#this is why it was so important that miranda be good at manipulation and speaking and just *charismatic*
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tbh tho this is EXACTLY what merfolk relationships look like
and they just keep track of this. in their heads. all the time.
#all the care guide says is 'biomass'#they dont have gendered pronouns but they do have tone modifiers for every other fucking word depending on their relationship to the other#and their mood. and if theyre referring to multiple people at once or just one person. and often layered on top of each other too.#merfolk have poor vision but they DO inherently think of things in a more ''three dimensional'' way than we do#considering they live underwater and youre operating with another axis just to move around anywhere#which then gets applied to the rest of their everything#ESPECIALLY language because theyre nerds who went hard into the sound focus#their visual art in comparison has simpler elements than ours (but a lot more focus on light/movement)#this is why merfolk have some very unique spellcrafts and theyre notorious for complicated and detailed spellwork#like yes a part of it is the fact that theyre older than the other species and have had more time to work on it#but also they can just DO really unique things compared to other cultures because they emphasize layered detail in this way#this is also why - from the outside - so much of miranda's job looks like parties and balls and attending to the courts#because again. its all about the emphasis on who has what relationship with who and how to operate within that.#legal agreements are multilayered and come with terms and conditions a mile long and you need to have a very careful hand on the pulse#of all of this#even moreso because royal families go even harder with treating the lineage as the individual and the merfolk#as just limbs and organs of this equation#this is why it was so important that miranda be good at manipulation and speaking and just *charismatic*#literally making people do what she wants or needs them to do is just what makes the merkingdom GO and operate#and why she (and the other royals) occupy a space a little like a public performer does as well#and why royals showing personal favor and having close personal relationships is frowned upon as#mixing pleasure and business#since those relationships ARE their business and so much of the underlying politics#if youre showing undue favor to someone because you personally just like them then you aren't judging them based off of actual talent#merfolk complicated! merkingdom complicated!#(the merkingdom is also SUPER fucked up but thats tangential from this tangent)
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Hi can I request mother Miranda with a s/o who just... Does not care. Like they don't give two shits about morals or stuff but also won't hesitate to tell her when she's doing something they don't approve of? And is just unimpressed by threats and stuff? Thank you im advance! â¤ď¸
Admittedly I'm not sure if this is any good? But I tried? Mother Miranda with "Honey Badger"/Uncaring S/O:
To quote one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite games: âItâs a mixed bag.â
Theoretically, your lack of solid morality is a blessing, and one that Miranda needs from her partner. Most of her experiments are beyond questionable, to the point where few outside the village could argue in favor of, so having someone accept it without hesitation is very validating for her.
On the other hand⌠itâs strange, for her, the few times when you do protest. How much this affects the relationship depends on two factors: Firstly, how often do you speak out against her? Secondly, do you do so in public or private?
Calling her out during important meetings is a BIG no-no. Mirandaâs practically a Goddess, essentially immortal, and has been scheming for over a century. Sheâs in charge without a hint of a doubt. So if you question her in front of her underlings? Sheâs pissed, obviously. In her mind itâs not just disrespecting her authority, but counterintuitive to your relationship (which is valid). If you have problems with her, or something sheâs doing, she wants you to come to her in private. Your arguments are not for the entertainment of others.
If you talk to her one on one? Much more willing to actually listen to you. Assuming that your protests would be more about methods/efficiency, sheâll be willing to discuss alternatives with you. Not a whole bunch, though, because sheâs got a hell of a lot of experience and is very used to being correct. Should you, for once, care about morality, well, sheâll likely remind you of all the things you havenât cared about. Why should this be any different?
Question her often enough and sheâll confront you, asking why you donât trust her. Likely to get manipulative, pressuring you with reminders about everything sheâs done for you, telling you that her word is divine. If you donât back down, sheâll be more likely to exile you than kill you outright.
Rarely threatens you, essentially only doing so âfor showâ if you endanger her plans in front of other people. Definitely doesnât like it if you donât even pretend to be scared. Again, sheâs dominant as fuck and hates people going against that idea. The fact that sheâd be willing to go easy on you in private shows just how much you mean to her. So, for the sake of your relationship, youâre probably gonna want to keep most of your protests to yourself.
#mother miranda#mother miranda x reader#have not slept#probably should#but i've got shit to do ya know?
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Onwards to the episode in which we get to see Flint and Silver each having a very bad day (as well as two literal dicks that nobody had asked to see).
Black Sails VII (s1 ep07)
- We open on Pastor Lambrick's sweaty face as he intensely rehearses the Easter sermon and heâs obviously eaten up by what he did with Miranda. His sermon, unsurprisingly, focuses on sin, keeping sin hidden, and the hell that awaits the sinner. Which leads us nicely onto Flint, whoâs distracted (by his own sin? by thoughts of Miranda? both?) during a meeting with Eleanor. Eleanor is pissed that Miranda let Richard Guthrie send a message to the Andromache and then waltz into town to close up his business; Flint tries to take the heat off Miranda, once again protecting her (at this point, he may not know the contents of the letter).
- During this meeting, Flint is startled when Silver first speaks up to say that the mob in the street was bad - clearly Silver is a sort of intruder in this meeting. But Eleanor, after Silver reminds her by unsubtly clearing his throat, tells Flint that heâs not to harm Silver because he was instrumental in setting up the Consortium. Silver looks so pleased with himself in these scenes, and Flint quite defeated when he tells Silver to follow him back to their camp. I love it.
- To parallel Flint/Mirandaâs Sulky Sex scene from ep4, we have Anne/Rackhamâs frustrating/disconnected sex scene. It shows us a few things about them mainly that Anne wants to keep a lot of control over what happens, hence Rackham being tied up (though of course this might also be his kink), her wearing a shirt that covers up most of her body, and the reverse cowgirl position that means that sheâs both in control of what happens and completely avoids eye contact. The position reminds us of the Flint/Miranda scene, where Miranda was also on top, but their scene involved more eye contact (yes glaring counts, heâs still intensely focused on Miranda), gentle touching (on Mirandaâs side) and her being naked and open to him. Another parallel is that both Flint and Rackham arenât in the right frame of mind for sex, Flint being angry and Rackham lost in a sea of worries (and probably also somewhat angry/disappointed at Anne for forcing him into the plot to kill their crewmates). The difference between Flint and Rackham is that while Flint doesnât seem to have any trouble performing, Rackham is miles away and doesnât even notice that heâs lost his erection - again. Anne is frustrated by this, and apparently knows him well enough that she offers to put something up his arse, but heâs clearly not in the mood, and she leaves in a huff, abandoning him all tied up as a sort of revenge for his performance problems. Whatever the problem is between them isnât put into words (because Anne canât yet, for starters), unlike the one between Flint and Miranda. The intimacy between Rackham and Anne, so often described as close partners, seems much more distant to me than the one shown between Flint and Miranda. Iâm not sure whether itâs because of anyoneâs sexual orientation, or just the fact that theyâre fucking but theyâve never discussed the big important things, such as Anneâs identity/feelings/etc.
- In this episode, Dufresne gains a lot of power: with a freshly (and badly) shaved head and a new tattoo, heâs been promoted to Quartermaster on the Walrus in Billyâs place. And very quickly he has a problem to deal with: Randall revealing that Silver stole the page. Gates had actually already told this to Dufresne, as is revealed at the end of the episode, which might explain why Dufresne is relatively calm during the whole conversation, while DeGroot wants Silver and Flint hanged and Howell is surprisingly ruthless: he brings up the idea that it may be better to kill off Randall in order to get to the treasure, if they canât make sure heâll keep quiet about Silver being the thief. Dufresne is actually quite kind towards Silver in the scene where he puts Silverâs memory to the test - a test that could result in his death if he fails it and that Silver constantly grumbles against (I love his grumbling!). Basically, at this point Dufresne remains quite a sympathetic character, which will change a lot as the show goes on, especially after Jannes Eiselen had to leave the show (such a sad story, RIP Jannes).
- In the meantime, the Flint and Gates relationship is crumbling. It's sad to see, especially since they're shown sharing chuckles as they talk about Dufresne's appointment in the beginning of the episode. But then Gates brings up the subject of Miranda and demands explanations about the letter Billy found. We're not shown exactly what Flint answers, but it's clear that he's actually trying his best to give him an explanation without incriminating Miranda too badly. The sad thing is that Flint is actually telling the truth: he actually wasn't involved in any betrayal of his crew and and can only guess at Miranda's motivations. But the fact that he's lied time and again in previous situations, including on the Maria Aleyne where he claimed Lord Alfred drew a weapon on him (and Gates secretly verified that this was a lie), and used men as pawns to advance his and Miranda's plans, is now catching up to him. Flint seems truly hurt when Gates accuses him of using the men for his own purposes, and turns spiteful, telling Gates that he should have been "a better father" to Billy and helped him "understand the world he was living in" (suggesting that such a forthright character as Billy can't really survive in a world of pirates who are all ready to stab each other in the back). After that slap in the face, Gates says he's exhausted from Flint and threatens to take it to the crew. Somehow, this pushes Flint to bare all: he tells Gates about his plan to keep a part of the treasure and use it to build up Nassau, depicting himself as a sort of saviour, doing it for the men's good: they'd rather be rich men in a safe place than dead thieves hanging from a noose. Gates sees this as delusions of grandeur, and tells him that while he'll see the Urca plot through, after that they're done. I actually think he sees Flintâs point, since he doesnât just throw him to the crew, but wonât admit that out loud. The whole of this scene hurts bad, because you can tell that Flint is desperate and sad to be losing his closest ally and friend, and that Gates is hurting from the loss of Billy and exhausted from the toxic relationship he has with Flint, where he's played enabler to his manipulations for years.
- While Flint and Gatesâ alliance is breaking, Silver has to forge one with Randall or die. Randall finds out in the beginning of the episode that heâs been voted out of the crew. This is apparently due to DeGrootâs fears that Randall could be a fire hazard, which the crew took disproportionately to heart. Randall is furious with Silver, who smugly tells him that in these situations, a setback often comes with a new or unexpected opportunity. Heâs right, but at this point he doesnât know that he is the opportunity Randallâs going to latch on. Randall reveals that Silver is a thief, and Silver denies it, saying that Randall is both a halfwit and was in a haze of opium when he heard what he thought he heard; he even tries to convince Randall that he was mistaken (this, my friends, is gaslighting). However, by revealing that Silver was the thief, Randall sets a chain of events into motion which could either end with his death (if Howell has his way, since Randall is an inconvenient witness) or Silverâs (if DeGroot tips the balance, not trusting Silver to remember the coordinates and not wanting to sacrifice Randall for nothing). Silver figures out that these are the outcomes, and tries to talk sense into Randall by making a deal with him: heâll care for Randall and make sure he can stay on the ship. But itâs only when Silver finally admits that he is the thief and that Randall was right, that Randall accepts the deal. Later, Silver realises that Randall might have orchestrated the whole thing: heâs now got Silver to serve him, doesnât have to take any risks on the ship, and gets to remain with the crew. Silver wonders if Randall is a genius rather than a halfwit (a word thrown about a lot to describe him). And it seems quite obvious, considering what happened, that Randall still has strong survival skills (an amputee with impaired cognitive skills doesnât stand a chance of survival outside a crew and he must be aware of it), that he still has a good memory and an ability to pick out useful information and that heâs aware enough of whatâs going on to be upset by the crewâs rejection and Silverâs attempt to gaslight him. I think itâs important to recognise that Randall is more than a comic relief or a grotesque character: heâs a disabled man who's lost parts of his cognitive ability and is struggling to survive.
- This episode focuses on Vane facing his past. He seeks out the island where he grew up and its master, Albinus. Iâd forgotten or never really registered that Albinus was a pirate and that the men who work for him were mostly his crew - and likely slaves (or children, hence Vane?) that he managed to capture/press into service. Heâs retired from pirating and set up a system where his men cut down trees for timber all day, without wages. Itâs not clear exactly how he holds so much power over these men, although it seems that everyone is terrified of him. Heâs extremely strong physically, seems shrewd, speaks rather well, and his tattoos suggest that maybe heâs involved in some kind of ritual (truly religious or just for show?) which would make him all the more scary to superstitious people. Vane is clearly still frightened: he barely makes eye contact and practically stutters when he first tries to make the deal with Albinus, which is that heâll take some of Albinusâ men as crew and send Albinus part of their earnings as tribute. It says a lot about Albinus that Vane, after years of having run away, is still so scares that heâs willing to pay him a tribute. But he changes his mind as he stares at a boy bearing the same brand as he does: he tries to persuade the men that Nassau is a pace of pleasures rather than hard labour, and confronts Albinus. The fight is brutal and ends with Vane buried naked, just after Albinus tells him that heâs proud of him. But of course Vane wouldnât be Vane if he didnât rise from the dead at the last minute and kill Albinus, goaded on by his inner Eleanor voice.
- In the meantime, Mr Scott returns to Eleanor, apologising for what he did, telling her he betrayed her out of love. However he also reminds her of his slave status: technically, he belongs to her. The argument upsets her, and he quite cleverly uses this moment to ask her to free the slaves who were on the Andromache. And it works: by the end of the episode, sheâs made arrangements for the men to work on ships and has bought the womenâs freedom and found them jobs in her tavern. But Mr Scott has still decided to leave Eleanor to join Hornigoldâs crew, to refrain from meddling with Eleanorâs affairs, since he disagrees with her so strongly re: the Urca. Hornigold approached him earlier in the episode, and the introduction to that scene is quite interesting: Hornigold says to Mr Scott âIâll need to know your secretâ and Mr Scott looks startled and frightened. It seems that heâs startled because heâd been giving food to the slaves, but in light of S3, it could be a much greater secret thatâs being referred to. Mr Scott is relieved when he realises that Hornigold is simply talking about tolerating Eleanor, who he clearly canât stand.
- Flintâs bad day continues, of course, with the big confrontation he has with Miranda. Heâs furious about the letter (of which he now knows the contents thanks to Gates), telling her that it could have got him killed, or destroyed the plans theyâd made and asking her whether she was trying to embarrass him. This sounds so weirdly petty, and yet it also sounds exactly like the kind of argument that would come up in a bickering couple. Miranda answers that she was trying to help him out of that life, because she wants to move on. This is where Miranda utters the famous âthere is no life here, there is no joy here, there is no love hereâ. I noticed that, covered by Flint yelling at her, and distorted because her voice has gone very shrill, Miranda says another line, which sounds like âyou used to love, thenâ. If that really is what she says, itâs extra-extra-extra heartbreaking to hear (if someone wants to check it for me, itâs around 35:40). Itâs obvious that Flint and Mirandaâs views on life are very different, and I canât help but think back to the fact that, as a carpenterâs son from the country, Flint has had to struggle all his life to become who he is. So when he says that you canât get a life without having a war, and Miranda tells him heâs wrong, sheâs speaking entirely from the point of view of her privilege. Sheâs never needed to fight as hard as he has to be happy, because she got extremely lucky in marrying Thomas. And when she says that Thomas would agree with her, Iâm certain sheâs right. But life has never been like that for Flint, and thereâs no way heâll ever entirely agree with their point of view. Rewatching this scene is tough, btw, because they both have great points, theyâre both hurting so much, and thereâs so much to take in between the body language, the facial expressions, the tones of voice and the actual words that itâs a whole whirlwind. And it feels very, very real.
- Itâs absolutely hilarious to see Rackham get robbed by the whores taking advantage of his lack of knowledge (and research). He should absolutely have done a better job and has no clue how to run a brothel. Heâs lucky Max takes things in hand after having heard from Idelle that the girls were taking advantage.
- Then we have the beautiful Drunk Flint scene. Eleanor notices him feeling very sorry for himself after Gates has pretty much broken up with him and heâs still reeling from fighting with by Miranda. I think Flint feels very misunderstood here. He thought that he was doing something good, to save Nassau and avenge Thomas, and doesnât understand why they canât see it, why they only see the terrible methods he uses to reach his goals. So heâs full of doubt, clearly wondering if heâs the villain of the story, and puts the question to Eleanor: is their plan worth it? Eleanor is the only person who still believes in him, which leads us to the only scene that I would ever call straight-baiting. Flint hovers near Eleanor, breathing heavily, and a variety of emotions play over her face during this moment of tension, as she seems to think this is leading to a kiss. It does, he gives her a chaste little forehead kiss and leaves. All the elements are in place to make your average viewer start shipping these two. I actually find it hilarious that the ship barely exists in the fandom (though I wasnât there in the beginning of the fandom and I guess the viewership changed a lot between S1 and S4).
- The scene with Flint and Gates glaring at each other from their respective ships and Parsonâs Farewell playing in the background... epic! We know this is the beginning of a big struggle between them, especially since we find out that Gates has pretty much decided that heâll hand Flint over to the crew once they get the money. But nnnnggh that scene! The ships leaving on their hunt! Awesome and heartbreaking!
#black sails#flint#gates#flint & gates#miranda#flintmiranda#eleanor#flint & eleanor#mr scott#eleanor & mr scott#silver#randall#dufresne#degroot#howell#vane#rackham#max#pastor lambrick#ableism cw#long post cw#black sails rewatch
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(( Okay, so. Important lore piece here. Iâm finally fully stating it now, since with the rpc generally being smaller and quieter, Iâm not sure if people will even get to the point where I can discuss it, plus my own pickiness in who I roleplay it with.
If you would like to go about slowly discovering my Mirandaâs lore with your muse and enjoying that slow-burn investigation into everything, like how Iâve generally been presenting this blog so far, then skip over this. Itâll come up again in time.
I just have a lot of passion for this one piece of Miranda and I want to be able to say it somewhere.
                             -----------
Truth be told, this might not come as a huge shock to those who have been around longer, since Iâve definitely used the tag as a CW and have teased it before, but I want to do a full confirmation and discussion of it.
My take on Miranda involves her having childhood-onset psychosis. I myself have schizophrenia, and while I definitely wonder about making it so that Miranda also has schizophrenia - for now, I just use Psychosis NOS as my general going-off point.Â
She hallucinates. She has delusions. She experiences negative symptoms. This has been happening with Miranda since she was a child.
Particularly, her delusions are delusions of persecution and delusions of grandeur, and one delusion I know Iâve brought up before is her having latched onto Pollyâs joke that Hope is an evil version of Miranda herself, thus generally making Miranda think that Hope is a creature from merfolk mythology that is trying to steal her image and take Mirandaâs place. Which is why Miranda is very adamant in her fear and dislike of Hope, because of the delusion - which itself is based upon how I know I form delusions.
Iâm very picky about how I present Mirandaâs psychosis. Iâm all too aware of the ableist stereotype of the âââinsane rulerâââ, along with the ableism around psychosis and violence. Honestly, I know Miranda isnât a great muse to add a psychotic headcanon onto, since she is described as genocidal so many times and is so bloodthirsty, but at the same time... I guess I just really do want to see her with psychosis. To have that discussion. I do fear that itâs encouraging armchair diagnosises of other evil people, but at the same time, I do have a passion for the idea of Miranda as dealing with the same thing I deal with.
So... Hence when Iâm roleplaying it and discussing it, I really want to make a distinction between when Miranda is being affected by her psychosis and when she is hurting others. Her urges to hurt and be violent are far more complicated - being as she was effectively encouraged to have that reaction by both the abusive system and the abusive family she was born into, first goading her into taking her frustration and emotions out on others by harming them, and then rewarding her when she did act violently. She wasnât born violent, even as a merfolk, with them being highly specialized predators, but itâs a far more complicated issue of her being melded to think that hurting people is good, and she should do it, and being given no other outlet for anything, just further pushing her into that loop until she feels, subconsciously or consciously, like all she can do to deal and cope is to be violent. For that reason, even getting her to realize that, hey, she probably shouldnât be hurting people, will be a long and painful road that wonât be enjoyable for her to go through, if necessary. But no one ever said healing from such severe abuse would be a painless path.
But when Miranda is having a psychotic episode, she isnât violent. Iâm very careful about that, and the only time she would be violent is when sheâs terrified and basically backed into a corner, and itâs for the same reason a scared cat might scratch you. She wants you to go away, to pay attention to all the signs that she is terrified, and she just really wants her space. For that reason, itâd be much more limited and far less dangerous. Speaking as a schizophrenic person, yeah, I can absolutely say Iâm far more dangerous to myself than to anyone else while in a psychotic episode.
Mostly, Mirandaâs just afraid while in a psychotic episode. Reality is so much more difficult to navigate, and itâs confusing, and the amount of paranoia that delusions can dump on you and the unpleasantness that comes with hallucinations make it all the harder to deal with.
Likewise, Miranda knows about the ableism thrown at people with psychosis. Hell, she even has to deal with internalized ableism herself. While sheâs never seen any kind of psychiatrist (or, she has, but... well, letâs just say it wasnât for good reasons), and really doesnât know that the term psychosis fits her, she has a pretty good idea that something happens to her that distorts her perception of reality. She has no name for it, but she can see the similarities, and it freaks her out, due to how she knows the treatment of herself would change. Sheâs always had psychosis, but she knows that others learning about it would make them think differently of her, and the sheer thought of the depersonalization that comes with how ableist people treat those with psychosis is enough to make her desperately want to hide it from everyone.
And, functionally... yes, she does feel shame for it, all due to that internalized ableism and her feeling like itâs some kind of character flaw that she has, instead of it being just how her brain is. The abuse doesnât help either.
Not to mention how the Merkingdom would react. I donât want to spoil too much, but yeah, the other royals definitely would use her psychosis to manipulate and abuse her and discredit her, including saying sheâs unfit for her title due to being psychotic, and she knows what being unfit for the title would mean for her.
But... Thereâs still quite a lot I donât want to spoil so freely, not yet.
#Most secret royal advisor || OOC#Given by Divine Right || Headcanons#You built up a world of magic ; Because your real life is tragic || Self#ableism#abuse#violence#long post#psychosis
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I was tagged by @antirococoreaction to talk about five male characters I love
(God, only five? However will I choose between my boys >_< ?!)
This is most certainly not going to be a literary as your offerings, lmao. When it comes to literary fiction I mostly like Kafka and Kafka, by the nature of his writing, writes thoroughly unlikable characters.
This got way too long bc Iâm incapable of not gushing about my faves when given the chance lolÂ
Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender
It is my enduring opinion that if you want to see a redemption arc done right, look at Zukoâs arc in The Last Airbender. Heâs a scared, abused kid who managed to build up personal morals in a system that discouraged them, and was harshly punished for daring to voice them. Heâs someone who always wanted to be good, but struggles with defining what good is, given that his culture and upbringing has taught him one thing, but his heart (and his uncle) tells him another, and his new experiences reinforces that. After he figures out what âgoodâ looks like, heâs always held accountable for his past actions. He makes amends, and he accepts it, for the most part, when people arenât ready to receive them. His anger issues, as well as how he sees himself as someone who had to be hardworking because he isnât talented (however far from the truth that may or may not be in reality) are also aspects of him that appeal to me and indeed that I relate to.Â
Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars
My love for Anakin is not dissimilar to my love for Zuko, though the quality of the writing in question certainly is. I love an edgy boy, is what Iâm getting at, I guess :âD More seriously, Anakinâs story is ultimately one about control, which is a subject that interests me quite a bit. Anakin is never, at any point, really in control of his own life. Heâs never really truly free. Heâs born a slave, he joins the Jedi Order and he becomes Palpatineâs apprentice. He always exists within rigid systems of control, until his very lasts moments with Luke before he dies. With how Palpatine essentially groomed him, thinking of Anakin as equally a victim of Palpatine and a perpetuator of his (metaphorically speaking) abuse is also interesting to me. Certainly his clearly distorted thinking (eg convincing himself he canât trust Obi-Wan, for instance) is also hugely important to his appeal to me. Also? Heâs SO EXTRA I canât with him lolÂ
(Thatâs your LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM you turned off, Anakin!!! I know youâre depressed and dissociated and also The Drama but damn!!!!!!)
Nicodemus Ravens from The Shamer Chronicles (Skammerens børn)
The Shamer Chronicles is a series of Danish fantasy books for kids, and probably the most popular books of that type (particularly the first book, The Shamerâs Daughter). Nico is a major character, though never a POV one.Â
Nico was, essentially, abused by his father for not living up to the male gender role. He didnât want to learn to use a sword, he didnât want to kill, and his father hated him for it. As a result, heâs a teenage alcoholic and profoundly at war with himself. He constantly have other people telling him narratives about who he is/should be: first, heâs the younger son who should bring his father glory, then heâs the heir unfit for the throne, then heâs, depending on the political position of the character in question, either a monstrous murderer who must be killed by the glorious leader or the rightful heir to throne, a hero ready to bring war to his enemy and liberate his people, then rule them in benevolence.
Nico doesnât want to be any of those things. He knows who he is, is stubborn about it, but also canât shake the belief that his relative pacifism is really just cowardice. Iâm just going to quote one of my favourite scenes here (forgive the translation, itâs my own, I donât have the official one at hand):
â[...] They want a hero, I think.â
âIs that so bad? Itâs better than being a monster, at any rate.â
âYou think? Have you noticed how often heroes die in battle? Of course everyone mourns them afterwards and write beautiful ballads about them, but the heroes remain dead. Stone-dead. And Iâm in no hurry to get on my white steed and start slaughtering people until someone better or luckier than I sticks a sword in me. No, thank you.â
He looked both obstinate and shameful, as if he thought he really should get on his white steed and all of that. I could understand why he didnât want to die, and yet⌠Well, I think Iâd always expected him to return to the Lowlands to fight Drakan at some point.
âWhat do you want, then?â [...]
âI just want to be me,â he whispered. âIs that so terrible? I just want to be Nico and not a lot of other peopleâs hero or monster.â
Anyway there are Two Crimes when it comes to Nico: the fact he isnât gay in canon and how so many adaptations turns him into the Generic Fantasy Hero heâs a very conscious subversion of in the books (the other principle male character is essentially someone whoâs hurt by toxic masculinity as someone who buys into it, while Nico ofc is hurt by it because he doesnât/canât, so the series certainly had an opinion about it).Â
Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter
Dumbledore is, to me, someone who chose what was good for the world over his own happiness. He chose to be the one to dirty his hands, the one two make the terrible decisions, do the terrible things, that were necessary in the battle against facism. There is something very brave and admirable about that to me. Itâs not that he never did anything wrong, he certainly did, but again, I think he was very aware of the terrible things he was doing, and part of the reason he keeps everything so close to his chest is because he doesnât want anyone else to have to make those decisions, to have to feel that blood stain their hands. Dumbledore loves the people in his care profoundly, he loves Harry profoundly. And it kills him to have, as Snape puts it, âbrought him up like a pig for slaughterâ.Â
Whether something is morally justified and whether itâs necessary to prevent evil are two different questions, and I donât think Dumbledore feels particularly justified, but I do think he does what he perceives to be necessary to prevent facism. And hates himself for the decisions he takes along the way. And all of that comes back to, to some extent, his survivorâs guilt over the death of Arianna and the profound wake up call that was Grindelwald 1) turning on his family 2) being a very violent fascist, rather than just a theoretical one like teenage!Dumbledore was. In his mind, Dumbledore is already condemned for what happened when he was 18, so itâs better that it be he who takes the terrible things upon himself than an âinnocent.â Itâs better that he try to atone. Dumbledore is working towards a redemption he never (to his mind) arrives at.Â
In regards to his sexuality, Dumbledore was certainly written with the trope of a âtragic old closeted gayâ in mind, but of course JKR never made anything much canon aside from his âflamboyantâ sense of style (that the movies have ROBBED us of >:( ) and hobbies, so to a certain extent, I get to ignore that homophobic intent. In the books themselves, the only thing you can really read between the lines is that Dumbledore was in love with Grindelwald, not whether it was 1) reciprocated 2) acted upon, so with only the canon, we also get to mitigate some of the Implications of âDumbledore dated Wizard Hitler for a whileâ....Â
I mean I do Love Mess(tm) so Dumbledore having that terrible wake up call is certainly also part of the appeal for me. Personally I enjoy the interpretation that Grindelwald deliberately manipulated Dumbledoreâs feelings.Â
Captain Flint/James McGraw from Black Sails
BE GAY DO CRIME BE GAY DO CRIME BE GAY DO CRIME BE-- *coughs*
As you might guess from my description of Dumbledore, a lot of the reasons I love Flint are similar to why I love Dumbledore (and Solas, but we wonât go in to Solas rn lol). Flint is also someone who chooses to do the terrible, necessary things, who chooses the fight over his personal moral cleanliness. In a more obvious and extreme way than Dumbledore, certainly, but the principle is essentially the same. Of course, Flintâs fight is personal in a completely different way from how Dumbledoreâs is. Flintâs fight is simoultaneously his revenge, a fight against the corrupt system that ruined his life and a fight for something better. Dumbledore is defensive, Flint is offensive.Â
The self-integrity he has is truly amazing. Heâs cast aside by everyone but Miranda, and yet he never starts thinking he has anything to apologise for. To ask for a pardon would be to ask for forgiveness, and he doesnât think he needs to be forgiven. Not for loving Thomas, not for anything he did while he was still English. He perceives the reality of the situation, he sees what is right and what is wrong, and he knows that he is the wronged party. He stares at the behemoth of the entire social structure of his world and says:Â No. You move. I am not in the wrong. England should apologise to me.
Flint is my angry gay dad and I love him.Â
I tag (as always, completely optional ^^ ): @teddy-stonehillâ @thebearmuseâ @andvakaâ @solitareleeâ @gallifreyanatheartsâ @sinni-ok-sessiâ @melle93â @papandenâ @seimsiskâ
I feel a bit dishonest leaving Grantaire off of this list, lmao, but I talk about him enough as it is.Â
Other honorables mentions go to: Enjolras (Les Mis), Captain Jack Harkness (Doctor Who/Torchwood), Solas (Dragon Age), Fitzwilliam Darcy (Pride and Prejudice), Kim Kitsuragi (Disco Elysium), Harry Potter, Remus Lupin (Harry Potter) and my soap boys Robert Sugden (Emmerdale), Richard âRingoâ Beckmann (Unter Uns) and Ben Mitchell (Eastenders).Â
#someone: like a none edgy boy me: a what now#not that nico is that edgy#btw if i had been the type to name myself after fictional characters it would have 100% been nico#the movie adaptation does not deserve rights#also re dumbledore jkr is like ''he turned into a bit of a celibate after grindelwald'' and i'm like nah NAH fuck off#siggi rambles#tag meme#my meta
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A, J, Q, Y and Z!
A - Your current OTP(s)/OT3(s)/OTX(s)
Due to the global health crisis, I havenât read or even thought about any shippy stuff in weeks. I think the stress is making me revert back to my truest form, namely, Everyone Is Basically Ace Because Considering Other Options Is Exhausting.
Funny how that goes.
Anyway, Iâm currently feeling Tony/Rhodey and Tony/Bucky the most, though I honestly still canât decide if I like Tony and Rhodey better as friends with very occasional benefits.
Also - in the name of honesty and because I have been streaming almost all of Sabrina the Teenage Witch in these trying times - I have to admit that Sabrina and Harvey were very cute together.Â
J - Name a fandom you didnât care/think about until you saw it all over tumblr
Iâve been here for so long that solid 90% of my exposure to new shows comes through tumblr, but B99, the Good Place and Derry Girls come to mind immediately.
Q - A ship youâve abandoned and why
I have never been much of a shipper, so if a ship manages to penetrate all my outer layers itâs pretty much there to stay. I have parted ways with ships I read more casually though. I used to be able to read bagginshield, but I noped out of it due to severe overexposure and characterization issues.
I also used to read a lot of 9th Doctor/Rose Tyler stuff about a decade ago, but I also quit reading it about a decade ago and canât exactly remember why. The ship probably died of natural causes once the flame burned itself out.
Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (fandoms you arenât in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)
Only one that comes immediately to mind is the Black Sails - I know thereâs an angry gay named Flint and a dude named Silver whoâs either a manipulative asshat or a puppy dog, or possibly both at the same time. Thereâs also a lot of cool women, but Iâm pretty sure the coolest (Miranda????) ends up dead.
Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go (prompts optional but encouraged)
Itâs very hard to ramble on cue, you know.
Iâve recently been entertaining myself by trying to force the history in Harry Potter to make sense. Like, how did the founders manage to build a 14th century castle in Scotland in year 1000 or so??? The obvious answer is that JKR notoriously canât math and refuses to history, but the crack opportunities are basically endless.
My favourite current theory is that Hogwarts, like most castles, has been rebuilt and extensively renovated several times over the centuries. The original castle was a wooden fortress, which burned down several times, at least twice because everyone was too drunk to put the fire out on time. The stone fortress was built around the 14th century, which means that the actual founders had fuck all to do with it. The Chamber of Secrets is a 16th century addition at the earliest. Nobody in-universe knows or acknowledges this. Mostly because theyâre prone to exaggerating their antiquity and ancestry because it translates to importance, but also because their history education has all the relevance and scholarly merit of a documentary about how aliens built the pyramids. They donât even know that they switched to paper ages ago, because they still keep calling it parchment. The ghosts could talk, but wonât.
Like I said. Endless opportunities.Â
Also Sabrina the Teenage Witch holds time surprisingly well and is far more entertaining than the Netflix remake, which only has evil Miranda Otto and Michelle Gomez to speak for it.
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LAYERS OF LOYALTY: THE LORDS AND THEIR TEAMs.
forgive me for not using icons i wanna change the border again bc i hate myself.
also lappyâs being weird again so thats fun.
Donât rb without permission, thanks. This is primarily about my portrayals of the characters, and includes those that arenât canon to the game. 8)
ALCINA
Alcina, next to Moreau, is the most loyal to Mother Miranda. Does in fact view her as an actual mother, though her viewpoint can be seen as more obsessive than just daughterly. As is clear, however, when her own daughters lives are put in question, sheâll betray her motherâs command in an instant in order to protect or avenge them. Her loyalty to Miranda is great, but her loyalty to the daughters Miranda gave her is far greater.Â
BELA
Belaâs loyalty to Miranda falls directly on Alcina. Wanting to make her mother proud, and show devotion according to what she believes her mother would want, Belaâs loyalty to Miranda is, well, entirely based on Alcina. Alcina adores Miranda like a mother (and cult leader, as someone who has done excessively deep dives into cults they do manipulate you into believing the leader is your parent, leader, everything important to you... and often lover, but that doesnât seem like something Miranda is interested in thankfully) thus, so does Bela. But if Alcina chose not to follow Miranda at any point, Belaâs loyalty would instantly die out as well.
CASSANDRA
Cassandraâs loyalty to Miranda is, well, she doesnât really have it. Her loyalty is specifically to her Alcina. If Miranda were to say Cass couldntâ hunt, for instance, Cass would want to hunt her. She enjoys killing, thatâs her primary source of entertainment. Sheâs even been known to kill villagers when they stray too far from worship of Miranda (or, at least thatâs her excuse up until Miranda orders the lords to kill all the villagers) then sheâll either drain them if theyâre female, or if theyâre male, either turn them into a scarecrow for the vineyard, or bring them to Uncle Heisenberg for his tests. If Miranda were to vanish or perish, Cassandra definitely wouldnât give a shit.Â
DANIELA
Daniâs loyalty is... questionable with Miranda. Some might think sheâs loyal due to the loyalty she held to the woman in life, but once she became the mutation she is now, and lost all memories of her life, her loyalty was, again, only to the girls mother. She really, really doesnât care. She doesnât take part in the worship, sheâs sort of still testy about Miranda when she once tried to call her granny and got in trouble for it. Even her loyalty to Alcinaâs wishes can be questioned, because she actually likes the other lords and considers them family. Especially Heisenberg. Being taught how to make pipe bombs really just sold her on her unkie. Sheâs the only one that calls him unkie. If Heisenberg asked her to help get rid of Miranda, she might be hesitant at first, because she doesnât want to upset mother. But, if she knew how Miranda treats her mother, her hesitation would drop pretty quickly. Because how dare she be mean to mother!Â
Daniâs also the most self centered of them. She doesnât even eat most of the men they kill, just drains their guts to fertilize her flowers. She wants to play games and have a good time, but sheâs also got an unbelievably short temper. Considering sheâll hack at the staff if they say no to her.Â
MOREAU
Moreauâs the second eldest of Mirandaâs âchildrenâ, and definitely got the short end of the stick. Despite this, heâs even more loyal to Miranda than Alcina is. While Alcina would betray Miranda for her children, Moreau would never betray Miranda. He loves her far too much. Even though she made what he went to her to heal worse, and completely destroyed his self esteem and physical stability in the process, he still views her as his actual mother. She was kind to him while his parents insulted and were disgusted by his deformities (although she was manipulating him, he doesnât recognize that fact) she was kind and offered to âhealâ him. Although, she only made it worse, he ended up killing his family to prove his loyalty to Miranda. In doing so, he also severed his ties to them entirely, and mentally effectively replaced them with Miranda.Â
HEISENBERG
We know his loyalty just, thatâs not there. Kinda ironic, seeing as heâs clearly Mirandaâs favorite (Moreau made the wolves, Heisenberg controls them. Heisenberg asks for something and she immediately gives it to him. Alcinaâs distaste for Heisenberg seems deeply rooted in jealousy of how much more attention he receives from Miranda, and the fact she gives him more than she gives the rest of them now.) But he wants her dead. He wants freedom from her influence. Which is also kinda funny, because him and Moreau are the two that actively refer to the other lords as their siblings/family, even though they have starkly different loyalty to Miranda and Heisenberg refuses to recognize her as his mother. He had his parents, and Miranda killed them when she took him away for experiments as a child. He pretended to worship her, but his primary goal was to kill her, and free himself (and, by proxy, his siblings, despite claiming to hate them while still constantly referring to them as siblings) from her influence.Â
His army is made of the dead, and arguably he didnât actually kill anyone himself. Arguably, because he clearly intended to kill Ethan if Ethan didnât do what he wanted. I do think Cassandra probably gave him a lot of the corpses he has used though. Also, his experiment notes... idk how much i agree w the fandom saying heâs never killed anyone lol.
DARCY
Darcy, being Heisenbergâs assistant, and still feeling the side effects of the mutation (herâs being pretty bad and still kind of painful), she holds no loyalty to Miranda. In fact, she only holds loyalty to Heisenberg because he wants to kill Miranda.Â
In a way, Darcy hopes she can figure out a way to cure the infection. She hates it. She hates Miranda. She wants her freedom. The only reason she hasnât tried to escape is because she knows Miranda can kill her with the cadou and mutamycete if she tried. Sometimes, she wonders if that would really be worse than life with the infection, however.Â
DONNA
Donnaâs the youngest of the four Lords, having been turned only in the late 90s/early 2000s, when the rest of her âfamilyâ was turned between the 20s-50s. Her loyalty, well, nobodyâs actually sure. She doesnât speak, at all. Sheâs a selective mute. Her âvoiceâ is all a hallucination from her cadou powers. Thatâs why she primarily âspeaksâ through Angie, and Angie may in fact be the personality Donna wishes she had (Or, Claudiaâs personality, because I do line up to the theory Claudia is Donnaâs younger sister, Donna was turned and ceased aging around 18-21 years old, after a few years of experimentation, and Angie was made from Claudiaâs bones after the flowers in the house added to the degration of her fatherâs mental health.)Â
She mentions not being able to let others leave her house because she âcanât let themâ, but its unknown if thatâs truly because of Miranda, or if sheâs just so lonely she doesnât want to let them leave. Her hallucinations arenât entirely under control yet, but sheâs grown a great deal in her control capability since she started. She killed the gardener by showing him hallucinations of the wife and child he lost, and killed him to prove her loyalty to Miranda. Something that seems to be a running theme, and I wouldnât be shocked if Alcina and Heisenberg had to do the same too. Thus, if Heisenberg did, thereâs no reason why Donna wouldnât have done it just to maintain her place.Â
However, sheâs also still young, and clearly was raised.. under questionable circumstances. With the lack of affection, she likely would be willing to do anything just to feel the love sheâs lacked feeling all her life. So, really, if someone, like Heisenberg showed her more affection, brotherly, fatherly, or whatnot, than Miranda does, she might struggle to keep her loyalty to Miranda, because someone else is fulfilling what Miranda isnât.
#I FORGOT TO MAKE HEADCANON TAGS I'LL TAG THIS LATER FUUUUU#tbt#anyways#I gotta go make lunch so I'll be back but I spent the last two hours writing this evidently so#or wait#its 140 it was 1240 when i....#an hour its an hour#i cant math im trying#be back in a bit#then i'll do replies and send memes and things#or ig i can send memes on mobile so if i see memes on the dash i will bug u until i run out of messages i can send
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ok some more!! lydia + jack and another one of yr choice
Jack
What did your Shepard think about Jackâs incredible biotic power? Were they alarmed? Impressed?she's used to biotics and being around supposedly âdangerousâ biotics, and sheâd though highly of kaidan, but she knew jack is obviously of a different class and has a lot more emotional/volatile personal issues than kaidan that would need a bit of.... careful handling lol. so she wasnât really scared or impressed (though they were impressive), more concerned that if jack herself wasnât in a good place, then she could put herself or the crew in jeopardy. like, she views biotics as a tool, and knowing jackâs strength and capabilities are important for her strategizing as a commander, but she thinks of jackâs biotics less often than she thinks of jack herself, if that makes sense.
Did your Shepard allow Jack to kill Aresh, the man in her cell at Pragia? Did they do what they believed to be best for Jack?she argued to let him go. she knew he was a victim and didnât really see how killing him would help jack, or prevent future victims from being traumatized (she didnât believe he would or could genuinely have the resources to open the facility up again anyway). so when she tells jack not to kill him, itâs less âyouâre better than thisâ and more that she appeals to her in ways sheâd respond to, like... âlook, killing this guy is pointless, youâve tried killing for a while and itâs not helping, and killing aresh wonât help either. this place is behind you. you are strong enough to leave this place behind and be more than what they planned for you.â and she means it, but she can say it without empathy: she says it very, like, flatly/bluntly when she talks to jack lol, cause jack wouldnât respond to anything sheâd see as patronizing.
How did Jackâs abrasive temperament affect your Shepardâs relationship with her? Were they put off or did they attempt a friendship?she grew up with people like jack so she knows how to navigate her, though itâs her first time handling someone this volatile as a commanding officer. itâs more like constantly diffusing the bomb of her temper before it erupts at a bad time; shepardâs grown up a lot since she was a teenager, gone through officer training and knows how to mediate discussions and deliver orders as a supervisor, so she feels comfortable talking to jack without talking down to her, but also letting her know she canât just have run of the ship. i donât think shepardâs intimidated by her, but itâs also not a âiâm going to rescue you from yourself!â thing -- if jack wants to grow, then shepard will help, and she does enjoy talking to her, but she canât do all the work, and like, sheâs not her mom, you know? because jack reminds her so much of her past talking to jack can take a lot of her emotional energy; she doesnât really mind it, since after a while jack is responsive and starts to respect her candor, and then by me3 sheâs obviously in a better place to appreciate shepard and talk to her like an equal, but in the beginning at least it is a little tiring. but shepard sees it as her duty as a commander to make jack comfortable on the sr2 and in her place in the crew, and itâs worth it in the end, obviously xo.
aaand iâm gonna do miranda
Miranda
How did your Shepard react to Mirandaâs genetic âperfectionâ? Do they believe that no being can truly be perfect?lol i think shepard was mentally rolling her eyes when she heard about mirandaâs genetic engineering, not because she judges miranda for it, but just because it seemed damned typical of the illusive man/cerberus/human (cough white) supremacist groups to treat women like test tubes. and of course tim would collect her and use her as his top agent because why the fuck wouldnât he lmao. she does judge miranda for a lot of things, but not whatâs out of her control.
Did Oriana and Mirandaâs protection of her change your Shepardâs view of Miranda? Does your Shepard have siblings they would ceaselessly protect, like Miranda and Oriana?she respects miranda a whole lot more after hearing about oriana, and doesnât care that she kept her a secret. her problems with miranda arenât entirely gone, but hearing sheâs an older sister doing the best she can to protect her younger sister (cough) definitely makes her more relatable. lyd has a huge gut-like reaction to save/prevent children in particular from the realities of her work, so she agrees immediately and doesnât judge miranda for âstealing a babyâ from her father at all. most of her strong feelings are because she did have a younger sibling back in london that she failed to protect in a gang war, so she does whatever she can to save kids as an adult. (itâs also a reason why she connects well with ashley.)
How close were your Shepard and Miranda? Why drew them together or apart?it was not great at first; shepard wasnât openly hostile, she was professional and cordial and asked her all the usual questions to get to know her crew, and not superficially, but she still didnât trust miranda like the rest of her crew for a long time. like she could acknowledge that yes, miranda IS everything she said she would be, sheâs incredibly talented and a more than capable xo and lyd believes that sheâs not secretly out to get her or screw up the mission, sheâs wary of miranda for a very long time because:
well to begin, she joined cerberus, and NOT under duress (being on akuze also didnât help lydâs opinion of cerberus), and without fail defends them and tim at every opportunity
sheâs absolutely reporting everything shepard does to TIM so shepard has to filter what information she can to her xo, and not being able to trust her xo is not a feeling she likes on her own ship
miranda openly confessed she wanted to put a chip in her brain. like, the fact that she admitted it openly deserves some respect from lyd in that she knows miranda will not.... lie to her, but she doesnât put it past her to lie by omission
speaking of mirandaâs involvement in her reconstruction, like.... there are soooo many fucked up ethical implications of what miranda was a part of, even if technically she saved her life. itâs a mixed bag of emotions. again with the âi can respect you without liking youâ thing.for the first few months i think shepard started to think of contingency plans with miranda, like âeverybody else is loyal to their paycheck and some are starting to be loyal to me, maybe if i can get miranda on my side, sheâd be willing to go against tim for me in case we ever have to split?â like, she knew it was a long shot, but she had every intention of ditching cerberus the instant the mission was over, and if miranda liked her, GENUINELY liked her for her, maybe sheâd have a shot at convincing her to bail with her/not ratting her out to tim. this was...... not really malicious manipulation, but it was a reality she had to plan for: if miranda was on her side, sheâd have a stronger chance of ditching cerberus and living to tell the tale (shepard imagined leaving cerberus and knew that if she didnât have mirandaâs loyalty at that time, she fully expected to see miranda again on the other side of the battlefield again in the future; either that, or tim might send miranda to come âcollectâ her again in the future). but then after the collector ship, and especially after oriana and seeing shepard handle the crew/her work the way she does, i think miranda started to sway to shepardâs side without even realizing it. so tl;dr: they respected each other and got more amicable over the months, but it was cautious and slow-going; until miranda quit over the line at the collector base, neither of them realized just how much theyâd come to trust each other.
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So, Iâve just babbled endlessly about my hypothetical rewrite for the first half of season 2, so now to talk about the second half.
In general, Iâm happier with the second half. Â Mostly because my favorite character is back...so to speak, and thereâs more of a sense of metaplot movement. Â There are some pacing issues: it is awfully abrupt at parts, but I think some of that can be smoothed out by introducing a few key concepts earlier.
Therefore, Iâd probably keep Raiders of the Lost Art through Land of the Lost as pretty much the same as is in canon, with a few caveats.
Iâve been thinking about this and Iâve decided that one big change that I would make, that I didnât mention in my last post, is that I would jettison the whole hallucination Len bit, after all. Â And I would have Leonard Snart as a member of the Legion of Doom much earlier.
I feel like this would introduce a bit more suspense in Mickâs arc. Â I donât think heâd be inclined to side with the Legion on his own without provocation, but actually seeing Len there in earlier episodes, like my hypothetical JSA/Spear episode would have a bit more of a bite.
I think Iâd revamp Camelot a little and have Malcolm accompany evil!Rip to kill Charles. Â I wouldnât have Malcolm do anything, mind you. Â I think itâs important storywise to have Rip be the one to kill him, but itâd give a bit of an opportunity to see how Malcolm feels about the entire evil!Rip situation. Â We know from Arrow that heâs not above brainwashing, but he had an interesting little dynamic with Phil.
The other thing is that I would like to play up Saraâs rage a bit more. Â Bloodlust was an important arc in season one, and all but forgotten in season two. Â Sara has specifically chosen not to kill Damien Darhk at this time, out of duty. Â But Iâd like to see that wrestled with more. Â Especially because of how Iâd end the season for her. Â (Sheâd still get the heroic moment, donât worry. Â :-)) Â At no point would we see her succumb to her bloodlust, but I really think itâs important to re-establish that struggle.
I think Iâd keep Moonshot mostly the same too, though I think Iâd want to emphasize Rayâs role a bit more. Â Ray didnât get a lot of development at all in season 2, which saddens me. Â I think a lot of that might be alleviated though if we actually allow him to react to Damien a bit more. Â That moment of rage in Camelot fascinated me. Â Damien had imprisoned him for a year, and he just saw him mistreat a (admittedly brainwashed) friend. Â I think maybe thatâs a thread Iâd want to develop through Moonshot and maybe Fellowship.
Hereâs where we get to the big change though: Fellowship/Doomworld/Aruba. Â Iâd keep the original theft of the Spear, but thatâs pretty much it.
Doomworld was fun, but in the end, it was a completely pointless jaunt. Â The characters didnât learn anything, because it got rewritten. Â We had Mick betray the team twice, and no consequences, except bitter cynicism when the showrunners start touting the idea that Mick finally sees the team as a family. Â This is Fellowship Mick, after all. Â And itâs hard for me to not see him as one dickhead move by the team away from betraying them all.
But mostly Iâm pissed off that the penultimate episode gave us nothing to work with in terms of character growth when a much better premise was squandered. Â We know that the spear tempted the crew, but except for Mick and Amaya, we donât even know what it SAID.
So what Iâd do is expand Fellowship into two parts. Â No stupid rewritten universe. Â Iâd go full on temptation arc. Â We have eight characters at this point who have tremendous losses and issues, so letâs take two episodes and explore that for each of them.
Also, Iâd have the Legion of Doom defeated soundly at the beginning of Fellowship. Â Done. Â The teamâs real adversaries in the last three episodes are themselves. Â (Though the Legion members can assist with temptation perhaps from the brig, Hannibal Lecter style.)
I kind of want to keep the idea of Mick betraying the team, but I would avoid that out of character confrontation on the bridge. Â I think Iâd make it entirely about Leonard. Â He does care about the team, but if Len goes back, he dies. Â How can he let that happen?
So maybe Mickâs hears the voices of his family, sees Len in the Brig, and just snaps and tries to use the Spear. Â Which promptly ensnares each character in a personalized temptation:
Most of the characters would have pretty straight forward temptation quests but weâd actually get to see them. Â Amayaâs would include Rex as well as her village. Â And weâd see it all, including a vision of Mari at the end when she succeeds in defeating her temptation to manipulate fate. Â Rayâs would be heavily symbolic. Â Heroism, being able to make a difference grand scale, and culminate in taking the throne of Camelot and ushering in a new age, while bringing justice to his enemies. Â (Eobardâs monologues from Moonshot play heavily into this.) Â He passes when he realizes that heâs been a hero all along and he can work on ways to increase his positive impact on the world. Â (Ideally Kendra would appear because I love Kendra).
Iâve never had a good grasp on Nate, Iâll be honest, but I think it would offer him ultimate knowledge and the power to make things better for himself and his friends. Â Save Amayaâs village, bring Henry back. Â A bit like Rayâs but a bit narrower scale. Â Not selfish, but more self-centered.
Jaxâs and Martinâs would be linked, I think. Â Jax wants to be recognized as his own man, for his own accomplishments. Â I think the Spear wouldnât offer him as much direct power, but the means to achieve things on his own. Â Fixing his knee. Â Money for school. Â A ship of his own. Â Basically start up capital. Â Jax of course realizes he doesnât need any of that. Â He already is a great man who can do great things, and his potential is only growing.
Martin is deathly afraid of losing more people that he loves, so his temptation would involve protecting Lily, Jax and Clarissa. Â To the point of over controlling everything to keep them safe. Â Of course, heâd need to let go.
Rip and Sara will have slightly different set ups though.  Ripâs avoided the temptation of using the Spear before, after all.  And Saraâs already had that lovely âIâd rather have a nightmare thatâs realâ speech.
So their tests will be less about using the Spear itself (though whatâs offered to them should provide insight into their characters), and more about their personal flaws. Â Namely, Ripâs issues with reaching out/trusting/being honest with the team, and Saraâs fear of herself.
Rip: Â Itâd be easy to bring back Miranda and Jonas for this, but I think that matter was put to bed in season one. Â Like Sara and Laurel, this is a test that heâs already passed. Â Heâs also the one who has past experience with the Spearâs temptation. Â The Spear's temptation of Rip is more about shame and regret. Specifically, it will offer him the chance to undo all the evils committed by evil Rip: bring back Charles, Galahad. Â He can bring back Henry, who lost his family and then died because of Ripâs mission. Â He can undo recruiting the team, undo Leonardâs death, and Carterâs. Â He can undo falling for Miranda, and putting her in the crosshairs of the Time Masters and Savage. Â He can undo himself.
Rip is tempted more than Sara is, his self-loathing is strong, but heâs too much of a Time Master to believe that he can undo his past mistakes. Â Instead, he wants to take the spear and basically go, with it, into a black hole or something. Â No more spear. Â No more Rip. Â Complete the journey he should have taken in Legendary. Â This is his responsibility and his burden. Â (There should be a thread of distrust in Ripâs plot. Â He loves his team, but he doesnât want to burden them and he doesnât really trust them with the burdens.)
So of course, then, his true test is to let it go and relinquish his burden to someone else, to trust SARA to act.
Sara: I wouldnât make Saraâs test about bringing back Laurel. Â Since, as I said, sheâd already resolved that in Compromised. Â Saraâs test is different: Â The Spear promises her wrath: the ability to destroy her enemies and eradicate anyone who has ever or will ever hurt her, her sister, and her friends. Â Iâd specifically highlight: her murder at Malcolmâs hands, her sisterâs murder by Darhk, and Ripâs violation by Eobard, because that gives an additional temptation: theyâre helpless in her brig. Â She CAN deal with them now. Â She can protect anyone. Â âNo woman should suffer at the hands of a manâ can be a reality now.
But Sara doesnât respond to this temptation by going for the Spear, but rather fleeing away from it. Â Sara is terrified by this temptation and terrified that on some level she wants it. Â Thatâs why, in the end, sheâll be the one to use it. Â Because her true test is to trust herself. Â When she does use the spear, she doesnât bring back Laurel. She doesnât obliterate her enemies as a Goddess of Rage. Â She just does what needs to be done. Â The Spear neutralizes itself and theyâre all freed.
Iâm torn when it comes to Mick, since on one hand, I want to give him the chance to undo his mistake in a heroic manner. Â But on the other, who can blame him for wanting to save his friend? Â But I like this betrayal better than the ones in Fellowship/Doomworld, because I think the team can accept that these sort of circumstances would not likely happen again.
That might require more thought.
In the end though, the team rejects their temptation, Rip trusts Sara, and Sara overcomes her fear of herself to use the spear.
(I admit, that Iâd be inclined to throw Sara and Mick a subconscious bone. Â Somewhere, hidden in time, a version of Laurel Lance and Leonard Snart wake up. Â NOT because Sara couldnât resist temptation. Â She succeeded. Â But more as an act of the Spear itself.) Â
I suppose Iâd still keep Rip leaving and the broken time at the end, but Iâd make it less about having rewritten time that once and more about the teamâs general carelessness along the way. Â The people saved and people killed. Â The zombies and stray Time Pirate. Â Tokugawa and Turnbull wouldnât have happened in this version, but Iâm sure we can find a few more instances of the team trampling through history to use as a basis. Â And then, go on from there. Â :-)
[ETA: I admit, I probably would not include Gideon in the mass temptation, but itâs possible that she can be involved in Mickâs side of the plot.  If he does end up  choosing to help the team in the end, he may be unsnared by this whole mess, and she can help him.  That also will require more thought.]
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His Dark Materials Episode 4 Review: Armour
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With the introduction of two new characters and the journey underway, His Dark Materials is really flying now. SpoilersâŚ
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This His Dark Materials Episode 4 review contains spoilers. It originally appeared on Den of Geek UK.
If the careful foundation-laying of the first three episodes had left you feeling at all distanced from or frustrated by this story, then "Armour"âs here to yank you into a giant bear hug and surround you with fun, action, excitement and promise. This was the most enjoyable and accessible episode yet.Â
With the uncluttered, clear-cut plot of a videogame level (meet mystical gatekeeper, solve riddle, receive magical object, recruit allies, unlock achievement), a ticking clock thanks to the spy fly device, and the introduction of a couple of welcome archetypes (the rascal adventurer and the down-on-his-luck warrior), it was an entertaining hour of forward momentum. Lyra solved problems and forged alliances while the grown-ups  dwelt on their pasts and pondered her role in the future war.Â
The alethiometer - until now a weighty question mark - also came into its own as a magical engine driving the characters onwards to the next thing, and the next.
The very next thing is a four-day hike north to Bolvangar (aka The Station aka The Fields of Evil) to rescue the stolen children. With a fast-talking aeronaut and a legendary fighter for whom âwar is the sea he swims in and the air he breathes,â Lyra and the Gyptians are better equipped than they were when they docked in Trollesund. Progress!
Itâs fitting that the episode told the story of Iorek gaining his freedom because this episode felt freer than the others. Its predecessors having done the hard work of explaining concepts like daemons, alethiometers and Lyraâs origin, this one was able to get on with the fun. Now that the gangâs all together, things can really get cracking, and they did. Admirable and impressive and thought-provoking as itâs all been so far, this was the point at which the series really took off and flew. Â
Speaking of flying, the arrival of Texan Lee Scoresby brought with it a welcome sense of lightness and agility. Like Lyra and Rogerâs race over the rooftops in episode one, his scenes were untethered from the seriousness and gloom anchoring everything else. His singing introduction (because if you hire Lin Manuel Miranda, writer of the hottest musicals around, you give him a song) set an entirely new tone â warm and uninhibited instead of ominous and weighty. And after the sad creepiness of Mrs Coulterâs messed up relationship with her daemon (is there anything sadder than her batting away its hand during their Magisterium visit?) and all the peril elsewhere, watching Lee and Hester harmonising on a ditty was loveliness itself. Between that and Hesterâs commentary on the bar punch-up, the companionship provided by the human/daemon relationship has never been clearer, or more enviable.
read more: His Dark Materials Episode 3 Review
Miranda describes his character as âa little bit the Han Solo of this seriesâ and itâs easy to see why. Heâs a fast-talking, law-bending, pilot for hire with a furry companion, and he knows his way around a bar fight. Likeable, funny, good-hearted and entirely non-sinister, what he brings to the adults of His Dark Materials is a much-needed ingredient. Full marks for casting too.
Full marks also to Iorek Byrnisonâs creators at Framestore. As a CG creation, he has heft and substance and feels irrefutably present in the environment (especially when was crashing around its corners, sending it all flying in that rage-filled race to retrieve his armour). Work as skilled as that canât have come cheap and, in the words of Lee Scoresby, neither should it. You get gold for gold.Â
Much more important though, is the heft and substance Iorek has as a character. Voiced by Joe Tandberg, his self-hating sad story evoked just as much pathos as Farder Coramâs tragic tale, and his journey from shame to pride to mercy this episode made his every appearance compelling.Â
Directed by Otto Bathurst (the director who in series one set the template for the ultra-stylish Peaky Blinders), "Armour" wasnât just full of plot movement, but literal movement. Dialogue unspooled between characters who were busily doing things â walking, eating, changing clothes ⌠Nothing was static, which brought Trolleslund as a location to life. Â
The Magisterium opened up as a location too, showing us impressive scale, more of the stooped, reptilian Cardinal, and introducing Fra Pavelâs alethiometer-reading room. Two questions were asked of Fra Pavel - he of the filthy predilections - this episode. From Boreal, how can he discover what Grumann sought; and from Mrs Coulter, who is Lyra Belacqua?Â
Sheâs Mrs Coulterâs daughter, for a start. Both mother and child this episode showed an uncannily similar talent for manipulation. Mrs Coulter played the ace up her sleeve with the Magisterium and flattered the vain armoured bear King Iofur to do her bidding. Like The Jungle Bookâs King Louie, he aspires to the trappings of humanity (and in Lord Asriel has coincidentally trapped a human.) Lyra too, played her hand beautifully against Lee Scoresby, Iorek, even Lord Fa (âHeâs been mistreated and tricked, just like the Gyptians have been, always. Heâs practically Gyptian, just like I am.â).Â
Mrs Coulter isnât the only one with questions about Lyra. Doctor Lanselius eyed her power greedily, and Farder Coram suspects that sheâs the subject of a prophesy â rarely good news. As for the viewers, after on this weekâs show of bravery, quick-thinking, chutzpah and empathy, we know exactly who Lyra Belacqua is: the girlâs our hero.Â
Read and download the Den of Geek NYCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!
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Review
Books
Louisa Mellor
Nov 25, 2019
His Dark Materials
from Books https://ift.tt/2rrz8QK
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The Primordial Feast
This week we dine on Trinkets, a story by Lauren M. Roy from The Primordial Feast, a fiction anthology for Beast: The Primordial.
âThis place is a shithole.â
âA townie shithole.â
Dav and Galen arenât wrong. The place in question is a townie bar, run by three generations of Stowes, frequented by three generations of Colebridge residents. Usually, weâd drink over at Janaâs place, or bring our booze to the park, but sheâd wanted to come out tonight and this is where the cheap drinks are. That, and Janaâs hungry. Sheâs kicked back in her chair, eyeing the regulars at the bar the way some people eye a dessert tray. When she shifts, I feel her shoulder brush mine, even though weâre a foot apart.
Jason sits hunched over his beer, trying to make himself small as possible next to Janaâs bulk. He didnât want to come out tonight, though I know he has to be hungry. Every time Janaâs laughter booms out across the bar, he ?inches. Her laugh draws attention, and even though Jason and I are technically townies, too, he doesnât want to be spotted. His family and mine have lived here a good three-quarters of a century, but small town bullshit means some last names are more important than others.
High school was more than ten years gone, but thatâs easy to forget in a town no one ever leaves.
It doesnât take long for the elbowing and nudging to start. It gets more exaggerated with every round, until one of the former running backs comes over and leans down next to me. âMiranda. I thought youâd dropped off the planet.â He speaks to me but the gaze and the smirk are directed at Jason.
I want to send him packing, say something thatâll make him wet his pants and run back to his frat bro friends, but this isnât the place for it. To a point, itâd be shitting where we eat and Jana frowns on that. Instead I clap a hand on his shoulder, turn him so he has to look me in the eye. âI havenât yet. Shane, right?â
âYeah.â
âMy friends and I are having a conversation, but maybe I can catch you later?â The odds of him taking the hint and walking away are lousy, but itâs worth a try.
He doesnât take it, shifts his gaze past me. âHey, Jason,â he says, that syrupy,drawn-out, fake friendliness made worse by his drunken slur. âHey, buddy. How are you? Howâve you been?â
Shane was huge in high school. He graduated and went straight to work for his dadâs landscaping company, so even though he got a little thicker around the middle in the intervening years, heâs still muscle under the pudge. Jason looks like a reed next to him.
But thatâs why weâve got Jana. My handâs still on Shaneâs right shoulder when hers comes clamping down on his left with a meaty smack. He lets out an urk at the force of it, and turns to peer at her. His muscles tense beneath my fingers as he gets ready for a brawl, then loosen when he realizes the dude who just dared lay a hand on him isnât a dude at all, and he dismisses her as a threat.
Thatâs a mistake.
âWhat my friend is too polite to say,â Jana rumbles, âis fuck. Off.â
His mouth ?aps a second while his brain catches up. Jana leans forward a little, looming even more, and itâs suddenly very crowded at our table. Shane trips his way back to his feet and stumbles over to his bros. By the time he gets to them, heâs all eye-rolling and shrugs and pretending he didnât nearly scream like a little girl. But I saw the way he waddled, like it took all his control not to let his bowels loose right then and there.
Dav snickers. Heâs never been Jasonâs biggest fan, but if nothing else, Jason makes good bait. And in the end, heâs family. None of us would let anything happen to him.
Jana swigs down her beer and orders another. âSo, thatâs dinner sorted,â she says.
She doesnât mean it, not literally, but Jason looks like heâs about to throw up anyway.
â˘Â â˘Â â˘
I like it better when I can plan ahead, but itâs been a lean few weeks. The last few nights, my own Lairâs been trembling as Janaâs Horror stomps around hers. Her footsteps reverberate through the Burrows, setting the leaves of my trees shaking, sending ripples across the water of Jasonâs pond. I imagine even the shadows in Dav and Galenâs shared Chambers shiver. Itâs a small damned town, and thereâs nothing bigger in it than Jana. For a while, that was what kept her fed. Even a town like ours has its bad neighborhoods, and she lorded over the down-and-out, told the gangs what to do, how to commit their crimes in a way that kept people afraid.
Until, that is, the new police chief got sworn in. Janaâs been laying low for a month, playing it careful while she figures out what to do about Chief Bessetteâs pledge to straighten out the criminal element or send them packing. It was fine at first; she went with Dav and Galen when they raised hell in the posh section of town. Break-ins that never tripped alarms, smashed windows that had the selectmen investing in baseball bats and Maglites â not that theyâd have done any good. It got the focus off Jana, but not her people, and the three of them backed off before someone got too brave and decided to play hero. But sheâs still not sure whether the Chief can be bribed or manipulated or just plain needs to be run out of town himself, and itâs made her growly. Both her attitude and her stomach.
So now itâs my turn to feed us, and Shaneâs the best candidate. I time my bathroom break to one of his; seems our little chat made him have to go, and once you break the seal, well. You couldâve set a watch by his bladder after that first trip to the can. Now heâs drunk enough, and arrogant enough, and questioning the size of his balls just enough that when I plant a hand on his chest, heâs ready to try again.
I donât let him do much more than leer. My fingers play with the pendant around his neck, one of those thin, twisting cornicellos. Back in high school, he called it his Italian horny charm, and pointed it at whatever girl he was scoping out that lunch period. Itâs supposed to ward off evil, but if I count, nothingâs happening. âI need some air,â I say. âHow about you?â
He doesnât even wave goodbye to his bros.
The parkâs only a five-minute walk from the bar, across one busy street and down a much quieter one. We go in the back way, down the trail that leads to the row of log cabins the day camp meets in on rainy days. The parkâs empty this time of year, just past Halloween. Once school starts back up, the novelty of trespassing after hours wears off quick. By the time fall nights get their bitter, first taste of winter chill, the kids have discovered much warmer places to loiter.
Heâs sobered up a little as we walked, enough for a touch of common sense to creep in, for his lizard-brain to wake up from its beer-drenched nap and remind him that walking off into the woods late at night is a bad idea.
Which, hey, good for him. Except weâve already stepped into the inky shadows that mark the edge of Davâs Lair, and thereâs no way Shane knows how to get out again. I lead him in farther, let branches brush at his face and roots make him stumble.
Part of me almost feels bad for him. Shane was loud and obnoxious back in school, sure, and if he ever gave me the time of day, I donât remember it, but ignoring someone isnât a crime. Then I think about the way he zeroed in on Jason, the cruel glee that crept into his voice as he said hey, buddy, and whatever fucks I was starting to give about Shane evaporate.
Heâs getting nervous now. His breath comes in ragged gasps. In what little light Dav and Galen are letting through, I can see how wide his eyes are, how they roll towards every snapped twig and half-heard rustle. When I reach for his hand, his skin is clammy. I donât hold it for long.
I know the twists of this maze, but Shane doesnât, and losing him is only a matter of ducking behind a gnarled and twisted old oak and letting him stumble past, calling my name. I donât answer. Why would I?
The hunt is on.
Itâs for Jana more than any of us, and even though weâre chasing Shane through Dav and Galenâs nightmare woods, conjuring roots to send him sprawling, whispering in his ear, tracing icy fingers down his spine, weâre driving him inexorably towards her. Sheâs a dark shape through the trees, and when her Horror plucks him from the ground, lifts him up and up and up so he can look her in her red, red eyes, I canât help but be in awe.
Shane shrieks. Dav and Galen echo it, mocking him with his own fear. Moonlight breaks through the clouds, but it brings him no comfort. Part of me is up there in the sky, my shadow skimming over the lake, dark wings beating in his ear, a talon grazing across his cheek. Above us all, Jana laughs.
He blacks out before she can lift him to her mouth, but thatâs fine. Like I said, she wasnât really going to eat him.
We leave him on the beach in the real world, roll him out of the Lair and close the path. Tomorrow heâll wake up cold and hungover and more than a little ashamed.
I take the charm from around his neck, and realize Jason is nowhere nearby. I havenât seen him since I left the bar.
Found out what happens to Shane, and what happened to Jason, in The Primordial Feast, now available from DriveThruFiction in ebook and print.
#Onyx Path Publishing#White Wolf Publishing#Beast: The Primordial#Beast The Primordial#Chronicles of Darkness
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Overall Thoughts
The good:
The show took me back to a nostalgic period of time. Â It was fun seeing my favorite characters brought to life with voice acting and animation, and made them feel even more real.
For the most part, I was pleased with the animation. Â I prefer the art style of the comics, but I understand the need to simplify things for animation... especially since this was probably a low budget production. Â And overall, I think they did a great job with the rendering and attention to detail. Â
I think Season 2 was better done that Season 1. Â It's too bad the show was cancelled... while I know a lot of you hated the animated series, for understandable reasons, I would have liked to see if they could have redeemed themselves given another season. Â And perhaps some new writers. Â But perhaps that's just because I would have liked to see some of my favorite arcs and issues brought to life. Â I would have loved to see Taranee vs. the Oracle. Â I would have loved to see Orube. Â And I would have loved to see Raphael Silla in action. Â
Yan Lin was as wonderful in the show as she was in the comics. Â Actually, I think she had a bigger role in the animated series, and for that I am utterly delighted. Â I love that they had an older female mentor. Â How often do we get to see elderly women portrayed in the media? Â Especially elderly POC women.
Some of the dialogue was corny and cringe worthy, but I really do think they got better towards the end of the series. Â And there were some very entertaining episodes. Â I think if they had stuck a little closer to the source material, they wouldn't have run into as many problems as they did.
I really love the voice actor they got for Cedric and Phobos. Â I found it very fitting to how I imagined it in my head. Â
They did change the girls outfits every episode. Â Considering other animated TV shows I've watched... hats off for that alone. Â It really helps the girls feel like real, organic characters. Â
They did not butcher Matt's character, although they changed some things about him that I'll never understand. Â But considering how badly they messed up Caleb... hey, I'm glad they didn't mess up my cinnamon bun. Â
The music brings up all sorts of 90â˛s and 2000â˛s nostalgia.  A+ for playing with my emotions while making me cringe just slightly.Â
The bad:
They butchered Cornelia's character. Â Instead of the fiercely rational, passionate, loyal, and protective girl we get to know in the comics, they reduce Cornelia to a the stereotype of the airhead blonde who cares only about her appearance and boys. Â
They butchered Caleb's character. Â Instead of the sweet, supportive, and somewhat clueless flower-man, we get the stereotypical sexist white-boy hero who gets to be a dick all the time and no one ever calls him out on his shit. Â Comic Caleb and animated Caleb are so vastly different the only thing they share in common is their names. Â Giant portions of Caleb's history was erased and instead he was made the "son" of a rebel leader and an evil villain... because, you know, the boy needs an "epic" plot line. Â And earning redemption after living a life of servitude to Phobos wasn't good enough.
They butchered Cornelia and Caleb's relationship, which was supposed to be a tragic love story of star crossed lovers...and instead, relied upon the boring, over-used trope of "You annoy me so I secretly love you." Â It's reminiscent of the boy tugs girls hair and that somehow translates into love. Â It's...cringe worthy at best.
Caleb got far too much screen time. Â I'm sure it was in an effort to drawn in "male viewers." Â But first and foremost, this was a comic series (and animated series) geared towards young girls and empowering young girls, and Caleb got at least half the screen time. Â If anything, we should have been developing the girls backgrounds more or focusing more on their friendships.
Speaking of which, I wanted more scenes between the individual girls. Â We all know they're a powerful, strong group... but what made the comic so amazing was that everyone had a unique and organic relationship with each other. Â There were subtle differences in how all the girls interacted with each other and the comic focused on all of it. Â I wish they would have explored Irma and Hay Lin's friendship as well as the tension sometimes visible between Cornelia and Will. Â
Miranda's character was completely unnecessary and in the end, sad. Â But they never addressed it as such. Â If she was a 15 year old girl, then she was manipulated and abused by Cedric just like Elyon. Â I'm not sure how old Cedric is supposed to be, but we know he's old enough to be an adult and own a bookshop. Â So we're definitely crossing into luring a minor and creepy shit like that. Â While the comics did a great job of showing kids why adults aren't always "safe" with Elyon and Cedric's ultimate betrayal of her feelings, and we never once think "Elyon and Cedric are great together!", the animated series fails to address this as an issue. Â They don't go "Wow this is creepy and wrong as fuck." Â The comics do. Â The comics make it very clear that Elyon was manipulated by Cedric and Phobo's, who used her feelings for Cedric and her love for her brother to twist her into a weapon for themselves. Â So while Miranda was a background character, it's very dangerous not to address this issue. Because if you don't, it makes it seem "okay." Â
Not enough Peter. Â Period. Â But I have this complaint with the comics as well.
They changed Irmaâs character too. Â For some reason, they made her into this sarcastic tomboy. Â I mean, Irma is pretty snarky in the comics, but sheâs also probably the most girly of all the guardians. Â And I will never forgive them for trying to make Irma feel guilty for rejecting Martin, who acted like a total creep and was pissed about being friend zoned. Â It was an absolute injustice to Irma, who would never put up with that sort of shit. Â Sheâs also pretty flirty. Â And while in the comics sheâs seen with multiple love interests, the animated series make it seems like she only ever pines after unattainable guys. Â
If they were going to change anything from the comics, they could have added more body diversity. Â *my one sole complaint about the comics*Â
I wanted more about the girlâs athletic lives. Â Cornelia is this amazing figure skater who has won medals and trophies, and Taranee is a fantastic dancer. Â Will is a beast at swimming... and I think itâs important to show girls excelling at normal athletic events. Â
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Emerald city, brought to you by...Pink Floyd? A lot of focus on guns? Itâs like a choose your own adventure--pick your product placement!Â
witch dynamics: honestly one of my favorite parts!
West: very important that she regards East as the sister who loved her--explains why sheâs helping Glinda, a sister she obviously has some dislike for. I donât quite know how to feel about West--i feel sympathy for everything sheâs been through but she killed Miranda, who had been with her for years, and she was really creepy and manipulative towards Tip! But then again, sheâs had some messed up things happen to her...and Dorothy did kind of sort of kill her favorite sister...
âAre you a good witch, or a bad witch?â YES. But no âIâm not a witch at allâ
Canât take off the ruby/gold gloves, just like in the book, she couldnât get the slippers off of dorothy! yay similarities!
Glinda: still a creepster. confirmed secret keeper! next up; why did East attack her? Iâm guessing it has something to do with the Beast Forever
Also: thousands of witches were born by Mistress South, the confirmed head of the witch family. Where have they all gone to? and if she was so powerful, how was she killed?
Tip: definitely did not get enough of tip this episode. Interesting how he was trapped by mombi and now heâs basically trapped by West. How much of a difference is there, really? loved that he helped save dorothy though, and loved how he came to that decision. that scene with miranda was a little freaky--did West really look into his soul? didnât seem like it
also i donât like Miranda but also what a terrible way to go
whoâs hoping Tip breaks out of this damn palace? I am!!!
Dorothy: poor dorothy, more torture this episode for her. I really winced during that whole glass-and-foot scene--almost worse than hanging in the air, because at least that had a purpose
this damn gun! I knew it would cause major problems! you donât bring modern tech into fairytale lands!
poor dorothy cont. with the karen chapman scene. It was pretty obvious early on that it wasnât her mom, but that didnât bother me. The point wasnât to fool us, it was to fool dorothy, whoâs so distressed at this point that sheâll take any form of familiarity/love she can
speaking of which, West was super cruel when talking about karenâs treatment of dorothy. yeesh
i found it really funny that dorothy could just wander into the wizardâs palace. No guards? At all? and she just walked into his chambers without anyone seeing her? The wizard didnât hear her? the music wasnât that loud...my school is more secure than that palace.
wizard:Â
heâs from earth! whoops i already knew that.
 he knows what a gun is! see above.
...he knows dorothy? okay that one was a ssurprise. We knew he knew Karen chapman (re: when he threw her into Eastâs weather/tornado thing) but i figured karen was preganant or something at that point (20 yrs ago) so how would he know dorothy? I bet he and karen were âinvolvedâ or at the very least discussed baby names. (any chance they arrived in oz together?)
for a man who rules a whole land, he seems to have very little knowledge or control over what goes on.
p.s. heâs gonna make guns now. what a fantastic idea. cant wait.
Langwidere and Jack and King Ev (not dead but pretty much dead)
I love her masks! I donât particularly like her or her treatment of other people, but with what was presented to us, iâm getitng the feeling because of whateverâs under those masks (physical deformity?) she grew up isolated. now sheâs socially unaware, and jackâs gonna show her how to be ânormalâ--what she seems to really want
not on board with this langwidere + jack thing, because i think itâs a huge irresponsible leap to make when she has stated before that she owns him, and she doesnât even understand the concept of friendship. But iâm not aboard the tip + jack train either. choo choo! weâve broken down at the station. maybe we can just all be mutual friends?
also: poor jack. I get the feeling thereâs going to be a decision in his future about whether to fight or not...anyone else reminded of the Tin Soldier? (from The Tin Woodman of Oz)Â
Iâm glad we got some backstory for langwidere! Iâm betting the whole drowning/flood thing has something to do with why she wears the masks
king ev: whatâs up with all this abandonment/death of dogs? what i mean is; WHEREâS TOTO
in the books; king ev commits suicide. here, heâs still alive. PLOT POINT
Lucas/Roan and Sylvie
honestly iâm so proud of lucas in this episode. He doesnât know who he is or what heâs down, but heâs determined to find out. He treats the guy who knows him with kindness even though heâs afraid, and he has SO MUCH LOVE for sylvie. iâm both shaken up by and proud about that moment where, once discovering what he had done, he surrendered himself because he knew it was right!!!! i love him so much!!!
sylvie!!! what a sweetheart! i feel like Lucas telling her âno magicâ is going to have some repercussions as itâs basically the wizardâs order (also I donât entirely get why he said that? is he attributing his memory loss to magic and therefore is now fully against the idea?)
i love the relationship between her and lucas
i hope she finds dorothy?? or dorothy finds her??? fingers crossed.Â
was that toto at the end? inquiring minds want to know.
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Echoes
Title: Echoes Author: Miranda Marie Publisher: Createspace Pages: 474 (paperback) Review: 2/5 Stars
** I received this book free in exchange for an honest review. That in no way impacts my thoughts below**
Echoes is a story of Emma White, a girl made into a deadly weapon who endured memory loss after nearly drowning during a hurricane. Emma is perceived as timid, shy, innocent and fragile, though inside her mind a storm rages seeking release from itâs cage.
Lost in her mind are the memories of who Emma really is and those who made her into this destructive weapon. When Emma is approached by a brother and sister claiming she belongs to a different life, offering to help guide her, she is unable to decipher what is real. Adrae is cool and cunning, dark as night and just as dangerous but her brother Natan is golden like the sun, spreading warmth and protection in his interactions with Emma.
The story follows Emma as she tries to keep her raging storms calm within as she struggles to escape the control of Adrae. Emma battles with her relationship with Natan, longing to protect him from Adrae and from herself.
 This story has so much potential to be great. The idea of a girl who was raised and altered to be a deadly weapon and machine of destruction is not a new concept and one that has the potential to captivate readers. Emmaâs mysterious past and abilities are intriguing and have the potential to hook readers into craving the next page, desperate for answers to the burning questions racing through their mind.
The most prevalent problem with this story is that there is too much mystery. From the very beginning, readers are introduced to characters with very little information. Adrae and Natan, major players throughout the story, are thrust into the plot without any inclination as to who they are or why theyâre there. We know that they were hired by Daniel, Emmaâs brother, and that they live with their parents who we learn are very rich. Other than that â we know quite literally, nothing.
Now, this wouldnât necessarily be an issue if we at least knew why Danielâs character is important to the story line. Daniel is Emmaâs brother who hires Adrae to take care of Emma, but we never learn anything about his relationship with Emma. Why doesnât he want to be around Emma? Why would he abandon her? Why does he have âgovernment contactsâ that are referenced in the end? Why does he help Emma after everything that happens? How does he know what she really is? These are all questions that should have been answered in order to justify much of the reasoning behind why people are looking for Emma.
Additionally, as we learn more about Adrae and Natan, we learn that Adrae is cold and manipulative, but Natan is kind and endearing. Thatâs all we know about these two characters throughout the entire story. We know that Adrae wantâs to use and exploit Emma and her powers, but why? What is her job? What is her overall goal? How did she even learn of Daniel and Emma and how does that all play into the overarching plot of Emma losing her memories?
Natan and Emmaâs relationship is the only thing that truly seemed planned out completely from the start of the story. It was evident from the beginning these would be our âlove interestâ storyline characters. Whatâs confusing about this relationship is that it comes out of nowhere. Emma speaks very little due to her constant restraint, yet Natan seems to fall for her without any interaction between the two of them. I can appreciate the fragility Emma has, and the desire to want to protect her, but to seemingly jeopardize his entire world for this girl he knows for mere days without any spoken dialogue between them seems like a stretch and unrealistic even for fiction.
What takes away from this story the most is the writing style. This story was 474 pages long and I would argue that around 200+ of those pages were devoted to unnecessary metaphors and simile descriptors that took away from the story rather than aided it. Dialogue often drives plot through characters and because our main character is basically mute for most of the story, it doesnât surprise me that weâre given a lot of insight into her thoughts. The problem is that the insight weâre given is so full of metaphor that the reader is left confused to what is actually happening.
I found the overuse of the metaphor of Emmaâs âhurricaneâ and âechoesâ to be exhausting towards the end of the book. Yes, this is the title, and yes, that is how her memories were wiped, but it felt so forced and contrived to continuously refer to her conflicting thoughts in that manner. I think the beauty of good writing is the ability to leave subtle references to things that leave the reader saying âaha! there it is!â yet nothing in this book was subtle. Repetition clogged all of the descriptions leaving the reader bored by the time they are able to get to the actual point of the description. This is especially difficult to read through because there is so little dialogue happening.
I think I understand the authorâs approach to the use of metaphor and simile considering the lack of dialogue. I assume this was intended to provide context and imagery for the reader to immerse themselves into the emotions and experiences of the characters. Unfortunately, I donât think that approach was successful. I spent so much time reading about additional ways to describe one emotion that I forgot what was happening in terms of plot and character interaction.
In terms of world-building, I really donât think there was much attention given to this. We learn that Emma is a girl who was altered to be a weapon of destruction but we know nothing about the world in which she lives. Why is this weapon necessary? Whatâs happening in the world that requires people to invest in this type of experimentation? How was she chosen? Who are the big villains of the story that Emma is ultimately defying by not going along with being used as a weapon?
There was just SO much missing from this story. I truly couldnât tell you what the problem is for this world. Itâs clear that the sub-plot is that Emma has no memories and is trying to get away from the cruel intentions of Adrae, but without knowing who Adrae is or why she wants Emma, or ANYTHING surrounding why Emma is so valuable to these people with money, itâs hard to understand where this story intends to go. Is this a fantasy? Is Emma powerful in some fantastical way? Is this a dystopian society that has descended into some type of turmoil due to war or economic crisis? Are Emmaâs powers more physically based like a trained assassin? Is this science fiction since there are computerized elements surgically placed in her brain? The readers arenât told and arenât able to guess based on the information given.
Like I said â I think there is potential here, I just think the author has to decide what type of story this is. I think there is a lot of work to be done developing these characters, giving them purpose and meaning in the story, since Emma is the only one who isnât sure of her past. I think this is a world that would benefit from being defined. Readers need some background knowledge in order to see the purpose behind these character interactions. I think the relationship between Emma and Natan is missing reason â two people can care for each other but thereâs just so much missing as to what draws Natan to Emma that itâs confusing and appears forced.
Overall, I think there needs to be way less metaphorical description and much more real, direct, world building. This story could benefit from dual points of view â seeing situations from Natanâs point of view would give readers access to dialogue they crave and miss from Emmaâs point of view, but also give readers insight into his motivations behind his feelings towards Emma. The use of metaphor and simile is ultimately the thing that really made me struggle to get through the first 200 pages. I truly believe that much of whatâs written took away from the pace of the novel and actually distracted from the story. Perhaps we will get more answers in the second book, as I assume there will be a second. Unfortunately, I donât think even a second novel can account for all the gaps presented in the first book.
Ultimately, writing style is important for a reader to engage in a story and I just did not connect with this writing style. Perhaps other readers might connect better to this style of writing and find things that I wasnât able to.
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What hidden agenda are you bringing into your relationship?
Chad had all of the features that were on Mirandaâs perfect partner checklist: He was intelligent, good-looking, financially fit, athletic, and loved kids and cats. So why then, she wondered did she always feel like there was something missing or not quite right between then. She often felt that he was trying to control or manipulate her, even though when she confronted him with her feelings, he insisted that he wanted her to be free to make her own choices and do what she felt was right for her. While Chad sounded sincere, Miranda never felt that she could really trust his words and she had a large collection of âevidenceâ that she had gathered over the three years that they had been together that in her mind âprovedâ that he was determined to direct her life. When Chad suggested that they move in together, she became so fearful of the possibility of losing control of her life that she insisted that they would need to get counseling together before she could feel sufficiently trusting that her fears would not become a reality. Chad agreed and reassured her that he had no intention of trying to pressure her into doing anything against her will.
Chad: âI told Miranda that I wasnât interested in making her into someone other than who she is, but she continued to be suspicious of me. She needed a lot of reassurance that I wasnât going to put a collar around her neck and put her on a leash like a pet. I asked her to give me a chance to show her that I wasnât a controlling guy.
Miranda: Part of me really wanted to move in with Chad, but Iâve always been sensitive to issues of control and another part was terrified of giving up control over my own life. I had spent a lot of my life feeling like I wasnât in charge of my decisions, but my parents were. I wanted Chad to not only take away my fear of being controlled but also make up for all those years in which I had to be the perfect child. My parents had such rigid expectations of me that I was in a constant state of tension. I couldnât make a wrong move, get my clothes dirty, speak too loudly, or get anything less than straight Aâs in school.
Through Chadâs support, Iâve come to realize that I had been holding some very big and unrealistic expectations of him that were impossible for him or anyone to fulfill, and I was disappointed and angry that he wasnât fulfilling them. I had hoped that Chad would take away my fear and all that distress that I had been carrying for years from my suffocating childhood. And there were and still are many things that he can do and does, like having us both be included in our important decisions and asking my opinion about things rather than just acting unilaterally without consulting me. The evidence was coming in, but I was still so scared. It finally dawned on me that it wasnât up to Chad to take away my fear of losing my freedom and being controlled. It was up to me to draw my boundaries clearly, and to learn how to relax them from time to time so that I wouldnât turn into a hyper-controller myself.
Chad: I couldnât rescue Miranda from having grown up so straight-jacketed in her childhood, but I could and wanted to support her to find out who she is and to live from that truth. I give her a high five when she takes some chances, tries new things, or sticks up for herself when she and I donât see things eye to eye. I really want her to feel that she can do things her own way and that when she does, I donât love her any less.
Miranda: Chad didnât rescue me from the old pain that I brought into this relationship; but he did show up with love and support while I figured out how to live my life more in accordance with my own script and that has made all the difference in the world.
To the degree that early unhealed wounds and unmet childhood needs are carried into adulthood we may see our partner as having the power, even the responsibility to rescue us from the residual pain from these experiences by providing us with the kind of love that we had never received. Â What we deeply desire is love that is healing, affirming, redemptive, and unconditionally accepting. Â In short, salvation. Not only is this expectation unrealistic, itâs unattainable. Still, the desire for love can be so compelling that it frequently blinds us to this reality.
When we feel ourselves to be incomplete or lacking a sense of wholeness, we often seek out others to fill our emptiness, someone who seems to possess the power to restore us to wholeness. Generally such a person embodies inner qualities, character traits and ways of being that are similar to those of one or both of our parents or caregivers. This sense of familiarity is one of the things that make this person attractive to us.
Such a person often inflames the desire for redemptive love, the kind of love that can heal our hearts and souls. When we are redeemed, we feel ârightâ with ourselves and relieved of feelings of unworthiness, doubt, anxiety and shame. âThis time,â we tell ourselves, âthis person will love me in the way I really need and deserve to be loved, and their love will remove the pain and suffering from my life.â
This then is the redemptive longing; the hope of being saved once and for all from the suffering inherent in a life in which we feel ourselves to be undeserving of love. When we fail to recognize the illusory nature of this expectation, relationships that began with dreams of divine bliss, can deteriorate into unrelenting frustration, and the person whom we had hoped would be our salvation becomes the source of more emotional pain.
Itâs in our ability to see the true source of our attraction and attractiveness to others that we can begin the real healing work that can free us from relational patterns that no longer serve us. With this awareness we can learn how to put out the fires of suffering at their source. Â When we do this we diminish the inclination to compromise ourselves in order to gain love and acceptance from others. Looking for wholeness and security through another is like seeking relief of a toothache from a painkiller. There's nothing wrong with doing it and it will temporarily alleviate the pain, but it is not an effective long-term solution.
When the source of the problem has to do with an unwillingness to honestly face ourselves, the solution involves the ability to remember (literally, to put back together again) our essential selves and claim all of the parts that comprise the fullness of our being, including those parts that are in need of attention and healing.
This doesnât necessarily require us to reveal our deepest darkest secrets to the world, but simply to honestly acknowledge and experience the truth to ourselves. In so doing, those aspects of our personality that we have tried to conceal gradually become exposed to the light of awareness and compassion. This process of gradual awakening is the essence of the work that over time will set us free. And freedom, isnât just having nothing left to lose, itâs the foundation of fulfilling relationships and fulfilling lives.
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