#What a way to steal the spotlight from the villain and his plot

[pakhnokh]

❤️ A Very Shameless Love Confession ❤️

It's finally done! After one year of creating the original sketches, I finished this comic project!

I remember having a strong cinematic visual of this scene in my mind, where it's raining and Wei Wuxian is with his hair undone. And this is the outcome hehehe

I had so much fun with this! It was such a great experience to play with the expressions, the gestures, the movement, the angles. It was a learning experience for me.

I hope you enjoy the final piece as much as I enjoyed creating it!

HAPPY UPCOMING VALENTINES DAY!

#mo dao zu shi #mdzs #wangxian #wei wuxian #lan wangji #jin guangyao #jin ling #lan xichen #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #What a way to steal the spotlight from the villain and his plot

[mirersc]

MLB AU x SONADOW

What's the result?

A chaotic AU with the most unbearable slow burn of all ages.

Yep, we're doing this. Or at least we will talk about it, because I need to share it with someone. Anyone.

Warning: contains spoilers of MLB movie

So ever since the new movie of MLB came out -btw you should go see it, it's pretty light-hearted and adorable- my head is spinning and thinking what would happen if our two hedgehogs had been instead on the main characters' place, but with their own personalities.

Sonic would take Marinette's role, I haven't thought of a backstory yet, -and no he is not shy and without confidence, he is sly and cocky as ever- but he lives with Tails -when he isn't on one of his trips- and together they attend Chaos High on Green Hill -I'm still planning the settings and the names in my head-

On the other hand, Shadow takes Adrien's role, but unlike him, he's actually moving from his home in Station Square to go live with his best friend, Rouge, for a while, who miraculously lives in Green Hill as the others. And surprise, surprise, Gerald is alive! Does that mean that he is Hawk Moth and that Maria is Emily? To be honest, I'm still debating if Gerald is the real villain, because I want to include GUN in the game as well, but oh man, stuff like that takes time.

For sure though Maria takes Emily's place.

There's a high possibility though that she isn't dead. Just pretty sick. For now at least ;) *cough* I meant, she will be fine!

Tikal is the guardian so she takes the place of Master Fu and there are no kwamies. Yes, that's right. Instead of kwamies -do I even spell that right?- we have chaos, thus and why Tikal is the guardian of them. And instead of having a plethora of them there are only seven of them, each of them bearing a chaos emerald.

So skipping into the plot we have first day of a new year with everyone knowing everyone and Shadow being the new transfer student, who clings to Rouge's side and his personal robotic assistant Omega -yeah we're bringing him because we stan Team Dark!-

Introductions are made and oops, the two hedgies make a brief eye contact while at class. Neither of them shows any interest. Ouch I know, but wait, we have track. That's right. And where Sonic believes that his only rival is Jet here comes Shadow to steal the spotlight with his AIR SHOES, even if Sonic deems them rocket shoes. And just like that the blue blur finally pays attention to the stoic new student. Not as if he's fallen in love, but he is intrigued by him! I mean, have you seen any other running as fast as him?

Note; there are no super powers in this world, but Tails still is the smartest of the group, lol. That's just his nature. However he doesn't know that he can fly with his second tail. That's something that he'll discover later.

Anyways moving on, Hawk Moth -or however I'll remain the character later, because I'm not keeping those names for copyright issues- suddenly awakens the purple emerald, thus and the chao with it that have been lost in the fight that have broke between the echidna race and Tikal is forced to call upon the chaos of the dark blue and red chaos emeralds, named -that's actually a good question, I'm debating on Azul and Shade, but that's just basic? Or nah- Anyways, both chaos don't go well with each other and decide like in the movie to select on their own their champions.

Long story short, because there's no way I'm revealing everything, Azul ends up with Sonic and Shade with Shadow and they both activate their powers -after a lot of convincing by both ends, I know surprise for a specific blue hedgehog but sus- I was thinking that the could say, “Chaos Activate” with their respective chao on the start of the sentence, but working on it. Oh they are on their super forms, when powers activated, because I couldn't think of something better and thus their original abilities are unlocked, a.k.a Sonic's speed and Shadow's manipulation over chaos energy.

So the heroes meet while trying to discover where the corrupted with dark chaos energy is -yep, no akumas either- and they do not get along. Shadow having thought of it more, had already picked a name for his secret identity, named -I'm bad at names, but I was thinking something to do with Chaos, like Chaos Controller, but that's just too big so I'll think of something better-. Sonic soon realises that he still haven't thought of his own name, but then the corrupted arrives and interrupts them.

So they fight, they banter, Sonic haves a panic attack, Shadow almost loses his emerald, but they work it out. But like in the series they forget to cleanse the dark chaos energy something that BOTH Sonic and Shadow are able to do with the power of the chaos emerald.

They both find their way after that, working together, learning from their mistakes. Surprisingly, it is Shadow that finds a name for Sonic. Without even thinking of it too hard. He just calls him something and Sonic likes it so he keeps it.

And here's the moment that you all waited for.

The love matter.

Which takes a LOT OF TIME to finally come.

So to put it simple.

Sonic loves Shadow.

Shadow loves Super Sonic.

-this is where you all start clapping and fangirling-

There I said it. You can all just toy with the idea now, if you haven't thought of this already. And oh they both get refused by the other like the movie. But first is Shadow who declines Sonic and then Super Sonic who declines Super Shadow. Why? Because one thing led to another and Sonic accidentally reveals his like to the other hedgehog. Shadow of course is taken aback, because he didn't expect Sonic to like him. Not that Sonic would like to change anything in their current relationship, because it's perfect as it is. He just wishes to know if Shadow would like to keep it like that and after graduation. Shadow, however, likes Super Sonic and thus declines Sonic. Of course he doesn't express this in a harsh manner. He is considerate of the other's feelings. But Sonic of course is hurting. So imagine the SAME time in the evening to getting asked by Super Shadow, if he would like for their relationship to grow into something more. Sonic just can't and he leaves immediately like he'd done a prior hours ago.

Of course I'm not telling you how they get together or how they overcome this, because where's the fun in that? Don't know, if I'll make it into a fic this idea yet, but feel free to send me asks, if you have any questions.

Furthermore you can even take this idea and turn it into something unique. Just be sure to let me know so I can keep an eye out of it. I wouldn't mind reading an AU like this or seeing art of it.

Thank you for managing to come this far. I am super grateful and hopefully my next posts will not be as big as this one. Be safe and be happy! Gotta love our two hogs.

#sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #sonadow #queerplatonic relationship #mlb x sonic au #miles tails prower #rouge the bat #tikal the echidna #e 123 omega #sonic au #super sonic #super shadow #chaos emeralds #maria robotnik #gerald robotnik

[beevean]

Thoughts on how the Megaman X series, handles X's role and growth throughout the narrative?

As a game series, it's rather inconsistent, going from some top notch games like X1 and X4, to X7 lol. But I like how it works as an evolution of the Classic series: it's faster, more dynamic, with more depth thanks to the exploration.

I don't know what to make of its arching story, though: I like the idea of Reploids being robots with pure free will, but the games... don't do much with it, and they're either simple in plot, or a confusing mess lmao. It doesn't help that through the games, the meaning of Maverick shifts from "criminal", to "Reploid infected with the Sigma Virus", to "criminal" again. I also already explained why I don't like Sigma, the main villain of the series: I find him boring and with little presence despite forcing his way into every game.

The series did X dirty, it's unquestionable. Again, he starts out with a great concept: the first robot with free will, on which all other Reploids were based (except for Zero, who is his own thing). But while Mega Man, a robot made for cleaning without free will, decided to fight for mankind because his sense of justice was that strong and never once regretted that choice, X is torn between hating the cycle of fighting he's stuck in and knowing that he has to fight for the good of humanity. The idea (I must emphasize: the idea) of X7 of giving him a nervous breakdown and making him step aside because he couldn't deal with all the violence anymore could have lead to an interesting character arc... but it's X7. At least he found the right balance in X8, and Zero 1 handled X growing tired from all the fighting with more care. On the other hand, I'm glad he never canonically went Maverick like foreshadowed, and he was replaced in Z1 with Copy X, a more interesting foe - that would have been too much.

But yeah no Zero was Inafune's darling babyboy and it shows lol. And as much as that made Zero the most fleshed out, compelling character in the series, it's a shame that he had to steal the spotlight from the protagonist. By the time Zero got his own series, the damage had been done.

#megaman #not sure if this is what you wanted to hear #i do like the x games... well about half of them lol #i just don't think their story is particularly strong

[flamekinz]

What I wish Wish would be

Now, I have not seen Wish, I have only seen reviews, but I think I can already think of a better overall plot with an actualized background for Magnifico.

I’d say Magnifico was always a good, if not paranoid, ruler. He made good decisions and ruled his kingdom fairly. But when he granted a wish that made someone else steal his spotlight, he went full paranoid. ‘What if they like him more?' 'What if he doesn't like me?' 'What happens when he gets more support than me?'

He sabotages the next few wishes tricky genie style, where you get what you want, but there are unwanted ramifications. So Magnifico pulls out a solution, wish makers forget their wish until its granted, that way the people don't go out making issues. He then begins granting less and less wishes under the guise of safety. Now Magnifico has control and he feels safe that there's no threats to his reign.

Enter Asha and her wish, to grant everyone’s wishes. She’s young and naieve and excited to give Magnifico her wish, hanging back so that her wish is last and would supposedly domino into granting everyone’s wishes. But when she sees one of her friends blissfully unaware of the wish she has given up, Asha becomes horrified by the reality and sneaks away to steal her friend’s wish back, to grant it or remind her friend of it, Asha’s not quite sure.

Then she overhears a conversation between king and queen on the danger’s of wishes going wrong and how they need to study ramifications before granting, but the ramifications Asha hears are all rather petty by her standards.

So Asha grabs a few more wishes and an escape scene happens, leading her to have 3-4 wishes of various relation to her, and wondering how she’s going to grant the wishes, as she doesn’t know magic, the wishing Star shows up to help, having been wished upon.

Asha then goes around trying to grant the wishes she has, all the while making sure the town guards and Magnifico don’t find her or what she’s doing. And the wish granting goes alright, but since Asha isn’t as experienced and the Star kind of does run on literal genie wishes, things do go awry, practically reinforcing Magnifico’s propaganda that wishes can be harmful.

All this while, Magnifico is having a spiraling panic attack. Someone else can grant wishes. Someone else could be liked more than him.

Someone could take away his power.

So he starts going mad tyrant in trying to find Asha, starting with reasonable commands (someone did break into the castle after all) to deranged (something like ‘bring in all the children, they seem to be getting their wishes, one of them has to be the thief’).

Eventually the conflict boils down to Asha vs Magnifico on what to be done with the wishes. Asha and Star get to where all of the wishes are being kept, but it overloads Star as they try to grant all the wishes at once. Magnifico catches up and starts going on a villain monologue as he chases Asha down in the magical chaos, berating her for the carelessness of her wish granting. Asha shoots back on how a wish is only the first step in a journey that someone needs help to begin going on. Magnifico reveals his ‘tragic’ backstory (where plot twist he’s actually Asha’s grand-uncle, the older brother of her grandfather, where he granted Asha’s grandfather a wish and he thought it would destabilize the country, so brought him down and wiped his memory.)

Unfortunately he has declared his bit deranged methodology in the middle of town square, neither of which Asha or Magnifico realized with their chase in the magic chaos storm.

The grandfather comes forward, dazed and confused at the revelation, but forgives his brother, saying he only ever wished for the kingdom’s prosperity, including Magnifico. That sincere wish helps Star refocus and undo his damage, and Magnifico is helped up from his frantic state.

Things are cleaned up and Magnifico beings granting more wishes with the help of his family.

…

Now could this be fleshed out better? Of course. Is the surprise family reveal super convenient? Maybe. But this is just a rough idea on how I would make Wish with what little I know.

#disney #wish 2023 #king magnifico #princess asha

[nucleargnocchi]

In defense of Despicable Me 3

It has taken me FOREVER to get to this and I can no longer find the ask but! @squidsandthings, to answer your question of what's up with Despicable Me 3, the plain truth of it is that it is simply the pinnacle of film. Most people think it's a classic case of a company wringing every drop of profit they can from a movie that saw commercial success, dragging it out further and further with each sequel until the plot is so attenuated you can barely see it, the concept is so inane you lose brain cells watching it, and the characters are so two-dimensional they are undoubtably relatives of Stanley. But I say it's cinema at its finest. I will try to make this short, but brevity is nigh impossible when extolling the virtues of Despicable Me 3.

To start, Gru is the morally gray anti-hero this generation needs: an ingenius villain with something to prove (he has mommy issues), yet a tender family man at heart. He yearns for his past life, for the thrill of heists and gadgets and gizmos, but recognizes that he now has joys and responsibilities (the gorls) and must struggle to tame his nostalgia.

Dru, Gru's long-lost twin brother with the most luscious blond hair you've ever seen, is the hot to Gru's cold, the high to his low, the piliferously well-endowed to his follically challenged. Dru has all the charisma and charm that Gru lacks, but he is bumbling and incompetent when it comes to heisting. Yet, despite it all, he desperately wants to follow in his (and Gru's) recently deceased father's legacy of villainy, to make him posthumously proud.

The gorls are growing up: Margo receives a proposal from a boy with limp cheese and a pig, Edith remains surly yet reveals her caring nature as she accompanies Agnes to find a unicorn, and Agnes herself remains a paragon of hope and childlike wonder despite learning that unicorns aren't real, choosing to embrace a one-horned goat in what is possibly a biblical allusion to finding the beauty in imperfection. All the while, the gorls are figuring out what a relationship with their step-mom Lucy looks like, and Lucy in turn is learning what it means to be a mother.

The minions, upset with the dangerous labor conditions (Dr. Nefario was accidentally frozen in carbonite) and unfulfilling work (not evil), decide to unionize in a powerful example of proletariat uprising. Unfortunately, they later get imprisoned for stealing pizza after enthralling fictional and real-life audience members alike by performing a spectacular impromptu rendition of the Major-general's Song on a live singing competition. They then stage a jailbreak like the radical prison abolitionists they are and find their way back to continue a life of crime with Dru.

With such a star-studded cast of characters, you'd think there would be no way to steal the spotlight, but the antagonist, Balthazar Bratt, manages to outshine them all. Bratt is nuanced and realistic with a tragic, compelling backstory (teenage acne) who clings to a delusion of fame after his TV show as a child actor was canceled. He is stylish and funky, bringing all the best parts of the '80s back to life with his superior sense of fashion (I mean, who else can pull off spiky purple shoulderpads and not look monstrous?), immense bravery (he sports a spiky, gleaming mullet despite his large bald patch), and multipurpose choice of weaponry (keytar that emits waves of sonic energy strong enough to blow not just your socks, but all of your clothes off to the tune of Van Halen's "Jump").

In all, Despicable Me 3 is undoubtably a cinematic masterpiece through and through.

Also, it's an inside joke with my cousin that I've taken waaaay too far.

#despicable me 3 #dm3 was ROBBED at the oscars #someday i WILL write an academic paper on this just you wait #but today is not that day #in fact i am writing this when i really should be working on my creative writing final portfolio

[subway-tolkien]

u sure the problem isn’t gonna be izzy stans harassing the creators when izzy doesn’t inexplicably become the main protagonist and love interest of the show bc I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be that

Okay, extrapolating from your ask I’m guessing you are irritated that Blorbo X is enjoying a popularity surge, while you prefer Blorbo Y. It’s not fair that Blorbo X is getting attention that rightfully belongs to Blorbo Y, because Blorbo Y is morally superior in every way. Even worse: Blorbo X is evil, and evil characters are bad characters and the people who like them are also bad. So, you've decided the constructive response is to hate Blorbo X and Blorbo X’s fans for “stealing” the spotlight from Blorbo Y, and the way to do that is with online bullying and snotty, anonymous asks aiming for inflammatory but falling short and landing firmly in cringe.

That’s my theory, anyway, because I felt the same about Krycek being more popular than Mulder for a while, when I was fourteen. I didn't bully people because I wasn't raised like that, but I sure resented them, for no real reason, until I grew out of it and moved on.

At any rate, here's a little remedial lesson in storytelling: the purpose of a villain is to supply conflict to the plot by opposing the hero(s). Villains are also compelling because good villains are complicated people with their own set of morals and motives. For some folks, they are just as interested in the villain’s arc as they are in the hero’s. Additionally, some people enjoy villains more than the heroes or side-characters, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Punishing other fans for enjoying the same show because they focus on a different facet of it than you do is, in a word, stupid. In thirty years of fandom, I’ve never understood the need to target, harass, and bully internet strangers—and the cast and crew of the show!—because of a difference of opinion regarding fictional characters that do not exist. 

This is not unique to OFMD; this behavior is a cancer on every fandom it touches and has gotten so much worse over the last ten years that I barely recognize modern fandom anymore, but OFMD is the latest victim of entitled fan behavior, blind ego, and a distinct lack of critical thinking skills, so I'm focusing on it right now.

I don't know anyone who thinks Stede will be replaced by Izzy as the protagonist of OFMD; you're exaggerating in an effort to antagonize me/other people, but you just sound impossibly young and, frankly, very boring. You really don't warrant a reply, but I seem to have Opinions on this subject and since you felt the need to share yours, you get to enjoy mine. 🎉

Anyway, I've no dog in this fight. I like Izzy as a villain just as I like Ed and Stede as the heroes, and the Revenge crew as the supporting ensemble. I trust David et al to know what's best for their own show. I wish everybody could. I don't care what characters people like or why, I care what characters I like and why. I read the fic I enjoy, I look at the fanart I like. I make good use of filters and blocking. I also know how to scroll past things I don't want to see. What other people like about the show has no effect on what I like about the show, because I don't take other people's opinions of the show personally. Their opinions have nothing to do with me.

Let people like what they like, and step back and analyze why you resent the opinions of one segment of a broader fandom to the point where it threatens your enjoyment of the show enough to drive you to attack strangers on the internet and harass an actor for just doing his job.

We are all on the same boat, heading in the same direction. Stop trying to sink it.

#our flag means death #ofmd #i figured on a frisky little heckler or two #and i was not disappointed

[all-the-heart-you-cannot-see]

REBELDE S2 WAS A HOT MESS (major spoilers ahead)

Plot

I think conceptually speaking having Gus as a villain this season was a good idea. Who can be a bigger enemy to music than s producer only interested in money who exploits his artists? I hated that he died in the end. Biggest wtf of the season, now he exits the next season completely and our mains are left to deal with the fallout in what most likely will be an attempt to copy Elite. Rebelde is about the music and the highschool drama not an student accidentally killing one of the most important producers in the country, what?????

Characters

Esteban was interesting this season, i like that tried to kind of make him the villain. Him getting sucked into Gus bullshit and doing whatever it took to be the best was a nice change from him being really plain last season. I hated him 80% of this seasons runtime but at least this was intentional on the writer's part. I'm so not looking forward to the murder plot with him next season.

Jana works better when she is alone than with Esteban, they make each other lamer, I thought her arc about not having to always please everybody was cool, and i don't think her conflict at the beginning of the season with MJ was nonsensical at all. She's 16, of course she's jealous of someone who could steal her spotlight, not to mention MJ was her friend and left her and the band to go with Jana's shitty ex lol. I like that the girls ended up together at the end and it didn't feel like something forced to me, so many things had happened to them by that point that the reason they were fighting in the first place probably felt stupid anyways.

Dixon is one my favorites lol, this guy is ride or die with everybody. He was willing to keep going with the band, to forgive MJ, he was even trying to help Esteban before he turned into an asshole, i think he's actually the most mature one of the bunch. Whether he was the best in the class depends on personal taste but I think it was well done in the sense that he was the only one to stand up to Gus and remain true to himself as an artist. I like his friendship with Jana cause we almost never get platonic relationship in teen media between girls and boys without feelings being involved, i screamed when they kissed but I hope they keep it as a "we were just too drunk" thing. I liked him with MJ at first, now I think he deserves better.

MJ didn't really have an arc this season, she was just doing her own thing, the actress is a really talented singer so I wish she was more present in the race for Gus's contract. I think she and Sebastian were pretty cute together but I could see their breakup coming from a mile away (more on this in his section). I didn't mind her bit with the pregnancy scare (sin gorrito no hay fiesta, guys) and i just want her to have more to do next season.

Fucking Sebastian. I like to believe that if he knew Gus was such a monumental asshole he wouldn't have done what he did at the end. I thought his arc about being a better person because of MJ was cute however what was wrong from the start is he was changing because of her so I knew the moment she was gone, he was going to go back. My guy just needs therapy and i would have more sympathy for him if his entire villain arc in s1 wasn't based around him being classist lol. (Also I can't believe we were doing the i can fix him in the year of our lord 2022).

I hate what they did to Andi and Emelia. I didn't mind Andi's addiction arc per se because it's pretty common in the music industry, I hate that it made her absent for a pretty good chunk of the major drama this season and that they broke her up with Emelia that way. The thing is, i don't think before the song thing they were actually "bad for each other" their relationship didn't have any major problems before so breaking them up was the most homophobic act of 2022.

Luka is above good and evil in the show, he's kind of an ass but he has been like that since day one and everybody has learned to tolerate him so really, he's just fun. I hope they would've spent more time with him an Okane being actually together but they are only a thing in the last 3 episodes and Luka is literally unconscious in the last one so we were given cruuuuuuumbs. I thought the scarf thing was really cute, I love them, please don't take them away.

I didn't expect much from Okane but he was a pleasant surprise. It's a shame they ruined his storyline with Jana by adding the sex tape thing because he gave her actual good advice (apart from the drugs) and i think they could have s great friendship dynamic, he could certainly make her more interesting. Idk where he went at the end, i just want him to be left alone in this entire bullshit plotline and be happy and home with Luka.

#rebelde netflix #rebelde #rebelde 2022 #luka colucci #okane #jana cohen #mj #dixon alvarez #esteban torres #andi

[paperandhis-paper]

Arc-V Month Day 11: Legacy for the Future

(Is that a motherfucking Jojo reference?)

Ok, so, I've spent most days of @arcvmonth so far gushing about the show, so warning: negativity ahead.

I'm overall mixed on the Legacy characters. I don't think they ruin the show as some people claim, but I happen to have problems with... all of them? There are also positives, ofc, so ANALYSIS TIME!

Crow: he's... fine. His screentime is fine. His role in the plot is fine. Everything about him is just fine. My only real complaint is that I wished Shun had won and gotten another duel with Yuya, but it's whatever. He's really only part of the Lancers because he's a legacy character, as I don't think he's the most interesting Synchro character.

Jack: by far the best Legacy character, Jack somewhat takes the role of rival from Reiji, down to having 3 duels with the protagonist and a 3000 ATK ace. Giving him the role of a mentor is an interesting take on the character, although it was weird going back to 5D's I don't know how people feel about him beating Sergey (I know some people hated that when the episode was first announced), but somehow it works fine? It's an interesting subversion, because you'd think Yuya would be the one to do so, but instead Yuya's role is to be the one to unite the people together. My only problem is that it's... kinda weird that Jack just lets the City remain a shithole. Like, do something my man! I also wonder if Yusei wouldn't have been more fitting for his role, but I understand they didn't want to have the protagonists so Yuya wouldn't be overshadowed.

Kaito: I never cared for Kaito in Zexal (granted, it's been a long while since I've seen it), and Arc-V Kaito has similar issues. Namely, being a bit too powerful. He never has a solo loss, and here's where being a legacy character begins to hurt. He had a reputation for being unbeatable (Tron cheating aside), so the writers know they can't have him lose easily. He even almost beats Yuya! The best thing about him is that he provides a mirror for Shun; he's basically edgy-bird Shun from the beginning, but in some ways worse. He steals spotlight a fair bit, but his most egregious case of this is to another Legacy Character, so whatever.

Speaking of...

Asuka: done dirty, and so unnecessarily. Seriously, let her duel Dennis! Him vs Kaito isn't a TERRIBLE set-up, but she needed a big win so her presence doesn't just feel like fanservice. Her getting carded also sucks, but I get the writers kinda had to (can't have a Ritual duelist face Zarc, after all), plus it gave Yuri some much-needed depth.

But at least she got a win, even if it was against mooks. Unlike...

Edo: oh boy. See, I don't actually have much issues with his arc. It works, so long as you ignore that it has basically nothing to do with Edo's character in GX. No, what I wanna talk about this is his duel with Yuya.

I'm gonna be blunt: he should've won that duel. For one, he didn't get a single win in the series (tbf, his opponents were strong, but still), but most importantly, earlier on we saw with Kaito vs Shun that even if you lose you can still reach your opponent. And Edo got development himself by accepting Entertainment Dueling and grabbing an Action Card. The fact that Yuya wins by grabbing an Action Card of his own just rubs salt on the wound. Plus, I just like the idea of Yuya never beating an arc villain (other than Zarc, sorta), his role instead being another (then again, I guess then people would use that to claim Yuya is a weak protagonist and whatnot, so maybe it was for the best).

Also, both him and Kaito interrupting Yugo and Yuri's duel is dumb. Saving that rant for later.

So yeah. Legacy Characters were a mixed bag. I think the writers struggled with giving them the prominence they deserved without outshining Arc-V's massive cast. That's a very fine line. But hey— we got Legacy Support! That's always a good thing, right?

#arc v #arcvmonth #arcvmonth2023 #edo phoenix #jack atlas #asuka tenjoin #crow yugioh #kaito tenjo

[m34gs]

If you could pick one animated Disney villain to twist and put into Twisted Wonderland (that doesn't already exist in game) who would you pick, why, and tell a bit about their character.

ooooh this is a fun ask!!! Thank you, friend!

I took some time to think about it, and I narrowed my choices down from Disney's giant list of villains to three, and from there I had to do like a mini-showdown in my brain to decide which one I wanted.

The direction that I took with this was to add an extra dorm; rather than go the 'staff member' route...I thought it would be more fun and impactful to the storyline if there was another dorm :D

The one who won the 'mini-showdown' and is the one I would pick to Twist and have in Twisted Wonderland was:

Yzma, from The Emperor's New Groove! (Naturally, being that this will be a dorm, Yzma will have Kronk as Vice Housewarden!) I think Yzma is an interesting character and that there is more to her than you think about in an initial watch-through of the movie. I also would love a dorm based on Peruvian culture and scenery!

So let's talk about Yzma:

She's smart; that much is obvious, with her potions and the fact that she actually managed a great deal of Kuzko's duties prior to her taking the throne.

She's dramatic; I mean honestly, with the entrance to her lab? The multiple levers and the crocodiles and the whole plot she makes up to get rid of Kuzko (recall, initially she wanted to turn him into a bug, and put him in a box, and put that box into a bigger box and mail it to herself, and then when it arrived: SMASH IT WITH A HAMMER!!! MWAHAHAHAHA!)

However, she is also practical as she ditches that initial plan and settles on simply poisoning the emperor. You know, to save on postage.

She's very dependent on Kronk, and I don't think she even realizes how much until she's in the jungle covered in muck and has to rely on him to speak to a squirrel.

She is ruthless when she wants something. She has absolutely no problem stating what she wants and then taking it. As evidenced by: she tried to kill the Emperor to take the throne. And how she gives orders to Kronk when they're in the restaurant, about how she wants her food done.

Now, if we were to twist her, and make a male version (young enough to attend school), and give him a storyline, I think it would sound something like this:

In the movie, part of Yzma's motivation for getting rid of Kuzko isn't strictly "I want the throne", but rather "I have been taking care of this young man since birth and I have been assisting him with ruling, and he not only never recognizes my efforts but constantly orders me about without actually thinking about anyone or anything other than himself" so let's mirror that. Twisted Yzma could be an older sibling who has been taking care of the younger ones his entire life...but no one recognizes his efforts and the younger kiddos got all the attention and praise, even when it was Yzma working behind the scenes to make things happen.

Now, you may be thinking "Isn't that what happened with Jamil?" No, no. Jamil was never allowed to shine or stand out because it would make Kalim look more amazing if he didn't. What I'm thinking for Yzma is: he tries. He tries to stand out, but he gets accused of stealing the spotlight. He tries to help, but then no one acknowledges him at all, especially not the younger sibling everyone dotes on, as that sibling has been taught that he is better than Yzma and that it is Yzma's *job* to take care of him, so no thanks is required.

Yzma comes to Night Raven College with a desire to prove himself. He ends up in the same dorm as Kronk, and Kronk is the first one to value Yzma as he is and be enthralled by his knowledge. This allows him to somehow worm his way into Yzma's heart.

Yzma would work hard to become the Dorm leader...and he would be so proud when he becomes one. But no one back home would really acknowledge it, too focused on his younger brother. This is a good set up for tension.

As time goes on, it only gets worse. Perfect grades on written exams. Perfect scores in flight classes. Perfect potions. Exceptionally perfect potions (I think Yzma would be one of Crewel's faves). Perfect record of attendance. One of the most respected dorms on campus. Also, I think his dorm would be very into theatrics and have a lot of successful theatre students (because as I said; Yzma is Dramatic) and put on fantastic shows (that Yzma's family never comes to)

None of it gets really recognized, but it's always "Kuzko did this" or "Kuzko learned that", and Yzma gets more and more sick of it.

Suddenly? There's this magic-less prefect? That everyone seems to love? Who is getting through a magic school on essentially a 'free ride'??? Who is going to classes and taking tests and is actually passing and the student body is more interested in them than they are in Yzma????

I think as Yuu works their way into the hearts of the other dorms, Yzma would become more and more annoyed. Perhaps, when it comes to be Yzma's dorm's turn; what happens might be that they are putting on a play. Anyone can audition. Grim wants to be a part of it, and in his antics, wrecks some props during auditions. This is a Cardinal Sin. Never touch someone else's prop. He and Yuu get assigned tech duties to help work on replacing props and assist with the behind-the-scenes work of the play.

I think what it would eventually take is for Yzma's own dorm to be warming up to Yuu and Grim, in order for Yzma to overblot. Perhaps the final straw is Kronk's character commenting that Yzma is being a bit hard on Yuu, and it's just so familiar to what he's heard growing up alongside his younger brother that he just. Snaps.

Ehehe, I may have gone a bit overboard with my ideas there...lol. But I had a lot of fun answering this and I really do think Yzma could be fun added in as a student!

Hope you enjoyed this answer! Thank you so much for asking, this was a lot of fun!

#asks #friends #kimium #responses #twisted wonderland #who would I add to twisted wonderland #for fun

[onawhimsicot]

Dude I love? Love. The TTEI fic. I've already been recommending it to friends. And I don't normally comment on fics and things, but since I've said all of this to six different people already I'm just -- going to gush in here a bit I hope you don't mind. :3

So first off, you write Tango's voice super well! His internal monologue as well?? And it was just endlessly funny and fitting to me that he gets to make -inators and -ificators because -- like yeah that makes sense what a fun way to integrate one of this quirks as a CC. And also?? Making him competent while still keeping him silly?? That is one of my favorite tropes period, and the fact that you then extended the same thing to Jimmy-- I adore.

Also also all the other characters as well?? Etho and BDubs?? I could read an entire fic of whatever the heck their shenanigans are. The intervention was adorable, and giving Etho an almost Lawful Evil vibe with him trying to balance crime in the city was a really cool take. How earnest BDubs was when he asked Tango if he was lonely?? Oh my god.

Also The Parrot, Grian. Amazing. The fact that he can (limitedly) steal powers was so so cool, and also an interesting way of busting him in while still giving him a reason to be vulnerable a few minutes later. That was such a fun balance to strike and facilitate so much for the story-telling and I love how it balanced things. Also him and Tango's banter, and him and Jimmy's banter, was also just really good??

Also?? The reveal of Tango's powers at the end?? Hi hi hi hello it did not even occur to me that he could have something besides the -inator-ing I was so pleasantly surprised by all of that. You also had me speculating that maybe The Warden might Be Tango from another universe [a bit like the PnF movie where Doofenshmirtz is actually competent] or that it might be Hot Guy coming back as a villain, which was a heck of a lot of fun to speculate even if that's not how the plot panned out. Just proves you got my brain spinning while reading.

Just.

Yeah.

Super cool.

Anyway! Love your work! Love the way you write! I think I read in one of your other asks that this is the first thing you've posted since 2020? Man! What a gem! I'm so so glad you finished this and shared it with the community, and I hope you got as much joy from the creation as I got from the read. Just, honestly, awesome work 💜 thank you for creating

omg thank you SO MUCH, i saw your super kind tags earlier too and was planning on saying thank you for those once I got the time to, and now you've sent the most lovely ask TOO? And you're recommending my fic to people?? I'm on the floor clutching these to my heart, crying ;___;

Gonna gush right back at you bc I will infodump about my writing at a moment's notice so sorry for the long post akjdshf

THANK YOU FOR LIKING MY TANGO VOICE, THAT MEANS A LOT TO ME <3 I'm so glad to hear that because I care soooo much about characterization. I have such strong opinions on how certain characters should act. But then at the same time, this is such a goofy AU with such specific circumstances that make everyone act in a very specific way, and I just want to keep cramming in all the jokes I think of. So once I got to the end, I was like ......oh dear, I hope he still stayed Tango aksdjfh. This whole AU pretty much just spiraled out from 1. Tango likes Dr. Doof and 2. Tango can be pretty (jokingly) judgemental about the "right" way to do things? Like he judges people for using "dirty" methods like TNT duping, or this one time Grian was mining quartz near him in a livestream, Tango was like ??? I can GIVE you quartz from villagers, ill do it for free, you don't need to live like this??? So I put that part of Tango's character in the spotlight and I ran soooo far with it.

Once I'm done taking a break from this AU, I would really love getting into what's going on with team B.I.T.E.S! They have sooo many secret identity shenanigans going on between them, it'd be really fun to dive into what's up with them lol. I'm sad I had to cut the Impulse scene I had planned because it would have explained a little more about what's going on with Wraith at least! I definitely want to try and add it as a deleted scene, if I can figure out how to write the rest of it.

Re: the Warden omg lowkey I was thinking of the PnF movie a little bit!! I started running out of time in the event so I wasn't able to set some stuff up about the Warden that I planned to do throughout the fic unfortunately!! But the Warden was always going to be a sort of non-character: I didn't want to invest too much time in making an OC for a fanfic, and because whoever the main antagonist was, their main role was always just going to amount to: get wrecked by the trio. I couldn't bear making anyone from canon be the punching bag haha. For a while, I even thought I'd just get some random "ice villain" name, slap it on, call it a day. Then I thought I'd, at the very least, make it a Minecraft reference, one that had a connection to Tango: the Warden. One of the things I had planned on making more clear was this idea that Tango thinks someone wants to steal his nemesis because he thinks they're coming after his Brand, which is a very silly thought. And then it would end up being a little bit true when the Warden finally made an appearance with the "Hey you let out the guy who was gonna be my nemesis" line lol.

So the Warden is very much based on icy blue dungeon master Tango and Decked Out from Hermitcraft. He's not literally from another dimension like in the movie because the implications of that are way too huge for a oneshot lol, but he is kinda meant to be an alternate version of Tango. I don't want to say he's a narrative foil because I did not set it up enough to deserve using that cool word lol. But it makes me really happy that you brought up the movie because I definitely was thinking of the parallels!! I'm sorry I really didn't give him that much of a spotlight when you speculated so much!! Hotguy IS kinda accidentally a red herring, isn't he?? omg I didn't think about how misleading that would be, I'm a little aghast!! That was more meant to be a vague "I'm setting up for a future Hotguy + Parrot/Cuteguy side story" aksdjhf

Genuinely thank you so much for taking the time to write this super kind and detailed ask full of all this analysis, it means so very much to me <3 You've made me feel so happy about my writing :D I did have a lot of fun creating this, and seeing the reaction from the community has been so gratifying!!!

This is literally the most ideal response I could have ever gotten, I am framing it and hanging it up in my heart <3

#ask #silverskye13 #long post #Fic: TTEI

[wanou-dorm]

🍿The Shu with the Sushi friends squad cause I like them (Lyla Carol and Leroy)

🤕Alban and Inessa maybe?

🍿The Shu with the Sushi friends squad cause I like them (Lyla Carol and Leroy) 

🤕Alban and Inessa maybe

🤕 - Your muse is injured

( in context this a Movie that  Alban is Making for a Film festival though he he has to work he’s Working wit NRC and RSA students.. The movie is based on House of the Dead  and Megatagmension Blanc.)

“I  Know Your abit irritated at Flynn.. and Vil and Barry  , I would be too .”Inessa said as she tended to his Hand  ” but was spraining your Thumb on a Wall  Necessary .” 

“It the only way those Three would Stop bickering, Over thier Roles with each other.” Alban huffed as Inessa putting Ice on the Effected area as she went to go get a Splint and a Elevated his thumb with a Towel.

“ If Thier Bickering over  over thier. Roles perhaps There are Others that  could Take on of their Spotlights .” Inessa pondered

Alban looked at the ice witch for a bit , “ Inessa, You clever witch !” Alban  said “ I know just who to Replace … thought Mythra may not like who I get  it considering she’s the Secretary of the main villain. “ Alban Pondered “ She’ll be Fine her character Turncoats anyways .” 

Inessa laughed “by The way what this Movie about.”

“ Agents that have stop  a mad Scientist from releasing experimental Mutant Zombies from Spreading all over the world who coded for  Constellations. “ 

Inessa looked “‘This going to be on interesting movie .”

——

🍿 - Our muses have a movie night         

“ I didn’t think Francine could play such a good Villain .” Lyla said as The Group walked out the Film Festival 

“ Yea but did you see my Role in the movie , I played a Really good boss monster.” Leroy said with smiling with Confidence and pride .

“ Yea ,  no CGI made you look like an what’s the word oh ,Uparupa. “

Shu Said “ I thought Henry was scarier , Right Carol “

Carol Nodded “ I’m surprised Henry even Accepted to Take part “

“ Well we were Also Building Props for the movie.” Leroy said shrugging his Shoulders” also  don’t call me Uparupa.”

“ Why it’s Cute ,Oonazuchi?~ “‘ Shu teases.

“ That’s the Problem.” Leroy said 

Shu chuckled “Back to the Movie, the Plot twist  at the end ?”

“ I was Not Suscepting Flynn to Suddenly Shoot Vil at the Very end” Leroy said “Monsville was done shooting our parts way before then.“ 

“ I didn’t think Flynn would Reveal Vil as a Double agent for Snow Corp .” Lyla said 

“ I could told see that See that Twist Coming , After Rubina was Mutated into Cassiopeia  by Barry.” Shu said “ Vil was taking Samples behind Flynn’s Back .”

“ I definitely have admit I didn’t see it until Francine Mutated into Aquarius after Mythra Jabbed her with the syringe  . “ Carol said a bit red in the Face  embarrassed She hadn’t noticed the Smaller details of Vils Action. “

“ The two were obviously in cahoots to steal the virus for their own scheme.” Shu said  

The Group continues to discuss the movies they saw at the Film festival as they walked back to Night Raven.

#hourglassstationacademy #twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland oc #twst oc #disney twst #twisted oc #fandorm #twst fandorm #shu ibuki #alban schnee #others ocs #ask wanou answered #nextunia

[wild-grinders]

least favorite wild grinders character?

Anon you are unleashing a writing demon from within me because this character almost had an entire rant in the third part of my analysis if it weren't for my brain being stressed and tired that day.

It's Stubford.

Like, we love his VA, Erin F. in this house and talking positively about Wild Grinders, but Stubford is a character that I don't like.

If you think that Lil' Rob steals the spotlight all the time, then you should be more annoyed by Stubford. Because Stubford literally gets more development than you think.

'The Big Sleep... Over'

'Wild BFFs'

'Wild Zombies'

All of these episode did more in favor of Stubford's character and it never gets interrupted.

But that's not the thing that makes me upset the most.

Because you see the thing is... Stubford was never a character intended for the original Ketterville-canon. He never existed until they made the TV series. And he managed to always insert himself in. Almost. Every. Episode.

Yes, he was made to be the antagonist of the series because the TV series needed a villain. But we literally had his father for that role. And not only that, but Stubford is more of an annoyance than a real villain in the series. He didn't bring anything to the table, except for killing what could have been an actual plot.

And it's not just about his annoying appearances. The script writers were constantly retracting him from having any other status. There were episodes dedicated to being nice to Stubford, but he never reconsiders his actions @ the Wild Grinders.

We know his character is literally Bowser Jr. But make it more depressing. In the series, he obviously has hatred @ the Wild Grinders because of his home life. His father neglects him and his mother is an entire enigma who's not involved with his life. He takes his anger and hatred out on the Wild Grinders, but never blames his parents. He relies on his father for new products. He tries to make his father proud, but always fails to. He was taught that money and materialism could only make him happy.

And throughout the series, he really just wants to have friends and connection and be loved. He's jealous of the Wild Grinders and feels the need to ruin them for the sake of his happiness. If he can't have friends, then no one can.

There are multiple moments where the Wild Grinders try to be nice to him, but Stubford would rather stay the way he is.

This is really what pisses me off about this kid.

It's literally in the name too. Stubford = Stubborn. He gets many episodes where the script writers feel bad for him, but he chooses to never reciprocate forgiveness or gestures of kindness. He selfishly takes the kindness for himself only to go back to being treating them awfully.

It just feels unnecessary to have a character like this. Who lives in this kind of cycle and just repeats his mistakes. (In Pokemon, Team Rocket is a reoccurring villain, but there are times where they can be capable of being redeemed and having common sense to help Ash). Stubford, just continues to take and take kindness from the Wild Grinders and never thankful for it. Like, Stubford would never even help the Wild Grinders in a life-or-death-situation.

He's just a wasteful character who's not a huge threat. There's no point to his character being in the TV series if his evil plots always fail and are easy to overcome. It makes the plot boring even.

Like, you really want to hate Stubford because of him being an entire annoyance. But at the same time, he's a character who's being neglected by his family and you have to feel bad for him. It just feels difficult to have that sort of character in your writing because eventually, it's just tiring.

IF IF they wanted to do better for Stubford's role as a villain, then they should have taken inspiration from Simon in Trollz (2005). Literally almost the same character, but Simon is a greater threat to the main cast. He's an actual villain child. And oh boy, he does worse to the main characters.

Overall, my dislike for Stubford is that he doesn't do a lot for the TV series. If they didn't make him a reoccurring villain, then the plot of Wild Grinders would have been completely different and force the writers to work on building the main cast's story.

TLDR;

Stubford doesn't do anything for the plot.

#gonna eat dinner #ask #anonymous

[valleyfthdolls]

SORRY BUT FOR THE CROSSOVER ASK GAME .. 4,5 and 8 . perhaps

4. have you given a minor character more spotlight? what is their deal

Ok so in Sonic Underground, Sonic has this whole family and it's stupid and ridiculous but he has two Long Lost Triplets (Sonia and Manic) and a Long Lost Mother Who Is Also The Queen (Aleena). And their mother is the queen and the kids all play musical instruments and they're not really interesting but I love the concept (I'd say ask my friend Albedo but he's not on Tumblr). In this AU, I changed Aleena's name to Aaliyah bc I can't stand Aleena as a name and idk why. (I know Elena would've made more sense but I liked Aaliyah more.)

Aaliyah isn't any kind of royalty, but an ex member of the academy (the National Guardians Academy, or NGA, but it's basically Hope's Peak) who opposes the entire system due to a deep rooted corruption and its ties with the way more corrupt military. She had to give up all of her children (Sonia Windermere, Malo "Manic" Ross, and Nicky "Sonic" Terada) due to backlash from NGA, military and its supporters that made her feel like her kids wouldn't be safe with her. Nicky was given to her estranged brother-in-law Charles, though she'd been out of contact with him since her husband Jules's death, Sonia was adopted by the Windermere family, and Malo wasn't ever adopted.

Being raised by a prestigious and rich family, Sonia, the Ultimate Pianist, was a shoo-in for NGA. Charles, who wanted Nicky to use his speed, agility and stamina that earned him the nickname "Sonic" to do something good in the world instead of mostly using it to get away with petty vandalism, applied to NGA on his behalf as a candidate for Ultimate Athlete, and chalked up the lack of questioning about his relation to Aaliyah to them not knowing. Malo is a high profile thief, who's learned to get by and make money by stealing under the alias of Manic, and he was invited to NGA as the Ultimate Thief once they actually tracked him down.

5. any cool scenes in your head? (if theres any)

Mostly just Gerald being evil. Gerald is the main villain here and not Ivo (Eggman)

8. most self indulgent thing you added in this au?

Another weird complex plot abt the corruption in Hope's Peak (well, NGA here) and also Carmela Coelho, the Ultimate Animal Caretaker, based on Cream the Rabbit.

And also Shadow's whole deal.

#danganronpa supersonic #crossover au #crossover ask game #sonic the hedgehog #danganronpa

[mountain-man-cumeth]

What Went Wrong: An In-Depth Analysis of Muriel's Route

*Youtuber voice*

Below are the opinions of an uneducated individual on what could’ve left the majority of The Arcana audience dissatisfied. I will explore the plot, tropes, themes and morals of the Muriel route and try to explain what may have gone wrong. I will be treating the game as a novel since it's advertised as one.

1. Consistency. If you are unfamiliar with the chekhov's gun; it's a story writing principle that dictates each element you introduce should come into play (foreshadowing). Now let's start with a few story beats that were later abandoned or concluded in an underwhelming manner:

Muriel's blanket

Muriel's magic mark (on his back)

Forest spirit (spirits in general)

Lucio's upbringing

Circumstances of MC's death

Figurines/whittling/charms

Muriel's blanket is teased to be a tapestry, which would tie in with his later fascination with them later on, as it had been the only thing he had left from his past. MC neither sees nor comments on the blanket, we only know it exists thanks to other playthroughs and short stories.

Magic marks are an important point in the game. Every main route emphasises on how it affects the chosen LI. It's reveal is important in a way that it serves as a passage to a new act where the reader explores magic and Arcana pantheon as they are a monumental part of the overall worldbuilding. This exact point applies to the Heart of the Forest and how spirits interact with the world around them as well.

Whittling and Charm making are the only hobbies we get from Muriel's isolated life, their introduction helps the reader humanise the character by giving us a crumb of his everyday life. It's never mentioned again after the scene where MC asks him what he does. He doesn't idly whittle during their journey and charms only come to play in an offhanded reference during reversed ending.

The other two are also ignored but I will touch on Lucio later on.

Why do these matter? A few abandoned plot points don't make or break the story but on a grander level it hinders the audience investment. When we read, we like to think the details we notice will come to play eventually, we like recognizing references that were introduced earlier. I'm sure I don't need to give examples on this one, I don't think anyone will disagree.

2. Themes. Thematic influences this story utilized are all over the place, and it seems to me like it stems from the improper application of certain tropes;

The Hero's Journey

Home Sweet Home

Shell-Shocked Vet

Last of His Kind

etc.

Some of these tropes tackle themes such as;

Slavery

PTSD

Survivor's Guilt

Genocide

I'm not going to try to explain How to Write any of these topics. I'm not remotely qualified. I think it's better if I just give examples from popular media because whether you know how to write it or not, you can still understand when it's written well;

AtLA deals with genocide and survivor's guilt. It's in the name; The Last Airbender. Aang is the sole survivor of a culture he'd only had an opportunity to engage in for a handful of years. He left them with a childish tantrum and now they're gone forever. I can't think of another mainstream series that shows the gruesome reality of war and genocide better than this one.

When Muriel realizes his true heritage and loses Khamgalai is the point of the story where Luke sees his family's farm burned down, Aang goes back to the air temple, Treebeard walks in on the demolished part of the forest. (The inciting incident)

(Could also have been forest spirit’s death but it was too early in the story so I don’t consider it a missed opportunity.)

Up until this point the hero has their doubts, they're going through the motions but they are either underestimating the enemy or they're a passive protagonist. Either way, this is the point where the hero has to take the reins of the story. What purpose does this serve in Muriel's route instead? It simply validates Muriel's beliefs. He's useless, he isn't strong enough. We as the reader need a point to see where the hero takes a step to drive the story forward or whoever takes that step will steal the spotlight, it will be their story. As it is, this is the point where it ceases to be Muriel’s story.

PTSD got the worst end of the deal. Since Dragon Age fandom has a huge overlap with the Arcana I will use Fenris as an example; for those who are unfamiliar with the character, Fenris is an escaped slave. After the sex scene he vividly describes an experience that most people can easily identify as a flashback. The game never tells us that he was abused, it doesn’t show us him having a panic attack but it shows us that whatever transpired between him and the player character clearly triggered an unpleasant memory.

Arcana tries and initially succeeds to do something similar. We see that the character is untrustworthy, sensitive to touch, easily agitated, can’t sleep outside of his perceived safe environment… It introduces us the cause later on and the story has two options, each will drastically change the moral of the story:

Remember these as they will be important later on

Portray Muriel fighting as a bad thing; You can’t fight violence with violence angle or the fact that the villain’s forcing him into a situation where he’ll have to fight again makes the villain all the more intimidating.

Portray Muriel fighting as a good thing; He has the means to defeat the villain and he just needs encouragement. With great power comes great responsibility. By not fighting he willingly condemns everyone to an awful fate and that he is selfish.

I’d like to take a second to explore the 1. Option, I feel like the game may have intended to implement that idea but failed because of the implementation of Morga and choices presented for the player character: Morga is an Old-Soldier, these characters are often push the hero out of their comfort zone in an aggressive way towards complacency, they are a narrative foil to the mentor. For the first option to work the story had to show Khamgalai acting as a mentor and having the protagonists challenge Morga’s teachings(see Ozai-Iroh). As it is, Morga’s actions are never put under scrutiny (narratively) and her death feels hollow as a result. She didn’t sacrifice herself for the heroes due to her guilt, she died because she felt a moment of sympathy for her son which wasn’t explored before, she showed no intention to change nor any doubt.

It is clear the game choose 2. Option, it is a controversial choice given Muriel’s mental condition and the game is acutely aware of this, which is likely why Muriel’s PTSD will get carefully scraped from the story from here on out. (I won’t address other instances where his trauma wasn’t taken into account, I feel like this explanation should cover them as well.)

3. Morals. Every story, whether the author intends it or not, has a moral. The Villain most often acts against that moral and in turn can change the hero's perspective. Morals are not ideals; the morality of Killmonger isn’t that marginalised people should fight for their rights, it is that vengeance is just. Whether it’s right or wrong can be debated but what makes an ideal the moral of the story is in the portrayal. How the narrator depicts the events, how people around the heroes react... all are a part of portrayal.

The story choosing “Muriel fighting is a good thing” earlier puts in the foundation of a moral. The story tells us Muriel has to fight, it’s the right thing to do. He has to be brave for the people he loves.

This choice affects how his past actions will be perceived; now, him escaping the arena to save himself is cowardly, abandoning Morga is cowardly.

The story tells us it wasn’t, but shows us that it was. This is the end of the midpoint of the story, at this point we need to have a good grasp on what we should perceive as wrong or right for us to feel invested. If we zig-zag between the morals we won’t know which actions we should root for. But more than that, the conclusion will not feel cathartic as it will inevitably demonstrate the opposing ideals clashing at its climax.

Villain doesn't necessarily have to be sympathetic and Muriel's route makes no effort to make him as such, but they need to be understandable. What danger does Lucio pose to the status quo, what makes him a compelling villain? Whether he conquers Vesuvia or not doesn’t drastically affect Muriel’s way of life, he’s been in hiding for years. He doesn’t threaten to steal MC’s body, Muriel is not compelled to pick up arms to save his beloved. He wants to protect the people from going through what he’s been through, right? That is what the story wants us to think. But what has he been through? Fighting was his choice, Lucio tricked him into it. Lucio later tricked Morga, his own mother, to save his own hide. This tells us that Lucio is a manipulator, but he doesn’t manipulate his way into Vesuvia, he barges in with deus ex machina monsters. He doesn’t demonstrate his skills as a tactician by making deals with neighbouring kingdoms to get their armies. We don’t know his strengths therefore we don’t know his weaknesses. If he seems to be losing he can just conjure a giant dragon to burn everything down, we just can’t know. That is why the application of deus ex machina is highly taboo, the victories don’t feel earned and defeats feel unfair.

4. Tone. Playing with the genre is not uncommon and a game such as Arcana has many opportunities to do so. It is a romance story, everything else is the back-drop. The tone works best when its overall consistent but tonal changes act as shock for the audience to keep them engaged and keeping one tone indefinitely gets us desensitized. We can’t feel constant misery if we are not made to feel tinges of hope in between. Good examples of dramatic tonal change (that I can think of): Mulan - arriving at the decimated village, La Vita e Bella - the father’s death, M*A*S*H - death of Hawkeye’s friend. Two of these examples are mostly comedy which is why this tonal shift affects us so, it was all fun and games until we are slapped in the face with the war going on. There are no one liners in those scenes, the story takes a moment to show appropriate respect to the dead, it gives its characters time to digest and come to terms with loss. Bad examples are the majority of Marvel movies.

In Muriel’s route there’s never such a thing, Muriel has a panic attack and MC kisses him. This unintentionally tells us, the genre being romance, that the panic attack only served to further MC’s advances. It tells us that he’s never had the control of his life and it’s yet again stripped from him by the decisions of player character. This is not the only instance this happens. The story shoe-horns in multiple cuddle sessions between important plot beats. And it does the exact opposite during a moment where he is having a heart-to-heart with the person he loves by having the ghost of Morga appear to give an ominous warning/advice.

When he runs off during masquerade it’s built up to be an important plot point. Muriel will finally face his past, he’s been running away from it all along, and he will have an opportunity to be accepted back in. MC is supportive but ultimately, it’s meant to be Muriel's moment. But as I mentioned above this is not his story anymore so he’s not given any time to address his problems, instead a ghost appears to tell him what he needs to do, again. Because we need to wrap the story up, we don’t have time.

Remember how I said the 2 Options will be important later on, well here we are at the very end. Upright and reversed.

“Portray Muriel fighting as a bad thing”

This suggests that the triumph of Muriel won’t be through violence. Maybe he will outsmart Lucio in a different way, he won’t play his games anymore. This option suggests that Lucio will not be beaten by his own terms.

“Portray Muriel fighting as a good thing”

This option concludes with Muriel finally overcoming his reservations on violence and doing what's right to save the people he loves. And bringing justice to people who Lucio hurt.

If you are wondering why the upright ending feels random, this is likely why. The ending plays out as if the story was building on the 1st option while we spent chapters upon chapters playing out the 2nd one. It is unearned.

(The reversed ending, being reversed, also uses Option 1 path but in which Muriel can’t achieve his narrative conclusion)

The Coliseum is filled with people who are on their side against Lucio’s shadow goons. Because we can’t have people being on Lucio’s side without addressing the duality of human nature, even though it’s an important part of Muriel’s story. The people who watched and enjoyed Lucio’s bloodsport are no more, they are all new and enlightened offscreen. We completely skipped the part where Vesuvia comes to terms with its own complacency and Muriel simply feels at ease because the crowd is cheering on him now. This is what happens when you give the character a chance to challenge those who have been complicit in his abuse (masquerade scene) and completely skip it to move the story along.

Muriel doesn't get justice, ever. The people only love him now because he's fighting for them instead of his own survival. Morga or her clan doesn't answer for the massacre of Kokhuri, Vesuvia doesn't answer for the sick entertainment they indulged in and Lucio doesn't answer for Muriel's enslavement. It is not even acknowledged, nowhere in the story (except the very end of reversed ending, and even then it almost gets him killed so its clearly the wrong thing to do on his part) is a choice presented where Muriel has an opportunity to get any sort of compensation where he instead chooses to move on.

I don’t intend to straw man anyone but this is a sentiment I’ve seen a lot; “It’s a short story, a dating-sim, what do you expect?”

I expect nothing, I’m simply explaining why some people feel how they feel. It is a short dating-sim but it seems to me like it was aiming to be something more by borrowing elements that were clearly far above their weight range to tease something more and under deliver. It is okay to feel content with the story, and it’s okay to feel let down. If we had a unanimous decision on literature we would never be inclined to write our own stories.

#personal #muriel #muriel spoilers #tw: PTSD #tw: trauma #tw: slavery #tw: genocide #karayan

[anolyso]

Utena thoughts...about 2 weeks later

I've been putting it off for way too long and so most of my thoughts stopped being fresh. On top of watching way too many analysis vids post-watch, but still I do at least want to put my 2cents of Revolutionary Girl Utena out there for the world.

Utena is perhaps one of the most famous "magical girl"/shoujo action shows out there for not only it's transgressive themes of relationship abuse and low-key pretty much being the poster girl for like actual feminist perspective on/in anime...but also just doing it all in both a heavily allegorical and understated, yet super over-the-top stylish fashion

But that's it's reputation preceding itself, is Utena worth while all these years? The answer is Yes, but it also really shows it's age and budget in pacing and repetition, tho as an appreciator for "behind the scenes" compromises in art, it's more showcasing Ikuhara's talent in working around both taboo and long-form budget constraints with just well-thought out and iconic imagery that - while episodic and formulaic - is just very good at filling the 39 eps with feasts for the eyes.

Utena broadly is about tomboy Utena with memories long ago after her parents died being "saved" by a princely figure like a princess...except she's so enthralled by the nostalgia that instead she becomes a full on Prince herself and receives a dueling ring to fight in the Ohtori Acadamy secret duels for "engagement" to Rose Bride Himemiya Anthy.

Utena is divided between 4 arcs, only the first and last being Manga adapted from hearsay:

1: Student Council Saga

2: Black Rose Saga

3: Akio Ohtori Saga

4: Apocalypse

From back to forth I'd say that Akio + Apoc is more just escalation into the finale while Black Rose being anime original comes off as a glorified side-character study which while complementing the secondary cast, feels like one of those Anime movies that has to say "but if you don't watch this part, it's pretty much optional for the main plot" despite it also actually introducing the most important antagonist within it's margins.

More importantly, it's the Student Council (arc and the actual people) that lay the foundation but also a large part of the show's focus which ironically puts Utena in the background until like almost the finale and some in-between developments, so it's less "Utena (and Anthy Himemiya)'s story" until the very end, but more like a showcase of how fucked up the system at large is (pin in that).

By the Council themselves is:

Kyouichi Saionji: The biggest jobber, like actually introduced as the most despicable loser ep 1 and proceeds to be a complete arrogant joke for the rest of the show. Honestly in another shojo "love" story, they'd find some way to redeem him but semi-compellingly they turn him into like an Aqua-lad type pathetic brat with an inferiority complex to the actual Student head

Miki Kaoru: the naive "nice, non-threatening soft boy" that also just never actually listens to the girls around him. Probably adds more complexity to the whole patriarchal idea on analytic reflection since yeah, the whole "nice guy finishes last" plays up better when the kid comes off as that "ally" energy of wanting to save Himemiya from being the Rose Bride but also low-key won't actually not just do the duels and win her cuz he's that sorta wishy-washy hypocrite. Arguably the least hateable guy in the cast (minus mascot Chu-Chu)

Juri Arisugawa: TRAGIC LESBIAN TRIANGLE LOVE. Probably the biggest point to of both "not-explicitly homosexual" but also really freaking obvious since her entire story is her girlfriend stealing her "boy crush" when actually she was crushing on her and being pretty much frustrated throughout her story as pining most of it. It's quaint by today's standards but also like damn girl, get over her she was like the worst back stabbing bitch (literally if Black Rose counts)

Nanami Kiryuu: SPEAKING OF QUEEN BITCH, it's been a long time since I've watched a High School girl bully and honestly it's kinda refreshing. If Miki is "soft-boy uwu" Nanami is a brat that gets her come-uppance often, featured prominently as an anime only with the MOST filler/comedic episodes but also not low-key, being the most out-spoken actual brother complex ironically spins perhaps the biggest twist and ironic relationships of "I love my brother but not-like-that but also like-that" by the end. Mostly comedic relief but I find her inclusion to actually add a lot more to juxtapose...

Touga Kiryuu: Big Student Council Prez himself, the first arc antagonist and also a strong foil to Saionji and later a stepping stone for Akio. Touga is THE image of a Princely Playboy Heart-Throb that in any other Shoujo romance would have the main girl win him over from all those "other girls" despite him being apathetic if not outright manipulative of them. Good thing Utena is better than that and really puts a spotlight on just not-actually-ok his power hunger for "the power to bring the world revolution" that leads him to heavily objectify Anthy, arguably even more than Misogynist Trophy Girlfriend beater Saionji, since he doesn't even see her as more than a means to an end despite professing and looking the Prince part but lacking all the actual virtues.

The Student council matters more since they're characters and subsequent tragic flaws are the ACTUAL meat of the show and on second rumination actual shows more how fucked up the system/gender dynamic/power hierarchy is since - while it blatantly fucks over Juri who can't just outright say who she likes - also show almost it's own sub-text of Masculine failings: Saionji desperately clinging to being TOXIC MASCULINE™ and completely falling short underneath Touga; Miki's "nice boy" act belying him trying to replace his low-key nostalgia for his sister (also a bitch, but apparently was more like Nanami in the manga); and best yet Touga being the quintessential "Prince in all but actual behavior" by emulating a cutthroat and Machiavellian world view but coming up empty because well, he's just an illusion of a prince...but that leads in way more to the big finale piece where I'll reintroduce the actual story's main trio

Utena Tenjou: Tomboy Prince with brain empty except for lesbian thoughts. Honestly probably what every western "STRONG INDEPENDENT WOMAN" archetype wishes they were since while having very tomboyish personality in athletics, blunt speaking and also VERY oblivious to the actual plot for REAL DRAMATIC IRONY, but also never actually demeaning her being feminine partially due to her love of an childhood prince and how she maintains her relationship with both her friend Wakaba and later Anthy. Honestly mostly a plot device after S1 until she gets ACTUAL development by the very end and instead kinda bumbles her way into undoing the entire REVOLUTION OF THE WORLD. I kinda wish she felt either more cognizant or at least felt like she was developing/properly rebuking the rest of the cast's power obsessions but I guess that's for the movie.

Anthy Himemiya: Actual Trophy Wife with a dark secret (darker than ski- wait no that's terrible scratch that). Set-up very much as an immediate princess in distress while also being the most femme Yamato Nadeshiko, Anthy being the Rose Bride as a literal prize who acts and behaves as whom she's "engaged" with desires while otherwise being quiet, wry, mysterious and noticably submissive, by the end it actually plays up into THE BIG REVEALS of just how abused she's been into a hopeless acceptance...like y'know actual abuse victims.

Akio Ohtori: Grade A Antagonist, probably the most insidious I've seen a villain in a while, Akio is notable for, back in 1997, being perhaps the big go-to of actual deconstructing the facade of a whole shoujo genre's "hots for a teacher/sexy man putting the moves" and highlighting how actually exploitative and abusive a person like that really is. Being Himemiya's brother (somewhat justified in the manga by both being a weird Sailor Moon-esque reincarnation of gods/godesses of Dios), despite how much of his motives are runing the background and how the entire back story is  uh...brought up in like barely in the last arc with little lead up (some scenes feel like they'd be a full melodrama season and they just have like 1 scene in the final arc episodes) he manages to one-up Touga (in the plot as well) by instead of "just" objectifying girls, not-just-flat out saying Utena looks best as a princess, but y'know the fact that he is implicitly yet constantly exploiting and victim-blaming Anthy for her own suffering for "the power of Dios/Revolution of the world" turns it on its head

I've spent all this time on characters but in truth a lot of the meat of the show relies again on the Council Members fleshing out the issues of system leading to outright divorcing "being a Prince" (heroic altruistic virtues) and "being a man" (considering like all but maybe the comedic relief have some deliberately misogynistic behavior) and beyond just the plot (or rather character) synopsis, the talent goes far more in how it's framed, the symbolic/allegorical shots, the repetition adding a good episode formula flow to character showcases, probably the most "tasteful" allusion to uh...*ahem* sexual abuse that so many other edgier/prentious shows fumble. Both in how intimidating yet understated it's foreshadowing is until they hard-reveal it despite never explicitly naming it even tho it sends Nanami into hysterics

Really it's both a massive blessing and reason for it's cult beloved status for it's aesthetics but also it's burden, for being a full 39 episodic season by season character development study of everyone BUT the main trio except for snippets and the very end that makes it greatly appreciable as a legitimate work of art.

What I wanted more to say however (long overdue) is that a large part of following is, visibly at least, western feminist critiques and yes while it almost seems like Utena fits the "deconstructing patriarchy" story like a glove...it's weird how almost none of them actually can give a good historical account of actual Japanese female/gender/sexuality norms nor Anime contemporaries actually were. Like Tenchi Muyo and Berserk came out the same year (Cardcaptor Sakura the next) and despite how you can "feel" the influence in lots of modern shows like SHAFT's signature visual imagery cuts or many WESETERN shows having straight scene references to Utena....almost no one has a similar feel to Utena until like Princess Tutu comes out.

Really tho probably should've watched Utena and then Tutu because while it's undeniable that Utena is a major pillar of shoujo re-codification - what with everyone before Utena was saying they thought it'd be like a Rose of Versaille or Lady Knight rip-off...whose laughing now? - it's almost like there's a missing link between it and it's major western fanbase (probably with what few anime did get overseas, this one probably rose to the top), or how very noticeable there IS an influence on it's genre in Japan

Almost none of the big analyst fans actually know A) it's not "a deconstruction of Magical Girls" since despite Ikuhara working on Sailor Moon just before this, almost none of the tropes line up and instead more with Shoujo genre as a whole. or  one of the major inspirations was Takarazuka theater.

And this is not to dismiss how inspirational it is to it's western fandom, but while I am notably cynical towards placing things on pedestals, there's probably something about cultivating the whole pop-culture feminist reading commune with people making weird time-loop theories while kinda most of it is just filling in a mad-lib mostly thanks to Ikuhara just keeping things on the vague and letting the audience take away their own perspective.

Again, most of the show is completely sub-textual or visually/symbolically depicted and never stated nor properly defines it's weird key words (End of the World, Revolutionize the World, Power of Dios, Rose Bride, all things said constantly but never really said what they "mean". But that's also perhaps its charm, in it's allegory and very Death of the Author approach, it has definitely allowed it's fan theorizing and appreciation to flourish so there's something there for that.

Ultimately I'd say Utena the TV series is great more so for what it isn't...or rather I should say it's great for not just subverting Shoujo tropes and archetypes for the Japanese audience but also that despite dealing with some very serious and heavy subjects in obtuse and perhaps understated ways for the time, people have allowed it to be put on it's pedestal because they can easily fit it in themselves.

Honestly though, not that a more "straight forward" approach wouldn't detract from Utena but I will say that the movie, Adolescence of Utena, is very much the best encapsulation of what Utena strives to be (for another big blog post) and while the TV series has plenty of time and flexes it's directorial muscles with budget constraints and season pacing UNrestrained, the movie will trim a lot of the fat

#long post #Revolutionary Girl Utena #I haven't actually done my Anime thoughts in a while #Maybe I'll keep this on my main blog this time #I wrote this mostly on facebook tho if I wrote it here first I'd better integrate images probably #anolyso's media time #uh...except now that's on my main blog

[bookishlyizzy]

discussing the final season of carmen sandiego

*spoilers* umm....so yeah, i finished watching carmen sandiego, and i’m left in a state of perpetual sadness and despair. i feel like the ending of the show wrapped up wayyy too fast, and kind of left off on a bit of an unsatisfactory note for some of the characters. although i love the large and diverse cast of carmen sandiego, one of the drawbacks of having all those characters and arcs and storylines makes it harder to cram in a satisfying conclusion for everyone in a twenty-minute episode. so here’s what i would do if there was more time. 

let’s start off with the threads that i think were tied off pretty well: 

julia & chase devineaux: i wasn’t really a shipper of julia and devineaux but i actually really enjoyed their relationship throughout season 4. we see a lot of character growth from devineaux in the way that he interacts with julia and the world. julia pushes devineaux to become a better person, to see things with a broader perspective and from other people’s points of view. and he does really change a lot into an understanding person instead of the overconfident, arrogant detective we first saw him as in season 1. in addition, he also grows to respect julia as a person and partner, and it’s completely adorable how he looks at her while zari tells julia that they’ll follow her lead. also i love how he keeps wearing his lucky cat jacket from san francisco in season 4.  

el topo & le chevre: okay, i was pretty much shipping these two the minute they showed up on the screen together. you can tell how much they care about each other throughout the series. whenever one of them gets hurt, you can really see how they prioritize each other over whatever thing vile is planning. when things are good, they’re so sweet and they have so much fun together. and they take dumb cute selfies. they’re so, so adorable, and this season definitely brings the shipping fodder. and they end the season moving on from vile and running a food truck together. the only thing i’m mad about is that we definitely needed more screen time from them. 

shadowsan: i didn’t like shadowsan in season 1 but over the course of the series he really went through a lot of major character development and i love how he’s now basically a grumpy dad figure to carmen. the season ends with him finally reuniting for good with his brother in japan, and it’s a satisfying conclusion for his arc. i also love how he was the one to help carmen in the finale when she’s struggling with the brainwashing thing. which is way better than the brainwashing being resolved by some bs like true love’s kiss. (also carmen and gray are way too hurt and they’re super not ready for a relationship.)  carmen sandiego is a show that emphasizes the importance of family with this father-daughter duo, and i think that’s something really valuable. also i’m interpreting that shadowsan isn’t permanently moving to japan, but rather just visiting his brother. he’s still definitely going to be there for carmen going forward when she needs him. 

player & carmen’s friendship: i love this show for having a male/female friendship with absolutely no romantic feelings going on. it’s a solid friendship, and depicts a wholesome, supportive relationship. absolutely no qualms here.

and here’s all the stuff that needs expanding/fixing: 

tigress: i actually really love tigress as a character, and i personally think that there should have been more of her in the series. i would have liked to see more depth and motivation to her, since she has a lot of character potential. i don’t really know how i would rewrite tigress’s arc, because it’s virtually nonexistent and there’s not too much to go off of. i don’t think she needs a redemption arc, but i would give her more of a spotlight. (also low key fictional-crushing on her.) i would like to include sort of a tigress-centric episode, which can also generally be more expansion on the inner workings of vile.

cleo & saira: villain couple. villain couple. they need to be a villain couple, enough said. i would rewrite season 4 to have include an emotional downbeat moment in which saira struggles with being able to fit in with society and humans and being completely awkward at it while cleo, in all her regal and ettiquite-esque manners, tries to help. this wouldn’t really help with the main plot, but it would be humanizing and provide character depth. i feel like this could be the b-plot in the tigress episode somehow. 

coach brunt: you don’t betray family. at this point, coach brunt has lost the daughter she raised, who, in her mind, has basically backstabbed her entirely. coach brunt was also betrayed by shadowsan and left for the police to find, and in season 4, malestrom basically abandons her to drown. and it’s highly likely that somewhere in her backstory she’s been betrayed many times, likely by her own blood family, which would provide context for why she’s such a loyal person to vile, who she thinks of as her found family. in rewriting season four, i’m adding one extra episode that’s solely on the backstory of coach brunt. in this episode, we would explore brunt’s upbringing and the first time she is betrayed by someone she considers family. in my opinion, coach brunt was likely pushed to fall by another influence, but she also makes the conscious choice to choose revenge over moving on. potentially, we could also explore brunt’s budding friendship with the mechanic, who we never see again after that one episode, as well as a reflection upon this from her adult self. 

gray & the freaking mind control thing & his moral struggles: *sighs* i can see what the show is going for, but i really just don’t see it in the execution. the way that gray struggles with morality is like it’s an on and off switch. he’s either graham, basic civilian, or crackle, basically evil. in that one episode, he flip flops between being overly heroic, even taking out time from his day to specifically track down a random kid to return his wallet instead of just dropping it off at the police station or leaving it where he found it. and then the flip side is like he’s just robotically relapsing into stealing mode, where he just suddenly has to impluse to steal literally anything. i feel like this flip flop wasn’t really a good portrayal of his struggle and didn’t really demonstrate many active choices made by him. and the way that he’s just like “i’m actually just evil” when he confronts carmen at the lab is just super one-dimensional. i just don’t buy it that he flips to vile so quickly in the span of a few episodes. i feel like there should have been more active reflecting and the decision should have been dragged out longer. 

also it’s revealed in the finale that gray also changed his crackle rod to not go beyond a stun, and i think this was a nice touch, because it demonstrates his aversion to murder, which calls back to the first caper, in which he’s confronted with killing the archeologist at the excavation site. but he doesn’t end up having to make that choice, because carmen stops him. but this time, it’s his own choice to take that step away from vile ideals. i don’t think gray is ever going to be a “hero” of the traditional sense or have a complete redemption arc, because it just doesn’t fit him. to be honest, i don’t know what the future will hold for gray, but i definitely think of he will fall somewhere along the lines of red x (teen titans) or catwoman’s (in certain comic runs) gray morality. (and i think the way gray returns to vile kind of screws this up.) he’s still going to steal stuff sometimes probably, but he’s not going to straight up murder people. he would probably be the type to work for himself alone mostly, but be okay teaming up with the good guys sometimes. definitely no joining evil organizations tho. 

gray & carmen & the “i know you’re in there somewhere fight:” i definitely ship these two, but i think they’ve got a long way to go before they’re really ready to admit their feelings for each other. i’m happy that the “i know you’re in there somewhere fight” didn’t culminate in a kiss scene being the thing that snapped carmen out of the trance. because that is just so cliche and not the message of the show. instead, it’s shadowsan who does. and that makes sense going along with the themes of family. i think the issue with this i dislike how there is no more elaboration after carmen supposedly kills gray. this is her best friend. i would imagine that the reaction would be greater, since he was also her friend and teammate during the months they were both working under vile. and then when carmen’s brainwashing wears off, she agonizes that she killed her best friend. but that’s it. the “i know you’re in there somewhere fight” is the last screen appearance of both of them together. then it’s directly cutting to taking down vile. there should have been a hospital scene where carmen rides with him in the ambulance and talks to him as he’s unconscious, and leaves behind a note for him to read when he’s awake. 

i just really think there should be a “heart to heart” scene somewhere in this finale where they confront their feelings (not romantic stuff, but more about like shared trauma at the hands of vile and their broken apart friendship). this could happen at that sydney cafe. both times carmen and gray go on a “date” she leaves him sitting there alone, bewlildered. i think the finale should include a scene of them leaving the cafe together and then walking away and waving to each other. this shows development in their relationship, and that they are now closer, but it also visually shows that they still have differences as they walk away with a sort of two toned kind of environment angle that shows the different paths they have chosen. (and carmen calls him gray. and he doesn’t correct her.) it’s more of a see you later, than a goodbye though. we’re also getting rid of that part of when gray says he doesn’t want to complicate carmen’s life in the hospital scene. instead, he’s going to ask for a sheet of paper on which he will write an indiscernible letter to carmen. (the same letter will be seen in at the carmen brand outerwear hq a few scenes later for continuity, but unopened at the time, as if carmen’s not yet ready to read it. i feel like both of them need to heal a bit on their own before they’re ready to reconnect. gray knows he has hurt carmen in the past but he also knows it will hurt her if he disappears without a trace, so he’s leaving her with the choice if she wants to see him again instead of making the choice for her.)

ivy & zach & found family: carmen leaves a note behind for ivy and zach and leaves to find her mother. i feel like this did not handle team red’s found family very well. basically, the whole show is setting up this importance of family, especially found family not blood family kind of narrative. vile blood runs in carmen’s veins but she chooses to do good and find her own family. ivy and zach both choose carmen, their found family, over their racing career. i think that they should have stuck together, and when carmen goes to find her mom, they would have been totally onboard dropping her off at the airport and saying a “see you soon” or actually driving her to carlotta valdez’s house in lydia (the car). i just don’t think that splitting them up via a note is really a satisfying conclusion to the whole found family aspect. and in that time skip carmen really should have stopped by to say hi to the zach and ivy and the acme squad instead of maintaining the air of mystery. that would have definitely pushed the family feel, instead of the mysterious loner archetype. 

that time skip thing: yeah, no. this part was completely not needed and unhelpful. instead, we’re going to have carmen hug her mother at the airport, and go to visit all of her friends and found family, especially shadowsan in japan and ivy and zach in presumably boston. and the time skip will be a few onths not two effing years. i think it’s natural for them to grow apart a bit and pursue their own personal goals in life after vile’s gone, but they’ll definitely be staying in touch and reconnecting and seeing each other pretty often. and lastly of all, carmen will meet gray at the cafe in sydney.

basically, this is how i would redo the episodes for season 4. 

episode 1: the beijing bullion caper. (this episode remains as is for the most part, i would like more expansion on lady doksu and shadowsan's past since it seems like their pasts are more tied together than is revealed)

episode 2: the big bad ivy caper. (this episode remains as is for the most part.)

episode 3: the robo caper. (the scenes in which carmen first meets the robot and ivy runs it over with a truck can stay the same. where we start to deviate is with gray’s story with a revised, more complex, and in depth view of his moral struggles. instead of being unaware largely as gray flops between graham/crackle, he’s going to be a lot more aware. he’s still going to rob the house, but instead it’s because he feels hopeless that since he was previously a criminal, that’s all he’s ever going to be. gray doesn’t want to be a civilian, and feels like the only thing that he can do instead is be a part of vile. however, when he sees carmen again, he’s going to realize that if she got out of vile, then that means he has a chance to get out of it too. gray comes to a crossroads of deciding between carmen and vile, good and evil. 

episode 4: this will be the episode that concentrates on tigress, with a cleo/saira b-plot. most of this episode will take place within vile, and give more insights on the workings of the organization. 

episode 5: the himalayan rescue caper. (this episode is going to get a real makeover. with the insertion of episode 4, this creates more actual space between the last time we see gray grappling with his big choices, which makes it feel like more time has passed. so it actually feels like he had more time to think. carmen’s still going to try to rescue gray, and the part with player can stay the same. as gray is manipulated by malestrom, i think this episode should further emphasize how vile manipulates their recruits and amp up the shittiness of how malestrom is acting. i think malestrom should say something along the lines indicating that vile is gray’s only family left, this is what he was born to do, he belongs with them, and make up a bunch of bullshit lies about carmen. malestrom will portray this stuff as the “truth” and then say something like “we told you to the full truth, while carmen was hiding your past from you. didn’t you say you wanted to piece together more of your past?” (which gray did express interest in a previous episode.) since more time has passed, malestrom will play the “if carmen wanted to rescue you, she would have done so already. she abandoned you.” card. of course, it’s not easy to get into a super advanced vile facility, so instead carmen’s going to be having more struggles with getting in, which is the real reason she’s taking a while.) i want to keep the scene where he says that his name is crackle, not gray and not graham. i think this scene is particularly painful because graham/crackle is kind representative of the two sides of good and evil that gray thinks he has to choose between. gray will accuse carmen of abandoning him, both in the present but demonstrating that he’s still hurt by the time when she first left vile, and all those times when she kept secrets from him and disappearing in sydney. carmen asks him to leave with her, but instead of him being like “i’m bad, and i was always a villain,” he’s just going to be hurt and feel manipulated and be so conflicted. i feel like gray would choose vile, but not because it’s where he belongs but because he’s afraid of being brainwashed again if he doesn’t agree and because he just wants to know the truth, which vile happened to tell him first (and carmen had been hiding it from him for a while). why would it make sense for gray to willingly side with vile because he’s “throughly bad?” actions speak louder than words, and it’s clear that he’s definitely not evil enough for vile. 

episode 6: the vile history caper. (we’re just going to keep this episode as is for the most part. but like more el topo and le chevre moments.) 

episode 7: this will be the coach brunt backstory episode, piggybacking off of her hurt feelings about maelstrom’s intended betrayal. 

episode 8: the egyptian decryption caper. (this one is just going to be as is for the most part. the cleaners kidnap carmen, but we’re going insert one more painstaking scene of gray learning of vile’s plan to kidnap carmen. he’s not going to know they are planning to brainwash her. he’s going to feel conflicted and try to protest, but then realizes that now that he’s stuck with vile, if he goes against them he’s probably going to get brainwashed himself. and the brainwashing was really traumatizing, so it’s understandable he’s really afraid of it happening to him again.)

episode 9: the viennese waltz caper. (mostly just keeping this episode as is, but more worrying gray scenes. i feel like he should have had a bigger reaction to seeing carmen so unlike her personality. carmen’s lack of empathy should have pushed himself to question if vile is really a healthy place for anyone if they’re so willing to brainwash his best friend in a greater capacity. i think gray should recognize how bad the situation is but he still won’t act upon it since he’s trapped in the nostalgia of their old squad and since he’s been abandoned by carmen before, he’s too afraid that reversing the brainwashing will result in a repeat of her leaving him again. and he’s still afraid of the brainwashing.) 

episode 10 + 11 + 12. the dark red caper. (yeah, this episode is kind of just way too quickly wrapped up. i’m going to expand this into a three parter so we have more time to focus on everyone. basically, we’re going to expand this for the angst. and because this is the last season and i need more content. i feel like we can follow the general plot trajectory but with more nuance and include the improvements i wrote above about the finale. absolutely pushing the found family trope to its limits, and less vagueness since there’s not going to be another season. oh yeah, and the scene when carmen fights shadowsan, i feel like they could have amped up the emotional stuff and make it as much as about him being her dad figure as the doll because #foundfamily. and also the extra time gives more space for all of that other stuff like endings for all the characters, and more team red found family, and a bit about the non-jailed vile operatives, and the acme team, and also maybe a little infrastructure rebuilding montage, and also that carmen and gray moment.)  

basically i just want a satisfying ending for gray, and i love him, and he can’t just stare out of the hospital bedroom and agree to stay out of her life while melancholy music plays. 

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