#it's got so much narrative potential that was just wasted

[monokumafightclub]

being hyperfixiated on ultra despair girls of all danganronpa games is so frustrating because on the one hand, komaru and toko are incredibly well-written as a buddy duo and as a story revolving around them, their relationship, and their involvement in the events unfolding around them, it's pretty damn strong!

on the other hand... okay i know it's an easy target to go after ch3 and everything regarding kotoko, but there's so much else established in UDG's story that either never gets expanded upon, ultimately falls flat or never goes anywhere, or gets tossed aside as quickly as they're introduced. and then there's the ending and credits cgs which really feel like they're building up to something but then that also never goes anywhere beyond capping off monaca's story in DR3.

UDG is a 'full' experience as a game (well, at least for psvita standards), and as a tokomaru story it's pretty complete, but god it just feels like there could've been so much more, you know?

#danganronpa #ultra despair girls #udg #gen rambles #i could go on and on regarding examples of wasted potential in UDG #but i'm not entirely lucid atm so most of it right now is me malding about how much yuta and masaru got cucked by the narrative #this game is the starfox adventures of danganronpa to me and SFA has similar problems going on with it #mostly because of troubled development esp in SFA's field but also the wasted potential stuff #but also i just really like SFA so maybe that comparison is a little weird

[thearchercore]

why charles, ironically, is a good fit as a potential condender for a red bull seat and why red bull needs a driver like charles (an essay)

charles embodies the "red bull gives you wings" mentality and branding. red bull prides themselves with pushing limits, constant adrenaline rush of the sports they currently sponsor/participate in. just look at his recent instagram posts, he loves doing weird side quests for the adrenaline rush -- something ferrari does not particularly enjoy. for instance, he once tried skydiving (to quote @gaslightgirlsummer "he’s legally not allowed to do it anymore. he was actually legally not allowed to do it when he did it the first time around either"). when he got asked about it, he said "in case it went wrong, i would not be here to be told up".

max and checo, on the other hand, prefer only racing. they don't do anything extra during their prep or training. in fact, max prefers to train in the privacy of his own balcony. the both don't really resonate with the initial message red bull is trying to push, they only do so exclusively when racing.

red bull is in desparate need of keeping themselves interesting for potential sponsors and just in general, being in the public eye and remaining relavant. their main goal is to sell the drinks, after all. max recently had an interview with the TIME magazine, released around the vegas weekend, conducted around COTA, the interview highlighted that max's focus is on racing and the PR responsibilites pretty much drain his energy because they are part of the sport. it showcased that despite the results in racing, they need someone who's more interesting for sponsors/events to keep themselves in the spotlight, which max and checo don't really do. charles, on the other hand, attends these events quite smoothly.

recently, christian horner at the ferrari movie premiere:

Christian Horner says Ferrari would be ‘crazy’ not to keep hold of Charles Leclerc:

Horner on the contract extension rumours:

🗣️: “It’s totally natural, he’s a great driver. I’m sure they’ll want to keep hold of him and they’d be crazy if they didn’t.”

there's more but to align it with my previous charles PR rebrand post, it's truly fascinating to see charles and his PR team push the narrative of all his adrenaline side quests as of recent from his training (24 hour ski trip from italy to austria and back, or the sliding). i'm not saying that charles is going to red bull, i still believe he wants to give ferrari one more chance, but i am convinced charles has a solid back up plan if ferrari does not deliver again, and red bull keeps their door open in case charles wants to look for a team alternative in the future. don't forget contracts have mutliple exit clauses, and it would be stupid to think charles did not secure the ferrari contract with multiple to make sure he wouldn't waste his active racing years at a team that won't deliver and help him achieve the WDC title. don't forget what charles said - he's ready to leave ferrari if he does not believe in the project anymore.

"Whenever I don't believe in the project anymore, I'll have to go away. Because it’s in these kinds of situations that you don't get the best out of yourself, that you don't help the team as much as it needs to be helped."

and that's exactly what's happening. now it's up to ferrari to deliver on the said project.

#charles leclerc #lestappen gate 2023 #formula 1 #lestappengate #f1

[evilbihan]

Once again thinking about MK1 and how Bi-Han didn't have to be the scapegoat of the story. Both Bi-Han and Kuai Liang could have escaped the Ying Fortress together. Bi-Han never had to side with Shang Tsung. It served no purpose within the story, it was entirely unnecessary, as was the part about him letting his father die.

Instead, the brothers could have fought Shao, Shang Tsung and the dragon army together. Kuai Liang could have gotten his scar in the fight against Havik and Darrius. After Kuai Liang and Bi-Han both narrowly escaped with their lives, Bi-Han could have simply insisted on aborting the mission once the brothers regroup with Smoke. They nearly died, Bi-Han's faith in Liu Kang was already shaken before, no one could have blamed him for losing it entirely after seeing what they're up against and watching his brother nearly lose an eye in front of him.

Kuai Liang could have then protested and refused to follow Bi-Han back to Arktica unless they go back and finish the mission first, revealing the brothers' conflict of interest. Bi-Han wanting the Lin Kuei's freedom and Kuai Liang wanting the clan to keep up their old ways and follow tradition. The brothers could have then fought and the story would have progressed as we know it.

Nothing important within the narrative would have changed, except that it would have made both brothers more relatable characters. Sub-Zero and Scorpion would have still ended up becoming rivals, with the only difference that Kuai Liang and Bi-Han wouldn't have any stains on their names as they do now, one nearly committing fratricide and the other having let his father die as well as having abandoned his duties. Bi-Han's motives would have been much more relatable, his concern about his clan's future, the care he very obviously holds for his brothers, it could have all been displayed so much better with just these few tweaks to the storyline.

What makes the MK1 story bad is the lack of love that was put into it. I know the sheer amount of characters on the roster doesn't make it easy to give every single character time to shine in the story mode or to give them all as much depth as fans would like, but even a few small changes can have a big impact. It's disappointing that apparently no one cared enough about the Lin Kuei brothers to think much about how they would come across. All three of them got sidelined, mischaracterized and for the most part, ignored by the story. The wasted potential here is saddening.

#bi han #mk sub zero #bi han sub zero #mk bi han #kuai liang #mk scorpion #tomas vrbada #mk smoke #lin kuei brothers #mortal kombat 1 #mk1 2023 #mk1

[helluva-shit-show]

So I was re-watching "Oops" grabbing some screenshots for a different rant when it occurred to me, damn, Striker really should not have been in this episode. I know it's not a hot-take, lots of ppl have said this already, but I mean even for the way the writers want the show to go, right down to tone, they really botched an opportunity. I'll let someone else talk about how Striker working with Crimson makes both antagonists so much less intimidating, right now I'm just gonna focus on the narrative so far, and unfortunately for a lot of critics of the main ship it's pushing, this will have a lot to do with Stolitz.

So when we first meet Striker, it's in "The Harvest Moon Festival". The episode starts with Stolas inviting Blitz and the gang to be his royal guests at said festival. Blitz makes him promise it's neither murder work nor a sex thing and Stolas agrees. This is (to the audience's knowledge) the first time Stolas has invited Blitz out to be seen together publicly without any strings attached. He's not being bought, he's not acting as a bodyguard, and he's not expected to bang anyone at the end of the day.

Blitz meets Striker, Striker boosts up Blitz's ego immediately, they enter the pain games together, split the win, have a general good time, and at some point off screen, Blitz offers Striker a job at I.M.P.

And then Blitz catches Striker trying to kill Stolas. He's pissed, but not as pissed as he gets when Striker almost causes him to shoot Moxxie.

Blitz bites the man and puts a hole through the wall during the fight. They really go at it, it's a pretty intense fight, and you can really feel the rage in Blitz during it.

Putting a pin in Stiker for a minute, let's skip to the next episode, "Truth Seekers" we get a peek into Blitz's headspace surrounding Stolas. He feels chained to Stolas, but through his expressions during the staircase climb, it feels like he wants it to be more than just transactional. Well, at the least, hopes it can be more. Stolas swoops in at the end of the episode and (not without belittling Blitz verbally) saves Blitz and the people he most cares about. And then Stolas asks for a "reward". This 100% highlights Blitz's torn feelings. Does he let himself believe the care is real, or is it just for sex at the end? Well...

He got his answer didn't he? Stolas doesn't stand up to Ozzie for him. He doesn't make a clear statement that Blitz is more than just a cheap lay. And that hurts.

At the end of the night Blitz can barely get the words out to set a boundary for himself.

The next time we see these two interact is in "Seeing Stars". Do we get to see the resolve of the night at Ozzie's? Nope. But something has clearly changed since then, bc not only does Blitz show genuine concern for Stolas and try to reassure him, at one point, briefly, he's even receptive to Stolas's flirting again.

Two episodes later, Striker is back. Blitz very much so has complicated feelings surrounding Stolas at this point, but he shows not just concern, but both fear and rage again at the thought of Striker harming Stolas.

One could definitely argue at this point that this is about his means to continue his business and source of income and that of his employees, but there is something to be said about him almost cancelling Loona's doctor appointment to go save the rotten owl. Loona is always Blitz's first priority, and though a single vaccine might seem small in comparison to a life, if it really took five years for an appointment, that could be his daughter's life as well, assuming "hellbies" is just rabies but it's in hell. He thought about it. He was ready to turn the car around when Millie and Moxxie stepped in.

And even though Striker got majorly character assassinated in the episode, he tore up Stolas really bad. Him and his angelic weapons do carry real stakes with them, however much they want to make him a joke character. (Again, such a waste of potential)

With the narrative we know the writers are going with, Blitz does care about Stolas. The realization he can get hurt is probably shocking and terrifying to Blitz. He'd probably both be angry with himself for not going, but getting to the original point, he'd probably be furious at Striker.

Now I know Helluva has a huge tone issue. Is it a comedy? A lot of the time, yeah. Is it a drama? There's definitely drama in it. Romance? Highly debatable. Horror? I mean, it does take place in literal hell, so. Action? It's mixed in there too.

Personally though, I would like to think that the next time Blitz saw Striker, he'd tear him to shreds. I'd think the tone would be on the more serious side. He's hurt Millie and Moxxie very badly in Harvest Moon, he's hurt Stolas to the point he was hospitalized, that's three of the four people Blitz is currently close with. Narratively speaking, Striker could easily be Blitz's main external antagonist. It works both from a more action based tone, but also if you want to push Stolitz, which we know they do. And yet...

He's just an irritation for Blitz.

He didn't need to be there, it could have just been Crimson and his sharks. Would it have felt weird having him be a stand alone villain again just 3 episodes after he was first introduced, sure. But not any weirder than Stella's personal hitman looking for work in Greed and just happening to find it with said Mafia boss.

I know this was a Blitz/Fizz episode, I get that, I'm not complaining about that, hell, it literally could have been just them figuring their shit out together. But that just makes it even more glaring that Striker shouldn't have been there. This wasn't about him, this wasn't for him.

He's cowboy themed, right? And he's given Blitz plenty of reason to beat the absolute shit out of him? After hurting Stolas like that, (narratively speaking) his next showdown with Blitz should have been some high noon duel shit. Blitz rocked the vest in Harvest Moon, just give him the duel revolvers and start counting steps.

#helluva boss critical #helluva boss #helluva boss blitz #blitzø #striker #helluva striker #helluva boss critique #stolas #helluva stolas #Stolitz #helluva stolitz #helluva stella #helluva crimson #crimson knolastname

[zel-zo]

Hey so you know how in the Izuru-Fuyuhiko conversation, Izuru assumes Fuyuhiko intends to use Izuru for his talents? And Fuyuhiko refutes that like right away. Based on the recent art you made, do you have any thoughts on Izuru making himself useful (as a meat shield apparently) anyway? Izuru usefulness complex vs. Fuyuhiko 'people arent tools' complex or something like that? Sorry if this is a strange ask to get out of the blue haha I am interested in the narrative.

Ok so this is a FANTASTIC question and it took all my restraint not to send back an entire essay lmao💛💛💛 (correction^ I wrote 544 words of this so, maybe a LITTLE bit of an essay)

So, here are my thoughts on Izuru and Fuyuhiko's potential relationship in DRS:US:

I feel like the reason that Izuru may in fact stay with Fuyuhiko in this scenario (I mean, he outright says that if he were told to be free without orders he would probably just disappear overseas and cut contact,) is Fuyuhuko’s resolve not to use Izuru for his talents. I think that, in one way or another, this wont sit right with Izuru, who can easily reason out the fact that he’s a passive force until acted upon, and if acted upon (or used) for the good of humanity, that would have an overall better net benefit to the world than valuing his independence and letting his talents go to waste. As little as Izuru seems to care about anything, the thought process behind letting him do whatever he wants and not like, idk, make him cure cancer, is an absolutely atrocious error in judgement and has to be the fault of some under-developed moral code of Fuyuhuko’s. I think this intrigue is part of why Izuru would want to stay with Fuyuhuko: to see how long it will take for Fuyu, given ample opportunity, to abandon his personal code and start using Izuru (weather for humanity’s benefit or his own).

Note: I also think this is why Izuru would “make himself useful” (like the meat shield incident). By showing how much he could benefit Fuyuhiko when his talents are used, he’s subtly testing his resolve to keep refraining from doing so.

On the FLIP side we have Fuyuhiko, who’s honestly got a point. He’s definitely not thinking of it in the same big moral strokes that Izuru is, but he is thinking of the basic gist of it: What should you value more, a person’s freedom or the good they can do? In his (learned) opinion, the value a person’s life has and the potential they have for good aren’t exclusive, but that person needs to do the good on their own for it to have meaning. His relationship with Peko comes to mind hard here as someone who has been given a role and carried it out perfectly, denying their own free will in the process. Fuyu doesn’t go through the same lesson in the same way as DR2, but it’s clear that he’s coming to similar conclusions about valuing Peko’s free will in their DRUS interactions. I feel like, similarly, Fuyu would just want Izuru to start giving a damn about being used by people and stop treating himself like a means to an end.

So, does this turn into a genuine friendship? Something more?... Maybe??? I see a lot of interpretations of Izuru’s character were he’s an unfeeling machine, which I personally really dislike. I mean, the man has enough emotion to be bored by being unable to be surprised by anything anymore. He does Cry, even if he doesn’t know why. In my eyes, Izuru is mentally incredibly developed, but emotionally underdeveloped because of his emphasis on learning and usefulness since his ‘creation’. So, these two’s relationship is both ambiguous and up for interpretation, but I do think it has room for Izuru to come to understand Fuyuhuko’s thinking and maybe even start caring for him eventually. Honestly it’s all up to your personal interpretation of Izuru’s character!

But yea, those are just my thoughts! Let me know Your own interpretation!! I love these characters and always wanna hear other people's thoughts on them!!! 💛

#fuyuhiko kuzuryu #sdr2 #drsusc #danganronpa s ultimate summer camp #izuru kamukura #Ask #Ask zel-zo #zel-zo #danganronpa #spoilers #possible spoilers #anon #izuru kamakura x fuyuhiko kuzuryu #Feel like i have to tag this every time I post about these two but INTERPRET HOW YOU WANT!!! #Ship or no ship or generally abiguous #We stan all kinds of relationships in this household #I need to see more people talking about these two so feel free to flood my ask or the notes with your own thoughts

[butchsophiewalten]

Was waiting until ep 4 to ask but for the character opinion bingo thingymajiggy could you do bon (the spirit/evil murder robot ) if you haven't already

Oh my god, Bon. I love Bon so much. I'm so glad that I love Bon so much.

Bon, the animatronic rabbit, has over the course of the couple last years become one of my favorite characters. At this point, he's right up there with Jenny and Sophie. So when we first got that Findjackwalten "Bon" reveal, I was very... apprehensive? For me it was just really underwhelming. I honestly think my biggest complaint was just that, aesthetically, he was so much more boring than Bon, the animatronic rabbit. I love Bon. What I didn't love was this like, clip art character. He was just a guy? Like a human guy? He didn't even look fun. There was so little there to sell me on the idea of Bon as a character. It's funny, though, since I really think part of what frustrated me was that the part that made Bon an Evil Killer was divorced from him being a rabbit. Which is a really silly thing to say, but I just honestly hadn't expected there to be any 'form' of Bon that came aesthetically separate from the mystique of the rabbit animatronic. And I love rabbits, they're my favorite animals. (Well, hares are, really. But rabbits get to share the love.) So it was a very petty kind of upset.

But oh my god, seeing "Bon" in this episode has totally turned me around. Like wow, he is fun! He is aesthetically interesting! Which is why I've written that 'so relieved' point on top of the one that usually says 'wasted potential'. I'd had an idea in my mind of what "Bon" would be since we saw that "Bon" text on Findjackwalten in fucking January of 2022. That's a lot of time to stew in your thoughts. If "Bon" ended up being something I wasn't happy with, I was gonna be really disappointed. But I wasn't!

It's been really fun learning to attribute some of my favorite aspects of Bon, the killer animatronic, to "Bon", the white ghost, because they are effectively the same. I can't help but find him really cute, honestly? I love his girlish mannerisms. I love his penchant for.. Fashion? I say this remembering one of the old entries on the Martin's Secret Lair findjackwalten page. His love of music? Y'know, obviously he kills people and is evil and manipulative. But he does it cutely. Definitely the rabbit aspect is doing something to endear me.

Beyond that purely emotional endearment, I'm genuinely very interested in him as a character as well... It's a little hard to talk about, though, since my feelings are so new and so poorly thought-out, honestly. But something I've been thinking about for a while is his relationship with Rosemary... From how I see it, he seems to have a strange sort of infatuation with her. He calls her Rosie... he puts her in Sha... Less objectively, his little shrine to her in Souvenir seems very elaborate to me, at least relatively. And assuming the "Rose broken. Will fix you" dialogue is diegetic and we're meant to think that Bon spoke to Rose before killing her... Well, it's just very interesting to me that he seemed to try to explain to her what was going on. It's really fucked, honestly, and it's something I'd really like to know more about. His conversation with Susan in 4 makes me think his criteria for killing people has at least something to do with, like, whether or not he likes someone. Really really fucked and really, really interesting.

God there's really so much to say about Bon... But I'm nervous too, since I don't really know how well I can articulate what I feel. It feels a little like there's warring factions in me, between the Me that thinks the animatronic serial killer is so Silly Cutesy and Me that's really horrified by and invested in the Lore and Context behind everything that Bon, as a character and narrative force, is actually doing. Not that those feelings necessarily can't coexist. The way he talks to Susan is so unsettling to me... it's strangely tender, honestly. Like a genuine attempt for comfort, despite the context. I feel like I have a million little half-observations to make, but none of them amount to a full thought. Bon is really fucked! I'm so happy that I find him actually really cool and interesting! I want to take him clothes shopping and feed him Tchaikovsky records. Martin said he liked Classical music but I think that's. well not Wrong but inarticulate. I think he's a Romantic girl. He loves some Beethoven. Some Liszt. whjat am i even saying anymore

#ask #i have to cut this post off a littlebit shorter than I had wanted because i have real life obligations....ugh #i should get to 24/7 talk about the walten files. for a living

[bibibbon]

Characters with wasted potential: kurooboro

It's our favourite intelligent nomu kurooboro that deserves so much more attention and a better arc then what he got.

Personally the narrative does seem to treat oboro and kurogiri as two different characters which I like but I wish we got more exploration on that.

Kurogiri

Kurogiri is shigarakis caretaker he is also AFOs servant. However, that's all we know.

1) I would have it that kurogiri used to be a loyal AFO servant. He became a servant/puppet due to him falling through the cracks of the system and trying to escape poverty in anyway he could. Overtime kurogiri got physically sick and his body started to fail yet he still worked for AFO accepting what he did. Afo recognises kurogiri as a valuable asset when his plan of capturing eraser and his quirk goes to mess and starts plotting with the doctor to help kurogiri get a new body which happens to be oboros.

The doctor manages to successfully do this transfer or so he thinks. The doctor is weird and creepy and yes he manages to do implant kurogiri's mind and quirk into a vestige but this comes with some drawbacks like oboro and kurogiri both sharing a mind and body or oboro physically and spiritually rejecting kurogiri making it so that his body is tearing him from the inside out in some way.

Kurogiri is tasked with the job of taking care of Shigaraki and at first he is quite indifferent to the child and doesn't care for him. However, as time goes on he does slowly warm up to shigaraki and care for him ( I love dad kurogiri too much for this). This puts kurogiri in a rough position, he cares for shigaraki but he also hears the plans that AFO and the doctor have in mind for him and he indirectly tries to slow them down or hinder them. All of this is little to no prevail, as much as kurogiri cares he isn't equipped or certified to take care of a traumatised child or to stop afo and the doctors plan.

2)Kurogiri makes a little plan. The plan is one where he gets a bar (AFO allows him) and he basically runs the bar. From the money he gains in the bar he spends some on shigaraki but also hides some of the income to at least assure his and shigarakis own survival. Sadly, the plan is found by AFO himself and the doctor does some "modifications" to kurogiri (practically torture) to keep kurogiri complacent and become the perfect puppet, to play his role. Kurogiri glad that AFO didn't take the bar away from him , but now takes like 50% of the income he earns spends the money on various things. He still has a plan but the initial plan for him to escape with shigaraki is looking slimmer and slimmer. He has a moment where he starts to desire freedom to escape and burn everything he has to the ground to fully forget about shigaraki, AFO, the doctor and all. Yet he stays and finds way to passively retaliate and rebell against both AFO and the doctor.

During this time he and oboro/ oboro's spirit and remains bond over their experiences. Considering that they both want freedom one way or another they work together to enhance their quirk.

Oboro shirakumo

Oboro shirakumo is a former 17 year old hero student who is friends with midnight, present mic and Eraserhead. He was majorly injured during a work study that he did with his friends trying to help save some children.

1) Oboro doesn't actually die, he is just declared dead and taken away. Afo is pretty disappointed when the villain fail to kill/ bring to him Eraserhead and accidentally bring in a heavily injured oboro. The doctor takes oboro, thinking that his quirk has some potential and suggests the idea of making oboro and kurogiri a merger intelligent nomu. AFO agrees to this of course and oboro's body is basically healed/ fixed by the doctor to become a suitable vessel.

2) at this point oboro is in a coma. However, when the doctor tries to merge the two oboro does show signs of retaliation and rejecting kurogiri, yet kurogiri overpowers him. Oboro is scared and untrusting of anyone around him at the moment. Both he and kurogiri get into a lot of arguments over the body they share which proves for it to be difficult to live in the body.

3) due to their differences and background oboro and kurogiri do not get along at first. Oboro is still quite naive about the world but his counterpart kurogiri isn't . Due to their close forced proximity and the fact that both want the body they are in to function they try and cooperate. They get to know eachother and start to understand their respective sides. Kurogiri shares his story, how he had to live on the street and survived of barely anything, how he enjoyed being a bartender before his body started failing him and he had to quit and fully dedicate his life to being AFO's servant. That's when oboro shares his own experiences how he wanted to be a hero, own an agency with his friends and how he also wanted to help others. They continue to cooperate and both make the plan of saving up money and running away from AFO.

3) When that plan is found out and the doctor does his 'modification' oboro goes silent, taking the blunt force of it at the time. This happens for a long while and kurogiri feels alone, this is when he starts to think of just leaving and destroying everything. Oboro is silent, he is stuck in a limbo place. Kurogiri thinks he can see oboro's spirit when he is sleeping but that is neither here or there. However, when they meet Eraserhead in the USJ oboro makes a slow awakening. He physically makes kurogiri's body hesitate and that's what causes them to be stuck in Todorokis ice.

4) Kurogiri is shocked of course and after the battle both of them have a conversation. Oboro isn't aware of how it works and doesn't remember anything after the doctors modifications which is when Kurogiri fills him in about what happened. Both start to work harder than ever for a chance at escaping whether it be them escalating their passive rebellious behaviour to AFO or trying to guide shigaraki to a different path.

They try their best, they really do but looks helpless and their chance at freedom is long and far. That is when they choose to slowly collect information in journals and allow themselves to get captured some time after the overhaul arc revealing their identity.

All of oboro's friends (NOT JUST ERASERHEAD LIKE IN CANON) are conflicted, confused and upset. They comfort eachother and all come into different conclusions, scared but so hopeful for a restoration of normalcy in their lives. It is present mic and eraserhead that try to make the first move, trusting the information that kurogiri provides them and slowly help kurogiri. Present mic is the first to come around at first not believing that its oboro but wanting the information, wanting to know if there is a traitor. Secondly, it's eraserhead out of pure hope and denial, he knows it isn't logical but he misses oboro and hasn't moved on. He now needs to understand that oboro isn't oboro but he is much more complex and has went through things. Lastly, it's midnight with a combination of both factors and guilt. She tries to avoid kurogiri as she blames herself for what happend and also starts to rethink her actions as a hero.

Working with the heroes gets kurogiri out of prison and under UA's custody really but he still is quite ominous especially kurogiri who still wants to save/help shigaraki and ends up talking to izuku about it.

I feel like there are way too many ways we can take kurogiri and oboro's characters in, all with different ways and endings but canon managed to do such a horrendous disservice to him so I hope I have given him some justice

#mha critical #bnha critical #mha #hori is a bad writer #horikoshi critical #bhna critical #bnha #kurogiri deserves better #kurogiri #oboro shirakumo

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

so i just found some old interviews of spop, especially ones after the finale, and i just wanted to dissect some of the interesting parts:

the crew themselves keep reinforcing the idea that only catra saw adora for who she is, when the show itself says otherwise multiple times. catra, who mocked adora for never being a true hero, who kept hurting adora because she resented her for being she-ra, who kept saying that adora has a hero complex and that she is full of herself. that catra “motivated and inspired” adora?

“i wanted their romance to be the central arc”

this explains everything. the fact that they took an existing show with an intriguing fantasy world and so much potential and then reduced it to “cute lesbians kiss haha”. if you're gonna write a show about romance, do that. you don't have to butcher an already existing series for that.

“it reveals how that arc has been built”

what arc? is the arc we're talking about in the same room as us? because from what i can see, they put in zero effort to make c//a's development even halfway coherent. catgirl tortures hero for four seasons, gets saved by said hero and joins the good guys, continues torturing hero. how is that an arc?

so.. they have the right idea here. catra and adora did indeed need to take their time away from each other and deal with their problems. but did they? adora came close to building her self-esteem and realizing that she didn't have to take responsibility for everything around her. but then all that was reversed in s5 when she was forced into a relationship with the same person who ruined her sense of self-worth in the first place.

catra.. doesn't even try. the closest she got to moving on from her past was during her time in the crimson waste but then she ends up spiralling even deeper into toxicity, adding more and more into her list of crimes. in s5, she is shown to reflect on her relationship with adora but does she learn anything from it? nope. she continues abusing and berating adora, she continues giving adora mixed signals and relying on adora to do all the work in the relationship.

so the crew seemingly had the right idea (although i'd say they still shouldn't get into a relationship, even after they've worked on their issues) but never followed through. instead they gave us a lazy and rushed redemption, where the wrongdoer never works on their flaws and instead puts all the blame on their partner. amazing.

so nate himself admits that not all of catra's actions were justified. but then, why does the show try to justify them? why does the show justify catra abusing adora by implying that it's because adora abandoned her? why does the show justify all of catra's toxic and abusive behaviour by blaming it solely on shadow weaver? if catra's actions cannot be justified, the narrative should keep her accountable, which they don't.

secondly, i'll try not to assume the worst of nate's personality from what he said, and just get to the important part.

“It's other people's decision to forgive you, that's not a given, but also there are ways for you to fix what's broken. You have to work hard to prove yourself again, you have to actually actively fix what's done, it's not as simple as a sacrifice.”

i'm so confused. the way nate says it, you'd think he applied all of this to catra's arc. but he didn't. “it's not as simple as a sacrifice” but a sacrifice was all it took for catra to be forgiven by her victims. she doesn't work on herself, her apologies were shallow, and she continues repeating the same mistakes. “it's other people's decision to forgive you” yet every single character forgives catra immediately and none of them are allowed to stay mad at her.

how could you write such a bad redemption and then talk about it as if it had all the details and nuance it was lacking? again, when speaking, nate seems to have the right idea of how to write a redemption arc. why did they fumble so badly when it came to actually executing it in the story? the only answer i can think of is that none of the writers in the crew are good at writing.

#spop critical #spop #spop salt #spop criticism #spop discourse #she ra #anti catradora #anti catra #anti c//a #anti spop #antic//a #anticatra #anticatradora

[gojeto]

How Gojo and Geto are examples of well written prejudice and character arcs

Just rambling here since it has been on my mind.

Both Gojo and Geto have shown prejudice towards non-sorcerers in jjk and how that directly influences the arcs they have. And in many ways, they swap morals/ views on life and non-sorcerers.

But first we have to establish implicit and explicit bias.

Implicit bias is where the bias is not obvious to the person who believes in them, but is implied and inferred through their words and actions. Early Geto is a perfect example of this. He clearly wants to help and protect non-sorcerers, but he is is often unknowingly condescending towards them. He looks down upon non-sorcerers, even though it is unintentional. Geto, and many other sorcerers, most likely learned such an outlook at a young age. It is shown many times that many sorcerers look down on non-sorcerers, though each sorcerer varies in how explicit they are in their bias.

Explicit bias is where it is obvious to the person who believes them and they make no effort to sugarcoated or hide it. Early Gojo fits into this. He shows few morals and is blunt about how he sees non-sorcerers as less than and believes they don't deserve protecting. How it is rooted in a weak versus strong narrative that has been force-feed to sorcerers for years, only for it to be reinforced even more into Gojo since he is "the strongest among the strong." That he came to believe that protecting them is just a waste of his time and potential, as well as the time and potential of other sorcerers.

If their mission with Amanai never happened, or if it didn't go so sour, they could have ended up in very different places in life. Geto could have worked out his biases, and so could Gojo. Or Gojo could have experienced something else that would lead him down a dark path. But the mission did happened and it permanently affected where their arcs would go.

This is where we must cover positive versus negative character arcs.

A positive character arc is where a character starts in either a dark or average place and experiences growth throughout the story. This applies to Gojo. A strong yet exceptionally flawed teenager who grows into a stronger and less flawed man. Since the mission, Gojo worked tirelessly to better himself and his abilities. As an adult, Gojo has values and morals, and his prejudice towards non-sorcerers, while still there to some degree, has lessened quite a bit. While as a teenager, he wouldn't have cared if a non-sorcerer got killed, as an adult he actively tries to avoid death as much as possible. However, unlike his teenage years, he is exceptionally more lonely.

A negative character arc is when a character starts in a good or average place and goes to a bad/ dark place throughout the story. This is what happens to Geto. He went from a strong student with a bright future ahead of him to a genoc!dle racist. Since the mission, Geto spiraled into a depression, giving into the dark thoughts he had about killing all non-sorcerers to end curses. His implicit bias became explicit bias and he embraced it with open arms, to the point where it almost seems forced. Almost as though, once he reaches adulthood, he knows he cannot turn back and as to constantly remind himself and others how much he hates non-sorcerers by calling them monkey's 24/7. He has to justify it to himself constantly to ensure he never reconsiders, bathing in the darkness of his soul, allowing any and all formerly repressed darkness dictate every aspect of his life. If you're familiar with Carl Jung's map of the soul, it is like he has given into his shadow and it has merged with his ego (shadow = the bad parts of ourselves we don't show others, ego = our true selves). But he doesn't view himself as a villain. As the saying goes, "every villain is the hero of their own story."

While my stgu shipper self is sad we didn't get to see more of them together and never had the potentially romantic part of their friendship explored (ie any romantic feelings they might have had for each other), I still do like that Gege explored how trauma can influence peoples preconceived biases. Not to mention how he tied it in perfectly with the many flaws of Jujutsu society, such as its heavy prejudice. And how it is an allegory for our society and its flaws and issues.

#jujutsu kaisen #satosugu #jjk #gojo satoru #geto suguru #thoughts #jjk thoughts

[redrobin-detective]

Simon and Betty Roles and Relationships

So I watched the F&C finale and I, personally, loved it to bits but I can see some early rumblings of dissatisfaction. I can't say I got everything I wanted more Simon and Marcy dammit but I felt everyone's arcs resolved well. Especially Simon and Betty's. Allow me to ramble at length.

What really became clear to me in episode 9 is how much F&C Simon and Betty's relationship is a complete role reversal of their AT selves/relationship.

In both cases, you had one who was - through their own conscious actions - cursed to a non-human existence where they didn't have complete control of their thoughts or actions. They are separated from all their loved ones, including their True Love, and given relatively little agency in their own story.

And then you had the other, who watched their love become this non-human entity where they couldn't meaningfully interact. They become obsessed, consumed with saving their True Love, going as far as to ignore having a potential future in Ooo along with kidnapping and doing sketchy magic.

They got trapped in this tragic cycle of loss and insanity trying to save each other and all it did was cost their own happiness. What GOLBetty was trying to tell Simon was that they both made mistakes as humans in the past (her wrapping her entire life around Simon's to the detriment of her own desires and him for being oblivious to it and not considering her) but this cycle had to stop. They'd both made choices they regretted and the outcome wasn't what either wanted but it was the one they landed at. In e9, Simon admitted to "being sorry" for "wasting the second chance Betty gave him" because he was! He was still clinging to their doomed narrative. It was his final selfish act, to throw away the chance she gave up everything for and then force her to watch him scramble after her despite it being impossible. GOLBetty told him to break the cycle and he did.

I said earlier they made choices they regret, both as individuals and a couple but the love was real, it was true and it was now over. They will both carry that love but they cannot be together. Too many things got in the way and they would tear apart the universe trying to exist together. So Simon moved on properly, embraced this new world and life in Ooo. He devoted himself to his loved ones and made a life for himself that wasn't revolving around Betty. It was the healthiest things he could do for both of them.

As for Betty, Simon spent a thousand years as Ice King before he was freed. Some of those moments were good even if a lot of them were bad. She is a whole new type of being able to see and maybe somewhat control the chaotic forces of the universe. I imagine there are some aspects she did like. For example, how appropriate is for a woman who always made herself smaller and bent to the desires of others to be venerated as a Goddess with incredible power? There is no cure now but I like to imagine some day in the future - someone comes along and helps frees Betty from her self inflicted curse. Simon will be long gone I imagine having lived his own full life and died in peace. But now it will be Betty's turn for self discovery and a new chance at happiness.

Their story together was tragic and they both suffered greatly but a running theme of Adventure Time is that happiness is possible, you just need to find it. And for them, finding it meant letting go. I found it beautiful and sad and poignant and awful. I have other nitpicks with the finale but the resolution of their story -at least Simon's side of it - makes me feel settled. I would love to see a future installment giving Betty back her agency just like this series did for Simon.

#adventure time #fionna and cake #fionna and cake spoilers #it really hit me how simon and betty completely flipped roles at the end of AT #just this endless loop of madness and sadness and magic #so if simon -who was told he would ice king until the sun blew up- could escape #then so can betty in my mind #petrigrof #its sad! A doomed narrative where in this case you dont do anything to reunite #just quietly love and mourn and move on

[nolongerapileofashprobably]

What do you think about link and Zelda’s characters?

I wonder if this is specifically Zelda and Link from the Wild Era— I’ll assume so since it is the newest era and I have been primarily focused on Wild Era games recently.

I’ll start with Zelda’s character first— to put it plainly, I love her as a character. She grows and develops despite witnessing literal tragedies and shouldering the weight of a kingdom from birth. Her duty was set forth the moment the prophecy came to light and she was put at a disadvantage when her mother died.

If we remember, Zelda didn’t cry at her mother’s funeral. We know from the game that Zelda is quite an emotional character, so her putting on a front of placing so much on herself at such a young age is something that breaks my heart. But to see how she grows as a person, how she overcomes that emotional blockage through sheer love, how she handles the wreckage of the Calamity, how she develops as a leader, to finally how she becomes a Queen is by far the most powerful and beautiful Zelda character arc in the series. She is so beloved in my heart that I cannot formulate the words to describe those emotions, though I desperately try.

There is no Zelda in the entire series that I adore and cherish more than her (and I’ve played nearly all the games). She’s on another level of development and complexity that it truly hurts to see people completely warp her personality and her actions to justify a false narrative.

Her character is incredibly strong, not just magically, but in terms of actual character design, development, and the execution of her story. She has her flaws, and we actively see her work on them and course correct when she can. That is something so mature and important (and I don’t think people give her enough credit for that). I genuinely don’t have many critiques of her character, as I was genuinely happy with her through the entirety of the story.

Link on the other hand… I do love him. I do. Link is a strong character physically, but his development is incredibly scarce compared to Zelda. His character suffers from Nintendo’s choice to essentially make Link a ‘link to the player’ rather than his own person. With a story that incites powerful emotional responses when players cannot refuse that Zelda and Link 1) are incredibly close/bonded, probably lowkey codependent 2) have not left each other’s side since they were reunited and finally that they are 3) probably romantically involved, or something akin to transcending just a simple friendship, it’s difficult to ensure that experience when all of that is lost on those who decide that it isn’t true.

Mind you, everything I listed above are simple and straightforward interpretations of in-game evidence. And we do see a lot more from Link’s character this game with small gasps and micro expressions (that should NOT be ignored). But for those who do not agree with the above, it’s likely they disliked the story. That’s okay, not everyone will like the story. But a lot of it stems from this vagueness Nintendo established for Link’s character.

He was a kid beating soldiers in the guard, trained in Zora’s Domain, continued training, got the Master Sword when he was a preteen, had the weight of a prophecy placed on him as the first piece besides Zelda, and then became a Champion and Zelda’s Knight Attended by the age of 16/17. Homeboy did have a lot of trauma and stress at an early age that did cause selective muteness and for him to create this stoic mask. We see that he is much less stoic and more talkative after the Calamity and after, but it’s all relative to what the player wants/feels. Sometimes that contradicts what the story itself implies/tells players.

Link is… wasted potential as a character. He could have 100% been more than what we were given to see. I have crafted my own version of him that to me, is as close as canon as I could get, but that won’t be the same for anyone else. Link is precisely what Nintendo wanted him to be and he serves that purpose perfectly.

And it works, but it could have been executed a bit better by confirming things regarding his character rather than leaving breadcrumbs for players to follow if they decided to.

So yeah. Zelda is amazing and I love her. Link could have been executed better but for what we got, I still love him too and extracted enough to formulate as close to canon interpretation without being overly biased (at least I tried).

#I just love my little scholar and her guard dog boyfriend #I just think they’re neat #botw Zelda #botw link #botw zelink #totk zelda #totk link #totk zelink #zelink #loz totk #loz botw #totk Spoilers #botw #the legend of zelda #link botw #zelda botw #loz tears of the kingdom spoilers #the legend of zelda breath of the wild

[libellule-saphique]

Miraculous Season 5: Luka & Kagami's Wasted Potential

If this show wasn't already bad enough.........

Like everything else, it disappoints me that the writers of this show are lazy when it comes to additional character development essentially in the love rivals

but who am I kidding? I knew what to expect when Thomas quite literally said Gabriel was redeemable after torturing all of Paris for years simply because he wants his wife back actively neglecting & abusing his son in the process while in the same breath saying Chloe is beyond redemption and she's a teenage girl who's dad couldn't give a rat's ass about her and spoils her crazy to get her off his back 24/7 and her mom who wants nothing to do with her verbally & mentally abuses her with the only real people who like her to the slightest and tolerate her are Sabrina and Armand who's practically her butler. The double comparison and double standard is wild but nonetheless not surprising seeing how the show's narrative is already bias when it comes down to Adrien & Marinette's character treatment. (the misogyny and racism is loud as hell)

Season 4 of Miraculous was already beginning to go downhill and season 5 simply added icing on the cake. To be honest I was partly excited to see the relationship dynamic within the love rival relationships, Lukanette & Adrigami at the start of season 4 because it was different from the repetitive love square and we got to see our two main leads interact with other characters in a romantic light other than themselves only to end before they could really start. It was a slap in the face and a huge cut from some possible major character development and love square progress. But the writers are so afraid of change and cant manage to make a good progressive storyline and felt that Luka & Kagami were too much of a threat to their Love Square that could've heavily improved because of them in the first place. Some episodes could've been focused on friendships between the love rivals and Marinette & Adrien. But ofc we get the same monotonous plotline mid season 3 to the beginning of season 4 Adrien & Kagami spend more time together, Marinette is conflicted and overwhelmed with feelings, Luka is there for emotional support (which felt like his sole purpose in earlier episodes even until now) Kagami is constantly frustrated by Adrien's indecisiveness, passiveness, and hesitance, etc, etc whatever and it continues all until they break up.

Then out of the wood works, we get Adrien realizing he has feelings for Marinette despite her being quote on quote "just a friend" 3-4 seasons straight. Despite. Marinette putting a hold on relationships ever since Lukanette's breakup and the fact that Monarch is still on the prowl and her responsibilities as a hero, because lets be honest if Ladybug/Marinette doesn't tend to Paris & Monarch no one else will, (Chat Noir definitely won't) the writers still say "hey lets tend to and coddle Adrien's feelings bc now he likes her more than "just a friend" and it doesn't matter how Marinette feels, doesn't matter if she's not ready for a relationship even though she's made that clear on multiple occasions after her and Luka's breakup bc at the end of day what we learn is what we already know "Adrien's feelings are more important than Marinette's overall treatment as the female protagonist and discomfort."

And what do you ask happens to the love rivals? Of course! the writers have to find a way to string them away from the complicated love square

Instead we get Luka shipped off with his dad on a world tour and Kagami paired with Felix (which........also doesn't feel right and for what reason did this have to happen?) Felix is the same guy who quite literally SH Ladybug, but ok? the writers feel like it makes sense to pair Kagami with this guy? She seems to like him for the same reasons her and Adrien's relationship took so long to work out in the first place. I don't even know what she saw in him, he's so bland, so passive, and everyone characterizes him as a "perfect cinnamon catboy who's abused and needs emotional support leaning on our main female lead who's not responsible for his baggage at all but hey! Everything is Marinette's responsibility after all right? They decide to give Felix more purpose in the show as Felix's a more assertive, serious, proactive version of Adrien and that's exactly what Kagami's looking for but I honestly think that it's a cop out for the possible unresolved feelings she had/has for Adrien (though he doesn't deserve her anyway) . It's like the show's message when it comes to romance and love is the only way to be genuinely happy is in a relationship which is so beyond fucked up, and its a overall bad message to kids and teens, no one in the show learns to love themselves and learn themselves first, Kagami would be simply fine without any relationship I can say the same for many other characters especially Marinette & Adrien. Why are romantic relationships needed to began with?

Season 5 is a prime example of the garbage dump Miraculous has become over the years and the poor writing decisions the writers have made.

#kagami tsurugi #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #adrien salt #luka couffaine #mlb #miraculous ladybug #miraculous season 5 #love square #adrienette #adrigami #lukanette #chloe bourgeois #gabriel agreste #hawkmoth #tomoe tsurugi

[bthump]

i've seen some people argue that casca shouldn't have died during the eclipse because it would've been a waste of a death and that she plays an important role in the story post-eclipse.. while i can understand where people are coming from with that argument, it kind of rings hollow to me since i feel like she really gets reduced as a character a lot post-eclipse and while she gets the plot moving, idk. i just find it a disservice to her considerin how she was initially introduced

Yeah that argument doesn't hold water for me either. The role she plays post-eclipse could've been replaced with anything that motivates Guts to go on a quest, and frankly, anything could've motivated Guts after Hill of Swords because he was actively trying to move on from his "obsession with Griffith" after that resounding rejection.

Miura could've also written the Conviction arc differently so that two sacrifices aren't needed to hang out in the same place for a while to help bring Griffith back, that's just arbitrary worldbuilding that could've also been anything.

And most other potential options probably wouldn't be chock full of cringey ableist and misogynist comedy/fanservice/gratuitous sexualized assault scenes/etc lol. I'd be happy to make that trade-off.

Pretty much the only thing she does is be assaulted by Guts so he realizes he needs a babysitter and lets the rpg group hang out with him. But yk what, we already got that scene where he decided to invite Puck to move in without needing to nearly rape someone first, and it was a thousand times better, so again there's no real reason Guts couldn't have just had organic character development that led to more companions.

Even now he's more upset about not being able to fight Griffith than about her being kidnapped lol. And she's still not actively a character in her own right, because now she's just in a magical trance or whatever, so you can't even argue that she contributes to the narrative herself, outside of motivating others as an archetypal sexy lamp.

It's a mess. Casca dying with the rest of the cast in a badass way would've been cooler, less offensive, and made the rest of the story better by default imo. There's no reason we couldn't have had other women of colour in the cast either, for the sake of representation.

#ask #anonymous #a #b #theme: critique #theme: misogyny #character: casca

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

In a better written show, I'd honestly be down for a villain song that sounds totally heroic. It could work really well for a fallen hero or a villain who thinks they're a hero, and the noble lyrics being ultimately at odds with the character and their actions could be well done irony. But... RWBY is not well written. In fact, it's so badly written, that I genuinely can't tell if Hero was meant to be a villain song or not. Are the lyrics about saving people meant to be ironic, considering his later actions like trying to bomb Mantel? Or is it meant to be genuinely heroic since, like you said, Ironwood hadn't actually gone through his fallen hero "arc" yet (And some of James's more over-the-top villainy in V8 very well might not have even been planned at that point)?

So, like so much of RWBY, it's a potentially neat idea that either it wasn't well done or was just wasted, and it mostly just makes me think of ideas for a more interesting story.

In certain circumstances I could really see an ironic hero song really working either via misdirect with the lyrics or outright lying in the lyrics. But I need to emphasize under certain circumstances as even if R/WBY was a better written show…I don’t see something like that working.

For R/WBY this kind of song with double meaning lyrics or misdirect or even lying wouldn’t work because the nature of the songs in R/WBY is…complicated. Take for example bmblb. This song was released for the volume 4 soundtrack and fans got really excited thinking it meant the bees romance was canon. The writers came out and threw Jeff under the bus saying he was just trying out a different style of song and that it wasn’t based on anything or canon. Then volume 9 came out and then bmblb part 2 came out implying that bmblb was in fact canon all along. 

Not only that but what the songs well are is also constantly shifting like The Truth from volume 8 is more generally describing Cinders life while other songs are said to be what characters are thinking internally. Regardless even if the R/WBY songs were consistent in what they are narratively I still don’t think this kind of song trying to trick the audience would work since the characters aren’t even singing the songs. At least not in something like R/WBY. 

A character not singing a song meant to manipulate the audience doesn’t work in most things because it’s just the authors messing with the audience which is frustrating and pulls you out of the story and leaves a sense that the writers just are not competent writers since they have to resort to lying to the audience directly to make their story work and leave the audience unsure what even is canon or not. That’s not fun I most stories. However in stories where the audience is known by the characters to exist is when this type of manipulation works wonderfully. 

Take Doki Doki Literature Club, Monika not only knows about the players existence, but she is actively trying to earn their affection and make them fall in love with her. Her either singing a song or playing a song like this to manipulate the player themselves makes sense because she the character knows she’s in a game and knows there is a player watching her. Her being the one to manipulate the player is different because rather than it being the writers taking a lazy approach to trick the audience, there is a valid story reason for it to happen.

But using a heroic song to trick other characters in a musical I’d argue is also a valid approach. Having characters use double meaning to trick the character (and yes for a time the audience if we’re exclusively following the journey of the main character) into thinking they are good and when the truth is revealed the double meanings and the lies in the early song come to light is also a good way to do it. 

Frozen almost pulls this off with Love is an Open Door wherein it’s later revealed Hans was using Anna to steal the throne. I say almost because the writers use cheap tricks to lie only to the audience to sell it rather than just not showing us his POV and us trusting him like Anna. The scene I’m talking about is this scene in particular. 

There is no one here to see him besides the audience. The only people this smile is for us for the audience to trick the audience and make them think he is genuinely a good guy. If the scene had just cut away the second he fell in the water it wouldn’t be lying to the audience but because this moment exists the writers have gone from characters manipulating another character to the writers lying to the audience to make the betrayal more shocking later, when him just being awkward and nervous around Anna would have been fine because again it’s a character manipulating a character. Cut out this one little shot and “Love is an Open Door” works as a hidden villain song disguised as a love song. 

Sorry that was a long tangent about another almost works scenario so let’s play around with an example that could work hypothetically. Let’s pretend that Wreck it Ralph is a musical. And say King Candy sang to his subjects about how he “built the perfect kingdom” or something like that. We think initially it’s just him being over the top theatrical but then when the twist is revealed we know he really did rebuild Sugar Rush to be his perfect kingdom so he could always be the favorite racer.

Okay it’s not a perfect example I’m just mostly trying to get the point across as I am not aware of a movie that pulls this kind of trick off well so there isn’t a good example to show. Regardless Hero just doesn’t work.

To your question about what Hero is supposed to be. From my understanding of the writing it was supposed to always be a heroic song. The writers said initially that the ending of volume 7 was supposed to be vague with no real right or wrong side and that it was supposed to be unclear. They also said that James’s writing in volume 8 was changed and made more intense mid 2020. This is notable because volume 7 finished airing early 2020 so they would realistically know what fans were thinking and whose side they were leaning towards. Hero would have long since been written at this point which is why it makes sense it started off genuinely as a heroic song and once the writers didn’t like how many people where siding with James so they changed his arc in volume 8, the fans scrambled to try and somehow justify this radical shift in characterization. 

Maybe it would be less frustrating and I could roll with the double meaning theory about Hero if James’s arc in volume 8 was actually a well done fallen hero arc but it wasn’t. It was a rush job to try and make the mains look better that turned into an extremely ableist and harmful arc that butchered a well written character to prop up their poorly written mains.

But really even in a better written show their just isn’t any lines with actual double meanings that work for a fallen hero arc. Some people argue:

There’s no sacrifice that I won’t make

Is supposed to be about James’s willingness to sacrifice Mantle to stop Salem but….at the end of the gravity fight we see James willingly sacrifice his other arm to stop Watts. We see the payoff from that line immediately after the song ends with James literally searing the flesh off of his own arm.

Another section I see used sometimes is

I will fight

For you no matter how I am despised

Portrayed as cruel and heartless, I am might

I am power, I'm due process, I will smite

Our enemies destroy

Mettle I'll deploy

But generally it’s parts taking out of context to the narrative these lines are painting. I’ve seen people argue the part:

I am might

I am power, I'm due process, I will smite

Our enemies destroy

Mettle I'll deploy

Is James talking about enjoying destroying people ignoring again the context and the logical reading of some of the lines. The lines start off by talking about how he’ll fight for you, no matter how much people hate him and think he’s a monster. The line “I am power, I’m Due Process, I will smite” is likely a. Playing off of the name of James’s weapon (due process” and B. Trying to find a rhyme for “might”. But playing devil's advocate for a second here, even with the reading of James is ready to smite his enemies….saying he is ready to smite the seemingly endless army of soulless man eating monsters…well I struggle to see it as pure evil given said soulless nature of man eating monsters driven to destroy humanity. 

I also see people argue that “Our enemies destroy” is James thinking he would destroy his enemies which doesn’t make sense with how that line is, to me it reads as “our enemies destroy everything important to us” and the next line “Mettle I’ll deploy” is in response to their enemies destroying. 

Sorry this ask got insanely long I just had a lot to say hehe.

#rwde #james ironwood #ironwood protection squad #pro james ironwood #pro ironwood #general ironwood #general dadmiral #dadmiral ironwood

[peppermintschnapps]

ok so im going to be VERY mentally ill about "mystery of the druids" for a couple of paragraphs now, specifically halligan & lowry and their rivalry/relationship dynamic.

no human being should ever think this much about a terrible PC game from 2001, but i did, and here it is...

THE RIVALRY! Why does Lowry show so much animosity towards Halligan?

Let us consider this: Halligan must demonstrate a level of competency at his job that keeps him employed. If we look at the events throughout the game, Halligan manages to solve the murder case without any funds, without access to the computer database, and without conventional tools or weapons. Remember - he manages to commandeer an elite fishing rod to retrieve salt deposits from a dock. Who problem solves like that? He displays an unconventional approach to problem solving that may seem insane, but proves to actually be extremely effective and inspired. I am going to argue that this cannot be the first case that Halligan has shown these unique traits - he may be a disaster of a human being in most considerations, but he's undeniably successful when it comes to unearthing the truth and getting results.

And THAT'S the true reason why Lowry despises him so much - that Halligan, with nothing going for him in life at all, is so remarkable at being a detective. Halligan's never had to actually work for it, but he's innately talented at solving cases. And what does Halligan do with these rare talents? He solves cases so that he can then waste his pay by gambling and sitting in his dingy office, throwing darts, smoking and eating pizza. It's like the ultimate spit in the face to Lowry, who is so very methodical and thorough in every manner - that Halligan has this innate and almost "magical" intuition to solving cases, and then treats the whole thing like one big joke (remember the joke warrant that got Halligan banned from the database.) It infuriates Lowry to no end, and he can then only channel this frustration into trying to disprove his own feelings of inadequacy. He presents himself as neat, stylish, wealthy, and successful to try and indirectly undermine Halligan and try to reclaim his wounded ego. Lowry surrounds himself with objects of status and his own success. Although Lowry isn't even consciously aware of it, Halligan makes him feel ineffective and insecure - and these repressed emotions manifest as an outer vitriol and spite. (I would argue that Lowry isn't even interested in Janet, he just wanted the date as a way to tell himself that he's "better" than Halligan.)

Let us then consider the following hypothetical: could Lowry potentially let go of this jealousy and rivalry? A hypothetical turning point in the narrative where Lowry is faced with an inner realization that his feelings of inadequacy are self-indulgent, and only hindering both parties. Lowry admits to himself that Halligan - even if undeserving - has a keen ability for uncovering potential leads and evidence. Lowry realizes he could bring focus and precision to Halligan's "reckless" efforts by offering his own organizational skills, knowledge of protocol, and resources (see: office stationery) to the table. In this way, Lowry and Halligan could both complete what the other party lacks! Perhaps, even entirely by accident, the two awkwardly stumble into the realization they actually work really well together in the field.

Halligan admits he may have been too dismissive of Lowry because he felt inadequate when confronted with Lowry's wealth, luck with ladies, status, and outward aura of control - and Lowry confesses his previously hidden feelings of jealousy. They both realize that they were kind of alike, in their silly inadequacies! Could they begin to move past their initial rivalry, and begin a tentative partnership and friendship? Maybe Lowry could offer a helping hand in getting Halligan's office tidied up, and Halligan could offer Lowry a valuable new insight into unconventional detective methods he had never considered before.

..............ok did you actually read this far? that's fucking incredible. anyway,

NOW THAT WE HAVE LAID ALL THE GROUNDWORK, WE CAN MAKE IT GAY!!! 🏳️‍🌈 after that, they fall in love and give each other kisses!!! 💋 mwa mwa xoxo ♥️ HA HA! it was all a PLOY so that I could be self-indulgent and make it a slash romance!!! 😎

#mystery of the druids #motg #brent halligan #steve lowry

[russian-spider]

you know what pisses me off the most? the fact that i watched 2 seasons of wwdits and i didn't ship nandermo because it didn't feel like they were going there, like you could ship it because there were plenty of great moments between them and the dynamic was great but i could tell their closeness wasn't meant to be romantic, or the romantic undertones weren't meant to be taken seriously. Until season 3. the shift was so obvious! guillermo canonically had a crush on nandor! they can't deny that. it was then that i started shipping it because suddenly this dynamic i loved was something more and it had the potential to be incredible. paul simms can say whatever he wants but he made nandermo canon, at least one sided nandermo. and then he... got bored of it? changed his mind? never meant for it to be more than the joke of the season? i couldn't believe they would do that, i thought nandermo was now The Plan, i was so sure of it! and the end of s3 only reasured me. but now i feel like a fool. there was another shift in season 4, guillermo was over his crush like nadja was over her club in s5. for the longest time i couldn't understand the choices made in s4, it didn't make any sense with what came before, why would they waste the cliffhanger? why would they get separated for a year and not try to find each other? why would guillermo get a bf if not to make nandor jealous and bring them closer? and season 5 was so good and it did bring them closer but as friends... nandor has called guillermo his friend so many times already and it sounds so much like the way other shows queerbait (it doesn't apply here as both are queer but yk what i mean, shipbaiting, wtv) and i didn't want to see it. but i guess i was stuck on the s3 narrative, i was looking at everything that came after with what i knew from s3 in mind, but i see now nandermo was a one season plot that ended with the cliffhanger, that the year apart was their way to finish it, to get a clean slate. i see now that for the writers guillermo's crush is barely more than nandor's crush on meg or the guide's crush on guillermo, another thing that gets discarded from season to season. and since then they've given us just enough to string us along. and i'm pissed off because i fell for it, because they made it canon but not canon enough and now i have to read paul simms call the ship he wrote as romantic "problematic", like we're bad for liking it, like the whole show and characters aren't "problematic", like we're dumb for not taking guillermo's word for it when he said it was over bc we thought this show would give a fuck about arcs and themes and continuity. and yeah we can ship it even if it never becomes canon but it was supposed to, that's why i let myself become invested, because they gave us hope, because it was already happening! and just like guillermo becoming a vampire, it's been undone.

#nandermo #wwdits #tldr: nandermo was canon in s3 and i got invested bc it was the real deal but it's been undone like guillermo's turning #and now i feel stupid #i didn't want to believe they would do that to us but they did #time to face the truth #also fuck u paul