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zee-rambles · 1 year

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Lets. D0. This.

(Please note: Post will be updated as I find more resources and think of more strategies)

(Please do not re-use gif without permission…unless it’s to save Rise…)

Mutant May

YOU can watch Season 1 and Season 2 of RISE right HERE!

So I’ve seen a a lot of people still wondering if Rise of the TMNT can be saved.

There’s is a lot of hope, especially with the boom of fans joining the fandom after the movie dropped last year, people making more art on tumblr, twitter, tik tok, and so on. But also a a lot of doubt, especially after JJ Conway’s post on twitter.

BUT…I still think there is a chance…a GOOD chance. WITH ORIGINAL CAST AND CREW! Why?

We live in the internet. Information is more then easy to get out now thanks to social media. There is all kinds of ways to get the word out to people. Let’s abuse it. 😎

Fans have brought back shows before.

We need a MAJOR push through social media, more fans, more art, it’s up to us…and I think we can do it!

Fans convinced Netflix to bring Sense8 back for a finale

Fans convinced fox to bring back “Futurama” after it was cancelled in 1999.

Hey Arnold got the jungle movie thirteen years after the show was cancelled

Animaniacs got a 3 season revival 22 years after it stopped airing.

Brooklyn 99 was cancelled in 2018, and the fans convinced NBC to pick up the series.

Arrested Development was canceled after 3 seasons, but AFTER it was cancelled, it grew an audience and they made it come back!

Fans saved the original Star Trek in the 60s with letters.

They did it. Why can’t we?

So what can we do?

Well…

1. PETITIONS TO SAVE RISE that we can all sign…

PETITION 1 (The strongest one, but the more petitions signed, the better!)

PETITION 2

PETITION 3

PETITION 4 (save the content that was cut/we missed)

PETITION 5! (Make an ROTTMNT season 3)

2. Pester Nickelodeon and Netflix on social media (THE BIG ONE Y’ALL, THIS IS THE MOST DIRECT AND IMPORTANT)

Be polite, be non-toxic (don’t be rude or mean, the boys would not want that, and the Nick/Netflix won’t listen), but be LOUD, PASSIONATE, AND ANNOYING! Ask for DVDs of the show/movie, and then BUY THOSE DVDs!

MAKE SURE TO ASK FOR THE FULL ORIGINAL CAST AND CREW TO COME BACK, INCLUDING ANDY SARIANO AND ANT WARD.

Sample DM/Letter (but try to come up with your own. Too many repeats and they will ignore it)

“Dear Nickelodeon/Netflix/Viacom, I can’t tell you how much Rise means to me, and I really love that you put the show on air. But it was not fair that the show was cancelled before it got the chance to reach the audience it deserved, only because of a few bad reviews and a lack of advertising. The show is great, there’s tons of fans, tons of art, and people, including me, want so much more! Please bring it back! We want the original crew to come, Flying Bark, for the show to get it’s full second season restored, and it’s five season run like it was originally intended. People hated the 2012 TMNT when it came out, but it got it’s chance and now there are people that love it. Why can’t Rise of the TMNT have the same? It’s clear that the creators love their work and there’s a growing fan base for it. Rise just came out at the wrong time, but it deserves it chance to shine.”

The more personal you made the letter, the more you say what Rise means to you, the better.

As for me? I’m sending them a picture of Pizza Pigeon with the #wewantmoreriseoftheTMNT and #saverottmnt

Request movies/seasons on Netflix.

Ask for Rise Season 2, another season, another movie. Just keep asking!

Nickelodeon’s facebook page (Look, I know that facebook is a relic at this point, but the more people go there and PESTER Nickelodeon, the better!)

Rise’s facebook page

Leave good reviews. Share. Leave TONS of comments

Nickelodeon’s instagram

Nickelodeon’s Twitter page (treat carefully, there be Musks out there…only use if you are over 18)

Nickelodeon’s TikTok

Niceklodeon’s letter inbox

Nickelodeon, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036

Rugrats was brought back because fans bombarded Nickelodeon with letters saying they wanted it back. Might as well cover our bases. This one is a BIG DEAL!

Nickelodeon’s Corporate Number

1-212-846-2543 Call them! Annoy them! Ask how we can get their attention! Tell them why you love this show! Why it deserves to come back.

Contact Paramount

Paramounts Request form

Official Fan Page Rise’s Instagram

The more followers the better.

Netflix’s instagram

Netflix’s facebook

Netflix’s Twitter (Treat carefully. There be MUSKs out there…only use if you are over 18)

SPAM NICKELODEON’S EMAILS!

[email protected]

If anyone has any more, any deeper more direct points of contact, or more ideas, please share!

3. Leave good reviews for Rise anywhere and raise awareness everywhere you can!

One of the key reasons Rise did not do too well because it was unfairly review bombed before people could give it a chance…so get out there on tik tok, IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, and ESPECIALLY youtube.

Make reviews! Analysis! JOKES! Support other content creators! When the Rise Reanimated video comes out, share it like no tomorrow!

No one paid attention when How to Train Your Dragon came out, but word of mouth and people saying it was good, made it the success it was. Let’s repeat history!

Anytime there is NEW RISE CONTENT on Nickelodeon’s YouTube channel, watch it, share, spread it.

Share this post on social media, across various sites, use the information here to spread awareness about how people can help and what they can do. Be relentless! (Like Leo in Lair Games)

Ask influencers to review, react, and give RISE a chance without placing judgement.

4. Make. ART!

Draw, Write, TWEET, Make MERCH, Sell MERCH, Make Tik Toks, Videos on YouTube, posts on instagram, discord, what pad, demanding more Rise, spreading the word, and just showing how much you love this show! Not only will it attract attention, but it’s also good for all of us. There will be more Rise content either way.

Make sure to @ nickelodeon on ALL of your art! SPAM THEM! ANNOY THEM! DROWN THEM IN LOVE FOR THIS SHOW! Demand DVD’s and Blue rays of the SHOW AND THE MOVIE! It’s not fair that we can’t have access to it!

PLAY THIS GAME!

If you see official Rise MERCH in the while, buy it if you can! Also support as many rise content creators as you can. If you can’t draw? Write! If you can’t create! Like! Share! Comment! Support each other!

Rise April ART Challenge

Keep in mind…there WILL be pushback.

Companies as big as Nickelodeon and Viacom care about their bottom line: $$$…money. BUT pushback, whether they are taking down your videos on Tik Tok, striking artists on twitter, mean that they’re taking NOTICE. So don’t. Give. UP!

One last thing to remember: DO NOT harass fans for enjoying other versions of TMNT

Even though Rise is the first and only TMNT I have ever loved, I don’t believe in shaming other fans for looking forward to, or enjoying other TMNT series. Gatekeeping like that was what stopped Rise from (heh) Rising as high as it should have. All Rise fans are welcome, and all TMNT fans are welcome. Rise deserves to reach more fans, it deserves another season, and it does not need to knock down other TMNT series to do it. Show them your love and your need for more Rise, without making other TMNT fans feel unwelcome.

Share, spread the word, give it your best shot! A village can move MOUNTAINS! SO let’s do it.

So that in the near future…we can MAKE THIS JOKE!

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vanvelding · 6 months

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I'm going to say one of the nicest things I can about a show about Star Trek: Lower Decks

They played us like a string quartet.

(Spoilers for 4x09: "The Inner Fight")

Lower Decks was sold a Star Trek/Rick & Morty mashup from the start. The first scene is a drunken Mariner literally harming her sidekick, Boimler. It practically screamed, "Mariner & Boimler a hundred tours! Double-u, double-u, double-u dot Mariner and boimler dot com!"

But of course, it also had Star Trek references. One of the earliest is "Who would win in a fight? Khan or Roga Danar?" Why would anyone else in The Federation know or care who Roga Danar is? And there's no imagination on display for the oldest referential paradigm, "Who would win in a fight?" Lazy. Bullshit.

Of course before the end of season one, Lower Decks showed us it was more than that. Boimler was gaining the kind of experience he needed. The story hinted very strongly that Mariner had been in Starfleet a LONG time. She wasn't a omnicompotent mary sue; she was a Commander with her own philosophy/trauma that compelled her to remain an Ensign.

It was a good show and it stood on its own. The references were used well to create interesting stories ("Twovix"), as part of the setting ("Hear All, Trust Nothing"), or just as a gag here and there ("Kayshon, His Eyes Open" and, like a dozen others). The references to the setting become the background radiation, remarkable in how deep a cut they really are (Vendorians?). I've described it to many people as "Star Trek, but everyone has watched Star Trek."

What it wasn't, was related to its namesake. "Lower Decks" was a surprisingly heavy episode about the younger members of the Enterprise crew and their perspective on the missions of galactic import that the viewer usually enjoys an omnisicent view of.

Lower Decks mentions our main cast don't have that omniscient view, but Mariner is a stone-cold badass, Rutherford was part of a secret effort to develop artificial intelligence, Tendi is the Mistress of the Winter Constellations, and Boimler--actually Biomler is no more exceptional than any other Starfleet officer.

So when we get our main cast and the senior officers into a room and they mention Nick Locarno, our thought is, "LOL, another reference. This one from TNG. Not particularly deep. LOL, Boimler is a Beverly Crusher fanboy. I guess it makes sense, they have the character model from the episode with Tom Paris. Clearly, Robert Duncan McNeil is happy to do some voice work. We'll probably make a reference to how much he looks like Tom Paris.

"lol"

Look, if you figured it out then pat yourself on the back. Me? I filed away another reference. I didn't realize that Nick Locarno was connected to the episode of TNG that was this entire series' namesake. The characters even say, "Who?" which is one of the first times they don't get a Star Trek reference. Because Nick Locarno isn't a part of the Star Trek universe they view with an enthusiastic fandomness; it's part of their dramatic history, whether they know it or not.

"ha-ha, I guess Nick Locarno is too deep a cut for the show that called back to Morgan fucking Bateson."

But whatever, A-plot/B-plot. Gags about Starfleet habitually rolling up to seedy establishments in uniforms while looking for information, which is subverted by Captain Freeman being fucking genre savvy (also, wasn't she going to be promoted before getting arrested at the end of season two? I guess getting framed for a crime was deemed to be not very 'admiral-able'). Mariner ends up in a cave with a Klingon taking shelter from a crystal rain.

The pieces are there. Mariner was an ensign during The Dominion War. Two to three years before The Dominion War, Wesley Crusher left Starfleet, our Nick Locarno expy Tom Paris was recruited to Voyager, and Sito Jaxa was an ensign.

And Nick Locarno is in play.

We could have figured it out! We're in the narrative and emotional third act of this series (Tendi gave us the "We'll always be friends" speech last week)! Everyone regular just sat in a room trying to figure out how to help Mariner; we were one fruit salad analogy away from an intervention with Dr. Migleemoo!

Mariner escapes from Cardassian interrogation chambers for fun!

But Locarno is just another TNG reference, like Beverly Crusher. Background radiation. The season's story arc is something original to Lower Decks, which it's proven it's unafraid to do at this point. The series has no relation to "Lower Decks"

And then they fucking hit us with it; Beckett Mariner knew Sito Jaxa. They were friends. Then Jaxa died.

That's Mariner's trauma (that and The Dominion War).

And I didn't see it because I came to see Lower Decks as a series that stood on its own merits as a show while calling back to earlier Treks in a light, non-committal way. And I credit that solely to the writing of the show which leveraged both of those qualities to make an entertaining show that I like before, but now respect.

Just amazing stuff.

#star trek #star trek lower decks #star trek lwd #lower decks #lower decks spoilers #star trek lwd spoilers

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tocomplainfriend · 5 months

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YOU DIDN'T WRITE ANYTHING SIMILAR TO BOJACK BRO! BH has so much structure and essence, it is insane. Specially after S1, the intelligence in those BH scripts is nowhere to be found in HB. In helluva, There are these tiny good things that get murdered every other episode. Things that sound better as concept-than how you developed it. There are so many great jokes that aren't based on saying "dick dick whore fuck", so many of their animal characters work for actually smart animal jokes. Or the tongue twisters! YOU BARELY LET CHARACTER BE BAD PEOPLE. Every social issue they suddenly have a sad pass and their dad was mean and that JUSTIFIES EVERYTHING? Bojack H literally goes against that so hard is impossible you think this way if you understood Todd's speech, or Bojack's interview or the last two fucking episodes of the series. All the main cast also feels almost empty of bad qualities that aren't uwu justified by the plot and writing. Certain things stop just being explanation of characters and how they came to be. It sounds more like you gave your characters a bunch of shitty we are in hell traits + things that you didn't even recognize as problematic. AND TRIED TO SAVE THEM IN THE WRITING as just flaws- or making something else happen to the character to be like "Oh they have it so difficult! They just didn't get taught how to love right" When they are being abusive toxic fucks instead.

I legit believe all of Herb story had something so strong to say about queer issues, then Helluva. Like he literally comes out to BJ, kisses him later on and immediately dismiss it. -And then he gets arrested by the police for having gay sex -as public indecency. Many conservatives complain about it cause Herb ran the Horsing around show, saying "it is a show for children people like him shouldn't flaunt around their alternative lifestyle and ruining America"

(Read the sings LMAO) All of this in the 80s to 90s

Also, this guy's comments

"So, here I am, being your mother, which I know is giving you all sorts of mixed-up ideas about gender, while your brain is still loose and stupid. Just remember, if you become a queer later in life, this isn't my fault! Don't you sing no songs in your nightclub act called, "My Daddy was My Mommy," while gazing longingly at a tangled string of pearls... Pearls are for ladies, Bojack. Pearls are for ladies."

AND THIS GUYYYYY HELLO? They have multiple episodes, including Todd's sexuality- but not all the episodes nor his personality revolve around that! He even made a dating app for Ace people with his girlfriend!

I already have 3 "Bojack Horseman > Helluva Boss" post in this account!

#vivziepop critique #helluva boss criticism #vivziepop critical #helluva boss critique

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devourers-of-god · 25 days

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their future careers? if you haven’t done it already !

hello!!! trying to get back from the dead by clearing my requests one by one, i promise i will do yours :3 please give me some time as im um not well mentally 🩷

FUTURE CAREERS OF THE SALLY FACE CAST

(if everything went well.)

SAL - naturally, probably a musician of some sort. if that failed he would be a movie director !

LARRY - painter, if that failed i feel like he would work in the field of helping homeless people.

ASHLEY- Writer! if that failed i feel like she would be an amazing lawyer.

TODD- this guy would work at Nasa or if that failed, librarian with a side of developing games/websites.

NEIL- probably a coach of something, or he would work in the animal field.

MAPLE- she would draw for children’s books!

CHUG- probably a chef hehehe or a blue collar guy.

TRAVIS- if he stuck to religion he would be a priest or if not, a writer. a fucking good writer.

THERE YOU GO!!! i put travis last because i want you guys to read the entirety of my post hahahaah i love you all and thank you so much for the support of my arrestation post GAHA you guys are the real deal. love you all.

#sallyface #sally face #todd morrison #larry johnson #ashley campbell #sal fisher #travisphelps #sf #sally face hcs #sal fisher x reader #sf oneshots #sf hcs #travisphelps hc #ashley campbell x reader #ashley campbell hcs #larry johnson headcanons #todd morrison x reader

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boghermit · 2 months

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Pointing Out the Historical Inaccuracies (and Some Accuracies) of Ridley Scott's Napoleon 🤓

The only interesting parts of this film are the costumes, and maybe one or two music tracks. The rest of the movie is just awful. The story can hardly be called a story. It's just miscellaneous boring scenes duct taped together. None of the characters are developed beyond a single trait, if that. A period this broad shouldn't have been crammed into a movie this short. I honestly wouldn't have disliked the historical inaccuracy so much if it had been sacrificed for the sake of a good narrative, but this is bad. Even if you don't know about the era enough to nitpick it, I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone.

TL;DR go watch Waterloo or The Duelists instead.

Accurate Historical Details

There were some minor details that made me perk up like, "Ah, yes! It did happen like that!" The rest of the movie is so inaccurate that these details stuck out.

Napoleon tugged on peoples' ears as a sign of affection. You see this in the movie with Tallyrand and Josephine. He also did this a lot with his soldiers, which we don't see in the film. In fact, he doesn't interact with his soldiers much at all in the film.

The French fired a 101-cannon salute after Napoleon's first son was born.

Napoleon famously bumbled at the Coup of 18 Brumoire, and his brother Lucien had to step in to direct the French grenadiers.

It's contested whether or not Robespierre actually shot himself in the jaw, but I think at this point it's mostly accepted as truth? In any case, someone screwed up his jaw before he was arrested.

The British loved publishing political cartoons about Napoleon, including cartoons of him being cucked.

Joséphine did actually meet Tsar Alexander shortly before her death. I didn't know about this one and was happy to learn something new.

The depictions of line and square formations were okay.

Historical Inaccuracies

This is, in spite of its budget, one of most historically inaccurate pieces of media I've seen on the era, and on top of that it isn't even good.

There is so much historical context omitted from this film that I feel like anyone who doesn't have an interest in the time period will have NO idea what's going on. You are never really given the how and why of history other than "the Europeans are fighting and also Napoleon is there."

The overall characterization of Napoleon is just bizarre. Napoleon was smart, egotistical, ambitious, hot-tempered, and had a magnetic charisma and human charm that inspired a kind of blind loyalty in his soldiers. This is why he was so successful - and so dangerous. Napoleon never feels threatening or sinister in this film. He's just kind of there, slouching and sweating and mumbling under his breath as history unfolds. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure does a better job of depicting Napoleon than whatever the hell is going on here.

Napoleon was not present at the beheading of Marie-Antoinette.

He didn't have his horse shot out from under him at Toulon, and he didn't send gore-spattered cannonballs to his mother, as far as I know.

The movie casts a younger actress to play Joséphine de Beauharnais, but Joséphine was actually older than Napoleon.

I'm pretty sure that Napoleon didn't find and return the sword of Joséphine's ex-husband, although there is a legend stating that he attempted to confiscate it and was persuaded by Joséphine's son to return it.

The French army never shot their cannons at the Pyramids in Egypt. They also didn't loot the Pyramids, although they participated in a lot of heinous looting elsewhere.

Napoleon didn't leave Egypt because he found out he was being cucked by his wife - he'd already known about that for some time. He left Egypt because the campaign was failing and because the political situation in France was becoming untenable.

Jacques-Louis David attended the coronation of Napoleon, but didn't start his studies for the painting during the coronation itself. (At least as far as I know.)

The lake scene during the Battle of Austerlitz is a bit of a legend, but probably not true. The gigantic lake was more likely a series of shallow ponds, if it existed at all.

Napoleon did not lead cavalry charges, and he sure as shit didn't lead cavalry charges at the Battles of Borodino or Waterloo. In fact, Napoleon infamously sat a safe distance away while watching the bloody Battle of Borodino unfold.

Napoleon was not exiled following the Russian campaign. He was exiled after the War of the Sixth Coalition, in 1814.

Joséphine died in 1814, when Napoleon was still at Elba, not in 1815.

Trench warfare and scoped muskets were not used at the Battle of Waterloo.

Napoleon never met the Duke of Wellington.

That's uh. The cut version of my complaints.

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alittlehurtwithyourcomfort · 1 year

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9-1-1 Whumplist (Updated with Each Episode)

Characters: Evan “Buck” Buckley (played by Oliver Stark), Edmundo “Eddie” Diaz (played by Ryan Guzman), Albert Han (played by John Harlan Kim)

Age Rating: TV-14

Show available on Hulu

Genre: First Responder, Drama, Procedural, Found Family, Ensemble, LGBTQ+

(The styling of this whumplist is inspired by @love-me-a-lotta-whump who has an amazing blog, go check them out!)

Synopsis: The firefighters of the 118 work with other first responders to save lives in various emergency situations. Throughout this, they must learn to balance their own personal lives with the stressors of the job.

Note: This show is a great combination of drama, humor, and emotion that is definitely worth the watch (though it does require a bit of suspension of disbelief, the emergencies they deal with are WEIRD). The characters have such a great family bond with each other, and their development and interactions are amazing. This show has tons of emotional whump, as well as some great physical whump moments. I highly recommend. There is whump for EVERY main character, and I am not over-exaggerating when I say that.

TW’s: general blood/gore, child abuse and neglect, sexual assault (mild/not shown on screen), PTSD, alcohol and drug abuse, suicide, gun violence, depression and mental illness, panic attacks, death, pregnancy/childbirth, domestic abuse, natural disasters, and various other emergency situations that could be potentially triggering.

(For more detailed trigger warnings, click here)

My word of advice is if you are uncomfortable with a situation/storyline, skip it. Most emergencies/911 calls are not essential to the overall storyline! I’ve had to skip a few myself, they can get pretty gross sometimes.

List Key:

bold = most whump, best whump, or favorite whump scenes

~~ = scene break

THIS LIST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE SERIES!

________________________________________________________

Character: Evan “Buck” Buckley (played by Oliver Stark) (appears in all seasons)

1x01: upset, stressed

1x02: in shock ~~ crying

1x03: none

1x04: shoved/pinned against a wall, scared, worried ~~ shocked, worried

1x05: none

1x06: chokes on bread, unconscious, almost dies, emergency tracheotomy, barely conscious ~~ unconscious in hospital bed, oxygen cannula, concern for him

1x07: scar on his throat

1x08: none

1x09: hit with a bowling ball (comedic)

1x10: sad

2x01: angry ~~ stressed, worried ~~ startled

2x02: stressed, worried

2x03: stressed

2x04-2x05: none

2x06: drugged (comedic)

2x07: emotional

2x08: held at gunpoint, stressed, concern for him

2x09: no appearance

2x10: argued, emotional

2x11: none

2x12: no appearance

2x13: extremely worried, scared ~~ upset ~~ hugged, crying

2x14: none

2x15: concerned ~~ arrested ~~ concerned

2x16: none

2x17: concerned

2x18: caught in an explosion, bloody face, leg pinned under a fire truck, weak, scared ~~ weak, shaky voice, screaming in pain, concern for him, unconscious ~~ in hospital, cast on his leg, oxygen cannula, scared, upset ~~ on crutches w/cast, upset, crying, worried ~~ on crutches w/cast

3x01: in pain, coughing up blood, passes out ~~ concern for him ~~ in hospital, oxygen cannula, concern for him ~~ extremely upset, crying, argued ~~ (on blood thinners through episode 3x)

3x02: depressed ~~ caught in a tsunami, scared, almost drowned, gasping for air, yelling, hoarse voice, extremely concerned, cuts on his face, bloody ~~ weak, hugged, scared ~~ extremely concerned, scared, in shock, crying

3x03: still bloody + cuts on his face, extremely concerned, yelling, hoarse voice, weak ~~ exhausted, scared, yelling ~~ crying, choked-up voice, scared, emotional confrontation, crying, in shock, collapses, heavy breathing ~~ still cuts on his face, emotional, worried

3x04: very upset, argued

3x05: frustrated, upset

3x06: frustrated ~~ emotional ~~ cut on his arm, bleeding heavily, shaky voice ~~ at hospital, concern for him, bandaged arm

3x07: no appearance

3x08: concerned

3x09: stressed, worried

3x10-3x13: none

3x14: concerned, frustrated

3x15: almost caught in an explosion, screaming, panicking, held back and cradled, hysterical, sobbing ~~ in shock, extremely worried

3x16-3x17: none

3x18: emotional ~~ concern for him ~~ emotional

4x01-4x02: none

4x03: worried

(9-1-1 Lone Star Crossover: almost hit by a car, extremely concerned)

4x04: stressed, worried ~~ stressed ~~ extremely upset, crying, yelling, sad ~~ shocked, upset

4x05: shocked, upset ~~ concern for him, upset ~~ trapped in a fire, extremely worried, concern for him ~~ scared, screaming, upset ~~ exhausted, in shock, concern for him

4x06: concern for him

4x07-4x08: none

4x09: extremely worried, emotional

4x10-4x12: none

4x13: covered in blood, in shock, almost shot, tackled to the ground

4x14: pinned to the ground, covered in blood, in shock, yelling, extremely concerned, crying ~~ in shock, blood on his clothes, hands shaking ~~ sobbing, head in hands, hugged ~~ concern for him ~~ talking about breakdown, concern for him ~~ emotional

5x01: concerned

5x02: concerned

5x03: concerned

5x04: argued, stressed, punched in the face, shocked ~~ black eye, putting ice on his eye

5x05: none

5x06: held at gunpoint, shocked ~~ held at gunpoint, angry, pistol-whipped, blood on his forehead ~~ concerned, stressed ~~ held at gunpoint, stressed, tackled and pinned to the ground, crying out in pain, concern for him, worried ~~ bandage on his forehead, shocked, extremely concerned, heavy breathing

5x07-5x09: none

5x10: shocked, upset

5x11-5x12: none

5x13: shocked, concerned ~~ extremely worried, shocked ~~ concerned

5x14-5x15: concerned/minimal emotional whump

5x16: stressed ~~ extremely worried ~~ concerned

5x17: shocked, concerned ~~ upset, angry

5x18: worried

6x01-6x03: none/minimal emotional whump

6x04: almost hit by a car (comedic)

6x05-6x06: none/minimal emotional whump

6x07: very stressed

6x08: none

6x09: stressed, concerned

6x10: argued, stressed ~~ struck by lightning, unconscious, limp, in cardiac arrest, CPR, concern for him

6x11: in cardiac arrest, unconscious, CPR, defibrillator, concern for him ~~ (in dream), in hospital bed, confused, concerned ~~ (in real life) in a coma, ventilator, bandaged, concern for him ~~ (in dream) shocked, upset, collapsed, trouble breathing ~~ (in real life) concern for him, not breathing correctly ~~ (in dream) trouble breathing, confused ~~ (in dream) worried ~~ (in dream) teary-eyed, scared, crying ~~ (in dream) scared, concerned, crying, angry ~~ (in real life) teary-eyed

6x12: tired ~~ exhausted, sleeping ~~ emotional conversation, teary-eyed ~~ emotional conversation, teary-eyed ~~ upset, emotional

6x13: talking about his near-death experience

6x14-6x15: mentions of near death experience

6x16: argued, upset, emotional

6x17: upset

6x18: scared, almost hit by an ambulance, falls on top of an ambulance, bloody face, unconscious ~~ bloody face, groaning in pain, worried ~~ stressed, worried ~~ cuts on his face

7x01: worried, emotional

7x02: worried

7x03: worried

7x04: stressed, jealous, angry, worried

________________________________________________________

Character: Edmundo “Eddie” Diaz (played by Ryan Guzman) (appears starting in season 2)

2x01: stressed

2x02: stressed, concerned

2x03: concerned

2x04-2x05: none

2x06: drugged (comedic)

2x07: emotional, argued, stressed

2x08: none

2x09: no appearance

2x10: emotional, teary-eyed

2x11: none

2x12: no appearance

2x13: worried

2x14-2x15: none

2x16: no appearance

2x17: emotional ~~ shocked, grieving

2x18: shocked, worried

3x01: concerned, stressed

3x02: concerned ~~ stressed

3x03: stressed ~~ extremely worried, shocked, teary-eyed, emotional reunion ~~ concerned

3x04: fought

3x05: fought ~~ argued, emotional

3x06: bruised ~~ argued, emotional

3x07: no appearance

3x08-3x14: none/minimal emotional whump

3x15: stressed, concern for him, trapped underground, presumed dead ~~ scared, gasping for air (all flashbacks: emotional argument, shot, almost died, recovering, emotional) ~~ bloody face, exhausted, weak voice, pale, half-collapsed, emotional reunion

3x16-3x17: none

3x18: concerned, stressed

4x01-4x02: none

4x03: concerned

(9-1-1 Lone Star Crossover: concern for him, stressed)

4x04: concerned

4x05: stressed, worried

4x06: concerned

4x07-4x12: none/minimalemotional whump

4x13: shot, collapsed, bleeding out, barely conscious, concern for him

4x14: shot, bleeding out, barely conscious, in pain, concern for him, weak voice, oxygen mask ~~ unconscious in hospital bed ~~ still in hospital, weak voice, concerned ~~ sling on his shoulder, concerned ~~ sling on his shoulder

5x01: panic attack, concern for him ~~ hospital visit, upset

5x02: stressed, concern for him

5x03: exhausted, concern for him

5x04: concerned

5x05: none

5x06: held at gunpoint, angry~~ held at gunpoint, angry~~ concerned, stressed ~~ almost shot, concern for him, stressed

5x07-5x09: general emotional whump/concern for him

5x10: emotional (kind-of) goodbye, concern for him

5x11-5x12: general emotional whump/concern for him

5x13: emotional ~~ PTSD flashback, sobbing, concern for him ~~ crying, emotional

5x14: nightmare (bleeding out, collapsed), concern for him, (he just kinda looks horrible the entire episode)

5x15: none/minimal emotional whump

5x16: stressed ~~ emotional

5x17-5x18: none/minimal emotional whump

6x01-6x06: none

6x07: talking about the tsunami

6x08: emotional, teary-eyed

6x09: stressed

6x10: caught in explosion, rough fall, in shock, screaming, extremely worried

6x11: extremely concerned, teary-eyed ~~ crying, worried ~~ worried

6x12: emotional conversation, concerned

6x13-6x17: none

6x18: trapped, broken ribs, crying out in pain ~~ crying out in pain, grimacing, holding his ribs ~~ in pain, grimacing, holding his ribs ~~ hospital, "refusing medication", "i'm fine"

7x01: stressed

7x02: stressed

7x03: stressed

7x04: sprained ankle, upset

________________________________________________________

Albert Han (played by John Harlan Kim) (appears in some episodes throughout seasons 3-6)

3x11: argued, teary-eyed, emotionally hurt

3x13: none

3x14-3x18: no appearance

4x01: none

4x02: no appearance

4x03: concerned

4x04: concerned

4x05-4x06: no appearance

4x07-4x08: none

4x09: major car accident, bleeding out, head wound, in pain, weak voice ~~ concern for him, unconscious ~~ unconscious in hospital bed, concern for him ~~ weak voice, in pain, bandaged

4x10: recovering, lack of coordination, upset and frustrated

4x11-4x13: no appearance

4x14: concerned

5x01-5x03: no appearance

5x04: none

5x05-5x11: no appearance

5x12-5x13: none

5x14-5x15: no appearance

5x16: almost dies, rescued ~~ emotional

5x17: no appearance

5x18: emotional

6x01-6x09: no appearance

6x10: argued, stressed

6x11: teary-eyed, worried

6x12-6x18: no appearance

6x11: airing next week!

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aclosetfan · 4 months

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Hey hope you don't mind me rambling in your inbox but I have a lot of thoughts and I want to dissect how people actually create their Rowdyruff redemptions. I am so sorry how long this is in advance.

Ok so like, I'm working on a a fic currently and one of the aspects of it involves a Rowdyruff redemption (well, sort of... it's complicated lol) and color code shipping when they're older, and I've been reading a lot of fic to see how people actually do this. I've noticed a lot of things that really bug me about it how this is handled by fic writers.:

1) The Puffs are used as props, development, and eventual love interests for the Ruffs. They don't usually get much development, nor do their perspectives change much outside of "hey those ruffs are good now! Time to make out with them!". It's boring and it feels like the Puffs don't actually gain any perspectives from the Ruffs. As superheros and especially as characters who are getting with characters who often characterized as people who were directly abused by the system they uphold, wouldn't the Puffs gain some perspective from them? Give me puffs who learn about the ruffs experiences and become more disillusioned by the police force and start advocating for fighting against crime by supporting those who need it and filling in inequalities as opposed to arresting every thief out there. The Puffs and Ruffs have black and white perspectives in regards to good and evil. A great way to develop them is to mess around with their perspectives and make them question things.

2) The Ruffs don't seem to change much either, I think the main issue is that they're toned down from the beginning without any good explanation. Yeah sure "maturity" can be one, but if you're gonna change their personalities for your redemption fic, there needs to be a good reason as to why these personalities changed. Redemption fics aren't fun if they just start out as "mildly annoying boys" without reason as to why they're toned down. Either make them total shitheads and legitimately develop them or give a very good reason as to why they're not as intense. It's not interesting if they stay mildly annoying throughout the fic with little development but get with the Puffs anyway.

3) Mojo and HIM as parental figures are often very absent and are just usually explained away as "lol they were abusive". While I don't really mind this angle of Mojo and HIM ending up as shitty parents, it's never really developed. I want to know HOW they're shitty parents, why they were bad for the Ruffs. A lot of fan backstories in this fics involves the ruffs being used as tools by Mojo and HIM without caring about their needs as little kids, how about we show how that was done throughout their lives? You don't have to get like, graphic and explicit about what abuse and neglect they experience, but it needs to be developed and seriously impactful if you're gonna add it. I want to see how those impacts still mess with them, especially with interactions with their parents. Trauma like that doesn't just go away. If that can't be done, just keep their parents, have the ruffs be intentionally rebellious against their wishes. They are self driven after all and will often do shit that pisses people off and is enjoyable to them.

Especially if you're doing like... shipping, I want more elaboration on Mojo and HIM's perspectives. I want them to seeth and lose their minds over the prospect, I want Mojo to become a laughing stock among villains for not only failing to beat the Puffs, but creating their eventual romantic partners. I want Mojo to confront the very exhausted professor who's also not happy about this idea and have Mojo fucking lose it while the professor is just... so exhausted.

4) We need more of the other villains and cast to show up. Where the fuck did they go? Why is it only HIM and random monsters that can be used as villains (not even Mojo is, he's just thrown to the side which is such a massive shame). Lemme see Princess be something besides a mean girl, lemme see Sedusa or Fuzzy or the Amoeba boys. Let's see some one-offs from the OG series show up! I'm always a Boogie Man advocate, would be delighted to see him in a fic for once (although he's somewhat niche so I could see how it would be difficult to involve him). Hell if you can make them interesting, I'd be down to see reboot villains too. Just, anything to mix things up and add more action.

5) Not enough is done with the Professor, he's usually just a supporting character to the Puffs who shows shockingly minimal apprehension of the Ruffs, let alone their relationships with each other. I need a professor who's braver and plays a more active role in these fics. I need him to be a strong father figure who loves his kids so much and shows himself to be deeply intelligence. I need a professor who can be kind to the ruffs if need be and deserved (while he's protective and distrusting of the ruffs, I don't think he'd be spiteful to them especially if they're still children), but won't stand for any bullshit that they do and is willing to fight to keep his kids safe. Is is such a loving and substantial figure in the OG show and so few people actually bother to dive into the depths that the Professor would go for his kids.

6) interpretations of the ships are so fucking cishet it's so boring. Even if you want them to be m/f and cis, you can still make their dynamics and perceptions queer. You do not have to fall into tired cishet characterizations or dynamics (with the reds by far getting the worst of this). I think this can be hard depending on time setting and the ages of the characters, especially the Ruffs and how deep their toxic masculinity is embedded into them. Granted that I headcanon that their birthdays are their debuts and they'd be 29/30, I think that the time period would make it more difficult to explore queer aspects about them depending on how old they're portrayed, but I think that could make things even more interesting tbh especially if they don't have the language for what's going on with them. Example of a trope that's common in fics but can be twisted to be queer: High school fic #2728732. It's 2010, Buttercup is turning 17 soon and she doesn't feel like the other girls and hasn't for years. Buttercup doesn't have the language to describe her experiences as genderqueer since it's 2010, she sticks to the tomboy and girl label even though neither feel quite right.

My older takes on these ships tend to usually fall into Brick/Blossom who are both bi and gender apathetic but tend to have a male and female preference respectively, and navigating their unique perspectives of their attraction and dynamics to one another in that regard. Very very very very pan blues who are gay about everybody and proud of it, and (of course) genderqueer and genderfuck greens. We need more trans (particularly enby) greens rep out there and I'll do it myself if nobody else does. People write the ships (especially the color codes) so cishet I appreciate takes that drive them outside of that circle of "cishet boys and girls with hetronormative dynamics like each other now kiss mwah".

7) Inverse to the "the Puffs are just stepping stones to redemption and objects for the Ruffs", I'm really tired of fics that just end up neutering the ruffs once they're redeemed and have them be the second in command lapdogs to the Puffs (once again... a particularly big problem with the reds). I want more fics where the ruffs are their equals, where all of their voices are taken into account.

8) I want more of these stories to happen when they're not in high school. I want elementary and middle school redemption stories. I want full grown adults redemption stories. I'm so tired of the high school setting and I know it's mainly used for shipping, but not making them too old that they're boring and gross or w/e. Give me these characters past the age of 21 or under the age of 16 I beg. Hell please we need more stories of them at their canon age, the idea of The Professor and Mojo hosting a play date for them and all of them just having fun playing with toys and making up their own games is so cute.

9) This ties into my point of the ruffs history with law enforcement. It's very, very difficult for me to believe that they'd completely jump to the good side and just be the Puffs but slightly shifted over personality wise. They'd be distrusting of the superhero system. Maybe they'd be willing to kick monster ass, but they're not going to be knocking down thieves and working side by side with cops. If anything, I think it would make sense for redeemed ruffs to work to fight against current police system standards and help those who are most affected by it the most. The ruffs aren't and shouldn't just turn into the Puffs but a bit spicier. It's boring and it doesn't make sense.

10) I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired of all the weird sexualization in high school fics, especially when you can tell they were written by somebody who's not in high school and hasn't been in years. I swear people who write these hypersexualized Riverdale style high school AUs haven't actually looked at a 16 year old in years. They wouldn't look like full grown adults and most likely wouldn't be diving deep into sex and drugs. There's also a lot of sexual assault, especially casually? I read a fic recently where Butch groped Buttercup's chest without consent just randomly and it was played off for laughs. Closed it instantly and physically facepalmed. I somewhat get when teens write stuff like this, but adults? It's ridiculous.

11) I feel like people make the Puffs and Ruffs parallel each other a bit too much? It takes away from existing tension and ways they can clash. Make Bubbles care way too much and Boomer struggle with the ability to take things seriously. Make Brick smart but not academically so, his intelligence lies in other places and he specifically spites the rigid authority of academia, while Blossom loves and embraces it. Show Buttercup being able to be more calculated and intelligent about her fighting while Butch is a berserker. Give them parallels and differences, and differences within their parallels!

Again I'm so sorry about how long this is, I've been full autism mode about PPG again and my old fic idea I never got around to writing. Reading up on people's takes on RRB redemptions for my own research and I notice that there's a lot of things that just bug me about how they're played out, and it inspired me to do a full dissection of how RRB redemption plot lines tend to be done.

This is another ask that I've tried to answer a thousand times, but really honestly, every time I read it, I'm just like:

Like come sit right next to me because we're in this together. I've been riding this train for a while now and if I've learned anything, ya gotta be the change you wanna see. There's no other way!

#long post #always love your insights #no notes i agree #\

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bird-inacage · 1 year

Text

So this show had the making to be something really decent but veered off-track pretty sharpish. If you don’t mind hearing some constructive criticism, please read on. I want to find out if others felt the same way.

The story follows Uea and King’s navigation from being bed friends (aka friends with benefits) to being a bonafide couple. The overwhelming feeling I felt after watching this series is that there was a ‘let’s include everything’ mentality. The writing lacked cohesive focus and restraint in what plot points would best serve the telling of this story.

One example of the shaky writing is the poor use of conflict. There is no clear objective in why certain conflicts are included. We get multiple villains to the same effect whose only purpose is to pile anguish onto our lead and little else: Uea’s mother, stepfather, ex-boyfriend and boss all come across as caricatures with no distinction or redeemable qualities to speak of. When such components are used all too frequently, they feel less consequential - thus drastically reducing suspense, stakes, and emotional investment from the viewer. No depth results in no impact.

Episode 9 was particularly guilty of this and I’ll use this as a case study. It opens with Uea’s stepfather being arrested (this is quickly set up at the end of episode 8) and is not referenced again. Then a colleague confesses their love for Uea, which sets up a potential love rival for King. We’ve never seen him even interact with Uea before so it feels completely out of the blue. This poses no threat because we know Uea will turn him down for this very reason. Surprise, surprise, he does. Then we see King’s mother display disapproval of King/Uea’s relationship. Other than just one brief, prickly confrontation - by her next appearance - she quickly accepts Uea.

Quality over quantity is the key lesson here. Be selective. Ensure your story beats are set up and fleshed out with enough breathing room, delivered with a satisfying payoff, rather than throwing everything in and hoping something sticks. If you are ever in doubt if a scene is superfluous, always ask the why. Why include this? Does it add value (to either the story and/or characters)? Bed Friend had me questioning this a lot.

I like the nod to blood testing that both Uea and King get done after their first night together. I give kudos whenever a show makes the effort to feature and normalise concerns around sexual health.

Main Leads: Despite suffering a huge amount of hardship, Uea is a surprisingly put together human being. He knows what he wants but is reasonable when he needs to be. I really enjoyed Uea’s confidence in his sexuality. He knows his own allure and how to harness that power. King can be downright sweet and charming but sadly didn’t have a strong sense of his own personhood. There was little backstory or context given to help you understand him as a individual and his motivations outside of Uea, which left me confused sometimes as to his decision-making. As the other main lead, I’m extremely disappointed by how badly his characterisation was handled. For example Uea coins him as a playboy, but we never see evidence of King excessively flirting with other people. We need to understand why Uea perceives him so negatively, to act as a comparison for when Uea changes his opinion later on. Show, don’t just tell. Overall, it’s their situation which develops (their relationship status) rather than their characters. They are more or less the same people they were at the beginning, just together.

Other: As the series unfolds mostly around Uea’s point of view, the remaining cast do get a raw deal. Give your secondary characters more to do than just be there. Please. More creative decisions could have been made in how these smaller characters could have played into the narrative (such as Jade, Uea’s sister or King’s parents), so that their roles don’t feel relegated to being background noise.

Acting Performance: I did fall in love with Net and James as the series progressed. They have incredibly fiery and exhilarating chemistry which translates especially well in their love scenes. They manage to balance heat with incredible levels of tenderness. I would even argue that as soon as they have any physical interaction on screen, that’s when the show comes alive. They are very adept at creating sexual tension, that’s for sure. It’s the dialogue driven moments that tend to be a bit hit and miss (but I think editing has a big part to play in this). You can tell these two are still newcomers and aren’t quite as layered in their acting abilities yet but that’s understandable. Net has a habit of doing a lot of heavy breathing when he’s conveying anxiety or worry. This can be remedied with more coaching and better direction. Note: I did also watch some of their acting in 'Catch me Baby' for context. Net has noticeably improved since then but James actually felt more natural in his performance in that series than here.

Pairing Rating: [HOT + TENDER] If you want to get hot under the collar, and still maintain softness, this two have got you covered. Sizzling sensuality in buckets.

For a show that clearly has high production values, this is where the series really suffers. A myriad of issues become apparent beneath the show’s glossy exterior, and the biggest sin here is it detracts from the actor’s efforts. I really do feel for the cast because production didn’t do them justice.

Editing: There are some very odd editing choices across the board.

Excessive uses of slow motion in places where it doesn’t belong. Some border on absurd (I laughed out loud during the first NC scene *above* where King somersaults onto Uea’s lap). I don’t know about you, but kung-fu matrix style choreography is not warranted in love scenes.

Sound-mixing choices can completely kill the mood. I cringed during the cat NC scene when comedic ‘yowls (meows)’ played in the background. Just why?

Instances where conflicting shifts in mood would take place within a single scene, particularly in how music was used. This would cause me tonal whiplash.

Flashbacks are superfluously added into scenes we saw only moments ago, occupying precious run time.

The passage of space and time can feel abrupt and therefore jarring. Establishing scenes need to be better utilised to anchor the viewer in the where and when things are taking place.

Fans have noticed really lovely scenes that were cut short or completely. No clear reasoning as to what made the cut/uncut versions or not at all.

Ultimately, the show feels like its trying far too hard to be distinctive, which can discredit the gravity of the scenes or draw your attention away from the performances. Now believe it or not, I can see what they were going for (cue sultry music video with dramatic quick cuts). I’ll credit that many of the shots and way they use camera work is certainly eye-catching and fresh. But flashiness for the sake of it is not a good thing if it adversely impacts pacing or comprehension of the narrative. Some editing styles only work best in short form rather than in a series, which is a trap they fell into here. It made the direction feel clumsy, lacking consistency and finesse - a kid in a candy store discovering PowerPoint transitions for the first time.

Styling: I do love the styling and palette of this series. All the costumes and environments looked really beautiful and rich - from our two leads’ apartments to their design office. They successfully manifested a more mature feeling to the series overall.

>>>

FINAL THOUGHTS: Now don’t get me wrong, I have grown to love this pairing. I think they have fantastic potential, and this is why the production issues irk me so damn much, because it spoils what could have been. If you’re willing to ignore the more glaring problems, there are some lovely moments sprinkled in there. I personally found the issues increasingly distracting as the series went on, causing me to skip portions. But why I saw this through was because I could tell Net and James tried their best with what they were given. If less time had been spent on stylistic choices, and more energy on Net and James’ acting, we might have a different story. I still believe they are a very promising partnership that could flourish with a better script, and I pray that ‘Love Upon a Time’ showcases them better.

(Disclaimer: These are just my own opinions. It goes without saying that one still can enjoy a show for all its successes as well as recognising its shortcomings.)

#bed friend #bed friend series #kinguea #ueaking #king x uea #uea x king #netjames #net siraphop #james supamongkon #bird-inacage reviews #bed friend review #thai bl

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anissapierce · 1 year

Text

Ive finished the new allotted streaming released all at once series that i marathon once a year...and ok im like so fascinated by the choice of the stans that they set up as the aggressors

Beyhive ft Nicole Byer

Swifties ft Rachel Bloom

Beliebers ft Riki Lindhome (the only gang leader to post abt the show on instagram)

Little monsters ft Jack McBrayer

Which ok so the choices here feel so 2012 specifically, and its deliberate too to jab at adult fans who have arrested development about specific eras of a singers career. Like it was a choice to have actors who were on the younger end of middle aged. A lot of stan parodies focus on teenagers n children as the people who have the time to devote. So it is interesting to make it adults. There could be so many reasons why they did that (casting kids wouldve taken more time and money, it feels meaner when its abt kids,with adults you get to put more cameos from comedic pretty prolific actors two of whom showran their own musical shows)

But the stans then being in minecraft (along w a couple of other fan communities i remember rihannas navy,bts army and (funniest joke of the ep) natalie merchant marines) kinda is where it lost the thread for me like showing the gang leaders avatars hearing their voices... Like idk man these middle aged superfans arent coming to Minecraft.

Like the episode showed the youth of minecraft love electric mayhem, so the idea that its kids who love them feels so ... Patting themselves on the back bc like that's not the case kids that are on Minecraft arent going to unanimously love Electric Mayhem ... Idk it took me out of it..it would've gelled more if they had a knockoff minecraft or sth but the use of Minecraft itself felt so hamfisted like i get it they wanted it to be grounded in real life but idk ...

Especially bc they nvr rlly get into like the superfans much or comment Abt the obvious arrested development in any way so it feels disjointed especially when the superfans get turned into Mayheads through the sheer power of rocking tuneage.

Unrelated but tbh i didnt even recognize jack mcbrayer as an actor i Knew until i looked up the cast so finding tht out blew me away. Like i didnt recognize Riki bc yeah im more familiar w kate when it comes to Garfunkel n oats but like i knew she was someone whos work i knew i knew she was a comedic actress who i have seen in things and whos voice sounded familiar.

I do wonder if they planned a musical number? Like casting Riki and Rachel both really talented musicians as well actresses feels like wasted potential in a show about music idk

Edit: also i really dug the Warriors reference with Little Monster Leader saying "Mayhem come out and play"

#muppets mayhem #muppets mayhem spoilers

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arrested-family · 2 years

Photo

The Best of Arrested Development on The Ellen Show (2003-2022) Part 2

#Portia de Rossi #Jason Bateman #Henry Winkler #Ellen DeGeneres #The Ellen DeGeneres Show #The Ellen Show #Arrested DevelopmentCast #Arrested Development Cast gifs

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woodsfae · 1 year

Text

Babylon 5: Season 1 Wrap-Up

s01 Table of Contents • previous episode: s01e22

OK, so I was mildly spoiled. When I was watching the end of s01's two parter, I looked up Michael O'Hare to see how tall he was and saw that he left B5 at the end of S01 and realized I'd heard of this before, roughly at the time JMS announced O'Hare's mental health struggles after his death. Just didn't lock it into the ole memory storage because B5 wasn't really on my radar in 2012.

This has kinda overshadowed my other thoughts about S01, because I am extremely sad that Jeffrey Sinclair won't continue to be the Commander. I am so so sad. I will have to manufacture my own frothing now! No more unbearably affectionate looks between Delenn and Sinclair! Augh. Maybe my heart will be overfilled during his guest appearances. RIP Michael o'Hare, I look forward to seeing you again in S02 and S03.

Other thoughts! There's a hole in Jeffrey Sinclair's mind and I am very excited to see how any of that shakes out.

The Minbari continue to be my favorite culture that I want to know the most about. Every character that appears, I love. I am still hoping to see more of Shaal Mayan, and don't know that I'll forgive the writers for having characters say she was coming back and then not show her! I still want to hear a poem by her. I don't really have any hopes of seeing more of Draal. It seems like they've locked him into the planet for good, and he didn't give Delenn a visitor's pass that I'm aware of. I do want to see more of the warrior Minbari, and have enjoyed the glimpses I got so far!

I have many questions. How long do Minbari live? Will Londo really die with his hands around G'Kar's throat? What are the aims of the Grey Council, or are there many aims? When does Delenn grow some hair? Why does Delenn grow some hair? Is she going to pop out of her chrysalis fully changed into later-stage Delenn? Is Susan Ivanova a telepath? Is Talia Winters telekinetic? Will Susan and Talia ever be on screen together again?! (I am dyyyyying) Will Jason Ironheart pop back up? (god I hope so, just for the CGI floating incorporeality) How often does G'Kar cook animals whole and then bite their snoots off? Will we ever see a drunk Lennier? Will we get to know any of the militant Minbari? I believe we've only spent significant time with Minbari from the religious caste so far.

Overall I am excited for the plotty goodness I've been promised. Character development! I want it.

S01 brought up healing and panaceas repeatedly. Will we see a return of the theme, and if so, will it be Big Plot important? Is Laura going to pop back up? How's Dr Franklin/Janice doing? There was no follow-up!

S01 was also heavily about social issues, particularly the slow-to-rapid march of facism taking over a society and government. I expect those themes to continue as well!

BESTER MY GUY. I need more PsiCorps dirt and plot, and thankfully I have been reassured that Walter Koenig will be back.

Talia. I want to see more of Talia. And a little less whump. She was s01's emotional punching bag! She had no happy episodes that I can recall! Just PsiTrauma after PsiTrauma with a few little sides of neutral episodes.

Garibaldi was very eeeeeuuuughhhhh my dude, go to therapy. Hopefully they address his police brutality. He did way too much assaulting civilians and overuse of force during arrests, like WAY too much. He is currently only a leeeeetle likeable. Like, barely more than Londo and that's 100% due to how gross I find Londo's *waves hands* you know. Everything sleazy.

Londo and G'Kar I'm fine with learning more about at the rate we have been already. Vir, I don't really care about. I am much more interested in G'Kar's aide, Na'Toth. (had to check real quick if she was Na'Toth or Ko D'ath and was startled to see that apparently Ko D'ath died and I either missed it or forgot) It'll be interesting to see if there's more Narn and Centauri intrigue! So far we've been set up to see human/Minbari intrigue as the leading plotlines.

I absolutely loved all the little moments when aliens were getting human things extremely wrong. Off the top of my head - the Hokey Pokey being humanity’s lullaby of choice, and Londo and Vir deciding that cats are the earth animals with beaks and webbed feet. “It’s like being nibbled to death by cats!”

Londo + G’Kar interactions have ever and always been a delight. I also loved Sinclair + Ivanova and Sinclair + Delenn with equal but very different passions. Susan/Talia - duh. I’m obsessed. Lennier + absolutely anyone was always precious, and I hope for more of those.

Worldbuilding has been utterly intriguing and I want more of that. Every bit I get makes me theorize and wonder. For example, I ranked the powers present on B5 with considerations taken for: military might; soft power; technological advancement. - Minbari (they get the top spot due to soft power) - Vorlon (they clearly have the technological edge over the Minbari but have zero soft power) - Centauri (idk why it seems like they have more likeability to in-universe folks since I like the Narns SO SO much more, but there ya have it.) - Narn (I like them SO much more than the Centauri, but considering their diplomatic stand-off with the aforementioned and history of being nerfed by them, I narrowly put them closer to the bottom. Plus they don’t have any telepaths/telekinetics which would have to make a difference.) - Humans (I assumed the Top Powers were more or less being polite to humans by being relatively chill on their space station, but after Morden That Fucking Fae Asshole destroyed the Narnuan outpost and G’Kar listed humans as one of the races who could have done it, I am really wondering how accurate my perception is.) - the League (they don’t even get their own ambassador with equal powers to the top four so they’re clearly at the bottom of the pecking order).

I do want to know what happens with the future war, but I feel like it must be connected to Morden (ugh) and the powerful beings he’s associated with. And since I dislike him so, I hope the shadows n such can have some plot without him involved.

My top 5 episodes are (in chronological order) s01e01: Midnight on the Firing Line - this episode did a wonderful job setting things up, making me interested in the show, and set my queer heart fucking ablaze with Susan/Talia. I am particularly impressed with it, since I was both extremely high on a pain med it has later turned out I actually metabolize very weirdly so I was WAY high on it and I still managed to follow it and be into the show. and b.) didn’t have my favorite character from the Gathering in it but still made me love her replacement.

s01e06: Mind War - Fascinating eldritch beings, more Catherine, G’Kar showing he has many facets to his character, Water Koenig, PsiCorps dirt, and the absolute gloriousness that was the CGI portraying Jason Ironheart ascending to another state of being. What’s not to love?

s01e13: By Any Means Necessary - I LOVED THIS EPISODE. It had prime Londo/G’Kar bickering, while minimal Londo sleaziness. It had Union power, Ms Connelly, Susan Ivanova out-bellowing a room full of people, and some of Sinclair’s best use of his superpower: SuperPedantry. Also had the most satisfying-to-hate villain, that union-buster, who I hope shows up again just long enough for Neeoma Connelly to kick his balls in.

s01e21: Legacies - I really enjoyed seeing a bit of Narnuan and Minbari culture through Alisa’s eyes. I absolutely adored Talia and Susan flirt-fighting throughout. Delenn manipulating her way through this episode was fantastic (we’ve seen a lot of her scheming, but mostly in little drips and drabs on the way to the finale! Loved seeing some of her work from start to finish). I was delighted by Na’Toth popping in and out. This was an episode I didn’t want to end.

s01e22: Chrysalis - Gotta be honest, I struggled with whether to put this or The War Prayer or the Sky Full of Stars. Chrysalis won out, because I realized I was comparing it against each of the other two, and not the other two against each other. Those were both excellent episodes and you can consider them to be runners-up to my favorites list! Chrysalis did a phenomenal job of ramping the tension up throughout the episode. I was legitimately furious that I was too tired to click through and watch s02e01. I was entranced and gripped the entire way through. Too much went on for me to feel like I can adequately summarize my favorite points, and it’s also the only episode I want to re-watch before I finish the entire show.

To be clear, these are my personal favorites based solely on how much I recall having enjoyed watching them, and I was post-op and heavily drugged and/or about to fall asleep for quite a bit of - if not most of - season 1. I leave arguments about artistic merits and enduring cultural impact to others!

I will leave you with these B5 S01 articles of clothing I coveted. It's not quite enough to make an outfit, and consists mostly of tops. May S02 bring many cool trousers.

next episode: s02e01

#babylon 5 #laura rosen #susan ivanova #woodsfae gif #woodsfae b5

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tiffanylamps · 2 years

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I cannot help but think BE scriptwriter is the kindest person. She didn’t end the drama at the arrest scene. She added the NSB anniversary to

1. Confirm that Manyang people are HJW’s family now. (Jihwa mentioned that she tried to contacted Juwon multiple times but he did not respond. She was smiling when she mentioned it. Awww that’s family. ) I have heartache thinking about Juwon. Know that he has manyang people helps somewhat.

2. Juwon’s warm smile. (I guess it is the first time YJG act a little similar to who he actually is even it is still more reserved. 😎) Juwon has been cold, annoying, miserable, painful…throughout the whole drama. Nice to see him as a real and lovable person.

3. The last teasing remark “Don’t drop the formal. Lee Don sik. “ He still has his personality. He still tease/flirt with Donsik in a playful way. I feel that sentence alone inspired many fanfic on post canon. I am grateful to see the liveliness of Juwon.

Just want to share my muse in the middle of the night. Thanks for reading! And thank you for your work in the BE community !

Hello anon, thank you for sending me this lovely message 🤩 I adore everything you just said! You are so right, Kim Su Jin is truly an incredible writer. She created and developed characters with such depth and helped tell a story with real feeling and sincerity. Beyond Evil seems to be a very special project because it was a collaborative experience. Not only did Kim Su Jin create a brilliant foundation but she gave Director Shim Na Yeon* creative freedom to work with her crew and cast (especially Shin Ha Kyun and Yeo Jin Goo) to develop these characters and their story further.

Beyond Evil feels like a project that was made with so much care and a lot of love. I think it really shines through in the final product. * I just want to gush about Shim Na Yeon's directing style. I LOVE the way she conducted her sets. I LOVE that she got her actors to rehearse the scenes before shooting and that these rehearsals weren't rushed but were a collaborative experience, where the actors can discuss their character's actions, emotions, and intentions and give their opinion. I think they even changed and cut lines because the actors didn't feel it suited their characters. THAT is wonderful directing, that's how you get the best out of the experience. I just.... yeah.... the BTS videos are such a treat.

(from circulate900 on Twitter. Just further proof of what a great director Shim Na Yeon is)

I also love the ending of Beyond Evil, my only gripe is that I wish we got to see more of it within the run time of the episode. But I know why they only gave us snippets. At the end of the story, Joo Won gains a family - a real family - that not only loves him but accepts him. Yes and thank you, that is some of the best shit. Joo Won is so purposely icy and guarded. He has conditioned himself to protect himself by pushing others away. Oftentimes, the softest, most sensitive people - those who are really hurting - are the ones who behave like this because they can't stand to have their feelings hurt. I think that's very true of Joo Won.

So, for him to finally have a family that knows this about him and can see the soft gooey centre inside that icy façade and still say "Hey! We like that guy. He's ours. We'll nurture and protect him." GIVE ME 5 SEASONS OF THAT SHIT. I cannot express how much I adore the Manyang family and Joo Won's complicated place there. I will add that I don't believe it's going to be a future of endless happy families. I think Joo Won will distance himself many times, only be brought back in again. I think he'll often be absent for long periods of time (mostly for work) BUT there's always a seat saved for him by Dong Sik's side, and he knows that. Once he's sorted his mind out and has healed, I think he'll stick around and they'll have to spray bug repellent to get of the kid. (I can't find it right now but there is that screenshot of Yeo Jin Goo expressing the same belief) I kinda really like Joo Won's flirting because it's either subtle little teases and hints like the one you pointed out, or it's I'M GOING TO RAM "MY HORNS OF JUSTICE" INTO YOU. There doesn't seem to be a healthy middle ground and I just think that's rather silly and stupid (but charming, in a silly and stupid way).

But what I really love about the jwds dynamic is that Dong Sik can read Joo Won so effortlessly. (they're cut from the same cloth, they're two sides of the same coin, they're waiting for each other at either end of their red thread of fate, they're kindred spirits). He understands Joo Won on a level I don't think anyone ever has. He can read all of Joo Won's micro-expressions:

"Ah, a frown with pursed lips looking off the side? That means Joo Won is hungry"

"A sigh in a-flat minor? I wonder what he's confused about"

"A twitch of the right brow means I'm in trouble and a flick of the left brow.... well.... it means I'm in trouble 😏"

I'm being silly but you get what I'm trying to say. Dong Sik gets Joo Won and Joo Won wants to understand Dong Sik. Also, heelloooo, drop the details of that fanfic so I can live in post-canon flirty jwds bliss. Please and thank you 🙏 Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. I love post-interlude and new beginnings Beyond Evil. I love on the cusp of spring, jwds looking like they might just love each other and forgive each other and want to grow past their trauma Beyond Evil. Don't get me wrong, I love the angst, sass and tears, I love the pain but I cherish the happy moments. I'm kind of sad that we're probably never going to see future Manyang. But it's a good sad because it means what we got is so beautiful and I want to know more. Thank god for fanfiction haha Thank you for your kind words. I appreciate you!!

#anon answered #beyond evil replies #i want so many episodes of jwds growing together and making mistakes but forgiving each other and showing us WHAT LOVE REALLY MEANS #i'm going to be dramatic about it bc i'm never going to get it

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canonicallyobserving911 · 2 years

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Buck & Eddie: Season 5 Canon Observations & Season 6 Wish List

Items included in this post are specifically about things that happened in CANON during season 5 and a wish list for season 6 as it relates directly to Buck and Eddie.

Please note: the observations included in this post are not a reflection on the show’s writers. The writers do an excellent job but sometimes things get lost in translation or the editing room and when the episode airs, some scenes leave the audience confused especially when there’s no continuity.

Season 5 was EXHAUSTING for many reasons:

The lack of continuity

Ridiculous storylines

Lack of main characters while minor/recurring characters received more screen time in multiple episodes

There was a toxic relationship that continued throughout the entire season

Too many things happened off screen

Lack of closure for some storylines from seasons 2-4

Eddie's PTSD arc was great, at least the parts the audience was allowed to see were great; but...

Eddie's panic attacks weren't addressed during his therapy sessions. Since they were a huge part of his storyline in episodes 1-3, it would have been beneficial to watch him discuss the underlying cause of them with Frank while he was in therapy🤨🤨🤨.

In 5B, Eddie's scenes were shoved in at the very end of an episode with less than 5 minutes remaining or they didn't include the whole scene. It appeared as if his scenes were chopped and clipped causing the most important points to be cut during editing. The audience would have liked to see Eddie talking to Charlie at the end of 5x14 "Dumb Luck" and it would have been awesome to see the rest of Buck and Eddie's conversation at the end of 5x13 "Fear-O-Phobia". His scenes in 5x17 "Hero Complex" didn't fit well in that episode and he didn't even address the issues he had as a child with his mother😒😒😒.

Also it seems like he didn't get as much screen time as some of the other mains during this season. For example in 5x9 "Past is Prologue" he was on screen for less than 1 minute but it was obvious there would have been more time available for the mains if Taylor didn't get another whole episode dedicated to her Arrested Development of a childhood 🙄🙄🙄. She was treated like a main cast member in 5x7 "Ghost Stories" but Eddie and Christopher didn't even get a shoutout.

Eddie's Abuela moved back to Texas but the audience didn't learn that until 5x17 which was ridiculous. Also since his Tia Pepa still lives in L.A., it would have been great to see more of her just like during season 2 when she was present and helped Eddie with Christopher.

Having Eddie talk to Carla in 5x10 "Wrapped in Red" really didn't make any sense especially since he was talking about quitting his job. If the goal was to have him avoid talking to Buck or Bobby about the situation, surely there was someone else he could have spoken with like Hen or Chimney. While Chimney wasn’t there at the firehouse either, surely he could have called him to talk to him since they worked together and he would have been able to relate to Eddie’s situation since he was chasing after Maddie at the time. Eddie said in 5x5 “Peer Pressure” that he told Chimney ‘it was a good idea for him to try and find Maddie’ so obviously they have some type of friendship that allows them to give each other advice. Chimney bumped into Eli on accident but it was good that he did since Eli was able to give him an objective point of view about Maddie. Having Eddie just say, “I’m leaving the 118″ with the rest of the team staring at him dumbfounded was ridiculous. Someone could have said, “Hey we’ll miss you but we do support your decision and know that we’ll be here for you if you need us” but no, that was too much to ask for to close 5A or open with it in 5B. It seems like this was another KR moment that happened off screen between Buck and Eddie but that’s where the problem comes from with too many things happening off screen that should be on screen.

Buck's arc seemed to be nonexistent for the entirety of season 5 unless the audience was supposed to reconcile the fact that he was practically living with someone he didn’t know, then he cheated on her but didn’t tell her about it and they still didn’t know each other, then he asked her to move in but still didn’t know her, then they kept clinging and they still didn’t know each other, then...😬😬😬. Was that his arc?

Did he have an actual storyline in season 5 or was the intention to have the audience watch him remain entombed in his loft with Taylor for all of 5A? Their whatever they had was super painful to watch and it was like the audience was being tortured with her screen time because almost everyone wanted her gone. Even after Maddie returned he still kept clinging to Taylor so why wasn't there someone, Bobby, Hen, the janitor at the 118, somebody who could have given him sound advice about that mess he was in with Taylor? Also why didn't Maddie offer him some substantial advice when she returned like she did in seasons 2-4 instead of everyone having to watch him suffer? This was EXHAUSTING for audience members and by the end of 5B, people just wanted them to end it so that everyone would be out of their misery. It appears this was another KR moment that was approved by TM that they wanted to keep in his storyline but it wasn’t necessary. The audience could clearly see that Buck wasn’t happy so he could have ended it way before 5x18.

Was he spiraling or not because the way he ended things with Taylor was about as exciting as it would have been to watch someone try to light a wet firecracker? He could have dumped her in 5A to prevent everyone from having to watch Buck kiss Lucy and to prevent the audience from watching Buck suffer in his loft with Taylor. None of this was necessary and it doesn't matter how people try to justify him kissing Lucy, it all could have been avoided. Also since it’s been said that a lot of the scenes between Buck and Lucy were cut, the audience was even more confused by the scene between Lucy and Taylor in 5x16 “May Day”. Their discussion didn’t even make sense because Lucy thought she wanted to interview her but Taylor was going on about messes so how was the audience supposed to understand what should have happened when there was no way to reconcile the kiss with their conversation and with the breakup? If scenes were cut, someone in editing should have been able to tell there was a big gaping hole in the storyline. The truth is Buck should have been able to understand by now that he should have ended it with Taylor earlier or heck he should have known not to even start anything with her after she kissed him right after Eddie got shot.

His scene with Lucy in 5x11 "Outside Looking In" didn't do anything but confuse the audience especially since the kiss didn't contribute to the breakup. The general audience is not privy to the great forms of analysis like metas, theories, spoilers, BTS photos, and parallels like the fandom is so how were they supposed to reconcile the kiss with the main issue between Buck and Taylor being them not knowing each other? He never would have been able to trust her because people have to know someone to trust them. Them buying each other Christmas gifts was another thing that confused the audience because some of them actually believed they were a loving couple who was headed towards the altar after he gave her that Beacon Bracelet. They didn’t realize he gave that to her because of his abandonment issues and insecurities not because he was all in with her. These types of things keep the audience confused and since they don’t know where to go for answers, they stop watching. That’s why continuity is important for the viewers who don’t understand how everything relates back to a previous season or something that happened in the current season. The casual viewer watches for the 9-1-1 calls and season 5A barely had any of those so...

If Lucy will remain in season 6 as a recurring character, then a statement needs to be made in CANON regarding her purpose at the 118 by Bobby, Hen, the man who fixes the firetrucks or somebody. Hen will be starting her residency by the start of season 7 so if Bobby or someone said something in CANON about needing to fill her spot in a few months, then it would make more sense and explain why she's still there.

Lucy should not be kept around so that she can have hookup sex or poke and flirt with BUCK! Jesus can 9-1-1 finally #FreeBuck?

What happened to Buck's parents? In season 4 he said they were going to therapy with him but there hasn't been any mention of them since. The audience needs closure on this storyline. Are they still working towards a reconciliation or did he completely call it quits with his attempts at a relationship with them?

Christopher's scenes were far and few in between so it was shocking to see him have a meltdown in 5x10 "Wrapped in Red" with no buildup to it. Also why was he not in episode 5x17? Eddie was calling his name but surprise, there were no sightings of him.

Season 5A lacked Buckley-Diaz Family moments (aside from 5x2 “Desperate Times” but Ana and Ravi were there so that doesn’t really count) and the few the audience got in 5B weren't enough. If the show had lessened Taylor's screen time there would have been plenty of time for them in 5x10 especially since the audience saw them spend time together at Christmas in seasons 2 and 3. There was no Christmas episode in season 4 so they should have considered that for season 5.

Season 6 Wish List

1. Allow Eddie to unpack the shooting and his will in therapy. He needs to discuss both of them so please don't end his therapy arc like he just got healed off screen. KR is notorious for believing the audience can reconcile things happened off screen especially when there’s no mention of it in CANON.

2. Make Eddie and Christopher go to family therapy together. They need to work on healing together so that they can grieve for Shannon in order to move on before they start a new family with Buck. Both of them need closure.

3. Eddie needs to learn how to say what he wants and stop using Christopher as a shield. Allow him to verbalize his feelings instead of him constantly hiding behind Chris.

4. Make Eddie talk to Buck about the shooting and the will. For God's sake Eddie got shot over a year ago and they still haven't had a CANON conversation about either of those things. It's obvious Buck misunderstood Eddie's intention regarding the legal guardianship and they are both still internally suffering from the shooting 😐😑😐. They talked about everything else in season 5 but the elephant standing in front of them so please for the love of truth, let them talk about all of the times they almost lost each other so they can talk about what it all means. The audience is tired of waiting.

5. Let Buck be single; #Free Buck. Stop throwing women at Buck like they're darts and he's a dartboard trying to see which one of them will stick. Most of the audience is finally starting to understand that Buck and Eddie will end up together especially after Buck’s realization about love in 5x18. The comments on different platforms (not just Tumblr) prove they are starting to understand the narrative. Please let Buck be single and while he's single let him learn how to enjoy being alone. The audience knows he was lonely as a child since his parents weren't there for him emotionally and mentally but he needs to learn how to be alone. He has to understand being alone is different from being lonely. He’s not lonely because he has Maddie, Chimney, Jee-Yun, Eddie, Christopher and the 118. Buck is an adult now so he needs to learn how to enjoy his singleness before he enters another relationship especially before he enters one with Eddie.

6. Allow Buck to mature. He's 30 years old for God's sake which means he should have learned a lot over the past 5 years but in season 5 all the audience saw was him regressing. He was still waiting on the woman he was with to leave him but he should have learned that lesson with Abby and Ali in seasons 1 and 2 so that he could have ended it sooner. Also please let him learn how to solve problems with critical thinking instead of him having to talk to 4 or 5 different people but still coming up with no clue as to what he should do. Maddie really didn't add anything to aide in his breakup with Taylor so the audience shouldn't have had to wait 18 episodes for them to breakup.

7. Stop writing Buck with two different personas. He was a HIMBO with Taylor but a HUSBAND with Eddie. If he's allowed to mature, then the HIMBO persona should be put to rest.

8. Make Buck go back to therapy with Dr. Copeland. Buck shouldn't have stopped his sessions with her because it's obvious he needs to talk to someone outside of the 118 who can provide an objective point of view about his decisions. He needs to deal with his parents in therapy too.

Please use season 3 as a guide on how to make season 6 successful. It was the best season with an awesome natural disaster as the opener and it continued with great Buck and Eddie and Buckley-Diaz family scenes. The continuity was there and all of the mains were given a substantial amount of screen time. Please don't do a repeat of seasons 4 and 5 again where all of the stories were weak and unappealing (except for the shooting). #Do Better and #Free Buck

Enjoy some of CanonicallyObserving911′s Gifs from 9-1-1′s best season: Season 3

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cjrae · 2 years

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The HMS Sylki? Or; Why I Like It, But I Don’t Ship It.

It’s hard to throw a rock at the MCU fandom without hitting someone who adores the character of Loki, as played by Tom Hiddleston. And with good reason - Loki is one of the best characters of the Infinity Saga due to the fact that he is morally grey. He is capable of villainy, but also heroism and he swings back and forth between those two poles as he works through the trauma of his childhood and stunted development.

In the Infinity Saga, we know where this leads - he’s grown just enough to recognize that he wants more than validation through rulership before Thanos cuts all of that potential growth off with his brutal execution, further punctuating the tragedy that is Loki’s fate; his death, just like his life, is used to temper Thor into a hero that will rise to the challenge at hand.

Spoilers are under the cut.

Loki

And then came his first chance to be in the spotlight. In an instant, Loki is ripped away from everything that has defined him - his narcissistic family unit and his role within it, his costume, even his name as he’s often simply referred to as “Variant”. He’s stripped down to his bare essentials and asked to answer the question, “What makes Loki tick?”

This is a question the first season goes back to again and again as Loki is forced into a brutal version of therapy - first confronting his life and his “fate,” which makes him realize that he’s been stripped of agency his entire life. He’s desperately flailing for control when he has never had any, and it has made him cruel in a bid for attention and love. It is the classic setup for narcissistic behavior patterns and it leads to Loki’s greatest fear - being completely and utterly alone.

Sylvie

Sylvie is a version of Loki that could have been - what if the God of Mischief had instead been a Goddess? Well, for one, it’s a bit depressing to realize how much better Odin treated an adopted daughter than a son; Sylvie knew she’d been adopted, she was securely attached to her parents and her people. The scene where she’s arrested by the TVA, she is playing make-believe with herself cast in the role of hero.

That role of Sylvie as hero and warrior is exactly what is projected to not just Loki, but also the audience as we get to know her, her mission and just what motivates her. It’s difficult to argue that Sylvie isn’t the hero of the piece through Episode 6. The TVA believes that the ends justify the means and that any actions they take are justified if it preserves the Sacred Timeline. If that leaves a little girl orphaned and homeless just before you’re preparing to sentence her to be reset in front of a judge who clearly has no care for the fact that this is a child who is not responsible for how she was born, then so be it.

She also displays many of the traits that we’ve identified with the various superheroes of the MCU - she’s self-disciplined, she has a mission, she’s in the right and she knows it. She’s determined to give the entire universe their free will back!

A Narcissistic Romance?

Here’s the crux of what we’re watching; Loki’s journey of learning to love himself in a healthy manner. One of the luxuries of narrative is that we’re able to externalize that story so that the audience can see Loki’s internal state. Because here’s the thing - most narcissists never change, because they have to understand that something is wrong first.

(Side note; I think this is a huge part of Loki’s appeal, and a dangerous piece of it. There are people who look at Loki’s story and fantasize about ‘fixing’ him by being the ones to show him unconditional love, when the crux of the story is about Loki recognizing the need and gaining the agency to start fixing himself).

Loki, however, has had his Infinity Saga growth put on fast-forward and then smacked over the head with it. He knows something is wrong and then he is shown a version of himself that embodies everything he thinks he needs to be in order to address his insecurities.

In the Void, when Kid Loki looks at him and says “You’re different,” Loki immediately demurs. No, he’s not different, but Sylvie is. Sylvie is Loki as Loki thinks he should be. Sylvie is a hero - in a sense, she is the Idealized Version of Loki.

Unfortunately, we all know what happens when you put someone on a pedestal. Sylvie is vulnerable to the same flaws as Loki - she feels cheated out of What Should Have Been. Only, instead of a crown (and the love of her father) she was cheated out of her right to grow up surrounded by her loving family - and her reaction to that injustice is the same as Loki’s; all consuming rage. She will achieve what she believes she deserves - revenge - regardless of the cost to anyone else around her.

This is what makes her betrayal of Loki so heartbreaking. He tells her the truth, with all the benefit of having his story on fast forward - Loki has grown enough to know that killing He Who Remains isn’t going to fix Sylvie’s pain any more than ruling would finally make him happy. Sylvie just shared her ability to enchant with Loki, reassuring him that he was capable of performing it as well because “we’re the same.”

But when she pushes him away, she denies that connection.

Season 2′s Core Story (Or My Theory, At Least)

So, if the central story of Season 1 was Loki learning a healthier self-love that wasn’t dependent on the approval of his father or besting Thor, then we segue nicely into the next phase of Loki’s healing, which should also address how he will self-regulate his emotions going forth:

How do you forgive yourself after you’ve f***ed up?

Whether or not Sylvie’s decision was actually the wrong one or not is a separate essay - but suffice it to say that on a personal level, she completely and utterly f***ed up and she may have on a cosmic level as well.

But learning to forgive yourself in the wake of mistakes is vital to Loki’s continued growth as a character - so much of his story has been how he’s consumed by his self-hatred that he projects onto others because he is unable to process his emotions on his own. But at the end of Season 1 his worst fear has come true. He’s utterly and completely alone for the first time in his life - there will be no one to project them onto. He won’t even be able to attempt to rule the TVA, a go-to strategy when he’s stressed - because Kang has pretty throughly beaten him to the punch.

If he doesn’t need to ally with Sylvie again to deal with the story of Season 2, I will be shocked because it will give the writers an opportunity to have Loki actively working through how to be angry, empathize and eventually forgive, without being destructive in the process. (Because he is not going to have time or emotional space to both deal with the ramifications of Season 1′s end and indulge in old patterns - one will have to give way to the other.

Not Boarding The HMS Sylki

I think I’ve made a pretty long-winded explanation of why I like the relationship between Loki and Sylvie and why I think it works on a character level. That doesn’t mean I ship it, however.

Some relationships come into our lives and are not meant to be permanent, long-term romantic relationships that end with commitment and families. Sylvie and Loki’s relationship is, as I’ve said before, an externalized view of what is happening within Loki himself. Eventually, however, he is going to need to internalize what this relationship is teaching him and when he does, it will be over. (And the same for Sylvie, honestly - Loki has as much to teach her as she does him).

But learning healthy self-love, as opposed to stunted, conditional love, is what will allow Loki to keep letting go of the narcissism that has shaped his life until now and stunted every other relationship in his life. And that foundation is what will give him the potential to actually step into a more heroic role within the MCU going forward, with the more complex and nuanced understanding that people are just that - people. No one is perfectly virtuous and no one is purely evil, hero or villain.

Especially not Loki.

#loki #loki tv show #mcu #meta #essay #character analysis #sylvie #sylki #sylki discourse #sylki kiss #long text post

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my-current-obsession · 10 months

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Winter’s Wish: Spirits of Edo - Final Thoughts

HEADS UP - below the read more, I’ll have spoilers for EVERY route in the game!

I enjoyed this game quite a lot, though I don’t absolutely love it by any means. PERSONALLY I’d put it at about the level of Olympia Soiree - so it’s pretty good and I’ll come back to it occasionally, but it doesn’t measure up to my favorites.

That said I liked the unique elements of the story - vessels, formfolk, blightfall - and how they were handled... for the most part. I feel like the story somehow hits both ends of the spectrum in being VERY logically thought out/developed and making good use of foreshadowing... and yet sometimes there are things that don’t make sense at all or seem contradictory. There’s also a bit of a consistency problem in how certain characters and issues are handled depending on the route. I’ll get into that a bit in the spoilers.

My play order was Genjuro > Kinji > Kunitaka > Tomonari > Yoichi > Ohtaro.

Common Route(s): While I was partially disappointed to have to immediately narrow down my route choice to two guys (or rather, ONE guy except for Castle Town due to two routes being locked initially), I did enjoy seeing the different stories play out and how Suzuno was utilized differently each time. The “pre” route split also gave the story more time to get her closer to each love interest, IMO.

I appreciated that she was taught to fight in the Castle Town route, which then carried forward to her contributing a bit more in battle for Yoichi and Genjuro. It’s a shame she couldn’t fight in the other routes, but thankfully they found other ways for her to be useful anyway.

I’ll admit the Entertainment District route frustrated me a bit, since the conflict was so... avoidable. Yabuta cast suspicion on himself by not revealing his connection to the case and then had the audacity to get upset when everyone confronted him about after finding out the truth. Thankfully this stupidity IS pointed out at the end and he basically says he won’t make the same mistake again... but honestly an apology or acknowledgement that HE was in the wrong would have been nice, instead of treating him as justified for being secretive and then upset at the consequences to HIS OWN actions.

The Samurai Town route was surprisingly funny. The epic music and tension given to Suzuno just trying to impress the ladies and get an in with them was hilarious, as was Tenichibo immediately falling for her and outing himself as a mostly harmless loser. This route also showed another, sweeter side of Kyoshiro, which was lovely. It’s a shame that only carried into Tomonari’s route and not Kunitaka’s.

Genjuro: This route was a sweet and wholesome slowburn. I could really tell they were getting closer as time passed, and it was clear Genjuro was starting to open up and depend on Suzuno for guidance. I also think this route probably handled the vessel issue the best. More than anyone else, Genjuro starts out like what I expected a heartless, memory-less person to be - aloof and focused entirely on his mission. Several other vessels just seem too... emotive, right from the start - and to be fair there ARE reasons for some of those (which I’ll get to) but in some cases I can’t figure out where their depth of perception and emotion is coming from.

Meanwhile you can SEE the transition with Genjuro from being focused on his work (while still devoted to the people of Edo) to starting to feel more. First comes the reveal of how much time and effort he’s put into interacting as casually/normally as he does with people - and to be clear he’s still pretty awkward, showing that despite his progress he still has a long way to go - and then he slowly gets anxious and upset about essentially being on house arrest, but as a vessel, he needs Suzuno to RECOGNIZE what’s he’s feeling and help him understand and work through it. Long before his seal breaks, you can see he’s slowly starting to feel and certain emotions are bleeding through.

If I have one complaint, it’s just that he could have used one or two more “romantic” scenes to justify the ending. I feel like their relationship jumped from around 60 to 100, really quick. Even just giving them a few more minutes to interact after the seal on his heart broke and indicating then that he DID have feelings for her (that he hadn’t fully felt/recognized until now, of course) before Hanzo showed up would've been enough. As-is, I personally found the big romantic declarations of love and wanting to be together forever to be just a tad unearned.

Kinji: So this seems to be a bit of a hot take but I didn’t really care for his route. Or at least, I didn’t like his relationship with Suzuno. Something about the way he interacts with and treats her just feels condescending to me. It feels like he “likes” her because she amuses/entertains him, which... I don’t find romantic. And on her end, while it’s VERY clear that Suzuno is attracted to him, it seems purely physical. She’s into his looks which is valid (he’s 100% the hottest guy in the game based on appearance alone), but it’s hard for me to take her falling for him seriously because it just feels like they haven’t bonded at all. He teases her, she gets flustered, this repeats like four more times... and suddenly she realizes she loves him. WHY?

They don’t seem to have opened up to each other at all so it doesn’t feel like there’s any reason for her to like him more; she’s just infatuated with him. I DID like him outright telling her to make him fall for her - that felt good and I thought at least his half of the romance might feel earned. But it seemed like in no time at all he was reciprocating - or rather the story suggested he was ALREADY into her by the the time he made that suggestion. And again I couldn’t see it, because to me it feels like he’s toying with her rather than CONNECTING with her.

Outside of the romance that I couldn’t get behind, I DO like other aspects of this route. I liked the espionage/spy angle of Suzuno infiltrating the brothel, as well as the makeover that came with it. And I liked Okuni quite a bit. This route was also like the only one to have a red herring for the antagonist unless we’re counting the Man Behind the Man, the true Big Bad for every route, which I’m not at this point. It was nice having to try and solve a mystery instead of having an obvious conflict to overcome from the beginning.

Kunitaka: In isolation, I think his route is very solid and I like it. Taking the entire game and other routes into account though... I have several issues. First of all, Kunitaka gets SUCH a raw deal. Even though it makes sense for the Oniwaban to doubt/suspect him considering the evidence, they take it too far - at least compared to other routes. This is where the consistency issue pops up.

In other routes, characters are trusted or forgiven for FAR WORSE considering there is NO doubt in those circumstances that they’re guilty. Yet Kunitaka is merely suspected, with NO concrete proof, and literally everyone turns on him and is ready to kill him basically immediately.

What really bothers me is that logically, this makes SENSE from the vessels at least - they wouldn’t have the hearts to truly care about/trust him, so they’d be ruthlessly logical about it (which makes their quick turnarounds/trust in OTHER routes that much more grating). As the prime suspect it makes sense to take him out. But even the HUMANS in the Oniwaban don’t give him the benefit of the doubt. This is PARTICULARLY frustrating with Yabuta, considering he’s a damn hypocrite. He suspects Kunitaka and wants to kill him WITH NO HARD EVIDENCE, yet he had the gall to be upset that the Entertainment crew was suspecting him AFTER HE WITHHELD INFORMATION from them.

Even Tomonari, who should know him best, doesn’t trust or care for him at all and ONLY joins him due to his trust in SUZUNO. It was so frustrating playing this route and having everyone doubt Kunitaka. What’s worse is that there was an opportunity for Suzuno to be (RIGHTFULLY!!!) angry towards everyone on his behalf, but instead she was just... sad and didn’t know how to think/feel about everyone. Honestly this route would have been ten times better if Kunitaka and/or Suzuno actually HELD IT AGAINST the Oniwaban instead of instantly forgiving them. Since the trust and relationship was BROKEN, they needed to EARN it back, and that didn’t happen.

My other huge issue is just that I struggle to wrap my head around Kunitaka as a vessel. Genjuro and Kinji actually do seem initially aloof/detached/etc. before they start emoting more throughout their routes, and the other three have good reasons/explanations for why they’re so emotive. But how/why is Kunitaka so emotive and perceptive? I understand that a lot of his personality is inherited from his owner, but even if he’s compelled to live a similar lifestyle I just struggle to think that without the capacity to feel and understand emotions, he’d be able to act the way he does and even more, be such a good teacher to children.

It’s also odd how... back-and-forth he is in regards to Suzuno. Sometimes he can tell what she’s feeling (such as when he deliberately tries to shut her down so she’ll stop loving him, since a relationship with a vessel wouldn’t work) but other times he’s completely dense and has to be told what she’s thinking.

Finally I have a minor nitpick - Kunitaka’s relationship with Genjuro is a fairly important part of his character and route, yet doesn’t have ANY role or importance in Genjuro’s route. Just one more way in which the poor guy is shafted.

All these complaints make me understandably ambivalent at best about Kunitaka’s route. That said... I actually DID like the romance here! Yes, it was a bit rushed in the beginning, but it made sense - due to the accidental kiss and Suzuno’s lack of experience, she fell fast and hard. But the route took a turn I’d never seen before when Kunitaka NOTICED and shut her down since he didn’t (and couldn’t) feel the same.

I genuinely liked Suzuno a lot in this route. It took a lot of determination for her to turn against everyone else to support Kunitaka, especially when she was suffering a broken heart at the time. But she KNEW it wasn’t him and she trusted him, so she willingly put herself in a painful situation to support him.

She shoved her love aside to be there as his FRIEND, and then was confident and spunky enough to reject HIM when he confessed to her. Because he’d broken her heart and she was trying to get over him, she issued him a (justified) challenge to win her over. What followed was basically a role reversed version of what I’d wanted/expected from Kinji’s route, where Kunitaka clearly started making moves and she was into it even as she tried to force her feelings down.

So yeah, I really liked the romance in this route. I also loved Tenichibo coming back and playing a big role. He’s easily my favorite non Oniwaban character. It’s a shame about... everything else.

Tomonari: Yes, I played his route before Yoichi despite him being the intended penultimate route. I actually blindly ended up on Tomonari BEFORE Kunitaka, and got pretty invested in the beginning of his route before I was forced onto the early bad end. So I was eager to get back to him as soon as possible.

By design, this route was darker than the rest. The pressure to use her power to contribute and catch the murderer BROKE Suzuno in a way nothing else in any other route did. It’s interesting they chose the poster boy’s route for her to be so weak/helpless, but it’s clearly intentional as she and Tomonari have clear arcs on this route where she has to accept what’s happened and just try to do what what she can while he has to learn to LET her try instead of sheltering her from everything and everyone that might hurt her.

Tomonari is interesting in that’s he’s pretty cold/aloof... towards literally everything except Suzuno. But his soft spot for her is clearly explained as a result of their shared past - even with his memories sealed, on some level he recognized and loved her from the start, and wanted to do everything he could for her. I appreciate that this is present in basically every route too - he consistently puts her wants and well-being above his duties in the Oniwaban, which is very NOT vessel-like behavior.

The romance is pretty well-written and believable in this route, but it IS a bit uncomfortable with the context of them kind of being raised as family. I know that physically/mentally/emotionally they’re the same age NOW but it’s weird to think Tomonari existed pretty much at the same state he is now when Suzuno was a child, and he was essentially her older brother (considering in Ohtaro’s route he explicitly calls Suzuno’s parents Mother and Father, indicating they were HIS parents too).

I also don’t know how to feel about the fact that he occasionally comes off as yandere-lite. Outside of the bad ends, his moments of jealousy/possessiveness are minor and played funny/cute enough that I can accept them, but I still recognize on some level that it’s not... good. And if he weren’t literally about to die in his sorrow end I’d be freaking out more about the way he’s rushing into sex with her as a way to “claim / leave a mark” on her”. It’s not explicitly said but I have to wonder if the implication is he’s wanting/hoping she gets pregnant (since the scene very much had a vibe of him wanting her to remember him forever, and that would leave her a lifelong reminder). If so, ironically his other bad end debunks the possibility.

On that subject, can I just say RIP Genjuro’s good ending. Since Tomonari’s bad ending heavily implies that vessels can’t reproduce, that means the desire to have kids/a family the Genjuro expresses in his good ending won’t go anywhere. This theoretically isn’t an issue for Kunitaka or Tomonari in their good endings since they turn human, but Genjuro is explicitly still a vessel since his memories are still sealed. Kinji and Yoichi are too, but at least neither of them outright says they want kids and might not get to have them.

Not to harp on my issues with Kunitaka’s route again (and I’ll do it AGAIN in Ohtaro’s route), but the Oniwaban is very quick to forgive Tomonari and Suzuno for running away. Even worse is that Yabuta specifically apparently was concerned for them and vouched for them to the shogun - even if you chose NOT to run away and thus Tomonari took matters into his own hands, which leads to a confrontation with Yabuta as opposed to him just letting you go peacefully. Once again, Kunitaka got a raw deal.

One aspect of this route I really liked was the relationship between Miharu and Kyoshiro and how they were basically a beta couple. The two are VERY different and have a long way to go towards understanding each other, but just seeing the baby steps (and comparing their strained, bickering relationship with how easy and loving Tomonari/Suzuno is) was satisfying. THAT SAID, Kyoshiro coming back to life at the end was... convenient, to say the least. He was the ONE major character to die in every route (not counting bad ends), and it got undone.

While it was emotional and I’m glad to see Miharu and the shogun so happy... his death was a very important moment for Suzuno and something that should have weighed on her forever. It’s something that she and Tomonari were partially overcoming when they defeated the blightfall, so having it just undone felt cheap. Especially when it was explicitly stated there was no chance he’d come back.

Yoichi: I ended up liking the relationship and dynamic he had with Suzuno a lot more than I initially expected. Especially since the route started on a trope I’m NOT fond of - fake dating.

Thankfully that was only a small part of the route, and even while pretending to date, the two got to have several REAL conversations. I appreciate Yoichi’s blunt and straightforward attitude, and how he helped Suzuno grow.

I really liked the twist of his route and how it sets him apart from the other vessels. Because Yoichi had his memories from the start, he can fall back on that knowledge/experience to better interact with people. Even if his own feelings are muted, he REMEMBERS emotions enough to be able to recognize (and even manipulate...) them in others and fake them himself. Even retroactively, I feel like applying what I learned about him here helped me understand his actions on OTHER routes.

When it comes to Yoichi’s feelings... that’s where the water gets muddied in the context of the game as a whole. Even at the end of the route, Suzuno can’t see his threads, which suggests that his heart is STILL sealed. However, Yoichi gets offended/upset when she suggests he can’t feel and is pretty insistent that he CAN. Also, considering how... besotted he gets once he and Suzuno actually get together, it’s hard to deny that he’s feeling something. It’s too radical a shift, and there’s no reason for him to be lying at this point.

I can understand and sympathize with the idea of “whether I have a heart/feelings is up to ME”, but when it directly contradicts literally every other route, which clearly shows the threads as an indication of having a heart, it leaves me feeling confused.

Ohtaro: My first playthrough of his route, I was ambivalent up until The Reveal, for reasons I will shortly explain. After that, though, my primary emotion, for QUITE some time, was... vindication.

I’d been suspicious of Ohtaro for quite a while, for several reasons. Some meta reasons (his route ONLY unlocking after Tomonari, who already required completing 3-4 others, was obviously notable), some legitimate foreshadowing that I caught, and some things I was actually just wrong about (in the extras menu, I was CONVINCED his flower was a spider lily, which I know is associated with death. I was surprised and embarrassed when I beat the route and discovered it was a freaking DANDELION).

I figured there had to be some reason Ohtaro’s route came AFTER the poster boy, who in games with locked routes is almost always the final route. So I knew there must be big twists/reveals, and him being a twist villain made sense. So even before hitting his route, I was on the lookout for suspicious behavior from him. I actually caught the line in the Entertainment District common route about “black threads”, but it was so brief I wasn’t sure what it meant. Since the game moved on immediately I assumed it meant everyone saw Suzuno’s power (which is true) removing the threads (false).

I found it curious that in most routes, Ohtaro just LEAVES in the good ending. I thought his behavior in Tomonari’s route was ultra convenient - pitching a fit about being tired so he could leave just before shit went down. Being “useless” against the Divine Blightfall (which the others even call out!). I was primed and READY to catch him as a villain, and by the time I actually started his route I might have been disappointed to be proven wrong.

But I WAS still second-guessing myself and open to being wrong... up until he mentioned emotional imprints. It was then that I KNEW he was hiding shit and I was READY for the reveal. And it didn’t disappoint!

I’ve never seen another otome where one of the love interests is a twist villain big bad. I’ve seen twist villains (but not the main antagonist), and I’ve seen villain love interests that weren’t hiding that they were the enemy, but this was a first. The sheer novelty made this route enticing for me.

More importantly, this reveal retroactively fixed a huge issue I’d been having with his route - namely that the relationship/romance was moving VERY FAST on his end. But that was intentional, because he’s been purposefully trying to seduce her into joining him.

And at first I couldn’t reconcile WHY he wanted her on his side so badly, since it was clear he was manipulating her into joining him rather than actually being in love with her - but why would he care so much about her joining anyway, unless he DID like her? But there was a well thought out answer for that, too. Just like Tomonari, Ohtaro is deeply connected to Suzuno, except through her mother rather than her father. And he wanted her on his side because of that connection.

I think the sorrow ending is VERY helpful/informative on this route. Even after two runs of his good ending, I couldn’t quite accept his sudden shifts in mood and how he treated Suzuno. But seeing a good chunk of his route from his POV clarified a lot. Suzuno was actually RIGHT ON THE MONEY when she asked if he wanted to be stopped long before he was willing to engage with the idea, which is why he divulged as much information as he did and why he was so easily persuaded to give up revenge. And seeing when he started to genuinely like her made the progression of their relationship work better for me too, since from Suzuno’s perspective, there is a DRASTIC shift between before and after she rescues him from the Oniwaban that was a little too sudden for me.

But knowing that he was ALREADY struggling with figuring out his feelings at that point, knowing that he DID like her - and might have thoughtlessly kissed her because HE WANTED to rather than because he thought it was what she wanted, and thus he felt rejected when she bit him - made his falling to pieces when she saved him less abrupt and more believable.

The sorrow ending also just hits really hard in a good way. It fires Chekov’s Gun (which was brought up and NOT fired in the good end) with the netsuke being broken. Tomonari’s call out to Suzuno was SO GOOD and directly points to what DOES happen in the good end where the “correct” way to love someone is not by accepting and going along with your love’s sins but rather by addressing them and trying to do better. The CG of Ohtaro literally dying while he finally acknowledges his feelings and how he wants Suzuno to be free rather than carry on his revenge is painful in the best way. And Suzuno not even realizing she’s become a blightfall (paralleling Hibie, since both turned blightfall out of losing their love) and carrying on Ohtaro’s revenge anyway without meaning to, as she searches for him. God, that ending hurt and I loved it.

Ultimately the game handled basically everything with Ohtaro REALLY well. There was plenty of foreshadowing to his “true nature” and then again there was some foreshadowing in his route of his ACTUAL true nature and wishes. The Oniwaban’s behavior also made sense in this route. Again, there was subtle foreshadowing about them learning/suspecting the truth - there’s a great moment where after Ruriko talks about feeling a pain in her neck, which the vessels assume is important, and we get a text box of Kinji saying nothing, looking concerned. Since vessels have perfect memory, he’d remember that Ohtaro touched her neck and thus would suddenly have reason to suspect him.

The Oniwaban covertly planning and attacking him out of the blue makes sense - they wouldn’t show a blightfall any mercy. I also appreciate that Kyoshiro shuts Suzuno down when she tries to defend Ohtaro or get him to allow her to talk to him again, but then he’s convinced through a logical approach - getting information about Hibie. And it makes sense that Tomonari would help her since that’s in character as I previously established. And while I still think Ohtaro gets forgiven/accepted a bit too easily (especially compared to Kunitaka...), again the story is careful to have it make perfect logical sense.

Barring Tomonari, the rest of the vessels decide to give Ohtaro a chance only AFTER Suzuno’s conversation with him. And notably in that conversation, the concept of the cycle of revenge is brought up, as well as Ohtaro clearly leaning towards accepting Suzuno’s request to stop fighting. So the vessels ONLY give Ohtaro that chance because they don’t want to continue perpetuating that cycle and they know Ohtaro is similarly willing to stop. The shogun similarly chooses to spare his life for those reasons. And again, Yabuta is specifically noted to care about/vouch for Ohtaro, because he’s similarly a “redeemed criminal”, which considering this route FOLLOWS the Entertainment District story, makes sense. Having been forgiven for the trouble HE recently caused, he’s paying that forward.

(I’m still bitter he’s so quick to doubt and try to kill off Kunitaka though).

I’m quite torn on how I feel about what went down in the past as revealed in this route. It’s a messy situation where no one party is entirely guilty... but nor are they innocent. The story certainly tries to frame Suzuno’s mother Setsu as an innocent victim... but at the same time I can’t help but feel she should have tried harder to compromise with the clan or convince them of her way. Hilariously Hibina was kind of right when he called her out for making a bunch of radical statements simply because she wanted to marry an outsider. It doesn’t help that I really don’t like the idea of her praying for a god’s help (basically magical intervention) to ensure she marries a guy she JUST MET. Is that not like... the fantasy version of drugging the guy? And she chose to do that at the expense of EVERY other relationship she had.

I do appreciate that there is very mild pushback to her decisions/actions in how Suzuno does things DIFFERENTLY. In the good ending, she DOES NOT abandon everyone for love - rather she does what her mother failed to do and convince both sides to come together.

There are SO MANY ways the tragedy could have been prevented. If Setsu tried harder to convince the clan; if Hibie hadn’t favored her so strongly; if Hibina hadn’t changed his mind; if the clan had been more open to change. And maybe that’s the point, that this was so preventable, but I’m left frustrated.

The situation is genuinely complicated and I can’t tell if the story is trying to lay the blame anywhere specific or if we’re meant to come out of it with our own interpretation. Personally I align most with Hibina; the gods never should have gotten so involved with humans. He only granted Setsu’s wish before because he was swayed by Hibie, who loved Setsu too much, so it’s tragic that him deciding to reaffirm his stance partially led to everything that happened.

It took me quite a while and I’m honestly still kind of iffy on the middle of this route, but I LOVE where Suzuno and Ohtaro’s relationship ends up. While I *personally* would not have been able to give Ohtaro the chances that she did (I don’t think I would have outed him, but I would have probably stood back and let him die when the Oniwaban ambushed him, reasoning it was for the best), their dynamic by the end is very much up my alley. I like that Suzuno is the one who is confident and in control, while Ohtaro is easily flustered. I like that while he’s not AS cheerful/energetic, it’s made pretty clear that the “act” he had been putting on all the time isn’t so far from his true personality, especially when it comes to his interactions with Suzuno. It means that even while he was trying to seduce her there was a kernel of truth to their early interactions and it has a nice “full circle” feeling.

It’s also quite amusing how prior to his route, she’d been so embarrassed at Ruriko and Tatsu being lovey-dovey in public and couldn’t understand it, yet more than any other route, she’s very open and public with her affections towards Ohtaro.

Finally, this route is clearly something of a “golden” route, and it’s one of the few examples of such that I like. Typically, golden routes try and quickly address and resolve the conflict of all the other routes, which feels rushed and also lessens the importance/impact of those routes. Here, while basically every character (except Hanzo oddly enough) from every route makes an appearance, the conflict is unique. Instead, the other conflicts are resolved by realizing that Ohtaro was behind the issues in every route (he outright mentions he was considering things like fusing Hibie to other powerful blightfall (Genjuro/Yoichi) or sealing Hibie in a cursed object (Tomonari)), so there’s no risk of those issues happening in this timeline now. Meanwhile every other route technically deals with Hibie but Ohtaro is still potentially a threat; it’s possible he’d give up on revenge with Hibie gone, since deep down he already wants to, but who knows whether he’d be able to take that step without Suzuno’s influence.

In terms of my feelings on the routes as a whole, from best to worst:

Ohtaro > Genjuro > Tomonari > Kunitaka > Yoichi > Kinji

My feelings on the romances/relationship with Suzuno:

Genjuro > Ohtaro > Kunitaka = Yoichi > Tomonari > Kinji

#otome #winter's wish #winter's wish: spirits of edo #tldr it's a good game! i like it quite a bit. definitely doesn't crack my top 5 but MAYBE my top 10?#i have a love/hate relationship with kunitaka's route in that i REALLY like some aspects but hate others #but other than that all the routes are solid even if kinji's doesn't work for me. he's probably the only one i'd never bother replaying #yoichi's route has a solid romance and i really like him as a character. but IMO the conflict/antagonist was not great #which is why he's placed where he is because i was overall more invested in kunitaka's route even despite the issues

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