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amarriageoftrueminds · 11 months

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idk how familiar you are with modern captain america comics/most recent cap stuff, but they're so bad and so endgame-like in how it just throws random ideas at a wall to see what sticks, but it just ends up covering any good ideas they manage to get with 💩 . and the newest ones just seem to resent the fact that they're writing a book with Bucky & Steve, at times it literally feels like those "not team cap friendly" fanfictions with the way they get their characters so wrong go to lengths to "prove" (thru OOC writing) that the friendship of this franchise isn't important/overrated to uplift other things in its place 🙃

Like I would love nothing more if the creative team suddenly got replaced/got their 💩 together and continued this awful plotline with Bucky & Steve genuinely being part of the same team, because for some reason marvel seems to avoid Steve & Buck fighting alongside each other like it's the worst thing ever... even though they're supposed to be BFFs??? so like my delusional hope for this 💩 to turn itself around is if we finally a long term Bucky Steve team up

and if I was in charge, I'd retcon away a lot of the Cold War OOC-ness that felt spiteful and destructive/regressive & instead add some of my own constructive retcons to enhance and progress Bucky & Steve's old canon dynamic instead of mischaracterizing it and crushing it and trying to wipe it away, something like:

And after the events of the Cold War event, Steve and Bucky join forces once again finally and have a heart to heart after being reminded of the last time they teamed up together -- Steve recalls when he first met Bucky at Camp Lehigh before being injected with the superserum, and he remembers the way Bucky protected small skinny Steve Rogers at bootcamp without even asking for anything in return. This was the foundation of Steve's trust in Bucky, how Bucky stepped up as Steve's protector and guardian angel(with a shotgun) -- And Bucky reminds Steve that he always protected him from the cold harsh realities of war and bloodshed and was the one to do the dirty work that needed to be done; Bucky got his own hands dirty to keep Steve's hands clean -- And in the wake of the events with the Outer Circle, Steve confesses to Bucky that he doesn't want Bucky to have to do that, tells him that if he needs to get his hands dirty too, then so be it, as long as they do it together. -- Steve pleads Bucky to watch his back and be his (fallen)guardian angel again, to not leave him again -- Steve opens his arms and Bucky accepts wraps and morphs* his arm around Steve like a metal wing as a protective symbol, a sign of his commitment to watch over Steve like he has always done.

.*I actually don't like the stuff these new comics did to Bucky's arm, chopping it off and adding a "freakier" "evil" one, it feels like they are doing it to (ableist-ly) dehumanize Bucky as "damaged" and "corrupted" like how marvel always loves to do to the guy imprisoned and tortured by Nazis, but if Bucky's gonna have a shapeshifting metal arm then they could at least use it to create some (positive) visual symbolism, but doing that requires an actual love for the characters which the new(ish) creatives in charge of Bucky & Steve seem to be devoid of

I don't read them (and frankly don't know why anyone who liked the characters still would) but I've seen the bad panels on twitter. And... it's the homophobia.

They must be separated and undermined and the disabled one must be demonized and made monstrous because #givecapaboyfriend trended on twitter and Sebastian Stan's contract is ending. They hired artistically bankrupt writers with no interest or investment in the characters, and no intention of bettering themselves, because those writers had those qualities. And Lady Brexit must be lionized and shoved down our throats at all cost to cover up the fact that they adapted a Nazi character, and because the actress fucked Tom Cruise and made herself seem briefly relevant and useful to have on staff again.

#comics #marvel critical #disney critical #antipeggy #antisteggy #cynthia glass #p*ggy meta #mcu critical #mcu meta #meta #stucky #steve meta #bucky meta #stucky meta

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steves-strapcollection · 4 years

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On Tragedy vs. Bad Endings

[Image ID: user @frostyfrogz replied to your post “my mag171 #thots: I fully agree with. I love jonmartin I want nothing but the best for them. I know my answer today was an obvious twisting of dialogue but its just frustrating sometimes because it seems like people dont understand some sort of tragedy will indeed happen. I have never and will never suggest that something will happen to Jon and Martin’s relationship I’ve just been saying the shows not going to end well no matter what.]

So I have a lot of thoughts about this very subject, and too much for the replies on my post, so allow me to try to articulate what I mean, and what a lot of us mean when we say “it does not make sense for either Jon or Martin to turn evil in the end,” even in a show that has been advertised from day one as a tragedy.

First of all, no one thinks this is going to end happy. The few who do are usually unaware that this show is billed as a tragedy, and are quick to be corrected. I didn’t know it was a tragedy until I was on season 3 and someone told me. It’s overall just best to assume that the OP knows it’s not going to be a happy ending, because “reminding” people or “explaining” to people that the ending is going to be sad is a fast way from people to get annoyed and defensive.

Anyway! It appears, above all, that people have either fundamentally different ideas of what a tragedy is or accomplishes, or that people have a fundamentally flawed understanding of tragedy and it’s place as a narrative device/theme.

My thoughts are that tragedies hurt, and tragedies can be devastating, but they have to have a message and they should not be cruel to the audience.

A cruel ending would involve leading the audience to believe one thing for the entire book, show, movie, podcast, what have you, just to rip it away at the last minute like a big “fuck you” to the audience. Those sorts of endings are inherently mocking of the audience, and ultimately disrespectful. The only people in the audience that “benefit” from this sort of writing are the cynics who spent the entire show talking down to everyone for seeing the silver lining in the impending tragedy, even if, up until the finale, the silver lining was always part of the narrative. Like it took actual twisting and outright ignoring of the narrative as it’s written to be cynical and sceptical all the way until the end.

That is, plain and simple, bad writing. Jonny Sims is not a bad writer.

Now tragedies often have “happy endings,” they just also have an element of sadness colouring that ending. A good, tragic ending should, in my opinion, feel bittersweet. We should see it coming, we should know it will hurt, but it should be for the greater good and should further the narrative that has been told from the beginning.

I said a few weeks ago that a tragic ending without a silver lining is just torture porn, and I stand by it.

Now, if Jon or Martin are revealed to be Actually Evil in the end, where is the silver lining in that? What narrative has even possibly hinted at this outcome, without putting on cynic glasses?

Every single plot point and plot “twist” in TMA has been clearly detailed, never relegated to pure subtext that you would have to comb through a single interraction and analyzing the tone in which it was said (which could easily be actor shortcomings or error). They have always been obvious, at least in hindsight. This is why, for a while, I subscribed to the Web!Martin theory, but due to recent episodes I’m more inclined to believe those “obvious things” were red herrings.

Throughout The Magnus Archives, the common theme in every. Single. Season finale is that “we are stronger together.” What do I mean by that? Well, here’s the general idea:

Season 1: The one time someone gets separated by the group for any significant length of time, like I mean the main group, she gets killed by the NotThem and replaced.

Season 2: Jon is alone, due to his intense paranoia and his reluctance to reach out for help. This leads to a disastrous series of events that leaves him a suspect of murder, and his friends even more doubtful of his character.

Season 3: In the episode just before they deal with the Unknowing, Jon literally says that isolation was his downfall, and he was going to work on trusting his friends more. When they got separated during the Unknowing, things went to shit. When they found each other again, they were able to rally and they “succeeded.” Conversely, they are also teamed up with Melanie and Martin who hung back to bring down Elias. They were successful, working as teams on separate objectives, etc.

Season 4: This is, by far, their most “successful” feats while simultaneously their least. The whole season was again showing the downfalls of isolation. In the season finale, Jon has Basira and Daisy’s help, and while bolstering himself with their strength, and the strength in his conviction to save Martin to be with Martin, Jon was successful in stopping Peter Lukas and saving Martin. Conversely, Martin and Jon’s isolation in Scotland could be, theoretically, implicated in how Jonah Magnus was able to succeed in the end like that.

Now evidence of this same train of thought in season 5? Jon literally says it: Gertrude would not have done well in this post-apocalyptic world, because she had no friendships, no anchors, no reason to stay human. And then Jon says “you are my reason” to Martin.

It is in the text of the story that the only way to succeed, or win, or survive, is through trust, friendship, and love. One of the main factors in so many of the statements, on why the statement givers succumbed to the fear in their story, for even a moment, had to do with very little personal ties to anyone else. Many of the statements feature isolation and, as Jon put it, “lack of corroboration.” On the flipside, many of the statements that ended with the statement giver escaping successfully, and surviving long enough to be reached out to for follow-up questions, involved them having close personal ties to someone else that kept them safe, somehow. Like the girl from Italy; remembering her mom saved her from the Lonely. Or, more ridiculously, the guy and his dog that escaped the spiral because he was so distracted by his dog and had to be home for dinner. In MAG170, it was Martin’s love for Jon, and his trust in the love from Jon and his friends, that saved him from the Lonely again. Jon’s incredible amount of love, and respect, and trust in his friends is what’s kept him from becoming another Jared Hopworth or Jude Perry. In MAG155, Cost of Living, he expresses open disgust in how that particular avatar of The End justified her actions, killing and killing and killing again because she viewed herself as more worthy of life than that person. In that same episode, he talks of not blinding himself because he hopes to use his powers to protect his friends, that without them they’re too vulnerable. Honestly, this is the same reason Peter Lukas is unsuccessful, because Martin only helped him at all to protect his friends. The fact that he didn’t see his failure coming was hilarious.

Gerry said in Family Business that there is no “entities of love”, and that might be true, but love and trust is literally what saves you from fear. How many of us deal with things that are scary in our lives, if only because we have some level of trust in the people or things around us. How many of us have been brought out of a panic attack by someone we love and trust?

So all of this has been presented to us, over and over and over again, which is what I, and others, mean when we say “it does not make sense for one of them to be evil.” That’s what we mean when we say “it would be Bad Writing to make one of them evil in the end.” The entire show has driven home the message that we need love, we need personal connections to survive fear. To rip that away from the main characters at the last minute and call it “tragedy” would be a spit in the face of every single listener who took the story at face value, without picking it apart and reading lines out of context. And Jonny Sims and Alex J. Newall have both said they hate lazy writing.

Now, none of the JonMartin fans I follow are deluding themselves to think this show will have a happy ending outside of very self-indulgent fix-it au fanfics.

The way I see this going down is that Jon and Martin will figure out how to put the world back to the way it was, but Jon will not be able to be part of the new world with Martin. That’s the tragedy; that the world gets saved, and Jon helps save it, but he doesn’t get to benefit from his efforts in any way. The tragedy is Jon loves Martin so much, and they deserve their happy ending, but they don’t get it. But, they still saved the world so others can have their happy endings.

Idk about you, but between the “Jon turns evil in the end” and “Jon stays good and sacrifices himself to save the world” endings, only one of them has me in tears right now as I type this out, and it’s not the former.

I’m not against sad endings,I’m against bad endings that punish the audience for having even a bittersweet hope. I’m against sad endings that are just sad for the sake of being sad, with zero pay-off or reason to happen, especially when those endings throw out 5 years of hard work.

And hey, I might just be forced to eat my words in the end, but not before I fly all the way to England and make Jonny Sims eat a knuckle sandwich.

This was a lot longer than I meant for it to be, but I just have a lot of feelings.

#jonmartin #the magnus archives #tma #tma spoilers #THE POWER OF LOVE AND TRUST WILL SAVE THE WORLD #also idk the proper format of like image id's but i didn't want to NOT type out the reply #my mag thots #500 notes

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jonroxton · 3 years

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can you talk about chlark beyond chloe? personally i think it's weird that the writers kept adding kisses and weird romantic moments without any pay off. i don't know much about the fandom back then but i think the writers were baiting fans since clark/chloe seems to be the second most popular ship after clex. second i personally think chloe would never be happy with clark or anyone tbh and she doesn't seem like the type of person who would have kids so the finale was weird to me.

this got looooong :)

0. it WAS weird, and the choice to never not once go for it with them was to the story's detriment. I'll get into it a little later on in this post.

Re: shipping in sv fandom. there was definitely drama (clana was HUGE when the show was airing and every ship was basically derailed by it lol) but I stayed in my clois lane with a small circle of fandom friends much like I do now. a good measure of clois fans were fans of lois and clark from other mediums, come to sv just for lois and clark, myself included. we were pretty insulated as a fandom even back then. I do remember seeing more Chlark after the S5 finale (when Chloe kisses him goodbye), but those dropped off after Jimmy was introduced right away in S6. The most drama I encountered was with Chloisers: Chloe fans who believed wholeheartedly that Chloe was Lois. They hated SV!Lois and were convinced she would die so Chloe could take her name and job and place by Clark's side, thus a Chlark endgame. this was a popular theory amongst that fandom even into s9, when the clois ball started to roll for true.

bait and switch

a lot of Chlark is rooted in this notion that chloe WOULD be the best thing for Clark, the ideal Lois, the true best friend, the human hand guiding him through Earth's troubles. she would be could be the BEST possible lois archetype for Clark. it's not a wrong interpretation. she was specifically written as a lois-and-lana-proxy (teenage lana is a reporter in some AUs and even some as an adult as a tv correspondent) and she's given many lois-ish traits (tenacious, secretly crushing on clark and in denial), but this interpretation is deeply flawed. first, because lois does eventually enter into the picture and she has her own defining traits that, when compared to chloe, make chloe seem much shallower than realized. secondly, within the complete context of the story, her position in the greater narrative is not as ~the one who got away, the way it did very early on in S1-S4, but one who clark tolerates.

they're friends because clark is forgiving and chloe has staying power. their friendship is riddled with insecurities and unknowns the characters create for themselves. their dynamic is defined by conflict, not resolutions. this is not made easy by the fact that chloe is such a strangely written character, but ultimately she is positioned as a counter to clark achieving his happiness. not a thematic narrative foil but an obstacle clark eventually relents to.

2. and it has been so from the get-go

S1 is the best season for them and the single season which actually considers Clark's side in this dynamic. everything about them later on can be explained with how they are in this season. and that's the problem. when they're 14 it's nice teen angst drama and works perfectly to establish the dynamic. when they're 24 it's at best a pattern, at worst regression. we expect certain behaviors, dismiss them too, when it's children, at least I do. clark and chloe never move beyond the dynamic they establish in s1 and early s2. in essence, clark and chloe remain children around each other. they have many discussions in the later seasons that make at least one appear petulant.

so S1 clark has just been told the greatest secret of his existence and he imprints on lana hard that same night (right AFTER jonathan tells him, he meets lana at the graveyard and talks to her for the first time EVER, a lot of childhood imprinting going on in SV). all of s1 follows clark's heartache over lana, watching her from afar and figuring out a way to be near her. this pain is exacerbated by the fact that he believes he caused her her greatest grief: the death of her parents via the meteor shower which he arrived in.

here the first beat of the chlark dynamic is established: chloe's job and passion – the wall of weird and her pursuing the meteor infected oddities of SV - directly affects clark in a negative way (he's suicidal for much of s1-s3). so her crush on him is countered with her unknowingly causing him great grief. om top of that: clark becomes part of this passion of hers and she eventually begins to pursue him as a story to be uncovered, very superman yes. here tho, it causes nothing but strife for them and paints chloe in an awful light (and clark too, highlighting his refusal to open up). I personally enjoy this aspect of them in s1. bc they're so young I give em a free pass and it's a good conflict playing around with old superman tropes, but it makes for a fraught friendship.

3. the second beat

is that neither chloe's crush on clark, nor his asking her to stop pursuing his truth, do anything to stay her. her tenaciousness becomes intrusiveness and inconsideration (many of her accomplishments irt the daily planet are directly bc she betrays clark). she simply will not listen to her friend and does not believe his livelihood and autonomy is worth losing a story over. this is literally the opposite of comics/live action lois lane, who in various versions drops the clark reveal story to protect him. this passion turns vindictive pretty early for chloe, who eventually pursues stories about clark out of jealousy and entitlement (against lana also).

4. the third beat

is that clark doesn't ever see chloe as romantic prospect except this time in s1. the tornado trapping lana pulls him away from any solidifying of the clark/chloe dynamic, and that's that. but we know clark was willing to go for it in early s2 when he apologizes to chloe about running off on her. it's chloe who decides not to go on with the relationship. clark is visibly confused, but also 15 so he can't see that chloe is putting on a brave front to protect herself from clark running off again. I liked this too as it's another play on superman tropes, but my sympathy for them stops here.

5. and stays here

these beats are the entirety of this dynamic. everything about chlark can be distilled down to their childhood. it's why I don't hate them completely, bc I have a lot of love for kids who hurt in such a way and that time is never easy. in s8 (I think its s8) when we get a flashback to when they meet as kids (more imprinting!). little tenacious cute chloe kisses insecure clark bc of the funny awkward tension, acknowledging it, and then immediately takes it back because they're better as friends. (also they’re like 11 lol)

every single romantic moment with them is undercut either by chloe herself, or by the presence of other storylines/romances the writers wanted to pursue. the lack of integrity in chloe and the lack of interest in clark, regardless of how sincere their connection or how messed up, is a central part of their dynamic that needs to be reconciled with their friendship. and its exhausting bc there is never a point they are ever truly comfortable around each other.

6. to a fault

knowing the secret doesn't change chloe's methods. it doesn't make chloe clark's great confidante. if anything, it complicates matters for both because their relationship then becomes about the greater good and clark's great destiny. everything chloe does becomes about that, which in theory sounds awesome, but is executed much the same way as s1!chlark: by reiterating behaviors that highlight the negative aspects of that loyalty and the negative aspects of their characters.

the single time they do actively examine what this loyalty means and how chloe's hero complex complicates things for chlark is with s8 and davis. she protects davis with the skills of subterfuge and secrecy she developed as clark's friend. and it costs her jimmy and a lot of her personal integrity as a character. tho ironically it makes chloe the strongest she's been as a character. this is the first time clark is forced to view chloe as an enemy and he never quite recovers from discovering the dark depths she’s willing to go to.

it's an arc dealing with the established beats: how far chloe is willing to go for a kryptonian (very far), how much she's willing to do for him (A LOT and all of it illegal), and what it costs her (jimmy). it deals with her jealousy (always second choice) and her motivations (uncovering the truth). this great want that she struggled with for years is turned on its head and examined, revealing just how weird and dark her hero complex is because obviously davis is not clark. davis/chloe served to highlight more than any other arc how it's really too bad that clark never saw her that way, because she has so much love to give and when channeled, it's a great force. only it's a great force for evil. clark has to confront that it’s not just lex but his other closest friend who is willing to go so far. they backtrack hard in s9 and s10 but they keep this underlying wariness in clark towards Chloe throughout. it’s not anything new, but it’s no longer subtext that clark doesn’t fully trust chloe.

7. And that's the rub

in the end. chloe and clark have many storylines they're in together and chloe's important.... to develop clark and as a counter to clark. clark never instigates anything, not once, for 9 years! when the show did give us Moments TM, clark is reacting, not actively making choices to connect to her. if anything, clark is incredibly awkward about chloe when they become intimate. he doesn't seem to know what to do with her crushing on him (the elevator scene is a great one to show just how awkward chloe makes him feel). more than that. clark never tells her his secret. and later on, chloe doesn't tell him half the crazy wild shit she does to protect him bc she knows he would disapprove. I still hold that the only reason they work is bc clark is a forgiving character and would give her chance after chance after chance. that's the watsonian explanation, but the doylist explanation is that the writers just never cared to explore them beyond this point.

8. and what was beyond that point?

they would've been a great counter to lexana in S6 and early clana (clark finally having a gf who knows). it’s playing the clark/Chloe as a straight lois/clark proxy before actually pursuing lois and clark. it could’ve been the precursor to davis and caused an even more personal conflict! the kiss at the end of s5 was their chance. they could've written chlark devolving much the same way lexana did in s6 (or not). but again. the writers never went that far and clearly never wanted to. it kept chlark forever in this stage of childhood friendship always on the brink of collapsing, tittering either way. it's also tough to speculate bc clark's just not into her. in fact he becomes more and more wary of her, to the point where he believes she can do horrible things, and he's right. the stories continually make their methods complete opposite.

they go out of their way to show chloe realizing how happy clark is with lois. and even play a joke on the fandom by literally turning her into lois and seeing the sparks between her friends. it's almost... cruel but it does serve to show how clark is when he's smitten and he's never looked at chloe that way except during the dance when they were kids. other unrequited dynamics have at least some spark from the desired, but nil from clark. clark is into chloe in late s1, but she shuts him down, and when he seems to be into her again (damn that s5 kiss was a good one lol), she shuts him down again. it's just a weird writing choice all around, and that they kept nuggets of it throughout the show is the thing I cringe at most whenever I rewatch.

9. bait and switch 2

with hindsight it is definitely ship baiting and that sucks for that dynamic bc without it their friendship would’ve been the stronger, or at least not full of so much negativity. all it did was remind everyone that chloe’s been duped since she was a kid and that clark is both stupid and strange for never noticing and letting her get away with shit just bc she’s the most loyal. I don’t ship them and even I get frustrated lol

#mystuff #smallville #superman #anti chlark #sayruq #my meta

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kob131 · 3 years

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCnynO7H3Do

Vexed has however decided to speak on Ironwood. ... Guess how that goes.

“Ironwood is such a cartoon villain! Look at how he is framed!”

This would mean a little more than jackshit to me if this was real or at least not coming a RWBY watcher since the latter would be all about manipulative editing and the later I might believe wouldn’t need to be handheld through a basic scene but not only is Ironwood a fictional character in a fictional show where you’re trying to invoke emotions in the audience: The RWBY fandom can’t analyze a scene worth shit unless someone walks on screen and literally explains everything. And Vexed himself is such a manipulatve liar that he’s even LESS trustworthy.

Not to mention I’ve seen footage of Hitler’s speeches and the responses- you can go a few levels deeper in reality itself. Not really that cartoonish to me.

“They thought they made him a villain at the end of Volume 7 but failed miserably!”

A. Judging from the reactions and how Ironwood’s defenders were half made up of people who’d side with anything they think is the opposite of what the writers’ intended- I’d say they did the job perfectly fine.

And B. This is exactly what I was talking about. The fact that someone didn’t roll out a fucking flowchart of his character you immediately started interpreting Ironwood’s downfall as a failure to make him a villain. You literally took basic ambiguity necessary for good writing and twisted it to make things look bad.

You’re the fucking reason why RWBY is blunter than a stoner’s cigarette.

“They ACCIDENTALLY made him compelling!”

... You do know the commentary you are quoting doesn’t say ‘we tried to make Ironwood not compelling’ in any form right? All they’re saying is ‘we wanted to make Ironwood’s descent into villainy understandable and subtle.’ In fact, the writer’s job is suppose to be about making the villain compelling so they likely INTENDED on it.

... You mixed up ‘compelling’ and ‘sympathetic’ didn’t you? That either means you don’t know what those words mean or you have an incredibly narrow view of villains.

Also I gotta love that ‘Oh, he was only making hard choices and yet he’s a VILLAIN?!’. Not only does it ignore that villains are made by their choices, bad things can happen due to good choices and that it’d be thematic SUICIDE to portray Ironwood as in the right while kicking the more moral Ozpin for his actions-

It also showcases you’re just a salty Ironwood fanboy. You didn’t consider how he got here as a character or what makes sense for what he represents- You got pissed your headcanons of a character was contradicted so you pitch a fit. I know this because you pulled this shit with WEISS before.

“Isn’t it strange that Salem was used to set up Ironwood’s ultimatium?”

No. Ironwood’s flaws as a character have always been centered around his reaction to Salem’s existence. He acts unilaterially when he believes Salem is close by, his paranoia flares up when Salem is concerned, his stubbornness is the result of glorifying Salem as this nigh unstoppable evil that must be stopped at any cost.

Of course he’s at his lowest when Salem is there: this once in the background ultimate evil is now making public moves, everything is stacked against him and he sees other people’s ways as having failed. Why wouldn’t he dig in his heels when faced with such a situation considering his character?

“I’ll be doing a video on Salem at the end of this Volume-”

And I know it’ll be as much of a failure as all the others. You could literally release a video of you saying ‘RWBY bad’ for ten minutes sand get the same reaction.

“Let’s focus on James, who was the best character in the show-”

Subjective and shows your bias AGAIN.

“Who was the focal point of Volume 7-”

A. That’s actually more him and Ruby but you aren’t the type to pay attention.

And B. You are now acknowledging the existence of his actions in Volume 7. You cannot try to say his descent wasn’t explored unless it’s admission you didn’t understand Volume 7.

“The man who hasn’t done much of anything in the first half of this Volume-”

That is such bullshit I don’t even know where to start?

He caused the events of Volume 8 to play out. He contacted Penny, setting up her own doubts about her decision, he used Watts to make the virus that setup the climax, he denies the heroes access to resources thus preventing them from attacking Salem, he puts them on edge from his orders to arrest preventing the heroes from openly acting-

He’s pulling as much weight as RUBY here and I’m honestly insulted.

“The man who is now just a crazy cartoon villain.”

You know, this reminds me of a comment I saw once. It was about Persona 5′s villains and how everyone said they were cartoon villains too. ... I then proceeded to point out how each one was actually pretty realistic when you actually look at reality.

Kamoshida? Replace ‘Gym school teacher’ to ‘Rich man’ and you have Jeffry Epstein. (Who didn’t commit suicide)

Madrame? *jabs at RT*

Okumura? He was based on real life Japanese business tycoons and their actions.

Shido? Literally every US politician.

Same applies here, but even worse. Ironwood descended from a high perch due to very serious circumstances, doing all this in a misguided attempt to protect people. A certain senile President did similarly shady shit...to protect himself.

You can’t call ‘cartoon villain’ to a man more understandable than REAL PEOPLE.

“Make a decision- Mantle dies or Mantle dies! HOW STUPID!”

Completely ignoring how they believe they can still save Mantle...and Ironwood is using that to try and force their hand.

Literally anyone who tries to be manipulative does that. And again, I understand him better than...well, everyone who HAS tried that.

“I would have respected him more if he just blew up Mantle-”

So kill the tone of the show, the main conflict of the past two Volumes AND his characterization as a pragmatist?

Someone check Vexed’s foot and make sure it’s still there: he’s shot it so many times now.

“Explain to me why he won’t just let Mantle evacuate?”

He’s incredibly stubborn, mentally scarred and physiologically compromised? AKA his CHARACTER?

“IRONWOOD ISN’T THINKING! RWBY BAD!”

It’s the fucking INTENT to show he isn’t thinking. All you’re doing is proving the writers’ competence at this point.

“Ruby should have just said Penny was in Mantle-”

To the guy whose immensely unstable at this point, saying ‘Hey, my only bargaining chip is in that place you don’t care about where you can possibly get the chip by killing Penny and finding who has the Maiden powers now!’?

Sounds like you’re the one missing more than half a brain.

“PLAN FAILED!”

Yes, your plan did fail because My IQ isn’t in the negatives.

“I love how the writers thinking that Ironwood acknowledging he’s slow-”

... You took a look at this scene, with him looking like that, with that music, with the context of his character, with the question of his character, with Winter’s look at him...

And came to THAT conclusion?

... Yeah we’re done here. I’m not giving any more effort. I’ve clearly given a Herculean amount of it compared to Vexed.

I’ll end this with a quote from one of my favorite Bad Religion songs:

Life is the crummiest book I ever read There isn't a hook, just a lot of cheap shots Pictures to shock and characters an amateur

Would never dream up

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction

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another-sonic-blog · 4 years

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@maishemicalromans

(Sorry for posting this like this but Tumblr won't let me answer your ask properly, idk it's acting weird)

Alright, so I was going to post first the Silver character analyzation and writing tips but I’ll love to answer your question first since I think I need to put this out before the Silver post.

I want to first say that I am not doing this to talk negatively about the current writer of Sonic IDW’s comic. This is merely my opinion. An opinion of a fan, who although does not master the art of writing, I am still allowed to express it. However, I still believe that every opinion should be backed up with evidence and that’s what I am going to do. Sorry, if the answer is too long but I think what I am about to write is necessary.

I haven’t read the Archie comics because I heard that was a mess until Ian Flynn showed up, I read he wrote pretty good things. However, because of the whole mess with Archie Comics, SEGA implemented rules as to how people should write Sonic and friends. I don’t know how strict these rules are and if that’s the reason why Flynn is writing a very ‘unlikeable’ Sonic (In my opinion)

I am not here to talk about that but just putting that out there. I am not criticizing Flynn nor SEGA (If we had to blame someone it’ll probably be Ken Penders and SEGA but we don’t talk about that guy in here) but just the writing.

Alright, now that we have that out of the way I am going to say that there are 2 things that I STRONGLY DISLIKE about Sonic’s character in IDW.

1. Sonic manipulating Shadow

I don’t have words to express just how wrong it is to bring up someone’s past mistakes, use that against them and manipulate them. Yes, this is manipulation. Sonic is using Shadow’s insecurities to benefit him. How does even Sonic DARE to compare Shadow to Eggman? Eggman who has tried to conquer planets, destroy worlds, kidnap innocents, tortured him, tries to kill him (and friends) and started wars? Eggman does all of these when he is CONCIOUS, he does all of those things because he WANTS to. Shadow in the other hand, in SA2 he doesn’t want to destroy Earth but he is doing it because he CARED too much for Maria and the ‘promise’ he made to her. He did everything because of a PROMISE he made to a little girl, a sister, the person who cared for him. The person who sacrificed their life in order to protect him. How does that even compare to Eggman? Who only seeks destruction for his own benefit? Not only that but Shadow redeem himself. He helped save the planet and Shadow continues to help saving the world. He does this for multiple reasons but one of them is that he still regrets trying to destroy earth back at the ARK. He still remembers this incident and the regret still haunts him till this day.

Why would Sonic even bring this up? Sonic out of everyone must know the turmoil Shadow has been through and still he decides to use Shadow’s insecurities against him. He really went out and said “Look I am not saying you are wrong but remember that time you fucked up? Yeah that was bad, you were really evil back then too. You are in the same level as the person who constantly tries to kill me and my friends. Oh, but you saved the world multiple times? Yeah, I know and I don’t care. You are always making the wrong decisions, just listen to me because I am right. Your opinion is invalid because of the mistakes you made, because you were bad.”

Can’t he see Shadow’s hurt face? Can’t he understand how the words affected him? Shadow was again reduced to thinking that no matter what he does, he is always going to be seen as evil. That everyone will remember his mistakes and that no matter what, they will always remember that. Sonic just deepened that wound, he increased Shadow’s insecurity.

And Sonic still has the guts to smile? Boy, what the heck are you smiling at? You just denigrated Shadow the Hedgehog, a hero, to the likes of Eggman. Get out of here.

“Losing one’s memory doesn’t make them any less dangerous”

And you know what makes me sad the most?

That I am sure that Shadow saw himself in Mr. Tinker. Shadow said that he wanted to ‘destroy’ him. It makes me think that if Shadow could, he would also like to destroy the past version of himself. If the Shadow right now could go back to the past and destroy his past self … He would.

I am sure Sonic knows this. So, still it just makes me wonder why? Why Sonic the Hedgehog, a character who is said to always live in the ‘present’ looks backs at Shadow’s past mistakes and manipulates them to his benefit? To the benefit of a Eggman who he knows has brought pain to him, to his friends and the world?

You would think that after Sonic Lost World, Sonic would have learned something about listening to others or thinking before acting. Especially when the whole mess on Sonic Lost World was due that Sonic jumped into action without listening to Tails first. Shadow is really telling Sonic to not trust Eggman so easily for two reasons.

1. Experience, Shadow more than anyone knows that losing one’s memories does not make them any less dangerous. (No pun intended lol)

2. He is doing it to protect what is left of the world. In Sonic forces, it is stated that Eggman conquered 90% of the world (Or more, I don’t remember exactly) The world is basically in ruins and after the war they have begun to restore it. If Mr.Tinker remembers he was Eggman, the Resistance would be at a total disadvantage. They have no resources nor people … how can they win another war?

This bothers me as well …

Sonic doubted Eggman … and he still left him … unsupervised. Like why in the world you trust a man who has attempted to do genocide multiple of times?

2. Sonic’s lack of guilty

This? Good

This? Bad.

“But heroes have nothing to be sorry about.”

Can he just shut up?????

Was that really necessary to say? Honestly, he could would have said, “But she has nothing to be sorry about.” That would have been great.

Why?

When Sonic and Tangle are talking, he is actually apologizing. Tangle tells Sonic that he has nothing to be sorry about and that she knows that Sonic would make things right. At first, I thought Sonic was saying that Tangle was right to reassure her. That way, Tangle could get infected with some peace at her mind. She can go away thinking that her hero didn’t do anything wrong and that he will fix things for everyone. However Sonic still thinks he is at fault.

That would have shown so more deepness in Sonic’s character. But no, Tangle got infected and he went ahead to make it about himself because he is that self-centered, right?

That line, ruined it. ‘But heroes have nothing to be sorry about?’

This whole thing really went down like:

Tangle: “You have nothing to be sorry about.”

Sonic: “Lmao you are right.”

Because that line wasn’t meant towards Tangle, NO it was meant for himself. He literally is saying that he has nothing to be sorry about. Now, I am not saying its Sonic total fault or that Sonic should be crying saying that he is sorry or something like that. What I am saying is that Sonic was really reckless, overconfident, and naïve (Which is no good because he already has enough experience dealing with Eggman, this can even be see as stupidity.)

Maybe Sonic it’s not at fault that Mr. Tinker got turned into Eggman, but Sonic DID contribute to the problem at hand. To an extent he is at fault.

Letting go of Metal Sonic even when there was the possibility of him turning evil? Of someone using him for their benefit?

Not listening to Shadow and recklessly leave Mr.Tinker alone when there is the possibility that Metal Sonic is looking for him? Or that they may encounter each other at some point?

Deciding to trust a criminal who constantly tries to kill you instead of trusting the hedgehog who saved the world, redeem himself and knows better of how dangerous people with amnesia can be because he himself has being there?

I think what bothers me the most is that we have already gone through this.

In Sonic Lost World, Tails pointed out that Sonic trusted Eggman more than him. Tails was right, Sonic did trust Eggman more. Sonic trusted Egmman to shut down his machine over Tails. (Sonic has seen Tails do amazing things, why wouldn’t he trust he can shut down a machine? IDK but oh well) Sonic even admitted to doubting Tails’ abilities and then went head and said he was never doubting him again.

So, watching this I was like alright. Sonic learned something, he developed. Sonic will trust his friends, listen to them and won’t doubt their abilities.

But then again, he decided to trust Eggman.

And the worst is that he is no showing remorse whatsoever? Even after they had been through a similar situation before?

He didn’t listen to Tails back then. He didn’t listen to Shadow now and because of that the world is at stake again.

To conclude all of this, I want to say that it just seems that Sonic hasn’t develop whatsoever. He hasn’t learned a thing and won’t ever develop if he keeps thinking that he wasn’t done anything wrong. Mistakes are good because you learn from them but at this point it seems that Sonic is so self-absorbed that he just won’t admit that he made a mistake. Because he is a hero, he always makes the rights decisions. There is just no way that he can be wrong.

Sonic is self-centered and self-absorb. Those are character flaws which would have been fine, the thing is that we have already gone through this and it seems like he didn’t improve at all. Or he is not even trying to improve.

Some may argue that Sonic is just good like that. That his character is made to see the good in everyone. Be good at all costs and accept people for who they are and of course that this fiction and the way the world interacts is different from our world. However, what makes a good character is how they react to different circumstances. You are trying to write a character that is relatable to us, but you can’t do that unless that character shows different sides. A character needs to make mistakes and overcome them, to be vulnerable.

Alright that’s it. This was all over the place lol. Anyways, it’s not terrible writing and like I said this is not to talk bad about IDW. I am just pointing out some of the things that I dislike. I really hope that on the next upcoming issues, Sonic at least develops a little. Maybe he starts to be a little bit insecure about himself or just doesn’t trust anyone that easily. Any type of improvement would suffice. I won’t stop reading IDW because at the end of the day I think the story is good. The characters are decently written and the story plot is pretty entertaining. I like how Flynn has done the other characters.

This is a pretty long post but I hope this the type of answer you wanted? Like I said I don’t like to give an opinion unless I have evidence to prove it. Anyways, thank you for asking! This was fun to write.

For my other followers who wanted a Silver Character analysis and writing tips, that would be up soon enough as well. Thank you!

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic idw #sonic idw spoilers #sonic #sonic lost world #sonic forces #long post #character analysis #writing #idw sonic #idw comics #sonic comics #sonic comic

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felinalain · 5 years

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Cates garbage list of problems

- Eddie being retconned as a “ egregiously depressed suicidal bastard “ (thanks Symbean) which is against Eddie very core.

- Symbiote being retconned as a cruel manipulative abuser.

- Both main characters being retconned several steps back into their character development, for the sole purpose of Cates getting to develop them again, except he’s doing it by destroying everything that made them “them”. And it’s even worse compared to the run that came just before (like Carnage 2016 and Costa run). Like, this wouldn’t be so bad if this run was happening right after the 2000s. But it’s not.

- Eddie cancer arc being retconned: makes no sense because of anti-venom and mister negative. Also if the symbiote gave Eddie cancer, why would he abandon him because of the cancer in the 2003 hunger?

- Eddie memories being changed by the symbiote: makes no sense because other character remember the same events like Eddie did, and other symbiotes could/would have told him about it

- Mary being retconned, only to be replaced by Cates OC Dylan (note, I like Dylan, but the way he’s being shoehorned in is what I have a problem with)

- Dylan entire origin (codexes?)

- Anne have been raped by the symbiote. (forced pregnancy is rape) edit: Recent issues have mentioned that symbiote codexes can only “affix” to existing foetus, so Anne was pregnant, from Eddie? And somehow the codexe made the baby an hybrid? Unsure and unclear, better than rape option, still stupid overall

- Codexes as a whole being nothing more than plot gimmicks. They can do anything and everything depending on what the plot need. They can resurrect the dead, imprint people, transmit info, make hybrid babies, and probably do the washing and coffee while at it

- Red is dead and Cletus barely reacted

- Cletus HATES fate and destiny with a passion, why is he going along with Knull bullshit?

- There is no Carnage in this event, only Grendel and Cletus. Garnage? (thanks mushroom for the name, it works)

- Why do the Venom symbiote codexes matter so much to bring Knull back? Who knows! Not Cates apparently!

- Shriek and Scorn being killed off as sacrifices goes against all of their respective characters: !Shriek was never a meek submissive, even if she WAS obsessed with Carnage. She was always shown as strong and fighting. She even fucking SLAPPED Carnage once when she had enough of his bullshit! !Scorn fought against Carnage in Carnage USA and she was shown to hate him and want him caught at all cost... we never get told why she’d become a zealous follower of his, and she dies with her character butchered

- Shriek being killed to bring back demogoblin, who never even got that well along with Carnage, only to then give him tits and have him make out with Carnage, because it’s fine to do that now that he has tits, but Carnage couldn’t just make out with Shriek, that wouldn’t have worked, got to have those monster-tits

- In fact, every single named women that Cates wrote into this shitshow is dead, or was retro-actively raped. Every single one. The only survivors so far are in side-stories that he didn’t write himself. (and that’s not saying all side stories women survived) Here is a full list, to not loose track, adding the most recent entries as they appear, because apparently he’s not done yet:

Scorn: character butchered, killed Mary: erased from existence Anne: retconed into a rape victim (of sort, see above point about her) Shriek: killed to give Demogoblins tits, so he and Carnage could make out Louise Kasady: rectoned to have died in child birth Alejandra (A ghost rider): Killed Sadie and Tess (from the family taken over by the life Symbiotes): alive, in tubes in the makers lab? Traumatised. Patricia : Killed by Garnage Aunt Sarah (Andi’s aunt) : killed by carnage worms Andi: Still Alive (now sharing her body with Donna and Scream) Misty: Still Alive (for now)

- In Alejandra case, she died for her codex, despite that she never, ever had a symbiote herself. The excuse for her death being that the spirit of vengeance had the codex because it bonded to Venom once, so it passed her the codex (because spirit are known for having spines, as we all know) That is literally making up bullshit to get to kill a woman character.

- Now let’s compare this to the number of male characters that got the short end of the stick this run: Lee price: dead (cf more on that below) Mac gargan: paralysed Osborn senior: still crazy The Judge (from the side story): dead Jameson Junior (wolfman): escaped carnag-ification, probably traumatized? Miles: escaped carnag-ification, probably traumatized? Sadie brother and father (from the family taken over by the life-Symbiotes): alive, in tubes in the makers lab? Traumatised.

Now assume any character not on this list is still alive, and the worst they got was normal super-hero type injuries while fighting Garnage legions... When you know that there is an overwhelming majority of male characters in comics, do you see the problem with the fact that nearly all the victims are women?

- The entire scene with Miles getting caught by Carnage, being told by two writers, and cates version makes no sense and makes Eddie an idiot “Mac get to Carnage!” “Mac Get away from Carnage!” (thanks lobac for nailing this)

- On the subject of Miles, let’s go back in time to earlier Venom issues when Miles got mad at Venom, as if he’d forgotten about his reality jump, except Miles had SEVERAL issues in which it was proven that not only he remember he jumped universe, he already MET Venom before this, when Flash still had the symbiote. So WHY would he react like this now? (we all know why, Cates doesn’t give a damn about anyone run but his)

- The symbiote was braindead, suddenly it’s not. We never got told why or how

- Venom symbol was never copied from spider-man, it’s actually a dragon because knull symbol is a dragon! Look at my edgy oc design! I didn’t copy Venom, he copied me!

- Making Carl Brock a physical abuser, and a poor man, when we were told in ASM that he’d never raised a hand on Eddie and it was emotional neglect that turned Eddie into what he was. Less important but making Carl poor when in ASM when we first met him he had a maid and a fucking mansion on a hill.

- Everything of Eddie’s past actually seems more pulled from the cursed Dark Origin than from the ASM issues where Venom first appeared. (Carl, the house, the grimdark, etc)

- Eddie personality being reduced to “gruff bland dudebro with manpain” instead of over-the-top, literate, dangerous, lethal protector. Heck, Dylan feels more like Eddie than Eddie himself!

- On that line, Norman feels more like Carnage than Carnage has the entire run!

- Absolutely no acknowledgement of the symbiote abuse of Eddie, it’s being brushed over without so much as a single line mention, like “we’ll talk about it once Carnage is dead” Edit: we are now several issues past the whole abuse thing, Garnage event is over, and their relationship switched back to being happy partners with still no explanation or acknowledgement, leading me to ask: “Why the fuck retcon all that shit in, if it’s to then ignore it? What was the point, aside from pissing off the fans by making shit up in a desperate (and failed) attempt at edginess?”

- The life fondation symbiotes being once again treated as monsters with no personality when their stint with deadpool AND scott both proved the opposite. Yes they’re being possessed by knull, but it’s barely made clear and barely shown whether or not they’re fine with it. (And they should not be)

- Lee price character was murdered before he was. He always was a cold, calculating bastard working from the shadows, and was created and used to demonstrate that host can abuse symbiotes. In Cates run he was just a stupid braggard. His death wasn’t satisfying because he wasn’t himself.

- Ravencroft and the people in it (mentally ill people) are represented as monsters, and the establishment itself is made to look like a b-movie asylum. I know comics have a hard time with respecting mentally ill people, but I still wasn’t expecting it to be that bad

- Why does Eddie still have so many wounds? He got a big-ass black eye, why isn’t the symbiote healing him like it always did in the past? Eddie never stayed hurt, the symbiote never LET him stay hurt... so why is it doing that now? (never solved, past Garnage event Eddie is now healed)

- Eddie and Sleeper reunion (AC3) is as cold as an iceberg. All past interaction they had, Sleeper called Eddie “father” and Eddie called Sleeper “his child/baby” And now it’s “... oh yeah you’re here. Cool I guess?” Also Sleeper is a cat. Why? Who the fuck know!

- Eddie refusing to kill Norman Osborn. Norman Fucking Osborn. And why? To not set a bad exemple for Dylan. Who is not even present at the time. Who is in deadly danger because of garnage. Let me re-iterate. Eddie LETHAL protector Brock, refuse to kill Norman Green Goblin Osborn.

- (AC3) The symbiote suddenly doesn’t mind dumping Eddie, to jump on someone more powerful. We spent months with shit being shovelled at us about how possessive it is, and how it fucked up Eddie to keep him forever, and then suddenly, poof. It’s jumping ship.

- (AC3) The symbiote is evil because it's staying with Eddie, then it's Evil because it's leaving Eddie. Not even mentioning that it did this because it's trying to kill Garnage. Ya know the thing that's trying to kill literally EVERYONE?

- (AC4) Garnage can see the green door, when only gama-radied people can. Garnage is not gama-radied. This is apparently a dig from Cates at the writer from Hulk who think Knull is not that good. The whole dialogue certainly seem that way.

- (AC4) Eddie “I can’t fight I need to protec my child!” Brock “Wait, spider-man protect my child I must fight” Again with the constant change of motivation that give you whiplash. Of the bad kind.

- (AC4) Eddie spent the whole run being made to hate symbiote, bath into codices to create a new Venom.

- (AC4) Miles who had previously gained control of the Garnage piece attached to him, now somehow has lost control again, and Eddie has to fight him. Anyone who read the Miles tie-in know this is bullshit. Cates did not consult the other writers on this, once again.

- (AC4) The bonus note at the end, presenting Eddie having lost the symbiote as an addict, when at the time, Eddie reaction was to exercise like a madman to get stronger, to get revenge for the symbiote. The only one to ever make Eddie a sad mopping mess is cates and yet he mocked that very concept. Am I the only one seeing the arrogant irony here?

- Garnage die in one-shot. After all the hype and build-up and “he’s invincible! we’re doomed!”. He dies. In one shot. In the most anti-climatic way possible.

- Dylan kept a piece of Garnage. Why the fuck would he do that?! Why the fuck did he become suddenly so stupid?!

- Ravencroft side story can be summed up in a single (if long) sentence: “Hey what if we changed everything that ever made Cletus interesting, like the chaos and killing, and made him an agent of destiny, born from a lineage of serial killers, while throwing in some racist bullshit in our comic! Doesn’t that sound neat?”

- I’m astonished at the length at which Cates will go, to avoid writing the main characters of the serie he’s supposed to be writing. He retconned Eddie into an entirely different man to not have to write him, and he use every single excuse he can come up with to avoid writing the symbiote. So far, the symbiote: (numbers aren’t fully accurate I went from memory) - Was there but silenced with medications - Was brain-dead - Was a dog - Was gone and got used in a space viking elf war - Was back to fight Garnage and kept being treated like everything it said or did was evil - Was held hostage and silenced by Garnage - Got blown up with a nuke, on the “Honeymoon Island” as we call it

Please someone tell me: if C*ates hates Venom’s character so much, why is he still writing them?

I probably forgot some, but if I did, feel free to add

Also, a personal thought but the pacing of the whole run is awful. We go for half a dozen issues of nothing but exposition dumps, then cluttered rushed action scenes, and then back to expo-dump... that’s not a good story-telling pace.

edited 17 TIMES.

#absolute Carnage #absolute garbage #venom #cates run #I feel like this list is going to be long

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blodreina-noumou · 4 years

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question: how sexist do you think the show is? I used to think it used to be the height of feminism (I was a dumbass) but I want your opinion on what it does wrong, etc because as time goes on the way the narrative treats female characters is disturbing to say the least, at least to me

Be kind to yourself, anon - at one point, I do think this show was pretty good in terms of representing women in a diverse, positive way. While not “the height of feminism” (which is a tricky thing to pin down anyway,) the early seasons featured a range of women of all ages, abilities, races, and most sexual orientations.

Back in 2014, when it premiered, I think it was actually doing pretty good work at not only featuring these female characters, but making sure that their storylines included agency and motivations that went beyond what the men in their lives wanted/needed.

But the show has slipped a lot since then. Not only have our standards lifted, but the writing itself has taken a serious dive, and season six was the lowest point so far, for me. If we look at the way the female characters’ motivations have changed from season to season, it’s clear that, at some point, the writers kind of forgot that these women have agency and conflicting motivations, and don’t just exist to prop up the missions of the men or children in their lives.

In s1 and s2, Clarke was all about making firm choices and sticking with them. She was motivated by the safety of her friends and the rest of The Hundred, and a general impulse to “do the right thing.” No one single person or role compelled her - she was flexible and realistically able to fit into leadership positions, rebellion stoking, and squad commander. Although she was backed into a corner, it still felt as though her choices were hers.

In s5 and s6, Clarke is a “mama bear” driven into a illogical frenzy at the thought of her adoptive daughter being put into any sort of danger whatsoever, despite that being a reality of the world when one actually has to interact with people. Her decisiveness becomes impulsiveness, and her motivations are drained of all their complexity. It just becomes “Madi, Madi, Madi,” with no room for anyone else, and even less room for flexibility. She’s one-note, now. By giving her exactly one motivation in her life, one singular person to focus all of her affection and need to protect on, she’s been stripped of all of her complexity and agency. This is made even worse by the fact that she spent half the season on ice, essentially dead to the world, while her body was inhabited by the most charming lil sociopath this show has ever seen - one Josephine Lightbourne. A character who should have been a refreshing return to that kind of complexity, but falls flat for her own reasons.

In s6 we’re introduced to one of the most interesting characters in The 100 universe. A cunning, cutthroat, cold young woman with a cheery disposition and enough cleverness to kill a cat with a smile. Josie has been alive, on some level, for hundreds of years. She’s seen untold violence, and has become a greedy, selfish, cruel woman because of it. You would think that this kind of person’s return to life in this universe would’ve been earth-shattering - that she would’ve had some sort of epic, evil plan, motivated by the need to grab more and more power for herself. But what did Josie really, truly want in the end, more than anything? To reunite with her ex-boyfriend and body-snatch until the end of time, so she could stay with him, forever and ever. She was motivated, at the end of the day, purely by her romantic feelings for a man.

That’s disappointing to me. Especially because, in the latter half of the series, everyone’s motivations, but especially the women’s, end up coming down to one person - a person who is dependant on them for affection/comfort/softness/love, etc. Basically, everyone has now been hamstrung by their inability to focus on anything other than one person. And for each of the women, that’s often meant taking on the role of supportive girlfriend/mother, rather than having agency and goals of her own.

Other examples - Emori was a background character for most of season six, basically Harper Mcintyre’d, right up until her necessary betrayal of Josephine and Murphy becomes relevant to the plot. Echo was sidelined by her longterm romantic partner, ending up in serious danger, while he gallivanted off making googly eyes at his (old??) best friend, and this was treated as perfectly acceptable. Raven has been reduced to nagging shrew, and was also more or less set dressing until she become plot relevant to Madi’s story. Madi herself was the literal meat puppet of a creepy dude controlling her brain. Abby lived just long enough to make a meaningful sacrifice as a grandmother and then died. And so on.

I think that, as the series went on, and more and more characters and set dressings and crazy scenarios were added, the writers had to simplify character motivations and story arcs. If you just compare everything Raven went through and had to do in s2 (losing use of her leg; learning to use a brace; her romance with Wick; cracking the Mt Weather radios; figuring out how to stop the acid fog; watching her first love die; dealing with her grief; getting seriously wounded again at the end of the season, etc,) with what she had to do in s6 (work on a motorcycle; chastise Ryker for being a body-snatcher; watch Abby die; save Madi from Sheidheda) - it’s clear that the writers have shelved certain characters for the sake of others.

And what ate up the most time this season? The story of the Lightbournes, which is ultimately, yet again, a story about how a small group of people are solely motivated by protecting only each other, even if at the cost of everyone else. Specifically, Josephine is motivated by wanting to protect Gabriel from death forever, and her parents (particularly Russell) are motivated by making her happy, whatever the cost.

A cautionary tale for our OG heroes? Maybe, but it sure didn’t feel that way during the season.

The weird flipside of this is the way Bellamy and Russell existed purely for women in this season. Bellamy wanted nothing but to save Clarke, Russell wanted nothing but to save Josephine. But the difference is that, even within their singularly-focused motivations, Bellamy and Russell still had agency, and they both ended up making more decisions for the women in their lives than those women made for themselves. They moved the plot around the women, who simply had no choice but to react accordingly.

I think the show is trying to not be sexist, but in its current bloated state, it’s gotten really lazy, and the writers have lost sight of the complexity and characterization that made s1-s3 more impactful. I think JRoth and Co are probably bored with this universe - that’s why s6 was such an insane leap in tone, setting, and world-building.

And I think, like most human beings, they’ve allowed themselves to get comfortable with what they’ve already achieved. Unfortunately, the “good representation” aspect of this show has suffered a lot for it.

The short answer is: on a “how sexist” scale from 1-10, with 1 being “super sexist” and 10 being “not sexist at all” - we started at an 8, now we’re at about a 4. The show has done better. It will probably never do better again.

#asks #anons #sexism #the 100 #the 100 meta #pop culture #stephspeaks #long post

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magaprima · 4 years

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Okay, so my Lilith specific opinions about Part 3.

Firstly, I have to say I was really worried they were just going to make her the out and out villain, and then have Sabrina stop her, so the fact Lilith, even with her crown gone and being treated terribly by both writing and the characters (via said writing), was still mostly on the ‘right’ side and spent the entire season allied with Sabrina, rather than against her, had been relieved and happy enough with the season. It gave me something to work with rather than something to dismiss entirely.

HOWEVER, this reprieve from being made the villain is not all good. They decided to make her the victim instead. In the way she was in the beginning in Part 1. Essentially undoing all of the character progress and narrative development in Part 2. Sigh.

The fact they only allowed Lilith to have the crown for one singular episode, and the fact that while she had the crown she seemed to be totally willing to kill Sabrina and her chums until she realised she needed them, was basically the writers establishing she’s not meant to be Queen, she’s not a good fit. Which is totally unfair, since even with in the writers’ biased writing, there is not a single person more qualified, more capable and more suited to the role of Queen than Lilith.

However, I know a lot of Christian based mythology fiction have the rule that only celestials can be monarchs of a realm, so only an angel can rule hell, or someone with angel’s blood, like Sabrina. So, for the sake of mythology I will accept that and I do like that Lucifer freely says ‘They will never accept Lilith as Queen, no matter what you say or do’ because the court were biased against the idea of a non-celestial ruling. Lilith was created human, mortal, not even a witch originally, and she has no celestial blood. But that’s not the arguments the demon hordes use, they simply say she isn’t fit because she’s a concubine, she was ‘Lucifer’s whore’. This really pisses me off, but not from a writing perspective, because I feel this is an accurate way men condemn women; they use their sex lifes to decide whether they’re worthy or not, and we’re seeing it’s no different in hell. It just pissed me off because I hate those freaking plague Kings and I would like to see them roasting on a spit while being made to listen to the Baxter High Cheerleaders doing those terrible dance routines over and over again.

So all this mythology, and Lilith acting as Regent (and, presumably, eventual adviser a la Sebastian for want of a better reference) was a scenario I was willing to accept. If a Morningstar has to rule and Lilith physically can’t due to stupid Celestial Laws, then her being right-hand to a female Morningstar, and one that respects her and doesn’t abuse her, along with Lilith getting to have a maternal role and realising being that way does not mean weakness, was something I would have enjoyed seeing developed and grow into something really interesting and meaningful.

Only it didn’t. Instead, Sabrina, doesn’t even tell Lilith that the Dark Lord has escaped, completely disregarding the safety of Lilith’s life, and sort of showing she has a tendency to be as dismissive as Lucifer about Lilith’s well-being, and then, despite Lilith trying her best to make Sabrina the best possible Queen, and even accepting her role as second-in-command (because, hey, at least it isn’t feet kissing handmaiden), Sabrina never listens and things go more and more wrong until the Dark Lord is free and sending Lilith threats by reminding her of torturous things he’s done to her in the past, such as killing Adam 2.0 and making her eat him. Seeing Lilith crumble with fear under this was heartbreaking, not because it made her weak, far from it, but because Lilith had come so far and the writers were shoving her right back to where she started, as if she never made the journey at all.

They then have her being rejected by Zelda, which made no sense for Zelda’s character whatsoever. Zelda, who has always been about protecting witches, protecting their kind, who has always rallied to the idea of being stronger together, who knows everything Lilith has done for Sabrina, knows she helped trap the Dark Lord, who knows how powerful Lilith is and that she could sincerely help with the Pagans, and who has actively prayed to Lilith and even considered naming the church after her, and has always been respectful towards those above her in the hierarchy, especially deities, is suddenly being utterly disrespectful and dismissive of Lilith and refusing to offer her asylum. Zelda literally says ‘what good did that do us’ when Lilith reminds her that she worshipped her, but the Dark Lord never did Zelda any good either. So the Dark Lord didn’t have to prove himself, but Lilith does? Zelda spent all of Part 1 talking about how it is an honour to be visited by the Dark Lord, but it’s not an honour to be visited by Lilith? And even though we help witches and fellow women, Lilith isn’t allowed that? The writers have her condemned by everyone and always left alone and unsupported and I don’t understand why?

And then even Mary throws her to the wolves (because they decided Mary would be hyper religious and easily swayed by Lucifer’s whispers into becoming a witch-hating nut. But the destruction of that character is another matter)

And then we have Lilith being dragged by her hair by the Dark Lord, forced to bathe him, and then in order to save herself from being killed by him, she has to make herself ‘worthy’ of keeping alive, and the only way of being worthy is to be carrying his child (because that’s all a woman is worth) and she has to sleep with a man she hates, while possessed by the man who abuses her, in order to get pregnant. Now, my issue is not with the message here, I think this is a sad reflection of the world, of where a woman’s worth is, and I do think it is something Lilith would do, because she has said repeatedly that self-preservation is the most important thing and she has an attitude of survival at all costs, so this is in character for CAOS’ Lilith, definitely. BUT my issue lies in the writers putting her back in a situation where she had to do all this to survive. Why are we returning to the same old dynamics and Lilith having to pull the same old tricks? Wouldn’t it have been more interesting for Lilith to use Lucifer’s dependency on her to free him to her advantage? What if his time trapped weakened him but Lilith’s time as Queen and Regent strengthed her, so there was at least an equal footing. We could have had an actual telekinetic mini fight proving Lilith is not able to be crushed so easily anymore. Or, if we don’t want Lilith to be as powerful as Sabrina (because hell forbid anyone is more powerful than our hero despite being much, much older and having magic much longer), why couldn’t we have Sabrina arriving and defending Lilith and warning Lucifer that if he harms Lilith she’ll trap him all over again. Or something to that effect. Lilith being defended by a woman, a return of loyalties, having someone actually care about her, would have been a way to have Lilith still in a place of strength, still progressing, but with the writers still getting to keep there ‘Lilith is victimised and Sabrina is a hero’ habit.

Like, I get the habits of the writers and I know what to expect from this show, and I will admit, I still enjoyed it, despite it’s many issues, but there seems to be so many easier and more satisfying ways for them to get the same results they wanted?

Instead, at the end of Part 3, Lilith is almost exactly where she was in Part 1, under constant threat of Lucifer. The only positive change is due to the trials, Sabrina (well Sabrina 2) is ruler of Hell, not Lucifer, so Lilith has some degree of protection, and the speech Lilith gave to Sabrina, giving her all this advice, making sure Sabrina never makes the same mistakes she did, that she never gets trapped under a man as she did etc, is one of the best things to come out of the finale. Because it’s still women supporting women, and more importantly it’s showing they don’t intend Lilith to betray Sabrina or hate her, there is female solidarity here, and that is the one silver lining.

Now, the pregnancy, while I hate how it came about and the reasons Lilith had to do it, as I’ve mentioned above, the storyline itself intrigues me. For one, Lilith is Mother of Demons, and we’ve seen her fulfil slightly maternal roles towards Sabrina, but we actually haven’t seen her in official Mother capacity despite her title, so it will be interesting to see what this means, but I fear they might use the pregnancy to make Lilith ‘soft’ and victimise more.

Also there was a story I read once, a folk fairytale I think it was, that talked about a Daughter of Lilith, and basically it was some kickass ‘evil’ (because well the stories always portray Lilith that way, annoyingly) mirror version of the Daughter of Eve spiel. And even thought Lilith claimed it was a son, because she deliberately and knowingly played off Lucifer’s misogyny and his obvious desire for a male heir, it could turn out to be a girl. Also it’s Sabrina’s half-sibling, which means she and Lilith are now official tied as family which is also a nice silver lining.

In conclusion, I feel Lilith was sincerely betrayed and abused by the narrative, but her character stayed true to herself for the most part at least, so I feel that’s a definite bright side, especially considering what happened with other characters. But I’m not making any final conclusion about storylines or narrative direction until Part 4. Because these writers sometimes make bad choices to very wrong journeys that end in great conclusions (i.e season 1 at the beginning was all ‘Lilith kisses the hooves of the Dark Lord and so weak for him’’ to ‘actual she’s going through shit and she’s going to fight back and take a crown’ at the end) so let’s see what the 2nd part of Season 2 brings.

#caos spoilers #i have such mixed feelings because argh what are you doing #but also ah michelle is doing this well

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derpyslurpy-da-derp-master · 5 years

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Wait, you LIKE Valkirye Drive Mermaid?? AND HDN?? But you're so... Not a degenerate??!

Well let me show you this helpful diagram to explain that;

(Yes I made that in MS paint)

Ecchi actually makes me really uncomfortable because almost always it’s at the expense of women and tied somewhere into misogyny. I almost always just skip past the parts in whatever series I’m watching but even so I usually stick around because I absolutely adore everything else about it. I’ll talk about that at length under the cut ‘cause that’s gonna get long.

Edit: It’s not letting me use a cut for some reason

Hyperdimensional Neptunia

I almost feel like I don’t have to explain this but since you’re asking I might as well. This series is actually incredibly good. The writing is amazing a good chunk of the time, the jokes are funny, the characters are amazing, the character DYNAMICS are amazing, and I love this series so goddamn much oh my God. Yeah there’s Ecchi and inappropriate jokes but the Ecchi is easily skippable and the dirty jokes tend to lean more towards the funny side then the gross side which is rare when it comes to those kinds of jokes. There are literally too many things I love about this franchise for me to list them all or even half of them so I’ll have to cut it off here before I start rambling about how UniGear is the purest thing in the world and Peashy must be protected at all costs.

Valkyrie Drive Mermaid

The biggest one that i’m guessing is your biggest concern is Valkyrie Drive Mermaid. Let me preface this with there are a LOT of things I genuinely hate about this series, don’t even get me started on the actual character designs of literally everyone except the cowgirl who have bust’s that are either unnecessarily large, inhumanely large, or are literally always on display. There are a LOT of gross things in this show that I don’t want to discuss but instead I’ll tell you what parts of it that I like and love.

First off, the actual premise and plot is interesting and genius as hell and would be amazing if they dialed down the explicitness several notches and made the trigger something different. Like, a virus that is almost like magic that turns people into weapons and the infected are kidnapped from their homes and sent to islands to be quarantined, meanwhile they aren’t actually trying to find a cure but instead trying to weaponize it by using and abusing test subjects to the point that when two of them manage to escape one of them is so emotionally closed off she doesn’t act like her true self whatsoever and the other has gone genuinely insane? That’s just a really cool plot right there.

I also really love Mirei in general in the same way I love characters like 2B; entirely for her character. (And unlike 2B I actually don’t find Mirei that attractive and moreso find her adorable as all hell when she acts like her true self)

She’s so incredibly traumatized and cold to others but then she is constantly forced to be intimate with someone to keep them safe but then she genuinely starts to love Mamori and her walls slowly come down and you discover that this badass looking girl is actually the biggest shiest softy to ever exist.

There’s also the whole plot with Akira, and while there are some problematic undertones to it, if you took the concept and twisted it to be more progressive and less closed minded how cool could that turn out?

A girl sent to a random island despite her mother’s best efforts who cuts her hair and pretends to be a man so the other girls on the island will follow her because she’s ‘unique’ but then she slowly starts to realize that something about wearing a binder and dressing in princely garments and having others call her ‘Sir’ feels so right and basically what I’m getting at is trans boy Akira AU. Just imagine how much more interesting and cool this would’ve been if Akira had become Trans after a year or two of pretending to be a boy to gain followers on the island and instead of Charlotte (I think that’s her name) tearing Akira’s clothes and revealing ‘Oh my god Akira’s a girl’ instead revealing Akira’s scars from top surgery and that Evil Miku was wrong Akira actually is a boy and don’t you dare invalidate him you blue haired gremlin

Speaking of blue haired gremlin’s, here’s Momoka aka Evil Miku, the literal definition of the ‘Does this look like the face of mercy to you’ meme

Hoo boy she’s so utterly insane and sadistic and she genuinely scares me to my core. She’s so deeply terrifying when she wants to be it’s kind of amazing. She looks innocent-ish and then you learn JUST HOW MESSED UP she is in the head and it’s terrifying. The scariest part is that she’s what Mirei could’ve been and her entire character excluding the rapey part (because of course she��s rapey this is extreme ecchi remember everything has to be tainted -_- ) is a really good example to me as a writer on how to write a character like this effectively. Plus, uh, if you can make me, a lesbab, scared of a cute girl’; as a writer you’re doing something either very right or very wrong and I’d like to think it’s the former because she’s not scary because she’s an inhuman creature, she’s scary because she’s internally monstrous.

Final points on this series in particular; Mirei and Mamori’s relationship.

Now you may be asking yourself, how the fresh frosted fruity pebbles can a girl as cute as a button

Have any sort of meaningful relationship with someone who looks like they saw god, took one look at him, wasn’t impressed, then proceeded to challenge god to a knife fight?

Sure they were forced to be together by necessity, Mamori needed protection from the people after her power and Mirei needed said power and knew how to use it. Mamori is Mirei’s Exter and Mirei is her Liberator, they’re two halves of one whole and complete each other in a literal and practical sense. But when two people are forced to be intimate, an emotional connection is bound to be made, it’s just human nature. But even then there was still a lot of Resistance on Mirei’s side of things, she’s been through so much trauma and her past relationship with Evil Miku over there didn’t help that she doesn’t trust anyone and refuses to let herself ever be vulnerable. She refuses to let herself be herself. But Mamori doesn’t let things stay that way. Slowly but surely Mirei comes out of her shell, she starts to act like who she really is, a bashful dorkasaurus who wants/needs a freaking hug. This is when they realize they complete each other in a much less literal sense as well.

At the end of the day, no, I wouldn’t recommend this series. It’s got a LOT of bad going on in it to the point of being unwatchable but there’s just enough hints and pieces of something really good here to get my little writer brain wizzin’ away.

So yeah! No I’m not a pervert or degenerate, I just tend to flat out ignore all Ecchi and pick out all the parts I genuinely enjoy and go ‘This is good.’ I would like both of these series infinitely more if they focused on the good things they have going on moe but sadly I’m not the kind of person these things are marketed to.

#Ask #Hyperdimensional Neptunia #Valkyrie Drive Mermaid #In This Essay I Will #Original

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jcmorgenstern · 4 years

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u should answer the questions for the letters: c r i s p y. no real reason for those letters, in that order. obviously

henlo friend and thank you!!! I had a lot of fun with these and also did not shut up.

C: What member do you identify with most?

Oh man. That’s actually really hard? Obviously I’ve done a fair bit of ego-involvement with the crispy boy (no really??) but overall in terms of personality I’d say I identify most with Maia, show!Jace, or Simon.

Maia has had a lot of shit happen but she’s incredible in how much she keeps working towards her dreams and supporting the people she cares about. As much as she knows and has learned to value and protect herself, she’s ferociously protective of her loved ones. She also has a fair bit of ambition, a strong sense of morality and justice, and feeling of responsibility--towards the pack, and for herself. I do see a bit of myself in her but more than anything I aspire to be more like her.

Show!Jace I relate to a lot mostly because I’ve projected on him so much (lol) but I really get a deep sense of struggling with himself and being closeted. He’s kind of depressed and sad and who can’t relate to that? But underlying all that he has a deep and almost desperate need for human connection and also he has daddy issues, so like, worm.

Simon is a giddy nerd who has a lot of weird shit happen to him and more than anything I think he’s just kind of...the everyman in terms of pop culture references etc. But he also has a heart of gold and loves like a golden retriever and who doesn’t want to be that?

To be honest I don’t really know why I latched onto Jonathan so much, other than the obvious daddy issues thing. Maybe it’s the frustrated sense of longing for belonging and connection, or the deep feeling of self-hatred or the profound desire to be better or different than he is. I think there are a lot of things Jonathan’s demon blood could represent that are a lot less esoteric or boring than “pure evil.” Also I just love tragic, powerful dumb bitches so yknow.

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

Man I was literally JUST thinking about how much I’ve taken from JKR as a writer, not even on purpose but just in...she was the first writer whose work I truly soaked in daily for years and years, it’s not surprising I see her voice or her humor or her narrative/structural quirks coming out in my own writing.

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

Oh god, do I. I would say unhealthy power dynamics are both my catnip and kryptonite. I was actually just thinking about this too--I think the attraction for me is the catharsis of “controlled horror.” Abusive or coercive relationships in real life do literally terrify me, but I find them just short of fascinating in fiction. It’s like fiction allows me to experience and access and interact with that fear in controlled doses (like watching horror movies does for horror buffs), and that catharsis somehow translates as weirdly alluring.

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

I already answered this but I’d say the above paragraph expresses it better.

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

I’m very much an obsessive planner, but weirdly neurotic about needing to be able to spin off whims or ideas as I go. I think having a sense of structure is essential, but allowing yourself the flexibility to look at the events you’ve planned or your ideas in new and creative ways is necessary to have anything new or spontaneous.

The backbone of the idea or plot usually comes to me as a whole, but I believe very strongly you need to allow yourself to innovate and spin off those ideas as the organic connections made as you write grow and mutuate the structure.

so like, both. also fuck grrm

Y: A character you want to protect.

Maia Roberts, Izzy Lightwood, Clary Fray, Luke Garroway, Aline Penhallow, Sebastian Verlac and Victor Aldertree.

Unprotect JCM at all costs. (but also protect him)

#applecideralex #welcome to my crispy mind #crispy chat

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asmodeusmorelikeassmodeus · 5 years

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Shadowhunters 3x21 Commentary

So…this is the “hot” scene that was supposed to be the last scene of 3x20??? I’m glad they didn’t go with that

What is it that makes the Seelie Queen so h*rny for Jonathan? Is it his evilness? Well, Jonathan and I are not digging it.

I’m surprised the writers remembered that these characters care about Alec and Magnus

It’s kind of sad that they suddenly write Clace in a way I can enjoy now, when it’s all ending. F*ck the writers.

“Sweetheart” I love Maryse

But at the same time, Maryse really does not know her stubborn son because that guy would do anything to get Magnus back. No way will Magnus stay in Edom longer than he absolutely has to.

Lilith sucking up to Magnus is so amusing because it probably costs a lot for her pride to do that

Magnus confident in how powerful he actually is and basically being the king of Edom is my aesthetic

“my word” excuse Magnus and me while we laugh

Magnus Bane is probably the only person who can say No to Lilith and get away with it

Man, am I over these writers making Jordan seem like such a good person and caring more about his reputation than Maia’s health. She did not deserve to have her whole story in 3B revolve around that guy.

So they’re shipping Maia off for her great closure..? I’m not into it but okay.

Finally some good Sizzy. They’re so cute.

I think it’s not a good sign if you’re set on fire when you kiss your future boyfriend

I still can’t get over Lorenzo-chameleon scratching HELP in the terrarium

Helen :DDD

Exploding doesn’t exactly sound fun

So now they made up this bs to…what? Keep Sizzy apart for longer? I actually really thought that Sizzy would be together by now. Wtf are they doing.

Alec in big brother mode is my favourite thing

I can’t at the way Alec says “Simon” he is so very not amused

Clary ships it!!

Alec Lightwood would be ready to be turned into a vampire to save Magnus and I think that says everything

“I’m a terrible sire” bahahahaha

So Jonathan is literally cocooning?? That’s trippy

As much as I can’t stand the Seelie Queen, her outfits are amazing

Why does everyone in this series have to do selfless but dumb things without telling anyone or waiting for an alternative option??

And the Alliance rune was born

Hey, she’s that one dude from Fantastic 4!!

That was a short cocooning.

Lorenzo is a Simon fanboy

Hey, Lorenzo, he’s not his boyfriend, he’s his fiancé now.

Yes, play into his enormous ego. A smart way to get him to agree.

After everything, Simon is still a scaredy-cat

Alec playing around with magic is so cute. I just wish it was Magnus’ and not Lorenzo’s

“when you take your lover to bed” Jace’s face hahahahahhahahahaha

God, Lorenzo is so far up his own ass

Edom looks…homey

Putting the ring back on calms him down I am sobbing

“magic I can’t even control” well, it was pretty easy for Valentine to control it when he was in Magnus’ body, he learned everything in, like, an hour or two.

Jace forced to tell the truth at all times omg Meliorn is going to have so much fun with that

We finally get some good Climon friendship!!

Learning slaughter, a normal Saturday afternoon in the Seelie realm

I’m cracking up at the Jace-Meliorn scenes

So Jace thinks Meliorn is a 9? I ship it.

“there’s very few plants” you could say that

What exactly did Izzy want to achieve with this solo mission?? Edom is huge. First, she’ll have to find Magnus. And then? What? She is not more powerful than he is so in a potential war, what use would she be? Magnus would only have to protect himself and her and potentially endanger himself to keep her safe. What use was Izzy going to Edom alone?

People ripping needles out of their arms is a movie thing I always cringe at

So apparently, Heavenly Fire gives you a good shave

That Malec reunion though. They’re so happy.

Lorenzo acting as if he didn’t have to be practically forced to come

Jace on Seelie is terribly amusing

Yeah, fight Lilith when you barely managed to escape those demons, good idea

#I decided to separate the finale into the two episodes on netflix #malec #magnus bane #alec lightwood #sizzy #clace #climon #izzy lightwood #shadowhunters tv #season 3B #3x21 #commentary

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adhoption · 5 years

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GAME OF MORONES S8 E2

season 8 spoilers and bad jokes below

James Lannister is a moron!

do you kids like trolley problems? well here’s a fun puzzle for you: the mad king is going to burn thousands of people alive, including your father. you can a) let him or b) stop him by killing him instead. what do you do?

fine, that one was easy, so here’s an ADVANCED problem:

having done the right thing and killed the king, everyone is having a go at you for murdering the king. do you a) stay silent and let resentment grow and only bad things happen, or b) explain you’re actually a hero and let only friendship and good things happen.

it’s a tough one! on the one hand, the unchecked resentment in the past has spiralled into literal wars. on the other, the one person you have revealed the truth to has literally fallen in love with you because you’re a hero.

so when approaching a dragon queen who wants to execute you for killing her father the king, it’s probably best to just not mention it

brienne: yeah I second that, let’s not mention the massive plot twist we found out about a few seasons ago, dany’s still on season 1 of westeros

three-eyed bran: well I watched it happen and could vouch for him but I’ll probably just share an in-joke about the time I watched him fuck his sister

Danny Targaryen is a moron!

context is important!

1. she is in a room where everybody’s father is dead after fighting everybody else’s father.

2. literally last episode she told sam that she killed his father and brother by burning them alive (because they were bad guys) and expected his forgiveness.

3. in this episode she mentions that the last guy she fell in love with and trusted was the guy who killed her own brother (because he was a bad guy).

4. tyrion literally killed jaime’s father (because he was a bad guy) and jaime is still here.

tyrion also killed davos’s sons by burning them alive, and brienne killed the love of his life, and she thought she killed the hound, but they’ll all chat together. it’s almost like they’re all murderers and they’ve been on the opposite side of wars for years and that stuff happens.

but the reason dany can’t forgive jaime is that HE KILLED HER FATHER, (who was FAMOUSLY a good guy and not a bad mad guy at all).

also the consistency of which people are blamed for their families is nice. the lannisters are responsibile for what their sister/father/nephew does (although admittedly in the lannisters you are more likely to BE your own nephew). dany is not responsible for her father/brothers, but gets some comments about it. gendry’s dad literally threw her family out of the country and tried to have her killed and killed jon’s dad because he wanted to fuck his mum. he’s the eldest son and sort of heir to robert the usurper. nobody even notices him. well, arya notices his arms.

tyrion has made MISTAKES and must be PUNISHED. dany has never made a mistake and definitely wasn’t forced to leave the last place she ruled because she mistakenly slaughtered half the city and caused a terrorist group to rise up against her. also worth noting that she then married the son of one of the guys she killed, expecting him to instantly forgive her after she threw him in prison... and KILLED HIS FATHER.

after jorah says tyrion is a good boy she abruptly flips from 100% ‘tyrion is a moron and I need to fire him’ to 100% ‘tyrion is the greatest genius of our age and his unique precious brain must be protected at all costs’ and should never be risked in battle

jon, the heir to the throne who actually is precious and unique, a beloved ruler and leader of people, a successful military strategist, can be risked in battle. bran, who literally knows everything and actually is precious and unique, can be risked in battle. sam, who is every bit as much a book wizard and brought them minor pieces of knowledge like dragonglass and R+L, can be risked in battle. but tyrion once said something witty, therefore he goes straight into the nerd safe.

to be fair to tyrion, he has done clever, impressive things as a hand before. probably the most impressively clever strategy thing he did was when he defended king’s landing against assault from a larger army when taking command of the defence and leading from the front line. it therefore makes sense to preserve that mind by locking him safely away when the castle is under threat of assault from a larger army.

Samwise and Three-eyes are morons!

when in a room with soldiers who are literally facing death and have killed people and almost died in many fights before, and in two cases literally died, and a couple more bascially did, and who have lost many loved ones to death, it’s important to lecture them on what death is really about. is it about literally dying, being stabbed through the heart? no, you idiots, it’s about being forgotton.

the night king wants to win this war and crush the world of the living. that’s why rather than targetting their strongest fighters and dragonriders, he will target bran, the boy in the wheelchair who says cryptic nonsense once per episode. why? because he has the best memory, and to crush the world of the living you need to crush all memory of it. which is somehow a priority over... actually crushing it, whilst it still exists, right now, whilst everyone remembers it and can see it. wiping all memories should be on the list, but only as a completist clearing up the loose ends.

‘where should we attack first, the guard towers?’ ‘no, we need to get to the library first to rip up all their books’ ‘why?’ ‘because life is memory, and the books will remember them’ 'but... the living people are still alive. you don’t just need to remember them, they’re right here. when you’re ripping up books the living, breathing guards can just come and stab you?’

if it was like... bran can see them coming, he has powers, he can travel in time, they’ll want to eliminate him AS A THREAT, or they want to USE HIS POWERS FOR EVIL, that’s fine, that’s better. but not like this.

the episode had a lot of lazy writing where they’d thought of a Cool Quote ‘dying is forgetting’ and tried to find a place to shoehorn it in but didn’t really do it properly so in context it made no sense.

same thing with ‘do you want to go anywhere else in your life, what’s on the bucket list?’ ‘I’d like to go back to naath’ (if you didn’t put on a northern accent and say ‘but you’re in the naath’ you’re watching it wrong’) with the sudden jump to ‘we’re a peaceful people, we can’t defend ourselves’ ‘we’re not a peaceful people’. cool line, but no mention of any threat or anything so it made no sense.

if it was ‘I was taken by slavers, it wouldn’t be safe to stay there, we’re a peaceful people, we can’t defend ourselves’ fine. or anything along those lines. but not like this.

other points

I always thought winter was the fourth season but it turns out it’s the eighth

arya is 18 and maisie williams is 22 but game of thrones fans were shocked to see her having sex, because none of them had sex that young.

“well we’ve shown orgies, we’ve shown rape, we’ve shown incest, we’ve shown paedophilia, this episode we’ve had a guy talk about sleeping with a giant and sucking her breast milk for months, but viewers only laugh, they’re immune, how can we shock them like we used to?” “show a 22 year old actress without a shirt on” “wow that’s messed up”

did she tell gendry to stick her with the pointy end

if the writers don’t play duel of the fates when she is wielding her double-ended lightsaber thingy they are missing a trick

beric dondarrion has the most ridiculous protagonist energies, handsome young lord the ladies fancy, known as the lightning lord, does great at a tourney and is sent to slay an evil giant, dies, gets brought back to life by god and becomes robin hood, leading a brotherhood out of nowhere to challenge the great powers of the realm, dies several more times and gets brought back to life because as well as being robin hood he is also jesus, of all the major character dying he alone has a Holy Purpose, so he journeys up to go beyond the wall to face death with his magic flaming sword just because of destiny, always talks like he’s the smooth action hero, he naturally fits the answer to every prophecy the others are bending the rules to get stannis or dany to fit, and when he talks to people they’re just like shut up beric

hang on let me catch up here: bran is technically the lord stark, but if he says he is a bird instead sansa is the heir to the north, plus she married ramsay so inherits it from him anyway, and she is also apparently lady of the vale, and tyrion is technically heir to the westerlands as jaime is a kingsguard, so that there’s a pretty sweet power couple if they decide they’re still married after all

also in theory gendry would be the heir to house baratheon and the stormlands, and if the lannister made the tarlys the lords of the reach sam is the heir to that, and jon is the targaryen heir to the crownlands, so we have the wardens of the north south east and west and the stormlands in one castle as well as the king of both the seven kingdoms and the north again, but almost none of this is mentioned or explored and they all keep following dany who is the rightful heir of nothing?????

#game of thrones #got

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tumblunni · 5 years

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Supes was my FAVE part of STC honestly!! He's such a cool plotline and its awesome that they even added a plotline at all to something that has barely anything to it in every other continuity. In STC super modes werent just a thing anyone can do when collecting all the chaos emeralds, it was some sort of fluke curse that hit sonic in particular the first time he collected them and he didnt even need them to transform again after that. But the side effect of unlimited access to super sonic is that it also comes with its own sort of sentience? Sonic couldnt transform at will, Super would just sorta come out whenever he wants, usually when sonic experiences extreme anger or trauma and it like..weakens his containment, i guess? The writers took the name chaos emeralds very seriously, in this universe theyre very dangerous as well as just powerful. Super Sonic was sort of the personification of this energy in living form, not necessarily literally evil but functionally so? Like he was just a completely wild lawless beast who did everything for the fun of chaos, with no concept of right or wrong. The only connection he had to those concepts was the darkness that existed in the heart of the person he was created from. so for example there was one time when they wrote Supes manifesting in a tough fight and indeed defeating the boss badnik, but then he doubled back and tried to attack the innocent animal he just freed from its power core, simply because all he knew was that sonic always worried about not hurting them when he fought, and he was tempted to see what it was like. (In this continuity 'roboticization' wasnt magically transforming flesh into metal but just cyborg stuff.) They did some VERY dark stuff with the concept of an empty hearted chaos creature whose only motivation was "fun" at any cost. And it worked so good as a contrast because regular sonic in these comics was a giant asshole who secretly had a good heart and was just grumpy AF. Contrasting him against this figure who was hyperacrive and funloving IN AN EVIL WAY SOMEHOW. What an amazing idea!!! And the whole concept of having a super move that has the side effect of potentially hurting the ones you love or even murdering innocent bystanders...WOW that had some good tension to it! And was a way better explanation for why sonic cant just use super sonic all the time, instead of just losing the chaos emeralds at the end of every game and having to collect them again.

Oh and they also did something EVEN COOLER with Supes later on!

THEY ACTUALLY TURNED HIM INTO A GOOD GUY

There was a point where some sort of magic mcguffin cured sonic of the chaos curse, but it was by literally removing it instead of destroying it. Super started off as a disassociative identity that would appear in times of stress, developed into more of his own person, and now he actually got his own separate body and a chance at living his own life. And the most interesting fact is that Super-without-sonic was like..inherantly good. He didnt even get redeemed he just...wasnt evil at all. This is when we got the nuance that he was never really an evil person but just this morally neutral chaos figure. And now he was removed from the chaos he had his first chance to be himself and he was just this innocent amnesiac good boy who goddamn deserved better than what he got! He was still as hyper and fun but now more mellowed out and able to fully understand what was happening around him and form his own opinions on stuff. And he ended up sorta adopted by a duo of kind older sibling animal folk who worked at a random jazz cafe, and they helped raise him witj more of a sense of morals and generally it was just THE MOST AMAZING TURNAROUND EVER! And it was so cool because he still kept the same more scary appearance they gave Super Sonic in these comics. Wild pupilless spiral eyes and fangs! But now looking adorably confused and the most unscary scary boy ever! And he struggled with doing the right thing and controlling his powers. If he used them too much he'd get caught up in the twisted 'fun' of chaos and start forgetting all the individuality he'd developed. The call of his chaotic energy was hard to resist even though now he understood that what he'd been doing was wrong and he just wanted to stay far away from all the fighting and live with his new family. There was a really depressing chapter where he was forced to use his powers to protect the cafe and for a second it gave you a hope spot that he'd finally learned to control them. He ran up adorably to his family, babbling mile a minute about how "hey hey did you see i did it i did it i was so scared but i didnt hurt anyone im so happy im....so....happy..." And he finally cracked mid sentence of celebrating that everything was okay. And cos the problem had already been solved, out of control Supes didnt have anything else left tp destroy except his own home and everyone he loved. And he just woke up hours later with all their neighbours terrified of him and chasing his family out of town. And they were still protecting him even though he'd horribly injured them! This led to him eventually feeling like he was too dangerous to stay with them and he had no hope of living a happy life. So he ran away and started wandering the wasteland far away from everyone, vanishing from the plot for years. And then depressingly his last appearance was him revealibg that he was dying from some never before mentioned chaos disease, like if he didnt use his powers he'd just decay away and vanish so there really was no hope at all. And then the series got cancelled and he never got any sort of resolution :(

So yeah! Two different flavours of intriguing plot with this guy! Its such a shame the series didnt last long and he faced some of the worst of the side characters falling out of focus as they ran out of budget

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mustlovemustypages · 6 years

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2018 Letter

Dear potential writer,

*Sigh* 2018 has been a long year, has it not? Yuletide is proving to be a great distraction and I'm very excited to be participating again. Thank you for reading my letter and also thank you in advance for anything you decide to write for me!

Below are my desired fandoms and pairings along with story ideas that I would love to see written. Please don't feel stifled by my prompts; I've also listed my general likes/dislikes at the very bottom of this letter if you decide to go a different route.

The Defenders (TV):

Characters: Luke Cage and Jessica Jones

I will admit that my main motivation for watching The Defenders was to see more interactions between these two characters. While I loved all of the scenes between them, I wish they'd had a lot more shared screen time.

Overall I just want these two kids to end up together. I've been a fan of their relationship before the Netflix shows came out and will continue to be a fan after they have ended.

Story ideas:

Luke and Jessica learning to trust each other again amongst the events of The Defenders, and Jessica sharing a bit more of her past with Kilgrave to help Luke understand what exactly she went through.

Seeing Luke and Jessica's on screen (or imagined off screen) interactions through the eyes of the other characters.

Jessica Jones is a walking poster child for PTSD and I would really like to see this explored more. Recovery isn’t necessary, but having Luke at least realize her suffering and talking/hugging it out would be lovely.

We may or may not be getting a season 2. Feel free to imagine your own post-season 1 with the team, especially focusing on the Jessica/Luke dynamic.

Speed (1994):

Characters: Annie Porter and Jack Traven

I'm a sucker for characters who fall in love during immensely stressful situations. Especially characters played by Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. I'm also a sucker for action movies that have not-quite-believable but really-thrilling-anyway plotlines. Like buses with bombs that go off if driving under 50 mph.

Story ideas:

Regardless of what Jack said at the end of the movie about most relationships formed during stressful circumstances not surviving, I have chosen to believe Annie and Jack would have beaten the odds once again. I'm sure their friends, co-workers, and family would have had their doubts but would have eventually seen that the two were perfect for each other.

I'd adore post-movie slice of life stories where they buy their first place together, meet each others' families for the first time, or even do something as mundane as going to get groceries. It would be so endearingly (and hilariously) normal in contrast to their first meeting.

Annie definitely thought Jack was insane when he flagged down the bus and jumped on. It would be interesting to read that scene from her point of view as well as other scenes throughout the movie as her opinion of him changes.

It would be impossible to go through what these two characters did without it having some sort of impact on their psyche. Whether it be Annie refusing to ride the bus again and Jack offering to drive her to work until/if she recovers, or Jack having flashbacks of the helplessness he felt on that train when he couldn't get Annie unchained.

The Darkest Minds (Book Series):

Character: Ruby Daly

X-Men was my jam when I was younger, and The Darkest Minds is basically X-Men set in a dystopian world with really loveable characters.

Ruby is a precious gem* that needs to be protected at all costs, even if it’s from herself. Liam is such a sweetheart. Book 2 when he gets his memories back had me literally crying. Chubs and Zhu are amazing, and I love the little family the four of them made together. Vida was also really great, and so was Cole… and you get the point. I loved them all.

*Pun not intended but acknowledged nevertheless.

My favorite pairing from the series is Ruby/Liam but sadly Liam is not in the tagset. It would be amazing if you wrote a Ruby/Liam story but if that's not your thing, I'd be equally happy with a gen story focusing on Ruby and Cole, Ruby and Chubs, Ruby and Vida, etc. Chubs/Vida in the background would be even more wonderful!

Story ideas:

Ruby definitely struggled with her abilities and had healthy/unhealthy coping mechanisms. Expanding on this would be great and including any of the other characters' responses to her coping mechanisms would be a definite plus.

Reunions are the best. Write how you would have liked the Liam and Ruby reunion in book 2 to have played out or expand on canon to bring on even more feels. Again, I fully realize that Liam is not in the tagset so don't feel pressured to include him. Instead write about a reunion between Ruby and one of the other main characters (like Chubs)!

I wish there were more scenes exploring the dynamics of Cole and Ruby's friendship and how that impacts their respective relationships with Liam, especially because Cole and Ruby relate on a level that I don't think Liam ever quite understood. One of my favorite parts from the whole series is the scene in the shower where Cole is basically interrogating Ruby for information about Liam. It's a totally non-romantic scene but very emotionally charged and it would be really interesting to read about it from Cole's point of view.

Impluse (TV):

Characters: Henrietta "Henry" Coles, Lucas Boone, Jenna Hope, Townes Linderman

This show became a surprise favorite of mine in 2018, mostly because it's on YouTube Red and I haven't given most of their original shows much thought. Also because it tackles rape and recovery in such a raw and interesting, especially in the context of a sci-fi show.

I just need more Henry Coles. If you want to do a romantic relationship I'd prefer seeing something explored with Lucas Boone or her canon love interest Josh (who was only in 2 episodes but really seemed to "get" Henry). Otherwise, gen stories between Henry and any/all of the tagset characters would be great.

Story Ideas:

Henry will never be fully "recovered" in the sense that one can never truly recover from rape. It will always have an impact on her life. The other characters get that and try to help her in any way they can.

While Lucas is aware of what his brother did to Henry, he has no idea of the real impact. I'd love a story where he learns more about her seizures and the way her anxiety/fears manifest themselves as teleportation.

Hurt/comfort in all forms because Henry has been hurt enough for a lifetime, but she could do with a whole lot more comfort. Either within the confines of season 1 or imagined opportunities for comfort in season 2.

We get the story from mostly Henry's perspective, but I'm sure there is a lot going on in the minds of Lucas, Jenna and/or Townes as the events of season 1 play out.

The Folk of the Air

Pairing: Cardan Greenbriar/Jude Duarte

Holly Black is an evil genius and I bow down to her greatness. Starting off the first book in this series, I never would have imagined that by the end I'd be rooting for Jude and Cardan to be together but here we are.

They are the ultimate enemies-to-lovers and I can't wait to see what happens to them in the second book coming in 2019.

Story ideas:

Maybe I'm being unrealistically optimistic, but despite Jude's betrayal at the end of the first book, I think these two can work it out. Perhaps Jude helps Cardan cope with the stresses of being king and he is able to move past what she did. Or maybe he sees how impossible Jude thought the situation was and comes to the realization that he was the only one she trusted to do it.

Madoc is a horrible father. Jude basically knows this from the beginning. Still, she was genuinely upset in discovering what he had done. I'd love to see her finally release all of that pent up anger - either her using Cardan as a sounding board for her rants or even having her completely breakdown under all of the stress and him comforting her.

We get the perspective of Jude throughout the entire book, but I would really enjoy seeing some of the scenes from Cardan's point of view as his feelings for Jude change.

There is no way that Jude's sister, Vivienne, wouldn't be alarmed when finding out that Jude and Cardan kissed. Jude having to explain her changed feelings for Cardan and Vivienne realizing that Jude is in like/love would be hilarious and heartwarming.

Things I don’t like:

Alternate Universes – For the specific fandoms that I picked, I really like the universes as they are. I’m definitely okay with deviations from canon, but please don’t make Speed into a supernatural werewolf story or the fantasy/sci-fi canons take place in a mundane coffee shop setting. (I don’t mind Soulmate AUs or something similar because those can be incorporated into canon with little change to worldbuilding).

Non-Con/Rape/BDSM/Sexual Violence/Graphic Sex – I like my characters to be happy and everything within ships to be 100% consensual, no question about it (mentions of non-con if it occurred in canon is fine). I also prefer plot over porn, especially with one-shots.

OT3s – Two people per romantic relationship please. Any more than that makes me uncomfortable.

Character Bashing - Unless a character is a bad guy in canon, I don’t want to read hundreds of words about how awful they are, especially if they are one of the characters that I requested. Don’t take it out on the characters if you hate my pairings, just write gen.

Things I love:

Hurt/Comfort – There is nothing I love more than one character comforting another. The hurt can be physical, psychological, or both.

Happy Endings – I’m all for the realistic endings… but if they could be plausible AND happy-ish, that would be amazing.

Expanded Scenes/Contorting Canon – Feel free to expand scenes and change up canon to your heart’s content as long as it makes logical sense.

Humor/Banter/Snark – I thrive on this stuff.

Bonding/Building Relationships – Whether it be a friendship or a romantic relationship, I adore reading about two people growing closer together. When characters know each other so well that they can have conversations with just their eyes or anticipate the person’s next move (especially if it’s to the surprise/confusion of everyone around them), my shipper heart is thrilled.

Dark to Light – Seeing a character come out of a bad mindset/situation and get better is so satisfying.

Thanks again and happy writing!

- Maddy @mustlovemustypages (on Tumblr, Ao3 and FF.net)

#yuletide #defenders #the folk of the air #the darkest minds #impulse #speed #jessica x luke #jude x cardan #henry coles #annie x jack #ruby x liam

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