#this essay is made even more powerful because my last essay was on why Thieves in Time sucks

[one-squash-one-end]

I wrote a giant Raven Cycle analysis

Hi! Over the last year or so I've been working on a sort of essay about various themes in the raven cycle series, and I finally finished it a few weeks ago.

It is titled: "Why I love The Raven Cycle - An excessive analysis of the themes of friendship, queerness and growing up".

And since tumblr loves its meta (and bc I love peer validation) I've decided to start uploading it bit by bit here, making this the masterpost (if I can figure out the logistics of the linking lmao, bear with me)

(beware of spoilers up to greywaren starting at like 3b!)

Introduction

What even is the Raven Cycle?

Trust me, the characters are queer as fuck and I can prove it a) Blue Sargent b) Gansey c) Adam Parrish d) Ronan Lynch e) Noah f) Henry Cheng g) Honorary mentions

The Gangsey is a polycule

Analyzing the reoccurring themes a) Friendship b) Being a teen/growing up c) (Found) Family d) Magic (as a metaphor) e) Further themes I appreciate

Drawing a conclusion

Click here to start with the introductory parts!

1. Introduction

So here’s the thing: I love fiction almost as much as I love my friends. There’s something deeply comforting about the escapism, even if the book actually makes me want to scream and throw it on the floor (only one book has been thrown so far, I promise!).  Fiction is a healthy thing to occupy my thoughts with: headcanons! Quotes being on loop in my brain! Just fandoms!

And for me, if I am hooked on a book (series), it does not even need a good plot where a lot of things happen. In fact, I would say that my enjoyment of a book is made up of 30% plot and about 70% characters and vibes. If the characters are bland, if they do not make me feel much emotion, it likely won’t be more than 4 stars (additional info: I am way too nice rating books!). I really, really need to love the characters, to be able to relate to some aspects of them, or it just won’t become an obsession.

Since I have already started explaining that a bit, let’s look at this question: What is important to make a book special to me? 1. I need to cry reading it. 2. I have to think about it often, even weeks to months after having read it. 3. Obviously, I need to love the characters. 4. I need to be in the fandom! This can be hard with some books, but the internet is a whimsical space allowing you to find at least a small number of people who are obsessed with a work of fiction to a similar extent as you are.

Now, why am I elaborating on this so much? It’s because The Raven Cycle did all that for me. It is my favorite comfort book series at the moment, for all those aspects mentioned, but of course I cannot just leave it at that. No, I wrote a whole-ass analysis on headcanons and some of its themes. You’re welcome.

2. What even is The Raven Cycle?

The Raven Cycle is all I adore and live for (next to my friends). So, naturally, it’s a book series, specifically a four book young adult contemporary fantasy series by American author Maggie Stiefvater. The books in question are: The Raven Boys (2012), The Dream Thieves (2013), Blue Lily, Lily Blue (2014) and The Raven King (2016), and yes I will admit that the publishing dates are a bit of a red flag. There is also the very relevant follow-up series called The Dreamer Trilogy (Call Down The Hawk, Mister Impossible, Greywaren), but it’s a lot less easy to get into that here as I do not know these entire books by heart, so I’ll stick to the original tetralogy here.

To stick to red flags, the books are set in the fictional Henrietta, a rural town in non-fictional Virginia, US, in the 2010s. However, that doesn’t really say *that* much about the plot, so let me summarize that really quick, because I can do better than the official synopsis! (Or let’s pretend I can.)

Blue Sargent comes from a family of psychics, yet she does not have any powers of her own. Even worse, she is a bit of an amplifier for the others, meaning she is always somehow but never directly involved in the business. As if that isn’t enough for an identity crisis, every psychic she has ever met has told her that her kiss would kill her true love. Yikes.

But because she is that amplifier, she comes to a church watch on St. Mark’s Eve, where psychics see the spirits of those to die within the following year. It’s important business, but to her it’s really just staring into the dark. Until she does actually see a spirit: That of Gansey. Of course this is not a coincidence. No, to add to this teen’s mount of problems, there are only two reasons why a non-seer would see someone’s spirit: They are their true love, or they killed them. Or, in Blue’s case, maybe both.

The aforementioned Gansey is Henrietta’s Golden Boy, the son of politicians (read: he’s fucking loaded). He does not run with the Republicans though, he runs with dead Welsh kings, meaning he has been searching for the probably dead, presumably sleeping Welsh king Glendower (*1350; †1416; yikes) for the past like seven years. Why the fuck would he do that? Well, legend says that he will grant a wish to whoever wakes him, and our favorite PTSD-ridden guy really wants that favor.

Aiding him are fellow Aglionby students Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch and Noah Czerny, plus Henry Cheng, though only a lot later in the series, but I really did not want to leave out that menace (affectionately) here. The paths of Blue and the boys cross because of Gansey’s search for Glendower, plus the fact that Blue works at a popular pizza place, but that’s a lot less whimsical. And, well, there’s the implication that Gansey might also be her true love, but perhaps she just kills him because of his bad fashion sense, it would be justified. Anyway, in true Famous Five fashion (Ronan is the dog; I won’t elaborate, the girls that get it, get it) they are of course not the only ones searching for the king, so it’s not completely a wholesome friend bonding activity all the way through.

Be prepared for: friendship and growing up, lots of treasure hunting, family mysteries, magical forests, illegal and slightly distasteful activities (our favorite of course), but most of all, heavily queer-coded (or even canonically queer) characters. Be Gay, Do Crime.

#y'all better like this it took a while #trc #the raven cycle #gansey #blue sargent #ronan lynch #adam parrish #noah czerny #henry cheng #the raven king #the raven boys #blue lily lily blue #the dream thieves #let's hope i don't forget about this after the first part #please talk to me about your thoughts

[inspector-montoya-fox]

#11 - A Tangled Web

Setting: oh, boy...... where do i even start with this one? welcome to your worst nightmare, or as Sly puts it a well-fortified gothic nightmare. if you thought Jailbreak was the embodiment of fear, A Tangled Web is ten times that. i mean, it doesn’t really develop any of the previous Prague characteristics because they’re the same, but the towering buildings really hone the spookiness. developments in the story also add to the fear factor. the Contessa has been ousted from Interpol and is now facing newly-promoted Neyla’s wrath. i’m thinking about what Hitchcock said on suspense and how having a bomb go off is scary, but having the people anticipate the blast is even scarier. that’s the case here. war is about to erupt and the gang is caught right in the middle of it all. although the fighter planes are casually attacking the castle and tanks are roaming the area throughout the episode, the operation establishes that full-out war is the climax for this episode. despite all this, the gang is united again and is ready to take down the Contessa. i absolutely love how there are two areas in this hub: Neyla’s side and Contessa’s side. Neyla’s side is a charming European town, reminiscent of Jailbreak’s hub. Contessa’s side is an intricate maze, full of arches, bridges, stained glass windows, crypts, dungeons and a cottdamn cemetery. similar to The Predator Awakes, i often get lost when playing this episode. the hub’s two areas also highlight the war aspect because it shows how there’s two indefinite sides to the subject, even though both characters (Neyla and the Contessa) are villains. essentially, the gang is a tiny league of their own swept up between a boiling feud. the safehouse is placed upon stairs to show how the gang doesn’t belong on Neyla’s side. as soon as you walk down those stairs, you face the danger of ruthless tanks (one of the game’s most annoying “guards”). the gang is definitely not welcome here. the hub’s architecture comes into play a lot throughout the episode: you have to climb the highest high to get to the Re-Education Tower and crawl under sewer tunnels to get to some of the crypts. some crypts are water-based, some are medieval trap-based, some are full-on coffin-based. and the missions really emphasise this as most of them have the gang traverse through a variety of rooms. fab.

Characters: before i touch upon the Contessa, i just wanna say, Carmelita’s back, after an episode of being completely MIA. yeap, right off the bat we find out she’s being held captive by the Contessa, who wants to turn her brain into mush. things are looking dire. for Sly, this brings back memories of Clockwerk’s lair. we haven’t seen Carmelita this defeated since she was Clockwerk’s hostage. this just further proves what a force the Contessa is. i love Carmelita’s lines in this episode (e.g. Let me out of here and I'll readjust your face!). Sly calls her his violent little princess and honestly that encapsulates everything. A Tangled Web overturns everything we thought we knew about Carmelita. after missing out on an entire episode, she’s being held captive for the majority of this one, and when she’s finally freed, she’s out of control. so we see two new sides of Carmelita: first restraint and then extra-powerful. the latter is due to her taking control of the tank at the end of the episode. she blasts the Contessa’s blimp down and even gets her hands on one of the Clockwerk eyes for a bit. Carmelita’s frenzy eventually winds down when (we’re informed via cutscene) that the gang helps her make a quick escape. so, basically, she’s back. let’s talk about the Contessa. as i’ve said above, the Contessa is an absolute force. i’m so happy to see a female villain surpass the other villains and their brute force. mind over matter, baby. absolute savage Jean Bison can’t follow up the Contessa’s act because he’s just plain muscle. in A Tangled Web, the Contessa is in her prime. i don’t know if she thrives under pressure or something, but she’s reached a divine level, elevating her persona and delivering PRICELESS dialogue such as I'm above all that, above good and evil. this episode is what makes her my favorite villain. SP gave her the “psychology trait” and took that to its full extent by having her psychoanalyze every character, almost drive Carmelita mad, and then try to hypnotise Sly. similarly to Rajan, the hub’s architecture resembles its baddie by having all those arches and tunnels resemble the Contessa’s spider legs. in the end, we get to fight her, head-to-head. it’s a great bossfight, albeit simple. but i want to focus on the dialogue during the bossfight. we have a character that knows Sly. again, only Clockwerk was that familiar with the Coopers. the rest of the villains up until this point (up until Dr M, that is) have been goons and crooks. but the Contessa, having researched Sly and his psychological profile, actually knows him. i know i speak for all of y’all when i say that You're an ignorant child playing dress-up in his father's legacy is A Tangled Web’s absolute climax. because it hits so hard. oof. it all just culminates and gives this marvel of a character an awesome conclusion. so now, we naturally have to talk about Sly. it’s been a hot minute since the raccoon’s had some character development. after being double-crossed, trapped and then had some reconnecting with his friends, he’s back. and he feels kinda different. i mean, he’s still the fun-loving, sarcastic Cooper we all love, but i think he’s started considering the gravity of the situation. Sly 1 saw Sly gradually realize what he was going up against, level after level. in Sly 2, he had to be cocky enough to get betrayed and thrown into jail before coming to the realization that the stakes are high. the episode starts with Sly saying Time for a little payback in full seriousness, and ends with him saying I tried to put it all out of my mind. This Klaww business was spiraling out of control and I knew that my gang was at the center of it. yeap. this set of episodes has definitely changed Sly. and i think having the Contessa mention his dad really pushes him even further. when he says sHE’s GOT THE EYE!?!!!? you really feel it (?). and finally, Neyla. ah, we finally get to see her true colors (at least that’s what we think). the cutscenes’ animation really does a great job in outlining what a war mongrel she really is. stomping around with her Timberland boots and barking out orders, having a hoard of tanks and fighter planes follow her. she’s absent for the majority of the episode but finally makes a grand entrance at the end. and the deception is brilliant. SP presented her as an angry war leader, had her hide in her HQ for most of the episode and only showed her making offensive moves towards the Contessa. so we were all shocked when she sneaked into the Re-Education Tower at the end. it was so un-war-mongrel-like, further proving that Neyla can easily shed her skins and how versatile she is. she’s like the yin to Sly’s yang..... until she gets stuck in a web.... *sigh*

Themes: when i say war, you say theme: war theme ! hear me out, this episode is very character-driven, but the themes are heavy too. having the episode take place right in the middle of a war is a new direction for the series. in the past, every episode had a different location and different aesthetic, but it was usually the gang stealing stuff in the night. here, we’re in an active warzone. the fighting heightens tensions and adds pressure to an already tough situation. the theme also embodies the characters and the hub. if Neyla is the embodiment of war (tanks, planes, etc.) and the Contessa is personified by her gothic estate, it further highlights how the former has the latter quite literally surrounded. tanks have driven the Contessa into her estate, surrounded by water, and the planes keep attacking the buildings inside. all this might and fury places the two villains onto pedestals. the theme is present everywhere: the Prague sky is especially red in order to exhibit the wrath of war, some of the missions take on a destructive nature (Mojo Trap Action, Tank Showdown). we all know war never ends well, and that’s exactly what happens: the gang is forced to flee at the end, barely managing to obtain both Clockwerk eyes. lastly, the fear theme is still present from last episode, but ties in with the war theme. the architecture, the guards and the missions still emit fear, but fear of war overshadows everything else. so, essentially, the war preserves the fear aspect and even sharpens it. and then, there’s the theme of defiance which fits in perfectly with the war theme. we’ve reached the end of this set of great episodes and the characters are fed up. as i’ve mentioned above, after Carmelita breaks free, she wreaks havoc. she’s been warning the Contessa about breaking free and there was doubt, but she succeeds and that shows defiance against her captor. Sly defies Neyla, after she double-crossed him. this is the first encounter between the two after what went down in India and the chase is great. both are defiant in their own way and that’s why their remarks bounce back. and finally, Sly’s defiance towards the Contessa. i mean, she’s been pulling the strings and been suppressing the gang for two episodes straight so it’s only natural for Sly to beat the shit out of her. and again, the dialogue here is absolute gold. there’s even defiance towards Bentley, when Sly doesn’t stick to the plan and goes rogue (lmao). i guess the last theme, or rather motif, here ties into the theme of defiance, because it’s mischief and tricks. i mean, it’s a form of defiance, so there you have it. even though the situation is extreme and the stakes are high, the gang seems to be having as much fun as ever. in Stealing Voices, there’s that great gag with Bentley imitating Neyla. Tank Showdown sees Murray try to fit into that tiny-ass tank in a cartoony manner and then squash all the guards in his way. Ghost Capture has Sly break a coffin in order to unleash pesky ghosts and then try to capture them by taking pictures of them. and i’m sorry, but every time General Clawfoot blurts out gibberish i crack up. there’s contrast between the war’s grimness and the way the gang handles the missions, and it’s great. i guess it’s comedic relief during harsh times.

What I Like: the character development, the themes and the quotes! i mean, analyzing this episode is my favorite thing about it. it’s a reminder that Sly 2 has the best and most well-constructed narrative in the series. favorite detail would have to be the guillotine. it’s so fun cutting the rope and watching it drop. so yea.

What I Don’t Like: i’ll be honest with you - this episode’s missions weren’t the best. they felt like small tasks to build up an excellent, narrative-driven operation. i mean, abducting General Clawfoot was a brief one and Stealing Voices felt too similar to Ghost Capture and Mojo Trap Action. and, sorry SP, but having me drive the tank as Murray twice felt like punishment...

Quote: deciding what gets included here is literally the most difficult thing i’ve ever had to do. how can i pick between utterly ICONIC lines such as Weren't you listening? She was an Evil Wolf Priestess and You're an ignorant child playing dress-up in his father's legacy. the latter never fails to send shivers down my spine. i honestly can’t do it. the whole damn episode is a fucking quote.

#back to regular programming #this took FOREVER to write #this is the most theme-heavy and analysis-thirsty episode in Sly 2 #BUT #this essay is made even more powerful because my last essay was on why Thieves in Time sucks #so my timing is excellent as always #he he he #sly cooper #episode project #let's all collectively bask in this episode's absolute greatness

[belle-keys]

I Love Matthew Fairchild aka Incoherent Thoughts about Chain of Iron (2021) by Cassandra Clare

I made one of these rant-rave reviews for SJM's book so check it out if you want, no pressure tho lmao.

Aight so I finished Chain of Iron last night and OMG I HAVE TO YELL like I loved it sooo much like yooo, I have a lot to say. I know the book is new so... beware for spoilers plebs.

Also context: I been reading the Shadowhunter books since I was 12 and I'm 19 now *insert dead emoji face* so yeah, I'm just so happy rn with where the Chronicles have come and the fact that they’re still ongoing *insert uwu face*. I remember when in like 2014-2015 or something when Cassandra Clare teased that Will and Tessa's kids' generation was gonna get a trilogy set in Edwardian London, loosely based on Great Expectations, and holy hell? I think that was perhaps one of the best days of my life considering how much I adore The Infernal Devices (that trilogy really changed the way I see YA literature... don't ask cus I won't shut up about it) (also yes I read TMI and loved it too but there's a “generation gap” between TMI and the other Shadowhunter books stylistically so don't ask me about that either cus I also won't shut up).

Anyway, shoo from here if you want a critical essay on Chain of Iron. I'm not providing that, this is just me raving here for the fun.

Listen... I want the bulk of this to just be two main things: The Matthew Situation, and then all the literary and judeo-christian meta aspects of it.

BUT I ALSO NEED TO TALK ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE SO FRICK LET'S JUST START WITH THE OBVIOUS SHIT LIKE THE PLOT AND WHATEVER

Okay, the plot and writing and shit, let's get that out of the way:

The WHOLE Jack-the-Ripper-esque ambiance was just sooooo good man wow like I did not expect the book to take this cold turn but it worked so well. There was such a contrast between Jamie and Cordelia's warm little house and then the cold winter and the stabbings and shit and it felt like a nice little callback to the actual Ripper phenomenon that preceded them and a nod to the Whitechapel Fiend story from Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy.

Bitch OFC that whole thing with Wayland was a set-up like nawww that was too easy to spot and I get why Cordelia feels like shit about it.

Dawg Lucie was just the Among Us imposter here in that my girl was just venting and sneaking around with dead people and I was like nooooo girl run, don't deal with Fade this is a set-up THINK ABOUT JULES LUCIE THAT'S LIKE YO GREAT-GRANDSON *sobs* but yeah anyway my girl has death powers she gonna kill some bitches next book.

You see that confrontation between Lilith and Belial? MASTERPIECE DIALOGUE like this was the point within which I was just like "yo is this the book of Genesis or a YA Fantasy novel" like when Lilith said "I may have been cast out but I did not fall" like??????????????????? I YELLED she did not have to END Belial like that. What a bad bitch.

More on Lilith and Belial... "You, who brought nations into darkness? Shall I finally be able to tell the infernal realms you have gone mad, lost even the image of the Creator." HAHAHHAHAHA SHE SAID "YO BELIAL GO GET SOME THERAPY AND GET OFF MY ASS" LIKE??????

Ughhhh yasss Clare has improved writing diverse characters in this book compared to in The Dark Artifices in my opinion... I'm not gonna expand on it cus ain't nobody got time for that but like, I enjoyed how she wove Persian poetry and tales into the story and the way in which she writes Cordelia and Alistair. They're not caricatures of Persian people but rather multi-faceted beings who also happen to be Persian and I appreciate that. Also, Alistair and Thomas and Anna and Ariadne were just so fun and interesting to read as coupbles but also as individuals. She really higlighted diversity in a very natural manner. All I need is a hijabi character and I’ll die a happy woman lmao.

The level of META man like the references to Classics and art (I swear, she might have compared Matthew to angels out of Caravaggio AND Rosetti AND Boticelli paintings and I Am Living For It) and just all the quotes from holy books and shit omg I love it here like you really feel catapulted into the time period, she draws reference to external art and philosophy so well and I feel like she upped the notch on it in this book (didn’t know that was possible but it was the prose is BEAUTIFUL, archaic, but not pretentiously so). No, like the characters live in their OWN worlds of literature and art and history in the way we are living in THEIRS. They quote Wilde and Milton while we'll quote Clare. It's awesome.

This is an unusually structuralist take even from me but: I like the way the milieu social of the book, i.e., the high society Edwardian circles and their values, have a direct influence on the plot. James and Cordelia got married because society’s values essentially forced them to, not a demon. Cordelia abandons Jamie at the end of Iron because her shame as a woman in society and fear for her reputation made her, not a demon. Thomas and Alistair can't be together solely because of how Alistair tarnished the reputation of the Fairchilds and Lightwoods by using the horror of infidelity against them. Issues relating to marriage, gender roles, etc, stemming DIRECTLY from the time period rule the sequence of events to the same degree as the epic fantasy aspects (demons, Princes of Hell, the lore itself) do and I LOVE that dear God above.

OKAY THE GOOD SHIT LET US TALK ABOUT CHARACTERS AND SHIPS (N.B. but imma discuss Matthew and the Fairstairs situation separately below this portion):

Alistair's redemption arc: No, cus Alistair's redemption arc is honestly amazing. He really did change and it's not like his betterment as a person was linked to any one heroic deed but rather he simply decided he wanted to be better especially for his family and he decided to become a proper protective son, a caring brother, and an amiable friend. He fully owned up to his Malfoy tendencies and apologized without expecting forgiveness. He shows how he cares in the little ways and omg it's so sweet and tender. I really do want him to love himself now and be embraced by Matthew especially and the rest of the Thieves.

Dawg Lucie and Jesse are so funny to me like it's so hilarious how this girl fell in love with a whole ass ghost that no one else knows about like HHAHA. Are Lucie and Jesse my ult ship ever? Nah, but it's nothing to do with Clare, it's just that their relationship happened pretty quick and feels quite like something epicly romantic that Lucie herself would write. I just like slow burn and friends-to-lovers the most from Clare. To be honest part of me just wanted Lucie to not have a romantic arc all together but like, it's all good, I'm not complaining.

Okay Grace- like yooooooooooo I never hated her yunno. She has been abused and isolated all her life. It's not that she is a bad person, but rather that she does not know what being a person even entails. Can't even say she's a “doll” of a person cus she's never even been pampered like one by her family. I really started understanding her motivations since when they gave us her half-childhood with Jesse. I want better for her but cmon can she REALLY be saved???

GRACE X CHRISTOPHER *pretends to be shocked*... Okay, sometime in the middle of the Dark Artifices series some big brain put together a very thorough family tree of the families and like, it clearly showed that Grace and Christopher got married so like, lmfaooooo, I knew this was coming one way or another, but the journey to this ship is more important than the destination. Like in a way Christopher is such a cute baby lamb that it makes sense he'd end up being immune to her Grace-ness when he's just a cute little Einstein boiii. Like this is just so funny to me cus he's so oblivious to social conventions while she makes the milieu social her entire life so OFC it's gonna work. Like, this is such a worlds-colliding trope like just Give It To Me.

James and Grace - aw mannn Jamie just had me fricking wanting to hit a wall every two seconds cus like yooooooo every single time I think he and Cordelia are gonna stop being emotionally-constipated spouses, Jamie says some kinda shit like "omg me and Daisy are just friends uwu" like DO I NEED TO HIT YOU?????????? See I can't blame him for not slamming the door on Grace's face even tho he totes should- Jamie is so cerebral and kind that even if Grace wasn't using the enchantment on him, I think he would always be soft for her even if it isn't in a romantic way. There's just so much miscommunication cus like he said "Thank God" when she broke off the engagement with Charles and lowkey embraced her but it also wasn't his fault cus it wasn't even romantic BUT OFC IT LOOKED HORRIBLE TO CORDELIA like James literally never told the woman at least once that he loved her so OFC she thought she was back to square one with him dear God above what a mess. Not his fault, but she DID set down one rule for him: don’t cheat with Grace. And yeah even tho he hasn’t properly cheated, it must FEEL horrible to her cus she’s just been enduring the pain of their unrequeted love for so long :((

See imma just say it but if Cordelia thought that James didn't love Grace then she def would have confessed to him about her feelings right but like James, on the other hand, was delaying his own romantic confession cus he was BEING EMOTIONALLY CONSTIPATED and I can't even say the bracelet was solely to blame cus like my boi was just being so difficult omg I believe he should be lightly spanked by his three parents aka Will, Tessa and Jem *cries*.

Cordelia is such a MOM like she's so mature and stable and her self-preservation instinct? OFF THE CHARTS I love this woman like James definitely treated her well as a hubby but like I JUST WANTED HER TO HAVE CLOSURE ABOUT SOMETHING and boy oh boy she did get that closure she got it good but not from the person she expected in the LEAST *hehe* *pelican screeching*... like Lucie was being sus with the whole ghost business and James was being just, quite a case, dealing with Grace and Belial right and I don't blame them at all for their secrecy and shit but her FATHER DIED and her friends were hiding a lot from her so in a way she turned to Alistair for help but he could only do so much cus of his own pain (she couldn't even talk to her mom cus she's pregnant and she doesn't wanna stress her right) and then there was this emotional block between her and Jamie, Lucie was often absent and conspiring with the dead... the last person remaining was HIM (imma discuss this soon), but yeah my heart just went OUT to her cus she's tryna save herself and her family and she just doesn't know what to do. That's why I love the way her mom told her to stop holding herself back for others and live her own life. Like Cordelia grew on me so much cus in Gold she undoubtedly was a strange Elizabeth Bennet-wallflower hybrid and I... do not usually get attached to wallflowers but in Iron I feel like I finally understood that she was just tryna be unproblematic and self-preserving all along and nottt put her family and friends in a tough situation.... she reminds me of my mom personality-wise so yeah I’m totally rooting for her now that her *situation* in the past seems clearer.

Anna, Thomas and Matthew are such a SQUAD lmfaooooo like united in their gayness they'd be so unstoppable.

Will and Tessa are the most in-love of all the in-loves in this story and I respect that so much.

I lost a year to my life every time the romance between James and Cordelia got cockblocked. Like they were MARRIED and I thought they were gonna at least sleep next to each other at least once BUT NO James couldn't take a hint omg I'm actually gonna eat my fist and sob (but in retrospect, I think this serves a bigger purpose in terms of the narrative structure i.e. the interruption of all the spicy James and Cordelia action serves a bigger purpose which I think brings me to my next section, *exhale*)

Welcome to the Matthew Fairchild Enthusiast Club (this section is me talking out loud; it makes no sense):

bitch.

LISTEN TO ME LISTEN WELL I LOVE THIS BOY SO MUCH IMMA SCREAM I REALLY AM GONNA SCREAM MY FIST IS LITERALLY IN MY MOUTH *BACKFLIPS OFF THE ROOF WITH LANA DEL REY PLAYING*

Okay like where to BEGIN I think the Shadowhunter boy who I'm most attracted to is Julian while the one I love the most is Will but I think I see myself in Matthew the most. Like ever since that first story where the Thieves all met at the Academy then got expelled, I think that I just KNEW Matthew was destined to be epic. Plus the whole Wilde obsession? I’m no libertine myself but I just love his chaos and passion for life.

NO CUS HE'S SO WITTY AND SWEET AND EPIC AND YET SO SECRETIVE AND DEAR GOD ABOVE AHHHHH WILL HE SURPASS JULIAN FOR ME??? Ion even know but this is just sodjsgdwsdygyegydgef

Hear me out but I said after finishing Gold last March that I wanted this book to be Matthew's healing arc right so halfway into the book when I realized that we weren't getting all that good healing arcing I was confused just cus I thought it seemed natural to address all of his alcohol issues and sadness by now. LITTLE DID I KNOW CASSIE WAS SETTING UP A WHOLE OTHER ARC WITH HIM THAT I WOULD HAVE NEVER GUESSED WTH.

At first I thought Matthew didn't have feelings for anyone at all, and if he DID develop feelings unexpectedly, I fricking thought that maybe he's catching feelings for James, if anyone??? I mean, I did have some suspicions about Matthew from the get-go: like he's so secretive and as readers we think we know everything there is to know about him since we were all privy to the truth potion incident in his short story right BUT NO I GOT PLAYED AND I DESERVE IT SO BADDDDDD.

Listen I hadn't shipped him and Cordelia simply because I never thought it in the realm of possibility but it MAKES SENSE as a ship... think about it: he never says what he feels, he flirts with her like he does with EVERYONE, he is kind to her in the way he is with EVERYONE. Really, Matthew is shippable with everyone, doesn’t matter if they’re taken cus that’s just what his Matthewnes allows for ya feel. There is such a beautiful irony that CORDELIA herself did not see this coming. Even the little teasers and hints in Gold have only NOW started making sense to me likejhss. I just felt like the hints in book 1 did not indicate to me that Matthew really harbored real romantic feelings for Daisy. I thought he was upset that James and Cordelia were being fakes, not a developing CRUSH on the woman fgs.

Not to mention that you usually sense a ship building when the emotional connection or sexual tension between the characters is made clearer but to me their FRIENDSHIP grew right but it didn’t feel like Cordelia was thought that she liked him or he liked her so that means me and Cordelia are clowns *together* 😤

Okay I was lowkey having SUSPICIONS but I immediately shut them down right... like firstly when he took her to the White Horse in his car and she went OFF and OFF and off about how she felt free for the first time? I thought Cassie was just tryna develop Cordelia's self-liberation arc through Matthew there. Heck, I didn't even think ANYTHING of it when Matthew confession to Cordelia about the "truth potion" incident at all cus I was like they're FRIENDS??? BUT now it's adding up now...

See when they were at the inn place and he was telling her that she doesn't in the least seem like a 100 year-old married woman? I was like hmmmm he's so sweet but why did Cassie phrase it like that like??? When Cordelia later reiterated that she thought Matthew's flirting was “meaningless”?? I was like hmmm kinda SUS tho. And then when he and James had their fight over the way Jamie kissed Grace like again I thought he was just like? ion know? mad at James for it but I didn't think he was in LOVE with Cordelia??? So I immediately put aside my slight suspicions. The probability that he had a crush on James at that point seemed more likely to me.

BUT THEN it started hitting me that every time Matthew drank, even before he explained his issue with the truth potion, that Cordelia would note it, she would worry about him, she would think of her father which seemed so poetic to me, history repeating itself and all that but this time you can FIX it??? Yeah, but again I didn't think the L WORD would be involved man???

Now imma sound like a delulu shipper here but it just makes sense they would develop feelings logically- reason being that it definitely is possible based on the way Cassie set up the story, like there's a combination of little “friend things” that can turn this into a proper ship: Matthew rescues Cordelia in the ballroom when Grace captures James' attention in Gold. Cordelia sees her father in Matthew all the time but knows now she has a chance to be there for him in the way she couldn't have been there for Elias (classic “history repeats itself” trope, she doesn't want Matthew drinking in Paris like dhshghdfhdhch). Cordelia tastes freedom for the first time when driving with Matthew. Matthew caught James and Cordelia making out in the room and was pissed but not even HE properly knew why then??? Umm, when she thinks James is forreal cheating with Grace on her she subconsciously goes to Matthew??? I also found it funny just how every intimate marital moment between her and James got interrupted somehow. Like, it's as if the narrative is just a living force REFUSING to let James and Cordelia as a ship be consecrated. Heck, every time Matthew is scantily clothed Cordelia notes it. LITTLE CRUMBS I TELL YOU LITTLE CRUMBS.

I tell you when Cordelia showed up to Matthew's flat I thought they were gonna f*ck as friends but I got SOMETHING EVEN BETTER SOMEHOW

THEY ARE GOING TO PARIS LA BELLE EPOQUE PARIS THE PARIS OF DREAMS AND ART LIKE??? FRICKKKKK I DID NOT SEE THIS COMING AT ALLLL MAN? I deadass thought the story would be restrained to the UK but like it MAKES SENSE the trope subversion MAKES SENSE.

“In Paris, with you, I will not need to forget.” SHITTRGEGGGDG

BUT CORDELIA LOVES JAMES TOO LIKE I CAN'T DENY THAT... where are we GOING with this like Matthew wouldn't lie about his feelings and yet Cassie wouldn't give us Matthew and Cordelia crumbs to only end it in the next book immediately for her to just ditch him for James. I mean she was clearly holding back on fleshing out James and Cordelia as a ship for this but to WHAT END??? Daisy feels wild and free with Matthew and she feels warm at home warm with James. I can’t advocate for the sinking of ANY ship here.

Imma say what we're all thinking: Is she gonna give us a Will x Jem x Tessa type situation where Cordelia gets both of them cus I'm not strong enough for this but I also think it'd be really funny if James gets a surprise bi awakening in the next books and then we get POLY even tho this would never happen, it’s actually impossible, because of the whole parabatai thing.

Listen I ship Cordelia and Matthew much more than Cordelia and James, not that I dislike James in any way tho. It's just: Matthew is so unrestrained and she's so composed. They seem like an unlikely pair so it makes sense that they hit harder for me. James and Cordelia have such similar personalities but I ALSO don't ship James with Grace at all so like?? Poly would be... ideal... but it can’t happen especially cus they are fricking parabatai... a Will-Jem-Tessa situation seems more likely but mannnn ion know what to expect. I just want FAIRSTAIRS to have their moment in Paris. I mean James and Matthew clearly don't abhor each other for this.

Take everything I say with several grains of salt, take everything I say with the whole Dead Sea actually, cus I damn well know that Matthew is so flirty and whatnot that I’d have shipped him with anyone in their little circle but now that she set him up with Cordelia it all feels so right?? I have wanted this man in a good relationship since he walked onto the page in Nothing But Shadows so-

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I can't believe Cassia duped me like this omg, Matthew is gonna have his healing arc in Paris with Cordelia by his side like- THIS IS ALL I HAVE WANTED AND SO MUCH MORE. Question to yall btw: are you all as surpised at Fairstairs as me or did yall see it coming all along like smart people? Am I a lone clown? 🥺

BRUH okay criticisms of CC?:

Lmfao a part of me feels like I GOTTA say something bad about CC or the book but honestly I have no objective complaints about it as of now. Am I saying that it’s the PEAK of Young Adult literature and Urban Fantasy? I mean, I make no such claims tbh. I’m not here to be critical when I read as a hobby and when CC’s writing makes me happy regardless of how flawed some people see it.

Okay what next?

So like I’m excited for the adult high fantasy she’s releasing in the fall and whatever other works she might be releasing outside of Chain of Gold within the Chronicles.

As for TLH itself? Man I’m just VIBING like I suspect I will reread Chain of Iron soon and maybe one of the anthologies just because I am happy that this series actually happened after me waiting like 6 years for it when it was just a concept: a Dickensian retelling filled with poetry and culture and history and the conventions I so loved in TID at age 12. This is all I been wanting tbh. I’m just enjoying watching this series come to fruition for it to inspire and transform me in some way. I feel like in a way my coming-of-age aligns with that of these specific characters yet I ALSO feel like I raised Jamie since infancy. Wack.

MATTHEW AND CORDELIA IN FRANCE LA BELLE EPOQUE TO BE EXACT IMMA CRY I DID NOT SEE THIS COMING AND AHHHHHH. ALSO WILL AND JAMIE GOING TO CORNWALL TO GET LUCIE AND MAYBE BOND I LOVE WILL. HE WAS ONE OF MY DILF AWAKENINGS AT AGE 12 AND NOW HE’S HERE AGAIN IMMA CRY. I WANNA SEE MATTHEW GET HAPPY. AHHH.

Ending with a fun quote: “In the wise words of someone or other, there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Maurice.” 😉

#the last hours #the shadowhuter chronicles #shadowhunters #will herondale #james herondale #cordelia carstairs #fairstairs #matthew fairchild #grace blackthorn #wessa #jessa #chain of iron spoilers #chain of gold #chain of iron #the infernal devices #ya books #books and literature #books #book lover #cassandra clare #cassie clare #tts fandom #book review #james x cordelia #chain of thorns #jordelia

[rabbitsparklez]

Explaining the red rocks + Eugene’s and Rapunzel’s TRUE worst fears 

I was rewatching Be Very Afraid and I developed a headcanon about the red rocks and characters' worst fears. 

I am not a writer of this show, nor is my logic infallible, but I put together my theory on how the red rocks read people, and the possibility that they can misread people

This is my longest post yet, so grab some snacks.

Rapunzel said that her worst fear was the things Cassandra could do to Corona, and losing her as a friend, but unlike everyone else, she didn't actually see visions of her fears and wasn't screaming in terror, as Eugene observed and pointed out. Maybe the rocks only work when the victim chooses to acknowledge their fear, and if they choose to avoid thinking about their fears, the rocks won't sense their feelings.

In the previous episodes, we see that Rapunzel is obviously trying to push her thoughts about Cassandra to the back of her mind so that she can focus on her life in Corona. She's clearly still upset about it all, but she has always had the tendency to be optimistic and cheerful, even when she's upset or scared. Rapunzel chooses not to acknowledge her feelings, but others do, like Varian and Lance. Of course Varian was having visions of losing his father because of his recent traumatic experience, and he chooses to acknowledge that fear, having every reason to be afraid. Not to mention, being a teenager, Varian must think about his emotions and feelings a lot, and the rocks could easily sense that. What would be giving him nightmares and swarming his mind every day more than losing his father again? Throughout the episode, Varian had tried to keep his mind off of that so he could focus on helping Rapunzel, and mostly it worked. He didn’t see anything related to his fears until he and Rapunzel reached the chamber where the rocks originated, and he had to use the amber to eliminate their power. Varian was scared of the amber because he knew what it was capable of doing, and it was in that moment that he started seeing his fears. We see another example with Lance. He showed that he had stage fright and fear of clowns and spiders, and while he didn't openly admit that, he didn't try to push it back into his head either. When Lance decided to stop letting his fears overcome him, they shrunk and ran away, because he no longer had that fear. It appears that the person doesn't need to confess that they are afraid, but all they need to do is allow themselves to be afraid, and let those negative emotions stick in their minds.

Realizing this, I became very incredulous about Eugene's worst fear.

 The episode said that it was a cowlick, but......No. No way. Why do I think that Eugene's biggest fear wasn't a cowlick if that's what he saw? Because he allows himself to make a fuss about the way he looks. He acknowledges the fact that he hates imperfections in the way he looks, and doesn't try to push that away. His true, deep emotional feelings, on the other hand, are a different story. A while back, @timid-izzie wrote an essay that went over the possibility of him having post-traumatic trauma and the fact that he tends to hide his own fears and negative emotions, covering them up with humor. Eugene doesn't acknowledge his negative emotions and fears, and I think, similar to how Rapunzel wasn't seeing visions of Cassandra, the rocks didn't sense any of Eugene's greater fears because they are pushed into the back of his mind. Deep down, Eugene has very unbearable fears, but pushes them so far back that he doesn’t realize how badly he has them. 

A few people have compared his worst fear, being a cowlick, to the scene from “The Quest for Varian”, where he mentions the fact that he had a cowlick before Rapunzel hit him with the frying pan and it was fixed after the blow. Basically, the fact that he doesn’t have a cowlick signifies the fact that he met Rapunzel and became a better person. I agree that this theory makes sense, and it doesn’t exactly disprove what I’m saying, because the cowlick is also related to imperfections.The writers wanted a cheap way to brush him out of the picture so they can focus on Cass, so why not use vanity as an excuse to do so? With or without the significance of the frying pan, the rocks could easily sense Eugene’s discomfort regarding imperfections. But they only show his reflection, not anything related to the origin of having that fear. The rocks sense his “fear of cowlicks” as a vanity-associated thing, because they can’t read the rest of the story. They don’t know why he hates cowlicks, but only the fact that he does. Considering this, I believe that Eugene has more deep fears than just the cowlick. 

What are the rest of his worst fears, then? There are many things that Eugene has likely had negative feelings about that might be a lot worse than what he convinces himself to believe. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. He spent a good 23 years trying to find himself and escaping his identity, having no family, no friends, no home, and no money  - until he started stealing. There are many things that can go wrong there. When he grew older, he made a lot of enemies and must have gotten into a lot of conflicts. He worked with and for very bad people who wanted to use him, and almost married an abusive and manipulative girl who only wanted him for his thieving abilities (Not to mention was way to young and naive to get married). Several notably traumatic things happened to him only in the last three years. In one day, he was sentenced to be hanged, witnessed the abuse of the woman he loved, and was stabbed and killed. No matter how much you think of others, there’s no person who can thoroughly escape such horrific events that happen to yourself. I think that Cassandra's taking the Moonstone was just as traumatic for Eugene as it was for Rapunzel, but in a different way. Remember that Eugene’s ancestors dedicated their entire family legacy to destroying that stone because it killed people, including his own mother. The Moonstone is directly the reason he was sent to an orphanage, became a notorious criminal, and received a death penalty. He forbade Rapunzel from entering the castle because he was so afraid for her safety that he didn’t want to risk losing her. Minutes after he built up the courage to let her grab it after remembering his faith in her, Cassandra took it like a piece of candy and ran away with it. He turned his back on the woman he loved to protect her and felt terrible about it, only for the stone to be stolen by someone who resented and wanted to kill her. Later, the unseen events or “No Time Like the Past” apparently forced him to stop resenting her because “friends don’t leave friends behind” (which, let’s face it, completely abolishes Flynn Rider’s persona and I hate it). But no matter what happened in that episode, I highly doubt Eugene immediately came to forgive Cassandra. The objective was to show that Cassandra was still redeemable, but it was poorly written, as a comment in “Flynnpostor” about Flynn Rider leaving people behind basically confirmed that either the events of “No Time Like the Past” never happened, or that he came back to his senses. Either way, there is no way Eugene’s (completely justified and understandable) resentment towards Cassandra just disappeared. 

It should be clarified that Eugene was not completely okay in season 3. He wanted to support Rapunzel and keep her hopes up, but logically, he would have serious problems deep inside.

 We get an example of this in "Return of the King", when he's irritated at Edmund for suddenly wanting to be part of his life after abandoning him. I've seen a lot of people point fingers at Eugene and call him rude for his hostility toward him in that episode, but honestly, I don't blame him. That was the first time he'd seen him since "Destinies Collide", and in his defense, Edmund didn't exactly welcome him with loving fatherly arms. When Eugene met his father, the first three things he had to do were accept his tragic backstory and identity crisis, dedicate himself to destroying the moonstone, and break his beloved girlfriend's heart. In actuality, Edmund is really a sweet and loving father, but Eugene didn't see that at first and it's not his fault. It wasn't until he found out that his father had kept track of him by reading his favorite books and bringing his childhood toys home that he realized just how much his father thought about him. In the finale, he admitted his resentment and confusion towards him, but that he had come to understand his motive. Until that cursed episode “No Time Like the Past”, he was very worried about Rapunzel’s behavior and the fact that she was thinking about Cass despite the fact that she almost killed her. The point is, Eugene is not immune to having emotionally painful feelings, and the writers didn't fool us when they claimed that his worst fear was a cowlick. It's an absolute pity that in a show where one of the morals is "you should never bury your feelings", one of the main characters has no story whatsoever relating to his very much real trauma.

If my theory about the rocks misreading peoples' feelings is correct, based on my observations, I don't think Rapunzel's worst fear is what she claimed it was either.

 It was not losing Cassandra as a friend. You might say I'm contradicting myself by saying this, because my original point for this theory was based off of that, but remember that Rapunzel generally does not express negative feelings. I believe that the rocks couldn't read Rapunzel's fears because she didn't allow herself to think about her fears. Perhaps losing Cassandra as a friend is one of her fears, but not her worst fear. Although she thought a lot about her, she thought in a hopeful sense rather than a miserable, negative sense.

In “Cassandra’s Revenge”, Rapunzel seemed to be completely over Cassandra, wanting to settle down and appreciate her surroundings. I’m not going to elaborate, but I’ve always regarded Cassandra’s and Rapunzel’s relationship as unhealthy, and it was especially bad for Rapunzel to keep wanting Cass to be back because Mother Gothel, her former abuser, was the motive. I saw this episode as a way to show that she was over her - she even painted over the pictures of her on her wall. But afterward she still seemed to care a lot about bringing her back, and even sang a song about wanting to do anything for her (which I don’t believe, seeing that she would use an incantation on her to save Eugene, showing that she wouldn’t give him up for her). Part of me sees this as another poorly written, contradictory scene that tried to cram in Cassandra’s potential to be redeemed, because, for her own mentality, Rapunzel should be over her. But I don’t think all of that was thought out in that way. Rapunzel still continued to pine onto Cassandra and bringing her back, but that came from her compassion for her rather than a deep and serious emotional feeling. The entire “Cass is still redeemable” arc was aimed to show that Rapunzel has compassion for everyone and won’t give up. It was not a matter of having a truly passionate fear of losing Cassandra, and I highly doubt that that was Rapunzel’s worst fear.

Similar to Eugene, I believe she has certain trigger fears that are buried deep down inside of her.

 I'm specifically thinking about "Rapunzeltopia", when Matthews controlled her dreams. According to Matthews, the things that he showed her were her worst nightmares. She saw Mother Gothel restraining her, Corona acting hostile, her fear of touching the rocks, and.... Cassandra. But it was not in a "afraid to lose her as a friend" sense. Cassandra was attacking her and blaming her for her problems. She tried to kill her and take revenge for getting her arm burnt. These visions must have had a more valid representation of Rapunzel's fears than the rocks did, because Matthews had entered and taken control of her mind. The rocks (again, if this is correct) merely read peoples' visible feelings; Matthews went inside her head and brought out her traumas, her true fears. A lot of people seem to think that Rapunzel has completely forgotten about Mother Gothel and what she did to her, but that is not true. I believe that Rapunzel’s fears are masked by her positive attitude, and this precisely was why the rocks couldn’t see through her, similar to Eugene. When she saw Mother Gothel keeping her in the tower, she was chained up. There was one time ever when Mother Gothel chained Rapunzel up. That was the day Rapunzel found out her life was a lie, was almost buried in a dungeon for life, saw the love of her life get murdered before her eyes (and might have partially thought it was her fault), and experienced other dramatic changes in her life - especially the part about losing Eugene. Throughout the series, Rapunzel has shown a particular weakness whenever she thought she would be separated from Eugene or lose him. He is her first friend, aside from Pascal, and an infinitely close and beloved one. He was the first person to ever show compassion towards her and care about her, which was the thing she never received from Mother Gothel. Whether she’d realized it or not, she had always craved that sort of attention and love, and Eugene gave it to her. She holds him especially close, not just as her lover but as a friend, because he repaired her life. Whenever his life was at risk, Rapunzel became especially desperate: He was what sparked her to use the Reverse Incantation on Hector to defeat (and possibly even KILL) him. Similarly, she used another potentially dangerous incantation to fight for him when Cassandra threatened to kill him (proof that she would not give anything for her). She stopped and dropped in the middle of a fight with Zhan Tiri because she saw him lying on the ground, possibly thinking he was dead (True, anyone would be concerned for someone they love if they saw them on the ground, but I can’t help but notice they were in a very similar position that they were when he died) Eugene has always been Rapunzel’s #1 priority, and I have a strong feeling that besides loving him above all else, she has the fear of revisiting that traumatic moment in which she lost him. Maybe she even felt responsible for letting that happen to him, especially since Mother Gothel made everything her fault.

I believe, among the other things she saw in that episode, Rapunzel's true worst fear was that day - that fateful day in which she found out her life was a lie and lost the one person who truly loved her.

Well I might be seriously overthinking this and be completely wrong, but from my POV it makes sense. People take trauma in different ways, depending on how seriously affected they are, who they are as a person, and their capacity to rise or fall from their demons. I truly believe that despite their natural optimism and resilience, both Rapunzel and Eugene have deeper fears and traumas than what is focused on in the show. We know as a fact that this show isn't afraid to let the audience know that characters suffer mental afflictions, such as Frederick and Varian, so why wouldn't characters like Rapunzel and Eugene, who have been through so much, suffer the same?

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and if not I thank you anyway.

Note:

I’d love to hear what you think, but please, if you have any questions or comments regarding this theory of mine, do not message me with the chat. I will not be active on Tumblr for a while. (You may use my ask box)

#TTS #Tangled the Series #RTA #Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure #Rapunzel #Eugene #rabbitsparklez #This is a LONG post fyi

[thejuleselliot]

the Flaws of ‘Wonder Woman: 1984′

Fair warning: I’m gonna go longform on this one. If you want to read an essay dissecting the failures of this movie, read on. If not...

...

I wanted it to be great.

After suffering various delays over the years, I was as excited as anyone else to see it. Unfortunately, when I eventually did, I was disappointed.

The film’s many problems essentially boil down to only one: it can’t pick a side. Steve Trevor is Diana’s soulmate, or he isn’t. Barbara Minerva is Diana’s friend, or she isn’t. And, most glaringly, Maxwell Lord is either a good guy... or he just isn’t. The filmmakers themselves don’t seem to know, but they expect you, the audience, to. None of this is played out skillfully, or with a hint of nuance.

It could be argued that the majority of 1984′s problems lie with Lord. While almost every commercial or promotion for the film portrayed Wiig’s Cheetah as the film’s villain, it’s obvious upon first viewing that Pascal has spades more screen time. But the fact is, Lord is never given enough opportunity to become a menacing villain because the film never bothers to take the time to paint an accurate portrait. The first time he’s really introduced to the audience is through the eyes of Wiig’s Barbara Minerva. The meeting is awkward, even cringe-worthy. You’re meant to find him charming, yet you don’t. This is an absolute failing within the script.

When creating a villain, a screenwriter needs to make a choice: the monster you fear, or the monster you love. In the Dark Knight, Heath Ledger’s Joker inevitably fits into the former category. Through the film, he not only murders Bruce Wayne’s girlfriend, he is shown to be completely unhinged on several occasions. The audience never questions for a minute that he will do anything and everything to create havoc in Gotham City. So, here, we not only have a defined personality, we have a motive.

For the latter, let’s look to Tom Hiddleston’s Loki in the first Avengers film. Loki is the charmer. Intense, but beguiling. The characters - and, by extension, the audience - is drawn in. Therefore, when he does do evil, it catches you off-guard. When he shouts, you listen.

The character of Maxwell Lord never gives you that chance. He’s been compared to the 80′s personality of Donald Trump, which is a apt description. The one issue of this, however, is that Jenkins chooses to give Lord a different dimension - that of a caring father. She can’t seem to commit to one side of the character. Is he a monster, or isn’t he? By the finale, you’re expected to believe that by reversing his actions, he’s proven what side of morality he’s on. However, without defining the limits of that morality early on, the audience lacks a personal connection to the character. A better version of the script would have eliminated the son entirely and committed entirely to a Trumpian parody, or eliminated the Trump-ishness and depicted a struggling, good-hearted businessman who allows power to corrupt him and ultimately chooses the right side in the end. Without defining clearer character boundaries, the audience is never given a chance to care what he does next.

Cheetah belies another narrative issue entirely. While Lord is complicated to the point of confusion, the script can’t seem to discern a motive for self-styled superhero Barbara Minerva. Her own introduction shows her being stepped over (literally) by coworkers at Diana’s work, the Smithsonian museum. Her supervisor can’t remember her name. Sounds bad, right?

However. It’s worth noting that we quickly learn that Barbara has started there only one week earlier. Yes, it’s pretty rude to be ignored or forgotten by your coworkers. But it’s not as if she has known them for years and still been treated this way. I wouldn’t expect a coworker or superior to have my name locked-in on week one. Barbara has started a new job, and the film never bothers to tell us what her old job was or where she's been since college. (We also learn, most upsettingly, that she has a series of impressive degrees - something we are merely told, not shown. With the exception of one scene in which she researches for Diana, she’s completely terrible at her job, and Diana constantly steps in to do it for her.) We’re meant to believe that it was simply fate that brought her to Diana, and to the path she is set on.

Quickly, Barbara proves herself to be a kind, if vaguely frenetic soul. That alone is enough potential for a lovable, Luna Lovegood-type character. However, by consistently ensuring that she is the most obnoxious person in the room, it’s difficult to gain audience sympathy. Early on, she’s attacked by a man while walking home, before quickly being saved by Diana. This kindness is forgotten, once she has successfully made Diana the villain in her mind.

Strangely, the film never really tells us why she goes after Diana so viciously. Outside of a power struggle, one from which Diana has nothing to gain, they have no disagreements, with exception of Diana’s generic, disinterested distrust in Barbara’s quickly-discarded love interest, Maxwell Lord. The Lord/Minerva subplot never really goes anywhere, burning brightly in snippets of the film’s first thirty minutes and largely disappearing for the next two hours. Jenkins decides not to treat Barbara as a woman manipulated, instead making her in charge of her own actions.

There would be merit in this, if it didn’t remove any or all motivation from Minerva’s story. Later in, Barbara seethes and makes several inane statements about being ‘special’ like Diana (during a battle, no less) and the film clumsily tries to assign this as her character motivation. At the end of the film, Barbara is electrically shocked in a way that would kill most people. The last shot shows her sitting on what appears to be a cliff, looking out at almost-Wakandan sunset, boldly copying one of Black Panther’s iconic final shots.

Another issue with Barbara stands with the film’s issues with character perspective. In the first film, almost every scene, with the exception of those with the villains, takes place from Diana’s point of view. This doesn’t work as well when employed in WW84. For one, unlike the first, the film is unable to choose a perspective. The first major scene set in the 80′s takes place in the eyes of a group of thieves who are never seen or heard from again. (We assume Lord hired them... this is never clearly stated?)

By doing this, the film suffers. Sometimes it chooses to focus on Diana’s rich and grieving state, still deeply affected from the loss of Steve Trevor. And when it does, it expects you to care. However, by choosing to focus almost equally on the emotional state of Lord and Minerva, it takes valuable screen time away from the woman with her name in the title. And all that time spent sympathizing with the villains is left wasted when the viewer struggles to find a reason to love them, and the film never tells you why.

The character assassination of Steve Trevor is its own failing. By removing him from his time, he is removed completely from his own motivations. He exists only to be a kind of spiritual guardian to Diana. He had not been brought to life by the film’s MacGuffin, it would have made little difference to his overall effect. Steve and Diana get a few moments, but they’re clumsily written and badly paced. By the end, Steve and Diana do part, and you’re left wondering why the script bothered to bring him back in the first place.

Then, Diana herself. The film opens with a woefully, painfully dull Olympic-style obstacle course, showing a eight-year-old Diana attempt to win. While doing so, she cheats, which causes her to be held back by her aunt, Antiope (R.I.P.). You hope this disappointing sequence will lead to a satisfying conclusion later on, but the only thing I could garner is that they were attempting to make a clumsy comparison to Diana’s eventual choice to leave Steve Trevor behind. (A bit of a reach. I know...)

Diana never gets much of an opportunity to be herself in this film. She performs several rescues, the first of which involves a long, intense eye-contact filled scene with a little girl.

(Who, in case you were wondering, does not come back or prove to be important later. A more discerning screenwriter would’ve had this child be Maxwell’s son, but... I digress.)

(There’s another grievance, there, and I’m going to take the opportunity to air it: this overstuffed, yet completely airheaded film takes time to tell us the backstory of a great Amazonian warrior. Do we ever meet this warrior? No.

No, we don’t - unless you count a post-credits scene where she is portrayed by Lynda Carter, who for some reason, could not be bothered to help Diana out when all of this mayhem was afoot. The part of this that annoys me most of all is that the entire backstory is created simply for the sake of justifying Diana’s new, golden eagle-wing armor, which could have otherwise been explained with four little words: ‘I took up metalworking.’”)

In conclusion...

agh.

#ww84 #wonder woman 1984 #wonder woman #gal gadot #patty jenkins #dc #dc comics #steve trevor #chris pine #pedro pascal #maxwell lord #cheetah #kristen wiig #barbara minerva #spoilers #wonder woman spoilers #wonder woman 1984 spoilers #essays #essay

[stitchwitchsapprentice]

The Curse Breaker

"And if you are accepted to Knights, what would you like to study?"

Julian looked around the table at the panel of teachers and tried to speak with as much gravitas as a fifteen year old could. "I'd like to study this history of the Sixth Migration, perhaps look at what became of the people in the Frist system..."

One of the teachers coughed. She was the shortest of the teachers on the panel. She pushed out her already puffy lips in a frown that made her look like an enormous bug had bitten her. Combined with eyebrows bushy enough to go to war on her forehead, it made her brown eyes and her already small nose look even smaller. "And why do you believe it is important to study the other systems?" she said. "when we have had no contact with them in over five hundred years?"

"That doesn't mean we never will have contact with them again. And at the rate that we've been developing technology, it's possible that we'll be making this contact within my lifetime." He tried to keep his voice even, as if they hadn't already read this in the three essays he'd been required to write for his application to Knights.

The olive skinned woman sitting across from puffy-lips was just a hair taller, but looked completely opposite, with a potato-like nose too big for her angled face and perfectly plucked eyebrows that angled over large blue eyes, one of which was always looking to the far left, no matter what the other did. Julian tried not to look at her face when she said, "But the 'Sixth Migration,' as you call it, was nothing more than a group of thieves trying to escape to the far reaches of the Zennis Galaxy. What interest would there be in such a... civilization?" She spoke the last word as if biting into a lemon.

Julian patiently tried to explain his interest in the subject, but without being able to explain his true draw to the Frist system--that his mother had, in fact, been born there--the rest of the interview went round in circles, and when the ten minutes had ended, he trudged home, not even bothering to use his natural wind magic to get there faster.

"Hey! How'd it go?" Julian's mother greeted him as soon as he stepped in the door. She was a spritely woman with skin so pale it shown like the white sand at a beach. Her eyes were a pale, oyster-pearl pink, and her hair, which feel nearly to her waist was thick, like seaweed, and deep green color, with white highlights. Most people assumed that she dyed her hair, and guessed that her strange colored eyes were due to some magical accident. Only Julian and his parents knew the real truth--that they were their natural colors, which they had been all her life.

Julian's mother was a pixie--a group of people who had once been magically changed on the far off planet of Iyuth. Not only did had their appearance changed, but they had powerful magical connections to the wind and the sea. They were also incredibly clever, perhaps too clever for their own good. For centuries ago, the gods had cursed the pixies, to only be able to use their magic in the service of others, and to agree to any request put upon them, lest it endanger someone's life.

It had been her curse that had allowed Julian's mother to transport herself to the Tristan solar system, at the sarcastic request of a rather foolish man. In Tristan, there were no races other than humans--not organic ones anyway. Though his mother's curse still plagued her, here she would not be captured or pressed in to service by those who recognized her as a pixie. Julian had inherited her knack for weather magic, and though unlike his mother, he could use it for his own purposes, he still felt compelled to agree to any request put to him by another person. The Iyuthan pixies, his mother included, told stories about a person who would be able to one day break the curse, and Julian wanted nothing more than to find the person so he could be normal... that, and go to Knights Academy.

Julian sat at the kitchen table, loosening first his black tie, and then the top button of his red-orange shirt. He had secretly hoped that wearing school colors might give him a leg up in the interview. "Not good."

His mother sat across from him. "At least you made it to the interview stage."

"The first interview. Even if, by some miracle, I get past this, there's still a test, and a second interview." There was a reason students referred to the Knights Academy application process as the Trials.

Julian's mom laid a hand on his. "Don't give up." She stood up again. "I was thinking about making cookies. I don't know if you're interested in helping me with that." His mother's curse had made unusual request forms commonplace in Julian's home. He agreed to help his mother--of his own accord--and by the time Julian's father arrived home, the whole house was filled with the scintillating scent of cinnamon.

For the next week, Julian let the Knights interview slip from his mind and merely enjoyed his summer holiday from school. But when the letter arrived from Knights that said his progress through the application process had ended, the joy of the season vanished as quickly as someone transporting to another planet. The real annoyance was how the letter adumbrated that he didn't have the focus and resilience to study at Knights. But maybe, if he applied again, after he had graduated from high school, when he had a better understanding of scientific study, he might succeed.

Julian tossed the letter to the floor. Resilience. They didn't think he had enough stick-with-it-ness to prove why studying the Sixth Migration was important. What was he supposed to have told them? That he wanted to study a planet they didn't believe to be inhabited? Or races only he knew existed? He looked up at his wall, where he had taped maps of each planet in the Tristan system. He dreamed of one day adding a map of his mother's planet to it, but that seemed impossible now.

His eye fell on the map of Laraly, the desert planet circling Tristan A. It was the First Migration--the one to Laraly that helped people figure out that different planets had different magical atmospheres. It was why some abilities were more common in different places. And why non-human races existed on his mother's planet, but not in Tristan. Laraly was a hostile planet. Like during the Sixth Migration, the people who had first gone there had done so to escape. And despite the lack of water and vegetation, they had stayed. Resiliance. If he was going to prove it anywhere, it was Laraly.

Julian had not planet hopped often. It was common in the Tristan system, but not usually for people with wind magic. He had practiced some, but only knew he could do it because his mom had done it once before. They key, he had read, was to focus on the cynosure--an image of focus that grounded you in the place you were traveling to. It had to be specific to that location, or you risked going to the wrong place. That's why cities and landmarks often created specific images to assist travelers. Julian only knew of one on Laraly, however. It was along the Living River--a big sign near the campsite had a picture of a tree painted on it. The roots of the tree ran like the river itself, and the branches divided the land, directing visitors to the hills in the west, the desert in the north, and the grassland in the south. Julian concentrated on the sign--on the sign painted blue, which stood on the north side of the river. On the south stood another in purple. He imagined himself in front of the sign, directed himself in front of it.

Transportation magic was usually painless--the world around you rippled, as if in a heat wave, and then reappeared anew. It did, of course, have effects on the body. It tended to make people dizzy, though it only lasted for a minute or two. But Julian did not have a natural gift for transportation magic. He had a natural gift for wind magic. For Julian transporting to another place felt like being lifted up by a tornado. He could feel himself hurling through space as wind whipped around his shirt and txs hair. He kept his eyes shut tight, not that he could see much anyway. And then, his feet hit the ground with such an impact that he lost his balance and dropped to his knees. He felt for a moment like he might throw up, but as a wet breeze hit his face, his head cleared and he realized he was at the campsite, in front of the sign, the bank of the river only a few feet in front of him.

The campsite was empty, but for one other person. When Julian saw her, he thought for a moment that she was Puffy Lips, from his interview... if Puffy Lips had shaved off all her hair. They met Julian's gaze and snorted. "First time transporting, huh?"

"Something like that." He stayed on the ground for a moment longer, just to be sure he was not about to vomit, and then stood and dusted himself off. Looking around the empty site, he realized his mistake. What had he planned to do, exactly? Wander off into the desert for three days like some figure in a Calistian fairytale? Expect one of the magic lords to save his life? And then tell Knights Academy that's why they should accept him? Julian knew he should go home before his parents realized he was gone, but he didn't think he was ready for that windstorm-transport again. Worse, he wasn't sure if he had a true cynosure for his home. Sure, it was his, but what was unique about it?

Julian knelt at the edge of the river and splashed water onto his face. When had he been here last? About five years ago, with his parents. His mom liked to tour around the Tristan System. She liked learning about the planets that she hadn't grown up on, the history that was so old her people had forgotten it. Julian wasn't interested in history back then. He had wanted to float down the river. The Living River hadn't earned its name only from the life it gave to the surrounding area, but from the incredible rapids that it had. Somewhere down river was their launch point. But he didn't know how far the boathouse was from the river, or when the next group would be arriving. His father had agreed to take Julian on the river while his mother visited the alhambra.

"Alhambra." Julian looked upriver. The Alhambra had once been a palace in the hills, where the king could protect himself from invasions. Now it was a museum about the area. And it was open every day of the week. Surely they would have a way to contact his parents.

Julian set out west, toward the hills. When he reached their base, he saw a stone path cutting through the sparse purple vegetation. Though he knew the leaves here were of a lavender color, rather than the pale green of his home planet, it was still weird to see. Julian guessed the walk took about an hour, but the path was cut in a switchback that made the climb an easy one. Soon, he saw the reddish-brown turrets of the alhambra before him. Near the door, several laniferous animals munched on the lavender grass. They were fluffier than the sheep on his own planet--so much so that even their heads resembled cotton balls. For a moment, he amused himself with the idea that they should be purple from the grass. But, he supposed, the sheep back home weren't green. They barely noticed him as he walked past and into the door. Clearly, they were used to visitors.

The inside of the alhambra was just as beautiful as the outside--reddish clay brick with intricate geometric carvings. Scenic tapestries hung in several places, likely made from the wool of the same type of sheep he had seen outside. The tapestries were old, but the wooden counter was new. The woman standing behind it was so short that only her head peeked above. Julian secretly wondered if was using a stepstool. "Can I help you?" She asked. Eyes half-closed, she seemed to be staring off to the side. He turned to look in the same direction, but saw nothing but the sign for the restrooms, also surely a new addition to the building.

"Can I help you?" she asked again. This was followed by a loud pop, and Julian realized she was chewing gum.

"No one's here?"

"It's a weekday," she drawled in her monotone, "and the season's nearly over. Do you want to visit the museum or not?"

"Um..." Julian approached the counter. "Actually, I was hoping to contact Whitefall."

"Whitefall?"

"Yeah, um... it's..."

"It's not on this planet."

"Yeah, I know." Julian scratched his head, feeling a little like the sheep outside. "I... kinda came here by accident. I was... hoping to get in touch with my parents."

She rolled her eyes. "New transportation mage, doesn't know what he's doing."

"Something like that."

She sighed. "You got a com number for your house?" Julian gave it to her. She punched the number into the computer on her desk. "What's your name?"

"Julian. Julian Daye."

"To... Mr. and Mrs. Daye... from the Laraly Alhambra..." the clerk spoke as she typed, "your son, Julian... has accidentally transported himself... to the Living River area of Laraly." She looked him up and down. "He is safe and unharmed."

Julian scratched his head again.

With a flourish, the clerk hit the send key. "It's gonna take at least ten minutes for the message to reach Whitefall."

"Thanks." Julian edged away to the bench near the bathrooms.

"The museum is free," she said in a tired voice, "unless you want a tour." She flicked her hand to a group of three-foot tall bullet-shaped robots in the corner with coin slots.

"Thanks again." Julian bypassed the bench and headed into the next room. He wandered around for some time, until a photograph of a shield caught his eye. The plaque on the wall next to it said The Curse Breaker. Julian read on. It was an old story about the creation of the Dagger Islands. According to the story, the islands had once bridged the northern and southern continents of Laraly. But long ago, a monster had threatened the people who lived on the bridge. It created for itself a giant cave of ice, and whenever someone fought it, it turned them into ice also, until a great hero rose up who bore that shield, which the monster's ice could not penetrate. The hero used the shield to melt the ice cave, creating an ocean of water, which buried the monster beneath it. But this did not kill the monster, which cries out from the depths. And this is how the bridge became the islands and how the Wailer's Ocean got its name. The shield had once belonged to the museum, but was stolen not long after.

Normally, Julian would have passed up the story as an old myth, but as he stared at the picture, he recognized something etched into it. It was a symbol that had equally been etched into his own brain after his attempts to apply to a school with the same symbol. It was the symbol of Knight--the Calistian god of fire. And while it was difficult to tell from the picture, the item looked like it might be made of Calistian metal. Julian knew from stories his mother told that items of the magic lords existed. They were rare, and they were powerful. A page from an old book was framed on the other side with a picture of the temple to the Mithra, the god whom the people of the Dagger Islands were known to worship. It was a longshot, but it was possible that the person who had stolen it had returned it to the temple. Perhaps this curse breaker could fix his own curse. 

Julian peaked through the doorway from the museum to the lobby and waited until the bored worker had turned her attention to the computer and dashed out the door. The sheep outside barely noticed him, except for one, which gave him an angry, "maah" before moving on to find another patch of purple scrub to eat.

"What?" Julian asked it, as if it had accused him of something, "It's not like I'll get another chance later." He found the sun and roughly determined which direction was east. To get the Dagger Islands, he didn't need to transport. Since he was on Laraly, he could fly there. That was easy enough. Julian summoned a wind and allowed it lift him into the air just as he heard the door of the alhambra open. As he let the wind carry him south and east over the Astra Hills, he faintly heard the groan of the museum worker. He wanted to call to her that he would be back soon, but he didn't think she would hear him.

He swept over the Opal Channel until it widened into the Wailer's Ocean. It was dusk when he spotted the temple of Mithra--a tower on a hill bearing an insignia with an open eye and two dragons. He decided it was good thing that he had flown. Walking up the hill would have been a pain in the ass.

Julian's wind brought him to the bottom window. Whether or not people still worshiped at the temple, he knew it was a lighthouse, which meant someone lived here, and he guessed they were upstairs, turning on the light. Nevertheless, he hovered at the edge of the window, trying to keep out of sight of anyone who might be in there. But the room was empty. A round rug was on the ground, and the main piece of furniture were a bookshelf, and across from it, a large plush chair, with a metal box on one side and an iron pot on the other. He looked for the shield, but couldn't get a good angle from outside the window, so he climbed in, letting his wind go on its way.

The room was warmer than he expected, considering the window didn't even have a shock shield to keep the weather out... or intruders. Or at the very least, it wasn't turned on. But whoever lived there probably thought it unlikely that someone would try to break into a lighthouse.

The heat seemed to be coming from the metal box on the other side of the chair. Julian approached it, curious, making sure not stub his toe on the iron pot, only to realize the pot was not next to the chair, but next to the bookcase. He looked to the window, and tried to judge the angle of its view into the circular room. It must have been that the room looked smaller from outside.

He stepped up to the heating box and examined it. It was a tam block, which people hadn't used since his grandparents had been his age. "Wow!" He breathed and stood up to look for the shield, only to find a sword a breath away from his neck.

"Seem to be in search of the wrong god, don't we?" a woman's voice spoke from the staircase. As she stepped into the light, never moving the point of the sword, Julian saw that she was young and slender, not even as old as his mother, with a long black braid down her back, and a gold tiara. Her right arm, which hung at her side, seemed to be made of metal, though it was unlike any prosthetic he had ever seen.

Julian put his hands into the air. "Please don't hurt me! I just came looking for the Curse Breaker!"

The woman paused, and then lowered the sword. "You are out of your depth aren't you." She looked toward the staircase and said, "Really, Pot? You thought a little boy was a threat?" In answer, the iron pot came walking out of the staircase on three legs.

"It's a robot?" Julian said amazed. He'd never seen an iron robot before. And there was no evidence of where the joints connected to the body.

"It's a pot," the woman answered. The pot turned a circle on its legs, and the woman brushed it lovingly with a foot. "Yes, you're my friend too, Pot. But you're not some dead piece of... computer equipment." She turned her attention once again to Julian. "So what brings a half-pixie all the way to Laraly?"

Julian opened his mouth to respond, and then paused. "How do you know I'm half-pixie?"

The woman sheathed her sword. "You're not the only one here from another planet."

"That is more than I care to explain right now." She crossed her arms over her chest. "So why are you looking for me?"

"I'm not looking for you. I'm looking for..."

"The Curse Breaker. That's me. What, surprised I'm a woman?"

"I... I thought it was the shield."

"Oh." The woman crossed the room to the chair and sat down. The pot followed her and settled down next to her, lowering its bottom to the ground like a dog might lay down at its owner's feet. She glanced into it. "Thanks, Pot." Then, she extracted a small stool from the pot and set it in front of her. "Have a seat," she said to Julian.

"Has that... always been..." Julian gave up asking questions and sat on the stool in front of her.

"The shield is the tool that helps the Curse Breaker," the woman explained, "the wielder shares its home until the next person comes along." She spread out her arms, gesturing to the room.

"Did it really create the Wailer's Ocean?"

She laughed. "An great exaggeration. It broke a curse of ice. It didn't create the ocean. I suppose you want your pixie curse lifted."

Julian nodded. "And for my mom."

"Well, let's see what I can do for you first."

"That's it? You're not even going to... ask me for payment or something?"

"Well, let's see if I can do it first..." Again, she reached into the pot. and this time, extracted the shield. It was smaller than Julian had expected, not much more than a foot tall, but his jaw dropped nonetheless.

She must have noticed because chuckled when she saw his face. "Pot is very helpful. We back on Thuo, and... I guess they decided to stick around." As if in response, the pot tilted on one of its legs until it touched her, like a cat rubbing its head against someone. She laughed and patted the pot. "Yeah, I love you too."

She hefted the shield onto her lap and held it so it faced Julian. For a moment, he felt like he should prepare himself for a bright light or something else to come out of it. Then he noticed the symbol on the shield shifting. In the photograph in the mueseum, it had been the symbol of Knight, but as he watched it, the etching changed to the symbol of other magic lords--first that of Orick, lord of irony, and then that of Reed, lord of wind.

"I can break the curse..."

"you can?"

"...but it would take your magic too."

Julian's heart sank. He imagined not being able to travel on the wind again.

"It would only take away the affinity you have now," she said truthfully, "anyone can learn magic. You could get it back with study and practice."

But Julian didn't want to study and practice. He supposed the committee at Knights had been right. He didn't have the resilience. Julian shook his head. "I can't. It's too much a part of me."

A cold wind blasted through the room, though this didn't come from the window, but from the direction of the staircase. A moment later, someone was hauling Julian to his feet by his ear.

"Ow!"

"See? I told you I could find him."

Julian looked at the two people who stood on either side of him and realized it was his parents.

"The lady at the alhambra said you'd run off," his mother said, "I wasn't worried."

The Curse Breaker laughed as she returned the shield to the pot, which hadn't so much as twitched at the sudden appearance of Julian's parents. "Be thankful your family cares so much about you," she told him.

"Now, do you want to tell me what you're doing all the way out on Laraly?" Julian's mom asked.

"Not really?"

"Then I guess we'll go home." She nodded to the Curse Breaker, and then came that terrible sensation of the wind speeding around them, of losing his breath, and Julian and his parents were home again. On the tail end of the wind, he thought he heard the Curse Breaker's voice telling him to keep looking, but he could have imagined it.

"Julian, could you do me a favor?" His mother said sweetly as he regained his balance and gasped for breath. "Could you please not go transporting yourself anywhere for the next month?"

Julian felt it more than heard it, a small snap in his spine, like he was a doll that someone had straightened. With that request, she locked down his magic.

Julian sighed. "Obligations."

#Original Fiction #52 Weeks of Writing

[blarfkey]

director’s cut, director’s choice of ⭐️Dear Fen’Harel⭐️? (Though generally speaking, I’m intensely curious as to how you develop characters because everyone you write is so brilliantly layered)

So um, this exploded. And I apologize. I am very much a character-driven writer versus a plot-driver writer. Also, how I develop characters is not a process I think about, it just happens, so this is also me finding out for myself how my own brain works, haha. If you want the full fucking three page essay this turned into, there���s more under the cut.

If not, and I don’t blame you, TLDR: I break a canon character down to their parts based on what I see in-game, I look at how their personal quest affects them, and I try to find a modern day equivalent to that. Each character has an issue they need to get past and I create situations to challenge those issues. And Ellana was created to be a foil for Solas and I dumped all my negative traits into her because neither she nor I can afford therapy so this is our best bet.

First of all, developing characters in fanfic is different than OC characters because I have a pre-set personality to work with rather than making someone from scratch. So for this, Ellana’s development is different from the rest of the cast.

For fanfic characters, obviously I look at the source material and see how they’ve reacted to certain situations and what they have canonically expressed about themselves in both deed and word. Honestly, I pay more attention to what they have DONE versus what they have SAID because a lot of characters tend to fool themselves into thinking they’re one way when they’re not (here’s looking at you, Solas).

Because DF is a modern AU, I take what I have seen in Canon (which is a lot because Bioware is very good at giving so much material to work with having all those different dialogue trees) and I apply it to the Modern Day. Some characters fit very easily – Dorian was made for Academia. Krem seems a more modern character anyway with how he constantly roasts Iron Bull. Josephine’s prowess in DA:I translates very easily to political science. Varric kind of has a modern writer’s career anyway.

Some are not easy – Solas is actually super hard for me to write in DF than he is in Thick as Thieves because so much of his characterization, his world views, his prejudices, are rooted in the fact that he is an ancient being out of time – which is impossible to have in this AU. I have crafted a sort of back story for him that might explain some things later, but it’s flimsy at best, haha.

So I’ve had to really look at what Solas is like in Inquisition when he’s pretending to be a “normal” hedge mage hermit from nowhere and how he behaves in his romance and extract from that. Solas is a nerd, he’s socially awkward from self-imposed isolation, he constantly struggles with what he wants and what is the morally correct thing to do and the temptation to be loved usually wins out over his convictions until the last second when he gets his common sense back and ruins everything.

It helps that in both DA and DF Solas is keeping a massive, massive secret from the Inquisitor about his identity that will shift the power balance between the two, so I’ve used that to guide me when I’m unsure. He still feels off to me, but it’s whatever at this point, lol. I did my best.

Once I’ve boiled a character down to their usual traits, I figure out how I’m going to have them grow throughout the fic and use their growth to help Ellana’s growth. I try to pull from their personal quests as much as I can, when I can get it to fit.

Some people, like Iron Bull, are static because they’ve already gone through their journey and have reached acceptance. I didn’t really know how to work his Leaving the Qun story line in the modern day, since it is tied so closely with war and potentially killing the Chargers, so by the time Ellana meets him, he has already left the Qun and made his peace with it. I use his static nature to help guide Ellana when she’s conflicted about her identity.

Some people, like Josephine, have personal quests that don’t fit with a modern era but I want to show them grow anyway, so I create something else for them. Right now, Josephine is mired in family drama and trying to figure out how to balance shouldering the weight of her responsibilities to her family with being her own person. That I drew from my own personal experience with being the only sane person in my family with their shit together, haha.

Or Cassandra, who is definitely NOT going to be Divine here, lol. So instead she gets to struggle with her art and how she can express herself in a way that leaves her vulnerable to scrutiny and yet can be so freeing.

Some people, like Krem, get a character arc that I think should have been explored but never was. Krem being trans is something that’s mentioned and talked about a little and never explored. I mean, he’s not a main character, so I get it. And I liked that Being Trans wasn’t his entire character. But there was no way to put him in the modern AU without his trans identity impacting some of his story and growth, even if he had already made his peace with it.

Now, I will say this upfront: I am not trans, and I haven’t had the opportunity to be close friends with a trans person, but I have done a lot of research on what trans people have said about their own experiences, and combined this with other research I’ve done over the years with other minorities and tried to put together what could be lingering insecurities for him and how he could overcome them.

I’m  definitely not saying that I’ve done this perfectly and I’m always open to any trans reader who would give me correction, but being trans was not an aspect of Krem’s character that I wanted to ignore just because I wasn’t familiar with it.

I will say that his romance with Josephine was Not Planned. It just kinda happened and I happily ran with it, haha.

Varric’s arc with Bianca is just wishful thinking because I hate her so so much and Bioware just dropped that bomb in Varric’s lap and then just lets him keep holding on to it and it’s bullshit.

The other character journeys are just ways to explore vulnerability in them that I didn’t think got enough attention in the game or I think they could realistically have even if it wasn’t in canon. Like Dorian dealing with his father. Now, in the game, Halward doesn’t have a disease and he dies unexpectedly. But I wanted Dorian to have a realistic reason why he would reach other to his estranged father in this AU and a ticking countdown to an inevitable death seemed right.

Now we get to see Dorian really struggle with this new-found connection with his father that he always wanted to have and now it’s temporary and heartbreak is inevitable and is it still worth it to him? I think Dorian has similar feelings in Trespasser when he found out his father was murdered because he still invested himself to rebuild a lost connection, only to lose it so soon after.

Zevran’s past with the Crows is also something that I really wanted to explore because in the game he is sad for a hot second and then moves on with the Warden and his newfound goal of destroying the entire Crow organization. So I wanted to see Zevran struggle with his inner worth, the fact that he can’t hide forever and his past puts his loved ones in danger, the fact that he can even HAVE loved ones and how it scares the shit out of him.  I wanted to have a character who puts on such a good front about not giving a shit about anything to hide how very deeply afraid he is. We are going to see more of this also before the story is over, lol.

Now, Ellana. Like all original characters, Ellana has a lot my personal experiences tied in her. But I originally created Ellana to fill a need for a type of character that I wanted to see with Solas and don’t really get to. I mean, I have not scourged the corners of the internet to find it so I’m sure there are other characters like her, but I haven’t found very many.

I see a lot of very beautiful, very delicate and feminine, very kind and gentle Disney Princess kind of Lavellans. I see a LOT of them. And I don’t hate that necessarily. I mean, Josephine is all of those things and more and I adore her and I sort of crack ship her with Solas anyway, in the secret recesses of my heart. And I love seeing a female character who is the epitome of a “weak” female use those “weak” traits to succeed.

But I am also not very beautiful, I am NOT delicate at all, I’m not gentle. I am not anywhere close to a Disney Princess or a Josephine. And it was disheartening to see Solas romance all these Ocs that were nothing like me after a while because it kind of gave me the message that someone like Solas, a character that I admire and def have a fictional crush on, would never want someone who looks like me or acts like me. That even with unlimited freedom in creating a romantic counterpart for him, I saw so much of what society already reinforces as an ideal that I will never match up to. It doesn’t help that Bioware’s body diversity for elves ranges is nonexistent.

So I made Ellana for me. Not because I want to hate on other Ocs or prove that mine is superior, but so that I would have something that I connected to. And I wanted to explore a dynamic with Solas that I didn’t get to see very often.

So when I first imagined Ellana, I wanted her to be strong and tall and muscular and powerful in a way that makes a lot of unenlightened men uncomfortable. I wanted somebody used to manual labor and dirt and the outdoors and solving problems with their fists and just totally unrefined because I wanted her to be the complete opposite of Solas. (So like Cassandra but in elf form, haha).

I did not want her to be soft or conventionally attractive at all. Ellana doesn’t shun femininity, because I don’t think femininity is inherently wrong, but she is uncomfortable with it and she doesn’t indulge in it.

(Just FYI I am NOT built like Ellana at all either, haha. This is the wish fulfillment part of the OC. I greatly resemble the dwarves, which is why I love them so much.)

But I also needed her to have a reason to leave home, and to have some points of commonality with Solas, so I made her a nerd. A jocky nerd who is insatiably curious and stubbornly independent. And then because I wanted Ellana to feel like a real person instead just a wish fulfillment fantasy, I needed her to grow. So I gave her all my complicated anger issues, my bluntness, my struggles with homesickness, the way I compartmentalize negative events in my life so I don’t have to deal with them just so they can bite me in the ass later, my experiences of going from a lifestyle where all my needs were met and I was oblivious to how great I had it to living with serious poverty for the first time.

And then I devised situations with her life and the other characters where Ellana has to confront these issues and learn to accept them and either move past them or learn to control them. Sometime she gains wisdom and imparts it to people like Sera or Dorian when their struggles come up. And her biggest challenge has yet to arrive, so she’s still cooking, so to speak. Ellana still has a long way to go before she really reaches maturity.

As far as her relationship with Solas goes, I wanted her to challenge him and give him a total upheaval everything he thought he knew about his own culture and his own self. And I wanted him to do the same for her. And then when all the pieces are done falling, they have grown into two people who can handle being together.

So that’s basically it. If there is any character in particular you want to know more about or why I made certain decisions, always feel free to ask!

#asks #dear fenharel #my fic

[skyguyed]

the normalization of abusive behavior in reylo

for those wondering why some people are calling reylo an abusive ship, below the divide are examples and explanations from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi where Kylo Ren displays abusive behavior towards Rey.

This is important because abusive/toxic actions in fiction are often normalized to the point where viewers may not notice abusive behaviors as red flags, or may grow to see abusive behavior as normal, even romantic (or valid precursors to romance).

This post will also discuss the role of fictional portrayals in shaping reality, and why I believe supporting reylo means normalizing abuse.

Thank you in advance for your time and energy to read this. 

The purpose of this post 

This post (essay, really, it’s gotten pretty long) will examine every interaction between Rey and Kylo Ren, and will point out where and how abuse occurs in this relationship. I will also discuss why this matters.

This post is not meant to police anyone or insult, nor is it meant to incite disrespectful arguments. It is not a call for censorship. The purpose of this post is to help unaware reylo shippers understand where and why reylo is abusive, to help fans recognize abusive behavior, to assess the relationship between fiction and reality, and to discuss why I believe supporting reylo means normalizing abuse.

Trigger warnings for mentions, descriptions, and discussions of violence, domestic violence, abuse, and rape.

Legal definition of abuse:

According to the judicial branch of California,

The domestic violence laws say “abuse” is:

Physically hurting or trying to hurt someone intentionally or recklessly;

Sexual assault;

Making someone reasonably afraid that he or she or someone else is about to be seriously hurt (like threats or promises to harm someone); OR

Behavior like harassing, stalking, threatening, or hitting someone, disturbing someone’s peace, or destroying someone’s personal property).

Read more about Domestic Violence.

What abusive behavior does reylo display?

Kylo Ren exhibits these types of abusive behaviors towards Rey (timestamps indicated when appropriate):

Immobilizing her 

Using the Force in the forest on Takodana (TFA, 1:17:32)

With physical restraints in First Order custody (TFA, 1:25:40)

Threatening her with a weapon 

With light saber, while she’s immobilized by him (TFA, 1:18:00)

Stalking her

“You still want to kill me.” “That happens why you’re being hunted by a creature in a mask.” (TFA, 1:26:08)

Putting down her friends

“Where are the others?” “You mean the murderers, traitors, and thieves you call friends?” (TFA, 1:25:57)

Kylo Ren called Rey’s parents “filthy junk traders” (TLJ 1:48)

Hurting her friends: Finn, mortally (TFA, 1:54:42)

Not to mention killing his father Han in front of her, who had become someone she trusted.

Entering her (mind) without permission (confirmed by JJ Abrams as an intentional rape parallel in a Facebook post to Daniel Fleetwood, since deleted/made private - see summary here)

This happened twice- once on Takodana when he had her immobilized (TFA, 1:18:12), and then again in First Order custody: “You know I can take whatever I want.” (TFA, 1:27:00) despite her tears, fear, and obvious discomfort and protests

Threatening to expose her secrets (where is BB-8 and the map to Luke Skywalker)

Attacking her with a weapon

Also using the force to attack her (multiple times)

Rendering her unconscious (real world equivalent: drugging or physical violence)

First on Takodana with the Force, (TFA 1:13:32), then on Starkiller Base, by launching her into a tree (TFA 1:51:24)

Trying to manipulate her (into joining the Dark Side)

Snoke may have initiated their force bond, but as soon as Kylo realized what it was, he started using it to make Rey sympathize with him

Kylo Ren feeds Rey only part of his side of the story, painting himself as a victim (leaving out how he slaughtered/turned the other students, and what he did to concern Luke in the first place [re: the “darkness rising in him,” TLJ 1:00:33])

Gaslighting and verbal abuse: “You have no place in this story. You come from nothing. You’re nothing... but not to me.”

“Your parents threw you away like garbage. You can’t stop needing them.” (TLJ 1:12:02) He hangs this over her head, again at TLJ 1:31. And “the truth” at 1:48.

Kylo also literally abducts Rey after knocking her out, although that isn’t on the cited list. And he frames her for murdering Snoke after she wouldn’t join him, which puts a huge target on her back. And um, tries to actually kill her (“BLOW THE PIECE OF JUNK -- OUT OF THE SKY!”)

Kylo’s own manipulation, abuse, and gaslighting by Snoke do not excuse his treatment of Rey. (Finn was abused and brainwashed, too. And he chose to turn better.)

Here are resources for abuse victims. 

Why the interrogation scene has clear rape parallels

This is not meant to cheapen or lessen the trauma faced by physical rape/assault victims. I understand that this comparison is upsetting to some people because, since it is presented on-screen as a parallel, it could be argued as much less severe or even be seen as trivializing the plight of real-life victims. I’m not trying to speak for all abuse victims when I say this, but as a person who has experienced sexual violation, I can’t help but see a clear parallel here. 

The interaction is highly invasive. Rey is terrified and protests when she is able to. Kylo Ren tells her shit like not to be afraid, etc. (which sounds like stuff abusers say). She tells him to stop (1:27:39) “Get out of my head” and still he proceeds, ignoring verbal and physical protests. This is not a healthy dynamic, and shouldn’t be portrayed as romantic, or as a prucursor to romance. It’s clearly violating, and it’s triggering to a lot of fans.

When we do not acknowledge this scene as a nonconsensual psychological invasion of a person, I believe we are glossing over an extremely vital dynamic in this relationship. The fact that Kylo says to Rey, “I can take whatever I want,” shows an entitlement to her mind and body that he doesn’t deserve, an attitude shared by many abusers. It creates a power difference that forces Rey to fight back to regain control from him. I’ve seen people argue that he was “gentle” but gentle violation is still violation.

But they’re at war.

This really doesn’t excuse Kylo’s actions towards Rey, sorry. And even if they are at war, this kind of behavior he’s exibited towards her thus far does not make a good foundation for a healthy relationship. That trauma, those offenses will still be there.  

Also, if they’re at war, Rey has every reason to fight back, so saying that “Rey abused Kylo Ren back” when he’s the perpetrator is a flimsy argument. Her ability to “kick his ass” does not make her immune to abuse. It also shifts the blame for Kylo’s mistreatment from him, to her, which is vastly unfair, echoing the victim-blaming sentiment that’s pervasive in our own reality, that real victims face.

Why do we care if Reylo is abusive? It’s just fiction.

We should care that Reylo is abusive because fiction reflects and influences reality. This TED Talk discusses how fiction changes people by increasing empathy, and changes a person’s point of view. Fiction is powerful in shaping a person’s actions. Reading fiction helps readers navigate a real social world. Additionally, fiction can spark public dialogue and raise attention to real-world issues. Reading fiction has been associated with an increase in charitable giving and voting (x).

Here are some examples of fiction influencing reality:

Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) was the first major US novel with a Black main character, and it “ opened reader’s eyes to the realities of slavery and the humanity of enslaved people.” “Stowe’s candor on the controversial subject of slavery encouraged others to speak out, further eroding the already precarious relations between northern and southern states and advancing the nation’s march toward Civil War.” (x) Conversely, in modern times, it has helped popularize harmful antiquated stereotypes of Black people (x).

Joe Biden attributed historic changes in American views of homosexuality to Will and Grace (1998), which influenced American views on LGBT rights and helped open the door to more programs with LGBT leads. 

Fifty Shades of Grey (2011) popularized BDSM and caused a spike in reported sex-related injuries, and has been accused of perpetuating dangerous abuse standards. A 2014 study showed correlation between the novel’s readers and eating disorders, abusive relationships, and binge drinking. 

Star Trek has been vastly influential. Astronaut Mae Jemison (the first Black woman in space) was inspired by Lt. Uhura. The show featured American TV’s first interracial on-screen kiss. Steve Wozniak cited Star Trek as an influence for co-founding Apple (x). Star Trek has encouraged many people to pursue a career in science (x).

Jaws (1974) caused beach attendance to fall the following summer, sparked an increase in shark trophy hunting, and demonized sharks in the public eye. (However, shark research received more funding.)

Six in ten Americans get their HIV/AIDS information from the media (x). Musicals like Rent (1993) helped humanize people living with HIV/AIDS, as well as LGBT people. Rent has also been cited as helping encourage LGBT people to come out.

The Turner Diaries (1978) is a novel cited by white supremacists.

Lolita’s (1955) sexualization of a 12-year-old girl has impact on modern celebrities wardrobe choices and image.

Black Beauty (1877) caused the bearing rein to be banned in Victorian England and inspired animal welfare activists.

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle (1906) portrayed harsh working conditions for immigrants in industrial areas, and raised awareness and produced public outcry which directly led to the passing of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act, both in 1906.

After the release of 13 Reasons Why (2017), schools saw an increase in student self harm and suicides, and related internet searches. 

Psychologist Raymond Mar writes, “Researchers have repeatedly found that reader attitudes shift to become more congruent with the ideas expressed in a [fiction] narrative.” “For example,if we watch a TV program showing a sexual encounter gone wrong, our own sexual ethics will change... If, however, the show displays a positive sexual encounter, our own sexual attitudes will move towards the permissive end of the spectrum.”  (x pg 150)

In one study, 19% of respondents said that after finishing a work, a character’s voice stayed with them, influencing the tone of their thoughts (x).

More resources:

100 stories that changed the world

The power of fake gay (and black) friends: We form judgements about characters the same way we form judgements about people.

Readers may change their beliefs and thoughts to match a fictional character’s

The importance of framing in relationship portrayal, an essay by an abuse victim. This essay is very long but it is a must-read. It also touches on the fact that the power of fiction is more than just having fun and our experiences shape how we interpret media.

Abduction as Romance - a harmful trope where the abductor is framed as “a decent guy” at the end. (20-min video, well worth the watch.) Danger is portrayed as a sexy trait, while the disempowerment of women is fetishized. The video also comments on how often white guys get away with it, while men of color don’t. Also, see commentary at the end of the video about what real redemption means.

Yeah, but how does supporting reylo influence reality?

Supporting Reylo means that we’re giving credibility and validity to violence at the beginning of a romance. It’s like saying to a child who got pushed by another on the playground, “oh, they’re bullying you because they have a crush on you.” It’s promoting a fundamental entitlement and disrespect. 

Impressionable young people seeing this abuse treated as a desirable dynamic, as conditions that could lead to romance, are being primed to accept this or even emulate this in their own relationships. When we see this treated as acceptable in fiction, we are primed to see this as acceptable in reality.

Why not promote healthier dynamics? Why not rehearse the rejection of abusive behavior? 

 A look at canon

So, let’s not forget, that in canon, Rey and Kylo Ren are not in a relationship. So, some say, that means it’s impossible for this to be abuse. However, by suggesting that these characters should be in a relationship is harmful because it romanticizes rocky starts to relationships, and physically violent starts to relationships. 

More reasons why Kylo Ren is dangerous

While Kylo Ren has been shown in canon to be able to freeze or immobilize people, instead he mortally wounds Finn, who is clearly Rey’s friend and defender, in order to intimidate her and overpower her.

Not to mention that throughout the film, he displays characteristics of an abuser, such as violence towards others, (uh, murder), destruction of property, and other characteristics. It may be argued that these outbursts are symptoms of mental illness. It may also be argued that Kylo Ren is a victim of abuse himself, by Snoke. However, none of this excuses his shitty behavior. Being mentally ill or also an abuse victim does not grant one a free pass to act abusive towards others. 

Kylo Ren also tortures and invades and abuses Poe Dameron. Thank god I haven’t seen anyone shipping them. Kylo Ren is an abuser, y’all. 

Oh and one more thing? Kylo Ren never uses Rey’s name in the TFA; he doesn’t see her as a person, just an object to overpower, an obstacle to beat down. He doesn’t use her name until The Last Jedi, when he begins to try to manipulate her, rather than indimidate her with force alone. Then she becomes a tool to him. Clearly he still doesn’t value her as a whole person. Again, not romantic. Dangerous and toxic.

Why I’m still against Reylo even if Kylo is redeemed

It’s not a woman’s responsibility to “fix a damaged man.” (It’s not anyone’s responsibility to use romance to “fix” anyone, actually. Romance is not a cure for abuse.) The burden of redemption should be on the villain alone. Kylo had plenty of opportunities to accept help. Additionally, we shouldn’t support abusive behavior as a start or precursor to romance, because that’s a really harmful message to send. And, previous acts of violence are the biggest predictors of future violence, so I’m wary of them entering a relationship without significant amounts of therapy and reform on Kylo’s part.

What do we do from here?

Don’t support Reylo. That’s it. No conditionals. No “well if they change” no “well they’re fictional so they can be written differently” no AUs, no. Please don’t promote a relationship that is based in abuse. 

I’m not saying we need to sanitize our fiction of abuse or of abusive relationships. That’s not going to make them go away in real life. I’m not trying to censor or silence anything. I’m trying to make sure that abusive relationships are CLEARLY FRAMED as abusive, and not promoted, normalized, or glorified in any way. (See my previous post discussing this.)

Have fun, but understand that fiction is powerful and influential, and it’s our responsibility to engage with it in a way that supports healthy relationships.

#anti reylo #star wars #anti kylo ren #arop #ok to reblog

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of DC: Week of March 18th, 2020

Best of this Week: Robin 80th Anniversary

All of the Robins are awesome.

Every Bat-fan has their favorite as they usually define the era when they began their love of Batman and comics in general. Older fans love Dick Grayson for being the first and greatest Robin that helped make Batman brighter. Edgy 80s kids and teens both love and hate Jason Todd for being the bad boy that died. Younger fans love Tim Drake for being the one to carry the name in the later seasons of the animated series and being one of the best and smartest Robins. Girls get representation from the spunky Carrie Kelly and the awesome Stephanie Brown. No one like Damian. (I’m kidding, he’s super fun.)

There’s a Robin for everyone and this 100 Page Spectacular celebrates the long history of Batman’s greatest sidekicks (though misses a chance to give Carrie Kelly her own short story) and does an amazing job in displaying each characters personalities by some of the best people to have written them over the years. Because there are so many, I’m only going to talk about the ones I really enjoyed!

The first FOUR stories follow Dick Grayson and some of his best eras.

“A Little Nudge” is written by Marv Wolfman with pencils by Tom Grummett, two parts of the legendary team behind the best years of the New Titans (1989). This story follows Dick Grayson as Batman begins to nudge him in the direction of becoming his own man by being increasingly irritable to his protege. At this point in time, Dick was dealing with the stresses of outgrowing his childhood identity and Batman’s continuing overbearing nature. Where Bruce was all about being cold and methodical, Dick thought with his gut.

Grummett, Scott Hanna on inks and Adriano Lucas on colors illustrate Dick’s frustration through his increasingly sour facial expressions and sudden heroic actions. The costumes are as colorful as those old days with Dick wearing the bright yellow cape, bright red tunic and the elf shoes. In the middle of the dynamic duo’s fight with Natural History Museum thieves, Dick stops fighting when a child gets shot, against Bruce’s orders, and stays with him until the bad guys either get away or get taken down by Batman. 

Later on, Dick tells Batman that he’s outgrown the Boy Wonder name and sets off to become his own man as Nightwing. Wolfman gives readers an excellent inner monologue from Bruce where he owns up to the fact that he was nudging Dick in that direction because he had just turned eighteen and Bruce believed in him. Batman always supports his kids, especially his first and it turns the story of separation into something heartwarming.

“Aftershocks” is a fun story by Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel who worked on my favorite Nightwing series in the 1996 - 2005 era of the character. This wasn’t anything major, just Nightwing doing everything he could to save people after an earthquake causes massive damage to a suspended bridge in Bludhaven. This era of Nightwing was characterized by him mostly striking out on his own and becoming a Bludhaven police officer, being inspired by Jim Gordon. 

Dick really came into his own and developed a rogues gallery to himself during this time, not to mention the sweet costume with the blue “wings” running down his arms into his fingers and those big, bulky gauntlets and boots. This era was the epitome of the 90s with big set piece moments, big muscles and Nightwing just being a nice and generally charming guy. After diving off of the bridge to attach a winch to a falling car, the woman inside asks to name her baby after him and he smiles and says, “Robin works, right?”

“The Lesson Plan” is a story from my favorite modern age creators in Tim Seeley, Tom King and Mikel Janin. The Grayson series took place shortly after Dick’s identity was exposed to the world during “Forever Evil” (2013) by the Crime Syndicate. At this time he was acting as a spy for an agency called Spyral while spying on them for Batman. I never think of Tom King as a comedy guy, but this story was almost gut bustingly hilarious. It was just a world trotting adventure where he teaches one of the students of St. Hadrian’s how to be a spy.

Truly this series was Dick at his most handsome, witty and skilled. He jumps out of a helicopter and grabs onto the cords of a cable car before rescuing a woman held hostage by terrorists on walruses. Dick, the student and the hostage ten fight off more terrorists in Tanzania, riding a bus headed for Los Angeles of all places before Dick finds himself in something Dejah Thoris would wear and having a night with the hostage who reveals herself to be a gorilla from Gorilla City. It’s absolutely absurd, but it is immensely fun and welcome since that whole series is well regarded by fans.  

“More Time” by Judd Winick, Dustin Nguyen and John Kalisz is a far more somber tale about Jason Todd potentially a short time after the events of Under the Red Hood. Jason Todd was the second Robin and met his unfortunate end in the 1988 story, A Death in the Family by Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo. Jason eventually returned in the Batman: Under the Hood story where Winick and Doug Mahnke re-envisioned the former Robin as a violent vigilante Jason does have something of a strained relationship with Batman, but it wasn’t always that way as this story illustrates. 

One thing that Dustin Nguyen has always been great at, it’s making kids super adorable and he does so in this story as it flips back and forth between the past and the present as Jason gives Bruce a birthday present in the form of his father’s watch, which Jason sought to fix. Nguyen and Kalisz characterize the past with Jason appearing as a happy, young kid under the dim lights of the Batcave and a twinkle in his eyes. He’s happy to have a home and a father to care for him so he wanted to do something nice for him.

Present Day Jason is characterized by dark backgrounds with bright oranges, smoke and heavy blacks for the shadows. Jason is far more tired, grizzled and angry, but he still finds the time to place the same gift box from all those years ago on the Batmobile for Bruce to find. At this point in time, they may have been at each other throats, but the love between them was still there, buried deep - culminating in two side by side panels of past and present Jason saying, “Happy Birthday, Bruce.”

“Boy Wonders” is a story about Tim Drake by James Tynion IV, Javier Fernandez and David Baron and sees Tim taking advice from all of his brothers. Next to Chuck Dixon and Geoff Johns, James Tynion IV has had one of the longest lasting impacts on the Tim Drake character throughout his run on Detective Comics by emphasizing the power of his mind in comparison to the other Robins and why he could ultimately be the successor to Batman above each of them or eke out a new life for himself.

While taking down the cast of The Warriors on a speeding train with Nightwing, Tim contemplates what his future will be. He looks to Dick as the one who did everything that he’s doing now and Dick tells him that as the smartest Robin, the best thing he could do is use that mind to bring up the next generation of heroes. Jason, the reason he’s even wearing the costume of Robin in the first place, tells him to take everything he’s learned from Batman  to become BETTER than him. Arguably, it’s Damian that gives him the best advice by telling him that he’s the most capable of all of the Robins and that he should choose a path himself instead of relying on the advice of others.

Of course, this story takes place before the events of Detective Comics Rebirth where Tim does chart his own path in making Gotham safer with his Gotham Knights Protocol, but things don’t exactly turn out well for him. For all of the talk about how Tim is the smartest, he unfortunately could never get out of his own way long enough for things to go right...especially now that he’s going by “Drake” in that awful brown costume.

“Fitting In” is a Stephanie Brown story by Amy Wolfram, Damion Scott and Brad Anderson which sees Stephanie trying to live up to the standards of each of the boys that came before her. Stephanie was absolutely the shortest term Robin that Batman took on, as he only allowed her to take up the mantle in an attempt to get Tim back after his real father told him to hang up the cape after discovering his sons identity.

Even still, Stephanie did everything she could to earn Bruce’s respect and Wolfram plays on this and that past story by making it more about Tim than Steph. She has to train in the same costume that Tim did, but she proves more...voluptuous than Tim. Her costume bursts at the seams and Alfred designs the costume that she’s known for. She and Batman then get a call about fire at an amusement park and ride off to take down Firefly.

Unfortunately for her, she gets captured, but being the innovative girl that she is, she manages to free herself and take down Firefly at the same time. Damion Scott’s art is very well suited to the cartoonish action and paints her as a capable sidekick despite initially being a damsel in distress. I honestly wish her run as Robin would have been longer because she honestly fits well in the role as the bubbly Robin in contrast to the hell that Tim was going through at the time.

A point can be made that this story also had some needless sexualization, but given Bruce's lack of respect for Stephanie and him just wanting a replacement Tim at the time, this was well written from that perspective. He never cared for Stephanie and her time as Robin was mostly her trying to live up to Tim's standard which eventually left her to try too hard and "die" because of it. I’ll always take more Stephanie Brown as I can cause even now there’s not enough of her and I’m damn sure not reading Young Justice by Brian Michael Bendis.

“My Best Friend” is the one that makes me the most sad as it revolves around Jon Kent writing an essay on Damian as well...his best friend. I feel like the Super Sons series was also done a dity hand by BMB as he took Jon and aged him up for his Superman story when we could have gotten more fun stories between Damian and Jon. As far as homages to one of the better Rebirth series this one was just fun.

There’s not much to say other than Jon reminisces over a few of their adventures and tells readers about the side of Damian that we don’t often see because the Bat-boy is always a little bit too intense. Jon reminds us that they’ve fought for most of the time they’ve known each other, but when it comes to being heroes, Damian always had his back. It’s heartwarming. Of course there’s the continuity issue of them going to the same school in this story cause Jon was only ten at the time and Damian was thirteen, but honestly I only care about the friendship.

“Bat and Mouse” is a story by Robbie Thompson and Ramon Villalobos which sees Bruce and Damian having separate brooding inner monologues about how neither understands the other anymore and about how they want to open up to each other, but the distance between them has grown too wide. Admittedly, this is a much darker story in the respect that Batman and Robin haven’t really been the same since Damian started his new Titans team and started down a darker path that his father has yet to find out about.

Thompson captures this feeling that Damian is arrogant but scared. He feels like he’s outgrown what Batman has become because he’s willing to get rid of threats almost permanently through erasing their memories and villainous tendencies (see Teen Titans, 2018). At the same time, he’s afraid that maybe what he’s doing isn’t the right path and he so desperately wants to reach out to his father, but feels like he can’t.

Batman is the same way in that he loves his son more than anything and wants to regain the relationship that they had in the past, but doesn’t know how to say the words either. He knows that Damian is hiding something big, but he doesn’t want to accuse the boy and deepen the already cavernous rift. Even as they take down the robotic villain Quietus, they show signs of breaking through their equally cold exteriors, but fail to do so and I get the feeling this will all come to a head soon.

The Robins will always be some of my favorite characters in all of comics. Each of them have distinct personalities and quirks that set them apart from a lot of comic characters, especially when it comes to the trauma that they’ve faced alongside Batman. This special won’t be for everyone, just like each era of Robin isn’t for everyone, but overall, I really enjoyed it and the creators selected to honor these fantastic characters.

#robin #robin 80th anniversary #dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #stephanie brown #damian wayne #carrie kelly #dc comics #comic books #comic review

[finance-expert]

State of Crypto: The SEC Takes on DeFi

The SEC is reportedly investigating decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms and the parties behind them. While not unexpected, this is a new phase in the crypto-regulatory landscape. We may be able to predict how these investigations will proceed by looking at prominent historical examples.

You’re reading State of Crypto, a CoinDesk newsletter looking at the intersection of cryptocurrency and government. Click here to sign up for future editions.

DeFi investigation

The narrative

News broke Friday that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is conducting a probe into Uniswap Labs and other DeFi platforms. It’s unclear whether these investigations are still primarily for information-gathering purposes or whether there will be enforcement actions coming. Regardless, this is a pivotal, if expected, development in the regulator’s oversight of the crypto market.

Why it matters

How the SEC approaches DeFi might determine how well DeFi platforms survive in the coming years, particularly as the agency’s investigations mature. There are few details about the SEC’s investigations that are publicly available at this time, but we can look to the past to guesstimate how these investigations may proceed.

Breaking it down

The SEC has signaled for a few weeks now that it’s going to be taking a look at DeFi. I’ve written about this at least twice now, so news stories that the agency is actively looking into this segment of the crypto market are absolutely not a surprise.

To sum up what we do know: The SEC is reportedly investigating Uniswap Labs, the developer behind Uniswap, the leading decentralized exchange (DEX) on Ethereum. What’s a DEX, you may ask? Consider it a robot on the internet routing trades through various pools of funds, no middleman (beyond the software) needed. Other (unnamed) DeFi platforms may also be in the SEC’s crosshairs.

While we don’t yet know what the regulator is specifically looking for, we can find some clues in recent history that point to how the agency might approach DeFi and enforcement actions.

DeFi tea leaves

SEC Chair Gary Gensler has helpfully explained his views in detail a few times now. Most recently, he told the European Parliament that a lack of regulated brokers and clear-cut investor protection rules leaves “the investing public … vulnerable,” particularly to scams or other forms of abuse.

In the past he has also pointed to “promoters and sponsors” who write the software behind DeFi platforms and create their governance mechanisms. The theme that’s emerging so far is a focus on the centralized players that might help create or power DeFi projects (or even engage in what my colleague David Morris calls “decentralization theater”).

The SEC therefore doesn’t appear to be looking at the decentralized parts of DeFi, even if the projects themselves are adequately decentralized after launch. If a project isn’t fully decentralized in its earliest development stage, its backers may soon receive an inquiry.

This would explain why the SEC is investigating Uniswap Labs at any rate.

In a statement emailed to CoinDesk, an external spokesperson for Uniswap Labs said, “We are committed to complying with the laws and regulations governing our industry and to providing information to regulators that will assist them with any inquiry.”

Looking further back, the SEC may also look at how a DeFi platform actually operates – whether it provides a marketplace for tokens that the SEC considers securities and uses its own orderbook.

Past cases

The agency’s precedent here would be EtherDelta, the decentralized trading platform the SEC brought charges against in 2018 on allegations it acted as a securities trading platform.

At the time, the agency pointed to EtherDelta’s smart contract, order book, order display website and marketplace as evidence it was supporting illicit securities transactions.

The SEC also specifically brought charges against Zachary Coburn, who founded the platform but left over a year before the charges were filed.

So just because a platform is decentralized doesn’t mean the SEC won’t file charges against a centralized party with a significant role in setting it up.

It is worth noting here that there may be lines drawn between decentralized finance platforms generally and decentralized exchanges specifically, but the role of centralized developers or founders is salient to both types of entities.

In short, what the SEC is likely considering includes:

Investor protection concerns;

The role of centralized parties in these decentralized platforms;

Whether the tokens are securities in the SEC’s view.

Watch this space.

Bitcoin’s litmus test

Guest essay by Andrés Engler

Finally, the speculation on the use of bitcoin in El Salvador will end, and a real analysis can begin on whether the cryptocurrency is useful or not in a country in need of financial tools for its population.

Knowing like no other the power of social networks, President Nayib Bukele was extremely adept at joining an explosive tribe in search of state legitimacy. The Salvadoran case study was a win-win for both parties.

Still, Bukele had to back down in early battles against the financial establishment. The first stumbling block was the International Monetary Fund, which quickly issued a statement naming “a number of macroeconomic, financial and legal issues” that bitcoin would generate in that country, in the midst of negotiations for a $1 billion loan for the country.

Bukele, without much leeway in the international arena, made several concessions. The most striking was to desist from applying Article 7 of the law, which stipulated that all economic agents must accept bitcoin as a form of payment when offered by the person acquiring goods or services. In August, the president said the use of bitcoin as legal tender would not be mandatory, and the resulting question was obvious. If businesses are not forced to accept it, can bitcoin be considered legal tender?

The second concession, more symbolic but no less important, was saying the measure of the economy would be in dollars, and that salaries would be paid in that currency. It is worth remembering that although El Salvado has a central bank, the country does not issue its own currency but uses the U.S. dollar.

Despite the changes, bitcoin could have concrete benefits for El Salvador. It could save them $400 million that Salvadorans abroad send as remittances to their country, boost tourism and even create a mining industry if Bukele effectively makes available volcanic energy as promised.

On a continent-wide scale, the success of bitcoin in El Salvador – demonstrated in massive adoption and savings in remittances – could mean a domino effect of adoption in Latin America and developing countries in other continents.

So far, Bukele’s strategy has led different politicians in the region – from the North in Mexico to the far South in Argentina – to present bills to regulate the sector and, in some cases, promote it. Either way, bitcoin bills have been a gold mine for officials in search of votes and fame, and an important step in putting cryptocurrencies on the discussion table.

The bitcoin experiment will not only be a litmus test for Bukele but also for bitcoin itself and the discourse that proposes this cryptocurrency as a financial solution for underbanked territories.

The adoption of bitcoin in El Salvador will mean something unprecedented: the first state educational policy on crypto assets, with different offices where locals will learn to use the official digital wallet Chivo and gain knowledge about how bitcoin works and its usages, such as remittances.

Bitcoin is political

The adoption of bitcoin in El Salvador comes at a tumultuous political moment for the country. On Friday, the country’s Supreme Court – which has a pro-government tilt – declared it constitutional for the president to be reelected after his five-year term, generating pushback from the entire political opposition.

It is not the only issue. At least three opinion polls published last week showed the majority of Salvadorans do not agree with the use of bitcoin as legal tender in the country, with an average of between 65% and 70% of El Salvador’s population against it. Such a level of rejection was crystallized in some small marches that took place with only hundreds of people and unions opposed to Bukele, which could have political interests beyond bitcoin itself.

Thus, Bukele expressed days ago his frustration against those who criticized the use of bitcoin in the country for remittances.

“If you don’t want to, you can always go to Western Union and pay a commission. No problem at all,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

El Salvador’s political spectrum is on the lookout for any Bukele misstep, and has criticized the Bitcoin Law in different ways. Both the FMLN party (left) and Arena (right) are unforgiving of a president who wears a backwards cap, has broken with the status quo, entered Congress with the military to try and force the legislature to approve more military and police funding, and won the last legislative elections with a supermajority that gave him a majority in parliament.

“Some will prefer to believe the thieving opponents who have done nothing but loot our country, destroy it and pay for them to murder our people. Others will choose to believe the government. But in the end, everyone will realize the reality on Sept. 7,” Bukele wrote last week.

Tether’s reserves

In May, I filed a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request with the New York Attorney General’s Office asking for the documents detailing Tether’s reserve composition breakdown. My goal was to verify that Tether submitted similar documents to the NYAG that the company published when revealing its breakdown to the public (the pie charts, as Twitter has taken to calling them).

The NYAG FOIL officer who saw the request initially denied it, tying the request to a similar FOIL request made by another individual. CoinDesk appealed, and a different FOIL officer agreed with our appeal.

Procedurally, Tether had an opportunity to push back against the second officer’s decision, which it did in the form of a petition filed last week. I imagine we’re still close to the beginning of this process, so obviously more to come on this front.

Here’s more context on how we got here, including Tether’s full statement after filing.

You can follow the court filings here.

Biden’s ruleChanging of the guard

Emory University School of Law Professor Kristin Johnson might become President Joe Biden’s next nominee to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Bloomberg reported last week.

Elsewhere:

El Salvador Police Releases Bitcoin Law Critic Arrested for Alleged Bank Fraud: Police in El Salvador arrested Mario Gomez, an activist who has criticized the country’s Bitcoin Law, without a warrant on allegations of possible bank fraud. Police released Gomez hours later.

‘Crypto Dad’ Giancarlo to Quit BlockFi’s Board After 4 Months: Former CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo has stepped down from BlockFi’s board of directors, though the company says he will remain an adviser. BlockFi is in the middle of a legal fight with five different state regulators over whether its interest accounts product violates securities laws.

BitConnect’s Top US Promoter Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charge: Glenn Arcaro, a U.S.-based promoter for BitConnect, pled guilty to a fraud charge from the U.S. Department of Justice on the same day the SEC filed charges against him, his company and BitConnect itself.

Outside CoinDesk:

(The Atlantic) Australia seems to be pioneering some new grounds in lockdown enforcement. Some of these measures include apps that require quarantined individuals to verify their location within 15 minutes of receiving a notification, for example. What could go wrong?

(Human Rights Watch) El Salvador’s legislature passed new laws that would allow local officials to fire any judges or prosecutors over the age of 60 or extend the term of judges and prosecutors at the government’s discretion, actions which could threaten judicial independence, according to the Human Rights Watch.

(The New York Times) The Times published an interesting interactive graphic explainer on crypto energy use. It’s worth taking a look at this.

[salaciouscrumpet]

Fic Writer Tag Meme

I was tagged by @cinlat. Thank you, this was fun to do! I’m not going to tag anyone because I think most folks have done it.  :)

What is your total word count on AO3?

*does math* Holy shit, I’ve got 599,236 words spread across 8 works and 3 fandoms. How is that even possible?!?

How often do you write?

I’m trying to make the effort to write every day, but in the interests of being honest I’ll say that on a good day I can write for upwards of five hours (taking breaks to fulfill various biological needs, of course) and on a bad day I won’t write anything at all.

Do you have a routine for writing?

After my partner leaves for work (around 5:30 AM) I sit down at my laptop in the kitchen and dick around for a good 30-60 minutes (email, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, lather, rinse, repeat) and then, made profoundly depressed and anxious by the current state of the world, I open up Word and try to write something to take my mind off things. Sometimes this is successful. Sometimes I go play video games or watch Netflix.

What are your favourite kinks/tropes/pairing?

Kinks:

Hmm. I think I’m mostly into the comfort aspect of hurt/comfort, so I like putting my characters through painful situations and then using sex or other kinds of physical intimacy to help them cope with and/or recover from it. I don’t know if that’s actually a kink, per se, but I’m not an especially kinky person. I don’t think. I mean, there’s stuff I’m intrigued by (breathplay, for example), but I’ve only dabbled in writing it a bit.

Threesomes. This is less of a kink for me, and more of a “hey, I’m polyam, let’s write about polyamorous characters!” Not kinky, just me trying to find a place for myself and my loved ones, trying to see us in the world.

Tropes:

Broken Bird. I love the idea of the healing power of love. Not that love fixes everything, but that it’s a start, a step in the right direction.

I don’t know if it’s a trope, but I like writing established relationships. I’m not big into the Will They/Won’t They trope, because honestly, you know they will, so ... why don’t you just start there? Also, though, I’m not very good at writing the beginnings of romance. I want to write about what happens after that first blush wears off and the couple (or threesome, in my case, I guess) are in for the long haul.

Pairing:

Theron Shan/Vector Hyllus/Imperial Agent (Miranza Gerrick, in my case) (Star Wars: The Old Republic): I mean, duh, it’s my longest-running series. I love these idiots.

F!Sith Warrior/Malavai Quinn (Star Wars: The Old Republic): Yup, I know it’s unhealthy. I can enjoy reading/writing about the pairing without wanting to emulate it in my own life, thank you very much.

Cullen Rutherford/F!Inquisitor (Dragon Age: Inquisition): Back to my whole “healing power of love” thing, I’m also quite into the idea of someone striving for redemption, and Cullen’s story plays into that nicely, especially if you romance him with a mage. I’m also aware that it can be seen as icky. I like what I like; you do you.

Dorian Pavus/Iron Bull (Dragon Age: Inquisition): I’ve read blog essays about how it’s an unhealthy relationship and essays about how it’s healthy, and the writers put forth very eloquent and convincing arguments either way. My personal take on it is that it’s a healthy relationship, and I’m not really interested in arguing the matter. I like them together. I, like Bull, think they “could be good for each other.”

Kanan Jarrus/Hera Syndulla (Star Wars: Rebels): (I haven’t finished the final season, but it’s been spoiled for me.) Speaking of established relationships ... these two. *sighs dramatically* They mess up, they support each other through the mess-up, they move on. They’re there for each other.

Dr. Julian Bashir/Elim Garak (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine): Revisiting a childhood crush (DS9 started when I was 15), I’m rewatching the series on Netflix and holy crap, I know these two never canonically became a couple but they were totally a couple. (Sweet summer child that I was, I never saw it back then, but man, the moment Garak introduces himself to Bashir he’s flirting with him.) Thank goodness for AO3 and approximately 2000+ stories where this is a thing.

Do you have a favourite fic of yours?

My first fic on AO3, The Voices of Thieves and Robbers, is probably my favourite (published on AO3) fic. There are issues with it, yeah, but it’s one of the few of my own pieces that I can go back and read and genuinely think “Well, shit, maybe I am a good writer.” Which, if you know me at all, you would know is something I don’t really think all that often.

Your fic with the most kudos?

This Ain’t a Love Song, my Fallout: New Vegas fic, is standing at 118 kudos, with Scars Beyond Counting (my Dragon Age: Inquisition fic) closing in at 115 as of this morning. In fairness to my SWTOR works, DA and FO have much bigger fandoms, so the higher kudos count isn’t really a surprise.

Anything you don’t like about your writing?

Oh, tons of things. I suck at action sequences (I choreograph them beautifully in my head and they fall apart on paper). I struggle with tenses, which often results in me switching tense and not even noticing, or leaves things bland and unexciting. I can be very dialogue-heavy and I spend a lot of time inside my characters’ heads, which can be off-putting to some readers. I have a tendency to tell, rather than show. I don’t ever really feel like I’m doing anything original, and I frequently worry that, because I read so much, I’m inadvertently stealing from other authors. I’m impatient, so things end up being rushed and weak. I second- (and third- and fourth- and ...) guess myself, struggling to make the most people happy rather than focusing on what best benefits the story (you can’t please everyone, Crumpet, you should know that by now).

Now something you do like?

Um. I think I’m good at writing hurt/comfort. I don’t shy away from the consequences of what happens to my characters: Bad Things™ have lasting impact. I think I’ve got a good grasp on the voices of my characters, and it’s distinctive when I shift from one third-person POV to another (for example, I think my version of Iron Bull sounds very distinctly different from Cullen Rutherford, and neither of them sound like Miranza Gerrick or Malavai Quinn or Courier Six). I think I’m good at shifting tone depending on the genre (another example, This Ain’t a Love Song “sounds” very different from Bad Medicine, because the genres and voices are different).

#writer tag #fic writer tag meme #answers

[kaleidopewrites]

Aquaphobia

Summary: Chase inadvertently attempts to get you over your fear of water

Pairing: Chase Collins x Reader

Word Count: 2734

Warnings: the most minimal swearing ever, almost drowning i guess

A/N: Okay, this was kinda fun to write and i feel better about this one :)

You and Chase were instant best friends, no matter what anyone else says. As soon as he moved to the school, you two hit it off instantly. You didn’t know what it was; his constant jokes, his carefree behaviour or maybe it was the fact that he was an incredible friend to have.

You both were joined at the hip. Wherever he went, you went and vice versa. There wouldn’t be a party with just one of you, and you wouldn’t hang out with anyone else alone. You became Spenser’s most famous friends. And you loved it.

You sighed tiredly as you opened the door to your locker, the look of exhaustion lifting slightly at the many photos lining the metal door. They were of you and Chase in various locations and poses, all developed and hung up everywhere.

They were also in your dorm room, hundreds of photos and little trinkets symbolising your fond memories of him. He rarely posed for a serious photo with you, having changed what his face looked like every time you held up a camera.

You were amazed your dorm roommate didn’t despise you. If you weren’t in the library or at Nicky’s or anywhere else, you were in either his dorm or your dorm. You’d talk, study, watch movies all well into the night.

Sometimes, when you were especially tired, you sleep in his room with him or the other way around. The rumour that you two had started dating always circled around whenever word got out that you stayed the night at his place, or he stayed at yours.

But they were usually abolished. Everyone knew you were friends first. So you never knew why your stomach flipped whenever he’d shoot you a smile, or when he’d bite his lip. You were best friends, thick as thieves, closer than atoms.

Sluggishly, you placed your books inside your locker before sorting through the spines, trying to remember which texts you needed to study for upcoming tests and homework. You were just about to file some papers when someone jabbed you in the side, shouting ‘boo’ in your ear.

You scream, having been previously concerned with slipping paperwork between the pages of your textbook when Chase decided to scare you. You threw your hands into the air, throwing the book across the half empty hall.

His laugh reached your ears as you fumed, grabbing the thickest book from your locker. “What the hell, Collins?” You shout, whacking him in the shoulder with the text. His laughter was soon replaced with yelps as he tried ducking away from your attacks.

“Chill out, (Y/L/N), I only scared you,” He laughed, moving away so you couldn’t hit him with the textbook. “Yeah, and now my homework is all over the floor,” You sighed, turning to pick up one of the loose-leaf pages.

Chase grinned and you watched as his eyes turned black and the textbook and papers whizzed into his hand, rearranging themselves before they were thrown through the hall. With a sigh, you snatch the textbook from him before he could use more.

Of course, you knew about his Power. You’d caught him cheating on an assessment, using his Power to write his essay. Like any normal person you’d freak out until he calmly explained everything. What it was, how he uses it; and its constant dangers.

You hated it when he used the Power. It was addictive, and if he used too much you suspected he’d probably go insane. You were terrified for what it would do to him, what it had already done to him. You feared what he would be like at 50, or even 40.

“What did I say?” You sigh, grabbing the last of your books before stuffing them into your bag. Chase looked innocent at you as you close the door. “What?” He shrugged. You look up and down the hallway, making sure no one was around to eavesdrop.

“About your Power?” You hiss at him. Chase shrugged you off before hanging an arm across your shoulders, prepared to walk you back to the dorm. “Oh, come on (Y/N)! It was just a tiny spell, that’s not gonna do anything,” He sighed. You shake your head.

“You know I don’t like it. You said it yourself, it’s addictive and it does serious damage. Even tiny spells can make things worse.” You reminded him but he just rolled his eyes. “Okay, look, I won’t use it for another month, okay?”

You still shake your head but drop the subject, knowing it would take a week-long debate to get this stubborn mule to understand the effects. Chase steps in front of you, preparing to change the topic and you could tell instantly you weren’t gonna like it.

“Um, I have a favour to ask,” He smiled, letting you continue walking down the hall. “Why do I have a feeling I won’t like it?” You ask. He laughed, licking his bottom lip as he walked backwards. “It’s not bad, I just need someone to help time me,”

“For what?” You raised an eyebrow. “Swimming. I’ve been training and I want to know if I’ve improved.” Your stomach churned at the thought of the pool. You never learned how to swim, never liked it. You hated everything to do with big bodies of water.

You never knew what it was. Your parents never really put you in for swimming lessons and attending Spenser’s didn’t change that. You didn’t have to attend most sport lessons because of it, but you would’ve ditched anyway. Swimming was not your thing.

“I dunno, Chase,” You sigh, turning the corner. You never told Chase about your fear, believing it was a stupid one but not being brave enough to face it. You’d been in the indoor pool a total of three times and each and every one gave you nightmares.

Nightmares of drowning, unable to surface from the pool. You once made your dormmate to sleep in a friend’s room with your screaming one day. “Look, come on, you don’t even need to swim. You just need to time me,”

You sigh as you stop in the hall. “No swimming?” You ask. “Not unless you want to,” he winked. You bit your bottom lip. You didn’t know if you could stand being in the indoor pool long enough to watch him train. Besides, you had homework.

“I’ll buy you takeout,” Chase promised. He was really sweetening the deal now, so he must really need your help. “Any takeout I want?” You ask. He grinned, knowing he had won. “Yep, your call,” He smiled. You sighed before agreeing. Food outweighed your fear of water.

Food did not outweigh your fear of water. You stood tense as far from the pool as you could get, nails digging into the notepad you had ready to work on both homework and recording Chase’s times. “Hey,”

You jumped before spinning, Chase beside you with his arms crossed over his bare chest, his eyebrows knitted. “Are you okay?” He asked, thumbing the swim cap and goggles in his hand.

You tightly nod your head, tearing your eyes from the water as you sit down on the chair pulled up. “Are you sure?” He repeated and you sighed. “I’m fine. Just get swimming,” You prompted him, waving your hand.

He laughed before shaking his head, throwing the cap over his hair and jumping down into the pool. You averted your eyes as you start copying down notes from your textbook and the required readings. Chase slid on his goggles before announcing he was doing a few warmup laps.

It was majorly silent in the hall, the only sound coming from the lapping waves from the pool and Chase’s occasional breaths. Once he was ready, you started timing him, writing down his times whenever he did two laps of the pool.

It went on for some time, Chase swimming and you shouting his times to him. You changed between homework and the clock until your eyes felt like they would melt out of your skull and you couldn’t retain another piece of information.

“Chase,” You call as he swims to the end of the pool closest to you. You pause the time as he pressed a hand to the tile wall. “What’d I get?” He called and you shouted it back to him as you packed up. He didn’t seem very pleased with it, but treaded the water.

“What are you doing?” He asked, a hint of a whine in his voice. “I’m tired, Chase, I wanna get a nap in before tea,” You said, dumping the bag on the chair as you rose, stretching out your muscles. “Well, can I have a look at the times before you go?”

You tensed, knowing you’d have to walk over to the pool. He made no move to get out. “I’ll just leave my notepad here and you can check later,” You said. “No, come on, just come over here,” He asked, beckoning you over.

“Chase,” You sighed but he was relentless. “What are you so afraid of? It’s me,” He grinned. You eyed the water carefully as he slipped off the swimming cap and goggles from his head. His hair stuck up all around him in damp spikes.

After a moment of hesitating, you slowly walked up to the side of the pool, holding the notepad in your hands tightly. You could hear the paper crackling under the tenseness of your fingers as you slowly climbed onto the raised diving thing on the width of the pool.

You lower yourself, Chase’s eyes watching you carefully as you show him the paper. As he looks over his recorded times, you feel like you’re about the faint. The water didn’t look calm and alluring like most people thought.

“Damn, okay, looks like I did better the first few times I swam,” Chase mumbled before reaching up, grabbing the notepad, steadying it. “You’re shaking, you okay?” He asked. You just hum at him, having to hold onto the diving podium beside you to keep from falling in.

Suddenly, Chase tore the notepad from your grasp and grabbed your wrist, throwing the paper away from the pool and towards the chair. You squealed as he grinned, a flash of mischief in his eyes. “Chase, wait, I can’t swim!” You shout before he throws you into the pool with a laugh.

You were instantly submerged by the water, falling head first through the cold currents and towards the bottom of the pool. You didn’t know what to do. Chlorine water filled your lungs and burned your eyes as you flailed, legs and arms kicking in the water.

You didn’t know which way was up. Fingers grazed the soft tiles of the bottom of the pool as you attempted to find air, your lungs begging for something other than water. You squeezed your eyes shut, screaming silently into the water as you continued to flail in the pool.

Until strong arms wrapped themselves around you and pulled you through the water. The tension broke and you were finally out in clean air. You tried inhaling, but the water that had rushed into your lungs forced their way out first.

You spluttered and coughed, tears and chlorine stinging your eyes and making you feel sick. As soon as most of the water had disappeared from your organs, you breathed in as much air as you could muster, the arms keeping you above the water.

You coughed until you realised that the arms were connected to a body and you quickly wrapped your arms around the torso, holding on for dear life. The body swam through the water until your back connected against a cool tiled wall.

“(Y/N)?” Chase’s concerned voice filled your ears and you opened your eyes, wincing at the sting it caused. When you could finally see properly and your breathing became less laboured, you realised you were holding tightly to your best friend.

“What the hell, Collins?” You growled but one look at the water made you hold him tighter. “I can’t swim!” You repeated. “Well, I can see that! Why didn’t you tell me?” He argued. “It never came up in conversation.” You replied with a huff.

“But, I should also add I have a fear of water,” You sighed, trying to look at anything but the pool. “Shit,” Chase sighed. “Alright, spin around and take the wall behind you.” He instructed but you shook your head, holding him tighter.

“Trust me, I’m trying to get you out of the pool,” He said. Slowly, you peeled your arms from around his neck and held tightly to whatever you could on the tiled wall. Treading the water, Chase held your hips before hauling you up, in turn submerging himself beneath the water.

You scrambled to climb up onto the raised floor until you heard a splash and Chase was next to you, easily hauling himself from the water. As soon as he was out, he grabbed your arms and pulled you from the water with ease.

As soon as you were free, you were jumping down from the raised floor, scrambling to get away from the pool. You ignored Chase’s warnings as your wet shoes slipped on the floor and you came crashing to the ground. Chase joined your side, picking you up gently.

“You okay?” He asked, taking your shoulders and bending slightly to look at your hanging head. “Does it bloody look like I’m okay?” You shout at him before the fear caught up to you, making tears slip from your eyes.

Chase broke at seeing you so worn down, so scared. He wrapped his arms around you, ignoring your protests as he held you close. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean… I wouldn’t have dragged you in if I had known,”

You cave and wrap your arms around him, burying your face against his bare chest as you tried to get a hold of your sobs. He held you tightly, running a hand down your hair and brushing a few wet strands from your face.

“Chase,” You mumble after finally turning the sobs into hiccups. Chase pulled away as he looked down at you, still brushing hair from your face. “Oh, here,” he quickly said, stepping back to grab his towel before wrapping it around your shoulders.

“We should get you out of those clothes before you catch a cold,” He advised. “Thank you,” You whisper to him, using a corner of his towel to brush away the few tears on your face. Chase scoffed, trying to lighten the mood with a gentle smile.

“Thank you? I thought you’d despise me by now,” He laughed. “You saved me,” You said, eyes flickering terrified over to the pool. Chase was quick to stand in your line of sight. “So what? You wouldn’t have needed to be saved if I wasn’t an idiot,”

“Chase,” You said but he shook his head. “No, no, this time I really was a moron. I should’ve known you couldn’t swim,” He sighed. “Chase,” You said, firmer, trying to get your best friend to stop speaking. “I’ll pay for your dinner for a week now, alright? Anything you wan--”

You cut him off by grabbing either side of his cheeks and bringing him down to you, pressing a kiss against his lips. He was shocked for a moment, just as you were. You didn’t expect to do that, but you weren’t eager to stop.

You pulled away slowly, tasting the chlorine on your lips. “You’re not the bad guy here. You saved me, alright?” You say as he blinked his eyes in confusion. “You kissed me,” He whispered, a tongue running quickly over his lip before he tucked it between his teeth.

You pull your hands away, cheeks flushing. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” You stutter, trying to cover your blush. But Chase grinned, taking your hips to keep you firmly in place. “I didn’t say I didn’t like it,”

He lowered his head again to press another kiss against your lips. You lean into it, melting as you wrap your arms around his neck, fingers stretching up into his damp hair as his arms tighten around you.

He grinned into the kiss, and you realised that maybe the taste of chlorine wasn’t so bad on his lips.

#chase #chase collins #chase x reader #chase collins x reader #sebastian #sebastian stan

[inspector-montoya-fox]

#4 - Fire in the Sky

Setting: this is out first snow level in the series, and damn does it set the bar high. let’s ignore the fact that the Panda King’s turf is an illegal scheme, and describe the hubs as serene. lanterns and cherry blossoms prevail. the pagodas make for excellent progressive gameplay, as we gradually make our way to the top. this is the episode with the most variation in gameplay: standard platforming, hover blaster, covering for Murray, racing, running away from Carmelita. but it doesn’t feel like too much, unlike Vicious Voodoo. i think it strikes a good balance because of how huge the platforming levels are. i’ll get into more detail about this point in the Characters section but China is the only setting that isn’t extremely affected by the baddie. for Sir Raleigh, everything was metallic, grand and elegant; for Muggshot, we were served with a level full of dumpster fires and graffiti; Mz Ruby’s spookiness made every level feel like a nightmare; but the Panda King doesn’t affect the location. sure, there’s the Panda King gate at the beginning or the flame pattern every now and then, but in general, this is China, not the Panda King’s China. i honestly love that. oh, and y’know, Fire in the Sky is purple, enhancing the tranquillity of the episode.

Characters: i’ll be real with y’all: Panda King was kinda meh. maybe it’s because he came directly after the two legends that were Muggshot and Mz Ruby. we have a character whose main trait is being angry enough to spark fires from his palms, but that’s all there is. other than that, he just mumbles his words. Sly 3 manages to squeeze some more out of the character by having him self-reflect, etc. but in Sly 1 he’s just an angry goof. despite this, i don’t think he’s a waste or anything. actually, SP did an excellent job of making him this way. Fire in the Sky represents a turning point in the game (more on that in the Themes section). as i’ve mentioned, the previous three episodes were defined by their villain, the landscapes predominantly designed after the baddies’ personalities; here we get a villain whose lacking character. that’s great because this takes the focus away from the Panda King and places it on Sly instead. without the Panda King constantly bombarding our screen with panda items or panda gates or panda fences, we notice other things such as Murray heading into the field twice or Sly’s development (more on that in a sec). so the Panda King plays his part perfectly. Carmelita makes her comeback after we last saw her floating away on the Muggshot balloon. see, her part in Fire in the Sky was what motivated me to write my essay on if the series is misogynist. the woman is just trying to do her job and is instead painted as a hot-headed bitch. Sly tries to tell her that these quaint temples are a front for an illegal explosives factory as if she’s too incompetent an inspector to figure things out. and not only that, but we also shoot fireworks at her until she drops into that foggy pit. it kinda irks me that Carmelita always manages to catch up to the scene of the crime after Sly is done with the bossfight, as if she needs Sly to take down the baddies (and this is seen again in Cold Heart of Hate). that’s why i love SP’s treatment of Carmelita in Sly 2 and 3: she roams the hubs because she’s on par with us, she takes down baddies by herself. meanwhile, Sly's journey towards becoming a master thief is reaching its end (if you were collecting all the book pages along the way). gaining the shadow power truly makes the player feel like a true thief. i don’t want to say that the levels become progressively harder (especially with Panda King being so easy to take down) but necessary skills are needed to traverse the levels and Sly has collected the ninja spire jump, the railslide move, and invisibility, plus all the extra moves from the vaults. his arsenal feels powerful, almost complete.

Themes: oohwee! i’ve been anticipating this moment. Sly’s bubble of naiveté finally bursts when we witness an entire village being avalanched on. up to now, the villains talked about and dwelled over their crazy schemes, but weren’t actually shown doing something bad (relative term). but now, right off the bat, the Panda King kills innocent people and we get to watch it. this is the departure from the jolly ride we’ve had, Sly coming to terms with how serious the situation is. the theme of fire perfectly captures the climax in the game’s structure, because a fire is lit under Sly’s ass. this turning point might be brought about by innocent deaths, but is completely necessary for our protagonist since it’s exactly what he needs to face the upcoming Clockwerk. i’m not sure if he finally gets it, but he certainly isn’t in the same mindset as in the previous three episodes. fire is explosive, hot, chaotic, and that’s this episode’s description. it also comes into stark contrast with the level’s tranquil nature. the snowfall, the ethereal music, the predominant purple: all these hint at China’s Buddhist beliefs on zen (later seen in Sly 3 with the Panda King’s enlightenment) and are “contradicted” by the violence, the fire, and the fast-paced music that plays when you get into trouble. setting plays a huge role in this episode. other than my explanation for dampening the Panda King to pave the way for Sly’s development, i think SP couldn’t really make a China level and overlook the culture. it’s not really a theme, but the culture and the display of ethnography is outstanding. as i’ve said above, we’re truly in China, or at least SP’s makeshift version of the country, the Westerner’s perception of Asia as a whole. it affects the gameplay, nonetheless. other motifs worth mentioning: monkeys, symmetry, and altitude. on the latter two, everything feels exhilaratingly high, perfectly constructed, and clean. i know Sly 1′s design is clunky and chunky, like the animation’s thick lines with sharp edges and corners, but here it works with the level.

What I Like: i can’t decide. the whole episode is a fucking mood. some of you often question why this is my favourite game in the series and to that i say ‘it’s a mood’. the music, the pagodas, the snow, the colouring, the fact that you destroy that huge dragon while Carmelita is on it. favourite detail would have to be the fact that you can kill the training pole monkeys in Flaming Temple of Flame. lanterns !!!!!!! mf lanterns, man...

What I Don’t Like: how Sly didn’t explode when he attached himself to a huge fucking rocket and blasted himself wtf. um, i gave the racing a chance in Sunset Snake Eyes, but it won’t get away so easily here. it feels sloppy: the opposing racers are all the same unlike its predecessor, and the slippery ice patches are a pain in the ass. also, something that always irritated me is a small detail: in Rapid Fire Assault, there’s one part on the conveyor belt where you can use the hover blaster to blast down a hole in the wall across you, but it doesn’t serve any purpose. so why put it there? it doesn’t even give you any coins. like... ugh, what??

Quote: No, that's only half right. I am a thief, from a long line of master thieves. While you... you're just a frustrated firework artist turned homicidal pyromaniac.

#frustrated firework artist turned HoMiCiDaL PyRoMaNiAc #the way he says it though... it's the way... #sly cooper #episode project

[cranesmuir-witch]

Kiss, Kill, or Marry

I was given the prompt of using the phrases “Right now, I don't know if I want to kiss you or shove you off a bridge.    Can I pick?” by @anoutlandishidea. I hope you like it!

If you’d like to read some of my other ficlet prompts check them out on AO3!

(A big thank you to @awesomeeyeroll, @bonnie-wee-swordsman, @takemeawaytocamelot and everyone who comments and reblogs my fics. I appreciate it!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Claire Beauchamp was well known in her Advanced Higher program for several things. One was her impeccable promptness. Another was her intense need to get a higher mark than her classmates. Those two facts never surprised people, seeing as she was the only child of professors with multiple Ph.Ds. The one thing she was absolutely shite at was her ability to work well with others. Full stop. She was horrible when forced to participate in group projects. It was in part because she had little control in the situation, which made the back of her head buzz with annoyance. After much deliberation she had, however, concluded it was because she could do a much better job on her own. Unfortunately her psychology professor had refused to listen to her strongly worded persuasive essay.

“Professor, I have nothing against Angus Mhor, Rupert MacKenzie, or James Fraser,” Claire asserted,”It's just that I fail to see the necessity of a team building project if I'm going to be a forensic pathologist.”

“Miss Beauchamp, what you will fail to ‘get’ is a passing grade.” she snapped. “If you refuse to participate in this assignment you will fail my course. You have the school email address for the other two in your group and I expect you to contact them before our next class.”

“Bu-bu-but ma’am!” Claire spluttered. ”I’ve had a flawless transcript since, since, well, forever and my scholarships for postgraduate studies depend on exceptionally high marks!”

“It would seem the answer is simple, then. Isn't it?”

~~~~~

Jamie, Rupert, and Jamie sat in the school canteen, laughing loudly as they shoveled food in their mouths unaware of what was happening across campus. The cousins had been thick as thieves since they were young, usually up to something mischievous. The main problem was that all three were much cleverer than most people expected - Angus, the one who always had some sort of injury. Rupert, chubby boy with mussed hair and charity shop clothes. Last, but not least, there was Jamie, the brash laird's son. A simultaneous beep from their mobiles interrupted a daily discussion on the best in the camanachd Premier League.

“Pardon me!” Angus said between belches. “Wait. Why did my arse vibrate?”

Rupert sighed loudly and Jamie clapped his smaller cousin on the back.

“A Dhia! How did you get the highest score on your SQC?” Jamie groaned. “Most of the time you're dumber than the bawbag you came from!”

Angus folded his arms with a huff.

“You asked me if chili was cold because it sounded like c-h-i-l-l-y. You get Rickrolled by me at least once a week. You put a jumper on your Mam’s laptop because she told you it had a virus. The best had to be when you heard that if you put your mobile in a microwave it would boost the memory.” Rupert recalled. “Shall I continue?”

Jamie turned his attention to his phone. He scrolled through his texts, several from his sister, reminding him it was his nephew's birthday the following weekend and multiple ideas for gifts. When his phone vibrated again, he remembered the reason he had opened his mobile in the first place - the email they received.

“Never mind that!” Jamie interjected.”We got an email from that Claire Beauchamp! I can't believe she's not trying to weasel out of the assignment!”

“Blasphemy!” Rupert and Angus said in unison. They covered each other's ears as their excessively aghast faces made some girls at a nearby table burst into giggles.

“Jesus, Mary, and Bride!” Angus prattled to himself. “That has to be a sign of the apocalypse. War, pestilence, famine, and that Sassenach doing a project that she can't be in complete control over!”

“Death. You're thinking of death.”

“There’s a difference?”

~~~~~

After several emails between them all, a time and place was set to talk over how to set their scene perfectly. Since it would be on stage at the fine arts auditorium they decided to check out the venue after a student performance. They all brought notes,as well as pens to take notes, and their syllabus to read the detailed requirements for what was expected.

The task set before the quartet was not an easy one. They were challenged to set up a crime scene, with the assisting makeup skills of the theatre and multimedia departments, to stump everyone else.

“I've drawn up a plan and chatted with the special effects assistants we've been given.” Claire said. “They should be here any minute now.”

All three boys groaned loudly then voiced their opposition to her self-nominated captaincy.

“This isn't your show Your Ladyship!” Jamie barked. “This affects all of us, so all of us will give our input.”

Rupert scowled at Claire who immediately returned the same look. “We've already come up with a winning scenario that no one will be able suss out.” he asserted. “Just listen to Angus. And be glad he uses his powers for good.”

For once in a blue moon, Claire did as she was instructed without any snarky reply, just a simple nod. She had seen for herself in class that Angus was well read  and only spoke when he knew he could add to the discussion, usually to correct a previous erroneous statement. His emphasis on only proven facts earned her respect more than once so this time she'd expect the same.

As Angus finished his explanation he smiled to see Claire's amazed visage. “I see you approve of my machinations.” he added. “So do I get the golden buzzer?”

Since words were unreachable, she simply nodded again.

This time the cousins cheered at her response.

~~~~

Over the next two weeks they spent dozens of hours on the best way to set up their tableau. In the beginning, Jamie and Claire had struggled for control over the situation. Then,after a draw in an arm wrestling tournament, they concluded that sharing was the better option since they all had individual strengths. They had even started to spend time together outside of their school assignment which confused Angus to no end.

Their allotted time sped by and it was finally their turn to present the assignment.

Everything had been discussed down to the smallest detail and gone over with four sets of eyes with a fine tooth comb. It was foolproof!

They set their scene on the stage with a made up Jamie as the body, and waited for questions from their peers milling around the stage.

“Nothing like a real life game of Cluedo, right Your Ladyship?” Angus whispered to Claire. He knew full well she despised but it made him giggle when she turned scarlet at its mention.

“I'm so glad that nickname stuck, aren't you Fraser? Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!” she hissed.

Jamie coughed as he struggled to hold back his laughter.

“He's in a library so he got stung by a wasp. They live in old wooden buildings and eat paper.  Anaphylactic shock. Too easy!”

“You're warm.” Rupert replied.

More guesses were heard, inquiring attempts made, but none had the exact answered. At the thirty minute mark a perfect score looked obtainable until Jamie stood up and promptly fainted as a coughing fit left him gasping for breath.

Claire’s scream echoed through as she ran to his side. “Call 999!”

~~~~

As soon as he was allowed visitors, Angus, Rupert and Claire arrived with grapes and the results of their assessment. He looked ashen but grinned widely when he saw them.

“Give me the bad news first.” Jamie asked. “Let's get that over with first.”

“I hate to tell you cousin, but you're still a left handed ginger.” Rupert said solemnly. “They say it's a terminal case.”

Jamie laughed. “Thank you, Rupe. What did we get? Please tell me anaphylactic shock was worth at least a ninety five.”

“Right now, I don't know if I want to kiss you or shove you off a bridge, Jamie Fraser!” Claire howled. She smacked his arm as she glowered at him.

“Can I pick?”

#ficlet challenge #outlander fanfic #outlander au

[phantomwingbeats-blog]

Desire, Being-For-Itself, and Being-For-Others; An Essay on Persona 5 and it’s Ending.

Persona 5 is an interesting beast. It is a sequel to one of the most beloved, and similarly milked franchises to come out of Japan. Combat both streamlined and expanded in equal measure, providing both more options for play and less confusion of effects. It opens doors for the future, provides windows into the past, and offers canonical insight into the nature of Persona’s world… But I’m not here to discuss any of that. Sure, I could talk about the cast’s strengths across the board, or the wonderful addition of Light and Dark skills actively having damage variants rather than Instant Death moves I ignore, or how Mementos, Palaces, all of it directly confirms my myriad theories about the Sea of Consciousness and the possibilities inherent… But I’m not here for that.

I am here to discuss the final villain, against our hero, the ideological dispute inherent to the game. How, where once SMT was defined by Order versus Law versus Neutrality, and Persona has been defined as Bad versus Good (or Golden) endings, Persona 5 mechanically follows the order of Bad versus Good endings, but in doing so showcases a dynamic rarely effected in video games; an argument against Bad Faith, in favor of Choice. Still, I’m getting ahead of myself. To grasp this argument, we will be diving into spoiler territory. So. Under the cut we go. Oh, and if you enjoy this little essay, I’d request sharing it so that we may get a conversation going on the ideology of this game we all enjoy.

So then, I’m hoping you’ve finished the game, because otherwise this will be spoiling everything to do with it’s ending. You’re sure you’re good for this? Okay then.

Before we dive too deep, let’s clear up what our main villain is. Yaldabaoth, the Demiurge is a cognizant anthropomorphization (or human form given to a concept) of order. Specifically, he is order at any cost without thought to the morality behind it. If we take Yaldabaoth’s word literally, that he exists as a creation of the mind, then we can take him as the eventual conclusion and extreme of the Japanese mentality that order is better than justice. And, yes, sadly that is accurate to Japan by and large. Non-Japanese views on the protagonist getting arrested for protecting a woman from rape may vary, but most cultures would argue that the ends (saving someone,) justify the means (assaulting the criminal,) whether those means were true or not (since the protagonist did not do such.)

Still, best to take all this with a grain of salt, given what we know. We know Persona has gods and goddesses, has real-life artifacts and science capable of generating supernatural scenarios, and so on. While Yaldabaoth may be a creation of the populace’s mind, it’s reasonable to think he’s just a real life deity like Nyx or Izanami who decided to act as a creation, so as to gain the direct support and belief of the mass populace. It’s also possible all deities in the franchise, past present and future, are creations of the human mind at large that exist in some layer of the Sea of Consciousness. It’s just that one or another may latch onto some popular thought and become powerful enough to affect reality, outside the Sea. We know that much to be true. After all, Mona being able to turn into a car is, to paraphrase the cat himself, “because people believe cats can turn into cars.” A My Neighbor Totoro reference explains how a self-aware cat can turn into a car. Considering that, it’s not hard to believe that religions created the gods that appear in Persona, rather than the gods creating the religions.

So then, what is Yaldabaoth standing for? As he puts it, the Demiurge is offering humanity “the freedom to surrender choice.” To give up the freedom of choice itself that all sentient beings enjoy at every moment of their lives, in an attempt to in turn be free from any repercussions. To never feel guilt for a mistake or accident, to never feel pride for an achievement or glory, to never feel envy or greed or gluttony or lust or wrath. To be free from sin itself, Yaldabaoth attempts to offer humanity freedom from choice. But, as you may have noticed, this offer is false. It’s not a choice, it’s not a freedom, and it’s certainly not a way to live. Why exactly, though?

Well, Yaldabaoth is removing the sense of self from human consciousness. As written in philosophical heavyweight Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness, existence for humans rests within three states of being. Being-In-Itself, the solid state of non-conscious being. Being-For-Itself, the fluid state inherent of dynamic choices of a conscious mind. And lastly, Being-For-Others, the awareness of the state as described by others than the individual itself.

To put it in blunt terms, the protagonist’s Being-In-Itself is a human, with a brain, working body parts, and living tissue. It’s the literal interpretation of a being that is always static, and can describe anything from people to trees to air.

The protagonist’s Being-For-Itself, then, is the choices that he makes, and the person as a result that he is both from past choices and future ones. This is what the player has active control over most of all, and everything you do does in fact constitute a choice. Whether it’s walking versus running versus fast-travelling to your destinations, choosing to spend time with someone versus working the job versus just going to sleep, or doing a Palace as soon as it’s available versus putting it off to the last minute to not doing it at all and getting a bad ending. Within the context of the game, the protagonist is making these choices, and as a result is built from them.

Finally, Being-For-Others is what we are defined as by others, so for the protagonist it’s most easily identified by the Phansite or the little bits we here from other people. He’s identified as a thug by his fellow classmates despite them having no evidence to support this outside of hearsay. He’s identified as a criminal by Akechi, Sae, and the Police as a result of him doing something outside the law, controlling another person’s heart. He’s identified as a hero by those he saves in the Metaverse, and near the end of the game is threatened with erasure of existence by Yaldabaoth erasing the public’s consciousness of their ever existing.

All of these come together to make up a person’s existence, though how each aspect is weighted against others is up to that person. What makes this interesting then is how Yaldabaoth’s actions try to remove both the Being-For-Itself, and the Being-For-Others, from all of humanity.

As Mona points out, humanity cannot exist without Desire. As it turns out, this was a veiled reference to the Being-For-Itself within humanity, something that many characters have challenged. While often acting in villainous ways, every character with a Palace had a strong Desire inherent to their being. Each one was associated with a different religious sin, but they were also still desires; things that made them have a sense of self, different from any other Shadow. Similarly, the Persona users have no Palace but have strong senses of themselves and goals to achieve. They had individual identities that pushed them to action, something that made their Being-For-Itself just as, if not more powerful than those with a Palace. In finding their place in reality, they found the power of spirit to go along with it. It’s the same logic behind their Persona Second Awakenings; at the end of each route, the Persona user finds a better sense of themselves. They make choices (whether it’s to not join the track team, or become a better model, or live as an artist both with a desire to make a living from it but without the greed from it’s extreme,) that shape who they are as people in their own minds. And as such, gain better Persona to boot… Going from the semi-real like Captain Kidd and Zorro to full mythological gods like Sun Wukong and Mercury. Meanwhile, people who don’t yet have Palaces inside the Metaverse take the form of regular Shadows. They have no connection to each other, but they have a distorted view of themselves born from a desire. They don’t have to be malicious, or have the distortion beaten out of them however, as Mishima proved. The point is, all humans have this desire, have this Being-For-Itself… Or should, anyway.

The flipside to this is the Being-For-Others. How others perceive you. And we get multiple uses of this throughout the game. Obvious examples include ranking up Confidants so as to gain power. The unique benefits of each are mostly unique to P5, but the idea of your sense of self growing by connecting and bonding with others is heavily explored across the series. However, P5 also briefly touches on the opposite side of this; on not making connections, and being forgotten or ignored by the public. Akechi is a Wild Card user, whose sense of Being-For-Itself is so strong that it birthed one of the most absurdly powerful Initial Persona in the series to date in Loki. In fact, if we take the idea that he had no connections aside from the Protagonist to it’s conclusion, we can guess that he outright created a second Persona purely from his own force of self in Robin Hood. That Loki was born from the sense of self he found in his early life, and Robin Hood is the sense of self he portrays to the public. But even with such a strong sense of self, he still loses to the Protagonist and his friends, purely because their bonds create a larger strength overall. This isn’t just numbers, however, it’s that the Protagonist’s sense of self is enhanced by the perception of those around him of him… Including Akechi himself. Falling back on a line I love from Persona 3, “Two in harmony surpass One in perfection.” Indeed, it’s the erasure of that perception by the public that is Yaldabaoth’s final plan to erase the Phantom Thieves from existence; in merging Mementos with Reality, Yaldabaoth uses his influence to make the public cease to believe the Thieves exist, thereby erasing them from reality itself… Given that thanks to Mementos entering reality, losing the sense of Being-For-Others means not existing in public minds… And thus in reality.

And thus we get to the crux of Yaldabaoth’s plan. In removing the sense of Being-For-Itself that all humans have by making such desires taboo, the eldritch god forces humanity to slide into a state of stasis. In giving up their freedom of choice, the public loses what makes it unique in any way. They become the husks we see in Mementos Depths, locked away in cages in perpetuity. They believe there is nothing more to life because of what they’ve been told. And as such, merely are wasting away into nothing. Quicker than you’d think, because without that sense of self, suddenly they also begin to vanish thanks to exactly what happened with the Phantom Thieves. They vanish from reality because they no longer have personal desire, nor are they acknowledged by those around them. We don’t know how many vanish before the Phantom Thieves start to break the public’s apathy, but we can assume many. Hell, this may explain why Akechi goes completely unmentioned in the finale of the game; he too has been erased from public consciousness, and thus ceases to exist in our world. Whether his sense of self would be enough to ignore this is up for debate.

For those of you who may have sat there reading all that, or watching the people in Mementos Depths worrying, “Am I like them?” Never fear. You are making choices. You’re appreciating the art of the game, or reading the story, or making connections that matter in your life, or simply enjoying yourself. As a result, you playing this game still have Being-For-Itself. In talking to others about this game, you are enhancing your Being-For-Others. The only way you would be in the same state as those poor souls in the game was if you effectively curled up into a ball, and tried to think about nothing, not just for a set period of time, but for as long as you could before you died. In short, as long as you have something you desire, you won’t fall into that pitfall.

That is where the Protagonist shines in the finale. By being the culmination of all these concepts. His sense of self, fueled by both his Being-For-Itself, (Arsene,) and his Being-For-Others, (Confidants, party members, and eventually 100% of the population) creates Satanael, the largest and potentially most powerful Persona in the franchise to date. Granted, Satanael is gone now, given that it’s form was given in part by the populace… Which now cleanly is split in two as to whether to believe in the Thieves or not. Regardless, he still stands as the counterpoint to Yaldabaoth’s offer. Where Yaldabaoth offered humanity meaningless existence without desire, (and in turn, no existence at all,) Satanael offers humanity life lived through desire, and yes, sin. The protagonist reminds humanity of the freedom of choice it truly has, and that taking no choice, no responsibility for your actions, is no choice at all. It is the cessation of existence.

And that’s the point of P5’s ending; that we are built of both the choices we make and how others see us, and it is our responsibility to live for what we desire. So go forth. Enjoy a New Game Plus, go write, draw, roleplay, discuss, theorize. Live for your desires.

#{crow flies free - ooc} #long post #persona 5 essay #spoilers

[pogaytosalad]

I have made

A huge mistake

I submitted this essay to my english teacher

In the fault in our stars by john green, Augustus changes the lives of multiple people. An individual can have an incredibly strong influence on other people. Shown by hazel becoming active and less of a recluse, Isaac coming to terms with the things that have happened, and through Mr. Hurgenburgen or whatever his name was having a change of heart. I’m a failure. I’m going to fail. Why do I try? There’s no point. Kill me. Who would even care? How would I influence others? Would I influence people like Neil did? Or would I be like the father of the fat kid from the marrow thieves and have little to no impact. Would it even matter? Would my death cause anything at all to change? Or would I just be leaving people to continue the way they are going.

I know this is not exactly coherent, or related to any one text, or an essay really. But it still ties in to the idea of a characters influence. Last week, I didn’t attend school. I was sick, or at least I thought I was. Then I had dental surgery. Now I’m here and no one has said a thing. They continue as if I had never left. Am I just background noise to everyone? Or do people actually realize I exist.

In dead poet’s society, Neil commits suicide because his dreams were shattered and his life was ruined. His death caused his friends and family to change their views and seize the day. In Romeo and Juliet, both the main characters commit suicide and bring peace to the two families. In the fault in our stars, Augustus dies and hazel come out of her shell and starts being human again. These are all examples of the influence someone can have on other people.

However, influence is not guaranteed. Neil only had influence because he was a leader and people were close with him. Romeo and Juliet had influence because they were noble people. Gus had influence because he was hazels boyfriend. Me? I wouldn’t influence anyone other than maybe my mother. Everything would just keep going as it is and nothing would be changed. It would be as if I had just dropped out of school. Some people may even celebrate. But my influence would not have a lasting effect.

What does have influence, what does have power, what can change things, are the people in charge. People like Neil’s parents, or the leaders of the Capulets and the Montagues. Or, in my case, teachers or government officials. I can’t change things. But if the people in charge tried to make things better, then they could cause change.

An individual’s influence can be strong. But it can also be weak or nonexistent. I could die, I could beat my face in with a baseball bat, and nobody would change at all. But, as with Augustus, Neil, Romeo, and Juliet, an individual with power can have influence on whole societies. But not me. Even this “essay” will have more influence. The only influence it’ll have will be on my grades. But it’ll still be an influence, more so than me just vanishing. I’ll be sent to a counselor or my therapist and you’ll write off the essay as another pointless rant by another child. You won’t listen to the things I say. You won’t try for any sort of change that might make future students’ lives easier than mine. I’ll just be another name forgotten by time. Another face lost in the void.

And I know teachers or whoever can see this. You have access to this computers documents.

Ms. [teacher], please don’t take this seriously. I had a severe mental breakdown in the middle of class, hid it, and focused it all into this instead. It falls within the parameters of an essay. It’s about an individual’s influence on others. It connects to the texts we have done throughout the year. Please just give me a passing grade.

I submitted that along with this comment.

Help.

#ask to tag #suicide tw #vent tw #rant tw