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party-in-eldarya · 1 year

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I simply forget what this ep was about... Not training, kind of mission? HH told us to go for a urgent mission with Chrome and LI? Yes/No? I usually check last post to know what is going on and do quick summary, but I am really not that crazy for this ep so let's go, wild ride.

Yea, about that... she feels shy but try to act cool. We are to talk with cats' gang about strange phenomena in forest.

again, we spent time and maana on 3rd row characters. If only it would mean, that they will gain some depth... but no, purrekos are greedy and shady, and it is a joke (?) that keep on coming back to us in many episodes. This season has many characters, but only with few we can have a meanigful conversation. The info could be delivered by Zifu, but hey.

...aaand it didn't happen. I wish we could get a separated routes with different stories, because taking Leiftan for missions IS ridiculous now he cannot use powers and now that he refuse to fight physically. He IS useless, because even tho he had some right ideas about magic in Genkaku (stones and how Koori shouldn't use them), it was ignored and never mentioned again. I guess it was only written to show how TOXIC MASCULINITY and mansplaining works. Remember how in TO not everything was told to Eel citizens and even to random guards? What is Leiftan's status in Guard? No wonder Nevra is pissed all the time. Erika however suspects it is just a plot to spend more time with her crush, because Erika is still in hight school phase.

... maybe because Chrome is an adult person, a leader of Shadow and he needs to focus on important things, not your Disney channel drama?

Leiftan:

aaaaan, that cat bitch forces me into buing a new outfit. I am pretty cool, because it is not that ugly, but honestly, it's not even funny. If only those few dialogues we get were meaningful, well written, it wouldn't be that bitter.

Boys have some spine and refuse a make over. Watch and learn, Erika:

Not one of the guardsmen has discreet, practical outfit. Not a single one. Blah blah, Purral appear and for some reason Chrome is v annoyed, because Purral is always a troublemaker, and a shady one. But here- what's the problem? He came to tell the story. Anyway, Leiftan is cute when he is angry:

Cats confess that shrooms circle is looking strange for months, Chrome's reaction is...

Sure, they should have told Guards earlier, but this is not the best technique to talk to (ususally) not cooperative witness, right? Anyway, there is a problem with flow of maana near the circle. Cats notices the new portal, but didn't know what is was. So portals are not that known even tho eldaryans were using them for ages, and purr...ekos (?) are a race of merchants so... shouldn't they know how portal looks like? Maybe those are a bit different?

Chrome is right, but I will focus on how calm and straight to the point Leiftan really is. Years of being a leader are showing up :)

He needs to sort out his priorities. How about we focus on Portal first? Or ask Erika to take cat to HQ, and go with Leiftan to portal.

Listen, I think that this reaction and focusing on Purrals wrongdoing would be what Ykhar'd do. Maaaaybe Keroshane. Someone who lives by rules, and is a bit rigid about it. But Chrome wasn't like that, and he should as a leader of Shadow focus on really important thing. The portal. Beemoov doesn't care for character continuity, vol 15.

So it's Erika and Leif checking on portal, while Chrome focus on Purral smuggling items from Earth. He needs to sort out his priorities, once again.

I wonder why? Ironically, this is the same place when she run away from him approaching her, wanting to talk after ball. Geee, I wonder why he keeps his distance now.

CHOICE. I already have 100% with him, and there is no illu, so I picked: I wanted to talk to you.

Erika wants a lot of things, right? She wants her LI to hide in a cave when she doesn't want to talk to him, she wants him to starts a conversation even tho she said she has something to tell him... she expects him to make love to her whenever she is horny, quite a lot of things to expect from TOXIC MALE LI in this "girls rule" game, right? relationship goals, Erika's edition.

way to start a romantic conversation about your feeling, right? The writer tries to sound original, but fails.

OMG, someone who is coding reactions feels like me, because I SWEAR THE CONVERSATION GOES LIKE: Those feelings are like parasites. They got worse and worse. I keep on thinking about you, and Leiftan sprites is:

The romance that was promised.

She finally managed to say that she wants to try being a couple once again. Leiftan agrees with her, but says he needs time.

You know what? Plp were really upset about his and Erika's reaction but it works for me. He wants to sort out things about his deamon side, she feels so puzzled about being in love with Leifan (why tho, I was on this route since Ykhar mentioned he is cute), that taking things slowly seems like right thing to do.

He needs to sort out his priorities, oh wait, he has already sorted them right. My man is best man.

Near the circle, they hear someone talking via phone.

Back to HH. Aaaan I reach limit of pics.

#playing ane what a joy #ane eldarya spoilers

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mxgilray · 3 years

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Loki Season 1 Thoughts

Overall, I really liked this series. It has some issues without question, but I sincerely don't think it's the dumpster fire so many viewers on this site treat it as. Did it go how I expected? Not at all? Did I enjoy the heck out of it and look forward to it every Wednesday? Hell yeah!

Loki's Good Guy Personality

A big complaint many have had with it is how much Loki's demeanor has changed and how his emotional growth feels rushed or his personality is ooc. Truth is, he saw his entire future, saw what his angry, power hungry, I-work-alone persona would get him in the end, and it snapped him back to reality. He has always been shown to be quite emotional and craving attention and lacking in self assurance, it's just in the past movies he's masked it with violence and fake narcissism, and he's always been a secondary character so his perspective is rarely shown. But if you really pay attention it's obvious he isn't truly villainous; we all know that, it's largely why he has such a huge fan base.

Right after meeting Mobius, Loki got an infodump of his future, saw his parents both die, found out that free will means jack shit, and learned he's absolutely powerless in this realm. On top of that, this is 2012 Loki, fresh off of being under Thanos' control, suddenly being shown that the guy who controlled him is going to end up killing him. Frankly,, I think it all broke Loki. He was too shook up by it all and by the sheer helplessness he found himself in at the TVA that he let all his barriers down momentarily. Just long enough for him to open up to Mobius about his motivation and his lack of self confidence. And you know what I bet? Loki felt relieved after talking to Mobius. A weight was lifted, because he bore his heart to someone and wasn't rejected or laughed at or treated like a psycho. And after letting his walls down fully, Loki didn't feel the need to put all of them back up. He stayed guarded around other people, but he didn't need to pretend around Mobius. Mobius has seen under the mask, so Loki doesn't feel pressure to perform as an all knowing, all powerful God around Mobius. That freedom is life changing.

People who gravitate towards broken, pseudo-villain characters do so because we relate to their internal conflict, their mental illness, their need to fake it around everyone close to them. Their turmoil and depression and self destructive behavior are familiar and we see ourselves reflected in their actions. Now, when a person really truly let's their guard down, drops all their layers of facade, and embraces themself, they tend to change demeanor and even personality pretty drastically. It's jarring in real life, so of course when it happens to a fictional character who you usually relate to it is going to be jarring, maybe even more so because it feels like a change you yourself would never go through. I know this sounds bad and people might get at me for it, but...

I believe the issue here is that a large part of Loki's fan base doesn't want him to get better. They don't want him to move past his mental illness, to learn how to cope with anger and disappointment in healthier ways, to be happy. They like his damaged persona, they like the internal conflict. Maybe it's because they're still at that low place themself and feel like a relatable character is getting taken away from them, maybe it's because they don't understand how much being at peace with yourself can alter a person and to them it feels like he's been changed too much. To those of us mostly on the up and up from battling depression and mental illness, it's comforting to see Loki getting a chance to be genuinely happy and accepting of himself.

Sylki and Lokius

First things first, I'm not anti anything. Ship what you want, idc. Personally, I do not see the Sylki dynamic as romantic, but I get why people read it that way. I thought the series did a good job of showing unrequited love, namely Loki falling for Sylvie and Sylvie feeling zero romance towards him. This was aware of his attraction and in the end used it as a distraction so she could get the upper hand. The show played up the potential romance because we are viewing things from Loki's perspective and he's become smitten as a kitten. I do think in the long run they'll have a more sibling-like dynamic, one Loki realizes that you can feel extreme love and care for a person without it being romantic. I enjoyed how the show explored their relationship, though I do wish they hadn't had every character under the sun mention their moment on Lamentis-1 like it was some big deal to bond with someone you're about to die with.

I'm bitter towards the development of Lokius. It had a strong start in the beginning, and in ep 5 had some potential reignited, but then they had Mobius not know who Loki is at the end. I'm still hoping they're playing the long game with this ship and that it'll come to fruition partway through season 2. The chemistry is there, and Mobius knows Loki very intimately and isn't put off by his past. Loki also feels much more at ease around Mobius than he does around Sylvie. It's the comfort of a deep loving bond with Mobius verses the nervousness of a new crush that he feels for Sylvie.

I don't think Loki is quite aware of his feelings for Mobius, simply because it's based in friendship and mutual respect and isn't a hot and heavy lust. Plus, as soon as he was away from Mobius he was thrown into a near death experience with Sylvie and developed a surface crush during their heart to heart. Since Loki's still figuring out what genuine feelings are beyond anger and sadness, he sees the simplistic crush he has on Sylvie as love and the intimate bond he's been forming with Mobius as friendship. He doesn't understand his own feelings yet, but I think he'll figure it out next season. I mean, he was probably already rethinking his feelings for her after she kissed and betrayed him, mentally kicking himself for expecting her to not pull a Loki betrayal like he would've in the past.

The Time Variance Authority

I really like the concept of the TVA, the structure of it, the methods they use, the deeply fucked way they recruit employees, the cult like motto, shady Miss Minutes who is definitely playing her own long game, and the blind acceptance TVA agents have of the Time Keepers' will. It's all very well done... until your dig into the core, aka He Who Remains. They built up the idea that the Time Keepers created the TVA to prevent a multiverse war and that they created agents to enforce their will. Then the creating agents turned out to be fake, the Time Keepers were fake, I expected the reason for the TVA's existence to be fake to. It felt too simple to have it genuinely exist just to keep the multiverse in check. Why the anonymity, unless it's to keep from having agents target and prune versions of himself which.. songs like a decent solution. HWR made it sound as though the multiverse war was just a bunch of versions of himself screwing shit up, so why isn't the TVA's focus on eradicating every other variant of this guy? Sounds a lot easier and nicer than fucking with the free will of every other living being. So either Marvel made a bad call when choosing what HWR's motive was for creating the TVA, or he was lying about it all to cover up something sinister.

Overall Storyline

I'm fairly happy with the plot as a whole. There were some pacing issues and I think a few missed chances for deeper conversations between various characters. While I enjoyed the Loki variants, I honestly would've been happier seeing Tom playing most the variants (except Kid Loki and Classic Loki since they are clearly different age ranges). If there is supposed to be one sacred timeline, it seems off to me that Lokis would be allowed to vary so extremely without it causing a nexus event(an alligator, whose nexus wasn't that he's an animal who obviously can't do any magic much less command Thanos' army, but that he ate someone's cat) and not just in appearance but in life path (ie boastful Loki collected all the infinity stones but it wasn't till he had 6 that he caused a nexus event even though him gaining control of the Soul, Power, and Time stones should've each caused nexus events since on the sacred timeline he never interacts with those 3 and taking any one of them would've fucked up a lot of other timeline parts)

I love the display of Lokis raw power, and 2012 Loki coming to the realization that he's way more powerful than he ever thought. And it wasn't just Classic Loki who spent thousands of years alone honing his skills, 2012 Loki reversed time on a goddamn falling building! I also liked the small magic, the fireworks, the tablecloth blanket, Loki yanking Sylvie away from HWR with just magic.

As someone who is both bisexual and genderfluid, I would've really loved more concrete representation. The comment about there never being another female Loki hit me in the gut; it undermined the Easter egg "Sex: Fluid" on Loki's TVA file. With how big a deal Sylvie being female was made out to be throughout the season, I expected her gender to play a key role in taking down the head of the TVA, like it was foretold that only a female Loki could end it all or some shit.

I don't mind the idea of Loki finding love in a straight passing relationship. I don't even mind the selfcest all that much. It just feels so obvious to me that Sylvie is written as not having any romantic inclination towards Loki, while Mobius is clearly written as falling in love with someone he shouldn't and trying to maintain an heir of professionalism to keep from wrecking his bond with Loki. I really really hope they come through on season 2 and give Lokius the canon relationship and proper representation they deserve.

Mmkay I thinks that's all the thoughts I've got right now. If you've been feeling cheated or clowned by how things went this season, maybe my perspective of things can help ease your pain.

#loki spoilers #loki series #loki #mobius m mobius #sylvie laufeydottir #lokius #sylki #tva loki #time variance authority #marvel #mcu

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melloian · 3 years

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My wild au idea...

so i got a new art program. so i imagine this fake au idea.. so imma share it lmao. remember this is an imagination (and am still working on reboot au) and not some au or something. Alright let’s just get this cringe over went Remember this guy?

remember this kid?

now imagine them as an main character...yup..

Alright time to explain ig The boy and sandboy fused in body because of hawkmoth's glitch. The boy first witnessed this when he got scared of something else. He slowly turned blue. He screamed and cried loud because of course he didn't know what was happening, eventually turning into sandboy and terrorizing the city again. He then realizes everytime he gets scared he turns into sandboy. He proceeds to think the movie gave him strange powers (and not hawkmoth..well not in this fake au of course). Since he knows sandboy is evil, he came up idea to trick sandboy into doing something good. His plan was to put himself in danger on purpose (by an villain) in order to make sandboy think the villain is trying to attack him. The boy is only doing this in order for sandboy to no longer attack paris. Now to explain hawkmoth's situation, hawkmoth accidentally cracked the miraculous when he fall down (in a high tower awhile fighting the other day). He didn't know he did until he saw nooroo acting strange. But he didn't care so he proceeds to do it which led to the glitch. It affected his heart causing to become weak. However he doesn't care, he says himself that he would continue to use the butterfly miraculous, even if it costs his life at the end (he really just want his wife back so bad smh.) Gabriel gets the same symptoms as his wife which worries adrien.

Back to the boi himself.

in this imagination/fake au He just a friendly, energetic kid who like to play. He pretty much known as well-behaved kid. He sometimes curious about things.

He likes making new friends.

However he can get scared easily leading him to get nightmares. (he also easily cry too.)

He doesn't like mean people. (in this "fake" au, his age is 6) Sandboy himself

Sandboy here acts completely different here.. i mean he stills says "tHe SaNdBoY jUsT cHECkEd In. NoW nIghTmArEs CaN bEgIn" but only when using his powers. but he still different Sandboy is much more rude and more of an brat but still confident. He makes fun of people especially the villains he targets (he makes them furious on purpose). He's not scared of nothing, even if he saw lovecraftian horror or something, he wouldn't flinch. If he doesn't get his way, he will attempt fake cry so the person can feel sorry for him. (if that doesn't work he just will instantly use his power) Even though he rude and a brat, he can sometimes be helpful and nice. (he still acts like a child too.) Abilities: It would be epically lame if sandboy still have the same 1 power (rip chat noir). (and fook the sandman myth) He gains more abilities as time goes on and more fighting he does. Default power (just for reminder): He able to zap people and make their nightmares reality Gained powers list (in order): He will later be able to put people to sleep which would gave them nightmares Similar power to wishmaker expect its not childhood dreams. It just wishes in general, he able to grant them but he can either twist it for evil or grant the wish properly. He able to imprison people inside their own dream. he can now summon things out of his own dream or make it reality (can be past or present). he can bring people fears to life too (is not the same as nightmares just for clarification) Telekinesis He can go to sleep and can enter astral form. He can enter people's dream and warps it if he wants too or just watch. (he also have oneiricpotence awhile in dream) He can create an alternative dream universe and teleport people in it (he have oneiricpotence here too).

stronk kid Weakness: i made this so i wouldn't make him an absolute god machine All his powers works best at night. If use it in day, it would fail or it would work but it will go absolutely wrong. The only powers that don't suffer this is telekinesis and wish power. (sleeping power would work in afternoon and night) He can't keep using dream warper, alt dream, or dream imprisonment or else he becomes sick. (and when he's sick, his powers don't work properly{ he also gets dizzy})

He can't be astral for a long time, he will eventually snap back to his body. he still as fragile as an child.

Notes: He summons his pillow instead of being with him already.

Never of them wanted to be heroes in the first place.

Sandboy's hair only glows when its dark. Sandboy would change back to boy when all negative feelings are gone. For Nathalie in this au aswell, she pretty much don't want hawkmoth keep using his miraculous before he ends up in a coma. Eventually, Gabriel gets too sick and Nathalie takes his place. Nathalie attempts to fix both peacock and butterfly miraculous to continue his goal. She becomes Penumbra.

However, before she became penumbra, she was also effected with the glitch from Gabriel causing her to have catalyst stay in her aswell. Unlike the boy, she still have her own personality as catalyst and can use her power without transforming. idk why but its probably to make her dangerous. But Gabriel finally knew how the kid could transform to sandboy (he was wondering how he was transforming to his akumanzation form he given him) before he passed out (after he was defeated as scarlet moth.) So when gabriel got too sick, her goal was to find out more about that boy. Recurring characters

Even though chat noir and ladybug is still in the story, but they wouldn't have much focus.

Unlike in the original, ladybug or chat noir doesn't know sandboy's true identity but still thinks he a running akumanzation. however they don't attack him because he helping with the other villains. They confused if he an enemy or ally tho {why not both}. (they do thank him for defeating certain villains) They still have same personality and attitude. Other shit ig: This fake au takes place in season 2. The ep sandboy is no longer near heroes day ep, it would just be swapped with collector. Sandboy becomes less rude and bratty later on. Most fights would take place at night Sandboy had to learn hand to hand combat to be useful without using his night powers. There is no romance involved what so ever. Even though Nathalie fixes the butterfly miraculous, it wouldn't fix the glitch that happens to both her and the boy. She have to find something else in order to do that. Season 4 is were Gabriel's sickness gets worse and Nathalie takes his place. The boy would have 2 friends with him but its not manon or chris. The boy would be given a name. The boy would later find out how to change to sandboy without having to make himself scared. Remember this an fake au and this all came from my imagination/head. It just an idea. anyways see ya imma continue my own au now.

#marinette dupain cheng #nathalie sancoeur #sandboy #gabriel agreste #adrien agreste #ml au idea #mayura #miraculous ladybug au #miraculous hawkmoth #chat noir #off topic #shadow moth #scarlet lady au but im blue daba dee daba die #somebody looked at this post the last tag is inaccurate now ;-;

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sanchoyo · 3 years

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danny phantom season 2, ep 12-16 thoughts! these episodes, in comparison to the first 10 or so, felt way more laid back and low-stakes, which I appreciate sometimes. I didn't appreciate how lazy jack's halfa design was in masters of time, it made me so annoyed I redesigned it. 👎🏻 u_u

see prev episode thoughts in this tag <3

-'picking a fight with me and my upgraded form!' 'you upgraded to a mullet?' DANNNNY. YOU CANT SAY THAT TO TECHNUS. YOUVE HAD A MULLET TWICE NOW ('fun' split danny, and evil future danny BOTH HAD THEM). I HAVE THE RECEIPTS.

-danny seeing technus hurting valerie and yelling I AM GOING TO BREAK YOU IN HALF. SAMEEEE <3

-axion labs is now a part of vladco. FUCK YOU VLAD. hes not even really IN this episode, but just thought I'd throw out a nice fuck you anyway.

-'capable of blasting a single person into space in (2) minutes!' tucker. that would kill someone. i mean yeah they might get to space, but theres NO WAY THEY WOULDNT CATCH FIRE, OR THEIR ORGANS WOULDNT LIQUIFY BECAUSE OF THE STRAIN. THEY'D PROBABLY PASS OUT BEFORE THEN, BUT. ...no, okay, I get why vlad bought this company. this is RIGHT up his alley.

-danny KNOWS VAL DIDNT DO THIS, THAT SOMEONE STOLE THE SUIT. AND SPENDING ALL NIGHT CHATTING WITH HER. <3 and val is a 9TH DEGREE BLACKBELT?? danny's mom is, too!! omg and she hunts ghosts, his parents would love her. and her fav fruit is kumquat bc its a funny word. im so with danny val is amazing. I love her and I Do Not Want To Hear It From Sam.

-I knew danny wanted to be an astronaut, but the bowling tidbit is like. yes give me more useless info abt these characters, I love tiny details that make them feel more human, and im glad hes got hobbies aside from ghost stuff, we dont really see a lot of that!!! (I mean, we knew 'fun' danny from when he split himself in half liked bowling, so obv it makes sense he LIKES it, but hes very GOOD at it. so proud of him, bowling king) val calling him neil armstrong and them teasing each other. LOVE THAT.

-technus you are my favorite grandpa for setting this up. SAM WHY ARE YOU BEING SO CREEPY BE HAPPY FOR YOUR FRIEND!!! STOP SPYING ON THEM!!! who actually cares if technus did 'set them up' together, theyre having fun and enjoy each others company!!! 'you think the universe wants you two to be together?' 'i dunno, but maybe /I/ do!' EXACTLY DANNY!!! SOO TRUE.

-and valerie being happy sam said she wants to try and be happy for them and make room at the lunch table for them. and hugging sam over it. VAL NEEDS MORE FRIENDS.

-VAL GOING AFTER TECHNUS IN HER SUIT WITH (1) MILK, AND (1) TREE BRANCH AND KEYS!!!. I LOVE YOUUUU BEST GIRL. her new suit kicks ass

-dannys like 'HEY IM AN ASTRONAUT :D' AW. ...HES IN SPACE... the fact he's actually intending to give her the ring. with SAMS NAME ON IT?? IM CRINGING DANNY NO. YOU CANT DO THAT...thank god he didnt. thank god valerie cut it off and said they can just stay friends for now. tbh, they both have a lot on their plates!! they obv both still like each other...it can be a future thing!! when she knows about phantom! youre 14 theres no need to rush. I just want her to have friends and be happy :(

-...danny struggles to do (1) pull up. SAME. but all the ghost fighting in phantom form REALLY doesnt carry over at ALL? that sucks

-sam being as fit as she is, is not just a goth. shes a goth jock.

-honey I Shrank Our Kid, One of his Enemies, and his Bully: the episode

-dash's crush on phantom is So Obvious. fitness buddies :) watching them interact always makes me laugh. also, phantom, with PANTS. 'how many costume changes you gonna go through, what is this, vegas??' DASSH DJKSFHASKDF

-MADDIE GOING AFTER THE MOUSE WITH A BROOM, WHAT THE FUCK. AAAH. JUST BUY SOME KIND OF MOUSE TRAP.

-danny likes lime and vinegar chips. which sound very good.

-'our boy finally has the physical prowess of a 60 year old president!' ...poor danny LMAO

-'what's wrong with beauty pageants' oh tucker you sweet naïve child. what ISNT wrong with them. who approved this for a high school?? (I mean, yes. unfortunately child pageants exist, but...) also danny and tucker once again treating the pretty girls like objects. I need to meet the grown man who wrote this, I just want to talk...

-prince aragon's dragon form reminds me of maleficent (color scheme wise) which is always a bonus. considering the episode is called beauty marked, I feel like the sleeping beauty references are deliberate

-sam with the fake fangs. once again her accessories never miss. hate the 'not like other girls, girls who get sucked into this kind of thing are all shallow and all want to be carbon copies' bs tho.

-sam trying to be the Worst Bride, being rude as shit. DORA IS GOING TO GET KILLED. DID YOU MISS THE PART WHERE SHE SAID THE PRINCE WILL HAVE HER HEAD IF YOU ARENT THE IDEAL BRIDE. YOU /KNOW/ DANNY WILL COME SAVE YOU. JUST ACT CHILL UNTIL THEN. even if you were doing fine to get him to take off the crown, consider maybe not letting his poor sister get punished also?? sure, she could also take off the crown and has dragon powers, but did you know that for sure?? dora didnt even really realize it until you guys talked!! (or at least, she was scared to stand up to him. you had no guarantee she would...) but. good for dora. ANOTHER friendly ghost to add to the List :)

-tucker is so under appreciated in his time. if he was doing a tech-based campaign today he'd have a better shot. people in 2004 had NO IDEA how much tech would be a part of our day-to-day lives...altho. tbh if you're going to be running for student council president, maybe you should..focus on things to actually improve the school? since he's going for a tech angle, he could say like, he would be running fundraisers for the schools computers to be upgraded, etc? we've already SEEN he can be good at money-making entrepreneur type stuff!!

-oh my god wait. this episode is JUST YUGIOH?????! A REBORN PHAROH USING A TEENAGER AS A VESSEL?? YESSSSSS

-tucker using his new minion to feed him grapes and carry him. AND LOCUSTS ONTO THE BULLIES. I love how when he's possessed, he gains winged eyeliner.

-this episode is giving me big 'plankton makes everyone in bikini bottom his slaves and build monuments of him from the spongebob movie' vibes. and the pharaoh has a traitor who works for him? VERY big yugioh vibes. aknadin confirmed

-I like that danny is still completely exhausted after using ghostly wail. (still patiently waiting on him to get duplication)

-LOVE the fenton's 80s outfits. I get hes 14 and embarrassed by everything they do because theyre his parents, but. cmon, this is one objectively cool thing theyve done. love 80s fashion.

-...was vlad just standing on that streetlight waiting for danny to come out? how'd he know they'd be coming out the back? how long has he been up there???

-oh, wait, his ecto-acne has flareups? that SUCKS. danny was...well I dont want to say he was LUCKY HE HALF-DIED, but he was lucky his was pretty instant (I'm assuming that had to do with the power/scale of the portals being different?) I remember in the ep we met him, vlad made a point of saying he was stuck in a hospital for a long time, so. that really actually sucks and I feel bad. not that it excuses anything he's done...but like. it does suck.

-vlad being so sure danny wouldnt help him he made it somehow contagious to his friends to make sure he'd get help? danny is a nice boy, he wouldve helped if it was anyone else. the only reason he wouldn't have is because of the shit vlad did to him, on purpose. vlad 100% dug his own grave by being the biggest asshole, so it is very hard to feel bad for him.

-clockwork is back!!! and making danny learn lessons The Hard Way. Uhhh, okay. I kind of get Danny’s logic, that time traveling this far back would prevent vlad from becoming a halfa also, ergo no arch nemesis or ectoacne to worry about. But the fact that was basically the first solution Danny came up with to solve this problem is actually so funny. It’s so extreme

-APPRICIATION FOR THESE 80S LESBIAN BG CHARACTERS.

-vlad telling maddie in the lab (in the 80s) he has something he's wanted to tell her 'for a long time'...how long have they known each other? I assumed they met in college, since jack always calls vlad his college buddy/roommate, so jack and vlad for sure met in college, but did vlad know maddie longer? thats surprising if so. Tho we don’t know what year of college they’re in so they could mean they met as freshmen and a few years have past…speaking of maddie shes crushing the 80s look.

-vlad blames jack, but. maybe dont stick your face 2 inches from the portal??! THIS FEELS LIKE LAB SAFETY BASICS. IF SOMETHING HAS POTENTIAL TO BE DANGEROUS, DONT GET NEAR IT. WITH YOUR FACE UNPROTECTED IN ANY WAY. (altho jack didnt really give a Big Warning besides screaming BONZAI. so. also that, but cmon.) also, they need gloves, goggles, and to pull all of their hair back tbh. but fuck lab safety, I guess!

-cryyyyinnng at how lazy they were with jack's ghost form design, its just plasmius' design on jack!!! you couldve given him his own design!!

-there. I did that in about 10 minutes and its somehow less lazy than what made it into the show. embarrassing! better yet, I think the episode would've been better if maddie would've gotten the ectoacne. or maybe its just me, wanting to see her design! anyway. I'm sure people have already done redesigns of them both as halfas. I have to go look after I finish this watch through. Also mildly frustrated jacks resentment and bitterness is basically also a copy paste of vlads backstory. They’re different characters, I really don’t think jack would stew in bitterness and jealousy the same way vlad would!! I also don’t think he’d give up after one time of trying to hunt ghosts and getting laughed at. Our canon timeline says different…I dunno, I get it was for laughs, but I’m annoyed because the POTENTIAL this plot has…

-did vlad really wear a stupid cheese hat to his wedding. ok actually that kinda rules. and the cheese door knocker. the dairy-only buffet table. vlad still got rich, just on being the New Dairy King. (Assuming that means he owns a lot of dairy businesses?) ok! this actually is great. hope maddie isn't lactose intolerant!

-'no matter how hard I tried, I could never get rid of my ghost half, the half I knew Maddie could never accept' ohh, ouch, what a horrible thing to say to her HALF GHOST SON. 'YOUR MOM WILL NEVER ACCEPT YOU' BASICALLY.

-maddie strapping danny to the table with a lazer pointed at him in a secret lab she keeps from vlad that she makes a point of saying is sound proof so he can scream all he wants...CHRIST. DANNYS POOR PYSCHE.

-also, not to feel bad for alternate vlad (because, he did lie to maddie saying jack blames her and never wants to see her again...) but. being married to a woman 20+ years and she immediately goes back to jack? if she didnt love vlad and feels like she had to hide shit from him, and says she wasted her best years with him, WHY MARRY HIM. it feels like leading him on!!! cannot believe im feeling bad for vlad, but. this alternate timeline vlad is significantly Less Horrible than Our Vlad. did she not think she'd get funding for her ghost stuff? (which, fair assumption since they're considered 'ghost fanatics/nuts in canon...but...) why did she think jack or vlad would be her ONLY OPTIONS? be like your sister. be single. Actually, this au could’ve been really interesting if after the accident, vlad lied to her and said jack never wanted to see her again, but she stays single. Imagine how much that would bug vlad… like, in her mind, it was never a competition it was jack or no one type situation…

-danny being like 'leave him ALONE' this jack is a HOMEWRECKER, DANNY. let them go to court and settle this at the least. ...or just throw vlad into the portal. (100% human, defenseless vlad) CHRIST, MADDIE THATS BRUTAL. THATS MURDER.

-danny seeing his mom immediately accepting him and his dad being half ghosts in this universe, if I was him this would be a great sign that his universe's maddie would also.

-*maddie voice* "clockwork will help!" *2 seconds later, with clockwork* "I will Not Help." TOUGH LOVE KING. YES LET DANNY SEE THE SODA HIMSELF AND DEVOLP BETTER OBSERVATION SKILLS.

-when clockwork ""reset time to the way it was"" just before danny "meddled"" ...did he really erase a whole alternate timeline? ...damn. because maddie and danny both called it an alternate timeline by name, it splitting when the college incident went different, so it wouldnt have really mattered if he reset it, right. like because danny's timeline is on a different stream? why didnt clockwork just. show danny a replay and not Reset That Timeline. wh...I wonder how many people that Erased From Existence. Anyway! once again stating clockwork is casually terrifying!

#danny phantom #dp thoughts #sanchoyorambles

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all-hail-the-witcher · 3 years

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kay so this has been bothering me for days

pretty much every character in the witcher is a piece of shit with one or several toxic traits, morally gray values and many flaws which causes them to have toxic relationships.

you might be thinking, hey saph, what the fuck? and i promise theres a point so lemme explain myself.

first up lets talk about jaskier, this fandoms little baby. hes not a main, hes a side and pretty much only there for comic relief, and to drive geralt's storyline by kinda playing the role of destiny. but in canon you cant deny that hes kind of a bitch.

first, he uses geralt for fame. in the show he only becomes famous after toss a coin and theres also the whole thing where hes like “witcher time to repay your debt” in ep 4, which is some severe talking down to. he tries to steal geralts djinn wishes (and then theres the matter of what he tries to wish for), then kinda blames geralt for the whole mess that gets them into, gets mad that geralt wants to save yen when jaskier literally put him in the mess to begin with, and then theres the whole mountain scene thing where jaskier tries to make a pretty shitty joke to lighten the mood (geralt doesnt get jokes on the best days clearly so why now idk). hes definitely not traveling with geralt all the time (which i made a different post about) and is pretty much just using him.

all of that being said jaskier is a great character and definitely brings some much needed lightness to the show. most of the stuff in there is pretty heavy and without a comic relief it would take itself too seriously and probably be really hard to watch. also geralt and jaskiers relationship is important because it shows that geralt actually cares about someone that isn't tied to him through destiny. his flaws allow the audience to see other sides of the characters that he interacts with and how they respond to situations that they might not normally want to be in.

geralt clearly has issues, even if he doesnt know what they are per se. he was abandoned by his mom as a kid, forced to become a witcher (consent issues), has pretty much no friends, is called a monster, murdered a bunch of humans in blaviken, hes not always overly nice to jaskier (but admittedly that could be because jaskier is using him), he ignores all his emotions because witchers aren't supposed to have any, has a pretty grim outlook on life, ties yennefer to him via the djinn, claims the law of surprise and then kinda just abandons ciri until the war, tells yen shed make an awful mother, yells at her for wanting a choice when he took that away from her with the djinn, the list goes on.

but geralt needs these flaws in order to 1. have a story 2. make the story interesting and 3. have a character arc. hes a really well written character because a lot of the time you can tell that he doesnt know what hes doing when he makes shitty decisions because he really doesnt know any better or doesnt know what to do when faced with a decision. hes trying his best (most of the time) and does genuinely seem like he wants to help people even it does frequently blow up in his face cause he doesnt understand human emotions and relationships very well. geralts flaws are needed because they show his humanity (yes its still there) and also drive the story. there would be no story without geralt's flaws.

then we have yennefer. she was shunned by her parents and essentially sold, didnt have a choice in becoming a sorceress, literally tried to kill herself, had a pretty shit relationship with that dude who's name i cant remember, reluctantly became a sorceress and lost the ability to have kids, has major consent issues, appears to be power hungry in some scenes, theres the orgy scene (which yes is supposed to be consensual but that's not really abundantly clear the first time you watch it and people sometimes get upset by it), despite having consent issues tries to rape jaskier who's definitely not into that, pretty much trusts no one and her first focus is usually personal gain.

but much like geralts, all of yennefers flaws are absolutely needed in the show. they sell the fact that she's still the confused scared girl who was unwanted by her parents and show the lasting effects of trauma. they give her substance and direction in the series. she's a main character and she has a rather complex arc with all her flaws and she certainly wants to get better, she just doesnt really know how to go about it properly. her flaws cost her relationships, and overall make her a very tangible character that a lot of people can relate to. they show that although she might be a sorceress, she's not untouchable, she still has issues, she's not perfect, and she has things to learn and grow from.

most people are able to forgive jaskier and geralt for their flaws, but have a harder time with yennefer. objectively, there are huge issues with things that all three of them do. but you cant exploit the flaws of one or two characters to make fanfics interesting and completely make the third character irredeemable because all three of them are overly similar in their mistakes: they all want to protect themselves, want personal gain, and do some questionable things when it comes to consent. morally gray characters are what drives plot and theyre really fun to write about. yennefer deserves the same appreciation jaskier and geralt get. just cause she's a woc doesnt make her flaws any worse than theirs.

#i still have much more to say about this but #hm #witcher #discourse #??#yennefer #yennefer of vengerberg #jaskier #julian alfred pankratz #geralt #geralt of rivia

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anime-grimmy · 4 years

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Little Witch Academia and missed opportunities

Sooo, since I seem to go on a tangent every few months, have another one.

I recently watched the series Little Witch Academia. Now, I did see the original OVA and movie, but that was a few years back, so except for the concept and rough understanding of the characters I went into this show kinda blind. Also, knowing that the series started its own story and changed up a few things got me really interested.

I watched the series and you know what, it was real fun. Great animation and quirky characters, as expected of Trigger. What I didn’t expect was that I got really interested in the story as well. From what I knew about LWA (so, it’s memes) I thought it was mostly an episodic anime, which it was in its first half, but they still carried on the aspects of those single episodes.

However.

The biggest problems I have with the show lie with its characters and the missed opportunities. I do like (most) of the characters, but sometimes it felt like Trigger originally had more planned with them or they just outright shanked them. That is why I’m gonna ramble for a while, go over each character (I care about) and talk about what I like about them but was just not explored enough. Do remember, however, that I still really enjoyed the show and I am considering rewatching it again right away, but these were just some points that got on my nerves while watching.

Well, strap in I guess

(Spoiler warning btw)

Akko

Let’s start with the protagonist, shall we? I’m probably going to mention her a lot with the other characters as well, but first I want to look at her by herself.

Akko is Trigger’s typical high energy character with just a bit of sass. What I like about her is that she is loud, obnoxious, selfish and annoying and the other characters think that too. I normally really don’t enjoy these kinds of characters, even more so when I binge a series, because they get so exhausting. What I like in LWA is that even Akko’s close friends often tell her to calm down or straight up to just shut up. Akko’s character is even more enjoyable because of her great VA (actually the reason I finally picked up the anime). Her animations and reactions are super enjoyable too and tbh, even if she is annoying, she is also the funniest part of the whole show.

But, I’m here to rant, so on to the things that bothered me. Like I said, she is annoying. I can kind of see that it’s not that big of a deal on a weekly basis, maybe then it’s even uplifting. But when you sit through episode after episode it gets exhausting.

What bothers me too is that Akko barely changes. I know not to expect that much subtle character progression from Trigger, since they go from 0 to 100 fast, but it’s even stated in the show. Like the whole thing with patience. Akko was never the patient type but the episode it became the focus, they turned it up to eleven. She became unbearably twitchy and whiny, which was basically your indicator that this was going to be focused on. But after the whole lesson of the ep, in the next one Ursula even says ‘didn’t you just learn to be patient?’. I don’t wish for Akko to take big steps after she gets a lesson, but just show subtle moments where the lesson takes effect. I think it only really bothers me so much because after the ep Akko seems even more impatient.

Another thing is her selfishness / self-righteousness. Diana and Andrew even tell that to her face, that she just shoves her believes in other’s faces without considering how they feel and what their situation is. But she never, even once, doesn’t do it. I get it, it’s her character trait, being the dangerous combo of head-strong and stubborn. But it never, not even once, brings consequences. I thought it would finally happen with the whole Diana situation, because Andrew even points out Akko’s faults, but it all ends well anyways and Akko doesn’t learn at all from this.

I know this is a Trigger protagonist but at some point it just got so frustrating. It’s even sadder when you see what they did with Ryuko in Kill la Kill. Yeah, she’s still her abrasive self in the end, but she does have a more gentle and open side to her too after the show. Akko kind of stays the complete same after the whole show, only that she can do magic better and finally fly (which was honestly a cute ending, ngl). The worst parts, however, were her sad moments towards the end. And I’m not talking about her reaction to learning about Chariot, that was totally ok (though I do have some things to complaint about, but on to that later), but the thing before when she climbed that never-ending tree. Her outburst and her frustration came kind of out of nowhere, at least continuing on from the last episode. Her reasons for being so frustrated and angry make perfect sense, but the build-up is just missing, even in the episode itself. It would have been enough to make Akko look desperately at her Chariot poster a few times or just look really desperate in general after being told ‘no’ by Ursula. But she just looks her usual pouty self when that happens, so her outburst and mistrust in Ursula are very surprising. I do like that that ep is right before the Chariot (betrayal) reveal, because they just made up and got closer, but the episode itself felt so out of left field, it really bothered me.

Sucy and Lotte

Before you say anything, I’m only lumping them together because what bothers me is not their characters by themselves, they’re great and very enjoyable, but how Trigger fucking dropped them halfway through the show.

Sucy and Lotte seem very similar to their OVA and movie selves, though Sucy seems just a tad bit less evil and Lotte not that much of a typical nerd. In general, I really liked those two and their friendship with Akko.

That said.

I find it terrible how little focus they get in the second half of the show. I mean, it’s great they are those kind of friends that don’t necessarily have to hang around the MC all the time, like in the Diana-centric episode where they go ‘We know you want to go after her, so here, have your stuff and go. We’re going to support you but not take part in it’. Things like that are great! But Akko, Sucy and Lotte are supposed to be best friends, the main trio, Sucy and Lotte are supposed to be Akko’s mayor pillars of support. And this is beautifully shown in the earlier episodes, but later in the show it just feels like those two lose significance. What pissed me off the most is that in the second OP you see them grasping each other’s arms, a reference to the tapestry about the 7 lights. But in the end, Akko unlocks the staff and the big magic source by herself. I wished they’d gone more for a ‘Luna Lana’ equivalent. That’s just another thing! I watched the OVA and movie yesterday and their friendship is so much better in those! You see them laugh and fight and stick together, it’s so nice. You don’t get a cool moment like ‘Luna Lana’ in the series and I think they really should have. And no, the missile chase doesn’t count, that involved all girls.

Ultimately, I just think it’s sad that those 3 are supposed to represent this close friendship but the later show doesn’t show it at all. I wished other character-centric episodes, like with Constanze or Diana for example, would have happened sooner so that later episodes could push Akko, Sucy and Lotte’s friendship a bit more.

Speaking of Diana, oh boy, here we go.

Diana and Andrew

Yes, I’m lumping them together because both could have had so much more.

First, Diana. I was actually surprised about her character, because from the little I remember about the OVA and movie, I thought her to be more of a bitch. And I was right. In the first two instalments she is a snobbish, stuck-up, rude bitch, so a Tsundere, but fun in her own rights. Her dynamic with Akko is truly amusing. In the series, however, she is still a bit stuck up, but more just a determined, stern and smart rich girl. She does chastise Akko and is shown as a know-it-all, but she respects others way more and mostly just talks because she knows she’s right. Though, I wish she would have turned out to be something right between the two.

Diana is supposed to be Akko’s rival, so why isn’t she? She’s supposed to be the Viral to Kamina/Simon, the Satsuki to Ryuko, but she just isn’t. Before her little arc, she’s kind of that ‘big goal’, the ‘perfect witch’, so the familiar obstacle that is the rival. Diana even gains some respect for Akko but also gets disappointed in her shortly after (tbh, same). But all this progression is kind of one-sided, because Akko’s perception of Diana barely changes. They don’t really have a dynamic going on in the first half, more so their own development. Heck, in the second OP it’s shown that they’re supposed to mirror Chariot and Croix but they honestly don’t. Because Chariot and Croix were two friends that were striving for the same goal but due to how differently they tried to reach it, they grew apart. Diana is striving for the same power that Chariot and Croix did and Akko, well, she doesn’t, she just goes along because she wants to meet Chariot. Which is fine, but it feels like this ‘rivalry’ is being forced onto them. Maybe that’s also intentional, but it feels weird. Diana even once says ‘I never considered us rivals’, which is understandable, but to me it was more of a surprise that Akko saw her as one. To me, it always felt like, even if Diana didn’t realize it, she viewed Akko as her own goal to reach. Akko on the other hand just gets really miffed with Diana, and yeah, she strives to be as good with magic as her, but there’s no real rivalry, not even an implied one.

Then the whole thing with both being Chariot fans and Diana getting Akko out of her slump. I already said it once, but I still think it should have been Lotte and Sucy who ultimately got her to perk up again (I’ll describe how I think this whole thing should have gone. Again, this is only cos I was unsatisfied with the resolution, the original is fine in itself though). What bothers me so much about this is that it feels like they shoe-horned this whole thing in because that’s how it was in the original. I get what they want to do, get a parallel between Akko and Diana, even more so because they both lost their magic to Chariot, and since they’re closer now than at the beginning Diana manages to reach her. But in the end, it feels forced. Both girls had one adventure together and Diana was just starting to open up to Akko, where the hell did all that understanding come from. It’s even harder to believe because it’s shown that Diana is good at relaying facts and choosing the most logical course of action, she’s not known to just openly share her feelings, more so to someone she just learned to consider a friend. And it also feels kind of lazy that a pep talk from a fellow fan and victim would just push Akko out of her slump. Instead of somehow cramming that fact in and making Diana have lost her power too, they could have gone along the route of ‘so what if she stole your magic, you’re too stubborn to let that stop you!’

Like I said, I’ll go into detail about this scene later, but first.

Andrew.

Oh. My sweet boy, they did you so dirty.

I’m going to say it right now, I love Andrew’s introduction episode, it’s probably one of my favourites. And I also like his addition to the series in general, because whereas Diana is Akko’s feud in personality and ability, Andrew is supposed to be her opposite in ideologies. But he isn’t just a male Diana who doesn’t like magic, though at first they make you think that.

I love his introduction ep so much, because they don’t just introduce an obstacle for Akko, but once again show that the show can play with your expectations. Andrew is first shown as this typical snobby, stuck up rich kid, which he is, but even when faced with someone he disagrees with, he shows a level of respect. Then further in the episode, you see that he is in fact a calm, helpful when a bit teasing individual. It also shows that he actually has fun when in danger, which is a nice change to normally one-note characters. But what I love most about this is, that he is not just this ‘snobby non-believer turned enthusiast through one outing’ cliché. Andrew gets to have a bit of an adventure with Akko and get to see amazing magic at that, but he stays pessimistic. He doesn’t just change his world view in a second, because that’s not what he was raised to do.

Having established all that, every time he shows up, he kind of matters less and less. The whole party episode was fun and all, but with Akko still being stuck in her narcissistic world view, the effect of the ep is small. Because what it really is about, is to show on one hand that Andrew is very subordinate to his father and that his perception of magic isn’t necessarily his own opinion, so there is a possibility to change his mind. On the other hand, it’s to show Akko that some people make decisions not based on their own volition and sometimes their opinion can’t just be changed like that.

But in the end Akko doesn’t learn her lesson and even if they do play a bit with changing Andrew’s mind, there really isn’t much to it. When I heard that originally it was planned for Akko and Andrew to be together at the end, but they scrapped that idea, it made so much sense why Andrew felt so out of place in the last few episode. Because he was. Honestly, it really shows now how they weren’t so sure what to do with him at the end, because he was not supposed to be the one to make that big of an impact, neither on Akko nor on the plot as a whole. He does say something very significant to Akko though, to be her own witch and not try to be Chariot, but that gets kind of brushed under the rug, because again, he isn’t supposed to be the one to make an impact anymore. Same thing with his ‘I believe’. It’s just there to be there, because even if he opened up more to magic and Akko herself, I don’t think he would have been snapped out of his ideology that he got punched into him since he was young and just abandon his father’s decision he had just started to doubt.

I think all of this would have flown better if the whole Diana arc would have been earlier in the series. There would have been more time for Diana and Akko to find a common footing and become believable friends, Andrew would have more reason to be mesmerized by witches and magic, because he didn’t just get to see determination from Akko but from Diana as well (and you kinda have that ‘go against your family’ stuff too) and then, in the later part of the series, there would have been more time for the main trio to develop a bit more.

But even if that hadn’t happened, I just want to get to changing up the scenes after Chariot’s reveal, because I think if they had handled all that a bit better, then the original ending would have felt even more sincere.

Cheering up depressed Akko

Like I said, I find Trigger’s solution to this small arc lazy. Because you start up with Andrew and Akko meeting up to give her hat back, Andrew says stuff that not only gets Akko thinking but himself as well. Then you got the reveal, everybody searching and Diana being the only person needed to cheer her up. I know it can be argued that, only after Lotte comes in crying with the others in tow, Akko cheers up, but I think most of it can be chalked up to Diana, which is such plot convenience. Again, the things that bother me are the whole ‘Chariot fan and victim’ thing and how Lotte, Sucy, Andrew and the others are not really significant in this moment. The biggest thing that bothers me is that they start this mini arc with Andrew telling Akko to be herself and reach her goal with her own strengths in mind, not because she is chasing someone else. But then with Diana, it’s basically a ‘I could do it, so you can do it too’. I know they’re trying to build a parallel between those two and show how Diana opens up to Akko, but I think that just misses the point of what they had sat up.

Before I get to describing my idea, again, you can totally disagree with me, heck, you don’t have to like what I come up with at all. But just know that this is supposed to be a rant and I purposefully highlight the things that bothered me. I still love the show and only rant about it because I know Trigger could have made this already fun show even better.

Anyways, here is how I’d handled this arc:

The start of the arc is still the same. Akko and Andrew meet up, he tells her to believe in her own strength, Akko gets distracted and runs off, Andrew gets thoughtful. You have the whole reveal with Chariot, Akko vanishes and Diana and the others go search for her.

Now, what I want this arc to accomplish is, that Akko learns to believe in her own strengths but also to show how her friends have her back. Because that’s what the whole ending is about, right? Showing how Akko changed people, how they believe in themselves and even more so, believe in her. So, I want all of her friends to play a part in cheering her up, but make Sucy and Lotte the biggest influence of them all.

I’d start the changes from where Diana is nearly at Akko’s location. This time however, she finds Andrew close by. After the whole Parliament meeting stuff, him and his father are still in town and he went out at night, wandering around, deep in thought. He somehow managed to make himself think about his own situation with all that he had told Akko.

Diana, knowing that Andrew had met up with Akko, approaches him and asks if he had seen Akko. Since he is confused and worried after hearing she’s gone, Diana explains the situation and Andrew decides to help them search.

He is also the one that finds Akko first, right on that bench, covered in snow. (this part is a bit inspired by a post I read). He runs over to her, shocked at how cold and unresponsive she is. He gives her his jacket and he brushes the snow from he hair. He sits quietly next to her, worried glances and all. He thinks about what Diana told him and mulls over an answer. In the end, he basically repeats to her what he told her earlier that day and maybe something along the lines ‘and honestly, I wouldn’t believe you don’t have magic, because to me you are truly bewitching’, just so that you have nod back to the party, only now it comes from the heart and not because of a potion. That gets her to perk up and Andrew just gives her a reassuring smile.

Then Diana comes in, finally finding the two. Diana takes Akko to the café, Andrew staying behind. (here Akko could keep his jacket, so that in the end you have the parallel of him bringing her the hat and her returning the jacket). The café scene is kind of similar to the original, but I’d change the reason for Diana’s loss of magic. Instead of her losing her magic abilities all of a sudden, maybe she could have had a tough time manifesting them from the start. But Diana shares with Akko that she was inspired by Chariot too and that kept her going, believing in herself and her magic and finally succeeding. She tells Akko the whole thing with how she got envious of her, but at the same time that, just like Chariot, Akko had kind of become an inspiration as well. Now you don’t have the ‘I could, so you can too.’ but more Diana cementing that Akko has powers of her own and is already influencing people.

Then in come Amanda, Jasminka and Constanze. Amanda goes straight to shaking Akko and ruffling her hair, shouting something about ‘who am I gonna cause trouble with if you go’. Jasminka offers Akko her candies and Constanze shoves plans in her face, trying to show her that she needs her assistant. It’s just small things, but it would allude to the three of them caring about Akko and in Amanda’s and Constanze’s cases, that she had made an impact on them, tying in previous episodes.

Lastly come in Lotte and Sucy. Lotte is still crying and asking her if she was leaving. But they would kind of go into more detail, like a small recap of all that happened and how important she was. They would also talk about how Akko has grown so much already and so what if Chariot had taken her magic, she still inspired Akko and Akko therefore grew into her own witch that now inspires people.

After that, Akko finally snaps out of it totally, maybe grinning full force before sobbing and burying herself in Lotte and Sucy’s arms.

I think in general with a recap of the show so far and showing Akko’s journey, it would be a good set-up for the end. You got Akko back on her feet, her faith rebuilt but also her believe in herself strengthened. You got the bond between the characters established which makes the chase after the missile more impactful and you actually got more reason for Andrew to cement his own believes more. (maybe have him walk in the café too, just so he sees how many people Akko has inspired but also how much people can believe in magic)

But like I said many times already, this is just my take on what could have been handled better a bit. I still really love the show and its characters. I don’t necessarily want a whole new season, since they did wrap up many things already, but I’d love a movie or some OVAs to explore some characters more in depth.

Speaking of which, I’m just going to drop this here at the end, because I do want to talk about it but not that in depth. The thing about Ursula/Chariot and Croix. I kind of enjoyed the OVA-Ursula more, because she was kind of spunky and you could tell that she believed in her own strength. Series-Ursula is a freaking Jedi, but she is just so meek and nervous, and that even as Chariot, which I didn’t really like. Croix is an interesting character and I love me my evil scientists, but she turned generic antagonist at the end. As expected, tbh. The only thing about Croix I want to highlight is that I believed so hard that she and Andrew were somehow linked or related. Because when you binge the series, Croix shows up shortly after Andrew’s introduction. And in a series with so many unique eyes, they have the fucking same. I just thought that Trigger was hinting at something, because not only do they have a very similar shape and the exact same string green colour, the first few episodes with them heavily focus the camera on their eyes. Especially with Croix! It felt like the anime told me ‘look, look close at those eyes, seem familiar, right?’. I waited so long for something to happen but it never did, what a shame. Though, maybe they did have something planned but just like the initial ending, they scrapped that idea but left the designs untouched.

Anyways, I’ve been ranting for over 4000 words now, I think that should be enough for one little analysis. If you have your own thoughts, feel free to share them with me!

#little witch academia #rant #review?#akko kagari #sucy manbavaran #lotte jansson #diana cavendish #andrew hanbridge #amanda o'neill #jasminka antonenko #constanze amalie von braunschbank albrechtsberger #ursual #chari #croix

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amyltia · 4 years

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Dark side, hope and redemption : Anakin and Ben

After watching the behind the scene of TROS, it was said that one way to differenciate Kylo from Ben was hopeful/hopeless. I didn’t realize that, but it does add a new light on the saga for me (maybe what I’m about to say has been obvious for a long time - like 42 years - but it never struck me clearly).

The dark side is emotion uncontroled, pain, selfishness. The light side is control, moderation, giving. Works pretty well with the 3 main couples of the saga (a meta I’m working on). I still think that’s true, but there is a another perspective possible : hope is light side and dark side is hopelessness. Let’s analyse what it means and focus on what it says of Anakin and Ben’s redemption arcs.

1. “Surrender to it” : The dark side is the side of hopelessness

A. When all is lost, “surrender to it” : the dark side’s motto

Characters fall to the dark side when they have lost hope of being good.True villains don’t even have that wish, but Anakin and Ben “surrender to it” when they don’t believe they can be good again or that something good could happen for them. Let’s not forget that Vader and Kylo, while being those persona, are in constant pain and their life is misery, they surrender to the dark side because they have lost the hope that things could change, they are hopeless.

Darth Vader lost the life he had built, his love, his statut, his friends, etc all impossible to retrieve. But in recent comics we learn that he did try and had hope to bring Padmé back, but is that the same hope we’re talking about ? Then all sith have hope, Palpatine more than anyone, but we call that ambition and it is. What is the difference between hope and ambition ? In SW at least, I think hope is something good you can do (saving someone but for the saved one good, not the idea of Vader when he tries to bring Padme back - in ep 3, Anakin wanted Padmé to rule with him on the path of the dark side, nothing says it has changed). Hope is that you can be good or that something good that you wish for could happen. The real question is what is good then ? It’s a vast question indeed but let’s say good is “what doesn’t hurt anyone”.

Kylo Ren feels abandonned by his family, feels like it’s too late and he already is a monster. It even shows in The Rise of Kylo Ren comics, that he turns when all hope is gone aka [SPOILER when the temple is destroyed, when he believes Luke is dead, his three camarades too and especially Tai the only one telling him he could come back. Tai dead, Ben “surrenders” to the dark side and kills Voe, becoming the leader of the knights of Ren], from there there is no coming back (...until Rey!). He has became hopeless and had to surrender to the dark side and he “can’t come back to [Leia] now” as he says to Rey in TROS. He has lost his family and has no hope of finding them again, and that is what differenciates Kylo Ren from Rey : she has lost her family too but she maintains the hope of a family reunion. Tho being a delusion it is ambiguous but it still kept her alive.

When something bad happen, sinking in despair is what leads characters to the dark side.

N. B. There are then two types of characters : the jedi who turn to the dark side (Anakin, Ben) and those who become ermits and exile themselves (Yoda, Obi wan, Luke). It’s not the same reaction, it seems like experienced jedi who have failed as protectors and teachers of others don’t turn dark side but exile themselves. But young characters whose own life is ruined (at a very personnal level) turn to the dark side. Yoda, Obi wan and Luke decision to exile is not so spontaneous, and Obi wan and Yoda even had time to look for a solution : they have been desperate when Anakin turned to the dark side and after order 66, but they made up a plan (to separate the twins, protect them, etc).

For Anakin and Ben, they can’t look forward and give in to despair. But sometimes they try to move on from what happened, to rebuild their life with the hope that things could get better. This is what Ben begins to do in TLJ, leading to the hesitation of the legacy saber in the throne room.

B. The case of Ben in TLJ : finding “a new hope” and reaching the neutral area

In TLJ Ben is torn apart, his attraction for the light side rises and he finds hope again : he turns to the future, he wants to repair his life, his has this HOPE that he can, with Rey, move on and “let the past die”. I always wondered why when he says this it doesn’t sound like a dark side thing, and it’s disturbingly neutral (neither good nor bad) while being the “main villain”’s big project [it’s like Palpatine main goal being not full wicked and having us think “oh maybe, yeah it could be a good idea to destroy planets and rule the galaxy with fear under a sith’s command”]. The good/evil rate of the character main goal IS the character’s position on the good/evil spectrum, that’s why Palps is full dark side and Ben in TLJ gets closer to Rey’s position on this spectrum, closer than ever while he is Kylo Ren : that’s why the legacy saber hesitates between the two. He has at this moment a hope for his future.

In TLJ, Kylo and Rey both move on this spectrum and meet in a neutral/grey area (on the spectrum below, Palps works as a control sample)

Dark side : Palps (ruling), Kylo in TFA (surrending to the dark side)

Neutral (aka grey) : Kylo in TLJ (ruling with Rey for a new order, moving on : hope of a future), Rey in TLJ (she lost hope on her family but wants to be good)

Light side : Rey in TFA (being good and hope of finding her family)

But hope is found and hope is lost for Ben in TLJ : right after the throne room scene, because of Rey’s refusal he goes full dark side back (aka trying to kill Luke and the Resistance) because he has lost what made him reach the grey area in the first place : the hope that Rey could help him move on.

In their last force bond in TLJ, after Crait, he has one last moment of hope...only to be rejected again, destroying the last bit of hope and of light side in him.

My guess is that that is why we see him so determined in TROS, he sunk back into despair but like in TLJ he still wish to move on from it with Rey, only he wants Rey for selfish reasons (just like Vader tried to bring Padmé back to help himself).

2. The light side is hope

Luke was "the new hope" of the galaxy. At the end of TLJ, his projection and implication has brought once again hope in the galaxy (as the broom boy shows us)

Ben has hope again. (SPOIL COMICS in those we may assume while he was Ben Solo that tho he felt it difficult to belong to the Jedi Academy, he had hope he still could fit in, it’s the loss of that hope for the reasons shown it those comics that makes him turn). TURNS because he believes he’s gone too far, can’t fit in and won’t be accepted. Believes it’s too late. TURNS again because he understands it’s not too late and he can still save Rey and do good, hope in himself that he is not the monster he thinks he is.

Anakin : he wants to be good and has the hope he can (and he does great until the end of episode 3). He has hope to stop being a slave and win the race in TPM, to become a Jedi and win Padme’s love in AOTC, to save her in ROTS....until one point. TURNS because he lost hope to save his mother and then to save Padme. TURNS again because he has hope to save Luke and to be good again, once again hope in himself to not be the monster he thinks he is.

Rey has the hope her parents will return. When she lost this hope in TLJ she could have went full dark side but she succeeds in the trial and stays in the light. But in TROS when the trial, like in a fairy tale, presents itself for the second time, she almost fails : learning that she comes from darkness makes her slowly lose hope in herself, therefore falling to the dark side. She doesn’t completely but she does get close.

There goes the second spectrum :

Dark side : Palps (ruling), Kylo in TFA and TROS (surrending to the dark side), Darth Vader (lost hope in life and himself, believe power will compensate his despair)

Darkish : Rey in TROS (on the process of loosing hope in herself)

Neutral (aka grey) : Kylo in TLJ (ruling with Rey for a new order, moving on : hope of a future), Rey in TLJ (she lost hope on her family)

Light side : Rey in TFA (being good and finding her family), Luke, Anakin, Ben (hope they can do good)

N.B. This meta is not about Luke so I won’t complete his journey on the spectrum (in TLJ I mean)

N.B 2 A meta about power and dark saide/light side could be a good addition to this one.

3. Hope for redemption : Luke and his father in OT VS Rey and Ben (TLJ VS TROS)

In ROTJ, it was Luke who had hope he father could be redeemed, in TLJ it’s Rey who has hope for Ben. So far it’s the same

But in TROS it changes : Rey succombing slowly to the dark side has (according to the theory I just explained) lost hope on Ben. Still can debate on why she healed him right after stabbing him (hope ? love ? regret ? no wish to kill ?). And Kylo Ren who didnt have hope, after the stabbing and healing and scene with Han gets hope again. Her compassion makes him gain hope in himself and he understands that “as long as he’s with her he is on the right path” (quote from the Making of of TROS).

So while TLJ repeats the dynamic of hope and redemption of the OT, TROS breaks it (but I think it’s a good thing). Rey has lost hope in Kylo Ren and in herself, or at least is in the process of losing it.

1- As she is surrending to the dark side, she looses hope on what she believed (herself and Ben) : the correlation is there. So far the theory works.

2- So the hope of Ben’s redemption still comes from Rey (the compassionate act of healing him, but it is not her first motive like it was for Luke or in TLJ, it is only a side effect), Leia and the memory of Han, but from himself too. Vader saves his son and it redeems him, but Ben is redeemed before he does anything, his turn is mental, it is a decision : he decides to go save Rey, and from that decision, due to his resurgence of hope in himself, he turns good again. It’s a small difference but it’s important because it’s the difference between Ben and Anakin redemptions : Anakin acts spontaneously and this good act redeems him, Ben has to FIRST forgive himself to be redeemed, his redemption is much easier, it only takes him to forgive himself and have hope in himself again, just with that he is Ben Solo again.

Conclusion

Anakin and Ben have very similar arcs but the differences are important. First, in the third movie of each trilogy : while Luke actively saves Vader, Rey doesn’t and it’s up to Kylo himself to complete this function on himself. Secondly, it takes a spontaneous action to Vader to be redeemed, while Kylo just has to gain hope in himself. Ben litteraly was his own biggest enemy. It’s not saving Rey that makes him turn, he already had, while Vader understands afterwards that he has turned. Ben’s redemtpion is a mental and psychological process, a decision, a choise consciensously made, while Anakin understands afterwards that he had turned, after his spontaneous act. Two different redemptions for two different journeys. But both show the HUGE importance “hope” has and always has had in the Star Wars universe - it’s not for nothing that the very first movie is titled “A New Hope”. The PT, OT and ST have this core thematic continuity about hope being the way to the light side, and despair and hopelessness leading to the dark side.

There are three types of characters according to this hope distinction. Wether it is to fight this despair, to find hope again thanks to someone or from within, Ben and Anakin have the most complex relation to hope and display the spectrum of intention the most extreme. On the other hand, Luke is the representation of hope in the OT and he regains that status again at the end of TLJ. Third type is Rey, she seems to be like Luke but absolutely isn’t (which is great). She is much more greyish and is always fighting to maintain her hope (in her family, in herself, in Ben), because she is aware of her weakness and choses denial to maintain this hope. That’s why it’s very intersting in TROS to see her loosing this hope from time to time, but not enough to be surrending to the dark side. Because she understood the primary lesson of Star Wars : that the best way to remain in the light side or to get to it is to have and to find hope, I think that’s my favourite lesson from Star Wars.

Others main meta

(1) Force jump/flying (TROS meets The Rise of Kylo Ren or Kylo Ren finally meets his peer in Rey) :

(2) TROS’s Ben as a mirror to Anakin’s arc or what is a Skywalker ?

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gem-rewatch · 5 years

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SU rewatch- S1E8- Serious Steven

It’s this point of this season (both this ep and the last) where the characters, humor, and overall tone of the show first starts to truly mesh, I think, giving us a representative human-focused story and Gem-focused story.

This episode in particular is actually a personal favorite of mine, too- I always love the way the writers/board artists structured it, hinting towards the flashback sequence early on and then later returning to that thread to influence Steven’s outlook and decisions of current events. Starting with an out-of-context glimpse at Steven’s Funland disaster immediately acts as a curiosity hook to the audience and establishes his internal desperation to get this mission right.

Steven, probably: “Welp, I’m grounded!”

But on a more serious note, the context we learn later in the episode about what happened here is a prime example of Steven’s lack of focus on the consequences of his actions. He’s still very young, after all- only twelve. And like most twelve year olds, he’s more concerned with how he can have fun in the present than how his decisions will affect the future. It’s only to be expected.

Pearl: (about his ukulele) “Why did you bring that?” Steven: “I don’t know! I was excited, and it’s mine, and I like it!”

This episode, however, is where this kid makes his first steps towards maturity. Towards thinking before he acts. Towards letting his past inform his present. In my opinion, this is where his coming of age truly begins.

Initially, just like the teacup incident, Steven seems to have chronic unwise decision disease- he’s far more preoccupied in keeping his belongings safe or running away from bugs, etc etc. He’s distractible, and it’s to the point where Pearl’s genuinely questioning his safety on this mission. After all, this is the first time they’re bringing him on a mission that involved legitimate stakes and danger- the Sea Spire doesn’t count, because they took him there as a test. Garnet advocates for him, though. She probably has been catching faint glimpses of the future, of a Steven who’s more well rounded, more focused- and gets the sense that whatever happens today will lead him towards this.

We gain our first glimpse of the Strawberry Battlefield! One of the most stunning locations in the show. It’s highly suggested that this is the first time they’ve returned to this place since the war.

Pearl: “Unbelievable! This was one a Gem battlefield. Now it’s wild strawberries as far as the eye can see! Oh, that’s what I love about the Earth.”

We’re also treated to our first major dose of Gem history, through the murals inside the inverted pyramid.

Both the new Great Diamond Authority symbol seem on the floor (the three clustered triangles design) and the subject matter of these murals suggest that this pyramid was constructed at some point during the height of the war, just after Pink Diamond was “shattered.” It’s to be assumed this structure was then intended as a death trap for rebel Gems.

These images laud White Diamond as Gemkind’s savior, with hands outreached towards her in celebration and worship. There’s an image of Rose Quartz and her army facing White- perhaps holding out Pink’s gemstone as if taunting her- but White is depicted in the more powerful stance in this mural, attacking in retaliation. Below are small glimpses of the trials our Crystal Gems face later in the episode. None of the little mural people survive in these, a hint of the danger to come

Overall, what we’re seeing here is Homeworld war propaganda.

Steven may not have fallen gracefully, but he’s pretty dang durable for making a belly flop onto solid stone like that and walking away. As many people have pointed out, this sequence is paralleled in Change Your Mind but with Steven lightly floating to the ground, representative of him both growing into his powers and confidence in himself.

I just think this screenshot is hilarious- Pearl’s carrying him under her arm like a dang briefcase! Helicopter mom alert.

Pearl: “But this could be the teacups all over again...” Steven: “Hey! I’ve put that behind me.”

The thing is, he hasn’t. I get the sense that internally, behind all the hammy goofs and his guise of confidence, he’s incredibly, self-consciously aware of the fact that this mission is imperative to his future as a Crystal Gem. It’s redemption for his first screw up, for his mistake at Funland. If he messes this up too, there’s every possibility that the Gems might not let him go on missions for a while longer, and that’s the last thing Steven wants. He looks up to these three so much and he wants to spend time with them, wants to learn more about this part of his heritage, wants to be like them.

A large part of Steven’s coming of age is also rooted in his realization that these missions aren’t just “fun times.”

Steven: “Woo-ho! That was, uh- seriously dangerous.”

Up until now, I don’t think it’s fully hit him exactly how life-and-death Gem missions have the potential of being for him yet. As the others are saying, he legitimately needs to take this more seriously- for his own safety.

Garnet: “But be careful. You might trigger a trap with that gun show.”

Garnet, I love you.

Steven: “Maybe there’s a clue hidden in these ancient drawings.”

SU theorists be like...

No, but actually though- that’s kinda a clever way to blatantly hint to the kiddos watching this show that they should pay attention to what’s carved into the walls.

Even if this idea kinda backfires for Steven, it was at least a good idea!

Of course Amethyst can sleep on spiny teacup rides. And Pearl, what- what are you even doing. You’re not even- god, Pearl, what did you think this teacup ride was FOR?

Steven: “I think I need to get off this ride now-” (heckin... just... jumps off the teacup while it’s suspended in midair.)

Me internally: “YOU FRICKIN FRICKS! WHEN WILL YOU REALIZE-!! THAT YOUR ACTIONS! HAVE CONSEQUENCES!”

See, his issue here is that he only thinks as far as he can see- how can he solve his current problem? A whole lot of his personal growth is learning how his actions have ramifications, and beginning to recognize what those might be.

Garnet: “It’s okay.” Steven: “No! No, it’s not! You were all right about me. I wanted to do this so bad, but now I feel like I’m gonna throw up. This is just like the teacups!”

Despite his distractibility, one of Steven’s greatest strengths has always been his unique perspective. No Gem would ever notice what’s wrong with this pyramid because no Gem would get motion sick. But since he’s half human he’s able to feel its effects. Subtle but clever.

I can’t believe Pearl Gemsplained Steven.

Steven: Garnet, I need to get off the ride now!”

He’s taking a moment to warn her of what he plans on doing. Which means he’s also spent time considering his action’s possible consequences- for the first time, he’s taking the risk seriously! My little baby’s growin’ up! ;D;

This lil pyramid on top looks exactly like an artistic depiction of White Diamond. It’s spooky.

This whole scene is beautiful. What good, more-fluid-than-usual animation. The lighting in it is so cool aaaaaa :DD

Pearl: “I’d say you handled that adventure very well.”

AAAAA LOOK AT HIM, HIS FIRST RETRIEVED GEM ARTIFACT ON A MISSION!!! Well done you funky lil’ kiddo, you did it!

*wipes away tear* They grow up so fast...

#su #steven universe #su meta #serious steven #garnet #pearl #amethyst #jen rewatches su

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comeallyelost · 5 years

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The Handmaid’s Tale 3x07 Thoughts and first half of Season 3 Review

Okay gonna break it down by the story lines that were going on here. This episode seriously went absolutely nowhere, but made sure we still got some of that token Gilead suffering just to remind us--again--how horrible this place can be.

1.June/Hannah/Mrs. Lawrence

June had no plan. What was she going to do once she saw Hannah? Say Hi? Mrs. Lawrence is also a mystery. We had ample chance to learn about her and Joseph, but nothing of substance really came up. I liked the narrative in ep 5 about their courtship with the cassette tapes. But we haven't gotten much beyond that. If we're spending so much time on June at the Lawrence's, why can't we explore who they are? Lawrence is a conundrum but beyond those few scenes in eps 2 and 3, we haven't seen him and June interact in any meaningful way. And Mrs. Lawrence comes off as a recluse who's gone crazy and is some version of a hysterical woman who can't handle things and honestly, that seems like a disservice in a series that is supposed to prioritize the story lines of women in this society.

1.5 June/OfMatthew

Okay the instant we met OfMatthew they tried to make it seem like she couldn't be trusted. June made a couple of attempts to try and feel her out, but it hasn't worked so far. I'm tired of them doing that thing where they imply there is more to the character, but never actually explore it. This girl is pregnant for like...the fourth time poor thing. But then she's "saving June's life"? Why is Aunt Lydia asking her to keep tabs on June anyway? I get why June lashes out afterwards and one thing I love love loved was the Handmaids instantly shielding her from the guardians. But...in the end OfMatthew's actions ended up costing the life of Hannah's Martha and no direct repercussions to June.

Why is June spared? I feel like she's been able to get away with way too much at this point. At the Waterford house it made more sense because there was so much more at stake and they were all somehow involved. But now? Here? June is just being stupid and going nowhere. And OfMatthew is a question I really want answered but feel like it probably won't happen.

2. Emily & Moira

Loved it. Absolutely. Not nearly enough. I want Emily coming out of her shell, figuring out the kind of person she has become, how she copes, her leaning on Moira for support. Her realizing that she can fight from the outside. This was too short. Moira and Emily MADE IT OUT. We need their stories, their voices. It doesn't just end once they're out. As the series moves forward, there NEEDS to be more of a focus on Canada and the refugee experience of these characters that we watched suffer and become another version of themselves in Gilead. It won't detract from the narrative, it'll just shift it. In it's natural direction imo.

3. The Waterfords in DC

Again, this went absolutely nowhere . We have this mystery new commander and Esme Cullen and they seem to have something to offer, but nothing has moved forward. Dirty politics? Adultery? Ooh ahh -_- but nothing has actually...happened?

We already saw last ep that Fred and Serena were well on their way to repairing their relationship. I do like the notion that they work best when they're plotting something together or working towards something together. Serena wants her power back and ironically, working on par with Fred is what makes their relationship thrive. Even though she worked with him to build a world in which all the power is stripped from women. But since this has already been set in motion, why the dance? Figuratively and literally lol. Give. Us. Forward. Movement.

Overall S3 Thoughts so far:

Why is it so stagnant this season? Even if Hulu is ordering more episodes and they want to stretch it out, at least give us some new content, some new stories. I would KILL for Janine or Alma's backstories. Why not go that route? We all know by this point that Janine isn't actually crazy and Alma we have zero knowledge of but know she seems to have been involved in the resistance from pretty early on. Tell us about Alma! And through her, tell us about the resistance~!!!!!!~!~@!!!!

The world of Gilead was already established early on in the series and we've seen little sprinkles of how it came to be through backstories and elements of the Handmaids' daily routines. GIVE US SOMETHING NEW. AGH. We don't need to see more suffering, more executions. I thought this season was going to be about fighting back! There is literally so much that goes unsaid, so many untapped characters that are made to be nuanced but nothing about them is ever actually explored.

Seven episodes in and what's new?

- June has a new posting but we still know nothing concrete or valuable about the Lawrence's or about the resistance movement which seems to at least partially operate out of that house

- The baby is safe in Canada with Luke and Moira, butwe know nothing about their lives there. What's it like living as a refugee? With a baby? We get some of that just now in 3x07 with Emily and Moira, but like I mentioned above, it's not nearly enough. It's like a little tease? Like the potential is THERE why not dedicate more screen time to this story?

- June told Luke the truth, but we haven't seen Luke in 2 episodes and we only really saw his reaction to the recording as he listened to it. Did he tell Moira? How is he coping? What is Moira thinking?

- Serena pulled her usual "j/k Ima do what suits me not you" and Fred is along for the ride to like...gain more power? We see a new Commander come into play here but after two eps we still know nothing? we're just...kinda suspicious.

- Nick has been so MIA it's not even funny. He gets promoted but we really don't know why/how? He gets deployed but was hanging around DC for those few weeks after he said goodbye to June? June finds out some (not-so-surprising) info about her baby daddy but we don't see her cope with it or address it at all?

Look at all these BUTS

The stories are being set up but not fully executed and I can't fathom WHY. Also, these setups could have been done in maybe 4-5 episodes instead of SEVEN.

Hulu has been really quiet about the second half of the season which I think we are officially entering into now with Ep 8. So maybe everything picks up like crazy at the end. Here's hoping. 😞

#the handmaid's tale #3x07 #tht #season 3 #june osborne #nick x june #june x nick #nick blaine #serena joy waterford #fred waterford #handmaids tale #hulu #reviews

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formerlyrunephoenix6769 · 5 years

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Catra: Journey to Redemption.

(Long post and spoilers for Season 1 SPOP)

In the run up to the release of ‘She-Ra: Princesses of Power.’ season 2 on April 26th 2019, I have been seeing lots of posts about our resident, ‘misguided; villain and all around badass who knows damn well how to rock a suit.

Yes, of course, I am talking about Catra!

The nature of the posts I have been seeing have all had a similar vein or sentiment.

“Give Catra her redemption arc.” or “Start Catra’s redemption arc.”

I am just as hopeful as the the next person for Catra to have a redemption arc, if that is in fact what Noelle Stevenson and the rest of the team have planned for the character. But one thing I will say, is ‘patience’ and a small warning to be prepared,

Catra is going to get much worse before she can even begin to get better!

Catra could not possibly even begin to start on a path of redemption by the end of S2 because at the end of S1, she hasnt even begun to explore the full depths of her villainy. (Being we dont know exactly how many seasons are planned, or what the overall narrative end goal is when it comes to the final conflict and Good triumphing over Evil, much of this is speculative.

We can however use Avatar Last Airbender and the industry standard of best Redemption Arc ever, in all mediums, Zuko, and their timeline, which I think Noelle Stevenson said in an interview that if a redemption arc was to occur, that they would like to do something that could stand next to Zuko’s redemption arc.

I will also be using Joseph Campbell’s Hero With a Thousand Faces, and his hero’s journey map as a resource but try implement it for villains)

If you would like to take a look at my thoughts on redemption arcs in general the feel free to check out the link below.

https://formerlyrunephoenix6769.tumblr.com/post/182640410231/are-all-villains-redeemable

I’ll be covering similar sentiments here.

Ok first.

TIMELINE:.

ATLAB is only 3 BOOKs long, however the number of episodes, 61 over all, containing 20 minimum in each Book is far more than SPOP’s standard 13, meaning that technically Zuko’s redemption arc played out over just under 6 SPOP seasons, meaning that Zuko’s penultimate episodes, detrimental to his redemption arc, ‘Blue Spirit’ episode 13 in Book 1 and ‘Zuko Alone’ Episode 7 of Book 2, didnt technically take place until till the end of season 1 and half way through season 3 ... going off an SPOP standard time.

Meaning there was over a season and a half between Zuko doing something right for the wrong reasons and also then moving off to really begin the start of his redemption arc in earnest, which he continues to struggle with right the way into Book 3 ( season 5/6)

The difference here, I would also like to point out is that Zuko at the very beginning of ATLAB is already technically way ahead of Catra due to him being physically away from his ‘abuser’ and direct control of the life long indoctrination. He also has one up on Catra at this point as he has a ‘Mentor/Guide’ helping to facilitate the transition and help him see the error of his ways.

Technically, this puts Zuko’s character development on the road to redemption (OTRTR) at least ONE season ahead of Catra. Meaning that his moment of ‘doing something right for the wrong reasons’ in ‘Zuko Alone.’ does not take place until at least the end of season 2, SPOP standard time!

In other words...

It's going to take some time for a pussy riot to manifest.

Taking this into account.

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES.

We can not continue without addressing the fact that there are many similarities and differences between the supposed ‘villains’.

Both were the Scape Goat to a favoured Golden Child yet their interactions with the ‘Gold Child’ are vastly different.

For Zuko, Azula was an antagonist. For Catra, Adora was an ally.

Both suffered abuse from their primary caregiver, both were belittled and chastised for supposedly being ‘lesser’. However the fundamental difference is their reactions, Zuko continued to attempt to receive his Father’s favour, whilst Catra, on the surface didn't care, resulting in acting rebelliously.

Both have issues surrounding self worth and how they express it is vastly different.

Zuko is hugely unaware of his ‘Empire’s’ indoctrination and the imperialistic rule, believing the propaganda he was raised with.

Whilst Catra is fully aware of the Horde and its intentions.

And I think this is worthy of note!

Their ‘villainy’ and motivations are seated in entirely different places.

Zuko starts out wishing to ‘reclaim his honour’, prove his worth in his father’s eyes, and reclaim his birthright as the heir to the Fire Nation throne, in the words of his sister,

It is only as he travels over the next SPOP SDT, 4 seasons that he realises his true purpose.

Catra, is aware the Horde is evil, is given an opportunity to leave, but chooses not to, instead she willingly sets herself on a dark path to gain power and prove her self worth to everyone around her, esp her abuser, step mom of the year, Shadow Weaver,

Thus setting up the whole shenanigans of SPOP season 1.

CONFLICT.

As I covered in my previous post in the link above, a redemption arc cannot occur without showing that the ‘villain’ is conflicted.

A redemption should be a slow burn, from starting point of why/how they are villains, also showing the seeds of discontent, inner conflict, conflict of their actions, conflict of their ideals, whether indoctrinated/learned/or their own misguided musings, then later a larger amount of focus should be placed on how they have overcome that villainy and change of perspective culminating with coming full circle.

What makes Zuko’s particular redemption arc so good is the work that goes into showing this. The time, the attention to detail, not being shied away from by the writers, that intentionally trickles down and infuses with the character’s essence of being.

Yes, Catra is conflicted about her relationship with Adora and what Adora means to her.

This conflict about her and Adora’s relationship was partially resolved with Catra taking Adora’s motivations the wrong way, due to her own issues surrounding her self worth.

This ‘resolution’ only serves to push Catra further down the a dark path.

But we have yet to see Catra conflicted about her actions and dont expect to see that happen until after we see her fully embrace her villainy, which by the end of S1, she was nowhere near close to doing. (See Triggers and Turning points)

Meaning that “Catra Alone” might not even occur until midway S3 and actual beginnings of feeling conflicted about her actions, until S4.

TRIGGER A TURNING POINT.

So we have discussed conflict. Conflict about ones actions can come about in many different forms, but it must be triggered by something that is enough to shake the core foundations of a villains motivations.

In order for it to be believable and carry weight, a villain cannot suddenly overnight go,

And the protagonists accept it at face value, as the audience wont.

A redemption should be a slow burn, from starting point of why/how they are villains and most importantly, focus on how they have struggled to overcome that villainy and change their perspective.

The link below is to a previous post, with an avenue of thought of what could trigger Catra on ONRTR.

https://formerlyrunephoenix6769.tumblr.com/post/182601000156/catra-could-she-be-a-lost-princess-and-if-so

Another avenue of thought is that Adora is gravely injured. I am not normally one for such an easy and over done trope but in this instance it is highly possible, because as it stands now, Catra has never nastily physically injured Adora, only She-Ra!

(When she raked her darn claws down She-Ra’s back. Showing that Catra see’s a difference between to two personalities and isn't as of yet willing to cross that line... Maybe crossing that line will be a stepping stone to embracing her chosen darker path?)

In fact, Catra has gone out of her way to avoid just that, much preferring to go after Adora emotionally.

FALLING INTO OLD PATTERNS:

Even after ‘Zuko Alone’ and the Ba Sing Say arc, Zuko begins on a false start redemption by bonding with Katara but by the next episode falls back into old patterns by choosing to side with Azula as the ties that bind and the potential to reclaim his birthright is too hard to ignore.

Which is totally normal for a teenager.

This adds so much depth to his inner conflict, a catalyst that later cements his realisation at his true purpose, ushering him through the gates of his redemption arc, towards trying to make amends with the protagonists before they can accept him.

Catra strikes me as someone who will never be wholly ‘good’, in the sense of the word when it is applied to Bow, Glimmer or Adora, but rather someone who will make super dark comments and morally grey suggestions of how to deal with an issue, which is what we have been shown of her from the very beginning.

It is hard to say is Catra will ever have this step in a redemption arc due to her already morally grey nature, this could very well be skipped over entirely.

Narratively speaking and characterization wise, this particular part of an arc could present itself not as a ‘false start’ but could come from ‘Subterfuge and infiltration’ , whereby Catra pretends to come to their side only for her to betray them later, for her own ends.

OR,

We could very well have a ‘false start’, where she is trapped with any of the protagonists and they need to work together to escape, similar to the aptly named ATLAB ep 40 ‘The Crossroads of Destiny’ and SPOPS s1e9 ‘Promise’, which would be a nice mirror, from a narrative standpoint, only for her to run off and return to the Horde once free.

Again note, that this false start occured for Zuko the very end of S3 SPOP SDT.

CONCLUSIONS.

Before Catra’s Redemption arc can come to fruition , we need her to go on her journey. Something akin to this, but for villains.

On this map, if Resurrection is Catra being genuinely accepted by the protagonists as being changed and truly on their side. I would see Catra as in between Meeting of Mentor (Hordak) and Crossing the Threshold into full blown villany

So, we need to see her,

1) Become a true villain.

2) 1st Trigger.

3) baby Conflict

4)False start, falling into old patterns

5) 2nd Trigger

6)Conflict and Realisation/ (Seizing the Treasure)

7) Through the Gates

8) Trial of Proof.

9) Acceptance/Resurrection.

We could be waiting for some time for a Catra redemption arc to kick in, and please dont be disappointed or frothing at the mouth if we dont see it starting in Season 2... No matter how much you want it out of the way so that ‘other’ things can occur..

Please keep in mind..

A good Redemption Arc has to be earned! And doing it well takes time!

MEANWHILE ...

There is ALL OF THIS....

I dont even know where to begin starting to unwrap all this tension and awkwardness.,

Think I’m going to leave that for a an entirely different post.

#spop #redemption arc analysis #character analysis #avatar last airbender #catadora #catra #adora #glimmer #bow #zuko #atlab #prince zuko #catra redemption arc #formerlyrunephoenix spop analysis #long post

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yuzuria · 6 years

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taesachi, kagunobu, riza hawkeye

thx bio chan~

001 | taesachi

when I started shipping it if I did:

two years ago?? i saw a short drabble from a former following and it hooked me up instantly

my thoughts:

bitc they’re everywhere in canon and have a solid rship despite being not the focus which is unfortunate bc neither of them had a central arc but we’ve all been blind for years, they’re fucking and in love and only me and bio chan are enlightened ones

What makes me happy about them:

they’re rivals who bicker a lot like a married couple, harmless rivals to lovers is my jam, they will fight each other to death and will fight scum together like *winks* they teamed up to end some certain blondie in popularity poll arc

What makes me sad about them:

it’s the most underrated ship out there, so overlooked, ppl wouldn’t even spare it a glance bc again unfortunately neither of them had a central arc about their own character not their rship to some rando

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

there’s like 2 entries in ao3

things I look for in fanfic:

not much, i want sorachi himself to provide that content, also more 3z taesachi pls

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

nooope, they’re a solid otp for me

My happily ever after for them:

they move in together with tae quitting her cabaret work by opening her dojo and sacchan continues to work undercover and goes home late and they fuck

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

sacchan/tae

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

they cook together and make the humanity’s ultimate weapon

001 | kagunobu

when i started shipping it if i did:

three years ago??? when i met aurora for sure

my thoughts:

blue/red combo, power couple, rivals to friends to lovers, shy lesbabes, strong sunshine/cool assassin, purest, also best aesthetic with older kagura, nobume is the ruthless cold swordswoman but mentally screaming and blushing when kagura compliments her??!?!?! good sshit

what makes me happy about them:

earth is a star of freedom!!!! i rlly love that nobume’s own arc was resolved with the help of kagura with them relating being bound by their origin and learning to gain freedom for oneself, it’s very sweet!! kagura calls nobume “nobutasu” in canon and im deceased

what makes me sad about them:

again an overlooked ship, and also there’s a discourse that uwu kagura is only 14 meanwhile nobume is 18 (it’s not even confirmed pals she’s like 16-17 at best) so it’s uwu uwu pedophilic and even if she’s at that age we both know she wouldn’t make a move on kagura until she’s in appropriate age bc neither of them are men

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

if there’s no improvement for over a year, there’s prob only 3 of them existing

things i look for in fanfic:

3z kagunobu.... transfer student nobume wearing a black sailor uniform with long skirts and nailed bat hell yeah

who i’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

maybe soyo for either of them, although i dont really care about kagusoyo nor soyonobu

my happily ever after for them:

space date and kagura showing nobume her home planet, they kill okita togetherm and they get a cat while shinpachi is occasionally their chaperone

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

they switch but mostly kagura/nobume... kagura kisses nobume’s nape tattoo... holy shit

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

sharing donuts and sukonbu in the park after a long sparring

002 | riza hawkeye

how i feel about this character:

one of my childhood favorites~ not into her as much as before but i still love her

all the people i ship romantically with this character:

no one but bio chan can get me into oririza anytime if she tries

my non-romantic otp for this character:

id love more friendship w winry, simple people is a beautiful short ep

my unpopular opinion about this character:

roy.ai sucks and neither of them has romantic feelings for each other

one thing i wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

maybe give her a moment and scene where she doesn’t mention roy, that’d be awesome

my otp: -

my cross over ship: -

a headcanon fact:

cant think of anything soz...

#piduai #thx <3 #jen ask

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desertislandcloud · 4 years

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All of life is a journey and the best journeys are those taken with friends. For the 5 members of The Mowgli’s that road has seen their friendship tested and rebuilt numerous times. From their earliest Venice, California days as a 10+ revolving cast of characters to their current line-up, the core members have evolved from playing midnight warehouse parties to the stages of the largest festivals.

While there have been many highlights - appearances on late night TV shows, incredibly rewarding collaborations with charities and electrifying performances in legendary venues among them - there have also been tests: Losing band members, battling with the stress of constant touring and maintaining their friendship, trying to remain both grounded and optimistic when things go amazingly well and when they don’t. But there have been benefits of creating deep bonds and close relationships, not least the marriage of singers Katie Jayne Earl and Josh Hogan in 2017. “Being in a touring band is hard work,” says Katie, “but inspiring. It only works because people care about the band and we have a core who support us, people who have both been there since the beginning and joined along the way. Those supporters keep us motivated.”

The release of The Mowgli’s first major-label LP Waiting For The Dawn in 2013 saw immediate success with the hit single San Francisco. The record - which focused on the joy of bringing people together - immediately connected in a cynical world. The band quickly found themselves playing to sold out crowds in clubs around the US and inundated by requests for press, sponsorships and partnerships. Appearances at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Firefly, Osheaga, Bottlerock and many other festivals followed as did performances on The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Conan and a stint as the SXSW House band for Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live (Bravo)

The follow up LP, 2015’s Kids in Love (which spawned the feel-good single I’m Good) saw the band explore personal relationships including their own inter-band ones, and their third LP Where’d Your Weekend Go? which came in the Fall of 2016, often found the band working on songs together from their very inception - giving much of the record a relaxed and communal feeling.

Parting ways with their original label in 2017, The Mowgli’s released a pair of EPs: I Was Starting To Wonder (2018) and American Feelings (2019), each backed by national US tours and both exploring the “band experience” to a large extent. The first EP focused on travelling, missing home, looking for excitement in the daily churn of a tour, finding it in the back alleys and on the rooftops of America. The more recent EP American Feelings turned more towards relationships and connections, noticeable in Talk About It and Mr. Telephone which both harken to the lack of discourse and engagement prevalent in society today, especially with technology serving as both a facilitator and barrier. Says singer/guitarist Josh Hogan, “Communication is a very powerful tool. If we could learn to communicate in a healthy way, this place would be much less divided.”

Katie adds: “Talk About It started out being a song about communicating your way through difficult situations, but as it evolved, it became a song not only about having hard conversations, but about forgiveness. And it’s really special to me.” Whereas those songs look outwards, Hard To Love and Norman Rockwell focus inwards, taking a critical look at emotional failings in the former, and attempting to create a new reality to escape to in the latter.

“…Wonder” was supported by a deliberately small club tour. “It was exciting to get back out on the road, up close and personal with our fans who have stuck with us from the beginning,” says Katie. “We took a really needed break after [Where’d Your Weekend Go?] - after years of almost non-stop touring.”

“It was a relief to get back on the road and do something a little different for that tour,” adds Josh.

The band also travelled to Honduras and Guantanamo Bay last year, entertaining the Armed Forces during the week of July 4th. Truly an eye-opening experience, the two shows rank as unforgettable for the band. “You get that sense that people are really grateful to just have a connection with back-home - especially in Honduras,” says Josh. “It was so cool to feel that energy and look around when you’re playing and realize where we were and what it meant to everyone.”

Additionally The Mowgli’s are seeing visibility with the theme song to “Big City Greens”, Disney TV’s #1 animated show for which they were asked to write and record the title song. A chance conversation between a Disney TV music executive and a mutual friend of the band’s as to how he was “looking for a band with a vibe like The Mowgli’s” saw the band back in the studio immediately, and the raucous and frenetic track was delivered shortly afterwards. “We’ve all been raised on Disney” says drummer Andy Warren. “So, having them ask for a classic, vintage Mowgli’s song was kind of a dream come true. It was amazing how fast it came together and how well it fits with the opening montage!”

For The Mowgli’s, as for any band, this whole experience is a journey - and not always an easy one. It tests your self-belief, your stamina, your relationships and your mental and emotional health. “Since this band started we’ve been through a lot of changes: gained members, lost members, been shuffled around labels and learned a lot about the music industry,” says Andy. “Now it feels like we’re really independent again, refocused on curating our live show, more in touch with the business of being this band.” He adds “Our sound has evolved but we always circle back to the basic themes: love, feeling good, excited for life no matter what the day delivers.”

Always with a mission to bring hope and positivity into the world, The Mowgli’s have been involved with numerous charities including The IRC, Heal The Bay, Happy Bottoms and many food banks and homeless shelters.

The band is: Joshua Hogan - vocals/guitar Katie Jayne Earl - vocals Matthew Di Panni - bass David Appelbaum - keys Andy Warren - drums

Links http://www.themowglis.net https://www.instagram.com/themowglis https://twitter.com/Themowglis

#newmusic #pop #spotify #usa #westcoast

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