#unordinary meta

[1010ninetynine]

why arlo is objectively worse than john fight me

Okok so asslo got his name for a reason. this hierarchy he’s obsessed with isn’t something he’s obsessed with to a T, ok? he’s not like “might makes right” else he’d worship the floor John walks on. He would only dream of being beat up by John again, the fiery passion in his eye stirring a longing Arlo can’t quite understand (mom this is for you <3)

No, instead, Arlo has an issue with John being a dumbass who can’t function. Because, yk, his method was “hide the fact im powerful and everyone will love me again” which worked out so wonderfully for him.

Not to say he can never be smart. I’ve met people who were truly dumbasses who came up with the genius of putting icecream on fruit roll ups before tiktok. But like...he doesn’t think anything he does through, and that’s why Cecile got fucked over. She assumed John acts with reason in his pea brain.

So I understand Arlo’s issue - John has no real goal, my boy is just angry. What he fails to understand that the fact this school is in ruin is 50% his fault (well he realizes it later but he certainly believed it was justified for a while)

Don’t believe me? I’ll explain.

SO seraphina losing her powers? 100% not his fault, and that was going to mess with his beloved system whether he liked it or not.

BUT. The main reason why this problem was exacerbated, and another problem in its own right, is that he chose to mess with the school ““cripple””, knowing ISEN, RUMOR LOVING ISEN, was scared enough to say “Hey! Leave John alone, I can’t predict what will happen.”

So, instead of doing that, taking the hint from Isen’s OBVIOUS fear that it’s more than just John being powerful, it’s also John being unfit for a Royal position, Arlo decides to force him out of hiding.

This, my friends, is the only reason John actually ends up fighting Arlo’s system of affairs. If Arlo did jack diddly squat regarding John, taking Isen’s fear as a hint, then John would be playing cripple and Arlo would still have a semi regulated system. Just with Seraphina needing protection.

I judge John less for what he did and how that, objectively, was bad for everyone because - he found a way to not be an ass, yk? Sure, not mentally healthy, but with Seraphina as his friend, she would’ve found out eventually and she was (and probably still would be) kind enough to get him to get it the fuck together. But even if she weren’t - Arlo made the CONSCIOUS decision to fuck with someone whose powers he DID NOT KNOW for the SOLE purpose of maintaining a HIERARCHY he DOESN’T BELIEVE IN.

Like FUCK. Arlo’s gotta stop being a might makes right guy if John being an ass was going to bother him. Like...bro. If high tiers rule, then why is John’s current behavior in any way ludicrous to him. He should be unquestioningly listening? Compared to John, he’s not strong in the slightest.

And I’d have forgiven all of this ludicrous hypocrisy...if Arlo was the kind of guy who wouldn’t be so violent with a crippled individual. Wanting the cripple to know their place, that’s one thing. Being so cruel to a cripple is another.

He only realized his wrongdoings and felt sorry after John ruined everything for him. If John really wasn’t that strong, Arlo wouldn’t have felt any sense of guilt whatsoever, because he never would have thought about what he did.

John only became someone worth caring abt when he was strong. And it’s difficult to think of John as objectively worse when Arlo pulled that shit on him.

#unordinary #unordinary meta #unordinary analysis #john doe #arlo #asslo

[just-antithings]

unOrdinary fans are wild. Like not me showing up in the fandom going "I love how nuanced this series is that's so good I wanna share my theories about what's to come" and just looking around and seeing pretty much only antis in the main tag with DNI's that maybe I'm misremembering but has a shortened version of John simps DNI that sounds like a slur to me??? Maybe I'm misremembering it or it just sounds like the actual slur but is spelled differently but still wtf. And of course they hate John whose the, checks notes, the main fucking character??? I don't get how any of these people are actual fans when they hate the main fucking character for showing symptoms of literal ptsd like that's even explored and he's working on it too. I also just love/s how they labeled him the antagonist of the story when he is literally trying to save everyone, even the people he hates, from the government agencies currently trying to murder him and his classmates. Like so much for getting to meta and theorize what is to come in the series cuz everyone else seems so hostile. I'm still gonna do my best to post in the tags though cuz fuck those people I'm just gonna make my own space here and they can just block me if it upsets them so much lol. But this also just shows me Death Note would never have become as popular as it did if it had come out nowadays. People are just so closed minded and pro forcing conformity nowadays.

ugh

#mod erin #ask #just anti things #just asshole things #dni hall of shame

[muninnhuginn]

Thanks for the tag, @roseofcards90!

Last song listened to:

Currently watching:

Move to Heaven (kdrama) - this probably isn't my usual fare, but I think I'm liking it so far? (Finished the first two eps) It's basically about telling the stories of the dead and making sure they get the respect they may not have received in life. One of the main MCs is autistic (as in, literally diagnosed) and the writing/acting seems to have a good balance so far with not babying him by showing he is competent but just has different rules and different people "get" him to varying levels? (There are definitely some little bits like the implication that his dad learnt sign language for him that feels warm rather than some writer just googling "common autistic traits") Will see how it goes anyway. It seems like the story of the day is episodic but the character stuff is building in the background.

Link Click (donghua) - Started watching this when s1 was airing but it was airing in the same period as Oddtaxi so the mystery parts of my brain were focused more on that at the time. To simplify it, it's a time travel donghua where the MC has to go back in time in order to retrieve info without altering the timeline. Season two is airing now and whilst I prefer s1 still overall s2 is still pretty interesting? Season one is more episodic/structured into arcs with a character focus, whilst season two is more full pelt mystery (so it's a bit surprising I prefer s1 tbh).

Jujutsu Kaisen (anime) - I'm an anime-only with this and am probably going to remain that way (especially from what I've gleaned about the manga - I might just watch to end of season two then leave it be?). Season two so far has captured me more than season one, though I've not seen the latest episode yet so will see if that holds when we return to the main cast. Either way, the openings and endings are genuinely so well-made. Even if the series goes entirely in a direction I hate I know I'll always have them.

Again My Life (kdrama) - Lawyer guy gets into trouble trying to take down a powerful guy. Gets killed (shocker). Gets sent back to his younger self to do it right this time. Not a super original plot admittedly, but it's a chill story so far and the relationships between the main cast in it (pretty much all platonic at least at this stage) are all really sweet. It's also doing surprisingly well in giving the female characters interesting conflicts

Adventure Time (US cartoon) - Not watching the whole thing and I have seen a number of random episodes out of order before, but am trying to crash course my way through enough to watch Fiona and Cake. Just finished the episode about Finn's ocean phobia and um, bit more yikes than I was expecting at this stage, but okay. Also, unfortunately, I can entirely see what people mean about Bubblegum&Finn being inspiration for Makima&Denji

Currently reading:

Klara and the Sun - first arc complete, extremely worried about some flags I'm picking up, rip. It's from the POV of a robot (AI kinda deal) and narration-wise, it really shows. Klara's pretty naiive in some ways, but the world-building and clues still make their way through the narration filter

House of Leaves - okay, ngl, I'm not far into this at all, but I've been confused about references to it for years and it seems meta so I'm going to get through it

Will bundle manga in together for ones I'm properly keeping up with rather than checking in every few months to catch up so: Skip and Loafer (monthly release), Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun (monthly), Spy x Family (fortnightly). Webtoons: Rebirth (weekly), unOrdinary (weekly).

Current obsession:

idek what I'd count because I'm into a few things rn and none of them to the extent I've done the whole deep dive? I'm being relatively chill, for me, I'd say. I'll say Link Click, Good Omens, Spy x Family are the things I'm most into nowadays? Good Omens is definitely what I have the most reblogs queued up relating to by far. There's just so much art and meta and I'm not used to being into a fandom here that just has so much. It's a bit overwhelming, honestly

Not sure who to tag but anyone who sees this and wants to have a go feel free (and feel free to ping me in it, I'm nosy) ^^

#tldr I have waaaay too many things pending. I've not included stuff like eizouken and poppy war I stalled on literally months ago #ask meme #roseofcards90

[lgwebcabinet]

Initial Mindmap

One idea that comes to mind for the project is the player being in the arcade or even working there, and they periodically go to play an arcade machine that seems to catch their eye, after playing it each time they get a new task to complete which starts off small. After a while the game begins to deteriorate and the tasks become more questionable and strange. In the end the player either has to climb inside the arcade machine, or find and kill someone to sacrifice their organs to the machine to keep the game running. Maybe a 2D side-scroller for this game? Would this be too complicated to do within the time frame?

Another idea that comes to mind is the player actually being the sentient arcade machine themselves and trying to trick the fake player and trying to trap them, so the protagonist is the villain. While this idea is okay I am a bit iffy on the fact that the game will no longer be as scary if at all if the player is the threat, and my mind draws a blank on how the game would play out. This might be a good vague concept for something in the future but for now I am leaving this idea here.

Yet another idea is if the cabinet is puppeteering the player into playing the game, or transferred their mind into the inner workings of it to try and fix an issue from the inside instead of giving up their organs to it. Alternatively the cabinet could open up to a portal that leads to a place similar to the digital world in Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, very unordinary and with random things floating in the air and the models looking smooth and unrealistic. There is something unsettling about that style but I am unsure as to what. Does this stray too far from the base idea I wanted to stick to, and if so is it necessarily a bad thing?

Maybe a game trapping the player inside of the arcade cabinet, but the whole game in the real world is set up as if it were a found game dug up from somewhere, like maybe an old cartridge or from the lost depths of the early internet. A self aware game that shows the player getting trapped in the arcade machine in the game, but then goes on to reach further and implies that the entity in the arcade machine plans to trap the player in the real world into the ‘found’ game where their in game counterpart is already trapped within somewhere. Perhaps they replace them, leaving the in game character to stop existing and disappear. Would this be too difficult to pull off? I’ll stick with the non-meta version of this idea and then consider implementing the rest if I have enough time and if what I already add into the game allows it.

[professor-maka]

UnOrdinary 174

Okay—so—I’ve been wanting to have words about this chapter since I read it on fastpass.

Because Arlo is the one person who actually gets ur. Arlo has developed into the most perceptive character of the lot.

Look here:

Arlo actually understands that John isn’t really himself, isn’t right. He just got decked yet still gets it. This is a man who has learned from his mistakes.

And he’s right. Because this is John in the same moment:

He IS lost in his own head.

So, yes, please, get the boy some help.

#unordinary #unordinary meta #unordinary john #unordinary arlo #proma has ideas sometimes and shit

[gentlemen-i-am-fucked]

UnOrdinary - Who's the Hero?

So I see that "When the main character is the villain and the antagonist is the hero" post (you know the one, the one with John and Arlo) every time i look into the UnOrdinary tag - I suppose that's due to the fact that it's a popular post about UnOrdinary - and I disagree with that statement.

So obviously, I had to talk about it, in a new, less relevant post to avoid derailing.

Anyhow!

The way I see it, neither John or Arlo are "heroes" - and I use the term loosely here, to mean "a person with a morally good stance". I get what this post is trying to convey, that John is a chaotic bastard who does shit for his own gain only, and that Arlo, who's been an antagonist to John since Day 1 actually has a "greater good" kind of reasoning for his actions, and wants to protect people from John.

The problem with this line of logic, though, is that it implies that Arlo acts in a morally good manner, when he simply doesn't. He's just as self-centred as John, he just expresses it in a different way. Whilst John seeks to upset the heirarchy and destroy the status quo in his quest to fulfil his selfish desires, Arlo indulges his equally selfish motivations by using the heirarchy to his advantage. He's the King, the strongest student, and everyone knows it, so he has recognised power withing the heirarchy, which he abuses. He saw someone not fitting into the heirarchy and fixated on making that person's life miserable. Arlo is more Lawful Evil, whilst John, who hides behind a mask and attacks at random, is more Chaotic Evil.

If John is the terrorist of Wellston, then Arlo is the corrupt politician (I'd even go as far as to call him a dictator).

In the end, the protagonist isn't the villain, and the antagonist isn't the hero. They're both the morally reprehensible products of a society in which this messed up heirarchy denotes how much worth you even have as a human being.

Right now, narratively, Arlo seems to be leaning more in the direction of "hero" because at the moment, his stance involves people not getting hurt, whilst John's is "I'm gonna beat the shit out of everyone". John is very clearly coded as a villain, but that doesn't automatically make his oppoment the hero. Arlo has done some fucked up shit in his time (pretending to befriend John only to lure him into what was supposed to be a no-holds-barred torture session springs to mind), and currently his stance is preferable because he thrives on order, which doesn't typically mesh well with the types of extensive beatings John is anonymously dishing out.

John is chaos. Arlo is order. They're both incredibly selfish, manipulative, and callous individuals, neither of whom seem to be capable of feeling any kind of empathy towards people other than people close to them (come to think of it, both Arlo and John seem to be written as sociopaths, actually), least of all towards people lower down in the heirarchy.

If I had to pick a "hero"-esque character (actually, characters) in UnOrdinary, it'd be Blyke, Isen, and Remi. These three are motivated by a genuine desire to help people, do better, and prevent needless casualties, even though it means putting their life on the line, and nobody asked them to do it. Even if their motivations started out selfishly, they went past that and acted in genuine altruism, in my opinion.

So yeah, neither John or Arlo are the heroes of UnOrdinary, they're both too self-absorbed to even conceptualise the notion of empathy.

#unordinary #unordinary webtoon #unordinary arlo #unordinary john #unordinary meta #webtoon #webtoons #meta #webtoon meta #unordinary analysis #aaaah i hope this makes sense!!!

[the-bitter-ocean]

Unordinary updated today and I have a couple potential ideas for blyke and Isen’s hero name! Since remi already has a hero name in canon that is very good (X-Rei).

Blyke: Ruby Ray, Crimson Phaser, and Scarlet Saber

Explanation: Ruby, Crimson, and scarlet are all words referring to the color red, which is his primary noticeable trait appearance wise (red hair, fiery personality, red glowing laser beams). I chose ray, saber and phaser because those are words associated with the ability of lasers. Ray means “beam of light”, and Phaser specifically means “a weapon that delivers a beam that can stun or annihilate” which is definitely sonething Blyke’s powers can do. I also chose Saber because I imagine that once blyke gets proficient enough in his abilities he’d cut down any criminals/crime the same way a saber (a sword) would.

Isen: “The Huntsman” or “Amber Analysis”

Explanation: I chose the huntsman since his ability is literally called “hunter” and he’s more an informant/ hacker, though that isn’t to say if he WERE to actually do combat and be professional in it.. he has the ability to track down literally anyone if he worked enough to become high tier. I also chose amber analysis because he has amber eyes and he analyzes his opponents/gathers info on them to help remi and blyke.

#unordinary #unordinary webcomic #unordinary webtoon #webtoon #isen unordinary #unordinary isen #unordinary blyke #blyke unordinay #unordinary meta #unordinary analysis #the bitter ocean talks

[stingro]

Do you ever think about how unO society tradition is falling apart and how people are dying not primarily bc of an abilityless person's desire to be equal and gain equity with the people above him, but because of a father's love for his son, a father who just wanted to reach his son after he fell to rock bottom?

#unordinary #unordinary webtoon #meta #ha....ha

[dreaming-of-assclass]

Omg Reaper 2.0's misogyny? I'm intrigued LOL especially since I don't remember a lot of details about him. So if you'd be willing to spill the tea... 👀

Ok everyone buckle up, it’s tea spilling time 😌🍵

Meta: 2.0’s Misogyny and Views on Gender Roles/Sociology

⚠️ TW: child abuse, domestic abuse ⚠️

So the specific instance I think of is during the Reaper arc, when the kids are breaking in to save Irina. And they first come face to face with him, and have to engage in combat. He takes them down effortlessly, we all know.

But...there’s a moment in which he purposely hits Kayano especially hard with his knee, and believes he has broken her ribs. He callously remarks, “Females are so fragile.”

Let’s break this down:

A. Kayano is literally the smallest girl/student. She is very petite, and everyone knows this. It's obvious even when she's wearing their uniform.

B. He knocked down everyone so easily, but seemed to take a particular joy in brutalizing her. A petite girl.

C. Given that he's been watching the class, he must've known that she was actually stronger than she seemed. But again, I question this particular violence and the comment afterwards.

For a while, I thought maybe he had just said that to be cruel for no reason. To rile them up and be an asshole. I mean, it would be fitting, right?

No. I came to the eventual conclusion that this man is a misogynist, for sure. And there are indicators that Koro, his only role model, might bear some resentment towards women himself.

There's also proof in the way that he treated Irina, even when they were "allies." He seemed to really disrespect her and look at her like a joke, despite her accomplishments as an assassin. And whatever worth he did believe her to have, he only thought it came from her sexuality.

Like...why else was Irina dressed down to only lingerie in the arc? Because it was part of his plan, and he looked down on her and her profession.

Expanding the context a bit, it really also does prove how he looked down on women. He had Irina appear half-dressed, upset, and completely weak before she tricked everyone. The embodiment of female fragility, and how sexuality is tied into that. I hope this is making sense omg

Now, moving onto his past~

I really recommend you read this awesome meta by @akamayumura (sorry for the tag!!) They delved into his childhood and psychological state very well, in my opinion.

We can infer that 2.0 grew up in a terrible household, and that is an equal contribute to his behavior, as well as the possibility of him having an anti-social disorder. I mean, he was so happy to see his father get killed in front of him...

Not only that, but he literally romanticized the killer. In that moment, he didn't experience grief, but gained a rose-tinted view of death. He literally begged Koro to go with him and grow into someone like that.

Clearly, there was some psychological reason for this. But that isn't unordinary for abused children to feel, having such a disconnect. He didn't view it as his father being murdered, but rather: a person he hated finally leaving his life.

And then he gained loyalty for the person who was responsible -> The Reaper.

I cannot find it for the life of me, but there is apparently a moment in canon where 2.0 describes his father as "tyrannical."

And you know what?

Usually in a household with an abusive tyrannical father, there is a weak, complacent mother.

This is so interesting that we're on this topic now, because I just read a book detailed all about this. It's called "Men Who Hate Women, and the Women Who Love Them" by Susan Forward. Please read it omg, it's so good and informative on how misogyny is engrained in childhood, relationships, etc.

But yeah!

This exact dynamic is a formula for men who grow up to be misogynistic because their first example of a woman in their lives is their mother, who is the victim in an abusive dynamic.

Here are some pictures from the book to help explain.

^ 2.0’s hatred towards his father

^THIS.

Either 2.0 grew up having to provide emotional labor for his mother, or there was none at all between them. Overall though, there is a sense of resentment and abandonment given that the father was so dominating, and his mother was a victim too.

Men who lived in households like this, often grow up into believing that women are to be controlled, because this is the example they had to go by for so long.

On top of that, there's a layer of resentment and distrust towards women because his own mother didn't stand up for herself and protect him. Why would another woman do so?

But to sum it up:

2.0 believes women are weak, fragile, easily controlled, and cannot be trusted at all.

There's evidence in his attack on Kayano, and the way he treated Irina.

Ahem, also notice how he seemed to act more professional around Karasuma, and took him much more seriously. Like yeah, Karasuma is more serious, but why on Earth would one of the best assassins in the world regard a government agent over another top-notch assassin?

If Irina were a male assassin, I definitely think the treatment and attitude would be different honestly.

ALSO.

2.0 loves flowers, we know! But there's another reason why he possibly used a flower shop guy as his cover.

To easily manipulate women, the target customers of flowers.

Hmmmmmm.

Anyways, yeah, we can deduce that his misogyny was born from his childhood of having an abusive father and seeing his mother as a victim.

Not to mention, that he spent most of his life with Koro, who definitely didn't treat him to respect women lmao.

I actually feel like Koro has his own personal resentment towards women/femininity...but before I make a post about that, I'll have to do more research.

Anyways, we all knew 2.0 had dad issues, but there are a lot of mommy issues on top of that.

This isn't me trying to cancel him or anything btw! He's still one of my favorite characters, I love him. I just find this characteristic of his to be pretty interesting and worth diving into. (Although I will admit, that Kayano rib scene upsets me a bit.)

So yeah! Hope you enjoyed this meta! And I hope this tea is hot enough 🍵🍵🍵

#assclass #ansatsu kyoushitsu #assassination classsroom #meta #post #nidaime #nidaime shinigami #2.0 #reaper 2.0 #korosensei

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Rapunzel’s Return Part 2

Continuing on from part 1 - 

https://rachelbethhines.tumblr.com/post/635068926214258688/tangled-salt-marathon-rapunzels-return-part-1

Summary: When Rapunzel tries to defeat the Saporians by herself she gets captured; but once Varian realizes that the Separatists plan on using one of his potions' destructive properties to destroy Corona, he and Rapunzel work together to stop it.

Let’s Talk About What a Let Down the Sapiorans Are

Throughout seasons one and two the Sapiorans were built up to be this intriguing race of people with a complex past and real problems that are sadly relatable to this day. They had a history, goal, motives, and special abilities like magic.  

Yet all we got was a really bad hipster parody. 

Heck, the crew can’t even keep it’s stereotypes right because they mostly slide into hippy territory instead. Hipsters, Yuppies, and Hippies are three distinctive counter culture movements for three different generations with completely different social concerns and fads. 

Basically Chris tried to “stick it to the kids” again and just wound up insulting his parents' generation instead because he’s that oblivious of other human beings.

And that’s not even taking into account that previously the Sapiorans were living on the run as nomads in caravans not dissimilar to common Romani stereotypes, so the show is once again making negative racial connotations due to thoughtlessness.

Why Do You Have a Secret Underground Room Hidden Behind Your Workshop Xavier?

Like that not a thing normal people happen to have lying around there workspace. We still are given zero explanation for why Xavier has all this plot convenient knowledge and rare unordinary plot useful stuff. 

Given his previous connection to Saporia and Zhan Tiri wouldn’t it not have made more sense to reveal that he is an actual plot important character in season three rather than keep him as just the exposition fairy? 

So Was This Before or After the Saporian Take Over? Cause Either Answer Makes This a Dumb Plan.

Why would the guards, especially Cap, just give up? Did they even bother fighting and then lost to Varian’s weapons or were they told to stand down by a brainwashed Frederic? If they knew something was wrong then why not stay and help? What makes them think they even could find Rapunzel given how no one knew where she was heading and her letters were infrequent? What difference would they think finding Rapunzel would do? 

Basically, just like with the “former cellmate” line, we needed to actually set up and establish this conflict rather than relying solely on exposition dumps. Because what we get here doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It goes against established character and leaves a lot of unanswered plot holes. 

More Promotion of Authoritarianism From the Show

Remember that these are the same people who formed a lynch mob to hunt down a fourteen year old all because the king told them to. The same king who had been lying to them for years and placed their lives and homes in danger for months. The same king who persecuted the poor and orphans for years. Him suddenly sending townsfolk to the mines isn’t anything new, so what are these people’s breaking points? Anyone else would have revolted by now.  

But noooo, they need Rapunzel to do it for them. Cause Rapunzel is royalty and they can’t do anything without royal permission because they’re sheep. Sheep that’s been subjugated for years and conditioned to be afraid of their “beloved ruler”. 

I understand from a meta point of view why you would want your main character to take charge but...

Like this isn’t inspiring.

It’s disturbing. 

Why are we promoting blind loyalty to a person who’s not earned it just because they were born special? In a freakin’ kids show no less! 

Oh and still no one bothers to call out King Frederic’s abuses here, FYI. 

Take Note That Quirineon is Activated By Heat

This will be important later on in the review. 

He’s Already Built Grenades For You. Wouldn’t Those Be Better Because They’re Easier to Control?

He’s already built explosive chemicals for you. You just used them in part one of the episode. And it came in an easy to use form rather than an unstable, and untested, mess that could literally blow up in your faces since no one, not even Varian himself, knows how to control it yet. 

You Don’t Hammer Out a Cast Iron Pan

It’s literally in the word. To make a cast iron pan you pour the metal into a casted mold. You don't hammer it out like you would with a sword or something. And you can’t even go with the “rule of cool” here cause Rapunzel surrounded by molten metal and fire would have been far more impressive looking.  

Yes I’m being picky cause I’m stalling. I don’t care. This is just yet another instance of the crew not paying attention to details like they should. 

Behold The Final Time Eugene Will Ever Call Out Rapunzel’s BS

This is the last time Eugene will hold an honest discussion with Rapunzel like an equal to her. By the end of this episode he will have transitioned into full on doormat mode. 

Also burying negative feelings and not addressing issues is who Rapunzel is. She’s been pulling this shit since day one. It’s what causes 90% of the conflicts in the show. Have you not noticed Eugene?  

So This Episode Has Contradictory “Lessons” 

The episode presents this idea that Rapunzel needs to open up to others and trust again after Cassandra’s betrayal. The problem is that the episode doesn’t follow through on that. It makes a knee-jerk decision to go with a “responsibility” lesson that wasn’t built up to instead at the last minute. 

More on this later.    

Varian Doesn’t Actually Interact With the Saporians at Any Point.

The only person Varian interacts with is Andrew. We have no concept of how he fits in with the rest of the group and what his dynamics are with them. What do they think of Varian? What does Varian think of them? The consequence to this is to further divorce Varian from narrative, even though this is supposed to be his redemption episode. 

As I said in the last part, you can easily write Varian out of this episode and nothing really changes plot wise. That’s bad writing. 

Also I was robbed of Khary Payton and Jeremy Jordan exchanging lines. I was this close to having audio material for my BH6 crossover, dang it! 

Behold The One Time the Black Lady Gets a Line!

I think her name is Juniper? 

You can tell it’s her because of the shadow on the wall.

Anyways they casted this part and only bothered to give the character a single line? What a waste! 

But this just goes back to the series' poor representation. The only WOC in the show are presented as “shifty” and untrustworthy, even when they are ultimately “good guys”. The majority of them are straight up villains tho, and even as antagonists they’re not afforded any real screen time. 

And the only other outright black women on the show is the inventor lady who was given zero respect and the ghost of a barbarian. 

Once again, I don’t think the crew are intentionally racist. I think they’re just sloppy. They wanted to be more inclusive but they failed to actually give voice to minorities behind the scenes and so failed in representing them well. This is a problem with the industry as a whole, not just this one show, and must be talked about as such if we wish to change things for the better. 

None of this “Stuff” Holds Any Real Meaning

We get several callbacks to season one through Cassandra’s personal things that she left behind, but none of this stuff holds any real personal meaning. It’s just there. They wind up triggering these big emotional reactions from both Rapunzel and Cassandra but the audience is just left confused because what they’re crying over are things that have little significance to these characters. Even this line from season one is just dripping with sarcasm and not some pleasant past memory that either Cass or Raps holds dear to their hearts. 

Way To Go, Dumbass

It’s not that she went alone, or that she broke down when it finally hit her that Cass left, that I’m making fun off. The episode already addresses those two points. 

No, what ticks me off is that Rapunzel has taken down killer robots, ghosts, and monsters before now with her magical hair but a handful of regular dudes can just bring her down? I don’t care how much alchemy they got. Depowering your main character for no stated reason just for narrative convenience is poor writing. 

Because If He Didn’t He Would Have DIED, Rapunzel!!!

He literally would have freakin died had he not done something! He was left inside a jail cell to rot away! Before that he was threatened with hangman’s noose! Before that violence from an angry crowd! Before that he was left alone to starve and/or die from exposure! There was no way out for him except to fight! 

And here you are inside the very prison that you kept him in and you still don't have the fucking self awareness to put two and two together! 

This Right Here the Assassination of Rapunzel’s Character and the Killing Blow to the Series

Yeah, and what about after the storm? Hun, bitch!?

We’ve spent two damn seasons watching Rapunzel stepping on people and making excuses for herself and the one time when she should realize her actions are wrong and finally own up to her behavior and she still does not fucking change.

This is supposed to be a coming of age story! That means the main character is supposed to grow and learn shit! But when it matters most, Rapunzel only digs in her heels and refuses to change! 

Why should I care about this character anymore if she’s just going to keep on being selfish no matter what? Why should I bother watching the show if it fails to deliver on its premise? How is this in any way shape or form an appropriate message for children!? 

If you’re watching the series for the first time, then it’ll take awhile to register just how awful this scene is and how it really is the beginning of the end, because they did have time to turn things around after this. But they didn’t, and here we are. 

This Isn’t a Real Apology

It’s not a real apology if all you do is make excuses for yourself. Rapunzel doesn’t address what she actually did wrong here and it has nothing to do with her stupid promise. 

She neglected and enabled the abuse of a child for a year and three months, and she’s not even sorry for it! 

You Were Never a “Friend” Rapunzel

Friends, actually do shit together. They enjoy each other’s company. They care when the other is hurt or in trouble. 

Rapunzel only came to see Varian when she needed him for something. Even now, after this confrontation, that’s all she’ll ever do. She does not actually care about Varian, because the creators will not let her care. 

And Here Comes the Death of Varian’s Characterization

In order to make this stupid, forced, “redemption” work the writers had to do a complete 180 with Varian’s character and his motivations. Instead of freeing his father, seeking revenge, or just, you know, surviving, he now suddenly cares about “being friends” and “being accepted by people”, only he has no reason to want any of that! 

Rapunzel is a shit friend. Heck all the mains are crap friends to him. They ruined his life and the townspeople tried to kill him. Why would he want anything to do with any of these a-holes!? 

Varian doesn’t get assassinated in the same sense as Rapunzel and Cassandra do. He doesn’t suddenly become a hateable dumb douchebag or anything, but he nevertheless has his character retroactively sabotaged by the writing.  

Uh, Were You Not There When Your Dad Rounded Up a Lynch Mob Against Him, Raps?

I believe you were. Also Varian literally told you to your face that he had to go into hiding cause the townspeople were willing to attack him just because those rumors that you failed to stop and pretended not to know anything about. 

Just because the characters shout something repeatedly does not make it true. The audience isn’t dumb. They can remember what happened only two seasons ago. 

Where Was the Inciting Incident For This Change of Heart?

Why should he even want their forgiveness? Why has he given up on freeing his father? Why is he having second doubts about overthrowing the kingdom that persecuted him? 

If you’re going to drastically change a character’s motivations, goals, and moral alignment then you need to present an in story reason for that change. We don’t get that. There’s no inciting incident on screen for us to see the shift in his character development. 

The audience is left to only infer, and that’s poor writing. The audience shouldn’t have to do the work of the writers for them.  Characters’ motivations and goals  should not be guess work. 

The only thing we can glean from this is that he had a change of heart while in prison and that’s a horrifying thing for the show to suggest. That’s basically justifying Frederic’s abuse. It also recontextualizes Varian’s arc into one of submission to his abusers and not one of learning to do the right thing simply because it’s right. 

Once Again, Were You Not There For Season One Rapunzel?

They had a year and three damn months of chances. These people actively tried to do him harm just for simply seeking help. He has no reason to trust them nor you. 

Why Are We Shoulding All of the Blame Onto the Abused Child?

Yes, he did do all of those things, technically, but they’re being presented here without context.

The Queen enabled his abuser who was threatening his life and destroyed his home. He kidnapped her as a last restore when all other methods to get out of his desperate situation failed. 

The princess he threatened neglected him for three months and repeatedly refused to help him, even throwing him out into a deadly snow storm. Despite him being her responsibility, thereby making her neglect a flat out abuse of power.  

He would have died a slow and painful death in prison had he not helped to overthrow the kingdom that persecuted him. 

I’m not going to pretend that what Varian did was right or that he shouldn’t feel sorry for what he did, but this is a highly skewed version of events that are being recounted here just to create bias in the viewers. It’s manipulative writing intended to gaslight the audience. 

Also, why does he even want a second chance!?   

Doesn’t This Undermine The Saporian’s Goals?

The Saporians wanted to reclaim their ancestral homeland so that they would no longer be a displaced people. How does blowing up that homeland help them? 

Season three just throws all logic out the window. There’s barely a single villain who doesn’t undermine their own goals at some point with their stupid actions. 

So Why Varian and Andrew Not Some Other Team Up?

Out of all of the various recurring baddies in the show Varian and Andrew have the least in common. I’m not saying that they couldn’t work together, but doing so required more set up than this. Because as is, this is a very contrived teamup. 

They have diametrically opposed goals and moral alignments. Varian doesn’t bring anything to the table that the Saporaions couldn’t have supplied themselves. Meanwhile the Saporians have failed to offer Varian anything that he could want. 

At best it’s a marriage of convenience for them to both break out of prison together, but even that is contrived because we don't know why neither of them were sent away on the prison barge with the rest of the season one villians.  

Better combinations would have been 

Varian & Lady Caine

Andrew & Lady Caine 

Varian & Cass

Andrew & Cass 

Varian & Zhan Tiri

Andrew & Zhan Tiri

Varian & Hector

The Baron & Varian

Andrew & Staylan 

King Trevor & Varian 

Like there were tons of options here that the writers just ignored, even though any of them would have made more sense than the one they went with.  

The Andrew and Varian Dynamic Can Be Seen as an Allegory for Grooming; Unfortunately the Writers Didn’t Consider That Implication.

Yeah... That’s pretty much what Andrew has done here. He’s groomed this desperate and lonely teen to become a child soldier for him. And one only can only pray that’s all he tried to groom him to do since they were trapped inside a confined and enclosed space together for several months. 

Listen, I don’t mind children’s shows touching upon darker subjects. Often fantasy is a good way for people to process complex themes and uncomfortable real world situations through the safety of fiction. It can even be helpful for those who have had the misfortune to experience certain traumas. 

I’m not complaining that TTS is too dark. 

I’m complaining about it being shit. 

All of the crap Varian goes through is just thrown in there for shock value. It’s not here to commentate on the real world nor provide a complex story. The situations are brought only to then be outright ignored. This isn’t thoughtful nor deep. It’s not meaningful nor heartfelt. It’s just hollow drama done in bad taste. 

You’re Not In a Position to Judge Rapunzel 

You got captured first because you decided to throw yourself a pity party. 

Would He Though?

I’m pretty sure Quirin is very well aware of how shitty Frederic is. If anything I would think he’d be pissed that his son, that he tried so hard to protect, was mistreated in such a hordenous way. 

This isn’t some satisfying ending to Varian’s arc. It’s a heartbreaking revelation that he’s been beaten down by his abusers.  

Varian’s Arc Isn’t Actually About Validation, and Rapunzel Giving It Here Doesn’t Really Change Anything 

I spoke about this before on its own, but Tangled the Series places far too much stock in validation. Yes, it’s an aspect of his character arc, but it’s not the end all and be all of his motivation. It’s not the force that drives him to do what he does. 

His primary goal is survival, both for himself and for his father. His secondary goal is gaining his father’s approval, but that’s not because he’s seeking generic praise, it’s because his father is emotionally distant. The “validation” is a mask for the real issues which are to fix his relationship with his dad and avoid the guilt of having possibly killed him in an accident. 

Rapunzel has fuck all to do with that. 

He doesn’t need to hear approval from her. He needs her to get her shit together and help him! 

Rapunzel’s and Varian’s Situations Are Nothing Alike and Rapunzel Doesn’t Know Jackshit

Rapunzel you were dumped by your bestie because you’re a shitty friend. 

Varian was neglected and abused by those who were supposed to take care of him. 

Unless you’re drawing parallels to how Frederic and Gothel treated you, and even then neither of them denied you basic fucking needs! 

This should be an “Oh Shit! I’ve become just like Mother Gothel” moment for Rapunzel, not an “Oh yay! Someone to share in my personal misery” moment. 

Man, Rapunzel suuuuuucks! 

Also This Still Isn’t An Actual Apology

Once again, Rapunzel is not admitting what she did wrong here. She’s not actually acknowledging Varian’s pain, nor what she needs to do to make admins with him. 

What she’s doing is making things all about herself again. She’s talking about her feelings. About what she is facing. Rapunzel is an incredibly selfish and egotistical person and the show is trying to present this as a positive thing by rewarding her for such behavior. 

Varian’s Redemption Should Have Nothing to Do with “Friendship”

Varian has no reason to want to become friends again with the woman who ruined his life and abused him. 

But more than that, redemption shouldn’t be dependent upon Rapunzel’s friendship, nor even her ‘forgiveness”. Varian should be able to do the right thing just because it’s the right thing, Rapunzel be damned. 

This cheepens not only his character development but also Rapunzel’s development as well. Rapunzel is not allowed to grow as a person and accept that not everyone wants to be her friend, and that people may have valid reasons to hate her even, and that doesn’t make them evil. 

It also rushes through Varian’s arc undermining what the audience had to get through to get to this point.  

OK, Let’s Talk About The Goatee

I wouldn’t have minded the beard had it just not looked like a fucking barcode. There’s production art where it looks fine. But just wiping it away ties back to what I was talking about in part one. It’s denying Varian the chance to grow up. This is supposed to be his coming of age story as well but the crew won't let him do that because “rule of funny” apparently overrides what the characters actually need in order to develop.  

Once again, the show isn’t a sitcom. You can have comedic moments but the comedy doesn’t need to outright undermine the drama. 

Once Again, Shouldn’t Eugene Be the First Person to Jump to Varian’s Defence?

You mean the orphan on the streets who stole stuff and fought to survive when the adults failed to take care of him? Is that what you’re talking about Eugene? Cause if I remember correctly that was you not just three years ago. 

You Mean Rapunzel Needs Him To Make Her Feel Better About Herself

Spoiler alert, but Varian doesn’t actually do anything after this point in the episode. His entire “redemption” is just about making Rapunzel feel better about herself after Cass has rejected her. He’s literally become the rebound. 

How Come Varian Suddenly Became Shorter Just for This Shot?

I know the meta reason is to reflect that scene back in Queen for a Day when Rapunzel promised him that she'd help him before everything went tits up. Where he was also drawn shorter in that episode to make him seem more verunable, but here he’s just suddenly shorter for only two shots and then suddenly back to his usual height. 

Crap like this is why I insist that Varian didn’t actually get any taller in season three. The show just has always been inconsistent with his height and most of the “evidence” for his growth are cherry picked instances where the show drew him smaller than usual for reasons, like here.   

So Where Did They Get That Much of the Explosives and How Did They Get Them So Fast?

Only Varian knows how to manufacture that stuff. Why would he make that much of it if he was still in the experimental phase with it? He’s even surprised that they have so much, so where did they get it? If they made it then, how did they make it so fast? 

So This Plan Goes Nowhere

Spoiler alert: Varian doesn’t actually get to do any of that. In fact he’s kind of pointless for the rest of the episode. 

Why Would the King and Queen Care About a City That They Can’t Remember?

Like this revenge doesn’t make sense. It’s just a contrived way to get Eugene and Lance out of the way.

If the Quirineon Explodes From Being Exposed to Heat Then What Good Does Just Dropping It Do?

Yeah, remember? The stuff explodes when heated. Simply dropping it shouldn’t do anything other than make a mess on the ground maybe. 

All That Build Up and Varian Still Doesn’t Get to Do Anything Useful

Up till this point, Varian was shown to be the most competent threat in the show. Yet here they have him be a screw up twice in a row just for comedy antics and to glorify Rapunzel again. 

If you got to nerf other characters just to make your main look good then you’ve failed to establish your main character as being capable in their own right. 

Remember That This Boy Was Trapped in a Jail Cell With This Guy for a Year!

No, I’ll never be over this.

Andrew is the most directly violent and scummy out of all of the villians in the show. 

If he’s willing to do this now, if he was willing to do this to his ex-girlfriend, then what the heck was he willing to do when he and Varian were trapped alone together? 

So Andrew Just Willingly Sacrifices His Own People Here....Even Though His Goal Was to Give His People a New Home....

People need to use this gif more often when concerning this show and the villains’ ass-backwards plans.

And yes they survive because of Varian alchemy. But that was on accident. Andrew had no way of knowing that would happen. He’s willing to destroy his own people just to blow up his ancestral homeland and for what!? What does he gain from this action?  

The Mind Wipe Kills Frederic’s and Arianna’s Characters; Littraly

Frederic and Arianna are effectively dead at this point. Anything that made them, well them, has been wiped away. Their personalities, hopes, dreams, their on going stories and development, just gone. And we never get them back, even when their memories supposedly return. 

Varian’s Not Even Allowed to Get the Idea On How to Save Corona...In His Own Redemption Episode No Less

This is his episode! We’ve spent two years building up to this point and you can’t even let him help? He’s denied the chance to make up for his own mistakes! Just so Rapunzel can play hero and be a very shallow representation of what a bunch of men think a “strong” woman should be! 

It’s fucking insulting. That’s what it is. 

Making a female character the center of the universe to the point where other people are just props for her is not empowering! 

No It’s Not!!

Uh you wouldn’t even be here had you just fucking helped Varian to being with you dumb bitch! This is very much you and your father’s mess! 

Even now, while pretending to be responsible, Rapunzel can’t actually be responsible and own up to what she did! 

She’s fucking 20 and the 16 year old shows more maturity than her! 

Also Your Hair Can Protect Two People at Once Rapunzel; Remember?

There’s no excuse for leaving Varian out of the action. We’ve been shown multiple times now that Rapunzel’s magic hair can protect her and other people at the same time. 

Having Rapunzel Save the Day By Herself Undermines Everything the Episode Was Trying to Establish

What happened to needing to “trust again” and letting other people help you? Having Rapunzel save the day alone just tosses out the lesson that the show was trying to build up to. 

The show tries to frame this as Rapunzel learning “responsibility” but that also does not work. For one it was never established that she needed to learn that within the episode itself and secondly, she doesn’t actually do anything different from what she usually does. 

Being an action hero isn’t the same thing as being responsible. Being responsible is being considerate of others, doing the borning shit or mundane crap that you hate, and being mature enough to recognize your own failings and admitting when you were wrong. 

So in the end Rapunzel is neither responsible nor more open to others. 

And There’s the Death of Eugene’s Character

Lance, who has maybe exchanged all of three sentences with Raps, is more distrught than the guy that supposedly wants to marry her. This isn’t heartwarming, nor it is growth. It’s just lobotomizing a character right in front of our eyes. 

In this very episode he was worried about Raps going to face the Saporians by herself and was, guess what, fucking right to do so. But he doesn’t give two shits if she gets blown up!? 

Ooookaaaay.....

This is the completion of turning Eugene into a doormat. From now own he shan’t be allowed to have any thoughts or feelings of his own that disagrees with Rapunzel. 

The Eugene we knew is now dead. 

But Of Course the Show Rewards Everyone for Behaving In the Dumbest Way Possible Anyways

Don’t expect any of these grossly out of character moments and oxygen deprived logic to be addressed nor fixed within the show. The series will keep on shoving unearned endings into our facing while insisting that this is positive development. 

How Did Y’all Get Here Before Varian?

Yes, he was left on a roof, but he can climb and y’all were outside of the city. 

Yeah... A Year and Half Fucking Later!

Ok, a year and three months, but that’s still not any better. Worse, all this implies is that Rapunzel would not have ever concerned herself with trying to free Quirin had Varian not broken out of prison. She would have literally left them both for dead and we’re supposed to find her suddenly doing the bare fucking minimum heartwarming and inspiring?

Where Was the Inciting Incident to Use the Decay Incantation for This? 

How did Rapunzel come up with this plan? When did she come up with it? 

When the hurt incantation was first found no one mentioned how it could be used to save Quirin. No one even gave Quirin a thought. Since then the incarnation hasn’t been brought back up, ever. This is a pretty big leap in logic for Rapunzel to suddenly think of this. 

All it highlights how Varian was originally meant to be there to translate the scrolls and incantations in order to establish all this but of course it got cut so now it just comes the fuck out of nowhere. 

Not Letting Varian Have Anything to Do With Saving His Father Is Even Worse Than Not Letting Him Save the Day

This has been his motivation since the beginning. It’s been the driving plot for a season, and now that the time has finally come what does get to do? 

Hold a dang bucket. 

Part of coming up with satisfying endings is following through on what you’ve established. The audience needs closure. Simply freeing Quirin isn’t enough, we need the carthartis of Varian specifically fulfilling his goal. 

I don’t know how to break this to you Chris, but this isn’t Rapunzel’s story. Not this segment of it anyways. It’s Varian’s and it just so happens to connect to Rapunzel’s. She shouldn’t have been center stage for this. 

The Series Blows It’s Load Too Early with the Incantations

This is the last time we’ll hear any of the incantations sung on screen, cause someone in budgeting didn’t know what was important to throw the money at and what was not. 

It’s not bad here, but if we could only hear one incantation only once this season it needed to be in the finale with the final heal incantation. 

Varian Was Right All Along

Also, all this does is justify Varian’s actions in season one. Rapunzel was indeed the only one who could free his dad according to this. For a series that desperately wants to shove all of the blame onto an abused child’s shoulders they sure go out their way to prove him right. 

So How Is the Hurt Incantation Suppose to Work?

There were so many fan theories after this scene because Varian and Quirin don’t respond to the hurt incantation the same way previous characters had. 

No one is gasping for breath, Varian can touch Raps without burning his hands, and Rapunzel can control the direction of her power. ect. 

Turns out there was nothing there, the writers just didn’t know what the fuck they were doing and made the hurt incantation very inconsistent just like all of the magic in this show. 

BULLSHIT!!!

You literally turn into a villain because she gave up on you!!!!

She also didn’t give two shits about you throughout the entirety of season two. 

Why are we just pretending like season one didn’t exist!? 

Why!?

The Note!!!

No It Fucking Didn’t!

Does That Look Like “I’m Proud of You Son” To You?

Chris went on to confirm that, yes, the note did hold more information that then got cut. Pretty much confirming all that we suspected. That Varian was cut from season two and his story hastily shoved back into season three at the last minute. 

Below is the link to the tumblr post he made.

https://cnotes.tumblr.com/post/190534585146/apparently-one-of-the-writers-said-a-while-back

What’s worse is that his defense is such bullshit. The below exchange pretty much sums it all up.

This Doesn’t Actually Resolve Anything and Is Therefore Unsatisfying to Watch

Part of the reason why this conclusion doesn’t work is because it doesn’t actually address any of the problems that they have in their relationship. Quirin never owns up to what he did wrong. There’s no discussion of what Varian was up to while he was entrapped, no conversation about what secrets Quirin hid from his son, and zero admission of wrongdoing on either side.   

Also Varian has done nothing significant to earn those particular words. Saying I love makes sense, but in context saying “I’m proud of you” does not. It doesn’t even work on a meta level cause the episode prevented Varioan from accomplishing anything. 

It’s empty. 

There Could Have Been More Screen Time to Fix This If Not for Season Two Mucking About

https://discord.com/channels/427940661589704715/569296212218347522/777635115978457098

Above is the link to the original storyboards. It doesn’t fix everything but there’s a lot more satisfying emotional beats including adding Ruddiger back in who is suspiciously absent for the entire episode for no stated reason. 

This version was cut due to time. Which, like with the Crossing the Line song, didn’t need to be had they been more effective with their usage of time in season two. 

They also could have had a better conclusion to Varian’s arc in general had he not been cut from season two altogether. 

So What Does Freeing Quirin Add to the Series?

I’m serious. What does freeing Quirin at this point and time do for the story?

It doesn’t add any character development, Quirin just wanders around aimlessly in the background until the finale and even then his part in that is a pointless dead end. Varian doesn’t gain his emotional closure, just empty, hollow “praise”. Nor is he allowed to accomplish any of his established goals. No new lore or history is exposed. No mystery uncovered. 

There’s no reason why this couldn’t have been done later in the season. Provide more tension and keep up the consequences of the characters actions. Give the mains something to do and work on until Cass and Zhan Tiri show up again.  

The only reason why this is here is to wrap Varian’s story up as soon as possible so he won’t “steal Cassandra’s spotlight”. That’s it. He’s rewarded for conforming to Rapunzel’s will and all the fans should shut up and be grateful, at least according to Chris.

I Like This Song But It Wasn’t Needed

It doesn’t add anything to the story. It’s just a generic celebration song. Which would be fine if it wasn’t for the fact that we have a limited number of songs, even less than in previous seasons, and the story isn’t over yet. This is the wrong place to put a victory song at. 

Especially when we could have had a song that furthered Varian’s redemption instead.  Yeah, that was cut too. 

So Is Varian the New “Lance” This Season?

He’s right there! This is his dang focus episode! 

Why hire Broadway singers and not let them sing!? Why waste talent and money like that? 

Also These Lyrics!

Did Glenn Slater just not read the scripts before writing the songs? That’s all season three ever does! Give the mains what they want without earning it. Even in this very episode!

So Is This Rapunzel’s 20th Birthday or Not?

Ok I have gotten into many a heated debate about how long season three is supposed to be. And that’s because what the crew says doesn’t match what the series shows us. 

By all accounts this should be Rapunzel’s birthday. According to season two she’s been gone for one year, and there’s the lanterns that they fly specifically on her birthday. 

But no one verbally says it’s her birthday and I’ve heard conflicting accounts from different members of the crew. Some stating that it is her 20th birthday and some disagreeing that it is. 

Well I’ll take what evidence that the show actually presents to its audience on screen over what the cast and crew says after the fact any day of the week, so I’ll be gathering up this evidence and proving by the end that season three is two years not one. 

But the fact that I must comb through series to prove this, the fact that we can even have this debate, and the fact that the crew have to state basic info after the series is over is just proof of the bad writing. 

Fun Fact: Cupcakes Weren’t Invented Until the 20th Century

Yeah, that’s the fault of the OG film, and yeah it doesn’t really mean much, but still it’s one more thing to add to the pile of stuff that doesn’t fit. 

Plus I’m just a hardcore nerd for historical cooking and I like to share my knowledge.  

Yeah But How Can He Trust All of You Again?

You’re the ones who let him down first; repeatedly. And you only started to make things up to him once he became useful to you. What assurance does he have that you won’t mistreat him again next time he’s in trouble or is no longer of any use to y’all? 

Yes, Let NOT Show What the Main Character Is Actually Going Through

Yup, this is “Rapunzel’s show” but we’re not going to let Rapunzel have any focus on her feelings or give any insight into her thought process about what is the main conflict of the series now.

Conclusion

Ducktales was robbed! 

I can’t believe this shit won an Emmy for “best writing.” It utterly fails on every possible level. It fails to be a continuation of the ongoing story and it fails to be a stand alone episode. Even the very structure of the story is fundamentally flawed. The only reason why it’s not the worst episode of the entire series because the finale and the penultimate episodes exist. 

Anyways...I finally made it through. It literally took my entire weekend but I’m finally caught up. Next week I’ll be going back to the usual one episode a week schedule. 

#Varian #tangled #anti-rapunzel #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tangled the series #Eugene #andrew

[cursedstories]

Euntae Hwang belongs to original webcomic “Unholy Blood” while his counterpart Defect belongs to me.

Defect Euntae Hwang, aka Defect is a alternate universe version of his original counterpart. Initially he is an AU version that suffers from a ending that is worst than death that turned him into a being that can't be recognized as a human nor a vampire.

Origins:

Euntae's world is very unique, and unlike other AUs it comes with a different storyline. While most universes are centered around monsters, his universe centers around conflicts that humanity is having with limited hunger vampires.

Euntae was a student at the local police academy, as was noted to be a prodigy at the top of his class. He lived in a small rooftop shack with his sister, as both were impoverished and their parents had disappeared four years earlier. One day, both their parents re-enter their lives, surprisingly with financial success.

Euntae and Haeun move in with their parents for what Euntae assumed to be a normal life. He is later horrified when he secretly witnesses his parents drinking someone's blood, revealing them to be vampires. Since then, Euntae was wary around his parents, but he didn't turn them in. Later on, returning from a beach trip, the Hwang family's car mysteriously breaks down near an isolated village. A local resident offers them a place to stay for the night until businesses open to get a tow truck. Euntae, still suspicious of the situation and knowledge of his parents' vampirism, sneaks out in the middle of the night. There, he witnesses his parents and other vampires drink blood in an abandoned church. Unfortunately, Euntae is caught by the caretaker. He pretends to want to become a vampire as well, which initially relieves his parents. However, he dropped his facade when he felt he could fight back. The caretaker fatally wounds him. However, Euntae calls out the caretaker's lies that he knew a way to live past 5 years as a vampire. This caused the caretaker to kill Euntae's parents. The caretaker then goes after Haeun. Scared for Haeun's safety, Euntae had no choice but to drink the blood of his dead parents, vampire blood, to become a vampire. He manages to kill the vampires in the compound and take Haeun to safety. However, he does not tell Haeun what happened or why he was a vampire, which eventually led to their relationship being fractured.

After a few years later, Euntae formed a relationship with a female non-hybrid vampire (means a vampire that isn't a half-human or half-vampire, but a fully pureblood vampire.) in which they all tracked down the vampire lord who is responsible for bringing the world of humans into total destruction. Only to later realized that his lifespans are limited. It turns out, a hybrid vampire's lifespan depends on the amount of victims they blood suck, and since Euntae never actually suck anyone's blood in his entire life, his lifespan shortens itself, he now only has two months in living, and the two months are now two days when he and Hayan were almost ruined the plans of "God" (God is initially the alias that vampires used to call the vampire lord who they thoughted as the first vampire. The so-called God is a "God Wannabe" who thinks that he's too powerful to be defeated.).

Euntae's time limit has come and he died afterwards, or that's what he thought. Euntae's ghost was unfortunately grabbed by Error404, while the skeleton is busy training his "student", Error!Sans, and is used as a distraction, but fortunately he was able to survive since he's already dead, and that he belongs to a different universe so the attacks doesn't applies onto him.

Euntae was later left behind in a unknown location, where he slowly had the same process of transformation as Error has had but what he wasn't aware that the strings of Error404 was also attached to him, the strings has fused along with him, and instead of getting a Error Sans transformation, he suffers a Fatal Error!Sans transformation. He is now a being stronger than Error404, as he calls himself Defect Euntae Hwang.

Powers and Abilities:

Same to Error!404. Euntae harnesses the powers that are the exact same as Error 404, however, it is more potent.

Blue Mastery

The most powerful version of the blue attack, able to move any object as if it had a soul, as well as manipulate, edit and destroy both the mind and body.

Mind Manipulation

Euntae can tap into the souls and therefore hearts and minds of others and can alter and distort them causing them to serve and even hallucinate. In most ways, Euntae gains complete control over his opponents this way.

Inherent Omniscience

Euntae mind is capable knowing potentially anything and everything and has the capacity to filter what they choose to know, selectively picking topics of interest according to the situation. They can objectively be omniscient at their whim, making this a controllable form of it. Also doubles as a lesser form of the ability, making it as they are knowledgable of effectively everything at the cost of not being aware of all there's to possibly know on information unrelated to knowledge accesible or picked upon.

Dark Physical Attributes:

Whenever Euntae attacks someone with his fist, legs, head, or his entire body. He can conjure an energy capable of totally annihilating everything under the definition of energy. The transformation and manipulation of the energy conjured lies only on the will of the conjurer.

Euntae's God Ray/Dark Force Manipulation:

Euntae with this power possesses and is able to utilize strong dark power. Though it is not necessarily "evil" per se, dark power tends to focus on destruction, harming, cursing and otherwise complicating the lives of other people while advancing the user's state. Euntae fires a blast from his fingers that will kill anything and anyone who has god-like code or unordinary code from a regular Au character.

God Ray first shot

The First shot paralyzes the foe keeping them in a still and forever frozen position until the 2nd shot has landed.

God Ray 2nd shot

This final shot takes the time it has and kills the opponent once it's made contact.

Reincarnation

This Ability is used when Error404 is either killed or takes to much damage. When he has taken to much damage or is killed he will begin to scatter his code in the ground and will then delete himself from the world. After that, the particles Error404 left behind will gather code from the world and then return to Error404's lair and reanimate 404 from the resources they took.

Absolute Destruction:

Euntae can emit out a explosion, blast, or shockwave that can destroy everything without limits, from concepts, boundaries and causation, to studies like metaphysics and science, even irrational "concepts" like the fabric of nothingness or even totality itself.

Duration Empowerment:

Euntae become stronger, faster, more durable, etc. from the passing of time, possibly unlocking abilities related to the affinity and enhancing existing powers. Some users may be able to draw sustenance from the passing of time or even slow or stop aging.

Stagnation:

Euntae can cause anything that they target to become unchanging and doesn't progress or regress.

Space-Time Manipulation:

Euntae is able to manipulate, distort or bend the space-time continuum, the fabrics of reality in which all exist in. Space-time serves as the boundary of existence, separating different realities and timelines and keeping them flowing properly; distorting this boundary can cause devastating effects, causing timelines to become fluid, even destroying all the world.

Based on the general relativity, "manipulation of space" is synonymous with "manipulation of time", due to space and time existing as a single continuum.

Omniarch:

Euntae rules over anything and everything in existence; as such, the user has absolute control over all objects, planes of existences, and life forms, as well as their wills and mindsets (whether they are aware of being controlled or not). I.e., the user can master all infinite universes that are in the Omniverse and absolutely everything within each of these universes.

The user also has absolute dominion over any situation or environment by simply issuing a command. Even if the subjects that are being ruled are unable to understand the user, they will still respond in accordance to what the user had dictated.

Meta Banishment:

Euntae's entire body can banish any and every kind of object or entity, with any traits and abilities of any level from anywhere/everywhere. They can banish them to other dimensions, other realities, other timelines, other points, in time, etc., possibly even from the Omniverse altogether. Anything from abilities, traits, people, animals, properties, objects and even gods and everything else in-between can be affected by this power.

Personality:

Before he becomes Defect Euntae, he has a kind nature, and a sense of justice, and is willing to risk his life to catch vampires. However he is unpredictable and hard to read at times, such as the instances where he saved Hayan from being revealed as a vampire. He does possess quirky mannerisms, such as his morning routine and can be easily flustered by Hayan. Euntae is confident in his ability to fight and has a strong sense of duty. Despite this, he loses his confidence and appears remorseful when confronting his sister.

Although after becoming Defect Euntae. He still remains his original personality, but a bit of a "mad-man" emotion when he was reminded of Seo Yohan, the one who is known to be "God", as he blames Seo Yohan for all of his sins of making the once harmony world Euntae know into a chaotic conflicting warzone. He inherits a few of Error!Sans's nature, he began to pull different Seo Yohans from AUs and kills them, but since his "AUs" are based off on different concepts, Seo Yohans doesn't turn into codes or dust, they slowly decay into dead skin.; Euntar seemingly claims that they are "Conflicted Subjects" that needs to be eradicate from every last AUs.

Appearances

He is seen with red hair parted to the right, brown eyes, and fair skin. He has a defined and angular jaw with a tall, muscular build. He usually dresses quite casually and wears two black earrings on each ear. Anywhere he goes, many people tend to gawk at him because he's so handsome.

Relationships:

Haeun Hwang - Haeun Hwang is Euntae's younger sister. Growing up, the two had a very close relationship. However, due to Euntae not telling Haeun why he was a vampire or what happened on their beach trip, this relationship grew extremely strained. Haeun resents Euntae for supposedly abandoning their parents and openly berates him. However, she does not outright hate him as she did not turn him in. Euntae, on the other hand, cares about her safety. The two reconcile after Hayan reveals the truth to Haeun and when Haeun realizes that Euntae still carries the cherry charm she made with him nearly 5 years ago.

Hayan Park - Hayan Park is a Pureblood Vampire Euntae met and is working with. The two of them are very like-minded in that they both want to see evil vampires destroyed from the world. The two have a good working relationship and care about each other enough to make a good team. However, Hayan finds some of Euntae's mannerisms odd and teases him about it, and also is annoyed by his tendency to hide information. Euntae, on the other hand, realizes he needs Hayan's help. He slowly progresses from a sense of partnership to developing feelings for her but feels the need to suppress them. It seems to him that his desire is unrequited, for she seems too caught up in ridding the world of vampires to notice.

Error!404 - The one responsible for his transformation, Euntae would usually follow Error 404 to crack out some jokes, but sometimes to stop him in doing wrong acts. Error 404 isn't okay with his presence, sometimes even fearing him because of his annoyance.

Nightmare Sans - Always attempts to avoid Euntae. Nightmare is treated as a prey of a "fun" Cat and Mouse game. Where of course, he must dodge as much Meta Banishment rays that Euntae shots from his hands as possible.

Umbra The Monotheistic Angel - Confronted Euntae upon from invading his "hunting ground" whom which a playground where he puts Seo Yohans into it and toys with them for a while before killing them. Umbra would ignore since she can see through Yohan's heart and deemed that he is a pure evil being that can't redeem himself.

Creepypastas - The Creepypastas are one of Euntae's number one victims. They are noted to be the Godverse's good side preys for "fun" Cat and Mouse games. Every time when Godverse beings are boring they all gathered in different timelines and started to toy with the Creepypastas into making them giving up in harming innocent. Although, they did create some OP Creepypastas, but those OP Creepypastas can't withstand the powers of the good, since good is always known to prevail.

Jeff the Killer - Feels really aggressive upon Euntae's arrival. Jeff is known to be a serial killer that was thrown into custody by Euntae millions of times, and he always attempts to stop hurting others when Euntar arrives. Jeff did once become a being stronger than Euntae and other Godverse Sanses only to be defeated by Euntae in his weakest form.

Laughing Jack - Same to Jeff, but with much more hatred, Laughing Jack has a strong hatred towards Godverse beings, thanks to them, he must end his career in murdering children.

Slender Man - Really hates Euntae upon his arrival. Euntae always ruin his missions, and plans.

More information please visit this page: https://truegodverse.fandom.com/wiki/Defect_Euntae_Hwang

#webtoon #unholyblood #euntaehwang #unholy blood #webtoons #fanart #alternate universe #cursedstories #vampires #error sans #error404 #error!tale #error!404

[katyatalks]

Animage April 2019 - Series Coordinator Seko Hiroshi Special Interview Translation

Here’s Series Coordinator Seko Hiroshi’s interview from April 2019’s Animage, which brings the 04/2019 stack to a close! Short and sweet, with some lovely meta on the series as a whole, Mob & Reigen’s relationship, and some thoughts on Inukawa and Serizawa standing out in this one.

Asked what he thinks is outstanding about Mob Psycho 100, Seko says that for him it’s that the characters feel human.

“These hopeless characters are troubled, and in the midst of their conflicts they move forward a bit at a time. Also, the way ONE-sensei looks upon them is warm.”

“I thought to myself, ‘I’d like to make sure the viewers of the anime are able to appreciate the charm of these characters’, and I wrote the anime scenario as such.”

He also thinks the humour in Mob Psycho 100 is charming. “ONE-sensei has said previously that humour is necessary.”

Asked what his favourite part of the story is, “I love the marathon part of episode 8. Mob put in an effort with his ‘If I finish in the top 10 I’ll confess to Tsubomi-chan’, but he retires as he’s not fit enough. And then he goes home and his house is on fire - that consecutive progression from the ordinary to the unordinary is very Mob Psycho 100-ish, which I love.”

“Mob Psycho 100 isn’t a full-on fantasy story but rather a story that has reality at its core, so people are able to relate to it.”

Q: “There’s scenes in which Mob and Reigen go out to eat ramen once they’ve sold something… they leave an impression.”

A: “I suppose you could call those scenes a staple of Mob Psycho 100. The two of them often eat a lot of things together, like takoyaki and other foods, but it’s when they eat ramen together… I think ramen depicts the most symbolic representation of the relationship between Mob and Reigen. Reigen will invite Mob with a, ‘wanna go get ramen or something?’, followed by the two of them having casual conversation while slurping ramen. I think their shishou-deshi relationship oozes out there. Look forward to seeing if the two of them will have ramen together again after their fight with Claw is over!”

Dimple’s increased presence in season 2 is brought up. “He certainly risked his life for Mob, going into Mogami’s world to try and save him. It seems as if Dimple has come to worry for Mob, but from Mob’s point of view, at this stage, Dimple still exists in the role of ‘a guy who’s always by my side.’ He doesn’t particularly like or hate Dimple - he’s just, there. Even though he does stuff like support and give advice to Mob.”

He’s asked who his favourite characters are. “Reigen is fun to write. Since, bluntly put, he’s just a conman. When watching a film I think that it’s the evil guys, rather than the well-behaved characters, that have greater entertainment value.” [...] “I also love Serizawa. He’s an esper who was formerly a hikikomori, and at present one of Claw’s ultimate five. I think the particular sorrow he carries is something anyone can relate to, so I feel a strong affinity for him.”

Leading on from him stating Serizawa is relatable, he’s asked which character is most like him, to which he says Inukawa of the Telepathy Club. “He pretends to do club activities, but just sits in the club room eating sweets, and when he goes home he probably has dinner and then retreats to his room to play video games and sleep. Simply put, he does as he pleases and staggers through life. He’s a character that’s quiet and at ease without standing out.”

Finally he’s asked what highlights there are with the final episodes of S2, to which he says the battle scenes are out of this world, and it’s high class entertainment we should look forward to.

--

Original twitter thread here. (I made a mistake on Twitter, as I thought this interview originally came from otomedia!)

#mp100 #mob psycho 100 #interview #my stuff #seko hiroshi #animage

[pumpkinrootbeer]

One thing that makes me really sad is how a lot of the fandom treats Roman. They portray him as this selfish, whiny, mean, asshole and it's really disappointing to see such a complex character get a tragically simplistic and lazy portray

& i wanted to talk about it in a way to long meta that delves into a theory territory w h o o ps

Yes, Roman can be selfish but of course he can. You need to be a little selfish for self care and he represents that aspect of Thomas, just as with all the sides in there respective aspects. And though Roman can be selfish he can also be incredibly sweet, I mean he wrote a 400 page screenplay for Logan! He didn't have to do that but he did because he cares about the people around him. Not only that but in ‘Accepting Anxiety’ part 2 Roman is the one who steps up in the end and convinces Virgil to stay, not Patton, Logan, or Thomas. It was Roman who got Virgil to stick around, and I think that shows incredible growth of character. After that don't try to tell me that Roman doesn't truly care about the others because he absolutely does.

He also loves attention and approval but that's not just it. He genuinely loves the things his friends do for him. Like when Patton gave him spaghetti for the secret Santa, he was confused at first but then Patton said the secret ingredient was love and Roman got so happy at that! Or when Virgil got Roman out of his room. I mean did you see Romans face? He was so astounded and grateful that Virgil got him out of there. It's so pure.

Yeah, Roman does love approval but the fact that he assigns his self worth to that approval is what really gets me. And Roman absolutely does that. Don't believe me? In the videos before ‘Am I Original?’ Roman was in the background of the videos. He was a side character while the other sides starred. Roman got upset and started whining about how he wasn't the star and the “main course”. That's obnoxious, yeah, but that was more than a drama queen complaining about not being the center of attention. After he realized he wasn't being put in the videos longer he then decided that it was because he wasn't good enough, and that he had to prove himself to Thomas by being completely original.

And now in ‘Crofters the Musical’ Roman got upset because he wasn't on the jelly. I can totally see how people would view that as obnoxious, I absolutely can, especially how he does a complete 180 when he might get his own jelly, but I think he does all of that because he assigns his self value to the amount of praise he gets. If we look back to the moving on videos, specifically part 2, when Thomas is trying to figure out why he was feeling this way all the sides, sans Logan, give their Hot Takes. Patton says because it's easier to push it down then to feel it, Virgil say because Thomas is scared of losing people, and Roman? Well, Roman says “maybe because you want to go back to a time when you felt worthy of being loved”. Both Patton and Virgil talked about things that they focus on, for Patton its suppressing his bad emotions and for Virgil it's the fear and anxiety. So, I think it would be incredibly odd if Roman’s line there wasn't a reflection on his character.

Going on this train of thought, I believe that the line where Patton asks Roman if he has self esteem issues is foreshadowing Romans arc, because when they were in Virgil's room, all of their insecurities and fears were heightened. I think Roman asking Patton if his eyeshadow looks good was his self esteem issues being heightened.

Now, I've mentioned older videos but I think what Cofters really showed us is that his issues are getting worse. Which is why he berates himself for making a joke, because he wants help. He seemed genuinely scared that he was feeling this way, he does say “but for me it is very unordinary.” He's not used to feeling this bad and he tried asking for help, but Roman never directly asks for it because he doesn't know how. I believe Roman honestly didn't know how to say “I'm not feeling good” ( Mr Sanders, I don't feel so good). So when he cucked it up with a joke, he was terrified that they would think he was okay. I think that what happened with Patton is the reason he feels this way. Patton is the only one of the sides we see Roman get along with on a regular basis, so seeing his only friend be that upset and to find out that this has been going on for a while? Not to mention that he didn't even notice and was the last to pick up on it? I bet that it really freaked Roman out. I also bet that Roman is afraid of getting as bad as Patton with hiding his emotions.

None of that is to suggest that he didn't feel this way before but more that his feelings are getting worse and he doesn't know how to deal with it. Roman was very secure in his place in the beginning, easily villainizing Virgil and mocking all of them but I believe that back then it was more of an underlying feeling of not being good enough. However, when Virgil had his arc I think that it showed Roman that all of them are not just the surface ideas. Virgil is not just anxiety, Logan is not just logic, Patton is not just morality, and Roman is so much more than creativity. Roman could very easily be unsettled by this, especially if he thinks that creativity is the one good thing he brings. What if the underlying feeling of worthlessness is so much more than that? What if it's a huge part of who he is, what if he is their insecurities? And with it getting worse maybe he's scared of causing something awful, like with how Virgil caused Thomas to be an idiot.

So yes, Roman is selfish sometimes. He is mean, whiny, and over the top, but beyond all of that he is an incredible insecure character who just genuinely wants the approval of others.

#:V #roman sanders #Roman Sanders Sides #i wote this two months ago and had my bro beta it a week ago #and am just now posting it #nice

[cobusssblog123posts-blog]

A Review of the filmiest film 8 and half (1963)

in 1963 the the master of meta movies Federico Fellini made a film called 8 and a half. It follows the story of director Guido Anselmi trying to come up with a film idea and failing, Guido is an actor who plays as the real director Federico who struggles with a writer’s block.

This film might be the film that Brechts the fourth wall on the deepest level ever, the audience constantly sees cameras and sets with everything on it during the film. However what makes this film so meta is that we see how Guido jumps between elaborate surreal visions he has about his insecurities and issues but at the same these visions can also be actual scenes from the film that Guido is trying to make, confusing the audience and forcing us to keep questioning the film. Something that blew me away was the fact that all these crazy scenes was done purposefully with intent, the blocking of a 100 characters crossing the screen and doing unordinary things has a meaning. Each scene represents issues or insecurities of Fellini himself and sometimes us in a metaphorical way.

The cinematography and editing is devised by having long static wide shots allowing the audience to establish every chaotic action that fills up the screen, then suddenly it cuts to close ups and medium closeups while the camera moves for a shorter period of time than the wide shots. Fellini did this on purpose to make the viewer aware that they're watching a film, keeping the viewer in an analytical mindset. 

The sound design consists of pleasurable and fast upbeat music taking our ears on a calm ride while the sad imagery juxtaposes the sound causing us to have deep haunting thoughts about our own psyche.

I think 8 and a half is great viewing experience  for meta film lovers and people who figure out films before they end, because I don't think you’ll ever understand this film fully.

[professor-maka]

So, thinking about UnOrdinary and actually noticing how many people just straight out hating on John right now (which I get—he’s being completely fucking terrible BUT)...

John is experiencing a psychotic break.

Arlo helped him and let him believe he was befriending him only to betray him and try to have him beaten into submission. John very clearly has PTSD and this attack and betrayal triggered a psychotic break.

The boy needs therapy, not shaming.

#unordinary #unordinary john #unordinary meta #proma has ideas sometimes and shit

[gentlemen-i-am-fucked]

So... I have mixed feelings about this chapter.

On the one hand, everything’s been cleared up! Where everyone stands has been flat-out stated so that all readers can be on the same page. John is very clearly not a good guy anymore, no matter how sympathetic he was in the past, and trying to argue that he’s not is just wishful thinking at this point.

On the other hand... I’m not too happy with this new direction. John was quite clearly set up to be a sympathetic protagonist, powers be damned, and he was a good one. He had in the past fallen victim to an unhealthy mindset and become a toxic person, which he had recovered from to become more healthy and willing to work constructively towards a better society. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the flashbacks he shares with Sera - he singlehandedly convinced her to reject the trappings of a toxic society. That arc is extremely cathartic to read as a result.

All in all, John was great. He was easy to root for and feel for, and his struggle seemed so organic - he could have just shown off and become king of Wellston, but instead he recognised his weaknesses and played to his strengths, trying to create reform from the ground up, even if it mean he had to sacrifice a great deal of personal comfort and get socially ostracised and beaten up every day.

There’s a reason John at the beginning of the story we so compelling, and that was his motivation. He had recognised a failing and a shortcoming in society, and he was willing to do anything to fix it organically, rather than just jumping at it from a position of power like Rei did, and the superheroes did. These characters showed us why John’s organic approach was so essential in a society so opposed to change, and we respected John for his goals.

This was also a reason why the twist that John was a high-tier was so good - reliably, one who is oppressed will be looking to fight oppression, but John is made so much more interesting because he very specifically isn’t one of the oppressed group. In fact, he’s one of the elite. Everything he suffers, he suffers out of choice and not necessity. Sure, he may have experienced oppression previously (whilst researching John, Isen found records that before his second-year in Bostin, John was very lowly-ranked, perhaps even a true ‘cripple’), but he was very quick to shed that and embrace elite life when his true ability became apparent. Invariably, John at the beginning was an altruistic individual who had grown from his mistakes and decided he would give up everything he could have based on his ability - a high social standing, a universal respect, and a comfy life - in favour of trying to combat the hierarchy. This is what made his friendship with Sera so powerful and great - he worked for it, and worked to help her break out of a toxic mindset like he had done. It’s why Arlo’s betrayal hurts so much - John offered olive branches, tried to make Arlo see that there was a better way, and yet Arlo still looked at him and saw someone to be taken down.

This is why I took such a dislike to the Joker arc. It took everything impressive and compelling about John’s character and took the tipp-ex to it like gritty live-action reebok would have done. The fact that John’s character was boiled down to “lol AGRESSIVE EDGY WHITE BOI” was in part frustrating because we’d specifically seen him grow past this, goddamn it, and because it took away everything that made him so compelling.

Now, we have other characters - namely Remi, Blyke, and Isen - stepping in to fill the role of Plucky Heroes Working to Better Society, with Remi specifically following a similar trajectory to John at the beginning of the story.

Just one problem.

If this was the story that wanted to be told, why did we spend 100+ episodes on John’s character arc, which was erased with the purchase of one (1) mask and some very bad decisions? If Remi was supposed to be the ubiquitous hero, then why didn’t we also start with her as the protagonist? If John was supposed to become an evil dickbag and a villain, why didn’t he start out as a thinly-veiled dickbag who played with others and manipulated them because he wanted to watch the world burn, instead of a sympathetic protagonist who suddenly does a 180?

I know it sounds like I’m bashing unordinary - and that’s not my intention, I really do love the comic, and Remi, Blyke and Isen, I would die for - but this complete butchery of John’s character vexes me to no end, precisely because he was so compelling.

Right now, it seems that the Joker arc is being salvaged, and things are being clarified after the muddle that had thrown the status quo into a cell and mangled it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to shake up the status quo - but the way it was done here also twisted the characters, making it seem like the story was driving them instead of the other way round.

I feel this like from Isen sums it up.

If someone had told me this about John before the Joker arc, I’d have asked them which dark AU this was from. Now, it fits John’s character, but at the same time, John’s character no longer fits him as we knew him. He’s spiralled into anarchy and chaos with seemingly very little reason - sure, Arlo had him beaten up and Sera was picked on after she lost her ability - but given that he’d been taking this shit on the chin and wearing it, that shouldn’t have been enough to make him go full dark side!

However, I do feel the story has taken on a direction I’m more on board with; namely, that students are taking responsibility and trying to better their society. Even so, I still feel a little sad about what we lost. I enjoyed Remi’s line about John, and it’s satisfying to see her recognise that John’s not just some Edgy but Saveable Good Boi UwU (looking at you, Kyle Ron), but still, the wording was a little bittersweet.

I, for one, would have loved it if that were true.

#unordinary #unordinary meta #guys i swear i love uno i just ramble a lot about it #unordinary analysis #unordinary webtoon #webtoon meta #uno meta #unordinary rambles #i’m so sorry if this comes off as bashing it’s not meant to #no insult meant to the author i just disagree with some of the story decisions #okay i’ve made up my mind #the next 3 things i post about uno have to be positive #i don’t want to be a salty bitch