#when you can pick out a scene from something called the WAR ARC and it looks the same as the sports festival arc? come on

[s0fter-sin]

i’ve stopped expecting interesting animation from bones. the star and stripe fight is cool but like every other fight/moment in mha, it’s only cool bc the source material itself is cool; bones does nothing to elevate the manga

they rarely try to experiment with colour and style. i saw so many colourings of the moment star and stripe made a giant version of herself out of the air; people made her look like a cosmos, like it reflected and bent the sky around her, doing so many inventive things and for the anime to just make her an outline against that godforsaken sky? i’m disappointed

but people will take me saying i’m disappointed and spin it to me saying the fight was bad. it wasn’t, just like most fights and moments in the anime aren’t bad but that’s all bc horikoshi knows how to draw. they never do anything beyond that; they never try and adapt it. whether it’s bc of time, direction, budget, or what have you, they will never do something truly inventive with their colouring

i’ve said this before and i’ll say it again, it’s not just that the sky is blue; it’s what the blue sky represents and that is an unwillingness to broaden their colour palette or atmosphere to support the changes in the tone of the story. the story isn’t just “will midoriya get into his dream high school and achieve his dream job?” it’s child abuse and societal systems and their dysfunctions, it’s racism and morality and is it right to try and save someone who’s determined to destroy the world just bc they are also a victim?

look at the finale of atla, a show that mirrors the narrative tone of mha; it starts out bright and colourful and vibrant to match the happy and small stakes nature of the story and as the tone of the story changes, the environment changes to reflect that. the siege of the north pole? everything goes blood red when the moon spirit is threatened, then goes completely desaturated when it is killed with only fire bending having any colour. the day of black sun? uses a solar eclipse to change the lighting. the entire sozin’s comet fight? has red skies and lighting to show the threat

bones abject refusal to change anything about the art itself is a detriment to horikoshi’s complex narrative

[good-chimes]

Proposing:

Grand Unified Scarian Theory

a single, overarching Scarian romance arc across the whole Hermitcraft and Life series as well as a primer for anyone curious about the early seasons.

We start with NEIGHBOR MEET CUTE in early Season 6:

Season 6 begins in a peaceful pirate bay. SCAR, an established hermit just beginning his third season, is happily making pirate caves. Into this tranquil scene comes GRIAN.

Grian, fresh-faced and new to Hermitcraft, picks a sea-themed base location right next to Scar’s pirate caves. He gets himself set up and starts his base. Even someone like Grian can get newcomer nerves, and he spends the first few weeks desperately trying to act like a normal person instead of the horrible gremlin he really is.

(Some hermits are taken in by this. Doc and Xisuma give him pity diamonds, something that—after getting to know Grian—they noticeably never do again.)

The only person exempt from Grian’s just-a-little-birthday-boy act is Mumbo, whom Grian already knows, clearly has a puppy-crush on, and pursues relentlessly.

Grian and Scar don’t interact much at first. Grian sees Scar for the first time while passing by his base. Scar instantly falls in one of his own caves and dies.

Grian panics.

Grian: I DIDN’T DO IT!

Scar, intrigued by his new neighbor, makes some overtures of interest:

1. Scar leaves a fully enchanted trident at Grian’s base as a welcome present. This is a generous gift for the cute neighbor you have a crush on and frankly the most normal thing either of them do in the entire years-long relationship.

Grian goes ‘huh!’ at the trident, never finds out who sent it, and immediately forgets the whole thing.

2. Scar entertains Grian’s traveling-salesman pitch and buys his overpriced armor boxes.

Multiple jokes about the size of Scar’s wallet. Grian clearly pleased by the transaction.

3. Scar makes Grian a complementary in-joke build (Spongebob’s house by Squidward’s house).

This delights Grian immeasurably for five minutes until he turns back to his prank war with Mumbo.

(Poor Mumbo. Clearly immensely fond of Grian but not sure he wants to be in a relationship with a lit stick of dynamite. This is very understandable.)

By this point Scar obviously kind of clocks that Grian is insane about Mumbo. This isn’t much of a leap. The entire SERVER is aware that Grian is horribly in love with Mumbo.

Ah. That’s okay. Scar backs off a bit. He recognizes when he’s not really in with a chance.

Maybe this thing he has with Grian is just going to be a friendship, and that’s okay! Having a crush is fun even if you’re not going to do anything about it. Scar is going to build some shops about it and be normal.

Both of them are going to be very normal.

FLIRTING (First Stages) – mid-Season 6

Both of them immediately forget to be normal.

Grian has started a detective agency and has no mysteries to solve. Scar instantly invents a cookie-based mystery supervillain called the Jangler and leaves Grian a series of tantalizing cookie-based puzzles for enrichment in his enclosure.

Grian has invented a game where you kill people with rockets. Scar volunteers to get murdered. Both of them are delighted.

Scar and Cub’s business empire is incidentally crushing Grian’s startup venture. There is no reason for this to be so flirtatiously charged.

At this point all the hermits move to a new village because of the Minecraft update. Grian starts a who-can-build-the-tallest-house war with Mumbo and Iskall. Scar notices and starts doing the same from the other side of the village.

It quickly gets so wild that Mumbo taps out (Mumbo does not do well with intensity, would rather just not, thankyouverymuch), and it's only Grian, Iskall and Scar.

Scar builds a wild giant plant eating his rocketship, and then a castle in the sky, and an enormous version of himself firing a canon at Grian's house. This is the first time you can really see Grian trying to hold in shrieks when he flies back in to see what Scar has done while he's gone.

Grian’s interest has been caught. He’s gone from barely seeing Scar to checking on him regularly. What’s our good friend Scar up to? What’s Scar done? What is Scar going to do next?

FLIRTING (How To Catch Your Crush’s Interest By Building A Secret Government Facility) – late Season 6

What Scar does next is put on a snazzy military uniform, team up with Doc to steal the time machine Grian invented last week, then, in the most effort someone has EVER gone to to get Grian's attention, spend weeks on end building a fully-functional 'Area 77' military base and containment facility to stop him getting it back.

Turns out this works beyond Scar’s wildest dreams.

Grian INSTANTLY obsessed with breaking into Scar’s base and retrieving his time machine.

Grian persuades Ren into forming a hippie camp with him next to the base and spends weeks entirely fixated on Scar. Meanwhile Scar, who is starting to really understand how to get and keep Grian's attention, builds more and fancier infrastructure to keep Grian out. This is also where Grian really starts looking at Scar's art—the insane cliffs Scar has build around his new hangers—and awkwardly not quite managing words, because it would be very embarrassing to just outright say the word beautiful, and Grian’s a very normal and non-embarrassing person.

In the climax of the season, Grian-the-hippie breaks into General Scar’s base.

Nobody can say that Scar making himself a top brass general and Grian making himself an anti-establishment flower power hippie does not end up with plausibly-deniable not-making-out Grian-provoking-Scar-into-holding-him-against-a-wall.

but.

BUT.

This is Hermitcraft. It’s temporary. Scar and Grian both know it was a bit. A bit they both got super into, sure! But a bit. Not weird at all.

(“Sure, mate, not weird at all,” Mumbo says, after all of this is over. “Then why are you making it SOUND weird Mumbo you’re the WORST”)*

(“Sooo....” Cub says, and Scar says, “I know. I know!”)*

*not canon but you can't tell me it didn't happen off screen

FLIRTING (But What About…) – early Season 7

Okay, so that was weird, but Grian is definitely still in love with Mumbo. The Mumbo pursuit is going great and Mumbo definitely doesn’t look nervous whenever Grian turns up with a new idea. Grian is going to get Mumbo to fall in love with him and they will marry in the spring and have a dozen beautiful children redstone contraptions.

Grian attempts to make it more official with Mumbo. Surely they have been flirting long enough, they are ready for the next stage! This is in no way a reaction to Scar becoming a weird wizard in a way very unsettling to Grian and building the kind of wild organic tangled forest build that Grian is fascinated by but can't even begin to comprehend.

Everything is very under control in Grian's life. He's now official boyfriends with Mumbo. They live together and have a messaging system and everything.

Mumbo announces he’s moving out.

It’s-not-you-it’s-me

You’re… you’re moving out? Grian says, in the smallest possible voice.

We’ll still have the messaging system, Mumbo says, unconvincingly.

FINE, Grian says, I’m moving out TOO.

Mumbo moves out.

Grian deals with this in the healthiest possible way. He invents a mayorship and attempts to give it to Mumbo.

Grian is Mumbo’s self-appointed campaign manager so Mumbo has to be round him ALL THE TIME, it’s for the CAMPAIGN, Mumbo.

Mumbo, a man who doesn’t deal well with pressure or responsibility, is maybe not the ideal choice for mayor, something that has escaped Grian entirely.

Mumbo builds a robot and attempts to palm off all responsibility for decision-making onto it. Grian immediately calls it their son.

Grian puts his moustache all over the server.

NO other hermits support them for mayor (except Scar, from a lost bet, who Grian has continued to have intensely weird flirtations with while all this is happening)

Things reach a fever pitch. Election day arrives. Mumbo doesn’t want this actually but try telling Grian that. The entire MumboGrian edifice that Grian has obsessively and wildly build has reached an unsustainable pitch and finally comes tumbling down around them.

Mumbo votes Scar for mayor.

Grian votes Scar for mayor.

Mumbo disappears for several weeks to do some nice soothing redstone and calm down.

FLIRTING (Civil War) – late Season 7

Everything has calmed down now. Scar is mayor. Mumbo is...somewhere. Grian is going to work on his base normally.

Grian has a new project. He wants to build in the new nether biomes. He builds a huge and echoing and obsessively inverse version of his huge and echoing and obsessively symmetrical mansion base. It's very impressive. It's totally hollow. There's... no one else here.

Grian decides that okay, he is going to bring PEOPLE here.

He invites Mumbo, because he hasn't seen him in weeks. He invites Bdubs, because Grian above all loves genius. And he invites Scar. Because of course. Everything major Grian does now, Scar is an of course.

Bdubs shows up! Generously builds Grian's entire mansion interior. Mumbo shows up. Builds a tiny upside down disco shack.

Scar does not show up.

Scar is being mayor! Scar is a very busy and important man! Scar has spent the last few weeks obsessively replacing every single goddamn mycelium block in the shopping district with beautifully tailored grass and making trees whose flowers are diamonds. He's also got his own megabase going on. For once Scar has so much to do it's even enough for Scar's ambitions, which have never been small.

He does not come when Grian calls.

Grian is Not Happy.

This is the point where Grian starts a steadily more unhinged campaign of leaving Scar invitations. He makes little tailor's dummies of himself and delivers them to Scar's house. He sets up a tea party of three grians in a secret space under Scar's mayoral throne. He hangs himself in effigy on the tip of Scar's megadrill build. Normal behavior.

And then when Scar still doesn't notice, he puts a tiny bit of mycelium back on one of the streets of the shopping district.

This starts… THE MYCELIUM WARS

Scar attempts to contain the growing mycelium patch with warning tape.

Grian spreads more mushroom spores.

Scar brings in his allies to help contain the growing mushroom patches.

Grian digs out an underground rebel HQ, recruits several rebels, and declares himself Motherspore.

Mayor Scar stares into a camera and uses his most velvety baritone to proclaim he will hunt down Grian and the mycelium resistance and bring them to justice.

Grian sets loose mushroom-spreading sheep.

Mayor Scar obsessively searches for his base.

Grian and Impulse build several decoy bases and trap them.

Mayor Scar employs Mumbo to strip-mine every block of the shopping district with redstone tunnel-borers.

Eventually Deputy Mayor Bdubs, having his own thing with rebel Etho, tricks all of the resistance into ender-pearling into jail.

Scar gets to threaten to pour lava on an imprisoned Grian for ten minutes straight and they’re both enjoying this so much.

Grian: Scar! SCAR! Scar Scar Scar no Scar no Scar no listen Scar

Scar: Yes?

Grian: …Let’s take this somewhere else.

They ‘take this’ to Scar’s beautifully-appointed mayoral office. Grian sits on the arm of his chair (I don’t know what to tell you, this is on-screen canon).

Grian: So I know how to end the war.

Grian: We have to play minigames and make personal bets.

Grian: And Scar, Scar, if you lose…

Scar: Yes?

Grian: … you have to help build my base.

Entire room: [stunned silence]

Etho: Is this what it was about the whole time, Grian?

So! That happened. And the thing is, they could both mentally pass off the area 77 general/hippie stuff as Just A Fun Bit That Got Very Intense.

They can't do this with the mayor/motherspore stuff. They are basically making out on Scar’s chair. The resistance have noticed. The mayoral staff have noticed. EVERYONE has noticed.

Scar is into it. Scar is going along with it. Scar knows he’d had a crush for a long time, and he isn't scared of swimming with a huge wave, never mind where it's going to break. Scar has always embraced the rush. With Grian, you never know what’s going to happen next.

Grian has always loved being around Scar because there’s so much going on that you don’t have to think. Grian doesn’t have to think until everything’s calmed down. It's not until now that he stops and realizes… could this be… something.

(Maybe it already is.)

And then, by whatever eldritch mechanic you personally favor:

3rd life begins.

HEAD-OVER-HEELS – Third Life

In the tiny claustrophobic stripped-bare world of Third Life, Grian makes a choice. Grian thinks, for once very, very clearly: what if it wasn't a bit? What if it was real. What if Grian took every explosive piece of who he was and handed it over to someone he's—okay, he'll admit it—someone he's been obsessed with for a long time. What if that heady sparkle he's been seeing in the corner of his vision is true. What happens if you grab it with both hands?

Scar—surprised, bemused, amazed but wrong-footed—almost doesn't know what to DO with this.

Scar is so used to Grian layering all his obsession behind a thick layer of irony and drama and second-guessing and schemes. ‘Sure we can make out but only if I'm trailing mushroom spores and you're wearing that sash.’ ‘I'm only here because Mumbo's not around.’ ‘It’s not a thing.’ ‘It's not real.’

But it is real.

And, for once, Scar hears a tiny alarm go off in his brain. Scar knows Grian better than anyone else does, by now, and even he doesn't know where this ends. Grian is a force of nature and Scar has never been his unfiltered target. But Grian's throwing himself into this, throwing himself at Scar. And Scar always says 'yes.' 'Yes, and.' 'Yes, let's'. Scar never wants less of Grian. Scar has always taken what he can get.

But with that warning bell, Scar does try to keep that slight layer of dramatic distance, even in this new world where you can die and not come back, even if they don't know if they'll get out of this alive. Scar doesn't fully buy into Grian's second-in-command-devotion, he forces a space for Grian to still be the Grian he knows, some kind of safety vent (‘here's a bee on a lead’). And it could be a lot of reasons, but part of it is…Grian's head-over-heels, for once, and Scar has the unfamiliar feeling of needing to be the one to look where they're going.

Because where they're going is: the last two, all their friends dead, not knowing if there's any way to survive but knowing their friends haven't come back, and at that point Scar takes off the very last of his brakes and the very last of his reservations and says:

For everything you've done for me you can kill me.

(I want this. I want it to be you.)

This breaks Grian absolutely and completely.

And not broken in the fun way! Grian is too far in. Grian let go of Mumbo, who was safe because Mumbo never let it get too far, and he took a risk on Scar, and now Grian is discovering that he didn’t even know what risk meant. Grian is in emotional pain he never suspected existed. Grian has let himself put all his gambling chips on someone who wasn't SAFE and he has lost.

Grian has LOST SCAR and he has LOST HIMSELF and he has FOUND OUT HE CAN BE HURT and he is never going to be the fucking same again.

Scar is in the pond with Grian’s sword at his unresisting neck. And Scar is going to die, and Scar (damn him damn him) has turned it into: he's going to die for Grian. Now Grian is hurting, he's complicit, it turns out grief is an inevitable part of love and beauty, this is all it's taken for Grian's worldview to fall apart in pieces he can't pick up, and Grian has no defenses against pain so there's obviously no way to cope except to beat Scar to death in a cactus ring and jump off a cliff.

AFTERMATH – Season 8

They wake up in Hermitcraft.

They wake up in Hermitcraft! Scar is delighted to find out they just reincarnate, after all that!

Sure, they've all got some lingering trauma but Scar has never let that stop him from doing anything. Scar thought that whole thing went well! He just about dares to think...romantic...? Maybe...?

Grian is Normal to him.

Grian is so fucking normal. it's like. s6 normal.

Scar is. kind of. confused.

Grian is NOT acting like someone he had a romantic death match with.

(Grian is falling apart, but if there's one thing Grian has proved in his building it’s that he’s SO. fucking. good. at facades.)

(Don't go round the back.)

Neither of them are ready for the death game to repeat.

DIVORCE (Traumatic) – Last Life, Season 8

Second death game. Grian deals with his trauma super well by isolating Scar, stealing all his friends, tricking a life out of him, dropping his horse in lava, forcing him into an extortion death loop, then abandoning him and—just as a bonus—murdering Mumbo as well.

This time it’s Scar who comes back falling apart.

A theory that seems plausible: Scar’s old friend Cub picks him up, puts him back together, gets him on his feet. What we do know is that Cub moves in next to Boatem, where Scar is still living with Grian, and incidentally builds an enormous dripstone megabiome that is coincidentally very hostile and might murder you upon landing if you're someone who flies a lot, or happens to be a bird.

There’s a hole with an endless dark void between Scar and Grian’s Boatem bases. They built it together. It’s around this time they both keep repeatedly falling in it.

DIVORCE (But When It Was Good It Was So Good) – Season 8, Double Life

Then the moon gets big. Gets close. Gravity breaks down and that should be the end, should be a way out of this terrible spiral they're in, surely they're better without each other—

Grian turns up at Scar's base and says: Scar. Build us an escape pod.

—and Scar does.

They go out together. Both of them can feel the pull back into each other’s orbit but they’ll die if they acknowledge it. At the end of it all, the void, the protective suits, the unbearable gravity of falling into space together, of holding each other until another uncertain end. They're nowhere but they're in it together.

Is this a good time for another death game? Of course. How much worse can it get.

Double Life, and this time Scar keeps his distance. My soulmate is this allay! My soulmate is my cat! I don’t need a soulmate. Oh—it’s Grian? This whole time? Hahaha. How funny.

Grian: Soo… do you want to base together?

Scar: Do we have to?

Grian: It…might be nice…?

Scar is wary.

He has been burned.

But the pull is still there. The pull is always there. You can’t forget Grian, but you can blunt the edge of him on your skin. Scar is here to take care of these cat-pandas. Grian can do what he likes.

Cheated of Scar’s full attention, Grian tries to tempt BigB into a pale imitation of the Scarian folie à deux (BigB is a genuinely nice man who does not deserve this).

The rest of the server turn red, one by one. Grian and Scar are the last greens. BigB is audibly nervous when Grian proposes a red-green alliance, even though BigB is the red, he has the power. But Grian can’t escape the rest of the server, and the red hunt begins.

Grian and Scar, hunted—trapped at the top of flaming towers, jumping from heights, chased down like foxes at bay, crammed into boltholes with their hands over each other’s mouths, Grian shrieks and laughs and falls back on Scar and Scar catches him and they’re both as alive and elated as they’ve ever been. Scar dies once to Ren and BigB’s zombies and Grian murders both BigB and Ren in revenge (BigB was right to be nervous). Grian has another unhinged murder plan underway when he dies for the last time.

This whole time, Grian was hit in the face by remembering that when it's good, it's so good.

Scar isn’t surprised. Scar has known that forever.

Back in Hermitcraft, its not magically fixed. They’re not innocent any more. But every time Grian looks at Scar he remembers: when it’s good, it’s so good.

And Scar never forgot.

DIVORCE (We’re In Love And We’re Not Done Yet) – Season 9, Limited Life

By now we're into Season 9. They’re still alive. They always live, they always start again, and the other one is just there. Being, infuriatingly and magnetically, them.

Grian is thoroughly annoyed by Scar’s new allegiance to King Ren, but he keeps coming back to Scarland anyway. Scar, I made you an obstacle course. Scar, stand here and get squashed by this anvil. Scar if you don’t do something I’m going to start a resistance.

Grian pretends King Ren doesn’t exist and he has more important things to do, and pretends this so hard that he incidentally invents a mad science robot pulls them all through into the Empires dimension.

Scar, assuming Grian is doing his own thing, shacks up with Jimmy.

It takes Grian three weeks to notice and be shriekingly outraged.

Scar we’re doing a project. Scar you can’t spend all your time with Jimmy! Join my cult. Get in my shrinking machine. I made you an enchanted netherite bow. I need your allegiance. (Another real quote).

Scar teases Grian for weeks then instantly abandons Jimmy when the choice comes down to him or Grian.

Fourth death game—they’re used to this, now. Nothing too intense. Nothing too weird. Grian can’t help murdering Scar.

At this point, Scar is starting to read it as: I love you.

And that’s how we get to the current Scarian dynamic we know and love of you're the worst and I'm the worst and we've divorced a few time but we still like each other so fucking much.

It's been years. They've killed each other every possible way. These two characters are in love and they're not done yet.

[amxrany]

!! CHAPTER 7 / DIASOMNIA ARC SPOILERS !!

Heyyyy I'm still alive and kicking, been doing a lot during the summer and I got some vacant time now so let's go (Kalim's Dream):

We're getting right into the action ya'll we are currently transmigrating into Kalim's dream and Vil is not having a good time (he's screaming his ass off). We land in front of a school and Vil is just distraught about dream hopping that Yuu, Grim and Idia are making fun of him for it 😭; but Vil wasn't letting it slide with Idia (he threatened to smash his screen/LCD).

Ok yeah going back we see a fountain with the sultan's (the sultan from Aladdin) statue in the middle. Then Grim get curious of said statue that he jumps??? into the fountain??? Then we get the KALIM APPEARANCE RAHHHH

He explains to the group that the sultan serves as the main figure of the school they're in: Qasr Sultanate Academy. Kalim also doesn't recognize any of them because he's a second year of the school, he also doesn't recognize NRC but once he heard that they were from Sage's Island; he assumes they're having a tour.

He also notices that the group is dying from the heat due to their uniforms, so he uses Oasis Maker to hydrate them. We learn that in this dream, Kalim manifested his magic at the age of 14 and created the academy to train his magic (OKAY DAMNNNN THAT'S JUST A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF RICH). That's when Kalim summons his servants to give the guys a feast because apparently you can bring servants to the school even if then if they won't be considered as "students" and Sebek's like "NRC doesn't even permit outsiders" (talk about culture shock)

That's when they start talking about stories from their homeland, Kalim brings up the story of Aladdin and the Sultan; while Silver and Sebek bring up the story of Sleeping Beauty. Grim notices that while Kalim isn't that much different, it's strange that he isn't at NRC knowing how much he loves the school. That's when Ortho makes the connection between Kalim and Vil, what could be the possible tragedy that happened for Kalim not to be at NRC in his dream (well they're about to find out) then we get a JAMIL JUMPSCARE

(why is he smiling, it kinda scares me)

So what Kalim really wanted was to be friends with Jamil despite their differing statuses (aw :( ) and thus the group plays along by introducing themselves to this Fake!Jamil. Vil's impressed with Silver and Sebek's acting skills, I mean if you have encountered a war general, a buff twink and a Savanaclaw fanboy; you'd at least pick up on some acting along the way.

But of course, Silver and Sebek do know that there is something off about the Fake Jamil because he asked Kalim to get something for him and they're just calling the Fake out 💀. That's when Fake!Jamil reveals itself as the darkness and tries to drag Kalim down with him, but Kalim is starting to remember everything.

KALIM SMACKS US WITH THE QUESTION FROM BOOK 4 IMA JUMP OFF GOODBYE

That's when Fake!Jamil uses Snake Whisper on Kalim but Kalim wasn't buying it then the Fake!Jamil starts saying stuff along the lines of how they grew up as brothers and have never been shy with each other despite their positions. That's when Vil snaps Kalim out of the dream about how he still kept trying to befriend Jamil despite having him betrayed by him in the past. That eventually wakes Kalim up

That's when the scene changes to Book 4's overblot battle, when Fake! Jamil tries to help Kalim stand; he swats the fake's hand away. That's when Kalim replies to Vil that it's because he's Jamil's master, not his best friend. But Kalim tells the Fake that he wants to befirend the real Jamil, not him.

Thus the fight begins and once it's done, Kalim cries now let me show you his groovy

(if he's sad, we are all sad too)

The whole plan is then revealed to Kalim, who is now fully awake. Kalim is now added to the party because he's the only one who can awaken Jamil because they know each other. He also mentions that it's usually done the opposite way (Jamil doing the waking up), so it's nice to see the roles swapped.

I don't think my summaries captures the full essence of Kalim's dream so I really recommend that you watch english translations if they're out. But yeah will be translating Jamil's dream in a bit, took me awhile cuz I had a lot of things to do but yeah see ya'll soon~

Next: Jamil's Dream

[stellanslashgeode]

I'm happily educating myself on all things Barriss via your wonderful blog. If you'd ever feel like unpacking more of your Wrong Jedi thoughts/intrigue, I'd love to hear more of your analysis.

Oh my, you've put a quarter in the machine now you have to hear the whole song.

The arc is very divisive with Barriss enjoyers because her character veers so far from her Legends depiction. She was a pretty prominent character in the original Clone Wars multimedia project and was a caring and selfless healer. And the arc doesn't do much to explain her motivations for turning.

Another thing that vexes me is because it is essentially a police procedural (they even hired a writer from Third Watch for this arc) so much occurs off-screen. So, we do not know quite what happened but have to infer.

Let's start with motivation. In her very few post The Wrong Jedi appearances they've tried to hint at Barriss falling mainly though post-traumatic stress disorder. And that's sort of a good explanation? She was at Geonsis at the start of the war, and was one of two Padawans we know of IN the arena who lived and the other was Anakin! You have to think this is a healer, someone who was trained to be a pacifist, and the battle was so sudden and frantic that she had to witness other Padawans she knew in the creche die all around her and she was too busy defending herself to do anything. So that's trauma and guilt. The short story A Jedi's Duty shows that she sat out nearly the entire first year of the war healing others back at the temple, explaining why she wasn't there to deal with Asajj Ventress with Luminara in TCW season 1. Also, she is having trouble sleeping because of memories of that first battle. She asked for help but they told her to meditate if she couldn't sleep, but she couldn't meditate properly because of this haze of the dark side invading her perceptions. She's even having trouble Force healing and she feels guilty that others are taking risks that she is unwilling to take. She consults with an old friend, Tutso Mara and is finally able to meditate, but right then Luminara calls her to a briefing, and wouldn't you know it, they're going to Geonosis again. She is frightened but memorizes the tunnel formations under the weapons factory they need to destroy because that's her duty to the Light and to her Order. The last scene is her joining Luminara and Gree to depart for the battle. And it's such an ironic story because Master Mara is one of her later victims and the place she bombs is right there in the temple hangar where the story ends. I think that's why she chose it as her target, it was the place she went from safety to chaos.

And what happens next? She almost is buried alive Right Away, then as she's reeling from that she gets a Geonocian brain worm. She was also at the Battle of Umbara, and you know how that goes. So I guess trauma is a fairly good reason, as well as her love and admiration of Jedi ethics and pedagogy that just went right out the window when the Jedi had to do what it took to fight in this war. Barriss is a bookworm, all that heritage meant something to her. And really, that was the purpose of the war, to isolate the Jedi by having them betray their morals and sully their reputation with the public.

Fanfiction writers also can pick and choose from Legends, such as all the crazy stuff that happened to her on Drongar but that's a story for another day.

So we get to the Wrong Jedi Arc itself. We aren't shown how she meets Letta Turmond, how much of a partnership that was. Letta says Barriss was the mastermind of the operation but that's after she's jailed. I don't trust her. I mean, Letta is a grown woman and while Barriss was an idealistic and heartsick Jedi at that point she's just 17-18 according to Feloni. I can see it as a situation where a teenager gets politically radicalized and taken advantage by a woman she trusts. If we get a Letta flashback in Tales of the Empire I will be so happy!

Ahsoka is framed. But there's a multi-step aspect to it. Part A, Letta calls Ahsoka to the prison because she was told she was the only Jedi her collaborator trusted and gets Force choked by someone we do not see. Part B, after she is arrested someone leaves a key card outside her cell and she follows a trail of first injured then dead clones to make it look like she broke out and went on a killing spree. Part C is the only one we actually see start to finish, where Ahsoka contacts Barriss and she lures her to the factory that made the nano-droids.

Barriss is guilty of Part C. But did she do Part A and B? She was at the funeral with Ahsoka and heard same time as her that she was transferred to a military compound. Then in the maybe hour, two hours Ahsoka was in a mission briefing Barriss supposedly broke into a brand-new high security compound, got in the walls, and strangled Letta as Ahsoka was in the cell alone with her. Then Part B, she hung around undetected for a few more hours to set up the escape while also erasing the audio off the recording of the murder.

I personally think Palpatine MIGHT have done part A. He has much greater access and he has the motive (to take away a pillar of stability for Anakin). If Barriss did do Part A, what was the motivation? The most pessimistic reading is she did it to save her own skin and purposely framed Ahsoka. Another is that Barriss genuinely talked up Ahsoka to Letta, and did NOT do so to set her up but because she was one of the lonely girl's only friends (and maybe love interest) and then Letta goes ahead and calls her there, Barriss is in the walls, and she just cannot have Ahsoka's opinion of her ruined. She killed Letta to silence her from tainting this one friendship she had left, did so out of panic, and wasn't thinking of the consequences. Then Part B, oh no I got my girlfriend framed for murder. So she springs her out. So why does she kill those clones to further frame her?

Consider the conversation after the funeral, "Ahsoka, do you think it is right for us to ignore our emotions?" I think the subtext there was "Ahsoka, I'm hurting so much, join me to stop me." She was feeling her out to see if she felt the same about the war as she did. And she did Part B to see if Ahsoka would run, SO THEY COULD RUN AWAY TOGETHER. Sure, it's manipulative as all Hell, but that's the dark side for you. It was a test, and Ahsoka failed because as soon as she gets out, she calls Barriss to help clear her name. So that she could get back to the war. The war Barriss hates with all her being. So that's why she did Part C. She had been alienated by the Order and her own master by all these deployments and the one person left who she valued was buying into the propaganda that the Jedi needed to finish this war. It broke her. And she did something awful.

All and all I think her fall is fascinating because it wasn't for personal power or attachments, she wanted to sacrifice her own grace to save the souls of all other Jedi. She did it out of love for the Order, even if it came in such a twisted and destructive form. That's also why she'd become a lousy Inquisitor. They're the anthesis of all she stood for, an army fighting for the dark side.

I know a lot of fans hate this arc but... man that speech! I spent the whole Prequel trilogy and TCW waiting for a Jedi to stand up and say "What we are doing is wrong, we should stop." Yoda and Mace know their path is leading to the dark, but they see no other way but through. I just wanted someone to say no with their whole chest. And it was Barriss. That's why I love her, your honor. I admire the idealists, her and Satine. They should have teamed up and put a stop too all that nonsense.

Sorry this is so long? I have a lot of FEELINGS and now you can see why I have a lot of trepidation about this Saturday. You know, I thought of you last night when I was rewatching Tales of the Jedi. It was the scene were Dooku was leaving to meet Palpatine with Yaddle following in The Sith Lord. I was imagining how you felt watching that for the first time, and I remembered my reaction was "Oh no, it's the temple hangar! Barriss is going to blow the shit out of this place in a decade and change!"

[psych3-delic]

Hello! I adore your family AU and I'm curious about the events that led to Charlotte's birth? Did Undertaker manage to bring back R!Ciel in this AU but it was a less public appearance? Also, do Sebaciel and their baby eventually leave the spotlight to live their immortal lives on their own terms?

And if this prompt idea interests you: Since Charlotte's lover is Grelle's prodege, how about her making a big scene of her and "Bassy" being in laws now and Sebaciel dreading it?

In my head, the whole Undertaker thing was over and done with: o!Ciel proved himself once and for all that he was the one knighted by the Queen, and that he was the one performing all watchdog duty.

It also helps that r!Ciel is already dead. To prove one's alive is easier and it proved also that the dead can be manipulated, thus, can be used as an instrument of lies.

The Phantomhive left the spotlight when they departed from London to America to avoid the Great War in 1914. Afterwards, none really knew where they were, or what happened to them. Funtom continue to grow under regional management, but the owner can only be contacted via mail or telegram. Once, taking advantage of the owner not being around, an executive attempted to funnel company's money into his own pocket. A week later, he's found dead in the office. Reason of death: cannot be determined; his body looked to have suffered no harm. Frozen on his face was an expression of utter terror. On his desk was one single Funtom lollipop.

The Reapers was around when Charlottes was born. The whole dispatch, including Grell, William, Ronald (but not Max though, he hadn't died yet) perched outside the manor on tree branches like vulture, ready to pounce. None had expected Ciel Phantomhive to survive; not even Sebastian. A half-blood child between human and demon had never before existed; her warring natures too might yet not survive the outside world. And seeing as demons drain human life forces, it might very well be that the halfling would kill her mother the moment she was no longer in need of a host body.

But then Sebastian emerged from the manor, in his human form but it looked quite off, beastly even if you looked close enough, followed by his dark tendrils... and a baby girl in his arms.

He showed her off to the prowling death gods:

"She's alive," he said, "and so is her sirer. You are no longer needed here, Grim Reapers."

William adjusted his glasses: "You don't know that, Collapsar. Ciel Phantomhive is not yet out of danger." At this, the demon bares his fang; ill winds picked up; the shadows that enveloped the mansion became impossibly darker:

"He is mine. The boy has been mine ever since our contract. Death hath no claim on his soul."

Will and the Demon exchanged a long look. In the end, Will reluctantly ordered the dispatch to call the mission off. One reaper protested:

“But sir…” “There’s nothing we can do now, or do you fancy being snuffed out of existence by Collapsar?” He spared the speaker a look.

When they all left, Ronald get close and whistled upon seeing the baby, and said: "You sure that adorable babes came from your gene, pop?". And Grell just :)) sighed exasperatedly like when you found out your kpop idol bias is getting married.

I also think the dynamic between the Phantomhive-Michaelis and the Reapers would be like:

Will on a mission in the midst of London > feeling something tugged at his leg > Look down and see Charlotte being tearful mouth quivering: "I lost my papa and dada, Mister. You're their friends right? You're around all the time" > Will reluctantly returned the demon child to her demon parents 🤣

So yes, when they met again in 2020s, there there isn't a lot of animosity left; just a sort of playful annoyance (?)

As I have said before, Max initially hated this grown "Lottie" because of his prejudice against demon and his perception that she deceived him somehow. They had an enemies to lovers arc. The moment it started to shift more toward "lover", Sebastian was horrified. The "Sebas-chan" still makes him shiver even to this day 🤣 meanwhile, Grell is just behind Max giving him (terrible) date gifts ideal and trying to match make.

[ninthhousedyke]

Arcane Season 2 spoiler thoughts!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

After the events of the election in the US, I really needed something to keep me from offing myself and Arcane season 2 could not have come at a better time honestly. I’m literally frothing at the mouth over this first act and I cannot wait for the rest of it. I’ve been looping all the released songs aggressively and I love almost every single one. This will be my new personality for the foreseeable future, gang.

Alright lets get the few negatives out of the way first:

1. I…do not like the new intro. It feels way too muted and strange compared to the energy of the season 1 opener. I would have preferred they kept the first season opening and just made minor tweaks, like having Ambessa’s shadow appear instead of Silco’s or something.

2. I’ve seen some discourse already about it being “fast” and like….I didn’t think that would be shocking to people. This is the season of action. We built up all the plot threads so now they can explode into their brilliance. We know this world and these characters and we can be tossed into the thick of the action and the emotions without handholding anymore. We aren’t building to a climax anymore; we’re IN the climax! Of course shit is hitting the fan quickly, that’s what happens when shit hits the fan. We’ve been away from this world for 3 years, but the season is picking up seconds after the last one ended. Reacquaint yourself with the world and it won’t feel so out of no where.

Alright onto every other thought I have:

1. LESBIANS ARE WINNING RAHHHHHHH

2. LESBIANS ARE LOSING NOOOOOOOO

3. Ahem how could you do that to me in the same episode? Like oh my god it’s so heartbreaking how well both sides of this debate are constructed. Seeing both characters in real time look right past the experience and perspective of the other. It’s just another example of not having a conversation like this in the heat of the moment. I love both my girls and I know they’ll make up….right Riot? They’ll make up right?

4. Ambessa orchestrating all out war like this, escalating it where it didn’t need to be and bringing Caitlyn up to be her warlord apprentice makes me so apprehensive for the next act!!! God the way Ambessa immediately clocked Caitlyn was the person she needed for her little takeover is so calculating!! Caitlyn is already making impulsive choices on her own and now she’ll be under the wing of a woman who wants nothing more than power and bloodshed. I cannot wait to see how far Caitlyn is going to fall before she realizes what this stray from her morals has done to her. I hope we get a final showdown between her and Ambessa where she rebukes being what Ambessa is grooming her to be.

5. That episode 1 fight scene was INSANEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Okay all the fights were insane and so well executed and fuck everything is so perfect and exactly what I was expecting from Arcane. The chainsaw went crazy and Sevika’s new arm is just so simultaneously Jinx and Sevika. It’s brutal and chaotic and I know Sevika can work wonders with it. Also Sevika please call me.

6. I love how all these characters that were mostly background people in season 1 are now getting moments in the spotlight instead of just introducing brand new characters. Like yes utilize the remaining chembarons for the Zain power vacuum rather than bringing in new people! Yes have the remaining councilors become bigger players on the board instead of more Noxus people! Yes utilize existing background characters to bring in the Black Rose!! I love that we have more room for important new characters / champions because we’ve utilized existing background characters in this way.

7. Rip Smeech, I liked your voice buddy.

8. Viktor Jesus arc here we gooooooo! Glorious Evolution tis time!!!

9. I love how the arcane itself is becoming a character. It’s influencing the plot and characters in a way it didn’t before. Now it’s actually an agent of its own power. I am so excited to see what consequences this will have.

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

can u just ramble about your favourite scenes in the arcs? im interested :D

Sure thing!

Tpb: Oh gosh, lot of contenders here.... Let's pick a random favorite....

The Tigerstar reveal. It's so... Cinematic, to me. I'm shocked I've never seen it in any animations! The drama of it, the realization for the reader that Fireheart is gonna have to tell Bluestar, and wondering just how far the new leader is going to go...

I'm gonna have to tie it with Bluestar's downward spiral. A lot of people hated her for it, and I think that's a shame. Stuff like this makes a story GOOD.

Runner ups: Silverstream being a brat but also making an incredibly good point about the Warrior Code, Yellowfang killing Brokenstar, Bluestar's death where she finally gets to connect with her kits, Fireheart saving Sandstorm (which I think they tried to replicate in TNP with CrowLeaf)

Tnp: This one is gonna be controversial, but I actually quite like the part where Leafpool runs away with Crowfeather. Mind you, I hate him, but Leafpool being happy? That was nice. That was the happiest I think we got to see Leafpool in a long time, and the be honest, I... Don't think we ever get to see her that happy again.

Also, just... The 4 Clans together. I loved seeing them finally work together for something that wasn't war. I have a whole AU for the scenario where they just... Never split again. They settle into 4 camps, but without boundaries. Cats go where they want as 1 huge Clan. I love AUs where the Clans fuse!

Po3: Okay, I'm gonna cheat because I.. Haven't actually read Long Shadows or Sunrise. Otherwise I could use the easy way out and say the Fire Scene... But I've never actually seen it!

My favorite scene is all of the ones with the Tunnels from Dark River, but specifically the ones with the GorseBeech kits. I still love Dark River. Perfect mix of slice of life and tension building. I love the darkness and mystery they hold, and how alive the environment felt. The earth was alive and it did not care if you drowned inside it. Also the kittens were adorable and had a lot of personality! It showed Heatherpaw being a natural leader and Breezepaw getting to be a kid.

OOTS: Oof... This one is hard. Oots is getting a bit blurry in my memory... I think I have a tie! In no particular order:

1. Redwillow's death, probably for all the wrong reasons. When I tell you I CACKLED at him getting One Punch Man'd by Blackstar after this dramatic edgy little speech... It was charming enough that I couldn't NOT expand on his character. While he is still getting One Punched, he and Ratscar do manage to take Blackstar down!

2. Dovewing realizing that The Dark Forest is about to attack. It's... Really not clear to me anymore what happened, I don't really remember it well, but I remember how it made me feel. I really thought we were gonna lose her. I can only describe it as "standing at a busy, happy party, looking out the window, and seeing a tsunami on the coast". That "Oh. This is probably gonna be bad, eh?" The battle itself I remember was confusing and a lot of running around while the writers scrambled on remembering how to write fight scenes, and I have my own thoughts on what cats should have went down and who should have killed who... But that might be it's own post. (Bluestar should have destroyed Thistleclaw, Ivypool should have destroyed Hawkfrost, and Brokenstar should have killed Spottedleaf)

AVOS: Okay, keep in mind I haven't finished book one, but... I can safely say that at least right now my favorite scene is the cats eating fried chicken out of the garbage. It's so... Cute! It's the calm before a storm, and Alderpaw calling it "freshkill" made me snort, like, yeah, sure bud, let's call it that. Funny that Sparkpaw had some, as her future son would go on to steal a whole ass rotisserie chicken from a fair. I think she'd be proud.

TBC: I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS ONE. Okay, yes, Bristlefrost's death was iconic, but can we talk about how horrifying the Prologue from The Silent Thaw?

Bramblestar watches his own dead body begin to move, assumes he is going to go back into it, only for its eyes to open, standing up without him, and beginning to speak with his Clanmates...

That right there, those 4 pages, sent actual chills up my spine. The thought of being in scenario is terrifying. Sure, we know from Lost Stars' final chapter that Rootpaw can see him and that Bramblestar's spirit and body are separated for reason currently unknown.... But Bramblestar doesn't know that. All he knows is that his body and mind are no longer one, and nobody knows except for him. That was bloodchilling.

Tbh I think it would have been better to cut Lost Stars chapter 24 completely, and just use that Prologue. Move the VioletTree family meeting to The Silent Thaw's early chapters and do not be afraid to actually hide your plot points.

ASC: Mistystar getting Ratio'd by Duskfur. As much as I desperately wish it had been more emotional.... God it was funny. It felt like a relief. Like... Finally, finally this is over. Riverclan has an interesting plot, a potential murder mystery (that later became a real murder mystery and then... Yknow).

I think another scene is The Curlfeather Reveal. Look I know the writing for it is sloppy, but the way it describes her looking calm and peaceful, speaking as if she's talking to one of her beloved children... WCR!Curlfeather was written with the song Brutus in mind. Elegant and brutal, and I wanna make sure she lives up the the image that much better done comics and fanart.

[evilkitten3]

Hey, thanks for the reply! Also sorry for using comments instead of reblogging, I own only a blog with goofy fancomics and I don't want to mix plot discussions into it. I hope you don't mind. If you want, you can cite this whole reply in another post, but I'm ok with anything.

When it comes to narrator reliability, I go for "reliable unless proven otherwise" approach. I agree here, that picking Obito's statements was not the best way to prove things because he had been proved to talk nonsense before. On the other hand, with how few glimpses of Madara's PoV we have, they are consistent with Hashirama's tale except for VoTE fight where Madara intentionally tricked Hashirama about his goals and the outcome. So I'm going to consider Hashi mostly reliable, also because his account is the last one we get, so if Kishimoto planned it to be false, not showing Madara's contradicting PoV (or at least hinting at it, which we don't get either) would be plain bad writing (still doesn't give 100% certainty, but I'd take this over the "God of the gaps" approach).

Even if we don't consider the info on Izuna's dying words true, Hashirama says that Madara had claimed that Izuna had been killed by Senju (also states it as a reason for not being able to trust Senju enough to make a truce), and Madara later confirms that Izuna had been in fact killed by Tobirama (the "Tobirama pin cushion" scene in War Arc). Also, we were never given an explanation for Uchihas turning their backs on Madara other than

prolonging the war

Madara allegedly stealing Izuna's eyes. Both these things trace back to Izuna's death. One can try to give other reasons, but this would be entering headcanon territory at this point, so something that the reader wants to be true rather than something that the reader has actually been given.

As for Tobirama, he plays a way bigger role in his and Madara's paranoia than Madara, and his prejudice is largely ungrounded (however understandable because of his own traumas), but here are some things Madara did that could rile him up:

refusing truce for so long, stemming from Izuna's death (according to Hashirama)

pulling off the whole "it's either me or him" stuff twice (first one is when Tobirama calls Madara a lunatic, so this had started before the founding of Konoha): this also fits thematically with Izuna's death, because having no living brothers left would have put Hashirama and Madara in the same spot

attempting to nuke Konoha with Kurama (even if we assume that Madara didn't want to do it, he intentionally made this impression to lure out Hashirama, so Tobirama can't be blamed for believing it) which had been partially caused by Uchihas rejecting Madara which had been caused by… etc. Tobirama explicitly says that his persecution of Uchihas was to avoid the rise of another Madara, but this is Tobirama we are speaking of, so take this with a grain of salt. Also, through grooming Obito, Madara played a significant indirect role in Uchiha massacre, but I wouldn't necessarily consider it intentional on his side (we can't tell to what extent Obito was guided by "Madara's will"). So in the end, his actions do bear characteristics of a self-fulfilling prophecy, although I admit that it's debatable how much Uchiha opression could have been avoided without Madara fueling every bad stereotype, because the prejudice didn't start with him. No Obito and no Kurama attack could have at least remove a convenient pretext for the massacre from the story, but it's absolutely possible that Konoha elders would have found another one.

I'm not saying all of this to prove that Madara wouldn't have pursued IT with Izuna alive (in fact, it would be interesting to see BZ sway Madara without killing Izuna). My point is that there are too many factors that more or less directly trace back to Izuna's death to confidently state the opposite.

entirely fair! and don't worry, plenty of people prefer commenting for various reasons; no offense taken

honestly, i tend to be more or less the same, although i actually think hashirama's story was probably pretty solid; he doesn't try at all to make claims for the stuff he wasn't there for. he doesn't even say "madara was definitely standing outside the window" he says "tobirama looked out the window and i found a leaf that looked like the one madara looked at the village through"

having said that, from what i remember, at some point kishimoto did end up pressed for time, and that seriously affected the quality of his work (and... let's be honest, the war arc was never naruto's best writing. the war arc wishes it had what the wave arc had)

i think the reason we never heard hashirama's take on why madara's clan distanced itself from him is bc hashirama can't really,,,, comprehend that? like madara explicitly says "no one in my family likes me :(" and hashirama goes "i don't believe that" like he has any way of knowing XD

personally, i'm fairly certain that tobirama killed izuna, and i have no reason to think otherwise (i guess it's possible that black zetsu personally snuck an infection into his wound somehow just to make sure he kicked it and madara got his eyes, but like you said that'd just be headcanon territory, and also it kinda doesn't matter since neither madara nor hashirama would have any way of knowing that, so neither would we)

frankly i personally like the idea that tobirama was just scared shitless of madara, but it's also possible that he held a grudge over the whole "kill u or ur bro" thing. probably not the other stuff tbh, since tobirama never seemed all that invested in the idea of a village before it was founded (probably just. didn't think it could happen), and madara trying to nuke the village didn't happen until after he'd left, so while it may have affected tobirama's relationship with the other uchiha, it didn't really affect his relationship with madara.

obito's role in the massacre was,,,, really badly handled tbh. and also part of why i suspect that the original concept of "tobi" (from a meta perspective) was meant to be madara's ghost possessing obito's mostly dead corpse. madara had a reason to resent the uchiha clan (although i don't think the character we meet in the war arc would've done that, even if the character we met after tobi's "reveal" might have), but obito never really got one. there were fan theories, but not a lot of solid canon evidence. it might've happened, since both obito and madara were justifying everything they did with "well they'll all be fine when the infinite tsukuyomi kicks in, so whatever"

if you keep izuna alive and don't remove black zetsu from the equation, then it's less of a "would madara still do this" question and more of a "how long until black zetsu manages to cause izuna's death and lead madara to do this" question. zetsu needed madara to get the eternal mangekyou sharingan, after all. if it was possible to do that while keeping izuna alive then that'd certainly be interesting, but it's not something zetsu would particularly care to pursue, especially when izuna dying makes it much more likely that madara will take his eyes. but black zetsu is black zetsu, so i'm sure it could figure something out.

if you take out black zetsu entirely, then it's hard to say if madara would've come up with the eye of the moon plan on his own, but i do still think he would've seen the village as a failure and left in the end. like you said, it's hard to say for sure, though.

[glasskey]

Justice THT Style - Part 2 - Nick Blaine

Today we're looking at the enigmatic Nick Blaine and his road to true justice. Let's get started.

For 5 seasons Blaine has been wandering the streets of Gilead as an Eye and now a military Commander, his very job description determines that like it or not, he’s a source of Gilead justice. He might not say a Hell of a lot but if you live in Gilead, its definitely not a promising sign when he turns up at your door if you’ve misbehaved. He’s constantly quoting bible verses that have a very “fuck around and find out” quality to them, in fact dear old Fred got a mouth full of the whole “reap what you sow” business, just prior to his demise. In season 1 Nicks sense of justice seems more procedural rather than retributive but he’s green and yet to see what Gilead will do to the love of his life. “No ones above the law” he says in S1 but this is fanciful idealism, these commanders are rotten to the core and he’ll have to drown himself in blood to get them to behave like virtuous men. He’s a peaceful man, restrained and noticeably stoic, but watching the various ways that the Waterfords and Gilead tortured and crushed June, is more than he can stomach. When Nick joins June in those dark woods handing Fred over for the revenge she so desperately craves, he doesn’t take part in the Salvaging, it’s a ritual only performed by Handmaids and as such he knows it’s not his place. Instead he silently marches Fred through the woods, ignoring his pleas, to deliver him to June and leaves.

Historically when it comes to acts of justice and revenge Blaine acts as more of an intermediary, justice will be served, not directly by his hand, but he does make sure that everyone “gets to the church on time”. But lately we’ve seen the sands shifting, from season 4 we’ve witnessed instances Blaine will directly take a pound of flesh and I personally wish him well. In season 4 ep 10 he back hands a mouthy Fred, a call back to a slap Fred previously delivered to June, as Nick stood there horrified and helpless. With that one gesture he redresses the balance and takes back his power.

In Season 5 he shot Putnam for raping a handmaid, and while under the guise of Gilead justice, Blaine was more than happy to oblige for his own reasons. In Ep 10 he became enraged at an attempt on Junes life, ending with a bit of a throw down with Lawrence in front of the evil Commander McKenzie. This moment crystalized that Nick Blaine was becoming both increasingly dangerous and unpredictable. It also foreshadowed the Battle Royale we can expect between these three in season 6. With Blaine being such a purveyor of New Testament scripture that espouses forgiveness and love, he’s inclined to feel a great deal of guilt over any act of revenge. It suits him, a sense of guilt gives a character an aura of contemplation and depth, something that Blaine seems to swim in. Comparatively, a lack of appropriate guilt makes a character seem sociopathic and superficial. Blaine’s “tried to be nice about it” as they say, but unfortunately he lives in Gilead and well, Gilead’s gonna Gilead, so as Lawrence would say “enough of the carrot, time for the stick”.

It’s been interesting to note that scenes of Blaine at war were cut, participating in a war against a peaceful country sits poorly with a character who has such a balanced sense of justice. There is always a difference between referring to a character at war and actually SHOWING one picking up a gun and shooting it at an innocent. Showing these types of acts makes an effective redemption arc almost impossible to survive and lowers the chances of welcoming that character back into the fold at the end of the day. The fact that these scenes were cut significantly increases Blaine's chances of coming home.

Until season 4 we never saw Blaine engage in any acts of direct violence that weren’t as a result of self defence, when he did commit them, they could be traced back to his feelings of anger at witnessing June’s abuse. In Season 5 he became increasingly dark and lost hope, ala Godfather style, because he’d lost the one glimmer of light in his life: June.

It would have been unusual for writers NOT to show him descending into a place of darkness without her. She’s everything to him and now with Tuello holding out his hand he can just see her again standing on the distant horizon. God help whoever stands in his way.

Next up Serena and the Nick Blaine of Canada: Tuello.

[outrunningthedark]

I'm feeling kinda optimistic? Like, I know it's weird, but after what you said today about how there's a chance that they could have an ambiguous scene for closure (because they didn't know for sure when they were working on the episode that they were going to be picked up by ABC), I'm obviously mad at Kristen for preffering five minute love interests as "endgames" than have them together officially and only giving them an up to interpretation scene for the sake of the internet.

However, I'm also thinking "hey, we lost the battle, but not the war". It's probable that not a lot will shift with ABC, but who knows? Kristen got what she wanted with Buck and Eddie right now, but with a new network on the horizon that's well known for actually caring about the promo of its series... I'm not giving up just yet.

Pretty much how I feel (as someone who hasn't abandoned my 'they can drag this shit out to the bitter end' stance). I don't think Buck and Natalia - with the way they were written in the first episode - is going to make it past the finale, so if Buck's *not* still single at the end...something went wrong at the last minute, aka someone panicked, lol Eddie and Marisol *could* go on a date (I didn't say definitely, guys, just that they could), but with it happening right after Eddie made the remark about dating people from a call not being the best idea...I think the plan right now is for it to not get anywhere serious - maybe the s6 finale makes the audience think Eddie's on the right track just so his arc is neatly "wrapped up" because s7 was TBD - and then, unless there's another "deep dive" into the fan base that reveals a love of Marisol, Eddie will remain unattached at the beginning of or sometime during the early portion of next season. Buddie won't be THE story in the finale - that's for the overpass collapse and Chimney whump (that brings back the Lees?) and whatever happens to Bobby because there's (obviously) always something for Bathena to go through in the big moments - but could we close out with a Buddie/Buckley-Diaz scene that leaves a mark, a scene that is meant to carry us through however long the hiatus is because this fandom's talent is making a meal out of crumbs? Yeah, I think we could. What I won't speculate on is where the show runners take it now that they know s7 is locked in. New season, new story.

[recurring-polynya]

If you're still doing these~! For the Fanfic Writer meme:

14. If you could see one of your fics adapted into a visual medium, such as comic or film, which fan fic would you pick?

17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic?

30. Is there a Bleach character that you haven’t had occasion to write for yet (or who’s cameo’d but not featured), but that you’d really like to it the opportunity presented itself?

14. If you could see one of your fics adapted into a visual medium, such as comic or film, which fan fic would you pick?

This is really silly because my first instinct was to say "If it's not too selfish--" but this is a purely theoretical exercise in an Ask Meme, if you can't be selfish here, where can you?? Anyway, I would pick one of my longer chapters of Heart is a Muscle, probably Call Me Back When the War is Over, but What We Do with Our Hearts would also be extremely acceptable, and I would like to see it animated in the style of the late OG Bleach anime (think Reigei Arc).

In these stories in particular, I feel like I am always trying to capture the Full Range of Bleach, from the fight scenes to the reaction faces to the dramatic dialogue, and it would be really super cool to see that somewhere outside my own head. ngl, I mostly just want to see the fight scenes, particularly the ones where Rukia fights Ikkaku and the one where Rukia and Renji fight Yoruichi, with sick Bleach fight music. I would also cry a million tears to hear Orikasa Fumiko and Itou Kentarou banter with my dialogue. I want to see Kira make a series of really horrible faces when Rukia and Renji make him go to the Squad 11 bar with them. I want to see how many split screen reaction shots they could possibly fit into the scene where Renji has to go have Fancy Dinner at Kuchiki Manor.

I also have to say that being adapted into comic format would also be extremely cool, I would not say no to any of this.

17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic?

Ahhhhh, this is hard because I feel like you know all my Fun Facts! (you probably know this one, too, but I still think it's neat)

Here's one I learned when I was studying travel in the Edo era enabled by the Five Routes. Traveling medicine sellers had a system called okigusuri, where they would just leave their big box of medicine at your home. They would come back on some semi-regular schedule and you would pay them for what you used, and they would re-stock your box. The medicine sellers kept really detailed ledgers that let them figure out which medicines were used in which areas, the rates at which they were used, families' medical histories, etc. These ledgers became so valuable that they could be sold when a medicine seller wanted to retire. The medicine sellers also brought little souvenirs with them, which reminds me of the pens that drug companies give doctors. I thought that was a surprisingly sophisticated business model, except that it's all paper ledgers and people walking around with giant boxes on their backs, and I love that combination of modern and period elements. Here's an article for further reading!

30. Is there a Bleach character that you haven’t had occasion to write for yet (or who’s cameo’d but not featured), but that you’d really like to it the opportunity presented itself?

I don't usually hold back from Writing What I Want and also from shoehorning every character I can think of into a fanfic, so I think my bingo card is pretty well checked off. That being said, I think the answer is actually, believe it or not, Grimmjow. He very much Does Not Appear in my usual circles, and I don't love him to the degree that I want to write an actual Grimmjow fanfic. On the other hand, he is very much an Important Bleach Personality and he's got really fun energy. He also has such huge popularity within the fan community that it just feels kinda weird that I never get to get my hands on him. The most I've ever written him was in one chapter of my Tattoo Artist AU. I think it was short and unimportant enough to be safely classified as a cameo but I had an awful lot of fun writing it. If I could come up with a story that he could reasonably take a supporting character role in, I'd love to have a chance at him.

(full question list here)

[starshine-selfships]

YOURE ALSO SHIPPING WITH AN ANGEL NAMED GABRIEL!?? TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT!!!! 🩷🩷🩷

GOD GOD YES!! Also fun fact I lowkey knew you specifically would see those tags and got excited to see if you would say anything hfjgrgj

Here's the guy of the hour, the week, the YEAR

(The art with the oranges is my own lmao)

I got the game he's from as a gift for Christmas from a friend who really likes it (and I was like yeah!! I wanna play the game too!!) so everything I'm saying has a grand total of a month and a half behind it, and I feel like the short time duration is important to highlight the insanity here kdjffk

ALRIGHT SO spoilers for the entirety of ultra.kill as a game bc he's integral to the overall plot, but some background before Gabby, the game is centered around a robot (controlled by the player) descending down through 9 layers of hell a la dante's inferno style, bc this particular machine is blood powered and mankind has been completely wiped out (partially by war, partially by something that hasn't been made 100% clear yet), so you're just going around slaughtering everything in sight, with the chunkiest graphics known to man along the way.

Gabe's role here is to step in and try to stop you bc you're basically a walking abomination to all that is holy, Gabe is the angel that sends people to hell and is also the one chosen to carry out the will of god so he's also done a lot of killing to do that; he loses to the machine, gets so mad he curses at you (calls you an insignificant fuck) and then leaves, but we see a little behind the scenes, where we learn he's never lost a fight like this and the rest of the angels call it heresy; they sever his connection with divinity and tell him he has 24 hours to fix everything or he'll die. So naturally, next fight he's pissed as hell, and starts out MAD, yelling and threatening, but as it goes on, he starts having fun and laughing and taunting, and when he loses again, he says he feels relieved and needs time to think. He starts introspecting and starts questioning everything he's been told after he realizes he wasn't feeling hatred, but a sort of passion in the challenge of the fights. He starts asking himself if the angels he followed were actually in the right, and ends up killing them all, accepting that he's going to die but that he'll die not only having been freed from the constraints placed on him, but also having freed heaven itself from the angels that basically held it hostage with their power.

He's also as close to trans as you can get without explicitly calling him such! The devs discussed angels and pronouns in a recent stream and said they wanted angels to have no pronouns if possible, but then realized that they needed to gender Gabe when another character wrote a diary entry about him, so they settled on pronouns as a mark of angel status, which means that he didn't originally use he/him, but picked it up later and continued to use it no matter what; the other angels called him "it" after the took his divinity, but the overall narration still uses masculine pronouns for him, so it comes with the implication that he's still exactly who he knows he is, no matter what is said about him, which. as a trans man. good lord fhsjg the trauma of his arc hits very close to home for me and that was part of what propelled him into the spot he has on this blog.

The other thing that got him here was. and there really isn't any other way to say it. This man turned everyone into rabid animals, I have never seen so many people look at a character and desire him so violently, everyone wants to do unspeakable things to this man and it is so funny hdsjgks his VA will also voice pretty much anything in-character as well, so there's a lot of unhinged bullshit that makes for an absolutely incredible image of this man. He's a little uptight at first and throws a fit when things don't go his way, he seems like the exact kind of man that would be kind of silly, this man would struggle to peel an orange, throw it at a wall, and then later hang his head in his hands about it. This man would be able to speak multiple languages but would somehow mispronounce every single word as he goes. He's an astounding character and he's also kind of pathetic and something about all these factors just. lobotomized me. There is a gay little angel where part of my brain should be and I've just accepted it. I had a gay dream about him one single week after I saw him in game, the grip he has on me is UNREAL and I've fully accepted it.

He gives the very fun aspect of "is not human and has no idea what humans need or how they act", which makes him utterly hilarious to me, I wanna see this man try to preheat the oven, he is trying so hard to cook something for me and he is burning it so badly, he does NOT know what a car is and is frankly too wary of it to even consider getting in it. People also arrived at the consensus that he's probably very tall, it's been confirmed that there are no canon heights in the game, but everyone has agreed that Gabby is at least 7 feet tall and it is the funniest thing on earth to me. Very large and somewhat confused angel who means the best trying very hard in his new environment. Oh my god wait when the developers had that stream I mentioned they also talked about Gabe for a bit in regards to his personality bc in-game he saved someone from being swept away in the river styx (now an ocean after an influx of souls), and they were so grateful they added a fully functional hologram of him onto their ship, saying the lines he'd said when he'd saved them, and the devs said that they'd wanted that to be a glimpse into what Gabriel is like when he's not immediately targeting you as an enemy or fighting, and the specific words they used were "he's kind and loving" and that short-circuited my brain immediately upon impact.

He is The Guy Ever, he's basically trans and 70% of the people who drew him gave him top surgery scars even before the devs talked about gender, he's got religious trauma and guilt, he's too tall and has probably never read a book outside of the bible, he giggles and whimpers, he is considered to be one of if not the most wifeable character in the entire game, he has an official body pillow, I want to put him in pretty little outfits, I want to hold his hand and take him to the beach, I want to pin him against a wall, he is. Such A Guy,, thank you so much for asking me about him he makes me feel so insane hsgjsdl

[tottwritesfanfic]

so aside from my current "omg I'm so glad I'm taking it slow because I'm REALLY ENJOYING THIS" brainrot about the new Guild Wars 2 expansion, I am currently feeling pretty bowled over by feels for my HQ superpowers AU, but...

...well, I'm currently planning out a heap of character dynamics which are like, three major plot arcs away at this point. My brain is is..Frustrating. But also, and devoid of any context whatsoever, Miya Osamu is quickly becoming one of my favourite characters in this damn thing, and he's not even really IN those three plot arcs I just mentioned.

work on HF has stalled for.. Well, for stupid reasons, I can be honest about that. I am having difficulty picking a PoV to use, and it's rather hard to write a scene when you haven't made that decision yet. I dunno, so far each moment has called out to me who it should be, but this time it's just...it could be any one of four different characters. It's a problem, I'm sorry. I promise I'll wrangle myself into a decision at some point once I'm done overthinking every possible impact this could have on the fic. Which is not a lot, because (and this is probably the worst part), it's not even a major scene? Writing sucks sometimes, but hey, it means I actually started tinkering with Metanoia again so that's something?

...REALLY no promises about an update on that one yet. It's...it's another one of those "I have hit a wall and it is Hard" moments, and, well. I am not so far into my burnout recovery that I want to risk pushing too hard on those, you know? I like being able to write stuff again.

[bengalaas]

A Year In Review: 2022 Writing

So I’m weeks behind the usual end-of-year memes, but whatever. The past year has not been too great, although good things happened too. Anyway, here’s how it compares in terms of writing: 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |

Writing

I wrote a measly 7600w for A Different Kind of Courage, making 2022 the... third (?) year in a row when I’ve been planning to finish the fic, but then life happens and everything flies out the window. But those were quite solid three chapters and I’m rather proud of them, as the story reached the crash-and-burn end point of an arc. It was terribly satisfying to write. So many things coming finally together, mmm.

In the beginning of last year I randomly started Poludnica / Midday Shadows, a Shadow & Bones fanfic, of all things, and got some 16k words in before Russia’s war in Ukraine made me kinda unwilling to continue writing in a setting/aesthetic based on romanticized Tsarist Russia. But it was very fun while the inspiration lasted and maybe someday I’ll pick it back up.

I also wrote a small ‘Tasertricks in Thedas AU’ oneshot Dancing In the Ruin; a tiny M!Lavellan/Josie drabble Air; a similarly tiny Matt/Elektra ficlet Trade it all in for a lifetime of smelling your skin; and translated two fics: People Caught in a Storm (American Gods) by @spaceinthecage and Leave Barefoot (The Punisher) by She is Hale, which is a prose poem and I’m pretty proud of that one too :)

So that’s 38,600 words writing and 2145w translation.

Somehow, I apparently have had less productive years. (how...??)

Beta thanks

@serial-chillr is still as awesome as ever, she knows the craft, and she also just holds my hand when I haven’t posted anything in a while and suddenly start doubting every single damn thing I know about English grammar XD

Progress

I think Poludnica was the most important learning exercise, as I cut myself some slack and just let myself get some writing done. So there’s some time-jumping, cutting of boring scenes I didn’t want to write, there’s short chapters, there’s more summaries and less descriptions than usual, etc. But apparently the pacing still works okay. So yeah, I guess I now have experience consciously writing an average fic just for fun :D

I also discovered that prose poems are a thing, and that I love them. There should be more of them.

Community

I’ve kinda drifted away from DA and The Hobbit; blazed through Shadow & Bone, and then @sausagesquirrel dragged me into the Daredevil/The Punisher fandom. So I’m making some new friends like @youwouldneverbreakthechain​  and appreciating the ones I’ve known for years, like the excellent @cafeleningrad, @serial-chillr, @vyrridiana, @dafan7711, and other pocket friends (and @dorianpink came back to tumblr!!) ♥

Comments

Unexpectedly many, on a fic I didn’t give much of a damn about :D So fandom is weird.

But also I’m so impressed by Serial and Squirrel and @valla-valla who have kept reading my fics even in new fandoms: you are so lovely, and your support means a lot to me ♥

2023

Honestly, I just want to finish something by this point lol. I’m hoping to have more free time this year, but I think that, for a while, at least, if I’ll be writing anything, it will be behind the scenes until I’m sure I can carry on. I really don’t want to update and then disappear again.

So that’s the most important plan. Sort out this inconvenience called depression, and fall in love with writing again :)

[deck16]

The War Within -- One Month of Play

I recently completed a month in The War Within, the newest expansion for World of Warcraft.

My thoughts and experiences below. This is not an objective review. I talk about the expansion, but also my takes on modern WoW.

This is the final scene of the story. Two old characters reflect on all that's happened, and foreshadow more to come. It's low-key for an ending; I liked it.

Play and Pay Philosophy

The one-month play-time was very purposeful.

Basically, I wanted to experience the War Within and its story while paying a minimal amount to Blizzard. I have no interest in end-game content.

I went through the story. I did a lot of side-quests. I dipped my toes into dungeons, delves, and battlegrounds.

I'm in two thoughts about the cost. On one had, the cost of expansion and one month subscription is high, compared to other games, even other MMOs. On the other hand, the cost-per-hour is quite competitive with many other leisure activities.

When big patches come out, or maybe when the final big patch for this expansion comes out, I might pay to experience what's been added.

I play mostly with a friend. In this article, I will call this friend "Angel Summoner". The reasoning for that will be made clear.

Angel Summoner (left) and me. Enjoying the pretty scenery.

The Usual Stuff

Just quickly, mentioning stuff WoW pretty much always does well:

The zones are gorgeous.

The music is great. (Draenor's OST is still my favourite, though.)

The art design is vibrant and stylish, not graphic-card-melting fidelity.

"Jaina?" "What is it, Champion? You've found a way to stop Xal'atath?" "Can I have a mana biscuit and a portal to Stormwind?"

Story

The plot was mediocre and shallow. Mind you, I don't expect much from an MMO.

Overall I was more interested in the smaller stories. There's a touching quest chain about helping a character face his imminent death, passing on his legacy and helping him with his final wishes. He develops dementia as the quest carries on. It's both simple and touching. It's a fantasy twist on something very real. I'll remember that simple quest far longer than any of the more action-packed ones.

You do a lot of heart-warming heroics in War Within, and I don't mind it. Lots of saving people and communities, often who are misunderstood rather than evil. This may well be the best way to take WoW's story after its really rough ride through recent expansions. Certainly yet another faction war would be utterly farcical.

Speaking of farcical, I am glad War Within's villain is relatively low-key. WoW's parade of world-ending threats was getting very silly. Recent expansions have toned things down. I can believe a world where there are crises in some places all of the time, or in all places some of the time, but not all places all of the time!

"Andiun?" "Quiet, Champion. Khadgar speaks!" "But... Andiun?" "WHAT?" "Can I get a Blessing of Kings?"

Characters

The main cast of characters managed to rise out of the mediocre main story and hold some interest. They're simple characters painted in broad themes undergoing trope-y arcs but that works in an MMO story.

The villain Xal'atath is quite cliche: she's the femme version of a mustache-twirling villain, part temptress and part schemer with a cold heart and a wry smirk. She's my favourite character of War Within.

This is Xal'atath. She never wears shoes.

I love WoW's attention to certain little details, even if I miss 98% of them. I was saying to Angel Summoner: "What happened to the cake-selling NPC by the bank? According to the story, she should be down here somewhere!" I was joking, of course. I purposefully picked the least consequential NPC I could think of.

But lo, we found her. The game called my bluff. That made me smile.

Flight and Precision Bombing

Flight is pretty cool in War Within. It takes all the best stuff from Dragonflight, but expands it to other mounts (and druid forms) while also letting it be unlocked right from the start.

I had a lot of fun zooming around in my druid flight form! The speed is exhilarating, and the speed/altitude mechanics are involved enough that flight is something active, not something you get up for to get a sandwich.

"Up in the air, sky high, zoom-zoom-a-zoom-a-zoom-zoom." The views can be spectacular.

But easy, efficient flight has its downsides.

Firstly, I did feel a little sad I was zooming over the scenery at Mach 5 rather than stopping to look at it. But this is a fairly minor complaint: I'm sure people playing for more than a month will eventually see the sights even if only during brief pauses between hypersonic jaunts.

A bigger downside is how it can trivialise quests. Angel Summoner and I would fly in at Mach 5 and crash into the quest objective (crashing isn't harmful). We'd nab the quest then launch skyward away, barely twenty seconds down and another quest complete.

In both complaints, flight comes at the cost of experiencing a journey. Either scenic and cross-country, or tactical across enemy-infested terrain.

You might say, "so don't fly as much, slow yourself down". Yes, that's not an unfair point. There's a deeper discussion to be had about game-imposed and self-imposed limits.

I'm not saying that flight should be removed or locked away for later-game. Because that wouldn't be fun either. I'm just saying there's pros and cons to flight.

Angel Summoner and BMX Bandit

I played much of War Within with a friend. This friend had good gear from the previous expansion. And due to overzealous harvesting he managed to be a couple of levels above me.

A bit of previous-expansion gear and a few levels shouldn't make a difference, right?

Wrong. I felt like the BMX Bandit; totally overshadowed by Angel Summoner.

I may as well not be playing. I was essentially watching a Let's Play with the inconvenience of having to follow my character along in his footsteps from quest-giver to quest-giver.

This was after a number of concessions, mind you! Angel Summoner picked a tanking (not DPS) spec, and purposefully used weaker gear.

This problem lessened as I reached level cap and got better gear. Eventually we were on equal-enough footing, but two-thirds of the game had been played by that point.

(Questing when we were both closer in power was the most fun. "Round 'em up!" we'd chant; I'd dash about flinging Moonbeam and bring everyone nearby into the cluster of death around Angel Summoner. We'd routinely finish "kill X things" quests in one pull.)

WoW is meant to be an MMO. MMOs are things you play with friends. And to be fair, WoW has made improvements with cross-server play, cross-faction play, and level-scaling party sync.

Why could they not get this right? I'm not asking for totally even and equal power, but I would've liked for the gaping chasm of difference to be reduced somewhat.

"They're a fish-finding duo, d-d-d-d-duo-oh yeah!" You can even see the disparity in fishing rod! 😅

Questing

Questing is enjoyable for story and scenic reasons. Skill-wise, it's pretty dull.

In a group, questing is liable to be too easy, but at least you can challenge yourself by fighting a crowd of foes.

Solo -- which is how I suspect most people do it -- is a strange thing. In most solo action games, you encounter different threats and different challenges: you have to use your array of skills differently to advance.

Contrast with WoW solo questing: you beat a bad guy, then repeat. Sometimes you run into a spot of bother and must use your more powerful limited-use abilities. Beyond their cosmetics and some milquetoast pyrotechnic abilities, enemies vary little.

This is pretty much the same gameplay as vanilla. How have we seen no substantial improvements in the intervening time? We know WoW can do interesting PvE ... grab one of Battle for Azeroth's PvE battlegrounds, slap that in a zone, and let the players work together to push back routinely-encroaching nerubians by fighting direct or by doing supporting quests.

Deep in spider territory.

Dungeons and Delves

Delves are cool mini-dungeons you can do on your own or with a group. They're fairly short, satisfyingly challenging, and have varied and interesting mechanics going on. I like 'em a lot. The ability to go solo or with any number of friends is one of those places WoW is taking down barriers to playing with friends.

Dungeons can now be played solo or with less than the full five-man group; in either case you get bot team-mates. They're not bad: effort has been made to make them unique individuals, and you can have cute little interactions with them. They seem to be super-powered -- the limiting factor to me pulling huge amount of enemies onto them was that I'd die, not them, even with the tank-bot being very proactive. But I've not tried the higher difficulties, to be fair.

My bot buddies during one of the delves. Orcs rubbing shoulders with dwarves shows that times are changing!

Much of War Within can be played solo, and I have mixed thoughts about that. Part of me thinks its sad to play an MMO solo; it defeats the "MM" part. But then I consider that WoW largely abandoned the first "M" years ago. WoW is decreasingly a game about being out there, in the world, mixing with the population of your server. And I appreciated being able to see dungeons and such without being rude to other players.

Waiting for a boss to spawn...

PvPeeved

I'm never going to be competitive in the more intimate player-vs-player modes like Arena. But the bigger, looser Battlegrounds are something I've enjoyed in the past.

WoW has flirted with making gear less relevant (mattering only a few percent). So I was sad to see, after freshly reaching max level in War Within, that I was not 5% or 10% weaker than Battleground players; but more like 50% or even 70% weaker.

Worse, my understanding is that if I catch up with PvP gear now, the ceiling will only get raised in the near future.

I despise the thought of grinding to be competitive. It's like joining a tennis club and having to play the first ten games in leaden shoes. There is not any player-positive justification for this.

This is an easy problem to solve, as I mentioned above. Other MMOs have figured it out. Give identical gear, or an identical range of gear to select from. If you must have things to unlock, make them cosmetic only or side-grades. If you must have upgrades, make them minor; people are still going to want them.

In WoW, it must come down to money. Do grind-happy PvPers subscribe longer than grind-adverse casuals like me?

Co-op past and present. Angel Summoner has Skullflame shield, like me! I remember getting mine in vanilla-era WoW, from some random bug or cultist in Silithus, while trying to get to max level. I didn't even get it: a co-op party-member did. They couldn't use shields and so handed it to me.

The Mash

I don't think it's controversial to say that to do well in modern-era WoW, you've got to hammer a lot of keys.

I hate it.

Firstly, much of the mashing is for stupid things. You need to react to character-internal states that have a percentage chance of appearing when doing certain things. That kind of thing is not fun, is not interesting, and it has zero to do with what's actually going on around you in combat.

This is one of many examples. It isn't specified in the text, but there's a window of opportunity to use this. How's this for a less obnoxious version: extend the time-limit to end of combat, and if you get it again while you already have it you keep your existing instance but the newly-incoming instance auto-casts Regrowth on you. Only a tiny bit more powerful while being oh-so-less irritating.

Secondly, it's just not healthy to do. Hardcore WoW players suffer for the button-mashing they do many hours a day, many days a week. I'm talking about RSI and that sort of thing.

Related: it's not good accessibility. The sad reality is that you often can't bring disabled players up to the level of able-bodied people in action-oriented games. But to have pointless systems and even more pointless rules is to just treat them with disdain.

(Press and hold casting is so limited -- and apparently bad -- that it's a slap in the face more than a useful solution.)

As a programmer by career, I managed to use tools like WeakAuras and GSE to lighten the mental and physical irritation of WoW mash-fetish. The fact I can write a fairly simple algorithm that optimally uses many of my character's skills shows how shallow the system is. Imagine if a few dozen lines of code could make you a competitive chess or Street Fighter player?

The hacking mini-game in War Within is so insipidly easy it's a joke. It makes me miss the turtle one.

Conclusion

Mixed feelings!

I felt I got my money's worth. The story and characters were decent enough and I enjoyed taking my druid out for a spin and playing co-op.

But so many of WoW's long-term follies reminded me of why I haven't been a long-term subscriber for years.

[nikkisreading]

It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey

★★★★☆

This book was so over-hyped that when it was chosen for the smut book club read in July, I was dreading it. One of those things that when something gets too big, it's almost off-putting. But I bought it and let it sit on my shelf for three and a half weeks and finally picked it up to start reading the Sunday before book club meeting.

I. fucking. loved. this. book. Absolutely loved it. It took a bit to get into (the setup was long and highlighted a lot about what kind of world Piper came from), but as soon as we got to Westport, I was sucked in. - Also helped to read the author's note and see Piper was inspired by Alexis Rose from Schitt's Creek, so I had appropriate expectations going in.

First, I love Christmas romance books. They're an absolute guilty pleasure. The Hallmark story of city person meeting small town person, their tug of war, loving the peace and charm of small town life, and smut under twinkling lights and promises of reindeer is literally my perfect story. So when this hit that swing, my little Christmas-in-July moment, I was in. I loved it. Brendan's animosity was the perfect seasoning to this summer romance and as soon as he was an ass, I knew I was hooked.

Piper and Hannah are amazing. I loved watching the character growth and how they react to the town. Piper's fortitude worked splendidly and I loved watching her learn how to adult. (The kitchen fire was one of my favorite scenes.) Also how Piper handled people? It was amazing. One of the worst scenes for Piper (the memorial) was also the best mental image ever. The humor was evident and very well executed, showing moments from the best POVs to allow the reader to fully experience the story and world as they unfolded.

A big thing: The entire town of Westport needs grief therapy. Stat. I get being stubborn and continuing on. I also get respecting the dead and lost. I do NOT get people never moving on. Seven years since Brendan's wife died? Seven years? Can someone please open a counseling office, the town would be a better place.

Also, I hated the implication that Brendan didn't truly love his previous wife. That is common thread I've seen in the dead-spouse trope and I am absolutely not a fan of it. You don't have to tear one person down to lift another person up and that's what this felt like. If authors want to write that "you're the only one I could ever love", then write soulmates/fated mates. Don't make your MC a dick because they married someone they didn't truly love, only to then kill off the dead un-truly-loved spouse. - In all fairness, Brendan also talks about his own regrets in his previous marriage and what he's learned over the seven years since. I can see this being part of his growth looking back on his marriage and seeing it through older and wiser eyes. And he does eventually acknowledge that he will always hold love for his previous wife. But the ambiguity during his character arc was, while wholly and utterly believable, a little frustrating for me.

The other thing that really bothered me: Mac. Mac was a DICK to Piper. The daughter of his best friend and that's how he treats her?? He set her up to fail calling the memorial a party and then just being a jackass when she started dating Brendan was awful. And I'm so angry he was never called out. There's a singular moment where he expresses his remorse to Brendan near the end of the book, but it was not. enough. It really was believable -- especially in this town where no one knows what healthy grieving looks like ever -- but I was disappointed that Mac got away with all his shit with barely a slap on the wrist. He wronged Piper: apology goes to Piper, not Brendan.

All that said, I'm so ready to pack up my life, move to Westport, renovate a dilapidated bar, and see where life takes me. (My husband can come too if he wants.)