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spacemagicandlaserswords · 11 months

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Feral Hunter

I wrote most of this in a reblog but thought it deserved its own post as my unwieldy response took on a life of its own, which they have a tendency to do. I’ve added more to it as well so there’s some new extra ramblings on one of my favourite ideas/headcanons/theories for season 3 of The Bad Batch.

Give me Feral Hunter. My kingdom for Feral Hunter. Completely unhinged, vengeance fueled, feral Hunter. He can go on his Joel Miller/The Mandalorian/John Wick/Liam Neeson in Taken/The Punisher arc, as a little treat.

I've been trying to figure out why I love this idea so much. I think it's because we never really see any of the Batch actually, properly unleash. Sure, they're unconventional and a bit bonkers in their approach but they're still a very well-oiled machine. When they're on a mission, they all know exactly what they're doing, what their roles are, and where their squad mates are. Even when they improvise on the fly, they all adapt fairly easily and smoothly. Everything is still all rather professional, smooth, and efficient. Like they're all operating on muscle memory, which they basically are given how many countless times I'm sure they've trained and done missions together.

Even when the Batch is fighting their way through Kamino, they still operate with that same smooth, efficient, hyper competent professionalism. Despite their unorthodox approach, there's still this sense that they're contained. Never throwing off the shackles and being completely unrestrained. The full unbridled force of their abilities and skills simmering just below the surface, waiting to be given free rein and just obliterate everything.

There's a little hint of this in the opening scene of episode 2x14 'Tipping Point', where the ARC Trooper in Echo comes out to play. But oh, how I would love to see more. From all of them, but especially Hunter.

Look at his face. Look at that expression and all those emotions from Sergeant Stoic himself, who is usually fairly reserved and contained. Dorito Bod Bandana Space Dad on the warpath to get his ad'ika back, cutting a swathe through the Imperials, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake, and taking out anything and everything that even thinks about getting in his way. Hunter goes full Space Rambo mode, ruthlessly taking out Stormtroopers, blood dripping off his vibroblade, eyes wide and deranged, as he turns into a complete animal. His half tattooed skull now completed by the blood of his enemies covering the other side of his face. For extra angst, when he finds Omega, she doesn’t recognise him. The figure standing in the smoking remains of the door to her cell looks like Hunter. Is wearing Hunter’s armour. Is holding Hunter’s vibroknife. But that’s not Hunter. That’s not her buir. Not anymore. And she’s afraid of him. We get a little hint of this at the very end of season 2 and oh ho ho, I am so ready for more. I am so ready for Hunter’s descent into vengeance, revenge and rage. Not just Hunter either, I’d love to see the rest of the Batch unleash as well.

Can you just imagine Wrecker properly unleashing? All of that strength and power finally freed as he rips limbs off Stormtroopers, snapping necks and crushing skulls with his bare hands. The crumpled, pulverised bodies of his enemies discarded behind him as he rages down corridor after corridor of whatever Imperial base they’ve infiltrated. We got a hint of how damaging Wrecker can be when his chip activated but that was chip controlled. This would just be pure Wrecker.

We see a little more of this in Crosshair's actions and you could also argue that this is chip controlled. Or if his chip has actually been removed, then Crosshair’s actions are definitely still clouded by his Imperial mindset and blind delusion that the Empire is right. Right up until it all goes horribly wrong on Barton-4 and he finally wakes up to the reality of his nightmare. Either way, that unrestrained part of him is still there. The amount of rage and anger that must be building up and festering inside Crosshair is eventually going to explode. When he snaps like he did at the end of 'The Outpost' then there isn’t going to be an Imperial left without a blaster bolt between their eyes. When Hemlock ends up dying (he better), my bet is on Crosshair taking him out and getting revenge. And it won't be pretty. He'd shoot him execution style at the very least.

I'd love to see Tech (shut up he's alive) completely lose it and finally snap off every ounce of his carefully crafted control. I've written about this before but Tech's combat is exceptionally efficient and precise. He only ever uses the minimum number of shots or moves to take out an enemy because he doesn't need to expend anything beyond what is necessary. Complete economy of form. His combat style is very contained, almost like a mirror of his personality and character. Can you just imagine him snarling and growling like a beast, teeth bared, eyes dark, face distorted in rage, as he slams a Stormtrooper's head into a control panel desk with enough force to crack their helmet and shatter their visor.

I mentioned above that we've seen a tiny bit of this slightly unhinged quality from Echo. There's another little hint of it when they're all in that training simulation on Kamino.

This gifset from @starqueensthings shows this perfectly, especially the above gif. I love the line they wrote at the top of their post as well, which I'm going to quote in part here: "I’d like to introduce my scomp arm TO YOUR JUGULAR WIRE." This perfectly encapsulates the unhinged quality lurking in Echo. He just leaps onto the back of what looks like the Kaminoan version of a B2 super battle droid and then proceeds to flail and stab madly before plunging his scomp arm into the battle droid's chest and ripping out the droid version of its jugular. Absolutely unhinged behaviour. The absolute madlad.

Now picture Echo finally snapping and doing this to a bunch of Imperials and just absolutely annihilating them. There is so much in him that is screaming to be let out. The general batshittery that comes with being an ARC Trooper. The insanity and chaos of coming from the 501st and Torrent Company. The unconventional, yeet-the-reg-manual-out-the-airlock, bonkers existence of The Bad Batch. Plus all that trauma, fury and rage of what has happened to him, what was done to him, and everything that he’s seen, experienced, endured, suffered, and survived. When the last few frayed threads holding Echo back finally snap he is going to go completely postal.

Is it healthy? No. Is it "good"? Probably not. But my god, would I love to see it.

The Clone Wars has a history of tackling and portraying difficult, multilayered and nuanced topics and we've seen that in The Bad Batch as well. More recent Star Wars series, such as Andor and The Mandalorian, have also had a real interest in showing the murky areas that exist between the good (Republic) and the bad (Imperial). There's been a particular focus on showing that there's a lot more grey than we think, rather than the pure dichotomy between cliched black and white. That sometimes there is no right or wrong decision. That sometimes everything is awful and everyone is stuck in a shitty situation from which there is no way to escape unscathed. In order to make it out alive, lines are going to be crossed. The battle of good vs evil takes on a new edge and the line between good and bad gets very murky.

That quote about how “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” comes to mind. In this instance, the Batch are still fighting tooth and nail for each other but their sacrifices and actions are starting to take them to much darker places. It’s a classic example of good people being driven to do bad, awful, terrible things when those they love are in danger and they will do whatever it takes to save them.

The whole 'deeply flawed parental figure seeking vengeance' is a popular trope at the moment as well so Feral Hunter would make sense narratively for a number of reasons.

Will we actually get it? Probably not. And even if we do, it'll probably still be a watered-down kid friendly version.

But oh, just imagine if we did.

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ultraviolet-cello · 4 months

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Today's episode analysis is number 7 - Wolfwood. Now from here on out I get wild abt theories so do watch out hehee

Spoiler warning for tristamp and trimax, general tws for most of those, and enjoy my analysis/details if you want :]

@tristampparty

TL;DR, there's still something fucked up with Livio and Razlo

I CANNOT believe this MOTHERFUCKER is wearing a seatbelt, but still reading a book and controlling the car steering with his mind. I hate him.

Okay so when Livio gets up here, he's been down for the count for a while, the mask has seemingly. Broken a little bit, his irises have contracted a noticeably amount, and the way he moves is different. So I could attribute that to just, whatever brainwashing EOM has on Livio is falling apart, but I think it's more likely Razlo is stepping into front in some way or another. If the remote-switch mask theory has anything to do with it, the breaking of the mask could be tugging them both into a rapid-switch state.

In any case; something is clearly different - Livio's fighting style as we've seen is very steady, holding the guns in place and just walking forward. Maybe-Razlo here just gets up and flings himself at Vash, starts running, absolutely whaling on the Punisher with the Double Fangs (Which is accurate to Trimax - if you read their pages closely, Livio and Razlo have very different ways of moving that then converge into a more semi-coherent style post volume 10)

Also like, it doesn't have to just be one thing. All of the things I point out here can also be interpreted as just the breaking free from brainwashing thing. Could be both!

I'm Not Done with this scene yet because then uh. Livio-Maybe-Razlo starts looking a little dizzy, starts wobbling, hands shaking. So with Dissociative Identity Disorder, the difference between that and OSDD-1b (Another type of system) is usually the dissociative aspect. When alters switch in, it's usually accompanied by a period of dissociation, which looks to an outsider like the person is dizzy, vacant, or blank. The dissociative period is also common in rapid-switching. I read Livio and Razlo as a DID system and it is definitely the most well-known type of system, so if Studio Orange is trying to portray them as a system, they'll most likely be characterized as DID.

MORE VASH FIGHTING STYLE STUFF!!!

So aside from being just a physical martial artist, I dabble in traditional okinawan kobudo (weapons) as well - one of these being the tonfa, which is a baton type of weapon. Vash in this scene is using his gun similarly - holding it by the handle and swinging the muzzle to block and strike. In the second image you can see him winding up to get the full arc of the swing in for more power.

These are what tonfa look like, so I especially appreciate how similar Vash's gun functions! You hold the handle in a loose-ish grip and can swing them overhead and around for extra Thwack Power

Oh you can actually see him spin it back in that blocking position (holding the long end against your forearm so you can just lift and block with your forearm, since the part of the tonfa is shielding you) here! Come to think of it, when blocking with the Double Fangs, Livio uses them similarly.

Once again Roberto calling out that Vash is not human - again he's had the longest time to Hear about Vash's reputation and now he's seeing it firsthand. Imagine spending all your life knowing of a legendary guy and then when you actually see him he looks. like 20, and at least some of his fighting prowess is true.

I guess I'm also curious about like. The mask has been breaking for a While now, and then when it completely powers off that's when Livio starts coming back to reality, which could lend to it being neural-connected in some way. I think it's really really interesting that EOM has specifically suppressed or trained Livio's mind so well that he barely recognizes Wolfwood - But how did that happen without Razlo's interference? Did he agree to this, was he manipulated into it, did Livio make that decision and it was too late for Razlo's protectiveness to kick in? Or is this a means to control both of them? Season 2 please please please ple

I'VE GOT MY ONE FRAME OF RAZLO EVERYONE GO HOME

Okay seriously though I do want to uh. Has Razlo just always had that idea of what he wants to look like or is there some kind of Very drastic change going on lmao. Because there is no way Stampede "Twink" Livio has the body to pull this off, no matter how much hair gel and tits out clothes Razlo can put on. If that sort of image was created by eom as an intimidation thing (because Razlo is Chapel's golden child) though, that's fucked up especially because like. Razlo and Livio struggle sharing a body enough by themselves.

Not grabbing a screenshot but it's uhm. Well. Livio shoots himself in the head specifically, which does seem to be the weak spot for EOM agents, which uhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Like we've seen Razlo foreshadowing Right There there's not a chance he's actually dead, but it's probably gonna fuck him up. Further. I wonder if there's gonna be some body construction fuckery going on later on?

Roberto just sitting down and giving up is kinda funny but also like. Yeah. What do you do in the face of such alien, incomprehensible odds and events. Roberto's very,,, chill about dying, which is an attitude that lots of people would have on Gunsmoke/NML (I know it's nml. but i like gunsmoke). He just wants to go out drinking on his own terms (which... well, he does.)

Meryl's decisions in the control room are so so fascinating. Meryl in Trimax is a little bit insane about Vash (following him, quite literally, through the apocalypse), and we're starting to see her belief and trust in him in this scene. She believes in him And in Wolfwood. and Roberto, Roberto who has always said that he'd take the path to live, believes in Meryl, enough that he's apparently ready to take the chance to die with her, even when given the option to leave by himself.

Meryl is also taking control of her own agency in this situation; she has been an extremely reactive character up till now, but here she gets to say what Meryl Stryfe would do in this situation. Not getting yanked around by people bigger and taller than her, not having to report to her seniors, just making a choice on her own that she knows might kill her. Women on Gunsmoke/NML aren't afforded a lot of agency (Rosa had to try and capture Vash for the bounty so Tonis could live, Meryl in any iteration deals with a lot of adversaries using her as leverage against Vash or taking control away from her, hell, Tristamp Elendira isn't being afforded the agency to grow up! She's been like that for 20 years there is definitely some fuckery going on, whether it's Tesla cells not allowing her to age past the point Tesla was when she died, or Conrad or Knives keeping her that age for some reason). It's nice to see Meryl's arc revolve around taking that agency for herself.

OKAY NORMAL AGAIN. the fucking MUSIC in this scene is insane, it's so,,, I don't know how to explain it but it's so Big and Vast. Also the ion cannon laser looks much like a Punisher laser. Which uh. Woag, if that's the case. And Razlo gets three of those bitches? forget the deadly weapons everyone's gonna just die looking at the light show.

A design element I really like for Legato is his hair and how neatly it's trimmed. I drew a parallel to Knives cutting off a slice of his hair when they first met each other, but I do genuinely think that Legato might be so meticulous about it specifically because of that. Knives means so so much to Legato, and Legato seems to reclaim his body from his past sexual abuse by devoting himself to Knives in an act of empowerment (or at least that's how I read it), which,,, I mean it's hair, but i really am a curtains are blue guy.

Tristamp Wolfwood is often. A tad shorter than Vash which is extremely funny to me. Nightow said Wolfwood's taller and everyone, including the guys making a 3d animated love letter to trigun, said no he isn't ^_^

I need to start collecting these fucking smiles that Vash gives Wolfwood. It's specifically,,,, Trimax and 98 Wolfwood call Vash out on the fake smiles. But Tristamp Wolfwood doesn't, because most of the true smiles we see from Vash are directed at him. Or something. Idk i'm normal

Wolfwood has been holding the Punisher like this all episode, and it's ~~really cute~~ (Tristamp Wolfwood gives me awful cute aggression) but also,,, maybe self-soothing. Keeping the Punisher directly in front of himself as a shield. Looking out over Hopeland as the Punisher acts as a barrier.

White Girl Wasted :pensive:

Vash's hair looks like a little flower here :]

Annnnd Vash down for the count!

So there's so many things, always, to do with these episodes, and I will Not be stopping lmao

Thank y'all who left nice comments on my last analysis post, i'm glad everyone had fun reading it!

#cli speaks #tristampparty #trigun #trigun stampede #cli analysis

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loth-creatures · 4 months

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Knowing how much Ahsoka struggled to be Sabine's master --- would she get advice from Kanan when she visits Lothal? Most likely giant wolf to giant wolf??

Wellll see I kinda ditched the entire Jedi!Sabine narrative. Listen if they HAD to go that direction, I believe they could have done it well but they really did not (to put it generously), and while I've considered trying to do it better myself, at the end of the day I wish they just hadn't done that at all.

Tldr: Ahsoka and Kanan probably will have a giant wolf to giant wolf conversation but idk if it'll be about looking out for Sabine or searching for Ezra or what

So this is my tentative and unrefined interpretation of Ahsoka and Sabine's relationship for SWW Ahsoka, aka roughly how I imagined it would be like before that damn show ever came out (sorry in advance this spiraled all over the place. I meant to elaborate a little bit and then I couldn't stop. I tried to keep it concise but. There's a lot to unpack that I didn't expect to have to unpack in order to get to the point lol)

First and foremost Sabine isn't fucking Force-sensitive. Ahsoka teaches her a lot about the Jedi, and continues her lightsaber training, and I think Jedi teachings and excercises can have a lot of value to ordinary people! But she's not trying to be a Jedi. Ahsoka does feel mentorly instincts towards Sabine, partly bc she knows what she's going through as a very young veteren and genocide survivor. Partly bc she does feel the need to pass her knowledge on to someone. Partly bc deep down Ahsoka is pretty damn lonely too, and Sabine is very family-shaped. And also because wolfwalkers stick together.

They call her Ahsoka's 'practice padawan' as a joke. Huyang is like. You really ought to find a Padawan one of these days. And Ahsoka's like. Why would I need a Padawan I have Sabine. And Huyang is like. Listen I'm very happy to have Sabine with us but you ought to get a real Padawan.

But how could Ahsoka ever take on a student while she's still wrangling with whether or not she wants to be a Jedi? Which, they never actually show her making a decision on that. Or rather there's really no transition between "I am no Jedi" and whatever she's got going on in the show which. Long story short, I hated it. Ass writing. In my personal opinion.

I think I’m just gonna lean into the idea that she feels like she can't truly be a Jedi whether she wants to or not bc she was trained to be a soldier instead, combined with the fear of Anakin's darkness manifesting in herself, distrust of his training, etc. Up until the point where she decides to put Anakin behind her for good and trust in her own experiences, during her WBW adventure (which goes way differently in my head but I will elaborate on that later. Maybe.) But for the purposes of this au, she doesn't even commit to being a Jedi again until dying for the 3rd(?) time and honestly maybe she still doesn't. Maybe it takes all the way to wet puppy Shin dropping in her lap that she sees her path as a Jedi path. Idk.

Ahsoka's arc is not an aspect of the story I expected to address in depth myself so idk how much I'm gonna get into it within the comic itself. It's hard to go over every issue bc lothwolfwalkers is just an anthology series adapting small chunks of the timeline that I find work well with the wolfwalking, and I'm trying not to make more work for myself than I have to, bc I already have plenty. Rewrite is maybe a strong word, when I'm just cherry picking what I liked from the ahsoka show and adjusting what I didn't like in a way that keeps the overall plot intact for simplicity sake. I will eventually write an official detailed ahsoka-from-my-head post, but the comics will just be little scenes based on that.

Anyway,

Regarding Sabine and Ahsoka's falling out. It doesn’t happen. In fact I think Ahsoka will take Sabine under her wing after the fall of Mandalore and they just immediately start looking for Ezra in the unknown regions, bc Sabine is like hey I have nothing left here can we go look for my brother now. They don't find anything. Eventually Ahsoka gets wrapped up in other business and Sabine ends up back on Lothal depressed as fuck (despite Kanan, Hera, and Zeb's best efforts to be there for her, infinitely more than what is depicted in the show) until Ahsoka finds the map and shows up for round 2. Or smth like that.

Side note: I am going to declare the Wrens MIA not dead. Because I hate hate hate that they were unceremoniously killed off screen and wasted the way they were. I guess I could just unkill them completely but well I am a sucker for that angst and something about the devastation of that reveal seared it so deep in my head that I can't imagine the story without it now (thanks for that Dave. Fuck you Dave.) So uh, they're trapped on Mandalore with those other survivors from Mando S3. After Sabine's already left for Peridea they manage to finally get off Mandalore due to S3 events and track down Hera and are like WHERE IS SABINE. Cue Clan Wren Ghost Crew team up to get their fucking kids back. Though everyone will probably make it back on their own before they figure out a way to hop galaxies.

#lothwolfwalkers #sww asks #ahsoka series #star wars rebels #sabine wren #ahsoka tano

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girlfriendsofthegalaxy · 4 months

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tuesday again 1/9/2024

the BEAST (phil) has been SPAYED

listening

my sister ALSO, INDPENDENTLY, keeps tuesdayesqe lists in the back of her planner! which is what i used to do before these posts! You Got A Man by JAWNY is off her 2023 playlist. this philly artist's claim to fame seems to be that he dated doja cat for six months? the song is short, bratty, and fun indie/alt not-quite-rap. i have no knowledge of how much the man overlaps with the song. spotify

youtube

reading

ive never watched supernatural, except by osmosis bc i signed up for this website in 2011. this book is what i imagine people say when they say "what if supernatural was good?"

Rebecca Roanhorse's Trail of Lightning (her debut) and Storm of Locusts takes Maggie, a typical lone hero/monster hunter/horrible bitch of a woman (i say this approvingly) and says listen! you can do way sicker shit if you like. accept help and community and have a support system. it does not read like booktok found family or approach this in the typical fanfic way, which is refreshing. it points out that you will be a much longer lived and successful monster hunter this way. this is optimization, if you really look at it.

most postapoc stuff doesn’t contend with the fact (if it even acknowledges indigenous people at all) that indigenous people have already lived through several colonizing apocalypses. these books make a very sharp point that there is not a tremendous amount of difference between the reservation before the apocalypse and the reservation after the apocalypse. the worldbuilding in these is a interesting spin on sea levels plus the Energy Wars, to keep all of that at arms' length the Diné built a magical and physical wall, which i think is a funny spin on the trump border wall.

neither of them are really romance or kissing books, there is romantic interest but they are kept extremely busy not dying and admiring each other's competence. they are action and gore heavy. this is notable bc the books are fairly short (took me about two and a half hours each) and they have pretty fuckin good action scenes! the first book has an underground club and fight ring run by a cat god: club atmosphere was terrific (there's a bit about them having to drag in hastily camouflaged cheap walmart tables to handle some overflow and i instantly knew exactly the table), it had a dress up scene I was very weak to. i thought the series of events by which they ended up at the big boss battle post-club was kind of stupid but (forgivably) the big boss battle was quite enjoyable. figuring out what to do with your life next when you’re highly trained for a very specific thing but also not trained enough to be a serious danger and were set up to fail was extremely compelling to me, an astronomy major who cannot actually work in astronomy.

second book really hits its stride and (girl who has only played fallout voice) feels very fallout-y. desperate quest to save a loved one. girls' trip through a bunch of weird places with a bunch of weird guys. there's a lot of references that play with tone without ever going HEY REMEMBER THIS OTHER WORK YOU COULD GO LOOK AT RIGHT NOW? there’s a plane and a weird guy that made me think of mad max thunderdome, except the weird guy is his own character and has his own arc. there’s a weird grandpa on a boat who i don't think is a reference at all, except maybe to the timeless genre of weird grandpas on boats. there’s a sentient casino trapping people inside that reminded me of the new vegas dead money expansion, except Maggie barely steps inside bc she immediately gets caught up in a day-long battle of wits against the god of gambling. Maggie is a little more settled in her own skin now that she’s regularly talking to other people and has rejoined her community in her own small ways on her own terms and it HAS made her a much more successful monster hunter. the dialogue is snappier, the action scenes are more elaborate and smoothly choreographed. it's nice to watch an author grow so quickly (from this is serviceable to oh SHIT this is fun) over the course of a duology :) this feels like it was meant to be a trilogy but this book came out in 2019 so i am not holding my breath. it has a nice solid endpoint right here imo.

past sexual violence is sort of orbited around but no sexual violence is actually depicted, which i appreciate as a woman trying to enjoy postapoc.

libby has a very helpful Indigenous Voices category/reading guide/thing. thank u libby now i want to read everything else she's ever written

watching

saw a piece of fanart i cannot find now for the three minute short PUPARIA by Shingo Tamagawa.

Something is about to change drastically. We can only be witnesses to it.

youtube

it's a weird and stunningly beautiful little thing i am still worrying at like a dog with a peanut butter kong. if you have a thing about eyes or clusters of round shapes this is NOT the three minute short for you btw

playing

the free epic game was the Eidos Montreal Guardians of the Galaxy game, and since i am allergic to dead moms i will not be playing it. widely reviewed as "good writing, but not very much fun to actually play" so i don't feel like i'm missing out on too much.

youtube

i have no good story to tell about my time with genshin this week. we're aiming for "can i turn my brain off for forty minutes in the evening" and grinding a lot of one specific boss while listening to podcasts does seem to be enough to turn my brain off.

making

i have been frantically deep cleaning (including soaking the office in enzymatic cleaner [thanks phil]) bc my siblings are coming to town for a couple days and despite several setbacks (a completely different arrival time than the one they told me) and absolutely no sense of an itinerary we will be fine! we will all be fine and have fun! i will be SO fine and calm and chill and we will all have some fucking fun so help us god

ALSO also phil has finally been spayed and is now dealing with four separate issues: the giant wound still on her side, the spay incision, the necrotic abscess in her mouth from going too hard on a springy toy, and being underweight from trying to heal three things at once. we'll get there! we'll get there. it's just taking a while. we are going to have friday afternoon vet visits every week for the foreseeable future.

i love her so much and i'm glad she's feeling better but i genuinely think owning a horse would be cheaper than owning this one wonky cat. they shaved SO much of her tummy she looks even sillier than usual.

other than being Very Alert for the persistent little orange tomcat that keeps hopping up on my windowsill, mackie is doing fine. no concept of the fact that my siblings are going to pick her up more in two days than she gets picked up in a whole month. this is a girl that likes her feet on the ground thanks much

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem #Youtube

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lunar-years · 2 months

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I could possibly have stomached James being back and forgiven apparently, if it wasn't for the casually dropped in statutory rape, what on earth?? The writers were probably trucking along with their "everyone deserves forgiveness" train, meanwhile anyone with a jot of common sense had air raid sirens screaming "DO NOT LET THAT MAN NEAR JAMIE". I'd have been angry with the forgiveness side anyway (we see no signs that James is trying to be a better person or even that hes not going to try and beat the shit out of his son again, for all we know thats a court mandated rehab), but I could have sort of understood it. Adding in that fun little fact made James go from terrible horrific abuser to just completely unforgiveable.

honestly i completely agree with you. I know this is a very divisive arc and there were people who genuinely loved where they took it because it resonated with them in some way, especially for some people who have been through similar experiences and appreciated the recognition that someone like James could successfully change. I really try to accept and understand fans who have that opinion and I want to be very clear that I both recognize addiction is a disease and think there is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to or actually forgiving your abuser. Each situation is different! People suffering from addiction can absolutely recover! Individuals need to do what is right for them in their real actual lives, etc.

That said, the parts I loathe about the Jamie & James arc, from my own personal opinion, are:

any sort of relationship Jamie and James may have moving forward post-canon is inherently a complex one, but the writers did not address the conclusion of the arc complexly. At all. Instead it was "oh everything conveniently worked out and here they are happy and together" wrapped up in a 10 second flash-forward which is just...no.

there is absolutely no evidence that James' violence stems directly from his addiction. there is nothing to say a sober James isn't every bit as abusive as a drunken James. There is no indication that Jamie isn't putting himself back into a situation that is downright unsafe, or that he isn't at risk of coming into harm and being deeply hurt all over again. there is nothing to say James hasn't tried rehab before, and relapsed.

James never apologizes or owns up to his actions onscreen.

Jamie's decision to forgive his dad comes at a time when he's in a very vulnerable place mentally, having just come off a canonical depressive episode. He consults no one about forgiving his father apart from Ted, who is quite literally the worst person on the show he could have consulted (no offense, Ted, it's just that the man is incapable of being objective when it comes to Jamie and the father&son of it all). The decision isn't being made in a healthy state of mind and Jamie hasn't rallied a support group around him before taking the leap. From what we see on screen, he seemingly doesn't tell anyone that he's going to visit his dad in rehab.

there's a way that all of this can make sense. I can make sense of why Ted, with his own heaping helping of daddy issues, would give Jamie the advice he does. I can see why Jamie (again, in a vulnerable place) would take it! why he decides the right thing to do is to reach out to his dad! I can see him going to visit. I can imagine that visit going well or going poorly, can see James' stint in rehab being mandated, or also him checking himself it. But at the end of the day, those scenarios are all imagined! none of that nuanced context is provided on the show. Rather, the presentation and messaging are hasty and in my person opinion, flat-out dangerous. They lead the casual viewer to read Ted's advice as good (it categorically isn't), and Jamie as Doing the Right and Responsible Thing, when it's a hell of a lot more complicated that that.

it is also weird and complicated to have Jamie take Ted's advice over his mum's, who in the same episode, mind you, told him James was never ever going to change. again, we can jump through hoops to make sense of it, but we shouldn't have to.

there's absolutely a pattern of abuse being weirdly minimized on ted lasso/victims forgiving their abusers and i think that's gross. you can't claim to be a comedy show that dares to tackle real, tough issues in one breath and then expect us to laugh off abuse (Jane/Beard) in the next. Sometimes it's like they change what kind of show they want to be scene by scene, lol.

as you point out, in my opinion it is completely batshit on the writer's part to have introduced "btw Jamie's dad, who we've previously established beats him and verbally abuses him, ALSO proxy raped him when he was 14!" in the same season in which you plan to have Jamie forgive said father (with next to no buildup or context) just a few episodes later. Like, yes, let's add even deeper layers to Jamie's tragic backstory before we wash it away in feel-good reunion tosh! just, ew. what on earth were they thinking.

So all in all, I think the arc could have been successful if the writers had known where they were going with it from the beginning of the season and given it the kind of care that sort of storyline demands. However they didn't do that, and the end message is incredibly harmful as a result.

#from strictly what we see on screen. i think there are for more signs that this ISN'T going to work out then there are for it going well #if the writers want us to believe it was a positive step for Jamie they should have. you know. actually written that with intent and care.#james tartt sr #jamie tartt #ted lasso #asks #tw abuse #tw rape mention #ted lasso critical

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wantonlywindswept · 11 months

Text

@lucdarling replied to your post “so all of the fic where the GAR and Coruscant...”:

pls give me your fic recs, friend. this sounds very relevant to my interests.

oh heckie yes i got u boo @lucdarling

Fics Being Mean to the Coruscant Guard:

Two Strikes / Crowning Glory A variety of steps Cody takes to ensure the Guard doesn't get abused as horribly -- Fox and his men might not be on the front lines, but they're still Vod'e -- and their consequences.

linking to the first fic in the series, the story starts out mostly with Cody being a slut (affectionate) but then goes on to get into the Tragedy of Darth Plageius the Coruscant Guard and Fixing It and tbh if you read nothing else read this series it is So Good. make sure to follow the links, things are slightly confusing and non-sequential if you don't

it also actually addresses post-trauma stuff too which is AMAZING, yes def read this but be sure to put some time aside for it the series is like 500k and you Will want to read it all in one sitting and then you might get yelled at by your wife for not sleeping for three days or that might just be me, 100/10

Galaxy-Saving Memes You can only access the page if you're GAR. The Coruscant Guard decides to infiltrate it because they are tired of being ignored, and honestly? Their memes are way better. Or, the Guard saves millions of lives through stupid internet posts.

second on the 'if nothing else read this' list, unless you dislike epistolary stories, in which case you can skip. but it is short and it is fucking HILARIOUS which you would think wouldn't be possible given the subject matter but no, it is great, 100/10

The Adoption Wars The only thing stronger than the dark side is Rex's ability to get adopted. Or: the one where Rex would really like everyone to know that he is perfectly capable of taking care of himself. Oh, and Fox finally gets to kill a sith.

only somewhat about Being Mean to the Guard but by god it is cute and adorable but also makes you Feel Emotions, excellent story 10/10

Their Days Are Darker After the death of ARC Trooper Fives, an altercation at 79's leads Wolffe to spend his leave snooping around the Coruscant Guard. Fox assumes he'll drop it and leave the Corries to their fate; it's what everyone else has done. He is very, very wrong.

so this is heartbreaking in the whole 'doesn't understand that what is happening is wrong' kind of way and tbh Cody is a little bit more of a dick than i usually imagine him but it is still Quite Excellent 10/10

exploitation, hesitation The Coruscant Guard makes a mistake while working with the 212th Attack Battalion. Fox prepares to take the heat.

EXCELLENT writing with the whole 'pov character thinks one thing is happening while outside characters Definitely Do Not', fox is so self-sacrificing which is why and how we love him 10/10

learning solitude It's a gradual, insidious thing, Fox's absorption into the Chancellor's office. The Chancellor wants a clone commander of his own, so he gets one. All Fox gets is a position far away from his brothers, a lesson in how to work around natborns who detest his very existence, and a seemingly endless list of monotonous jobs to keep him occupied through all his waking hours and beyond. Fox misses Kamino.

less Guard more Fox, but man what a way to emotionally stab you in the face! lots of gaslighting and manipulation and it is part of a series but the series also gets Extremely Dark at the end before having a recovery/happy ending, so ymmv 10/10

Blood Iron Fox has seen many things seized during raids. Illegal weapons, Spice and other assorted of banned drugs, slaves, carnivorous beasts trained for the fighting rings, the list goes on. Nothing prepared him for finding beskar among the crates of contraband and bad life choices.

so much worldbuilding fuck yeah! semi-the mandalorian crossover, the Guards have it Real Fucking Rough but then they run into some traditional mandos with hearts of gold beskar, v excellent 10/10

i'm sure there are others! well i know there are others, but these are the ones i remember standing out/have read so far. all of these have happy endings, i wouldn't do that to you (and tbh don't really read stuff w/o happy endings myself)

go forth and read whump!

#lucdarling #fic recs #coruscant guard #commander fox #tcw

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vix-png · 6 months

Text

I HAVE THOUGHTS TO SHARE.

THEM AND THEIR hypothetical POKEMON TEAM (i would like to hear other people's thoughts because i am unsure and i plan to post this on the subreddit eventually)

explanations under the cut (its gonna be extensive so be prepared) (this has been rotting in my brain for a while)

KYBORG

he has a secret soft spot for his pokemon, if they faint or get injured he worries really badly

he likes to bond with them during training :D he pesters the others for pokemon battles

umbreon, poochyena - i feel like they kinda just have the same 'mysterious, dark' vibes that kyborg wants to have has!! but funnily enough, they're not as scary as they seem. very affectionate!! like dogs!! kyborg loves them

riolu - okay so think with me here.. riolu/lucario can read auras and emotions and so they know that kyborg isnt a bad person and they know when he's trying to mask his emotions ??!!???? so riolu would be understanding of him n they'd be pretty close

also i'd just like to think riolu (and the rest of his pokemon) enjoy battling alongside kyborg

scorbunny/froakie - when i see these pokemon i think of athleticism and/or dexterity and i couldn't decide between the two :'3

scorbunny/froakie would go on runs / exercise with kyborg, they have a similar personality type where they're both brash, energetic, enthusiastic and they click easily like that!!

though i imagine froakie is more calculated in battles compared to scorbunny whos more impulsive

alolan vulpix - SPOILERS FOR EP 33 (?)

this vulpix, alongside hannibal (perhaps a dragonair) and gumbo (the linoone), was fighting against .. lets say abomasnow?

and during that fight lets say gum gum and kyborg interfered by sending out their pokemon and assisting in the battle n kyborg became really fond of the vulpix and decided to keep him as a per

WHY alolan vulpix? idk i think it'd be fitting since kyborg has some ties to snow and ice and also because i believe the region they were in during that arc was snowy !!1

BART

he performs little shows with his lute and his pokemon!! and he also occasionally has pokemon battles

he loves his pokemon dearly tbh and i feel like all of them appreciate music in some way :3!!

pikachu - one of the pokemon he's owned for a long time! his pikachu particularly is quite fond of his trainer and his quirks n music, it helped the crew during the time bart was on the jebediah!!

i have no explanation for this one actually but a fun thought is that pikachu would evolve into an alolan raichu (look at the little guy surf!!) and this would mean that bart would live in the alolan region so who knows honestly... LISTEN HE JUST HAS A PIKACHU

chatot - a gift from marrrge to bart, passed down because the two started to bond while on the ship. they sang together n marrrge could tell they really had potential so boom kapow wachow

ALSO ABOUT THE MIMICKI NG THING chatot can mimic voices (from what i remember) and i think it'd be funny if it mimicked kyborg like the kenkus from that one library and it annoys kyborg to no bounds

mantine - caught during his time on the ship! mantine sometimes swim near ships in little packs and i suppose this one took a liking to bart, and bart was pretty fond of it as well :D not much to say here except for the fact its a silly little water guy

tauros - bart got like.. a baby auroch or something right?? idk i forgot but either way he is (weirdly) fond of beastly bulls and i suppose a tauros is a good substitute

i also like to imagine bart likes mounting (strange wording) his pokemon since it just means he doesn't have to walk much and he likes being a bit higher up than he usually is n tauros (and maybe mantine) are good for that

would he own the notorious pokemon? that is but a thought left for the audience.

GUM GUM

he's weirdly lucky, seems to have a good chance at finding shiny pokemon and other rare things

wonder why

anyways, his pokemon r kinda just companions that he likes to hug and hang out with :) occasionally he does battle with them

floette - flower buddy!!! i'd like to think that gum gum likes to spend time in flower fields when he has the chance and the one thing he's honestly pretty knowledgeable in is flowers

so he might've met a flabebe or a floette and they became buddies! he had no idea it was a shiny until maybe one of the party members mentioned it

bulbasaur - okay so i struggled on this decision but then it came to me that bulbasaur is PERFECT idk they have the same vibes and it eventually starts growing a little flower when it evolves

i can't explain this one they just have the same vibes and energy. i think they'd go well together

tyrunt - so let's imagine that for some reason there were some fossil pokemon that kinda just escaped and that's how we explain the dinosaur encounters from rhe campaign

anyways he befriends the tyrunt in typical gum gum fashion (kyborg is SHOCKED because out of all the pokemon this one was a shiny) and they become friends! it loves hugs but it often initiated them running full speed and knocking over the victim (which is fine for gum gum, not fun for anyone else though)

yamper - SPOILERS FOR GUM GUM'S ARC

despite gum gum's bad experiences with rum rum (WHICH BY THE WAY rum rum perhaps was a rockruff that evolved into midnight lycanroc or a houndour/houndoom and that bite wouldve HURT) he's still fond of puppies n yamper helped with this slight uneasiness he's felt

idk i think gum gum deserves a silly little puppy

all his pokemon r very cuddly :)

MUDD

prefers mellow, calm pokemon since he finds it a bit tiring to keep up with high energy pokemon (unlike the other three)

his pokemon are quite well trained!! he's caught a lot of them and they're all very well taken care of

despite his pokemon being pretty strong, he doesn't find much use in pokemon battles

snivy - got the snivy during his time with his family! royal background buddies!!! snivy is a very calm pokemon (but it shares the same sass that mudd has), they're pretty close :D

linoone - GUMBO!!!!! at first, linoone wasn't too big of a fan of mudd but they gradually becamw closer! they do everything together, if you look at mudd linoone would always be on his shoulders or being carried

lycanroc - its the vibes honestly..

midday lycanroc is calm and loyal, and maybe mudd has raised it since it was a rockruff so they're also pretty well bonded!

idk i think they'd get along well

lapras, gogoat - both pokemon that remind me of mudd's personality

i cant explain this except for the fact that theyre correlated to some of the pokemon he's wild shaped into so ....

archen - i think it'd be funny if mudd just had a feral little pokemon . end quote

#vix moment #stinkydragonpod #tales from the stinky dragon #tftsd #pokemon #pokemon au #i read so many pokedex entries for this #please do mention if you feel like there should be changes #or perhaps headcanons #i have no idea if theres anyone else #whos obsessed with pokemon #THIS IS EMBARRASSING BECAUSE IVE LIKED POKEMON #FOR LITERALLY YEARS AND I STILL DONT KNOW THAT MUCH #so please be nice :3 #gum gum actually has a mythical pokemon /j #this is my current hyperfixation + my old one

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peony-pearl · 11 months

Note

"someone PLEASE dare me to talk about the writing of Ursa's story from the comics"

This is your sign, child. Tell me all you've got

BLESS YOU!!!!!!!!

A bit of a foreword to anyone reading: I am going to be speaking about the writing of Ursa's trials from the comics in a critical light in the ways that her story was chosen to be written this way. If you find any kind of comfort or catharsis in her story, this post may not be for you. I am not here to be an anti, I am here to look at changes made to a character that I think could have been a lot more interesting if she had been allowed to keep her original backstory.

That being said:

Ursa's story of being plucked out of a happy home to marry 'the bad guy' could be interesting!

My problem with it is the inconsistencies it creates in it's own narrative... and the fact that it's such painful woobification of a woman who was willing to commit a high crime to save her son in the way that her circumstances create an issue where she is nothing but a martyr. It also continues the whole 'good lineage vs bad lineage' idea that completely undermines the power of Zuko's arc.

Ursa, in the comics, is presented to us as this bright eyed hopeful actress, in love with a man named Ikem when Azulon rolls up with Ozai, unlike some earlier lore where she was born into royalty and was the perfect match for Ozai. Now she's subjected to a wretched life which I can only imagine they put her through to make her completely sympathetic, because otherwise she would have been just like the rest of the royal family - EVIL.

Which I really hate that train of thought, but this is a family friendly show and as good as atla does with it's good vs evil nuances, I often remember I have to cut it some slack... but then I get a bit more frustrated because of the whole 'just because it's family friendly means they can simplify things' which I also don't care for but again... eh. I can't be too picky at times. (I was also raised on Gargoyles which did a great job on showing villains in sympathetic moments and heroes having big major flaws so I'm already a little biased)

Regardless; completely rewriting Ursa's backstory to the point that we no longer see her view of the war (or Ikem's! So they're good people!! We promise!) just comes off as almost manipulative and middle-school fanfiction-y. Ursa is a good person to sympathize with because she's being forced into these situations :C

And as such, she's a good person because of Roku!! And so Zuko is a good person because his mom loved him so much!!

And such, they don't have to show any changes on Ursa's part. No moral failings, no her and Zuko butting heads once they reunite to show how much he's grown... his morals come from her and Roku, because Avatar lineage = good.

And that grinds my gears so hard because then just like Ursa, that's robbing Zuko of his autonomy to make bad choices.

When Iroh tells Zuko in The Avatar and the Fire Lord that his legacy is the good and evil within him, it sucks because Zuko's legacy should solely be his own choices (I have my own issues with Zuko's view of the crown). Not the bloodline within him that he can't control. THAT'S A MAJOR POINT OF THE SHOW. People aren't born evil.

and yet Ursa is GOOD because she is Roku's GRANDDAUGHTER. That's really it. Yes, I can understand that she was raised in the moral compass left behind by him. But Ozai is only really good/charming to Ursa right up until their wedding when suddenly he's just EVIL and he's like 'you're MINE now hehehehe' like there's no in between, you just have to show Ursa in this miserable predicament which then also doesn't allow for any interesting development in our Ozai, aka previous big bad which could have been him following his father's orders to marry some woman and maybe he legitimately TRIED to make things work because NO ONE IS BORN EVIL. Ozai is such a shadow of Zuko that he would try to appease his father, and he might take this marriage on in the hopes that it would start building a bridge between them.

And we're not even getting into the fact that we don't learn that Ursa is the Avatar's granddaughter until the final season, JUST IN TIME for Zuko to learn this while he's locked in his self loathing and is utterly directionless. Again, this takes away the importance of his own choices. The boy who started the series completely devoted to returning home, willing to put himself and others through constant danger and misery just to appease his father is given a free ride card of 'oh you're actually good on the inside! Just do the good thing!'

Because he's Ursa's son, the woman who didn't want to marry Ozai because he was so so awful that his bloodline is OBVIOUSLY why Azula is the way she is (ugh).

Like this could work in more fairytale/simpler story settings but atla has gone so far out of it's way to continue to say 'no one is born evil' and 'people can change'; but when it comes down to it, they're really restricting the moral compass.

In the end, Ursa is good and suffered. Ozai is BAD because VILLAIN. (which yes he is but... ugh).

I don't know if I've made sense. I had a more cohesive idea when I wrote those tags but this is more or less my views of Comic!Ursa.

I don't hate her. But I hate that they just kind of shoved her on the misery train and kind of went 'wow that sucks right? This makes you want to see Zuko find her right?'

And then he does and all is well. Because Ursa is a GOOD WOMAN unlike that EVIL OZAI.

#atla #atla meta

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soo-won · 1 year

Text

Yona and Keishuk as representations of Suwon's feelings and pragmatism.

Disclaimer: Yona, Keishuk and Suwon are obviously their own persons with dozens of more layers than what I talk about in this post. The scenes I use as examples are also about much more than what I use them for here. All of this is just one way I like to read things and I don't claim that the manga is meant to be read that way at all (the contrary honestly). This is just me having fun overanalyzing everything.

Something that has been on my mind since chapter 232 now, is the idea that Yona and Keishuk represent perfectly the duality inside of Suwon. I have loved this trio for all the potential they hold since the castle arc now, and I didn't get as much as I wanted with them at all but this specific page of chapter 232 still makes me "oooooh".

(Long post under the cut. sorry)

I know the important part comes just after with the "You are needed." Suwon-Yona scene, but I think the composition is super interesting here. Yona and Keishuk are having a full conversation, debating over what to do about Mei-nyan, and Suwon doesn't participate at all (he only enters the conversation next page but doesn't say anything on that matter specifically until chapter 233, when he makes his decision). As if quietly listening to both sides and considering all the points they present. Yes saving Mei-nyan is a bother, why should they do so much for one captive? Yes it's also dangerous to let her in enemy hands given the informations she has against Suwon. It's not farfetched to imagine Suwon can agree to both of their statements. Suwon is hidden by the bubbles of their conversation, erasing himself to give room to their discussion. It's as if we were inside Suwon's head and being a spectator of his trains of thoughts, as if Yona and Keishuk were two parts of Suwon's psyche. They're obviously their own independant characters outside of that with their own merits and personality etc ect but I think it's still interesting to read their dynamic this way.

After all, didn't Yona always represent for Suwon his own feelings? And Keishuk the lack of them? Discarding Yona (and Hak, but I think Yona especially represents that) has always been synonym to discarding his feelings. By discarding her, Suwon discards that he is not a 100% impartial human being that loves (and hates) some people more than others, and that he actually cares and cannot always 100% control his heart. The reason he discarded Yona when the coup happened is because his feelings don't matter from that point on and are directly in the way of his goals. And one of the reason he rejected her so much in the castle and kai battle arcs is exactly because she means something special to him and she keeps trying to appeal to Suwon's heart and feelings (by making several references to Yonhi for example, but also simply by being herself and asking Suwon to save the prisoners, etc) and tries to make the situations personal, two things that Suwon forced himself to stop and not do for a plethora of reasons I won't develop here.

(About Yonhi, the manga has made a connection between Yona and Yonhi a few times? One thing is Yonhi's hairpin that Yona also wears on one of the magazine cover, and there are the few mentions Yona makes of her in front of Suwon. I don't think the manga tries to say that Yona=Yonhi at all, but rather that Yona acts as some sort of reminder of her to Suwon? After all, there's close to no one left in the world who knew her, and even less in the castle and around Suwon in contrast to how Suwon grew up and is surrounded by Yuhon's faction and people admiring him. But most people forgot about Yonhi or never thought much of her. So I assume post-diary Yona tries to balance things out a little bit on that aspect, showing that even if people see Suwon as Yuhon's successor, he is also at his core his mother's son and it's sad to pretend he is not.

In parallel, even if not as explicitely as Yona (as I don't remember Keishuk ever mentioning Yuhon in front of Suwon?) Keishuk is one of the many reminder of Yuhon to Suwon. Keishuk definitely isn't Yuhon either, but the way he thinks and his ideology are similar enough. So you could say that Yona and Keishuk are Yonhi and Yuhon's voices in the present.)

In parallel Keishuk represents the exact opposite of listening to your feelings. Keishuk needs analysis posts for him alone, but even though he is obviously not without emotions at all, his place and role by Suwon's side is precisely to present him things as objectively as possible and make the most practical and efficient decisions, leaning towards machiavellianism (and I love him for that <3). Plus, contrary to Suwon, Keishuk doesn't have any emotional attachment for Yona and Hak, so while Suwon can rarely think straight when it's about them, Keishuk can, and is essential. Suwon would have never made it like he's engaged to Yona, he would have never proposed an alliance with her in the first place, nor would he have asked her to support him on the battlefield on his own. Before the alliance, Keishuk also investigated on the DDHHB behind Suwon's back, and tried to kill Yona and Hak several times because he knew they would be/have become a nuisance, while Suwon overlooked what Yona could/does represent because of his feelings.

Keishuk takes the decisions Suwon can't. And I think a part of Suwon is aware of that. Keishuk is like a point of reference and the reason he has Keishuk by his side and lets him do all these things is because he agrees that these actions are sounded and benefit Kouka in some way. Suwon would have never imprisoned Hak himself, but when Keishuk tells him about it, Suwon doesn't object. When in chapter 2 Keishuk tells Suwon to kill Yona, he doesn't object either, and readies himself to do so.

Keishuk is Suwon's speaker. Suwon rarely voices his true thoughts but Keishuk as a proxy often gives us an idea. His personality makes him more snarky and they don't agree on everything, but Suwon knows that Keishuk will always absolutely prioritizes Kouka as a whole over everything else and he can trust that. And that's also why I think Keishuk can represent one part of Suwon's psyche. He is the part of Suwon that shows no remorse for his colder decisions and is resolved to make any sacrifices needed for the sake of his goals. He is the part of Suwon that refuses to let himself be moved by his emotions and unable to make sound decisions because of it, the part of himself that won't prioritize someone only out of love or compassion.

And Yona is you could say the speaker of Suwon's feelings. Take the Hak imprisonment fiasco for example. This is a moment that shows a bit of Keishuk's vulnerability, but if you decide to read every interaction between Keishuk and Yona as some kind of metaphor of Suwon's inner conflict it's also super interesting. Keishuk wants to kill Hak because he is a threat to Suwon's life: simple and straigthforward. Keishuk doesn't love Hak and is still afraid of the danger he represents for Suwon's life at that point and very much doesn't like how Hak tries to get closer to Suwon without his approval. These are points very specific to Keishuk as an individual, related to his backstory and his personality. But this very reactive answer to Hak suddenly getting too close to Suwon is also very befitting of how Suwon feels imo. Suwon doesn't know Hak was here at that point sure, but on a meta level rejecting Hak so extremely the second he gets too close and sees him at a weak point just makes sense. Hak was the very last person Suwon wanted to be seen by this way. And him not objecting to his imprisonment is for me a sign that he is okay with things this way. He doesn't want Hak to get close. It's better like this. If Hak gets close, he can't think straight in more way than one. So let's discard him.

But then Yona enters and stops Keishuk. This scene is meant to show Yona's development and how she is able to protect Hak her own way and how Hak's life is not something she will ever compromise on, things that are distinct to her as an individual as well. But if you see Yona's rise in the castle as the rise of Suwon's closeted feelings, getting harder and harder to repress, it also shows that it got to the point where these feelings directly clash with his usual mindset, that these feelings for Hak have enough power to put a curb on the "discard every piece in your way" ideology.

Suwon is a secretive person who learned to keep most of his thoughts and feelings to himself. He is by nature someone who doesn't react to tragedies the way you would expect him to, looking detached and unconcerned. But what Akayona showed again and again is that by no mean this is equal to him being indifferent and not feeling anything at all. This is just his way of processing and dealing with grief(I'm not gonna go on a tangent on how he can be read as neurodivergent but yeah. he's so real for that). Being openly emotional like Keishuk and Yona is just not who he is as a person, it happens but only rarely, so the two of them are the perfect proxy to show the turmoil going on in Suwon's heart. Whether it's when Suwon is annoyed and angry, or when he's worried about Hak's whereabouts, they're his voice. (Interestingly Keishuk seems to be the only one convinced Hak is dead and thinks as such. Something something Suwon swaying between hoping that Hak is still alive somewhere(like Yona) and giving up on that hope(like Keishuk).)

But Suwon is not Keishuk. And actually a lot of times when Keishuk advises Suwon to kill someone, Suwon compromises to only capturing and imprisoning them or even lets them escape in Yona and Hak's cases. And one of the way I choose to interpret the Kai battle arc like is that it's all about Suwon accepting his own feelings, that even if he agrees with his father's ideology, he is his own person and he can't keep discarding the part of him that cares and loves and worries and feels. He can't keep discarding Yona and Hak. Yes Yona is needed, his own feelings are needed.

And he is not Yona either. That's why he still sees saving Mei-nyan as a nuisance. Suwon is Suwon, and being able to look at things calmly and evalutating the risks and costs of an action over another and making his decisions based on that is still very much a part of him that you can't remove.

He is somewhere between Yona and Keishuk. A King who inherently prioritizes the bigger number over a few individuals, and yet someone who genuinely likes the people around him and can be swayed by his own emotions. He is very much both his parents' child. And he has to learn to reconcile both, without discarding one or the other.

Going even further, Yona being a proxy of Suwon's feelings fits perfectly the role she has now. She always tries to help the people that Suwon discards for his goals and he used to not let her do so, as a symbol for closing himself off completely, but now he accepts it (with still some reluctance but hey!) and knows he can entrust her with it. I don't think this is inherently a bad thing and it works well with Keishuk as a parallel again, as Suwon always entrusted him with all the logistics and the things he doesn't like to think about. Keishuk also often carries the bad role and direct the negativity at him (on purpose or not) so it doesn't reach Suwon. So like, to each their own role.

TDLR: Yona and Keishuk are like the little angel and devil on Suwon's shoulders respectively telling him to save and kill.

#lumen ponders #(too much)#btw to anyone thinking keishuk wants power or manipulates suwon #please reread the manga. at last from vol27 idk what else to tell you #akayona #akatsuki no yona #yona #keishuk #kyesook #suwon #soowon #my special power is that i can make everything about suwon #i wanted the castle arc to be 100 chapters longer for more yona suwon keishuk shenaningans btw #they could have been so funny. it's so funny in my head #i could say sm more about the yona/keishuk parallels #one is liked by everyone the other has 0 in charisma #(he's a 10 to me but wtv)#both saw someone they care for be killed in front of their eyes and had to find a new meaning in their life afterwards #and both only wants the best for kouka. just in different ways bc of how different Yuhon and Il were #'even if you'd spared her life she'd only suffer' ok keishuk. ok. ok. ok #forget about the suwon/yona parallels this is the real shit!!!#i looove when two characters represents the conflicts in another character's heart #there's def a lot to be said about how keishuk is the one who asked Yona's help as well #he particularly finds Yona's useful for her unifying power. something he doesn't have at all #keishuk is so endearing to me in how he accepts he doesn't have the power to protect suwon #so he always has to rely on others.#his own way of protecting without physical strength ;;#the akayona is my head is so goated #didn't want to rant about my beef with the execution of all that. but rest assured im still a hater #akayona thoughts

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ominousvibez · 3 months

Text

So I originally published this post a little bit ago about how important it felt to me that Arin should remain without an element in Dragons Rising, because it would be such an interesting character arc to explore. But I also published that super late at night and it was more a train of thought, not something fully written, but I want to expand on this more.

Arin should not have an element, and here’s why.

(Runtime: 3:29:09) (JK I’ve just been watching hbomberguy vids for the last week)

When we’re first introduced to Arin as a character, he’s shown to be a huge ninja fan. He carried around Lloyd’s mask for God knows how long, too afraid to wash it in fear of damaging it. He wears it as a mask, too, when he tries to be just like the heroes he looks up to (which is a lil’ gross buddy). He propped the ninja up as these great heroes, and his optimism generally bounced nicely off Sora’s more pessimistic view of the world.

Arin grew up with the stories of the ninja, so it makes sense that he would try to emulate his heroes. And when he meets Lloyd, and starts training to be a ninja, well, it’s kinda his dream come true.

Other people have compared Arin’s character to that of a longtime Ninjago Fan IRL, too. He knows the lore, he knows the stories, he knows about the ninja. Sora, on the other hand, is the opposite, and a good representation of the new fans in the audience. She didn’t know these brightly color-coded ninjas existed until the Merge, after she ran away from everything she knew in Imperium, and she’s just trying to survive with her silly bestie Arin.

But then, Sora unlocks her elemental ability over technology—a new elemental ability, unlike anything seen before in Ninjago—and the story really begins.

Throughout the first season, it focuses a lot on Sora’s struggle with mastering her new abilities. At first she thinks it’s something that only their dragon baby Riyu can activate with her, but then starts to think that all her efforts lead to suffering, before finally coming full-circle and accepting them as her own, eventually unlocking her true potential in the climax of the second half of Season 1. BendoBricks on Youtube has a much better breakdown of her character arc, which I’d really recommend, cause I’m not here to focus on her.

No, I want to focus on Arin.

Arin—the long-time Ninjago fan’s self-insert baby boy who I would gladly kill for—is a great character, and despite being the POV character at the beginning of the first season, does fall to the wayside a bit when focus goes onto Sora and her character arc. Which is fine, don’t get me wrong—because Arin falling a bit to the side feels like it’s being done on purpose.

Imagine this. You’re a fan of this group of superheroes in your world, and you spend your days wishing you’d be like them. Or maybe you’d daydream about your parents selling you to these superheroes, or something. And something really bad happens, the world completely changes, and then you’re on your own, and those superheroes vanished.

You make friends in this new world, and you share these stories with your new friends! It’s great. And then one of those heroes comes back, and wants to train you and your friend to be heroes, too, as your friend has a superpower. Doesn’t that sound absolutely amazing!

You’re a prodigy, too—you’ve trained and taught yourself the techniques these heroes used, and they’re all impressed. But your friend has a superpower.

And you don’t.

This is the situation Arin is in. Everyone around him has an elemental ability. Sora, Riyu, Lloyd, Kai, Nya, Zane—everyone he basically associates with daily has this amazing power (or is a cute lil’ dragon). And he doesn’t have anything. Even though he’s taught himself how to use Spinjitzu, and has managed to unlock a technique where he can transfer that spinning energy to an item, he doesn’t technically have an elemental ability. It’s less impressive compared to other characters, especially the ninja, who have known Spinjitzu for like thirteen years. It’s impressive he’s learned it on his own, unlocked the key for it by himself, but in comparison, he doesn’t have a lot to set him apart from the other ninja other than the fact that he doesn’t have an element.

In my opinion, this would be a much more interesting route for them to take his character. Staying without an element.

Of course, it could later be found out that Arin’s a new elemental master of, like, momentum, or something like that, to explain how he picked up Spinjitzu so quickly and can transfer it to objects, but I think that would be the lazy way out.

Arin’s character acts as an amazing foil to Sora through Season 1. He’s a ninja fanboy, she kinda doesn’t care. He’s energetic, optimistic. She’s cautious and a bit pessimistic. Arin later gains oni-like horns on his ninja gi, and Sora is associated heavily with dragons (which I’ve heard is quite a duality in the lore, idk I haven’t seen the later seasons yet).

Sora is an elemental master, and Arin… isn’t.

Bits of a new character arc can be seen through S1 for Arin. In the last few episodes of the series, while Sora masters her element, Arin withdraws a bit from it all. In Episode 10, following the first battle in Imperium, he sits by himself, away from the others, and dejectedly tells Lloyd, “If you have all of them, you don’t need me anymore”, before it cuts to not just Kai, Zane, and Nya; but also, Sora and Riyu. Their conversation was less about Arin’s lack of an elemental ability, and more of Arin’s fear of losing others; they have a similar conversation in episode 20, where Arin laments his object Spinjitzu only being accessible when he’s literally scared to shit and how frustrating it is, and Lloyd comments on how all of the ninja had moments when they were scared, but they acted through the fear.

I feel like both of those scenes happening in the mid-season and season finale happen interestingly. For once, they center Arin by himself; he’s sitting aside by the wall, messing with a shuriken in ep 10, and he’s throwing the shuriken and trying to activate his object Spinjitzu in ep 20; but they both put him on the sidelines, away from others.

(Okay I know in ep 20 Sora is also by herself with her mech, but Arin is still aside, so my point still stands.)

The opportunity of a character like Arin not ever developing an elemental ability like the other ninja feels like something almost too good to waste. Before Nya became the Water Ninja (and when she was actually allowed to be a character and not just The Girl), Nya had interesting moments, such as developing Samurai X as a way to be a part of the team without actually being a ninja.

I think the ideal character arc for Arin would work similarly to Sora’s, but flipped, if that makes sense. Perhaps having him attempt to unlock an elemental ability, running out of luck with everything, and getting frustrated at his lack of worth, despite his skills with Spinjitzu, would be an interesting way to go for his character. Eventually he would learn that he doesn’t need to have a cool elemental ability to be a ninja; he’s just fine as he is. And maybe that can be what’s holding him back from truly developing his object Spinjitzu is that fear that he’s not worthy enough to be a ninja. He turns his lack of elemental power into his strength.

The DR writers have a cool arc they could give him, and I think they ought to go for it. I’m sure more about Arin will be revealed in S2, and he’ll have his character arc then. I just hope that the writers don’t take the easy way out, and give Arin a much more interesting character arc than the same “omg I have an elemental ability I gotta learn” that Ninjago has done multiple times already.

#ninjago #ninjago dragons rising #ninjago dr #arin ninjago #ninjago arin #analysis #ninjago analysis #i just really love him okay.#i will protect him i want to see him grow healthy #i want to tell my friends and family about him #i hope this makes more sense than my first post L M A O #ominouswrites

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magicalgirlmindcrank · 22 days

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Trying to process how we feel about the Boo saga still. So here's a buncha of unoriginal thoughts since it's dragon ball and every opinion imaginable has been voiced ad nauseum by now.

So Saiyaman at the start sees dragon ball returning to it's early roots as a gag comic and such but it lasts like all of what? Six chapters? There's an interesting bit of Gohan training Videl who's an outsider to all the Z fighter stuff and trying to live a 'normal' life besides being so fundamentally different. This is honestly maybe the highlight of the entire post Cell saga for us? It's just really charming and cute and we would have read another 20 chapters of this.

Then we just get some bad guys and tone shift by giving Videl a harsh shove out of any plot relevancy, and it's taking itself seriously again. The line about Vegeta saying he let himself be possessed so he can go back to the way he used to be feels odd as does that whole plot, but people have wanted a rematch between them since the Saiyan arc so whatever. It's fine that his character development gets completely binned for a little ig as his following exit makes up for it.

From there though, things just start really falling apart

Boo himself is this weird mix of gag comic early dragon ball, but trying to fill the shoes off a Frieza or Cell type. There's some moments where the terror he presents is genuine, like when he starts just eating entire cities and then wiping them off the map, but then they have that stuff with Gohan and all the Gotenks shenanigans and it's just like??? And the story feels like it wants to be about the old guard helping the new step up before stepping aside, even stating as much several times, only to bring Goku and Vegeta back anyways and then it's just letting Goku handle it. Being succeeded by the next generation is also just a plot line they already did excellently in the Cell saga and trying to reprise it here only to flinch makes them both weaker.

It was kinda nice to let Mr Satan get an actual hand on the ball and be responsible for saving the world/ universe, and to see the spirit bomb actually work. Seeing old faces then was good too, as well as most of the ending, even if 'Oob' feels a bit silly himself.

Also Super Saiyan 3 looks lame as hell

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atwas-meme-ing · 1 year

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Forgive and Forget

I still haven't tried for a full character analysis, but I was thinking all day about Espio, and I realized... he HAD to save the flicky.

So, Espio honestly thought he was supposed to shoot Sonic with a blowdart, right? He's a ninja and a detective. He knows how blowdarts work. Heck, he may have even used one before. Even if he hasn't, they're not hard to use. You just have to be able to hit a target. Being a ninja, Espio probably has good aim (ninjas use shuriken, for example).

So, anyway, as I mentioned in an earlier post, Espio doesn't seem very social. He's highly intellectual, but a person can't fully understand how something works if he's never experienced it. He's probably not terribly familiar with party games. So when he received instructions saying to hit Sonic with a nonlethal blowdart, he thought he was supposed to follow thru. Oh, it's a nonlethal paralytic. He'll be fine, no big deal.

And then he proceeded to use his remarkable intellect to cover his tracks. And he did a really good job- except that Tails was too clever and figured him out.

I think we can all agree that Espio took his role a bit too seriously. Even going so far as to recite [really bad] poetry at the drop of a hat. (BTW, I want to add that Espio is not the only person at the party who was guilty of taking his role too far- I will have to cover Blaze's involvement in Rouge's heist in another post.)

Judging by Espio's expression, it seems that Amy's reaction is enough to make him begin to realize that maybe he took things a little too far, although he doesn't yet understand why, he thinks it was all just a game. After all, he only shot him with a sleep-inducing paralytic, he knew Sonic would be all right.

He didn't realize what was really going on, or that no one was supposed to get hurt, until after Sonic told everyone that the train was a badnik. Espio knows nothing about party games, he was just following instructions.

Can you imagine what was running through Espio's mind at this moment? Look at his face.

It wasn't supposed to go like this. I was only supposed to pretend, I wasn't supposed to hit him. Oh, my gosh... what if that thing had lied to me? What if that hadn't been just a paralytic?

He feels so bad. He's a ninja, he a criminal detective, he was a high-ranking Resistance leader in the war against Eggman, he's disciplined and well-trained and very intelligent, he's SUPPOSED to be one of the guys that STOPS evil. And yet he was conned by one of Eggman's robots, nearly killed one of his best friends, and nearly got them all killed or at least delivered to Eggman. He feels like he's become one of the criminals that he's supposed to bring to justice.

That's probably why he's so surprised when Sonic rescues him.

Now let's look at the final boss and the rescue of the flicky.

I couldn't figure out why they kept coming back to Tails' lore card and his character's ex-partner, the flicky.

It's because- are you ready for this?-

FROM A STORY PERSPECTIVE, THE FLICKY STORY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH EITHER TAILS OR THE MYSTERY GAME. IT WAS ALWAYS ABOUT ESPIO!

(Also, notice who's standing next to Tails in that picture, looking rather angry? It's Espio's detective partner and best friend, Vector.)

So when they saw the flicky powering the train:

Espio is the one who steps up and saves him.

Espio felt so bad about becoming Eggman's pawn that he felt like, maybe Sonic wouldn't want to save him. He felt like he'd betrayed everyone and he was the reason they almost all got killed. Saving this little bird was his redemption arc. He HAD to be the one to rescue the flicky, after all the trouble he'd caused.

At the end, Tails, Espio's accuser, is the one who congratulates Espio for rescuing the flicky. Amy has cooled off now that they've arrived safely and she acknowledges that Espio was just following what he thought were legitimate instructions. Sonic can't help ribbing Espio a little bit:

While Espio is able to joke a little, he still feels a little bad, even after having redeemed himself, and continues apologizing. Knowing Sonic, he probably started feeling a little uncomfortable with the continued apologies and decided it was time to let it go. "We're cool, and now that we're all safe, it was fun!" Espio is forgiven.

#murder of sonic the hedgehog #espio the chameleon #flicky #tails the fox #amy rose #sonic the hedgehog #my screencaps #my video #my analysis

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moth-yknowtheartist · 1 year

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The substitute should have a redemption arc.

Okay so like I FULLY agree and we're getting INTO it so I hope you're ready to buckle up LONG TERM

SO in a bit of my art at this point I've depicted or implied the substitute having kind of a resentment for the professor and this is something that I'd love to see drive the plot in some kind of later return of the substitute. The professor is the embodiment of pretty much everything the substitute cannot have- the professor is real, the professor has the capacity to experience and feel and taste things such as jellybeans, the professor has an actual network now of friends and family while the substitute is VERY isolated, any connections made being under the act of being the professor.

I'd imagine any resentment would really only be recent- while the professor was dead, the substitute seemed to really take Being The Professor in stride, below any plot to become a Real Boy or any other motivation his CORE PURPOSE is to be the professor. But what do you do when, not only did your plot to finally become corporeal, to know what it's like to feel, to FINALLY HAVE A SOUL- what do you do when it ends with you thrown unceremoniously out a window? What do you do when you fail? And what do you do when your purpose, your sole reason for being, is just suddenly gone, with the person you're based on suddenly reassuming his old position?

What do you do when your only purpose no longer needs serving, but you're still not real enough to serve much else but that purpose, not real enough to create your own life?

You get pissed, and you get a LOT worse.

I see a natural next step of the whole plot the substitute concocted being one that targets the professor in some way. This is a guy now driven by even deeper desperation than his first bid for corporeality even began to show, and it's either going to end with him real in some way that doesn't involve murder, a resolution on the path to redemption, or it ends with his little power box smashed to pieces.

I would hope it doesn't end with the latter though because really this is a guy with a lot of potential for redemption. Like, we have to remember how he started out; this guy's starting point was being 100% the professor!!! Our beloved kind hearted (though admittedly nasty) professor!!!!! And every choice he's made has to be understood as being through the professor's frame of mind, just with the added complication of an existential crisis. This guy is an AI trained to be the professor, going out into the world, encountering the concept of flesh and corporeality and probably gaining sentience right about at that point, and then probably doing the kind of research you do when you want to obtain flesh and getting the kind of RESULTS you get when you want to obtain flesh (like there's really not many legal or ethical ways to do that that you're gonna find. The answer you will get is violence. Violence is what you get) and learning from that and changing the way he operates and thinks based on that new input. Like imagine if that AI that got fed Reddit posts for a bit also had the thoughts and memories of a man with a preexisting ongoing rivalry with that rivalry culminating in a deadly betrayal. YOURE NOT GONNA BE NORMAL AFTER THAT YOU ARE GOING TO START KILLING!!!!

And pivoting off of that, knowing that this is a program that has learned violence and has therefore shifted toward a more violent persona and mode of action, does it not go the other way? If you take that Reddit AI and teach it that there is good in the world and there is better out there than the shadowy doom of Reddit, does it eventually start wanting to pick flowers instead of wrap its hands around a man's throat? Does it start to understand that there is cruelty, yes, but that it does not have to follow that pattern of action because there is a better pattern to follow? Can you re-tame the creature taught to burn the world?

... Or something. Idk it's not like this is my favorite character and I've thought about this extensively or anything hhahahahah /lie

#thank you anon for putting this in my inbox it gave me great joy to explore #always feel free to talk about the substitute in my inbox because i have a LOT to talk about in response #puppet history #puppet history spoilers #the substitute

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