#they deserve fully fleshed and thought-out personalities/motive/arcs/plots

[artooine]

i am so worried about crosshair. when he first said his name when introducing himself to Mayday i started to cry i missed him so much and i just ache for a happy ending for him even though i know it wont end happy for any of them. i was gobsmacked when he shot that nasty ass imp, im so proud of him and it gives me hope that the chip is failing

i really really hope this season ends with either tbb saving him, or crosshair escaping whatever situation hes in now with the intent to find his family again

[captain-azoren]

Legend of Korra books 3 & 4

Finished rewatching books 3 and 4 of Korra. Here on my thoughts on them and the series as a whole after seeing it again after so many years.

I think books 3 and 4 are pretty solid. Aside from a few flaws, I think 3 is the overall best with the best pacing. I think a big issue with book 2 was that it was trying and failing to juggle a very big cast and multiple subplots that made it feel like a mess. That’s not an issue with 3 or 4, where every character has a relevant purpose and plot threads come together more naturally. 

4 does this a little bit worse as I think the plot kind of starts and stops a couple of times, but it’s not terrible. Kuvira’s build up as a villain is very shaky when compared to Amon and Zaheer, but still better than Unalaq’s arc going down the drain. It really does seem like the worst parts of her villainy are told and not shown (those being the reeducation camps and slave labor). I think they could have shown at least one of these camps instead of just seeing the escapees that Varrick and Bolin meet.

I still think the Red Lotus are the best antagonists in LoK just for having the best arc overall. They had Amon’s intrigue, stayed consistent in their motivations like Kuvira, and they have the most dimensions overall just from the little bits of interaction we see of them. What’s more, they didn’t disappoint me in the end.

The Colossus I didn’t mind or find out of place. It just doesn’t bother me when the show has had Koizilla and giant drills in AtLA. I can understand how the mechanics of it work as well. I didn’t feel like my suspension of disbelief was broken considering everything else. I think fans who dislike it are more bothered by it breaking the setting further away from fantasy and into sci-fi.One question though, why does a spirit energy canon need a rifled barrel?

Mako is a much better character in 3 and 4 because he’s finally allowed to be someone other than a love interest. His interactions with Bolin can be really fun and it’s kind of a shame how often they’re separated. I also noticed on a rewatch that he does make a good detective, having good perception and coming up with ideas. It’s better than the pro-bender he started out as and probably his best strength. 

I think I actually like Mako now whereas before he was the most forgettable, and I think he deserves some looking into. A lot of the hate comes from him being put into really tough spots where he just can’t win. Mako goes from being extremely aloof to being a loyal but beleaguered straight man to the group.

Raiko I feel similarly to Mako. I think he’s another guy who keeps getting put into tough spots with no easy solution. He doesn’t really deserve hate either, and honestly probably made the best decisions he could as a president (I know from experience how bad they can be...) Him being hated and voted out in the comics seem like Bryke was over correcting, something they seem to do a lot.

Suyin I have mixed feelings on. She really does seem like someone Bryke really wanted fans to like and agree with, but they shilled her a bit too much and at the expense of Lin. Su’s apology to Lin at the end of their dispute felt kind of half-hearted, and despite being justified, the whole thing is framed as Lin being the one in the wrong, stuck in the past, unable to move on after Su had changed. We don’t see Su change though, and Su keeps acting like what she did wasn’t that big a deal, so it falls flat.

What’s more, Su continues being a big presence into book 4, and I think I have to agree with Kuvira that Su should have at least done something to help the EK out. It really does make Su come off as kind of a cowardly hypocrite who’s so afraid of looking like a dictator that she doesn’t even try to help. She doesn’t want to be treated like royalty or an authoritarian, but if you look at Zaofu the place is already set up like a small kingdom, with the Beifongs being the divine bloodline descended from Toph, the strongest bender to ever live. Su is a queen in all but name, and if she was so afraid of looking like a dictator she could have just given up the power like Kuvira was supposed to have done. Su just rubs me the wrong way from start to finish, and it’s partly because the show doesn’t challenge her or make her change. It just expects us to see her as being right, and she just isn’t.

Bolin being a lava bender I remember being really excited for, because it was something I predicted when I first saw it years ago. I don’t have a problem with how he discovered it. It’s not the best way I’d like see someone discover a new power, but I think it’s better than when Korra finally got airbending (though that didn’t bother me too much either). It just kind of made sense to me and finally gave something else to stand out besides comic relief.

The air kids got better in 3 and 4 too. Meelo got less annoying, Jinora was more fleshed out, and I actually really like Ikki in book 4.

Now Korra and Asami. I think Korra is maybe at her most static in book 3, but her arc in book 4 is the most interesting as she had to build herself back up. I don’t agree with some of the things that are just told to the viewer, like how she needed to learn from her enemies. At the finale Korra says she had to suffer to learn compassion, but it’s not like Korra wasn’t a compassionate person already. Korra’s arc seemed more centered on dealing with trauma and finding her purpose in a world that seemed hellbent on telling her she wasn’t needed. I don’t know if that was some kind of meta commentary, but it does work.

I do like Korra’s overall development from where she was in book 1. If I had to put it into words, I think her story is about trying to fulfill a role that she’s been groomed for her whole life, trying to live up to expectations, pushed into doing what others want her to do, failing those things, then finding the strength and resolve to achieve success on her own terms, even if it’s not what everyone wants. Korra gradually learns to stop being a tool for world leaders to use to keep order or power. It’s not always done well, but it’s there.

It’s nice to see her and Asami be friends after the love triangle stuff. It’s kind of surprising, but they didn’t really interact all that much in the first two books all things considered. Asami doesn’t change a whole lot throughout the series, but her reconnecting with her dad at the end felt satisfying.

I’ll be honest, I never really saw Korrasami happening and didn’t view much of their interactions as being romantic in nature. I think only the letter writing and their reunion seems a little shippy, but not very obvious. That said, I can buy the two of them finally realizing they might be attracted to each other at the finale, as a beginning to their relationship. The real problem is that shippers and even Bryke overhyped this moment up as it being ENDGAME rather than treating it as what is was, a spark of attraction. Korra and Asami aren’t in love yet, they’re just going on their first official date.

I do like them being together though. It seems a lot healthier than other potential relationships, and let’s be real here; Asami NEEDED something to make her happy because holy shit has she be through a lot by the end of the series. Dumped by Mako twice, almost lost her company and lost her dad after she forgave him. Give the poor rich girl a break.

So, final thoughts on the series as a whole; it’s not as good as AtLA, but that’s mostly on the execution. LoK was messy and had issues, but it did eventually smooth things out after a lot of course correcting. There are things I don’t like, but not enough for me to write it off, and it has plenty of strengths that make it deserving of a watch if you keep an open mind. 

I remember ThunderCats 2011 getting a lot of flak too, and that’s one of my favorite shows ever despite its glaring flaws, so I really can’t work up the energy to trash LoK. I know plenty of people can connect to it even if I don’t, at least not fully, and I honestly do believe that overall LoK’s strengths outweigh its flaws, even if it can be inconsistent and unpolished.

LoK may take place in the same world as AtLA, but it is a very fundamentally different series, and beyond a few very core basics of storytelling I think it’s a little unfair to compare the two. It’s not the masterpiece it could have been, but at the end I still enjoyed it. I might have more thoughts later, but these are what I have for now.

[corwynnasmith]

In honor of posting the first chapter of Put That Kid Down’s sequel, What You Wanted, I’m gonna give everyone what they never wanted.

Volatile, untested writing tips on making your murdery character sympathetic from an amateur! (These can also be used for making sympathetic villains, with or without murder, but I’m just going to focus here because my most morally screwed characters are usually the protagonists).

1. You can introduce the character in a non-murder, positive context. First impressions matter! Don’t start off a supposedly sympathetic character waist deep in entrails and gore. (Though you could pull that off with a joke, if you’re cool enough.) This could be through:

    1a. A #gooddeed. Help a child get a kite from a tree. Save a worm from drowning. Etc. This gives a positive impression of the character that can cause readers to forgive flaws more easily down the road. Like murder.

    1b. A relatable situation. Get stuck holding the door open for a whole line of people. Worry about what to get their never satisfied mother for mother’s day. Etc. This makes the character more human, less murder machine. People look for reasons in humans, and don’t immediately write them off just because they do terrible, terrible things.

    1c. A positive relationship & interaction. Pet the cat they take very good care of and call “Baby.” Hug a friend goodbye with a thanks for the advice. Etc. This is a Redeeming Connection that can make people look a bit harder at the character for explanation when they show their true colors, instead of shoving them in the murder box right off the bat. HOWEVER this one can backfire into making them seem more terrible if manipulation/deceit is the basis or SEEMS TO BE the basis of the relationship. (The Murder Beard Syndrome - ‘I’m not your ordinary serial killer because I have a real FRIEND’ becomes ‘they are definitely just a serial killer using that person for cover’ - so be careful).

    1d. Miscellaneous because I bet you can come up with more, am I right, folks?

2. You can give your character a plausible reason. Sure, we all want to occasionally write a rebel without a cause, but characters that murder for seemingly no reason can be a hard sell outside certain groups (know your audience lol). This can be:

    2a. An actual Good Reason. The people killed by your character are in a kill or be killed situation with no real alternative. Or they are infected with something that cannot be cured (coughzombiescough). Or they are being forced to by an outside power. Or it’s a mercy kill, even. Etc.

    2b. A seemingly good reason. This reason can be explained. It may not be the best option or the most moral option (or even a moral option at all), but it has weight. For example, killing prisoners of war. This is not good morally, but from a utilitarian standpoint, can be explained. Revenge schemes also follow this viewpoint - taking vengeance can be explained, even if it’s morally iffy to bad.

    2c. A bad reason. I know I just said MAKE IT PLAUSIBLE. I know I just said that. But hear me out. This works best when combined with (3) below, and is seen in the popular show Dexter. Your character wants to murder people for a reason, but it’s a bad reason and they should feel bad.* For example, they crave something about the murder, like it relieves a stress or gives them a sense of control. This could even be the character that just finds killing fun, though that is a thin line to tread. Maybe your character can’t stand rudeness or hears certain people’s life force like a thin, high pitched noise and is just trying to make it quiet (though that is almost 2b). So many bad reasons out there. Run free.

*Feeling bad is not actually a requirement. See Dexter again, in the beginning.

3. Give your character a code. This doesn’t have to be a moral code, but the closer it fits to the popular sense of morality, the more sympathetic your character will be. This lends itself well to vigilante killers, which tend to hover between 2b and 2c regarding motivation.

4. Remember your character needs a life outside killing / doing terrible things. In order for anyone to have a fully fleshed character, there needs to be depth. Hobbies, jobs, dreams, fears, goals that aren’t necessarily geared towards (in this case) murder. A past and a future. Relationships, good and bad. Of course, throwing in random tangents to your plot could through your readers for a loop, so it’s best to work these things in as actual plot elements. For example...

    4a. Introductions. Does your character need to meet someone plot relevant? Have them attend the same sewing circle - you know, the one they joined because they didn’t want the skills passed on by their beloved elder to go to waste! The same business meeting where you reveal your character’s work ethic / passion for their job! Speed dating to show your character’s desire for love! Etc.

    4b. Complications.** It isn’t a story if your character never struggles! Introduce a relationship as a barrier to getting terrible things done due to obligations, hilarious and inconvenient timing on the part of the loved or hated one, or simply scheduling problems where your character’s calendar is #toofullforcrime. Maybe tear your character between two conflicting goals, the first being your murder-adjacent plot and the second being a passion for a hobby/job/relationship/etc. Have fun with it! Torment them!

    4c. Facilitations!** Sometimes, things go right! Maybe your character needs to infiltrate an organization, so they use their skills gained from a certain hobby or past employment to ingratiate themselves with the target organization! Every hobby has a potential application in murder and villainy if you just try hard enough.

**If you use a hobby, job, relationship, etc. as a facilitation or complication, it is best to have it be mentioned briefly as part of a daily/weekly routine, or during the plot’s “downtime” before having it spring out of the box in its True Form as a plot element. This makes the story seem planned ahead gasp. However, having it spring out of the ether can be a good reveal for it if you’re aiming for comedy or shock value.

5. Judge your audience’s Taboo Level / know your audience. Or choose your own Taboo Level. Draw a line somewhere. This is not a line your character has chosen, or will mention, or even knows about. These are just actions your character will not be doing in the story. Some Evil Deeds are instant death for a character’s sympathy standings, based on your audience’s values. Some almost universal ones*** are:

    5a. Betraying the Connection to Humanity. Unless your story is about descent into madness / darkness specifically, your character taking the very thing that made everyone sympathetic to them and murdering/destroying/giving up on it can be Very Bad without a strong redemption arc planned. (If it is about the descent, then this is the turning point that makes your story lol) This can be played off as Very Dramatic instead if it’s for a good reason / seemingly good reason. Popular ones would be: 

For Your Own Good

Because I Don’t Deserve You

The Connection is Actually Evil

The Connection is Accidentally Killing the Character

Etc.

    5b. You- you should be able to come up with this list on your own lol Please just know your audience and also your own limits. And whether or not you’re willing to take the chance the behavior might be normalized by your depiction, too.

6. Emotions are important. What your character is thinking and feeling and telling themselves about what they’re doing are key to sympathy. If the POV permits, you can have some thoughts and feelings floating around, but it’s best to show it. Let your audience sleuth out the truth through your character’s body language, actions, word choice, tone, etc. You can, of course, explain the cues as you give them, like a nervous fidget or an impatient glance. If your readers can’t understand your character, ever, they will not empathize. They will not care. Don’t just have a string of actions one after the other - let your character react.

7. Have fun with it. If you don’t like what you’re writing, chances are your readers won’t, either. I know writing itself is hard and arduous, so maybe you won’t have fun with the actual writing, but the end story should be something you want to read. You can keep these tips in mind or throw them out the window as long as you’re writing for yourself. (But Cor, you JUST SAID- yes, keep your audience in mind for readability/understanding/values, but when it come to the actual story and its characters - those are yours).

Keep writing!

[syncogon]

[RS3] to all the complaints i’ve seen before

so many people whining about the rs movie like damn, it’s like the whole ftg fiasco all over again. 

although, i think this is a little better than that mess was. i think most people did still look favorably on this movie (8.5 iqiyi rating, vs 8.2 of rs2 i think?), there’s just a very vocal subset of the population i’m seeing on tieba and weibo. 

and i’m annoyed, and i like talking, so here are some of my rebuttal thoughts. from what i can tell the main complaints include:

- the 2.5D animation. yeah, i agree it definitely doesn’t look nearly as good as pure 2D. but personally i was able to get used to it (having watched rwby for so long), and i think it helped for some parts, like all of luge’s particle effects (not hugely necessary, but they were pretty cool). i just hope this wasn’t the reason for the 3 year delay. if it helped them speed things up, save a bit of money, fight animations... it’s not ideal, but i can accept it. and i think the fight scenes overall were pretty solid, and possibly better than before.

- over-focus on auroras and almost no maidang&co. i think this is more apparent with the web movie format, but honestly? you can’t criticize this without criticizing s1. consider that s1 milong got a solid 30+ minutes (1.5 full episodes, plus additional snippets) of uninterrupted backstory in the finale arc of s1, and maidang did almost nothing for the last like 5 episodes of s1. tv episode serialized format might lead to better feeling of pacing, but that isn’t an option anymore. i think auroras’s backstory was solid, i found it really interesting, his dad’s end monologue was really good, as was the setup to heavenly blue cross. and i personally think that the backstories were always the strongest parts of rainbow sea. fleshing out the character, character development, good stuff. now i can care about him.

- plot jumping around, no focus. honestly, this is one of the more ridiculous complaints to me. some of the scene cuts felt abrupt, sure (this would probably have been alleviated in tv episode format), but i really, really liked the complexity of this movie, and how there were so many pieces on the board with their own subplots tying together, with different goals, motivations, and allegiances playing off each other. that’s how you tell an epic story on a grand scale, and honestly i think the plot did a good job with that. a linear story would just be so boring, and not worthy of how long we’ve waited and the scope of the worldbuilding RS deserves. and i would be insulted at something so simple. there were a few things i’m a little unclear on, but that’s partly due to me being not great at chinese, and also i think they haven’t fully revealed everything yet. i am a little concerned that i haven’t quite tied together everything in my mind, or that some things they intended to be clear weren’t clearly explained. but it didn’t impede my enjoyment of the movie, and i will hold off on judgement of that until i rewatch and can analyze/speculate a little more. i’m very much looking forward to see how things come together further in the next installment.

- (a lot of) whining for screenwriter liu bei to come back. it’s actually kind of ironic bc a whole theme of the auroras backstory was him growing up and scorning his dad for being old and out of date - puppet shows when no one was interested in them anymore - and doesn’t that nicely parallel how a lot of the audience seems to have outgrown rs? criticizing it for being awkward and 中二? saw a good comment that pointed this out too. liu bei coming back, imo, wouldn’t make that big of a difference. who here is the one who’s really changed? a lot of the criticisms i would make about this movie - for example requiring some suspension of disbelief in exchange for emotional impact - are criticisms that still apply to s1 as well. (i am a little annoyed at the treatment of shu, and of the females in general, but tbh i’ve just chalked that up to general sexism. par for the course unfortunately.)

... anyway, i was apprehensive bc of all this talk when i went in to watch it, but hell i had a great time. some answers, and more questions. overall, there were a lot of things to like about this movie, which have seemingly been drowned out by the whining - i’ll probably at some point make a post with stuff i liked and appreciated. honestly, i think this was better than the first one, which just had a lot of setup fluff; rs3 has a lot more rewatch value than rs2 imo (i thought about rewatching rs2 in preparation for this release, but found i couldn’t really because there was just a lot of things i Didn’t Care about)

and im really looking forward to the next movie! man, that cliffhanger... but like legit we got so much content in this movie that im not even as mad about this cliffhanger as i was the first movie’s. there’s just so much to dig into, and i’m here for this!

[snkpolls]

SnK Chapter 114 Results

The chapter poll closed with 1081 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,038 responses

This arc continues to impress, with almost half of respondents giving it 5 stars, and only 3.5% giving it a highly negative rating. That said, the amount of 5 ratings is down 11.9% from last month, which itself was down 17% from 112.

That was an amazing way to conclude vol. 28, arguably making it the best volume of this arc so far. Not only Levi did get hoisted by his own petard, but it was a fantastic way to flesh out more Zeke as an actual character instead of a plot device meant to trigger the rumbling.

Amazing chapter. I was certain Zeke had his own goals, but I was not able to see it coming. I love where the story seems to be going.

Easily top 10 worst AOT chapters of all time

Excellent chapter. Expected nothing from Zeke's backstory and was pleasantly surprised to see how well it turned out. Also good job on leaving hints at his true motivations since RtS and making the whole thing come together in such a thematically impactful way.

This chapter has been just another in a rung of disappointing chapters that has taken characters like Eren and done so much damage to them I am concerned there is no recovery for them even if they begin to change in a better way.

One of the best chapters

This has to be my most favorite chapter of this series thus far! I absolutely loved finally getting some crucial insight on Zeke and learning about what has been secretly buried within his heart for the entirety of his life.

There was no Floch this chapter, therefore what a waste

Imho this is the best chapter we've had since 101

Not as exciting as the recent chapters

Not the most exciting chapter, but it wasn't boring either. We got to finally visit the source of Zeke's motivations and what his true mission is, which has been a mystery for a long time. Now we just need to know what Eren is thinking and why he treated his friends the way he did..

WHAT WAS THIS CHAPTER’S MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? 1,057 responses

Garnering over ¼ of the votes, Zeke dramatically detonating the thunderspear made a huge impact on us readers, followed by 22.4% finding themselves grappling with Levi’s uncertain fate on the last page. Bringing up 3rd at 20.4% was Zeke and Xaver’s plan to commit eldian genocide through titan eugenics.

Oh god, I did not know fear until I saw Levi being blown away. I was cool with him dying fighting his comrades, but christ, I can't stand the thought of him being critically injured or something. Going out in a blaze of glory is one thing, but no longer being humanity's strongest soldier? That's honestly more painful for me

Zeke's childhood was sad - but we knew that. Doesn't justify genocide - even 'gentle' genocide via sterilization. It felt more like a way of getting pieces in place for the final showdown.

Levi loses his right arm like Erwin! Fuckyeah

Levi better be crippled. Tension in the story increased a lot with him being maimed.

Zeke, you're a cool guy, but that ""Cockblock all eldians"" plan? It ain't gonna happen. The world is a cruel place with or without titans.

WHAT WAS THE BEST REVEAL IN THIS CHAPTER? 1,054 responses

In a chapter full of infodrops, 65.2% found the reveal that the Founding titan can manipulate Eldian DNA to be the most fascinating among them. 15.5% chose the curtain being pulled back a bit on Zeke turning in his parents, revealing Xaver convinced him to. 12.1% chose the tie in to season 2’s ED, with the battle of Lago. 3.7% were taken aback with Xaver’s tragic backstory, selecting it as the best reveal, and 1.9% selecting his profession as a titan researcher. 1.6% of you were shocked to learn that Xaver was able to hide his Eldian status.

I really love the DNA manipulation reveal, it changes a lot of things and allows for a bunch of new theories.

This chapter hasn't changed much for me aside from the revelation that the FT can alter Eldian DNA.

Now we have more questions (like always happens) like if Kruger was involved with Xaver and the decision to turn in Zeke's parents.

There's more backstory for Xaver.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE REVEAL OF ZEKE’S PLAN? 1,060 responses

Zekerets revealed! Zeke’s master plan to end the world’s suffering through euthanizing the Eldian race was met to mostly mixed responses. 34.8% felt the reveal was alright and gave it a 3, with 32.2% bumping it up to a 4. 15.2% gave it the highest rating, and 17.9% voted unfavorably.

I think Zeke's motive fits his character and the stories themes perfectly. I can understand some people's disappointment expecting him to have some deus ex machina that'll solve all the stories problems and save the Eldians. But I find this far more realistic.

Zeke's ideology is classic "greater good"  rhetoric.

Was hoping Zeke would be more morally gray rather than a blatant antagonist so I'm a little disappointed, but I also thought this was genuinely an amazing chapter. My heart broke for young Zeke.

This isn't freedom, neither salvation. This is giving up of his own people lives, because of his own view of the world.

It’s funny, Mikasa’s ‘this world is cruel...’ line is probably the one that best sums up the world of Shingeki. But whilst Mikasa can see the good in the world, Zeke only sees the cruelty, and determines that there is no need to live in a world where people are so endlessly cruel to Eldians. A world in which they are a mistake.

I also like the thematic continuity of how Zeke’s plan was revealed, and how it fit perfectly with what we’ve seen already of how characters discover that “the world is a cruel place”, and how their individual life experiences and relationships lead them to completely different conclusions. I much prefer this kind of big reveal that adds depth to the story & writing, as opposed to something completely sensationalist just for a shock factor

DO YOU THINK EREN IS AWARE OF ZEKE’S PLAN? 1,059 responses

At 52%, just over half of respondents believe that Zeke has let Eren in on his plan, while 16% are sure Eren is oblivious to it. The remaining respondents don't want to say for sure either way.

I think Eren is fully aware of Zeke's plan, but is only letting it go on until Eren gets closer to his own goal, whatever that may be.

I really hope Eren doesn't know Zeke's actual plan. I have a shred of hope left for him and if he agrees to genocide that's out the window

DO YOU THINK EREN AGREES/WILL AGREE WITH ZEKE’S PLAN? 1,056 responses

Over 76% of respondents agree that Eren hasn't gone totally off the deep end and will oppose Zeke's euthanasia plan. A small percentage feel Eren will see things the same as Zeke, while 16% remain uncertain either way. We can all probably agree we need to see his point of view soon, though.

Eren thoughts when?

Zeke as of now represents the perfect opposition to Eren's philosophy and the incoming conflict which will eventually push them to stand against each other is bound to be interesting.

Something is missing here. Zeke and Eren could do their "Eldian Euthanasia" right when they secretly met in Liberio. There has to be more to Zeke's plan.

With the conflicting plans almost confirmed, Jaegerbowl incoming?

I don't think Eren is double-crossing Zeke/only using him/intending to betray him. While I doubt Eren will agree to Zeke's plan, I think it'd be a bit too predictable and underwhelming if Isayama simply decided to do the brother vs brother route now, especially when we haven't seen them properly interact.

There'll be conflict, but maybe not in the way most of the fandom seems to be anticipating.

This chapter firmly confirms that unless Eren has agreed to go along with Zeke's plans, one of them is playing the other.

Eren is definitely either unaware of his bro's endgame or not truly on Zeke's side but pretending he is. I hope it's the latter because that would be so much more interesting to me than Eren being manipulated. I also think there's setup: Zeke projected on Eren literally the first time he ever saw him, thinks Eren is the only other person who understands, and seems like a deeply lonely person on the inside. The inevitable Yeager brothers clash will be awesome either way; they're total opposites. I am dying for Eren PoV soon, ugh.

WAS ZEKE’S CHOICE TO TURN IN HIS PARENTS JUSTIFIED? 1,049 responses

The vast majority (71.1%) agree with Zeke’s decision to report his parents to the Marleyan authorities. Most of those (59.1%) follow Zeke’s own logic:  that it at least spared his grandparents and himself, while the remaining 12% simply believe that Grisha and Dina deserved what happened to them. In contrast, almost a quarter  think Zeke should have instead tried a little bit harder to talk some sense into Grisha and Dina. Sadly, only 4.6% of respondents believe that he could have saved his parents.

I can't blame Zeke that he betrayed his parents. It was the best decision, to save the life of his grandparents and his own, cause they shouldn't be punished for the sins of Grisha and Dina.

He didn't have a choice. He was manipulated and was just an abused child. A better question, I think, should have been "Was Xaver justified in forcing Zeke to turn in his parents?"

Seriously, I don't feel sorry for Grisha and Dina. Zeke tries to warn them, but they don't listen to him and if you don't want to hear, then you have to be punished and take the consequences.

IN A SERIES FILLED WITH TRAGIC BACKSTORIES, WHERE DOES ZEKE’S RANK? 1,051 responses

Zeke finally got a chance to step up to the plate of tragic backstory, and hit a bit of a bunt. It did the job, but didn’t exceed the home runs hit by Reiner and some others. The majority, at 44.3% felt that while tragic, it doesn’t quite merit eradicating his entire race. Interestingly, the average rating of the chapter increases the more tragic you found Zeke’s childhood, finding the chapter to be more of a narrative success.  

Bold of Isayama to think a sad backstory would make me stop wanting Zeke to get rekt.

Zeke's childhood wasn't as tragic as Reiner's. They both had to deal with a lot of problems, but Zeke at least had Xavier and grandparents who cared about him. They gave him love he needed.

I never thought it was possible to make me not hate Zeke Jaeger. But somehow now I barely hate him at all. We'll see how Season 3.2 changes that.

I did enjoy Zeke's backstory but I also found it kind of underwhelming. IDK

Zeke has been my favorite character for years now. Glad to see my instincts were right. He is not the villain people used to think he was.

He was always thought to be a 900 IQ mastermind, but in reality he was even less talented than Reiner was.

Zeke’s flashbacks were very well executed, with the perfect combination of tragic and disturbing, and just the right amount of the classic Isayama “grey morality” to stir up some debate. Each backstory reveal like this is an exercise in empathy, in which we are asked to sympathise with a character just enough to understand where they’re coming from and the suffering they’ve undergone. By having their resulting crimes/actions as bad as they are however (i.e. mass murder), the story does NOT require us to forgive or justify what they’ve done. Rather, it simply invites us to expand our perspective and see the bigger picture, that horrible individuals are both victims and perpetrators of horrible environments; basically, how bad people are made, not born.

Zeke did nothing wrong, he is just a sad little monkey.

TOM XAVER SAID THAT DINA AND GRISHA NEVER LOVED ZEKE. WHAT DO YOU THINK? 1,058 responses

Was Xaver being manipulative? Dramatic? Truthful? Luckily for Zeke, most of us (87.7%) do think that his parents at least loved him in some capacity. Unluckily for Zeke, almost a quarter believe that his parents loved him less than they loved their dreams of restoring their lost empire. Only 12.3% believe that Xaver’s words were honest, and that Grisha and Dina never loved their son - only seeing him as a tool to be used.

I think Dina did love Zeke, but loved the mission more. Grisha however, I think only ever saw him as their "savior", and never took the time to truly think of him as his son.

I used to believe that Zeke was some cruel psychopath. Now I see that he was just a sensitive, unloved child who was forced into some crazy plans of his trash parents. He never wanted to fight, that was not his nature.

Xaver telling Zeke "your parents never loved you" was incredibly manipulative but also (maybe) an attempt at making a bad situation less bad. If Xaver had said, "I know they love you but... " Zeke would have been consumed with guilt for condemning his parents to death. On the flip side,  believing he was never loved likely added to the feeling of wishing he'd never been born, and thus the mess we are in.

WAS GRISHA WRONG TO VENTURE OUTSIDE THE WALLS? 1,056 responses

For all of Grisha’s flaws, most of us don’t quite blame him for what happened on that fateful day 37 years ago, when he dared to venture outside the internment zone walls with his little sister Faye. 40% defend him - arguing that he was just a child himself. Only 2.1% blame him, citing that things would have gone fine if he had just followed society’s rules. A little more than a third of us don’t believe that he was personally in the wrong, but that he should not have endangered his sister.

Zeke wasn't so wrong about what happen to Faye, Grisha's curiosity and carelessness cost's the life of his sister.

Grisha, Xaver, Zeke... none of them were ever special or any kind of masterminds but just normal people driven to extreme due to their awful lives.

WHO DO YOU THINK TURNED OUT MORE LIKE GRISHA? 1,048 responses

Unsurprisingly, 80% of respondents believe that Eren is the brother takes after Grisha the most. Heated and bold claims of striving for freedom surely had a part to play in that.

I don't know whether Eren or Zeke will turn out more like Grisha until we find out how they both turn out

I've been saying during months that Grisha destroyed both of his sons, and now we finally have the evidence. They've both taken opposite paths (being different or the same as him) and will end fighting each other, unless Levi manages to accomplish his promise somehow.

Grisha had never really screamed Eren quite as much as this chapter, which truly makes me think how unbelievable it is that Eren inherited his father's titan and his memories along with it, including the absolute regret he felt over how he handled things with the Eldian Restoration Movement and Zeke (read: putting his desire for freedom above people) and then became exactly like him. He literally learned nothing.

UP TO THIS POINT, WHO DO YOU FEEL IS/ARE THE WORST PARENT/PARENTAL FIGURE(S) IN THE SERIES? 1,046 responses

If this story has shown us anything, it’s that Isayama is marvelously skilled at creating problematic parent characters. Rod Reiss still wins the award for worst parent, but Grisha and Dina collectively come in second place after this chapter - with a quarter of respondents choosing them. Other (dis)honorable mentions go to Alma and Karina, who still managed to scrape up more than 15% of the vote each.

Grisha because he had a kid just to use as a tool TWICE!!!

Karina and Alma can share the title. :/

Let me pick more than one xD(Also Alma and Karina both suck)

There is a tie: Karina + Grisha/Dina + Alma + Rod.

They all have their faults as parents so it's hard to focus solely on one option.

They all sucked in their own way

Tom's wife

I don't know why people are letting Grisha's parents off the hook. They are just as awful at parenting as he was (who tells their grandson that his father was responsible for his aunt's gruesome murder? Also, they were pumping him full of just as much propaganda as his parents). Honestly though, that entire family was screwed from the beginning.

Everyone but Carla

Isayama: Worst parents? Worst childhood? Hold my beer. Now I wonder what did Isayama counter when he was young.

DO YOU THINK XAVER WAS A GOOD PERSON? 1,054 responses

Most of us felt positively about Mr. Xaver after seeing his backstory, with 65.4% feeling he had good interests at heart for Zeke. More of us are uncertain about his true motives, with 8.9% feeling he wasn’t genuine at all.

Xaver's doing that freaky "hide true emotions behind opaque glass lenses" thing that Zeke did a lot, giving me a concern

Definitely enjoy Zeke less as a villain now, but hope Kruger and Xaver keep on being creepy enough to make up for it.

It’s Xaver, not Xavier; spell it properly r/SnK!!!

Xaver is a kind and wise monky man, but with lots of secrets. Hoping to see more of him in the future.

Even though Xaver may be a schemer, he met Zeke by chance, so I believe in him.

About Tom Xaver...for me he looks friendly and I feel bad for him too, as he said that his wife killed their son and herself as she found out, that she has married an eldia. I guess, she doesn't want to take the consequences, cause it isn't allowed for marleyans to have a romantic relationship to an eldia. It was really sweet, that Xaver see's in Zeke his own son and was more a father figure to Zeke.

Zeke’s “watch this, Mr Xaver” is kind of sad; it’s obvious that Zeke respected him more than anyone else in his life...and he was just using Zeke. I wonder if Zeke realised that at any point during his adult life...

THE MONKEY TOY HAS MADE A REAPPEARANCE. DO YOU THINK THIS IS SIGNIFICANT? 1,053 responses

62% of us felt that Zeke’s cute monkey toy, featured prominently in both Grisha’s and Xaver’s memories, has some significance to the plot going forward.

I feel like the Monkey Toy is a plushie of the Beast Titan, like each of the seven Titans in Marley have toys based on them. Xaver's son and Zeke being shown to have them is probably done to show that, but I wouldn't be surprised it is used as delayed foreshadowing as a writing technique to foreshadow who Xaver and Zeke will turn into later on.

I'm glad to see that somebody else noticed the monkey toy; I was really excited that it showed up again.

DO YOU THINK XAVER WAS WORKING WITH KRUGER? 1,039 responses

The fandom is almost perfectly split with regard to Tom Xaver, and whether or not he was aligned with Eren Kruger. Half of us have donned our tin foil hats and are ready for the conspiracy to be unveiled, while the other half is more optimistic that Xaver was an authentic part of Zeke’s life - or at least independent from the Owl’s schemes.

Both Grisha and Zeke were groomed since childhood to inherit titan-shifting powers by Kruger and Xaver.

I don't know if Xaver is/was working together with Kruger and I kinda doubt that. Maybe Kruger used Xaver, cause he was a researcher from the titan-science about the information, but who knows? We don't have any proof of this.

If Xaver isn't the doctor who falsified Kruger's documents I will shit on my own head

WHICH TITAN DO YOU THINK IS THE “BEST” TITAN? 1,052 responses

A typo in the official translation lead to an interesting question: Which would be the best titan to inherit?  The Warhammer titan wins out with its ability to create almost anything.  The supposed ultimate titan, the Founding, came in second place, while the raging Attack Titan fought its way into third.  The Armored Titan racked up 7.9%, the Female Titan got 6.9%, and the Beast Titan garnered 4.8% for best titan.  The icon for the titans, the Colossal obtained 4.7% of the vote, with the Jaw titan following with 3.3%.  The poor Cart Titan got a measly 2.1% of the vote.

Part of me wonders if an inherent trait of the beast titan is to create war? For the sake of conflict?

The whole Titan and World History is what I'm interested the most.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS AFTER THIS CHAPTER?

This more introspective chapter drastically changed opinions on a few characters, while others who had less focus were rather unchanged.  The main character of the chapter, Zeke, saw his favorability increase a bit with his time in the spotlight.  His parents weren���t as lucky, with Grisha tanking the hardest after we see him through Zeke’s young eyes.  We also got to know Xaver for the first time, and the new info lead most to becoming fans of his.  Magath, Eren, and Levi remained at about the same level, with Levi going up the most of the three in his time of peril.

I miss eren, I love zeke and grisha is a bastard

Levi is - as always - an arrogant midget who paid for his silliness, finally (he knows that a shifter can regenerate from the brain, and he still uses a single spear!). Historia will save all the Eldians asses from suicidal Zeke in the end - she has her agenda, but Eren is still a mystery to me. Grisha is the worst character and Dina truly disappoint me.

I get that Levi is the most popular character, but dear god am i tired of everything revolving around him. can we have one sequence of events without it being the Levi Drama Hour

Xaver good boi

I have to say, the Marley arc was a real turning point for how I felt about Zeke. He went from 'someone I love to hate and want to see suffer' to 'I can't believe I actually kinda like this guy'. Then his betrayal happened, and while I didn't go back to hating him as viscerally as before, I couldn't help but feel a bit bitter about the whole thing. But this chapter. This. Damn. Chapter. It was everything I could ever need to fall in love with his character. Don't get me wrong! He's still wrong, on so many different levels and I definitely do NOT want him to succeed with his plans! But I hope, in the end, he can find some peace for himself.

But is it Xaver or Xavier tho?

DOES ZEKE’S RATIONALE FOR KILLING PEOPLE HELP JUSTIFY IT? 1,050 responses

With all of his Zekerets seemingly revealed, Zeke attempts to explain why he’s snuffed out so many souls over the course of the story.  Almost half of the fandom, at 46.6% understand what he’s saying, but don’t think it justifies his past actions.  On the other hand, 41.5% don’t buy a single word coming out of his mouth.

Justification isn't the right word. It gives me a means of understanding his reasoning, and I sympathise more because of it. But racial cleansing is not justifiable, no matter how little you value your own life., but given his history, that is also understandable

At the end of the day he's no different than all the other people that built mountains of corpses to stand upon so everyone could hear them preach about peace.

His mindset and feelings of defeat are completely understandable but nothing ever justifies killing people the way he does.

His parents and Xaver made him this way. It can't be helped. I think he's lying to himself. He clearly enjoyed torturing people. It was like a game to him. I think he isn't sane.

There’s always a “reason” for what people do, but it doesn’t always justify their actions.

No. But, I understand where he is coming from, and it's just truly heartbreaking that this was the solution that he feels is best for all Eldians.

Aah man. This is probably one of the only times I understand an antagonist’s desire to destroy humanity/a race

Fuck him, he killed our precious Erwin

WHICH END GAME SCENARIO DO YOU THINK IS MOST LIKELY? 1,048 responses

At 62%, the majority of voters feel that the end game will be to free the Eldian people from the power of the titans. 13% feel that the titan power will remain, but that the rest of the world will learn to stop viewing them as monsters and 10% feel that Eldians will all die.

DNA will be the solution to remove curse

I can’t help but to draw parallels with the real world. I want more than anything for Marley to stop holding Eldians to the crimes of their ancestors and to talk with each other instead of further alienating each other.

WHICH IS THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS? 997 responses

The conundrum to end all conundrums.  If peace doesn’t end up being on the table, one side has to go.  Just over ¾ of the fandom, at 76% feel that bringing an end to the Eldians would be a lesser evil than wiping out the rest of the world.

I think at this point it's clear there's no 'good' way to solve the Eldians' problems, unfortunately.

Genocide can never be the lesser evil. Murder is never justified.

Neither Zeke nor Eren's plan qualify as the lesser of two evils, imo. The point is that they are both deeply flawed goals that bring a lot of misery. Neither are desirable outcomes.

I can't see either out of 'killing all Eldians' or 'killing the rest of the world' as the lesser of two evils, even if killing all Eldians is technically lesser in numbers terms. They're both just evil.

I actually find some comfort in the fact that Zeke sees no way out of this situation for the Eldians. He has no ultimate Zekeret plan, he genuinely believes the situation is impossible for them. Which is exactly how us fans feel since literally any possible solution that would either make any form of sense or wouldn't be massively unrealistic, or an overly optimistic stretch are non-existent right now.

Zeke knows that peace between humans and eldians is impossible and eldians will never be accepted in the world. Instead of crushing humans, he decided to remove the eldian race.

If I'm to choose between two evils, then I prefer not to choose at all. Fuck that, I'll find another way or die trying.

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING DO YOU THINK ARE TRUE OF YMIR FRITZ? 1,029 responses

Ymir Fritz is the biggest mystery within the world of SNK, and for us as well.  The only place most of the fandom seems to agree on her is that she’ll likely be important to the story’s ending, with 77.3%.  52.9% are putting the new info given this chapter about biological manipulation to use, theorizing she used that to create titans.  50.3% believe she came in contact with the source, whereas 21.7% think the devil was responsible.  34.3% believe PATHS are at play and she has, is, or will contact Eren.  The majority of respondents don’t believe the ramblings of Grisha and the restorationists, with only 14.3% believing she was in fact a benevolent person.  Interestingly, people who selected that she is benevolent, as well as those who think paths contact with Eren is likely, on average had every other option chosen far more as well.

Honestly, Ymir Fritz was probably just a girl that wanted to save her people and had no idea what she was doing.

The true History will be play a huge part about the end, I guess.

Another friend discussed the idea of maybe the beast titan being the organic source/devil that Ymir made contact with. Just fun ideas to throw around.

WHAT CONDITION DO YOU THINK LEVI IS IN PHYSICALLY? 1,052 responses

Captain Levi has made it through his fair share of death-defying ordeals, but this time he may not have escaped unscathed.  35.9% of respondents believe he’s done it once again, escaping with only minor injuries.  28.6% feel the captain is in more dire straits, losing both an arm and a leg.  24.5% feel he lost just an arm, similar to Commander Erwin.  Only 4.8% feel the Captain has breathed his last.

He's been through worse. Not worried

Best case scenario he's missing just his right foot. Worst case (assuming he lives), Levi is half his original height.

He has Ackerhacks, he's fine

Hope he's dead. Too op

One thing I haven't seen anybody mention, Levi was holding a sword before the explosion.  I think it's possible the dude might've been impaled by his blade, in which case he might be screwed.

He will probably fall into the river and be led somewhere by the stream. Maybe to end like Kenny with a last discussion or memory.

He’s not dead... yet

WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,054 responses

With a whopping ¾ of respondents worried about Levi’s fate (followed by nearly 50% wondering what happened to Zeke), the majority of us are hoping Isayama doesn’t leave us on this cliffhanger for too long. Historia brings up 3rd, possibly based on the theory that she’ll find Levi and help him?

I wanna see Floch get jumped tbh I used to stan but I can’t anymore

I'm afraid that Isayama killed Levi

I'm just over here waiting to see what Reiner and friends are up to, probably getting the whereabouts of Annie and attempting to free her

At this point my pet theory is Historia somehow swooping in Valkyrie-style and making everything better. Hey, a girl can dream, right?

I don't think Levi is dead, he's a survivor! If any man can, Levi Ackerman can!

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES?

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER?

Chapter 112 - Zeke is using Eren. Chapter 113 - Zeke and Eren are working together. Chapter 114 - Eren is using Zeke. It's quite amazing how fast it changed.

What's the right, what's the truth, what to believe?

I was absolutely blown away by how artfully Xavier's back story was told. Those panels are haunting, and beautiful, and so well constructed. The kind of thing that will definitely stick with me for a long time. Isayama has become a truly amazing artist.

I have so much respect for Ymir. Despite having the shittiest childhood, she ended up being one of the most emotionally stable characters.

THE CHAPTER OF MY LIFE and Leave baby zeke alone you monsters *i meant you fandom*

At least Isyama knows how to make the final boss sympathetic. Even if his writing in most places leaves a little more to be desired, I am definitely enjoying the story for the story's sake.

Really miss Pieck…

[Levi] has a bruised ego, due to being so fucKING STUPID YOU DUMBFUCK WHY WOULD YOU GIVE THE ENEMY A BOMB

If you don't think Levi was remembering his choice in chapter 84 when Zeke said that stuff about saving the soldiers he killed you're wrong.

Should have gone for the head, Captain.

this chapter makes me feel like us readers have been caught in the final explosion, too. I see so many people who hated or disliked Zeke before, sympathize with him now.

I don't know how a person can stand and say one person deserves to die and I sure as hell don't know how one person can say whole nation deserves deaths. This is genocide, not euthanasia, but Hitler and Stalin would've approved this plan.

So, my dislike of Zeke aside, kid went through some shit. Every one only wanted to push their own ideas and agendas onto him to guarantee their own safety. He reminds me of Reiner, sans the rebellious parents. He went through just as much as Zeke did as a kid, but Reiner is racked with guilt over what he's been forced to do. Zeke hasn't shown any genuine sympathy; even Eren managed to look lifeless and affected by his self directed actions in Marley. And that kid LOVES killing people.

The fandom theories for his actions were setting people up for disappointment. This is a story about common people who are forced into abhorrent positions and have to make the best out of shitty circumstances.

I feel like Zeke's plan is perfectly valid if we take a step back and see the Eldian race as what it is. Each individual is an intelligent WOMD linked to a hivemind with limitless potential for change. Suddenly the Eldian people don't look as harmless. As readers however we've only been following from one perspective, and didn't fully get to see how terrifying the Eldian empire was.

[Zeke’s] whole plan sounds unbelivably stupid that even Hanji and Armin's "let's just talk lol" sounds more reasonable in comparison

As more chapters release, I'm struggling to fathom how Annie would become relevant to the plot line later on, or if ever.

The manga is reaching levels of depression I couldn’t think it was possible to reach inside me. Maybe it’s because of how long I follow AoT. This is a very tragic and sad story, Isayama is telling us, and I think it has more in store to come. Brace yourselves, my fellow soldiers....

If Levi is going down, let it be a glorious end, not like that. Just give him some satisfaction finally, no crippling please, he's suffered enough.  Come on Yams, I believe in you :)

This chapter really tugged at my heartstrings. As a reader, being aware of and mourning Zeke's lost childhood doesn't excuse his behaviour as an adult, however, I'm really glad we finally got to hear Zeke's side of the story.

I'm really tired of Isayama using cliffhangers to stir people into a frenzy and this chapter was the worst of it. People wanting Zeke's spinal fluid to have gotten into Levi's wounds (I guess so he can turn into a titan), Levi having the ability to regenerate or turn into a freaking titan out of nowhere because Ackermans' powers do come from PATHS also. Really? All of that sounds horrible and I really hope none of it happens.

I was hoping for this chapter to not be as bad as the chapters normally are since Isayama married and shit bu holy fuck I was wrong. The happier this man the sadder we get.

Zeke should be a Final Fantasy villian instead of an SnK antagonist

Cool motive, still genocide.

im eating a cucumber

[isuzukuretsuki]

It took me a whole ass month and then some but I’ve finally finished Norn9! The first video game I’ve finished in 2019!

After all my bitching and moaning about Mystic Messenger, time for some positivity. BUT IT’S ALSO TIME TO WALLOW IN POST GAME DEPRESSION FOR A MONTH NOW *CRIES* this happens every time I finish a good game. This game was so good and even though I seriously waited on my ass since AUGUST for this game to go on sale so I could snag it, boy I am not disappointed! It easily lands a spot in one of my favourite otoges ever (Nightshade is still my number one, but this is a close contender for second place. Not sure whether it actually tops Code Realize but I’ll have to wait for my post game depression to fade before I can make that decision lel).

Anyway more thoughts under the cut. I guess it will be like a review though unlike my ikerev reviews it’s just gonna be purely my thoughts. Spoilers will be marked.

For starters yikes I knew from the beginning that the localization was bad but I did not expect it to be this bad…. any regrets of waiting so long for it to go on sale is gone after seeing how poor the translation is. I’m so glad Aksys’s later titles are a huge improvement from this hot mess. 

After much deliberation I have come to the conclusion: that this plot makes no fucking sense LOL! It’s wild how they have 9 routes to flesh out the plot, and they still failed, even though the plot is pretty much the same in every route! 

**SPOILERS**

My biggest confusion is why the hell Shiro picked up the hobby of starting wars to kill time as he waited for his dead wife to reborn. Unless he’s like Isaac Beckford 2.0 and wanted to start war IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE, but his motives remained wishy washy in the end. Also Sorata’s character makes… sense, but at the same time, I think his existence and relationship with Aion made the plot way more convoluted than necessary and I feel like the plot would have been much smoother without that convoluted mess of an epilogue.

**SPOILERS END**

That being said I still really enjoyed this game a lot, and I think this game is the embodiment of that tumblr post “You can give me the shittiest plot in the world but if the characters are real and I feel for them then I will defend the whole shitty shebang until my dying breath”. Admittedly, the plot or story isn’t actually bad! The premise is really interesting and brings up a lot of tough moral questions, like if it’s morally correct to tamper with scientific advancement and history in the name of stopping war. Unfortunately these themes only get really challenged in one (Natsuhiko’s) route and plot is weirdly repetitive while still being vague and confusing.

That being said, despite the messy execution  and despite me not loving every love interest, I have yet to play an otoge with a cast of characters as endearing and colorful as this game. The way the characters are all drawn together and interact with each other outside your chosen pair had me so damn invested so even if I wasn’t enamored with the love interest or the romance, I never found myself bored because of how vivid and interesting all the other characters and their relationships were. Every character acts autonomously and undergoes their own development independent of your chosen route, and that just made the setting feel so much more alive. It was really cool to see each characters’ relationships develop differently in different routes. The way the characters are set up honestly kind of reminds me of Danganronpa with “every character has a unique ability/talent which shapes their backstory and personality” and I loved it.

I think the greatest strength of this game isn’t really the love interests more so having three fully fleshed out, fully voiced heroines, whom I loved all very dearly. I think this is what makes Norn9 unique compared to other otoges. Every heroine was unique and loveable and switching between heroines while playing just kept the experience fresh and it really made the cast more dynamic, especially watching the girls interact with each other, as well as with boys outside their target group. I love how each heroine has a really distinctive character arc and backstory connected to their powers and it was nice seeing how their respective love interests brought out different sides of them. In terms of heroine characterization, no other otoge holds a candle to Norn9. Also I can’t help but fantasize about a capturable character shuffle lmao (specifically Kakeru/Mikoto, Senri/Nanami, Itsuki/Nanami, and Akito/Koharu). The characters all felt real, and their struggles and pain and happiness felt real. 

So yeah the plot may have been a dumpster fire but as far as telling a story about a bunch of teens who grew up being exploited, used, and abused as tools or weapons, and them trying to come to terms with the consequences of their powers, and find happiness despite of that, then this game absolutely succeeded.

Anyway my favourite character order is probably something like Natsuhiko > Itsuki > Mikoto > Kakeru > Nanami > Senri > Koharu > Akito > Ron > Heishi > Sakuya/Masamune (easy toss up between last place).

Route wise it’s probably Natsuhiko > Kakeru > Itsuki > Akito > Senri > Heishi > Ron > Masamune > Sakuya. Funny how Natsu, Kakeru and Akito are my fave from each girl’s target group haha they totally deserve to be the poster boys/girls’ “canon” love interest.

Anyway this game was great, please play it. I’m gonna go off and mope now because 1. I’m finished and 2. THE FANDISC AIN’T LOCALIZED.

[overthinkingkdrama]

Jona's Top 5 Second Male Leads Who Deserved to End Up Alone

[Disclaimer: This list is intended for entertainment purposes. It includes spoilers for the tagged shows. This is just my personal opinion, so I apologize in advance if I’m bashing your fave. I just woke up this morning and thought, “You know, I haven’t pissed anyone off in a while.”]

In the Kdrama fandom much is made of SLS, or Second Lead Syndrome, that is the condition of sympathizing with the secondary character, usually male and usually the hypotenuse of a love triangle, over and above the actual hero and wishing he would get with the female lead instead. Most of the time because the hero is an asshole and the second lead treats her like a human being. There are occasionally examples of SLS regarding the second female characters, but it is far more common with male, because unfortunately second female leads have a tendency to be stock characters or finger-steepling jealousy monsters, instead of fully fleshed out people. God knows I’ve had my share of SLS in every flavor…

But this isn’t a list about SLS, but rather the opposite of that. This is about the second leads I had no patience for. The ones who are a waste of air and screen time. The ones who annoyed me with their shitty “nice guy” attitudes or frustrated me with their passivity. The ones I immediately wanted to punch in the face. In short, the second leads who deserved to end up alone.

5. Kang Shin Woo/ You’re Beautiful

I’ve gone off several times in the past on the infuriating species infesting dramaland I’ve termed the “passive pining second lead”. I really dislike this character type, it drives me up a tree. So you knew going in one of these boys was going to end up on this list.

It didn’t have to be Kang Shin Woo. It could easily have been Ji Hoo from BoF or Kang Woo from Master’s Sun. Or any number of other second leads who fit this archetype. But it had to be one of them.

I can’t really explain to you why Shin Woo earned my particular ire. Maybe it was just teeth-grinding frustration I felt with each successive, convoluted attempt to woo Mi Nyeo. Maybe it was the weirdness of that let-me-stalk-you-via-telephone-while-you-go-on-a-solo-date thing. Or that fact that the male lead was such an unmitigated moron.

Shin Woo managed to miss his window while Mi Nyeo was still crushing on him hard. He had countless opportunities to confess his feelings and just waited and waited until she was almost obliged to fall for Tae Kyung out of sheer impatience. This is the kind of character that makes me want to tear my hair and yell at the screen “USE YOUR FRICKEN WORDS!”

Luckily, there’s an appealing “third lead” in You're Beautiful who saves it from mediocrity, and the drama is otherwise such dopey, fluffy fun that you can’t help but be endeared. Jeremy saves this from being higher on the list.

4. Lee Ji Hoon/ The Best Hit

Talk about a character who has one of the worst cases of “Nice Guy” syndrome I’ve ever seen. Lee Ji Hoon was one of those characters I was initially rooting for, since Best Hit’s ambiguous love lines appear to leave things open ended as far as the end game couple was concerned. For the first half of the drama it seemed like things could go either way, and the friends-to-lovers dynamic between Ji Hoon and Woo Seung was endearing and heartfelt.

Also Kim Min Jae is pretty. So, so pretty…

For a while I was worried he was going to fall into the “passive pining” category, remaining silent, and losing his chance. But finally he made up his mind to confess and I was ecstatic. Yes! Go for it! And that was just about when it all went wrong.

The way a male character handles rejection and disappointment is make or break in my book. It takes them farther than charisma, looks and even moral fiber. (Give me a pirate or a conman over an entitled asshole.) And for me Ji Hoon totally failed this very important test. After Woo Seung told him she didn’t return his feelings Ji Hoon continually badgered and attempted to win her over even when she asked him to stop, intentionally made her uncomfortable, and thrust a surprise kiss on her. My frustration with his character grew until the point were he told Woo Seung that he regretted meeting her first as his friend, after which point he was dead to me.

Despite the potential ickiness of timetravel paternity shenanigans, I was so relieved when Hyun Jae ended up being our male lead. The Best Hit remains one of my very favorite dramas of the year and I still highly recommend it. But if you want to come at me about SLS for poor, poor Ji Hoon, kindly get out of my house.

3. Han Tae Jin/ Another Oh Hae Young

Han Tae Jin had all the makings of a really interesting, sympathetic anti-hero. After all, he comes across like the obvious wronged party in this love triangle. Due to a case of mistaken identity, Tae Jin becomes the target of the jealous spite of our male lead, Park Do Kyung, ultimately causing the ruin of his business, the breaking of his engagement with the titular Hae Young, and getting him sent to prison! Ouch. That’s a lot of angst wrapped in an attractive Lee “Chiseled Jaw For Days” Jae Yoon.

And yet, instead of cutting a fetchingly tragic figure, Tae Jin turned out to be a vengeful, bitter, violent man incapable of letting go of a grudge even for the woman he supposedly loved. He was such an emotionally unstable, loose canon that I was frequently uncomfortable when he was onscreen. If I’m not very much mistaken he assaults Do Kyung not once, but several times, to such a degree that Hae Young ends meeting him to beg him not to hurt Do Kyung anymore. It struck me as incredibly messed up.

I really didn’t want Lee Jae Yoon on this list twice– I have nothing against the actor–which is the only reason his Cruel City character Detective Ji Hyung Min wasn’t on this list instead. I actually like Lee Jae Yoon! Just not the characters he tends to play…Luckily, Cruel City wasn’t extremely focused on the love triangle, it was focused on the pain. I chose his character in OHYA instead because, being a romance focused drama the way they handled the love polygon was more important to me. By the end of the drama they attempted to redeem him and it just didn’t work for me at all. Keep this dude the hell away from me.

2. Lee Joon Hee/ Falling for Innocence

There are a variety of strategies drama writers use to make us root for the jerk chaebol hero over and against the started-from-the-bottom second lead with treats the female lead with tenderness and respect. They give their heroes tragic backstories, slowly grow them into human beings, build UST, and give them melodramatic redemption arcs. The options are basically endless.

But why go through all of that when you can just make your second lead a secret scumbag murderer! There…all sorted.

This was honestly the most confounding bait and switch love line I’ve probably ever seen. When the reveal of who was ultimately responsible for the death of Sung Joon’s fiancé finally happened I very nearly threw my tablet across the room. They go to a lot of trouble to give Joon Hee a sympathetic long time unrequited love backstory as well as motivation for his sometimes morally dubious corporate ladder climbing. They also give him frequent shippy scenes with Sung Joon where he takes care of her and worries about her or vice versa. While in contrast Min Ho is absolutely horrible to her for a good portion of the show, the only thing that redeems him being a literal personality transplant.

They go out of their way to present this like it’s a legitimate love triangle, when given all of the facts it’s nothing of the kind. It makes me wonder why they even bothered trying to get me invested in the character since it turns out he’s actually evil.

Upon rewatch (started this one again rather recently) I had a lot more fun with this drama. Since I already knew what I was getting into I had the resounding pleasure of yelling at the screen every time Joon Hee and Sung Joon get a cutsy or romantic scene, which is very satisfying. The real reason to watch this show, Min Ho’s horrid behavior in the first episodes notwithstanding, is because Jung Kyung Ho is absolutely hysterical. For me it’s still kind of a garbage show with a garbage plot, but, hey, I love garbage.

1. Goo Jung Hee/ Ms. Perfect

There are very few characters in drama land that inspire in me the kind of hatred I felt for Jung Hee throughout this series. There are villians that don’t fill me with such seething rage. There’s a lot of adjectives I could use to describe Jung Hee. Loathsome comes to mind. An incomplete list of others would include: spineless, selfish, sniveling, and “the slimiest weakling ever to crawl the earth.”

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. I hate this so called man. And yet, to my eternal confusion he is loved by and romantically involved with not one, not two, but three different women throughout the course of the show.

Actually, this entry poses a little bit of a problem regarding what we actually consider to be a “second male lead”. For the majority of the list so far I’ve been using the definition of the “second romantic lead” or, in brief, “the member of the obligatory love triangle who doesn’t get the girl” rather than “a male character with lesser narrative importance and/or subordinate billing to the male lead.”

In Kdrama the two things are usually one in the same. Usually, but not always. The reason is a) most dramas place a heavy emphasis on romance b) romantic fulfillment is usually the overt goal or the overt reward of the hero’s character arc and c) if a show ends without romantic closure (dating, marriage, babies ever after) it’s not generally seen as “satisfying”. But there are cases where the character with top billing or greater narrative importance is not meant to be our romantic lead, or even necessarily someone we root for. Jung Hee falls into this category, which made me wonder if I should even include him on this list.

Because Yoon Sang Hyun received top billing and was considered, by all reports, the lead in Ms. Perfect there was a great deal of disagreement and turbulence surrounding the intended endgame of the drama. Sung Joon’s Kang Bong Goo readily fits the mold of the romantic lead but his screen time is about half of Jung Hee’s, so I can readily understand where these concerns came from.

I’m happy to report that Jung Hee remained a subject of sometimes pity, but more often disgust, and the only thing that really disappointment me with his plot trajectory was that he didn’t end up dying in a fire at the end of the show. Missed opportunity IMO. While certainly a weird and flawed drama, Ms. Perfect remained entertaining throughout its run and I honestly would recommend it if for no other reason that Shim Jae Bok is a goodamn queen. There is the notable downside that this character has forever ruined Yoon Sang Hyun for me as an actor, as I can’t even see his face without feeling slightly ill.

I hope you enjoyed my top fave LEAST favorite male leads. This list was requested anonymously and I would be interested in producing other, similar lists in the future. If you have a subject you’d like me to cover please send me an ask or reply to this post and I’ll take it under consideration.

Jona

[neoduskcomics]

Beauty and the Beast (2017) Review

I realize that I’m pretty late to the party with this, but I recently watched the live action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast and decided to write down some of my thoughts on it. I’ll mainly be focusing on what some of the changes were that the new version made and how I thought that they actually improve upon the original in some ways. So if you’re looking for someone to uphold the original film in the highest regard and shit on the newest, bastardized version of it—you won’t find that here, and please don’t keep reading unless you actually want to engage another point of view.

Also, no spoiler warning because, I mean, I just assume you’ve already seen the original Beauty and the Beast and it has basically the same plot as the new one. And if you haven’t seen the original Beauty and the Beast, this is the part where you stop reading this and go watch it.

Alright, then. On with the review.

I want to preface all of this with the fact that I do actually think that Beauty and the Beast is one of Disney’s finest animated works of all time, and this review is not meant in any way to say that it’s too flawed to enjoy or that it doesn’t deserve any of the obscene amount of praise that it gets—because it’s not and it does.

That being said, the beginning of the new movie already fixes an issue I had with the original, and it’s a small issue, but it sets a trend that I find persisting through the rest of the film. At the film’s opening, we’re treated to some exposition about the Beast pre-curse and we can clearly see that he’s an adult. I know this is a pretty common thing to harp on by now, and it’s really a nitpick, but before, we knew that Beast was about 20 and Lumiere says they’ve been cursed for ten years. An orphaned elementary-school-age kid turning away a strange old woman from his doorstep is not exactly a sin I’d say deserves lifelong punishment.

However, a grown man being a complete ass and ridiculing said woman in addition to casting her out into the cold night has a bit more heft to it. I also like the change of the lyric “ten years, we’ve been rusting” to “too long we’ve been rusting” in Be Our Guest. Keeping it vague keeps your mind off of how long they’ve actually been cursed (Like, is the Beast forty now? These are questions you don’t want the audience thinking).

The movie goes on and we get the token “I want song” from Belle. Here’s the next part of the film that I thought improved and expanded upon the original. Before, Belle was characterized as a strange, peculiar, and misfit girl, but all we really had to go on was the song. She read a lot, which they imply was odd, and she yearned for a something “more than this provincial life”. That’s about it. Belle’s motivations in the story basically have to be carried by that for the rest of the movie.

In the new version of the film, we actually get a bit more. We can see that Belle is not just someone who likes to read, but someone who greatly prizes literacy and intellectualism. She helps her father tinker with his music box, creates a prototypical washing machine, and tries to teach a little girl how to read. And we see what exactly the village’s attitude toward all this is—they don’t like it. They even openly shame and punish her for it. This is something I thought the original movie was missing. Belle never really quite felt to me like much of an outcast. The song kind of just tells you that the village thinks she’s weird and you have to take their word for it. Here, we actually see them sort of ostracize her, and we actually see how lonely and difficult life is for her.

Now, I could see people saying that in the original film, all that is still there, it’s just subtler and more implied than shown. While I could see that argument, and maybe it is a valid one, I think that there’s something to be said for taking it a bit further and actually showing us the loneliness and the discrimination in action. This has nothing to do with some progressive, feminist agenda on my part. I think that further emphasizing those parts of her character—her intellectualism, her kindness, and her battle with adversity—gives the audience more opportunity to empathize with the character and also experience greater catharsis when Belle is vindicated and finds happiness.

This also draws attention to another issue I had with the original movie, which, probably another common criticism, Belle spends the beginning of the movie yearning for a life of adventure and magic—something more than the domestic village life she’s been forced into. But then, at the end of the movie, all that happens is she exchanges her domestic village life for a domestic…castle life?

And, yes, this is true of the new movie as well, BUT the film mends this problem a bit by shifting the focus to another, perhaps more underlying desire of Belle’s, which is, quite simply, companionship. In the new movie, we can clearly see that the only person in the whole village who shares her values is her father. And he’s not just her comical, cooky inventor of a dad—we actually get a pretty strong sense of a believable bond between them, as she helps him fix up his machine. When she trades her life for his at the Beast’s castle, she’s giving up basically the only person in the village with whom she has anything substantial in common. The movie emphasizes not simply a desire for something more than a domestic village life, but a yearning for a place far away where she doesn’t have to face the daily hardships of loneliness and discrimination.

And then, of course, the answer to her troubles is who else but the Beast. Except that in this version of the movie, she doesn’t simply recognize that there is a gentler and more humane nature to the Beast that belies his outward appearance. He also shares with her an interest in and love for classical literature, and they actually bond over it, albeit briefly.

This is something that ties more into driving home just how out-of-place Belle was in her home village, but having the “bookstore” she frequents be a single shelf of some dusty novels really reinforced just how at odds she was with the rest of the community. And then it makes her entering of the library at Beast’s castle all the more impactful. You can see and feel how she never even dreamed she’d see so many books in her lifetime. It’s like in The Force Awakens when Rey sees trees for the first time in her life. You believe her reaction because you know what her life has been like up to this point.

So the romance Belle establishes with the Beast is not only about learning to look past outward appearances, but it’s more importantly, for the character, about finding companionship after a life of solitude. Belle has finally met someone who shares her values and develops a meaningful relationship with him. Making this the emphasis of her character arc as opposed to yearning a life beyond the humdrum village makes, to me, for a much more sensible approach to the story. Belle and the Beast found a relationship not on appearances and fanciful ideals (such as a prince charming to whisk you away) but on the things that are important to the both of them.

Again, you could argue that this was all in the original movie and that it was simply subtler there, but I would again counter with the argument that showing us all this gives more opportunity to empathize with Belle (and the Beast) and experience catharsis when their love blossoms and triumphs. And it wasn’t done by completely overhauling the narrative, either. They simply made small additions and minor tweaks to more fully bring out what was already there, like putting in a dash of a complementary ingredient into an already good-tasting dish.

Okay, so, is that it? Do I think that the new movie is just objectively better than the old one?

Ehhhh, not quite.

First of all, and I guess this has to be said, the new movie is live action (even if half the characters are CGI props). There’s a lot of emotion and splendor from the original film that’s simply just lost a bit in the fact that it’s now being portrayed with real people and real sets. The musical numbers are probably the best example of this. While I think they’re good and pretty loyal to the original versions, they’re just not really quite as fun. Before, you had all these cartoony and visually distinct villagers with fluid, graceful, and funny animations that just brimmed with character.

Watching it in live action, by comparison, kind of just makes it feel a little duller and stiffer, even if they are certainly trying their damnedest to make it visually engaging and not exactly failing at it, either. “Be Our Guest” is probably the closest the film comes to replicating the visual splendor of the original, but then I’d probably have to note that 99% of that portion of the new movie was computer animated.

Following up on this, there’s Gaston, and while I think they certainly did their best to capture the essence of the character and actually did a pretty good job of it, he’s just not quite the same. Again, the old Gaston was an animated character. He was quite literally a caricature of the type of man he was meant to represent. The way he was performed and animated created an incredibly distinct icon of animation that can’t possibly be captured in a live action performance. But, again, they do a pretty damn good job, all things considered. I actually even like a couple of changes they made to him.

For example, the running gag that he was a war hero and misses the glory days of bloodshed and violence actually fleshes out his character a bit—plus it was funny. I also like that when Maurice comes into the tavern raving about the Beast, he doesn’t just turn him away without a second thought. He actually takes up the opportunity to get in good with Belle’s dad. Although this portrait of Gaston is a bit more underhanded and scheming, and you could argue that it takes away a bit from the fact that he’s supposed to be a total moron through and through

I also like that they flesh out Lefou a bit more and actually give him a redemptive character arc. I always felt just a little bit sorry for Lefou since he was clearly a hanger-on who didn’t have much going for him and only really was guilty of being loyal to Gaston. They sort of took that full-tilt in this version, making him a pretty nice and likable character.

But, there are also some additions the film made that I didn’t find to be particularly significant and were maybe even outright unneeded. The movie added a few new original songs and, while I don’t think they were bad and a couple of them were even pretty engaging, they weren’t terribly memorable.

I also thought that the addition of backstories for Belle’s mom and the Beast’s dad felt really shoehorned in and unnecessary. I was expecting them to go more into detail especially with the Beast’s backstory, but they never really did. This was disappointing not only because it seemed like a forced plot point, but also because it would’ve helped rectify another issues I had with the original movie—namely, why were the servants also cursed? They seemingly did nothing wrong. In the new movie, they seem to say that their guilt is in not doing more to raise the Beast to not be like his father, but we never really go in-depth with that, so it still felt sort of lacking to me as a reason

Also, and this is still an issue from the original, why was it suddenly safe for Belle to leave the castle grounds when she runs after her dad at the end? What happened to the wolves? Did they just run away forever? Are they too traumatized now to make a second attempt at eating her? What gives? The first film didn’t explain it and neither does this one.

But, with all that said, I don’t really have any other issues with the movie as an adaptation of the original. I think this is actually a really serviceable version of the story. While I thought that the live action Cinderella was just okay and that The Jungle Book was so different from the original work (not that you can blame them) that it’s really difficult to compare the two in the first place, this one really feels like a decent reimagining of the original animated movie. While it doesn’t deviate too much from the original or besmirch what was already good about it, it also doesn’t lack meaningful contributions and alterations. And the original message is still there in full force—the Beast is not the monster; prejudice is the real monster. If you haven’t seen the live action movie yet and you enjoyed the original, I’d say this is actually worth seeing at least once.

Unless you thought the original movie was perfect and this version of the film was literally the corporate-driven destruction of your childhood, in which case, you really should’ve stopped reading the first time I told you.

Also, I like that Belle wanted the Beast to grow a beard at the end. That was cute and fitting.

[where-his-towel-is]

here’s a thought

so I was reading a bunch of YOI metas, discussing the unexplained turnaround in Victor’s decision to go back to skating in episode 12, instead of the retirement his whole plot arc was leading up to,

and i had this weird little idea

what if victor intends to go back to skating...and lose?

bear with bear with

(and this is more of a detailed hc than a meta, but i hope that the imagining comforts you, if you like me are feeling terrified about the writing and plot arc of yoi s2.)  

it’s canon that victuuri don’t make their final career-path decisions together in the final episode; most of that pondering was done while yuuri was skating if i remember right, since the tension between them only broke just before Yuuri started his free skate routine, presumably so that they can put the personal stuff to one side while they attempt to get this whole competition/GPF/medal business sorted. 

clearly we don’t get any insight into victor’s sudden change of heart in going back to skating, as well as coaching yuuri (does he have any concept of workload tho these are the questions) so imma just run with this hc for a bit.

to clarify, i’m not saying that victor would go back to skating for the sole purpose of losing to yuuri, just so he can boost his bf’s confidence on a false foundation. he’s learnt enough about yuuri to get to grips with how his anxiety works, and to understand that a false win would be the same as a loss.

but at the same time, victor wants to help yuuri overcome it, as far as it is in his power to do so. 

and even though yuuri isn’t helped by the more aggressive styles of training that victor (wrongly) attempts to use (ep 7 ep 7 ep 7), what he does thrive on is a challenge, something that forces him out of his comfort zone and helps him prove to himself that he can conquer unknown territory. this is what the eros routine does, this is what getting his own music does, even what spending time alone with victor does.

so victor decides, as his coach, to present him with the most difficult challenge he has yet faced: going up against his idol.

it’s not like victor will go easy on him, no way in hell. he hasn’t retained his titles this long and become a symbol for so many people by slacking off, he knows how to train and how to work. (i would like to think that he would hold off on the competitions for a little while, given how soon nationals (i think?) would be after the end of s1 and the impossibility of being ready for them.) plus he has a competitive streak of course, which we see at the end of ep 12, just a little.

victor’s incredible self-awareness, of his age and his close proximity to retirement from skating, is enough for him to know that if yuuri continues at the rate of progress he has managed to maintain throughout the series, then it would certainly be a fair fight, and that there is a high probability that he will lose even if he gives it his best shot.

(sidenote: its bizarre how the yoi fandom has got used to talking about victor like he’s an old man, like i know it’s just sports talk and everyone ages out of competition etc etc but it cracks me up cuz he’s only 28, but anyway)

he also has faith that yuuri will rise to and learn from this new challenge, and become stronger for it. as mentioned above, victor’s strategy as yuuri’s coach so far has been to get emotionally close to him, at the same time as throwing him in the deep end, which yuuri himself is not averse to. (his raising of the difficulty level in his routine in ep 5 says to me that at least on some level he understands that he works best with obstacles, its just that he has to believe he can conquer them.) 

and what greater challenge could there be for yuuri, than to go up against someone who he puts on a pedestal (yes, still, even after everything imho), someone who he has looked up to all his life and who has inspired him enough to skate beautifully that he even managed to inspire victor in return? its true, this hc would only work if victor was able to prove to yuuri, really convince him, that he is able to go up against victor without his ego being hurt. (yuuri babe victor’s ego has its own penthouse suite its gonna be fine my dear) 

also, even though the whole season build up can be read as victor realising that he needs to retire, he can also be read as someone who regains inspiration in his field through watching someone else find their own. some of y’all’s meta are pretty damn persuasive (so cool honestly), but personally i’m still not fully convinced that victor wants to stop competing at skating. sure he wants to coach, that’s where his real passion is now, but i think that with every progression yuuri makes, there is a part of victor that is curious - he wants to go back and redo his last GPF and really watch yuuri, see him for the rival that he has become and...take him for a test run, if you will. see if he can walk the walk with victor nikiforov on the same ice a second time around.

so what would the outcomes be? well,

victor wins/yuuri loses to him: as i said, i think that this is less likely, given their respective circumstances. and victor knows this too, we see how much he has already thought about how he cannot progress from this point, and while yuuri proves to be a burst of inspiration, i doubt that that would push victor past the revamped cup-holder-now-installed yuuri 2.0 that he’s fleshed out, not to mention the menace that is yurio, who would be twice as motivated competing against both halves of that disgusting couple victuuri.

or, my dreams come true and

yuuri wins/victor comes in tight second, or even third to yurio: everybuddy is happy - victor got the really interesting fiery competition he’s wanted for ages (tbh i think he’d actually quite enjoy getting silver or bronze if it was his two favourite bros on the pedestal with him), as well as a public declaration of his retirement that satisfies his old acquaintances and gets them to stop pestering him, yuuri finally gets the gold he has deserved for so long and gets it into his poor thick head that he is actually worth something, and yurio getting the satisfaction of seeing victor actually lose for one goddammit time, as well as watching yuuri win (which he would secretly be so smug about, being the one who told him to carry on in the first place). oh and victor gets to see yuuri win up close, which he would be so gone about.

of course, for this to work (this humble hc of mine), we would need to see victuuri finally flesh out some of the problems that have underpinned their relationship and that haven’t been addressed yet - they need to see each other as equals in a solid relationship, with the coach-student relationship as a flexible layer that can be removed when necessary, they need to address the fact that yuuri’s probably not as chill with silver as he made out, and they need to confront their conflicting ideas about victor’s career and what he really wants from life (which this hc would force just sayin). so much important communication would be needed, which means more angst and fandom pain, but worth it in the end, i think.

what do you guys think?

[ploppythespaceship]

Discovery Season 3 Review

Spoiler free version: I enjoyed this season much more than the first two. It feels like it’s being written by entirely different people, who want to work with the Star Trek universe rather than against it. It’s definitely not perfect, and it has some pretty glaring flaws, but overall the setting and characters are strong enough to carry it through. I’m pleasantly surprised and... almost a little angry, because the first two seasons could have been more like this and just weren’t.

Spoilers under cut.

What I Liked

There are no terrible out of character Klingons this season. Literally, that’s my favorite part. I am sick and tired of terrible out of character Klingons.

The premise of this season is really strong. A 23rd century starship being pulled in the 32nd century, aiding a Federation that’s been utterly devastated by a mysterious apocalyptic event. It works incredibly well and brings up a lot of interesting themes. Honestly, I wish this had just been the premise of the show from the beginning.

The universe has been carried forward in a lot of interesting ways, like the shrinkage of the Federation and Vulcan and Romulus having achieved reunification. There are also some good tie-ins with Picard that don’t feel too forced. The first two seasons felt like the continuity was at odds with the previous shows, but this season feels like it fits into the universe. I might not enjoy every decision they’ve made, but at least it all makes sense.

This season also has a much better balance between episodic and serialized storytelling. The episodes flow together and follow one continuous plot, but still have their own self-contained stories to be enjoyable on their own. It’s a breath of fresh air compared to the non-stop everything of the first two seasons.

Book is a wonderful new character. He’s not like any empaths we’ve seen on Trek before. Plus David Ajala is fantastic and there’s something so immediately likeable about him. (He and Michael also have more chemistry within five minutes than Michael and Ash had in two whole seasons.)

Saru getting to be captain is well-deserved and long overdue. He’s a great character, and it’s nice to see the first non-human series regular captain on the show. He wasn’t really the the best captain at times, letting his personal motivations get in the way of things, but it was a fascinating development for both him and the show that made logical sense. And it was nice to see it.

Tilly is the best she’s ever been. Her being made first officer works surprisingly well, despite her inexperience, and it offers her character so much growth. I love how kind she is, and how her emotions are treated as strengths. And I adored her being acting captain for the most intense parts of the finale. Getting her to that position was a bit contrived, considering she was outranked by basically all of the bridge crew, but I can’t even mind it that much. It just works.

I found Stamets to be pretty insufferable in seasons 1 and 2, since he fit into a category of snarky genius asshole that I’ve never particularly enjoyed. However, in this season he’s fully transitioned to awkward engineering dad and he’s infinitely better as a character for me now. I don’t think he’ll ever be a favorite, but I have a new appreciation for him that I just couldn’t muster before.

Culber finally develops a personality this season! In past seasons he felt like a cardboard cutout, but now he feels like his own character. He has a sass and determination to help others that may not necessarily want his help, often reminding me of McCoy.

Some of the bridge crew have been getting more focus this season, particularly Detmer, and it’s nice to see these characters finally be more fleshed out after essentially being extras for two seasons.

Adira is wonderful. A genius non-binary 16 year old who unexpectedly becomes a Trill host to preserve their boyfriend’s memory in some way. Beautiful story, beautiful character. And I’m very grateful that Adira isn’t non-binary because of Trill nonsense, they were just already non-binary, because non-binary people exist and don’t need sci-fi nonsense to “justify” it.

There’s a lot of really delicious character tension, and most of it works. Characters act selfishly at times, but it’s understandable. Motivations are at odds with one another and it creates very genuine conflict where you somehow root for all of them at once. It feels earned and plays out naturally without feeling forced or overdone, unlike previous seasons which had conflict tossed in for arbitrary reasons. Moments that stand out are Saru and Michael’s conflict when she goes against his orders, and Paul getting furious with Michael for not letting him go back to save Hugh and Adira.

The scene where Discovery finds Federation headquarters and geeks out over the ships and the technology... I’m still thinking about it weeks later. There was such joy and wonder to that moment. And all the little touches and homages that didn’t take it too far over the top, like Voyager J and the USS Nog.

Admiral Vance is also a surprisingly compelling character. Oded Fehr is just fantastic in the role. And you can feel that he’s very different from the admirals of previous shows, because the Federation he oversees is so different. It’s refreshing to have a recurring admiral that isn’t an insufferable ass.

What I Didn’t Like

I still hate the spore drive. It should say how wildly out of place in the timeline it was that even 900+ years in the future, this technology vastly outclasses anything else the Federation has. It’s handled slightly better in that it’s treated like a valuable asset that must be protected and used sparingly, which makes it a bit less of a magical plot device, but it’s still overpowered and awkward.

Mirror Georgiou has very much overstayed her welcome. She’s a constant reminder of why the mirror universe only works in short bursts, and isn’t meant to be taken all that seriously. She’s so cartoonishly over-the-top evil, yet the show doesn’t seem to be aware of that... somehow everyone adores her now despite her being awful, constantly. It makes for a character with an arc that doesn’t gel with any of the rest of the season. I mentally checked out for pretty much all of the mirror universe two parter, as I was bored out of my skull watching her do... whatever she was doing. I don’t even remember. She also gets this extremely long-winded and touching goodbye where everyone reminisces about her, which takes up entirely too much time and doesn’t make any sense. The show is genuinely better off without her, and her absence was felt immediately -- in a good way.

While this season does better than past seasons at getting us to know and care about the minor bridge crew, there’s still not really enough. Nhan gets an emotional departure scene reminiscent of Airiam’s death in season 2, but much like that moment there isn’t nearly enough buildup or attachment to her character. It’s an utterly unearned moment. And several times in the finale they cut to a woman who was part of the core group getting their emotional sacrifice moment, but I still don’t know who the fuck she is.

This show probably has the strongest cast of all the Trek shows, in terms of acting ability. Unfortunately, this means that the few who aren’t holding up their end stick out like a sore thumb. Tig Notaro is easily the worst, making me dread every moment Jett is onscreen. Anthony Rapp and Wilson Cruz are usually tolerable, but are noticeably flat when compared to most other characters (though I do think Rapp did well with his emotional scenes in the finale). And while I liked Gray as a character, I was a bit disappointed with Ian Alexander’s performance.

The Emerald Chain was underutilized, and Osyraa quite underwhelming. I thought her writing was pretty good, especially towards the end of the season when they started to humanize her a bit more, but the actress just didn’t have the gravitas to carry it. There were also hints of interesting themes, especially where the scientist under her genuinely thought she was a force for good and had to confront that he’d been helping a monster, but the show didn’t quite seem willing to commit.

This season had a similar issue to the first season of Picard, where the setting is so interesting and has so much fantastic political potential, but the plots don’t take full advantage of it. Osyraa’s proposed alliance with the Federation could have been a fantastic talking point that lasted longer than the ten minutes they allowed it, but instead we flew past it for more shooting scenes. (I think the finale could have benefitted from being a three parter rather than just two.)

Ultimately, I wasn’t terribly satisfied with the answer to what caused the Burn. I didn’t find Su’Kal to be terribly compelling and I didn’t like how detached it was from the rest of the plot. It was also very pseudoscience-y, and while Trek has definitely had its share of that... I don’t know, something about it just didn’t work for me.