#hell even in the character assassinations i mean the comics no i don't she's not conspiring for the throne

[quinloki]

How long do you think it takes the WBP to realize you're gone? Obviously their priority is teach, and because you're the one who saved Thatch, they assume your position with them is secure and that you're probably hiding somewhere on board (like you do when everything becomes too much, when you need to get away) with the fruit tucked away safely. And after Teach is apprehended, they go looking for you and... You're long gone. Panic ensues. If this is the version where some of them are starting to regret things, this complicates matters. Marco is proud of you, but horrified. Where the hell are you? He's still obsessed, still needs to know you're alive, gors out flying just to get some hint that you're alive. I don't see the reader escaping to Crocodile and immediately going "okay fuck it mass murder is fine with me now operation utopia let's goooo" so he probably keeps that little bit away from you. Begrudgingly accepts that you're kind of a goody two shoes, even if that's comically at odds with your ability. But there is something to be said about the parallels between calling out to save Thatch and then going on to kill Crocodile's would-be assassin yourself.

ooooooooh yeah, character growth in the "this isn't really how you're suppose to cope, but this is what happened."

After being forced to bond with pirates you want nothing to do with - or want nothing to do with enough that you ran away at the very least, and coming into things with Crocodile - who seems COMPLETELY DISINTERESTED in you beyond offering you the shelter you've requested. Who then goes on to teach you how to deal with what you now posses.

The difference in that would be jarring too. No one's fawning over you, no one's watching you sleep, or drugging your food, or making you participate in anything. You don't have to get permission for stuff, and while you're staying low to avoid detection, there's nothing forcing you into a room or space.

The vibes when the others learn about you too. Relief that you're alive, jealously that you're with HIM, anger that you ran away, maybe some humility in there because of Marco that you ran away because they drove you to it.

Which, yeah, okay, but they're better than Crocodile, they'll prove it.

But doing that means stealing you back, far as they're concerned.

Alabasta is effectively two wars in one as Crocodile moves to take over the country while the WBP move to capture you. In the end Crocodile ends up in Impel Down, along with Ace. You barely get away, and the Moby takes enough damages it has to stay on the island for repairs.

Teach gets free in the chaos and ends up with a different devil fruit - he's the one that still turns Ace into the Marines, a feat he only manages cause the little firebug was exhausted between looking for you, dealing with the war, and doing what he could to keep Luffy alive.

Maybe you even end up traveling with the Straw hats for a while. Robin knows who you are, but she also knows that without Crocodile you're docile, and you're pragmatic - Crocodile lost because he underestimated Luffy. Luffy's not an assassin, and Crocodile's alive. You're not really a revenge type of person.

Maybe you become Luffy's shadow. There's no darkness around him, but he's safe to hide around. You keep so quiet and transformed into shadow for so long that it's easy to forget you're there. You don't show your hand until it's Impel Down and you're protecting Crocodile from some attack or another.

Nice reunion, he's happy to see you for a lot of reasons, glad to have his shadow back. Maybe you're why Ace survives Marineford, and Ace knows it too.

Thatch owes you his life, now so does Ace. In exchange you just want to be left alone. That's a pretty good setup. ^_^

#yandere fix-it fic #quin answers #anon asks #reader insert #x reader #yandere #whitebeard pirates #sir crocodile

[mdhwrites]

what's your opinion on hooty

So my personal opinion is that he is OKAY but entirely inessential. This is because he is THE comic relief character. I don't mean he's the only comic relief character for TOH obviously. He still has less screen time than Gus and King in S1 because WHY DOES THIS SHOW HAVE THREE COMIC RELIEF CHARACTERS AT A GIVEN TIME!?

Objectively... Well, let's first define what I mean by him being THE comic relief character.

No, what I mean by that is that he is the definition of what you think of for a comic relief character when you think of one. He's loud, obnoxious, rude, contributes nothing to the story and EVERYONE HATES HIM. Not actually even metatextually. I mean in universe, EVERYONE HATES HIM. It's a running problem with comic relief characters honestly despite active disdain from the rest of the cast (the Mooses in Brother Bear, the Slugs in Epic, Sid from the Ice Age series, Donkey from Shrek, etc.) they just... stick around.

This is frankly the only element of Hooty that the show tries to subvert at all with "He's part of the house so... we can't get rid of him." Frankly though, it just makes him come off as a rip off of Calcifur from Howl's Moving Castle, another character people didn't show much respect to but the female lead in that movie did show a care to him as the movie went on. This is actually also pretty normal for comic relief because their aggravating personalities are usually tied with being well meaning and so the rest of the cast gains a begrudging friendship with them. This is ABSOLUTELY Sid in Ice Age.

This is also where TOH fucks up because while I think Hooty in a bubble is fine... In the context of the show, he is character assassination. After all, NO ONE. LIKES. THE COMIC RELIEF. This includes LUZ. "Weirdos gotta stick together" Luz. And there is NO ONE in the show who comes even close to being as weird as Hooty. And she treats Hooty like King and Eda do. That he is this revolting monster that exists only to be the house and to be given sympathy only when he helps them in some way or gets injured. As far as showing kindness to the creature who is literally the roof over your head, I don't think that even counts as clearing the bare minimum of being a good person. Caring about someone who is injured should be basic human nature after all, let alone if they get hurt helping YOU.

And what are Hooty's crimes? Like what does he do in order to deserve all this hate? We don't get much time with him but easily his biggest character trait is that he's lonely. He's not just lonely, he's lonely after having lived with Eda and King for who knows how long. He just wants someone who is willing to FUCKING TALK TO HIM. Hell, I'd argue I talk to my cat, who cannot communicate back, more than any of The Owl House denizens talk to Hooty.

The twist here is... It kind of works in S1. Because literally no one likes him, you get the idea that he is what the Isles considers a true monster. Something you make a deal with in order to get protection but that you don't want to spend time with. It's questionable if in this setting, people CAN like Hooty. It's tragic if you think about it too much but Hooty has a grating voice, boring stories and to most, like the writers, he'll come across as just the comic relief. Someone not to care about in text or metatextually because he's just a joke. Who could love him?

Do you see a Lilith sized problem coming? Cause I sure do.

Lilith changes the context of Hooty. Lilith comes off as the MOST understanding and caring character of the SHOW because when Hooty shows her sympathy and kindness, not even in an annoying way or forced upon him, she responds in kind. She genuinely cares about him and treats as another living being from then on. Even before she's pure comic relief, she is still capable of caring about Hooty. Frankly, I argue that this is sadly the first sign the writers gave the audience that we weren't supposed to care about Lilith. Possibly ever even. They immediately stop properly caring about her come S2 after all and she befriends the character who, by their narrative role, is not meant to be cared about. After all, if you care about the thing that has misery inflicted upon it or in some way is inflicting misery on others, the usual MO of a comic relief, you can't laugh at it. So if Lilith befriends Hooty, we can't actually care about that relationship. It's theoretically to paint Lilith as a joke. As a fool for being able to care about a bird tube.

Honestly, it makes S2 just really awkward, especially because of Knock Knock Knockin'. Admittedly, I don't think people quite treat Hooty as badly after that episode, though the show still wants us to laugh at him being horrifying since Skeletal Hooty doesn't happen until S2B, but like... The point of Knock Knock Knockin' is still that Hooty ACCIDENTALLY succeeds. Mostly by pissing off or endangering, or blackmailing for that matter but I don't want to get into how the Lumity confession is actually fairly flawed but in minor ways that stack in this blog, others. It even ends with him explicitly being told never to help again and then him being an ass and eating King's letter which... They've lived with him long enough that mail should have been sorted by now.

There is one last aspect of Hooty that is a problem. It's Hooty's power level. People between S1 and 2 would CONSTANTLY joke about Hooty being some sort of god. Some being that even makes even Belos quake at night! In Power of Love, one of the better jokes in it is Hooty thinking a Titan empowered beam from Belos is a snack and face tanking the damn thing. (There's a lot more to that joke that makes that payoff even better but it's just a funny idea in and of itself.) And... This is actually justified. The only thing that seemed to actually be able to slow Hooty down was the Owl Beast and one could argue that Hooty lost that fight because it's Eda. He doesn't want to fight a friend (which only makes him sweeter which causes the above problems). Otherwise... Everyone remember how Agony of a Witch starts? If you don't, here's a brief recap. Eda is inside, knitting Luz's cloak and acting like all is right in the world. Meanwhile, outside, in her desperation, Lilith has brought soldier to take the house and take Eda. Theoretically, she has the element of surprise and is one of the most powerful witches on the Isles backed by some of her best men in order to get the job done.

Hooty goes onto single handedly not only get the jump on them but arguably murders some of the guardsmen before wrapping Lilith up like a burrito in his own coils and bringing her in like a trophy while still looking fairly unscathed. Now yes, this is played for comedy and I can let SOME amount of power go for the sake of a joke. But... Also Hooty is the only defense Eda can rely on for her lifestyle so this actually is fairly cohesive with the narrative for how strong Hooty needs to be for the fact that no one comes after the bounty on Eda's head.

This is the first time the EC is really characterized as purely a joke and their narrative incompetence and the problems with it are another blog. For Hooty though... It means Hooty defuses all tension minus Belos. You have to send a real siege weapon if you want to take the Owl House. That's what that intro, which isn't short, it's not just a throwaway gag, tells us.

Then come S2 when in Edge of the World, Eda forgets ALL OF THIS and her experience of running from the EC for presumably at least a decade, if not closer to two because of how old Odalia's children are, and sends away her ultimate defense with Luz and King. Who then promptly, IMMEDIATELY, gets taken down by the Titan Trappers when a fight breaks out in that episode. That episode is also probably Luz's weakest post S1 by a LARGE margin.

It's all just VERY frustrating from a writing standpoint. And it makes Hooty kind of 'of a kind' for TOH. He's a character who isn't a bad idea for this sort of story, been done WAY better in many stories before this, but because of lack of care with his writing, the character and how he interacts with literally any other part of the plot... He just is a failure that you cannot think about and still like. Or at least think about without revealing cracks in the show.

And just like the rest of the show, frankly... He's just not that fun. He's kind of basic frankly. And for a comic relief character, that's not surprising but it does mean he explicitly fails in his narrative duty.

And that's a shame because unlike the cast and crew, I don't inherently want to hate someone who just wants a friend.

=======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

#toh hooty #lilith and hooty #toh critical #the owl house criticism

[bonerot19]

What are your feelings about Lost Days? Specifically the ending?

Personally I think “I don’t care about the world” doesn’t seem at all accurate to Jason’s actions. Like def unreliable narrator vibes otherwise why is he continually making his life harder.

Also the pit rage thing, people say it’s not canon but def hinted at in LD. I dislike when it’s used to brush aside Jason’s very valid anger but otherwise no strong feelings on it, what about you?

lastly, any takes about Talia and Jason’s relationship? Not the.. ending.. bits.. but other than that? I just don’t think there’s good evidence (doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be interesting to explore in fanfics ofc) that their relationship is white or black. I think Talia’s an immensely complicated person who has to continually make impossible choices in very brutal manners because of the circumstances of who she is and who she loves. As a result, there’s no such thing as ‘good mom’ or ‘bad mom’ Talia. But yeah.

I'll preface this by saying I haven't read lost days in a long while (and actually completely forgot that I had read it one point until I was reading a fic and was like......OH! FAMILIAR!) it's on my reread list, so I remember the broad strokes but not specifics (memory of a goldfish) so I can't comment on the first question rn but I'll keep it in mind on my reread after finals!

as for the pit rage - I have a lot of thoughts:

I think it can be an interesting plot device to diverge from canon - like I think it's interesting when someone has the pit amplify emotions (and therefore make it "pit rage" for Jason because he is angry). I think, in that situation, it can be a cool representation of real life intrusive thoughts and rage.

I have rage issues and trouble controlling my emotions and, sometimes, when I'm really angry, I understand the phrase "seeing red" to a lowkey scary degree. and I like it when fictional universes have magical things that represent real life things. I don't think it takes away from the real life thing, I think it acts as a analogy, making it easier to understand.

does Jason need a magical rage problem to represent his very real rage and anger issues? no. is it maybe helpful/easier to express how angry he is when you can say he's seeing green? yeah.

I like it a lot less when it's used to negate his emotions entirely or explain away his actions. (there's a lot of bad canon writing that has Jason do OOC things, so I'm chill with explaining that stuff away or ignoring it entirely) but when it comes to his return to Gotham and UTRH, I think his autonomy should remain intact. he wasn't lashing out because he was "insane" he was lashing out (and constructing a criminal empire as a teenager lmao) because he was hurt and angry and, maybe, he wanted to watch the world burn, a little bit. he wanted other people to feel the pain he was feeling bc it was unbearable. that's what teenagers are like. (if comics would stop drawing him to look 47, maybe that would come across better)

anyway - like all fanon interpretations and expansions, there are things I like and things I don't and I think it all comes down to interpretation. and I wouldn't ever condemn someone or their writing for interpreting something in a way I disagree with (hell, the more I get back into this fandom and the more comics I read/reread, the more I disagree with some of the Red Hood stuff I have written. that's fine. we're all learning and growing here)

TALIA

she's so precious to me and honestly a big reason I want to reread Lost Days. the poor woman has undergone so much character assassination in canon.

I completely agree that there is no "black and white" interpretation of her. she is complex (even when canon doesn't want her to be). she is a product of her environment, she is rebelling against her upbringing. she loves Damian, she does bad things to him sometimes. she is constantly stuck between a rock and a hard place.

with Jason, I do understand why people say her relationship with him is purely transactional (she does what she does for him for Bruce not Jason) and they're probably right. BUT I really like the interpretation of Talia that cares about him. I like the idea that she did try to restore his mind and train him in order to return him to Bruce, but that she grew attached and came to care about him (maybe/probably not as a mother, but as a mentor and perhaps cool, if emotionally distant, aunt)

I do enjoy fics where people write Talia as caring about Jason like a son, that's fun for me. give him a mom. (I do prefer giving him Selina or Natalia but like, any mom that isn't Sheila will do atp)

(and yeah idk, do what you want, but Talia and Jason fucking didn't happen in My Brain. I read that and went oh, no. lol. and never looked back)

#i'm getting a little too into Discourse these days #its making me question my interpretations and understanding and making me self conscious which IS NOT THE VIBE #so I lowkey need to back up a bit and just vibe again #people who don't read the comics and just go off fandom works are living a more peaceful life and I wish that was me #anyway #thanks for coming to my tedtalk #why use four words when forty will suffice #I-just-want-to-see #jason todd #talia al ghul

[rappaccini]

.... gonna open my big mouth about gwenjay after all

my hot take is that gwen and em jay need to get together and then they need to break up. gwenjay aren't soulmates, aren't even that good of a couple, and they should never end up together because it'd be bad for the story and bad for the spider-gwen brand.

so. the case for gwenjay.

in-universe: this shit's been built up for ten years.

em jay's had a crush on gwen since the latour run, gwen reciprocating her feelings has been built up since mcguire, every single writer on gwen's minis and ongoings has watered those seeds, and we're at the point where we just need to fucking do it already.

this particular relationship needs to have closure. and not just "i don't have feelings for you em jay," closure-- they need to become a fucking couple and be together for a while or gwen's story is going to feel weird and incomplete and this part of it will come off like it was only ever queerbait. the only way to make ten years of crumbs worth it is if they go all the way there, at least for a few issues.

out-of-universe: it's the most efficient way to fix the issues with gwen's character: she needs to go back to earth-65, she needs to come out of the closet, and she needs to get out of the gwiles danger zone.

em jay is a character from earth-65, who can only live on earth-65 because no world needs two mjs.

if gwen's going to date her, she has to go home and stay home.

and if she's on earth-65, she can't be on miles's world.

em jay is a queer woman.

getting together with her would confirm gwen's bisexuality

it would give gwen her first canon relationship with another woman.

which means editorial can't sweep her bisexuality under the rug like they often do with other bi women who get quick confirmations of their queerness.

and there's literally one more conversation of buildup needed with gwen and em jay before they could get together.

dating literally any woman could accomplish this, but em jay is the best candidate we have so far, and this is the fastest route to get there.

marvel's scared of letting gwen out of the closet, because they think they'll lose money. since even people who don't care about spider-gwen have wanted to see some version of gwen and mj kiss for decades... this is the most commercial queer ship gwen has. it's the best shot we have for now at making this happen.

(unless cindy moon bursts in with a steel chair or some shit)

it's also diet harlivy: a redheaded white woman and a blonde white woman who are longtime friends with a toxic attraction. and since harlivy going canon became a well of money for dc... marvel might be more persuadable on letting gwen out of the closet if em jay's used to do it, because the dynamic has already been tested by someone else, and it was already a success.

em jay can dig us out of the gwiles pit.

people have wanted some version of gwen and mj to get together for years. it's the second-most popular ship in spider-gwen's fandom, after gwiles. and since marvel chases money... it's the only ship of gwen's that can rival miles in terms of the cash they can make off it.

and it's a big enough ship that breaking them up for gwiles might be too intimidating to even attempt.

since it's a queer ship, and even if it does happen... the gwiles well is poisoned forever.

marvel probably won't hesitate to break up gwen and a guy for gwiles, but gwen and a girl? that's bad publicity. and it fucks up miles's brand.

like, congratulations: miles morales just broke up one of the most anticipated sapphic ships in marvel comics and forced one of the girls back into the closet so he can date her. (and hell, he might have even broken up with his own girlfriend to do that.) wow, what a hero. what an ally.

it's indefensible. the writers and the fandom can't explain that mess away.

the miles character assassination alone would incite a backlash that would probably end in gwiles being broken up and miles having to go on an apology tour.

the fallout would make gwiles too fraught to return to for years, if ever. they might not even be able to interact at all, even as friends, for years. it would be cindy/peter-bad.

again. technically, any f/f ship with gwen could do this. but gwenjay's the one that's got the most resistance to gwiles, and it'll make the biggest implosion if miles breaks it up.

gwen and em jay need to get together. it's overdue, it's a fast way to get gwen the development she needs, or reinforce it if she gets it with someone else first (which also works!), and it can protect her from the biggest threats to her character for the forseeable future. we used gwiles to escape petergwen 2.0. now we need to use gwenjay to escape gwiles.

but in the long run... they can't stay together.

in-universe: gwen and em jay aren't even that good of a couple.

the idea of gwen and mj, spider-man's two biggest girlfriends, ditching him to get together? is great. people want it bad for a reason.

but the execution of this particular gwen and this particular em jay?

look, they're not great. at this point it's a toxic dynamic where em jay constantly bullies gwen, and gwen has to fawn after her to stay in the band. it's only gotten worse as they've gotten more overtly queer, to the point where if they get together right now, it would be a borderline-abusive relationship.

yes, em jay says she's taking accountability for her toxicity and wants to work on her problems alone before she and gwen go any further.... but will she? or will that be forgotten the next time we see her (... if we ever do)? will we be right back to the same toxic dynamic?

even if things do improve and stay that way... em jay spent years being mean to gwen and unsympathetic towards her ghost-spider problems. her symbiote only wakes up when she wants to punish gwen for being her own person. she hates gwen's superhero self. we can't sweep that under the rug. it has to be addressed.

if we don't, and skip right to them being happy healthy girlfriends, the dynamic's going to feel hollow.

gwen and em jay truly are diet harlivy. right down to the dynamic being not that healthy, and their fandom refusing to acknowledge that toxicity and demanding only sugary sapphic stories where their relationship is effortless.

so there's real danger of them going full harlivy too: going canon, but being stuck together at all times, unable to do anything without people demanding they be joined at the hip, unable to discuss their relationship as anything other than Pure and Perfect.

and that's where it starts harming gwen's arc instead of helping it. gwen's story is about self-determination and finding agency. yes, it's about her escaping patriarchy and the male gaze, but women can abuse these power structures too, and they don't get a free pass for bad behavior just because they're female or sapphic.

in general, there's a white feminism problem with gwen stacy, spider-gwen or otherwise. the latour run worked it into spider-gwen's origin story and fixed it by making it a character flaw she grows out of, but ever since spiderverse synergy started, it's been creeping back in. and excusing toxic behavior in a white sapphic ship because ~they're queer women~ is part of that.

so if gwen escapes the male gaze only to end up in a toxic relationship with a woman... she hasn't actually made that much progress. a girlfriend who hits and tries to control you is a step up from a boyfriend who gets you killed or turns you into his babymaker, but gwen can and should absolutely do better.

... and even if the toxicity is addressed, unpacked and solved, these other issues are going to remain:

in and out-of-universe, the glory grant thing

yes, em jay's been in love with gwen for years. but she already has a girlfriend. and dumping glory for gwen is a dick move, especially when you consider that glory and em jay's dynamic is far healthier than gwen and em jay's ever was. leaving glory for gwen is a downgrade.

putting aside that it's shitty and so out-of-character of gwen to take her friend's girlfriend, it's also disappointing that gwen's crush on glory and preference towards glory as her closest friend within the band has been lost since the latour run; the original configuration of the love triangle was em jay-> gwen-> glory-> em jay. now as of the mcguire run, it looks like it's glory -> em jay <--> gwen.

which, hey, gwenjay happened. but it's also shoving glory out of the picture in a way that doesn't sit right. like, why couldn't glory have been the one at the center of the love triangle instead?

look: it does not feel like a coincidence that everyone after latour ignored that glorygwen subtext and went straight for the white sapphic ship instead. it's another angle to the white feminism problem: centering gwen's relationships with other white women at the cost of women of color.

at this point it's an established pattern for spider-gwen's writers and especially her fandom to take a black girl's love interest away from her to shove that love interest into an aesthetically pretty but ultimately hollow and unhealthy relationship with gwen. it happened with glory for gwenjay, it happened with tiana, margo and hailey for gwiles. it has to stop.

and it's not going to if gwen and em jay stay together. if anything, them ending up together implies that screwing over glory was worth it.

out-of-universe: it's not unique enough.

i get it. pulling a korrasami on gwen and mj's a great idea and it does need to happen at some point.

... but it's still not original enough to justify them ending up together.

we need to ditch the idea that ~every spider has an mj~. it undoes the specialness of mj and peter's relationship by turning the general understanding of mj into a spider-groupie who only loves her significant other for their spider-powers, and not for their actual personality. mj deserves better than that.

it also invalidates gwen's own uniqueness. she is not peter parker. she should not end up with peter parker's girlfriend. and gwen-65 is not gwen-616. she should not exclusively date and befriend gwen-616's friend group and love interests. she deserves new relationships with people gwen-616 never met and new dynamics with people gwen-616 never would have loved.

it's not possible for em jay watson to ever be that person, and no amount of good writing can ever fix it.

out-of-universe: no one can tell mj and em jay apart.

think about it. em jay watson and mj watson. their names sound the same when you say them out loud, and the spelling differences aren't even consistent.

and in the comics, they're both white redheads with the exact same design so even looking at them, you can't tell them apart. (other media might racebend em jay, but in the comics, it's already too late to do that.)

casual comics readers won't look at gwen and em jay and think 'wow gwen and the em jay from her world are a couple.' they'll assume gwen's dating mj, peter-616's ex-wife. that's not gonna go over well, and it'll just confuse people in the long run.

out-of-universe: it's unadaptable

adaptations are massively influential on the comics they draw from. it's why gwen's being sent to 616, deaged to a teenager and kept ambiguously straight-- for spiderverse synergy. more people play video games, watch cartoons and see movies than read comics, so gwen's adaptations are ultimately more influential than her source material. people will remember the adaptation, and the comics will be expected to appeal to the adaptation's audience.

spider-gwen isn't just a story, it's a brand. and you have to keep in mind how story developments will affect that brand. romances are included: the ones that stick around will be the ones that are easy to adapt.

and the thing about gwenjay is that this ship can only be canon in the comics. because any time spider-gwen's adapted somewhere else, gwenjay can't be adapted with it.

odds are, gwen will only appear in spiderverse-like stories with a peter-parker-spider-man already in them. she'll either be in an alternate universe where multiple spider-people exist in one world, or a temporary visitor from her own dimension.

two options here:

a) gwen has her own separate supporting cast, like marvel action.

having multiples of the same character would be impossible if they're in the same continuity.

having multiples in different worlds would still get too confusing (unless we barely glimpse those characters, like in atsv.)

so if gwen's supporting cast is getting any screentime, they won't double up. and since peter is higher up the totem pole than gwen, he's going to absorb the shared members of their supporting cast who are the most important to him.

so his best friend and love interest, harry and mj, will be automatically assigned to peter parker instead of her.

therefore gwen must have replacements slotted into their roles. who those replacements are, we don't know yet, because gwen hasn't expanded her comics' core supporting cast beyond her high school friend group.

here's one example that works: marvel action gwen's glory grant replaces mj in the role of "gwen's belligerent best friend who's on her ass about missing band practice" -- because mj is going to midtown high with peter, instead of standard prep with gwen.

and another: marvel rising gwen's origin story is still triggered by the death of her male best friend. but in this world, it's some guy named kevin, because it being "peter parker" would confuse the audience.

b) gwen's a member of peter's supporting cast, like marvel's spider-man. same friend group, now with a spider-gwen instead of a normal gwen. she might keep her friendships with harry and mj, but peter will still come first.

regardless, because peter is and always will be the more popular character, and mj is his default love interest... any time peter and gwen are in the same story, mj will always end up with peter. you know it. they're not gonna korrasami that shit. they're not gonna reverse korrasami that shit. they just won't do it at all.

and since mj will always end up with peter... if gwen's Main Love Interest can't follow her to any other media, there's now a gap to fill with someone else.

in theory that person should be harry, at least at this point; nobody's going to object to peter's best friend dating gwen and it's worked before in marvel action-- but for the forseeable future, it's gonna be miles because he dated her in the spiderverse movies and people like him better than harry.

and odds are em jay will eventually be replaced by that different love interest in the comics anyway because more people will have been exposed to the adaptation, will come in expecting that relationship, and comics love synergy.

it's better to anticipate that problem and fix it ahead of time by making gwen's default romance be someone who isn't em jay. that way when spider-gwen's adapted into other media, she can bring her romance with her, won't lose all her supporting cast to peter and won't get backdoored into being miles's girlfriend.

so.

in the short term, em jay's exactly what gwen needs. but in the long run gwenjay doesn't let gwen reach her full potential as a character, reinforces some unfortunate implications about her that need to be left behind and leaves gwen vulnerable to being sucked right back into the spider-man's girlfriend pit.

which is why, in the long run, gwen has to move on from em jay.

#gwenjay #spider gwen thoughts #spider gwen meta

[charmixpower]

Ok honestly any rivusa shipper will enjoy the comics and their stories like as a child (I collected the comics from the debut issue and in the country I live every month they would realise a new issue so I’d buy the winx comics every month) I watched the show but the comics made me genuinely love the characters and their relationship ESPECIALLY rivusa and it’s honestly thanks to the comics they solidified their spot as my otp. I mean rivusa have a whole wiki section on the winx fandom wiki dedicated solely to their comic storyline and honestly it’s so iconic. They just have great moments (like I rmb there was one issue where Musa was panicking to look presentable while she was gonna go meet riven in magix city and once she got off the bus to meet him as he’s waiting at the bus stop there’s a whole frame of them holding each other and staring into each other’s eyes and he calls her beautiful😍😍😍 and in that issue when the girls ask about him there’s a whole frame of her heart eyes with hearts in the bg as she raves to the girls “riven is very sweet and kind when you get on his good side” like PLEASE YOUR HONOUR I LOVE THEM SO MUCH and I distinctly rmb from my childhood this issue where the winx and specialists get stranded on an island back In time and Musa and Brandon are knocked out cold and even tho there’s no dialogue riven is just carrying musa to safety bridal style🥺🥺 (I think this ig acc @/rivusa._ did this thing where they screenshotted the moment he carries her in the animated cartoon and in fate and the in the comics and put all 3 side by side and idk there’s smth so fulfilling and heartwarming knowing riven will always carry musa to safety when she needs it in every version of them😭) so yes if you ever have time please go read the comics it really made me love the winx franchise as a whole even more

I've been slowly reading the comics and I'm obsessed with their s1 interactions, tho I mostly open them to see if I can make thematic edits XD

It really shows how Riven is more interested in school stuff over dating, while Musa is easily swept up by crushes

It's really cute. Riven hears something maybe dangerous and he gives it his full focus and Musa is trying to flirt with him because she doesn't think it's dangerous

They have completely different priorities, which I think is a adorable way to keep them apart lol

Omg!! That must of been so much fun!!!

The comics actually involve the assassin's that Sky's family has been so scared of in the story and I'm really excited to see how it includes other details the show glossed over

The more you talk up the comics the more I want to read them 👀

I think all of the couples have a couple part of their wiki but don't quote me on that, it's the middle of the night and I don't feel like checking

OMGGG NO NO NO NO THATS SO CUTE!!!

Musa definitely worries about her outfits, for no reason tho bc Riven is like 😍 abt her always. I imagine the most ideal response she wants to get is looking so good he forgets words exist for a while

Nfkskskejsjskskwjjw Musa and Riven are the epitome of two mentally ill people dating that are just similar enough that they understand each other without being too similar but so different that their friends are like "what???" Riven definitely stuggles to let people in, but he clearly wants to help people by going to RF and it's just 🥰🥰🥰 he doesn't trust people but he wants to protect them and I love him

OHHHHHH JESTER TOLD ME ABOUT THAT COMIC IT WAS APPARENTLY V GOOD AND IM EVEN MORE EXCITED TO READ IT NOW TNX U

Riven's love language is acts of service and physical affection, change my mind. He would never leave Musa in danger come hell or high water and I love him!!! He's doing his best and it's amazing!!! Musa from her actions in s1 isn't used to having people she can rely on so seeing that Riven will always try to help her gives her the warm fuzzies

I've always had this hc that before Musa and her dad start understanding each other, and her dad is still deathly terrified of Musa going the way of her mother if she joins the industry, Riven offers to help her get an apartment. Like no questions asked. You dad sucks? Let's help you move out. He didn't have a clear picture, Musa's dad is over protective the exact opposite of Riven's and he was projecting just a bit, but Musa was all like 🥰🥹 when he offered

I love them your honor that is all

#rus chatters #asks #rivusa #long post

[wenellyb]

look, do not take this personally but i hope that you are aware that the new captain america movie is going towards an antisemitic and zionist path.

because, first of all, the title is insane. "new world order" really? you search up that title and the first thing that shows up is that weird, disgusting antisemitic conspiracy theory. and to make it even worse, the actor that plays the villain is jewish (which, fine, was casted years and years ago) and then, to make it even so much fucking worse, they cast a zionist actress to play an israeli hero who is known for, well, being a zionist and antisemitic — and she did things like, y'know, murdering arab and palestinian children, etcetera. which brings the question: what do they want to do with this movie? win a bingo for disrespecting all minorities?

ah, by the way, the zionist character's name is sabra, and no, not the company: the massacre.

so that is what i don't get here, you guys are what, pointing fingers at each other because there is 'drama' in the sambucky community? i mean, people are joking, the divorce talk is a joke, and their anger and disappointment is valid as fuck. i promise you, whoever came up with the mcu thunderbolts has never touched a comic in their lives. they have what, five supersoldiers in a team of seven? shut up. and bucky teaming up with walker? after walker killed a kid with captain america's shield? after walker tried to kill sam in the same way right after? what the hell. and now, people are going to ship bucky and yelena because they have no ability to make a single critical opinion and we will all have to watch the unfortunate future of the mcu building a nonsense relationship, like bruce and natasha's, because why the fuck not right? not to mention how people are going to start shipping bucky and walker, because well, white men together bantering (because that's what marvel will probably do, as already shown in episode 6 of tfatws) is one of the greatest internet's fuel to make up one of the most bizarre pairs known to mankind.

however, this isn't about shipping, or who shines and who doesn't. marvel's cinematic universe is awful, they can't get a single thing right, they want money and when people ignore all of this, they will get exactly what they want. people are now trying to overlook zionism and antisemitism just because it's sam's movie, because it is a marvel movie.

if all of that didn't already make the point clear, there is also the 'favorite character finally being the protagonist so i want to support them, even if the movie is *insert multiple social crimes here*' issue, so i'll say this: sam wilson does not deserve this fucking movie, he does not deserve the character assassination that he is already going through like all of the other characters who were put on the mcu, or any of this other shit pilled up on his back. it's a set up. and if they don't acknowledge or fix this (they won't), cap4 will be another north american military propaganda movie with antisemitism and zionism as a "bonus". they should just name the movie captain apartheid already, because that is not captain america. sam shouldn't be the face to carry this disgusting project forward like it will not feed zionists exactly what they want.

this is vile.

Hi Anon!!!

First of all, I can't take it personally, this isn't my movie or my project, so no worries.

There's a lot to unpack here so I'll start with the most important.

It's not my place to make any comments because I don't know enough about the history or the context movie title, but I am willing to listen.

And one thing I want to say is that the movie is still almost 2 years away and the filming hasn't even started yet. There's still time to change the title, the character names or change characters altogether. It would take time but it can be done and it would raise awareness because most probably most people aren't aware of this. I know I wasn't.

What I don't understand is that there was a post going around explaining why the new title was problematic that got thousands of notes. But then there was another post with a petition asking for the title to be changed and it barely got a hundred notes. And I think that if there is stuff that is problematic about the movie this would be the perfect time to try and have it changed since nothing is set in stone yet.

I feel like at this stage, that's what can be done.

I'm not trying to overlook anything but this is how I see things. If there are actions to be taken, let's take them, twitter campaigns, petition, there are a lot of place to start. As I said it's not my place to start anything or talk about any of this but I'll share what needs to be shared. And you're right, the MCU won't make any changes, unless the audience asks for it.

But you can't really say that the fandom is trying to overlook things because Sam is the main protagonist when we don't even know what are the other options.

And this isn't rhetorical question, but a sincere one. What can I do Anon? What's the action plan? I won't force anyone to watch the movie but in my opinion there's still time for them to change stuff if there's enough pushback from our side. If enough people are involved.

About the Sambucky part, I feel we're mixing different things.

The anger/disappointement with Bucky being part of the Thunderbolts, is valid.

But people being upset about the Sambucky ship when we have no information about it expect that both characters will be in separate movies is hard to understand for me.

And the shipping part, there's nothing we can do about it unfortunately, since people are already shipping Bucky with Zemo a guy who tortures him...I wouldn't be surprised by a Walker ship.

#a kid #sam wilson #captain america #bucky barnes #anon asks #*Just a remark from my side #I'm not a fan of Walker but he didn't kill that man was an adult and was there to kill Walker because h #because he's a symbol

[anneapocalypse]

Dragon Age: Warden's Fall and Redemption

Crosspost. Originally posted on dreamwidth on 06/09/20.

So there's a lot of Dragon Age media, and apparently where fannish obsession is taking me at the moment is finding and consuming all of it.

So let's talk about those miniseries.

Wait, there are miniseries? Yes, two of them, both apparently considered so insignificant to the canon that the fan wiki doesn't even have a category for them alongside Games, Novels, and Comics. I was aware of the existence of Redemption, but had never heard of Warden's Fall.

Let's watch 'em!

Dragon Age: Warden's Fall

(Watch it here)

Warden's Fall is a 30-minute miniseries created by Machinima.com back when Machinima was a relevant name in geek culture. (For more on the rise and fall of Machinima.com, see this video from the Fallen Titans series by Quinton Reviews.) It's made in the Dragon Age: Origins engine and released in 2010 as a promotion for the Awakening expansion. Basically, it's a 30-minute cutscene. Now I love Origins to death, but I think it's safe to say that its aesthetic hasn't aged super well and the in-game lighting is particularly bad. I found 30 minutes of Origins cutscene a little difficult to watch, though that might just be me, or the video quality. (As an example of how bad the lighting is, for most of this miniseries I was struggling to figure out if a particular character was suffering from darkspawn corruption or if it was just shadows on his face.)

Warden's Fall follows Kristoff—remember him? The dead Grey Warden from the Blackmarsh whose body gets possessed by Justice for the remainder of the DLC? Yeah, that Kristoff, but like, alive. What story thinly exists in this miniseries basically establishes that poor Kristoff just wants to return home to his family, but alas, he cannot because the darkspawn are not retreating into the Deep Roads as they should following the defeat of the Archdemon, and he must figure out why. The Mother is namedropped by a human agent who is evidently working for her, which I don't think ever actually comes up in Awakening.

A humorous note from the wiki:

Kristoff makes Bartholomew look at his crest, which is implied to be a Grey Warden heraldry, a griffon. However, Kristoff is not wearing Grey Warden armour and thus the crest on his chest is not that of a Grey Warden.

lol.

Anyway, I think that this would be a reasonably intriguing teaser for the Awakening DLC if you hadn't played it yet and knew nothing about it, which was after all its purpose. After the fact, it doesn't tell you a whole lot we don't already know. It might still be worth watching if you've got 30 minutes and you really want to see Kristoff be sad and run around Amaranthine for a while. No great loss to skip.

Dragon Age: Redemption

(Watch it here)

Otherwise known as "the one with the Felicia Day elf." Redemption is, I think, a bit more well known than Warden's Fall. It's a six-part live-action miniseries written by and starring Felicia Day, and released in 2011 to promote the Mark of the Assassin DLC for Dragon Age II. (Jesus Christ those dates are a painful reminder of how rushed DA2 was.)

Redemption isn't very good, which feels mean to say, because when I'm watching I'm it, I don't feel like I'm watching a piece of official canon material; I feel like I'm watching a fan project, with low-budget special effects and a bunch of people running around in cosplays of varying quality.

I wasn't super tuned into the fandom when this was coming out but I'm sure people gave Felicia Day hate over this because every visible woman in geek culture gets hate and I don't want to contribute to that. I don't even dislike Day as a voice actor—I think she's great as Veronica in Fallout: New Vegas though I don't know much of her work beyond that. And if Redemption were just a fan project cooked up by Day and friends and produced for YouTube I would probably find it kind of cute and charming if not particularly to my interest. Hell, it's certainly more watchable than that Nuka Break series.

But this isn't a fan project—it's supposed to be canon, and it does not work as that.

It is not easy to capture the tone and feel of a video game in live action, particular fantasy or sci fi settings with very specific aesthetics. The Halo series pulls off a live-action installment incredibly well with Forward Unto Dawn, effectively capturing the look, feel, and general tone of the Halo universe. But Forward Unto Dawn had the budget to make that happen, which Redemption clearly did not.

It's not just the fact that, for example, Day's elf ears look very obviously fake. Again, if this were cosplay I would say it looked pretty cool, especially the Saarebas played by Doug freaking Jones. But then you have things like the absolutely minimal effort at even approaching the in-game aesthetic of the Dalish elves. The young First character is wearing like… a black sheet? The Keeper has some sort of (probably temporary) swirly tattoos on her face that don't actually look like any of the established vallaslin. Totally fine for a fan putting together a cosplay with whatever they have lying around! Does not work for a series that's supposed to be canon. The Aravels look pretty cool, so maybe all the budget went there.

The actors also seem to mispronounce several in-universe words. Elven pronunciations vary across the games so I'm willing to let those slide, but everyone saying "Saarebas" as "Sara-bis" was weird.

The plot is also weird, with Tallis's target a renegade Saarebas trying to use an elven artifact, the Mask of Fen'Harel, to tear open the Veil because reasons. It's weirdly proto-Inquisition? It's also really funny: an elf who's trying to be a qunari chasing a qunari who's trying to use elven magic. There's also a templar and a Dalish kid and a Nevarran mercenary so Tallis has people around to quip at. Also, she kisses the templar at one point. I will say this, it's a fairly diverse cast! Love to see it.

One of the most out-of-place elements is just Tallis herself. Tallis is a qunari elf trying to earn back her position as Tallis (a Qunari title which the miniseries tells us means "to solve" and which I suspect was made up specifically for Day's character). She is Whedon levels of quippy, always with a snappy comeback or one-liner or flirtatious comment, in that way that sort of feels like the writer (who is, in this case, also the actor) is rubbing her cleverness in the faces of all the other characters and also the audience.

Visually, Tallis's costume design just stands out glaringly in this universe. Now just as a costume, detached from the universe, Tallis's look is fine. The colors work together, the top is cute, Day certainly looks cute in it. But it does not fit the style of the setting. Even in Dragon Age II, where we're starting to see that shift away from skirted armor and toward pants for everyone (culminating in what I will call the Inquisitor Skinny Jeans), Tallis's style doesn't mesh. It's basically low-rise jeans, boots, and a tank top. The tank top is green and swirly so it looks elfy, and there's a bunch of belts and straps and leather bits, but the overall silhouette is just undeniably modern, and specifically, 2010. It just does not work.

And this carries over into an official DLC. (Which I have played once and remember very little of, so I am not judging Tallis by that DLC, only as she is in the miniseries.)

This feels mean. I feel like I'm picking apart someone's beloved self-insert OC, and, well, I suspect that's exactly what I'm doing—but only because Bioware decided to make her OC canon. I support all of our special, sparkly, quippy, quirky, overpowered OCs! My own included! But there is a difference between what fans do for fun and what works in canon, and there is a reason that when we say a piece of canon media feels like fanfiction it is usually not complimentary.

It is very obvious that Day and everyone involved put a lot of love into this production and had fun doing it. But it's also obvious that Bioware dropped this project in her lap without the budget and oversight it would have needed to feel canon-compliant and nevertheless tried to present it as canon. And I don't feel like they actually did anyone any favors with that, including Day herself.

You know what I do like about Tallis? I like her concept on a high level: a viddathari elf trying to devote herself to the Qun and struggling with it, gaining status and then losing it due to multiple infractions, finding safety in the rigidity of the Qun in theory but in practice consistently failing to mold her personality into the shape the Qun demands. That's interesting! And it fits within the universe as elven viddathari are already a thing and that struggle for one not raised under the Qun to conform to it is one I'd love to see explored. In theory.

In interviews Felicia Day said that she "wanted to bring a modern sensibility to a fantasy character in a fantasy world," and that… just explains so much about what happened here. I think Tallis is a good character at the conceptual level, and could have worked well in-universe if not for that need to make her cool and quirky and well. Modern.

Basically... Redemption should not be canon. And I think if you're going to watch it, it is best enjoyed as a fan project lovingly made by someone who just wanted to dress up as her elf OC and run around in the woods. Lots of us can relate to that! From that angle, there is a certain charm to it.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion: Both of the Dragon Age web series are eminently skippable. Warden's Fall adds little to the established universe but fits within it; Redemption is best viewed as though it is not meant to.

#dragon age warden's fall #dragon age redemption #dragon age kristoff #dragon age tallis #dragon age origins awakening #dragon age 2 #dragon age meta #crosspost #anne does dragon age #blunders of thedas

[thestarswithinthesewalls]

Lost_Scarecrow commented on my fic with engaging statements about how the Mk gang and Redson’s family have more experience and overall power qhen it comes to the Umbrellas and it got me thinking if we were to flat out think about the Umbrella characters how would things pan out.

Considering the everyday op villains of the week that Mk's gang face, I totally get you. The Umbrella would look at them like they're crazy hearing all this cartoon sh*t. Just the thought of their faces makes me laugh honestly.

At first I thought the same thing you did, but the more I mulled over it and kinda skimmed though the comics, I realised that the Umbrella (some of them) would actually stand a chance if they used the powers to their full extent and with proper practice.

Some that stood out to me is that, so far, most of the Monkey gang have displayed, or rather, prefer using physical powers. (I don't know how else to put it.) Things like strength, transformations, beams, speed, etc. From their lore that I know of most do use magic that's not physical, but rarely. Ancient artifacts, lady bone demon's mind control, the scrolls, etc.

Considering their fighting styles, I immediately ruled out Luther and Diego. The Mk gang would easily be able to deflect and reflect 2x as hard. Then I came to Allison. Her power kinda functions in the same as LBD if she managed to get close enough to one of them. As we have seen previously, they are not able to deflect mind control so they wouldn't be able the deflect her rumors (we've even seen that now she may not even need to say "I heard a rumor")

Next Viktor. Truthfully, I haven't done a real deep dive on him, so yeah. From what I know now Viktor could start off with bursting some eardrums and destroying people's sense of balance. You can't exactly defend yourself from that. For people who can heal quickly like Monkey King it's not a problem, but for others...

Viktor also has powers like force-field generation and matter manipulation. He has been shown have some sort of telekinesis. If he wanted he could like blow up a liver or lung or something. Heart for a fatality and that's only some of what he can do.

Lila can copy. That goes a long way and that's all I need to say.

Klaus, firstly, is immortal. Next, Klaus can literally utilize the undead to do his biding as we saw in the beginning of season 2 when he conjoined up the dead soldiers to fight for him and catch him when he fell. He could literally make his own army to fight for him and they would never die as long as Klaus never died. That would be an issue for the Mk gang.

Lastly, Five. Five is literally called the most dangerous temporal assassin in the field and the most powerful man in time. There is a lot he hasn't done in the show with his powers (which I hope we will see later on) I feel like there is a lot he could do with his time travel, but right now he's afraid of f***ing everything up again, so he's kind of holding off on it. Speaking about his teleportation, Five is able to teleport other people and objects. He could just teleport his enemies to different parts of the world if he wanted to make time. Or in front of a bus or something... If things didn't go they way he wanted he could just go back to the start of the day or a couple years prior if he wanted to prepare to the highest degree. Five's also a quick study and smart as hell which has benefited him multiple time and I bet would benefit him in his fight with the Mk gang as well. He has genuis-level intellect and an expert tactician.

Sorry for the long breakdown. I've been meaning to spew these overflowing thoughts.

#umbrella academy au #umbrella acedmy #the umbrella academy #lego monkie kid #fanfic #writer #lmk #ua #fanfiction #typing this in the car #road trip

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Trickster: an Ethari theory

I've had yea many Ethari headcanons, and I hope I live to have yea many more. Most of them are probably wrong, or incomplete at best. But boy are they fun.

I love to wonder what Ethari will really be like in canon when we get to know him for more than 3 minutes, but whoever he really is on his own, he will have an effect on Runaan , Rayla, and everyone who loves him, because they love him.

The first headcanon I can remember having for "Tinker" was that he could be like Leonardo da Vinci: a genius, creative, surrounded by beautiful ideas given shape by his hands, but also capable of creating deadly weapons, enchantments, and devices with equal beauty, and perhaps not really seeing where the line between them was. It was fun, but Ethari has ended up far softer than my headcanon, and I love and support him in his softness!

After a nice string of Ethari headcanons, this year I've started poking at the Trickster archetype and seeing if it applies to him. And I think it absolutely does!

Tricksters often seem like Chaos. But they're not. They're just Difference. "Chaos" is subjective. Like the "divergent" in "neurodivergent." Who says? Divergent from what, exactly? Perspective matters, and Tricksters have a very broad take on things which allows them to think outside any box people might try to invite them into.

My enjoyment of Loki has brought all kinds of ideas to my dash with the arrival of the Loki show. I've got a copy of the Edda, and I highlighted the hell out of it a couple of years ago as I searched for the roots of Loki's origin story. (It's truly fascinating reading and the symbolic language hidden inside their poetry is dazzlingly amazing and I'm super using it sometime just so you know)

Loki is a Trickster, and he's far from alone in myth and legend. Anansi, Coyote, and Sun Wukong are some you may have heard of. Aaravos is another, of course. Tricksters can be called upon to lend aid and wisdom when the rules don't have an answer for some extraordinary circumstance which the Trickster's people find themselves in. But that's not because they are truly outside the rule of order. They are actually a part of it. They are the catch-all for when the everyday ordinary rules fail people, and something "unthinkable"--in the literal sense--might just hold the answer.

This post crossed my dash today, and something finally clicked in my head, and all of this coalesced from what felt like separate places. But they're not separate, not anymore! Serotonin, baby. It's basically upped my headcanon to a full-blown theory.

What caught my eye was an answer to why Ethari's clothing is so determinedly asymmetrical, compared to Runaan's specifically, but Moonshadows in general. It's because of this:

Long protective sleeves below patterns on shoulders. A high collar paired with a bright and noticeable swoop around the neck. Fine detailing and graceful taste. Asymmetrical tunic point on the left, below broad strappy leather. Knee high boots with stylish protective gaiters.

And let's not forget the curling horns! In some comics, Loki has a broken horn. So does Ethari.

Yes, there is a lot of similarity here, but I'm not focused so much on the visuals as the reason they were chosen. Feel free to consider other aspects of Ethari's personality and how they might be similar to certain parts of Loki's. I did! But I wouldn't be me if I didn't go deeper than that.

My favorite book in the universe (so far) is Lois McMaster Bujold's The Curse of Chalion, and one of the many reasons why is because of her pantheon. It holds five gods, represented by a hand: Father, Mother, Son, Daughter, and Bastard. The first four all have their roles and places. The Bastard--the thumb--inherits everything else. He is the god of all things that do not belong to any other gods, and that includes self-sacrificing vengeance and queerness. He is a Trickster, and his influence on Cazaril's life is far deeper than at first glance. Chaos has its place. It belongs, and so do the Tricksters who engender it. God, I love this book. Please read it if you haven't. Bujold's work is amazing.

If you've seen or read any version of MDZS/Untamed, you know that Wei WuXian is a trickster. Competent and badass in battle, but playful and teasing to the point where sometimes even he isn't sure what he truly wants, he can bring a massive amount of power and focus when he wants to. It's always a matter of "but is it important to me?"

I love WWX so much. The Trickster vibe is very apparent in his character, and in a way you just don't get in Western media. We see him on his own, and we see him with family and loved ones. And he's always feeling something so intensely! He's driven by his emotions, for good or ill. He vibes with chaos, and he will create it if it doesn't exist yet. But he will also create family from nothing, and that's something you don't see enough of! WWX is a Trickster with an emotional preference for joy.

In TDP, Ethari doesn't have a lot of lore yet. It's being Moonshadowed because spoilers for future seasons, and I respect that. The longer the wait for S4, the more ideas I will just amuse myself with in the meantime--and yeah, this is one of them, so what? :))) But we do know a little about him.

He loves music. He loves to read. He leaves his mark on things in swirly form. He works very hard, even through headaches, because what he's doing is that important to him, even though he would much rather be making jewelry. He loves taking the time to polish rough stones into brilliant jewels, and he adores big pretty flowers and had them at his wedding.

Ethari has a temper, but he also loves puns. The weapons he crafts are exquisite: "light, elegant, strong, and clever." And he knew darn well that Runaan was trying to flirt with him, but why return a sentiment he may or may not feel yet when he can play with the overly earnest assassin just a little bit first?

Okay, just... A "simple craftsman" deciding that it's going to be fun to toy for a bit with a broody assassin's feelings? Would you risk that? Ethari got balls the size of the moon, and a brain to match. When he has to make weaponry, he does not half-ass it. Ethari's stabby creations nearly have a life of their own. His creations are literally called "trick weapons." This elf is a lot, okay. And it's possible that he doesn't even know how "a lot" he is. Yet.

We're meeting Ethari after he's found something that is, in fact, genuinely important to him: Runaan, and Rayla, and Laindrin too. Ethari has found a relatively stable place to settle and find a role to adopt. I say adopt, though, because making weaponry for his loved ones is not what he grew up wanting to do. It's what he had to do to keep them safe, once he found a place to bestow his heart.

But in the show, Ethari has lost his family, one by one. First Lain and Tiadrin, ghosted. Then Runaan, supposedly fallen on his mission. Then Rayla, ghosted for abandoning Runaan. He and Rayla have reconnected now, but the rest of his family is still out of his reach. If Rayla has indeed told him, by S4, what she learned at the Moonhenge in TTM, then Ethari may parallel Rayla's journey to seek answers. But even if he doesn't know yet, and gets pulled into some other story arc first, we will be seeing Ethari without his family.

Remember the ATLA episode "Zuko Alone"? Consider: "Ethari Alone."

Ethari has chosen, for love, to fit himself into a box that wasn't of his own making. And now that box has broken. His family doesn't need him to be their craftsman anymore. Perhaps others will need him to be other things to them. Or perhaps he will know that his family does need him, but to be far more than just a maker of pretty swords. A rescuer, perhaps. A healer, a guide? An avenger?

A trickster. Capable of taking many shapes, because he understands them all. Ethari works with form and function. If he needs to transform himself, he will.

That's what Tricksters do. It's delightfully queer and delightfully neurodivergent. Ancient peoples accepted and revered the different among them and actively sought their help with things they themselves struggled with.

Tricksters are Difference. Sometimes that manifests as chaos, sometimes as genius. But if you do not love and appreciate your chaos, it will absolutely turn on you. Wei Wuxian did. Loki certainly has, many times. Perhaps Aaravos is doing so as well.

I cannot wait to see what Ethari does with his difference. I have something very specific that I hope he goes and breaks.

All this from a picture of Tom Hiddleston in his Avengers 1 Loki costume? Yeah. Because Ethari was designed to wear asymmetrical clothing, in a Moonshadow culture that prides itself on balance. Sure, there are some other Moonshadows who wear this or that asymmetrical item, and I do love to see it. But Ethari has the most asymmetrical lines of them all. The meta glee I feel knowing that Moonshadow elves are designed to hold many layers of meaning in their appearances--that the writers, creators, and character designers just flexed with them--is truly a delight.

Ethari is asymmetrical. The full and practical application of that is a glass casket, and I hope it becomes a gift that keeps on giving, because boy do I want to keep receiving it. But right now, I'm genuinely seeing evidence of the Trickster archetype in him. And I really hope it gets to come out and play.

#tdp #tdp theory #ethari #trickster #tdp speculation #yes this means a whole new category for ruthari opposites #order and chaos #ethari and order are both on runaan's list of likes #but ethari is higher so #loki #wwx #wei wuxian

[rumor-imbris]

Hello, Lady Connor! I want to ask out of unbearable, suffocating curiosity in my heart, even though in the previous post you already said to not mention "that certain comic". Could you please enlighten me about your view on that comic and what you despise about it? I would love to read your detailed thoughts about it even if just once. But if this is too triggering for you, I'm truly sorry for your discomfort and you don't need to answer it.

Hello, dear Anon and welcome ^-^ It's weird you naturally called me Lady Connor, as usually only my little fairy @giuliettaluce does. Well, I guess her magic put a spell on everybody here!!

If you really care to know, I'll answer, but brace yourself, it's going to be very long, almost an essay, because I can be very detailed about that comic being a failure in its every part. There's so much to say. You're right, as I mentioned before, it can trigger me, but I have attentively analized it and I know it makes not a single atom of sense. So nothing can actually bother me that much, don't worry ^_-

First of all, my general consideration of the AC Reflections comic issue #4, (yeah, that thing -.-) is that of a mere attempt to desperately make Bayek's remote vision through Senu's eyes a canon feature. It was created and published in 2017, the same year AC Origins was released and yes, they needed an excuse to make believe Connor's alleged daughter inherited a skill someone (who isn't even their direct ancestor!!) that lived 1700 years ago in ancient Egypt had! OMG, this should be funny enough, but I'll go on. Also, I think it was likely a carelessly arranged way to satisfy those AC3 fans demanding a "happy ending" for unlucky Connor (quite 5 years later, of course).

I'll better go step by step to figure out where to start from, seriously.

1) In the comic, when Otso Berg opens the file related to Connor, the scene is set in "1796: Upstate New York." Now this is chronologically and spacially incoherent and illogical. We see Connor still wears his assassin outfit in it, right? According to AC Initiates (2012) in 1804 Connor invites the Dominican assassin Eseosa at the Davenport homestead to provide him some advices and further training as he's involved in the leading of the Haitian Revolution. That's a really cool character, read about him, if you want!

So, until then Connor is still an assassin, probably the mentor (by now) of the Colonial Brotherhood. He still runs the homestead and he still commands the Aquila, I guess, he's the captain still. I calculated the distance between the homestead and the then upper NY frontier territories is approximately 260 miles (quite far nowadays with cars and planes as well). Then, why the hell should he have a family located in the forest upstate NY? It sounds very unconfortable to run back and forth to reach them and go back to take care of all the Brotherhood matters, doesn't it? Unless he knew about teleportation!!! Also, wow, he lives all alone in a nice massive villa with all the comforts of that time while his children and wife still live in a Native village constantly menaced by settlers wanting to steal their land? Beside the fact that Connor, at least in my point of view, seemed at last very familiar with european way of living by the end of the game, this leads us to the next point.

2) By the time the game and the comic are set (second half of 18th century), most of the East Coast Native tribes were facing the tragic and forced migration to western and northern territories (mostly towards Canada, protected by the British) because of all the consequences of the Revolutionary War (lost territories, failed alliances, settlers advancing and buying their lands and so on). So tells us history, unfortunately. It's a fact. And this is wisely showed to us in the AC3 main game when, after all the Kanien'kehá:ka tribes had left the territory around Connor's village (yes, even those near New York, to be clear) even Connor's own tribe at last migrates west, leaving an empty ghost village. They had remained all along to protect the secret temple, but in the end they as well were forced to leave. So, to me it's highly improbable that in upstate NY, one could still find a tribe and even if so, that Connor would let his family live there and risk their safety everyday.

3) The whole comic plot revolves around the fact that Io:nhiòte has a "special gift"... She inexplicably knows how to read the ground and find animal traces, she also can perform a perfect twisted acrobatic flip in the air and land unharmed to the ground. Do we know why? No, don't ask! xD She simply knows U.U, even if right after the next scene she slips and falls miserably down a cliff xD, but... ok!! Beside that, when Connor is far away to search for some water and is about to be attacked by a wolf hidden in the grass nearby, she sees the whole scene from the eyes of an eagle flying in the sky above her. As I said before, this reminds us of Bayek's (never clearly explained) ability to see through his eagle Senu's eyes and spot dangers and enemies. Now can you tell me why the hell this little girl has super powers and a skill Bayek had? As I said, they are not even directely related, as Bayek is not one of Desmond Miles' ancestor, we know him simply because Layla's new Animus is magical and can inexplicably read fragmented DNA from people who died a thousand years ago (it can also prepair coffee, I think!). So, where did she get that from? Magic? Mysteries of life? Convenient improbable connections for marketing's sake? We'll never know and you should simply accept that and ask no question!

4) From her height, way of speaking/moving/running, I assume Io:nhiòte is at least 8 years old, 8 - 9 minimum. She's the youngest of three siblings, who must be at least two years older than her and than each other (according to a human woman pregnancy timing!). If the comic events are set 12 years after the main game ending (1784, when Connor also starts to train the young ex-slave Patience Gibbs, arriving at the Davenport homestead with Aveline De Grandpré, according to AC IV Black Flag bonus mission with Aveline), so, this means that in that same year Connor must have found hastily the love of his life in a Native village (as if he was easy to open himself with other people after all he's been through), married her, impregnated her and seen her give birth to their first child, all in the same year when (let's not foget! xD) he still is the leader of the Colonial Assassin Brotherhood at the Davenport homestead training novices. Now, this may even be possible humanly speaking, (well, if you force the things a bit and hurry up!) but highly unlikely to happen!! xD

These are the main problems affecting the logic of the comic in my opinion, the points making its foundations crumble apart. Though I'm sure there are many little others to point out, such as Otso Berg "opening" Connor's files... like what? Where did those data come out from? I remember playing AC IV Black Flag and uncovering a file where Abstergo researchers themselves closed access to his memories as there was "nothing appealing to this character anymore"! So, if no more researches were conducted on him since 2013, where did Mr Berg magically or conveniently discovered such data in 2017?

Or... do we want to talk about the cover? It shows Connor in the spirit outfit from the Tyranny of King Washington DLC, which has apparently nothing to do with the comic, since it is set in his present day and he wears his assassin standard robe. Now, I think that can be either a simple marketing choice to make the comic more appealing, as... well, that cover is so cool, let's admit that, or maybe the subtle suggestion that the events told in it are just a parallel Disney-like reality and are not to be considered true at all! xD i don't know, maybe both explanations are right.

I'm sure that the deeper i dig, the more nothing rational I'll find!

If you played the old games, if you know well the franchise and its lore, the true, good, old AC lore, you definitely realize by yourself how that comic is useless and senseless.

This doesn't mean I do not wish an "happy ending" for Connor. But I'd rather accept something coherent with the main game events and AC chronology. Also, it doesn't necessarily needs to be a "happy" ending, as they conveniently created to please complaining fans. I wished for something real... coherent with his personality, acquired life-style and endless sense of duty and values.

Maybe that's what pushed me to write my FanFic novel in the first place, after all... To give him MY OWN cohesive ending, including my love, for love is always needed, I guess.

I'm so sorry if the answer took this long in time and words, but you were warned! ^w^

Though, thank you... Seriously, thank you so much for asking. You made me reflect once more about this matter.

Come visit me again, if you want. Take care

- Rumor Imbris 🦋

P.S. Oh, and if you're interested, this is my "jelousy song", for when things like this trigger my inner witch!! xD

#ask #ask me anything #I Am the Storm!!!! #AC3 Reflections #why it sucks #why it makes no sense #thanks for asking #anon ask

[valkerymillenia]

Umbrella Academy

season 2, episode 8

Once again- live blogging my thoughts and reactions in one post to avoid spamming.

So this is how the FBI gets their hands on Vanya, huh? Seems most fan theories were wrong.

Oh, Sissy's last name is Cooper!

I did wonder about that -how did remember her name despite forgetting everything else? If she knew her name then she should have been able to remember other little fragments.

Of course the feds focus on the fact that her name is Russian. Cold war bullshit. I guess they think she's a spy or since Russian sleeper soldier or something.

"I'm not Russian" -you kinda are though 😅 Tatiana was Russian and gave birth to you in Moscow sooo...

DID VANYA JUST SPEAK RUSSIAN?!

Is that one of the 7 languages that Reggie all the siblings or....? Does it... Does it have something to do with her powers or her birth place?

"simple-minded boy"? FUCK YOU.😠

"communist threat" there it is 🙄

Oh no, she's losing her cool. Here come the powers... I keep wondering how she does that 'sucking the life' out of someone thing. 🤔

That's a lot of puke.

Poor Five, he's starting to crack under the stress.

Why is Ben gagging? He's dead, he shouldn't be able to feel or smell the puke.

Loving Robert's real curls starting to show.

"I regret nothing" -hmm.... Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of.

"there's a giant dead white boy on my couch" 😆

"Oh, I see. It's gonna be one of those kind of nights, huh? So are we burning or burying?" -this is why I love Klaus! He doesn't even flinch, he doesn't care what happened, he doesn't ask, he just immediately decides that he's going to help his sister get rid of a dead body like it's the most natural thing in the world.

Although, it would be interesting if Klaus actual saw the Swede ghosts too. I just want Klaus to be seeing ghosts everywhere again, ok? I want that struggle from season 1 to be brought back and not swept under the rug for plot convenience. As a writer, if you make something an important character trait, you stick with it and they haven't done that with Klaus, they are half-assing his struggle with his powers.

It's the Swede really going to...? Oh good, saved by the cat.

Oh! So that's what "lavender" means! I was right, it was the perfume, it was probably obvious but I'm a little dumb.

Ah! Lila is trying to hire Diego for the Commission???

Diego is so confused.

"colorful history" sounds so wrong and sexual 😣

Diego is so full of bullshit. His loyalties absolutely lie with his family, he's just too defensive to admit it.

Reginald FRAMED Pogo's family drawing? So he's a better dad to the chimp than his own kids, huh?

THE TELEVATOR!!!!!!! PLANS FOR THE TELEVATOR!!!! I love comic references, please tell me we'll see a real televator in the show!

So Reggie really is planning something about JFK...

"are you involved in something nefarious?" "Quite often. Did you have something more specific in mind?" -at least he owns it 😆

"shaggy man" -ah! Poor Diego!

Reggie really loves this Grace, huh? But she has a point.

Five is losing it a bit, huh?

The baby powder 🤣

"I have to find myself" -RIGHT! I was wondering when this would come up! Old!Five was there for the JFK thing so Five just has to find his old self and his briefcase in order to correct all this mess. More comic references!

"arguably the most dangerous assassin in the time-space continuum" -DAMN RIGHT 💯

"paradox psychosis" 🤣I know it's supposed to be super serious but the symptoms are so funny...

"a spotter? What is that? Like a wingman?" 😆 This parallels that "Body man? What's that? Like a masseuse?" line in s02e02 where Five is the confused one.

Five, do you really think your brother can stop you if you spiral? Because I don't.

Luther doesn't have a great attention span, does he?

Harlan's drawing is interesting... I get a feeling it's important.

Shit, they are torturing Vanya!! This is so bad!

LSD? LSD?????? No, that's a terrible idea with her powers!!!

Eeeewwwww the eyeballs! 👁️

That's a hell of a bad trip... The way the music makes with the visuals reminds me of my synesthesia though.

Oh! So this is where the scene of all the adult siblings in the Academy uniforms is from!!! (I remember someone saying it was Diego dreaming of having a drugged hallucination in the asylum, they were pretty close! It's Vanya drugged by the FBI instead!)

"I get you" -that is not the face of a person that gets this at all, Luther!

"Don't freak out." -like that ever worked 😆

Lila trying to have her cake and eat it too with her mom and Diego.

That informational video 🤣🤣🤣

Free coffee! Weekly donuts* (*fees apply)! Wow, so tempting 😒

"whatever your skill, education, or comfort level with moral ambiguity (...)" 😆

Are the Fives just having a staring contest? 🤣🤣

Ah! How can Five be bitchy and aggressive to HIMSELF 😆

"all those years on the apocalypse, we never stopped working about our family." -why does Luther look so damn surprised to hear this?? Why the hell does he think Five is doing so this for?!

Wow, Five is really bitter about his body, isn't he? He's making old!Five so nervous 😅

Oops, there's stage 4 for old!Five!

And there's stage 3 as well and stages 5 and 6 for little!Five.

I get a feeling Five doesn't really have the accurate calculations, he's just lying and using the originals.

"I don't trust him!" -he's... He's you...14 days ago! How do you not trust yourself?

"but he's you" "exactly" 🤣🤣🤣

I'm so afraid how what Diego is going to do. I get a feeling hell fuck up trying to be a misguided hero again...

"I'm Diego. I have a knife." 😆

"it's very shiny" 🤣

So Diego is a legend, huh? 😏

"there's been a coup d'etat" "what's that? Cadillac?" -don't play dumb, Diego, I don't believe for a single second that you don't know what a coup is.

So the new apocalypse WAS Vanya's fault but by proxy (actually more the FBI's fault), she was just a small domino. So literally the only one that didn't actively do anything to impact the timeline ends up being the one doing the most damage (again)? PLOT TWIST!

Oh no, DON'T GET ANY IDEAS ABOUT YOUR SISTER, DIEGO! YOU SAW HOW BADLY THAT ENDED LAST TIME!

No, I refuse to believe "she will always be the bomb" 😠😠😠😠

LOL, hi, Dot!

NO! LUTHER, YOU MORON! DON'T GIVE HIM ALL THAT INFO! YOU'LL CHANGE EVERYTHING AND CEASE TO EXIST!!!

These dumb siblings exhaust me

"little jerk-off" -why are you insulting yourself, you weirdo? 😆

Old!Five with all the PP symptoms and yet he says he never felt better in his life 🤣

"you're getting paranoid" -you both are, and sweaty, itchy and gassy. All that's missing is the homicidal rage at this point 😅

Vanya's hallucination shows us a twisted paranoid view she has of her siblings and it's very interesting:

-Ben is protective, defends her, he can do no harm, probably because he died young so nostalgia blurs her memory of him

-Allison defends her but is also arrogant and condescending, speaking as if she's implying that Vanya is weak, probably because Vanya feels that Allison is perfect and has an inferiority complex

-Luther is just as arrogant and looks down her, calling her lazy, but does so without malice (more mockery than anger)

-Klaus is accusing and suspicious but still on the fence and excitable, probably reflecting Vanya's own doubts and how she herself sees Klaus

-Five just stares, judging and silent but unable to look away, probably because she trusts him but she also doesn't know him, there's the same nostalgia effect as Ben but because Five came back (to stop her) the inferiority and fear of judgement is still there

-Diego is completely different, awkward and detached, this one is the most interesting because he's one of the people that was most vocal and mean against her in season 1 but apparently she sees a kindred spirit in him to an extent, either that or she fears she means nothing to him

Maybe I'm overanalyzing again...

I totally predicted the dishes would be brains but it's still gross.

Ew, the chewing... 😫 It's giving me the creeps.

Why is she seeing Harlan's drawing? She was gone already when he made that particular drawing (I knew it would be important), is she connected to him now??

And how does she remember her own birth??

Holy shit, Harlan is feeling Vanya's pain!!!😲😲😲

"why are people so much heavier when they're dead?" "You got a lot of practice at this?" 😅

Ben and Klaus conversation actually makes me feel a bit better about the possession but it makes no sense at all 🤣

Poor Ray keeps meeting in-laws in the weirdest situations 🤣🤣🤣🤣 his face! 🤝

Ray is having a nervous breakdown 😣 poor guy...

The moment Lila notices Diego is missing, the intercom chimes "Loyalty isn't a choice, it's a lifestyle" and if that isn't foreshadowing for Lila choosing sides then I don't know what is.

This is a really painful way for Vanya to recover her memories but it's so well done!

Holy shit... 😳

Klaus asking the real question here. She's being tortured, Klaus, go help!!!

HOLY SHIT! HARLAN HAS VANYA'S POWERS NOW?!

No, no, no,no, no, no nononononono! This is so bad! A child with a disorder that makes emotions hard to regulate suddenly having an apocalyptic level of power that connects directly to emotion is just a recipe for disaster!

#tua #tua s2 #tua s2 spoilers

[ruwithmeguys]

What are overalll thoughts on Dinah from the past 2 episodes, 11+12? I still don't see why ppl are freaking out on a potential O/D? I think the writers are trying to set up a GA/BC partnership that lacked from the LL version of the BC. I thought it was interesting that felicity didn't trust her yet and called Dinah an unknown quantity. Still burned from Evelyn. So dinah now has to earn Felicity's trust and respect that was freely given to LL. Another strike against LL and her integration into TA

Sorry this took so long toanswer Anon – I’ve had a brutal shift change at work that no matter how hard Itry I can’t seem to get used to! I really wanted to have this posted BEFOREepisode 14 but oh well…

Here’s the low down: I neveronce thought they were bringing in a new BC as a way to redo the GA/BC romance.Not once. Technically it’s been done twice in the show and neither time endedwell. They’ve learned their lesson. Before I get into this (LIKE I DO WITHEVERY ASK) I just want to add something I’ve never had the chance to before.

The BC/GA romance in thecomics suited the comics. It was likeable. I’ve read some of it and have noproblem with saying that. But sometimes transferring from comic to screen hasthe opposite affect to what was intended. It didn’t help that KC’scharacterisation of LL was beyond hard-core judgemental and bitter in season 1- it was understandable why but she didn’t allow (plus her and SA’s chemistrywasn’t close to what was wanted) for much softness and when she DID she took itback with a vehemence and confusing twist to logic that left many a fan reeling- nor did it help that she wasn’t believable when the time came to arise as theBC. It also didn’t help that, as part of her contract, her character was madeto be unaccountably and unbelievably self-entitled and contradictory (I amreferring to the way she  did a 180before she died and the way they couldn’t kill her off or make her leave BEFOREshe became the BC). OR that, thanks to KC’s, her agent’s and the writers/producersinput, her character was reduced to two things in her time as LL & BC: anadrenaline junkie (an addict) and someone who couldn’t let go of the past, i.e.her and Ollie and her and Sara.

Way to reduce the heroicfigure of the comic version of BC.

But what do I mean by that?

‘Ollie’ was the love of LL’slife and she held that torch until she died (btw was actually painful to watchher say those words to Oliver only to have him keep silent; he NEVER SAID AWORD BACK- he couldn’t even give her a lukewarm ‘love ya too’ because itwouldn’t have been true). EVEN though we all know, because Stephen Amell confessedto it and because Oliver said on screen (plus he never told her he loved hertoo) that she wasn’t the love of his, she still kept to her season 1foundation. This lack of change, of progression, got her killed. That, in part,was KC’s accountability for never letting go of her season 1 moniker (mainfemale LI and character/budding hero) and the writers (or whoever’s job it wasto promote characters) error for never bringing her character forwards with therest of cast.

Even LL/KC knew in the endthat she had to go.

In many ways, her loyal fansseem to see the attention she’s gotten this season as tribute to her. Buthonestly, they should see it as more insulting than anything else. LL isreceiving more love and respect NOW – dead – then she ever did in life. She wasonly granted the Ollie/LL closure she should have had in season 2 in season 5after death and it was a literal rendition of ‘we would have never workedLaurel ; what we had died years ago’.

What the hell? Smack to theface.

Her (ugly ass) statue wasdestroyed by her doppelganger of all people, like they were saying it was timeto move on.

And notice how everyone canonly repeat how brilliant she was but can never give examples as to why theythink that?

Notice how LL/BC didn’t have anemesis. Not in 4 seasons did the writers ever grant her a bad guy of her ownwhich is the hallmark for hero’s on a TV show; if you get either a loveinterest or a storyline set apart from the other characters involving a battleyou fight and prevail through, it means you’ve made it as the female lead.

LL’s character failed inrepresenting the comic book BC many love.

Then along came Sara. CaityLotz man, she stole it.

In season 2 there’s a line LLsays to Sara and it FITS: “You stole my life.”

In a way she did.

It’s Sara who get’s Ollie/GA.It’s Sara who is the preferable BC. It’s Sara who gets her own TV show. ItsSara everyone wants back. It’s Sara who is able to progress, to have loveinterests and storylines. She was awesome.

Except… she didn’t work out onthe show either.

She was good in small doseswhich isn’t what we want in the female lead and for BC mantle. Her brand ofheroism didn’t fit with the show.

To a fashion, she temporarilyworked with Ollie/GA. But they couldn’t make it last: their romance was basedon the connection of their darker selves (believing no one else wouldunderstand or accept them) and, at times, lacklustre. There was no reason – notanywhere – for them to progress and the idea of that happening felt flat-outweird because the only reason why they started was because of their pasts.

And just like the LL & OQromance, they nipped Sara and Ollie in the butt. It had nowhere to go.

According to Stephen and MarcG, both of the above romances where based on the past, something that isconfirmed for the last time (because some fans won’t let it go either) inseason 5 when Oliver tells the Laurel hallucination that he could never loveher the way she wanted – that they would have never worked – because he was nolonger the man who she fell in love with. He died in the ocean.

Sara’s Ollie died in theocean.

Laurel had always been waitingfor him to come back, even after she donned the mask.

And notice that everyone whohas ever called Oliver ‘Ollie’ has died.

(Thea is exempt)

In Arrow, the past has to die.

I know Sara came back butaccording to the directors, she was missed so much they HAD to bring her back.Not LL, Sara.

Now, in its dullest terms it’s‘fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me’

No way are they going to makethat mistake again.

There’s another aspect to theGA/BC comic canon that doesn’t represent well.

On-screen, this pairing – theGA/BC part not the OQ/LL/DD part - are obnoxious. And by that I mean, they’reconstantly in competition with each other.

Like too much will andconviction onscreen at once; both figures fight for supremacy and it becomes abattle of wills that’s exhausting and often confusing to watch. It’s the Arrowshow not the BC and Arrow show.

Even when they weren’ttogether, LL and OQ fought constantly on opinions, on the reasons why they dowhat they do and how they eventually do them. She fought with him on how hedealt with Felicity being shot for God sakes. ‘How dare you be emotional when Ibrought my sister back and let her loose on the city and and and…’

SO did Ollie and Sara: onlywhen they split up this petered off and it turned into a friendship.

It seems with this new BC,Dinah, they’ve taken on board everything that didn’t work in the past and cutit out.

First, her backstory is -though redone/familiar - plausible.

Second, she – the actress andcharacterization - more believable.

Third, her relationship withOliver is exactly how it should have always been: she’s a team mate. Evenbetter, she’s learning from him. Not competing.

LL, even Sara to a degree,could not stand up to Oliver on the basis of experience. I know Sara was in theleague but learning how to be a professional assassin is a very different setof experiences and skills to the daily hell of discovering the monster withinthat Oliver had to face – alone - on his nomadic journey.

Notice how her first year onthe Amazo was spent being in the care of Dr Ivo?

Notice how his first year wasspent battling to survive with everyone trying to hurt him?

Notice how, when Sara wasbrought into the League, she had Nyssa the ENTIRE time to have some sembalncepeace in.

Notice how Oliver justcontinued to loose and infect the people around him with his growing darkness.

Notice how, when he was giventhe choice, he didn’t return home whilst she was never given one?

These are just a few examplesof their differences and I am not undermining the horrors Sara faced.

Those five years for Oliverweren’t one long lesson in being an assassin; it was filled with terrorism,violence, gang warfare, biochemical warfare, murder, vigilantism,sort-of-espionage, spying, missions and magic. And they weren’t five yearsspent building a grudge like with LL.

You can’t compare to thatexperience.

And LL tried to all the time.

Sara did when she was datinghim.

Both were repetitive and bothbecame irritating fast.

This new BC, listens. Learns.Watches. AND she’s totally badass on her own. She’s a female Oliver Queen andone day she’ll step out of his shadow and become her own hero. And when shedoes, FULLY, she’ll leave the team. They may team up in the future buteventually she’ll want to do things HER way and she’ll know not to rock theboat.

It’s so refreshing bringingher in because not only is she believable, not only do they give her courtesyof grieving the man she loved, not only is she physically capable, not onlydoes she fit in with the team, not only does she not fill the screen with pointlessmoments, not only does she not compete… she and Oliver have zero romanticchemistry.

A BC being placed on theromantic chemistry pedestal with GA on the Arrow TV show is like a deathsentence for the character, despite the actress. LITERALLY.

At the moment she’s getting toknow the team and Felicity recently gave her a mask which, as we all know, isArrow’s way of saying ‘okay, NOW you’re in business’. She’s been given thegreen light.

I think she’s also there tobalance the scales: Thea’s gone and so is LL/SL. SO is Evelyn. They needed awoman in there stat who could hold her own.

Like you said, not everythinghas to be about romance. A lot of people have decided that EVERY new femalecharacter on Arrow this year will be a love interest. It’s been super tiring towade through that kind of angst and I’m pretty sure it hasn’t made the watchingof it more enjoyable.

Stephen Amell doesn’t dobelievable romances with most actresses on Arrow anyway, other than Felicity.

And I believed in him andHELENA, more than I believed in him and Sara. Laurel.

The spiral needed to changeand change it did. They’ve made this new BC, this redo of BC/LL, a story onsecond chances and redemption. Oliver can give her the time and patience hewouldn’t give Laurel (and for that he’ll always feel guilt). But with this, hecan learn to let that go.

And hopefully, season 6 won’tbe a constant worship of a dead woman when, in life, no one really cared whathappened to her.

But I believe this new BC hasalready generated her own fans. Good luck to her.

(PS – with Stephen’s interviewthis week NONE of the above was necessary and I’m laughing)