It's 2023 and I'm still hoping my favorite Beatles fan fics get surprise updates this year 😭

Finished.

God, what a glorious, glorious, glorious ride, a truly solid epic drama in a way I haven't seen in a very long time - there were two other flawless cdramas for me this year - Lost You Forever 1 and The Ingenuous One - but TIO was a smaller scale story and LYF ended in medias res. AJTL was the only complete, epic cdrama this year for me, but oh boy, was it beyond.

First, my two tiny niggles - this is a drama where the 40 episode limit fit badly, like tightly pinching shoes. You can tell how they had to speed and cram to get in the resolutions of dynastic struggles in An and Wu and the war with Beipan. This drama really needed to have been 50 eps. (The cramming also resulted in the sole plot arc that made me go huh - LTG random decision to try to marry Ruyi before he rides off to what he thinks is his last battle and his just as random decision to go "oh well" and agree to release NYZ and then when NYZ shows up before he can be released because he broke out and wreaks havoc, let them walk out. Maybe if they had more time, it would have made more sense, otherwise it felt like an aberration in a character arc that before and after was consistent and made sense.) Second niggle is not really one because it's clearly due to censorship - the last minute redemption of the Wu emperor etc - the writer made is as believable as she could but you could feel the censorship sticky hands all over it.

But those are minor complaints. Overall this was solid from beginning to end, very adult and with secondary characters who all felt real and complex and interesting. A few thoughts:

Our main OTP was incredible. So adult, so competent, so badass but still feeling human. I bought that those two were larger than life legends AND flesh and blood people. And that chemistry!

I loved that this drama allowed relationships to be messy. Yes, we have our epic main couple but I especially loved what happened with Chu Yue and Shisan and LTG and Ying. I loved that neither was an epic romance. With CY and Shisan, I loved that they didn't make him realize he loves her forever blah blah - he was an incredibly consistent character - charming, loyal and utterly clear he's incapable of permanent commitment to a single woman and she never could change that. And yet he died in large part to protect her, and it's in keeping with his character and it makes sense that this solidified her remembering him forever - he's not just the one who got away, but he DIED for her. It's very clear if they both lived, this would have gone nowhere and ended with him wandering off or her moving on wanting commitment from someone who is capable of it, but as it is, it froze the possibility of love in ember.

And I loved the narrative of LTG and Ying. They both come into marriage in love with someone they can never have (Ruyi and YL), they both have similar backgrounds (royals but neglected and looked down upon), they both share the same goals (power but to take care of people) and they really are friends. I love that when we last see them, they have what is a great period marriage - no love but respect and common goals. And she still mourns YL and he probably still thinks of Ruyi but the thing is, I love that the narrative leaves the possibility of them eventually falling in love with each other (or other people) because as she tells him - you think you will always love a particular person but life is long. (And it's so true - she will remember YL until she's old, once again in part because of the unfulfilled possibility of it - but it doesn't mean she won't be able to open her heart to someone again.) It's a surprisingly hopeful ending for them and I love it. I'd totally watch a show where they discover love with each other tbh.

I did love that no character (except possibly Prince Danyang) got everything they wanted even if they emerged alive. They got some and had to give up some.

I loved what it had to say about having to be worthy of your power and position - you are not owed fealty by birth but you have to earn it. It was a surprisingly anti-imperial show for a recent cdrama.

All the deaths of our faves gutted me, none as much as Yuan Lu's. Oooof.

As to the ending, I can tell people are gonna have fits but I like it. I love many an ending legendarily reviled in cdrama fandom (Princess Agents and Novoland Eagle Flag have perfect endings in my opinion; I realize that opinion, especially about PA is enough to get me throttled in certain quarters but it is what it is) and I came to cdramas back when pretty much every costume cdrama ended horrifically tragically - think of the endings of the Chinese Paladins, The Myth (for a long time my n1 drama even though it made me cry so hard I threw up, ending-wise), The Young Warriors, Little Fairy, even Lan Ling Wang, Glory of the Tang Dynasty and Bu Bu Jing Xin if we are going somewhat later. I mean, one of my favorite dramas ever is Royal Nirvana and that ending is like drinking a thermos full of depression. This is nothing.

Honestly, I would have been fine if the ending for our OTP really was them dying pretty much together, in their different battles. That hint that they are alive and living with their kids is lovely and welcome, but I'd have been fine without it and it raises a lot of questions (though if anyone could fake their deaths and survive that sort of thing, it would have been them so fair enough.)

Anyway, this is basically my love letter to this drama. It was amazing and I am so glad I watched it.

Futurama's politics have issues at times, but man--watching it as a kid, I did NOT appreciate how progressive Fry and Bender's friendship is. Even now, you don't see a lot of close male friendships like that. Fry and Bender live together, work together, show each other affection (even saying "I love you"), hate being separated and never treat love interests as a replacement. That's especially insane for a character like Bender who people (wrongfully) see as a toxic masculinity poster boy.

The wild thing about their relationship was that I not only thought it was very wholesome for an adult cartoon, but it's also very unique on its own. Male friendship is very prevalent in American media, but the relationship between these two is surprisingly complex. I think part of that is because it's far from perfect, or even "healthy," but the neat thing about Futurama is that its interpersonal relationships are like that. They feel like real relationships to me, and it's rewarding to see them grow as the series progresses. The characters are great on their own, but the way they play off each other really allows them to reach their full potential.

And about the part about love interests--I love how they don't let love interests get in the way of their friendship. Well, at least Fry doesn't; Bender can be very jealous about that, especially in Beast With a Billion Backs. However, I think that Bender has a hidden respect for Leela, and they both care about Fry a lot. He's their boy. On the shippy side of things, I would love it if Frender became canon, but that doesn't mean I want Freela to break up. I want to see all three of them can make it work as a poly couple in the 31st century (and from the few Freeler fics I've found, domestic Freeler is so adorable and underrated). I know it's not going to happen, but one can dream!

I think that if I watched Futurama as a kid, I would probably feel differently about Fry and Bender's relationship. I watched it as a queer adult and I feel way more comfortable about my own sexuality now than I did as a teen. I know that most pieces of media that I enjoy aren't made for people like me, and sometimes that can be a depressing reality. However, getting to see myself in the things I love regardless can be very empowering, even if it is all in my head. I definitely see myself in Fry and Bender as a queer person and a (probably) neurodivergent person, even if that's not how they're meant to be read.

And as a bonus: I also really connected with Leela's struggles to be taken seriously as a woman!!! She's a mutant (so not "conventionally attractive"), she's physically stronger than men, and she works as a pilot! And she learns how to find herself, and that she doesn't need to change herself to fit a traditional mold. I don't know about you guys, but Leela's character arc screams queer to me. I've even seen trans women say that they really connect with Leela, and I can see why. I love this aspect of her character and I hope we get to see it celebrated in the revival.

08.04

It’s The Kingston Legacy’s sixth anniversary, so here’s a throwback post to celebrate! Last month I forced myself to reread the entire legacy, and while I stopped, clicked off the tab, and emitted a soundless scream of pure cringe numerous times (I wish I was kidding)—the past generations are actually not as terrible as I remember. I think enough time has passed for me to detach myself from the childish storytelling and look back in nostalgia. 

Thank you to my fellow Wordpress writers who have come along the journey, some for many years now, through every high and low. It’s astounding how much has changed in the legacy from when I was 15, and 21. Follow me down the (very) long memory lane, as I reminiscence about each story and my perspective on them now ❤

Generation 1 — Fern (2015)

To my shock, I found myself genuinely enjoying Fern’s story. I think this was because the first generation was purely me commentating on gameplay, and not trying to write a story (that’s when the cringe began). I was inspired by one of the original stories, Alice and Kev, to make a homeless sim and document her struggle for a better life: Fern, a snobby aspiring writer. Reading this, a huge wave of nostalgia hit me, and it reminded me of how wonderful Sims 3 gameplay is. Although I’m long past it now, there’s real heart and life in the design. I think it speaks about the rich personalities and quirks that I could write a whole life story off it. It was super fun making Fern camp out at Old Pier Beach, stealing from townie picnics and roasting apples on the fire, finding little ways to scrounge money, giving her a makeover in the salon, watching the townie dramas unfold around her. Although she faced homelessness two times and a shitty first husband (yeah, fuck off, Xander), Fern grew into a strong and independent yet sweet and gentle character, in love with the ocean like her great-granddaughter comes to be.  

I never actually addressed this, but she (and her love Christopher) passed away in the story between the end of Gen 3 and start of Gen 4. It just felt weird to make it a big deal because they never died in game—still ‘alive’ and well, scattered across different backup saves and the bin.  

Generation 2 — Briar (2015)

Briar’s story was strange, because it was half gameplay and half story, which meant that there were things that just did not... make... sense. She was quite an ‘unreliable’ character to follow because of her Insane trait. The plot revolved around her as a fresh detective, investigating supernatural phenomena in Sunset Valley. Her character arc was almost the opposite to her mother’s: a naive, optimistic, silly girl hardening through trauma into a cold and ruthless police chief. Ash’s death was the one moment I felt true sadness in this legacy, because he did really die. Imagine me actually getting emotional over my characters, lmao. Wild. 

Also, Max is OP. To this day he is one of the best male characters in my legacy, a healthy and supportive best friend (to husband) in stark contrast to the following generation. 

Fallen Angels — Cherry (2016-2019)

Yes. It’s this generation. Square the fuck up, Cherry. I will fight her any day. Old readers will know of my pure hatred for this story. It’s been about two years since it thankfully ended. My verdict now?

It’s not quite as horrifically shitty, Gabriel and Lilith being a lot nicer than I remembered (Gabriel’s only a bit of a dick at the start), but it still has glaring problems, such as the pacing and clumsy handling of sensitive topics. The story would have been far nicer if it focused less on Cherry and Luc’s relationship and their respective issues, more on the found family and her relationship with Gabriel (which was rushed due to me despising the story by that point). During the first chapters, I was cringing spectacularly at the combination of Luc’s initial jackass behaviour and Cherry’s whining. Toxic as FUCK. I had to skip 3.8 and 3.9 entirely. These two (because of my own shameful mistake) tainted the generation in my eyes, and even though all of the characters grew from their toxicity, I can’t really see past that guilt to the better parts of the story. 

Jade has been telling me for years that this story isn’t all bad, and upon forcing myself to reread, I can see what you mean. I’m sorry LOL. Something that pleasantly surprised me was the writing quality (just the prose, not the actual story mechanics... lmfao), and Raphael, who made me smile every time he appeared. Every single careless, sarcastic line of his was a banger. The pictures are something else I like, too. Many of them stand up to the best ones in En Pointe—the fiery, gritty, industrial tones of Bridgeport just hits different. The world was rich and immersive, which is missing at the moment in En Pointe because of me being too lazy to build a proper Los Angeles world, but Act III is set in Boroughsburg so I’m excited to get back into the city scenes. 17 year old me wasn’t mature enough to tackle dark themes, but at least the visuals for them were nice, I guess. The atmosphere of the story I really enjoy. It’s just the toxic characters and way-too-angsty moments that ruin the whole thing for me. 

En Pointe — Evangeline (2019-)

And here we are now! The early chapters are kinda painful to read because 1) Mako looked so ugly and 2) the dialogue was so clumsy and generic. I sighed in relief when Chapter 5 came around, because it was then both of those aspects really began to improve. Eva’s voice was simple, with her punchy remarks, much less romantic and descriptive than Cherry, so it was interesting to see her voice becoming more complex and layered as I more understood her character. Also, me visibly struggling with the natural lighting and only getting a handle on it 7 chapters later has me shaking my head. 

I’m already beginning to identify issues with the story, mostly with character arcs and pacing. It’s a strange combination of fast pacing (spanning half a year in 8 chapters) and Eva becoming surprisingly comfortable with Mako’s touch due to their unusual pas de deux circumstances. It’s curious how real life time actually played into the pacing of the story—because of the slow publishing schedule, less time has passed in the story as real life, so it’s almost as if the time jumps were made up by real life time, making the jumps feel not too strange. Reading consecutively, however, Evako’s relationship growth doesn’t feel slow burn... a little underdeveloped, in a way, despite their lengthy conversations. I think that’s because of Mako being such a reserved and mysterious character, and that I’ve unconsciously come to rely on Tumblr to give more depth to the characters/relationships. Luckily, pretty much everyone who comments on the story also follows me here, so this dual-platform storytelling is okay, I suppose. I want to post more of #Mishako since there just isn’t enough time to explore their bromance in the story!

At the moment I’m not happy with the story, but it’s fine. I’m learning. There’s more than half the story to go, which means plenty of time to reflect upon the issues and improve. I’m really looking forward to Eva and Mako’s character arcs in Act III. At the moment their relationship is based on their natural chemistry and respect for each other, and since they are yet to face trials their bond isn’t super deep, but Evako are still my favourite couple in the legacy thus far, and feel much more real than any character I’ve written before. It’s been very interesting for my aro ass (and being way more logical than emotional) to figure out a dynamic that is actually compelling to me, because most of the time when I look at romance I’m just like 😐🤨 I’m liking it so far but we shall see how everything unfolds, because I have barely any idea what’s going to happen beyond Act II, lmfao. 

That’s it for my incredibly long throwback! I hope it was at least nice for the OG readers, and interesting for anyone else who managed to battle through this essay, haha. This family has been an integral part of me growing up, as a person and writer and artist (what I’ve developed in visuals I apply to architecture), learning a great deal of awareness about real life through story research, which is pretty cool now that I think about it. I’m aiming to finish En Pointe by the end of 2022. I’m excited for what unexpected changes are to come!

I'm still processing Season 6 and as an unpopular opinion I'm not too happy about it as a whole. I feel horrible for not enjoying it as much as the Cast/Crew would like me to, but I just can’t change this feeling I have.

Just to clear my head I'll write the things down that irked me. I don't want to start any discussion, they're only my thoughts on stuff ‘n thangs. Huge spoilers ahead, please don’t read if you haven’t watched.

Michael

I admit it, I have probably more sympathy for the bad twin than I should. And after the whole S5 I thought we get a bit more closure with him. I didn’t expect a redemption arc, after Michael killed Remiel, Dan and Chloe it would have felt wrong. But after the “Everyone deserves a second chance” the dude is down in hell, scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush. Really, Lucifer? That’s cruel after such a righteous line.

When Luci realized he could help everyone, even if he hated them, I hoped for a dive into the twins’ relationship but it was like Michael didn’t even existed anymore. And if someone needed therapy it would be the twin with the huge inferior complex. That could have been so interesting. (I had hoped that he'd sat on the couch at the end, but noooo we get the Frenchman.. such a disappointment.)

Maybe Tom Ellis didn’t want to play 2 roles again, or there was no time, but I feel that was a huge opportunity wasted.

What even was the plan of Michael? To get God to retire and wreck havoc on earth to get Dad back, so Mickey can take over as the new God? And then what? Wipe out humanity? I see no endgame here.

Ella

I liked Ella’s Story so far. But she stole the personal file of Carol and even broke into his house.. and everybody is cool with this? Carol might be crushing on Ella pretty hard but if somebody tells you they broke into your house, because they feared you were hiding something bad, You run for the hills. But the dude isn’t even phased.

I’m glad Carol is a good guy, though. Even if he’s kind of bland.

Ella finding out the truth on her own came out of nowhere. I would have found it better if they would have her act a little suspicious over the whole S5. But since they wrote S6 while S5 was shot, a little to late for this.

The scene at the wedding was amazing. I had so much fun with her outburst there.

Dan

Ghost!Dan was my favorite by far in this season. And I really liked how he wanted to help and tried to find out what he still felt guilty about.

I am so glad he got to spend his afterlife with Charlotte and I laughed so hard with the pudding. Didn’t expect that, in a positive matter. :D

The scene with Trixie killed me. Bawled so hard as soon as Kevin got teary eyes. That really gripped at my heartstrings.

But how could he go to heaven while in a body of a killer when his daughter stands right next to that killer?

Comedy-wise Dan is top notch

Trixie

I missed her so much.

It felt like she was an afterthought with everything. She recently lost her Dad and Chloe spends most of the time with Lucifer. I really missed the scenes with her and Luci, they always were so adorable.

They explain it later that she’s at a science camp, but I honestly thought Chloe chooses Lucifer (and later Rory too) over her.

She wasn’t at Chloe’s deathbed but here I’m not sure if the scene with Rory isn’t placed somewhere at the threshold to heaven where only celestials are able to enter. But if she wasn’t there because Chloe sidelined her in favor of Rory, then I can understand her absence.

Linda

I love Linda, she always gives good advice but nobody’s ever took it.

Her book probably would fly under the fantasy tag if she ever published it. Still, it felt cringey.

It was so sad that she thought she was a bad therapist.

Apparently she wants to keep helping celestials because it’s better than helping humans. In the end, celestials have the same problems as humans just on a bigger scale. But okay.

Amenadiel

Amenacop was good, and a nice nod to Dan who put in the application.

It made him realize that he only can change things when he has more power. I’m white and no american so I don’t know if the BLM theme there was well enough executed. Got me wondering.

The apocalypse just being Angels who are incompetent was a letdown. Like this whole season.

I really like him as god. And I am glad he took the position in the end. Even if he could have decided this a bit earlier.

Rory

I like her sarcasm and her character.

Didn’t like the whole time travel, time loop and daughter spiel. I’m not a big fan of time travels or couples getting a kid just for the sake of a happy end or to add extra drama. I could have lived without a Deckerstar baby. Instead they could have focused on Trixie for a change.

The time she spent with Lucifer on the 4th August was precious though.

How in hell did the Frenchman capture her? How did he even know how she looked? IIRC Dan hasn’t seen Rory while in that body. Dan just went over to Trixie that’s why I thought he’d capture her and not Rory.

Lucifer

He found his calling to help the souls in hell only because Rory traveled back in time? No man, he already took the step with Jimmy Barnes in preparation to take over as god. I don’t think it’s far fetched to believe that he would have the same epiphany without Rory there.

But without Rory, he wouldn’t have been helping Ghost!Dan to go to heaven. Though, before Rory traveled back in time, Lucifer was already trying to help Dan. They probably would have needed more time to figure out about what Dan felt guilty about, but figure it out anyways.

How did he even got Chloe pregnant? Was it his subconscious deciding he was ready to be a father? Amenadiel had to believe that he was human to get Linda pregnant. Or maybe it’s because they always thought they couldn’t impregnate a human and self-actualized it that way. Anyways, it’s a tiny hang-up I have with it.

Somebody else besides me thought that the scene in the panic room was awkwardly long? I know they thought Lucifer would vanish somehow, but it seemed too much to me.

His singsong while the magician talked about the trick. :D

I don’t want to even get into the whole time loop thing because I think it’s ridiculous(ly bad).

It took a lot of time for him to realize that he didn’t want to be god, after he put it on hold for a second time. Even Chloe could have asked him if that is really what he wanted. Could have spared us an episode or so. Why is the communication on this show so bad? Q.Q

I loved that he helped Maze with Eve to get the wedding back on after their fight.

He didn’t say goodbye to Trixie  - again. What a nice step-devil..

It’s been Chloe, Rory and his family since he found out she’s his daughter. Not even mentioning the one kid who probably loved him before even Chloe fell for him.

For someone who is all about free will and led a rebellion against God for it, he was quick to accept that he has a “fate”. I thought he’d find another way, or at least try to. Nope, he just did what his child wanted. And they disguised it at his “choice”. Doesn’t look like a choice to me if your daughter begs you for it and you have to promise it. Just getting along with what your child wants.

Why does everyone need to shoot him? Just cut him until he bleeds. The Americans and their fixation on guns. Nice parallel to Chloe though.

Lucifer trying to fix the relationship to Rory with gifts was so cringey. I don’t know why but I couldn’t watch him sing/dance in that scene.

Both him and Amenadiel didn’t want to become like their Dad because of the reasons stated in S5, yet Lucifer exactly did. Another letdown.

 

Chloe

As soon as she knew Rory was her and Lucifer’s daughter it was all only about Lucifer and Rory. No thought of Trixie? I understand she was worried about being a bad mother to Rory, but come on, you’re being a bad mother to your first child right now.

She was ready to go to heaven with Lucifer. And Trixie does what exactly without her parents? Living with her Grandma because one of her parent died and the other one is abandoning her? It’s like the writers forgot about Trixie while forcing Rory on us.

The addiction to the necklace got old pretty fast.

And that whole fight against Lucifer felt unnecessary just to add more drama.

She gets mad at Lucifer for not telling her everything while not telling him that she went back to the LAPD. It’s Lucifer, he always has things on his plate. Double moral, pretty much.

She looked so gorgeous at the wedding, oh my god.

Most of the Deckerstar scenes were good. I got tired of the obvious naked cuddle times, surprisingly. Somehow it felt not like the ones in S5 and it bothered me.

I thought Chloe would finally get to know about everything Lucifer did for her, but I didn’t expect her to read it in Linda’s book. And that she only took away that he left her every time they had an emotional breakthrough.

They spend Lucifer’s last day at the beach and once again, no thought of Trixie. I’m sorry I repeat myself here so often. But this whole season wronged Trixie so much.

They face the baddie without any backup.  At least get Amenadiel with you.

Other things

The use of music between scenes was too much for me. Got annoying at some point.

I appreciate that they wanted to show us snippets of past Deckerstar scenes but here too, I felt like it was too much.

Couldn’t really follow the timeline. Maybe it were the cuts.

What’s been the point of bringing Adam into the mix? Just to wrap up Maze and Eve’s story? For Linda having another celestial to therapy?

The animation in the Jimmy Barnes Hell loop was AMAZING. I laughed so hard.

I’m not saying that Deckerstar shouldn’t have sacrificed everything for the time loop to stay intact, I say that the whole daughter-time travel plot shouldn’t have had happened. They never even talked about having kids, and then ignore the whole existence of the one kid that’s already there.

I really need all the Michaella fanfics, please. My first ship that’s actually a raft, because they never officially have met. RIP lmao

The acting was great as usual, all my problems come from the writing and the plot.

In the end, I really feel frustrated, underwhelmed and disappointed by the whole season. I didn’t have high expectations other than the same writing quality like S5. My excitement for that Season died as soon as Rory told Lucifer that she’s his daughter, to be honest. I waited for a plot twist that never came. Then the whole time loop shit.  I’d rather have waited one more year for S6 if the plot would have made more sense, since this felt like a first draft of a whole other show. And now I wished that S5 would have been the last season. If I could travel back in time, I’d rather not watch S6.

I can honestly live with the fact that Luci and Chloe are in hell, trying to help souls to get to heaven. (But hello, not the murderers perhaps? Or I want Michael sitting on that couch right now.) But the fact that both “chose” to sacrifice their time together with their family and friends just because it’s fate now and parents have to make sacrifices for their children; and anyways there’s an afterlife because (human) life is just a blip in our existence… nah thank you. I do not want it.

I’m probably not gonna rewatch S6 anytime soon.

RECAP ON DOMINIQUE AND NOÉ

So, as finally our girl Dominique has been given a well deserved focus after two years of absence, I want to make another recap, this time about her and especially her relationship to Noé.

Above, here's how Dominique is introduced to us. A confident, charming lady in a somewhat masculine attire, her image surrounded in shojo flowers, claiming to be Noé's fiancée.

Her later appearences at the Bal Masqué seem to confirm her 'Strong & Charming Lady' appeal: she's a graceful dancer, she lives up to the sadistic side implied in her name, she swordfights and her open, assertive personality destabilizes more conventional, 'shy' women such as Nox and Jeanne. She's also shown to be very protective of Noé, worring about him and even torturing Vanitas to ensure he wasn't a threath.

But there's also a softer side to her relationship with Noé - who actually keeps her friendzoned - one made of mutual respect, long-standing affection, comprension and willingness to listen to the other troubles ... partially. She listens to Noé, but doesn't actually tell him her feelings or thoughts, even if our cinnamon roll would very likely listen.

At the same time, some cracks begin to appear in this image. She fails to fight her sister away from Vanitas and Noé (and ends up tied and hanging from the lamp for everyone to see); she's later revealed in her chat with Jeanne about Vanitas that she doesn't know much about relationships, despite what her being so outgoing can lead to think.

Moreover, by this point of the story, Noé's childhood flashbacks have started.

Dominique is the one in the frilly dress, hiding behind her brother. As a child, her personality was very different: a conventionally feminine, shy child. This led people to theorize that her change was brought about by her mourning for Louis, an attempt to keep his memory alive by resembling him as much as she could.

Then we have the Arc of Gevaudan, in which she is barely mentioned, and then we have the latest chapters.

First of all, in chapter 43, we see her interacting directly with her older siblings. And while it was hinted that they didn't have that great of a relationship, here she looks to afraid to be in their mere presence. Every single disparaging remark from Veronica and Antoine (and they throw around a lot of them) gets an almost frozen in fear Dominique as a reaction. It's like, in the presence of her family, she regresses to the shy girl of her childhood, with none of her usual confidence.

Next, in chapter 45, in the midst of trying to keep the "insecure" Jeanne from entusiastically yelling to the world how horny she is for Vanitas, she reveals: 1) that she actually is pretty conventional when it comes to love and relationships; 2) that she sees Noé as dashing and strong and is confirmed as head-over-heels for him; 3) that she doesn't think she is good enough for him.

She believes Noé would prefer Jeanne (when he never indicated anything more than a vague curiosity about her), and when reflecting about it, she thinks back to her siblings' insults.

She thinks that she's not as charming as Jeanne, and then she seems on the verge of a panic or anxiety attack, thinking obsessively about Noé.

The ending of the same chapter reveals that there is a good helping from Misha on her situation: he did something to her, to tamper with her control of her own actions, but still her love for Noé is stronger, she fights back against the order of bringing him to the little creep.

The bigger point, as revealed in chapter 46, is: Dominique has zero self-esteem. Like the flowers around her were spewn around by a machine, that first image we got of her was carefully crafted, to hide an extremely insecure young woman.

Since early childhood, Dominique was unfavourably compared to her older siblings; she isn't as strong of a combatant as Veronica, and as Antoine helpfully points out, she holds no political power, unlike him.

And then there's the whole Louis affair.

The story so far has shown the toll his death had on Noé, but here we see the effect on Dominique, and it was devastating.

She wished she had been the one to die. She believes she's at fault for what happened.

And she gets what in her mind is a confirm: the reason why Louis was kept isolated was because he was her twin, and this in the appearently terribly superstitious vampire culture is seen as bad luck. So, in her mind, if she had never existed, her brother would have had a long and happy life.

Moreover, Veronica sees fit to completely destroy her sister's self-worth by bringing up those 'expectations' Dominique failed to live up to.

Then, with an excellent timing, Noé wakes up from an angst-induced fever, and puts the icing of shit on the cake of shit that has been Dominique's day. He essentially confirmed her worst fears: everyone would have preferred Louis to her. Those who theorized that Dominique's new mannerism where due to trying to keep Louis alive were so right, in a likely worst way than they could ever have thought of.

(Random thought I don't know where else to put: Dominique, in all of the manga,has never been seen in her usual masculine clothing around her family. She had either a ballgown or a nightgown, both very frilly and similar to what she would have wore as a little girl; way to represent her feelings of inferiority in front of them).

And so we have it. Dominique's life has been one of regular emotional abuse and a severe trauma; between the image her family tried to force her to live to and the awareness that only a whim of her father and grandfather -independent of any personal characteristic of the children - left her to live instead of her brother, she developed a very feeble sense of self - and what little personal identity she has, she doesn't like. So she tried to hide it all with a mask, to take on herself the identity of her brother to make someone worthier live in her stead ... but it didn't work out very well.

And the saddest part of all of this, is that Dominique has a very definite identity to those who love her, and it's a great one. Despite not reciprocating her feelings (as far as we know) Noé values her the world as his friend. She has always been here when he needed someone to talk to. She worries about him, but respects his choices. Her love for him is so strong, that it overrides Misha's mind control.

And do we want to talk about Jeanne? Dominique barely knows her, but she sees this girl in a social position other vampires despise, and she immediately bonds with her. She encourages her to get out of her shell, tries to give her advice at the best of her abilities, and she was very willing to risk her reputation and the wrath of her family to protect her.

Dominique is a great friend, an observant and caring person, and she doesn't give a damn about her family's racism and classism. If only she could realize it.

Personally, I don't know where her arc is heading. She's in a very precarious position right now. Her death would give Noé a second trauma and a reason to hate Misha that could lead to a clash with Vanitas (who clearly still cares about his younger brother, as shown by his guilt complex), but would also make Dominique's own arc a very tragic one. Her life would have been defined by being used by others, never realizing her true worth. It would lack closure - which narratively is something that can be done to work, but it's not what I personally would like for poor Dominique.

On the other hand, if Noé manages to get her to safety, then she can be helped. She can be cured by whatever Misha did to her, but above that, she can make her own arc one of self-descovery and affirmation, which definitely would have me cheering on for her.

Knowing Mochizuki's reputation, her survival is quite uncertain; but let us remember that the main theme of this work is 'salvation', and that we already got a surprisingly sweet ending for the Arc of Gevaudan, with everyone surviving and happy.

Until next chapter, we just have to wait and hope.

who are your favorite top ten black clover characters and ships? talk about them!

Well that’s going to be a long list! I’ll state a simplified list and elaborate in the cut then!

Favorite Characters: 

Leopold Vermillion

Finral Roulacase

Langris Vaude

Yuno

Asta

Rill Boismortier 

Fuegeoleon Vermillion

William Vangeance

Mereoleona Vermillion

Dorothy Unsworth

Favorite Ships:

YunoLeo

AsuNoe / Astelle

YamiChar

Mars/Fana

Rillmy

Nozel/Dorothy

WiriPatri

YamiWiri 

Klaus/Letoile

I have no other ships so I’m going for Finral x Light 

Favorite Characters

Wow my favorite character lists is really not that diverse. Vermillion + Captain supremacy. 

1. Leopold Vermillion

Where to begin with Leo? If you can’t tell by my Black Clover fanart being 80% Leopold, you’d know that I am iN LOVE WITH THIS KID AND HIS CHARACTER. I adore Leopold so much it’s such a shame that he doesn’t get as much screen time as he should because he has so much potential. His fiery, energetic, loud personality just sticks out to me. I could go more in detail but I’ll spare them to make this post shorter.

2. Finral Roulacase

WHERE TO BEGIN WITH FINRAL? I am absolutely in love with this man JAOISJDOAIOEHAO. Finral really resonates with me since I feel a connection with him through his low self-worth and his struggles with being an older sibling. Other than that, I absolutely adore him so much. He’s such a cutie and I love all of his comedic moments and how hard working he is sm. 

3. Langris Vaude

This goes to show how much I just love the space brothers. Langris is such a complex character and I LOVE his relationship with Finral. Of course, a lot of people are really quick to hate on Langris-- and rightfully so. But examining his character, it definitely shows reason (but def not excuses) to why Langris acts the way he does. 

4. Yuno

I just straight up adore Yuno. I love his stoic, cold character and his reasons for it. He could have his comedic moments which is quite hilarious to say the very least. I do wish we would know more about his experiences in the Golden Dawn though since I feel like even though he’s a main character, we hardly know anything about him. But he is just as hardworking as Asta and I love how healthy his rivalry with Asta is.

5. Asta

Asta is what the cool kids call, “the GOAT.” I absolutely love his character and his role as the MC of the series. I think Tabata writes his character really well. I love how he always picks himself back up, despite literally the entire world being against him. I think Asta is very inspirational and hands down one of my favorite shonen protagonists. He is very underrated and it pains me to see him downgraded to someone who screams a lot since he really doesn’t scream that much past the beginning. (I personally found his screaming endearing!)

6. Rill Boismortier

RILL IS MY FAVORITE CAPTAIN AAAAA! HE IS SO CUTE! As an artist, I absolutely adore his magic! I just love everything about him; his carefree attitude, his entire design, his laugh, everything!

7. Fuegeoleon Vermillion

King Vermillion, everyone! I just have a soft spot for the Vermillions. I love how strong Fuego is! He’s such a kind-hearted person with such a strong will! I’m super glad he has Salamander by his side because he deserves it!!!!!!!!!!! Out of everyone, I’m hoping he’ll be the next wizard king. 

8. William Vangeance

You know what’s funny? I didn’t know people actually hated Vangeance until I encountered BC twitter lmao. But I love Vangeance so much. He’s another huge, complex character that people seem to either hate him or love him. His characters throughout the entire series plays such a huge role and I love that. 

9. Mereoleona Vermillion

QUEEN VERMILLION! I just love how she isn’t your typical magic knight and she just does her own thing! She is the epitome of powerful woman and she is hands down, imo, the strongest captain. 

10. Dorothy Unsworth

oH MAN??? GLAMOUR WORLD? ARE YOU KIDDING? Her entire character is phenomenal. From her design, to her magic, to her personality, she just screams perfection. I do wish to know more about her soon, though we got a glimpse of it when she was talking to Noelle about Megicula!

Favorite Ships

If I’m being honest, I really only have a top 3? But the only ship I’m actually passionate about is yunoleo so--

1. YunoLeo

If you’re new to my account, you’d definitely find this ship to be a surprise. It actually wasn’t a ship I thought about until my friend Himae and I were joking talking about Yuno and Leo and then went “holy shit wait---” The relationship of YunoLeo is all about POTENTIAL since the two have not interacted much in canon. But, I can’t stress enough how perfect I think Yuno and Leo would be together. They would definitely go into the “rivals-to-lovers” and “opposites attract” tropes. Not to mention, my personal headcanon for both of them is that they’re both gay.  I believe if Tabata were to allow Yuno and Leopold to interact more, it would definitely show the potential they would have together. I could elaborate more in detail but I think this post would be way too long. 

2. AsuNoe / Astelle

Out of everyone in the “Asta harem,” I tend to like AsuNoe more, surprisingly. I feel like I’m not quite used to shipping the main MCs together, let alone the MC with the tsundere female MC. However, I have a soft spot for Noelle. I feel like if her character wasn’t super revolved around her crush on Asta, they’d definitely flow better. I like how they interact. It’s quite obvious that Asta does care about Noelle as much as she does. But, as oblivious as Asta is, I don’t think they’ll get together anything soon LOL. I’m not super passionate about AsuNoe, but I do like them the most out of all the potential Asta ships. From them being teammates, there’s a lot of build-up that can occur, not to mention the huge canon influence.

3. YamiChar

Charlotte’s crush on Yami is the cutest thing ever. I just love the dynamic between her and Yami; Yami being oblivious to her feelings, but thinking Charlotte secretly hates him since she avoids him but Charlotte avoiding him because she’s actually super nervous. I don’t think that Yami has a romantic interest towards Charlotte in canon at the moment, but I do think he does like her. 

4. Mars/Fana

Pretty much canon, I don’t really have much to say about them aside from the fact that I hope they get married already!

5. Rillmy

OKAY RILLMY IS JUST SO CUTE. I definitely adore the idea of the two of them together! Their characters flow really well together and I really think they have potential! Maybe they’ll get more scenes together from this arc? I hope so!

6. Nozel/Dorothy

This ship is really cute to! Though we don’t actually see them interact in canon, the fact that Nozel and Dorothy seem to talk to each other a lot and Nozel being able to confide in Dorothy makes me go ohohoho.

7. WiriPatri

LITERAL SOULMATES. The fact that they were finally able to see one another makes my heart soar. The scene where Patri slowly falls against Vangeance’s shoulder as Vangeance holds him aaaAAAAAA FUCK. TOO GOOD. 

8. YamiWiri

Such a good “rivals-to-lovers” ship. They work so well together and they have SUCH a good, strong relationship. 

9. Klaus/Letoile

Okay listen, I ship them based off of purely aesthetics but like.... hello? Very good. They were in panels together in the manga! That’s enough canon validation for me LMAO.

10. Finral x Light 

canon. amazing. spectacular. all based off on the fact that i am in love with finral roulacase. 

SnK Episode 62 Poll Results (for Anime Only Watchers)

The poll closed with 73 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Manga Readers’ poll, click here.

Anime only watchers, beware of spoilers if you venture over to the manga readers’ poll results.

--

RATE THE EPISODE 68 Responses

Again, the response to last week’s episode was notably positive, with 98.5% of responses giving it a score of 3 or higher. Marley and Me is still going strong! 

Gave a 3 because while I don't give a rats ass about the Warriors or their "tragic" sob story, the animation and voice acting was on par

It was way better than the first two of the season I liked it a lot!!

I think it was one of the best episodes not only in this season, but in the entire show. It shows deepness of the characters in Attack on Titan and shows as the other side in such an amazing way. It was brilliant. 

I think the episode was pretty good

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING MOMENTS WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 68 Responses

Eren’s formal reveal as the amputee soldier took the biggest piece of the pie, with 45.6% of respondents enjoying that scene the most. Trailing behind that is Reiner’s tragic suicide attempt with 10.3% of the vote, followed closely behind by RBA’s side of Shiganshina at 8.8%.

Flashbacks were important. And eren intro was epic

Reiner standing up looking like an undead zombie after getting clobbered by Annie and then stating "Reiner is dead...I will be Marcel" was just...Wow. Just loved seeing the wall breach from RBA's perspective. Reiner gains more dimensions and complexity with each episode and I'm here for it! Bless MAPPA :-)

WE GOT THE FULL ED LAST WEEK. AFTER SEEING IT IN ITS ENTIRETY, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT NOW? 66 Responses

Although just over 59% of responses gave the ED a decidedly positive grade (with praise going towards both imagery and the song), almost 20% of responses simply thought it was “okay”. A relatively equal amount of responses alternated between liking the animation and disliking the song and vice versa. Only a few seemed to dislike both. 

Didn't watch/care

ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5, HOW MUCH DID YOU ENJOY THE SEQUENCE INTRODUCING ALL OF MARLEY’S TITANS? 67 Responses

The sequence introducing all of Marley’s Titans has gotten rave reviews, with 97% of responses rating it positively. Truth be told, I’d given it a 5 myself, if I could… But I can’t, I’m just a mysterious voice, detailing the results of this poll.

OUT OF ALL THE TITANS THE MARLEY MILITARY HAD 9 YEARS AGO, WHICH ONE WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE? 67 Responses

For the question regarding possible inheritance of the Titans, we’ve gotten a rather colorful pie chart! Annie’s Female Titan is clearly leading with just under a third of those who took the poll picking it out as their favorite option. Reiner’s Armored is taking second place with almost 21%, followed by Zeke’s Beast at almost 18%. Bertholdt’s Colossal and the Series Mascot is, surprisingly, at just under 12%, with Pieck, unsurprisingly, bringing up the rear.

WHICH OG WARRIOR CANDIDATE WOULD YOU WANT TO ADOPT? 64 Responses

When it comes to possibly adopting a warrior candidate, we’ve gotten even more pie flavors! Reiner is at number one with just over 20%, with Pieck and Annie going into second place, both with just under 19%. Bertholdt’s in third place, with a little over 14%. Marcel and Zeke bring up the rear and it seems like no one wants to adopt poor little Porco. Just over 20% seem to not want to participate in this little scheme for various reasons.

A LOT OF THE SHIGANSHINA BREACH HAS REUSED QIT ANIMATION FROM PAST EPISODE - THOUGHTS? 67 Responses

When it came to the fact that a lot of the Shiganshina Breach Animation was reused for the episode, most seemed to respond either positively or indifferently. Just over 58% thought just that the old animation flowed decently with MAPPA’s new style, while 16.4% didn’t really care. Almost 12% expressed nostalgia for WIT’s style of animation and 9% noted that while they weren’t fans of this move, they understood the reason for it. Whoever was left noted that they either really preferred MAPPA’s new style or really didn’t like this move from MAPPA, as a whole.

KAJI YUKI HAS LOWERED HIS VOICE A BIT TO DEPICT AN OLDER EREN. THOUGHTS? 67 Responses

A bit of a lopsided result for this one. 71.6% of all responses noted that they enjoyed Yuki Kaji’s move of lowering his voice to depict an older Eren. 16.4% states that they didn’t care and the rest either expressed further “enthusiasm” for this move with one person noting that they preferred younger Eren’s voice range. 

:c

I didn’t even notice

WE’VE LOST COUNT ON HOW MANY TIMES WE’VE SEEN MARCEL GET EATEN. BUT OF THE OPTIONS BELOW, WHO DID IT BEST? 67 Responses

When it came to seeing Marcel biting the dust numerous times, it turned out that we have plenty of options and styles to choose from. 37.3% said that they preferred MAPPA’s depiction of the event, with just under a third preferring Isayama’s newer depiction. Bringing up the rear with 22.4% were those who preferred WIT’s depiction and 7.5% who like Isayama’s older depiction the best.

DO YOU THINK THAT REINER WAS CORRECT, THAT MARLEY WOULD HAVE HAD ALL OF RBA EATEN IF THEY HAD FOUND YMIR AND RETURNED HOME IMMEDIATELY? 65 Responses

In what is perhaps the most divisive question of the poll, it would seem like those who thought Marley wouldn’t have had all of RBA eaten if they had found Ymir and returned home immediately came out on top, with almost 57% arguing they would have either threatened the kids before keeping them around or became understanding from the get-go. 43.1% dissented and thought Marley would have, in fact, done so. 

Don't think so because we only saw 1 other warrior candidate and when the warriors failed in the Shinganshina arc they didn't pass on Reiner or Zeke's powers.

Marley = maybe. Zeke = would have been understanding

Maybe just eat Ymir

WHAT’S THE FORECAST FOR TONIGHT? 66 Responses

For the question about tonight’s (or rather, the night when the fanbase took the poll) weather, we’ve received a multitude of responses. From the most popular to the least, we’ve had people predicting a cloudy night, a snowy night, clear skies, a rainy night and finally, a stormy night. On the other hand, just over 18% didn’t seem to care. 

Call if hail at you’ll be late for muster

freckled Jesus getting crucified, RIP Marco

Fuckkkkk Berttttt

Hangman

it's gonna rain titans

Meh, don't care about Bertolt

REINER GRADUATED 2ND FROM THE TOP IN THE 104TH, BUT DID YOU EXPECT HIM TO BE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SELECTED WARRIOR CANDIDATES? 65 Responses

Reiner’s surprisingly poor performance during his years as a Warrior candidate surprised most of those who took our poll, with 40% expressing just that. Almost 37% thought this development made him more relatable as a character, with the rest either noting that they either didn’t care or that this portrayed the 104th in a somewhat poorer light (lol). 

I feel like his traumatic experience of watching someone he grew up with die and his resolve to become more reliable and strong pushed him to reach the point that he did considering he also outranked both Annie and Bertolt.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE FACT THAT REINER IS HALF-MARLEYAN? 66 Responses

When it came to the fact that Reiner turned out to be half-Marleyan, almost 38% thought the said fact gave more depth to Reiner’s character. Just over 24% thought it made him even more tragic and 18.2% hope that said detail will have more significance in the future. The rest stated that they didn’t care. 

I think it's sad for Reiner, but a nice twist. I was wondering what happens to half Eldian/Marleyans so it was nice to see the result from a more cultural and political standpoint.

GALLIARD’S FIRST NAME IS ACTUALLY “PORCO.” THOUGHTS? 66 Responses

For the reveal of Galliard’s first name actually being “Porco”, we’ve had 45.5% of responses understanding why the big man himself decided to go by his last name instead. 13.6% asked what Isayama was thinking when giving him that name. The rest either expressed further sympathy for the boy or thought it was a decent name for character. 

I can't stop thinking of him as Porky Pig now. He had such a cool surname too xD

DO YOU THINK THAT THE RIFT BETWEEN REINER AND PORCO CAN BE RESOLVED? 66 Responses

When it came to deciphering the rift between Reiner and Porco, a bit over 40% thought that the rift would never be able to “go away”, with Porco disliking Reiner for various reasons. Almost a third dissented and thought that it would be possible, provided Porco either learned of Marcel’s actions or kept working with Reiner for longer periods of time. The rest weren’t sure exactly. 

It seemed like the rift wasn't really prominent in episode 2, so maybe it's already resolved.

IN THAT SAME VEIN, DO YOU BELIEVE PORCO’S COLD FEELINGS TOWARD REINER ARE UNDERSTANDABLE AND/OR JUSTIFIED? REMEMBER: HE DOESN’T KNOW ABOUT MARCEL’S ACTIONS. 65 Responses

When it came to a similar question, most (67.7%) thought Porco’s cold feelings towards Reiner were understandable, but not justified. 20% thought they were, in fact, both understandable and justifiable. 10.8% thought they were neither and there was one sole person who stated that they didn’t care.

REINER AND ANNIE WERE REALLY ROUGH ON EACH OTHER. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THAT? 66 Responses

Reiner seems to have even poorer relations with Annie and this episode surely confirms it. Almost 50% were surprised to find out just how poor said relations were. A third stated that they believed the two still cared about each other, just well, “deep down”. A little over 15% predicted this hatred, on the other hand. 

Annie went full "Levi on Eren" on Reiner. I knew they had a tense relationship, this just confirmed my suspicions. I don't think they hate each other.

HOW DID YOU FEEL GETTING TO SEE MORE BERTOLT AFTER HIS UNTIMELY DEATH LAST SEASON? 66 Responses

Seeing Bertolt again in the story was generally treated positively by most, with almost 44% stating that they enjoyed his extra screen time. A bit over 20% stated that they really missed him and were sad to see him, knowing what happens in the future. On the other hand, a little over 21% openly expressed their dislike for the character. Just over 12% simply stated that they didn’t care. 

Dude had it rough, at least the suffering is over now.

i barely care about him... he's just there. he adds nothing to the show compared to other warriors. his personality is way too boring and bland. 

This doesn't make me sympathize with him in any way shape or form

I'm so glad to see Bertholdt... Mappa did him cute as a kid and hot all grown up.

ANNIE AND KENNY: WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THIS UNLIKELY ENCOUNTER? 66 Responses

When it came to seeing Kenny and Annie’s unlikely encounter, the responses were rather distinctive. A little under a third thought it was random, but enjoyable. Others stated that they were just happy to see more Kenny or Annie. Some noted that Annie’s survival rate when taking on the Ackermans is impressive. Finally, just under 11% noted that they didn’t care for it. 

I thought they did it as fan-service bc Kenny = popular

It was a bit too short to be impactful in my opinion.

I wish we saw more Kenny

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS AFTER LEARNING THAT REINER IS THE ONE WHO PUSHED FOR THE ASSAULT ON WALL ROSE AFTER TRAINING WITH THE 104TH FOR 3 YEARS? 66 Responses

Upon learning about Reiner’s push for attacking Wall Rose after 3 years of living with the 104th, the fanbase came out to be rather divided. Whereas a bit over a half expressed at least some sympathy for him, the rest were sharp in their critique. A few stated that they didn’t care, however.

HOW DID YOU FEEL SEEING REINER ON THE EDGE OF SUICIDE? 66 Responses

Seeing Reiner on the verge of suicide brought out a lot of sympathy for the man himself, with people expressing degrees of sympathy for him. A little under a third simply noted that this is a dark story. However, a few also stated that they didn’t feel much sympathy for him due to his previous actions. 

besides the fact that this whole episode was dark, this particular scene made the episode more and more uncomfortable and depressing :( can someone please hug him and tell him that everything is gonna be fine?

WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO THE REVEAL THAT EREN WAS THE AMPUTEE SOLDIER FROM THE LAST EPISODE? 66 Responses

The reveal that Eren was the amputee soldier from the previous episode is another one of this series’ twists and turns. Sadly, a third of the responses had already been spoiled about it. On the other hand, another third or so seemed to have an inkling and were happy to see a confirmation in this one. Just over 21% were simply in shock. 

I knew from his voice 

He's learnt to control his regeneration o.0 I wonder what else he has learnt. Also guessed last episode.

EREN OBSERVES THAT FALCO MAY BE TRYING TO PROTECT “A GIRL” FROM INHERITING THE ARMOR - IMPLYING FALCO MAY HAVE FEELINGS FOR GABI. WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THAT? 66 Responses

When it came to Love Doctor Eren Yeager, more than 50% thought that this development showed his maturation over the course of the story (and 4 years, specifically). Some thought that it didn’t really mean anything, while others looked to a bit more romantic answer. Finally, some thought he was being influenced by the memories of his father or his father’s Attack Titan predecessor.

Don't know if Eren was implying that or if he was trying to gain intel.

BE HONEST - DOES EREN WORK THE HOBO LOOK? 66 Responses

When it came down to seeing Eren’s new design, the majority actually seemed to be more interested in seeing his “manbun” one, as seen in the trailer. Almost 20% thought it was his coolest design to date! The rest either seemed to prefer one of his earlier designs or thought that he looked kinda gross. And some people were just thirsty. 

Cool change. Doesn't look "better", but does make him look more serious/battle-scarred.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

i was super confused at first, but after a lot more research im completely caught up w the story and very excited for whats to come!

Would've enjoyed even more REINER

Definitely ready for more. I always assumed our old team has been lurking on this side of the wall ever since ep 1 (call me crazy, but was that my mans Jean who bought the newspaper??) anywaY, I can’t wait for the reveal/ambush WhatevEr it is they got planned. You know Armin’s behind this shit. Let’s get ittttt

I need to see Levi already!! I feel like I’m going through withdrawal

The artwork was really nice, same with the animation. I thought the bit with Annie and Reiner was too intense though I felt kinda sick watching it. Also, they showed the scene in the trailer where Reiner is talking to Eren when they were in training and also when he was trying to commit suicide but the audio was different from the visual so I'm curious now if Reiner like tries to have Eren kill him but Eren and co want to interrogate him??? So he's like "why won't you let me die?". Also, I like Falco even more now, seems like a great and important character.

Seeing the Titans normally animated makes the cgi hurt more :(

it gave a lot of clarity cant lie

Reiner's backstory with his dad broke my heart. I thought he took it well. For Marcel to die afterwards and the warriors to be pushed down that path was terrible. I also love how Annie was really against attacking the Eldians, and voiced her disgust, and it felt organic. It didn't feel like it was forced in to show viewer thoughts. The episode made me appreciate Annie's maturity from a young age and emotional depth, and the fact that this was achieved with Reiner as the main focus makes it amore impressive.

mappa > wit. no doubt. the cinematography was a m a z i n g. it was very aesthetically pleasing to watch. 

Why did the smiling titan ignore Bertholt?

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 65 Responses

Thank you again to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again after next episode. 

Why eremika is amazing

just a little warning : could you please forgive my current ship frolicsome mood ? But with the late chapter, it would really be a waste to not spill in that now. So here we go on an eremika dropped thoughts / analyze, and don’t worry I’ll try to be not too marshmallow in order to get a higher POV on overall story, cause after all the thing of eremika is embodying major topics and key meaning of greatest SnK’s ideas.

Also, it should cover all asks unanswered from those days (normally), but if you have some other questions don’t hesitate to send a message !

1. The purity of eremika, which is getting on parallel with Gabi & Falco

2. A total love which takes multiplicity of forms

3. The two previous points have potential to make it a kind of love that rises to a global POV on love, i.e. beauty beyond cruelty (I didn’t have time yet for writing this one but it’ll come soon)

*

1. Ok so this point is the most light, that’s coming back on pretty obvious things, but I still wanted to emphasize on it first. Eren & Mikasa’s relationship is characterized by some deep purity in the content of feelings.

 One of the things I (and probably many in fandom) thought about to happen was that eremika would remain asymmetrical because of Eren's inability to see beyond his enemies, something that chapter 50 and ocean scene seemed to have startled. After all, both are basically conveying an Eren unable to enjoy a peaceful moment and affection offered to him to rush towards enemy (even if stake are different in both, there’s similar reflex).

However, what chapter 123 conveys is different.

Body language, way this question is abruptly brought, and intimacy of the moment.. well a lot of things are implying a romantic dimension, but the most surprising, on Eren’s initiative.

The way he asks those questions about their relationship (and even the fact he’s interrogating the relationship itself) involves a stake and a wish for a positive response to his desires (why bother setting such an atmosphere otherwise?). He fixes Mikasa in search of explanations, showing a genuine search and ignorance about that (I think he’s, however, aware of the ambiguity of their relationship, because he wouldn’t ask the question in such a way, he wouldn’t have been moved in chapter 50 by Mikasa’s words, and he wouldn’t have underlined the emotional side of his remoteness in chapter 112). 

So we can conclude, also from the way he contextualizes what he might believe Mikasa thinks of him :

that Eren is pretty conscious of having feelings. And that he values these at high level since long time ago. But also, and this is the most important maybe, that he had feared she didn’t loved him since the very establishment of their relationship’s dynamic. Mikasa had indeed always claimed the reason she was overprotective about Eren was because she owed it to him,

 and because he represented to her the last piece of her family.

It's therefore, if it’s something he's coming back to, obviously an element that has dissatisfied him since a long time ago. And this also explains in a new light many of his reactions and behaviors (to avoid scattering too long : the way he used to scream he wasn’t nor her little brother, nor her kid ; frustration he had to not being strong as her because it also prevented him to feel worthy of claiming love).

Thus, the actions of Mikasa and Eren in love are surprisingly both guided by a complete lack of interest to the extent that they both acted more than once under this love, without ever waiting for the other to reciprocate. 

And this unconditionality of their love is something that’s really central to the purity of it imo.

(But this arc also shows a form of conditionality implantation in a way : Eren turned away from Mikasa because she didn’t answered with honesty, and Mikasa is turning away from Eren because he was dishonest with her and conveyed opposite of his feelings. Both have been disappointed to see asymmetry, and so this distance also marks the need for reciprocity for each of them.)

For making a transition with the next point (or sub point or whatever actually) : the fact Eren and Mikasa’s relationship is so pure / immaculate is also reflected in the fact that their parallel is to be found in children’s figure.

Imo, it refers to the fact that children are one of the most valuable things in snk’s code as it embodies hope for future and a precious weak thing in a ruthless environment in need of protection. Therefore, that their love is part of this range of things since it is codified at the same level as children. 

It also refers to the idea that they must explore this side of their childhood to finally be able to make a closure on their relationship (it might be muddy about this, but I think one of the reason scarf moment is coming back so many times is also about that : those they were kids, Eren the kind boy which gave Mikasa warm, and she when she was a little girl in need of protection with a scene such as scarf wrapping, is still present within them and they must reconnect with this part too, thereby the need for the accomplishment of chapter 50′s promise).

It also shows, imo, that Gabi & Falco’s relationship and way to deal with the romantic dimension of it will have a major role in Eren and Mikasa’s relationship fulfillment as well. The fact that their parallel has already passed them in a field in which they are still wading, aka real communication and sincerity about the reason they’re acting for each other’s sake 

forms a kind of model for Eren and Mikasa. Because of their communication flaw and fear to get out of confort zone, they’re in a huge ass quiproquo whereas those two children have already managed to overcome that. I think a scene between Falco and Mikasa could be quite decisive in this regard. By following the model of children (Idk what context might it be, perhaps it is only a wobbly prediction uh) they would be able to find a way to return to the their relationship’s origins to better affirm what does haven’t changed since that, ie love.

2. the most interpretive part, sorry in advance

One thing that I find particularly great also in eremika is the multiplicity of forms that take their relationship, which also makes the complexity of it.

Mikasa and Eren are at once :

A family, in the sense of the depth and time of their bonds , and especially with the fact that they shared the same home, which is also an important part of their relationship :

The idea of the family / home and the fact that they represent for each the place where they belong is a recurring theme of their relationship. If for Mikasa it played a major role in her reasons to fight, this is also important for Eren. One of his main dilemmas being the tension existing between his will / "destiny" somehow, driving him far away from his friends / place he’s supposed to be, Mikasa is in this a kind of key for him to retrieve his way. Let explain : Although he seems carried by bigger stakes and fights (I know it’s a debate within fandom to know if Eren is to be considered as free in the way he’s taking the lead of all plot, or if it’s a question of the will he had to sacrifice himself for that because no one else could do so...well let’s just say for convenience of this post I’m on this second point even if it’s arguable). This struggle, considered since the beginning, had make him both physically / psychologically out of his limits at some determined times (i.e. for the current action, the way he transfigured his personality in this last arc). What’s interesting with eremika in this, it’s that when Eren goes "too much" out of his way, Mikasa is often to play the figure connecting him to the community of the living as a kind of safe haven (one exception being the underground church where it was Historia. Pretty interesting beside, as the thing she gave to him at that moment was “Let’s be humanity’s enemies”, which is at the opposite of what Mikasa’s brought to Eren for that. It seems like it’s also this path he chose currently, and may explain why Eren and Historia make think to be in a secret connivance at the contrary of Mikasa which has been cut off power from him).

Anyway, this is one of the things that emerges from their reunion scenes if we can call these that, and especially this one

of a lost Eren who finds in a very first place Mikasa, which acts then as a sort of connection with the world. It's physical, but also psychological since in chapter 50 in particular, when Eren loses his reason, it’s by listening to Mikasa that he reacts.

By being a part of his family and his home, Mikasa allows Eren to connect with his humanity, humanity being understood in SnK as what is common in the natural raw state between all men, a bit like the idea of paths between Eldians finally (sorry it's a bit arbitrary said so, I'll might do another post one day to explain this idea of humanity in SnK like that, but here now it would be a pretty huge digression).

It’s also because of this humanity that Eren went to save Mikasa, then gave her warmth she needed through the scarf. Something he did for no reason other than human empathy for someone who is unfairly in the pain since he didn’t even know her. It’s then which is expressed imo in particular by the tears he pours while killing her kidnappers, those spontaneous tears coming back when he’s speaking of rescuing her.

3. For the next time : Cruel, but very beautiful

*

Sorry to stop this post so abruptly but I don’t have nor the time nor the head to write currently (and don’t know when I will) but I still wanted to share these first two parts ! Next part I’d try to develop this Mikasa's maxim and see how it is interesting especially for a more global point of view on SnK. I didn’t manage to put the reference because it was rather planned for the next part but if it interests you, the idea of humanity coming from the community of the living , as a kind of hook to the real comes from the philosopher Hannah Arendt, which I might try to incorporate in the next point. Hope it’ll come pretty soon, sorry for the delay !

I wasn’t going to post this originally (because it’s drawn on my phone and it’s bad), but I’m going to anyway because I’m back in school and I don’t know when I’ll get to do another drawing. (Also it’s old, so I’m sorry.) 

Context to this drawing  AND THE ORIGINAL PLOT TO MY DIRECTOR D ASK BLOG BELOW (Warning, it’s long and boring.): 

Hello, and welcome to my long and boring context dbfvjdbjfv.

So in my Director D ask blog (which is on hiatus and I don’t know when I’ll get to it), there was a plot that I had in mind for it, but it never occurred either because I wasn’t motivated, or things got to complex. So I want to explain the overall plot to what would have happened just to give some context. Before I do that however I want to talk a bit about the characters involved and what state they are currently in to explain their behaviors or actions in the plot. 

Director “David” Dangerous:

Current State: As you all know, he has been rehired as, well, Director in HQ. Muddy decided that would be best because he ran it really well, and she wasn’t prepared for the job herself. She also wanted to give him a second chance. Because of this opportunity, he as gained a redemption arc and did his best to prove that he is a better person. (Which is he is, yay.) 

Backstory: Director has been an agent since he was a teen, and was eventually promoted to Director of HQ. (He had actual hair during this time.) During his training, he made a friend named Rose, who eventually became his girlfriend. However, when he was promoted, he became very valuable to other agencies (bad ones), and one day (to make this short), he went on a mission with Rose and other agents, and...Rose didn’t make it. She, in heroism, jumped in front of Director before he could get shot by one of the criminals. This was really devastating to Director because this was his first love interest, and he blames himself for her death. Throughout the years after, his hair slowly fell out, and he became the Director we first meet. (Not current.) Which explains why he avoids getting attached to people or even show any affection. Yes, he is single. 

Dr. “Harvey” Hare:

Yeah um...he’s still part of this story because he was apart of it originally, but he doesn’t really play a big part anymore. I don’t have an exact redemption arc for him, but he’s good now and is trying to blend in with society (which is hard when you were a villain before and you are literally a rabbit hybrid). He’s living a normal life. Currently, he is single, because he was dating Mordred, but they broke up. (Don’t worry! They both agreed it was for the best and are friends now.) Harvey is now trying his best to support Mordred during his affections toward Director and helps him upgrade his robotic half when he needs them. I am not sure if he will eventually have someone, but if he does he will probably end up with Raven. (Don’t @ me, I kinda like that ship.) 

Backstory:

You guys know this one! X3

and Finally...The one you guys have been waiting for for...(Bored yet?)

Binary “Mordred” Bard:

Current State: Bard is...oof. He doesn’t exactly have a redemption arc because he’s doesn’t care, at all. He’s...neutral. He’s not planning any bad schemes, that for sure, but he’s really rude and HATES affection. He’s also living a normal life, and mostly sleeps during the day if he doesn’t have any plans. (Which of course, most of the time, he doesn’t. He learned from Merlin.) During the night, however, he continues his study of the stars and keeps a journal of his findings, which actually brings him joy. (Which is why he does it when no one is looking.) Surprisingly, because the whole reason he’s a grumpy person and hates interaction is because of all the time he spent in space, but he doesn’t blame the stars for that. They were his only company, after all. After the break up with Dr. Hare, his grumpiness got worse, and even before this he was in rivalry with Director (who at the time had feelings for Dr. Hare as well). They broke up because Bard starting to develop feelings for someone else, and Dr. Hare thought it would be best because he didn’t want to be part of this rivalry anymore. (He didn’t want either of them hurt, in other words.) Who’s that new person?....Wow! How did you guess it? It’s Raven- no it’s Director. He has feelings for Director now. He developed feelings for THE ONE PERSON that did not show any affection toward him...ironic. Boom, want to get to him? Hate him back. (Joking please don’t.) However, he pushes these feelings down and continues on with his life. (More grumpiness, woo!)

Backstory:

You guys also know this one. owo 

Now, onto the plot of my blog. (I can’t believe you are still reading this. I am so sorry.)

So basically as some of you might have seen, (or not because I deleted the posts dnjfkvndkjf), Director got overworked and took the week off. He looked horrible.

He was going to be taken care of by his butler James (who’s actually younger than him). But, during this time, Bard decided that enough was enough, and he wanted to tell Director the truth and get it over with. However, when he got to HQ, Muddy told him Director was sick and left. He left, but to Director mansion. He used the excuse to help Director feel better during the week. (Such as feeding him, and give him medicine.)

On the final day, he was going to tell him how he felt. Now here is where we get a bit complicated. 

Director’s Answer:

The big reveal! As some of you might have hoped for... there are two endings. I’ll go over the good ending first because it’s short and sweet.

Good ending: 

Director says yes, decides to give Mordred an actual redemption arc, and he eventually becomes a better person. After a couple of years, they get married and live under Director’s mansion. Happily ever after. (I can’t wait to draw wedding drawings eventually!) 

Bad ending:

This explains the picture above. This ending ends up with Director saying he’s not ready for a relationship, and that he still has mixed feelings toward Bard. Bard is okay at first, (”I’m fine, I’m fine it’s cool.”) but because of all that compression of his feelings toward Director, Director’s answer triggers a virus Mordred develops because of said compression...and he loses his sanity. He’s become obsessed, but not by choice. He kidnaps Director, Muddy (by herself or by the help of other agents who would have helped via questions on my blog)  save him, and fight Modred. Eventually, they are (Director with the help of Dr. Hare) are able to reboot him back to normal after the fight, and he returns to a miserable life. The end. :3

“But Jay, which ending was going to be the actual ending to their story arc?”

...

You know, I wish I could answer that. I am writing out their story because come on, this was not going to be drawn out. I know myself, and that was not going to happen, I am so sorry. XD I apologize you had to read all that just for a *shrug* I don’t know. You can decide what happens to them. If you made it this far, thank you for dealing with my dumb plot and writing. Please ask me questions about the story!! I would love to answer them I am sure I left some points out that might not make any sense. (Or make me choose an ending! XD I don’t know.) But yeah.

That’s their fate, and the context of this drawing. 

The Usage of Purple as a Symbol for Straying From the Norm and Character Development in the Broadway Production of The Prom Musical: An Over-Analysis.

As written by Ozzie Clifford

This is some long stuff, I’m putting a cutoff here. Also spoilers The Prom Musical. Enjoy this weirdness I wrote at 2 in the morning.

If there is one thing I loved, and continue to love, about the fandom for The Prom Musical after over a year, among so much else, is its ability to analyze the true depth of the ultimate protagonists of the show, Emma and Alyssa. Who are the protagonists in the show can be made into a separate mini-essay on its own. Believe me, it has been discussed plenty enough, but for the purposes of keeping things to one concise thesis here, I'm going to say that because the character growth of the arguably more prominent Broadway stars is caused by the citizens of Edgewater, and the center of that conflict that led them to Edgewater is ultimately Emma and Alyssa, so they will be referred to as the main protagonists for this interpretation. Based on the surprisingly small amount we are given on these characters, the fanbase for the Tony-nominated 2018-2019 production is surprisingly able to get a lot from these characters and infer plenty about them. However, one facet of these characters' growth throughout the plot goes surprisingly unacknowledged: The use of the color purple to show how they do not fit the norm, but are eventually able to find acceptance of that by the time they do get their prom.

The plot of the show in short, in case my passionate ramblings do find someone who is unaware of the existence of the material I base this upon, is absurd but simple. A teenage lesbian by the name of Emma Nolan is barred from taking her girlfriend, later discovered to be the PTA president's daughter, Alyssa Greene, to their senior prom by the PTA. Four Broadway stars who are at a low in their careers find potential for good press in this story, which they found on Twitter, and they inevitably wreck things before making it better. But for me, this story has nothing to do with the actors and actually starts with a scene that's halfway through the first act, so we can get a glimpse at where the color purple first becomes a prominent idea within it. The prom has just been reinstated and all day Emma and Alyssa have been watching their classmates prom-pose to each other. This is shown in the song 'You Happened', in which the girls do manage to sneak behind the bleachers and get a verse of their own in this number, discussing how they wouldn't hide anymore. At the end of the number Alyssa is shown giving a bracelet to Emma as a way of asking her out to their for a second time. It becomes a brief nod to the idea of a symbol that shows them breaking free from expectations, but it never does come up again; at least not in that form.

This is the closest replica to the aforementioned bracelet that we are aware of as of June 2020. Note that it is purple, because I do have reason to believe it ties to a greater symbolic storytelling. A seemingly insignificant detail in this scene from its initial Broadway run is that Emma and Alyssa are wearing blue and pink tops respectively. Blue and pink put together make purple, which appears to be an equally insignificant stretch until you remember Edgewater is a conservative town. Most likely, for boys and pink is for girls in this town, and gender roles are tightly wound. In coming out as gay and cutting her hair short, Emma broke away from that, potentially reflecting why she is seen wearing blue while Alyssa, who is in the closet, is stuck in the confining box of pink*. a reason I bring up this specific coloring of their clothes. It actually occurs more than once, the second time with somewhat more specific meaning that points to my initial claim but that's a point I will get to shortly. As of right now, in the middle of Act 1. Alyssa is trapped in the pink box of expectations, and Emma isn't anymore. Alyssa makes the promise of joining her on the outside with a purple bracelet, and while the color purple can easily be viewed as simply a combination of blue and pink, boy and girl, to use this color for a gay couple heavily hints at something more complex. Rather than the joining of boy and girl, in the context of Emma and Alyssa as lesbians, it's much more likely that purple is meant to be escaping the expectation of a heterosexual relationship by showing purple as it's own separate color rather than a fusion of pink and blue by the show's end. But again, more on that later.

*Alyssa is not shown in pink in the most widely known professional stills of the production, at the very least, but it got changed later on in the run.

For now, we're moving ahead in time to the end of act one, where prom takes place, and based on solely the fact that this is only the end of the first act, something is bound to go wrong. And, of course, things go wrong. The PTA has organized a separate "prom" for Emma at the school while holding the actual prom at the Elk's Club, where Alyssa ends up. Once again, this scene is significant costume-wise, but more notably than in You Happened. It's mostly cited as such because it is in this scene at the first prom that Emma wears a dress, which is completely out of line for her character. Often it gets cited as a reference point for her character development throughout the second act of the show since at the end, she shows up to the second, actual prom in a suit. The outfits in this scene are so pivotal that they are a blatant representation of Emma's character development, to the point that this is the scene that inspired this half-essay, half-ramble. If it can be seen as that level of important to showing Emma's character arc throughout the musical, why would it not do the same for Alyssa? And then it hit me: it does. It's rather simply just less obvious because Alyssa's not butch. This is the second scene where Emma and Alyssa are seen wearing blue and pink respectively. The pink is subdued to the point of being nearly white, but it is still pink. And now the separation between the completely different realities of being closeted and being out are juxtaposed in an actual, physical distance between them. There is no purple to even attempt to unite or blend these two different colors, different worlds. Emma is not wearing her bracelet from Alyssa. This on it's own is almost showing how Alyssa isn't able to hold to the promise that she made when giving Emma that bracelet, the promise of coming out. This could be interpreted asforeshadowing the events at the fake before either of the girls step foot in the buildings of their respective proms. But I digress. The important aspect here is that there is nothing that will bring the two of them back together, because they are, at the end of the day, leading entirely separate lives, and this is shown with blue and pink the same way those colors came together during the You Happened scene, proving they cannot live this split reality forever.

A conflict ensues between Emma and Alyssa as a result of this, and purple is not prominent again throughout the narrative of Act 2 until this is able to be resolved, and in the final number of the show, our leading ladies get their prom. It's here that the purple comes out full force. It's known by default that Alyssa's second prom dress is a lavender color. Emma's suit, however, is also purple, but the lighting on stage would have you believe otherwise, so here's a quick photo of the suit in different lighting.

It's smaller than expected, but gets across the point that the suit is purple. The scene where Emma and Alyssa get to be their authentic selves is where purple is the most prominent in the show, implying that the usage of the color in it is directly tied to the authenticity and character development of both Emma and Alyssa by the finale as initially shown by their bracelets in You Happened. It's because of this promise that they will be themselves that they're able to shed the ideas and concepts of cut and dry, pink and blue, heterosexual relationships being the only ones that can flourish in Edgewater, and in doing that, they make a whole new color that can't fit that box--purple.

At the end of the day, this idea is admittedly messy. I broke some of my own evidence trying to find a photo to prove it, and it's so weirdly specific that it probably wasn't intentional, but I do enjoy this way of looking at this show. Everything down to color having a meaning showcases the strange, articulate ways in which art can impact people without much thought, and whether or not it was thought out purposely or not, it adds a new level of depth to the narrative that I enjoy, and I hope I left you thinking, because whether or not I convinced you of this claim is irrelevant if you don't attempt to apply this type of weird, abstract, and ambitious thinking in other circumstances. After all, how else will we be able to make room for more "purple" things in this world? Things that can't fit into a box of 'This or That?'.

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm. tagged by: @breselin, & @citialiin; thank you for the tag! I was planning on stealing it. tagging: @rosiqe, @noirtux, @goldgliitters, @ndeavor,  @reminiscentsky, @battleshell, @ettards & whoever else wants to do this. Just steal it & tag me. -- go wild.

My muse is:   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless / complicated [loosely affiliated mainly due to the fandom’s size. I am quite open to crossovers of any kind, really even if it takes me a while to open up.]

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO. [she is one of the deuteragonists; has been around since the pilot & while she has been sidelined during the epilogue, she was usually at least around with her story arc / actions having a huge impact on the overall story as such.]

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. [I guess so? Then again, that’s an objective statement so I am just? Assuming? I personally find her general aesthetics to be quite amazing; she is a dance battler, graceful & elegant; a ballerina with a classical theme that runs through her design & attitude like a red threat. I have a weak spot for stuff like that.]

Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. [surprisingly, Pearl is considered to be the strongest non-fusion Crystal Gem according to the show (until Lapis Lazuli comes around). -- I assume prowess wise Pearl is high up next to Garnet & Rose whenever she can actually get her crap together due to having fought countless battles &, most importantly, survived the war in which she fought & shattered opponents thrice her size.]

Are they underrated?  YES / NO / IDK. [partially yes, partially no. She is controversial for sure but just as popular. At some point, the show delved deeper into her issues & actually had her mess up quite severely; the fandom’s reaction was so harsh that the showrunners had to interfere by “apologizing for making her human”. Pearl has always been a target for extreme criticism; some of it justified, some just straight down ridiculous.  -- It’s easy to forget what kind of complexity a character can offer when her resolution arc happens literally ten episodes before the show ends.]

Were they relevant for the main story?  YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG. [Pearl becomes Steven’s guardian / mentor after the death of his mother Rose Quartz & can later be considered his stand-in mother alongside Garnet. It is safe to say that her actions have influenced Steven the most, both negatively & positively.]

Are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO. [she earned herself the title ‘The Renegade’ during the war for being the first (& arguably only) pearl that broke out of her conditioning; she used to be a wanted criminal / traitor to her own kind for 5000 + years until her record was cleared upon the beginning of Era 3 (aka official end of the Gem War). She is still being referred to as ‘The Renegade’ now & then; while she used to be proud of the title she has grown to resent it a lot these days.]

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. [it depends on who you ask; Homeworld Soldiers? Well, they despise her; she is a defective Gem & a war criminal. She stands for all that is wrong with the rebellion; I mean a pearl who refuses to serve & calls herself an individual? a warrior? THE SCANDAL!! Some soldiers are afraid of her, call her ‘Rose Quartz’ terrifying renegade’, even. However, in her ranks aka the rebellion, she is being seen as a silent heroine. A celebrated war hero, Rose Quartz’s right hand & sole confidante (some even whisper that there is more between them).]

How strictly do you follow canon?  — uh... well. Not really but... kinda? Steven Universe’s canon is messy & occasionally QUITE inconsistent. -- while it gives you vague details, some lore can best be compared to a gaping void. Thus my reason for partial divergence isn’t lack of good character writing (because Pearl is very, very complex even on screen), but rather inconvenient lore holes & SU’s habit of leaving important facts uncommented, “unshown” or just stuck between the lines. While I don’t mind deep analysis, some of those “buried facts” fly other people’s heads which leads to terrible, terrible fanon takes. -- in order to distance myself from that, I usually take canon & expand it with my own headcanons & metas based on lore / show analysis. I often alter / cut what does not fit my narrative BUT I always root my stuff in actual canon occurrences.

     Sometimes, I just straight down change certain things that canon messed up in my pov. For example, in order to make it explicitly clear that she fell in love & rebelled on her own volition (even if it has been confirmed like ten times by now), my Pearl is around 1500 years older than the original & (in)directly served White Diamond before being handed to Pink (not the only reason for that change but well I will elude on it eventually). She was a default pearl with no customization & usually spent most of her time with organizing matters in the palace until Pink accidentally broke her customized pearl; Pearl was then 'poofed’ & handed over; she possessed a more sensible personality & a strict rule protocol that was supposed to help her “raise” Pink Diamond into the ranks of a ruler. Most other changes are rather minor but very important or essential to my portrayal (for example whenever “A Single Pale Rose” is concerned: Pearl suggesting the “sealing of the secret”, her not wearing the dress from the beginning, her not calling Pink “my diamond”, her arguing with Pink long before the fake-shattering took place, etc etc.); the epilogue series is another can of worms I will get to eventually but lemme just say I didn’t really like the way Pearl behaved / the plot-bound ooc-ness she sometimes yielded to & other stuff. 

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.  —  well, she is a lesbian space rock from a strange universe; whose body is basically a manifestation of light? She is probably the most passionate being you will ever meet. -- if you are looking for a speedrun through human history, she is your gal. If you need someone to beat up some bullies, she will gladly come & smack sense into people; if you want to learn everything about Gemkind, sit down & listen because she won’t stop talking any time soon. 

     By definition, Pearl is a good person; the extreme loyal kind, absolutely & helplessly dedicated to a cause. She wears most of her emotions on her sleeve, comes off as genuinely caring, protective & trustworthy. She is empathetic & observant, she will always be there for you in one way or another. She is smart, loves to read & indulges in the higher arts such as (romantic) poetry, singing, painting, music (violin, piano, bass) & dance (predominately classic ballet / waltz but she has grown rather fond of jazz lately). Her knowledge about Earth & all that lays beyond is vast & if you ever want to see whatever is out there, she is the type to take you on a space tour with no questions asked. She fences, has learned to wield a lance, can engineer very well, has a very peculiar but... sorta adorable kind of humour that can either be hella obnoxious or super funny. There is no in-between. Pearl loves science, baking, housekeeping, ice-& roller-skating & is more than willing to take people along whenever she visits the rink. If you ask her for advice, she will gladly give it; if you need help, she will be the first to raise her hand. Pearl is orderly, has a strong sense of justice & a fierce, dedicated kind of resolve. 

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).  —  Pearl. Is. A. Mess. No questions asked. She is an introverted, nervous, neurotic, grief-- & trauma riddled mess who loves to pretend & rationalize things to death. Her self-esteem is abysmal, she is extremely jealous, obsessive & possessive [to the point where she straight up murdered men just because they dared to be around her girlfriend]. Her mind is a compartmentalized mess of repressed memories & heavy, untreated cptsd woven into it; Pearl lives too much inside her head & gets overwhelmed by her emotions far too easily; she feels too much all at once & lets her temper get the best of her. 

     She is self-centred, does not seem to understand that words & reckless actions hurt people, believes that only she deserves to grieve Rose & willingly destroyed relationships just to soak in her own misery; self-destruction is her forte & she will indulge in it no matter the consequences. She is often high-strung, judgemental, always has to be right, overachieves & overdoes whenever a chance is given. -- she can be petty, arrogant & desperate for validation. --  Needless to say, Pearl is the kind of person that pretends to be fine for years but once she cracks she reveals that she is anything but. -- she cannot move on, hates men, & just is a lot to deal with. Getting in touch with her means you run the risk to get dragged into her mess, whenever you want it or not. 

What inspired you to rp your muse?  —  first & foremost, my love for complex, purpose-driven female characters. I am a sucker for the “introvert, plagued lady” type & once parts of Pearl’s past were revealed during Season 1 I was sold. Pearl seemed relatable to me, extremely human & raw in her behaviour. While I love most of the SU cast equally, Pearl just wouldn’t let me go. Her aesthetic is amazing, her past intriguing. -- her connection to ballet & classical music, her elegant & graceful design just spoke to me. 

What keeps your inspiration going?  —  music. music. oh, and music. Poetry, long walks (I am not kidding), analysis, meta & hc writing, discussions with writing partners or my rl partner @rosiqe.

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO / I SINCERELY HOPE I DO? [ despite my emo peculiar take on the character, I do hope that people hear her voice whenever they read my replies. ]

Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO / SORT OF? [ I wish I could post more but I am very, very slow & a perfectionist at heart. -- I try to compensate for my lack of actual hcs by rambling in my tags. Most part of the time said ramblings include personal headcanons or analyses of specific scenes that include personal takes on pivotal situations; while I gather & write them down eventually, it can take me a long time to get stuff done. -- it is easier for me to jus blabber on & on in the tags. ]

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO [ all my ask replies are drabbles, ngl. ]

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO

Are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO / SORT OF? [... a sore topic. While I love my headcanons & have gotten quite proud of my writing over time, I constantly doubt myself regarding the “ic”-ness of my responses. I like to believe that I am doing rather well, but I am not confident, no. ]

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO. [ it took me a long time to develop my style; while I always struggle to believe in my portrayal I am quite confident in my writing as such. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but in general? I am proud of it. ]

Are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO. / SORTA.

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?  —  Well, yes. As long as it is the constructive kind. I love receiving feedback, may it be negative or positive. I will most likely try to discuss criticism with you; aka if you (i.e) tell me that Pearl shouldn’t have (C)PTSD, I will deliver canon proof & state my reasoning for my decision to implement it in my canon, etc. What I will not do is tolerate character hate or unreasonable hate towards my writing. Be assured that I will never headcanon something that has no solid footing in canon.

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?  —  ABSOLUTELY. Send me random hc / meta asks, I beg you.

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?  —  sure. As stated above, I will probably discuss stuff with you. The chance of me dropping a headcanon however are rather low.

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?  —  Hm... it depends on what they don’t like. If it’s my writing, well, why are you following me to begin with?? If it is my take on things... well again, why are you following me? I stated in my rules what you should expect & that I will not water down specific aspects of a complex character. Disliking my portrayal is fine since I know that my kind of writing / analysis isn’t necessarily everyone’s tea but... again, why would you keep following me?

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?  —  um. Not... well? While I will never excuse my muse’s actions, I dislike groundless bashing. In regard to Pearl... well. As stated above, I expected backlash the second I created this blog. Pearl is one of those characters the fandom either loves or hates; her canon relationship to Rose was branded toxic by a ton of people, people call her uncaring, salty, insane & straight up manic, she seemingly has no redeeming qualities, she is a bitch, too perfect (LOL) or arrogant & apparently has no character? I love it when people say stuff like that because... did we watch the same show? Is there a version of SU I don’t know? Please tell me, I wanna see it for myself! Some hot takes in this fandom are atrocious & make me want to commit a crime. 

     -- but I digress. I have spent too much time in her tag in 2014 + & I have seen quite the fights over the most ridiculous things; Pearl, in particular, got quite the flack for stuff that eventually got resolved in season 5 [which, again, was way too late but well]. In the end, clowns will be clowns, no matter what you do. I just don’t get why you would follow someone if you hate their character to begin with.

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?  —  yes, but please don’t be rude about it. I am German, English is my second language. I am currently learning Swedish / improving my Swedish so mistakes can always happen. Additionally, I am someone who posts her replies in the middle of the night & while I proofread a lot & most likely fix posts after I posted ‘em, some mistakes can still slip through. 

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?   —  ... I like to believe I am but I know that I am overly passionate & I can come off as too strong or too fierce sometimes. I can be too much, I can be too excentric (I’m a Scorpio, Karen); I have strong opinions in regard to my characters & I will not hold them back. I criticise shows mercilessly & I will plough through canon as much as I please. Stans & I usually don’t get along. HOWEVER, I am a meme. I love lame jokes, I am awkward, & sometimes very, very insecure. In the end,  I just wanna talk about my favourite characters & develop sth wonderful. I keysmash unironically, I use old memes unironically. I mean I have been writing for ten + years & I am about to smooth sail post the 24 age border aka I will turn 25 soon which renders me old according to tumblr standards. I am just here to have fun before the staff comes to lock my account down due to my status as an rp-senior. -- yeah... that is the kind of stupid ass humor I mean. I digress but... please, I am an awkward, rambling mess, just hit me up via dms & you will see what I mean. 

230. Sonic the Hedgehog #162

The Darkest Storm (Part One): Gathering the Tempest

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: James Fry Colors: Jason Jensen

This three-part arc is a great example of how Ian is using his early time with the comic to sort of clean up and consolidate a lot of loose ends into something a little more coherent. For example, it's about time we learned a little more about Anonymous. Apparently, whoever it is has decided that the time has come to eliminate several key players in Mobius' eternal struggle for power, in pursuit of some unknown ultimate goal. Strangely enough, whoever it is seems to be interested in destroying Sonic as well - perhaps due to Sonic's tendency to stop any attempts to take over the world - but doesn't seem to want to undermine Eggman. After all, remember that the very first thing Anonymous ever did was send Eggman a "gift" of re-roboticized Mobians. Anonymous has decided to use Knothole as a staging ground for whatever they're planning next, and begins the process of setting their plan in motion…

In Knothole, King Elias attempts to restore Sonic's knighthood as thanks for everything he's done for the kingdom. However, Sonic refuses, saying he's not too concerned with titles and that there's already a knight in the family, in the form of Uncle Chuck. However, Elias says that as a new king, he's trying to restore the Court of Acorn to advise him, including calling on some old members… two of which have just showed up to visit Tails.

Oh man, remember Sir Connery from StH#45? The incredibly forgettable and random horse knight guy who works for the Ancient Walkers and hates "dark magicks" and whatnot? Yeah, I guess nowadays he just follows Merlin around to protect him from anything bad that comes at him. In New Megaopolis, Eggman is thrilled that the "biofield deletion" has nearly completed on all his Mobian captives in the Egg Grapes. Apparently, once they're drained of all their life energy, he can use the husks of their bodies to kind of "filter" the energy from the Zone of Silence into something stable and usable, which just once again reminds us of how utterly terrifying this iteration of Eggman is compared to his counterpart in the games and anime. Like, Jesus Christ, dude, at least games Eggman doesn't casually torture thousands of people just because he can! He even admits to M that there's probably a more efficient way to accomplish his goals, but it just wouldn't be as fun. He asks A.D.A.M. if there's been any luck identifying Anonymous yet, but A.D.A.M. replies that he still hasn't found anything, which frustrates Eggman even more. Weirdly enough, he seems to think that Anonymous is the one who released his nanites several issues ago, even though we know that it was just A.D.A.M. interpreting his orders a little too liberally.

Also, it's time to resurrect a dropped plot thread from some time ago. Remember how the Ancient Walkers were supposed to be dying and all? Well despite the fact that we haven't heard anything on that in some time, apparently they are totally still dying, and despite Athair and Aurora in the afterlife trying to reassure them that they'll find a way to save them with Merlin's help, they seem to have accepted their impending death, naming Aurora, Athair, and Merlin as their successors who must keep the world in balance once they're gone. Wow, Aurora may already be a deity in her own right, but the other two are about to get an exciting upgrade on life! And they're gonna need to start using it too, because back in Knothole, right as Merlin, Sir Connery, and Tails are heading to the castle to meet with the king, they're set upon by some familiar faces.

Ah, so these guys have picked a new name, huh? It's just as well, the "Fearsome Foursome" would hardly work anymore with there being six of… wait… hang on a second. Weren't these guys supposed to be roboticized by Anonymous? Not only that, but Sonic and the fake Tommy destroyed those roboticized forms a while back… so how are they still here, alive and well? Sonic doesn't even appear to notice the discrepancy once he rushes in to help along with the rest of the Freedom Fighters (including Sally!), merely mocking their new name before he and his friends knock them all out. Knuckles and his team stay behind to make sure they don't get away, while the Freedom Fighters lead the guests to the castle. Sir Connery explains that his sword is the Sword of Light, given to him by the Ancient Walkers, which has the power to purge evil magic, and he's been guarding Merlin for the express purpose of making sure that Mammoth Mogul, stuck in his Chaos Emerald, can't ever escape again. Interestingly enough, thousands of years ago the Ancient Walkers actually saw what Mogul would become in the future, and decided that while they weren't gonna bother actually stopping him, they would at least put a curse on his emerald so that his plans would always eventually fail. Of course, however, things can't just be that easy.

Oh lord, not the Sword of Acorns again. Sally recaps how she got rid of the thing because it was getting entirely too possessive of her (literally), giving it to Uma Arachnis' children for safekeeping. However, this turns out to have been a terrifically bad idea, as while Sonic confidently assures everyone that they can get it back and save the Ancient Walkers, said children of Arachnis are all busy swarming into Eggman's base. Just as the biofield deletion completes on the captured Mobians, killing them all for good, the ninjas strike, at the same time that the Egg Grapes suddenly and mysteriously power back on. M carries her father to safety, and the ninjas hold up the sword, which tears a hole between dimensions, causing a number of effects. For one, the void fuses permanently with the Zone of Silence, stabilizing it and increasing its raw power. For another, all Eggman's soulless Mobian husks are sucked into the void to facilitate this process, meaning he just lost all his precious work. And finally…

Welp! Goodbye, Ancient Walkers! I honestly can't say I'll miss you, you weird plot devices you. Back in Knothole, in the middle of a short speech about working together to create a better future, the emerald in Merlin's hand suddenly shatters, and when the light fades everyone is horrified to see Mogul standing in front of them, ready to go about conquering the world once more…

Ties That Bind

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: J&A Ray

This story actually isn't separate from the one above, but takes place concurrently - presumably either right before what we saw above, or directly during, after M evacuated Eggman from the Egg Grape Chamber. Snively is working in one of Knothole's labs, but it's with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, feeling like he doesn't really know why he's here, as he's always been aligned with villains, never heroes. He finds himself comparing himself to his half-sister Hope, who has easily settled into life amongst Mobians despite her species. However, his ruminations don't last long, as someone has decided to come and visit him personally.

Man, Eggman, when did you gain the ability to just teleport into Knothole whenever you want? Seems like you'd be using that a lot more to sabotage stuff behind everyone's backs. Snively asks for a moment to himself before going back, which Eggman surprisingly grants him, and he rushes outside to find Hope. He tries making some awkward small talk with her, complimenting her on the plane she's building and casually mentioning that it could take her very far away from here, which only makes her wonder what the heck he's getting at.

I really love this. Snively was already an interesting character, and under Ian's writing he's quickly becoming a truly complex and fascinating one. Despite hating his uncle, he's always held some amount of loyalty to him, and now we see that he seems to truly care about Hope's wellbeing, recognizing that she's an innocent in all this and not wanting her to die in Eggman's planned attack on the village. That said, he's still selfish, and ultimately betrays the Mobians once again to go back to his uncle's side, even thinking to himself, standing inside one of Eggman's Egg Fleet ships, how ironic it is given how much betraying he's already done of both sides, in both wars. He asks Eggman why he's even bothering to trust him, knowing of his traitorous nature, and Eggman says that he fully knows Snively intends to try to betray him again in the future, and will be happily awaiting his attempt so he can thwart it, prompting Snively to remark it's "just like old times." What an interesting and strange relationship these two have. And what an interesting outlook Eggman has, not being particularly concerned with his minions wishing to betray him and even seeing it as all some kind of twisted game. Honestly, if there's any character that I think was universally improved by Ian with no drawbacks whatsoever, it's Snively, and we'll get to see even more of that improvement and depth in the future.

Alice Quinn’s Grand Unified Theory of Magic

[meta analysis][6.7k words][ao3]

An Open Letter to Sera Gamble and John McNamara:

I began watching The Magicians in the fall of 2018 because my best friend suggested it to me. We do this with stories we enjoy all the time; books, TV shows, movies, comics, games, all of it. We both love stories, and we love complicated, messy things about downtrodden garbage characters making terrible choices for what they hope are all the right reasons and then dealing with the consequences of their actions. Naturally, @s-cornelius (my friend) was right about The Magicians, and I fell in love. Season 3 and season 4* especially, are some of the best storytelling I’ve seen on TV in a long time. (*up until the season 4 finale). Great themes, tight character arcs, relatable motivations. Characters choosing to do the wrong thing because they are emotionally driven by their complicated relationships with other, also-complex and nuanced characters.

Part of the reason that season 3 and 4* work so well are because the show builds a foundation for trust. Yes, The Magicians tells hard stories. Rape, suicide, pedophilia, depression, death of a loved one, loss of bodily autonomy, drug overdose, loss of a child, fascism. The show does not shy away from hard topics, and I believe this is an important choice. Stories need to be told about terrible things, and in ways that do not glorify the trauma, but show how people can survive them and how they can do so with support from others. The show has not always done a perfect job of this, but it's been very honest and surprisingly nuanced in each of these stories, turning something that starts off looking like an unfortunate story choice into something nuanced, complicated, and character-driven. These topics and especially their consequences are treated with respect, and that creates space for the viewer to trust the story, even when it goes somewhere a little dark, a little scary.

And the show definitely had to gain my trust. I had read about a chapter of the first Magicians book by Lev Grossman years ago before I gave up in boredom and disgust. The main character was obnoxious and unrelatable and his motivations were nauseating. I’ve also watched Supernatural, and while I always enjoyed the episodes you wrote, and I loved the cohesive mytharcs of season 6 and 7, I also feel like these seasons suffered in how they doled out trauma purely for the sake of trauma and in how they handled character death--including the gratuitous writing-off of a beloved main character.

[continue reading on ao3]

Hello it’s been a while so here are my thoughts on VEIL OF SHADOWS

Ok I’m gonna get this out of the way:

I’m loving The Broken Code

I think it’s really well written and it’s been one of my favorite arcs

Like I’d say that the first three (or really the second and third) books of AVoS are my favorite arc, then the original series, and then TBC

Now here come the spoilers

Be warned

First of all, I honestly think that Shadowsight should’ve died in the prologue

I think it would’ve been a really interesting twist to have him as a spirit for the rest of the arc

My favorite chapters were Shadowsight’s ghost chapters (ESPECIALLY the one where he talks to the imposter)

Like having Shadowsight in the world of the dead, Bristlefrost in the land of the living, and Rootspring bridging the gap would’ve been so amazing

Alas

HarperCollins are cowards

That said, I did like Shadowsight a lot in this book

Tigerheartstar is an amazing dad even if I don’t like him that much

Shadowsight’s connection to Spiresight was sweet but Spiresight was acting a little sus tbh

Telling Shadowsight that being a ghost is better

Maybe he was just lonely but idk it seemed a little

Shady

To me

(I’m sorry)

ANYWAYS MOVING ON

We have to talk about that scene

You know the one

Okay in all seriousness, I really think that the fandom blew the suicide scene way out of proportion

Like I was expecting it to be Stemleaf or one of the Rebels jumping off a cliff or slitting their throat in defiance of Fakestar but nope

It was just Shadowsight eating some berries with no real intention of dying

Was it insentitive to people with suicidal tendencies? Yes.

Was it poorly handled? Absolutely.

But Shadowsight wasn’t actually in any danger. He was in the medicine den with Puddleshine right next to him and, as a medicine cat, he likely knew that they had a full stock of yarrow

Obviously the Erins and HarperCollins treating suicide like an easily reversible decision was incredibly disrespectful

But I’ve seen a lot of people saying that there were other ways for Shadowsight to reach the Dark Forest and I completely disagree. The Moonpool was broken and StarClan/the DF were completely cut off. No one could reach them

The only evidence we’d actually seen of them at this point were Shadowsight’s visions, and those are involuntary

Now, I don’t think that it should have been necessary at all for Shadowsight to reach the Dark Forest. I honestly think it would have been better to keep the reason that StarClan is cut off a mystery

Something to keep driving the books forward

And I think that the explanation of DF cats cutting them off by making a barrier around their connection with the living kind of ruins the lore and mystery surrounding StarClan

Well, what was left of the lore and mystery anyways

Idk how I felt about the imposter trapping Bramblestar in the DF

Like I think it would’ve been a lot cooler if he’d actually faded so much that the living couldn’t see him anymore

REGARDLESS

My point is, I don’t think Shadowsight’s attempted suicide should have been in the book at all and I don’t think that the entire DF sequence should’ve been there either

But if the DF sequence existed

Then Shadowsight’s attempted suicide would have to exist as well

Moving on

I’d like to talk about Bristlefrost (can we talk about Bristlefrost, please? I’ve been dying to talk about Bristlefrost)

Overall, I think Bristlefrost had the strongest narration in this book

I loved seeing her relationship with the Rebels AND with Fakestar

I loved seeing her spy

And I loved seeing her build a relationship with Squirrelflight

It was sad to see her Clanmates hating her, but it felt natural and completely realistic for someone in her situation

Her scenes of seeing Fakestar complaining to Alderheart about pain, seeing his weakness, and seeing him talking to a ghost (whom Bristlefrost couldn’t see) were some of my favorite scenes in the book

They drove home that the Imposter isn’t invincible and that he’s weakening

And I loved how those scenes contrasted to seeing him fight off the Rebels and actually manage to kill THREE GROWN WARRIORS on his own

He’s completely unpredictable and has unchecked power and that makes him a great villain

Seeing his paranoia (which resulted in Berrynose’s exile) was really interesting

Bristlefrost got some nice development in this book

I liked seeing her struggle as deputy and I liked that she was relieved to step down at the end

The only thing I didn’t really like about Bristlefrost in this book was that she admitted that she had feelings for Rootspring

That felt completely out of left field

Like all of her narration felt like she saw him more as a friend or even a little brother

She never really showed any interest in him romantically

So I hated that

I feel like it’s only there to drive the plot forward and sacrificing character growth for the sake of plot is not! good! writing!

It’s kind of funny though — I think that each protagonist has had their own book to shine

Like I think that Shadowsight was the best protagonist in Lost Stars, Rootspring was the best in The Silent Thaw, and Bristlefrost was the best in Veil of Shadows

Wow and those were the cats on the covers of their respective books

Hadn’t noticed that

Anyways onto Rootspring

Oh Rootspring

Out of the three protagonists, I think Rootspring has shown the most character growth

He started out as a whiny apprentice in Lost Stars and grew into a complex, likable, but still flawed character

I loved seeing his relationship with his family in this book, especially his growing acceptance of Tree (more on that when I talk about Tree’s Roots)

Seeing Rootspring’s growing friendship with Shadowsight was great

I feel like, unlike in all the other arcs, the protagonists of this arc are pretty detached from one another

Like Bristlefrost and Rootpaw are friends, and now Rootpaw is starting to become friends with Shadowsight

But Bristlefrost and Shadowsight have no relationship (I don’t think they’ve interacted even once? Correct me if I’m wrong) and that’s strange because they’re actually kin

Rootspring’s relationship with Dewspring was also nice

I liked seeing Dewspring grow to respect his apprentice

I honestly thought that Rootspring’s little stint as a medicine cat apprentice was unnecessary

I was glad that he got to choose to be a warrior in the end (unlike other forced medicine cats), but I was frustrated that those chapters could’ve been filled with something else (and probably something more interesting)

Unfortunately, I didn’t think Rootspring’s chapters were very interesting without Brambleghost

The only chapters of his that I really enjoyed were his chapters with Shadowsight (especially when he rescued Shadowsight)

Rootspring is a likable character but that didn’t make his chapters any less boring

Here are some other notes:

The battle at the end was good but it felt a little rushed (especially since Bristlefrost didn’t actually fight)

I’m pretty upset that Rosepetal died bc I really liked her and I thought she had great character potential

Every scene in the rebel camp was great

I loved seeing these cats being forced to cooperate with each other

Like Bristlefrost said, I’d love to know more about Jayfeather and Mothwing’s relationship

Seeing Lionblaze and Crowfeather begrudgingly cooperating was fun

I think the real star of this book was Squirrelflight

She was a fantastic leader in the rebel camp (despite Crowfeather also being a deputy)

The scene where Squirrelflight and Mothwing faked Squirrelflight’s death was very clever and I completely understand why Jayfeather wouldn’t want to risk severely wounding his mother

I just wish we’d actually gotten to witness the actual wounding and not just the aftermath

I don’t think it’ll happen, but I really hope we get Squirrelstar by the end of this arc

I don’t like that she chose Lionblaze as a deputy though

Not just because he’s boring, but because he’s only trained one apprentice (and that apprentice broke the Code and switched Clans), and he’s never really shown any leadership potential

He’s always been more of a follower

Also i will always adore seeing Lionblaze and Jayfeather interacting with Squirrelflight

Some other standout characters in this book (there were a lot):

Alderheart:

Seeing him standing up to the Imposter was fantastic

My boy finally grew a spine

I just wish he hadn’t left Flipclaw and ThunderClan all alone

Flipclaw:

This poor boy

He was really fucked over in this book

But it was nice to see a side character getting some development and actual characterization (especially since he’s Bristlefrost’s littermate)

Berrynose:

It was nice to see that he actually thought that Bramblestar was a good cat (just misguided)

He was a good deputy (surprisingly)

In the end, I felt bad for him

He was completely taken advantage of and taken for granted

I never liked Berrynose but I was sad about his death

The way that Tawnypelt killed him was brutal (but great), and I hope that he’s at peace with his siblings and Honeyfern in StarClan

(Even though I know he’s not)

Mothwing:

Seeing her reject Mistystar’s invitation back into RiverClan was great and it felt completely in-character for her

I’ve seen a lot of people saying that Mistystar acted OOC in this book, but I disagree

We know from Mistystar’s Omen AND from her actions in AVoS that Mistystar is a proud cat and that she has great pride in both RiverClan and StarClan

I fully believe that she’d do whatever it takes to bring StarClan back, including exiling Mothwing (a named codebreaker)

Especially given that she’s forced Mothwing to step down once before

I also think that her old age might have made her even more proud and harsh (for example, exiling Icewing and Harelight due to codebreaking and burying Dappletuft without honors)

Back to Mothwing

It was nice to see her standing up for herself (especially after reading Mothwing’s Secret) and I liked that she was willing to do what was necessary to help Squirrelflight

Sparkpelt also had a great moment in this book

As did Graystripe

Stemleaf and Spotfur were also great and I was sad to see Stemleaf go

Their friendship with Bristlefrost was really nice

I’m actually kind of excited for Spotfur’s novellas

I hope we get to see her interacting with Lionblaze more

He’s her father and they were together in the rebel camp

I hope to see more from Ivypool, Twigbranch, and Violetshine in the coming books (ESPECIALLY Ivypool)

Another standout: Leafstar

She continues to be the smartest leader

And finally

The Imposter

We all know who it is at this point

It’s Ashfur

But he was fantastic in this book

His conversation with Shadowsight was so fun to read and his last words in the book were chilling

I still think he has an accomplice but we shall see

Overall I liked this book

It had its weaknesses, but I think it’s strengths greatly outweighed them

Warriors is never gonna be perfect but the books can still be pretty damn good

And this was one of the better ones

The Forgotten LGBT Characters of 1990s Marvel Comics

Hey X-Men fans! It’s still June, still Pride month, so I wanted to talk about three lesser-known LGBT Marvel characters. They’re very obscure, and they’re all also all from the early 1990s. Like Mystique, one might consider them pioneers of Marvel becoming inclusive of LGBT people. Unlike Mystique, no one really knows about them, as they never became major players (far from it, in fact) Be warned, two of them are villains and very much products of their time and the unfortunate way that society was still treating LGBT people; Marvel was starting to include them, sure, but in very demonized, stereotyped ways. But problematic or not, they existed and they’re close to my heart, and I’d like them to be remembered by a greater amount of fandom. Who knows, if enough people like them, maybe they will come back in canon one day and be treated with greater sensitivity!

Shinobi Shaw (bisexual) - Shinobi Shaw appeared as the young estranged son of Sebastian Shaw, who abused him terribly as a child. While he looked pretty badass at first by killing his father (it turned out not to take, alas) he spent the rest of his time being pretty much a joke as a villain. He preferred to just get drunk and hang out with a bevvy of hot men and women than really do any villainy, and what villainy he did commit was largely limited to trying to get X-Men he liked (Warren and Storm) to join him. Seriously, he sent Warren an invitation to a Hellfire Club party on a PERFUMED card with a LACEY border written in LOOPY PINK INK, and wanted him to be his White King. He totally had a crush on him. Jubilee drives it home with a “Liberace” comparison just in case that was all too subtle for readers. And of course he was attracted to Storm because...STORM. All bad guys like Storm! That’s not where the hints of bisexuality end, though. And by “hints” I mean “on more than one occasion he’s surrounded by men and women who are in various states of undress” like basically the art is trying to tell us that he’s in the middle of an orgy at any given time. At one point, his butler asks him if he’s having oysters or snails tonight, which is an old-timey way of saying “women or men”, and Shinobi replies he thinks he’ll have dinner first, just so the readers are sure he AIN’T talking about food here. Also he dresses in a purple pirate coat and lilac pinstripe pants. I don’t like stereotyping but COME ON GUYS. Fashion bicon right here! Shinobi is definitely and blatantly depicted as bisexual, but he’s really not what could be called good bisexual representation. He’s not only a villain, he’s played up as simultaneously despicable and ineffective, as too effeminate and damaged (his status as an abuse survivor is not treated sympathetically either) to be any real threat, but still as disgusting nonetheless. He’s also depicted as something of an attempted sexual predator, but also as, again, not really enough of a “real man” for it to be scary, just gross. He’s also played up a LOT as a decadent hedonist obsessed only with pleasure, which is an age-old stereotype of gay people and bi people both, but especially bi people. There’s a lot of problems with Shinobi. But he’s still a lot of fun as a character, at least to me, and the hints of how emotionally damaged he is from aforementioned abuse and the implication he may have a substance abuse problem and that all this decadence might just be his only way of coping because he’s clearly unable to connect with people but WANTS to somehow...there’s a great character arc here waiting to happen, if some writer only sees it. Those familiar with the far more famous Daken might notice some similarities in design; both are the eastranged predatory  bisexual abused half-Japanese son of a burlier, hairier, pre-established white male character. Of course, Daken was far more competent and became a much more major, complex character. Maybe Shinobi was sort of his first draft? Who knows! All I know is that as of June 19, Shinobi has finally re-appeared alive in Uncanny X-Men #20, and I’m hoping for more shenanigans--preferably in the flamboyant bisexual disaster Shinobi style! Mindmeld (transgender) - Mindmeld appears solely in X-Force #62 as a bodyguard in the employ of Shinobi Shaw. No alternative name is given for her, and it’s my headcanon that “Mindmeld” is her chosen name as both a mutant and a trans woman. How do we know she’s a trans woman? Well, we don’t. But she’s drawn with the same body type and facial shape as all the male characters are, because this is comics and there’s one mold for guys, one for ladies. However, despite big muscles, a strong jaw, and a distinct lack of breasts, she presents pretty feminine, with makeup and a lot of jewelry. The other characters (the heroes, no less) express confusion about her gender, saying things like “Now, Mr. or Mrs. Mindmeld...” and “What is your real name? Pat? Chris?” (get it? those are unisex/androgynous names?) However, only “she” pronouns are ever used for her. Given all this, I think it’s fair to say that these jabs along with her physical appearance are meant to hint to the audience that she’s a transgender woman. She could fall into some other trans category, such as non-binary or genderqueer, but considering this was the 90s (when those identities were less known) and being written by straight cis guys (the least likely to know about said identities) I think that her being a pre-op/non-op/non-passing trans woman is a safe guess. My bet is that her presence was meant to add some shock value and play up Shinobi’s own bisexuality (since it’s a common misconception that a straight man couldn’t possibly be into a trans woman) In any case, she was short-lived and ill-treated by both the story and the other characters, but I find her intriguing. She’s also very important despite her obscurity, as she’s the first representation of a transgender mutant that I’m aware of that didn’t involve something like shapeshiting or or bodyswapping (though her powers could swap the brains of other people!) or being an alien with no knowledge of gender norms, or any other “explanation” that accounted for being trans that had no real-world equivalent. She just seems to have been trans in the way REAL people are trans, something that thus far no mutant I’m aware of (save for another one-time character, Jessie Drake) has been. And I think she damn well deserves some love for that. Plus look at her, she’s just cool! Nocturne (wlw) - Nocturne aka Angela Cairn (no, not TJ Wagner, this is a different Nocturne) is the only non-villain on this list, and the only one whose sexuality was treated sympathetically, perhaps because it was only hinted at and her story was told largely in metaphor. Ironically, she’s also the only chracter here who is not a mutant or an X-Men character, despite X-Men being the publication that’s supposed to be all about embracing the different and downtrodden. She first appears in the 1993 Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #13, and had a few subsequent appearances before disappearing from the page altogether. Angela Cairn was a police officer of Black, Cuban, and Native American (tribe unspecified) heritage. As a lifelong victim of prejudice, she joined the police in hopes of using the law to protect others from being victimized. She is implied to have been in a romantic relationship with a fellow female officer, Jackie Kessler, and the two may have co-habited. After Jackie is murdered in the line of duty, Angela went on the trail of a serial killer who she believed was the same supervillain that killed Jackie. Following a false lead, she was lured to a warehouse where she was trapped and experimented on by one of the nameless mutates created from humans by Baron Zemo. Unlike the other monstrous mutates, this one did not seek to return to human form, and, for reasons unknown, wanted Angela to become like her. As a result, Angela was transformed in the mute, winged, vampire-like being called Nocturne. No longer able to live in human society or even explain to others that she’s Angela, Nocturne becomes homeless and protects those who also live on the fringes of society, including a boy who is the victim of a gay-bashing. Her journey ends up being not a typical superhero tale, but an introspective single-issue saga of pain and self-acceptance. It’s told largely in what I interpret to be metaphor for coming to terms with being open about her sexuality only after she lost her partner, which I write more extensively about HERE, and I personally find it to be a surprisingly deep and nuanced story---especially for comics, which are usually about as subtle as an anvil when it comes to whatever social commentary they’re trying to get across (not that this is always a bad thing either!) Anyway, if you read this far, I’d very much appreciate it if you would reblog! I think these characters deserve to be more well-known, and I think a lot of people will enjoy seeing their representation, flawed and dated though it may be.