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libellule-saphique · 10 months

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Miraculous Season 5: Luka & Kagami's Wasted Potential

If this show wasn't already bad enough.........

Like everything else, it disappoints me that the writers of this show are lazy when it comes to additional character development essentially in the love rivals

but who am I kidding? I knew what to expect when Thomas quite literally said Gabriel was redeemable after torturing all of Paris for years simply because he wants his wife back actively neglecting & abusing his son in the process while in the same breath saying Chloe is beyond redemption and she's a teenage girl who's dad couldn't give a rat's ass about her and spoils her crazy to get her off his back 24/7 and her mom who wants nothing to do with her verbally & mentally abuses her with the only real people who like her to the slightest and tolerate her are Sabrina and Armand who's practically her butler. The double comparison and double standard is wild but nonetheless not surprising seeing how the show's narrative is already bias when it comes down to Adrien & Marinette's character treatment. (the misogyny and racism is loud as hell)

Season 4 of Miraculous was already beginning to go downhill and season 5 simply added icing on the cake. To be honest I was partly excited to see the relationship dynamic within the love rival relationships, Lukanette & Adrigami at the start of season 4 because it was different from the repetitive love square and we got to see our two main leads interact with other characters in a romantic light other than themselves only to end before they could really start. It was a slap in the face and a huge cut from some possible major character development and love square progress. But the writers are so afraid of change and cant manage to make a good progressive storyline and felt that Luka & Kagami were too much of a threat to their Love Square that could've heavily improved because of them in the first place. Some episodes could've been focused on friendships between the love rivals and Marinette & Adrien. But ofc we get the same monotonous plotline mid season 3 to the beginning of season 4 Adrien & Kagami spend more time together, Marinette is conflicted and overwhelmed with feelings, Luka is there for emotional support (which felt like his sole purpose in earlier episodes even until now) Kagami is constantly frustrated by Adrien's indecisiveness, passiveness, and hesitance, etc, etc whatever and it continues all until they break up.

Then out of the wood works, we get Adrien realizing he has feelings for Marinette despite her being quote on quote "just a friend" 3-4 seasons straight. Despite. Marinette putting a hold on relationships ever since Lukanette's breakup and the fact that Monarch is still on the prowl and her responsibilities as a hero, because lets be honest if Ladybug/Marinette doesn't tend to Paris & Monarch no one else will, (Chat Noir definitely won't) the writers still say "hey lets tend to and coddle Adrien's feelings bc now he likes her more than "just a friend" and it doesn't matter how Marinette feels, doesn't matter if she's not ready for a relationship even though she's made that clear on multiple occasions after her and Luka's breakup bc at the end of day what we learn is what we already know "Adrien's feelings are more important than Marinette's overall treatment as the female protagonist and discomfort."

And what do you ask happens to the love rivals? Of course! the writers have to find a way to string them away from the complicated love square

Instead we get Luka shipped off with his dad on a world tour and Kagami paired with Felix (which........also doesn't feel right and for what reason did this have to happen?) Felix is the same guy who quite literally SH Ladybug, but ok? the writers feel like it makes sense to pair Kagami with this guy? She seems to like him for the same reasons her and Adrien's relationship took so long to work out in the first place. I don't even know what she saw in him, he's so bland, so passive, and everyone characterizes him as a "perfect cinnamon catboy who's abused and needs emotional support leaning on our main female lead who's not responsible for his baggage at all but hey! Everything is Marinette's responsibility after all right? They decide to give Felix more purpose in the show as Felix's a more assertive, serious, proactive version of Adrien and that's exactly what Kagami's looking for but I honestly think that it's a cop out for the possible unresolved feelings she had/has for Adrien (though he doesn't deserve her anyway) . It's like the show's message when it comes to romance and love is the only way to be genuinely happy is in a relationship which is so beyond fucked up, and its a overall bad message to kids and teens, no one in the show learns to love themselves and learn themselves first, Kagami would be simply fine without any relationship I can say the same for many other characters especially Marinette & Adrien. Why are romantic relationships needed to began with?

Season 5 is a prime example of the garbage dump Miraculous has become over the years and the poor writing decisions the writers have made.

#kagami tsurugi #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #adrien salt #luka couffaine #mlb #miraculous ladybug #miraculous season 5 #love square #adrienette #adrigami #lukanette #chloe bourgeois #gabriel agreste #hawkmoth #tomoe tsurugi

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puppet-purgatory · 1 year

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Very curious. Have any ( if substitute) was redeemed headcanons.

Also love you’re art and blog

HI!!! thank u !!!

There's some things i want to draw w the substitute, but they're very Ambitious bc i believe he (& the professor) Deserve The Good Stuff. the rendering. the effects. da big colors. i tend not to post my headcanons/ideas Without art because if it Does have a picture it's more likely to get attention/will be less annoying. ANYWAY,

I think it will Not be easy for the Substitute Redemption Arc to happen, as much as i'd be into it. Like he's so fucked up in So many ways, it'll take A Lot of work. ESPECIALLY now that the real professor is back. he's going to Know he's obsolete. It makes me kind of sad because he was Angry before and now he's going to be angry And scared. he's literally like a feral cat.

I do not think it would be easy for him to get better, nor would it be without its Downs; he's exactly like the Professor, isn't he? Has all his memories and Looks exactly the same? So why wasn't he good enough? And now the Professor is back again, and better than ever- now he's got parents, he's made up with Ryan, he's even gotten bigger! What's the point of being around at all? At the very start he wasn't good enough for the puppets at the funeral, and they sent him away. I think the regular Professor already has problems with being left alone, but this is a completely new flavor of that.

He's clearly very bitter toward them for their initial reaction to him, so he won't be glad to go back there (he's just going to be forgotten in the excitement of the Professor's return anyway!) if he's somehow destroyed. he's very fucked up about his state and seems to blame it partly on them and God; i find it fascinating he sounds so derogatory when he talks about God when the actual Professor has always said "he's a great guy" and has a literal line directly to him. I think that reveals a lot about his mental state- he's suffering a lot, so it's easy to blame it on others, especially if they're in higher places.

It sort of feels like he's lashing out on purpose, maybe even to Avoid more of that abandonment? Like, you're not the one being Left if you do the leaving. You cut the ties Yourself and it makes you feel more in control. If he tries to come around to the 'good' side he'll be reminded at every turn of what he's Not, and he'll always feel a little ostracized. So why not just go all in? In for a penny, in for a pound. My life will never be whole or happy so neither will yours.

all this to say that we can hope and theorize all we want, but i don't know if it'll have a happy ending. I know the S5 finale end was a generally 'happy' one, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Substitute's is a story of an enemy who tries to go out and take as many people with him as possible, or of someone who tries and tries but meets their end without ever getting 'better'. They might prove us wrong, though! I hope they do.

#wow this. got very long and it may not even be what u wanted. sowwy #anonymous #ask answered #the substitute #hologram professor #the substitute ph #he makes me think of fern from adventure time. a clone split off the hero who tries to make their own life but consistently fails #and after getting Worse for a while comes back around to die protecting Something he loved. even if it didn't love him back.

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chuplayswithfire · 2 years

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hello! i found your blog recently and have really enjoyed reading your meta - specifically re: your recent post about izzy and the comment that - "its to izzy’s credit that i dont think he gathered that this was what was occurring" as someone who has complicated feelings about izzy but ultimately enjoys him as a character (even though i'd hate him if i met him IRL), i spend a lot of time thinking about what i want out of izzy's storyline/character progression in future seasons. i think there's so much we don't know about him and so much that could be done, and i would love to see him have the opportunity to grow and change - and i think the way he got everything he thought he wanted and now everything is a fucking mess because of it has the opportunity to be a catalyst for that. this may be grasping at straws but at least based on that post, it doesn't seem like you think he's beyond the point of change i guess? (using "change" specifically since idk that "redemption" is the right word and i can't think of a better one.) i think in a show about found family and community care, i would love to see izzy have the opportunity to try to become better and maybe try to right the wrongs he's caused as much as is possible. i think the idea that someone who has caused harm has the opportunity to realize that harm and want to become better is an interesting storyline that the writers of ofmd could really do justice to. but i will grant that i'm maybe somewhat biased since i personally think he has potential and i just want him to become a better person, haha. basically, i'm sending this ask bc i appreciate your perspective and the meta you've already written, and i'm curious if you think this is possible for his character? if you do, what do you think that might look like? if not, what would you want to see the writers do with him instead? (anyway, i hope this ask is not a bother and you definitely don't have to take the time to answer it - i'd just be interested in your opinion if you wanted to!)

Firstly, thank you for reaching out! Your ask isn't a bother, though I won't lie I at first was a bit surprised to be receiving the question, but...

My thoughts on Izzy are complex, partly because if Izzy Hands were a real person i would want to run as far away from him as possible, given he's practically the human manifestation of sublimating your worst impulses onto other people, being overly possessive and entitled to another person, and also like, *super* invested in toxic masculinity and homophobia. He reminds me of the no fats no femmes type of guys I met when I worked at the Pride Center for my university.

But Izzy Hands is NOT a real person, he's a character, so I can engage with him in a way that feels more compassionate and kind than I would Izzy Hands if he were a real person. He's make believe, he's a part to play, he's a role within a wider narrative. And in that role and narrative, I do think that it's probable that Izzy will change for the better. I think this because OFMD has a pretty hopeful bent to it, a pretty reparative/restorative justice tinge rather than a punitive tinge to it, but mostly I think so because Ed and Stede are the main characters of this story, and I think it would do a lot for Ed's healing and journey for Izzy to grow enough to apologize and then get out of Ed's life.

I personally do not see a world where Izzy and Ed stay on the same ship and Ed is able to be emotionally safe, secure, happy and in love with Stede, just because all of those are kinda against Izzy's own interests, and as much as I do have some compassion for Izzy, OFMD asked me to love a LOT of white men lmao and Stede is the problematic white man who takes up all my bandwidth. I have nothing left for Izzy but an exasperation at how determined this man is to wreck Ed because he's too scared of change to give it a try.

tldr: I do think the show will write Izzy in a direction of positive change, because this would be beneficial to the narrative and especially to Ed's healing.

#asked and answered #izzy hands #ofmd

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dekusleftsock · 2 years

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https://www.tumblr.com/dekusleftsock/695140063574687744/httpswwwtumblrcomdekusleftsock69513673960551?source=share You don't have to apologize, I completely agree. I merely like to analyze said characters to see how they are reacting, since they don't always say so out loud. Also, when it comes to Rose Quartz I think I was in the minority who liked her better than Steven, flaws or not. I tried to like him, but as an extremely curious person his inability to ask questions frustrated me. Steven Universe in general had a good outline and message, but fell flat when it came to executing them. Ironically, despite never marketing itself as particularly pacifistic, mha has done better than a lot of shows at demonstrating forgiveness. Whereas the Steven Universe fandom weirdly grew more aggressive with time, the mha fandom has oddly gotten more open minded due to this series. People who once hated Endeavor and Bakugo began to like them and considered the actual message being sent: That bad people are still people. I think that's because mha engages it's audience. A lot of stories tell the narrative without trying to interact with the audience a bunch. You already mentioned it with explaining how to sneakily tell a queer story, but Horikoshi also engages the audience with Bakugo and Endeavor's opinion. The story starts off very disparaging of them, and gradually unearths their reasons and kinder side without forgetting what they've done. Due to that, most people in the mha audience relaxed their opinions and became more open minded than they were before. I think that's what mha did right that shows like Steven universe did wrong. Mha uses the audience's expectations against them, and then frames things in a way that holds the person accountable while also making them sympathetic.

(Sorry this took so long, I started this draft and then forgot about it sidndindudkd)

OMG IM SO GLAD YOU BROUGHT UP HOW MHA INTERACTS WITH THE AUDIENCE!

I’ll get to my whole thing with that in a sec tho, Steven universe time lol.

I think the main reason why Steven universe falls flat is because of how it really only knows one way to humanize a character: redemption arcs

What do I mean by this? Mha uses a plethora of architypes; from atonement with endeavor, to redemption with Katsuki. Steven universe though? It only knows how to use one: redemption arcs. And not even well! Tbh with you, Steven universe feels like it was written by a writer without much experience, or at the very least a writer who was never taught how to write by a professor. Which honestly makes sense with Rebecca sugar, since before this they only worked on music and character design in other shows (like adventure time) and they never actually WROTE anything. Unlike horikoshi, Dana Terrance, etc.

The ONLY character I think they actually wrote well was rose, and that’s partly to do with how she was the only character in the show who had an atonement arc.

And when they couldn’t make a “problematic character” a full redemption arc, they just… killed him and then revived him. Lars was abusive let’s be honest here. A total asshole (love him, but he was and I can admit that) and he was only given a redemption of any kind when he LITERALLY DIED! And with the other three diamonds it was so rushed bc they canceled the series (since a lot of countries banned the show due to ruby and sapphires wedding) and they TRIED to humanize them in the most.. spoon fed way possible and ughhhhhhhh. It’s just overall really bad. Peridot is the only good redemption arc in that show. Love her <3

ANYWAY, I think the reason mha ends up humanizing it’s characters so well is BECAUSE of how it interacts with the audience. Often times playing tongue and cheek with a few things. The “lip service” can, all mights secret love child, “sometimes I forget you guys are kids”, all of it. It’s all done to call out the audience in the most hilarious way to show a more pacifistic message. The most memorable scene in this series to me is when Katsuki is literally shouting his frustrations and feelings at the viewer; and I literally remember thinking, “wait… what?!” BECAUSE THIS IS NOT A NORMAL SHONEN THING! This is so out of character for a shonen anime! When you go into a shonen, you have a certain expectation of what is about to happen. The female love interest is not given a personality aside from a few side comments, the rival/bully is the “bad guy” to some extent, there is some form of love interest competition, and it’s absolutely not about forgiveness.

And the reason for why I personally love this scene so much is because in only a few short lines it manages to take a character from a show, and put them into the perspective of an actual person. When we interact with people and how they’ve hurt us, we tend to only see one perspective. That perspective being that this person is bad because they did bad things to me. It’s hard to put ourselves in the shoes of other people, and it’s just in general EASIER to dehumanize a bad person. (Endeavor, Katsuki, Rose Quartz, the list goes on) But it IS easier to like a villain (like shigaraki) when you frame the bad things they’ve done as something that you couldn’t directly experience. Not many people run into others with murderous rage and experience some sort of trauma from it. Most people were bullied or had abusive dads. Not only that but you also end up giving these characters with murderous rage very relatable problems; so it’s easier to separate them from their bad actions to solely focus on them being a victim in one way or another.

AND YOU KNOW THE BEST PART ABOUT THIS SCENE? ITS LITERALLY TELLING YOU, THE AUDIENCE, IN THE MOST PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE WAY POSSIBLE, THAT HE IS A TEENAGE BOY! He is HUMAN, he has FEELINGS. There are actual reasons for why he does the things he does! And my fucking GOD I could talk about for hours on why I think the internet cringifying fandom, and making the whole “why are curtains blue” meme, and Disney movies (derogatory) just ruined an entire generations ability to analyze storytelling at even a BASIC level.

People were SO SHOCKED and AMAZED when encanto came out because it didn’t have an actual villain in the story and that just makes me so MAD! Because there’s so many stories like this! So many where the villain isn’t actually a villain! But because it’s DISNEY and everyone always talks about Disney! People were absolutely baffled by it. So many people online had to explain a VERY BASIC analysis of the movie because people don’t understand how to analyze stories. Disney didn’t know how to make a realistic antagonist. No, instead they made characters like GASTON, and URASALA, and god, so many more. I wish people grew up in studio ghibli movies if they were gonna grow up on disney movies at all bc it at the very least teaches a different perspective on what makes a villain.

Mha is great though because, like you said, it started them from the ground up and then humanized them through very specific scenes. Endeavors was done gradually through a multitude of perspectives, while Katsuki’s was done through self reflection and action.

I’ve seen people make the argument when people compare endeavor to Katsuki that they are “completely different and have different motivations!!! Katsuki values his own abilities to be the best and get to number one on his own, while endeavor trained a kid to be the best from a young age that would surpass him!” Obviously they aren’t the same character. BUT, there’s an argument to be made that endeavor and all might are parallels of Izuku and Katsuki. And that’s just, a fact. All might even talks about how Katsuki is similar to endeavor.

That’s why Katsuki is actually inspired by endeavors ways of atonement. He learned how to atone through his actions with Izuku and then even apologized to him.

This is all to say that mha radicalized a fandom lol. I’ve seen people literally make the same anti cop arguments but for heroes; it’s great! It’s got a lot of wisdom in it.

#leftsock rambles

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guideaus · 2 years

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ok, i finished vol 10 of trigun

not to be like “I'm upset bc my favorite character died”, but i don't really get why wolfwood had to die, narratively. idk if there was some point im missing, which i’d like to think considering the rest of that plant stuff, but here this little arc that brought his death honestly felt the closest to a “filler arc” that's used in anime. it was very out of nowhere, it was kind of a weird explanation for the whole assassin group thing, i can't even remember what it was called, michael’s eye or something, lol, and it honestly felt like a longer version of his anime death.

i think the manga really likes having all these long fights back to back, with maybe a chapter in between for a break, and wolfwood’s fight feels like it qualified for a filler version except with vash coming in at the end to bring it back to the knives-is-trying-to-kill-everyone plot. I’m not sure what development wolfwood got, or what his death served. It honestly feels like a narrative choice to replace him with this livio guy.

I can't really say i like livio as a character either, not because he killed wolfwood, but the whole fantasy version of DID, having a secret evil side was weird, its also weird and convenient to just have him as an ally now that vash’s only other one was removed. he showed up as a deadlier, more obedient version of wolfwood, only to easily stop being Bad after his master magically, conveniently revives in the middle of their fight to show he doesn't care if he hit livio or wolfwood, then livio casually passes out, to get his Guilty arc later presumably.

a part in that two volume fight had wolfwood be lamenting and wondering if he's going to lose because he came to fight alone, and then vash showed up, but then he still ends up dying, it wasn't some “power of friendship” moment lol (which is usually corny, but that entire arc had a lot of silly shounen stuff going on at the same time, so i think itd fit right in lol). then after they've won, spurred by lazlo realizing their master didn't care for him and livio takes back over (which also felt goofy) so they win since there's no real big enemy fighting anymore, but then wolfwood just gives up? there's no he used too much of his drugs reason, or he finally succumbs to realistic wounds, not a single other thing in the manga attempts to help him lol?? it just felt real weird. like it didn't need to happen, but did... similarily like the anime, but not as quick. anime wolfwood was all “i don't wanna die...” while the narrative forced him to, then wolfwood here was like “ok, the orphans are safe now, time to die.” like... i think the manga literally had some part abt death not being redemption or something lol and surely him staying devoted to vash’s cause would be better than calling it a day.

it didn't feel as offensive as the anime, partly because it takes much longer, two+ entire volumes, but here im stil like... why did he die, lol... just for this livio guy to possibly replace him..? vash didn't attempt to heal him, nor the orphanage family who had already shown they didn't care about his identity, nor the giant ship that arrived. the only reason vash and livio didn't go with the other humans is to wait for him to die and bury wolfwood it seems... its like the author wanted him to have some dramatic, “cool” death, but also it wasn't even out of a sacrifice or narratively meaningful... unless im missing something i guess lmao, but i don't think so!

#personal #edit: hi hello. posting a month old draft and will continue w my other posts. anyways hopefully it still works idk??#trigun lb #idk like at points i do think trigun is interesting and could be deeper than shounen but then that whole part felt v... shouneny lol #not just bc my Fave died but like idk all of it felt real :/#idk i couldve got some lore flashback arc there instead. tell me abt plants #and nacho just died in bcs. i CAN handle a character death. but his either way feels...#like either the anime version is the speedrun version or u have the manga where u get this rando to replace him

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soupette · 3 years

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C!Dream being treated kindly feels wrong to me. The idea of C!Dream getting a redemption arc feels wrong to me.

It feels wrong to me, and I think some other people feel similarly, and I think I can kinda put into words why?

I think the thing that’s the biggest factor in why possible redemption/sympathy for C!Dream feels Wrong to some people rn has to do with Exile.

To me, I can’t really sympathize with C!Dream, even with his abuse and the prison situation rn, because I still resent him for Exile.

And with every situation as it is rn, I feel like he’s gotten away with it.

Because I think there’s a question that’s important: Who knows the extent of what happened?

•Tommy obviously, as it was done to him

•Dream, because he did the abuse

•Arguably Wilbur, because he has Ghostbur’s memories(?) and Ghostbur witnessed much of Exile, not the entire time as he was sent away but enough to witness abuse

•Possibly Sam, because I believe he mentioned Dream telling him what he did to Tommy to the Eggpire, and seemed disturbed and protective over Tommy, but we don’t technically know what he was told

•Ranboo, along with Techno and maybe Tubbo? know more than most, or have seen some about how it’s affected him. (Ranboo wrote letters with Tommy and saw Tommy’s concerning words, Techno worked with Tommy after his exile and witnessed his behavior and fear of Dream, along with Dream threatening to burn his disc if he didn’t come with him.

Other a few, people don’t really know what happened. Not really anyone other than Tommy himself knows exactly how fucked up it was. Nobody else, besides the victim and abuser, knows the extent of what happened. (Ghostbur didn’t witness everything so neither did Wilbur; Sam, through Dream’s words and getting his knowledge, still wouldn’t know how Tommy felt or acted in personal moments Dream wasn’t there to witness)

Okay. Another important question, worded twice bc I talk too much: What are the consequences of those people knowing? What’s happened because of it?

Well, in terms of people holding Dream accountable specifically for Exile?

Nothing, really. Dream’s essentially gotten away with it.

His actions did lead him to prison, which is definitely a punishment and accountability for his manipulation and crimes throughout the course of the server and all that jazz, but that wasn’t for Exile; that was really rather for the whole Finale situation and everything else. I don’t think that’s Exile accountability because it wasn’t intended to be so. Sam knows about exile because Dream told him, but I don’t think he knew then. He only learned after Dream was in the cell. It didn’t play a factor in locking him away.

Sam defended Tommy from the Eggpire, showing an understanding that he’d been through a lot, and he treated Tommy with kindness during the Hotel era. This can be seen, at least partly because Sam has had a positive relationship with Tommy before, in response to Sam knowing about Exile from Dream. But this reaction only affects Tommy rather than involving or directly referencing Dream.

And what happened with Sam later on? Well, because of his role as the Warden and his attachment to the rules, he ended up locking Tommy in the prison with Dream. So from a character who arguably Knows about the abuse, that’s not an action that holds Dream accountable, and as of now it looks like that’s not really going to happen.

Techno, a character who has Seen A Bit (“come with me or I’ll burn you disc” in front of his eyes, saw Tommy’s behavior after exile, hid Tommy from Dream, who was looking for him) doesn’t Know Enough to have a full understanding and Doesn’t Know what actually happened and ended up teaming up with Dream. He didn’t seem to care when told Tommy was beaten to death by Dream.

Wilbur technically held Dream accountable, in a way, for a moment, though not to his face—he told Tommy that he would have killed Dream for how he treated him. That was a moment where a character other than Tommy said, essentially, That Was Fucked Up. But he then changes his mind and tells Tommy he agrees.*

*I feel like I explicitly remember Wilbur saying he agreed with Exile in a certain point at a stream but I rewatched a bit and didn’t see it when I was expecting to. I still need to rewatch it all but I may be wrong on this wording?? Nonetheless he expresses Dream is right and that he’s in prison because he dared to be a challenge.

So from the non-Tommy people that know Dream hasn’t recieved backlash for Exile, to his face or about him or otherwise.

In general, this is understandable because Tommy has barely processed the extent of the trauma and abuse himself (I don’t think he’s even used the word abuse yet? I think he’s called it manipulation and has used trauma) and not many people know. And as I went through before, the people who do know don’t Know Everything or they still haven’t really done anything to acknowledge Dream as the abuser.

But recently, with the prison plotline and the torture plotline where Dream is suffering, and where he might possibly be broken out and given a healing arc or even redemption, that’s pretty uncomfortable to me.

That creates sympathy for him and puts him in a vilnerable siruation.

That’s fine and natural to sympathize with someone in a situation like him; I kind of feel guilty I don’t. It’s fine for characters to sympathize and it’s fine for viewers, etc.

But it’s uncomfortable, to me, because it’s not Dream in his entirety that’s being treated nicely. It’s a version of Dream who hasn’t done all he did in exile because people don’t know what he did. Their perception of him is without that act of cruelty and in my opinion, torture. The audience knows; characters don’t.

Fine, if the characters learn what happened, they can still break him out, they can still help him recover mentally, if that’s what they want to do. But if they don’t have that knowledge, to the audience watching and knowing what they don’t, it brings about a sense of injustice.

It’s like the fandom is at the risk of moving on from Exile because in the story, it’s really brought up by nothing but Tommy’s trauma responses?

I lied. As I get further I’m getting more aware I’m actually terrible at this putting this all into words. While knowing abuse is abuse and both Dream and Tommy should have help for their trauma:

It just feels cruel for an abuser not to be properly known as an abuser and receive sympathy or empathy from characters who’ve treated the abuse victim without sympathy or empathy, even if they didn’t know.

I worded so much of this badly lmaooo my bad

TLDR: I think it’s off-putting to see Dream being given sympathy as an abuse victim when we haven’t seen him really acknowledged as an abuser.

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autisticcassandracain · 3 years

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black manta, since you've been reading thru his appearances and i hvan'et seen much outside movie/tv

Oh!! Him!!! Yeah something you should know is that Black Manta doesn't have consistent characterization. Like he just doesn't. There's not a single consistent thing about him except that he's an Aquaman rogue. His backstory and personality constantly change. As such, I can't really say that there's a singular way to write him 'in character', so these are mostly opinions on how I'd, personally, write him/like to see him be written. Under the cut because I really couldn't shut up on point 3 specifically, so summary:

Autism

Vengeance(TM) but like, Human

His N52 Backstory is Simply Superior

He's a Manipulative Shithead and Brilliant Tactician

He Cares for Jackson

1. Autism

To my knowledge he's still DC's only prominent autistic character! And until they get off their ass and pick another one to hit with their autism beam, they better not forget the one piece of rep they have. No I don't give a shit that it was written in a terribly ableist way, there's a new continuity, fix it!!! Give the man autism or face my wrath!!!

2. Vengeance(TM) but like, Human

I won't lie, I do very much enjoy shithead "How's the wife and kids, Arthur?" completely irredeemably evil Black Manta a little, but he's just infinitely more interesting when he's actually, you know. Human. I think the N52 and onwards has done that better than ever before (even if, again, character and backstory still fluctuate a lot). I really like Higgins' take on him in Aquaman (vol. 8); I usually don't like 'cycle of vengeance' type stories (bc I think the concept's dumb), but in this case, I think it really works, because they go out of their way to show the ways in which Manta's character has broken down due to vengeance, to the point that he has completely lost sight of why he's even taking it, but also show a nuanced portrayal of how he got there. While obviously I'd also very much love a redemption arc for him (and honestly I'm not ruling it out with the way his solo has been setting his character up so far, though I'm not assuming they're gonna go there), I still think it's entirely possible to write him as a vengeance-driven villain while still being a human and sympathetic character. By extension,

3. His N52 Backstory is Simply Superior

It just is! It's not often that the N52, let alone anything Geoff Johns wrote in the N52, does something actively better than the preboot version, but like, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Death of a Prince is an iconic storyline and for good reason, but it was also written in the early 70's by people who were just beginning to experiment with darker storylines, and it really shows. The actual way Arthur Junior (who didn't even have a name other than Aquababy of all things for the majority of this storyline) died was kinda laughable, Manta had basically no motives other than 'is evil', and Arthur's quest for vengeance got routinely interrupted by a Villain of the Week. And while the influence of the arc has been undoubtedly enormous, I don't think it's all for the best. Mera has gotten repeatedly demonized because of this arc's influence (even though in the actual story she and Arthur made up), for example. Arthur's personal grudge and drive for vengeance against Manta as a result of the arc wasn't uncompelling, necessarily, but it was always doomed to go nowhere, since it's not like they could actually let him kill Manta (partly for hero morals, partly because he'd just come back), and it made writers heavily limited in how sympathetic they could make Manta himself.

By contrast, the backstory he was given in the N52, of watching Arthur kill his father in a misdirected fit of rage, works much better for Manta. I still don't feel like I've read enough of Arthur to fully grasp his character (though by now I've fully read Aquaman volume 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8, all of 7 except Bunn's run, and half of volume 5), but since Arthur has been predominantly portrayed as a very angry person, I think it's not really out of character, provided that it's a) before his career as Aquaman and b) something he immediately shapes up and learns from (which is where I think Geoff Johns really dropped the ball).

And it's just SO MUCH MORE COMPELLING for Black Manta. It gives him an actual concrete motive to go after Aquaman (rather then the weird wishy-washy stuff they tried before), and an inherently sympathetic one at that. And the fact that Manta's quest for vengeance is doomed to go nowhere actually adds to his character's story, since it's the nature of villains to fruitlessly struggle against the heroes, and it provides a very solid foundation for an actually good 'cycle of vengeance' story.

While I have mixed feelings on Abnett's writing of Manta in vol. 8 (since it really felt like it was trying hard to move him away from the motive/character vol. 7 had developed him into, which I think was shortsighted), I REALLY love one of the first scenes with him, where he and Aquaman face off and it becomes clear that neither can kill the other and forever put an end to their useless feud, but that only Aquaman is ultimately at peace because he has moved on from the earlier, more hateful version of himself, whereas Black Manta has clung to it. It's just!!! SO much more compelling than anything regarding Death of a Prince in preboot has ever been.

4. He's a Manipulative Shithead and Brilliant Tactician

Sure, Manta can hold his own pretty well in a fight, but what actually makes him dangerous are his plans. Manta is an very smart and cunning villain who, when some thought is actually put into his writing, pretty much always has a plan. He's also extremely charismatic man with a talent for manipulation, and he frequently uses this to his advantage to win followers. While I don't like the 'fake SJW' angle for him (it should really be obvious why I think the idea of a Black man specifically using ideals of racial and social justice to manipulate other Black people into supervillainy Has Some Problems), it reinforces what I'm talking about here: that Manta is a charismatic manipulator and brilliant tactician.

5. He Cares for Jackson

I DO NOT CARE this one is ENTIRELY subjective. I simply like it better when he's shown to have like, any affection for Jackson at all. I don't necessarily mind when it's overshadowed by his need for vengeance or something, but like, the way Manta's relationship was written in the Teen Titans series as a flat antagonistic one on Manta's end was really really boring. And also I just like it when he cares about his kid. Like don't get me wrong dude's not winning any Father of the Year awards any time soon regardless of how much he cares about Jackson, it just makes me soft whenever he shows affection for him. Manta's solo having the narration being a dying letter to Jackson >>> 'I don't care about you and I'm only using you to my advantage'

#my posts #long post #black manta #infodumping

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gritsandbrits · 2 years

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Sr. Damian Fuega, has hellish underworld power and something of a power broker/merc. He married Mára's sister and turned her already broken family against her. Like Bruno he also had to deal with rumors about his powers and rejection. So he turned to violent means as an outlet. Damian just kept on going even after presented an opportunity of redemption by caring for his wife and her family. He did nothing but stir up strife, splitting the Aiza Clan for good and driving Mara's sis into alcohol-fueled self destruction. Decades later his wife is long dead and the money all dried up. Sr. Damien finds out Mára is still alive and has her own money and comes after her. Which is how she ended up in the Madrigals village - partly bc of her reassignment but also to escape him.

Possible designs: Dilf, time and alcohol clearly aged him but he still thinks himself as attractive. Another is a goofy almost Looney Tune esque bandit, his hat shaped lile devil-horns! An alternate is his hair wispy almost like flames. His surname is from Fuega, a character cut from the film. I think I might go with the dilf designs to show that he is still human - which makes his evil all the more realistic.

#encanto #encanto oc #villain oc #fan villain #disney villains #oc: damian #damian fuega #sketch #character concept #visual development #wip wednesday

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chikagestits · 3 years

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ik you asked not to rb but your post is 100% correct, I can understand why ppl wouldn’t be comfy w him because of his actions but it’s kind of annoying how the fandom in general overlooks his arc and WHY he did what he did or just makes jokes abt the women thing 😐 you could blame it on l*ber maybe glossing over the redemption part of his story but he’s way more complex than how the fandom makes him look

This a jp spoiler free answer btw

Yeah, I completely understand if people get legitimately triggered with things he did, but that also doesn’t give them the excuse to make fun of his own trauma with women because now that’s just double standards as well. But shrugs, whatever I guess

I was talking with someone else, and they will remain anonymous just in case, but we both agreed that most of the fandom just sees his character as his crimes and doesn’t look much past that. They don’t see how he’s a legitimately good person (and news flash, good people can still do bad things even irl) because of this One Instance because yes, it’s partly liber’s fault for not handling his story very well.

And here’s the thing that gets me so fired up about people asking for his redemption arc, even with people who know the jp stories. He doesn’t NEED redemption because redemption and forgiveness are two different things. Or rather, if you reread Awakening Moon, you will realize that he did indeed get redemption, it’s just not your typical “Zuko redemption arc” because that’s what I feel like most people understand what redemption is. What the fandom wants is for him to suffer worst for a longer period of time, and/or just straight up not be forgiven at all. They want Chikage (without understanding his actions and journey) to be separated from Mankai bc he’s a criminal (and again, I’m gonna point at the other criminals of Mankai, Omi, Sakyo, Hisoka, etc etc etc)

If the fandom can like Hisoka and Omi and Sakyo (despite their crimes both old and new) without repercussions, why do they continue to give only Chikage a hard time? Because his crime is the only one on screen? So what, now it’s out of sight out of mind?

Anyway, Chikage doesn’t need redemption and he definitely doesn’t need their forgiveness if they don’t want to forgive him.

What he needs is closure.

Closure with his grief and mourning.

Forgiveness for himself.

This man is holding so much grief and anguish and suffering that he already separates himself from Mankai as much as possible and it’s been FOUR FUCKING YEARS AND COUNTING. He’s not open, he lies, he hides himself because he’s not them. He can’t be them. Like congrats, fandom, he does indeed suffer longer because he neglects himself and is lonely as fuck, and it’s sad. Chikage watches his family grow closer together, but he never gives himself that opportunity because he doesn’t feel like he deserves it. He promises to protect them because he’s Other. He’s willing to be the Bad Guy for them and that, unfortunately and very unhealthily, shows how much he fucking cares about them.

And yes, I will reiterate that the fandom praises found family until it comes to Chikage because they don’t think he deserves it. He also thinks he doesn’t deserve it either. The thing with found family is that they all come from different backgrounds and walks of life, but they can all reconvene and feel accepted at the one place they feel at home. The fandom doesn’t think he deserves a home and that’s just what it comes down to. They also think he’s Other. But they don’t consider Hisoka Other too even though he has the same background.

So yeah, maybe I’m a bit salty every time someone makes a jab at him. But I’m also not trying to say “you’re wrong, I’m right” because all of this is just me finally getting it out after 6+ months of keeping it in and seeing Chikage be reduced to nothing but a criminal by the fandom. I’m just sick of people purposely plugging their ears and not trying to understand how complex he actually is and how he absolutely is trying to be a better person every day.

tldr; Fandom treats Chikage like shit bc they don’t bother to understand his chara and just boil him down to The Criminal of Mankai even though Omi, Sakyo, Hisoka etc are Right There. Plus, Chikage doesn’t need redemption, he needs closure.

#peten answers #sorry this is long af

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fisshontoast · 4 years

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Ok people it's time for my darke sep au part 1

-seps first day after being born is exactly the same so zeldas moon pool thing still works

-they figure out merrin isn't sep really really fast and they swap

-sep is raised in the observatory

-when he's like 3 or 4 or 5 he becomes domdaniels apprentice

-domdaniel knows marcias plan to get jenna to safety on her 10th birthday (that's why he sent the assassin)

-he plants sep outside the wizard tower

-there's a glamour spell or something that makes his eyes look grey

-everything goes roughly the same from there except when they're doing the invis spell he takes his time like everyone else

-marcia still feels magyk from him but it's darke and she's worried

-she asks him to be her apprentice partly bc he's a good wizard and partly bc she's afraid of what might happen if he gets more darke

-when she does the transport to the castle, sep follows her and helps take her down

-he obviously doesn't give her the dragon ring

-he ends up deciding to help jenna and nicko save her anyway bc it's jenna he wants, not her

-he wants to be the one to take her out and he wants to do it safely so that's why he didn't do it sooner (idk abt this im still thinking it through)

-when they save marcia the first thing she does is start accusing sep of being darke

-sep convinces them that she's hysterical

-he makes her forget with the same spell they use on the hunter

-domdaniels ship does still sink but sep goes back in secret at some point to do exactly what Simon did

-he does agree to become marcias apprentice and the rest of magyk stays more or less the same except for some reason I want simon to see sep do darke magyk?? Or possibly he saw sep help take down marcia idk

-Simon is good but he still hates sep he just has a legit reason this time

-the beginnings of flyte!!!

-he doesn't get bitten by the spider bc it recognises him as a fellow Darke creature

-the spiders keep coming back bc of him but marcia assumes it's the shadow

-the shadow is always stronger when sep is around and marcia did notice pre-flyte but sep did a spell so now whenever she gets close to figuring it out again she gets a migraine or something

-she assumes its the shadow

-sometimes the wizard tower floor sends him passive-aggressive messages when no one's looking

-he sneaks out a lot to send messages back to domdaniel abt whats happening

-Simon doesn't kidnap jenna, sep does, but he does some sort of spell to make him look and sound like simon

-actually this is where some sort of redemption could happen?? Like maybe sep gets orders to kidnap jenna and decides that no, actually, his life here is pretty good and marcias a better teacher than domdaniel anyway, and he likes the heaps

-but anyway that doesn't happen so

-jenna doesn't escape with the chocolate charm bc sep never gave it to her

-also bc marcia hasn't been leaving charms around for him bc her subconscious is telling her not to trust him and she's not going to kick him out but she doesn't trust him nearly as much

-jenna escapes bc Simon and beetle came to rescue her

-oh yeah, beetle and jenna are friends but beetle and sep aren't. Beetle could feel something off abt him but didn't know what so he just didn't try and befriend him. Sep didn't try either

-jenna got hurt when she was at the observatory. Idk what kind of hurt, maybe like. Some sort of head wound. Maybe concussion

-jenna is super confused bc didn't Simon just kidnap her?

-Simon explains that it was someone who was pretending to be him

-under his breath: I bet it was septimus

-domdaniel and sep actually attack the castle when jenna was imprisoned

If you want more you have to say something in the tags bc I need validation

#septimus heap #marcia overstrand #jenna heap #simon heap #darke septimus au #nicko heap

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firelxdykatara · 5 years

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If Zutara were to be canon,thanks to Aaron Ehasz,how will this affect Legend Of Korra?

This is a difficult question to answer, mostly because it would of necessity rely on a whole lot of assumptions and biases, and without asking Aaron himself (in private, where he wouldn’t have to worry about kicking off another fandom war), it’s impossible to answer with any degree of certainty.

Now, I can talk about how I, personally, think things would have been different if Zutara had been canon–which, for me, means that the epilogue of book 3 was just the tea shop scene, and we got a book 4 where, as Aaron briefly mentioned on twitter and in various interviews, the consequences of energy-bending were explored, the lost Air Nomads were found, Azula had her redemption arc (which would probably have tied into the search for Ursa, which I would’ve loved to see Aaron’s take on in book 4, especially considering the crap the comics handed to us), and Zuko and Katara grew closer and entered into a relationship by the end of the season.

(Before I start exploring this in more depth, I want to head off ‘delusional Zutarian’ arguments at the pass–I’m not saying it’s 100% confirmed that Aaron was planning to make ZK canon in book 4. I am saying (as I’ve said before) that, given the set up and development in canon, and the way Aaron himself has talked about how he develops characters and relationships, I believe he (and other writers/artists/crew members) was leaning heavily towards that particular relationship and would have explored it further in book 4 had he been allowed to.)

Putting the rest under a read more cause this got long.

We know some of what Aaron had plans for–Azula’s redemption, the consequences of energybending, the lost Air Nomads–but nothing super concrete. Going from that, then, I believe that in Book 4, the Gaang would have split up for a good chunk of it. (Please note that most of the rest of this is pure speculation.) There’s a lot of ground Book 4 would’ve had to cover–the Gaang in the beginning would’ve split off to head to their respective homes (Sokka and Katara to the SWT, Suki to Kyoshi Island, Toph… ok, Toph probably just stuck around Caldera and this would’ve been a great time to have the Toph&Zuko life-changing-field-trip episode we were denied in canon) to touch base with the families and friends they’d left behind to go on their save-the-world tour.

For his part, Aang would’ve returned to Guru Pathik. While he got a last-second Hail Mary (in the form of a conveniently placed rock, which still boggles my mind, but whatever) when fighting Ozai, he still was not a fully realized Avatar, and since I’m bitter that the Guru Pathik/chakras plot was almost entirely dropped after the book 2 finale, I’m saying he’d have gone back to finally finish that training because it makes sense and because I can. Anyway, he returns to the Guru, and by this point he has accepted that Katara doesn’t return his feelings the way he’d like her to (a call back to The Fortuneteller, which should have been foreshadowing for Aang’s emotional growth, barring the last twenty seconds of the episode).

Furthermore, he’s learned that ‘letting her go’ doesn’t mean he can’t care about her or want her in his life to be the Avatar (after all, previous Avatars have had love and even been married–Kuruk isn’t that great of an example, given that his love life got him killed, but Kyoshi lived over two centuries and had multiple loves over her incredibly long life, and Roku was married and had descendants of his own), it just means letting go of his expectations–letting go of the selfish aspects of his love, the parts that lead him to nod in agreement when actors on a play told fake!Katara ‘I thought you were the Avatar’s girl’, and that lead him to expect her to return his feelings and push against her boundaries when she told him she wasn’t sure and was confused. (He said “We kissed at the invasion and I thought we were gonna be together, but we’re not.” even though a) he kissed her without any warning, she did not kiss him, and she looked away and frowned afterwards, and b) she never once brought up the kiss again or hinted that her feelings towards him had changed and become romantic, so he had no reason to believe they’d ‘be together’.)

Ok that was a bit of a tangent, but the upshot is, Guru Pathik helps Aang fully master the Avatar State. While on that particular journey, Aang has to deal with the consequences of energybending–he pulled Ozai’s energy into himself, and he has to deal with the sudden darkness that was absorbed into his spirit. He also receives some sort of hint, possibly from a dream or meeting with a spirit, that with balance returning to the world, the Air Nomads can start to return, too.

Sokka, Suki, and Toph wind up going with Aang on his journey to figure out just what the spirits meant by that. They discover that the Air Nomads weren’t totally eradicated by Sozin (which would’ve been impossible, since we already know that inter-nation relationships happened in the past [Avatar Kyoshi’s mother was an airbender], and they were, well… nomads), but those who survived (because they weren’t at the temples at the time, or some who hadn’t attained mastery managed to escape) assimilated into the Earth Kingdom and even some in the Fire Nation. Because the world was incredibly out of balance following the decimation of the Air Nomad population, and because many of them were suddenly in a situation where showing they were airbenders was a death sentence, their spirit as a population was almost completely broken, and they stopped being able to airbend. In the present, Aang finds descendants of Air Nomad survivors, including Ty Lee (and, in my HC, Jet, who shows up alive bc I want him to get the healing arc he didn’t get in canon) who are beginning to discover they can airbend.

Meanwhile, Zuko asked Katara to accompany him on his journey to find his mother–it’s a callback to TSR, when he helped her gain closure for her mother’s murder, and since he wants to bring Azula too, he asked for Katara’s help sister-wrangling. They eventually find Ursa (who did not willingly forget her children, and who did not send a letter to her former lover to make Ozai question Zuko’s paternity, because in the show she was not a horrible person and she loved her children more than anything tyvm), as well as Kiyi (the only good thing to come out of that comic), and Azula finally gets the sort of closure she could never have before, and there is a heavy focus on her emotional journey. Zuko is there to support her, and Katara is there to support Zuko. In the process, Katara winds up with an odd sort of mildly antagonistic friendship with Azula, who gets to a point where she can good-naturedly tease Katara about her growing feelings for Zuko.

ANYWAY. I realize you were asking primarily how it would affect LoK, and I went on a whole ass book 4 tangent. So here’s how I see it changing the landscape in LoK.

First of all, Katara is granted the importance she is due. She has a statue in most major cities, including both Caldera and Republic City. Katara married Zuko and became one of the most beloved Fire Ladies in Fire Nation history, partly because she didn’t assimilate and give up her own home and culture, and she never hesitated to speak her mind during council meetings. It put off much of the nobility, especially in the first few years of their marriage, but Zuko had survived many an assassination attempt by then, and he valued his wife’s input above his closest advisors and never made a secret of it. The nobles could either accept it or risk losing their titles, which several of them did because they figured the Fire Lord was bluffing, only to find out he wasn’t in the slightest.

Katara was also active in the White Lotus, which she wound up leading along with Sokka and Zuko (who’d passed the mantle of Fire Lord onto their eldest daughter, Izumi, once they felt she was ready to lead), and when Aang passed away, they immediately began the search for the next Avatar.

Most of Korra’s early life would’ve been the same, Katara and Sokka saved her from the Red Lotus’ kidnapping attempt, and she wound up raised at the White Lotus compound where she learned waterbending, firebending, and earthbending, and was on the cusp of learning airbending from Tenzin (who was Aang’s kid with someone else–given his design, his mother could’ve been literally anyone, Toph or one of the returned Air Nomads or someone else entirely) when he got called back to Republic City, and she followed.

From here, well… ok, there’s a lot I would change about LoK just in general. Thinking specifically of how Zutara would have affected things, and with the stipulation that Aaron was still the head writer for LoK, I like to think that Katara wouldn’t have been rendered weak and useless (seriously, a bloodbender locked away Korra’s bending, but Katara–allegedly the most powerful waterbender alive, and the one who single-handedly got bloodbending outlawed–couldn’t undo it with bloodbending???), and would have been allowed to, for example, fight to protect her family (while Tenzin and his children wouldn’t have been her direct relations [unless, instead of Pema, he wound up marrying Zuko and Katara’s youngest daughter??? that’s an idea], they would still have been family, as Aang’s only living descendants) and taken a more active part in the water tribe civil war (which would have been given the narrative arc it was due instead of being a half-assed vehicle for ridiculous spirit world shenanigans). And besides, a gaang reunion episode where Zuko, Katara, Suki (because screw LoK for having her just up and disappear lmfao) and Toph fight the Red Lotus together just like old times??? That would’ve been fucking amazing.

(We got to see old ass men in AtLA fight like they were in their prime, including one who was over a century old. What was LoK’s excuse???)

Since we got the return of the Air Nomads in book 4 of LoK there would be no need for the spirit portals or the ‘harmonic convergence’, and instead Korra’s spiritual journey hinges on her trauma from the end of Book 1. The biggest difference, here, is that I have always been incredibly dissatisfied with the fact that Korra just stared sadly over the edge of a cliff and was suddenly able to unlock the Avatar State and get her bending back. Keeping in mind the way Aaron Ehasz excelled at character journeys in the original show, I think she should have ended book 1 with her bending locked completely. Katara was able to reverse whatever it was Amon did to her (and Amon, by the way, didn’t get killed–the Equalists also didn’t just disappear, and the thread of nonbender oppression carries through the rest of the series, to be revisited and finally resolved in book 4), but it didn’t give Korra her bending back, because the trauma she suffered was just as psychological as it was a physical block to her bending.

Book 2, therefore, would’ve included a narrative thread of Korra needing to go on her own spiritual journey to unlock her chakras and regain her bending, finally able to reac the Avatar State when the civil war between the water tribes reached a head, and she is finally able to broker peace, having learned a great deal about herself and her connection to the past avatars.

I realize that I’ve kind of derailed pretty far off the original point, so I’ll stop here with a general note that while Zutara, as a relationship, doesn’t affect a whole lot of this directly (for the most part it would just affect the parentage of the Gaang kids who showed up, the designs of some, and their relationships with each other and possibly with Korra)–however, with the addition of Book 4 and keeping Aaron’s writing talents for LoK, the landscape of the entire sequel would be altered. I’d like to think that he would’ve preferred writing a coherent narrative that did justice to the characters even if it meant ending the show with unresolved plot threads (especially since they could wrap things up with comics which, in this alternate timeline, are actually good and in character because I want to have my cake and eat it too), so rather than being disconnected plots that didn’t make much sense when each individual villain could’ve served as the entire series Big Bad, much of books 2 and 3 would’ve involved smaller scale plots and villains, with Amon returning for book 4 and everything getting wrapped up far more neatly than it did in canon.

TL;DR: while Zutara itself wouldn’t necessarily change a whole lot (it would affect Book 4 and the post-atla comics more) outside of the different Gaang kids and their dynamics, the show as a whole would’ve been vastly different if the writing team for LoK had been the same–including Aaron as head writer–as the writing team for AtLA.

Bryke were great Big Picture guys, great vision and visual guys, I’ve never disputed that. But they sucked at not missing the forest for the trees. They sucked at romance. And they really sucked at coherent plot and character development, especially in the small scale.

#atla #zutara #lok #bryke salt #kinda sorta #just covering my bases really #fantasticanimefan #asked

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sayu-is-a-sass-queen · 4 years

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Redemption and Identity - Death Note: New Generation

One thing I really appreciated from the third and final episode of “Death Note: New Generation” was Taichi Amazawa’s arc and his main conflict with Yuki Shien. Those themes of redemption and identity really stuck with me!

I’m gonna be sharing some thoughts and personal opinions under the cut below! Spoilers for “Chapter 3: Fanaticism” (Shien’s chapter) of “Death Note: New Generation”! You can find a brief summary of the episode here (I will be diving into a summary myself, though).

My personal arguement: Taichi’s surname (formerly Kunugida, now Amazawa) represents his identity - how he sees himself and how he is seen by others. Consequently, the act of changing one’s name represents the decision of moving on from his [criminal] past and yearning for at least partial redemption. The episode thus expores the question whether one’s identity should be defined by their past actions (Taichi Kunugida) or by who they are working towards becoming in the future (Taichi Amazawa).

Let’s start with a brief elaboration on the two opposing viewpoints presented in this episode!

On one hand, we have Taichi’s girlfriend Hayaka, who sees him as Taichi Amazawa - she judges him based on his current actions and not based on the act of killing a young girl as Taichi Kunugida. According to her, he is “no longer Kunugida”.

On the other hand, all other major characters in this episode judge him based on the killing that took place. This includes Taichi himself, who does not feel like he deserves to live a happy life as a possible husband and future father. Of course, this is certainly a valid viewpoint, especially in the case of the older woman related to Taichi’s victim, who simply cannot forgive Taichi for what he has done.

Yet, Shien takes this a step further by planning to write down the names of Taichi and Namaki, his former partner in crime, in his Death Note. As the victim of a similar crime and as a Kira supporter, Shien judges both Taichi and Namaki based on their past actions and does not believe that they should get the chance to redeem themselves.

Now, how does this conflict further explore themes of regret and (partial) redemption?

This is when the episode presents us with a comparison between Taichi and Namaki. Clearly, Namaki is very much the foil to Taichi’s character - they share the same past but, in the present, choose to define themselves differently. While Taichi is living a quiet life and performing hard but honest work, Namaki is planing to commit further crimes and does not regret his past at all. Thus, he threatens Taichi in order to make him join his criminal ways once more.

However, when Namaki dies because of the effects of Death Note, Taichi finally feels like there might be a chance to partly move on from his past. After all, the person mainly tying him to those events is now gone. Additionally, that meeting with Namaki has reminded Taichi of how he is aiming to improve himself and choosing live with the consequences of his actions, instead of taking the “easy” route.

This results in Taichi not having nightmares about his past for once (something he shares with Shien btw - both have frequent nightmares about family killings but from constrasting perspectives). In my interpretation, he realizes that he has the chance to improve himself and thus accepts Hayaka’s wedding proposal.

Now, whether that would redeem his character or not is up to personal debate. I personally think redemption is a matter based on personal relationships and values - you can be redeemed in the eyes some but not be forgiven by others. It would be unrealistic for somebody to be “completely” redeemed, as there will always be someone who won’t be able to forgive you (often for justified reasons). In a way, I do believe that Taichi has become aware of this notion as well. He might never be able to completely move on from his past but, to some people, he can bring positive change. I’d like to think that this is what lead to his change of mind.

Now, how exactly does that moral conflict conclude with Shien writing down Taichi’s name in the Death Note?

Ironically, this one night without any nightmares (and thus to Shien’s eyes, without regrets) is the reason why Shien chooses to write down Taichi’s name after all (although I do personally think that Shien might have written down Taichi’s name anyway and was merely looking for ways to justify his decision).

Interestingly, Shien confronts Taichi upfront about his actions - which is something he did not do before killing Namaki! Shien once more makes his moral standpoint clear by referring to Taichi as “Taichi Kunugida” and states the following: “Even if you change your name, your sin will not go away.”

And Shien is right about that. Taichi will never be able to completely erase his past. However, Shien refuses to even acknowledge Taichi’s new identity, his regret, and how he is aiming to become a better person.

In the end, Shien does write down Taichi’s name at home, observing Taichi through live security footage. (Of course he cannot be seen at the crime scene during the crime itself, but I do find that sudden distance after such a direct confrontation interesting as well.)

Shien writes down Tiachi’s name: Taichi Kunugida - his old surname. It’s the identity that represents his crimes and that Shien sees him through.

And so he waits for Taichi to die - but nothing happens.

Shien stops....and he is forced to acknowledge that Taichi’s birthname is not the name that can be used to kill him. Thus, when Shien now writes down the name “Taichi Amazawa”, he is forced to admit to himself that he was wrong about what Taichi’s real identity truly was.

In the end, the name used to kill Taichi represents the identity that he chose himself - the identity that he is striving towards in the present, not the identity defined by his past.

Once again, whether this prooves that Taichi is a redeemed character is not entirely possible to answer. It goes without saying that this is a tricky subject to discuss. Yet, what this episode does state (in my personal opinion!!) is the following:

While our past actions can not be entirely ignored, they are not the sole thing defining our identity. Rather, our identity also depends on how we react to our past actions and how we are willing to improve ourselves towards a future goal.

Of course this statement is a fairly popular one that’s explored in all sorts of different media - but I simply liked the execution in this particular episode and how (given the nature of the Death Note universe), names were used to drive this point further.

Moreover, I am aware that the universe that this miniseries takes place in is not the canon manga universe. From what I’m aware (pls correct me if I’m wrong!), we don’t know how name changes affect the Death Note in the manga. It was really just fun to explore this idea further (bc I feel like this moral conflict is something the manga did not elaborate on to the same degree) and to give these lesser-known Death Note characters some more attention. New content! We love to see it!

To conclude this spiral of Death Note thoughts, I thought it would be fun to end this with some translations of Taichi’s name(s)! Thank you so much for the translations and your general help regarding this post, @misora-massacre!

To directly quote Blue’s messages:

[02:19, 1.6.2020] Blue: Amazawa is written 雨澤, those are the kanji for "rain" and "swamp" [02:23, 1.6.2020] Blue: Kunugida is 椚田, those are "oak" and "rice field" [02:24, 1.6.2020] Blue: Taichi is written with the kanji for "thick"/"fat" and "one" [02:24, 1.6.2020] Blue: ....... He shares two kanji with [Touta] Matsuda's [02:25, 1.6.2020] Blue: The da at the end of Kunigida "rice field" is also the da at the end of Matsuda [02:25, 1.6.2020] Blue: And the Ta at the beginning of Taichi "fat" is also the Ta at the end of Touta

Some things that stand out in my opinion (but that could very much be coincidental): The common kanji with Matsuda’s name, as well the possible translation of “one” for Taichi’s first name in contrast his two surnames/identities.

Anyways, thank you very much for reading this! If you have anything to add or if you disagree with one of or several of the points that I have made, feel free to reblog this post with your reply or make your own post and (if you want to) tag me in it. Always looking forward to different opinions or corrections in case I accidentally got something wrong!

#taichi amazawa #taichi kunugida #yuki shien #death note new generation #death note: new generation #death note*#dn #dn ng #dn lutnw #death note light up the new world #dnlutnw #my meta #my writing #mine #deathnote #death note #dn thoughts

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beetlemancy · 4 years

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CSIX Anon [on her phone, in her feelings] Okay, but have we talked about the Essek - Caleb mirroring RE Beacons? Essek stoke it and gave it to a foreign power for his own ends, resulting in huge loss of life. Caleb stole the Beacon bc it interested him and only offered it back as a play to keep the 9 from arrest/poss execution & with a mind to use it as leverage to get Yeza back. IE, selfish reasons. And as many (Beau included) pointed out it put millions in the Empire in danger. 1/?

From what ive seen a lot of people (poss including Beau?) also see this as the beginning of Caleb actively working toward redemption; this was when he started believing certain things were possible. I kind of wonder if some of the anger from him was the fact that just as he’s starting to find his groove with it, this convo has him second guessing himself. Caleb has repeated several times he doesnt want collateral damage, and yet the very foundations of his first attempt to thwart the Assembly are seeped in them. Like, you really thought you could fucking do it, didn’t you Widogast? And you’ve gone ans given Fjord all this false hope too, you piece of shit. I don’t think he’s going to revert necessarily, but I think it’s knocked him a little. Especially bc these 2, who probably know him best, don’t seem to get this. Also, I AM still writing those fics! ADHD just has me hyperfixating on both the Chernobyl disaster and The Moomins again. Hope you’re well and having a good day. X

Super confused about the Fjord line of thought here, hit me up again please? I’m curious now! But aside from that -

I do think there’s this image many fans have of the M9 as heroes, because they are our main characters and we root for them, but they are DEFINITELY not heroes. They have done just as many selfish things with just as many consequences for other people, which is partly why I’m on Caleb and Caduceus’ “side” here re justice - I don’t think they have the right nor SHOULD they have the right to “punish” Essek. I don’t think that should be the goal at all. Veth’s reasonings are purely selfish - she doesn’t give a shit about the good of the Empire or the Dynasty or any of the people Essek hurt in his quest for knowledge EXCEPT her husband and child. Its extremely in character, by the way, for ALL of the M9.

I think there is all manner of complicated bullshit happening in Caleb’s head right now and i hate to presume anything about where his anger is coming from outside of list possible reasons. But it does seem warranted - they are all coming at this from such different directions, but at the end of the day, every single one of them including Essek have to deal with their selfish motivations. I just personally tend to dislike the Takes that have the most hypocrisy because its a personal pet peeve of mine. also HI! I am doing well - I was out of town for a day and a half, so sorry for responding to this a bit late.

#cr spoilers #Anonymous

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stupidstubbornbravebitchoftarth · 5 years

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Sorry if this is a bit depressing but I just had the most horrible thought & need to vent. We know that GRRM told D&D about some characters’ endings - what if the ending he told them for Jaime was that he and Cersei die together??? And 8x05 was D&Ds Interpretation of that (it was shit and I hated it) but what if it was partly true?? I’m legit panicking rn, I cried for weeks after season 8 finished bc I couldn’t cope I have no idea what I’ll do if Jaime somehow dies with Cersei in the books too..

I know what you feel like and every once in awhile I get depressed about that too. But I am also pretty good at envisioning Brienne and Jaime on Tarth, teaching their little baby girl how to fight with a sword, while the sun sets over dark green meadows and the sapphire blue waters and they are at peace at last – it helps.

Disclaimer my knowledge about the whole GRRM vs. Dumb&Dumber debacle is very superficial – so what I am gonna tell you now is mostly what I can remember having read in other people’s posts lmao.

So for starters I believe having read somewhere that GRRM has been less and less involved in the actual writing process of the show BC he finally started working on the books. Praise God, She is too kind. He actually said he is kind of sorry for it but work e.g books caught up to him and it seemed like he didn’t even like the ending for the show (see the post where people compared his reaction to Marvel’s Endgame vs. The Reaction to his own show – it’s somewhere on my blog but I can’t Tag for shit so yeah just Google it it’s probably faster …. )

So for me that COULD mean that he was less and less contact with the writers and honestly maybe he actually wrote some of what he told D&D but then changed his mind and wrote other endings without telling D&D because a) he felt like it b) it’s his work c) probably thought D&D were fucking incompetent d) it was too late anyway

Also I just think that if he really kills Jaime off, which is always possible but I don’t think is going to happen, it will be way more justified death, a just death not some fucking bricks. Like we know he is looking at Jaime and Brienne as a Beauty and the Beast retelling and Cersei is not of that much importance to him and he literally said that Jaime and Cersei’s relationship disgusts him or something along the lines of that. So I really cannot come up with a lot off GRRM worthy scenarios of Jaime dying with his sister other than maybe he will have to sacrifice his life to take her down or some shit but that is boring … in my opinion. Like I just don’t see a realistic ending that involves both of them dying at the same time for the simple reason that in the books Jaime is way more important than Cersei and I, personally wouldn’t sacrifice such a multifaced character like Jaime for a probably very funny to write but sometimes rather one dimensional alcoholic maniac, powerhungry villainess … like Jaime’s redemption arc is far from complete but Cersei’s plot? Idk I am not that far in the books yet but to me it seems like all signs are pointed towards her demise. Again it’s ASOIAF so GRRM could probably still find a way to redeem her or whatever but I don’t really see the point in it. I always felt like he is writing Jaime and Cersei in a way that, as the story goes on, reveals that they in fact don’t mirror each other but are polar opposites actually pulling away from each other e.g the further Jaime heads towards redemption “the path of light” if you wanna say it like that, the further Cersei heads towards darkness and the only way they are equal can be found in the intensity their characters are involving, showing that House Lannister can be a force of evil and a force of good in equal measure or something going into that direction – it’s just a feeling though.

Also several prophecies and dreams are still unexplained and unresolved as far as I know like why is homeboy dreaming of naked Brienne with a sword in her hand – other than the fact that he is utterly and eternally in love with her

Why are literally all of their dreams revolving around each other

And, this is something I think about at least 435 times a day – D&D are fucking illiterate. While Gwendoline Christie does an amazing, incredible, showstopping, Oscar worty portrayal of everybody’s favorite highborn Ser fucking Brienne of Tarth – D&D’s interpretation of Brienne is …. well the thing you would excpect from two white dudes. They completly left out one part of Brienne which makes her so dear to many – the soft side, the femine side of her, the romantic side. While she is the best fighter in Westeros, that’s not all she is and wants to be. Like tons of better analysts and writers pointed out – People tend to forget that she a) is a HIGHBORN LADY b) had to become a swordswomen to somehow make it in the Patriachy she is living in – which with her being deemed as ugly is even more of hellish nightmare. She didn’t really see another option other than becoming a Knight because everything else would have meant a lifelong endurance of humilation and submission. So at 16 she said, Fuck it, I will FIGHT any man who wants to oppress me for the rest of my life, AND SO SHE DID. Her other option would have been eternal unhappiness and marriage to a man like four times her age. She became who she is because she had to. Unlike Arya who always hated being Lady however, Brienne is in someways way more similar to Sansa – both of them believe in tales of knights in shining amour that save maidens. Like as far as I can remember Brienne doesn’t hate being a Lady – she hates how she is being treated for it, THAT being said I think D&D failed to portray the overwhelming amount of that Brienne, so I am not very convinced that D&D truly interpreted and wrote things in the final episode the way GRRM would have – I mean look at the script lmao.

Also one way Jaime Lannister could potentially DIE is in a not literal way. Like the Death of Jaime Lannister could also be him becoming Jaime of Tarth? “Dying” in the arms of the woman he loves? – When he sleeps with Brienne for the first time on their wedding night or at least for the first time ( I mean having sex pretty much equals marriage in their world and they are both big softies so….) Or him “dying” by doing something extremly heroic therefore complety parting ways with the arrogant, the “evil” character parts of him (obessed with Cersei etc.) , signaling the completion of his redemption arc – like idk he slays a dragon for the lack of a better example so “Kingslayer” dies but “Dragonslayer” lives on. Like I am 90% sure the Kingslayer part of him is going to die and the Oathkeeper lives on.

Also what happens in Beauty and the Beast? The beast dies – or so we think. What if Jaime pulls a Jon and gets murdered and then revived. Honestly we really don’t know how D&D interpreted what GRRM told them.

To sum up

Yeah, Cersei and Jaime could probably end up dying together again and I would probably never know happiness again. Anything is still possible and everybody is entitled to their theories until the books come out and prove all of us wrong anyway. I personally don’t think it is going to happen I am just willing to believe that GRRM is a better writer than D&D and that is not very hard. For one, Cersei is not THAT important, Jaime’s redemption arc is unfinished and several prophecies unexplained. Jaime and Brienne’s arcs are connected and killing one or both of them of would be an extreme huge loss of unique and multifaceted characters as well as potential for the overall history, and also I think hard to pull of. I personally wouldn’t worry that much because yes Jaime could get killed off but if GRRM decided to do that it will make sense. The thing that made me so fucking depressed over Jaimes death is first and foremost the way he left Brienne which book!Jaime would simply not do and even for show Jaime it was soooo fucking out of character that I refuse to believe D&D even watched the other three episodes of Season 8. Like I just refuse to believe that GRRM would even write something like 8x4. Jaime’s death would make me sad because rarely I think you really need to kill a character to tell a good story but at least I know that book!Jaime is going out with a bang not a brick. Also there are not a lot of signs (if any ??) pointing toward Jaime’s death, most signs and prophecies can be interpreted in tons of different ways. Nothing is certain.

If it were upto me he would die in the Epilogue as an old man in the arms of Brienne surrouned by their kids and grandkids. In peace.

So if I were you I would stay out of the theory rabbithole as much as possible. I didn’t join the Jaime Lannister is Alive Clown Club for nothing. Just snuggle up with some snacks and the fluffiest and/or smuttiest Braime fic and have a good time.

Always remember Jaime and Brienne are chilling in the meadows of Tarth, having told the rest of the realm to kindly fuck off unless they are absolutely certain that it will be necessary to call Jaime “ Oathkeeper” of Tarth and a very pregnant Ser Brienne of Tarth to fight whatever creature from the Seven Hells was unleashed onto Westeros now. The only visitors allowed are the Stark Kids. Somewhere in the background Pod is somehow getting chased by a giant dog that stole his sword. The End.

#anon #Braime #that is all i can offer #brienne x jaime #game of thrones

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