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#not just regarding ships but like characterization and development wise
gleepglorp · 2 years
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I have followed your blog for a while, and I think you’ve done a fantastic job. You’ve got amazing painting skill and I genuinely think you deserve more recognition from this site for that. Your redraws of Hetalia nations are very fresh and stylish. I like how they look… average, as you mentioned, and could perfectly fit in the ruling class without others raising a brow. I also enjoy how they are less sanitized and realistically flawed- Those anons confusing characters’ no-so-puritanical mentalities as your own are rather… nonsensical since in that case they would have cancelled the entire genre of fiction for having flawed people. Come on! Isn’t it logical to have nations having values considered to be bigoted and problematic, as a product of the environment constructing said values, be them culture, religion doctrines, or upper class they get along with on day-to-day basis?
Your stance on shipping is fair enough. While letting 2 people developing romantic relationships isn’t a wrong thing, this kind of discussion tend to spiral into a very… toxic environment with unhealthy insistence on their interpretation. AKA ship war. In the context of Hetalia I personally tend to pick works with interesting plotlines and plausible characterization, regardless of the ships (or lack thereof), and stay away from the ‘ship war’ drama. Shipping nations aside, do you think nation have develop romantic feeling to anyone thorough the history?
thanks alot for the comments, i really appreciate it and im glad that you like my works :D yes, i really enjoyed characters being flawed without going overboard into unambiguously good or bad. and regarding mentality people who know me know that i am really insistent on reps needing an ideology to be driven by, because reps without this to me are bland, and just boring as characters. and yes i also very much like to make them products of their environments regardless of how "wrong" or "right" their upbringings are. also yeah, my stance on shipping has to do with a variety of factors, but its kind of like an umbrella for a more complex attitude towards nation love, romance, gender, what storylines im interested in exploring with my characters and so on. in my interpretation there are intimate relationships between nations, and similarly to you they are based on what is plausible based on history and other things. personally, i hate nation-human romance so thats a hard no for me, but nation-nation wise yes its entirely possible to have a very close personal relationship (this the sort of thing i portray with my greece and armenia), but the rule is that it has to be driven by shared culture and history, as well as identification with one another. however, its sort of evident i'm not so keen to categorize relationships between nations at all--one because i think their nature allows them to transcend these categories and history is messy and doesnt allow us to categorize them cleanly, and two because its possible and very normal for us to feel strongly for someone in an undefined way, and just leave it at that. i think that nations are more capable of and more inclined to feel very humane, pure love (that is, love for a fellow human being) that can exist with or without the presence of romantic elements, which is why i say that romance is usually unnecessary.
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kikikat-art · 2 years
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Casually reinserts myself into the homestuck fandom after 8 years only to post ship art of two ships no one cares about anymore 🙃
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thejudgingtrash · 3 years
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Annabeth is a good person,but not a nice or pleasant one,IMO.
YES.
That’s it. That’s the post. Pack it up everybody, we just cracked the case and cleared up one of the most compelling fights in the PJO fandom since forever. Good job everybody, clap it out and there’s the door! Don’t forget ordering the drinks at Starbucks, Mitch! They’re on me!
Okay, but on a more serious note: YES. YES EXACTLY.
And before some of you roll your eyes or grab your pitchforks – put your biases aside and hear me out for once. I like Annabeth. She’s my in my top three characters only second to Percy himself. I love Percabeth. It’s my favorite ship in the entire series and to be frank, the only ship that I care about PJO wise. Hell, I spend my time creating my own headcanons or writing my own fanfics with Percabeth being the star in them.
But that is not to say that I’m unable to see how certain things have developed over the years or where they stand now in regard to Annabeth. I’m not here to ignore things that have been said and/or done due to or in the name of Annabeth and I’m not here to vilify anyone that doesn’t like her. And I’m here to admit that I’m guilty of some of the things that may be addressed in this meta essay that you will read in just a second. However, I try my best to assure you, that I’m for once able to recognize my own bias.
Warning: a monster essay lies right upon you.
This should count as a paper of its own.
Back to the statement on top: I would go out even further to reframe your claim, anon:
Annabeth Chase is a good character but not a nice or pleasant person.
Annabeth is a wonderful character but she isn’t a nice one. Or at least not nice to everyone. She is (construction wise if I dare say) the best character out of the series. She has her positive traits (she’s caring, she’s emotional, she’s encouraged and volunteers, she fights for what she believes in, she forgives (even if doing so begrudgingly)) but she also has her negative traits (she’s stubborn, she’s brash, changing her mind takes forever, she is prejudiced, she baits others). That balances things out. She is branded as the intelligent kid but does irrational things (like I’ve just said a) she’s a kid and b) she’s not a robot). She should probably know better, but we all make mistakes and hopefully grow and learn from them. The clouds in the sky do blur and cover our visions sometimes.
Annabeth had clashes with other characters or was about to have fights due to her stubbornness or jealousy (Rachel, Reyna, etc.) and has of course her problems with the mortal world and her family but she also found new friends, some things cleared up throughout the narration and she was/is quite popular in Camp Half-Blood.
The thing is: she doesn’t have to be nice or pleasant (as a character). Or at least not all the time. Her character is humanized. That is what or who she is. Human. She does stand out as a character, not just because she’s the (future) love interest. She feels like someone you could meet in real life and either adore from the top to the bottom or declare as your biggest enemy. And that’s totally okay if you lean either way – liking or disliking her. Or even feeling indifferent about her. Also great!
To say that she has been the best character that Riordan has crafted is easy to say, because she has been sculpted after Riordan’s wife. He had a model he could rub some of real-life events or traits on. That’s not the problem. The problem truly doesn’t lie on Riordan’s side for the most part for once.
The problem is inherently on the fandom’s side. What the fandom does, how it acts and how it treats Annabeth as a character is the problem. The problems vary but it’s mostly the mischaracterization of Annabeth, starting fights and fan/ship wars, internalized misogyny (in some cases) and how some of the Annabeth stans lash out (ha, got firsthand experience in that field among many of my friends and mutuals!). There is a reason why many people are wary of people that have Annabeth or Percabeth related URLs.
The fact that we see Annabeth mostly through Percy’s lens and (until the Heroes of Olympus saga hits) we never really see her in chill everyday situations is essentially Riordan leaving the back door of the house open, ready for all of you asshats to rob his mansion in Boston. Because a frame on a character means that we don’t get to see the character in its entirety (unlike we do with Percy in PJO for the most part). That means a bunch of stuff is left open for interpretation which is the reason why Annabeth gets so many polarized headcanon and opinions tossed around. I think that is one of the true appeals of Annabeth. You can add on stuff and it necessarily doesn’t have to contradict itself.
We have people calling her abusive due to a (n admittedly stupid and unnecessary) judo flip and we have people that act like she’s never done anything wrong. People sorta use this excuse to form and shape Annabeth however they want and distort her characterization.
People in the fandom act like Annabeth is some weird prized possession. We perceive Annabeth mostly through the eyes of others (Percy, Apollo, etc.) and when we had some sort of insight in her ways (MOA, HOH) it felt… weird? Somewhat? Like Riordan left two bullet points of her characterization and told the ghostwriter: aight, fuck it up, gringo, see you on Tuesday and greet Fred the next time you see him for me. 
There have been many posts lately (by Tharini, Simi, Sawasawako, Jewishpercy and Annie I believe?) that HOO Percabeth felt weird. That they felt weirdly constructed, that there was no conflict, no growth. It felt stagnating, like we’re turning back. We had five books prior where we had Annabeth and Percy slowly shifting from disliking to liking and crushing each other. True development. And when we finally got the cake it felt… dissatisfying. Like the cheap box stuff and not the delicious exquisite taste that we were promised.
I said it previously in my Percabeth ship roast, but let me repeat myself: many Percabeth related things are straight up fanon. Some of it is very old fanon so that’s been unable to distinguish unless you’ve read the books recently and subtract nearly 99,9% of things you see on Tumblr (and occasionally the other shitty parts of the fandom like Reddit, IG, Twitter. Although they mostly steal and recycle tumblr stuff oh well. But back to the topic).
The way people treat Annabeth is so strange. She’s either an innocent fluffy smush baby that’s never harmed a fly and all that she wants for Christmas is being Percy’s lapdog or she’s the devil incarnate, broke into your house, killed your parents Batman style, kicked your puppy and didn’t flush the toilet on the way out. I think this is what mostly makes people hate her or the ship Percabeth. And both extremes are wrong and right at the same time? She is multifaceted so both stereotypes are true and untrue and sorta cancel each other out in the same way.
The true reason why people dislike Annabeth is because the stans are doing the most. (The haters as well, don’t get me wrong, but oh boy. Piss of a stan and you’ll know what I mean). That isn’t inherently new. Are you guys old enough to remember the ship wars that have happened cross platform? Perachel vs. Percabeth? Oh boy, oh boy. I saw some kids on tumblr a few months ago trying to infiltrate both tags and start shit (and also fail). The fact that Rachel still gets used as the bitchy (ex) girlfriend in fanfics? It’s 2020 guys. I know this apocalyptic year is far from perfect and over but I think we can let this trope die, right? Right? I thought we’ve established that Rachel is a pretty chill charcter by now… right?
If you posted your stuff on FFN back in 2010-2013 and it wasn’t the typical cutesy Percabeth story (Goode High, the gods read TLT, punk/prep Percabeth, college AU, etc.) people would’ve come for your fucking throat. Not because the story or the narration was shit. But because the pairing wasn’t Annabeth and Percy (in the sense that Annabeth had to be paired with Percy. I mean Percy gets shipped with everyone and their mother but for Annabeth it was strictly Percy. As annoying as this whole Connabeth thing is – the people behind it actually had a point. She never had a different love interest unless it’s a Percy centered story and he goes off dating Athena, Artemis and Zoe at the same time for some odd reason. Yeah, FFN Percy ships are something). Or it wasn’t the action filled canon compliant story or it wasn’t an AU that was popular.
People were really stubborn, snobbish and wanted their stuff in the four five boxes that were the most popular ones and that’s it. People have been bullied off the site in many fandoms, so it’s not a PJO-only thing but it’s still sad that it happened. (Off-note: most of these FFN tropes are still alive and well and thriving on AO3. Don’t be so snobbish and pretend that every piece you’d find there is a holy grail. There’s a lot of trash you have to waddle through. Same with Wattpad, Tumblr or anywhere else where fanfics get posted. Also had this discussion with Annabeth stans. Sigh).
And Tumblr back then? Forget it, wasn’t much better.
That view has sorta changed (at least for people that have been in the fandom for several years or have managed to find a way to navigate through it) but some of the negative sentiment from back in the day has survived. Be it by new fans coming in or from old fans that never let their stance die. The aggression feels differently and somewhat not. (I don’t know if the anon function had been abused that much back in the day. I was an observer not a participant in the fandom).
Crack a joke at Annabeth’s expense (Kal’s famous “Annabeth is a Republican” post or Dee Dee’s and many others “Annabeth has the education of a second grader, chill with the college plans, girlie” stance) and you have people insulting you, making callout posts, unfollowing and blocking you (based on only that? Okay, honey), making aggressive counter-posts, etc. in a minute. If you respond with “It’s a joke, it’s not real” you have a 50/50 chance of either getting blown off or embarrassing them so that they apologize for once.
This isn’t just about jokes. You can make a headcanon that’s not the cozy cute convenient mainstream saga and people would react the same way. Or art piece (no, not including the whole Tannabeth Blackchase shtick done by Viria and others) or fanfics.
People project so much onto the unfinished canvas that is Annabeth Chase that any form of negative sentiment as little as someone not liking her to straight up criticism, regardless of how tiny it may be, seems like an affront. Like an invitation to a fight. Like an insult to them, their character, everything they believe in. Let me state something:
You are NOT Annabeth Chase. Annabeth Chase IS NOT you. Annabeth Chase is NOT real. Her feeling cannot be hurt. Someone criticizing, disliking, joking about her or even insulting her will not bother her. Someone making a statement about her is not an insult to YOU.
Let me repeat that:
Annabeth Chase isn’t real. Annabeth Chase isn’t you.
So think a little before you act? I get it when you’re a kid and new to fandoms or haven’t been up with fan cultures in the past and are back in the scene. But if you’re in your late teens or even older as an adult and you’re unable to understand that you aren’t what you like – you aren’t the extension of a fictional character – I feel incredibly sorry for you. Because that’s just incredibly sad. Someone disliking something you like isn’t an attack of your character. It shows you that you are you and the other person is a human just like you. That they just have different taste. Disliking something you like isn’t a crime, you know? But me feeling sorry for the way some of y’all act won’t mean that that’s even remotely okay. Especially if you’re no longer in the intended audience for PJO age wise and should know better.
This isn’t a “white stans” only thing. I’ve seen and witnessed firsthand how people of color, mainly women of color, act the same or not even worse when it comes to her character. People have projected their problems and real-life occurring events into her character (I’m sure that she isn’t the only character nor that this is the only fandom where this is happening) and in some cases like I’ve said cannot separate their own personality from the fictional world. Fights with woc happened because of Annabeth fucking Chase. So many things have happened in the fandom the past few months, mostly due to people being forced staying at home because of the quarantine but I’d say it’s 10% on quarantine and 90% on people for acting up like this.
So here’s a little story: There was the act of Riordan blowing the fandom up because of his own stupidity and being unable to apologize for his mischaracterization and lack of research (the whole Piper fiasco) back in June (?) and admits the upset fandom, people on Twitter, Tumblr and Discord legit thought that none of that mattered and that the outcry was destroying Annabeth Chase’s birthday. That’s right. People thought that Annabeth Chase’s non-existing birthday because she’s a fictional character had a higher priority than the rupture and prevalent racism in the fandom. Okay. This isn’t a great look, Annabeth stans. And this of course pissed a lot of people off. I made a post about it and someone not only berated three other people on said post but no, we had a mighty argument which had disrupted many friendships in our circle which haven’t recovered until this very day. We both had our parts in it and no one is innocent. But the cause of this still remains Annabeth Chase or how people prioritize her non-existing well-being. Anyway. I’m getting agitated just thinking about it.
Let’s go back to the characterization thing with Annabeth. Let me remind you:
Annabeth Chase is an asshole. There I’ve said it in a post ages ago (too lazy to look it up, sorry) and I’ll say it again. And that’s not me insulting her. That’s me actually loving that about her. Annabeth is one of the very few unapologetic female characters that really showed all young readers across the world that you can be a girl, a badass, smart, strong, standing up for yourself and what you believe in. You don’t have to be nice. You don’t have to hide your feelings. You don’t need a man in all cases but it’s also okay to accept help and defeat.
A large reason why I think she’s an incredibly important character in children’s literature/YA because many other novels (mostly (sadly)) have the “Oh, I’m a white skinny dark-haired girl that likes unconventional things like READING. I’m not like the other girls, that take care of themselves and pamper themselves by enjoying shopping and wearing make-up. No, I’d rather be one of the boys but a sweet cute little boy and not the jock fuck that drank vodka shots out of a filthy shoe once. Despite me calling myself hideous every man in a 10-kilometer radius falls in love with me and tells me I’m oh so sexy and by the way I’m only 16 years old” shit going on for no goddamn reason.
Yes, I do blame Twilight for this mostly in recent years, but this trope isn’t by any means knew. Pretty sure that you could even use classics as Pride and Prejudice and dissect them in the same manner (Bold statement: Lizzy Bennet is the OG Bella Swan. There. Go fight somewhere in the corner, people). The new wave of YA focuses on girls belittling themselves and only starting to believe in themselves because someone else (mostly the male love interest) tells them they’re worth it. And these books hit the mainstream because they’re incredibly bland and picture perfect white.
With Annabeth it’s different. She shows up for the job and is done with it. (Brie Larson would probably be the perfect in real life version of her. You either like or dislike her. Or you really don’t care). That is what is so refreshing about her. Her unapologetic nature. Can it be off-putting? Yes. Is it annoying? Yes! Hell, every time I read The Lightning Thief, I want to rip her goddamn head off. And it’s just so well written. Her shift from mistrusting Percy but secretly still believing in him to her opening up. Wow, Riordan did something right there.
Annabeth Chase isn’t a young character. She has existed along with PJO for 15 years. She’s on her way to the second decade. I’m pretty sure that with the success of Percy Jackson (and Harry Potter) many lives have been warped and shaped.
But when I say the problem lies mostly in the fandom, it doesn’t mean that Riordan’s completely innocent. The only problem that I have with Annabeth lies not truly with her but the fact that Riordan is only able to produce three variations of female characters:
The sweetheart (Hazel, Silena, Calypso, Hestia)
The strong feminist (Annabeth, Piper, Thalia, Reyna, Artemis)
The bitch (Drew, nearly every female goddess in the goddamn Riordanverse next to every female monster)
And these female characters only know three endings:
End up married with a mortgage, three kids, two dogs and a cat somewhere in Connecticut by the age of twelve
Get dumped into the hunt
Chill on Mount Olympus and only come down to be a nuisance and/or give a cryptic message before going back and doing a godly rave party or something
We know Annabeth as the badass strong female first (or the bitchy character we’re supposed to actually like. Choose your approach), the blueprint so to speak, so some of the other characters feel almost pale in comparison and almost not needed? Doesn’t mean that other characters can’t behave similarly, but it feels kind of redundant especially if their character arcs end in a rather anticlimactic way (Thalia, Reyna). The new additions are the much needed woc as the main story with PJO was inherently white (anyway stan black!Percy and Grover, folks). So it’s not to bash on the new characters, it’s more Riordan’s fault more than anything.
Since Riordan only knows three female character arcs it feels like he tried to copy the formula several ways with different nuances. Some more or less successful. This is where fandom actually comes in handy and helps create more distinguished and fleshed out characters in form of headcanons or fanfiction.
But even in these cases people still make it about Annabeth when it’s time for characters of colors to shine. Remember that whole spiel and discussion that broke out when people (Kal, diver-up, Caitlyn, Bee, reynaisalesbian, etc.) joked about or criticized that Annabeth thinks that she’s having it harder because she’s a blonde? In front of Hazel and Piper? If she would’ve been a real person that’s an invitation for getting decked. And then all hell broke loose because Annabeth stans couldn’t accept the fact that in the real world and/or in fictional worlds the woc/coc have it harder? That the white woman wasn’t the victim that needed the coddling? Yeah, that was mad pathetic.
I hope you people get my point?
Well fuck. I wrote so many things and have the feeling I’ve said nothing. Anyway, I hope I made sense. This is way too long.
TLDR: Chill about Annabeth please. She’s an important character but that doesn’t mean that everyone has to like her, regardless of being a character in the books or a reader/fan of PJO in real life. She isn’t nice or a sweetheart all the time. She also isn’t the monstrous asshole that some try to make out of her.
Peace out.
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planesofduality · 3 years
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Full Transcript edition:
“The Story Behind Solas with Dragon Age Lead Writer Patrick Weekes” by Dialogue Wheel/Video Game Sophistry
Reblog of one of my first posts ever. I didn’t understand how tumblr worked back then really, and long story short, I split the transcript of this interview  into 3 parts :) I’d probably do things differently now. Reblogging it as a single transcript for my own convenience, as I still refer to some of the things Weekes said here from time to time!
Interview is from before Trespasser DLC; posted to YouTube 12/20/2019 
Note: pseudo-reblog
“Interview with lead writer for Dragon Age Patrick Weekes years ago about how the enigmatic character Solas was created, here is what that magic elf could have up his sleeve for us in Dragon Age 4.” Not my interview, just wrote transcript of questions and answers for reference. 
Full video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFx1nCdZFjw&t=1s
Time: 2:54
Solas, tell us about little old Solas. Talking about your other characters you created we always start at the beginning. Pen to paper - How did the idea of Solas first start? What was that first iteration?
So actually Dave and Mike both, you know, we - everyone knew who Solas was - everyone knew what the ending was going to be with him. And, you know, Dave and Mike said, “Well Dave is writing a ton of the crit path, the main part of the game. Dave really wants to do Dorian, that’s very important to him, and are you comfortable writing this guy? Are you comfortable writing someone who is going to be, in some respects, deceiving the Inquisitor for the entirety of the game?” And, honestly, how do you turn that down?
Time: 4:02
So really it was that simple then - from there, in the way you described it, they already had some ideas and some concepts about what Solas needed to bring?
Oh, yeah. Originally, one of the most difficult parts of writing him - and, you know, I said Iron Bull was the one closest to how I originally planned him - Solas and Cole are probably tied for least like how I originally wrote them. And, really, it was getting past the secret. It was getting past Fen’Harel.
Iron Bull: badass former spy, the opposite of Sten.
Blackwall: awesome Grey Warden who is not actually a Grey Warden.
Solas: He’s Fen’Harel…
Okay, can he tell you he’s Fen’Harel? No.
Okay, well what are we going to talk about?
[Pretending to be Solas:] “Hey Inquisitor, I’m still not Fen’Harel, do you have any questions?”,  “I will not take any questions about whether I am Fen’Harel.” That was the big stumbling block of writing him.
I remember the first draft… the first draft all we talked about was elves. It was elves all the time. Every conversation went “Elves, elves… Elves were awesome back in the old days.. Everything was great with the elves.” And then you’d go, “You really like elves huh?” “No, shut up - I’m not Fen’Harel.” And we all kind of looked at that and went, that’s not really much of a character hook. You cannot have a character hook built on something that you only reveal after the play has watched the credits. That is how we got to Fade expert. That is something where, if something had gone terribly wrong, if we were six months from shipped and we decided not to do anything with elves in the future, we could have taken the Dread Wolf out of the equation entirely and a mage named Solas who loves the Fade, is an apostate but without all of the fear and anger that you think of when you think of an apostate, but is just this guy who wants to travel through dreams and find mysteries and explore… that was a good enough character to stand by itself. That is what it took us a couple of drafts to get to.
Time: 7:04
You mentioned the first two phases of Solas - share with us a little more of that journey, when you finally go to this character that could stand on its own. If you don’t mind, a little more of that journey- was it just those first two and now everything’s cool?
First draft was “ ‘Elves, elves’ but ‘I don’t like elves’”. Second draft was about how much to tell. I think in the next draft it was significantly closer. Anyone who looked at that draft - and, you know, I apologize to anyone who looked at that draft - but, anyone who looked at that draft you would find places where “Oh okay that’s the Solas I know and love. There he is. He likes the Fade.” That’s something that’s actually interesting. But, he lied a lot more. And it actually really weakened his character. We played it so close with both Blackwall and Solas - both characters are the liars who don’t actually lie. They will tell you almost truths. With Blackwall - he never actually flat-out says “I am a Grey Warden.” If you ask him what it’s like being a Grey Warden he will say "Well  a warden embodies this and a warden embodies that… I’ve been blessed in my travels.” You know, he never actually quite says “I’m a Warden.” With Solas it’s the same way with the hand wave of ‘in the Fade’. I would start putting ‘in the Fade’ at the end of a lot of sentences.  “Yeah turns out that all of the stuff you thought was true in history was wrong… because I saw it…. in the Fade.”
In revision 2, he lied a lot more. On the one hand it worked, on the other hand it made him less tragic, more of jerk when we got to the reveal. So that is how we got to what we made him into: this character who is intelligent, wise… Solas will think very carefully before he tells you anything and anything he tells you is exactly as much as he wants you to know. That actually led to one of the funny little game moments - one of the last things we do is add the places where characters will approve or disapprove. I think what I want Solas to approve us is you actually asking questions . He’s kind of unique in that regard -  What Solas approves us is people who are interested in finding out knowledge. Whether they are finding it out from him or they’re talking with other people, Solas wants people to explore, he wants people to find information, he wants people to learn. What he disapproves of, honestly, more than what you do, is in many ways how you do it. You can do the thing that he wants you to do, but if you do it in a knee-jerk way, Solas hates that. He wants to know that you are carefully considering your options and taking a measured approach.
Time: 12:16
When it comes the characterization of a character that you’ve already been give at least some sort of name to. We know that this character is some sort of trickster god - when you were trying to develop and make him some a stand-alone character, did you ever have to rely on what the mythos already established of this particular kind of eighth-seat god that maybe a lot people hadn’t heard a lot about?
Well, I think, like we talked about before, one of the great things about the Dragon Age universe is everything that you learn in a codex entry is something that someone else heard in a story and wrote it down somewhere and you’re reading half of the book. So the good news on that is anything we wanted to do with Fen’Harel, there was so little and what was in there was already so sketchy that we had all the freedom we needed to play with him.
That turned out to be a nice thing because I think if we had someone that was completely by-the-books, already established, their character already given, it would feel like more of a letdown to write that as a character or you would have to play against type, you’d have to do something completely different to show he wasn’t just what the stories wrote about him. And, you know, in some ways that is both liberating but also disappointing to people who might have liked  the original stories. This was a fun experience of getting to fill in some of the gaps.
The only thing I think we had to struggle against is that anyone who hears “trickster” or anyone who hears “oh, he’s chaotic and unpredictable” it feels like there is a natural urge to go to “He’s Loki in the Avengers. He’s the guy who’s gonna make large grand-standing plans.” Or, you know, “He’s the Riddler, who’s gonna leave clues to test you.” We had to get away from that: “Let’s tone that back a little bit, let’s not have him be the Jack Nicholson Joker version of the Dread Wolf.”
That’s quite a quote.
You got Dorian as a large, grandiose , extravagant figure and it would have been easy to have him go that way. It was fortunate that we had Dorian as the mage who had the larger-than-life persona already to make Solas be the quiet one.
Time: 15:21
Was there ever an instance where you were really pushed with giving some indicators to the player that Solas may have some connection to this going through the gameplay? Because you do see a lot statues of Fen’Harel. There’s many instances of where you’re discussing it, you’re traveling through those lands. Where do you walk that line, how do you walk that line, or do you just completely disregard it whatsoever?
The goal we had is we wanted the very careful players, the very sensitive players, who were playing attention and watching every scene with Solas to know that something was up and to want more answers and then go to “OH MAN” as soon as the stinger after the credits rolled. But we wanted most players to just go “Oh, okay, he’s like ‘Fade nerd.’ He’s like ‘hippie guy.’”
The other thing we wanted was everyone on their second playthrough, as soon as they talked to Solas to be like “Oh, man, he’s just saying it. He just flat-out said it right there and I missed it completely the first time!” I think we called it the “inevitable in retrospect”- or the “slap the forehead on the second playthrough” style of writing, where we wanted people to see that the most interesting thing about the trickster god is he’s not actually that great of a liar - He is almost telling you a lot of the time. And, you know, some of the tragedy is it that you never had the chance to actually ask, “Wait -are you Fen’harel?”
Time: 17:13
We talked about leaving breadcrumbs, what that meant. Now the big turn, the big scene at the ending:  How did this come about, were you really involved in that sort of process and are you happy with it?
Oh, I’m absolutely happy with it. It went through several iterations,. Mike was hugely involved. The writing was definitely done by Dave; it was a huge crit path moment. He had me give a look at the Solas voice, I think I looked at it, I don’t think I actually changed a single word in the final one.
We had versions where after the main plot it was actually going to be a full plot where you the player went and were actually present when Solas confronts Mythal. We had a part where we said, “Wow that’s too big, a lot of players are gonna miss that, we’ll make it a DLC.” So it was gonna be a separate DLC where that happened. At one point we said “No, this is too big, we actually - let’s cut it and address it next game.” So it was going to be this thing that we pushed off into some future content.
I am really happy with what we went with, because, I think, you know, for my money, that short, little Marvel-style, after-the-credits stinger is what we needed. We needed something so that everyone who was paying attention and everyone who was really invested could go “oh my god!” And go, “Okay, so, just in case you were wondering, we’re not done, we have more stories to tell, and we are confident enough in what we are doing that we are willing to throw that ball.” That stinger is essentially us throwing a football to future us, trusting that we are going to catch it. Because, you know, at the end, we had that level of confidence. We felt that we had that level of confidence, we felt we made a really good game. Dave led an amazing team of writers, and I’m really touched that he has the confidence to believe that I’ll be able to carry that on for him.
Time: 19:49
When we spoke to Dave, one of the big moments that he mentioned, was when he created kind of a long-term idea for what’s going to happen in the Dragon Age universe. And to hear him say it, he mentioned that what he originally wanted for Dragon Age: Inquisition couldn’t happen - it was far too big - it wouldn’t work. And you guys had talked about  taking that concept, finishing Inquisition somewhere in the middle of that concept arc, and then using at least an influence or something like that to affect the franchise going forward.  Speaking with you now, as someone who has taken up the reins, do you know what I’m talking about? Am I talking crazy? Where do you see it going?
Um…
Reasonably - of what you can say on this.
So here’s the last scene of the next game… (laughs). I think there’s an extent to which no plan really survives contact with the audience when it comes to video games. We look at how fans react, we look at what hit, what rang true with everyone. You know, it’s funny, having people react angrily actually isn’t as bad as having people ignore things sometimes. Having people react angrily  means they were definitely emotionally engaged, so you know you hit something there. Whereas having fans go, “I don’t know, fine, I guess, whatever” and move on means, “Okay, I don’t know if that’s what we want to go back to. We didn’t actually get anything from them there, they didn’t actually remember that later.” So that’s a phase that comes after every game we ship. We look at what hit, what missed, and where we want to go from there.
Now that said, Dave’s future plan is, I think, fantastic, epic, and heartbreaking. Our plan is to use that as our starting point. To look at where we want to go, what we want to do, and it will not be - and I, you know, Dave and I have talked about this - it will not be the story that Dave would tell if he were still here as lead writer. Because it could never be that. We can get into that when we talk about Cole a little bit, but if I tried to do that I would just be doing a bad impersonation of Dave Gaider and no one is ever going to be as good at that as Dave is. My goal going forward is to, as lead, put my own spin on that process, put my own spin on the plots going forward, on the thematic elements, while keeping those same thematic elements that we had. Because, I think, what Dave has set in motion in three games, countless DLCs and expansions, is something that can endure: The idea that no choice is ever really that easy and that the great events always stem from human-understandable motivations.
So, that is where I think where we are going to go, as vaguely as I can say.
Time: 23:30
Speaking of specifically to Solas: His continuation of the story. Adding that little “Marvel moment” at the end - what do you think that did for the crit path and the overall arc of the story that players experienced in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Do you think they would have been more satisfied if there was  a DLC or is that just us gamers complaining because we can’t get everything we want right away?
Well, I think you want to leave people wanting more. “Man I wish you guys had done more” is a better problem to have than “Man I wish you guys had done less.” So, I think, looking at it from inside the studio, we didn’t have the resources to do much more than we did. So it was never going to be the big moment right then anyway. From my perspective, the reason I’m really happy we have it is, like I said, I thought it was a vote of confidence. The team is still the Dragon Age team and it is still the writers and designers who did everything else, who made such wonderful characters and were responsible for such fantastic plots.
Time 25:10
Well, again, looking at that in its completion, it’s good to see that even a character that needed to give you a stinger in your estimation didn’t take away, I guess, from the overall story you were trying to tell.
Well, thank you. Yeah it was obviously the moment we were building toward, but again, the goal was even if we didn’t have that stringer, he was still an interesting enough character that people would have not felt cheated that he was in the party.
Time: 25:35
One of the most beautiful scenes I think in Dragon Age Inquisition is the scene that you get with Solas if you play as a female elf Inquisitor. Talk a little bit about that choice to have this romance option very, very specific. It’s race- and gender- specific. Why that scene - what that scene meant and a lot of the subtext, because it is a very rich sequence of scenes, not just one. And, I think it’s really one of the most interesting romances in the game.
I love that scene because that scene for me shows how far we’ve gone past - not the make myself irrelevant anymore - but how far we’ve gone with the digital acting. Jonathan Epp the cine-designer for that scene put it together and when you take everything that Gareth David Lloyd - the voice actor - everything he did on his lines. And just putting so much tragedy, and making it clear in every line that he wants to say more than he can. And with Jon Epp the cine-designer, just in the wordless scenes: showing the tragedy, showing the heartbreak, showing how much he does genuinely care against his better judgement, and how he finally forces himself to step away.,
You know how I said when we were talking about the Iron Bull - everything, every major moment we do, is there for a specific type of player fantasy fulfillment. And you know, not all types of fantasies are the happy ones. There’s a reason why The Phantom of the Opera was on Broadway for so many years and it’s not because it has a happy ending.
The Phantom of the Opera isn’t exactly the theme for the romance -  the razor was something closer to almost professor and student in some ways. He definitely comes across as a mentor in some ways. When he finally steps back it is him beating himself up, not you, saying “Wow what I have done here is actually really unfair to you, and you, player, at the time don’t know that I’m beating myself up because I’m actually  1000s of years old and not the person you think I am and it’s disrespectful to you for me to continue this relationship.” So it’s a very moral perspective for our ancient, quasi-evil, trickster god to come with.
Time: 28:41
And it’s amazing because it’s another instance of content that so few players would actually get an opportunity to see. When it comes to making it that specific, I guess, why was that choice made? Because usually a lot of your content - most of the Dragon Age content - it’s very easy to get really rich, wonderful characters right in your face and have those wonderful “eat-em-up” experiences, why for this one was it such a steep price to get in?
You know, I won’t lie, a lot of it came from some of our designers. Some of the women in the design department really, really loving his voice and saying, “You are absolutely fools if you do not make him romance-able in some capacity.” And, really, his story overall is - and, you know, I think we’ve only hinted at that but I think we have hinted at it enough that I can at least say this part of it - his story isn’t a happy one. His story is one, where, if you look at him and Mythal, there is clearly some grief, there is clearly some tragedy. And, adding in the option - even for players who don’t take it - on my end as a writer,  knowing that some players will have this as a star-crossed, forbidden romance, you know, it makes him more sympathetic. It’s important to me as a writer because when you’re writing about someone who, according to Flemeth, is at least somewhat responsible for the bad guy getting the magical item that he used to blow up half a mountain in the prologue, it’s important to have something in there that you can always have, as a writer, look at as your touchstone and go “This is a real person. This is someone who experiences sadness. This is someone who falls in love.” Even if he doesn’t do it with that Inquisitor on that playthrough, this is always someone who can be like that.
Time: 30:58
Where do you see a character like Solas ending up?
(Big sigh) Musical theater.
(laughs) Right when we reach those beautiful moments, Patrick!
I think that it is fantastic that people have emotionally engaged with Solas and I hope we get a chance to explore that in some future content.
Alright and that’s the most that we’re getting right now.
Time: 31:37
Oh, and here’s a little tie in: Here Lies the Abyss, the demon that spoke to Solas - what was all that about, what was that going on?
Oh yes - the demon who speaks perfect Elven!
Yes perfectly to him, and if you remember any of that - did you have anything to do with that?
Yes, Here Lies the Abyss was mine. It was a fun plot. It was a terrifyingly difficult plot, because - I’m not sure how clear this is to players that have one done one playthrough or with one import state - but your key characters throughout the events at Adamant Fortress and then the events of the Fade, it’s a customizable Hawke. Which means it could be a male Hawke or a female Hawke and within that, Hawke from Dragon Age 2 is characterized by one of three different attitudes: friendly, grim, or sarcastic. So, that’s three attitudes times two genders, that’s six different Hawkes and three different possible Grey Wardens: Alistair, Loghain, or Stroud.  So, the process of going through Adamant Fortress and then going through the Fade was a crazy juggling act of trying to keep track of “Okay, now one of these five people, these five Schrodinger’s cat quantum people, will say this line, and then another of these five Schrodinger’s cat quantum people will respond with this line.”
It’s important to remember that as we went through everything in Adamant Fortress and the Fade was taking place in that contest. There was a long period time when we were looking at that really going, “Okay, I just have to hope this actually makes sense when it’s nothing but Alistair and my sarcastic female Hawke.”
But, to actually answer your question. As I recall, the Nightmare, who as a friendly, chipper guy was basically - I do basically two types of villains: I do the villain who thinks he or she is the hero, and is misguided and has opposed goals, and is kind of tragic and tortured in that way. And then I do the mean-girl villain who says snotty high school insults.
That’s it - that’s the gambit.
Well, just about, yes. I’m looking forward to see who writes the villain in the future Dragon Age games - so get ready for either tragic pathos or really, really good high school mean-girl zingers.
As I recall, he was speaking Elven to Solas and if I remember right, he said, “Your pride is responsible for everything that has gone wrong” and I think he said “You will die alone.” And then Solas said something that translates to either “Nothing is known for certain” or “Not necessarily.”
And what does all that mean?
Well I think it’s fascinating that people are emotionally engaged, and I hope we have the chance -
It was a very asked question - it was a question that was asked a lot. Specific to that.
Oh, I’m not surprised, and I hope one day that we can tell you. But, obviously, that demon knows that Solas is hurting and Solas feels guilty about some stuff and really wanted to dig in there, and Solas was shouting back.
Literally just describing what happened (laughs). All right, so something that will clearly be talked about in other games.
TIme: 36:22
Dealing with this particular quest I really think that this was one opportunity to involve the Grey Wardens in a story, and a world, that kind of progressingly, after the first game had less and less of a need to exist - let alone in the world - but in the main characters arc. Talking to David I remember initially there was some idea for this particular mission they would just fall into the hole and be hanging out in the Deep Roads, and having out with the dwarves, so tell us a little bit about this creation.
A lot of the process of writing these large plots, like I talked about the razor, you figure out what the core concept is, you always start with a lot of things, and in most cases what you then end up having to do is cut. And if you’re not someone in the studio, talking about having to cut things sounds like you’re losing awesome content, you’re ruining what would have been clearly the best part of the plot. Inside the studio though, most cases what you’re cutting is the stuff that didn’t actually help tell the story you wanted to tell.
So yes in the original version, in a very early draft, actually this was before I was actually on the plot - this predates me - there was, yes, going into the Deep Roads, and when you fell in instead of ending up in the Fade you ended up down in the dark. And finding out what the Grey Wardens in this version of the story had been involved with the Architect from Dragon Age: Awakening. It was an interesting direction, and it was, I think, a very cool direction, but it did not help tell the story of the Inquisition. It was more a story of “Hey, if we wanted to do more with the Hero of Fereldan, here is an interesting place we could go” and it did not help tell the story of “What is the Inquisition doing?” “What is Corypheus doing?”, “How do these two organizations bounce off each other and who’s caught in the middle?” So trying to come to terms with the Grey Wardens in this game not being the protagonists, not being the group that is in the center of the action but being the group that is caught in the middle of this power struggle was something that led to us having to eventually do the re-jiggering that got us to the plot you saw.
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red-hood-redemption · 3 years
Text
SO I know I’m like, super late to the party, but I finally got my hands on Robin 2021 and there is literally no one for me to talk to about it so now I’m just screaming my thoughts into the void ✌
First off, before i even bought the first two issues, I read through a lot of other people’s opinions on it to kinda get an idea of where it was going characterization-wise for Damian, and because of all the mixed reactions, I figured I should just read it myself and find out. Now I am the FURTHEST thing from a comic book authority, so like, this is truly just an opinion piece but if it convinces anyone to give the run a chance, then yay!!! Honestly, I’m really glad I gave it a shot because I’m genuinely hooked! I’m actually excited about this series (and it scares me lol)!!!
I'm gonna separate my thoughts into two sections: characters, and story, mainly for my own ease, but also if anyone cares more about one thing or the other it's easier to distinguish. But,  the line is a little blurry so if I end up getting a little too much into the characterization in the story section, just bear with me lmao. OH and I'm going to try and keep this as un-spoilery as possible but we'll just have to see. SOOOOOOOO
Characters
I think it goes without saying that Melnikov's art is absolutely gorgeous, and really does show how much Damian has grown up. It makes me want to sob its so beautiful, everyone is so pretty, even the guy that looks like a washed up, high as fuck Tony Stark lmao. But moving on to the actual characters,
Rose Wilson
I honestly don't know too much about Rose, I haven't read enough about her to say anything about her characterization and how it compares to her other appearances, or whether or not she is OOC, but so far, I'm enjoying her taking up the "big sis" role, like, immediately lmao.
I don't know how much I trust her yet, but I definitely get the vibe that even if she does betray Dami in any way, she's probably gonna stick her neck out for Dami again and he's probably gonna do the same.
I'm really intrigued about her motivations for being here. Obviously, Respawn has something to do with it, but I want to know what's up with that. I've seen a lot of theories and I'm so excited. Also side note, that Black Swan chick is hot, and I can't wait to see more of her in action!!!
I feel like Ravager knows a WHOLE lot more than Dami does about the interesting things going on on the island, mainly because she's been doing a lot more sitting and waiting than he has as of yet, but I'm hoping to see more of the two of them doing detective-y sleuthing together. We love a mysteryyyy
Flatline
Okay but real talk, why does she look like a character straight out of Monster High
Honestly tho, I dig it. It's cute! She's cute! She isn't annoying (yet) but I don't know if I care too much about her other than she would make a cute friend for Dami.
I think the problem with DC is that they know people LOVE Harley Quinn and they try so hard to make characters just like her but it always falls short, so honestly I am a little wary of her character development in this run, but I'm willing to give her a shot since her little coffin purse on the cover of the second issue is so damn cute. I'm a slut for character design, okay?
Oh speaking of Flatline and Dami, I don't ship it and I don't want them to force a romantic relationship into Damian's "coming of age"/"soul-searching" moment okay? Because that's what this run is about, at least to me! More on that in the story section!
They're literally 13/14 years old. That's 8th-9th grade, babes lets think about that for a minute
Also let's stop the whole "lets introduce a female character just to make her a love interest!" bullshit okay?
Basically, Flatline is interesting, or at least has the potential to be, but I don't want to get my hopes up because DC is notorious for disservicing their female characters 😕
I think the mixed reaction to her is valid, I don't think she's had much time to make a solid impression yet, so I guess you'd have to read it for yourself. Personally, I don't understand why people immediately hate her, especially because she's like, 14, and what kid that age isn't annoying? like at least a little bit lmao! But, yeah. I don't trust her either but literally everyone on this island is sketchy at least and a murderer at best, so hey 🤷‍♀️
Damian
His new outfit lmaoooo at first I was like "WHaT is this child wearing? You'd think Dick would have rubbed off on him and taught him what good taste looks like" but then I saw the later outfit, with the gold patterning and those sleeeevessssss ugh and I take it all back. A Fashion Icon TM. Truly stunning. A sight to behold. So proud, look at him go 😪
I think there's a lot of different opinions on Damian's characterization in this run, and I can definitely see where its coming from, but I disagree with the notion that Damian has been done dirty and reverted to a blood-thirsty, feral child.  And I have a LOT of opinions on the whole "feral" thing regarding Damian period (but that's for another time).
I don't think of Dami's rampage as a regression for his character. He's letting of emotions right then and I think its very similar to him venting. Its just not verbal, its physical and he knows he's not going to have to grapple with the consequences of his actions on the first kill. He knows he's technically not doing anything wrong.
He is clearly upset at Bruce and his failure to protect Alfred, and while Dami and Bruce are really often described as being very similar personality-wise, they are still distinctly different individuals who came to their current moral codes in vastly different ways. Bruce came to his "no killing" rule on his own; he made that decision for himself. It wasn't taught to him, it was a moment-of-truth kind of situation. Damian, on the other hand is in a vastly different situation.
Dami is, I think, at the beginning of the climb to his own moment-of-truth. He is in his rebellious phase like Dick, where he's gone off to spread his wings. It's not his conscious intention (at least that's not the vibe I got from reading the first two issues), but its directly underlying his "mission".
Damian is growing out of the expectations of his parents and into his own person. We all know he's been thrown from one moral code to another, both drastically different from each other. I don't think its a regression for him to lose his way a little, because realistically, he's going to have to in order to find it, specifically a moral compass that he forged on his own. He's just what? 14? Like hell a kid his age wants to listen to any form of authority. He's as stubborn as it comes. Damian needs to come to his decision regarding the path he takes in life on his own. It can't be made for him. He's seen and lived both sides of the coin, and I don't think he should be forced just yet to choose a side or pave a middle ground, but I do think that he should get the opportunity to see and experience all the gray areas on his own.
I think I'll transition from characterization to story here, because let's face it, this story is about Damian dealing with his confused emotions right now, in the wake of losing Alfred, a man that kind of acted like a grounding presence, a voice of reason, or a moral compass for him (and honestly Bruce and the rest of the bat crew if we're honest).
Story
So there's a lottttt going on in the story that is really enticing and exciting, and I'm really interested to see how it all plays out.
All the rules to the tournament are so, sketchy? Like they don't sound like they are meant to be sketchy, its basic safety and guidelines or whatever but with all the glowy green shit and the stakes of the tournament? Yeah, you can bet your ass its the "no fighting at night" and other shit is gonna be broken, and that's likely when the fun begins *insert evil laughter*😈
I was slightly put off by the whole "let me teach you to have fun" thing with Rose, because it's not like Dick, Steph, Jon, and like the Titans haven't done that with him too, but eh, not something I'm too concerned about. It's definitely just a segway to get us introduced to more characters that might become Damian's friends which will be interesting considering what Mother Soul said about fraternizing.
And that's another thing! I want Damian to make some friends! I know he already has some, but here's the thing: I think he's already been struggling with belonging, and he's definitely been feeling the disconnect between his life and other kids', whether they're supers/vigilantes or not. I think it'd be nice to see Dami have the experience of meeting people who he at first thinks are just like him!! and then realizing that maybe he doesn't really fit in here either, and that it's okay to feel like you don't belong, as isolating as it may feel at times. It just means you have a set of values. I want him to realize that its not always a bad thing, and you learn more about yourself and your own heart this way.
And from there,,, lets talk about the thing that stuck out to me the most in these two issues! GUILT!! It's mentioned SOO many times already, and I think its going to be a really fun, heartbreaking, and interesting aspect to explore about Damian. Is it guilt about his actions? Leaving behind family? Not being able to save Alfred? Not being a perfect example of Robin? He may call himself Robin but he doesn't sport the OG look or symbol like before. I love that his guilt takes on the form of Alfred though, or at least his conscious. I think it'd be really interesting to see this conscious disappear when Dami strays too far from his center, and when he finds it again, it reappears.
I really think that seeing Damian's actions in this run as a failure of character development is an unfair assessment, though. You can't do everything right in order to grow! You have to screw up, lose your way, experiment with life to find your fit, right?
Something tells me he doesn’t care for the tournament itself, but the end result, and the people behind it and more about WHY it was hidden from him. I mean he finds out the tournament TRULY begins once everyone has died once and tHEN he kill everyone? Felt to me less like a “killing spree” as everyone put it to a calculated decision to get the tournament going. He literally cuts Mother Soul off in the middle of her speaking to start fighting at the beginning
Anyway, just my thoughts lol. I do have some issues with the past two issues, and I might make a separate post about that, but honestly not enough for me to dislike Robin 2021 so far. I mean, besides the very obvious white-washing in the second issue, because DC can absolutely do better. And they should. It’s like they thought we wouldn’t notice???? But besides that, story and characterization-wise I’m looking forward to more. Here’s to hoping it stays that way, just with a better colorist!
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lighthouseborna · 3 years
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Shipwreck Island
A headcanon post so fancy I’m using the title function. This is based on information from A.C. Crispin’s The Price of Freedom as well as the visual development of and final presentation in the films, but is, ultimately, HEADCANON. I’ve done a lot of digging and these thoughts are what I think can be gathered from the information and visuals we’ve been given, it but it’s still something I’ve made up in a lot of places. That’s my little disclaimer for you, and that I’m doing this because I’m way too invested and I am not making any money. Okay now:
A day’s sail off the northeast coast of South America, Shipwreck Island has, for generations, been a pirate haven. Home of the so rarely gathered Brethren Court as well as keeping place of the code they (mostly) adhere to, it is a place of the utmost challenge to find, save for by those who already know where it is. Some even say its place in the water shifts, as though elusiveness is a decision the island makes rather than a fact of its location. Wherever it may be found, Shipwreck Island is -or rather, was- volcanic in nature. It has been an age and then some since any stirrings of the old cone have reminded anyone, but there was a time when the earth spilt and spit and new islands emerged to settle in the ocean and wait to be discovered. As is common with these land formations, the place known as Shipwreck Island is, in truth, a series of islands.
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Original concept art; I drew this based on real volcanic archipelagos (such as Hawai’i) and what we’ve seen of the islands in the movies.
These islands are collectively called “Shipwreck Island” by anyone who knows a thing about them, and distinguished from each other by the landmarks resting on them. As a general rule, anyone who doesn’t mention a specific landmark by name is probably on their way to the cove.
Shipwreck Cove / Shipwreck City
The half-submerged cone of the quiet volcano itself forms the location most think of when picturing Shipwreck Island. The steep, pitted rock forms the walls of Shipwreck Cove, wherein lies the conglomeration of twisted streets and ancient gangplanks what calls itself Shipwreck City, and the waters where her ships are docked.
Ships enter through a hand-carved channel called The Devil’s Throat. It’s just deep enough for most ships to pass through. It’s not an easy passing, either: to quote, “It’s not for naught it’s called Shipwreck Cove.” The way is tricky to navigate on its own, and over time has accumulated the wreckage of ships less than wisely steered. They are left there as an intentional defense to unwelcome voyagers. (Or; one does not simply sail into Shipwreck Cove without knowing in some manner, experience or word of mouth, the correct way to do it.)
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A screenshot from a deleted scene of At World’s End of the Black Pearl in the Devil’s Throat passageway
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A screenshot from At World’s End showing the cove and city at night; the torches on the left indicate the interior opening of the Devil’s Throat pass.
Shipwreck is well known for being a maze of walkways. Somewhere beneath all the ships there is a small patch of land that serves as the proper foundation of the city, but by and large it is an amalgam of ships from various ages stacked upon each other. Some say, even, that these ships date all the way back to Greek Legend -further- but none can say for certain. It’s very easy to get lost in Shipwreck City.
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Concept art by Nathan Schroeder; Shipwreck’s docks and typical structure/style of ships being used as building material.
Aside from the gathering place of the Brethren Court, Shipwreck City has also housed the code that the Brethren adheres to for the last generation at least, potentially longer, and a host of both commercial and residential dwellings. There are taverns and brothels, and one could assume as well that there are likely some kind of clothing market and metalworkers, etc. It’s a gathering place for pirates, yes, but when it’s not under siege, it is a city. A hub of life with daily rituals and goings-on of its own, largely without regard for anything outside of it. Some ships likely dock exclusively at Shipwreck. 
Shipwreck Town / The Lighthouse
The largest island of the archipelago lies but a few miles from the cove. From the waters on the western side of Shipwreck Cove, this island tends to be hidden by the cove itself and/or the low hanging fog typically found around the whole archipelago.
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A screenshot from At World’s End showing a view of the far side of the cove and the fog cover typical of the area.
This island is home to a fishing community sometimes referred to as Shipwreck Town*,  Shipwreck’s lighthouse, and a small mooring house.
The Town, primarily operating as a fishing village, sits on the northern end of the island. The flatter landscape of this northern shore offers moderate farming space, which continues down towards the center of the island. Animals such as goats, chickens, and hogs are raised regularly.
The settlement does not directly answer to the court, as most of its occupants have been ejected from ‘civilized’ society but do not consider themselves pirates in the strictest of terms. Regardless, it does do regular trade and other business with Shipwreck City. Many of Shipwreck City’s agricultural supplies come from the town. Regardless of formal titles, there is very little outside commerce for both, so Shipwreck City and the Town of Shipwreck rely on each other for continued prosperity.
*Shipwreck Town is also used interchangeably with Shipwreck City to refer to the dwelling inside of the cove. The settlement on the lighthouse island is technically nameless; locals to both the cove and the lighthouse island tend to refer to it as just “town.” (e.g. “Go to town to get another net.”)
The western shore is characterized by tall cliffs and a small amount of beach space broken up by rock. The lighthouse sits on these westward facing cliffs, the mooring house on the beach below. Standing on its westward-facing beach or cliffs, one can see the outer walls of Shipwreck Cove with ease - even, sometimes, the smoke that rises from the numerous lanterns and cookfires of the city itself.
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Screenshots from At World’s End establishing the view of Shipwreck Cove from the beach of the lighthouse island.
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Concept art of the lighthouse by Jeremy Love; this specifically is an edited composite of two of his concepts, blended together in a way I think best resembles the final render that is in the movie [viewable (barely) here and here.]
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Concept art by Jeremy Love depicting the cliffs, westward-facing beach, and mooring house; though the silhouette of the island in the distance is different, I maintain that that is the cove. (And that it looks closer than it is.)
Much like the western shore, the southern end of the island is mostly cliffside, with a few scattered caves and some thin stretches of sand and beach. The center of the island appears to be some kind of valley with dense tree cover, behind which sits a small range of mountain-esque land that may border the eastern shore.
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A screencap from At World’s End showing the western cliffs and their extension to the southern end of the island.
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A screencap from Dead Men Tell No Tales which shows the interior and (possible) east side of the island. There may be more space and beach back there but we just don’t know do we? I think there probably is, but the mountains likely back up to the beach, meaning all of the forest cover and flat land are found in the center and northern end of the island.
If you haven’t noticed, there’s no art or reference for the town: that’s because I’ve made it up and don’t know how to draw landscapes or architecture. But if, as has been suggested, Shipwreck City is isolated and (until the events of At World’s End) secret enough that it cannot be found by the English without someone who already knows where it is, it stands to reason they cannot rely on outside resources to maintain its wellbeing. If it is as well stocked as the narrative would have us believe, it follows that there is a nearby source of materials and food. One answer for this could of course be the shores of South America -and some of it indeed may come from various locations there- but I like the idea of Shipwreck being, in some capacity, self-sustaining. Volcanic islands are notoriously fertile, and regularly have aquifers, so to me a small community producing these goods makes sense.
The Smaller Islands
Beyond the Cove and the lighthouse, there are two other islands, neither of which are inhabited. The larger has a freshwater spring that is utilized by both the pirates of the cove and the inhabitants of the town. The smaller, northernmost island has no real landmarks of note, though is a reliable source of coconut palms and mango trees. Both have relatively copious beach space and are regularly used by pirating crews to beach ships in order to do maintenance on their hulls.
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starryevermore · 3 years
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paradise island: a review
A note before we begin: everything above the cut will be spoiler free and will just be my general feelings about the story as a whole, the writing, and if I’d recommend it. Everything below the cut will include spoilers to explain my feelings about the story.
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Rating: 3/5 stars
Visiting the North Shore had been a bizarre and unsettling experience, to say the least, but when they got home after vacation was over, he was going to suggest to Colby that they make a video about it.
Hell, no. Even better. Write a book. Videos melted away after a while, but a book? Books and stories solidified on the conscious mind forever. (91-92)
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I generally enjoy stories like this, but there were a few moments throughout the novel where things just fell a bit flat. 
While I was reading, I made a few notes, the first being that there was a weird juxtaposition between talking about more adult topics (drinking, women, sex, etc.) but in an odd, almost kid-friendly way. Some of the word choices were interesting, such as constant use of “fancy-pants”, “hottie”, “goofball”, “oddball”, and “doofus”, as well as the one moment where Colby said he hated “dicky” people and the moment where Sam said Colby was about to have an “emo-ruption”. (Though I did laugh a lot longer than I should have at “emo-ruption”.) It felt like they were still trying to make the story appropriate for their younger fans by using more kid-friendly language, while also appealing to their older fans by being like “look!! we drink!! and ooh look, we talked about smoking weed 👀🤪”. I wish they would’ve committed to one or the other, because it added an odd sense of disjointedness to the story that could’ve been easily resolved.
The other big thing I made note of was that there was a lot of “tell, not show” throughout. There’s a heavy focus on dialogue to progress the story rather than seeing into the boys’ inner thoughts and using other means to find out information. (I’m not one to talk, though, since I also focus more on dialogue than description.) It sometimes made it difficult to fully get into the story. I struggled with developing a picture of what the Belle Estate looked like, or what the other characters (beside SNC, Nate, and Alex) looked like. In terms of the boys, it seemed very reliant on us knowing who Sam and Colby are and what they’re all about (which is fair, since probably 99.9% of people who bought the book are fans of them but, if they want success outside of their audience, it could’ve been more descriptive in that regard). 
As for the big twist at the end, it was a bit lackluster. I’ll go more in detail on this in the “spoiler section”, but it kind of diminished everything that had happened throughout the story and left me wondering “what was the point?”. 
I was excited when I’d heard that the story was told through both Sam and Colby’s POVs, but, I’ll be honest, I saw little difference between Sam’s chapters than Colby’s chapters. The most difference was the almost stereotypical portrayal of Sam being the logical one while Colby being the emotional one. Aside from that, they were almost indistinguishable from me and I often had to flip back to the start of a chapter to remind myself of who’s head I was in.
Since that was all critical, here’s some things I did like:
I feel like, while the inner monologues were a bit lacking, Gaby did make up for it by making the dialogue between the boys really realistic to them. In this regard, she really nailed the portrayal of them. 
The depiction of the paranormal things was really great. I feel like those parts were the ones I could get most into the story. The way Gaby wrote them was so interesting and pulled me in. I wish there was more of these moments throughout the story, because I think they really showcased who Gaby is as a writer.
The convo where Colby called Sam “Velma” and then Nate asked if Colby was “Fred”? I really enjoyed that because (a) Scooby is my favorite thing in the whole world and (b) I chose Sam and Colby be Velma and Fred in my moodboards a month ago so just a lil fun moment for me.
Just how meta the book was. Like, the quote I included at the top? I laughed for way too long when I read that. 
There was a nice sense of nostalgia throughout, specifically when they brought up their YouTube channel, their Vine days, them being arrested, wining a Teen Choice Award, and Corey and the Shadowman. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and reminded me of how proud I am for how far they’ve come.
*slight spoiler here* Speaking of being arrested, there was a moment where SNC were contemplating escaping to the beach and they had a conversation if it was worth being arrested again. I really loved that, especially with how much fans joke about them inevitably being arrested again.
This is more for the person who designed the cover, but holy shit?? I loved it so much?? 
I don’t know if I would have picked this book up if it didn’t have Sam and Colby’s name attached to it. I will say, though, I finished the book in one sitting, which is pretty rare for me nowadays, so it was engaging. I think, overall, it was a great story with a great concept but it could’ve been fleshed out more. In some ways, it almost felt like this was a draft rather than a completed novel. 
That being said, for SNC’s first book and Gaby’s first time working with the boys, it exceeded my expectations. If they were to continue writing books together, I imagine it will get better and better as they get more used to each other and potentially open up more so that their characters become a more accurate depiction of them.
Overall, the book’s not something you really need to race out to get. I think, if you have a gift card or there’s some sort of deal or you need to spend a little more to get free shipping, it wouldn’t hurt to pick up Paradise Island. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t a great, top-tier novel in my opinion. That being said, if you do pick it up, I think you will enjoy the book.
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Spoiler Avenue
The characterization of all four of the boys is a bit 2D. Sam’s logical and wants to keep the peace, Colby’s emotional and more of a wildcard, Nate’s focused on his schoolwork and flexing his vocabulary, and Alex? Well, I couldn’t get a good read on Alex until he sells out SNC at the end of the novel and even then, he didn’t feel so much like his own character, more like someone just present to further the plot.
Speaking of characters, the introduction of Trey was...meh. I wish we could’ve gotten more insight on why Colby was so adamant about not liking Trey and why Nate was so gung ho to ditch their plans to go to the North side of the island for this guy they barely knew. Finding out that Colby didn’t like Trey because he said college was the only way to success was such an odd thing? Like, undoubtedly there’s been many people who would’ve said that, so does Colby also dislike everyone who’s said that or is there a more specific reason he didn’t like Trey? Just...👏🏻 more 👏🏻 inner 👏🏻 thoughts 👏🏻 please 👏🏻 and 👏🏻 thank 👏🏻 you 👏🏻 
@golbrocklovely​ brought this up in her review but Colby’s fixation on the  mermaid statue of a 16-year-old was really odd. It probably wouldn’t have been as odd if Amy was aged up a bit to 18, but as a 16-year-old with the descriptions that were given? Yeah...not the vibe.
I also wasn’t a fan of how so many things plot-wise was just...told to the boys. They could’ve found some newspaper clippings or something, anything to make them put in a little bit of detective work. But for so much information to just be handed to them? It got old, and almost lazy. 
The big twist being that all of the paranormal stuff they’d encountered being a hallucination? God, that was so fucking annoying (though I did go back afterwards from the moment that they first arrived at the Belle Estate—starting as early as page 36—and it felt incredibly obvious knowing now that it was all drugs, so props to Gaby for dropping that many hints early on). To spend so much time making all of this scary shit happen just to turn around and say “HAHA JK THE BOYS WERE JUST TRIPPING BALLS” was such a cop out. It would’ve been more terrifying for it all to be real, make the boys question their beliefs and the reality of there being something out there that they didn’t quite understand. Though, there is something terrifying about not knowing you’ve been drugged and having hallucinated that vividly, but I feel like it didn’t quite fit in with the story. 
Alex betraying the boys? So interesting! This was one of the few things that made sense in terms of them being drugged. But then when he was betrayed when Pauahi (who’s name was misspelled a few different times in the book) escaped? Ugh, amazing. We love instant karma like that. 
Going back to the “tell not show” thing, I wish the sacrifice at the end would’ve been more detailed. For all of the paranormal stuff to be written off as a drug-induced hallucination, I would’ve loved if Gaby had leaned more into the horror of being used in a human sacrifice. There was more of a focus on Colby bargaining for his life, which is fair, but I would’ve loved to see more of the pure terror there.
That being said, the way Trey finally snapped out of it? *chef’s kiss* Loved that shit so much. And I loved the fact that Trey stayed behind in the end. It added a nice eeriness to the story that had been lacking since they debunked the paranormal shit as being hallucinations. 
Again, going back to my overall, thoughts, I enjoyed the book in general. Some things could’ve been fleshed out a bit more to reach its full potential. I wish they leaned more into the paranormal aspect and had more descriptions to balance out all of the dialogue, but other than that, I did enjoy the book and don’t regret buying it. 
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sheirukitriesfandom · 3 years
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savos of course :3c
Why I like them
Oh, this is difficult. 
1. His backstory had so much room for potential (and most of it was wasted) as did his leadership of the college, along with the cries for a change of leadership. One reason I like him so is my wish to build on that potential. 2. Then there’s also the way he subverts traditional mage tropes. When you hear “archmage” you think of your Gandalfs and Dumbledores, the powerful wise old mentors who are perhaps a bit quirky - someone like Tolfdir basically - and Savos doesn’t much fit that description. He comes across as passive and surrendered to his current situation, not at all what the headmaster of the last refuge for Skyrim’s mages should be. 3. Shipping. I didn’t have much of a say in this, at some point Rashkan, my oldest and most developed Skyrim OC, decided “Hey, see that sad old elf up in his tower? I will cheer him up.” 4. I just go “Aww” when I see him? I don’t know why, because that’s normally how I react to characters like the Vanos siblings or Revus Demnevanni, characters whose cheeks I want to pinch. I can’t explain that point, really.
Why I don’t
He dies... Also for fucks sake Savos there are corpses in your basement!
Favorite episode (scene if movie)
There isn’t much but Labyrinthian is incredibly sad and even though he’s not there, the unused files at least reveal some of his feelings regarding the event.
Also, “Sir? How quaint.” gets me every time, especially since he’s one of the very few chars using the “MaleCondescending” voice type without being (much of) a prick.
Favorite season/movie
I don’t think this applies here
Favorite line
"What you learn here will last you a lifetime – several, if you're talented."
“No matter what, we stay together", Hafnar said. I looked him in the eyes and lied to him."  (unused but ouch)
And this entire conversation: Savos: "Mirabelle, would you please make sure my schedule is clear for the next few days? I'm working on something important." Mirabelle: "Your schedule is always clear, Arch-Mage. I see to that." Savos: "Ah, yes. True. Well, thank you."
Favorite outfit
His archmage robes. I once read a fanfic that described him wearing pyjamas striped “like a lighthouse”, i.e. red and white horizontal stripes. The mental image stuck with me.
OTP
I ship him with my vampire and scholar, Rashkan Atheron. I’m, however, fine with almost any pairing as long as the relationship is interesting/ fits the narrative. I must say I’d like to see him and Erandur meet though; I still like that idea.
Brotp
Savos and Mirabelle. Mira is the duct tape keeping the college and Savos’ life together. I also enjoy a good love/hate Brotp between Savos and Ancano. Also I want him to meet Paarthurnax. Thanks, @editedcopycat :P
Head Canon
I have so many of those and I’m too lazy to look for links right now, so have just one: Although I believe that crippling fear of failure plays a big part in Savos’ inaction, I also think he’s one of those people who only start working if there’s a deadline or someone reminding them of their duties. It’s a deadly combination of fear and laziness disguised as laid back attitude that characterizes his leadership style.
Unpopular opinion
Contrary to the above, Savos isn’t a wholly bad leader. He’s been the archmage of the college for a long time and has led it through some seriously tough times, not to mention the preexistent stigma from the Oblivion Crisis and the Great Collapse. I wish people would give him more credit for that rather than just calling him an idiot or incompetent.
A wish
I wish more people cared about him. Also, more fanworks would be nice; I’ve reached a point where I know pretty much any artwork or fanfic featuring him, including those on obscure Japanese or Russian sites.
An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen
1. It canonically happens :)))
2. This fucking line:
"I knew you'd come eventually. It would seem I'm bound to this place. The bitter irony of it all -- my greatest failure, and even in death I can't escape it. I never meant for any of what happened here. Tried to seal it up, lock it away forever. But now it all comes out again..."  (Unused but ouch x2)
I don’t want Savos to be bound to the place where he made the greatest, most painful mistake of his life. Poor guy...
5 words to best describe them
- tragic
- overwhelmed
- underdeveloped
- conflicted
- well-meaning
My nickname for them
I don’t have one but he IS the original Sad Old Elf
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TFW when you try to do Anastasia but you also suck at your job: A Master Class by The Rise of Skywalker
Okay. So, I promised you guys a TROS review, and it’s coming, I promise… except I’ll be making two “spin-off posts” about specific issues just in order to clear up some stuff, mainly because in my mind, those issues are important.
First post is going to be, of course, about Rey’s parentage.
So. After TFA, it would have been possible for Rey to have been the kid of “someone”. However, TLJ made it impossible to do so, unless you’d have some serious, bullshit retconning going on – which is exactly what happened.
I know this is a VERY controversial thing to say at this point, but post-TFA, Rey Palpatine “could” have been possible. Okay, maybe not have her be Palpatine’s granddaughter, but more of a descendant of his.
This said, I “tried” making an origin story for Rey Palpatine that “works” for the purposes of this meta, on a hypothetical basis, while making it consistent with canon (something JJ Abrams and Chris Terrio clearly couldn’t be bothered to do, LMAO). I had plotholes no matter what. I do think I could have eventually found something with a little bit of brainstorming, but truth is, IT’S HARD, and a lot of exposition would have been for novels/comics only.
From a thematic perspective, though? It wouldn’t have been a bad idea. For this to work, though, you would have needed to go on full-blown Romeo and Juliet mode with sprinkles of Anastasia, though. I mean, The Lion King 2 did something similar, so why the fuck not. Because, yeah, Ben Solo, the grandson of Darth Vader, son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, the last prince of Alderaan, who falls in love with the last Imperial princess Rey Palpatine while they’re on opposite sides of the war but not the ones you’d think of is the stuff of fairy tales and star-crossed romances, except this one would have a happy ending and brought peace to the galaxy.
Truth be told, I still really enjoy fanfics who go for that story and find a way to make it work in canonverse or in AUs – because it’s genuinely fun. But in canon itself, as I point out earlier… it’s not easy.
So, we have Rian Johnson who said he made a list of potential origins for Rey while he was working on TLJ’s script. You bet Rey Palpatine was on that list. However, he came to the conclusion that Rey Nobody was the best way to go, and whatdyaknow, he made the right call.
Why? Rey Nobody requires minimal exposition. Storytelling-wise, you don’t have a lot of brainstorming to do, and it’s easy to have Ben revealing it, and easy to present it as a repressed memory of Rey’s. On a thematic level, that puts Rey on the same level as Jane Eyre or the main character from Rebecca: she’s a nobody from nowhere who is thrown into a family drama, and since she’s the glitch in the matrix, she must stop the story from becoming a tragedy.
See? Simple. You got your easy exposition, you got your thematic coherence, and you got the literary call-backs.
So, JJ and Terrio decided to retcon this shit because, as they said, they thought it was boring. I think Colin Trevorrow probably thought it was boring too, because I have my reasons to think a lot of TROS is from him (but more on that in my main review). But thing is, it’s not it’s “boring”, it’s literally that they didn’t know what the fuck to do with Rey. No, more than that, they don’t understand her, and frankly, they can’t be bothered to do so. She’s an empty vessel they can toy with at their ease, and in the process, turn her in a Mary-Sue. Because yes, TROS!Rey was a Mary-Sue, whereas TFA/TLJ!Rey was not. So, what I say above regarding Rey might be a bomb for some, considering how people are (understandably) defensive when it comes to that statement. I promise I will elaborate more about it in the main review, once again.
So, with the lineage aspect addressed, it’s time to talk about Rey’s parents themselves.
It’s hilarious how HARD JJ and Terrio tried to make Kylo’s explanation work – because as much as they butchered the shit out of him, they said: “Well he’s a bad liar, right? Gotta keep that in mind.”
Although, I don’t think it was a case of them being concerned with Kylo’s characterization – they’re not that graceful. They had to figure out QUICK why the hell Kylo wouldn’t have known Rey was a Palpatine from the get-go, because the Force is a great DNA test and shit, and I guess that’s how Palps located Ben’s Mighty Skywalker Blood™. Except that still doesn’t work because Palps couldn’t even locate his own goddamn granddaughter, but I digress.
Seriously, why would Kylo lie to Rey about her being a nobody instead of her being a Palpatine? It makes no sense, because if you’re going to roll with the theory Kylo just wants UNLIMITED POWAH, the Palpatine princess is not only a great asset (since marrying her legitimizes your claim to the throne in the eyes of the Imperial Remnants, I mean, that’s literally why Henry VII married Elizabeth of York), it’s also the one argument she needs to hear in order to sway her to your side. So I guess JJ and Terrio’s one shared brain cell kinda flicked a bit at that moment.
This said, getting the Palpatine princess on his side is clearly Kylo’s intention in TROS (which, again, makes no sense with what was set up in TLJ but that’s something I’m keeping for another post), except they trip all over themselves by having Kylo say he didn’t lie to Rey in TLJ. Except…
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So, what Ben said in TLJ was the following:
Her parents sold her for drinking money.
They’re dead and buried in a pauper’s grave somewhere on Jakku.
Rey is related to no one.
Here’s what Ben reveals to Rey in TROS:
Her parents sold her for her protection.
They died on another planet, while being hunted down by a guy working for Palpatine and instructed to bring Rey back to them.
Rey’s dad is a Palpatine and Rey’s mom is Villanelle (nah, for real: the actress who plays Rey’s mom is Jodie Comer).
So, um, yeah, it’s the EXACT opposite of what Ben said in TLJ. Just say Palps was fucking with Ben’s mind-reading or Rey’s memories instead, JJ. Not that “Oh Ben was telling the truth, but he didn’t have the whole story”, because that’s not it.
For the latter, once again, it would have been feasible: the one thing, for me, that was possible to be added was that Rey had killed her parents accidentally, by having their ship to leave Jakku crash down with the Force: that’s what made her Force powers go dormant for all those years and provoked her trauma. It would also make sense that Ben would willfully not bring that back to her memories, because she’d understandably not be able to cope with the truth, which is often what happens to a lot of trauma victims. THAT was the theory I had pre-TROS, because that’s the only answer I could come up with when it came to JJ saying that there was more to Rey’s past. I guess I expected JJ to be, like, actually able to write, lmao.
I even wonder if that was actually in the cards, considering we see Rey in TROS bringing down a transport that supposedly has Chewie in it… but I guess they deemed that to be “too dark” for their heroine. Except the bullshit that comes instead is actually… much worse.
To make things simple, I’ll just take the above points and develop them.
Rey’s parents sold her for her protection.
Okay, so, Rey’s parents need to hide her to make sure Palps doesn’t get his hands on her. Fair enough. This said, why did it have to be Jakku and not, like, ANYWHERE ELSE? Especially that Palpatine had interest in Jakku at some point and that maybe having Rey anywhere close to that place would not be a good idea?
But let’s play the game and say that Jakku is the only place they can hide her because… I don’t know, it’s hard to find someone there with the Force. Whatever. Even then, why the fuck would they think Unkar Plutt is a proper guardian for a tiny little girl? You know they could have walked a few miles more and found a nice old man who likes the Light Side of the Force and the Jedi and all that shit called Lor San Tekka? Hey, why not even try to find a guy like Luke Skywalker who’s like, a Jedi and shit, and have him take care of their little girl and protect her? 
Even then, why the hell doesn’t Rey’s mom stay with her daughter? Her husband is the Palpatine, not her. All Rey’s mom has to do is find a nicer hiding place for her and Rey somewhere on Jakku, like, not Niima Outpost (again, Tuanul is just a few miles away), and just let Dad hide somewhere else. He’s a grownass man, he can take care of himself and he just has to hide on Nar Shaadaa or some shit. Fuck, why don’t all three of them hide on Nar Shaadaa? Or in the Coruscant undercity? ANYWHERE ELSE?
Also, wouldn’t Plutt clearly see two desperate parents as a business opportunity? Like, if you want to do a Les Misérables comparison here, he wouldn’t “buy” Rey from them, he’d try to get money for them à la Thénardier with Fantine. Except Rey’s parents make Fantine look like frigging Einstein because at least she had the excuse of thinking Madame Thénardier would take good care of Cosette since Éponine and Azelma seemed well-cared for.  
Again, a creepy-looking alien who exploits the outpost’s inhabitants for portions in exchange for junk, who asks you to pay him to take care of your kid should be a big fucking red flag – unless you want to involve blackmail, but that’s a whole other can of worms.
Seriously, why the hell would Rey’s parents even ACCEPT money that comes from selling their own child? Were they really that desperate? Fuck, even if I had no other way of getting off Jakku, I wouldn’t even THINK of using money that comes from selling my own child. Any parent who’d even CONSIDER doing that is automatically a godawful parent in my book. Shame on you. And shame on JJ for trying to make me buy them as saints, because THEY’RE NOT, JUST BY THAT SINGLE ACTION.
They died on another planet, while being hunted down by a guy working for Palpatine and instructed to bring Rey back to them.
I didn’t notice it until Jenny Nicholson pointed it out in her TROS review, because it SOMEHOW completely escaped my notice, but… Rey’s mom saying Rey is DEFINITELY NOT on Jakku is like the worst fucking lie I’ve ever seen in a film because it’s so hilariously bad. Congratulations, Space Villanelle, may you be forever remembered for this line.
Also, it’s stupid af that Oshi (that’s his name, right? Can’t be bothered to Google it, might just call him Barney the Bounty Hunter from now on) just kills Rey’s parents, because HE’S EVUL MUAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA, because he literally creates a dead end for himself. He still has no fucking clue where Rey is, and he just killed off his only leads. CONGRATULATIONS BARNEY THE BOUNTY HUNTER, YOU SUCK AT YOUR JOB.
Rey’s dad is a Palpatine and Rey’s mom is Villanelle.
So, Rey’s dad looks like he’s in his early thirties at most, right? Maybe a little younger than Luke and Leia, then. So, unless he got frozen in carbonite at some point, that means Palpatine fucked at some point while looking like this:
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Anyway, I sure hope Sly Moore was Grandma Palpatine because she’s pretty much the only person who’d be game to smash raisin ass. Which leaves me with extremely disturbing pictures of Palps and Sly having sex, so I’ll spare you the more graphic details of my twisted mind that’s screaming for an end to this misery. 
I sure hope having Rey’s mom as Jodie Comer isn’t a clue that we’ll get spin-offs with those two (GOD PLEASE NO), but while I crack jokes about how Rey’s mom is Villanelle and Palpadad kinda looks like Ramsay Bolton… I find it fucking hilarious they dressed Rey’s mom in BLUE. LIKE, SEE? SEE? SHE’S IN BLUE, LIKE THE VIRGIN MARY, BECAUSE REY IS SPACE JESUS!!!! GET IT??? GETIT???? PLEASE TELL ME YA GET IT, OKAY???? *gross sobbing* I knew we should have had Rey born in a manger, that would have made the artistic intentions clear *wipes tear*
All right. There’s a lot more that could be said about Rey’s lineage, but I’m keeping that for my main review because what’s left to say ties up to the bigger picture. What I tried to point out with this preliminary post is that while Rey Palpatine *could* have worked, in different circumstances, it couldn’t have had post-TLJ… and we’re left to see a mutilated horse who was dead on arrival. And that’s tragic.
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TV Show Tag
I was tagged by @obsessive-mess (thanks! <3) literally a month and a half ago and I’ve had my answers prepped since like.... the first week of April..... and yet here we are, six weeks later. For some reason.
Rules: Pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions. Tag 5 people.
1.) Avatar the Last Airbender
2.) Young Justice
3.) Gravity Falls
4.) DuckTales (2017)
5.) Community
(Side note: I just realized that I basically only watch cartoons, save for Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place, and, most recently, Community... lmao)
(Another side note: I originally filled out all these questions like a month and a half ago but then immediately afterward I got waaaay back into DuckTales, and then later I discovered Community, so I went back and switched out two of the shows and rewrote those respective answers. Rest In Peace to my original Show 4 (Steven Universe) and Show 5 (She-Ra).)
Who is your favorite character in 2?
1000% Dick Grayson, Season 1 Robin specifically. He was the first character to catch my attention when I was watching the show for the first time, and I still think he’s got the best/most interesting characterization regarding little character mannerisms/quirks out of the Season 1 crew.
Who is your favorite character 1?
 I really can’t pick, honestly, it changes by the minute! As a kid I *loved* Toph, but I guess I probably relate most to Aang, so I feel kind of attached to him. But even despite that, I think I love each of the main characters from Team Avatar equally. (And of course Iroh’s up there, as well!)
What is your favorite episode of 4?
I’m not actually sure? I probably have at least twenty episodes that could qualify as favorites, but it’s almost impossible to try and order them y’know? Off the top of my head, The Town Where Everyone Was Nice usually stands out first, then the pilot episode (which I still think is one of the best cartoon pilots I’ve ever seen!). Oh! And if anyone saw my most recent Ducktales reblog spam, then you’ll know that I literally cannot stop thinking about Astro BOYD. I could list off all the reasons why I adore it but it would take... a very long time lol!
What is your favorite season of 5?
I’m technically only around eight episodes into Season 3, but so far Season 1 has definitely been the strongest in terms of characterization. It also feels the most refreshing, if that makes any sense. I feel like a lot of the character-based humor gets watered down as the show goes on (don’t talk to me about Britta’s character development lmfao I will SCREAM it makes me so pissed).
Who is your favorite couple in 3?
Uh, canonically or like, my favorite ship? Canonically, there aren’t really many relationships in the first place, and I don’t think there are any I feel particularly passionate about. But I guess for a ship, I think the idea of Mabel and Pacifica getting together when they’re a bit older is pretty cute
Who is your favorite couple in 2?
Again, I guess I’ll answer both canonically and ship-wise. I’ll be honest, most of the canon relationships are so obscenely hetero/amatanormative that I almost can’t stand them (like Dick and Zatanna are so 100% forced comphet on the writers’ parts that I hate thinking about it...), and then the remaining relationships outside that very large circle of Heterosexual Nonsense are things I’m mainly neutral about, like Cheshire and Roy or Mal and Karen, etc. EXCEPT OF COURSE for our lord and savior Kaldur, bi icon, and Wyynde (who we don’t know much about but that’s fine.)
And then as far as ships go...... I could uh... probably talk for a really, REALLY long time about that, lmfao, so I’ll spare you guys the rant and just pick three off the top of my head: Dick/Wally (which I’m sure is a bit obvious), Artemis/Zatanna, and Eduardo/Bart
What is your favorite episode of 1?
OH....... NOW THAT’S A DIFFICULT QUESTION..... The Blind Bandit has a very special place in my heart, and Boiling Rock is also a really good ep. Oh! And The Firebending Masters is fantastic! But I think there’s something so special about the series finale that I just can’t pass up.
What is your favorite episode of 5?
You may have noticed by now that it’s really hard for me to choose favorite things!! In no particular order, I think I’d say the pilot episode, Introduction to Film, Epidemiology, and A Fist Full of Paintballs. Several more come to mind as well, but i think listing off four is enough (why can’t I ever give a concise answer lmfao)
What is your favorite season of 2?
Season 1 by a long shot
How long have you watched 1?
Well uhhh I’ve watched it since I was like 7 or so, but I can’t exactly pinpoint when I started. Nickelodeon used to play re-reins of episodes all the time, and so I slowly pieced together the canon somewhat out-of-order (but *mostly* chronologically). It stopped airing about a year before Legend of Korra came out, and I tried to watch that, but at the time it just didn’t interest me since its plot was slower, the characters were new and unfamiliar (and older, since I think they were meant for an older demographic) and I just couldn’t vibe with it. But now I’ve got the Avatar box set and I’m slowly working my way through it all again, so I think I’ll try LOK once I rewatch all of ATLA :)
How did you become interested in 3?
I remember seeing promos for Gravity Falls the Summer it came out and it looked like no other show I’d ever seen before! I watched the first couple of episodes and was immediately hooked, along with my siblings and a couple of my best friends, so we all kinda bonded over it together. I watched it pretty consistently throughout its four years of airing from the beginning until the end :’) (and now I have the box set of that too, and every episode has director’s commentary which is SO FREAKING COOL)
Who is your favorite actor in 4?
Ben Schwartz, Danny Pudi, or David Tennant, although the entire cast is fantastic. (Oh, and obligatory Honorable Mention to Donald’s voice actor, obviously)
Which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5?
Well Young Justice has been a pretty crucial part of my life for the past year or so, but objectively, Avatar The Last Airbender is probably one of the best television shows to have ever existed, not to mention it shaped a good chunk of my childhood, so I think I’ll go with Avatar lol
Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3?
Umm on the off-chance that I’ve *somehow* missed one or two episodes of Avatar (which I really don’t think I have), I guess Gravity Falls? But I think it’s a tie. (Although technically ATLA has more episodes than GF in general)
If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?
I’m definitely a Huey, lmao. It’s not a perfect match, but it’s significantly close—definitely closer than any of the other characters. (Also, my sister fits Louie and my brother fits Dewey, so it all works out ig!)
Would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?
Not without a change in species lmao, but I do think both sets of characters would get on like a wildfire
Pair two characters in 1. Who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple?
Idk?? I think I could see Suki with Mai or Tai Lee pretty well
Overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5?
Honestly, Gravity Falls doesn’t have a *stellar* overarching plot imo (it’s interesting for sure, but it’s pretty messy, too), but Community like.... really doesn’t have one at all, so I’ll say GF
Which has better theme music, 2 or 4?
That’s not even a QUESTION, DuckTales is literally infamous for its theme song (not to mention that the YJ theme song leaves a lot to be desired)
Tagging: @writingpostmidnight @existential-crisis-professional @chocolatesaucelester @aro-caduceus @blkaces
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crookedhalc · 4 years
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hi there!!! i saw that you ship joey x susie, but i was wondering why you don't ship samsie? they're my otp and i'm curious on your opinion.
Hello there, anon! Thanks for sending this in, it was a curious and pleasant surprise to log onto! Without judging those that do ship samsie, I’d be happy to go into my reasons on why I don’t.
1. They’d be boring. Of course, this is my opinion that I’ve gathered from characterization of both Susie and Sammy that we’ve been given so far. The only thing that they have in common is their love for music. That’s it. And while they could partake in a few cute activities together to share that passion, such as singing/playing at a lounge, that’s not enough foundation for a relationship to build upon. Personality wise, they would clash. Susie is passionate and was canonly well-like around the studio, but we also know that she has a fire in her and is very emotionally driven. Sammy is serious, grouchy, not very personable nor does he seem to hold interest in anyone around him unless it involves a complaint (see: his understandable annoyance towards Joey). One is logical while the other is emotional – while opposites can attract, they often flat line if there is no deeper connection shared between them. A big reason I ship joesie is because they do have this while samie lacks it: both Joey and Susie are dreamers that are career-focused and extremely passionate in their goals. They will go to great lengths to be sure said dreams are met and are both stubborn with determination. There is more to be shared between joesie: they would be a roller-coaster of taboo/unexpected love, angst, regret and longing. It makes for a more interesting ship.
2. Misogyny. According to the canon batim novel, Dreams Come to Life, Sammy is described as a “product of his time”. This is showcased in two instances: when it is heavily suggested that he is racist towards an angry Thomas (a known poc character) and sexist towards the new head of the animation department, a woman. Susie, unlike Sammy, is a modern thinker. Unlike the vast majority of women in 1920′s - 1930′s America, she is a career woman with self-fulfilling dreams and plans for herself that, at the time, did not involve giving all that up to settle down and stay home with children. If Sammy is truly a product of his time; then like many men in that time period, he would want his lady to give up her career to become a homemaker once married. I can’t see that going over well with Susie.
3. Sammy not warning Susie. In the Employee Handbook guide (considered canon) that was released, we get to see the actual memo Joey sent out to all employees – except Susie – regarding her sudden replacement with Allison Pendle. The memos went out at the start of the morning that very same day, as the words “this afternoon” are used. This means that literally everyone under payroll got this memo, Sammy especially. Susie returned after lunch to see Allison in her booth, talking with Sammy. If there were any romantic feelings between the two of them, wouldn’t Sammy have felt horrible for Susie and pulled her aside to tell her what was going to happen? Instead, it was all business to him and he allowed her to walk blindly into such a heartbreaking and sudden event. As Malice, we even hear Susie call Sammy a “good liar” – probably thinking all of his support was nothing more than blowing smoke as her supervisor and nothing more.
4. Fleeting attraction. Based off a couple of Susie’s tape recordings, we hear her call Sammy “handsome” and/or with a tone that suggests she having a crush on him. It’s widely fanon that this initial, physical attraction was when she was first hired and put under the direction of Sammy via the music department and before her one-on-one lunch date with Joey. There is no mention of Sammy after the luncheon as well as no hints towards she maintaining her physical-based crushed on him or it developing into something more. Everything became “Alice Angel and Joey” for Susie, while Sammy began to focus more on his work as his addiction to the ink grew (as seen in the novel).
5. Susie’s shifted feelings. Unless you’re in denial, Susie’s unexpected attraction to Joey in said tape is obvious. She calls him charming, sounds giddy about getting to have lunch with him, and her tone drastically changing to one more sultry when mentioning he calling her Alice and how much she liked it. From that point onward in the tapes, timeline and discussions with Malice, Susie’s emotional highs and lows start to branch from Joey’s actions and Joey’s alone. This suggests that her initial crush on Sammy was forgotten as she took a greater interest in Joey. 
6. Alice’s Angel’s wrath. As far as we know, Malice and Sammy leave each other alone in the ink-replicated studio years later. They don’t seem to visit another, don’t talk about each other’s whereabouts or recent activities, and frankly don’t seem to care about each other’s existence at all. Yet, what do we hear a lot of from Malice? Pain and anger regarding Joey. Of course, this is to be expected after what he pulled. But did you pick up on the spike of emotions since she met Joey? Even after she was fired/replaced, Susie’s level of upset towards him and what he did to her screams a girlfriend scorned rather than simply a ticked off employee – as if there had been something more. All of her emotions, both high and low, stem from Joey and not Sammy. I was half expecting Sammy and Malice to interact in some way during BATIM; the fact that they didn’t? It solidified their lack of interest in another in my opinion.
7. Sammy’s “Special One”. During the Hot Topic interview with “ink” Sammy, he was asked many question to which everything was posted publicly on Twitter years ago. When asked about Susie, he said he called her charming smile (Susie used the adjective charming to describe Joey) and voice. Then, in a separate question, he was asked if he has a “special someone” at the studio. Sammy’s reply? He couldn’t recall their name! If he remembers Susie but not this special person … they cannot be the same. According to Sammy in that interview, Susie did not hold any special place in his heart
NOTE: Like I stated above, if you ship samsie? That’s fine! Ship away! This is just my blunt, honest opinion on why I do NOT ship them and see no chemistry at all. Thank you for sending this in!!
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polar-stars · 4 years
Text
3rd out of an 5 part ask of @smokeprincess24 (sorry that it took a bit)
👹 How does you OC act around different people and how does their personality change to match the environment they’re in? How do they act with: friends, family, strangers, children or their lover(s)?
For the most part, Yasu is just more open and comfortable around people he's close to. He's friendly and polite to strangers, but also rather closeted and he won't expose all too much of himself. Around his friends and family he's just a bit more prone to be more talkative, even joke here and there and just generally be more laid-back so to speak. 
🍅 How easily is your OC embarassed? What subjects make them flush and why? What event has made your OC the most embarassed they’ve ever been?
Yasu is not all too easily embarrassed and when he is, he's still rather good at hiding it actually. He blushes mainly at sexual things being openly discussed because he thinks that's inappropriate. 
He's usually good enough at reading people and a situation to know what to say…So when someone gives him the impression he said the wrong thing, that certainly embarrasses him as well. 
💥 Are there any emotions your OC doesn’t know how to deal with, doesn’t understand or hates having to feel? Any reason behind this?
Answered already.
🏀 Does your OC have any skills that people wouldn’t expect them to have? Do they have a hobby or pass time that others would consider strange or weird? How did they learn this particular skill or pick up this hobby?
The fact that Yasu can dance as well as he can is much of a surprise to quite a few people and not many find out, since he does not often dance anyway and rather sits somewhere at the sides of parties. 
He also has aa hidden poetic side to him and writes poems and song texts in secret at times. He himself doesn't consider them good enough though to show them to anyone. 
⭐ Does your OC like to sleep alone or do they enjoy sharing their bed? Have they been to any sleepovers? Have they ever been camping? What did they think of the experiences if so?
As I've said already, he did share a bed at times with Chieko when they were really small smols and he never really minded it. It was fun listening to her discussing various theories and stuff she had thought over throughout the day and he liked it. 
He does not have all too much experience beyond that, except for having to share a bed with his sister Kasumi at times (which was also not much bother to him since Kasumi is rather peaceful) and he does not think off it as anything special.
🍏 When your OC says “I had a bad day” what does that tend to mean? Is it really as bad as they’re saying or are they being a bit dramatic?
When Yasu speaks about a bad day it's most likely truly, truly bad. He's not really one to over exaggerate and he's also not one to speak up a lot over being upset or something in the first place. So when he actually opens his mouth and says he's having it rough this day? That definitely means that it's serious. 
At the same time he doesn't really use this phrase as a way to say "please comfort me" but it's more of a way of telling whoever he's talking to that he's most likely not going to be as polite and friendly as usual….it's an advanced apology in a sense should he maybe snap. In order to avoid such he quickly retreats in his room anyway. 
Again…Yasu pushes people away when upset. 
🐉 How religious is your OC? Do they pray to any god(s) or do they not believe in that kind of stuff? What is their view of religion in general? Where do they believe people go when they die? If your OC is not religious why not and what do they believe in otherwise?
Yasu was raised to be a Buddhist by Ryoko and does hold on to the religion all his life. But at the same time his beliefs do not really affect his daily life all too immensely. 
To him it does still have something comforting though in a sense. 
💧 What is something from your OC’s past they’re the most ashamed of and why? What is something they’re really proud of? And lastly what is something in their past that could make them shake with dread?
What Yasu is truly going to be massively ashamed off is yet to come in the future, 
Other than that, Yasu is very skilled off avoiding blunders and while of course he was embarrassed here and there there's no real major event so far that truly stands out to him as the most embarrassing thing that ever happened. 
🐟 What was your OC like as a baby? What were they like as a child? A teenager? An adult? How do you think they’ll develop ten years into their future? Twenty years? Will they live to old age?
As a baby, Yasu was already more calm than other babies and didn't make all too much tumult; which Ryoko interpreted as a sign for having chosen the right name for him ("Yasu" means "peace, quiet"). He showed an affinity for nature early on and would show himself incredibly happy when Ryoko or Shun would take him outside into their garden or a park or something and set him down in the grass.
As a child he was not really the most social kid around but thanks to his mother he had learned enough polite phrases to get on everyone's good terms. While he did not make all too many friends, he was always pretty well-liked and in the end he always had Chieko as a friend. He ultimately spent most of his time with his parents however (Chieko in the end still lives in Tokyo, while he grew up outside of town and as I said he didn't spent all too much time with his peers in the small town he lives in) and helped them out a lot. His favorite hobby as a child was most definitely the exploration of the forest that's close to the family's house. 
As a teen he'd grew into a very friendly and calm young man who does usually not have all too much problems to get on people's good sides. While he's still much of an introvert, he's more sociable and open than he was as child thanks to Polar Star's influence mainly. He also came to idolize his parents however and carries an everlasting fear of disappointing them. 
Yasu won't change all too much as an adult, given that he was already rather mature for his age when he was a teen. He will have learned some of the errors in his ways however (like his overexaggerated protectiveness over Chieko) and also his worries regarding his parents will have been eased. I see him getting married rather late in his 20s honestly. 
🍇 Does your OC have any bad habits? Does your OC have any addictions like smoking or drinking? How did they fall into these habits and why? 
Yasu's major bad habit is definitely trying to gulp down all of his negative emotions because he feels he would be a bother if he were to vent and just let them out. He looks out for other people a good bunch of times but when it comes to his own emotions he likes to ignore them until he's alone with them at night creating the perfect conditions to overthink everything (which does not help…ever). 
He also drinks on Polar Star Parties but he can hold his liquor. No one ever saw Yasu drunk. 
🔮What does your OC think is their best trait. What is actually their best trait? What about their flaws? Are they one to admit these flaws or do they like to pretend they’re perfect?
Yasu thinks his best trait is his politeness but I'd say his best trait is his care.
A flaw of his is that his own worries, anxieties or envy can cloud his view and his judgement immensely at times. 
🌸 What’s a sentence that would make your OC’s day better? One that would make them laugh? One that would make their day worse? Why? What words would you have to say to them to completely ruin their day?
A sentence that can always make his day better is certainly "Can I use your [insert fermentation product here]?" He really wants to support his mother's business on Totsuki and advertises it whenever he cans. It really makes him happy when his efforts pay off. 
A sentence that can ruin his day is any sentence that has both "Chieko Marui" and "Shigeo Eizan" in it. 
🌷 How much effort does your OC put into their looks? Do they care much about how they’re dressed or what their hair looks like or are they not bothered? Could they be considered a snob or a slob?
Yasu's pretty casual in his fashion choice and is mainly concerned over wether the clothes are comfortable and loose than anything else. 
He takes rather good care of his hair though but there's not much else that concerns him a lot. 
❤️ What inspired you to make this OC? How long have you had them? How have they changed in the time you’ve been developing them?
Shun/Ryoko was one of my first ships…of course I wanted to give them a child. Yasu is one of my first Fanchild OCs and was created alongside Kimiko, Mika and Hiroshi. He was really tough to design as I had a lot of trouble mixing Shun's and Ryoko's designs. Eventually I came up with the idea to give him Shun's blinding bangs and Ryoko's silkiness but…how exactly that would look changed multiple times throughout the years ahdhd He truly took long to be finalized in that area. 
Character-Wise, I decided very quickly that he'd be Chieko's best friend. Because of course he would. It also didn't took me long to characterize him as peaceful, calm and such…given that I had literally named him that. 
Over the years he hasn't changed all too much personality-wise. But I went through a lot, a lot of story-ideas with him…many of them very angst.
🧡 What traits of your own do you see in this OC? Are they a little bit self-inserty? Don’t be shy, we all put parts of ourselves into the creations we love!
I do always try my best to be polite, especially in Real Life. I don't think I excel at this as good as Yasu does because I do tend to be inattentive to my surroundings at times but well….It's still something?
I do ultimately prefer the ocean but I also like the forest as well. Also we have a bit of the same view on religion, although we're not part of the same religion ahdhd
What I majorly can relate to in Yasu though is his tendency to always attempt to shut down all negative feelings because I do as well like to pretend that sadness and anger do not exist. 
💚 Are you writing anything with this OC or planning on writing anything for them? Do you rp with them or are they just for fun to mess around with?
You gave me asks for them but I'm still into figuring out how exactly to write them ; 7 ;
💗 Ramble a bit about this character!
Yasu can be greatly used for angst but in the end I do want to know him happy. He deserves it. 
He'll makes some mistakes here and there but in the end, he's always trying his best. I really don't know how to construct his future really…ovo;; But I hope I'll eventually figure it out. 
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hoezier · 5 years
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I'm really curious to see what you think of the episode once you watch it because I thought it wasn't that bad tbh
Hey nonnie, so I just finished watching the episode and I’m ... conflicted. I’m conflicted by my reactions towards this show since the Michael’s return SL ended tbh. In the first 7 episodes, I so obviously disliked the storylines and where it was headed but afterwards my reactions were not so resentful. I became a lot more ... conflicted because the writing is not obviously bad or bad bad, it just became confused, unfocused, rushed and somewhat inconsistent. Somewhat, being a generous qualification on my part tbh. So, I’m gonna try to break it down here. Keep in mind, though, that I haven’t given a ton of thought to what the show has had to offer in a while now. It seemed futile to me, primarily, but also, because I’ve been far too busy to actually spare too much energy here. Nonetheless, here it goes:
 First and foremost, the romance in this season fell on its face in a lot of way. Starting with the main romances of Petramos and Jafael.
1. Petramos: In a lot of ways, the trouble of Petramos is a lot easier to spot for me, a little more obvious, and a little less complicated than jafael’s, more contained than Jafael’s. Probably due to the shorter history of the relationship. I think the controversial revelation that Petra’s been lying to JR about Anezka this whole time was detrimental to the relationship in a nearly unfixable way. To fix it would need care and finesse and patience and build-up. JtV has always had some trouble with all of that, what’s with it being so dramatic and over-the-top, but I think it’s struggled to achieve nuanced writing especially this season. In that way, Petramos’s writing has been doomed since the very start of the season. Like fine, okay, you went ahead with the Petra lying, something that I won’t even get into how unlikely it seems to me, but the relationship needed a LOT more care than what they gave it. Having JR choose to get back with Petra so prematurely only to have them break-up later on did NOT do the writers any favor. Their reunion was rushed, their build-up was quick and a lot of it off-screen. And then their break-up was a disaster writing-wise. It wasn’t heartbreaking, it was angering and insulting to me as a viewer who has functioning braincells thank you very much. It was done for drama and did not really follow coherently, especially with the add-on of Petra wanting to propose and all that. It just fell on its face. For me, a much better way to deal with the situation would have been to let their season 4 break up land throughout the first half of the season, then come up with a reason for a rekindling, a tentative alliance, a careful build up that leaves me squealing like a schoolgirl when they reunite. Have Petra go through the journey of getting over JR in the first half, have her go through that character growth, and THEN reunite them. And here’s the thing, I’m still about 99% sure that Petramos is endgame, but we’re literally supposed to get the reunion and the endgame in ONE episode, an episode that’ll largely be about Jafael so like... IDEK man. This’ll be really hard to sell beyond the aesthetics of two gorgeous people getting together on your screen. 
2. Jafael: I have SO many conflicting emotions about Jafael this season. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, I ship them. I always will. And we did get some really good material over the course of the season, but boy oh boy, do I have problems with how this is all panning out. First and foremost, the treatment of this relationship with Michael’s return has been disastrous, and i think we can all agree on that. Like okay, fine, you want to reach this point of breaking up. Okay fine. You want to reintroduce the love triangle. Okay fine, but pray tell, what the actual fuck was that treatment of the storyline? I was genuinely excited about the potential for angst that this’ll give Jafael. I wanted the pain and the heartbreak, I wanted Rafael to be the one to break up with Jane because he just does not want to do this anymore, but the way they went about it was confusing to me. For example, I loved the idea of “Rafael got his memories back, too”. I thought that was clever, but to me the trigger of it was not as clever. Remember back in season 1 when Raf proposed and then he saw her laughing with Michael and that kind of contributed to sending him spiraling? Yeah, I needed something like that. Something to remind Rafael and the audience of this journey, a physical evidence of that trouble in front of him. We got none of that of course. And then we had to deal with the whole Mateo thing and Mateo’s feelings and involvement and it was so not the right focus. It lacked feeling, it lacked heart, it lacked things that were genuinely a part of the core of Jane as a show. The whole point of Michael returning was supposed to be the emotional baggage of it all, but it turns out JtV was truly not at all equipped to handle something with that complexity. So the break up was a bit of a mess in that regards and I’m just... yeah. Let’s just leave it there for now. 
Because what was even more aggravating than the break-up, is their reunion. I’m not gonna get into the whole thing about Raf’s depression here (see below the section about characters), but what I will get into here is, how in fuck’s name did we get a whole reunion SL without even a glimpse of what, exactly, was going through Raf’s mind as he went through therapy? Like just how? How did he come to not trust her? How did he come to realize that he’ll always love her? What the f was going on in his mind this whole time? Was he pining in his own way, too? Okay, fine, you don’t want to give us this storyline about his depression (why thank you, fuck you too), but can you uhhh, IDK give us a SL about them getting through their issues. Remember Jafael in season 1 and 2 going to therapy to hash out their trouble? I miss those days. I’m honestly beyond flabbergasted that they did not immediately march into a therapist’s office and try to fix their trouble. That would’ve made their whole journey come full circle. It would have helped dissect their problems. His and hers. How they’l move on. How they’ve grown together. You know, the kind of stuff you do when you tell a person that you don’t trust them anymore but you also really love them? Remember the proposal episode? Yeah, how the F did we not get a we’re going to therapy SL afterwards? And now, in 5x17, Raf is like I’m not worried about MIchael trying to win you back again, anymore. And I’m like, k, cool, but why? We have seen very little development in that regards, can you please explain it better? Can you please show me more? PLEASE? But I guess not, and it is what it is now. 
In a lot of ways, Jafael’s trouble is that the show is trying to cram 2 or more seasons worth of buildup and SL into half a season, half a season whose focus has been disastrous to say the least. So yeah, the reunion has been tainted for me with a lot of trouble. And now, thinking about it, I actually can’t find very clear ways in which Jafael’s journey this season could have been fixed wih easy and simple shuffling of certain events. To truly make it pop, they NEEDED to delve deep into Rafael’s mental health, which is not a simple fix in itself. Otherwise, this only partially satisfactory stuff is all we are left with. In my mind right now, I think I would have gone much farther back, though, and tweaked their story to maintain the Michael returns SL without it making the story so bland and aggravating. I think I wouldn’t have let Jafael get together at all in season 4. Rafael, following that breakdown he had with Jane in 4x05 goes to therapy. Jane has a romance with Adam that runs its course. Jafael rebuild their friendship and start to catch feelings again. They’re really falling in love and about to get back together when BAM Michael returns. I think that would have worked for the purposes of the triangle more. Jane is not really committed to anyone, except now she’s in love with Raf. And it would have made even her choice more powerful. But alas, it is what it is. But even more ideally, IDK, come up with a more creative obstacle than Michael’s return. 
3. Villadero: Honestly, I’m only gonna talk about them to vent, cause I’m MAD, you guys, so MAD and I don’t even ship it. But I’m MAAAAAD. Like just... okay, okay, you take all of season 5 and it’s literally just Jennie shitting on M/J and I’m like what the actual fuck? The blows never stopped coming? Michael returning only to have his heart broken all over again not enough for ya? Having to see Mateo say that he hates him not enough? Oh, no, it’s not. We gotta not only make the book about their relationship a flop (which like, fine, as an aspiring writer it’s cool to see this being a more complicated journey for Jane than an immediate hit) but to also have its publication be a literal bribery? Why?? JUST WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY? And then to imply that M/J where just a step for Jafael and M/C now?????????????????? WHY WHY WHY???????????????????? Remember the show that had Jane worry that her moving on with Raf would make it seem as if Michael is just a step? I want that show back. I just... UGH. 
Characters and characterization is another thing that the show really struggled with this season. Like a LOT. 
1. Petra: I’ll start with Petra because I honestly think she got the better deal out of everyone. This season has really managed to highlight and showcase how much she’s grown and how far she’s come. I think aside from the supposed plan to propose to JR, Petra has been the least inconsistent this season. Though she did have lines that showed real amnesia on the writers part, like telling Jane that JR is the reason she doesn’t lie and manipulate anymore. But oh well, she did well. 
2. Jane: I feel like Jane has lost a lot of her vibrance this season. I can’t really pin point why, but I think it’s a combination of reducing her to her bouts of guilt, the weird way that they’ve dealt with her career this season, fluctuating between utter disregard and then literal cramming of episodes worth of her writing development into half an episode (I mean Ro has FAAAAAAAR more build up towards This is Mars than Jane has with her book) it’s been really hard to see the life that Jane exuded in the past. 
3. Rafael: I’m tired. I don’t wanna talk about it. I’m just tired. 
4. Michael: Also tired. I just wanted him to feel like a person with emotions and trauma but like... *rubs forehead*
5. Xiomara: This makes me the MOST tired. She faded into the background so much I want to ram my head through a wall. Like what the fuck man just what the fuck? The build up of her going to nursing school came from no where. Now she’s willing to go to NY so quickly? No struggle? All the struggle is on Ro’s part? Why just why I don’t understand how the writers who gave us Xo from season 1-4 can just suddenly forget. Even the wrap up of her cancer SL was anticlimactic. It’s just. 
Also, Luisa deserves better. 
Another thing that season severely struggles with is focus. So much screentime for Jorge and Alba and it’s just not that interesting of a SL. So much time for River Fields and literally no one I know gives a flying fuck. So much wasted time, time that should have gone to Raf’s depression, more Luisa, and definitely more Xo. But NOOOO we had to deal with River’s relationship with her daughter and I’m like... who even gives a damn? 
One last thing I’ll say cause I’m too tired to say anymore about this, though I could: where are the magical realism elements in the show? Where has that magical feeling about them gone???????????????
Anyways, let’s see how they wrap it up I guess. 
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cheryls-blossomed · 5 years
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5x18, well this ep was divisive. N origin story was mostly good. I had a couple of issues w/it but overall I enjoyed it. We got to see how N truly was her father’s daughter. I thought Lia was cool. The intro to the N & RF ship made sense. We saw how I&N did have a loving ship, it just that I was a helicopter parent more than anything. I’m sure that caused issues as N got older esp teen yrs. I liked Godspeed, our 1st speedster villain in a while. Didn’t like his story tho. I was disappointed 1/2
that was all we got from fut I. That was the only POV we got abt her dampening N powers. Fut I didn’t tell N a lot about her father. B in his feelings the whole ep. B&I not on the same page w/N. We understand more abt why that is w/the del scene. TF around. The vid msg fr B was sweet. B talk w/N abt how she kept going back was valid bc that’s my issue too, it didn’t make sense. B taking N back to the fut was cold & ooc but it was for plot reason (the fight) B confront w/RF, loved that scene 2/2
I remember enjoying “Godspeed” more when it aired, because it was considerably better than the previous few episodes, and I had hoped that the energy of the episode would reinvigorate the show, especially as it aired after the spring hiatus period. However, now I think that he episode actually is pretty sloppily pieced together, narrative-wise, as there was every opportunity to develop Nora’s arc in the future and to give Godspeed a badass entrance, and instead, the episode was simply focused on showcasing how Nora and Reverse Flash’s alliance came to be. Because at the end of the day, that was Nora’s point: to be a plot device to deepen, heighten, and personalize the longstanding enmity between the Flash and the Reverse Flash. Still, I agree that it completely made sense why Nora turned to Thawne: in order to figure out how to defeat Godspeed, as she did not know any other speedsters who could help her. 
I loved Lia, and I wish that we saw more of her, but that would have presupposed a much more developed arc in the future. Once again, Lia’s death propelled Nora to feel more alone than ever and to be further isolated for Thawne to manipulate her. Thus, Lia’s appearance was tied to the end goal. I do think that this episode was considerably better than the previous like four installments, but I just wish that instead of demonstrating just how much Nora’s story is tied to Thawne’s re-entry into the story, the future and the world of 2049 was properly developed. I still think that it’s absurd that the narrative never gave future Iris the chance to explain why she had the power-dampening chip placed in Nora, even though, as I’ve mentioned before, the reasons are obvious: Cicada II, a meta-human serial killer, is still at large, and Barry disappeared. But again, the narrative was uninterested in this future; it was uninterested for the sole reason that this future was eventually erased in the finale, and the insertion of the power-dampening chip into the narrative was simply to create drama and traumatize Iris in the present. 
Iris was evidently a helicopter mother in the future. When she could not get ahold of Nora, she phoned the Flash Museum in order to reach her daughter, and it’s unsurprising that after she lost Barry, she would constantly be hovering over Nora. But she still brought Nora up, showering her with love and affection at every turn, which is why the way in which Nora’s memories were warped in 5x12, to the point that Iris was depicted as cold and distant, was both confusing and highly problematic to me. I did like the confrontation between Nora and Iris in 5x18, but there was so much more that needed to be hashed out with regards to the power-dampening chip. 
Barry’s message to Nora had me in shambles. Such a sad and beautiful moment. 
Godspeed was a complete dud. I’m not surprised that he didn’t live up to the hype, but even I’m perturbed how poorly he was crafted as a villain, especially because everything about V-9 failed in season 2, and so I have no idea why the writers chose to make V-9 addiction another villain’s origin story. 
I agree; my problem was why Nora kept going back to Thawne, even after she learned all that he had done. She forgave him so quickly, which still angers me, after two, out-of-context conversations with her mom and dad, respectively, about forgiveness, when Nora has always been characterized as kind of unforgiving, due to all the anger she’s bottled up over the years. It was all for plot reasons, which is my main issue with season 5: constantly sacrificing strong character moments and having characters act OOC in order to justify a particular plot point. Once again, it was OOC for Barry, the most forgiving person in the world, to run his daughter back to 2049 and unceremoniously leave her there, especially before consulting Iris. However, I agree that Barry and Thawne’s confrontation at the end of the episode was fantastic, and it was probably my favorite scene in the episode. 
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master-sass-blast · 5 years
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A Grilling on Big Metal Husband now: what's his best character trait/quality, iyo? His worst/most questionable? How did you develop your interpretation of his character (which is absolutely BEAUTIFUL)? Who do or, actually, would you like to see him interact with, romantically or platonically, beyond Reader?
Ooooh, good questions.
Best trait/quality: I think selflessness is high on the list. He puts himself out there for Wade repeatedly, and while he has aspirations for Wade to recover, there’s not necessarily a bunch of strings attached. Gentleness is another one, with the way he interacts with Ellie (and everyone in general, but the scene in the hangar is what I��m thinking about rn).
Worst/most questionable: His controls issues, especially as it connects to his anger. He clearly likes having control over situations and people (especially Wade), and granted while Wade does push that to the extreme, his willingness to haul off without stopping to consider Wade’s personality, the limitations Wade’s facing with his canonic schizophrenia/ADHD-mania type symptomotology, and what Wade wants is definitely a weakness of his. He’s controlling, he borders on assumptive, and while he’s not an asshole, he definitely has his issues.
The CHC Interpretation: Iiiiii... actually developed that from watching a handful of clips on YouTube, reading your (YES, “YOUR” AS IN FIC MOM) fanfics, and then just filling in based on what I wanted to see. I surmised that he’d probably have a controlling end, given his rules schtick and the “language” thing, that he’d value honesty because of his position as a teacher and role model (and again, rules schtick), that he’d probably be less confrontational since he lets things get to the breaking point with Wade on repeated occasions, and that he’d be a softie... well, that I just got from your fics. I liked it, I stuck with it, I ran with it.
Beyond the Reader: Kitty Pryde.
Okay hear me out.
The comics completely botched their relationship --but I hold that on the writers’ heads, not the characters.
First and foremost, Piotr and Kitty have no consistent characterization to speak of. They’re all over the page (even in one issue run), even outside of their relationship.
Second, that relationship was clearly a shock-value run. It clearly wasn’t healthy from the start. Neither of them were conceivably in a position to get married. Piotr was obsessed with the idea, Kitty seemed to jump all over the page without ever getting any actually time think about it and build an opinion for herself, and the pull-out ending was clearly done for, again, shock.
Beyond that, the writers were clearly hellbent on focusing on the most toxic qualities either of them could have. Piotr’s obsessive behavior, Kitty’s indecisiveness and borderline lack of regard for Piotr’s feelings... there wasn’t a single healthy moment in that relationship, from what I’ve seen, but considering that the two of them are so wildly inconsistent as characters, I would call that a writing flaw, rather than a bad pairing.
Plus, the writers clearly didn’t understand how to make a romantic relationship dynamic work. There was no balance whatsoever in that pairing. Their personalities were so flat --again, writing--that there wasn’t hardly anything to play off of. There was chemistry in the art, yes. The art, without any dialogue, is clear that they love each other. It’s well coded into their expressions and body language. The dialogue --writing--however, is a complete flop. They don’t communicate, they don’t interact like normal couples do, they don’t talk about their aspirations and dreams and families and lives...
(Before I go further, I’ll admit I haven’t read the comics --but I have done a lot of Google diving and Wiki reading on this couple because I like the concept of them so much, so I’m happy to say that I at least know enough to say what I’ve said.)
In my opinion, this pairing was done to insert various “sex” scenes into the comics. It was done to give the readers something to ship, it was done for sex appeal, and it was done for shock.
(Don’t even get me started on the OG age gap. That’s shock value right there.)
Because Kitty and Piotr are such blank slates, personality wise, they can literally be anything. Their backstories give them a lot of interesting traits and history that would be great to use in a relationship. Piotr is an artist, Kitty is borderline a ninja assassin in some of the comics, Piotr is Russian, Kitty has Jewish heritage, Piotr grew up on a farm, Kitty’s usually depicted as a city/suburb girl, even their mutations make for great narrative contrast. There is so much potential to really create a fantastic coupling --even if it doesn’t end in marriage!
So, yeah. I want a redemption arc for that pairing, and I want it handled by writers who actually know what they’re doing --just don’t make the age gap creepy, ffs.
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sometimesrosy · 5 years
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So, this is a question regarding writing choices and not a ship thing at all so I hope answering it doesn't get you any hate. What do you think of the decision to give us Echo's "backstory" and issues with her past in season 6 and not sooner? Do you think it was always the plan, or is this a response to the backlash regarding her characterization in season 5? It just seems kind of odd to me pacing wise, unless we're getting her death or some other dramatic change from her in s6.
I think that fandom’s belief in their effect on the story is greatly exaggerated. I just don’t think that the writer’s responses to fandom’s upsets are all that important. Yes they do respond to what fandom does. But I don’t really see that in major storylines, but rather in smaller gestures, minor storylines that don’t affect the plot or themes or main relationships. They adjust, they don’t really change. 
I think also that people are incorrect about the writer’s intentions in regards to Echo. We get a lot of “they wanted us to be invested in B/E,” but as far as I can see, if they wanted us to be invested in endgame B/E, they would have shown us how it happened, how they were together, rather than dropping it in our laps in OPPOSITION to 30 minutes of Clarke being alone and tortured and missing Bellamy and wanting him back. Compare and contrast the the storylines. How do they affect each other? If they spend the first half of the episode ENTIRELY on Clarke’s pov, they are not telling you that Echo’s romance is the thing to be rooting for.. They want your response to be, “OH NO! Clarke!” 
They are COURTING that. And to make it a REAL worry, they have to make B/E a REAL danger. It has to be a REAL relationship. Not as primary as Bellarke, but real to Bellamy. So we see his investment in it, we see them treating each other well, but we don’t really see how it developed or their tie. 
STILL, we’re seeing Clarke’s reaction to B/E. We’re seeing Octavia’s reaction to B/E, and THOSE are the most important reactions. Because it’s about Bellamy’s relationship with Clarke and with Octavia and how Echo is an obstacle to BOTH. How do they feel about it? Shock. Anger. Sorrow. Loss. Loneliness. Betrayal. Hate. How does Echo feel about them? She’s worried about Octavia and has NO reaction to Clarke and Bellamy. 
What is the story about? Clarke. Octavia. Bellarke. The Blake Siblings.
Why give backstory in season 6? Because it’s part of the story? Did people expect Echo to disappear because they didn’t want her to be with Bellamy? Well I know for a fact they did, because before season 5 even started, people said they were going to stop watching until she did. They tried to erase her from the narrative completely and when that didn’t work, they tried to say that she was evil, wrong, bad, a villain, and Bellamy was OOC for the simple act of protecting her and being loyal as if she was family. So. People thought that OOC means his IN CHARACTER loyalty and protectiveness was OOC if it was directed towards someone they didn’t like. That’s not how character works. 
There are actually A LOT of storylines that have not been fully explored in season 5. And I think there’s a simple reason for that. Because they are telling story of the reunion of all our heroes over the course of TWO seasons. Bellarke, The Blake siblings, Kabby, Memori, Marper, Zaven, Princess Mechanic, Team Cockroach, B/E, Bellamy x Miller, Clarke x Madi, Bellamy x Madi, Clarke x Madi x Bellamy, Madi x spacekru. All these relationship stories are being stretched out over two seasons. 
And that includes the character stories. Bellamy’s hero’s journey, Clarke’s hero’s journey, Murphy’s acceptance of himself, Abby’s struggle with addiction, Monty’s desire for peace, Madi’s ascension, Raven facing her failure to get them down to earth, Emori’s confidence in her skills, Kane’s desire for peace, AND ECHO’S STORY OF BELONGING AND LOYALTY AND FAMILY. 
What we have here are a LOT of stories about character that have been developing in the return of humanity to the surface and the struggles over the last spot of livable earth. The battle for Eden is over, but the character and relationship journeys that started in s5, are mostly not over. Those will continue in season 6.
S5 dealt with the Bellarke reunion and the Blake reunion, memori’s relationship struggles, Madi wanting freedom from Clarke, Murphy’s self esteem problem, Monty’s desire to make algae not war, Zaven, Marper’s happily ever after ending, Bellamy’s hero’s journey
S6 has these stories on deck. Bellarke romance, B/E break up, Blake sibling reconnection. Octavia redemption (might take longer than one season.) Kabby. Princess Mechanic, Millamy. Clarke’s hero’s journey. Madi being heda, Raven’s redemption/forgiveness, Being the good guy. And what’s up with Echo. 
They are PACING their stories. Some were told in season 5, like marper and memori. Some were broken up in the middle, like Bellarke and the Blakes. Some were set up for season 6, like princess mechanic, AND like Echo and b/e’s break up. First off, there are only TWO stories that could happen with b/e, because there is no conflict in their relationship, it’s in a stasis. They either choose to be with each other, or they break up. There’s no narrative tension there except for with Clarke and Octavia. So he either says, “no I choose Echo,” or he says, “I do not choose Echo.” And actually, he kind of did not choose Echo with Octavia. He chose his sister. But will he do the same w Clarke? Well, he chose Clarke over Octavia, so….This is set up. Will it be an easy choice? No. But it’s not really a head choice. It’s a heart choice, as much as he’s trying to make it a head choice. 
I’m sorry. I feel like I’m going on too long, but maybe I’m not. When fandom talks about Echo, they seem to be focused on shipping and only relate her story to B/E and C/B/E and Bellarke. And they have a lot of feelings about that which take precedence.
But that’s not the story I’m seeing. B/E was used as an obstacle with the Blakes and with Bellarke. But otherwise, Echo’s story had almost nothing to do with Bellamy. She was with spacekru and raven and murphy. She was dealing with being a spy again, the past coming back, a new heda, eligius, questions of ethics and pragmatism. And a little bit of loneliness and longing for b/e, but not that much.
When people take the focus off of the main characters (Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia) and put it onto Echo, they are losing the thread of the story. They’re losing the MEANING of it. This is one of the reasons that POV is important. WHOSE STORY IS IT?
Not teling Echo’s story is a choice that keeps us focused on Clarke and Bellarke and the Blakes. Because THEY are the story. Echo is a secondary character, and apparenlty they NEED to tell her story because the fandom has no clue who she is or what her point in the story is, because when looked at from the romance story of B/E, there’s nothing. Or little. I mean, that’s because they’re not telling the romance story of B/E.
And here’s my guess. They won’t be telling it in s6 either. The story Echo has started is about BELONGING. And FAMILY. And LOYALTY. That’s what JR said it was, and that’s what is on screen. 
So the backstory will be about that. And it’s going to be heavily influenced by Bellamy’s feelings for Clarke, and spacekru’s feelings for Clarke, all of whom have a closer relationship to her than Echo. KNOWING that Clarke basically gave up her place in spacekru so Echo could have it. She gave up her helmet so Echo could live. She thought she was dying, so maybe didn’t fight as hard to get back to the ship. 
So here’s the thing. The pacing IS weird. That means. Step back and figure out what’s up with the pacing. The lack of Echo story in s5 did not fit a b/e romance story. So back up and check if the theory of b/e romance works. It doesn’t. BUT it DOES work if the b/e romance is the romantic obstacle leg of a c/b/e love triangle. It works very well and fits the trope perfectly. Adding in some “suddenly alive” and “widower” “the notebook” and “second chance” tropes. 
It IS possible that they’re getting ready to kill off Echo, and so give her backstory to gain the audience’s empathy for her, like they did with Finn. It’s also possible that she’s getting her own backstory about loyalty, family, belonging, and HER past which was as a child soldier, prized slave assassin of azgeda. Her life was GIVEN to the throne. Like Ontari who went psychotic. And I will be honest, that if I think about who Echo’s character is in totality, not just as a love interest, then what I see is a great possibility that we’ll be dealing with the issue of slavery on the two suns planet. And they will use Echo’s backstory to give us a connection to that. And whether they give us some b/e backstory I don’t know. But we do know that there was a reaper on set last season. All the reapers are 131 years long dead. We know that Echo was captured by MW, likely by reapers. And we’ve seen the reaper connections with all of our other main characters (the only other possibility is Indra, but we don’t even know if she’ll be on the planet,)  so my speculation is we’ll get Echo’s backstory before she met Bellamy in mw. It won’t be about Bellamy or b/e. It will be about Echo, and humanity, and how she was never of value, she was expendable, which has ALSO been a theme in this show.
No. I don’t think Echo’s backstory in s6 will be weird. She’s all wrapped up with multiple themes and storylines in this show and has been since s2. 
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