To start off this post I just wanna say, I hold mp100 dear to my heart and I say this with love, but.. I feel off put whenever people talk about the bad shit that anime usually has, and then say that. Mp100 has none of it. Because, like... sure, it has less of it than the usual, and I appreciate it for that, but that doesn't mean that it, doesn't have it at all? I mean. The transmisogynistic joke in episode 2. The fatphobia in season 2's episode 2. The lack of female main characters, Takeuchi's racist design.... don't get me wrong, the show is still great and I love it very much as I said, but you can love a show and appreciate all the things that it got right while not disregarding the things that it got wrong. You don't have to hate it for those things, you don't even have to necessarily talk about them if you don't want to. You just shouldn't deny that they exist in that media in the first place. That feels really disingenuous to me.

DC x DP short

I'm picturing Danny moving to Gotham once he's an adult. He came out to his parents, and it went fine. More than fine. They listened to how he was struggling at school because he kept having to chase down the ghosts they let out by leaving the portal open. Jack was super proud of his son for being a ghost hunter even as a ghost, but Maddie understood his concern and set up some new protocols for the portal.

It now automatically closes after two minutes unless a specific command is put in by Danny to keep it open while he is in the Zone, and the shielding around it actually works to stop ghosts coming trig without hurting them now.

The shine of the mortal world has worn off for most of his regulars now, and those that come through have figured out compromises so they can still fulfil their obsessions without hurting others. The meta-protection act officially disbands the GIW, and Red Huntress is given a very thorough speaking to about personal bias and vendettas. She's not allowed back in the field until she comes to the realisation that ghosts are people too, and that she been the bad guy by hunting them the way she did. Phantom is officially recognised as a Hero, but he turns down working for any teams or joining the Big Leagues. He agrees to act as a back up though, in case of any world ending event.

By the time senior year rolls around, Danny has gotten his grades up enough that he can go to a pretty decent university if he wants to. He chooses Gotham University for his engineering degree because they're a feeder school for Wayne Enterprises, who in turn are a feeder company for working for the Justice League as a civilian engineer. Tucker also chooses GU for their tech program, while Sam elects not to go to university straight away.

Tucker and Danny move into an apartment right on the borders of Crime Alley and The Narrows. Tucker manages an impressive 4 months as a local hacker before Oracle notices him, but Danny only manages 3 weeks before he's spotted by a Bat.

He's lying down a foot above his building's roof, looking at the stars. It's a very rare cloudless night, and the power is out in his area. Poison Ivy had launched an attack earlier in the day that had taken cut the power lines, with her mutant plants feeding on the smog and pollution to get stronger.

Duke was up late, finishing the day shift by a quick loop of The Narrows, when he noticed a slightly glowing teenager(?) floating on one of the roofs. He takes note that the man isn't causing any harm and is just peacefully stargazing, before calling it in to Jason. He was technically supposed to be off the clock an hour ago, and besides, the building was on the Crime Alley side of this street. It's Jason's problem now.

Jason, on the other hand, is exhausted and just wants to have a quiet patrol before collapsing in bed. He hadn't been hit by Ivy's plants, but had taken a couple of tumbles while dodging them. He heads over to the address Duke gave him, to find the guy still floating there staring at the sky. He gets it, he does, he would float above the grime that coats Gotham rooftops if he could, but it's dangerous for a meta to be so unawares of his surroundings like this while obviously displaying his powers.

Danny, meanwhile, had clocked both of the vigilantes coming near him, but was really hoping that they would leave him alone. It had been a very long day for him. He'd finally managed to get to campus for his class, only to find that the place was covered in overgrown plants. He'd had to freeze a few to get into the building, and had then spent most of the afternoon in the library due to his class being cancelled. Unfortunately for him, his nearly finished assignment that he'd spent the day working on was eaten by one of the giant flowers on his way home. He'd been 'saved' by the stabby Robin, which had caused him to then also lose his laptop as they crashed to the rooftop a few streets over.

Thankfully, he had an amazing best friend in Tucker, who was doing his best to recover as much data as possible. On the downside, though, Tucker was mad at him for now having saved a backup of his files since they left Amity. He'd fled to the roof to escape his wrath, plans of bribes in the form of food running through his mind, when he'd caught sight of the Stars. Holy shit. It was so clear tonight!

He didn't even realise he'd begun to glow and float, too caught up in naming all of the stars and constellations he could see. His Obsession was feeling very satisfied tonight. Usually he had to invisibly fly above the cloud cover to see such a sight. Sure, the light pollution was still bad, but his mind was able to fill in the blanks across the sky.

The moment Jason landed on his roof, Danny heaved a great sigh. Damnit. The fun police were here. He wrenched his eyes from the sky, only to notice that - oh, shit - he was floating again. He fell to the roof with a light thump.

"Heeeyyy stranger, come here often?" Danny asked, as he rolled over to his side, propping his head up on his hand.

Chloe & Heroism

Chloe Bourgeois as a hero early on is a premise that often evokes either questions, like "How" and "Why". Or expectations that she is either already on a path to self improvement, or will be forced onto within a short timeframe.

These are not bad questions and the former definitely are necessary to consider for a story. However the expectations I tend to feel a bit murkier and while I have no issue with how some authors handle this topic.

I want to outline why I think you could do a good "Hero Chloe" story before she gets character development, but first, house cleaning!

1: I have not watched and largely ignore everything post season 3, so don't bother bringing up Derision. Remember, season 1 Kim was afraid of spiders.

2: In canon. Chloe only revealed her ID publicly because her abusive mother she is obsessed with pleasing (who killed her the day before) chose a girl other than her to take to New York & then tore her to shreds in front of everyone. 

With all that in mind let's examine where Chloe's values and understanding of the world comes from and how she perceives them! 

1 - Media/Social Media 

This would be a mixed bag, because on one hand they have Mighty Majesta comics that try to instill good values, but also shows built around lying to and humiliating people are evidently popular television and the internet seems similar in regards to pranking VS trying not to be terrible. So she's gonna get mixed signals at best. 

2 - Her family & Circle 

This is where 90% of the problems come from. Of the important adults in her life, her father, mother, Gabriel and Nathalie are all varying shades of corrupt, abusive, cruel and ruthless, while the lesser evils like Jean and Emilie are largely consigned to the role of enablers. 

Worse still, even if we ignore the emotional abuse, neglect and other elements that led to her both having trauma and her trauma response manifesting in aggression. We still have issues like Andre, during the brief periods he bothered to parent, explicitly teaching Chloe that, Stealing, extortion and threats are all appropriate ways to succeed in life.

IE, she isn't compromising her morality when she does these things, she is very much doing what she is taught was right at least consciously. This isn't helped by a 24/7 Audrey impression as Audrey deems being in her vicinity as reason enough to hurt people unless she deems them useful. 

Long story short, the values and people she was brought up around are all explicitly some shade of bad, or enabler, or outright teaching her to harm others. 

3 - Societies & Class 

However, we know from season 2 that Chloe is not entirely unaware that there are issues with this. Because while she spends much time boasting of how she's beloved and brilliant, when stripped of that and exposed to someone she trusts she is entirely willing to confess that she knows everyone hates her and that she feels she has no worth. She may not be able to articulate why or how this came about but she knows something is wrong. 

Despite this, school is not the best place to figure this out, especially for someone who obviously struggles with social cues and the like. The teachers run the gamut from indifferent and unpleasant, to extremely gentle and accommodating, to simply not wanting any form of drama and usually caving to whoever makes the most noise and none of them have the authority to do much outside of class hours. 

The class is not significantly better, because students like Kim and Alix can and do casually throw around snark or do pranks and at worst only get brief bursts of anger while Chloe's garner a more intense response. This is because her relationship with the class and motives are varying shades of different, but for someone with issues reading social cues, it's just going to seem like a confusing double standard. 

We can also see all this demonstrated in her relationship with Adrien, as Chloe clearly takes the lead in their relationship in Origins and outlines her logic behind the pranks, but is then surprised when Adrien seems to turn against her. What's more, it seems Chloe is aware that Adrien is more gentle/naive than her given she tried to educate him on these matters & turns to him for comfort and protection at times, while seeing no inherent contradiction between her expectations for their relationship and how she treats others.

Adrien does not help matters with seeming indifference to how she treats staff. 

Thus, while she knows 'something' is terribly wrong, actually being able to understand it and work through it is another matter. 

4 - Chloe's Conclusion 

So, what is the conclusion Chloe comes to in order to square all of these circles when she isn't just in full denial mode? The answer is quite simple and even demonstrated in the show itself, playing one's role. 

IE, Chloe the mayor and style queen's daughter is different to Chloe the hotel owner's daughter and we see this in her being able to stamp down on her usual instincts and slap on a customer service role when Jagged Stone enters the hotel and guide her father into doing the same. VS how she conducts herself during a class election, IE explicitly threatening and extorting people, to how she conducts herself day by day with her Audrey impersonation. 

A separate example and way she'd view this for others would be that Marinette the baker's daughter of course has to be nice and sweet and giving because that is how customer service roles work, while Marinette the aspiring fashion designer or would be class president is sneakier and will lay traps so people trying to steal from her are sabotaged. This isn't wrong, this is how she expects people to behave when in these circumstances and roles. 

Final Conclusion 

Which is why Chloe could easily play the role of a successful hero, because she would not be "Chloe Bourgeois, mayor's daughter, hotel heiress and Style Queen's daughter" as Queen Bee, she would just be Queen Bee, a superhero.

They have wonderfully defined roles that would be easy for her to pick up & follow through on: assure the public, save people from danger, protect allies, defeat monsters, all things Chloe was shown doing very well when chosen as a Miraculous Holder. 

I think that eventually the contrast in how she is received as Queen Bee VS Chloe Bourgeois would start grinding on each other and bleeding through both sides of the mask. 

But the infectious nature of empathy and a larger support network that don't have the worst impression of her would give Chloe the room she needs to explore and grow.

If she is too snippy as a hero, or shows a ruthless side, these won't be taken in the context of "Chloe that person I dislike" but "Queen Bee my ally" and can allow for more honest and even handed reactions that give her the necessary breathing room to grow and change. 

So yeah, I think season 1 Chloe could have, under the right circumstances, done a great job as a hero be it Queen Bee or another hero even before any outside circumstances or internal changes might have forced her to chart a new course in life.

Provided the role of Chloe and the role of hero do not intersect and become one almost immediately, because in that case it gets a lot harder for her. 

You know what?

I get it, ok? I understand the concept of Rhysand being a morally grey character. I understand that SJM wanted him to be an anti-hero of sorts. I would be totally okay with him doing everything that he did and standing by his actions if he simply said “The only thing that concerns me is myself, my circle and my people. I’m here to protect my interests first and everything else second. I am no hero, I am just someone who puts himself and his sphere first. I am a selfish person and I’m totally okay with that. I do not need anyone’s approval.” I still wouldn’t be his biggest fan, because I do not tend to admire self serving people, but I would totally understand him. In fact, I might have done the same thing. I guess you can never know for sure what your reaction to something would be unless you actually end up in that situation. I get that the average person would protect themselves (themselves = them and their loved ones) but I do believe that admiration should be saved for people who go against the norm. People who actually put their foot down, say no, protest, fight back, risk their lives, experience loss for a greater good. That’s why I admire Khalias, Tarquin, Helion, Tamlin etc. Because they stood up to Amarantha while knowing the consequences of their actions. I wouldn’t admire Rhysand, but I’d support him if he just owned up to his shit and said “Yup, I’m your average person, I don’t care if I come off as the bad guy!”.

But he does not! He wants everyone to applaud him and thank him and feel like they owe him and appreciate him and and and and… Jesus Christ man, you did the bare minimum and you did it all when you had nothing to lose! Thank you so much that you convinced that frigid bitch to murder two dozens of children instead of me and my family, of course I am now forever in your debt! Relax. You were able to talk Amarantha out of directly harming the other High Lords only after you harmed others to gain her favour and you saved the High Lords only because it served you better to keep them alive instead of some irrelevant children fae. I’m sure that your people should be thanking you because you did it all for them after all, but count me the fuck out of it.

Last but not least: ACOTAR Feyre was, obviously, a hero. She was a morally good character. She sacrificed herself for people she didn’t even know. I’m not gonna debate that. I actually loved her in the first book. However, I think she went through a drastic change after her metamorphosis. Her “human heart” is actually no longer human to say the least. I’m not even gonna elaborate on how she became this cruel, unforgiving person that only cared about how people treated her, or how disrespectful she is towards other people like Tarquin because Rhysand made her feel entitled to do so, or how she is responsible for the destruction of two courts that simply seemed like collateral damage if it meant that she would get her revenge on Tamlin. I’m simply going to say that logically speaking, since Feyre stands 100% besides Rhys and everything he did and supports him, she’s also a morally grey person AT BEST, though I do tend to think of both of them as villains because after all, the very definition of a villain is “someone defined by their acts of selfishness, evilness, arrogance, cruelty, and cunning” and like, come on, this screams Feysand.

The term morally grey is so overused. Someone who’s selfish and cunning and cares mostly about themselves is, at least partially, a bad person. A morally grey character is at least half a villain. When did we actually start to equate anti heros with heros?

Yandere superhero! HC

Imagine just running about your ordinary day life and suddenly everything is turned upside down, what you believed to be fiction and nothing more than child dreams became your new reality. Now you had duties and that was to protect the city and its residents from those who wish to harm them. It’s a tough job, one that no one would be able to handle all by themselves.

Luckily you got your trustworthy companion by your side at all times! You two fit together like pieces of a puzzle; managing to save the day hundereds of times. There was nothing you couldn’t do as long as you had each other. You knew each other well-or how good you can know each other without learning the other’s identity.

Secret identities is one of the top rules of being a superhero. It could be dangerous for your loved ones if your enemies got their hands on that sort of information. They would use your family and friends to blackmail and extort you. That couldn’t happen or all hell would break lose if the city’s heroes were captured and defeated.

In the beginning when you and your partner had first been assigned the role of heroes, he seemed fine with the rule of no knowing who the other person were behind the mask, and you were too. There wasn’t any reason for you to want to find out who his civilian identity was.

But then things began to slowly change.

It started with him wanting to stay together a little longer after missions and you agreed, thinking he wanted to discuss things regarding your work. Which is what you talked about originally until the subjects switched to different topics like hobbies, favourite movies, best book you’ve ever read. Just normal easy stuff, not so hard to answer right? There were millions with the same reply as you so there was no chance he’d be able to guess who you were.

He’d only thought of you as a partner and maybe even a friend up till this point, but new feelings has began brewing and he didn’t know what to do with them. Brushing it off as a silly crush he didn’t do anything else than initiate spending more time together to satisfy him. It didn’t last forever and he eventually needed more.

Needles to say, it wasn’t simple to balance the heroic deeds while exploring these foreign emotions, it made things complicated to focus during dangerous events. That wasn’t good, obviously. What if he messed up and the villain got away? Or even worse, someone could get hurt. Someone that could be you. No, he can’t that happen, he must stay concentrated.

Yandere hero, who wanted to respect your secret identity pact but is dying to know who is behind that mask. He understood it was important, however he couldn’t help it. Convincing you to break that promise is impossible, that he saw. Perhaps he can trick you into revealing yourself? You’d probably see through his trick though.

Because of your good relationship and media, it became common for people to ship the two of you as a couple. Which he honestly didn’t mind one bit, especially now that he realises just how deep his love for you goes. It’s almost as if he’d do anything for you. He wanted the citizens to know who you belonged with and that was made sure when those news articles were posted.

You couldn’t believe it. So much stress all because of a single photo. A picture an anonymous individual has secretly snapped has spread like wildfire under a scorching summer day. You and your partner’s relationship status was the city’s top subject; discussed by so many and apparently very interesting to the old as well.

And what the hell was your colleague doing basically enforcing those rumours? If he kept standing so close to you and swinging his arms around you, everyone would think you’re a pair. Which you were not. You already had someone you were interested in, though you’d not had the courage to make any move since a relationship would be near impossible for you right now. Having to run around and help civilians and defeat bad guys, a romance would not be befitting.

So how are you gonna deal with your friend’s recent antics? He’s trying to hold you at the site even after your work is done, ask more regarding personal life, and you actually caught him attempting to follow you when you were leaving to go home. You couldn’t believe it. Why was he suddenly doing all this? You thought you two were on the same side of things, so how come he is breaking all those promises?

Did he not understand why it was dangerous to reveal your civilian identities and people could actually get hurt if the wrong person got their hands on that information. But all he said was that no one would find out. That it would be fine if you two knew each other for real. It would be good for you to be closer, your work would be easier if you trusted each other more, or something along those lines was what he told you.

You did not agree in the slightest. It was a stupid idea and one you would not comply with. He frowned and hissed, “fine!” and disappeared into the night, leaving you alone on the rooftop with the cold winds hitting you in the face. You thought that was the end of it and life would return to normal.

It didn’t. The next mission he was acting coldly towards you, almost getting himself sliced up as he refused to listen and give you any of his time, claiming he’d do it without your help. Like you predicted it didn’t go as planned for him and you were forced to step in many times before he finally accepted he couldn’t do things alone. You were happy that he returned to himself and stopped ignoring you, until he started his shenanigans again and they were worse than anything he did previously.

After missions your partner lured you away to a secluded rooftop were he’d prepared a table for the two of you. On the white table cloth stood a tall candle, a flame dancing atop it. In the vase next to it was a red rose, fresh with life. Apparently he wanted you to enjoy a nice dinner after a hard day, you deserved it. While you agreed on deserving a little rest, it wasn’t with him you wanted to relax and it certainly wasn’t on some date he’d set up.

Feeling somewhat bad for him as you had to turn him down once more, you talked softly to him and explained to your best abilities that you couldn’t. You wondered if you should’ve made up and excuse first but changed your mind as it would be mean to do and you needed to be perfectly clear with him that you weren’t interested in him in that way.

The horrible sensation of regret filled you when his eyes welled up in tears. You expected him to scream at you, maybe even physically confront you. But bawl? No, that was not what you envisioned. Like before he ran away from the scene and you stood there silent in the dark.

When he reached his home, he ripped his mask off and threw it in the floor, punching the wall with every emotion whirling in his mind. He was sad, so terribly sad. What, you didn’t feel anything for him as he did for you? Not even a bit, an inch? Apparently not, as you had stated to him without uncertainty in your voice. He wanted to scream, hit something. Anything to forget his heartbreak. He’d fucked up. What if you wanted nothing to do with him anymore. What if you replaced him with someone new. A new and better partner.

He couldn’t let that happen. Why can’t you understand how much he loves you, the lengths he’s willing to go in your name. He was a bit ashamed to admit it but he was sure that if things stood between you and being a righteous hero, he’d chose you no questions asked. You were just so much more important than those random people he was forced to save on a daily basis.

Despite the rough conversation you two had the day before, he pushed himself to act completely normal; like it never happened. Although you were a bit worried about him since your rejection seemed to have hit him pretty hard, you let it go as he appeared like himself and you couldn’t let that distract you forever. You had a city to protect and you could not slack off.

You just had to hope his sad rejected state wouldn’t eventually turn into something else. Something like anger. Or worse, madness.

Koth Vortena Theories

I think it's well-known by now that I'm a massive Lana Beniko fan. But one character I don't talk much about as much, though I like him a lot as well, is Koth Vortena, arguably one of the biggest missed opportunities of SWTOR.

This is going to be a big post about Koth Vortena, unsung hero of Zakuul.

Apologies for the bad drawing.

So here's what little we know about Koth.

He's against harming civilians. To the point he'll walk away from leaders he finds too cruel and/or tyrannical. Sort of resolved in the game. His loyalty increases over time if you're Light, and evaporates if Dark.

Like most Zakuulans not in the know, he is a devotee of Valkorion. This is never resolved.

He has a conflict with Senya that goes nowhere. She cryptically tells you to keep an eye on him, as he has already betrayed one master. But this warning is only relevant in the most obvious way (see point 1). A Lightsider wouldn't have to worry at all. Not to mention, Senya is also a defector. So we don't know where her venom comes from. Her accusation that Koth abandoned his post flies in the face of her later statement that the Knights of Zakuul should've rebelled once Arcann slaughtered the Scions (who are way more legitimate targets than the civilians of Denon)

He is still loyal to Zakuul itself. If you are Lightsided (i.e. he stays with you past KOTFE) he is the only one who advocates for Zakuul. Even Arcann and Senya don't.

All of these paint a rather incomplete story.

I know KOTFEET got more rushed as time went on, but Koth's story is the one that stands as the most obviously abandoned.

The biggest nonresolution is his devotion to Valky. And by extension, the Eternal Empire's adherence to Valkorionism. The citizens of Zakuul still believe in Valk by the end of KOTET, and we have no reason to believe that they're any closer to figuring out the truth.

I recall that in cut content, there was a discarded accusation from Senya about his ambitions. We also know that KOTFEET was supposed to be a three-parter, with Arcann being the big bad for KOTFE, Vaylin for KOTET, and Valk for Part III (KOTIE? KOT Immortal Emperor?).

One theory I had was that Koth might have become a new host for Valkorion at the end of KOTET. Willingly or otherwise, perhaps depending on player choices. And that perhaps his eyes would be opened at the end of III, which would end in an Echoes of Oblivion-esque way.

The second theory is related to another piece of cut dialogue, this one from Vaylin. She tells Arcann "Thexan isn't our only sibling," or something similar. Now, the obvious implication is that the Player Character is this mysterious missing sibling, but after a quick look at this reddit post's summary, I had a different theory. A very tinfoily theory.

(Quick summary: this post compares the Imperial family to the Zakuulan pantheon. Valk is Izax, Senya is Scyva, Arcann is Esne, Vaylin is Tyth, and Thexan is Aivela. Which leaves Nahut, the god of apathy or the hated son)

Maybe that other sibling--or half-sibling, per my tinfoil hat theory--was Koth Vortena. I don't know if it was confirmed that it was the Outlander for sure, but this kinda clashes with the roleplaying aspect of the game. And the species. Our player character is definitely not a hybrid.

Maybe at some point, Valkorion had another mistress who bore him another son, but who got exiled with him for some unknown offense. Possibly, before the twins were born, as Koth appears to be a bit older than Arcann.

Reasons why I was thinking about this now.

He is the only other major Zakuulan we frequently interact with. While it still makes sense that he's an ordinary guy, it could've also meant that he was going to play a significant role in the future of Zakuul.

Senya's dislike of Koth would be a little more understandable if she always saw him as a threat to her own children's legitimacy, and couldn't let go of it even after all this time. It also goes with her accusation about his ambition. Koth might not know about his parentage, as his in-game reason for hating Senya totally makes sense. She was Arcann's loyal Knight who hunted him and his crew, and nearly killed them on at least a few occasions. But then, he might just as easily resent her for believing that she was the reason why his mother was cast aside, even if she had nothing to do with it.

Again, his unflinching loyalty to Zakuul no matter its inner darkness. His continued mission to keep it safe, even after KOTFEET. He is an excellent candidate for the new leader (emperor/king) of Zakuul, had it not been instead given to... who's that other guy? Doesn't matter.

This theory actually goes well with the 'Maybe Koth was meant to be Valkorion's new vessel' angle.

Combining both theories, here's what Koth's originally intended story might have been like, but got cut because it was seen as racist.

Despite the obvious problems in this story, I feel like this would've had a more complete arc for Koth, and allowed him to have a story of his own that wasn't relegated to the background.

Koth would become a contender for the Eternal Throne after proving his lineage.

He helps the Alliance overthrow Arcann and Vaylin, but perhaps in a more prominent leadership role. Zakuulans disaffected with Arcann would flock to his banner.

He is approached by Valkorion, who manages to escape the Outlander's body.

Koth accepts--perhaps reluctantly--to serve as his vessel. He is still loyal, after all. Perhaps he might request Valkorion not to destroy an Outlander he's grown fond of (and Lana.)

Inside Valkorion's psyche, he gets horrified, finally seeing the man for what he really is. The revitalized Immortal Emperor may be openly harsh and cruel, even to the people of Zakuul, which might be the reason why they also lose their faith in him. Or the Alliance could find proof revealing his true nature.

Inside his own head, Koth helps the Alliance (who at this time might include OL, Lana, Theron, Scourge, Kira, Satele, Marr, Revan, the Exile, the Tiralls, and maybe even others like Dramath) fight and slay Tenebrae/Vitiate/Valkorion. He might survive, or not. If he does, he's the new Emperor of Zakuul, but with only a small portion its once endless fleet. (Perhaps the Alliance was forced to sacrifice the Gravestone to bring it to this state. But there are enough ships left that the Pub and Imp decide not to tangle with them)

I would like you guys' opinions on this!

The biggest truth that solves all plot holes in Miraculous: they’re bad writers.

No excuse of this being a kids show works because if you want to be not held accountable for holes then fine act like SpongeBob

but you can’t have everything

Yeah. I didn't give a damn about the "plot holes" in Seasons 1-2, or even Season 3 to some extent, because those were mostly monster of the week type of episodes. Sure, there were some semblances of plot and world-building, but it was still mostly episodic and the show still mostly focused on being goofy and entertaining, so I turned of my brain and enjoyed it greatly.

But then Season 4 came along and tried to change the tone of the series entirely, from being a monster of the week to having an actual plot and overarching story, and proved that the writers for the show don't really know how to do that? And then they started digging their holes deeper and deeper and made so many baffling decisions in the writing that the show just turned into a huge mess, full of unresolved plot points, underdeveloped characters, convoluted storytelling, and many unfortunate implications.

And it's like you said. If the show wants me to take it seriously, I will. I'm going to look at a show for what it is. When the show was presenting itself as a goofy episodic show to entertain kids, I judged it as such and I enjoyed it, because Miraculous is good at that. I loved Seasons 1 and 2. Season 3 less so, because it started The Plot™, and it wasn't good at that, but I still enjoyed a lot of it. But Seasons 4 and 5 came along and demanded I take them seriously, so I did. And they weren't good, because the writers aren't good at that kind of storytelling. They're good at goofy shenanigans, but not at complex plots and characters.

And "it's a kids show" is not an excuse. Kids shows can explore complex subjects and can have great plots and characters (ATLA). But it still has to be, you know, good. Kids aren't stupid. I know that kid me would have also hated the Season 5 finale, because Adrien is my favorite, and he wasn't there, and they made Marinette lose.

But at the same time, this is still a show for kids. Miraculous is a kids show, and therefore, it has the responsibility to not promote harmful messages. What would an abused child who is in a situation similar to Adrien's think when they see him call Gabriel a hero in the finale and say that he doesn't know if he'll ever be like him? Children aren't stupid and incapable of understanding anything, and they do deserve good quality of writing, but they also aren't capable of complex media analysis. And when you see people making these long-ass posts talking about how the finale is actually not what it seems like, actually, you have to consider the target audience. A kid isn't going to be picking up on the deep and nuanced hidden meanings in Gabriel final moments that prove he hasn't changed. They are going to see Gabriel hugging his wife, smiling and surrounded by pretty and warm lights while beautiful music plays. If we have to write all these long theories justifying the ending and trying to suggest that what was obviously portrayed on the screen isn't what the show is really trying to say, is a kid really going to get it?

Which is why you see so many people saying shit like "aw Gabriel was really a good man," or "he was never the villain." These people are probably like, 12–13 year olds, and they are watching a show meant for kids. And as a kid, I'm not going to like that Adrien wasn't in the finale, sure, but does that mean I'll understand that Gabriel is supposed to still be a bad guy when the show tells me to my face that he isn't?

It's not like the show can't deal with complex and nuanced characters. I myself have written many character analyses and have treated these characters as complex and nuanced, and they could have been. Again, look at ATLA. Zuko, for example, is a very complex character, but he is still brought to life in a way that allows kids to understand all the nuances and subtleties in his story clearly. There is a lot of rather complex symbolism, but the kids get the jist of it and can understand his story well, even if they don't catch all the minute details. Hell, take Azula. The show doesn't shy away from showing her doing bad things, but it also makes it blatantly obvious that you should feel sorry for her in the end, and that she's also a victim. Again, kids can understand this.

And that's where Miraculous falls flat. The writers fucked up their message. They wrote some deeply problematic stuff, where the abuser won. The bad guy won, but he was actually a good guy. So, people who act like Gabriel maybe aren't all that bad. What Gabriel did in the end was good, and we should all try to be like him. Kids aren't going to question it. In this way, "it's a kids show" goes from being an excuse to being a problem. It's what it says on the tin, and what's on the tin is not good. That's how I feel.

Thank you for your ask!

The Sea Beast vs Nimona

I'll preface by saying that these two movies do not need to be in competition with each other nor is the purpose of movies really to BE in competition with each other, but I noticed certain similarities in their messages that I think are worth pointing out. Particularly, I noticed that The Sea Beast does some incredible work where Nimona fails. Mainly, this will be praise for The Sea Beast with some comparisons tossed in for flavour.

The Sea Beast is a movie decrying the evils of blind nationalism while acknowledging the sacrifices of those that came before both in service of and against the system. As with many good movies, a myriad of comparisons can be drawn to modern day problems. While The Sea Beast seems pretty comfortably anti-war, it could also be a more general critique of the treatment of Others. This is where the comparison with Nimona comes in as it is also about the Other (though more specifically, it appears to be about transgender identities. Again, it could be any Other identity that the majority rejects).

I've expressed before that Nimona's lack of monsters hinders it because we don't really get to see the majority have to contend with them. Nimona is the first real monster anyone ever encounters and she promptly dies and is lauded as a hero. In The Sea Beast, there are monsters abound and they look very different from humans and from each other. On one hand, this is just good world and creature building, but on the more meta level, Other does in fact look different. Nimona is not wrong for this, but it seems to say that the Other looks just like you despite acting and BEING different. Again, not a bad thing, that is true. The Sea Beast's approach says that the Other does in fact look different and that can be scary, but 1) they are not a monolith; they look and act different from each other as well, and 2) they are just as capable of great intelligence and compassion.

The Sea Beast also establishes the career and legacies made from violence against the Other. Nimona does this as well, but it feels lackluster. In one of the most amazing movie "tricks" I have ever seen, The Sea Beast starts by indoctrinating the viewer into their world. It shows a child stranded after a Beast attack, a little girl reading stories of heroism against the monsters to her foster siblings, a mentorship bordering on fatherhood as one man still capable of so much compassion (sacrificing his thirty year goal to uphold a code) passes on his livelihood to the boy he rescued. Aboard the Inevitable, there are women in power, fraternity abundant, all manner of diversity and none of it is ever ridiculed or played for laughs; it's a good place where everyone is happy and proud to be there. And these are the "villains." Jacob "who killed five of them beasts in the span of two days" is our loveable oafish deuteragonist. It even shows the hardships that Captain Crow faces when the king and queen try to replace him. Compare this to Nimona where the Academy is very obviously evil from the start. It is shiny and monolithic and only Bal, an outsider, seems remotely likeable. Nimona starts you with the view from outside, while The Sea Beast starts you from inside.

Obviously The Sea Beasts... everything works better as an anti-war film, but other institutions are mirrored here. The Church can feel like a warm and loving place that is sometimes at war with itself and the powers that be, but it only seems that way because you belong. Every member has their own lives and families and hardships both in and outside of their religion, but that all coalesces into unjustified hatred of the Other. Of that which does not fit in. The Sea Beasts starts us off by showing how amazing and wonderful it is to be a part of the In Group and even shows them triumphantly slaying a beast... then it shows us Red's kind eyes. It shows how quickly leadership will cannibalize itself to harm something that it has always been told is harmful (that's something else I love, Captain Crow didn't start it, he's a victim too). It even shows those that profit directly from it (royalty) and those that profit from the sidelines (Batterbie). Again, more effective as anti-war, but still poignant. Where Nimona falters on this point is that the Director was the monolithic bad guy. She feared the unknown, yes, but the moment she attempted to hurt innocents, everyone turned against her. In the Sea Beasts, the crew continued to follow orders albeit less sure of themselves. It took heavy proof and an impassioned speech to get people to stop and think.

On that note, Red didn't sacrifice herself for anyone. She was willing to listen to reason and to not kill the captain, but she didn't need to prove her moral superiority. That was it, reason. If she killed him, then people continue thinking monsters are only capable of violence. Especially since it was obvious he was just as brainwashed as everyone else. In Nimona, with no prompting, she decides that it is her duty to fly headfirst into a monster killing laser to protect people who, just a moment ago were stoning her as she tried to kill herself. It was a preachy mess. How much more impactful would it have been if she took the one person that was kind to her and flew out of the way and let the people look on in horror as they realize what their leaders were willing to do to harm someone who was no threat to them?

In the end, The Sea Beast does a ton of leg work in just about ten minutes more to show the humanity of the oppressor and why they do what they do before stating definitely that it is no excuse. My absolute favourite thing it does is that it never goes back on Maisie's backstory. Her parents aren't actually on some island somewhere living alongside the Beasts all kumbaya, they actually are dead and they were killed by Beasts. Compassion is not a genetic trait. Maisie has as much right to hate and fear the Beasts as anyone else given what she has lost to them, same as Jacob, same as Crow and Sarah Sharpe... but she chose compassion. She learned and accepted and forgave with the knowledge that the Beasts aren't evil, just upset.

Hey I’ve had a bad day :(

here’s a free invitation to rant about anything Spideytorch —> 💌

I’m sorry you had a bad day but I am very excited about this invitation!

~

I have decided to rant about this panel and the trauma our boys got from it

so Red Skull is out here being a villain and uses mind control to f**k with the heroes and we get to this moment where Red Skull is like wow you two are super close gay for each other so I’m gonna make one of you watch the other die and I’m going to use mind control to do it which is so incredibly twisted

like Peter is hearing his best friend the love of his life say (against his will) that he is going to make Peter watch as he end his life. I cannot imagine how terrifying it is to hear the voice of the man you love say that and to know that neither of you have any control

then we get to the Johnny side of things. Johnny had had his free will taken away from him and Red Skull is trying to use that to not only end his life but do so to hurt Peter by making him watch! I am also a winterhawk shipper (Clint Barton x Bucky Barnes) and a lot of fics for that ship talk about their shared trauma of losing free will and not having control over yourself (Loki and Hydra for them) and how much that messes you up, Johnny is dealing with this!! sure it’s not lasting as long and it’s a different situation but my boy is still going through that and he is being used as a weapon to his lover and himself it makes me wanna scream

obviously they’re superheroes and all of this shit with Red Skulk gets resolved but the trauma of this situation I don’t think gets talked about enough in the fandom, specifically spideytorch shippers like this is great angsty fic fodder,

so here’s some of my angsty thoughts about what happens after

Johnny wakes up panicked and holding his head every night for weeks convinced Red Skull is still in there

when the nightmares got really bad Peter had to hold Johnny down so he didn’t try to harm himself in an attempt to get Red Skull out of his head

neither of them feel safe when Johnny has anything that could even remotely be used as a weapon

Johnny avoids the kitchen cause all he sees is ways that Red Skulk can kill him in front of Peter

Peter had an anxiety attack when Johnny was sitting on the roof with him because he could only hear mind controlled Johnny saying he would make Peter watch him die and pictured Johnny falling

they develop code phrases and questions to ask to reassure each other that the other isn’t mind controlled

for at least a year after anytime Johnnys voice sounds different, even if it’s just cause of a cold Peter gets nervous and demands a code phrase

to be honest they spend a lot of days right after the Red Skull incident together on the couch eating takeout and cuddling with minimal conversation

it takes a while for Johnny to trust his own mind and body again afterwards and Peter doesn’t know how to fix that which is really frustrating for him

when Johnny feels out of control he doesn’t want Peter nearby because he doesn’t want Peter to have to watch whatever might happen next

of course Peter can’t bare to leave Johnny so they had to develop a solution for that

Peter will sit around the corner or on the other side of a door so he can still be there but not see Johnny, it’s a weird loophole but it works for them

they do a lot of forehead touches after this

so many forehead touches

thank you again anon for your ask and for permission to rant! I hope this made your day better, even though it was a bit on the angstier side. if you want something fluffier just send another ask my way

EDIT: someone in the tags mentioned that Peter’s spidey senses are going off even though he’s not the one in physical danger and I will be screaming for the next 8 years

Unsympathetic Evil Done Right

“You’re not gonna shoot a puppy, are ya Jack?!” “Yeah, in the face, why?” NOTE: NO SPOILERS! SPOILER FREE! A lot has been written about how to make nuanced, noble, and/or sympathetic villains done right. I think I’ve probably written about that too, pretty sure I have. But today I’m going to cover the equal and opposite quandary: How to make a purely evil, unsympathetic villain who knowingly delights in being evil, but not have them be one-note or boring? I think Big Jack Horner in “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish” is a really good example, and he’s from a piece of media that is recent and popular enough that most people will know who he is, he’s not some obscure reference. That said, none of this contains any spoilers for the film, so if you haven’t see it, you’re safe, read on—if you DARE! I think there are a few things that make Jack really work. Firstly, he’s fun to watch while also being scary. He’s both hilarious and threatening, hitting that incredibly difficult sweet spot of being both comedic and a legitimate threat. It’s very difficult for bad guys to be both funny AND scary, since making something funny typically takes away its power to frighten us. But when a bad guy can do both, they become really fun for the audience. You’re not rooting for them, you don’t think they’re good people, but they’re damn entertaining. And yet, we still fear for the protagonist against them. We may logically know that of course the hero will triumph, especially in a children’s movie, but we have to at least wonder HOW that will happen. Jack’s established as a threat from the start, showing a cruel personality very early AND a vast armory of magical items combined with a task force of workers to help him. Even one of the other antagonists treats him with great caution. He’s still not the most dangerous of the lot (Puss in Boots sports THREE antagonistic people or groups) but you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t find him the funniest, I bet. Part of Jack’s charm is how much fun he himself is having. He’s clearly just enjoying himself immensely up until the very end. He is ENTHUSIASTIC. He is ALL IN. Being a stoic, serious villain absolutely works better for a lot of bad guys, but these are typically for the ones who veer to the “purely scary” side, not the “scary and funny” side. Jack obviously loves what he does, and what he does happens to be being a bastard a lot. His callous disregard for the lives and wellbeing of everyone, including and especially his own men, is also played to the max for black comedy. Another part of his charm is his self-awareness; Jack very much knows he’s awful, and doesn’t try to disguise it in the slightest, nor does he lament it. There’s no scrap of shame at all, and he in fact mocks a character who thought it might be otherwise. Not only does the movie never ask you to feel sorry for him, he never does either. He does have a backstory to explain his motivations, and I like it because it does make it understandable WHY he wants what he does, it just also doesn’t make him sympathetic in the the slightest because it only serves to play up how callow and entitled that he is. You get an explanation that makes sense, but “making sense” for this character also means “emphasizing that much more what an asshole he is” Note that I do think unsympathetic characters can still have very sympathetic backstories and be done well (one of my fave baddies is like that) but that’s another topic, and not Jack. Finally, he’s not the only villain. As mentioned, there’s three antagonistic parties in this film. Of them, Jack’s the only one who could be called evil. One of the others is just doing his job/fulfilling his natural role and that threatens Puss. The other is competing with Puss & Co for the same goal, and is willing to do harm to the heroes to achieve it, but that goal really isn’t any more selfish or unsympathetic than Puss or Kitty’s own goals, and the character is very much a human being, as are her cohorts (though they’re not human, but you get what I mean!) So, Jack is a comically evil bastard who is evil through and through with no excuse, and he’s awesome and fun enough, but he’s also balanced by more nuanced villains who are really less “villains” and more “obstacles to the protagonist in some way” , one a force of nature, the other someone with a goal they can’t achieve without thwarting Puss’s goal. It is definitely hard to pull off in a movie especially because of the limited time, but I think having multiple types of villains in a single work—especially a series, like a comic book or a television show—really helps with pulling each type off that much better. The noble and sympathetic villains can play off and contrast against the complete monsters, and you don’t need to choose between one or the other. In fact, what tends to irritate me most in a series, is when ALL villains are a single type—they’re all super redeemable tragic misunderstood woobies, or they’re all 2D evil cardboard cutouts who eat babies for kicks, etc. People will debate with each other all day about which is more realistic, but I think what’s most realistic AND most interesting for a reader/viewer/consumer is a nice mixed bag of diverse villains. Diverse here meaning diverse personality, diverse motives, diverse ranks on the ‘terrible person’ scale, etc. Again, this isn’t doable in every work. But I think Big Jack type characters can still work well in a solo role as well. Good examples of this abound in the Disney Renaissance films—Scar, Ursula, Gaston, and Jafar are all the perfect combination of hilariously hammy and seriously scary that Jack taps into. This need not be limited to children’s media either, though I think it does work best there. But enjoyable “pure evil” villains in darker, more adult works can still be done, such as Freddie Krueger, some interpretations of various Batman villains, and, rather subtly, Hannibal Lector. The last one isn’t overtly bombastic, he’s not singing big musical numbers about his evil plans or cracking overt jokes every two seconds (though he comes close with his cannibilism puns in the NBC series), but he does have a wry and dry sense of humor, he’s very witty and cultured, and he’s very intelligent. He’s not funny per se, but it can be really interesting to watch him outwit others and pick them apart. While I’ve mostly focused on humor for what makes a baddy fun to watch because that’s the case with Jack Horner, it’s not the ONLY thing that can make them engaging either. Bringing up my point about “unsympathetic characters can have sympathetic backstories” from earlier too, Hannibal does have a tragic tale behind him, but it’s also undeniable he very much enjoys doing what he does for its own sake. Whether he’s truly unsympathetic or absolutely the reverse is probably more down to opinion, unlike Jack and the others, but personally for me he’s in the “just loves being a horrible person” category, and he’s still very interesting both despite and because of that! Some people will tell you that pure evil characters are automatically boring. I don’t think so. I just think most writers don’t put the effort into making them interesting and engaging to watch. And there are MANY ways to do that!

So... we know Dimitri is a big part of the story. So much so that the devs will share little to no information about him (obviously not to spoil anything). We will see him in flashbacks and supposedly parts of the main game- maybe even the sequel. He is also confirmed to be an antagonist in the game. Thus- there are two possible roles (that could coexist) that this pyromaniac chimera may play.

He could be a. A recurring antagonist in every chapter either in flashback and/or the main plotline, or/and b. the final antagonist that connects the whole story together for it's grand conclusion. While every major antagonist has a rather stand-alone chapter that contribute to the overall story of Billie, we do not have enough to go on Dimitri to know whether or not he will be the one to wrap up Billie's storyline- but let's argue this further with what we do know:

Both Billie and Dimitri want to be heroes. Both almost chase acceptance by trying to be a hero. And they've ended up hurting people in the process.

Billie as we know is a bit of an outcast in her village because she has uncontrollable powers, a love/need for adventure, and because she doesn't exactly adhere to the rules and roles of the village. Reading about her dad and Aristotle inspires her to want to be a hero, but her journey will supposedly lead her to some hard truths about heroism. They've accidently hurt people and unintentionally caused issues that have hurt others and may continue to do so to fight what she believes or is told are forces of bad. Many who probably have had tragic circumstances that lead them to where they are.

Dimitri, from what little we know of him, intentionally causes harm to people so he can be the hero. This behavior grants him the positive attention a hero would get that having someone else be the hero makes it almost competitive (if I am not over reading his introduction too much).

Already we can see how Billie and Dimitri's ideologies are somewhat overlapping, yet very much clash with one another. Billie wants to follow in her dad's footsteps and learn how to be more of the person she wants to be while Dimitri is quite literally living a lie. If he is meant to be a final antithesis to Billie- we could assume that perhaps he was outcasted or berated much like Billie for not fitting in.

That would not be too far off given that he is one of the few chimera characters we have seen along with the tail that speaks his unfiltered thoughts (which he can't control!), but we've also seen many hints at chimera-like god creatures in Billie Bust Up such as one Elaine sort of prays to:

Which means Dimitri could a. be some sort of magical creature or demigod or higher and/or b. have the expectation to be some kind of heroic god or god-like creature because he looks like one. Or/and perhaps c. being a chimera and seeing how many other chimeras are praised, the power/idea of that got to his head and he now has to constantly keep up that reputation for his own ego.

No matter how you view it- whether Dimitri pretends a hero because he's afraid of being outcasted and alone, trying to live up to the expectations of people like him that are literally seen as gods, or is just fueled by his own ego- or all of the above and maybe plus some- you could relate that to or contrast it to Billie.

Billie is an outcast to her people, she has a great amount of power she has no control over, and wants to- almost feels the need to walk in her father's footsteps to get a proper grasp on her powers or prove that she's able to be one. Billie wants to have control over her life and herself, to prove her self-worth. Katie often compares her to Hercules from Disney's Hercules who doesn't want to be a burden with his strength.

We may see Dimitri's story interwoven with Billie's not just in flashbacks, but perhaps other characters as well. It's a little unclear if Dimitri and Billie will meet face to face- it's likely they will since he's integral to the plot and the possible antithesis to Billie. But we may see more of or learn more about Dimitri through other characters as well. There is still some speculation (on my end mostly) on there being a possible link between Fantoccio and Dimitri given that they are vaguely similar in color pallets and personality. And given that Fantoccio is the main antagonist before the fifth and final chapter, if Dimitri turns out to be the final boss- that may cause the need for some needed tension or controversy over how Billie takes on her possible antithesis (however that does play out-if it plays out).

Dimitri could perhaps be connected to other characters as well- perhaps being the reason why some characters have gems (except for maybe Barnaby- but that doesn't mean Barnaby hadn't tried to kill him or something at one point).

It's still very hard to tell what exactly Dimitri's role is in the main storyline of the game and only vaguely understood in flashbacks with Aristotle and Arthur. When the game comes out, it may be revealed that none of what I just speculated was true and Dimitri's just a victim of the zombie infestation or partying in Barnaby's mansion. Or perhaps was imprisoned at Claw Bay at some point or Dutch somehow managed to wrangle him to be at the hotel. Or maybe none or all of the above- who can tell?

All we truly know is Dimitri does have a big role to play. And we'll just have to wait until the game to truly find out.

"but bnha is good, it's saying that people make mistakes because of their circumstances but they can change for the better and redeem themselves, even if they've hurt people!"

which is, like, fine as a concept. but in the end bnha still hinges on the premise that harm is divided into "crime" and "not crime," and "crime" deserves punishment and jailtime, while any harm that is "not crime" can be dealt with between the affected parties and ANY outside action (including loss of professional status, for example) is disproportionately vindictive. bnha's division of "crime" and "not crime" isn't even good or consistent, e.g. gentle criminal's property crimes condemns him to jail while endeavor's domestic violence remains unaccounted for outside of his family's personal decisions, and lady nagant's... everything(?) being deemed some sort of undefined villainy while hawks' doing basically everything she did being conveyed as righteousness.

which i guess it bears saying that i'm a prison abolitionist and don't believe in the legal construct of "crime" anyway, but the inconsistency in bnha of what's "bad" and what isn't is simultaneously wild but also perfectly comprehensible. bnha constantly makes exceptions for and justifies the harms done by its hero characters; this is necessary in order for bnha's society AND the readers to accept the heroes' monopoly on violence, that they are the only ones allowed to use violence because their profession renders their violence as ontologically different than that of villains or civilians, and therefore justified.

bnha also doesn't really contend with the systemic issues that gave rise to many of the main villains, including the inclination to look away from overt suffering, the culture of abuse apologism, poverty, and discrimination against mutants. bnha is aware that those problems are there, but it has nothing to offer for solving them, improving upon those issues, or even just wrestling with what they mean—because bnha follows the pov of heroes, it can't.

the role of heroes in bnha is, like police irl, to use (the threat of) violence to enforce laws. bnha itself doesn't really question our existing notions of law and crime, and the only thing it adds is a sprinkle of some fantasy laws about quirks, but that's about it. the idea of legality and justice in bnha is largely congruent with what we understand as lawful today—it adheres to the status quo and enforces it. heroes are beholden to the law, and the law is beholden to the status quo. that is why heroes have nothing to offer for poverty or abuse or discrimination, other than encouraging its victims to do better. nor do they perceive poverty, abuse, or discrimination to be a harm in the way "crime" is, so there's no expectation for anyone or anything to be accountable towards those victims, as opposed to villains who are treated as people who need to repay a debt to society. lastly, the choice bnha presents for its villains to redeem themselves is through no other mechanism than joining the policing class, joining them to enforce the status quo.

so while bnha may be about personal growth and change, owning up to mistakes and the harm you've caused, it's very selective about WHO needs to change and WHAT kinds of things are harmful. underneath all of that too is its foundation of existing notions of crime, policing, and imprisonment, which only serve to further entrench class society, ethnic supremacy, imperialism, and state violence. that's why its supposedly "good" message falls short—it obviously doesn't apply equally to all characters, and the end goal of betterment is quite transparently assimilation into the status quo.

"Tolkien does not write conventional heroes and the Lord of the Rings is a powerful statement about how all power corrupts" is a decent first order approximation, and it's certainly closer to that than a generic power fantasy action movie.

It's not fully accurate though. The Ring does not represent all power -- powerful items in the wider Legendarium are generally dangerous, but not necessarily uncomplicatedly bad things, and some powerful things like the two trees are uncomplicatedly good things. The Ring is a specific powerful item made by a vicious Maia that causes harm because that Maia crafted it with his ill intent and will to dominate. It doesn't represent power in general.

But there is a very strong general theme of wanting power over others -- mastery -- being a bad thing. While acting out of pity, in the sense of being moved to act towards the common good, is elevated as a good and important thing. Basically, "I don't know how to explain to you that you should care about other people", except on the form of several books trying to explain just that. (And I'll count the hobbit in that -- it's a simpler adventure story, but not without a great big "hey maybe you can put aside your greed-based petty squabbles with basically good people in order to deal with the real enemy for a minute?" at the end.)

But there's also just a whole lot of people being messy. Feanor sucked and his oath was a terrible idea, and obviously the downstream effects of the oath were morally heinous and pragmatically disasterous -- except that the oath and Feanor wanting his special gems back is the only reason the Noldor were in Belariad in the first place, and the Noldor were the only ones mounting an effective resistance against Morgoth that wasn't just holing up in a walled kingdom and everyone outside your borders (including all the humans) fends for themselves. If they weren't there, presumably Morgoth would have ended up dominating the continent much sooner and enslaving and torturing more people. Whereas the sensible elves that stayed behind got to enjoy, effectively, their gated community while the world outside burned. So. It's complicated.

Okay I have to say that it bothers me immensely how this fandom treats the Donnie’s Gifts episode.

Specifically the shock collar.

I know, I know, it’s an incredibly old topic that’s like poking a sleeping bear to bring up again, but if you may feel the same I do, then hear me out.

On one side, we have people who see it as Donnie being deliberately cruel and actively wishing to control his brother through force if need be.

On the other side, we have people who see it as something good, and poor Donnie didn’t mean to hurt Leo! He didn’t mean for his gift to cause harm! He just wanted to create something to make Leo focus more, he just doesn’t understand that what he did was bad! But it’s okay because he doesn’t get it!

Both these readings suck, in my opinion, though one I see more often than the other.

Now, I love Donnie, I do, he’s so, so fun and interesting and a fantastic character…but the shock collar was an incredibly messed up thing to make. Obviously, he loves his brothers, and he just wanted the best for them, but it was still an objectively awful thing to do to your brother. (Don’t get me wrong, Mikey and Raph’s gifts were also not great, but let’s focus on the collar.)

See, making a collar like that, and having your brother wear it, knowing what it does…that’s not a good thing. It doesn’t matter that he didn’t get to explain it first. It doesn’t matter if it was meant to help Leo in the long run. That ‘help’ is forcing Leo to endure painful shocks until he’s conditioned to, what, pay attention? (And that’s a funny thought, considering it was the shocks that distracted him in the first place.)

Good intentions don’t automatically make things okay.

There’s also an admittedly ableist tone to the reading of Donnie simply being let off the hook because he “doesn’t understand why it’s bad.” That’s- that’s so infantilizing. Donnie is more than capable of knowing when he messes up! And he did mess up here! I hate when people use his autism as an excuse, it feels so ableist to me. Just let him own up to it and apologize! He’s not a bad guy, and it’s okay for characters to mess up! So long as they own up to it! Donnie’s a person too, and he has flaws, let him own them, please.

However, this is not to say that Donnie is evil or abusive for doing this, not at all. While he should not be absolved of guilt, he clearly isn’t intending for his gifts to come off the way they had, and he clearly made them out of concern for his brothers. It’s understandable that he would go about it the wrong way - it’s just not okay that he did. And what he did warrants an apology to the others, especially Leo, even if they themselves shook it off.

So, yeah. The shock collar is incredibly messed up. It was painful enough to affect Meat Sweats- and Leo had it around his neck. It’s a comedy, so I know we gotta take these things with a grain of salt, but whenever I see this episode tackled in a more serious way, it almost always either 1) makes Donnie out to be the Worst, as though we aren’t constantly shown him caring immensely for his brothers, or 2), admittedly more prevalently and annoyingly, it chooses to focus on how sad and misunderstood Donnie is, rather than the very real harm he caused. Like. LEO IS THE ONE WHO HAD A SHOCK COLLAR ON HIM. Put there by HIS OWN BROTHER. And no one cares about that??? Leo’s pain is dismissed??? Donnie’s feelings matter more??? What????

I think that’s what gets me most here, honestly. Not that Donnie is presented as evil, or innocent, but that Leo’s experience doesn’t matter in comparison to Donnie’s reactions to it. It leaves a horrible taste in my mouth to see time and time again.

Again. It doesn’t matter what the intentions were. It also doesn’t automatically make Donnie abusive or evil.

But it was a shock collar, made to hurt, made to correct, and if you look at it outside of the comedic lens it was established in…it’s not okay.

Donnie’s not a bad person, and he’s actually a pretty great brother, a hero in his own right…but he really messed up here.

And that’s okay to admit.

[accepting the sleepy posting] tfa made the bold decision (it made several. in service of being a Good Cartoon. and not just. Good TF) to not super explain MUCH lore lore. techincally speaking its in the future. so all that other shit happened. except no it didnt it wouldnt make any sense if that was true. unless we keep making the same guys i guess. which. IS possible. but no cmon. anyway.

IT MADE the decision NOT to overly explain the goals of the factions. BUT showed things that HAPPENED. namely. oh my god so much autobot, post winning the 'great war' governance thats just like. OH! wow! yall suck FOR REAL! 1 of our main characters has ptsd about it. others, directions of their lives changed by it. including. one being ARRESTED. FOR DRAFT DODGING. guess theres no. um conscientious objection (he got called a PEACENIK).

so in comparsion we know like. BUBKIS about what the badguys want. well. power. ruling the planet. and um their obviously fine with. Murder. tho okay are the good guy government NOT? hmm? but also like. oh u wanna take over the planet with the government that sucks. so bad. and has actively harmed our mains. no yeah. thats. terrible. and its a lack of hmm. suggested governence ideals. not a lot of ideological goals pitched that arent just 'everyone will listen to ME'

But ASIDE from the aesthetic of obsolute cartoon evil they also gave megs the aesthetic of. not revolutionary. but hes playing the game. their phrase is transformer and RISE UP. which neat and tidy, their mostly flying types not driving types. but regardless. Fucks Severly. absolute class act. roll out. where? to drinks? the store? RISE UP. its got connotation dont it.

they show megs playing the fucking game too. he knows how to be a propagandist. he gets the P.R. doing the charming, convincing rhetoric thing. also sexy. duh. tf has a running thing with dealing with guys that are Today Years Old. fully formed 'adults' [altho this show also pushed the hypothetical of robot babies]. well anyway. the heros drop the ball severely and consistently in a way that makes u think. is this? not a thing u have to deal with. culturally. and its VERY fun to see the villians, you know, handle it. Oh they told u we were evil. Oh no no no. its a misunderstanding. lets discuss over high quality. sustenance? LIKE.

not even pulling the g1 trick like. autobots created this new live we wish above all for it to have self determination and true viturous characteristics. [while still being greated in service of this war]. FACTIONALLY. tfa bots are either making shit for war no regards for their life, or just like. eh. oh some new guy happened by accident. i dont care. individually. only the peacenik and the ptsd guy have vested idealogical interest in doing otherwise. and even then mostly just to the ones they like. vibe with. THIS ones my friend. THESE ones fit well with my world view on nature and technology. i guess techically a third was tryna help sorta but also he just kinda wanted some buds. wanting some buds isnt DEVOID of prinicipled idealogy.

i GUESS all to say well the made hero characters who WERE NOT. at the top position of their society. but obviously we know like. hes Oppie... hes... SUPPOSED TO BE. he infact. WILL BE [if they, uh, got to finish the show]. so the powers that be have to hmm. SUCK? and say. like okay i dont wanna say fascist lightly i just. constantly commenting on what 'MUST BE' in someones programming. not as like a factor of. ur a truck u have wheels. but like. 'I thought you were going to be worthy of a position of status but u have failed my imposed expectactions which are not actually of a material nature but a social one' im mean. is that... robot??? eugenics??? "positive eugenics" not "negative eugenics" (<- i believe those are the real terms).

so and like i guess the show would slow [ish] to build to. our guys address the wrongs of their goverment? (~3 specific guys, and a suggested culture) or? maybe some. we cannot fix THERE but we can do good HERE. some sort of. juster society in absentia. right but they didnt quite. get the. what YOU DO get is learning "to be a leader/hero u gotta do. xyz". but thats like. personal scale. what about the absolute historic shit pile of ur planet. ah. unfinished show.

so again im just saying. it invites a stragetic compairson u know. the bad guys got Vision. Got a Scale in mind. it sucks. obviously. but its funny. ur guys also suck, so im not sad if. King Asshole gets Killed. oh he was killed by the people with bad polictics. boo. (you would say that. person of a certain ideology thinking about the polictics of ur toy company kid cartoon)(yup. i would say that. am saying it. now)[<- got my own self commentary coverted again thanks]

oh also to make a running joke about the Meat Heat main guy getting into art (smth smth more tfs thrust into iteration in a world that is not build for their bodies). they kept having the other mains imply theres no cybertronian art. HUH? WHAT? no. theres no painting? maybe. sure (is that natural pigmentation?). maybe. no human like visual art forms? yeah...... okay. but... surely you.... create?? and convey meanings? thru? forms of medias? u have. works of study? smth? maybe all the mains are just kinda. unstudied? being mean? but like. uh. hhhuh? where u all come from sounds like it sucks.

Hello you just get disjointed Haven thoughts today. It’s funny how so much of my analysis on Shaw is so structured whereas with Haven it gets more emotional, but I guess that fits? This rant is really like THREE rants, the first one is about how difficult it is the handle a character like Haven without being Problematic and how I do my best to steer through these while staying IC too, then to thoughts about her relationship to the Adversary and its memory, then her child, her real one that never was, and likening her to figures that admittedly don’t really work for her as a non-Christian but that personally do remind me of her because I was raised Catholic THERE’S A LOT HERE

Anyway, I used to think the worst thing about Haven being brought back in the modern era would be the inevitable sexualization and whitewashing and so on, and probably more racist writing. But I’ve now decided the worst thing about it would be that she’d probably be a Girlboss, because that seems to be the shortcut that so many writers now are taking for a Strong Female Character or to right wrongs that have been done to them. And I get this is coming from good desires but it’s so inevitably bad , almost always OOC, and usually does more harm than good to the character’s portrayal. And for Haven, the reason I get why you’d want to do it (not that anyone at Marvel does, I’d put down good money, and thank goodness, but IF SOMEONE DID) is the same reasons I just don’t think it would work for her. And no one suggested it would, I am just arguing against hypothetical situations in my head, because I am like that. Anyway, a big component of the Girlboss is she’s right about everything and knows it and she’s very determined in making sure other characters and the readers know it and she will call out and shoot down every real and imagined slight against her, often violently. But Haven, though WE know she was treated terribly by the narrative and frankly also by the heroes, died with the horrible knowledge that SHE WAS WRONG and that her mistake, whether her fault or not, doomed the world (as far as she knew) She died knowing all the horrible things she did and caused with the belief it was all for a greater end that would justify the means, was actually FOR NOTHING. That her greatest and most deeply held convictions were nothing but a joke by a demon to pass the time, and she had made so many others SUFFER for that. It had to be a hideous experience, one of incredibly crushing pain, but also a HUMBLING one. On a meta level we’re all in Haven’s corner (OR DAMN WELL SHOULD BE) but in-universe she has to face she was as wrong as anyone could be and it had massive consequences. So what sense would it make for her to swagger back into the story calling out all the “good guys” for being shitty to her when it turns out they were retroactively justified and it would have undeniably been BETTER if they’d stopped her? I guess you could justify it in that she’s angry at their treatment nonetheless because it was BEFORE they knew her Evil Plans, or being angry at Xavier because she canonically knows that he sensed another mind inside her, so why didn’t he do anything? But I don’t think that makes sense for her character either. We know she’s not the type to blame others even when they have done her LEGITIMATE WRONG. When she talks to Xavier about the man she loved and who abandoned her pregnant, she has no animosity in her phrasing towards him, just shame and reprimand at HERSELF for being “selfish” in that she abandoned her work and the children in order to have a love affair. She’s not mad at HIM even NOW. And she’s very obviously quick to forgive others; when she flees from Xavier because he kept essentially ASSAULTING her by going into her mind past what she was comfortable with and she KEPT ASKING HIM TO STOP, afterwards she doesn’t think of him with ANY animosity. Quite the reverse, actually. She thinks about how she still does love and respect him. She intends to kill him, because she now knows she has to as he stands in opposition to her, but she’s very sad about it, thinking how she will be sure to slay him with compassion and will weep for him after, and then prays with her “child”. So like, god, if she did come back? She’d probably be so painfully repentant and apologetic, especially to him and X-Factor, and god that is SO UNCOMFY given the racial dynamics here. Which…tracks, because Haven’s whole story is very uncomfy in terms of the intersections of racism, misogyny, and xenophobia. But I also don’t think making her an aggro unrepentant Girlboss would be the answer either. Myself, I DO make her very often unsure and demurring and Taking A Lot of Shit but I also try to be conscious in portraying this as an aspect of trauma, that we have SEEN in canon is HOW she reacts to trauma, and not Just How Brown Women Are since the passive submissive brown woman is SUCH a thing and like, I’m a white Western woman, it’s a dicey thing to handle and I’m not even gonna pretend I get it right all the time—-which is, thank god I’m not actually writing her for Marvel, even if I want to. If I ever was, I’d only take the offer if I could work with a South Asian co-author, I don’t wanna fuck this up in a PUBLISHED WORK. But rest assured I’m not fetishizing this, or holding it up as a Good Thing on her part to be this way, or doing it thoughtlessly, I think about this a lot. And of course her developing from this WOULD BE GREAT AND END GOAL but also real development cannot be rushed. I hate quick fixes in canon, I hate them so much. It’s so cheap and not reflective of reality OR satisfying as an escape. Coming back to stereotypes, there’s also the worry about casting a WOC as a helper and caregiver and like. . .she is, she absolutely is. But I also always have worry about that for obvious reasons. And like. . .so I think Haven is this way because she is a truly good person who canonically has despised the inequality and suffering in the world since childhood and been trying to stop it since she was a kid. As a little she’s said she was tormented by knowing that beyond her privileged world there was so much pain, and tormented by her inability to stop it, and she prayed to God every night to do something. And as an adult—a teen, actually–she went out and did it HER DAMN SELF. And that’s…GREAT. I would never take that away, it’s a key aspect of her character. And alas, as mentioned, she also thinks HAVING ANYTHING FOR HERSELF and taking a break to FALL IN LOVE is SELFISH OF HER and then canon validated that by PUNISHING HER IN THE WORST WAY FOR IT. Again, thorny as hell character here. But I also think, while this is natural for her, it’s also firstly more comforting for her to be the caregiver and in that role because it means the focus is off HER trauma, the acknowledgement is not on HER pain, so she can ignore it too. It gives her control, keeps her in a role that is comforting to HER too. And lbr, she’s societally rewarded by conforming to this role, and would probably face societal consequences if she deviated from it. It’s like how I’m a very naturally feminine person, I think that’s just how I am, but it’s also delusional to think that the fact I’m societally valued and benefitted for this as a cis woman isn’t a factor in this. It’s like that. Like how I’ve also noticed how SUPER FEMME she is and I think she IS JUST LIKE THAT but also she’s a dark-skinned WOC who is six feet tall, so like she probably does have to be Extra Gender Conforming just to get treated like a proper woman. Like Mommy Fortuna putting a false horn on a real unicorn to make people see a unicorn who didn’t believe in them. That’s the angle I try to approach things from, that it’s not simply that she isn’t anything more than a caretaker, but she IS sincerely one BUT also that she locks herself into that box due to societal pressure AND trauma, and all three things can be true at once. Speaking of The Last Unicorn, I couldn’t tell you WHY but I tend to associate it with Haven. In particular, the bit where the Unicorn says “I am no longer like the others. I have been mortal, and part of me is mortal yet” but in reverse. She held a cosmic entity within her body for twenty years and she is fundamentally separate from humanity for that, even though she’s functionally once more a normal human again as she always really was. She cannot go back from that. And in some sick way, she misses the Adversary. I’ve written about this before, but for 20 years she believed this was her divine unborn child talking to her, a constant companion she looked at with love and trust. It’s hard not to miss that lie, even knowing what it was now. I usually think of “Not once did the beast look back before leaving me behind” from Petshop of Horrors and “ I’ve never forgotten him. Dare I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love. Such is the strangeness of the human heart. I still cannot understand how he could abandon me so unceremoniously, without any sort of goodbye, without looking back even once. ❞ from Life of Pi with regards to this, but I also think “.and to this hour the image of Carmilla returns to mind with ambiguous alterations--sometimes the playful, languid, beautiful girl; sometimes the writhing fiend I saw in the ruined church; and often from a reverie I have started, fancying I heard the light step of Carmilla at the drawing room door.” from Carmilla is good too. Her relationship with the Adversary was not romantic but the sentiment is the same, of knowing what a monster this was now, of knowing how you were preyed on, yet unable to stop missing the good times too, even though you KNOW. It reminds me a lot of how many abuse survivors remember their abusers. I think she thinks of it a lot like that. And god it just always kills me how, on top of everything, she lost her child. It was a new meat suit for the Adversary before it was even through her first trimester. I think you can mourn something that never existed, something you only thought existed, something that could have existed but failed to. I think she does. And speaking of the Adversary taking twenty years of her life, ultimately her life itself, and everything she stood for, and then her baby too. . .that’s why I’m always reminded of the Biblical woman clothed with the sun, and the dragon lying in wait to devour her child. Haven wore shining armor, and her child WAS devoured by the great dragon (which obviously represents Satan, which is a word that LITERALLY translates to “Adversary”), and it didn’t even need to wait til birth. And I wouldn’t actually use this metaphor for her if I was writing for canon, because it’s very Christian and Haven is not, but it’s what comes to MY mind as someone raised Catholic and whom this image very much scared when I was little, and I always mentally conflated the woman with Mary whom I also tend to think of in conflation with Haven even if, again, not something I’d write. But like I said, raised Catholic, so that imagery is very much ingrained in my consciousness. And probably why I gravitate so hard towards mother goddess figures. Anyway I’ll stop with the stream of consciousness now and go draw dgjsj