2. Silver on the Tree, by Susan Cooper

Owned: Yes Page count: 195 My summary: The Dark rises for the last time. The Pendragon must find the sword, with the youngest Old One at his side. And the Drew children each face their own trial. Will the prophecy come true, or will the Dark evermore rule the land? My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

And the final Dark Is Rising book! Better late than never. Silver on the Tree is a weird one for me; I don't always rate it as part of the sequence, I think the buildup of the story is far more interesting than the payoff, but there's enough here that's engaging and brings up intriguing questions about the world, and about broader topics like identity and life. The payoff to Bran's story, in particular, is something I love very deeply - the idea of the struggle between destiny and grand heritage and the very normal child who just wants to live his life, as portrayed by a man who just wants that kid to have the best life possible. John Rowlands is a perfect foil both to the Light and the Dark in the climax. The Light and the Dark are arguing over whether Bran should rightly be sent back to the time of his father or allowed to remain in the future, and what that means for his destiny, and John Rowlands is asking what language they spoke in the past, and wondering how Bran could live there if he didn't understand them. It's such a human thing to wonder about, and it's ultimately his perspective that ends up mattering. He puts aside his ill-feeling towards both Light and Dark and chooses what is best for Bran Davis, this kid he's watched grow up. No more, no less. It's a very human ending.

That got more analytical than I was intending. What else about this book? My main criticism of it is that it sort of strays into the Big Concepts and set-pieces and isn't (despite what I just said) as grounded in the human aspect as much as other books. It's also broader in scope and thus a bit more rambling, taking the narrative around Arthurian England and Wales, through a mystical otherland, as well as back to the 1800s. The result, however, is that we don't spend as much time in one location as we do in later books, leading to a slightly more choppy narrative without a strong sense of place. That's not necessarily a dealbreaker or anything, it's just an element I didn't like as much in this one.

That said, it's not as though the mythical elements of this book are bad. One thing I'll always praise Susan Cooper for is her vivid and visual descriptions of locations - Bran and Will's voyage through the Lost Lands is testament enough to that, but I'm particularly fond of the section where they travel down the river and gather branches from the trees. I don't know why, I just love the image. Bran's sword which can't be seen unless he's holding it, too, is neat. And there's so many references to actual mythology of the area, like Taliesin or the Mari Lwyd. I really liked it! It's just not my favourite, sorry.

Next up, a horror monster and the end of the world.

Some amateur (and even high budget) horror pet peeves of mine

I'll try to be as brief as I can be (lie) but feel free to ask me to ellaborate if I don't make sense:

Takes place in middle class USA: That's it, that's the post. I feel like one of my biggest issues with modern horror is just how americacentric it is. There's a treasure trove of concepts and stories that can be found in other cultures yet we are recycling the most mass appeal shit possible. As someone who isn't white and isn't living in the US, I'm tired of mascot horror. I went to chuck e cheese once, I don't know what an animatronic is. I want to see a horror story about indigenous people's interactions with creatures of the forest from the 7th century, I don't care about your US high school experience.

Relies heavily on nostalgia to build atmosphere: I think we are actually stagnating culturally. "REMEMBER THE 2000s!?" has become the new "REMEMBER THE 90s?", which itself has not fucking died because of the aesthetic in emulating things from the past. The culture of consumption and instant gratification has only gotten worse and offers nothing in the realm of substance. Why build atmosphere when you can just rely on people's sentimentality? Hell don't even be accurate, just grab a bunch of shit from different eras and throw it in there.

Liminal space/impossible space/Non-eucledian geometry: Listen, I love me a good infinite pit of death. I love me a good blood lake. I love an endless staircase. Abandoned city, empty school, love em. But I feel like some people's concepts of liminal space is just going outside??? When you want to rely on the vague recollection of a shared experience, much like relying on nostalgia, you also have to recognize that some of these things are just... normal? These environments only make sense from a human point of view. The way they're placed is uncanny, but also very calculated. To me, it works against the genre itself because only another person could come up with something like this.

Digital and analog horror: There's a ghost in my computer dick, aahhhh. This goes kind of hand in hand with the reliance on nostalgia. But it really seems like not many people have delved into the genre further than the typical possession story or zombie-adjacent apocalypse. Within a year it became saturated. There are a few fun stories here and there, but these stories can only function in the realm of having all the time in the world to lead you around an easter egg hunt, or having a youtuber do it for you. ARGs can be fun, but most of them are tedius and pedantic. The payoff is usually not worht the buildup and the aesthetics get old very quickly. They're neat as something you can do basically from your bedroom with a shitty laptop, but beyond that they're not that remarkable because most are lacking in that creative spark.

It was capitalism all along: Alright, time to throw hands. Greed has been a driving force for most of the tragedies in human history. Many stories have themes of capitalism that are not outright addressed, but are just visible enough for you to realize that it's one of the main causes for the events of a story. However, I feel that we have reached a point in social awareness that gives people the resources and information needed to say meaningful things. We KNOW capitalism bad, but what do we do with that? Nothing! Political themes and horror are at odds because while we are running around from big scary monsters, people in the real world are actually dying by the thousands due to corporate greed. Horror itself is not something that HAS to say very meaningful things on a large social scale, but I just tune out when the villain is a CEO that turned 7 children into ghost fuel to make a 4% profit on the 2019 fiscal year. Someone in the story died because their boss exploited them too much and now they're a wraith? That sucks, that happens all the time in the real world. Have a little bit more tact with this subject matter or don't use it at all.

Mascot horror: As stated above, I can't take these kinds of stories seriously because they rely on such a dumb premise to begin with. These are stories for literal children, so I shouldn't complain too much. But they take center stage on most social spaces, so I will complain. In stories where the ghost of middle class children get to possess robots or costumes or whatever, EVERYTHING should be fucking possessed. You've probably heard every other criticism about how lazy and saturated the field is so I don't have to bring it up. But I can't engage with the premise in general.

I get that this is mostly a mainstream issue, but sometimes I wish people would just pick up a book sometimes and tell something new instead of trying to be barely deritative of something else lol

So since I have some time now:

Here are my overall thoughts of c!Wilbur's penultimate lore stream that came out yesterday

I haven't rewatched it or anything, think of this as the overall review, with both some compliments and some criticism because I love this character and have been so invested on him for so long, I will always want what's better for his overall arc. So that's the "some negativity ahead" warning

First off: This stream was real fucking funny, especially after Connor shows up. It really exemplifies the weird ass things that can happen on this server as part of a larger and darker narrative while being completely silly, and that's the stream's strongest point aside from some neat character lines here and there. The humour is great, fantastic... But I need to complain about how especially the pacing leads this to feel like half-baked lore in the larger scheme of things and the humour alone can't get me to look away from the issues (I will say nice things down there too though, it's not like I disliked it completely or anything)

So, let's start with the beginning. Wilbur was in the community house, Niki appears, we go into confrontation and Wilbur apologizes mode. Very much expected since it's been the formula since the Tubbo apology stream.

My biggest issue here is how none of Niki's worst things are brought up, like the fact that she freed Dream from prison, that she fully intended to kill Tommy and blame Tubbo for it, that she burnt down the L'mantree and abandoned the l'manburgians when they were already down, sabotaging them, instead she demands Wilbur to be aware that he abandoned her, yada, yada. Not what I wanted, but again, very much expected since it's been a reoccurring issue since my own judas that characters at fault for many things just default to berating Wilbur while he folds like a lawn chair and their own misdeeds are never brought up so everything lacks a sense of balance and feels very rushed.

On that rushed sentiment: holy hell this one was rushed. After they go back and forth a bit, Wilbur apologizing, Niki saying that he left and never acknowledging that he was dead on the ground and six feet under, Wilbur apologizing, the fact that Wilbur did what he could for Niki during Pogtopia regarding the circumstances until the very end, ultimately getting her a place in, being willing to sacrifice himself for her and getting her a fox to fight for since the hope for L'manburg was practically lost by that point is barely brought up at all since it's one of those "Wilbur gets berated now" moments. But then, abruptly, it ends, and before Wilbur can get too spat on unlike previous lore streams (which I at least appreciate, because that gets tiring. Still would be much better if we could... You know... Explore the other character's misdeeds while Wilbur was dead as well), Niki switches on a dime, telling Wilbur that she missed him anyway, going from antagonizing to friendship in a second. Which could be done right, as in a "in the height of emotions they both break and cry because they're just so glad to eachother again under all the anger and hurt" way, but it just... Wasn't. It was too abrupt a change, we didn't get enough of an emotional high for it to be the payoff, and it feels disappointing with how much buildup this apology in particular has gotten (Wilbur had been preparing to talk to Niki since before even talking to Eret and has mentioned her every apology stream without fail. This HAD to be the big one before like... Tommy and possibly Quackity) and how we KNOW that Niki feels about Wilbur

She openly said that he was "invading her safe space" when catching wind of him being alive and residing at Phil's (In Techno's birthday stream). She believes that he betrayed her and left her on purpose and used her (unfounded and ridiculous as those claims are, like... Give us something, there's so much of an emotional punch to the gut hiding there just below the surface without going the "steps all over wet cat Wilbur" way either. Just say more, give it more spice, make it feel real, and maybe have Wilbur say something deeper about all he did for her in Pogtopia for once aside from "yeah, I'm sorry, I left you" and have THAT be the emotional break where they realize they can't be mad anymore, or something)

So anyways, there's the cute cake scene which I will give props to. That scene elevates the stream, because it's the kind of casual, more improv-based and neat little character building moments that I miss so much. We get Wilbur establishing that Niki taught them how to bake back in L'manburg. It calls back to her bakery, echoing all she lost, it gives you a mental image of those better times in L'manburg where they could afford to have a nice time and learn how to bake, and by contrast, how far they've all fallen. It establishes that Wilbur sucks at baking and put too much salt in, thinking it was right, but all with the good intention of giving Niki something nice as a gift to eat, and if anything summarizes Wilbur's constant struggles with wanting to be better for everyone else but not getting it quite right despite his intentions, it's that. Cute scene, funny, character building, good for analysis, 11/10 would watch Wilbur suck at cooking again

So then Connor shows up, whom Wilbur doesn't even know, and we go off the rails from there. So here starts the funniest parts, which are good, however, it is also a detriment, like I'm sorry to be a party pooper, but again, the Niki confrontation got too much buildup to be so suddenly put aside and derailed. They have too much angst buildup just sitting there, and Connor showing up doesn't even prompt anyone to mention the syndicate even in passing, which again, the missed opportunity of delving into the other character's misdeeds and mistakes. Hell, even the missed opportunity of just even mentioning that both Niki and Connor are in a group which Phil and Techno are a part of, to give Wilbur some further context for the history he's trying to ignore since motherfucking 3rd of august, 2021 of Doomsday

Then we got to the Ghostbur plot. Ok. Listen, Ghostbur is my boy, I really wanted him to be called back to and mentioned again, and everything pointed to it being a thing in this last stretch... But that was so extremely rushed as well. First of all, again, it feels shoehorned in, everything here feels like it needs a breather and to maybe be two streams minimum of longer duration each to really have things settle and mean something. Why are we getting the supposed Ghostbur closure in the Niki stream? The one that had so much buildup towards the Niki confrontation? With Niki, who did not think that Ghostbur was real and had a whole breakdown about him appearing in Doomsday just helping without much questioning? Are we not even gonna slightly nod to that? Ok, then, I guess... Guess we'll also ignore that this was a plot point set up with Tommy too, who actually would've added a LOT to this since he was arguably the closest person to Ghostbur, the one who respected him most and who even made him a grave. Think about what could've been if that setup had payoff, even moreso regarding the last crimeboys lore stream. Man... What we could've explored...

(Also more of a pet peeve, but god, the mention of Ghostbur as "Wilbur's good parts" is just. I love it from an in-character perspective, but damn has the expectations of what the non-analyst part of this fandom will do with that spoiled that line for me already)

Don't know if the context of Ghostbur will come back once again on the finale, as like a confirmed merge or maybe a peek, just something to symbolize that much needed self-forgiveness for Wilbur once he's stopped from what we all know he is planning to do... I can dream, but now I'm not really having high hopes about it at all

So then Connor dies to invoke Dream XD, we get some neat lines about how Wilbur doesn't even care for god and that's my iconoclast revolutionary right there, and Friend goes naked to limbo as an apology from Wilbur to what he still doesn't fully recognize as himself

And not too much after. It ends. Niki goes away. Wilbur is still kicking but not planning to for long. Connor isn't. We have one stream left

And damn... I just hope it's a LONG one or this will fall flat

Grey's Anatomy: Everything Has Changed (19x01)

And we're back!

Cons:

Nick is so boring! I still don't care, I wish they'd phased him out between seasons, it would have been so easy to do. You know how Meredith is gonna be less of a prominent focus this season, what with all these new interns? Apparently she's only going to appear in about a third of the season's episodes. If that's the new normal, or if she's leaving for good after this season and the show continues on, they should have just given her a new off-screen boyfriend who we never got to meet, or something. I miss Andrew DeLuca. Heavy heavy sigh. The point being, this episode shows Meredith and Nick rehashing the drama from the season finale months ago, where Nick walked away and went back to Minnesota, and Meredith stayed in Seattle. The degree to which I do not care about this cannot be overstated. I hope we don't spend too much time with Nick.

Teddy and Owen are back and already bickering with each other, so that's... fun, apparently. Turns out Owen conveniently got all criminal charges dropped and he's back, he just has to be supervised for six months? Look, you know I'm not a fan of Owen, and I'd just as soon brush past all his drama and bullshit, but that's so much buildup for so little payoff! Is that really the end of the whole saga of Owen performing unauthorized death with dignity on people? Yeesh, what a waste of time.

Pros:

This show is good at renewing itself again and again; there have been so many characters over the years who got folded in as new leads that I grew to love as much as the original gang, and that's a super rare thing on TV! Bringing in a whole new crop of interns is something we've done before, but never with so much emphasis, I don't think.

And to be honest? I'm on board! Obviously one episode isn't enough to fully get into the nuances of these five new characters, but I was impressed by how much they're already sticking with me. There's the one that Link slept with, there's Griffith whose mother died at this hospital when she was born, there's Harry Shum Jr. as the cocky kid "Blue" who is bound to get his ego knocked down a peg, there's Derek's nephew, quintessential screw-up who Meredith says reminds her of Amelia, another black sheep in the family with a spark of genius...

There's a lot of promise here! We're seeing the beginnings of friendships, of rivalries, dynamics with the attendings. I could see myself getting really attached to these newbies, the same way I found myself really attached to Jo, or any number of other characters who were folded into the show after it had been on the air for a long time. We'll have to see!

But turning to the characters I already know and love... Schmitt! Getting to be chief resident! I'm so proud of this guy, I can't even stand it. The comedy bits about him hating his residency with Jo were great, as was Jo's vindictive anger at him stepping away. Jo was in fine form as comic relief this week in general, honestly, laughing with infectious delight at Link's sleeping-with-an-intern situation.

And Meredith, while I am not a fan of the romance stuff with Nick, I do like seeing her in charge, seeing her do a good job. For years now, they've been tamping down on the super high octane personal drama with Meredith: yes, she still nearly died of COVID and all that, but her internal emotional life has mellowed down quite a lot. I really like that as a way to keep this character around after so many years of the show, and seeing her in a mentorship role, making the speech to the new baby interns, was really neat!

The actual medical issue at hand here is dealing with several brain dead patients who are potential organ donors. One of the interns (Derek's nephew) makes a terrible mistake and communicates with the wrong family, nearly depriving a mother of the chance to say goodbye to her son before he is cut open in order to save another person's life in a triple transplant surgery. This causes no end of strife, but in the end the transplant goes forward and is successful. I liked the intern, Blue, who gave the heartfelt speech about his dead sibling who donated their organs when they died in a crash, and got the mother to agree, before turning around and saying "yeah, I made that all up." Good stuff. I think if I had to pick, he'd be an early favorite for me, among the new intern crowd.

And that's where I'll leave off for now. Much to consider in how our various characters will be developed: the new faces, old faces, Grey Sloan Memorial's second chance as a teaching hospital... chaos awaits, and I'm along for the ride as always!

8/10

What’s your opinion on the Traitor Plot-line for MHA?

For me I honestly feel like it was pointless since there was real buildup to it and apparently Aoyama only helped with two events and we aren’t told the extent of his aid to the League

Just everything about it is just bad

Well, I like that it’s not completely out of now whereas there were hints to it here and there throughout the story. And at least they used a character that actually interacted with Izuku to give a little emotional payoff. That being said, the payoff wasn’t worth it, and the confrontation was over way too quick. Personally, I wish that not everyone in the class was so quick to forgive Yuga. Izuku I can understand because a) that’s shounen protagonist trope in action, b) it’s his personality to forgive easily, and c) as someone who grew up quirkless he understand Yuga’s struggles and feelings, so he’s more likely to be sympathetic. I can even accept Aizawa’s instant forgiveness because for all his talk of rationality he’s a very emotional person. He hides it well but most of Aizawa's actions are based on his feelings for a person, and Yuga is his student so naturally, he’s biased. The others could have had a variety of feelings though, some opposing like Present Mic’s. It would have been nice where they had a chapter after Yuga was arrested and actually talked these things out, possibly debating with one another. Hell, some could start to become paranoid thinking, “what if there’s another traitor here?” showing that there were some ramifications for Yuga’s deceit. Not only would all this give us more insight into each of the students' personalities and their thought processes, (are they more likely to approach a situation logically or emotionally, etc) but it would show that they fully understand Yuga’s actions, what he did, and what it could have cost. All of this would have made the eventual forgiveness mean so much more. I agree that we need to know the full extent of his aid to LoV to properly judge him. Also, he should have done more to make his presence as a traitor worth something and make the villains look more villainous. Don’t misunderstand, Yuga still did wrong; he betrayed his classmates and teachers to dangerous villains with murderous intent twice when they trusted him. His actions also led to Aizawa getting his face smashed in, Bakugou’s capture, and Izuku tearing up his body to fight against muscular. I think he was also passing information on Izuku and his skills, but still. Just needed a tiny bit more—not too much, though—to make this plot worthwhile. Oh, and the audience should have seen the death AFO committed to convince Yuga's family to work for him in flashback form. Not only to demonstrate more of AFO’s tactics but to show the audience why they were so scared. As is, I think the setup was just enough to be passable story-wise, but the payoff wasn’t worth it. It’s buying a book with a neat cover and because of the teaser on the back only to have the actual story lackluster. It feels like Hiro just wants to finish the story at this point as a lot of the recent arcs seem fairly rushed, so he’s not giving arcs what they need for the payoff. (Hell, he gave Aizawa’s backstory—a crucial piece of information and plot—to another author to handle.) But that's just me.

Thanks for the message!

Candyman 2021

Just saw Candyman 2021 and figured I would post about it (btw there's a few spoilers)

For reference, the original Candyman is my second favorite movie of all time due to it's writing, score, and the atmosphere that it creates.

I think that overall the new movie was a good movie with a lot of ups and downs. To start with the things I liked, I really thought that the cinematography was gorgeous. A lot of the shots in the movie are really effective with their imagery such as the death of the art critic mirroring Anthony creating his 'Say my Name' piece. I think that this type of cinematography really carried the movie as it meant that the movie was very visually interesting the whole way through. With this being Nia DaCosta's second full-length film, I think it's very impressive that she was able to capture the story of Candyman in such a visually interesting way.

I also thought that the acting was really good, for the most part the characters were super consistent and sympathetic and you really felt for them throughout the movie. My favorite character was without a doubt Brianna because as an audience member you could reasonably understand everything she said and did and she was a very smart horror character who took minimal risks. I also really liked that you could tell how much she loved Anthony and how worried she was for him in the scene where she found his paintings which made the ending all the more impactful.

Finally, while I still like the Phillip Glass Score from the original better, I think this movie's score is excellent and really has this ominous droning quality to it that really creates this buzzing sensation in your head that's very effective in setting you up for a horror movie. The seemingly random rhythmic intervals lead the music to feel slightly off, especially for those who wouldn't be able to identify the difference in the rhythmic timing. This really leads to a truly unnerving experience when listening to the new score which carries an unsettling weight throughout the film.

Now for the things that I'm not the biggest fan of. I think that the themes explored within the script are very interesting and that the script has a lot of payoff when exploring these themes. I wish, however, that when discussing some topics it wasn't so clunky within the dialogue. Many people point out the first scene with Anthony and the discussion of gentrification as being clunky and I would have to agree. This example is particularly disappointing as there is a significantly more natural discussion of gentrification later in the film when Anthony is talking to the art critic. This discussion feels more justified than the first which honestly feels like a rundown of what gentrification is for audience members who are unaware. This issue is only present throughout a few scenes though and otherwise the dialogue is generally well-written

My other big problem with the film is how disjointed some things are within it. All of the scenes involving that teenage girl could have been completely cut out and nothing else in the movie would have changed. The scene where the teenage girls die honestly really took me out of the movie because it honestly felt like I had stepped out of this movie, which used horror elements to discuss aspects of the black experience in America, to any other slasher movie that cares more about cool kills than having an interesting, deeper message. Other aspects like Brianna's father killing himself also felt super disjointed because, although it was more intertwined within the story it didn't feel like it added anything that other elements of the movie could have provided.

My final big problem with the film was the ending. I know everyone talks about it but it really was one of the biggest issues of the film. First off, I did like parts of it. I think the moment when Anthony dies is heartbreaking and that the whole scene with Brianna in the car with the cop was fantastic with an amazing performance by Teyonah Parris. However, I think the rest is really odd and almost feels like it's the end of a different movie. William Burke really goes insane during the ending and while the performance by Colman Domingo is really effective and scary, I don't think that it really fits with his character of the storyteller, and it really comes out of left field. I also don't know why William felt the need to bring back Candyman when Candyman had been operating throughout most of this movie and had been killing people with no help from him. The ending felt pretty disjointed from the film as well, in the sense that I vaguely understood how we got from the film to the ending, but it also felt like I had skipped the last hour of buildup to this point. This led to the ending technically working but also feeling somewhat unfinished as I felt like I had missed something that would have led to this movie being wrapped up in a neat little bow.

Overall I'd have to say I enjoyed the film more than I didn't like it, even if I had more to say about my dislikes. I also liked a lot more things than I mentioned but I didn't want to write like a whole 5 page report on the movie. I'm really happy that Nia DaCosta was able to be the first black female director to have a movie open at number 1 and I can say that the movie deserves it. Even if I wished certain aspects of the movie were better I think that this is a project that Nia DaCosta and everyone else who worked on this film can be proud of, and I hope for more stories, especially in horror, that present first-hand perspectives on the difficulties that certain groups of people can experience in America.

things we’ve gathered from the stream with jt:

- he’s thrilled that we read the comics and got kinda choked up about it - he has big plans for both of the pauls and especially alice marion in future games (perhaps simon wasn’t lying about her connection?) and he’s probably said too much because red barrels had to pop in - jenny roland is a subject he can’t broach because she will appear in future installments (specifically the next game), however she doesn’t prefer socks or slippers because she’s a neat freak and walks around her house barefoot - he names characters he hates after people he likes and also takes inspiration from irl people he’s met. lynn is an amalgam of people he’s met in the industry - jeremy blaire is the nastiest character in the franchise because he is the most culpable for his actions and the most capable of assuming responsibility - eddie is the most fun to write because of his personality and dialogue, and outlast can also most definitely be viewed in a dating sim lens  - not outright stated, but implied by both jt and red barrels, the walrider doesn’t like dogs, and is implied to have a temperament where it becomes very attached to one person, is very defensive, and doesn’t like sharing - chris has a military family background and struggled to connect to others after he returned home from the war as a veteran, and was seeking something that he could protect - trager’s father had expectations he could never possibly live up to and was unfathomably rich, so rick was considered a failure - trager eats spinach croissants because he hates himself - simon peacock, unlike the voice director he was named after, is not a new zealander. interesting! - waylon plays mario kart with his kids and likes heavy metal. he’s the cool dad - frank enjoys phil collins because like his music, cannibalism can be much likened to patience, waiting for the buildup to the payoff, so to speak - even though knoth is a shitty guy his taste in music is on point - marta’s goal was to become perfectly brainwashed, as reflected in her obedience to knoth, and she no longer feels many things except hollowness due to how she has absorbed the cult mentality - he literally didn’t hesitate to use she pronouns for val - father martin is a fan of bob ross and painted landscapes in art therapy - philip seymour hoffman is jt’s dreamcast for paul marion and greatly inspired his characterization - he asked me if i was a plant from red barrels when i asked if trials connects back to the mkultra documents found in the first game so need i say more - HE HAS A PET BUNNY NAMED HOLLY 10/10

there’s probably more that i’ve forgotten already but that’s all off the top of my head! it was a wonderful stream and if you guys can donate please do!

14, 18, 40 (for blankie rune) :3c

14. How good are you at predicting how long a story is going to be?

I would say, I am fairly okay, if we are talking shorter stories but sometimes stuff gets out of hand. This is not about storylength but I am abysmal with thinking about the length of an individual chapter. With longer stories I often make no specific judgement call so it is pretty hard to say. Though I did actually wrote "Nur ein Spiel" with a certain amount of chapters in mind and to my own surprise that actually worked out. So yeah, I am pretty alright at guessing the story length is where I am at. Sorry, I guess I'm just very average at it.

18. Which writing ‘rules’ do you regularly break?

A lot of them! The most obvious being that I use plenty filler words in my writing. I am very aware of the rhythm in my writing and sometimes a little word can do wonders. Plus they are just very human to use in language.

I guess this is not really a writing rule but I think the more extrem views on both "Keep things realistic", and "Don't force something upon your characters" is kinda dumb. Of course one is going to enforce specific situations and if I want a character in a situation I am going to construct ist. The trick is to be a bit sneaky about it. Also I feel like the whole "realism" argument ist just... often used in very dumb ways. Mostly to uphold norms and stereotypes that either should be abandoned or could be subverted.

In general I am not really a fan of strict writing rules. Most of them are guidelines and adhering to them can be very stiffling. So the question is more how to use specific tips and what to apply yourself. For me they are for reflection and not something one should follow striktly and a lot of them can be twisted into fitting expectations and not engage with how a piece of writing actually works. The only ones I take very seriously are "aknowledge your own narrative" and "buildup needs some payoff". (I think. There might be a handful I am missing)

40. What writing detail are you most proud of in Blank Rune?

I mean, it obviously is the forshadowing game that I am very proud of. I think the fact that Taves own POVs are in chronological order and that he has no italic text is pretty neat.

ok so, here’s the thing i think i’ve finally been able to put into words that make sense re: carry on and What I’ve Always Felt Was A Little Bit Off About It

it’s sideshow representation. it’s hey!! hey look!!! it’s harry potter, But Gay!!!!! 

like, it’s a spectacle. that’s its main selling point. familiar tropes of magical schools and chosen one heroes etc., But Wait, It’s Gay™

it’s not A Fantasy Story where the main and/or side characters are incidentally LGBT+, like say in rick riordan’s books. baz and simon being gay is the main....Thing. 

it’s not that there’s anything inherently wrong with a singular relationship being the main focus of a fantasy novel, lord knows. of course not. but the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Heteronormative™ thing just does not jive with me in books like this. it’s....disingenuous and treats LGBT+ main characters as something so Other and Out There that it becomes its main attraction all up in flashing lights. like a sideshow. Ooo Look At This ~Weird~ Thing. 

its really hard to put into words the distinction between that au natural, home grown, good kush organic LGBT+ rep, but i think it boils down to something I cannot for the life of me find another way to describe other than; heft. 

heft, as in story depth, weight given to the rest of the novel outside the relationship, how much the author cares about delivering a good story that also has LGBT+ characters. vs. Oh Hey Look These Guys Are Gay, Innit That Neat? ft. oh yeah, here’s some plot to go with it i guess? but who actually cares cause like, dudes kissin n stuff. 

so, heft. proper development given to building a world for the characters to inhabit. things for them to do in tandem for their relationship building. Trials to Overcome, etc. if carry on had had this, it would’ve looked like; a proper Simon Snow series, like the whole seven books or so, in which we actually do get a world built and premise expanded on and baz and simon developed as characters with a real relationship. ft. a last book in which simon and baz do actually get together as emotional payoff to actual buildup. that’s what heft would’ve looked like instead of just one book that’s a speedrun to get to the relationship. 

and yeah sorry that’s not enough for me

My Top 10 Favorite Movies of 2019

I know it’s a bit late now that we’re pretty well-removed from New Year’s Day, but I felt that I should give my top 10 fave films of 2019. Anyway, here’s the order from best to least: 

1. Joker (dir. Todd Phillips) - A well-written, well-directed, well-shot character drama that manages to do something radically different with one of the most iconic supervillains of all time well. Yet, at the same time, this film managed to stay true to aspects of the Joker that Jared Leto could never do in 2016′s “Suicide Squad.” 

2. Avengers: Endgame (dir. Anthony and Joe Russo) - While a few problems do arise in this film, this was a satisfying finale to what had been built up for the previous 11 years. Kevin Feige should be proud of himself for building such a universe.

3. Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw (dir. David Leitch) - A damn fun time that knew what it was and took a dumb, bonkers premise and managed to craft it in a way that made it feel like art in and of itself.

4. John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (dir. Chad Stahelski) - An excellent addition to the John Wick franchise, even if there were one or two action scenes in the film that overran their welcome.

5. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (dir. Quentin Tarantino) - A fine piece of cinema that serves a great love letter to films of the 1960s while being smoothly entertaining. By that, even though very little of substance actually happens in this film, it’s carried by the trademark sharp and witty writing of Tarantino and the performances of its cast.

6. Zombieland: Double Tap (dir. Ruben Fleischer) - A rare sequel that actually manages to capture the fun and magic of the first film, even if this one wasn’t nearly as financially successful as its predecessor.

7. Doctor Sleep (dir. Mike Flanagan) - A well-done horror film that allows itself to bask in its atmosphere and tension and makes itself a worthy successor to Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 classic “The Shining.”

8. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (dir. Michael Doughterty) - A fun time that did away with the buildup that was characteristic of its 2014 predecessor and gave us what we wanted: satisfying monster fights that match the epic scope of the climax of the previous film.

9. Us (dir. Jordan Peele) - A well-done horror film with very clever setups and payoffs, likable characters, neat humor, and expert film-making that manages to disguise its own shortcomings in its plot. 

10. Ford v Ferrari (dir. James Mangold) - A well-done movie with good characters that can get you through the plot even if you don’t care about the subject matter. 

I heard Season 7 wasn't so great. I'm sure you think otherwise, but what were some highlights that you think made it worthwhile, if you did?

Alright,, get ready for this, cause I think Season 7 was pretty good, so let’s get to it:

I think lots of people who were disappointed with season 7 conflated the importance of certain things and events--especially Adam--and their hatred for the season is more so a result of it not adhering to expectations they arbitrarily decided on. 

For instance, before season 7 even dropped, we still had people claiming Shiro and Adam were fiances previously, somehow still fiances, or were meant to be. People honestly thought they’d get back together after a messy breakup and years of distance. So many fans thought a wedding was inevitable. All of this in spite of the show runners repeatedly confirming that they were never engaged, the relationship was permanently over, and Adam was really just part of Shiro’s backstory. And you can bet lots of them treated Shiro like he wasn’t “real rep” after Adam was gone, which wasn’t fair honestly. 

So anyway, some of the things season 7 did for us:

fINALLY REVEALED THE LONG AWAITED PREKERBEROS BACKSTORY BETWEEN SHIRO AND KEITH,, we’ve waited years for this guys!! It was so heartwarming and beautiful to see how their pasts intertwined to shape the present, how Keith is still by Shiro’s side all these years later,, even paralleling his devotion to Shiro with Shiro’s literal ex-boyfriend,, 

REVEALED SHIRO WAS CANONICALLY MLM,, LIKE,, THIS WAS THE REPRESENTATION THE SHOW RUNNERS HAD BEEN FIGHTING FOR ALL THIS TIME. AND IT WAS EXPLICIT, ONSCREEN REP FROM A LEAD CHARACTER. THAT’S FUCKING AWESOME,, and I’ll literally never be okay with people still crying “queerbaiting” after everything the staff went through to do this for us,, 

Keith literally willing Shiro back to life with the power of love made me like cry I can’t get over how soft and sweet they are,, 

Exploring the inner-workings and politics of the Galaxy Garrison 

WE FINALLY GOT SOME MORE QUINTESSENCE SENSITIVE KEITH AND DRUID CONTENT!!! Again, this is the payoff we’ve been waiting for since season 1!! Do you know how long I’ve wanted a Druid with more of an established character and background beyond just Faceless Enemy?? We got so much interesting info here. And the episode played out with all these neat little horror tropes--Keith hiding and tensing up when the Druid walks over his spot and that one step creaks, that maniacal laugh and mask splitting open, some of Macidus’ creepy mannerisms, ect. Parts of that episode gave me chills, I loved it!! And again, these are some of the answers and world building tidbits we’ve been waiting ages for,, 

Shiro’s new hand is cool and I love the design. I don’t care that lots of people think otherwise lmao. It’s so fun to me,, I love how big and floaty it is,, and I love that scene where Allura uses the tiara crystal to salvage Shiro’s connection with it. She was so ready for that, no hesitation, and I wish that maybe there was more of a followup to that--Allura thinking of how she got the tiara from her mother in a flashback, Shiro thanking her afterwards, something. 

SHIRO CONNECTING WITH ATLAS WAS BEAUTIFUL,, that moment where everything just sort of clicks into place. And everyone looks to him for guidance. It’s really magical. And I honestly think Shiro being able to create his own mech through his bond with Atlas is kind of a callback to that scene where Allura tells him he was meant to create, not destroy. 

In the same vein, I also think it was actually really great that Keith was the one to cut down Sendak. You can read my whole thought process on it here, but long story short, Shiro was tortured both mentally and physically by Sendak for so long. And all the time, he kept trying to push Shiro, trying to force him to be the monster the Galra always intended to make him. Killing Sendak just isn’t Shiro to me, but it’s the kind of thing Sendak would love. At least then, he’d get in a last word about how they’re supposedly the same or some other bullshit that would just torture Shiro more. And honestly, I think Shiro has been forced to do enough violence at the hands of the Galra. Keith killing Sendak is him shouldering the weight of taking a life so Shiro doesn’t have to. It’s a reprieve. It’s Keith cutting down Shiro’s demons and then being there to hold Shiro in his arms afterwards. Psychologically, I think this is so much more healing for Shiro than the alternative. That shot where Keith takes Sendak down? That’s not a Big Hero moment, it’s dark and viscerally personal. It’s not Keith stealing the spotlight from Shiro or anything, it’s Keith doing something gutting and ugly so Shiro doesn’t have to, it’s freeing Shiro from Sendak’s influence for good--and ensuring Shiro won’t have to make the killing blow frees him in a way, ends the cycle of Shiro potentially being haunted by the continued cycle of violence Sendak tried to trap him into. 

And again, I’m saying all that with the context that Shiro always pushed himself to do everything on his own, to shoulder the weight of the world--hello Atlas--because he spent so long with others looking at him with the misconception that he needed to be shielded and protected, that he couldn’t do things alone or couldn’t push past a certain point, reducing him to the symptoms of his illness--hi Adam. This season doesn’t coddle Shiro or remove him from the action. He’s not “retired,” he’s Captain, Commander. He lets himself lean on Keith for support, be held safe in his arms. But then shoves a medic away and runs to his battle station in the very next episode. Part of his character arc is learning that there can be a balance between others thinking they know what’s best for him and doing everything on his own. He learns, through his bond with Keith, that he can lean on someone and look to them for support--without being coddled or looked down on. “We saved each other”--Keith has always believed in him, has never once doubted his abilities, so trusts him enough to let be vulnerable with Keith, to let him help out when he needs it. 

WE FINALLY GOT A BIGGER HUNK STORY ARC--ALSO THE AMAZING SCENE BETWEEN HUNK AND KEITH THAT BUILDS ON THEIR EARLIER DEVELOPMENT TOGETHER,,

We see the wonderful payoff for Lance and Allura’s feelings for one another--the cute little exchanges,, Lance’s sister noticing What’s up,, the blushing and soft looks...it was so good...a lot of people hated that cause they hate the ship, but like, it was a buildup of natural progression for these characters. 

Everything in regards to Hunk, Lance, and Pidge’s families building on their respective backstories and character development

KEITH TAKING KROLIA TO VISIT HIS FATHER’S GRAVE WAS SUCH A NICE TOUCH IT HURT BUT IT FELT LIKE GOOD CLOSURE,, 

ALTEAN REI,, THE WHOLE NOTION OF HAGGAR ABANDONING THE DRUIDS AND CREATING AN ALTEAN ARMY,, THAT’S SUPER INTERESTING IM READY TO GET MORE INTO THAT,,

ATLAS IS A REALLY AWESOME MECH AND IM GLAD SHIRO HAS IT,,

So,, in conclusion--I don’t think the season’s perfect, there are some things I think could’ve been improved, but I also think it honestly did a lot of good things and built on established canon. Season 6 is what I see as the writing’s highest point for reference, btw. 

It feels like a lot of the comics from this period had the ending written before anything else. Charmy's send off, for one, and how the next comic ends (third Ixis/Nate story, that is) feel like they would have been really solid conclusions to better stories. The ones we got never actually had the time, or talent, or room, or whatever to grow into what the ending expected, and so it kind of falls flat. Thoughts?

Yeah, I definitely feel this. Having a really cool idea for an ending, either an image or where you want to leave the characters or whatever, and then working backwards is a really common writing method.

With the main series at least, I would say the constant struggle for page space in this era meant that no storyline got the attention it needed. Maybe if it was structured like the Knuckles series with only one writer and one story per issue, there could’ve been more time to feature Naugus as an antagonist, so that Sonic and Tails finally confronting him had a little more weight. But as it is, they only had about half an issue every month to devote to the World Tour storyline, with multiple writers of varying skill levels all wanting their turn to try out their own ideas and Penders always getting a B-story set back home. Naugus ends up taking a backseat to what basically amounts to a series of pilots for future stories. The stuff with Naugus and Nate Morgan has been pretty neat, but it could’ve been stronger if it felt more like the climax of an ongoing arc and less like Bollers going “okay they’re finally letting me go back to the main plot”

With the Knuckles series, the problem is mainly that Penders is really bad with pacing and character writing. He has all these neat little setpiece moments he wants to build to like Charmy becoming a prince again, or Echidnaopolis suddenly reappearing on Angel Island, or Enerjak’s return, or Knuckles becoming allies with a female Dark Legion deserter, or Knuckles having a rematch with Kragok, or there being a spy in the Brotherhood. These are all interesting ideas! But he fails to string these ideas together into a compelling story. Part of this is that everything either has no buildup whatsoever, like Charmy returning home when we’ve barely gotten to know him as a character, or are all buildup with no payoff. And because his characters are so wooden and unrelatable, it’s hard to care about the drama surrounding them

Finn’s victory was not a fluke

Let’s talk about the Finn-Phasma fight. I’ve heard Finn’s victory over Phasma being described as a lucky strike, but I don’t think that’s at all true. I thought it was another case of Finn’s quick thinking and tactical smarts saving the day, much like his hangar scene in TFA (link).

Despite being far too short and the adversary being a character that did not get nearly enough buildup, this fight is still intense and well put together. For my money it’s the most tactically interesting hand-to-hand combat sequence in the movie. It also lets Finn be the badass that he should have been for the entirety of the movie--I mean can we take a moment to appreciate the Aesthetic of him just swatting aside some dude who came at him with a gun?

The man has a gun in his face and doesn’t give a fuck. “Move, I’m in a hurry.” Pow. Doesn’t even change course, just walks right past the screaming trooper to his actual opponent. Serious kudos to the Stormtrooper’s voice work here, too, like AAAAHHHHHhhh

And also that leaping charge at Phasma? Iconic. Remember this part and what he was trying to do here, because it’s important for the payoff of the fight.

One thing I love about this fight is that Phasma is HUGE and the camera emphasizes this fact. She fills the entire screen in her two final attacks...

...and the height difference between the actors, already considerable, is emphasized by the camera angles and poses, by having Phasma attack from above and filming her from below...

...or by having Finn stumble and bend down with Phasma looming over him.

I’ll save Exhibit D of how Phasma’s size was emphasized for later, when I wrap this thing up.

This size difference is an unusual juxtaposition for a cinematic fight between a man and a woman, with the woman being the large, seemingly invincible enemy and the man the smaller one who must win by his wits if he is to win at all. I daresay the races of the characters make it even more unusual.

Finn is in trouble here, as the David in a David vs. Goliath fight always is. Even though he is strong and athletic and has aggro like nobody’s business, the best he can do is stay on the defensive and he can’t push her back. He’s being pushed back, dodge by dodge and parry by parry, until he is driven to the edge of a pit. Another leaping charge to try and get her in the helmet? He can forget about it unless he wants to be cut in half, not while she’s pressing him this way.

Then he takes a hit near the edge of the pit and flies back before he stumbles to the edge. Let’s take a closer look at that part.

Notice how, as Finn is flying backward from Phasma’s strike, he’s turned at a 45-degree angle and is actually looking behind his back into the pit as indicated by the red arrow.

In fact, when you see him recover from the stumble, he’s STILL looking down into the pit right until the moment he turns to face Phasma again. It almost looks like he’s purposefully getting a few steps closer to the edge to get a better look (gif is slightly slowed down).

Could that be the look of someone who’s gazing down an actual abyss and making a split-second decision?

We can also see from these shots that there is actually a clear path of escape from both Phasma and the pit toward the camera, indicated by the green arrow in the screenshot. Finn could have rolled under her next attack to avoid being knocked backward.

But instead, immediately after getting a pretty good look at exactly where he’d be falling, he takes what seems to be the worst possible course of action--standing to meet the next attack, which has the predictable consequence of getting him knocked back into the pit.

From this examination of the sequence, it’s very probable that Finn literally looked before he leaped. He saw that the drop was a survivable height and that he could raise himself out of it, or find some other way to get out and beat Phasma/help Rose. If he didn’t want to fall he had shown more than enough reflex and had the size advantage, given that he was fighting a larger opponent, to duck and change course rather than stand and meet an attack that would cause him to fall.

One fly in this ointment is that Phasma could see into the pit as well as he could, and if she paid attention she could see that he had survived and was coming back up for Round 2.

However, first of all,  even if Phasma was looking Finn still would be better off on the rising platform because he would have more room to maneuver on it. If Phasma did not manage to jump onto the platform he would be given a new height advantage. Remember that initial leaping attack? It didn’t work because she was too tall and also saw him coming, but if he could just get some elevation the second time could be the charm. Even if she did jump onto the platform he would still be slightly better off than before with more space.

Second of all: Rose.

I think it was reasonable for Finn to have counted on the possibility, or at least to have hoped, that Rose would distract Phasma in some way, and in fact Rose performed beautifully by screaming "No!” and reminding Phasma of her existence. This prompted Phasma to spin away from the pit and fire at Rose without taking the time to see what had become of Finn, missing her chance to anticipate him or get onto the platform with him.

Mind you, Phasma didn’t have to attack Rose. Rose wasn’t even shooting at first and the scene already established that Phasma’s armor is blaster-proof. She could have taken a split second to glance down after Finn and check that her former star cadet was actually out of the fight and didn’t have a trick up his stolen uniform sleeve. Phasma’s downfall came from her own cruelty and arrogance, which makes it all the more satisfying.

It’s also worth noting that Rose’s shooting back at Phasma, while furthering the distraction, was extremely risky to her. It wasted valuable time she could have taken to seek cover after her initial shock and horror, and as a result she was nearly hurt and could have been killed.

Rose already knew that shooting Phasma was futile. She had tried it earlier, and the blaster beams had bounced off like BB pellets. Shooting at Phasma was a grief and rage response, coming from someone who had suffered recent bereavement and couldn’t bear the thought of losing someone else.

It’s hard to tell to what extent Finn counted on Rose as a distraction, since his decision was by necessity on the fly. However it’s clear that Rose’s action, along with Phasma’s underestimation of him, made his plan work out beyond probably even his best expectations. And when that payoff came...

Bam.

Remember how Finn was trying to get at her “chrome dome” from the start, and why it didn’t work? She was too big, and she saw him coming. Well, his falling trick took care of both problems, first by giving him a height advantage with the rising platform, and second through Rose’s assist distracting Phasma with her genuine distress.

This is the promised Exhibit D of Phasma’s size as well. She even falls like a colossus here, filing the screen a third time as she falls over in slow motion like some once-gleaming idol. Though I did not capture the whole sequence here you can see the beginning of how Finn’s figure being revealed as Phasma falls, as though toppling her were a necessary step for his full self-realization. It’s a neat visual that would have worked a lot better if both characters had had better lead-up stories, or if the deleted mini-uprising scene had been kept at least. Still, given the history between the two, it’s a moving moment to see him literally rise above his abuser and affirm his freedom from her. In this he presents a contrast to Kylo Ren who, rather than being free, chose to sink deeper into an abusive and oppressive dynamic after killing his own abuser (link).

In this fight Finn, in true trickster hero fashion (link), prevails over a larger, seemingly unbeatable enemy using his wits and also by turning her own flaws against her. Some luck was involved, as in all fights, but in many ways Finn made his own luck by seizing an advantage through fast, unconventional thinking. It’s in keeping with what we know about the character--that he has the acumen to make accurate tactical judgments under fire and the boldness to take decisive, sometimes risky action. The moment was short and easy to miss, but impressive nonetheless.

Initial Thoughts on Game of Thrones

Initial thoughts on Game of Thrones. **SPOILERS** So, we all knew they didn't have the books. Last season was rushed and felt off so I don't know why anyone was expecting this season to be different. However, I think this season got more hate than deserved. This comes down to the lack of source material. Those who read the books have had beloved theories about the ending for years. So when it was never revealed Tyrion was the mad king's son, and since he never became a dragon rider the three headed Targaryen dragon never came about all that buildup for zero payoff feels a lot like Lost.

But this wasn't Lost, there was an ending. It may not have been satisfying but this world was never one to give a neat, clean conclusion. To paraphrase Ramsy Snow: "If you think this has a happy ending you haven't been paying attention."

I've seen a few major gripes and I will try to address each one. Also, I'm writing this on my phone, please forgive the grammar, typos, and rambling. Also, the only book I read before starting the show was game of thrones, since starting the show, I've read all the books except dance of dragons, if any of that disqualifies me from an opinion in your eyes, then just stop reading here.

1. Dany's "sudden turn" This was frustrating but it wasn't out of nowhere. They were pushing this narrative pretty hard since season 7 but this has been a possibility from the beginning. Daenerys has been told to drown her enemies in fire and blood since she was able to understand her brother's rants. It also doesn't help she was abused her entire life by multiple people who professed to have her best interests at heart. It makes sense that she has lived long enough to see herself become the villain, she knows nothing but fighting and conquest. She doesn't know Westerosi politics or even the people. We knew from her experiences around Slavers bay that she knew how to conquer but not govern. This was not a surprise, it was poorly executed and paced. If dany "won" then it would be an endorsement of divine right to rule.

2. Jamie and Cersei: this one was simple, we expected Jamie to redeem himself, he had in the eyes of Brienne, but not to himself. Jamie expected to die at the battle of Winterfell and when he didn't the only thing left was to make sure Cersei died.

Cersei being crushed by rubble fleeing for her life was fantastic. Tyrants seldom get the justice we think they deserve. Hitler shot himself in a bunker as the Red Army fought street by street through a burning Berlin (sound familiar?). She was never going to allow herself to be taken alive, during the battle of the Blackwater we saw she was completely prepared to poison herself and Tomen in order to avoid capture.

3. Tyrion: when we first meet Tyrion he is in a brothel in winter town talking about how clever he is. When we see him at the beginning of the final episode, he is weary and thinks he is far less clever than he once did. I mean this is just growing up, sure Tyrion read every book he could and they certainly gave him the tools he needed to survive but discovering you are not as strong/smart/attractive as you once were (or thought you were) is a frustrating part of growing up. Tyrion is a great adviser now because on top of all that knowledge of history and politics, he now has real world experiences and now knows the world is not as simple as he once thought.

4. Varys was underutilized in this season and they never addressed those ravens he sent. That would have been a cool call back to Ned Stark. Still super bummed he wasnt revealed to be the mermaid king.

I could go on (and probably will) but for now, I need to give my thumbs a break.

Lunchbreak Update:

5. Jon Snow: Lawful good characters are almost always boring and Jon was no exception. Like a typical leading man he was surrounded by far more interesting characters. I mean I didn't hate jon I just found him incredibly boring.

6. Sansa: Another young woman abused from childhood. But sansa knows the north and she knows the game. I understand why she would be so unmovable about the North's independence. Yes, she is cold, like the North. She is tired of being ruled and this makes sense all the way back to season 2 with Tyrion telling her she would outlive them all. Sansa had an amazing character development, from being a young girl who wanted to marry a pretty prince to an Ice Cold queen of the north. She wasn't made a badass by her abuse as some would say but she is a badass in SPITE of all the abuse. Sansa is a survivor and I am happy to see her crowned queen of the North.

7. Bran Maybe they spent too long on Bran's arc but when the payoff came it was just met with an "eh, okay I guess". He was the only candidate left that would've come as a surprise and I suppose having an all-seeing all-knowing elected monarch will help a mend the broken and fragile 6 kingdoms.

8. Samwell My beautiful summer child far ahead of his time, ending up as grandmaester was probably as happy an ending we could hope for sam. However, I actually I rolled my eyes when he made a pitch for representative democracy.

9. Ser Bron The writers had no idea what to do with him. The crossbow thing might've worked if they spent more time on it. Ser Bron of High-garden and master of coin just doesn't make sense. Again if they had spent more time evoking instead of us just having the characters drop exposition whenever they need to move the plot forward, this would have been doable.

10. Arya Her character development seemed to end after she kills Littlefinger. Not sure how being a sea captain works for her but it isn't too far out of left field. It's a call back to her crossing the narrow sea for the first time but it still didn't quite feel satisfying. The ending for Arya, Jon, and Sansa just felt like spinoff ploys. I

11. Ser Davos Underutilized, the writers had no idea what to do with him. The onion knight deserved an ending but I suppose master of ships is reward enough.

12. Ser Brienne An interesting lawful good character who wrapped up her arc fairly well. Her recording of jamie's deeds in the book of the kingsguard was satisfying.

RevieWBY Volume 6, Chapter 13, “Our Way”

Before we begin: NO, GEN:LOCK DID NOT TAKE RESOURCES AWAY FROM VOLUME 6. gen:LOCK is co-produced by an outside company, by nature of how it’s been developed it gets a bigger budget than RWBY, and also production started on it before Volume 5 even ended. RWBY’s problems this volume mainly come from a writing standpoint, from a technical standpoint this is the best volume RWBY’s ever had, and though I still have issues with the writing, especially when it comes to the final couple of episodes, to somehow blame that on gen:LOCK is delusional.

We come to the final episode of a volume that has had a lot on its back. After the disappointing ventures of Volumes 4 and 5, we went into this season expecting the worst, and...honestly having those expectations subverted. It wasn’t perfect, but it was actually some of the best material RWBY’s had in a while. But what makes or breaks a RWBY volume as it’s coming out is if the finale packs a punch.

So, was this a worthy conclusion to what has otherwise been RWBY’s best volume?

Well, despite the dramatic “I’m dropping RWBY” announcements people are making, I actually enjoyed it.

Cinder and the Brain

On some level I was hoping for another team RWBY-Cinder confrontation by the end of this volume, but considering what happened with Adam the previous chapter, it’s probably for the best they didn’t meet again.

There’s not much to say about this scene: it’s establishing Cinder and Neo are about to return to the fray, and we can only look forward to their arrival at Atlas.  Really, Cinder and Neo’s whole arc this volume is one I’m not sure how to feel about. I feel like they didn’t give the two enough to do to justify their story being stretched across the whole volume, we could’ve had a few scenes of them around Mistral scheming. But at the same time, unlike Oscar’s storyline back in Volume 4 it didn’t take vital time away from the important stuff, and we got some pretty amazing sequences out of it, especially their initial fight. So yeah, I honestly would’ve hated it not having their storyline this volume if I’d known this was what they were up to.

Let’s Kill Godzilla

Where I felt the Cordovin fight was stretched out too long, I absolutely loved this section of the story. It’s almost like the entire volume has been building up to this moment: Ruby’s really becoming the leader they’ve sort of undeservedly been treating her as for a while, confirming her strong desire to protect, using the unintentional side-effect of Jinn being summoned to her advantage, finally summoning the silver eyes of her own accord. This was the perfect payoff to all that buildup, and I can gladly say, in conjunction with the Jeff Williams music that this was probably one of Volume 6′s strongest moments...if only it weren’t undercut by the Leviathan coming back to life.

Now, it could have honestly been done a little better. Like maybe if we had more of the dramatic close-ups of the silver eyes affecting the Grimm like in the Volume 3 finale, and instead of having it suddenly come back to life have one of the other big Grimms showing up and about to ambush Ruby before Cordovin came in and saved her. Likewise, we could’ve used a longer shot of Cordovin hearing Ruby taking charge: it felt like it was just a rousing speech that convinced her helping Ruby was a good cause, which didn’t exactly convince her for the last couple of episodes. As a result, Cordovin’s about-face feels a little undeserved. But as far as payoff goes, from a writing standpoint this was actually really good as it was. Maybe some better directing decisions would have made it reach the epic heights it needed to reach.

I’m not inclined to do RWBY rewrites, but I think what would have made this work better is if the last two episodes’ section of Cordovin fight happened in one episode, and the first two-thirds of the Adam fight happened in that same episode, and the final episode would have started with the conclusion of the Adam fight and Team RWBY attacks the Leviathan, and maybe midway through this seeing Blake and Yang returning from the Adam fight gives Ruby the strength to unleash the silver eyes: all in all, Volume 6 would’ve just had 12 episodes. But then again, I really loved the cleverness of Ruby using Jinn to help focus her mind. So eh.

HUT HUT HUT HUT AtLAS AtLAS

OOOOHHH. They’re saving the complete resolution of Qrow’s problems for next Volume! Oh, okay, that’s why it felt a little too neat, it’s because they’re not done with him yet.

Can I just say how relieved I am that they kept the heroes’ storyline relegated to a single group? This feels like a return to form for RWBY as a show: school friends reflecting on the insanity they went through, but together. Volume 4 had absolutely no reunions so everything felt disjointed, Volume 5′s finale reunion came after some really stressful stuff that wasn’t delivered as well as it coudl’ve been. But having them on the Manta just joking around and reflecting on what they’d been up to was almost nostalgic, something we would’ve had back in the old days of RWBY. The whole thing leaves the episode on a much higher note than I would’ve initially expected.

Ah, the reveal of the Atlas fleet. Not surprised at all, but a good reminder that Team QROWBYMJNR isn’t gonna have as smooth a time in Atlas as we would’ve thought.

Conclusions

You know what? I really liked this finale. There were some questionable directing choices by Kerry and Connor, but overall it really does end the series on a high point. There’s payoff to themes that have been building up all volume, and I can believe it’s in the same volume as the opening episode. I think the only reason its reception is a little divisive is because it’s a really awesome finale coming after a series of overall not-so-awesome episodes that had some controversially divisive things happen.

I’m gonna go more in-depth about this in my full review, but I think it’s safe to say where Volume 5 was a universal clusterfuck, this volume was about as divisive as Volumes 1-2 were when they came out, and that’s a welcome return-to-form for this show.

Oh Yeah, After The Credits

There’s a really nice parallel going on here that really suggests this is the end or the real beginning of the end of Emerald and Mercury collaborating with Salem. They’re literally in the same positions as they were back at the start of Volume 4, witnessing the true horror of Salem’s domain. This volume has really played their conflict of working for Salem well, and the animation plus Hazel’s bemused remark really sell the realization that Salem is a truly horrifying individual to work for. I suspect their arc next volume will focus on them returning to Cinder.

What do you think of David Cage games?

😬

but no uh to expand: theyre bad.normally i’d leave it at that,  but its 2018, its time to stop pretending theyre good. i know he has a skill to trick people with heavy rain and beyond and stuff but… theyre not good

theyre badly written and constructed. all of his game have plots holes, dragging convoluted plots, nonsensical scenes, buildup with no payoff, payoff with no buildup, beats meant to be emotional that are just shoved in and so wring incredibly hollow. 

theyre also horrifically racist and misogynistic. look at: basically any black character in his games, the flagrant appropriation of oppression imagery sloppily used in detriot. and then also look at how he treats his female characters (like poor madison in heavy rain, whos only beats are “sexy”, “nursemaid”, or “in peril”)

they have neat concepts (most of the time) at the core, decent polish esp as time goes by, star power, sometimes strong starts, and things that SHOULD be interesting and emotional, but if you actually examine them in detail they fall apart and expose themselves for the skeevy chimeras they are. 

this is not even getting into how much of an exploitative creep david cage is behind the scenes 

like…. i know a lot of people liked heavy rain. i know detroit is fooling a lot of people. and i get it, if you take it at face value, they seem good. you have to stop and really think about them before they crumble. but i am BEGGING you, stop, think about it. stop giving this man money. stop making these shitshows of games the emblems of storytelling in gaming david cage so wants to be - ESPECIALLY when the genre has evolved passed him with telltale’s stuff, camp santo’s stuff, dontnod’s, or even stuff like a way out. maybe good things were inspired by him, but its time to leave david cage in the trash

please

(i don’t normally recommend them because, while i love them, theyre not for everyone, but the super best friends play LP chanel is well known for despising his games, doing LPs of them, and showing people the light of hating david cage. theyre the ones who made me realize just how godawful he is)