#yes some characters are MORE monstrous than others and some actions are more vile and reprehensible than others

[prouvaireafterdark]

Friendly reminder from Jacob Anderson himself that this series is difficult to moralize, there is no right or wrong way to feel about an Anne Rice character, and it's okay for your opinions on them to change over time 😘💜

[coleisunderrated]

Season 11: The Destruction of Zane Julien

You read that right. Season 11 ended up doing nothing more but destroy everything about Zane that made him who he was and was one big middle finger to all the character development and hardships he went through. Follow the cut for why and my biggest rant yet and the bane of my time in this fandom

Making one of the ninja evil was kind of a given seeing how much the fandom wanted it. I wouldn’t have had a problem with it either but the writers decided to ‘play it safe’ by using Zane simply because he’s a robot who can just be reprogrammed. It really dehumanized him, especially after he struggled time and again to be just as human as the rest of the ninja. I know Ninjago’s writing has never been stellar but there was a whole bunch of problems with Zane being the Ice Emperor. What was the point in making him evil if he had no real reason other than a shoehorned case of amnesia? which was the laziest way to go And why would they do it if they won’t go into the undoubtedly traumatic effects it will have on him or even the changes that could’ve happened within the team?

And worst of all, all the damage from that lazy and bad writing has been done. Season 11 ended up completely destroying his character.

Before season 11, Zane was the sweetest person of Ninjago. He grew and learned about himself and the world just like any other human. He was always the odd one out but soon earned his place in the team. He had a very sweet and loving relationship with his father and even if it’s been retconned, he was also accepting of his brother Echo. He found his true potential by embracing who he was and knowing the love he had for his friends. He even sacrificed his own life to stop the Overlord, dying as a true hero. He was a true protector and went through way more than any ninja did (besides Lloyd) to save Ninjago time and again. Even if he was a robot, he was, in a way, more human than many other characters in Ninjago. His story has been told and the only way to add more was to explore more of his past such as his encounter with the previous Master of Ice or his life between his father’s first death and meeting Sensei Wu. But all of that, all the character development and growth he had, and all the suffering he endured to uphold his duty, has been rendered meaningless and thrown down the drain the moment Zane was revealed to be the irredeemable and monstrous Ice Emperor.

Zane was made to protect those who can’t protect themselves. As the Ice Emperor, he did the exact opposite by ruling not just a city like Garmadon did but an entire realm with an iron fist. He also killed countless innocent beings. He committed genocide on Krag’s species and most likely many others who weren’t lucky to have any lone survivors. The formlings and the villagers being frozen wasn’t treated as such because ‘oh hey they’re still alive, they just can’t do anything’ but it was really no better than if he actually killed them. For the formlings, their culture, way of life, and knowledge of shapeshifting, had been wiped out for countless years. He killed so many people and living things, brought so much suffering to a whole realm, and committed countless atrocities that are absolutely unforgivable. Nothing could ever make up for what he did. He jumped beyond the moral event horizon further than any villain in Ninjago ever did and yes, that includes Harumi.

Much of the fandom and even canon put all the blame on Vex and while he can be considered the true villain of the Ice Chapter and him manipulating Zane to do his dirty work for him made him all the more vile, what is often overlooked is that Zane still did these terrible things out of his own will. The scroll corrupted him but didn’t erase his will and tyrant or not, he could still disagree with Vex, make his own decisions, and even did things Vex had no say in such as imprisoning Lloyd.

And then the writers only made it even worse with the way they ended it.

When Boreal was defeated, the other ninja finally realized the Ice Emperor is Zane yeah Ninjago has never been good with subtlety I’m actually disgusted that they, especially Cole, took him back. They knew he was a genocidal tyrant who caused decades of suffering to the whole Never Realm yet they don’t have to do any fighting and let Lloyd take all the credit and welcome him back to the team like all that never happened. They all took a backseat throughout the whole Ice Chapter so Lloyd to get all the spotlight and do everything himself yet again (which is a whole other issue in of itself). And once they meet up with Zane, all of his crimes and atrocities they know he did are forgotten just because he’s their friend and the protagonist who should always be treated as a hero no matter what he does. And Krag doesn’t even seem to be scared or angry when he sees Zane, who killed his kind. And then he gets to be with the ninja for a bit before they go home while the denizens of the Never Realm don’t seem to react at all to his presence. Even if he never really showed his face up to this point, the ninja and Vex would’ve surely said something but no, he's not an evil dictator anymore and was a good guy all along so he won’t have to face any repercussions or fess up to all the horrible crimes he committed. Then again, what’s the point if nothing could ever redeem him after all that?

And the message at the beginning of the Ice Chapter has also ended up being irrelevant. It strongly implied that not only is Zane no longer the good-natured nindroid we all know and love but that there will also be no going back. The only way it could’ve had any impact at all was if Zane was actually going to be gone for good. The possibility of it being the key to restore Zane’s memories also a waste of potential. Speaking of which, it was unrealistic and a blatant deus ex machina that Vex only had to say ‘protect’ and boom! Zane’s memories are back and he returns in a flash and everything is all good and normal again. He didn’t have to struggle one bit to recover his memories. Regaining memories is not that simple and Zane didn’t even acknowledge all the harm he caused nor does he really do anything to Vex other than freezing him for a bit. At this point, he has devolved into nothing more than the unsympathetic and unforgivable karma houdini he now is.

All this makes me think of a Twitter post I saw earlier of how ‘we were not ready for the ending’. With Nya learning to control ice at one point, the writers seemed like were seriously going to kill off Zane or write him off permanently and replace him with Nya. What could’ve also happened is somehow, if Zane survived, the First Spinjitzu Master’s spirit may sense what Zane did and would be so disgusted by his actions he takes away his elemental powers and pass them on to Nya or Zane himself does so. With Zane powerless and traumatized, he ends up leaving the team for good. He certainly won’t be able to stay in the Never Realm either given all the harm he caused and everyone there would most likely want him dead. If he didn’t die, he either shuts down permanently or leaves for some completely different realm and never comes back. I remember when the whole fandom was scared something like that would happen but looking back now, those would’ve been way better than that awful finale we got. Killing off Zane for good or him leaving permanently would’ve been a very huge move and Ninjago is no stranger to this stuff but that leads to another problem. The problem isn’t whether or not the writers will make any big moves, it’s that they often end up doing a bad job at it.

And the finale. Goddamn the finale.

The finale only made Zane look even more unsympathetic and undeserving of the happy ending or anything resembling it. You can forgive the monster who killed and harmed countless innocent people and caused a devastating eternal winter to a whole realm simply because they happen to be your corrupted friend who doesn’t remember you but they’re memories came back in a snap and you can fix them in an instant with the Power of Friendship(TM)! That is complete and utter bullshit! And it completely destroyed his place in the team. He can’t be seen as a ninja or a good guy anymore and the ninja know they’re siding with a murderer and tyrant who’ll never have to face any consequences for all the terrible things he did and will most likely never address all the trauma he’ll now have. And while I may not ship Pixane, can you imagine how devastating it would be for Pixal to know what Zane did? If the Pixane episode doesn’t address any Ice Emperor stuff or her trying to help him, it’s gonna feel very... off. Honestly, Zane’s relationship with the ninja and even Pixal is now very toxic.

And no, Zane apologizing or the ninja helping him being 'behind the scenes’ just won’t cut it. We can only get so much from what actually happens in the show. Even if it appeared in the show he’s done way too many things that are too terrible to deserve even an ounce of sympathy.

Gonna diverge a bit here but am I the only one who thought Vex also got off way too easy?

Anyway, with all said and done, Zane now feels completely out of place in Ninjago. The writers most likely had a different ending in mind that would result in Zane being gone for good but they changed it at the last minute and as a result, it doesn’t feel right with him there. It no longer feels like he’s part of the team and while the ninja still serve their purpose and have more of their story to tell, Zane doesn’t seem to fit in anymore and is... just there. The Ice Chapter completely threw away all the development he had and made his story a total waste. I’m also starting to fear this will affect Pixal, who (as far as the writers are concerned) is most relevant as a love interest, not a samurai or even her own character.

The only way the writers could salvage Zane’s character at all is to consider this season nonexistent and they’re doing a pretty damn good job at that and that isn’t really a good thing. As for the next season, I’m feeling ‘meh’ about it and while Cole seems to finally get some attention after that, I have some bad feelings about what’s gonna happen. Besides all that, Zane’s presence and status as a good guy now feels unearned and forced. And if he goes into any ‘protecting others’ spiel, what was once a core element of his character has become hollow and now makes him a massive hypocrite. That’s how bad this season ended up being for Zane, his story, and everything that made him who he was.

All in all, congratulations Ninjago writers. You took one of your most beloved and well-developed characters who deserved the world and completely ruined him beyond repair. I can’t wait to find out who will be the next character you’ll destroy.

[oldboyjensrps]

Jensen’s Preferences

Themes and Preferences

tagged by the rad: @bluteamblueprints

aka, things i’ve always wanted to ask people / have people ask me. please remember to repost rather than reblog!  Getting put under the cut as to not clog dashboards.

what types of genres do you gravitate towards?

Well jeepers I’m a fan of balancing comedy and serious shit, and also a fuckin sucker for romantic shtuff. Found family? HOO YEAH THAT’S THE SHIT. I also enjoy a good spicy thread as long as it’s balanced with humor and actual character work.

Action/adventure? Sign me the funck up. Add in magic or fantasy? Sure why in the not? Monstrous characters that can be sweeties also? Check mate, mate. Also just monsters can be fun.

Tragecomedy is neat. I like to mix my genres like a child at soda fountain.

what types of genres do you gravitate away from?  

Angst for angst’s sake. Like I said above, I really am more of a “mix and balance” type writer, and often overly angsty threads die fast or at least get... very tiresome. Doesn’t mean I won’t accept an angst based starter or send one, but it might turn a little silly as well since I’m rping in the tf2niverse. in order to keep things gloomy it takes a lot of negating character progression (since people tend to remain sad for a while in real life) and I’m trained to “yes and.” Also it brings back cringey memories from olden days.

Smut without chemistry or character development. Rushed romance lands here too.

What type of characters do you play often?

    Oh boy uh. Mmmm.... sarcastic. Characters. Women who are very terrifying and dangerous but also goofy and awkward? Also men who are terrifying and dangerous but also goofy and awkward. And nonbinary characters who are terrifying and dangerous but also goofy and awkward. Characters heavily inspired by the Golden Girls and Hawkeye Pierce. Uh, and self inserts. It’s actually really interesting to try and look at what you, as a character, would do via stepping back and looking at your basic traits and experiences etc.

What kind of characters do you tend not to play?

Flat characters. I’ve tried with dnd npcs. They always complicate and become gremlins with actual purpose.

Any pairing tropes you particularly enjoy?

Both parties being awkward idiots and not seeing the very obvious signals that the other person likes them. Partly because it makes observer characters just so done.

Enemy to lover occasionally as long as it’s not..weird.

Being insufferable together in terms of puns and chaotic antics

Cuddling, lots of physical affection.

Buddy cop type romance

Being trapped in a space somehow together and shenanigans.

Platonic tropes?

Lotta physical affection and being like... cats in a pile.

You know? A good good cat pile.

Getting up to antics like stealing a mannequin from a store going out of business.

Just being super close

FOUND FAMILY (especially found dad/child dynamics)

Being ready to throw down for each other.

Throwing down for each other.

Being honest with each other, even if the other person doesn’t want to hear it as long as it’s for their sake.

Antagonist tropes?

Ahahah hahahah...

Sorry you just ever uh, make a character so awful, vile, and reprehensible that even you cringe when thinking about them? I did. It’s an NPC for one of my blogs, but he has influenced the lives of all my main Tf2 muses.

Frenemies is fun

Antagonists that are equally in the right as the protagonist but with different methods

True redemption arcs like Zuko.

Also Vegeta type redemption arcs. Those amuse me.

Be mean to Messenger I wanna know how she works.

Prefered thread type?

Paragraphs. I ramble occasionally but tend to match length though I never expect my partner to do the same. Not one liners though, just can’t do it in the tumblr format. I don’t regularly use icons (mainly because I OC a lot) but I hope to do that some more with my Spy blog.

Favorite types of Interactions?

Ones where the muses agree to give both muns the middle finger and just randomly go completely off the rails? Like so in character that they get away from us.

Hurt/comfort

Stuff with MEAT and multiple facets/layers

Wishlist.

For @Oldboyjensenrps

Even more interaction with canon characters for Messenger

To eventually actually get “The Jack” interacting on the blog

Familial threads 

AUs

Specifically working with Messenger’s 10th class Verse-Mercsenger (under [merc au] tag)

More frands/more stupid, questionably-legal antics

Fight the messenger

adopt the messenger

seduce the messenger-sucker for well done romance and/or smut threads

For @dastardlydapperbastard

Interaction with other mercs

franship with other mercs

fights with other mercs

All the above with ocs too

Good luck romancing him but that would be interesting to see if anyone succeeds

accidentally adopting but he’ll never admit it ocs

awkward scout threads if anyone needs a spy

buddy cop type Scout threads

Interacting with Scouts that aren’t his Scout and accidentally (but again he’ll deny it) adopting them

Crack him open and feast upon his emotions somehow

Open the can of worms that is Jolene. (see bio)

let me be the grumpy old stab man

tagging: I think everyone I interact with is spoken for on this one, so if you’re reading this and haven’t done it you, I tag you pikachu.