#writing critical

[generalluxun]

Honestly, it’s kinda hard to decide if the writers were planning Chloe’s damnation or not. If it was planned, then why did they give her a bunch of sympathetic scenes?

I think it might be reasonable to hypothesize that the writers took 'episodic' to mean 'unconnected' at one point. (and maybe still do) Anything can happen in one episode, or even a couple, and be completely ignored further on because it's not a part of *that episode* they mistook limited continuity(which many shows use!) for No Continuity.

[celestiall0tus]

Redemption is a noble idea, but...

not everyone is capable of redemption. It is a sad, but honest truth. I'm not saying this to be a negative nancy, but I work with people who are down on their luck, at odds with the law, and I see this. I see people given a chance to better themselves, to get a fresh start on life, but they don't always take those chances and opportunities. Some are just genuinely in denial while you have those that know they have a problem but can't find the strength to stand back up again. After all, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. Now, I know in media we get an escape and something we wouldn't normally in life. A fulfillment that can only be found there because of how shit life is. However, not everyone is worthy of redemption, especially a fast redemption.

I'm going to rip this old bandaid off. The Diamonds didn't deserve a redemption. Yes, Diamonds. Yellow, Blue, and White (I'll get to Pink in a whole different post as her story wasn't about redemption) The Diamonds were evil tyrant dictators that committed atrocities across the universe in their conquest. Immediately, Yellow and White aren't exactly deserving of a redemption. Now, Blue had redeeming qualities. She cared more for Pink than the others, mourned her, kept her memory alive, and actively sided with Steven first, but there's one big thing that really taints it for me. The gaslighting and abuse that Blue participated in towards Pink. I don't care what your opinion of Pink is, but the fact is that she was a victim of abuse. She was locked away, told she was "loved" and constantly treated as less than a Diamond. I have no doubt that Blue truly loved Pink, but the way she participated in the abuse and how it was quickly wrapped up will never sit right with me. Especially in the end when Pink is damned while the other Diamonds are redeemed.

To my Miraculous fans, we recently saw this. Gabriel, the worst of the worst, given redemption. This one is a little... muddy. So, he was granted redemption, but he granted it to himself. Mari tried, but was stabbed in the back. That I appreciate. He was able to use the wish to get what he wanted. He didn't need Mari to keep a promise or anything like that when Gimmi gave him exactly what he wanted, at the cost of himself. So, it's really muddy. No, he didn't deserve a redemption, but he won. He got what he wanted in the end. If he lost, but was offered redemption, that would be one thing. However, he actually won. He got his wish and rewrote reality to what he wanted. Again, it is extremely muddy and unclear. I do hope that in season 6 we get some answers. However, even I know that is too much to wish for.

On top of that for my Miraculous fans, I'll briefly touch on the big ones being Felix and Chloe. One who was given a redemption while the other who was started to give redemption, but then given a damnation.

Felix is a mixed bag. He definitely was a little shit at the start and it was genuinely jarring to see him again in Emotion wanting to help Adrien when he actively tormented Adrien. He was a good candidate for redemption, however, it needed time. As it stands, Felix's redemption was so jarring and quick. And, this could be just me, but is a little tied to Kagami. He really changed when Kagami was introduced into his life, and it's cute. But I'm so tired of this. I'm so tired of a romantic interest being the reason a person changes. I get love can change people, but I'm so fucking sick of it. I do wish we could have seen more of Felix's shift rather than drops of vague intrigue.

Now the sore spot: Chloe. Allow me to say this, I will be using the correct terminology for this when addressing her arc. It is my duty as a writer to address this as professionally as possible. If any of my phrasing or terms upset you, grow a pair.

Chloe, like Felix, was a perfect candidate for redemption. What made her redemption far more compelling is that we had time to digest it. It wasn't just dropped on our heads like Felix. We got to see the horrible mother that Audrey was (bitch was straight savage), the trauma that she endured because of Audrey's abandonment. It doesn't justify what she did, but it gives context. On top of that, you can buy her actions as a coping mechanism as she tries to act just like her mother. This does lead her to doing horrible things, that which is pretty bad, but it doesn't make her completely irredeemable. What ultimately led her to a damnation arc was Ladybug. I'll just say it, Ladybug was hypocrite. She told Chloe no more Queen Bee, but then acted rashly and gave Kagami the dragon again, despite Kagami revealing herself. It is no wonder that Chloe would turn to Hawkmoth in her most vulnerable moment.

Speaking of, there is a reason villains attack during a person's weakest. Chloe was a die hard Ladybug fan. She was utterly devoted because Ladybug was her hero. However, her hero tore her down and destroyed her, much like her own mother. This brings her to a vulnerable point. It's a lot like the original Disney's Ariel when Ursula goes after her. It is directly after Triton destroys the grotto and Ariel is shattered. The moment that they are at their weakest. And yet, both Ariel and Chloe are blamed for their actions without analyzing the events that lead them to it. Ariel had everything she loved destroyed by someone she loved dearly. Chloe had her devotion and hope shattered by a person she idolized. And yet people wonder why they did the things they did.

Chloe was someone that was on the right track to redemption, but was damned by her idol. I honestly think it is poetic, but wished there was acknowledgement. The damnation could have worked more if Ladybug acknowledged her own faults and tried to actively right them to put Chloe back on track for redemption. You want them to be seen as grown up by season 5, Astruc, add these moments. Ladybug blaming Chloe was not right by any means. Ladybug is at fault. She was the final straw that destroyed Chloe's redemption arc and pushed her towards damnation.

That is all for this post. I have one more to address a little later, but first need to collect my thoughts on. Stayed tuned for that one

[lasnevadaslaborunion]

Sorry but I will NEVER miss an opportunity to complain about how the trolls from World of Warcraft are treated

[noperopesaredope]

I wish we had more female characters like Eleanor Shellstrop. One of the most unlikable people you've ever met. Read a Buzzfeed article on most rude things you can do on a daily basis and decided to use that as a list of goals. Makes everyone's day worse just by being there. Dropped a margarita mix on the ground and tried to pick it up, only to get hit by a row of shopping carts which pushed her into the road where she was hit by a boner pill delivery truck, killing her instantly. Cannot keep a romantic partner despite being bisexual. Had a terrible childhood but will die before she gets therapy. Best employee at a scam company. Just the worst but also can't help but root for her to improve.

Absolute loser. Girl-failure. Bad at almost everything. Literally perfect female character.

[shyjusticewarrior]

At some point "fanfic can be as good as professional writing" became "fanfic should be as good as professional writing" and that's caused major damage to fandom spaces.

[buggachat]

something so fucked up about Chat Noir’s whole deal is that he is in a lot of ways Adrien playing a character. Like Adrien picked up his miraculous and was told he’d be a superhero so he was like “ok, time to act like a superhero!” and he lets himself have fun w it and play up the role and let loose and kind of just allow himself to be silly and goofy and have fun and for once in his life not care about performing Perfection™.

But. But none of the other characters KNOW THAT. So everyone just sees Chat Noir and is like “look at this guy’s ego. He’s so full of himself. Surely it’d be fair to knock him down a few pegs” without being aware of how few pegs he actually HAS. He’s like the “insecure character who overcompensates in ego” trope except he’s really not doing it unironically, he’s just having a fun LARP pretending to have self worth in his off-hours but nobody else is on the same page about it being a game and he refuses to tell them. He just dramatically pouts about it and lets them laugh and pretends like he’s not internalizing it and it is almost 3 am and my brain forced me to write this instead of sleeping I’m gonna take a melatonin

[prokopetz]

People act like "satire must have clarity of purpose" is some elevated maxim, but all it's really saying is that you need to a. be making fun of something specific, and b. have a good understanding of what that thing is, because if you're just lashing out in all directions without regard for what you hit the result is usually going to be functionally indistinguishable from your conservative uncle on Facebook.

[xandrikart]

[transformers0]

In conclusion: "Avatar" has a lot of flaws which are caused by "love everyone" mindset, which isn't bad at it's core, but sometimes you gotta hate.

THIS.

And to be brutally honest, a lot of family media that has war as part of the ongoing story arc honestly falls into this stupidly idealistic and naive trap.

You don't win wars by loving everyone, even if you are the good guys.

You win by making decisive victories that crush the opposition and don't leave them with any options to continue oppressing you and your allies.

And those who say killing (fictional) Hitler / Stalin will make you just like them can go stick it up their arse.

ATLA isn't that great at showing the reality of war and you are ready for this conversation.

You can call me biased for this post, but whatever. I've been silent for too long.

It's certainly better than a lot of other shows, but fans often overestimate how good it actually is. It's excellent at showing more simple things like people getting hurt and traumatized because of war, but when it gets to more complicated things it's not that good.

In the show we got two people opposing to the fire nation. TWO. (Technically more because Jet wasn't alone, but you get what I'm saying). And they're BOTH antagonists. It's great to show that anger can blind you, but couldn't they make at least one character who wasn't somehow affiliated with Gaang who was against Fire nation and was in positive light? It kinda sucks. Also it doesn't make sense that Hama could actually attack military men and she just didn't. Why? She could attack civilians AND military and it could have been much better.

Then we get an entire arc to show that fire citizens aren't that bad, they're also people and they're also victims, blah, blah, blah... And the idea isn't entirely bad, but it was shown like they're just all innocent and can't affect what's happening in their kingdom? If the show authors wanted to show something positive about Fire citizens wouldn't it be better to show that there are some opposition to Fire Lord or something? But no, we get episodes about how the citizens are prohibited to show their true selfs because they can't breakdance and we get propaganda mentioned a little. Obviously it's a kids show and demanding to show 100% how war works is dumb, obviously the writers have to tone it down a little, but it still kinda sucked. This is actually why it's my least favourite season. Like, it looked like literally no one in Fire nation was against war? The opposition wasn't mentioned even in the comics? HUNDRED YEARS war and Fire citizens didn't even try to do anything? This fire school arc just made me despise Fire nation more because it looks like they just don't give a damn. (Don't start on "they're being brainwashed by propaganda". If propaganda is enough to convince you that killing is good than you were never good in the first place).

Jet was portraied extremely weird in Ba Ding Se too. Like... Fire nation is occupying Earth nation, killing and abusing civilians. Jet sees two fire benders in the most secured city. One of them was a war general who actually had this exact city under six hundred days siege. OBVIOUSLY he would try to arrest them. Who wouldn't? Who knows what they're doing there? Why would he believe that they don't want to do anything malicious? But show portraits it like some sort of obsession. Like he was crazy and in the wrong, like "they're not hurting anybody and he's nagging them and wants them arrested for no reason". Jet was being completely logical.

At the end of the show Iroh keeps his tea shop in Ba Sing Se??? What??? The same city he had under siege? And he names it "Jasmine dragon". DRAGON. The literal symbol of Fire nation. HUNDRED YEAR war just ended, I refuse to believe that citizens were completely fine with it.

And in "Legend of Korra" we find out that Fire nation still has an army? It got much smaller, but still it was pretty powerful? After hunder year war? How? WHY?

It's also extremely weird that in LOK they explored goddamn ANARCHISM, but not how Fire nation is treated after the war? It looked like nobody even remembers it. It was mentioned like three times in the series.

Also I read the comics and the creation of Republic city was weird af. Kuvira was terrible, but she was right at one thing: Republic city belongs to Earth kingdom. There was a lot of resistance. In comics this colony was still full of Earth civilians and culture. It wasn't completely mixed. And the argument to not returning the colony to Earth kingdom was literally "we've been colonizing this territory for so long that it can't be yours anymore" wich is dumb. It becomes even dumber when you remember it wasn't the only colony like that. It was mentioned that it was ONE OF THE OLDEST colonies. Which means there were colonies where fire culture was even more integrated. Then why weren't those colonies also turned into "something completely new"? And the resistance stopping resisting was really weird. They were extremely enthusiastic and determined and then just stopped because the Avatar came and told them "protect people, not borders"???

In conclusion: "Avatar" has a lot of flaws which are caused by "love everyone" mindset, wich isn't bad at it's core, but sometimes you gotta hate. And some flaws are caused by writers' inability to understand war and what comes after. The series are amazing, and comics too, but people tend too overlook a lot of mistakes.

Thanks for reading

(no one's reading allat💀)

Also if you disagree, it's completely fine, just know that I will not argue about it. It's my opinion that I thought about for a very long time and I will not change it.

[lo-andbehold]

A callout post (it’s me I’m calling myself out)

[celestiall0tus]

Luka Couffaine Notes - All That Remained

So, I think I see what issue I've had with Luka that I don't with Kagami. And, I ask your forgiveness for the blasphemy I'm about to speak. But you know what they say, right? Better to ask forgiveness than permission. So, let's crack into this.

With all due respect to Luka, he's a decent character in concept. However, from what I've seen, he's dreadfully bland. It's honestly hilarious seeing what a far cry he is in show versus what the fanon is. I've known this fact, but it really isn't until rewatching the older seasons that I see what my issue is. He was really just made to be for Marinette. He is the typical love interest catered to be for the main lead.

Now, there's nothing wrong with the original intention of a character being a love interest. One of my favorite characters, Sally Acorn, was originally intended to be a love interest for Sonic in the Archie Comics. However, for those that read the comics and know her, she became so much more. It's honestly arguable that the world of those comics was built for Sally and not Sonic. Sally became such a big part of the comics and her role was incredible, but she was still intended to be Sonic's love interest. Same goes for Kagami. She is a love interest for Adrien and rival to Marinette, but she feels so much more fleshed out. Like Sally, she's utilized so much more than Luka, which is a shame.

Luka, for all the potential he has, is nothing more than the would-be gold medal. He comes in to offer emotional support and be the rock for the main leads, but mostly Marinette. He is perfect for her, is everything she needs him to be. Day on the ice rink? He's a professional skater. Having trouble with your feelings? Shoulder to cry on and advice giver. She's feeling down and needs a pick me up that the girls can't give her? Enter stage right, Luka.

We see this even in their akumatizations. Luka is akumatized because of Marinette. It is only ever because of Marinette. Kagami did have her share of akumatizations because of Adrien, but for different reasons. Wanting a rematch, Lila, and Adrien lying. And let's not forget the cloud titan that was due to Marinette, not Adrien. Then there's Luka who was akumatized because of either an injustice to Marinette or wanting the fucking truth. (I'm not counting Migration. You all can fuck off with that. That was just bad writing all around that fucking episode.)

Doubling back on the bit about fleshed out. We see more with Kagami about who she is, her struggles, and so much more. We even see her GASP grow as a person. Whereas we have Luka. The man who is always kind, caring, protective, understanding, and patient. Well, that's all fine and all, but what else? What are his flaws? What are his weaknesses? What makes him human? I'm honestly reminded of the scene in Barbie the Nutcracker with the Rat King reading on the Sugar Plum Fairy and just being like "That's it?" Or in Swan Lake when Odette asks "What else?" and prince asshole asks "What else is there?"

You know, it kinda makes sense that when I see canon Luka, I just laugh. I don't see a character like I used to. I see a character with potential relegated to a glorified plot device. He only ever served as a way to advance the plot, which is a fucking sin. If Kagami was allowed to be important later on (which I get for what season 5 was) why couldn't we get that with Luka? I would have loved to have seen more than just a glorified plot device and, I wager, almost falls into the everyman trope. He is ordinary at the time we meet him. The one bit of normal in Marinette's life that we all honestly became attached to. Well, most of us anyway. Makes sense given his borderline blank slate personality of generic good traits.

It also makes sense why I latched onto the Luka in fanon. The entire fandom, all of y'all, make Luka such an interesting character. And I, for one, thank you all. We see more with these characters that don't get the spotlight, especially with Luka. It's amazing seeing what we do with him with the meager template provided by the show. Thank you.

[tossawary]

I just know in my heart of hearts that in "Star Trek" at one point, there was some moral panic somewhere on Vulcan (among the uppity sorts) because Human culture was "infecting" the local youth with their overly emotional, destructive, unproductive, frivolous, and uneducational ways.

And what was actually happening was that a bunch of Vulcan kids got really into 23rd-century "Minecraft" or something.

Small Vulcan child @ another Vulcan child: (in a tone that sounds flat to Humans but angry as hell to Vulcans) "You have compromised the optimization of my fortress. I am having an emotional urge to blow up your house... in Minecraft."

[autolenaphilia]

It's funny how clearly uninformed a lot of criticism of Mozilla and its browser Firefox is. Like people say "it's just another corporation, out to make profit, just like Google." And that ordinary users promoting Firefox are just giving them free advertising.

It's in basically any post criticizing Mozilla, including on this site. Like using tumblr search I quickly found a post that was largely positive, but argued that Mozilla operates "under capitalist incentives" And outside tumblr I found a blog post out on the interwebs that criticized Mozilla and outright wondered "I don't know if Mozilla's business model ever made sense, it makes a lot more sense if it's something closer to a nonprofit rather than a commercial entity."

Well, let's research the Mozilla Corporation, see what that business model actually is. Let's begin that research by going to the wikipedia article, and read the two introductory paragraphs. And it turns out that it's "a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation", which is a non-profit.

"The Mozilla Foundation will ultimately control the activities of the Mozilla Corporation and will retain its 100 percent ownership of the new subsidiary. Any profits made by the Mozilla Corporation will be invested back into the Mozilla project. There will be no shareholders, no stock options will be issued and no dividends will be paid. The Mozilla Corporation will not be floating on the stock market and it will be impossible for any company to take over or buy a stake in the subsidiary."

Turns out that it is not just "closer to a non-profit", it is literally a non-profit. Turns out you only needed two paragraphs on wikipedia to learn that, the most basic online research possible, which basically every post I found criticizing Mozilla failed to do.

This is entirely different from any other entity calling itself corporation, which is all about creating profit or money for its shareholders, the "capitalist incentives" spoken about earlier.

If you read further into that article, you will learn that the Mozilla corporation literally only exists separate from the foundation for tax and legal purposes, but it's still a non-profit operation.

This makes it reasonably immune from the enshittification process I've written about before. there is no incentive to fuck over the experience for end users for the sake of shareholder profits, like what tumblr is doing right now.

It means that Firefox is an exemption to the rule that "if something is free, you are the product", because there is no product to produce profits for shareholders, it's a charitable endeavour for a free and open internet, as laid out in the Mozilla manifesto.

This doesn't mean non-profits make corruption impossible, there is plenty of corruption in non-profit foundations. But unlike actual capitalist corporations, it doesn't have the greed and corruption built in. And if you are going to criticize Mozilla and Firefox, which it does sometimes deserve, you should have your basic facts straight before doing so, if you expect me to take you seriously.

[myjetpack]

My latest for Guardian Books.

[anneapocalypse]

So, just curious how many writers and creators will have to be forcibly outed by relentless harassment before we acknowledge that "This queer characters was written by a cishet person and that's why they're bad" is not good criticism.

[diabeticgirl4]

it's such a quick subtle moment, but I really appreciated the teamwork of grog having percy land on him in their fall (+supporting him w his fist!) so he wouldn't have to slow down in his chase for ripley