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breeyn · 6 months

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An essay rebutting the “bad writing” claims of s2 ofmd. Spoilers herein.

I’ll preface this with saying you’re obviously allowed to like and dislike whatever you want. I am in no way opposing that. And your reasons are your reasons. Have at. (Also - this is a collection of observations from the past few days, I’m not calling anyone out)

I AM going to rebut the idea that season two was poorly written and lost the spirit of what the show is about.

My favourite movie of all time is Empire Strikes Back. It’s been my favourite movie since I was four. I’m pretty sure it’s a fave of David Jenkins, too. He and Taika have made absolutely no attempt to hide their love of all things 80’s - Prince, the Princess Bride, Kate Bush, Star Wars, etc.

I have ancient video tapes (that I can’t play because who has a vcr) where Lucas is interviewed by Leonard Maltin? Malkin? I dunno. Who cares. Maltin asks him about the Star Wars (original trilogy) story arc. Lucas says “in act I, you introduce all the characters. In act II, you put them in a situation they can’t get out of, and in act III, they get out of it.”

That’s how it works. This is how stories and literary structures work.

Of course you’re not satisfied with season two. You’re not supposed to be.

The arguments I have read on why s2 loses the spirit of s1 is because no one heals. No one learns anything. No one moves forward properly. The person who makes the biggest move towards healing dies. The two main characters end the show doing the exact fucking thing they had promised themselves and each other they wouldn’t do. Our romantic lead still doesn’t understand his value or make any headway on addressing his tragic flaw. It makes no goddamn sense.

My gremlins in weird: it’s not supposed to. In Act 2, EVERYONE LOSES. This is how it goes.

I’ve read a lot of people saying “but this felt like a series finale, not a season finale.” We all know that outside politics play a part here, the strikes make everything precarious. I remember the last writers strike. It destroyed tv for fifteen years. Anyone remember Pushing Daisies? Some of y’all have never had your fave show cancelled with zero resolution for the characters and it shows.

Daddy J did us a kindness. He softened the blow of a tough season. After the brutal cliffhanger of s1, he gave us a little softness and hope. All those things you’re mad aren’t resolved? It’s because THE STORY ISN’T OVER.

No one on earth thinks “stuff all your trauma into a box and ignore it” is good advice. A way to actually live. This show did not have enough screen time to throw out dialogue for no reason. There was foreshadowing in s1 for s2, and there is foreshadowing for s3 in s2. This is a well-crafted story by very smart people who care very much for these characters. There is zero chance Frenchie explained the box in his head for no reason. The reason people have not resolved their trauma and growth is because they haven’t done it *yet*.

And friends - it’s not thinly veiled. They straight up fucking tell us what they’re doing.

Luke Skywalker spends the first two movies fucking up and desperately trying to prove himself and just generally being an idiot. Sound familiar? He ignores the lessons he is supposed to be learning to go off and do what he feels like doing, and loses fucking badly. At the end of Empire, Han is gone, Luke and Leia wave goodbye to the Falcon that has Lando and Chewy - the rest of their crew - aboard. Everyone has lost everything they care about. Vader is undefeated. Yoda is pissed. Nothing is resolved.

You see where I’m going?

If you think I’m stretching this too far, welp, when Ed tells Stede he loves him - the climax of the finale - Stede quotes Han fucking Solo. Like - *it’s right there*. The story structure. The reason everything is unresolved.

So yeah. They wave goodbye to their ship because they have wounds to heal (like Luke’s hand). The people aboard the ship have things to find. Ed and Stede have *not* learned their lesson about whims and how not to be like Anne and Mary. It’s not stupid that they’re doing the same thing, and it’s not pointless that we were shown Anne and Mary. It’s all relevant.

The resolution comes in Act 3. None of these people are done. The story is far, far from over. And just in case the studios want to be dicks about it, David Jenkins was lovely enough to not repeat my enduring heartbreak over Pushing Daisies.

Thank you, @davidjenks 🖤

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd spoilers

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xan-from-space · 11 days

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Honestly if any Dungeon Meshi character deserved an expanded role in the series, it should have been Rin. She's the character to me who most feels like her story is incomplete and glossed over...probably the one instance where the manga actually frustrated me with its refusal to engage with her as a character in favor of Kabru.

I mean, the backstory Kui gives her in the extra content is, like all of them, really well thought out, but in the manga itself a lot of the time she kind of just exists as an accessory to Kabru? Like, she's the Girl who Likes Kabru to Establish that Girls Like Kabru...there's a couple moments in the manga where we see hints of a deeper character, but most of her story is relegated to the extra content...which sucks because I think her role in the story and especially her history with the elves is so incredibly important to understanding the wider world.

Because we mostly learn about the elves through the eyes of Kabru, and while Kabru didn't have a great experience with the elves for sure, he was doted on, a golden child. We do learn that Rin was treated terribly by the elves in the manga, but again, we learn it through Kabru's words and it's not really something that's focused on. I think Kabru has genuinely good intentions and cares a lot about humanity, but unconsciously he has a tendency to treat people like pawns in a similar way that the elves do; part of his character arc is learning to be actually genuine with people, but that only actually happens once he's separated from the rest of his party, with people he barely knows. It makes sense for him and the place he's at, but I can't imagine how frustrating that must have been for Rin, who doesn't really have anyone else. She's trapped in an unresolved character arc, left in this limbo space of chasing after someone who just doesn't have the same reliance on her that she has on him.

If I were writing the manga, I would have made her a character of equal importance to Kabru. Rin would balance out his role in the story...she's more pessimistic than him, for good reason, and despite or maybe because of the ease in which he traverses the social and political worlds, in many ways I think she understands the world better than him. I want to see the world from her perspective, to learn more about what her view of the dungeon is and why she's supporting Kabru in his quest to become the next dungeon lord, to see her grapple with her trauma, for her to have to learn to lead the party when Kabru isn't there, for her to come into her own as a character. I also feel like she just would fill out the main cast in a really satisfying way...she could easily be a narrative foil for so many characters, Kabru obviously, but also Marcille, Izutsumi (God, think about the potential interaction between Rin and Izutsumi), Thistle maybe, there's probably more if I spent more time thinking about it

Also kind of going on a tangent here but she's sooo ignored on the fandom side. Frankly I think that whatever Rin and Kabru have going on is just as interesting if not more so than the relationships between Kabru and Laios and between Kabru and Mithrun, but I don't think I've seen a single post or art piece on this website where she's present in his life at all (or even not present in an intentional way that would serve her character.) To be clear I'm not saying that I ship them or whatever (kind of hate that word tbh) or think they should end up in a romantic relationship (I really do not think they should end up in a romantic relationship). But like. Come on. They're so important to each other's characters and she can't just be written out of his story.

#second choice for character I think deserved more time is yaad #rin dungeon meshi #rinsha fana #kabru of utaya #rinsha you deserve the world I would treat you better than him #dungeon meshi #dungeon meshi spoilers #dungeon meshi meta #dunmeshi

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ladyluscinia · 6 months

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I think they were so worried about not getting a season 3 they ruined both the viewers expecting one and the viewers who would've liked it to end there. they've created an easily destroyable status quo because of course something needs to happen to get everyone back together for season 3. so it's not even a happy ending; it's so fragile, it's designed to fall apart the second that anyone learns that the show is back on. i get not wanting to bank on having a third season and wrapping it up but like. Galavant did that and did it better. WITH THE HEROES RETIRING AND THE TWO MINUTE MARRIAGE CEREMONY TO BOOT. But it gave an outline of where the plot might go from there and how the adventure will continue if it gets to. And it never got to, and season 2's ending is good because it's not /fragile/--it's not a cliffhanger, but you get the idea that they could keep going from there still. whereas this one didn't want to be a cliffhanger so much that they created the most breakable new status quo in history and if there is a season 3 it'll immediately be undone and I'll probably still watch it but like I'll /know/, y'know? They could fix everything in the first episode of season 3 and I'd still have to know that at one point, this was considered an acceptable outcome.

The thing that is driving me absolutely insane is they DID NOT HAVE TO DO THIS!

There's so many people looking at it like "well it's a shame that 2x08 clearly had to cram several episodes into one for budget reasons and it made the development weaker but that's the situation MAX put them in" and I cannot emphasize enough how much that is not true.

MAX did not break it to them after episodes 2x01 - 2x07 were written and half filmed that they would have to wrap up the whole plot in 30 minutes. Like absolute worst case scenario they had 10 eps mostly written and budget came back 20% over and they had to reduce to 8 total. More likely they knew they were getting 8 from the start.

It is absolutely nobody's fuck up except David Jenkins and his writers' room if they were unrealistic about what character beats were needed and would fit in the timeframe to reach a satisfying wrap up.

Worries about no S3 were on the table the moment it took until JUNE to get confirmation of S2. This wasn't sprung on them. If they wanted their story to have a "just in case" happy ending and then a "fully realized arc" happy ending, they should have fucking acted like it???

I was shocked when the first three episodes that dropped were so hardcore on destroying Edward's relationships and laying bare exactly how deep his issues went. It only made sense to me if they were going all in on getting a S3 and prepared to spend all of S2 focused on the implications of all that, and then the not-even two week in-universe timeline of the season reinforced my understanding that was happening.

"Shame we don't have time for our main couple to even start addressing their relationship or having moments of self-realization and sharing their issues," says guy who decided to make the first half of S2 about adding more problems on top of well established ones from S1 and the second half of S2 about throwing in a second breakup cycle instead of dealing with the fallout from the first.

Want Edward to end on a beat of feeling part of the found family? Well maybe adding a timeskip after 2x05 and then a crew chat in 2x06 where you make it clear he did an apology tour offscreen could help, but you also could have just not focused hard on him poisoning his relationship with every single one of them in the first place???

There's multiple different ways you can do Act 2 of a three act structure, and they did not have to choose one that ends on another dark cliffhanger beat or right at the open ended turning point toward growth? Like they didn't even do the one they picked in a way they could fit in their season. I feel like by the end of a struggles Act 2 both your protagonists need to have self-realized their issues and maybe had one conversation about it? Edward still wasn't talking about his guilt, and Stede wasn't talking about anything.

They aren't even at the turning point of growth and out of the backsliding / lessons learned era yet, that's why potential S3 will start on another backslide when status quo breaks and Stede starts "that's nice, dear"-ing Edward during the day and slipping out at night to vicariously listen to pirate stories or whatever (and they frame it like he's cheating).

We have two out of three seasons in a show that might only get two, and I feel like the characters have barely moved from their starting position.

Like idk maybe they are really good at coming up with character flaws - ex: Stede is repressed and bottles up his traumas until he mentally checks out / runs away - and just drawing blanks on how to believably "fix" them, but just going "well what if we just used this flaw to throw another miscommunication roadblock in their relationship?" is not getting them where they want to be.

The season was fundamentally designed against their stated goal and did not make what seem to be necessary writing concessions to the reduced screentime if they wanted their finale to land as an even plausibly happy ending. It's hollow.

And possibly not even salvageable in S3 since they aren't demonstrating the skills to salvage it.

#our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd 2x08 #david jenkins #ask #ladyluscinia #ofmd meta #ofmd critical

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lady-hestia-rose · 7 months

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Persona 5 vs. Milgram: How One Story Succeeded at Portraying Teenage Sexuality Where the Other Failed

tw: child abuse, child ra**, sexuality and sexualization, abortion, s**cide

(Note: I am not personally a victim of abuse or ra**, so if I say something stupid here, please let me know. I am always open to criticism and I don't want to be an asshole.)

rare moment of @lady-hestia-rose having original thoughts and not just reblogging everything

So this year I discovered both Persona 5 and Milgram, and I love both of them sososo much. I've infodumped about both of them for hours and overanalyzed the writing and symbolism both stories use to no end. Persona 5 Royal is probably my favorite piece of media I've ever seen. Milgram has brought me and my best friend closer together as we rant about our murderer blorbos and how well-written they all are together.

However, playing Persona, to me, is like the video game equivalent of watching a Shakespeare play. It's a masterclass narrative, very entertaining, and full of depth and symbolism to analyze, but it also has a bunch of misogyny that can really sour the mood sometimes. This seems to be a problem that the Persona series has had for a while judging from my experience playing P4 and what I've heard about other games, but in 5 it's like eating the most rich, satisfying cake you've ever had and then finding out some jackass poured pebbles into it. The way Persona 5 treats its female characters is by far my biggest problem with the game, with one problematic aspect in particular being its sexualization of the high school female cast, particularly Ann Takamaki.

Ann's storyline is mostly focused around her looks and how her appearance affects the way people treat her. At first, this plotline is taken in a promising direction. Because of her Caucasian ancestry, Ann faces slut-shaming and fetishization from most of her peers at school. In addition, Ann, along with many other girls in the school, is targeted by her abusive gym teacher, Kamoshida. It's not entirely clear how far his advances went with Ann specifically, but she is shown to face sexual harassment and coercion from Kamoshida onscreen, and Ann's best friend Shiho attempts suicide after being all but stated outright to have been raped by Kamoshida. So Ann is a victim of sexual abuse and a witness of her friend's abuse as well. There are plenty of interesting and thoughtful angles you could take with this story. You could show her reconnecting with Shiho and bonding over their shared trauma, with them going through the healing process together. You could show her being initially distrustful of the other Phantom Thieves until their bond grows stronger and she is able to feel safe around them. You could give her an arc about reclaiming her sexuality and taking back this part of herself that was used to hurt her.

What does the game do?

Barely fucking anything.

Ann gets little to no character development post-Kamoshida. Instead, her Confidant storyline is about her modeling career, with only one conversation where she sees Shiho again even acknowledging her past trauma. The game also continues to make her the Ms. Fanservice of the team, with constant gross jokes about her "hot bod" and the male characters being pervy around her. She keeps getting put in skimpy outfits and having to use her sex appeal to seduce enemies, as if the previous storyline never even happened.

For obvious reasons, I am very uncomfortable with any storyline that sexualizes minors, even if it's for a reason that serves the story. This is a general rule I apply to most media I consume. I'm considering completely skipping the Dancing in Starlight spinoff game because of the content I've heard it contains. And it's not just something I apply to Persona. I stopped listening to the song "Romeo and CInderella" by doriko despite really liking it musically because I was very uncomfortable with the story of the song. It's a problem I run into a lot when consuming Japanese media. However, I was thinking about this stuff a couple days ago, and I realized something. There is one specific piece of media I really like that shows a minor with sexual imagery that actually doesn't make me sick to my stomach. That is the song "Tear Drop" from DECO*27's music project Milgram.

(Note for Milgram fans: This part is based entirely off my interpretation of the offical English translation of the lyrics. I have not watched the voice dramas.)

"Tear Drop" is about a 17-year-old girl named Kashiki Yuno. The music video has several shots of her wearing lingerie, and the song approaches themes of innocence, sexuality, and relationships. Not only do I like the song, it's arguably my favorite song in the entirety of Milgram (although Backdraft also puts up a good fight for that title).

(Note from the future: I have been corrected. Yuno is actually 18.)

Why is it that I like "Tear Drop" despite depictions of sexualized teenagers usually making me uncomfortable? What sets apart Yuno's story from Ann's that makes it work?

(Note: I'm about to discuss a controversial aspect of Japanese culture as a mostly uninformed American. I may be about to say something stupid. If you're more knowledgeable about this subject than I am and you notice me saying something stupid, I am so sorry. Please tell me.)

In Yuno's first song, "Umbilical," it was heavily implied that she was involved in the Japanese enjo kōsai industry, which is often translated as "compensated dating." Taking the definition from Wikipedia (the most scholarly of sources), it is "the practice of older men giving money and/or luxury gifts to attractive young women for sexual favors." The song also implies that Yuno's "murder" (the premise of Milgram is that all of the prisoners the songs are about have killed someone) was an abortion.

So, Yuno was raped. I think that's quite clear. If you're a minor and you have sex with an adult, you were raped. No further clarification needed. Hopefully I don't need to argue that Yuno's abortion was justified either.

After the release of "Umbilical," Yuno was overwhelmingly voted innocent by Milgram's official poll. She garnered a huge amount of sympathy from everybody in the audience, and people expressed their sympathy for Yuno quite often. However, this rhetoric often took on quite a patronizing tone, like calling her "poor baby" or regretting that the circumstances of her life "forced" her into compensated dating to make ends meet (which, from what I understand, isn't quite how enjo kōsai works, but that's another discussion for someone who knows more about this stuff than me).

In Milgram, the prisoners canonically can hear what the audience is saying about them. And Yuno was not pleased.

"Tear Drop" seems to be almost entirely addressed towards the audience. In the image above, we see Yuno removing the metaphorical rose-colored lens from the audience to see the real her. The lyrics call out everyone who infantilized and looked down upon her, drawing similarities between the people she dated and the viewers. Here are some examples from the English translated lyrics: "'Poor naive little girl'? So off the mark, what's it to you? It's just absurd"

"Don't weigh me measure me against your morality Just shut it, will you? You know it all Feeling magnanimous? INNOCENT? I'm so not that Just shut it, will you? You know it all" "Caressing me with your 'Good girl' Who needs your self-righteous pardon?

I'm the one who chose, let you and you and you all in Happy or sad? Why decide? Where'd you get your half-baked sense of justice So nauseating...so creepy...will you please disappear"

Yuno is sick of everyone else making judgements about her and trampling over her own desires and wishes, and in this song she gives the middle finger to everyone who did so.

Generally, I am against portraying sexualized minors in media. However, I think it's important to realize that teenagers are not completely sexless beings. They have their own wants and desires, they want to be sexy, and it is important for them to have their own safe sexual exploration. And like it or not, sex has undoubtedly affected Yuno's life as a rape survivor. And unlike Persona with Ann, Milgram has the respect to not just pretend this part of Yuno's life never happened and allows her to be sexual on her own terms, instead of just pandering to the male gaze.

I grew up in the LDS Church. While I have not gone through anything on her level, I see parts of my own story in Yuno as someone whose sexuality was used to hurt me and who has coped with the trauma by redefining my sexuality as my own. I find "Tear Drop" incredibly inspiring, and I think that's what sets Milgram apart from Persona in its approach to teenage sexuality.

This is the second-to-final shot of Tear Drop. Her face is full of relief, with her clutching the jacket like a comforting blanket. Not everything she has faced is fixed now, and her teenage naivety is still clear in many of the lyrics. One song didn't melt all her trauma away. But she's getting there. She's making progress one step at a time. The final shot of the song is her pulling the jacket in, covering more of her body as she rests.

In Persona 5, Ann's sexuality is used to objectify her. In Milgram, Yuno's sexuality is used to empower her. That's what makes the difference.

#persona 5 #milgram #persona 5 analysis #p5 analysis #milgram analysis #analysis #media analysis #ann takamaki #kashiki yuno #p5 ann #milgram yuno

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buffythecomicslayer · 7 months

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In an exclusive interview, Amber Benson, James Marsters, and Charisma Carpenter dove into the new Audible original Slayers: A Buffyverse Story, which debuts on October 12. Due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, they could not speak on their experiences on Buffy, Angel, or any other struck work.

Slayers is co-written by Amber Benson, who portrayed Tara in Buffy, and Christopher Golden, who has penned multiple books in the Buffyverse. Before the COVID pandemic, Benson began calling her former costars to see who might want to be involved, focusing on the characters she felt weren’t serviced enough in the original show. She also wanted to find a way to highlight what it means to be a slayer who is also a woman of color.

Amber, why did you want to do this now?

Amber Benson: The reason I got excited about doing Slayers was because I wanted to see Charisma be a vampire slayer. I want to live in the meta world where Charisma Carpenter is Cordelia, the Vampire Slayer. That was the pull for me. We spent a ton of time trying to create satisfying arcs for all of these characters that we love so much. It’s been a labor of love. For me, doing this was about diving into a world where I get to have some control over things.

Why set it in 2013 instead of 2023?

Benson: We wanted a passage of time so there was an entrenched world where slayers existed in our world and they were everywhere — especially because we have Laya who takes audiences through this mythology. She’s like a fangirl of vampire slaying, and is on the Reddit forums. We didn’t want it so entrenched that we were so far removed from other times. We wanted that sweet spot of the world knows about this stuff, but it’s not an old hat.

What was it like getting back in the room to record with everyone?

James Marsters: We love each other so much that it was absolutely fabulous. I was just able to watch Charisma step into this role and have it make complete sense. It is so far from the Charisma that we started with years ago. It couldn’t be further, and yet, it makes absolute sense. Just her as an actor, being able to give a strong, loving, slightly world-weary, wise perspective to it, this absolutely seems like what Cordelia would be like in 2013. And I loved watching Amber take her character in a completely new direction. It absolutely makes sense, but it couldn’t be further from the Tara that we started with. And I was in awe of Juliet Landau.

And then Seth Green showed up! He’s not even in it, but he was recording something else in another booth at the building, and he heard we were in there. He comes in, and the whole thing stops. We didn’t do any work for 45 minutes because we’ve just gotta love on Seth. It was a complete love fest the whole time. We’re all in a really good place. All of our lives are going really well, so we could brag about how well we’re doing. Plus, meeting Laya DeLeon Hayes, having her fold into our family — and she’s the most experienced voice actor of all of us!

The last time you played Spike was in 2004. How did feel stepping back into it?

Marsters: I had told the producers way back when: “I’ve been doing Spike for about seven years, and if you want me to do the character, you’ve got about seven more years. I think we can get away with it for a 14-year window.” Spike is a vampire, he ain’t aging, but James is! Seven years came and went; it hadn’t happened, and I put it in the rear-view mirror. Then Amber calls me! And it was perfect.

Tara was a very important character on TV, and it was really devastating how that arc ended. Amber, can you hint at what she’s like now in this alternate universe?

Benson: She’s a very kind-hearted character, and we wanted to give her some meat. So we found a way, without spoiling anything, to give her something to sink her teeth into. We also wanted to keep the goodness of her, and it’s still in there, but we go to some darker places. And selfishly, as an actor, I wanted to work with Charisma, to do more with James, to spend time with Juliet. I have a lot of fun stuff with Juliet!

Charisma, you’ve been very vocal about your experience on Buffy. What was your reaction to getting the ask to come back into this world and bring Cordelia back? Were you hesitant at all?

Charisma Carpenter: When I got a call from Amber in 2020, I said, “You know, my friend, I would follow you anywhere. Of course, I want to be a part of it.” I didn’t know where it would end up, or certainly what medium it would be in, but it wouldn’t matter. I would just do it because I trust her vision. I trust her and I respect her talent as a writer and creator and I just love her to pieces.

How did it feel for you to be able to give Cordelia this entirely new life?

Carpenter: I think I felt a bit lost. Because the description of Cordelia and the scenes were the world-weary, kind of doom and gloom. I’m kind of saddled with this young player that’s super excited. How do I play this embattled slayer, who’s living their purpose and sees it really as the burden that it is — taking on the big bad — and infusing that with the Cordelia from before, which is sassy and witty and pithy and all those superficial things? How do I balance them? So for me, it was such an interesting dilemma to figure out. I spent a lot of time with Christopher and Amber, stressed, going, “I don’t know what I’m doing.” I didn’t think it was possible to bring more layers to Cordelia, because I feel like she went through so much in terms of her character arc from beginning to end.

Marsters: It’s so funny because, from my perspective, you came in and effortlessly did this. It didn’t seem to be a struggle at all!

When this was announced, many referred to it as a Spike-focused series because he’s the narrator, but this universe has always been so about female empowerment. Do you guys see it that way?

Marsters: I saw that, and was like, “Oh, didn’t clock that before. I don’t think so, but OK! It’s called Slayers!”

Benson: And he came up with that name!

Marsters: Yeah, first we thought of Spike and Dru, but reading the script, that wasn’t really the thing. We have two new slayers that we haven’t had before: Cordelia and Indira. We’ve been promising the audience there’s a new slayer for a new generation. Every generation has one. We never made good on that promise. So, you had to wait — now you get two.

Benson: I think it’s a multi-pronged narrative. We have amazing Spike stuff. And he is the narrator and he takes us through this and has so many amazing arcs and relationships. The Juliet/James combo is electrifying.

Marsters: Spike is a great character, but he doesn’t encapsulate the theme. I’m in the project a lot, but what are you going to call it, Spike, the Vampire, Slayer of Vampires? It’s not the same thing. It is much more exciting to keep it focused, as it always has been, on a woman who is overcoming the challenges of life, and using a vampire demon metaphor to talk about those challenges. That’s one of the big strengths of the project since the beginning. I was glad with all the changes, all the updates and all of the surprises that we’re offering, that that kernel is kept. I would never want to get away from that.

Benson: Charisma, you should also talk about this because the “Justice for Cordelia” aspect is very important.

Charisma, please! Let’s hear it!

Carpenter: One of the most important things to me about Slayers is that it is an opportunity to give the Buffyverse fandom permission to enjoy the show, enjoy these characters again in a way that is representative of perseverance, of work ethic, of the familiar. It has really been made clear to me how much entertainment in general and the previous show and what this future show will do to provide comfort, empowerment, self-belief and reminders of our purpose. I think it will be an opportunity to give credit and justice to Tara, to Anya, to Cordelia. Because that show involved hundreds of people to make, and it wasn’t about just one person. So I feel like it’s really a beautiful thing to have this opportunity to bring her back to life — Cordelia specifically — and have her live out a very empowering life, and share her wisdom from that battle. I just feel like it’s very poetic in a lot of ways.

Spike is a bit of a controversial character, especially through the 2023 lens. Amber, how did you come to the decision to have him narrate?

Benson: No. 1, it’s always important to separate the actor from the character. And I know that James has spoken about this. He is one of the best humans, I adore James. But yeah, there is problematic stuff with the character, especially around consent. We really wanted to do something different and not live in the past. So for us, it was sort of a reinvention of the Spike character. We wanted to see more of that human and empathetic version of Spike. That was really important to us — the more James-version of Spike. He still has all the Spike bells and whistles. He’s still sexy as hell. But we also wanted to see that humanity and I think that was one of the reasons James Leary is such a big part of this. There is a humanity. James really wanted to make sure we still kept him Spike, but we updated for 2023.

Again, I know you can’t talk about the past projects here, but many of these characters weren’t there at the end — specifically Cordelia, who’d died in Angel. Are you ignoring the events of Angel completely?

Benson: We really created Slayers away from everything else. We wanted to create a world that felt familiar, but also was different — because I think putting your own stamp on something is really important. I think that’s what Chris and I wanted to do — find a way to do the things that we thought were important, some of those righting of wrongs things. That was important for us. We weren’t really looking at other versions of these worlds to draw from it really was. We tried to keep it its own unique thing.

Well, it is based on characters previously created. Was it a struggle to get permission to take ownership of these characters?

Benson: We can’t really talk about this stuff because of the strike and because also, sometimes, the creation is the creation, and the creators are totally removed. And for me, just personally, I will say this, I always had trouble going to conventions and not being honest about certain situations. And now that all of that is sort of grist for the mill, I feel this relief that I can love this world and these characters and have a little bit of a little tiny, tiny piece of ownership in them. I love this world, I love the family I have because of it. I love the fans I have in my life. A show is not always just the person that came up with a show. A show is a collaboration for us on Slayers.

Speaking broadly about ownership of creative material, it really is a collaborative media. It’s not one person. The auteur theory does not apply here. It takes a village.

Marsters: The genetic material is there because Amber breathed it. She is a fabulous writer, and Christopher Golden has been writing books in the Buffyverse for years. So it’s kind of a seamless continuum. It’s not just like a bunch of people who don’t know much about the lore or don’t care about it. There are people who’ve been involved from the beginning, in the driver’s seat.

Were there other characters or actors you wanted to bring back?

Benson: For us, the important thing is to do service to characters that maybe didn’t get the right servicing in other versions. So we really focused on that. That was really important for us.

Well, Seth Green popped in! Were there ever any talks of bringing him on?

Benson: We were talking about it, but we had such a full slate of characters that once we looked at it, we were like we can’t service everybody if you have too many characters. It was really important for us to make sure everybody had a satisfying arc. If we do multiple seasons, then we can bring in other people and give them new things to do. Seth is definitely on our list. Clare Kramer too, we would love to have Glory come and play. There’s just so many amazing characters to bring in.

Do you see this going for multiple seasons?

Benson: I would love to do more seasons. Emma Caulfield was like, “When do we do the next one?” We really would love to do more. We love the team at Audible and Audible UK. They’re all fans. They all love this world. So we would love to jump back in and do more. It’s really up to the fans!

#slayers: a buffyverse story #interviews #amber benson #james marsters #charisma carpenter #buffy the vampire slayer #other media

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diabolikpersonals · 3 months

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sorry for such a broad question but in your opinion is laito a well written character relative to everyone in diabolik? i really Want to learn more about him but i also dont want to subject myself to All That and i just want to know if he's worth reading about or just a pile of interesting plot threads thrown together for shock factor and unfulfilled thematically.

like my current personal opinion (may be wrong) is that i dont feel satisfied with the idea of yui's love or proactiveness fixing laito in any way because it doesn't mesh well with the actual ideas surrounding his character and unpacking that love is not poison goes beyond romantic love or a singular place of understanding. additionally it doesn't feel earned it feels like a chore for the player to trudge though for the sake of reading. i dont want to read laito's story that bad if it's the case yet im intrigued by the things offered by his character like the processing of the deeply visceral way csa shatters who you are

I wanted to wait till I finished his CL to answer so I'd be fully caught up with laito's routes, but that'll take too long so.....!! I might change my answer later!! lmao

[tw laito stuff, csa and suicide, yeah]

I do think Laito's a well-written character but his stuff is really difficult to get through if you have certain triggers, so it's tough to recommend. Even beyond the csa stuff, Laito is in a real hurry to die and he makes several attempts throughout the series. There's a certain unique sort of awfulness, at least for me, involving scenes where a character fails a suicide attempt and then get even more upset and desperate about it. So I understand what you mean when you say you're not excited about putting yourself through it. They were the hardest routes for me to get through too :')

A lot of earlier games suffer from endings that are like "And the two lived happily ever after, and we're not gonna unpack all that stuff!" and Laito's routes are no exception, but if you can look past that and make it to LE, I wouldn't say that Laito gets fixed. He has an ending similar to Ayato's that's like, it feels like we fixed everything but in reality we couldn't overcome the core issue! They really seem to believe that Laito absolutely can't be happy or live a normal life the way he is now. He has to die and/or rewrite his memories to be comfortable loving someone. It's up to your tastes if that's satisfying or not, but I kind of love the bittersweetness of LE endings, and the way they feel like a happy ending until you think about them a little too hard.

What's interesting is that Yui's purehearted love often hurts Laito more than it helps him. He responds to love, from Yui or from his family members, with revulsion. There's jealousy when he interacts with straightforward characters like Yui or Ayato, like "If only I could be as simple and pure as you, but nope, I can't." He's very self-aware for a diaboy, which only makes it hurt more when he keeps arriving at the conclusion that he's rotten. He definitely makes progress, which is really satisfying to see, like how he gradually allows Ayato back in his life emotionally. But as of right now, the end of his arc is so, like, "I tried, really I did! But my perspective on love is fucked and I need a hard reset! Maybe I'll be normal in the next life but definitely not this one!! Bye!"

...So, it's hard to say if you'll be happy with it. I see a lot of mixed opinions concerning the LE endings. They often give the diaboy what he wants but not what he needs, so you're left going, "Wait, I don't know about this...!" A lot of people really hate these endings, but they actually get more interesting to me the more conflicted they make me feel...and oh boy, was I conflicted about this one! :'D

If it sounds interesting to you, too, and you don't mind some pretty brutal scenes along the way, give Laito's routes a try. His HDB will definitely make you mad though lol

#text

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utilitycaster · 4 months

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If you're willing, totally get if you aren't, would you rate the campaigns you've watched? Not best to worst but out of whatever stars? I'm just curious and feel like you'd have interesting answers.

Hey anon,

I must admit that unless I genuinely liked all campaigns exactly equally this still ends up being a ranking in that they're going to have different numbers of stars and some will have more. I will strive to explain myself though since that's where the interest is, but, spoiler: my opinion is a fairly common one and I don't know if you'll find it interesting.

I'm using the Goodreads 5 star system of 1 - didn't like it, 2 - it's ok, 3 - liked it, 4 - really liked it, 5 - it's amazing.

Campaign 1: 4 stars. I think the one-two punch of the Briarwoods and Chroma Conclave - half the campaign - is an incredible story, and greatly enjoy both the lead-in and fade-out (yes I know Vecna is the final BBEG but the emotional heart of the campaign is Briarwoods/Conclave). Perhaps because I've been thinking about the Drizzt novels again but it feels like the closest, most archetypal form of that kind of This Is D&D story. I enjoy all the characters, though some took longer to grow on me; the emotional beats and the relationships all hit (Perc'ahlia exceptionally well for me, but Percy and Vex are just characters who happen to be directly up my alley), and while the shift from Pathfinder to D&D shortly before airing/incompleteness of some of the world occasionally peeks through that's very minor. Fantastic campaign, would recommend highly.

Campaign 2: 5 stars. I think this sets the standard of what a long-form actual play D&D campaign can be. Without going on too long a tangent, I think the great thing about the medium of actual play is that it can go to places that something scripted likely wouldn't, and in doing so, show us something we (as consumers of scripted/written fantasy media) didn't know we wanted but desperately did. Campaign 2 does this; Worlds Beyond Number is the only thing that has shown that same potential that I can think of. I think it is character-driven in a way even D&D often doesn't get a chance to be, I think the characters are made with incredible love and care, and I think that in the end pretty much every single beat - plot, character, romances, worldbuilding - lands. When Critical Role stops airing longform campaigns, whenever that may be, I will be sad, but I will be excited to have the time to finally get around to a Campaign 2 rewatch.

Campaign 3: 3 stars. I like that having established this world in Campaign 1 and further in Campaign 2 we are threatening it in a unique way that could truly change it forever without destroying it, though it also may destroy it. I'm enjoying the plot: while it takes some time to settle, there is a domino effect to it that, while present in the other campaigns, is deeply satisfying due to its cross-campaign, years-in-the-making nature. I also think the role that Bells Hells plays within this plot is unique: whereas Vox Machina are already near-legends by the time their arc of reckoning comes about, and the Mighty Nein are by and large unsung, Bells Hells finds themselves as one piece in a vast machine, and that's a different perspective uncommon in D&D narratives that's fun to see. I have said in the past that I think the only thing holding it back from being...well, under this system, 5 stars, is the character creation process was likely lacking and did not adequately set up for the very intentional and structured plot. I maintain that is true.

#answered #Anonymous #cr tag

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13eyond13 · 2 months

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In your reply about how L is written without a lot of inner world for lack of a better term, I totally agree. I think L is genuinely a hard character to write because he's both an enigma and highly specific in his mannerisms and speech. It's easy to both go really overboard with how he's strange and off putting and at the same time under write him as a person with ideas and desires. When I see L being essentially written to revolve around Light as either his gay awakening/nemesis/boyfriend/ force that shakes up his life I call it the inverse of a manic pixie dream girl. Depressed Goblin Nightmare Boy L who doesn't really want anything except Light and who exists to do something for Light's character growth. I personally love when fics take the time to give him a past, and a life outside of Light and expands on him as a person and not just a detective. This is a long ramble but anyway, do you have any head canons about L's past?

Depressed Goblin Nightmare Boy ahahaha so true

I think part of the issue that shippy fic writers might run into with L is kind of also that he's not the focus of the source material in terms of like. Having a character arc that needs to be satisfied somehow, really? It's not about L having an emotional journey because it's about Light having one, and L is almost more fun in some ways when he DOESN'T change a whole lot as a character (he's fairly iconic in how stubborn and arrogant and seemingly unmoveable he already is). He's there mostly to oppose Light and make things really difficult for him, as well as to represent things in the story that come up as part of the themes and ideas and whatnot - an equal/intellectual rival that Light can actually feel threatened by and come to respect, a person who already reached the peak of power for his job of bringing criminals to justice and yet does so without necessarily adhering to any sort of noble ideals or worrying about whether or not he's being moral or a hypocrite of some kind, etc etc etc. And a lot of the appeal of his character in canon can also be how vague and cryptic and difficult to fully know he is as well, hahaha. So you're right, he's pretty difficult to fully flesh out in terms of his life outside the Kira case and so on, especially if you don't find him easy to intuitively read.

In terms of headcanons about his past, I feel almost as though it might not be totally set in stone and change a bit for me just depending on what kind of fic I was writing? I might give him certain life experiences and memories and beliefs and so on that would serve a certain purpose in the story, like contrast or parallel things that Light has experienced or believes in or whatever else. So unless I have a specific story in mind I'm not sure I have a ton of them that I'd stick to absolutely no matter what.

However the broad strokes of things we were told about L's past and childhood in the one-shots do make for decent scaffolding to work from for L to me. Like I DO think he probably made himself useful and interesting to Watari at a young age with his smarts, and that he never quite knows if he would have been taken care of or protected or had his needs met properly if he wasn't exceptionally talented in some way, which would definitely be kind of fucked up for him emotionally to dwell on a bunch. I headcanon that he doesn't really like to dwell on the past or the future a whole lot maybe in part because he finds it pretty depressing stuff to contemplate, and that living in the moment is by far his favourite thing to do.

And I for some reason feel like he isn't maybe an orphan in the sense that he has no living relatives left so much as maybe that he was given up or abandoned by them at an early age or taken away from a rough/abusive home life of some sort, and maybe was thought of as much too difficult to care for by them. I think the tension between L's extreme and more difficult traits being both his biggest asset and thing people admire about him most, and also the thing that causes him the most alienation and trouble in his life, or his own belief/understanding that this is the case, might for me be the most interesting stuff to explore more thoroughly with him.

#l lawliet #ask #starlightinthewild #lawlight #p

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idleglowingpixels · 1 year

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talk about Collector

WHYYYYYYYYYY okay now that I got that off my chest let's get serious LMAO

Before I dive in too deep, to any other ppl reading, THIS IS YOUR FAIR WARNING IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ ANY CRITICISM OF TOH. Something that is really apparent in this fandom particularly is that a lot of ppl refuse to allow and accept genuine criticism discussions, dumbing it down to personal biases, misinterpretations of the text (or in this case, the show), and proclaiming "It's intentional that the show did that!" every time someone breathes something negative about it. This is ESPECIALLY annoying with the "Blame Disney/the shortening" nonsense -- a key skill in television writing is to be capable of working with the allotted time that the studios give you. After they were told Season 3 got cut short, they still had 11 22-minute episodes of Season 2 and all three 40+ minute episodes of Season 3 to conclude the story in a satisfying way.

Seeking and reading criticism posts outside of the general tags, ignoring warnings on posts that give forewarnings, then getting mad and upset that someone criticized your comfort show is generally an unhealthy behavior, especially if you're not in a good mental state. If you can't take people criticizing something you enjoy, and more-so if you deem it your comfort media, and feel the need to bother them because you made yourself upset reading their posts, you've got a lot of soul searching to do. That, or maybe you should log off until you can handle it.

Also, obviously, spoilers ahead for TOH, as well as Amphibia because these shows parallel a lot more than I want them to. :')

---

I have a LOT to say about The Owl House from a critical and writing perspective, and I feel like the show is EXTREMELY overhyped for what it actually is. I feel its sister show Amphibia executed much of the same/similar themes better, and that's not even a bias thing. Just from the way both shows are written, you can tell which one feels more competently structured from a narrative standpoint (and, let's be honest, which one is actually funny).

Okay enough about general opinion, let's get to Collector. From a character design perspective, GOD I love this little guy, both the reflection/shadow form and the actual form are distinct from the rest of the cast. I'm a big Sun and Moon design/symbolism enjoyer (Sun and Moon from FNAF, Sun and Blake from RWBY, Celestia and Luna from MLP:FiM, etc.) so these types of characters are always welcome. And while their voice annoys me personally it ABSOLUTELY fits them, so no matter how annoying I find it I don't think I'd want them to have any other voice.

But that, unfortunately, is the only props I can give to Collector.

The show is FULL of redeemed antagonists that range from okay (I'd like to think Amity was decent enough and Hunter was alright but definitely should have been introduced earlier so his redemption was a slow burn but this post isn't about them so I'll end this note here) to "what the actual fuck" (Idc what anyone says, there is no excuses PERIOD, Lilith's redemption was the absolute worst redemption arc I think I've ever seen AND I'VE SEEN CATRA'S), and Collector is very much on the lower end of that scale. We hardly see them overall and their character writing is rushed beyond belief -- and again, I'd like to reiterate that that is ENTIRELY on the writing team for the show. Disney and the shortening DID NOT DECIDE TO KEEP COLLECTOR IN. The writing staff were aware of the time they had left and made the decision to shoehorn them in and expect everyone to just be okay with it.

From a writing perspective, they bloat the story exponentially and 100% should have been left in the drafts or saved for future content like what Dana said she might do if she is able to through books and such. If we only get hints of the other Collectors, this one should have STAYED hints with them.

We have essentially no significant amount of time with them outside of Hollow Mind and the season 2 finale before season 3, and what we DO have of them in season 2B is so drastically different I'd consider 2B Collector and 3 Collector as two different characters entirely. And before you tell me, "They're different because sun/moon symbolism!" "They're different because Belos and King influence them differently!" etc. etc., don't waste your time. Yes, those are good explanations as to why they feel so different between seasons, but that does not make the writing of the character inherently good. Allow me to elaborate:

In S2B, of what little we see of Collector, they are extremely sadistic in nature, and while they appear childish the writing of that lack of care for others is ABUNDANTLY CLEAR. And it seemed that way even as Belos first encountered him as Philip in the flashback episode. There, they weren't yet "influenced" by Belos and his plans; hell, he hardly had an actual plan yet.

Skip ahead to Hollow Mind, easily the best episode of Season 2 imo, and Collector is taunting Belos, mocking him and his schemes. Saying things like "Ooh, you were mad!" and "I'm starting to think you make those [grimwalkers] just to destroy them. You have fun with it, admit it!"

I cannot find any reasonable explanation as to how or why Belos would influence Collector into doing such things. Why would he want a little pain in the ass making fun of him for hundreds of years? And by his response to Collector's taunt about the grimwalkers and Hunter, "Of course I don't, Collector. It hurts every time he chooses to betray me," he took offense to their words, but kept his tone from shifting to anger as he does with everyone else because of Collector's power.

Belos doesn't want Collector thinking he doesn't like them because of their abilities, but he does want to stay on their good side for information. For knowledge of spells. And he puts up with Collector's annoyances because of that.

Essentially, that wasn't something Belos taught them or influenced them to do. All Collector knows is to adapt to their friends' behaviors, yes, but Belos is like, over 400 years old. I don't know about you, but I doubt with the way he speaks and how he's written that he would taunt his underlings in the same childish vain as Collector, and do so enough for Collector to pick up and mimic that behavior.

Now to the finale, their appearance is pretty much just them getting duped by Belos and sent into the depths of the titan skull, where King ever-so-conveniently finds them, making the pinky swear that releases them.

They maintain that mocking attitude even after Belos betrays them, calling King "boring" for calling them Mr. Collector and feeling generally disinterested by King before he promises a game to play. And even after they're released, they continue the attitude further with the whole "I remember someone throwing me off a bridge...I'm not angry, though!" bit, only to send Belos to his "death" moments after, deeming it as a game of tag. They've seen Belos kill grimwalkers first hand, fully aware that their lives mean nothing, and replicated the behavior by returning the favor to Belos (or so they thought). Their lack of care continues when they nearly try to do the same thing to the Hexsquad, people who didn't even do anything to them, before King stops them, changing the subject before they can cause further harm.

After stopping the draining spell, Collector continues the destructive maliciousness they have all the way to the end of the episode, and that's the impression of them we're left with. They were sadistic, uncaring and childish, but only learned the behavior of killing from Belos -- even though Belos didn't actually die, the intent was to kill him, and they were fully planning to continue with the Hexsquad.

And then...We get to Season 3.

Just a side-note, I think it's a safe assumption to say the first 2 seasons of The Owl House took place between roughly 2 months, as Luz was outside waiting to leave for a summer camp after the school year ended before initially arriving in the demon realm. Going off of that assumption, in Part 1 Luz returned to school as she returned to the human realm, presumably in late August/early September due to her living in Connecticut. And since Part 1 takes place in the timespan of about 3-7 days, the last day being Halloween, the timeskip only brought us about 2 more months ahead. Keep this in mind.

After Luz and co. return to the demon realm in Part 2 -- objectively the worst episode of the season -- we already see King's influence on Collector since they turned everyone into puppets instead of actively injuring or killing them when they don't comply. Still bad? Yes. But from how it looks in Part 3 with the Hexsquad, it seems more like the puppets' consciences are just comatose or an alternative to sleeping, maybe in a REM-like state. But of course, the show didn't have enough time to explain that further over all the nonsense in Part 2.

Anyway, when we see Collector in Part 2, they're still being childish, which is unfortunately the only thing that stays consistent with this character. They then say two lines that were the most god-awful writing decisions I've seen in a hot minute, and this show is STOCK FULL of really bad "this is peak humor LAUGH" moments like this.

They say that Eda has this "cool aunt vibe" and such, which sounds like one of those "character dynamics/tropes" posts on social media like Tumblr and whatnot. It comes off as really pretentious in the writing, and was shockingly unfunny to hear for a show that calls itself a comedy. Another line that frustrates me, more-so for lore reasons, is when they ask Odalia to make pizza bagels, when it was previously stated that human food is inaccessible to Luz during her time in the demon realm. So not only is it contradicting that whole thing (Eda actively struggled to find food for Luz that she could eat), how would they or King even know what one is or how to actually make one??

It seems like a small point to get heated over, but it once again feels like one of those stupid one-liners that one of the writers thought was the funniest shit they've ever thought up and kept it in because they knew die-hard fans would just laugh it off and brush it off as a joke, and that the writers forgetting about Eda's maternal struggle to feed her adopted kid is Disney's/the shortening's fault because they're at fault for everything wrong with the show...and not the ppl who wrote it.

Regardless, this whole shtick is extremely out-of-character for the way they had spoken in Season 2, and from what I can recall (I'm not gonna rewatch the entire show for the sake of a single post), King never talks like this. Luz does around him, but he himself doesn't talk like this.

I've discussed with friends before about this, including Robin (the one who asked me to talk about this), but from Part 2 onward Collector gets the same Luz-like writing every character that gets redeemed suddenly dawns out of the blue. I started calling it luz-ification, but it doesn't just happen to Collector.

It happened to Hunter, where his more cocky and ego-centric dialogues from early 2A was dropped for a more "comedic" personality and an anxiety-ridden character, though it's later eluded to that his cocky attitude was him masking his true self, so I try to keep it to that perspective.

But this happened to Lilith as well, where she suddenly started acting like "Cool Aunt Lilith" IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING HER ADMITTING TO CURSING EDA AND ALLOWING HER CAPTURE. WITH NO CONSEQUENCES TO BE FACED OTHER THAN THE CURSE SPLIT WHICH IS HARDLY UTILIZED IN THE SHOW.

(Side-tangent: Characters facing little to no consequences for their actions is something that goes on so much in this show but this is long enough already and I really don't like talking about this shit for long 'cause I could be using my time on better pieces of media, I'm sure there's plenty of posts explaining this point elsewhere by ppl who enjoyed TOH more than me)

Hell, it even happened to Amity for a hot minute. For some moments in the show she's written really off-character and saying things that just completely contradict how she's typically written, but then goes back to the more sassy and balanced character later on.

This post has gotten WAY longer than I wanted it to be, but to keep me from spending even more time on this, Part 2 shows a drastically different Collector, to the point that they do not by any means have the same character writing as they had before. They got luz-ified. Using social media lingo they couldn't even have access to in canon, and being written to quite literally just sound like a mini-me of Luz with the more obnoxious undertones of the childish thing.

Point is, they mimic these behaviors of Luz that they wouldn't even have reasonable access to learning from, because she's in the human realm for almost all the time after their release. It only makes sense in Part 3, when Luz is actually there for them to see her behaviors in action, but even that is so contrived and rushed that it feels unrealistic and narratively unnecessary. Remember what I said before about the timeskip only being 2 months? Yeah, 2 months isn't nearly enough time for a character to fundamentally change who they are as drastically as Collector.

Now to the part where I talk about Amphibia really quick and mention how it did the whole "having an alternative threat acting as a mini-boss" thing a million times better than this shit ever could. King Andrias, paralleling Collector for this particular scenario, is shown relatively early on that he's an antagonist to the audience. It's later revealed as a plot twist not to the audience, but to the characters, who least expected it. They don't waste time trying to throw off the audience with red herrings or telling its audience "He's not a bad guy, he's totally not going to be evil later on." They just show the audience he's evil and keep the story moving.

He's given enough time to feel like this ominous, looming threat, and True Colors masterfully showed how messed up this guy is and the lengths he is willing to go to ascend to the Core and cheat death, just as the souls within the Core had. His motive to avoid death and return Amphibia to the world-conquering ideologies from centuries' past is what made him such a love-to-hate villain. And the motive to cheat death in a children's cartoon? Metal as hell. The Core also parallels Belos here, and further on in Season 3, being the one manipulating Andrias through his fear of death in order to make him do what they want him to.

In the third season, Andrias continues his work by the Core's demands, only giving up in the final battle when he's read a letter from someone he had considered a friend long ago, which admittedly didn't have much set-up but it was at least the focus of an entire episode prior to the big pre-finale.

At the end of the series, he's shown to have moved on, allowing himself to age naturally and to stop using technology to keep him in pristine condition for eternity. He accepted the natural cycle of life, and in turn accepted that he will come to pass one day. He wasn't a perfectly written character, but considering what it's being compared to? Leagues better.

Like I said before, TL;DR, Collector is the bloatware of The Owl House's plot. They were shoved in as a last minute addition because they were the writers' "precious bean silly goose little gremlin blorbo" that they couldn't just keep in the drafts with the rest of the collectors. So instead of maintaining what little integrity the show's writing had to begin with and follow through to the end with the Day of Unity plotline being the series finale (Which was VERY OBVIOUSLY WHAT THEY WERE GOING FOR), they essentially made a side quest distraction that dragged the story on for longer than it needed to, wasting the audience's time.

I'm not mad that the Collector exists, I just find that their inclusion in the series did more harm than good for the writing. The show has a serious issue with giving screentime to unnecessary characters like the miscellaneous Hexside students, giving characters too much screentime (The biggest offender for this is Amity, there's more episodes centered around her than Hunter, Willow and Gus combined) and not giving ACTUALLY necessary characters enough screentime (Looking at you, Emerald Trio).

I really want to rewrite TOH, and if I feel the need to rewrite a show, it's usually because there's too much fundamentally wrong with it for me to give it anything higher than a 6/10 overall. But I've already got a whole AU and a whole rewrite in the works for two other series I care wayyyyy more about, so that's gonna have to be left to other writers in this fandom.

---

If this post is how you've stumbled upon my page, hi :') Feel free to ask me about more or to elaborate on smth I said here if you want clarification, but if you check out my intro post and see another mutual interest we have maybe ask me about that instead of TOH please and thank you

#toh criticism #toh critical #the collector #heed my warning or get blocked #I'm not dealing with ppl that take general media criticism personally #anyway have fun with this novel ig #amphibia is so much better than this show and I'm tired of ppl not seeing that

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galvanizedfriend · 17 days

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22!

Nonnie, this is the question of my heart! ❤️

What is it about watching the same two idiots falling in love over and over again?

What is it, indeed! I personally think that the most inspiring kind of media is the objectively crappy type that offers a lot of potential but fails to meet the expectations. Because if something is good, if characters are well written and developed and their story arc is perfect and makes sense, then what else is there to say? Why imagine other scenarios when the story is already satisfactory the way it is? I for one never feel the pull to add anything to stories that satisfy me the way they are, no matter how obsessed I might be.

When the source material is trash, however, that's when you just feel the need to fix things.

As Stefon would say, Klaroline has everything - except it's so badly written it makes you want to die. It's like the show set for us to spike. We were left starved for hem, with a whole world of possibilities to explore, so obviously there's nothing left to do but fulfill it. 🤷‍ If showrunners and writers are gonna do a shit job about them, then it's our duty to do them justice.

And also, just look at them. How do you not?

Thanks for your ask, nonnie!

If anyone else wants to play, send me a number from this list.

#ask game #anon

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alagaesia-headcanons · 10 months

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A few times I've expressed how I feel like the later parts of the series really screw over Orrin and treat his character poorly. And I've seen some other people say similar things. But for a long while know, I've been conflicted about how exactly the books disservices him. Because, since writing this character analysis of him, I found that I don't disagree with the actual things he says and does. Like I mentioned there, I think the way his composure crumbles and how he becomes more aggressive and unreasonable makes a lot of sense in the context of what he's going through. He's lost everyone and he turns to drinking as anger and fear eat away at him. I think it works as a character arc, albeit a very sad one. And yet, I still get the feeling of the books doing wrong by Orrin and I've been trying to wrap my mind around why.

I was rereading the scene where Orrin wants to send an envoy to Uru'baen and Roran demands that he doesn't. Initially, I felt like this was one of the few moments where it does feel out of character for him, simply for the story to paint him in an exaggeratedly bad light. But I tried to reason out in what way it maybe could be in character (because I live for that). And it clicked into place. Orrin says it right there! "'But they can see us,' protested Orrin. 'We're camped right outside their walls. It would be... rude not to send an envoy to state our position. You are both commoners; I would not expect you to understand. Royalty demands certain courtesies, even if we are at war.'"

The issue at hand here is that Roran is arguing that sending an envoy to Galbatorix might provoke him to attack them. What Orrin is saying is that, as opposed to Roran and Jormundur, he knows what a king would expect to deal with when under attack, which includes envoys. If it would be perceived as rude and disrespectful to not send one, that insult could just as well be provoke Galbatorix into attacking. It makes perfect sense that, if Orrin sees this as a courtesy a king would feel entitled to, he believes it would be dangerous to risk slighting Galbatorix by failing to do it. Roran tells him, "'I won't let you endanger the rest of us just to satisfy your royal... pride.'" But it seems infinitely more likely that Orrin is attempting to satisfy Galbatorix's royal pride. I do think that not sending an envoy is a bit more sensible because, as Roran says, Galbatorix was born a commoner and likely has his own expectations (though what he goes on to say has flaws), but Orrin is still raising a very fair point by arguing that they should send one. And honestly, given what we see of Galbatorix, I don't think there was any danger of an envoy provoking him either.

But the more important thing about that realization that struck me is that I read that section at least 6 times before it occurred to me. I read it over and over while thinking "Orrin's argument doesn't make any sense, I don't know why he's saying this" before realizing it actually makes perfect sense. And it's because I believe that the true way that the series disservices Orrin's character is through the bias of the other characters and their narrations. This exchange is written in Roran's POV and it's riddled with his derision towards Orrin, his insistence that he's wrong, that he'll get them killed, and his overall very low opinion of him which colors how he sees all of Orrin's acts. And Jormundur shares his distaste and expresses his own.

Out of curiosity, I cut everything but the dialogue (sans 2 irrelevant lines) to see how it would read. It's very different; it shows how Orrin is reasonable at the start and how unwarranted Roran's combative and brazenly insulting response is. It really changes this scene from "Roran heroically saving everyone from the fallout of Orrin's stupid, careless choice," and reveals that it's just an argument- unhelpful and devolving where they both end up making inappropriate mistakes, one after the other.

Of course, there are real issues with Orrin's actions, in this case namely that his very wound up fear and frustration make him intensely volatile, enough that he tries to attack Roran here. That is egregious. But then that's compounded upon by all these other "flaws" perceived by the other characters in such an exaggerated way to the point of being fabricated. Roran sees him as dangerously stupid and vainglorious for wanting to send an envoy, despite putting absolutely no effort into learning his reason. It's just real rich that Roran then thinks, "Orrin was like a yearling mule: stubborn, overconfident, and all too willing to kick you in the gut if you gave him the opportunity." Lmao! Bitch look in the mirror, that's literally you!!!

This kind of depiction epitomizes Orrin's presence through the entire series. Every single POV characters has reason to be against him, starting with Nasuada. As a result of both of their respective positions, she sees him as a potential threat and obstacle to her goals. Through his connection to her, Eragon sees him the same way and Saphira follows suit. And Roran adopts the opinion of his cousin and his commander. So all of the POV characters are adverse to Orrin, but also, so is every single background character.

There is no one to offer or even contemplate a differing opinion in the face of the main characters' unilateral distaste. Once, literally once do we see Orrin talking to another Surdan. He gets a single line in the scene where Nasuada is appointed leader of their combined forces. Never again. We never see him interact with anyone not predisposed against him. None of his advisors, his soldiers, his friends. Every moment of Orrin's life involving the people who'd have a basis to get along with, or even like him go unseen by the entire story. And on the other side, that also means we never get to see how Orrin would interact with anyone without an incentive to work against him. So the narrative's bias against Orrin goes completely uninterrupted and unchallenged. It shows itself virtually every time he's present.

That is why the series feels so unfair towards Orrin, because in order to understand his actual intentions, it demands that the reader consider a perspective that the story refuses to ever provide. It requires ignoring perspectives that narrate everything and then giving a great deal of focus to Orrin's actions in isolation. It sets him up to be misunderstood and disliked because the easiest way to read his story is to follow along with the misunderstanding and dislike all the other characters express. The books actively obscure the true nature of Orrin's character.

#eragon #inheritance cycle #orrin #ic analysis #i stumbled into all of this while looking for one little detail for a joke post lmao #lost in the sauce jfc #ill fight to the death for orrin #i would have given anything for a scene of orrin with one of his friends or literally anyone from surda #nasuada and the rest of the vardens leadership are just so weirdly combative with him #like damn his support is the only reason ur group exists u dont have to treat him like he'll ruin everything if u so much as let him breath #another similarity between orrin and murtagh fdhsdshk: every other character treats them like shit #(this post was brought to you by! ~rorans god awful conflict management skills~)

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hawkzeyes · 1 month

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i have a lot of thoughts about the Hawks and their whole dynamic together (and i don't wanna act like they are not characters who can work on their own cause of course they do) but when they are together it gets so much more interesting cause they are literally The Same Person. One is the Heads and the other the Tails but still they are part of the same coin. When written well you can explore their character much more deeply than the usual Character Arc cause you have both of em constantly looking in a mirror per se. i loved how when Fraction needed to give em more individual depth he just whoop- separated them for an arc and was like aight do your thing kiddos. Unfortunately for marvel they've written the perfect duo imho 🤷‍♀️

Sorry anon I didn’t mean to miss this 🫶

I mean I personally find them interesting apart as well, but I certainly understand the appeal of the Hawkeyes together. I wish Marvel would ACTUALLY do more with Kate separately so we could get more of a grip of exactly how much are similarities and how different she is from Clint. We have 60 years worth of stuff for Clint and I really want to be able to dig into Kate, without the distraction of Clint. Watching her interact with Clint though is satisfying because she DOES have someone to watch and learn from their mistakes. He didn’t get that option. So I feel like she has a better head on her shoulders, even if she makes silly choices or runs off and makes dif mistakes.

I also like when they explore that mentor aspect because Clint is kind of a unique mentor in a sense where she can learn what to do and what NOT to do as well. We often see these heroes being the ultimate image for their successors so Kate does have an unusual experience in that sense. Not only that but Clint has the ability to learn from Kate because while she isn’t perfect, she isn’t afraid to smack sense into him and she does have a more stable reaction to things. Plus I love Clint, but he tends to fuck around a lot and since there is no attraction between the two of them in a romantic or sexual sense, the relationship can’t be ruined in that manner. They are a constant.

I also just love them together because both have chaotic family lives. That stability was not offered despite growing up VERY different. Clint was essentially dirt poor and Kate was very well off, but they somehow still have similar emptiness in their families. I think it’s healing for them to have each other because it doesn’t matter what one does they both gravitate to each other and they will always be there for each other.

All in all I could take them together or separate but I would like MORE of them Marvel please. It’s such a shame because they have these two characters with rich stories to tell but opportunities are being missed for old tropes and or what makes Marvel the most money 🙃

#hawkzeyes #Clint beloved #Katie Kate #anonymous

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cultofstan · 6 months

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My (Spoiler-ish) Thoughts on Superior Spider-Man #1 (2023):

Alright, let’s get the big mollusk out of the way. Do I think this issue is bad? No. In no way do I think this issue was poorly written or drawn. Do I think this was an amazing start to the series? Not exactly.

This issue is a direct follow up on Superior Spider-Man Returns, it’s obvious this was written with that story in mind. So if you didn’t read that before picking this floopy up then you’re going to be very confused. Other than Spider-Man and Spider-Boy (I’ll get to him) almost none of the other characters in the issue are properly introduced or set up. Anna Maria shows up in one page and then disappears. Otto himself only shows up in four pages, one of which is a poor recap of Superior Spider-Man Returns, and all he does is just watch a fight from a distance. Compared to the first issues of Superior Spider-Man (2013) and Superior Spider-Man (2018) not only is this issue not new reader friendly but it’s also concerningly short.

Sorta a spoiler, this first issue is broken up into two short stories. The first is the aforementioned direct continuation of Superior Spider-Man Returns, which also acts as a continuation of the Spider-Man series by Dan Slott that facilitated the introduction and explanation of Spider-Boy (Again, I will get to him). The second is a new story set during the early days of Superior Spider-Man (2013) that shows how Bailey had a falling out with Peter (because Otto took over his body). Both stories are about 10 pages and while they both are entertaining they aren’t really satisfying. The first story ends on a cliff hanger equivalent of dangling a carrot on a stick and the second story doesn’t really have any impact because a) it’s set in the past so it seemingly doesn’t have any immediate effect on the modern day story and b) the story doesn’t reveal or introduce anything new to the Superior Spider-Man mythos. I get the feeling that Dan went a bit overboard with Superior Spider-Man Returns so now he has to find a way to not let the Supernova story end too quickly before the next story arc is set up.

Okay, now we can talk about Spider-Boy. To be completely honest, this is what really killed my enjoyment of this issue. In a book called Superior Spider-Man and sold as the return of Doc Ock in the red and black suit this issue gives almost 60% of it’s attention to Bailey Briggs. I get that Dan is very proud of this character he’s created and probably wants to utilize him in anyway he can before the creative well he came from dries up, but why not keep the Spider-Man series going as an anthology style book where Bailey and Otto can interact whenever Dan feels like it and then keep the Superior Spider-Man book focused on Otto? The biggest question this issue leaves me with is why was this is approach taken for a first issue? I’ve read dozens of Dan Slott stories, I know he can write a captivating issue #1 that sets up whatever story he has to tell simply and effectively while delivering on action, so I’m struggling to see exactly why he wants to marry Superior Spider-Man Returns AND Spider-Man into one book instead of using the Spider-Boy book as a continuation of the Spider-Man book and keeping Superior Spider-Man as it’s own thing. (Please don’t get the idea that I don’t like Bailey Briggs. I most certainly do. I found his first solo issue to be very fun and promising. I simply feel like Otto got shafted)

All in all, like I said, I don’t think this issue was bad but it certainly wasn’t anything like I was expecting it to be. The biggest compliment I can give this issue goes to Mark Bagley’s art. Compared to the Superior Spider-Man Returns special, there is a sense that his art aligns with the tone and vibe of previous Superior Spider-Man artists. I’m excited to see what he’ll bring to the table when it comes to Otto in action.

Hopefully issue #2 cheers me up a bit.

#spoilers #superior spider man #superior octopus #doc ock #doctor octopus #doctor octavius #otto octavius #marvel #marvel comics #dan slott #mark bagley

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rainstormcolors · 10 months

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Which ygo major antagonist works best for you and why?

Thank you for the ask. This is an interesting and complex question.

I think for the most part, most of the primary YGO antagonists are meant to be dark mirrors and foils in differing ways to the characters we’re following. The darkness and angry emotions within Malik that he feels he can’t control and that he feels haunted by and battles within himself taking on a life of their own mirrors the darkness within and trying to be contained by other characters --- although the criticisms of how Malik and Yami Malik are handled are very fair and I do think Battle City has issues. And it’s pretty fair to note the ableism here. But I do think the story was clumsily attempting to tell a story of Malik fighting, surrendering to, and then overcoming the internal darkness he’s struggled with and how we can feel there are different versions of ourselves, ugly versions of ourselves within. Seto in his villain phase is enthralled by death games as Atem had been and explicitly seeks to mimic the penalty game Atem had inflicted on him as he struggles and self-destructs and has been hurt and thus hurts others as he seeks to feel something, anything, in his hollowed-out heart. The confusion of youth and loss and pain heightened to an extreme within these characters as they struggle to understand who they are.

I think Seto Kaiba and Malik Ishtar and the Thief King, in differing degrees, are all characterized by self-destructive hatred and the confusion of youth. I feel Atem had entered the story as characterized by destruction and the confusion of youth, struggling to understand who he is, emerging as a void.

Pegasus might be the most solidly constructed villain in YGO though inside what I feel is YGO’s most tightly written arc. He’s entertaining and has fun charisma with genuine cruelty. I also stand by feeling that Pegasus’ story is meant to illustrate the dark path of the Millennium Items and their holders, and meant to illustrate the cold uncaring nature of destiny. That the darkness inherent within the Millennium Items can be seen in how the Items view and treat human beings as their tools just as much as the humans try to treat the Items as their tools. They are two-way relationships. Pegasus is thrown away by destiny and the Millennium Eye when his purpose has been served and Pegasus doesn’t care to fight it.

I’ve said this before, but I don’t personally mind the mixed messages within YGO about seeking light within life but also how some characters surrender to darkness and face death, because I find this messiness true to life and feelings (though it’s certainly heightened in YGO). We fight to survive but sometimes we fail and what we want can be confusing and emotions layer on top of each other or sometimes we can’t feel anything. I also think it’s fair to criticize the story for this messiness and to ponder how it could be tighter, but stories feel more organic and human to me somehow when there are some contradicting messages. It’s also that I don’t feel like the story is trying to preach a message to me --- it becomes a story about characters surviving and trying to understand and sometimes failing. I don’t mean to comment this in a black and white way because I do think there are issues in YGO’s writing in places but it’s more complex than “I want there to be a clear firm message.”

But to finally answer this question clearly, I would say Pegasus is the most strongly written villain-as-villain character in YGO, where all the threads meet in a satisfying way for the arc he centers in. And whereas Seto and Malik are a match for only Atem, Pegasus works well as a match for both Seto and Atem. He cruelly forces Atem and Seto to face themselves as they are forced to face each other in what might be YGO’s very best duel.

I also like that Pegasus is chasing a ghost through his story --- something he wants but can never recapture and how he is haunted as well and how his goal is and always was empty. I like the way the themes of death and grief linger quietly throughout YGO like a murmuring heartbeat, messy and shadowy. And while I think it’s fair to want to understand more about Cyndia, Pegasus keeping his thoughts on her private from Atem also feels real to me.

I also must give a shout-out to Noa Kaiba of course for a solid anime-exclusive villain and how his story is also one of self-destructive hatred, confusion, an aching search for revenge and love and meaning, and the coldness of how life can play out and the themes of living vs death, memories and the self.

#pegasus j crawford #malik ishtar #seto kaiba

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