onto Maki’s answer to Mai back then, “because I would’ve hated myself if I did.” She would’ve hated herself because staying would mean stagnating, and because staying would mean Mai would suffer forever, with no way out and forever feeling like there’s no place in this world where she belongs.

And so Maki Zenin, 15 fucking year old, set out to find a way to get stronger, to carve out a place in this cruel, cruel world where she and her twin sister could just, exist. And I think Maki intended to shoulder this big huge impossible task on her own, because she glared at Naobito when he even implied that he was considering placing the same hardships on Mai:

because Mai has always been the weaker one, Maki stronger one; because Maki knows that Mai hates pain and fear, because Maki has always been the one charging forward and clearing the way for Mai, and she is about to do the same this time too.

But then that means that Maki has never, ever forgotten that promise that she made to Mai when they were tiny teeny little girls. Or, if you interpret it the other way, maybe Maki forgot it temporarily but after the Kyoto sister school event the promise came back to her full force. Either way, she intends to come back and continues fulfilling it, even if Mai thinks she has forgotten about it, even if she has to suspend the promise for a little while as she embarks on a quest to get stronger. This is the best for them both.

We all know where that leads to.

just fuck me up.

Now this is just me reaching, but this is yet another aspect of Maki that is like a shounen protagonist’s - so focused on getting stronger that at some point it becomes self-destructive to do so, has probably become pointless to do so. She is so strong now, but a part of herself (”I am you, and you are me”) has died - her heart, her reason, her chance to fulfill a promise she made to the person she loves and treasures the most. 

tl; dr: jjk 149 fucks me up like nothing ever did and maybe im reaching so much im dislocating but i can not be normal about this! so hey! thank you for reading to this point!

tl; dr 2, a totally real tldr: instead of becoming a state bootlicker like naruto maki destroys the entire family that has put her and her sister thru hell and become enemy of the state and i think thats beautiful and she should become a blueprint of what a shounen protagonist should be like

[nonbinarykai]

Ok since two people asked

Why Lloyd is my least favorite ninja and how I rewrite him

Notes:// you know the rodeo by now, long post so it’s going to be under a read more, and I’m not gonna tag this with Lloyd because of the criticisms I have against his character, if you don’t want to hear Lloyd be critiqued then don’t reas the post

Why I don’t like Lloyd

Maybe it’s because I’m a Kai kinnie or maybe it’s because I have a bias agaisnt the younger sibling but Lloyd has never really been a favorite of mine

He was enjoyable in s1 but after that he kinda lost all personality for me and I stopped enjoying him

I think this is mostly for two reasons:

1. His screen time

2. His “character arcs”

I’ll go ahead and knock out his screentime here because it pretty much speaks for himself

Lloyd takes up so much screentime in the show that it’s actually jarring, he’s the character with the most seasons, having s1-2, s4, s8-11, and finally s14 ((the island special)). Which I think makes lloyds writing flaws all the more noticable

A big reason, albeit a bit of a petty one, for why I don’t like him is because he constant hyjacks other characters plots and makes them about him, this happened with Kai in both s4 and s11

Even if he’s not the main focus of a season, he always has a side plot focusing on him like in s3 and s12

The writers need to include Lloyd in other seasons is making it harder for the other main characters to actually have enough screentime to grow and develop on there own

And as a side effect of this, Lloyd gets to become the most important character in every season he is, taking roles from other characters who needed them

My best example is Cole being leader, he was set up and established as leader in the pilots and s1, and he did pretty good in it! Cole being a leader is a interesting concept that I would have loved to see been developed

But after Lloyd grew up they threw that plot point into the trash so they could have the mystical green ninja be leader even though throughout s1-7 he hardly actually talks to the main cast and him being leader doesn’t add any interesting dynamic like cole and kais rivalry despite Kai being a sort of right hand man to Coles leadership.

And in s1-s7 especially everything literally revolves around Lloyd to the point where his existence is more important than everyone else’s, and everyone’s motivations are to protect him.

Again I understand he is important, he’s the green ninja, but you have to let your other characters grow and develop, Lloyd is not the only main character in your show

Like for fuck sakes I don’t need 3 arcs about Lloyd and his dad, can I finally have another Kai season

Lloyds character arcs honestly kinda suck

Im going to be honest with you

Lloyds kinda an ass

The reason I like jay more then Lloyd even though jay has been way more mean spirited then Lloyd throughout the entire series is because you can atleast make the argument that jay doesn’t know when his jokes can hurt. And the show doesn’t portray jay as in the right, he gets what he deserves for some of the meanier things he says.

The same can’t be said about Lloyd

Lloyd says things to the other ninja that is honestly so mean spirited it’s jarring to hear it from him

Best example being when Lloyd told Kai to get over his shit when Kai was grieving in s4

But what makes it so frustrating is that the show always portrays Lloyd like he’s in the right which is why a lot of his character arcs feel flat or uninteresting

The only time this doesn’t apply is in s2 and in s3, in s2 the show paints Lloyd as being unfair to Misako when he RIGHTFULLY gets mad at her for abandoning him, I’ll get back to this later

The second time in s3 is when he’s traveling with Garmadon and having to be taught to balance his powers, which is actually one part of s3 I really liked, it was nice to see these two bond and have Garmadon teach Lloyd something that wu would other wise not teach him. And it’s a real shame the season cut it short AGAIN

The biggest example of the show making Lloyd seem in the right no matter what is in s4, Lloyds whole arc there was to learn how to view things from a different perspective and appreciate the things others have done for him. And this is would work if the show decided to do the same.

Again back to that scene with Lloyd and Kai in s4, the show treats Lloyd as if he’s in the right and it’s never addressed after this. Even though this is supposed to be the beginning of lloyds arc where he’s supposed to learn to view things from a different perspective

This scene would have worked if

1. The show didn’t paint him in the right for this, either by having Lloyd apologize or having the show acknowledged how it might have hurt Kai

2. If the plot Lloyd has remained a side plot instead of taking up the entire focus

Seriously, s4 could have been the ONE season where you can have a Lloyd side plot thats not forced and yet they fucked it up and made it the entire focus of the season thanks a lot.

To quote what I said in my Nya anayalsis awhile back

“I’m not upset that he has a flaw, just that it’s not recognized as one”

Lloyd would work way better as a character if the show just let him have consequences for his actions

Ever since he grew up and got the green ninja role he’s been treated like he can’t do no wrong which is clearly not true

But since we’re already on this topic

Hurting Lloyd doesn’t make him a good character

I feel like Tommy ((and sometimes the fandom)) really misunderstand what the use of suffering for in a story

There atleast 3 reasons writers make there characters suffer

1. To undergo a arc and realize where they have been wrong or to give a character a lot more depth to expand upon

2. If the story is a fallen hero one and the character suffers because of his Huberius

3. If the story is a tragedy

Ninjago is neither a fallen hero story or a tragedy and his pain doesn’t develop him as a character

A lot of writers don’t understand that suffering isn’t what makes a character good, it’s what pushes them to become good, you can’t just throw a character at the wall and expect them to instantly be a well written fleshed out character

A lot of the suffering Lloyd has to endure is mostly for no reason and it’s really mean spirited because it adds nothing to the plot, it’s just there to hurt him

Let’s bring up s11 as an example, Lloyd didn’t HAVE to fight the ice emperor from a writing standpoint, if anything it should have been kais battle because his lose of power and Zane going evil would have been a perfect reflection of s4 and tie it up after it ended kais character a bit open ended

But no let’s have Lloyd do it instead because haha isn’t trauma COOL and HIP

Now to be clear, I’m not saying that all of your stories have to end on a happy ending or anything like that, if your a writer then your allowed to do whatever you want with your personal writing

What I am saying is that ninjago is an actual SHOW made by PROFESSIONAL writers and they can’t understand the concept of a story structure

And the lack of actually addressing his trauma is really bringing down Lloyd as a character

Because it comes to a point where you understand why Lloyd is sometimes mean or distrustful of other people and it’s frustrating because you know that it’s flaws of him that are never going to be fixed because there writers want there trauma baby

How I would rewrite him

I’ve seen a lot of people suggest Lloyd become a villain in a future season and you know what, I sort of agree

But not in the way you think

I feel like it would be way more compelling if Lloyd was a villain but is still a ninja, instead of Lloyd switching sides, the show is switching perspectives

More or less I want Lloyd to be a reflection of the “true” villain, which is how wu ((and subsequently Lloyd)) put small Victories as more important then the ninjas life, passion, and desire, and how there black and white thinking of good and evil ends up to a lot of problems because there’s a lot of grey area there choosing to ignore

I want Lloyd to start of being loyal to wu’s philosophy and the protagonist, for random example let’s say Kai, sudden turn on these ideas in order to look outside the box to find if there truly is a better way to protect people without harming himself

I want Lloyd to be upset over what he thinks is a turn to the dark side when in reality, it would make his motivations make sense and not make his turn to “villainy” be out of character.

And over the course of the season he starts to realize how wus and subsequently his leadership has hurt the others and himself, and have him reflect on if all the pain they suffer through just to clean up wus mistakes is really worth it like wu says, or if there’s a better way like kai says

As for Lloyds actual character himself, I’d like for his flaws to be more noticeable

Have Lloyd be a gifted kid who gets praise when he doesn’t deserve it but still kinda acts like a brat because he’s still mentally like 10

Have him be a control freak who follows the rules way to strictly and is all serious when they have to do missions

Have his idealization of wu be realized and critiqued because honestly wu sucks ass

Would this make his character less like able? Maybe, but then he’d actually have depth and something to improve on

He can still have his s3 and s4 arcs, it’s just now they’re more important because he’s actually learning to be better

AND BEFORE ANYONE SAYS IM PURPOSEFULLY MAKING LLOYD WORSE SO THAT KAI LOOKS BETTER

ILL HAVE YOU KNOW AWHILE BACK I MADE A POST SAYING THE EXACT SAME THING ABOUT KAI AND HIS FLAWS SO THERE (/hj /lh)

[morgana-ren]

if you'd be so inclined my dear, what are your thoughts on how Tomura's character has developed over the series' timeline? -☼

So, I think Horikoshi did an excellent job at character development- especially considering that he's a villain (not the focal point of the series) and he really didn't have to do that. He easily could have kept Tomura an impudent little man-child, but he didn't, and I truly appreciate that.

So, in season one, we get his debut as USJ, and it became quickly apparent that he was... disorganized. Intelligent and dangerous, clearly, but not quite there yet. He essentially threw money at a pack of sell-sword villains, had a basic plan for how he wanted things to go, and relied on his Nomu to do the majority of his work for him. He didn't even consider variables and other things he couldn't have foreseen- he took Master at his word and just went for it.

He makes a multitude of mistakes during this attack, and it's part of why he fails so hard. Underestimates the kids simply because they're young, not factoring in that these are to be the nations top heroes. Even young, each one is sporting a power that puts them at the top of the class and above the rest of the nation. He basically goes "Fuck it, just scatter them and have these no-name villains kill them. No way that could go wrong." not considering that these children have been learning from the best of the best and are clearly already intelligent of their own accord.

He doesn't take into account that these heroes actually care for these kids and that feeling responsible for them works in their favor as opposed to being a detriment. They fight harder and take more abuse to keep them protected (Aizawa getting absolutely demolished but still persisting to defend the children even as he bleeds to death with a broken body.)

The intel wasn't wrong, per se, but he took it at face value, not even bothering to consider that All Might would push far past his limit to keep these kids safe. For someone as obsessed with felling All Might, he certainly didn't really know a thing about him. His genuine goodness and character would not allow him to fail when their lives were on the line. And then there's the matter of Midoriya, and while Tomura had no way of knowing that he's inherited All Might's power, he should have been able to account for wild cards like that from valiant children dedicated to heroism.

More under the cut because I’m just rambling.

I think this defeat humbles him. For most of his life, things have gone his way because of who is backing him and because he is extremely dangerous with a powerful quirk- this teaches him that raw strength and basic strategy won't be enough.

He watches Stain take the country by storm, and he can't understand it. Doesn't get what the big deal is- he believes he and Stain are mostly cut from the same cloth because of their penchant for violence and murdering heroes, totally blind to the convictions behind Stain's actions. He's incapable of thinking outside of his own view points, and it cripples him. These are his first few steps outside of his own comfort zone and where he begins to grow.

He's forced to consider not what he wants, but why. He resists this every step of the way, but ultimately realizes that paying off little bastard villains to work in his name isn't enough. He needs players under his command that will fight for more than money- and sell swords are loyal to nothing but that. He needs to find a conviction (even as he ends up stealing the mask of one and using it as a facade at first) that others can relate to and be passionate about.

So he does.

He steals Stain's ideology for his own and uses it to recruit some of his top members- even if he is a right little bastard about it at first. While he throws a tizzy fit because they aren't "perfect" (his standards are very high despite the fact that he's arguably not a very effective leader) but eventually ends up utilizing them regardless.

It's around here that he starts sharpening his instincts and learns what it is to be a true leader. He learns he cannot casually throw around his pawns because ultimately, he cannot win this war by himself. 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend' and while he isn't as enchanted with Stain's entire gimmick as his comrades are, he still wields it effectively.

He's still learning, however, as we learn when he takes Bakugo. Had he gone to the effort to get to know a single thing about him, he would have learned very quickly that trying to recruit him would come up completely pointless. He just saw untamed anger and unrestrained violence bordering on unhinged and thought "Ah yes, he's powerful and very much like me- he'll do nicely" and put together a whole plan to kidnap him. I think the vanguard's success in capturing him shows Tomura just how useful it is to have clever little birds under your command, and that sticks with him.

Losing his Master, like AFO says, forces him to become his own man. He loses the cushy abode he'd had for most of his life, loses many of the benefits afforded to him by being AFO's protege. He and his ragtag team of villains live in squalor, almost entirely destitute, and are forced to survive- but they stay loyal, and that means something to him. I think it’s around here where he actually begins to care about them. 

We see how he reacts to Magne’s death. I don’t think for one second he aided in destroying Overhaul simply because he was a threat. If that was the case, he would have stopped once he was arrested. He risks everything to get vengeance. Cuts his limbs off and renders him completely helpless as payment for what he did to Compress and to avenge Magne’s wrongful death. 

Over the course of everything, he’s become more patient, more cunning, more dangerous. He’s learning quickly from his mistakes, how to command his ranks in a respectful, effective way, and how to keep them safe. He learns their strengths and weaknesses, and while he’s still a bit thorny, it’s very apparent he does care for them. He’s on his own now, and knows he needs greater power, greater numbers to achieve his goals. He is ruthlessly ambitious, willing to endure ungodly amounts of pain to meet his ends. 

So now we have this season (which I haven’t actually watched, as I’m just waiting for disappointment because I fucking know Bones won’t do him justice) and he’s seeking out both Gigantomachia, a former ally, and the PLF. Both things that could be of great value to him. His leadership skills and ability to command will be put to the test, but so will his endurance, his willpower, and everything else. This is the beginning of him as a truly devastating threat. 

He’s growing into the villain I think he deserves to be. He’s facing down the very bones that comprise him and learning why he is the way he is. What his convictions really are and how far he’s willing to go to achieve his goals. HIs past, his life as he knows it, what needs to be done to put a pretty little ribbon on everything. He is, in a way, shedding like a snake- ridding himself of weaknesses, growing into his strengths, and evolving into a more capable predator. 

If you ask me, realistically, I think Shigaraki would actually win. When it’s all said and done, I think his arc is far more compelling than any of the heroes or their children. I think he has more drive, more wit, more raw power and more reasons to keep fighting. A lot of the kids, while cute and the main characters, are quite hollow. But over the course of all these seasons, we get to watch Tomura’s metamorphosis and his evolution into a purer, undiluted evil. He transforms into something truly sinister- a literal manifestation of all of the flaws and pitfalls of society and hero culture as it exists. He is undeniable proof of the toxicity and that the way things are cannot be allowed to stand, and the fact that so many people resonate with him and follow him loyally should be the ultimate clue-in. 

I think if the heroes weren’t blinded, they would look at Shigaraki and his league and consider it. Wonder if, just for a moment, there was something there that they should pay attention to. A cry that they should hear rather than be willing deaf to. But they don’t. 

Gran Torino is a prime example of this. So are all the other so called ‘heroes’. Calling him evil. Underestimating him. Considering him someone who just woke up one day and decided ‘I don’t like this so I’m going to kill a lot of people’. You’d think that they’d recognize that a drive like his does not come from nothing. If they sat down, shut the fuck up and listened for ten seconds, maybe they wouldn’t be dying by the dozens. 

I’m not saying that they should allow him to continue to trample the world and kill at will. But what I am saying is that part of how they’re fighting him and how they’re viewing this in terms of black and white and good versus evil is exactly the fucking problem, and it’s that kind of bullshit that birthed the villain we know as Tomura Shigaraki to begin with. 

[soranis-sunshadow]

Hordak can’t catch a break even on his birthday...

Oh fandom, you really like this sort of drama don’t you? 

A few days ago, on Hordak’s birthday, there was this ‘interesting’ post in the tag – since, apparently it’s impossible to get any peace even on that day.

I was  too tired to answer it at the time after being on call the day before so, here’s my delayed answer to all of that:

First off: this post has this bit in it when asked what that person dislikes about SPOP.

 He doesn’t need to get a redemption and he doesn’t get one in the show. 

None of his actions constitute a redemption arc. The man merely acknowledged his personhood and freed himself from his master and God. That’s what his arc was about: the right to have a personal identity. 

He gave himself a name and wanted to be his own person. That’s it. That’s all he wanted.

The man was merely freed from Prime’s influence- an influence he was born into since he’s been specifically manufactured to serve as a disposable mass produced soldier and worshipper of Prime.

 If the argument that Catra was “forced” to commit crimes and thus she is not completely guilty of them since she was under duress – then the argument doubly holds for a person who has been directly programmed and conditioned to do so under the threat of death or mental rape (purification).\

Even while away from Prime, he was still conditioned to obey and brainwashed by Prime’s cult. He literally knew nothing else – he was not meant to. It’s how indoctrination works.  

Prime’s clones aren’t people to Prime, they are tools. Those clones, while cut off from Prime still want to serve and please him: That’s what Wrong Hordak’s purpose in the show is- to show us just that.

Hordak is not considered “OK”  because Entrapta likes him. Hordak is merely shown – by Entrapta that he could live apart from his cult and have worth outside what Prime tells him he has. 

Just like real life cult victims, he needs an outsider to help him see a way out of the cult. The nature of indoctrination and brainwashing makes it impossible for the brainwashed person to know they are brainwashed unless someone points it out.

Now for my favorite thing:

and

oh and

Oh boy… this makes me just so damn uncomfortable.

To offer a bit of context as to why. I have never been on social media before SPOP or in any fandom and as such, I have never encountered the ‘all men are evil’ discourse that seems to infest these places. It’s been quite a bit of culture shock for me. 

What is it that makes anyone think it is ok to judge a person because of an accident of birth? (being born male)

Why does hate for 50% of the human population get such a free pass on these platforms? Misandry is just as terrible as misogyny. You are being biased against another human because of their gender. I don’t care that males are perceived as ‘privileged’ – that doesn’t make it ok to be terrible to them unprovoked. 

How does hating all men help achieve equity?

Do you realize that this sort of discourse is exactly how you radicalize people against the very cause you are championing? You breed hate and adversity for the rest of us who actually want to to have a discussion on the topic. 

I’m a feminist myself (in a country where feminism is hard-work) and let me tell you, making all men hate us does nothing but push away potential allies and make it a lot harder for our voices to be heard.

Feminism is about equality, not women dominating.

Now onto the second post: the one comparing Catra and Hordak with the question of which of them is a better person. 

This whole war orphans that were personally abducted and tortured into serving the horde HC that some ppl have is really starting to get boorish. This has been going on for more than 6 months. 

I have no idea why everyone thinks he went down chimneys and stealing babies left and right while cackling villainously. The man had a busy schedule of brooding in his lab, wallowing at his inability to use insulated cables and having his device blowing up in his face with the occasional Skype call to Shadow Weaver to see what the Horde is doing. 

And yet, to a part of the fandom, this is what he looked like:

( @bat-burrito​ made this one and it’s glorious) 

And if you don’t believe me about the lab recluse thing, you don’t have to, the show pretty much states it for me. 

and 

+

Hordak is a recluse that stayed in his lab and let the running of the Horde and most operations to Shadow Weaver and later Catra. He did not personally abuse anyone and he is not the origin of the cycle of abuse.

Shadow Weaver was a child grooming manipulative woman before she even joined the Horde – she did this to Micah while she was not “evil” or presumably abused by Hordak.

Even if you want to HC that Hordak abused her somehow, he is still not the one who started the cycle: Horde Prime is. 

The whole fandom seems to forget about the eldritch monstrosity that created a whole army of brainwashed slaves to worship and die for him. Prime is the one that sent Hordak to die and gave him the motivation to try to prove himself worthy of life and love. If you want to point fingers, point them at the origin of all of this. This fandom has a strange Prime blindness. He is never talked about when it comes to being the start of all of this.

If Prime didn’t exist, Hordak wouldn’t exist. If Prime hadn’t sent Hordak off to die, then his clone wouldn’t have accidentally ended up on Etheria. None of the things in the show would have happened.

Adora would have died of exposure in a field, the monarchies on Etheria would have continued as they are and the planet would have continued to exist in despondos. 

He is a dictator, yes. So are the princesses. Monarchies are dictatorships where the ruler is born into power. Hordak gained his through military might while Glimmer was born with hers and enforced it with tradition. I don’t really care to play “who’s the better dictator”. The princesses have their power because of the runestones- magical rocks put there by the First Ones to channel the planet’s magic and use it as a weapon. How come no one talks about that?

Do you think a king/queen keeps their crown without effort or subjugation of their subjects? 

Also, Hordak had never interacted with Catra before SW dragged her before him to be judged. He was indifferent to etherians in general and didn’t seem to care which of them were his underlings so long as the operations were running smoothly. He was more focused on his portal and returning home than on anything else. He did not set out to “ruin lives” or quest for power. What he wanted was to return to his deity and become a mindless part of the whole again – that is as opposite to power hungry as you can get.

Catra was directly abused by Shadow Weaver throughout her childhood. That makes Shadow weaver responsible for 100% of that abuse.

Catra was found in a box by Adora and adopted by Shadow Weaver. Hordak didn’t know or care that she existed.

He is responsible for the war, he is responsible for the war casualties and the property damage. He is not responsible for Shadow Weaver being a terrible person and mother figure.

Again with the orphan thing. We have 5 cadets in the show. 

Adora was found in a field. 

Catra was found in a box. Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio are unexplained. The only lizard ppl we see in the show are in the Horde or the Crimson Wastes. The other two could just as well be the children of some of the soldiers. 

I may harp on about what a bitch Shadow Weaver is – the reason I do so is because she is legitimately terrible to the two girls in her care.

I was the unfavorite growing up, I WAS the Catra in my family who could do no right while my sibling was the golden child. I don’t however hate Shadow Weaver. She is a cartoon character in a show and she does the things she was written to do. Hell, she is a very compelling and believable villain. Her motivations are clear and she is consistent. Her voice actress portrayed her splendidly and her character design is superb. I like her but that doesn’t mean that I don’t acknowledge her role in the story. I don’t however make up parts of the story to make her more evil than she was or treat my headcanons about her as absolute fact. 

Again, sigh: Prime is the worst villain in the show. He is quite literally Nyarlathotep and does this to planets: 

 This to people: 

and this to the people he created to serve, worship and love him: 

How is that not worse?

I love Catra and it genuinely annoys me when people erase her agency or try to paint her as one-dimensional victim. Catra was an antagonist for most of the show and she rocked it! She was 400% more efficient at it than cloneboy. Give the queen some damn respect and recognition! Catra had a lot of agency and her actions moved the plot of the show more than those of the protagonists. (they were mostly reactive).

Catra pulled the lever of the portal in a moment of distress after a breakdown, a Shadow-Weaver related breakdown because that’s how trauma works.

Hordak didn’t make her do it, he didn’t send Catra after Adora either. These were Catra’s choices. They came from a place of hurt but they were her choices still.

The portal was a means of transportation, not a weapon. Building it was not Catra’s mission, it was Hordak’s. He built it so he could contact Prime and either summon him here or go home –whichever course of action Prime wanted. Again, Hordak wanted to go back to this:

...

The only person who knew the device was dangerous was Entrapta and she tried to warn Hordak about it. Catra was the one who stopped her, violently so, then sent her to die on Beast Island- the fate Entrapta saved her from a season ago. Catra then tried to have Hordak open the portal before it was ready.

When he wouldn’t – she pulled the lever herself because that is how desperate she had gotten at that point, to show Shadow Weaver how wrong she was. That is how hurt Catra was by her mother figure’s betrayal and abuse.

Don’t take that away from her. Don’t call it curiosity or naivete or whatever. She knew the portal was dangerous but she wanted to prove Shadow Weaver wrong so badly that she didn’t care at that point. She had been pushed that far. 

Catra’s actions led to Angella’s death but she was not directly responsible for it. She didn’t activate the device to kill Angella, it merely happened accidentally. Catra was however glad it happened and wanted to profit from the aftermath of her death.  

Hordak didn’t care or plan to kill Angella personally. There is no in-show moment where any of that is portrayed. Since he doesn’t care about the specifics of running the horde seem to know what they are conquering at the moment, it seems that that was usually a task reserved for his second in command. 

^ - troop movement ordered by Catra

Hordak doesn’t even know what his own army is doing.

Again with the Hordak “drilling into orphan’s minds”… I seriously doubt that any of them had ever seen him out of his lab or that he came up with the propaganda himself.

Manipulation is more Shadow Weaver’s game not his. For all of Hordak’s faults, he is not deceptive or manipulative. If anything, he is woefully incapable of spotting lies. (it might have something to do with him being born in a society where lies were almost impossible because of the hive mind and Prime being able to browse his thoughts at a whim- as such, it wouldn’t be a skill he would have been able to develop).

Hordak canonically despises deception and lies.  I really don’t understand where this image of a manipulative and cunning Hordak comes from. He wouldn’t be able to plot himself out of a paper bag if his life depended on it.

First off.. S4 Catra was his equal, not his subordinate. Don’t take that away from her. She earned it.

He doesn’t look that threatening here... 

And again:  Prime created the system. He made clone slaves and programmed them to serve. His clones have hardware installed for the express reason to facilitate his control over them. He has a religion in place to make sure their thoughts do not stray from his purpose. I am legitimately boggled by this fandom’s tendency to completely forget about his existence.Does anyone really think that these people that are born “prechipped” and programmed to know nothing but Prime’s Light are really knowledgeable about human morality?

That they would know that conquest is bad when that is the express reason for their creation? 

If I were born in that situation, I’m not sure I would have known any better. Hell, if any of the clones even try to disobey Prime, they would get either mindraped (erased) or killed for the effort. They really have no choice, even if they knew that killing in Prime’s name is wrong (they don’t) they really can’t do anything about it. They have no choice but to be what they were made to be. I find it personally abhorrent when these designer slaves are held accountable for what Prime has made them do.

And to the people that say Hordak was free of Horde Prime once he was stranded on Etheria.. That is not how indoctrination works. The fact that I can’t go to church this Sunday because I’m locked in the house and can’t find the keys doesn’t make me an atheist.

Hordak was serving Prime even on Etheria. He keeps mentioning it to both Entrapta and Catra. He started the war because that’s what he thought Prime wanted of him and that’s what he’s been programmed to do. Personal and informed choice really doesn’t factor into his decision at all.

He is not sympathetic because Entrapta likes him. Notice how I haven’t brought up his relationship with her up to this point?

He is sympathetic because he literally had no choice but to do the things he was indoctrinated into doing. He was build and programmed for it, just like all the other clones. They are not able to deviate from that because of the way Prime functions and rules over them.

There is no point in the show where Hordak relishes over his status as a ruler or the “luxury” it affords him. He does not engage in the same behaviors his progenitor manifests.

There is no point in the show where Hordak relishes over his status as a ruler or the “luxury” it affords him. He does not engage in the same behaviors his progenitor manifests. He attempts to emulate Prime in order to project authority in the only way he knows how but since those are some really big shoes to fill, he is woefully inadequate. 

If Hordak had been power hungry, he would have stayed in despondos and ruled his own faction. Being away from Prime is the most powerful and autonomous he’s ever been and yet, he wants to throw all of that away in order to be a powerless, nameless part of the whole. What Hordak wanted was to be enslaved by Prime because that’s what he had been created for.

“vengeful” – and how did Hordak manifest this vengefulness? Who did he take revenge on in the series?  

“apologize” – when and where in his 3 minutes of screentime would he remember everything after 2 mindwipes, realize that the whole worldview he had since inception is wrong, realize that he had been mistaken into doing the horrible things he did and then go to all of the characters and apologize for it?

Would anyone be convinced of that had it happened in 3 minutes? I’d rather they don’t redeem him than do a shit job at it.

Very true. He’s not a better person. He’s just a person in an impossible situation. Both Hordak and Catra were handed a raw deal, I don’t understand why everyone insists on pitting them against one another. They both did bad things and they were both in horrible situations. The specifics don’t really matter since neither of them would have done the things they did had they been more fortunate.

This is the exact reason for which I don’t hold Cara’s actions against her. Catra’s only model of success was Shadow Weaver. She emulated her abusive mother figure because she had no other example and because she wanted to please that woman. It does not excuse the way Catra acted but it explains it.

I really don’t understand why some people want Catra punished. I’d rather she get love and help. That is what she needs. In time, she will want to do better and be better by herself. She doesn’t need to be forced, heavens know, she’s been forced enough as it is.

They are really different. Catra got an abusive, shitty and violent childhood. Hordak got this:

He was literally robbed of a childhood. 

She was taught by Shadow Weaver that weakness gets you killed. Hordak was not allowed to have emotions to begin with, or thoughts of his own, or a name...

Comparing to victims of abuse to see which one of them is more likable is such a strange concept to me.

Catra was robbed in s5 too. I don’t hold that against her. I  blame it on the writers. S5 could have been a lot better. 

[layzeal]

3, 5, 17!

mdzs/cql ask meme!

THIS TURNED OUT LONG. YOU ASKED FOR IT

3) how did you get into mdzs/cql and how long have you been in the fandom?

okay so lemme say first that i had NO intention of ever "getting into" cql/mdzs. what happened is that on June of last year i had exhausted all my dishwashing shows (shows i watch while doing dishes) and was looking for something new. i had heard about The Untamed and was curious. i had NO IDEA what mdzs was at the time and once i got through the first 2 eps......... well............ the rest is history

sometimes i am a bit sad though that i didnt get to read the novel first, but honestly? i know that a year ago i wouldn't have read it anyway, it just wasn't in my circle, so who cares! i'm just glad to be here now!!

5) what's the most compelling arc to you and why? whether a story arc and/or character development.

OH MAN, THERE ARE SO MANY........ though something i think is done quite well in mdzs are the corruption arcs! WWX is one, though it's quite subverted by there never being a "corruption" in the first place, just a "darkening" (except during sunshot but well... everyone had a darkening then). NHS was quite surprising, but it makes SENSE once you spot his anger and grief, JGY which is absolutely heartwrenching because his story is so sympathetic but the fallout and consequences of his choices were so bad and all because JGS just couldn't pay the child support. ughh. OH RIGHT, jc's is a biiig one too esp when it comes to the cycle of family trauma, watching him go from a troubled, but well-intentioned young master to literally a shadow of his own mother, a man so badly haunted by anger and grief who can't help but simmer in his own misery, to the final confrontation at guanyin temple where the cards are put on the table and he finally realizes there's a way to move on? *chef's kiss*, it was SO satisfying to witness

17) favorite canon facts about lan wangji and wei wuxian individually, and as a couple?

BRO THAT'S WHAT THIS WHOLE BLOG IS ABOUT uhhh hm... i guess if i HAD to choose one right now though, it would be:

- i guess this kinda fits into the character arcs thingy, but wow... the way lwj comes to terms with standing up for what he believes is right vs what his family has taught him for all those years. what's especially good about it is that while a conflict of ideas exists, he never has to forfeit one for the other! he never stops being the perfect Lan paragon even when he is breaking rules to stand up for his beliefs-- in fact, that only makes him even more of a good example! god, if teenji got to see adult lwj and how he just exists without worrying about fitting himself into a mold? he would pass out

- sometimes i think about my first reaction to wwx abandoning everything to save war refugees and how THAT was the beginning of his downfall and i just get. wow. that was such a good twist, i don't think we appreciate enough how good a twist it was to finally learn that between all the awful things we hear about the yllz, one of his most "irredeemable" actions was literally. saving war refugees. and he stood by it!! even after WQ and WN died and he had that moment where he thought "i could just leave. i could drop everything and run away" he slaps himself in the face and continues to stand by the people who have no one else to protect them!! AND IT'S SOOO GOOD, he's not a blindly positive person! he knows the situation he is in, he IS sad about the things he lost and left behind, he knows his future is not looking bright, but he also learned how to find a home and a place in this new community and has long accepted the responsability to these people. He still stood by then even after shijie died, even after he had nothing else to keep himself going!! he protected the burial mounds settlement to the very end and while that almost seemed useless because the Wens still died, it saved Sizhui, and that's enough!! he sees the Wens crawl out of the blood pool to protect them and thank him, he sees Sizhui alive wearing a lil Lan forehead ribbon and he knows was worth it!! every sacrifice, every moment of despair was worth it because at least it saved one person and GAHHH i love wwx so much. he did what he had to do, he paid his prices, suffered his consequences and now gets to be safe and happy. i wanna cry

- this was my first answer to the LWJ question but it turned into wangxian, so..... LWJ's complete refusal to pursue WWX romantically, for one reason or another, always coming out of respect for WWX himself. it's just so sweet to me, the loyalty with zero expectations, the wish to stay by WWX's side not because he wants something out of him, he just wants to be near him and protect him, it doesn't matter if his feelings are ever requited! how is a love story built when for 80% of the time neither of the leads are actively pursuing the other romantically? no idea, but it sure depended a lot of selling how much they care for each other OUTSIDE the romantic feelings and that's why wangxian works so well for me. they were friends before they were lovers, and we can see that they're STILL best friends even after marriage! they love each other in SOOO many different ways and it makes me so happy, it was so well deserved

[the-wereraven]

Hello! Since you’re quite the fan of Pastry lore, and I am too, thought I’d share some info/personal takes you might not have heard before, or at least I was only recently informed of.

One, Pastry is a big sleepy head, and struggles to get up in the morning. Parts of her dialogue shows how she misses much of the morning due to sleeping in and being very drowsy. Maybe she’s just not much of a morning person, which I can relate to, or maybe there’s a more angsty reason for why she can’t seem to find the will to get up in the mornings.

Two, why does no one talk about Pastry’s reflection, this is like, BIG LORE BABY! She says to pastry, “My consecrated crossbow senses an enemy in you, sister! Your soul is ridden with doubt! Is this path you have chosen truly yours?!” This reveals a lot about Pastry. She’s doubted the order long before their lies were revealed to her, mainly donating herself, but is always pulled back in by the order as she says herself, “The Order’s teachings are engraved in my soul.” The way that Pastry’s crossbow works is that it judges if a cookie is innocent or a “fallen creature”, and will only harm those it finds unworthy. This shows that even in the eyes of the order, Pastry is not innocent, and she knows this. This also shows that’s she’s aware of the order’s manipulation, as she feels her choices aren’t her own, but yet she continuously follows them. Out of fear, maybe? Maybe out of instinct, or from their years of grooming her into the loyal mercenary she is. Like, WHY DOES NO ONE TALK ABOUT THIS, THIS IS DEEP!

Just thought I’d throw this at you, I thought you could do something with this if you haven’t heard of it yet. If anything, I find it cute trivia Pastry is a sleepy head and I need to share it as the gospel it is.

I shouldn't be answering this when I just woke up a few minutes ago BUUUT-

I actually talk about Pastry A LOT with a friend of mine, and some of the things we talked about are exactly these things! (except for Pastry doubting herself, I kept that more internal lol)

Pastry's factoid was changed to 'Pastry Cookie has a hard time getting out of bed in the morning.' recently, which to me makes it more interesting since it isn't "brushing her off" as a sleepyhead.

To me, one of the reasons she doesn't feel compelled to get up in the morning is because of the routine. Speaking from experience, sometimes knowing what you're gonna do for the whole day makes you lie in bed for a while and think stuff like 'God fucking damn it.' and you just wanna wait awhile before you get up, ya know?

Also, I feel like being manipulated while you're aware that you're being manipulated tends to make you... depressed, for the lack of a better word. To me, I feel like Pastry follows the Order despite doubting herself and her bosses because she doesn't know anything else. She most likely believes that every Cookie lives for a purpose, as one of her lines is "I shall fulfill my purpose..."

If her purpose isn't the serve the Order. Then what is her purpose? What would her existence on Earthbread be for? (Thank you, St. Pastry Order /s) To her, there's nothing else other than the Order, which is what she has known her whole life after being rebaked! Which again, could be a reason why she has trouble getting out of bed in the morning!

AND SPEAKING OF WHICH- One of her lines state how a piece of bread and some milk was more than enough for her. AND LIKE, WOMAN, IT IS NOT??? YOU'RE RUNNING AROUND KILLING FOR THE ORDER AND YOU STAY UP LATE AT NIGHT TO MAKE UP FOR MORNING PRAYER??? A PIECE OF BREAD AND SOME MILK IS NOT ENOUGH??? This could also be a factor to why she can't get out of bed easily. SHE DOESN'T HAVE THE ENERGY BECAUSE SHE BARELY EATS OR DRINKS.

Also I realized I haven't touched the subject of Pastry's reflection yet, but believe you me that I think about it a lot. In fact, I wanna use her reflection in several animations and stories I have planned for Pastry. Because like you said, THAT'S DEEP SHIT RIGHT THERE. Her reflection is her doubt, her fears. So much could be done with it. We could legit see some sort of redemption arc with Pastry and her reflection. And you can't tell me that she doesn't see her reflection in her dreams or in actual mirrors and windows after the incident at the Tower, where she finally saw that all her doubts of the Order are real.

Tldr; Pastry needs therapy and more story arcs

[sepublic]

Barrel’s Warhammer!

           YYYYOOOOOO SASHA!!!!

           She really is the epitome, the pinnacle, of gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss! I love Sasha, she’s such an utter mess, morally ambiguous and then downright terrible in so many ways, and genuinely unhinged in just as many! She’s a freaking riot and SUCH an amazing character, y’all!

           In general, I adore how Toads are handled in this show! Yeah, they’re big and brutish and used as thugs… But the show still clearly portrays them as people, and some of them are terrible like Bog, but others are just trying to live their lives, like Percy and Braddock! And how they’re all clearly working with this ascribed role as Andrias’ enforcers and iron fist across Amphibia, how they’re encouraged to be cruel brutes… But they’re still people and they’re still oppressed, which is why Grime is leading his rebellion! Good for him, good for THEM!

           Also… GRIMMITY?!?! Beatrix?! Grime LORE! I like how Beatrix and Grime have blind eyes on opposite sides, and Sasha roasting Bufo by naturally connecting his name to Buffoon, WONDERFUL! Aldo’s also a legendary, killer design, he reminds me of VLD Zarkon, old and decrepit and fanged and clearly has seen a LOT of stuff, a real warrior of his time… Honestly, getting a look into the Toads and THEIR complicated role in this story, as the ‘bad guys’ but not really, there’s more to them; It’s such a fit to Sasha’s character, and I LOVE how she’s such an utter brute for someone who normally seems accustomed to using honey over vinegar to attract flies (to feed her Toads)! She’s nuts, she’s great.

           I love the explanation for the eye symbol, I love Sasha really getting to appreciate Percy and Braddock, and for a moment I thought she really was learning her lesson… When she gave them an out, I thought maybe she took what happened with Anne to heart, but now…! Maybe this is what she’s always done; Made empty promises. God, I love this little arc for her character, how she wants to be a good friend, but she keeps valuing power and control over all else…

           AND HER RAGE! HER JEALOUSY! At Anne and Marcy being with each other, leaving her out, Sasha’s mind jumping to all of the worst conclusions, and how THAT anger is what unlocks her gem power, not heroism or anything else! Sasha’s such a complex and messed-up character but you can’t help but root for her, she really IS a Problematic Fave! God, with how she’s going to meet Anne in a volcano, and the whole “Sasha is Anakin and Anne is Obi-Wan” just WRITES itself, with Sasha angrily accusing Anne of turning Marcy against her, Anne retorting that Sasha did that herself, etc.!

           God Sasha’s such a complicated mess and ball of unresolved emotions and contradictions, denial that’s insisting everything’s fine when it’s really not… She’s a manipulator who prefers to be hands-off, yet is also somehow the raw brute with unthinking, unyielding strength! She’s utterly terrifying, no wonder all of the Toads are in awe of her ferocity and power!

           Also, I like how Barrel’s Warhammer was included; At first I wondered WHY the Narwhal Worm would guard the weapon used by the Toad who fought it, but as we can clearly see… Barrel must’ve conked it out BADLY with his Warhammer, knocking it out, and the hammer has been stuck since! And once more, the hammer has been slammed into the worm… And in general, I love seeing the Toads just ROOT around Sasha and Grime, I love seeing villainous characters get to go feral and unhinged as you root for them, as THEY rise up and fight against all odds as the underdogs!

           Percy and Braddock and the gag with the kawaii poses was great, but it’s also sad to see them go! They’re definitely a wake-up call for Sasha and I like it, I wonder if you could parallel them, one-by-one, to Anne and Marcy respectively? Perhaps Anne and Marcy were initially not taken seriously by Sasha at first, but ultimately she DID grow to care for them and not just as ‘tools’, who knows? With Anne and Percy and Braddock, I think Sasha’s going to have to reconsider things… And GRIME, how he just sort of accepts that, yeah, you gotta lose people to achieve a goal! I could see him being a bad influence to Sasha, unintentionally- Like her, he means well, they’re really great parallels to one another!

           Like, Sasha and Grime are both brutes, power-hungry, and wanting control, but Sasha prefers subtlety and manipulation, appeals to both her and others’ emotions, while Grime prefers to be raw and unthinking strength, he’s a seasoned veteran from combat, while Sasha is likely a rich kid, young and learning… They’re such a dynamic duo with a lot to teach one another! Maybe Grime sees himself in Sasha; Himself when HE was a kid… Maybe when he was a gladiator, he had friends but left them behind to be promoted to Captain? I wonder if Beatrix has anything to say on this, too…

           Could Beatrix provide insight to Grimmity? Did Grime leave her behind in a sense…? Does SASHA have a sibling, and that leads to her weird power complex, as another parallel to Grime! Either way it’s sweet, I adore the dynamic of two horrible people who are good friends and bad, enabling influences to each other… Being problematic faves, you can’t help but cringe at their mistakes but also cheer as they win as underdogs and turn the tables on their enemies! I like how Sasha is still supportive of Grime and vice-versa, Grime’s guiding this kid, but Sasha’s fully supporting Grime as the de-facto leader and backing him up, not trying to seize control!

           I think it really parallels Anne, how she just wanted to get back home… But somewhere along the way, she realizes how much she loves and enjoys this, and values her friend! And maybe it could lead to Sasha not wanting to head back home after all, especially if there’s nothing there for her; Which could play into her keeping all of her gem powers as she opposes Andrias openly, while Anne has some of her power because again, she’s more neutral, and then Marcy has none because she’s fully bought into the Newt King’s schtick!

           Also, it’s funny that Sasha is no doubt feeling betrayed, like her trust has been jeopardized by Anne and Marcy, considering she did the same to Anne in Reunion! Lying to her about what she intended to do with the Frogs… It’s wonderfully hypocritical and this kid does NOT want self-awareness, she’ll toy with it for a bit, but then immediately backpedal! Get better and well Sasha, for everyone’s sake… The confrontation and paranoia as she loses her friends and only has Grime, who means well but isn’t so great himself, is also nice!

           Honestly, there’s even a parallel to the idea of Sasha meaning well, only to be ruined by her own toxicity… And Grime wanting a better life for Toads in his revolution, but still allowing a hierarchy to exist by the end of the day, instead of abolishing it for all! They both have good ideas and initiative, but it’s ruined by Sasha and Grime not backing down on certain things and not listening to others, being SO sure they’re right… Very compelling stuff. Now I’m starting to wonder if Sasha will be open to Anne about her suspicions, if they WILL get along for the Third Temple…

           …Or if she’ll try to manipulate and fool her again, thinking that SHE’s been betrayed herself! And maybe Sasha will realize her faults in the battle of Newtopia, only for it to be too late, Anne has been too betrayed, Sasha has only herself (and, well, Andrias) to blame! In the meantime, as Sasha no doubt embraces her role as a rebel, but also unknowingly as a hero against Andrias and his master… I can see her tapping more into her gem powers and actually using them as part of her rage, hence the shots we see from the Third Temple! She’s going to be terrifying, y’all, and even more of a match for Yunnan at this point… And Anne, poor Anne’s going to be caught between TWO toxic friends!

           Both mean well, but both have other bad points… And it just means Anne’s gonna have to forge her own path, make her own decisions and group and faction, be her own person and take initiative once more! But it’s also gonna be lonely and could contribute to more trust issues along the way… And maybe she’ll think she can only trust herself, only do things on her own, and how this might pair badly with her selfless martyr-complex. We’ll have to wait and see, though… We’ll have to wait and see.

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

First, I just want to say that I love reading your rants/head cannons/opinions. I find them VERY entertaining and true. Now, I read your opinions on James, Sirius, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. I want to know what you think of Draco and Neville. I honestly think that Draco is an asshole, but I want to know exactly what you think. P.S. Can't wait for the next chapter of "When Harry Met Tom"

Well, at the very least, I’m glad I’m entertaining.

Now for Draco and Neville, interesting choices actually, I don’t usually spend much thought on those two. Never the less, let’s dive in and see what we find.

Draco Malfoy

There’s a lot of varying opinion on Draco Malfoy. In my long tenure of stalking the internet, fanfiction, and even more fanfiction I’ve found that in many cases he ceases to actually be a character but instead becomes this unholy agglomeration of tropes people like.

Seriously, Draco Malfoy isn’t even a person anymore. He’s leather pants.

What’s interesting to me is that it’s not even always the same tropes. Well, you tend to see the same ones bandied about, but it’s not even like characters like Tom Riddle or Hermione Granger where I can usually narrow it down to a few very precise characterizations you see everywhere. Draco’s all over the place.

You have bad boy Draco who’s varying levels of actually being bad boy so that we can use him instead of a young Tom Riddle. This is generally in stories where an author wants an antihero or else villain love interest, they like the Draco or bad boy aesthetic, but Tom Riddle is too spicy for Yog Sothoth. So Draco reminds us he’s evil a lot, he usually betrays our main love interest in a dramatic yet inevitable moment, but he’s not the purest of evil. He leaves the puppy beside the well and watches as Tom drowns it for him. Despite this the story will often pretend that Draco’s the most evil of evil to raise the stakes.

You have non-problematic Draco who suddenly was never a Death Eater, or perhaps his family was always filled with spies for the Order of the Phoenix, who only pretended to hate muggleborns and really has been on the good side this whole time! Alternately, Draco was on the bad side, but within two seconds of the fic he’s switched sides and we’re told it’s cool now because Draco understands. 

You have Sexy McLeatherPantsFace Draco who never left My Immortal but authors will claim, should you ask, that bisexual overly emotional Draco’s characterization is nothing like My Immortal’s and how dare you imply such things you swine! Really, his pervasive existence is why My Immortal is such a great satire. 

The list goes on but basically Draco’s whatever people need or want him to be to an absurd degree and it always makes me laugh. Oh Draco, what have they done to you? Are you even in there anymore?

Right, where do I land on Draco? Honestly, he’s a bit like Ron in that he has severe character flaws but he’s not goddamn insane like Harry or Hermione.

Mostly though, I just don’t take him seriously.

Throughout the book series he’s an ass, he’s that rich, elitist, entitled jackass that we all have run into at some point or another. He’s the kid who legitimately thinks ‘my father will hear about this’ is a threat and constantly abuses his relationship with Severus Snape just to show how cool he is ‘he practically makes Snape dish out punishment to Harry and Ron needlessly, and Snape is such a sad ridiculous man he actually goes along with it and panders to this brat’. 

Draco’s the kind of ridiculous fucking person who pretended to not have the use of his arm for months just so he could get Hagrid fired. When, honestly, Lucius still could have gotten Hagrid fired probably without Draco’s very non-compelling evidence. (Now, that said, I do believe Hagrid never should have had the job/should have been fired, but that’s a different story). And then, when he realized not having an arm kind of sucked, he was miraculously healed. 

Harry takes Draco and his rivalry very seriously because he’s also an adolescent, lacks perspective, and just isn’t that bright but Draco is fucking ridiculous and half the time he’s embarrassing himself. I mean, the guy buys his position onto the Slytherin team with an absurd amount of money, and he still loses matches to the Gryffindor team. Draco should never be living that down.

So, basically, I never at any point take Draco seriously. He’s just a kid with a big mouth who grew up in a very racist household and never has any idea what he’s talking about ever. He’s not inherently evil, not particularly good either, he’s just a kid who’s more obnoxious than your usual brand of kid.

I never imagined him particularly good looking (I believe his features are described as pinched or something), I never really saw the appeal in either making him more evil than he was or else redeeming him, he’s kind of the comic relief we all needed in our lives but is really there to keep the filler plot going to give Harry and the gang time to stew on the bigger Hogwarts mysteries. Without Draco what would we even do for hundreds of pages?

When it comes to book six he starts getting a little interesting in that his life completely falls apart but I think many fics paint him as far more self aware than he was. He knows his family is in deep trouble but I don’t think he realizes they’re being punished. I don’t think he realizes that Tom setting up camp in Casa Malfoy is a direct response to a) his failure with the diary b) his failure with the prophecy. Well, he might, but I imagine Lucius or Naricssa had to point it out to him. More, I think he genuinely believes he is meant to succeed in the task of assassinating Dumbledore.

He never realizes that Voldemort fully expects him to fail, that this task is just to essentially torture Draco for months, and when Draco does fail Voldemort will then murder him in front of Lucius saying, “AND THAT’S WHY WE DON’T SELL TOM RIDDLE’S THINGS!” This I think is evident in Draco accepting Bellatrix’s help, but not Snape, legitimately thinking that he has to achieve this on his own and that the Dark Lord has given him this Very Important Task (TM). 

Basically, Draco’s a kid over his head and doesn’t even realize he’s in over his head. More, I think even in book seven he still believes in the dark lord’s cause. It’s all become this weird madhouse but we don’t ever really see him come to grips that this is madness. It’s hard to tell because we’re from Harry’s perspective, but Draco never really seems all that unwilling of a Death Eater. Instead he’s very proud to have become one and sure, Hogwarts got a little weird, but that’s okay! 

In other words, I don’t think Draco ever really had that redemption arc people thought he did or hoped he would. Harry just saves his life, Narcissa is forever grateful to Harry, and then Draco continues to shuffle along in life perhaps in a daze wondering what even happened.

TL;DR Draco’s just a guy.

Neville Longbottom

Oh man, poor Neville, why is he even friends with the gang when they treat him like such garbage all the time? Neville’s kind of like the friend who’s sort of friends with this one social group but they constantly forget him except when it’s convenient to them. 

Not just forget him but brush him off, make fun of him, and barely speak with him.

Neville has no friends and it’s really just sad that he’s stuck with these people. 

As for Neville himself, he seems nice, that’s really all I have on him. We don’t see too much of him, his life is garbage from beginning to end (his relatives throw him out a goddamn window), he’s treated like trash by everyone and no one respects him but he still seems nice.

Not particularly interesting, but a nice enough kid who doesn’t deserve to be treated like shit all the time. That said, I guess somebody’s got to be Gryffindor comic relief and plot convenience, so it’s time for Neville to forget the passwords yet again and be left out all night because portraits suck.