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saintsenara · 19 days

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I come to you with this question because, having read all your other metas, I think you'd be the right person to ask. Id love to know what you think about Regulus because I have a very hard time understanding his character. Partly because of fanon characterization of him makes him seem like some secret rebel against Voldemort and partly because I just can't really understand any of his motivations. But regardless, I think what we know about him in canon is so interesting - i just can piece it all together. I'd love to know what you think!

(Sorry for the longish ask)

thank you very much for the ask, @hauntingpercival! regulus is a character i also find a bit of a mystery, and so thinking through this answer was really fun.

i'll start by being clear that i'm certainly not a regulus fan. by which i not only mean that i don't vibe with the fanon!regulus of the marauders fandom, who is essentially an original character - and you can read my views on jegulus here... [spoiler alert: i do not back it] - but that when he appears in my own writing in ways i'd like to hope feel influenced by his canon form, i always find myself focusing on aspects of his character which are rather unlikeable.

there is a little bit of a discourse-y reason for this, which will be pertinent to the rest of this answer...

i really don't like the sort of "omg aristocracy is so hot and sexy and interesting" tropes which are so prevalent in writing around the black family. this is firstly because i don't think that aristocracy is in any way these things - and i find it distasteful to imply otherwise - which is because i'm a prole who lives somewhere still bearing the scars of british colonisation who also went to the sort of university where one sometimes encountered aristocrats and they were all cringe and unbearable.

but it's also because it's not - and i will genuinely die on this hill - an accurate reflection of how the blacks are presented in canon. not only does it take sirius' comment that his parents considered themselves "practically royal" to be a statement of fact [sirius is quite clearly taking the piss out of his parents' pretensions], but it also misses that the purpose sirius' discussion of orion and walburga's politics serves in the narrative of order of the phoenix is to show how mainstream their blood-supremacist views were.

sirius tells us that his parents were not death eaters, but that they nonetheless thought voldemort's overtly sectarian political aims were correct. in this, they hold the political views order of the phoenix emphasises belong to cornelius fudge - unimaginative, deferential to the class system, casually prejudiced, and so on. orion and walburga function as a way of showing us just how entrenched the death eaters' manifesto is, how close voldemort came to winning the first war, and what an uphill struggle the order faces to unravel the roots blood-supremacy has in the wizarding world.

[and they also show that the baffling vibes of grimmauld place - while these are made worse by it being three different gothic literature tropes in a trenchcoat - are wizarding norms, rather than evidence that the blacks were uniquely immersed in dark magic. the decor at grimmauld place - and the family's collection of dark artefacts - is the same as that found in malfoy manor, even at a time when lucius malfoy is considered eminently socially respectable. this is a point we will come back to...]

i think, then, that it's crucial to approach regulus not as a swaggering aristocrat, but as someone from an upper-class background which - while still posh, rich, inferring enormous social capital, well-connected - was unremarkable within the circles in which he moved.

by which i mean that hogwarts is based on real-world institutions - britain's elite boarding schools - which are so exclusive and expensive to attend that the student body are from a class-background which seems inhumanly exclusive, affluent, and powerful from an outsider perspective [i.e. from the perspective of someone from the majority middle- and working-classes] but which seems completely normal within the student body itself.

[i.e. nobody at eton with princes william and harry will have been astonished to have been at school with a royal, because they will have been familiar with their social circles, cultural experiences, level of wealth, and expectation of knowing someone with considerable social influence from childhood.]

while hogwarts appears to be a state-funded school [although it also expects an enormous amount of financial investment on the part of parents - such as buying all the textbooks], the fact that its real-world parallels are so elite [and, therefore, come with a specific "look" in the british cultural imagination] means that the student body is incredibly well-heeled and working-class students stand out enormously in a way very rich students do not. hogwarts also exists - like real-world elite schools and universities - as a way of propping up the status quo of the class system by which the wizarding world functions. its pupils have an expectation of procuring jobs in the civil service and other influential professions - using not only connections established at school but connections they possess through their [male] relatives. many hogwarts students we meet in canon are related to someone who occupies an elite position in the wizarding executive or is otherwise socio-politically influential.

at school, then, regulus would have been completely, perfectly average in terms of social position. i also like the idea of him as perfectly average in terms of intellect - and as a good, but not exceptional, seeker. this provides a really interesting point of contrast with sirius, who - while he's also not socially unusual in terms of class [and i will never vibe with tropes like him being followed by whispers going "omg, he's a black, that means he's important"] - stands out in that he's the first black in generations not to be in slytherin, that he's precociously intelligent, and that he - and the rest of the marauders - are class clowns and show-offs.

and i like the idea that this would give regulus a desire to stand out - to be considered the most important person in the whole school. we can get a hint of this in canon - the picture of sirius and his friends harry sees in deathly hallows is immediately contrasted with a picture of regulus sitting in the seeker's position in the team photo. the seeker who acts alone.

and i think this desire for notoriety is what drives him to sign up to become a death eater - that he decides he's sick of having parents with the perfectly normal level of social influence and a brother who is more popular than him, and that he thinks that he's cleverer and more worthy of attention than everyone else in the castle and the world better start showing it.

[and i've never bought - i'm afraid - the idea that he and sirius are close. it's clear from canon that regulus had no issue being thought of as "a much better son" than sirius, and that he colluded with his parents against him. sirius can love him - and miss him, and regret how they were never able to repair their relationship - but i don't think this means that he feels he's lost a bestie.]

that he holds sincere blood-supremacist views is a given - because within the world in which he lives, these are completely normal and held completely casually [i.e. that slughorn is shocked lily could be muggleborn because she's clever]. the more virulent expression of these views - saying "mudblood", etc. - is clearly considered ill-mannered, but not something which might have any real impact on one's social standing [draco malfoy uses the term with impunity while at school, and nobody ever considers that informing a teacher of this would result in him being punished; equally, nobody from the crowd who witness the event reports snape for calling lily a mudblood].

and so i think it's clear that he becomes interested in joining the death eaters - and starts putting together his terrorism pinterest board - because his mainstream belief that being pureblood is better crashes into his desire to be special to form a conviction that riding the coattails of voldemort's ostentatious malevolence is the way he can become famous.

[in this, he is very like snape.]

my assumption is that regulus is one academic year below sirius, meaning that he was born in 1960-1961. my assumption is also that he receives his dark mark while still at school - probably at some point in his newt years [so the academic years 1977-1978 and 1978-1979].

the standard view - expressed vehemently by various order members in half-blood prince - is that voldemort has no interest in death eaters who are still at school.

the order is wrong about this, obviously - not only when it comes to their refusal to accept that harry's right about draco malfoy being marked, but also in the fact that several of the death eaters who are very young at the end of the first war, barty crouch jr. [who is still young enough to be described as a "boy" in 1982 at the earliest], chief among them, must have been taken on by voldemort prior to graduating.

but it seems fair to say that admitting teenagers into his inner circle is unusual for voldemort, especially when those teenagers don't really offer him anything useful. crouch, for example, could be put to work informing on his father's movements. regulus is - as i've said - just ordinary.

and so my view has always been that regulus is marked by voldemort as a favour to bellatrix. i think this partially because i'm bellamort trash, partially because i think it's a nice narrative parallel between regulus and draco [who are very similar] to have bellatrix be responsible for regulus' recruitment when she's canonically vociferously in favour of draco's, and partially because realising that voldemort thinks of him as just some guy who warrants [essentially] a pity dark mark would be a big blow to regulus' conviction that joining the death eaters would make him impressive.

[i also think regulus is recruited before 1978 because i think there has to be a shift in voldemort's modus operandi at about this point, in order for the fact that sirius says that his parents got cold feet about what the dark lord was prepared to do after regulus became a death eater to make sense. my view has always been that voldemort's violence prior to c.1978 overwhelmingly targets state institutions and people connected to them and/or people with known anti-voldemort political views, meaning that ordinary citizens can regard these people being killed or injured as reasonable risks of their jobs and/or behaviour. and then that after c.1978, the dark lord begins targeting civilians - including upper-class pureblood civilians - indiscriminately, which makes his casual supporters start to waver a bit.]

so, let's suppose that regulus leaves hogwarts in june 1979 and finds himself expected to participate as a full death eater, after having been let off all the dirty work by virtue of being at school...

as i've said, regulus has an enormous number of narrative parallels with draco malfoy. and i think that the best way to think about him is to write him as sharing draco's canonical attitude to voldemort's cause - that he believes whole-heartedly in the message of blood-supremacy the dark lord promotes and that he has no problem with people he considers subhuman [mudbloods and blood-traitors] or unimportant [faceless families massacred in their own homes] being subjected to violence in the name of that message, but that he lacks the character traits necessary to perform that violence himself, to see it done to people he likes, or to witness what it actually involves versus the image he has of it in his head.

and so i imagine he starts struggling pretty quickly with the fact that being a death eater isn't quite as easy as he thought it would be when he was making voldemort fancams on tiktok. and that part of the reason he's primed to turn against the dark lord is because of the tension he feels warring within him at the fact that he's still a blood-supremacist, still desperate to be important, and yet growing disenchanted.

i don't however, think this is why he does what he does... so let's get into that:

why does regulus turn against voldemort?

let's be clear about one thing - regulus turning against voldemort has nothing to do with him having some sort of damascene conversion against blood-supremacy.

[or, at least, that's what i think.]

the outline of regulus' defection that we get in canon goes as follows:

voldemort asks someone to lend him a house elf. we know that regulus volunteers kreacher, because he told kreacher so - and so i imagine voldemort mentions at a meeting that he wants to procure an elf [although, of course, he doesn't elaborate on why] and regulus immediately jumps up and says "pick me, my lord" because he sees this as an opportunity to get voldemort to finally notice him.

his assumption must be that voldemort will use kreacher for a purpose which is considered normal in wizarding society - i.e. that he will require him to do something akin to domestic service, perhaps preparing potions ingredients.

it evidently does not occur to him that voldemort would transgress this social boundary and harm kreacher. not - to be clear - because i think that regulus was some kind of abolitionist legend, but because we see several characters express the view in goblet of fire that how barty crouch sr. treats winky is his own business, and that it is impolite for respectable wizards to comment on how anyone else treats his slave. this sort of social behaviour will have a second part - that it is impolite for respectable wizards to treat anyone else's slave in a way which goes beyond what wizarding slaveowners see as normal.

or: that it's fine to be lent a slave to serve you, but very much not fine to nearly kill that slave [someone else's property!] for your own gain.

kreacher informs regulus what voldemort asked of him, which makes regulus suspicious about what the object voldemort deposited in the cave was. regulus then decides to investigate.

kreacher tells us that regulus goes away for an indeterminate period of time and then returns to grimmauld place "disturbed in his mind".

dumbledore claims in half-blood prince that voldemort appears not to wear or display the objects the horcruxes are made from after he turns them into horcruxes. i think we can agree with this or not without it affecting the story - i quite like the idea that voldemort doesn't make the locket until the later 1970s [maybe after the murder of dorcas meadowes, the only person in the first war other than james and lily to have canonically been killed by him personally], but we can also say that he might have worn or displayed it when it was already a horcrux. certainly, regulus must have seen the locket - either on voldemort or somewhere in his lair - and, after kreacher tells him what happened, he goes to see if it's still there.

when he discovers it isn't, he comes to an important conclusion. one which requires a little detour...

how does regulus know what a horcrux is?

i complained at the start of this answer about the black family being portrayed as unusually immersed in the dark arts - rather than some sort of familiarity with the dark arts being perfectly normal for people of their social class.

and i am sure that you might think I'm about to have to eat my words, since i'm not going to try and deny that regulus was able to identify a horcrux all by himself...

but, actually, i'm just chucking malevolently at the opportunity to clamber onto my soapbox and say:

horcruxes are canonically not magic which only a handful of people know about. where voldemort goes beyond the theory of horcruxes which a wizard of regulus' class-background would be familiar with is that he makes seven.

this doesn't mean - to be clear - that i think it was ever common to make a horcrux [i don't think the wizarding world is quite that lawless...], but that it was reasonable to know they exist, in the way that we might have some general understanding of something macabre - like techniques for disposing of a body - which would enable us to suspect if we saw a neighbour behaving strangely while doing one of those things...

after all, slughorn can suggest [even if he doesn't believe this is what he wants to do] that voldemort could justify his interest in horcruxes by using the excuse that he's working on a project for defence against the dark arts.

that harry, ron, and hermione don't know about them is a result of a combination of their own lack of interest in the theory of the dark arts, the information blackout instituted by dumbledore at some point after voldemort graduates [and my theory as to why dumbledore hates horcruxes even in the forties? grindelwald made one - hence why dumbledore is so hopeful at king's cross that the rumours of his repentance might have been true...], and the fact that they don't discuss their mission with anyone [tonks, kingsley, and moody, who literally have to specialise in dark objects as part of their jobs, would one hundo have known what a horcrux was].

[what they would not have known is what voldemort's horcruxes were likely to be made of and where they were likely to be. it's this - rather than the idea that horcruxes are completely unknowable magic - that is why it has to be harry in charge of hunting them down: he's the only person in the series who knows voldemort well enough to realise that, for example, he'd have hidden one in gringotts because of his jealousy at being excluded from this pillar of wizarding normality.]

so, regulus has a little rummage, works out the locket has disappeared, and has no trouble - especially because voldemort mentions in goblet of fire that he'd told his death eaters he couldn't die [which regulus might not have thought was him speaking literally] prior to 1981 - guessing what it's being used for.

and so, regulus turns against voldemort.

and i think that he does this because the horcrux makes it impossible for him to pretend any longer that voldemort's aims are - when the ministry is forced to the negotiating table by his paramilitary activities - an oligarchy in which upper-class pureblood families benefit and muggleborns and blood-traitors become second-class citizens, but which doesn't deviate too much in terms of its overwhelming norms from the way wizarding society functioned at that time. instead, he is confronted with the undeniable fact that voldemort intends to reign forever as an immortal absolute monarch, and that he has never had any intention of elevating regulus and people like him to the positions of importance he so craved.

[we see something similar happen to draco, whose increasing fear of voldemort throughout half-blood prince and deathly hallows is clearly driven by him realising that voldemort isn't joking when he says that he'll kill him and his parents unless he obeys orders, but is joking when he says he'll be considered a valuable servant should he manage to kill dumbledore...]

and so his death - and his threat to destroy the horcrux - is a repudiation of his beliefs. but, specifically, it is a repudiation of his conviction that voldemort was a primarily political figure who would act as a champion of the pureblood class-system. it's him recognising that voldemort would not stop with a takeover of the ministry - he would kill and kill forever, concerned only with how much further he could venture beyond the norms of magic.

#asks answered #asenora meta #regulus black

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dreadfutures · 16 days

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Rules: If you're tagged, MAKE A NEW POST and showcase one fanartist or fanfic you recommend (with links), and tag someone to give their recs next! Don't forget to reblog the rec you were tagged in!

Let's bring back rec posts, and share some love for the creative work we get to enjoy every day in our fandoms! For ANY fandom, highlight either a fanartist or a piece of fan writing (or both) you love and tag some friends!

FANARTIST: @yolebrat

Today I'm highlight @yolebrat - an amazing artist who I first found through painterly Dragon Age fanart. Since then I've enjoyed commissions, and cute little doodle replies that make me smile!

One of my favorite pieces is a commission yole made for Mel (below) Give it a reblog and follow yole for more art of all kinds. Or buy a commission and get an amazing painted piece of your own!

FANFIC: Cheating the Dread Wolf by cartadwarfwithaheartofgold

I read this story long ago all in one sitting. It absolutely gripped me, tugged at my heartstrings, and wouldn't let me go. A Cadash/Solas/Varric Tethras rare pair, you have to give this a try.

Rating: E Pairing: Female Cadash/Solas, Female Cadash/Varric, Varric/Solas Chapters: 13/13 Length: 42,657 words Summary: Maria Cadash hung up the Inquisitor's mantle for the Viscountess' crown, but she's unable to stop her desperate and impossible struggle to stop Fen'Harel from destroying the world both her husband and daughter inhabit. The fact Varric, Maria, and Solas are all madly in love with each other just means she may have enough of an edge to win this game.

Tags

I'm tagging a lot of people on this one because I want to get this KICKSTARTED. Dragon Age is coming BACK this summer, and I'm trying to get twitter refugees who don't know anyone on tumblr to realize that there's a thriving DA fandom that has been here the whole time. But feel free to recommend from other fandoms! I love finding new fics and new artists to follow.

(There is a tag limit of 50 people on posts so I'm pushing it lol)

#dragon age fanfic #tag meme #consider this fic rec friday #long post #fanwork friday #fic rec friday #fanart friday #fan work friday #remember to make a NEW POST and tag me

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badass-queer-couples-battle · 4 months

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Sword gays showdown, round 1, bracket two

Propaganda:

For Dave:

(tw meteors and child abuse) after being cloned by his best friend, dave is sent on a meteor to earth (with a pony), where he is found by his "bro" (actually kind of his dad). bro proceeds to SPEND THE NEXT 13 YEARS OF DAVES LIFE beating the everloving shit out of him, and also teaching him the use of the blade. as a result dave becomes very good at strifing, and his strife specibus is swordkind (basically he is Assigned Sword By Universe-Destroying Game). he goes to space and meets aliens and has a bisexual crisis! yeah thats right the blond guy with sword symbolism is BISEXUAL we keep on winning and dave deserves to win this poll too

his swords are sharp and awesome and are swords.

Dave uses Multiple swords throughout canon. Starts with a katana, switches to a broad sword, and alchemizes multiple variations of said broadsword! Not to mention his entire story arc is about coming into himself and that includes into his sexuality. Bisexual Dave truther for the win

Bi and gay sibling solidarity

For Ahsoka:

Girl weilds not one but TWO lightsabers! Look at her go! I know a lot of her fans headcanon her as LGBTQ, especially cuz there's some episodes (especially episodes 5-8 of season 7) where her interactions with other women really give off those vibes. Anyway, back to her swordiness - she kicked Maul's robotic ass even tho he's older and has more experience than her, she demolishes the Inquisitors when she's older in Rebels, and just. Her cute little tricks and quips! I love her.

#sword gays showdown #ahsoka tano #star wars #dave strider #homestuck #star wars rebels

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eclec-tech · 1 year

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The Finality of Season Three

My show predictions are usually wishlists. This morning's SWCE panel about the Bad Batch didn't have me wishing. It had me wondering. Why stop an award-winning, fan-beloved show after only three seasons? Why end something so perfect?

Maybe it was never supposed to last.

Rex is the key to my thinking this may not be over. He went off to continue the fight at the end of The Clone Wars, building a network of clones and informants. What he's been up to is something we have not been fully shown yet. We know that part of his work has been to get the clones out of the Empire. Gregor is with him. Wolffe is confirmed to show up in season three. His army of clones is growing and we know that the Bad Batch are some of his most trusted brothers.

I would love to think that maybe this is all leading up to a new series. There is a hefty chunk of mostly unexplored time between The Bad Batch and Star Wars Rebels and there is so much a new series could show us. Like the format of The Clone Wars, a new show could alternate between the different events happening during the time of the Empire:

—the politics of the Imperial Senate with the likes of Mothma, Chuchi, and Organa

—the plight of the enslaved clones where Rex, Echo, the Batch, and the other clones could come into play

—the guerrilla tactics of Saw Gerrera and others (maybe even Luthen Rael and the Fulcrum operatives)

—the building of the Death Star, aka Project Stardust

It doesn't seem to me like they are done with these guys. There is still too much story. But if season three does end up being the end of our time with Clone Force 99, I will still be grateful. They have meant a lot to me and will always hold a very special place in my heart.

#captain rex #the clone wars #the bad batch #bad batch season 3 #bad batch spoilers #tbb spoilers #my two credits #tech lives

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ririya-translates · 3 months

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Jire

Ishida posted another Jack Jeanne winter play backstory to Twitter for Suzu's birthday, January 19th. It includes a new drawing and a music link. No play spoilers in this one as it's more a history of Havenna itself. Thanks to @himehikoshrine for working with me on this. Please read their summary of our translation notes as well since some nuances were impossible to fully capture in English.

Under the rule of the feudal lord, Mugwort Castle floated upon Lake Artemisia, Home to the Vena family.

Farms spread out across the lakeshore. There they grew the Vena specialty: exceptional quality mugwort.

The Vena family bought a large number of servants in the lands to the south and set them to work on the farms.

One day, a rebellion broke out among the servants. An army of about 180 gathered along the shore.

"Step ashore, and you will never be able to return to the other side. Our goal is neither money nor fame. We seek only freedom.

Oh Raham Vena (Pity the Vena). O Lord, strike down those corrupted by greed."

The rebel army besieged Mugwort Castle, setting the family and their fortress ablaze.

After winning their freedom through force, the rebel army made their base on the island in the lake. To sustain themselves, they repeatedly pillaged nearby farming villages.

When those villages ran out of things to steal, they set out further and further.

After rumours began to spread, criminals, deserters, and those with hidden wounds of guilt came to join their ranks.

They continued all along the shore, until there was soon nothing left in sight.

Those who had once freed their lives from oppression had turned to seeking pleasure. The island in the lake came to be known as the city of Havenna.

Of the former rulers, some of the Vena family fled as the servants set the castle ablaze. They continued to live in secret.

The Vena family line eventually ended with only a single father and son living as beggars.

The son, Jire, was captured by a human trafficker and sold into Havenna. His father was killed for resisting.

"Jire probably didn't know about the circumstances of his heritage. Aside from his connection to Chicchi, I don't think there's much to him." (Excerpt from Kokuto Neji's writing notebook "Gilley de Wena")

Ishida's note: This is fan fiction by one of the original creators. What is written in the game itself is canon.

#jack jeanne #translation #suzu orimaki #jjwinterplay #otome game #otome #sui ishida #ohhh burning mugwort had a very different meaning then

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stardustizuku · 11 months

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Part 1: The Love Square. Why it worked, and why it failed.

People who aren’t as interested in Magical Girls as I am, specifically Magical Girl Animes with Romance, may not understand why the Love Square was such a big deal. Why it was the core; the life of the series.

Okay, so how many times have you seen a love triangle unfold? Quite many, I must guess. Some really good, and some, uhm, not so much.

In Magical Girl Animes they’re common – and the most popular ones have one very particular dynamic. Let’s run down it, shall we?

Our main character falls in love with another man, someone unreachable, unattainable. It’s someone she genuinely looks up to, and is most likely popular already.

I call this character “The Prince”

In Princess Tutu, it’s Mytho. In Shugo Chara it’s Tadase. In Tokyo Mew Mew it’s Aoyama. Sailor Moon has Motoki Furuhata in Season 1, and Mamoru in Stars.

He is the type of guy you want to fall in love with. Nice, kind, good-natured, a good leader, pretty and everything.

There’s one issue, though. The person who our Main Character’s crush likes is not her, but her alter ego. Mytho is in love with Tutu, not Ahiru, Tadase is in love with Amulet Heart not Amu. The one she becomes thanks to super natural magic.

Then, there’s the opposite. I like to call them the “Rebel” character.

You know who I’m talking about. The Ikuto, the Kishu, the Fakir or even Seiya of the story. They serve to be a contrast to the “Prince”. They’re often times, the only one who gets to see through the MC’s disguise and comes to understand her. “Rebel” characters are rarely in love with alter ego, but instead feel attraction to the MC or the “real one”

These are all fan favourites characters that fall under the “Bad Boy” trope. And for good reason.

Bad boy characters are popular with little girls, teen girls, women or even AFAB people in general since they call out something in our society. There’s very real pressure put forth by either parents or society to adhere to certain gender roles, and what they mean.

In other words, you’re “supposed” to be a good girl.

You have to get good grades, you have to smile all the time, you have to be polite, and you have to play nice. A bad boy character in fiction allows the viewer (in this case and for simplicity) girls to push back or be rebellious in a very safe way.

You don’t have to be good, you’re just following the steps of a bad guy with a heart of gold. He will help you break out of your shell, and be more confident. You get to feel like you’re trying to be the good girl society tells you to be, while finally exploring these darker aspects of your personality.

In YA and more mature books, this can involve anything from trying alcohol, having sex, or allowing oneself to be angry (exploring the “bad” or “not good” emotions AFAB people are always told they shouldn’t have).

But in audiences more aimed towards children, like those in Magical Girl animes, shoujos or tween cartoons, they exist in a more subdued way – although still tapping into this idea of rebellion against the status quo.

That’s why these characters are fan favourites.

So, to summarize. You have the MC in love with a “Prince” who in turn is in love with the Perfect Girl version of the MC. And a “Rebel” who is in love with the Real Version of the MC, flaws and all.

This particular dynamic is used as a thesis of sorts in any good story. Only by understanding both the real and idolized version of the MC can a man can “win” the love of our protagonist. And only by our MC knowing who she is, what her alter ego means, or how she relates to these dichotomies, can she understand herself.

And really, depending on how each show tackles its themes, it can have different answers. Tokyo Mew Mew offers the idea that the Prince is the correct option, while Princess Tutu says it’s not. Then there’s those with open endings such a Shugo Chara. Again, they use the dynamic, the thesis of their characters, to come to a conclusion that neatly ties to the theme.

Princess Tutu, for example, ties the ideal version of Mytho with the tragedy of a fairytale. Ahiru has to let go to be able to reach a conclusion. In Tokyo Mew Mew Ichigo sees her flaws (the cats ears) as something someone as perfect as Aoyama could never love – yet he shows he isn’t perfect and that he loves her with or without the perceived flaws she has.

That said,

It’s exactly why I loved Miraculous Ladybug when it first aired. It managed to boil down this interesting dynamic into the Love Square. The perfect and the real, the idolized and the true.

Ladybug represents the perfect version of Marinette. Adrien represents the perfect version, while the real one is Chat Noir. Chat was both the “Bad Boy” and the “Prince” all in one. Both Marinette and Adrien were in love with the “Perfect” or Idolized version of each other.

This was something never before seen. It would make for amazing content, right? Explore why we prefer an idolized version of someone, realize that true love means caring even when you’re not perfect. What our perceived “flaws” meant to others, and if they were truly flaws – or if our environment was the one teaching us they were. The possibilities and themes were limitless. We could have had something great-

No.

Sorry, we. We didn’t get that.

What we got were padded episodes, new love interest that refused to deal with this complexity, and a stagnant rship that refuses to explore any of the flaws of their characters - why they’re not perfect, or even a reason why they stay in love

This is why the Love Square fails. This, is the core of why and how it works. People can expand upon this in million different ways, but you inevitably come back to this.

The real and the idolized. The want vs the duty. The expectations and the responsibilities.

Instead of having an episode where Marinette realizes that Adrien isn’t perfect, that he isn’t a model 24/7 or that he has flaws, secrets and fear just like anyone else, we got Kagami.

Instead of Chat realizing that Ladybug isn’t perfect, that she isn’t always composed, that it’s just a persona put forth to feel more in control of a situation, we got Luka.

Both characters that I love, but they bring very little to the themes the Love Square was introducing, to begin with!

More focus should have been put in how these two bounce off each other.

How much better would the story had been if we got to see Marinette and Chat have a conversation? The two very flawed, very real, very confusing version fo these characters, just trying to understand each other.

And by the way, this is exactly why MariChat is the most popular dynamic.

Marinette acts like a girl. Scared, confused, and lonely. She isn’t a hero, she isn’t her perfect version. She is just Marinette. While she can put the mask on, at the end of the day, it’s still just a mask. And Chat? Well, we get to see him. Not the model, not the paper cut out, but a silly kid who wants to break free from a life of imprisonment by the parent who’s supposed to love him.

We get to see something real.

But, unfortunately we do not get that.

Their relationship stays static. The reason for this is a bit obvious.

The writers, to my opinion have come to this bizarre conclusion:

Developing this dynamic would mean changing dynamics, ending the status quo morphing the story into something new. And they assume a “new” means an “end”.

They’re thinking that the endgame is Adrien and Marinette realizing their identities, so they don’t wanna develop it for fear of bringing an ending “too close”.

Say you have 7 seasons prepared, you can't have them find out their identities in season 5 because their reveal should be in season 7. It should be the last couple of episodes even. After that, they'll date and it's over. So better drag this on for seasons on end.

This just proves to me: flawed writing skills and lack of direction.

WHICH wouldn’t surprise me seeing how Chloe ended up.

It is plain bad writing. Changing stuff doesn’t necessarily mean an endgame is near. It just means things are changing.

I’ll be mean to this series and compare it to the Magnus Opus of Magical Girls: Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon got together with Tuxedo mask in the first season, yet the writers were able to up the steaks of their relationship through its 5-season run: Through memory loss, a long distance romance, anxieties of hurting one another, or simply…developing their relationship. People change. And so does how they interact with other people.

These created amazing episodes that highlighted how much Usagi and Mamoru loved and cared for each other. It wasn’t just chance, it wasn’t just fate. This took work, it took time, and it took trust. This wasn’t something so easily lost. That’s why SailorMoonStars hits the hardest.

In the very last season, Usagi is in a long distance rship with Mamoru. And it breaks her. We see that she misses him, dealing with the turmoil of him not answering her messages. She’s devastated, seeking comfort in other people, but unable to forget him. Not even as Seiya begs her to take him instead of Mamoru, can she bring herself to give him up– because they’ve been together for a long, long time. And we’ve seen that.

We see her reminiscent. We see her break down and cry because he hasn’t called her. We see her thinking of him when she’s with Seiya. We see her be in love with him and we see how much it affected her that he’s ignoring her.

And by the last few episodes, we get a payoff. We find out Mamoru is dead, and that he died confident that Usagi would be strong enough to protect the Earth in his stead. That he believed in her, and he thought of her until the moment he died - uttering her name as the last thing he could do.

That’s why when Sailor Moon defeats Sailor Galaxia, the woman who killed the man she loved, through purification and not violence – it all feels right.

It’s a very simple but powerful story, packaged in 45 episodes. With enough room to breathe, digest it, but not drawn out enough for it to be annoying.

All this, when the relationship was already established. We could have had something like this in Miraculous Ladybug, if the writers WERENT drawing out the reveal and get together until the very last second!

ChatBlanc could have been an AMAZING multi-episode mini-arc.

No time-travel thing. They find their identities, they date for a few episodes, something goes horribly wrong, and Marinette has to find a way to fix the mistakes she's made. Much like Sailor Moon R.

Maybe by the end of it, she fixes it but sacrifices most of her memories. The only thing she recalls is that she knew Chat's identity, Paris almost got destroyed, and that leads to her putting distance between them.

Or maybe one day she wakes up with the memories of Chat Blanc and spends and entire season trying to know what happened, and when she does, she's horrified.

Idk, million amazing things could have been done with this episode to further develop these two's relationship. Complex, interesting, beautiful things.

But no. Because, apparently, thinking of love post-reveal is too much. Instead, we watch them run and run in circles. Chat Blanc was a single episode, and half of it was time travel shenanigans.

And all of this, just because the writers don’t actually know what they want to do with the love square. So they add new rivals, new teams, new accessories, side plots - all to avoid touching the actual core of what made the series great.

It strongly reminds me of Star vs. in that scenario the creators also weren’t sure where to take the show.

It wasn’t until season 2 where they started the subplot of Star realizing Mewni colonized Monsters that it started having a sense of self. And it showed in the romantic subplot, which was all over the place. They didn’t know what they wanted, so the romance in that show was a mess. Lack of direction and intention, aside from the knowledge that Star and Marco were the end game

I personally don’t hate Star vs. I don’t like how it handled romance but I will give it much leeway because the actual plot of Intergenerational conflict and coming to terms with the harm your ancestors have done to others - is quite compelling and not something I see tackled often.

But Miraculous does not get that. Its episodic plot is simple and refuses to get into the murky waters of its own premise.

The only thing it had going was The Love Square. Because I assure you, very few people give a crap about the Miraculous being stolen.

So, their lack of willingness was the first thing to ruin the Love Square. Fine.

But it’s not the nail on the coffin. The real reason why this suffered, was something that happened waaaay before all this.

Because one thing that the show refused to explore up until late into season 3 and start of season 4 was the specific parts of the “Ladybug” character. What I mean is, what “ideal self” she is as “Ladybug”. And how her existence affects Marinette. This is the fundamental flaw that issss...

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#miraculous ladybug #MLB #MLB SALT #miraculous lb #2k magical girl essay #magical girl #short essay #sailor moon

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alicentes · 3 months

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Why do you like Gale? No hate, I’m honestly glad because I feel like we’re a minority because everyone seems to detest him. What is it specifically about his character that draws you in? For me it’s his endurance despite loss, his devotion to the cause, he’s the flawed rebel that isn’t pure because the system doesn’t allow him to be.

I like him for the reasons you just listed too. His growing hatred towards the capitol and his commitment to ending the oppressive situation is relatable and REAL. He is willing to make the hard choices that aren't always morally right but under the circumstances I can understand why he is willing to use violence, why he accepts that they aren't going to win this rebellion without a few civilian casualties. He was fully committed to the rebellion and was willing to die for Panem to be free and wasn't naive to how that was going to be achieved. I can respect that. Especially given his life circumstances and how much trauma he's been through (something that fans ignore because he wasn't in the horror that is the games, therefore, his trauma doesn't count). We get insight into his view on the people in the capital, the privileged, early on, Before the reaping he says "if they all stopped watching, there wouldn't be any games." in his eyes they are all complicit, which isn't necessarily true for every single peson but you can understand his point. The people in the capitol could at the very least all boycott the games and this would put an end to them because then no one would be profiting off them. We know this to be true as well because the games were not successful and barely anyone watched them in TBOSAS and they were likely going to stop them.

Another reason I like him is because of how loyal he is to his family, the everdeens (he would have taken care of them if Katniss had died and was taking care of them when she wasn't around) and his loyalty to his district. He saved as many people as he possibly could from 12 during the genocide and yet, he still felt guilty that he couldn't do more. It is important to note that it was AFTER witnessing the genocide that he fully became involved in the rebellion and the creation of weapons and was willing to make the tough calls that would've got people killed. He was still a rebel in the making before then but who can blame him? his father is killed in the mines and he has to take care of his mother and siblings and make sure they don't starve to death (yes people in district 12 were literally dying of starvation if anyone is forgetting that fact) and Katniss was the only person who understood this. He resents the fact that some people are living in luxury when his people are suffering so much, he hated the class system and wealth disparity which separates the districts and that is something most of us can understand in todays world. In catching fire, when more people started hating him, he's working 12 hour shifts in the mines that killed his father and yet, his family still don't have enough food to get by, he has siblings who are now getting old enough to enter the games and there's nothing he can do to help them if they get reaped because he's aged out and can't volunteer on his behalf. He acted like a dick at times but he was also suffering and lets not forget that moment when he was TORTURED by peacekeepers and could have been killed had Katniss not stepped in.

I don't agree with all of his decisions but when this war started there was no going back, they either win and create a better Panem or they die, their loved ones die or worse, they suffer fates worse than death and worse than the lives they had before. The first rebellion resulted in the games and further oppression of the districts, imagine how it would've ended if this rebellion was lost? When you're fighting a leader as brutal as Snow you have to fight dirty and be prepared to make terrible moves that Snow thinks you haven't got it in you to make.

Gale is resilient, passionate, a fighter, loyal, smart (disagree with his strategies but they were good and pragmatic war strategies) and just as flawed as any other complex character. It is a shame people hate him so much, and mainly because of a love triangle that Suzanne never intended to write in the first place.

Sidenote: the way the fandom hated on him just made me analyse his character more closely and like him MORE which is a bit of pattern with me and unfairly hated characters.

#sorry this is such a long post and turned into kind of a character analysis and sorry I took so long to reply #I also wish Katniss and Gale were written as having a brother/sister relationship instead of a trauma bond romance #gale hawthorne #the hunger games #thg meta #it is pretty funny that most of this generation is all like eat the rich tear down capitalism overthrow the government and yet #they hate on fictional characters who do just that because they can't do it morally or aren't badass enough or smth

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redhairedwolfwitch · 2 years

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Sweeter than Candy Floss - Alexia Putellas x Reader

Summary: After talking about the funfair that would visit for a week every year in the city near where you grew up, Alexia takes you to a travelling funfair in Barcelona. R knows a lot of the booths can be rigged, but that doesn't stop Alexia wanting a plushie that looks like her dog. R goes back each day to win the plushie before the funfair leaves for another year.

This was originally a request sent to @footygirl114 by an anon that was then given to me, I hope that I did it justice.

///

It had started off with you reminiscing about the travelling funfair that would spend a week near where you grew up you’d visit in your adolescence, the last time you went being the year before you ended up moving away to continue playing football. You hadn’t gone back since, but that didn’t stop you talking about the different rides, all the games that were available and how you laughed as your friend filled their mouth with candy floss. Plus, there was the fact that you had actually snuck out many times when you were supposed to be studying after training ran late after school.

“What? Don’t look so surprised, I was a rebel!” you pouted at the incredulous look on Alexia’s face as she looked up from where she was laying on her bed, propping herself up on her elbows as you looked over from where you were sitting on the floor, your back pressed up against against the side of the other bed in the hotel room.

“Anyway, I’d sneak out, meet my friends, we’d go on rides, try to win prizes at the booths with all the games, eat what was probably far too much rubbish… but I think my favourite thing, besides how my friend had candy floss stuck to their face, was how the lights of the rides glowed against the night sky, and you could hear all the excitement. It reminds me of the excitement you hear in the Estadi before a game, all the fans cheering…” Your eyes were closed as you began to picture the funfair in your head, weaving together memories of every year that you had gone before you moved away so you could play football.

“Hey, what’s candy floss in Spanish?” You cut yourself off, opening your eyes to look at Alexia, intrigue sparkling as you waited for her answer.

“Algodón de azúcar.”

You hummed as you mouthed the words over and over, so wrapped up in your pronunciation that you didn’t see the smile on Alexia’s face.

“Did you win?” Alexia asked, watching as you frowned slightly, thinking for a second.

“There are those games you always get a prize for. Hook a duck. But my friends and I, back then, were so competitive, so we’d push each other to do better… or until your arms were falling off from non stop shots at a basketball hoop trying to get a plushie… there were a few games that just sucked because they were rigged-” you were cut off from giving Alexia your recollection of the travelling funfair as the door flew open and Jenni returned from wherever she had disappeared to before. You assumed she’d either been planning a prank or carrying one out as you stood up, grinning to Alexia before heading back to your room.

///

Returning from the away game, you had pushed the memories of the funfair into the back of your mind, instead making new memories as you were subbed onto the pitch, the crowd’s cheers louder than the excitement of the people at the funfair all that time ago.

You had pushed the memories back, but Alexia hadn’t, as she scrolled through google, looking for something similar in Barcelona, hoping that it would fall on something that would work for her schedule, and yours.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going? Or why are you smiling like that… it’s a little bit creepy- I’m kidding, your smile is cute, you should do it more often.” You grinned as Alexia glared at you, only smiling softly at your playfulness, her gaze returning to the road as you looked out the window, trying to figure out where Alexia was taking you.

“Are we there yet?”

Alexia glared at you again, rolling her eyes as a playful grin broke out across your face, reminding her of the cheshire cat from a book she’d read once, and a movie you’d fallen asleep watching.

“Are we there yet though? Hey, hands on the wheel!” You squealed, Alexia’s hand having left the wheel to slap you gently on the leg, your face burning as her hand touched your thigh.

///

“Wait… are we… Did you bring us to a funfair?” Your eyes lit up, shuffling in the passenger seat to look out the windscreen, Alexia smiled to herself as you took in the surroundings.

“It is here for a week.” Alexia quietly explained, looking down slightly out of insecurity, wondering if this had been a good idea. But you unclipping your seatbelt, climbing over the gearstick and handbrake to end up in Alexia’s lap hugging her suggested it was a good idea, even as her body prickled with heat from you on top of her.

“Can we go now?” you asked, excitement in your eyes contrasting the softness of your question as Alexia reached for her sunglasses, then slipped your hat onto your head with a chuckle, watching as you swung open the driver’s door and hopped out of her lap, waiting outside the car for Alexia to follow.

///

Sticking close to Alexia as the two of you made your way around the funfair, your gaze ran over every single booth, looking for anything interesting or any little quirks that meant you weren’t just wasting your money on rigged games. You steered Alexia away from the ring toss, knowing immediately that the rings were barely wide enough to fit the milk bottle caps, staring down the balloons on one darts game before avoiding that too.

“Sorry, sorry, I just don’t like spending money on rigged games,” you whispered, making sure none of the other attendees or staff heard you, but it seemed Alexia didn’t as she put her hand up to stop you from walking, a smile on her lips as she headed towards a game booth.

“What have you- oh, it looks like Nala!” you saw the resemblance immediately, knowing that that was what had Alexia’s attention as she eyed the game booth with a sparkle of hope in her eye.

You would do anything to keep that sparkle of hope in Alexia’s eye, even as she tried and failed multiple times at the game, trying to win the fluffy dog plushie that looked like her dog, but you knew from watching that this game wasn’t an easy one to win, not by a long shot.

Walking Alexia around the funfair after, you took things into your own hands, creating the facade perfectly as you scouted out other booths, knowing Alexia was looking for a Nala plush toy, but you showed off your funfair knowledge too. She went from sad to frustrated as you passed her the hammer to test her strength, whispering in her to use her legs as you took a step away to watch and admire her. It took the clanging of the bell to break your focus on your friend’s flexing muscles, glancing at the staff person running the booth as Alexia had won a prize, smiling softly at the WALL-E stuffie she’d gotten.

By the end of your time at the funfair that day, Alexia’s car boot was full of plushies, but none of them were the one that looked like Nala, and you could tell as Alexia cuddled with her real living fuzzball that she really wanted that specific plushie.

///

The travelling funfair would be in Barcelona for six more days, so you had six days to win the plushie for Alexia, doubting that anyone else would be winning on that booth any time soon, from the observations you’d made anyway of Alexia’s attempts.

The booths were expensive, but it would be worth it if you could get the plushie for Alexia. Seeing her smile would be worth it, especially since you couldn’t return to the funfair every day, at the same time anyway, with training and whatnot.

The person running the booth was able to recognise you by the third day, a smirk on their lips but that smirk would slowly decrease at every attempt at the game you made. You were getting better, but the fair was cash only and you would stop when your arms were too sore to continue.

///

It was the second to last day when you finally did it. Exhaustion washed over you as you pointed to the plushie in question. Hugging it close to you as you stared down the booth owner, not even realising a small crowd had gathered to watch you finally win the plushie until you turned around.

“Freaking finally…” you whispered, holding the plushie under your arm as you headed over to the closest candy floss stall.

///

Alexia didn’t intend on returning to the funfair, not without you anyway. But some of your teammates had heard of the fair and how it was the final day tomorrow, so they roped her into going again. The team had teased Alexia for going to the funfair with you, complaining that they hadn’t been invited.

“Ey, ey, is that- aww, Alexia, they came without you!” Mapi began to tease her captain, nudging her in the ribs as she spotted you buying a stick of candy floss, something tucked under your arm. About to step forwards to approach you, Alexia watched as you broke off a piece of the sugary treat and slipped it into your mouth quickly.

“You got your algodón de azúcar?” Alexia’s teasing voice caught you off guard as the sugar clung to your lips, hurriedly licking them as the Barcelona captain approached, her teammates lingering behind as they spotted something interesting.

How you looked at their captain was far from platonic.

“I got you something. I hope you still want it, because my arms are going to be sore for days trying to win it for you-” you confused Alexia by passing her the stick of candy floss first, biting back a grin as you wiped your hands on your shorts hurriedly, not wanting to get the sugary mess on the plushie.

“I present you with this…” You were about to get down on one knee, but you had no patience as you held out the plushie that resembled Alexia’s dog.

Alexia’s eyes lit up in a way that left you biting your lip in excitement, taking the candy floss stick from her quickly so she could hug the plushie tightly.

“You won it? For me?”

“Of course!” you affirmed, holding the candy floss out of reach as Alexia pulled you into a hug, kissing your cheek affectionately.

Luckily, you were distracted as you spotted Mapi about to attempt one of the booths you knew was rigged.

“Sorry, hang on, I’m not watching León waste her money on that booth-” you hurried away, flashing the captain a grin as she hugged Nala Jr close to her body, licking her lips at the sweetness that lingered on them with budding realisation that you had gotten candy floss on your face earlier.

“You know, they came back, every day, to win that one prize.” Alexia turned to spot the person running the candy floss stand you’d bought the candy floss from, her gaze shifting to where you were giving Mapi secret tips on how to be more successful at the games.

“You must mean a lot to them.”

Alexia glanced down at the plushie in her arms, a soft smile on her face as she spoke more to the plushie than the candy floss stand person.

“They mean a lot to me too.”

///

#woso x reader #woso imagine #alexia putellas x reader #woso imagines #alexia putellas imagine

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tenebraevesper · 9 months

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Analyzer - Félix & Emotion, Part 3 (Miraculous Ladybug)

So, yeah... We have reached the final two episodes of Félix being relevant in Miraculous Ladybug, and I'm not counting Episode 26: Re-creation (The Last Day - Part 2), mainly because it was just a cameo. So, Part 3 would only cover Episode 19: Pretension and Episode 24: Representation, fulfilling two roles: Kagami's Love Interest and Exposition Fairy.

For this, I will do a quick recap of the events that occur in these two episodes, as well add what I would've written instead.

So, let's finish this!

Episode 19: Pretension starts off... sometime after the events of Emotion and apparently, Maribug and Adrichat are not interested in pursuing Félix, who is currently spying on Kagami. Kagami in turn is trying to convince her mother to not see her and Adrien as a couple (why am I getting flashbacks to all those secret eugenics cult theories?), with Tomoe scolding her for being "a slave to her emotions". Have I mentioned that I hate this woman?

Argos gets pissed off by seeing Kagami being treated like that, breaks the roof of the car and kidnaps Kagami. I suppose that's one way of escaping a toxic parent. Once they're gone, Tomoe quickly calls Gabriel to recover the Miraculous of the Peacock, because apparently, Gabriel still has no clue where Félix is hiding (hint: his own house in London), so I suppose he was keeping an eye out for him. In classic villain speech, Monarch claims how Félix is a monster who was the one endangering their children - you got no right speaking, you terrorist - and Tomoe gets akumatized and goes after Argos and Kagami.

Speaking of the two, they're at the top of the Eiffel Tower, and Kagami's first instinct is to go for the chair.

You go girl!

Argos quickly de-transforms to show her he's harmless, and as Félix, tells her he's not his enemy, and that he just wants to talk to her. Kagami is still on guard, wondering what he wants to tell her, and then we get this conversation:

Kagami: What is it you want to tell me?! Félix: I... I don't know. But ever since I saw you, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. I've felt that... you and I... were the same. (Kagami looks surprised.) Félix: We have so much in common, and yet, you're also so different. I've never met someone like you. Kagami: We don't even know each other! Félix: I know you. I've been following you non-stop. Kagami: Even better! You follow me, you spy on me and now you've kidnapped me to get to know me?! Félix: Uh... yes? Kagami: You are utterly incompetent at social relations. (Sighs.) You can't take someone away against their will! Félix: Sorry, I won't do it again, I... just wanted to protect you from your mother. She can't talk to you like that. (Kagami stares at him in awe and confusion.)

Yeah, this is the moment where the Féligami ship starts sailing. I will talk about it, but I gotta admire how Félix went from cunning to awkward the moment he opened his mouth to talk to Kagami.

Let's hope those puppy dog eyes will win her over.

To address the ship itself, I honestly have nothing against it, and it is a cute ship (especially when Féligami fans get their hands on it), but it's not my favorite (that one still goes to Brilix/Cursed Charm). However, I will address some of the obvious issues the writing itself created.

First of all, we do know Kagami's type being someone who is a rebel and who has the will to stand up for themselves, and Félix's penchant for mischief fits. I suppose it also helps that he looks like Adrien, whom Kagami still has feelings for... which, uh... okay, it really feels awkward, because out of context (and maybe even in context) it makes it appear as if Kagami just replaced Adrien with Félix. They look the same, and this one actually has a spine.

I do like that Kagami actually calls Félix out on how they don't know each other, and how he stalked her and kidnapped her. Now, that's a realistic reaction! However, I will address Kagami's point of them not knowing each other, and I don't blame Félix for this one, but the writing staff for thinking they can speedrun Féligami and no one will notice.

Like said, I'm cool with Féligami happening, but goddamnit, couldn't the writers have put more effort into having Kagami and Félix interact (aside from their glare in Season 4?). For example, have Kagami talk to Félix way earlier and have her realize that, while appearance-wise he and Adrien are look the same, personality-wise, they're completely different and have her question which one's she's falling for - the guy whom her mother and Gabriel set her up with, or the one who actually has the qualities she likes. Hell, that could be part of her own rebellion against her mother and the reason she breaks up with Adrien.

But yeah, this is Miraculous Ladybug we're talking about. Good character writing is almost non-existent.

As for Félix...

I'll just use the words my friend used to describe him - he's a S.I.M.P.

It's clear that he deeply admires Kagami and is so socially awkward that he thought it would be a good idea to learn more about her by stalking her and kidnapping her. *sigh* Félix, you're a lovable idiot. However, the moment he realizes that he really messed up, he apologizes, telling her how he just wanted to protect her from her mother.

Okay, before I continue, I will address that there is one glaring issues I had with this confession, and spoilers, it's not the kidnapping.

Anyways, before the conversation can continue, Matagi Gozen finds them, alongside Maribug and Adrichat, and everyone wants to save Kagami. Félix quickly transforms into Argos, dragging Kagami along for the ride and is chased by Matagi Gozen, Maribug and Adrichat, leading to a fight between the three. Kagami wants to reveal her hideout to calm down her mother, arguing with Argos how she can set herself free.

Matagi Gozen finds them, shooting an arrow at Kagami, with Argos saving her. Kagami is stunned her mother would hurt her, with Argos responding how his own father was much worse. He then breaks his fan, telling Kagami how her safety is his priority, showing once again his cunning side by spreading out the pieces of the fan to confuse Matagi Gozen. Nice job, Argos!

He and Kagami enter the sewers, with Argos de-transforming and having another conversation with her:

Kagami: I don't understand. You have the Miraculous of the peacock, why don't you create a Sentimonster to get us out of here? Félix: First of all, don't call them that. (Throws his cufflink into the sewage.) I refuse to create a being to manipulate them, control them, abuse them, and end up destroying them. (Kagami looks surprised at him) Cat Noir:(through his earpiece) I found Kagami and Félix. Félix transformed back. Now's the time. Félix: When you bring a living being into this world, you have a responsibility towards them. Your duty is to protect them, love them, help them discover the true meaning of their existence. To deprive them of that... is monstrous. Kagami: Are you talking about... yourself? Félix: I'm talking about... us. Ladybug: Félix, set Kagami free! Cat Noir: And this time, you're giving us back the Miraculous of the peacock! Kagami:(puts her arm in front of Félix, defending him) I am nobody's prisoner! Félix is not your enemy! He's like me! He doesn't know how to express himself. Everyone is wrong about him! Including me. (They smile at each other)

Okay, have you followed this conversation so far? Good, because here's my take on it.

We know now that Félix is a Sentimonster, and given how he described his own father as thousand times worse, it's clear that he suffered a lot. He hates being controlled, and after seeing someone else who is controlled just as him, he lashes out in a misguided attempt to protect Kagami. He does all the wrong things for the right reasons. It really shows just how much depth his character is.

However, remember the issue I mentioned? Yeah, the fact that Félix is suddenly in love with Kagami, AFTER discovering she's also a Sentimonster? It's a huge "yikes" moment. Like I said before, the writers decided to clearly speedrun Féligami while making a lot of unfortunate implications. I will say, it is not the worst writing I saw, but seriously, did no one think about this?

Matagi Gozen attacks them, with Félix transforming into Argos again and trusting Maribug and Adrichat to keep Kagami safe as he escapes. He later appears at Sorbonne, giving Kagami the real ring back after she gave her mother a fake one, telling her how she's now free to make her own choices. Yep, the amok is in the family ring, and from the shot of them holding hands together, they're a couple.

So, before I move on to Episode 24: Representation, I have one more observation to make. I said it before and I'll say it again, Féligami was really the writers' attempt at a speedrun and, as cute as they are together, it feels rushed, especially on Félix's end. Kagami was a complete stranger to him, but the moment he finds out she's also a Sentimonster, he obsesses over her? Yeah, Houston, we got a problem.

It appears that they're getting along quite well, though, with Kagami laughing when Argos draws a heart on her window.

I guess they spent a lot of time together off screen. Anyways, remember how I mentioned Félix also taking the role of the Exposition Fairy?

Welcome to the actual highlight of this episode! Félix and Kagami have learned that Marinette is Ladybug and decide to ask for her help. Félix cosplays as Adrien to lure her away from the party.

Honestly, I don't really think that's wonderful, because what they did is mainly breaking Marinette's heart by making her think Adrien is still around. Félix transforms into Argos again, and actually creates a Sentimonster, despite his earlier rant about how he'd never do anything like that.

Did... did the writers just sleep on that episode? Or did they decide "eh, character depth is overrated, we'll do whatever we want for the plot".

Admittedly, the Sentimonster is a tripod camera, so there is a question how "sentient" that thing is.

I'll just quickly go over the next part, which is basically Félix and Kagami doing a play in regards to all the Graham de Vanily/Agreste history.

Skipping my complaints about this being an exposition dump that could've been done during the show's early Seasons and not in one episode in Season 5, I do love how Marinette is really into the play.

We learn how Amelie married some rich heartless cowboy dude (or maybe that was just a visual to show that he was American? *shrugs*), and after her sister got pregnant (with the visual of peacock feathers in the background), her husband got pissed off.

So, after some convincing from Emilie, Gabriel gave the Amelie's husband, Colt Fathom, the Peacock Miraculous, and Félix was created out of jealousy, with the amok being placed in Félix's ring. Félix's father then falls ill, aware this was the price he was paying for Félix's existence, and sees him as a monster.

Félix himself explains how he didn't understand why his father didn't love him and why he felt obligated to do whatever Colt demanded, no matter how unfair they were. If he became fond of someone who displeased his father, Colt would tear them away from him, or rather, order Félix to end things. Eventually, he realized that his life was connected to the ring when it cracked and almost destroyed him, and he could only recover it after his father died, along with his freedom.

That's when he understood that the Miraculous gave him life and it could take it away, so he made it his mission to recover it, even saying how he went to Gabriel to retrieve it and describe the events of Season 4 and Season 5.

Honestly, it's genuinely tragic and sad just through how much stuff Félix had to go through, day by day fearing for his own life, being hated by his own father and learning not to trust anyone until he met Kagami. It explains his behavior in the past Seasons, even why he only took one ring from Gabriel, because apparently, Adrien's amok was in both of the rings, something Félix wouldn't know.

Anyways, we leave these two lovebirds doing what they want, and myself with my final thoughts.

In my personal opinion, Félix is a really solid character, who does undergo character development, even if it's rushed. He's also a tragic character, who was doing the wrong thing for the right reasons and messed up in execution. He's also a deeply traumatized teenager who had to deal with an identity crisis on his own and the fact that he might cease to exist with a snap of a finger. He's intelligent and cunning, but also socially awkward and has a sweet and theatric side, and he also moves the plot forward every time he appears.

SO WHY THE HELL ISN'T HE THE MAIN CHARACTER?!

*sighs*

I went over how bad the Miraculous Ladybug writing is several times, and I'm not gonna repeat myself here. I will add my own version of how I would've written the events Post-Emotion.

For starters, after Félix learns that he can trust Maribug and Adrichat, he seeks them out to talk to them in private, revealing that Gabriel Agreste is Monarch. Hell, he could even pull another switcheroo to infiltrate the Agreste mansion as Adrien to gather more information. Even if Gabriel is more alert, he'd still be fooled by that. Instead of making it a battle royale where the heroes react to Gabriel's attack, have it be them the ones who go confront Monarch head on. At least, that way, Adrichat would participate in the final battle.

Anyways, these were my thoughts on Félix, and if you want to see how I'd write his character... well, his PV Ladybug self, then check out my story Up Ladybug and leave a comment.

Until next time!

Links:

#Analyzer - Félix & Emotion, Part 2 (Miraculous Ladybug)

#Up Ladybug (Masterlist)

#Ten's Thoughts #Up Ladybug Analyzer #felix agreste #felix graham de vanily #felix fathom #duusu #kagami tsurugi #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #gabriel agreste #ml salt #ml writing salt #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug pv #gabriel salt #feligami #ladybug #chat noir #argos

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longdeadking-moved-blogs · 11 months

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ok hi guys i have. genloss thoughts.

so we've seen a few different "archetypes" for characters, right? we have the hero (ranboo), the side characters (charlie and sneeg), the antagonists (the puzzler and demon charlie), the background characters (niki, austin, etc), and who i'm calling the crew (the ghouls & rats, the cameramen, and the drones). (hetch is his own thing but i will Get to him, also security and squiggles.)

all these archetypes are very distinct, there's not a lot of overlap between them (the only exceptions i could think of would be frank, who doesnt really count since he's not. yknow. alive. and rat-rae, who has speaking lines, but is still obviously crew.)

i'm thinking, these archetypes almost seem like... a life cycle. let me explain.

first, showfall finds a Hero. they need to be naive, blinded by fear and hope. so the Hero needs to be the first step. and there are three directions the Hero can go after that.

if the Hero is just... boring, uninteresting, going through the motions, they become Crew. the masks (or the goo, in the case of the ghouls) control them permanently.

if the Hero goes the way ranboo did, there are two options. either they die, and stay dead (or restart, becoming a Hero again), or they live and move on to the next step - becoming an Antagonist.

Antagonists have more freedom than Heroes (squiggles outright says they let the puzzler do whatever he wants), but they're still under showfall's control. the freedom is helpful because it makes them more interesting, but it also makes them unpredictable.

once an Antagonist has run their course, there's three options again. if they're too complacent, they become Crew. if they're too volitile or if showfall needs some drama or a Hero needs a win, they die. but if they prove to still be useful, they move on. they become a Background Character.

seems like a weird jump, right? but we saw it happen, with charlie. he died as demon slime, then reappeared as patient charlie.

also, i think this is the reason neither Antagonists lasted more than an episode. they need a lot of Background Characters, so turnover is quick.

by the time Background Characters arrive, they have developed personalities. or, more accurately, a single trait that showfall can monopolize on. charlie was slimy. niki was nice. austin was gay (a nice nod to the token gay trope, btw). and Background Characters switch up the formula a bit.

i think, by the time you get to this point, you aren't at risk of becoming Crew. or at least, it isnt likely (i'm thinking rat-rae was a BG Character who got turned into crew, which is why she can talk). no, instead, your two options are as follows:

you can stay a Background Character, "dying" and being reset every episode.

or, if you're a fan-favorite, you get upgraded to Side Character.

again, we saw this happen with charlie, and also with sneeg. i believe sneeg became a Side Character between episode 1 and 2, which is why he was allowed to see beyond the 4th wall. gotta have your characters be a little haunted, right? it's a horror show, after all.

and if you become a Side Character, there's not a lot of places to go. viewers will recognize you in different shows, so the question is - what does showfall do when a Side Character's show ends?

once again, they have two options. death or promotion.

and this time, the promotion is a little different.

so. hetch. a villian for sure, but he's in a weird position. he tells ranboo - and the viewers - during the final scene that he's just following orders. he wears his own mask, same as ranboo. but why? why have this weird, semi-canon, rebel traitor figure?

i think hetch made it to the final archetype. a subsection of Crew that's picked out for a special characteristic. anything that makes them truly compelling. i think the wire monster made it here, too (they were so consistently rebellious that showfall had to strip away all of their humanity, leaving them a mess of wire).

hetch became a Mascot.

hetch, the wire monster, and squiggles went through every step, proved their worth, and what did they get in return?

knowledge, but not freedom. never freedom.

and i think if we'd voted live, ranboo would have made it all the way as well.

#the kings decrees #genloss #genloss spoilers #gl!ranboo #genloss theory #long post #im going insane over here guys #you dont understand #it's a cycle... all of them are disposable... cogs in a machine... you dont understand!!!#inspired by watching charlie go from Silly Guy to Sillier Guy to Oh God I'm Going To Die Here #genloss archetype theory

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s3janus · 1 year

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Never thought the first thing I'd post here about tbosas would be Strabo Plinth analysis, but here we are

On a surface level, the most morally reprehensible thing Strabo does is provide the Capitol with munitions during the first rebellion and then move his family to live in the Capitol after its all over. Its the reason his relationship with Sejanus is so rocky, after all

But what I like about it is that if you really try to get into his head and justify it in the way he probably did himself, his choice to do this actually makes a lot of sense. From a perspective other than just "Oh, he did it because it was a good opportunity to make money, since District 13 was no longer providing nuclear weaponry for the Capitol." That's possible, but I think it's deeper than that

The way I see it, Strabo's decision to side with the Capitol was probably more of a survival strategy than anything. For him and his family

Strabo no doubt felt guilt over what he did. You could imagine him being completely cold and desensitised to the actions of the Capitol, I guess, but he had firsthand experience of what it was like in the districts whilst the war was happening. Even if he was living in a more privileged area. After all, if things were going to shit in the Capitol, it was probably ten times worse in even the best areas of the Districts. He saw the damage that the Capitol was causing and no doubt witness deaths over the events of the war, likely even deaths of people close to him

So, why would he help them?

Well, I think that if you look at the war from the perspective of the Plinth family, the outcome would most likely be a lose-lose situation. If the Capitol won, conditions would likely become even worse in the Districts. (Which ends up being the case.) But if the Capitol loses, well, what's the plan moving forward? He couldn't be sure of how well thought out the rebels ideas were, if they even knew what was going to happen, should they win. But things would likely become worse for a time due to a lack of proper structure. And the Plinth's, already living what seemed to be a perfectly fine life in District Two, would have a lot to lose, should shit hit the fan. Their munitions empire, for instance. Would a new, rebel controlled society even allow for independent munitions manufacturers? There's no telling.

These were likely the outcomes which Strabo was considering. And he wasn't only worrying for the wellbeing of himself and his company. If his munitions empire fails, if he loses his fortunes, well, he has a young son to care for. Say what you will about Strabo and Sejanus' relationship, a lot can be said about it, but Strabo seems to, on some level, want what's best for his son. Would Sejanus be able to thrive in a newly founded society, potentially without a munitions empire to back him up?

So perhaps, if you're looking at it like this, the best decision may be to side with the Capitol.

If the Capitol won, and Strabo had helped them, then it would be safe to assume that him and his family (his son in particular, consdiering young adults were being made targets of the Capitol's aggression and Sejanus would be reaching that age in only a matter of time. He couldn't have known that the hunger games were going to happen, however, he could have predicted that people of Sejanus' soon-to-be age range would face punishment if it all went poorly) wouldn't be faced with such severe punishment as other district people

So, even if it means turning his home against him, even turning his son against him, Strabo may see helping the Capitol as his only option. I can see no way that the Plinths wouldn't have suffered if he didn't.

His decision, whilst arguably immoral, was likely the only thing he could think to do in order to assure the safety of both himself and of those close to him. Like I said, he does care about Sejanus. That's shown in a few small ways, if you ask me. Particularly from the fact that when they did move to the Capitol, the main thing he wanted was for Sejanus to have a good education

If you're looking at it this way, and he did make the choice to help the Capitol out of a desire to protect Sejanus, it would make sense that the thing he would want once that protection has been assured would be something to allow his son to thrive (In theory.)

The whole thing likely came from a lack of any other reliable options and a need to assure Sejanus' safety, rather than purely for monetary gain. Even if the decision wasn't necessarily right, I think he did it for the right reasons

Ah, I love a morally grey character

#strabo plinth apologist/j #the hunger games #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #strabo plinth #sejanus plinth #suzanne collins #tbosas

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