I made a mistake last time, I said that I read chapters 22-30 when I only read 22-29, but now I have read chapter 30 and also chapters 31-34 so lets talk about those

Its so frustrating how Im more than halfway through this 700 page book thats ostensibly supposed to be about Feyre and Rhysand's complicated relationship developing and theres been no development because the things that should make their relationship complicated have just been completely handwaved. Like, if this book HAS to focus so much on Rhys to the detriment of Feyre, and he also just HAS to be morally good, atleast give him some kind of character arc of bettering himself, right now Im basically just looking at this stagnant statue of a guy through someone elses eyes which doesnt make for a rewarding reading experience

Ive also been noticing more and more weird retcons and idk what to call it, justifications for why Rhys is better even when hes doing the same shit as Tamlin I guess? The two big ones being, when Tamlin blew up that room after Feyre told him that he was suffocating her he did it out of anger, and, Feyre is fine with wearing dresses for the night court because she knows she can go back to wearing Illyrian leathers anytime, which is not how it was at the spring court.

First of all, I keep saying this, I am not a Tamlin girlie, I dont like him that much and hes doing a bad job dealing with Feyre, but you dont need to make shit up to make Feyre's choice to leave feel justified. Like, he was not punching the walls in anger, he felt so bad and guilty about hurting Feyre when all he wants is to keep her safe that his magic went haywire over it. And thats bad enough! I mean Feyre, who has a lot of trouble communicating her feelings, finally managed to tell him everything thats wrong and makes her feel bad and makes healing from her trauma difficult, and he reacts by basically having a panic attack which makes his magic react in a dangerous way. Idk about you, but I would not feel comfortable or even safe expressing my feelings to him, even if he didnt react like that out of anger

Like, Feylin could have just not worked out, it couldve just been disfunctional without being portrayed as abuse but it cant be, I guess because it needs to be abuse in order to justify Feyre leaving him. And thats so strange to me because the idea that women need any kind of ("serious") justification for leaving a relationship is completely anti-thetical to the themes of feminism and choice that this book is trying to go for. Like, why cant a woman just break up with a guy because she stopped feeling it, theres no reason not to break up with a guy who makes you feel bad even if hes not being outright abusive. Although, in this particular story there actually is a reason, which is that if Feyre left Tamlin without a "good" justification then Amarantha would win, she would be proven right about the fickle nature of humans and the pointlessness of their un-eternal love from beyond the grave and that would be a bummer because the first book is about how Love Conquers All, as is the case with pretty much all great romances. So Tamlin's unambigiously abusive now so that that beautiful idea of Love Conquering All doesnt end up being dragged through the dirt. ACOMAF essentially posits that the Love that was supposed to Conquer All isn't real because neither Feyre nor Tamlin were willing or able to truly love each other through their trauma, ergo it didnt actually Conquer All. Thats also why Rhysand isnt meaningfully affected by what should be traumatic events; because while Feyre can love someone through her own trauma, she cant seem love someone whos traumatized themself

I feel like the way I phrased that was pretty harsh, but I do think its kinda true, in a way. Idk man, the thing that makes talking about Feyre's new UTM trauma so difficult is that everyone, including the narrative itself, is expecting her to have worked through it within less than half a year when its like, shes immortal and also living in a world with no therapists, she can take a bit longer than that. I mean hell, everyone in the inner circle is like 500 years and all of their major traumata happened when they were very young and most of them have still not learned how to actually cope with them aside from killing/avoiding the people who caused it (atleast from what Ive seen, especially of Cassian), Feyre might honestly be doing better than all of them but she keeps dogging on herself which, remember, her perspective is objectively correct as of this book, so that sucks

Alright, three paragraphs to talk about that first point, lets move on to talking about the dress thing. I have already observed that it seems like Feyre might stop wearing pants entirely at some point despite how much this particular book keeps going on and on about Tamlin forcing her to wear dresses in conjunction with going on about Tamlin forcing her into a subserviant mother-role, implying that dresses are inherently depowering, and well. I hate that for Feyre but I do love being proved right

And like, okay, I think Feyre hating dresses is another ACOMAF retcon, but its a retcon in a weirdly circular way. Let me explain; in ACOTAR I didnt get the impression that she hated dresses, I thought she just preferred pants because its what she was used to and because for a pretty large chunk of the book she was thinking about fleeing or was in situations where she needed to run away from something and pants were just more practical for that. But when she trusted the fae a bit more and a special occasion came up or she wanted to make Tamlin feel flustered (? that one doesnt make that much sense to me tbh), she did ask for dresses to wear and only felt a little embarrassed about it because she didnt usually wear them. I didnt even get the impression that she hated the impractical rich noblewoman dress they put her in when she was sent back to the human world, just that she found it really silly and unfitting for her. And I do think her being willing to wear dresses was supposed to be a signifier of her healing journey and her learning how to be gentle and let herself be loved in that book

Then ACOMAF comes around and she suddenly hates wearing dresses, which also ties into her suddenly becoming some kind of adrenaline junkie when she previously wanted to live a peaceful and comfortable life. Now, granted, the difference is that in ACOTAR she wore dresses that she explicitly asked to wear, whereas in ACOMAF Tamlin just assumes that she will always wear dresses by virtue of her being a woman without asking Feyre about it at any point (I know Ianthe was actually more involved in the dress-stuff, but the narrative is making Tamlin responsible for it so Im just gonna go along with it for simplicity's sake). Thats reasonable enough

But then a little further into ACOMAF we have Rhysand doing the exact same thing, hes assuming that she will wear dresses for the sake of keeping up appearances and helping him with his politics (and also, he's assuming that she will let herself be sexualized via the apple-breast comment in front of Tarquin (and later the CoN-UTM reeanactment scene)) and hes right, because of course he is. But the reason its fine when Rhysand does it, I guess, is because he keeps reassuring her that she has a choice in these matters when she really doesnt. Like, did he pack some illyrian leathers just in case Feyre didnt want to wear the dresses he got her? If he did, theres been no mention of it. Theres also been no mention of him asking her if she preferred to wear pants or a dress for the Summer Court mission, even though it seems to me that harem pants are considered to be unisex in the Night Court while they seem to be considered distinctly masculine in places like the Spring Court

And then we get to the thing about this dress-stuff that makes me call it a 'weirdly circular retcon'; while Nuala is dressing Feyre up for her date with Tarquin, for lack of a better term, she looks at herself in the mirror and thinks about how maybe, after everything shes been through that forced her to become hard, shes starting to heal and can finally let herself be feminine and soft and pretty. If you'll recall from a few paragraphs ago, that already happened to Feyre in ACOTAR except it was more subtle, I dont remember her just straight-up thinking about it like she does in this scene in ACOMAF. So its the same thing, but instead of her wearing dresses that she excplicitly asked to wear, shes wearing dresses that her new bf picked out for her and all but made her wear

And honestly, thats a really good way of summarizing the differences between Feylin and Feysand and the way Feyre gets treated in these book, which is why I wrote so fucking much about this pretty insignificant detail

Surprisingly enough, Im not done with this monster of a post yet, because I have some stuff to say about the Summer Court

The way Cresseida was introduced and treated made me have what Im just gonna call an angry epiphany. Like, before she came along I just thought the feminism of this series was very shallow and very white, but after her introduction I was just angrily thinking to myself "How the FUCK is this series considered feminist in any way?! The three types of women that exist in this story are literally Protagonist's Sisters (characterized as Haughty Bitch and Infantilized Clueless Cinnamon Roll Who Can Do No Wrong respectively), Protagonist's Slaves Servants Who Are Inexplicably Always Darkskinned Women and Promiscuous Bitches"

Varian seemed fine, but I dont like that he seems to have something going on with Amren. I know I said I didnt particularly like her, but I did still kinda latch onto her as my aroace rep so I find that very disappointing. But I guess thats on me for having expectations like that of the most amatonormative book series Ive ever read

So, from observing this part of the fandom prior to reading the books, it seemed that if sjm critical people dont like Feylin, theyll usually like Feyquin as an alternative to the horrible but canon Feysand. Despite that, I didnt have the highest expectations because honestly, it not much harder for a character to be a better love interest than ACOTAR!Tamlin and Rhysand. Like, the thing about Tamlin is that he was a really boring guy but hes a very good love interest, and the thing about Rhysand is that hes also really boring and hes a very bad love interest, so I thought "okay, I know Tarquin is the youngest and he has that whole thing about actively wanting equality for faeries but no one taking him seriously because everyone thinks hes inexperienced, OBVIOUSLY hes more interesting than the guys who can access their power with no issue, and then he'll just be kinda flirty towards Feyre, as SJM MaLeS usually are and that makes him a decent enough potential love interest I guess" and thats all true but idk, actually reading about him made me like him sooooo much. Like, him and Feyre telling each other theyre easy to love? Mwah, gorgeous. I bet Rhys is really glad he has that mating bond because without it his sorry ass would NOT be able to compete with Tarquin

So now my list of m/f Feyre ships goes Feyquin > Feycien > Feylin and Feyre/Azriel are on about the same level to me I think > Feysand (not including feyssian bc I think its a crime to ship cassian with a woman sry)

I specify m/f Feyre ships because if I included all of the Feyre ships, Feyanthe would be at the very top followed by Feyre/Amren. Idk, I know its obscure, but when she was describing how Amren was wearing a crop top she said something like "a sliver of skin was left exposed, as tempting as a calm lake" and I was like oh? 👀 Those guys have potentialllllllll I mean who needs Mates when youre both Made amiright fellas. Also, Feyre/Mor would go above Feysand

Anyway, thats it from me again, I hope you enjoyed this

just read house of kent arc and. hmmm. many thoughts mixed feelings. its like... it was an overall pretty nice superfam story and the clois+jon parts in particular were solid and good, and i care them, but man. everything abt kon's storyline in there and them trying to figure out his whole deal just really got used as a framing device and not an actual plotline... which i mean i kind of expected bc hes not the main character but at the same time the way its just entirely sorta handwaved as "oh well no answers but its cool!" is kinda frustrating. but of course that does come with the caveat that i generally just do not like rebirth kon's setup and storyline.

i just cant fucking get over this sentiment kon expresses outright here... clark is trying but jesus the situation is so existentially fucked up. hey man your grandparents remember you but no one else you knew including the rest of the supers does bc you never existed here. also we randomly threw in some stuff about how you might lose all your powers for some reason? but anyway at least youve got the farm buddy :)

(it's also frustrating re: kon's arc and general situation bc bendis is just not very consistent w explaining it. cassie remembers yj existing somehow, ma and pa remember kon when they see him, but clark never does. this is explained as him having memory issues bc of having universe-jumped so much, but if that was actually the case then youd think the random people in yj19 who kon meets, like the security worker who asks if he's jon, would also recognize him like ma and pa did. and then there's the way tim and steph supposedly have magically repressed memories, only steph's never return the way tim's do, but it's never brought up again? and tim only recovers these memories when zatanna gets around the block in his head but we just never find out what put that there to begin with, nor do we ever discuss any narrative impact of it so its kind of like well what was the point ...? why establish tim having this when cassie doesn't??? is it just to explain the previous tim line about conner's name "tugging on his heart" without having to bother saying anything similar about cassie and simply brushing her aside there to focus on tim's memories??? idk. there is just so little consistency around any of this. which i knew going in but also GOD. comics im on my knees im begging)

Oh my god oh my god oH MY GOD

I was going to wait for the opportunity to rewatch Barbie so I could make sure my opinion was solidly based and not just vibes, but with all the nominations talk right now I am losing my god damn mind.

Barbie is a shit movie.

I've said before that I was extremely excited about the movie and genuinely enjoyed every single second of it but was absolutely completely and irrevocably disappointed with it. It was a bad movie for so many reasons, and I'm gonna start talking about it (despite it not being as fresh in my mind, unfortunately).

Barbie is an incoherent mess that has no idea what it actually wants to be;

50% of the movie is Barbie having an existential crisis, that turns into a quest, that turns into low self esteem issues, that turns into anti-capitalist and anti-establishment shenanigans, that turns into parental issues, that turn into feminist issues about societal expectations of womanhood, that turns into civil rights issues, that turns into absolutely nothing because not a single one of these issues is actually addressed in any sort of meaningful way, depends on handwaving solutions, if it bothers to give solutions at all, and is just a product low shelf bullshit feminism.

And then the other 50% of the movie is a meticulously crafted satirical metaphor for the treatment of women under the patriarchy, with intense emotional gravitas, unbelievably incredible acting, and a(n almost) perfect and complete narrative arc for the characters and the main conflict.

And yet, watching this shit show I am contantly asked by the narrative to take the first half of it seriously, but not the other half.

That's not how a movie works.

You cant make half a satire and half a hartfelt exploration of womanhood in post-modern society. It doesn't work like that. And the very simple fact is that only one of those narratives was actually well crafted and coherent, and it wasn't Barbie's. Don't even get me fucking started on that bullshit America Ferrera speach. I hate it. I hate so much. I was actively enraged while watching it. It was bullshit crowd pleasing half baked ramblings that literally had nothing to do with the godamn movie!!! The whole point, the whole Barbie storyline was about America's relationship with her daughter!!! What the fuck was that speach even about???!?!? At no point in the movie was the things she talked about an issue!!! I hate it. I hate. And I hate anyone who likes it. It's bad writing. It's bad storytelling. It's bad bad BADDD!!! The movie wanted it so much to be the emotional pinnacle, but it wasn't - I'm Kenough was. It's just so bad in so many ways that I can't even fully express here yet.

Look. There was a lot of potential in this movie, and so much love went into crafting it. But the bottom line is that this is a bad movie, created by a conglomerate for the sole purpose of selling products, while trying to be cool with kids and self critical without actually being critical (I can't even begin to form coherent thoughts on the mess that was in-movie Matel, so I just won't). This made the honest part of the movie a fucking mess, while leaving the metaphor close to a masterpiece, and yet I am expected to think otherwise for some reason unbeknownst to me.

This is a bad movie. Barbie is a bad character. Neither Greta Gerwig nor Margo Robbie deserve a nomination for this, no matter how talented they are, and they are.

Ryan Gosling is literally the only good thing about this movie. This was one of the greatest performances I have ever seen in my life. Award shows are absolutely pointless and stupid, but his is a worthy nomination nonetheless.

I really am sorry if you loved this movie. This is absolutely not about you. Like I said, I truly enjoyed watching it. I just don't think it has any merit beyond the Ken storyline.

I’m trying to write a Hybrid Au of my own! I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind giving me some pointers or your definition of hybrids yourselves as a starting point?

Most hybrid AU’s I run across simply slap cat ears or a tail onto their characters and call it a day without explanation or detail to manifestations such as having the hindquarters of their species (like saytrs but not limited to goats/deer and related species). Nor do they go over the laws, care and the societal debates over how hybrids should be treated and what constitutes them as a subclass species/race.

I apologize for even asking this, I’m new to writing and really struggle not to run on with my sentences or get so wrapped up in every tiny detail I end up with a novel just for a description of a species.

hey, sure! id be happy to offer some help!

so, i will say, just from the very beginning: don't get too hung up on finer, unimportant details if you're going to be writing some sort of story. it doesn't really need to be explained in excruciating detail exactly how a hybrid works. otherwise, things can just get bogged down & it can take away from the story itself.

so, for my hybrid au specifically, my hybrids start off as grown military personnel that undergo extensive genetic alteration, wherein a host animal's DNA is spliced in with their own so that they start expressing certain animal traits (physical capabilities, senses, physical features, etc.). i personally don't have my hybrids growing wings, tails, extra sets of ears, or anything like that, nor do any of them get digitigrade legs. but that's just my personal preference. it seems more realistic to me that my hybrids would retain the basic human shape, as any drastic changes to the anatomy would probably be ungodly painful, & would probably result in a dead soldier.

but! that's just how it works in my mind. & i rationalize it like that because, as i said, my hybrids start off as adult humans.

now, if you were to have hybrids that were born, either because maybe that's just A Thing in your world, or because something made them that way, then, in my opinion, you could get a bit more flexible with expressed animal features. tails & digitigrade legs & whatnot.

or you can really just disregard everything & do whatever you want lol. it's fiction, after all. like i said: you shouldn't let the minute details bog your story down too much. often times just acknowledging that something is the way that it is is enough to help the audience suspend their disbelief. handwave the more technical stuff.

i think the how might be less important, narrative-wise, than the why. why do hybrids exist (if they were created at all; what purpose do they serve)? what do they do that distinguishes their service from humans?

& then, yeah, thinking about worldbuilding stuff like legalities & societal reception & all that. really, it's kinda up to you how you want to handle it. my hybrids are controversial. their existence & the procedures that created them are very frowned upon. the process itself is illegal in most of the world. people (both military & civilians) tend to be wary or downright afraid of hybrids, & it's not unusual for them to be treated as lesser. they technically have the same rights as everyone else, but things get kinda dubious with them. they're usually considered more military property than people. hybridization hasn't been around for all that long, either, so advocacy for their rights is still a work in progress.

but, again, you can really kinda just do what you want lol. what fits your narrative? what kind of story are you trying to tell?

idk if this is helpful at all lmao but!! let me know if you have any questions!

Midnight Plays Azure Gleam: Chapter 9

Time for a climatic clash at Arianrhod! A long, extremely chaotic battle ensues, and then some more stuff happens...

Dimitri essentially wants to win the war here by severing the Empire's supply chain and then overwhelming their forces. A pincer attack, essentially, with Arianrhod at the front and our army at the rear. The narrative is certainly setting this battle up as a turning point.

We get a cut to Claude, where he's being shady and clearly waiting to see whether the Kingdom or Empire will prevail. It's been over two years since I played Verdant Wind, but was Claude always this blatant of an opportunist? Also, his line about "keeping the winner at bay" makes no sense in regards to the Kingdom, unless he honestly thinks Faerghus is going to invade the Alliance once the Empire's beaten, which, uh....why on earth would he think that?

Camp (Southern Geraint Territory)

Dimitri asks Shez to keep the truth about his stepmother concealed, as it would be viewed by many as a scandal. Shez responds that even nobles can have it rough, and Dimitri says he hopes someday to see a world where everyone can be free to lead their lives.

Meanwhile, there's an NPC who expresses suspicions about the Duscur soldiers. Sadly not unexpected, nor unrealistic. People are just like that sometimes.

Sylvain brings up Gwendal, who is currently missing. Gee, I wonder if he might show up at Arianrhod?

Another NPC mentions that Margrave Gautier's first wife came from the Empire. (It's revealed in Sylvain's supports with Shez that he and Miklan are actually half brothers.) She was pregnant with her second child when she was killed by raiders from Sreng. =(

Annette mentions her cousin Simon, who is the heir to House Dominic, and apparently doesn't get along with his father the Baron. (Man, it is SO frustrating that this NPC we'll likely never meet gets a name, but the writers couldn't even tell us the names of any of the Faerghus moms.)

An NPC scholar talks about a boy (i.e. Yuri) Count Rowe claimed to have a adopted, and how the Count was "enamored" with him. Vaguely creepy.

Another NPC says the Empire is too aggressive, but that the Kingdom has been avoiding the problem. What problem, exactly? What the hell is this line even for?

Seteth confirms that Catherine and Shamir have met up at Arianrhod.

Felix is arguing with Rodrigue about Patricia/Anselma. Rodrigue really has the patience of a saint, because Felix has zero chill and never gives his dad even the tiniest bit of slack.

Paralogue: The Saints' Forge

Holy crap, it's Rhea! I was starting to think the game forgot she even exists! She's talking with Seteth and Flayn about a holy artifact that belonged to the first emperor of Adrestia. Seteth says the place where it's kept is full of bandits, and the Knights of Seiros are too busy to supply spare personnel, and he can't do it alone.

Flayn wants to go bust heads and Seteth is immediately all overprotective "brother" and says no. Rhea says she's coming on this mission too (?!?!) and Seteth starts fretting over her too! (Lettuce family is best family. Also, poor Seteth trying to deal with this pair.)

Enter Shez and Cyril. Rhea's surprised to see Shez, but Cyril apparently asked them to come along. "King Dimitri has spoken quite highly of you," Rhea says to Shez. <3

(Where is my support chain with Dimitri and Rhea you cowards? Or Dimitri with Seteth for that matter? Or Rhea with literally anyone in this game? We were robbed, I tell you! What a wasted opportunity.)

Ahem. Anyway, the place we're going has some connection to Saint Indech. Seteth and Shez are going ahead to scout the enemy.

...And the mission objective is to rescue Seteth. Clearly that scouting mission went well! Rhea and Cyril are joining the battle as green units. Nice of the game to handwave Seteth getting captured and Shez somehow not being able to stop it. [Eyeroll]

I admittedly have not trained Flayn very much, but Shez is more than able to handle everything here on their own, and Rhea eschews the typical FE green unit in that she's able to look after herself. Rescuing Seteth is a simple matter as well, and I've trained him slightly more, so he won't need any babying either.

We "search for information" (read: beat up thieves) about the artifact, and then three green arrows appear in the northeast corner of the map. Rhea immediately heads towards them to "search." She says Indech once had a workshop in this place.

The boss comes out as soon as the shield is found, and he goes down easy. Pretty short and simple mission. I got an A Rank because I was under the kill count...again. Shez got the MVP nod.

Rhea looks so happy we were able to recover the artifact. It's the Ochain Shield, which IIRC was found in the Ferdinand/Lysithea paralogue in 3H. Rhea says that it was crafted for Saint Cichol, but that Saint Seiros gifted it to Emperor Wilhelm.

It's kind of bittersweet to listen to Rhea wax about Wilhelm, knowing what his current successor is up to. He clearly was important to her. Shez has apparently never learned anything about the War of Heroes and asks Cyril if he knew any of this stuff.

Cyril: "Don't use my ignorance to feel better about yourself." (Oof, get some aloe for that burn, Shez, lol.)

OMG, Flayn went and called Indech her uncle. She is so adorably bad at hiding this "secretly a thousand year-old dragon" thing, lol.

Seteth says that the current Emperor of Adrestia has forgotten the Empire's origins, and is committing "pure blasphemy" by seeking to eradicate the Church of Seiros. Rhea gives the shield to Shez and says to use it to stop the wayward Emperor Edelgard, just as Wilhelm used it to bring an end to Nemesis. If we accept, Shez says they'll give it to Dimitri. <3

Really nice bits of lore in this one! Plus it's a rare treat to see the lettuce family talking like, well...an actual family. I wish there was more of this stuff.

Interlude

A scene with Edelgard, Count Hevring, Ferdinand, Gwendal and Yuri (at last he shows himself!). Yuri apparently told her about a secret passage in Arianrhod. Gwendal calls him a "sneaky little whelp" lol.

Edelgard says it's a boon to have members of House Rowe aiding the Empire, though says it's a shame the Kingdom was able to reclaim the territory. Ferdinand accepts blame for the failure, and laments that the enemy has free reign of Rowe's lands (it's pretty gross how entitled he sounds about it; I thought you were better than that, Ferdie).

Edelgard says the Empire will take it back, noting that the Kingdom's internal strife has left it "nigh defenseless." (Hm, how convenient for her.) And Hubert's apparently elsewhere, so I guess we won't be seeing him in the next battle.

Count Hevring notes that the Knights of Seiros have been dispatched to Arianrhod, and says they should "settle this matter" before the Kingdom's main army arrives at the fortress. (Ah, are they walking right into our trap?)

After Edelgard and company leave, Yuri calls Count Rowe wretched right to Gwendal's face, mocking Gwendal's loyalty to him. Gwendal says Yuri should've refused the payment if he found this mission so distasteful (a good point). Yuri says this "settles his account" with Rowe, since it was the the Count who paid for Yuri's tuition to the Officer's Academy years ago.

Battle

It's Catherine and Shamir! And Miklan's here too. Catherine compliments his leadership, and remarks her surprise that he really is from House Gautier. She says she'd wanted to spar with him when she was younger.

Interesting: Miklan says he's the one who cut ties with House Gautier. Or maybe he's just saying that to save face? Either way, he says he has a "purpose" now, to show that even a "Crestless loser" like him can accomplish what he wants. (Which...I mean that sounds nice and all, but was the lack of a Crest truly what held him back in life, or was it his own petty avarice towards Sylvain?)

Sure is rich to hear him call Dimitri a "weak-willed king with a Crest who's been spoon-fed his whole life." (The Tragedy of Duscur was really just a disappointing party where Lambert got punched in the face, Glenn got drunk, and Dimitri never got a piece of cake. /s )

Ah, and now Miklan says that Dimitri told him that the only thing holding him back in life was his past mistakes. That's more like it. And Miklan says a part of him is starting to like his new position, lol.

And now Empire soldiers have infiltrated the fortress, presumably through the secret passage.

Cut to the Lions, and Dedue breaks the news that fighting's already going on inside of Arianrhod. Dimitri gives a short rallying cry and we're off to battle.

...Dear lord this map is enormous. The S-Rank kill count is 2000! TWO THOUSAND!

One of the strategies is to persuade Yuri! Shamir apparently has to be "persuaded" too, even though she's a green unit on the map. Catherine and Miklan are likewise green units, but only Catherine has to stay alive to fulfill the mission parameters.

Remixed "Apex of the World" for the background music!

First order of business is opening the fortress, since the main gates are still locked. Shamir is directly on the other side, and she's already getting swarmed by baddies. As soon as she's saved, she leaves the field, but a note pops up that she's been recruited.

Gwendal arrives on the map, far to the north behind currently locked doors. Miklan stands in his way and challenges him. Sylvain says it's probably better if he doesn't go to his brother's aid, lol.

The spikes are really annoying (just as they are in 3H). They don't do a ton of damage, but they slow down your movement unless you're flying.

Margrave Gautier shows up as a green unit after opening the ramparts. I like how he's a recurring helper, even if he's not actually playable.

There's way too many switches to flip here.

...And Gwendal killed Miklan. This definitely screams "scripted," so I'm not going to wonder if we were supposed/able to save him. The Margrave (calmly) says that even if he disowned Miklan, he'll still avenge him. Sylvain sounds both sad and impressed with Miklan's efforts in defending Arianrhod.

Bigger problem is that Gwendal is now moving in on Catherine, and four freaking ballistae activated too.

Ha! So, I made a mad dash towards Catherine with Felix, since he was both the closest and has the Rapier equipped, and he proceeded to proc Lethality against Gwendal! I know that's what it was because an achievement popped up in the corner.

With Gwendal defeated, Catherine is now playable! Woohoo!

There, finally disabled all the ballistae and the stupid traps. And right on cue, here come some more reinforcements, Yuri being among them. Time to execute some "persuasion."

...And Count Hevring and Linhardt just showed up. Linhardt asks what he's even doing here, which is something I'd like to know as well. I was expecting Ferdinand.

Ashe recognizes Yuri and asks him to join us. Yuri says he'd prefer to not get butchered, lol.

Linhardt and Count Hevring both retreat once defeated. I guess that's a good thing?

And finally, here's Edelgard. And Ferdinand as well, with a whole lot of reinforcements. The music even changes to a remix of "Indomitable Will."

I send Felix to go take out Ferdie, and he just retreats as well (Felix sounds disappointed about it). No prizes for guessing who has the honor of facing off against Edelgard. Sadly, she doesn't really have any special words for Dimitri, nor he for her. They just agree it's time to finish things. She's sturdy as hell compared to the other bosses, but she goes down all the same. Cutscene time!

I love how Dimitri just yeets her giant shield aside with his lance. Edelgard admits defeat but immediately tries to run, and Dimitri growls that she won't be escaping. He charges towards her, and there's a bit of cool slo-mo before Thales sends a magic blast between them and teleports in.

...OK, what? Why would Edelgard ever think Thales and Dimitri would be allies? And then she just casually drops that Thales is the one who killed Lambert. (Why the hell didn't you just tell him that in 3H? Stupid.)

Edelgard attacks Thales and gets whacked, and Dimitri protects her, saying no one lays a hand on her until he gets answers about the Tragedy. He launches himself at Thales (badass shot), but Thales warps behind them both and sends out this Creststone-like thingie that engulfs Edelgard, and there's an explosion of dark magic.

Shez's voice calls out to Dimitri.

Cut to the main streets of Arianrhod and there's suddenly fireballs raining from the sky and...oh dear.

Now we see Shez helping a clearly injured Dimitri limp through the wreckage (but what the heck happened to Hegemon Edelgard?) Dimitri insists he's OK because the man could lose all of his limbs and still claim it's only a flesh wound.

Shez says they're not going to let him die here, and that they're by his side, always.

I ended up with an A-Rank for the battle, because I "only" got 1896 kills. I'm surprised I came in under the time limit because holy crap was there a lot going on in this one! They did a good job making it feel like a desperate, messy battle. Dimitri got the MVP yet again.

The Lions are gathered, and an NPC reports that the Empire is retreating and the monster has conveniently vanished. (Why? Because plot, I'm assuming.)

Dimitri orders to have Arianrhod secured and the NPC runs off. Shez says something doesn't sit right with them about Thales, saying he's like Tomas, and wondering how they're connected to Shez's powers.

Dimitri says his thinking is unchanged; he trusts Shez and will continue to do so. He says they both need answers, since Edelgard accused Thales of killing Lambert. (Note that Dimitri does not take her at her word; he correctly notes it'd be foolish to trust the word of an enemy without verifying it.) He surmises that if she's telling the truth, then another faction was working behind the western lords and the Empire, and it would make Cornelia's actions more explicable.

Felix, Ingrid and Annette express their desire to know the truth as well.

Dimitri grunts in pain and Dedue, expressing concern, slips and addresses him by name. <3 Dimitri says once Arianrhod is secured, they'll have to return to the capital.

Then we cut to Duke Aegir and Thales. (The game insultingly puts "???" above their textboxes while not fully concealing their models. Do better, writers.) Thales says the Empire is Duke Aegir's to command.

Edelgard's standing right there with them, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. I'm guessing she's supposed to look scared, but the effect doesn't quite work IMO; she looks more like a muppet. Thales says a "grave injury" has left her unable to speak. Isn't that convenient? I'm not liking where the plot's going here in the least.

Thales goads the Duke into "saving" the Empire in its time of need, and the Duke gloats that he will take up arms and solve this crisis, and that he will crush the Kingdom and the Alliance. He will be the savior of Adrestia. Thales says they will lift him up from the darkness, until the day the Duke "inevitably" falls back down. (Such a great guy. Clearly on the level and a trustworthy ally. /s )

And that's the end of part one, apparently. I was unaware there was a second timeskip in the game, but surprise! I liked the battle this chapter, but I'm clenching my teeth and bracing myself about the story. I'm not getting good vibes about it at all, but we'll see what happens.

Once again, the show firing all subtlety engines, but who gives a shit when it’s SO EFFECTIVE. Also though, there’s more going on here than might appear at first glance, so let’s poke around a bit, shall we?

Let’s start with the easy imagery: the toy soldier. Ming Tien is once again utterly captivated by Xena, and as she extends her hand to him, he slowly reaches out to take it. The toy, now forgotten, slips out of his grasp and tumbles to the carpet. Ming Tien’s impending loss of innocence is the immediate place to go. The toy is a thing for children, and his time with Xena will place him beyond such trivial things.

But consider Ming Tien’s disregard for the toy soldier alongside Xena’s disregard for the very real soldier she just killed. Ming Tien could’ve been playing with anything -- say carved turtles -- and the symbolism for his childhood would’ve worked fine. But it’s a soldier, a PERSON. More, it’s a person that Xena killed on time delay without regard, and Ming Tien watched it happen with precisely the same degree of concern. This is a guard he presumably knows. Certainly, he was around that particular guard today longer than he’s been around Xena, and it’s not outside the realm of possibility that Ming TIen has had that guard in his life for as long as he can remember. At absolute minimum, that guard is one of his people, who lies dying (not dead yet, DYING) mere feet away in service to Ming Tien, and Ming Tien doesn’t even look at him.

Then I want to take a second to consider how Xena extends her hand to Ming Tien and he takes it. Again, we have the more obvious imagery in her coaxing him to her, and what almost seems bewitchment on his part as he accepts the offer to learn her terrible lessons.

I’d argue though that the show is saying Ming Tien is more than just another of Xena’s tragic victims. She wanted to make Ming Tzu her creature, but it’s Ming Tien who volunteered. Even setting aside the entire lack of shits he gives about the guard, there’s how he was able to be captured AT ALL. Xena’s on a HORSE, for fuck’s sake, in a palace she doesn’t know, with innumerable places to run and hide that she might never discover. And that’s setting side how fucked up her leg is. With the barest of effort, Ming Tien could’ve run out the door, and even setting aside the likelihood that he could summon a dozen more guards in seconds, Xena can’t exactly hop off the horse and give chase. This situation is almost hilariously easy for him to escape, or to the very least try, but he doesn’t do that.

He doesn’t WANT TO.

A few posts ago, I wondered in tags what kind of person and leader Ming Tien might have been without Xena’s influence. While I hesitate to proclaim someone’s life path set at age eight, I think for Ming Tien, he stood a greater chance of heading down this road whether he crossed paths with a warrior princess or not. This isn’t an abduction so much as it’s a recruitment, and Ming TIen enthusiastically signs up.

OBDLC. Another reason the Psychic 7 go on that trip post-ending. Otto's not feeling comfortable having Gristol on Motherlobe grounds. (And neither do the others.)

Oh even just after pn2 they definitely don't like him around. Not one bit haha

Although I imagine if they think about him they’d be feeling all kinds of angry than uncomfortable since Gristol isn’t in the areas they would be, nor does he have any power to do anything to them. Psychonauts know what’s up so he is under watch. 

So really, we’d have to stop a couple of people from the temptation of throttling him and cause more legal headaches.

I’m not really sure what would happen to him, other than mentioned Sasha Experiments/Tests (to which I think won’t all be that bad, I mean the ones we’ve seen are psyche exploring stuff. I even take the ‘mostly harmless’ as getting his ass-kicked by mental constructs and getting headaches but anyway)

In my own ideas of post-game, I'm still unsure what to do with him. Although part of me definitely wants to have him do some humble work to make it really stick that life is more than being a entitled rich asshole. 

Where he would work would be in question, though if it is still in HQ then yea that WOULD turn for a more uncomfortable presence for people who got dragged onto the consequences of his actions (Read: Mal Whirlpool Tornado) 

Beh, I cannot put into words what I’m trying to get at what with how chances for change are given in Psychonauts. Still though I can understand not wanting to due to his disregard for all those who perished in Grulovia and the entire events and intent of the scheme in pn2. Another person we’d really need to punt is Theodore. Anyway this paragraph is steering off-topic on stuff I’d really have to reflect on about psychonauts code of ethics and morality and all that life narratives could call to question *handwaves*

SO even without speculating on game aftermath or obdlc, there are many reasons why they wouldn’t like him around. 

Interrupting their efforts of finally being able to help Lucy. That very chance they would have wanted to do back then in Grulovia. They weren’t able to think of it back then since many things were still unclear, things they didn’t know, and also because Maligula was very aggressively fighting them that they weren’t sure if Lucy could really be brought back. 

Said interruption ruined that entire happy reunion into a reminder of the trauma they had the first time (Maligula wrecking everyone with water, but now a bit worse because MAN, they weren’t prepared for that to happen again at all). 

Having the intention of using Maligula as a weapon again (Lucy, their dear sweet Lucy, a good person forced into this) just like his father had done (not like he could would have been able to do it but still, the intent. Absolutely rancid)

While a memory vault implies a bit of awareness of his father’s attempt at Maligula's execution, I wonder if he ever knew Theodore’s bomb threat to Lucrecia before she broke with the Valermo Dam Incident.

Makes me wonder if the rest knew Otto had the Malik Bomb displayed near him, constantly nearby to remind him of what the Maliks have done. 

So I suppose this brings me back to the point of reaction being more on anger for their friend than discomfort for themselves, just even more emphasized and reminded of in the OBDLC

Also, in the process of spinning this in my head to give a more substantial answer, I got this answer to the actual question that is a bit more general thoughts on what the Psychic 7 could think about Nick | Gristol not limited to OBDLC but does have a sprinkle of that here. 

Gristol is currently being held in the Psychoisolation Chamber. I imagine it’s not actually Compton’s Office Chamber they put him in but another room that is completely empty save for maybe a bed in Psychoisolation as pseudo-jail. Just like how it is implied with Terryl offering a room to Raz, I imagine that space actually has more than what we see in game. Also like it’d be a waste game-development wise to make a separate room for that post-game information, so this is a pretty good reuse of assets. Point is, don’t let this man touch Compton’s stuff, like seriously theres a lot of stuff in there --that’s a bit of security risk. 

Even though Compton still works in the Psychonauts, his isolation wouldn’t really give him much other than possibly just getting his mail delivered to him by Nick from the mailroom. Interactions are few and if there were more it’d probably be like maybe buttering him up like the media which is eugh go away please, also please don’t talk to me you might get hurt if I get overwhelmed but politely of course. 

Afterwards though given the concern Compton feels about lives in general, the psychic accidents, deluge and the whole spy stuff, one of the things he would dislike about Gristol the most is Gristol’s blatant disregard for life of others. That family is not fit to have the responsibility of a ruler to care for its people. The one thing that would bring discomfort to him is the knowledge that Nick | Gristol could have been around his family and grandkids what with the letters Dogen sends to him and Sam interning at the Motherlobe. 

Given what we see of Cassie's past of being forced to work as a counterfeiter, she'd want some justice done right this time. However possible that is while keeping the Lucrecia | Maligula thing a secret to keep everyone involved in the truth of that safe. So like -- Oh the Maliks that made her stay in Grulovia so they could take advantage of her? To keep their riches to themselves and subsequently took the kind and lovely Lucy away from us and forced her into being Maligula? The man who just attempted to do the same thing again just so recently? BEES! BEES FOR GRISTOL.

After having the whirlpool experience quite possibly sending Helmut into a Panic Attack, he’d definitely want to get out of the body that only knows the taste of caviar. Just like Compton, he'd be uncomfortable that this man does not understand the consequences of Maligula's power, being a direct victim of it in the battle. He has so much to catch up on though so I doubt he would think of that guy so much. Maybe whenever he learns of the aftermath in Grulovia and when Raz tells him stuff about Gristol’s brain level.

Bob has only ever heard of Nick the obsequious lickspittle from Truman so his impression is already low, but that's irrelevant anyways because Gristol's actions just reminded his husband of his ‘death’ -- prepare to be swung around by vines and peppered by plant-bombs. Get wrecked dumbass, this is what its like. Not that this would actually happen bc legal reasons but just know that the forest would watching, and it would be tripping this man up if he ever tries to escape.

Lucy would tell off Gristol that even though he is now an adult, he still the same spoiled little rich kid just as she remembers in Grulovia. He’d just be as horrible as Theodore, but worse even. I imagine she got all kinds of thoughts about the Malik family. Channel that energy from this dialogue in this cutscene to the right person this time. Also her own family is definitely better than his. Better at doing stuff for themselves, better flips, better at loving each other and hell better at managing money. Aquatos roasts Maliks time when?

We definitely know the events of Grulovia has been something Ford has been thinking of for a long time, whole or otherwise. Given his discoveries with Lucy’s memories, the time spent in Grulovia searching for Helmut’s body and the bomb threat that was found, the letters and the orders and all kinds of info to stir on. There’s a big scope to this and man it really does get personal. Even his separated fragments knows a bit of what’s up with the Maliks during his little dialogue when he was reconnecting with those aspects. His experience as leader he’d be really appalled by the way the Maliks disregard their citizens, and more importantly how they used Lucy to do that, so this is real personal right from the start. A very heavy topic for this old man to think about, especially if we take in how the thoughts he would have on this are also thoughts affected a certain someone has had a better condition to stir on.

Speaking of, Otto! Now here’s someone who could really stir on his thoughts about the whole thing for the last 20 years. Just a lot of thoughts on the whole thing, including the ones I manage to type up on the others. It’s a deep train of thought one can get lost in when one is alone or is staying up late at night *stares at own clock*.

The beginnings of things going wrong in Grulovia, starting with the War that Lucy left for to help, all while in a vulnerable state. The news of Maligula. The aftermath of the deluge with all the refugees, the personal trauma, death and all the loss. The everything afterwards with the Psychonauts and the drifting apart of the Psychic 7 6. The discoveries in that time span about the Lucy’s letters and the Maliks rule. Just everything we could think of being pondered in those years before canon game starts. So much things one can think about if one isn’t too busy thinking about work as a distraction. Just. Continue on move past that. Try to do better. Can be quite a build-up of anger I’d say ;) Obdlc aftermaths or other character developing moments wise, Otto can share more openly about it to his friends this time, knowing they’d be open to hear him about it after the years of keeping it in or keeping it light and vague for others.

Oh right Gristol, uh yeah Ford is very allowed to be his intimidating authorative self and Otto is going scrutinize and upgrade the Psychonauts Security so much so that this doesn’t happen again. Those thinkerprint system definitely had a bit of a hole that needs patching. These two are people who take actions that are needed and man can they do it.

So like yeah uncomfortable? Sure, just a tad. But these old folks are powerful individuals, and they are together now and man can they can mess him up if Gristol tries anything. If anything, them taking that vacation is keeping him safe.

Anyway the Psychic 7 are going on a vacation, they deserve not thinking about all that stuff for a while, or at least not worrying about it. They can have contemplative sharing with each other regarding the events that has happened, I think. Get those bonds repaired again by understanding each other again just like the past so that they can move in the future together this time around.

For the unpopular opinion thing: Jiang Cheng is the worst

Okay this one is difficult to answer definitively because I try, for my own sanity, to approach characters as constructs and not judge them as I would a fellow human being. So to the opinion regarding JC as a construct, I’d have to disagree because I think he’s a well-crafted one! He has a strong sense of characterisation, character development (even if some of it is regressive development), clear motivations and interests and has a lot of impacts on the events of the novel. He is not static or one-dimensional. 

But I’m guessing the question concerns more whether or not JC is a “good” or “bad” “person”, which becomes much more complicated. I’m certainly mystified by the people who see JC as a soft baby uwu victim who never did anything wrong ever and whose unhappiness is solely the result of WWX’s “selfish” actions 😬. Likewise, I cannot help but roll my eyes at people who try to handwave some of things JC does in the narrative by throwing around the idea that it’s all a result of WWX being an “unreliable narrator” 🙄. He is not either a character that I have a lot of investment in, although he is probably the character in MDZS that is the most similar to myself in terms of temperament (😔🤙). I’m not really interested in taking a lot of time to think about this character, nor do I have any interest in engaging with JC-centric content. Ultimately I find that one thing that makes JC a character that I find kind of unlikeable is his victim mentality and his inability to self-reflect. But, yeah, I just can’t think of characters in terms of like “being the worst” so I can’t really agree or disagree 🤷‍♂️.

Send me a ship and I'll give you my (brutally) honest opinion on it: ZUKKA

OH i have some opinions on this. warning: this reply will be a mile long.

essentially: i do really like zukka and have a soft spot for it, i used to absolutely love it (it was my fave ship back when i first watched atla in 2016), but the revival of atla has complicated my feelings towards it & has made me realise how much fan discussion and culture shapes out understanding of television. I largely think it is very overrated now and the fandom frustrates me a lot even if it's still kind of dear to me?

like at core, i think one should approach zukka not like it was 'meant to be' or highly signalled by the narrative (it was not and never was, lol, let's be honest) but rather just an extrapolation & continuation of the great teamwork dynamic and friendship that zuko and sokka presented during the boiling rock episode. they set out with some of the most awkward small talk and struggled to communicate or bond (i.e. that's rough buddy) but in the midst of the action, affirmed, supported, and trusted each other repeatedly, and this culminated in how well they fought together against azula imo? by the time they left they were so much closer. tbh i think zuko is important to sokka, as zuko affirms sokka and doesn't see him like dead weight or unnecessary in the slightest and believes in him, but also zuko is emotionally forthright in a way that challenges sokka, who hides his insecurities and buries emotions deep with a bleak outlook, sarcastic humour and a focus on the plan, to be more forthright as well. i think sokka helps direct zuko from bad impulsive decisions without trying to stifle him either and clearly appreciates some of his more hare-brained creative solutions (e.g. breath of fire in the cooler) and doesn't dismiss him entirely as an idiot either. like their dynamic - friendship or romance - is very good imo from only that one episode

ideal zukka content is set in this liminal space between boiling rock and sozin's comet where it's about the two of them continuing to lean on and trust each other, open up about shared fears and experiences (both older brothers with chips on their shoulders and prodigy sisters who looked up to their very very different fathers) but also just be goofy boys together, who do stupid or impulsive things and just *act their age* as that is something neither sokka nor zuko, who both shoulder responsibilities and tasks beyond their years, get to do much. like something light, maybe a little fleeting, but means so much in that space, very much the sort of meaningful summer romance you might have as a teenager.

all that said:

for various reasons i'm now sure how it'd pan out long term? a lot of fandom content depicts them as meant-to-be and each other's whole world when like, there's clearly so many other priorities they have - both have a strong sense of duty by the end of the show and i really dislike it when sokka is depicted neglecting that to spend all his time hanging around zuko? like racism r.e. sokka also comes into play as people will devalue his friendships and family in the tribe for the sake of a romantic relationship (with the fire lord, of all people! the boy-king of the imperialist nation that once raided the water tribe so much that it was barely hanging by a thread!). like i don't mind reading fic that actually takes the time to explore that conflict of interest and those different goals and how to navigate having different priorities as an adult and the legacy of colonialism without totally handwaving it or dismissing it but a lot of content just ignores it for the sake of 'oh gay husbands' and it really does a disservice to the characters? realistically i think it would have to be long distance and even then i'm not sure if that's what either needs - and so I instinctively just don’t care for anything that ignores the real difficulties they’d face.

there's also issues with racism in how sokka is mischaracterised as stupid (he's not) or the more emotional one (really, did we watch the same show) or how he thinks zuko is just a million times out of his league (especially when this trope talks about zuko's silky hair or pale skin i absolutely want to scream), as well as fetishising art where he's often more nude that really can make some zukka circles really really uncomfortable? like imo some fans definitely treat zukka like the red boy/blue boy ship from v*ltron and either grossly simplify or flat out ignore characterisation for them to fit certain stock m/m fandom archetypes, and a lot of this is tied up with racist fetishisation of visibly brown characters and fandom racism too. and yeah there's some visual similarity there but zuko and sokka are a thousand times more fleshed out? please don't reduce them to that bullshit. very much feels like the rise of zukka is a product of how fandom culture nowadays prioritises m/m far more than it did 10 years ago but has not at all attempted to address racism, misogyny, ableism, any kind of structural power dynamics that shape modern american/western culture and fan discussions

also? quite honestly i'm of the opinion that people should *not* be writing explicit sexual content about aged-up teenagers in community spaces where there's *tonnes* of minors and yet there is a plethora of explicit zukka fic in this revival and it leads to people just casually remarking about sexual roles of teenage characters around fucking. 15 year old kids. and the total lack of responsibility or even willingness to question whether this is appropriate by adults in this community drives me up the fucking wall. (zukka isn’t unique in this regard btw other ships do this too but it's been a reason for my growing discomfort). obvs teenagers do talk about sex themselves but they should do that amongst themselves and not with adult strangers in the figurative room? ffs.

i think on a more minor note now there's almost an over-saturation of content in the atla fandom to the extent that its drowning out other, more meaningful discussions about the characters or their equally/more important platonic dynamics, and that's frustrating to engage with.

like in theory, done well, with a delicate hand that respects the strength of their characters and dynamic, it's an A+ ship, but the content the fandom produces is sometimes really horrible. In fairness to zukka fans there have been attempts at accountability in at leas the circles i travel in, but there's way more to do in this regard.

(and also as a primarily f/f writer i do resent it a teeny tiny bit because of how much reception it receives for a pairing with little textual basis, and how that dwarfs femslash at the end of the day since a lot of the focus on m/m is fetishising or the readers just don't consider the autonomy or interiority of women as interesting).

anyway.

i feel like i have more to say but that is largely it r.e. zukka. very much taught me a ship is often as good as its fandom, but also taught me that i can read two works labelled zukka and they can have absolutely nothing in common beyond that because how good a ship in fic is reliant on what the author has done with it. i’ve read a lot zukka content i adore but i’ve also read a fair amount of zukka content that makes me deeply uneasy/uncomfortable. I still love it but i have a love-hate relationship with it to some extent.

I just rewatched 7.08, and while think I ran through this bit of the loop once already since 15.04 aired, I didn’t make any comments on it (must’ve been a busy day for me or something...). Anyway, the last time I posted rewatch notes for this episode was way back in July 2019:

https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/186196686115/708-season-seven-time-for-a-wedding-sams

(actually, trying to do TNT loop math in my head, I think I may have watched 7.08 shortly BEFORE 15.04 aired, which is probably why I don’t yet have better rewatch notes yet... but please do go read what I wrote in July, because heck, 15.04 just reinforces ALL of it)

(no, really, please go read that post before continuing on this one... it’s not very long, but incredibly relevant to the transformation in Becky we see in 15.04, AS WELL AS DEEPLY RELEVANT TO THE DECEPTION SAM IS ABOUT TO BE LED THROUGH BY CHUCK OVER THE NEXT SEVEN EPISODES)

And remember, while you’re reading all of this, that the person who wrote 7.08... was Andrew Dabb...

7.08 was Becky’s Lowest Moment, but Sam... gave her the power to find her own salvation. We wouldn’t see the payoff for eight more years, but HECK WAS IT EVER SATISFYING. My only complaint here is that SAM has no idea how profoundly he was able to affect Becky’s life for the better. He and Dean remember her as “superfan99″ or whatever, the woman so obsessed she’d deceived herself into believing that Sam actually loved her back, and nearly lost her soul to a demon, and was willing to literally trade Sam’s free will over it. Sam and Dean don’t know that, after these events, she found a healthy and satisfying life, with a loving family and a thriving business, all because of this:

SAM: You roofied me! BECKY: A roofie? I'd never. We had a great time together. You were happy.

And yeah, while under the effects of a love potion, Sam hadn’t questioned anything, hadn’t worried about his own free will, in other words. Which, in context of what Lilith would ask Dean in 15.05, seems effectively along those exact same lines-- 

Ashley: It's all just so random and awful. Wouldn't it be great if everything was just planned out for you... if it was all just already decided? Dean: No, not really.

OF COURSE NOT! But back in 7.08 Becky was in that exact mindset:

BECKY: He said it wouldn't even work unless you already loved me, deep down. It just activates it. SAM: So you think I love you? BECKY: Deep, deep down? SAM: Then untie me. BECKY stuffs a handkerchief in SAM's mouth. SAM: [muffled] No. No! BECKY: You're still working through your emotions.

and then, after Guy tells her she’ll have to pay for the potion from now on, now that she’s “addicted” to her false relationship with Sam, it’s gonna start costing her directly to keep it:

BECKY: I know what I am, okay? I'm a loser. In school, in life. Guess that's why I like you so much. SAM: What? BECKY: I mean, not that you're a loser, but you had that whole character arc about being a freak, and... I can relate. SAM: [muffled] Oh, my God. BECKY: Honestly... The only place people understood me was the message boards. They were grumpy and overly literal, but at least we shared a common passion. And I'll take it, you know? Then I met you guys – the real Sam and Dean. And I started dating Chuck. And everything was... amazing. But you left, and Chuck dumped me. I think I intimidated him with my vibrant sexuality. I just want someone who loves me for me! Is that too much to ask? [SAM says something muffled. BECKY snatches the handkerchief out of his mouth.] BECKY: What? SAM: If you want somebody to love you for you, maybe don't drug them. BECKY: But I want you! And this is the only way! [BECKY takes the vial out of her pocket.] SAM: Becky. Becky, you're better than this. BECKY: That's sweet, but... I'm not so sure.

We didn’t see what happened to her from the time this episode ended, and the beginning of 15.04, but heck... it’s clear she took Sam’s words to heart and made real changes in her life. Because of what Sam told her, she became better than that.

And we had to wonder how much of what we knew of Becky before, how badly she’d been directly manipulated by Chuck into the story, because she was vulnerable, because she was susceptible back then, was a direct result of Chuck. Not just of him pulling a random obsessed fan into the story because he knew she’d do exactly what he wanted, because she was an easy mark BECAUSE of everything she confessed to Sam in 7.08, but literally because Chuck manipulated her into all of this.

Which Lilith basically says flat-out in 15.05.

And which Chuck will use to much subtler effect with Eileen over the next few episodes after that.

Between 15.04 and 15.05, these two specific women directly connected to Chuck through 4.18 (for Lilith), and through 5.01 and 5.09 (for Becky)-- and specifically connected to Chuck via themes of deception and manipulation, and even MORE specifically connected to Sam through manipulative romantic propositions... it makes me wonder how ANYONE could watch 15.06 and think everything was clearly exactly what it looked like on the surface, and not even bothering to question whether Chuck had his grubby mitts all over that entire situation from the start.

This... is Dabb’s story. This is how he’s unmasked Chuck’s manipulative treachery.

And if you think the kiss between Sam and Eileen in 15.09 “makes them clearly romantic” or think “they kissed, it’s canon!” Then Sam and Becky are equally “canon.” Because Chuck was equally complicit in both.

I mean, even if you DO feel that Sam and Eileen have some great romantic connection, I humbly invite you to at least understand why it makes me deeply, DEEPLY uncomfortable to see it that way.... Eileen may not have used a love potion here, but neither she nor Sam had known how much of her actions Chuck had been affecting-- love-potion style-- between 15.06 and 15.09. And until they sort out their own feelings from the story Chuck forced them into in order to drive his own tragic romance narrative, it’s impossible for me to feel any sort of squee about them as a romantic couple. Because Chuck is a shitty writer, and lies and manipulation are at the very core of his story.

And I’ll apologize, again, to everyone who is able to divorce these themes from 15.06 and watch it without the baggage of this specific sort of emotional manipulation. Hell, let’s call it what it is. It’s gaslighting, and it’s something I’m personally hypervigilant about, because that’s how this sort of trauma works. But it’s also literally the MAIN THEME OF S15 AS A WHOLE, and how each of the characters are coping with this theme and how it directly relates to their own past history. It feels irresponsible to me to handwave the reality here to insist that in this one instance it’s “cute” or “romantic,” just because the result is personally desirable. That’s... the whole freaking POINT.

And it’s set up in 7.08, by Dabb, and made blatantly clear in 15.04 and 15.05.

I guess I just like Eileen as a character too much to wish a noncon romance on her, even if it’s with Sam, and I can’t unsee it as that. (Especially with the fact that Chuck only brought her back to romance Sam so that he could kill her again to break Sam’s will. Chuck himself intended her as nothing more than a manipulative tool for the sake of manpain.) Will she be back of her own free will? Heck, if so, then I’ll question it, but I’ll accept her choice. I couldn’t do it, myself. It would be like Sam going back to Becky and trying to make it work with her. It doesn’t look any different to me below the surface. On the surface, it’s different because Sam and Eileen actually LIKED each other before, years in the past before her untimely death. But take that layer away, at there’s no difference in how I see what happened from 15.06 on, because none of it was actually real. All I, personally, can see is the manipulation. Yet one more reason I truly appreciate the tag “get fucked chuck.”

Rev Recaps Hard Contact (Chapter 4)

CW: Main character directly killing someone, some implications of food insecurity, animals destroying a corpse. LONG ASS POST beneath the cut.

TL;DR Recap: Niner regroups with the rest of Omega, and is upset by Atin’s perceived callousness towards Darman’s fate. (Although the callousness is actually heartbreaking if you know the entirety of his backstory.) Etain observes the crash site and realizes Republic forces have landed. Darman has his first negative reaction to killing someone.Also, the blogger begins the Kal Count (tm) in this post. 

Starting Kal Count: 0. Ending Kal Count: 2.

So we start off right after Darman’s crash landing into some trees with Niner’s reaction to Darman literally shoulder charging him off a crashing airplane space ship. Rather than being (rightfully) angry, Niner sees the transport they had been on explode, and his immediate thought is that Darman must be dead. But he’s in sergeant mode, so he hurries to gather up what equipment he can and regroup with the rest of Omega.

The g’dan (which again are supposed to be like a foot tall but I’m still imagining as venemous, furry, sharp-teethed gizka because that’s the imagery my brain decided on) do attempt to eat him in the process which gives me one of my favorite small/throw-away lines:

It is really interesting to me how quickly Omega makes character judgements about each other. Niner decides here that Darman would have found the g’dan fascinating (not knowing of course that the g’dan are trying to eat Dar, too). Later Atin tells Etain that Dar is fussy about the wiring on his explosives, which is likely accurate, but also comes after a very short window of association. You could dismiss Niner’s line as projection, but together I think it just kind of drives home how closely clones are able to read one another and how attuned to very small behavioral clues the have to be, having grown up on Kamino the way they did.

Anyway, Niner is slightly distressed by the fact that he’s just lost another squad member, so in what’s going to become an unfortunate pattern, he flashes back to the Words of Wisdom of Kal Skirata. Hard Contact is the only Republic Commando novel not to have a Dramatis Personae, but if it did, it would have to list Kal Skirata even though he physically is elsewhere and uninvolved in the plot. 

Thus begins my Kal Count. We currently stand at 1 Flasback/Words of Wisdom. The immediately after we get:

I wasn’t sure to count this as a separate entry in the Kal Count. But it is a separate memory and topic, so I went ahead. We currently stand at 2 Flashbacks/Words of Wisdom. Also, incidentally, google says that Niner is carrying “nearly” 165 pounds at the moment. The commandos could pick me up and carry me, I’m just saying.

Anyway, Niner is pissed about the grey armor’s lack of disguisability in a rural setting. He meets up with Fi and Atin, and updates them about Dar.

Notice Niner stressing that he didn’t see Darman jump but he didn’t abandon him either. After his conversation with Fi and given his worries about being abandoned in True Colors and Order 66, I really think this is a major hang up/fear of Niner’s.

But Atin is a good deal less... emotional, I guess? about the situation that either Fi or Niner are comfortable with. It’s all an act, but we’ll find that out later in his arc.

Seriously, Niner has a thing about abandonment.

On the other hand, if you’re someone who’s already read Triple Zero and knows that Atin was raised by Vau and knows what Vau did to Atin immediately before this mission and that Atin lost a squad in training as well... this is kind of heartbreaking.

Because he just lost everything, again, his sergeant cut his face open for not being good enough and “wallowing” about the loss, and he remembers what happened when his squad tried to rescue him. The guilt from both incidents has to be terrible- and this is his attempt to deal with it, because what if Vau was right? But neither Niner nor Fi know that yet, so they’re upset with him and he’s not getting the firm shake on the shoulder he needs to let him know that it’s Vau who’s wrong.

Anyway, after that upsetting realization I just had, we skip to Etain with Birhan investigating the crash site of Omega’s transport. 

Today in worldbuilding things that annoy the shit out of Rev: this is the only time Qiilura having its own language ever comes up, and all the characters speak perfect Basic for the rest of the novel. 

“starved”. I’m just saying, Etain is called “gaunt” and “starved” repeatedly through out this book, so... whatever happened in the three months she was on Qiilura before Omega got there, she probably still needs some therapy for it. But at least it makes some sense here, unlike when she’s back on the planet as a General in True Colors and only weighs 100 lbs while pregnant.

Again with the mention of food. Also I 1000% do not blame her for being paranoid at this point, but I’m just saying, Qiilura is probably the place she goes back to in her nightmares. Also probably not the best place to send her while already anxious/afraid/pregnant, even just looking at it from a mental health stand point rather than a “it’s an active fucking battle field” pov, but what do I know.

She sees the remains of the commando’s R5 droid with its republic markings and knows Birhan was right: it’s the Republic. The scene then cuts to Darman, who is waking up from the first of many unfriendly landings involving trees. :)

He’s survived his hostile arboreal encounter and chased off the g’dan who want to eat him, but is realizing that he tore a muscle or tendon somewhere in the leg above his right knee. I am unduly pleased by this specificity because I headcanoned him having a leg injury later in life and now I can just headcanon it as him re-injuring this same spot. I don’t know why that pleases me.

Minor quibbles here: why is it Kilo and Delta first using the HUD with live ordinance when Darman was Theta squad, and he’s recounting his own experience with learning the system? Also, I’m not sure whether to read this as “they got the HUDs and later were trained with them using live rounds which is when it sunk in” or “they got the HUDs and got shot at with live rounds on the same day”.

Anyway, Darman is trying to hide off the side of the road, but the path made by the g’dans who wanted to eat him gives him away, so injured and disoriented, he’s forced to kill two of Hokan’s Weequay militia. I’m not going to screenshot the actual death, but it is important to know that while he head shots the second one, the first he initially attacks by shoving the vibroblade in the Weequay’s throat. The g’dans start eating the second Weequay’s body, because the g’dans are just a thing at this point. Like the sewer smells KT is so fond of in this book.

But anyway, the chapter ends with this fairly emotional scene:

“And he hadn’t managed a clean kill. It was wrong. They had drilled him to kill, and kill, and kill, but nobody had thought to teach him what he was supposed to feel afterward. He did feel something, and he wasn’t certain what it was. He’d think about it later.”

There’s a lot of really great characterization and thematics in this scene. It’s very quietly heartbreaking, but not in a way that calls attention to itself. It also really mirrors a scene Darman gets in the third novel, True Colors, which kind of drives home that this is an ongoing struggle for him.

What I don’t get is why it also directly contradicts a scene later in the book where Etain is struggling emotionally after sending Guta-Nay to his death. In that scene, Darman asserts that he’s already killed people as part of his training (which... really isn’t consistent with the timber of this scene?) and that he’s never had time to think about it. I guess you can handwave it to yourself as Darman refusing to acknowledge what he felt upon killing the Weequay, even to himself, as a result of fear/the values reinforced on Qiilura.

 But Darman is the viewpoint character in that scene, and even though he’s immediately protective of Etain, he doesn’t empathize with her, and it comes off as the narrative yet again being harsh towards Etain and all her failings.

I don’t know. We’ll see if I have more thoughts when we actually get to that chapter.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend season four full review

How many episodes pass the Bechdel test?

100% (seventeen of seventeen).

What is the average percentage per episode of female characters with names and lines?

47.22%

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 40% female?

Thirteen, distinctly over half, and with nine of those hitting or exceeding 50%, and two of those making it to/over the 60% line.

How many episodes have a cast that is less than 20% female?

Zero, unsurprisingly.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Thirty-nine. Sixteen who appeared in more than one episode, five who appeared in at least half the episodes, and two who appeared in every episode.

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Forty-three. Twenty who appeared in more than one episode, seven who appeared in at least half the episodes, and one who appeared in every episode.

Positive Content Status:

Nothing to write home about. It isn’t devoid of good qualities, but it also isn’t half as good as it seems to think it is, and it rarely makes any genuine effort to try (average rating of 3).

General Season Quality:

Patchy. Never regained the highs of the series-best third season, though it showed some potential now and then; likewise, never dragged down the way the show did at its worst in series-low season two, but still definitely wandered in that direction time and again. Comes to a conclusion as predictable as it is boring.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) under the cut:

Ok, since full-season reviews for the final season of a show have a tendency to take on strong full-series overtones, I’m gonna keep this simple, and just focus on the way the character’s storylines came around (or didn’t) by the last episode. Considering that they used that abominable time-skip technique to neatly skip major developments yet again, they made it very easy to reflect on what the narrative has positioned as core to the character’s lives.

First, a note on time skips: like any technique, they have their place in a storyteller’s toolbox, and it is completely possible to use them to strong effect. Time skips, in and of themselves, are not the devil, nor are they automatic signs of lazy storytelling - they just need to exist for a good reason. Having serious changes take place in the interim, and dropping the audience into the chaos on the other side so that they can unravel all that change and work out how things developed and how they fit together now after the fact? Great use of a time skip, because it still uses the interim developments for active storytelling, and drives viewer engagement by making you pay attention to put the pieces together. There’s heaps of potential in that, plus you can bring vitality to plot development that might actually have been laborious to watch in real-time; when viewed in retrospect, it can become much more interesting than it would have been as a chronological thread. The two big time skips we had in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend? Categorically not that. The first one, in season three, was essentially a way of going ‘nothing interesting whatsoever happened in these character’s lives for eight entire months’, which is just abysmal storytelling, and the only real explanation for why they bothered with the time skip at all was that they wanted to fast-track the pregnancy plot (which, I’ll say again, I am still really disturbed by - it meant declaring that absolutely nothing that happened - for Heather, as a pregnant person, or for Darryl as an expectant parent, or for Rebecca as the egg donor who never really addressed her own feelings about her decision (this season limply acknowledged that in one episode, but you know what would have been better? The inclusion of emotional ups and downs over time! It’s only EXACTLY the kind of thing which is deeply pertinent to Rebecca’s mental state!) - none of it was meaningful enough to be worth telling a story about, and that’s depressingly lazy and insulting to the characters, frankly, and NOT just because of my own pregnancy-related feelings). Skipping eight months of your own story without using that missing time for anything is ridiculous (and if you don’t want to waste time on a plot thread, don’t include it in the first place - since the entire baby storyline came to a big zero on character and narrative development anyway, they might as well have not bothered pretending). The entire year they time-skipped in the final episode of this season? Kinda the exact same problem, even though they did include little flashback scenes this time to pretend that anything meaningful happened. If it actually mattered, you shoulda built it into the course of the actual season, instead of handwaving it in at the eleventh hour without any development or fallout. This is not how storytelling works.

And what did we get as the sum total of our character development in the time-skipped year, what action was jumped over and then treated as the culmination of each individual’s life and time on the show? Well, Josh got a new serious girlfriend. One of the better characters on the whole show, a highlight when there was sometimes little light to be had, and he...got a girlfriend. Wow. Josh’s story really went places, huh? Nathaniel? Quit his job and went to work at his favourite place, the zoo, which is a much more interesting development and easily my favourite one, but also, they didn’t build towards that at all. You could be forgiven for forgetting that Nathaniel likes going to the zoo when he’s sad, because that was just a bit from a song one episode, long ago, and the show never reinforced his interest in the zoo outside of that. Objectively, I love this as an end-place for his character, but in the context of his development on-show, it’s kinda out of left field, they did not incorporate it in to his narrative the way they should have if they were gonna use it in this way. Similar problem: Paula, whose Great Achievement was bringing pro bono work to her firm, only, we’d never had any real indication that she was passionate about it before, it was just something she started doing to support Rebecca. This doesn’t feel like a development that actually has anything to do with Paula at all, and it certainly doesn’t bring things around on any part of her personal plot in a way that could be considered meaningful. Valencia finally gets to be engaged, she makes it happen for herself by being the one to propose, and that’s nice but hardly less of a bland culmination than ‘and Josh has a girlfriend’. Darryl’s relationship and child-in-the-making is also ho-hum, and kinda reinforces the idea that they coulda just skipped the stupid Hebecca plot since it was seemingly just a way to preoccupy Darryl while they couldn’t come up with any real story for him, only to have his story end with achieving the same thing he had already spent the previous season achieving, just with a partner involved this time. Heather, Hector, White Josh? No meaningful developments, they were never important. Greg? Something restaurant related? I literally can’t even remember already, that’s how much I don’t care. Why was he even here? Nope, still don’t care.

And then of course, Rebecca. She sure did ‘resolve’ her BPD as a plot point by taking medication, so, not impressed by the way they handled that in the end, and in the meantime she finally realised that her happiness was not and should not be defined by relationships and that she should pursue the things in life which actually make her happy within herself, and that is...exactly the basic conclusion that I assumed this show would come to back when it started. I somehow foolishly thought they would have to have something more up their sleeves than ‘don’t define yourself through your relationship with someone else’, especially after they doubled and tripled down (get it, tripled? Because of the three guys?) on the idea that romance was part of the endgame for Rebecca, literally to the last episode; turning around and pulling a ‘but romance isn’t the most important thing!’ after THAT MUCH time and energy spent on forefronting it in the late stages of the show doesn’t feel like some kind of clever twist, it’s something really obvious that the show had various leaned on at other points in its run, only to return to the romantic centre with a greater and greater vengeance. By this point, blowing off the romances with all three of these other characters that Rebecca had already blown off - numerous times! - in the past isn’t some revelation of character development, it’s just pattern repetition. For the sprinkling of other plot threads they wrapped up for Rebecca this season, each of them applauded to some extent for whatever catharsis they brought, this ultimately ended her story in the most redundant of ways, placing at the core of her story the very same thing that the show had already denounced and restored time and time again. But anyway. This all sounds awfully series-review-ish. The moral of the story is, I hated the final episode with a passion and it made me feel like the entire show was largely pointless viewing, and that’s unfortunate because there were various glimmers of thoughtful wrap-ups across the rest of the season. Anything else, I guess I’ll talk it out in the only place left for it: the full series review.

I loathe Ada//chi, but also appreciate that the narrative didn’t try to make the player feel sorry for him (Pre-Golden and Ultimax, anyway, but that’s a rant for later). Real world serial killers aren’t going around stealing candy from babies and being openly malicious or evil in public, nor does anything related to their background or upbringing justify the crimes they commit. You can’t handwave murder just because the villain reveals that someone made him drop his ice cream when he was a kid (not to mention such stories almost ALWAYS demonize abuse victims in their clumsy attempt to force the audience to empathize with the villain). 

Ultimately, it all boils down to choice.

There’s nothing about his backstory that is weaponized in this fashion, if anything it’s a quite average upbringing. I do think that he made choices that lead him to develop the twisted worldview he rants about during the events of the game, but those were decisions he willingly made. He had all the makings of someone who could have been successful and satisfied with his role in society, but he CHOSE to use a perceived slight to hold a grudge against the world and humanity in general. He’s immature and, to a degree, naive by demanding he’s ‘owed’ anything because of all of the work he put into his future career.

He seems to veer between admitting he started the murders due to complete boredom and trying to teach the Protag/MC about ‘how the world really works’ like he’s doing him some immense favor. Ultimately, he kills two people (one of whom was still in high school), because they both rejected his romantic and sexual advances. It’s pathetic and obviously says a lot about how he views women in general- Which is something that has literally been turned into a meme in the fandom and yet fans of his character love to ignore the flimsy and childish motives for his killing spree.

Some may point out that he willingly surrendered, but that was only after the Investigation Team manages to overpower him in combat, putting an end to his ‘game’. He doesn’t even have the conviction or determination to see his plan through until the bitter end, only fully admitting his guilt because he lost the advantages he had. It’s less remorse over what he did and more akin to a child giving up the moment he started losing.

Certain villains may be worthy of something close to ‘redemption’ in their canon, but Ada//chi, in my opinion, is NOT one of those people. But he doesn’t NEED to be capable of an iota of goodness in order to be interesting as a character and muse.

My ask box continues to fill up, and I have no answers for any of this. I’ve gotten comments that @dreamworksanimation is good about things like fair representation in other shows when it comes to disability, queer relationships, racial diversity, and just plain solid storytelling. Why was @voltron the exception? 

Or you can just have the questions from my asks:

I really, really wanted [Dreamworks execs] to address the situation, to tell us why VLD took that enormous shitty turn and to apologize and do us better. But I'm guessing we already know the answer (arrogant inexperienced EPs) and I think they won't do anything about it, just try to fade Voltron to the background as it's ending and focus on She-ra, if they ever decide to apologize, they're just gonna focus on the LGBT rep as if its the worst problem of their story.

You know what, I hope someone makes an extensive list of all the morally questionable messages Voltron has sent with all its characters (Shiro & Kuron everything, and Lotor as abuse victim in particular), all in detail and shove them in their faces saying, but to you it's 2 guys in love and in a healthy relationship that is wrong, instead of ableism, racism, homophobia, etc. When I think of what the kids will take from Voltron I feel sick. But queer love is the problem here, right. I’m disgusted.

Us: can we get a happy ending too like the het people and couples in the show?

VLD: no, not a happy or even semi-happy ending, you'll get a miserable ending but get this, we're going to write the last survivor of the 4 queer characters we killed off to be totally on board with this. We'll write him and animate him as if he's happy and got resolution, growth, and catharsis and not as if he got demoted, sidelined, isolated, discarded by his family, worst of all by Keith. We'll say a monster like him can’t be a paladin.

Let’s also go back to talking about how they not only made Lotor, a victim of child abuse not to mention biracial character who grew up with everything against him: suddenly evil, be the same as his abusive "father" and "mother" (who even after remembering who he is pulled the same crap as before), took every happiness away from him and had the nerve to mock his abuse in S7?! As a child abuse survivor I'M HORRIFIED.

The messages in the Shiro/Adam scene is disgusting, this is such a difficult subject, even for adults show with plenty time to explore and be fair to both characters while being explicit about it all. I was worried: in a kids’ show? how can they write this in a way they'll get it? With barely time for it? but look what they wrote, Adam gave an ultimatum instead of support and died, then they blamed the disabled guy for everything. Message: you’re gay so your relationship and your life are worthless, you'll be miserable and alone.

For a team that is all about working together, voltron members after 7 seasons still don't feel like a family and more like colleagues from work. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It feels odd knowing that they weren't actually battling homophobic higher ups. It feels more tactical and greedy for social justice points than out of genuine desire to showcase diversity. Is it coincidence that the character they dislike the most is the one selected for this honor? As a lesbian fan i'm skeptical and angry and refuse to watch anything else by these two.

People keep trying to excuse this stuff with "Voltron is a kids' show", but you know what? There are gay kids out there. There are disabled kids out there. Much as we may wish it otherwise, there are kids out there experiencing trauma. Do we REALLY want to teach those little kids that they are broken and tainted forever and nothing good is waiting for them in the world from here on out? People need to know how damaging it is to have ZERO stories in media showing realistic healing of trauma.

The lady who betrayed them got a proper send off scene even tho she send Adam & the others like pigs to slaughter & betrayed them & caused them all to almost lose and die. Got screentime & some characterization. But sure why respect Adam that way too. I will never forget the dread I had for him when I saw he was with the fighters who were sent to die, then watched them one by one lose their lives until he too, was killed. I still feel sick thinking about it. We never even learned his last name.

I know it's been a while but I'm not over how they treated Lotor in s6. I'm from a broken and dysfunctional home and this show I watch for escapism told me I'm doomed to repeat the same mistakes of my parents, end up just like them. ... Are they even aware of the messages they send to their audience? Not all of us had good childhood like Allura.

From a chronically ill perspective, I felt downright insulted by the choice they made to give Shiro a degenerative illness. The idea of a chronically ill hero is cool but they pull the cure narrative, they don't give him a real illness, and it's just used for cheap irrelevant drama. Plus the whole "Has to choose between loved ones and goals" thing was pretty insensitive, we're already expected to sacrifice so much as ill people so the reinforcement of that was unpleasant to watch and read meta on.

Even if everyone was white cishet abled guy the messages sent to kids were awful: One who fought to carve his own path was forced to become someone else, one who suffered and fought till the end was told he’s a monster that can’t be a paladin, the insecure one will never be worthy as himself and he'll always be someone else’s replacement, one who survived genocide and suffered loss upon loss until reduced to nothing, one who suffered by his parents’ hand became like them, the whole Kuron thing. You cant brush off all THAT.

going into the new semester with the horrible messages of s7 on my mind...i’m lethargic. i have been since the “retired paladin” interview. it was bad for me to balance my mental health on the state of a fictional character, but it was really effective. Until that awful message that disabled people are helpless in controlling their own lives. I’m trying to disconnect and thrive anyway, out of spite against ableism if nothing else.

I had this horrible realization: you know how Shiro is a victim of abuse and him getting the Black Lion was him regaining the control the lack of he suffered in his capture? I think they gave him the illness and handwaved it with the clone, so as to argue for his removal from the Black Lion. They claim that the reason he wanted control was the illness and not the victimization in the Galra hands. They're essentially erasing his trauma.

Writers: so we'll write endearing multidimensional characters with many layers, we'll have them subvert stereotypes, especially those that characters like them usually are written with, ie. Keith isn't a loner nor is he angry just 'cause, but a lonely abandoned kid with trust issues due to his mom leaving him, thus has poor emotional control and anger management, struggles to connect and open up, he is the one whose arc embodies the found family theme more than anyone. 

EPs: nah we want stereotypes loool

We talk about Shiro and all the ableism in his story but we don't talk nearly enough about how horrifying the message is that Keith is the one to take it all from him and kick him aside. Keith chose to discard Shiro because he's broken and useless, so he can take his place. I've been through things they both have and I find all that horrifying. S7 sent terrible messages to kids watching.

They had the chance to let Shiro overcome and be a hero. To defeat his own abuser (Sendak) except Keith takes over everything and fixes everything for him while he lies helpless on the ground without a new arm yet. They had the budget. The animation. They could have empowered Shiro. They saw how many people saw themselves in Shiro's struggle. They must have seen the concerns. And they actively chose to go against that.

The Bury Your Gays trope is even worse this season when you consider the heavy lesbian subtext with Lotor's former generals who get blown up on screen. And naturally, it's the one with a crush on Keith who turns good and survives.

Was there a minority that hasn't been screwed over? Bury Your gays was merely the last shocking straw, because the whole season was chockful of terrible messages and proved they would never treat their characters right and address stuff from before. Homophobia, racism, ableism, sexism, mocking of abuse, excusing abandonment & so on.

I’m adding my voice because I'm so, so tired. None of the characters i see on screen are the characters we got to know in s1/2. The character i most related to was beaten down out of spite for 4 seasons and now may as well be a cardboard cutout. DW and the EPs don't seem to give a single shit about how badly this season has affected people. i don't know whether to jump ship or spit fire over everything. i'm just... exhausted.

I want a transparent statement & apology from DreamWorks. I want to know THEIR stance & role in this, ALL the events that ended up with us getting a show that is not only homophobic but also ableist, racist, mocks child abuse and so much more. I want them to acknowledge & explain why they allowed the marketing team to bait fans with ship content in their videos, thumbnails and even that EP interview about shipping. I want to know who and why allowed the show to to take a worse direction in recent seasons.

I have no answers for any of this, @dreamworksanimation. If there are any explanations, any reassurances that you’ll work hard to prevent any repeat, you need to say so. The longer you’re silent, the more it looks like you’re fine with the story and all its horrific messages. Are you?

Crossing the Cosmologies of Dragonlance and Planescape

I got asked this question by Beriorn over on the Onyx Path forums, so since I wrote a very long answer, I thought I would post it here as well. 

How do you handle Dragonlance, if I may ask? Do you just make the people of Krynn a bunch of superstitious yokels who think all the Lower Planes are the Abyss and people laugh at them for that?

This is an excellent question that I am going to talk about at length, but for the sake of ease, I'll stick my answer first and then go into my long-winded explanation of the logic I'm using. One disclaimer first, I haven't done anything with Dragonlance in a REALLY long time, nor have I reread the books recently (although I have been very slowly listening to Dragons of Autumn Twilight as an audiobook), so my cosmology may be a bit sketchy and not well reasoned in this particular case. I also don't have a hard and fast answer for Dragonlance's place in my cosmology because of this. Opinions could change. Anyhow, my tl;dr answer is that I may have the Cagers of Sigil look down on the people of Krynn as you've described, but the truth would be much, much more complicated. I'd say that either Krynn's Abyss does represent the Lower Planes viewed from a different "angle" than that of the traditional Great Wheel, or that Dragonlance's Abyss is a completely different Abyss from the Great Wheel's, but two of them overlap so often most prime sages don't realize this and most Sigilian sages ignore the evidence staring them in the face. Of the two possibilities, I currently favour the latter. Let me explain. There are three possibilities I see for incorporating Dragonlance into Planescape. Possibility 1: The Great Wheel Wins This is the position that your question assumes, it is the position that Planescape's canon assumes, and its the position that I hate the most. Everyone on Krynn is wrong about the way the planes are structured, everyone in Sigil is right, so we'll shoehorn all of the powers and planes from Dragonlance into somewhere they fit in the Great Wheel. I understand why Planescape mostly went this route since this is the easiest/smallest word count form of resolution and it is the easiest to communicate/wrap your head around. The problem is, it is also the laziest, least creative, and least interesting solution to the problem. It also runs roughshod over the cosmologies that make all of these Prime Worlds so interesting, which kinda defeats the purpose of having a massively interconnected multiverse between these worlds. I know how I felt when 4e blew the Great Wheel to shit and I don't want Dragonlance, FR, or Dark Sun fans to feel the same way about Planescape. (Aside: I eventually found a way to incorporate the World Axis Cosmology into the Great Wheel. I don't use it much, but it lets me steal the parts of 4e I like.) Finally, it also kinda screws with Planescape's own themes. Yes, the citizens of Sigil think they are the literal centre of creation, but they are supposed to be arrogant dicks. They may act like they know everything and everyone else is a clueless rube, but sometimes they just need a good kick in the ass to stop them from being so stuck up. They've also forgotten one of the Plane's key laws: The Centre of All. Wherever you are in the multiverse, that's the centre of the multiverse. If you move, the centre moves. The Planes are infinitely infinite, so there is no one most important place. Everywhere is important. Everywhere is valid. So it makes zero sense for one cosmology to override all others. Possibility Two: From a Certain Point of View This is my usual approach to reconciling cosmologies. Treat both cosmologies as being true and correct, with the discrepancies between them being the result of "viewing" the planes from different metaphysical reference points. Oerth, Toril, and Golarion make an excellent example of this. Each of the three worlds has a different cosmology (The Great Wheel, The World Tree, and the Great Beyond, respectively). Despite their differences, each of the three cosmologies is similar in very broad strokes. They draw on similar archetypes, they have similar Inner/Outer/Transitive categories, and the material plane interacts with them in similar ways. Here, it is easy to handwave and say "both realities are true, both realities exist simultaneous, and the maps of reality exist because different mortals experience the planes in different ways." My logic here kinda works like this. We know that portal keys open portals between the planes. We also know that planer pathways have a similar form of conditional operation. The planes are often infinite, but it is also possible to walk from one infinite plane to another without passing through a portal given the right set of conditions. What if one of the keys/conditions was being from a certain world or believing in a particular cosmology? That would explain why each world is ignorant of alternate cosmologies. If scholars and planer travellers only journey with adventurers from their own world, they would never encounter these alternate connection between the planes! So if a party from Toril wants to go from Fire to Air, they can pass directly from one plane to another (passing through the Paraelemental Plane of Smoke on the way). A party from Golarion, on the other hand, would have to go the long way, because, for them, a direct connection between Fire and Air doesn't exist! They get to drop from Fire to Eath, then to Water, and finally to Air. They'd also cross through border regions between each elemental plane, which Torilians would identify as being part of the Paraelemental Planes, but again, if you are from Golarion, you experience those as the border between the planes, not as a separate plane. It sounds confusing and complicated (which it is), but it works. Now, could you potentially learn what the cosmology of another world and potentially use that pathway? Totally, although these people would be the exception rather than the rule. It may take a lot of time and deep philosophy to do it on your own, but if you are travelling with a group, you should get pulled along with whatever the collective beliefs of the group are. That conveniently allows the DM to keep the group together when necessary, or lets you split the party if it makes for a good story. This works well for most D&D settings like Forgotten Realms, Pathfinder*, Greyhawk, and Dark Sun*. It doesn't work for Eberron and I don't think it works for Dragonlance either. *Mostly. There are some planes that require method three in these cosmologies. Possibility Three: A Multitude of Planes Dragonlance has a very distinctive set of themes when it comes to good, evil, and neutrality, and those themes are reflected in Dragonlance's cosmology. So pretty bluntly, trying to force the planes from Dragonlance into the plane of Planescape kinda destroys Dragonlance, both narratively and thematically. The established rules of Dragonlance's planes are also very different from those of the Great Wheel. The Hidden Vale is supposed to be practically impossible for mortals to enter, which just does not jive with the way the neutral planes of Planescape are portrayed, particularly the Outlands, and specifically the Gate-towns and Sigil. I feel like Dragonlance requires its own set of Outer Planes that are both parallel and tangent to the Great Wheel. These planes are parallel because they are clearly different from the Great Wheel, but some of the niches overlap, and they occupy the same metaphysical "position." I had to do this with Abbadon from Pathfinder's Great Beyond, so it makes a good example of what I mean. Most of the Great Beyond's planes map smoothly on to the Great Wheel using method two. Heaven is Mount Celestia, Axis is part of Arcadia, Hell is Baator, Elysium is Arborea/Ysgard and so on. Abbadon, the neutral evil plane, occupies the same position as the Grey Wastes of Hades in the Great Wheel, but it lacks several of Hades' key attributes, most notably the dulling of emotions and the concurrent loss of colour. While I've toyed with making Abbadon "merely" the fourth layer of the Wastes, ultimately I think its a poor fit. The themes of the two planes are too different, the physics of the planes are divergent, and the inhabitants would step on each other's toes. Instead of merging the two planes, I preserved them as separate realities. When one travels the planes while oriented to the Great Wheel, they find Hades in the location of the Neutral Evil plane. When the travellers are oriented to the Great Beyond instead, they encounter Abbadon. Cagers may present Abbadon as being "just" an obscure and little-known evil demiplane, but that's just them being conceited about something that rattles their prefered cosmological schema. Abbadon is an Outer Plane, it is a "proper" plane, it just doesn't fit inside the Great Wheel. Instead, it runs parallel to the Wheel, separate from it, but in no way inferior. I would imagine that Krynn's Abyss, Dome of Creation, and Hidden Vale to function similarly. Each is "parallel" to the Lower, Upper, or Conflict planes, respectively. Their structure isn't the same as the Great Wheel, but you can see where scholars would get confused if you squint. "But wait," I hear you say! "Doesn't Planescape have canonical divine domains for Krynn's pantheon?" Indeed it does, which is why I say Planescape and Dragonlance's are also tangent to each other. In some locations, the planes bleed through and touch. Think of this like shadows kissing. If you hold two objects close enough together, their shadows will blister and connect, even if the two objects are not touching. Some locations in the Great Wheel and River of Souls cosmologies exists simultaneously on multiple planes, particularly divine domains. So Takhisis had a realm that is simultaneously both part of Baator and part of Krynn's Abyss. They are the same location no matter the plane from which you approach. The plane you are on depends on your frame of reference. That allows the two cosmologies to remain distinct and unique, while still giving them enough points of contact to interact and be part of the same greater multiverse. I'll also note that this has precedent in Planescape's canon. Multiple cities exist simultaneous on several planer layers, most notably the city of Centre, which simultaneously exists on all three layers of the Grey Wastes. Likewise, I'd argue that the Planer Pathways (Yggdrasil, The Infinite Staircase, and Mount Olympus) are not mere pathways, but separate and tangent planes that overlap with multiple parts of the Great Wheel, but don't fit cleanly into one location, much like Krynn's planes. Olympus is an excellent example, in at least one published adventure, you when cave spelunking from Arborea straight to the Grey Wastes without passing through the intervening planes or portals. That sounds like using the tangent plane of Olympus to go from one plane it overlaps with to another, at least to my ears. So there you go, that's my 1919 word explanation for how I would incorporate Dragonlance's unique cosmology into Planescape. Both cosmologies are correct and exist independently, but they overlap and bleed together at a number of important locations. Simple? Not really, but simple was never the point of Planescape. Easy? Could be easier, but not that bad. Interesting? Respectful of the source material? Rich with opportunity to tell unique stories? Absolutely.

The Case for (Imagined) Queerness in the Works of Jane Austen

As 12 years of mandatory English classes taught us, a book’s impact and importance depend on a ton more factors than just “what the author decided the plot should be.” Every story is contextualized and processed by its individual readers. And if you think you understand the power of this reader/text relationship like the bookish queer youth does, oh boy are you out of your league. There’s an entire ocean of characters out there, and so shamefully few of them are non-hetero. Fan fiction, fan art and extensive Tumblr analyses abound trying to engineer Queer Subtext for any book, movie or television show you can imagine. LGBTQ folk are experts at collecting scraps of dialogue, stray looks or ambiguous moments, pinning them to the cork board of Accidental Queer Representation and connecting them with the red yarn of, uh, Extremely Biased Interpretation? Much like the metaphor in that last sentence, these cobbled-together narratives are often flimsy at best, but we stand behind them with conviction. See? I’m a weathered professional at holding together a trembling, papier-mâché construct despite all evidence to the contrary! Plenty of heteronormative franchises and stories have been given new life by the queer reader’s re-programming, but I have felt mostly alone in my bold quest to Gay Up the works of Jane Austen. These stories all at least partially revolve around the stirrings of Heterosexual Love in the hearts of young women and naturally have been favored mostly by my exceedingly hetero, female-identifiying peers. Therefore I have taken it upon myself to do this heavy lifting on behalf of the Queer Agenda. I have labored intensely for many years, and now at long last I present my findings on a few of Jane Austen’s most notable works.   Mansfield Park for Queer Youth Ah, Mansfield Park. The story of a mousy, impoverished heterosexual young woman fending off the advances of a wealthy and charming young heterosexual man in order to ultimately commit to an austere and boring heterosexual young man. Or is it?   Exhibit A: Mary Crawford, The Original Girlcrush   When Miss Mary Crawford and her wealthy and charming heterosexual brother Henry move into the neighborhood, young Fanny Price and her better-off cousins the Bertrams find their lives turned upside-down. Perhaps not quite in the way you would think. Miss Crawford’s beauty did her no disservice with the Miss Bertrams. They were too handsome themselves to dislike any woman for being so too, and were almost as much charmed as their brothers with her lively dark eye, clear brown complexion, and general prettiness. (Chapter 5) The first half of this excerpt is a very informative piece of intel on the lives of conventionally attractive, straight women. (Finally, Taylor Swift’s #girlsquad makes sense!) The second half, however, is queer as hell if you just believe hard enough. “Almost” as much charmed? Come on, Austen. Just give it to us straight. (Uh, no pun intended.) Everyone is in love with Mary Crawford, which is beautiful and tragic. The Bertram daughters are bound by custom and convention to marry men, but in the depths of their hearts, they clearly yearn to leave it all behind and run away with Mary.   Exhibit B: Wait, Is Mary Crawford after Edmund or Fanny?   The ongoing flirtation between Mary and Edmund is explicit enough. While they turn out to be ill-suited for one another, the initial sparks between them cannot be denied. Only slightly more subtle, however, is Mary’s fascination with Fanny which leads the two women to spend the majority of their free time together. Such was the origin of the sort of intimacy which took place between them within the first fortnight after the Miss Bertrams’ going away—an intimacy resulting principally from Miss Crawford’s desire of something new, and which had little reality in Fanny’s feelings.”(Chapter 22) Mary, girl, we’ve all been there. Experiment away! Bless Jane Austen for this completely unintended example of much-needed bisexual representation.   Exhibit C: Fanny Just Wants a Beard I have always found protagonist Fanny Price’s rejection of rich, effusive and affable Henry Crawford in favor of her stoic and dare I say withholding cousin Edmund Bertram to be one of the most frustrating heterosexual choices in literature, which is already full to bursting with the baffling entanglements of straight people. Ostensibly, Fanny has chosen a life of quiet morality as worth more to her than indulgence and having fun and being happy. And at first glance, the moral of this story seems to be the bland and inoffensive message that it’s actually okay for straight women to love solemn contemplation and quiet alone time and reading indoors on a rainy day. Oh, and being sexually attracted to one’s first cousin too, obviously. But is there perhaps a more original and insightful takeaway from this novel? Of course there is! Arguably, a queer reading of Mansfield Park is the only thing that would explain why in the end, Fanny falls for the least threatening or exciting man she has ever met. It also explains her intense discomfort with male attention. (She’s described in Chapter 21 as “almost as fearful of notice and praise as other women were of neglect.”) She’s not looking for sex appeal or chemistry, because she knows she will never find them in a man, nor does she want such a thing. The best case for Fanny is a dependable and amiable enough life partner with whom to pay the bills, share in life’s various duties and sleep in separate beds. Edmund is certainly that.   Emma, Obviously in Denial   In addition to having the most personally relatable protagonist I have ever encountered, Emma is coincidentally also the easiest of Jane Austen’s works to jam into a queer-shaped mold. You can read a good 85% of this novel as the story of a lady-loving lady in very deep denial struggling with the heterosexual inclinations of all the women she cares for. Unfortunately things go a little off the rails when Emma finally realizes her love for Mr. Knightley, which is difficult to handwave away seeing as how it is actually a rather compelling Heterosexual Romance. We’ll just ignore this minor detail that is arguably the culmination of the entire novel and focus on the rest.   Exhibit A: Feelings? For Men?   We are often reminded in this book that Emma has little to no interest in ever marrying. And why would she? She does not lack for money or status. Her only reason to marry would be True Hetero Love. “I have none of the usual inducements of women to marry. Were I to fall in love, indeed, it would be a different thing! but I never have been in love; it is not my way, or my nature; and I do not think I ever shall.” (Chapter 10) Okay but is it not your nature to be in love or to be in love with men? Maybe this requires just a bit more introspection, Emma. Indeed, let us examine Emma’s attempted quasi-relationship with Frank Churchill. Emma realizes that she feels left out of all the fun watching her friends fall in love and circle through flirtations and makes the decision to get a crush on Frank with the aim of adding a little excitement to her life. (Relatable!) She notices that there seems to be something missing in her feelings for Frank, but she boldly soldiers on through the motions of being In Love so as to better fit in. Eventually, even Emma, queen of self-delusion that she is, cannot continue to pretend to love a man as anything more than a friend. But, on the other hand, she could not admit herself to be unhappy, nor, after the first morning, to be less disposed for employment than usual; she was still busy and cheerful; and, pleasing as he was, she could yet imagine him to have faults; and farther, though thinking of him so much, and, as she sat drawing or working, forming a thousand amusing schemes for the progress and close of their attachment, fancying interesting dialogues, and inventing elegant letters; the conclusion of every imaginary declaration on his side was that she refused him. Their affection was always to subside into friendship…When she became sensible of this, it struck her that she could not be very much in love. (Chapter 13) Because “I can like Men if only I just try hard enough” has always worked out!   Exhibit B: I Only Sabotaged My Best Friend’s Relationship For Her Own Good   Who among us hasn’t vehemently encouraged our dearest friend Harriet to turn down the advances of a perfectly lovely boy whom she likes very much ostensibly because he’s not good enough but actually because lurking in the deepest recesses of our subconscious, we could not bear to see her with someone else? This is so classic, I could rest my case right here. I probably spent my entire teenhood trying to subtly manipulate my secret lady crushes into dumping their boyfriends. “I lay it down as a general rule, Harriet, that if a woman doubts as to whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him. If she can hesitate as to ‘Yes,’ she ought to say ‘No’ directly. It is not a state to be safely entered into with doubtful feelings, with half a heart. I thought it my duty as a friend, and older than yourself, to say thus much to you. But do not imagine that I want to influence you.” (Chapter 7) I would never tell you what to do! I’m just saying maybe think about it. And while you’re thinking about it, think about the fact that you’re thinking about it. If you really loved him, would you even need to think about it? Makes you think, doesn’t it?   Exhibit C: Serial Monogamy   On the topic of Harriet, let’s take a closer look at a pattern of behavior Emma seems to set up. She was exceedingly close to Mrs. Weston, her old governess-turned-best-friend before this woman had the nerve to move out and get married to a man. Emma, drowning in sorrow at the loss of this relationship, cannot handle being single and working on herself for a while, therefore she immediately turns her faculties to selecting herself a new girlfriend. When Emma decides that Harriet shall be her next life partner, she cleaves to her wholly and immediately. Harriet must accompany Emma on all her errands, must call on her nearly daily and must attend every party Emma attends as well. The poor girl doesn’t know how to exist without being in the constant company of a woman who adores her. Have I mentioned how relatable Emma is enough times yet?   Pride and Prejudice and Homosexuality Yes, Pride and Prejudice is perhaps the most Heterosexual piece of literature ever written at first glance, but please! Do not doubt my ability to make Austen’s most enduring triumph Extremely Gay. I told you I was a professional. By the time my case is finished, you will see that Pride and Prejudice is one of the queerest classic works in the canon.   Exhibit A: Uhhh, Why Do Darcy and Bingley Have to Be Together All the Time?   Darcy has Pemberley. Bingley has enough money to buy any property he pleases. There is no reason these boys need to follow each other from estate to estate, attending parties together, traveling to all the same boroughs. Darcy, if you hate the country so much, why don’t you just go live at home in your home that you own? You know, the home that everyone constantly talks about how incredible it is? The home you can just ride a horse over to right now? That home? Darcy gets a lot of guff for convincing Bingley not to propose to Jane. And yeah, that screams Jealous Secret Crush on Darcy’s end. But one must also wonder why Bingley would have been so very easy to persuade. If he truly wanted to marry Jane, I think it would have taken more than a slight nudge from his platonic best bud to ghost her the way he did. I mean, he didn’t just stop answering her texts. He moved himself and his family out of town. However, it doesn’t seem quite so inexplicable to dump one’s beard at the urging of one’s Secret Boyfriend now does it?   Exhibit B: Everyone Is Gay for Georgiana   “I really do not think Georgiana Darcy has her equal for beauty, elegance, and accomplishments; and the affection she inspires in Louisa and myself is heightened into something still more interesting…” (Chapter 21) I swear to God, no one in this book will ever shut up about Georgiana Darcy. We get it! She’s so very beautiful and kind and charming and talented! The Bingley sisters practically salivate over her. Lady Catherine admires her in her own grumpy old elitist way. Elizabeth finds her fully delightful. Everyone is obsessed with Georgiana. She’s like the Shane McCutcheon of Regency England.   Exhibit C: Relax, Elizabeth, People Get Married.   Elizabeth has decidedly no interest in marrying the human embodiment of Oblivious Mansplaining, Mr. Collins. Elizabeth’s best friend Charlotte Lucas, however, seems to think the constant stream of ignorant babble is worth the cash money. So she locks it down, infuriating Elizabeth. She had always felt that Charlotte’s opinion of matrimony was not exactly like her own, but she had not supposed it to be possible that, when called into action, she would have sacrificed every better feeling to worldly advantage. Charlotte the wife of Mr. Collins was a most humiliating picture! And to the pang of a friend disgracing herself and sunk in her esteem, was added the distressing conviction that it was impossible for that friend to be tolerably happy in the lot she had chosen. (Chapter 22) Lizzy. We get that you weren’t into him, girl, but why are you, like… so upset about this? Could it be that your dearest partner and secret love Charlotte has accepted a Heterosexual Union. And immediately after you yourself made such a display of rejecting one? Ouch!   Sense and Sensibility   Guys, I tried with this one. I really did. But all the women in this book are related and also obsessed with dudes. I thought I could stick it to the straight people, but I must regretfully concede that this task is beyond even my expertise. If anyone has a queer angle on this one though, please contact me immediately. We queers have always been around, even when every offshoot of culture has tried to erase us from existence. Yeah, it’s super fun to retroactively barge our way back into old literature. But it’s also a much-needed assertion that we exist, we matter and we deserve to see ourselves. Even in light-hearted novels about manners and marrying rich and falling in love with one’s first cousin. Ashley Chupp is a Chicago-based writer, crossword enthusiast and frequent crier at the local Trader Joe’s.   Gif 1: fibu.tumblr.com Gif 2: teenvogue.tumblr.com Gif 3: BBC Gif 4: bringmybooks.com http://dlvr.it/PZ94CB