#truly genuinely believe the writers intended for them
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new ship to distract me from the possible ruin of roxchie (x)
#GOD THEY HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL#AND THEY ALL JUST WENT DOWN THE DRAIN#truly genuinely believe the writers intended for them#to be paired up together from the very beginning#kasi all the pairings from the collab project#now have some sort of romantic plot except for them 😔#ANG GANDA SANA NG ARC NA 'TO#rich it girl bully x poor awkward shy introverted drug pusher 🤣#THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS FOR THEM 😭#kaso wala 😃#also !#a friend pointed out na#the fact na z's lolo is the drug pin king#and obet is one of the pushers#really shows na they have some sort of connection 😭#(now that they're showing z taking some medicinal#or whatever kind of drugs#there still might be some possibility for this ship to at least#have an open ending 😭)#but ig this is just wishful thinking 😭#hayst#ni-rush kasi nila i-end yung show e 🥲#senior high#zbet#zobet#daniela stranner#LOVE HER !#kyle echarri#zyra aguerro#obet santana
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i see people asking what morro's appeal to the fandom is, and after some thought, i think i realised what it is.
it's the tragedy of his entire story, from start to finish. the helplessness of it all, the grief, the longing, the parts of your past that haunt you forever (ghost pun not intended).
you look at morro and you don't see the big scary monster that the writers painted him as. you see a boy, a child, who spent his entire life pursuing one single goal that was just barely out of reach. you see a child who died for that goal suffocated in toxic fumes, who lost his home and family and safety for that goal.
we don't know why he was cursed. but as if he hadn't been through enough agony, as if the world hadn't broken this child enough, he wound up in a realm flooded with evil. his mind couldn't handle the trauma of what happened. as if he wasn't fixated enough, his desire became stronger.
he wanted nothing more than to prove himself.
you can see it in the way he talks and acts. he doesn't care about taking over. he doesn't care about the preeminent's goals. if anything, dying in that cave on that night made him all the more determined to prove himself worthy.
he had so much anger, so much terrible sadness in him that he didn't know what to do with it. he had to blame someone. the only person he could reasonably reflect his agony onto was sensei wu, the only man to ever help him.
he came back to ninjago years and years later. the person who got the green gi was no more than a little boy, who had never been trained like he was. who never spent years and years of his life pursuing this goal, dedicating everything to it. hell, he didn't even want it?
even his defeat was tragic. you can see him panicking, doing everything he can to escape destiny. destiny will always wrap its chains around him once more though, because he was finally dragged down to the depths. once more, he would fail his goal. once more, he would watch everything he dedicated himself to simply fade away before his very eyes.
he could have saved himself. he could have taken wu's hand, dragged himself onto that dragon and started a new life.
but he didn't want to. i love the “morro takes wu’s hand and redeems himself” aus as much as the next person, but he didn't want to. he made the active decision to shove the crystal in wu's hand and let death take him once more.
because in the end, he'd lost so much that living wasn't worth it anymore. his goal was never going to be achievable. he was never going to be truly happy. he never learned how to stop and appreciate life, how to love himself and reach his true sense of self like the rest of the ninja.
he died before he could reach his true potential, guys. that dragon was not his, it was lloyd’s. he died before he even got the chance.
unlike the ninjago villains both before and after him, morro has genuine emotion and life to his story. he's not bad for the sake of being bad. he's not just another enemy for lloyd garmadon to defeat. he's a kid who got in over his head, who wasted away trying to break free of his own fate. and he failed.
if anyone reading this has seen day of the departed, then you know morro came back only long enough to warn sensei wu of what was coming for him. the other villains immediately picked up their weapons and scurried off to cause mayhem for the sake of it, but morro was different. he changed. he let go of his grief and accepted his role in the world.
he helped the ninja despite his prior hatred for them (although i truly believe it was jealousy fueled by insecurity and grief, not hatred). sure, he taunted wu a little at first, but you could tell that it was nothing more than a little fun. he was a boy again, he was okay again. there was no reason for him to hurt anyone. he's moved on.
no one knows what happened to him in the departed realm, or why he healed and the other villains didn't. i don't think i want to know, though. it doesn't matter. all that matters is the fact that he's better now.
so, yes. unlike the other ninjago villains, morro’s story is so painfully and breathtakingly human. he has emotion and development that no other antagonist like him got to have. or at least, it certainly didn't feel as raw as his did.
#i am so sorry omg 😭 idk what got into me#{ ♡ } nao : ninjago . . .#ninjago#lego ninjago#morro#morro ninjago#morro lego ninjago#sensei wu#wu#morro wu#ninjago season 5#ninjago possession#lloyd garmadon#ninjago morro#lego ninjago morro#long post#tw long post#does this count as an essay... probably /j
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I was thinking about Seven of Nine as a disabled character yet again, and it occurred to me that a disabled reading of her character in Voyager can do a lot to reframe her obsession with efficiency and perfection in relation to both herself and other people. She is obsessed not just with policing her own abilities and efficiency, but also that of other people, frequently deriding other characters for being incompetent (her treatment of Tal Celes in Good Shepherd is a good example of this). The narrative presents this as being a result of her Borg upbringing, but I think it can be interesting to read more into this obsession – by seeing it as an unhealthy way of coping with disability.
(For an explanation of why I think it makes sense to read Seven as a canonically disabled character, check out this post I wrote a little while ago. The short version is that Seven’s dependence on cybernetic implants and other technology, as well as medical treatments and specialized environmental adaptations mean to me that she’s canonically disabled, even if the writers didn’t necessarily intend for that to be the case. In many ways, this post is an elaboration on that previous post, which is about a lot more than just why I think Seven is canonically disabled.)
The best way I can think to explain my argument here is to talk about my own experiences. Growing up as a disabled child, I was frequently told by others, both implicitly and explicitly, that I was capable of being “not like other disabled people”. Unlike people with disabilities that truly limited their ability to function in society, my disabilities were something I was apparently capable of “overcoming”. And for a while, I believed this. I did well in school, and a part of me genuinely came to believe that I was in some way categorically different from other disabled people who couldn’t. A part of me even came to believe I wasn’t truly disabled – that my disability just didn’t affect me the way it affected others. This mentality pushed me to points of extreme stress. I was desperate to achieve what the non-disabled people around me were achieving – but even more than that, I was desperate to prove to myself that it was easy – that my disability wasn’t “holding me back”. I admit a part of me did look down on those I saw as less able to “overcome their limitations” like I believed I had.
I think it’s interesting to read Seven’s obsession with other people’s abilities/efficiency as a similar kind of pushback against the idea of being disabled. To be disabled is to never measure up to the standards society sets for what it means to be a human, and not being able to measure up to these standards of humanity is in many ways something Seven is terrified of. But if Seven can believe that she is perfectly efficient – that she is better and smarter than other humans – then that would mean she can believe she isn’t weak and vulnerable and frightened. She looks at other people who are flawed and make mistakes and are unable to achieve what society demands, and she believes herself superior, because the alternative would be to admit that deep down, she is just like them.
There was no singular moment when I realized that I couldn’t “overcome” my disabilities – that they truly did limit me and prevent me from accomplishing things that most able-bodied people around me were able to accomplish – that I was no “better” than the other disabled people I’d previously looked down on – that I was just as weak and flawed in the eyes of society as they were. The realization was gradual, and it was both horrifying and freeing at once. I wonder what that realization would be like for Seven, and if she would ever be capable of coming to it.
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HEY FANFIC WRITERS!!!
Really curious about something!
If someone is writing a fic that PROMINENTLY FEATURES a pairing of some kind, but IS NOT STRICTLY ROMANTIC, where whether it is platonic or romantic can be left up to interpretation, and the fic was written WITH THE INTENT of featuring that pairing (not intentionally being misleading with the tags), IS IT OKAY to use the / tag instead of the & tag?
Like, if I write a fic with a certain ship, and it's just about how those two characters meet, with a heavy emphasis on their dynamic and character, but doesn't end with them explictly a couple, is it okay to tag with the / tag if the writer genuinely thinks it will appeal to that demographic of reader and isn't being misleading?
I'm thinking of this especially in terms of rarepairs, where someone just wants to see that dynamic more, even if it isn't romantic. Sometimes just filtering by those two characters will just yield works that happen to include both of them.
Basically, what matters more: Accuracy of the tag, or the target demographic?
This does NOT INCLUDE just including a tag for the sake of boosting visibility. (Tagging as a ship when the ship isn't truly present in the fic just for the sake of getting it seen)
The writer is not intending to deceive a reader into reading their fic; they genuinely believe someone searching for that pairing will be satisfied by their work.
reblog for more votes please!!! im really curious!
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It's truly amazing how anyone can genuinely believe that the malarkey that is RWBY v4-9 was planned from the beginning.
Eh, depends on which parts.
As one watches the milesWBY volumes, it's pretty apparent which parts of the story beats feel like "intended" bullet points and which ones are stuff they just filled up with random nonsense.
Like, obviously all the brother gods and relics and vaults are one hundred percent Miles absurdity. Likewise, nobody can convince me that they always intended Atlas to fly, especially with how WOR very explicitly portrays it as just another city in a better location.
But there's a lot of stuff that feels pretty obviously like something that was always going to happen - like Yang and Blake having to face Adam or Ironwood cracking under the pressure of the world on his shoulders.
Now, at the core, there's nothing wrong with adding elements to your story as you go - most writers do that.
The issue however is no matter if the plotlines are new or planned, execution is just a mess.
As an example - okay Yang and Blake are obviously going to have to face Adam at the end of their respective arcs as they figure out their things so...where are the arcs leading to it?
Where's the buildup, the development, the progression? Where are Yang and Blake dealing with their issues and then with the issues between them? Where's Adam's descent into nonsense as his power(the thing he would care about) is taken from him till he snaps?? It's not there.
So the final big face-off against the man who scarred them with tragedy lands with the gravitas and pizazz of a wet thud - it's an after-though, a "side quest" that just randomly pops up while the rest of the nonsense in that Volume is happening.
Likewise I do believe they had like bulletpoint that says "Team RWBY mistrusts Ozpin because he shady" or something
So the big build up of moral ambiguity ends up with Ozpin literally doing nothing and then everyone deciding he betrayed them or manipulated them. Where's the build up? Where's the actual REASONS to doubt Ozpin? Not there.
So the crucial moment of everyone rejecting Ozpin's nonsense ends up with a stupid stand off where everyone is mad about birds and the idea that Salem is undefeatable (when Grimm have been the threat for centuries and everyone SHOULD BY DEFAULT assume it can't be "stopped" and is just part of the world, helloooooooo?)
It's one of the reasons I DO believe parts of the story WERE pre-planned - because it's like the writers are doing their own annoying gods stuff and THEN suddenly remember that "oh right this plotpoint needs to happen sometime here" - so whoop dee doo Ironwood suddenly switches personalities without build-up and the like.
The jarring switches between something that HAS to happen versus just random padding are what tell me that there were specific plotpoints that maybe always were intended to happen - Neo would obviously have Wonderland allusions and stalk Ruby, Ironwood would obviously crack in a morally ambiguous way, Adam would obviously get defeated - but the writing staff simply have absolutely zero capability(OR interest) to build up to those plot points
They just happen, alongside all the completely milquetoast brother gods fanfic stuff.
It's like the writing team has vague bullet points of what has to happen but no idea or interest in building up to them because they are way too in love with their brother gods and relics nonsense. And in turn, the good plot points suffer and end up completely anticlimactic or a complete mess.
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Pokemon And Their Trainers
An in-depth analysis of the Pokemon world and its culture (hereafter referred to as the “Pokeverse.”) Where I’ll attempt to understand just what these beings actually are, and how they relate to the humans of their universe.
For this post, I will reference the video game lore, but I will, to a large extent, be pulling examples from the anime. While I can understand why this might invalidate my points to some of you, I truly think the anime should be considered fair game. It depicts what the Pokeverse is truly supposed to be like, as the writers intend it to be, unhampered by the restrictions of a video game.
So here’s the million dollar question. Are Pokemon slaves?
At this point, I know that the Pokemon fandom and the general public have a well-established and largely iron-cast interpretation of what it means to be a Pokemon Trainer, but today I’m going to attempt to challenge that interpretation. Because on the whole, it’s not especially flattering, and I think it’s false. You’ve seen the jokes, and the video essays, and the parody comics. You’ve seen it all. People have criticized Pokemon for the premise of the game effectively being a system of romanticized slavery. That the heartless humans kidnap these innocent animals and force them into sadistic dog-fights to further their own power, to the point where it is a global, televised sport. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you, Pokemon…are slaves. It's animal abuse. Those who argue it are in denial.
The funny thing is, most people don’t argue it. Which is because, to a large extent, most people don’t care. It’s just a video game, right? It’s not as though the Pokemon are outwardly suffering. Pokemon fans seem to just accept this premise and live with it, because the Pokemon world is bright and enjoyable and the formula of the games is simply addicting. To most people, the problematic premise of this universe isn’t a big deal. Nobody takes a passionate stance against it, apart from Gamefreak itself of course. They have little choice but to dismiss these claims, to argue against them…but nobody really listens. The franchise may do the best it can to play up the whole “friendship” angle, but the majority of fans, casual and otherwise, would say they’re not fooling anyone.
I disagree.
I’m not saying these points don’t have merit. To a degree, they do. But this conclusion about the Pokeverse is not the only one that can be drawn from analyzing this world. It's also based on several assumptions, headcanons, and interpretations of this world’s symbolism. I interpret these things differently myself, and I’ll try to explain how. But the bottom line is that humans and pokemon exist together in this world and have a unique relationship. Our world has humans, but not pokemon, so one can assume that the Pokemon are a deliberate symbol of…something. What that something is will probably vary based on who you ask, but just about everyone seems to interpret them as the “animals” of their universe. As in, living creatures who are not human. (Because Humans…are also Animals, and that’s kind of the whole point right there, but I’m getting ahead of myself.)
We seem to draw an inherent comparison between Pokemon and #RealWorld Animals, which is where all of this stems from. I believe this is a mistake. Or if nothing else, it’s not the definitive interpretation of what they are. If anything, the closest comparison I can think of is…maybe Angels? But even that doesn’t truly describe their role. The more the Pokeverse gets fleshed out, the clearer it becomes to me that catching and training Pokemon are completely misunderstood concepts. They’re not really comparable to anything in real life, certainly not the training of animals or the keeping of pets. I genuinely don’t think that the relationship between Trainer and Pokemon has an equivalent in our world.
I do understand where the impulse to make this comparison comes from. Of course people look at Pokemon and see animals. After all, they're living, breathing creatures, magical creatures that coexist with humanity. A not insignificant number of them do resemble real-life animals or are otherwise based on them. The most crucial bit of evidence for this idea is that the Pokeverse, by all appearances, lacks “real world” animals of its own. There are no recognizable creatures from our world to speak of, apart from humanity. So I can see how people reached this conclusion and I get why they draw the parallel.
However, it’s just not a fair comparison to make. Not at all.
Some animals do have the means to defend themselves, of course. But Pokemon have abilities on another level entirely. They’re basically magic. They have superpowers unique to themselves. Can a human spit fire? Tunnel a hole in seconds? Can they summon storms in the blink of an eye? Can a human block all damage with Wonder Guard? The answer is no. They cannot do this. Humans are one race, and a relatively mundane race at that. While they are distinctly separate from Pokemon…that doesn’t make them superior. It doesn’t make them more powerful. The sheer variety in Pokemon species, not to mention the variety of their powers, means that if war was to break out between the two communities…the humans would not win. It wouldn’t even be close.
Pokemon are baked deep into this culture. If you had to guess which of these two societies was here first, would you really guess humanity? I wouldn’t. Just look at the spiritual side of this world. It has deities who are confirmed to exist, who created this world as we know it..and they’re all Pokemon. Who knows where the humans even came from, but the Legendary Pokemon are the ones who fashioned the universe.
It is vanity to assume that Humanity is the dominant species of the Pokeverse.
They are not in charge of this world - they could never be. Pokemon explicitly range from human to above-human level intelligence. The humans attempt to understand them, but the Anime clarifies that they’ve chosen to name the Pokemon based on their speech patterns. Pokemon don’t “say their name” and nothing else. It’s the reverse. They speak unique languages that the humans elected to name them for. By contrast, Pokemon can clearly understand human language. There’s no way around it, they are smarter than us. So it’s no surprise that they have their own communities and systems, totally independent from humanity. However, there are also countless Pokemon who choose (read: CHOOSE) to work with humans, on individual and group-wide scales.
In fact, Pokemon and Humans may not be so different at all.
They may descend from a common ancestor. There is consistent flavor text that verifies this, stating that on a fundamental level, Pokemon and Humans are all but the same. Perhaps humankind and Pokemon weren’t always separate beings? Perhaps they were once one and the same? It’s pure conjecture, but according to the Library in Canalave City, there was a time in the ancient past when Pokemon ate at the same table as Humans and would even marry them sometimes. That last bit of trivia is cut from the English version, undoubtedly because of the popular interpretation I discussed earlier. Fans see Pokemon as animals, and the dubbing team probably wanted to avert any weird implications.
What’s odd is that in Legends: Arceus, which takes place in the ancient past…humans and pokemon have clearly already been separated, and have no relationship beyond hostility and fear towards each other. There are exceptions, of course, but by and large, the idea of a “Pokemon Trainer” is a new concept to the humans in Hisui. I’m getting very off topic now, but it does make a fan wonder. Just what happened to separate pokemon and humankind? They were as close as kin at one point, before some kind of split occurred, and it’s taken countless generations for them to redevelop a closeness...there’s a greater mystery here that isn’t relevant to the topic at hand, but these questions are worth asking. Either way, the point is that the two communities are almost fated to come together.
The Pokemon are drawn to humanity, and whether they invest in an official “trainer” or not, they seek out humans just as often as the humans go looking for them.
The pokemon will form these partnerships out of their own desire. A desire for what, you may be asking? I think it varies, but when it comes to the Trainer/Pokemon relationship, we can assume the typical goal is shared strength. The human and the pokemon form a symbiotic relationship in the Training system. This is stated numerous times, especially in the Anime - A wild pokemon will never reach their full potential. Not without a Trainer. You see? It isn’t only the humans who benefit from this relationship, and the Pokemon understand this. The vast majority of them want to be caught, they seek a trainer who can help them harness their powers.
Mewtwo decries Pokemon Training as Slavery during Mewtwo Strikes Back. Pikachu contradicts him, and Ash literally puts his life on the line in the effort to prove him wrong. Much later, in Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, the same question comes up. Lucario asks if Ash is Pikachu’s “master” and Ash rejects that terminology. Because Pikachu is his best friend, nothing less. There is a reason why the word is “Trainer” and not “Master” or “Owner.” Because Pokemon Trainers do not own their Pokemon. Full stop. The Poke Ball isn't a prison. It, and the PC Boxes from the games, are implied to be a kind of virtual reality. The Poke Ball is a symbol, a convenience more than anything else, but not a requirement. Ash is living proof. The Poke-Ball may be the norm, but if you're claustrophobic like Pikachu, or you're just not feeling it, you can abstain. Ash has never treated Pikachu as a captive. (Except for that one time…)
Okay, I’ll address this real quick. Yes, Ash did drag Pikachu along with a rope in the first episode, and used rubber gloves so that Pikachu could not retaliate. I’m just gonna have to call that #EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. This was Generation 1, this was back when Ghost Types were literally dead Pokemon. Besides, Pikachu had already shocked Ash unprovoked, so the rubber gloves were arguably self-defense. I guess you could make the case that Ash didn’t “truly” become Pikachu’s Trainer until the end of the episode. But in general, the writers have shaped this world beyond what was established in the very beginning, and perhaps they’re deliberately trying to counter the claims of slavery and animal abuse, but even if that’s true…it doesn’t mean make the contributions less canon.
How it started.
How it's going.
Never mind. What about catching pokemon? That’s still messed up, right?
There is an obvious counterargument to be made to my stance, a Donphan in the room, and I won’t ignore it. The counterpoint here is that capturing Pokemon is almost always done against their will. Or at least, that’s how it’s traditionally done, and the norm in the games remains consistent. Still. Ash winds up befriending the majority of his Pokemon instead, and he’s far from the only trainer we see doing so. James is another human who recruits his teammates primarily through his own likable qualities. You might argue that while obtaining a Pokemon can happen without fighting, that style is unusual. But again, based on the anime, it doesn’t seem to be that uncommon. I think what’s considered rare is that Ash seems to specialize in doing this despite his intended goal of training Pokemon for battle.
But, whatever. Capturing Pokemon through battle still happens, right? It happens quite a lot. The examples that differ from this norm don’t erase that, nor do they erase how repugnant it is. After all, the Trainer is cornering a creature who more often than not, was just minding their own business. (A wild pokemon is very often the one to initiate battle, but never mind.) The trainer then forcibly kidnaps them after violently assaulting them. Even the term “capturing” pokemon has problematic connotations. No way around it - on paper, this sounds bad. It sounds horrific. But if I may, I’d like to offer a different perspective based on what I’ve been able to observe of the Pokeverse’s culture. First of all, I’d like to offer a scalding hot take about the violence of Pokemon battles. This may be where I lose a lot of people, but hear me out.
I challenge the idea that a Pokemon battle is “violent.”
Or at least, I don’t believe the characters consider it to be violent, not in the same way we understand it. A pokemon battle isn’t assault, because they’re not human. But it’s also not animal abuse, because the Pokeverse doesn’t have animals. Again, it’s worth remembering that Pokemon are supernatural creatures with magical powers, and I’d say their powers, the “moves” they learn, play by different rules than conventional fighting. There’s actually quite a bit of evidence to suggest that this is true.
In Mewtwo Strikes Back, the Pokemon very specifically fight their clones without access to any of their actual moves, after Mewtwo psychically blocks their powers. Everything about this scene is meant to convey tragedy. All of a sudden, a series that’s been all about battle is preaching against violence. Sure, we can call it bad writing, executive meddling, or anything we want. But ignore the Fourth Wall and ask yourself, why would the characters react this way in-universe? Why is it that Pokemon battling has always been okay, but in this one instance, it’s not? The movie goes to great lengths to show us that the Pokemon are hurting each other. Which we don’t normally see.
The only difference? The Pokemon aren’t using their normal moves.
From this, we can conclude that the typical, conventional Pokemon battle, where the two pokemon fight using their special abilities...it doesn’t hurt them. It may tire them out, but a Pokemon Center can heal basically any injuries in record time. Nurse Joy is some kind of miracle worker…or maybe she isn’t. Maybe The Pokemon are being tired out from their battles, but not actually harmed in the long term. This would explain why Pokemon attacks don’t cause lasting damage to humans, either. Get hit with a Flamethrower? Don’t worry, you’ll just be temporarily stunned and have soot all over your face. The doylist explanation is, once again, that it’s a children’s cartoon, but that doesn’t explain what’s happening in-universe. Team Rocket has been electrocuted by Pikachu a near-infinite number of times. So how are they even alive?
Simple. Pikachu isn’t actually trying to kill them. Because of course he isn’t. It’s quite possible that Pokemon moves simply are not capable of inflicting serious damage, or perhaps Pokemon have an inherent resistance to them. But I suspect it’s not a lack of ability that stops Pokemon moves from being violent…but an almost universal choice. That when Pokemon go on the offensive with their powers, or at least, when they direct said powers at humans…they are always pulling their punches. That’s why the fight on New Island was so grotesque - the Pokemon were not remotely familiar with battling that way, engaging in true violence, and there’s little doubt that they were figuratively and literally scarred by that night.
It’s no wonder they never use their powers to cause actual bodily harm to anyone - I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some kind of sacred, unspoken taboo among Pokemon against doing so. A taboo that wouldn't be known to the newborn clone Pokemon on New Island. A taboo that may not have existed centuries ago, in say, the ancient times of the Hisui region. But present day, communities of Pokemon are more civilized, and they a working relationship with human society that ranges from neutral to friendly. We’re in head-canon territory now, but this kind of law among pokemon kind makes a lot of sense. There may be Pokemon out there who break this taboo, but they would be few and far between - probably outcasts among their own kind. It would add a new dimension to Pikachu's refusal to fight back against his clone counterpart.
Again, this scene makes a point of telling us over and over, that what we’re seeing is wrong. “Pokemon aren’t meant to fight. Not like this.” That line right there is precisely the point. Battling isn’t meant to be like that, and in practice, it almost never is. There’s a reason why Pokemon almost never actually die in battle, and only get “very weak,” a condition that is cured flawlessly with the medical science of a Pokemon Center. It’s almost like a Pokemon’s powers create a kind of invisible simulation system, allowing them to spar with their opponent safely. Because that’s what a Pokemon battle is, at heart. It’s a test of skill. It’s meant to just be friendly sparring. A kind of sport that the Pokemon and Trainers engage in together, and it’s stated many times that they need to be in sync to have any hope of a successful career in professional matches. Again, I refer you to Mewtwo Strikes Back. The Pokemon were able to use their powers collectively to restore Ash to life. There’s clearly a lot more to a Pokemon’s power than just combat. That part is nothing more than recreation for them.
I realize that I deviated tremendously from the original question about capturing Pokemon, but I feel that it’s important to address this point.
Pokemon Battling is not violence. It’s effectively a sport that all sides consent to playing, a sport that has safety measures practically built in, as well as further precautions offered like the Pokemon Center. In that sense, it's more or less just another interpretation of Pokemon Contests, and Showcases, and everything else. A human helping a Pokemon study their powers and use them to fullest potential. This is the reason why I don’t actually consider a Trainer fighting a wild Pokemon to be so obscene. However, that only addresses the question of violence. Trainers are still kidnapping Pokemon against their will, right? That’s why one has to “weaken” a Pokemon to catch them. Well, believe it or not, I’m going to debunk that too.
Barring exceptions, the wild Pokemon must be exhausted to the point that they can no longer resist a poke-ball, before you can obtain them. Their opinion about being caught is always a non-issue. By all accounts, it doesn't seem as though this is acceptable. But even this, I think, is part of the cultural dissonance. Among other things, we don’t know what the little “click” of the Poke-ball actually means. It signals that the capture was a success, but is that the Pokemon choosing to yield, or the Poke Ball’s technology locking them in? It’s a little ambiguous, I’ll freely admit as much…but I would argue that the former idea isn’t impossible. Again, wild Pokemon, generally speaking, actually want to find a Trainer. The first episode of the anime even hints that certain wild Pokemon are jealous of those with trainers. With that in mind, why is catching them even a fight to begin with?
I’ll tell you why. When a wild pokemon battles a trainer, they are essentially giving that trainer a test.
They’re gauging the trainer’s abilities to bring out the potential of their pokemon. If you’re a trainer, and your pokemon defeats another pokemon in the wild…you’ve just proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that your pokemon is stronger than the wild one. You have now proven that you have something to offer, you’ve passed the test. The wild Pokemon now realizes that it stands to learn something, to grow more powerful, by accepting your tutelage. That’s why it’s considered acceptable to the pokemon to follow a trainer after they are overpowered and captured. It’s like…right of conquest, but with fully informed consent.
Consent is key here, and I believe this cultural understanding to be the reason that most pokemon are immediately comfortable with following the trainer who caught them. While one might argue that they don't really have a choice anymore...that simply isn't true. The anime clarifies that Pokemon can release themselves from a Poke-Ball whenever they want. Misty’s Psyduck is the most iconic example of this, but there are countless others. In theory, a Pokemon could just leave a trainer who they find unsatisfactory. Actually, that’s not just a theory. That’s canon. Something that most people don’t seem to realize (or at least, they forget) is that it’s not just Trainers who ditch Pokemon they no longer want. It happens in reverse as well.
Pokemon can and do abandon their trainers, if they deem said trainers to be unworthy of their talents.
Remember when I said that I would be chiefly referencing the anime, because it’s the most reliable depiction of what the Pokeverse is supposed to be like? This is exactly what I was talking about. Because obviously, this never happens in the games. Your Pokemon don’t just disappear from your party or PC boxes, because that would be an incredibly stupid and unfair mechanic. But in the anime, where the relationships between pokemon and trainer are more fleshed out? In the first season, Bad To The Bone is about a Marowak who chose to ditch his trainer after said trainer had his badges stolen. While the Marowak eventually changed his mind, at no point did any character voice the idea of trying to return him by force. It was Marowak’s choice and no one else’s, which is why the trainer was heartbroken.
But that’s not a one-off, it’s not the only example. There are quite a few. Due to a misunderstanding, Gym Leader Pryce once believed his Piloswine had abandoned him. Then there’s Ash. Always the mother hen, he’s adopted many pokemon who were abandoned by previous trainers, but the opposite has also happened. His Snivy, and his Greninja, are both Pokemon who were explicitly stated to have had previous trainers whom they chose to leave, because they didn’t feel understood. Typically, it seems that Pokemon choose to leave because they feel as though the unspoken contract that is “pokemon training” has been violated somehow, or they’re otherwise not getting what they signed up for. This is why the traditional method of “catching” pokemon is so vital. Because it’s an honor system.
Any time a human does attempt to force a pokemon into submission or otherwise harm them through any method that is not the traditional system of capture, the story treats them as unquestionably villainous for doing so. The other humans react in horror, and attempt to stop them. This is because forgoing the “defeat them in battle” route and instead using some kind of technology or whatnot to claim the Pokemon is seen as dishonorable at the best of times, and evil at the worst of times. The Trainer is ignoring the agency of the Pokemon. Attempting capture in the conventional way is a mutually accepted system, the wild Pokemon know and understand that a trainer may attempt to take them, and if they really don’t want to be said Trainer’s pokemon, they can always choose to leave after they are captured. But the use of other means takes that choice away from them. These villains, usually the evil Teams, are using methods of capture that fail to demonstrate to the Pokemon why they are a worthy Trainer, and likewise rob them of the ability to judge them as unworthy.
So yes, there are exceptions, but for the reasons I have described, I fail to see how the idea of “slavery” is applicable to properly trained Pokemon.
They have the power to attack their trainers whenever they choose. Sometimes they do. They have magical abilities that enslaved humans in real life do not have. Legends: Arceus does a great job of highlighting just how dangerous Pokemon could be toward their human counterparts if they really wanted to be. They also have the power to leave. A Pokeball is not a chain. The only time a Pokemon struggles to escape a Ball is when it is first used on them, and the connection is initially forged. But, as I’ve talked about, I believe this to be a ceremonial process and little else. Trainers will immediately send out freshly caught Pokemon to heal or train, and the Pokemon don’t run. But once again, they could. What is stopping them? Ash’s Charizard never saw fit to abandon him, but if he had, what could Ash have actually done about it? Basically nothing. He’d get a flamethrower to the face and then Charizard would fly off. The same thing is true for any of Ash’s Pokemon, or the trained Pokemon of any Trainer ever.
There’s another Donphan in the room that I’d like to touch on real quick. I’ve talked a lot about how the anime clarifies the nature of Pokemon and their relationship to their Trainers…but I also mentioned that the developers have openly tried to beat back the claims of animal abuse, of slavery. The anime speaks for itself, but what about the time Black and White openly addressed these criticisms? You were probably waiting for me to bring it up, but the truth is, I don’t have much to say. The idea of Pokemon and Trainers having a symbiotic relationship, and needing each other…the idea that they shouldn’t be separated…all of that is touched on in the games, but the subject is mostly used as a scapegoat by a wannabe dictator.
I have yet to see any character in Pokemon honestly make the same comparison that critics make in real life, and I doubt we ever will see that happen. It’s just not an idea that can be properly explored in the Pokeverse, because our world is unknown to them. Our way of doing things isn’t something that any in-universe Trainer could hope to understand. It’s an entirely different culture. The way we personally view Pokemon as creatures is colored by our context, by the fact that we’re on the outside, peering into this world with the perspective of a society that doesn’t have Pokemon. To the humans, this is the way their world works. Team Plasma came the closest to approaching that idea, but even then, they were the villains. It was made abundantly clear that they were wrong.
In theory, Pokemon are servants at the whims of their Trainers. In practice, they’re actually the ones with real power and the relationship is balanced, nuanced, and heavily based on mutual trust.
In theory, Pokemon are the wild animals of their universe. In practice, they have no equivalent to our world. They are, as we're told many times, "wondrous creatures." They have no explanation.
In theory, Pokemon are forced to engage in senseless violence day in and day out. In practice, Pokemon battling is an art form that the Pokemon themselves choose to pursue, and it is not remotely dangerous.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. If you need me, I'll be hunting for a shiny Wattrel.
#LONG Post#Pokemon#Pokemon Anime#Pokemon Games#Ash Ketchum#Pokemon Analysis#Just one Cat's Opinion#The Pokeverse#pokemon worldbuilding#Pokemon: Legends Arceus#Pokemon Theory#Pokemon Headcanons#Fandom Analysis#Mewtwo Strikes Back
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Okay I'm finally ready to move on from this.
I have been blogging about almost every concept Jimin drops but I have been reluctant to share it because it's just missing a vital piece of myself. Usually when I write, I enjoy what I write and every feeling and emotion I express is real and authentic. So imagine me trying to write something fun and positive while feeling like crap within?
I'm grateful for every single one of you. My instinct was to disengage and disconnect but talking to yall and seeing your attempts to cheer me up- cheered me up. Lol. I don't know why I thought avoiding people and dealing with things on my own was the only way to cope. yalls way equally works too. Works better I'd say.
Thanks for not pushing though and having the grace to let me be when I needed to be alone and not punishing me when I returned to talk to yall.
This is new to me. Well not new new, I do that for others it's just people don't do that for me very often so I don't bother to make friends at all. I'll give and not bother to take nothing. I love you guys for this
I won't feed into the negative. As I said OP isn't the first or last person to pull a stunt like this. I'm aware of others. I don't say anything about those because I can tell from the manner in which they engage with my content they simply just want to amplify my voice and my words.
To such people it's not about me or them, it's about Jimin. Jimin is at the center of their thoughts and actions. Some even say in their posts, I wish Jimin could see this message. And while they fail to credit me for whatever reason, I still feel my work is honored and respected because it is being used the way I intended it to be used.
I don't write these word for no body but Park Jimin. He is the one I adore, he is the one I extol. And if you are going to borrow my words to extol him and honor him then I don't think it matters of you credit me or not. We are all just fans of the same man. We can lend our voices to each other.
Taehyung sees Army's posts and art about Jimin and he saves them and shows them to Jimin. He wants jimin to know people love you, people support you and I think that is truly encouraging for JM himself. There is a while trail of moons on JM's back because Tae chose to amplify someone's fanart.
Jimin does the same thing with Jungkook when people mention him in his lives. He wants Jungkook to know he is being loved on and that I feel motivates and encourages Jungkook.
But for you to take words that are not yours and present them as yours implies you want to be centered and credited for those words. Which invariably means it's not about Jimin or the writer behind those words, it's about you and your need for attention and I find that dishonorable.
It's even more bizarre and disconcerting when you feel you have to go out of your way to deplatform the original creator in order to center yourself.
This is the problem I grapple with in this community. People are constantly trying to deplatform me and claim authorship of my work at the same damn time. And they do this by deliberately concocting lies, stories, misconstruing my thoughts and my words, taking things out of context and massacring my reputation.
It's always, look she said this about Jimin. She hates Jimin. She shades jikook. She is an anti. I hate her guts because she is not an actual fan of the boys. Yall should hate her too. She's creepy. She's the end of days.
So when such people see something they know go against their rhetorics and narratives about me they try to either suppress by discouraging people from engaging with it while they turn around and steal those words as their own to make themselves look good.
And they are not vilifying me because they genuinely believe I'm bad or that I hate these boys. No. They only do it to elevate themselves. Someone has to be bad so they can be good.
It's always, she's bad don't follow her, but look I'm good and nonproblematic and you should follow me not her.
Jealousy is a disease and I won't call anyone jealous.
But also,
I remember, I used to be friends with some people before Tumblr and they are quite "big jikook" accounts. Well some have left the Fandom but still. We would talk about Jikook nonstop and we'd discuss moments and scenes i loved and I'd always tell them, this happened here that happened there and they would download the video and make edits based on my suggestions and share them.
I knew nothing about video editing- still don't, and frankly I don't care to learn. I love writing more.
But when they learned I was doing Tumblr, they turned on me quick. Suddenly they were the ones trying debunk my theories, and when they couldn't they would create their own versions of the videos I had already made or actively try to suppress my content by disparaging me and making up stories.
Suddenly it was, she's trying to compete, she's trying to take z away from us. It was an unending cycle till eventually I stopped making my own videos- well I still make them I just don't share them🥴
There's a popular jikook account who even told me blog analysis are unneeded and that what they did was better than mine because they were providing "actual evidence" and not just opinions and assumptions etc.
And yes they said it to my face as friendly advice😆
Same advice I heard from people who thought I shouldn't be pointing out Jikooks "ground breaking scenes" because it makes me come off creepy🙂
They would rather I told them so they made the edits on their accounts cos they "love me and hate to see me get hated on" out here ☹
Okay besties, and while you're at it why don't you fuck my girlfriend for me cos rubbing vaginas together is really breaking my back👉🏾👈🏾
The elitism in this community is real and they don't like to hear it but gag me and I'll shout it out of my ass
Creators in this space can be very competitive and often envious of others and they try to weaponize their platforms to take out anyone they deem a threat to their delusional high ranks in the-- who-gives-a-fuck-Karen- it's-not-that-deep-sit-down
When you hear them talk about "young impressionable minds" that's when you know they've gone and filled their bellies full of themselves.
Anywho, my reaction was not just because some random person stole my whole blog and made it theirs. It was more a trauma response to the constant vitriol, vilification, malicious attempts at deplatforming me, the constant micro and macro aggressions and the vicious gruesome mental attacks I endure out here.
But I'm good. ✌
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I am grateful for your Mash Metas, your BJ ones for sure. They are much more closer to what I think of him, and I was starting to think I was not understanding his character properly because I think he's mean to others, especially Hawkeye.
But I think it makes him more interesting. Hawkeye's best friend who doesn't like him, but wants to be liked by him. He loves Hawkeye, but he does not like him. Do you think this would eventually bother Hawkeye? After the war when he thinks about it? Or would he never notice it?
Thank you, I'm glad you've been enjoying my takes! And thanks for your interest in my opinions!
Ohhhh man I love how you put that, doesn't like him but wants to be liked by him, loves him but doesn't like him, it's so good. Now that's the kind of interesting dynamic I'd read 1000 fics about.
This got long lol so it's under a cut
To be perfectly fair I think I probably go a step beyond what the writers intended wrt the flaws in BJ and his friendship with Hawkeye. I think we have clear demonstrations of resentment, taking his negative feelings out on Hawkeye, passive aggression, tearing Hawkeye down to build himself up, etc, but I think we're meant to take most of it in good comedic fun, and sympathize with BJ even when the show's painting him as genuinely cruel, because he's sad and misses his family etc. This behaviour isn't really meant to significantly darken the vibe of their friendship, probably.
But yk, to me it does lol, I don't think the writing/acting threaded the needle successfully. Maybe it would've worked for me if I saw more chemistry between Hawk and BJ, idk. But yeah the way you describe them is def the impression I get, and that's the headcanony angle I'm gonna discuss them from here. Basically BJ and Hawkeye's friendship being uneven bc Hawkeye genuinely likes BJ while BJ usually likes being around Hawkeye and does love him in a way, but dislikes/resents a lot of things about him, and shows it in cruel ways.
So to actually answer your question... idk lol. I mean I can see a few possibilities. Like I feel like it does bother Hawkeye in canon a little, but not enough to cause an actual rift. Like, reasserting himself once after one of BJ's intense prank schemes by mildly revenge-pranking BJ fixes things for him. When they argue, they eventually just agree to stop arguing without resolving anything because they're stuck together and they need each other. In Wheelers and Dealers he's alternately exasperated with BJ and soothingly placating, and it's Margaret who has to come in and yell some sense into him. In Heroes Hawkeye goes out of his way to try to make BJ feel better after several jealous digs BJ makes at his expense, by trying to get some limelight on him. He's vocally upset about the punch in Period of Adjustment but he's ready to be a shoulder to lean on as soon as BJ apologizes. In Picture This he drops the petty fight instantly when he's led to believe that BJ needs his support. He often gets upset with BJ, but never truly puts his foot down and always capitulates.
So yeah I get the vibe that Hawkeye knows that their friendship is uneven and he gives a lot more than he gets, and that BJ resents him in a lot of ways and lashes out because of it. Plus in addition to how he responds to a lot of BJ's bullshit, he also just generally is pretty emotionally intelligent and tends to understand people imo.
And I don't think Hawkeye puts up with it because he lacks self esteem and doesn't think he deserves better, I think it's because a) he's empathetic and sympathizes with BJ and the war's effect on him and b) he doesn't have much of a choice but to put up with the negative side of their friendship, because he relies on that friendship too much. Plus I think while he has a mostly realistic view of himself, he does see himself as a little more more resilient and capable than other people, and therefore willing to put up with more. Like to an extent I almost see him tolerating BJ's lashing out as indulging him? Like, 'okay get it out of your system, I can handle it.' I don't have concrete reasoning for this lol, but it's mainly his behaviour in episodes like Dr Pierce Mr Hyde or Dreams where he doesn't sleep because he's the best surgeon and he's needed, even while sending others off for breaks, combined with always being a shoulder for BJ to lean on no matter how shitty he's been (eg Period of Adjustment, GFA), and like, the end of Fallen Idol lol where he basically says 'whatever pedestalize me i guess, i can take it.' And the way he never gives as good as he gets in the prank episodes, which narratively is because the show likes it when Hawk is a victim, but lbr it makes sense if it's partly bc he knows BJ can dish it out but can't take it.
So I feel like post-war Hawkeye would be aware of BJ's weird contradictory feelings about him, because I like to think he's aware during the war, but he wouldn't really resent it? He'd probably still have fond memories of the friendship and he'd see it as kinda messed up but so was everything else while he was drafted and it was better than most aspects of living in a war zone. He knows they were stuck together and probably wouldn't have been friends outside the war, and they made the best of it. And if BJ kind of sucked at holding his end up, well, the war was hard on him and Hawkeye sympathizes. I don't think he'd ever really frame it like, "Hey wait, I was the one who had a breakdown actually, so why was I BJ's emotional support and punching bag combined?" I think he's just automatically very tuned into other people's pain - not to the extent of ignoring his own, but in a way that's like, he'd rather help someone else than wallow in his own misery.
But if he saw BJ again post-war for any length of time and BJ fell back into those old patterns, I don't think he'd put up with it now. If BJ was like, going through a messy divorce or something he'd be sympathetic and probably give BJ some leeway, but he doesn't need him now, yk? He'd walk away if he needed to, imo. I don't imagine him giving a whole cathartic speech to BJ about toxic friendships exactly lol, but I think he'd say something about how they're not in Korea anymore and BJ needs to deal with his shit constructively or they can go their separate ways.
Note that my post-war take on Hawkeye is that he's happy, largely mentally healthy, and has a big network of friends. If he's miserable and isolated and borderline suicidal like in a lot of fanon maybe then they could fall right back into weird toxic vibes and Hawkeye would be like 'w/e this might as well happen.' But honestly I don't really vibe with that version of Hawkeye. Considering how many friends he made while falling apart in a warzone I think there's about a hundred percent chance he has a good support network of people when he's back home.
#i'm sorry anon i could not form this into a more concise or coherent response lol#maybe partly bc i'm tired but mainly because i always have a lot to say about hawkeye lol#marley on mash#ship hb#bj mash#hawkeye mash
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what milevens refuse to acknowledge and will have to begrudgingly accept is that the events leading to the monologue were ultimately propelled by will’s lie about the painting, and a major lie at that. like they can brag about their love confession all they want but it’s an undeniable fact that the monologue wouldn’t have existed without the van scene happening beforehand. it was basically a domino effect of events (foreshadowed by argyle quite literally saying “mike wheeler, your dominoes are gonna fall” before the whole veiled love confession in the van).
mike was being honest? sure, but it would only be because he felt true love from will’s feelings for him (disguised as el’s) and thought that because of this, he could finally give el the kind of love she wanted from him. he didn’t just magically gain the ability to say “i love you”, he needed a key motivator in order to do that, which was ultimately based on a lie. to make this apparent, they wrote in the entire “you’re the heart” dialogue from will right before mike delivered his monologue, as a callback to the van scene and as a way of reminding the audience of will’s speech to mike. but what really makes me believe that the van scene and mike’s monologue are supposed to be associated with each other is the fact that being different and you’re the heart are basically two halves of a whole and form one song when combined.
i realized that all these discussions about whether mike intended to be genuine or was consciously lying in the monologue, don’t actually matter in the greater scheme of things because at the end of the day, mike’s words were majorly influenced by will giving mike this image of el that didn’t actually exist. mike’s last string of hope in saving his relationship with el (which is basically just him being afraid she’d not want to be a part of his life anymore if they truly broke up) happened because will lied to him about her feelings, and although will had good intentions, he had a false perception of mike and el’s relationship and how el truly saw mike. because of this, mike thought that his words were what el truly needed from him.
all of this will come back to bite the entire love triangle in the ass when mike inevitably learns the full truth behind the painting in season 5. because really, there’s no reason for them to make this entire storyline so elaborate if they don’t have something major planned for it. the painting either would've genuinely come from el so that the basis of mileven’s “love” would’ve been more authentic, or they wouldn't have made will lie about the painting and had mike gently reject him so that they could focus on letting him move on in season 5. hell, they would’ve closed the curtains in this plot already and gotten it over with sooner if they didn’t care enough about it. so why are they hellbent on dragging it out into the last season? because something will trigger the lies behind the painting to come out overflowing, and it would have a such a huge impact and actually alter the relationships in the love triangle.
maybe some people still don’t see the byler endgame vision, but you can’t deny that mileven’s relationship was doomed the moment mike was motivated by a lie to confess to el. because it automatically makes his words inauthentic and not strong enough. also, you don’t solve a couple’s relationship problems by heavily involving the second love interest and making him do so much work for them, unless you’re planning on setting up a huge payoff for him as a reward for his selflessness. everytime the writers had the other love interest attribute their acts of love to the partner of the person they have feelings for (like with jonathan telling nancy that steve took her home in order to make her feel secure in their relationship instead of telling the truth), said selfless love interest ended up with the person they wanted. because writing it this way makes the second love interest look more deserving of the love from the person in the middle of it all. because they’re the one shown to exert so much effort instead of their actual partner. this is not me trying to discredit el (because i know very well that she already did so much more than mike when it comes to the dedication put into keeping their relationship going), but more so me trying to point out the writing choices in the show and why they decided to put el in a situation where she wouldn’t be able to do all of what will has done for mike in season 4. why they decided that it would be will who managed to reassure mike and give him the exact kind of love he needed, why it was will who understood mike’s troubles and inner turmoils. it was a matter of showing who’s the more compatible partner for mike. let’s be honest, el wouldn’t have been able to understand what mike needed the way will did, because they were always struggling to actually connect with what the other person was trying to express and be on the same page. but will always connected well with mike. will knew that mike was feeling worthless and inferior, so he emphasized to mike how he was a leader/protector that inspired and guided the party. and mike loved hearing all of that, he was completely enamored and we even see him gulping and breathing hard. mike’s relationship with el was making him feel insecure and unneeded, but will was able to dispel that through one single painting and his own feelings for mike. it’s such a blatant way of showing the contrast between two love interests in a love triangle.
i guess one way milevens could disprove this giant piece of evidence and plotline is them desperately hoping that the painting has “fulfilled it’s purpose” and will never be brought up again, which, unfortunately, isn’t happening because the interview below basically confirms that mike learning the full truth behind the painting and will’s feelings for him will be carried over to the final season as a part of will’s journey, and it being resolved would complete his arc.
in a way, the painting was a plot device, but not to fix mileven's relationship, it was a way of setting up mileven’s inevitable falling out and byler getting together where there’d quite literally be no way out and no other satisfying way to resolve this plotline anymore. it would only make sense if this was the intention because the truth literally heavily centers around will’s love for mike and how deep and beautiful it is, while el’s supposed feelings and words that made mike feel loved didn’t directly come from her and was expressed through a lie. byler was already set in stone through the van scene.
#do mlvns seriously think that their ship wouldn’t be heavily impacted when the truth behind the painting comes out#when thats literally the entire basis for mike’s security in his relationship with el...#like hes not just gonna brush over the fact that all of those were will’s feelings and not el’s!#especially when he finds out el had 0 actual involvement in the painting#byler analysis#byler proof#byler
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my thoughts on lokius
[loki season 1 spoilers!]
season 2 is coming out in a few days (!!) and so i decided i’d write out my thoughts on lokius before it’s released. as a disclaimer, this is critical of the series, but not completely series-negative.
if lokius becomes canon in s2, i genuinely want to be happy about it. it would be amazing steps in queer rep for marvel to have a canonical lgbtq couple as the focus of the show (and i say this as a queer person myself).
but the way mobius and loki’s relationship was written seems to be only thought-out on the surface level (which is the case for a lot of the things in the show), and a lot of aspects of their relationship aren’t so great when you look deeper into it. i understand why people don’t notice and/or don’t want to acknowledge it — i was extremely enthusiastic about the ship, and i didn’t notice the problems either. to those looking at lokius with the most positive light, they have an amazing dynamic and are adorable and wholesome and all great things. so i get the hype, i really do (tbh, i shipped it so hard that several months ago when the problems were pointed out to me it ruined my week).
but even with how much i loved it, i didn’t want to just ignore any potential problems. so i distanced myself from the ship for a few weeks until i was in a better headspace to gather my thoughts.
first i’ll start with what was intended:
mobius is obviously intended to be a very kind and understanding character. whether or not the writers wanted it to come across as platonic or romantic, they wanted him to care deeply about loki. like loki said though: “no one good is ever truly good, and no one bad is ever truly bad.” the writers did give mobius at least one major flaw and a character arc, in that he believed in the goodness of the tva too much, but by the end of s1, he was all for taking it down .
you can see his flaw in the way he treats loki early on. sylvie’s been killing minutemen and stealing reset charges from the tva for a long time, and he wants loki’s help in finding her, so mobius does what the tva expects: he uses what he knows about loki to get them (somewhat) on the tva’s side. unfortunately, that happens to be psychologically breaking loki. compared to outright pruning from existence, which most of the tva seems to prefer, it’s no wonder he thinks this is the better option. (the fact that the show portrays this as a “therapy session” is a whole problem in itself, but i won’t get into that.)
things like this that mobius does early in the series can be explained by his faith in the tva’s mission. he didn’t agree with most of their methods, and he didn’t realize that even his actions (viewed by the tva as too merciful) were still significantly harmful, but he believed the tva ultimately worked for the good and safety of the entire universe. it’s not an excuse, but it could be forgiven in his later character arc when he realizes that he was wrong, regrets his actions, apologizes, and learns.
but then there’s the part when he puts loki in the memory cell.
i really, really hate that marvel did that. they easily could have had a very similar memory cell situation without having mobius be the one to put loki in there. (mobius could have left the room in anger, and then the guards or ravonna throw loki in there without mobius’ knowledge, for one example.) but instead, whoever wrote that plot point apparently didn’t understand how bad that was, and so it is, unfortunately, canon.
you might be inclined to say that it wasn’t that bad. because actions in fantastical situations can make things harder to distinguish, i’ll put a real-world comparison: one partner puts the second partner somewhere they KNOW that the second will get repeatedly both physically and verbally attacked. they do this simply because they think that they’ve been cheated on. even if they had been cheated on, that in no way excuses beating up the second partner, directly or indirectly.
hopefully you can recognize that as obvious abuse. even if the abuser later deeply regrets it and rescues their partner, the fact that they did it in the first place NEEDS to be addressed. i don’t know what exactly could repair a relationship after that, but brushing it under the rug and ignoring it won’t help. (and this is still abuse with a platonic reading of the relationship.)
if marvel hadn’t done that (and had handled mobius’ arc better in general) then there would be far less problems with the lokius ship. but since they did, us as fans have to figure out where to go from here, whether that’s writing or reading fix-it-fics or simply acknowledging that the problems exist.
hopefully the people running s2 are more competent and have figured something out to fix this. i really hope that’s the case. but it is marvel.
(sidenote: from things that tom hiddleston and owen wilson have said in interviews i’ve seen, i don’t think they noticed the problems either. maybe they have background context of things that aren’t in the official show but they accepted them as canon. or they just didn’t notice, like is the case with many fans.)
#not sure if i should tag this as anti-lokius or not#my opinions aren't exactly anti but some could see it that way so idk#lokius#loki#mobius#loki series#loki series criticism#loki series critical#loki x mobius#mcu#marvel#tw abuse#discussion of abuse
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I believe Vee was created because the writers didn’t want to explore Camilia worrying and grieving over possibly losing Luz, the only family she had left. We didn’t witness Camilia spend months wondering what happened to her daughter since Vee pretended to be her. Even after Camilia discovered she wasn’t her child, she kept her and formed a familial relationship. Another issue is that Luz didn’t have any questions surrounding her disappearance, nor did she have to repeat a grade since Vee had taken her place, leaving others none the wiser. Vee was a copout by the writers, who didn’t want to have Luz face consequences for going missing.
Here's my rebuttal: What place did that have in this story?
Especially by the time of Yesterday's Lie, TOH is still a kid's show. It's still the story of a girl escaping to a fantasy realm and getting to live the dream of being a witch that she always wanted. While S2B will get more dramatic, it never gets truly dark frankly. All of its water works are pretty basic and bare bones for the fantasy genre frankly. I mean, the darkest it gets is "I'm a clone and Belos has murdered me untold amounts of times" and they don't explore that either because that'd mean following through on the plot point and one dark plot point does not a drama make. It's part of why the fandom constantly shouting trauma never rang true because these are the first actually bad things to ever happen to these characters and they never respond quite properly to them.
All that you want is befitting for a genuinely dramatic story. One that is trying to face the consequences of EVERYTHING. It'd actually be a really bad, really brutal gut punch to a story that is already exploring the genuine effects of being an isekai protagonist, already exploring how much that would already suck, and that's the exact OPPOSITE of what TOH was interested in doing. It never properly faces consequences for anything that happens in the show and actively shoots possible consequences in the face much of the time so they can move on to the next moment the writers actually care about.
Instead, Vee is a genuinely brilliant work around the problems of the isekai genre while not pretending they just don't exist. Does she fully function? Not entirely, you still have to suspend your disbelief that this lab grown creation who never had any schooling or social interactions can FUNCTION in society but that's pretty normal suspension of disbelief for this sort of thing frankly. It would have started straining more if they'd gotten a full S3 and so actually had to spend time with Vee and dealing with the twin identities but at this point I hope I've pointed out enough in the rest of my blogs that this show just wouldn't properly explore any of that really. We'd maybe get one episode that ends up on Luz's side in the end and that'd be it.
But as I've talked before with Vee, her main goal wasn't even just to wave away tonal issues. She was meant to directly be able to show that Luz could have had friends. Could have been happy. That, as Vee states, "She had it good." Which, you know, was a GIANT mistake since they never backed up Luz being bullied or an outcast or having social anxiety or anything like that so it just makes Luz like a lying bitch and recontextualizes her entire introduction in terrible ways. It WAS the intended goal with Vee though to do that.
That's honestly part of the tragedy of TOH and why it's hard to defend the writers as writers. There's almost ALWAYS an explicit point to most of the elements included in the story for a short term gain or statement but there's no thought to the overall effect of it. It could NEVER have been serialized because these writers don't think about the big picture. Instead, they sloppily put together a Jenga tower and the longer the game goes on...
Well, eventually a good base is eroded until it all comes crashing down.
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saw a post about sisters in wc who should have gotten their brothers’ arcs and i wanna add to that by saying:
MOTHWING SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE TO KILL HAWKFROST
it would have been 100x more impactful if it had been her. she was so much closer to him than bramble was, they have so much more sibling lore than ‘ooh we both hang out with our evil dad in cat hell’. it would have been a way more well-rounded and satisfying arc because the buildup was already in place. mothwing is hawkfrost’s first victim, NOT brambleclaw. it would have affected her emotionally way deeper than it affected bramble because she’s already lost tadpole and sasha, hawkfrost was all she had left. at one point hawkfrost and mothwing deeply depended on each other, bramble never had that kind of connection with him. we’re supposed to feel terrible for bramble because of the betrayal he faced, but it pales in comparison to the betrayal mothwing had already faced from hawkfrost. hawkfrost being evil doesn’t even come as much of a surprise from bramble’s perspective because hawkfrost has been that way for basically as long as brambleclaw knew him. meanwhile, mothwing’s novella is basically the only place we get to see the good hawkfrost once had in him.
plus, if the whole thing happened in riverclan, it would be a way better conclusion to hawkfrost’s arc of dangerous ambition in riverclan, rather than dying for a completely unrelated setup and ending the arc so anticlimactically incomplete. hawkfrost spent his life doing all this big brained mastermind shit to make himself leader of riverclan, only to throw that away in favor of giving a handout to his bro in thunderclan. if the writers truly want us to believe that hawkfrost is a calculated man with a mission, then they should show us how he intended to finally seize that power! he is literally the definition of wasted potential and it makes no sense for his character, who is portrayed as rather selfish, to ultimately put his efforts towards a cat other than himself. hawkfrost was so god damn close to being deputy with all of the work he put in, why not make him deputy and mirror the prophecies begin? think of it as hawkfrost being tigerclawstar in the position of the deputy at last, and mothwing being a figure like ravenpaw, who is the only one who knows of the deputy’s evils and has to try and expose or stop them. it should have been leopardstar that hawkfrost targeted, not firestar. the writers went through all the trouble of building up hawkfrost’s attempts to become leader of riverclan, so his assassination attempt should’ve been against leopardstar and should’ve taken place actually in riverclan.
in terms of a compelling protagonist set up to stop hawkfrost, mothwing has 10x the motive that brambleclaw did. bramble was indecisive af about it and had no conviction, him killing hawkfrost was more of a last minute decision that came out of nowhere. narratively it sucked, there was no turning point or gradual realization, it was just ‘oh shit apparently hawkfrost is evil now’. except it wasn’t even a twist at all, brambleclaw was literally present during all the times hawkfrost and their evil dad trained together, hawkfrost regularly discussed his ambitions with bramble. seeing things from bramble’s pov gives us literally no insight on hawkfrost’s change in character because brambleclaw never witnessed hawkfrost’s character development. meanwhile, mothwing’s entire novella details the slow, agonizing process of watching her brother grow colder and more unrecognizable every day. mothwing’s perspective would’ve given us a truly tragic hero with a complex connection to hawkfrost, and it would’ve given us a character who genuinely has a reason to hate hawkfrost but mourn him all the same. and both of those emotions are equally powerful, but bramble has neither of them. the only qualm brambleclaw has with hawkfrost is that he tried to kill firestar. on the other hand, hawkfrost ruined mothwing’s entire life and forced her into a life of shame, forever staining her paws with guilt for a crime he committed. she has an established, powerful narrative reason to kill hawkfrost and be his enemy. mothwing is truly the firestar to hawkfrost’s tigerclawstar, not brambleclaw.
on the topic of mourning, brambleclaw hardly did it at all because he barely freaking knew hawkfrost, hawkfrost’s death had literally no long term effect on bramble. hawkfrost was just a background character in brambleclaw’s life, so reading from his pov makes it seem like hawkfrost hardly mattered at all. but hawkfrost did matter a lot and served as a major character in riverclan, we just don’t get to see that because his death is told from brambleclaw’s thunderclan pov. it’s such a disservice to hawkfrost’s character to tell his death from the perspective of anyone other than mothwing. because, while mothwing may have been the character with the most reason to hate hawkfrost, she was also the character with the most reason to mourn him. hawk and moth watched their sibling drown as kits, then they were left behind in riverclan by their mother. hawkfrost is the only loved one mothwing has left, and she even SAYS “we only have each other now”. even when he destroys her life, mothwing still can’t bring herself to fully turn her back on him, because a part of her will always love the cat her brother used to be. she can’t just forget about him like bramble does. there is literally not a single character who has a more meaningful connection to hawkfrost than mothwing does, which is why she’s the only cat whose pov can fully do justice to his death. if the writers want hawkfrost to actually mean something, then mothwing is the cat who needs to tell his story.
i will admit, the whole ‘stake to the throat’ death is cool. it’s a brutal death that gives you shivers and it ties together the image pretty well, but it’s also completely random and spontaneous. sometimes, wildcard deaths are cool and keep the story interesting, and this death would be a cool one to give to another cat, but i personally find it to be somewhat of a bad fit for hawkfrost specifically. i say this because hawkfrost was very much a character centered around meticulous plotting, and pretty much everything he does tends to tie in to an overarching plan. from a writing perspective, he’s a character about the payoff of the effort put into setting up plot points. he’s meant to make you go ‘remember when he did this? well now it’s finally relevant!’ and so i simply think that giving him an out-of-nowhere death doesn’t do him justice. there’s no buildup, relevance or imagery to the stake except for the exact moment when it happens, and it feels just as unsatisfying as the fact that it was brambleclaw doing it. however, if mothwing had been the one to kill him in self defense and had she done so in riverclan, we could’ve had a truly awesome full-circle death. tadpole drowning is the big, dramatic backstory piece of hawk and moth, it even indirectly leads to mothwing wanting to be a medicine cat in order to save cats who may die that way. so, what better way to kill hawkfrost than to have him drown, specifically at the hands of mothwing? imagine mothwing struggling with him in the water, trying to grapple him away from leopardstar, only to realize hawkfrost has stopped moving and she has just doomed him to the same fate that once scarred them all those moons ago. imagine mothwing, a cat who dedicated her life to saving cats from this very fate, realizing that she has just killed her only remaining family, the one who technically gave her this job to begin with? genuinely, what could possibly be a better end to hawkfrost’s life than that?
#warrior cats#wc#warriors#waca#mothwing#hawkfrost#bramblestar#brambleclaw#leopardstar#tigerclawstar#tigerstar#wc au#warriors au#warrior cats au
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The Five Hills I'd Die on for Girl Meets World
Soooo, it’s been a minute since I’ve written anything. I fully intended to get this up on the blog at least a month ago, but you know how it goes. This has been sitting in my drafts for quite some time, so without further ado, I present to you the five hills I will die on when it comes to Girl Meets World. In (mostly) no particular order:
Lucas picked Maya originally
I’ve written about this in the past, so I won’t spend a ton of time rehashing everything. But to this day, I am fully, completely sure that Lucas originally picked Maya in Upstate. Go back and watch that scene with the perspective that he was going to pick Maya, and then watch it again with the perspective of him picking Riley. See which one tracks and which one doesn’t. It was Maya, 100%. If nothing else, that smirky, flirty expression Lucas has on his face when Maya grabs his shirt is a dead giveaway. That is not the face you make when you’re about to reject a girl for her best friend.
Of all the hills on the list, this is THE hill I will die on if I could only pick one, that’s how strongly I believe it.
Riley & Farkle were endgame
The above may be my number one hill, but this entry isn’t too far behind. I know I’m not alone in believing that had the show been renewed, even for one more season, we would have seen a development in the Riley-Farkle relationship. Throughout the show, and especially in the third season, we see Riley and Farkle have a deep connection, a much deeper one than she has with Lucas (and deeper than what Farkle has with Smackle. Yeah, I said it!). They truly, deeply, genuinely love each other, and based on what we saw in the third season, it looked like the writers were setting it up for them to develop romantic feelings as they got older. In Boy Meets World, Topanga’s dad admits he used to be scared that he’d find Topanga in the basement (i.e., making out) with Shawn but realizes it was Cory he should have been afraid of all along. My hunch is that we would have gotten a similar callback had the show gotten renewed.
There are also some fascinating parallels between Topanga and Farkle, and I’m totally sold on the argument that he is the Topanga of GMW, not Lucas. But that’s another topic for another day.
The girls’ friendship was actually kind of toxic
We can all agree that the Rilaya friendship was one of the best parts of the show. They loved each other, supported each other, and would do anything to help the other out or spare their feelings. However, they each did something to the other that was ended up being pretty hurtful.
Riley, of course, is largely at fault for getting Maya to believe that her (Maya) growing up, maturing, and wanting to be a bit more responsible was somehow a bad thing, something that needed to be “fixed.” Maya was finally embracing hope and taking herself more seriously…and Riley put a quick stop to that because it “wasn’t her.” Oof. It ended up reverting Maya to her season 1 self, which is not a place Maya really wanted to be.
Maya, meanwhile, was the co-founding member of the Riley Committee, which sheltered Riley from life’s harsh realities and disappointments to the point that her growth was stunted. Despite Riley being a smart girl living in New York City, she apparently had no idea about war, poverty, homelessness, famine, etc. Maya and the others made sure her feelings were protected – they didn’t tell her about Pluto losing its status as a planet because they knew she’d get upset - but it resulted in Riley being immature and naïve to the point of being ignorant. Not a good look.
Neither girl had malicious intent; in fact, they both thought they were in the right to say and do the things they said and did. They would never do anything to intentionally hurt the other, but it ended up happening anyway. I would have loved to have seen this get addressed on the show, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
Girl Meets Belief is a super interesting insight into all dynamics of the core four’s relationships
Full disclosure, the original draft for this post ended up being significantly longer than it is currently, and it’s all because of this hill. It made me realize that I want to write a separate post about it, simply because I find said insights so fascinating. So I won’t go into too much detail right here and now. All you need to know is that I think this is a crucial episode to the series since it explores the relationships between our main four so perfectly. We see every iteration of the characters paired up together, and we see why every dynamic works the way it works. Idk, I’m kind of obsessed with it, and I will have more on that soon.
The story wasn’t finished
My last hill, and it’s a big one: I don’t think the story was finished. And not in the sense that it got cancelled somewhat unexpectedly; I mean that I personally think had the show gotten renewed, we would have seen some of the stories from season 3 come back in a future season. I wholly believe we were going to come back to the “Maya became Riley” story and find out that she, in fact, did not become Riley, that Riley was wrong about all of this, and that it was a simple case of Maya growing up. And that while Riley has undoubtedly been a significant influence on her, Maya did all the work herself to become a better person.
I also believe it was going to get revealed that Riley and Lucas didn’t act like a couple for a reason. They were going to learn the important lesson that perception of a thing doesn’t make it so, particularly when feelings are involved. In other words, they were going to find out that their sweet seventh grade crushes didn’t translate to genuine love between two teenagers – and that’s okay! Their lack of chemistry and lack of seeming like an actual couple, to me, was a pretty big hint that there was something more going on beyond “bad writing” and Disney channel restrictions. A shame we’ll never know for sure, but this is my gut feeling on the matter.
And there you have it! If you have any hills you’d die on, send them my way, I want to hear them. Hope you all had or are having a wonderful holiday season, and cheers to 2023!
#girl meets world#girl meets belief#riley matthews#maya hart#farkle minkus#lucas friar#girl meets upstate#they are endgame#gmw
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Hi, I was going through some Polin posts on reddit and I found some of the worst takes and felt like sharing them with you bc I needed to rant lol.
"She took advantage of him for 2 reasons. 1. Because of his genuine friendship with Penelope, he was closer to her inner circle and 2. It was clear that he was impressionable, eager to be loved, and easily manipulated which is exactly what she needed. Marina did not love him in the slightest and she says as much later as she immediately belittles him even when he still believes himself to be in love with her. She didn't WANT an old, convenient, easily foolable man: she felt she was deserved a cute idiot she could trick."
Honestly Polin fans are truly the worst. It really just comes down to "how dare Marina get temporally between my favorite fictional couple for 5 mins"
Oh the horror. Marina didn't want to be married to a lech that obviously intended to have his "husbandly rights." You know what she did deserve? A husband who would mistreat or ill use her and force her children to grow up in an abusive household. Yes, she chose a nice man around her age who she liked and hoped she could build a happy family with.
The Polin fandom is intensely sexist and racist. Their attitude comes down to "if Marina didn't want to be forced into marriage with an old man who would treat her awfully, she should have kept her legs shut." Their point of view matches the very worst of the era, attitudes so vile and unforgiving that writers who actually lived back then, in the thick of that misogyny, condemned and criticised.
#Bridgerton#Marina Thompson#tw marital rape#tw rape#Anti Polin#anti Penelope Featherington#anti Penelope Featherington stans#anti polin stans
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been replaying da2 as a mage again, i'm still in act 1, and it really sunk in this time that cullen can learn that hawke is a mage as early as mid-act 1, during the quest "enemies among us", when wilmod is revealed to be an abomination and cullen & hawke fight together. at this point, hawke is just a random unknown (or hawke can have bethany / anders / merrill in the party, and cullen can witness them fighting too) yet cullen doesn't comment on it, or presumably tell meredith about it, because at this stage of the game, meredith has literally no reason to spare hawke. they have no status, and have done nothing especially major for kirkwall / the templars, other than this exact quest, i suppose, but it certainly does bethany no good if a non-mage hawke doesn't take her to the deep roads.
obviously there's the fact that hawke is a video game protagonist and therefore the game can only really work if they get more leeway than anyone else unless the writers are willing to add in a whole additional quest just for mages specifically, or to tailor every subsequent quest around the fact that hawke is an apostate. a lot of cullen and meredith's lack of action re: mage!hawke can be chalked up to that, but it's more satisfying, narratively, to consider that cullen does not perceive hawke or their companions as dangerous apostates that need to be apprehended.
i find cullen so fascinating in da2, even at the start before things are really falling apart enough for him to take a stand, because even when he has no idea who hawke is, even when hawke shows up and uses magic at his side like 10 seconds after they meet, cullen is receptive to what hawke has to say about mages. in my first playthrough, i played blue hawke, this time i'm playing purple hawke, and even while i sarcastically introduced myself with something along the lines of "oh, templars are torturing their own now, too?" cullen doesn't actually get defensive in the face of hawke's blatant instigation. he's focused on his duty and explains what he's doing with no real heat. (and i love that while he acts aggressive with wilmod originally, after the fact, he says he only needed to scare wilmod into telling the truth and that wilmod "needed to believe it was genuine", which of course isn't really an excuse for treating someone aggressively, but it says so much about cullen and his preferred methods. bad cop, so to speak, not actually intending harm until they have no choice.)
then when you return to the gallows later to wrap up the quest, this is when cullen's infamous "mages can't be treated like people" line appears, but in the context of cullen literally just finding out hawke is an apostate and doing nothing about it, it rings so hollow, like he's speaking out of fear (because of what he experienced in kinloch hold, which he does bring up during this quest) or regurgitating chantry / templar order propaganda whether he truly believes it deep down or not. he's been told that mages are dangerous since he was a child, and he's been hurt by abominations, it's so easy for him to just fall back on that rhetoric. even when faced with evidence to the contrary, people who have been manipulated / indoctrinated are, at first, quick to refuse the scary new implications and grasp onto the safety of what they've been taught to believe.
and hawke can flat out say "you're wrong". they can remind cullen that they're a mage. cullen is absolutely still confident in what he's been taught, but he also doesn't get angry, he's actually receptive to what hawke says. it realistically wouldn't be possible for him to immediately understand that the chantry is entirely wrong and just shed all the ideas he's had hammered into him from childhood, but you can see already that he's open to eventually changing his mind. personally, i like that it's a slow progression. it's more realistic and satisfying. i really like that hawke can get through to him as the acts go on, and your dialogue with him is rewarded in the end. i like that he can know hawke is an apostate but not turn on them. cullen has a lot to mentally sort through and i really enjoy watching him grow, not just in this game, but following into dai.
#dragon age#da meta#cullen rutherford#kinda scared of putting this in the tags lmao#ive been rly sick for a couple days and my head feels like sludge but ive not had the energy to do much other than watch yt vids and#turn the blorbos around in my head on repeat#thus feral about cullen hours
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Making it Make Sense
Alright, I think I’m ready to make sense of the writing choices related to Steve and Nancy. Or at least make them make sense enough that I am satisfied in the break between season 4 and 5.
Disclaimer: Everything I am about to discuss is just implicit enough to leave room for the love triangle in ST5. I have no idea what the writers are intending to do. I can only take the moments they’ve given us and piece them together in a logical way. As I’ve already stated multiple times. I do not trust the writers and still do not understand why the love triangle is back and what their intentions are (in season 4 and in the end). I want to emphasize that though I believe that by the end of this season Jancy won (but barely... and they have their own personal issues to deal with because things are not 100% between them) the door for the love triangle to return is wide open if they choose to take it. And I’m not sure they even know what they want to do with the triangle at this point but I hope they do right by all characters involved. I know what that means for me... but I really hope they keep characters true to themselves.
The key to figuring out the writing choices for Steve/Nancy’s reconnection in ST4 is understanding Nancy’s motives. As a way to keep the love triangle open-ended by the end of season 4, I’ve noticed in rewatches and clip gatherings, we are never given any true insight into Nancy’s perspective on the whole Steve thing. Steve shares his dreams, Steve confesses his love and Nancy barely gets the chance to react either so we as an audience really don’t know what’s going on in her head. Even when Robin suggests Nancy and Steve getting back together, Nancy doesn’t address the Steve of it all and only comments on what’s really going on between her and Jonathan (which was fine, great even, but it didn’t really shut Steve down, y’know?)
But putting together their moments throughout the whole season, I would propose the following is happening for Nancy: she is lonely, he relationship is facing issues, mainly communication issues, that she cannot fix because she cannot get in contact which frustrates her. Steve is there and she’s always liked Steve, has been attracted to him, and enjoys his company. She has retreated to the safety of Steve before and she is doing it again this season.
I think she enjoys the attention and genuinely admires Steve (not faulting her for this, she is only human). I also think she has always felt guilty for their break up and is happy to see he is doing well now. But the second Steve confesses that he thinks they would have made it if given another chance and that she’s always been his future wife in his dreams, the whole scenario becomes real and that this whole fun, flirty thing they’ve had going on is something to him and she instantly feels remorse and possibly regret. I mean look at the following scene. This does not look like a love confession going right:
This looks like a gentle rejection before it is interrupted. Even Steve looks like he knows her feelings are not reciprocated (which could explain why he’s only mildly defeated when he sees Nancy and Jonathan’s reunion in the epilogue).
I think this is supported by the following clip at the start of the epilogue between Karen and Nancy. I love this clip because it was one of the few (if only) times this season I understood Nancy and her intentions. If my interpretation of the following is not what the writers were going for, I don’t understand this scene at all. Please let me know any alternate interpretations you have!
I think this scene depicts Nancy releasing Steve so that he can find someone who can truly love him. I like that they represent him as a comfort object (and it’s a HARE... get it? Steve “Hare”-ington?) that she falls back on (referencing Murray’s observation in season 2 where she retreats back to Steve as the comfortable option). I also like how this happens before Jonathan arrives because it shows that this decision was made because Nancy feels it is best and not because Jonathan suddenly reappeared.
And we obviously can tell where her heart truly lies once Jonathan shows up...
I still hate all of it, but this is my best shot at making it make sense.
...
TLDR: Nancy was feeling sad and lonely at the start of the season and retreated back to Steve because she admires him and has always found comfort in him when things get difficult. However, once he confesses his feelings she feels guilty for leading him on and was about to reject him before being cut off. In the end she decides to let him go and wants him to find someone who can love him in the way she cannot. However, this is all vague enough that the love triangle is definitely fair game in ST5 as Jonathan and Nancy have real issues they should be able to work out but I’m not holding my breath.
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