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rosaliepostsstuff · 3 years

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Secret santa - F.W.

This is my fic for @thisismysecrethappyplace‘s writing challenge, using prompt #27 - "Today, it's like there's rock bottom, then 50 feet of crap, then me."

Pairing: Fred Weasley x Hufflepuff!reader (although the house is not mentioned much)

word count: 2070

a/n: I’m not one of the people who start celebrating Christmas on November 1st (but if you do - live your extra life, love) but the idea of secret santa game just popped into my head and I couldn’t think of any other story to work with the quote. Year is not specified.

If you want to be added to my taglist, let me know!

December rolled around and the castle of Hogwarts has been covered in snow once again. The snow reflecting the little sunlight the area got this time of year, making the inside seem a bit brighter. It reminded you that in just a few weeks’ time it would be Christmas. Even though you were to stay at Hogwarts this year, you were looking forward to it.

During one of the study sessions in the Great Hall, you were sat next to your friends from Gryffindor. You were quietly chatting to Angelina and Katie. One word led to another and you learnt that the girls and a few more friends of yours would be staying for the Christmas break as well.

“Look, we’ll finally get to properly spend the holidays together-“ Katie started, but Angelina quickly joked, “oh, like the big, dysfunctional, happy family we are” and finished with a big grin that quickly fell when she caught Professor Vector’s eye and got back to her notebook. “Hey, that’s not a half-bad idea,” you put your quill down and looked between the girls, “how about we gather the rest and do a ‘secret Santa’ type of deal, huh?” you said enthusiastically. They studied you a bit sceptically, but you got them intrigued.

When you got them convinced, you talked to a few other people and decided to gather the next evening after dinner to draw the names so you’d still have almost three weeks to prepare the gifts.

That’s how you found yourself, all the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, Lee, Angie and Katie gathered at one of the tables near a huge fireplace at the Great Hall. Being very excited about the idea, you prepped the pieces of parchment with the names beforehand and now everybody was to draw one from a hat passed around the group.

When it reached you, your heart started to beat slightly faster – you were quietly hoping to get Fred – you were friends, but you liked him slightly more and were hoping the act of kindness of a well thought out gift would get you some bonus points. It was now or never.

You reached in, stirred around with your hand a bit and picked one of the folded pieces, then passed the hat on. Carefully, so that no one would see it, you unfolded the parchment that read-

“Lee Jordan”

You tried not to show disappointment on your face. It was fine. You liked Lee and you planned to make the best gift you could think of. You’d still get to see Fred, even if you didn’t make the present for him.

You couldn’t help but wonder who did draw his name. Would they make a nice gift? Maybe a nicer one than you would’ve? Get his gratitude- oh, how you hoped it wasn’t any of the quidditch girls. What if it’s Angie? Oh, he must like her – she’s tall, pretty, and cool-

“Hey, Y/N?” Hermione’s voice snapped you out of your spiralling thoughts. “What’d you think? Do we exchange on Christmas eve? Christmas day, boxing..?” Asked Katie. “Uhm, the eve’s fine,” you mumbled and followed everyone, getting up and heading out.

You said your goodbyes and separated from the group – you were the only one headed to the dungeons. As you were about to go through the door you saw a piece of parchment someone must’ve dropped. Before you got to it, you saw Harry notice it and pick it up.

Passing by, you involuntarily looked at the parchment-

“Y/N Y/L/N”

Dammit, you thought and went on. That was about it for your surprise, or at least half of it.

——————⁛⁙⁘◊⁘⁙⁛——————

Days had passed, then weeks, and you found yourself with just a few days left in this term before the winter break would start.

You woke up late, with weird neck pain – you had slept in a funny position. Throwing on your robes you kicked your shin by accident and took a moment to shout out a few indecent words to help ease the pain and then you pushed through, determined to reach potions on time.

During the break, before your second period, you figured you would stop by the library to pick up a book you were going to need for an assignment you planned to start that evening.

Walking through the aisles with your destination well known, you looked out the large windows at the snow – and with the remnants of any positive attitude you had in you, you smiled to yourself.

“Have you done yours already..?” you suddenly heard Ron’s ineffectual whisper from behind a bookcase. It made you stop in your tracks and against your better judgement, you listened in. “Yeah, I got her a book…” Harry’s voice whispered back. ‘please, don’t say what book’ you repeated in your mind. “… something about the history of wizarding settlements in Britain..? I can’t remember the title, but she’ll like it.”

You grimaced to yourself at the thought – he couldn’t be more wrong. And then to top it, he added some sweets you absolutely loathed.

With heavy steps and a heavy heart, you headed to charms.

You liked charms, and you loved professor Flitwick. He was one of the decent teachers in this school, kind and sometimes even funny.

Today was one of those lessons, this time of year, that he gave up on starting a new topic and decided you were to do some revisions. Your mood slightly lifted, you were practising the banishing charm.

As the end of the lesson was drawing close you got comfortable and your mind started to wander. Thinking about the earlier events, you lost your focus and accidentally knocked over the pile od books Flitwick was standing on, sending the professor flying face down.

He was nice enough to understand your mistake and you were not punished in any way, but it didn’t change how bad you felt about it.

As you headed to lunch, cursing the universe, Merlin, and everything around, you thought the day couldn’t get any worse.

And then you tripped on one of the stone floor slabs.

You heard Fred and George’s booming laughs, lying on the floor and debating whether life was worth getting up. When the twins saw you not getting up, they stopped laughing.

Fred walked up and looked at you a bit confused – the fall wasn’t all that bad and you didn’t look hurt. “You alright there, sunshine?” he said leaning over you. You groaned in response and rolled over, then reluctantly got up from the cold floor with Fred’s help. “Peachy,” you replied, dusting off your robes and Fred snorted, then studied your expression.

He signalled for George to go without him and patted your shoulder lightly. “Today, it's like there's rock bottom, then 50 feet of crap, then me.” You gestured wildly. “Alright then, papa Fred’s got you. What’s troubling you?” he asked, slightly amused, yet genuinely as you began strolling in the direction of the great hall. You took a deep breath, wondering where to start. “I slept in, was almost late to potions which we know would leave me with trauma, I knocked Flitwick to the ground by accident when we practised Depulso - and now this,” you kicked the cousin slab of the one that made you trip and Fred chuckled at your pout, “Oh and I almost forgot – my Christmas present’s gonna be rubbish,” you exaggerated. “How so?” he asked, confused. “Well, I know who’s my secret Santa already. Found out by accident. Then I overheard what I’m gonna get… I mean, it’s okay, but I guess I was just hoping for something nice…” you rambled looking down to the ground. “Oh. Okay then… you know what? I actually promised Lee I’d pick something up for him before lunch, so – I- I’ll see you later?..” It was your turn to be confused. You looked up at him but before you raised your hand with a little wave and mumbled small “bye”, he walked off.

——————⁛⁙⁘◊⁘⁙⁛——————

You haven’t seen Fred all that much since that weird encounter – you didn’t have any classes together and you were in different houses so it was just a coincidence to you.

The Christmas Eve came around and you were playing wizards’ chess with Ron in the great hall to pass time before the rest of the group gathered. People were slowly pouring in, each of them adding to the small pile on the wooden table, a box enchanted with a concealing spell, so that each gift looked the same – and the secret Santa remained secret. Among the last few was Fred, looking slightly sheepish for himself.

“So are doing it, lads and lassies?” exclaimed Lee rubbing his palms together, making everyone chuckle. You all sat down close in what resembled a circle, making sure no one was left out.

Hermione pointed her wand at the pile of boxes, “Revelio” and they all appeared in different forms, with various name tags attached.

You decided to open the gifts one by one going clockwise, starting with all-too-eager Lee. You couldn’t help the wide grin that appeared on your face when you saw his child-like joy after opening the gift from you. Then it was Angelina’s turn, then yours.

You reached for the package with your name on it, trying to appear enthusiastic and not-at-all like you already knew what was inside. You unwrapped the paper with a mix of shock and confusion on your face.

Inside the paper was a box of your favourite chocolates and underneath a plain-looking book. You opened it and it turned out to be a photo album filled with photographs of you with your friends, along with some captions and thematic drawings on the white-ish pages around them.

With mouth slightly open you flicked through a few pages and ran your hand over the doodles. You looked up at Harry, who had the same expression as anyone in this circle – except for one person who studied your reaction and tried to hide the satisfied smile on his face.

The gift opening continued. It was when Hermione opened hers and you saw what you had thought you’d get that it dawned on you. It started with the assumption that when Harry picked up the note with your name it meant he was your secret Santa, which (obvious for you now) didn’t have to be the case and it wasn’t. Then with your mind set in stone, you just kept assuming things.

“Did you like your gift?” with newfound courage thanks to the good mood, you nudged Fred on the way out. He slowed down to walk beside you and separate from his mates. “Why, were you my Santa?” he asked cheekily. “No, not this year. Just curious.” you shrugged your shoulders. “Yeah, it was nice.” he stated simply, and after a bit of silence added, “d’you like yours?” “Why, were you my Santa?” you giggled. He put his hands in his pockets and avoided your gaze as a smile started creeping upon his face. “Merlin’s beard, you were..?” you cursed yourself for saying that out loud as your heart started thudding. “Maybe.” He looked at you with a mischievous smile and you melted. “Freddie, I loved it. It was really… sweet,” you said, shyly. “Good then, glad it wasn’t rubbish.” he snorted lightly and you wanted to bury yourself right then and there. “I’m soo sorry about that, it was a misunderstanding. I was in a bad mood, I thought somebody else was making a gift for me, I- I didn’t… I’m sorry Freddie.” You smiled awkwardly at him and he chuckled, ruffling your hair. “It’s alright, sunshine. I’m happy you don’t resent me” “I could never.” “Oh?” he stopped and looked you straight in the eye, smirking. “Uh, I mean…” your mind went blank. “You see, I was really happy when I drew your name.” he looked up above the two of you and your eyes remained on him. “It just so happens that I really like you so you must agree it would be convenient if you liked me back.”

You gulped. He looked back down at you, then gestured with his eyes for you to look up.

There it was, hovering above you, in all its glory – the magical mistletoe.

“So?” He leaned down a bit, turned his head to the side and tapped his finger on his cheek, “make it up to me?”

#fred weasley #fred weasley x reader #fred weasley imagine #hp imagine

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lizardrosen · 3 years

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National Theater Live King Lear

Hello, here is a ridiculously long review of this production! I just had a lot of feelings and thoughts!

Setting/Staging/Mood

I really loved the sound design for this one. It’s hard to describe, but the chords gave it a real presence and sense of motion. It was vaguely reminiscent of horror movie music in the way the chords lingered and didn’t blend in seamlessly, but I wouldn’t call it horror music exactly. The BELL tolling while Lear zips up his folder was such a good first image and bit of sound. And there were drinking songs, which I always love to see in a play. Put that Epic Theater technique straight in my mouth!

The circle in the middle that’s red in the first half and white in the second was a really creative detail, and the actors used that space effectively, especially with overlapping exits and entrances to make it feel that scenes happened in different locations while still being thematically connected.

The opulence and ceremony of the first scene gradually gives way to the more sparse and modern staging of act five — formal military dress to fatigues

I love how Lear raises his hand in prayer and command, compelling everyone else to follow suit to show their devotion and allegiance (and is there a difference between their king and their gods in this world?) even when they’re unsure about whether he’s right to be so cruel to Cordelia.

The recurring imagery of money changing hands really fits in well with the theme of love as currency that’s already in the text!

The single tree in the background of act five gave me Waiting For Godot vibes, which works SO WELL with the absurdism and nihilism of Lear.

Thoughts about specific characters under the cut!

Edgar! My SON!!

Luke Thompson is the reason I’ve wanted so badly to watch this production; ever since I saw his standout performance as Laertes in the 2017 Almeida Theater production, and found out he’s also played Orestes and Edgar, I’ve just been rabid about it!

It’s neat to see him actually at the ceremony of the first scene, with Edmund already Literally in his shadow.

He’s a little less hapless and distracted than most of the Edgars I’ve seen, a little more watchful. In 1.2 he’s actually pushing back against Edmund’s insistence that he’s in danger, and then in 2.1 there’s a long moment of just Looking at Edmund’s knife before he flees.

Similarly, his decision to become Poor Tom felt a bit more calculated. It’s not that he isn’t scared and lost and desperate, because he definitely is, but the plan itself doesn’t seem to grow out of that feeling as much as he (sort of) calmly looked at his options.

Of course, he doesn’t stay calm; that agonized scream when he actually cuts himself, and later on when he sees his father blinded and screams “World, world, o world!” really feels like he’s letting something out, and more than usual he seems to have been holding this part of himself back for a long time.

The counterpart to that is the self that does the watching — it’s a part of all Edgars that makes him a really compelling character, with his self-aware asides, but it’s particularly pronounced here — there’s a moment where he says “Bless thy five wits!” in his normal voice, and then catches himself and has to reassert the role he’s playing for his own safety.

At times he’s very impatient and frustrated while leading Gloucester, but he also cares about him a lot and is so terrified that he’s actually died when he “fell” from the cliff, this poor boy’s entire body is trembling!

He instinctively moves to protect Gloucester from Lear when he gets more violent and unpredictable with “find these son-in-laws and KILL KILL KILL” and it was a good moment

Gives into his own viciousness in the fight with Oswald, and then, Hamlet-like, lugs the guts into the neighbor room.

Edgar doesn’t seem to know if he wants his dad to recognize him or not — he puts Gloucester’s hand on his face, but then as soon as he seems about to realize who he is he very quickly takes it away again and gets them moving

He’s even more desperate and reckless than Edmund in their duel, but then once Edmund is fatally injured, he’s right by his side, holding his hand, helping him through it!

He needs Lear to recognize Kent, he needs Lear to not be dying, he’s so sincere, but then he decides if he can’t save anyone here he can at least help Albany to help the country heal and pledges himself to the future.

Lear

Awful but also very pitiable, more like a human losing his grip and knowing it, than just a Vessel for themes that are echoed in other characters.

Lashes out at himself more than at other people, but he definitely still does both.

“But they shall be the terrors of the earth” is just a man who’s terrified to be losing his words.

He has bad knees and everyone knows it but he keeps trying to kneel, and sometimes it feels like he’s mocking his daughters — look how much I’m suffering for you even though you’re ungrateful — and sometimes it feels like he’s forgotten his own body’s limitations.

Spends a lot of time offering physical comfort to other characters, since he can’t be a dad for his real daughters.

His flower crown scene was Just ophelia, and I think that’s beautiful.

aaaaa, his helpless grief for Cordelia! He moves the noose from her neck to his!! and then he takes out a handgun and threatens everyone away from him, but he’s just so helpless and sad!

Edmund! my other son!

I was a little surprised to see that this actor is James Corrigan, because I recognized him as Roderigo in the RSC Othello, and he’s sort of the anti-Edmund, so I was excited to see the contrast, but honestly there wasn’t as much of a contrast as I expected. He had many of the same cringing appeasing mannerisms, but in a way that makes it clear that he’s aware of his unfair situation in a way his Roderigo really isn’t. Despite being a bastard he has a lot more social power and mobility than Roderigo so he doesn’t seem nearly as pathetic.

Other Edmunds are composed and precise in their soliloquies because this is the one place no one will see them planning things out, and this Edmund is babbling and overwhelmed because this is the one place no one will see him feeling things, because feeling things is dangerous.

He’s so! scared! of his dad! It’s painful to watch, and it’s almost as painful to watch how he’s still looking for approval and respect from Gloucester. Someone save this boy!

He gets in WAY over his head, and it feels like he’s scrambling at every turn, but then at some point he just levels up and strides with confidence, and it’s really good to see.

oh my god, oh my god, he saw everything that happened with Gloucester! After everyone else leaves he comes out from his hiding place looking just devastated. He hated his dad, but he never hated him that much, and by the time he couldn’t stomach it any longer there was no way for him to escape, and then he’s still processing it when he sees that the Fool was also there, and he has to kill him because no one can know he was there. I SCREAMED when this moment happened, it was so good!

WOW, he’s so smooth, it’s no wonder both the sisters want a piece of that! It’s more of a power play with Regan, and a little more courtly with Goneril, and he just knows what each of them want and need from him.

When Lear and Cordelia are captured, Lear says “As if we were God’s spies” and he’s still kingly enough that the soldiers drop to their knees and lift their hands in allegiance, and Edmund has to rush in to make one of them stand up while saying “Take them away” sort of impatiently, and then he immediately checks the order he’s written for their deaths, because he’s just seen how dangerous it is for these two to be kept alive. aaaaa, and then when the captain hesitates, he holds a gun to his temple on “Either say thou’lt do’t, or thrive by other means” !! I love that line and I love the sheer range of deliveries I’ve seen for it!

The wonder in his voice at “Yet Edmund was beloved.” is really good! He’s so desperate to do some good by the end, and I love! Edmund of Gloucester!

Kent

Having Kent played by a woman does some really neat things to the character, not least of which is crossdressing Caius! She sort of feels like she overperforms toxic masculinity to fit into the culture of Lear’s retinue. Other Kents seem to be allowing their latent desires and bluntness to emerge with this role, but this Kent isn’t suited to it, and sometimes she gets a little carried away or makes missteps like beating up Oswald, but she has to see it through, for Lear’s sake.

Kent also doesn’t feel Big In Love with Lear, but she’s definitely devoted to him — and even more than that, she’s devoted to the image of loyalty itself.

Her genuine affection for Cordelia, and pride to see how she’s doing as a queen, is really sweet and good!

After she’s been banished, she rushes out of the throne room as Burgundy and France enter, covering her face like she’s desperately trying to hold back her tears.

She’s with the French soldiers looking for Lear, and is the one who tells him “You shall have anything!”

At the end she’s not exactly surprised that Lear doesn’t connect her with Caius, and she’s not upset (about that part of it anyway, plenty of things in this scene are upsetting), but she’s definitely feeling something.

ahhhh, she picks up Lear’s handgun and sort of cradles it to her side when she prepares for her final journey! sweetheart!

Gloucester

he’s just! a terrible father!! simply the worst!

A lot of the time Gloucester isn’t a very good dad just because he’s friendly and careless and just not paying attention to how he’s treating his sons; this one is actively awful and I actively hate him!!

From the very first scene he’s so scornful and dismissive of Edmund and hitting him for no reason, and then turns around to show off photos of Edgar, and that doesn’t even really benefit Edgar either, because he’s held to an unfair standard he can never live up to.

It really shows in how both of them are touch starved but also extremely cautious about being touched. Someone save them!!

(In fact, in the serial killer Claudius AU, a certain Earl does get himself murdered when Edmund is sixteen)

Not a Bad Dad thing, but not really showing Gloucester in a good light: he does think Lear’s age and reverence should be respected, but his motivation seems to be a lot more based in his indignation that Regan and Cornwall have taken over his home and order him around. For this Gloucester it seemed to be less about feeling sorry for Lear, and more about reasserting his sovereignty.

But because this is Lear I don’t just hate him, and he’s not just a bad father, you also feel for him a lot after he’s been blinded and his legs are just trembling and he’s so scared and lost.

Even after he’s blinded he keeps turning to his photos of Edgar in his wallet, and it’s sad and regretful instead of showing off.

He had a really good cliff fall! He goes up to what he thinks is the edge, and then turns around and braces himself to fall backwards, and then Edgar has to rush to catch him, and lay him gently on the ground, and panic that maybe he’s actually died.

Lear Sisters

No one was prepared for Lear’s announcement and the way each of them responds informs so much of how they act through the rest of the play!

Goneril is startled and unsure and fumbling, and I really felt for her and her “hateful life”, and the way she’s stunned in the wake of Lear’s abuse, but then needs to pull herself together again when he returns. For so much of this play she feels small and adrift, but then she’s so happy for once whenever she’s with Edmund. Albany really does seem to care about her and he’s trying to be good for her, so he takes it when she yells at him, and then stays behind to pray for a bit. He’s a little less nice later on but to be fair she is cheating on him and not bothering to hide it very well.

Regan! With her fake tears and her constant flirtiness, and the way she’s always twirling and showing off! She is a hot mess, and she only gets hotter and messier as the play goes on, but she and Cornwall love each other a lot, and she wants to be suited to torture the way her husband is, but she gets into it by the end of that scene. And then!! her hand on Edmund’s throat! W o w

Cordelia is calm and sure and knows exactly what her sisters are, and in that first scene she comes so close to reaching her father and getting him to change his mind about disowning her. And that carries through to the rest of her performance — she’s competent and precise and loving, and France is smitten with her and listens to her and respects her. When she’s reunited with Lear she wants him to wake up, but also isn’t prepared for it to actually happen, and then she’s so surprised when they say she should be the one to address him first.

Cornwall

I first saw Daniel Rabin as Reynaldo in the Almeida Theater Hamlet (ask me about how Reynaldo and Laertes are half-dating whenever he follows Laertes to France, because I have Opinions), and his Cornwall is SO different

He’s not just manipulative, but violent and enjoying his violence, but he’s also sexy and possessive and commanding, and it’s no wonder Edmund falls for him as hard as he does!

TYING HIS SCARF around Edmund’s hand after he wounds himself for love and validation!? The soft tender look of surprise that Edmund gives him in response!? wow! wow, what a MOMENT!

And then he shoves Edmund into the room after he’s been shown Gloucester’s letter, he has to punish the messenger and assert his position. And after “Thou shalt find a dearer father in my love” Edmund HUGS him, and he’s startled at first but half-returns it (and probably thinking about how he can Use this) (and then cornwall/edmund/regan happens, shhh)

Like Daniel Rabin’s Reynaldo, his Cornwall is very Watchful, just stepping back to observe what’s going on, and then quietly making his judgment before he says anything — and when he does speak he absolutely has the other person’s number.

Good commanding headtilts!

Oh, the laugh right before he uses the hook from the slaughterhouse on Gloucester is just terrifying and compelling, and he’s so turned on by this. Good for him because then he gets to die, and he’s so disgusted and vicious when saying the first servant should be thrown onto the dunghill.

Miscellaneous Moments

Lear puts his jacket on Edgar, and Kent puts her jacket on Lear, and then he immediately takes it off and puts it around Edgar’s shoulders and ties the arms together, but while he’s trying to take off his shirt too, Edgar’s already getting on the ground and letting the jackets fall off of him. Just! Jackets and touch as a form of affection!!

When Gloucester comes out to find Lear, he and Edgar see each other, and there’s just a moment where they’re frozen, Edgar terrified that his father will recognize him, and Gloucester perhaps feeling there’s something familiar about this madman but having no idea what.

While Gloucester is telling Kent about how he had a son he loved who betrayed him, Lear and Edgar are in the background sharing a long hug that almost feels like a beautiful dance! It was such a striking moment, I loved it sooo much.

the HUG with Edmund and Cornwall!! Not over it, never over it.

when Cornwall tells Edmund to leave with Goneril, he gives Goneril his jacket and she’s just quietly surprised and pleased, and it’s cute, and I want her to be happy!!

#king lear #edgar #edmund #gloucester #kent #cornwall #goneril #regan #cordelia #my writing #sort of

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raguna-blade · 3 years

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Ok and before I forget and i Likely will and I don’t have the attention span to actually try and take this anywhere right at this precise moment but there’s one musical thing that’s likely as not a just a musical ref cause haha I can do it it’s my soundtrack, my game you can’t stop me but-

There’s this song I ran across ages ago that toby fox did also compose. 74, Sung by Itoki Hana, and I Honestly have to wonder how much of it is also supposed to link in thematically. Like this wouldn’t be the first time Toby’s done this, what with Megalovania being from 1 and then 2 different stories and each pulling a generally similar vibe and intent behind them near as I can tell (there was an essay that explained this way better but I cannot for the life of me tell you where I actually read it save the greater seas of Tumblr so you know, that’s probably lost forever)

And I’m sitting here looking at the lyrics of this song, and Where I at least hear the music parts, it is in Welcome to the City, which is the bit where it’s just Kris, The Soul and Noelle, and given the whole song and all i have to wonder if there’s any intended link.

Cause man, looking at the picture used, and then the lyrics it certainly feels like it.

Now purposes of this here analysis I suggest you go listen to the song. 74, Itoki Hana, Toby Fox should get you where you need to be. If nothing else it’s a good song.

Now probably not, but it does at least put me in the mind to look at it like it does even if it’s only more a thing i vaguely heard that sorta sounds like this sparked an idea and honestly there’s worse places to grow your thoughts.

So, in 74, the song more or less comes from the pov of the Princess in a tower, watching a brave knight ascend to rescue her, through the various traps and trials that are within the tower...That she set and put there. And she is not (or she is in addition to being) actually a princess. She’s a dragon, pretending to be a princess to lure in knights to feel a degree of validation, to feel well...Important. Valuable. Special you know?

And I guess it’s not hard to see some potential parallels going on given that we find that Kris is opening the Fountains. Or is ALSO opening the Fountains. We’ve seen one for sure, and the implication SUGGESTS that they’re the one doing it in general, but we won’t know for sure til the game’s completely out. But for now, let’s assume they’re doing them all.

With that, We have Kris the Hero fighting through a land of trial and tribulation that he made himself to do...Something. Like in the song, the Knight in question looks gallant cool and really shows their stuff, even though in the end they bit it.

So that’s something, but then, we’re still asking why is Kris doing this? It’s shown that basically any Lightner can open a Dark Fountain whenever they want (Berdly got slapped out of it like 3 times in a row, and he seemed to be doing it pretty trivially as far as difficulty was concerned. Now that was in the Dark World, so perhaps it was easier there, but the Queen didn’t even really consider Berdly Strong enough to do it, though part of that likely as not had to do with her concern for Noelle.

But like...I dunno, I go back to the Knight in all this, and that’s a position of special import in the game. It’s very actively called attention to it, and the Knight is positioned as an apocalyptic force that’s...Creating Worlds, giving life and value back to the Darkners, who were cut off from the Lightners, which has seemingly left both sides lesser. The Darkners seeming to be doomed to fade into the dark, while the Lightners are unable to interact with this world that seems to have the ability to massively improve their wellbeing.

Like, Knights are typically heroes in stories with princes and heroes and kings and queens you know? When the story takes place in a kingdom, it’s the loyal knight who, while perhaps not the main hero, is a steadfast compatriot. Well that’s the general idea right?

But the Knight is positioned as a terrible force of ruin and destruction...Except in chapter 2 here, we get the notion that creating the Dark Worlds really can be an improvement life. Indeed, the game doesn’t even seem to suggest that creating more Dark Worlds is inherently a bad thing, but there’s the critical issue of the balance between the two being off and that’s a critical problem that at least as of now doesn’t seem to be able to be addressed.

Still, if this game is keeping on with Parallels to Undertale, The Knight isn’t all bad. Hell even the Spade King wasn’t all bad and he’s pretty objectively the most evil character in the normal route of the game.

And the game really does seem to posit that the interaction between the dark world and the light world is inherently good for both of them. The Town looks Way healthier and lively in Chapter 2 than it did in 1. Susie’s Rude Stat has been dropping since go, and Even Kris, while we don’t get to see their thoughts, seems to be becoming considerably more expressive. Now admittedly pretty much every expression we do get to see from them that isn’t prompted from The Soul seems to be negative and frustrated and angry and all that, but then, I think that’s probably a better place to be than shoving everything down and being completely unresponsive and not acknowledging anything that they’re feeling, which seems to be the case whenever you start to touch on anything remotely intimate.

I mean The Soul seems to be a part of them as well as apart from them, which is confusing at the moment, but they’re capable of scarfing down a whole entire pie, slash their moms tires, and open up portals to parallel realites without it so it doesn’t seem to be something that they particularly NEED to survive or do anything.

Going back to the song though, and i suppose the most basic barebones aspect I wanna look at, is that Someone who’s Apparently In Trouble is actually the Threat, or more generally, that the Appearances Are Opposite to the Actual Reality of the situation I’m wondering.

Because last thing before I cut this off, is that We have the Queen going all in on her plan and being unaware that going through with it would lead to the end of all things, I have to wonder if the Knight is Similarly Ignorant as to what they’re actually doing.

I’m also wondering if Perhaps Asriel is perhaps actually the antagonist. Because while the game’s claim of your choices having no meaning is inherently unquestionably suspect, the game also makes it extremely clear, doubly so as of the point of chapter 2, That there are people you’re simply going to have to fight, and perhaps you’re going to have to fight them with the full intent of killing them, and that that is an option that you genuinely may need to consider. Or at least, that you may well need to destroy that relationship and cut them out of your life. Not everyone should be recruited, so to speak.

Which is advice that shows up, if my memory isn’t failing me this quickly, in the manual that Ralsei provides...And advice that, if taken to extremes as shown in the Corruption route, can cause genuine problems.

Or I suppose I guess to put this in another context, the first words of advice you’re given, that are a full on lie, in Undertale is that this is a world of kill or be killed. Asriel tells us this is a world where you do not have to kill anyone, and while the game has yet to have you actually bring the axe down on anyone in the Normal Route, it’s also extremely explicitly stated that it’s not so simple as spare everyone or fight everyone. There’s shades of grey here and you shouldn’t just ignore them. There are people you can’t just spare, you have to fight it out (and interestingly, those people do not include the secret bosses, who seem to have a greater level of understanding of the world, if also are borderline incoherent in both cases.)

I dunno. There’s more to percolate on here i think, though obviously some of this isn’t gonna be answered until we get the rest of the game.

And as a last note, there’s 7 showing up again as a recurring number so that’s...Interesting.

#Deltarune #Music Stuff #Analysis #spoilers #Rambling

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whoslaurapalmer · 3 years

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utena manga AND adolescence manga!!!! the longest of any of my utena posts why did i have so much to say.

-i do have to say that the box set is amazing. i’ve never owned hardcover manga before!! and the art is really beautiful and i love all the color illustrations....... -also came with a poster!! but i, don’t particularly want naked utena and anthy on my wall.

-i always love utena, so much -“it’s not shocking pink, it’s rose! it’s a nice color. i picked it out, after all.” babygirl (-omg the explanation that there is a list of stylists that she could get uniforms from and at least she picked one on the list) -poor kaido.......he’s the true Pre-Series Friend Who Shows Up In The First Episode And Is Never Heard From Again Once The Plot Kicks In

-i like that the manga has an explanation of how utena found ohtori academy because, you do wonder -- but i also like how she’s just There in the anime, with absolutely no explanation of how she got There, she’s just There and maybe she’s always been there!, re: time, it ultimately doesn’t matter, it’s where she wound up regardless -the.......floaty dreaminess of it......... -uggg wait especially because even though it has been akio manipulating her around all this time she still doesn’t truly go to ohtori because of akio she goes because of anthy

-i’m. look i don’t even want to say it cause this is a straight-up terrible nickname and i am in pain over it but i have to say something -mr -mr l -mr -licky -lick -i have to wonder how other people have translated that

-me: hey that looks like he licked the tears off her face??? utena: i named him -- the narrator living inside my brain: and at that moment lulu vandelay considered launching a book across the room for the first time in her twenty-six years of life

-you know utena if your aunt got transfered to amsterdam, you still would’ve wound up at an ohtori academy -what even happens at the ohtori in amsterdam?????????????? -what -do they do an exchange program?? do they ever get anyone back??? is amsterdam also creating a world?????? or are they fine over there??? -is it alt universe ohtori????

-chu-chu is so fluffy!!!! so soft.......big squish........huggable............ -anthy making him a tie because she felt bad about him not wearing anything!!!!

-THE MANGA MOVES VERY FAST HONESTLY -especially because i hit a point where i too was reading as fast as possible to get through it but there was still SO MUCH

-no nanami????? no nanami at all??????? except for that one picture of her??????? -no??????? -look. i really love nanami and i didn’t realize how much i really liked her until she wasn’t there :( cause i liked her in the first place but i miss all her antics :( and i liked where her character arc went a lot :( -she’s very loud about this but she’s really just that tumblr post that’s like ‘i put ‘i love salsa’ in the chat and no one said anything and i wondered if salsa had killed a parent or if salsa ever really existed’ and that’s relatable -and the second-guessing embarrassment of every single thing in your life and yet the commitment to radical high-and-mighty confidence about the same exact things to compensate??? good for her!!!!

-utena, with the power of dios: i can see every move! me: wow didn’t know dios had the sharingan

-INTRIGUED actually by touga having. a secret room with a big fucking calendar with zodiac symbols and all the fights predetermined -like there’s something super interesting about that -like...... -on one hand a physical representation of The Plot Being Controlled. The Plot Has A Map Now. on the other hand, touga has to write it all down like a nerd bc he’s not akio and has no sway himself over the narrative and he needs a reference

-i’m absolutely fascinated by how a group of people can come together and create The Same Story that is so different in the manga and the anime..... -just. how -in a good way and a bad way. in the good way, how do you collaborate with people like that????? in the bad way, how do you create two completely separate thematic takes on the same story -with so many of the same base scenes!!!! they go completely different ways!!!!! i’m!!!!!!!!!!!!

-oh i do love the character profiles. i like knowing birthdays!!

-akio grabbing utena because he thought she was anthy

-it fucking goes from. ‘everyone in this manga wants to fuck touga’ to ‘everyone in this manga will support utena, EVEN TOUGA?????’ like wow -he’s just.........living with them..................................... -like a creep -AND HE JUST GIVES UP THE STUDENT COUNCIL PRESIDENCY THAT’S THE FUNNIEST FUCKING THING -doesn’t take much to get them to break the system down here but they’re still not breaking the system down here -oh my god it’s like the sad lemon man movie speedrunning the first 3 books and hitting the plot notes with none of the substantial theme -it’s just, i don’t think the manga is completely terrible, like i think there are some interesting moments but i also know the common perception is The Manga Is Terrible? so i’m like. do i pick out the interesting things and try and give them meaning? or do i just. wholesale agree that this is, on a whole other thematic plane and terrible (-my whole life is ‘i should be able to make my own opinion on something!’ vs ‘but i like to read other people’s opinions to make sure i don’t miss anything but that should not replace my own capacity for critical thought which i am clearly capable of and did a great deal of work on as a lit major!!’) (oh this is anxiety.) (it’s a lot of ‘i don’t want to misinterpret this in any way because that is a failure on my part so i’m digging around for explanations’ oh that’s still anxiety.)

-i mean. the emphasis on ‘friendship’ more than anything with anthy is, disappointing, but i DO also like utena trying to get anthy to make friends and that anthy’s first instinct is to take after wakaba because that’s super cute

-chu-chu narrating the curry story!! -he’s just such a sweet bean.

-utena: akio? the devil, lucifer? me, reigning my brain back in as it shoots into hyperdrive: okay lulu you’re right about the tarot symbolism but now is not the time, bring it back, girl (......utena’s the fool nemuro hall is the tower the car at the end of the movie is the world anthy stabbing utena is the ten of swords (not in the sense of betrayal but in the end of the cycle/story portrayed in the swords suit)) (ANYWAY)

-and then touga still somehow stays at the center of the story and utena relies on him....... -there’s a bigger reliance on men in the manga that is not, challenged at all, re: touga and dios -but at least akio’s still a full-on creep -actually i think he unsettled me just a smidge more which was a big accomplishment, considering the time i almost fell over furniture

-me: oh my god are utena and anthy gonna switch places??? me: NOOOOOOO -anthy’s coffin breaking because utena puts the ring back on....... -but, like........dios is completely incapable of action as well and utena doesn’t need him to rescue anthy -dios is more some ethereal grand thing here instead of an idealized past self that akio has lost access to and can never regain and was never truly good in the first place -although utena and anthy switching is, interesting. reinforces akio making utena a princess when again she’s neither and it’s.......a little “in the end, girls are all like rose brides” and women are manipulated around by men, but also, kind of loses what anthy holding the swords meant in the first place?

-touga: you have to do it, utena me: touga stop trying to steal the scene. get out. get out now

-THE CASTLE IS REAL?????????????????????????

-okay the absolute roller coaster between ‘he’s gonna kill dios????’ ‘that’s the manga backstory?????’ ‘DIOS IS JUST DEAD NOW????’ ‘NO HE WAS STILL DIOS THE WHOLE TIME!!!!!!’ -oh but you know you could read it as a, killing your past self sort of thing -...........although that doesn’t really vibe here, does it

-i think them being specifically ‘gods’ takes away from just the, cycle of humanity kind of thing........ -it’s so pleasantly vague in the anime because how dios came to be Dios and why anthy had to put a stop to it just doesn’t matter. it’s not what matters. it’s not what’s important. the fact that it happened at all is what matters. -and somehow he still wasn’t dios the whole time!!!!! -“she kept his sword in her bosom, one last token of her love!” that’s an.........interesting way to put it -i mean, yeah maybe?? but also, no??????????????????????????????

-anthy’s kind of, watered down a little in the manga too, in a way? -STABBING UTENA WAS SO IMPORTANT TOO

-noooooo where are my girls learning that it’s not about being a prince and that it’s just genuine love and being there for someone -i mean i guess the love is here but. “i must be the prince myself” no!!!! noooooooooo -you know what i don’t even want to THINK about akio and utena..........like that

-AND THERE’S STILL TOUGA!!! IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL!!!!!!!!!! TOUGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA -anthy: /wearing utena’s uniform me: /staring into the camera like i’m on the office

-like...............well that just continues the cycle then, doesn’t it, in a way -which, is its own kind of story.............. -and i guess you could also make a case for ‘well no one’s immediately recovered right after a story that takes time and it’s not always perfect and that could involve anthy emulating utena’ -BUT NO!!!! NO??????? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -i think that’s giving the manga too much credit considering how much it forced ‘the prince’ at the end!!!!!!!! -i get it. i get the ‘the manga is terrible.’ i see you. -it wasn’t, completely terrible, but, wow. i get it.

-okay hold on i still have two side stories before adolescence

-OH ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? ONCE AGAIN I HAVE TO DEAL WITH RUKA -WAS IT NOT ENOUGH THAT I HAVE ALREADY SUFFERED -ruka i still hate you. that’s all i have to say on that

-and black rose arc condensed to thirty pages???? -the way mikage acts towards mamiya is like. blatantly creepy in the anime but i didn’t think it was here???? rude. -anthy and utena holding hands after it, though.......

-OKAY, adolescence -i feel like, i was unduly harsh on the movie...... -mostly because i was reading the youtube comments on the dub before i watched and people were talking about how terrible the dub was (i did not watch the dub) -and i knew about the car and i was just really thrown by the car. the cars. just. unexpected -but if the manga speedruns in a bad way the movie speedruns in a way that not only hit the plot elements but picked up a lot of the thematic elements as well!! -i mean every arc was touched upon in some way! even the black rose arc! -which haunts me, regularly. -also i am forever going to be thinking about the fwwm parallel like damn -it really was a good time....... -oh! this in particular was why i was a little concerned about missing anything in thinking about the manga -like...is this a bad character choice in good writing, or is this a bad character choice in bad writing? sometimes i’m not always great at that

-anyway. -the manga was really mostly the same except somehow touga was more uncomfortable, there were no cars, and utena and touga had sex uggg -god i SWEAR when i was flipping through last week i saw a car though. i swear???? i thought i did????? -guess i didn’t!!

-touga: as long as you keep me there in your heart, i can continue to exist like this. i can stay at this school for all eternity. me: The Grief™ vs ohtori academy doing its thing vs I HATE THIS AAAAAAAAA

-anthy, to akio: be gone! you’re only in my mind! me: oh that’s a powerful statement though. re: like, how akio keeps anthy

-what i DID really really love was the little scene at the end with anthy and utena out of ohtori and older in a planetarium theater after everything and being cute on a date (with chu-chu!) and that that’s how it ends (even if utena was still thinking about touga) with them holding hands walking out............... -the softness!!!! 💖💖

#lulu talks about utena

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passionate-reply · 3 years

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Do you “fucking love” science? Have you ever been blinded by it? Well, it doesn’t really matter, because that goofy little number isn’t really supposed to be on Thomas Dolby’s debut album in the first place. Find out about all the awesome OTHER stuff that’s actually meant to be here, in this new installment of Great Albums! Transcript below the break.

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! Today, I’ll be talking about a stellar album by one of those artists who have gone down in history as “one hit wonders,” despite producing a deep catalogue that’s often more impressive than that one song they end up known for: it’s The Golden Age of Wireless, the debut LP of Thomas Dolby. Chances are pretty good you’ve heard his big hit, “She Blinded Me With Science,” before...at least, if you’re American.

Music: “She Blinded Me With Science”

Like I said, if you’re American, you’ve heard this one before. If anything, it’s oversaturated! But if you’re from elsewhere in the world, you might not know it. Growing up in the US, I went through the whole gauntlet of alleged “one hit wonders” of 80s synth-pop, and a great many of them turned out to be British artists who had perfectly respectable careers in their native UK: Gary Numan, Soft Cell, and OMD, for example. Thomas Dolby is also British, but he’s apparently more famous here than he is across the pond--which is still not that famous.

He really ought to be, though, because The Golden Age of Wireless is a true masterpiece. Or, at least it WAS, in its original form. It’s actually a tough album to talk about, insofar as it’s hard to pin down what exactly constitutes “The Golden Age of Wireless.” It’s had quite a few different pressings, and a variety of different track listings. And the original version of it does NOT include “She Blinded Me With Science.” While I’d never argue that it’s a bad song, since it is insanely fun, and catchy to the point of being irresistible, it really does not belong on this album. I’m sure it helped them move copies of it, but its inclusion kind of ruins the vibe, to be honest. Its in-your-face and flamboyant hooks make it feel like a very unwarranted intrusion on an otherwise fairly serious and contemplative LP, which seems to have been intended as a fairly tight and thoughtful concept album.

Aside from that glaring issue, there are a few other tracks that have appeared on later versions of the album that weren’t there from the start, namely, the two tracks from Dolby’s first ever-release, a double A-side of “Urges” and “Leipzig,” as well as “One of Our Submarines,” the B-side of some versions of “She Blinded Me With Science.” All of these tracks are excellent, and mesh with the thematic and sonic character of the album quite well. “One of Our Submarines” in particular is often considered one of the best tracks of Dolby’s career--melancholy, claustrophobic, and stinging in its poignant sense of tragedy. It captures the misery and futility of modern war, as well as the sunset of the British Empire after the Second World War...and there’s a sample of a dolphin, too. It’s easily the track that I most wish had been included from the very start.

Music: “One of Our Submarines”

But now that that’s over with, I’d like to drill down and talk about how the album operates in its original form, as the artist intended. Like I said earlier, The Golden Age of Wireless is best understood as a concept album, and I think of it in a similar league as classics like the Buggles’ The Age of Plastic, OMD’s Dazzle Ships, or even Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love. The original track listing opens with “Flying North,” a stellar introduction to one of the most prominent themes of the album: freedom!

Music: “Flying North”

“Flying North” is an exultant anthem of self-determination, and one clearly mediated by “metal birds”--aeroplanes, that is. It’s a celebration of the independence allowed by technology, and a rather winsome one, in which this almost macho image of a heroic pilot takes center stage. The final track of the album, “Cloudburst At Shingle Street,” is a bit more esoteric, but seems to be aiming for a pretty similar idea overall, and I’d argue that the two of them form thematic “bookends.”

Music: “Cloudburst At Shingle Street”

“Cloudburst At Shingle Street” leads us through the technological evolution of mankind, from swinging from trees to paving concrete beaches--but the spacey synth warbles beneath those lines give them an ominous bent. The assertion that we might be heading into a cloudburst “mindless,” “naked,” or “blindly” is unnervingly cynical, but, we’re told, “there’s no escaping it.” Despite all of these signs that our better judgment should be resisting the temptation of this miraculous cloudburst...this triumphant, rising coda, with its powerful choir encouraging us onwards, seems to muddle the whole thing. The untethered, free-roaming nature of modern life isn’t always this sexy and exuberant, though--consider the track “Weightless,” as a counterpoint.

Music: “Weightless”

“Weightless” certainly seems to be about modern transients of some sort--in this case, traveling by car--but never lionizes them or makes them too terribly enviable. Instead, the focus is on the image of the draining fuel tank: the constant emptiness and craving for meaning, validation, and genuine love. No matter the allure of this very American, Route 66-like setting, the gas stations, cinemas, and decadent diner meals along the way are never any real substitute for an emotionally authentic life. That setting is, of course, a wistfully backward-looking Midcentury one. Nostalgia and childhood naivete are also among the album’s major themes, and are expressed the most clearly on “Europa and the Pirate Twins.”

Music: “Europa and the Pirate Twins”

Narratively, “Europa and the Pirate Twins” is a bittersweet story of childhood playmates who never quite re-unite, despite promising to be together again someday. The really interesting wrinkle is the fact that the narrator’s beloved Europa has become a famous celebrity as an adult, and the narrator is essentially a fan of her despite their real-world relationship. It’s an uncanny, confused parasocial relationship dynamic that feels extremely contemporary, despite the fact that it’s ultimately more of a commentary on the rise of teenager-oriented marketing during the Midcentury than anything else. The strange, often unhealthy relationships between young people and mass media, particularly radio, are another one of the major sources of tension on The Golden Age of Wireless. “Europa and the Pirate Twins” is also one of the more interesting tracks, instrumentally, featuring a prominent harmonica part, performed by Andy Partridge of XTC. Given how much the album strives to be about the future and past simultaneously, steeped in nostalgia and utopian visions alike, it makes sense to hear Dolby blend elements of traditional folk or popular music with forward-thinking synth-pop sensibilities. Listen also for a flute on “Windpower,” and a substantial amount of guitar on “Commercial Breakup,” a song that proves Dolby certainly can rock, if he feels like it.

Music: “Commercial Breakup”

The cover art for The Golden Age of Wireless isn’t exactly the most iconic, but I’ve always thought it was very beautiful. You’ve got this very eye-catching, lurid, pulp magazine style illustration of Dolby as a diligent, yet glamourous engineer, radiating with the complementary colour palette of orange and blue, the perfect picture of retro cool. But it’s framed and inset, to give us a conscious sense of observing something that’s coming to us from another time, an artifact preserved. That patina and sense of the antique is amplified by this dull-coloured background, which actually shows a marble sculpture gallery in a museum, though that’s tough to make out unless you have it right in front of you. The numerous shades of irony operating here are another thing that make the album feel strikingly contemporary.

I’m also a huge fan of the album’s title. “Wireless,” if you weren’t aware, is an old-fashioned term for radio. Radio itself is a strong theme on the album, most obviously on the track “Radio Silence,” but the use of the term “wireless” isn’t just another piece of retro nostalgia--I think it’s also evocative of that sense of free-flying, untethered independence I talked about earlier. The first half, i.e., “golden age,” is perhaps even more important. “Golden age” is an extremely loaded term that brings a number of rich associations to the table. “Golden ages” are simultaneously longed for, but not fully believed in. They’re bygone eras that usually felt like nothing special to the people who actually lived through them, despite their greatness being palpable to anyone reflecting on them in hindsight. In every golden age, there’s a poetic tragedy.

I think that even if someone did buy this record just to get their hands on “She Blinded Me With Science,” they’d probably be at least a little bit disappointed in what they got. The album does have some decent pop singles, chiefly “Radio Silence” and “Europa and the Pirate Twins,” but they’re still humming with nostalgia and unease, and not without some substantial experimental DNA.

Music: “Radio Silence”

While they cut the single weirdest track on the album, “The Wreck of the Fairchild,” they still retained some fairly ambitious tracks, such as “Windpower”--clearly an ode to Kraftwerk’s “Radioactivity.” It’s hard to be angry with an electronic musician for trying to rip off Kraftwerk, since they all do it one way or another, and in this case it invites a natural comparison between two great concept albums focused on the theme of radio.

Music: “Windpower”

Overall, though, The Golden Age of Wireless is still a reasonably accessible album on the whole. Possibly not what you expected, and certainly, a work that’s more sentimental and affecting than good for the dance floor, but as far as poignant, ballady, diesel-punk odes to the tragic techno-optimism of the Midcentury go, I’d say it’s not all that hard to get into! Dolby does have a pop core, as an artist, that he’s quite capable of selling to us if he chooses to. For proof of that point, look no further than the single “Hyperactive!” which he followed this up with a few years later:

Music: “Hyperactive!”

When discussing an ostensible one-hit wonder, there’s a distinct temptation to resort to “they deserved better” style rhetoric. On one hand, yes, I do think more people should hear Thomas Dolby’s music, and that it has a lot to say to us. I’m all about obscure music finding new life and being appreciated. That said, in the case of Dolby, I think he basically got what he wanted, in the end. He’s always been more keenly interested in music’s many behind-the-scenes roles than he has in chasing pop stardom himself--he’s produced music, and scored a number of films and video games over the decades. It feels kind of wrong to tell someone who’s successful at one thing that they “deserve” to be successful at something different, just because we may want to hear him do it, or because we esteem one skillset more highly than the other. Ultimately, The Golden Age of Wireless is a Great Album on its own terms, whether Dolby ever decides to grace us with another synth-pop release under his own name again--which he did in 2011, with A Map of the Floating City. But it’s his decision, as an artist, and the fact that he can choose to or not is a luxury that allows him integrity. I think that’s the way it ought to be.

My overall top track on this album has got to be “Airwaves,” a song in which the narrator dies, tragically and suddenly, in an automobile accident. It’s not the sexy, “Warm Leatherette” sort of car accident, but rather a dismally realistic one, that shows quite frankly how undignified death can be. Sometimes, we aren’t so much doomed heroes as we are frightened, sickly children, defeated by our own fickle bodies. The last thought our narrator gets is “I itch all over, let me sleep”; their honour perishes just moments before they do. Meanwhile, the radio is a constant presence throughout, and serves as both something to anchor the scene in the droll and quotidian, as well as ultimately becoming something transcendent. The promise of “airwaves” is not only the human interconnectedness made possible by technology, but also a hint at the ultimate destiny of human souls, a kind of ethereal afterlife in the sky. The meandering lulls of the verses contrast sharply with the song’s eerily soaring refrain, which enhances that feeling that those “airwaves” occupy some sort of higher plane. On that surprisingly heavy note, that’s all I’ve got for today, so thanks for listening!

Music: “Airwaves”

#music #album review #album reviews #thomas dolby #one hit wonder #one hit wonders

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gronjon44 · 3 years

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My thoughts on WONDER WOMAN:1984

⚠️⚠️⚠️SPOILERS⚠️⚠️⚠️

I wanna like this movie, and there are parts of this film that I genuinely do like.

There are some funny moments and I like some if not most of the themes.

And I want to be as critical and non political as possible with this analysis as possible.

But, speaking not as a Center Republican and as an average movie goer,

The political refferences in this just ruin the film for me, on top of other issues.

Max Lord is too blatant a Trump reference, the big business persona aside; I read an article by NBC News (I'll link it at the end) says the director used Trump as "one inspiration for the character".

Yeah no, that wasnt one reference that was all reference I looked up Max Lord in the comics and frankly it looks like Trump was the only reference the director used.

The article goes into detail about how the director steps around Trumps more controversial policies and essentially whitewashed Trump with Lords character which, i can see what they mean when they say that.

I won't get into all the details, as I don't agree with everything in the article but you can read for it yourself at the end.

Now getting past the Trump refferences and whatnot I'd like to say that most parts of this movie are actually really enjoyable.

Diana Prince/Gal Gadot are a joy to watch as always, Barbra was a joy to watch as a villain, Steve Trevor was fun to see and ⚠️⚠️⚠️SPOILER⚠️⚠️⚠️the invisible jet was a fun twist that I was genuinely surprised to see.

But some complaints I have involve the ending, a few in-between bits, and some minor details that just stuck with me.

So again, ⚠️⚠️⚠️SPOILER⚠️⚠️⚠️ for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

The ending was very mcguffined and frankly, kinda cheap.

I get that, yes, the point of the end was to show Max Lord what he was doing was truly wrong and to have him undo the wishes that followed his bad decisions, I get that.

But for there to be no real consequences for what he did? And that he gets to run free and return to his son without being reprimanded for what he did (outside of a few minor ass beatings) It feels cheap and unsatisfying, at least in my opinion.

Something that the article brought up (that I disagree with frankly) is that film ⚠️⚠️SPOILERS⚠️⚠️ treats Barbras choice to become more like Diana as a bad thing then a good thing, saying that Wonder Woman is meant to show Woman that they can be like her, and that some woman do want to be like her. They go one to say that (quote) "Instead of congratulating Barbara, the movie presents her as a warning. Gaining power and beauty makes her cruel and violent and selfish — a villain, not a hero. It's like the film has included its own cranky superhero-film hater to tell fans they're doing it wrong." (end quote)

Now, heavy spoiler talk incoming so be warned.

The stone acts like the monkeys paw, where in when you wish for something, you get it but at the cost of losing something (i.e if I wish for a million dollars, but when I get the million dollars I lose my house and prized possessions)

Now, if someone is inspired by Wonder Woman and wants to be like her, then great! Be like her! If you can strive to be like Wonder Woman then hey be like her.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to be like those you admire. But here's the thing that I think this article misses. Barbra didn't strive on her own to be like Diana, she wished it. She didn't earn anything that was given to her.

She was a good person before yes, and there was nothing wrong with wanting to be like Diana. But the problem that this article misses is that she was given these gifts and opportunity, she didn't earn them.

She never had any of these things before, and being given these things so suddenly may have gone to her head; so much so that she was quickly consumed by her new gifts that she lost touch with her old self.

And let's think about that a moment. The stone takes as quickly as it gives. What did the stone take from Barbra? Well I think its meant to be pretty clear that, in return for becoming "strong, sexy, cool, and special," she had something taken away from her.

When she had nothing she was a kind person, yes she was ignored but she wasn't lashing out about it, she was her own personal. When she was given her wish she slowly became consumed by it, focused not on others or her work, but on herself and her own greed. She wanted to be admired and to be seen, and there's nothing wromg with that.

But she did not earn her beauty, strength, or popularity. She was handed them on a silver tray at the cost of losing touch with herself. She was consumed by a lie she wanted to believe.

This film has a heavy theme about accepting truths and seeing past veiled lies; Diana used a shortcut to get ahead in the contest as a child, Max Lord used the stone to lie to himself about how shitty a person/father he was, Barbra used it to lie to herself and make her something she wasn't, hell Diana lied to herself twice thinking she could keep Steve Trevor and stop Max Lord together, even while her powers were being taken away.

And there's another example of having what you hold close taken at the cost of what you want. Diana's powers at the cost of having Steve Trevor back in her life; Diana wanted nothing more then to have Steve Trevor back in her life and to be with him, but he was dead.

Until the stone heard her internal thoughts/wish and made it come true, but at the cost of her powers. But Diana didn't care. Diana knew Steve was someone else and she knew her powers were being taken away to have him back in her life, she knew this was all a lie (the stone was even created by a God of Lies)

All in all the accepting truth theme is fine I like it, but I think it gets overshadowed by all the politics and wonky CGI.

And on to that side of my thoughts.

You can really see the CGI in this film. Some parts aren't that bad but others are just... really noticeable.

Like, there's a scene where Diana is running down a street and she's speeding up down the road. You can see the CGI in her legs and how they try to make her run faster then she is.

You know how Chris Evans has that unique running style that can't be easily recreated? Yeah they try to have Diana run like that and you can see the CGI they used to make it.

And there are other little moments that you can't help but notice (a body flies too fake here or a hand grabs at the ground too smoothly there) little moments.

I know CGI is useful for some scenes and I have nothing about extra CGI in a film. But this felt like those scenes in Horror Movies where you can really see the CGI blood and just how cartoonish it really looks.

Also just, jumping on after this, can we talk about the acting?

Gadot, Pine, Wig, and Pascal all perform amazingly in this film (while I don't like his character I will commend Pascal for putting in a solid performance as Max Lord) But when you focus on some of the side characters and their acting its just really cringy.

The initial jewelry heist scene starts off fine I liked it, but when the guy drops his gun it all just gets so cheesey and corny.

Now, I like cheesey and corny acting I do. But honestly this film felt like it was trying way to hard to be in the 80s.

Stranger Things does this well with its 80s setting (the background, the characters, small moments throughout the series)

Wonder Woman 1984 tries to act like the original Wonder Woman from the 80s, and it doesn't hit that mark.

Now, I didn't grow up with the 80s Wonder Woman, but my dad did. He knew the references and he could tell what they were trying to do. But even he thought it was a little too much (he said that she fought the villain the exact same way and the acting of multiple characters reminded him of that cheesey 80s acting)

In short, most the acting was fine, but alot of it was... also not fine.

This next bit will be my last complaint and then I'll be done (its minor but its does bug me)

Why did they even make the wishing stone?

Now, I'll admit I'm no expert on DC comics, let me be the first to say that. But this stone is a magical artifact that can grant wishes at the cost of taking something valuable to you (like a monkeys paw) They even refference the Monkeys Paw on several occasions in this film, basically acting like the stone is the paw itself.

Now just, here me out for a minute.

The stone acts like the monkeys paw-

It has the same rules as the monkeys paw-

They even reffer to it like the monkeys paw-

Why not just use the monkeys paw?

Legitimately they treat this thing more like the actual Monkeys Paw rather then a mystical genie rock that it actually is. Yes they try to make the rock interesting (it destroyed the Mayans, it brought down multiple Roman Emperors etc) but I just can't get past how useless it all is.

You could replace the stone with a real monkeys paw, give it the exact same origins, and even still have Max Lord bond to the monkeys paw-

And it would still work.

There is no thematic purpose for the stone to be a stone when you can just use the paw. When Max bonds to the paw make his own hand turn into the monkeys paw, and now it has more thematic purpose for why he needs to actually touch people.

Just, its so small a thing that it technically doesn't matter but at the same time I really think that it does.

Thats the last of my complaining/ranting. Like I said I want to be as neutral and genuinely critical of this film.

I wanna like it but I just... there's alot issues that I think should've been addressed before this film was released. I have nothing against referencing current politics or making something pro-this or anti-that, but if your gonna do it at least write it in a cohesive way.

If I had to rank this with the other DC films in the last Decade (I haven't seen Birds of Prey yet and I don't remember much of Man of Steel so bear with me)

Wonder Woman 2017

Shazam

Wonder Woman 1984

Aquaman

Suicide Squad

Justice League

Batman V. Superman

It isn't the greatest film but its still better then DC's worst, so I'll give them that. I rate it a 6/10

#wonder woman #wonder woman 1984 #ww84movie #ww84 spoilers #wonder woman 1984 spoilers #spoilers #dc comics #dc movies #man of steel #birds of prey #batman

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calamity-bean · 4 years

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oh miss calamity, my beautiful queen. i was wondering (if you haven’t already!) if you could write a meta about why yen wants her womb/a baby so bad? personally i think it’s because she “wants everything” and that ability is something she doesn’t have, not that she necessarily wants to be a mother, and she has lived so long and that’s something she hasn’t done yet? but i love your mind and would love to hear your perspective! thank you ☺️

Thanks for the ask! It’s an interesting topic, and a potentially very complicated one, I think, because Yennefer herself seems to me to have a lot of complicated and sometimes contradictory drives.

I should start by saying I haven’t read the books yet (*re-re-rechecks my place in the library’s request queue*) or played the games. While I gather that Yen’s infertility also features in the novels, I don’t know how their treatment of the topic compares to the show’s, so I’m coming at this purely in the context of the Netflix series. Apologies to book/game fans who undoubtedly have a more comprehensive understanding of her character than I do.

With that said, I agree with you that Yennefer’s desire to have a child is about more than just, y’know… having a child. Beyond motherhood per se, I think it reflects a more general sense of longing that she’s hoping to satisfy by achieving this one specific thing. I think part of it is indeed that it’s something she doesn’t have (and has been told she can’t have), not because a child would be a novelty but simply because Yen likes, in general, to demonstrate agency over her own life and choices; but on a deeper level, I wonder if what she’s really longing for — the core desire she’s trying to fulfill here — might be connection. A departure from the isolation that she has, to some extent, purposely imposed on herself, and a relationship that is based on loving and being loved as a person rather than as an object of beauty or provider of power.

I don’t fault Yen’s self-isolation, or her ambitious nature in general. When we meet Yen in 1.02, she is abused, unloved, poor, perceived as ugly — and utterly without control over her own circumstances, leaving her dependent on the very man who mistreats and then sells her. Is it any wonder that she wants so fiercely to be powerful, to be beautiful, “to be seen and adored with everyone watching” (episode 1.03)? I don’t think this comes down to vanity; I think it reflects a desire to not need to be dependent on anyone else ever again. Look at the way she rejects Istredd’s domestic fantasies about their future together; the way she rejects Tissaia “throwing her a lifeline” in 1.05; the way she rejects Geralt’s help with the djinn! “You heroic protector, noble dog, permitting my success so long as you command it yourself!” We often talk about wanting power like it’s a negative thing; it connotes greed, vanity, a destructive, immoral acquisitiveness. But Yen prizes power over herself and her surroundings because she knows too well what it is to be powerless. Everything she does, she wants to be able to do by herself.

And on the surface, she succeeds. She makes herself into the sort of person who stands apart from all others; who can get pretty much anything or anyone she wants and need depend on no one else in turn…

Yennefer, 1.07: “And it was fun to be wanted. The object of desire. After where I came from, I lapped it up. But they all loved the power that came with my position at court. Not my power.”

…But by 1.04, Yen’s found that — as is often the case in life — the things she thought would make her happy have not. Her work as a court mage is desperately unfulfilling, and I think Istredd had a point when he said that “no amount of power or beauty will ever make [her] feel worthy of either” (1.03), because Yen feels that the “love” her beauty and power earn her is shallow and misplaced — i.e., that “love” is not really for her. People love what she can give them … but what about her, as a person? Do they even see her as a person at all? Or do they see only the impressive persona she constructed in order to become who she thought she wanted to be?

And then Queen Kalis shoves a baby into her arms.

“To this baby, I am the whole world,” Kalis says (1.04), and despite Kalis’s own dissatisfaction with motherhood, I think Yen is struck by the idea of being so important to someone in such an all-encompassing way — not as a useful, desirable sorceress, but simply as an ordinary person in an ordinary familial relationship. Though she initially seems a little alarmed to be asked to hold a baby, her willingness to ultimately risk her life for the child contrasts sharply with Kalis’s willingness to sacrifice it for herself. For all her talk of how harsh the world is, Yen is not as callous as she might act. Tough, yes, and sometimes a tad cruel, but nowhere near heartless. I think of the way she interacts with the girls at Aretuza in 1.07 — how she teaches them and tries to warn them from making the same mistakes she feels she did — and I see in Yen someone who does want to care for someone other than herself.

There’s definitely a reactionary element at work here too. Yen knowingly gave up her womb in order to get the things she thought would fulfill her. They failed to live up to her expectations, so now she resents having been asked to pay that price. So to some extent, this is rebellion — a stubborn desire to spite Aretuza for demanding that price and to prove that she can, as you say, have everything. “They took my choice,” she tells Geralt in 1.06; “I want it back.” This definitely fits with her need for independence and control over her own life, but I think the desire for genuine connection — and to choose with whom she is connected — is still a big factor. I think this relates to why she’s so devastated to learn that Geralt may have bound them together magically through the djinn: in her eyes, the magic removes all of her agency from the equation, making her feel that this relationship she thought was based on choice and genuine connection, rather than in any kind of obligation or transaction, was “not because of anything real or true.” And when she warns the girls at Aretuza about infertility, isolation is the primary consequence she describes:

Yennefer, 1.07: “The ability to create life, real life? They take that from you. And then send you out so the only family, the only loyalty you have is to them.”

Yen is proudly self-sufficient — but feels isolated. She doesn’t want to need anyone — but she wants to be needed, and not merely in a way that means being admired as a useful object rather than truly seen as a person, nor in a way that requires her to compromise her own independence or personhood in order to suit the wishes of others. And like anyone, she wants to feel that her life has had a purpose, that she’s done something meaningful with her time. She once “believed that it would all be worth it” — that her work as a court mage would be her “legacy.” Would motherhood — or, more broadly, family; or, more broadly still, meaningful personal connection — fulfill her the way magic has not?

…I don’t know.

It’s interesting — I’ve seen some posts on this aspect of Yennefer’s characterization, but much of what I’ve seen has come at it from an out-of-universe standpoint: i.e., “How do we, the audience, feel about the fact that this character was written with this motivation?” I think good points have been made about how centering a female character’s arc around motherhood plays into stale, gendered tropes, and about how Yen’s infertility (and other aspects of her arc) potentially reflect misogyny and ableism, etc. And I think those issues are worth discussing, though I’m not really going to get into them here, given that I’m clearly long-winded enough as it is.

But even from a purely in-universe perspective, there’s irony here, right, in that this whole theme is all still wrapped up in the idea of women as vessels: vessels of children, vessels of sexual desire, vessels of power. “And even when we’re told we’re special, as I was, as you would’ve been, we’re still just vessels for them to take and take until we’re empty and alone” (1.04). Yennefer resents her role in life and feels she’s only loved because she’s useful/desirable to others — yet Kalis, too, resents her own role and feels that it’s Yennefer who is looked at “for who you are, not for what you can give them.” Yen is not Kalis, and not every woman — not every person — wants or needs the same things … But in such a patriarchal setting, is a woman’s choice basically limited to what kind of vessel she wants to be perceived as, rather than whether she wants to be a vessel at all? And is the desire for a child merely another reflection of how much Yennefer craves external validation — to be seen and adored — despite how much she also wishes to be self-sufficient? Is the critical idea here not that Yen would be the child’s whole world (as Kalis put it), but the child would be Yennefer’s whole world — a meaningful vessel into which to pour her heart?

I don’t know! There’s a lot going on here thematically, and a lot going on in Yen’s motivations. All I can really say in conclusion is that I hope I made a lick of sense in trying to untangle it and that I haven’t completely missed the mark.

#i dont know if this is right but there sure is 1500 words of it #the witcher #yennefer #anya cholatra #witcher netflix #meta #my meta #asks #op #Anonymous

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treacherous-dwarf-of-the-seas · 4 years

Text

I had a lot of Thoughts about the Steven Universe Future finale

It’s exactly a month after its premiere, but I still have a lot of feelings and I wanna organize my thoughts a bit so I can have them somewhere, perhaps for any future ideas I may have. I think I’m just gonna list my thoughts on the 4 individual episodes, the finale (and season) as a whole, etc. Overall, I liked most of it, but I’m gonna get a bit su critical because although I absolutely loved many things about this finale, Oh boy. Some things I downright Did Not. Spoilers ahead I guess, this is a long one.

This is my favorite part of the finale by far. To me, it did almost everything right.

I loved picking up right after Fractured, and Steven’s expression and body language, *chef’s kiss*

Poor Jasper gets killed *twice*

Homeworld looks so good! It’s all gardeny and disorganized in a good way.

Purple pearl?

SPINEL’S BACK!!!

Edgy theories that spinel and the diamonds were a disaster waiting to happen (I agreed with these) were wrong and this makes me happy.

Steven’s reaction to Spinel kissing him? Was a tad strange//

SO GOOD to see Spinel being mentally healthy and happy and while still being herself.

The Diamonds! Actually working to better themselves!

I love the idea of diamond powers “working in reverse”. Like, Yellow diamond can change bodies and destabilize bodies, Blue can change emotions for better or worse, White can take over others or let others in. Honestly the idea that Pink/Rose could bring random plants to life and basically heal anything always struck me as so overpowered and random. The context that she was a goddess of destruction that changed into a goddess of creation makes the concept make a bit more sense to me, I appreciate that.

I’m so ambivalent about Yellow’s scene.

Like, its so satisfying to see. The thing that everybody (including me) was complaining about was that the diamonds’ redemption did not change the millennia of shattered, corrupted and amalgamated gems and suffering they had directly caused. Its very nice to see them putting their money with their mouths are. There’s acknowledgement that redemption isn’t just saying sorry and being less of a dick than you were before, it’s also correcting past wrongs and making it up to the people who were hurt.

However, I’m not totally sold on the idea of healing every shattered gem and the cluster. Like, I guess it makes sense considering a shatter is just a crack that’s been finished, and cracks in gems can be healed. But I don’t think it should be as easy as it is, and in any case, it just feels like it cheapens the impact of shattering, and even the forced fusions when they were so impactful in the original show. I wish the healing could still be done, but in a way that respects how awful and impactful the harm was.

I totally understand Steven in the Blue Diamond scene. I had had mental health problems where my mom had just offered drugs instead of talking to me or trying to help in a way that showed she cared about the issue, so this scene hit a bit hard.

Blue gets a song!

White, by far, my favorite scene in all of Future.

Spinel White, no joke, gave me nightmares.

The little moment of Steven yelling at himself for being a diamond is exactly what I wanted and I needed so much more of it.

Triggered by everything White Diamond does. *chef’s kiss*. I especially love the little subtle moment of looking uncomfortable and pushing away white’s fingernails.

Finally seeing similarities between Steven and White is canon, though I wish it was more explored.

THE HALLUCINATION

Zach Callison is Intense(TM). This man always goes so hard and deserves mad respect.

TOO BAD.

Intrusive thoughts being represented in this way is amazing.

I still wonder if White knows what happened. Can she read thoughts in that state?

He used White Diamond’s power to go into her body, and then while in her body, used her power of possession to take over his own body to puppet himself? I actually love the twistedness of this concept. It shows how twisted Steven himself has become. It’s so much about self-harm, while also not being self harm? vengeful thoughts, intrusive thoughts, anger, just everything. This moment could take all day to analyze, and I think it is way more thematically relevant to Steven’s internal struggle than the corruption.

Love that the diamonds were still willing to help and only seemed concerned after how Steven was acting. They have changed!

Fairy tale imagery, noice.

This one is odd in the best way.

My favorite scenes in anything with supernatural beings is when they look at their own eyes in the mirror and realize that it’s not human or changed from what they should be. The way this scene played out was in a way I’ve only seen in fanfiction, and I am Here for it. The horror on Steven’s face when he’s looking at his own appearance is just wonderfully done.

Very uncomfortable that there is an actual painting of Steven as an angel in his own room. I love how it ties into this episode, but I genuinely feel uncomfortable that he was thought of in that way at all.

The flat out denial that he had just done the things he had done simply by virtue of who he is, I love the idea that “Steven Universe” has become more of a concept/symbol to him rather than being his own name. It reminds me of his concept of his mother and how her name is more of a symbol to Steven than a person. I just love the subtle parallel.

I love the fact that “toxic positivity” is being explored in this show. I never really see it being discussed, and in a show so centered on being honest about emotions, no matter how painful they are, its so wonderful that the protagonist’s main character flaw is the exact opposite, to the point of being forcefully happy and smiling and actively ignoring things going wrong. It really strengthens the message by showing the opposite extreme.

I love the recontextualization that is present in suf. The criticisms of Steven being “too happy” during the cluster arc, being strangely positive after Lars’ death, etc. Although it was uncomfortable when those episodes came out and those events were all but ignored, I’m happy that it is being addressed as this culmination of madness in Steven, being so forcefully happy that its obvious that those episodes weren’t trying to ignore the problems, Steven was.

I’m also happy to see a genuine “hero complex” in a protagonist. (usually the term is used incorrectly to mean “anyone who is a hero who works too hard.”

Steven talking to himself in typical protagonist fashion.

The crystal gems staging an intervention, good shit.

“Steven’s here to help. Steven help. Help Steven.” Not subtle, but I’m always a slut for the glitchy messages.

The confession of his crimes, love that we get to see the gems react to that.

The whole monologue. Once again, Zach goes hard. I love the manic energy and still the ending is so raw and broken.

“Oh, don't worry! I fixed that too! I can fix anything. I can just keep messing up and fixing things forever, and you'll never have to know or think about any of it! How messed up is that? That I've gotten away with this for so long. You have no idea how bad I am.”

It honestly feels like some projection? (Idk something to do with that). It feels like hes a little put out by the things he learned in Homeworld Bound. Like, maybe he feels the same way I do? That the diamonds got off too easy? Maybe it’s simply that hes put out that they’re getting better and he seems to be getting worse. Maybe even, into the worst parts of his mom? I mean from his perspective, his mother had reverse character development and went, in his mind, from a goddess to a petty teenager, to an actual monster. How upsetting would it be to see the galactic dictators who got to live, do so many awful things, worse things than her, and just get to make everything better, to the point of total reversal of their crimes, while pink just ran away and left steven to deal with the mess.While he had to deal with the aftermath of EVERYTHING. Everyone seems to just be okay with the diamonds now, the monsters he feared for so long, so how come he has to be the bad one? How come he has to be like them now? Maybe it’s even coming back to his whole theory that he’s just a reincarnated version of his mom. (I know that he knows it isn’t true, but old fears and old habits can come back during a manic episode, and he spent a long time thinking that he was just there to clean up his mom’s mess and thinking that he was her in disguise.) If you look at what he’s saying, it’s a little strange that he’s talking about how bad he is and how he messes up and then fixes the stuff and no one has to know. It doesn’t even sound like he’s talking about himself, not really.

This sounds like a hysterical realization of what being a diamond means for steven. This is better explained in this post here :https://pennylogue.tumblr.com/post/613441610438590464/steven-is-a-diamond-and-thats-okay . Like, he is panicking that being a diamond means that he can just destroy everything and just fix it like the other diamonds. It’s terrifying that he can just destroy anything and hurt anybody, and people will still worship the ground he walks on just by virtue of who he is. (This isn’t true, obviously, but after what had just happened with jasper, a terrified mind would latch on to that.)

Dude, I could just go on all day this monologue is just fascinating.

Love the parallel of Connie’s “backpack butterflies” and Steve’s back exploding. Its like a subtle way to show that the thoughts are “suddenly swarming.”

Oh god. I’ve gotta be honest. I hated this one. But I’ll start off with things I liked.

The general concept is okay, but I feel like it is not thematically consistent, which I will get into later.

The moment when the gems tell Greg to leave, and he stamps his foot down saying he needs to be with his son, I like that it is very apparent that his stomp makes almost no sound or impact, which really shows how different Steven is from him, aka, his separation from his own humanity that has been building up.

Connie being amazing as always.

“Yoo hoo! Steven! Is this a bad time?”

Spinel’s entire thing, from her reaction to seeing pink godzilla to her thinking that she is the main villain of steven’s story. It reminds me of Peridot’s “leader of the crystal gems, traitor to homeworld” thing and it makes me so happy.

“WHy is something like this always happening when we show up for a visit?”

The ending. Jesus. Zach always goes so hard I don’t doubt he was actually sobbing. I wish I could have cried during this moment.

I respect the message, that it’s not about fixing it, it’s about being there for the person struggling, and Steven wasn’t cured, he finally hit a breaking point. I understand that the problem was not “solved with a hug” as so many say.

I love that before I saw the episode I saw pics of Garnet being as big as the kaiju and actually said to myself, “Wow the heights really ARE inconsistent.”

I don’t like that Connie included herself as one of the people that depend on Steven. They are the healthiest relationship in the entire show and Connie is always there for Steven? sometimes even more than he can be there for her? Where is this coming from? She has literally always been there. Her calling everyone out did clear my skin and water my crops though.

Also, where is Connie’s emotional resolution? Didn’ she go through alot of the same trauma as Steven?

I don’t think it’s unreasonable that a diamond, Steven, could corrupt themselves. It’s not necessarily a bad ending to have Steven be corrupted into a giant monster. However, I don’t think it’s the ending that was really built up to. The only real build up was the presence of “Wyrm boi” in the theme song, and that’s about it. It’s not as prevalent as eye symbolism and foreshadowing of someone (Steven or Connie) losing a hand or an eye.

The episode itself was 11 minutes long, and the monster was very underwhelming and way too quick. I feel like the emotions were too rushed, and although everyone else seemed to put in their emotional 2 cents, I feel as though Steven did not get the emotional climax that he really needed.

Also why didn’t we have a sweet little moment of connection with Nephrite Jade/Centipeetle? Wouldn’t that have been such a bittersweet parallel? The whole “being there for Steven like he was there for us?” So where is she?

There was so much imagery and thematic elements in both Steven Universe and Steven Universe Future, that did not build up to the kaiju monster in the way that it was.

The imagery with one eye, the eye patches, cat steven, the heterochromatic eyes with Onion’s doll, Cookie cat, split Steven, etc etc, most people have many many more examples. I feel like someone could have lost an eye, or maybe Steven could have had a corruption scar that left his eyes permanently heterochromatic. It also would have been thematically relevant to have Steven come out of this with more of a balance of his gem half and human half. This never really becomes relevant in “I Am My Monster.” His gem half turns him into a monster, his gem half helps him turn back. It’s nice that his gem and human family were there as support, but there was never a sense of balancing both sides of himself in the fact that they are there, as there are only two humans and mostly gems there, and this lack of balance and security with both parts of himself was one of the major themes throughout the series and one of the sources of Steven’s identity crisis.

Connie is always a parallel to Pearls. Our Pearl and Pink Pearl. I wish something had come of that. (There are amazing comics that show her losing an eye like Pink Pearl, as it seemed to be foreshadowed in Open Book and Sworn to the Sword.)

This idea isn’t mine, but I’ve seen it done really well and I feel like it would have been a better ending than 10 minute godzilla monster. I wish I could have seen Steven split up again. I am personally fascinated with the otherworldly enigma that are Steven’s two halves, but I feel that that would have tied into the themes better and tied up more loose ends. By the end of the series, we don’t know Steven’s opinion on his mother, and last time we heard him mention her it was in a negative light. This is connected to Steven’s conflict within himself, his desire to understand his human side better, his fear of his power as a diamond, his insecurity and loneliness as a totally unique being. Homeworld Bound was the closest we got to seeing Steven talk to himself, and confront the two sides of himself. This was also the closest we’ve seen Steven come to being honest with the diamonds about how he really sees them. However, this ended with Steven hurting himself, (wanting to hurt White was a response to trauma as well as symbolically confronting his own diamond self), and running away. We never get to see the resolution to that conversation. We never see Steven accept that he is a diamond and that it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Furthermore, Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond is not resolved. The negative character development took a huge toll on her character. Not only does the audience think of her as a terrible person, but the characters also forget her positive character development after hearing about all the mistakes of the past. Rose/Pink’s redemption arc still happened. I think it would have been fitting to remind us here, like all the other diamonds get their moment in this special. I feel like having Steven split up would tie up these loose ends. It would be a dramatic ending while also being a way for Steven to confront these issues within himself in a grounded way, while also making genuine peace with Pink Diamond. We could have Steven talking to himself, maybe starting out the way he did with White in Homeworld Bound, then steadily coming to terms with the sides of himself that he is afraid of, maybe how both sides help each other, how Pink Diamond is not a symbol of all that is wrong in his life, but just a person with flaws who was able to be better, like he can be better, too. This was touched on a little in Change Your Mind, but I would love to see Steven’s thoughts on Pink after the events of Fractured and Homeworld Bound, as there has to be some difference in perspective there. I feel that if Steven split into his components, these themes and ideas could be explored more and we could have a better climatic resolution for Steven’s character arc. Even if Steven came out with no scars, even with both his eyes, the imagery and thematic elements would still be satisfactorily resolved if we got to see the two halves of Steven actually talk to each other. This also explains it better. https://scatterpatter.tumblr.com/post/615024679798915072/hmmmm-okay-so-i-just-watched-one-of-those-rose

Btw, if anybody has fanfiction recs with this concept, please hmu.

I think I hate the kaiju ending because it seemed like such a waste of potential and didn’t really resolve any conflict besides functioning as a sort of breakdown.

The Future. aka: Welcome to another episode of Crying Breakfast Friends!

Boogle

The cookie cat rap. Pearl obviously kills it because she’s awesome and I was dying the entire time.

Steven/Therapy is canon!

I like that Steven puts up a poster of Kerry Moonbeam in his room that he’s giving to his dad. It’s like he’s made peace with the whole “mr. universe thing” and it makes me happy to see that he’s not holding it against his dad or even avoiding the subject.

I appreciate alot of little moments with the family while it still lasts.

It is genuinely like watching Crying Breakfast Friends.

Steven gets to be “petty” with his emotions! He is finally honest with his family. I do appreciate the subtle resolution to his character arc (despite my opinions of the climax).

My favorite thing about Steven and Connie is that the fact that they are “canon” has basically always been true. Like, they’ve always loved eachother as best friends and they still do, it’s just that they get to kiss now. I absolutely love that its not a huge dramatic thing, its just Steven and Connie and they are otp for life.

The fanfic potential is strong with this one.

I wish I could have seen a therapy session or at least meeting the therapist. Maybe Steven walking into the office with his family behind him and its a moment of doing the first steps toward getting better.

But as is, this one is fine.

Love the idea of a road trip with our little weirdo interacting with normies.

Time to hit up Gravity Falls, lmao.

TLDR:, the finale was good, but I did not particularly care for the climax. I am genuinely sad to see this show go. I was not a fan until I was already 18, but even after 5 years this show has taught me so much about self love, acceptance, tolerance, emotional honesty, etc. (I’ll probably do another post about it because holy shit this is long.) But this season, or epilogue series, has gotten me through such a difficult time in my life that is still happening, and has given me the tools to get through it. I sympathize with Steven so much, and I know alot of other people did too. It was so nice to be part of a community that just adopted this feral child. Some of future was rushed and of course it wasn’t perfect, but I greatly respect what it was doing. Bringing up PTSD and mental illness in this way in something like this was not something I was prepared for, even in this show, and I certainly couldn’t have imagined it even 5 years ago. Even with its missteps, this show took so many risks and was so incredibly detailed and it was obvious that it was made with alot of love and the fans in mind. I criticize because I love this show and while I feel it is necessary to acknowledge its flaws, I have so much love for the possibilities that this little world makes me dream of. These four episodes in particular was an emotional roller coaster and I am so sad to see it go, but I enjoyed the ride. Thank you, Crewniverse!

#steven universe #steven universe meta #steven universe finale #su #homeworld bound #everythings fine #corrupted steven #i am my monster #the future #steven universe future #pink diamond #connie maheswaran #long post #su critical i guess? if you squint

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incarnateirony · 4 years

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I went off on a rant to a friend about things like Gamble Era, and miscellaneous idolized past authors, and you know what, fuck it. I'm going to say it out loud. And listen, listen this is NOT going to be my normal "Whatever you like :)" post like, this is literally an accumulation of horse shit I've seen talked about in any and all lanes for years that have been driving me fucking bananas for years. Don't just read this going HAHA I HATE GAMBLE TOO and then be shocked when I slap at inexplicably favorited authors in this fandom beyond that.

------

God how can anyone genuinely like Gamble, like, literally, legitimately and 1000%, not even about her killing Cas or whatever, what kind of pure trash TV do these people intake in mass that they think Gamble was good at her job I can not emphasize enough how cripplingly disappointing the shift from S4-5 to 6-7 was I know art is in the eye of the beholder or whatever but JESUS. FUCKING. CHRIST.

Fuck constructivist theory there's a point when things are just clearly trash Benefits S7 had: Just da bros uhhhh *flips through pages* Anything else? Are dick jokes art?

Her era was overrun by plot holes you could fly boeing jets through -- and I don’t mean shit like when fandom goddamn made up in their own damn head about an angelreaper retcon even though the reaper in the same episode they said was a retcon said the deadass opposite of what everybody fucking wound themselves up about, just deadass yawning voids -- it had unstable mechanics on previously established species shit, the villain plot was one giant monster of the week that tried desperately to go back to how they handled shit like Azazel as a threat but miserably failed, the monster had the dumbest weakness possible, the characters themselves were unstable in their characterizations and not even in that general "I don't like what the show is doing with them" but episode to episode Sam flipping from ripping Dean with laughter over gay jokes to woke-sounding sentiments

The cinematic style was gone and just vacant, it was neither the overexposed horror desaturated film nor the vivid fantasy of Carver, it just sat there like an unpolished lump

While later seasons also lost the classic rock vibe for budget reasons, that too disappeared in her era so we had no film energy, no story energy, no character energy, no villain energy, no structure energy, and we didn't even have the fucking cool tunez but we had dicks allergic to windex

It even lacked the elements that gave Kripke era value

Dusty americana died, all we had left was teenage girl fuckin emo sad boi drama And even that was miserably piss poor

I have never seen such a visionless fucking disaster successfully air an entire season on my fucking TV

I will never, EVER be able to outline what a fucking disappointment it was to go from S4-5 level show maturation into this negative embarrassment by season 7.

S6 Kripke was still around to some extent and that's the only reason I can deduce, S7 minded, there was any substance to it, even if her writing and editing crew at the time were a goddamn tire fire. And then people turn around and yell feminism if you criticise the giant fucking blazing slag heap that was her era and blame anyone and everyone but her and here you FUCKING go and she does half the shit all over again in the Magicians

(The friend replied: "The season only works in reverse, which is a crime on serialised TV (and just bad screenwriting)." )

That's just it though, it's like S7 we were suddenly back to fucking episodical TV like S1-2 because enough fuckbats yelled about Good Old Days. Only instead of ʷĤε𝕣є'𝓼 ��α𝒹 or 𝐓Ħⓔ DεᗰＯᶰ 卄𝓐ｓ Ƥl𝓐𝓝Ş ℱⓞｒ Ⓜ𝔢 it was ħ𝔞ⓗａ 𝓓ＩＣ𝐤ᔕ 🍆

I mean fucking sure this show started targeting late teenage women but Kripke had started maturing it forward and then Gamble fucking rolls along and it's like she's writing for 13 year old boys suddenly

Well I say that's what she seemed to be writing for but at the time the marketing was gross objectification going LOOK PRETTY BOYS WITH GUNS and that was it, that was the substance of what they gave a shit about and apparently the kind of demographic they thought constituted the sum of the SPN audience which, go get fucked guys, seriously. No fucking wonder the ratings got gouged in half over the course of a year. And fandom yells BUT FRIDAY DEATH SLOT but go sit and spin, S6 was friday deathslot too but before Kripke disappeared as the last thread holding SOME kind of cohesive value in the piece together in S6, that went to shitfuckhell in a handbag at light speed. People migrated to SPN Fridays S6 just fine. They LEFT season 7 and then people plug their ears if they don’t like that. And Carver had to fight all S8 to get it back, /but succeeded, and then-some./

oh and lemme head off fandom dumbfuck argument #72 about “well Dabb’s ratings are lower than Gamble’s were so he sucks and ruined it worse” go take your fucking ass and google “national primetime ratings decline” and enjoy exploring the last fucking 70 years of TV history. Pointing out a show crashes within a year because of massive failure is not the same as people being intentionally fucking daft sods to the TV universe’s decline over the last decade so like, don’t. Don’t be that person. Because you’re still embarrassingly wrong.

(The friend replied: "That's why I don't get why people care about what the vocal minority have to say. They *already* got what they wanted. It crashed and burned. Nobody in their right mind in corporate world is gonna be like, let's try that again, let's throw more money into that burning pit That's just not happening. Gay angels or no, it just ain't." )

I mean that should have been obvious when 1. Carver brought back Cas and pretty much immediately promoted him to Regular 2. Misha then got promoted to lead credits in S12, no matter what circles of intentional, willful ignorance fandom argues about what the credits mean for petty piss fights

"LOL & MEANS HE'S LESS IMPORTANT" Shut the fuck up and sit down you basement dwelling shitlord, go watch the A-Team, tell me how Mr T is the least important character

Also unpopular fuckin opinion Robbie Thompson and Ben Edlund are not That Great. Compared to what they were SURROUNDED with they were exceptional but Berens and Yockey could run circles around them both. They just happened to give fandom shit they liked during dark times so it made them fun. Robbie Thompson and Ben Edlund are basically the baseline value of our current writing team on random names. Give me Robbie Thompson and give me Davy Perez and I see no fucking difference. People compare Edlund to Yockey because of certain shit he pulled off but like, no? If there WAS a comparison it’d be like, Meredith, and even then I can’t see any way Edlund is substantially better than Meredith but could list the other in reverse?

But if we're talking about being able to write pieces with more than 1 or 2 layers of impact I'm sorry, it's rose colored glasses that makes people idolize them

Like if people seriously objectively fucking sat and reviewed the methodology and substance of their past idol authors to the demonstratable level of the current crew where I am DEAD ASS HAVING DISCOURSE WITH THE EXEC PRODUCER ABOUT BAUDRILLARDIAN CONCEPTS AND DELILLO in the middle of a hypercomplex postmodern two-directional commentary piece on some scaffolding of sociopolitical representation commentary that SAILS past the level the ‘activists’ in this fandom think about, literally, what people like is Gay Shit They Got lobbed at them or shiny visuals. And you know what, whatever, sure, like what you like IDGAF but don't sit here like Thompson was some fucking Shakespeare. No, your fucking "meta" you -- you, in any lane, anyone, any ship, anywhere, ever -- wrote by COMPLETELY randomly associating whatever storyline you could staple on to try to pretend the text was doing what you want at the time -- is not the same as author intent and actual weight and merit to the cohesive structure of what they build.

YES YES I KNOW, Death of the Author, someone just popped that up in their head, like the ten thousand posts I've made over the last 209349 years addressing how people abusive the fuck out of the term and that's fine, interpret shit however you wanna make it do jumping jacks but don't sit here entering the time you attached Little Bo Peep as some sort of intrinsic value to Dean trying to find Sam in 1492 and act like that's some deep critical shit the authors thoughtfully laced into the piece, these are not the same fucking conversation.

Big hollow voids of statements doesn’t make a better author, it makes you bust your ass harder to actually give any sort of consequential meaning to the piece, and that has nothing to do with the quality of the author or text themselves, that has to do with your interpretation in a piece devoid of genuine thematic subtext so people desperately try to bobby pin some bullshit together. Which also is probably why this fandom can’t tell the difference between coding, interpretation, subtext, and text for their fucking life anymore.

Protip the entire goddamn writing room is pouring that gay shit in your cup that's been triple brewed above Robbie or Edlund’s pots and people are still complaining it isn't enough

Another point that drives me up a wall, "LAZARUS RISING IS THE BEST EPISODE EVER" okay like lmaooooo what the fuck are you smoking Was it impressive as fuck at the time yes it was. But again, fucking perspective. I literally went back and watched it like a month ago and I realized it was a fucking void of content compared to our modern writing, it just had one of the most impressive entrances, it DID have good directing (YES MANNERS WAS GOOD, NO DISRESPECT), and it introduced a character everybody loved. Dean was still a halfass caricature

You wanna know why everybody made that shit gay right away Because there was no fucking substance around it it was a wallpaper of a cool looking episode that was otherwise blank space to run around in on dialogue they should have thought to construct better if they didn't want it to be gay

And sure since then the author room has picked up the big gay ball and started actually turning it into some shit which, great, but this is yet again a matter of structure and intent versus throwing rotten pasta at the wall and seeing if the mold makes it stick. I don't care if you have a vegan recipe that converts the fucking mold on the pasta into a healthy sauce base that isn't what it was thrown at the wall like, and no amount of complimenting the original chef's moldy pasta means it was some tasty shit before you added 10,000 ingredients they never fucking thought about or at least a second chef came along and figure out what to do with the pile of goo.

Fandom would stop being this miserable fucking putrid stinkhole if people would collectively apply some goddamn perspective to the content they argue about before even bothering to engage with uwustiel/cest dot tumblr dot com in irrelevant argument #9238428934 they use to fence off whether they should enjoy the content or try to explore it for its value or not because there is NO. MORE. PERSPECTIVE.

YOU KNOW WHAT? IT’S FINE TO EVEN ADMIT YOU LIKED THINKY-FREE TV, THAT’S FINE, THAT’S YOUR RIGHT.

But don’t SIT here acting like a lot of these former train wrecks were “better authors” or somehow objectively “better content.” No like, you like not thinking about shit that much and staring at pretty boys or whatever, good on you, but you literally like, objectively, some of the shit I’ve seen go down is like genuinely trying to compare a toddler’s fridge art to a Vasarely and hold them both up in front of people who do art for a living. They ain’t gonna shit on the kid’s fridge art, but they’re gonna go “awwwww she’s gonna grow up to be a great artist!” before breaking down on Vasarely’s vector illusion shit, sorry, that’s just how it be. I’m sure the kid had some sort of vision to drawing the triangle over the square that kinda looks like a house but the hypercomplex thought processes simply aren’t there.

Just people STUCK in weird idolization of shit that is so far past irrelevant to the current piece in play and fighting to win arguments while trying to convince themselves they're right and secretly dreading how titanically failboat wrong they are ignoring the sound of the glacier having ripped through their hulls SEASONS ago. The ice water has already leaked onto the fucking DECK and people are still arguing about completely ridiculous shit or fancying things that were 1/10th of the value of the current content they're claiming isn't good or enough or valid compared to the shallow specters that birthed them out of old aeons.

Dead-ASS Kripke picked shit because it “sounded cool.” I’m sorry if there weren’t some model guys fandom wanted to hump everybody would be making fun of the fedora-tipping mindset that probably is where the fucking trenchcoat came from and may have debated giving Cas -- sorry, “CASS” because “COOL” -- katanas. But sure. Way, way deeper and more intricate than the Jungian intertextual post modern piece that’s so tightly knit it’s making fandom unwittingly comment on themselves.

I thought people grew out of that shit when they were like 16 unless they were incels

(My spidey senses detected someone unironically preparing to inform me about stealing borrowing the imagery from Constantine on reflex, because you know, that’s some peak intertext right there.)

Dead ASS that writing logic is that motherfucker that wanders into your freeform RP server with Spawn knockoff miasma chainsaw arms under his leather trenchcoat shooting twin Deagles with a vague story of wanting to face his demon overlord father that’s written like a looney tunes villain, in the middle of you cowriting with your lit-savvy friends trying to make a fun fantasy adaptation rendering fascism and corporate america and then he gets upset when nobody wants him to shit lightning -- /fight me/.

SERIOUSLY FOLKS. WANNA ENJOY THE SHOW AGAIN? GET SOME PERSPECTIVE. LET GO OF FETISHIZING WEIRD WARPED MEMORIES AND LINES OF ARGUMENT INSIDE YOUR OWN HEADS ISTG IT'LL HELP.

The day I find an argument that makes season 7 legit good TV rather than, at very best, “fun junk TV I had a cool ride on”, that does NOT involve evoking arguments distinctly born out of petty shipping culture arguments and/or (generally the same) attaching their own shit with a stapler to MAKE it have some sort of meaning at the time it was airing (rather than later showrunners making it add up to something), I’ll eat my fucking arm.

𝓯𝓾𝓬𝓴. Carver era had already gone through dramatic changes that deepend the scope of the show and even then, 15.09 Bobo’s The Trap held more ACTUAL commentary on this fandom than Thompson’s Fanfiction episode did as a supposed fandom-commentary episode much LESS 15.04 as an actual meta framed episode. Fanfiction was like 4 years behind and completely fucking unplugged, whereas the base of the show itself is more integrated now in these dynamics than any attempt at meta episodes back then were.

old days it took one goddamn episode of dreaming for people to 1. start talking about Freud and 2. pretend the whole everything after that was some Freudian masterpiece even when, if it were, it would have been an entire avalanche of dropped balls. But two seasons of direct citations and literal manifest avatar-bodies of Jungian psychology elements and it’s hard to pull more than a peep out of the fandom about it because they’re too busy yelling about tulpas or sirens from before most of the people around here hit puberty.

𝓕 𝓤 𝓒 𝓚

furthermore why does anyone that idolize season 7 for what they think fits their bill think season 15 is gonna end how they want when they’ve been taking the piss out of season 7 over and over and over and over again IN THE TEXT as being dumb as SHIT

𝕀ℕ 𝕋ℍ𝔼 𝔽𝕌ℂ𝕂𝕀ℕ𝔾 𝕋𝔼𝕏𝕋

WHY SET YOURSELF UP FOR DISAPPOINTMENT

TO WIN TEMPORARY ARGUMENTS? THAT YOU’RE ACTUALLY LOSING FROM START TO FINISH?

actually you know what

rolling back to the whole “empty/subtextless stuff making people bust their ass” seems to be what you miss. Saying, “I miss empty, shallow, shitty writing” doesn’t really sound as good though so we change “what I like” into “this is talentless trash” it postures better, but it seems to be the people who have objectively fucking refused core tenets the show has evolved over the last 7 years, most explicitly the last 3-4, and absolutely refused to soak them in the form they deliver in. And they’re mad. Because it isn’t hollow. They can’t run around in fucking blank space and plug absolute horse shit into the voids and then posture like they’re supreme in this noncommital wasteland. Because everything’s built out and structured in and loud as fuck and people are debating the actual installed and even dogmatically cited work of philosophers driving the ideology of the show now and they can’t get away from it, and/or actually have to pay attention to the whole show and think about it all as a picture instead of the parts they want, so it’s “bad.”

I just sensed like 50 readers shoving their foot into that shoe. Good.

Jesus christ I’m pretty sure that’s what it is in hindsight after yelling all of this. These characters can’t be used as sock puppets anymore that people can win bullshit arguments unless they literally delete the entire principle of the modern show -- and this goes for MULTIPLE lanes really, each in their own way -- so now it’s “bad.” And that’s just not how this works.

#supernatural #spn #rant #vent #mildew

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tricktster · 5 years

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Disclaimer: For new followers who only know me from my recent Great Tumblr Posts, please let it be known that I am not just a fantastic shitposter but also, and I know this ridiculous, the author of the number one Ao3 undertale fic (which is a sans/reader fic) and furthermore, technically, a salesman of fine branded apparel based upon my own intellectual property that I developed FOR the number one Ao3 undertale fic (which is a sans/reader fic)

okay.

Author Interview

tagged by @kastlecastles

name: tricktster on tumblr, totalskeltetontrash on ao3

fandoms: I gotta tell you, for the author of the #1 Undertale fanfiction of all time [by certain metrics], I’m not great at being a participatory part of any fandom.

where you post: ao3 and tumblr

most popular oneshot: Probably “In Which Capra Gets Some Bad News,” if by “popular” you mean “people get the most upset with me about it”

most popular multi-chapter fic; favorite story you’ve written; fic you were nervous to post: Since I have taken an utterly bizarre route of basically only writing one fic consisting of two books (and quite a few spinoff one-shots), the answer for all of these has to be Chill or Be Chilled. In particular book 2 of CoBC.

how you choose your titles:

I chose Chill or Be Chilled basically on account of laziness, because I had a really antagonistic mentality towards writing a fanfic at the beginning of creating what would end up being a 2 book, 176 chapter, 480,000 word work. It was a super low effort thought process, along the lines of “hahahha wtf dude i’m actually writing an undertale fanfic for some reason and these idiots are gonna have to read it, okay, what’s a line from undertale that I can make a halfhearted attempt to reference, kill or be killed, ok, got it, publish.” Joke’s on me, though, that’s a STUPID name that we all have to live with now.

I spent a lot more time on chapter titles, because I could actually accomplish something with those. I wanted to establish a chapter titling convention from the beginning, and I’ve always been fond of old fashioned chapter title stylings (I.e. “in which” or “wherein”) combined with either “something that happened in the chapter that is not actually important” or “an actual lie about what happens in the chapter.” What I liked so much about that method, in particular, is the dramatic effect that straying from the convention could cause. I mean, look at these:

When I published 146, which is a weird and spooky chapter (and a definite break from a lot of the other stylistic conventions that are well established in CoBC by chapter 146), I wanted readers to feel on-edge/wondering if this was the beginning of the endgame/searching for hints or double-meanings throughout the chapter. I just checked out the comments on that chapter and screengrabbed a handful of the reactions, which are all kind of along the same lines:

As a rule, end of book/endgame chapters also got titles that were outside the normal conventions. Book 2 was fun, because there’s a miniboss and a larger boss, and I didn’t want to tip anyone off as I was publishing the miniboss chapters that a bigger fight was coming. So for BBEG1, I used thematically appropriate font names as titles, which were genuinely fun to try to find. BBEG2 represented the actual end of a lot of work and a story I’d really grown to care about, so I played it straight and used titles from the undertale OST.

do you outline: I started out refusing to outline, because that would mean that I actually cared about what I was writing, and if I cared, that meant I couldn’t stay ironically detached from the whole thing.

But then I gave up on being cool and instead I decided to write a time travel plot that required me to set some things up 70+ chapters before I’d write the chapter that would reveal their significance ... so yeah, I broke down and finally outlined.

I think an outline is generally a pretty good idea, with the caveat that it’s fine to keep it as bare bones as possible. You can always add to it, but I find that the more I focus on making sure my outline is immaculate, the less I’m able to pivot on the fly when I stumble upon a smarter or more fun way to introduce a plot point.

complete: CoBC is complete, but it’s marked incomplete because, you know, bonus chapters

in progress: There’s a bonus chapter for CoBC that’s half-drafted in a Google doc somewhere. I haven’t touched it in a while, but when it comes out, I think people will be into it, insofar as they like and want to know more about Cody (who is a pretty fun OC, honestly)

coming soon/not yet started: Any part of my original work, High Fantasy, that takes us out of Farhold, and into the greater world at large. Farhold is finally starting to feel fleshed out in my own mind, so bringing an entire continent to life around it is DAUNTING

do you accept prompts: Uhhhhh you can certainly try I guess

upcoming story you are most excited to write: High Fantasy is so fun to write, and I love imagining that distant date where it’ll be finished

tagging (no pressure!): @mod2amaryllis, @kaytemchugh, @wrexie, @thaylepo, @dismyblog. @misssugarpinkshome, @trucbiduleschouettes

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vaguely-concerned · 4 years

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I played Death of the Outsider finally and I have some Feelings about it

and most of them not very positive. nice stuff first tho!

THINGS I LIKED:

- billie is such a good character. still new to her old self and slightly tender from coming out of the protective shell of lies that was meagan foster, full of old scars and doubts and bitterness but trying for something better, something kinder even though she still doesn’t quite understand what she’s walking towards -- the genuine care and tenderness in her voice when she talks to daud or thinks about deidre. I love her.

all that and she effortlessly IS also the queer disabled woc the gamer bros refuse to believe could possibly exist. exquisite.

- the idea of ‘killing’ the outsider is compelling, but it’s the sort of idea that needs a full length game to support it and its implications. cool idea, completely wrong execution.

- saying that: I love that the injustice of the outsider’s creation being righted is only made possible by a long unbroken line of mercy and kindness. daud saved billie from the streets, corvo spared daud, daud saved emily and spared billie after her betrayal, billie tried to save aramis stilton and became entangled in the void, emily spared billie, billie took this job in the first place partly because she loves her dad daud and wants him to find peace. that idea is so beautiful that I wish the rest of the narrative was strong enough to hold it up lol.

there’s also something going on here with other people holding on to the important pieces of you -- that billie is ‘all that is left’ of daud after he’s dead. once he saved a child from true loneliness and gave her a purpose, made her feel seen again, gave her the closest thing she had to a home, and when he’s completely lost himself in the void... that kindness is still alive in billie, and she helps him find his way. again that is really touching and thoughtful and plays wonderfully into the chaos system in these games thematically! too bad about all the stilted dialogue and characterization messes and uh. everything else.

- most of all I love how clear it is that billie and daud love each other. it’s a quiet love that has nothing to prove anymore, it’s survived all the blood and the ugliness and everything they’ve done to each other and to the world, a love with no demands left. it’s not the sort of love you usually see, in all its unsentimentality, but it’s real. when daud tells her he’s proud of her and trusts her no matter what she chooses to do, you feel how much he means it. (making his insistence on trying to make her choice for her all the weirder -- see my long rant of lamentation about his characterization in doto below lol)

there’s something about daud’s undramatic yet complete acceptance of and respect for billie that... I didn’t know I needed this, but it was a nice gift nonetheless haha, thank you. (it’s similar to how good it feels in D2 when you realize corvo just likes emily a lot as a person, even aside from her being his daughter. a good series for father & daughter stories)

- this carries over from D2, but I think the journal/log entries are better written and more insightful than the stuff out in the world.

- it cannot be overstated how much the gameplay loop of these games is just... pure crack cocaine for my brain haha, very few things give me this specific kind of brain tingle. I love the sound of looting and I love the art style and ambiance and I love planning out a strategy after finding all the options and I love never being spotted or killing anyone and I love the puzzle elements they put into exploration sections and I love the feeling of how you move through the environment. it’s one of the few games where I routinely get so into it I end up with a crick in the neck because I’ve been so focused for so long and never noticed I’ve been sitting in a way that makes my entire spine hate me. I needed something to get me through the last few days and it did deliver that, at least. karnaca is pretty enough that I didn’t even mind that most of the levels were recycled from D2 either.

- I’m not quite sure whether I understood this right but there’s a woman standing behind daud in the void -- I wonder if that is actually his mother and he’s been so close this whole time? at first I thought maybe it was jessamine but god no I hope she’s finally at peace after All That Nonsense, she shouldn’t have to hang around there anymore. there’s also a figure near him I could swear was corvo with his mask on, but he’s not dead canonically so that would make very little sense. oh well I’ll take my feels where I can get them even if I have to make them up wholesale

- the bankheist was cool as fuuuuuck, that and the emotional impact of daud dying was sadly the height of this game for me, after that it all went mediocre real quick

- paul nakauchi as shan yun was, as I have said before, a blast. ‘ugh I cannot continue my throat is as raw as a plucked pheasant’ fsdkfhlsadjkhfas

- daud’s funeral is genuinely touching. she gave him the entirety of her old life for a sendoff, battered and worn and dear as they both were. someone hold me

THINGS I H A T E D:

- the stuff they did with daud’s characterization. I am so unreasonably angry over this haha, the more I think about it the more I hate it. I think there are paths you could go with his ACTUAL character to make this work, but this was not it. I’ve said this before, but his most iconic, most defining scene is him surrendering himself to corvo’s judgement without justifying himself or deflecting the blame for any of what he’s done. this isn’t even regression in his character, it’s just.. a different character altogether. they could have gone for the angle that delilah almost managed to end the world b/c daud showed mercy and that’s the reason he’s moved to action, I think that might be a more compelling motivation for him at least. OR have him be more conflicted about how to do things -- violence is still the only tool he knows how to use but it’s not what he wants to or even can be anymore and the conflict troubles him, ‘His hands do violence, but there is a different dream in his heart’. or even use a different character for the ‘kill kill kill’ angle, he didn’t need to be here for this dlc at all.

also, just on a purely practical level... for all his flaws and longstanding moral shortsightedness daud is not a stupid man. why the FCK would he be so sure that killing the outsider will fix anything? if I, dumbass extraordinaire, could within half a minute wonder if maybe something even worse would take the outsider’s place if you removed him... why does that never occur to the Knife of Dunwall tm, a man about Void for like half a century or whatever?? ugh fuck this, I’m having a hard time explaining exactly why it all feels weird and wrong to me, but know that it does and that I Do Not Like It lol. I feel cheated out of something important I thought I had.

- again, this should have been a full game. (I think it is sold as one already, but it just hm isn’t) there’s way too much shit of literal cosmic importance for the game’s universe being picked up here for something this short to cover. save this HUGE idea for a rainy day should you ever want to do another game in the series and do something else with the dlc, honestly.

- god but the outsider is insufferable in this. I don’t know what happened, but by the end I was like ‘*thoughtfully strokes chin* maybe daud has a point billie keep that knife handy’. he’s annoying and boring, which is wild to me because he was always a lot of fun in the other games.

for real tho I don’t know if this is just my atheist-but-still-angry-at-god-somehow??? talking, but daud HAS a point. people are responsible for their own actions, but the outsider didn’t have to do any of what he did either. he could have chosen to be bored through the centuries instead of seeing what people would do if you gave them such ~*morally neutral*~ abilities as y’know summoning a bunch of rats to eat other people. the game wants me to buy the ‘but really this black eyed boy is woobie tho uwu’ so badly and no I’m not buying that give me my refund I want my chaotic neutral bastard back pls. I’d probably be more inclined to want to help him like that. where’s his salt gone, arkane. if you didn’t want him to be edgy why did you make him look like that.

- this is the lamest possible version of the outsider’s backstory lol, it feels like the pearl clutching panic about satanic cults back in the day all over. listen if it’s this easy to make a god the thrill is sort of taken out of it, if these randos did it anyone could. also how the fuck are they just normal-ish people anyway? why do they follow modern fashions? haven’t they been hanging around for thousands of years, haven’t their culture changed in any meaningful way? (I realize these aren’t the same guys as back in the day but it’s just weird) why do they speak a language billie and the player can understand? why did anyone think ‘idk some cultists no one’s ever heard of before with no thematic significance whatsoever’ was the way to go world building wise? they’ve taken all the unknowable eldritchness out of the eldritch horror and we’re all poorer for it now haha

relatedly the last level is... just not very good. you come down from the awesome bank heist and then there’s... whatever the fuck this was.

- while I do like billie finding daud in the void and him remembering her I hate that he goes out still full of self loathing and rage when you talk him into the nonlethal option, that he can’t forgive himself or find any sliver of hope or peace. I wish there had been a few more moments for the two of them to come to peace with themselves before he gave the outsider back his name, some real catharsis. as it is I was annoyed when the outsider ‘woke up’ or whatever b/c it felt like he was stealing attention from what I was actually emotionally invested in and not done with.

they had n o t built up billie’s or my sympathy for the outsider well enough either. again this is something I think they could have done if they’d structured things differently, if they’d been more deliberate in making you understand he was basically a child and letting you dwell on it. because there is a parallell there between him and billie, and billie and daud, but I, how do I put this, did not give a fuck

in short this was really similar to my experience with D2 in that there’s enough good there that it’s all the more painful when it fails to deliver on it again and again, and it ruined things I already liked about this story from the first game (daud’s arc and everything to do with the outsider, mostly). give me some months of denial and hard core headcanon work and I’ll probably be able to live with it

#*shows up to doto years late with enraged takes and starbucks*#dishonored #death of the outsider #meta #I am ranting but it really is because I do love these games and it hurts me when they let themselves down like this lol

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bi-lullaby · 5 years

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I loved your last rankings so much that I'm sending you another fun (?!) challenge! How would you rate all these male GA characters from your favorite to least favorite, no ties allowed? :) Alex, Derek, Richard, Mark, Owen, Jackson, Burke, George, Andrew, Linc and Ben? Good luck, and as always, feel free to include your reasons why because I love your answers!

Ohhh boy you give me life with those asks! Here we go:

1 - As no surprise to anyone: Alex. My baby had the best character development I’ve ever seen, really, brcaus ewhile it was huge, it was also paced and believable and stabilished and non-linear. He was a huge asshole with a concealed heart of gold in season one. In season 15, he’s a golden boy with a concealed asshole side, and the growth/diminishment of those sides weren’t always inversely proportionate, but adjusted to what each characteristic was brought out more by his surroundings/worked more on by himself. Also, he’s the person that has stuck with mer for the longest and through the most, which would put him in a high place in this list even if he wasn’t my favorite on his own. I also adore how, thematically, he’s so moved by the women in his life (bot just the romantic i terests while we are at it) for the betterment of himself and hsi ways. It’s not like Owen’s “I’ll need her to take care of me emptionally and shape herself to my desires so I can be in a good place, it’s recognizing those positive influences in his life and trying to emulate them/work with them/learn from them. Also about his theme, itms less the worn-out “guy is validated in being an asshole bc he had a tough life” and more “guy learns that his tough life doesn’t mean he gotta act like an asshole”. I love this character so much, ugh.

2 - Ben. A freaking Disney prince would be a sleeazy douche in comparison. I was so weirded out when Shobda decided to give so much focus to this random-ass character, then I was really turned off by his storyline with the cutting people open and all that (not necessarily because I thought he was wrong, I just felt the storyline was handled awkwardly and made him sound pelutant and irresponsible instead of a promissing, if stubborn, future surgeon. I’ve yet to watch Station 19, but this angel with a scalpel and a fire hose for wings deserves his own goddamn spin-off, for sure.

3 - My baby Andrew. Yeah, he is not that developed, has been inconsistent, his change from “freaking out over Maggie being his boss” to “marvellung at Meredith’s every movie even though she’s kinda even more his boss because she owns the hospital” was... A B R U P T. But I really enjoy this new Andrew - as a side note: I could not care less for him during the whole Sam storyline, he seemed like a toned down Jonhy Bravo - He’s smart and sweet and funny and worships Mer like the Wonder Woman she is. His relationships with Arizona, Amelia, Jo, Carina and now Alex need more screentime because they’re great (or have the potential to be so). He’s competent and brilliant and selfless (dropping the charges on Alex even if he was completely in the right, taking the blame for mer now) and so tender (his absolute gentleness in peds, taking care of Amy after the operation, being a moody, emotive boy because he lost his love instead of a macho men...). The future holds great things for him, and I’m excited to watch them unfold!

4 - Not on your list but I love: Tom. Boy is he nice. As I was figuring out this order, I realized he reminds me a lot of my favorite character (Dean Winchester) - or at least what I think Dean would be if he was older, richer and lived without the Supernatural World and so many traumas. His talk to April was so moving and I felt it really helped. He doesn’t stand on a moral high horse: He does what he thinks is right and damned be judgment. He’s empathetic, he’s romantic, he treats Teddy RIGHT. He deserves to have his own storyline and be more developed and show us kore of his awesomeness.

5 - Jackson. As I said in my ships rating answer, I’ve only started to care for him recently, but I really do care. He’s not a character I’d, like, write fic about, or long rants and meta, but I love his sibling-esque relationship with Mer and his relationship with Maggie and the way he connects with his mom and how this spoiled, immature transfer with something to prove became a respected, innovative surgeon and father who’s secure of himself and ready to explore different paths and ways and worldviews. I just wish him, and the Grey’s fandom, would be less defensive about the callout of his privileged life. Like. I’ve seen people write paragraphs upon paragraphs about how Maggie was a bitch for calling him privileged. And he is (for his hoards upon hoards of money growing up). That’s not too hard a concept to grasp. Plus, it’d be nice if he could treat Maggie as less of a consolation prize/second chance. Just because faith (or lack thereof) was a source of tension in his previous marriage, and he feels like changing that would have made everything better, doesn’t mean the same applies to his current relationship, or that Maggie is the one who should change -he learned, learned, and is back in square one seeing only his side of it - I really hope this season treats him more kindly and gives him happiness and peace!

6 - Richard. I love him for his parental-and-ish relationships, specially to Maggie, Mer and Jackson, but to Bailey and Callie too. That’s my favorite aspect of him, watching those gives me a nice, warm feeling in my tummy and puts a smile on my face. There’s some aspects of him I find either boring or unpleasant, and I think it’s kinda annoying how him retiring has been a theme/conflict since, like, season one, and fast-foward ten years and he’s basically an entity at the hospital. Like? What? Was the point? You’ve waisted my time? For nothing? But he’s a solid, reliable character you can’t really hate and who brings more good than bad to the show by far. As a side note: one day I will yell at him for his treatment of Maggie after she talked about HER OWN HISTORY and he basically called her a mistake (although he apologized pretty soon and she forgave him so so will I).

7 - Mark. He was great and all that, but never sparked that love some characters did. I was sad when he died, I loved his scenes and relationships, I just am not invested in him. Plus the immaturity in his relationship with Lexie pisses me off a bit, as does his “man whore” personality.

8 - Link. Genuinely love him, he’s been nothing but sweet and kind and fun and helpful this entire time! I cheered for Merlink sooooo much imat first, and I really wish their friendship will be developed! Him and Jo are everything I never knew I needed. He has no arguable flaws besides being so sculped it freaks me out a little bit, but he isn’t higher up in my rank because there isn’t much material for that yet, but expect a climb as he becomes more and more regular.

9 - Burke. He was kinda sweet and did a good thing for Cristina (the hospital). He was also manipulative and arrogant and voundary-crossing in their relationship. I might like him better if it was bot for Burktina, but we will never know.

10 - Owen. Toxic as fuck, annoying, controlling, disgusting. Those are all things that very much apply to Owen in a lot of situations. Screaming at Cristina for “murdering their baby”? YIKES. Big no no. He was not suited for romantic relationships at all and I wish the show would realize that and allow him that space and breathing time without being stuck in a complicated relationship with loads of baggage or a love triangle. Because that’s my whole thing about him: I believe he has room for growth. His relationship with April is pretty amazing, he was always so considerate and gentle with her, all the time, and I want to see more of that bond. He loves kids and can be really good with them, he has a lot of things to work out with the traumas of his father’s death + war + his sister’s story. Why not focus on that? Why not show him growing and processing and bettering himself and living up to the potential he has? I feel like they gave the all the wrong romantic storylines to the character who’s otherwise really good and that’s such a shame because I really enjoyed him at first. Lets see what happens from now on, and if he gets a dose of tv’s “heterosexual love and a nuclear biological family solve everything!” medicine or if this is a turning point for him.

11 - Derek. He never really had any appeal to me. Not his face, not his personality, not his storylines or plot points pr the actor. That’s reason enough for him to rank low, but I also think he had some really bad traits. He was arrogant and condescending and had a God complex and was sexist and pushy and just not great for the people around him. Exploiting Amy’s addiction being outed to steal surgeries? Refusing to give Mer credit on their clinic trial? Putting ultimatums on his girlfriend that she either has to be ready for a full, committed relationship or end things, then call her a slut when she sleeps with other guys after they broke up? Cheating on Addison after deciding to work things out? Stringing mer and addie along? Not saying he was married in the first place? Pushing Mer’s boundaries after she was clearly uncomfortable with having slept with her boss? Refusing to have an inch of empathy for Mer’s action regarding the trial despite her complicated history with the people she was trying to help (who were her friends, actually?)? Telling his depressed girlfriend that she should be concerned the happiest part of his day was flirting with another girl from the bar? Ratting out on Richard to the board because he wanted the spot? Not acknowledging Mer’s trauma after the shooting? Kissing nurse Rose while building the dream house? Kissing his student while being married in NY? Pushing his wife to move and saying his career was more important than his after he had compromised on letting her shine? All things that, isolated, can even be understood on context and “everyone makes mistakes”, but that when put together, make it pretty clear it’s a pattern of someone with very little regard to the people around him. Was he a good surgeon? Yeah. Great father as well. He also had some interesting relationships and iconic scenes, truly, I can recognize that. I hurt for the people he loved and left behind (and I genuinely think he loved them and meant well), but he himself I don’t miss at all.

12 - I think George is the clearest contrast between how old greys handled matters of sexism and gender and sexuality and how it does now. He was such a sleazy nice guy at times, it is unbearable to me. And he ranks lower than Derek because A) His relationships also bored me while Derek’s could pique my interest at times, B) There’s no talk about his mistakes. Remember when he (in his own words) took advantage of Meredith being on a terrible, delicate, vulnerable place (still hiding her mother’s Alzheimer’s and seeing a person be blown to pieces and being dumped by who she thought was the one and being rejected by her father for the second time after seeing him for the first time in tweenty years) and, knowing that she was not interested in him, pursued her, then after she started crying because of the literal pile of shit she was having to carry around (and still trying to preserve his feelings), got mad at her and everyone sided with him? It baffled younger me to bits that what Mer had “done” was so terrible, it has not stoped bafflinn me in the years that have passed since. Can you imagine any of the girls crying during sex because they’re so overwhelmed and feel like that’s a mistake, and the guy freaks out on them and they’re instantly ostracized by the narrative and characters? That’s essentially criticizing her for the right of saying no, of stopping when she doesn’t want to continue, of not giving away her time and feels just because a goofy guy who is her friend feels entitled to them. That’s the word: entitled. He literally says he “saw her first”. How’s that not Nice Guy 101? I would understand his ego being bruised, but the guilt tripping and the bitching and the fact none of that is treated as a fucking creepy thing? Yikes. Also how he treated Callie, who deserved so, so much better. And even Olivia who was perfectly lovely and did nothing wrong besides having sex with more than one guy without breaking either of their trusts because she wasn’t in a relationship with any of them. Did he do some good things? Sure did! Joey’s surgery costs being cut, helping Bailey give birth, some of his interactions with patients were really sweet, and he died giving his life for someone else. It’s just that consequence-less sexism and entitlement that never gets adressed and gets treated as not only valid, but right, that makes him go rom unappealing to downright hated for me. Better left in the past where people can misplacedly idolize him!

Thank you so much for asking, I love those thought-inspiring asks! <3

#thank you so much #theofficestan #greys anatomy #greys #grey’s anatomy #me #answered #asks #rank

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commentaryvorg · 5 years

Text

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 5.8

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time in chapter 5’s plotty part in which most of the plot is a lie, and the last time we see Kokichi alive outside of flashbacks, Kokichi did the literal direct opposite of what he would have hypothetically wanted out of the mercy kill plan, almost certainly did not need to have murdered two people to convince everyone he’s the mastermind, deflected his trust issues one last time for posterity, and him kidnapping Kaito was very definitely him making the stupid decision to use Kaito in his plan, because he can’t possibly think this is actually going to end anything at all. Meanwhile, everyone else despaired.

This time, more despair. And then maybe some hope… although calling it that will be debatable, really.

(I haven’t been putting content warnings on any of these posts because everyone reading should have seen the whole story and know what to expect, but this time I feel I should put a heads-up: there’s some pretty heavy suicidal thoughts coming up here, which I am going to be discussing at some length. Please take care of yourself if you need to. If you have to avoid it entirely, you can search for the words “Hope’s Peak” and just skip ahead to that part.)

Monokuma Theater has some philosophical musings about how people’s voices in telephone calls and flavours of shaved ice are technically fake.

Monokuma: “Do you think these facts are lies? Do you deny that these facts are lies? Puhuhu. What would the world be like if all lies were denied outright? I bet it would be a very lonesome world. Lies are what make the world go ‘round.”

He sounds like Kokichi. But these are the kinds of lies that are essentially like fiction – as in, nobody is ever really trying to claim that they’re the truth, and even if you realise they’re lies then it doesn’t really matter because pretending they’re true makes things more convenient and/or fun anyway. Lies that are truly meant to deceive people are something of a different matter.

(Not that deliberately deceptive lies are necessarily always bad either; then there’s still the question of whether or not there’s any malice behind them, like Kaito talked about once before.)

Shuichi: (There’s no reason… to keep living. There’s no reason to live. There’s no reason to live. There’s no reason to live. There’s no reason to live.)

Guh, Shuichi. This numb repetition really hammers home how broken he is. It’s heartbreaking but completely understandable that what he’s seen would make him start thinking this way.

Shuichi: (This is an epilogue. All that’s left… is to take up time. …What a boring story.)

Yep, that’s there. I wonder if this is in-universely influenced, in that the characters were written in such a way that they’re slightly more liable to think of things in these terms, or if it’s just the out-universe writers dropping a hint even if it means making Shuichi think something he might not necessarily think. Or it could be a thing with Shuichi’s character in particular – his Likes in the report card are listed as “Novels”, so he’s apparently into fiction. That’s definitely something the out-universe writers gave him on purpose to be thematic, and it’ll be worth keeping in mind as we begin to approach the end here.

Shuichi: (I wonder… what everyone else is doing…)

You’re still not quite alone, Shuichi! They’re a reason for you to live!

…But then his thoughts just drift back into hazy nothingness. The image of his room behind the text box is blurred out, suggesting that his eyes aren’t even properly focusing on anything.

“What everyone else is doing” probably amounts to much the same listless staring into space as he is. Well, at least for Himiko, and maybe Keebo too – you’d think Keebo’s inner voice would be yelling at him not to give up hope, but I guess that isn’t actually affecting him much right now. Maki is still being more proactive, though, and of course Tsumugi is fine and probably busy programming one bumper Flashback Light for tomorrow.

The next thing we get is the bell for nighttime again, which also really hammers home the fact that oh god, he’s just been lying there in despair all day. That’s pretty powerful.

At least, it’s powerful for us in the out-universe audience who simply realise that fact in a single moment without having actually sat through the whole day. However, the in-universe audience must have been really, really bored today. They supposedly love despair just as much as they love hope – and, sure, the moment when a character falls into despair makes a good story. But as it turns out, the despair itself, when that’s all there is and there’s no hope to fight against it and it’s not making anyone do anything worse because they don’t care anymore, is really kind of boring.

Shuichi: (I wonder… what Kaito is doing…) “That’s right… I wonder if… Kaito is okay…? Is… he…?”

Shuichi’s vision comes back into focus as he has this thought, and it’s the only words he’s actually spoken all day. Worrying about Kaito is an important enough thought that it manages to spark some kind of life out of him! That’s also a reason to stay alive, Shuichi! Kaito might need you!

Shuichi: (… It’s no use. My mind isn’t… working… And my body…)

…But this still isn’t enough. Depression will do that to you, making it difficult to get yourself to care about things you know you should care about. Shuichi isn’t usually depressed, just anxious, but it’s no wonder his brain’s messed up like this right now after what he saw yesterday.

(And it’d be hard for Shuichi to really latch onto the idea that Kaito could even need him in the first place. Kaito’s always fine, right? More fine than Shuichi, at least.)

Monokuma: “Your life doesn’t need a meaning. It just needs a purpose. In other words, you just need something to live for.”

Here’s another Monokuma Theater quite relevant to the themes at hand. This is actually a philosophy I’ve always personally agreed with! Life has no inherent greater meaning, so you should just try to spend it doing whatever makes you happy (so long as it doesn’t make other people unhappy).

Monokuma: “If you say Danganronpa is your reason to live, I couldn’t be happier.”

This is another nod to the in-universe audience and the idea that at least some of them, like the Makoto kid we’re going to see, really do see Danganronpa as their reason to live. It’s also still fairly relevant to me, since “whatever makes me happy” happens to include a lot of enjoying works of fiction that I’m into – hence this entire commentary. It won’t always be, but right now, Danganronpa V3 and the fun I’m having analysing it like this genuinely is one of the biggest things I’m living for.

Shuichi: (I should… get up. Or I might not ever get up again. I… … I don’t care. If I… just kill my—)

*ding-dong!*

Maki’s visit is very well-timed. Hang in there, Shuichi. Not yet. There’s still things you can do.

This sprite of Shuichi’s is another thing that’s great for getting across how broken he is. Even though he did presumably get some sleep last night as well, he looks like he hasn’t slept in days. He also didn’t eat (or even drink?) anything yesterday, which can’t have helped.

Maki doesn’t bother telling him she found a Flashback Light; she just instructs him to take a shower and then come to the dining hall with everyone, and he does. Even in the depths of despair (or perhaps especially because he’s in despair), Shuichi is still the kind of person who’ll just do whatever someone tells him to do, if they tell him in an assertive enough way and he doesn’t have a reason not to.

On the way out of the dorms, if you examine Kaito’s door…

Shuichi: (Is Kaito okay…?)

…Shuichi still manages to muster up a tiny bit of energy to worry about him. Aww.

Maki: “…Everyone here looks terrible.”

Being the one who’s least in despair out of anyone here, Maki still has it in her to be concerned about how awfully everyone else is doing.

Tsumugi: “What are we talking about?”

Himiko: “We’re discussing how we wanna die, right?”

No, Himiko! Can’t you see the Flashback Light on the table? Maki did not call everyone here for a group suicide. It’s painful that that’s what her mind immediately goes to.

Himiko: “I wanna go without suffering… Maki… can you do something about that?”

Maki: “Sure… but before that, take a look at this.”

It’s also a bit much that Maki doesn’t even protest the request in and of itself, given that she isn’t suicidal right now. I have to assume that she’s only saying that because she’s imagining that whatever they see in the Flashback Light will change their minds, and so there’s no point arguing about it before they’ve seen it.

Himiko: “Don’t stop me… I just wanna die. Tenko… probably wouldn’t be mad if I chose to die in this situation.”

It’s specifically Himiko who is this openly suicidal – the others also look equally down, and Shuichi was just about to think it earlier, but it seems none of them quite want to voice it out loud, except for Himiko. This makes a heartbreaking amount of sense when you consider that she was always depressed, and all of her efforts to fight back against that must seem so pointless right now. She’s even managed to convince herself that Tenko’s wish for her doesn’t apply any more… which, honestly, might be right, if this really were the truth.

Tsumugi: “We don’t need to confirm anything… We saw… the outside world for ourselves…”

Tsumugi is apparently employing reverse psychology, since of course this is her Flashback Light and she very much wants them to see it.

Maki: “Do you want to die… comfortably? I can help you, but…”

I love this turnaround of Maki’s catchphrase. Suddenly her specialisation in killing people painlessly is a way for her to help and be kind to her friends, at least if they do end up concluding that there’s nothing else to do but die.

Maki: “If we’re going to die, then we might as well do anything we can. We’ll have no regrets that way.”

Yes, do anything we can, including watching this Flashback Light… and then also rescuing Kaito. Not doing that would definitely leave regrets.

Maki: “Either way, there’s nothing for us to lose… We don’t have any hope left.”

We do. We have Kaito. If anyone could muster up optimism at a time like this and manage to find some kind of silver lining, some reason to keep going, it’d be him.

I can understand this not occurring to everyone else, because they’re so broken, but Maki is not in despair like the rest of them. She spent all of yesterday staking out the Exisal hangar and thinking of a way to rescue Kaito. I have to assume that she’s only not mentioning this because she’s hoping the Flashback Light will help everyone feel better first, and if that wasn’t going to work, then she would mention Kaito. Her words here have to be just an attempt to persuade everyone else that there’s no reason not to use the Flashback Light so that they’d do so.

Just… imagine if they did all commit suicide here, and then Kaito somehow managed to escape from the hangar on his own (or Kokichi let him go after realising that his plan was pointless now, good job Kokichi this would be almost entirely your fault), only for Kaito to come here and find all of his friends already dead. God, that would absolutely destroy him. You can’t do that to him, guys. You just can’t.

If the outside world really was as ruined as it looks and they really were the only people left alive, then group suicide would maybe be an understandable response to the apparent truth of their situation… but only if Kaito was there and agreed to it too. Like Kaito said, your life isn’t something you can decide to throw away on your own – it belongs to everyone who cares about you as well, which right now means the six of them. They cannot do this only as a group of five. Maki has to know this. I refuse to take an interpretation in which she is okay with putting Kaito through that pain.

Himiko: “So when you kill me… will it be like I’m falling asleep?”

Himikooooo, don’t be so fixated on that! It probably would be (Maki is, after all, very good at her job), but you’ve got something else you need to do first!

Shuichi: (Maki switched on the Flashback Light. And in that moment… The world— Flipped upside-down— Turned inside-out—)

This time, there’s a stronger description of how it feels than usual (usually he just says the world “warped” and that’s it). Fitting, since this is the biggest rewrite of their minds they’ve had other than the one which made them into who they are in the first place.

Finally there are different words in the background of the Flashback Light cutscene, about things such as Hope’s Peak, and the Tragedy. It would have been nice to have each chapter’s Flashback Light have different words appropriate to its content, but if they only had time to edit the scene once then this makes sense as the one they’d do it for.

Every time I get to this moment in the game where the Danganronpa 1 theme music starts playing, all I can think about is the fact that the anime adaptation’s version of that theme for its opening added some lyrics, the first two lines of which go: “Reality slips far away/Fiction comes alive, we start to play”. Which seems pretty damn appropriate right here. I get the sense that maybe the Danganronpa writers always kind of wanted to write a story like this.

So. All this Hope’s Peak stuff suddenly being part of the backstory when it was never even mentioned before is blatantly ridiculous. It’s pretty difficult to buy that they’d all forget something so major, but even if you accept that that’s possible with a mind-wipe, it still leaves us with the fact that everyone should have grown up in a post-apocalyptic, gradually-rebuilding society. They should at the very least remember that fact, since it would be integral to their backstories and upbringings that they still remember, even if they forget the exact reason for the apocalypse. Not one of them, not once at any point talking about their pasts, has given any kind of indication that they grew up in such a world.

So when I got to this part on my first time around, I raised an eyebrow or two. I basically accepted it anyway, with the thought that while this may be forced and arbitrary, if they really wanted this to suddenly be part of the Hope’s Peak universe as a big plot twist here then maybe there weren’t any better ways to do it, so sure, whatever, let’s go with this I guess. But no, turns out I was completely right to be sceptical and the forced arbitrariness of it is precisely the point.

Suddenly revealing a huge infodump about the backstory like this is honestly a pretty bad way to write a narrative. It can work, but only if all the details revealed really are intrinsically connected to parts of the story that the audience is already invested in, so that they now see those parts of the story in a new light. This is not that. Shuichi says they’re “connected”, but it’s actually a very tenuous connection. There was a whole other massive, interesting conflict that happened in the backstory… that really doesn’t matter at all because none of the characters who are part of this story took part in it, and then meteorites fell and everyone who was involved in that conflict is now dead for unrelated reasons. The only part properly connected to this story is that all of these students here were actually all part of the same school… but they were still in different classes and didn’t know each other, so that still doesn’t mean much. It only nominally matters because apparently this school is a rebuilt version of a school which was at the centre of that big backstory conflict… but, again, that big backstory conflict was something that these characters had no part in, so, so what?

This only works on any level because the audience of this story, both in-universe and out, is expected to be already invested in the events of the Hope’s Peak story and care about them for their own sake. But on the level of how relevant this is to these students here at the Ultimate Academy, this falls flat. Imagine if you played V3 while having not seen any other Danganronpa content at all. You’d be so bewildered, and probably really frustrated about why you were supposed to care about all this. This is making it seem like the Hope’s Peak story is suddenly more important and meant to matter more, even in the context of this story, than this story itself is. The in-universe writers are terrible at this, and the out-universe writers are doing this on purpose.

(If anyone who did play this game without knowing any other Danganronpa canon happens to be reading this, I’d be really, really interested to hear how you reacted to this part.)

I should also point out that, were this actually true, it would be the worst, most unfair way imaginable to treat the Hope’s Peak story. All those efforts the characters went to to finally get some vague semblance of a happy ending and a normal-ish life, and then suddenly rocks fall everybody dies? Everything ends in despair not because of some resurgence of the problems they had in the first place, but just by random chance? That is the most completely unsatisfying ending ever and anyone who cares about any of the surviving Hope’s Peak characters continuing to live on happily should not want this at all. It was a relief when I realised this was all a lie.

Shuichi: (We were all attending the rebuilt Hope’s Peak Academy!)

Confession: I only watched some of the DR3 anime, losing interest halfway through when it clearly wasn’t going to deliver what I’d personally wanted from it. I didn’t see how things ended (and honestly don’t care enough to find out), but I gather that this part where Hope’s Peak was rebuilt is canon to how it ended. Which, to briefly make this a commentary about the Hope’s Peak story instead of about V3… is an extremely stupid decision? That whole messed-up culture – putting a handful of teenagers on a pedestal just because they happen to be talented in one particular area even though they are otherwise still flawed human beings, and in doing so implying that anyone who isn’t talented is worthless – is a big part of why the world ended in the first place. Why would anyone think it was a good idea to do that again?

Shuichi: (We were the students that applied after learning Hope’s Peak was rebuilt. And the new Hope’s Peak was like the last, in that it accepted applications for talented students, and cultivated Ultimate talents…)

I assume that in the anime, it didn’t necessarily make it explicit whether the new Hope’s Peak still scouted people or not. Or it did, but V3 is nice enough to not assume that players have necessarily seen the anime. Because it somewhat sticks out how Shuichi goes out of his way here to say, oh by the way the original Hope’s Peak definitely also accepted applications, so that anyone who’s played DR1 (which is probably expected to be basically everyone playing this) will be able to realise that that’s off.

Shuichi: (Hope’s Peak Academy was a large school, so we were all in separate classes…)

Really? Even accounting for them being spread between all three years, that’s at least six classes per year. Didn’t the original one only have one class of talented students per year? Seems a bit of a sudden increase in size, especially when it’s drawing from a significantly reduced post-apocalyptic population. It would have made more sense (and given a little more narrative meaning to this reveal) to have them remember that some of them were in the same classes and had known each other beforehand. Maybe Tsumugi didn’t do that because fake past interactions and friendships between these characters would take a lot of effort to write, and she was in a hurry.

Shuichi: (But… we just happened to be immune to the virus…)

If they could find sixteen students (well, fourteen and a half, plus a robot) who were immune to the virus within the presumably only a few hundred students at the academy, that’s… actually a pretty high immunity rate. There should be several thousands, maybe even millions, more humans outside the academy who were also immune to the virus. And the Gofer Project just… left them behind because they weren’t talented? Geez.

In fact, that’d be enough humans that, if they all managed to band together and co-operate, which is precisely what humans do in dire times like this, they might have been able to put together some sort of underground shelter and air purifying system to protect themselves from the rest of the meteorites making the world uninhabitable. It’s entirely possible, even if what everyone saw outside were actually the truth, that there still could be some surviving remnants of humanity somewhere on the planet. The in-universe narrative never tries to suggest this, though. It’s not even one of the options for the Flashback Light about “the survivors” that Tsumugi would presumably have made next chapter if things had stayed on script.

Shuichi: (That world… This world… It’s all connected!)

The way they’re talked about here as if they’re separate worlds should also raise eyebrows. That really is how the person who programmed the Flashback Light thinks of them, after all.

Here’s New World Order, that dramatic BGM piece from the Hope’s Peak games. This is actually not the first time it’s heard in V3 – for some reason they also put it in those bits that lead into the class trials starting. Which kind of dampens this moment a little, since it would be very appropriate if this here was the first time we’d heard it all game.

Tsumugi: “Why… How could we forget something so important.”

I don’t know, Tsumugi, how could they have forgotten something which should be so central to their understanding of the world they grew up in?

Maki: “Kokichi Oma… the mastermind behind this killing game… his organization’s real identity… They were the Remnants of Despair.”

Shuichi: “That’s right. The cult organization out to destroy the Gofer Project. If Kokichi is the leader, that means he controls the Remnants of Despair.”

This part is inconveniently vague about whether or not they explicitly remember that Kokichi was a Remnant of Despair. Maki makes it sound more like she remembers that, wheras Shuichi makes it sound like he’s only deducing that based on what Kokichi claimed and the fact that they now know that organisation he talked about must have been the Remnants.

Later lines make it clearer that they are very much supposed to have remembered Kokichi being a Remnant of Despair. This then helps call into question the validity of their memories once it becomes clear Kokichi wasn’t actually the mastermind. But I’ve seen a lot of first time players remain under the impression that the characters didn’t explicitly remember that, meaning that once Kokichi’s lie is uncovered, they no longer think that him being a Remnant is still somehow supposed to be the “truth” and so don’t get that hint towards the truth being a lie.

Time for a brief complete tangent! While Himiko is narrating to us that this killing game is just like the previous ones, we see the shot of the V3 cast’s reactions to the announcement of the killing game at the beginning… except that this is the first time we see this shot without Monokuma and his cubs blocking most of it off. So, I didn’t talk about this way back at the beginning when it happened because you couldn’t see it then, but…

…look at this face Kaito was making. And his body language. In that moment right as everything began, before he had any time to think about putting up a façade and when everyone was focused on Monokuma and not paying attention to him anyway, Kaito looked freaking terrified. That’s always how he’s felt about this beneath the stubborn optimism and the encouraging grins.

Also of note is Maki’s fierceness. Such child caregiver right there.

…And I guess it is also relevant to mention that Kokichi looked pretty nervous and not remotely excited about this either.

Back to the present, Maki wonders why Kokichi gave up on this killing game if he’s such a fan of despair, and the others argue that he was copying Junko and just got bored of his plan like she often did.

Maki: “…”

Shuichi: “…What’s wrong, Maki?”

Maki: “Nothing… I’m just not convinced… It’s probably… fine, though. It’s not a big deal.”

Since Maki isn’t convinced Kokichi will just end things this easily (but she is utterly convinced by now that he’s a dangerous evil mastermind who wants to hurt them), this is most likely the point at which she starts thinking about killing him, so that he won’t be able to continue this and keep hurting anyone. But she tells everyone it’s not a big deal to drop the subject because she knows they would try to talk her out of it.

Shuichi: “…Are you sure?”

Tsumugi: “We finally learned the truth, but we still can’t do anything…”

Shuichi still doesn’t seem convinced… but then Tsumugi is the one to just move the conversation on and ensure he disregards Maki’s suspicious behaviour. That may well be on purpose.

Himiko: “Even if we get out of this academy, the outside world is still destroyed. There’s… no hope left for us.”

I’m glad that at least someone here is somewhat aware of this. This huge backstory dump is basically meaningless because it doesn’t change anything about the reason they’re in despair. Everyone is still dead. The fact that we now know a little bit more about everyone who died and what they all fought for does not change that fact. Nothing about what they just learned implied that there are any other survivors.

Keebo: “No! We just need to become that hope!”

But of course, Keebo’s inner voice must be going nuts right about now with rampant genwunnerism. This Flashback Light is making it out like we’re suddenly supposed to care about the Hope’s Peak story more than this story right here… and apparently, most of the outside world does feel that way.

Keebo: “After all, we’re students of Hope’s Peak Academy, aren’t we!? We’re all that’s left of the 16 who survived the battle between hope and despair! If we give up now, everyone who fought on the side of hope will have fought for nothing!”

They already did fight for nothing. Everyone is dead. The Gofer Project failed. The only way in which these kids can still salvage something good from this is if they somehow manage to restart the spaceship and make it to an inhabitable planet anyway to continue the human race, but that’s not what anyone ever talks about doing and therefore not what Keebo means by “hope” here.

Remember how I mentioned a few times before that Danganronpa usually likes to throw around the words “hope” and “despair” so much that it forgets their real meanings? This is the part in which Danganronpa V3 starts doing that too – but in this case, I at least like to think that, again, this is exactly the point.

Maki: “Fought for… nothing…”

Noooo Keebo you’re making Maki feel like she has to murder Kokichi for the sake of a meaningless buzzword-y “hope”, which is exactly what the real mastermind wants!

Keebo: “Because as long as we’re alive, we still have the power to decide that meaning for ourselves… That’s what I believe hope is!”

Tsumugi: “That’s what hope is… I see… Yeah, you’re right…”

No, it isn’t. Deciding there’s meaning in your life is connected to hope, because you generally need to feel hope to be able to do that, but that’s not what the word means.

Hope simply means the ability to believe that something you want to happen will happen even though it’s uncertain. It’s actually a pretty simple word that does not have all these deep loaded meanings that Danganronpa has insistently given it over the years.

Tsumugi: “If we – the students of Hope’s Peak – give up, the world really will be plunged into despair!”

The world already has been plunged into despair! Everyone is still dead! Hope’s Peak worked as a “symbol of hope” (at least in theory) because all those talented kids inspired the rest of the world to feel like the things they want could happen, too. But the rest of the world is now dead. Dead people cannot hope. These seven surviving students can no longer inspire anyone else to feel anything. There’s no point in a luminary that has nothing to illuminate.

(Consider: the character in this story who is the single best epitome of the word “hope”, both in terms of always having it himself and in terms of being able to inspire others to have it too, is Kaito. And the game never uses the word “hope” to talk about him, not once. It doesn’t need to in order to get across how he is, and if it did, then the meaningless buzzword-y effect that that word has come to have in Danganronpa by now would probably lessen the impact Kaito is meant to have.)

Tsumugi: “In the end, it’s all about willpower! I’m gonna live till the end and never give up!”

Never give up on what? “Hope” requires that there is a specific thing that you are believing will happen despite the odds. What exactly are you hoping for? Nothing! There is nothing to hope for!

Himiko: “But making the impossible possible is what magic is all about!”

Believing you can make the impossible possible is absolutely an expression of hope (again, did I mention, Kaito) – but there still needs to be an actual supposedly-impossible thing you are trying to do! What are you even trying to make possible here?

Shuichi: “…You’re right. Let’s do it. Let’s fight, together! Against despair!”

Let’s do what exactly???

“Despair” also does not have anywhere near as loaded a meaning as they’re giving it. It’s simply another type of thought – the belief that everything will always be terrible and nothing good will ever happen to you. They are clearly no longer thinking that way any more – so, congratulations! You’ve defeated despair already!

And they’ve defeated it by suddenly feeling this inexplicable arbitrary positivity out of nowhere, even though it’s not really hope because they’re not hoping for anything (other than no longer feeling despair any more, which is tautological). Their situation is exactly as dire as it was before they saw the Flashback Light – if anything, it’s slightly worse, because now they know that the things they’ve lost had even more weight to them. Nobody has any meaningful ideas on how to make this situation any better, things that would actually be something to hope for and would combat the reason they’re in despair. This Flashback Light has essentially just brainwashed them into feeling good again, in the most narratively boring way.

Tsumugi could have given them a Flashback Light which would actually organically give them hope – she could have made one about there being survivors, maybe hidden here in the Ark, maybe on another planet, maybe even somewhere on Earth, and that would give them something to work towards, some hope that they can find the survivors and not be alone. Honestly, she should have done that, as that would be a better-written story than this. I assume the reason she didn’t is that she was getting a lot of complaints from the in-universe audience about how boring things had just become, and to make up for it she wanted to do something which would pander to them, whether it was a good story or not. Or she’s just a bad writer and doesn’t even realise this is a terrible story and thought it totally was the best way to bring hope to everyone. That might well be it. She has not shown much of a track record of good writing so far.

See, I think the thing is that the in-universe audience doesn’t even realise that this is a bad story because they’re too busy geeking out over the callbacks to the past seasons. None of the actual blind LPers I’ve watched ever really picked up on this being bad writing either, because they were also generally pretty excited by this. Which is understandable, since they’re fans who loved the previous Danganronpas. It makes them feel happy and filled with the notion of “hope”, so it doesn’t quite cross their minds that it doesn’t make sense for the characters to be feeling the same way.

But to the characters in this story, what they’ve remembered isn't a beloved work of fiction; it’s just history. They shouldn’t be as affected by it as the audience are.

Shuichi: (The hope born in this academy, a tree of life with roots down deep… It was supporting each and every one of us.)

No matter how poetically he’s suddenly talking about hope (almost as if he’s been brainwashed into doing that too), it won’t change the fact that it’s not hope because they’re still not hoping for anything.

Himiko: “Nyeeeh… Motivation is rushing through my entire body.”

Motivation! That might be the right word for what they’re actually feeling. They’ve definitely regained the motivation to do something with themselves, at least, even if they don’t know what that something is because there’s still nothing to hope for.

Keebo: “Kokichi may have left that Flashback Light to make us give up… But if that was his plan, it failed.”

Shuichi: (It’s true… it does seem as though Kokichi’s plan went wrong somewhere.)

Even Shuichi is completely oblivious to the fact that the sudden motivation they’re all feeling has no actual logical basis for it and therefore must be an emotional manipulation caused by the Flashback Light affecting their brains. It should be obvious to them that this was the intent of the person who gave them the Flashback Light, but, nope.

Himiko: “We’ve gotta stop You-Know-Who, the Remnant of Despair, or this despair will never end.”

You’re already not feeling despair any more. You only need to stop him if there’s a chance he’s going to do something to make you feel it again, which he’s at least claiming he’s not doing. Kokichi is merely a person who is supposedly capable of making people feel despair – he is not actual despair itself. Despair cannot be a person. But because they seem to think it can, and because they’ve been brainwashed into this meaningless objective of “defeating” despair when that’s not how despair works, they’re feeling like it is necessary to take down Kokichi.

(And by “they”, I mostly mean Maki, which of course was the other point of this Flashback Light.)

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lovesquareshippingtrash · 5 years

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Chameleon Reaction

An episode that had the fandom up in arms before it aired based on its preview. But did any of it matter?

(Warning: LONG POST. Spoilers below the cut)

I mean you know it didn’t.

So we start straight off with the scene from the preview clip. Marinette is excited to find that many people have swapped seats. From the explanation we’re given, this was a plan made before that school day. So why didn’t anybody tell Marinette about it, especially when the changes affected her more than anyone else, moving her to the back of the class to sit by herself? None of the people actually involved in the plan felt like volunteering then, huh?

Let’s talk about Marinette’s reaction to Lila and everything else going on here. She is a little aggressive towards Lila, pointing out the holes in her story, but she never makes a comment suggesting that she shouldn’t be able to sit at the front. All Marinette asks is why she should have to sit at the back. She’s pretty loose on the details, so it’s hard to read much into what the actual complaint would be there beyond literally not wanting to sit at the back of the class. She says nothing about sitting by herself, and while we could read into her not wanting to be separated from her friends (which is most likely how her classmates take it), I think if someone genuinely needed to be at the front, Marinette would gladly volunteer to move.

This is Marinette. We’ve all seen Copycat and Volpina. We know what this is about. This is about Lila lying. The show has gone to painstaking lengths to show Marinette hates lying. Which would be all well and good, a strongly developed piece of characterisation... except we’ve just had the season 2 finale. We’ve just had Catalyst & Mayura, where the major plot thread in Marinette’s civilian life was her LIE about having a grand picnic prepared for the whole school. And she decided to try to work hard to make it not a lie, and the class forgave her, but we have just had a TWO PARTER that had a plot thread about Marinette lying for no reason other than saving face in front of Chloé. She could have just accepted that people thought her good deed was a little weak - although of course, her classmates would no doubt have remember all of her many good deeds that she does for them constantly, as Adrien pointed out at the end. Marinette just told a giant lie for the most meagre of reasons, and in the multipart story you’d think they’d build on this, have it be an identity crisis for Marinette - but this is Miraculous. We don’t get that level of depth. We aren’t even shown Marinette’s apology - just everyone accepting it and moving on.

This is supposed to be about Chameleon, not Heroes’ Day. The point is, after just giving us a story in which Marinette tells a pointless lie without her suffering any repercussions, ever being expected to make amends, and in which her hatred for lying is directly highlighted by her interactions with Lila, how are we ever expected to care about this part of Marinette’s character again?

Moving on. The already infamous moment of everyone turning to Marinette, featuring Adrien’s absurd look of disgust that is, apparently, an animation error. I’m not concerned about that though. What I am concerned about is the gasps of horror from the rest of the class in that moment. Lila offers to give Marinette her seat - but Marinette never asked her to do that. She never said Lila should have to move, only complained that she should. She didn’t accept Lila’s offer, either. I can understand the class looking at Marinette for her reaction, but they acted like Marinette personally gave Lila tinnitus right there. The reaction was totally uncalled for, and is SUCH an easy audio fix to drastically improve the entire episode. People’s problem with this story going in was the idea that Marinette’s friends would turn against her so easily, and it’s such an easy fix that changes the story in no way to turn that around.

Brief aside (boy I really didn’t think this post would be this long already, sorry...); this episode seems to be setting up Lila to be Marinette’s every day antagonist now that Chloé is getting her redemption. How great would it be if Chloé, trying to be nice and deciding that after what Marinette has done for her lately she dislikes Lila more than she dislikes Marinette, Chloé stood up for her? She could be the one to point out that Jagged has a crocodile, not a kitten. But, of course, again, that would require character and relationship development, and we wouldn’t want that now, would we... Still, with the set up for Lila to be Marinette’s every day villain, maybe this will happen later. It’s notable that Chloé doesn’t have a line in this episode; she’s never fawning over Lila here, even when Sabrina is, and we get no indication that Chloé wants to be her friend, unlike in Volpina. But I digress...

Marinette proves how much better than all of this she is, however, by calming down enough by herself to resist the akuma before it could reach her.

Lunchtime. Nino glosses over Marinette’s story about Lila being a liar to point out the flaw in Marinette’s behaviour. And sure, it wasn’t a great choice, but seriously? And then Alya decides she’s a journalist first and a friend second. Of course, Marinette’s counter here should be that she was in the park and heard Ladybug calling Lila out, but it’s fair that she wouldn’t think like that in the moment - of course, she didn’t overhear that, she said it. Alternatively, Adrien could have popped up here to support Marinette, but we gotta have DRAMA.

Not sure why we should expect any of Marinette’s classmates to think about anything at all, however, because first they think nothing of Lila failing to react in pain until after Marinette speaks, and then they fall for her utter nonsense about the terrible dangers of particularly soft paper. Yeah, Myléne and Kim then yell at Marinette like she’s an enemy instead of just expressing disappointment in her out of character action like a friend, but what does that matter any more. The class aren’t being allowed to have any independent thought in regards to Lila.

Now we get to talk about something that the episode does really well! Hooray! Adrien’s interaction with Lila in the locker room is great. He knows Lila is lying, but when not transformed he has a cool head. He doesn’t know the depths of Lila’s vindictiveness. As far as he can tell, she’s a compulsive liar who could be brought around, not someone who will say whatever it takes to get what she wants. He won’t just blindly trust her after what has happened, but he has such a good heart, he wants to help. Even after Lila throws it back in his face, he’s still willing to help her.

Then Marinette (with Tikki’s encouragement) resists the akuma again, because she is also wonderful. Between this and Zombizou, Hawkmoth should really be getting suspicious about her.

Lila’s response to the akuma is fantastic. Not only being unafraid, but straight up grabbing it out of the air, and then HER giving the introductory spiel back to Hawkmoth. That’s just great. A bit weird that she acts like he wouldn’t remember her after specifically calling on her a second time, and weird that he acts like it’s a big deal that he remembers her. But that’s so minor. It’s also just so thematically strong that, once again, Lila’s powers are based on being fake, this time lying about herself rather than what’s around them.

Plagg decided that Adrien needs an enchanted kiss is such a WONDERFUL moment, it’s so out of the blue, such a diversion, and it’s hilarious. Whoever wrote that scene, assuming they didn’t write the rest of the episode, give them a raise. We need more moments like that.

Cat Noir once again taking the hit for Ladybug and being taken out of the fight. This episode definitely need to have Ladybug be the one in the fight, but one day I just wish they’d let Cat Noir take the spotlight.

A good villain is one who doesn’t just lose or fail for the sake of it. Lila had the opportunity to get a Miraculous, but chose not to due to her own personal feelings about Ladybug. That’s great. What’s not great is that Hawkmoth doesn’t try a similar akuma with a more obedient host.

Frankly, the whole actual fight is great. One thing at which this show always excels is its choreography. The defeat of Chameleon is just sublime, one of the better take-downs of a villain in the entire show. But HOW does Cat Noir not react to Ladybug’s pun here?? Miraculous is always so rushed, especially towards the end of episodes, not letting us have little character moments like that.

Nino completely falling apart without his hat is ridiculous. Alya being more concerned about him falling apart than anything to do with Marinette here is so much more so.

And now we get to the resolution. If Miraculous is bad at its openings, it is appalling at its resolutions.

Hawkmoth gives a speech about how Lila will still help him like this isn’t the third time he’s akumatised her. The specifics of this plot and the dialogue here strongly hint at the setup for Lila to ultimately see Ladybug actually akumatised, but we’ll see if that pays off. One of my predictions for this season going in was that Lila would essentially gain the ability to call on her akuma at will to become Volpina and fight as a recurring enemy in the field. But that would, of course, be far too much of a shake up to the status quo.

Adrien talks to Marinette about Lila! They’re able to talk about how they both know Lila lies. Adrien helps Marinette to understand why what she’s doing won’t help, and able to help Marinette grow as a person! This is great! Already more than I expected to get here! Good start! From how everyone else is acting with Lila, it seems like they might not be apologising any time soon, unfortunately, but Adrien letting Marinette know he’s on her side is good.

And you know, I wouldn’t have been surprised if that had been it. I wouldn’t have even minded that ending. But then THEY RAMP IT UP. First, Adrien gives Marinette such a LOOK. A seeing-her-in-a-whole-new-light kind of look. Of course, he’s given her some similar looks before, I’m definitely not expecting it to mark a change in their interaction. But it makes for great gif/photoset material, you’ll certainly see it on this blog soon.

Then he goes the next step and MOVES TO SIT WITH HER! YES! Adrien ensures that Marinette won’t be left on her own, making a physical statement that he is literally on her side. He makes clear to Marinette both that he is proud of her, and that he is happy to be at the back, giving us a spectacular new status quo set up.

Things seem great! So, of course, we can’t expect it to last. Marinette misses her name on the register, but it hardly seems like her fault, no doubt she’s just confused because Miss Bustier is reading names off in a completely random order. It’s a shame, in Stoneheart the register was read out in proper order; Agreste, Bourgeois, Bruel. But for some reason here it’s going Rossi, Agreste, Kanté, Dupain-Cheng.

Now I’m not sure if Miss Bustier genuinely thinks Marinette couldn’t hear, or she’s using that as an excuse because she knows Marinette is distracted by Adrien - but she was utterly clueless about the social dynamics earlier in the episode. A teacher wouldn’t move a student for mishearing something literally once after they’ve said there’s no issue. If it repeated, yes, but not once.

Still, as disappointing as this is, Marinette being forced to sit beside her enemy could be inte-

OH SORRY COULDN’T FINISH THE SENTENCE BEFORE THAT POTENTIAL SHAKE UP WAS RUINED. Lila claims her tinnitus is cured. And everyone just accepts it. Seriously? That’s the moment everyone should be looking at her with scrutiny, realising that they’d been duped and they should have trusted their “every day Ladybug” after all. Some actual APOLOGIES offered to Marinette. But they all just ignore it. This show’s refusal to use the word SORRY is just awful.

Now Alya... Alya takes it upon herself to act, finally...

“You didn’t think I’d let my BFF sit all by herself, did you?”

EXCUSE ME!? Yes, we most certainly did think you’d do that, because YOU LITERALLY DID EXACTLY THAT. ADRIEN is the one who made sure things changed, he was the one who decided not to leave her on her own. You made the choice on Marinette’s behalf that she would sit at the back so you could sit with Nino. Miss Bustier vaguely mentions people with vision problems needing to sit closer - except that’s exactly what their glasses are for. I’m a teacher, if we have a kid who can’t see the board we’ll move them closer, but that never happens with kids wearing glasses - typically that’s with kids who need glasses but have lost or broken them. First there was her deciding Marinette was clearly just jealous of Lila being close to Adrien in Catalyst, despite the fact that Marinette was much closer to him and showed in Frozer that she wasn’t ruled by jealousy, now this. Do the writers want us to turn against Alya? I’ve seen a theory going around that this episode was going to set up Marinette and Alya having a major fallout. But Alya acts like there’s no problem, and ONCE AGAIN FAILS TO APOLOGISE.

Adrien is great and moves back to Nino, to again say clearly to Marinette and Lila that he is on Marinette’s side. Frankly, I don’t know why Lila even wanted to sit with him again, she knows he’s wise to her crap. But this is followed by literally everyone going back to normal - and they’re all given closeups like they’re in on some great conspiratorial show of support for Marinette, while NOT. SAYING. SORRY. Cannot stress this enough. So now everything is just the same as it was, except Lila sits next to Nathaniel. We had a potential to mix up character and relationship dynamics, but we can’t have any progression now, can we.

This episode had some excellent moments. Adrien was wonderful, and the akuma fight was great. But it was bookended by utter crap and Marinette’s friends were unbearable. Yes, they’re teenagers, they’re not perfect, but this is a kids’ show. If you want to show something like this, impart a life lesson! Have Tikki point out people change as they grow up, or have everyone apologise and realise their mistake, or SOMETHING. But like I said, this show refuses to offer good resolution or progress of any kind besides new teammates and power ups. Its refusal to bend from its rigid episodic structure with monsters of the week keeps it utterly stagnant, and means that many major plot points get ignored for extended periods - I found it rather jarring that Hawkmoth didn’t have his own actual plot in the episode. No development with Gabriel and Nathalie, no suspicion raised about Marinette.

Of course, the dumbest part about the whole episode is that those benches can EASILY fit at least three people, nobody actually needed to move at all.

As ever, my feelings about all this are just that this show has such great potential, wonderful ideas, and strong characters. But it squanders it all, time after time, and I doubt it will ever change... but that’s why I love this fandom so much; because we take all of that, and turn it into so much wonderful art, so many wonderful stories...

#Chameleon #ml spoilers #ml season 3 #rant #ml salt

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