#or b/c you don't like tropes based off of miscommunication

[symbologic]

Luffy vs. Zoro at Whiskey Peak

Unpopular opinion maybe, but the Luffy vs. Zoro clash in Whiskey Peak made sense for their characters. You could even argue that it was bound to happen, given their personalities.

Luffy likes the people who feed him. In the the face of their suffering, no matter who's responsible, he's too angry to concern himself with the reasons behind it. Zoro, on the other hand, prefers to handle things independently without saying much about it, especially if it means his crew gets to enjoy themselves a little longer

So it's not really surprising that Luffy would be blindsided by finding their hosts cut up by his swordsman, and that this would send him flying into a fit of rage. If he's never paused to listen to context or backstories before now, why would he start here? And of course, Zoro is not the type to back down from a challenge. He will match Luffy's energy and respond in kind

"But if Luffy were a good captain, he would have stopped to listen to Zoro's side of the story." Vivi tells him he's a bad captain two arcs later, precisely because of this kind of behavior. It clearly leaves an impression on Luffy, and we see he's grown into a better leader by the time he reaches Amazon Lily. (Almost as if Oda set all this development up on purpose with Whiskey Peak. HMM...)

"But Luffy refused to believe that Nami had killed Usopp in Arlong Park." This argument is like comparing apples to oranges. Nami did not actually do the murder that Johnny and Yosaku claim they saw, nor is she capable of killing people in cold blood. Of course Luffy isn't going to believe Nami killed Usopp based on hearsay. But in Whiskey Peak, Zoro did cut those bounty hunters. Luffy sees the evidence for himself, and he knows the carnage Zoro is capable of inflicting once he puts his mind to it. There is no denying what happened. Nothing other than Zoro saying "someone else did this" (or Nami knocking the soul out of him) was going to stop Luffy from going ballistic

"Why would Luffy fight so hard to recruit Zoro into his crew, firmly believing that he wasn't a bad person, only to later attack him because he believed Zoro was capable of harming 'innocent' people?" Because the fight was never about whether their hosts were "innocent" or not, not really. Their fight was about what Zoro did (assaulting the ones who fed them), and how those actions made Luffy feel (mad as hell, because these people FED THEM) For Luffy, context did not actually matter at that moment in time because, for him, "they fed me" unequivocally means "they're my friend", full stop This is even shown again in Mocktown! Both when Luffy unquestioningly eats an apple from Doc Q, and when Bellamy buys Luffy a drink in Mocktown. In the first case, Luffy only lived because he was lucky. And in the second case, he assumes Bellamy is a good person despite all evidence to the contrary, only to have his face brutally smashed into the bartop by Bellamy. Luffy is shockingly bad at reading people who try to feed him.

Luffy has interpersonal conflicts with all the core members from East Blue at different times. The fight with Zoro is the only one instigated by Luffy. But surprisingly, their fight highlights their similarities instead of their differences. They still fight equally and work together against BW agents who try to interfere with their fight.

I think that's what Oda wanted to showcase with this scene.

In short, Luffy's initial anger stemmed from his protectiveness towards those who have fed him, while Zoro's actions were driven by his dedication to the crew and subsequent refusal to back down from Luffy's challenge. It was a clash resulting from miscommunication and misunderstanding, something that is not typically a problem for them — until it suddenly becomes one When all is said and done, they're both quick to forgive and forget. This, too, is fitting for both their characters. From that point onward, Zoro continues to demonstrate that Luffy's trust is not misplaced. And Luffy never, ever doubts Zoro again after this

#I see a lot of ppl claim Luffy vs. Zoro was due to pressure from editors #but nobody can cite sources for this #I think it's much more likely that Oda genuinely wanted to show them fighting #to set up a gradual path of growth for Luffy in Act I #and also to highlight how Luffy and Zoro are on the same wavelength; even when they're trying to kill each other #plus that fight was funny as hell idc what anyone else says #also it's totally fine to dislike this scene b/c of the tonal whiplash #or b/c you don't like tropes based off of miscommunication #but anyone who says Luffy was ooc in this scene #or that this chapter only happened because luffy doesn't trust zoro #and that luffy would've been 100% fine if NAMI had killed the bounty hunters b/c he would've just ~trusted~ her #is wrong! lmao #one piece #monkey d. luffy #roronoa zoro #whiskey peak #meta #my meta #text posts #long post #zolu #kinda sorta

[emletish-fish]

What do you think would happen if instead of Tory, it was Sam who caught Silver paying off the referee? I feel there's a few options:

A. Sam takes what she saw to Daniel and tells him what happened. Daniel immediately demands that the girls' match be redone right there and then before anyone can leave the arena. The girls' finals are redone, and Sam wins.

B. Daniel goes to the All-Valley Committee once proof is gathered, and there's a redo of the entire girls' tournament. Which may include spectators, but alternatively, if they're just redoing the finals match, it might just happen behind closed doors with no spectators. In any case, Sam wins.

C. The entire tournament (and both gender divisions) results are voited and the whole thing is done over from scratch because no one knows for certain how many matches were fixed.

D. They simply disqualify Tory and order her to turn the trophy over to Sam.

I mean any of those options could have happened, but they all kind of dead-end a story that has to continue for 2 more seasons, and none of them would have been narratively as interesting as what happened.

Side note: There is also option E - the AVT Committee try to sweep it all under the rug because they don't want any more bad press - but a little AVT Committee drama goes a long way with me, and I don't think this storyline of beauracratic bickering and ass-covering would be rewarding for most viewers.

Sam discovering the cheating doesn't push the narrative anywhere new. It doesn't show or tell us anything we don't already know. We know Sam hates CK and considers them dirty fighters. This would simply reinforce her world view. Worst case, it adds another layer of miscommunication between the girls, with Sam thinking Tory was 'in on it' - and like, the last thing this story-line needs is manufactured misunderstanding based drama when there is already so much real drama to be getting on with.

Tory discovering the cheating does push the narrative and her growth, because once again, it is another blow to her world-view and sense of self and achievement. Tory wanted to win fairly, and now she has to live with the knowledge that she didn't.

Prior to Amanda, Tory was the student who was a 'true believer' of the CK method and Kreese. She genuinely believed that all that CK stuff was true - and that they would win because their aggressive style was 'better'.

But it wasn't better.

it wasn't possible for Tory to win on her own merits, and she had to resort to using MD methods to even land any of her points.

They had to cheat to win, and her victory is rendered completely meaningless to her.

(Oh Tory. She just wanted one solid and honest positive achievement she could call her own).

And we get to see what she does with that information.

because at this stage - Tory is the only one who knows. So were are getting into 'who-you-are-in-the-dark' stuff here, which is a trope I enjoy. Like, Tory could just take a CK whatever-it-takes-to-win mentality and tell no one what she saw and no one would ever be any the wiser. No one else would ever know that Tory didn't win fairly.

However, if Tory chooses to take action, and tries to even the playing field, tries to act honourably - it will truly be because she feels enough conviction in her newly blooming belief about the importance of fairness and honour.

And at this stage - we don't know which one she is going to do. Like, her bond with Amanda and her attempts to fight honourably are still relatively new developments, and her bond with Kreese and her indoctrination are parts of her old thinking patterns. We get to see which one is stronger. We will get to see whether Tory is truly beginning to turn over a new leaf by what she does next.

Miyagi-Do losing is also super important story-telling wise for Daniel and Sam.

I mean, to me it was obvious even from season 3 that the Johnny and Daniel would lose this AVT. (It's classic three act structure, there has always got to be a bummer note at the end of the second act. if Cobra Kai does stick to their original 6 season plan, then the end of season 4 is the end of the second act).

But the loss actually pushes Daniel to realise that he was putting way too much pressure on the children in his care. (Great realisation - love that for him. Take your duty of care seriously Daniel. I'm looking forward to what you'll do with this wonderful piece of self-awareness you've gained).

We know that Daniel is going to be on his own little crusade for a while and not confiding in Sam (and this could be because he realises his error in dumping the entire fate of the dojos/valley on her shoulders and he's putting her well-being first. However, I feel that Sam won't react as he expects to this, and might see it as Daniel losing faith in her abilities after her loss - but I feel that this could be partly self-projection because Sam is also losing faith after her loss and She'll be going on a path of questioning and self-discovery. We know from the trailer she has scenes where she fights her shadow self, so something interesting is happening with Sam's growth. Yeah, some good storylines in her future).

So yeah, Sam discovering the cheating adds nothing and dead-ends the story. Where as Tory discovering it give both her, Sam and Daniel some really interesting narrative directions and moral dilemmas and some juciy stuff to work with.

So I can see why they went with this option.

#Emletish Answers #Cobra Kai Meta #Cobra Kai season 5 predictions #Tory Nichols #Sam Larusso #Sam and Tory #Daniel Larusso

[essayofthoughts]

hmm ok generic but: only one bed, miscommunication, a/b/o ?

Give me a fanfiction trope and I’ll grade it

Only One Bed - C

I don't go seeking it out, really. It can be fun but mostly I don't buy it because Only One Bed is something easily circumvented - sleep on the floor, in a chair, somewhere else. It's usually only a temporary situation, there's other options etc. etc.. Basically, this trope only allows for a very short amount of time to convince me of whatever you want to convince me of with the fic, and in my experience Only One Bed is a trope best paired with other, longer-running tropes, such as Fake Married/Fake Dating (see previous ask). On it's own I generally won't bother.

TL;DR: I don't hate it but how it's usually used in shipfic is something I only find effective in conjunction with other tropes; I wouldn't usually read this on it's own.

Miscommunication - D+

Okay so how I do I explain how I feel about miscommunication...

How 90% of fics do it: FUCK NO FUCK OFF THAT'S NOT MISCOMMUNICATION, THAT'S NOT EVEN COMMUNICATION TO BEGIN WITH.

How the GOOD fics do it: Oh god I hate you, why would you do this, I know why they don't believe it, I know why they think something else but it's SO OBVIOUS THEY CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER.

Basically this is often done extremely badly with characters not communicating at all, lying to each other, or being deliberately obstructive or otherwise just... not communicating. This can be incredibly frustrating not in the narrative tension way but because it makes all of the characters seem incredibly stupid and I hate it. Shippy or not, when done badly - as it most often is! - I detest it.

When done well on the other hand it is the tastiest thing I ever did see. The cases where it's barely even miscommunication, it's that the involved characters have their own worldviews that mean that they just don't see the obvious care from the other/s because why would someone ever care that much about them? Cases where the miscommunication is a matter of genuine cultural difference where it's not contrived or awkward but just a genuine mismatch in how they interpret certain things or understand certain terms. That's the shit I like.

I like the cases where characters talk past each other because they're working from very different bases of understanding - a great example for this in Critical Role itself is the Vex&Vax conversations regarding Vex's titling or how confident she seems. Vax doesn't understand why the title means so much to Vex because to him she's always had worth. He doesn't understand that for Vex her confidence is an act because she has always seemed so confident and he takes his own strength from that. The idea that she isn't just the awesomest person doesn't occur to him, it does not compute - so they miscommunicate.

TL;DR: This is usually, in my opinion, the wrong tag to attach to a fic because most fics tagged with it feature failure to communicate rather than miscommunication. It can be done well, but it is done well so rarely I am wary of this tag and will often avoid it if it seems contrived to me.

A/B/O - F

NOPE. NOPE. FUCK NO.

1. Slash fandom has some just... truly appalling treatment of female characters and A/B/O is a trope that often people use as an excuse to further sideline female characters, usually due to some certain internalised opinions, at least so far as I can tell.

2. At it's best A/B/O is a woman's fantasy about a happy slashy ever after with babies and a white picket fence. At it's worst it's... rape and sexual assault and complete failure of consent, refusal to acknowledge or allow trauma, arousal treated as consent and just... a whole load of other issues.

I avoid slashfic for a bunch of reasons, but triggered in part by reading a BBC Sherlock Fanfic written before the introduction of Mary Morstan to the series that included her because she's in the books... and made her a habitual cheater cheating on John to justify John and Sherlock getting it on. They wrote in a character, mischaracterised that character from the primary source material they could reasonably be basing her on, and made her a wilful habitual cheater in order to provide a moral excuse for John's cheating on her with Sherlock. The level of just pure fucked up justification there that was completely unneeded because she didn't even exist in the BBC series at the time infuriated me. The fic was otherwise good, but once I grokked that, at it's basest level, that was what they'd done, I was very angry! And I looked over other slashfic and realised it happened with abandon, one way or another.

And then I looked at A/B/O and realised that oh hey, Roving Slash Fandom is basically the vast majority of A/B/O and decided fuck this, fuck that, fuck no never again. I am notoriously picky about what slashfics I will read, and A/B/O goes into my automatic blacklist - if AO3 had a tag blacklist feature, it would be on it. As it is, it is the first tag I blacklist when I search for anything.

TL;DR: I avoid A/B/O because I can't stand slashfandom and don't trust it. A/B/O falls into slashfandom more than it doesn't. I can think of one (1) A/B/O fanfic I've enjoyed (an unfinished Crimson Peak one) and otherwise the triteness or conversely the rapeyness of it just makes me uncomfortable, irritable and thus nope the fuck out.

Give me a fanfiction trope and I’ll grade it

#iskierka #ask games #asks #fandom things