#yes I am introducing another plot device but it’s gonna make sense

[rist-ix]

Hi Rist!

How are you? Almost done with uni for this year? Any chance you can give a sneak peek into the next chapter of TBHTBH?

Uni’s done for the year, heck yeah. Sorry for answering so late I’ve been in the trenches of internship application

And there is a sneak peak I can give you!!!

Her escape attempts, despite Darcy’s best efforts, don’t stop. To be fair, it’s more out of routine than anything else, and everyone in the castle is aware of it. She’s not actually thinking any of her attempts will succeed.

But it’s the principle of the thing.

Sooner or later, during her explorations of the Palace, she’ll stray too far towards the portal room. Sometimes without even knowing it — she’s really not good at keeping her bearings. That’s when one of her three guard dogs will show up to shepherd her back onto the right path.

In the beginning, she’d thought she might be able to overpower them, and reach the portal anyway. Even half-drained she’d held her own against Icy, after all, and none of the Trix can do what Valtor can to disable her powers.

She is proven wrong.

“Ugh,” Darcy groans, doing the bare minimum and leaning to the side to avoid getting hit, “I literally cannot believe you are making me do this.”

Bloom doesn’t lower her guard, and is lucky for it. The sphere of darkness Darcy summons to blind her goes wide thanks to her quick reaction.

“My free time is limited enough as it is. I thought we were bonding!”

She doesn’t pause and answers with a blast of her own, staying in motion.

“You could just let me escape!” she gives back, breathless, trying to estimate how much further until she can make a run for it. “Think of how much free time you’d have then!”

The witch sighs and her hands flare purple, which is never a good sign. Zooming backwards on anxiously fluttering wings, she summons her shields while simultaneously trying to gauge how close she is to the portal. Darcy is tricky, but she can’t hope to match her in strength, and her chances will likely never be better—

Darcy picks that precise moment to reveal herself as an illusion — shit — dissolving into thin air and reappearing as the real thing right next to her. Before she can even think to raise her hand for an attack, the smuggest witch of them all has already pushed her back against the wall, rolled her eyes, and snapped something cold and metallic shut around her wrist.

She has time to blink, but nothing more. Then her wings and transformation vanish with an audible poof, and she drops the ground like a sack of flour.

She looks down on her arms.

“Darcy,” she asks, not sure why she bothers. “Are those handcuffs?”

“Sure are.”

“Oh come on!” she groans, staring at the plain, crude metal band around her wrist that had somehow turned her powerless once more. “How many more ways of blocking my magic does he need? This is getting ridiculous.”

Darcy, entirely unsympathetic, starts dragging her back towards the ballroom-turned-fighting-ring by the chain between the two cuffs. Only one of them is actually binding her, but that seems to be enough for whatever counter-spell these things have attached to them.

“Not as ridiculous as you insisting to do the thing I explicitly told you won’t help you,” she huffs. “You do know what they say about people who try the same thing over and over again and expect a different result, right?”

Bloom shrugs, unbothered.

“It’s not like I have much else to do. Care to explain how these” — she shakes her hand, making the handcuffs rattle — “nixed my transformation?

She sighs, deeper this time.

“Maybe you’re simply having ‘performance issues’.”

Oh. Oh, that petty son of a witch—

“Valtor told you to say that, didn’t he,” she growls.

“Yup,” Darcy chirps without a care in the world. “And that’s all you’re gonna get from me.”

By the time they’ve reached the ballroom and she has finally taken the manacles off of her again, Bloom has given up on needling her.

There is no use trying to get anything out of Darcy. It’s like she said: if she wants something to stay hidden, it stays hidden.

Luckily, she knows that Icy is off-planet for a while, and that Darcy would not miss her precious spa day for the world. So it only takes two more days until Stormy is the one on babysitting duty.

[magicpotatothoughts]

REVIEW | My Thoughts on Monster (anime)

MENTIONS: monster spoilers, deathnote spoilers

You know how after you finish a really good anime and there is this overwhelming feeling of loss but also satisfaction? That feeling that gnaws at you to keep researching and watch analysis videos of characters and plot? That's exactly how I feel about Monster. It is one of the most well-crafted, well-paced stories I've ever come across, and this is not just across the manga and anime medium, this is across all mediums; books, shows, movies that I've ever come across with. It's one of those stories that if I didn't make a blogpost about it to get my thoughts down, it'll linger in me for longer than considered healthy hahhaha. PLOT I can't even begin to describe just how amazing this plot is. Seemingly unrelated events and arcs slowly intersect with one another until the finale where everything becomes clear on how they relate to one another, what motivates each character and why certain events turned out they way they did. I'm pretty sure I finished MONSTER in five days and at points where the story introduces so many seemingly unrelated plots, I felt emotionally invested and curious to find out how they relate to the bigger picture. MONSTER is amazing in the way that it exceeded my expectations in how they relate and fit into the larger puzzle of the story. Cliffhangers after cliffhangers, so many moving parts, places and events, different timeskips into the past and future, it was laid out in a way that I, who tends to easily tends to get lost in complex plots, was able to, for the most part, keep up with every revelation in the story. That is true mastery, to tell a complex story that can be digested for the larger audience. Yes I admit I did look up some wikis and videos to confirm or search for a more detailed explanation of the plot at times, but I'm so surprised at how well the plot was able to tie loose threads together so perfectly in the end. But also to leave vagueness where it needs to be left to allow the audience to ponder on the larger themes and concepts covered: nihilism vs. love, identity and morality, genocides, brainwashing, humanity etc. How does a story balance resolution and irresolution so perfectly? I can't help but call MONSTER's mangaka Naoki Urasawa a true genius. Also the use of picture books as a story-device adds another layer of dread and horror. Picture books and children represents a sense of innocence so for that to be subverted and used as a way of brainwashing or manipulating children, as well as clues to later on unveil the author, was tastefully done. CHARACTER The feelings I have towards the characters....are inexplicable. There is growth and development for every character, even the ones that only exist for one arc, I couldn't help but empathise and feel sorry for them. Even someone like Eva, I honestly thought she was just gonna be some rich-spoilt nobody but then when Martin died, I couldn't help but hurt with her as she has shown that she now knows what is important to her yet the chance to be happy with Martin unfortunately slips away. The whole arc on Johan manipulating the child Milos and Grimmer finally being able to convince him not to suicide, mannnn the freaking feels. I don't really know how to describe this next point other than that even though the main characters are well-developed, the audience's emotional proximity to them is compromised because they are mainly used as a plot device. I guess in a sense, it could be considered a necessary sacrifice to craft a near-perfect plot.

The plot device that I am talking is that most of the main cast are used as partial foils to various aspects of Johan. Nina, that even though she underwent severe trauma and is considered the other half of Johan, she happily identifies with the name that is given to her by those who love her. She has hope that she will and deserves love while Johan processed his trauma through nihilism and a screwed sense of morality. Dr Tenma believes that all lives are created equal therefore tries his best to save anyone, no matter good or evil and thankfully sticks by that sense of morality until the end while Johan believes that death is the only equality that all humans face. I think because these characters are used plotwise as foils to Johan, it further amplifies his evil but also the tragedy of his character. Hence, I believe this is why out of everyone's favourite characters in Monster, MAL ratings show that Johan wins by a landslide compared to his 'good' counterparts. However, I can't help but wonder that is it due to his nature or nurture that he turned out the way he did even though his foils went through similar traumas? I think when talking about a great anime villain, of course it is inevitable that I end up comparing Light Yagami from Death Note with Johan. Johan, although commits much worse crimes in my opinion compared to Light (I literally felt at Episode 49 that I had lost all sympathy for his character when he catalysed orphans to suicide), by the end, I don't love him, but I feel so incredibly sorry for him. Light and Johan, are products of their environment that led them to a screwed sense of morality but the intent behind their actions are completely different. Light throughout his entire life is showered with praise for his intelligence, good looks by his loving family and friends but then fuelled by his boredom and grandiose sense of self, decides that he can play god. Johan throughout his life, continue to feel a sense of abandonment and lack of belonging and identity. As he is born of an experiment, he felt less than human, he was objectified by those around him. So when his mother and initially his twin sister (whom he considered to be his other half), in his eyes "abandoned" him, he internalises the belief that he needs to erase everyone that he has ever come in contact with and now that I think about it, he catalysed the children perhaps in his mind to bring equality to their fate and in a way, "end their suffering of being alive and abandoned". I guess in simpler terms, he is only repeating the cycles of trauma he experienced as a kid as E.g. one person with terrible parents continue to choose terrible partners. While Light craved attention born from his pride, Johan just wants everyone that he has ever involved with to die at the hands of their own evil and destruction. Basically he is saying "Ok you've abandon me? That's what you've chosen? Well then fine, I'll erase you in order to erase me if that's your wish".

In my opinion, Johan is a scarier villain but a much more tragic one at that, he has never known love and even when presented with love, he cannot process or express it. Anyone that shows him love, his foster parents, he doesn't know how to react to love therefore kills them, thinking that he's just protecting himself and his twin sister from another repetition of their mother abandoning him. His calm demeanour and expressions of emotions are completely void of any warmth, as he has never understood or internalised the warmth provided to him since the orphanage and the parental abandonment.

Light kills and feels the thrill of the kills, while Johan kills and feels nothing.

His screwed morality that he follows is simply what he believes to be the truth rather than something driven by anger or sorrow. Thinking about Johan makes me feel sad, this emotionless monster was born and created and has never known simple human emotions. This is why I guess out of all of the foils, Grimmer is the most interesting one. Even though both Grimmer and Johan survived their time at the orphanage, both in a sense, nameless,

Grimmer continues to hope that he will learn and internalise human emotions and in the end he did, he learnt what love is and therefore the sorrow that comes with losing his own child.

So therefore, once again, it brings me the question of nature and nurture, why does Johan use his expressions to become the monster yet Grimmer used his expressions to relate to those around him in hopes that he will regain his emotions? Grimmer died technically nameless but made such a huge positive impact on those around him... I don't know the answer to this but I guess the author probably intended it that way to make us wonder......

I must say, this is a very men-driven story, there isn't anything wrong with that, but I wished there were slightly more ....I don't know..... because Nina and Eva were pretty well developed.... but I don't know, something felt lacking in the women characters. SOUND I can't help but comment on the music first. It's so interesting, at first I felt like the music wasn't anything catchy or emotional but served the plot and scenes perfectly gave the desired effects well to support the emotions in a scene. But then as the episodes went on, the OP and the ED really grew on me. I must commend on Kuniaki Haishima, he managed to tie the main theme of the OP in every single bgm track, no matter what style. He manages to sneak it in as background cafe jazz music, in pivotal suspenseful scenes and as calm journey montage music. I think it was probably intended that there is so much choral aspects to the tracks, I think it's suggest biblical allusions as the anime covers so many biblical themes such as redemption and fate and identity. The orchestration of the tracks were absolutely incredible, I wonder if he had an entire orchestra at his disposal and many tracks were live-recorded? One thing I must say is that I wished that if he used live instruments and voices (or really good sample libraries), he should stick to live voices rather than use synthy vocal or string pads, it sounds a bit jarring as so much of the work displayed complex and intricately crafted orchestration so when I randomly heard midi voices, I felt like it didn't quite go with the rest of the instrumentation of some tracks. Although, I must take into account that this anime was created in the early 2000s so resources were more limited compared to now. Incredible voice-acting, I wonder if the voice actors experienced any psychological damage from how much they had to express anguish and pain in the characters. Man it's so dark, it must have taken an emotional toll on them I think, at least for me I think I would have suffered. ANIMATION Amazing angles and use of camera and framing throughout the entire anime. The realistic style suits the dark themes of the work, Even though there were so many time-skips, memories, fragments of memories, it was so clear visually distinguishable for the audience. One thing I'll say is that i think the dark colour palette, limited the physical traits of the minor characters. Sometimes I did find myself getting a few characters confused because their hairstyles and colours were so similar. Overall, incredible anime. Mannnn, I'm gonna have to watch a few chill anime after this one just to recover from the psychological damage that Monster has done to me.

[kuboism]

Bleach Canon Vs. Studio Clown Episode 1

Intro to the series

WARNING: Long read but theres plenty of pictures

The first deviation we’re greeted with is what the anime presents as the arrival of hollows into the human world. With a likely artistic rendition of them forming from the shadows of Hueco Mundo and dripping/bleeding over into the human world like splotches of ink, after which they disappear - unable to be perceived by humans.

A/N: Which, kubos to the anime, is rather neat.

The anime also decided to incorporate the first volume poem which is the thematic beginning and a great establisher of the mood/themes of Bleach, which roughly translates to: 

我らは 姿無きが故に それを畏れ

“We fear that which cannot be seen”

And then they curiously add a line to this poem? 

姿無き故に敬う

”We revere that which cannot be seen"

A/N: Which, initially seems on brand with the spiritualism of that “which is not seen” - the shinigami, DEATH itself if you will. However, unlike the themes of “fear” and “fear of death/the unseen”, “reverence” is not really a theme prevalent or definitive for bleach. Reverence is not particularly reserved for death or death gods, but antagonists with themes of divinity/the Soul King himself, but I digress.

Next off the bully scene has a couple of missing/reworded lines, as well as some of the delivery changed, but overall it’s not significant enough to mention.

I also wish they’d kept Ichigo’s shit yourself scary face from this moment right here, since it really underlines how serious and personally invested Ichigo is in bringing small justice to the souls of the departed, but I can only pray a future remake does include it.

^ I am disappointed in y’all :/

vs.

v Karma delivery, bitch

Then for some reason the next scene is changed significantly:

In the manga, it builds up slowly to Ichigo’s reveal of supernatural abilities with the iconic TM character profile intros (which I can see why weren’t recreated in the anime, but I sure wish they put them in....)

with him spooking the bullies off with the ghost girl right behind him

Versus his scary face doing the job instead.....

It’s a small change, and I can see why it would be opted for - we don’t really know if they even saw the ghost in the first place (then again you could argue that would spook them anyway). There is a tonal difference in the long run though. The manga emphasizes once again *why* ichigo is scolding them in the first place - he sees the people disrespected by them knocking down the vase, he wants them to acknowledge their actions *because* in his mind, there are real victims he knows from it. While in the anime, since the ghost is not yet introduced, it feels more like “you are disrespectful to the dead” in a more generalized way vs. him actually being acquainted with the dead and treating them like the living. 

(Again, not sure why change it so much at all........the suspense and reveal are in the manga just the same.... but ok)

As well as cutting off this small moment where you can see Ichigo’s very human (and cute!) interactions with the ghosts. To him they’re just as real as the living, and he lends them a hand whenever they ask for help.

Also lmfao this 4kids level of censorship.....

It goes on rather faithfully for a while, no significant omissions, then Pierrot decides to randomly replace Yuzu’s lines with Karin??

Manga:

Anime: 

Which is an odd choice, given that not only does Yuzu sense ghosts just fine (albeit at a much lesser level than her family) and that later comes into play with Fishbone & Grandfisher, but Karin literally later admits that she doesn’t even want to acknowledge their presence, so why the change....?

They also cut short Karin’s little talk about Ichigo’s stats, which is a fair change for screentime’s sake, but mentioned for the record.

There’s a bit of a divergence with Yuzu lore, when the manga explicitly states she sees them, but not “clearly”, the anime focuses on her barely sensing them. I guess it doesn’t matter that much in the long run, since she is not that prevalent in the story, but it’s here for the record nonetheless.

Anime: 

vs. 

Manga:A

Also this next bit was removed, probably for the sake of pacing (which, totally fair!!), but it’s funny and I love the Kurosaki family so here it is:

It does make the flow a bit better in the manga, since this talk of selling his talents distracts Ichigo and creates an opening for his father to strike, in the anime, the same is done with Ichigo just randomly saying 

and thats where his father attacks him, which isnt really an issue, just kind of funny of how the manga is like:

Ichigo’s distracted by his sisters plotting to sell him out and hence Isshin has his chance to strike back

vs the anime being like:

Ichigo randomly thinks about dinner mid convo about ghosts and thats what distracts him from play-fighting with his dad 

gfdkhlgfdg okayyyy....moving on 

In the manga this scene is interspliced with Ichigo’s inner monologue about the nature of his powers (with hip jargon like “for real” courtesy of Viz ) 

(but my beef with Viz translations are for another day)

Also the line about “He told me more ghosts than ever have been haunting me” has been given to Karin for some reason, probably to make her feel more included in the scene/Ichigos life.

Notably, Isshin’s response is changed from “What?! He talks about stuff like that with you (Yuzu, singular)” to “What?! He talks about stuff like that with you guys?” as well, again probably to include Karin more into the dialogue. (Mmmm ok....)

Minor detail, but Karin’s lines has been changed to more “boyish” speech structure in the Japanese dub, which may seem insignificant, but ...... that is for later. 

.....

This little exchange

 is replaced with: 

Which, seems innocuous adaptation differences, but Yuzu’s lines keep decreasing and it’s a short enough moment to like....include and establish how motherly Yuzu is acting towards Ichigo.....but ok...huh. 

And now we get into the big boy changes.

So, probably for the sake of grounding the supernatural element of the series, the anime decided to skip time to the next morning and introduce the hollow attacks with a news report.

Which.....is an interesting choice. I am assuming this is addressing how the real world perceives the hollow attacks, which Bleach doesn’t put too much effort into addressing, but very soon after this we learn about stuff like memory replacement and other various technology to keep things under wraps so this is either redundant or implying that shinigamis have not been doing their job, which hm......

Next off is the bizarre choice to paint Isshin out of the picture for the night

Not sure why, but ok

Again, where’s the shinigami with their Kikanshinki (memory replacement devices)??? Pierrot where’s the lore coherence......

Anyway, Ichigo goes to replace the girl’s vase, but suprise-surprise she’s gone-zo. Wonder what happened to her.....

(And....again, people vehemently don’t want a reboot when the anime looks like this? )

So Ichigo hears a scream and a hollow scream and follows the sound (Ok?).

Totally random hollows attack. Which Ichigo somehow has never seen so far? Mind you, this isn’t like in the manga, where Fishbone was sent by Aizen specifically after Ichigo to make him aware of it. These are random-ass hollows attacking people, so how come Ichigo suddenly sees them. Ya coulda played it safe Pierrot, and stuck to the book, but we got plot inconsistencies episode one so let’s party.

The girl is, of course, not eaten and they run away.

She trips at the most inconvenient moment. (can ghosts trip? Ghost don’t even have legs in japanese lore and Kubo draws them floating around so okkkkkkkk)

(ok ok, im just being petty, bUT YKNOW)

(convenient tripping on deadass levelled ground is convenient)

(also God I really want that bag Ichigo’s got on his shoulder, it looks so nice)

Random-ass hollow closes in and 

BOOM

Rukia

(Now, if the rest of Bleach and the manga didn’t exist I would like this moment. We get a glimpse into Rukia’s abilities, into shinigami as a concept and we don’t really get to see her slice and dice hollows that much overall so the moment itself is rad in isolation.

Now, unfortunately for Pierrot’s screenwriters, Bleach manga exists and so does it’s lore, which again, would not be inconsistent with each other if the adapation was faithful. Now, Ichigo sees a shinigami, for some reason, for the first time in his 15 years of life. All of a sudden. 

You could argue, that much like in the manga, this is all part of Aizen’s plan TM, but like, she literally leaves right after leaving Ichigo gaping in awe ghfkjgdf. Why’d Aizen give him an appetizer, I really don’t understand how this change is benefitting the narrative in any way. It’s ....dare I say....generic.)

Rukia yeets the hollow

(why is this kid suddenly not wearing shoes?)

and goes off on her merry way, leaving Ichigo shooketh

ALSO RUKIA MA’AM THERES A FUCKING STRAY GHOST RIGHT AT YOUR RIGHT????? ISNT IT YOUR LIKE....JOB.......... TO HELP GHOSTS MOVE ON??? i know killing hollows is the fun part, but like ghjkfdlgfd ??? are you gonna ignore her???

( his fucking face ghfjdkgdlfgfd)

So after this wholeass pointless detour (you’ll see why it’s pointless in a moment)  we timeskip again (the filler is strong in this one. These 6 minutes were worth not coming up with something cohesive and removing scenes that actually make sense ah yes)

Ichigo is in deep thought TM about who tf is the stranger he’d just seen. Likely mulling over the monsters and how this person was able to slay said monsters. Probably thinking how unusual they are.

and as if on cue

the stranger makes their presence once more

(my God these faces gfhgkldfg)

....

Now let’s briefly address what happens in the manga instead.

Instead of the whole timeskip scene with the fight, Ichigo simply returns to his room on the same day, and oddly enough recognizes the species of the butterfly he sees? (nerdy boi! nerdy!! boi!)

rukia arrives much the same

(With the little text emphasizing how he’d never been aware of soul reapers, which is unsurprising given their secrecy, and makes sense in the long run since their first meeting is specifically orchestrated by Aizen. Two species that werent meant to interact brought together by his schemes.)

Back to the anime:

Ichigo pauses to ponder who tf they are and why the fuck they’re there.

and then the anime has the gall to suddenly revert to sticking to the manga, which like.... Ichigo kicks her for no reason? I guess because she isn’t answering? Even though Ichigo knows she has a sword and can wield it? Reckless boy.

Manga Ichigo thinks she’s a burglar, therefore, unsurprisingly, is comfortable kicking her outta his house. It’s a silly moment, but it also shows how accustomed or stupidly brave he is with the supernatural.

In the anime Ichigo asks her who she is instead of all that, and she responds pretty similarly to the manga

AND THE NEXT SCENE IS WHERE IT CLICKS WHY THEY WENT OUT OF THEIR WAY TO REMOVE ISSHIN FROM THE HOUSE.

(Ichigo and Rukia addressing the pointless filler, this leads nowhere)

Rukia check him out like she’s checking if the oranges on sale dont have mold on them 

slapstick ensues

and Rukia decides to answer his question.

Vs. the manga in which Isshin doesn’t leave his children home alone for some random conference and is actually used very efficient for two reasons:

1) building up on the burglar gag with actually funny slapstick that is based on a previously established joke

2) Instead of Rukia just saying “oh usually people can’t see me”, we get an actual demonstration of it, the reader gets to see “oh Isshin can’t see her - she must be a spiritual entity,” which further clicks with her surprised reaction at him being able to kick her in the first place.

The next scene is the classique Pierrot censorship.

Ghost girl runs away from what I’m assuming is Fishbone.

Aside from not showing her get eaten, the scene is pretty much delivering the same message, 

bUT

BECAUSE OF THE STUPID ASS FILLER WITH THEM MEETING RUKIA BEFORE THIS, I CAN ACCUSE RUKIA OF NEGLIGENCE.

UNLIKE THE MANGA, where Rukia arrives the night before and is specifically seeking Fishbone, therefore having no time to help this girl pass away, 

This vvvvvvv

could have been prevented if SOMEONE DID THEIR FUCKING JOB THE DAY BEFORE VVVVVVV

(I rest my case. Thank you Pierrot for making Rukia either negligent or an idiot. Awesome, And mind you, these changes were unnecessary. The manga’s pacing is fine. They could’ve extended scenes. But nope, had to go for making them meet beforehand.)

Anyway, we get to see some actual stakes in the manga

The next scene which is this in the manga 

has two changes to it. Firstly, obviously Isshin being consoled by Yuzu isn’t included since he isn’t home in the anime, and even if he were, I can see why that would be removed, cute as it may be.

And secondly, due to them having met prior Ichigo asks two additional questions:

And Rukia nods at both, which means she acknowledges that she had seen the girl the hollow was after and yet did nothing to help her pass on. 

(Reminder the Bleach anime was in production WAAAAY past the first 4 volumes, which gave a good general idea of the series, which y’know, was fine to adapt as is.

You’ll see these changes add up into becoming inconsistent with further Bleach lore. There’s a reason people call Bleach a hot mess, and I’m afraid Kubo ain’t really it.)

(Volume 14 Note from Kubo where he talks about the anime being announced)

Back to the series

Pet peeve time: Wish the anime was half as expressive as the manga

These scenes are supposed to represent

This panel:

(Nitpicking? Perhaps, but idc)

So uh, this scene is odd

Again, because of the addition of that filler with the hollow

Ichigo has seen her in action

And they even added Rukia trying to convince him 

even though, yknow???

LITerally the previous day???

Anyway  in the manga, where Ichigo has reason to be distrustful of her and her claims since y’know hes never seen her or a shinigami in action, but has enough proof that she’s a ghost bc his dad didn’t see her, he simply dismisses her before she can reply, and instead of just getting angry for being called a pipsqueak

she shows both Ichigo and the audience proof of her spiritual powers by binding Ichigo and forcing him to quietly listen to her explanations.

(To reiterate - Anime Rukia  has to verbally try to convince Ichigo WHO SAW HER FIGHT A HOLLOW THE OTHER DAY that shes no ordinary ghost. And because of that, she has no other reason to use Sai on him other than that shes mad she was called a pipsqueak bc she just tried to verbally convince him shei is a shinigami. When they could just adapt the manga and have her both demonstrate her powers and put him in his place at the same time. Wild.)

Also CRIMINALLY BORING SHOT, WITH CRIMINALLY BORING RUKIA

#NotMyRukia

LOOK AT THE MANGA

LOOK AT HER SMUGLY OWNING ICHIGO’S IGNORANT ASS #FuckYeahRukia

Also the subs may not show it if you’re watching it on Netflix, but anime Rukia says “I am not allowed to lay my hands on humans outside orders,” which like, you ARE LITERALLY DOING THAT. Manga Rukia is fine with bullying Ichigo, but she draws a line at killing him, but man Anime Rukia, you give no fucks about the laws huh.

why so cheerful?

(also Rukia be right tho)

(specifcally compared to hell you could say Soul society is a resftul place lmfao)

Also anime salary man gets to rest in peace, even like, pray and shit

Meanwhile the manga

YEET TO SOUL SOCIETY

(also notice how we’ve been robbed of ichigo’s silly socks

I swear the anime knows how to suck the soul out of the manga 

Get it? Soul! haha ....moving on.)

Really Rukia? One of your jobs?

GUESS YOU WERE OFF DUTY HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I’M SORRY BUT LIKE, SEE HOW POINTLESS THIS FILLER IS UGH!!!)

(Again pet peeve but look at how ugly this screen is COMPARED TO THE MANGA)

(What have they done to you, queen)

(also they never mention the name Konso ( or as Viz calls it here -”soul funeral”, thanks Viz)

Next on, not a pet peeve, but an observation:

Anime Rukia keeps her sketchbook in her kimono

Manga Rukia keeps it at the titty

Yep, which you neglected to do the day before,

she literally says “With the konso I did just a  moment ago” like she used the word before. Like you can contextually get it, but why cut that line out of the dialogue if you don’t change the next line it’s referenced in?

There’s also a dialogue change from the manga’s well, Viz uses “vaporize” which is not a bad choice given the specific wording Kubo uses, but the original says 

昇華 • 滅却

sublimate/convert • extinguish

which is a clever little nod/foreshadowing to the nature of souls in bleach and that they can be “converted” in and out of a hollowfied state. 

While the anime just says “to slay hollows”, and albeit it lacks the little nod the manga has to offer, I can’t see how they’d include it in the anime at that stage so I’m fine with them simplifying it to like, an exorcism.

A better question then Rukia - WHY DIDN’T YOU SEND OFF HER SOUL????

also WAIT THE GIRL IS STILL ALIVE?? she’s dead-dead by this point in the manga.

BULLSHIT !!!  YOU LITERALLY EXPLAIN LATER WHY!! ACTUALLY YOU EXPLAINED EARLIER WHY!!! YOU LITERALLY SAID THIS, 1 MINUTE AGO :

Anyway, Fishbone almost grants her the priviledge of escaping this God-awful anime, but is suddenly stopped?

AND CAN TALK??

wait WHY DOES FISHBONE TALK?? GHFJD isnt this supposed to be  a juicy reveal for later when Ichigo realizes “hey theyre not actual complete monsters - but used to be humans!” Hm, ok.

Also leaves her alone? Damn ok...

Reminder:

Moooving on...

Speaking of the manga, this little moment is missing:

Since there is no pointless filler that would make him ask about the ghost girl therefore exposing Rukia’s slacking off of her duty, Ichigo realizes that there must be a hollow nearby bc in the manga he actually has braincells to spare. 

Also wiping off the Baron’s moustache moment is gone 😢

Missing and dearly missed is also this moment, which consolidates how protective Ichigo is of his family. He only needs to hear Yuzu scream to click that the hollow is nearby and his family is in danger. I feel like anime Ichigo should be even more worried since his sisters are alone but ok??

Also foreshadows their dynamic of Rukia trying to stop his reckless attempts at pushing himself to protect his family, bc yknow....she has her own Kaien trauma to process.

Next off....

This is .... a choice....

They were very eager to give Yuzu’s lines to Karin just a couple of moments ago but now this whole exchange:

Where we see a very pragmatic yet soft side of Karin

She doesn’t know what is happening, and doesn’t expect her brother to fight it - he just wants him to be safe, because she loves her family. At least warn him before it gets to him and hurts him.

is replaced with this:

Yuzu, sweetie, what do you think he can do to achieve that.

I guess at least Anime Ichigo tries to get Rukia to do her job as she looks down on Yuzu in silence. 

But compare it to the manga:

#MyRukia stops by Karin to check for a pulse and reassures Ichigo that his sister is alive.

Manga Ichigo is NUMBER ONE oniichan in town and doesnt have time to call out to a stranger to save his family - HES BEYOND READY TO GO FIGHT, RECKLESS AS IT IS, EVEN THOUGH HIS OWN FAMILY BEGS HIM TO JUST RUN. because he cant let himself be unable to protect them. He cant live with himself if he doesnt try his darnest to protect them.

*elevator music playing as ichigo tries to get rukia’s attention but she fucks off downstairs, but instead of doing shit he just does the worm on the floor*

which I guess is more realistic for a teenage boy, but Ichigo is literally traumatized by being unable to protect a family member. Y’all think a ghost he’s never seen before is gonna stop him? 

Yooo, pathetic. #NotMyIchigo

[awesome-cookies-and-cream]

Reki and Langa’s dynamic

It’s speculation at my part and a shameless rant on what i like about sk8 just to get it off my chest I’ve been so fixated help

it’s 5am I’m at uni and i have a shit ton to do, am I really gonna make an essay about sk8 instead? yes abso-fucking-lutely. strap on to your metaphorical skateboards kids. this is going to be long ride

this isn’t to call out anyone lol so in case you get that impression I’m sorry. I understand everyone is out to interpret media in whatever they like and that’s fine, but sometimes i feel like either some missed some points of the story? anyway here are my thoughts tho

alright so what i absolutely love about sk8 is how they didn’t make anyone into a genius.Genius is a mockery of the hardships everyone does to attain that level of skills. And no Langa is not a genius or a prodigy which I will explain later. I’ve seen enough shounen animes back in the day and usually it’s ‘annoying heart of gold beginner vs. calm and collected genius’ they usually hate each other’s guts and bicker all the time though secretly, deep down care for each other but would rather die than admit it dynamic. While I’m glad we’re moving past that, I really thought Reki and Langa would be like that so....

imagine my surprise when Langa was the ‘beginner’ in skating. He has the potential to be a second sasuke here lol. (blue, handsome, cool) but no he isn’t. he’s an adorable idiot, an airhead, head empty only skating dude and i love it. 

Reki as well. He could have been the usual protagonist. (sucks at his sport, loud, hardworking, and by the power of friendship he suddenly beats everyone else which i think is pretty overused at this point, don’t you think?) some people complain how Reki despite being the MC isn’t given screentime and hasn’t won a single beef. (and sure that’s true. he should have won some and langa lose some but we only have 12 eps so lol) but he’s not the usual protagonist you know? and sk8 isn’t about winning. if it was, I think they would have focused on the techniques. the hows and the what to do.

Idk if you noticed, but sports anime with winning in its goal would often explain in detail certain techniques. (see haikyuu) but shows like Free and Yuri on Ice isn’t exactly talking about how to win that seriously as Haikyuu did. It’s more focusing on the feelings and how their lives are affected with their passion for this sport. it’s about the character development!!! and i think SK8 is something like that too. It explores the character’s feelings rather than sport. (like what i tell my sister, they use the sport as a character device if that makes sense?)

this was literally in the opening lol. it’s really about the feelings you know?

so anyway it’s been pointed out several times that Reki was already feeling insecure about his skills in skating since ep 1 way before Langa came. But he still likes to skate and despite feeling never enough, he still enjoyed it. (some also pointed out that Reki’s reason of going into a beef against Shadow has been because he insulted his way of skating not because he wanted to be the best) so the show from the get go was already hinting at his self esteem issues.

this also implies that Reki has always been feeling like this in a while, added with his tendencies to bottle things up, it makes sense that he’ll blow up at some point and he’ll need to release all of those feelings. (so yeah i think this is just the right amount of eps for their fall out. i see some people complaining shush. otherwise it would also feel too rushed. this is years weighing him)

and i guess it’s also implied in here he’s had days like these too in the past! seriously it’s an ongoing problem he’s been carrying. i think 3 eps is pretty good enough pace to internalize it

so point: Reki was already down way before Langa came. langa just added to that. And don’t go blaming Langa cause the boy did nothing wrong.

Consider that Langa just lost his dad (i think we need more backstory on this though. please sdsjkdksl i need little Langa and his dad interactions) he just moved countries, and the only connection to his dad (snowboarding) is gone cause it doesn’t snow in OKinawa

though one also argues that Langa hasn’t been snowboarding since his dad was gone.

so for Langa, Reki introducing skating to him was revolutionary. You’re someone grieving over the death of what is probably the most important person in your life, the thing you love the most no longer gives you joy (as was shown in the flashbacks and basically Langa going ‘it’s the same’) and you’re in a new country with a language you barely are fluent. you can’t even read or write, and you barely have friends granted you don’t have much back in the day. it’s horrible.

and then this guy you barely know talks to you, befriends you, helps you get a job, and teaches you something you thought you’ve lost and through that you made more friends??

yeah you see why Langa likes Reki. You also see why he’s obsessed with skating. It’s kind of like a coping, a fixation. plus he’s bad with social cues i guess? the interview says he’s likely to get dumped for being too inattentive lmao and that’s what makes him interesting!

also the thing that really surprised me when they first interacted was how supportive Reki is to Langa. it also got to me with how much Langa thinks highly of Reki. Again a deviation to the ‘i say i hate you but deep down i care for you’ trope. they’re full on supportive and protective. i like that. it’s fresh to me. I thought Reki was going to the tsundere ‘hmph that’s not a big deal’ route at the start of ep 2 but he’s really amazed. (kinda also says he’s been very desperate for someone to share skating with but that’s another topic)

so Reki teaches Langa how to skate. and Langa sucks. Which was interesting to me because I thought Langa would be some flawless prince-like character. But nah. He trips and faints at his own blood lol. He’s so uncool and i love it.

Some people say Langa is over powered with a thick ass plot armor which gets him to win (which is why i see people saying he should have won against Joe and I actually agree that Langa should lose some beefs but again only 12 eps, so little time)

but I still wanna talk about it anyway so it’s revealed Langa was snowboarding since 2. That’s 15 years. I think that should be around the same time Joe and Cherry should be skating. and i think if you start earlier as a kid, your body develops differently. (should Langa, “an amateur” win against Joe a pro? the question falls more on whether you can classify Langa as an amateur) i think it’s like Langa being very used to motorcycle tricks from age 2 then suddenly he’s using a regular bicycle, and sure the feeling is mostly the same but there’s just something off. Your body doesn’t easily forget what you know, especially if it did it for 15 years. and so Reki customizes a board for Langa so it’ll feel exactly like snowboarding

So Langa has a customized board that he needed to get used to before he went pro. He really sucked the first few eps lmao. but that’s more of him getting used to the new rules. he pretty much told Reki in ep 2 that he can’t do a skateboard ollie, but he can do a snowboard one bec it’s attached to his feet.

(i may just want to add that one thing i also like about sk8 is that it really doesn’t care what you need for accommodation? if that’s how you do it best, then go for it. When Langa says to Reki he can’t do the ollie without the board attached to his feet, Reki immediately goes his way to accommodate him. usually people in real life might say ‘it’s not real skateboarding if you need a modification etc. but look at Cherry with a freaking AI board and people are like yeah whatever do what you want man. whatever rolls your board.)

so anyway Langa vs. Joe with Langa winning despite being an amateur? if you can even call him an amateur that is. Plus all his tricks are snowboarding tricks lol. everything he’s done is testament to his 15 years of snowboarding?? We don’t even know how good Langa is in snowboarding. Someone make a post about how difficult the snowboarding equivalent of those tricks Langa has done just to show people it means he’s pretty pro (I’ll even argue maybe Langa’s real talent is his creative ways of going around things which kind of why Adam is highkey obsessed, and calls Cherry who calculates everything to the last second boring but that’s a different can of worms I’m opening later) plus Langa barely won against Joe so there’s not much difference in level i think. Should Langa have lost though?

I think some have missed the point of that beef in Reki’s pov. and if the Renga reconciliation is done well, it would be worth it.

that beef got Reki to realize he what he really wants! that it’ll kill him if he can’t skate anymore! that he doesn’t wanna only cheer on for others and be a support! THAT HE WANTS TO SKATE BY LANGA’S SIDE WHICH IS THE REASON FOR ALL THIS INSECURITIES if Langa lost, that cathartic realization might not have happened. He might have gone to Langa and cheered him up, brushed off his insecurities and, made up with Langa halfheartedly without addressing his problems

I’m going to go back to Reki’s insecurities. In ep 6 he’s been afraid of being left behind, and sure Langa came back for him but he still forgot until midway. (will that parallel how Langa got too excited with the idea of skating, the same feeling he thought he lost forever. The same thing that he thinks connects him with his dad, and might have left Reki behind, but later remembers and goes back to chase him? hopefully) in ep 4 it’s obvious he’s afraid of the near death experience Adam gave him, and he’s just realized how different their skills were. in ep 5 he worries about Langa, enough to get nightmares about it. mixed with his friend getting hurt. it’s obvious the feelings are very very muddled there.

So he begs Langa not to skate with Adam.

And what did Langa do? say that he wanted to skate with Adam. (again he’s not the most attentive. he probably thinks he’s just skating with his best friend, all is good then boom. Reki leaves. as a person shit with dealing with other people, i don’t blame him at all) he’s trying to fix it though, but his bond with Reki primarily revolves around skating! how else was he going to warm up with Reki? He also doesn’t know that Reki has self esteem issues that’s always been there since the beginning. He probably doesn’t understand it too because he holds Reki up highly. in ep 6 when Reki was going over his board, Langa thinks he’s pretty cool. he didn’t hear what other said to Reki. He’s earnestly having fun with his friend

We should also note that Reki was never angry at Langa’s skills, he wasn’t resentful that Langa was far ahead. Again he’s been nothing but supportive. He doesn’t want to pull Langa down. He wasn’t like Miya’s friends that lashed out at Miya for being better. in ep 7 he tries his best to follow Langa

it feels like he’s mostly regretful that he can’t catch up. he doesn’t want Langa to slow down, he wants to go faster and meet him where he was. So it makes the realization that all he wants to do was be in equal with Langa more frustrating because he thinks he can’t keep up. (and this only ever started when he heard he’s like Langa’s plus one. there’s that daunting feeling about being pulled around. not being his equal) 

if you need further proof, when Langa and Joe were having a beef, he wasn’t aggressively hoping Langa would lose. in fact he encouraged him. He worries deeply He calls him out when he was doing badly. Still very supportive as ever. So really the frustration isn’t to Langa, again, it’s all internal. He wants to be better

so he’s feeling shit and Langa goes to him in the middle of the rain, bless langa for trying, thinking talking about skating (what he thinks Reki loves and would probably cheer him up, not knowing that’s exactly his problem) tells him

which is probably the worst he could say.

THAT’S what got Reki mad, not really Reki being insecure though that’s part of it, that’s what they’re fighting about, Reki is angry he’s breaking his promise. He thinks Langa doesn’t care about Reki, that he’ll easily break a promise between them that Reki obviously cares about just so he can go skate with Adam who is way better than him. It blows to the self esteem. Reki probably also think that if only he was better, langa wouldn’t bother skating with someone that dangerous. it doesn’t help at all.

but langa doesn’t know this. he doesn’t see all this. Langa might have been too up the high of skating like in ep 6, he sorta left Reki behind again.

it kinda makes Langa’s mom’s words hit harder though

and he did just that. he got too engrossed.

It parallels adam, cherry and joe’s friendship then probably tadahsi’s too but who knows? reki and langa, and tadashi and adam might parallel too, the master and the student thingy Adam might have gotten too obsessed. So Joe trying his best to make sure Reki and Langa won’t end up like them hits a little harder in my chest ;’)

but Langa won’t be to engrossed i think

because unlike Adam who’s aggressively looking for his ‘equal’, Langa is just looking for someone who makes his heart beat, to make him feel like he’s skating with his dad again, someone he loves dearly. (there’s a parallel about loves here too between Adam’s and Langa’s. but I can’t write it now) and he probably already thinks Reki is his equal anyway. He just wants to have fun. he doesn’t think much about the skills.

maybe at first he does. that’s why he’s drawn to Adam but from ep 9, it was pretty much shown that skills really doesn’t matter from when he skated against Joe

if Adam easily discarded his friends because he think they’re boring (which was why the whole skateboard to the face thing with Cherry), langa doesn’t think like that

if anything Reki is important to Langa because he only has fun skating with Reki, who taught him how to skate and made his board. (his board that was customized to fit his style btw, and arguably the only reason he could skate that well. without it, he might as well be a beginner once again.) so without reki, langa is left with nothing. especially with his broken board

no fun in skating, no way of skating. He’s only manage to get this far because of Reki and he knows that now. All of it would be pointless if he doesn’t have Reki (and either he gets so obsessed in chasing that feeling again, or he stops completely) but in case you haven’t noticed it, Langa’s motivation revolves around having fun with skating no matter the skill or place. And he’s having most fun with Reki.

But Reki obviously doesn't know Langa’s feelings. He thinks Langa was forever looking for someone better. So he’s still caught up in the idea that Langa won’t want to skate with him (even though Langa has never shown this) and he left S entirely, thinking what he wants is impossible. fucking just talk you two motherfucker

(I also wanna point out that Reki has always been shown from episode one to be good at making boards. And that’s amazing? We need some support recognition and appreciation, seriously) I think maybe most who find problem with Reki not winning beefs like the usual shounen protags aren’t used to the nuance and perspective of being someone ‘ordinary’. Reki’s character is relatable because most of us feel ordinary, never enough, surrounded by geniuses, ‘inferior’. And if we’re being realistic since a lot are saying joe should have won because langa winning is unrealistic and you want realism so bad no I’m not salty at all there will always be someone better than you. ALWAYS. but what’s important is for you to have fun in what you love! in what makes you happy! AND even if you’re not good at one thing (in Reki’s part, skating) he’s also good at other things (making boards) so does he need to stop one for the other? no. He’s shown to enjoy skating with Langa, he doesn’t wanna stop it hurts him so much he quit. But he can also hone his skills in making boards as well as skate. He’s equal with Langa in a way he doesn’t even notice when he made that board for Langa, but even Reki’s presence alone makes Langa enjoy skating the way Reki also wants Langa by his side.

So I think the next ep is the best time to confront all these feelings. And how it happens might be what’s tricky. Like romantic or not, i personally can read it both ways though i prefer if they do become canon. (idk if it’s queerbaiting. i guess friends can care as deeply as that but ngl, these shounen bestfriends having deep connections that are written off as friends while also giving us bland af hetero love interests who did nothing but exist and be straight really is messing with my perception of romantic and platonic love irl) anyway their talk better be done really well, or else all those episodes of tension would be for nothing

It’s a nice perspective to give a shounen protagonist this time. It’s new, it’s fresh. How many incarnations of underdog turned the best at their craft can you take? variety is nice! and if you don’t like it, there are always a dozen other animes like that for you to turn to. to conclude, IT ALL GOES BACK TO THE START: WHAT IS YOUR HAPPINESS???! AND FOR THEM IT’S THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP BUT IN A VERY DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE. FRIENDSHIP DOESN’T  SUDDENLY GET YOU TO LEVEL 100000000000 TO DEFEAT THE FINAL BOSS. FRIENDSHIP IS WHAT MAKES DEFEATING THE FINAL BOSS WORTHWHILE

Anyway tldr; maybe the real Eve is the friends we made along the way :D  and idk if I’m making sense but obviously I’m head empty only sk8. Renga needs to talk, i can’t believe they have the audacity to make a recap episode as if i wasn’t head empty only sk8 since february, and if there’s more emotional edging to come, i will burn some of the palm trees outside my house

[recurring-polynya]

What are your thoughts on Bazz-B? He and Renji seemed to have developed a good rapport and I feel that they would’ve been good frenemies had be survived. I can imagine them exchanging fashion tips which would have interesting results!

I imagine that in another universe, they could have been friends, but I feel like the fact that Bazz grievously injured/ambiguously killed one of Renji’s best friends would put a big damper on that.

I really, really, really do not like the Sternritters. I don’t even like them as villains. Out of them, Bazz is probably the least objectionable, but I still don’t like him.

Here are a few thoughts on why, but I’m gonna put them under a cut, because that’s my policy when I say critical things about characters. If you like the Sternritters, I’m glad for you and please feel free to skip the rest of this post!

One of the major themes of Bleach has always been about moral ambiguity, that people are rarely pure heroes or villains. In the earliest episodes, Rukia warns Ichigo to kill Hollows from behind, to never try to glimpse the person they once were, advice that Ichigo roundly rejects as he’s constant turns enemies into friends/allies. This works really well at the beginning of the series and... less well each time we got through this.

My understanding is that Kubo’s original plan for Bleach ended after the Soul Society Arc, and that makes sense to me, because it seems so well plotted out to me, and then the subsequent arcs just seems to try to be recapturing the magic. The thing that is coolest to me about this arc is that the shinigami characters have real depth, and that our initial impressions of them are insufficient. The Gotei is going through an existential crisis, where an injustice (Rukia’s execution) is being prosecuted, and in addition, Aizen has laid a groundwork of mistrust and misinformation. You have characters like Renji, Kira, and Hinamori, who are torn between their orders and deep personal feelings. You have bystanders like Hisagi and Komamura, who don’t really have skin in the game, but feel a sense of unease about the way things are going. You have characters who seem sympathetic-- when Aizen comforts Hinamori that Renji won’t be fired, and the fact that Tousen seems to be someone who would be on the side of justice if only he had the full story, that turn out to be disingenuous. Then you have characters like Kenpachi, who, at least in the second half of the arc, is on Ichigo’s side, but not really for any noble reason, just because he likes Ichigo and also he wants an excuse to fight other captains. There’s Kurotsuchi, who is nominally on the side of the good guys, but is not, in fact, a good person. By the end of the arc, I feel like Kubo has done a really good job of presenting a diverse group of people who live in a flawed system and who were played by someone who took advantage of that. I have no objection at all to the idea that Ichigo considers many of the shinigami his friends afterward, including a very strong friendship with Renji, who is presented as a villain initially.

The Arrancar arc, is more of a mixed bag for me. I still think it mostly works. Arrancar are not humans. They follow Aizen, but in some ways, they are also his victims-- post-Arc, I don’t find myself begrudging any of the surviving Espada for having gone along with him. They are Hollows, and they come from a life of violence and anger and brutality. They have risen above that, which means different things to the various Espada. Harribel, Starkk and Nel are all sympathetic, even tragic characters. Nnoitra and Szyalapollo are monstrous, but in the way that terrible humans are monstrous. Grimmjow is an interesting character, because he falls somewhere in the middle.

I read a fair amount of GrimmIchi fic, because a) it often features Renruki as a side ship and b) there are a lot of really, really talented GrimmIchi writers, but I do not love the ship for it’s own sake, and it’s mainly for one reason: Grimmjow purposely hurt Ichigo’s friends in front of him, and I do not think that’s a thing Ichigo would take lightly. Now, one of the things that make GrimmIchi writers so good is that they are often willing to do the heavy lifting of examining Grimmjow’s brutality, and way Ichigo views the Hollow within himself (for some people, this is even one of the attractions of the pairing). We get a lot of canon scenes with Grimmjow in various situations-- when he backtalks Aizen, when he “rescues” Orihime from Loly and Menoly, when he tries to get her to heal Ichigo just so he can fight him again, when we see him willing to fight his fellow Espada. He’s a meaty character and there’s a lot to dig into. I would still, someday, like to see Ichigo say, “Hey Grimmjow, y’know, you badly hurt my friend Rukia and it messed me up a bunch and I am having trouble getting over it,” and for Grimmjow to have to deal with that. (Polynya, you say, didn’t Rukia kill one of Grimmjow’s Fraccion like 5 minutes earlier? Yes, she did, and whether Grimmjow would respond with “yeah, well, Rukia killed my friend and it hurt my feelings too!” vs. “yeah, well, Rukia killed my friend and you don’t see me crying about it!” are both really interesting ways you could take this)

ANYWAY, getting back to the Quincy. From our earliest introduction to Uryuu in the series, we know that Quincy ought to have a legitimate beef with Soul Society. For starters, there is their underlying philosophical difference: Quincy don’t think that the shinigami do enough to protect the Living World, and they have taken matters into their own hands. They want to see Hollows annihilated, rather than purified. Then, on top of that, the shinigami eradicated their people, and treated them like lab rats. You could spin a lot of gold out of this, but instead, we got the Thousand Year Blood War Arc.

The Quincy are, basically humans with powers, and yet they are extremely bloodthirsty and cruel. We see Bambietta killing people to blow off steam, they take glee in killing lesser opponents (both Hollow and shinigami), As Nodt tortures Byakuya rather than just killing him cleanly, Giselle takes over Bambietta’s body in a horrifying way. Yhwach chastises Yamamoto for having “gone soft”, and says “you used to be cooler when you were a murderer.” The Vandenreich isn’t about justice or improving the system, it’s just about revenge and power and proving racial superiority. Are y’all ready for the hottest take I have ever had? Here it is: The Bount Arc, which is bad and should feel bad, provided a more well-characterized and relatable set of villains than the Thousand Year Blood War Arc.

I mentioned earlier that out of all the Sternritter, Bazz is the best of a bad lot. He gets some good flashbacks and his story evokes both Renji and Rukia’s childhood relationship as well as Gin and Rangiku’s. He's shown hating Yhwach in his youth, but then it’s never really followed up on. Nothing about this works to make me like Bazz, though, it just makes me feel like Yhwach is terrible, a person who ruins lives in both big and small ways.

I honestly hate the scenes where Bazz and Renji banter. Up until this point of the story arc, we have been slammed over and over with how much worse the Quincy are than previous villains. They cause massive destruction, they maim and kill beloved characters. Then, halfway through the arc, Kubo suddenly tries to start walking this back. Byakuya and Kenpachi were supposed to never fight again, but, uhhhh, Byakuya got healed in the Royal Realm and Kenpachi... got better? Look, we fixed Kira! Mayuri brings everyone back as zombies, that’s cool? Let’s have some banter, ha ha, the Quincy are fun! I don’t want to blame Kubo on this because he wasn’t feeling well and also, all of this smacks of editorial pressure, but it doesn’t sit well with me. It seems out of character to me for Renji to joke with someone who has hurt his friends and destroyed his home, and I sometimes justify it in my mind by saying that Renji probably doesn’t know that Bazz was the one who hurt Kira, but in some ways that makes things worse.

To be honest, a much better way to humanize the Quincy would have been to do so through Uryuu. One of the huge flaws of this arc is that there is so little focus on him, the character who ought to tie all this together. Uryuu has been harping for years that shinigami are his enemy and that he’s proud of his heritage. This is literally exactly what he has always says he wanted, and the fact that I, the reader, never believed for a microsecond that his loyalties were divided speaks to how awful the Quincy must be. How did Yhwach first approach Uryuu? It would have been cool to be introduced to the Vandenreich via the narrative device of Uryuu’s introduction. Was anyone nice to him? Do the Quincy have any redeeming value? What if there had been a scene where Bazz-B is goofing around, maybe training with someone, and Uryuu says to himself, “He reminds me of Renji and I hate all of the feelings that are currently in my body”? That would make a cool fanfic, actually, and anyone who wants can have that idea because I will never, ever write fanfic about the Sternritter.

Finally, on a note about fashion, the Sternritter uniforms (along with all their other symbolism) skirts way too close to “Nazi” for my tastes, and one more thing I hate about them is that they have retroactively ruined Uryuu’s aesthetic for me.

[young-bev]

An essay abt Fabian Aramais Seacaster

This is the essay that i wrote for my greek myth class. The assignment was to find a contemporary example of Hubris and Nemesis.Understand that some story elements are simplified and glossed over bc this was only supposed to be three pages and i wrote five. Idk like one person on tumblr wanted to see it and a few ppl on twitter as well. So enjoy??

In recent years there has been a rise in popularity in TableTop Role Playing Games (RPG), this is due to shows like Critical Role, The Adventure Zone, Not Another DnD Podcast and Dimension 20. These shows have amassed large followings and have even gone and performed live around the world. Viewed as a collaborative storytelling medium, using dice to define the success of one's actions, it is only reasonable to wonder if the traditional storytelling devices seen in classic mythology translates into this medium. Examining the plot to Dimension 20 Fantasy High a clear example of hubris comes to mind. This hubris is shown by a Player Character (PC) named Fabian Aramais Seacaster in the second season of Fantasy High. To understand the significance of the hubris and Nemesis, one must understand Fabian’s personality in the context of this show and how that relates to the situation he was placed in. Understanding Fabian as a character will also allow the viewer to understand how cruel Nemesis was to him. Nemesis’ cruelty can also be examined as a part of games mechanics and reflected in the relations between Dungeon Master and Player.

 For ease of understanding, I will first explain the context in which Fantasy High takes place. In the introduction to the show, the Dungeon Master (DM) Brennan Lee Mulligan explains that: “Now we can answer the age-old question of; What if John Hughes ran a tabletop RPG game?” The show follows a group of heroes who call themselves the Bad Kids as they attend the Aguefort Adventuring Academy: the world’s premier training ground for would-be Heroes. It is the first episode of the show that Fabian is introduced. He is a half-elven fighter raised by infamous pirate Bill Seacaster and Hallariel Seacaster. Played by Lou Wilson, Fabian is: “Everything [Lou Wilson] wanted to be in high school; rich and hot.” as he stated in an episode of Fantasy High: Extra Credit. It is here in Fabian’s very first scene that the viewer is given a key insight into Fabian’s hubris. While talking to his father before the first day of school, Bill Seacaster says to Fabian; “You’re my son, you’re a direct reflection of me! You and your glory is the same as mine and my glory! That’s how we relate to each other!” (Mulligan, S1 E1).  This statement is important because it will directly play into many of the choices Fabian makes in the following episodes. In the very same interaction, Fabian is gifted by his father an Auguefort Owlbears letterman jacket, as Fabian hopes to make it onto the team with the tryouts happening later that day.  The jacket becomes a great symbol for both Fabian’s hubris and identity as he does not initially make the team but still decides to wear the jacket to school nearly every day. As hubris is defined as someone viewing themselves as either above or below their true social rank. hubris is also seen as acting out of an overblown sense of importance. In a society where a social ladder is clear, Jocks and cheerleaders ‘rule the school’ and the nerds find themselves at the bottom, wearing a letterman jacket for a team that you are not a part of is very much believing yourself above your true position on the social ladder.

While the jacket is a minor display of hubris in the first season as Fabian does eventually find his way onto the Owlbears, it is not until Fantasy High: Sophomore Year that Fabian’s hubris is met with Nemesis. In sophomore year, the Bad Kids find themselves on a quest to retrieve the crown of the Nightmare King. Their journey leads them to the pirate city of Leviathan. Here the city is made up of ships roped and assembled together, it floats in the Celestine Sea. On their first night in Leviathan, Fabian separates himself from the party and heads off, now pensive as this city reminds him of Bill Seacaster. On his own, he meets members of his father’s cult. Warlocks who have given patronage to Bill Seacaster as he is now causing chaos as a devil in the nine hells after dying at the end of freshman year. Initially, these pirates praise and celebrate Fabian as he is their patron’s son. They believe Fabian their saviour. Their reaction changes, however, when they ask Fabian to describe how he defeated Bill Seacaster in combat. These warlocks believe Fabian to have killed his father in a grand and epic battle. Although, in actuality, Fabian killed his father in an act of mercy after their home was attacked by mercenaries. Fabian tries to explain this to these pirates and they immediately become frantic and fearful of the lack of potency and power of their patron. They believed Fabian a powerful enough swordsman to defeat Bill Seacaster, thus powerful enough to defeat one of Bill’s long standing rivals, a man named James Wicklaw (Mulligan, S2 E5). With a hurt pride and desperate to prove himself, Fabian declares: “I am perfectly capable of leading an army, Alright? I am my father’s son through and through. And I am as good as he is...” (Mulligan, S2 E5). It is here with wounded pride that Fabian sets out to prove himself in the eyes of his father’s cult. He leads them in an attack against James Wicklaw. Fabian’s hubris here comes from overcompensating for his hurt pride. He goes above his social standing, believing himself powerful enough to defeat Wicklaw on his own. This is however not true, as Dungeons & Dragons is a game where antagonists have challenge ratings and players gain levels in certain abilities. It is up to the Dungeon Master to balance encounters and choose antagonists appropriately. James Wicklaw was a Mind Flayer, listed in the Monster Manual as a level 7 challenge rating. Fabian at the time was a level 8 Fighter (Perkins, p.222). While this seems balanced, Fabian was immediately grappled and stunned, leaving him unable to do anything but watch, while Wicklaw and his crew slaughtered the 20 followers he had brought into battle. Nemesis comes to Fabian by removing his sense of identity. As Chungledown Bim, one of the warlocks says to Fabian before dying; “Ye ain’t no pirate and Bill would spit in your eye…I’m gonna shit in your mouth” (Mulligan, S2 E5). Ultimately these words would affect Fabian so much that they will come to haunt him in later episodes. Punishment in Dungeons & Dragons does play out differently then it does in classic Mythology. Where the gods of the pantheon are near impossible to reason with and are cruel and unforgiving in their punishments, the ones in control of the world of D&D are you and your friends. A good DM is on the side of their players but it is their job to react as the world in which their players find themselves. In this situation, Lou Wilson made a series of dangerous and reckless decisions as Fabian but these decisions were exactly the decisions that Fabian would make. He is prideful, he is overconfident, he is selfish and ultimately insecure when his pride is threatened. By losing his sense of identity, Lou and Brennan made the decision away from the table to push Fabian’s punishment past simply a character choice and into the mechanics of the game. At the table, we see Fabian shed his father’s eyepatch and sword along with his letterman jacket. These items are obvious symbols of Fabian’s sense of self. It isn’t until a later episode that the viewer sees the true effect that losing his identity has on Fabian. He suffers from exhaustion and pneumonia in the following episode and seems to have fallen into a depressive state. In episode 8, the Bad Kids go to face Wicklaw again, this time together as a team. It is here that the viewers and the other players learn that Lou and Brennan decided to remove all classes and feats Fabian had taken throughout the campaign. This leaves him with a single attack. Talking about this decision in the Fireside Chat, Brennan and Lou said: “[Lou Wilson]: A lot of it is a relationship and trust between you and your DM; in that your DM sees you make that choice, the less strategic choice…and meets you in the middle...It was so much more fun because...Brennan rewarded my choices with the reality and groundedness they deserve...’[Brennan Lee Mulligan]: ‘I think there comes a moment when playing D&D, where you can say: ‘I can really blow it and tell a better story’...I need to honor the danger Lou has put himself in and I need to put consequences here and I just can’t be vindictive.” This quote highlights the main difference with how hubris is treated in this media. Nemesis and the other Greek gods do not care, as characters, if their punishments are juste. They are particularly vindictive and often do not care if you die because of your hubris. Athena did not care about the importance of storytelling when cursing Arachne for boasting of her weaving skills, she simply cared that Arachne be punished for her hubris (Buxton, p.80). In opposition to this, a Dungeon Master and their players are more similar to the poets composing the myths. They make choices while considering the narrative, they enforce nemesis in a way that adds to the narrative. Using Nemesis allows the DM to enforce consequences onto the players allowing their decisions to feel more significant and raise the stakes. However, because of teamwork between player and DM, Nemesis will be much more forgiving to a Player Character then a Non-Player Character (NPC) or those showing hubris in myths. In conclusion, hubris and Nemesis still find their place in the world of RPGS. Fabian Aramais Seacaster is a clear example of this. He boasts of his abilities, believes himself a captain, when in actuality he is at his best when working in a team. Nemesis removes his sense of identity and confidence, forcing him to face his enemies without the skills he had honed in the past few years. She forced Fabian to realize that his true strength comes from the bonds he has with his friends and not borrowed from another's reputation. Nemesis forced Fabian to face his insecurities for which he was overcompensating, playing a key part in the larger elements of Fabian’s journey to becoming his ‘own darling man-boy’.

[kinetic-elaboration]

June 2: 2x21 Patterns of Force

Took a nap after work today!! Perhaps a bad idea.

Anyway, some thoughts on the... awkward Patterns of Force.

Another story about Jim looking for his hero, I see. That never (always) ends badly.

Definitely getting an image of little Spock (teenage Spock? young adult Spock? all little Spocks) reading about Earth history.

Oh no, an armed drone. That does not bode well. Why do Kirk’s heroes always betray him?

A subcutaneous transponder. That seems like a useful device to introduce into the narrative. (Slash remember for future purposes...)

Also it reminds of me “He’s a...a... a transponster!”

Spock in a hat. I guess the Ekosians and/or Zeons don’t have pointed ears, then.

“It’s our old enemy...fascism.”

Well this guy literally was not subtle in his references to Nazi Germany. (I’m referring in universe to what’s-his-face but this also applies to the episode writer.)

“The evidence is clear... someone did interfere.”

“You look quite well for a man who’s been utterly destroyed, Mr. Spock.” This man canNOT stop flirting for one second.

Lol, using Spock to distract the Nazi.

“It’s logical to pretend to be a Nazi? Okay, I’m convinced. You said the magic word.”

“Look! I captured him!” So proud.

Kirk’s face when Spock says he would make a convincing Nazi. Bb, you’re not doing the compliment thing right. (I’ll actually be quite honest... I find the humor in that moment but it also makes me uncomfortable given both these actors are Jewish.)

That said, Kirk is canonically better at blending into undercover scenarios than Spock is. He thinks better on his feet, creatively.

How do these people NOT recognize two whole-ass aliens.

...Maybe they do.

I do like when Kirk is being interrogated and still tries to be charming..

That Nazi really lost a lot of authority after being dressed down by his superior in front of the captives.

I like this Zeon. 

“The flaw in the plan is this locked door.” Thanks Spock. It’s this subtle humor that I think people often miss in him. Like where you can’t tell if it’s intentional or not.

Kirk is so smart!!! He never gets credit for being this smart.

Hmm, taking out the transponders is such a weirdly intimate scene.

The Zeon wants to be included in this adventure so much but they’re obsessed with each other, like “What Zeon?”

“I’ll be your platform, Mr. Spock.”

This is such a weirdly humorous interlude for a story about Nazis. Kind of reminds me in a way of that conversation with the police man on City on the Edge of Forever. I mean that ep was much better but just like the sudden switch in tone.

Spock’s like “Oh, that was cool. Made a laser.”

I heard Kirk say, “You, over there,” as in directing Spock to stand over there, but the subtitles say “Beautiful. Over there.” As in, “we did a beautiful job getting out, now Spock, stand over there.” But combine them...?

Not gonna get a disguise for Spock huh? Just gonna let him be shirtless a little more for no apparent reason.

Poor Zeon. These aliens are inscrutable and not letting him in on anything.

“Alien pistols.”

“Who would win? the entire military force of this planet or two phaser-less space husbands?"

I probably shouldn’t laugh every time Kirk impersonates a Nazi but I do. "Don't mind me... completely believable Nazi here..."

The unsubtle of the Hebrew names. And of course.. .Zeon.

“We’ll be just as bad as the Nazis.” No, actually, you’re not and never will be that’s not how it works. BUT you definitely should help the aliens. Like, that phrase grates because it’s usually used to refer to, like, use of violence, use of “censorship” but here’s it more about turning away people who are different or minority and so then it does make sense but....the connotations.

Spock’s like, “May I... get away from this emotion? Has enough time passed for me to ask that?”

More Nazis! Following them everywhere!

Oh, psych. Not Nazis after all.

Spock’s like “Betraying your own father, you say? I have never thought about that.”

“The Fuhrer... is an alien?” Actual real line AND a correct summation of the situation.

This ep does not paint the Federation in a great light. Although to be fair... John Gill was breaking the rules so.

Documentary corps... I love it. Great disguise. Flash lights in people’s eyes, have an excuse to stay in a group, no on looks at you. Genius.

Spock is honestly so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed about EVERYTHING. He cannot be tamed. Again, really an aspect of him I miss in the reboots.

Kirk really is the captain of everyone in his vicinity.

“Think positively, Spock.”

Uhura is unflappable. “A Nazi Colonel’s uniform? Of course, Captain.”

Send him down naked if you have to!! Yes, please, send him down naked.

Spock giving McCoy detailed instructions on how to put on boots... Why was dialogue like this not in the reboots?

McCoy is so polite. Polite first, confused later. “Nice to meet you, Nazi--wait, Nazi???”

I love how McCoy immediately put on his drunk face and Spock was like, "An opportunity to insult McCoy?? Awesome.”

So I assumed the Chairman was either dumb or didn’t recognize them with their shirts on but apparently he was yet another mole, so. At least it’s not a plot hole.

“The speech has no discernible pattern or logic.” Hmmm, I wonder what it feels like to have a leader who speaks with no discernible pattern or logic?

Guys. Pals. Awful people. Did he really give orders, or did he just say random shit? People will flock to anything. I'll be honest, I actually think this is one of the subtler and better parts of this episode: how chilling it is to contemplate how people will rally around any non-speech that has the right tone and a few key words. This is garbage language. But it incites people to kill.

McCoy and his stimulants again.

Spock and his mind probing again.

Wow Spock really messed with his mind there. “He can answer questions but not otherwise speak?” What kind of crazy shit is that?

They are being so mean to Spock. “Malformed ears.” “Low forehead.” That’s not a low forehead, that’s bangs.

Nice triumivirate scene at the end. Feels good, feels organic. Kirk likes to hear his two BFFs bickering because it feels like all is right with the universe, and I agree. Nature is healing.

This episode has a very weird (and very hard to swallow imo) backstory. Like, who primarily associates the Nazis with efficiency? And even if you do, if you think there’s something to the way they put together the country so fast post-WWI, all of this “efficiency” is directly tied to hatred and violence. Like Isak said, the Ekosians have nothing to hold them together BUT hating Zeons. That's at the center of the design. It's not like Gill’s plan backfired it was just... a horrible plan?? It doesn’t even make sense to me that his “effective regime” was co-opted by one hateful person because what was at the center of the “Nazi” regime before the hatred of Zeons? What could it have been? There are no other alternatives provided. Also, even if it could have been somehow accomplished without the use of a scapegoat.. is fascism really an ideal? Like the story never reckoned with that concept at all, which I find disturbing.

Here’s the thing about Gill. He is a certain real type and I appreciate his inclusion up to a point. He’s the Naive, Hubristic Intellectual. He thinks because he’s studied something, academically, he knows more about it even than people who experienced it, and he can fix all of its problems. “I can do this, but better. I am so smart, I am so well-informed, I have no flaws.” I can even see this sort of person being someone a young Kirk would admire because there’s an optimism and idealism to this naivete. I don’t think Kirk is arrogant but he is very idealistic, and when he was a young man, still in the market for heroes, or at least idols or mentors? Yeah, someone with that kind of attitude toward life--that we can deeply understand and then improve upon history--would have appealed to him. It’s possible that Gill even was the “compassionate, gentle” person that Kirk thought, or that he had that side to him.

Where I think the episode erred is in absolving Gill of most of his guilt for this state of affairs. He does die and he does admit he was wrong, but his biggest sin is allegedly in introducing a regime that could be co-opted for evil rather than one that was inherently bad. He is literally drugged (tortured in a way), to emphasize just how non-culpable the narrative thinks he is. Also, while he does apologize for interfering at all, even this is fairly brief and not expanded upon in the rest of the narrative. The truth is he shouldn’t have interfered in general, because that’s not his place or his right, and he shouldn’t have interfered in this way specifically. Even if Malakon hadn’t risen and taken over, the ideal Gil was imposing was one of unthinking uniformity, lack of autonomy, worship of a leader over the rule law--these are not the values of the Federation, the show Star Trek, or me. But he’s used more as a device to explain why the show is so unsubtly Nazi, rather than a real villain or object lesson. Even though Gill is a much better object lesson than Malakon.

And what about Malakon? The ending presents him, literally and in so many words, as the “one evil man” responsible for all of this. I think we know both from studying history and, unfortunately, from our own times, that this is untrue because impossible. One evil person is just a lunatic ranting on the street corner. One evil leader became leader because others agreed and gave him power, or agreed in part, or made a deal with the devil, or disagreed but said nothing, or spoke but were overwhelmed. It’s a disservice to the subject matter to say that dictatorships or authoritarian regimes are that simple. I get that the episode is only 50 minutes and it needs to wrap up, and it’s simpler to say “Okay, killed the Villain, now we can go back to being Not Evil, all the Ekosians will be as happy as the Zeons because we never really wanted this.” But Hitler and his henchmen weren’t the only Nazis. Regular people--and in this context, regular Ekosians--weren’t Nazis too.

Overall, the episode was okay. Very awkward though. Very blunt. I think it would have been better off not using the Nazi symbology so literally. Like the idea that a human would come into a society and purposefully create something from our history is interesting (and “what if Earth but alien?” is certainly something TOS likes doing and finds various ways to do--like the gangsters in A Piece of the Action or Neo-Rome in Bread and Circuses or even literal Greek Gods in Who Mourns for Adonais?) but not worth it given which society was being emulated. It seemed to be too much an excuse to dig out the old WWII movie costumes (and put Jewish actors in Nazi regalia which... is very... distressing) and not so much an excuse for some kind of commentary along the lines of what I said above re: the hubris of historians, the hubris of time. That aspect leaves a bad taste. It had some good ideas but I think, again, it was hindered rather than helped by how literal it insisted (for some reason) on being. Compare it to A Private Little War, which was just about as obvious a Vietnam allegory as you can get, and yet still didn’t literally transport anyone to Vietnam, and this ep looks all the more clunky. I’m probably judging it more harshly than I have on previous viewings, but I really feel like... you can use sci fi to make a commentary on the rise of authoritarianism, but the delicacy of the subject matter requires you to be particularly thoughtful in the way you do it and the actual statements you’re making.

Anyway, the Enterprise Defeats Nazis is a good episode summary at least.

I think in my last attempt at a whole rewatch I stopped at around this point. I seem to have watched the next two episodes, according to Amazon, but I have a weird feeling I only watched one, the next one, By Any Other Name, and then stopped. I don’t remember either of them so we’ll see how that goes! Will they seem familiar or not?

[trensu]

Episode 10: The One with ANOTHER Moonlit Rooftop Moment

Still surrounded by dead bodies, guys. There is, unfortunately, an abundance of plot this time

But let’s slog through it BC OUR BOYS ARE WORTH IT

So right now we meet Xue Yang, Xiao Xingchen, and Song Lan

Love ya guys, but we’re not here for you today

(even tho xxc is the most beautiful elf prince of a boy i’ve ever seen; no wonder xy gets all obsessed with him and song lan falls in love)

(yes, song lan and xxc are in love, no i will not be taking comments)

Moving on!

Plot plot, xy and xxc have a sword fight, plot plot

Oooh, wait there is an itty bitty piece of WangXiantics here

Wwx uses his Magic Rope of Binding/Bonding to reel XY in like a fish and proceeds to yank him about while he tries to have a sword fight with xxc

(NO ONE’S ALLOWED TO HAVE ROMANTIC SWORD FIGHTS IN THE MOONLIGHT EXCEPT ME AND LWJ -- wwx, probably)

So he does this, and then throws a little grin at lwj and teases “lan zhan, are you still bored?”

Ahhh, wwx, you might as well have shouted: LAN ZHAN, DID YOU SEE WHAT I DID? WASN’T THAT CLEVER? ISN’T MY INVENTION USEFUL?? AREN’T YOU IMPRESSED???

It’s okay, we all got the message anyway

Except maybe lwj bc he is still a Disaster Gay™ even if he now knows he is In Love and Soulmate’d for Life

I’d like to pause a moment to let you all know that wwx has a HILARIOUS 'disgust' reaction to xy.

Xy is all captured and xxc is all CONFESS and xy is all yeah okay i killed all those guys and it was fun

Wwx’s face gets all twisted up like when you smell something rotten

AND THEN DOES A FULL-BODY TWITCH AWAY FROM XY LIKE HE’S TRYING NOT TO PHYSICALLY PUKE 

IT’S SO FREAKING FUNNY

I mean i shouldn’t laugh bc that’s probably a reasonable reaction to a unhinged killer saying that murder is just a fun hobby of his, BUT GOD, I HAD TO REWIND AND SEE THAT REACTION PLAY OUT TWICE, I WAS CRACKING UP

Anyway

Xy is all tied up and captured and everybody talks plot stuff (after introducing themselves and doing the whole “wow, you’re awesome,” and “no, no, you’re awesome” thing)

Xy laughs because he’s a murderous lunatic and wwx is like “what’s so funny asshole”

Wwx is def posturing here

I think he’s threatened bc they have similar sense of fashion

Like, hell no, this murderous bastard is not gonna steal MY look

HE’S GIVING BLACK ROBES A BAD RAP, I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS!!

Lwj: Give us the Plot Device

Xy: idk what you’re talking about bro. I just came out here to have a good time and attack people right now

Wwx: lan zhan, don’t bother talking to him!!

Yeah, wwx is DEFINITELY feeling threatened lol

Like, omg why is lwj listening to this guy? Why did he get closer to him and start talking to him? LWJ HE’S NOT AS PRETTY AS ME!! I LOOK BETTER IN BLACK ROBES, LWJ, STOP LOOKING AT HIM

Wwx: i’ll search him, here hold my sword

Lwj: *pointedly does not reach for wwx’s sword*

None of this is a euphemism guys, get your minds out of the gutter

Wwx: right right, i can search him AND hold my sword at the same time, nbd nbd

Wwx: *proceeds to molest xy*

and in that moment, all of us suddenly wished to be a murderous lunatic

Xy: woah there, mr. handsy, people will talk!!

Wwx: bro, i am the KING of gay chicken, don’t try me

MEANWHILE, lwj is watching all this go down very intently

WHATCHA LOOKING AT LWJ

WHAT’S THE MATTER

R U JEALOUS RN??

‘Nooo, that’s supposed to ME under wwx’s sexy wandering hands’ --lwj, probably

we feel your pain, bro

So that’s the first wangxian moment of the episode

Lwj being jealous again

Altho to be fair, i mean, anybody would be miffed watching their soulmate feel up someone Not Them, right?

Right.

Plot plot plotty NHS and Meng Yao appear conveniently plotty plot plot

Xxc and SL get invited to Qinghe to witness Justice Get Served to XY

Xxc: yeah no, we’re not doing that. Clan politics not really our scene

Xxc: we prefer to be alone together and travel the world, right, boyfriend, i mean Song Lan?

SL: *is handsome and stoic*

Then wwx has a Same Hat moment

Wwx: OH, US TOO, ME AND LAN ZHAN DO THAT TOO

Lwj: you should give us your contact details 

Lwj: in case we need you.

Lwj: for stuff.

LOOK AT LWJ BEING ALL SOCIABLE

I’M SO PROUD OF YOU BB

(he really did ask them how to reach them tho)

Lwj rightfully saw xxc & SL and thought, now there’s a gay couple i can bond with

Then the group splits up with XXC and SL go their own way

I mention this because we get a shot of LWJ staring longingly at the pair of them as they walk off

You know why?

You all know why

IT’S BC HE’S DAYDREAMING OF HIM AND WWX DOING WHAT THEY DO

JUST TRAVELING TOGETHER AND PUTTING GOOD INTO THE WORLD

*SOBSOB*

And then WWX breaks the daydream with a simple “let’s go?” and lwj just turns around and follows him with barely a pause

BC HE LOVES WWX AND WILL GO ANYWHERE HE WANTS!!!! 

We arrive at the Unclean Realm for Plot Reasons

Plot plot, NMJ makes a Badass Entrance, jc & wwx fanboy over him, plot

More plot stuff

More non-wangxian stuff

So much non-wangxian stuff

Why, show, why

Foreshadowing Plot Stuff

AND WE’RE AT THE 30 MINUTE MARK OF THE EPISODE WHEN WE FINALLY GET A SUBSTANTIAL WANGXIAN SCENE

OH GOD, IT TOOK SO LONG

I ALMOST DIDN’T MAKE IT GUYS

BUT HERE I AM!!!

Okay, okay *deep breath* we’re good now

WWX IS ON A ROOF!!

RIGHT NEXT TO LWJ’S ROOM!!!

Bc he’s drunk and can’t find his way back to his own rooms so he thought sleeping on the roof was a good option?? JOIN A HELP GROUP, WWX

LWJ was peacefully meditating in his room and when there arose such a clatter that he had to grab bichen and was ready to cut a bitch

But just kidding! bc he hears wwx’s voice and immediately relaxes

Wwx: these roof tiles are much rougher than the ones in gusu, so rocky, so uncomfy

He says this as if it was done to purposely inconvenience him specifically

Again, he’s drunk here guys

But he’s a poetic drunk!!

Wwx: the world is a room, i’ll take the sky as my quilt and the ground as my bed

A very pretty way of saying I CAN’T FIND MY ROOM, GUESS I’LL SLEEP OUTSIDE

Wwx then shows us that he can’t drink properly from a jar of wine and just pours it into his mouth and sloshes half of it down his neck and on his clothes

Ooooh, but that’s a nice shot of his jawline

And oooh, his neck’s all glistening now

I APPROVE

I APPROVE VERY MUCH

And then ~THEIR SONG~ STARTS PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND as lwj exits his rooms and walks outside to see wwx lounging on the rooftop like a particularly handsome raccoon or smth

Wwx: lan zhan, i’ll sleep on your roof tonight *passes out drunk but in a ridiculously cute way*

FOR REAL, HE JUST SPRAWLS OUT ON THE ROOF AND THEN ~GENTLY~ LEANS HIS HEAD ON HIS HIS HAND AND DRIFTS OFF ANGELICALLY

STOP BEING SO CUTE WWX

LWJ: wei ying, i have to go

He says SOFTLY and with LOVE and then PROCEEDS TO ABANDON HIS SOULMATE TO GO OFF AND DO STUPID PLOT THINGS

But guys, it was still beautiful

He says that and EVERYTHING goes all slo-mo as he walks away

I mean, the shot of him walking away is done so that we can see wwx perched on the rooftop above him and lwj does that stately strut he has

And then the camera gives us a shot of wwx’s face as the WIND GENTLY RUSTLES HIS HAIR

STILL IN SLO MO

WITH ~THEIR SONG~

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Ugh gross, this beautiful scene is followed up by that wen chao 

Plot plot

Suddenly a wen vs. nie battle is happening

For Plot Reasons, blegh

Omg so many Dramatic Twirls everywhere

Okay, okay, unfortunately we gotta listen to Wen Chao for a moment to get a breadcrumb’s worth of wangxian here

Wc: hey, wwx, since you’re ~sooo~ interested in GusuLan stuff, let me tell you something

Wc: *proceeds to brag about his big brother destroying the cloud recesses*

(even the bad guys know wwx and lwj are obsessed with each other, YOU’RE NOT SUBTLE BOYS)

Wc: if lwj manages to make it home, he’s gonna find it in ruins!!

(seriously FUCK THIS GUY)

Wwx: *the most ferocious glare we’ve seen him do so far*

Looks like somebody just won first place in wwx’s shit list

Then more plot stuff happens, we see nmj and meng yao break up, blah blah blah

And that’s the end of ep10!!!

This was...so hard, guys. So difficult. A trial, even. I had to wait for an ENTIRE HALF-HOUR TO GET A SIGNIFICANT PIECE OF WANGXIAN PIE. 

I mean, yeah, i got to see xxc’s beautiful face, but GOD, AT WHAT COST??

Also, are you guys starting to notice a Thing about rooftops?

Because it’s there.

We’re def gonna have more Rooftop Moments

Stay tuned!

Return to Masterpost

[gideongrace]

Talking amongst ourselves - fanfic writer interviews: @ihni

(Originally, these interviews were done more conversationally, but this interview is a LONG one! So I edited it down for tumblr. You can read the whole unedited, uncut interview over on a03! There are pictures involved. :)

Please say your first name, your age, your pronouns, the fandoms you write for and provide a link to your a03. You can also mention your sexual orientation or other details, if you'd like.

 Ihni:

My real name is Moa, but I go by Ihni online. On AO3, I have an account under Ihni (https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ihni) but that's for rhymes (and doodles). I only wrote rhymes/poetry for a long time, and when I started writing fic, I wanted to put that under another pen name. I was NOT comfortable writing stories for YEARS. Now, though, I don't care. So, I write fics under the pen name Thei (https://archiveofourown.org/users/thei/).

It's all Stranger Things, these days. Harringrove (because I love the fandom and I like the two of them interacting) and Billy-centric (because I love his character, SO MUCH).

I am ace and aro, so my fics tend to not contain any sex (I have ALLUDED to it a couple of times, but that's basically as far as I go). I am also just as happy to write fics without any romantic or sexual relationships at all. Billy and Steve can be buddies only, as far as I'm concerned.

How do you feel about being aroace when so much of fanfic is all about romance and sex?

Ihni:

I live by the tried and tested rule of "don't like, don't read". 

There is a lot of romance in our fandom, for sure. But it's not like it's lovey-dovey IN OUR FACE romance, you know? 97% of Harringrove fics are two dumb boys who are bad at communication and who can't deal with Feelings. And I fucking live for that! Also, even the lovey-dovey fluffy romance stuff is cute, when it's them. I may not want a relationship for myself, but I don't mind at all if the boys are in one! (If they want it, they deserve it <3)

And as for sex ... well. I can read about sex, if it's well written or if it furthers the plot. If it's too graphic, I tend to scroll past it though, or just skim through it. It doesn't... give me a lot? I guess. Like, it's not like I read "smut" in the tags and go "oooh I have to read this!" - rather the opposite, in fact. I can read it, but it's not something I actively look for, and when I stumble upon it, I don't always read all of it. If I know the writer, I'll probably read through it to honor their work, though.

I just won't ever leave a "omg that was so hot!" comment! XD If someone expects that from me, they'll be disappointed (and I'm constantly terrified of disappointing or offending people for NOT commenting on their smut).

Basically, I am the master of my own fandom experience, and if something makes me uncomfortable I will keep away from it. Simple as that.

More people should live by that rule.

What's your writing process like?

 Ihni:

Uuuuuuuugh.

That's an interpretation of my writing process.

No, but.

I usually get SUPER INSPIRED to write a specific scene, or concept... and THAT part goes well, but then I have to build a STORY around it, and that takes SUCH A LONG TIME and SO MUCH EFFORT!

And also, usually, it gets out of hand.

I usually have to force myself to get the words in, honestly. And also, I get real tired of what I'm writing, real fast. So I have to force myself to finish (I have a few WIPs that are more than a year in the making...) before moving on to other things. (And I usually write the other things inbetween, anyway.)

I get easily distracted, when I write. Like, actually sitting down and writing takes an hour and a half. Then I MIGHT write for like twenty minutes, lol.

Cold Turkey Writer was a godsend XD.

If I have internet on while I'm writing, not a lot will be written, let's just ... let's just say that.

How do you edit?

Ihni:

HAHAHAHAHAHAA

Erm.

Well.

Sometimes, I read through it once, and change a few things, and let that be it.

In a couple of cases, for the longer ones, I have actually made an effort to read through it more than once. (The problem being that by then, I'm so sick of it that I will skim through it just to get it over with.)

A couple of times, a friend has read through it for me, and given me pointers. Which is VERY HELPFUL! But they've offered to do it for me, I would never ask it of someone.

And about the editing process ... I check for spelling mistakes, or when something sounds wrong, or looks wrong ... and then I fix it, so it looks and sounds better in my head. I don't know. That's editing, right?

What fanfic authors do you admire?

Ihni:

In the Harringrove fandom, I have to mention LEMONLOVELY, because I'm in love with the way she writes Billy, and the way she's shaping her fics as she goes, and the way her attention to detail brings a whole mood (I am OBSESSED with her "Words Left Unsaid" fic, and am probably that fic's biggest fan).

LYMRICKS, because fucking hell, they sure can write a fic that draws you in. There's something about long sentences in combination with short sentences that really makes them easy to read, and the language is like a punch to the gut, at times.

CALLIEB, because I love their stories and I'm currently following "Second Thoughts" and I love how they write everyone like ... like they're holding their breath, waiting for something.

And I'm not even gonna mention any others by name because I'm terrible with names and I'm bound to forget someone and I'm just, I don't want to do that. Our fandom is full of talented writers, and I just. If I've commented on your fic, I read through all of it and I liked it. If I haven't - well, I HAVE been writing more lately = less time to read, and I have like 100 fic tabs open on all of my devices ... I hope to get there, some time!

In other fandoms, let me mention PeaceHeather (for how they write Loki and that world), aloneintherain (such good whump!), isaDanCurtisproduction (the absolute best Spideypool!) and gaelicspirit (who writes lovely angsty whumpy Musketeers fics). Like. Just to mention 0.01%, or something.

I don't think any of them, particularly, have impacted my style - because I don't HAVE a style - but I soak up every word of every fanfic I ever read, and if one sentence is a particularly pretty string of words, I will copy & paste it into a word document that is now 170 pages long, or screenshot it to keep it forever. ❤️

Words. <3

What's your favorite story of yours?

What's your least favorite story of yours?

What's your favorite line you've ever written?

Ihni:

Like, in what SENSE? Even though I know my writing isn't up to par, they're still my babies. Still my creations. I love them in different ways! Like. I love "Coming Back" because it was the longest I had written back then, and it's probably the one I am most pleased about, writing-wise, and it's also the one I went through and edited the most. So it feels like the one I worked the most on.

I love "Toy Soldiers" because it was a totally self-indulgent piece of writing that I wrote for the joy of it, and because I wanted to read it and no one else was about to write it for me.

I love "About Apologies" because something about it pleases me, it was an experiment that didn't fail, and I like it more and more with time.

I love "Less of a mistake, more of a miscalculation" because I had fun while writing it, and it turned out kind of like I wanted it to, plot-wise.

I love "Actions and reactions", because I had no idea what I was doing back then, but I still did it, and somehow it got long and I still don't know how that happened.

And I realise that this makes me sound a little self-centered, but I worked hard on them. I love them, even if they're my ugly and imperfect babies. And even if I cringe if I re-read certain parts XD

I guess my least favorite story of mine (and I'm guessing we're talking Stranger Things things here?) is "Not unusual" because a) I never re-read it and b) it was the start of something that I have to actually FINISH at some point and ugh, that was not the original plan. If we're talking least favorite stories in all fandoms, then definitely "In which there are mistakes made", which was a Teen Wolf fic, and the reason why I don't do WIPs anymore. The last chapter was written simply to fucking END it, and ugh, I hate it.

The favorite line I've ever written ...? I don't know. Are we talking in fic? Because I write my best stuff in comments, honestly. :p I don't think I have an answer for that one, actually. Sorry :S

What part of writing is easiest for you?

What part of writing is hardest for you?

 Ihni:

Easiest? Dialogue. I like dialogue. Like, as a non-English speaker I can at least imagine a plausible exchange of words, and banter, and make it sound somewhat realistic, I imagine.

Hardest? The rest. Like, some people are just fucking WIZARDS with words, can write these long descriptive sentences that perfectly sets the mood for when a character gracefully moves across the room ... whereas I am just, "He stood up and walked over. End of fucking story."

What do you do when you're struggling for inspiration?

Ihni:

Give up?

Or do something else.

Or go and read. (That's basically the same as giving up.)

Or, if I'm still writing, I go to another part of the story and write THAT, and hope that I'll feel like connecting the two pieces, later.

Inspiration is a bitch.

Who introduced you to fandom and when?

Ihni:

Oh god. I am old. I don't remember. 

I started writing stories when I was real young, and I was always reading something. I started writing stories with my friends when I was a teenager. Then we discovered the internet (yes, this was around the time when we got internet access in school and at home, told you I was old!) and when doing that, I guess we found more like-minded people.

Fanfics ... weren't an organized thing, back then. But I've been reading them, and been in fandoms, ever since I discovered that there were people online who liked the same things that I liked.

I would say, actively, from maybe around 19-20 years old? Like, that was ACTIVE fandom-ing.

What is your advice to fellow writers?

How often do you jump between fandoms?

How long have you been writing?

Ihni:

As a WRITER, I am not the best person to give advice to writers, I think. I'd rather TAKE advice than give it, at this point.

As a READER, my advice is to WRITE, WRITE, WRITE, because you are doing a good thing and you are creating a version of a world that is yours, versions of characters that you can shape into anything, and SOMEONE out there will love you for it (probably me).

I jump between fandoms ... hmm, as a WRITER? Seldom. Billy's my jam and I'm not moving.

As a READER? All the time. I mean, I'm pretty deep into Harringrove and Billy and Stranger Things, but sometimes I need something light-hearted, and then I go back to some of my basic fandoms, and read something else. I will never run out of things to read. 

❤️

And how long have I been writing? FOREVER. I wrote when I was young, and thought I was going to be an author (wrote in Swedish, back then). Then I wrote when I was a teen, for fun. Then I stopped writing. Then I started writing rhymes, in English, because it was a craft I could do and train in, and it was short pieces. And only in recent years (very recent), have I started writing fics. And now, I write long-ass fics in English, so I guess I have at least come a long way!

Why do you write?

Ihni:

...

I just sat and stared at the screen for a good ten seconds.

I'd say that it differs.

Sometimes, I write because I want to READ something and no one has written it (or is going to).

Sometimes, I write because I want a very specific thing or feeling, and it doesn't exist yet.

Sometimes, I write because I am inspired.

Sometimes, I write because I want to.

Sometimes, I write because of a deadline.

Sometimes, I write because there's something in my head that Won't Leave Me The Fuck Alone until I get it out.

Sometimes, I write for fun.

Sometimes, I write because I want to hurt.

Sometimes, I write because I need to.

Sometimes, I write because I want to become better at it; learn; reach towards the writers whose work I love.

And sometimes, I just sit and stare at a document, don't write a single fucking word, and go watch a movie instead.

[blackjack-15]

Secrets and Killing — Thoughts on: Secrets Can Kill/Secrets Can Kill Remastered (SCK/SCK2)

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be. 

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it. If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with links to previous metas. 

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: SCK, SCK2, episode 1X14 of The Mentalist.

The Intro:

We’re beginning with Secrets Can Kill/Remastered, not only because it’s first, but also because it’s one of the easier games to analyze. The plot isn’t anything especially complicated, the suspects are caricatures, the locations are pretty barren — and all of this is true in both versions. It’s a short, unsatisfying game, which spawned a short, unsatisfying remake that fixed some things and ruined others.

The Title:

The title itself sounds like the murder occurred because Jake was keeping secrets (not because he was blackmailing people with them) — and it’s also incredibly vague — so as a title, I wouldn’t say it’s incredibly effective. The word “kill” is evocative, to be sure, but I think that’s the strongest part of the title by leagues.

The Mystery:

Nancy’s Aunt Eloise is a school librarian whose school finds a student murdered — so her first instinct is to call her plucky 18-year-old niece to come solve it.

The murdered student, Jake Rogers, has left cryptic messages in the school and the nearby diner, pointing towards not only what caused his murder, but also how to solve the crime and catch his murderer. There’s actually a really chilling clue that Jake tells us “will seal [his] murderer’s fate” — meaning that in the course of leaving these clues, Jake knew he’d be murdered.

Perhaps that’s a justification for the actual mystery being so /easy/ — the game can be beaten in under 45 minutes without too much trouble, sadly enough (obviously discounting the time spent in the original version switching discs).

The identity of the murderer/bad guy(s) is…honestly pathetic in both versions as well, with the biggest difference being screen time rather than complexity or plausibility. The remastered version nerfs the ending where Nancy stands for Truth, Justice, and Guns, and instead employs a rather ridiculous ending that’s meant to test you on your recall from the beginning of the game…but fails, because the beginning of the game was under an hour ago.

The Suspects:

Hal Tanaka (whose name in Japanese I’m guessing is actually Tanaka Haru or something longer but similar, since “l” isn’t a phoneme in Japanese, and no word can end in any consonant other than “n”) is a student at Paseo Del Mar who focuses very hard on getting the best grades he can possibly get —through both honest and dishonest means. 

As a suspect, he’s pretty pathetic; there’s not a single minute where he’s even remotely plausible as Jake’s murderer, and he’s really just there to make sure that there’s “enough” suspects to seem more complex (and to pad out the run time of the game). 

He also never pays for his plagiarism? Like the kid is a senior going into college and he just straight up copies the Big Essay? And it’s not really well written — if you’re gonna cheat, cheat well, Hal. It really bothers me that Nancy’s like “and he got his scholarship! Huzzah!” when the dude is a Stone-Cold Cheater. 

Jake’s blackmailing him because of the aforementioned plagiarism, which…like, blackmailing is Not Right, but am I supposed to feel like Hal is the Victim here because he’s planning on taking a scholarship that he doesn’t deserve with his plagiarized paper away from another kid who does deserve it because they have the smarts and effort to write their own? Is that what this game is telling me to think? Because the game is wrong. 

If Hal has the smarts to do Jake’s homework for the rest of the year, dude has the smarts to write his own essay. He’s a lazy coward, and I’d blackmail him too.

Connie Watson is the official tattletale (sorry, “hall monitor”) of Paseo Del Mar, and spends the game in the “student lounge” (what kind of bougie high school is this?) doing…nothing at all, honestly. I get that it’s the end of the year, Connie, but…go home. There’s no way school is in session, a murder just happened there. 

She parades her Judo trophy-necklace around like she’s not being blackmailed for it and that, in 1998 or 2010, no one would recognize it? I mean we definitely know that Connie’s not getting a scholarship, girl is flat out dumb. She comes off better in the 1998 version where she at least gets to use those Mad Judo Skills, but she’s not an important character in either version, to be quite honest. 

Connie’s being blackmailed because she won a men’s Judo competition…by wearing…a ski mask…yeah, there’s no defense for this, not in ’98 and not in ’10. Anyway, Jake is blackmailing her into going to the dance with him because he saw her taking off her mask (which she definitely should have done in a more secret location if she wanted it to be a secret?) but like…girlfriend is Flaunting her little neck-trophy, so I honestly don’t see what sway he has over her. It’s Very Wrong of him to do so, yes, yes…but he’s got no power here, and Connie’s an idiot if she thinks so. 

She’s an idiot anyway, and once again is never even a consideration for Jake’s killer. What an interesting choice, to have two separate characters as the “dumb muscle” stereotype. And this one’s a girl! #feminism

Daryl Gray is the SBP of Paseo Del Mar, along with basically the manager (from what we see) of Maxine’s Diner, creepy escort, police contact…you name it, Daryl’s your bleach-blond guy. 

He’s also super shifty; in the original game, he’s involved in drug trafficking, and in the remastered version, he’s selling his father’s company’s secrets. He also hits on Nancy a lot, but since Nancy never tells him to knock it off, that’s a Mild offense at best. 

Daryl is being blackmailed in the original game because of the drug trafficking, and in the remastered version because of the whole leaking company secrets thing. Daryl 100% deserves to be blackmailed for that, as both of those things are Very Illegal, and he’s being Very Stupid about them. Yes, I understand that blackmail is illegal as well.

Hulk Sanchez is a character with as much subtlety as his name would imply, and is the star football player for Paseo Del Mar. Injured on the field and yet still looking to play college (and eventually pro) football, Hulk steals steroids and takes them, putting the “muscle” in “dumb muscle”. 

Hulk is, true to his one-note character, being blackmailed for the whole “stealing drugs” thing (which seems to be his only character trait), as Jake wants him to deliver messages for him. Hulk by far got off the easiest, and if I were him and could be busted for both theft and drug use, would be thrilled that I was getting off this easy. Having no sense of perspective, Hulk instead rants to everyone about how Jake Rogers was a “punk” and how it’s a good thing that he’s dead.

Mitch Dillon, the school’s janitor, is the original baddie in the 1998 game, and is Unseen throughout the ENTIRE game, appearing only at the end to wave a gun around and punch Connie before being apprehended. 

In the 1998 game, he’s buying drugs off of Daryl, whereas in the 2010 remake, he’s buying company/government secrets off of Daryl and selling them to Detective Beech. In both cases, Jake tries to blackmail him for his crimes, and he kills him. Both games see him arrested, but neither one actually treats him like a character, and he is, ultimately, a plot device that weakens the games.

Lastly, the remake introduces the character of “Detective Beech” (real name unknown), who also goes by “Uncle Steve” in his guise as Nancy’s police contact. 

He is, of course, nothing of the sort, and has lost his journal with Gray Enterprises’ dirty little secrets that Mitch sold to him, and “hires” Nancy to find it under the guise of searching for Jake’s killer. Cartoonish and so obviously the Bad Guy that you’ll lose your voice yelling at Nancy to stop telling him things, he tries to kill Nancy when she finds out the truth and ends up trapped in Aunt Eloise’s kinky sex cage intruder cage thanks to Nancy telling him (repeatedly) the wrong combination to the safe. Yeah. 

“Detective Beech” in-universe is a TV show mentioned in passing in STFD, VEN, and TOT, which makes the fact that Nancy fell for this disguise even sadder. That’d be like some criminal posing as an officer being like “call me Detective Columbo” and you being like “that sounds Plausible, yes”. Honestly.

It’s interesting that this game sets up a story where most of the suspects are “cheating” in some way or the other — Hal’s plagiarism, Connie’s joining of the competition, Hulk’s steroids, etc. I’m not sure this was purposeful, and I’m even less sure that it really means anything, but it’s interesting to note, regardless.

The Favorites:

There’s not much about this game that I like, to be quite honest. I enjoy Jake (more on him below), and Ned’s cheesiness as a phone contact, and the fact that it’s Mercifully Short. 

Also Hulk is SUCH an enormous douche that it’s almost funny. And Aunt Eloise’s kinky sex cage intruder cage. 

If I have to choose a favorite puzzle, it’s reading all of the signs Jake hid around the school/Maxine’s diner. 

Or the ladle for the sheer stupidity.

The Un-favorites:

Everything else about the game. 

The visuals are “blah” (except Remastered!Daryl, who is the stuff of effing nightmares), the characters are cardboard cutouts with a combined IQ of 7, and Nancy comes off weak and stupid as a result. 

The villain(s) are one-note and boring, and the attempt to improve the game by remastering it made it easier to play (no disc-switching, faster loading, etc.) and had some campy yet cute easter eggs, but on the whole introduced new problems to the plot and took away Nancy Using an Effing Gun. Boo. 

I have no favorite puzzles, as they’re all horrible or horribly easy. Nothing in this game stands out.

Well…maybe one thing stands out, but it’s not to the game’s credit.

The Fix:

The first (and biggest) thing I’d do to fix SCK is to set it in or near River Heights. 

Yeah, there’s a throwaway line about this not being Nancy’s first case, but it doesn’t have to be her first case to make more sense in River Heights. It could happen in an adjacent suburb to River Heights as well, I’m not picky – it just should be local. 

Now, that takes away Nancy being “undercover”, but honestly that’s not a big part of the game to lose, and setting it in a town next to River Heights pretty much solves the question of why would these kids talk to her if they knew who she was (though I don’t think that’s a problem; high schoolers, especially high school senior, are pretty apathetic about other peoples’ reputations and wouldn’t really care if a small-time amateur detective well-known in her own town but not nationally was there to ask them questions).

This fixes a few things, not the least of which being how Nancy is even allowed to be there in the first place. It’s ridiculous, no matter the time period, to think that Aunt Eloise would be notified of a student’s death, turn around to the police and the principal and be like “Hey, I have a niece! She sure has found some missing dogs!” and the authorities being like “Some lost dogs? A niece? Gee whiz! You got her number handy?”. 

It’s a nonsensical way to get Nancy into the game that sticks out because there were sensical ways to ensure she could investigate.

Have Eloise working in a school a town over (and having previously lived in New York, to set up STFD), encounter the murder, think of Nancy, get the River Heights police chief to put in a good word for her with the other town’s police, and you’ve got a logical process of getting Nancy involved. 

Make SCK Nancy’s first big case outside of River Heights (even if it’s just by a handful of miles) working with a different police force/school/etc., and suddenly there’s a justification for starting with this case.

The other big change I’d make is in the whole premise of the game. 

Nancy Drew doesn’t tackle another murder until DED, and honestly it’s a good thing they waited for a good concept and a competent writer, because the one thing that stands out in the game is the premise: a person is murdered, and no one cares.

It’s one thing to have some of the characters not care, or be actively hostile to Jake Rogers while he’s alive, etc. etc. After he’s dead, no one’s shaken; sure, Jake has been blackmailing all of them, but the characters either intensely don’t care, or (in the case of Hulk, for example) are glad he’s dead, and have no qualms about telling you so. 

Outside of your suspect pool, no one cares either; the most the teachers say is a line in an email noting that they’ll have to replace him for bulletin board duties. A student is murdered — a student that these teachers all knew, as he worked administratively for the bulletins at least — and they don’t care. Heck, Nancy doesn’t even care — she’s just there to poke her nose in and say some horrifically cheesy lines.

And honestly? I’m not okay with it.

Jake Rogers wasn’t a people person, and he was a jerk. His dream was to get enough money to go to an island and live a life of solitary luxury. He blackmailed people who broke the law (Connie is the weakest link here, but technically competing in the competition is Fraud because of the monetary prize, even if I don’t condemn her for it) for his own gain, but he was the definition of a temporary problem. 

And an adult saw this kid as a temporary problem and used a permanent solution to fix it.

There’s the great episode in the first season of The Mentalist, 1X14 “Crimson Casanova”, where a woman having an affair in a hotel with a pick-up artist is shot to death. 

At the end of the episode, it’s revealed that this woman, who cheated on and stole from her husband, was not the target at all — that a hotel employee who was in love with the pick-up artist’s ex-girlfriend tried to kill the pick-up artist in revenge for his treatment of the ex-girlfriend. 

The following dialogue takes place between Patrick Jane (the titular Mentalist) and the murderer:

Murderer: “I’m not sorry. He’s dirt. The way he carried on with those other women, rubbing Katie’s nose in it? …I wish I hadkilled him.”

Jane: “But you killed Claire Wolcott instead.”

M: “I never meant to do that…but she shouldn’t have been doing what she was doing, should she? I mean, it’s not like anybody cares. Her husband was going —”

J: “I care! I care about Claire Wolcott! She was a living person!...You took her life!”

When his detective partner tries to calm him down, Jane responds with a simple statement:

J: “I…I just…I think he should be sorry.”

And that’s how I feel about Jake Rogers’ death. 

Sure, he was a blackmailer. He, too, shouldn’t have been doing what he was doing. But he’s also a senior in high school involved in, let’s face it, petty crimes at most. He was a living person.

I don’t expect the murderer to be sorry, like in the above example. But a kid was alive, and now he’s dead, because someone murdered him in cold blood. 

And I think someone should be sorry.

So how would I fix SCK? 

Set it in or near River Heights, flesh out the characters, acknowledge the wrong that all of them do. 

Make the culprit an actual part of the case. 

Have actual puzzles in the game. 

Acknowledge how terrible it is that Jake Rogers was murdered and that no one seems to care.

Have someone on his side, even if it’s only Nancy — Nancy, who shares so many similarities with Jake, who spies on those around her, who gathers evidence of their wrongdoings and, yes, holds it over their heads to get them to tell her what she wants to know. 

Give Nancy sympathy for Jake, wanting justice for Jake, and you’ve won half the battle.

[infinity-trials]

The Name Game

AN (Author’s Note): This is a prequel story of the Coven. This one-shot is based on their High School years, while the main plot takes place in college. It’s the best way I figured out how to introduce their personalities and their relationships with one another. And maybe a few quirks along the way. 

Characters: Hiromi Soule, Ronin Soule, Arcadia Zaal, Carmine Wallace, Destry Warde, Errol Krane, Phoenix Madsen, Larkyn Bruvold

________________________________________________________________

Hiromi stood impatiently about ten feet outside of their classroom, impatiently waiting for Errol to arrive. The second bell rang about a minute ago, signalling that they were both already late to class. It didn’t really matter to Hiromi at the time, Advanced Literature was an elective. Hiromi could afford being late just this once. 

Especially for Carmine. 

Hiromi craned their neck over the crowd of kids that were setting up surprise birthday balloons for their friend, searching for their darker skinned friend. Down the hall, Errol made small but quick movements towards them. Which, in another situation, would be quite humorous to watch considering Errol’s stature. He stood at six foot four, with an extreme muscular built. His long, dark dreadlocks at chest length flowing behind him. 

He looked over at Hiromi, a friendly, yet awkward smile gracing his features. Finally arriving at Hiromi’s side, he began with saying, “Please don’t shoot the messenger.” 

Hiromi’s eyes widened in slight panic, “Is Carmine okay?” 

“Oh yes!” Errol facepalmed, realizing how awful that started out as. “He’s fine, he just said he’s gonna be late.” 

Hiromi rolled their dark brown eyes, taking a deep breath. Carmine’s okay. They told themselves, attempting to calm down their racing heartbeat. “It would’ve been nice to know before school started.” 

Errol shrugged playfully, wrapping a huge arm around their shoulders. Simultaneously brushing Hiromi’s long, black hair with his hands in an attempt to soothe them as they approached their shared class. 

If this was a normal morning, the two would be able to charm Mrs. Robinson into understanding why they were late. If it was a normal day, it wouldn’t matter nearly as much because Mrs. Robinson knows about Carmine’s habits, and the fact that he makes up for it with his creative insights. But today, of course, their class had to have had a substitute. 

Hiromi and Errol walked into the stiff, and silent room. The substitute, a wrinkly old man that couldn’t have been taller than five eight, and looks like he had been balding since high school, stood at the front of the classroom. He scribbled his name down on the white board, Mr. Mercer. 

“Uh, hello there.” Hiromi shifted uncomfortably in the doorway. “My name’s-”

Mr. Mercer interrupted Hiromi by shushing them. “Sit. I don’t appreciate people being late to my class.” 

Errol stepped up, a kind smile despite the tough situation on his face. “We apologize severely Sir. But, if we could just point out our names on the attendance list, the morning will go much smoother.” 

Mr. Mercer sneered, “Are you suggesting that I am illiterate, boy?” 

Errol’s eyebrows arched, “No of course not!” 

“Sit.” Mr. Mercer snapped, more sternly now. Errol, coming from a more military family, couldn’t defy an order. He shuffled towards an open seat, with Hiromi following at his heels. “Now, let’s get on with attendance.” 

He carried on through the first couple students, then tilted his head at the first name he came across on the list. The platinum blonde boy, who had been hiding his handheld device underneath his desk began cringing. His crystal blue eyes looked up for the first time since he stepped foot into class. 

“Larkine Bruvold.” Mr. Mercer called. 

Larkyn scoffed, “Did you even try there? Because this is English, let’s go back to Grade One and sound it out. Lark-in Broo-vold.” 

Mr. Mercer seemed shocked by Larkyn’s sudden outburst. He was genuinely dazed by him. He visibly shook the outburst off and continued on with the attendance. Larkyn gave the class a cocky smirk before sinking back down into his seat to play Legend Of Zelda. 

Continuing on, Mr. Mercer called out a couple more names, and marked the absent ones down. Then furrowed his eyebrows down at the next name, “Errawl Krane.” 

Errol gave a thin lipped smile, “Not exactly. It’s Errol, like arrow except with an L at the end.” 

Mr. Mercer nodded timidly, and kept trudging through. For at least ten names, everything went off smoothly. Including, “Phoenix Madsen.” 

“Sup.” Phoenix replied, gleefully. She had tanned skin, that contrasted her golden blonde, shoulder length hair. Her light brown eyes shone in the bright lights. But her confidence was instantly squashed as her friends narrowed their eyes at her. 

“What’s it like having a name you can find on keychains?” Hiromi quipped, faking interest. 

Phoenix playfully flipped her off as Mr. Mercer continued. Once he reached a certain name down the list, he audibly sighed. Rubbing the top of his head, he began digging into the depths of his brain to pull a pronunciation out of his many years in the school district. “Miss Soule.” 

“Amazing.” Hiromi snickered. “It's Hiromi, like hero-me.” 

“Thank you.” He sighed in relief, before getting to the name right below it. “Ronan Soule.” 

Hiromi’s older brother, Ronin sighed lightly. He lifted his head off of his desk, stretching as if he had just woken up. The two siblings’ resemblance was uncanny. Same hair color, same eye color, similar faces. Ronin’s head sides were shaved, but the top was tied back in a bun. “Close enough, here.” 

At this point, the close group of friends were simultaneously getting headaches. Wanting this just to end, but they each knew the worst was yet to come. 

Mr. Mercer nodded, saying confidently, “Carmen Wallace.” 

Before anyone could respond, someone cleared their throat from the doorway. There Carmine stood, leaning against the door frame in grey skinny jeans and a navy blue hoodie.  His dark brown hair, a mess, and blocking any light from reaching his forehead. What you couldn’t see from beneath the sunglasses were his light green eyes, that probably had dark circles underneath them. 

“It’s Carmine. Like driving a car through a mine.” Carmine interrupted flatly. 

Mr. Mercer stood up from behind the desk, firmly spreading his hands out on the flat surface. “Mr. Wallace, you are late.” 

“Yeah.” Carmine responded, taking a sip of coffee before sitting in an empty seat next to Hiromi. “In my mind, I still had enough time to get Starbucks.” 

Ronin’s voice spoke over the room, in a mature tone, “Be happy he even showed up at all. Typically he’s bent over a toilet after a weekend out.”

 “It’s called having fun.” Carmine snapped back. “You should try it sometime.” 

“It’s called having a problem.” Ronin responded, sternly. 

“It’s called paying attention in class gentlemen.” Mr. Mercer interrupted. “You can continue this conversation, on your own time.” He sat back down, peering at the last couple names. “Destri Warde?” 

Destry, a light brown haired girl timidly put her hand up. Her deep blue eyes were the definition of gentle as she attempted to stay out of the crossfire her friends had put themselves in. She was better at staying out of the spotlight, not wanting to be noticed for her reputation that had been built over the past few months, or her weight. “It’s pronounced Des-tree. But it’s okay, you tried.” 

After this rollercoaster of a class, Mr. Mercer was more than happy to have a response so polite. He didn’t acknowledge it with anything more than a smile, then carried on to the last name. His face fell immediately, anger hidden behind his eyes. “Arcadia Zaal.” 

From the far back of the room, a hand lifted slowly. By far the most timid out of the rest, Arcadia shook nervously. Hiromi, being her closest friend, knew how she used look compared to how she was now. Her once red hair dyed blonde, and her freckles covered to the best of her ability using make-up. All these small insecurities sticking out like a sore thumb. 

Mr. Mercer marked Arcadia down as here, then slammed the book shut. He slowly raised from his seat, and began to walk up and down between the desks as he spoke, “Now that attendance is all said and done, I have a special lesson planned for today. Mrs. Robinson wanted you to work on your essay outlines on Shakespeare’s plays, but I wanted to reach out to the younger generations about more current events. The Witch Trials for example.” 

Hiromi, against their better judgement, spoke up. Sensing that he was about to target a student they were particularly fond of. “We aren’t allowed to discuss our political opinions in the class. It causes heated debates, and anarchy among students and staff.” 

“It’s all over the news dear, it’s all anybody talks about.” Mr. Mercer responded. “What about your opinions, Miss Zaal?” 

Hiromi stood from their seat and began to approach their substitute. “Sir, this is inappropriate.” 

Mr. Mercer ignored Hiromi, his attention completely focused on Arcadia, “You ever think that your parents are the leaders in one if the greatest mass genocides in history?” 

Arcadia’s emerald eyes went wide, tears beginning to form, “E-Excuse me?” 

Mr. Mercer gripped the edges of Arcadia’s desk, towering over the shivering girl, “They are leading the charge in a campaign, where thousands are being murdered each year. Have you not considered that?” 

Arcadia’s tears began falling, and all she could was respond logically, “Those numbers are overestimated.” 

Hiromi, seeing the tears in Arcadia’s eyes, attempted to pull Mr. Mercer lightly away from the desk. But, due to their power, it shoved him back into the student’s chair sitting in front of Arcadia. They placed both hands on each of the teacher’s shoulders, connecting eye contact. 

In the most threatening voice Hiromi could muster, they growled, “Listen here. You can’t do this. All of you teachers feel like you can abuse your power and that no consequences will come from it. Well, it's time for a reality check. I am your consequence, Mr. Mercer.” 

Mr. Mercer was able to shake free of their tight grip. However, when he attempted to speak, his voice caught in his throat. From the outside perspective, it seemed that he was too intimidated to speak up. 

Carmine, who among the rest of the class, watched the entire confrontation, decided to do something about it. He knew if Hiromi continued, they’d expose themselves as a witch. He acted on instinct, hopping out of his seat, running into the situation, and clocking Mr. Mercer right across the jaw. 

Down Mr. Mercer went, as Errol and Ronin grabbed Carmine by the arms to hold him back. Hiromi dropped to her knees next to Arcadia in an attempt to calm her down. Phoenix and Larkyn, well, they were being less than useful. Being the hype men for their friends in the altercation. While, Destry and Errol ran out of the classroom to go get a school supervisor, the classroom fell silent.

~*~

Outside of the Principal’s Office, there were two very different scene taking place. One, was a birthday celebration being held by a group of friends. The other, six students that were anxiously waiting for Carmine and Arcadia to be released. Hiromi was attempting to stay calm, Not in public. You can’t freak out like that. But, it was two of their most important people in there. Being ridiculed, being interrogated for doing nothing wrong. 

And for the love of God don’t call their parents. 

Interrupting Hiromi’s train of thought was their two friends exiting the office, one of Carmine’s arms slung over Arcadia’s shoulders. 

Each member got to their feet, but Destry was the first one to speak, “How much shit are we in?” 

Carmine swayed his head back and forth, a smirk slowly forming. “None.” 

Ronin, radiating anger throughout his body, responded through gritted teeth, “Bullshit.” 

“No, it’s true.” Arcadia reassured. “I mean, Carmine’s testimony alone was hardly enough to back it up. But Mr. Mercer admitted it, and went on this whole rant that really isn’t important. But it convinced Principal Truett enough to let us go with a warning.” 

Phoenix couldn’t help but bust out laughing, attempting to speak through her joy, “Are they fucking idiots? Or are we just the luckiest bitches alive?” 

Destry smiled at her best friend endearingly, “I’d definitely say the latter. Considering if they heard you speak like that, they’d be kicking our asses out of here.” 

Larkyn nodded, mirroring Destry’s expression, “Without a doubt.” 

Ronin pinched the bridge of his nose, and massaging his neck. “This is not the point. What were you thinking in there Carmine?!” 

Carmine rolled his eyes, detaching from Arcadia and pushing his way past the group, towards the doors. Hiromi, used to being the buffer between Carmine and their brother, began to follow him. Errol wasn’t far behind before Carmine snapped his attention back towards Ronin, “I wouldn’t have had to step in if it hadn’t been for Mi Mi, so don’t you dare lecture me Ronin.” He turned back and walked out of the school doors.

“Fine.” Ronin brushed off, all but chasing Carmine out of the school. “Let’s talk about your attendance, your grades, literally every other responsibility you’ve given up for drinking.” 

“Ronin!” Errol snapped, not in an angry tone, but more in shock and hurt. 

Carmine exhaled deeply before responding, “Why are you always trying to fix other people’s problems Ronin?! You got enough shit that you refuse to deal with in your own life!” 

“We’re not talking about me.” Ronin defended, attempting to deflect. 

“Then don’t lecture me!” Carmine yelled one last time (for today anyways). “You’re not my Dad, it shouldn’t fucking matter to you what I do with my life.” 

“I helped save your life!” Ronin countered. “Without the blessing ceremony, you’d be dead by now! I want to make sure it wasn’t wasted.” 

Carmine scoffed, “Maybe, you should’ve just let me die if I was going to cause you this much shit. It wouldn’t be half as painful.” 

Ronin’s hard exterior went soft for a just moment, if Hiromi had blinked, they would’ve missed it. Before he could respond, there was were screams coming from within the school. The Coven’s attention snapped, and they all ran back in. 

On the floor of the hallways, the birthday girl was being dragged by a seemingly invisible force. She was flipped onto her back, and her stomach was exposed to show paws making their way from the inside out. I looked around and noticed the balloons, all saying the number 17.

This girl is a witch, and she never got her blessing ceremony.

The girl began to seize as all of the students began to watch on in horror. The claws finally broke skin, and effectively gutted her. A pale, light blue spirit of a wolf began slowly making its way out of the girls mouth. And just as it left, the poor unsuspecting witch took her final breath.

The spirit swooped around, but stalked towards Carmine's face then dissipated just as it reached him. The secretaries dialed 911, as the principal came over the speaker calling, "Code Green. Code Green. Code Green." Which is the code that is used when it has been discovered that a form of magic is taking place.

People fled to the nearest exit, some honestly believing that witchcraft was contagious. Others thinking that this was just a good excuse to get out of class for the rest of the day. Students pushed past the Coven, as the group of friends just stood in shock.

As the halls seemed mostly empty, Ronin turned to Carmine for one last word, "That's what happens when a witch doesn't receive a blessing ceremony. What do you think is more painful? That, or being called out on your shit Carmine?"

Carmine scoffed, and made his way towards the classroom where they held book club. The rest followed, hoping not to get caught. Phoenix relaxed and dispersed her energy in order for uthem to make our way undetected. Her cat totem has pulled through for the Coven in many ways over the years.

The Coven reached the classroom without any interferences, and locked the door. Ronin approached the curtain hanging in the corner, meant for design purposes and knocked in a specific way. Many of the humans would think nothing of it. Not until Ronin lifted the curtain and revealed a portal to the bunker where witches are safe. A place that Mi-na, Ronin and Hiromi's grandmother who is also the Shaman of the Coven, made sure to never be found by harmful hunters.

Each of them filed in, one by one, Ronin sealed the door behind as to not expose anyone. Mi-na looked up from her desk, sadness in her eyes already understanding the circumstances. Ronin immediately went to her arms, and the teens all exchanged embraces in their own special ways. Some with longing glances (Carmine and Hiromi for example), others with holding each other so tight you might believe one of them was suffocating (Phoenix and Destry, only).

"We can't save everyone my children." Mi-na broke the silence, with a calming and nurturing tone.

"Yeah well," Carmine grumbled, hands shoved in his pockets, "We can certainly die trying."

[queensweasley]

Fantastic Beasts and the Crimes of Grindelwald - Review

Okay so yeah, post got some likes so I’m doing it.

I am one of the lucky people who was able to see Crimes of Grindelwald already. It’s been released today here in France but since my cinema had a premiere yesterday night, I have been able to see it one day prior.

First of all, if you want PSA, you can find them here : [link]

So, let’s start with :

NON-SPOILER PART

Overall, I didn’t dislike the movie. I didn’t really like it either. I feel like there is too much information, too much plots at the same time, and in the end you don’t really care about any of them. The movie is a complete train wreck, tbh. Too many things happening and it’s all crashing together into some kinda alphabet soup where you can see the letters but can’t really form words.

The first scene is one of the best in my opinion, and yet also one of the worst. Nothing makes sense in it. You totally get what is going on, but you don’t understand how it could happen. It clearly summarize the movie, I’d say. It shows an action, done following a plan, but some element are just coming out of nowhere. This scene doesn’t look right at the beginning of Crimes of Grindelwald. It should have been the ending of Where to Find Them.

At that is, in my opinion, one of the movie’s biggest problem. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a good movie, but a bad introduction to a 5-movies-long saga. Most of the element that seem forced in COG could and SHOULD have been introduced in WTFT. Mostly characters, tbh. I’m mostly thinking Leta. Okay, technically she has been introduced back then, but I think we should have had more than just a photograph and a mention of being New’s ex. Tbh, I don’t even understand why she’s Newt’s ex but that might got too spoiler-y so we’ll talk about that later.

Other characters, in the contrary, are largely underused. They are clearly there to serve later in the movie saga, but in that case they have too much screen time and importance. I’m not only talking about then being too present in the movie, I’m talking about them being too present in the press tour, ads and everything. Part of the marketing of the movie has been done around them, all that for them not being a huge part of the movie. And I’m not talking Dumbledore here, well, not only Dumbledore at least.

Characters treatment, meanwhile, is one of the most inconsistent things. While some like Newt, Jacob, Grindelwald or to some extent Tina are faithful to what we saw in the first movie, others like Queenie, Credence or to so extent Tina seem kind of OOC. (Yes Tina is in both cases). I’m not saying how they are different, but while it didn’t displease me too much for Credence, it sure makes me want to start #justiceforqueenie. This leads to the relationships going from really great for most of them to a complete trainwreck in others and, in one case, abusive.

While I’m clearly saying mostly negative things, the movie isn’t all bad. As I’ve said, some characters are great, most jokes are great too and while some complain about the visual effects I wasn’t too choked by them. The music is discreet but immersive and that’s all I ask of a soundtrack tbh. It’s just mostly been through the WB effect. To quote Deadpool : “So dark and broody, are you sure you’re not part of the DCEU ?” It is a good story, just not rendered in a good way. You know, one of those story you like almost all elements but not how they’re treated and you just want to rewrite them yourself to fix it. That’s at least how I feel about it, I’m ready to kick J.K. out and write in her place.

Now this might be a bit confused but I don’t want to say too much. So if you don’t care about them, we can now enter into :

HEAVY SPOILER PART

They are, quite obviously, to be found under the cut. 

I have a lot to say about it so I’m going to organize them into categories. I might forget some things but hey, I’m no professional. So, let’s start.

Scamanders and Lestrange - I find the trio to have a really good alchemy. The brothers are not depicted as the old-as-time “the successful asshole vs the weirdo angel” trope. Theseus, although successful indeed, never use it to compare himself with Newt. I don’t even think he compared himself with Newt. He’s successful, wants to help his brother the best he can and fuck, he’s a hugger and it’s refreshing to see brothers hug. (I’m saying that as someone whose sister has never hugged her, so I might be totally partial here). The relationship Newt has with Leta is also pretty good. You can sense that there’s history and it’s clearly not a case of the girl now being a bitch. Problem is, I have no idea why they split up in the first place. They seem to still go along, they seem to still care, if not feel love, for the other… And in the contrary, I don’t see why Theseus and Leta are engaged. Outside of “we need to bring Leta into the story”. They seem to go along pretty well, and clearly they care about one another but I don’t sense love. And it’s got nothing to do with the actor’s chemistry. They do have chemistry during interviews and all. No, it’s clearly lazy plotting. I think things would have been better if Leta had been engaged to Newt from movie 1 and a friend (maybe colleague) of Theseus.

The Lestrange lineage - Now you will not make me say one single good thing about that crap. The movie has indeed some good things but this is not one. First of all, it’s a mess. We don’t care about it for most of the movie and the moment we start caring, we learn that it’s not even really related to our story. Also, it’s quite the horrible story and it’s not treated in a good way at all. It’s also highly problematic, like a white man casting imperius to rape a black woman clearly sends some messages, but it’s not even used. There is no moral to this story. Lestrange is not depicted as bad because he raped the woman, he’s seen as bad because he never loved anyone besides Corvus, made Leta hate herself because she’s born of a rape and inspired revenge in the family of the woman he raped. And not only is there no moral to it, but it’s just a plot device. It’s just here to grow some artificial suspense as to the origin of Credence and only to reveal that it’s not even the real origin of Credence. And you know how it could have been avoided ? By saying that Youssouf is not the half-brother but the cousin of Leta. Leta is the daughter of arranged marriage, as is the custom with pureblood, and her father remarried to have Corvus. Now you can present him as being an asshole for not loving his wives and daughter. And Youssouf is not here for revenge but because he thinks he’s found his cousin’s brother and want to reunite them.  Here. How to create your fake suspense without adding rape and racism.

Nagini the maledictus - She could have been removed from the movie. Really, she’s useless so far and I’m hoping she’ll have more use later. She’s got too much screen time and I’m sure she had to be connected to Credence somehow but then they should have been more warm to one another because so far all she’s done is stand silently behind him.

Queenie and the treatment of mental health - I love Queenie. She’s been my favorite for along time in the first movie, after a few rewatching got her replaced by her sister. She’s still a character I loved a lot and I was always defending her when a friend who doesn’t like her at all was talking bad about her. Now… Well… I get that she’s not mentally alright. And I suppose that someone like me who doesn’t have any mental health issue, I’m not the best judge of that. I actually find very interesting that she suffers from her legilimency, and the fact that it gives her panic attack, all alone in this city she doesn’t know, hearing thought she can’t even understand (French people think in French after all, at least most of us do) is a really interesting thing that deserves to be treated better.What I struggle with is how abusive they made her relationship with Jacob, and the conclusion that is given of her mental state. Queenie is a legiliment more powerful than most others, able to read thoughts without much efforts, and who never revealed her nature to any ministry member because she didn’t want to be used like a tool, an object. Yet she manipulate Jacob like a toy, taking his consent away as a mean to finally get engaged. She’ basically doing to him what the first movie established she didn’t want done to her. And when it’s revealed that she’s just struggling with her identity, her difference,there is only one conclusion. “You’re mad.” Or “You’re crazy” idk I saw the movie with french dub. At first it’s just a thought. Jacob has been manipulated by the woman he loves, he’s confused. And he regrets it immediately. But by the end of the movie, Queenie who’s been suffering, who seem to have found a solution, hears it again and this time it’s not a lost thought. It’s an affirmation. “You’re mad.” That’s all she’s gonna get from the people she counted on. Between a man who condamns her mental health and a man who offers to help, I can understand she choose the latter. But this still doesn’t make sense.If she’s such a powerful mindreader she should have known that Grindelwald is manipulating her. You know what I think ? I think Jacob should have turned.

The reference to WWII - One of the things I loved was that mention. Grindelwald show the future and it’s not a great one. Jacob, who has been in the first war, is shook to see that. It was strong. In France (and maybe elsewhere I don’t know), WWI has a nickname. “La der des der”. Basically, the last of the last (war). Seeing the violence of the war, the soldier who fought in it believed it to be the war who would put an end to all the wars. Never could another be worst, be more violent. History proved that it wasn’t the case. But at the time, they delieved it to the core. Jacob believes it to the core. And then, this man who has fought, this man who is of polish origin (if not a polish immigrant, i’m not sure if it’s been specified), sees the war, the violence, the people in line in a concentration camp. And tbh, I think this might have been a turning point for him. He’s seen what the human race has done worst, and then he sees that it’s not even the worst, and that the worst is to come. Many would just want to stop that, that’s what Grindelwald is proposing. While him not turning is a good thing, the contrary would have been interesting as fuck.

Paris yes, but not in France - Okay so this is totally coming from me being a French girl. I didn’t see Paris, I didn’t see France, in that movie. I saw it with French dubbing so idk if there was some french dialogue but if there was that’s the only clue we have that we’re in France. We could have been in another country, I wouldn’t have had a clue. I don’t see what the point was. Why settle the plot in Paris, exactly ? There was to use of France’s culture, history or anything. Nothing justified being in Paris. I mean sure the ministry was pretty. But yeah that’s all. You know, I think about it because I’ve just rambled about WWI and II but it would have been a nice thing.If Jacob was to be tempted by his PTSD, one thing that could have been nice to show are the “gueules cassées”. Gueules cassées literally means “broken faces”. It designates the soldiers that survived WWI but came back with huge disabilities and/or deformities. The movietakes place in 1927. Before 1930, disabled people struggled more than ever to find a job, most couldn’t find any at all. THIS is a huge part of French history and THIS goes in accordance with the message of Grindelwald that muggles are dangerous, destructives.

Grindelwald himself - He was… not that bad, actually. Maybe I was expecting too much bad things from him. Depp isn’t that terrible, I found that lately he’d been under-acting ? Don’t know if that makes sense. But he seemed to be at least invested. His plan wasn’t that great though, overly complicated for nothing and all. But overall, while not a great villain, not a bad one. I wish he was more manipulative, because right now it seems just saying “Hi” makes people join him like wtf. Also… “I hate Paris”. Yes dear, like every french people, get over it. :)

The Strange Case of Aurelius Dumbledore - Okay, two possibilities. One, Grindelwald is lying to Credence about his real identity, in order to give him a target. He’s just making him a weapon against Albus. Two, Grindelwald is telling the truth and Credence is actually a long lost Dumbledore brother. This would make no sense. Dumbledore is, at least 18 years older than Credence is. The younger Dumbledore is supposed to be Ariana, and she is only 5 years younger than Albus. (She was 14 when her mother died and Albus had just left Hogwarts so 17). It’s written black on white in the book that she was attacked when she was six years old. Their father was imprisoned the same year. Three years before Credence was born, his alleged father was imprisoned for life in Azkaban. Somehow, I doubt there are conjugal visits. This is totally messing the timeline up tbh. I really hope Grindelwald is actually lying.

So… I might have forgotten a few things. Don’t hesitate to message me if you want to discuss about these things or some I might have forgotten.

[fandomshipping]

In defense of VLD S7

While I don’t usually engage in discourse, here’s a few of my own thoughts on some of the most significant objections since it wouldn’t hurt to add some dissenting voices amidst all the salt:

Acxa. Okay, so I get that Ezor and Zethrid have teased that Acxa might have feelings for Keith, and /that/ scene might have hinted that there /was/ something there. But personally? While I do believe that there is some kind of connection between the two (implied ever since Keith saved her in the Weblum), I don’t think it’s romantic. They have parallels, yes, but not all parallelism could be taken in a romantic context. Maybe Ezor or Zethrid might have mistaken it as such, as fixation can be sometimes, but just because someone’s fixated on another person doesn’t mean they’re in love with them. And because she’s been gone for a while after that ep, I doubt they’ll be sowing the seeds of that romance anytime soon. But that said, I am super excited to know what that connection is. One thing I liked about the season was that they finally began to address it, and to be honest I never expected that to happen.

LGBT rep as a marketing tactic. I’ve seen other people address this more succinctly, but since it’s such a significant objection I feel like I should include this. I may not be an expert on what goes into producing a show, but I’m pretty sure that for the most part, the showrunners aren’t as into the marketing aspect as one might think. After all, they’re quite busy... well, running the show. Keeping deadlines, overseeing how the story is told, making sure everything’s good with the higher-ups—that is a /lot/ of work to be done, so while they might be approving marketing collaterals and the like, I don’t think they’re the ones handling what goes into them. So yes, while we might have instances of marketing tagging #k//lance on Youtube videos or collaterals overemphasizing the LGBT aspect, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s entirely in line with what the show has to offer. And this is!! Something!! That happens often!! So please, let’s not blame the showrunners for something they might not even have control over. Which brings me to my next point:

Queerbaiting. That said, does this mean there won’t be LGBT rep? Of course not. I believe LM and JDS when they said they’d fight for it, although I do think we won’t get it in the way people think. I know everyone thinks they might have everyone be straight because of the Acxa and Allurance scenes. But really? It’s still up in the air. So far, Allurance seems to be the only confirmed [almost] relationship among the paladins, and /maybe/ a little Hunay (since Hunk did say he just admired her, not necessarily romantically), but other than that? There’s no indication that any of the other characters /aren’t/ LGBT. I mean... bitch??? Have u forgotten about Korrasami?? I mean, the first few seasons some of us literally DID NOT KNOW we were actually going to get it (especially since the odds were heavily tilted towards Mak//orra back then) for real. And in the finale, we had them hold hands and go on a gay Spirit World adventure. It was only when the comics came out that we had them fricking kiss, plus Kya being confirmed LGBT. So sure, while Voltron might have more liberty than Legend of Korra ever could, but it’s also a property owned by Dreamworks, so it’s important to consider how these factors will play in their portrayal. Don’t lose hope, guys. Speaking of Allurance, however:

Forced Allurance. I can’t even recall how many times I’ve seen people claiming that the Allurance this season was forced and that Allura never liked him in the first place. But, my dudes, it’s been hinted at for so long now. Almost blatantly in some scenes. And  It’s apparent that they were gonna do something with them in the long run, but man, I feel like the defense has been repeated so many times that I instead encourage you to read other people’s thoughts on it, such as this, and this. (Just a warning though—one of the posts isn’t exactly kind to K//lance shippers. Personally, I'm okay with K//lance, and some of the shippers are quite lovely, so feel free to skip if it makes you uncomfortable.)

Adam’s death. Hoo boy, this is a big one. So I get the disappointment and anger over this. I really do. And everyone who’s angry at this happening has a right to be. But I also understand why it had to end this way. For one, Adam was introduced so late in the game—near the end of the series, even —so any further development between him and Shiro might be a little weird considering the series is already on its last legs. For another, it makes sense through a thematic perspective, as plot device-y as it may be. The Hypable interview with LM and JDS makes a fair point regarding it so you can read up on that. But really? I’m just glad that we got Adam and Shiro at all, as well as Shiro’s LGBT confirmation. It’s very bare-bones, yes, but if there’s a good thing to come out from it, it’s that with this confirmation we know that Shiro’s storyline /can/ head towards mlm without having to just chalk it up to the imagination. And hopefully, this can lead to more daring storylines in the future.

Bad writing. Finally, the mother of all complaints and the one that saddens me the most. Because this season was very inventive and touched on dark topics in ways I never expected it to. Sure the Family Feud episode could be off-putting with its treatment of Lance, but I loved how it also added a surreal creep factor not found in other episodes (the flickering screen, the fridge horror of Lance’s possible fate, that dissonance of scene between Pidge attacking Bob and the game cutting to them back in their stations). Not to mention the Druid episode. And The Journey Within, my God—the setup, the relationship drama, the sanity slippage? I loved it. Season 7, while flawed, finds its strength in engaging with hard topics such as death, war, and the greyness that comes with it—think of Admiral Sanda, or even Shiro while trying to get the Atlas off the planet. And we even got some shining points of characterization: Hunk and his family, Keith trusting in his team more, Lance getting more of a say in missions, James Griffin’s + Iverson’s redemption?? And of course, Shiro. My god, Shiro.

So yes, I understand that there are a lot of things the fandom is salty about currently. But as someone who’s been through a lot of fandoms (hence the name) and a bunch of dumpster fires (if you think S7 was terrible writing, ohh boy, be glad you weren’t part of the Shingeki no Bahamut fandom during the second season. I still feel a literal pain in my chest when I think of how it wrapped up. And as for plot devices... *cries over Jackie Lynn Thomas*), I feel like the fandom needs to be reminded of the merits the show has and continues to have in the midst of this wave of negativity.

The Voltron reboot, while at times can be cheesy and clunky at some parts, is still nonetheless a show that’s been well-thought of and lovingly made, by every aspect of the production—heck, the fandom wouldn’t have become as large as it was or garnered so much discussion otherwise. We’re lucky to even have a show like this, with showrunners, VAs, animators, and everyone in between willing to accommodate and give us fans content and answers. And it’s disheartening to see it when people are so quick to thrash all that work because of perceived flaws.

Guys, we’re not kids anymore. And even if some of you are, we should be better than this. This kind of attitude is something you’ll try to block out of your mind 10 years from now because of how embarrassing it is. Might as well save yourself the cringe now.

[darkcloud-kcalifornia]

Well, I’m as recovered as I’m gonna be until they take the sutures outta me, so it’s back to work tomorrow.  But I’ve still got some time I can kill before then, so let’s kill it with Nanoha StrikerS episode 3, “Gathering”

* So, it makes perfect sense for Midchilda to not go by the Gregorian calendar.  But it having a month called “April” makes far less sense. But then looking past the transparent text box what little Japanese I still remember from college tells me that the actual text there could simply be read as meaning “4th month”. Which would make this simply a translation induced problem, yet it does make me wonder just how many months the Midchildian calendar is divided into, and what they’re called.

* Wow, I am in a nitpicky state of mind today if I’m starting off this early with something like that.

* Rein has her own little desk in Hayate’s office and is happily twirling around in her chair and waving her arms and my chest is suddenly hurting please send help *thud*

* Huh, when Nanoha and Fate enter we get a look at their feet.  And while they might be wearing the same uniform their shoes are markedly different.  Fate has on formal footwear, and pair of black heels (albeit low ones).  She’s dressed for a day at the office.  Nanoha on the other hand is wearing the well-cushioned shoes of somebody who is expecting to be getting some exercise, or at the very least be spending a lot of time on their feet.

* Oh man, now I’m even reading into and commenting on shoe choice.  I think I might have a problem.

* If they haven’t worn the same uniforms since middle school did they go to different high schools or just skip that entirely to focus full-time on their military careers?

* And we’re introduced to the first new character of the episode, a man with steely medium length hair and glasses named Griffith Lowran.  Apparently the girls knew him back when he was a bit shorter.  His job is being Hayate’s administrative assistant (insert joke about Hayate wanting a sexy secretary here), plus being in charge of the back-up.

* Hayate’s speech to the newly assembled Riot Force 6 is short and, honestly, not very remarkable.

* After checking to make sure that all of the Forwards got their introductions out of the way off-screen Nanoha decides it’s time to get down to training.

* Next new character is a brown-haired man by the name of Sgt. Vice, and his boxy looking helicopter. Rein feels the need to tell him not to get carried away as their pilot.  I don’t really see the problem, I mean it’s not like they can’t all fly anyway. Let the man have his fun.

* OK, apparently the Midchildian Capital is named Cranagan.  I’m not sure if this is going to matter, but I’m trying to take note of names and such because otherwise I’ll forget them and it might matter sometime in the future.

* And of course the helicopter is a Device, because if you have AI tech why not, by the name of Storm Raider.  This kinda makes me wonder if Fate’s car has an AI and name too.

* Time for yet another new character.  This time it’s a girl with long brown hair and glasses by the name of Shario Finieno, who works both as the mechanic for the Devices and as communications officer. Seems to me like you’d want those to be separate duties.

* Using a holodeck for training makes sense if your trainees have magical superpowers.  I also like how the holodeck in question actually needs to be big enough to fit the training ground inside of it, no Star Trek shenanigans where one little room is stretched infinitely.  I’m guessing the water also makes for a fairly clear boundary line.  Though I have to wonder what kind of barriers they have around that thing, as with that city in the background you really wouldn’t want any blasts getting away and heading towards there.  I suppose they’re counting on the city being out of range for what’s going on… but then I remember when Vita thought she was out of Nanoha’s range last season.  She wasn’t.

* While Signum and Vita look over the training grounds, Shamal paws the furniture of her new med bay.

* Just how many moons does Midchilda have, anyway?  It seems like there’s always at least one hanging out in the background, sometimes more. I know I’ve counted at least three in one shot.

* Nanoha informs her trainees that their foes on missions will likely be autonomous drones while Shari has the holodeck bring 8 of them out there.  Their first exercise, besides the jogging they were apparently doing earlier, is to capture or destroy all 8 within 15 minutes.  …So, out of curiosity has Strikers ever been made into a video game? This stuff seems like it was made for a video game.

* Elsewhere Hayate and Fate are giving a presentation on Lost Logia to some of the brass that doesn’t actually contain any new information to those that have watched the previous parts of the series.  Given the bored expressions on their faces, I’m guessing this is all old news to them too.

* Ah, some new info. Riot Force 6 is primarily going to be concerning itself with Lost Logia know as Relics, which look like big red jewels. They’ve discovered 4 of them thus far. 3 of them ended in fire everywhere, including the airport from the first two episodes.  And 2 of them were found near or in what are obviously mad science labs located on worlds not nearly advanced enough to have that sort of thing. Of course, nobody filed the paperwork for building a lab there, and made sure to bomb the places afterward to erase evidence.  This is also the source of the drones the Forwards are currently training against.

* Speaking of which, Subaru is finding out that roller blades do not actually make you fast enough to catch small flying drones.  Nor does Erio’s normal shoes.

* Tea tries her luck with Caro boosting her power… only to discover the drones can project an anti-magic field.

* Subaru tries rushing the things on her magic air road thingy… only for the field to get turned up and send her crashing into one of the buildings instead.  Um, if it’s being turned up that much shouldn’t it be messing with the holodeck too?  And the drones themselves?  Or do those not run on magical energy?  This is one of the downsides to highly advanced magitek, it’s hard to keep track of where the “magi” ends and the “tek” begins.

* Huh, Erio’s device and magic circle look very Belkan.  That and he has a cartridge system.

* Erio drops an overpass on the drones while Subaru wraps her legs around one to make sure it can’t get away from her punching.  Caro has Fried burn stuff as a cover while she uses summoning magic to conjure physical chains to tie up three more, and finally Tea gets the idea to put a shield around her magic attack to try and preserve it long enough to smash through two more… though doing so exhausts her as that kind of thing is a bit beyond her magic level. Mission clear!

* Hayate meets with the Wolkenritter that night to get caught up on things.  And to have a bite to eat, she’s starving.

* Daww… lookit little Rein in her porta-bedroom in Hayate’s traveling bag!  So cute… I WANT ONE.

* So apparently Hayate’s backers for this endeavor aren’t just Fate’s family and friends, but she’s also got support from the Saint Church.  Not really sure what that particular Church is all about, but having a major theological body throw its support behind something can certainly help to draw up support from those belonging to that Church.  Though it can also attract enemies as, let’s face it, all groups have their share of those, especially religions.  That and the thought of a church getting mixed up in military affairs is bound to make some uncomfortable.

* Rein wakes up smelling food, and tries to eat a tomato bigger than her head.  This isn’t relevant or anything, it’s just a Rein cuteness update.

* Elsewhere Nanoha and Fate get ready for bed.  The rather large bed they share in their apartment.  And while yes, it could be that they’re close friends who don’t have any problem sleeping together in the strictly literal, non-hanky-panky sense, I don’t think there are many that actually buy that interpretation.

 And that’s the episode! This is another one that was mostly set up.  We got briefly introduced to a bunch of new characters and got to find out just what Riot Force 6’s first assignment is, but you had to go digging pretty deep for significant character development and actual plot progression is practically non-existent.  The same cannot be said for Rein cuteness however.  That is plentiful, and there for all to enjoy.

[sophygurl]

The Women of Luke Cage - WisCon 41 panel write-up

These tend to be long, so click the clicky to read.

Disclaimers:

I hand write these notes and am prone to missing things, skipping things, writing things down wrong, misreading my own handwriting, and making other mistakes. So this is by no means a full transcript.

Corrections, additions, and clarifications are most welcome. I’ve done my best to get people’s pronouns and other identifiers correct, but please do let me know if I’ve messed any up. Corrections and such can be made publicly or privately on any of the sites I’m sharing these write-ups on(tumblr and dreamwidth for full writings, facebook and twitter for links), and I will correct ASAP.

My policy is to identify panelists by the names written in the programming book since that’s what they’ve chosen to be publicly known as. If you’re one of the panelists and would prefer something else - let me know and I’ll change it right away.

For audience comments, I will only say general “audience member” kind of identifier unless the individual requests to be named.

Any personal notes or comments I make will be added in like this [I disagree because blah] - showing this was not part of the panel vs. something like “and then I spoke up and said blah” to show I actually added to the panel at the time.

The Women of Luke Cage

Moderator: Inda Lauryn. Panelists: JP Fairfield, Maria Jackson, De Ana Jones, Krys

#WomenofLukeCage - for the livetweets

Inda started the introductions off with asking the panelists who are their favorite black women characters that they’d liked to see adapted to screen outside of Luke cage.

Krys answered with Monica Rambeau.

De Ana, who said to find her on twitter as @nanicoolj, would love to see any of the women from N. K. Jeminisin’s The Broken Kingdom series, but especially Oree Shoth. [yes please]

Maria, who introduced herself as being on the Nerdgasm Noire podcast with De Ana and JP, answers with Stagecoach Mary.

JP, who told us she is @isitis on twitter, suggested Nubia, Wonder Woman’s sister. She thinks that would be an interesting origin story that would be different from Diana’s. 

Inda, who said she can be found on Inda’s Corner podcast, gave Concrete Park’s main character as answer to her question - as a black queer woman who would be great to see on screen.

Inda talked about how she had binged Luke Cage on Saturday night when it came out and when she got to episode 12, she noticed things were getting wonky. When she couldn’t start episode 13, she had a meltdown online with everyone else because so many people were watching at that point that they broke Netflix!! 

She discussed how exciting it was to be seeing something we don’t often get to see - so many black characters, and especially black women characters. These characters were all well-rounded and while they had issues and none of them were perfect - they were definitely not one dimensional. 

Inda asked the panelists when they realized the black women in this show were not just throw-away characters?

JP referred to a scene in the police station where there were three black women all talking to one another and it was Not about men. They were talking to one another about reasons that were not just a plot device for the male characters.

Maria liked that these characters were not all agreeing with one another, but neither were they fighting.

De Ana talked about seeing all sides of the characters - black women as good, bad, and neutral. Some of them got to be shown being taken care of, Misty was very independent, Mariah was pretty shady but was taken care of by Shades, some parts of these characters were tropey but some weren’t.

Krys talked about the one lady with the sports ring from her dad - even this minor character was treated well and was well-developed.

De Ana said that she is a Misty fan but also liked Claire a lot - she is very pragmatic, lacks that sense of wonder at the people with powers, she just takes charge.

Inda said that Claire got a good intro in the show even if you hadn’t seen her character in the other Netflix series. She has her purse stolen and then kicks the thief’s ass. 

Maria talked about how Claire works with these superheroes but doesn’t Need them.

JP said that Claire in Iron Fist got to ask the questions about how stupid Danny is. 

Krys agreed about the comments about Claire, but said that Misty really resonated with her. It’s rare to see an analytical detective as a black woman - not a white dude with no social skills who everyone has to put up with because he’s so brilliant. De Ana said - like Sherlock House? 

Krys liked the balance Misty showed between the law and her problems with how the system works.

JP wanted to see Claire as Night Nurse. All of this is her journey to becoming that. She also said it’s amazing to have an Afro-Latina confidently taking care of all of these superheroes.

De Ana talked about Misty’s story in the comics and how they start after she’s lost her arm and gets a new one from Tony Stark. There are flashbacks to her cop days, but they have some bad blacksploitation elements to them. She said it’s not Pam Grier, but Beyonce in Austin Powers. In the show, Misty has the same attitude as in the comics, but she’s no longer talking like it’s still 1972.

De Ana also appreciated that Misty recognizes that the law can’t always help her to help Harlem in the ways she wants to as a cop. 

JP liked that Misty is allowed to be vulnerable but still strong. De Ana points out that in the comics she is the super strong/super sexy trope. JP said in the show she is a fully realized human and not just one thing.

Inda brought up Priscilla and Betty as law enforcement characters like Misty. They’re cops but we don’t hate them. They have rapport with the other black women on the show.

Maria liked that they were all humanized in how they felt about their neighborhood. 

JP discussed how they were all black women working within the system but with different ways of dealing with it. She especially focused on the one on one between Priscilla and Misty about navigating a not-perfect system like - Yes, it’s fucked up but we need you to be here working with us.

Maria said that other cop shows don’t tend to let cops be wrong - all good and right all the time. On this show, they get to make mistakes.

De Ana liked that when things went awry, the show didn’t go to the place of a white man coming in and taking charge and changing it all. Misty has to change, but is still very much needed there.

Inda brought up the Claire/Luke/Misty triangle and said she liked that they don’t fight over a man - instead they have some female bonding over it.

De Ana expressed that her otp is Claire/Misty [I got very excite from the audience - mine is actually Claire/Colleen but I’ll ship these ladies in any formation really]

JP also liked that there was no real competition between Misty and Claire. Misty was basically - I tapped that, and Claire was all - I’m gonna tap that - and they kinda bond over it, and agree that his whole “coffee” thing is corny.

Inda brought up Mariah - she may not be a villain, but yes she is a bad guy.

De Ana liked that all of the characters have motivations for what they do and they’re all doing what they think is right for Harlem. Mariah got into law for that reason and because her grandma didn’t want her to get into crime. There was that respectability politics thing. But Mariah starts to realize that what she was doing wasn’t working so she became more open to doing different things.

Maria said that Mariah is a survivor - not a copy and paste “villain”.

JP related it to upward mobility stories where a family usually uplifts a young black man to be the one to succeed. In this family, it was Mariah who was propped up to be the great hope of the family. Turns out, though, she was more suited to being a crime boss.

Inda asked about the respectability politics in the show, and how most of it comes from Luke, as a preacher’s son. What about how this affects the women on the show?

De Ana answered that it mostly affects Mariah. Misty and Claire are more like “fuck it!”. Mariah has a facade most of the time, but we see her codeswitching when she’s caught out and gets upset.

Inda asked about Luke’s wife Reva’s characterization and how that differs between Luke Cage and Jessica Jones where she’s introduced.

Krys said in LC, it shows that Reva loved Luke as much as he loved her, but that he idealized her - she was complicit in what led to him gaining his powers. We didn’t see that in JJ.

De Ana said that not only is she idealized in JJ, but fridged. In LC, we get to see her as an actual character with flaws, but also that yes there was love there. She was still technically a plot device, but she got to be a full character.

JP wondered if they’d end up showing more of her background and motivations in future seasons. In LC, we see her with the trope of love changing someone’s mind from doing a bad thing - but we still don’t know what her initial motivations were for being part of the experiments.

Inda asked the panelists about any issues they had with the characters.

De Ana said Luke - there’s a specific color of woman that he can love (Jessica, Claire), and another that he’ll mess around with (Misty). She linked this colorism with the respectability politics and his being a preacher’s kid - a particular kind of classism that’s especially found in the south. 

An audience member asked for clarification on this and a discussion ensued between some audience members and panelists about how this is something ingrained in black culture since slavery - lighter skinned people being house slaves vs. darker skinned people being field slaves, etc. This kind of colorism is found throughout Afro-diaspora cultures. 

Also mentioned was how some churches had a comb outside the door and if you couldn’t get the comb through your hair, you couldn’t come in. Also the paper bag test for black sororities being a very real thing. 

In regards to this having to do with Luke being a preacher’s son - preachers have been and continue to be seen as having class access to white political spaces, which leads to the classism/colorism involved in the respectability politics. 

JP talked about her perspective as a person of color who doesn’t go to church anymore because part of that church culture is this colorism. 

Inda discussed how lighter skin is seen as feminine and darker skin as masculine and how this affects both women and men. 

An audience member asked if the casting of these women was purposeful for these reasons, or just Hollywood being Hollywood.

Krys talked about how you rarely see a pair on screen where the woman is the darker of the two.

Inda brought up Shades’ interest in Mariah and what that means to her.

De Ana answered the audience member that the casting was likely unconscious bias.

JP discussed this cultural bias some more. Depending on where she is - she can be seen as either light or dark skinned and when she is seen as light skinned she notices that she is treated a lot better. When she is perceived as darker skinned, she is often mistaken as a service person. 

De Ana responded that she is always asked questions in stores - “I don’t work here!” 

Maria added that she sometimes finds herself thinking “are you really a nice person, or am I light skinned in this space?” 

Inda brought up that Luke Cage season 2 doesn’t come until 2019, and after some discussion of which series get more seasons between now and then says “please tell me Coachella Fist isn’t coming back first?”

De Ana said that she can’t wait for Misty’s new arm.

An audience member brought up Eartha Kitt’s Catwoman as a standard bearer for black female comics characters. 

JP said that EK’s Catwoman is what made her want to be a superhero.

Inda talked about how Catwoman was not written as black and how that changed the framing of the character. 

There was a lot of raving about EK and Catwoman at this point by both panelists and audience members - I did not get it all down but it was great.

Maria said she wants to see more of Mariah and Shades’ relationship.

Krys said she is looking forward to Claire becoming more Night Nurse-y.

Inda also talked about Mariah and Shades - “they’re fucking.”

JP is concerned about being “Sleepy Hollow-ed”.

De Ana said LC has such a wide spectrum of black femininity that they’d have to kill half the cast in order to do that.

JP emphasized that she appreciated Claire being allowed to be Afro-Latina. 

An audience member brought up Star Trek: Discovery and Sonequa Martin-Green [lol I had SMG in my notes here and just got really confused - Sarah Michelle Gellar whaaaa?]. The audience member asked the panelists how they feel about Martin-Green’s character not getting to have natural hair.

What ensued was a lively conversation between both panelists and audience members about how Martin-Green’s character’s background was that she was raised on Vulcan, and then who would be doing her hair, and similar issues with other shows such as Sleepy Hollow and if the Mills sisters are the only black people in town - how is their hair getting done, etc. It was fantastic, but again, I did not get it all down quote-for-quote.

An audience member asked about Defenders - who else do the panelists want in there and are there are any concerns about how they characters will be treated?

JP said she’d love to have Misty join the Defenders because she’s such a badass. Also Colleen from Iron Fist (the only reason to watch IF).

Krys agreed and added that Misty and Colleen are Daughters of the Dragon together in the comics.

One audience member said that they loved Mariah for her complexity. But there were issues around the whole sexual assault storyline - not particularly well done.

JP agreed but said she feels mixed about it. There was the whole open secret aspect of the abuse and the show didn’t address that responsibly. But she liked that the grandma said he had to die for what he did. On the other hand, no one got Mariah any help for what she went through. 

De Ana thought the show was trying to show the reality of a complex situation. She liked that they didn’t have to show the assault happening for the audience to believe it. Also grandma believed her right away.

JP discussed the problem with Cottonmouth being pushed to shoot and kill his uncle. There is an issue in black culture of men not wanting to vilify abusers.

De Ana added that there are a lot of complex issues in these short flashbacks. Cottonmouth’s storyline is about toxic masculinity - he was pushed into doing this violent thing. It makes you understand and feel for both him and Mariah. It’s complex and the show lets it be complex.

Inda talked about the trope of an older black woman putting a gun into a young black man’s hands - The Get Down had a scene like that too.

An audience member brought up the fact that Cottonmouth didn’t want to kill his uncle because he was the only one in the family being supportive of him. They liked when Mariah beat Cottonmouth up, but not necessarily when she killed him. 

Another audience member who acknowledged they were way out of their lane added that they liked the depiction of Mariah still living out that trauma. It shows how it’s still affecting her.

Someone else from the audience discussed Shades and how Mariah’s abuse storyline was used to make her softer so he could come in and save her.

De Ana said Shades is Mariah’s “Supportive Murder Boyfriend”. Much hilarity ensued from this comment.

An audience member talked about how in the comics Mariah was a fat black woman in charge. The only other fat black woman from comics depicted on screen was Amanda Waller, who is similarly made skinny in both Suicide Squad and on Arrow.

Maria talked about her conflicted feelings on the great actresses cast for these roles - but they’re not fat. All of the panelists basically agree on this topic - with some acknowledging it’s not really their lane but, as De Ana stated “fuck these skinny bitches”.

Krys emphasized - in a world with all of this unrealistic stuff - we can’t have a fat black woman?!

Inda posed the question of if Mariah had been cast with a fat actress - would she have been characterized the same? General acknowledgement that there’s not faith that the writer’s room would have done well with that.

An audience member said they think there is an over-representation of fat black women. 

De Ana answered that yes, but only in a specific tropey sassy black woman way. 

Inda emphasized that Mariah got to be sexualized. 

Krys added that it was more like she had the agency to BE sexy - not hypersexualized or nonsexualized. 

An audience member brought up how Claire is a woc in STEM.

Krys said, as someone in STEM herself, she thinks it’s great. Claire gets to have authority. 

JP, also in STEM, added that her authority is not questioned or squashed. It was validating to watch a white dude decide to step back and let Claire do her thing.

An audience member said they want T’challa to make Misty’s arm, not Stark. Everyone agreed and cheered for this idea and that was the end of a great panel!

[theinsanecrayonbox]

Chloe Rules/Tardy Sauce

both of these are banked reviews, also talk about their correct matching stories a little too

Chloe Rules:

 Kevin! But wait Kev, you live with the teacher, why didn’t your homework get done? (and this also blows my theory about them skipping Kevin episodes since he’s not been introduced yet...or does it...)

 Also Tim, the excuse “my dog ate my homework” would work for you since you had a dog…and why would Crocker be surprised you had a talking dog? Oh wait right, I forgot, we’ve retconned all of s9, my bad!

 Plus “stupid” upside down would not be “diputs”, that’s backwards. It’d resemble something closer to “pidnfs” or “pidnls” probably

 And no, Chloe did not do her homework right, you need first AND last name ion things. For shame missy!

 “somebody put a mirror under his nose to make sure he’s still breathing” wow, that went a tad dark. But I love Kevin more knowing what a slacker he is lol

 Smoking in the hall…oh wow. Are you sure these kids are still 10/11 there folks? That was funny because it’s a meat smoker, but we all know what they meant. I’m just, wow. I never would’ve pegged Tim for a smoker; Francis totally, but not Tim *makes notes of that for later use*

 Heehee the term “grifter” being associated with Timmy, since you know, Inkblot!Timmy is based on Grifter. Heehee, made me giggle

 Also loving RoboCop!Chloe. still, this totally feels like the JN episode where Jimmy became hall monitor, but then again, this is a common narrative trope isn’t it, so not that surprising.

 “Well I can’t change who I am, because that would involve trying” I’m just gonna leave that line there for you because there’s so much to it ^^;;;

 and Chloe has gone mad with power hahahahahaha

 why do you keep saying the hedgehog’s name? is that a reference to something specific?

 Chloe has a gum sniffing dog…i…hm…you just had to ruin one of my favorite headcanons that Chloe is scared of dogs, didn’t you…hm…you know, I’m keeping it, gag aside, this is a highly trained professional dog, so maybe she can deal with this one but others

 But you know, at the same time, “gum sniffing dog” is very obviously “gun sniffing dog”, and the random locker searching…this whole scenario is very dark, realistic and played off as a laugh, but still and…yeah… plus what about the kid in the locker “a bully stuffed me in here a week ago” what’s her response to that? “go tell that to the principal”. No actions against the bully for putting him there, but instead actions against the kid for not getting himself out and to class. That’s victim blaming. And that’s something Chloe wouldn’t do; I mean, yes she’s drunk on power…but still. This whole scene is dealing with some very heavy real life issues and if you’re not paying attention, you’ll miss them for the laughable parody they’re giving.

 “Dad what are you doing here?!” that’s what we always ask Timmy when pointless Dad is thrown at us. But at least it’s a small call back to eth fact that Timmy’s Dad went to Dimmsdale Elementary too

 Dad hit the nail on the head about angry mobs…just another tick in the dark column (though he has been the subject of and part of several so that does make some sense)

 Aww Timmy said he cares about her…true in the next line he sorta said he was more worried about his own safety but still.

 And of course, school bell rings, and bam! No more conflict.

 But I can see this as some really good Chloe development here. She’s always been told to “be perfect” to follow the rules; she hasn’t had many friends in the past, so of course when she’s thrust into a rule enforcing position, she’d fall back onto the “be the best no matter the cost” mentality that has pushed her up until this point. Was it a bit too extreme, oh yeah, but then again Chloe seems to be an all or nothing sort of girl. This episode also touched on a lot of stuff if you look past the parody, so it was very deep too i think.

 As a whole I think these both (the production pair of stories, not the aired pair) work very well together. Dadlantis was fun and stupidly silly, while Chloe Rules was silly, but it was in a distracting sort of way. I think it’s a great episode as a while. Highly recommend it if you want Chloe development, and some fun laughs.

Tardy Sauce/Tacomania:

 I’m confused by the name of this episode because it’s listed one way in one place and as another elsewhere, and both are actually pretty good…EDIT: Now we know that Tardy Sauce us the official name, but “Tacomania is still good and  I think plays to the story concept more

 I’m still not sure if they keep changing her middle names or not…I think I really need a transcript to know what all of her middle names are at this point ^^;

 Lol you wanted to catch her, so you thought a literal net would be the best course. That is actually funny. Basic and rudimentary, but actually funny. But also whoot! Chloe has super teeth too!! Idk why that seems awesome. I just like how much of a perfect anti-thesis she is to Timmy actually.

 And we cue up more Carmicheal family doing “new age” stuff. Neats. I like how hippie-dippie anthropology they are

 Pointless Crocker…I guess isn’t *as* pointless, because here he’s at least a plot point/story device…but why is a teacher making this call? Isn’t it usually the principal or superintendent? That should’ve been a tip off that something was wonky Chloe dear…

 Chloe…obsessing over school like that is bad…but yes dear, you are a vegetarian so it makes perfect sense you don’t like tacos, but yes it was a great pun. (You are so relatable I love you lol) and yeah you totally work the system that way; 1 per person but your plus one hates the thing, you totally get two then!

 Why are there so many mascot clowns in FOPverse…? Also, Tim, what happened to your fear of clowns??

 Oh look another person seeing the fairies and it not mattering. It’s like Da Rules need not apply

 Pointless Dad…but the dummies are still a thing…wait no they were hand puppets before. Uhg. But yeah ok, I’ll let you keep the one point for continuity because they are puppets still and it plays to the plot idea about getting extra tacos I guess…

 And even Chet Ubetcha sees the fairies and calls them a mystical creature on tv…yup, Da Rules are so still a thing…

 But yes Chloe, what an amazing plot twist, Tim tricked you to get tacos, legasp! Though honestly, if the taco stand is that close to school, why did you need to ditch to begin with Tim? I know, you’d use any excuse to ditch school silly question. But really, why?

 Tim…the tacos are in the bag still…you can still eat those…even if they weren’t you’d still probably eat them because you’re gross like that. But yeah, seriously, only the bag is yucky dude. AND YOU HAVE MAGIC EVEN! You can easily save those tacos! I just…I don’t get it…

 Ok Tim, dude, why you gotta be petty here man? She already said why she wanted to go to school, you obviously know you did bad by lying to her, distracting her from making it to school is just a jerky move. I mean, she’s gonna be wicked tardy, so it shouldn’t count for perfect attendance anyways, but that aside. She threw your tacos in the garbage is why you’re doing it; dude, like I said the tacos were FINE. All making her miss it is going to do is make her HATE you. this is just stupid on your part. I get you’re a twerpy 11/12 (should be 14 honestly by now) year old at this point, so yeah perfectly believable reaction on your part, so A+ writers! I’m just saying dude, if you stopped to think, you’d realize what a jerk you’re being, when this is all your fault to begin with.

 You’re not having a wish fight, you were the only one making wishes until the troll wish. And he shouldn’t be able to unwish your wish anyways Chloe, that was previously established, so why reiterate it?

 Wait…hold up wait…you did not just say…omr you really did just say that Crocker didn’t you. Tim planned a surprise party because she broke the record? Oh. My. Ra. I did not see that plot twist coming. I am just…oh wow. That was some very good writing. The whole setup felt like a normal plausible scenario, like there was no possible way there’d be an arterial motive to it. I just…wow.

 The end button, not so great…

 But I’m just, wow. This is a prime example of a non-magical episode that deals with real life stuff, solved in a real life way I think. And it is a wonderful example really. I also think it shows Tim’s real level of maturity that we forget he has. I mean, he planned this whole ruse after all, even when it was something he didn’t understand (though, weren’t you all about perfect attendance way back in TimvisibleI??), and got everyone else on board with it too even though they didn’t get it either. But he knew Chloe’s attendance record meant everything to her, so he made it special for her. I’m just…floored. This is character development. It might not be actiony, or filled with (horrible) sight gags, but it is some very necessary character development that we’ve been sorely lacking for a long time. A+++ on the writing here guys, honestly.

Together, I don’t think Chloe Rules and Tardy Sauce should have been aired together because they’re both pretty strong stories (the former less than the later granted) and the weaker stories *need* the stronger ones to help balance them out. Admittedly Dad-lantis and Crockin the house were both good fillerish stories too, but they pair so well with these that when you split them up, they just didn’t do as well with what the were stuck with. I don’t know if this season was produced with the idea that the A- and B-stories could be separated and ran out of order or not, but I’ve always felt that if the production team put them together in an order, it was probably for a good reason. I know these days the networks want just content to slap in anywhere any time and not care about a continuous story line, and if it’s written that way then it’s great; but when it’s written to go together a specific way, you ruin it by chopping it up and throwing it around willy nilly.