#villain analysis

[a-very-cute-snake]

Prime Defenders has such good villains, and I think part of the reason they're so effective is because for many of them, it puts a lot on how the players react and what choices they make

First with Wavelength, there's the struggle of "how much do we work with this guy, if at all, where do we draw the line" which causes so much tension, and then you throw Ashe into the mix and add yet another set of questions and layers.

There's Mallard Conway, who's clearly evil, but the help he offers seems real. The power he offers seems real, but he always leaves you suspicious of how much of it is Will's or his.

Then you have the Trickster, who's brilliantly acted and I'm never getting over that, but Bizly also does such a great job making him seem like an impossible enemy. He wears the face and sometimes voice of their friend, has insane powers, and often throws a dangerous problem at them and dips, leaving them torn on what to focus on: deal with the problem first? Follow the Trickster? If they find him, should they treat him as just an enemy or is Ashe still in there?

And then there's David Bell, the bastard himself. He's so fucking nonchalant about horrible things and pulls the mob boss "my hands are clean, it's all other people doing the dirty stuff. I tell them to take care of it, not my problem how they do it." He's a manipulator, but in such a way that's so... low-key? I don't know how to describe it, but it just seems like he's arguing his point of view like anyone else and seems almost reasonable, and then you look back and realize he fucked you over completely.

#prime defenders spoilers #jrwi spoilers #jrwi prime defenders #jrwi pd #just roll with it #jrwi show #fuckin well done bizly #pd villains are so good #prime defenders #story analysis #character analysis #villain analysis

[gartenofbanny]

Let's talk about something different today. Jasper from Steven Universe is my favorite antagonist and I'm just going to casually explain why. So starting off with why I love her as an antagonist is that, Jasper is a huge threat, while she wasn't really much of an active threat she was still a huge threat ngl.

In her debut episode, Jasper managed to solo the Crystal Gems, poofing the strongest gem (at the time) Garnet and imprisoning the two other gems, Pearl and Amethyst while knocking out Steven in the process. When I first saw that when I was a kid, I was REALLY surprised because the crystal gems are extremely powerful in their own right but realizing that one gem took down the crystal gems with minimal effort shows how threatening Jasper is and how more threatening Homeworld as a whole is.

While Jasper was later on defeated by Garnet, it's still impressive because no other gem in Season 1 was really able to hold off Garnet, who was the strongest crystal gem at that time. So it takes a fusion between two gems to defeat Jasper which was shown consistently throughout Steven Universe. Not to mention the iconic battle in Steven Universe that somehow has fewer views on YouTube than the Undertale parody lmao. 💀

But then we move on to Steven Universe Future. After training a teenage Pink Steven for a while, Jasper with no hesitation fights him after Pink Steven challenges her. Let it be known that Pink Steven was gaining powers from his mom's gem who is Pink Diamond and despite the fact that Jasper was shattered in the end, she was still able to hold her own against a Diamond essentially.

Jasper is definitely the strongest lone gem I've seen since she's able to mop the floor with other ordinary gems and only loses against Fusions or Diamonds. But it would be really interesting to see her fight against Spinel or Bismuth.

Another reason why I like Jasper is that to me, she's a foil to the three main characters Steven, Garnet, and Amethyst.

Jasper is big, tough, and strong while Amethyst is small, not as durable as Jasper, and definitely not as strong as her. Jasper is the perfect version of Amethyst, physically even Jasper points out multiple times in "Crack the Whip" and "Earthlings".

She constantly looks down on and berates Amethyst for being physically inferior to her, but Jasper doesn't have the meaningful relationships that Amethyst has. So Jasper has power, but no friends, and due to her lack of teammates she always loses against others who have teammates.

In Garnet's case, Jasper forces gems to fuse with her in order to become more powerful which can hurt the gem she's fusing with in the process and even herself. Garnet is a fusion out of the love of two gems and she's able to handle that form for a long amount of time as opposed to Jasper who was able to withstand a fusion with a corrupted gem for like a few minutes at most.

Jasper does not know that fusion requires consent or love, when she fuses with another gem she's essentially using them to gain power which led to gems not wanting to fuse with her or forcing themselves out of the fusion with her.

Steven's case, she's a foil to his belief that everyone can change. Jasper in Steven Universe Future was the only character who for the most part did not change, she still remained a gem who worshipped their diamond regardless of the other gems aren't doing so anymore, she still remained violent and alone because she trained nonstop in a forest in isolation, and she still viewed power over everything.

She's also the opposite of Steven in one way because she tells Amethyst "Fighting is my life!" And Steven Universe isn't much of a fighter more like a pacifist.

So yeah that's really why I love Jasper and why she's my favorite antagonist in Steven Universe as a whole...but there is one thing I will say that I don't really like.

I don't like the fact that Jasper was brought back from being shattered just to do nothing after she was shattered. It immediately removed the tension that Gems can be erased due to the fact that Steven was able to repair and revive Jasper hours after he shattered her.

It would've really been disturbing if they just kept Jasper shattered because not only is the danger of shattering still..dangerous, but it will also somewhat work thematically with Jasper's character. Jasper is the only gem who didn't change their violent tendencies from the start and because of that, Jasper's fate couldn't be changed after she was shattered. But then again SU Future also showed that Yellow Diamond was able to repair shattered gems so it's possible that Steven doesn't even need the essence of all the diamonds to repair a shattered gem.

Would I be sad if Jasper stayed dead? Definitely, but it was pretty underwhelming to see her again just not do anything after she was repaired but then again what could she have done when she was repaired? Y'know?

Anyway, that's all for today. Thank you all for reading and I hope you all have a nice day! ❤️

#steven universe #su #steven universe jasper #jasper #antagonist analysis #villain analysis #steven universe criticism #steven universe critique #jasper steven universe

[terrestrialnoob]

Shredder 03 VS Fire Lord Ozai

Just a little comparison between villains.

Modeled after ancient Japan

Shredder uses the aesthetic of the Demon Shredder and ancient Japanese warrior turned demon, using his human name and armor appearance to use the reputation already associated with it.

The Entire production of Avatar the Last Aribender uses influence from various Asian cultures. The Fire Nation takes most of its influence from Japan.

World Domination Through Technological Superiority

Shredder uses his knowledge of Utrom technology to convince ancient Japanese people he deserves the reputation of The Shredder. He employs scientists and gives them resources to advance technology for his domination designs.

During the Hundred Year War, the Fire Nation was able to use it’s position as a colonizing power to exploit the resources of the other nations and advance it’s own technology while the other nations had to use their resources to defend against the Fire Nation.

Pit their Henchmen against each other

Ozai deliberately pits his children against each other as projections of his own insecurities. He projects all his doubts and failures on Zuko, Ursa’s favorite child who represented her love for another man. He projects all his nationalism and success on Azula, his favorite child. By pitting them against each other, he gets their loyalty and the catharsis of His Child beating Ursa’s Child.

Shredder pits his henchmen against each other to keep their loyalty and motivation focused on him and his approval. Having Karai threaten Hun’s place as Shredder’s right hand man is supposed to force him to focus on fulfilling his orders, despite the fact that his failures are directly tied to the Turtles’ interference. Shredder thought that by threatening Stockman’s ego with replacement, it would motivate him to prove he was better.

They’ve Got Better Things to Do

Fire Lord Ozai is focused on World Domination! The Gaang are an obstacle to that goal and nothing more. Ozai is relatively unconcerned with the Avatar, worried enough to send his kids after him but not enough to want to do anything himself.

Shredder’s main goal isn’t killing the turtles, it’s getting off of Earth so he can go get his army and come back for world domination. He only goes after the turtles when he thinks he can manipulate Leo into joining the dark side, and after that he would have ignored the turtles if they didn’t keep getting in his way.

Formidable Opponents Who Fight as Little as possible

Ozai is seen very rarely before season 3, He’s in flashbacks all of season 1 and 2, there’s one time the audience hears his voice at the end of season1 where we see Azula for the first time. He is the motivation of Zuko and Azula, the main antagonists for season 1 and 2 respectively. But once he is on screen in the final battle with Aang, Ozai is so powerful, Aang has to pull out The Avatar State in order to beat him. And Ozai’s will is so strong he nearly wins when Aang does the energy bending.

While Shredder is on screen more than Ozai, he is still primarily a planner, he waits and manipulates others into doing his work for him. He only fights the turtles after he’s sent everyone else to weaken them, only winning that battle through ambush. In every fight with him, the problem is everyone he’s surrounded himself with. It’s the army of faceless ninja, the tech-ninja, the mystic warriors, Hun, and especially Karai. Shredder could very possibly be easily managed threat in a straight fight with four teenagers, but he’s a strategist willing to wait for the perfect opportunity to strike.

#tmnt #tmnt 2003 #tmnt Shredder #03 shredder #teenage mutant ninja turtles #avatar the last airbender #atla ozai #fire lord ozai #character comparison #villain analysis #character analysis

[artist-issues]

If you haven’t seen Wish yet and you love Disney, do not go see it. I am telling you now. It is ripping out the hearts of the Disney movies you love and then waving their corpses around as if celebrating those hearts.

I’ll explain why, again: the message of Wish? Awful. Anti-Disney.

But they've been doing this for a long time. Saying one thing with their movies, and saying another with their PR and Disney Parks Soundtracks.

I'll explain.

Main Idea of Disney's Wish (and the You Are the Magic theme park song and merch): "The power to make your wishes come true is in you."

≠

Most Disney Movies' Idea on How to Have Wishes: "Do what's right, (trust a higher power) and something even more wonderful than what you wished will happen."

Don't try to argue with me about this. You have to look underneath the slogans and the sweater designs and the song titles to what the stories actually support to acknowledge this.

Because you can’t say “do what’s right” has power unless you answer the question “who gets to decide ‘what’s right?’” (Which, coincidentally, is a question Wish brings up and then doesn’t answer.)

Audiences of Disney used to accept that wishing on a star was much like prayer; there’s something you long for, and it’s out of your hands, but you wish for it and you do what you know is right in the meantime. And you’re not crushed, you’re not downhearted, because somewhere in your mind you trust that the combo of those two things—wishing on a higher power and diligence to do what’s good—will be what makes your wish come true.

Trust in a higher power—COMBINED WITH:

—diligence to do what’s good.

The Blue Fairy (higher power) gave Geppetto his wish specifically because he had demonstrated commitment to do good, whether he got what he wanted or not. The Fairy Godmother (higher power) gave Cinderella her wish specifically because she kept on being kind and good to low creatures like mice and wicked stepsisters, whether she got what she wanted or not.

Do you know why that combo (higher power + diligence to do good) is impactful? Timeless? Important?

Because it’s selfless. You want something, but you’re not going to sacrifice doing the right thing to get it. You’re not going to focus so hard on making what you want a reality, on your own, that you miss out on things that could be more important than what you want. And, you’re not so self-focused as to believe that if you don’t do it, it won’t get done.

Jeez, that’s the whole point of The Princess and the Frog!

Tiana wishes to have her own restaurant, and she believes that only her own hard work will grant that wish. She misunderstands her dad’s advice before he dies. She isn’t willing to trust a higher power combined with her own diligence to do good—she only trusts her own ability.

It’s not until she realizes that Ray, the character of faith, was right all along that she learns—what she wished for was too self-focused. It wasn’t complete without love. Something bigger than herself. And getting that was never going to happen just based on her own hard work.

But you know what? It was never going to happen just by a “higher-power” flavored shortcut, either. Because Facilier offers her her wish if she’ll just trust him, no hard work needed. But what does she say?

Trust in a higher power + diligence to do what’s right = selflessness, and getting more than you could have ever wished for. And if your wish is selfish, doing those two things will change your wish into something selfless.

More examples? Get ‘em while they’re hot, in case Wish made you forget, just like the current #NotMyDisney executives have forgotten, what real Disney wishes are for.

Belle wishes to have adventures in the great wide somewhere--but when she's imprisoned and that chance is taken from her it's not reversed because she worked hard to make her wish come true. It's granted because she gave up her wish for her father: she just did the right thing, regardless of her wish. And in the end, she does get what she wished for, which is adventure in an enchanted castle...and much more, because she gets true love, a throne, and a castle full of friends.

How about the One Who Started It All? The one Wish is failing to pay genuine tribute to?

Snow White wishes for someone to love her, and he does--but when they're separated, she does not exercise power to make The Prince come back to her. Instead, she loves who she can where she’s at—the Dwarfs. In the meantime, she has faith that he will keep his promise, and that pure trust in a higher power outside of her control is a big contributing factor to why the Dwarfs come to love her, and learn from her...and in the end, even more than she could've wished happens. He does take her to his castle, but she also has seven new friends who also love her, and the Queen is dead. And she didn’t need to use “the power in her” to work harder and get it done. She just needed to not focus so much on herself at all.

How about a male main character? One who’s wish starts out selfish, but after learning to wish on a higher power and be diligent to do the right thing, gets more than he could wish for?

Aladdin wishes to be somebody different (somebody he believes Jasmine could love, somebody who lives in a palace and is respected and “never has any troubles at all.”)—but doing everything in his own power for that wish proves that it was selfish all along; so he switches to doing the right thing, regardless of if his wish comes true, and he gets even more than he could’ve wished. He gets real love with Jasmine, he gets his friend Genie, and he gets to be free from feeling “trapped” because he doesn’t have to hide who he is anymore.

Or Simba?

Simba wishes to get to do whatever he wants as King—but when Mufasa dies and he’s convinced it’s his fault, it isn’t for that wish that he goes back to Pride Rock to confront his past and his Uncle. It’s because he had an encounter with a higher power—his father—that helped him to realize his wish was selfish all along. He gives up the selfish wish, and he goes back to take his place as king, not so he can do whatever he wants, but so that he can take self-sacrificial responsibility that comes with ruling. And because he just does the right thing, finally, he gets more than what he wished for.

How about something more recent? Zootopia.

Judy wishes to make the world a better place by proving she can be what she wants to be and catching bad guys—but when she tries to make her wish happen on her own, in her own abilities, she fails and is forced to realize that she should’ve been looking for help by understanding “bad guys,” like Nick. It’s only after she humbled herself, admits she’s wrong, and changes her wish from “proving I can be what I want and catching bad guys” to “proving that understanding each other makes the world a better place” (much less self-focused) that her wish comes true—and so much more. She does make the world a better place, and she does get to catch bad guys, but she also gets to befriend one who was a good guy all along, and become all-around more effective at her dream job.

This is how Disney always has been. Because it’s at the heart of good storytelling, and even life (not to get too dramatic.)

The power is not in you. Because it’s not about you. Self-sacrifice, faith, and doing the next right thing regardless of if you get your heart’s fondest desire is what makes more than just your wishes come true. And there has to be belief in a higher power to make that message powerful.

But Wish?

Not only is it bad at showing instead of telling. Not only is it lazy and soulless.

But it’s characters rip the Star out of the sky and say “don’t wish on this. Wish on yourself, to get what you wish for. You don’t need a higher power. You don’t even need to sacrifice to do what’s good—whatever you do is good, because you are the one doing it.”

That is wrong. That is not true, and it is not powerful. There’s no sacrifice in focusing on or placing your trust totally in yourself, and it undoes every good thing Disney has done up until now.

And it undoes it on the 100th anniversary, and it flaunts Easter eggs of the very things it’s undoing.

#pinocchio #disney #wish #Disney’s wish #wish Disney #Wish #Disney #meta #character analysis #storytelling #the princess and the frog #Disney fan #princess tiana #tiana #Naveen #Dr. Facilier #disney villains #asha #king Magnifico #Valentino #queen Amaya #ariana debose #chris pine #Cinderella #classic movies #film analysis #animated movies #animation #wish 2023 #Aladdin

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Gaslighter? I hardly know her!

[First] Prev <–-> Next

#poorly drawn mdzs #mdzs #wei wuxian #lan wangji #jin guangyao #qin su #The parallels to the mulderskully comic were genuine scripting coincidences that I kept in for the irony. #wwx and mulder both have a strong need to show their beloved (investigation) partner the cool thing they just found. #Much to their chagrin and concern. #For as much of a mess the plot gets in The Untamed...one of the things it does probably the best of all adaptions is setting up JGY. #specifically how we spend time getting to know him as a *Regular Guy* around our deuteragonists' age. #I love how he's present in the cloud recess arc! I was rooting for him as a character! The twist villain reveal felt so heartbreaking! #Here in the audio drama (for as much as it does well) we pretty much get 2 scenes tops with this guy before he's villain monologuing. #before this we know him as 1) the guy NMJ yelled at a lot 2) a suspect 3) leader guy Jin Ling was partially raised by. #The elements are there but but not with any particular depth to make him...interesting (in this version). #Sure we get to learn more after the fact but it just falls so flat in comparison B*/ #ohhhh noooo the guy we are pretty sure killed a guy is gaslighting his wife and has a secret torture chamber. And he's a politician. #not much of a mystery to it all innit. #Feel free to disagree or bring up differing points btw; I love media analysis convos and this truly is just my opinion.

[problematic-faves-appreciation]

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The perfect responses to people who insist creators "must" write all stories, even those aimed at adults, like a 1980s cartoon PSA and spoon-feed their audiences everything — or else they'll be accused of being "irresponsible" *eye roll* if they let their bad guys win a la Alex in A Clockwork Orange (1971).

#media analysis #villains #fiction is not education #depiction is not endorsement #media audiences aren't passive recipients #a clockwork orange #alex delarge #my posts

[gingerhastoomanyobsessions]

the lords in black are so interesting to me because. they’re so us. we’re watching the citizens of hatchetfield suffer for our own entertainment just as much as they are. we’re their accomplices in all of it

pokotho made hatchetfield into a musical because musicals are entertaining. and we ate that shit up! it’s soooo fun watching a little man scramble as the world around him bursts into song. the musical genre is satirized because pokey knows how the genre conventions work just as well as we do. we like watching musicals so much that black friday and npmd are musicals, too, even though they don’t revolve around pokotho’s plans as much as tgwdlm. we want them to sing. pokotho does too.

bliklotep is the audience and the audience is bliklotep. trail to oregon calls the audience “the watcher with one thousand eyes” and that’s not all, in watcher world blinky seems to be able to see through the eyes of anyone and everyone who loves spectacle. he wants to see the characters go through angst because WE love angst. it’s fun to watch alice and bill express their buried frustrations. blinky wants it to end in bloodshed because he loves tragedy, and let’s face it, so do we. it’s like that one post about how hamlet is aware of the audience and is angry that we don’t do anything to intervene because we want to see how it plays out. personally, I think blinky could have stopped the woodwards if he really wanted (he’s an elder god, after all) but alice shooting him shifted the narrative so that the emotional payoff would be more fulfilling if they escaped. and blinky loves a good story.

t’noy karaxis has blorbos. we joke about it, but that’s really what it is, isn’t it? he’s the fan who watches the movie again and again and again and again to see his favorite character’s dramatic death scene. he’s the guy who writes and reads angst fics by the hundreds because he likes to see his faves cry. he’s the hatchetfield enjoyer who’s on the edge of their seat waiting to see how ted kicks the bucket this time. the bastard’s box is pretty much just an ao3 account filled with whump and hurt no comfort. he’s sadistic AND he genuinely adores ted, because we fans are often cruelest to the characters we love the most. he puts ted through character growth— the realization that his life went the way it did because of his own mistakes, his inability to be vulnerable with jenny before it was too late— and he does that by writing a 56-chapter angst fic that’s still updating to this day

nibblenephim is the fan who voraciously devours every scrap of content that a creator produces and demands more, more, more. let’s face it, the fandom will never let starkid rest until we see this story through to its end. and then someone will demand a sequel series. nibbly is hungry because we will never stop yearning for more stories. he’s simple because that desire itself is simple— as humans, we need creativity like we need air to breathe. nibbly wants more because we want more. and we will never be satiated.

wiggog y’rath is the ruler and the king because he’s the self-inserting writer. I think jon matteson plays paul *and* wiggly for a reason— wiggly is the only lord in black to be played by the same actor in every single show, and that actor also plays the protagonist of tgwdlm. wiggly wants to be the protagonist. he tries to force himself into the human world of hatchetfield because he wants to participate, dammit! he wants to be the bestest ruler that the earth has ever seen! everyone has to love him because he’s going to be their bestest fwiend! when he appears in human form he’s gonna be the prom king! he’s the ebony dark’ness dementia raven way of the hatchetfield multiverse. he wants every human character to bend to his whims and to love him and to put him at the tippy-top of planet earth because he’s the writer and the writer’s main character, you fuckheads, and he can make whatever story he wants, whether the other characters like it or not! if you’ve ever written a self-insert story? congratulations! you’ve been wiggog y’rath.

and the funny thing? I don’t think the lords know that they, too, are as fictional as anyone else in hatchetfield. maybe blinky knows— he sees through the audience’s eyes, after all— but I don’t think the others do. if they did, maybe they’d be a little less tyrannical. a little bit nicer.

but then the starkid writers wouldn’t have much of a story to tell, would they?

#the lords in black #starkid #hatchetfield #hatchetverse #npmd #join me in the metafiction analysis hole. #the real villains of hatchetfield are the starkid writers themselves and those of us who want to see the shows! #the only reason the lords in black fuck up the world is because WE want to see that story!!!!! #note: the ‘you fuckheads’ bit was meant to be in wiggly’s voice/pov. I do not think the good people of starkid fandom are fuckheads.

[emotionaldisaster909]

CAN WE TALK QI RONG?

And the fact that

Donghua team performed an OUTSTANDING JOB of a character study through animation

Like I’m watching him insult Lang QiangQui

And it suddenly hits me that I kinda understand and feel him???

Like Ke Mo

Even though he is wrong

He has a right to hate Yong An

Xie Lian has much more of it, but-

Have you ever thought that

We never get to know

How Qi Rong died?

Even though he didn’t care for XianLe, it was his only home

So when you see him talk about this-

You can see that underneath his arrogant hateful craziness

There is genuine pain

Which he HIDES BEHIND SMILES

HIS EXPRESSIONS KEEP SWITCHING

AND I APPLAUD THE DONGHUA TEAM FOR THIS DECISION

He laughs in one second

AND IN THE NEXT YOU SEE THIS

This GENUINE ANGER

and a RIGHTFULL ONE AT THAT??

No matter how deeply twisted everything about his mindset is

At its core it’s a lack of any established moral guidelines in his upbringing

And the worst coping mechanism of fighting pain, insecurities and fear of abandonment

By going batshit crazy in defense and grabbing onto everything that makes him seem “important”

Yet by doing so he succeeded in becoming so unimportant

That even his remaining family thought about him so little

That we never got an explanation of how he died

He definitely died alone

And at least for this

He has a right to feel angry

Because anger is just helpless pain

#as it was said in NPAB #it takes a village to raise a child #and the fact that this child is him #says a lot about the village #nobody ever loved him enough and in the right time to make him change #yet he #by the way #does NOT use it as an excuse #and it makes him an awesome villain #tgcf #qi rong #tian guan ci fu #tgcf thoughts #tgcf season 2 #tgcf donghua #heaven officials blessing #天官赐福 #tgcf s2 #tgcf analysis #tgcf meta

[winterinhimring]

The real tragedy of Dune (which the movies did an excellent job of portraying) is that almost none of the characters we see have any real choice in what they do. The only choices they have are in how they do them.

Duke Leto must take House Atreides to Arrakis, or be declared a traitor to the Imperium and hunted down. He knows it's a trap and that the Emperor is, in the very best case scenario, setting him and his family up for a serious reversal of their fortunes (far more likely, he's outright scheming to get them killed). But he doesn't have a choice. He must go to Arrakis. He does go to Arrakis. He dies.

Paul and Jessica must flee into the desert or the Harkonnen soldiers will kill them both brutally. They must go to the Fremen for refuge or the desert will kill them. They go. They find that the Fremen have already begun to mythologise Paul. He's the Mahdi, the Lisan al-Gaib. There is no option for Paul to be a normal person here. He is either the messiah or he is a false prophet, and false prophets in a nation of true believers don't live for long.

So Paul fits himself into the mold of the myth. He becomes Muad'dib and leads the Fremen in war because they believe too much in him to let him be anything less. Is it manipulation? Yes. But because the Bene Gesserit have been manipulating the Fremen for centuries, Paul has no choice but to continue it if he wants to live.

He sees the holy war at the end of every timeline by glimpses and he fights to avoid it. To avoid it, he becomes the Kwizatz Haderach and gains the ability to fully see timelines, and thereby he makes himself that much more of the Fremen messiah and brings himself one step closer to the holy war. Every choice he makes is a choice for survival and an attempt to avoid that war, the war he cannot escape because every step he makes along the path to survival is one more step towards the war. He has no more choice in what he becomes than his father had in whether or not he went to Arrakis.

The only people who ever had a choice were the Emperor and Gaius Helen Mohiam. They made their choice, to exterminate House Atreides, and thereby they took everyone's choices away, including their own. Once they sent House Atreides to Arrakis, the entire plot was inevitable.

#dune #dune part two #winter says things #paul atreides #jessica atreides #leto atreides #character analysis #paul is not the hero but neither is he the villain #he's a duke whose choices have been taken from him #just like his father

[zootopiagush]

In Defense of Bellwether Part 2

Because I keep seeing people saying that Bellwether was a bad twist villain without elaboration or claiming that everything we learned about her before the reveal was useless, I felt the need to speak up again.

Her polite and awkward demeanor isn't intended to be substituted with her evilness; they go together. She isn't a card-carrying villain like Mr. Big or Duke Weaselton, she is insidious. She is able to gain power by manipulating things behind the scenes. That doesn't make her any less awkward, though she does seem more confident when she believes she has the upper hand in a social situation which is... understandable.

Unlike Hans who was clearly meant to be similar, Bellwether is consistent. Do we ever see her interact with someone she doesn't need to have on her good side for one reason or another? Like, say, Clawhauser? I have absolutely no trouble believing that she would be as mean to him as she could get away with even when being nice to everyone else. And in fact, the one thing we know she does do is convince Chief Bogo to demote him for racist reasons, clearly against his wishes. What about someone like Nick, whom she has no reason to care about? She's polite to him when we see them together, right? Because he's with Judy, and she wants Judy to be on her side.

Then there are characters like Lionheart and Bogo whom she has to act respectful towards but doesn't like. Lionheart, she admits she retaliated once to his demeaning attitude, but does so implying she learned not to do it again, indicating she does tactically hide her unpleasant feelings towards others--rather than someone like Clawhauser, who is genuinely unwilling to speak ill words of anyone at any time, or someone like Bogo, who has zero filter. And speaking of Bogo, remember when she very cheerfully went against his explicit wishes? To keep Judy on her good side and on the case? But of course, then the question becomes why Judy. We'll come back to that. Here, the attitude is for plausible deniability... if she did so explicitly saying "try and stop me" as he would have in similar circumstances, her intentions would be clear as day. But instead, she can be written off as incompetent or not listening.

So why Judy? Because Judy is the perfect symbol for Bellwether's movement. Think about who the other police officers are. Most of them are either predators who are trying to do the right thing or large, intimidating prey. You obviously can't have orderly predators being in the advertising because that goes off-message with the idea that predators are agents of chaos. Clawhauser is absolutely a terrible idea because he is such a harmless predator. Was he really moved so that prey wouldn't be frightened, or so that they wouldn't face cognitive dissonance? Unknown, but what would definitely cause cognitive dissonance would be putting one of the hippos, elephants, or rhinos, or especially Chief Bogo himself front and center. Prey are small and fragile, right? ...Right?

I went off on several tangents here, but the point I come back to is the argument that Bellwether would be a better character if we knew from the start, she was evil. Now, there are two things someone could mean. One is that if there were some scenes that added dramatic irony. And I mean, I like dramatic irony, but in terms of a mystery plot, I understand why they didn't do it that way. I don't think it would make the character any worse or better. The second thing is they want to get to know the real her without the fake kindness.

But you see, the fake kindness is the real her. She's not playing a character; she's going through the motions of good social behavior to keep people on her side so that she can manipulate things from behind the scenes... while also being awkward, because those aren't mutually exclusive. You can't have Bellwether without the fake kindness any more than you can have Clawhauser without the earnest gushing and rambling or Bogo without the brutal honesty or Nick without the snarky defense mechanisms. Without it, she would be a completely different person.

#villain analysis

[eloise175]

In the latest chapter Callisto looks so surprised after receiving Penelope’s gift. Despite teasing her, he was not expecting such a thing.

It’s always as if he’s glad to get anything from her. It doesn’t matter what the gift is, as long as he knows she thinks of him.

More specifically, Penelope’s gift is a cufflink with healing magic imbedded into the ruby.

She was embarrassed to give him the cufflink because she didn’t know what to give to someone who already had everything; that’s literally her thought process when he opens the box.

Callisto is a little confused by the healing abilities of the gem, but Penelope says it’s so he won’t complain about her lack of healing magic when he hurts himself next, basically hinting at their conversation in Solael after he rescued her from the lizard monsters (ch.116)

He ends up piercing his ear with the cufflink, using it as an earring instead, because he wants to wear it immediately.

So although he teased her for her gift, it means a lot to him. Callisto likes getting her attention, no matter whatever the circumstances may be.

It’s quite obvious that Callisto enjoys the way she ‘fusses’ over his well-being.

He likes seeing her worry for him, because despite being usually cold in their interactions, Penelope does care, and the way she acts whenever he’s injured is proof of it.

Callisto is this way because, as we will learn later on, he truly loves Penelope, she is everything he has. No one’s ever showed care for him like she did, nor did they make him feel like she does. He never gets angry at her for things that would usually spike his temper, but instead he finds her amusing.

Callisto has always had a plan: after ascending the throne, he was going to burn the empire to the ground and start wars upon wars until nothing remained. And yet for Penelope, he didn’t.

He loves her greatly, and even while on the brink of death, Callisto is willing to let Penelope go back to her world because that’s what she wanted. In the side stories he can be defined only as clingy, and it’s such a different look on him than what we’ve seen so far.

Callisto also mentioned how he thought that his lust and desire were killed on the battlefield by trampling around blood, but this changes when he’s with Penelope.

She is the only thing on his mind, yet Callisto doesn’t seem to mind, it’s the opposite actually.

#I’m so mentally ill about them #they’re my roman empire #Callisto Regulus loves Penelope Eckhart #penelope eckart x callisto regulus #callisto regulus #penelope eckhart #penelope eckart #villains are destined to die #vadd #death is the only ending for a villainess #death is the only ending for the villainess #el’s thoughts #el’s rants #chapter analysis

[ranminfan]

Hellfire is the only Disney villain song where the antagonist is not having a good time....

I'm trying to think of the reasons why Hellfire is one, if not, the best Disney villain song and how it's different from the others, and this is what I noticed...

Their songs is where we see the motives, goals and overall character of the villains and how they'll drive the plot of the movie.

However I don't think I've ever seen another Disney villain who's having a horrible time.

Frollo is the only one I've seen who's in pain in a sense.

He's not singing because its his number, no, he's singing because he's struggling with his inhibitions.

I mean, look at the other guys...

They're having a gay ol' time

.

Another thing I've noticed to other villain songs is that they have an audience.

I think they need to because it's usually the time where they hatch their evil plans and the audience is generally the main protagonist.

Meanwhile Frollo doesn't want anyone to know his little "trouble" with the fireplace.

He doesn't want witnesses... no one has to know, no one needs to, and he made sure of that.

Even having to burn Esmeralda's scarf so nobody can find it. He was determined to keep his motives hidden.

He's alone, restless, and vulnerable, as shown with him not wearing his usual vestments (hat and the shoulder pad thing).

The only people who knows Hellfire exists is him and us, the viewers.

Decides to make this also because I've been seeing people who've watched the new movie Wish and a lot are comparing the villain songs to the old ones.

#Judge Claude Frollo #Old man is having a hard time #THoND #Disney #the hunchback of notre dame #Disney villains #pardon me but I will defend this movie and song #text #rmf speaks #analysis

[dykealloy]

i keep going back to this moment. obviously there's the palpable devotion from zoro towards luffy which is all very insane, elicits the urge to chew through drywall etc etc. but I can't help but get caught on the way this is phrased. suggesting maybe zoro isn't the only one mihawk is talking about here. as in, I'm getting opla shuggy rant energy, i.e.

which is about as blatant and transparent as it gets in terms of the older wiser figure with a connection to shanks speaking about his own experiences (under the weak veil of this being about Luffy). but back to mihawk talking about zoro whilst also talking about himself. I'm having to extrapolate a fair bit here given my limited knowledge of his history, but here's what we do know - mihawk never belonged to a crew, was a "rival" of shanks before he "lost interest" in killing him at some point after he lost his arm ("it's always for the sake of another" - given how powerful shanks still is at this point - one of the four emperors - i'd like to think there's something more to this).

when zoro falls to his blade outside the Baratie and he tells luffy "that's a more treacherous path than even mine" after hearing his main goal is to become king of the pirates, do you think perhaps there's a chance he's projecting some old buried anxiety/fear from his youth about the thought of facing shanks, standing by his side and falling. It's giving "I am not worthy until I prove I'm the best", which if true, was followed after many years by "Now I am the best and it's hollow and empty and I regret all those days I could have had with you".

luffy gave zoro direction - a greater purpose and a family. luffy enables his aspirations, but he also provides zoro the freedom to have something more than just this obsessive structure where the only thing that matters is becoming top dog - something beyond years and years of endless relentless training fueled in part by his loyalty to kuina but also the grief of her loss. without luffy, zoro could very likely have followed mihawk's path, something @joyish-little-boy pointed out in one of @assiraphales' posts.

despite being recognised by the world at large as the greatest swordsman alive, and supposedly having achieved all there is for him to strive for, mihawk has never struck me as a man awfully satisfied with where he is.

#mihawk looking zoro straight in the eyes: i know how to manipulate you. fellow fag. #buggy getting distracting midway through his villain monologue and wistfully staring into space: i hate him. i miss him. #mishanks #shuggy #zolu #anyway. do you think zoro telling mihawk that 'the only thing luffy's afraid of is being alone' resonated with mihawk. #do you think it fucked him up? #i think maybe so. #one piece #op #opla #CJ's op watch-through #dracule mihawk #red haired shanks #buggy the clown #zoro #op meta #op analysis

[theelastword]

i saw a very interesting post recently from @fellthemarvelous about how Aziraphale is often treated the way female love interests are— likely because his hobbies and emotions are more traditionally feminine whereas crowley’s style and anger are more traditionally masculine despite the fact that neither of them are gendered. the thesis of the post was essentially that because crowley is the one who fell, fans have decided that aziraphale only exists to comfort and protect and bring peace to crowley rather than be his own person with his own emotions and ambitions. i’d never been able to put this into words, but it’s like this person stole what i was feeling right from my brain and i am so thankful to their eloquence.

but it did get me thinking about the end of season 2— specifically how many fans, even people who defend aziraphale for what he did, believe that the “only” way for his choices in the finale to be valid are if he did them for crowley’s safety/well-being. i’ve seen so many arguments along the lines of “oh, he has to go back so he can fix Heaven for Crowley and make him heal from falling” or “oh, he has to go back to Heaven because if he doesn’t, Metatron could go after crowley and he needs to keep him safe”. and while both of these very popular aziraphale-defenses are valid (this is not an attack on anyone’s opinion!) and i wouldn’t be surprised if they played into his reasoning for leaving, i can’t help but think of that lovely person’s female-love-interest argument.

i don’t actually think aziraphale leaving for heaven needs to be related to crowley at all. it can, of course— and likely does— but aziraphale has gone through just as much Heaven-induced trauma as crowley has, something that many fans (and even the characters themselves, sometimes) like to forget. aziraphale knows first-hand how abusive Heaven is to young angels and humans who they deem unworthy of being saved. and so to me, it is just as valid if it turns out aziraphale going back to Heaven wasn’t “for” crowley at all, but rather a way to protect these other generations from the abuse of Heaven that aziraphale has witnessed and been victim to. is it so hard or unacceptable to think that aziraphale could make a choice that doesn’t have to do with his love life? he is not obligated—nor is crowley!— to live entirely as though he’s making something up/repaying/protecting his love interest. that kind codependency is not something to idolize. i guess what i’m trying to say here is that there are other reasons to go back to Heaven having nothing to do with keeping crowley safe, and while that is a perfectly valid interpretation, i’m not personally a fan of the widespread belief that it’s the only interpretation that makes what aziraphale did “forgivable”.

EDIT/ADDITION: i ALSO think that this is why i’m so bothered by the argument that while Crowley being “selfish” and choosing his own path at the end of s2 is perfectly valid, aziraphale doing the exact same thing is not. i do not blame either one of them for making a different choice, but in my opinion far too many people believe that crowley had a right to his own autonomy and do what he thought was best for himself, whereas somehow it was Aziraphale’s job to choose the same thing in accordance to what was most healthy for CROWLEY and not for himself/his own ambitions as regards to Heaven. people think that crowley has an obligation to do what is best for crowley, but that aziraphale’s subsequent obligation is to also do what’s best for crowley. no one seems to particularly care what may be best for aziraphale. at the end of the day, if one of them can make a self-prioritizing choice, the other can, too. aziraphale is his own person, not a love interest!!!!

#good omens #anyone remember that one himym plot line #where lily left to pursue art and postpone the wedding #and everyone made her the villain #and she was like ‘marshall ily this is not about not loving you it’s about ME an my life #but when she came back she still had to apologize #and say she was a bitch for not putting marshall first #this is like that! #i will never get sick of analyzing aziraphale #aziraphale #crowley #aziraphale defense #good omens season 3 #good omens season 2 #good omens season 2 ending #supreme archangel aziraphale #metatron #aziraphale x crowley #aziracrow #gabriel x beelzebub #neil gaiman #michael sheen #david tennant #good omens prime #good omens s2 #good omens finale #good omens analysis #good omens 2 #baddass aziraphale take

[artist-issues]

You know what’s great about Dr. Facilier?

He’s the perfect villain opposite both Tiana and Naveen.

He’s not exactly like Jafar or Ursula, who know they’re evil and delight in it as like, a lifestyle. He’s more like Scar. He’s introduced getting money on the street through cons and feeling satisfied…until Big Daddy LeBouf drives by with all his money and makes him feel insignificant.

You get the idea that something in life made him this way—there was a beginning to his villainy. You don’t get that sense from like, Clayton or Gaston.

So he’s a relatable character with flaws, to an extent.

But those flaws specifically play off of Tiana and Naveen’s characterizations.

Tiana has no real respect from her peers—she is in a position to be jealous of Lottie the same way Facilier is jealous of the Cotton King. But where Tiana simply works hard and refuses to let others make her bitter, Facilier has clearly taken shortcuts. Or…”the easy way.”

Then there’s Naveen.

Naveen has no thought beyond the present; he thinks they’re “on this earth to have some fun,” and frequently jumps without looking at the consequences. Leaps without looking! Doesn’t stop to find out if the girl he’s kissing is a real princess even though he knew his original invitation was to a costume party, forgets that he’s supposed to be getting married and plans on continuing his playboy lifestyle, wanders into a shadow-man’s shop. But eventually he learns to open his eyes to what’s important, and what will last, in Tiana. And he takes that seriously; if he marries her instead of Charlotte, he has to get three jobs.

Facilier, on the other hand? He not only does the opposite of Tiana and has taken shortcuts to get where he is—but he also suffers from Naveen’s flaw; he keeps making what are basically get-rich-quick schemes with his “friends on the other side.” When we meet him, he’s stressed and certainly on edge about failing—but that doesn’t stop him from asking for more and more debt from the demons, and he basically goes to his grave still making promises he can’t keep…like Naveen’s promise he couldn’t keep to pay Tiana for kissing him.

He’s got Tiana’s focus and Naveen’s charisma. He’s got Tiana’s lofty goals and Naveen’s dependence on others to do his dirty work.

He’s exactly like Tiana and Naveen put together, aged about twenty years, but with none of their good qualities. Perfect villain for those two main characters.

But he’s also the opposite of Mama Odie.

He entices innocents with what they want while she lights their way by explaining what they need.

He wants total control, while she’s satisfied with simply giving advice and sending people on their way.

He directly transforms his victims, while Mama Odie shows Tiana and Naveen how to work toward their transformation on their own. I mean, you guys noticed that she could have done it for them, right?

But she doesn’t, because she’s the symbol of that Disney Faith-Based morals: you act on what you know is true instead of taking the easy way to what you want. Facilier does the opposite: he promises to give you the easy way to what you want, and tries to tell you why you should accept his deals—but his reasons are all lies.

That’s how you write a villain, ladies and gentlemen.

#Disney #dr. Facilier #Facilier #princess and the frog #the princess and the frog #Naveen #tiana #characterizations #writing #meta #Disney princesses #princess tiana #Disney villains #writing for villains #storytelling #character analysis

[omarcitoloves]

simon's arc and growth in s3 was one of my favorite storylines and is one of the main reasons i like s3 so much.

in s1 we got to see the foundations of such a beautiful complex character - a boy who loves his family and those who have earned their way into his heart almost more than himself, loyal to a fault, vibrant and not afraid to make himself more of an outsider by standing by his ethos and personality.

and simon being his truest self taught the 2 most important ppl in his life their key lessons. sara now understands the gift of giving ppl second chances and wanting to hope they wont always fuck it all up. and wille learned everything from simon. how to love unashamedly. how to believe in yourself. how to look outside of yourself. how to speak your mind. how to forgive. how to live freely

idk i think there is something so missing in ppl who cant understand his character in s3 and maybe its a lack of life experience but knowing when you need to remove yourself from a situation that is destroying you and the ppl you love is important and real. he made himself so small to try and fit for willes life and that hurt them both, wille needed shining simon as much as simon did.

love is not always enough and simon was brave for recognizing that. for continuing to stand by issues and ideals that were deeply important to him. to recognize when his own actions were causing ppl harm. to continue to forgive and give ppl more chances despite being hurt but also knowing when he needs to put himself first

on my first watch of s3ep6 it something i couldnt stop thinking abt and i stand by it on a few rewatches, for someone so integral to everyone's personal growth bc he was that catalyst or lesson for them, he felt a bit forgotten. and i get there was a lot of loose ends to be tied up but im ngl he felt a little rushed/in limbo bc of it but i still think he had a full beautiful arc in s3. and the way ppl still damn him for every move makes me wish he had even more time to develop throughout esp s2 i wish everyone could see just how beautiful and complex simon is and how he is the base of everyone around him

#simon eriksson #he is my son and i will stand by him until i die #rambles at 2 am idek if this is fully coherent but oh well #was reading the song of achilles and it reminded me a bit too much of my love for yr at the beginning #he deserves just as much empathy and grace as every other character #he is not villain #young royals #young royals s3 #young royals analysis #young royals character analysis