#entire arcs went unresolved

[vaugarde]

terribly sorry for progressively getting more and more annoyed and tired with jn. this show kinda gets a lot more exhausting on a rewatch when you know its not going to get better

#i think what happened when it was airing was that like. it was the direct successor to sun and moon right? #and that was a show EVERYONE shat on when it got revealed. the setting the art change the shift to a goofier style etc etc #but then it aired and aside from some hiccups while adjusting the first few eps- sm turned out to be a joy of a show #not just for a casual watch- you can tune on most episodes without context and just have a pleasant time bc its a cozy show #but also if youre more into the battle scene bc this series kinda goes hard on them #and while the episodes had a goofier tone to them the episodes never felt like they were talking down to its audience #everyone brings up the deaths and how maturely they were handled but seriously- they didnt need to go that hard on the minior episode #and yet- it took fans a long time to really come around to it and stop giving it bad faith criticism #the most popular youtubers were finding every excuse to shit on it and mock the fans #so i think when jn was announced with another slight art shift and a different format- i think we all got a little defensive over it #like hey sm had hiccups too! jn just needs some time to grow into itself and find its footing #and we had no reason to think it wouldn’t. like there were some red flags like how mimey was handled and some clickbait episodes #but we got genuinely nice episodes back then too! the scorbunny eps were neat and ash and gohs intro eps are great #the pichu opening is REALLY strong and i thought it showed a ton of promise for the show #the leon and eternatus stuff was being set up #so i waited for jn to pick up and waved off a lot of criticism as bad faith bc hey. ppl were ruthless to sm and forgetting that we do have t #to work with the limit that its a childrens series. which is fine. #but well…… suddenly we’re in the final arc and its not better. its worse. holy shit did it get worse #episodes like the drizzile one were now the exception. not the rule. #most episodes that are pleasant on a first watch became an absolute slog on a rewatch #the ‘’fanservice’’ feels more like a marketing ploy than an attempt to respect the characters. the production value was a goddamn mess. #entire arcs went unresolved #so it gave me rose tinted glasses until it all fell apart at once for me at the end #but now i have the joyful experience of watching the whole thing through knowing damn good and well it gets worse. yay #echoed voice #jn lb

[revertrate]

affordable housing in this economy 👍👍

#no home #by the end of the first arc i was destroyed tbh #also the fact that haejoon had to end up living in a place that was strongly reminiscent of his mother #and the entire ordeal he went through due to it #both of them had the roughest period of their lives but for once it did not go completely unresolved #theres still the question though

[comicaurora]

What are your thoughts on guardians vol.3? (If you have watched it) I went into it, expecting it went to the garbage like the rest of the mcu, but I was pleasantly surprised by its creativity, trope subversion, and how it wrapped up the previously unresolved arks of its characters.

That's what I've heard!

The thing is, Guardians 3 could be the most transcendent work of cinema ever made, and I'd probably still feel little to no motivation to watch it at this point. It's not Guardians's fault - it's just suffering from the same problem that superhero comics have been struggling with for decades: no matter how good an individual arc or run is, absolutely nothing good lasts or matters in the long term, and the stories are shaped in such a way that "the long term" is the only thing anyone gets to build towards.

Whenever I complain about the MCU I get a handful of people loudly complaining about my complaining, with the general thesis that if I don't like it I shouldn't watch it or talk about it - if I'm not having fun, just stop engaging with it. And the thing is, I have. I am intellectually interested in why this massive franchise is fumbling the bag so hard, which is why I still check in on it sometimes, but I've long since stopped turning to the MCU for uncritical entertainment. And even the good movies or shows with a lot of interesting ideas - good character arcs, fun concepts, interesting planting for future payoff - don't draw me in anymore, because they're hooked into a massive moneymaking machine that will scrap and squander anything if they think it'll make them more in the quarter. It doesn't matter how good the writing is, because the writers are not allowed to tell a complete, finished story, and they have no control over what happens to their characters outside of their own script.

Captain America's arc was set up from literally minute one to answer one burning question at the core of his character: does a world without a war still need Captain America? After that incredibly basic tee-up at the end of First Avenger, half a dozen movies failed to come up with a reason to say "yes," and now Steve is retired for good after getting fumbled through four different storylines that couldn't even pretend that they needed him (the unused Chekhov's Phone from the end of Civil War still haunts me). The foundational arc of his entire character never happened because nobody bothered to keep track of it past a single movie.

Taika did something interesting with Thor in Ragnarok - take away Mjolnir, force him to recognize what it means to be the god of thunder, give him a very Odin-y missing eye - and the very next movie undid all of it. Just kidding, never mind, here's an eye and a new weapon and also his old weapon again, and in one more movie we're even gonna give him his hair back, probably as an apology for all the completely unironic fatphobia we're gonna slather him in for two and a half hours. I'm not even surprised Love And Thunder was such an overblown mess that barely took itself seriously - why would Taika bother trying to give Thor another arc when the powers that be will just roll it back in six months anyway?

I hear Rocket Raccoon has a fantastic arc in this movie. That's great, and demonstrates that he's being written by a writer that deeply cares about him. But he's part of the MCU, and the MCU doesn't let anything end, so if current patterns hold, Rocket is going to continue to serve as quippy plushie-bait for the next dozen movies and none of that depth is going to come through in the long term. Hell, since they're making Kang noises for the Next Big Threat and Kang's entire gimmick is rewriting timelines, literally none of this is guaranteed to matter. By next year, it might not have even happened anymore.

The MCU has successfully shaped itself into a paradigm where the bright spots of good writing are overridden and lost as soon as the writers room turns over, and that makes it really hard for me to muster up the enthusiasm to watch even a really good movie that's locked into the exact same grist mill as everything else. I'm glad people liked it, I hope it gets to stay good this time - I just have no desire to watch it.

#asks #not aurora

[imreallyloveleee]

Where do you think it all went wrong with Riverdale?

honestly, part of me is like, the show's over and nothing but fandom matters. so who cares?

the other part of me loves to complain about Riverdale and will continue to do so until the day I die in the parking lot of Michael's Diner in Montgomeryville, PA at the age of 86. so, long-winded answer under the cut

I'm tempted to say it's the s4 b*rchie kiss. It was so wildly out of character for both Betty and Archie that it's laughable. You know how you can tell when something is just blatantly OOC with no justification? They...don't justify it. They find ways to dance around any interaction that might offer clarification. They mute the reactions of the characters who should be devastated by it. And then they jump ahead 7 years so it's easier to just handwave it away as something that happened a long time ago.

but the thing is, I did keep watching after that. I thought: okay, at least we should get an exes-to-lovers arc out of this, which is one of my favorite tropes. there is no way they would spend 4 seasons developing Bughead as this loving, supportive, communicative, sexy, and almost-unbelievably-compatible couple just to tear them apart and never do anything with that dynamic again. maybe it'll be even sweeter seeing them come back together after so much hurt and longing.

boy was i wrong!!!!!!!!!

so, the episode that actually made me stop watching for good, with the exception of some standalones like The Jughead Paradox and the finale, was the s5 musical. that was when i realized that this team of writers was 100% willing, maybe even eager, to completely drop storylines they themselves had been building over the course of a season - do a 180 with all of the characterization and relationships - and then act as though the buildup they wrote never even happened.

in this case, i'm specifically talking about the Bughead reunion storyline they dropped in s5. i'm not going to pretend like it was a GREAT buildup - and it was mostly on Jughead's side, Betty's character in s5 was basically an emotionless misery bot that had sex sometimes - but it was there. Jughead told Tabitha he had unresolved feelings around Betty. that's followed by an entire episode that lays out Betty & Jug's time jump relationship, and how Jughead still believes she's the one who saves him from himself. they work on a case together, they start opening up to one another. Jughead's so worried about her he can't eat.

and then...you know what happens.

(i'll also note here that there was random bts stuff that strongly indicated the musical ep storyline had a drastic last-minute rewrite: lili tweeted a blue dress, suggesting the song with that line was meant for her character; RAS said cole had to do last-minute recording sessions; supposedly crew members have confirmed this was the case, too. since none of it's 100% confirmed you can take it all with a grain of salt, but i believe it.)

it was so fucking insulting as a viewer to give my time and attention to a show made by people who would not only randomly drop the threads they set up, but torpedo them altogether, and then behave like the fans are the ones somehow at fault for expecting a story that actually follows through on its own emotional and plot beats. we're just shippers, so our opinions are dumb and biased! it's just a tv show, so who cares! get over it!

so, i stopped watching, because i knew they would continue to write without any thought or respect for their characters or their audience, and therefore inevitably write themselves into another corner. and, shocker, i was right. they did it again, whisking everyone away to the 1950s because actually resolving any of the scenarios they set up was ToO hArD. why bother when you could just make every single character Righteously Angry and Incurably Horny all the time, lecture the audience about social issues that have already been mainstream progressive for the last several decades, and call it a "love letter" to your fans?

#WHEW ok anon idk if this was what you were looking for but it's what you got #hopefully this has fully exorcised my need to Go Off against the creators of this show but you never know!! #my capacity for bitter resentment is apparently endless when it comes to this show #rd negativity #riverdale #anti b*rchie #anti j*bitha #just in case #anon

[invested-in-your-future]

Would you do anything about Yang & Blake's "conflict" after v3, or would you remove it entirely?

I think the issue with the show is that the show did remove it.

The show basically completely forgot that those two characters have their own story arcs AND that there's unresolved issues between them. After the show reunites RWBY team, all that the narrative does is lip-service. Be it with the issues between Blake and Yang OR even just overall Yang's own abandonement issues and trauma (Raven story arc was laughably bad and the narrative feels outright ashamed to actually acknowledge that Yang lost an arm.)

One of the many things that I was in disbelief about when the team reunion happened was how it literally did not address any of the issues the team members would now have with each other. It's like Team RWBY split up to go shopping or something. How could and would the team just be back together without addressing ANY of elephants in the room?

I think its crucial to address the situation at the end of V3 because its basically the only way to properly delve into Yang's bigger abandonement issues, why she is the way she is and so on. Abandonement and self-doubt has been core of Yang since, well, ever.

Its also crucial for Yang and Blake's relationship. The foundation IS there but without actually parsing their emotional grievances and issues and developing them, you can't build any sort of relationship or bond there. Blake running away is something that is CRUCIAL to BOTH characters and should affect both of them. They are bound by a traumatic and horrifying event and neither character should be able to truly move forward in the story, both as people and yeah even as a pairing, without addressing those issues.

Yang was unable to protect someone she wanted to protect, she was unable to protect her sister from getting traumatized, the entire world might be thinking of her as this random unstable weirdo who broke some guy's leg on live tv. And now Blake just left without saying a word. And then Ruby went off on her big journey without a single warning either. She is left there alone, her life in pieces, to deal with both physical and psychological trauma. What does all of that make Yang feel about herself? She is absolutely the kind of person who would go "What did I do wrong? Why am I not good enough?".

Its a PERFECT moment for some good ol' soul-searching and you just can't do that without addressing the issues between characters along the way.

I am of firm belief that the show should have NEVER moved forward with all the Gods and Relics nonsense without doing that first. Then again, the show preferably should have never had the nonsensical gods subplot in the first place.

There's enough going on in the world of Remnant as is.

#rwde #rwby #blake belladonna #yang xiao long

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #28 – The Dead Take The A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey

Oh I wanted to love this book so very much. On paper it’s basically made for me – incredibly messy fuckup of a heroine, cosmic horror through the idiom of wall street corporate sharks, grimy and gory urban fantasy full of knifing people in back alleys, the works! For the first fifty pages or so, I thought I was in love – which just made the disappointment as the wheels came off all the more bitter.

The book follows Julie, ‘barbed wire magician’ (it’s at least as unpleasant as it sounds), professional monster hunter, and all-around personal disaster. Her life takes a turn for the even messier when a) her best friend/comically oversized unresolved crush shows up at her door begging for help running from her abusive husband and b) unrelatededly but more or less simultaneously, her ex-partner-and-also-boyfriend, looking up to clean up embarrassing loose ends on his rise up the elldritch corporate ladder, baits her into trying to summon a guardian angel from a sabotaged tome and ends up releasing a metaphysical parasite that starts murdering its way through the city’s occult underground. From there things just get messier.

Drilling down as much as I can, my issues with this can be summed up as it feels like a first draft. There’s stuff there on the page – character arcs, relationships, bits of scenery and action setpieces, even themes! - but it’s all just..there. Exaggerated line sketches no one ever went back and turned into full illustrations. It’s most painful with the characters – every one of them is a caricature, precisely and exactly what they first appear to be with the same beats hit again and again every single time they appear on screen. Which more or less for the quirky supporting cast but like – we get multiple chapters from the perspective of the aforementioned abusive husband, and something like a fifth of the book is from the POV of the sleazy corporate striver ex. At no point does either one get the slightest bit of nuance or pathos – Tyler’s chapters in particular end up reading like bad SCP field reports, with so much self-destructive instituional backstabbing and betrayal it all ends up being slapstick.

Sarah the love interest gets a special anti-shout-out here. Like, I know I’m just picky about and have a low tolerance for romances, but I swear – the single most important dynamic in the book in terms of both wordcount and narrative signposting is her and Julie’s romance, and it is just So. Bad. Every single scene she’s in is dedicated to rubbing your face in how fragile and traumatized and selfless and adorable and good-hearted and damaged she is, and the entirety of the romance is essentially one of those jokes about how lesbians will spend six years living with each other awkwardly waiting for the other to ask them out but stretched across 400 pages. I spent half the book patiently waiting for any hint of hidden depths or surprising twists to her character, but nope! Just a perfect domestic angel.

The setting actually has something of a similar issue. It feels like an exaggerated pastiche of urban fantasy, assuming the reader is already familiar with all the tropes and conceits and making only the most perfunctory possible gestures towards exploring or justifying them. This can absolutely work, but if you’re doing it you kind of need to use the genre as the background or setup for something else that the book is actually about – deconstruction or satire or character study or Wacky Hijinks or something. When what’s gruesome action and drama is supposed to be the star attraction, the grounding and verisimilitude of the world is actually pretty key.

A really tight, tense plot could have absolutely redeemed the whole but, well, nope. The literal entire plot hinges on Tyler, in the course of one conversation several drinks in at a crowded bar, baiting Julie into looking for a particular type of tome from a particular store so she’ll try the ritual he had swapped out with one to curse her – but then also that he didn’t know what the ritual he swapped in actually did. The big evil wall street law firm has a corporate culture that should have collapsed about 48 hours after it was founded, and absolutely nothing about it makes sense for a place with lasting institutional power. Everyone’s morality and perceptiveness changes as the plot requires. The pacing feels like they had to pull a happy ending out of their asses at the 2/3 mark and shove the rest of the book into a sequel. It’s just, it’s bad!

Also the prose starts at fun and evocative and keeps pushing into Lovecraftian levels of adjective-addiction, and neither the A-Train nor the dead are actually at all important to the story.

Just, argh. This could have been good! The first 40 pages were a really fun schlocky monster-of-the-week story! The first ritual summoning the Proctor was basically perfect! I wanted to love this!

#book review #urban fantasy #horror #the dead take the a train #Cassandra Khaw #Richard Kadrey #sff

[amirazat]

Saw your post about the Avatar state vs Katara’s anger at Yon-Rha, it was so civilly handled and well written! I’m scrolling through your blog now, and see you mentioning that you got ideas for how KA could have been written differently. Care to share? I am starved for fan content where Aang gets actual character development instead of being either perfect or the devil.

Thanks so much for your ask!

I actually have a lot of ideas for re-writes and additional scenes to help bolster Aang’s character development and, relatedly, the development of Kataang. I’m happy to share more of them if people are interested, but I figure I should probably start with something (relatively) short easy to digest. I hope I deliver on your expectations!

Since I was on the topic of “The Southern Raiders”, let’s start there. I think there’s a lot of nuance in the way that Aang approaches his discussion with Katara that’s easy to miss (which I expand upon at length in I this post) and I would have loved to have seen a scene at the end of TSR where Aang actually talks to Katara about what happened, and they become closer as a result. In my opinion, this would have made their romance arc a lot better, since I think one of the biggest problems with the way Kataang works out in canon is that even though they get on well for most of the show, they seem to spend the last few episodes having unresolved fights… then they kiss.

I had three main goals when writing this scene

1. Allow Aang and Katara to reconcile after their fight, showing a healthier friendship and making it seem more natural when that friendship transitions to romance.

2. Flesh out Aang’s motivations in this episode, and allow him to reflect on his mistakes

3. Write Katara showing an interest in Aang in a context where the text indicates to us (part of) why she’s interested in him romantically. We hear a lot about why Katara loves Aang, and we see that she’s interested in him romantically, but these scenes don’t tend to coincide so it ends up being difficult to relate to Katara in the romance.

Here’s what I’ve got:

(Some lines are taken directly from the show because I wanted to keep things as consistent with canon as I could while keeping to my goals.)

Instead of having Katara talk to Aang and Zuko on the dock after they get back, we instead have Katara and Zuko reconcile with a “thank you” and their hug while they’re still alone. Later, when Zuko brings the others to Ember Island, Aang approaches Katara by herself on the dock, giving the two of them space to have their own reconciliation.

Aang approaches Katara on the dock, sitting down next to her.

Aang: Katara, Zuko told me what you did. Or what you didn’t do, I guess. Are you alright?

Katara: I’m getting there.

Aang: I want to be here if you need me. I know that forgiveness isn’t easy.

Katara, sharply: I didn’t forgive him. I will never forgive him.

Aang looks at Katara in surprise.

Aang, tentative: But you let him go? I thought you needed closure.

Katara, staring out over the water: I did. And when I saw him, I wanted to do it. I wanted to take out all my anger on him, but I couldn’t. I don’t know if it’s because I’m too weak to or because I’m strong enough not to.

Aang sort of wilts in on himself.

Aang: When I saw you that angry, all I could think about was how I acted after I lost Appa. I yelled at you all. I went after the sandbenders. I wanted to…

Aang takes a deep breath and refocuses.

Aang: I wasn’t strong enough to not take my anger out on those around me. I needed to forgive in order to move on. Like the monks taught me. If either of us is weak, it’s me.

Katara, turning towards Aang and placing a hand on his shoulder: Aang, no. You’re one of the strongest people I know. You lost your entire culture to the Fire Nation, but you’re still here, still loving life, and you’re doing everything you can to save the whole world. That’s amazing.

Aang blushes and looks at Katara shyly.

Aang: I think you’re pretty amazing, too.

Katara also blushes, and leans her shoulder slightly against Aang. We fade out as the two watch the sunset together.

#kataang critical #extended scene

[njararna]

i recently finished vld and i’m like. struck by how dissonant the final two seasons are. it really does feel like a whole new show and not in a good way; the plot is extremely flimsy, characters are introduced who wind up having no real narrative importance but eat up screentime anyways, relationship arcs are started and dropped, and the battles just wind up being a repeat of ‘we have to stop this laser’ and just fights in an empty wasteland with nothing interesting in the dynamic or strategy. when i was watching s7 i remembered why i stopped before the final episode, because seeing that new robeast come out of the sky immediately post-sendak just made me so tired.

s8 as well just…doesn’t know what it wants to do. allura is put through the absolute most and COULD have an interesting arc of being pushed down a darker path as a result of her unresolved grief and continuous loss but the plot of her taking in the dark entity really winds up having no actual consequence on the narrative. genuinely, her and lance’s relationship could have been easily one of the most interesting in the show had the writers actually paid attention to the stuff they had allura say in s8e1 to lance about not having a family or a home or anything at all. it could have been a really great exploration of two characters seeking solace in each other for the wrong reasons—allura because she desperately needs someone to not leave her, lance because he needs someone to love him to feel like he has worth. launch date left me feeling really sad at the end and i know it wasn’t the intention. their relationship throughout the whole season just seemed to be undercut by this feeling of sadness and a misalignment. i couldn’t believe they were really in love, even at the end. they had little moments together and when they did, it was so devoid of chemistry or energy. honestly i really just mourn all the potential allura as a character really could’ve had especially in s8, and how the end for her after all this loss and pain and grief was for her to essentially kill herself, that her best ending was to reunite with her dead father and not to keep living despite it all, that she wouldn’t get to see altea restored or to be the leader for her people she wanted so much to be. it’s a tragedy and not in a good way.

and i think vld’s desperate attempts at ‘nuance’ and ‘morally grey’ characters really wind up sabotaging it in the end; i can’t tell you how hard i rolled my eyes when they tried to convince me zarkon was simply blinded by quintessence or when lance told those kids how ‘allura saw good in everyone, even in zarkon and honerva’. this isn’t how you write nuance, zarkon prior to quintessence had been shown to believe firmly in the castes in galra society and saw the potential of quintessence as simply a means to create greater weapons. the galra were an empire before they went galactic, and empires have never been good in the first place. nuance isn’t about saying how ‘the bad guys have a little bit of good in them actually’, or that ‘in another reality, alteans are evil’. and these muddied messages lead to people actually saying the galra empire wasn’t all bad. looking at the series as a whole, i feel it was doomed from the start to be this way, and its unfortunate. there is so much potential here, and its wasted.

(also the belief that s8 was edited and reanimated is a bunch of bs, while certain elements like ezor being alive were 100% edited in and shiro’s wedding a last minute edition, doesn’t mean the rest of the season underwent major overhauls. its clear the studio was under a tight schedule and the amount of money you’d need to animate a different character over/remove a character for entire scenes or scrap entire pre-existing footage is ridiculous and not to mention an exorbitant amount of work. the reality is is that s8 was poorly written from the jump, and while executive meddling is likely (as always), i think we have to accept there’s no secret s8 or conspiracy. it was bad. when you listen to the showrunners, they’re proud. i don’t think major editing was the case OR that they sabotaged their own work because of the fanbase. these are all just excuses to cope with the reality)

#vld #.txt #endlessly fascinated by s8 its like a mecha id watch and go ‘oh thats…huh’ and think abt it maybe once or twice #like aldnoah.zero 💀

[burninglikefire]

Random Watership Down Thoughts

- Vervain’s sense of purpose is completely dependent on serving Woundwort and he’s too afraid to find something better for himself. 

- Bigwig and Spartina’s relationship came out of nowhere and has the least development when compared to Hazel and Primrose and Blackberry and Campion’s relationship. I’m not saying the relationship is bad or that Spartina isn’t a good fit for Bigwig but Spartina went from being a spy in one episode and his lover in the next with little to no context or growth and they deserve better than that!

- Silverweed is severely misunderstood: He’s a good rabbit but his mystic powers made him an outsider and Cowslip made it worse by using him as a storyteller. 

- All of Woundwort’s hate stems from unresolved trauma from his past. Everything he did was inexcusable but he needs serious help (this is especially true in season 3. His mind just split after the first episode of the season). 

- Similarly while I’d love to see a redemption arc for Woundwort, I’m not sure if he can be fully forgiven for everything he’s done. I think he’s somewhat more redeemable than Cowslip though (he’s too sick in the head and only does anything if it serves him somehow).

- Hickory and Marigold’s design in the 3rd season kind of bothers me. Their designs are great, but they look so similar that I thought they were siblings at one point (this was back when I first saw them when I was little). 

- The Darkhaven rabbits are essentially a rabbit cult but the history of the warren sounds very interesting and relevant to Woundwort’s evil.

- Woundwort, Vervain and Campion’s relationship is the most damaged and abusive in the entire series and you can see how much it affects them: Vervain goes from respecting Campion to hating and resenting him while also conflicted about being loyal to Woundwort and being sick of him, Campion is heavily conflicted about betraying Woundwort and still struggles with it during season 3 but also knows it was the right thing and Woundwort never gets over Campion’s betrayal and tolerates Vervain.

- In a nutshell, Woundwort, Campion and Vervains relationship with each other is what break up and pop songs are made for.

- Blackavar was only relevant in the TV series for a few episodes but then disappeared (despite having a slightly bigger role in the movie) and Buttercup (from the winter episodes) was never seen or heard from again.

- I would have loved to see a spin off series about Moss and the Efrafans after they left Watership Down and see how their dynamics and relationships changed and see Moss as a leader.

- Skree is a missed opportunity to explore other possible allies with elil.

- Hazel and Primrose’s kittens gained some relevancy in season 3 (as the junior owsla) and that is why they are a consistent three with names versus the previous random baby rabbits we saw in season 2. 

- Vervain is both an asshole and a coward yet I somehow feel bad for him at season 3. 

- If Vervain didn’t survive at the end of season 3, I would have liked to see Granite survive and join Watership Down. That poor giant marshmallow deserves a better life.

- I think Campion had some feelings for Primrose at one point. I don’t know if I’d call it a crush but he does respect her and cares about her.

- Red Stone warren has the saddest history in the whole series.

- Bigwig and Woundwort are my favorites but I like just about everyone in the TV series. I can’t think of a single character I don’t like (yes I even like Vervain and Cowslip). 

- The TV series is full of complex characters. 

- I don’t know if it was originally written for it but the song Bright Eyes is the theme song for the entire Watership Down franchise and no one can convince me otherwise.

- Bigwig’s design in season 3 kind of reminds me of Cruella’s fur coat in 101 Dalmatians. I don’t know why the designs changed in season 3 but I don’t necessarily dislike them (I actually like Woundwort’s design in season 3 more than his design in season 2. I like Bigwig’s season 3 design too but it made me think he grew old when I was little XD). 

- Getting Silverweed out of Cowslip’s warren is arguably one of the few good things Woundwort did. Why? Because, while Woundwort only did it to serve his own purposes, him getting Silverweed would eventually lead to Hazel and the others bringing him to Watership Down and giving him the freedom and happiness he so deserved. He didn’t mean for that to happen but I would count this as an accidental good deed on Woundwort’s part. 

- Pipkin is the most wholesome character of the TV series as he see’s the good in everyone he meets and can make friends with just about anyone.

- Spoiler but the TV series ends with the Black Rabbit basically coming in and saying: “I don’t care who started it, I’m finishing it!” like a parent whose had enough of their kids bickering.

- You know you went too far when even the Black Rabbit of Inle is sick of your bullshit.

- Vervain has had countless opportunities for redemption but he consistently chooses not to take them. He’s either too much of a coward to take them or he’s not confident enough in himself to try. 

- Also, Vervain is no fighter but he enjoys having power over other rabbits.

- Just about all the Watership Down rabbits have relatable moments. 

- Speaker of The Past (or Speaker, she never got a name) mentioned that Hemlock (Woundwort’s father) had other sons before having Woundwort, implying that Woundwort had older brothers and was the baby of the family. Are any of his brothers still alive? Probably not but it makes me sad we didn’t get to see Woundwort get reunited with a surviving relative who later tries to reason with him…I think I have an OC idea now. 

- The idea that Woundwort might have once been someone’s baby brother is as cute as it is sad. I would have loved to know more about his family.

- Hannah is a mood!

- Woundwort still laughs about that ‘hedge wizard’ incident and never lets Vervain forget it. Meanwhile, Vervain is still convinced he saw a hedge wizard. The story doesn’t help his reputation at Darkhaven as many rabbits (manly Granite) tease him for it.

#watership down #watershipdown Tv series #bigwig #general woundwort #Hazel #fiver #silver weed #vervain #watership down 1999

[fortunelowtier]

Am I the only one who thought the TOH finale felt...I dunno...hollow?

Like don't get me wrong, it was a good finale, id be lying if I said I wasn't grinning like an idiot during the timeskip segment, its just...you can tell that they wanted to do so much more with s3, but they had to cut 90% of it cuz of Disney

Camila meeting Bump and hearing him praise Luz would've been a perfect symbolic moment, I would've loved to know what happened to Kikimora and the rest of the Coven Bootlickers, I would've loved to see one last scene with Caleb since they kinda set him up in For the Future but then it never rlly went anywhere, they never really explain why Papa Titan has a tiny Hooty coming out of his eye, this may be fanservice-y but I would’ve loved to maybe see Calebs ghost speaking to Hunter, hell I feel like we could've easily gotten an entire epilogue episode set just during the timeskip but there was just...so much missing since it wasn’t a full season

Like I said, it wasn’t a BAD finale by any means. but now that its been a couple days and the adrenalines worn off I just feel kinda...eh...

When Amphibia ended I had this genuine pit in my stomach cuz that show had an actual sendoff, but TOH just...didn’t. it left character arcs incomplete, and in the case of characters like Boscha (I fully believe she had a redemption arc planned at some point, but it just got cut cuz Disney), not even started. Plotpoints were left unresolved, things just happened off-camera and they go “yayyy everything worked out”

It just...makes me so sad that this show got axed the way it did, because it made s3 as a whole feel really rushed and crammed

at least we have Fanfic writers to fill the gaps, right lmao

Overall, I give WaD a solid 7/10

#the owl house #toh #the owl house spoilers #toh spoilers #watching and dreaming

[lesbianlutherhargreeves]

Honestly, for me, a huge element of the Viktor and Allison conflict is the ‘Viktor has amnesia’ plot of season 2. Because Viktor had amnesia, he and Allison couldn’t actually hash out their season 1 issues or what led to the first apocolyspse. Viktor apologized when Diego mentioned the apocalypse (Allison not even present), but of course he didn’t actually know what he did. It makes the whole mess easier to just accept and forgive- because at that point Viktor has innocence of the act itself and so the siblings are willing to concede for their own screw ups in the situation and move on this week’s apocolypse.

Allison, bless her, never gets an actual apology for what would have killed all of them including her daughter, or the neck slitting that was extremely traumatic and led to more trauma once dropped into the 60s as a mute black woman. Allison was willing enough in season 2 to move forward, knowing Viktor knew nothing and being secure enough with Raymond and the knowledge Claire was ‘safe’ in a future.

So when we get to season 3, and Allison is justly furious and absolutely done with these endless apocalypses, all her loved ones in the life she made for herself being gone, and everyone having to run around preventing apocolypses Viktor causes through accident, or in season 1, purposefully. For her, everyone just coddles Viktor, she puts all this emotional effort into caring for Viktor, and the world blows up anyway. And Viktor rubs that in by lying to protect someone who to Allison is a dangerous stranger, and risking the entire universe.

Now for Viktor’s side of events- in the span of a week he was manipulated by a murderer, forced into a withdrawl from drugs he was on since toddlerhood, locked in a cage designed by his father to contain him by his own siblings, found out his whole life was a lie- and blew up the world and almost fatally killed the only sibling who had shown him care. Then amnesia blank period, where he does attach himself to the people who find him and show him kindness. Viktor almost didn’t come back with them because even if it was only a month, in that month he only had Sissy and Harlan, and so they became his chosen family who truly prioritized and loved him. Even with memories back, Viktor still has that bond with them, esspecially since the felt love between him and his siblings is newer after a lifetime of planned isolation by their abuser and then only bonding in these in between times between apocalypses.

So, for me, Viktor and Allison’s actions are very entirely in character for them. I could and will write more on Allison as we have seen her and what we know of her through context clues- to see why this dark turn in her character arc is a good fit for where her character is right now. I expect actual complicated morality in this show and enjoy the level of interaction shown. And I see how the amnesia arc, which fits so well in comics and then here, really does bring to head all of the issues from s1 that went unresolved into s3 to be as painful as possible.

#Like so interested for Allison’s story into s4 #no one in this show besides Reginald as their abuser is a ‘villian’ they are adult people with ranging failings and motives #viktor hargreeves #allison hargreeves #tua spoilers #tua s3 spoilers #tua season three

[pseudo-apollo]

A Sinfully Good Book (Review)

I read The Sacred Sins of Father Black by @stjohnstarling (available here on Amazon) over the course of about a day and a half (and it would've been less if I hadn't been procrastinating).

For those unfamiliar, I'll begin with a short summary:

FBI Agent Quentin Day is investigating a forgery ring that is flooding the market with incredibly good counterfeit wines. Quentin finds himself assigned to the picturesque oasis of a town called Hopewell. There he meets Father Sebastian Black, and the two immediately hit it off. The more time Agent Day spends in the town, the closer he grows to Father Black, and the more conflicted he feels. He feels a strong tie to his sense of duty and justice, but is the tie he feels to Father Black stronger?

(Review below the cut -- Spoiler-free)

I'll start with my brief thoughts and then go more into detail. Overall? I liked the book, in fact I really liked it. I'd give it 4/5 stars, a very solid 8/10.

I'm not going to lie, though, I struggled a bit getting through (approximately) the first half of the book. It was a slow start, and I couldn't figure out the pacing. However, once I hit that halfway point, everything picked up and fell into place. From that point on, I couldn't put the book down.

It felt like the mixed pace in the beginning came from the heavy lifting of needing to do a lot of set-up. I can definitely relate, I've been there. You have to get all your characters in the right places, introduce them, etc etc. The good news is, it paid off, more than I ever expected. It kind of felt like climbing a hill, and then falling down the other side (in the best way possible). In a way, it was very fitting as it aligned very closely with our main characters' own experiences of finally experiencing a significant release (haha get it?).

Really, I found the book very compelling. The entire time there is a sense of many moving pieces, along with an undercurrent that never quite gets resolved. Toward the end, it started to remind me of the movie Midsommar, a movie I've only seen pieces of, mind you. It was the vibrant intensity of it, the sense of strength that a small community has, and the way it can fundamentally change people.

This was definitely not a horror book, but the intensity it held was very much disarming, bordering on overwhelming (again, in a good way). I began to feel more and more connected with the experience of our Agent Day, and wow how vivid of a picture we were painted.

Now, this does bring me to another small gripe I have, but I will keep it vague, since, as promised, there will be no spoilers here. There is a major event very near the end of the book, which gets nothing more than a passing glance. It is significant, and I would argue, the ultimate turning point for our main character (the main character himself asserts this turning point was earlier, but this was the event I felt most marked his firm departure from the character he began the book as).

I think this difference of opinion is why it frustrated me, though. Considering our main character from the end of his character arc, it makes sense that this would be naught but a passing event, but as a character in the final stage of transition from one identity to another, I feel it should have gotten more attention as the event that really quite truly marks the ultimate point of no return.

I think that alone made the ending feel a tad rushed to me, but it wrapped up so nicely that I really couldn't complain. There was still an undercurrent of something more that went largely unexplained, but I honestly felt that made the book and characters all the more compelling. To have one final, tiny mystery still unresolved, but the feeling that it needn't be. The sense of total acceptance of things as they are, and that they are as they are meant to be.

This review has gone on much longer than I expected, so I'll end it with a final:

tl;dr This book wrecked me. It was intense, and beautiful, and captivating. It's a quick, but memorable read, and I highly recommend it. If you're impatient like me, just be prepared, and remember: when it gets good, it gets good.

#father black #the sacred sins of father black #pseudo reviews #book review #honestly didn't realize I had so many thoughts about this book but /damn/ I was NOT prepared #no spoilers #hopefully i didn't rant for too long but this is tumblr so...lol #queer romance #lgbtq romance

[barbiegirldream]

different anon but the UA traitor thing was genuinely forgotten at some point afaik. horikoshi, the writer, said in an interview he forgot he set it up after the pussy cat arc and then realized he couldn't drop the plotline since it was still a major point of fan speculation even years later. bc, yk, a UA traitor is a pretty big thing and everyone expected a big payoff. don't have a source handy right now but when he said it post the traitor reveal chapters everyone in the fandom was very "oh that explains why no one mentioned the UA traitor in over 100 chapters despite it being kinda... important

so the initial set up was there, but there's a pretty big portion of the manga that wasn't written with a UA traitor in mind. there's potential foreshadowing during the kidnapping arc with Yuga that's still ambiguous enough to read as fear, but but put him pretty high on the "suspicious student" list. along with some other moments. (hagakure was also big during that time with how many students asked her where she was during certain events bc they yk, couldn't see her. kind of a red herring ig)

but then everyone forgot to hint at the traitor until they remembered that unresolved plot a few years later lmao. so yeah, kind of agree with anon, it could have been hinted at More imo, especially with how serious the traitor set up was, it was kind of odd how it fell completely off the radar for Years. like, it kept being a constant topic of discussion on tumblr and youtube (at least the english versions) because of how interesting a student/teacher villain would be but everyone in the manga just went "oh shit really, you think there's a traitor here? anyways" and then went about business as usual without ever thinking about it again

(might not feel as noticeable for you tho since you read it all in one go. reading each release since 2018 felt really weird since the entire traitor plot just got forgotten about at some point and no one in universe really cared anymore lmao)

Mhmhm i see yeah for sure a I read it all at once thing. Happens in comic book arcs too something that's mentioned 200 issues back was really five years ago and it's like oh yeah lol forgot about that. Also big fan of referencing 40+ year old comics and pretending like it wasn't clearly the vietnam war they were talking about or whatever

I can see it being really all over the place they forgot about the traitor arc. It's like how i keep having to be like yeah this is all happening within a single school year somehow

[vld-has-messed-me-up]

patting you gently on the shoulder. sometimes someone reblogs an old vld post of mine and i remember being neck-deep in it at age 16. have fun and enjoy the clown music

I was also neck-deep in it at age 16.

I actually got into voltron as Therapy Content to get over being burned by a completely different show. I got into voltron (after seeing klance analysis on tumblr) thinking "well this time I definitely won't be queerbaited!". And I was so excited about it. There were two seasons already out and it seemed like I was going to get exactly the kind of content I want; animated, anime inspired, sci-fi fantasy, Found Family, some rivals to lovers, some wholesome interaction, interesting character arcs. And I followed the show for years, checking in whenever there was new content and casually keeping up with crew news while staying in my own little peaceful section of fandom.

The worst part is, through each new season, I never fully gave up hope on canon klance. It was only when the thing was fully ended that I realized the truth. (Which is exactly how it went with the previous thing, incidentally.)

Voltron really was the nail in the coffin of my trust in other creators.

[I was legitimately watching the new She-ra with the attitude of "it doesn't matter how many hints there are or who is making it, you cannot trust the creators not to queerbait you" like some jaded veteran.]

And for years I kinda thought that we queerbaited ourselves, that we had accidentally tricked each other into believing that we were going to get more than was ever hinted.

And now, after many years, I think I can safely say that we were actually queerbaited and the reason it seemed like we weren't is that that's how queerbaiting is supposed to work it's supposed to make you question if you really saw what you saw. Queerbaiting is a form of mass market gaslighting and for several years it was working on me.

But no, we did not imagine the tension and the teamwork and the Bonding Moments and the banter and the support and the potential. It was there, we saw it, we were right.

And sure, I may joke about being a clown but here's the thing: klance in 2023 is so relaxing. The show is over, time has passed, we've all grown, we already have all the canon character details and lore bits we are ever going to get, the choice adhere to canon or ignore canon or rewrite canon is entirely ours for the taking, the ship wars are over, the toxic forces have left, any mob mentality has faded away; it is so peaceful. Like sure, we will never get the potential back and we will never know exactly what happened in production "but at least the war is over" their space war and our shipping wars, it's all in the past now. I think this era of voltron fandom is where maybe we can all start to heal.

I'm actually intending to rewatch the show (a thing I was originally very against) because I want to really see it all in order and see how the flow actually was and see if I can assess what really might have been happening behind the scenes. I want to look at it in its entirety (with a mind that has grown and is much less desperately invested) and puzzle the whole thing out. This is my personal therapy for myself, to look back at it and evaluate it with much more neutral eyes. I am going to make notes and maybe a casual little conspiracy thought web to get my thoughts all sorted out. And then, then I am going to outline the story that I saw in the potential, the story that I think we deserved, perhaps even multiple variations of it depending on which attributes I keep.

And in this way I believe I will finally be able to think about voltron without feeling so unresolved about it. Because I don't like feeling this way about it, I don't like that I look back on these characters I loved and this show that I loved and feel so betrayed and furious.

I don't think I'll ever forgive the writers or the company fully, but I think I can forgive the story itself for being written that way, I think I can learn to love the art for what it gave me and fill in the gaps in my own mind. I think I can reclaim this thing for myself, the love that I had for this show, I think I can reconstruct it in my mind and make something that I can love without shame. I don't want to feel guilty for having liked voltron anymore. I want my love of this show to be mine again.

#voltron legendary disappointment #klance #klance in 2023 #I am trying to gain back the love I had for this show; the love that was stolen from me by the aftermath of that baffling writing #the ending was bad but canon isn't real and it can't hurt me #kat rambles #fandom therapy

[bookloveravenue]

Up in Flames by Eden Finley & Saxon James

SANDEN

When it’s your job as groomsman to tell the groom his wedding isn’t happening, the smartest thing to do is get it over and done with and then tell the guests to leave.

Yeah, well, I never said I was smart.

I might … accidentally, maybe on purpose, suggest to Remy that the best form of revenge is to have a party anyway. I mean, he’s already got catering, a DJ, and guests, so what better time to throw a petty party?

My loser high school friend never deserved him anyway. If I’d had the chance, I would have locked Remy down years ago.

Only, when the party leads to a drunken kiss, going on their honeymoon, and sharing their marital bed, I have to say, I’m not entirely sad that their wedding went up in flames.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/124945464-up-in-flames

June 18, 2023

My Review: 5/5 Stars

Sanden has had feelings for Remy since the moment they met. But unfortunately before he could ask him out, his friend (but not really a friend) gets there first. Three years later, it's Remy's wedding day and he is left at the altar by Eman and Sanden is the one to tell him. And somehow that leads to having a petty party where Remy can get drown his sorrows. They even after end up finding themselves going on the honeymoon together so Sanden can be there for Remy. Remy has had mixed feelings bout his so called fiancé for a while now and after being left at the altar he begins to think his gut was right. But things are so complicated. Like Sanden. The man he once had a crush on but thought never liked him after he started dating Eman (along with some nifty lies from Eman as well). And the more Remy dwells on his new ex, the more red flags are going up. Sanden becomes a great support to Remy and things for them get complicated when feelings for one another come to light. However, their love story will be anything but easy. The two of them have a lot of things they have to deal with emotionally. And they know the dangers of starting anything too fast could hurt their future. A future that the two of them want more and more each day. I really loved this story! But oof, the angst and hurt and comfort that these two have to go through is quite a doozy. However, you can't help but cheer for the two of them to work their way back to one another once they can start to heal and solve these unresolved issues of their pasts. But! There is definitely plenty of romance between them and lots of laughs from them and other favorite characters throughout. I couldn't put the book down! This is one you don't wanna miss!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

#books #book #book review #i love books #my review #up in flames #saxon james #eden finley

[kunikiiida-kuuun]

Hey, Kris!! Yes, I did notice that Ango is one of your faves, you're one of the few people I see talking about him! He is very underrated, indeed. I'm pretty excited for his part this season, too! His dynamic with Dazai is actually really interesting, how they're both dealing with their guilt over Odasaku's death and how that drives them.

I loved the first episode of S4! I'm so glad they decided to do untold origins! I love Fukuzawa and Ranpo so much and I think they're condensing the story pretty well so far. I really like the monochrome color aesthetic they went with, too. And those crumbs of baby assassin Odasaku! I don't think any of us are ready for the DOA arc to start, my Lord do anime-onlys have a storm coming sdfghjgfhj. Kuni's big moment is going to be very exciting, though! It's such a good hero moment, his absolute commitment to his ideals.

Also, sorry I missed your birthday again, I confused myself because I was late getting the post out last year dfghjhghj. I hope you've been well! And that you have time to watch S4 soon! *hug*

Hey Katie!! ❤️ Apologies for the late response >.< I was occupied with a lot of things but I'm a little more free now!!

Thank you once again for the Ango set you dedicated to me!! :D💕 I don't talk enough about him but Ango is definitely another interesting and very nuanced character in BSD!! I know Oda and Dazai have a special bond, but I like to believe that Dazai somewhere deep inside still cares about Ango, and is deeply hurt by the way things turned out. We'll even get to see Ango's unresolved guilt in this arc oof :') And their dynamic is certainly interesting and funny at the same time. Ango's trust in Dazai, even going to the lengths of lying because he asked him to...I wish we could see more of their interactions lmao. I want to see them open up to each other too but they're both a little emotionally constipated for that I guess ajsklfslfk.

I also really love the quote you used on the gif set you made!! Even if it was just for a moment, and even if the entire idea was impossible to begin with, Ango seemed to indulge in his feelings and forget about the reality for a second and the underlying hopelessness of it all... :')

I'm happy they went with the untold origins too!! It fits the narrative for the next arc and the episode looks great!! Fukuzawa and Ranpo have such a hilarious dynamic throughout the novel and of course baby assassin Odasaku crumbs are much appreciated 🫶

Omg you're so right?? It's truly impossible to be entirely prepared for the upcoming chaos the arc will bring (good luck to the anime-onlys LOL) :') I'm dreading and yet so excited to see Kunikida's heroic moment I don't know what to do with myself hnnnnhh🥲

Do you have any particular moments you're looking forward to? (Apart from the Fyodor vs Dazai chess board match reveal of course XD)

No worries Katie!! ^^💕 I very much appreciate that you decided to post something for me so thank you for the beautiful set 💖💖💖 I hope to see both the episodes in the next few days so I can go crazy in the tags discuss more freely about the episodes heheh! Warm hugs!!! ❤️

#thank you for sending in this ask!! 💕 #this ended up longer than I thought hahah!! #I hope you're having a good day!! #Katie💕 #bsd spoilers #just in case lol