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sapphire-weapon · 2 years ago

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Up to this point in SW, Ada's exposure to Leon has been:

Seeing him during the village fight and then ringing the bell for him

Seeing him getting choked out by Mendez, then watching him stumble his ass over to the gate, unlock it, and head back towards the village

Luis's radio call to him at the start of his castle section

Their very first scene together in his campaign

The "babysitting's tough, huh?" conversation

Seeing him run over to a dying Luis

The "I guess you're not heartless" conversation

That's it.

So, let's explore Ada's feelings as she goes through Separate Ways with regards to Leon, Ashley, and herself.

The very first time Ada hears Leon's voice, it's him teasing Ashley with:

"I wanted to go home, but Ashley had to see this castle first."

The very first time Ada speaks to Leon herself, the first expression of emotion he shows is when she tells him to leave Ashley behind -- and it's anger at her.

The very first time Ada sees Ashley in person, it's this moment ^^^ in the shots.

This is what I mean by SW making the main campaign feel like "The Leon and Ashley Show" from Ada's perspective. Of those seven encounters, four of them have been about Ashley. In fact, the only conversations that Leon and Ada have had up to this point have been about Ashley.

And this happens over and over and over and over again. Ada can't seem to catch Leon at all without Ashley also being in the picture in some way. The boat scene is literally the only conversation they have or moment they share where Ashley doesn't come up at all.

This is what I mean when I say that SW feels like Ada's being forced to bear witness to what her relationship with Leon could have been in Raccoon City if only she'd been honest and genuine with him up front.

The point of having Ada listen in on the "Ashley had to see the castle" line was so that she became aware of what the relationship between Leon and Ashley was actually like. It isn't just business between them; it's warm and playful.

And Ada rejects that, at first. She outright denies it to herself. That's what's really at the heart of her telling Leon to leave Ashley behind -- because Ada, at first, almost doesn't confront Leon at all. She damn near leaves the room before he walks in, but then she thinks better of it at the very last second.

The full line of dialogue of:

"Leave the girl. She's lost no matter what. You walk away now, and who knows? Maybe you'll live to meet me again. And then I might get you that 'greeting' you were looking for."

immediately follows her openly hitting on him ("Not a bad move. Very smooth."), to which he has no reaction. And so she gets more explicit with him. Let's break it down:

"Leave Ashley. She's not important. If you leave her, you'll finally get to have me. That's what you really want, right?"

That's why her actual line isn't framed as a warning. She doesn't double down on it when Leon pushes back on it; her response is: "Right. How about we continue this discussion another time?" It's not about Ashley turning or not turning -- it's not about Leon saving her. It's about Ada offering herself and then feeling "what the fuck" about it when the offer is refused.

But she still denies it to herself. That's why her follow-up line of dialogue once she jumps out of the window is a very coy "See you around, Leon." She still isn't ready to accept that she's been replaced as the focus of his attention and affection -- hence the pettiness of her "Babysitting's tough, huh?" line.

Her attitude only starts to change after Luis's death -- when his dying wish is for her to help Leon. So, Ada puts her pettiness aside and switches from demeaning and belittling Ashley to referring to her as "your friend" instead. It shows a degree of respect while still removing the overt affection from the equation.

But then Krauser runs off with Ashley. Leon's anger boils over, and he shoots Salazar in the face. And now, Ada's reaction is:

But when she finds him right on her heels because he's that fucking pissed and that fucking determined to go after Krauser for Ashley's sake, it still catches her by surprise. It speaks to the depth of Leon's concern and affection for Ashley.

Once again, it reaffirms that Ashley's not just a mission objective to Leon. It's personal, for him.

This leads directly into the boat scene, where Ada tells Leon that his greatest strength is still the love and compassion he has for other people...

... though it's not as if he hears her at all.

The next time Ada sees or hears from Leon, it's her walking in on the "for Luis" scene.

Even though Capcom went out of their way to make sure that Leon and Ashley didn't hold hands because they didn't want people to ship them, because, as we all know, holding hands is a universal sign of romance so that's exactly what they were talking about for sure and hi I'm twelve years old and I don't know how exaggerated anecdotes work what is this? anyway so Leon and Ashley hold hands in this scene even though that's not what Capcom wanted

I mean

Along with the pep talk scene, this is the most intimate scene in the game. Ada is intruding on a very private, vulnerable moment between Leon and Ashley that ends in a promise:

"For Luis."

This is Ada's affirmation that Luis wasn't jerking her around -- he was being genuine about wanting to help Leon and Ashley, and now they're committed to honoring his memory and granting him his dying wish.

And Ada's pettiness finally melts away -- at least, for a time. They have their way of honoring Luis, so now it's time for her to do it her way.

Suddenly, Leon and Ashley's closeness doesn't matter to her anymore -- because it's not about them, and it's not about her. It's about Luis.

Walking out of the comms facility, she hears Ashley successfully fighting off Saddler. Interesting framing here with the jet ski in the foreground.

But interestingly, Ada's focus doesn't fall to her.

There's actually not a single moment in this game where Ada says Ashley's name out loud. Ashley is either "her" or "the girl" or "the president's daughter." No matter how far she comes in this, Ada still can't let go of that last little bit of pettiness. It's still personal for her, and the only reason why Ada helps Ashley at all is because it also helps Leon, which in turn honors Luis.

So, she does do it.

But not for Ashley's sake.

And she isn't about to go out of her way, either.

And then we reach the apex of it all.

Ashley's watching Leon's fight with Saddler with her hands clasped against her chest as though in prayer, as embers float around her like fireflies. This is overtly romantic imagery. I've said this before but: this is so romantic in its imagery and symbolism that it's just straight up on the level of Final Fantasy nonsense.

And not only is Ada forced to reckon with that, but the first and only thing out of Ashley's mouth to her is an order. Not a request. Not a plea. An order.

And all Ada can say in return is:

"On it."

She's lost this fight.

Leon and Ashley (and Luis, to an extent) are a team, and Ada isn't part of that team. She sees it in this moment. Ashley is so comfortable in her place at Leon's side that Ada is a non-factor in the equation all together. That's why she wasn't in the lab with them. Ada acted as Luis's substitute, but in the lab, he was still with them.

"All of this -- removing the parasites -- this was Luis?" "Yeah. We're alive thanks to him."

The matching scars that Leon and Ashley end up with as a result of their radiation surgery are different from the matching scars that Leon and Ada have.

Leon and Ada's scars are a symbol that they once carried the same consequences born of the same mistakes.

Leon and Ashley's scars are a symbol that they once carried each other.

And that’s a huge fucking difference.

Ada feels that difference in that moment.

There is no "Who was that woman, anyway?" "She's like a part of me I can't let go" in this version of the story, because Leon has long since let her go.

And so her pettiness comes back. At the very end, she shoots her final shot:

It's a bookend for and a direct callback to what we were talking about earlier:

"Leave the girl. She's lost no matter what. You walk away now, and who knows? Maybe you'll live to meet me again. And then I might get you that 'greeting' you were looking for."

which really meant:

"Leave Ashley. She's not important. If you leave her, you'll finally get to have me. That's what you really want, right?"

and led into:

"Right. How about we continue this discussion another time?"

She's ready to continue the discussion. One last ditch effort to see if all love is lost between them.

Leon's answer is very clear.

The Leon and Ashley Show isn't over, but Ada's role in it is.

Which leaves her to wonder who and what, exactly, she'll be the next time she and Leon meet now that her status as The Love Interest has been completely and utterly usurped.

#resident evil 4 #ada wong #leon kennedy #ashley graham #meta analysis #separate ways #consider this your quintessential 'SW confirmed that aeon is dead' post #i didn't even mean to do this #i just reached that scene in salazar's boss room and got a wild hair up my ass i guess

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marvel-starwarsfangirl · 1 year ago

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"The Bad Batch" S3 Review- Spoilers

Alright guys, we made it. After 3 years of this lovely show, it has finally come to an end. I definitely plan on doing a review of the entire show and see where it fits with the other big animated shows. However, that will come after my Crosshair Character Study. For now, let's focus on S3. Like Season 2, I'd definitely say it's a solid 8.5/10 for me. Although, S2 might still be my favorite. I honestly think Rebels might be the only show that has a 9/10 final season for me. Look, I loved CW and Siege of Mandalore is phenomenal, but that Ahsoka arc was not it. The final season of TBB has so much I absolutely loved and so much I wished it handled better. So, let's jump right into it!

This season felt so different for me and I definitely know why. The story is much more plot driven than the first two. In the first two seasons, the Batch were more worried about survival and kinda just went on adventures all around the galaxy. The Empire really didn't know where they were so the stakes weren't as high. Crosshair himself was stuck in the Empire meaning he didn't focus on the Batch as much until they crossed paths with him.

S3, however, sees the Batch and Omega specifically being hunted relentlessly. They need to figure out what's going on or else they will never be free. This shift from the Batch galavanting around the galaxy to a more plot driven narrative does change things up. Looking back, I think the creative team just needed more time. S3 has so much going for it and there just isn't time to flesh out the ideas to their fullest potential. That being said, I am overall satisfied with everything they pulled off, especially Crosshair. This show has solidified him as one of my top 3 favorite SW characters and fave clone. He's so well-written and I adore him.

What I loved:

The atmosphere this season was so dark and I loved it. There was a maturity to the ideas and threat level that I honestly really appreciated. Just like Andor, TBB really demonstrates just how monstrous the Empire is. There is nothing that Palpatine won't do in order to achieve total domination and subjugation of the entire galaxy for all eternity. And Hemlock is right there beside him. That man's passion for his craft knows no bounds; it doesn't matter who's strapped to his table. It's so horrifying to think how Tantiss is probably just one of the many, many inhumane and monstrous things the Empire has running. TBB, like Andor, is peak Empire imo. If there was any doubt that this monstrosity could last as long as it did, these two shows erase it.

I also really loved the character relationships, particularly Omega and Crosshair. Their bond is so beautiful and reminiscent of ones I see in my own life. There's nothing Crosshair wouldn't do for her and it fits really neatly with who he is as a person. Omega brings out the best in him, just as she does all her brothers. This season really emphasized how much Omega's brothers have influenced her. Their lessons really come into play by the end of the season. To see her grow from a naive young girl into a mature (but still childish) teenager/pre-teen was beautiful.

Crosshair this season was everything to me. I could be here for hours talking about him. I was beyond thrilled with how they handled him. He has changed so much and this season highlights that growth in every way. Crosshair remains to be the best written character and nothing about him felt OOC. I loved his dynamics with the Batch and Omega. (The hugs were perfect)! I loved how his struggle was something he worked on the entire season; it wasn't just one and done. I love how the themes of trust were woven so perfectly into his story. Crosshair was perfect (I'll touch on the hand thing later). I couldn't have asked for more (except just give me more Crosshair. I will never be tired of him. I could watch a whole show of just him doing stuff).

I don't have a burning desire to punch Hunter anymore. Yay! But in all seriousness, I have developed a soft spot for him. As much as he got on my nerves in S1, I really do appreciate him a lot more. He does care deeply and has a lot he's struggling with.

Echo showing us why he's the ARC Trooper. Seriously, those scenes of him will always live rent free in my head.

Emerie! Really great character and very interesting.

*hides in a corner* Rampart.

The music and animation were phenomenal. Honestly, both were flawless. The music in particular moved me to tears several times. Props to the animators and Kiners because this is some of their finest work yet. That one shot of Crosshair catching CX-2's knife was outstanding.

I also loved the action, seeing the boys fight together, and final shot of the Batch + the epilogue. There is so much I adored in those moments and the rush of emotions I got each time. The epilogue was so personal and I might do a separate write up on it.

The themes of family and hope were also front and center and I loved every second of it. If anyone asks why I love TBB, it's because this is show about family more than anything. The Batch are a family and seeing them learn to be one is so beautiful. It means so much that Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair got to settle down together and raise Omega. It's just beautiful.

What I didn't like:

I wanted more deep convos. Whether it was because of a preference for action or time constraints, the writers just needed to have more deep character emotions and let them sink in. It's why "The Outpost" and Tech's convo with Omega are so well loved; they let us really be with the characters. I wish S3 had more of those moments because they make this show that much better. I just wanted more. And I know this show is capable of that. It sucks knowing what it could've been. So many moments could've hit more had they been given time to breathe or worked in a bit differently.

The way Tech was handled. Hats off for actually keeping him dead. I just wish we got proper closure on that 😐. Although Tech's death looms largely over the Batch, it feels like the writers brushed it off. Why didn't we get a scene of Crosshair learning what happened? I know the time skip implies they all processed Tech's death, but it still felt like something was missing. It felt like the writers expected us to also process it like the Batch and move on. Except, we're not the Batch. We don't know what went on in their heads because they're fictional. The audience relies on the writers to show us that grieving process and we don't get it. It also didn't help that it felt like they were baiting us with CX-2 at times.

Some of the plot lines being dropped for plot/time reasons. Look, I know that it's about the Batch and their journey on becoming a family. However, it felt like more was being set up and it might go no where. One thing I love about TBB in general is how it showed us how the Empire began to change the galaxy the moment Palpatine got what he wanted: total dominance. Clones began to take a stand. Talks of rebellion were already being whispered. I just hope that these storylines revolving around Rex, Riyo, and Echo don't wither away because TBB has ended. Or the Ventress thing. I know they said she'll be back but who knows when that'll happen. I also wanted to know more about the CX Program. That’s what fanfics are for, am I right?

The pacing was brutally fast. This ties into my points about the narrative being more plot driven and lack of time to fully flesh out ideas. It felt like there was almost no room to breathe at times because we jumped from plot point to plot point as each episode progressed. Don't get me wrong, TBB handled this way better than Ahsoka, but I just needed like two more episodes of the boys and Omega running around, ok?

Overall, this season just needed time.

What I am neutral on:

Scorch. Man was done dirty, but I didn't know who he was til this season. Sorry guys. Including him and not giving him anything wasn't a good idea imo though.

Crosshair's hand. I get both sides of the argument, I really do. First off, I'm a sucker for whump. I can't help it. Also, you can say that him losing his hand connects to him severing himself from Tantiss and the pain he went through. But at the same time, Crosshair's trauma isn't going to magically vanish by just chopping off his hand. If anything, it'll just add to the trauma. I applaud the writers for dealing with such a sensitive topic, but from a certain POV the hand chop is a quick fix to a storyline that could've had more substance with another season. I'm neutral on it because again, I see both sides of the argument. I think if we got more of a reaction from Cross, the situation would've been more clear (he was doing some crazy compartmentalization during the back half of the finale, let's be honest here).

Anyways, that's my review of S3 of TBB. Despite it's flaws, this little show still went out on a high note and I am very pleased with it. I love TBB with all my heart and I will hold it cherish it forever. Until next time everyone. I will still be talking about Crosshair and this show, don't worry. No matter what, I will never tire of this beautiful family ❤️

#star wars #the bad batch #tbb crosshair #tbb omega #tbb hunter #tbb wrecker #tbb tech #tbb echo #tbb season 3 #tbb spoilers

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manic-sapphic · 4 months ago

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"whatever happens, i am staying with you"

sorry bout it but lying bout that - it's another rant. kind of a longer one tbh, just a heads up.

just one of those days <3

the moment in heart pt 2 when catra finally accepts that she’ll probably never be able to get adora to consider whether it really needs to be or always has to be her who gives up everything and shoulders the weight of the world, without hesitation - her certainty that she’s “the only one who can” save everyone being a reason adora's only said once. but has obvi always felt. tasking herself with guaranteeing safety, comfort, security, & happiness for everyone she knows is sewn into her the way catra's feeling of worthlessness is.

catra to sw: "oh no, i've learned everything from you. how to dodge. how to predict when you'll strike. how. to. resist. you thought you were punishing me all these years? wrong. you were training me for this day" (tbh the gay rebellion here is so badass)

adora: "special? chuckles no - i was only special as long as i obeyed you" tbh i love that their lil speeches to sw parallel each other so well as far as tryna act like they figured her out and can't be played w anymore - lying to themselves bout that right up to the end tbh

cause yeah adora esp, tryna be etheria's protector? not enough weight to shoulder the fate of - gotta save the universe now. she's the only one who can, and her present has always in some way been dedicated to assuring a life, and future, for everyone but her. (fck off shadow weaver)

so this time, catra decides she’ll just have to simply refuse to let adora sacrifice her, realizing whether or not adora felt quite the same way about her, catra knows everything adora's done for her and has to have accepted that regardless of how, she does matter to adora ("..not like i want her") so regardless of what the love is, catra decides to act on hers. again and again with every choice she makes from the moment she and melog take off to try n warn adora. she's only just really seen/heard the way shadow weaver is with adora - when she gets her alone - and her understanding of how much more that's done to adora than she'd ever had any idea of. (catra was straight up brainwashed and robbed of her autonomy, and she's also no stranger to shadow weaver or manipulation - she sees it doesn't always take a chip to achieve the same effects)

so catra makes a snap instant decision about adora, once again acting as fast as she can, determined to do all in her capacity to reach adora with the resolve that if adora is intent on taking this risk, willing to sacrifice herself, she can't change that. cause as frustrating as it is that she can see how much that choice isn't quite entirely adora's, it's not her's either. the only choice offered to her was staying or leaving. and in spite of leaving over feeling adora had basically already chosen to, again making a choice that could very likely leave catra behind, and this time in a way catra won't even get to just love her like she's realized is all she really wants to do. reciprocated or not. and once again feels like adora's sacrificing her and them, but because adora's knowingly willing to take the risk that she may be sacrificing herself.

and catra. them, like i said, i guess.

but much like adora, i think catra actually started to feel a bit like maybe she just can't have what she wants - but in a very different way than she did when she took off in failsafe and beforehand. more in the way of adora. like idk it almost seems like she sees that to stop prime, maybe this is what it might take. but just like adora jumping after her into the shadows in save the cat -

not a chance in hell catra's gonna leave that magigurl alone at the end. not. a. chance. in. hell. instead, she chooses to sacrifice herself for adora. again.

catra no longer tries to talk her out of it, she just outright refuses to listen when adora tells her to leave. cause catra already tried that a couple times and realizes that it's just not gonna work for her. there's nowhere else she'd rather be tbh.

not surprising in the slightest ofc knowing the things catra's already been willing to do for adora since her self-sacrifice and their reunion and what adora was willing to do to give them another chance.

and honestly - this right here - her gentle hand on adora's shoulder, tryna return the support she was given for so long and not be scared to just do it - i can't. especially w the way aj delivers "c'mon.. we have to go" 💔

and adora just looks at her in this way that absolutely dissolves my molecules like wtf - she already knows in that moment imo that catra loves her. she just doesn't feel like she's allowed to reciprocate it yet. but you can tell she sees it and needed it so bad and just doesn't quite feel cleared to entirely let herself feel her own feels.

but the realization here to me is 2 big things: catra's not tryna stop her anymore. she just wants to take her. take care of her. what is this show even hah like the complexity of this cartoon is dumb amounts of 🔥 and i just can't -

oh eh tho - the look on catra's face here, before they've even reached the heart and catra supporting adora - the sometimes 8ft magic alien baddie - yet she helps carry her along all the way there. lil sweet bitty tsundere kitty. wth. how dare

the look on her face is determined as when she made her choice in corridors.

catra knows that when she left in failsafe, it was a one-step-forward, two-steps-back moment. backsliding into her old habits. convinced adora didn't and never would want her like she wants her.

and instantly not giving a flying fck about that when once again- she's aware prime's plans have not only put adora's life in danger, but were almost certain to result in its end.

and same frame of mind catra locked into in corridors comes back. whether adora wants her or not, it doesn't matter. that's not catra's call to make, but either way, it doesn't change that catra does and always has loved adora. and she burned so many calls that were hers to make that only kept them apart, thinking if adora didn't love her back, then her feelings for her weren't just unrequited, they were her weakness. (fck off shadow weaver)

but by now, she doesn't need to say it. it's clear she's realized love only emboldens and enhances her strength, and she loves adora. you can tell she was so full of grief, regret, and self-hatred just thinking of her on prime's flagship w glimmer. entirely certain that she'd never even see her again and that even if she could, there was nothing she could say to change that adora wouldn't want a damn thing to do with her.

but somehow, unbelievable and undeserved as catra feels it is- she gets to be back with adora- only to leave in failsafe. a regression, yeah, but one that served to strengthen her resolve not to leave adora's side again. cause since corridors imo reciprocation of her feelings wasn't really something she felt needed to be established before she could fully give adora hers. never had been tbh. and adora always had the mutual feels imo anyway. catra just kinda had to be reminded of what it means to just love w/o expectation, if you ask me.

and that means things bout unconditional love i'm just not too sure she could really let herself feel just yet. cause trust issues. but once she does, that's that.

so she's determined to be honest with herself and act on her love for adora again and always - with a look in her eyes that says she knows she might be walking with adora towards their end, and being anywhere else isn't even a consideration anymore. there's only one place she wants to be if their whole world really does meet its end, and has devoted herself to doing everything she can to stop that from happening by staying, dedicated to keeping adora alive.

but not cause she wants adora, or her love, although she certainly does, but for the same reason she was willing to sacrifice herself saving glimmer. adora deserved everything she'd spent so much time on and sacrificed so much for trying to ensure it to everyone else. catra wanted to share those things with her, of course, but whether adora would or not, she still wanted adora to have those things. she knows how much adora deserves that she'd never ask for, let alone allow herself to want.

so no more waiting for adora to ask or want. catra just decides to say and do. all guided by the promise, something she held onto hoping it meant they'd always care for each other. catra & adora.

and i mean ADORA. not she-ra.

and ofc catra still hopes for that, but now the only thing she wants is to look out for adora. and she didn't want or need anything in return, she would just be so heartbroken to know adora never got a chance at a life that was hers, able to finally experience her own wanting and having. it was no longer about catra's own feelings regarding any of that, having what she wanted fell to a new desperate desire she was determined to do anything she could to make happen- adora getting to have what she wanted. whatever that might be.

they're almost too much love for me to watch but also way too much to not. damn dummies just makin me dumber every time i watch. so don't mind me ok.

“no. i'm not leaving.

whatever happens,

i am staying with you.”

#spop #she ra #catradora #spop rant #spop analysis #spop meta #? i think

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scarlet--wiccan · 7 months ago

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Honestly it seems like a fight to even have Billy's Romani heritage mentioned in the comics, even though he seems like the type to be really eager to learn about his cultural heritage. And it'd be a bonding activity that doesn't exclude Tommy, the way that something magically inclined most likely would.

On one hand, Pietro and Wanda being drawn with darker skin is a relatively recent development that still seems to be facing some pushback. On the other, I'd expect the lack of whitewashing to naturally apply to Luna, Billy, and Tommy as well? Even in the case of retro-reincarnation; if they're written and drawn as taking entirely after Wanda's family physically, instead of the Kaplans or Shepherds- that's what Heinberg and Cheung intended, it's how Magneto identified them as Wanda's kids, and everyone else has followed that trend- then I don't understand some people's logic behind that applying to everything EXCEPT skin tone.

To my understanding, making this sort of change to a character's official design requires a degree of editorial authority. Dauterman, Orlando, et al were able to do that for Wanda and Pietro because they had more direct control over them as title characters. They're making Speed or Wiccan comics, so they don't get to do official design sheets for Billy and Tommy. I'm sure that there were many other, more complicated conversations happening behind the scene, but I think that's the basic gist.

Having said that, there's really no reason they couldn't give Billy and Tommy darker skin, or just make them look more like Wanda, in Scarlet Witch, even if it wouldn't be reflected in other books. Artists get away with making arbitrary coloring choices all the time-- usually for the worse, but sometimes for the better. So, I think that they are making this visual distinction on purpose, and there's a couple reasons why that might be happening. A lot of people do arrive at the conclusion that Billy and Tommy should look more mixed, for lack of a better term, than Wanda because of their unconventional parentage. I don't love it, especially not when it means making them super pale, but I do understand the logic.

It's also completely possible that Orlando doesn't think or hasn't realized that Billy and Tommy are Romani, or have Roma heritage. Or perhaps he is just uncertain of what the best, most appropriate course to take, because it's an odd situation. This is why, even if he's not writing stories specifically about Wanda's race and culture, he'd benefit from a consultant or sensitivity reader.

I'd care a lot less about what these characters looked like, if I felt like the nuances of their heritage were authentically represented. I care about Wanda and Pietro being brown because there isn't enough inclusive representations of brown Roma, and because there is a gap in readers' understanding that Roma are a racial minority, so seeing us as people of color is necessary. If people had better understanding, or if there was a more inclusive range of characters, it wouldn't matter. Similarly, I want Billy and Tommy to look like Wanda because for some reason "Billy and Tommy are Wanda's kids" does not translate to "Billy and Tommy are Romani" in people's minds. If that was already a given, it would matter less.

Anyways, I've pointed this out before, but it does seem as if Dauterman may have changed Billy and Tommy's skin tone on his most recent covers. Its really hard to tell because of the lighting, but compared to last years #6, I feel like the base color here is closer to Wanda and Pietro's shade range.

Again, full aware that this is a stretch, but if you use Lorna as an example of how fair skin reflects in this sort of dramatic lighting, the tones used on Billy and Tommy are consistently deeper and warmer. I'm not making any assumptions, it's just something I noticed and it's made me very curious to see what the interiors will look like for SW #7.

#billy kaplan #tommy shepherd

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gffa · 2 years ago

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hiya! long time listener, first time caller-- I'm writing a couple fics with Jedi protagonists (Shaak Ti, Mace, other Prequel Jedi) which is really fun so far except for the part where I "majored in" (read: hyperfixated on) Organization and Tactics of the GAR and don't actually know that much about the Jedi as individuals, *especially* anything that happened before TPM.

I was wondering if you know of any resources that organize/compile information about that era of Jedi? Things like lineage lists, who was on the Council when, typical schedules/roles/responsibilities, that kinda thing. Resources can be any format; other Tumblr blogs, articles, images, discord servers, archived websites, whatever works! Even the obvious stuff can be helpful (outside of Wookiepedia), since this isn't a part of fandom I've walked through much. You're the only big-name Jedi blog I know.

(If you don't have the spoons to respond, I understand, thanks for reading anyway!)

Hi! Congrats on writing your fic, I'm wishing you all the luck in the world! And here's where my brain starts spinning in a bunch of different directions, because here's the sticky thing about Star Wars "lore": there are three separate continuities and, while you are absolutely free to mix and match as you like and should pick out all the things that interest you, no matter the continuity, they do still exist in separate realms. You have Lucas' Star Wars, you have Legends Star Wars (the Extended Universe/EU under Lucas' ownership of SW, but he has explicitly said it's a separate world from his Star Wars), and you have Disney Star Wars. There is worldbuilding in each of them (though, often very thin on the ground at times) but what's true in one isn't going to be true in another--for example, in Legends there was an age cut off for Jedi initiates at 13, if they didn't get a Master. This limit does not exist at all in Lucas' SW (is contradicted by Ahsoka at 14 being said to be YOUNG for being a Padawan) and Disney Star Wars (there's an Initiate who is 16 and doesn't have a Master and will have to wait at least another year to try again, with no hint of them aging out). You pick which works for you! Just that I think it helps to be aware of what bits come from which continuity. There's also not a ton of pre-TPM content, at least not after The High Republic! Though, I've found THR stuff generally pretty helpful for prequel-era Jedi stuff, because they act and behave 98% of the same way imo! THAT SAID, I tend to collate as much of the Lucas continuity and Disney continuity (as they're the ones I generally prefer) and I have a bunch of resources if you don't mind some homework reading! 😂 I did at least make it as easy to browse as I can, though! - Jedi Culture and Teachings in Canon - A mix of Lucas and Disney content mostly, organized by sections for hopefully easier browsing for what you're looking for! Because 75k words of citations is a lot. orz This is going to give you probably the most of what you want, because I have been working to collect all of that kind of stuff--descriptions of the Temple and personal quarters, any rituals they have, how a Jedi's day is structured, what different paths and roles are common with Jedi, all the Jedi philosophy, what kind of pets they have, etc. It's in three (so far) parts, so you'll have to browse through each of them, but the set-up is the same in each one, so if you find a section that you need the info on, just Ctrl+F to find it in the next part or skip to the same chapter, they're the same template for each! - My "reference" tag - Which is a mixed bag of various posts and different continuities (primarily Lucas + Disney, though) that organize this kind of thing, like a possible in-universe calendar system [also here], a collection of worldbuilding bits specific to Padawan, which was pre-TPM, crossection of the Jedi Temple, a Jedi Council seating arrangement chart through the years, a list of the handful of Master&Apprentice match-ups that we know, a list of "what kind of swearing do people of the galaxy do?" because it's hilarious, a compilation of everything I could find about Jedi healers in ANY continuity, etc. I hope this helps and if you have any other questions (or anyone else wants to suggest other resources!), feel free to ask, I might be able to better steer you if you have a specific question--or at least tell you that I don't think we have anything on that. AND ALSO just remember: the books and games and comics are pretty low on the "hard canon" level, the movies and the TV shows are the highest level of canon, everything else is supplementary and you do NOT have to scour every inch of it if you don't want to! Relax and have fun with it as best you can. <3

#lumi.txt #jedi order #reference #meta

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animazi · 10 months ago

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well. hornet's nest time I guess. qimir is the one part of the acolyte I would cut to make it better. so the show is ostensibly about mae and osha's (and sol) relationship right? osha is our main character; the conflict with mae is a key part of her story. this is her sister who she loves and who tried to kill her. who is a danger to the jedi she once was a part of and who she knows she cannot stop. part of who she is however much she draws away from everyone and rejects mae. sol's line about how mae is her family is an acknowledgment of the fact that osha has conflicted feelings here. similarly, mae is willing to drop her whole revenge quest the moment she knows osha is still alive, that oshie is back, that the missing half of her soul can be reunited; born as two can become one again. sol is also deeply tied up in this - he failed (deliberately) mae, his desire for a padawan led to him triggering the actions that cumulated in osha being stripped of her family; hell he killed her mama! and he does love osha and want the best for her; for her to be safe, and he wants to use mae to atone. he has spent sixteen years thinking about what to say to her and now she is there and has to listen - she can be his arbiter in place of the council. he has failed his daughters padawans, time and time again.

qimir is also there. my main issue with him is that he comes at the story from a different, more philosophical direction, and one that distracts hugely from everything the show has set up earlier - he is also genuinely just unnecessary. introducing this new sith, complete with mysterious backstory and strange scars, properly half way through the show is such a strange choice. narratively he. well I don't really know what he represents honestly. sol does a great job of showing how desires cloud the mind and the issues with sw attachment (to an idea of a person. he wants osha-the-padawan, even though he can barely tell osha and mae apart). mae and osha have some of that juicy attachment going on too, as well as their own emotional story, and qimir is. there to tell you about the dark side? he's handing out free flyers with 'WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN THE DARK SIDE OF THE FORCE TODAY' emblazoned on them. I genuinely don't care what you think of him, all he has done so far is say he wanted a different, edgier, type of power than what the jedi allowed. he's so shadow the hedgehog coded fr fr. anyway, I digress. qimir does not share the same stakes in the emotional core of the story as the other three, he does not even serve as an interesting criticism of the jedi - and yeah sure maybe he'll be super cool and interesting in e8, but that doesn't change the fact that he isn't now, or that more development of mae and the witches could have easily substituted as a way of presenting an alternative to the jedi. i know I'm being a little harsh here; narratively qimir is there to show osha a feelings-based alternative to the jedi; to teach/corrupt her, but it is genuinely unnecessary to the emotional core of the show, the relationship between mae and osha and sol, and all he is doing is distracting from that. there is also the matter of time. there are just too many balls (ideas) in the air for this show to juggle well and satisfyingly. atm its like watching a shit clown that really wants everyone to take him seriously as he adds another ball to the juggling routine and everything starts to wobble dangerously and half the audience have wandered off to stare at the strongman doing bodybuilder poses. which is all to say I genuinely do not see how episode 8 is going to resolve all this also, justice for my girl mae; they could have had her as a conflicted sith figure who is a bit of a failgirl but also imagine her killing jecki. sol's greatest failure from the past striking down his padawan of the present - if he had waited, had never done what he did on brendok jecki would still be alive, and mae wouldn't be this murderer before him. imagine that. wow. imagine it being mae telling osha that the jedi can never love her the way she wants to be loved, blood is thicker than water, do you know what they did? I sure do like thinking about what could have been. oh no im just writing fanfiction of the acolyte...time to stop...

#star wars #the acolyte #original ani thought #master sol #osha aniseya #mae aniseya #the acolyte spoilers #the stranger #anti qimir the acolyte #anti qimir

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bluntblade · 2 years ago

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One thing I keep asking myself now in relation to Ahsoka is: does Filoni like samurai films? Does he have thoughts about any of them? And if he does, why isn't any of it in the show?

For contrast, regardless of anyone's views on The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson engaged with the genre. Rather than just pull from things that had already been used by Star Wars, he explored. He understood the themes of Rashomon and Three Outlaw Samurai, and understood why those films work. You can tell that he has a relationship to and appreciation for the material. He borrows Rashomon's "three versions of the story" and echoing that film, the truth lands in a murky in-between which exposes a critical error by a character, but also incites them to an act of real moral courage. The energy of Three Outlaw Samurai, meanwhile, comes through in the slovenly DJ and the frantic, scrappy melee combat.

In the same way, Andor and Rogue One are applying more than just the aesthetics of espionage thrillers and modern war movies to SW (also they understood what those aesthetics are for). For that matter, TCW's Umbara arc used Vietnam War film nods pretty well.

The Mandalorian, I think, has increasingly lost the sense of having anything to say with its Western elements, and in Ahsoka and its repeated riffing on samurai movies, it's even more frustrating. Characters pose with their lightsabers in ways that mimick the likes of Toshiro Mifune, there are musical echoes, the framing vaguely evokes those films at times... yet it stops there, at the surface. They're not doing anything more than The Jedi was when borrowing frames from Yojimbo back in Mando S2. It begins to feel solely performative, doing homage to the things which influenced Lucas because they influenced Lucas (and missing the fact that Lucas adored these films because they are terrific works of art).

And that doesn't even get into how much of Kurosawa's actual style isn't imitated at all here. Kineticism, the thing which the master did better than basically anyone else, is pretty much absent, let alone his dramatic use of weather and smoke.

The reason I'm harping on about this is that Filoni and his writers room could really have made hay if they dug into these stories, because they would've found themes that informed the story they were ostensibly setting out to tell. Plenty of Kurosawa films are about ronin (sometimes left masterless by a war that destroyed their clans) and their ambiguous, often fraught relationships with the rest of the world.

Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and Sanjuro all get into this stuff. The former also asks searching questions about what place there is for a warrior in a land at peace, which Masaki Kobayashi's Harakiri explores through a much darker and more cynical lens. All of that feels extremely applicable to an Ahsoka who is meant to be scarred by her experiences and feels a gap in her life, where so much of the Jedi's traditional role as peacekeepers and protectors was meant to go. (There is a similar struggle at the heart of David Kirk's wonderful Musashi Miyamoto novels).

But instead we end up with this very shallow attempt at doing homage, which comes out as rather disrespectful in itself when you break it down.

#star wars ahsoka #ahsoka show #ahsoka critical #Mandoverse critical

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prem-ium · 2 years ago

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Okay so I think I've figured out Seonwoo's problem. I went back to re-watch and make note of who called whom and who everyone had been on dates with and realised I had completely forgotten what happened with Seonwoo in the first episode.

Seonwoo was crushing on Junsung!!

They did the washing up together after dinner on the first night. There was some playful banter and SW started crushing on JS.

SW's first phone call was to JS. JS answered in front of Sungho but wouldn't tell him who called. SW got 3 calls that night but JS wasn't one of them.

SW stated his type is someone who takes the lead and makes the first move. JS very much is this type and stated he has dated everyone he's ever been interested in (our boy is persistent). SW likes this. SW wants this. (Yoonghee also fits this type but SW said from night 1 that his only feelings towards YH were pity after receiving his phone call).

SW starts to get his pride hurt knowing he's popular in the house but not with JS. SH picked SW for the first proper date. Before the date, people start speculating on how much time JS and SH spend in the bedroom with the door closed. SW finds a reason to interrupt them. I assumed that this was about SW hanging out with SH but after the re-watch, it's clearly about SW's interest in JS.

SW makes a comment that he has someone he's interested in but he will try three times and if they don't reciprocate then he'll move on. (Very practical especially when you remember that he only came out about a week before the show started) JS never responded to any of SW's flirting or the phone call. So SW took that as his sign and gave up. So now he's untethered, and reassessing his options. There are three openly dominant men in the house (SW's type). They are: Junsung who isn't interested, Minsung who SW views as a friend, and Yoonghee who SW isn't attracted to. His options are fairly shit so it seems he's sort of given up. He persists in going on a date with SH because their date got cancelled and he sees it as the polite thing to do even though he spends the date telling SH how he's not his type and seems very surprised during Jenga when SH says he wants another date with him.

But then he seems to decide to fight for JS. He sits down to discuss things with JS and is surprised to find out JS is set on SH and sees SW as a rival. He brings this up a few times afterwards, in what I first thought was just a dick move, but now realise was SW's way of trying to restart the playful banter from day one or at least get some of JS' attention. He severely underestimates how serious JS is about SH.

At the bbq JS gives his coat to SH. SW then goes and gets a spare coat that he left on the couch by the door. He catches JS in the doorway and offers him the "conveniently available" coat. JS straight up rejected it then told the camera: I gave my coat to someone I like, I'm not then going to wear another man's coat. And proceeded to freeze his balls off as a matter of chivalry.

In conclusion Seonwoo coming across as an ass because he has no chance with the one guy he actually likes and he knows it. His pride has been hurt and now he's just going through the motions. He hasn't mentioned it since the first day, not even in the private interview bits, which tells me he really likes this guy. Personally I think he's not saying it is because he knows he has no chance and is trying to deal with damage control of how he's presented on the show and I don't blame him. I would do the same, honestly.

I was all set to hate him as a player or a heartless prick but now I just feel sorry for him because I, like everyone else, am hoping for 2sung pairing.

#his man 2 #Seonwoo #Junsung #Junsung/Sungho #Sungho #Junsung/Seonwoo #fan theory #2sung ftw #I am waaay too invested in this show

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pink-strawberry-kissess · 2 years ago

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my separate ways analysis (spoilers for gameplay, story/plot, characters, aeon)

for my re4r post, click here (it was written without the knowledge of SW so my opinions there may not be the same as here.

gameplay

as many of us anticipated, the separate ways campaign ended up having a lot of the "cut content" from the main campaign

similarly to the original SW, the campaign is a lot shorter than the main one however it does have a few added scenes and similar style of gameplay where Ada runs faster or is faster than Leon and you're also able to travel throughout the map faster with the help of her hookshot

because of the changes between the main campaign and SW, the laser scene, which was given to Ada- which always made more sense stylistically and for her story as well

overall her chapters did seem a bit short, but I think it's this is due to the capacity of the game in general because you're going through the same locations as Leon but you're able to go through it faster so it only makes sense that you go through the areas faster

I do think that there should've been additional time spent in each location but I'm not exactly sure how they could've implemented this (but also with the new locations as a lot of ada's missions were easier than leon's)

ADA'S SOUNDTRACK FUCKING SLAPS SO FUCKING HARD

also WHY WERE ADA'S DEATH SCENES SO MUCH MORE INTENSE THAN LEON'S

ada's campaign is objectively way more fun than leon's

story/plot

what one the main changes from the original campaign and the remake one is the addition of Ada's infection

it made sense to me when we were first presented it in the trailer, however I feel like there was a lot of missed opportunities with her infection

because she ends up just throwing up the plaga after she defeats the "mother" one, all tension essentially is gone afterwards. Because this is so early in the campaign it feels like her infection doesn't really matter, and I guess it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, as we know that she's going to get out of it at some point- but because it happened so early it just feels like there's no tension with this further along in the game

one of my main complaints is that in the main campaign, because we are viewing the mission through Leon's eyes, I think we were free to speculate that he is hallucinating at points during the game.

(this was a way to have potentially added the choking scene if he were hallucinating the entire thing and we wouldn't have seen it from his POV but we would have seen it from ada's.)

And because separate ways was always meant to be a mirror, an alternate side of the game- it would only make sense to have additional scenes that we wouldn't have seen in separate ways

I feel as though even though we did get additional scenes that are from Ada's perspective- they weren't really enough to supplement the amount of scenes that actually cut from in the original separate ways

especially because a lot of the main changes such as ada saving Leon from krauser which was changed to luis saving leon, instead

I still hold the opinion that a lot of scenes that were originally ada's in the original game and were given to luis- and I see a lot of arguments that "this isn't the case" but I find it funny that most of the arguments that I hear from people saying that luis didn't take Ada scenes- are funnily enough from luis stan's

(so i find this opinion to be fairly biased. there were absolutely scenes in original re4 and SW that are strictly ada's that were just given to luis instead. you can not argue away from this, this is just objectively true)

Circling back to Ada's infection, because it was gotten rid of so early on in the game. It removes any sort of tension for any sort of follow up with Ashley and Leon's infection.

many people, myself included along with several of the actors for re4r, have pointed out that in the main campaign when Ashley is miraculously able to lift Leon up onto the chair and cure his plagas- that it is not questioned and it is simply accepted as truth-

one of the potential pivotal changes could've actually have been because of ada's new infection in the remake, she would have to get her plagas removed as well at some point. but because her plagas was different and she was able to get rid of hers earlier it removes this potential scenario to happen

many fans were speculating that because of her infection, she would have to meet up with Ashley and Leon afterwards, and help Ashley to actually put Leon onto the chair so that they could both rid their infections at the same time, and this would've also actually potentially added a aeon scene as well (which would've fit into the narrative without feeling forced) which would really help with the story as well and keep in the infection for longer as well as providing more tension for her health as well

Because the SW remake was changed in some aspects but kept the same in other aspects in ways, (as in it didn't really seem like they were pivotal to the story) it felt as though we were missing more scenes that kept us on our toes. A lot of the things that were changed were rectified fairly quickly and because of this, a lot of the scenes that followed the original beat by beat, felt too predictable and felt like the same

I was left wanting more because all of the changes that were made were fixed too quickly or they weren't really that pivotal and everything that could've changed things weren't added

that being said, i do love the contact lense update as the glasses were a bit much for today's standards, and i could suspend my belief enough for a high tech contact lense in 2004 lol

characters

Ada

although I think a lot of the "criticism" for ada's changes in the remake are in bad faith, I feel like a lot of the changes makes sense with the potential route that they want to go with ada

i've always held the opinion that remake ada was meant to show a fatal flaw and then to have her have her redemption arc as soon as possible. ada was never meant to be evil, she was never meant to be a villain, however people were unable to disconnect her with this idea.

because of the remake highlighting so many aspects of her having a heart and "changing," it really goes to show how much effort they've put into characterizing her.

we have to remember that up until 2011 even, all we really had were these hyper sexualized flirty iterations of ada where she is really just as femme fatale with little regard for the people around her, but people who have seen and played re6 and have actually spent more time with her character has seen her grow.

arguably re6, has always been her redemption arc, but because this happens so late in the series, it's hard as an audience (particularly people who don't pay attention) to really see her be this multi-faceted character.

sure, we have original SW where she essentially spends the entire campaign saving leon's ass, but it lacked a lot of her characterization beyond her desire to keep leon safe and a few quips here and there about the villagers and her interactions with wesker and krauser.

and because i don't want to talk about her voice too too much, i do LOVE ada's voice in SW. it's clear that a few of her lines were fixed in a sense, the audio changes are small but there, but a lot of her lines are adorable and really add to her being more than just a femme fatale.

the colder aspect of her makes sense with her narrative opening, that she had made peace with what she was doing. but that she still questions everything

additionally i do think that her infection was a way to make the audience sympathize with her and make her seem weaker and more human as she's particularly overpowered in og SW imo

Leon

we had very few additional scenes with leon and i was hoping for more but wasn't expecting it, it just would've been nice

the two ish scenes we got with his face were nice lol

Wesker

the changes with wesker being near or on the island were fairly interesting, it makes us question why he was there or if he was just so concerned about it ada's "incompetence" on her mission. the banter between her and wesker about leon was interesting and furthers the ideas that they had much more history that we know of.

I saw a lot of criticisms between the scene where ada passes out and wesker saves her and brings her to the bedroom. And the discourse seems to be somehow shaming ada for "flirting" with wesker despite the fact that I never interpreted as genuine flirting.

It's clear at this point in her campaign wesker has commented several times on ada's incompetent and insubordinate nature and that because she is in a position of being "dismissed " or "taken off the case" or just plainly, "gotten rid of," she resorts to "flirting" as a way to keep herself in a position of power. she knows that wesker finds her unuseful at this time, and sees no real issue with doing this as a means to keep herself safe in sense.

she doesn't fear him, but she is wary of him. but she'll still go against his demands several times.

i thought it was interesting that we could've seen potential repercussions for her ada's. wesker being told about the explosions not all going off and the ability to take down her helicopter, but he decides to let her go anyways.

the "think that gun's gonna be enough?" "interesting..." MADE ME PURRRR HELP

Because we finally have more lines with wesker, I feel like I can appropriately gauge my opinion on his voice now. I thought that I was on the opposite side of things where I held an unpopular opinion of liking wesker's new voice... but it appears a lot of people actually enjoys his new voice far more than the original. i have already stated before that i've never been a fan of the comical voices from before, and obviously due to the controversy with wesker's original VA, it makes sense that he was recast. and it would've felt a bit gross for the new VA to emulate the same kind of voice IMO

Krauser

because of the changes in the remake, it made sense that ada and krauser barely interact, (mostly due to the removal of ada saving leon scene and was changed to luis) so it didn't make sense for ada and krauser to talk. i don't think that i hate this change (the removal of them talking) but it does make this relationship odd because it removes a lot of tension between the two and also makes it so that krauser's vendetta against leon a bit odd

it felt more interconnected in the OG, whereas in the remake it really did feel like multiple stories happening at the same time where they don't connect

Luis

since seeing more of SW and more of Luis (unfortunately) I've started to hold the opinion and I believe that I actually had this prior to SW, I feel the luis' redemption arc and backstory is severely lacking any actualization.

And I think this may actually be because of the additional scenes of luis, that it has been detrimental for his overall story

the more I was forced to see more luis the more I felt like his moral standing and his desire to help Leon and Ashley and Ada, it felt like it was lacking any motivation. His desire to "do the good thing," because it "makes him feel better," has never been enough, and WILL never be enough (for me and some audiences who like to gauge WHY characters do things)

we get the verbal confirmation on why luis is doing these things, but it doesn't align with his actual desire to do the good thing in the end. his redemption arc (to me) seems pointless, and i guess that adds to the pointlessness of his character arc and his unfulfilled desired to really right the wrongs he had already done.

his dying act could serve as his last chance to really do the right thing, but it feels undeserved.

(regarding his connection to nemesis and re3r) sure his bloodshed is "secondhand," but it doesn't excuse what he had already done. i just felt as thought even though we got this expansion of his character and it helped the story of re4r and SW-

his characterization was used a plot device RATHER THAN ACTUAL GOOD STORYTELLING. every time we need something- it's luis. every time there's a problem, it's luis. every time there has to be something ELSE happening, it's luis

he was a plot device MORE than an actual character (and i don't think to praise him for his characterization in this way is THAT GREAT OF A THING TO DO)

AND THAT'S FINE. we were never meant to see more of him in the long term. luis was always meant to die and in the remake, he was at least fleshed out more

but i still feel like it was at the detriment to ada's expansion. a lot of her story was "given to luis" and a lot of her scenes were ALSO given to luis, and you CAN NOT OBJECTIVELY deny this as fact. the fact that these scenes were ORIGINALLY ADA'S in the og and then were luis' in the remake, is an UNDENIABLE FACT THAT THEY GAVE THOSE SCENES TO HIM.

we got more luis, we should've NEVER HAD MORE. this is STILL ada's story. and so much additional luis for the sake of plot felt like a disservice to Ada AND Luis.

THAT ALL BEING SAID I STILL LIKE LUIS. I THINK HIS ADDITION WAS GOOD, I JUST WISH THAT ADA HAD MORE. I THINK THEM ARE COOL AS FRIENDS. still see luis as the gay friend sjkbfsjkf

Ashley

i thought it was weird that ashley had weird npc behaviour for the ashley ada interaction

also ashley had weird 90s yaoi hands and i couldn't unsee it

enemies

WHY WERE THE ENEMIES SO MUCH FUCKING SCARIER WITH ADA

aeon

a lot of people were complaining that the aeon moments weren't as pivotal in this campaign, and while I do agree to some extent, I don't think that they were necessarily required for this remake

this may seem contradictory because of what i had said prior (luis taking ada's scenes) but because of the route that they went, i feel as though the scene where (potentially) ada saves leon from krauser couldn't have been written any other way. because of how they wrote luis to be with leon nearly constantly, it would've been difficult to change this scene.

because ada is much more in the shadows in this remake, we still have some scenes, like the boat and reunion scene. but the eagerness of ada saving leon was seen more as an afterthought than a outright desire like in og

i don't think these are wrong decisions per say but they do allow us to see a progression of ada obviously still caring for leon afterwards as the plot gives us these scenes of convenience. (like ada ringing the bell because she was supposed to meet luis there as opposed to her directly going to the bell to ring it. she still does it, noticing that leon is struggling. which i think is enough tbh)

the changes of the original boat scene having additional dialogue helped to change things, particularly in conjunction with ada's monologue that she did change, just maybe not in the overt ways that leon had expected.

i still feel as though although we lacked a few aeon scenes, it made sense with what we had.

allegedly nick apostolides opted out of saying the "she's like a part of me i can't let go," because he felt as though this line belonged to the previous VA, but i can not confirm this as fact.

i never expected nick to say this line as it didn't appear to fit narratively, however the the "true ending" of SW really showed more wesker than more of aeon which was disappointing but not surprising.

the fact that re4r had an ending with ada, and sw had an ending with just wesker felt blegh.

one of the biggest complaints i kept getting was that re4r retconned aeon. which is just kind of a weird thing because why would capcom retcon a relationship in the second date? we have to remember that re4 has always been their second meeting. they still have damnation, re6 and potentially even more aeon that we haven't see like off screen re5.

one of the biggest things that they criticized was that leon and ada, "fell in love immediately," and they wanted to rectify that with a more realistic interpretation of the ship. this makes sense to me, and although it's a lot more angst filled, we still have to remember this is early as fuck in their relationship.

additionally, i still think that when ada gives leon the rocket launcher at the end, he has a sudden realization that ada had been helping him all along, that she was the one that gave him the one in raccoon city. that the keychain for the jetski was always her making sure that he could get out as well. because TO BE FAIR. he HAD LITTLE WAYS OF ESCAPE. he lost track of hunnigan and his potential route off the island. realistically, leon was FUCKED and he had no way off the island. even if ada didn't give him the key, he was STILL KINDA FUCKED because of the bombs because of wesker.

once the things fall into place, he realizes things along the boat ride, and i think that's also for us as an audience to speculate. older audiences knows that leon and ada see each other again. i want them to see each other again to bridge the gaps.

things to note

SW being made by the same team that did re3r is a bit funny since re3r was a pretty big disappointment to a lot of fans

similarly a lot of people were mad at the $10 price tag for SW despite the fact that this is a additional campaign and was longer than re3r and funner.

OG SW was always free, which is why a lot of people were mad, but like- get fucked dude. if you want to be mad at that, you also have to be mad at the microtransactions in the main campaign then.

SW was still well done, i just have a few things that i thought were lacking.

wesker absolutely had ada's DNA (from the bed scene, i think he also injected her with an inhibitor (of sorts like luis had) but also took something from her, and i think it would tie nicely into a re6r if he and simmons had contact prior to re5.

we still never got to see what was in bob bear kennedy (is that the name? lol)

gameplay 9/10

story/plot 7/10

characters 7/10

aeon 7/10

overall 30/40

i might have additional things to say but that's all i got for now lol

thanks for reading my garbage

and again

“take it however you like it.”

#ada wong #leon s kennedy #leon kennedy #leon x ada #aeon #luis serra #luis sera #jack krauser #albert wesker #ashley graham #re4r #re4remake #re4 remake #separate ways #separate ways remake #re4 #resident evil 4

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izzythehutt · 1 month ago

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What are your thoughts about Anakin/Vader and Palpatine relationship, I believe there are many unexplored nuances and dark themes there but also complicated?

They have a unique relationship (for Palpatine), in that Anakin is the only person whose love and devotion actually matters to him. He would probably couch it in terms of "absolute loyalty", but he knows what Vader feels for him is love, and that A.) it's necessary for their relationship to function B.) he has to continue consciously fostering it and C.) at some deep and subconscious level, he enjoys it.

I think there's a part of him that gets off on manipulating people in general, and the more powerful/dangerous the person, the more enjoyable it is for him (see also: him cackling as he throws the Senate at Yoda.) Since Anakin has the most raw potential of any being in SW and is "The Chosen One" (which I fully believe at some level Palpatine buys off on), he's the one that Palpatine gets the most pleasure out of controlling. While at the end of the day everyone in the Galaxy is an object for him, Anakin is the one whose loyalty he spent the most time and effort cultivating by far. Theirs is an intimate and personal relationship that he really isn't shown to have with anyone—we get glimpses of it with Padmé and Dooku, but that's as close as any of his relationships come.

There's this narcissism classification system that categorizes people in terms of providing "fuel" and as "fuel matrices", and I firmly believe that Vader is Palpatine's "Intimate Partner Primary Source." Vader provides Palpatine with a captive audience to as much of his true self as he's willing to show anyone. If there's one thing he enjoys, it's gloating. The fact that he's comfortable letting Vader into his Sith world to the degree that he (Anakin) would be able to piece together the degree to which Palpatine manipulated him during the Wars shows an astounding level of confidence in his power in the relationship.

There's a lot of "takes" on and interpretations of their relationship, but I tend to think Palpatine was more manipulative and faux-kindly than shocking Vader with Force lightning all the time. Mostly because it's more interesting, and in a way, more intensely effed up, though I also feel like it makes more sense for their established dynamic in the prequels. Fear would not be enough to motivate Vader to do what Palpatine wants him to do. Anakin is a person who tends to be more motivated by personal loyalty than to abstractions or even his own overarching goals. He needs someone to love, and the Emperor knows this. He's always understood that Obi-Wan and Padmé were his prime competition for primary loyalty.

The paradoxical aspect of their relationship is that while Palpatine thrives on Vader's devotion, because he himself is incapable of actual love, there's a part of him that is incapable of respecting Vader as an apprentice because of it. I suspect that he finds Vader's paternal reasons for finally getting the guts to go up against him distasteful.

If Luke had killed Vader and turned, Palpatine probably would have been low-key disappointed with what he'd gotten and wished he'd kept the OG model, as defective as it was. I tend to think he would have enjoyed turning Leia more, as she's a weird combo of both of her parents, his favorite playthings (Padmé and Palpatine's weird relationship is underrated.)

#darth vader #darth sidious #sheev palpatine #anakin skywalker #star wars #star wars meta #luke skywalker #leia organa

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agonycrossbow · 1 year ago

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Up to this point in SW, Ada's exposure to Leon has been:

Seeing him during the village fight and then ringing the bell for him

Seeing him getting choked out by Mendez, then watching him stumble his ass over to the gate, unlock it, and head back towards the village

Luis's radio call to him at the start of his castle section

Their very first scene together in his campaign

The "babysitting's tough, huh?" conversation

Seeing him run over to a dying Luis

The "I guess you're not heartless" conversation

That's it.

So, let's explore Ada's feelings as she goes through Separate Ways with regards to Leon, Ashley, and herself.

The very first time Ada hears Leon's voice, it's him teasing Ashley with:

"I wanted to go home, but Ashley had to see this castle first."

The very first time Ada speaks to Leon herself, the first expression of emotion he shows is when she tells him to leave Ashley behind -- and it's anger at her.

The very first time Ada sees Ashley in person, it's this moment ^^^ in the shots.

The full line of dialogue of:

"Leave the girl. She's lost no matter what. You walk away now, and who knows? Maybe you'll live to meet me again. And then I might get you that 'greeting' you were looking for."

immediately follows her openly hitting on him ("Not a bad move. Very smooth."), to which he has no reaction. And so she gets more explicit with him. Let's break it down:

"Leave Ashley. She's not important. If you leave her, you'll finally get to have me. That's what you really want, right?"

But then Krauser runs off with Ashley. Leon's anger boils over, and he shoots Salazar in the face. And now, Ada's reaction is:

Once again, it reaffirms that Ashley's not just a mission objective to Leon. It's personal, for him.

This leads directly into the boat scene, where Ada tells Leon that his greatest strength is still the love and compassion he has for other people...

... though it's not as if he hears her at all.

The next time Ada sees or hears from Leon, it's her walking in on the "for Luis" scene.

Along with the pep talk scene, this is the most intimate scene in the game. Ada is intruding on a very private, vulnerable moment between Leon and Ashley that ends in a promise:

"For Luis."

And Ada's pettiness finally melts away -- at least, for a time. They have their way of honoring Luis, so now it's time for her to do it her way.

Suddenly, Leon and Ashley's closeness doesn't matter to her anymore -- because it's not about them, and it's not about her. It's about Luis.

Walking out of the comms facility, she hears Ashley successfully fighting off Saddler. Interesting framing here with the jet ski in the foreground.

But interestingly, Ada's focus doesn't fall to her.

So, she does do it.

But not for Ashley's sake.

And she isn't about to go out of her way, either.

And then we reach the apex of it all.

And not only is Ada forced to reckon with that, but the first and only thing out of Ashley's mouth to her is an order. Not a request. Not a plea. An order.

And all Ada can say in return is:

"I'm on it."

She's lost this fight.

"All of this -- removing the parasites -- this was Luis?" "Yeah. We're alive thanks to him."

The matching scars that Leon and Ashley end up with as a result of their radiation surgery are different from the matching scars that Leon and Ada have.

Leon and Ada's scars are a symbol that they once carried the same consequences born of the same mistakes.

Leon and Ashley's scars are a symbol that they once carried each other.

And that’s a huge fucking difference.

Ada feels that difference in that moment.

There is no "Who was that woman, anyway?" "She's like a part of me I can't let go" in this version of the story, because Leon has long since let her go.

And so her pettiness comes back. At the very end, she shoots her final shot:

It's a bookend for and a direct callback to what we were talking about earlier:

"Leave the girl. She's lost no matter what. You walk away now, and who knows? Maybe you'll live to meet me again. And then I might get you that 'greeting' you were looking for."

which really meant:

"Leave Ashley. She's not important. If you leave her, you'll finally get to have me. That's what you really want, right?"

and led into:

"Right. How about we continue this discussion another time?"

She's ready to continue the discussion. One last ditch effort to see if all love is lost between them.

Leon's answer is very clear.

The Leon and Ashley Show isn't over, but Ada's role in it is.

Which leaves her to wonder who and what, exactly, she'll be the next time she and Leon meet now that her status as The Love Interest has been completely and utterly usurped.

#resident evil meta #ada characterization #aeon analysis #eagleone analysis #remake RE analysis

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raleighrador · 3 months ago

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Torturing myself with ways Disney changed Star Wars - Anakin's lightsaber

One particular change I have been thinking about recently is the treatment of Anakin's lightsaber.

in the original trilogy the treatment of Anakin's lightsaber as a motif almost perfectly mirrors Luke's character growth.

When it is introduced it is a gleaming silver relic with a pure white-blue blade. A more elegant weapon from a more civilised age. A gift bequeathed to Obi-Wan for safe keeping until Luke is ready to accept it - and the responsibility that comes with it.

in ESB the weapon is problematised multiple times - on Dagobah Luke carrying the weapon into the cave ensures his failure of the test. The revelation of who Luke's father is happens in the same scene that his hand is cut off and his (Anakin's) lightsaber is lost forever.

The sabre represents false innocence. it is propaganda. it is the manifestation of what Obi-Wan wants Luke to think, it represents the idealised image Luke had of his father. That image is destroyed and the sabre is lost in the same moment.

Luke then builds his own sabre - a green sabre (for FX reasons but SW is nothing if not an exercise in adding meaning to FX innovations) with a hilt totally distinct to Anakin's. It represents Luke coming into his own. Accepting the truth of who his father is and starting to live as his own man, rather than trying to be Anakin's son.

Fundamental to this interpretation is not only the loss or destruction of Anakin's sabre, but on a meta level, we the audience need to learn (just as Luke did) that the sabre did not matter.

This is enforced in a number of ways in the prequel trilogy - I think 3 are worth emphasising: 1) Anakin didn't give a shit about his lightsaber, he lost it all the time, he built spares, so the idea that this is some priceless heirloom is clearly a fiction which is propagated by 2) Obi-Wan, who is the only person who seems to put any particular emphasis on sabres. "This weapon is your life" is something Obi-Wan believes and it is part of the myth he tries to fool Luke into believing and 3) this specific sabre is a tool of genocide that was ALWAYS A LIE. Luke NEVER held the sabre of the good man Anakin Skywalker, the pure and gleaming tool of justice. He was always holding the blood stained tool of genocide that Obi-Wan took as a trophy off of the body of his defeated foe, the Sith Lord Darth Vader.

It is not the sabre - and it is specifically not Anakin's sabre - that makes the Jedi. It is the person.

Disney basically discards all of that and instead reimagines Anakin's sabre as something like Excalibur. The weapon IS special. The weapon is a symbol of legitimacy. The weapon has metaphysical power, not simply physical.

This is - to me at least - a deeply uninteresting shift. the OT is in fact deeply subversive in its treatment of the sword - turns out it isn't special and magic and actually you can make a new one because the person is important, not their legacy. Disney's treatment is far more typical and tropey.

This is especially odd in TLJ because RJ (and many of the positive takes on the movie) celebrates its subversiveness. TLJ, more than any other Disney material, leans HEAVILY into the Excalibur imagery. Kylo is Mordred, desperately seeking to legitimise himself (and his crimes) by claiming Excalibur. Rey is pure hearted Bedivere entrusted with the sword by Arthur and fate itself - despite having no familial claim.

The subversiveness of Luke throwing away the sabre RELIES on the sabre itself being special - the subversion is in Luke throwing away the important sword.

Within the text it is also just a really odd and convoluted plot point.

How did Maz Kanata get the sabre in the first place? Someone found it in Cloud City's trash pile? Why does Kylo know what it looks like and why does he care about it? It is Anakin's sabre far more than Vaders but literally, practically, how does he know what it is? Are we supposed to believe Luke at some point had it in his possession and showed it to Ben, explained what it was? If so... how did it get to Maz? Luke lost it again? Why would Force Mirage Luke SPECIFICALLY use Anakin's sabre? Did Luke choose to do that - if so, why? It is presumably significant somehow but why? Why wouldn't he use his own green sabre - the one that Kyloe sees in his nightmares? If it wasn't a choice and we are meant to believe that Luke unconsciously thinks of Anakin's sabre when he thinks of "lightsaber" what does THAT mean? Doesn't that undermine the lessons he learned in the OT (and then did a speedrun of in the last 3rd of TLJ)? I know TROS didn't exactly flow from TLJ but the fact they continue to emphasise the sabre is one of the few things that is actually a direct continuation. Rather than making her own sabre, Rey fixes Anakin's (Luke's?). What we supposed to make of this imagery?

I assume that it is meant to be a metaphor for the way Rey will remake/redeem the Skywalker name and legacy and the Jedi more generally.

This is not a bad thing per se but it doesn't quite work within the context created by Disney.

In the OT Luke redeemed the Jedi and his father by helping Anakin find himself, and Anakin then brought balance to the Force. By the time we get to TROS we learn that Anakin didn't actually bring balance to the Force and Luke is to blame for Kylo Ren. So what is the legacy Rey would be redeeming? Disney wanted us to find it meaningful that Rey became a Skywalker but they also spent 3 films explaining that the Skywalkers ruined everything - so why is it something that should be redeemed?

The superficial reason is staring us in the face - Rey is a Skywalker but better please buy merchandise - but was there any thing beyond that? I don't know. The essentialism of the light sabres is also mirrored in Kylo Ren - his unstable red cross guard lightsaber is an unsubtle metaphor for his psyche and him throwing away that sabre is what signals his return to the light.

Finally this is all brought to its highest and most disappointing point in the differing attitudes to weapons and violence between the end of ROTJ and TROS. The triumph of Luke is in learning Yoda's lesson from ESB. "Your weapons? You will not need them". It is only AFTER throwing down his weapon that Luke is finally, fully "a Jedi - like my father before me". It is only in accepting that violence begets nothing but violence, it is only in embracing love as the only path to redemption, that balance is achieved.

It is even meaningful that Vader - without a weapon - kills Palpatine. Vader has nothing left and so he sacrifices himself literally and metaphysically to save Luke. He is the weapon, he finally owns the sin of what that means, and he dies for the lesson. He kills, and he dies, so that Luke doesn't have to.

The end point of TROS is dual wielding lightsabers. I think it is my least favourite moment in the entire trilogy, for many reasons, but specifically because of how it treats weapons and what they mean so differently from the pre-Disney Star Wars.

#star wars #sw meta #star wars meta #disney star wars #lightsaber #the narrative role of weapons #the narrative role of violence

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sapphire-weapon · 1 year ago

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They are waiting for 6 remakes to prove to you that you were wrong.

imagine having so little going on in your life that you're sitting around waiting for a game that won't come out for at least five years because someone on the internet made you feel insecure about whether a fictional relationship will be portrayed a certain way in a video game.

like, dude. these mfs think way more about me than i ever think about them or their ship. because, at the end of the day, i don't really care.

aeon's been a feature of RE's canon for 26 years, and it hasn't impeded my love for or enjoyment of the games. if aeon continues to be canon, then nothing in my life will have changed. i'm not going to get upset about something being the same way it's always been. it doesn't matter. RE will still be the same series i've always loved.

all i'm doing over here on this blog is interpreting the games' stories as they were written and providing analysis with evidence based in the text itself. that's why i have a giant wall of text post defending leon and ada's relationship as it's portrayed in OG -- because that's what the story is.

me liking or disliking the relationship has no bearing as to whether or not the relationship is canonically romantic. i don't have to like something for it to be true. and the fact is -- the truth is -- that for a majority of OG RE's runtime, leon and ada have a romantically coded relationship. and so i interpret it and analyze it that way, because that's what it is.

the fact also remains, however, that their relationship is no longer romantically coded in the remakes' version of events. and i'm not saying that because i dislike the relationship. clearly, as evidenced above, if the relationship was portrayed as romantic, i would treat and talk about it that way, regardless of whether i liked it or not. i'm saying that leon and ada's relationship is no longer romantically coded in the remakes' version of events because that's how the story is told.

and if that's upsetting for you (ubiquitous "you"), then maybe you should take it up with capcom's division 1 studio, because they're the ones writing the story. i didn't write the fucking story.

and, not for nothing, but like

i'm also wrong all the fucking time. i was wrong in predicting a wesker boss fight in SW. i was wrong in predicting more DLC coming for RE4make. i was wrong with my initial reading of remake ada from just base RE4make alone, and SW rendered all of my prior meta about her completely worthless.

and if i turn out to be wrong about aeon, i'm not going to be upset. i'm just going to add it to the list of shit i've been wrong about and move on with my life and continue analyzing the text with the new information we've been given.

but they keep trying to drag me into their ship wars as though i give a shit, and i don't. i don't fucking care about what ship is fucking canon, bro. i care about digging into the text and accurately interpreting the story because that's how i personally have fun in a fandom. it's not about the ship, for me. it's about the story.

like, eagleone isn't my only ship. it's not like i'm sitting over here concocting ways to twist the narrative in such a way that it looks like my ship is canon. i fucking ship leon with five other goddamn characters. and yet you don't see me making a case for any of those other ships being intended romances.

RE also isn't my only fandom. i play and talk about and care about other things and the industry in general all the time. i don't care about any of this RE ship shit nearly as much as they do, because i'm busy doing and caring about other things.

it's just so stupid, man. it doesn't matter. none of this matters. and it still won't matter when RE6make comes out.

we're all just trying to have fun here, and what i'm doing here on this blog, i do for myself. for my own fun. because this is how i have fun in fandom. it should have absolutely no bearing on anyone else's ability to have fun in the fandom -- and, if it does, then that person needs to stop fucking looking at my blog.

because none of this matters.

you know

i keep begging aeons to play other games, and this is exactly why.

#sorry i just had to get this out #i've had this fucking annoying anon in my inbox every goddamn day #crying about eagleone and yelling AEON CANON like they're trying to make me feel bad or smth #but i don't feel bad it's just annoying #it's really kind of worrying how obsessive they are #i don't understand why people insist on making themselves so miserable #if i upset you that much why do you check my blog on a daily basis?#why would you do that to yourself?#what does that get you?#i don't understand #i'm just tired of it man #it's so annoying

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