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david-talks-sw · 9 months

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An allergy to the Prequels

While I'm putting together a post about the evolution Lucasfilm's transmedia strategies, this part kinda turned into its own thing!

So I'm not sure if anyone else noticed, but, uh... there hasn't been that much Prequel content since the Disney sale, right?

'Couple novels and comics, some episodes... but nothing meaningful.

The more I look into it, the more it feels like a deliberate avoidance to touch on anything Prequel-related - beyond the required quota, that is - to a point where they'd rather tell stories set during periods that are Prequel-adjacent (Dark Times, High Republic) than something set around Episodes I, II and III.

On-screen policy: "pretend they never happened"

I mean, this one's no secret. When The Force Awakens had been announced, with J.J. Abrams at the helm, everyone sighed in relief. "Finally, George Lucas won't keep ruining the franchise."

When Abrams had been announced as the director of Episode VII, I remember this cringey animated video started circulating online, titled "4 Rules To Make Star Wars Great Again" or "Dear JJ Abrams":

“Star Wars isn’t shiny and clean... Star Wars is a western.”

If you ask me, those two things are not mutually exclusive.

'Cause Star Wars has always been both, for many Prequel kids. Both clean and dusty, Coruscant and Tatooine. There was never a disconnect between the Original Trilogy (OT) and the Prequel Trilogy.

Even the documentary The People vs George Lucas shows Prequel-hating fans begrudgingly admit their kids felt all six episodes tied seamlessly.

Abrams, on the other hand, said: "I think [the "Dear JJ" video] was right on." Later on, he also said:

he considered "putting Jar Jar Binks's bones in the desert" on Jakku, somewhere, and

he intentionally made the lightsaber fights "rougher", "primitive" and "more powerful" unlike the fast-paced ones in the Prequels.

Later, we found out he wanted to blow up Coruscant.

It's clear he wasn't a big fan of the Prequels.

But y'know what? Not many fans over 20 were, at the time. And when The Force Awakens came out, most them celebrated it as a wonderful love letter to the OT.

Star Wars is cool again. Mission accomplished 🙌 !

However movies keep coming out, and references to the Prequels - if there are any - are literally just that... references.

Sometimes in the shape of a cameo ("hey look, Genevieve O'Reilly from the Ep. III deleted scenes is playing Mon Mothma again!")

Sometimes in a name (Luke name-dropped "Darth Sidious"!)

But nothing set during the Prequel era, and nothing treating the events that happened in that period as relevant or impactful, beyond subtextual nods.

In fact, the trend of avoiding anything Prequel-related continues as the final film in the Skywalker Saga comes out:

The Rise of Skywalker has a secret Sith society that chants the name "Palpatine" instead of his Sith name "Darth Sidious",

the film pretends the Kaminoans never existed,

and neither TROS nor Trevorrow's Duel of the Fates script even try to bring Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker back on screen. Let that sink in, we're talking about the Chosen One, Skywalker Senior, whose sins caused this whole mess... and his name isn't even uttered once in the final chapter of what Disney dubbed the *Skywalker* Saga (or the entire Sequel trilogy, for that matter).

But hey, The Clone Wars got renewed for one last Season! That's cool right? So many stories had gone unfinished and somehow the animation looks even better than befo--

-- oh. It's not 22 episodes? Only 12?

Four of which had already been shown to us, but hey! We need to set-up the Bad Batch series, so let's shoehorn those episodes in there, and forget Son of Dathomir, Dark Disciple or Crystal Crisis.

*sigh* Better than nothing, I guess.

In other mediums: "just not a priority"

Now this is something that I'll explore more in the transmedia post (and purely my interpretation), but the noticeable change between Lucasfilm's transmedia strategy *post-ROTS* and the one post-Disney sale is that:

Before, the games, comics and novels were the main content. After all, Revenge of the Sith had been released, so that was it, for the movies. Thus, a variety of other content was being cranked out to keep the Star Wars franchise relevant. There were comics set 100 years after Episode 6, comics set 25,000 years prior, games set in the Old Republic era, other stories in the New Republic era, novels galore, a couple of parody films and an animated show, The Clone Wars, which sometimes received its own tie-in comics, novels and games.

After the sale and ever since, most of the transmedia products have had only one goal: promoting the films & streaming shows.

So while in 2015 you won't see an abundance of Prequel content... you'll see an avalanche of OT books and comics come out.

Why? Because the heroes of that era will be in the Sequel Trilogy movies. It provided context to the kids who hadn't seen the OT yet, and reintroduced those films to a new generation of fans, while priming them for the Sequels.

A multimedia marketing strategy that ultimately proved successful.

However, it continued even after The Force Awakens came out.

Don't believe me? Compare how many comics there have been set during the Prequel era vs the OT era.

If they make comics about the Prequels, they're limited runs.

Case in point: before the current Yoda series, the best any Disney Prequel-set comic series ever got was 6 issues.

Note: it's worth pointing out that the frequency of mini-series aren't just a Star Wars-specific thing, it's a comic book industry thing. The readership for comics is dwindling, many people are reading scans online, and so no publisher wants to commit to a story that lasts more than 4-6 issues. My problem is: there absolutely would be readership for a Prequel comic series to warrant an extended run instead of a mini-series.

Let's talk books. There have been give or 64 canon novels published since the Disney sale.

Only 11 of them are set during the Prequel era. And even those stories only came out when the planets were aligned.

Almost half of them were released while being a part of some bigger multimedia push.

Example:

Before the Obi-Wan Kenobi series was being released on Disney Plus, we'd had one novel and like two comic stories about him during the Prequels... released between 2012 and end 2021. That's about three pieces of content in almost ten years.

Clearly a low frequency.

Then, when the series is around the corner, two books and a comic story comes out in the space of months, plus an anthology book with an alt cover with his face on it and a comic with a story of him and Anakin in the first issue, all in 2022.

My takeaway: short of there being a film or series that needs to be promoted, you'll rarely get any Prequel comics or books.

And this is OBI-WAN we're talking about. The character who even the Prequel haters love. Imagine how little attention the other ones get.

Gaming-wise, Battlefront had no Prequel content at all (again, 2015 was the year where OT content was shoved down the consumer's throats to prep them for Episode VII), and Battlefront 2 only released Prequel content a full year later.

All that being said, we did seen some Prequel elements here and there. After all, some actors got to reprise their roles, books and comics came out featuring Prequel characters... but there's a catch.

The stories they appear in are set in-between Episodes III and IV, a time-period known as "the Dark Times" or the "Imperial era".

"Dark Times" being used instead of the Prequel era

It's easy to see the appeal of this era. You keep the same threat from the Original Trilogy - the Empire - but redress it with Prequel elements... while also cherry-picking the best characters of both the OT and the Prequels and giving them a chance to shine again.

The situation is more clear cut, as opposed to the complex one in the Prequels. Bad guys are stormtroopers, good guys are anyone else. And the stories no longer take place in the shiny capital, you're back on the frontier.

But at this point... it feels like a cop-out.

When you consider how much content has been set during the Dark Times, it's nothing to sneeze at. Since the sale, we've had:

2 movies (Solo, Rogue One)

4 series set in that time-period (namely The Bad Batch, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and Star Wars: Rebels).

2 video-games (Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor).

17 novels (such as Ahsoka, Lords of the Sith, the new Thrawn books, etc)

And just a whole bunch of comic book series & mini-series (like Kanan, Princess Leia, various Vader-centric comics including Darth Vader: Lord of the Sith, many tie-in mini-series promoting Rogue One, Jedi: Fallen Order, Obi-Wan Kenobi, etc).

There's been so much content made for this time-period that it feels like an unwillingness to do the work and create something set something during the Prequel era, let alone something that follows its Jedi.

After all, why make a story set in the Prequels (disliked by vocal fans) when you can just take the characters in that story and put them in an OT setting (which will appease the Prequel-haters)?

Maybe these stories get relegated to the Dark Times because:

there seems to be a perception that anything set in the Prequel era won't sell?

or maybe the current SW writers weren't fond of Episodes I, II and III, and don't find those Jedi characters likable, thinking they're too righteous and dogmatic which makes it hard to craft a story around them.

Or maybe it's because they're under the impression that the Prequel Jedi are bad. Like, canonically, in the narrative. Not just in a "I don't like them" sense, but also in a "the story is all about them becoming corrupted" sense.

Let's expand on that last point.

Retconning the Prequels as the "Fall of the Jedi" era

Somehow the rare stories set during the Prequels that we do get seem to automatically be about how "the Jedi lost their way/failed".

The series Tales of the Jedi is explicit about it...

... and I already explained why it contradicts what George Lucas established here and here.

You also see it in Rebels and the new season of The Clone Wars...

... in comics...

... in games...

It gets to a point where the Prequels era has now been redubbed the "Fall of the Jedi" era by Lucasfilm.

You wanna know what that period was referred to before the Disney sale? The "Rise of the Empire" Era.

Because - and I'll never get tired of saying this cuz it's factual - the Prequels aren't about the fall of the Jedi, they're about the fall of the Republic and Anakin, and rise of the Empire and Vader.

So in addition to being overdone, the "Jedi lost their way" is not even the intended narrative of the Prequels (if one puts any stock in Lucas' words). It's a minor subplot at best, hardly the focus of the films, let alone a whole time period.

But dubbing it "Fall of the Jedi" implies that there's another era in which the Jedi were in their heyday.

Because Star Wars authors are in luck! Yet another alternative has presented itself in the shape of a new transmedia initiative, and it's even better than the "let's set it during the Dark Times" solution:

A new transmedia initiative: The High Republic

You wanna deal with the Jedi before the Empire, but for some reason you wanna avoid dealing with the ones seen in the Prequels?

Look no further. Meet the Jedi of the High Republic.

Noble, adventurous, inspired by the Knights of the Round Table, they're everything the OT kids dreamed about when they heard ol' Ben Kenobi talk about the Knights of the Old Republic.

That's more like it!

Note: the High Republic was created for other reasons and has many more upsides than the ones mentioned above. Namely, a fresh new spot in the timeline that allows for creative freedom and a beautifully-coordinated transmedia storytelling effort where retcons are non-existent. However it does seem evident that not having to deal with the 'unlikable' Prequel Jedi and their "fall" is one of those upsides.

Another perk that the High Republic era offers is more freedom in terms of storytelling compared to the Prequels.

In 2016, Pablo Hidalgo tweeted he still quotes to authors the following excerpt of West End Games' guide for aspiring Star Wars writers, from 1994.

You can't write "this was the best day in Luke Skywalker's life", for example, because another author may want to write a better day than the one you just wrote.

My guess is that a similar approach applies to how all characters from the movies are treated. They're massively iconic. So you can't write a book that drastically changes how Mace or Yoda or Obi-Wan are perceived overall.

The stories need to be self-contained, disregardable if necessary, because you'll have dozens of writers coming up with new stories for those same characters, and you need to leave them some room.

Examples:

Notice how in the book Dooku: Jedi Lost we never see how Dooku turns to the Dark Side and joins the Sith.

Same goes for crossover comic book arcs of the Star Wars issues, like Vader Down or Crimson Reign... the characters don't really change by much in those comics. You could stick to just watching the movies and you wouldn't really miss anything.

But with The High Republic, you indeed can develop these characters as much as you want.

All stories featuring Avar Kriss leave an impact on her, you can nail down who she is perfectly in one book or one comic arc, both being just as meaningful to her character.

The fact that she's not as iconic/famous a character as Mace Windu means that authors can go to town on crafting an interesting and nuanced character arc for her that'll have a beginning, middle and end... something Mace will never really get.

CONCLUSION:

Back in 2015... let's not kid ourselves. The Prequels were unpopular and Disney is a multi-billion dollar corporation. Opting to make as much money as possible is what they do.

It's the same reason they decided not to go with George Lucas' original plans for the Sequels, in 2012.

I mean, imagine you're Disney. You just dropped 4 billion dollars, with a B, on this franchise. Your next Star Wars movie needs to be worth the price tag. Now, you can pick between two options:

Option #1 is uncharted territory and it explores the midi-chlorians (the cursed word…!) and the guy who presented you with this option also openly admits that a big chunk of customers won’t like it, but he wants this to be done because it’s his vision.

Option #2 is very simple: a soft reboot, that plays on nostalgia that the same chunk of customers (aka the 'boomer and Gen-X fans who grew up with the Original Trilogy and now have kids, grandkids and MONEY) will like.

It's a no-brainer. They gave the customers what they wanted.

But time has passed, the fans who were children when the Prequels first came out have grown up, and grew up with characters like Yoda, Mace, Plo Koon, Kit Fisto and other Jedi as their heroes, aside from main characters like Anakin and Obi-Wan and Ahsoka.

Can we maybe expand on them, flesh them out more?

No, let's either ignoring the storytelling potential of these characters or reducing it to them being "righteous, arrogant and dogmatic".

God forbid we get a story showing the Prequel Jedi in a *gasp* more positive light? One where their POV is more understandable, instead of the same old "we brought this on ourselves" storyline.

There's a whole decade between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones... you're telling me there's no space to show us Anakin's training and how he formed bonds with the Jedi we later see in The Clone Wars? I tried my hand at it here:

Interesting or fun Prequel-set ideas from other pro-Jedi fans on Tumblr can be found here, here and here.

And y'know, part of the Star Wars intent is for fans to take the ideas in the movies and come up with their own stories. You're supposed to create headcanons.

What I'm saying is fans of the Prequels are being given less "imagination food" than the rest, and many of us who like the Jedi in particular are forced to rely on headcanons only. "Better than nothing" is no longer an acceptable standard.

There's a range of recognizable Jedi characters that have already been established in films and TCW, can we maybe expand on them, flesh them out more, instead of whole new ones?

#jedi order #star wars #sw meta #long post #meta #lucasfilm #star wars prequels #prequel trilogy #sw prequels #high republic #the high republic #dark times #imperial era #the clone wars #tcw #sw negativity

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waitmyturtles · 15 days

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If you haven’t watched She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat (TsukuTabe), season 2, please extradite yourself to my general location so I can either

a) have you arrested, and/or

b) kidnap you and force you to watch this

perfectly-paced

perfectly-shot

perfectly-written

show about two women discovering their sexualities unto themselves and with each other in like

THE MOST EMPATHIC WAYS I JUST CANNNNNNNOTTTTTTTTTTTT

I AM BLUBBERING

THEIR COMMUNITY OF FRIENDS

THE WORK THEY HAVE TO DO TO FIND SAFETY FOR THEMSELVES AND EACH OTHER

HOW THEY MANAGE THE LITERAL THREATS TO THEIR HAPPINESS TOGETHER

HOW THEY MAKE COMPROMISES FOR EACH OTHER VIS À VIS THAT SAFETY

HOW THEY CREATE A HOME AND FAMILY TOGETHER THROUGH THE FOOD THEY LOVE

HOW THEY USE THOSE SAME LOVING TACTICS WITH THEIR FRIENDS TO CREATE THEIR CHOSEN FAMILLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

HOW THEY COMMUNICATE!!!!!!!

HOW THEY’RE BOTH AWARE OF WHERE THEY MIGHT BE SLIGHTLY STUMBLING ON THEIR COMMUNICATION AND HOW THEY GET THROUGH THOSE OBSTACLES TOGETHER WITH JUST BEAUTIFUL OPENNESS AND AWARENESS

HOW THEY PACE THEIR INTIMACY!!!!!!!

THIS IS ME (thanks @lurkingshan)

ME RIGHT NOW

OH MY FUCKING GODDDDDDDDDDD

And this is how I feel AT THE END of the season! Click the link above, this season has easily one of my top 5 episodes EVER, TsukuTabe episode 8, it hangs with Bad Buddy episodes 5 and 10, and Extraordinary Attorney Woo episode 11, and What Did You Eat Yesterday season 1 finale, watch ‘em!

I LOVE THESE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE SO FUCKING MUCH

MONSTER GL!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆

AND ALL OF THIS IN A SERIES THAT WAS LITERALLY ONLY FOUR HOURS LONG. MY FUCKING GOD.

I might have to write some real meta when I calm the fuck down, but. The entire TsukuTabe franchise is a MUST WATCH of the very highest order. If you haven’t watched it, watch it now, drop everything. That was Asian queer media at its UTTER finest. Damn, NHK, you fuckin’ won the GL battle, homes.

#tsukuritai onna to tabetai onna #tsukutabe #she loves to cook and she loves to eat #nomoto x kasuga #kasuga x nomoto #higa manami #nishino emi #THIS WAS MAGNIFICENT

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enbyzutara · 29 days

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Aang x Luke Skywalker Parallels: How Aang’s Hero’s Journey Wasn't Properly Finished

I read this post by @lovegrowsart and I couldn't get it out of my mind how Aang and Luke Skywalker's journeys have so much in common, yet only one of these arcs feels like it has come to a properly finished conclusion. Meanwhile, the other one feels like the character didn't learn what he was supposed to in order to fulfill his Hero's Journey arc. So, in this post, I want to expand more on why “Aang was supposed to be the Luke Skywalker of Avatar: The Last Airbender”, but the creators of A:TLA failed to properly finish his story.

Firstly, it’s important to point out that the Star Wars saga and universe are widely famous in pop and nerd culture, including Luke Skywalker, the Jedi protagonist, who himself is one of the most famous and beloved characters from the saga. So, it’s not really a reach to assume that the creators and writers of Avatar: The Last Airbender were - at some level - inspired by this famous universe and character. By doing a quick research, we can confirm this assumption, because Bryan Konietzko, one of the co-creators of A:TLA, said in a podcast that Dave Filoni helped to shape A:TLA and its story. Also, both creators said that Joseph Campbell’s writing about mythology helped them to create the Hero’s Journey and the other storylines for their show, and George Lucas was also heavily inspired by Campbell when he was writing Star Wars.

(I will refer to the Star Wars episodes of the original trilogy as one, two and three - even though, nowadays, they are the numbers four, five and six).

Bryke (Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, the co-creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender) and George Lucas share a lot of tropes and narratives in the stories that each one of them created. Both protagonists of the sagas are the '"chosen one" of their universe: both are the last of their kind (even though in the Star Wars universe, initially there were two more older Jedi) who have the weight of the world’s future on their shoulders. Aang needs to fight against the Fire Lord and Luke, initially, against Darth Vader. By doing this, they would bring balance to the world/galaxy.

It’s also important to emphasize how Luke Skywalker and Aang are not only the saviors of the story, they are also the last of their kind. In A:TLA and in Star Wars, we have populations that suffered genocide: the Airbenders were brutally exterminated by the Fire Nation during Sozin’s Comet, and initially, it was revealed in the original Star Wars trilogy that the Jedi were wiped out of the galaxy when Order 66 happened. So, Luke and Aang not only have the destiny of the world/galaxy on their shoulders, they also are the only ones who can continue the legacy, the culture, and the survival of their own kind.

Another parallel between Luke Skywalker and Aang is that both have a Mentor From Beyond. Luke Skywalker was able to seek knowledge from the Jedis who had passed away in the original trilogy. Firstly, it was Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was his first mentor; Luke was able to communicate with him, and Obi-Wan would give him advice and directions to follow. Later, Yoda also appeared to him. For Aang, due to the fact that he’s the Avatar (and to be the Avatar means that you are the reincarnation of someone who already died), he was able to contact the Avatars from his past incarnations. In the show, Roku is the past Avatar with whom Aang most often connects, but he also seeks knowledge from Kyoshi, Kuruk, and Yangchen.

In Book One: Water and A New Hope, both characters are presented as more naive, and the narrative is not as tense as in the later seasons/episodes. However, the sequel presents a "darker" version of its universe as both characters grow and face emotional dilemmas and more hardships. The Empire Strikes Back and Book Two: Earth explore, even more, the ongoing war in their respective universes, and by the end of these sequels, things go wrong for the heroes. And what I really want to discuss is the similarity between the second episode of Star Wars and the second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

At some point in the second episode/season, Luke and Aang had to separate from their group of friends in order to learn more and to train. They had to seek knowledge of what they are and what they represent, because by doing this, they would be a step closer to fulfilling their duties and saving the galaxy/world. At this moment in the narrative, Luke and Aang have an older and wiser mentor who will try to help them achieve this: Yoda and Guru Pathik.

But neither Luke nor Aang finish these training sessions that they started, because during their training, they have a vision of people who are special to them currently in danger. So, even though Yoda and Guru Pathik advise them not to leave and to finish what they started, they leave. Luke goes to Cloud City to save his friends (Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and C3PO) and Aang goes to Ba Sing Se to save Katara. And as stated before, in this episode/season finale, things go wrong for the heroes, including to the protagonists who are supposed to be the saviors of both universes. Luke and Aang left their training even though they were advised otherwise, they went to fight without properly learning what they needed to learn. So when they faced the enemy, they lost. Both at the end were defeated: Aang quite literally dies and Luke has a metaphorical death when he learns about his parentage and loses one of his arms. He also "commits suicide" when he decides to jump instead of aligning himself with the Dark Side.

Now, something really important here is to talk about how Luke and Aang's attachments to people who are dear to them made them run away from what they should have been doing, instead of bringing them closer to their duties and destiny. It was understandable the reasons why they left their training, but it still was wrong in the sense that things went wrong and it ended tragically for both characters. And, it’s never portrayed in both sagas that loving someone is wrong, but being attached to someone is. Both of their Hero’s Journeys required them to learn the difference between what is love and what is attachment, because both concepts are different and one of them (attachment) is portrayed in both sagas as wrong, especially for the protagonists.

Although I’m not Buddhist, nor was I raised as one, it’s clear that Star Wars (1) (2) and Avatar: The Last Airbender (1) (2) both were inspired, to some extent, by this religion and its philosophy. (I tried searching for articles and videos made by Buddhist people, but, unfortunately, I couldn't really find many, so if anyone wants to link more content, please, feel free). And one thing that appears to be inspired by this religion and philosophy in both sagas was the concept of attachment in contrast to love (1) (2). Before delving into the topic of attachment in the show and movie, it’s ideal to understand what attachment means from a Buddhist perspective:

In Buddhism, attachment is called upādāna, which means grasping or clinging. It refers to the human tendency to cling to people, things, or ideas in the mistaken belief that they will bring us lasting happiness and fulfillment. Attachment arises from our desire to feel secure, comfortable, and control of our lives. (...) Attachment to people: Attachment to people can become a source of suffering, as we can become overly dependent on them for our happiness, identity, and sense of security. This attachment can take many forms, from romantic relationships to friendships and family bonds.

While searching for what would be the difference between love vs attachment in Buddhism, this quote also brought my attention (I'll definitely come back to this later):

Any kind of relationship which imagines that we can fulfill ourselves through another is bound to be very tricky. Ideally people would come together already feeling fulfilled within themselves and just therefore appreciating that in the other, rather than expecting the other to supply that sense of well-being.

George Lucas seemed to understand this concept better than Bryke. In Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker a) trusts his group of friends way more than he did in The Empire Strikes Back, b) he was also able to let go of his anger for Darth Vader because he genuinely loved Anakin, his father. George Lucas was very vocal about how he wanted to portray attachment as a bad thing, and when it comes to this topic, he never intended to make the Jedi philosophy something wrong. Strict? Maybe, but not wrong. And in the end, as the episode’s title suggests, Luke "returns", as he also returns to Dagobah to contact his master, Yoda, one last time. (The title of this episode can also refer to Anakin returning to the Light Side, but art can be interpreted in different and many ways).

In contrast, Avatar: The Last Airbender presented Aang’s attachment to Katara in a bad light. The Guru episode shows that Aang's attachment to Katara, not his feelings, is what is making him fail to open his chakra and not being able to enter into the Avatar State.

Pathik: The Thought Chakra is located at the crown of the head. It deals with pure cosmic energy, and is blocked by earthly attachment. Meditate on what attaches you to this world. [Images of Katara appear before Aang.] Now, let all of those attachments go. Let them flow down the river, forgotten.

It’s even more important to understand that what Aang feels for Katara is not genuine love, at least in this episode, it’s pretty much stated that he is attached to her in a way that he needs to learn to let go. To expand a little bit on this, it’s necessary to analyze two Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes and how they portray what Aang feels for Katara:

Firstly, 'The Fortuneteller' episode portrays Aang’s feelings for Katara as just a childish crush. There's nothing wrong with a childish crush in general, especially because Aang is, in fact, a child, so he's bound to be childish. But in this episode, what he feels for Katara is paralleled with what Meng feels for him: something that was one-sided and lacked "emotional maturity and self-awareness". Both Aang and Meng viewed their crushes in an overestimated and hyper-idealized way, which again was portrayed as silly and in a bad light.

Secondly, in 'The Guru' episode, it shows that yes, Aang does love Katara, but is it in the right way? The Air Nomads' genocide deeply affects Aang, and he still loves the people that he lost, obviously. But in the show, Guru Pathik states that the love that Aang felt for the Air Nomads was 'reborn' in a new love - his love for Katara. So, Aang is projecting his feelings of love for the people who were brutally exterminated onto the girl who, at this moment in the narrative, was only his dear friend who shows him support and fights alongside him. Aang needed to get closure and heal from this traumatic event; it’s a huge trauma that he should work through. But instead, he was coping by projecting his feelings onto something, or better, someone.

I personally think that Aang loves Katara to some extent, but he needed to work through his trauma first. This goes along with something already shown before, quoting: "people would come together [in a relationship] already feeling fulfilled within themselves and just therefore appreciating that in the other".

The chakra/Guru plotline in Avatar: The Last Airbender is not about Aang needing to stop loving Katara; that's a huge misunderstanding. It was about how Aang was attached to something (or someone, in his case) that he needed to learn to let go of, so he could progress, grow, and heal. After he fulfilled this arc about what's love vs attachment, two things could happen: a) maybe Aang would realize that his love for Katara was more platonic and that he was projecting a lot onto her because he sees her in an idealized way, or b) that he indeed loves her but he needs to realize that he's too much attached to the comfort that she gives and brings to him, so his feelings for her need to have more emotional maturity.

And in the end of season two, Aang actually let go of his attachment to Katara, and he was able to achieve the Avatar State. But unfortunately, after this, he was brutally attacked by Azula and had his chakra blocked.

But in Book Three: Fire, not only does he not return to see or contact Guru again, as Luke did (returned to see his older and wiser mentor, Yoda, in the third and final episode), but Aang also appears to still be attached to Katara in the same way that he already was, if not worse. In the Ember Island Players episode, he: 1) gets so mad and frustrated with the Players portraying his relationship with Katara in a non-romantic light that he says that he could go into the Avatar State over this, and 2) rushes things with Katara and kisses her without her consent, disrespecting her boundaries, after she just avoided his romantic questions and advances.

Point 1:

Aang: [Angered.] No, I'm not! I hate this play! [Yanks his hat off and throws it on the ground.] Katara: I know it's upsetting, but it sounds like you're overreacting. Aang: Overreacting? If I hadn't blocked my chakra, I'd probably be in the Avatar State right now!

Point 2:

Aang: But it's true, isn't it? We kissed at the Invasion, and I thought we were gonna be together. But we're not.

Katara: Aang, I don't know.

Aang: Why don't you know? Katara: Because, we're in the middle of a war, and, we have other things to worry about. This isn't the right time.

Aang: Well, when is the right time?

Katara: Aang, I'm sorry, but right now I'm just a little confused. [Aang tries to kiss Katara.]

Katara: I just said I was confused! I'm going inside. [Exits the balcony.]

All of this shows how he still lacked emotional maturity, and how he still was attached to Katara, in a way not much different from what was shown in Book Two: Earth. Overall, this shows how his feelings for her weren't properly developed and didn't grow from where they previously were – because it was still bound by an attachment that he needed to let go of in order to grow, heal, and learn.

Unfortunately, the Guru/Chakra plotline was completely brushed aside in Book Three: Fire; Aang doesn't even seek to see Guru again or continue his unfinished training. And in the end, when he was fighting the Fire Lord, what he was always meant to do, he managed to go into the Avatar State. Not because he trained or learned how to achieve this goal; actually, it was because a rock saved him by triggering the Avatar State. So, in the end, an entire plotline was ignored and forgotten. Aang didn't learn what he needed to learn with Guru, nor did he finish the training that he was meant to do, and he still was rewarded by the narrative with achieving the Avatar State and saving the world (and also, "getting the girl").

[(...) and Aang protects himself with an airbending shield but is pushed back by the force of the attack, crashing into a rock pillar. The scar on his back is hit with a point of the rock, causing him to flashback to when he was shot by lightning. (...) Aang jumps out, now in the Avatar State, and grabs Ozai by his goatee.]

And that's why Aang is the Luke Skywalker that we could’ve had. Luke finished his Hero's Journey; he learned what he needed to learn and because of it, he saved the galaxy and his father. Meanwhile, Aang didn't learn about love vs attachment, yet he still achieved what he needed to achieve from the beginning: the Avatar State and winning against the Fire Lord. And he only achieved that because the narrative chose to give him a final new solution to resolve all his problems instead of him directly dealing with and facing the problems, difficulties, and dilemmas that the narrative initially proposed to him.

(I don’t actually mean quite literally that Aang needs or should have been the Luke Skywalker from Avatar: The Last Airbender, because Aang is his own character who has his own story. What I mean is that: Luke Skywalker is a character who is similar in some ways to Aang, and he had his Hero’s Journey properly fulfilled. I believe that Aang also deserved the same treatment by the creators of ATLA).

#atla critical #aang critical #anti bryke #atla meta #anti aang #anti kataang #kataang critical #(not really anti aang/KA but.. just in case)#george lucas #star wars #luke skywalker

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amuseoffyre · 4 months

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There is actual precedent for fan outcry saving a show. Probably loads of examples, but the one I know is "Being Human" (UK, the original). It started out as one of a group of six unrelated pilot episodes, of which one would be commissioned for a full series - and it wasn't chosen. A (well-organised, though I don't know the details) fan outcry - admittedly combined with a lack of good scripts for the winning series - convinced the BBC to change their minds. End result: five seasons (four good).

I'm treading on the side of caution with this, because I've seen it go both ways. I saw Pushing Daisies get snipped in its prime because of the strikes. I saw Sense8 cancelled and then given a film to give us an ending that shortchanged so many story arcs, but the most they could do with the time they were given. Firefly got Serenity and it... wasn't great. Gneil said that if he didn't get the okay for Good Omens S3, we would have got a book. From what I recall, DJ previously had a show that was cancelled before the third season and released a synopsis so the fans knew what would have happened anyway.

We'll see. We know the crew and cast all want to do it. We know that WBD is changing direction and are very unlikely to change their minds. We know some other networks will swoop in for an easy win and a show that will give them Big Numbers.

We will see.

#ofmd

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nalyra-dreaming · 7 days

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Hello again! First I just want to say a big thank you to you and @virginiaisforvampires and @cbrownjc for answering my really long DM ask awhile ago! <3

I’m again going to presume that during the first four episodes Daniel will keep having flashbacks causing him to realise that there is more to the fallout of the 70’s interview than he might at first suspect. He will probably remember Armand’s ‘Gentleman Death’ speech, which might cause him to fear Armand. Resulting in the new character telling him he should fear ‘the other one’ (presumably Louis) instead.

I’m really curious about the, “You fear Armand. You should fear the other one”, does this character know of Armand’s concern and/or history with Daniel? Might one assume that the character knows about Louis attacking Daniel, and possibly is more acutely aware (than Daniel) of the destructive nature Louis actually carries fairly close to the surface (Paris fallout comes to mind). So the words could simply be a warning to Daniel, who possibly at this point is quite relaxed with Louis but nervous of Armand. If this new character is basically a ‘body-snatcher’ looking to gain access to an immortal vampiric body - are they playing the long-con by befriending Daniel to gain access? Could I be on to something here? I agree and remember that Louis and Daniel will team up during this season, so I’m assuming Louis won’t attack him again - but is there anything that Daniel should fear during this season? Is there a threat?

I saw the interview, talking about next season but I’m not as optimistic as some that the relationship/romance referred to was meant to be DM/Daniel’s and Armand’s. In context of the whole interview it sounds more like it’s talking about Louis’ and Armand’s relationship. If DM stuff is revealed or takes place in Dubai I’m pretty sure it’s a secret that they wouldn’t talk about in interviews. I mean - it’s a pretty great twist, and it makes so much sense to me that a lot of the writers apparently are stage writers. Love it! I really want to see DM take place and the memory-erased dynamic play out that the TV series has set up, but I am worried that I’m getting carried away and what we get might be much more minimal - and that fans will hype and then get disappointed.

The idea of Armand and Daniel bickering/fighting during the interviews for the season to then end up revealing to Daniel that *surprise* this guy who has been annoying you, has revealed himself to sure be romantic but also scary controlling and is someone you’ve rightly started to fear is the love of your life - is pretty darkly comic in the best of ways! I would freaking love it. What do you think? I’m pretty much all in for f*cked up relationship dynamics, since the characters are all fun and interesting. I’m very invested in Louis’ and Armand’s romance too, looking forward to it playing out and I like hearing that the show decided to be more romantic with it! Freaking love all the actors - and I’m so happy to watch a TV series which is actually creative and compelling!

Is there anything related to DM you would wish to see play out this season? Sorry for long ask again! Less questions this time at least haha (sorry!). Again, love visiting your blog and reading all the speculation! Thank you!

:) Hey!

Yes, the "you should fear the other one" IS incredible interesting.

I mean, there is this canon passivity to Louis, a passivity that is almost a chosen trait, because when he snaps... he snaps. (I still hope we will get the "passivity speech" in s2, I think it is such an important one, and Jacob would just rule).

But... trailers are meant to entice, to hint, but also to misdirect. Sam said in the q&a video that there would be other vampires in s2 as well. I... I am not 100% convinced that comment in the restaurant was wrt Louis.

That does not mean that Louis is not to be feared!! I just... this could be a red herring. Who knows, maybe it has to do with the twist.

(What if (speculating!!) Daniel then turns to whoever Justin Kirk is there and goes: "what other?" Why is that "other" vampire not named? Why does the Justin Kirk character know Armand at all? Why does he know about the vampires in that apartment??? (And yes, he could be already be so interested in it all because the idea for the body theft is forming!) Why does he know Daniel might be in danger from that other vampire? You know?^^)

So. It could be Louis' carefully hidden destructive tendencies. Maybe. (Which, btw, Armand used skillfully in Paris, I mean, he literally orchestrated it all for Louis to destroy the coven, a win-win situation for him, lol.)

But I'm not convinced that is what Daniel should fear. Would fear. If modern day Daniel fears anything, then I think that has to do with something he remembers. The cage comes to mind, for example. The hunt.

Rolin's latest comment re Dubai does come to mind... as much as I think that Louis and Armand do actively love each other (including physically and I really hope they enjoy(ed) themselves!), but... I cannot see Louis go and have "fun" in interview-time-Dubai. I mean, the interview is happening over a few days real-time. Can you see Louis, the Louis growing more and more upset, depressed and crying and wanting to remember feel like having sex? For example? I think we might see Loumand sex scenes in the past, but in Dubai??? I'm... not sure.

And so... that leaves us with Devil's Minion. I'm not sure how much of the past of it will be revealed, but... I think there's a higher chance for sexy times in Dubai for them than for Loumand. For setup reasons 🤷🏽‍♀️

I also think that the relationship dynamics will be as messed up as they can possibly make them. While I expect Loumand to be extremely tender (I believe Assad called it that), I do think that Jacob's comment that Louis's time at the "murder mansion" was "one of the happy times" for Louis and that statement of "same shit, different vampire" needs to be factored in as well. We're talking about Armand after all :) Given the show likes to put its fingers into wounds I believe that will be a creeping realization... a slow, uncomfortable feeling (in contrast to the more open problematic things Loustat displayed). There is a "controlled" aspect to Loumand, because it was orchestrated (in Paris).

Devil's Minion... DM is about obsession, and almost helpless love. There will be tenderness as well, but also very high, messy emotions. It's not planned, it's not exactly healthy either, it's not (yet) with a happy ending.

As per what I would like to see in it...

I'm not sure. I want them to go full-in, in whatever aspects they choose to give us this season. The cage I would love to see, also as an echo to Lestat being tortured, maybe.

This season is about painful, uncomfortable realizations and repercussions of previous actions.

That goes for them all - and so what I hope for is what we'll get I bet :)) (At least nothing of the trailers, interviews or BTS pix has given me reason to believe otherwise^^)

Hannah Moscovitch said this season would destroy us, and I believe her... and I want that, badly :)))

#Anonymous #asks #ask nalyra #amc iwtv #iwtv #amc interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire amc #iwtv amc #iwtv 2022 #interview with the vampire #louis de pointe du lac #armand #loumand #the devil's minion #daniel molloy #devil's minion

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the-strength-of-the-wolffe · 4 months

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Wolffe the Grouch?

Now that I'm moving into season four with Wolffe's Story, I have to comment on this because it's been bugging me!

I've come to realize that the fandom embraces a particular characterization of Wolffe, and that's The Grouch. “Mercy Mission" is the reason, of course. I'll admit, it’s hilarious seeing him so fed up; no surprise why everyone loves it. However, that one portrayal has ended up dominating his whole fan-constructed personality. He's the Grumpy One—that's his thing. Get ready for the eyerolls and insults and withering stares!

It hurts my soul.

I think it's a bit unfair, because in all his other episodes, he's not a grouch at all! Sure, he frowns a lot, but so do most clones. Under that, he's a pretty chill guy. Look at "Rising Malevolence," a nightmare scenario—he’s a total pro. (He even quips with Plo! In the middle of the crisis!) That's consistent across his appearances: "Padawan Lost,” “Escape from Kadavo,” “To Catch a Jedi,” “The Lost Ones," etc. He might not be the most cheerful clone, but he's no curmudgeon. (I’m not taking Rebels into account; that’s a time jump and several more hells departed from TCW.)

To me, his grouchiness in “Mercy Mission” is simply a reaction to a particularly bad day, i.e. an exception to the norm. He seems fatigued before making planetfall—before even answering the transmission. He probably has Plo’s plight on his mind. As we’ve seen in other episodes, running errands isn’t a favorite job among clones; he's likely annoyed that he was chosen for it. The people he’s aiding are some of the quirkiest creatures in the galaxy, and, to make matters worse, they can only be communicated with through a prissy translator droid. I get why his no-nonsense sensibilities are offended by the whole situation.

I'm not really arguing in earnest here. He's a minor character with little screen time and can be interpreted any way people like. But he doesn't have to be a grouch all the time. Allowing him a little more dimensionality wouldn't hurt!

#the clone wars #commander wolffe #clones #i have a lot of feelings about this!#but i won't ramble on

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adaineabernantsfrog · 1 year

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Fantasy High and Love

Dimension 20 is no doubt one of the most popular D&D Actual Play shows releasing currently. It has, as of writing this, 14 completed seasons, and the 15th well underway. These seasons range from four-episode side quests, to full seasons, which range from small town mystery in season 1 (Fantasy High), to Regency-Era Romance in season 14 (A Court of Fey and Flowers) to Game Of Thrones inspired Candyland in season 6 (A Crown Of Candy). Dimension 20’s main cast (The Intrepid Heroes) consists of Sibbion Tompson, Lou Willson, Ally Beardsly, Zac Oyama, Emily Axford, and Brian Murphy ‘Murph’, and most games are Dougen Mastered by Brennan Lee Mulligan (Captain K.P Hob, A Court Of Fey and Flowers) or Aabriya Ingar (Antiope Jones, The Seven). Of course, there are always other players who guest star in the seasons and work at Dropout (the company that owns Dimension 20), but these are the main candidates for the show.

Though the seasons do not always make it so obvious, one key theme underlies in all of them, and that is love. The show says, quite plainly, love is not always romantic. Love can be your friend, sacrificing herself to make sure you survive (Sibbion Tompson as Adaine Abbernant, Fantasy High Sophomore Year), love can be a King screaming at his head guard to “Take my daughters and run!” (Lou Willson as King Amethar Rocks, A Crown Of Candy), love is saying “I don’t love you anymore,” and putting yourself first (Persephone Valentine as Sam Nightingale, The Seven), and to end with a more traditional sense of love, it is two people renouncing their families for each other, kissing under a raincloud and saying “We have so much to experience together.” (Surena Marie as BINX Choppley to Omar Najam as Andera, A Court Of Fey and Flowers). In this essay, I will specifically discuss Fantasy High and Love, platonic or romantic.

Fantasy High is set in a small town, in a highschool, so romance is bound to appear at some point. It also follows our Intrepid Heros (Kristen, Adaine, Fig, Gorgug, Fabian, and Riz, played by Beardsley, Tompson, Axford, Oyama, Willson, and Murphy respectively) as they learn and grow as people. It follows their mistakes, their feelings, their hearts, and discovering their own sexuality and relationship ideals and goals as they mature. Now, we cannot talk about Fantasy High without talking about religion, specifically the religion of Helio, the Corn god. One of our Heroes, Kristen Applebee’s, was raised in this church as ‘Helio’s Chosen One’, and thus believed herself to be holy.

The religion on Helio is quite clearly a commentary on corrupt christianity and religious issues, as Kristen’s parents are homophobic towards her, and there is a secret underground cult the ‘Bad Kids’ (Kristen, Adaine, Fig, Gorgug, Fabian and Riz) discover around halfway through the season. In the first battle, when Kristen literally dies and ascends up to heaven, she meet’s Helio, who is the stereotype of a teenage frat boy. All this to say, Kristen later renounces her faith in her religion and abandon’s her church and family for her new one. The person who helps her discover she is a lesbian (and is her girlfriend as of the end of Fantasy High Sophomore Year/ Dimension 20: LIVE) is Tracker O’Shaunessy.

Tracker is everything Kristen (at their meeting) is not. She is calm, cool, collected, and has renounced her religion long before the season began, as she has lycanthropy, and is a werewolf, in direct opposition to the Church of Helio, worshiping the Moon Goddess Galacia. The exploration of losing your religion and growing into your ‘true’ self, whether that be a werewolf or anything else, is one of the most realistic I have ever seen, probably due to the fact that the show is written, or improvised, by people who went through it in real life. Tracker and Kristen are not without their flaws, but they have a very open and realistic relationship, including the fact that Kristen keeps telling everyone she is gay when she figures herself out for Season 1. It is interesting as well how a relatively small company can better display a lesbian teenage relationship than most streaming giants, and have more than one in the series.

Fantasy High: Sophomore Year (FHSY, Dimension 20: Live) brings in a new character in Ayda Augefort, Mistress of the Compass Points Library, Daughter of Arthur Augefort, half Phoenix. Arthur Augefort is the principal of the academy most of The Bad Kids go to (Excluding Tracker, Alewyn, and as of Season 2’s ending, Ragh), and the principal of the academy his daughter's girlfriend, Fig Faeth. Ayda Augefort is explicitly autistic, and in a relationship and thriving in a relationship. Unlike most media, the focus during her and Fig’s relationship is not the fact that Ayda is autistic, it is the fact that she is from an entirely different nation than the rest of them, and sometime’s struggles with social cues, and that’s it. It is unbelievably refreshing to see an autistic character's arc not be entirely on autism, but be on her relationships.

It is also refreshing to see autism being portrayed as normal (literally Ayda stating “This is normal, this is normal.” as Jawbone O’Shaunessy, Tracker’s Uncle and Adaine’s adoptive Father), and not some big bad monster that is needed to be overcome by the character. She is treated as ordinary, not incapable, not babied, and as an equal by her fellow adventurers. So often in the media, autism is a monster, showing someone incapable and unnerving. Ayda is not.

Ayda is just Ayda, and many people would call her the most capable and logical one in the group.

On the complete other side of the Fantasy High Coin Of Romance, we have Riz Gukgak, a cannoncially aromantic, asesexual charcter. Riz, throughout season 1 of Fantasy high, makes fun of his friends and their general ‘horniness’ as teens. He is left feeling isolated and awkward when the topic of sex comes up, whereas the rest of his friends (with perhaps the exemption of Adaine; Though nothing has been confirmed by Tompson or Mulligan regarding her) embrace their teenage years and the conversations surrounding romance and sex with open arms, though sometimes they take a bit of prying to get open, whereas Riz actively rejects it.

In fact, Riz rejects it so much it leads to the manifestation of Baron from the Baronise, Romance Partner, when the group’s worst fears manifest. To create Baron Riz did something many young, queer teens do, which is make up a lie of a boy/girlfriend or partner to appear perfect, to appear straight and cis and normal, because to many children, normal does exist, and it does for Riz Gukgak, who aspires to be normal in whatever way he can be, leading to Baron.

Many people agree that Baron is the one of the most horrific elements across any D20 season, even ranking above the current horror season, as Mulligan describes them as having “A voice colder than the grave,” and the fact it’s mouth “Does not move when he talks.”

Baron can be read as the metaphor for hiding who you are, that you are scared the real you will be ugly, be unattractive and horrific, backed up by the fact that Baron’s first appearance is in a mirror, they are a literal reflection of Riz’s worst fears. That he is unnatural.

Terrifying.

That Riz Gukgak, aroace goblin (un)-licensed private investigator that he is, is wrong beyond words, a horror only a few unlucky people would comprehend.

But how on earth could that be true about anyone? How can anybody, human or otherwise, be so horrible nobody wants to spend time with them? Baron says that “The years will go by, and everyone will find someone who matters more to them than you.” and Riz shuts it down. Riz “Seeks the truth so much (he) cuts his hands on the inside of crystals,” (Mulligan as Barron), and his friends love him, even if he is just “The little shrimp of this party.” (Murphy as Riz).

As a warning, this next section will discuss heavy topics of abuse, torture, anxiety and neglect.

Romantic love is not the only kind of love out there, and it is not the only kind of love covered in Fantasy High. Another prevalent love is the love between sibling, the love Kristen Applebee’s shows her younger brothers when she drops off gold in the beginning of FHSY, but most prevalent is the now unshakeable love between Adaine and Aelwyn Abbernant, two sisters who were abused beyond belief falling apart and coming back together, but only under the most horrible of circumstances that no person, age not important, should ever have to go through.

Adaine and Aelwyn, in different ways, were both abused by their parents, in a horrific mixture of neglect of Adaine’s needs and favoritism for Aelwyn. To quote BR Parents, “Usually the favorite is the oldest or the baby,” which is true here. Aelwyn is the elder sister, and Adaine is the younger.

The abuse suffered is also represented by their types of magic, Aelwyn being an abjuration wizard, and Adaine being a divination wizard, specifically the Elven Oracle. Aelwyn’s abjuration magic is a protective force, a literal shield as she shields herself, her true self, from her parents to avoid disappointing them, she gives herself the protection she cannot offer Adaine. Adaine, on the other hand, is a divination wizard, she can see the future that her parents are going to give her, and know what they are going to say about her. In every way for the first season, they are opposites, a diviner who focuses on the future and an abjurer who focuses on the now, Aelwyn working for the ‘bad’ side throughout all of season one resulting in her kidnap and torture in Fallinel throughout most of season 2, Adaine actively fighting against that side to the best of her ability. The abuse also drove a rift between the two girls, with Adaine saying “I feel unsafe!” to withdraw Aelwyn’s diplomatic immunity when she is arrested.

Terrifyingly, they have their softest sisterly moments between them when Aelwyn is a, to borrow a term from season 1, Palimpsest of a Person. She has been wiped and superimposed over by her country of birth, leaving nothing but a blank slate of a person, and how sad is it that someone who helped with the palimpsest’s in season 1 has now become a human equivalent of the thing she helped make. After this, they have a scene together where Aelwyn’s magic does what it has never done before, it reaches out and protects Adaine from danger directly, instead of watching her handle it herself. (It is important to note the magic here cannot entirely protect the girls, they are still in Flaniell, the danger is all around them, and there are ore elves working for Fallinel than people working with the bad kids.)

In the finale, their love comes to a head, when they end up in a quiet corner of the forest with their parents, alone, and with no other Bad Kids to help them. The importance of the quote “I don’t love our parents, but I do love you. Do you know that? I hope that you know that.” said by Adaine cannot be overstated, as it is finally offering Aelwyn something she has never had, unconditional love. Up until this point, Aelwyn has always believed she was only loved because she worked for people, loved by her parents because she worked for them, was at Hudol because they told her to be, ‘loved’ by Kalvaxous because she worked for him kidnapping the girls.

Adaine offers her none of that, Adaine offers her something new, and she is uncomfortable with it. She is unsure whether she deserves love, after all she has done, and, before passing out (not dying) in her sister's arms, gives an affirmative response to “Will you be my big sister? I would really love to have you as a big sister.”. Aelwyn passing out here is another thing that can be read as her truly leaving her old self behind, her Father is dead and her Mother is missing. She is starting to accept she truly can be loved at the end of season 2, and in the “Boys Night” one-shot has even found a group of friends of her own with Zayn Darkshadow and Ragh Backrock.

Another familial form of love is shown in Tracker and Jawbone O’Shaunessy, two lycanthropes assumed to be disgraced from their family due to their condition. Tracker is first met in The Black Pit, where her Uncle Jawbone is working security. At first, it is not said that the two werewolves are related in any way, but this is later discovered when Tracker comes to Augefort Academy to see “(My) Uncle Jawbone”. Tracker states, in one of her first scenes, tells Kristen that she has been kicked out of her house by her parents because she doubted her religion, the same way Kristen did. Thus, Uncle Jawbone took her in, and they live together.

Jawbone is not only shown to have parental affection for Tracker, as at the end of season 2 he asks permission to formally adopt Adaine, and also becomes a Father figure for Fig, Kristen, and Ragh when they all move into Mordred Manor, some at the start, some at the end, of season 2. However, none of this could have happened if Jawbone had not met our Intrepid Heroes themselves, and turned his life around from a drug-dealing werewolf to a licensed guidance counselor.

Speaking of our intrepid heroes, and to close off the section on Fantasy high, it would be a shame not to discuss the group that the main cast play as a collective, The Bad Kids. If I described the Bad Kids, you would think something was wrong with them. As of the end of season 2, they contain an Arch-Devil of Rebellion, The Prophet of a Forgotten God, The Elven Oracle, a (now) licensed private investigator, A former champion bard who said the quote “Toxic masculinity is dead, I dance now,” and briefly had a fling with The Elven Oracle’s sister, and A half-orc adopted by gnomes. Their names, in order, are Fig Faeth, Kristen Applebee’s, Adaine Abbernant, Riz Gukgak, Fabian Aramais Seacaster, and Gorgug Thistlespring.

Though their relationship started on rocky territory, with Fabian and Gorgug getting into a fight upon their first meeting, they quickly became friends after being forged in fire in the Clash of The Corn Cuties, and grow close to the point where they cannot live without each other. When Mulligan tries to force Willson (Fabian) to walk away from the group towards the end of Sophomore Year, he actively asks for Adaine, only for Mulligan to cut him off by saying “Sorry, no.”

In the very first interaction they have all the way back in season 1, upon meeting Adaine for the first time, Fig’s (Axford) first instinct is to lie to protect her from Goldenhoard, and from getting in trouble on the first day. Fig reassures her that she is cool when she starts to have a panic attack, and helps her through many from that day forward. Fabian also instantly knew that Riz was in danger in the beginning of FHSY due to the fact he didn’t pick up his phone on the first ring.

The girls start living with each other at the beginning of FHSY, moving into Mordred Manor with Tracker, Sandra Lynn (Fig’s Mother), and Jawbone. This shows how, finally, they have accepted each other into their lives and are ready to do anything together. It also gives Adaine the family she deserves.

In conclusion, Fantasy High and Dimension 20’s portrayal of love is so unbelievably real and genuine, and one of the best ones out there currently. There is no complicated love triangle, there is little dramatics, and everyone is respectful.

#holy shit this took so long #fantasy high #fantasy high sophomore year #adaine abernant #fabian aramais seacaster #kristen applebees #fig fantasy high #gorgug thistlespring #riz gukgak #tracker o'shaughnessey #jawbone o'shaughnessey #aelwyn abernant #i have a lot of feelings #the bad kids #dimension 20 #d20

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mlchaelwheeler · 2 years

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once again, i'd like to point out that stranger things is a tv show. the characters are not real. why is this important? all scenes and narratives are written a specific way, they don't just happen by themselves. for example, this means:

in 1x03, the writers chose to emphasize mike's reaction to will's "body" being found in comparison to lucas and dustin's reactions. they easily could've shown all three of the boys' reactions, but instead mike was the focus and got multiple scenes of his shock and anger over will's "body" being found.

in 1x04, the writers chose to focus on mike being depressed over will's death. they didn't do this for dustin or lucas, even though all four of the boys are introduced as a group at the beginning of the season.

in 1x04, the writers chose to have mike shove troy in the gym for making homophobic comments about will. any one of the boys could've taken offense to that, but instead, mike is the focus while lucas and dustin stand off to the side.

in 1x04, the writers chose mike to be the one who recognized will's voice over the radio. they could've easily had the entire party there for that scene, but instead it was just mike who immediately knew will's voice.

in 2x01, the writers chose mike as the one to follow will out of the arcade and bring him back inside. it could've been any of the party members, but instead mike was singled out as having noticed will disappeared.

in 2x02, the writers chose to have mike be the one to comfort will after his "episode," even though the whole party is trick-or-treating together. it could've easily been written as group bonding where will tells everyone about his visions, but instead the writers gave us the crazy together scene.

in 2x03, the writers chose to focus on mike at school when will is acting weird. it was specifically chosen that mike was the only one to notice will was "quiet today" and that it was weird he missed class, while the rest of the party didn't notice anything was wrong.

in 2x08, the writers chose to have mike be in the shed with the rest of will's family. there could've been a cute scene of the whole party trying to reach will with stories of their dnd campaigns, but instead mike is the only non-family member present (not counting hopper because he didn't share any memories).

in 3x01, the writers chose to make the movie theater full enough that mike/will and lucas/max couldn't all sit together. this was directly after lucas implied going to the movies was the equivalent of "spending romantic time" together.

in 3x03, the writers chose to have mike and will get into an argument at the wheeler's house, even though lucas was also there. lucas didn't just happen to stay behind in the basement. it was a clear choice that mike and will got into a fight, just the two of them.

in 3x08, the writers chose to give will and mike an individual goodbye scene, even though the only other individual scenes were jancy and mlvn (two couples). there could've been a scene of the whole party saying goodbye but instead the writers specifically had a (flirty) goodbye scene between mike and will, directly contrasting the (extremely) awkward mlvn goodbye.

in 4x09, the writers chose to give mike and will another heart-to-heart in hopper's cabin right at the end of the season. will could've easily told everyone there that he still knows vecna is alive (this is probably what should've happened honestly), but instead only told mike-- when el was right there! the clear choice to give them a special talk right at the end of the season was very telling.

#anyways. just to point out that these narratives are all crafted a specific way for a reason #and there's SO many more examples but these are the few i could think of off the top of my head #bc like. that movie theater could've easily been empty. the group could've all sat together. but no. the writers made a clear choice to have #byler and lumax sit apart after just talking about how that was the equivalent of a date #just worth pointing out i think #byler #narrative tag #sarah.txt

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miraculouslbcnreactions · 2 months

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What are your opinions on more „popular“ salt takes about Adrien and Mari, like the typical „Adrichat is an ass for for flirting with LB after she rejects him“ and „Maribug us a horrible stalker“?

Well, I'd be lying if I said that I have no idea where they're coming from. There are definitely times when I'll watch an episode and wonder what in the world the writers are trying to do, especially when it comes to Adrien's behavior as it's played a lot more straight than Marinette's. While I don't like her behavior at times, it's almost always treated as a joke, not a dramatic character beat whereas I cannot say the same for Adrien.

But these are characters in a TV show, not real people and we need to keep that in mind when judging them. It's why my go-to thought is "what is wrong with the writing staff" and not "Adrien is an incel." Because Adrien is very clearly not supposed to be an incel. Unless the writers are plotting something truly asinine, the Love Square is our end game couple. We are supposed to view Adrien as a charming and funny romantic lead. When he falls short of that role, it's not Adrien "showing his true colors." He's a fictional character. He has no true colors. If his actions and words are ever unbecoming for a romantic lead, it's because the writers are failing to write Adrien the way they want us to see him.

They consistently do this to all of the characters. Alya's supposed to be an awesome friend and a smart journalist (I think), but she can't see through Lila's BS. Marinette's parents are supposed to be loving and supportive, but they randomly believed that their daughter stole from their bakery to make a dress and didn't even try to let her explain herself. Nino is supposed to be the Chosen of Protection, but he didn't care to protect his best friend and just happily sent Gabriel on a rampage without a second thought.

Give me a character and I can point to a bunch of episodes that justify every salty take this fandom has because they're not pulling this stuff from thin air. They're picking and choosing the worst writing in the show and venting about it, which is frankly understandable. Like I get why there are so many Alya salt fics. Her writing in the Lila episodes is infuriating and I do find those fics a little cathartic at times. But it's really, really obvious that she's not supposed to be a terrible friend. She's a victim of the writers drawing the Lila plot line out for far too long and making Lila's lies far too obvious.

Similarly, a lot of the issues with Adrien and Marinette stem from the fact that you simply can't draw a romance plot out for five seasons without causing issues unless you make the romance a background plot. But they didn't do that. The love square is front and center for most episodes, but since it can't actually resolve, the writers keep adding drama that makes our leads feel horribly unhealthy.

On the Marinette side, her not being able to talk to Adrien was fine as an initial issue, but we are five seasons into this show. Over 100 episodes! You reach a point where it stops being cute and starts being concerning. It's also not helped by the fact that Marinette's crush is written like a celebrity crush and not a crush on someone she actually knows. Daily exposure to Adrien should mellow her out. Especially since he's supposed to be her friend! But if the writers let Marinette talk to Adrien, then they'd grow closer and might feel like they had to get together, so they couldn't let that. Thus Marinette being a disaster for four seasons and the terrible shoehorned plot to try and justify it in season five.

On the Adrien side, they let Chat Noir confess too soon. Prior to that, the Ladynoir relationship was a playful one where it was feasible that Ladybug just viewed her kitty as a massive flirt. This was especially true since he flirts with everyone. But once she knew that he was serious? The playfulness vanished and Chat Noir started coming across as entitled and pushy. It didn't help that they had him ignoring her preferences ("Don't call me Bugaboo") and getting them in trouble by not taking his job seriously (his flirting getting them hit in Oblivio).

In summary, the love square should have been resolved much sooner or been relegated to a b plot that got far less attention. I also would have reversed the square since it makes for a far more interesting story that you can organically draw out longer, but that's just me. I don't have any issue with people ignoring the canon problems and just writing Adrien and Marinette as the cute couple that they were obviously intended to be. I also enjoy fics that treat Adrien's pushiness as a character flaw that can be resolved because that's what canon should have done. His issues aren't the mark of a terrible person. They're the understandable flaws of a teenager who is in love for the first time and doesn't know how to express himself. If a show would actually address this kind of common tween/teen issue, then a lot of kids would get an incredibly valuable lesson that would help them when they grow up and fall in love. If you're ever watching Miraculous with a kid, I strongly encourage you to approach Adrien's character from that perspective. Talk about why his actions are understandable, but ultimately wrong and more likely to push someone away than win their heart just like we see with Ladybug.

#ml writing salt #ml writing critical #ml fandom salt #ml fandom critical #adrien deserves better #marinette deserves better #alya deserves better #This is what I mean when I say that I'm a character sugar blog and a writing salt blog #The issue is not the character concepts or the general story ideas #The issues all come from the execution #It's also why I am happy when shows only get a few seasons #I truly think we would have gotten a better story if Miraculous only had three seasons to work with

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sleepyheadd0 · 7 months

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tmnt 2012: splinter projecting himself and shredder onto leo and raph

a rant / analysis

1.4k words; unedited

under cut

WRITING THIS AT LIKE 5:30AM BECAUSE I PHYSICALLY CANNOT GET THIS OUT OF MY BRAIN WHY HAVEN'T I SEEN PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT THIS

okay okay, im gonna try to talk about this as clearly and concisely as i can. 2012 splinter is projecting his relationship with shredder onto leo and raph. people have probably talked about this but i just wanna explain my point of view on this.

so. as the story goes, shredder (also known as oroku saki) was found by splinter's (also known as hamato yoshi) father after the foot clan was defeated. splinter's dad adopted shredder and raised him as his own, having splinter and shredder be brothers. we all know this (i assume).

we also know that splinter and shredder's relationship, while always competitive, doubled down on that (and even became bitter and spiteful, even on both sides at points), when tang shen is added into the mix. as the story goes, both splinter and shredder fall in love with tang shen, but she falls in love with splinter, and so shredder gets all pissy and violence occurs. since they couldn't come to an agreement, tang shen died and miwa (now known as karai) was literally kidnapped by shredder.

but what does this have to do with leo and raph? lemme tell you what

leo and raph, in the very beginning of the series (literally the pilot), are introduced to us to be butting heads, even after sparring is over. as the pilot continues, raph is bitter that leo was chosen as leader, even though raph was physically stronger than leo. even after it was proved that raph couldn't be leader (and leo got to stay leader), there was always some sort of tension between the two throughout the course of the series (or at least up to season four, i have yet to find a way to watch season five and watch their dynamic during then. but i figure, given the clips ive seen, that their tension seemed to mellow out in that final season.)

do you see any parallels there? because i do

so. two brothers, training to be ninjas in the hamato clan. growing up, they were always butting heads, but that's not to say there was any malicious intent in that. then, one day, something the both of them want is added. (tang shen for splinter and shredder, leadership for leo and raph.) this only causes more tension to grow between them, causing their previous unharmful headbutting to take a turn for something a bit more hurtful. next, this special something is chosen for the more responsible brother. (tang shen falling in love with splinter, and it being proven that leo is the only brother with the mental ability to lead the team.) this, of course, only deepens the hot headed brother's bitterness; which in turn makes this brother act out in aggression towards the responsible brother. (shredder attempting to murder splinter, and raph having less self control when training against leo. (if im not wrong, there's an episode where raph's anger gets the best of him, and he goes too far on training with leo. if anyone can confirm that, that would be great lmao).).

so why do i say splinter is projecting this relationship onto leo and raph? great question.

as seen throughout the series, it's not all that difficult to see how splinter has farm more of a relationship with leo than he does raph, donnie, and mikey. the blatant favoritism is, due to what i believe, is seeing his younger self in leo. he's hardworking, responsible, reliable, diligent, and would do anything for the hamato clan / family. this is how we saw splinter himself act when the turtles went back in time when they first met renet. and if it's true that splinter saw his younger self in leo, then he very easily could've been seeing shredder's younger self in raph.

raph, being impulsive, having a short fuse, being very physically powerful, butting heads with the responsible brother, those are all traits that shredder had when he was younger. even the way that leo and raph's relationship dynamic was, it was parallel to splinter and shredder's. and when splinter declared leo the leader, that parallel became even more apparent.

but, splinter had already seen first hand how that parallel ended the first time: death, loss, and overall tragedy. and so, i believe splinter decided to try and nip the problem in the bud.

with raph, we can see splinter time and time again trying to mellow raph's anger; to have him bottle it up instead of letting it be a part of him and learning to control it. the biggest example i can think of is the episode "turtle temper", one of, if not the first proper non pilot episode of the entire series. not only does splinter set raph up for failure with his training exercise, but he literally told raph a story of him and shredder, and how the shredder exploited splinter's anger. even though splinter was comparing shredder to someone else, the use of a story about splinter and shredder leads me to believe that splinter could be using those experiences, in more ways than the one shown in "turtle temper", to help splinter parent raph and leo. now, while not actively villainizing raph, splinter still does paint raph's anger issues in a darker light than what they are.

and on the flip side, how does this affect splinter's parenting of leo? well, splinter already saw what happened if that parallel went on, and it only led to death and suffering. and with tang shen literally sacrificing herself to save splinter, i feel as though splinter could believe he failed tang shen and miwa. so with splinter being splinter, he tried to teach leo to not fail in the ways splinter believes he did. the harshness and strictness, far more one on one time spent with leo on screen, hell, even telling leo he'll have to take splinter's job as both a mentor and father to his brothers when splinter passes? it's hard for me to not believe splinter is projecting onto leo. this is simply because splinter just doesn't want history repeating; he doesn't want another shredder created out of his son.

but, from what clips ive seen of season 5, it wasn't even necessary. leo and raph do get along while splinter isn't there to project, and that's even happened a bit in the space arc. (only major argument i remember between them in that arc is when they were on the corrupted planet.)

because leo and raph AREN'T splinter and shredder... they're LEO AND RAPH.

they're different people with different morals and motivations. but splinter didn't quite see that.

also, when the tang shen situation was happening, i feel like grandpa hamato was kinda pushed in between the conflict between splinter and shredder; unable to choose just one side to support, but getting pushed to the back either way. i think this parallels with donnie and mikey; they can't chose between leo and raph to support all the time, because they're their brothers. but they get pushed to the back and out of focus; and now also out of splinter's focus specially.

now i have seen those ending clips of season five, and i believe this can be seen as why splinter only hugged leo and karai.

-leo: he still saw himself in. but now, he could also see the success that he himself was unable to achieve.

-karai: his daughter, the one he thought he lost due to the conflict between him and shredder. she was one of the driving forces in the conflict, and came out still on splinter's side.

-raph: while splinter still loves raph dearly, just as i assume he still loves shredder dearly, the dark legacy of the shredder still taints his view of raph unintentionally.

-donnie and mikey: like his father, he loves them both dearly. but, like their grandfather, they ultimately got pushed to the side unintentionally. still loved greatly, just not the main priority.

now, do i think this is all canon? no, it's like 99% likely to not me. i was probably really reaching with this, and it could've just been completely unintentional by writers and just came about because of recycled conflicts. but it is now 6:34 am so i don't care.

thanks for reading lolzies.

#tmnt 2012 #tmnt 2k12 #tmnt 2012 analysis #tmnt 2012 rant #tmnt 2012 splinter #tmnt 2012 shredder #tmnt 2012 leo #tmnt 2012 raph #tmnt 2012 donnie #tmnt 2012 mikey #tmnt 2012 karai #tmnt analysis #tmnt rant #sleepys rambles #sleepyheadd.0

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stranger-theory · 2 months

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Song & Scene Analysis, Lumax vs Byler

I've also posted this on the Byler Subreddit, so if you see it there, hi, that's me!

I’m sure you’re aware of song importance in Stranger Things, with the Duffer Brothers saying sometimes it takes weeks to pick a song that conveys the exact message they’re trying to portray. I’ve seen quite a bit of theories around what songs mean what, but there’s one specific song that caught my attention.

There’s a scene in season two, episode six where Lucas and Max speak on top of a bus in the junkyard. It’s a lovely scene in which Max explains her behavior to Lucas, and apologizes for some stuff she wasn’t proud of. She says she’s sorry for acting like a jerk, and doesn’t ever want to be like that, but she feels overwhelmed with her home life and takes it out on people she doesn’t mean to. She then expresses that she likes California, and sometimes wants to go home, but having Lucas there with her for comfort makes her feel better. Max makes a call back to their “Stalker” joke, with a shared laugh. This emotional scene is then cut off by the sighting of a demodog, and a tense scene plays.

Now you know the base of the conversation, let me tell you about a similar scene I see as a parallel. Season four, episode four bedroom talk. This scene is between Mike and Will, where Mike apologizes to Will. In his apology he says he’s sorry for acting like a jerk, but everything with El was just so overwhelming, and he doesn’t want Will to feel like their argument was personal. Mike explains to Will that he likes it in Hawkins, but since Will moved to California, Hawkins feels different. He misses Will. They share a “Cool” with each other and sit in silence while smiling, but are cut off by the doorbell as Jack’s men come searching for El.

These scenes may not feel as similar as I'm insisting with just this information, but there’s a very key portion to this parallel: Music.

I’m going to go through these scenes at the same time to help you understand where I’m coming from. At the current moments in time for these scenes, Lucas/Will have a like Max/Mike, but don’t know how to confront them about it. Max/Mike both apologize to Lucas/Will for hurting them when they didn’t mean to. Max/Mike say the reason they acted like this was because they felt overwhelmed with their lives at the moment. Max/Mike say that they like California/Hawkins, but without Lucas/Will, it wouldn’t be the same. Max/Mike make a callback to “Stalker/Cool”. Almost directly after these heartfelt talks, they’re interrupted with the intense Demodog/Goverment scenes. The same song plays in these scenes to further imply that we’re supposed to view them the same way. The camera slowly zooms closer on their reactions to help the audience understand better, and help it feel more intimate.

These are things you basically can’t deny, as I’m just stating the facts of these scenes. From all of these similarities and comparisons, we can also further suspect other aspects of these scenes. Something we’re allowed to assume is that, like Max, Mike also has feelings for Will. If the original scene including this song is meant to be interpreted as romantic, then why would the second be any different? If the original scene is meant to be read as a “romantic” and “intimate” apology, then why would the second scene suddenly be a purely platonic interaction? If they’d wanted us as an audience to think otherwise, then they would have chosen a different way to portray this scene.

I thank you greatly for listening to me rant about why this scene drove me crazy. I’ve been looking forward to posting this the moment I got tumblr, but with my very on fire Spongebob looking brain, I never remembered. I’d love love looooove to hear your thoughts and add ons to this, ESPECIALLY corrections if i’ve somehow misinterpreted something. I wouldn't want to spread misinformation. Have a good morning, afternoon, or night, folks.

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verosvault · 3 months

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🚨SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR EPISODE 3!!!🚨

Dimension20 "Fantasy High Junior Year"

Episode 3 "Not All Who Wanda Are Lost"

Timestamp: 1:32:16

Video Length: 3min. & 50sec.

Kristen confronts her parents and sees her younger brother "Bucky"! (Pt.1 | ‣Pt.2)

Bucky and Kristen hug each other after not seeing each other for a while! 😭🥺♥️

Kristen tells her parents that she's running the drop-off today and she needs to make sure that all the cars keep going. 🥺 (Brennan's face legit turned into: 🥺🥹 when Ally said that! 😭 Mine did too fr! 😭✋)

Kristen uses thaumaturgy to make a little whistle sound!

Ally has advantage on the roll!

Just imagine if Kristen had ACTUALLY PUNCHED her MOM THOUGH! 😂🤣💀✋

Kristen rolls deception with advantage and gets a NAT20 on the roll!!! ;000

This is Kristen's school! She has an authority in this moment! 😎

Mac&Donna talk with Kristen

Bucky asks Kristen if they can talk after class! 🥺

Bucky is a little paladin! So cute! 😭😭✋✋

Bud Cubby calling Kristen's parents "racists and fascists" was SO REAL of him! 😂💀✋ Bud Cubby doesn't play around! 🤣

Kristen: "Where's your God?"

😭 THAT LINE BRO! THAT LINE HIT! 😭✋

Kristen's Parents saying that Helio certainly didn't have a chosen one! 😭✋

Mac & Donna: "Heard tell it's some god of night? Nighttime god?"

Kristen: "Yes"

Mac & Donna: "And then we have four months of night in a row?"

Kristen: "god of unknown"

Mac & Donna: "Well, there's some things that we do know. So, just, you know..."

Kristen: "That's what YOUUU THIIINNNNKKKK!" *pirouettes*

Kristen: "Bye, Girlie!!!"

😂😂🤣🤣💀💀

Riz gives a very shaky thumbs up to Kristen! 😂🤣💀

Mac & Donna have disadvantage on any insight check they make against Kristen for the rest of their lives for not knowing what that was! 😂😂🤣🤣💀💀

Mac & Donna get into their car and drive away!

I truly wonder if we'll be seeing Kristen facing her parents again sometime later in this season. 🤔

#dimension 20 #dimension20 #blog #fantasy high #fantasy high junior year #not all who wanda are lost #fantasy high not all who wanda are lost #fantasy high junior year episode 3 #fantasy high scene #fantasy high junior year scene #dimension20 scene #kristen #kristen applebees #ally beardsley #mac & donna applebees #mac applebees #donna applebees #bucky applebees #brennan lee mulligan

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best-underrated-anime · 6 months

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Best Underrated Anime Group D Round 1: #D2 vs #D7

#D2: Prophecy girlie, hyper cellphone, and gamer cat get silly

Su Moting, the daughter of a god and a monster, is the supposed Chosen One set to fix the balance of the universe, but unfortunately, she’s just barely living as it is. Only just told of her great fate, Su Moting couldn’t care less as she juggles her social life, work, and her new duties (which she doesn’t take seriously). Alongside Moting are Star Tianji and Star Dikui, a god and a monster out to help our protagonist with her grand mission. They, too, are also struggling to figure out life on Earth, as Tianji is an immortal who doubles as the god of Su Moting’s personal cellphone and Dikui is a cat monster immortal more concerned with lazing about. Somehow, they make things work as the best worst roommates of all time.

#D7: Girl who can play the biwa and see the future. 1180 CE Japan

The main character can play the biwa and also see the future with one of her eyes. After her father is killed at the start by the Taira clan, she is taken in by Shigemori of the Taira clan, who has the ability to see the ghosts of the dead. He wishes for her to help prevent the downfall of the Taira clan, which she has witnessed, but she refuses to since they are the ones that killed her father. Instead, she chronicles the events of their rise and fall, playing the biwa.

Titles, propagandas, trailers, and poll under the cut!

#D2: God Troubles Me (Hanhua Riji)

youtube

[Admin: Submitter had linked the ending song, but it doesn’t really show us what the animation is like, so I went to find an actual trailer. Above is a teaser for season 3, but there are no spoilers.]

Alt Title: Man’s Diary

Propaganda:

Four-season donghua (Chinese anime) that’s so recent and seeped in American pop-culture that I needed to do a double take when a literal cockroach said “Run, Forrest, run,” in English with a heavy Chinese accent. There’s a cat who plays video games (he’s very good at it), a phone who’s the worst kind of hype man, a sentient air conditioner, a guy who can shapeshift into any vehicle, off-brand Super-Man but jerky, a high-ranking god that collects anime figures, and the mega ultra cool protagonist who is a normal human girl fresh out of college and always low on money. It’s great

Trigger Warnings: Animal Cruelty or Death, Child Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Flashing Lights, Racism, Self-Harm, Suicide.

All the TW’s above are done for comedic effect, but they come in fast and hard with the humor. Better safe than sorry! The biggest things I remember are one or two “blink and you’ll miss it” racist jokes, characters joking about killing themselves out of embarrassment (no one goes through with it), and there’s a LOT of self-harm via stupid decisions. Stupid things like tying a loose tooth to the back end of a sports car sort of stupid. The protagonists have 3 brain cells collectively.

#D7: The Heike Story (Heike Monogatari)

youtube

Propaganda:

It’s based on historical events, so one can already know the ending before watching it, sort of like the main character Biwa. But seeing those events, getting attached to the characters as they have both fun, simple moments and difficult, painful moments and seeing the humanity in the characters and watching them grow up with the underlying promise that things won’t go well for them, and accepting that… themes of impermanence and grief… but also the art style is unique and bright and the music is great and fits the scenes, and I highly recommend watching this if you haven’t already !! It’s only 11 episodes!

Trigger Warnings: Suicide

If you’re reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

#anime #donghua #best underrated anime #polls #poll tournament #tournament #anime tournament #animation #animated show #group stage #group stage round 1 #tournament polls #chinese anime #god troubles me #hanhua riji #the heike story #heike monogatari #han hua ri ji #group d

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doverstar · 3 months

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Hey Doverstar. Fellow Christian here. :) What do you think about The Chosen? They just started releasing Season 4 eps in theaters this February in the United States. I really love this show. What about you? If you do...I think that would be groovy! If not...well. That would also be groovy too. ✌

Hi there! Woah, it's in theaters, that's crazy! Back in my day it was barely stream-able and we had to be in a specific person's living room to get it on the TV, how far we've come by matchbox twenty- I'm glad you asked, this will be long-ish!

I used to attend the church that the creator of the show had been attending at the time when we lived in IL (his name is Dallas, I think we had dinner with him? don't remember). That was before The Chosen was a thing. He had great ideas about what Christian media could be, but The Chosen in particular went downhill fast for me. I think it's an excellent show, but I also think that when you're using historical, real people in the content, you have to be very careful. Especially when it's biblical figures in history. Then you have to be insanely careful, and Dallas is not being as careful as one would hope. Because you don't want people who know nothing about Jesus to watch that show and have that expectation in their minds when they go to read the Bible. Jesus probably didn't talk like that, may not have looked like that, and may not have even smiled like that during His ministry here. But I've literally spoken with people who say things like if Jesus doesn't smile like Jonathan Roumie when they get to Heaven, "what's the point". That's dangerous. (And theologically the show is not sound.) I get taking creative liberties in order to make a television show more engaging for a modern audience, but not with the Bible. I get trying to make it easier to understand and follow for people who are just not brought up in the church and don't know the language. But I've decided for me, personally, not to continue watching The Chosen. For one thing, I don't want those actors/actresses in my head when I'm reading the Bible, and for another, I don't want to start being in a "fandom" for a show that's supposed to be portraying the events in the Bible. I don't want to start treating the Bible like it's fiction, like Peter's my blorbo (as the kids say), like it's just entertainment. It's not. It's real. It's all real, and I know me, and I know I have a tendency to over-romanticize the media I consume. I'm not going near that show with a 39-and-a-half foot pole anymore. It would be too easy to start thinking the wrong way about what I believe based on the way the show makes me feel. That, and I think the show is disrespectful and wrong. Great idea, good execution, went off the rails. And yeah, The Chosen is so good at making you feel things! I saw that first Season. I loved that first Season! Little ideas like having the Jesus-character laugh in bed while knowing exactly what the family of the lame man he cured is waking up to, literally able to see them rejoicing miles away? That's beautiful. When the Jesus-character cries with the woman at the well, and he tells her from now on it will all be about the heart, not about works? And she says "You promise?" And he cries and smiles and promises and she's so happy? That's beautiful. I cried too. And my favorite was the line when Mary says that before she met Jesus, "I was one way. And now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between was Him." That's perfect. That's so good. That's what it's like, in three sentences. Excellent. Well done. Oh, and the music swelling at the end of each episode? Fantastic. Emotions everywhere. But like I said, I don't trust it. I got through about four episodes of Season 2 before I was like, okay, that's enough. This isn't good for me. Does that make sense? I could go into the discrepancies and how they often treat Jesus in the show as though He wasn't fully man and fully God (He was), and how they often make it seem like you can believe He was or He wasn't and it's all fine, when it's not all fine. But that would take a while! In a nutshell: I'm glad the creators had the right heart to start out with, and I'm pleased to see it proven that Christians can make excellent media, but not if it's like this, and I don't think the show should continue. If it does, I think they need to get their heads on straight and be super clear about the Truth, otherwise there's no point. I won't be watching it. Doesn't make you evil if you watch it! This is just what I think. Since you asked. Glad to hear from you! <3

#asked #answered #ask doverstar #doverstar's thoughts #the chosen #the chosen tv series #christianity #jesus #jesus christ #faith #dashdotdashdotdashdot #christian #jonathan roumie #dallas jenkins #christian tumblr #bible

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