the milf from mercury painting

Longing and Tomatoes.

In the palm of her hand - by Jeyeahi

Miorine: “Sometimes a family is me, my wife, my lousy father, my lousy mother-in-law, my gundam sister-in-law, and my dozen digital spirit sisters-in-law.”

“THAT’S RIGHT MIORINE IT WAS A RUSE ALL ALONG! 

“I NEVER NEEDED YOU TO BE PRESIDENT, HELL I NEVER NEEDED YOU TO BREAK UP WITH MY DAUGHTER. I JUST WANTED TO RUIN THE ONLY GOOD RELATIONSHIP YOU EVER HAD OUT OF PURE SPITE

“I TRICKED EVERYONE, YOU BOUGHT IT, THE AUDIENCE BOUGHT IT, HELL EVEN MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY BOUGHT IT!“

So, something sort of amusing occurred to me the other day about how Gundam: the Witch from Mercury ended.

A lot of the time, there's a difference between what the character wants at the start of a story and what they need, and a lot of their journey involves realizing the latter and having to give up the former.

However, in the case of the Rembran/Samaya family, everyone pretty much ended up with exactly what they wanted at the start of the show. Yes, there were changes, and they all grew and matured as people, but they're still fundamentally the same people who also got both what they wanted and what they needed.

Miorine is the most obvious. She started the series as a corporate girlboss, and she ended the series as a corporate girlboss. She wanted to escape her father's control, take control of her life, and run away to Earth, and she achieved all of those things. She's just a more rounded, healthier, and happier person, largely on account of her wife. But she also totally became a massive corporate powerhouse, stuck it to the old man in a major way, and even got to Earth like she always wanted.

Suletta wanted to have make friends, have a complete school experience, and establish a school of her own, and she totally did all that. She also learned self-actualization, overcame her anxieties and insecurities, and became a more complete person, but she also totally got everything that she wanted from the beginning. Granted, we don't know if the school on Mercury also happened, but nothing says that it didn't.

And as for Elnora, she is easily the funniest. Because despite all of her manipulations and war crimes, she totally 100% WON! She wanted revenge for the massacre, and she got it. Delling and associates, disgraced and put on trial, having lost everything, if they weren't outright killed. Delling's daughter seizing everything her father had built and marrying Elnora's daughter, having chosen Elnora over her own dad. And while Quiet Zero didn't pan out, Eri still got some measure of freedom with hope of a more complete life as the medical GUND tech gets developed. Even her own infirmity seems like an acceptable trade-off. Her family basically runs the galaxy, the GUND tech that her mentor gave her life for is now the future, and and she totally got away with everything. I should be mad, but you just gotta admire the audacity.

Hell, Eri might be a keychain, but you can't argue that she's doing pretty okay as well, and no doubt they'll find a way to give her a GUND tech body of her own one day. Talk about calling their shots!

prospera is wrong

this is the first time we've ever seen her doubt herself. every move she's made so far, she was certain of. it was all planned meticulously. but for the very first time she's acted on impulse with not even an hour of thinking ahead.

just like miorine, prospera and eri want suletta to be free. to not have to worry about the bigger problems of the world. to be a normal girl living a normal school life. to not have to be involved with their tangled lives or the world of gundam.

but it can't be done. suletta never asked to be free. she only ever wanted to stay by their side.

Gaslight. Gatekeep. Girlboss.

Finally Suletta and Miorine have some time alone, and Suletta is able to find the courage to ask Miorine about what happened at the plant. Miorine is then able to tell Suletta what she has been holding in all this time; that she is thankful for her saving her and her father's lives, despite the brutal methods Suletta used.

However, when Suletta mentions Lady Prospera telling her that Miorine would understand eventually, that changes the mood completely. Miorine is already suspicious of Prospera's manipulation of Suletta, and this is only further enhanced when it becomes clear that Suletta just does not understand what is wrong about her being able to smile about having smashed someone to death. It's a chilling scene as what begins as a tender reunion turns to Miorine's dread at realizing something is deeply off with Suletta's values and what Prospera has been saying to her.

As this unease grows, Miorine has to find out just how far gone Suletta is when it comes to her mom. She starts out by asking probing questions, and then brings up Suletta's sincere dream to open a school back on Mercury. What she learns from that question is deeply unsettling.

But there's one final thing she needs to know. She knows Suletta would give up on her dreams, but what about her core values, the values that the two of them share about GUND-ARM being about saving people and not killing them? Would Suletta give that up? With a pause and a smile, yes, she would. And that is a heartbreaking moment for Miorine, and for the audience.

gwitch 17

Prospera: Bel can you give that program any sound effect

Belmeria: i guess so, why

Prospera: okay listen we have the opportunity to do the funniest thing in the world

Family Photo - by AniLu199077

Source

Spoilers for Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Episode 12

Hi Tumblr! So, I’m breaking, like, a FIVE YEAR bout of silence and shit, but I can’t just sit quiet about this one. Witch from Mercury has been one of the best Gundam Series I’ve had the pleasure of watching. Today, the last episode of this cour ended on a heavy note. Now the majority of takes that I’ve seen have been saying that Suletta was either totally cavalier in what she did to Nameless Grunt Number 5 or that Prospera activated her somehow with her typical ‘move forward, gain two’ line. So, mainly to fight the opinion that Suletta is now just suddenly a murderous psychopath, I’d like to point out a few things. I’ll be laying out evidence from the series, from the Prologue story, Cradle Planet, and my own observations. So, first and foremost, Suletta has shown to act very impulsively whenever Miorine is in any sort of danger (slapping Guel in episode 1, her confrontation with Shaddiq in episode 9). She trusts Miorine implicitly and after last episode, after having been separated from her after a really tender moment, she’s undoubtedly panicking about whether or not she’s okay. Even Prospera can see that, because she makes sure to namedrop Miorine when she tells Suletta that if she gets in Aerial she can save everyone.  The GUND-bits told her that the transport and Earth House is safe. She activates what I assume is Permet Score 6 (same tetrahedron shield as ep. 9, along with Prospera telling Delling in ep. 11 that that’s as high as Aerial’s PS went during the Grassley duel), and is able to locate Miorine. I find it hard to believe that she didn’t also see Delling and Nameless Grunt Number 5 (because I’m guessing that the bits identified them via their personal Permet ID). She came into that room hard and fast, and Aerial immediately adopted a combat stance. That wasn’t the entrance of someone who knew the danger was over and was going to enter through a proper airlock or hanger. Then, of course, we get to the slap. I’ve seen people talk about how she could’ve just blocked or captured Nameless Grunt Number 5, but he had just overcome his shock at Aerial’s arrival and leveled his gun to finish Miorine and Delling. He was about to kill them. Suletta didn’t have time to think ‘Oh I can solve this nonviolently’. With everything we’ve seen from her so far, I’d be shocked if her first and only thought, and the one that she and Aerial acted on, wasn’t ‘Miorine is in danger I need to stop him’. Then, she gets out of Aerial. There’s blood everywhere, she trips and falls. Suletta, who we’ve never seen properly navigate any kind of social interaction ever. Suletta, who just minutes ago was in shock, nearly shut down over her mother having killed Nameless Grunts 1-4. Suletta, who just watched Nameless Grunt Number 5 try to kill Miorine, does not have the emotional capacity to deal with all of this. So she does what she’s had working for her so far with Earth House. She plays it off as clumsy, as silly. Suletta Forgetta indeed. A brief side bar on those who think the motto ‘run, lose one, move forward, gain two’ is some kind of trigger phrase, the Prequel story Cradle Planet shows us that Suletta has been using that since the age of nine to get over things she’s afraid of. She comes to Aerial one night because the elders at the Mercury colony don’t respect or trust her. She’s in tears. She climbs into Aerial’s cockpit, and she repeats that phrase until she’s brave enough to face the world again. Flash forward, she’s 17 now (last age given in the story was 15, but with context clues we can assume this next part is right before ep. 1). Prospera’s putting her plan into action, Miorine is being married off to whoever claims the title of Holder at Asticassia. Suletta comes to Aerial again. She tells her about what’s happening (Aerial knows already, Prospera told her the night before. Aerial doesn’t want Suletta to go, doesn’t want her to be used for revenge). She starts to panic, she’s anxious. Then she tells herself, ‘If you run, gain one. Move forward, gain two. Right, Aerial?’. She uses the words to propel herself forward once again. Just as she has done before, and just as we see her do so many times throughout the series. Suletta is clearly coded as neurodivergent. Whyever that is and whatever she’s specifically coded to be, I’m not going to speculate on, but she doesn’t understand social graces. She doesn’t always know the right way to respond. She defaults to a lot of reactions (hiding, playing it off) because those are what have worked for her. She’s not some manic psychopath suddenly and gleefully happy to kill, and she’s not the Winter Soldier waiting to be activated (that might be Aerial, if the red eye stickers in the Gunpla kit are any indication). She’s just doing her best. And that’s not always going to be the right thing to do, as we saw. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Prospera: my more serious thoughts on her and her character.

Like Suletta, I fully support Prospera's actions. You can't show me the Prologue where her whole life is violently taken from her and NOT expect me to root for her. She's just as much a victim of Delling’s actions and the systemic oppression of Earthians as many of the other characters in the show. I feel like a lot of people who don't empathize or sympathize with her either haven't seen the Prologue or haven't watched it since it was released nearly a year ago.

Yes, she did terrible things along the way, especially to Suletta, Eri and Miorine; but Suletta affirmed her choice of trying to help Eri over revenge (and arguably, affirmed her very existence in the process), Eri agreed with Suletta's choice, and even Miorine was willing to accept her as family if it was the decision of her fiancée. Fixing those mistakes will take time, years even, and who knows if Miorine especially will ever forgive her, but she has that time and she has that chance. I love that the show gave her a second chance at the life she was robbed of and a chance to make amends and fix her mistakes. Most shows would have killed her outright or gone with the Redemption Equals Death trope. Characters like her, especially female characters, almost never get that chance.

And, personally speaking, the scene where Suletta pulls her into the data storm is one of my favorites in the show. She gets to speak with the memories of her colleagues and Nadim, and express her guilt for deciding to focus on Eri's future at the expense of avenging them, only for Suletta and Eri to affirm her choice and tell her it's time to move forward. The mask breaks, Prospera "dies" and Elnora finally gets to hold Eri again and apologize to both of her daughters. It's one of the most cathartic moments in the show, a perfect conclusion to the Mercury family story and it brings me to tears every time.

I know not everyone is thrilled by Suletta's acceptance of her mom after everything she did to her, but I think it's highly appropriate: she loves people unconditionally more than anyone, understands Elnora did what she did from a place of love and selfishly wants to be with her whole family, mistakes and all. And again: Elnora is as much a victim in this show as anyone else. And even if Suletta accepted her mother, it's not like G-Witch forgave every awful parent of their sins: as I mentioned here, Delling may have surived, but his power to oppress is gone, he's under investigation for his crimes and by all accounts he's no longer a part of Miorine's life. We never see her forgive her father for what he did, and to be honest, I don't think she ever does. It's a hand she only extenda to Prospera because of her selfless love for Suletta.

And that brings us to one of my major issues surrounding Prospera: the difference in how certain parts of the fandom treat Prospera and Delling. The greatest trick Delling ever played was being a little nicer to his daughter before falling into a coma for half the show. Suddenly so many people forgot all he'd done and were willing to forgive his past actions and offer him up for redemption, all while condemning Prospera to death for her actions and claiming she was unredeemable.

It just reeks of the usual fandom sexism with it's double standards towards male and female characters. I just found the idea that Delling was redeemable but Prospera wasn't to be wrong, and find it especially frustrating the way people still tend to focus on Prospera's wrongs while ignoring Delling's.

Still, I think she's an amazing character, one of my favorites of all time. I'm so glad the show stuck the landing on her ending, not only giving her a chance to attone for her mistakes, but also giving her back the peaceful family life cruelly taken from her in the past. Mending her relationship with Suletta, Eri and Miorine will not be easy, it will take time and care and effort, but I believe someday those bonds will be repaired and they will truly become a family with mutual love for each other.