#would i like to see him in a main antagonist role more? yes

[doolallymagpie]

I used to be annoyed Helsingard wasn't the Big Bad, and now I think it's one of the best parts of Atomic Robo, that this character who by all means should be more of a threat gets more of a *Nandor voice* fucking guy reaction

[wlwmedarda]

I'm honestly just looking to rant and this might be long depending on how fast I get irritated the more I type so if this isn't coherent or well written I apologize in advance. Since it looks like Ambessa will take on a more antagonistic role in arcane season two, I would like to unpack the fandom's antiblackness that you guys are either blind to or aware and too pussy to call it out as my gut is telling me it's gonna increase and if no one is gonna start the difficult conversation then I sure as hell will.

Sevika:

Mel:

Starting off strong with the definition of "you guys want complex female characters but can't even handle her". Mel Medarda is in quite the predicament seeing how she's morally grey, a black woman, AND "gets in the way" of a mlm ship so she was kinda screwed from the start. A cunning politician disowned for her pacifism who acts as a sort of bridge to Noxus' slow introduction, and is THE ONLY CHARACTER IN THE SEASON 1 MAIN CAST SPECIFICALLY CREATED FOR THE SHOW. She's treated like satan incarnate or a Jezebel (highly suggest looking into that if you don't know what that is), GOOD character analysis is rare, and when she is talked about positively, it's so often chalked up to appearances that I'd rather yall not talk about her at all. Oh you love Mel? Then can we talk about her relationship with her mother? Unpack her dynamic with Jayce? Maybe more fanworks centered around her? I've seen yall's fake asses dropping the shittiest fucking takes about her only to turn around and gush over how pretty she is, and yall think you're slick about it and you're not. I would say I prefer the ones who are loud and proud about their hatred but that'd be a lie, they're two cheeks on the same ass; annoying and couldn't give a decent break down of her character if a gun was pointed at they head even she's perfect to dissect. I could talk about her more but we'd be here all day and so many black women even from outside the fanbase have already talked about yall so there's no need for me to add on 🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️.

Quick question, have you guys ever tried to talk about her in a non sexual way? Yes, Sevika is undeniably sexy and you could argue that true stans of hers talk about her outside of horny time, but a good half of the fandom is a different story. In a similar case to Mel's, deep dives into her character are rare to find which is crazy when she acts as Zaun's own "kingmaker". She's loyal to her city and the cause, never to a specific person and will not hesitate to betray you. She could be your right hand man one day, and the next she might find a better kingpin to follow and stab you in the back like it all meant nothing. "Were you tempted?" "Not for a worm like him". Simple and subtle and probably my favorite Sevika scene; she comes to realize Silco is no longer the best leader for Zaun, but he's as good as it gets for now and so she sticks by him. I remember a YouTube comment breaking down how she's essentially the quintessential Zaun: a brute warrior molded by her environment, who defied Vander's peaceful ways and embraced Silco's cruelty. Her mindset and goal is interesting and you'd think it'd result in some fascinating meta or exploration of her upbringing when we got a hint that she potentially has some daddy issues right? Obviously, but what do we get instead? White sapphics treating her like nothing more than a sexual object. How delightful!

Ekko:

This might partially be Riot's fault because — and I hate to sound like a league lore nerd — Ekko is quite underdeveloped compared to the richer origins of his former pre arcane self, but I'm gonna hold off on that till the season finale to see how they handle him. Anyways, at this point the fandom clearly sees him as Jinx's trophy husband. When you talk about him, she is brought into the convo 90% of the time. That's exactly why I prefer black timebomb shippers over the nonblack ones because I trust they actually love Ekko as a character on his own. Even though I have my complaints regarding how's been written so far, I still know he's too good to be reduced to Jinx's loverboy. He fights and cares for his city, the only character that you can confidently say is pure of heart, and is the revolutionary leader Zaun really needs. He's just as smart as Jinx too, he is literally going to create TIME TRAVEL. Why does no one wanna talk about that? Can we be excited for his character development and arc not just for the timebomb scenes you'll get out of it?

Ambessa:

Can't even deny this woman is awful but her presence on screen enthralled me after a couple of rewatches and I also love bad mothers in media so I've settled on a love/hate relationship. Yes, she's definitely gonna have some influence on Caitlyn, which makes sense since she has now lost her mother; she's vulnerable and as we have seen, naive. She's practically free real estate for Ambessa. My recent worry though has been how the fandom seems to be willing to put all of Caitlyn's actions on her as if Cait isn't a grown ass woman who can make her own decisions. Of course being grown doesn't mean you're immune to manipulation, but I've seen some Silco and Jinx comparisons and it is NOT the same. Mind you we haven't even seen the first three episodes; we don't know how far Ambessa's manipulation is going to go and we can't really tell what the dynamic is gonna be like based off of clips and trailers that are likely shown out of context on purpose to throw people off. I'll never defend her actions, hell I'll join in on the lashings, but my black ass is also not gonna sit here and let yall talk about her weirdly or pin all of this on her.

Some might say I'm overthinking this, but I've been here since November 2021 and have sat back and observed for 2 years. You don't have to write deep, philosophical conversations 24/7, I'm sure it's not all in bad faith and I won't act like I don't thirst over Sevika or marvel at Mel's beauty. I'm not saying you have to like these characters and that you're racist if you don't. My frustration comes from the lack of nuanced conversations and hypocritical opinions surrounding black characters in this show. When you try to say something about this, you're hit with excuses; it reminds me of how man obsessed fujoshis act when they're questioned for not giving two fucks about female characters. They're either reduced to one character trait, only admired for their looks, or only discussed when it's about the white character they're connected to. Do NOT under ANY circumstance be black and morally ambiguous, you WILL be held to higher moral standards than everyone's wittle blorbos who can do wrong and are defended from all sides when you dare to take the rose colored stan glasses off and criticize them. What's really ridiculous is you hear the "complex characters" bullshit every two to three business days and some of you have the nerve to boast about this series being diverse while simultaneously ignoring the complexities in the characters of color. This is the main reason I took a step back and with season two around the corner I thought "Hey, maybe it'll be better this time!" and it was a mistake. Good to know yall still have an underlying racism problem you don't wanna address but with some extra classism thrown in. "What will we do once Arcane ends?" hopefully get a job, touch some grass, and reflect. Lord knows yall need it. The faster yall sizzle out the better. I'm done that's all I have to say lol goodnight 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽.

[azurem]

Tis one was also a request from the instagram im afraid. Hm. Okay quick yapping under cut

Okay so this rq was based on the idea of nm asking ink to marry him. However I believe the idea of marriage for Ink at least is a bit more complicated specially since marrying Nightmare means rebuilding his role

Like he'd only been fooling around with nm. At this point, their relationship has been centered around usefulness. They both use each other at a degree, and that was fine for both of them. They use each other to receive affection and to give it freely. They've been well and good. They could stay like that forever and that'd be fine.

But Nightmare still asked him to marry him. So it takes another tone. The main thing that confuses Ink is... reasons. He lives in a world where entropy doesn't exist. Creators make everything happen, there's no chaos. So everything has a reason to be. They know Nightmare likes him, they know his secrets and he knows theirs as well. But why would Nightmare make a point of marrying him when they were already a solid thing.

Was it a way to send a message? Does he want to make sure their things remain private? Is it to demonstrate love, a higher love? Maybe this was his way of tying Ink to him, to make sure that time would erode all his edges?

The idea of marrying and his role after also is complex for him because Ink is the one who'd get subjected to more change. Nm already has a solid antagonistic role while Ink goes with the flow. To be known as his husband would mean that his meta role (what the creators see when they look at him) would change. He'd have a solid bias and the role to prove it. He'd be more character than a concept for once and for all.

It's scary. Nightmare scares him because he radicalizes him. He cannot remain neutral as long as their thing remains a thing. Nightmare makes them a character and grounds them to the multiverse as a solid, warm thing and not just as an ideal they must protect.

So why did they say yes?

[lintwriting]

I was here when mouthwashing was just a demo. here are some things I noticed.

I caught on to the fact that Curly was likely innocent and that Jimmy was an unreliable narrator based on the "Take Responsibility" word scramble and Jimmy's asshole behavior. Because of this, I also did not think there would be supernatural horror, I thought it’d be man-made and psychological, which I was right about.

What I did not expect was the subtle depiction of how workplaces fail victims of rape and misogyny.

What I did not expect was how backgrounded the late stage capitalism critique ended up being.

late stage capitalism: a red herring

From the Demo, you focus a lot on the corporation as the main antagonist, probably because Wrong Organ devs were hiding the villain protagonists.

Ominous posters, a Polle monster chasing you, those ominous TV commercials glorifying working for a corporation, the fact that all this horror was over fucking tooth-rotting mouthwash. Really paints the picture of a corporate horror or conspiracy a la “Time to Orbit: Unknown,” where every chapter unveils a new corporate conspiracy for money and power.

but instead, in mouthwashing, the capitalist aspects are merely plot devices to explore the horror surrounding mismanagement and its consequences.

A power tripping coworker and an enabling manager who got him the job. An eager-to-please kid and an established supervisor willing to take advantage. Flaws in how the hierarchy is decided, leading to the one person who shouldn’t have had power getting the power. Lack of sensitivity training (or whatever that’s called) surrounding things like Title IX concerns, such as the uneven gender dynamics or what to do in the event of a crime or the fact that the person doing the psych evals isn’t getting any evals.

Notice that none of these things are unique to capitalism, they’re issues you’d have to plan for in any workplace/organization, whether that be socialist or capitalist or whatever. The capitalism exacerbates the issues or catalyzes the consequences of them like a plot device, but the issues don’t originate from there.

For example: the lack of any woman other than Anya.

Yes, this was most likely exacerbated by late stage capitalism understaffing to cut corners, leading to skeleton crews, but that the crew we DO have is mostly male is more related to misogyny or gender roles.

Perhaps women don't want to work on these freighters because of the danger of being trapped in a confined space with men. Maybe the jobs required for these freighters, like mechanic or pilot, are male-dominated. Or maybe the hiring manager had a bias where they viewed men as more competent, etc. The fact of the matter is that the cause is the same when you dig down deep into it: misogyny.

Or the layoff. The laying off of the crew is its own form of evil, but its consequences aren’t the ones being explored within this story. Most of the crew die of the horrors within the ship before they ever have to face it. In fact, the horrors within the ship don't really even have anything to do with the layoff at all. It’s a bit of a red herring.

Rather, the actual cause of this game’s horror is the mismanaged fallout of Jimmy’s assault. Most obviously in that scene where we see Curly for the first time, wherein Curly doesn’t take Anya’s safety concerns seriously, even when Jimmy is actively threatening to make everyone disappear so neither of them have to face the consequences of the assault.

I initially misread that scene as Curly evilly conspiring to let Jimmy crash the ship so neither of them would take the fall, hence us finally seeing Curly's “true face.” Because I read what Jimmy said as inherently threatening and serious, I thought Curly had agreed to that awful plan and only got cold feet at the last minute.

It’s only from reading other comments that I realized Curly had most likely assumed Jimmy was blowing hot air and needed to cool down in that scene. Or that he was making an inappropriate joke akin to his 'sexually attracted to cartoon horses' thing and wasn't being serious. Curly didn’t realize Jimmy was actually talking about a real plan until it was too late stop it (makes me wonder if Jimmy was actually attracted to the horse, too).

Thus, it goes from a story about corner-cutting late stage capitalist megacorps to a story about cartoonishly evil, power-tripping men to a story about how we enable these men with failures in our system.

Much like how the beginning of the game, when Jimmy crashes the ship, a failure in the safety systems is what allows the crash to happen (Seriously? One pilfered key is all you need to send your ship into a crash?), a series of social safety nets had to have failed to let him into the cockpit in the first place. The true face is not Curly conspiring to crash the ship out of cowardice and greed, but his inability to face what his friend has done.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I remember you did character opinion bingos of the twst charas, has your opinion changed significantly for any of them since then, whether positive or negative? Since it’s been awhile since you first made those and many stories have been released after that

[Referencing this tag!]

It’s hard to compare characters using Bingo boards, so I’ve included the current version of my personal character tier list for your reference. As I tend to say when I discuss my character preferences, these are just my opinions and are not meant to invalidate your opinions.

To answer some commonly asked questions (as I inevitably get these every time I reshare my tier list):

Why I don’t like Vil

Why I don’t like Skully

Why I don’t like Malleus (there’s multiple posts for this one; please see my pinned post and scroll down to the “I noticed that you don’t like Malleus. Why?” section to see the whole collection)

As for characters who have shifted since 2022:

Cater went up a tier. I explained why I don't like Cater in this post; it essentially boils down to him being a clout chaser and his annoying lingo (which is only made more frequent in the localization). However, Cater showed significant self-reflection and character growth in book 7. He also showed me a lot of his "cool" side, particularly in Ace, Trey, and even Riddle's dreams. You can read more about what Cater does specifically in these segments in this post and this post!

Jack went up a tier. I have always thought that he was lacking in character compared to the others in the cast. It doesn't help Jack's case that I also don't enjoy his design or general character traits or him being one massive friggin' DOG. However, Jack's dream in book 7 sheds some much-needed light on the extent to which he admires his dorm leader--something which I felt was not fully explored in book 2. You can read more about what exactly goes down in that dream here. I also must attribute some of Jack's ascension to @/tinyfantasminha, who has a really unadulterated appreciation for the big fella. It's been really enlightening listening to them explain why they love him so much.

Kifaji went up a tier. This is not so much because of anything Kifaji did in canon, but moreso because Leona's dream made me reevaluate my previous understanding of Kifaji. Dream!Kifaji has the distinction of being the first non-antagonistic NPC and actively pleads with the dreamer to "open his eyes". While this isn't something that the real Kifaji is doing, I think the mere fact that Leona's psyche manifested the grand chamberlain as his voice of reason implies Kifaji played a bigger role in Leona's upbringing than he would like to let us believe. For as much as Leona bitches and moans about the old man... It must have been Kifaji his main ally and source of comfort in the palace. With his father ill, his brother caught up in royal duties, and the other servants resentful of him, Kifaji was the one playing chess with his second prince, supporting him emotionally in his time of need. When I think back on Tamashina Mina, too... Kifaji doesn't shame Leona for things he cannot help. Yes, he tells Leona off for not respecting traditions or behaving rudely, but he doesn't talk down his abilities. No, Kifaji actually recognizes his talent and intellect, unlike the other servants who cower in fear or hold up the first prince instead.

Sebek went up a tier. Bro really made out like a bandit in book 7; he's the one person who gets consistent character development throughout its monsterous 290+ part run thanks to his interactions with the other first years centering him and that promise made during the farewell party early in the book. We also have Lost in the Book with Nightmare Before Christmas to thank for extra content which allows Sebek to shine and demonstrate his growth.

... Honorable mention goes out to Trey, who almost dropped down a tier simply for an uncomfortable implication his dream had 😭

If you're curious, other characters that have changed positioning from 2020 to 2022 are:

Jade went up a few tiers. He basically shot up to replace Azul. His personality ended up being what I had expected Azul's to be. Bonus points for being a butler (one of my favorite archetypes).

Azul dropped several tiers. He used to be my favorite character (around the time of Twst JP's release), but he fell from grace after Azul was revealed to have a much... "squishier" more bulliable true personality behind his cool, collected persona. Just not a fan of this type of character.

Leona went up several tiers. Book 2 was an awful first impression for him. Most other showings are MUCH better. If you want an extended explanation of my own journey with learning to accept this asshole, please see this post.

Idia went up a few tiers. My opinion of him mainly improved after book 6 and Glorious Masquerade. I like Idia primarily when he's being a good big brother figure.

Rook dropped down a tier. Leona has basically claimed his old spot. I think I just became a little annoyed that he doesn't get much expansion of his lore/background. I get it, part of his appeal is that he's mysterious. Still frustrating that we barely get to know anything about him, even when we get to literally see inside his mind/dream :/

Malleus dropped down several tiers. I was pretty neutral on the guy when the game first launched, feeling like I didn't have enough information on him to make a judgment. However, the longer the game went on, the more and more I found myself really disliking the guy (again, you can see my extensive reasoning for this in my pinned post's FAQ section). Even if the ending to book 7 is somehow perfect in every way, I don't know if it would drastically improve my opinion of him.

[miyamiwu]

Unpopular opinion: There is no Link Click “trio.” It’s just the ShiGuang Duo + Qiao Ling

Now, before the Qiao Ling fans come after me, I just want to make it clear that I do not hate Qiao Ling. She’s a queen, and I love her. What I do hate, however, is the writers’ neglect of her character.

Warning: This will contain major Link Click season 1 and 2 spoilers.

Cheng Xiaoshi, Lu Guang, and Qiao Ling have been marketed as the main trio right from the OPs and EDs all the way to the different official artworks and PVs. But despite this, Qiao Ling has never been portrayed like a protagonist in the story itself. Her value has always been tied to some other character, and what’s sadder is that even as a supporting character, she’s still being neglected by the writers.

Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang both have something in themselves that push the story forward. Cheng Xiaoshi’s recklessness in s1 is what gives tension to the dives and what leads to the overarching plot related to Emma. His planning in s2 also keeps the plot going. On the other hand, Lu Guang acts as the voice of reason, grounding the fantasy aspect of the show. His hypocrisy revealed in s2 also reshapes how we view the entire story.

But what about Qiao Ling?

Throughout most of season 1, she’s been kept in the dark about ShiGuang’s powers, which in turn excludes her from a big part of the story. In s1, it was only during the kidnapping arc that we see a bit more about her, but the focus wasn’t on her at all but on some random extra. And at the last episode when she finally gets to be in on the whole eye power thing, Li Tianchen possesses her, overshadowing Qiao Ling entirely and redirecting our attention and interest to him. (Extra: In season 1, between Qiao Ling and Emma, would you dare say Qiao Ling is the protagonist? I bet you won’t.)

Then in s2, despite Qiao Ling’s extra screen time and more involvement in the plot, the neglect of her character is even more palpable. She got possessed by a murderer, nearly killed her friend, and even tried to stab her own brother, but even after all these, we barely get to see how she had to process everything.

It’s really no surprise many people loved this scene:

This, for me, is the one time, the ONE time Qiao Ling is portrayed as a character on equal grounds with Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang. If Link Click were a sports anime, this would be the scene where she discards her role as the female manager over a bunch of male athletes and expresses her desire to become a player as well.

But unfortunately, after this episode, Qiao Ling is once again pushed to the sidelines. She’s a player now, yes, but a player who’s just being pushed along the game. She may take the initiative in some things (like talking to Li Tianxi), but even then, the things she do are all still just to help her friends. You know, like a supporting character. None of what she’s doing is for herself alone. (If any Blue Lock fans are reading this, Qiao Ling has no “ego,” so to speak.)

Qiao Ling has no goals of her own, and this is how the writers failed her.

All the other major characters have their own goals. Heck, even the antagonists are more like protagonists than Qiao Ling.

Cheng Xiaoshi wants to find his parents. And he also just wants to help the people he meets in dives

Lu Guang selfishly broke the rules of time travel just to keep one man alive and will do it again if he must

Li Tianxi betrays her brother and Qian Jin just to find a way home

Li Tianchen approaches ShiGuang and later kidnaps Cheng Xiaoshi because he also wants to go home

And Liu Xiao wants to, I don’t know, change the rules of time and space entirely?

God, writing that last bullet makes me realize that even Liu Xiao, who only showed up in the last episode of season 2, has more weight in the story than Qiao Ling. This is ridiculous.

Seriously, what is Qiao Ling even here for??? Play big sister???

Just market her as a supporting character. It’s fine. She’s still badass.

I also don’t have much hopes over how she will be in season 3 because of how season 2 ended. Qiao Ling seeing Lu Guang’s memories means her worth in s3 will inevitably be tied to this secret. It’s the s1 ending all over again. At the end of s1, her worth was tied to the mysterious Red Eyes. At the end of s2, it’s tied to Lu Guang.

If the Link Click writers are gonna keep pushing her as a protagonist, then they better start treating her like one!

It’s not enough to just give Qiao Ling a goal, by the way (although it is very important too). She must also become a player who has the power to control how the game goes. If she ends up inheriting Li Tianxi’s powers, as many theories have said, then may the drama around her not be focused on how she may leak Lu Guang’s secret at any time.

I don’t know what she could do with her powers, but I think it would be very interesting if she ends up opposing Lu Guang.

Lu Guang wants to keep Cheng Xiaoshi alive, but...

...he’s no longer alive. The Cheng Xiaoshi we see is just a glimpse of the past...

What if… as Qiao Ling sees more of Lu Guang’s memories, she sees more of the real Cheng Xiaoshi and suddenly… wants to let go… wants to move on?

The fandom have talked a lot about how ShiGuang may react once the secret is out. But what about how Qiao Ling would react to it over time as she realizes those memories weren’t just her overthinking things?

In season 1, she couldn’t bear to face that kid’s father for years, and at the end of s2, she couldn’t bear to confront Lu Guang… In s3, how long can she bear looking at her dead brother?

The chances of her “giving up” Cheng Xiaoshi and returning to the original timeline is slim, though. I’m just giving an example of how she can be more like a protagonist.

Anyways, I’ll end here… I still have so many thoughts, but I can’t figure out how to organize them. This has also been in my drafts for over two weeks and I just want to post it already!

[sarasade]

What I personally want to see from TDP season 6

1.Aaravos' backstory should reveal something truly new and surprising about the world, be it a perspective shift or cosmic horror. I'd really like to see such a hyped up and enigmatic character give us some kind of cool and bold story climax or deepen our understanding of the themes of the show.

2.I want to see the main characters facing a difficult challenge. Finnegrin's Wake in s5 was a good start for Callum but I just want more, ya know. It can be anything: a physical, emotional, moral quandary etc. This is why I find Viren so compelling. He's the one whose beliefs have been challenged the most and he has changed the most.

3. Make the conflict between Callum and Aaravos personal. I love me some good hero-antagonist character chemistry but Aaravos is more of a plot device at this point. This is why Viren was such a good villain. He was outright cruel to Ezran and Callum and it was very personal. Yes, the conflict still fits the story's themes about free will vs. destiny etc. but some kind of personal connection would make it feel more tangible.

This is why I think Viren (if alive) and Claudia (if she turns against Aaravos) should play a role in taking him down. Claudia especially has been relatively sympathetic as Aaravos' prey compared to Viren who had much more agency and more egoistical motivations behind his decisions. They have so much personal beef with Aaravos it isn't even funny.

Just some thoughts I wanted to write down<3

[wonderfull-star]

My own idea of ​​Peri as an antagonist(updated)

Some believe that he may become an antagonist because of his disagreements and arguments with Dev, some believe that it is because of the childhood trauma after leaving Timmy (which I also like), but I believe that it will be connected with his ambiguous attitude towards Irep. As I wrote in previous post, Peri and Irep have a special connection with each other than other fairies and anti fairies. Irep in the original cartoon series played the role of "cartoon villain". However, everything Irep/Foop did goes downhill. And not only because the main characters and some other ones thwarted his plans, but also because of himself. Irep has never been and will not be pure evil, and with each episode and season he will show it even more(in the new show too I think?). The same with Peri, but vice versa. Almost the main protagonist, ready to come to the aid of the main character. Always had a charming trait that many liked. However, there is a tougher and more chaotic side to him. It feels like he can always sense his interlocutor and when he needs to stop in time. Peri also has another side of his personality, just like Irep.

That's why I think Irep will appear in Season 2, but not as a threat as before and not as an antagonist as he was at the end of Season 1. That is, I think everything will be like in the original cartoon series. In that case, there would be another great parallel that has already been present a couple of times in the new show.And I think in that case Peri’s and Irep’s "break" will come to an end. That is, they will get along again like they did in season 9 (correct me if I'm wrong).

Okay, it's angst and drama time.

My idea is that over time Peri will start to break the rules a little bit. And the first "break" of the rules was that he wanted to go back to Dev. And that was the starting point when he wanted to leave the "rules" on the back burner for Dev. And it will even go so far that he will change his style of clothing to be similar to Irep's.

Do you feel some irony yet? Yes, my idea is "role reversal". Peri from the one who was constantly worried about following the rules to the one who later began to break them himself. And also Irep who loved all this chaos and destruction will become more worried about many things and more reserved. After further rule violations, causes Peri’s sphere on a wand to shatter, releasing the accumulated energy and causing severe damage to everything around it. This was the final straw for Jorgen to remove him as a godparent after being given a second chance, saying "even Irep could have done better than you". After that, Peri felt betrayed and angry at everyone, including himself first of all. At that moment Peri believed that everything was over for him: “all his efforts, earned authority and most importantly – the trust and love of his parents.” And this gave rise to another emotional breakdown and a wave of magic. He started attacking everything in a row and the first one who stood up for everyone was Irep. Another irony in the style of "you became what you once hated"(Yes, I decided to take a little idea from season 7 of the original cartoon series.). In the end, it will all end with Irep becoming Dev’s godparent again, but already officially from Jorgen seeing how he tried to protect Dev, showing himself from the better side. And you know what? I see it. At that moment at the end of season 1, Irep liked spending time with Dev. And I see how he, just like with Chloe in the past, like Peri, will become attached to Dev. Then he saved Chloe from Vicky and now I like to imagine how he will also treat Dev like this.

So seeing how Peri’s once former enemy who tried to destroy him became a godparent instead of him will hurt Peri. He knew that he failed as a parent for the second time, caused great damage with his magic, and most importantly for him- let his parents down. Therefore, the only thing Peri did after realizing all this was start crying causing rain.

Now it's all over. Now Peri and Irep are enemies again, but this time from Peri's side. And now hatred for Irep has awakened in him with the only thought- that only he can be a godparent…

[cherryfennec]

I don't know if you're still thinking about your Bad End AU at the moment but have you considered giving the original villains/antagonists a bit of a role reversal? (like Team Bleck searching for the pure hearts and unintentionally becoming the heros of prophesy in a way?) Even if they were just minor annoyances it might be fun exploring the dynamic between "heros" and "villains"

So sorry if this ask comes across as rude or demanding in any way, going through your AU's tag has brought back 12 years of mental illness for 'Bad End' style Paper Mario stuff haha

I hope you have a wonderful rest of the year!

TBH the hardest thing about this AUs story is picking the way to defeat the evil.

Like obviously you have the 'heroes' that want to defeat the MAIN evil which is the Queen (the way my writings been going im gonna most likely give that role to a team mixed of paper mario partners from the 1st and 2nd game) and are most likely going to try once again to get to the Crystal Stars on their own. (like i said as far as ive gotten with the writing that's the current draft) so basically partners are gonna fight the main cast.

For Bleck Team in particular while they won't be joining the Crystal Star hunt I can definitely see them focusing on getting the Pure Hearts now to get everything to the way that they wanted it to be: for the Count to have the Chaos Heart. They would try to get at least some of the Pure Hearts to more so weaken Dimentio and beat him up rather than to entirely get rid of the Heart because that'd be reversing progress. Maybe they would ultimately come to the conclusion that destroying everything isnt the way too who knows. So yes! In that particular yes! It'd be great to send them in that direction!

If there's any other evil that this could be done with as well I unfortunately don't remember it right now. But yeah absolutely!

Thank you and have a wonderful rest of the year as well!

[tiredhermitgirl]

JJK X EPIC the Musical Fan Cast

I saw a post about JJK and EPIC the Musical crossover and it’s been circling my head for days now but I raise you that rather than Gojo and Geto it is Itadori and Megumi! 

These would be the roles I had in mind!

Disclaimer: Some people were easier to peg than most and some are purely based off vibes! There will also be characters from further down the manga so if you are an anime only this might be confusing for you!

This is gonna be a long post but I hope y'all read it through!

Anyway let’s start off with the main folks!

Odysseus’ Family

Itadori- Odysseus

I really feel like I don’t need to say more on this one like he is BASICALLY the JJK version of Odysseus

Megumi- Penelope!

He would make such a pretty Penelope! Plus he is the smartest and clever like her! PLUS he basically has suitors in JJK so he is basically the JJK version of Penelope

Yuta- Telemachus! 

HEAR ME OUT!! It works!! Especially with who I have for Athena! But Yuta is such a sweet kid like Telemachus that I think he fits! Plus both of their transitions from meow meows to badasses are very similar! It works! Believe me!

Yuji’s Grandfather -Odysseus’ mom!

I think their deaths both give that whammy effect for our hero! Plus both haunts the protagonist’s thoughts so I think it fits!

The Crew!

Nobara- (this one was tricky!) Polites!

It was a toss up between her or Junpei but I decided on her being Polites because she has a much more closer relationship to Itadori than Junpei and she is a lot more… I guess optimistic? She is a lot more grounding for Itadori than Junpei is like Polites!

With that in mind!

Junpei- Eurylochus!

I couldn’t tell you why but he just seems like him! Very doubtful of things, not willing to trust easy and in a way he did kind of “betray” Itadori, when he started trying to kill people! I also feel like Junpei’s death was a lot more actions=consequence if that makes sense? Like, both Eurylochus and Junpei made choices that ultimately lead to their demise so I feel like they are a good match!

Antagonist! 

Jogo- Cyclops!

They are both very loyal to who they claim as theirs! Jogo’s reaction to Dagon dying and him blowing up Maki, Nanami, and Naobito reminds me of the Cyclops and how he reacted to the sheep. I think these two fit rally well! They also both only have one eye so…yep! It fits!

Mahito- Poseidon! 

Like c’mon! The whooping that Odysseus puts on Poseidon ALONE should remind y’all of the whooping Itadori put on Mahito! It also makes sense because both Poseidon and Mahito are PETTY and would definitely follow, stalk, their victims for YEARS in order to inflict as much psychological damage as possible! 

Hanami- Circe!

It works!! Both have the goal of protecting what is important to them! Hanami, the planet and Circe- her nymphs. Both have similar spells to disarm opponents. Both believe taking out the problem (Hanami-humans, Circe-men) is the best step to protecting the planet/nymphs. It works believe me!

OR

Post-Toji Geto- Circe!

Turning men into Pigs? Calling non-sorcerers monkeys? Both discriminate against the opposite species because they have been burned before. Trying to protect a minority class (Circe-nymphs, Geto- jujutsu sorcerers). Both considered pretty! It works!!

Kenjaku- Scylla!

That long greasy hair? The grotesquery that both scylla/ geto were turned into? The creepy smiles? And like imagine Kenjaku lifting the top part of his head and smiling that wide creepy smile and put that next to scylla growing 6 heads and looking like a monster like y’all yes! I know I’m not explaining it right but I see the vision!

Sukuna- Antinous! 

Hear me out!!!! He would be so good as Antinous! Doesn’t recognize Itadori as the King anymore. He already was SUPER interested in Megumi in JJK, like Antinous wants Penelope. He can definitely lead a group of men. Antinous: wanting to chop Telemachus up, Sukuna: using his cursed technique to chop people up. Like c’mon y’all!!

Mei Mei- Calypso! 

I feel like she would be the only  one that could fit this role. Not really because they are one and the same but because Mei Mei does not involve herself in big fights and she immediately DIPPED the second she could in Shibuya. Literally to an island. And Calypso doesn’t know what is going on in the main story because she is trapped on an island so she really isn’t involved with all the drama. Does that makes sense? I don’t think they are similar but I think where they are placed in their respective stories is similar if that makes sense.

Gods!

I know Calypso and Poseidon are Gods but I see them more as antagonists first! 

These were SOOOO tricky! But I think I paired them up to the best of my abilities! A lot of these are based off of vibes with some logic to them!

Maki- Athena! 

Do I really need to say why? 🎶BADASS IN THE ARENA!!!🎶 And I think Maki’s struggle with empathy sometimes lines up so well with Athena’s! And with Yuta as Telemechaus like PERFECT to me! Yuta has the effect on Maki the way Telemachus does on Athena! Plus the scars Athena gets from fighting Zeus and Maki’s scars from Jogo? Y’ALL!

Inumaki-Aeolus

They are both so playful and cute! Plus they are both very powerful with Inumaki’s cursed speech and Aeolus being able to trap a huge storm! I see it!

Gojo- Hermes!! 

C’mon y’all he would make a great Hermes!! Plus both Gojo and Hermes help out Itadori and Odysseus throughout their canon journey’s respectively! And they both are kind of untouchable forces! I know you see it!

Naobito Zenin- Zeus!! 

Zeus was SO HARD!!! Nobody really fit Zeus to me from JJK so it was so hard to think of character that would fit! But for some reason I kept going back to Naobito Zenin! I think he has that sleaziness that Zeus has and I think for Maki/Athena’s journey, I think it would fit really well!

Yu Haibara- Apollo!

He’s such a sunshine boy! And like Apollo I wouldn’t see hm needing too much convincing because he sees like a chill guy! This one is based off of vibes! 

Nanami- Hephaestus!!

Ok this one is also based off of vibes BUT I think it works! Nanami cares about his comrades and would not be too happy about someone sacrificing them (Why should I give him my support? He sacrificed his own cohorts!) I think him and Hephaestus would vibe and they both have that type of energy that makes them a good pair!

Ok the next two were a toss up! One is just kind of a gag that I am low-key taking seriously and the other one has some thought to it!

The gag one

Todo- Ares! 

Y’all know it works! Y’all KNOW it works!!! Especially because Todo would not tolerate Yuji groveling and not fighting back! Like how Ares was sickened by Odysseus not fighting Scylla!

Takada-chan- Aphrodite! 

It would be so funny to me and considering that Todo imagines what she would say, if he wasn’t feeling letting Itadori go he would just imagine her saying no too! 

OK the not gag one

Kinji Hakari- Ares!

I feel like he matches to me because Hakari is all about seeing the “fire” in someone and seeing Yuji not have a “fire” would ultimately sickening him, similar to Ares and Odysseus. I feel like this is a good match!

Kirara Hoshi- Aphrodite!

This is actually just purely on vibes! 

Yuki- Hera!

Just because both are so playful! And they both kind of don’t provide anything for the narrative 

Other characters

Master Tengen- Tiresias

It works! They are both mysterious! They both don’t do much! I totally see it!

OR

Noritoshi Kamo- Tiresias

I can see this one working too! Maybe because of Kamo's closed eyes and Tiresias being blind! They also have the same vibe to me too!

-------------------------------------------------------

ANYWAY That is my fan cast! I think it works! If I missed anyone or if y’all have any suggestions let me know! I would love to talk about it!

Also thank you for sticking around this long!!

[lyricthecat-12]

Why is Scourge The Hedgehog a great villain?

Scourge The Hedgehog is probably one of Archie Sonic's most popular and iconic characters, and personally, I think he's also a great example of how to achieve something great despite having a simple concept:

Debuting in STH #11, the character was introduced as an alternate version of Sonic who was physically identical to him but whose personality was completely opposite. Basically, he was the typical evil doppelganger from an alternate universe where the good guys are bad and the bad guys are good

Not much more could be expected from this stage of the comic, made up of simplistic and comical children's stories. In fact, initially the character didn't even have a name to begin with, it wouldn't be until issues later that Karl Bollers would name him Evil Sonic in SSS #10. And really during this time, the character didn't do much to stand out, establishing himself as a recurring villain but one that wouldn't reach the threat level of others like Robotnik, becoming a minor nuisance as time went on. Something that would remain once the comics evolved into something more serious.

Evil Sonic wouldn't have a notable role again until the infamous STH 150#, where he would try to impersonate Sonic in order to take advantage of the benefits of being Sonic. This story is controversial and hated for several more than understandable reasons, starting with the fact that we are talking about issue 150, which was decided to be starring a simple story that becomes unsufferable at times due to very questionable creative decisions.

(And I'm opening an aside here to take advantage and deny the unnecessary fuss that there was regarding a certain cursed panel. Much has been said regarding this panel and it is usually used as ammunition to rant against the comic and Scourge, so let's get this straight once and for all;

Scourge and Bunnie did NOT have sex. Yes, it's obvious that the panel has a certain rather obvious mischievous air but beyond a dirty joke, which in fact was not the only one at this stage, there's no point in trying to see beyond it. It was just a fleeting moment and without any repercussions for the characters and the plot. In fact, if we try to investigate further we'll see that to begin with it's impossible for it to have happened, since Bunnie is robotized from the waist down and just in the previous panel she was reluctant when Evil Sonic became more cuddly.

The comic's own encyclopedia establishes more or less clearly that Bunnie could not have children while being robotized, so it rules out that her robotic parts don't work like organic ones.

And about the kids of Bunnie and Antoine de la Light Mobius, Belle and Jacques, are both confirmed to have been born without their robotic parts, which was actually explicitly shown in SU 26, so Bunnie was most likely de-roboticized, as was established in another probable future much earlier and would eventually happen in the main series. So not, Scourge is not a rapist, it's still not a pretty situation but there isn't need to exaggerate even more)

Although Karl Bollers intended to give a darker twist to this plot, in the end it would only remain as a boring story whose greatest achievement would be to be the foot for the resurgence of Evil Sonic in STH 160 #. When he and Rouge tried to steal the Master Emerald again, which ends up causing a confrontation with Locke that would end with a total facelift for Evil Sonic.

At first, it seems like a simple redesign so that he doesn't look like Sonic with accessories and that's it, but in truth this was just the first step for Scourge to get an identity as an antagonist beyond a recurring annoyance. And that's the key word we have to keep in mind when we talk about Scourge:

Identity

Later, in STH 172# during a fight Scourge tells Sonic that if circumstances went wrong, Sonic would end up being like him, to which Sonic turns the matter around by mentioning that if Scourge wanted to he could end up being a hero like him.

Here the key focus is Scourge's reaction, because from here he begins to reflect on himself and who he really is; He's an alternate version of Sonic, one of the thousands and millions of versions that we know exist, so where does that leave him? Is he really just that, an Evil Sonic who if he wanted to could be good and thus be exactly like the countless other Sonic's that exist?

With this conflict in mind, Scourge would return to his home world with the intention of forging an image of his own, not only for himself but also for inhabitants of Anti-Mobius, now renamed 'Moebius'. No longer would they be just the evil doubles of the good ones. He would become a true plague and all them would be respected by all.

The best thing is that this conflict not only impacts Scourge, but also Sonic, since at the end of the day Scourge is a possibility, something that could have been or could be, and once that manifests itself, it remains an underlying fear and in turn a motivation for Sonic, to keep fighting and avoid ending up broken like his twin.

And that is another key word when we talk about Scourge; Broken. As this conflict develops, in STH 192# Scourge's background and motivations are finally properly investigated. We are told how, contrary to the close relationship between Sonic and his father, Anti Jules put his son aside for his own interests.

Looking back, Scourge and Sonic's childhood was quite similar as both had to grow up without the support of their parents, but while Sonic was separated from his parents because of Robotnik and was eventually able to meet them again, having in the middle the support and unconditional love of his uncle and his friends who motivated him to fight for the common good, Scourge always had his parents but they simply didn't care, even if Anti Bernadette is not mentioned knowing how her version of Mobius Prime is, brave, kind and caring, it is easy to deduce that she would be similar or even worse than Anti Jules.

He didn't have a loving family that instilled heroic values ​​in him, he didn't have a group of loyal friends to support him and he didn't have any kind of guidance or incentive to improve or fight for the common good either. He was always alone, surrounded by malicious or equally damaged people who never even saw him as an equal. In this scenario, Scourge's mind was filled with bad thoughts that caused him to choose to seek attention through fear and the supposed respect it would bring him.

At this point, it's no longer just "A bad Sonic for no reason" we are now faced with a Sonic who, as a result of years of loneliness, misunderstanding and rejection, changed his course in the opposite direction.

“But if what he wants is attention and respect, why doesn’t he become a hero like Sonic?”

Because for Scourge that wouldn’t be a solution, he wants not only to be respected but he also wants to be SOMEONE beyond another version of the hero of the multiverse. His internal shortcomings and insecurities and his desire for greatness make him want to go beyond just being feared in his world, and that’s why he insists on fighting Sonic to consolidate his identity as a superior and unique individual.

This insecurity is reflected more explicitly during the Scourge Lockdown Arc, where after being imprisoned and subjected to constant abuse, Scourge lets out his most fragile side: a broken child who does what he can to survive and who constantly feels abandoned and rejected by everyone around him.

Now Scourge has finally stopped being that generic and flat villain that he was at the beginning, he is now a character with a well-defined background and credible motivations, a solid development and who genuinely can be a great threat if he wants to. And the best and most impressive thing is that this effect was extrapolated to other characters with whom he interacted;

I previously made a post talking about how Fiona's evolution into a villain ended up contributing positively to her character, so I recommend taking a look at it. But now, I will only say that I know that many see her relationship with Scourge as something forced, but personally I think that their union is interesting and gives a lot of room for play, because in truth both have more similarities than they appear at first glance; Both are children who were abandoned by those they trusted, they grew up without any kind of positive support and they got the idea that they couldn't trust anyone and at present, neither of them are understood in their respective worlds and are seen as simple criminals

Scourge wasn't the cause of Fiona's change but he was the trigger for it to happen, because in essence he offered her a way out of a lifestyle in which she couldn't fit even it she tried and instead of judging her for her choices like others, he showed that he liked her with all her nuances.

And later something similar would happen with the Destructix. Thanks to their association with Scourge, there was room to give each of them their own background, ideologies and motivations, turning them into interesting characters beyond the flat villains they had been until then.

In conclusion, Scourge is a good example of how despite having a simple concept as a base, with a good reimagining and execution you can offer something interesting and memorable

It's a shame that his story will be left unfinished with the promising direction that they had prepared for him but even so, I consider him to be a great example of how to reinvent a character and develop a villain.

And it really bothers me when people mocks him by calling him "Sonic's Joker" for a reference that wasn't even the main focus and the really significant part of the exchange was the answer of Sonic and the impact in Scourge.

Or just denigrate him by calling him "flat" or "generic" without understand what precisely THAT is the point and the grace of Scourge's character: A villain who started out as a cliché, so that he himself realizes the insignificance of his existence as "an evil Sonic" and for that reason he seeks to evolve, become more than he has always been and become a threat in every sense.

[veiwryn]

Quick mini rant about Miraculous ladybug specifically about Chloe and Zoe.

Disclaimer: I have not watch the recent season so everything I say will not include the development in that.

ANYWAYS. Chloe is the first antagonist and rival of the main character, Marinette. She is characterized as this bully who has tormented Marinette for years and has a follower/friend named Sabrina. At first she's a one dimensional character who tries (and fails) to foil Marinette but as the season progresses we get a more in-depth veiw of her.

For one, she is willing to tolerate people she doesn't like for people she cares for (Ep: Despair Bear), and in that same episode Chloe helps the heros in stopping the akuma, and in her own fashion, apologizes by telling her butler how she was going to listen to him. Secondly, as mentioned before, Chloe—on numerous occasions—has helped Ladybug and Chat Noir, at times even sacrificing herself for the greater good.

The best thing for Chloe's character was admiring Ladybug, not her bee miraculous. Maybe abit controversial, but let me explain, the only reason why we see this growth is because of the akumatization, which in earlier seasons were (in one way or another) caused by her, and Chloe has shown remorse for some. Ladybug is often the one to confront her, and due to this admiration for the hero and wanting to be noticed more by her, Chloe starts to step back from her antagonist role. Although not entirely, it's difficult for her to be completely nice but she wants to be different. The Bee Miraculous gave her this option and as seen, Chloe misuses this ability to prove herself. While she later learns the responsibility and is regarded as a hero, it was her need to please Ladybug that got her to this point.

And you know what, Chloe was a wonderful Bee miraculous holder, if she wasn't outed as Queen Bee, I have no doubt things would have played differently.

No onto her other flaws, those being her constant need of approval from authority/parental figures. Chloe is emotionally neglected by her parents, her father buys her gifts almost to replace the time he's missing out, and her mother literally couldn't be bothered with remembering her own child unless it benefited her. It's clear that Chloe attempts to mirror her mother to get attention (which would partly explain a lot of her harsher actions), but she also doesn't want to be mean. She calls her mother out at one point, but no matter what, Chloe can't hate them.

It's a shame how the writer(s) made her shallow again, all for people to sympathize with the "nicer Chloe".

Yes, it's Zoe time! Admittedly, I don't have an issue with her character, I have an issue with what she represents. She is essentially Chloe's replacement, that's literally how she was introduced. Her akumatized self was a larger version of Chloe, and Zoe is the new bee holder. She so desperately wants to fit in and is Chloe's half sister so other people immediately think she's evil (despite Chloe having been seen as kinder and what about Adrian? Did Y'all not learn anything with him? Yes I know Mari shut it down but shhhhhh), and everything just seemed half-baked.

It could have been an interesting concept for Chloe to learn she had a sister, but at the same time, how the writer(s) went about it was not favorable and that's why I don't enjoy Zoe as a character.

[erch0maii]

thoughts on the dragon prince s7, in no particular order (spoilers!)

about the bad guys

- i weirdly missed viren this season. never realized how much he brought to this show until he wasn't in it anymore. him and claudia are some of the best things about the dragon prince, in my humble opinion

- speaking of which: oh. my. god. claudia. i love her. that look with the dragonscale and the short black-and-white hair? absolutely stunning. gorgeous. iconic. unprecedented. did i mention i love her??? the nuance to her character is still so good. she never became a stereotypically evil villain and never lost her quirkiness, and i am so glad for it!!! she's still the perfect mixture between dark and loving, symbolizing the greatest thing about this story.

- i still miss early seasons aaravos. he went from a clever, charming schemer to evil laughing and taunting in season 4 and they never managed to recover the magic from that early dynamic he had with viren. i miss the nuance of the trickster. he was far more engaging as an antagonist then. i wished they kept going down that path. i wish he kept sweet talking people instead of taunting and mocking them. i wished he stayed more reasonable / pragmatic, especially considering this show is so big on talking out conflicts. he could have been redeemed, maybe. he could have been less cocky - after centuries of scheming he should have a million backups but he was so overly confident and why? i'll forever be sad about the direction they went in with him.

- speaking of aaravos: his pathetic emo scrunkly sickly victorian man persona had me FEASTING. what an aesthetic. ICONIC.

- terry. oh terry. such a great character. following his own path and his own values, and never hesitating to do what is the right thing in his own moral framework. best boy. wholesome. also: incredible 'hello, zuko here' reference. never change terry. i love you.

- glad karim got fucked. slimy little asshole deserved all of that and more.

about the good guys

- rayla and callum. glad they got their happy ending. i was never really into the ship, but they both deserve to be happy. i was a huge fan of the domestic 'meet the in-laws' episode that callum had with runaan and ethari. i feel like callum also is one of the most consistent characters of the show, which i really like about him. he has that same mixture of dark and light that you get with claudia. i would have liked to see more of their dynamic, they interact well with each other as two sides of the same coin. doesn't take away the fact that i would have loved seeing callum master more magic.

- runaan and ethari's reunion brought tears to my eyes. i love these elf husbands so much and i'm so glad we got to see so much of runaan. always liked him, and it was great to see him and rayla bicker like they did in s1.

- ezran. oh boy, here we go. to be honest, he didn't have much going for him in my book since i never really liked him, starting from the fact that his voice acting was really grating in the early seasons. yes, he's supposed to be the main character / audience stand-in / the one the kids are supposed to identify with but... he evolved from a kind of annoying 'i can speak to animals and like jelly tarts' baby brother over an at times hypocritical boy king all the way into 'yeah we should get weapons of mass destruction!' ??? do i understand the reasoning behind his decisions here? yeah. but he was completely insufferable for me this season.

-which brings me to aanya. idk what it is about the kid characters in this show. but she's such a non-character as well? iirc she is voiced by the kid of one of the creators or producers and boy the kid didn't really get an attractive role. kinda bland. speaks without saying anything. the "wise" child queen who advices to use weapons as mass destruction as a deterrent. she used to be the voice of reason?? what an example to set to your audience.

about the plot

- honestly i mostly loved the plot. i was at the tip of my seat though the middle of this season and had a couple episodes where i felt like i hadn't taken a breath in over an hour. loved how everything consistenly kept going wrong for the good guys. it made the stakes feel higher and higher. it genuinely felt like the writers got out of the slump after the kind-of-meh middle seasons.

-but the ending... not gonna lie, it really disappointed me. the arch dragons coming in to save the day felt like such an ex machina to me. where is the main characters' agency? where is their role in the resolution? instead we get evil necro avizandum turning good to kill aaravos. yay. cool. and now all the dragons are dead. and aaravos is just gonna come back. awesome.

it could have been SO GOOD. did I expect them to kill a main character? no. but callum deciding to sacrifice himself with runaan's help? wanting to spare rayla of having to off him? rayla having to jump in anyways and showing that she could do what had to be done? 'my heart for xadia'? DELICIOUS. but i knew callum was not going to die.

so it could have come down to ezran. ezran picking up the sword and charging into battle on zym? EPIC AF. he could have been the one to deal the final blow - or zym. imagine the ending for their character arcs. ezran finally stepping in and doing the hard thing, especially since he was going down a darker path this season. zym, cementing himself as a proper arch dragon. we could have gotten some kind of epic transformation showing he fully matured - but apparently i play too much guild wars 2.

would this show really give us ezran killing someone? since aaravos is technically not dead i thought the writers could let this slide. we had already seen claudia kill someone on screen and one of the main characters in the show is an actual assassin. my expectations were too high i guess. ezran needed to stay unsullied. i can't help but compare this show to a:tla and it leaves me with the same bittersweet taste: there's a lot of good things, but in the end, the main character never completed their arc.

[eahtheramblings]

I love your character rewrites! Can you do Ashlynn Ella and her stepsisters?

I made this post a while back that details Ashlynn’s relationship to destiny and others like Apple and Duchess which might interest you, but alongside that here’s a bit more about how Ashlynn, Prudence, and Charlotte work in this au!

For Prudence and Charlotte, the first change I would make is having them be present in the story from the very start as minor antagonists. In the second series of books, Faybelle has 7 fairies that act sort-of like her minions in both the villain and mean girl way. Now the reason there's 7 of them is probably because there are 7 fairy godmothers in some versions of Sleeping Beauty, but that feels like too many characters to juggle, and they don’t really get a role in the story outside of acting as yes men for Faybelle. Heck, I don’t even think they get names. So in this au, Prudence and Charlotte are Faybelle’s minions/friends, forming every high school’s story stereotypical trifecta of mean girls. They carry out Faybelle’s orders, and in return get status among their peers in the villain track for being in close proximity to Faybelle. When the destiny conflict begins they are strictly on the Royal side, following Faybelle’s lead. They help Duchess in her plans to expose Ashlynn’s relationship with Hunter, and generally have it out for everyone. The two of them especially have it out for Ashlynn, but not for the reason you'd expect. You see, part of it is because it’s what the evil stepsisters are supposed to do, but part of it is also due to their own personal gripes with destiny:

Despite all her postering, Prudence really isn’t all that bad. Had she been born into a royal family like the Charming's, then she probably would have been a crown jewel due to her kinder nature. But she wasn’t, so she had to learn to be bitter and cold, to keep her emotions in and make sure the blood from her bleeding heart was never visible. It’s made especially worse by the fact that she’s the eldest of the stepsisters. People look at her not just as the future henchman to her mother, but also the future Wicked Stepmother, which put’s lot more pressure on her to keep it all in. Becoming faybelle’s minion helps to relieve some of this pressure as it takes the expectation to be the main evil off her when they're in a room together, but nothing can distract from the other destiny related pressure she has. You see, something many people in Ever After seem to forget is that not only does Cinderella’s mother have to die for the story to continue, but the Wicked Stepsisters father also has to die. The Wicked Stepmother is a widow after all. Cinderella’s mother becomes a magic tree. She’s dead in the flesh sense only, but still gets to interact with her daughter in some way, granting her magic dresses and the like. But Prudence’s father is just dead. Died when she was five, and there was no magic tree that awaited him. He’s gone, and in a few years whoever Prudence marries will be gone too, a fact that haunts her as she has been told time and time again by her weeping mother to never marry for love. Prudence like most of the royal villains believes she has a noble role, as without the Wicked Stepfamily the tale of Cinderella would never exist. But sometimes when the pressure of being evil gets too high, and her grief gets too overpowering, Prudence releases her that pain onto whoever is closest, which tends to be either her sister or Ashlynn. 

Charlotte is definitely the angrier of the two. A year and a half younger than Prudence, her family had her start school early to keep them in the same grade, but despite this she is old enough to understand the lesser talked about implications of her destiny. She knows deep down that it’s unfair that she and Prudence will eventually end up disabled at the end of the story for villainy that they were supposed to do, but buries that feeling underneath a mantra of “life’s not fair, so just deal with it”. She repeats it over and over, because she needs to believe it’s true. She isn’t allowed to play book-ball because her mother insists it isn’t proper for a lady. Life’s not fair, so just deal with it. Faybelle treats them more like pets that can perform tricks than friends sometimes. Life’s not fair, so just deal with it. She sometimes spends hours at a time late at night letting her eye’s roam her room, wondering how much of her eyesight she’ll lose; her mother only lost about half thanks to her reinforced spectacles, but it varies from cycle to cycle. Life’s not fair, so just deal with it. Her dad is dead. She was too young to really remember him. Life’s not fair, so just deal with it. Her soft-hearted older sister, who takes care of pet beetle’s and dances with such serenity on her face and apologizes for fighting with her by sewing her little gifts is going to be forced to deal with double the amount of vitriol and grief than Charlotte would because she was unlucky enough to be born first. Charlotte would tear out her soul and offer it to the worst of devils if it meant she could switch their places. But Life’s not fair, so just deal with it. It just happens to be that since it’s socially acceptable, tormenting Ashlynn is just Charlotte’s preferred way of dealing with it.

As for Ashlynn, I detailed some of it in the above linked post, but beyond that I really just want to let her do dumb teen things. I mean, she runs a business in high school, has the death-not-death of both her mother and herself hanging over her head, and is all the while dealing with sharing the role of the “responsible” one in her friend group with Apple. The amount of pressure she is under would be enough to make a grain of sand skip pearl and turn straight into a miniature black hole. My interpretation of Ashlynn is that prior to legacy day, Ashlynn was dealing with her emotions in a similar but more socially acceptable way to Briar, always moving and never stopping so the emotions can’t reach her, but with things like running her business rather than partying. But ever since legacy day moving at that breakneck pace has been harder and harder. She doesn’t know if the destiny system is real or not, she isn’t 100% sure if it would be more moral to suffer for the good of the whole, she can’t be certain if she can picture a life without the Cinderella story. The two things she is certain of are that she doesn’t want to lose her mom, and she loves Hunter. And this mixture of catastrophic pressure and teenage mindset leads her to a breaking point where she and Hunter run away for a short while during true hearts day. They are eventually brought back to the school by a “through the woods” style rescue party of their friends (that��s right, the timeline is in my grubby little hands now, I'm rearranging all the plot points). But after being brought back Ashlynn starts to pull back from taking on so many responsibilities. There's only so much one girl can take after all. 

Or well, in this case, three.

[tsprants]

NIGHT TWO! three? I DON’T KNOW!! 🎉

i’m thinking about stanley parable again, shockingly. more specifically, the countdown ending, and the narrator’s voice lines, and what all of that has to do with his role in the game and story (yes. another one about this. i find it to be a compelling topic). if the narrator is to be believed in the countdown ending, then he would most likely be considered the main antagonist of the game, and quite sadistic, at that. according to himself, he erased stanley’s coworkers. this ending does confirm that the endless repeating of the game is actually happening (similar to the apartment ending, where stanley repeats the story over and over in his head), as the narrator describes other runs where he torments stanley for his own pleasure/enjoys his being miserable (e.g. “i turned off the machine; i set you free. of course, that was merely in this instance of the story. Sometimes when i tell it, i simply let you sit there in your office forever, pushing buttons endlessly and then dying alone. other times, i let the office sink into the ground, swallowing everyone inside; or i let it burn to a crisp”). but is it fair to call the narrator an antagonist in this ending? most of the narrator’s actions in the game are almost entirely reactionary, and the countdown ending is no different, as what sets him off in the first place is stanley/the player attempting to gain power by taking control of the mind control facility and machine, therefore derailing the story (“you were supposed to let it go, turn the controls off, and leave. if you want to throw my story off track, you're gonna have to do much better than that.”). short answer: yes! long answer: technically yes, BECAUSE he literally fucking bombed the whole office, admitted to killing hundreds of people, and admitted to torturing stanley over and over and over. it would also work with other endings, such as the cold feet ending, apartment ending, insanity ending, etc. of course, my saying yes is predicated on the assumption that the narrator is being truthful in what he was saying. presuming that he is, that would have several large implications surrounding his character, fan theories, and the game itself. firstly, the narrator is flat-out confirming that yes, he does have memory of every run of the game (this is further emphasised by the fact that his dialogue in the countdown ending changes after you do the ending several times). stanley most likely does note seeing as narrator is having to tell him about other runs. secondly, yes, he is in control of what happens in the game, but not stanley, it would seem. but unpacking that! what would all that mean? starting with the narrator remembering previous runs, that would obviously mean that he remembers the zending and skip button ending, and the not stanley ending (the holy trinity of sadness). he literally remembers just sitting there for billions, maybe even TRILLIONS of years, waiting for stanley to return. He remembers stanley killing himself to stop him from being happy, which is a good jumping-off point for why the narrator is NOT the antagonist (i’m going insane)!! there are multiple endings or paths you can take in the game where stanley/the player intentionally causes the narrator distress, and therefore takes on a more antagonistic role himself. there is, i believe, no set “villain” in the stanley parable, as both stanley and the narrator are consistently villains and victims to one another, which i will expand on in my next 2am rant (maybe if i can be bothered), by talking about the museum ending! yaaaayyy

[mdhwrites]

Why TOH really doesn't want a theme of discrimination.

Every demon in the show is depicted as evil, dumb or as good... because they don't want to be a part of demon culture.

That's the thesis and it's not an over exaggeration. In the main cast, the only demon of the DEMON REALM is Hooty who is treated as slow, less intelligent than the other members of the cast, and as a joke by the writers as he never elevates himself above being simply comic relief. Association with him seems to be the earliest sign that Lilith is meant to be seen as a joke and her relationship with Hooty ostracizes her from the rest of the cast. Makes her appear weird because she's the only one who can like the bird tube.

Otherwise, they're all antagonists. Most of them are just one note villains for that matter. In S1, every demon with a real speaking role is a villain. The monster hunters, Warden Wrath, Tibbles, the basilisk, the publisher for King and even Boscha if her third eye denotes demonic heritage. Anyone who we see at least as neutral are pretty much just background characters. The ones from the prison in the first episode are really the only ones who get a moment of heroism.

Now you might say: What about Bat Queen? She's the richest person on the Isles and she... Isn't a demon. She's a palisman. Made by, or at least for, a god with the insinuation they give. Bare minimum: Not for any demon known to the Isles. So she doesn't count.

There ARE witch antagonists in S1 thankfully. They're Matt, who goes on to obviously be a good person at heart, Amity who... Duh and Lilith who is also redeemed. None of this happens to any of the demons though even if ostensibly this is their world since the entire dimension is named after demons.

Which, as a note, also is part of why saying TOH is anti-colonial means ignoring an entire race.

Even KING, who should have been the demon representative in the main cast, was then retconned not to be one. Worse yet, only once that retcon began did the show start treating him with any real respect. As a demon... He was just a dumb comic relief character as far as the show is concerned.

So when we FINALLY get a reoccurring demon... It's Kikimora. That should be all I need to say there.

Now the final argument: Vee. Vee is a good person, right? She's not a villain or antagonist, just a good person. And you would be right. The framing on Vee is the problem. As the ONE genuinely just good demon, we have to evaluate how she is different. She is different... Because she rejected the Demon Realm. Her parallels with Luz are even supposed to make it clear that she is better at being a human THAN LUZ. Which has the awful implication, if we want to say TOH has anti-discrimination theme, that the only good demon, is a domesticated demon. One who wants to be a human.

That's. Fucking. Awful.

And just to cover my bases: Yes, discrimination is more than a race thing but the concept of discrimination on race is actually pretty much the only one ever brought up. The fact that no one gives a shit about ethnicity or sexuality or gender actually hurts the theme because you have to project those things onto the show instead. And any allegory to discrimination is explicitly done through races. Fantasy races but that still frames it as a racial issue so its theme on anti-discrimination is going to struggle to branch out beyond racial lines because it effectively ignores that any other form of discrimination might even EXIST.

And for the finale!... I don't think any of this is on purpose by the writers. Yes, they bring discrimination into the show but just like how real life conflicts will often ignore the complexities of all the groups present, such as us referring to all Native Americans as one whole group rather than their separate tribes and histories, the show effectively forgets about the demons. They're just there for flavor because if literally all of the characters of the demon realm were elves, it wouldn't feel like it fits the name at all. It adds spice to a scene and adventure if you have demons of all sorts and sizes.

But the witches are the conventionally attractive characters who are easy to latch onto and so they are the main cast. Everything that looks other becomes a target for villainy because of that juxtaposition. Unfortunately, none of this helps any sort theme of inclusivity. That we are supposed to look past the outer shell and see the person within, regardless, race, gender, sexuality, etc. like that.

Instead, TOH tells a very basic fantasy story and in doing so, falls into the fact that a lot of classic fantasy was written by racist white dudes and the fact that the term demon is charged due to LOTS of religions that paint them out as wholly evil. Without actually interrogating these concepts, it can be easy to fall into them.

So yeah, I think this is a theme people need to stop trying to apply to TOH.

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