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rechoired · 4 years

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A problem with the Tales Of Arcadia community

First and foremost, I’d like to ask anyone taking the time to read this to please read the post all the way through before commenting on the matter. There is a lot of dirty laundry to unpack here, and some points will be building off previous ones.

I’ll get right to the point. Most everybody in the Tales of Arcadia fandom will have heard of the blog imthegingerninja / ginger-le-gay. She is one of the most well-known ToA-centric blogs, after all. (If you’re wanting to avoid her on Twitter as well, her account is Margaret Bell, or @The_Book_Bell.)

This is your PSA, TOA fandom: Ginger is a toxic, manipulative person.

This is not a claim I like to make lightly, but it’s long overdue that this issue is properly brought up within the fandom.

I’ve seen so many people wonder why the Tales of Arcadia fandom is so small. Well, I and many others very strongly believe that Ginger is one of the main reasons for that, if not the main one. To make matters easier, I’ve tried to break this down into some main points. So let’s take a look at how Ginger falls under this category.

Disclaimer: Please DO NOT look at this post as an excuse to harass Ginger or any other blog mentioned here. This sort of behavior is NOT acceptable. The point of this post is to educate those who may not know the extent of her harrowing behavior, nothing more.

1. Dishonesty and Death Threats

[EDIT: Shortly after this post went up, she started blatantly lying about me to try to cover for herself. You can see those lies being easily disproven here]

Ginger has been kicked from at least three Tales of Arcadia servers, all for similar reasons of violence. While I cannot provide screenshots as I am no longer part of the servers they were in, there are multiple witnesses that can verify the disgusting behavior she engaged in. The one I saw specifically was her saying that certain members of the fandom should be gathered up and hunted for sport, among other gross things. (Elaboration of why can be found in point 3, though it still doesn’t excuse this kind of talk)

Here is some points made by another blog that also sums up similar issues with Ginger, though:

While there were multiple instances of her inciting violence towards others, this is unfortunately one topic I cannot provide specific screenshots for at this time. But I will add them in as I can find them. That being said, I want to move to the dishonesty, something I do have a screenshot for.

While you could argue that people sometimes notice the similar things, this is far too close together to be considered an “original find”. The reblog button is there for a reason, but she instead decides to steal the OP’s premise and present it as her own original thought.

There have been a couple other blogs that have confirmed that their theories and analysis posts were often stolen and presented as Ginger’s own as well, to the point where they stopped bothering even making such posts, as the above blog points out. (Out of respect for their privacy, I will not be naming these blogs. Say what you will about that possibly weakening my point, but if she’s willing to so blatantly steal from that person shown above, it shouldn’t surprise you that she’s so willing to do it to others.)

Theory-making and analysis posts aren’t as solidly “original content” as a piece of art or fanfiction, sure, but it’s still common fandom courtesy to give credit where it’s due. Ginger has intentionally avoided extending that courtesy far too many times.

2. Hypocrisy

Most of this is going to be about past Merlin vs. Morgana drama, though there are also words to be said for the incredibly shaky relationships she forms with “friends”.

But first let’s talk about those wizards.

This is a topic I’ve tried to approach with Ginger before, but she borderline refused to acknowledge any of the points I was trying to make, and when she did, I don’t know if I just wasn’t being clear or what, but it honestly looked as though she was purposefully trying to misunderstand what I was saying in her bizarre responses. (To be fair, I was sending messages out of anger because she vagueposted about a blog I admired, calling them a “disgusting creep” because of them simply saying they’d hoped Jim and Merlin would be able to actually bond at some point... Not really a justifiable reaction to such a harmless thought, in my opinion. But my point is, I recognize that the circumstances may have clouded my ability to vocalize my thoughts clearly.)

That aside, we should first acknowledge this post Ginger made to save face after having gotten some backlash about hate-train related things (Side note: I couldn’t find the original post, so this is a screenshot I got from someone else. I did not add the writing. The text underneath it should still be slightly readable, I hope.):

Taken at face value, this is a very reasonable post. I think everybody would and should be able to agree on it. Hate-meme him for fun, sure, but don’t actually harass or insult others over a fictional character. Simple, right?

Apparently not, because Ginger’s done loads of that to others. Probably why the “LOL” was added in, I bet.

This post confused me. First of all, exploring dark topics (”angst”, as you put it) has never been a rare occurrence, every fandom has that content, most in heavy abundance. I’ve noticed no staggering difference in volume of this fandom compared to others I’ve been in. People enjoy angst not because they think the character “deserves to be in pain”, they enjoy a fictional blow to their own emotions. There’s lots of different reasons people like angst, but it’s barely ever been out of a genuine hate for whatever character’s the focus, from all the things I’ve seen. Your own friends have indulged in Jim angst and body horror posts before, does that mean you think they’re awful people? I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain something like this.

Also, way to basically admit you think all Merlin stans get off on child torture. So much for “If you like Merlin as a character, you’re valid”, am I right? God, what a mess of a post. (It’s been very recently deleted, which makes me wonder if she got more backlash on it, but just... wow.)

Let’s look at another one.

Again. Vagueposting about someone specific, I’d wager, since most of the people I’ve seen comment on this topic either think both characters are morally gray, or hate both.

But of course, when it comes to Morgana, suddenly excusing bad behavior can be justified. Ginger can call someone a disgusting creep because they want a familial bond between Jim and Merlin, that’s just wrong, but pushing the Mom-gana narrative with the genocidal abuser and Toby is completely fine, folks.

(Note: I would like to point out that I really don’t care about what theories and hopes people have for Morgana. You should be allowed to love that character in any way you want, same as I would say for Merlin. My issue with these examples is the completely brazen hypocrisy in which these two characters are treated. You’re obviously allowed to love Morgana without consequence, but the same should be said for any character of the show, and yet it’s not.)

The most obvious instance of this double-standard is well observable here, I believe:

... I think this mostly speaks for itself. Sorry, but this is very blatantly trying to excuse Morgana’s actions, here.

Oh hey, remember that post about Ginger saying that liking Merlin must mean you want to see Jim in horrible pain?

Say anything similar about her with Morgana, and suddenly she takes issue with this line of reasoning!

I’m sorry, but if you can’t take this sort of thing, then you shouldn’t be dishing it out. One of your own friends is still getting hate over the simple fact of liking Merlin, and all this mentality is exactly why.

Let’s look at one more.

Fun fact! Morgana horrifically abused somebody for centuries, tried to kill multiple kids, took horrible advantage of Claire (probably traumatized her), and canonically wanted to genocide humanity, not to mention all the OTHER murders she's committed, both directly and indirectly.

But somehow pointing any of this out “doesn’t count”. This is why the fandom keeps saying more and more things like this:

And this:

I could be going through her constant hating on Merlin and people who like Merlin for days straight, but I hope you all get the idea by now.

Again, I would like to just reiterate: You can like whatever character you want for whatever reason you want. The problem with this case is the hypocrisy and mistreatment of others, not your taste in characters.

Now interestingly enough, she’s lately been singing a different tune about the guy, switching from the “I hate Merlin I hope he dies!!!” mentality to “Oh he should get a redemption arc too :)” sort of thing.

I’m highly convinced that the only reasons for this “change of heart” is because of the constant backlash she was getting for the obnoxious amount of hate posts being thrown around all the time, but also because Aaron Waltke keeps tabs on the fandom more lately, and has spoken himself about Merlin not being a villain.

I could go on about this point forever, but I think I’ll just leave the Merlin topic with this post going through the hypocrisy of the Merlin Hate Train. In fact, here’s two just for fun.

Now onto more real-world focused areas of hypocrisy. One such instance can be found in Ginger’s Janus Disorder server.

Just take a look at this post.

While the offender in this case isn’t Ginger specifically, it still takes place in her server, and she made no moves to enforce her “No discourse” rule. All over... what? A random kudos on a fanfiction that’s not even about anything controversial since all characters involved are adults? I immensely don’t understand the point of why this ever had to be an issue, or why nobody spoke up about how ridiculous this is.

I’d also like to point out a certain user called firecat17. For some quick context, waaay back in the Kung Fu Panda fandom (around 2018), this user had been harassing people and saying incredibly vile things, a person of which Ginger had a bit of a feud, but firecat’s anon threats had gotten to the point where Ginger ended up having to block their IP.

Obviously, the user firecat was the one in the wrong, here. (Also, the irony in this comment is through the roof...)

Interesting point there, Ginger. Sure would be nice if you practiced what you preached.

Why am I bringing this random old drama up, you may ask? Well, it just strikes me as strange that someone who was so vile to Ginger is suddenly on her okay-list again, sending her asks and getting casual responses as if nothing ever happened.

To be fair, there is the possibility that they worked out their differences in private. But given the severity of the kinds of words being exchanged, I would still find that rather suspicious.

When someone who’s said things so vile can be so easily forgiven, yet something as harmless as leaving a kudos on some random fanfiction is considered grounds for harassment, it’s obvious there’s no stability or room for trust among this group of people. Unsurprising when there’s been several instances of this “friend group” turning on each other.

If you think you’re somehow different, that your “friendship” with Ginger or the others is more valued than that, then I’m sorry to burst your bubble but it’s likely not true. She’d throw you under the bus at the hint of you doing something she deems problematic, as it’s happened to multiple blogs before you.

3. Demonization of and insensitivity towards s*xual abuse victims

(This topic is one that’s hard for me to talk about, being a victim of CSA myself, so I’ve gathered some different sources to do most of the main talking for me. I tried to form more commentary on this myself, but I get too emotionally charged in my responses, and I don’t want that to cloud any reader’s perception of what I’m trying to communicate here, so I’ll try to keep most of my comments brief on this one.)

One thing recently brought to my attention about Ginger and her squad that especially bothers me is their rashness in labeling people p*dophiles and p*do apologists. If these claims were true, then I wouldn’t have a problem with it.

But these people are accusing others of these horrible things and threatening them on the sole basis of fictional content.

Now before you fly off the handle at me, let me be very clear: I absolutely understand that there are gross people out there who use the “It’s all just fiction” argument to hide their actual, pr*datory behaviors. (We’ve all probably seen at least one or two neckbeard memes of that caliber)

But like it or not, exploring traumatic themes through a fictional lens is something that has been studied and proven to be a genuine coping mechanism for some. It’s not something that works for me, but I knew a few people from past therapy groups that it worked surprisingly well for. Bringing a trauma into a controlled environment and processing it through fictional means can and does help some victims deal with what they went through.

It’s important to understand that not everyone processes their experience in the same neat, little boxes you have laid out as the only “acceptable” ways of coping. Trauma fiction and expressive arts therapy are commonly used by victims, and it does help some people, whether you like it or not.

I’m already dragging this on too much, so here are some sources for better-worded information on the topic (Warning: Most of these deal with highly sensitive themes such as gun violence and s*xual abuse.)

Source 1 - Source 2 - Source 3 - Source 4 - Source 5 (pages 61 onward, specifically) - Source 6 - Source 7 - Source 8 - Source 9 - Source 10 (and believe me, if those all don’t satisfy you, I can easily supply more.)

And this quote from source 9 I think sums it up best:

“Fiction works differently. My imagination gives me a framework to process the grief and terror and the consequences, even when I myself have not found any resolution. It allows me to enter my own traumatic experiences sideways and linger inside them, if I know I can give them to characters who might be lucky enough to find the antidote: love, connection, community, family. In other words, I can enter — and exit — the trauma loop through stories that are not exactly the same as mine.

This goes for the reader also. Recent studies periodically assure us that stories — literary fiction, hardcover books, even the simple act of reading — promote empathy. We rarely have identical experiences, so fiction is how we practice linking our similar or parallel realities so we can feel them. This seems particularly useful in our current society, where we are all so separated, and are working so hard to block the violence that keeps happening to us from our minds.

Fiction connects us, and it can also contribute to our healing. When we see ourselves in worlds we don’t live in, like The Handmaid’s Tale or The Color Purple, sometimes, that very different violence helps us finally process our own. Because as much as our memoirs and testimonies are brave and validating, fiction does not just mirror our truths so they are safe to experience; it also helps us endure the aftermath. Because long after the immediate experience is over, survival struggles onward, in every moment of our daily lives.”

While most professionals have in the past advised that victims keep their trauma-related works more private, to only show it to your trusted friends or family, the fast-growing use of the internet has led more people to sharing it in an online platform, which is not unexpected behavior.

I unfortunately don’t have the screenshot of the original post, but there was a post made some time back literally telling a fandom member to go and hang themselves over this garbage. A survivor of s*xual abuse, no less. And to top that off, one of Ginger’s squad @emmy-puff commented in support of that violent post, as well as blatantly misgendering the target of it. While, again, I was unable to get screenshots, there are multiple witnesses to this instance, one Anonymous even having called them out on it back when it happened. (I suspect that Emmy deleted that answer due to how bad it made them look.) If anybody reading this has screenshots of the initial post or the ask that came of it, please feel free to share.

I don’t care who you are or who you’re talking about, if you use misgendering someone as a way to hurt them, then you are an insult to the trans community. That is an awful thing to do, and you lose so much credibility if that’s the only thing you can fall back on when getting in a fight with someone. While this post isn’t about Emmy specifically, this is exactly the kind of hateful rhetoric that’s being encouraged in the environment Ginger’s made.

Another thing I would like to point out on this matter is an instance that happened in the ToA fandom a couple years back. I, again, don’t have screenshots available (I believe the original post ended up deleted) but the post in question caused enough of a fuss that I’m sure a few people must remember it...

A while back, there was an artist that posted uncensored, untagged r*pe art of Aaarrrgghh, Gunmar, and Jim in the main Trollhunters tag. As you can imagine, this infuriated many people. Many of which are among the list of those who’ve been labeled “p*do apologists”. Almost the very minute that post showed up in the tag with no trigger warnings of any kind, the fandom immediately got on OP’s tail about it, because they all shared that basic understanding of “This is a traumatizing subject for many people and they should have the ability to avoid it”. If the people you’ve labelled as pr*dator supporters were really as awful as you say they are, they would’ve jumped to that person’s defense, too. But they were completely against OP’s horrible lack of consideration of survivors, right alongside the rest of the fandom.

Am I saying you have to like trauma fiction? Absolutely not. Are there people that make trauma fiction that are actual pr*dators? I’m sure there are. But those people would be that way whether trauma fiction was out there or not. Gross people have existed and will always exist regardless of what media is out there.

I deeply understand the controversy, uncertainty, and stress that surrounds this topic, I promise you, I do. But the fact of the matter is, some people actually do use trauma fiction and expressive arts therapy as a way of coping, as has been observed in people even from ages as young as 5. To say otherwise is blatantly untrue. This isn’t a matter of opinion or morals, this is plain, studied facts that you cannot change about human psychology.

Nobody should ever have to go through something as horrible as s*xual abuse of any kind, and I know how deeply upsetting it can be to see certain images or stories with those themes in play. Those users with a sense of decency and understanding for fellow victims will tag their posts with the appropriate warnings. After that, it’s up to you to filter out what you don’t want to see. You curate your own internet experience, and it’s just plain irrational to try and harass everyone into conforming to your rules. While it’s an 18+ blog’s job to make sure to tag and label their content appropriately, it is your job to block the things you don’t want to see, whether you’re an adult or a minor. It is YOUR job to blacklist content that you know will upset you, because it is always going to exist on the internet, and any internet user needs to know and understand that. Multiple times I’d seen people going off about posts that were already appropriately trigger-tagged. If you don’t have those upsetting tags blacklisted by now, then the fault is mostly on you in that kind of case, not the OP.

Before I end this topic off, just one more example of blatant disrespect towards victims:

I’m sorry, but the absolute nerve of comparing some random fictional character you’re petty over to an actual pr*dator who’s terribly hurt real children is just awful. Imagine how insulted one of Onion’s victims would be if they saw that. Lord.

Ginger claims to care about victims, but she’s made it abundantly clear that she only cares about those that behave the way she think a victim should.

4. Ableism

I’m going to just show a couple posts here and let them mostly speak for themselves.

Just... my God. You looked at the definition of psychopath and decided that was enough to give you qualification to speak like this about it? Do you realize the extensive work and study of human psychology goes into the diagnosis and understandings of psychopathy? Not to mention, you just admit to thinking people deserve hate because of a mental disorder they legitimately have no control over? I’m sorry, but that is just cruel. Demonization of the mentally ill is not cute or funny. Next.

While I’m still annoyed with Emmy’s transphobic treatment of another user mentioned earlier, they make a very solid point in this instance. (The first post they referenced has since been deleted, but here’s the second one speaking out against the ableism.) I feel I don’t need to add much to this, as these points have already been argued very well by users better qualified to speak on the subject than I.

5. Manipulation tactics

This part is more observations of two kinds of abuse tactics Ginger appears to demonstrate, using the above as points of reference.

First, there’s DARVO.

Then, less formally, there’s this good point about online cult mentality.

Before you say anything, obviously I don’t think Ginger thinks of herself as some sort of deity. While it could be argued that she considers herself a point of authority within the TOA fandom maybe, I haven’t seen enough of this to say for sure how far that goes. So that point can be ignored, because it mostly doesn’t apply in this case. (The “Dictating parts of your online life” might also not apply, but I can’t say for sure as I haven’t gotten any confirmation of that sort of thing in Ginger’s group.)

But there are grains of truth in the other four points, especially that last one. Plain and simple, she’s made people afraid to speak their minds about even harmless things such as character analysis.

Ginger is someone who can’t seem to comprehend different viewpoints and life experiences. She’s extremely unsympathetic towards people she doesn’t understand, as can be observed in above examples. Assuming malicious intent from everybody you can’t understand is a dangerous and hurtful mindset to have, for both you and those who you unnecessarily scorn.

There are a few outcomes I’ve speculated should she ever come to see this post.

1. She will ignore this post completely, pretending as if it doesn’t exist

2. She will dismiss me as being some sort of horrible person, a p*do apologist or something of the sort (despite being a victim of that myself, clearly she doesn’t care about who’s actually been hurt by real p*dos or not if they don’t conform to her narrow worldview), and claim nothing I’ve said bears any meaning, despite the extensive evidence I’ve provided.

3. She will get people to try and attack me.

4. She will actually address these points in a tactful, mature, and serious manner instead of her usual act of trying to dismiss everything at the slightest hint of non-conformity. (The least likely outcome, but one can dream.)

I could add to this post all day, but it’s long enough as it is and my focus was on getting the main points out of the way. I understand that I lack some of the receipts necessary to back myself up in a few parts, but I know that many other fans have bared witness to those things, so I know there will be at least some people who’ll know what I speak of is true, and that’s good enough for me.

That being said, if anybody has screenshots of the instances I wasn’t able to provide for, it would be greatly appreciated if you could add them into the conversation.

!!!-If you have screenshots, but are too uncomfortable to get involved in this, then you can private-message them to me and I would be grateful and more than happy to add them in while keeping you completely anonymous.-!!!

(I've removed the section with all the tags, as I recognize it was probably going overboard. My goal was just to spread information, not to try and involve those tagged, but I understand how that may have gotten lost in translation and made people uncomfortable. Also, it apparently was showing up multiple times in people’s notifications when I only tagged people twice, so I’m not sure why that glitch happened, but I apologize for that annoyance as well.)

Now, to end us off, my responses to questions or angry comments I’m probably going to get:

You don’t even have all the evidence! How are we to know you’re not just lying about some of this?

Admittedly, I don’t have as much screenshot proof as I would like, that’s true. But for most of the instances I couldn’t provide for, there were other witnesses to her bad behavior. I don’t really have the need to lie when there’s already a lot of knowledge out there of the bad stuff she has done. Nor do I really have the emotional investment in this fandom anymore to lie for the pointless reason of causing drama.

Why post this on a throwaway account if you think people are on your side?

I just don’t really want my main blog associated with TOA anymore, to be frank.

You tagged a bunch of people, so you must be trying to get them to attack Ginger!

No. I tagged a bunch of people because I think this information should be heard on a wider scale, considering the position Ginger has in the fandom. I don’t want her or anybody else to be attacked, but her negative impact on this fandom deserves to be acknowledged.

Again, I don’t think Ginger or any of the others deserve harassment or cyberbullying or anything of that manner, that’s kind of what this whole post is against. And it just hurts the situation more than it helps it. What bothers me is how she’s never apologized for or even once acknowledged the gross way she’s treated people. While she might be more low-key about it now, she still treats people who don’t deserve it like garbage. There are still several people upset about the damage she’s caused to this fandom, rightfully so. I wouldn’t be so loud about making this post if I didn’t think it was something worth drawing attention to.

Thank you for reading.

#TrollHunters #3Below #TOAwizards #Tales of Arcadia #TOA

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lady-griffin · 4 years

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I Entered a Dangerous Dungeon

Acchan’s Story

Acchan’s story was very touching and sad. I thought the anime did a great job adapting her POV chapters concisely into this episode.

I love the scene of Acchan reading Past Katarina’s last text message and breaking down crying.

That got me right in the feels.

One slight criticism, is that in the Light Novel we learn that because of Past Katarina, Acchan has made many friends and is able to live on without her best friend. Because of the positive impact Past Katarina had on her life and how much she changed it for the better.

So, while in the anime, Acchan does say she will live on without her best-friend, I feel like it doesn’t come across as strongly as it did in the Light Novel.

That being said. I thought Acchan’s story went really well with the flow of the episode.

In LN Vol.2 her POV honestly felt disruptive and broke the flow of the story for me. So definite kudos to the anime for fixing that.

The text message scene got me, but so did Past Katarina’s funeral.

It’s easy to forget, with Katarina’s silliness, density and antics, that she died tragically young in her former life.

So well done on the anime’s part for hitting me right in the heart with that reminder.

Sadness and friendship aside. I like how Fortune Lover appears in Katarina’s Past Life.

The poster on Acchan’s wall gives the impression that Prince Geordo and Prince Alan are the two main love interests or the more primary capture-targets.

As they are more front and center than Keith and Nicol.

But since this is Katarina’s story, Keith takes precedent over Alan because of his closer proximity and relationship to Katarina.

There’s also something I really like about Past Katarina struggling to succeed in the Prince Geordo route in the game and technically dying because of it.

It feels like her new life is good karma or the universe trying to make it up to her…so to speak

As in Katarina’s new life she easily wins over Prince Geordo without even trying and by being herself. Hell, she doesn’t even notice that he’s in love with her or that anyone else is.

I’m probably looking way more into that detail than is actually needed, but I just like that small detail to Katarina and Geordo’s relationship.

The Exam Plot

Sophia want to see Katarina after her sad dream (memories) was very sweet and touching. I just love their friendship and how it has cross time, worlds and lives. It’s beautiful.

I don’t think the Exam Plot is from the Light Novels (6-9) and it wasn’t in the manga or Light Novels (1-5).

So, kudos to the Anime for introducing this exam plot and exploring more of the academic life for Katarina and her friends.

I loved their school uniforms for the exam.

It was nice seeing them in the same outfits and they all look pretty damn good in them.

I don’t know why I really like their uniforms so much, but I really do. I just really do.

As much as I love their day-to-day outfits, I would not be mad if this was their school uniform and what we saw them in for the majority of the time.

But that’s probably just me.

Katarina is 100% right about the insanity of this exam.

But thanks to this crazy exam we got to see more magic and it was great.

I’ve always felt like the Light Novels and the Manga didn’t elaborate or explore on this being a magical world and the fact that all of our main characters have magic (at least in the First Year/Game Arc). The later novels (3-5) do elaborate a bit further.

In Fortune Lover, it’s clear that magic was just a mechanic in the game to explain why all these characters were in the same school and a slight twist to making Maria different and special, as well as make Fortune Lover different from other Otome games.

And if I’m not mistakes Katarina even says the same thing about Fortune Lover.

Fortune Lover gave a limited view of this world. Even when it came to Maria Campbell’s life and background, but the actual Hamefura story explores the world to a much greater extent.

So, it always seemed liked a wasted opportunity not to do the same with magic.

As it never really felt that magic matters for certain characters at all.

For example in the Light Novels’ Character Profiles -- Sophia is said to have Earth magic and Raphael is said to have Light Magic…

But clearly that doesn’t really matter, because the anime (and maybe manga) can easily change their original types of magic to Wind Magic (I’m assuming it was Raphael who used that wind-tunnel to save Sophia and Katarina).

HOWEVERE, there does seem to be a mistake in Sophia’s profile as it’s just Katarina’s in regards to her likes, dislikes, etc.

Sophia’s Profile in Vol.5 (english-translation) is more than likely wrong in regards to her magic. Which might mean Raphael’s magic in his profile is also wrong.

So, we should take that into consideration.

My point being that I’m very happy that the anime is taking different route with how it handles magic in comparison to the LN/Manga.

It’s been a huge improvement.

Katarina is so fucking dumb (I love her).

Not only does she push the red button on the floor without even thinking about it for even a second, but in addition, her contributing to the group with her earth-bump was hilarious and adorable.

Plus, her picking the most poisonous mushrooms that ever existed was just so stupid and so amazing.

I also love how both Mary and Sophia are pretty fucking dumb when it comes to Katarina (and really only when it comes to her).

Mary is fully prepared to eat deadly mushrooms as long as Katarina is the one who prepares them and Sophia just hops right on board.

And Sophia was really the only who was genuinely complimenting Katarina for her earth-bump move in the exam. Which is just so sweet and also so dumb.

I love the three of them so goddamn much + Maria being the only one of the girls not willing to the deadly mushrooms.

While I am a bit disappointed that Katarina’s videogame knowledge wasn’t of any use to her in the exam, I did genuinely love Geordo pushing her towards the the path they decided to take.

I also enjoyed Alan saving Mary and her slighty blushing and him looking slighty embarassed as well.

I will say I was disappointed that we only really saw the boys be capable during the exam, not any of the girls. Except for when Sophia helped Nicol locate Katarina…but still.

And of course, Katarina found the magic-stone because she needed a tool to help her gather mushrooms. That’s 100% Katarina. Though, a part of would have prefer it if Katarina was very knowledgable about plants in general and knew that those mushrooms were deadly. (either way it works for me)

And the one councilmember in her head (happy) seeing a lizard as food was fucking fantastic.

I love the noble girls being jealous of Katarina and talking about her.

It’s nice seeing them before the big accusation scene happens. Just by showing the noble girls being mad and jealous of Katarina feels more organic to the story.

Plus, Maria noticing the Dark Magic behind Katarina.

I’m very happy with the past two ‘filler’ episodes building up to the two big climatic scenes and events.

The main problem I had with this episode is that -

The Exam Makes No Sense…

I know that not unusual for anime or plenty of other stories, but the exam really makes no sense.

Aside from one group, basically everyone else is basically set up to fail. Right?

If you find the magic stone than you pass. If you don’t find the (one) magic stone, then you fail.

The exam isn’t really testing what they’ve learned or improved upon.

It’s more based on luck and the amount of magical power one has.

Which seems unfair, as we know that a good portion of the magic population is closer to Katarina’s level of power than Keith’s, at least in LN, but maybe it’s different in the anime (or maybe I read the LN wrong).

I guess it’s possible that even though the team that finds the magic stone automatically passes, the other teams can pass based on how they navigated through the ruins...maybe. That would make more sense.

Though, it’s very possible that Alan, Mary, and Maria didn’t pass the practical exam because they weren’t on Katarina’s team.

And while I doubt that will be addressed later in the anime - If Alan, Mary and Maria actually failed the practical exam then that would be a great reason for why they arrived late during the accusation scene.

They weren’t there because they had to retake the practical exam or do another one.

So, even if the anime doesn’t say that’s the reason, that’s going to be my headcanon for right now.

ALSO

The teachers literally split the top students of the entire grade into two separate groups…

I’m not exaggerating.

The students who get picked to be on the Student Council (the harem) are the ones who ranked the highest in the evaluation exam at the beginning of the school year.

First Year Rankings

1. Geordo Stuart (Canon) 2. Maria Campbell (Canon) 3. Alan Stuart (Canon) 4. Keith Claes (non-canon) 5. Mary Hunt (non-canon) 6. Sophia Ascart (non-canon)

We don’t actually know the rankings of Keith, Mary and Sophia but since they’re also on the student council, we know that they must be ranked 4-6. We just don’t know the exact order. .

Having the highest ranked students in two groups, basically feels like setting up all the other students for failure.

Then you have Katarina who is right smack in the middle of the rankings (#80) as part of one of the two groups.

That gives me the impression that Geordo and Keith basically demanded that Katarina be on the same team they are on, not realizing the other was doing the same.

Which is par for the course.

As all the members of the harem (minus Maria), threatened the teachers that if Katarina didn’t get permanent permission to be allowed in the Student Council chambers, then they would all resign from the student council (Manga/LN).

I know I’m thinking about this too much.

And that of course the main characters are going to be together, because they’re the main characters. But still...

Really with just one or two lines from the teacher would have at least solved one of the illogical problems here.

Teacher – “We have place several of these stones in the labyrinth, your goal is to find one of them. If your team leaves the dungeon without finding a stone, your team fails.”

Or something to that affect...

As much as I love Geordo and Keith being exasperated by Katarina and protecting her.

This also could’ve have been a nice opportunity to introduce Katarina’s non-council friends. Rather than us just seeing them right before she gets accused of bullying.

But again, it does make more sense to have the main characters to be teamed up together...because they are the main characters. I just can’t help but point out the logistical problems for this exam.

Though maybe the anime will build off what’s been established in this episode...maybe.

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode.

I was hit in the feels right away, laughed so hard, and it was just a lot of fun.

And of course, I was very happy to see the anime is adding its own stuff to the story and elaborating beyond the Light Novels and Manga.

#Katarina Claes #Bakarina #Hamefura #destruction flag otome #Otome game no hametsu flag #Geordo Stuart #Gerald Stuart #Keith Claes #Sophia Ascart #Acchan #Mary Hunt #Alan Stuart #Maria Campbell #Raphael wolt #Sirius Dieke #Nicol Ascart

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bobbyshaddoe80 · 3 years

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Liberated Audio Reviews

Introduction:

The cult Sci-Fi series Blake's 7 has seen great admiration and appreciation in the 40 plus years since its initial broadcast in the UK., continuing to enthrall audience old and new alike. Despite its rather low budget, it possessed some pretty impressive writing and acting from its rotating cast of characters. Despite it being yet another Terry Nation brainchild, the series would evolve beyond the initial proposal/concept of 'Robin Hood in Space' under the direction of Chris Boucher to become something more than just a Star Wars clone.

Over the years, the show's devoted fanbase have poured over the show's 52 episodes and have long clamored, demanded, begged and pleaded with the Powers That Be for some sort of continuation or revival... In spite of the show's rather unorthodox and controversial ending.

After numerous rumors and false starts, which even included a full on audio reboot/reimagining by B7 Media back in late 2007/early 2008, it would be Big Finish Productions that would take up the daunting task of reviving and expanding the Blake's 7 universe starting in February 2012 with the Liberator Chronicles and the Classic Audio Adventures in January 2014.

The Liberator Chronicles are essentially enhanced audiobooks often told in the first person by whichever character is chosen to be the focus of the story. Often they are supported by one or two other cast members in order to help keep things from falling completely into standard audiobook monotony. Before tackling the full cast audios, I shall endeavor to present my thoughts and views on all twelve volumes of the Liberator Chronicles.

Please bear in mind that these reviews are based on my own opinions and no one else's. While I shall endeavor to be as fair as possible, I am not claiming that my opinion is the only one that matters and you are free to agree or disagree with me as you see fit. Just try to keep it civil. So, without further ado, let's get started by examining volume one.

Blake's 7 - The Liberator Chronicles Vol. 1

RELEASED FEBRUARY 2012

Recorded on: 23 September, 11 and 14 October 2011

Recorded at: Moat Studios

Review By Robert L. Torres

The Turing Test by Simon Guerrier

'After evading an attack by Cassini Pirates, the Liberator heads to the rogue moon of Quentil, where Avon and Vila infiltrate a top secret Federation science facility.

Vila assumes the guise of Dr. Yarding Gill, an expert in digital memory. And Avon is his "creation" - a super-advanced android that could pass for human. In fact, he does...

Can they maintain the ruse long enough to complete their mission? And will the Cassini Pirates catch up with them?'

Chronological Placement:

Series A - set after the events of LC Vol. 7's Disorder, between episodes Mission To Destiny and Duel.

This is a very well written story starring the late Paul Darrow as Kerr Avon, ably supported by Michael Keating as Vila Restal.

I love how the story is structured with Avon recounting these events AFTER the fact, like he was recording then for posterity into a dictaphone. I loved that Guerrier's writing didn't fall into the trap of having Avon try to do other voices or say 'said Blake', 'said Jenna' and so on. Nothing felt disruptive to the narrative and having Vila around never felt intrusive.

Kudos to Michael Keating for slipping back into the role of Vila Restal with relative ease. He will be quite reliable in a support capacity during many of these audios, and even get a chance at the spotlight... Which we will examine in due course. Right now, he lends his exceptional charm in this undercover mission posing as the scientist responsible for "creating" Avon.

Still, this story belongs to Paul Darrow, and he does a great job. It was a great story about what it means to be alive, what it means to be human and even serving as an examination of Avon himself. It was a nice inverse of the usual sort of questions regarding machine life wishing to be more human. Here we have a human considering himself to be more machine than man.

That is the interesting thing about Avon. Most scifi programs that deal with space travel tend to have an archetypical character known as the 'royal smart person'. For Star Trek TOS it was Spock, for Star Trek TNG it was Data, for DS9 it was Dax (and to a certain extent Bashir), for Voyager it was Seven of Nine, for Enterprise it was... Who the hell knows since everyone on that show was an idiot. As for Discovery... I honestly don't know cuz I haven't watched Discovery yet, but that's beside the point.

Avon is exceptional in his characterization only in that his desire to focus on pure logic and suppress his emotions does not come without its own drawbacks. Despite his intellect and skill with computers, he is someone that is also socially and emotionally cut off from others due to an inability to trust. He is also someone that sees the futility in giving over to emotional and irrational hysterics in order to showcase that he cares. Avon's intelligence also comes with a certain amount of ego, as he knows that he is smarter than many of his contemporaries, and much of the logic he embraces stems from a certain degree of self-serving self-interest.

His desire to assist in the situation with the AI android 14 stems from having an affinity with another creature of pure logic, and not wanting such a creature to be exploited and corrupted to further the aims and agendas of the Federation. This story is a great reminder of why Avon is a great antihero, as he is still willing to do the right thing in spite of himself.

Final Score: 8 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

Solitary by Nigel Fairs

‘Vila is in solitary confinement. His friends have abandoned him, his only contact with the world outside is Nyrron, a scientist from the planet Auron.

Amnesiac and confused, Vila attempts to piece together recent events... A mission to Dulcimer 4. An important meeting. And a visit to the jungle world of Terrulis Major.

In the depths of the foliage, the truth is waiting. And it's more terrifying than Vila could possible have imagined...’

Chronological Placement:

Series B - between episodes Redemption and Shadow.

I really do not have much to say about this story as it is profoundly unremarkable and is a major clunker in terms of execution of its concept, as well as the first person narration.

It has some interesting ideas, there is a central mystery that is interesting, with Vila finding himself in solitary confinement and abandoned by his friends, and we are introduced to a semi recurring guest character in the form of Auron scientist Gustav Nyrron, played by Anthony Howell ('Dr. David Keel' of the The Avengers: Lost Episodes range).

Nyrron himself is an interesting character as an ally for Blake and the Resistance, which begs the question why Cally wasn’t involved in this story as well. Because for an Auron scientist, he actually spends most of the time acting like either a reasonable interrogator or a benevolent psychiatrist for the imprisoned Vila.

The whole story itself is not executed terribly well. The Vila character spends a good chunk of the first few moments talking to himself, and then when Nyrron comes into the narrative, Vila spends the rest of the runtime being asked if he remembers certain events, and then goes on to basically recount events that lead up to meeting Nyrron and then goes on to tell Nyrron things that he already knows about.

As a Vila centric story, its also not terribly good, not even with certain unexpected revelations made. This story does Vila no favors and we don't learn much about Nyrron either. Fortunately, those are issues that would end up being rectified in later stories. Definitely give this one a miss.

Final Score: 4 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

Counterfeit by Peter Anghelides

‘The Bovee Mining Facility: A Federation slave camp worked by disgraced scientists.

The planet shouldn't be of interest but it is: Avon's investigations reveal that it's rich in Illusium, a mineral that can change from one substance to another. With it, the Federation could be invulnerable...

Blake teleports down to Bovee, but gets more than he bargained for. There's another visitor to the facility - and his presence changes the whole game...’

Chronological Placement:

Series A - set after the events of LC Vol. 1's The Turing Test, between episodes Mission To Destiny and Duel.

This is not a bad Blake focus story, with added support from Avon. However, what we get is a pretty standard adventure with Blake hoping to obtain certain materials and destroy the means of that material being reproduced in another effort to cripple the Federation's power. We even get in an appearance by Travis, Blake's personal nemesis, to lure him into a trap.

There isn't a whole lot to say about the story because of how standard and basic it all is. The fact that the story is done on audio does play in well into certain revelations and surprise twists made within the narrative. Many of which I will not speak on as it goes into spoiler territory. Other than that, the story itself is not bad, it is definitely worth a once-over. Its just unfortunate that it is also pretty average and fairly unremarkable.

Final Score: 5 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

Final score for Volume One of The Liberator Chronicles in its entirety is 6 out of 10 Plasma Bolts.

It isn't the best start to the Blake's 7 audio range as it really only has one story out of three to recommend it. Its great to hear the original actors back again, and thankfully they will be served better stories in the volumes to follow.

Special thanks to Craig Brawley of the Big Finish Listeners Facebook Group for his tireless efforts in mapping out the chronology of the audios and determining how they fit in with the established TV continuity.

#blake's 7 #reviews #big finish productions #audiobook

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onlyonewoman · 4 years

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Eleven very problematic heartbeats

My Juice/Tully altenate ending AU is among the top 100 SoA fics on AO3 in terms of kudos, without any category (sexuality, warnings, content rating etc) weeded out. If this sounds like bragging then yeah, of course it is to some extent, but mostly it says more about how plenty of people are able to read stuff that’s: - Non canon - Uncomfortable - Morally challenging - Problematic and toxic without loosing the moral compass! After that stupid shit happened when someone in the SoA fandom decided I was a threat to the fandom, toxic and shaming self-shippers (which I don’t, I just don’t understand the concept wich is a whole different thing than shaming) and also shipping a rapist with his victim without any context added to exactly HOW this fucked up ship set sails at all, I am so greatful for all the people who gave my story and chance and tell me how: - They KNOW how absolutely horrifying this idea would be IRL but still love it in this imaginary bubble. - They feel challenged by my portrait of Tully and pulled between the realisation of his awful actions and my background history for them. - They WANT to hate him and KNOW they should, but can’t, because that’s how we learn empathy. My story doesn’t excuse or defend rapists, it only declares them humans and no monsters. My story is an AU where so much of the roots come not just from the prison stuff in SoA, but from Oz and where I deliberately try to dig into how we see a rape as more unforgivable than a murder and how we, as an audience of shows like SoA, slowly get dragged into the main characters moral compass (or lack there of) and how it completely clashes with everything a reasonable human being would think and do, yet we still root for them. Eleven Heartbeats is NOT a defence of rapists or a clear case of Stockholm Syndrome, but an exploration of what we’re willing to do to: 1. Survive when we’re not supposed to. 2. Hold on to a company we can’t choose when we’ve been sentenced to isolation. 3. Look the shame and self-hatred in the eye and let go of toxic pride in order to tell ourselves that being alive and find some happiness even at the bottom, is a natural instinct and not something we do or do not deserve. It’s a moral greyscale where Juice and Tully both are forced to live with their crimes and both have the choice of die as they lived (like Jax) or keep on living without regret (like Happy) or try and scrape out the good crumbles of them that remain and let go of the toxic fucking “honor code” that says death is the only way to pay for grave sins. We let Kurt Sutter drag us through 7 fucking seasons of more and more moral decay and we loved the sociopaths and psychopaths he let us close enough to get to know on the safe distance from the screen. It means a lot to me with the support and comments and kudos on Eleven Heartbeats, since you lovely readers seem to understand so well how this isn’t a defence of rapists or a “bad guy turning good with love” or a black and white Stockholm Syndrome case. Neither is it a Tully/Juice canon shipping story because clearly there was no such thing as consent between them in canon. And why do I have the bad taste of bragging with my statistics for this? Well, because I want to encourage people who write highly problematic ships that as long as you KNOW what you’re writing and don’t seriously PROMOTE abuse by pretending it’s a form of a healthy love (yeah, E.L. James, I’m looking at you!) it’s completely valid and okay to step into the grey zone and play around. Eleven Heartbeats is NOT a story about saving “the bad guy” with love. It’s not a “he didn’t know any better” story, it’s not a “you can change him with love” story or an “it wasn’t really rape” and I really love how my readers always keep that in mind, not forgetting about or forgiving Tully’s transgressions, but also not dehumanizing him for them. I’m so happy that this story that some people actually made “we should erase this from the Internet” posts about (yeah, they wanted it to be fucking ERASED), keeps getting more readers, kudos and new people commenting and sharing their thoughts - and of course I can’t stress enough how absolutely crucial the support from the readers giving this a go from the very beginning has been! All the love to you and remember: exploring emotions in fics is normal and healthy and a great outlet for thoughts and ideas we don’t dare to share openly. It doesn’t mean we endorse them all, doesn’t mean we’re loosing our moral compass or our capability of separating fiction from reality. It doesn’t mean we’re promoting rapists and their victims in Stockholm Syndrome situations, but that we challenge our comfort zone while being completely clear on where the fic stops and reality begins. Thank you, every single one reading, subscribing, leaving kudos and commenting - and now also TRANSLATING!!! - Eleven Heartbeats. You make this journey to one of pure joy, despite the grave and dark content. And of course, all the gratitude in the world to the one who inspired this story: @ineedthesons and her increadible The Comforter series. Eleven Heartbeats wouldn’t exist without that. Also, thank you @theruneofkenaz for your support and don’t miss her amazing Wait for me story and thank you dearest GirlWhoLovesMonsters for the support and equally awesome Hell Has A New Name story. And if you’re in a toxic relationship or suffer from PTSD or something else due to trauma like those described in this story, remember that your life is not a fanfic and that fanfics like this aren’t some creative excuses for an abusive partner - or parent or friend or sibling or whatever - but just a fan fic with roots in what I hope we all realise is a world that we’d shun if it hadn’t been fiction: Sons Of Anarchy.

#juice x tully #the toxic ship #sons of anarchy #gratitude post #thank you guys #seriously

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iridescentwinters · 5 years

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hi there! don't know if you have done it before but could you give a description of each william remake on what you've seen so far including og? 😊

hello hello! oof i’ve never done this before!

and holy shit i made this super long,,,, but anyway here are my takes and personal descriptions of all the williams!

william (skam) – oh, william. the king of all williams because he’s the original bad boy with a broken past; the reason why we have the rest of the remakes boys. i think my initial opinion on him was how he was going to be a typical “wattpad” bad boy who would just chase after the good girl for the kicks of it. but my opinion changed heavily after watching season 2. while he did make mistakes in both season 1 for being an asshole to vilde and also not hearing noora out after learning the “truth” from his brother (the biggest asshole/villain) about the party, i think people take hating on him to the extreme. to me, william presented himself as someone who was ignorant with a cold-hard exterior, but in reality he was a determined person who was willing to change for the better and he also did look out for others’ well-being. he was quite soft-spoken i would say especially around noora, but nonetheless he stood by his virtues of being a loyal friend even when she told him it was “wrong” to use violence. he was a realist as well. twisting all of those characteristics about him make him look like a bad person, but he really wasn’t. he had a difficult family and he lost his sister. he was just a little lost, but i’d like to think he’s now a mature person who’s made a good connection with himself.

charles (skamfr) – like william, charles also presented himself as an ignorant asshole who couldn’t care less about what others thought, but in reality he’s quite the opposite! my favourite thing about charles is how that entire cold exterior melts whenever he’s around manon. watching season 2, i noticed that he was a lot more clingy than william (i would say). especially in the scenes where manon almost broke up with him, he looked desperate, sounded fragile and was a lot more apologetic (shout-out to michel and his incredible acting!). he’s a lot more cut-to-the-chase kind of person (maybe that could also be because of the limited time skamfr had for every episode lol). he didn’t like beating around the bush. and he hands-down is the most emotional william SO FAR. that tear when he found out about the party scene, and when manon said she didn’t know if she slept with his brother or not? MADE ME CRY. overall, charles is a huge teddy bear that needs to be protected at all costs. he tore toxic masculinity down.

alexander (druck) – now, this is a tricky one. my first impression of alex while watching his entrance was that he was going to be the coldest william. and i think i still stand by that impression. most of season 1 was him looking and sounding stone-cold. cool as ice. now this is where my inner winterberg warrior jumps out, but literally i kid you not the first time alex genuinely smiled was after mia confronted him and asked him if he wet the bed. from then on, every scene he had with mia in season 1, you can see him smiling. i think that’s what’s nicely done about alex: he genuinely doesn’t give a fuck about others’ opinions. including mia’s right now. i know every single william is very educated and keeps up with what’s going on in the world, but druck currently is showing that very well, with the discussion he and mia had in class about israel. not only does that underline mia’s flaws in her thoughts, it characterises alex of not just being a pretty face, but he understands the world’s issues. from the recent clip (the christmas eve one), we see that he’s not celebrating christmas with his own family, so that definitely will play a major role in why he’s so cold. i have a feeling his broken past is going to cut deeper. overall, alex is indeed the coldest william, but i have a feeling that hard rock exterior is going to break soon. kudos to chris veres!

edoardo (skamit) – ughhhh can i just say how much i miss his face?! i can’t wait to see him soon in season 3! to me, edo’s the funniest take on william. i wouldn’t call season 1 edo a fuckboy; i’d call him a PLAYBOY. he’s so…. classy. from the very limited scenes we’ve seen of him, i would say he’s bold. like alex, he isn’t afraid of how he’s being perceived (probably too rich to hear them), but like charles, he melts at the sight of eleonora. in the first clip of season 2, you literally see him roll his eyes at silvia, but the moment he catches eleonora’s eyes, he just becomes a whole other person. i’m interested in seeing how his character development will be like in season 3 and how giancarlo portrays edo. i think he’ll be a lot more open about his past to eleonora than all of the other williams. and he’ll get more serious in situations where he’s supposed to be. but overall, i see him as someone who’ll use humour to hide his true emotions!

daniel (skamaus) – daniel’s entrance was hands down my favourite entrance. the song, the positioning, everything just screamed king of school without even trying. i’m not even saying this because grace made this reference in her text to megan, but he really does remind me of sebastian valmont from cruel intentions! this is gonna make him sound like an asshole for 5 seconds but bare with me; i think he sees grace as a challenge. INITIALLY he does. he radiates “villain” energy, but in season 2 he’s going to forget all of that and will genuinely risk everything for grace. i just know it. he’s going to be the epitome of cliché (thanks to julie 😉). i think he’ll be the most afraid of breaking his tough barriers. i can’t wait to see how his character development is going to look like!

alejandro (skames) – BABY. A BABY HAS BEEN SPOTTED. but listen, don’t be fooled by looks,,,, alejandro most definitely is not the softest william. he may look like it, but he ain’t. and i think that’s what i like about him. he just never fails to surprise you. it’s nice to see a teenager play a teenage role! he just gives off cocky vibes, tbh. especially confident, which we can see in the halloween clip where he subtly asks nora for a dance (RIGHT IN FRONT OF VIRI). now, the reason why i brought up the fact that a teenager plays a teenage role is because despite having an arrogant upfront, i think alejandro is going to make a lot more mistakes and will be a lot more emotional than maybe even charles himself. fernando is 18, he’s still experiencing the teenage life. he’s going to have a more realistic take of a fuckboy in Spain.

noah (skamnl) – oK. noah is by far the most mysterious william. THIS MAN DOESNT EVEN HAVE HIS SURNAME DISCLOSED YET. he’s definitely a lot more quiet than the rest of the williams. i would even go to the extent of calling him alex’s foil (in a good way, of course!). that doesn’t mean he’s not confident though. most definitely is, especially with the last clip of season 1 where he gives liv the note behind engel’s back lmaoo. along with charles, he said fuck toxic masculinity by not only having a passion in the arts, but also with painting his nails. it’s the little things about him that characterise him as a good person. i wonder if he’s a lot more soft-spoken because of his family background. i have a feeling he’s going to be an ultra-soft version of charles. ugh writing about him makes me so sad bc i miss him, but i can’t wait to see him again in 2019 hehe

senne (wtfock) – senne’s a lot more involved with school than all of the williams combined (even daniel, who doesn’t seem to care much about popularity at school). which makes sense tbh, because i feel like the textbook definition of the most popular boy at school is being socially involved and yeah, being a jock basically. ugh i really need to get caught up with the rest of wtfock’s season 1, but from what i’ve seen, he’s kinda like a mixture of alex and edo. like alex, he’s not afraid of pointing out zoë’s flaws in her thinking, but like edo, he’s bold. he looked surprised when zoë made him pick up all of her stuff, but he nonetheless did what she told him to do, so i have a feeling we’re going to see more of that in season 2. he’s not going to be afraid of tearing down the stereotypical male bravado or being called “whipped” for listening to his girlfriend. i’m SO ready to see more of him next season!

#skam #william and his remakes #oof i got carried away #i love my misunderstood boys

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lapis-lazuliie · 5 years

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why eggscellent is the best rs episode

so you all know this episode is my #1 favourite in the entire show, and nothing you can say will change my mind. below i’ve written a pretty long, almost detailed, reasoning of why i hold this one in particular so close to my heart and i would put it under a read more, but again, tumblr on mobile is complete horseshit

so lets get on w/ the “review/rant/opinion piece” ;

i’m going to start at the argument scene between benson and mordecai. what i love most about it is how well recognised it is. i don’t exactly know how to put it bc of course it was “”“well recognised”“” since jg himself wrote the entire episode but…..it’s just such a tense moment already, and it becomes suddenly Worse when mordecai socks benson in the face

the entire argument between them is so emotionally charged and you’re not given a moment to ‘breathe’ until the next scene rolls over of mordecai ordering the omelette. the episode definitely deserved its’ emmy, but that scene ALONE is worth a lot of praise. it was so well written and it’s crystal clear jg /loved/ those two characters in particular

honestly……and i have absolutely no qualms typing this……..i truly think a flip switched on the show after this episode

for the first two seasons, it was really the viewers learning about who these characters are and the world built around them; us seeing the hilarious banter between mordecai and rigby (and others lol), and sure the first few episodes of the 3rd season did that, but when eggscellent aired…….it was an entirely different ballgame

the core of the show is really mordecai and rigby’s friendship; we see their antics through seasons 1 + 2 where it just exists w/ a lot of hilarity in the situations they get in. but nothing actually happened to showcase that friendship (and their characters) propery until ‘eggscellent’, where we were introduced to a truly dire situation where their relationship and mordecai’s character were put on complete display

in the earlier seasons, rigbys defining trait was that he fucks around and doesn’t bother with the backlash from it. mordecai’s defining trait was recognising the responsibility put on him and using that…….(there’s probably a better, more obvious trait, sorry but it illustrates my point plus it’s like 12:30am right now and i just want to get this out of my system lmao….)

in the episode, these traits take an absolute turning point in that it’s not all fun and games anymore; rigby does a completely idiotic thing that lands him in a coma and mordecai makes absolutely no hesitation in stepping up to the plate and making the right decision by doing what rigby now can’t

yes rigby still does fuck up in episodes (and seasons) after this and mordecai still has to stick up for him sometimes but that situation obviously made their friendship a whole lot stronger, and it made the audience extremely aware of the lengths mordecai will go for somebody he deeply cares about…..and that trait was shown countless times after this through various episodes. it made us come to the realisation of how important rigby is to mordecai and had us love their friendship even more bc of what mordecai was willing to do for him

bensons defining trait is his inability to put up with bullshit, namely mordecai and rigby’s bullshit. just as he comes to learn rigby could possibly not wake up from the coma, his IMMEDIATE understanding of the situation is “this is what your idiotic behaviour gets you. this is what happens when you don’t listen to me and this is a perfect fucking learning curve for you two”. and while mordecai can understand this to a certain extent, he still has no hesitation in punching him straight in the face for it bc now is not the time to bring this shit up, especially in the worst fucking situation imagineable and their argument starts from there before mordecai walks out

being on the outskirts of this relationship, benson only witnesses a fraction of mordecai’s caring nature for rigby. but what he doesn’t see or at least doesn’t exactly consider is the absolute compassion and responsibility mordecai feels when faced w/ a scenario where their screwing around takes on an entirely different set of circumstances. and it still doesn’t comprehend bc he’s never fully grasped the idea of them being two seperate people. yes he knows mordecai is capable of responsiblity, moreso than rigby, but it’s somewhat easier for him to simply jam them together because a majority of the dangerous shit caused around the park is always their fault. mordecai could easily blab to benson a lot of the time, but bc of his basic dedication to staying by rigby’s side, he chooses not to, and so benson really has no choice BUT to see them as a unit no matter the situation they find themselves in

a lot of what benson’s about is work and that’s very clearly shown to us from the get go. it’s who he /is/, he’s the boss at the park and that’s all we really get to see of him (until the first few episodes of s3 where we’re given some honest insight into who he used to be and currently is), so of course he holds a certain expectation for the employees who work under him. he expects rigby to do this shitty thing and pay for the aftermath later. he expects mordecai to follow along and pick up the pieces that’ve been dropped by him

bc he’s grown so used to their daily fuck ups, it comes as no surprise to him that rigby lands himself in the hospital from an absolutely idiotic decision he was consciously aware of making. and bc benson is so strongly aware of this, he has the absolute gall to turn around and tell mordecai exactly why this has happened; because they skipped on work

to reiterate: he wants the two to come away from this knowing that a very real and terrifying thing has suddenly come about because they didn’t do their fucking jobs. and this is the exact kind of shit benson had been trying to avoid since hiring them. to him, this was GOING to happen. this was inevitable

these characters and their relationships have already been so well established that having a situation between them suddenly be cranked all the way to 11 is of course going to call for some incredibly needed development; not only does mordecai physically lash out at benson, he also verbally attacks him too by admitting to him that nobody truly cares for him beyond the general boss/employee relationship. it’s extremely harsh and is said in such a cold way that we’re just sat there wondering when benson’s going to speak his mind again to counter with him

but he doesn’t. of course he doesn’t. and why? bc that punch to the face and those verbal insults were a fucking wake up call. in all the time he’s known mordecai, this is the very first instance where he sees firsthand just how mordecai takes on the emotional backlash from shit like this. and he stands there and takes it because he knows mordecai is 100% in the right in his actions and his words; and even if he isn’t, benson takes it on anyway bc mordecai has every fucking right to react like this from being fed such a ballsy piece of bullshit in an incredibly extreme situation that shouldn’t call for this whatsoever

it’s in mordecai’s exact reaction that benson’s logical, “no bullshit’ attitude comes to a grinding halt and he’s suddenly forced to take a step back and really come to terms with seeing mordecai for who he truly is without rigby by his side for the very first time since he’s known him. it’s mordecai’s raw devotion and love for the people he cares about, in this case: rigby, that causes benson to come to the gradual understanding of how much he truly fucked up in saying what he had before

in an earlier s3 episode, benson tries unsuccesfully to get rid of a stick hockey game mordecai and rigby find holed up in the garage. though the two want to know why he’s so against them playing it, we’re not exactly told much of anything until close to the end of the episode, where it’s revealed to us that benson used to be a stick hockey champion and had taken a young apprentice under his wing by the name of dave. without going into details, dave is killed in a match against a man named chong and since the incident, benson has had to put away another facet of his past until the duo dig it up again. so he has no choice but to go down there and play chong, thus winning and getting the closure he needs with daves death

you would think bc of all this, bensons empathy card would come running through the gate as soon as he realises just how serious the situation is. if he wasn’t constantly wearing a shell made of wax paper, maybe the first thing to come out his mouth would’ve been “oh shit mordecai i’m so sorry” instead of “you fucked up and this is why” like a decent human being

……okay

when benson realises what he said was completely uncalled for, he not only apologises to mordecai, but he takes it upon HIMSELF to give him jonthans own book and work with mordecai to complete the challenge, and this leads into what has to be one of my favourite uses of a licenced song in this show since its airing; bonnie tylers ‘holding out for a hero’ played over an animated 80s-esque training montage

the music has always been a main fixture of the show for a lot of people. older audiences can very much appreciate the brief nostalgia trip while saying aloud “they got that song in here? kudos to them!” and younger audiences can appreciate the flashy colours and coming to the realisation that this was played in the cinematic masterpiece that is shrek 2, while both can be similitanously distracted by how truly boring these scenes would be without music overlaying them. that’s the beauty of a montage, folks; no matter the age, they’re still enjoyable to watch….unless they have a shitty song playing over them. 'holding out for a hero’ was such a perfect song choice to have in this episode; not only does it encapsulate the utter cheesiness of every training montage of the 80s but it fits for the exact scenario that rigby is in. i don’t need to spell it out for you bc it’s already there in the damn title, but let me just say that jg could not have chosen a more 'right’ song than this one

they stop outside the restaurant, and as everyone clambers out of the cart, we get ANOTHER one of my absolute favourite scenes between benson and mordecai; i believe this scene was christened amongst the rs fanbase as 'the apology scene’, where mordecai admits to benson that he is a good friend despite how much of an absolute dick benson can be sometimes. it’s incredibly sweet and written in a very direct way; from what we’ve already seen between them up until this point, there is no doubt mordecai holds a complete plethora of feelings about benson and their relationship, benson likewise upon suddenly learning just how highly mordecai values the friendships around him, his own with rigby especially, and instead of getting all choked up about it, mordecai makes it very clear that as of right now, it’s all he has say to benson, and it’s from bensons reaction and one line response that it’s all he needs to hear from him too

in that brief moment, without so much as a few sentences said between them, they’ve come to a mutual understanding of one another, in that both are very aware of just how much this situation has impacted their previous “water and oil” relationship. in fact, this scene was so ridiculously important that in the middle of his commentary for the episode, jg pauses midsentence to watch this scene play out, despite already knowing exactly what happens in it, bc he recognises how pivotal it was in not just their relationship, but in the series as a whole

in an earlier draft of the episode, jg explains in the commentary that they were going to have rigby upchuck the omelette then have the sick come to life and train him in beating the challenge. hilarity and moral questioning ensues when he slowly realises he’s aiding rigby in eating his own kind for a stupid hat and a fight breaks out in the restaurant

not only do i personally fucking adore this change, obviously, but i also find it incredibly interesting in that the absolute craziness of a general episode, where rigby is very much awake and is the main character, is switched out for an episode that showcases the utter importance of friendship, and how rigbys fucking around can get him almost killed, which is what we had seen in previous seasons, but never this bad. in a roundabout way, rigby is the main character, even if he isn’t consciously aware for a second of the events happening around him, bc we see the complete fallback rigbys idiotic decision has on not just mordecai, but benson too

jg clearly took this episode idea and fucking ran with it. it was the only episode to win them an emmy, and rightfully so; every single scene is an absolute masterpiece and it pales in complete comparison to almost every other episode following it. with a show so trenched in its tagline “anything but regular”, the much needed turning point comes as an absolute surprise to the audience, where the core of the show is flipped on its head and we’re suddenly told that your moronic behaviour can have extreme backlash when you’re unaware of the consequences that come with it. having benson and mordecai be front and center of it all, the two characters who are very knowledgable of the sheer stupidity rigby can pocess at times, is so fucking perfect in itself bc it forces them to push aside their differences to work together in something benson would usually find as completely ludicrous and would most likely opt out of if the stakes weren’t so high

i’ve already said before that i love this episode and i will continue to love it bc it is so fucking important. in the 11 minutes of runtime, jg manages to write an episode that, at its core, is about friendship and the lengths you’re willing to go for somebody you deeply care about, while also developing a relationship that goes from absolute hatred to the beginning of a friendship based around that very lesson

though the show had produced some truly great episodes from various board artists, jgs always seemed to have a very distinct style to them; they were always wacky and fun, but took on a serious note at times while also hiding some sort of message underneath the antics, and as every show creator, he was highly keyed into the beats of his show. one of the main reasons this episode was so incredible is bc it was made by somebody who has an extreme love for and deep understanding of his characters; yes the artists episodes were fantastic at times, but when it comes down to it, the creator really does know them best, and being the sole artist for this episode gave jg a ton of creative freedom to try his hand at throwing them into such an intense situation for the first time, where mordecai could potentially lose his best friend and seeing just how everybody responds to the weight of that scenario is exactly something we, the audience, needed to see. and the shows creator healming the reigns for this entire episode was just 👌🏼

you really could not have trusted anybody else to board this episode

#regular show #i wrote this at 12am....it took 3 hours and i still had to do some touch ups in the morning #i know there's shit repeated but i was Tired okay #also sorry for the swearing. i'd been bingewatching lily orchards 'glass of water' series and her speech pattern flowed pretty easily in #this lol #she speaks #long post #eggscellent

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