kaycee "off the wall"

starvedforpizza replied on this post of mine:

I just rewatched TCW and actually never even thought about it. I have been thinking lately that Anakin was a person just created to suffer to fulfill the Force’s will. The Force created him and choose Shmi of all the woman in the galaxy to be his mother which meant he wouldn’t be found by the Jedi. The Force triggers him to go back for his mom. The Force gives him the visions of Padme dying. The Force must have told Palpatine what to offer Anakin (the power to cheat death) to get him to turn. The Force lead Luke to go to Bespin which leads to Luke learning the truth and creating the desire in Like to save his father which leads to what happens in ROTJ. So the Force certainly seemed to be directing things to happen a certain way.  While balance maybe the destruction of the Sith to me it appears that on the path to accomplishing that goal the Force also wanted the Jedi wiped out. to prevent everything the Force just didn’t have to show Anakin visions of his mother or Padme dying.

To say that the Force wanted the Jedi to be wiped out (ie, that a genocide of an entire people and their culture was a good and necessary thing), you also have to be saying that Star Wars decided the way to show this plot element was through baby murder.  That to show that this was a justified choice was to show it through innocent children being slaughtered. That’s an underlying point of my original post (where I personally cannot separate Anakin from the multiple baby murderings, so I have a difficult time being on his side in anything), that you cannot separate out the genocide of the Jedi from the baby murder.  They are the same thing, so if one says the genocide was necessary, you’re saying the deaths of those babies were necessary, and that this is the message Star Wars was trying to tell us, this is how Star Wars chose to show it.  Not by just killing adults, but specifically through showing the babies were stabbed to death, too. And I just cannot buy that that’s the way Star Wars would show us that kind of message.  I cannot buy that Star Wars would tell us, “Well, sometimes genocide is necessary.”  I cannot buy that Star Wars would tell us, “Those babies being murdered was necessary to show to understand that this was the path to good.” Further, it’s also that Anakin is wrong about what he does, by narrative intention.  George Lucas says about Anakin:      “Anakin wants to be a Jedi, but he cannot let go of the people he loves in order to move forward in his life. The Jedi believe that you don’t hold on to things, that you let things pass through you, and if you can control your greed, you can resolve the conflict not only in yourself but in the world around you, because you accept the natural course of things. Anakin’s inability to follow this basic guideline is at the core of his turn to the dark side.” --George Lucas, sci-fi magazine      “It's fear of losing somebody he loves, which is the flipside of greed.  Greed, in terms of the Emperor, it's the greed for power, absolute power, over everything.  With Anakin, really it's the power to save the one he loves, but it's basically going against the fates and what is natural. “ --George Lucas, Revenge of the Sith commentary Anakin is going against the fates and what is natural in ROTS, what we see in ROTS is not the natural path meant for the galaxy.  His fall is due to his inability to accept basic Jedi guidelines, it was Anakin turning away from the fundamental truths of life at every turn, not because this is what the Force wanted. George Lucas has been very, very clear about the core issue of Anakin’s fall and his actions, and that it’s going against the course of life itself.  So, no, the Force push Anakin to destroy both the Jedi and the Sith, because the point is that Anakin was supposed to let go, that’s the theme of Star Wars, Lucas has said that many times. But he didn’t and it led to baby murder, because that’s against what fate is in Star Wars.

Yugioh Best Friends Ranked

So YugiohEverything did this recently and I’ve ranked both the protags and the main girls so I figured, why not? I need something quick and easy to write this morning. Also, since there’s some debate on who counts as the best friend character in each show and I have some notably weird opinions on this, I’ll say right out of the gate which characters I’m including: Joey/Jonouchi, Sho/Syrus, Crow, Shark, Gongenzaka/Gong, Soulburner, and Luke. (Of whom I’m going to use whichever name I’m more to used to using.)

7 Gongenzaka

Honestly, Gongenzaka being the lowest here isn’t a slight against his character at all. There isn’t a bad character from this set to me. Gongenzaka is definitely the weakest but I’ve actually really grown to respect him. I think his style of duelling was really cool, especially the growth of him learning synchro summon despite it being against the traditions he was brought up with. That’s really neat. And the one time he ever did use an action card was against Z-Arc, in an attempt to save his friend, which is a really compelling moment. The only reason he’s the lowest is because I don’t feel like his personality is all that interesting, I definitely like him more for his duelling. He is a very good friend to Yuya though, as I’ve also come to appreciate in my most recent watch of Arc V. So just know, I respect Gongenzaka, I just like these other characters more.

6 Sho Marufuji

Betcha didn’t see this placement coming. I go on and on about how much I love GX and for every other character ranking, GX’s pick would be near the top, if not the top. Sho meanwhile… I do really like him, especially his relationships with Judai and his brother, Ryo and his growth in the series, especially season four but I like the other characters much more.

Still, people dunking on Sho is news to me. People really hate this guy?! Jeez, what did the dub do to him to make him deserve this? (Okay, maybe it is based on the sub but considering how the GX dub is and that it’s one of the more watched dubs, it definitely stands to reason that the dub just screwed him over.)

5 Luke

Luke is a weird one because I feel like he’s probably more like the rival character but out of the main friend group, Yuga undeniably has the closest connection to Luke. So I’ll count him as the best friend. Luke is a lot of people’s favourite character from Sevens and while I do prefer Yuga and Romin, I do enjoy Luke’s dorkiness and even some of his more arrogant moments when they’re done right. It is annoying that he basically never loses but I guess it’s to counteract Yuga, who loses and wins quite evenly. So overall good character.

4 Shark

Yeah, I’m counting Shark as the best friend instead of Bronk. Because Shark is far more prevalent, far more interesting, has more development and purpose in the narrative, and it’s his connection with Yuma that’s given the most focus in the climax of Zexal II. In my mind, Kaito is the rival, he just got screwed by part two. And you know what? I think Shark is a really neat take on the best friend character. He’s definitely Yuma’s friend, and shows that care often, if begrudgingly or in a strange gruff way and that’s really fun and a great counterpoint to Yuma. Also, do I even need to talk about their final duel? Feels out the wazoo.

Honestly though if “main girl” wasn’t a stupid arbitrary category for these shows, I’d argue Kotori is Yuma’s best friend because they actually have a really good platonic dynamic and they make a point of her mere presence boosting Yuma up in the final part of the Barian arc. But for this list, I say and argue Shark.

3 Joey Wheeler

Man, how I’ve grown. Once upon a time, a young man was in quarantine with his younger sibling and, being very bored and needing a distraction, the man agreed to watch a few episodes of this show his sibling liked, of which he’d only ever seen memes of and thought sounded stupid as shit: Yugioh Duel Monsters. On that first watch, the man could not stand Joey, due to his voice, inflated ego, and lack of duelling skills and while the man did grow to respect Joey as a duellist later in the show, he could never bring himself to like his character. Now, two years later, I question what the hell I was thinking because Joey is easily one of the most compelling characters from the original series. Out of everyone on this list, he’s easily the most supportive as a friend. He always has Yugi’s back, up to and including jumping off a cruise ship to save Yugi’s Exodia cards and sacrificing his life for Yugi’s after he breaks free of Marik’s mind control. Heck, he’s willing to die for Mai as well in Battle City and his whole motivation in Duelist Kingdom was to use the prize money to afford his sister’s eye surgery so she wouldn’t go blind. He is such an ideal best friend it’s hard not to respect him, especially my absolute favourite moment of his: surviving the full force of the Winged Dragon of Ra and coming out of it still on his feet. Joey is literally just an average scrappy guy with a deck he threw together and some street smarts and he is duelling on the level of gods. It’s hard not to admire that.

2 Crow

This one and the last one are honestly kind of interchangeable. I like Joey’s role in the narrative better than Crow’s as I will concede that Crow too often took the spotlight away from other characters. This didn’t really annoy me that much outside of WRGP which was just terrible on literally every front and either way. Personality wise however, I do prefer Crow. He is an absolute sweetheart and his backstory was honestly heartwarming, especially that part in the dub where it’s implied he didn’t have a name so one of his first friends named him after one of his cards. I know I’ve brought that up before but it honestly is one of my favourite moments from 5Ds, and Crow is one of my favourite characters in 5Ds. Heck, I even love him in Arc V, despite him being notably more aggressive there. I think it makes sense considering the change to his backstory, which is still really cute, though I will admit his 5Ds backstory is better. I might also be a little biassed because I watched Arc V before 5Ds so Arc V was my first exposure to Crow and I loved him there.

1 Soulburner

Hahahaha, I’m gonna get burned for this one :)

I’m so sorry.

I debated whether I wanted to include Soulburner or Kusanagi on this list because there are good arguments for either of them being the best friend. However, I decided to go with Soulburner since A) I prefer his character and B) 5Ds has been the top pick for one of my lists like this before. So here we go, Soulburner. The adorable sweet dorky bean who sucks at technology in a technology based show and is the one horrifically traumatised character in VRAINS that got proper closure and whose backstory was one of the biggest tearjerker scenes in VRAINS for me and that is saying something considering how much this show made me cry. I really love his dynamic with Yusaku, of being one of the first people Yusaku trusts and of course, Soulburner and Flame are adorable. I love their sassy back and forths and Flame’s death tore me to shreds partially because of just how hard Soulburner took it. Soulburner is just so… outwardly positive and sweet that seeing him break hurts me so deeply, and gets me more invested in his character. I relate to him in a lot of ways, from his little quirks to the way he reacts to those traumatising events he was put through. Also, I didn’t talk about it when I first saw it (because I was still so broken up over Roboppi and was anxious about Ai) but Soulburner vs Revolver is one of the best duels in VRAINS and was a really good resolution to Soulburner’s character arc. So overall, Crow and Joey are probably better best friends but I personally like and relate to Soulburner more so he gets the edge here.

Ahsoka Show

So the first two episodes are out and I really enjoyed them, they are mostly what I expected from Filoni, he´s translating well his narrative style from cartoons to live action.

That said my favorite characters so far appart from Ahsoka herself have been Sabine and Baylan, all the characters get a good treatment, I really liked Hera serving as a bridge between Sabine and Ahsoka and listening to both of them. I also loved Baylan mystery and his relationship with his own apprentice, I get the sense his story as an adversary is going to be the main one here before we get to the Thrawn of it all.

Baylan doesn´t consider himself a Jedi anymore but he´s definitely teaching his apprentice some Jedi traditions, he doesnt seem fallen into the darkside but he definitely became dissapointed in the Jedi Order and their ways, he´s a real mercenary and also he totally knows exactly what happened to Anakin and probably expects to be able to serve as a Darth Vader like figure for the new Empire, just for Thrawn instead of the Emperor.

Power may be one of his reasons but given there´s a theory around saying Thrawn supporters within the Empire are opposing those who are already trying to bring back the Emperor, my guess is that he also wants to be part of the Empire, just one that isn´t neccesarily ran by the Sith Order and Palpatine which would give him a lot of nuance.

Sabine makes me remember one of the more interesting tropes from most animes, which I guess Filoni is taking a clue from, about characters with no natural habilities, those who are no prodigies and get a lot of hate over it, who instead suffer a lot to do half what other characters do easily, that they become a sheer force of nature given their sheer effort/training and will, not natural or hereditary talent. The series is too short to give us the whole journey but I am seeing some of that with Sabine who is force sensitive enough to be trained, just not enough to move objects or other things or maybe her force talent translate into articulating art. Her feelings of passive -agressiveness with Ahsoka are on point given their past but she really wants to get Ahsoka respect and trust back and is willing to work for it.

PD: Now I am just waiting confirmation for Han Solo to also be like Sabine because honestly, he would not have survived half the things that happened to him in the original trilogy if he wasn´t slighty force sensitive. XD

Now Ahsoka is great, I really liked her, liked the fact she wasn´t perfect she doesn´t know how to comunicate with Sabine, she expects too much out of someone she apparently abandoned at some point, she lost her battle with the inquisitor(Who I am still hoping for confirmation that he is in fact Galen Marek, Vader´s apprentice, Vader´s vs Anakin´s apprentices going to battle just ryhmes ) but more than that Ahsoka is still hurting over Anakin and isn´t that interesting? after Malachor I totally would have accepted her to be resentful, wanting to focus on Ezra rescue and forgot everything about Anakin being her former master, in fact that seemed to be her way of thinking in the Mandalorian, when she refused to train Grogu because he made her remember Anakin too much.

But then there´s how she calls Luke "MASTER SKYWALKER" while she considers herself as someone who didn´t got to complete her Jedi training, despite the fact she has decades of traning over Luke and actually lived in the old Jedi temple, so my guess is that she isn´t calling him a Master just because of his force hability, she is calling him a master Jedi because Luke, not her, was able to bring back Anakin back from the darkside, something even master Yoda thought was completely impossible and how happy that must make her but how much this has to hurt that she´s on equal ways being warm and passive agressive with Luke and his new Jedi Order, on the one hand she visits the new school, smiles at Luke and at Grogu but doesn´t stay, she sends Grogu to Luke to be trained but tells her Jedi Droid the Order is over. It´s so subtle but there the feelings she must strongly be suppresing over Luke and his relationship with his father, her former master.

She has an enormous respect for Luke but also her hurt feelings and resentment mean she´s avoiding him because she absolutely knows he doesn´t deserve them, him who grew up without his father and only managed to truly be with him for a few minutes while Ahsoka had years of interactions with Anakin but those feelings are still there anyway.

And this brings me to her being so nostalgic over Anakin again, I have no doubt Luke told her the truth, not the official one the New Republic is using, he told her Anakin defeated the Emperor out of love for him, because Luke bet his life in his father goodness, because he let go of what the Old Jedi called "their life" his lightsaber, on the bet that his father would save him because he knew there was good in him, because he knew his father loved him, he told Ahsoka just like he did with Leia and while this fact makes Ahsoka happy it also makes her feel so sad, so guilty, she doens´t regret leaving Anakin or the Jedi Order, as she told Hera, that still was the right decision for her at the time but she regrets her leaving may have lead to Anakin becoming even more isolated and probably was the reason why he fell to the darkside, that and the fact that when Anakin was so eager to talk to her again, she was too busy dealing with Mandalore to truly talk with him about them. She knows it isn´t her fault but she can´t help but ask herself, why wasn´t I able to bring you back Anakin? I also loved you.

So my guess is that this story is going to be Ahsoka confronting Anakin again, post ROTJ which is bassically my dream come true but also she´s going to confront her master "other" apprentice who may or not may have some very interesting unfinished bussines and feelings over Vader and how he died if he is indeed the canon version of Starkiller.

So… on one hand, two minutes out of ~4 hours is not much. Like there’s SO MUCH they didn’t show in the trailer, so to anyone losing hope about Byler or about Mike or Will getting Vecnaed, I wouldn’t do so just yet. Always remember that Noah Schnapp said, “They’re building that up, so definitely ship that,” and I find it hard to believe he’d say that just for nothing to happen. He wouldn’t be so giddy talking about Byler and liking Byler edits on TikTok at every chance he gets. There is still the painting, which narratively speaking must be revealed at some point, as it is Checkov’s Gun.

That being said, hmmm… I know it’s probably not evidence for anything but it’s so interesting to me that there IS a Byler scene in the trailer (even if it doesn’t seem like the one we were hoping for) but not even a hint or a glance at the Melvin reunion, despite the fact that we know it’s coming. So even if there are only two seconds of Byler in a non-romantic context, why would the marketing be non-existent for the supposedly biggest ship of the show… unless?

But yeah, the cabin scene is somewhat concerning for Byler. On the one hand, it seems to be directly a parallel to Season 2 in the way they are sitting and the way Will is confiding in Mike. On the other hand, it’s in a definitively supernatural/Vecna related context not in a romantic heart-to-heart context like we’d hoped for. But also, we were only shown like two seconds from the scene! We could be taking it out of context! Or there can also be more to the scene. Like what if a confession of sorts happens ~because~ everyone’s in danger supernaturally. Also, when will the painting be revealed?! It has to be at some point, and we know it has romantic implications based on El’s letter.

There’s HEAVY Empire Strikes Back parallels in this trailer, and I know people have already mentioned it, but that makes El the Luke of this story and Mike and Will potentially the Han and Leia of this story. Han and Leia get closer romantically during ESB, but then it ends on a cliffhanger when Han is turned into carbonite… so what if Mike gets taken to the Upside Down at the end of the Season? I know that’s a huge stretch. I do have a bad feeling about this as a whole and feel like the season is gonna end in tragedy just like Empire Strikes Back. I’m very scared for Robin. And I feel like Mike’s a ticking time bomb with all the eerie foreshadowing. And also…

How does Will know about Vecna’s plans? Has he already met Vec before? He sounds thoroughly confident, not like he’s guessing. It seems very similar to how he knew about the Mind Flayer’s plans when he was possessed in Season 2? I hope that means Will is getting his main character arc back and maybe getting powers? If Will is the Leia of this story, he would have powers just like the Luke of the story. Or maybe it’s related to him touching his neck and his increased sensitivity to the Upside Down? Or maybe he’s already been Vecnaed? I hope it doesn’t give credence to the theories that say Will will become evil or become a host for Vecna? He also looks somewhat eerie/evil in the clip, but maybe that’s just the lighting. Especially considering all of the eerie parallels to Vecna. I want Will to get powers, but not like this…

There is of course the nightmare scenario that Noah and Millie’s infamous interview was actually true, and there is no coming out scene, and they still leave everything completely “up to interpretation.” The Jonathan scene could still be a coming-out scene, but who knows? I know we’d mostly stopped fearing this after all the positive Byler calendar stuff, and I really don’t believe they’d do that to us after all of this promotion, but it’s still a nightmare Vecna scenario…

BUT there’s still Mike’s monologue. There’s still almost four hours of content. Mike WAS acting weird for a reason. There’s still Noah’s saddest scene. There’s still more people to get Vec’d. The Upside Down was frozen when Will went through for a reason. There’s still the Melvin reunion, which can go in so many different ways. And I still wanna know why Noah used the 🍆 to describe the season 💀

Luke, my beloved, my 13th reason of becoming the most wanted person in the world or crying into the pillow

I wanna bite you just like Roach in the latest chapter but in very affectionate way CAUSE MY SIRE WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ALL OF US WITH YOUR STORY PLOT CHARACTERS AND YOUR WRITING AND NARRATIVE STYLES

I DUNNO IF I'M GOING CRAZY OR U PURPOSEFULLY MADE THAT IN THE BEGINNING ROACH (and we, audience) HAVE SOME KIND OF HOPE?? LIGHT???? DUNNO HOW DESCRIBE IT BETTER BUT THE BEGINNING IT'S SO PROMISING FOR GOOD THINGS TO HAPPEN AFTER THERAPY SESSION AND THEN THEY DONT HAPPEN UNTIL MEETING KÖNIG AND THEN WE AGAIN BACK TO THE SAD ANGSTY THOUGHTS :( WHATEVER YOU DID WITH NARRATIVE IN THIS CHAPTER IT BEATIFULLY HURTED MY FEELINGS

Also can I point out that our boy Roach likes too much to run 👀 He ran away in chapter 6 when he stumbled into Price while he was spiraling with the thought that Ghost must despise him (im not sorry for mesmorising every chapter by the heart) and now he wants to run again because he thinks that he is easily replacable

And oh can I as well say that I adore not only how fantastic you are at writing but also how you find time to respond to everyone in ask box <3 even though you tease us too much but I'm really in love with your communication with audience it's very adorable and endearing

To be fully honest with you guys the idea for this chapter kinda boiled down to "emotional whiplash" ajdnfnfnjff

I wanted to try to balance out the happy stuff with Roach struggling because I felt like it would kinda help the audience feel what he's feeling. He goes through moments where things are fine and, yeah, maybe there are some thoughts that slip through but, for the most part, its fine, then he'll just get hit with something that sends him down a bit of a spiral.

I'm very please to see that I have succeeded in this with some of you muahaha 😈

Also yes, lol, Roach really likes to run! Its a bit of a headcanon that I have for him that he's a very movement prone anxious person (so like pacing, bouncing his knee, shaking his hands out, etc) and when things boil over he likes to move because it helps to relieve some of that stuff.

Hence why he ends up running when he has the panic attack in chapter 6, why he goes to the gym at the beginning of this chapter, then runs again near the end. It helps him calm down a bit to have a physical outlet for his feelings because they end up overwhelming him otherwise. I'm actually super pleased to see that so.eone has noticed this cause I haven't really dived to deep into it in the fic :)

I also love interacting with you guys so much! It can be a bit overwhelming for me at times with the ask box, but I'm always going to make an effort to respond to everyone and eventually get around to the ideas that you guys send me.

You're all so creative and I love exploring all of the ideas that you guys send me as well as just getting to read your thoughts on the chapters or answer any questions you have! It, oddly enough, helps me not burn out on the fic when I get to explore some of these other ideas with you guys!

I know drabbles are coming a little slow right now, but I am working on them :) I have a little list of everything and my drafts are pretty full right now lol

💙💙💙

Part 2 in my 5 part series of obvious things Lauren Seal completely misunderstands about storytelling... coherent plot

In a perfect (or even acceptable) story, the plot would be not only coherent, but also compelling and consistent. I think we all know that's far too much to expect in LN's case, so we'll stick with only one C aspect for now.

I'm going to admit something that makes me feel dumb but actually makes LN look dumb... I do not know what season 4 was about. Truly. I could guess at themes (that fall apart if you try to carry them through) and point out messages she thought she was maybe kinda conveying, but I honestly can't give you an elevator pitch to explain the season.

The homages / straight up copies of religious iconographies (which didn't belong in the first place) were so muddled.

The Romeo & Juliet fish tank homage -- both characters die. The scorpion and the frog fable -- both characters die. Cupid and psyche -- they end up together despite all kinds of obstacles and a trip through hell. And don't even get me started on Jesus, especially with how LN has followed up saying Villanelle was too self-serving to sacrifice her life for Eve. That was his whole deal.

So in 2 of these, both characters die. In 1, they end up together. And in Christianity -- why do I even have to address this -- there is the sacrifice of one for all.

I probably missed some of her fables / mythologies because honestly it was too much to keep up with considering the constant conflict. But of the ones I remembered, none fit the story.

And before someone lets her open her dumb mouth again to say something like "well Eve died too. She was being cleansed of all the death to be normal again." Honey, sweetie, darling, precious moron, Eve died A LONG TIME AGO. It was literally the point of her character journey. Her true self was being revealed while her "normal" persona was being stripped away.

She didn't become SOMEONE NEW. She embraced all parts of herself to become SOMETHING ELSE. Not new. Complete.

Now we can now discuss what we were presented with as maybe I guess might have kinda a little bit been the plot for season 4... the 12. They make no sense (in the show) as either an organization or a big bad. One minute they are all knowing and no one can ever break free of them and the next they're sending out e-vites.

Characters were used as objects for no reason. Konstantin was back with the 12. Why couldn't he or Pam decode the text from Helene's phone that apparently only Villanelle could crack in 4 seconds?

You all know I have 9,857 questions about this season. That one happened to pop up simply because I'm trying to find the thread that held together 8 episodes.

But here's the thing... a month and a half post-finale and I still can't. In fact, it only falls apart more on further inspection.

When we finally do "resolve" the storyline of the great and seemingly omnipotent (yet incompetent) 12, there's no point whatsoever. They never had faces that mattered to us or the characters. They had no bearing on the actual story. They just kinda existed, I guess? The only purpose ever given in the show was that they "create chaos," whatever the fuck that means.

Luke Jennings, at the very least, understood the concept of plot. His 12 are cunning and competent and they HAVE A PURPOSE. They're largely faceless still (as any actual secret cabal should be), but their presence is FELT and their reach is CLEAR. Their kills are strategic and each one is part of a bigger picture to crumble world governments. In short, they're terrifying.

Oh and I do hate to slap this point on with little to no transition, but I'm just following LN's lead: time jumps should be used incredibly sparingly and only by the best writers. If, however, one absolutely must (against all sound advice in this case) toss one in a narrative -- it is 1000% that person's responsibility to show the audience how we got from point A to point B in order to pick up the story further down the road.

There wasn't even an attempt at that, which honestly gave the plot no chance from the get go. Addressing 3 things in a short amount of time would've been a jumping off point: 1. What happened between Eve and V after they looked back on the bridge? 2. Why is Eve indifferent toward V as if she's an annoying kid sister and not a formidable foe / equal love interest and V essentially begging for scraps of attention? 3. Why church camp? (I can't even with that, and would've settled for the first 2 answers.)

It would've taken under 5 minutes to lay that groundwork, but instead we got half an episode of Carolyn in the 70s, new characters all the way through the finale, and a relationship between Villaneve that's never been more contentious while they hooked up with everyone else and never had an honest conversation. BUT WHY?!?!

And I've failed to mention how the time jump wasn't discussed IRL either. Sally said 7-8 months, Sandra said 2 years, and Jodie said 4-5 months. Those are VASTLY different timeframes. No blame on the actors whatsoever, but WHAT?! Kind of important facts to the plot of filming too.

The long and short of it is this: if all anyone is left with after your story is questions, you didn't have a coherent plot. And if this post lacks one, blame LN.

Part 1  |  Part 3 | Part 4

I’ve seen some of the criticism about Reva’s actress now, aside from the racism thing that is, and it’s like oh, she’s so stoic, she has a poker face, she doesn’t emote... and somehow, that’s bad acting.

Except... is it bad acting if that’s the character? Because I watched the first three episodes before seeing that criticism, and my take was that yeah, she’s stoic, she’s keeping her emotions under tight control. There are scenes where I certainly saw her struggle to do so - it was subtle, but it was there, and to me, that’s good acting.

I don’t actually like the character much myself, because lbr she's not a very nice person so far, but that’s in-universe. On a narrative level I think she’s fine. I don’t think she takes focus away from Obi-Wan, either. She’s the antagonist, we do need to know what she’s up to, otherwise there’s no tension.

And it would never have occurred to me to criticise her for a lack of emotion. She’s surrounded by people who would clearly immediately exploit any weakness and who see emotion as weakness, of course she’s not showing any. Or rather, trying not to show any. It makes perfect sense. Having seen the criticism now, I’ve gone back and thought about when she could have shown more emotion, which scene would’ve been improved by it, and honestly, I’ve got nothing.

I just can’t help thinking... if she was he, would that be an issue? Not to say people are being actively misogynistic, I just think that maybe some of us just subconsciously expect women to behave differently? To be more emotional? If Reva was a guy, and nothing else about the character's behaviour or acting changed, would the actor also be bad, or would we just accept the character as being stoic?

Because on the other side of this coin, you have the Mandalorian, who never even takes off his helmet and speaks more or less in a monotone. Not to say he has no emotions, of course he does, but he’s also stoic, and his displays of emotion are subtle. And no one seems to think that’s “bad acting”. Or that the character is written badly. In fact, he’s a fan favourite.

Vader strutted around the entire OT with his helmet on as well, and he never showed any emotion either. Boba Fett barely had any lines, no emotion whatsoever, and he wound up with a dedicated fanboy following.

On the other hand, both Anakin and Luke have gotten shit for being too emotional. Characters like Leia and Padmé, not so much. So there’s definitely a trend here.

I just feel like maybe, gender has something to do with how people see this character. She’s strutting around with confidence and a poker face, the only emotion she ever shows is anger, she’s... acting like a bad guy. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bad guy get criticised for a lack of emotion. Would we be happier if she was wearing skintight leather and trying to seduce her superiors rather than simply stabbing them in the stomach, maybe said a few suggestive things to Obi-Wan, and y’know, smiled more? Is that what we were subconsciously expecting, maybe? Is that really where we’re still at?

Again, not saying it’s necessarily people being sexist on purpose. I just think that if it bothers you that she’s stoic, maybe examine why and think about how it’d be if she was a guy and what exactly the difference is.

Some days I feel sorry for Sunfyre having Aegon pig as his rider.

Do you think nettles was of targaryen descent. Way too many people attribute being a targaryen to the looks but they can inherit the looks of their non targaryen parents yet be able to ride dragons. See Rhaenyra's sons. They did not look targaryen at all and yet were able to ride dragons. Seasnake had Alyn and addam and one was able to ride dragon. Maybe nettles had a targaryen as her father (could be daemon, Viserys I, Aegon ii or even Seasnake). Yet people make tales about her bewitching or tricking dragon. Why not follow logic??

Hi there! 🤗 And as is my usual so sorry for this delay 🙏🏻

About Sunfyre, the objective part of me agrees, the emotional part of me remembers that this little b:tch ate Rhaenyra, so he can just die and turn into roasted chicken. He might be the only dragon I hate *checks my own mind* yeah I f_cking hate his guts.

#TeamRhaenys #RoastThatGoldenChicken

Also Luke’s dragon was more beautiful. Just saying. 

F_ck off Goldfyre!

Where are the Martells to kill a dragon when we need them XD People please, I am kidding k?

About Nettles, I definitely believe that she had Valyrian blood very likely Targaryen blood, and it’s not impossible that she was actually Daemon’s daughter, something hinted at in Fire and Blood -> though I still lean towards lover not daughter. She could also have a Targaryen ancestor that was not a first degree relative. Maybe a great great grand-something. In fact it’s suggested this was the case with Hugh Hammer and Ulf White, and there is no reason why this could not be her case as well. 

While I don’t think Targaryen blood was sufficient for someone to be a dragonrider - since there are several examples how Targaryens who never rode dragons - I definitely think it was necessary, and for the most part we do see this. In fact, the only rider who people question their Valyrian descent is Nettles and only because she did not have the traditional Valyrian features, but as you very well point out, neither did Rhaenyra’s sons by Harwin Strong, yet all three of them rode dragons. 

I think people saying she was not of Valyrian/Targaryen descent was just motivated by the fact that she did not look the part - she had neither the hair, eyes, nor was she considered to be beautiful. Rhaenyra in particular considered her a witch because she could not stand the thought that Daemon could be preferring this girl, who was so beneath her, to Rhaenyra herself. She would like it even less that possibly she could be carrying Daemon’s child, as Mysaria warns Rhaenyra about. 

For Rhaenyra in particular, given the situation she was in, it’s understandable that she would push forward this narrative of Nettles being a witch or something that had used witchcraft to get the dragon and Daemon. For the rest of the people… well it’s people, they liked rumours and gossip. I mean just look at what is suggested about Dany in the main books. I am honestly not surprised.

In Fire and Blood the issue is debated because Gyldain looks at all the accounts available - that I am sorry y’all for the most part aren’t just rumours no, sorry to disappoint you, maybe read a few books about historians and records of medieval life and how that worked to get a better grasp of this and not embarrass yourselves so much, you are welcome besties! - to try and stay neutral. He presents them all and then states which one makes most sense given everything, yet still leaves it to the reader to interpret it as they want. He does this with everything including with Nettles, I see nothing wrong with that. 

All the best to you and happy holidays! 🥰

Also how do female ocs make the story feel real?? One female in an all boys school isnt a very realistic scenario tbh and just doesnt even make sense sometimes. But i guess thats the only argument these haters can come up with which is just so sad. 😔

I'm going to be speaking this as a fanfic writer and as someone who doesn't really like reverse harem, so our views can be different.

I assumed that everyone knows the prologue of Yuu/Prefect/MC arriving at Twisted-Wonderland. Now in the game, they are gender-neutral, but as a fanfic writer we can make Yuu/Prefect/MC any gender we want with any personality we want.

For me, it's not a matter of gender, but a matter of execution. What makes a story feel real? For me, it's the characters, including the MC. You can have the most basic plot, but it's the characters that make it stronger. Or you can have the most epic plot, but if your characters are insufferable, I won't read it. This goes for Twisted-Wonderland fanfiction as well. If the MC is great, then the story will be great.

However, a problem appears. I'm going to try to list them, but these two are my personal beef.

It feels like a harem Now, I already said that I don't like reverse harem, or just harem in general, and unfortunately, many Twisted-Wonderland fanfiction falls into this. For me, what breaks a TWST fanfic for me is not the original plot points, but how everyone changes to fit the MC. The boys are now fawning over the MC without any reason other than "they're beautiful". For the dorm leader, this usually happens after overblot, but sometimes it can happen before it, heck, maybe even in the first meeting. Now, nobody can get a perfect characterization as the original source except the original creator themselves, but there's a line where you can call it 'out of character'.

The 'perfect' MC Now, we all hate the term 'mary sue'. We don't even know what it is actually, so that's why I use 'perfect' instead. I guess my biggest problem is how the MC never gets hurt. If your OC is an ordinary kid with no power in a magical universe, you really think you wouldn't get hurt. Even Luke Skywalker loses his hand and Anakin Skywalker falls to the dark side. MC OCs, like TWST boys, can make mistakes. They can get hurt, and traumatized. However, I've seen this rarely happening. Even if they do get hurt, it's not because of the MC's action, but because of external forces. Another aspect is that we rarely see the MCs' flaws. Like, you have a long profile at the beginning of your story but you never show in-story the flaw or it just comes up when the narrative asks for it. How can the reader even believe that your character is flawed? To add this, even if MC has a dark backstory, it sometimes doesn't affect them in the story. Like, your MCs was bullied but you don't have a trust issue or are even scared in communication? Does the backstory even matter then? Also, here's the thing. I don't read profiles. I would usually go straight to the story because I want to experience the MCs on my own and not be spoonfed by a bio. So if you just dump all your backstory and flaws in one bio and you don't show it in story, I won't believe it.

There's a reason why in my TWST fanfic my MC loses so many times outside the overblot battle and needs to be saved, it's because he's magicless and would probably die. There are more than 10 instances where they nearly die. Some of them are because he's too protective of his friends and wants to solve the problems alone. Because of this, he challenged Leona in a one-on-one magishift duel and lost, later got hypnotized by Jamil in an attempt to change his mind and the whole Octavinelle Arc fiasco with the drowning curse.

In conclusion, what makes a story doesn't feel real is not the gender of the MC, but the weak execution of the story. And unfortunately, many TWST fanfics with Female MCs falls into this. I don't hate Female MCs, I just hate the stories.

thoughts on helaemond

I can definitely see HBO going this route even though I’m not really a fan of it for multiple reasons:

1 - Aemond is a man of duty. Using young Aemond’s words when he said he’d marry his sister if Alicent had betrothed them means nothing imo. He’d do it out of duty as it’s the Targaryen way after all. Maybe he did love his sister when he was younger (the leaker on reddit did say he was in love with Helaena BEFORE her marriage) but to the point of fathering her children?

2 - I have read the thread on twitter about it, and some of the “proof” they present is just reaching or taken out of context. Saying he turned his chair to face Luke and Helaena out of jealousy and because he is in love with her. I don’t know about you, but if my sister was suddenly dancing with the guy who had slashed my eye, I’d be observant, too. People also said “oh the way Aegon looked at Aemond when she started dancing with Luke because he knew it was going to set him off.” Well of course… that was the guy who had Aemond lose his eye… let’s think for a sec here…

3 - People will see what they want to see. Maybe it wasn’t HBO’s intention at all to pick this narrative, but now that so many shippers are taking things out of context and blowing it up, I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually went with it just to please people.

4 - If it was HBO’s intention to plant the seeds for this ship why do we never see Helaena or Aemond talking to each other when older? Setting the mood? Sharpening the knives of chemistry? Making people wonder? All people have to go off of is what can be seen as two siblings interacting with each other.

5 - 🩸& 🧀 doesn’t inherently make more sense, but I can see why it’s so appealing to shippers. Who else was Daemon supposed to go after? How would he know that the twins are Aemond’s? And if this is the case, why would none of the maesters have written about it? It would be a huge deal… I doubt The Blacks would be quiet about this tbh.

Even if it turns out that they make this canon and unless stated otherwise, I will just assume Aemond fathered her children out of duty. Maybe Aegon couldn’t do it (even though he has bastards all over flea bottom). Maybe Helaena asks for help because she can’t get pregnant.

Also, I’m not trying to start discourse. If you believe and like the ship then so be it, but I personally like the Aemond/Alys dynamic way more 😅

My personal top 37 for Eurovision 2023 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 I dont' even know what to say anymore, it has been the most exhausting ESC season ever for me and I just want this Saturday to come and go

11) Italy - song is alright (it actually grew on me in these weeks), Marco is a great singer and a cool guy, but half because I didn't want it to win Sanremo and half because I have actual favourites I'm spending the season worrying to death about, I have exactly zero interest about what happens to Due Vite in Liverpool

10) Moldova - how often does it happen to have two returning artists from the same year? Seeing Pasha and Loreen meet again was so cute! (and the fact that Ivi Adamou was there as well made the whole thing even better asdfghjffg) Anyway lol the song is awesome, Moldova incredibly managed to find a middle ground between genuine ethnodance and the amateurish country fair performance from last year, and I'm happy about it Lautar is also one of the few songs I actually love from 2012 btw, just as an add-on :'' He looks hella fine too but shh

9) United Kingdom - purely and simply a bop, it almost makes me forget how much of a tamarrata* it is asdfghjk As for its chances in Liverpool, if the pre-parties are of any indication, there's no way in hell this will get a top10 like many seem to predict, more like it will be lucky to get out of the bottom 5 :'' (*tamarrata = something camp and cringy and excessive, that sometimes you like exactly because of that lol)

8) Czechia - I usually adore songs with a women-supporting-women narrative, this one is no exception, and it also has a double reading which makes it even cooler I was a bit afraid that if they kept the aesthetic of the video on stage it could end up looking messy and uncoordinated, but luckily they decided to make it tidier and in fact their performance on Tuesday was amazing

7) Austria - This, this is how you do clever and funny This could have ended up being an apocalyptic level of trash but, ironically, the nonsense narrative keeps its feet on the ground Thankfully it seems like it's not a Halo 2.0, though the performance could have used being a lil bit more whimsical and energetic

6) France - I love how this starts tango-ish and then catches rhythm! I have no idea how it will go, France was my winner last year and I never would have imagined an almost last place for them, so yeah :'' I don't think they can snatch the win but I'd be on board with them trying purely because that would mean a new Sweden vs France death match which, like, AAAAAAAAAAAAA

5) Norway - this is the first song from this year I listened to and I'm still bobbing my head from that first time ahah This sounds like a song KEiiNO could have sung, which in my book is always a compliment We'll give her a wagon of points as soon as the commentators let it slip that she's Italian lol

4) Finland - This is me having a drunken dream while also never having been drunk in my whole life :'' Look, I love this song, or it wouldn't be in my top 5, it's a banger, it's fun and it's been stuck in my head since the first time I heard it in the studio version (the live rendition sucks, I know you all know but choose not to acknowledge it c:), I actually like the way it has two very different styles and the moment it leaves the rappish part to basically become the Carameldansen makes me fall from the chair every time It does deserve to do well. Does it deserve to win though? Ehhhh personally no, I don't think this is enough

3) Serbia - This year every time I think I have listened to the most feverdream-ish song of the line-up there comes another right after to prove me wrong lmao This is so weirdly composed, it pulls my nerves right out of me but like in a good way?? The part where Luke starts ''unplugging'' the dancers and his voice becomes low and rough gives me such a fine tingle in the stomach AHHHHH Serbia wants a win and it damn well shows, and maybe it won't happen this year but if they keep this up I don't think they will have to wait for much longer

2) Spain - this is genuinely amazing and I think it grew to be the only song that wouldn't make me want to set fire to the universe if it won in Sweden's place lol just because it's so ethnically artsy and well-sung and it has such sad melancholic good lyrics, plus I think Blanca would actually make a good winner ''Ay child, when I die let them bury me on the moon so that I'll see you every night, every night except one'' Best damn lyrics of the year hands down! This >>>>>>>>>>>>>> booty hypnotic

1) Sweden - The way she claims exactly every bit of the stage that she needs to, the way she shapes sound between her teeth, the desperation in her voice in the final part, the actual tattoo element which is important in her Berber culture, the creativity in the desert environment with both sand and sky, the double reference to the Atlas myth and the Atlas mountains, there's so much cool shit around this even if you don't like the song and so much to be happy about her participating again and so many people are choosing to stay mad for some of the most ridiculous reasons I've ever heard Unbelievable Not to mention that ''it's a song contest!!'' only when it fits their narrative I know she probably won't, it would be way too perfect and eurofans this year have decided that making literal history isn't cool, but IF she does…

Been going through my drafts to try and tag a lot of the art I’ve been saving and start to queue it up, but two posts caught my eye. This one and this one.

I’ve linked them here because I think both of these posts sort of work in tandem. These thoughts have been living in my head rent-free for a while, and I wanted to put my thoughts down.

As usual, I’ll put my thoughts below a cut, since I have a feeling the post may turn out long otherwise.

So the first post I wanted to talk about was this one by babylulururu, who points out Artem’s lines to MC in Chapter 6 of the main story and found them interesting.

I find it also interesting, but for a different reason. Namely, I find these lines interesting because it shows Artem’s approach when it comes to investigations, while also being a bit of foreshadowing regarding how he sees the relationship between him and MC.

Even though “technically” Artem and MC are partners, Artem is still her senior and her boss. MC is clear that she has a lot to learn from Artem, and is willing to put in the work. Meanwhile, on the other hand, Artem is willing to let MC explore and make her own mistakes. But, there’s a caveat with that.

Maybe it’s just me, but Artem’s line, “I can only protect you when you stumble, when you are within my reach. I’ll always try to lend you a hand whenever I can,” seemed to be a call-back to the phone call he had with Vyn in Chapter 2.

In Chapter 2, Vyn mentions to the person on the phone (who is insinuated to be Artem),

“Since you hold such lofty expectations for her [MC], you should stop shielding her under your wing. She is a rare rose cultivated in a Petri dish of your design. Using growth media might allow her to beautifully bloom. However, without the blessings of the wind and the rain, her spirit will lack vitality and resilience. How would such a flower differ from an artificial one? Forget not that you are lawyers.”

When I compare what Artem says in Chapter 6 to Vyn’s words in Chapter 2, I think it’s clearer to see where Vyn is coming from. When Artem mentions protecting MC, his caveat is that he can only protect MC when MC is under his wing (pun not intended), whether it’s in an official capacity as a lawyer for Themis or as part of the NXX investigation team. The unspoken implication that this statement presents is that Artem cannot protect MC if she ends up in a position that he has no control in. But regardless, he will always try to help her whenever he can.

Doesn’t Artem’s words sound similar to what Vyn mentions? About how MC is someone cultivated in a “petri dish”?

I’d like to actually talk about how Artem and Vyn are sorta similar when it comes to issues of control, but that’s another essay for another time. I also need more Artem cards to do this as well.

-----------

Now comes the second post by samsspambox, who mentions how investigating with each character in the main story differs.

As childhood friends, but also due to their dynamic as Sherlock and Watson, Luke ends up taking more of the lead in the investigation. Luke ends up reasoning things out and putting the pieces together pretty early on. He ends up taking the lead, for the most part, as he usually ends up in the position of guiding MC to the conclusion he’s reached. They do bounce off each other somewhat, but Luke ends up doing most of the work in the investigation to both gather and link evidence in service of creating a solid chain of evidence for MC to use in court.

Vyn, as OP has written, makes MC play catch up. I agree with this assessment. As the narrative frames him, Vyn can easily read people and predict their actions/reactions. What’s interesting with Vyn in investigating with him is that more often than not, he ends up coming to the results first. He has a general idea of the culprit and the mental state the culprit may have been in or is in. The evidence comes in as MC investigates, which usually ends up strengthening his initial conclusion. I don’t think Vyn shows off to MC necessarily. I think he listens to MC’s theories, and corrects MC if there’s a hole in her version of events that is either not explained (because he has figured out the answer for it) or contradictory to the evidence they’ve found (because he has a specific perspective when looking at the evidence in question). He wants to help MC in service of creating a solid case.

Early on, Artem is portrayed as MC’s mentor of sorts. They are partners at Themis, but more often than not, Artem ends up stepping into the role of mentor. It’s easy to see why. Artem has more experiences with cases and in the court room, which is understandable. He knows the pitfalls of the cases, and he’s well-versed in creating a compelling case for clients - especially since Artem’s specialty is Criminal Law. MC’s specialty is in Economic law. Artem does guide MC to his conclusion, but gets them both on the same page. Artem doesn’t necessarily want to convince MC of his version of events, but wants MC to see his perspective and his rationale and vice-versa so that from there, they can brainstorm to prove or disprove the version of the events laid out by their perspective of the evidence. This is why Artem’s and MC’s conclusions change as they investigate and gather new evidence, but it’s also why they may not see eye to eye in investigations.

Marius is an interesting case when it comes to investigations. He does come off as more of a lay-person when investigating, but it’s easy to miss that underneath that attitude of his, he has a fairly good intuition. I do agree with OP that “he is with MC every step of the way,” I also think that the intuition he has is why he ends up throwing out counterpoints. He ends up playing Devil’s Advocate in his cases with Rosa, and I think that’s intentional. As an artist and businessman, Marius is used to viewing things from a new perspective, whether its objects or people. He has to prepare for any eventuality that may occur, hence why the counter points come up. He knows he doesn’t quite have the information gather capacity that Luke does, the people reading skills that Vyn does, or the law information Artem does, but he makes up for it by being actively present in the investigations and actively challenging the assumptions both of them make during the investigation. He will immediately pinpoint when it feels like things are off, though at the moment, he may not know why, until he and MC end up investigating more.

Personally, I think that examining investigation dynamics with each of the LI’s can be fascinating because I think it’s also foreshadowing a part of the relationship dynamic they have with MC.

Luke ends up trying to deal with everything on his own like Sherlock. For the sake of gathering information and to help MC with concluding their cases, he ends up putting himself in harm’s way more often than not, and usually without telling her. He and MC work together well as main detective and assistant, but the onus of gathering information and coming conclusions ends up with him taking the lead, for good or bad.

Vyn ends up holding his cards close to his chest. He has a general idea regarding how the case will turn out, and focuses more on how each piece of the puzzle may work in service of the results he has in mind. Vyn ends up laying the groundwork for MC to take the steps necessary towards the conclusion he has come to. He often works in the shadows, usually subtly guiding MC until she ends up catching up with him.

Artem ends up as a mentor figure, helping MC link together disparate pieces of evidence and testimony that may reveal more than what they initially let on. He ends up guiding MC so that they’re both on the same page regarding the evidence, but they’re both careful to let logic and rationality play out as important parts of their case. They know their theories of the case can change based on evidence and circumstances, and that sometimes they won’t see eye to eye.

Marius ends up as an intuitive and perceptive person who can easily see differing perspectives. He is someone who can figure out if something’s off with MC or the people around him, but also someone who ends up viewing the people and actions around him from more than one perspective. He knows that sometimes words, actions, and objects can have more than one type of meaning and is more than willing to challenge himself and his assumptions.

Hey, hope you're doing well. Maybe you've talked about this before but I was wondering if you'd considered the idea of Cinder having a similar moment to Anakin in Return of the Jedi? Like Luke to Vader, Jaune forces Cinder to question her beliefs. With Cinder believing it's too late for her and Jaune stubbornly refusing to accept that thinking theres still good inside her. Or rather that she has the potential for good. I feel like something along those lines would work nicely. -EmperorLuffy

Hi EmperorLuffy, thanks for your ask.

Well, first of all, I defer to my fanfic The Distance Which Fools the Skimming Eye: my opinion on this is evident and the rest of this post is probably not even necessary to write, lol. (I think you mentioned you may have read it, but for those who haven't/have no interest etc. I'll go into detail on redemption arc features instead).

Second of all, I know you're just using it as a reference but this is a really well established point of interest with redemption arcs in general, not just Luke and Vader, and my favourite stuff ever.

The reason I particularly hold no interest for retreading the Original Trilogy intentionally is because Vader and Luke is a father and son dynamic. That does not fit a romantic dynamic which Cinder and Jaune would (theoretically) have, and is particularly damning given that Vader's death-by-redemption, in its misunderstood glory, characterised modern narrative reception of redemption arcs which should conceivably end in death because they're too hard to write I guess. (We would not like that for Cinder).

Rey/Kylo Ren explored it from a romantic angle already in universe.

So, if I would be taking any cues from SW, it would be from Reylo.

Reylo is actually very successful at this; the relationship between Rey and Kylo Ren is two-way, and the more interesting thing to me is how they're personally fulfilling to each other and would have a future they equally create together (when Rey is offering a future to Kylo, it's also her own). This is not a feature of the father-son dynamic really, not in the same way.

My point sort of here is that I'd like to see more interesting things from Jaune/Cinder which explore redemption arcs from more interesting angles than the established Vader or Zuko generally speaking. (Every girl interested in redemption arcs gets a little tired of hearing about Vader and Zuko).

But yeah, I do love a yummy yummy baddie who thinks they're too far gone and is scared to take the opportunities offered to them because they've been hurt, this is basically why I run my blog, this is one of those questions where I'm kind of laughing because it's essentially the reason I exist at all.

So yes, I would like to see Jaune fervently believe in Cinder when she doesn't and it seems impossible and her life is a tragic cycle. That's all I want. It's the absolute last thing he should ever do (in popular belief) and is a transgressive act but is also the best and most correct thing spiritually and morally. As I've mentioned before this really fits the Joan of Arc heretic angle as well.

In terms of structural questions the interesting thing to me is asking why the villain thinks they're too far gone and what's their standard of too far gone and how is it that they have that conception of morality and their own moral acts. In a way they can accidentally end up the mouthpiece of the very people who think they shouldn't be redeemed, and that's interesting. Because what you're doing is that by saying someone is too far gone, that means they can't turn around, and there are people who would turn around if they could but they believe otherwise. That's basically... the fundamentally interesting question of a redemption arc. Why can't you turn around?

It's that intersection of idealism and perceived failure... which is really embodied in the Byronic hero(ine), honestly. You can clearly see how Cinder's the Shadow of Ruby here, her archetype is the dark beautiful Romantic mirror.

Have a good one.

A study on prosecutors -- (previous)

And now we come to what is probably my most interesting take: a study into Barnham is a study into Franziska, only executed poorly instead of well.

Your mileage may vary on this one, but I find it rather interesting that both Barnham and Franziska only have two cases each to say their piece in their debut games. But while Franziska gets to use that time extremely well and to her advantage, even being a big part of the final case (2-4) despite not being the prosecutor we face in that one, Barnham gets underutilised and shoved off to the side without any proper payoff.

Which sucks!! Because I know for a fact I would like him if we got just one more case with him!

I had to consult my sister on Barnham because she liked him (a lot of people do, I've found!), but I actually can't stand him as he's presented to us at first. Which is the writing doing its job proper!! Maybe not for the reasons they want, but he is our prosecutorial rival and thus we aren't meant to like him until his face is revealed to us in more nuance.

The entire second trial of PL vs PW is, however, an absolute trainwreck.

Phoenix is floundering because most of his usual assets are unavailable to him here. No autopsy reports, no forensic science, no science in general. Just mob mentality and a lack of any real and clear logic to what these people believe. They say that Espella is a witch, so it must be so!! Who cares what evidence or counterarguments you present? You're wrong and Barnham is right!!

This case also does the (in my opinion) SUPER annoying thing of the gallery chanting in favour of the prosecution. Spirit of Justice did this, too, and it wasn't any less annoying to me there. It's a good way to demonstrate that you have no standing here, that Phoenix is properly screwed were it not for Layton swooping in to save us, but gosh does it just irk on my nerves. It's so annoying and self-aggrandising for the prosecution, which only serves to make me hate him further.

But after all that, you'd think this case would at least showcase Barnham's deadly sharpness in the trial, right? Well, unfortunately, no. That part is also mishandled, in my opinion.

This trial does the cardinal sin of the prosecution blocking us from making an argument with what evidence we have, then blowing right past what we proved in order to make the same sort of logic argument which they then get away with. I have actually ranted about this issue in this trial elsewhere, so I'll keep this as truncated as I can: Barnham shoots down our arguments (despite the fact that we prove Espella couldn't have held the Talea Magica, everyone just glosses right over it) and then makes his own in a very hypocritical fashion, which Layton and Phoenix don't argue because narrative convenience. It's no less frustrating to me on a second run through and even worse the more I think about it in hindsight. This trial is a mess, so it's a good thing the next one is straight fire.

Speaking of, however, we do get a better picture of Barnham in the third trial of the game. (I don't really count what we see of him in-between the trials because he is just. Odd. It's a dissonance of he is going to cut off Phoenix's head and then oh nevermind, he'll tell us where we need to go. Very off putting and thus more of a blip than any real characterisation in my eyes.) (Also he isn't really cutting off Phoenix's head, it's just the awkward blocking from their talk sprites. It is very funny for him to hold his sword unintentionally at Phoenix's neck though.) (Also also hey Barnham you're a bad dog owner. Constantine runs around the town biting people, get your dog under control!!!) This whole trial is excellent due to the high stakes, but Barnham is a lot less aggravating in this trial, even if his refusal to stick with one single epithet drove me insane. I fully admit that is a me issue, though. His willingness to let us cross-examine Cracker with Luke's help and his refusal to let Emeer get away with what he did is great. Good moments from him there.

But then it's still an issue that he's so cruel to Maya, telling her to stop talking or they'll cut the trial short. It reminds you again and again that, in his eyes, witches are not people. It reminds you of the end of the previous trial and how he didn't even flinch when Kira was sent into the flames.

His regret for what happens to Maya is also, if I may say, a bit under pronounced. This moment is for Phoenix, really, where he might throw a punch at the man who contributed to Maya's seeming demise, and though Phoenix doesn't punch the man out, it definitely doesn't help us to like Barnham any more. There's an intriguing line between Barnham and the Tavern owner which goes nowhere (I thought it was going to turn out that she was his sister) because it's a point of convenience more than it is for character. Barnham going to her tavern every so often for a drink would be more interesting if it wasn't glossed over by the end.

Barnham sneaking outside of Labyrinthia to tail Darklaw is, actually, another point in his favour! It shows him starting to question his orders, if what he's doing truly fits his sense of justice! But we see too little of him in the Shade's village to get much more than that inkling. He's whisked away yet again before anything really interesting can happen with his discovering this whole ecosystem outside of what he thinks of as his home. He's not allowed to deviate from the script…

…which is why Darklaw simply writes him out. Barnham is sent to prison in the end, shutting him off from any sort of satisfying conclusion. That's it for his character! He sends Constantine to help Layton and Luke for a minute, but we literally don't see Barnham again until the ending cutscene! And I mean the one where Layton and Phoenix are headed back to London! Barnham doesn't get a single line of dialogue after he's written out!!! And this sucks, because I know we could have gotten really into his whole flawed mindset of protecting Labyrinthia even if it means shutting his sympathies off from those who would be human. His dehumanising of witches gets questioned in the third trial, but never fully deconstructed. So he ends up feeling like his arc wasn't completed and thus I never actually made it up to the point of liking him.

Because what we're stuck with is frustration and the hints of something deeper. Would have been nice to see those depths, just saying!!

But, since Barnham's arc is woefully incomplete, allow me now to delve into Darklaw and Layton's brief stints as prosecutors.

Darklaw is the exact type of character I love, actually. Girl who destroys herself for the sake of vengeance. It's misplaced vengeance in this case and we're actually able to save her, but this core to a character all ready makes me like her more than I did Barnham.

She's twice as frustrating when facing her in this final trial, however. Her clear leading Espella along makes you really want to dig your claws in and pull the truth away from her. Phoenix does his best, but he's kinda been declawed in this game so we're working with what we can.

Her animations are all excellent. She's cool and composed, but ruthless. Her appearances beforehand make her seem stoic, manipulative, and willing to throw anyone in her way down to the ground as she climbs over their bodies. She's twisting the story as the Storyteller tries to present it, making use of his hands off approach to further her own agenda. All of this comes through really well in the brief snippets we see of her, so it's awesome and makes me like and hate her at the same time.

You know she's involved somehow. You suspect she's behind this whole thing. All you need to do is work your way up to proving it.

Which you do once you manage to get her on the stand.

She's a lot less controlling on the witness stand, surprisingly. She's in damage control mode, morose almost as if she knows it's useless to keep fighting against this truth coming to light. If Phoenix has made it this far, then he's sure to figure out all the rest. It works as she can act as if this is all a waste of time, but the underlying emotion there is exhaustion. She's tired of how long this has been going on; she's been living with this vengeance in her breast for a good while and she can see it crumbling down around her. She doesn't give up fighting until the very end, until her driving motivation is shattered right before her eyes, but she knows the end is coming. I am such a huge sucker for that sort of resigned acceptance, of knowing there's no way to halt this boulder you began rolling down the mountain long ago.

And then, enter Layton as our final opponent.

Layton as prosecutor is so HELLA. He has such a delicate tightrope walk to perform, pushing us just enough so as not to raise suspicion from Darklaw or the Judge but also giving us enough hints to keep us clawing out the truth. He's got it all figured out, but he isn't like Klavier and will lead us there by the hand. No, he's more like a controlled and cool headed Edgeworth, challenging us to figure out what he knows and waiting for us to lead the charge.

His performance is immaculate. I really adore Layton in this bit of the trial, pulling out some of his harsher faces and then being soft and unassuming when it suits him. He really is masterful in this whole thing, I am enamoured with this lego Mii faced man. XD

It is a bit jarring to suddenly have his inventory and present the final pieces of evidence and arguments we need, however. Layton just decided to take over right at the end and it's a little sad he didn't give Phoenix the spotlight then, but such is the manner of this theatre kid spirit in Layton. He has to be the one to do his dramatic point and explain how it was all done, I get that. At least he invites Phoenix along with him, even if it feels very much like he's just doing it out of courtesy. Moreso once Darklaw reveals that Phoenix was never supposed to be here. (Then why did she kidnap us???)

It is also very weird how Luke is just absent from this whole final trial. There was a similar problem in the second trial with Maya getting sidelined once Layton and Luke showed up, so I have to assume it's an economy of characters issue. What I would have given to see Luke as Layton's prosecutor assistant, though….. It also makes Luke's sudden appearance in the cutscene with Espella and Eve a bit jarring. Like oh hi when did you get here??? And then he's suddenly next operating some heavy machinery??? Luke teleporting over the place here in this final bit, this is a tangent sorry

Anyway!! Very sad about Barnham's lack of closure to his arc. We got great Darklaw and Layton moments out of it, but I feel we should have gotten a cap to Barnham's character instead. Would be much more satisfying for him and maybe I would have actually liked him. Alas.

BOOK 4, BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH LLAMALAD REVIEW

Ok first HELLO?!?!?!? I HAVENT DONE SOMETHING LIKE THIS IN FOREVER?!?! Now thanks to my new aztec mythology storyline I've decided to dive back into the pjo series and finish book four. I finally have the time to do so, AND NOW I GET EVEN MORE STUFF TO READ I GOT 5 MORE BOOKS AFTER THIS ONE, THEN THE SUN AND THE STAR, THEN THAT OTHER ONE!! (I forgor the name) NOT TO MENTION THE NEW SERIES COMING UP!!! so excited rn!! Alrighty let's get onto the review. THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS BTW

EVENTS MAY BE OUT OF ORDER DUE TO ADHD RAMBLING

OK SO THE BEGINNING SEEMED PRETTY NORMAL. always like seeing capture the flag, very fun!! Im a certified hater of the saytrs that were dissing grover, they can go like, fall in a hole or something.

Possible jail break with a coward dude with 100 hands?!?!?! Also woman with like a bunch of dragon and other animal heads that's also pretty cool. Comparing these designs to aztec monsters is very silly lol

Skipping to when they finally get into the laberynth, HERA IS VERY SUSPICIOUS I DON'T LIKE HER, but like then again maybe she's just on edge cuz Zeus cheated on her like half a million times. So what do I know.

Sphinx scene was very silly, sphinx is bbg, she is one of my favorite monsters cuz she reminded me of nepeta from homestuck.

Percy getting blown up by a volcano filled with silly little feral creatures is also pretty standard, then getting saved by some garden person. Her name was calypso, very nice name!! Her character was also refreshing.

Fight with that other one son of poseidon was also very cool, but i was too busy feeling bad about Annabeth and her interaction with Luke. Buuuut- ANNABETH STOP CRYING OVER HIM IK HES LIKE A SIBLING TO YOU BUT GET OVER IT HES EVIL NOW!!!!

Stupid little creature eyepatch demi god literally running as soon as they free him, mf is NOT greatful. Smh. IDC IF YOURE THE CHILD OF THE REVENGE GOD OR WHATEVER GET OVER IT YOU EDGELORD!!! speaking of edgelords, NICO STOP TALKING TO DRUG DEALER GHOSTS WHO HOLD YOUR DEAD SISTER OVER YOUR HEAD STOP!!

Speaking of nico when he got held hostage by that other guy previously and percy had to talk to those freaky flesh eating horses, those monsters were pretty neat. Like carnivorous horses seem like an awesome creature design. 10/10 would fight for my life.

OK GOING BACK TO THE SUBJECT when nico finally got betrayed by that ghost king guy it literally went like this

King of ghosts: MWAHAHAHA YOU STUPID CHILD I GOT WHAT I WANT U AINT GETTING UR SISTER BACK, DEATH TO THE CREATOR OF THE LABYRINTH HERE I CO-

Nico: skill issue

King of ghosts: WHAT?? WHAT DOES THAT MEA-

Nico: S K I L L I S S U E

*Obliterates with ground powers*

Also, my biggest comment and my FAVORITE REVEAL IS LUKE??? HELLO??? HIM COMING OUT OF THE TOMB POSESSED BY CRONOS ALMOST KILLING PERCY WITH TIME POWERS IS LITERALLY SO COOL?? it sent LITERAL chills down my spine, like, percy having time warped around him because he is the titan of time basically, and almost KILLED percy if it weren't for that hair brush. DUDE. LIKE, DUDE. THE NARRATIVE IMPACT IS IMMACULATE, ESPECIALLY ANNABETHS REACTION IS SO..

THEN THE LITERAL SOB FEST THAT IS PAN'S DEATH?? HELLO BRO LITERALLY JUST WANTED TO FADE AWAY BUT WAS ANCHORED BY THE FALSE HOPE OF THE SAYTRS. WUUGH WUH WRKG

Ok NEXT I must say the pet hell hound is literally adorable I love her sm TOO BAD HER OWNER KILLED HIMSELF jk nico killed him kinda BUT STILL. that battle at the end was REALLT COOL. Nico using his epic powers, tyson being tyson, and horse man shooting arrows epically?!?!?! and THE ANGST. I literally almost cried again when one of the only two dionysus children DIED. like BRO WHY THEM??? WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GIVE THEM A NAME, THAT MADE IT WORSE, AND THE FACT THAT DIONYSUS ACTUALLY CARED AND PROBABLY GRIEVED FOR HIS SON.

Ok I think I covered the main parts, finally after this and after the death ceremonies, Annabeth being annoying, and nico being emo again and leaving, percy went home for his birthday. And everything seemed normal, tyson literally being the best character as normal, Mr blowfish man wanting to marry Percy's mom. AND THEN NOT ONLY POSEIDON PULL UP, BUT ALSO NICO?? LIKE YALL WERENT INVITED BUT OK. also sand dollars are cool I guess.

OK IM DONE NOW BYEEEEEE. BOOK IS 100/10 EXPECT POSSIBLE PJO FAN CONTENT SOON, BUT ALSO MAINLY MY AZTEC MYTHOLOGY STORYLINE!! FAIR WELL, ONTO BOOK 5 NOW