#figuring out more of the overall pacing and how the plot is gonna unfold.

[imwritesometimes]

not to brag but uh, I just figured out my second chapter and big chunks of details for the overall plot of this wip 😎

#i write sometimes #I don't want to give anything away. like I had a very general idea but I needed *details* and that wasn't clicking yet #but! a miracle! no depresh spiral tonight! AND! figured out big details and plot points and all of chapter 2 and therefore #figuring out more of the overall pacing and how the plot is gonna unfold. #my new wip notebook is filling up already and the best part is it's not half pages that are just scratched out #it's solid ideas. that I like. and I know where to take them. I haven't felt this way in over a year ok let me have this #but my sleep meds are kicking in and I HAVE to go to bed now. #don't wanna be up WAY too late and invite the depresh sesh back #things are happening tho 🤞🤞🤞

[melloggd]

Review: The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures

Capcom • Capcom • 2015 • Nintendo 3DS Played in The Great Ace Attorney: Chronicles Read it on Backloggd: (x)

With every Ace Attorney I play, I become more and more aware of just how excellently crafted and set up that first game was with its original four cases. They may seem kind of quaint nowadays in terms of scope, but the pacing from case to case felt damn near perfect. A first case introducing characters, relations and game mechanics in a short-and-sweet way. A second case raising the stakes of the story and setting up things to come, remaining decently tame in solvability. A third case that introduces somewhat more elaborate schemes, whilst also giving you a break from the "main story" with something more zany, sort of helping you swallow the more outlandish murder method while also putting more focus on character dynamics than core plot progression. And then finally, a fourth case, that takes aspects from all of the above and combines them into one climactic final act.

For how tride-and-true the structure seems to be, the only games so far to really follow them are the first two games. With everything else: Trials&Tribulations, Apollo Justice, and indeed the game I'm gonna get to in a second, they've tweaked with this formula a bit. In my opinion its all been to somewhat mixed results, but with some really satisfying highs: T&Ts changes make it just the right kind of shake-up for a final game in a story arc, but it doesn't feel like it was thought through well enough, leading to a somewhat dragged-out middle half of nothing much happening. Apollo Justice's opening act is one of the best executed cases in the entire series and earns its far longer length by being genuinely climactic and affecting our characters in a noticeable way, but...then the second and third cases are thoroughly mediocre.

All of this is to say, that The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures is another one of Takumi's shake-ups to the original structure, likely the biggest one, and while its respectable in its ambition I can't help but feel like it stumbles just like, if not more, than the prior two games in doing so. Now of course, all of what I've been talking about has just been pacing and per-case quality: Let me just flat-out say that this game nails almost everything else it sets out to do. I finally do get the appeal and love for these games: The atmosphere of London, Susato and Naruhodo's banter, the music, the Jury system (mostly), the Deductions...Herlock in general! They were all absolutely stellar and it was easy for me to both see and experience why so many people have fallen in love with these games.

Yet everytime I think back to this game, specifically, on its own...it circles back to the story and its pacing, both of which still feel pretty half-baked to me. Don't get me wrong, its not thoroughly rotten or whatever, and Case 3 is one of my new all-time favorites. But then you have Case 1, that feels insanely dragged out despite not really doing anything to earn its length a la AA4. You have Case 2 that pulls a plot-beat that it in my opinion shouldn't have done until far later into the story, is overall mostly boring to play and predictable to watch unfold, and ends on one of the cruelest notes in the series that's brushed over weirdly casually. And then you have Case 4, which is quite possibly the most vapid and pointless case I've ever played in the series. It does nothing to forward any of the characters or raise stakes, it doesn't escalate the possibilities for how cases could be solved like the "typical" third case does...really, it mostly feels like its here for the sake of giving you another Deduction, which comes so early on and is so seemingly unrelated to the case that by the end of it you've pretty much figured out the whole (surprisingly simple) story of what happened.

Case 5 picks things up again as expected yet doesn't really...go anywhere. It takes up some interesting concepts to be sure, has some nice character moments and really funny parts, and parallels Turnabout Goodbyes with your relationship to the defendant. Yet the case itself was so thoroughly bogstandard and simple, with a character you have pretty much zero attachment to or against serving as the big bad antagonist. They did one somewhat-cool thing near the tail end of things involving a side character, but it felt far too late and as if the game could have made Case 2 and 4 build up more smoothly to this moment, rather than have "the core game" basically just be Case 3 and 5.

Character relations in general feel oddly unfinished here and there. SLIGHT SPOILERS: -Hosonaga just kind of disappears from the plot at a certain point -Stronghart doesn't do much other than tell you what to do and be the most predictable villain for the next game I've ever seen (written before playing Great Ace Attorney 2) -Kazuma doesn't get to do much at all before he's out and (unlike Mia) does nothing after that point beyond be flashback material.

And I get that its all for setup to a sequel, and its going to make that sequel a far better game, to be sure. But I believe each installment should still be a satisfying package on its own: Those loose threads should look good without being tied up by a separate game. And yeah, it does do a great job of investing me in the universe of these two games, and preparing me for things to come. I love these characters now and I'm already theorizing what all of these loose ends will lead to, but the game on its own, in my opinion needs more than that.

Last note on the pacing: The way there's not a single case with more than one Court or Investigation segment feels extremely bizarre to me. Rather than having cases split across multiple days with jumping back and forth between court and trial, it's all one huge block each per case. It's a bizarre break in the series' typically structure, especially given how Court sections later in the game end up dragging because of it. Case 3 somewhat makes up for it by making fantastic use of the evidence-examination mechanic, letting you examine the whole crime scene during the trial, but other cases (...4 and 5) feel like they do nothing but suffer from the lack of splitting court sections up properly. It also left me feeling like there wasn't as much investigating as there usually is in the series which, isn't really a complaint per se, but is just an odd thing to think about considering the game as a whole.

The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures is a weird little game. Simultaneously overachieving yet not doing enough, shaking up the formula yet paralleling past beats, and it has Herlock Sholmes in it.

The result is a game that made me fall in love with The Great Ace Attorney as a whole far more than it did make me fall in love with this first Adventure on its own. And if nothing else, that makes me thoroughly excited to play the sequel.

[Playtime: 30 hours] [Keyword: Unrealized]

#melloggd : reviews #game reviews #video games #video game review #ace attorney #phoenix wright #ryunosuke naruhodo #ryutaro naruhodo #kazuma asogi #asogi kazuma #the great ace attorney #dai gyakuten saiban #dgs #dgs2 #tgaa #capcom #pwaa #ace attorney analysis #game writing

[residentlesbrarian]

Magic, and Princesses, and Horses...Oh My!

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst

For the first review in this series I am going with one that I picked up while I was at ClexaCon 2018. I had the lovely experience of getting to meet Audrey Coulthurst during a panel and in Artist Alley. It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to sit down with her for a moment and talk about building fantasy worlds and how she and her editor worked hard to make sure the world that Of Fire and Stars takes place in has no concept like homophobia. We deal with that kind of hate enough in reality it doesn’t need to be in our fantasy worlds as well. Now onward to the review!

Unicorn Rating:

Blurb: Two princesses who couldn’t be more different are forced to ride horses together and magic happens. Literally! A great show of LGBT characters and their stories taken into the fantasy realm.

Disclaimer: I will try my best to not spoil anything from the book, but my book loving rambles may give more away than a traditional review. Here we go! Ramble time!

Review:

This book as a whole was far too much fun to read. I tend to shy away from high fantasy novels, even in the Young Adult vein, because they try too hard and tend to have ‘yikes’ level themes, but this book did an excellent job of immersing me in the world without forcing me to slog through an introductory lore dump cringe-inducing interactions. It did an excellent job of pacing out the necessary lore as we needed to know it without forcing it into the narrative. As a writer myself I lean more toward third person narration, but I can enjoy reading first person if the characters are engaging. This book does that really well, even when the perspective switches between Mare and Denna, it would be incredibly difficult to confuse which character is the narrator at any given moment.

The other aspect of this book overall that I genuinely enjoyed was the absence of homophobia. As I mentioned in my intro I knew about this aspect before I even opened the book, but it was still so pleasant to not have the constant sour taste of homophobia coloring the drama of the story. Don’t get me wrong, there is drama! Oh boy, is there, but the homophobia is refreshingly missing. Let’s look at the plot a bit now shall we?

I found the plot of the book was simple while also being twisty enough to not know what was coming next everytime. I did predict a few things before they happened but as someone who had timed contests to try and figure out the murderer in CSI episodes with my dad, I’m real good at figuring this kinda shit out. So surprising me is an accomplishment to say the least. I think the plot could have been a little stronger in places but it definitely kept the pace up and moving when it needed and slowed down for the more personal scenes with our heroines. Speaking of which let's dive into some character talk.

Our protagonists are Mare and Denna or more accurately Princess Dennalia and Princess Amaranthine. And let me tell you I love these two girls so much! They are very different in pretty much every aspect of their lives, and it shows in their interactions with each other and those around them.

Denna won me over quickly with her palpable nerves about meeting the prince that would one day be her husband, but also her immediate want to help in the struggles of the kingdom. As a middle child who always felt the need to excel in what I was doing I could really relate to Denna and how much she put what was right for her family and country before her own personal wants or needs. This chick is smart and is gonna be one hell of a queen some day if certain people, I’m looking at you Prince Thandi, would just get out of her way and let her help.

Mare, on the other hand, puts up the facade of not caring at all about being royalty when she genuinely does care about her family and the people of Mynaria. She was a delight to delve into, because she felt so genuine and real. I will admit I have a weakness for the more closed-off characters who have that extra depth to them. I like the ones that make me dig for the good bits, and Mare gave me my fix. Nothing about her character fit the usual mold of the princesses that society is used to. She was foul-mouthed, wore pants 9 times out of 10, and honestly just wanted to ride her horse as far away from the castle as possible, but the more we get to know her the more we see a girl underneath all of that.

As far as the romantic subplot, all I will say is it was masterfully done with the right tension filled moments and soft caring ones paced perfectly. I am weak and gay! I am a sucker for the rough and tumble character who is softened by the eternally optimistic one, gets me right in the feels every time.

The only other character point I want to talk about in this review before wrapping up is the relationship between Mare and Nils. Without ruining anything, Nils is a guard in the castle whom Mare has known for most of their lives. Nils on his own is a good character who is a bit of a Fabio but always respects the women he woos as far as we see. Which is not at all surprising with how we see him interact with Mare. From my interpretation of their relationship has not always been the platonic one we are treated to in the story. Whether Nils wants more to happen there or not is up to you, but the fact is he doesn’t treat Mare any differently regardless. He is there for her as comfort and a confidant when she needs it and I loved it so much because you don’t see that between queer female characters and their male friends very often. There is always an uncomfortable tension written into those interactions the were refreshingly missing here.

For my final thoughts I just want to say as a writer I really appreciate the way the story building was built into the story. Do I still have questions about the world as a whole? You bet I do! But those questions didn’t keep me from enjoying this story thoroughly and has me very excited for the sequel coming out later this year.

Queer Wrap-up: Okay, so now to talk about the brass tax. Why did I give this book five unicorns? There are two queer main characters who we get to spend time with and watch the plot unfold around them both. We get a world where Denna is more concerned about her personal feelings hurting an alliance that has been in the works since she was born, than the fact hose feelings happen to be directed at another woman. This book shows what I wish we could see more of in fiction, especially YA fiction. It shows our protagonists being unapologetically queer while also having to deal with everything else the plot requires. Outside of the romantic subplot their queerness is just another part of who they are. They aren’t defined by it and it definitely isn’t a weakness. I will say I was torn between giving this four or five, but it was the platonic relationship with Nils that actually pushes it over for me. As a queer woman who had a lot of guy friends it was so refreshing to read a relationship that fit my own friendships for once. Good on you Of Fire and Stars, five unicorns for you!

Links:

Audrey Coulthurst’s Website

Goodreads

Amazon

To close up this review I just want to encourage you to give this book a shot if you are a lover of high fantasy and want to read about princesses being badass, quick witted, and just...so gay. Also if you want to read this but don’t want spend the money without knowing for sure you are going to like it, go to your local library. You’d be surprised what they have on their shelves just waiting to be discovered. Trust me, I’m a lesbrarian.

#of fire and stars #audrey coulthurst #resident lesbrarian #five unicorns #lesbian #wlw rep #ya fiction #fantasy #go to your local library

[bookishbloggerreviews]

Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom -- An Honest Review

[Warning: I give an honest review that focuses not only on plot but on writing and character as well. As this is an opinion, you can take it as seriously as you want, but understand that my goal is to review, not shame or praise the author.]

HELLO FRIENDS!

I’m back with more bookish content for you, namely, review(s)! So I saw this book series was super popular a little while ago. I put it on my TBR and totally forgot about it, but recently I decided to pick it up and read it and OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG. 

(That stands for Oh my goodness gracious good gordy grappling grips gone... I’m just gonna end the joke there before I end up losing all of my followers in one go.) 

Anyway, it was a delight to read and I am here to review not only Six of Crows, but it’s companion novel, Crooked Kingdom! 

So before I get into any spoilers concerning either novel, I would like to take a moment and say that overall, I gave this series a 9/10. For many, this was a 10/10 read, and I completely understand why. The characters were interesting and entertaining, the world was complex and well done, and the plots seemed to make sense, with everything tying back in. So I can wholeheartedly understand why people love these books so much. On the other hand, I gave this a 9/10 because I feel like I caught a few things that other people might not have, or there were some problems with how things were presented that I thought could’ve been polished a little more. (Really, there were just parts that needed polishing and that was it. So that’s what I’ll be focusing on.) 

But anyway... for those who don’t know, I start a book with a minimum 5/10 expectation and adjust my scores from there. So clearly I highly enjoyed the book, and there’s not much else to say about that. 

Now moving onto spoilers! 

(But stop, because if you haven’t read these books then you might spoil a lot more for yourself than you wish and you’ll regret reading this if you haven’t. If not, continue on, fellow Dreg!)

[WARNING: SPOILERS]

(Also, in tribute to how I imagine Kaz would look, I will use nothing but Andy Biersack GIFS. You’re welcome.)

Starting off with Six of Crows... there seems to be a major debate going around about whether Six of Crows was better or if Crooked Kingdoms took the crown. And I would be lying if I said I didn’t have my own opinions about this. My conclusion: Six of Crows was the better book, while Crooked Kingdoms was the better romance. (And yes, you can separate these things.) 

One of the interesting things about having a character like Kaz Brekker is that Kaz keeps company who he qualifies as worth keeping. Having said that, you have to place a value on each of the characters and determine who Kaz really would keep around or not. Inej has immense value, as Kaz can let down his guard around her and expect her to keep every one of his secrets. Nina has value, not only as a soldier, but as a healer, and furthermore, as someone Kaz can manipulate. Jesper has some value as a sharpshooter, but his value lies more in the fact that he’s a fabricator hidden in sight. He’s also easily manipulated, and while somewhat more of a wild card, still easy to account for. Wylan even offers a big asset seeing his heritage and his skill set. But I always struggled to discover what purpose Matthias served. 

Now in Six of crows, he has a pretty clear purpose, at least, for half the time. His skill set is weak, and his ability to make choices is ridiculously questionable, but he at least has the knowledge that one needs to get into this frozen fortress. But once we enter the Crooked Kingdom, Matthias has no purpose. He’s chosen not to return to being a soldier, he can’t commit crimes to save his life, he can’t blend in, he can’t spy, he can’t fight well, he has no expertise in weapons, his whole purpose seems to be centered around Nina. “Fight for Nina, protect Nina, help Nina.” At which point Matthias becomes less of a character and more of a plot device. 

And while I understand we are having an arc of Kaz Brekker essentially becoming more and more human and less and less “Dirtyhands, Bastard of the Barrel”, Kaz wouldn’t keep Matthias around for one more second than necessary, other than to placate Nina. (And given how Matthias seems to have little interest in money, this seems even truer.) 

(And many of you might say: well this is Matthias’s time to overcome his prejudices and show people of previous prejudices they can do so to! It’s an important arc to his character! Well, the problem is... he’s hardly a character. Take away that one train of thought and all you have left is “Nina this, Nina that, Nina, Nina, Nina.” Get what I mean?)

So, in that aspect, I believe that Six of Crows is better written when it comes to the characters dynamic, give/take relationships. 

There’s one other thing that I believe helps define Six of Crows as the better book, are we get more of a look at the plot and what’s going to happen than Crooked Kingdom. I don’t know about you, my friend, but I’m getting really tired of the whole, “there’s a plot! I’m just not going to let you in on any of it because then you’d already see the whole thing and I can’t make up for it in writing!” Style of plots. It’s obnoxious and I feel rather patronized for the writer to feel that they need to spell out the entire plot for me to understand what is occurring. That or that the writer can’t trust themselves not to spoil the plot before the plot actually unfolds. 

Either way, you’re either mocking your reader or showing that you can’t figure out how to write your own story in such a way that both teases the mind while satisfying the need for the plot to be discovered. 

Now you’re probably sitting there either thinking “great, but what about Crooked Kingdom? What about that? What’s good about that?” And all I can say is ROMANCE. 

Crooked Kingdom does have a great plot, and I don’t want to make it sound like the only thing in the book is romance, but honestly, it’s one of those things where you come for the plot and you stay for the romance. 

The plot, while interesting, was a little overwhelming. If you weren’t paying attention, you’d miss a bunch of the tiny little details about what’s actually going on and the implications that those actions have. Then, next thing you know, you’d be reading about how Jesper suddenly has the ability to control the bullets he shoots. 

But the romance, on the other hand, was very well paced. (The whole Nina and Matthias thing just felt a little bit like wasted potential but otherwise...) 

KAZ AND INEJ: I’VE RARELY READ SUCH GOOD ROMANCE THAT ACCURATELY PORTRAYS PTSD WITHOUT MAKING IT SO DRAMATIC AND UNBELIEVABLE, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME NOT SAYING THAT LOVE CAN CURE MENTAL DISORDERS. 

Plus~

WYLAN AND JESPER ARE SLOWLY BECOMING THE BEST THING FOR EACH OTHER AND I AM HERE FOR THE OTHER TRYING TO MAKE THE OTHER PROUD. WHAT A GREAT SHIP THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. 

Literally, I cannot think of such few ships that have automatically topped my OTP within 2 books. I can’t. Not even the Infernal Devices ever achieved that and they’re a powerful duo. For me, I tend to see a regression of most of my popular ships on book two. Yet these couples are going strong, and with the promise of a third book, I can’t wait to see where they go next. 

So... overall. Unpopular opinion: Matthias was a bit of a wasted character, and because Nina’s story was so heavily tied to his, I found it to slowly slide into the problem category as well. Another unpopular (or maybe highly popular?) opinion: Kaz Brekker is a great character. But not because he murders people, but because he is consistent in his actions, feelings, and thoughts and is not glorified to be this abusive jerk, but rather, wonderfully horrible person. He’s actually horrible, but he’s an interesting kind of horrible that makes me want to keep reading. 

Until next time... 

A Bookish Blogger Out!

#six of crows #kaz brekker #kaz #crooked kingdom #book #books #book review #bookreview #bookworm #review #things i love #things i hate #things i like #things to read #things i don't like #unpopular opinion

[babygirlofwakanda]

Not Gon Cry | Chapter 3

PREVIOUS CHAPTERS — Chapter One Chapter Two

CHARACTERS — Black! Reader X M’Baku X T’Challa

CONTENT — Trials Of Black Love, Adultery, Broken Vows and Marriage, Humiliation and Manipulation

PLOT — Based off of the song, “Not Gon Cry” by Mary J. Blige on her Share My World album. This is strictly based off of the lyrics, but a little twist. In addition, I STRONGLY suggest listening to this song on REPLAY while reading to get further feels, but hey..

NARRATIVE — A week has passed since you left Gorilla City and word has quickly spread around the country about the rumored separation with you and the Great Gorilla. From local news reporters, gossip blogs and social media they have been covering the story as they desperately tried to dig for information.

However, aside from the nosy journalists you were focused on protecting the innocence of your children as everyday they’d seem to have detailed questions about your split and continued to tell you about the rumors they heard circulating from tribe to tribe.

Who wants to talk to their kids and hear them ask, “—Umama, why did you and utata split?”

Or tell you, “—I heard a council member say that utata was caught in bed with a hooker. What’s a hooker, umama?”

Whenever you saw them you prepared yourself to sugar coat the answers to any of their questions.

Meanwhile, after you left the Jabari kingdom and travelled into the city you found yourself staying at a luxurious villa courtesy of King T’Challa after making one call. Besides, him being the understanding King of Wakanda that he is, didn’t want to hear about you struggling to find a place of for you and your kids.

Furthermore, the villa he gifted you had everything you needed and more as it was as a two-story home with threee bedrooms and two bathrooms. Coming fully furnished with a pool attached and vibranium infused technology wired throughout the villa courtesy of Shuri.

After showing you the villa he insisted that you stay close to the palace that way if you needed anything or if an emergency occurred he would be close by.

Finding the double meaning behind his words you shook off the warm feeling inside before he departed leaving you with a soft peck on the cheek and a firm hug. Not having energy to question his motives you left it at that and started to unpack your belongings.

With your favorite record playing you sung the lyrics to Mary J Blige as you danced throughout the home.

Wanting your children to be as comfortable as possible seeing as though their parents were going through a nasty separation you wanted to introduce them to a new environment with a warmer climate.

As two days passed since you moved into your house and it was now time for you to go back to Gorilla City to discuss the details of your separation with M’Baku in the presence of lawyers, advisors and tribe elders.

Traveling back up to the snowy mountains as cold temperatures engulfed you, you began to feel uneasy as you had to dress up in the thick furs and headgear to survive the freezing climate.

Reaching the kingdom, you were greeted by the guards before you walked to the throne room where the meeting was scheduled. Walking deeper into the room you spotted your advisor and lawyers and gave them a pleasant smile before your eyes landed onto the large frame of the Great Gorilla who sat on his encrusted throne with a deeply disturbed face.

Judging by his looks it seemed as if these couple of days have been hell for him as he had apparent bags underneath his eyes, dried auburn curls that shouted for moisturizer and weak bone structure that stated that he hadn’t been eating much either. Overall, the man looked like a mess; a cheating mess at that.

When you walked in his head innately went up as he scanned over your figure shamelessly. Shaking off his lustful eyes you sauntered over towards your team of defenders before taking a seat beside them.

“Good morning, Chieftess Y/N.” His advisor, greeted. Giving him a tight lip smile you greeted him back.

“Alright, let’s get this started then.” An elder said, as she took her seat next to the male elder. “So, Y/N tell us what you want to see happen today.” The male elder said, before clasping his hands together.

“—Well, now that we are working out the details of our separation I want alimony, child support, joint custody and therapy for our children.” You stated, which caused the council to dramatically gasp at your list of extensive demands.

Clearing his throat the elderly man said, “Could you explain to us why you are demanding so much?” He questioned. Raising your eyebrow in aggravation you said, “If you must know the alimony is giving spousal support to me since I had to give up my career as an international publicist for America to come live here after I got married to M’Baku.” You detailed.

“—and the child support is to help me maintain and continue the lifestyle our children have been attained and accustomed to since their birth.”

“In addition, I want joint custody because they are at a critical age where they need their mother while also being in the their father’s presence. Lastly, I want our children to go to therapy because they come and tell me about everything they hear on news station and ask me questions about things that children should know nothing about.” You clarified, as your tone of voice rised and vocal cords thick with annoyance.

Silence once again fell throughout the room as his team shared concerning looks, “Well how much are you looking to get paid for on a monthly basis for both spousal and child support?” They asked.

“Twenty thousand for the spousal support and thirty thousand for child support making it fifty thousand idolas each month.” You calculated, with a smirk.

“M’Baku do you have any comments?” The elderly woman asked, as the Great Gorilla grew silent as he watched the discussion unfold before him. “Y/N is a grown woman and she essentially knows what’s best for our children, so I’ll give her the child support, joint custody and the children’s therapy.” He shrugged.

“—However, I do not agree with the spousal support, I see no point in providing Y/N with any support after our separation.” He emphasized, with a sudden flare in his nostrils and crease in his wrinkled forehead.

Abruptly feeling your blood pressure rise with every condescending word he spoke you’ve began to feel your frame starting to shake with great infuriation.

“M’Baku you know I need that money and as I recall you said that half the kingdom was mine just as well as yours when we got married and if your a man of your word like to claim then run me money!”

Spotting the elderly council members fixate their mouths the object M’Baku threw up his hand halting their outburst. “You can keep the kingdom and all of that, but I just need you to pay me all of the idolas I could have been making had I kept my job!”

“So, imma need you to quit showing your ass infront of all these people and agree to what I’m requesting in order to speed up this process.” You spat, as you could literally feel venom spewing with each word.

Shaking your head with great disgust you watched as the Great Gorilla tense up; something M’Baku would always do whenever y’all two got in a dispute. “Stop. You’ve had enough time to talk about your demands and expand on your reasonings now it’s time I do the same.” He stated, quickly commanding attention.

Standing up out of this throne he spoke, “Y/N, you come back to Gorilla City and into my kingdom with your list of demands and expect me to not have any disagreement, sithandwa sa?” He questioned, as he pace mocking the movements of preying gorilla.

“Well, you are sadly mistaken. Yes, I suggested for you to quit your job because you would be swamped with your tribal duties as my chieftess. However, I did noy force you to quit your job. Therefore, I shouldn’t have to pay you for your lost wages.” He explained, as he continued to pace back and forth.

Suddenly standing up you quickly approached him making him halt his movements. “Why are so damn arrogant? Do you not understand why I need this?” You asked, once your anger was started to peak.

“You know what, I don’t why I’m even wasting my time trying to explain this to someone who doesn’t even have the capacity to listen.” You spat, causing M’Baku to blatantly roll his eyes in irritation.

Shaking your head, “I’m taking the kids with me, while they’re gone you need to try and comprehend what I just said.” You stated, before making your way out of the throne room and towards your kids rooms.

However, on the walk to your children’s room, a mischievous idea popped into your head causing you to make an abrupt u-turn in the hallway. Opening the door to your old bedroom you once shared with your M’Baku, you walked in. Heading straight towards his closet you grabbed a handful of his precious furs and wool clothing before carrying them to the bedroom tossing them on the large bed.

After throwing his clothes on the bed you stormed into the master bathroom before roughly opening up a drawer grabbing a pair of scissors. Stomping back into the bedroom you damn near leaped over to the bed as you started fiercely cutting at his clothes.

Five minutes have passed since you started cutting at his clothes, taking a break as you scanned over the sheered pile of clothes, but you weren’t satisfied.

Hopping off of the bed you reached into your bra pulling out your burgundy colored lipstick. Feeling a smirk dance across your lips you quickly popped the top off before you started viciously writing.

With your adrenaline increasing by the second, you started to lose control of your rapid emotions as you ran into the bathroom and began to write hateful messages on the mirror.

Your messages included everything from, “—You deserve everything that is coming to you.” to “—Your never gonna touch this pussy again.” and, “I hope you enjoy watching me give this pussy up baby.”

Pulling away from the mirror you stepped back and admired the word wall you just created.

Smirking at your work, you placed the cap back on your lipstick before you approached the mirror again and placed a kiss on the mirror, claiming the artwork.

Leaving out of the bedroom after making sure that the coast was clear from guards roaming the hall you dodgedout of the room. Reaching your kids room you quickly packed them up before meeting your driver outside the Jabari kingdon and within a couple of minutes you’ve arrived at your home.

“Umama, where are we?” Zuko questioned, as he peeked his head up looking outside of the vehicle.

“We are at umama’s new place, usana.” You smiled, before you got out of the car to open their doors.

Words couldn’t describe the overwhelming joy you felt bringing your children to your home. Wishing you could’ve capture their grins when you opened up the door to your house you’d showed them around from the giant pool, vibranium powered technology to the separate bedrooms and bathrooms.

Furthermore, after settling them into the house and cooking them their favorite dishes you’ve set up the movie, Lion King as their bedtime arrived.

Now in the kitchen, you stood infront of the empty sink drying up the last of the dishes before you heard the doorbell echo throughout the house.

Flicking your head up at the noise you walked to the door unlocking it before opening it as you instantly spotted the moonlight radiating over the mocha colored man with the big heart standing at your doorstep with a wide smile.

“T’Challa, what are you doing here?” You asked, as you quickly pushed your dark curls behind your ear.

Waiting for an answer you spotted his eyes darting back and forth from the wooden tiles on the floor to your inviting eyes. “Well, I’ve just received word that you have arrived back in town from Gorilla City with your children in your possession.”

“—So, I was in the village and thought I’d just drop by and see how well your kids were liking the villa and adjusting to the climate change.” He stammered, before awkwardly clearing his throat.

Leaning against your door frame you said, “Hold up. You came all the way to my house at eight o’clock at night just to check up on my children.” You asked, with a slight wittiness behind your voice.

“Of course, as King of Wakanda it is my greatest duty to ensure the comfortability and security of everyone who lays their head down in this great country.” He informed, before a giggle escaped between your plump lips.

“What?” He teased, before he playfully nudged your arm trying to get an answer from you. “Nothing.” You answered, before shaking your head with a grin still present on your face.

“So, are you gonna let me in, or are we just gonna stand out here looking at each other? Because if so I’m perfectly fine standing.” He joked, as he propped his body up against the door.

Rolling your eyes, “Come on in before I change my mind.” You threatened, as you opened the door wider before walking deeper into your home.

“—I see you’ve made it your own.” He stated, as he strolled over into the living room picking up a frame that had a picture of you and Cebisa. Nodding your head he continued, “She’s gonna to look just like her umama when she grows up.” He complimented, as he traced his finger over your face.

Walking into the kitchen after watching T’Challa place your picture frame down you poured yourself a glass of fresh mango juice. T’Challa soon joined you in the kitchen, “Want some juice?” You offered, as you gripped the handle to the pitcher ready to place it back into the refrigerator.

Nodding his head T’Challa spoke up, “It’s very quiet, where are your kids?” He asked, as he took a seat on a stool across the island. “In my bedroom watching a movie, hopefully sleeping by now.” You replied, while handing him his glass before putting the juice away and walking towards your cabinet.

Pulling at the handle you grabbed a bottle of tequila before shutting the cabinet door with a light thud as you walked back over the island. Unscrewing the top you poured yourself a generous amount. Lifting your head, “You want some?” You offered, with a hand outstretched towards T’Challa.

Politely declining you put the top back on the liquor before putting it back up. Walking back you leaned against your counter with your drink now in your grasp before taking a sip of the concatenation.

Instinctively closing your eyelids you took in a large intake of oxygen allowing it to expand your lungs as you felt the burning trail of liquor travel down your pharynx and esophagus. Snapping your eyes open after detecting another pair of eyes on your figure you saw T’Challa inspecting your bizarre behavior.

“What is the matter?” He questioned, as he viewed your stressed position. Not receiving an answer he took that as an opportunity to move closer as he rounded the corner and stood infront of you.

“You can tell me anything, you know that right?” He assured, as he took ahold of free your hand.

Shutting your eyes once more as you felt a wave of despair controlling your emotions resulting in a lone tear slipping from your eye. Immediately catching onto your shattered mental state T’Challa quickly swiped it away with his thumb before he gently holding onto your face.

Inhaling you slowly nodded before opening your eyes revealing your immense brown eyes.

Instantly you found his own staring into yours making a dose of butterflies erupt deep within your soul. Forcefully clearing your throat you flicked your eyes anywhere but his as you started to mimic the behavior of a bashful teenage girl.

“Let’s sit you down.” He declared, as he took ahold of your forearm. “—and lemme get this glass.” He said, as he abruptly snatched the drink out of your hand before placing it on the countertop.

Pulling you towards the kitchen table he sat you down in a chair before taking a seat for himself next to you. “You can’t conceal your emotions around me Y/N, so tell me what’s been troubling you.” He stated, before tenderly squeezing your hand.

Licking your lips as you frantically tried to get your emotions underway you opened your mouth to tell him everything that occurred with M’Baku but was suddenly cut off by a small voice.

“—Umama, the movie went off can you please change it?” Cebisa asked, as she sluggishly rubbed her eyes with one balled up fist while the other clutched onto a stuffed Black Panther doll.

Swiftly turning around you saw a gentle grin across T’Challa’s face as he looked at her sleepy figure and stuffed doll. Dropping her fist by her side after she cleared her vision her mouth instantly dropped as her eyes widen at the man before her.

“Hey, it’s King T’Challa!” Cebisa exclaimed, as she released her doll and ran up and hugged the King of Wakanda. Feeling your heart flutter at the unfolding of the scene before you a small smile appeared on your face as they made small talk.

Clearing your throat, “I hate to break up this reunion, but someone is up past her bedtime.” You playfully scolded, with one raised eyebrow.

“I don’t wanna go to sleep umama, I wanna hang out with King T’Challa.” Cebisa whined, as she clenched her arms tighter around his neck. “C’mon usana, we have things to do bright and early in the morning and we can’t do it if we have to wake up a grumpy child.”

Hearing the whole ordeal T’Challa spoke, “I can put her to bed if you want, Y/N.” He offered, causing the somber child to perk up at his words.

Feeling the pleading stares of your child and the man holding the most powerful title in the country you sighed before giving a faint nod making your daughter erupt into cheers.

“Don’t think you’re getting slick young lady, there will not be another movie, but instead a book.” You said.

“Okay, can I show him my room, umama?” Cebisa asked, causing you to nod as giggles left your lips.

Laughing at your daughter’s antics, T’Challa picked up your daughter as he rose to his feet and walked in the direction she was pointing out. “Here is it!” You heard her yell, before hearing the door creak open.

Shaking away your thoughts, you stood up out of your seat walking back towards your drink resting on the counter. Taking it in your grasp, you looked down at the liquidity saffron yellow in your cup and sighed.

Tempted to throw caution to the wind and blatantly ignore T’Challa’s wise words you instead took heed of his guidance and walked over to the sink before watching pour down and run down the drain.

Eventually, the act of pouring the drink into your sink led you to start popping off every top to every drink sitting in your cabinet down the drain. Seven empty bottles later empty with only droplets of liquor left, you threw them all into your trashcan.

Inhaling and exhaling your stress away, you quietly tiptoed upstairs and towards your daughter’s room.

Pausing at the door you peaked through the cracked slit and spotted your daughter leaned up against the warm embrace of T’Challa as she was enthralled by the words of the King as he read her favorite book, The Princess and The Frog.

“—In order to keep her dream alive Princess Tiana started waiting tables as she saved every penny.”

Finding yourself beaming at the sight you felt your heart flutter as T’Challa and your baby girl was completely absorbed into the fairytale.

Softly knocking on the door you pushed opened the door briefly catching their attention. “Can I join the book club?” You teased, as you came closer to the bed gripping onto the side of the bed railing.

“Of course.” Cebisa answered, before patting her comforter indicating the empty spot next to her.

Grinning at her response you climbed into the bed settling right beside her as T’Challa continue reading the story again. With his animated voice never stopping even within your presence.

TRANSLATIONS—

“Nobusi.” means honey “Mnandi.” means sweetheart “Usana.” means baby “Sithandwa sa.” means my love “Umama.” means mother “Utata.” means father “Idola.” means dollars “Mandla.” means to have power “Cebisa.” means to give advise “Zuko.” means to give glory

AUTHOR’S NOTE— Yall don’t understand how tempted I was to make homegirl pop that pussy, lmao. Y’all up for Chapter 4 or nah? Anyways, ask to be apart of the taglist! 💕

TAGLIST — @blackpanthersmut @leahnicole1219 @minyara-kun @lalapalooza718 @mysticbrownie @siriuslycollins @therevolution-willbelive @hutchj @xbreakingmidnightx @texasbama @thiccdaddy-mbaku @muse-of-mbaku @blue-ishx @destinio1 @ursapharoh05 @purplemuse @cmonkillmonger @drsunshine97 @royallyprincesslilly @ashanti-notthesinger @barely-emily @halfrican-heat @theshadesofbrown @lildashofmelanin @sisterwifeudaku @mbakuwifey @autumn242 @inlovewithmakeupcomicsanimelove @hold-me-like-a-heart-beat @airis-paris14 @s0eul @taehyungsmelanin @soulmates8 @dakotapaigelove @blowmymbackout @sweetpeachjones @niggarachi15

#brwnsugababe #Black Panther #Black Panther Fanfiction #Chadwick Boseman #Winston Duke #T’Challa #M’Baku #M’Baku X Reader #M’Baku X Black Reader #M’Baku X Black! Reader #M’Baku Fanficfion #T’Challa X Reader #T’Challa X Black Reader #T’Challa X Black! Reader #T’Challa Fanfiction #Not Gon Cry #BabygirlOfWakanda

[californiannostalgia]

Holy Shit Voltron Season 6

They did NOT pull their punches, WOW. This has gotta be my favorite season yet. Emotions were flying, space was beautiful/terrifying, important plot points were coming together, and the action was AMAZING.

*SPOILER ALERT IMMA GONNA START BLATHERING*

1. Lotor: Lotor is fucking insane and the creators played it PERFECTLY. His childhood was obviously one of continuous abuse, and I’m guessing the derision he faced for being a half-breed was worse than we’d thought, because he outright despises the Galra. He doesn't want to hear an apology from the monster that wears his mother's face, and when his father is mentioned, he FLIPS. 

It’s hard to wholeheartedly hate him because we’ve seen the potential for goodness inside of him, but with no one to teach him that genocide or forced sacrifices is wrong, he's grown up warped and twisted. What he did to the Alteans strikes me as especially awful because he genuinely sees himself as a savior of Altea. I think his falling for Allura might have been partly because she was the first sincerely kind being he's interacted with, and partly because his ideals of a perfect Altean future included the Princess in it.

Whereas Zarkon felt like a dark, immovable force, Lotor is intelligent, flexible, and much, much scarier. He fooled the Paladins, his Generals, the Galra, the Alteans—like Lance said, he fooled everyone. If he emerges from that overcharge of Quintessence for a final boss fight, he's going to be utterly terrifying. Madness runs in his family, it seems, and it's rendered more disturbing by the tragic circumstances behind it. Lotor should be proud, though. He has more than outdone his father.

2. Allura: Her Altean magics gave the enemy an impossible advantage, but also saved everyone over and over again. When she blasts Lotor with that crazy amount of Quintessence, a part of me felt disturbed by how sad the situation was. This stupid war is forcing a kindhearted child to push someone she cared about (even if it was a relationship built on falsehoods) straight into madness's open arms. Fuck war, really.

Part of her wanted to save him from becoming even more of a monster, but Allura knows where her duties lie. She doesn't have the luxury of feeling sympathetic towards the enemy. She leaves Lotor behind to his madness. She doesn't even blink at destroying the Castle of Lions, the one last piece of Altea she has left. She's a lion goddess, and I love her.

3. Keith: THAT'S WHAT I CALL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. Marmora training plus two years in the presence of a solid parent figure and a space pet did him good. When he returned, he came back decisive, hardened, and completely ready for Black. Watching him claim his seat without a moment of hesitation gave me the shivers. The backstory episode was so good, too. This kid loves his fellow paladins with all his heart, and it's great to see his love giving him the strength to save the people that matter to him. Especially Shiro.

Oh, and you know that moment at the end of the fifth episode, when Keith nearly gives up on himself? Not caring about himself is what he does, what he’s used to. But at the last moment, he remembers how Shiro pleaded him not to give up on himself, and opens his eyes. That moment he decides to live is the definition of epic. (Also, HOLY FUCK THAT MARK WAS A SCAR??)

4. Clone Shiro: I can't believe they made us grow fond of the Shiro Clone through the D&D episode (showing off Takashi's dumb nerdy core, god I love him) before pulling the inevitable betrayal. Even though we saw it coming, they made us remember that part of him is the Shiro we love, so that the battle between the two Black Paladins could carry a sufficiently devastating note. 

I now understand why Shiro seemed so obsessed with playing a Paladin. It was because a Paladin is what the Clone was programmed to be, the only thing he knew how to be. Add that to the fact that the last thing the Clone says is Keith’s name? Yeah, the Clone Angst was strong.

5. Shiro: I'd forgotten how good and pure the real Shiro was. His acceptance and encouragement is like hot chocolate. BUT WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOUVE BEEN DEAD ALL THIS TIME. WHY WOULD YOU DROP SUCH A BOMB SO MATTER-OF-FACTLY? 

God, I'm ecstatic to have him back, grandpa hair and all. Thank you, Lion Goddess Allura. (Since this means he didn't go through any more suffering after the end of season 2, I'm strangely relieved?) (Does this mean we get a Shiro video diary now?)

6. Hunk: That first episode of him using his understanding of Galra culture to save an innocent planet was amazing. (I also really liked the command structure the team has. They readily defer to whoever has the most knowledge about a given task and follow that paladin's orders. It's a jarring contrast with how Clone Shiro was acting last season. But I digress.) Watching Hunk being a genius engineer in action is the best. I love one sarcastic, pessimistic child who basically has a heart of gold.

6. Pidge: She hesitated once and failed to stop the Clone Shiro from leaving with Lotor. When the Castle is hacked and her programs are being taken down, she pulls out her last resort card. Using that program is tantamount to admitting that she cannot trust her Shiro, and it is a crushing revelation for her, the team, and us. But she doesn’t hesitate again. (Always a joy to see her work her programming magic.)

7. Lance: The rapport Allura and Lance have with each other is the purest thing. He throws himself into harm's way for her and nearly dies. She jumps out of her lion to go help him when there's a radioactive flare moments away from coming into contact with her position. If one of them is sad, the other is there to offer emotional backup, without question. I dig this healthy supportive relationship.

What’s special about his character is that Lance is a solid presence to lean on for the others—whether he’s providing emotional support for Keith, Clone Shiro, and Allura, or taking command in the absence of a clear leader. Funny thing is, he can’t do shit for himself. His self-esteem is getting lower than ever. He openly cried (something he never lets himself do) thinking he failed Shiro. The self-hatred at his own mistakes and supposed uselessness is gonna blow up sometime soon, and I look forward to the day that time bomb finally goes off. 

8. Coran: I could feel his grief for his dead planet, his sense of inadequacy compared to his grandfather. Very pleased that they gave us quality Coran Feels. (Also, Dungeonmaster/Dragon Coran was amazing.)

9. Krolia: Keith's parents fought so hard to protect the universe and their child. I can't forget the look in Krolia's eyes when the memory beam showed her a tiny Keith standing in front of a tombstone.

10. Acxa, Ezor, and Zethrid: They're trying to be loyal to the Empire, trying to save their people. They're being faced with impossible decisions left and right, and I'm curious what they'll be doing next.

11. Haggar/Honerva: She is genuinely sorry to Lotor, but sorry can't erase a millennia's worth of abuse and she knows it. I wonder what she will think when she finds out her son has followed her and Zarkon's descent into madness? I wonder what plans she has in place. (Could she be the final villain?)

12. Team Voltron: Here's the thing. In previous seasons, they were Paladins, yes, but they were still kids. They messed around with cows, made stupid jokes, generally powered through hard battles with the help of luck and sheer determination. But this season, when they charged into battle screaming, shield up and sword drawn? They no longer felt like brave kids going to war. They felt like the motherfucking Defenders of the Universe, through and through. (I didn't think I'd ever be this into a show about color-coded robot pilots. I was wrong.)

The scene where they pack their things to leave the Castle behind communicates the sense that there is no going back for them, that they are permanently changed and will constantly continue moving forward. It’s exciting. I can't wait for them to return to earth as hot badasses and bask in the respect they deserve. (Also someone needs to punch Iverson.)

13. Overall: The gorgeous backdrops, the pacing of the plot, the presentation of the scenes, the action sequences, the sound effects and acting—they were faultless. The soundtrack was great. There were countless moments of pure badassery: Krolia's fight, Keith vs. Clone Shiro, that Pidge-and-Lance tag-teaming action, Hunk's powerup, Voltron tearing a rift into the fabric of reality, etc. I loved it, I loved every precious second of this season, and I am blessed to be able to witness this masterpiece unfold before my eyes. 

#voltron #my thoughts #my reviews #voltron spoilers #voltron season 6 #keith kogane #lance mcclain #pidge gunderson #katie holt #hunk garrett #takashi shirogane #vld allura #vld shiro #acxa #ezor #zethrid #haggar #honerva #vld coran #krolia #character analysis #voltron season 6 review

[oosteven-universe]

Purgatori #02

Purgatori #02 Dynamite Entertainment 2021 Written by Ray Fawkes Illustrated by Álvarao Sarraseca Coloured by Salvatore Aiala Lettered by Tom Napolitano    Purgatori! She’s the girl with the great horns and the biggest body count. Now she’s fighting battles inside and out -- monsters trying to kill her in the trackless forests of Europe, and witches trying to take control of her one-track mind. And through it all, one central question nags her over and over – How the hell did she end up in Norway?! She’d better figure things out, or someone’s gonna get gored in the fjord.    One aspect of this that I don’t really remember seeing from Purgatori is her ability to recall the life of those she’s drained.  In this instance by calling forth Skarde and his memories of this place so that she knows where she is is pretty brilliantly handled.  It is a handy skill to have so long as those within her don’t try to hijack the vessel.  I also very much appreciate seeing local lore being utilised like the Draugar since they are native to Scandinavian lore.   It just adds a little something extra to the story that I at least appreciate.  How we see the story continue to unfold and the fact that Purgatori seems to rely upon instinct and those she’s absorbed to figure things out instead of using her own smarts is still something that’s up in the air for me.    I’m very much enjoying the way that this is being told.  The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well.  The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a marvellous job spotlighting their personalities.  The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story, introducing new characters and locations the more interesting things become.    I’m really pretty impressed with the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen.  I also like how we see the layers within the story opening up new avenues to be explored and how they add such great depth, dimension and complexity to the story.  How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably handled.    I’m digging the interiors here a whole heck of a lot.  The linework is superb and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of detail within the work is extraordinary to see.  We see some nice use of backgrounds here, even if it's imagery instead of simply blank spaces they do wonders in enhancing and expanding the moments.  They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story.  The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a magnificent eye for storytelling.  The various hues and tones within the panels being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a sensational eye for how colour works.  The pattern in the brick wall or the universe swirl are perfect examples of what I mean. ​    I’m loving that we see Purgatori being unapologetically herself, of course these witches' actions really should’ve altered her to the fact something was wrong and I find it hard to believe she’s this easy to manipulate.  Still this is a fresh, new and exciting take on the character that we’ve not seen before and this kind of thing is just beyond great to see.  With some incredibly solid writing and interesting characterisation wrapped up in these dynamite interiors Purgatori takes her rightful spot as one of the more unique women populating the Dynamite Universe.  

#Comic Books #Comics Reviews #Dynamite Entertainment

[anneapocalypse]

On the Slow Collapse of Season 15′s Narrative

or, Anne’s Big Fat RvB15 Meta Post

Strap in, pals, this is gonna be a long one.

Let’s get the disclaimers out of the way first! These are, as always, my personal and subjective opinions. Some of these opinions are critical. If you are not interested in hearing any criticism of Red vs. Blue, you should probably just stop reading here. If you loved season 15 and feel it was without flaw, I am happy for you and I’m not trying to ruin your day. If you think this is going to upset you, this is your chance to be on your way. That said, I’m always up for friendly discussion and you are welcome to disagree with me as long as you’re civil and come prepared to defend your assertions.

Needless to say, this post contains spoilers for the entire season.

I also need to give the biggest shout-out to @tuckerfuckingdidit--it is impossible to quantify how much meta we’ve shot back and forth during the season, how many concepts I’ve talked through with her and how much those conversations have fed my inspiration and my desire to actually get this beast completed, so my hugest thanks to red for going deep into RvB with me and generally being an awesome pal. <3

Red vs. Blue’s season 15 starts off very strong. In fact, in my opinion the first five episodes are the strongest in the season, and with that setup, I found myself taking a very optimistic view of the season even as the cracks in the writing began to show later on. I still enjoyed watching, and withheld an overall judgment until the season was complete. Now that it is, I’ve had the chance to rewatch it start to finish and think about the progression of this season as a whole, as a complete narrative arc.

What I want to explore here is this: where, why, and how does season 15 go off the rails? Why is the writing so much weaker in the back half, where does the narrative fall apart, and perhaps most importantly to me as a writer, how could some of these problems have been avoided?

Season 15’s narrative has some problems. One thing that’s interesting to me is that they’re different problems than we’ve seen before with this series, particularly in the last two major arcs, the Chorus Trilogy and Project Freelancer. Both of those arcs suffer from pacing issues in their first season that put a tremendous amount of pressure on their ending season to hammer through necessary plot points and tie up loose ends. In Freelancer, this is a problem of putting all the focus on animated fight sequences and putting almost no exposition in season 9, making season 10 a messy and rushed string of poorly-planted payoffs and numerous continuity issues. In the Chorus Trilogy, the plot effectively doesn’t arrive until the end of the first season, which results in a third season that could easily be two, and ends up dropping some compelling plot threads without resolution. I would put forth that the closing season of both arcs is technically the strongest, but mostly because there’s no time left to meander and the plot has no choice but to move.

By contrast, season 15 starts out extremely well-paced, which gave me high hopes for what it would deliver later. What could be considered the first act of season 15, the first five episodes, are very tightly-written, and it’s not until the second act that the cracks start to show. You could easily argue that this is simply because season 15 is a one-season arc; there’s no time for a meandering first act, so the season needs to open strong, and that may well be true. But this doesn’t explain why the narrative begins to weaken in the second act, why certain plot points feel a bit forced, and why the climax itself lacks tension.

Hitting the Ground Running

I love episode 1. I love it. As a cold open to a brand new story arc with brand new characters, it’s fantastic. The dialogue is quick, witty, and engaging. Characters with under two minutes of screentime capture my heart instantly. The theme of “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction” is introduced through an apparently-insignificant piece of dialogue. Our villains are introduced, shrouded in mystery, their disparate weapons subtly highlighted for the audience to begin unpacking immediately. Though we do not yet know whether we’ve seen our Reds and Blues, they are a constant topic of conversation, reassuring viewers that this story is very much centered around our old favorites.

Dylan Andrews’ reporting serves as a vehicle for exposition that doesn’t feel shoehorned; her conversation with Carlos is also informative as well as highly entertaining. Her creative thinking and tenacity for a story make her an instant favorite.

Honestly, it’s a near-flawless premier. Tightly-written, surprising, engaging, with a balance of humor and drama, it sets the tone for a very promising story.

Dylan herself is a strong character. She’s highly motivated--just enough to be flawed, not enough to be unsympathetic. She serves as a very effective audience proxy, hunting down the plot and letting us see it unfold through her eyes, while at the same time getting a solid amount of characterization in her own right. “The Chronicle” shows her professionalism but also her low tolerance for bullshit and occasionally short temper; “Mother of Destruction” establishes her adeptness in combat situations; “Chorus Lessons” shows that her tenacity for a story may turn unscrupulous in a pinch.

The next three episodes follow Dylan as she attempts to track down the Reds and Blues, and the fifth relates their adventures between the end of the Chorus trilogy and the present day. I wrote early on about these episodes being good television, in that each one functions well as a mini-arc in which our POV character has a problem to solve, and solves it via some creative solution, leading into the next episode’s problem, all of which chain together effectively to further the main arc. Everything I said in that post is still true and I stand behind it. Those episodes are tightly-written, well-paced, and compelling. Each small reveal is really Dylan giving voice to what the audience is already figuring out, and that makes the audience feel both engaged and satisfied.

“Previously On” isn’t a perfect episode, but in terms of character writing, it contains some of my favorite in this season, biases fully acknowledged--I love the development Carolina gets as she’s finally allowed to interact directly with the Reds and Blues and show that she’s a part of the family, rather than just saying so. “Reacts,” the episode that follows, stays relatively strong as well, with a serious twist of character development for Grif and solid relationship development for Wash and Tucker.

This is as good a point as any to mention that this season hasn’t been without its share of cringey jokes, and those early episodes are no exception (“bi phase,” the whole Temple of Procreation business, and the Grimmons, oh the Grimmons, we’ll get to you eventually), but as they’ve all been pretty thoroughly discussed and deconstructed during the season, I’m not going to focus heavily on them here. That’s not to say they don’t matter. But for the purposes of this post, I’m primarily concerned with the structural issues of season 15--the things that really can only be examined effectively in big-picture mode.

Those early episode aren’t without hiccups in character writing either--Andersmith’s writing in “Chorus Lessons” is more baffling than anything, and the goofiness of his lines would make much more sense coming from a character like Palomo. But that scene is only a cameo, and as such, it doesn’t ramify very far and it doesn’t distract from the simply flawless execution of Dr. Grey or the pleasure of seeing Kimball in her new role as President.

Plot-wise, the single major flaw in these first five episodes is the introduction of the red herring that comes to a head in episode 7.

The Red Herring

The pattern of tightly self-contained episodes continues through episode 7, “Nightmare on Planet Evil.” It’s tonally a bit different from the rest of the season, but it works well enough.

There’s good character writing here. Caboose’s faith in Church’s eventual return, Simmons’ fixating on Grif while trying not to, Tucker’s protectiveness of his friends, Sarge’s paranoia.

Then we get… this guy.

Things that were completely unnecessary in Season 15:

Spencer Porkinsenson

This character was introduced five episodes ago. His presence has been looming for a solid quarter of the season.

And he means nothing.

I can come up with better “You’ve been served,” jokes that don’t exist solely to reflect poorly on Tucker, but it seems pointless because there’s no reason for Spencer to exist at all. There’s no need to mirror Locus’s looming presence in season 11 just for a fakeout. There’s no need to have him save Dylan and Jax in “Mother of Destruction”--we know Dylan is no stranger to working in combat zones, let her figure out a clever way to sneak them back to the ship. Jax can just as easily serve as the sounding board for Dylan’s explanation as to why the Blues and Reds are imposters. “Planet Evil” could instead expand on the hint dropped with Sarge and his ominous “reflection” in the window, suggesting that the Reds and Blues are being tailed by their doppelgangers.

There’s plenty of ways this could’ve gone. But Spencer is a wasted build of tension that doesn’t pay off for the plot. He doesn’t even have any follow-up appearances in this season, making him a completely meaningless misdirection.

This is the first sign of the plot shooting itself in the foot. In hindsight, it really is the beginning of the downturn.

A Fistful of Retcons

Episode 8 is where the main plot starts to fall apart.

The Blues and Reds (henceforth, B&R) being carbon copies of the Reds and Blues, then later turning out to be a prototype of sorts, really doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny. And it could have held up better, with a few small changes. Surge shouldn’t be a Colonel. Lorenzo shouldn’t exist, since the robot kit was a nonstandard issue given to Blood Gulch specifically because Alpha was there.

I won’t say this conceit could’ve been done perfectly--it still changes the context of a big part of the show’s history in a way that is incredibly risky for a new writer to attempt. But it could’ve been done better. More thought could’ve been put into what a prototype for Blood Gulch’s personality archetypes would actually look like, taking into account that not every event in the Blood Gulch Chronicles could’ve been predicted by the Counselor’s profiling. The death of Captain Flowers, the destruction of Church’s initial body by Caboose, Caboose’s brain damage from Omega, these and arguably other events are potential wildcards that change the course of these characters’ development. The pre-existing relationship between Temple and Biff, too, would’ve been impossible to replicate in Blood Gulch since Temple has no true analog, and that relationship is arguably a big reason for the ongoing stalemate between the outposts. Captain Flowers has no analog and his very presence is therefore an unaccounted-for variable (unless he is actually the analog for Temple, which I thought would’ve been fascinating but was not explored). What would a prototype simulation outpost actually look like if you were to reverse-engineer it from Blood Gulch, taking into account all these variables?

When a concept like this is used as a one-off gag, Rule of Funny can trump logic and internal consistency without doing too much damage. As a season-long conceit, though, the logic needs to hold up, and it simply doesn’t.

I think on some level Joe realized this, because he doesn’t let the Red and Blues actually converse with their mirrors for very long before throwing them into combat, as if to distract both us and our heroes from asking too many questions. But even the fight scene raises further questions. Surge is a Colonel but we don’t know how or why and it’s never explained. He’s taking orders from a Blue he outranks, and this too is never explained.

That Yorkalina Washlina Yorkalina Thing

Anyway here’s Wonderwall Wash and Carolina holding hands on a beach.

Okay, let me back up. (Also, warning for a critical view of canon York/Carolina in this section.)

Illinois is an interesting addition to the cast. One thing I really like about this season is the way it cracks the Freelancer Program open a bit wider than seasons 9 and 10 managed to do, showing us that there were lower-level agents, other squads, etc. That I appreciate, because it helps to rectify the claustrophobic feeling of what we know in theory was a larger program but which onscreen never showed us much more than the ten characters who were already named. I like it. Y’know. Better late than never.

However. This is nitpicky, but putting Illinois in a photograph full of other top squad agents feels shoehorned. What would work much better is to see Carolina and York surrounded by several other unfamiliar agents. Thus, it would feel less like inserting a character into this group who clearly was not there before, and more like showing us a different group altogether, with some overlap. Hell, it would even work to just put York in the picture, since Illinois is said to have been his drinking buddy, while Carolina admits to not having known him well and seems unlikely to have been palling around with agents not on her level.

But then we couldn’t have an anecdote about York invading Carolina’s personal space that we’re supposed to find cute, now could we.

Which brings me to… this conversation.

As a Carolina fan who’s long had an interest in her relationship with Wash, I’ve been waiting for them to have an actual talk since season 10 ended, and by the end of season 13, I’d just resigned myself to the fact that it was never going to happen--that a cooperative fight scene was about the best I could hope for. So when I saw Carolina and Wash alone on that beach, you better believe I perked up.

To say that this scene sent viewers some… mixed signals is an understatement. The opening motif of “Carolina in the Morning” immediately evokes memories of her relationship with York; later, the scene lingers on the image of Carolina and Wash holding hands while staring into the sunrise, right after Wash prevents her from throwing York’s lighter into the water. Followed by a gag in which Wash seemingly-obliviously asks Carolina to take her armor off so that he can reactivate her Recovery beacon.

(Nitpick: by all established canon, the Recovery beacons don’t activate unless an agent is dead or dying. That’s why nobody catches up with the rogue agents like the Dakotas and York and Tex until they start dying. Further nitpick: if they do allow for the tracking of an uninjured agent, then the idea that Carolina needed Wash to deactivate her beacon is pretty silly, given that she was missing and presumably in hiding for years such that Wash himself, a Recovery agent, believed she was dead. She would have had to find a way to deactivate her own beacon not long after her disappearance simply to stay hidden.)

I genuinely have no idea what Joe was trying to convey with the hand-holding. If it didn’t mean anything in particular, he sure did slam the panic button in the fandom for nothing. My feelings about Washlina are irrelevant here--I have no issue with the ship, and in fact enjoy many fan portrayals of it. But we certainly could’ve lived without the explosion of ship hate and pained discourse it sparked in the fandom, and I know some shippers who can say the same. Rarely do I have any desire to see my RvB ships made canon, including my most beloved ones; given the criticisms I do have of some existing canon ships, I would much rather be left to the freedom of my imagination than saddled with a portrayal that will then color every fan interpretation, for better or for worse.

And in hindsight, this mixed message feels like another red herring, a distraction from the more compelling questions about the direction of the plot at this critical midseason point.

But what I am really interested in unpacking is the content of their conversation.

Things that were completely unnecessary in Season 15:

Spencer Porkinsenson

A conversation about York

Shipping biases fully acknowledged, what purpose did the subject of York, specifically, serve to a) the plot, b) Carolina or Wash’s relationship development, or c) their characterization individually?

As far as I can see it served no purpose to the plot. Nothing from this point forward has anything to do with York. Nor does it particularly serve Wash and Carolina’s relationship development, since their brief moment of closeness is dropped and never raised again. The idea of fresh starts is raised, first by Illinois’ seemingly idyllic post-Project life, and subsequently by Carolina’s regrets about York, which, fine--but as I wrote after this episode aired, it seems very late in Carolina’s story arc for her to be questioning her the prospect of starting over when she’s already done that. In season 13, she calls the Reds and Blues her family, and in episode 5 she certainly behaves like she’s come to believe that. So to question whether a fresh start is possible seems completely out of place in the timeline here, when she’s very clearly already had one, and has finally begun to truly embrace it.

The sole point that conversation raises that has any later relevance is Carolina’s desire for non-lethality. And that’s… well, let’s put a pin in that. What’s noteworthy for now is that this still has nothing specifically to do with York, only with Carolina’s self-image, past and present.

You know who would’ve been a very compelling topic of conversation for Carolina and Wash--relevant to the plot, to their relationship, to each of them individually?

Epsilon. You know, Church? Carolina’s brother figure whom she lost less than a year ago and is still mourning? With whom Wash has a painful and complicated history that they have never talked about despite Carolina teaming up with him for the entirety of the Chorus trilogy? The thing that just spurred them all to action in the first place?

Carolina and Wash are years overdue for a talk about Epsilon. It practically writes itself. And instead we get a conversation about York, who in terms of this season is relevant to basically nothing.

This is one of those scenes that I can only guess was written not for plot relevance, not for character development, but for maximum Feels™, and as such, it not only feels out of place, but misses the opportunity for much more pertinent conversation.

This is not the only instance of For the Feels™ writing this season, nor is it the most egregious, cheap, or manipulative, so put a pin in that, too.

The Game Was Rigged From the Start

Instead of debating whether or not Tucker’s writing was out of character this season (you can make a strong argument either way), let me ask instead: how much more interesting would our villain be if Tucker’s trust was harder-won? How much more interesting would Tucker be this season if we didn’t have to come up with reasons why he is behaving so impulsively, why he is so susceptible to a stranger’s flattery? Other fans have raised the point of Tucker’s experiences on Chorus, but I’ll even go back further: Tucker was stranded alone in the desert for months fending off Fake CT and his goons, probably after initially believing Fake CT’s story about who he was. Felix was by no means Tucker’s first lesson in not trusting strangers. Yes, Tucker is grieving. Yes, he is vulnerable. But what if we got to see his vulnerability manifest differently--in pulling close to his remaining little family and distrusting outsiders who presume to know him and what he’s been through? How much more interesting does that make this season and his whole arc within it?

The problem is, that can’t happen, because The Plot won’t let it--and not just for Tucker.

The Reds and Blues are very scattered during this season. Their behavior while at Temple’s base is such a far cry from the unified front they displayed at the end of season 13. Again, you can come up with reasons for this: the doppelgangers have them rattled, they all got sick of each other on the moon due to boredom, etc. But these people are no stranger to living in close proximity, to standing around talking. The moon seems to have provided a lot more entertainment than some of their quieter times in Blood Gulch or Valhalla, and in fact they do seem to be having fun in a lot of those flashbacks--the rock band, for example, and the water park before its untimely demise--so I’m not sure that argument really holds up.

Grif’s decision to break with the group works because it’s sold well--because it makes use of what we already know of Grif’s character, and it plants compelling tension between him and the others, especially Simmons. Doc’s loyalty to the B&R could work, but it lacks follow-up when he switches side so easily at the end. Sarge’s turn is propped up by his need for a fight, but it’s a weak premise when he clearly has a fight on his hands either way.

And it’s only because Sarge and Doc side with Temple that Tucker and his remaining companions are outnumbered and forced to flee rather than fight. They then spend the next two episodes sitting in a cell, waiting for someone else to come rescue them.

Why does this happen? Why shouldn’t they hold their own against the Blues and Reds? Tucker is right on that account: these enemies are no match for them. They fought much deadlier enemies on Chorus. They survived what could have been a devastating last stand on Hargrove’s ship, and they did so with total unit integrity, so what is this?

Their team cohesion really doesn’t return until episode 20, when they finally begin to function like the team we’ve seen before, because The Plot is finally allowing them to do so.

And that’s just the problem: too many things this season happen just because the writer wants them to. There is a checklist of events that need to happen, so the characters are written to make them happen. And in a character-driven universe like RvB, when the characters aren’t driving the plot, but the reverse, we notice. This happened in Freelancer, too, particularly in season 10. Events happen just because they have to, not because they’re consistent with what spotty development we’ve been given for these characters.

It's not that these actions can't be explained. You can come up with an in-world explanation for just about anything if you're creative. The problem isn’t that the any of these characters are blatantly and obviously out of character. The problem is that the plot is driving the characters’ actions rather than the other way around. Tucker and the Reds and Blues are not allowed to demonstrate the full range of strengths their thirteen years of character development have given them, because their enemy is just not that smart or creative, and his team is just not as strong as the Reds and Blues should be.

Your villain has to be a match for your hero in order for the story to be interesting. And the problem with Temple is, he’s not. He’s the kind of villain who might’ve been a match for the Reds and Blues pre-Chorus, but not now. They’ve just been through so much that he and his team haven’t--which is, again, a big part of why the doppelganger conceit feels so off at this point in the timeline. B&R shouldn’t be so like the Reds and Blues, they shouldn’t be on their level unless they’ve been put through their own crucible comparable to what the Reds and Blues have experienced. But we just don’t have any evidence that they have.

So Tucker’s competence and cleverness has to be dialed back, the Reds and Blues have to splinter with no real explanation. Like season 12 allowing Felix to stab Carolina in the leg, this feels like a nerfing, only more subtle, and an emotional one instead of a physical one.

Tucker and Caboose, in particular, appear highly motivated when they first spring into action upon hearing Church’s message, but once they find the B&R, too much time goes by in which Temple is clearly stalling them, and yet they do not press for more information or for quicker action. Tucker is only allowed to entertain a hint of skepticism at Dylan’s prompting, so that she can move the plot forward. His motivation, and that of the Reds and Blues as a whole, wanes because the plot needs it to, and with it goes the tension. Our core characters are not driving the plot, but being driven by it, and that weakens both the characters and the story.

Which brings us to…

The Accidental Protagonist and the POV Problem

So, this is where we come back to Dylan’s role as audience proxy, and where it starts doing the story more harm than good.

Dylan is a compelling character this season not just because she has good dialogue or because she is sympathetic, but because she is highly motivated and her motivation largely drives the story, to the point that I would argue really, she’s the protagonist. Most of this wouldn’t even have happened if Dylan hadn’t hunted down the Reds and Blues on their vacation moon and dragged them kicking and screaming into the plot. And it’s her investigation into Temple that creates the tension to move us forward to endgame once Carolina and Wash are trapped in armor lock. This is lampshaded by Jax making a comment about driving the plot forward.

But Jax shouldn’t be the one driving the plot forward, and neither should Dylan at this point. It should be the Reds and Blues. This should be their story. But it isn’t. It’s not framed that way.

If Dylan is the audience proxy, then Jax is the author proxy, literally Joe’s voice in his own story. As such, Jax’s constant fourth-wall breaking allows Joe to lampshade the weaknesses of his own writing without actually fixing them. There’s only so many times this technique is cute. (Twice is probably the upper limit.) I actually like a lot of fourth-wall breaking jokes in and of themselves--there’s a long tradition of that sort of thing in RvB (“We’re out of parts because we overused that joke!”) and it’s one I’m rather fond of, though your mileage may vary. Cumulatively, though, this constant lampshading doesn’t so much weaken the narrative as highlight its existing weaknesses, which I think is why so many fans so quickly grew annoyed with Jax. While I like him as a character in-world, I certainly understand why many don’t.

Initially, Dylan’s role works very effectively. She needs to know more than our heroes in the beginning, because her role in the plot is to deliver them their quest. This changes once the Reds and Blues reclaim their active, onscreen role in the story. Dylan and Jax take a backseat for a bit, and rightly so. But in the two-episode flashback “Blue vs. Red,” Dylan reassumes her role as the POV character, and unlike before, this now creates a glaring problem that is never solved or even addressed.

Temple monologues his Tragic Backstory at Dylan and Jax only. Right away, this is a problem. It’s clear that Temple wants to be heard, wants his grievances aired, but generally, villains like this want the people they’re hurting to know why they’re being hurt. And yet Temple doesn’t tell Carolina and Wash, only commenting on how he feared she would recognize him. Of course, Joe doesn’t want to reveal Temple’s true identity in episode 10; he wants to keep something back to create tension, but there are other ways Temple’s monologue could’ve been addressed to the people it was actually for.

As it stands, our reporters are the only people who ever heard Temple’s story… because Dylan is the protagonist of this season, and the resolution to it is Dylan getting her story, not Carolina and Wash understanding why they were put through this hell. The season ends with Carolina presumably never knowing what Temple’s grudge against her even was. We get a satisfactory conclusion for Dylan, but not for the core characters we love, and this is a massive oversight.

There’s another problem with Temple’s Tragic Backstory as told to Dylan, and that’s the problem of whose point-of-view is framing the story as we see it. It should be Temple, and thus we should only see what Temple would himself have seen and known about… except the two opening scenes in episode 13 are impossible for Temple to have seen. I hate to say they shouldn’t be there at all, because in truth they are my favorite parts of the flashback and I think the most effective. The sim base fight itself is critically lacking in the animation department, the dialogue is much more hackneyed at points. Most importantly, the reminder of the Director’s manipulation and the intense pressure Carolina is under offers some context for her actions.

But the fight scene itself almost requires the assumption of an unreliable narrator to smooth over some of its more noticeable, uh, gaffs (to say nothing of the music gag, and the absence of these characters’ well-established fighting styles, which other fans have broken down better than I can). Carolina’s aggressive and hypercompetitive attitude, in and of itself, is not necessarily out of character for her at this canon point. It’s her over-the-top callousness at Biff’s gruesome death that really doesn’t sit right with a lot of fans. This on top of the fact that the death itself makes no sense--not Tex’s decision to throw the flag when all she had to do was hang onto it to win, nor whatever outrageous concept of physics allows a wooden pole to penetrate the armor’s breastplate, even at a weak point.

Oh, It’s You

Things that were completely unnecessary in Season 15:

Spencer Porkinsenson

A conversation about York

Locus

I have no objection to Locus having a cameo in and of itself. In fact, I’d be sort of disappointed if he didn’t show up again sooner or later, given the way his Chorus arc ended.

My problem with Locus being in this season isn’t that he’s here, it’s that this kind of cameo should feel necessary. Everything Locus did could’ve been done by someone else. There’s no reason he needs to be the intermediary who stumbles across Lopez and then seeks out Grif; Lopez could’ve crash-landed back on the moon himself, and in fact it would’ve been a great opportunity to give Grif’s newfound Spanish skills a practical application. Grif can’t undertake a rescue mission all by himself? Why not reunite him with his sister now, and let some wacky Grif sibling hijinks ensue?

What about Wash being rushed to the hospital? Gosh, who do we know with a fast prowler, knowledge of the location of the nearest hospital, and the press credentials to get past the First Fleet blockade surrounding Chorus? I can’t quite think of it, but I’m sure it’ll come to me.

The worst thing about Locus’s part in this season is it ends up being most of the reason that Tucker can’t be suspicious, that the Reds and Blues can’t stand together against their enemies. They have to crumble and be overpowered so they can sit around waiting for Locus to come save them.

This should be their story. But again… it’s not.

As for Locus freeing Wash and Carolina from the armor lock, that was one of the most disappointing non-payoffs of the season for me. Caboose’s immunity to armor lock is well-established and even planted by Temple dropping the number 8.11 (the episode in which Caboose’s special helmet is mentioned). It is unfathomable to me that this setup was wasted, instead delivered in a scene where it wasn’t allowed to actually change anything and thus had no payoff. Again, this writes itself.

Okay, but how does it write itself, Anne?

I’m so glad you asked. So. You can actually fix the Caboose Problem and the Monologue Problem in one fell swoop. For this concept we need Freckles to still be a rifle, which doesn’t really mess up anything else this season so let’s roll with it. Caboose is looking for the bathroom and wanders down into the basement, finds Carolina and Wash. Cue joke about Caboose thinking they’re playing a game. Since Tucker really should be in this scene too, let’s have him be snooping around for more information (because he’s suspicious!) and follow Caboose down. Unlike Caboose, Tucker actually recognizes this situation as Bad News Bears, but before he can figure out how to release the Freelancers, Temple catches him. Temple hits his armor lock button, thinking he’s locked them both.

Here, you put Temple’s lines about how they’re doing the right thing, and the Reds and Blues should be on his side. Then he monologues, letting all of Blue Team hear his Tragic Backstory, minus the parts he wouldn’t have actually seen. When he’s finished, Caboose tells him he loses the Quiet Game, revealing that he’s been unlocked the whole time and was only keeping still because he thought it was a game. Thinking quickly, Temple tries to convince Caboose to join him.

Caboose is uncertain and maybe expresses sympathy for Temple losing his best friend, because he understands that concept, but he does not think that is a good reason to be mean to other people. At which point Wash speaks up, weakly: “Caboose… listen to me very carefully. I want you to help him. You should help him.”

“Okay, Agent Washington!” says Caboose cheerfully, and helps Temple in the manner to which he is accustomed: he shoots him. Recognizing Temple as a hostile target, Freckles fires actual bullets, and Temple goes down.

Meanwhile, you can have Red Team getting up to some shenanigans with the rest of B&R upstairs. Maybe Sarge pushes the rank question with Surge, maybe Simmons gets fed up with Gene and they get into a fight that escalates, maybe Cronut lets something slip to Donut in his zest for philosophical discourse. Your pick, really.

Later, when Carolina and Wash have a moment to breathe, that’s when Wash asks, hesitantly, “So, that story… did that really happen?”

Carolina’s silent for a moment, then replies, “It wasn’t like that. I mean, it was, but…” And now we get the framing through Carolina’s eyes. The flashback to the bridge, the dropship with Niner. We don’t have to see the whole fight scene again, just a few critical moments that frame the incident differently, toning down the moments of really over-the-top callousness. Temple is framed as an unreliable narrator (something that Joe has, baffling, stated outright was not his intention), and Carolina gets to tell her side of the story.

The Invisible Clock

All that aside, the armor lock was a pretty creative, and gruesome, story device. I think it’s really well-suited to a villain like Temple, who could never hold his own against even one Freelancer in raw combat. It makes sense for him to choose this particular method of execution: luring and trapping, watching them squirm, prolonging their suffering.

Coming in at the season’s midpoint, Carolina and Wash being locked in their armor serves as the second act culmination, introducing the new and dire question of whether they will be rescued before they die. Their lives are now on a ticking clock.

This should be an effective way to build tension in the latter half of the season, now that the earlier questions of the B&R’s identities and whether they can be trusted have been answered.

Problem is… we can’t see the clock. And the show doesn’t cut back to Wash and Carolina again for six episodes, during which the plot barely moves forward--so we don’t get any visible escalation of this new tension, which allows it to drain away.

When we do get to “True Colors,” it almost feels like the plot is tired of itself. At this point, the Reds and Blues have to figure out soon that the Blues and Reds are bad guys, because there’s simply nothing else to do. Carolina and Wash are locked in their armor in the basement. Dylan and Jax have been caught red-handed and are now being held captive. There’s nothing else to do with the plot, except stall.

And stall we do, for a solid five minutes of this thirteen-minute episode, via a conversation with Caboose and Loco, which is cute and plants the time portal concept, at least, and an extended scene of the Reds talking to themselves about their feelings, before Tucker just walks up to Temple and asks him point blank if they’re bad guys. We already know the answer, so there’s very little tension in the confrontation. The real source of tension--Wash and Carolina’s ticking clock--is buried, because we can’t see the clock. We don’t know if they’ve been down there six hours or two days.

And the time question is never answered. By the time Locus rescues them they’re starving and dehydrated, and their armor’s life support has failed. (Why? Shouldn’t Freelancer armor be able to hold up a few days in the field? Wouldn’t that mean they don’t have oxygen inside their helmets? And how was Locus able to unlock them in the first place without Temple’s remote control?) So we can guess that it’s been maybe three days, but we don’t know. And we’re never told. I have an uncomfortable suspicion even Joe doesn't know; the question was raised in a Reddit AMA with Joe and Miles about a month ago, and was never answered, not even with a vague handwave. I don’t think Joe actually nailed down a concrete timeline for this season, and I think this aspect of the story suffers for it.

Bang Bang, My Baby Shot Me Down

All right, let’s get this over with.

Things that were completely unnecessary in Season 15:

Spencer Porkinsenson

A conversation about York

Locus

Wash getting shot in the neck

Wash getting shot served no purpose to the plot. None. It changes nothing that happens in the last few episodes except that Wash isn’t there. (He wouldn’t have been able to do much anyway, considering that Carolina is barely staying upright.) It adds nothing to his characterization, because he’s nothing but loopy and babbling from the moment he’s out of armor lock.

Carolina is at least lucid, and her continued screentime post-rescue very much does serve her characterization. We get to see her refuse to sit out the fight, and struggle to muster the strength to go on; we get to see her fight briefly and collapse, and we get to see her frustrated but still willing to ask Tucker for help. All of these are great character moments. Imagine what we could have if she and Wash muddled through the final sequence together, leaning on each other, fighting to keep going just a little longer, reassuring each other it’ll all be over soon.

I don’t accept for a minute that contriving for Wash to get injured and hustled offscreen was the best use of his character at this point.

And it is absolutely contrived, because you can justify Tucker’s impulsiveness early in the season all you want but he has had plenty of time to steady up and realize they need a plan and have we forgotten that Tucker himself is actually… pretty good at planning? That it was Tucker who engineered the plan to entrap Felix at the end of season 12, in a high-stakes, high-stress situation where failure meant that he and very likely his friends old and new would be dead? That’s what present-day Tucker has lived through. That’s who he is.

There’s no good reason for Tucker to rush out into battle half-cocked. There’s no good reason for Wash to have wandered past everyone without anyone noticing. If Carolina were slumped against the wall, barely able to move, I could buy it from her, but she’s fully upright and mobile a second later, and there’s just no reason for it. There’s no reason for any of this to have happened except that the writer decided it needed to.

But why did it need to? What did it accomplish, besides shoving Wash offscreen, getting rid of Locus, and riling up the fans up for a week?

And it’s that last bit that really frosts me, honestly, more than anything else in this season. I don’t expect flawless narrative structure from RvB. I know what kind of show I’m watching. I can point out its plot weaknesses and still be entertained, and for much of this season, I was. But this is where you lost me, Joe.

Wash is exactly who you would pick if you asked yourself, “Which character can I grievously injure and cliffhanger for Maximum Fan Feels™?

Yeah, there’s that fuckin’ pin.

Some of you may be thinking, “But Anne, Carolina got a near-death cliffhanger in season 13!” Yes she did. It came at the end of a protracted confrontation as an important piece of her personal side plot about confronting her past and moving on. Carolina’s near-death cliffhanger was meaningful, and while it wasn’t handled perfectly (actually seeing her get rescued by her team would’ve been swell for establishing that whole “family” thing), it was part of a larger arc giving her character development that was sorely needed at that canon point. Also, Wash got his own year-long cliffhanger at the end of season 11 that was both heavily plot-relevant and drove a ton of character development for Tucker in particular.

This, though? This was cynical, calculated angst bait and nothing more.

What Are The Stakes Again?

Once it’s confirmed that Wash is alive and probably isn’t going to die offscreen, we have to go find the plot again. Where will we find it? On Earth. Yeah. Earth. The UNSC Headquarters. Where are they again? Do we know anyone there? Are our heroes in any particular danger if they don’t hightail it to Earth immediately? Given that they’ve figured out exactly where Temple is planning to attack, is there any reason they can’t just… you know, call? Sure, the UNSC won’t take their word at the moment, but how about the award-winning investigative reporter who’s literally on a phone call to Earth right now, couldn’t she--

Nope, saddle up kids, we’re going to Earth. We have to go save the… UNSC. You know, the real actual military. We have to save them. We definitely have to do that.

See, this is another problem with Wash getting shot. The audience just got done having their emotions jerked around over the fate of a character that a lot of people are really fucking invested in. Coming down from that, it’s a hard sell to make the endgame stakes a place we’ve never seen full of people we don’t know.

Tucker’s speech is pretty much forced to acknowledge that their only stake in this is revenge. “We do this for Wash! We do this for Church! We do this because fuck those assholes!” And while revenge can be a powerful motivator, we need more than that to build tension for the season’s climax. We need stakes. We need to know it matters if they fail to stop Temple, and on a personal level, it doesn’t--Wash is alive, Church is dead, and nothing they do from here will change either of those things.

So of course the machine turns out to be a doomsday device. It has to, because we have to get back that tension the plot keeps bleeding out. It’s not even a very good doomsday device, from what we can tell--it’s not going to destroy the very fabric of spacetime, just the one planet--and yes, destroying Earth is a big deal, but again, the Reds and Blues are safe as long as they’re not on Earth and in the time it takes for interstellar travel, they could just contact the actual military on Earth who could get there faster. Dylan is already on the phone with someone from Earth, a scientist who has confirmed for her that the device if activated will destroy the planet, and his response is… telling literally anyone important about this? No, he’s going to go get shitfaced.

Yeah, this end sequence has a stakes problem.

No Killing, Unless We Have To Or We Feel Like It Or Whatever

I actually find the idea of Carolina trying to practice non-lethality post-season 10 very compelling. It’s an idea I’ve seen explored very effectively in fic. There’s precedent for it in canon too, from her decision not to kill the Director herself, to her attempts to spare Sharkface in season 13. Notably, there is a context to Carolina’s choices not to kill, and also an understanding that sometimes it is necessary. And I think this whole idea could be explored very effectively in the right context, with the right follow-up.

This is… not that.

For one thing, the only person Carolina implores anyone not to kill is Temple, the worst and most malicious of their present enemies, and that’s such a lazy application of “don’t kill unless you have to.” It’s the kind of thing you see in video games where, after cutting down hundreds of nameless goons, you’re left with the choice to spare the leader--the one who actually masterminded the Evil Plot--because Mercy or Forgiveness or Being the Bigger Person or whatever.

Locus, by contrast, is at least given some consistency in his vow not to kill (setting aside the whole Batman logic that a GSW isn’t lethal as long as it’s not in the head) but it mostly just contributes to prolonging the fight that ends up getting Wash injured, since Locus won’t take a headshot on the machine gunner. And Locus is gone one episode later anyway, so there’s really no opportunity for the differences in their principles to play off one another.

Once we get to Earth, the zealots guarding the perimeter are mowed down with extreme prejudice and no qualms from anyone, and to lampshade that, Joe uses the laziest possible shorthand to demonstrate that they deserved to die. It’s almost an inversion of the scene in episode 1, which uses the opening dialogue to show you why the soldiers at the supply depot don’t deserve to die--except that was effective and well-written shorthand, and this just feels cheap and phoned-in.

It might even be funny, except that we’re still supposed to agree that Temple should live.

That Grimmons Thing

I never expected Grif/Simmons to be canon. Let’s get that out of the way first. Queerbaiting is not “I wanted my ship to become canon and it didn’t.” Prior to season 15, there’s really nothing in the text of the show itself (extracanonical comments from the creators, etc. notwithstanding) that I would consider queerbaiting. To give a counterexample: Carolina gently touching Kimball on the shoulder makes for great shipping fodder! But that in and of itself doesn’t make it queerbaiting.

In “Previously On,” there’s a joke that strongly suggests Grif and Simmons had some kind of sexual encounter in a closet during the Temple of Procreation activation. Notably, it’s something they are embarrassed about and will angrily refuse to discuss. It never comes up again, except indirectly when Jax butts in on their reunion conversation in hopes of catching them kissing on camera. The shot then cuts to Jax knocked out on the floor.

Take out those two jokes and the entire case for queerbaiting is gone. That’s it. That’s the problem. Why is it a problem? Because it teases the idea their relationship could have become sexual, but does so as a joke (which allows it be dismissed as such and not really canon) and in such a way that shows them both being uncomfortable with it afterwards and reacting with hostility to anyone else who brings it up. Neither of them ever brings it up again, and there is certainly no confirmation of romantic feelings that might make a certain portion of the fanbase uncomfortable in a serious context.

Queerbaiting rests on deliberately teasing a romantic/sexual relationship between same-sex characters, while also deliberately maintaining a plausible “no homo” to avoid alienating anyone in the audience that might think that’s icky. That’s what it is; that’s why this counts.

And it’s a shame for that letdown to overshadow all the truly great relationship development between Grif and Simmons that does exist in this season. From Simmons looking on in stunned silence as Grif leaves and seemingly fixating on him during their travels, to Grif’s loneliness and his rehearsed apologies, to the callback to their “Why are we here?” exchange in season one--there is some fantastic material here. It’s so gratifying to see them acknowledge out loud that they are friends, that they truly care about each other, and to see Grif so eager to return to his team.

With all the development their relationship got this season, it wouldn’t have a stretch from there to make it clear that they do have feelings for each other beyond friendship. But if you’re unwilling to pull the trigger on that, then don’t cock it. Give us the friendship development, let it stand on its own, and don’t tease us. Trust the actual queer folks in your audience, when we say: we’ve seen this before, and it’s not nearly as cute as you think it is.

Closing the Goddamn Door

The loss of Church has been woven throughout this season, primarily as a motivator to spur the Reds and Blues back into action, but also as an open wound from season 13 for which several of our characters still need closure. I like this thread. I like it a lot, and in fact would’ve liked to see it used more, as I mentioned above with the missed opportunity between Carolina and Wash. Grief is a powerful vehicle in fiction not only for character development, but for relationship development between characters.

Blue Team has a hole in it. Tucker and Caboose have lost a friend. Carolina has lost a brother. And Wash is probably left with a lot of complicated feelings about his own history with Epsilon and the fact that everyone else on his team loves him… which of course could have been explored for some fascinating tension, but hasn’t been touched on since season 11.

As of episode 6, it’s clear enough that Carolina, Tucker, and Caboose are all deeply affected by their loss. But as the season goes on, it’s really mostly Caboose’s need for closure on which the story actually follows through. It’s fair that Caboose’s view of death is complicated by Church’s repeated “resurrections.” Nevertheless, the fact that the time door seems only designed to offer closure to Caboose, when Tucker and Carolina could probably use some too… well, it feels like a dropped thread.

The time door in general is awkward and unsatisfying to me anyway, given that Alpha isn’t the same Church they recently lost, and to top it all it’s Alpha from the very beginning of Blood Gulch who has no regard for Caboose to speak of and certainly not the affection for him that Epsilon came to have. Caboose’s goodbye simply crams a weird and contextless experience into Church’s life, which he will, of course, never think about or bring up again.

Tucker and Caboose’s conversation in the jail cell about Church being really gone felt much more poignant and emotionally satisfying, because… well, that’s the thing about death. You don’t always get to say goodbye the way you wish you could have. And sometimes it takes a long time after to process those feelings, and the comfort of your friends means a lot during that time. A conversation that included Carolina would’ve been nice, maybe a mention of the messages Epsilon left for them all.

It might not be as flashy as a time machine, but given that by the end this season desperately needs some team cohesion and found family moments, maybe flash isn’t the way to go here.

To VICtory

VIC’s whole… subplot this season has a major, major tone problem. And this is a show that vacillates wildly between drama and comedy, and often very effectively, but... boy howdy does this subplot have a tone problem.

VIC’s suicidality being played for laughs is going to land badly for a lot of viewers from the start. There’s no way to make that not uncomfortable. But when it’s set up as such an obvious parallel to Epsilon’s dramatic and noble sacrifice in season 13… it falls particularly flat.

As a sidenote, while Epsilon is undeniably suicidal early in his life, I see no indication that he wants to die in season 13 or the Chorus trilogy generally. I won’t say he couldn’t have been, but I don’t think there’s canon evidence for it. His death is explicitly framed as a sacrifice, a choice made to protect the people he loves. A choice he is sorry to make, the outcome of which he regrets that he won’t get to see.

The impact Epsilon’s life has had on so many other characters is deeply felt in his final message.

VIC’s gleeful self-immolation, by contrast, leaves us with not much more than a vague distaste. That’s the danger of callbacks, especially to highly emotionally-charged moments. If your callback moment isn’t equally compelling, you run the risk of simply reminding your audience that they could be watching another, better story.

Conclusions

I enjoyed so much of this season, even beyond the strong first act and despite the issues in the second and third, and I think a big part of the reason I enjoyed it so much is that it has some really great moments. There are moments throughout the season when the characters are allowed to move unimpeded by The Plot, and in those moments they really shine. Everything I praised about the first act is still true. Most of episode 5 is gold. Tucker and Wash’s moment in “Reacts,” Grif’s arc, Niner’s flashback cameo, Tucker getting creative in the absence of his sword and punching a tank to death, the Grif sibling reunion--all of these moments and more tell me that Joe absolutely can write these characters, and can do so in both humorous and emotionally-powerful ways. I don’t doubt his abilities on that front.

Where there are cracks in the character writing, where the story drags and becomes unsatisfying, is when the characters aren’t allowed to drive the story, but are forced to act in such a way as will facilitate the plot even when it just doesn’t feel quite right.

I’ll close here with the same thing I said at the end of season 10, five years ago: Red vs. Blue is a character-driven universe at its heart. That doesn’t mean we don’t love plot! It doesn’t mean we don’t love mystery and intrigue and dramatic twists and big reveals. We do! But don’t forget that you hooked us with a bunch of people standing around talking. Characters are the heart of this show, and they will always be what matters the most.

I’m interested to see what Joe learns from this season, and how he grows from the experience, and if he stays on board for season 16 then I’ll look forward to seeing more of his work.

#rvb critical #rvb15 #red vs blue #avian dentistry #joe nicolosi

[bipilots]

sooo i got these very cool questions on anon but im replying on here to make it look neater and to separate them properly, also because they’re gonna get long,,

What's your favorite scene from Voltron? there are a lot of super cute and aesthetically pleasing shots, but im horrible at remembering specific scenes and the first thing that comes to mind right now is the one where lance is about to be shot into space because the Caste is “haunted” and keith saves him riiiight in time. It was thrilling and i screamed a little, i think. Oh, and i like the one where Lance is literally knocked out cold and wakes up for the two seconds needed to shoot the bad guy because big mood and i love him?? I also really like every scene of them training because i dream about having a wing of my house dedicated to fighting with cool murderous robots too. let me dream. In general, the Castle is my fave setting for anything. 

Why did you start watching it? my tumblr dash started screaming about it approximately two days after the first season came out and i got curious about the mecha setting ((after evangelion if a thing has really big robots im automatically sold)). i made a quick google search and binge watched it all in a night and long story short now i’m here, ta da! i stayed for the giant cats tbh (and because it’s light hearted fun and i like space)

about the ships: i realized that i’m actually pretty simple minded about it, and that the only one i really care about is lance and happiness. sooo,, there’s that. i rest my case. but klance is the love of my life and hance is cute and keith and mothman are a match made in heaven

Favorite character? AHHH well i guess it’s no secret that my absolute favorite is lance. I just find him really interesting, both because of his flaws and the glimpses of his deepest feelings we’ve seen; he has a really outlandish/goofy sense of humor, which appeals to me greatly, and he’s stubborn and outgoing but in a kind of “fake it till you make it” way and that’s exactly what i need in my life. also, because liking the “i joke about things to feel better about shit and i’m really sarcastic and brash but have an actual crisis going on 24/7” character has kinda been my thing since forever. I’m really excited about seeing how he’s gonna grow up and evolve during the series, i think he has a lot of potential. the same can be said about every other character too, honestly. I guess my favorite part about anything is seeing the character development unfold, and this goes for other shows and fics and books as well. I have the annoying habit of taking characters and wanting to dissect them (figuratively, cough) to see what makes them tick, overthinking way too much about little things and quirks they might have. A well thought out plot isn’t enough to engage me if there aren’t complex characters to sustain it, i’m picky. 

Galra Keith or Altean Lance? why must you hurt me so?? i don’t think there’s a real reply to this. well, i mean, galra keith is a little bit canon, but i would be lying if i said that him in purple and with giant fluffy ears wouldn’t appeal to me, for aesthetical reasons,, i guess I’m gonna have to go with altean!Lance? because in that particular au he’s royalty, which suits him (im not smitten, what are you saying) and... no, that’s totally just because i’m smitten. My son looks so good in the altean garments, what can I do. It’s also a very cool take on the whole “everyone is an alien someway but they still meet each other and form a great team because of destiny” thing  

Who do you think would take the first step in Keith and Lance's romantic relationship? I would love to think about their romance as them taking small steps towards each other equally to meet in the middle? In a very slow burn way, classic “enemies (in lance’s head) to friends to lovers” trope that you can pry from my cold dead hands. I think they’re both very cautious when it comes to love, for different reasons. Keith is closed off, a little wary about human contact, even if we see him gradually warming up to the team, but he’s also a driven character and seems to me his focus right now is on saving the universe. Which is good, but it’s already a lot on his plate, without adding the whole “half galra” thing which further complicates the situation. Lance is exactly the opposite, he barrels on through human (and alien) interactions and flirts shamelessly, but I think that’s more of an ingrained reflex than real pursuit of a romantic relationship? From little clues, we can guess that he knows his flirting is almost never taken seriously (and just how sad is that wtf lance, baby) and that’s why he does it, because he knows nothing is really going to come from it. The only way I see them going is at a relaxed, almost frustrating pace in which they discover themselves first and then each other, as teammates, then friends and finally lovers.

In the more immediate sense of the reply I think you were asking, it could go both way: once they’ve done their share of self-discovery, Lance may accidentally blurt out something about how he thinks Keith is good at something (his compliments are not often based on physical appearance as much as they are on practical things/personality traits which is very sweet and awesome) and then his babbling escalates in way over the top justifications until he actually confesses the deepest, fluttery feelings he’s hiding in his chest; or maybe it’s Keith to take the first leap of faith, kissing Lance square on the mouth (maybe after a particularly taxing mission where Lance does a stupid heroic thing like trying to sacrifice himself // I’m a fan of clichés and that’s romantic af besides being something that Lance would totally do) because he’s not much of a talker and he’s tired about circling around it. Mark down my words, there’s lots of super cheesy ways it could be done, and I love them all. These two are just the first that came to mind. 

Favorite lion (overall shape+colour)? My favorite color is red and I like the smaller lions merely because of practical/aesthetic reasons; besides, the way Red leaps right into action to protect her baby (Keith) is adorable and,,,, my fav is still Blue. I don’t know what to say, it doesn’t make sense, it’s what my heart is telling me. But Red is a close second, let’s call it a tie so i feel less bad about it.  

Favourite Coran life stage? teenage emo/you don’t get my feelings you don’t know my life and everything I’ve been through!Coran is my entire life

Favourite planet they've been so far? the Balmera, that’s a really wholesome sentient planet, if i do say so myself. I love it.

Favourite episode out of all seasons? again, i’m calling a tie between the “bonding moment” one for obvious, lame reasons and the space mall because Lance is a dolphin and they literally found a cow and fueled a lot of my headcanons where they can totally buy weird things needed for shameless fanfiction-y purposes  

Haggar or Zarkon? Zarkon is a grimy, wrinkly turtle and I really want to get his backstory but Haggar is a pot of unraveled mysteries and she’s way cooler in my opinion

Is Shiro a dad or a big brother? Shiro tries so hard to be a big brother (even if he likes making dad jokes) but he’s just mostly done with everything and overall bad at adulting,, just give him a piña colada, a raunchy romantic novel, put him on a beach lounger with sunglasses and let him rest

Princess Allura or Paladin Allura? both are good. She’s a fundamental asset to the team either way, by backing them up during the battles, piloting the Castle and being their support system (helped by Coran) with stuff they don’t understand - which is a lot because they’re basically going blind into the whole thing. Paladin Allura is something that I love, and she will absolutely kick ass, but I reserve my judgement for when I see what the team is gonna make of it. It surely is gonna change the dynamic a lot and depending on what role she assumes it could be good or absolutely amazing. I’m just really curious about how they’re gonna go about it. But yeah, both are cool. I’ll get you back on what is my fave once I've seen both the options in action.

ooook,, whew, im done. AHH this surely was something. Thank you for asking??? They were super interesting questions, sorry it took me a little while but I tried to reply to the best of my possibilities and hope that you got the answers you were looking for. ♥

#bibabbles #replies #anonymous #i totally didn't quote victuuri in the romantic part of the questions i swear #except i did #as i said this got really long and im sorry #but it was still fun #have a nice day!!!!!!!!!!! #thank you really #im lame

[comicteaparty]

August 12th-August 18th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from August 12th, 2019 to August 18th, 2019.  The chat focused on Catians: Resurrection by Cortney Cameron (Writer) and Luyi Bennett (Artist).

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Catians: Resurrection by Cortney Cameron (Writer) and Luyi Bennett (Artist)~! (https://catians.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PDT), so keep checking back for more! You have until August 18th to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. Do you think there will be any larger consequences to Rose’s brutal rampage, especially in terms of how human society might react to rumors of the guardians? Overall, how does Rose’s brutal rampage make you feel about her as a character?

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 4. Do you think Rose is gone for good, or can she somehow be saved? If she is saved, how do you think she might be changed as a person. Also, how will Rose’s absence, and the second tail’s absence, affect the guardians?

RebelVampire

1) My favorite scene is probably the one where Rose gets swallowed by her own creation. The story starts off really kind of light-hearted, gets a bit of a dark twist, and then everything culminates in that scene. It was the right blend of both unexpected yet totally sensible that really made it stick with me and kind of scare me a bit. So I appreciate it for being able to inspire that feeling in me. 2) I kind of feel like at least the cops are gonna notice something. Like maybe there'll be that one nosy detective who everyone thinks is crazy but is constantly noticing all the weird stuff going on and insisting they investigate. Thus, the guardians will have their activities hampered cause at leat one person will be suspicious. I don't know how to feel about Rose's character other than she's a good showcase of what happens when you don't address grief properly. Cause you wind up going down the crazy street and releasing your emotions in...well not so good ways.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 5. What has been your favorite illustration in the comic so far? What specifically about it do you like?

QUESTION 6. What aspect of Rose’s grief over Jason did you identify with the most? What can we learn from Rose’s mistakes in terms of how we deal with grief in real life?

Luyi

Hi there, Luyi (the artist) here! I want to say thanks so much for taking a look at Catians this week. I'm looking forward to seeing what people think!

I don't think I can address the other questions without spoilers(!), but let me throw my two cents into the mix for the last two: 5) My favorite illustration is when Rose wakes up in the forest. I'm pretty happy with how the lighting turned out in that scene.

6) Rose's grief is a big driving force of the overall story. The writer, Cortney, has struggled with grief in her life, and it plays a big role in the birth of the villain. I am honored and humbled by the chance to illustrate this prologue, as it addresses a massive emotional response that most people have no choice but to face in their lives.

The Q

I'm still reading, currently, but so far I really enjoy the lighting on page 15, especially panel 7.

Also, the juxtaposition between the fairytale-esque cat's world and the very realistic human world is extremely interesting!

Though I must admit, so far in the epilogue, I'm having a hard time figuring out where the plot wants to go. Do you all feel the same way? Or differently?

All in all, a very interesting story! I think the artwork is really solid - and it's TOUGH making cats expressive! I'm really excited to see where it goes from here.

snuffysam

@RebelVampire It would be interesting if some detective notices the weird stuff going on. The police dropped the murder case against Jason, so involving them in the story in the future would give Rose yet another reason to be antagonistic ("you weren't there when i needed you" and such).

My favorite character is Rose just because, so far, she has the most depth. She started out kind-hearted, but over the course of the prologue we get to see her descent into sadism due to her grief. Watching a character arc unfold like that is always interesting to see, as it teaches us lessons about handling grief in real life. For instance, learning the difference between justice and revenge.(edited)

snuffysam

@The Q I'm not sure I had the same troubles figuring out where the plot wants to go. This prologue seemed like it was introducing us to the story's future antagonist - someone who was corrupted by the power of the tail. Felix's "choose better than I did" statement seems to imply that there will be another tail user soon, one who will take more of a protagonist-y role. The short time skip where Rose learned to use her powers seems like it will be foreshadowing for us watching our future protagonist learn in real time, and learning about Rose's character arc now could help set up future parallels in the story.

The Q

@snuffysam True, now that you mention it! I was maybe a bit quick to type that up before I had time to digest the prologue haha

Now I'm just excited to see what'll happen to Rose from here on out! Will we see her again? Is she gone for good? Is she gonna create more people?

RebelVampire

QUESTION 7. Which characters do you enjoy seeing interact the most? What about their dynamic interests you?

QUESTION 8. What exactly do you think the abomination that Rose created was? What about it caused Felix to warn the Council that the guardians needed to be chosen? What do you think the abomination will do now?

RebelVampire

3) My favorite character right now is probably Felix. Just a good cat who wanted to save someone, but then it all went wrong. But I mostly appreciate the end of the prologue where Felix uses the last of his strength to try and salvage stuff and admit his mistake. 4) I think Rose can be saved, and I actually think she has to. Cause usually these things like an all for one package. You can't have a complete puzzle if one of the pieces is missing. So she has to be saved for whatever their ultimate goal is going to be. I think even if she is saved, though, it'll be a temp thing. I think she'll overall just be too traumatized by her actions and have too much pent up guilt to really function in life normally again.

5) My favorite illustration is probably the last page of the prologue with all the cats looking all serious and dramatic. https://catians.com/comic/chapter-0-page-24/ I really love the lighting and texture on the fur. Plus, something about the white cat's design makes just chuckle and want to hug said cat. 6) For me, I think I most identified with the first part where she was in the shocked denial stage. Her emotions were really poignant to me at that part, and I think regardless of where your grief goes from that point, that is always the first stage. In terms of what we can learn...well ya know, revenge ain't great. And you need to accept the loss and not try to clean to the past, because it leads to some unhealthy stuff. Unfortunately, gotta accept the memories and grow and move past it. And not murder people and create abominations. Probably.

7) I liked seeing Rose and Felix the most since they got the most screen time. I liked how their interactions had both this understanding yet fundamental misunderstanding cause of the species divide. And I kind of like that Felix could just flat out not see how grief had affected Rose until the end, cause it felt a natural consequence of their interactions. 8) I feel the abomindation was a creature that was without a soul, because can't create souls or something. And because of that it's now going to go on an endless rampage of eating trying to get a soul. Only you can't get souls by eating people so it will thus never be fulfilled. And this is why ya gotta warn the council, cause can't have soul eaters on the loose.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 9. What sorts of art or story details have you noticed in the way the comic is crafted that you think deserves attention?

QUESTION 10. Who do you think the guardians will be, and what will they be like? What sort of tasks do you think they’ll be tasked to do? Also, do you think they’ll even be willing to adapt and help the cats?

Cortney

Hi, I'm Cortney, part of the Catians team along with @Luyi (who dropped in above). I'd like to thank the Comic Tea Party for featuring Catians this week! I have really enjoyed the discussion, users' excellent analyses, and @RebelVampire's very thought-provoking questions. 1. It's really tough for me to pick a single favorite scene, but I think I'd actually echo @RebelVampire on Rose getting absorbed. @Luyi did an amazing job bringing this to life -- I was worried the concept would be hard to understand, but she illustrated it just like I imagined (a credit to her intuition and skills). As creepy and horrifying as the scene is, it was extremely satisfying to see it play out on the page just as it did in my head. 5. My favorite illustration is so hard to choose... I think I've narrowed it down to between the Great Cat, Felix and Rose admiring the tombstone, the last scene with final cats (which, I'm a little embarrassed to admit, always gives me goosebumps!). The perspective and lighting on the tombstone scene is beautifully done. I think Rose's pose is confident, like her mastery of her new abilities is sinking in, and this foreshadows her shift towards taking action. P.S. I always laugh at the white cat, too, @RebelVampire -- he'll be back in the next issue, even more absurd. (edited)

6. As @Luyi mentioned, I've struggled with grief in my life, having lost both of parents fairly young. My first major loss, my father, occurred before I started the Catians story proper, and I think that experienced shaped Catians and its themes. My second major loss, my mother, occurred just before the conversion of the manuscript into a comic, and (since I was a little older) it provided even more perspective on grief, life after death, and different ways of processing loss. I try not to judge her reactions too much, since her loss was more violent and traumatic than anything I've experienced, but yeah, as @RebelVampire pointed out, Rose displays rather ineffective and self-destructive coping mechanisms. I really empathized with her when she was feeling "void," like she didn't even exist, after losing Jason.

7. I enjoyed @RebelVampire's breakdown of Felix and Rose's interactions, and the fundamental disconnects that ultimately plagued their communications. I do wish we could've had more time to see Jason and Rose interacting, but maybe we'll learn more about the pair down the line. @The Q I have to give a huge kudos to @Luyi for giving the cats expressions that look natural and also (in my opinion) pack emotional punches. Also, thanks for commenting on the site! @snuffysam Great analysis of the prologue!

RebelVampire

QUESTION 11. What do you think are this particular comic’s strengths? What do you think makes this comic unique? Please elaborate.

QUESTION 12. Do you think the guardians will be at risk for misusing their role in the same way that Rose misused her powers? Will the cats take measures to prevent another repeat? Overall, what can we learn about the concept of power corruption?

RebelVampire

9) I already mentioned this in general for fave illustration, but I still enjoy the lighting and technique used for the fur. Fur is a really hard thing to illustrate, but all the cats just look so soft and I want to huge them all and pet the computer screen so I can pet the great cats. 10) To be fair you can cheat and look at the cast page for this one. I don't know what they'll be like inidividually, but on the whole I think they're going to be reluctant and inexperienced. I want to assume there'll be some magic battling and that they'll try to stop the abomination. Maybe the abomination can like drop pieces of itself that in term become abominations. As for willingness, umm, probably not. Like maybe one will be like "yaay sounds fun" until they realize oh shit, it's not a game.

11) I think the comic's strengths are its balance of tones. Like the comic is really good at switching from benign seriousness to semi-disturbing horror really quickly in the span of a few panels, and that's really hard to do while maintaining good pacing. But it really helps bring the drama of the horror forward and make an impact. 12) 100% yes, the guardians will be at risk. Probably not from grief like rose, but power is a powerful drug and no one is immune. Honestly, I don't think the cats will take any measures to stop it, but more they will be wary to trust, which I can't blame them for. Overall, though, I think what happened to Rose shows that no matter how nice a person is, things can go south real fast when you push hard enough and give someone power they arent ready for.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 13. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

QUESTION 14. Overall, why do you think The Great Cat dictated that humans and cats should work together? By the end of the story, do you think cats and humans will have a better relationship, or will it not make a difference?

RebelVampire

13) I am looking forward to meeting the guardians and seeing how the cats get them onboard while also keeping rose looming in the back of their minds. Sounds like the makings of great drama. 14) I think The Great Cat thought both species balanced each other out in a complimentary way. That and cooperation sounds better than both species fighting for the rights to dominate the planet. By the end of the story, idk. I feel like the relationship will be more or less the same, but maybe with a smidgen more trust thrown in as humanity shows its own merits that makes cats think "ok they arent all abomination creators"

NiaNook

1. Can't say I have a favorite. There's a lot of parts in a lot of different places I enjoyed 2. I don't see human society reacting to the guardians being anything big.... YET. They eventually had to discontinue looking for Jason's murderers, after all. It was thrilling to see Rose using her new abilities to brutalize those gangsters, and I can sympathize with her. She's frustrated, empty, filled with grief, and wants to avenge her husband. She let that grief and vengeance get the best of her and showed an uglier side of herself, but I can't see her as a bad person for it... maybe flawed, desperate, and human, but not bad. 3. With just a prologue, let's go with Felix, for now. He seems to be a very good and very wise, kitty (wisdom still increasing as he learns from his mistakes, of course!) 4. I don't have a lot of hope for poor Rose, though if she can be saved, what a happy turn of events that would be! She seemed to have an understanding of the mistake she made as she was being absorbed at the end.(edited)

NiaNook

5. This page, maybe. https://catians.com/comic/chapter-0-page-19/ The atmosphere and those two panels of Felix looking at her and turning away really show a lot of strong emotion (Mixed with the dialogue, it was just a really powerful and foreboding page) Felix genuinely just wants to help her. 6. What really made it hit home the hardest was seeing her still struggling to get out of that pit of grief, long after it's already happened. It's not easy to let go. Sometimes you feel like life has played a cruel prank on you and you desperately wish to reset it, but you can't. Your mind goes all kinds of crazy places trying to cope and fill that emptiness, and later you'll realize you're still empty and did something you regret (maybe not as extreme as killing people, but you get the idea). 8. I think the abomination is an embodiment of the sorrow and emptiness Rose couldn't get rid of. She gave it form, and poetically, it swallowed her. Something tells me either that creature isn't completely gone and it may cause more harm to others. 10. The prologue and the image in the site banner almost look like they're from 2 different stories, so there's a lot of mystery about where the guardians come in and what they'll be like, but it will probably have something to do with getting rid of those pink abominations

NiaNook

11. and 13. (combining these two) The comic is a lovely combination of expressive art and thoughtful, inspired writing. I actually peeked at it a few weeks ago when I was checking out the book club listings and unintentionally ended up reading through the whole thing! It just kept giving me so many questions, so many exciting or unexpected twists and turns, and there was something so delightfully bizarre about regular humans mixing with magical guardian cats that left me wanting to see where it went from here! What are our little kitties even up to when they're not chasing birds or sleeping beside us on our beds? What's up with these cat deities? How can such divine creatures be so fluffy and adorable!? (hehe) I'm hoping for more of all of this. More bizarre cat stuff. More strong character conflict, and uncovering answers to their mysterious way of life. 14. Perhaps it's something about combining different strenghts; cats are the wise decision makers, humans are the hands that move things along, or something along those lines. I sure hope it improves their relationship, because from what Felix tells us in the beginning, these humans have not been very kind to cats at all

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Catians: Resurrection this week! Please also give a special thank you to Cortney Cameron (Writer) and Luyi Bennett (Artist) for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Catians: Resurrection, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

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