#TLDR i just think shes whatever. just another disappointing character that i expected | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

flovey-dovey · 4 years

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I want to say something about Klaus

I’ve been waiting a very long time to see this movie, and when I finally could I loved it to pieces. But the ending broke my heart- in more ways than one.

There will be no “tldr” here because my feelings about this film are too strong to let me minimalize what I have to say about it (but I might have to make a part 2 since this is pretty big). If you don’t agree with me, that’s fine, it’s okay, I don’t blame you. I won’t tell you you’re wrong, because in your own life you’re as obligated as ever to have an opinion of your own, correct or not. One other thing I want to say before I start rambling is that this will be messy. Also I do not- nor have ever- claimed to be a critic, and this is not a review. This is just a single person on the internet expressing their opinion, and for the love of all that is holy let’s keep it at that.

Foreword over, on to my pure thoughts. Oh, and spoiler alert for those who haven’t seen the movie yet. No matter what I think about it it’s definitely worth a watch, and going into this without seeing it will probably confuse some folks. Maybe.

Okay, since my main qualm is with the characters, let’s start with Alva. I like her. She’s not the generic “tough girl who don’t need no man” I was fully prepared to have shoved down my throat. She has some genuinely good moments on her own as well as funny and pleasant interactions with both Jesper and the children of the town and is a fine character. She is jaded and determined, though not to the point of that being her entire personality, and I loved watching her find happiness as the teacher she wanted to be. She is a victim of circumstance that eventually has her environment changed and finds herself changed with it for the better. Her design and personality were very pleasing (to me) to see as well.

However...

Why did she have to be the love interest? Just- why? What warranted her eventually desiring a relationship of any description when she was shown to be more devoted to her position as a teacher- and as a single woman- throughout 90% of the film? This is especially frustrating since it turns almost every scene with her into one that involves Jesper in some way rather than build her as a character outside of this perspective. It takes away from Alva “the character” and instead focuses more on her as Alva “the love interest”. In media stuffed to the rafters in heteronormative relationships, and from those that I’ve seen, as afraid as I was to see it happen I was also prepared to have this aspect of the movie gracelessly thrown into my face. So, as might be expected, I actually groaned out loud when I saw it come to pass. I’m not mad, just... actually that’s a lie I am rather irritated by it, but also just... sad. Very, very sad. Disappointed, you might say. She and Jesper don’t have a lot of interactions showing that this was the obvious outcome. The best I can think that people would draw this conclusion would be a) she’s a woman and he’s a guy and they looked at each other that one time, and b) when he was trying to be charming to wriggle out of her wrath. Also, same scene, I don’t buy that it’s further implied by the boat-guy (I forget his name and can’t find it on IMDB) teasing Jesper over “young love” after she leaves in a huff. He’s not a reliable look into any feelings Jesper might feel towards her since all he’s done up to that point is tease him. It’s not enough, it just isn’t. Not to me.

In regards to her feelings for Jesper, the most I see from her is gratitude. The scene when she’s showing Jesper what he unintentionally did for the town is just that, and as she’s looking at the townsfolk Jesper looks... distressed. This is because he is conflicted about what to do at this point in the story, not necessarily because of any feelings for Alva, but it doesn’t even look like he’s thinking of her- romantically- at all. They don’t share any additional conversation, either; not a single flirtatious joke or anything that would lead me to believe they were bonding. I feel horribly conditioned to see her as the love interest and nothing more because that’s all I’ve ever seen done with a man and woman who only share a single line of dialogue before some narrator is telling me “of course” they got together in the end. Oftentimes, that line of dialogue is in an unpleasant or downright aggressive scenario, and that’s not romance. Seeing it happen over and over and over and over in almost every piece of media I subject myself to makes me want to take a blowtorch to my brain. I’m literally at my wit’s end. If it was more built-up and actually there, then fine, I take it back, but the thing is I hardly saw anything at all in terms of either Jesper or Alva or both of them thinking about each other, wanting to be together as more than just friends, throughout the entire hour and a half of the movie. The most scenes I can say they shared (not counting the ending because I’ll get to that in a bit) are four, with each one being little more than a minute long, two of them being more on the aggressive side, the third being when Alva shows Jesper the new Smeerenburg. Pleasant and humorous, yes, but not inherently romantic (neither of them share more than a glance and Jesper looks pretty preoccupied internally). The fourth is of Alva helping Margu translate what she wants from Klaus for Jesper. When Margu hugs Jesper and he and Alva exchange silent looks, the expression on Alva’s face, to me, says something like “you’re not half bad” and a note of good humor for how he handles children. Just so we’re clear I’m not against her finding happiness with Jesper. I just want it to be warranted. Not narrated.

Oh, but their love for each other is obvious and clearly meant to be from the start, is it? Okay then, show me when Alva says or does something and makes Jesper laugh, or vice-versa. Show me when she thought of him OUTSIDE of simply showing him what he did for everyone and how their hands touched, their gazes met and shy or flirtatious smiles spread across their faces as they drew slightly closer, and how she felt something more than gratitude and impressment for him. Show me when Jesper wanted to do something for her OUTSIDE being the means to a letter-related end. Show me the parts when they pined for each other and how happy seeing the other’s smile made them and how they were happy for each other’s progress and encouraged each other. Show me the parts of the movie where Jesper visited as often as he could manage to squeeze into his busy schedule just to chat. Show me kisses, hand-holding, lingering looks and happy little half-smiles cast from across a crowded courtyard. Maybe they do share something more than friendship, but no matter what I can’t get over how little there was between them to give me the impression it was going to lead to romance. It’s not even subtext, in my opinion.

Do you remember when Jesper’s father came back and it all came out in a part known as “the liar revealed” (a trope I quite hate for the oftentimes needless forced drama it creates, but whatever, for now I’ll let it slide) that he had ulterior motives which, at that point, he no longer had? Alva was the FIRST to turn her back on him in spite of their “lovey-dovey” merry-go-round painting MOMENTS earlier. She didn’t even want to hear out Jesper, who was clearly upset, and jumped straight to accusing him without showing that she was just as upset by the revelation that he could’ve been using her and playing with her feelings. How romantic. Meanwhile, the last one to return inside was Klaus, who was far more saddened and disappointed, leaving slower and leaving Jesper looking the worst, like he was heartbroken by his words- an echo of his own- most of all.

In fact...

Speaking of Klaus, I’d say Jesper is far more attracted to him than to Alva. This movie, while nearly devoid of interactions serving to build romantic chemistry between Jesper and Alva (which it absolutely should’ve if they had the ending be what it was), is littered with moments, wordless and otherwise, between Klaus and Jesper. So let’s go over them. I mean, if you’ve left by now then like I said at the start, I don’t mind. But if it’s alright I’d like to talk about them anyway, because holy holly I love them.

The scenes in question are clearly shown to develop their friendship and only get more romantic from there, and I could run out of breath trying to ramble them off all at once and what it meant to me to see them portrayed in such a beautiful way- artistically as well as in terms of the story.

Fairly early on, we learn that the wind is kind of its own “character”, guiding both Jesper and Klaus to ultimately meet each other as well as bringing them together more than once afterwards, and later on with what we learn about him it’s heavily implied to be the spirit of Klaus’ dearly departed wife. I’d like to think she was trying to tell Klaus to move on and find new love in Jesper and for Jesper to find purpose by Klaus’ side. The instances involving the wind are scattered throughout the film, so this is going to be a bit out of order.

To start, Jesper, while trying to get Klaus to donate his toys to the children of Smeerenburg, doesn’t notice the wind swirling around behind him like it was telling Klaus to follow him even if at the time Jesper’s intentions were selfish. Because he changes. They change each other, and their dynamic progresses so much more naturally, directly and clearly than Jesper and Alva’s.

There’s another scene when it leads Klaus to his workshop, where he opens the door to see a silhouette distinctly meant to parallel his wife- the one he loved- and revealed when he pulls back the cloth to be Jesper- his potential new love.

It’s one of the most explicit scenes enforcing my idea that Klaus’ wife was trying to get him to love again. Anyway, Jesper then excitedly starts going on about his gift and trying to get his mojo back before making an unintentionally big mistake by revealing a painful reminder of Klaus’ wife. A mistake he deeply regrets, mind. Not too long later, Jesper tries working on his own to make Margu’s wish for a boat/sleigh come true. While he works, the shot fades to see Klaus back at his workshop. He sees the picture Jesper drew of them and sighs, giving in and going to see him at the post office [also not to mention the drawing fades with the family shelf thing Klaus made so that’s pretty neat; took me a year to edit this in but hey better late than never]. My favorite scene is Klaus showing up to work on Margu’s present, giving Jesper a tool as well and interrupting Jesper to wordlessly point at the task at hand as if to say “If we work, we work together”. And that spoke to me. More than anything else in the movie and more than I’ve heard from any movie I’ve seen that I can remember. Also, Jesper’s soft, shy, willing smile put the biggest grin on my face. It was the last nail in the sled that made me convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were forming a romantic bond from this moment forward.

Part 2 because this is long:

https://flovey-dovey.tumblr.com/post/189133807093/part-2-of-my-thoughts-on-klaus

#Klaus #Jesper #Alva #part 1 #text post #Klausper #TALL AND SMALL

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aislinswalsh · 3 years

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AHHHH IS THIS REAL LIFE? I’M SO EXCITED TO BE HERE WOW ! hello friends ! i’m so pumped to get to know all of your children, and i hope you like my painfully irish angel bby aislin. her app did get a bit long so i tried to type up a tldr version, but shutting me up is practically impossible so forgive me if that’s long too. i do have a few wanted connections listed below as well, but if nothing tickles your fancy i’m super open to seeing where the cat drags us or plotting out something else entirely ! @opalsmedia

bio that’s just my app . pinterest . playlist .

[ HALEY LU RICHARDSON, CISWOMAN, SHE/HER ] shh ! AISLIN WALSH, the TWENTY-ONE year old SECOND year FILM & PHILOSOPHY major from WATERFORD IRELAND, is known as a SAPPHIRE around here. SHE was invited to join because OF HER AWARD WINNING SHORT FILMS, and now, they’re here to stay. SHE reminds me of PICKING FLOWERS ON HER WAY TO CLASS, WRITING LOVE LETTERS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES, THE ART OF SETTING YOURSELF ON FIRE TO KEEP OTHERS WARM.

A Very Brief History:

Aislin grew up a very wild child, which her parents did not like at all. They chose to pay more attention to her brother who muted himself for their approval, and followed them blindly. She took solace in books, and making her own little movies or music videos with her friends. Think of those cringey MVs made by seventh graders. Very imaginative as a child as she spent a lot of time alone. She learned how to entertain herself no matter the occasion, and played a lot with the nannies, maids, gardeners, and cooks on their estate.

She comes from old money, as the Walsh’s own a long line of car manufacturers throughout the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. Her family praises her older brother for being responsible for getting a deal to import their cars to the US and asia. He was also a member of the society, and her parents never expected Aislin to be invited to join. Especially her mother who doesn’t believe her interest in Film and Philosophy isn’t attractive for a “young elite”

“Talk less, smile more.” ( shoutout to hamilton ) a phrase she commonly heard as she always has a million thoughts running through her mind. Each one she deemed important. There was so much to the world she didn’t understand, and had yet to see. It’s what made her so passionate about exploring it through film. To insert her own philosophy and start discussions around whatever thought was plaguing her the most. But her mother wished she would just shut up and let important people feel important.

The lack of attention from her parents made her a strong people pleaser. Searching for the approval she didn’t get from home no matter how hard she tried. She’s always there to lend a helping hand no matter how late, will be the ear someone needs and offer her best advice. Believes that her loyalty and devotion will earn her the love she so often felt she didn’t receive from her parents. Aislin knows what it’s like to feel neglected and like she’s not being paid attention to and she never wants people to feel that way so she showers everyone in the love she wishes her parents will show to her.

Aislin has a mind for wonder, and an imagination that knows no bounds because she can’t do the things she watches the protagonists she writes do. It’s her only form of escape from her life and she wishes she could live freely as her protagonists do but watching them in films would have to be enough. A passion that shows through as she as three award winning short films she’s known around the film community for. Those films being: “For the Love of a Daughter”, “The Problem with a Promise”, and “The Ways in Which Footprints Lie”.

Personality:

She puts others before herself always no matter the situation. She isn’t a prideful person, so she’s typically the first to apologize whenever any sign of conflict arises even if she wasn’t the reason the conflict started.

It’s really hard for her to stand up for herself, and will usually just allow people to take advantage of her or walk all over her. She’s scared of disappointing people so she does her best to keep the peace at all times.

Aislin wishes to be selfish, and put herself first but can’t bring herself to do it. So she takes out her wishes through her works. Her protagonists are always free spirited, strong willed, and openly opinionated because she feels like she can’t be.

She romanticizes every aspect of her life, and tries to find joy in the little things. She’s quick on her feet, and performs well under pressure. Also tries her best to give everyone she meets the benefit of the doubt even if they come with their fair share of bad interactions. Even if they treat her poorly she tries to find the good in them.

Wanted Connections:

her muse. this person is someone she longs to be like. they inspire her most ambitious of characters because of how selfishly and carefree they’re able to live. she notices how they put their wants first without showing shame, and aislin tries to mimic their speech, and the way they interact with others but she always folds. she wants to be close to this person in hopes their habits will rub off on her. she’s afraid to ask how they got so assertive because she doesn’t want them to pity her or be annoyed but they’re remain a dream to her all the same.

the one that got away. it’s aislin’s fault these two didn’t work out. she couldn’t get out of her own head. they weren’t ever a couple but this muse was very sweet on her, and aislin wasn’t use to that. she was constantly thinking it was only a matter time before she disappointed them. she was hot then cold, clingy then distant and it made her feels seem like mixed signals. this muse could only take so much and eventually stopped pursuing her all together. something aislin knew was coming yet couldn’t bring herself to stop.

her comfort crowd. this could definitely be a few muses ! these people would be her group of don’t ask don’t tell. they’d have their own code, and hold each other secrets to their heart and take them to the grave. they all have access to each other’s places, know their favorite foods, and spend all night sharing secrets, reciting dreams, and being their most authentic selves. in the days that follow their stress relief they don’t speak of that night, pretending like it didn’t happen until they need another night like it again.

her midas touch. this person manages to always get her out of her comfort zone, and do things she normally wouldn’t for herself. they can see the way she struggles with doing for others and doing for herself and want them to choose herself. they sometimes get into arguments over it because no matter how many steps she takes forward she always ends right back treating others in the way she should treat herself.

her skeptic. this person thinks her treat people with kindness attitude is nothing but an act. they believe she’s working some kind of angle, whether it be within the society, her department, her inner circle, etc. they just don’t trust the way she acts. fully believing there’s more to her sweet persona than meets the eye.

#opalsintro #I tried my best to condense her bio so pls if you have any questions dont be afraid to ask !!#im once again SO EXCITED TO BE HERE

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soranort-headcanons · 4 years

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About the new Dark Road characters

Before we get into each individual character, here is some random thoughts

Disappointed that Yen Sid didn’t make it, but part of me admits that that had a low chance of happening due to him being a Disney character and all.

Part of me is also sad that they added more characters into the mix, because we lose the whole Eraqus and Xehanort growing as the only apprentices (with maybe Yen Sid added in) dynamic. At the same time, the idea that these two spent so much time with each other that no one wanted to be in their general vicinity while they were in a chess match and generally only cared about each other to the point that Xehanort only talks about Eraqus in his reports, is a hilarious idea that really adds fuel to the shipping fire for fans. Fun.

There is six apprentices in total, just like in UX (Unions plus Luxu). If we add whatever master they have in, its seven. Just like the guardians. Since Eraqus (And maybe the new characters) are part of the “blueblood” line of Keyblade Wielders, this makes a lot of sense, since Keyblade Wielders are defenders of the light and all.

This also adds credibility of why Xehanort was allowed to go on a world tour but Eraqus wasn’t- It’s hard to keep track of so many children, plus while Eraqus wasn’t allowed to go at the moment, their master could simply tell Eraqus to go with someone else in a later date

I swear, if MoM is their master (extremely doubtful, please don’t do this)

Or maybe even Luxu, since we saw No Name hanging in the wall in kh3

I severely expect everyone to give up their keyblade and go into hiding or die.

If everyone else minus Xehanort is part of a Keyblade lineage minus him, it would add a lot of depth to how he acted the way he did. Just like I brought up in some previous posts, it makes sense that an outsider would break so many rules or use questionable methods/use said methods to try to stand out. If he is the only one out, this makes it worse than if it was just Eraqus, Yen Sid and him.

To add to my previous bullet point, he is standing on a throne, just like Sora in promotional material. He is the only one sitting and the center of the shot. Just like Sora, Xehanort obtained his Keyblade (If my memory is correct, its been a year since I touched kh after all) due to outside influence, just like Sora did. This would be an excellent time for Sora parallels, Nomura

Ok, now I’ll get to the actual new characters

My first reaction (Posted in my discord) was “Urd reminds me of Aqua. Please do not make her a love interest”

She looks like she is making an OwO face

She does remind of Aqua, but a little bit more mischievous.

I’ve seen people say Bragi could be Luxu but honestly I also have suspicions Urd is up to something. Merely because she has silver hair and yellow eyes.

I always think silver haired people are more important that they turn out to be due to Riku having silver hair. We also don’t know Riku’s parents, unlike Sora and Kairi. We know Sora has a mom and a dad with a boat, and we know who adopted Kairi. But Riku? nothing. I’m curious exactly who introduced the silver hair gene in destiny islands. Is it a common trait? Xehanort has it. Riku has it. I need to see the family trees, please Nomura. How tf do they get their hair color im dying please-

She stands between Eraqus and Xehanort but behind them. Im sure this will be important later on. Until then though, i cannot say much.

She does have the Recusant’s sigil though, which once again reminds me of the fact that Keyblade Wielders have inbuilt trackers in their clothes. Im sure thats very useful for when they get lost in a random world.

My first reaction to Vor: She looks innocent but she would totally stab me in the back in an alleyway if given the opportunity.

Look at her. She looks like a tiny evil gremlin.

As a short people I can attest that short people will not hesitate to set your house on fire in Minecraft if given the chance. The world is too tall for us so we shall burn it until it is at eye level

Look im approximately 5ft tall, im short

I like her color scheme, very eye pleasing

People have pointed out her name is one letter away from Vore. Thanks guys, I so did not need that

People theorize this is Kairi’s grandma. I can see why, but I shall remain neutral on the subject

Probably the youngest

kinda reminds me of Ava

She is in the front, along with our main duo, maybe this will mean something

Will probably be a mix between Aqua and Ventus in term of gameplay. Speedy or magic main.

My first reaction to Bragi was: he looks so smug. He gives me a bastard vibe but that has to be seen. Or he is a troll.

People theorize he is Luxu because his name can be rearranged to Braig. Considering Nomura’s love for anagrams, it makes sense.

I wanna punch him in the face, he looks like he knows more than me

Reminds me of Axel. Hahahaha the idea of Axel and him having a connexion of some kind would be. Hilarious. Honestly the idea of anyone in this group having a relation to anyone in the present era would be hilarious because Xehanort grew up with these people so it would be like “Oh shit my coworkers had kids?!?!”

Could they be old enough to have kids? I mean, bbs Xehanort was like, 80 years old so it could be a possibility.

Fire user. I take no criticism.

Or he is a status user. He would spam like, 50 status spells and just kick your ass without having to move. Look, someone in these series has to see the potential of status spells, I can’t be the only one

Imagine that instead of him being luxu, its the master. I would laugh so much at y’all’s reactions.

My first reaction to Hermod: he looks like the oldest and older brother vibes but that might be because he’s tall.

He gives me vibes of trying to be responsible like Aqua but rolls his eyes fondly at everyone else’s shenanigans.

Has a sense of humor

In terms of placement, he stands more or less on the center, which might reflect on his personality. Peacekeeper? Probably tries to be neutral.

Tries to keep Bragi in line.

Tries not to pick favorites.

The idea of him trying to talk to Vor is hilarious. What is he gonna do, stand in his knees? He is just too tall.

Maybe Xehanort is taller than him, and thats the only thing I shall accept

Senior apprentice

In terms of gameplay, he might be like Terra, a heavy hitter.

Gives good hugs

TLDR; at some point I went from analysis to simply listing off random thought, just as all my posts turn out at some point. We do not know enough about them. The fact that the last kh themed new character we had was Strelizia is insane. New blood! I’m excited for yet another mobile game I can lord over my siblings because I know the timeline and they don’t. Posible candidate for the Disney Plus series? doubtful but still a strong possibility. It is 9:08 PM and I have not beta read this.

#dark road #subject: dark road #urd #subject: young xehanort #Eraqus #Hermod #Vor #Bragi #young xehanort #kh #kingdom hearts

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shikai-the-storyteller · 4 years

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I changed my mind, and decided I want to share some thoughts and initial impressions while I still have this show fresh on my mind, so here we go:

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Transformers War for Cybertron - Siege

The Good:

The transformation sequences, particularly the first ones we see, are so reminiscent of the stop-motion videos people do of their Transformer toys transforming, and I think that’s rather charming! I wonder if that was intentional or a coincidental side-effect of the animation style they went for.

Character traits aren’t set in stone. Although we, as a fandom, prefer certain portrayals (Starscream being a terrible gremlin, Skyfire/Jetfire being sweet, Bumblebee being a charming young lad, etc.) sometimes it’s nice to see something new! Both Cyberverse and WFC: Siege took a different direction with Jetfire’s character. Although it’s disappointing that we don’t get to see the Jetfire / Starscream friendship most of us expected, I think Jetfire’s growth throughout the season was interesting.

I also like that the colonies (Velocitron and Caminus, anyways) were confirmed to exist in this continuity. It was nice to see Chromia, Moonracer, Elita, and Arcee together in the same show too. That being said, Moonracer’s model looked exactly like Chromia’s so I was a little confused at first. The narrative also didn’t really endear her to me, so despite loving her in the comics, my thoughts were “Oh. That sucks but whatever I guess” when she died, which leads me to my next point:

The Bad:

The writing.

This is particularly evident in the first three episodes; in fact, I almost stopped watching after Episode One. Siege lacks the soul and personality I’ve come to expect from the Transformers series as a whole.

The script, particularly in the first few episodes, felt like it was written by people who aren’t familiar with these characters, so they’re writing Optimus, Elita, and everyone else how they EXPECT them to sound, not writing them as they actually are.

I don’t like to judge fellow writers too harshly because I know that often times, they don’t get a final say in a lot of things, but there were unfortunately a lot of things that could’ve been done better.

As a Transformers fan, I’m already inclined to like the characters, but the show didn’t do much to make me really care about them or their problems* (with one exception, which I’ll circle back to). As much as I’d like to blame the 6 episode time-crunch, there was a lot of wasted dialogue time that could’ve been used to charm the audience.

TLDR: There’s a lot of talking in the show but the dialogue doesn’t actually say a lot. It doesn’t reveal much about the characters, or tell me who they are, or why I should care about them.

* The one area where Siege actually did put in the footwork to make me care was in regards to Impactor and Ratchet (one of the few characters whose personality we really get a sense for despite not having too much screen-time). Immediately, we’re shown how Ratchet earned Impactor’s trust, and we see why Impactor is loyal to him. They built up that relationship, so when Impactor dies protecting Ratchet, we get to feel that payoff and actually feel bad about his death! (Unlike some of the other deaths in the show, which I just shrugged at.). Because of that scene, I’m hopeful that Siege will start focusing on building relationships between their characters more. The series got better as time went on, so I’m inclined to keep giving it the benefit of the doubt despite my initial misgivings.

I try not to compare different series too much because there are a lot of outside forces that determine what a show winds up being, but re: writing with a time crunch, I think it’s important to talk about a show that did use their time well: Transformers Cyberverse.

Cyberverse got me invested in its characters within the first episode. They only had 10 minutes to tell a story, yet they made good use of their time and wove a tight narrative while also giving their characters the opportunity to charm the audience.

Although we can argue Cyberverse had more time to do this since they had more seasons, even one-off characters, such as Media Fire or Wild Wheel, had more of a personality by the end of the episode than some Siege characters did by the end of the season.

The stakes aren’t really clear. Why should we care about one side losing or winning? We’re given some reasons why it would be “bad” if the Autobots lose since Shockwave convinced Megatron to use something that will change their base programming (or whatever, even that was a little bit vague) but ultimately we don’t have clear motivation for Megatron OR Optimus, the two faction leaders! Although they imply that Megatron / the Decepticon’s roots were based in a civil rights revolution (a-la IDW1) even that is inconsistent. As a friend put it, “Megatron and Optimus are both huge idiots, why root for either of them?”

This is a minor thing, but as a writer it really bugged me so I’m making a note of it anyways: it was really annoying when characters kept pausing while talking. (Ex: “I………*long pause* [the rest of their sentence]”). Characters also kept saying things, only to let their sentences trail off. The cadence of their voices felt unnaturally slow and scripted, so it was a little difficult not to zone out while they were speaking. Perhaps this wasn’t a problem for other people, but it really took me out of the moment. That being said, this wasn’t as much of an issue in later episodes, which I greatly appreciated.

Another minor detail: this show felt like a barren wasteland of comedy. There were one or two moments I chuckled at (and one I really laughed at---Shockwave and Soundwave’s reaction to Megatron telling Starscream “You’ve proven your worth to the Decepticon cause”) but for the most part, I would’ve appreciated a little bit more humor. I mean, I know this series is aimed at an older audience, but it’s a show about robots that can transform into cars. The entire premise is goofy if you think too hard about it, so a joke here or there isn’t going to ruin your vibe.

The Ugly

Decepticons and Autobots are two different races.

Even within the first few episodes, we know the foundation of the war started because of issues of oppression and slavery. This isn’t subtle---Megatron clearly spells this out for us on several occasions. This topic isn’t new, we’ve seen most other Transformers continuities parrot the same thing. So why is it different here? It’s a bit of a complex issue, but as a gal of color, it really rubbed me the wrong way, and I feel like it’s important to talk about.

The show implies many times that Autobots and Decepticons are inherently different. It’s not a matter of your allegiance or your beliefs---it’s what you’re born as. (Functionism, anyone?)

Functionism itself was a very interesting Transformers-specific way to discuss prejudice and oppression, but to suddenly make it race-based feels a little...Hmm. More than a little uncomfortable.

It felt a little bit like they were saying: "Yes, we're tackling the topic of oppression! Yes, we're saying these two groups are inherently different, and therefore that excuses prejudice and supremacy arguments both the good guys AND the bad guys are making!"

Big Yikes

The subject of genocide and eugenics-adjacent arguments came up several times, and while we saw aspects of that in IDW’s run, making it race-based puts it in a different light. An ugly light.

One final thing on that note: the entire thing with Prowl. "Prisoners outnumbered law enforcement so the council created core override implants as a deterrent. [...] It means we can remotely trigger brain detonation."

I’m sorry, what?

The entire concept of “Core override” was INCREDIBLE fricked up. Yes, they had the decency to make Prowl sound ashamed of it, and the rest of the Autobots sounded appalled, but the fact that they proceed to install it on Jetfire despite their initial repulsion was frankly disturbing, especially because Optimus (Optimus PRIME) agreed to it. It felt incredibly out of character for him, and it went against the Autobot code as a whole. Everything about that, and the race-division, made me really uncomfortable, and I’m not sure how well Siege is going to handle this moving forward.

As a whole, I feel like War for Cybertron: Siege has a lot of work to do. Although the last few episodes were definitely an improvement, there’s still significant room to grow and they need to work harder to create a compelling narrative with lovable characters.

In the meantime, what were your thoughts on the series? I’d love to know how other people reacted, particularly regarding the last bit.

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angstymarshmallow · 4 years

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My Two First Loves - How Will it All End? - Part 1 Mason Jennings.

This isn’t necessarily a complaint. I’m genuinely curious as to how long this book will be, especially considering we’re 60+ chapters in. Is this going to end when MC graduates? Will it end when she finally choses between three people? I assume it’s the latter.

But here’s some of my thoughts of what I do know while we’re all waiting. The more I wrote about this series, the more I had to say and if I’ve caught your attention so far, indulge me with another few minutes of your time.

Originally when I read the synopsis of the first chapter, I remembered thinking to myself ‘this looks like angstville and I am soooo ready’. I love angstville, hell I vacation there and if you’ve ever read any of my stories or have been in the choices fandom for a while; you may have stumbled across my blog. You’d notice I’m a complete sucker for this type of pain genre. And in terms of angst, the first few chapters didn’t disappoint. The writing, while it never always felt natural – this kind of style sometimes gave me a familiar heavy feeling in the chest I’ve come to associate as a local in angstville.

From the very beginning, the reader is under the impression that MC has a crush on Mason. It’s a crush that’s spun years and the book keeps up this narrative throughout the entire story. (I’m sure there are people who headcanon this differently, but I’m strictly speaking about the intention of the book and for plot-related reasons, I understand why this makes sense). Then we meet Noah cue bad to the bone song, a secondary character MC starts developing feelings for; soon after MC finds out Mason is dating her best friend Ava. The book basically revolves around these four people - MC, Mason Noah and Ava. It’s not a fair representation all around, but I will say this book does a fairly good job of portraying the woes of being a teenager. To MC and everything she goes through feeling larger than life. To Mason struggling to push himself out of his father’s shadow. To Noah proving he’s a good soul that was dealt a bad hand from the deck of cards we call life. To Ava who was trying desperately to be what she thought she had to be and hiding who she truly was.

First and foremost, I wanted to breakdown a list of all my thoughts, and coordinate them accordingly. I’ll be going through the pros and cons in a series of posts, a lot of which deals with identity and character development. Bare with me if you have the patience, I also wanted to make a TLDR version of everything for people who just want to get to the point.

In any case I wanted to cover the main characters and how they’ve changed over the course of the book through these specific topics.

Mason Jennings Character Development Noah Harris Character Development Ava Lawrence Poor Character Development MC’s Development and Family Dynamic

Since Mason is the first topic I’ve written down, let’s start there.

Mason Jennings: The Childhood Crush

Mason and Parents mostly Mr. Jennings

Mason and MC

Mason and Ava

Mason and Noah

Future Mason: Where Does this Leave Us?

The story does a good job of giving you background information about Mason Jennings almost from the very beginning. Although some of his deeper and more meaningful moments with MC are buried in diamonds scenes - you get a pretty good sense of his character. Mason is popular, friendly, albeit the rich kid with undertones of short sightedness as well as father-son issues that hugely impact his character over the course of this book. Because of his upbringing, Mason sees himself as the ‘good guy’ and while we can certainly see moments of this in the story, we also see moments where he’s been insensitive and selfish. Ultimately, Mason’s short sightedness is his Achilles heel.

Growing up with a lot handed to you on a silver platter makes it a little difficult for Mason to be open minded. Like most of the students of (whatever the name of their high school is), he’s quick to write Noah off as a bad influence on MC. Granted, he knows more about Noah than MC at the start, his unwillingness to change his perspective is a hindrance to his growth. It is unclear if Mason was always well off - considering his exchange with MC about his house and the jacuzzi (if memory serves me correctly), however what the reader does know; in comparison to Noah Mason’s parents haven’t struggled to make ends meet. In public, it looks as if they are a happy family but behind closed doors, it doesn’t take much to assume Mason’s life in reality is far from perfect.

Regardless, this cookie-cutter presentation makes it hard for the reader to sympathize with him, especially when comparing him to Noah.

Mason’s Parents

It starts with his upbringing. A lot of his life, Mason was groomed to be like his father; he’s supposed to follow in his footsteps by scoring a football scholarship. He’s supposed to have a full ride into the air force academy. He’s supposed to breeze through school, listen to his parents and survive high school. Though his cookie-cutter life starts falling apart during dinner with his parents and MC. His parents make a lot of comparisons about MC and Ava, when they bring up his new relationship ( much to MC’s discomfort and Mason’s). Because of Ava’s accomplishments they think she’s a perfect match for Mason and uses this to discredit and sort of look down upon his friendship with MC. They think Ava is the best and most optimal choice because they’ve always given him the best and expect the same in return. It’s implied during as this happens that their relationship isn’t perfect, Mason’s uncomfortableness isn’t just on behalf of MC, he’s embarrassed despite a part of him thinking he owes them for everything they’ve ever done.

Another and more obvious example stem from the all-important football game everyone was looking forward to. Scouts are visiting and their school wants to showcase the best of the best. This spurs even more competition between Noah and Mason; not only for MC’s affection but to gain the scouts favour. Regardless of the outcome, Mr. Jennings influence as the principal allows him to pull the strings and guarantee approval for Mason over Noah.

Immediately after Noah confronts him about the entire scenario; Mason is quick to defend himself and his dad; saying it was his talent they cared about and not his father’s connections. Mason spends so much time thinking the best of his father that he doesn’t consider any alternative. Despite it being obvious to the reader that there is more going on here than just Mason’s ability to play football; he doesn’t entertain the thought. And from his perspective why should he? We’ve already established his parents try their absolute best to give him the best chance possible, which doesn’t necessarily mean playing by the same rules as everyone else.

It’s these kinds of examples that shows Mason’s short sightedness. This makes him a lot less likable. His unwillingness to see other people’s perspectives outside of his own makes him fall a little short. He’s so averse to the idea that his father could be the reason why because it would undermine his own confidence in himself and ultimately change the way he sees his father.

Recognizing how important character growth is in young adult stories; this reoccurring issue has started to change. With the help of Noah and MC’s influence, Mason is finally staring to realize his father isn’t infallible after all. They get into a full blown argument over spending time with MC where they don’t see eye to eye, and haven’t for a long time. Ultimately, Mason starts questioning his own future. Does he genuinely want to go to air force academy? Or was that just an idea planted in his head from the very beginning? Is that his dream or his dad’s?

In a more recent chapter; it’s again implied how strained Mason’s relationship with not just his father but Mrs. Jennings as well. He makes a comparison between how his family celebrate the holidays different from the Price family. MC’s family has movie night and this time they’re watching Die Hard because Noah hasn’t seen it before and technically it is a Christmas movie. While this is the first time it’s specifically mentioned to the reader, we get the sense that movie night is a common occurrence around the holidays. Mason mentions how much this means to him; especially when his own parents do not celebrate the same way and he’s always invited over. It’s a special moment that feels a little less special when he sees Noah standing at the front door of their house.

Truth be told, I don’t think Mason has any idea what he really wants, since realizing air force academy isn’t as much his dream as it was his father’s. It is another part of his personality that spills over in other parts of his life. He didn’t know what his own feelings for Ava was, and how deep his feelings for MC truly is. This leads me to point number 2 -

Mason and MC

Whether you’re a fan of their friendship/relationship, the book gives you ample background information to outright say Mason is MC’s childhood crush and it’s the same the other way around.

If you’ve played some of the diamonds scenes like I have, their relationship seems a lot more natural than meets the eye. Although without these scenes, their dynamic feels a little more forced and a lot less like MC has any control over her decisions when it comes to him. I wished some of the diamond content was given for free because they show a lot of good Mason and MC moments. Their inside jokes, the little moments of childhood joy they experienced together like tarot readings with MC’s mother, and reminiscing over other old memories. You could argue its platonic, the small touching gestures; even their concern over each other’s behalf – it’s been this way since they’ve been kids. They’ve always been there for each other – no matter what. It’s that kind of friendship which allows them to be comfortable around each other. And it is that comfortableness that could lead to intimacy. It doesn’t take a lot for a reader to think then; they’ve been in love with each other since childhood.

MC’s influence on Mason has changed his behaviour. From the way he perceives Noah, to his relationship with his father – if it wasn’t for her, I daresay some of his growth would never have happened.

The more softer side MC sees when it comes to Noah, the more she implores that on MC. Noah can’t be all bad. That slowly becomes been her mantra and while Mason doesn’t agree outright; his opinion of him does change.

The trouble is, Mason has a secret about Noah that not even MC knows. He uses it as a reminder in justifying every harsh thing he’s ever said about him. Every harsh thing other people say about him in general. In Mason’s mind – Noah is fooling MC the way he fooled him last year when Noah tried robbing his house with his brother Elijah. Again, this is only half the story and it isn’t until later chapters that the reader starts getting the full picture.

Putting that aside for now and to paint an even clearer picture; during the scene where three of our major players were stuck in the gymnasium together; they’re in a situation where they’re forced to talk when they otherwise wouldn’t. As the reader you’re able to discern from their dialogue to their non-verbal cues; this dynamic is changing and for the first time - they were talking, laughing and being simply friends which before now was unthinkable to Mason.

He did the unthinkable with his father in a much similar manner. Before MC started questioning her own perceptions of what it meant to be a good person and sharing pieces of this would Mason, he would never think to go against his father. At least, not publicly. I think it’s natural for teenagers to disagree and sometimes go against with their parents to some degree, but from MC’s perspective Mason never really did. It wasn’t until MC and Mason were caught being out very late; Mr. Jennings for the second time tells his son MC is not a good influence on him. This is the nicest way I can put it, but with his growing animosity towards MC, this places a strain on their relationship that is too much for Mason to ignore.

This is a turning point in which Mason starts coming to his own conclusions about his dad. They aren’t in a good place; if Mr. Jennings can’t accept MC in his life, if he can’t accept the decision Mason makes – he’s going to lose him. This short sightedness is starting peel away with more and more layers of Mason realizing nothing is black and white, least of all people.

Even if you aren’t convinced of MC’s feelings about Mason, from Mason perspective he’s absolutely head over heels for her. And it is the same feelings which allows MC to influence him, to change him more than he probably realizes.

Mason and Ava

Oh, boy. This was a recipe for disaster, maybe from the very beginning.

When Mason tells MC they’ve started dating over the course of the summer; I’m sure there must have been some meaningful moments to convince themselves they were right for each other and it wasn’t solely because of MC. In part though, I think some of this had to do with MC, probably more than they both realized. Maybe there was an energy about each other that they’ve only felt when they’ve both been around MC. Maybe they were projecting those feelings onto each other because neither of them wanted to threaten their friendship with her. Regardless, by the time MC knew about it - things have started to become more than a little awkward. Ava was being a little heavy on PDA as if to convince them both that this is what she wants; while trying simultaneously telling MC to back off. Mason was being a little awkward in the sense of still being physically and emotionally connected with MC in ways which confused him. And MC was well, confused (and pinning for Mason secretly during their entire relationship).

From Mason’s perspective, I imagine he’s trying to figure out why it doesn’t feel right between them; why Ava is being more possessive than usual and why his feelings for MC are still there. Maybe in his mind, dating Ava meant getting over whatever feelings he might have had. And to his credit; he tried letting MC know over the summer - as if to ask, is this okay because some part of him must realize this could spell trouble for once the school year started. And MC’s answer was very much yes, even though inner MC’s dialogue never sold anyone on this idea.

In a nutshell, Ava and Mason weren’t a good fit because 1 - Ava was at the time trying to figure out her sexuality and 2 - Mason was trying to develop the same feelings he had for MC, onto her. Who is to say if Mason truly had deep feelings for Ava in the first place?

A part of dating is figuring things out, especially at such a young age - you won’t have all the answer. As the reader, it never felt clear why Ava and Mason were dating other than being a plot device for MC’s repressed feelings.

As a reader, I do recognize towards the end things were very bitter between Mason and Ava. After the whole kissing-MC-by-accident fiasco, the energy between them became more strained than ever. This is what I meant by Mason’s short sightedness; he couldn’t see why Ava was so hurt. He couldn’t see how Ava deserved better because from his perspective, he tried everything he could include distancing himself from MC (with mistakes along the way), only to hurt Ava and himself in the end. He doesn’t see himself as the bad guy in this scenario, but his actions had disastrous consequences. Was he the best boyfriend he could be to Ava? Absolutely not. He couldn’t be the person Ava needed him to be, he couldn’t even see how hard it was for her to be what she thought he needed for her to be. What she thought she needed to be to everyone else. Mason was consumed with his own well-being, his own feelings for someone else while juggling what could have been with her. Was he the worst boyfriend? No, he was figuring things out - sorting out his feelings like every other teenager. It was wrong for him to continue dating someone, when he had strong feelings for someone else. It was wrong for him to accidentally but quite publicly admit he had feelings for MC while the kiss was still fresh in everyone’s mind. But most importantly, it was wrong for him not to communicate his feelings with the person who he was with because that’s the number one thing everyone should do in their relationship. But it’s also human nature to not know what you want.

Mason and Noah

During the most recent chapters, Noah’s and Mason’s relationship has become more and more complicated. I actually think this is one of the best relationships in this book. It shows the reader how difficult it is to define their relationship. Something on the surface that seems pretty straight-forward, when in reality it wasn’t.

Take for instance the beginning; it’s very clear they were painting Mason and Noah as total opposites. Mason is the ‘golden boy’ and Noah is ‘the bad boy’ and for MC to ‘choose one’ meant abandoning the other. Mason’s feelings for MC hindered his relationship with Noah, but before her - his father did that all on his own.

Mason and Noah were I daresay friends and even both admitted as much before it all went terribly wrong. They met and stuck together during football, hung out outside of school but Mr. Jennings influence on his son put a dent in their friendship even before things came to a head. During that night -you know the one I briefly mentioned earlier? Yeah, when Noah and Elijah trying to steal from Mason’s house it ruined whatever budding friendship there was between them. Since I’m talking about Mason’s perspective – despite his father’s hindrance, Mason allows his goading for him to make up his mind about Noah. Noah wasn’t his friend, he was just trying to get close to him to steal his stuff. This makes it difficult for Mason to see him as anything else other than a bad person.

In addition this, when you add MC into the mix – it just makes everything worse. Not only is Noah a bad influence – now he’s trying to take MC down with him. To Mason it makes him super protective of her; he has to protect her from how bad he is and even after her insistence – he still has to prove to her that Noah is bad news.

Even now, Mason is still struggling with the idea of Noah being a good person, but at least he is beginning to move past his short sightedness. He’s allowing doubt in his head, because as soon as he stopped placing his father on a pedestal he was able to realize nothing is black and white. People aren’t black and white. Nothing depicts this more than his relationship with Noah.

Future Mason TLDR

Mason Jennings has already started walking along a path of self-improvement. We see bits of this in the latest chapters that we haven’t seen at the start. From sticking up to his father and calling his ideas wrong, to (start) making amends with Noah and MC - he will undoubtedly continue to grow. This isn’t to excuse his past behaviour; (he still hasn’t apologized to Ava when he very much should and I’m still waiting on that ), but its addressing the very real notion that people change. People are always changing. High school is a lot of where that starts, at least it was for me - and at least for all these characters in My Two First Loves. High school is where we start answering that question who am I and its a journey that continues after which really shapes who we are. Personally, I really can’t see future Mason making the same mistakes as past Mason and if I’m wrong - well pixelberry played me.

#playchoices #Mason Jennings #My Two First Loves #MTFL #k's thoughts #Noah Harris #Ava Lawrence #candid essay #PART 1 OF MY VERY LONG RANT #This isn't a super in depth into his character #it's more how his character is changing as the story changes #this is also coming from a Noah stan lmao #I've also decided to put mc's sexuality in the same topic of development since they're apart of each other #i had to really narrow down my list to be specific as I can be #I had way more topics before but keeping it to character development is a lot already tto take on

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slasherkisss · 4 years

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I warned you!!! The disappointment is so real that I can still taste it 😂 tell me how you feel, I’m intrigued as to how it’s different from when you first went into the movie lol

YOU REALLY DID AND YET I DIDN’T LISTEN. I’M A FOOL.

OKAY SO OPINIONS HERE WE GO-This got long so it’s under a read more fghghg sorry if you don’t wanna read all of it-

[SPOILERS BELOW. MAYBE? IDK I’M JUST RANTING]

Firstly I feel annoyed more than anything. I went in already to this movie having the lowest bar in the history of bars. There wasn’t a lot I was expecting from it, I never expect a sequel to give me what I want or fulfill whatever craving the plot from the first movie didn’t offer. Sequels just don’t give us that sort of freedom in our lives or satisfaction.

AND YET

I don’t feel like it ‘disregarded’ the first movie so much as it tried to ret-con a major plot point that made the first movie as unique and interesting as it was. Brahms as a character in the first movie was HUMAN. He was the lesson of the movie and the message it sent. The whole take (at least I got) from the first film was ‘Don’t take everything at face value’. We’re lead to believe that the world is supernatural in characteristic and the doll itself is haunted, only for that to be disproven when this hulking behemoth of a man crawls from the wall and pulls himself out, showing himself to be human. Showing that the real thing to fear was a human living in their house the whole time. Greta learned not to fear the spirit, but couldn’t HELP but fear the Boy.

That was the best thing a horror movie could have done! Could have played with! I thought it was a genuinely interesting plot twist that I hadn’t considered before! It was great-

But the second movie? They literally just went ‘lol jk IT WAS GHOSTS ALL ALONG’ and I think? That’s super sloppy writing and a super horrible way to handle both Brahms’ character and the subject of what he WAS. The Boy was a good movie because the threat was tangible and real. The Boy 2 gives the entire series a stale, overdone vibe that is less scary and more tense and painful to get through because all of the plot points and moments are so obvious. So overdone. So USED in supernatural horror that managing that genre is insanely difficult.

I understand that a lot of people want the ‘haunted doll’ genre to be revived. We have great movies like Dolls or Dead Silence and Chucky to lead us in that genre with their own unique sort of twists right? The Boy 2 was a shitty way to try and instate itself into those franchises. By disregarding the first movie it alienated a large portion of their fanbase and also shoved themselves unceremoniously into a genre like a bunion on God’s pinkie toe. There’s just no room for it. There’s just no explanation for it!

We’re expected to be like ‘oh the doll is evil and haunted this whole time!’ without asking ‘why is the doll haunted? what happened to get it haunted? is it possessed by a demon?’ and sure these could all be answered by another movie in the franchise but I pray to THE SWEET HORROR DIETIES OF MODERN AMERICAN CINEMA that a Boy 3 never comes into production for as long as I shall live. We don’t NEED to follow this line of storytelling. We didn’t NEED a haunted doll to begin with!

They had a brilliant shot in created something even more creepy than the last one! An option to have this family move into this large house. For Brahms to get jealous of the child or groom him and the family into being HIS. For the mother, already shaken and mentally unstable, to find comfort in Brahms and treat him like her own, slowly descending into paranoia. For Jude to find this grown man and talk with him like he was a child, hands touching and jealousy burning and hope sparking that Brahms can have this life. This family. They could have put Brahms’ spirit inside the doll even! A tale of revenge with flashbacks of a grown man struggling with his family. Struggling with killing people. Struggling with getting out of his childhood persona only to fall further into it as he takes over the life of another child.

Instead they copped out and rode on Annabell’s coat tails with a shaky cinematic series of cheap jump scares and animal death. Rather than working with the building blocks they had in the first movie, the start of a good and possibly new way to work with the Slasher Genre (something I’ve been CRAVING because the slasher genre has been so overdone since its golden age imo that creating a new twist to it is hard) they decided that the ‘spoopy doopy spaghetti’ way of filming would be ‘better’ somehow?

I’m like. Genuinely confused on how this movie got green lit like.

Did the dudes pitching this be like ‘YES PEOPLE LIKED THIS MOVIE ONLY FOR THE CUTE DOLL WE SHALL USE HIM IN THE MAIN MOVIE’ instead of seeing the list of people admiring Brahms the ADULT and being impressed with his acting and form and storyline? Did they really feel like pushing over building blocks of the first movie was necessary to build something they wanted upwards, even if it meant hurting and disappointing so many people who supported it?

I would have loved something with Jude as an unreliable narrator! Of his mom as a focus with Brahm’s holding her in his interest! Instead they made Jude a conduit for a boring tale and the mom an overbearing mess who used her child as a scapegoat to avoid talking about her own traumas (which I understand, its a coping mechanism and the things that they went through were terrifying to the point where she feels like shoving it down is safer but still)

ALSO SIDE NOTE WTF WAS THE THING GROWING INSIDE OF BRAHMS AT THE END? Like seriously the maggoty skull baby was a demon forming or something? He was hallow the first movie and WE KNOW IT WE SAW HIM SMASHED. I think that coping out with ‘oh it was JOE who put him together the whole time’ and teasing us that he was alive only to say ‘lol no’ was a dick move. And How did the Demon Brahms Baby get into the doll? What was it DOING? WAS IT MANIFESTING INTO THE SON OF SATAN? WAS IT GONNA POP OUT OF THE DOLL’S CHEST ALIEN STYLE AND WREAK HAVOC ON THE WORLD? And what about Jude at the end? Did Brahms SEIROIUSLY possess him after all the hooplah about destroying Brahms? Does Jude have split personality due to the trauma? it was such a horribly loose ending that there was no satisfaction from it. There was no interest in keeping it to my memory. It was BORING AND ANNOYING AT BEST and poorly written and badly executing at worst.

TLDR; The Boy 2 was a really shitty way of trying to pull a perfectly good psychological slasher tale from one genre and force it into another genre with jumpscares and effects and plot twists that were easy to see coming. It sucked to me and I wish I could find some way to enjoy it but honestly it was just >:/ Thanks for coming to my TED TALK-

#out of knives #the boy 2 #brahms: the boy 2 #the boy #the boy 2 spoilers #brahms heelshire #SORRY THIS WAS SO LONG BUT /I HAD OPINIONS/#anonymous #anonymice #ask #asks

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eisforeidolon · 4 years

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If you had to pick one: Cass, Jack, Dabb's Mary or Claire lol?

Yikes. Talk about a cornucopia of terrible choices!

Cutting because I just have to come to terms with the fact that brevity is probably never ever going to be my strong suit.

Claire gets the first hell fucking no. With the exception of her very first appearance as a small child, I never liked her. Whiny brat teenager is not my first choice of character type even when done well and she emphatically wasn’t. The way every bit of her story was pawned off in the most flatly perfunctory way possible for the dramaz? She’s the epitome of everything that’s wrong with the writer’s recent choices. The several chances the writers took to use her as an opportunity to make digs about the Winchesters being old and uncool definitely help her achieve dead last place. I can’t say I’ve been impressed with Newton’s acting that I’ve seen, but I’m extremely pleased she’s busy enough to spare us any further Claire scenes.

I think I have to put Jack next as the least endurable. I was pleasantly surprised with how they handled him right at the beginning. I was dreading him in concept, but then I did find the Winchesters initial interactions with him interesting and illuminating of them - and at that point being ludicrously overpowered with intermittently functional powers was an attribute of, like, half the characters. I wasn’t super attached, but I didn’t want him to die in a fire every time he appeared onscreen. He was pretty bland and even from the beginning the writers kept randomly seesawing between treating him as an adult and a poor woobie child who we were supposed to lurve instead of being annoyed when he was stupidly unable to learn anything and therefore an active menace to everyone around him. Still, I was accepting enough until he came down with the least interesting case of magic consumption ever and it became more and more clear he was just another character for the Winchesters to prop up rather than one to explore new facets of them with. Ouroboros was the final come the fuck on straw. All of the characters here are pretty terrible, but Jack literally taking over the main arc in season 14 was absolutely unforgivable. He wins over Claire for me because I did like him okay for a while. Also there were a lot of episodes I was still mostly enjoying in season 10 so hers were disappointing aberrations whereas by season 13, I was expecting (and getting) a lot less and Jack didn’t change how I felt much either way until mid-season 14.

Which brings it down to a call between Dabb’s Mary and Castiel. There was never enough of original Mary as a character for me to be seriously attached to her for herself, but once upon a time, I really did like Castiel. I think ultimately that’s why I have to rank Dabb’s Mary as least objectionable. I liked the glimpses we got of real Mary in the time travel episodes and I hate everything Dabbernatural chose to turn her into when they brought her back - the surface level Grrl Powah bullshit, getting attached to literally everyone she wasn’t related to by blood over her sons, the cringey flings with Ketch and AU!Bobby because these writers just desperately want to write romance, how fundamentally the woman who most wanted out of hunting was set up as The Bestest Hunter Evar because the characters kept saying it so it must be true. It was awful and I’m not sure that they could have made her more unlikeable if they were actively trying. Still, there was so little time spent with the original character and she spent so little time ultimately with the Winchesters that she could have been worse - she could have been Castiel.

Castiel started out as a non-human ally who didn’t really understand being human or anything about the world but did ultimately choose the Winchesters over everything he knew. If sometimes that meant making choices that had the worst possible consequences for said Winchesters, well, making his own choices was new to him and he did mean well and was in some tough spots. The problem was that not only did he NOT start to learn how to be a better ally and fit in with their world, he actively became so much worse. Worse to the point where now he betrays them at the drop of a hat whenever the writers get bored and whines like a toddler if the Winchesters don’t give him enough attention or trust and smugly demands apologies for consistently being an untrustworthy, unsympathetic, self-centered fuck up. Worse to the point whatever brains and fighting skills he had got dropped somewhere along the way - I’m continually amazed by how the writers seem to simultaneously have crawled up Castiel’s ass and died and yet how they still can’t seem to give him anything at all to do in terms of the plots other than get beat up or stand around like a lost coat hanger. Which doesn’t even mention how ridiculously mundane boring and braindead they made angels just to squeeze in all those terrible side plots to give Castiel something to do over the years. It’s awful and it is made all the more awful because I did genuinely enjoy the character once and we spend so much time on him for it to end up with … yikes. Nope nope nope.

So, yeah, TLDR - If I absolutely 100% have to pick one of them, I’m going with Dabb’s terrible RoboMary. For all of the above reasons and because, if nothing else, since her first instinct is to be as far away from Sam and Dean as possible and all her “awesome” seems to happen off-screen, there’s generally less time wasted on her to hate.

#askboxery #anti claire #anti castiel #anti mary winchester #anti jack kline #negativity for ts #long post

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negamekos · 4 years

Text

Now that i’m sufficiently calmed down: my honest thoughts about yugioh sevens

Ok, now that I’ve seen everyone’s first reactions to the show and thought real hard about it, I really want to voice my opinions about sevens.

First of all, the artstyle. The change in studio, and therefore the artstyle is super jarring. Call it cute or whatever, but I really don’t like it. All the prior spinoffs + dm had that takahashi artstyle that made yugioh, well yugioh. Changing it into a style similar to that of vanguard, bakugan, buddyfight etc. is a really poor move, especially if it’s a show celebrating the anime’s 20th anniversary. If you remove the duel disks and the yugioh label, I really wouldn’t be able to distinguish it from literally every other toy-themed kids anime in recent times.

Secondly, the character designs. I’m not really upset with it on the most part (other than missing the impossible rainbow yugioh hair) but it goes hand in hand with the new artstyle. Because the designs are more toned down in comparison to previous series, when combined with the new artstyle, the characters end up looking really...dull and generic. If it was in the classic style, I might not have had a problem with it. But that’s just me :/

Okay, so I don’t want to get too pessimistic, so I’ll talk about the premise here. Certainly, the atmosphere seems a lot more light hearted (yuga really reminds me of yuma), which is kind of a whiplash for me after vrains. Perhaps this time their target audience really is for children. However, I don’t think having a light hearted show is bad (I’m really enjoying the new pokemon anime rn, for example) and there’s also a chance it might end up similar to arc v and zexal, where the plot starts to get more serious after a few episodes/a season or so. Not to mention yuga and all the other characters are even younger than yuma, and I don’t know whether I’m all that keen on having yuga face the classic yugioh mindfuck/heartbreak (happens every time). I won’t talk about the new Rush Duels or whatever that yuga invented and I’m not going to say whether I think it’s bad or good (hey, yuya invented an entire summoning technique). As for the heroine, it’s also too early to say whether she’ll play a significant role in the story or not (given ygo’s previous heroine treatment), and she even outright says in the trailer that she has no interest in dueling (much like manga kotori). Tbh, it feels like she belongs in bang dream more than she does in yugioh lol

I suppose one of the main factors pushing me to watch the new anime is the cast list. Flame’s voice actor as Tatsuhiki, not to mention freaking Natsuki Hanae of Demon Slayer fame and others as Gakuto. Yuga’s voice actor is actually 15 years old?? and I think Sevens is his debut anime. (fyi, yusaku, yuma and judai’s (though in kenn’s case I believe he was already a singer by then) voice actors all first debuted in the anime industry as the protags in their respective series) So one of the reasons I’ll watch Sevens is to support him bc I’m honestly excited to see how he’ll do.

TLDR: Although I don’t have particularly high expectations for Sevens and I’m honestly disappointed at all the other things the new show could have been, it’s way too early to judge a show we’ve haven’t even seen an episode of. There’s a fair chance the anime could be as interesting as the ones before it, even if it’s aimed at kids. I’ll watch it.

(btw if there turns out to be another ygo series announced later separate from this one that’s aimed at teens, I’ll just laugh)

#yugioh #anime #yugioh sevens #yuuga oudou #yuga oudou #kamijou tatsuhiki #sougetsu gakuto #kirishima romin #text #thoughts

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bushybeardedbear · 5 years

Text

Season 8 of Saltron: Laughable Disappointment

What follows is a stream of consciousness as I watched the series.

The TLDR? I am glad it's finally over and will always miss what it should have been.

It's another long one. But, I think it's the last one on this topic...

Maybe I can finally get back to writing fics. Who knows...?

I use the word mess a lot.

So, episode one. Months have passed as usual. And somehow the population of Earth, all crammed into a single base on the planet have somehow been able to produce an animated series. Earth is devastated, but there's still the ability to make cartoons. Somehow. It's as though the writers needed to tick off a “reference to the old series” and have only just been able to cram it in. Global devastation, billions dead. But hey. Cartoons. Yet another example of Voltron not knowing what the hell it's own tone is. Are we a happy silly space adventure, or are we supposed to be a bleak look at the horrors of war? Are we selling kids books and toys or are we forcing our characters to deal with global devastation and the loss of their lovers? Let's be both and excel as neither.

And for a show that isn't about shipping? Gosh they've already dedicated a lot of time to it, haven't they? Allura, Lance and Lotor, all major focuses of the plot. Oh and it's nice to see Romelle doing what Romelle does. Info dumping about the colony. “Before the Galra can reorganize.” Well, sorry Keith but it's been Five Years. Remember that time skip? If at least one group of Galra hasn't reorganized in five years, that would be absurd. If only there was some hint that the Galra HAD reorganized. Like a giant robot. Using the same magitech as the druids and Honerva. I know that as the viewer we're privy to more information, but sometimes they make the characters painfully stupid as to what's going on in their own reality.

Oh boy. An entire episode devoted to finding Allura a date outfit. For Lance. The boy with a lifespan of 80-100 years max. Whilst she could live to be 800+. We going to cover that? I mean, we had time to emphasize Pidge's age. We going to touch Allura's age? No? Ok, fine. We'll ignore it shall we? Do the writers assume people are too stupid to remember the show's own lore...? And look. More references to the old show. Remember the old show? Nostalgia points. Hey Pidge, having some fun being yourself? Well, make sure you give up something you love to make the popular girl happy. Arguably again but, doesn't seem like anything previously established or hinted matters. Nice. And I guess we know the names of Lance's family. Along with a nice bit of tell don't show. Lance is all talk and bravado. It's good of you to tell us that. Can't expect people to figure it out organically through storytelling.

And the only way they could figure out Honerva was behind a robeast...was via a cheesy death scene. Well, at least they didn't make the cast even more bloated and unwieldy. As for all the issues I've mentioned with Allurance before? Doubled down on here. Allura's not the strong capable leader we were shown, she was weak and in need of man to complete her. What a great 180 from powerful character to prize for toxic masculinity. And if you don't like the idea that pursuing a woman aggressively and jealously, even swooping in after a break up is toxic...? I don't know what to tell you. If you think this relationship happened organically and wasn't rushed? I don't know what to tell you. I don't think we were watching the same show.

However. I know me foreshadowing. Allura gives life. Allura and Lance photo. The flowers at her bedside last season that symbolize death. Let's see if they pull another “oh look, their relationship failed.” Because on screen romance is the kiss of death in this series. Also, the fact that so far nothing has even been hinted at Pidge's obvious crush on Lance... Yeah, can't say I'm surprised. I think maybe the writers forgot their own lore...

Oh, and off they go to space. What a great first episode. I'm so pumped to see the train wreck continue...

Is it just me... Or have they now made Honerva nothing more than defined by the men in her life...? So far her entire episode has been about how she serves no purpose without Lotor. Months she spent without purpose. This despite having knowledge of both Oriande and The Altean Colony via her mind link with Kuron... But suddenly, this fiercely intelligent multi-millenia old right hand of the empire...falls into a depression because her son is missing...? The most driven character in the whole series is just wandering aimlessly without the son that, let us not forget... She forgot even was her child for the majority of the show... I appreciate that they're attempting yet again to give the bad guys a little more humanity, but...There's a difference between a nuanced and rounded character and simply writing them to act differently at the drop of a hat. So, I get that they're pushing for her regretting that she had no connection with Lotor, that the act of coming back from the dead robbed her of motherhood...but in so doing, they're yet again doubling down on the fact that Lotor was always a victim of his upbringing. Or lack thereof. It feels almost like these sequences were written at a point before they realised they were going to make Lotor into Space Hitler. This screams redemption arc for a lost little boy being set up. Not the genesis of a heartless monster. Even their own backstory doesn't seem to gel with the show...

Well, I guess they answer the question of how the hell did a single nanny exist across multiple millennia. Dayak is a title, it seems. Not a name. That was a useful retcon I suppose. Maybe they should have thought more about their own continuity And yes, it seems everything Honerva is now doing she's doing for the sake of Lotor. Not out of her own capacity or desire. And Lotor, somehow bathing in pure life energy, is dead. And now, we have further proof that Lotor's story about being an essentially good person who had to watch a planet of his friends and allies burn. Again, this whole thing screams redemption arc. Where and how, after this entire process of being exiled due to his pragmatism, in being in reverence of Altea...did he suddenly turn Space Vampire feeding upon the very people he revered...? This episode gave the opportunity to make the Altean colony and Lotor using them as a vampire make sense. Instead it just raises more questions. It makes it seem even more likely that at one point Honerva was the one harvesting to make druids. That at one point Lotor was supposed to be redeemed. Then changes were forced. Or maybe a half baked redemption is still coming? Willing suspension of disbelief is utterly gone. The story is plainly a patchwork of mistakes piled upon mistakes.

A beautifully animated, beautifully scored and beautifully voice acted incoherent mess.

Still got time for that transformation sequence in the middle of an inconsequential battle that doesn't further the main plot and further doubles down on the problems caused by the five year gap. Do we really have time to rebuild the Voltron coalition and bring stability in seven episodes...? And what part of this actually benefits from the five year gap? “The Galra Empire is at war with itself” this scenario could have played out perfectly well during a civil war cause by Lotor's 'death' and Sendak creating a splinter faction. The five year gap was in no way necessary, as I mentioned in previous posts. And...do we really have time for an episode that's one long reference to Alien...? Even now at the half way point of the episode, it seems clear they're either going to find something that mildly advances the plot or else is utterly pointless. Do we have the time to waste on this when there are so many other plot threads that need tying up? Pidge and Lance's lion moments for one. Lance needs to use his sword. Ever again. Probably to save Allura, just to really hammer home that she's weak and incapable without him now. Whatever's going on with Keith is another. Maybe Axca will just info-dump an explanation. Or not. Are we just going to get a bunch of things unsolved? A bunch of things forgotten? Are they going to make this a to be continued in a new season...?

Well, there we go. The secret weapon made with distilled Altean quintessence. Now we know where it went. So it devours quintessence, slaughters Galra but just...pushes aside Paladins of Voltron...? Ok, so it's probably engineered to hunt Galra. Which makes sense, right? A Galra super weapon. That only hunts Galra. Ok, so now comes the info-dump retcon. Whereas previously it was created by the Galra base they were infiltrating using the Distilled quintessence... It was now found in the Quantum Abyss... And trained and engineered by Lotor to hunt Galra...? Sure. Whatever. It makes no sense and feels shoehorned into the plot. But sure. Rather than being pragmatically working toward an empire that didn't rely on using other races for Quintessence, Lotor was actually secretly making monsters to kill only Galra for the sake of genocide...? Nonsense.

“How do you know so much about it?” Good question Lance. And guess what? It's not actually answered in the show. Go back and watch the episode where Keith and Krolia found this thing. Any hint of it being a weapon Lotor created...? Any hint of it being anything except built or engineered on that base? I think you'll find not because they just forced this into the plot now. Who knows what purpose the creature was supposed to originally serve, if any, but this is obviously nonsense. And Lance is quite rightly asking, “How does Keith know so much about it...?” And it's because the writers needed to info-dump another retcon.

And just a small aside... Lance not knowing the difference between an Altean Hour and an Altean Minute literally contradicts what was established about his grasp of the time system seasons ago. He wasn't born yester-quintant. But now he's too dumb to remember time units. Because who gives a damn about continuity or character progression when you can just have characters regress...?

And why are they acting surprised that Honerva can build more than one robeast...? I'm so tired of seeing them all written as complete idiots. If Honerva has access to Altean Alchemy, and they know she does and access to the infrastructure and resources to build one robeast then it stands to reason she can build more than one... That doesn't even need a genius like Pidge to figure out. That's just common sense. That they've all now written to be bereft of.

And split up? Ok, so with so few episodes to go that likely means splitting focus from the Paladins and the Atlas on an episode by episode basis, most likely. Plus the obligatory “comedy” episode to waste yet more time that could be spent telling the actual story. Then everything needs at least an episode to wrap up...? Guess we're not getting the endings and tied up threads we were expecting. Or if we do it will be brushed aside. Like Keith's explanation of how he knew so much about the Not-A-Xenomorph.

Still, on the bright side? Only a few more episodes to go...

Oh wow. If the ongoing saga of the girl that used to be Allura who will live for millennia and the boy who will live for decades that used to be a character developing wasn't cringeworthy enough, now we have the characters just arbitrarily deciding to go to the one place in the entire Voltron coalition that the Robeast arrived at. Such a lazy plot contrivance. Lance is right. Why couldn't there have been some means of tracking a quintessence signature or some kind of magical anomaly intrinsic to the Robeasts that Honerva is creating? A magical element would have given Allura something to do other than pout. What they needed was something to give them a CLUE as to where they next need to go. Seconds, literally seconds after Pidge has pointed out the vastness of the universe and how unlikely it would be to find the robeast with not a single clue... They just arbitrarily decide to go to the planet it landed on!? What the actual hell, writers? Can I have a crate or two of whatever you were high on when you wrote this, please?

Transformation sequence. Because we need that eating up the run time don't we...? Yeah, it's a nitpick, so what?

Oh boy. Another planet massacred. Another group of allies lost. Cheap emotional tugging at the last hurdle when it's largely irrelevant. Not that I suppose it really matters. After a few months they'll be back on their feet and making cartoons again, just like Earth. After all, they probably all escapedor mostly did. It seems absurd that they couldn't have. They're one of the most technologically advanced species in the universe. Escape pods wouldn't be beyond them. Makes a damn sight more sense than last season where we're supposed to believe the entire multi billion population of Earth fit into those prisons. Billions are dead on Earth, remember? So, 'dead' Olkarion yet another example of the Paladins being given almost no hope of a happy ending short of a deus ex machina that will somehow undo all the damage. Or it just gets ignored. Because who cares about Billions dead on Earth? Or across the rest of the coalition...? Which raises another point... Why did nothing happen to Olkarion during the five year gap...? Did they even try to contact Olkarion when they emerged from the quintessence field...? Because it sure didn't look like it was devastated in their absence. It looked, until the robeast, pristine.

Continuity? What's that? At this point it wouldn't even shock me if they had Pidge wake up and say “wow, what a wild dream...” As the last second of the series.

How can Hunk still not be good under pressure, after he's shown multiple times...to be good under pressure...? To have developed as a character...? You know what, never mind... So wait, this whole episode was just to establish... That Honerva has access to a Teludav...? Is that really information that couldn't have already been inferred? An energy detected on the Robeast for example? Or just, I dunno, putting two and two together? What thematically was gained by Pidge's vision quest that couldn't have been delivered by some survivors? I know they're going for a noble sacrifice on a planetary scale, but... When the noble sacrifice is to deliver information that realistically could have been gathered in countless other ways... It just feels, like a lot of the plot now, forced.

Well, escape pods. Who could have guessed that? And the episode ends with them gaining a tracker. Something that was probably necessary at least on some level to make the episode make sense. Would it have been so hard to say that between Pidge and Allura they made a magi-tech tracker that just about detects the Robeasts and then the Olkari data makes it work perfectly? Nah. Let's just have them find the aftermath of a robeast attack randomly a split second after saying how absurd that would be...

Unique Energy Signatures Interesting. An energy signature that's unique.

And the robeasts have them. Huh.

You know what's really easy to spot in a set of data...?

S O M E T H I N G U N I Q U E

See, if you take the text so far as an example of background cosmic radiation and all the other stuff one might detect around Earth, the above two words would be a unique energy signature. Something not usually found in nature. Something outside the norm. Make's one wonder why there was no way to track these unique energy signatures before now. Say, with the Atlas or the established satellite networks around Earth. Makes one wonder why over months this data wasn't analysed. Of course, I'm assuming that anyone even turned on a scanner. Or remembered they had hands. Why would anyone think to scan space when a new an unknown enemy showed up. From Space. Don't be silly. That would require the application of logic.

And, I really don't care for the continued loss of time fixating on the MFEs and their wacky lunchtime with Axca... Or indeed all Axca's angst. Considering how much we still have to happen for The Paladins I'm not really feeling the need to develop a last second former general to be a half formed love interest for Keith. Basically following the same plot of learning to be more human and less angst ridden that Keith did. Well, this episode sure feels like filler. Random trap, with a bunch of old enemies. I mean, at least they remembered Alteans can change skin tone, I guess...? Just about the only thing that impressed me about this episode so far.

Well, that fight scene happened. Wait...left you...? The last we saw the two of them had blown up. And half of Zethrid's face is burned. Indicating surviving the explosion. Her entire crusade of gathering mercenaries, hunting Keith, the name of the episode being The Grudge... It all adds up to dead partner. But now Axca's saying... Ezor left Zethrid...? What the hell kind of absurdity is that...? She'll never take me back...? That has to be the biggest dumbest cop out... What could have been a really emotionally compelling look at a “bad guy” having more nuanced motivations... Made Zethrid look like she was having a tantrum.

And still, nothing of the wider plot advances. More filler.

Gosh, this mostly static series of shots of Allura telling us what's happening at Oriande sure is engaging. Thank goodness this isn't in a visual medium or we might have been shown this rather than told... And another big rousing speech about end the war. That will result in the war not ending, if any of the previous times were anything to go by. Except this is the last season, so... This time doing the same thing has to work.

Well, I'm surprised we didn't get two transformation sequences in a row. I would have thought that would be the best use of their time. Also, whilst I see the thematic necessity of Allura in charge, I'm not sure how the plot really justified it. And is it just me, or did Ezor always seem a bit...pasted in place and static...? Not even sure the voice was the same, maybe it's just me... Still no Lance and Pidge Lion connection. Just an aside really. Not sure if we'll ever see it at this stage.

And again, maybe this is just me... But surely we can only feel like every reality is under threat is a big deal once in the same show, right? One also has to wonder that given access to the same alchemical ability and greater knowledge, that Honerva could have retrieved the Sincline with... Another similar mech...? Seems like an unnecessarily massive ritual just to bring probably not Lotor back. Or was bringing him back just part of it and the majority was to collapse the white hole...? She's just controlling him...? Because why not. All this guilt and need to save her son, this massive magical ritual was just... To get a puppet Lotor and to kill the White Lion...? And damage reality in the process? Or is this just the classic trope of screw you all I'm destroying everything?

I mean, I know that these episodes want to keep you guessing, but... Maybe just a touch of explaining what all the bright beams of light and particle effects are would be good...? And preferably not sat at a conference table telling us but through the story showing us. At least the plot has advanced. I guess it's now time for the comedy episode to destroy the flow...?

Well, seems like another filler episode. I really wanted an entire episode dedicated to a secondary character when there's already plenty of Paladin's stories left to tell. And the interview format is still more excuses for tell don't show as people talk at the screen to deliver information without it seeming artificial. The absurd necessities to make the found footage format work always bugs me. There's no difference here. I'm just not feeling Cloverfield but Voltron. I can't deny that it's been animated well, but, I'm tired of filler. And this season so far has been the vast majority filler.

If you want to do dramatic framing and filming, keeping one character in shot and then another, then swapping back... Then clearly your camera has a dramatically appropriate setting that works in micro gravity. If you're going to do found footage, don't also drop the ball and include impossible camera movements.

Honestly, Coran retelling the whole series would have been more entertaining than what it has been so far. But for what it's worth, the world building, finding out Colleen Holt is a biologist / geneticist of some considerable skill? Yeah. Interesting. But...how late in the game are we to be finding all this out...? Doesn't world building usually happen throughout, dotted about organically? This all just feels like... Here's some stuff we never got to mention before now. All delivered in a really artificial seeming way...

Adjusting for long range parameters...?

You're in orbit. Your ship can communicate over light years with no signal delay. Orbit is not long range for The Atlas. Just say you're adjusting for interference...

Also, they are finding new and creative ways to have meetings around a big table. The most riveting part of this show. Watch in wonder as three static characters hover over an action scene interspersed with static. Wonder if next time we'll get to see someone make coffee for the meeting. Puzzle over the filler to plot ratio. Thank characters talking directly to the screen telling us the status of questioning prisoners of war that could have been delivered in countless other ways. Wouldn't that conversation with the Altean have been more interesting if delivered in the interrogation room rather than through two cameras...?

Still not going to touch the lifespan gap? Ok.

And holy crap use Hunk more. That desert part? Brilliant. An actual stand out moment that shows his compassion and his intellect. Not just being a big worrying goof who eats. Finally, something I can genuinely praise in this whole mess. They haven't ignored Hunk. That was a wonderful moment, breaking barriers with cookies. And so far, in terms of writing, 100% the best part of the whole series. One diamond in all the rough... Or maybe something of more value than a diamond. Like a good writer on the Voltron team...

“Winning prizes is my speciality.” Uhuh. Once someone has been rendered a prize I guess.

And now it's time for yet another filler episode interspersed with a little plot. Sorry, by plot I mean an info dump. This time from “Lotor” or a vision of him at least. Lecturing us about the void creatures. It's about time they got brought up again. But thanks writers for yet again delivering that information and story in the least engaging possible way.

It's nice seeing the characters have a little fun. I won't deny it. I personally don't buy how eager Pidge is to help Lance out on his shiny thing for Allura quest... But, at this stage I think I should just cast aside anything that might have previously been established about the characters and just assume stuff will happen at the writer's whims. If I'm lucky, it will be entertaining. Maybe the inconsistency comes from writing? Or animators not being given clear direction by writers? Or executive meddling. Maybe I also think it's cheating to use a robot arm that has no resistance in an arm wrestling contest. Shiro's body provides no leverage. It's all down to the hand unit, but nobody brings that up in the show. Even though they should.

Also not digging the using both the men in her life to tempt Allura. It kinda draws even more attention to how flighty they made her. How sudden and how jarring her reciprocating Lance's feelings was when they first seeded it at the Omega Shield. One big gesture to win his prize. It's all so skin crawling. So diminishing for both her and for Lance. Honerva, through the void creature, can presumably see this in her mind. Why else would she shift between the two men? It's almost as though the show itself is acknowledging they made Allura indecisive, flighty, weak to temptation and easily manipulated. And then she puts her hand to the glass. Then takes what is effectively a demon into her, that she knows allows Honerva to kill a host at will. I mean, at least they included her Mother, rather than Alfor. That's something I suppose, to indicate that her entire character isn't solely defined by the men in her life now. Though, it's small comfort. I mean, I get that she's being manipulated. I get that she's being tempted. But she's not Allura any longer. Allura was the incredibly strong willed last daughter of a dead world. A genocide survivor who came out fighting. The princess who gave up her last vestiges of her royal office for her friend to have an arm. The woman who killed the last remnants of her own Father's uploaded mind. Allura is strong willed. Stronger willed than any of us could dream of being. Or at least she was. Much as they now try to devalue her in the show... She united two thirds of the Universe under the Voltron coalition. Now what is she...? A damsel in distress who's going to need to be saved from her own weakness and a prize to the nice boy. And I'd put money on Lance using his Altean Broadsword to save her, just to hammer that home.

Of all the awful choices the writers have made, destroying Allura is probably the worst. You'd think I'd say Plance, but you'd be wrong. As I've always said, I'd rather not have it be canon at all than have it be badly written crap. So even if somehow Plance is super late end game, it will be just a shoddily written piece of crap on top of a giant shitty cake. So I wanted to take my victories where I could. I wanted to hope that maybe Allura could be Allura again at the last hurdle. Nope. Destroyed.

And credit where it's due? That overly bombastic anime-as-fuck arm wrestle, complete with foe with a heart of gold trope played for laughs? Yeah. That was fun. It's not like they can't do moments. I will admit that. They have some among the writing staff who make wonderful moments. It's just a shame those moments are mired in so much dross...

That touch of self awareness about the robot arm from Iverson I appreciated. Again. Moments. The entire concept of using a void creature combined with Voltron's joining of minds seems like the worst idea ever. It puts them all in jeopardy. Lance is being the only sensible one there. Which is rare to say. It also doesn't feel like he's doing it purely out of his feelings for her. Just common sense. Also, I feel like the Astral Lions moment would have carried a little more oomph if... Lance and Pidge had had their Lion Bond moment. I'm going to keep coming back to that. Because it feels very present in it's absence. It feels as if it has been either removed or else forgotten.

The battle with their alternate selves was fascinating. One of the few fight scenes that acutally wasn't boring this season. Though, Allura inevitably giving in to and using the darkness... What did I say before...? They've made her so weak. It took her lion intervening to stay her hand. And was it just me or was Lance using his broadsword...? With no fanfare...? No dramatically appropriate moment for it to materialise in a meaningful way...? It's just... There...? They establish he can summon it only under intense need, then never use it and now suddenly it's just... There...? Wow. I was giving them far too much credit when I assumed it was foreshadowing some dramatically appropriate moment. Sorry to anyone out there I said as much to. They just forgot about it.

This may be bad of me, but there's something distinctly Freudian about Lance wielding Allura's Father's Broad Sword... That just me?

So... They're continuing together on life's journey now...? And we're still not going to even touch on relative human to Altean life spans...? Really...? Ok...

And this is just another aside...

Their minds are all connected. So, Pidge doesn't need to explain anything except for the sake of the audience. That's fine and dandy. I'm used to Voltron relying on prodigious amounts of exposition. But why is Alfor surprised at the knowledge of Allura being possessed...? Angry? Sure. Concerned? Sure. Trying to convince her it's a bad idea? Sure. But...surprised...? How...? The plot would have you believe they're all profoundly connected on a far deeper level than ever before... And yet, somehow he's surprised at this knowledge...? Whatever. Plot right? Who cares. It's not like a team of writers have been paid a large sum for this to be a coherent story...

Should I just rename myself Bitter Bitching Bear?

Probably... I guess palaces in the mind would make a Voltron and Persona 5 crossover possible. Not that I would want to lessen Persona 5 in that way. Just an idle observation. And again, despite the mind connection, Allura is revealing things to Alfor that surprise him. I know it'd make conversations pointless and thus the whole show would be a hard watch... But still, why even pretend there is a mind connection if they don't even pay it lip service?

If I was taking a shot every time there was an unnecessary transformation sequence... In fairness I'd probably just be a little merry. But still, for a show that's being so rushed, they seem to have all the time in the world for transformation sequences and filler episodes. And really lousy looking CGI corridors. That was jarring. Also, Lance and Alfor being one and the same in the cockpit. Freudian symbolism intensifies.

Now, I'm just going to spitball for a moment. Allura is filled with an evil tennis ball from the void. She needs the evil ball to find Honerva. Yet we've seen she can remove the entities from Alteans. Admittedly, a dead one but, what's to say it's not possible on a living Altean? It's not like anyone tried.

Take the entity. Sever their connection. Ask the Alteans where Honerva is. Literally no need to put her sanity at risk. No need to have her willingly being possessed by a spooky space demon. Would it be as visually impressive? No. But it was an alternative that wasn't even discussed. Or considered. And it makes a great deal more sense. It also allows Allura to remain at least partially her incredibly strong willed self and not give in to the easy dark path. Yes, at this stage she's resisting. But let's be real. She's going to fall to the darkness. At least for a time. You don't foreshadow this hard about how bad the spooky space demon is unless you're going somewhere with it. Mind you, I've been wrong before about the writers doing something they're obviously building toward...

And now Lotor has gone from compelling conflicted character, to vampire space Hitler to a pile of gloop in a chair. Just one screw you after the next... Guess there's no redemption arc for him that doesn't involve a spatula...

Also, it suddenly strikes me that there's a whole lot of lazy asset reuse thanks to this episode's memory stuff going on. I'm also pretty sure I saw Lance's crazy gunning face against Alfor used elsewhere. Have the animators also given up? Well, with what they've been given to write, I wouldn't blame them. And...why is Zarkon's colour palette off...? His skin is literally the wrong colour... Come on guys, this isn't even funny... Why would Honerva remember her own Husband as the wrong colour...? Why would, what I assume is Zarkon's soul, be the wrong colour...?

Honerva's plan... So... Let me get this straight...

Honerva has Zarkon's soul in her mind. Possibly Lotor's somewhere as well, but that's just a guess.

She's made cloned bodies before. You see where I'm going with this?

Why destroy every single other reality, just to find the right one when she could just... Replace their souls in cloned bodies...? Or at the very least bring Zarkon back to aid her...? If Allura could do it it would be child's play to Honerva. Her motivation makes sense, but her method is utterly stupid. It makes her look stupid when she can't even use the tools at her own disposal.

What even is this daft speech and argument from Keith...?

Voltron is gone? Voltron is within us...?

Bollocks to your pseudo-deep emotional prattle. Just be sensible for once. The lions were never there to begin with. They were astral constructs. The lions aren't literally there so they aren't literally gone. You don't need a rousing speech about reaching for the lion inside you, because it's all in your heads as much as it's in hers... So stupid.

Also, pretty sure the entire blazing sword sequence was reused...

And something bad happened to Allura because she used the bad thing that was bad. Did we mention it was bad enough?

Well, here it is. The Big Robot they have to beat this season. Complete with seraphic imagery and form. That sure as hell hasn't been done to death, has it? And it's the board room of exposition again. Woohoo. And yet more Lance angst. And another Lance and Keith bonding moment. We get it, they're friends now. Ok, apparently removing the entity didn't kill the Altean...? So she could literally have just used their help...? Or even traced Honerva using one of the other's entity. And again, nothing was even suggested to do that.

I'm honestly not sure what would have been worse right now. The fact that Allura has been rendered bed bound and unable to do anything or if she'd been made a damsel in distress to be literally saved. Then again, I suppose there's still time for that. And in a sense, she is still in distress. Waiting to be saved by the plot. Oh, here it is. Lance going to awaken her with his love. Hooray. The damsel in distress is saved by the Nice Guy.

And the whole first part of the episode was literally just padding and wasting time. Are we any closer to finding out why Keith can do what he does...? Will we ever find out? Nah, I'll scratch that off along with Lance and Pidge ever getting their lion moments that everyone else got last season. But thank goodness we had time for all the pointless filler.

Ok... So, to be clear... At no point before going into the Astral Plane, did Allura think to remove the entities from the Alteans they have onboard...? I mean, yeah, sure, Allura getting controlled is one thing, she's just a plot device to be used these days and lacks any agency of her own any longer. But to have the irrelevant side characters not have their spooky space ghost taken out... When they know it directly connects them to Honerva... Even if they couldn't predict Honerva could control them, leaving them bonded with the entities was a stupid risk... Everyone is written like an idiot.

And, I'm not even sure how you can classify these void creatures as entities. They don't seem to have any will or agency of their own. They just seem to serve as brain bluetooth for Honerva and nothing else. Feels like they were supposed to be more than they ended up being. You can pretty much sum up the whole series as such. It was supposed to be so much more than it ended up being.

Now, I'm sure someone will point out that the Balmera we know is near Earth, so it shouldn't be here. Which is why they found a random new Balmera and new Balmerans. But, wouldn't it be more satisfying to have Shay and her formerly enslaved people being part of this final battle...? Wouldn't it be more compelling than watching New Balmera and the New Balmerans to see Shay and her long downtrodden people fighting back...? To just introduce a new Balmera with no previous stakes in the conflict is...mind boggling...

Mother and Son combined huh...? Freudian Symbology 3 – The Freudianing

Two episodes and then it's all over. Thankfully over.

And still time for another transformation sequence. We get it. Lions go click. I never thought I'd get bored watching a giant robot form... And at this stage, repetition seems to be a good topic. They're battling to save all realities. Again. There's a big space wobbly hole. Again. Only Coran with the power of breaking stuff can stop it. Again. I mean, I get this is based on a formulaic Japanese super robot show from the 80's, but it's current year argument... Can we maybe have something new in the season arc formula that isn't beat the big bad robot...? Right up until season 6 this show had so much potential and we've watched it all get squandered.

So...suddenly Balmera... That can travel at speeds at least as quick as Teludav...? Ok, sure. Whatever. And calling the other Balmera here...? Wow, wouldn't that have been more compelling if Shay, on her own Balmera previously wounded by Honerva, called out to the others? Wouldn't that have made this suddenly Balmera moment make more sense...? Nah. Screw sense. New Balmera and the New Balmerans happened. Then a whole bunch happened... It's like, they're missing all these obvious ways to tie things together using all they have in place... How can one writer never mind a whole damn team of writers miss something so elementary so repeatedly...?

At this stage, I genuinely think they stopped caring.

Deus Ex Balmera made Voltron and The Atlas fuse into a derpy generic looking Gundam.

You've got the rights to Voltron one of the most iconic combiner robots in history. Why the hell would you, for the final battle, turn it into yet another generic looking super robot in high heels!? Why!? Even that daft looking toy covered in blue bits was better than this...

Again, I can't understand how seeing two robots form a bigger robot is somehow boring... But they managed it... Makes me worry that the Voltron writers are apparently going on to do Spider Verse films... Somehow they might make multiple reality spider people boring...

And a big silly looking sword as well. Why not just cover it in belt buckles while you're at it?

And given this Alt-Reality Lotor and Alt-Reality Allura, they had the perfect chance to have them both be adorable little munchkins together. Couldn't even do that... And can we just stop with this? We get it, even if she wins she loses cause it's not really her world and not really her Zarkon and her plan was always doomed to fail... Yes, we get it. Hubris. Can we please just hurry up and end the series before I start listing all of the many plot threads you've overlooked...?

Ok, now the over-designed purple mess can fight the over-designed mess with a vaguely Voltron head. Then some shoddy deus ex machina will happen, probably.

Yup. Voltron just turns into a giant set of wings before ending up in the nexus of all realities. And Allura makes it all better with her magic. And predictably Allura makes the ultimate sacrifice because of course she does. Who didn't see this coming? And did she just magically make Lance Altean...? Man, I preferred Allura when she wasn't just a walking plot device. Though, now I think back, was she ever anything else...? How bad it's gotten makes me re-evaluate what it was... And finally we get everything tied up with a few sentences under some still images with the exception of Shiro's kiss, which was fine, but hardly the soul surging uplifting thing it wanted to be.

And that's that.

Previously, I was angry, I will admit that. And it was shameful. Now though...? I'm obviously bitter and sarcastic about it, but mostly a combination of relief and disappointment. Glad it's over. Disappointed at what it ultimately devolved into. Ironic as this may be, coming from a writer of shitty Voltron fanfiction... From season six onwards, this show has felt like shitty Voltron fanfiction. In essence, that's what it was. There are so many of you here on tumblr. who could have done a better job. A much better job. Maybe some of you will in future.

At least now, I can move on from the mess that the canon became. I won't waste my time hoping they'll make it better or wondering if they'll resolve every plot thread. Because I know they don't. I know they forget whole swathes of things they set up. And I'm sure people will point out more. I won't be writing fics trying to make them fit into the canon. If anything, I'll want to rewrite everything that went wrong from season six onwards. I will probably at least finish off some Plance pieces that I think The Garden needs now more than ever. Set in some of the alternate realities that didn't turn into this...utter mess... See you later, Space Cowboys. Sorry about the space dysentery.

Also, as one comment points out? That's not a gundam in my gif. But just a robot that looks silly dancing. pretty sure it's from a gundam series...but I only really know wing and beargguys. ...Here's a jolly thought. Altean Lance? He will live for centuries. Allura's last "gift" condemns him to spend nearly 1000 years watching his friends, his family over several generations, probably his entire lineage die and rot. All the while mourning her and never moving on. Fuck. This. Season.

#voltron #voltron legendary defender #voltron season 8 #voltron spoilers #voltron season 8 spoilers #spoilers voltron #vld spoilers #vld #bear is salty

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thefarrons · 6 years

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FFXV is just so disappointing to me

Ok before I go any further I just want to say that YES this is a rant about XV however this is not in any way me forcing anyone to share my opinion on the game nor is it to shame those who do love the game.

Everything I say about the game comes purely from a place of excitement as a fan of this franchise and a fan of Jrpg's in general.

That being said let's get into this.

FFXV out of all the games in the franchise is the one game is the one game I REALLY struggle to see myself ever returning to in the future and again please don't think I'm saying this just to be edgy but I genuinely mean it. The game is in no way a complete train wreck however I just struggle to find anything that I really like about the game. I really don't think XV does anything particularly well.

Story/characters

Not gonna dwell on the story for too long because at this point everyone and their grandmother knows about the problems with this narrative but just to reiterate cutting the story up into a movie/ anime and paid dlc was a GIGANTIC detriment to this game. What square should have done was make XV as best as they could then made supplementary content (such as the movie, anime ect) to compliment XV's narrative. But since they didn't nothing in XV's story makes all that much sense. It's all payoff but no execution.

Luna's death and ardyns reveal should have been much more impactful then they were but because everything in this narrative is so poorly fleshed out you just don't really care and what's supposed to be a "OOOHH!!" moment quickly becomes a "oh ok." That's bad. I've said it once and I'll say it again but Luna's death I's easily one of the most beautiful and cinematic scene in the franchise however the entire scene falls flat emotionally because you the player just either don't feel for these characters, this off screen romance, or barely can even comprehend what's going on.

XV just has this HUGE pacing issue as well and it's just mind boggling how fast and abrupt certain scenarios and events happen and end. Again the transition from free roam in the open world to the Leviathan is such a WTF moment. It begins so fast and ends so quickly and abrupt you can barely even comprehend what just happened so you just forget about it and move on (not to mention the battle itself is shit but more on that later)

Or take the train scene for example. One second everyone's all fake mad at each other (particularly noctis and gladious) and then all of a sudden they get attacked by ardin and then gentiana shows up and is revealed to be Sheva and prompto gets kidnapped and this all happens within the spawn of 10mins (slight exaggeration)

The game just also has a complete tone and gameplay dissidence problem. Take for example when the party learns insomnia has been taken over and that the king is dead. It's a emotional scene (I guess) as noctis has just learned that his father is dead and his kingdom in imperial hands. Now what is noctis and the party gonna do about it?

Dick around in this open for a bit until coir gets in contact with them I guess.

Oh.

You also just don't even feel the weight of what's just happen as you just barely have a clue as to who the enemy is and what their motivation is. The whole game I knew NOTHING about them empire, their king or whatever plans they had. They were completely off screen the whole game. Which leads me into my next complaint.

The characters.

This is easily my second biggest problem with this game. A lot of people find that the cast in this game is the best thing about it. People find the Bros funny and witty with a lot of banter. I can somewhat agree with this. The cast is likeable and lighthearted which is a good contrast from XIII's moody cast.

Unfortunately a lot of this is ruined by just how one dimensional, corny, underdeveloped, stero typical and generally unimportant this ENTIRE cast is.

Look I'm gonna compare this cast to XIII and before I do so let me point out that I'm not trying to convince you that XIII'S cast is high art or that they are best written characters ever because tldr they're not and their actually pretty simple HOWEVER. Every character in XIII (save fang maybe) had an arc of sorts (and fang at least had a motivation) all the characters in that game have a problem (typically one that involves another party member) and they interact with each other to solve that problem and move on with the main one. You can argue just how "good" all the characters arcs were but none the less they were THERE and the characters did change. XIII had a lot of drama in the cast. Yes some of it was melodramatic and over the top but it was there and the characters eventually got over their differences and worked together so when they start throwing banter around in the second half it actually works considering all they went through previously.

Now back to XV's cast.

I'm not saying the cast needs to have drama between them or that they need to be fighting all the time or anything like that BUT you can't just have me go off the "oh we're just Bros to the end" without any real development or explanation. Why exactly are these guys friends? And what do they go through exactly? One of which is answered in the anime so it doesn't count to me and the other is just kinda non existent to me. During the main story I really struggle to remember scenes in which the party truly bond and have a moment with each other. The game is apparently portraying the plot through noctis perspective but he really don't get any good moments or arcs with any of the characters.

The only arc of sorts that I can imagine is the exchanges between noctis and gladious which in my opinion was some of the cringeworthy and forced scenes in the game. Noctis is trying his hardest to save everyone and deal with the hardships he's facing but gladious for no fucking reason is being a complete DICK to him. Everytime gladiolus opened his mouth I wanted to punch him or at least have noctis do it. Some have said that the reason for this is because gladiolus wants noctis to become a good king or whatever but unfortunately gladiolus doesn't say this until the very end so the entire game the player just thinks of him as an asshole.

And that's just one of many problems. Let's not even get onto promptos little "I was born in a lab" subplot that goes absolutely nowhere (at least in the main game)

And then the side characters.

I mean what's to even say about them? Their bland, unimportant, one note and show up only once. Aranea is the only good side character but unfortunately she shows up only twice and overall has no real relevance to the main story.

But yeah that's just XV's main plot.

A whole lotta nothing.

A lot of people even fans agree that the plot is the worst thing about the game but they say that it makes up for it with it's gameplay.

To that I also heavily disagree.

XV is a horrible story with mediocre gameplay.

First off I'm not gonna compare XV's gameplay to games previous in the franchise or even most Jrpg's in general as gameplay wise XV really shares nothing in common with them. XV is most comparable to an action game so I'm gonna compare it to games like dmc or bayonetta.

What's the end result?

It's shit.

Ok no let me backtrack some. I really wasn't expecting dmc or bayonetta levels of complexity or fluidity however at the same time I was also just expecting something competent. XV's battle system "works" and I mean that just as plainly as I write it. On first impression it looks cool and feels nice but as hrs start to pass you realize just how shallow, repetitive and poorly designed it is and can be.

Most if not all battles can be summed up to this.

*Warp strike and hold circle until you see an attack coming or have a button prompt*

*When hurt pull up the item list and use elixers*

Rinse and repeat.

The game never actually gets "harder" it just throws enemies with larger health sizes at you who can take you down in one hit if they're slightly higher a level than you.

And when the battle system isn't being boring it's bugging out. The camera is god awful half the time especially when in tight places, enemies rarely ever have proper attack patterns and just seem to attack at random making you just fucking give up on timing and just hold square infinitely.

Boss battles are no better if in fact just worse. Leviathan was just an absolute nightmare for me and ifrit was a well. The camera always got lost, the warp strike prompts were inconsistent ect. And if the battle wasn't infuriatingly broken then it was just boring case in point the final battle with ardyn.

Then we have the open world.

If this was what the sacrifice for the main story was then I'm sorry to say but it was most certainly NOT worth it.

The open world is visually appealing and on first impression pretty nice. However once you start really start "exploring" you realize just how boring and uninspired the whole thing really is. First of all the whole map in reality is just a giant circle with a highway connecting it all. Every area is just some boring fantasy locale you've seen in any Jrpg.

Grassy plain area, desert area, volcano area, beach area.

Wow this was really worth the wait I see.

It's wouldn't even be so boring if the games areas at least had some personality attached to them but nope. Not even a memorable tune is herd in this areas just plain ambiance which really doesn't work for this game.

The car was also a disapointment with it's on rails driving and what not only to look tacky and tacked on.

And...yeah.

That's just ffxv to me as a whole.

Just nothing.

#FFXV #final fantasy XV

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