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flower-boi16 · 5 months

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Lily Orchard's Takes on "Racism" in The Owl House Are Garbage and Here's Why

Hello. You may know me as the guy who made two whole posts debunking Lily Orchard's takes on Hunter. Although those posts are not perfect and I do think there are some things I could add or change about them, they still hold up as I still stand by every single point I made in them.

But to say that Lily's bad Owl House takes end with Hunter would be a lie. There is this particular narrative about both TOH fandom and the show itself that she tries to paint that really pisses me off, that being the whole "Racism" narrative. I talked about it briefly in my second Hunter post but this narrative has so much objectively wrong with it that it's best to make a whole post refuting it. Here I'm going to go over Lily's takes on three characters that she primarily uses to push this whole racism narrative; Amity, Hunter, and Luz. Without further ado, let's begin...

NOTE: This post is LONG. Like, very very very very long. Its the longest post I've ever made and the longest essay I have ever posted on the internet. If you don't want to read all of that then just skip to section 7 where I have a TLDR for those who don't want to read an 8375-word long post that takes at least almost a full hour to read. So...ya, let's begin.

1. Lily Orchard's Takes on Amity are Garbage and Here's Why

I'll be covering Lily's Video "An Incoherent Discussion About Main Characters" mainly TOH segment as its the video where she talks the most about Amity. This is where the problems with Lily's narrative begin, that being; Lily saying that white characters are popular because of white favoritism rather than the fact that they are actually well written characters.

Oh, you thought Hunter was the only character Lily accused people of being racist for liking, ya, no. In the beginning of the TOH segment, Lily tries to argue that there's no reason for the fandom to love Amity so much because she (supposedly) has little depth as a character....

"At this point, Amity had no depth outside of being the bully, It's only until a month later that that would change. But the fandom latched onto Amity the moment she was introduced and hyped her up incessantly. with only a few clips where her ego is bruised and nothing else. And the thing is, Amity had nothing to her at this point. It's a common complaint from people that the fandom reduces Amity these days to just gay panic and shipping, but as of season 2, that is what she is, love interest, abusive parents, and that's it"

"Amity is a one-note character, and I don't say that as a bad thing characters fit the role that they were made for and there really isn't anything wrong with that. Amity is an obstacle for Luz to overcome and then her love interest and then occasionally gets a few moments of depth."

This is...objectively incorrect. Note I was not in the fandom at the time season 1 was airing (I only got into The Owl House when the show had already ended) however, Lily tries to act as if Amity is a character with little depth and that the fandom has no reason to like her so much. This is likely done so Lily can gaslight you into thinking she has a point so she can paint the TOH fandom as racist. Amity does go through character development throughout the show, as in season 1 she gradually becomes a better person and even makes amens with Willow after cutting her off during childhood.

She has a lot of moments of depth in episode Convention, Lost in Language, Understanding Willow, Escaping Expulsion, Eclipse Lake, and Reaching Out that develop her as a character. These aren't just "a few moments of depth". Amity is a developed character, the fandom has a reason to like her. And maybe people latched onto Amity because they liked the idea of an enemies-to-lovers romance?

Again, I wasn't in the fandom at the time, but Lily doesn't consider any of these reasons that people may like Amity so she could try and paint Amity as a 1-dimensional character when really people like Amity for being a well-developed character and Lily's arguments that she is one note are just objectively incorrect. She's a girl raised in a prestigious and high-class family who has to meet high expectations from her parents and bullies people she can't feel any weakness, and was forced to cut off her childhood best freind because she wasn't strong enough for them.

However, throughout season 1 she becomes a better person thanks to Luz, makes amens with Willow and stands up to her abusive mom in Season 2, and in Season 2 Amity still has episodes developing her with conflict with her parents, she's not just Luz's girlfriend. This is a well-developed and three-dimensional character here, and there's a reason why Amity is a fan favorite in the fandom. But Lily ignores all of that depth and character development in favor of painting Amity as one-dimensional so her racism narrative could look like it holds more water than it actually does.

And for the "abusive parents" stuff Lily says this:

"Amity's relationship to her parents and her perfectionism only ever come out in the third act of any other episode with the exception of Escaping Expulsion and Eclipse Lake. Amity's abusive home life is a plot device more than anything else, something another character pulls on to get the story going, and the solution is almost always insultingly easy, and she's only ever brought into an episode because Luz drags her into it"

Once again...this is objectively incorrect. Amity still has a lot of episodes exploring her character as I already stated so the first sentance is already false. But then Lily says that Amity's abusive home life is a...plot device? Um, no? Its not a plot device, its an aspect of Amity's character that the show is dedicating episodes to exploring. And "the solution is almost always insultingly easy"??? What do you mean by "the solution is almost always insultingly easy"?? Lily doesn't give any examples here, she just says something critical and you're supposed to just accept that.

And now...we get the moment you've all been waiting for:

"So why do people get upset at the idea that Amity is just reduced to love interest when that is literally her role in the plot? Well, (and if this gets posted on The Owl House subreddit then uhh please cover your ears you delicate little flower children) white favortism"

And now we have Lily trying to paint the TOH fandom as racist for liking Amity.

"It's been a common refrain for a while that the show has a white and the fandom makes it worse. Amity was the first instance of that"

Ok so 1. The show doesn't have a "white favoritism" problem, this is something I'll get into more later but the reason why Amity gets focus is because she objectively has more importance than to the plot thank Willow and Gusm being Luz's love interest. And I already talked about the real reasons the fandom likes Amity that don't have anything to do with racism.

"When she first appeared in I Was A Teenage Abomination, the fan base instantly started hyping her up as the greatest thing since Eda the owl lady. They immediantly projected every fucking thing on the sun onto her, and Lumity was birthed from this"

What if people just again, like the idea of an enemies-to-lovers romance between her and Luz? And I don't think I've seen ANY ONE project things onto Amity, again there are clear reasons to like these characters. Then Lily says this:

"That was all it took. It's by sheer fucking luck that Dana was going in this direction with them anyway because there was zero basis for any of this. Amity was a minor antagonist at best, and Willow was the main spotlight of I was a Teenage Abomination"

"Zero basis for any of this"? Again, Lily is acting as if there aren't any reasons to like Amity when as I already explained there clearly is. And if she means no basis for Lumity then...Lily, Lumity was clearly being set up a lot throughout the first season. Its not exactly hard to see that.

"There's no reason for people to go absolutely this crazy over her when Willow was right there. Hell throughout season 1 Willow had more grounds for a romantic relationship then Amity did. But Willow was chubby and Korean and Amity was not and not"

I don't know about you but I'm pretty sure a lot of reasons for people liking Amity more than Willow is because they find Willow and Gus to be less developed than Amity, which is a perfectly fine opinion to have. Once Again Lily ignores reasons people may prefer Amity over Willow in favor of just jumping straight to racism instead. And there also isn't as much of a hyper-fixation on Amity as Lily says there is, yes she's a fan favorite character but characters like Luz are still very popular.

The rest of the segment really is not worth talking about. Basically after this point Lily just keeps on trying to reinforce her objectively wrong narrative of "Amity is liked because of white favoritism", her saying that she thought Eda was the main character instead of Luz, and she also talks about Luz and Hunter here but that'll be covered in their respective sections.

So Lily's whole narrative about Amity being liked because of "white favoritism" is wrong, there are real reasons that people like Amity, Lily simply chooses to ignore that because that would break her narrative. Now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about the next character Lily uses to push this whole racism narrative (and the most obvious).

2. Lily Orchard's Takes on Hunter are Garbage and Here's Why - PART III (...kind of)

Again, I've already made two whole posts debunking Lily Orchard's critiques of Hunter so go read those if you want the full analysis on why Lily's takes on this character are completely wrong, but in the second section of Part II I talked about Lily's whole narrative about Hunter's fans that she tries to paint, that they are racist and only like Hunter for being white. She does basically the same thing she did for Amity; ignore the reasons why people may like a character in favor of painting the fandom as racist, and she also tries to act as if Hunter is only liked because people push headcanon's onto him. I'll just paste this piece of text here since I already refuted it in my second Hunter post;

"In her video talking about Hunter, Lily says that the fandom only likes Hunter in spite of how he's written, which is basically her saying "if you like this character you actually don't like him...or your just racist". Ok so, I don't want to talk about this that much here, however, it's worth noting that Lily constantly calls people who like Hunter racist purely for liking a character she doesn't that also happens to white, which is a major yikes, as there are reasons that Hunter is well-liked in the fandom beyond his race. But Lily's response to that is "If you like Hunter you only like him because you push fanon ideas onto him when he's really a shallow poorly-written character".

Let me tell you why people like Hunter; he's a boy who was indoctrinated and raised his whole life into believing he was doing the right thing and that Belos loves him, and for his whole life he was had to prove his worth to the EC or he's just worthless, and a lot of people also see Hunter's arc as him realizing he was being abused. None of this is stuff that the fandom is making up, these are literally things that are communicated in the show itself, Lily is just choosing to ignore that just so she can paint this narrative that TOH fandom is a bunch of racists because they like Hunter, completely ignoring how people can have different tastes and opinions than each other. Oh ya, and someone did point this out to Lily once in a tumblr ask...Lily responded by saying "no" and then went on another rant about how the fandom is racist for liking Hunter and sidelines Gus and Willow, and says that if Hunter was black, people would ignore him like they do with Gus and Willow...that speaks for itself. I could not find a screenshot where Lily said this, but I do know that she did say that in response to an anon poking a hole into her narrative, which just shows how she reacts to criticism."

Like with Amity, Lily constantly acts as if there aren't any reasons for people to like Hunter, and the reasons people do have are just things that people make up through headcanons, when this is objectievely false. There are clear reasons for people to like Hunter, but Lily ignores that in favor of painting this narrative that Hunter fans are racist. She even calls than misogynistic and homophobic in her video on Hunter without showing any evidence of that. And NONE of the anons she showed say anything like Lily described.

She keeps on reinforcing the narrative that Hunter fans only like him in spite of how he's written rather than the idea that he is written well, which is objectively false because again, there are reasons to like Hunter as a character, and all of Lily's takes on him are just objectively wrong. This is just Lily treating her opinions like they are facts in a very narcissistic and smug way.

But again, I've already refuted this point so let's get into the other point about Hunter that Lily tries to use to push this whole racism narrative; that being that Hunter overshadows and sidelines the non-white characters and gets too much screen time.

"Season 2 only made this worse with the introduction of Hunter, who as a character has an effect on the fanbase comparable to Audo and Ren. Overshadowing every other character and causing white girls to squee about how much of a good boy he is, even though he definitely isn't one"

I already talked about how Hunter doesn't take up as much screen time as Lily likes to think he does in my first Hunter post, but I'll just put some comments that I got from my first Hunter post as they debunk Lily's whole take her pretty well:

"Hunter having dynamics with the rest of the cast is a good thing and while him, it’s not being “stapled” into them, he’s just interacting with them in a fucking episode. He parallels all of the main four teens in some way so it makes sense. Plus, he’s only in half or less of the season 2 episodes and wasn’t in season 1, he didn’t get the luxury of low-stakes filler episodes so he kind of has to make a mark during the episodes he’s in. Which is why he’s usually the focus or at least major in them, that’s understandable and he’s compelling enough to justify it."

"I'll never understand the criticism of a character taking screentime away from others, if this character is considered by the writers to be more important than others, then they have to feel like they really do matter, that's normal."

The reason why Hunter gets a lot of focus isn't because of racism, its because he's an important character and he doesn't even appear in that many episodes so he kinda of needs to make a mark in the ones that he's in, especially in season 2B where the show got cut short so the show needed to try and dedicate as much of its time to developing the character it just introduced in the first half of the season as much as it can while still developing the other characters and progressing the plot.

Also, here's a fun fact; as two comments on my second Hunter post pointed out, Hunter is a character that can ONLY work if he's white, because he is a clone of a 1600s witch Hunter. Just a little tid-bit I thought I'd mention.

Hunter doesn't sideline characters as much as Lily likes to think he does, in Hunting Palisman, Hollow Mind and Thanks to Them he gets paired up with Luz, the main character who is also a black girl who gets an equal amount of screen time with Hunter. This is an extension of the whole "Hunter is stapled onto other characters" criticism Lily has, where she complains about...Hunter being paired up and interacting with other characters. Again, I already covered this stuff in my two Hunter posts, but Lily's whole problem here is simply that Hunter is in an episode, regardless of the reason.

And we all know that Lily is entirely biased to hate Hunter purely for being an "angsty white boy" so I think I'm done here. Again, go check out my two Hunter posts if you want to see go more in-depth on this whole "Hunter takes up too much screen time" criticism.

But in short; Hunter does not take up as much screen time as Lily says he does, and the reason the show focuses on him is that he has more importance to the plot than Willow and Gus, and because he needs to make a mark in each episode he's in, and once again there are reasons for people to like Hunter that are not related to "white favoritism". Again, go check out my posts on Lily's critiques on Hunter if you want me to go more in-depth. But now, let's get into the final character that Lily tries to use to push this whole narrative, and that is...

3. Lily Orchard's Takes on Luz's are Garbage and Here's Why (short version)

Let me just say, Lily's takes on Luz, specifically her trauma...are awful. They are almost as bad as her takes on Hunter, and I'm actually planning on making a whole post refuting Lily's critiques of Luz like I did with Hunter, but for now, let's just talk about the whole narrative she tries to paint with how Luz's trauma is received; this time I'll be covering the Luz segment of her fandom torture video.

But lets cover the Luz part of the Discussion of Main Characters video first before get into that. Don't worry, this will be quick. Here Lily constantly tries to argue that people want to ignore Luz in favor of Amity and Hunter but they can't because she is the main character

"But the thing is, while Amity and Hunter caused Willow and Gus to be completely sidlined, (and even their episodes in season 2 have generally just been them playing second fiddle to one of those two) neither of them have managed to sideline Luz. Amity's entire role in the story is to be a supporting character to Luz everything she does is to help and further Luz's goals and Hunter is an antagonistic force in Luz's story, trying to stop her efforts because they interfere with the goals of emperor Belos."

"Amity is the supporting character and love interest, and Hunter is the villain. And I imagine that is something that probably sticks in the craw of the Amity-Hunter hype train, they fact that they can't just ignore Luz like they clearly want to because the characters they like come with Luz attached as a default."

Not only does Lily not give ANY evidence to support her narrative, she's also just... objectively wrong. Luz is a beloved character in the fandom, there's tons of videos about her that get a shit ton of views, there's a lot of fan art and fan works around Luz, etc etc. People who like Amity and Hunter probably also like Luz a lot too. Just look at the Luz Noceda Tumblr tag and you'll see that it has more followers than either of any of Hunter and Amity's tags do.

Lily does not give any evidence to support her whole narrative and acts as if the TOH fandom really wants to ignore Luz, but as I already said Luz is still a beloved and fan-favorite character within the fandom, its not exactly hard to see that. Just because people like Amity and Hunter doesn't mean they secretly dislike Luz or something, that's just stupid.

I could go on and on about this but you get my point; Lily's entire narrative that she tries to paint that People want to ignore Luz is just straight-up false and she does not support her claim with any evidence whatsoever.

But now, let's get into the real meat of things; the narrative that Lily tries to paint in her Fandom Torture video. Again, Lily's takes on Luz's trauma are just as awful as her takes on Hunter but I'll only focus on the racism narrative she tries to paint, that being that the fandom likes watching 14-year-old black girls suffer I'm not joking. This is the narrative that Lily actually tries to paint;

"But the truth is...ya fandom does love this shit. They love watching characters' angst forever. They love their three thousand-word slow-burn hurt with no comfort fix. They love watching characters suffer especially if they're women, and especially if they're black, and Luz is both."

.......Lily, fuck you. This is a lie, a straight-up lie. Lily is trying to trick you into thinking that the TOH fandom are sadistic monsters who enjoy watching 14-year-old girls who are also black suffer, and not only is that objectively incorrect, it's also just...so unbelievably gross given the real reasons why people like Luz's depression arc.

Do you want to know why this pisses me off so much? The actual reason why people like Luz's trauma arc isn't because they enjoy watching children suffer, its because aside from it being a realistic and believable depression arc, it also resonates with a lot of people. No joke, apparently there are a lot of people who relate to Luz and see themselves through her. Dana created a depression arc for a character that ACTUAL PEOPLE WITH TRUAMA AND SELF-LOATHING ISSUES CAN RELATE TO.

NOT TO MENTION the fact that a lot of people in the fan base actually sympathize with Luz her and her self-loathing issues. Luz's trauma arc is well-received because it was able to resonate with a lot of people, and the fact that Lily chooses to ignore that in favor of painting the TOH fandom as a bunch of racists who enjoy watching black women suffer is just...disgusting. Fuck you Lily, and I mean that very sincerely.

Oh wait, cuz I'm not done with this! Hunter, a character that has gone through just as much trauma as Luz, and whose trauma is also well received by the fandom as well, Lily just ignores. So its bad when Luz gets traumatized and people like it but when the same happens to Hunter it's ok? Oh wait, I forgot, Hunter is a white boy and Luz is a black girl, that's the difference.

Lily, I'm so fucking sick of your double standards. So its bad when a fandom likes a black girl getting traumatized but when it's a white boy you don't complain and don't go and call them racist? That's stupid.

You probably already get my point by now so I'll just end this section here; Lily's whole narrative of the TOH fandom liking Luz being traumatized because they are sadistic monsters who enjoy watching black girls suffer is both flawed and disgusting, so is her narrative about the fandom wanting to ignore Luz in favor of other characters which is also objectively incorrect. But wait, there is one last video of Lily trying to push this narrative that I have not mentioned yet...

... it's the white favoritism video mentioning Hunter

4. The White Favoritism Video is Garbage and Here's Why

So for this post I decided to go ahead and watch Lily's white favoritism video, specifically the Hunter segments. I went into this video with very low expectations, expecting it to just be Lily repeating the same points she already made over and over again. And...holy shit. This video is AWFUL. Like I knew it was going to be bad, but I was not ready for the amount of bullshit Lily was going to spew. I was left completely shocked and speechless by the end of the second segment at what Lily just said in those two segments.

Time for me to tear apart both of these awful segments. Let's start with the first one, and only 16 seconds in after reinforcing her whole "Hunter is only liked because of fandom shit" narrative, Lily already starts talking bullshit:

"Even his rebelling against an abuser in the canon is undercut by the fact that it's basically a preordained destiny because every golden guard has betrayed Belos."

WHAT????! Hunter would have never betrayed Belos in the first place in if the events of Hollow Mind had never happened, hell when Luz and Hunter saw the memories of Belos doing evil things Hunter constantly tried making excuses for Belos and spent most of it being in denial. And we don't even KNOW anything about the golden guards, maybe they could've eventually realized on their own that Belos was evil, that doesn't undercut Hunter breaking from his abuser!

Then Lily says this:

"Furthermore Hunter ended up being the vector for a lot of people to start caring about Willow, Daruis and Camila, insofar so they could be used to bolster Hunter's character with romance and adoption respectively before this point these characters were ignored or in some cases vilified"

I don't really know about Willow but for Darius and Camila this is just wrong, from what I've heard Camila starting getting popular once the episode Yesterday's Lie premiered, and the reason Darius was vilified before Any Sport in a Storm is because...in he was a villain in the show until this episode showed us he may not be. This isn't racism, Darius's last appearance before this has him as an antagonist, that's why he was "vilified" before Any Sport in a Storm. The rest of this segment is not worth talking about, its just Lily reinforcing her broken narrative about Hunter only being liked because of fandom stuff when that's literally not the reason why he's well-liked as I already explained so now let's move onto the second section...

....the second section is actually worse than the first one. The amount of bullshit Lily was speaking during that three minutes gave me a stroke. So Lily actually starts off by acknowledging the accusations she has been that she only hates Hunter for being white and would've liked him if he was black (which is an undisputed fact), since she constantly complains about him being a boring white boy. How does she respond to this? Does she try to refute this in some way?

....No. Instead, what Lily says next left my jaw wide open as I tried to process wtf I just heard. This is what Lily says:

"When I started criticizing Hunter it came around the time I became a lot more vocally invested in non-white characters and some people in a prime example of desperately trying to give me what they think is a taste of my own medicine came up to me and said with whole pussy "If Hunter was black, you'd like him" with a very simple truth, "If Hunter was black, you wouldn't" "

Holy shit. When I heard this I was at a loss of words. Do I even need to explain why this is awful? Not only is Lily once again accusing Hunter fans of being racist to further her narrative, not only does Lily not even TRY to refute the idea that she dislikes Hunter for being a white boy, but she also even says that if Hunter was black, people wouldn't have liked him...even though Luz, a black girl, is a beloved character in the fandom. Lily cannot gaslight me into thinking otherwise.

Lily then continues to push this idea that if Hunter was black, people wouldn't have liked him:

"If Hunter was black the fandom would not have ignored every skleazy thing he does, like his supposedly best episode according to fangirls that established Huntlow as a ship where...he uses the power the state to kidnap several children and force them to join the magic Gestapo. They would not view this action equally if dark-skinned and stop writing that well actually comment you will not convince me that they would. "

Hmm gee Lily I love how you ignore...

The fact that Hunter meant well and didn't know what he was doing was wrong as he thought that he was doing his friends a favor by getting them into the emperor's coven because of his indoctrination so thus he doesn't exactly know any better.

(And most importantly) The fact that Hunter realizes what he did was wrong and not only takes full responsibility of his actions but also goes out of his way to fix his mistake and get his friends out a situation he put them in AND risked his position as the golden guard AND ALSO was willing to take a lethal strike from Darius just so he could fix his mistake, something that is pretty selfless if you ask me (go check out this post if you want a more in-depth rebuttal to this bullshit claim. It's not directed towards Lily but it basically addresses Lily's whole statement)

Ya Lily I love how like all Hunter critics you just completely ignore that. Now Lily is trying to push this whole "racism" narrative even further, not even trying to give a counter argument to the rebuttles Hunter fans give and just calls them racist by saying "If Hunter was black, you wouldn't be defending him". That's not a good counterargument Lily.

THEN LILY SAYS THIS:

"Furthermore the main issue with Hunter is that the story spends a lot of time with him but spends no time developing him outside of making goofy faces for the internet"

hiuodshuviusdhfiudhfiudshfiuhqweqweqwe HUH?!?! The show doesn't develop Hunter as a character?!?! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?! ARE WE WATCHING THE SAME SHOW!?!? Either Lily's is THAT illiterate of she's deliberately lying. The show DOES clearly spend time developing Hunter, especially in Eclipse Lake, and the very episode that Lily criticized earlier, Any Sport in a Storm where Hunter goes through development and learns to make connections with others and has real friends.

HE GOES THROUGH AN ENTIRE ARC OF BREAKING FROM HIS ABUSER!!!! And no Lily you are not going to gaslight me into thinking that was all just fanon, because its not, its literally communicated within the show, you're just fucking lying. Do I even need to refute this point anymore? Anyone who's watched the show would now this is completely false so lets just move on to the next thing Lily says:

"Making him black wouldn't fix these problems, it would exacerbate them, because now you have a black character you are doing nothing with yet proudly displaying you are doing nothing with him, and that's a problem because its now the third time you've done that"

Shows a picture of Gus and Skara

Ok, so...

The show is clearly doing things with Hunter, I already refuted this stuff in my two Hunter posts

Oh, I'm sorry Lily, didn't you say that Hunter being black would make him more interesting?

Skara is a MINOR CHARACTER that doesn't have any real importance to the plot, yet you want to show to focus on her just because she's black? What???

Also, remember the Skara thing for later btw.

"But all this distracts from the real problem, Hunter is only allowed to get away with being such a nothing burger of a character, despite taking up so much screen time because he's white and male. This is the only element of his character that people like and everything else is fanon that they made up. What little there is to his character is just ideas that were stolen from Luz and Amity and yet Hunter eclipses them both in popularity"

Do I need to explain why this point is garbage? This whole narrative that Lily tries to craft revolves around the idea that Hunter is flat and boring and has nothing to his character and nothing to him and isn't interesting and everything that people like about him is just fanon, and ANYBODY who watched the show would know that this is completely objectively wrong.

Lily, will you please stop trying to fucking gaslight people into agreeing with you? Hunter is an abused boy who was groomed and indoctrinated into believing he's doing the right thing and then breaks from his abuser and ends up finding real friends. This is not fanon, these are things being directly communicated within the show, you can not gaslight me into thinking otherwise Lily. The fact that Lily just straight up says that Hunter is only liked for being a white male reinforces the already broken narrative she has about Hunter fans. And once again Luz and Amity are still incredibly popular characters, I don't think I need to talk about this further. This point sucks, lets move onto the next thing Lily says:

"Ironically The Owl House goes to make Hunter a useless non-character because all of his acts of rebellion end up being underwritten by the fact that every golden guard has turned on Belos in the same way. So Hunter isn't even operating on his own accord its just gut instinct"

Lily, can you go five seconds in this video without saying something extremely stupid? Like I already said Hunter wouldn't have betrayed Belos if the events of Hollow Mind hadn't happened because he wouldn't have a reason to, he wasn't just going to wake up one day and say "I'm going to betray Belos for no reason at all!". Also, I'm sorry Lily, wasn't one of your complaints about Hollow Mind that Hunter was in denial for most of the episode??? HOW TF could you THEN turn around and say "Hunter's acts of rebellion were just gut instinct" like??? Hunter spent most of Hollow Mind IN DENIAL of the idea of Belos being evil, just because the other golden guards betrayed Belos doesn't mean its just "gut instinct", their genetic clones, not reincarnations.

And like I already said, we don't even KNOW anything about the golden guards, maybe they could've eventually realized on their own that Belos was evil, that doesn't undercut Hunter breaking from his abuser. Sigh let's just move on...

Now Lily's talking about Skara yaaaaaaaay

"Meanwhile if you like a character who isn't a white guy just because you vibe with them your expected to answer for it. Hunter stans can freely fawn over a character just because he's pasty and blonde as long as they invent pages upon pages of cope. But If I like a character just because their VA is cool and I vibe with their energy I'm expected to justify that like I'm in fucking court. I quite like Skara because her design is cool Kimberly Brooks is one of my favorite VA's and I like this little quasi-recovery arc she's got going on in the background. But butthurt Hunter stans angry about my criticism of the character and always throw that back in my face because those shallow surface-level traits of the character are things I call them out for focusing on"

So now Lily is addressing the whole Skara allegations except she didn't mention what people like me are accusing her of; liking Skara for being a black girl. Call it uncharitable, but Lily has constantly complained about Hunter being a "boring white guy" and explicitly stated that making him black would make him more interesting, and when asked how to fix Skara she basically said to make him a black girl, and since Skara (a black girl) is a character that Lily heavily hyper-fixates on AND straight up replaced Hunter's name with in the season 2 round up video AND since IN THIS VERY VIDEO Lily complains about Skara not getting enough focus despite the fact the show has no reason to focus on her because she's a side character with little importance to the plot, Lily has not beaten the allegations that she hates Hunter for being a white guy and likes Skara for being a black girl.

I'll admit in my second Hunter post I was a bit too uncharitable towards Lily since she has now at least given actual reasons for liking Skara, however Lily has still not beaten the accusations she's getting over liking Skara for being a black girl. There's so much evidence that points towards that and Lily hasn't refuted it at all. Also remember when Lily complained about Skara being another black character who the show did "nothing with"? Well, now she says this:

"This ignores the fact that Skara is a tertiary character and is therefore allowed to be mostly surface level. Hunter is a main character with the exact same level of depth as a background character."

So you admit that Skara is a tertiary character and thus doesn't have much importance yet earlier you complain about the show not focusing on her more??? What????

"You can argue that this is because the show was canceled but when you spend eight episodes doing nothing to progress a character the problem isn't that didn't have enough time"

I'm sorry EIGHT?! Hunter's arc throughout season 2 spans over the course of five episodes, not eight. And once again Hunter isn't doing nothing here the show is developing him as a character every time he appears, but again I already refuted this in my first Hunter post.

After this point, Lily stops talking about Hunter and goes on about how female and non-white characters are nit-picked and people act like you the weird one for not caring about their nitpicks and continues reinforcing her already broken narrative...and also makes a star wars comparison, so the rest of this segment isn't really worth talking about because it's based on points and arguments that I've already refuted. Besides this section is getting long enough already so I'll just end it here.

Good GOD that video was awful. Like, I already had low-expectations going into it expecting to just be Lily repeating the same shit over and over again...and it was, but it was also Lily making some of the WORST critiques of this show I have ever seen. Lily, how do your takes on Hunter STILL suck? The whole narrative Lily tries to build is based on points that anyone who watched the show and payed even a little bit of attention to it would know is completely objectively false.

Literally every single thing Lily says here has something wrong with it, I was NOT ready for the bullshit this video contained...

But ya, you probably get the gist now; this video is awful, and I've now gone through every single point Lily has made about racism in The Owl House and refuted each of them...

...But I'm still not done. Because there is a certain trend I've been noticing throughout these three videos, especially the first and third one...

5. Gaslighting

These next few sections are probably going to be a lot shorter since this abomination of a post has gone on for long enough already, so sections 5-7 will hopefully be quicker. Anyways, a common tactic I've seen Lily use during these videos is gaslighting. This is a manipulative tactic that she uses to try and make it sound like she has a point but when you really look at it, she doesn't.

We can see this with her insisting that Hunter and Amity have no depth where she boils them down to simple character traits (or just straight-up lies) to make them sound shallow. She especially does this a lot with Hunter with the entire narrative of "Hunter is only well-liked because of fanon stuff" which anyone who watches the show would know is objectively wrong. Then there's the whole "spite-based enjoyment" she tries to paint with him, where Lily says that Hunter fans only like Hunter in spite of how he's written. And in her Hunter video she...says this:

"There are a lot of Reylos in Hunter's fan base who are obscenely racist misogynistic and homophobic. And I sure as fuck am not counting them In who I'm talking to today. Hunter is a magnet for fandom racism and misogony, but today I'm talking past those people to people with a very sincere love for the character. You don't love this character for how he's written. You love him in spite of how he's written. And you should be upset that his potential is routinely squandered in favor of just making more shots about him moping and sulking. You should expect better. Everyone would have BETTER if did not waste time on this character doing fucking NOTHING."

Typing that as I listened to Lily's video pissed me off. This narrative is entirely broken once you factor in how all of Lily's takes about Hunter are complete garbage, but even worse, Lily is trying to gaslight Hunter fans who are going to watch her video by saying "If you like this character, you actually don't like him cuz I said so"

Fuck right off Lily. There are real reasons for people to like Hunter that are not fanon things that are being made up, stop trying to gaslight Hunter fans into agreeing with ffs.

Lily also does this a lot with Amity too, insisting that she's just a one-note character with little to her and there is no reason for people to like her so much, when that is not true at all. There are actual reasons people have to like these characters that are NOT being made up unlike what Lily is trying to gaslight you into believing her. This is an incredibly manipulative and condescending way to frame your arguments, that if YOU like a character you actually don't and you should stop pretending that you do.

Fuck off Lily. The show DOES clearly use Hunter to his fullest potential, anyone who watches the show would know that, stop trying to gaslight people with your terrible arguments. Again, read my posts on Lily's takes on Hunter if you want the full context of why none of her takes on him are good, but needless to say Lily really likes to gaslight people into agreeing with her here and that is a VERY manipulative way to frame your arguments.

Oh wait, I'm still not done...because now its time to talk about...

6. "Dana has a white favoritism problem" & Lily's Hypocrisy

Yes, you read the title of this section correctly. In Lily's TOH season 2 round-up video, she says this:

"I know we're all being very charitable to Dana but I think we all need to address the elephant in the room is that The Owl House fandom has a big white favoritism problem and SO DOES DANA"

"Dana is not doing anything to help if anything she's actively making it worse and I feel somebody probably needs to probably sit her down about that and just be like "hey Dana, stop""

.......there is no other way to look at this. There is no other way to interpret this, Lily is accusing Dana of being racist. Now, complaining about a show focusing on white characters too much despite any other reasons a show may have for focusing on these characters beyond racism is one thing, but to accuse somebody of bigotry for focusing on two white characters, ignoring any reasons the show may have for focusing on them beyond racism is just...

I don't even know how to even say it, it's just gross. Once again, there are reasons why Dana chooses to focus on Amity and Hunter as I've already explained, but Lily ignores those reasons and just casually calls Dana racist. Oh, and I'm sorry Lily, but if Dana supposedly had a white favoritism problem, why tf would she make a black Latina girl the main protagonist??? And also develop st. black latina girl a lot throughout the series making her a three-dimensional and well-developed character that a lot of people love and relate to?

Lily ignores all possible reasons that Dana may have for focusing on Amity and Hunter just calls her racist. Wow, as I couldn't have hated you more Lily. Oh wait, but I'm not done with this section, no no.

Now I'm going to be discussing Lily Orchard's hilarious hypocrisy here. I find it incredibly funny how Lily constantly accuses the TOH fandom and Dana of racial bias when she literally hates a character (Hunter) for being a white male. And when she constantly fetishizes black people and explicitly stated once that Hunter would have been more interesting if he was black. I can guarantee you that if Amity and Hunter were black and Luz, Willow and Gus were all white, Lily wouldn't complain about them taking up too much screen time like she currently does, you can't convince me that she would.

Lily so desperately wants to convince us how racist the TOH fandom and Dana are yet she hates a character for his skin color and gender and constantly complains about him being a "boring white guy". This comment from my first Hunter post sums it up best:

"Lily really just desperately needs a character to channel unjustified negativity into so she can act better than the fans who like that character. She found reasons to hate Amity that way too in season 1. She gets obsessive about how the series "could be better" (i.e. the series should do the specific thing that SHE wants even if it's not the creator's vision) and when things don't turn out that way she gets... weird.

Like she shipped WilLuz and was butthurt that the fandom mainly saw Willow and Luz as just friends and recognized that Dana was emphasizing Amity crushing on Luz ... but Lily was like, "How dare they ship Lumity and not WilLuz! This is the racist fandom hating PoCs!!!" without self-awareness to see that no one was being racist but her for assuming that people only shipped a thing they liked because one character looks Caucasian.

She'd get on her high horse and accuse Dana of "white favoritism" for having Amity be important and making the fandom like her... like, the leaps and bounds Lily will go through to turn herself into "the most noble person" in a fandom is shameless. She also would rip on Amity for being derivative of Malfoy or the spoiled girl from Little Witch Academia... when that character trope is what Amity was subverting by showing that Amity had depth beyond her snobby/type-A first impression since after her first impression she almost immediately started to show layers to her character.

I feel like Lily only stopped being so negative to Amity because even she had qualms against crapping on Amity when a) she realized that complaining about Amity being a bully long after Amity had since stopped and atoned for that behavior was getting really old, and b) shitting on one half of Lumity when it was probably one of the biggest, most wholesome LGBT couples in modern animation would be a hard sell for Lily (who as an LGBT person should be less harsh on earnest representation from an LGBT creator).

Along comes Hunter and Lily can't exist without having a designated hate-sink so she projects all her dislikes into Hunter for merely existing. His design being light-skinned and handsome was enough to repel Lily. Him being a genuinely good person who had a troubled life but still perseveres to protect the relationships he's forged... he's pretty much a perfect addition to the cast that kind of adds a missing quality to the series (like how Toph in Avatar the Last Airbender was kind of the special spice that elevated the series for the better by being added to the cast). But ignore all the good his character brings because he's a caucasian-ish character who used to be tricked into being on the bad-side. I'm also sure Lily was furiously spewing venom when she saw that Willow was paired with Hunter, since Lily wanted Willow to be with Luz."

Lily, if you constantly accuse people of being racist for liking a character you don't and also accuse the creator of being racist as well, but solely hate a character for being a white male, then I'm sorry, but nobody here is being racist except for you. (I could also mention her star wars fic but this post is getting long enough so let's just end it here)

7. Conclusion

TLDR for those who don't want to read this entire post:

There are clear reasons why people may like Amity and Hunter that have nothing to do with racism at all

There are also clear reasons why the show may want to focus on these characters due to them being important to the story

Luz is a beloved fan-favorite character and Lily does not give any good evidence to suggest otherwise.

Lily's take that people like watching black women suffer and that's why Luz's truama arc is well-received is completely false as it is well-received due to being able to resonate with a lot of people.

The white favoritism video is fucking awful

A majority of Lily's arguments are just her trying to gaslight you into agreeing with her

Lily complains about the TOH fandom and Dana having racial biases when she is racially biased herself

Lily Orchard remains my most hated YouTuber. She's a shit critic and an even shittier person, and I sincerely hope that one day, Lily's entire channel gets terminated and wiped off the face of the internet, because people like her do not deserve a platform. She has not improved and I don't think she EVER will. Thanks for reading this entire post, and...bye.

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kingusukaras · 9 months

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some (mildly disjointed) thoughts i had about the translation of most recent leona overblot scene from the second twst novel. unsaid disclaimer is obvi these are just my thoughts and youre free to disagree. i cant stop you

read more because i might ramble a bit 💆🏾‍♀️

i'll start by saying that i'm very grateful for the novel & yuureis translations, bc its given me so much to chew on wrt leonas psyche and mental state, much more than book 2 in the game did. i havent bothered to go looking for reactions tho, bc i can already kind of predict the takes i'll find (knowing how parts of the fandom talks abt leona generally) - and i do "get" it, in the sense that i do also feel the way he tortures ruggie before he overblots is upsetting - but theres so much to dig into here, i feel like its such a waste to get hung up on obsessively moralizing

(i'll mention here that to formulate these thoughts i'm also pulling from the translation of leona's post-overblot scene, plus some moments from the game that i'll mention specifically as i go)

for example, the things leona says pre-overblot, his meltdown about dreams being stupid and useless, how the savanaclaw students (ruggie included) aren't meant to question him; they're meant to obey quietly, sound less like actual things he's trying to tell them and more like him lashing out at himself. as in, he's more talking at them, not to them. skipping forward to book 6: there we see leona give jamil advice, but the implication underneath is that everything he's telling jamil are things leona wishes he had internalized himself - again here, he's talking to someone, but really it's also directed inwards. almost like it's easier for him to look at (and speak about) himself critically when he can externalize it as critique of other people

the other thing im curious about is the distant, detached persona he adopts when he's truly angry. this'll be quick because i don't feel i have enough information to unpack it properly, but if i allow myself to spin thoughts out from limited information: it could almost be a habit he picked up as a child - something he might've forced himself to learn as part of an effort to be seen as more of a 'model' prince. if people were afraid of his moodiness because they feared what his UM (he) could do, then if he swallows those emotions maybe he can mitigate that. this, ofc, being shot through with the expectation that, as royalty, any order he gives people will obey

the final thing, for this post at least, is unpacking the way leona lashes out at ruggie when ruggie defies him. i'm willing to make the very safe bet that most of the reading of this moment is focused on leona being angry over being defied at all, or general disgust at how small and weak ruggie is (appears) to be. and while i think both of those points have some element of truth to them, i think the larger aspect of leonas reaction is jealousy. ruggie somehow, despite everything, despite all of the disadvantages life has thrown at him, still has the courage to have determination. and i want to be very clear here: this is not me saying being poor or struggling is admirable because it makes you strong - i'm not naive and i'm not here to romanticize poverty. what i am trying to say here ruggie's tenacity - a tenacity his life circumstances developed in him - is something that leona lacks, and that's what he's jealous of. he's jealous of his inability to keep having that hope, to maintain that courage in the face of his own repeated failures

(an aside: isn't it ironic that part of the reason ruggie has that tenacity is leona? leonas tutoring, leonas effective leadership of the spelldrive club, and as housewarden?)

(an aside 2x: in many ways, 'giving up' can be seen as a luxury. ruggie does not have the luxury to give up, because it could very well mean that he doesn't eat that day. for leona, regardless of what he does he's going to have a roof over his head and three square meals a day anyway, so what does it matter if he gives up? sure, he won't be happy, but he'll be comfortable in a material sense, and isn't that enough? except, of course, it isn't - not for him. as much as he tries to deny it, he's as fiercely ambitious as the rest of his dorm)

#king's meta #twisted wonderland #twst leona #leona kingscholar #disney twisted wonderland #every new translation post gives me so much more to mull over i love it #thank you yuurei

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where-theres-smoak-2 · 2 months

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Since the announcement that Dune part three is in development I've watched a couple of youtube videos and read some articles announcing the news, talking about potential release dates and just generally talking about what they want for the third installment and in the comment section of them there seems to be a lot of discussion around how true to the book the third film will be.

Some are saying that they think Villeneuve will stick closely to the book Dune Messiah, others are saying that he will throw the book out completely and just make up his own story for the third film. Some are saying that after the changes made in Dune Part Two, particularly with the changes to Chani's character arc, its now impossible for him to stay true to the book.

Now I haven't read the book so not only do I have very limited knowledge of the book, I also don't have any special attachment to it. So my following views on the subject are coming from that perspective and are based on the two films I've seen and some comments that were in these articles/comments section.

(So mild book spoilers here, you can learn this from reading the blurb of the book.) One thing I did learn is that the book the third film will be based on, Dune Messiah, is actually set 12 years after the end of Dune Part Two's events. We don't see the holy war, we only see the aftermath. Personally I found this news a little disappointing because I feel like they've been revving the audience up with this holy war for the last two movies and so I was really looking forward to seeing it, to seeing just how far Paul goes, whether he tries to hold back at all, whether he has moments of hesitation etc, I was just really hyped to see this war they kept going on about. That being said I do think that seeing the aftermath would still be interesting too.

I've also seen some people say that the book itself won't translate as well to film as the first book does, apparently it has a lot less action and is more political intrigue, as one article put it, its a lot of people sitting in a room and talking. Again haven't read the book so I don't know how accurate that is, but on a similar vein, I've seen a few people say that whilst the book is good its nowhere near the level that the first book is and so they are worried the third film could be a let down for non-book readers.

So as I said above, lots of opinions going around, mostly from book readers because naturally they know a lot more about what is coming than us non-book readers. But it got me thinking how might Villeneuve approach the film and work around some of the concerns I've seen being discussed, the main ones seeming to be, there not being enough action/ it not translating well to screen and how they are going to deal with Chani, as it seems she plays a vital role in messiah and kind of needs to be at Paul's side in order to fulfil that role. So here are my theories and guesses at how Villeneuve might approach the last film. Again these are just my own speculations and opinions.

This first one could definitely be influenced by my own wishful thinking, but one way they could add a bit more action to the film is to spend say the first hour, for example, showing the holy war and using the time to explain how and why Chani returns to Paul, the birth of Alia maybe, etc and then have the time skip to 12 years later and cover the events of Messiah. These films usually have a long run time so if they keep the long run time for this film maybe they'll be able to cover both events. I do believe that the messiah book is considerably shorter than the Dune book, but then the Dune book was split into two films so I am not entirely sure on how well it would work. I guess it would depend on how well it is written.

Another possibility is what some have suggested and that they just throw the book out pretty much completely. The argument here being that Herbert wrote Messiah because when his first book came out the audience didn't get his intended message that Paul wasn't the hero, so he wrote Messiah to really hit home his message that this was a story about the dangers of false prophets and not a hero's journey type story. However Villeneuve has already achieved this message in Dune part two, which could give him some leeway to take the story in a new direction and add his own spin on it. It could also be an opportunity to make the story more appealing to modern audiences, the books were written in the 60's so political and world views were a little different than today. I do think that might be part of the reason why they changed Chani's character, the loyal concubine who follows along with the false saviour's crusade might not have been all that appealing to a more modern audience. The flip side of that though is that abandoning the book completely might not be a popular decision amongst the book readers. So you could end up alienating one side of the audience in favour of making the story your own and trying to appeal more to the general audience.

The third way could be to stick as closely to the books as you can given the changes made in part two. Villeneuve could just start the film with a narration from one of the characters like he did with Chani in part one and Irulan in part two, maybe this time they could have a narration from Paul himself explaining what happened in the war and how and why Chani came back to him etc, setting the scene so to speak. Then from then out just follow whatever happens in the books. Personally I don't know how satisfying I would find this but it would at least follow the same pattern as the other two films if it opens with a narration.

One other thought I had was they could keep the time-skip for the film but have a miniseries that is set during the holy war, I know they are already doing a miniseries covering the bene gesserit so maybe they can also do one showing the war to fill in the gaps. However I think this would be highly unlikely as I don't think they'd have the time to film both a mini series and an actual film. But you never know maybe we'll get really really lucky.

Out of all the possible options, I personally think the first one would be the best option. It would be the best of both worlds, the book readers will still get to see the book adapted, but spending some time at the beginning of the film showing the war could add that needed action and make it more exciting for those who haven't read the book and who might otherwise be disappointed.

But I am curious to know what others think. If you haven't read the book how do you feel about there being such a large time-skip? Do you care if they skip over the war? Or if you are a book reader are you hoping they'll stay close to the book or do you share the same opinion as some of the other comments I saw saying it won't translate well to film? How important do you think the change to Chani's character is and do you agree with those saying it has messed things up going forward? I am very curious to know. All of this being said I am still very excited that they are making a third film and I trust that no matter what direction he chooses to go Villeneuve will deliver another amazing piece of media for us.

#dune #dune part three #dune part three theory #dune messiah #paul atreides #chani kynes #dune thoughts #dune part one #dune part 2 #dune part two

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simlicious · 1 year

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I am not posting much atm, here is why

heya, I'm pretty quiet on the posting front at the moment. This has several reasons. Since this might come across as a bit whiny, feel free to skip this personal ramble.

The good stuff first: I made a pact with my best friend and now we take a long walk together every week to increase our fitness levels. It encourages me to leave the house and get some fresh air and be in nature and it feels very good! We actually did a lot more together in the last months than just the walk, so I am quite busy and also often exhausted from the activity. I have also gotten back into Anno 1800 now that the game has reached its final state, and I am fixing some old mods that are not available anymore but I cannot live without, and I am also working on some of my own mods. The reason why I am taking a break from making patterns has mainly to do with the negative feelings I developed in the last months. I have been putting off writing this post for weeks, but my feelings have not gone away and I want to address this particular issue. Tbh, I often get aggravated when viewing my dash these days. I'm not the most emotionally stable person and my self-worth comes also from external sources, like feedback for my patterns, which is not ideal, but it is what it is right now. Lately, I feel that as a creator of recolorable patterns, I am being pushed deep into a corner. I've always considered myself a niche creator, catering to patterns kinda does that! But I feel like I am becoming obsolete, now that a lot of creators only make Sims 4 conversions and are usually not fully recolorable. I also fear that more and more creators will forget/will never learn how to make clothes and objects recolorable if all they do is add non-recolorable Sims 4 presets. I consider the Create-A-Style tool to be the most important feature of TS3 (together with open worlds). It is such a unique feature, and it breaks my heart to see that not being valued as such. I feel like we should celebrate that, and I try to with my patterns, but it's just so hard to keep it up when most creators do not seem to particularly care anymore. I wish more creators would make the good old Frankenmeshes 😥 I would love to see more ts3 and ts4 frankenmesh mashups. Creators would need to learn how to turn Sims 4 textures into greyscale ones and step up their uv-mapping game a bit, and then it could be a thing... There could even be an open library of recolorable sims 4 textures and remapped meshes that all creators could contribute to. That way, creators could use them and would not need to remake every texture from scratch by themselves. Over time, that would greatly decrease the effort that would need to be put in to make new creations this way... I know that most of you follow me because you really value my patterns and use them in your games, and I know that people who play mainly with vanilla content won't have that problem at all, as 99% the EA stuff can be recolored. But it's just that I see those non-recolorable conversions everywhere on my dash, and it is so disheartening. I guess as a creator, I want to feel welcome in the TS3 creator community, and lately, I do not feel particularly seen or valued as a member of that group. Maybe my Tumblr bubble has shoved me somewhat outside of the group that I would feel more valued in? Maybe I need to adjust my dash. But I do not want to unfollow everyone who posts these conversions. They are nice in their own right, it's just that I can't handle them very well right now. How do you deal with stuff that you do not want to see? do you unfollow people, do you block tags? I've been mostly avoiding my dash, but that does not seem like a good solution. If you post gameplay pics with my patterns or are a creator that makes their stuff CAS-Tool compatible, feel free to tell me below so I can follow you. Just seeing more people use my patterns would probably lift my spirits!

#personal #but still sims-related

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usuratongaychi · 2 months

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On Sakura

I hated sakura so much when watching the show, yet when you list out her achievements it DOES LOOK LIKE SHE IS USEFUL, so why when actually watching the show does all of that disappear? Why is she so hated in the fandom?

(Ignoring the fact that this is a shounen based anime, where the main fanbase is a bunch of misogynistic men)

From a writing standpoint, kishimoto doesn't have the best outlook on women. In my personal opinion, I really dislike how women are portrayed in the series. A lot of it falls under the “nagging wife” archetype, which just reminds me a lot of those old boomer jokes abt hating women or hating their wife.

Also, when i talk about disliking sakura, I’m not talking about her in the OG. I mean, she was 12-13 then, and most 12yr olds are annoying. Comparatively to Naruto and Sasuke, she lived a pretty privileged life, so I think her attitude was justified. Both Naruto and Sasuke had their…moments…as well.

I think in a lot of the filler, they trump up her personality to the point where its annoying, similarly with naruto but bc hes male and also a mega idiot already, it isnt talked about. Filler isnt present in the manga, so manga readers tend to appreciate her more.

here is where i get a little biased..

Comparatively to naruto and sasuke’s connection (they are literally soulmates, platonically or romantically), her romance with sasuke is so flat and one dimensional. Shounen in general as a genre focuses so much on male characters development. It honestly feels like their romance was hastily thrown together at the end of the series. This makes her devotion to him seem shallow and vain.

(This next part is only really applicable to shippuden and somewhat in the OG series i dont really expect a 13yr old with no jutsu to be the best fighter)

I feel like the series intentionally makes her, and really every woman character weaker in terms of endurance (besides Tsunade). Like it feels like the writers say "thats enough fighting for a girl, make her get knocked out" 20secs into a fight. I remember watching her battle with Sasori and being so excited for her to be a badass in shippuden..only for a bunch of episodes to pass and not really getting that same feeling again. To be fair, I wonder if i would have felt the same if I skipped filler episodes. Regardless, I think she could have been more involved in combat, I would have loved to see that from her. “But she’s a healer!!” she can fight also, doesn’t she do that in Boruto? She can do both.

I also think the studio fucks her over a LOT. Theres a few other moments of her in the anime saying some pretty outrageous things, one of them being “I wish i had parents I could respect a bit more, I’d be better off without them….Why’d you have to be here now? If it was Sasuke, I know he would understand”, to an orphan, which is wild as fuck. I can’t remember if that episode was filler or not, but some of the lines they give her are just outright insane. I can’t think of a sane character that would say that.

In conclusion to this essay of a post..

Fuck The Writers.

#sakura haruno #sakura get behind me i will protect you from these writers #haruno sakura #im sorry i actually hate kishimoto

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dck-without-the-i · 1 year

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voltron is resurgent on tik tok???

i’ve been on a klance kick as of recently anyways, so please enjoy this rec list…

klance

Cross My Path by: wittyy_name

black cat witch keith is everything to me. there is a smut scene in here and it does include keith with some feline features, so if that bothers you then this is not for you. or you can just skip the smut

EXPLICIT

“Lance owns a witch themed cat cafe that rescues black cats. Each one has a unique collar and color coded name to help tell them apart. He's not supposed to play favorites, but he's already adopted his favorite, Red, as his own. Cold and distant to everyone, Red is extremely affectionate to Lance. Needy. Clingy. Protective. But Lance doesn't mind. He makes Lance's home a little less lonely. He's a little weird, but aren't all cats? He loves his baby boy, and he's eternally grateful for the day that little black fluff ball crossed his path.

Lance doesn't think twice about Red's odd quirks. That is, until he wakes up with a naked stranger in his bed.

And hey! Turns out Red is actually a witch named Keith who's been cursed to be a cat for twenty years. A really hot witch who's still very affectionate towards Lance.”

Save a Lion, Ride a Cowboy by: Bang Bang Beef Keef

this is one of my favorite klance fics!! i can’t even remember how many times i have read this one. it is so good!

EXPLICIT

“Lance is sexually frustrated. Luckily Keith is here to help...

Excerpt:

“You’re suggesting…” Lance gulped at that lump again. “… I try being slutty right now?”

“If you want to feel satisfied,” said Keith, running that hand from his hair down to his neck. His jacket was slipping off both shoulders now. It’s not like Keith was showing any skin, but something about that jacket refusing to stay put, the mere suggestion that Keith’s clothes were removable… Lance was fairly certain his blood flow was no longer heading up towards his brain. He wasn’t going to think his way out of this one. Did he even want out of this one? He hadn’t agreed to be in this one.”

In the Closet by: speaks

EXPLICIT

“‘I gotta say,’ Lance droned, swishing his nearly empty glass, “I was a little bummed that you never texted me. Then I was kinda pissed when I first saw you again tonight. But after some major reflection and several drinks, I’ve decided to take your rejection as a challenge.”

“I lost it,” Keith blurted.

Lance paused, jaw hanging open slightly with its next half-formed word.

“I lost your number,” Keith emphasized. “Like, almost immediately, on the subway ride home that day.”

“O-oh.” Lance faltered, like his entire plan had hinged around Keith being resistant, and now he was lost for words. And Keith was just drunk enough to roll with that.”

I’m Burnin’ For You by: melancholymango

this fic is another one of my favorites! i also have read it numerous times

EXPLICIT

“Lance has been avoiding Keith like the plague for weeks now, even going so far as to fake sleep or duck around corners to avoid looking at him. He knows that Keith is getting concerned at this point, past the initial annoyance and headed straight into worry. He wants to tell Keith, really, but he loses his head the moment they're face-to-face every single time. Why did he have to develop feelings for his sorta-rival? How long could he avoid addressing it before it blew up in his face?

Until they were both confined to a hot, dark enclosed space for the unforeseeable future, apparently.”

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eldritch-araneae · 1 year

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Can you make a list of Bumblebee's best friend (bot) in all versions such as animated, Cyberserve or prime?🥺

Hi, I was a bit confused ( like you want me only list bots, not humans?), especially if you want only the continuities you listed or all of them? Anyway, I'll do all bc as I was thinking about the answer I got some interesting thoughts. So prepare your tea and sit comfortably ~

Generation 1

In G1 cartoon they made it seem like Bumblebee just gets along with everyone. But I can't remember if Bee had someone among bot who we could consider his best friend. This title really went to Spike exclusively and I know you said to list bots only, bear with me here.

This fits into Bumblebee's struggles, because he's weak, but humans weak too so he feel he belong with them more than his own people. And Bumblebee still friends with Spike even after the human grows up and has a family (and the fact its the only time they show passage of time like this with a human character?)! We don't see Bee a lot on later seasons so I like to assume he just hangs out with Spike's family most of the time.

It would be so dope if they actually explored the idea of human mortality and how cybertronians would handle the invertible. But it never happens in canon even in "serious" continuities. And same even in fandom spaces. I only once stumbled upon the fic where Bee gets super anxious because Spike is getting older, really long time ago. Of course I wrote a story about this, but still, I can't be the only one thinking about this. In G1 based comics it's kinda the same thing, except IDW where Bumblebee has NO FRIENDS ( nor bot or human). Like he had some pals in the past, but he lost them all. In IDW2 there is Windblade who was established as Bumblebee's bestie but they way it was written... it was very cold friendship judging by panels I saw. Not a fan. Ah yes, I didn't watched the Netflix version, so idk, but considering how writers decided to deconstruct the character for no reason I can assume he has no friends at all.

Bayverse

I can's really say anything, I watched only first and second movies and again, Bee was bonded with a human. Same with Bee-movie, I know it's not technically bayverse, but sadly, Bee has the same the design and I still can't watch the movie bc of it xD

Animated

This is very clear that Bumblebee bot bestie is Bulkhead. And if both Bumblebee and Bulkhead were written better we would have a really dope character dynamic. Tho their dynamic is fun even as it is ( Bee crawling all over Bulkhead like a spider is Halloween episode cracks me up), but sadly Bee just never develops as a character.

Prime

I can't say anything about because I didn't really watched the show. I started, didn't liked it and dropped it. The entire aligned continuity isnt really for me, so I skipped Rescue Bots and RiD15. Though, I did like "War for Cybertron" game a lot, and maybe I would watch Prime if character designs were from that game. In the game Bee didn't had any besties.

Cyberverse

Here Bumblebee has bonds with few bots. First one is Windblade and I absolutely loved it. Their relationship was amazing and warm and physically tactile, and that's how I started ship them. Then we see Hot Rod and, now deceased, Blurr and later Bumblebee bonds with Cheetor.

This show had so much potential, like the buildup in S1 was nice and well established dynamic between Bumblebee and Windblade, but then it was all thrown out the window. Windblade was sidelined entirely in S2 as Bee hands out with Hot Rod and Cheetor ( as it's the typical all boys gang no girls allowed) after all this demonstration how close those two are in S1?? Meh.

And when Cheetor sacrifices himself? Bee looks sad at this moment, and then moves on like thing happened and it didn't affect him? What is this?? Ugh.

Earthspark

Right it's too early to say, but we can already see that Bee has a very sibling-like bond with Arcee. And from the trailer it looks like Bee is good friends with Breakdown which is interesting. Maybe he was the reason why Bee picked the racer car after his VW Beetle mode? We will see~

I think it's all? There is Shattered Glass too, but I have no idea, cant say anything. I hope it was enough)

#ara talks #transformers #maccadam #bumblebee

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ghostlyhamburger · 10 months

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Husband Watches Miraculous: NY Special

[does this one have an actual name idk]

OK this is definitely after season 3 because of the box.

Why did they do a Marvel version of the theme? you can't tell me that's not inspired by Marvel.

Okay so they store the powerups inside the thing?

They really tried to go all out with the updated animations didn't they?

Her hair is actually black this time! it looks really good.

Okay that's the first thing that I saw that's super out of character.

Some of these things are textured really well but some are just not. Look you can see texture on her clothes, on the bricks, on the ground, and then BRIGHT GREEN TRASH CAN. It just makes no sense.

This is gonna be a long hour.

Why did they increase Marinette's bust size?

What the fuck was with the way that beard was moving? It's like they didn't want to move the anchor point on the bottom. They anchored it to his shirt is how they modeled it.

Why do they keep changing Marinette's hair color? Why is it darker in the school lighting?

I think I know why this seems so hard to place in the timeline. Its production seems to start at the beginning of season 3 but they definitely got the bible. So they just didn't see all the development Marinette had in getting over her obsession with Adrien over the season.

This whole little bit about Marinette's obsession doesn't need to be here if you've seen the series. Its purpose is only for those who haven't seen the series, which is unneeded because who's gonna watch just for this? It's not a movie. if I skipped the next fifteen seconds nothing would be missed.

When has New York ever been considered romantic? I guess if they watch a lot of American Hallmark movies? But New York is dirtier and dingier than Paris.

They actually made Gabriel look good in this. Like I get how he's supposed to be a silver fox type. He's got a bit too much Justin Bieber face for me, but the hair works for him. I can see how he'd become a celebrity in Paris.

"I'll be keeping an eye on him." If Adrien was a sentimonster under his control, he wouldn't need to keep an eye on him. He could just keep track of him with the miraculous. Like, Mayura was able to track Feast.

Also why is Nathalie in the bed? didn't they fix the peacock? Oh wait she was still super weak and life force isn't easy to regenerate once it's been drained like that.

Oh they've got best girl here.

I think I already see where the entire plot of this special is going. She's gonna be upset at Chat because he's not gonna be there when a sentimonster attacks and she's gonna be upset and debate giving up her miraculous because that's been the theme of the episodes lately and the American heroes are going to somehow be bitches.

[We're only 10 minutes in.]

Gorilla doesn't like planes.

All right so it's not going to work because it's not a sentimonster alert.

How is the eagle going to help you beat Ladybug and Chat?

Marinette, just know when to stop talking, please.

Again, a nice little moment that would be really good.

5 seconds on the plane and she's basically assaulted someone.

Nice use of symmetry and mirroring each other.

Marinette is not having a good day.

Why did they give her such an ass in that shot?

That's actually a pretty good moment.

No. Alya no.

I do like how they call out their weird animation quirks of like. Marinette arms. It's fun.

A convict with a jet engine?

So normal magical and villain type things exist already.

Okay that is just Superman. That's just Superman outfit and Superman theme.

Another thing I don't like is all the infodump. There's a better way they could've introduced Uncanny Valley than Alya's random exposition. She was answering the question of the audience without being prompted to. And it throws me off.

"It's time to show these American heroes how French heroes do it!" NO. NO.

He's not a superhero. That was his entire bit. Also what's he gonna do, endanger everyone by opening up the emergency hatch? You have no superpowers, you have no gadgets, what possibly are you going to do here?

As an introduction, I like this.

It's like they wanted three teachers, one to be nice, one to be crazy, one to be strict, and then they shoved two of them into one character. It doesn't work.

Hot Dog Dan? So he's ... a hot dog vendor?

All right, the dancing is a cute little callback.

Okay I like the new animation style, the very American comic book. but can no one just leave Marinette and Adrien alone? Let them just be awkward together!

Can we get to the catastrophic failure that will lead into the less lovey-dovey shit?

So they're trying to say Lafayette was a holder?

Is that one of the self driving Tsurugi cars?

Wait we've seen the akuma butterflies phase. Why is there no consistency in the rules?

"There's artifacts left by people who unveiled the statue" So there's a miracle box there, right?

Solitude is just Mr. Pigeon!

Doc Ock. Huh. With replication abilities.

Door powers are actually pretty cool.

Now it's finally getting good! Can always count on Hawkmoth to interfere in the right way.

So why is Hawkmoth going after the sabre when the claw thing is very clearly the Miraculous?

Ahh. That's why.

They're still being quite efficient even though they're pissed at each other.

[Aeon is cataclysmed] You have a miracle bomb! It can literally reset people!

That is the smart decision. They don't know each other's identities. Also the American heroes don't have the authority to do that!

I dunno I feel like the reset should have gone through to the other area. When villains have changed in the middle of the episode the reset still works. And when there was the copycat Ladybug she used that one's lucky charm to do a reset bomb. So I call bullshit on that. Also I don't think Paris is still destroyed when we come back to it. So...

"If Uncanny Valley hadn't been a robot I would've caused irreparable harm." Except people have literally died, disintegrated into nothing, converted into energy, and brought back with no issues. So no, it's not irreparable harm. And this is so heavy handed!

The emotional flip flopping here is not great.

[hearing Liiri's ability] That's an incredibly busted ability. Her power is literally limit break.

Why are they having this argument right next to the French students? That just seems stupid.

Let's just steal a bike! oh, safety first

"Adrien I love you" Okay that's just cruel to the people who were watching this.

Yep that's actually what I was expecting.

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY GUNS? Oh right America.

I really like Jess and Aeon's characterization.

Okay I like the skateboard.

This should've just been a movie. It would've been better with time to do all the stuff going on.

Okay that's a neat little trick.

Why does this one hour episode have more musical types than the entirety of the game that came out?

[Ladybug hugs Chat] Okay that was a really cute moment.

Oh is he just gonna launch nukes at everything?

Trading cards, really?

Yeah see Paris is repaired already

"At least let me see what's inside the safe!" It's a miracle box. it's gotta be, right?

I like [Eagle's] outfit.

Was she gonna toss a piano at a pigeon? [Haven't you wanted to do that?] Yeah...

To the sun? To the sun.

Throwing things to the sun is also a Superman reference.

Why do you need more Miraculous? You only need two, and they're not going to help you, you don't have anyone to give them to!

Paris was not like that when they were visiting.

Okay. This should've just been a three part special episode. It tried to shove so much in so little timeframe and over half the thing was just pointless grandstanding about the stupid will they won't they. And I bet that while people loved that Adrien I love you moment, he couldn't fucking hear it and that's the only thing we're gonna get 'cause fuck these producers.

If the pacing was the same throughout, it would've been really good, but it came out of nowhere to the point where they turned up the speed of people speaking to fit it in. A lot of things got super rushed through and I really wanted to see more of it but I know I'm never going to because the producer of Zag sucks!

#husband watches miraculous ladybug #ghostly's husband #ny special #miraculous ladybug

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xb-squaredx · 11 months

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Tears of the Kingdom Review: Building a Better Sequel

Breath of the Wild was a massively successful entry in Nintendo’s acclaimed Legend of Zelda series. It sailed past the best-selling installments, and served as both a swan song for the ill-fated Wii U console, and the first breath of life for the Switch, which has become a massive success in its own right. BOTW wasn’t just considered to be a great Zelda game, but it served to redefine how open world games could be made, and its effects on the industry are being felt to this day. A sequel seemed inevitable, but even so, many questioned if Nintendo could make lightning strike twice. After six long years of waiting, Tears of the Kingdom is here…and it makes BOTW look like a tech demo.

UPHEAVING THE FAMILIAR

One of the biggest obstacles Nintendo likely faced in development was finding a way to make the world of Hyrule fresh again, despite largely using the same map from BOTW. Their answer is The Upheaval. TOTK opens with Link and Zelda investigating the source of a strange, toxic substance seeping out from deep below Hyrule Castle. The Gloom sickens and weakens anyone that touches it, and eventually they see the source is a decayed, withered body held in place by a strange, glowing arm. Soon enough the body stirs and a torrent of Gloom is unleashed on Hyrule. The Master Sword (and most of Link’s right arm) is destroyed, Hyrule Castle is suspended high in the air and Zelda vanishes after being engulfed by a strange light. In the aftermath Link finds himself on a floating island, one of many now dotting Hyrule’s skies, with the mysterious arm having replaced his corrupted one, and with it he has two goals: stopping the strange figure and finding Zelda.

The structure of TOTK is largely the same as the predecessor, being almost completely open after players complete a lengthy tutorial. For what it’s worth, I find this game’s story a bit more interesting than BOTW, but TOTK still inherits some of that game’s issues when it comes to narrative. When you have a game where 90% of the plot is both optional and can be done in any order, it can be difficult to make things impactful and coherent. As a result, the Zelda team arrived at a solution that is understandable, but a bit grating after a point. Most main missions are largely written as if they could be the player’s FIRST main mission after the tutorial, and the end result is a lot of repetition as the same exposition dump is given to players multiple times over the entire playthrough.

Similar to BOTW, the juiciest bits of this game’s narrative are found in the past. Link can find memories hidden away all over Hyrule, which largely explains the bulk of the game’s backstory concerning the ancient Zonai, a race of beings that were there at Hyrule’s founding but are strangely absent in the present day. This is also how we primarily get the main villain, this game’s incarnation of Ganondorf, fleshed out. As a result of the game’s commitment to nonlinearity it’s possible to skip all of the set up and arrive at the conclusion without any of the build-up, which happened to me. Suddenly I know of the game’s biggest twist and the answer to the game’s main driving question, which made any subsequent plot moment lose a lot of impact. While the game is often very good at acknowledging sequence breaks with certain quests, it was a bit annoying that the game continued to play coy despite having laid out the main answer to me so early on. Admittedly, that won’t be everyone’s experience, but that was a big issue for me that held the narrative back a bit. Well that and some bad audio mixing. It would have been nice to actually hear the sparsely used voice acting over the often booming music!

I do appreciate that this game’s overall tone is a lot more optimistic and focused on unity compared to BOTW’s almost crushing loneliness, serving to give TOTK its own identity. Link has plenty of allies right from the get-go this time around, with a base of operations near Hyrule Castle that slowly expands as the game goes on. It’s pretty rewarding to see the races of Hyrule join together, at least after you help them with their own issues Ganondorf’s revival has caused. As with the previous game, the overall art direction is also fantastic, making for some breathtaking vistas at times. As much as the Switch is really showing its age, the technical aspects of this game are proof that specs aren’t everything. Being able to load up this massive world with almost seamless navigation and juggling of physics objects is nothing short of astounding considering the Switch is little more than an outdated tablet at this point, and it manages to be at a mostly stable 30 FPS, making a marked improvement from BOTW. While I have my misgivings with some of the narrative structure, I was immediately pulled in and think the game has a great start, but there’s plenty to sink your teeth into, as I’ll demonstrate.

TIERS OF THE KINGDOM

BOTW was already a gigantic game, but TOTK pushes to somehow stuff in even more. Broadly speaking, we can look at three different tiers of the kingdom (heh), each with their own distinct feel and gameplay loop. Starting with the sky, there’s this calm, almost ethereal feeling to most of the sky islands found in this game. The Great Sky Island that players start out on definitely paints a good picture of what to expect as they continue exploring…however I found that the sky was far and away the most lacking part of the game’s world.

The Sky Islands are both lacking in size and frequency, a criticism that also plagued Skyward Sword from back in the Wii era. The Great Sky Island really set me up for disappointment, when most other sky structures are barely a fraction of its size and start to feel same-y after a point. You pop up into the sky, find a shrine, maybe a treasure chest…and then you’re done. Only rarely can you find somewhat larger, more interesting structures, but they’re surrounded by a TON of empty space. To a degree this is probably intentional. If the entire skyline was filled with floating islands it wouldn’t look very good from the surface, so having some room to breathe makes sense aesthetically. There’s also the fact that making sure the islands are more spaced out naturally makes it harder to get to them. You end the tutorial without your paraglider, and early in the game your stamina won’t hold out long enough to sail through the massive gaps in the sky to reach another island. That way, there’s this sense of mystery and anticipation when finding the next destination in the sky. I would look up at massive sky labyrinths or floating spheres and wonder both what was in there…but also how I’d even get up there. Even so, the fact that some sky islands are so small you can’t even really spot them on a zoomed-out map is a step too far. I’m shocked at how much they were played up in marketing when they barely factored into my total playtime.

Thankfully, there’s a lot more to this game. The surface is where the bulk of the game’s focus on community really comes into play. You have all the different villages and regions to explore, and it’s where the bulk of vendors and quests will be. Without Guardians roaming around, you notice a LOT more NPCs just out and about in Hyrule, and it was a welcome contrast to the other tiers and their relative isolation. Be it checking in on the latest gossip at stables, or getting my fashion on at Hateno Village, there was always something to do. The bulk of the game’s Shrines of Light are also found here, giving players quick, isolated puzzles that slowly drip feed health and stamina upgrades. Even if you want to go visit the sky, you’re basically required to return to the surface in search of new ways to get up high, such as the Skyview Towers invented by Purah and Robbie. These not only fill in your Purah Pad’s map, but also catapult you high into the air, giving you the chance to reach certain sky islands, or get a different perspective as you plot where to go next. But sometimes you might notice some strange areas on the surface that require…deeper examination.

All over Hyrule players can find massive chasms that are surrounded by Gloom, but if you’re brave enough to head down one you’ll find one of the game’s biggest secrets…the Depths. A gargantuan subterranean region, I found the Depths to be a very interesting inversion of the game’s normal environments in more ways than one. For starters, compared to the boundless freedom found in the surface and the sky, you have to take it slow and steady underground. Most of the Depths are pitch black, and you never know what is lurking just beyond the shadows. Link will either have to use special seeds to create temporary light, or seek out Lightroots that can illuminate larger chunks of the map permanently. Unlike when you use the Skyview Towers to map out the sky and surface, Lightroots only illuminate a small radius around them, causing me to slowly work from root to root, occasionally being sidetracked by various treasures and structures to explore. Eventually, I noticed that Lightroots connect to the Shrines of Light found on the surface and suddenly it all came together: the Depths are just an inverted surface. Every mountain becomes a massive, deep valley. Every body of water turns into an impenetrable wall. Similar to the sky, players will have to leave the depths and find another way back down in order to get to certain areas, but even more than that…being in the Depths for so long can be fatal. Gloom is much more concentrated down in the Depths, and enemies are also infected with it. Taking damage from Gloom goes a step further and effectively “breaks” your heart gauge, requiring special meals made from Sundelion flowers found mostly on the sky in order to heal, that or natural light from the surface or Lightroots. As dangerous as the depths are though, they’re the main source of Zonaite, a special ore that will be incredibly handy when using the wide range of Zonai technology found throughout the game.

THE FUN OF CHEATING

The Skeikiah Slate from BOTW is no more, but Link has arguably better powers to work with this time around with the help of his nifty new arm. During the tutorial, players gain four main powers from the Zonai to help on his adventure and it doesn’t take long to realize that Link is so powerful now that you’re basically playing with cheat codes.

The first and likely most important power is Ultrahand. At first glance it seems like a reskin of Magnesis, letting you pick up and move objects, though this time you aren’t limited to metal. But the real kicker here is the ability to combine objects together with…basically magical glue. Take some wooden boards and glue them together, attach some wheels and BAM…you have a makeshift cart. Or you can use one of the many different ancient Zonai devices by attaching them to a wide variety of things for almost limitless possibilities. Zonai devices often look like modern-day technology, even running off of a battery of sorts that Link can upgrade as he goes through the game. Fans, flamethrowers, steering wheels…the list goes on. Some devices are just strewn about all over the game, but in the sky specifically you can find…basically gatcha machines that dispense TONS of devices in capsule form that you can store and use later on when you need them. What’s more, later in the game you can find the Autobuild power that allows you to save “recipes” of various constructions, and then assemble them quickly, being able to use zonaite if you’re short some parts. What I like about this power is that you can be as simple or as complicated as you want. You COULD just glue some logs together as a makeshift raft…or you could go out of your way to make something far more intricate. For players that’d rather not mess with the ability entirely…while the game is built with it in mind, you can still get by for most of the game without worrying about it as much. Autobuild especially helps cut down on the time spent building things as a really great upgrade too. The entire game could have easily been built around this concept alone, but we still have other powers to cover.

Fuse is effectively a combat-centric take on Ultrahand. Using Fuse, Link can take almost any object and glue it to his weapons. I can put a Zonai spring on a shield, or glue a sword to my sword. I can even put a chunk of meat on my arrowhead if I’m so inclined. Nearly every object or material in the game can be fused to your arsenal, with a variety of great effects that can make weapons stronger, more durable, or given extra attributes. As an early example, I fused a mine cart to my shield, turning my shield into a skateboard that let me grind on rails like I’m in some Sonic game. Getting elemental weapons is as easy as attaching a special fruit or ore to my weapon, and those are way easier to find than elemental weapons ever were in BOTW. Your arrows are also much more versatile now; attach an enemy’s eyeball to an arrow to make it home in on targets, or a bright bloom seed to light up the Depths from afar. Fuse allows even the weakest of weapons to be useful, which is something that just wasn’t possible in BOTW. I can take a stick and fuse a rock to it to make a makeshift hammer that’s great for breaking open ore deposits or brittle walls, so no more stockpiling rare hammer weapons or waiting on my bomb runes to recharge. It also goes a long way towards making battles more worthwhile to even do, as enemies drop horns and claws that can grant HUGE strength increases to weapons. Before, in BOTW I would eventually avoid fighting late-game enemies because they were too beefy to deal with, as you’d lose multiple weapons in the process and any weapons they dropped weren’t as good. It was a net loss. But now even fighting silver enemies isn’t that bad, since that means I can put that silver moblin horn on some middling spear I found and suddenly that is among my strongest weapons. I have my own qualms about combat in general in this game, but Fuse goes a long way towards making it more fun to experiment and stick with than ever before.

Ascend admittedly is a step down in application, but is still quite good. The fact that it was initially a dev tool should be telling enough. With Ascend, Link can jump up through any ceiling and pop out on top of the structure. Sometimes this is just as simple as going up a floor in a house, or being able to explore a deep, expansive cave and then use Ascend to leave, popping out at the very top of the mountain you found the cave in. In the depths there are even some rare structures that lead all the way back up to the surface that Link can use Ascend on. It honestly breaks traditional level design and so the game had to do a lot of careful restructuring to manage but even then with some application of your other powers, it can be pretty easy to Ascend past areas you’re meant to go through normally. But nothing compares to the power of Recall.

Initially, I thought Recall was a very situational puzzle solver. You aim at an object and can rewind it back roughly 30 seconds or so, but further applications showed that it might be the most broken of the lot. Recall has much more range than any other power, and can affect virtually anything you could also use Ultrahand or Fuse on. I’ve had instances where I’ve built a glider, only to go off course or miss my mark, and I would use Recall as basically a reset button to bring it back to a better position. Enemies dying and leaving their valuable collectibles falling off a cliff can be saved with a button press. What’s more, any movement you did with Ultrahand will be replicated with Recall, so I’ve done that to get vehicles aligned or to rise up platforms I would then Ascend onto to get up high. I’ve even completely broken shrine puzzles with Recall, nullifying any challenge they might have otherwise posed. Some might get a kick out of it, but I felt I kind of optimized the fun out of puzzles to a degree. Regardless, these powers are a lot of fun to mess with and even more versatile than BOTW’s power set was. But while we’re kind of bringing up a negative…I may as well get a bit more critical.

TEARS OF THE FANBOY

I want to stress that, despite my complaints here or there, I adored this game and just DEVOURED it over the last month or so. I put over 245 hours into it, doing almost everything of value. Playing the game for long stretches and having it basically absorb an entire month of my life…I’ll be the first to admit my own experiences and annoyances won’t be shared by many, and for normal people that just play in smaller bursts and don’t care about full completion, they likely won’t have nearly as many issues as I did. But…spending that much time with any one game is going to reveal some of the cracks in it, and those did chip away at my enjoyment a bit.

TOTK is a complex game, with a ton of things the player can do at any given moment, but I do think that Nintendo went a bit too hard on filling this game up with actions you can perform, and then realized they ran out of buttons on the controller along the way. Simply put, some actions are far more cumbersome than they should be. Selecting materials to use, either to throw or attach to arrows is tedious. You hold Up on the D-Pad, then use the right stick to find the item you want, but seeing as there are dozens upon dozens of materials you can use throughout the game, eventually that list becomes harder and harder to parse, leading to a lot of wasted time scrolling to find the exact item you need. You can hit Y to sort by different parameters, but if want you want isn’t near the front, then prepare to spend several seconds scrolling down to find it. A “favorites” option would have been a godsend here; just let me label a handful of items for quick reference. Throwing materials is also awkward, having to first throw your weapon, but then selecting an item with Up on the D-Pad as well. While I appreciate having more options for arrows and the like, the elegance of quickly swapping between arrow types in BOTW is missed here.

Speaking of direct comparisons between these two games…let’s talk Sage Powers. Compared to the Champion Powers from BOTW, these are a massive downgrade in both strength and usability. In TOTK if I want to use a Sage’s ability I have to manually walk over to them and ready them with the A button, then usually hit A again to actually use it. In the heat of the moment having to chase down my AI companions gets old fast, and then aside from that there’s the fact that the A button is already pretty multi-contextual as it is. I’ve had tons of experiences mashing A to grab items on the ground, only for Tulin or Yunobo to walk in front of me and have me accidentally activate their power and blow items away. Looking at the four powers in depth, while they have their uses they’re rarely worth the hassle of using them. Sidon’s water shield and attack is very niche, as ice attacks can do the same things as water, with the added benefit of freezing targets. Riju’s lightning arrows take forever to set up, and aiming Yunobo’s fire spin can be tedious. Tulin is about the only Sage that feels well designed, as more often than not I will always have him around to give me a boost of horizontal movement while gliding. I don’t have to worry about tracking him down, or the A button doing something else most of the time. On the ground though, he has the same issues. I enjoy having the Sages around as AI partners to take some of the heat off of fights, but compared to how simple and effective the Champion Powers were in BOTW, all mapped to different buttons and being next to impossible to accidentally do…it’s pretty disappointing.

There are other things to go over too, some of which already existed as problems in BOTW. Just as in the previous game, climbing wet surfaces is torture. TOTK introduces some solutions but they feel poorly implemented. Players can now make tonics that grant “slip resistance” to climb up wet surfaces more easily…but in practice you’ll barely notice the effects. There’s also an armor set that is said to make you immune to slipping entirely, but that is locked behind a quest chain that can take a while to complete…and then once you get the full set you realize that you need to upgrade all three pieces two times to actually unlock the hidden set bonus to make you completely slip immune. On that same note…upgrading armor is still incredibly tedious, especially when it comes to dealing with any pieces you need from dragons. Horses are also still pretty pointless to use after a point. Without even getting into the fact that they can’t be used in huge chunks of the map, like sandy deserts or rocky mountains, not to mention the sky islands or Depths…being able to build vehicles with Ultrahand basically replaces their only real function as transportation. And yet for whatever reason, whistling for your horse is still mapped onto the D-pad. In a game where they’re clearly hurting for more buttons having one relegated to something I barely even considered using is pretty bad.

I have plenty of issues with combat in the game as well. I know Zelda isn’t a series where action is the main event, but even so the action is typically satisfying in its own way. I’d best describe it as tedious here; enemies are damage sponges, your own attacks send them far away and force you to track them down, and after a certain point the difficulty curve falls apart. I know difficulty is subjective, but both BOTW and TOTK are very strange about balance. The beginning of the game is the hardest, as you have almost nothing. But once you stockpile some meals to heal, armor to up your defense, and materials for fusion the game can’t really do anything to you. I once thought Gleeoks or Lynels were to be avoided, but getting my hands on enough Keese eyeballs to make homing arrows means I can stun them easily and melt through their health as they lay down defenseless. Mastering the parry and perfect dodge also eliminates most options enemies can even do to you. But admittedly, not everyone IS always going to be perfectly prepared for any given fight, or know that certain abilities can just render some enemies a joke. I can tell that balancing a game that is so nonlinear and open-ended is no easy task, but I do think they made players a BIT too strong at points and hope later games can find a better balance. But overall, that’ll mostly do it on the nitpicks.

CONCLUSION

When I beat BOTW, I had wished I could play it through again with my memories wiped, just so I could experience it all again for the first time. Tears of the Kingdom is arguably the next best thing. A twist on something familiar, with some curveballs thrown in for good measure. Link’s new abilities do a lot to spice up how you interact with the world, and there have been some noticeable improvements to the original’s issues, even if some still remain. With this likely being the future of the franchise, at least for now, I’m interested in seeing what lessons Nintendo can take from these two entries. For my money, Nintendo has managed to iterate on one of my favorite games out there and have made it hard to go back. I’m hard pressed to think of too many things BOTW did better, outside of the novelty of being the first game in this new style. I liken BOTW’s strength to being the joy of discovery, the appeal of exploring the unknown. While there are elements of that in TOTK, this time around the focus is on experimentation. Like the joys of playing with a tub of random Lego pieces, being able to adapt to any solution with whatever you have around, bending and breaking the rules of the game world, the end result is unrivaled freedom and depth that will keep people busy well until the next main Zelda.

Until next time,

-B

#tears of the kingdom #totk #breath of the wild #botw #nintendo swich #zleda #link #legend of zelda #video game #review #blog #xbsquaredx

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tetsunabouquet · 6 months

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Heir To The Lands Chapter 13

Fading Away Masterpost

Jaime Rosales sighed as he waited for the pink goblin to show up. She usually did about this hour, and as delusional as she was, Jaime found her harmless and kind. Besides, it was the best thing around here in his cell, as neither the silence or the Queen were things he enjoyed. She often snuck in some extra food for him too, which was appreciated. He didn't even needed to look into a mirror to know he lost some weight during his captivity. The first time when he was imprisoned, it had only been a month and didn't had as much time to turn him into a shell of what he was. But this time, he felt like he was sure on his way to becoming that exact thing. Looking down at his skin, it was growing paler, a sickly yellowish pale that was starved of the sun. He felt a small wave of relief as he heard the familiar sound of small feet. There, the pink goblin snuck through his bars, bearing a big basket, well, big for her small size, that could barely fit through the bars. "I collected as many as Yaya apples as I could find." She chirped, and Jaime's stomach growled at the mention. He was developping quite a liking to the fey apples. She took an apple out of the basket, the fruit being almost the size of her head, and she handed the mint green fruit to Jaime, who took a bite eagerly. It was juicy, and Jaime tried to spill as little as possible. The queen made sure to give him as little water as she gave him food, and he was fairly certain he would have died from hydration had it not been for the juices of the fruit he was so frequently fed behind her back. "You truly are a lifesaver Gwenneth." He told her, and she smiled at the compliment. "Truly, I am! If I were too unkind of a being, mundanes would never come to worship me!" She declared and Jaime bit back every comment that came to his mind. He did not know, how Gwenneth came to be as fame hungry or how she knew so much about mundane media in the first place. Those were the tiny little myserteries he occupied himself with, as he had nothing else to do. "Now that you mention it, what would you rather want? To break out on TV or hit the big screen?" Gwenneth was genuinely surprised with the question, and took a moment to think it over. "Both have their pros and cons, you know? Big screen obviously has a superior reach and salary, but small screen for one offers me the durability of promo, considering big roles are featured most of the season's episodes. With someone of my caliber, I can skip the extra stage and have a role. I'm above a poorly created CGI monstrosity." Jaime was impressed with the goblin, not knowing what the heck CGI even was himself. If she ever were to release an autobiography, Jaime for sure would pick it up just to find out where she got all her information about the mundane world from, because she seemed as well-versed about various mundane topics as an actual mundane. Sometimes, Jaime thought that once her impossible dreams leave her heartbroken, she should start teaching at the Shadowhunters Academy. Her knowledge and understanding of mundanes would certainly make her a good teacher for Nephilim kids to blend in with the regulars of the world. But he always refrained from saying it out loud, too nervous to offend the creature because there was one thing Jaime was also noticing about his deteroriating state. He was fairly certain he was growing mad in isolation.

Livvy, knowing the route, had found the castle and its prison within a jiffy this time. Which made her miserable first time drifting as a ghost in Faerie a whole lot better. This time, having to study Jaime, it hit her just how gaunt and pale he looked, as well as the poorly kept small beard he had developped. He hadn't aged too much since the age he had gone missing, but still, the poor look was aging him quite a bit, and she wondered if the queen even bothered to take enough care of him to keep him alive. But then again, that would be the smarter thing to do, right? Kill Jaime and get rid of his body and thus all the evidence that the queen was up to no good. Perhaps she had already gotten what she wanted from him, and was simply leaving him to rot in the dungeons. That thought was so cruel, it left an awful taste in Livvy's mouth. At least she knew what the goblin wanted. She had never been more grateful for being an L.A girl more in that very moment.

#twp #the wicked powers #tsc #the shadowhunter chronicles #shadowhunters #shadowhuner chronicles #jaime rosales #livvy blackthorn #gwenneth the pink goblin

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zmayadw · 1 year

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Hello to all! 😊

All right, as I'm sure that a lot of us have the question whether Jake will be a part of Everbyte's new game main story or not hanging above our heads, and as much as we all want and hope for that, I have to say that I believe in high possibility that it won't happen. And honestly, that's perfectly fine to me.

Now, before you all jump at my throat for saying such a blasphemy, just hear me out, ok? 😅

Ofc, what I'll say/write here is only my opinion/observation, you are all free to have your own, so do feel equally free to skip reading this if it is not something you are even willing to consider as possibility. And, also, to who ever might actually read this till the end, I apologise in advance for this is going to be a pretty long post! 😶

All right, here it goes...

So, Duskwood came to its end, and what a ride it has been!! It ended how it did, and as much as we loved it, there were still some loose ends there. So the moment that we got that first 'top secret' hint about a new game already being in development, I'm sure many of us, and I know I did, immediately thought It has to be a sequel, it just has to! You cannot leave it at this! And with the statements sucah as „already miss their friends from Duskwood...“, or „in the same universe...“, or „cross paths with one of your friends again...“ , we ignored everything else, overwhelmed with emotions that we all experienced in our own way in that moment.

Now, as more time passed, we got very anxious waiting for any news from Everbyte about the new game. Or dare I say we got impatient to finally get anything that might confirm our speculations and hopes about a sequel, and lets be honest here, Jake in particualr. And so, after agonizing months of silence, Everbyte drops a bomb with annoucement about a Sneak Peek Series. And this is actually the moment that my suspicions just got stronger. Yes, I am saying that my suspicions got stronger and not that they started then, because I already had them long before the sneak peeks even came, and here is why.

Ok, so when the first sneak peek dropped, I can't say I had much thoughts about it at that moment. Yes, it was exciting to finally find something out, but that was mostly it. But the moment sneak peek no. 2 was released, the one mentioning the side story, my little wheels of cognition came to life and started to spin like crazy, and adding to it sneak peek no. 4, it only made me more sure that it's leaning towards my believes.

Now, you could argue with me here that the mentioned sneak peeks don't confirm any of it, and that's a valid point. Or that Jake as a character was such a success that it would be a bad move from Everbyte not to implement him in the new game (and I mean here in the main story part), and to that I can only say then let's agree that we disagree.

I mentioned this before as a reply/reblog to a post, and I will say it again here: I really believe that the side story will probably be our only interaction/connection to Duskwood and any possible character from there. Why? Because, Everbyte themself said, long ago, right at the end of Duskwood, that the new game deserves a NEW case, a NEW surrounding, a NEW characters... see already where I'm going with this? Bingo! A NEW GAME!

And that is exactly what they are making here - a NEW game.

Now, imagine you start this new game as someone totally unaware of Duskwood, just to realize at some point of your playthrough that something is not quite right here. You search through the all mighty internet and find out about this previous game called Duskwood, and that for some reason because you haven't played it, you are missing or don't understand a big part of this new game. Not cool, right?

To actually be forced to stop playing this game you happen to think is very interesting, and to HAVE to go play this other game that maybe you won't quite enjoy (ok, don't laugh/roll your eyes/or curse me now here, it is a possibility!), just so you could have a full understanding and enjoyment of this new game...again, in my eyes, not cool.

So yeah, as I said, I really really believe the side story they mentioned will be mostly about/for us Duskwood players, and will not be connecetd or interfere with the new game's main story/case much, or at all.

And besides, even if the side story itself won't have much or at all Jake in it, I won't think of it in a bad way, because without getting some proper/definite ending with Jake, there is still a hope for an actual Duskwood sequel planned from amazing Everbyte team in the future! 😊

We all love Duskwood, there is no doubt about it, and we all miss and want our hot hacker back, but I have to speak honestly here, that if that won't actually happen, I am afraid that many people might be very dissapointed and not give this new game a proper chance, and that would be a shame.

We all saw how great Everbyte did with Duskwood, and me personaly, can't wait to see what new wonders and surprises they have up their sleeve for the new game. And believe me, I am still hoping along with many of you here, that we will have our hacker appear in the new game, but I just don't see it happening as a part of the main story. And for me, that won't have any affect, in any way, on the opinion of the new game.

I want to give this new game the same chance I gave Duskwood once, because I believe Everbyte has amazing potential to once again create something equally and even more amazing not based on the old Duskwood glory.

Don't forget, they were on the brink of shutting down Duskwood project, almost gave up on everything, and I cannot stress enough how extremely happy I am that they didn't, because now, once again, I have a chance to feel that same rush of excitement, that same amazing feeling of adrenalin with this new game comming as I am positive it will be awesome! And I honestly hope that any decisions they make concerning the new game, wheather you like it or not, won't be the cause of something like that to repeat.

Okie, I think I'm done here 😅 Again, if you managed to read this till the end, I thank you from the bottom of my heart! 💚 And again, this is only my opinion and you do not have to agree with anything I wrote here. I just kindly ask, that if you do not have anything civil, or to say in a polie way about any stuff mentioned here, to kindly buzz off and refrain yourself of poisonous comments! Nothing I wrote here was with the intention to offend anyone in any way, and if I somehowe did so, I can assure you it wasn't on purpose or meant to sound that way!

Now I will definitely stop, because this is already way too long! 😅 So I bid you all ferwell, take care, and I wish you all a wonderful weekend! 😊💚

#duskwood #duskwood everbyte #everbyte studio #everbyte new game #zmaya talk #my thoughts and opinions

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acourtofantumbra · 2 years

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Pulling at the Thread of the Day Court and the Dawn Court Pt. 2 - ACOSF Bonus Chapter + Witch Mirrors

☆ All SJM spoilers: ACOTAR, CC, and TOG ☆

This is a part two of what could be the longest, most unnecessary theory spiral that will cover the entirety of the SJM multiverse. If you haven't read that first, I'd recommend reading that before you begin. I laid out some beefy concepts and while not everything here directly relates to them... a good chunk of it does. However, it's your life and I support whatever choice you make. *smooch*

A warning… I will be quickly covering the cursed bonus chapter (which I enjoy and, in part, started me on this unhinged SJM theory path). That being said, it’s not where I spend the majority of my time. But if it upsets you, I completely understand, and encourage you to just skip this entirely *A word about my interest in ship sparring (read: none at all) and how I’m just having some fun while attempting to be patient for the next morsel of SJM content from the source herself.*

I always add books and page numbers (and try to add any other relevant citations) to the visuals/sources I use, so check those out if you need some extra info!

Color Key: spoilers, notes from me 2 u, important, important + links, mentioned later in the post, mentioned in another post of mine or in a future post

So in part one, I point out two moments that struck me and started this whole dang spiral... and part two is not the end... god I wish it was...

Quick recap: we covered Lucien and his friend Nuan at the Dawn Court who he says has some of the exact same powers Feyre has, which they both know to be Helion's Day Court magic. Which struck me as odd on many levels. Also, the connection to other faerie realms like Xian and the allusions to what seems like the Southern Continent from TOG.

Ok, but there were actually three things that led me to ramble on tumblr about book theories I have spent way too much time researching.

On my journey to figure out the Dawn Court's Master Tinkerer's —Nuan's — power, that Lucien discovers is the same as the Day Court power Feyre uses to break Hybern's wards, I drove straight into the rascal we've come to know as Helion. I <3 him.

Helion Parallel Scene & Plot King

We've spent time with a smattering of the High Lords, but we know some better than others. As of ACOWAR and ACOSF, Helion is starting to emerge as the third High Lord we "know" the best. In part because he's Rhys and the Night Court's strongest ally as a High Lord of one of the Solar Courts. But Helion also just keeps conveniently popping up in every developing plot line and many of the plot lines that were carefully set up and seemingly abandoned(?). Some examples...

He's incredibly powerful with curse breaking, ward breaking, [insert mysteriously powerful ability here that we don't know yet here], and, described as Rhys' opposite (but different than Tamlin), has a winged beast form that is sunlight embodied... and kind of seems like a griffin maybe? So add that to ever growing list of winged boys throughout the multiverse which is potentially a very important clue

He's Lucien's biological father

He had a long love affair with the Lady of Autumn and that history seems... incomplete and not fully out of the picture

He's got pegasi and no one else has pegasi, but they can't seem to breed anymore

He's got the most libraries (warning: a post on libraries is coming)

According to Rhys there's "trouble at home" for Helion in ACOSF

He's one of the brightest boys in all the land (though Thesan is the brightest) just when we're getting into multiverse Starborn lore

He has the strongest negative reaction to the Dread Trove and can barely stand to be in their presence

Incredibly curious about Nesta... always

I could keep going tbh... and frankly... I want to

I plan on doing a full Helion deep dive, but got distracted by something else first.

So once I started digging into our first full encounter with both Helion and Nuan, a quick thought from Feyre had me screeching to halt. Because... well... its similarities to a certain controversial bonus chapter was... striking to say the least.

So this is Feyre drinking in Helion as the High Lords meet at the Dawn Court to discuss the impending war with Hybern. She's seen him briefly before, but she was a little busy dying.

For some reason she can't stop thinking about her dad and a necklace he brought home from his travels as a merchant. As I've previously said, whenever Sarah includes "couldn't explain why" or "it sort of seemed like this was happening," etc... it's an important detail. Not the most subtle of tools, but hey it's what works for her. And obviously it works because we have all skimmed over moments like these and have been like, "oh my god there it was!"

So in addition to being kind of hungry(?), she "couldn't quite explain why, but" she's picturing "that ancient necklace," she's also associating Helion with a suspiciously familiar land... but one that's notably not one of the seven courts. To me it most resembles a place not located in the world of ACOTAR. It reminds me of the Southern Continent in TOG, which would explain a lot about the connections we have (in this one meeting alone) to alchemists, healing fae powers, magical objects, and more.

Hey Feyre, any clue if your nameless father was was traveling by boat or interdimensional portal?

Ok, now let's compare with Azriel's bonus chapter from ACOSF (yes, I'm bracing myself)... before we do I just want to note: I'm aware a lapis lazuli pendant vs a rose window style stained glass situation isn't the same thing... but... ok just look:

So we've got golden necklaces with a pendant that both Feyre and Azriel think are ooh so sparkly and colorful and secretly beautifully crafted when you look close.

They're also both flooded with pictures, Feyre sees the necklace memory when she's in Helion's presence and Azriel has a vision of Gwyn receiving the necklace when Clotho (oh, I'm gonna be dedicating some time to her one day) mentions it, and they both don't know why. In fact, they find it odd that these visuals came to them. But the memory vs vision distinction is worth noting.

Do I find it very interesting that Helion and Gwyn (tho one could argue Clotho and let's throw in Father Archeron too) inspire these visions of what I will soon explain are almost universal mystical objects? SURE DO.

I also CANNOT find the the interview, but Sarah was asking her friend/interviewer what she thought of the Azriel bonus chapter and alluded to some crucial easter eggs being sprinkled in there. So naturally, when these scenes reminded me of each other I took notice.

A Detour to Witch Mirrors

So let's talk about these pendants! We get a good amount of jewels and jewelry talk in ACOTAR (Amren loves 'em and Rhys has a room like a void full of 'em above the library), but these are fairly unique moments, which is why the comparison came to mind to begin with.

I will get into TOG necklaces and will just note that we obviously have a very important necklace in CC as well — Bryce's Archesian Amulet. I think her amulet is also part of this conversation, but I just wont get into it here.

Rose windows

Ok, so I have seen most folks are assuming that the "rose fashion of stained glass" has been interpreted by most folks as an actual rose, like the flower. A very Beauty and the Beast-like rendering. That's not how I interpreted the the pendant when I saw "rose" preceding "stained glass." Do I know for sure which interpretation is correct? Obviously, no. But when the word rose is applied to types of stained glass design, what is being described is not a traditional flower, but the mandala-style design more commonly associated with gothic cathedrals. Yes, there are pendants (and many other glass objects) that take on this design and it has a rich history, which connects to a lot of SJM set up throughout the multiverse... so I'm going to continue forward assuming my interpretation is correct. And I'll remain fully open to being 200% wrong in the future.

Ok, rose windows: often associated with gothic architecture and cathedrals, their design has spiritual, mystical, significance due to its sacred geometry. Rose windows "transformed the cathedral into an actual “living vessel of the soul”, an embodiment of the “temple within” in which the human and divine can could merge into one." Additionally, rose windows are mandalas (middle photo above): one of the most ancient and universal symbols known to man. They mean many things to many traditions, but often aid in meditation, spiritual journeys, trance states, and mystic arts (this is an incredibly condensed reading of a deeply complex and wide reaching symbol). "The mandala represents man’s relationship with the cosmos, often a symbol of balance between entities."

Back to rose windows, the mystery and mastery of how pure, saturated colors could be technically achieved, rendered in glass as sacred geometry, "led to speculation that alchemy and alchemists may have been involved in its creation." To alchemists, [the rose glass was] “the flower of those who have wisdom, of the perfected soul, and the soul striving toward perfection.” So not too far off from that magnum opus mission aka the philosopher's stone? -> remember how I said I did a whole post talking about alchemy and would probably keep talking about it? It's not too late to dive into the deep end with me and just accept that I'm dealt all the way in on alchemy here.

Lapis lazuli

A "symbol of royalty and honor, gods and power, spirit and vision. It is a universal symbol of wisdom and truth." Tbh this stone could have it's own post with the number of meanings it's been assigned... but it's "one of the oldest spiritual stones known to man; used by healers, priests, and royalty..." and is believed to be a "powerful stone for thinking and spirituality, and it has a very high vibration," allowing it to "increase self-knowledge and awareness of one’s own thoughts and can help you to trust your inner wisdom." It also enhances psychic and intuitive abilities, and connects the spiritual realm with the physical. Some traditions believed a god's spirit was contained within the stone. Lapis lazuli also has connections to alchemy's mythological magnum opus known as the philosopher's stone "lapis philosophorum." (one day i might be brave enough to dive into the philosopher's stone... we'll see)

So what does any of this mandala, rose window, lapis, and alchemy stuff have to do with a fun fantasy book series or really... anything? Well, know that I'm unhinged. But, ok, the two necklaces and their symbolisms aren't the same per se, but have more things in common than they do differences. And I find their differences interesting because we return to the connection between lapis lazuli and Feyre's memory; and rose glass and Azriel's vision. Lapis is related to self-knowledge and intuition, while rose glass has been connected to fate within the cosmos and transformation of the soul.

So maybe the necklace Feyre saw doesn't sound like a perfect visual match to the necklace Azriel buys... there was another very important necklace described as ancient, gold, and lapis colored. The Eye of Elena from Throne of Glass (the third picture in the trio above). Looks pretty mandala-like doesn't it?

In the beginning of TOG, Queen Elena gives Aelin an amulet of great power — that she and others wear consistently throughout the series — from whatever world or realm she portaled in from. Dorian identifies it as the lost, legendary Eye of Elena. Eyes again relate back to my alchemy conversation and the Gate of Truth — interesting that they find a recreation of the Eye of Elena alter at the God of Truth's altar/temple. But Manon is the one to point out that this name for the pendant/amulet is incorrect... because the eye is actually a witch mirror.

Here are a collection of excerpts, which will be kind of confusing if you haven't read TOG, but I'll quickly break them down below and hopefully get to witch mirrors on their own one day.

In TOG we have encountered a bunch of witch mirrors, but their scope is still kind of mysterious. So Sarah we really need you to finally release The World of Throne of Glass, plz and ty.

We know from Maeve that there are "mirrors to spy, to travel, to kill." Below are essentially all of the known mirror powers thus far... and that's starting to all sound pretty familiar isn't it?

In TOG, we have power mirrors like Witch towers that amplify magic like the yielding ability (*sobs*) to cause incredible destruction. We also have more traditional mirror-looking witch mirrors. Like the traveling mirror Aelin and Manon enter to access Elena's memories of the Lock (and her failed attempt at containing Erawan/her series-long grift).

Most importantly, Manon corrects Aelin regarding the Eye of Elena and says it's a witch symbol called The Eye of the Goddess — and references the three-faced goddess we encounter in every world with the Mother, Maiden, and the Crone. We later discover the TOG Sun Goddess Mala had a Cochran witch help her put her "very essence" into a "small witch mirror disguised as a blue stone" meant to forge a Lock and contain a Valg King.

Also Manon alludes to there being... more than just the one Eye of the Goddess perhaps?

The Eye of the Goddess contains Mala's power just as Lapis Lazuli was believed to do. Plus, we enter the "rare silvers whose forging demands something vital from the maker" territory that... once again... screams alchemy. When Elena's wastes is one usage it doesn't just crap out like an old battery. Time and time again it protects Aelin & co. and provides a direct path to the TOG gods... like when Deanna possesses Aelin and is remarkably destructive... and one could argue a little unhelpful.

Witch Mirrors In Conclusion...

Am I confident I know exactly why the Feyre-Helion ACOMAF and Azriel-Clotho-Gwyn ACOSF scenes read the same? No. Do I think we have some witch mirrors in ACOTAR? I really do. And that's not even including the whole Bog of Oorid conversation...

We know when Bryce lands in Prythian we, now more than ever, need ways to communicate or travel to other worlds. In Throne of Glass it becomes clear that witch mirrors are at least one effective and proven way to do this. I think Sarah would have baked in some tools that have been sitting in plain sight to help us be able to do that.

Do I think we haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg re: witches in ACOTAR/all the worlds? For sure. (and it's a convo for another time because I need to fully read up on witch mirrors and witches y'all). But I think it's very possible a certain singing priestess now owns a potentially world speaking or walking necklace/witch mirror - the same objects Dorian asks Maeve about in KOA. The kind that might make themselves known as something different by projecting images, whether they're memories or visions.

I am really just scratching the surface here, but this is all the spiraling I had budgeted for today.

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trixree · 1 year

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so... this claim about XY sex chromosomes but phenotypically female development (you made it on a post) ....... I have 2 thoughts there. 1 is that this occurs because specific genes, like SRY, that are critical to male development in humans can be absent/nonfunctional on that tiny Y thus rendering the person actually X- (single X) in terms of gene expression, which leads to being female but often with health complications. That is an important distinction to me... just from a intersex/DSD health and research standpoint. Not only does it not produce hermaphrodism (there is no true hermaphrodism in humans) ... it isn't someone "magically" having XY and being female out of nowhere. The "being female" part happens for a reason, and that reason isn't gender/society-culture related. It's a unique genetic event with very specific causes. And it's reasonable that a lot of people don't know about it or skip over it in casual discussion, and it still means functionally, if you have a functional Y, you develop male. My 2nd thought is I just don't get what disorders of sex development have to do with gender to you. It's its own thing.

Hi! I don't know exactly what post you're referring to, so I can't make direct reference to it.

I'll answer your second question first, cause that speaks to my answer for the first question!

I bring up disorders of sex development often when discussing gender broadly because disorders of sex development help complicate the binary model most people are working off of. It's an important starting point when many folks are coming at issues of transition and gender from a foundational knowledge that says "there are two distinct ways of being, male (XY) and female (XX) and anything else is a rare aberration". Historically, it is actually intersex people who shaped our models of normative human sex/gender; and I take care to say "sex/gender" here because at the turn of the 20th century, it's important to note that these concepts were not distinct - "gender" as we think of it didn't really enter the scene scientifically until 1940 and was popularized in 1970). Challenging this fundamental misconception that this male-female sex binary is both natural and discrete - it was not natural nor discrete, but constructed out of experimentation on intersex bodies (usually of children) as a project of normalization - is important foundational work for understanding parts as seperate from people and identity.

Which leads me to this statement you made, that "there is no true hermaphrodism in humans" which is simply not correct in the way that hermaphroditism functions as a meaningful political and medical category. While "true" instances of hermaphroditism are rare (OVO-DSD or XX-intersex), hermaphroditism historically has meant broadly anyone with ambiguous sex organs, which today would cover all intersex conditions (of which OVO-DSD/XX-intersex is one) This broad category crucially helps us renders violence against ambigous bodies (often queer and trans bodies) more visible, both in our present moments and in our history.

In this book, I use the general term "hermaphrodite" for all so-identified subjects of anatomically double, doubtful, and/or mistaken sex (that is, supposedly mislabeled sex). But I do this not because I think the category 'hermaphrodite' is self-evident or because I think it forms a clearly bounded, ontological category that cannot be disputed [...] I use hermaphrodite to refer to my historical subjects first because it simplifies my narrative. A single so-called hermaphrodite could, in the scientific and medical literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, go from being officially labeled male, to female, to hermaphrodite, to a subject of mistaken sex, to a subject of doubtful sex [...] it is simplest to use the word hermaphrodite for anyone whose 'true' sex fell into question among medical and scientific men. Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex, Alice Domurat Dreger (1998) - From Chapter 1, Doubtful Sex

It's important to know that in many cases of intersex children, the cause of the intersex condition is never known, which begs the question is the particular diagnosis ("true hermaphoritism" vs other intersex conditions, which can be much more ambiguous) especially meaningful in terms of ones' daily life?

Your example regarding Sewyer syndrome (the non-functional SRY gene on the Y chromosome) is correct, but I'm not following your reasoning that this constitutes an "important distinction". Why is that an important distinction? You say, it's not "true hermaphroditism" and it isn't "magically having XY and being female", "being female happens for a reason, and that reason isn't gender/society-culture related." Again, I don't know the original post you're referencing, but I'd agree with you that this isn't "magically being female"! We do understand the mechanism of this genetic anomaly. However, the reason that a person who develops female secondary sex characteristics (i.e., looks female), regardless of their chromosomal sex or the presence of any sex anomalies, is most likely to be raised female. This is, quite literally, the way our gendered society is intended to work.

So, when we uphold the uncomplicated binary model of sex, when we don't talk about interesex people in conversations about gender identity and queer/transness, we obscure the complex nature of gender identity and ones' sex assigned at birth. (While simultaneously erasing a history of sex that was literally build on the bodies of intersex people as living laboratories.) This history is intentionally made obscure and the voices of those intersex people silenced in their own records and in our own queer history.

Now, anon, if you're still with me (and I hope you are!) I'd like to tell you one of these stories of a real intersex person - a child diagnosed as a hermaphrodite in 1915 who was treated by leading professionals in the field of sex development and endocrinology at the Harriet Lane Home at John Hopkins (emphasis added):

In his memoir, Young describes a 'case that did not end happily' to introduce [Robert] Stonestreet. As Young remembers it: 'A boy was brought to us years ago for operation on account of a genital defect. Dr William Quinby... discovered that the patient was a girl, and advised the father allow him to carry out operations to make his child normal." Like Young, Quinby was most interested in the possibility that overactivity of the adrenal glands from fetal life on had resulted in the masculinization of Stonestreet's body, leading to his assignment as male at birth despite his having "female" gonads. Stonestreet had been raised without question as a boy for ten years and unambiguously understood himself to be a boy. Indeed, when the Stonestreets brought their child to the Institute, the reason was "hypospadias and undescended testicles", not hesitation over his sex.

Young and Quinby undertook an external and internal physical exam, followed by radiographs, a urine test to establish kidney function, a syphilis test, a blood pressure check, and a blood count [...] Finding nothing out of the ordinary, aside from the appearance of the genitals, they moved on to an exploratory laparotomy. Finding 'an infantile uterus with tubes and ovaries of normal appearance,' Young and Quinby were faced with a contradiction. According to a gonadocentric paradigm, the presence of ovaries would trigger a diagnosis of 'female pseudohermaphorditism' and sex reassignment as a girl. 'The sex of an individual must always be determined by the nature of the gonads, regardless of the presence of other abnormalities either of other parts of the genital system or the secondary sexual manifestations of the body as a whole [...] Consequently, this patient is of the female sex; and this in spite of so many secondary sexual characteristics of the opposite, male sex.'

According to Young, when Quinby advised Stonestreet's father 'that the patient was a girl', the response was 'that he had six girls and that this boy, although only ten, was a valuable worker on the farm. He refused to have another girl added to the family and departed.' The Stonestreets might have also recognized their child's self identity as a boy as real, choosing to reject the medical model.

Twenty one years later, Stonestreet returned to the Brady Institute. Now in his thirties, he had lived his whole life as a man and was engaged to marry a woman. Their priest, however, had refused to perform the ceremony because Stonestreet's father had told him about the childhood hermaphroditism diagnosis. Stonestreet now demanded that Young provide medical proof that he was a man, not a woman. 'After a careful study I had to tell him,' Young claims, 'that no mistake had been made. The two left in tears.' Three days later, Young was summoned to the Institute. He found Robert Stonestreet there, on his deathbed. An autopsy found that he had committed suicide by taking a lethal dose of mercury. Young took advantage of Stonestreet's death to verify his theory of adrenal hyperplasia during the autopsy. A few years later he published photographs of Stonestreet's autopsied adrenal glands in his memoir.

Histories of the Transgender Child, Julian Gill-Peterson (2018) - From Chapter 2 - Before Transsexuality

Let me ask you this: what matters more, the way that Robert understood himself to be (unquestionably male) and the way that he lived his life (as a man) or the diagnosis of hermaphroditism that rendered him "female"? That rendered instutitions, like medical and marital ones, incapable of seeing him as he actually was? I'll ask you directly: do you know your chromosomal configuration? Do you know your full genome, every condition or aberation in your body? No! Even the most highly medicalized among us (those living with multiple diagnoses, chronic illnesses, disabilities, or otherwise in close proximity to medicine and medicalized life) would contest the idea that our most fundamental biology matters most, that we can (or even should) know everything about our genes, or even that this information has great bearing on who we become. But I'm certain still, without having the full sequence of your sex chromosomes in front of you or without submitting to a medical examination of your genitalia, you already have some understanding of who you are. Our genetics are not reflective of who we are and who we understand ourselves to be; they never have been a reliable picture of who we will become.

#tw: eugenics #tw: suicide #trans tag #intersex #queer history #trans history #sex and gender #asked and answered #trixree speaks

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