#he deserved a better story

[the-badger-mole]

I think you've mentioned liking himym, right?

There's definitely a lot to complain about with that show so won't bother listing all of it out. But I will say that the list would consist of almost everything from the final season.

What are some things about the characters and/or story you would have changed or kept the same?

PS: Barney and Robin should have been endgame imo.

I'd have had them stick with Barney's unpacking of his misogyny and promiscuity. It is made clear at several points that Barney has some deep, deep trauma surround women and sex, and I know it's a sitcom, and serious isn't something that can be done for long stretches in sitcoms, they should've explored that more, I think. He should've been single and celibate for a while. There's tons of comedic potential in that. I hate that they threw all of his development away to make Ted and Robin happen (that's a whole other trainwreck I won't get into). Robin wasn't the only woman in Barney's life to make him realize he wanted something deeper with a woman, so it wasn't necessary to make him backslide so much and without any sort of self-reflection until he gets a rando pregnant. I think Barney's a better character than Ted, so it bummed me out to see him treated so shallowly after those hints that there's a lot more going with him.

#himym #robin x barney #barney stinson #he deserved a better story #THE YEAR OF CONTENT!!!!

[witchhunter]

It's been years since I read the side stories and even considered reading them again but I do remember not liking Rei's much as it was literally just hentai

#personal #he deserved a better story

[ditchesanddunes]

I need an unhinged Barty

Give me a Barty who will hunt down hurt and kill for the people he loves

Give me a Barty who gets unhealthily obsessed with people

A Barty who, after Regulus died, cracked and used even more unforgivables, killed for fun, and tortured for sport

A Barty who heard Dorcas was killed and made it his personal mission to avenge her by any cruel means necessary

But when Evan died, a Barty who doesn’t even have rails to fly off of anymore. He kills anyone in his way, including death eaters, and he enjoys it. He is hardly on the death eaters side anymore but stays with them because of the pain they cause

And when he heard Pandora died, the sweet gentle soul of Pandora, he crumbled.

#barty crouch jr #I feel like we forget that Barty was the last one standing of their group #like his story is just as tragic if not more of Remus’ #man breaks my heart #he was a bad person though #he deserved better #marauders #dead gay wizards #harry potter #rosekiller #bartylus #slytherin skittles #marauders fandom #just my little unhinged boy #unhinged

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Keep hearing people say maribug keep asking adricat if he's ok and he keep saying he's ok instead of telling her his problem but I don't remember it happened more than once in s4 in Rockettear but even then the circumstances of that episode did warrant the "nothing" answer he gave her unless he want to tell her that "nino tell me you let nino and alya know each other identity" which will reveal adricat identity. So when else did she ask? about the thing in hack-san, I think another credit goes to alya since she's the one who bring the topic to maribug who seems to be blissfully unaware that her leaving without telling adeicat that she send subtitute would be a problem.

I didn't get into this side of things in my other post because it was long and I wanted to focus on why Chat Noir's behavior was so frustrating, but this ask brings up the other big reason why the season four conflict was such a frustrating and terribly written plot line. Specifically, the part of your ask where you point out that Maribug seems blissfully unaware that her actions are having a negative impact on Chat Noir until someone points it out to her.

Yes, she is presented as blissfully unaware of this and every other interpersonal conflict we're given in season four. Your ask treats this as a failing on Maribug's part as if she should have obviously realized that she was in the wrong, but that's the whole problem. Telling kids - telling anyone really - that they should just magically know what others need is a frankly terrible life lesson as that's just not how the world works. You cannot just assume that everyone will have the same view of the world as you do and instantly pick up on the same issues as you do. That is the path to easily avoidable frustration and conflict. It also teaches people to assume that their view of the world is inherently correct when that is rarely the case. We often don't know the whole story and the other person's point of view may end up being equally or even more valid. This issue is extremely present in season four as Marinette has legitimate reasons to behave the way she does, which I'll get into in a bit.

If Marinette were written as feeling guilty about how she was treating Chat Noir, then this would be a different story. She'd be way more in the wrong and would shoulder a much greater portion of the blame. But as is? She has no idea that she's doing anything wrong. And until someone takes the time to tell her that her actions are causing harm, she is going to continue causing harm because she has no idea that she's causing harm.

In fact, I'd argue that the Alya thing in Hack San is a point in Maribug's favor. Throughout the episode, we see Marinette sending Alya messages on ways to be a good partner to Chat Noir, proving that she does in fact care about him. And then, as soon as Alya says, "You need to talk to Chat Noir," what does Maribug do?

She goes and talks to Chat Noir, giving him a pretty good apology for the problem she now knows she caused. Because, shockingly, Maribug doesn't actually want to hurt her partner. She also clearly cares about his feelings, making me want to take the season four conflict and tear it into itty bitty pieces because what is the conflict even supposed to be when you write shit like this?

I want to briefly step away from Miraculous and talk about this issue in a broader context via this YouTube short:

This short is from a Vietnamese woman who moved to Germany. Her YouTube channel is about her experiences there, including things like the short above which goes into the differences between what it means to be a dinner guest in Vietnam and what it means to be a dinner guest in Germany. In Vietnam, it's apparently standard for the guests to cook dinner with you where as, in Germany, you're expected to have the meal ready when the guests arrive, making this a situation where it's super easy to come across as rude just by doing what you think is normal.

Society is relatively aware that these types of culture clashes are a thing, but you don't have to be from different cultures to have these types of situations. Every person has their own unique needs and ideas of what "normal" is. The culture they were raised in will affect this, but so will their family, their personal needs, and many other factors. Two people can be raised on the same street and wind up with wildly different world views even though they supposedly share a culture. This is extra true when you add in compounding factors like neurodiversity, which is why it's an exercise in futility to say, "But Maribug should have realized..."

Well, she clearly didn't. And you can't change that she didn't realize whatever you're mad about. All you can do is have someone tell her what she's doing wrong. If she then continues the behavior, go ahead and judge away. But if she immediately corrects it like she did in Hack San? Doesn't that just prove that she truly didn't know that Chat Noir was hurting and would have probably fixed all of his problems if someone just pointed them out to her?

This is only exacerbated by the fact that Marinette's behavior in season four is largely unchanged from her behavior in previous seasons. The only major change is that she revealed her identity to Alya, but as soon as that's pointed out as a problem, she course corrects with an apology. After that, she thinks that everything is okay because why wouldn't she? Chat Noir said it was fine and everything else has been business as usual.

Bringing temp heroes into help as needed? That's been going on since season two. Having these additional members has been vital in multiple battles and there have been plenty of times where Chat Noir took a background role to the temp hero of the day like in Sapotis, Rena Rouge's season two debut. So why would Maribug suddenly think that this dynamic is a problem when it's been working fine for so long? We even had a whole episode about how Chat Noir was still needed in spite of the new heroes back in season three! Or, at least, I think that was Desperada's message? This show is shockingly bad at giving clear lessons.

Keeping guardian knowledge from Chat Noir? That's also been going on since season two and was even treated as a conflict that supposedly got resolved in the episode Syren which was the episode that ended with Master Fu coming to the mansion to talk to Adrien after everything was over.

When I watched that episode, I assumed this meant that Chat Noir was going to be more involved in things like picking the temp heroes. I actually thought this was how we were going to get Queen Bee because I knew she was going to be a thing, but it made no sense for Marinette to pick Chloe for a miraculous. Of course, I was wrong. Nothing changed after Syren. Chat Noir remained nothing more than the comic relief while Ladybug got all the insider info.

To be clear, I think that was a terrible move writing wise, but it doesn't change the fact that this is what they went with. This is the established dynamic. I can't even say that Alya learning Marinette's secret led to something new. She's just taken Marinette's old role while Marinette has taken on Master Fu's old role. This show loves it's status quo and Chat Noir has been at least tolerant of that status quo since Syren, so it's not surprising that Maribug doesn't register that this is a thing that should change and no one bothers to point it out to her even though she has a mentor in Tikki (and Su Han, I guess?) and a confidant in Alya and a whole slew of Kwamis who could also provide insight if they were allowed to do that sort of thing. (Sass and Wayzz were robbed of mentor roles.) Additional blame goes to Plagg because he should absolutely have told Adrien to talk to Ladybug. What is the point of giving these characters mentors who never mentor? It's aggravating in the extreme.

To circle back to the first part of your ask, outside of Hack San and Rocketear, I don't think there are any times when Ladybug invites feedback from Chat Noir unless you want to give credit to the end of Kuro Neko:

Cat Noir: (lands next to her) I've been a really temperamental kitty, m'lady. I didn't realize how much trouble I'd make for you by giving back my Miraculous. Ladybug: (sits closer to him) Just because I don't need you all the time doesn't mean that I don't need you at all, Cat Noir. No one could ever replace you.

Which isn't Maribug inviting him to tell her what's up, but she is clearly willing to listen to him and reassure him, further backing up my point about this conflict being some of the worst writing I've ever had to suffer through. If Maribug always fixes the issue as soon as she learns about it, you are not writing a situation where she's clearly in the wrong. You are writing an easily solved communication issue where she gets blamed for something she clearly doesn't realize she's doing wrong and it is so frustrating!!! I feel so bad for her. The next episode is Penalteam, btw, which starts the battle with this gem:

Ladybug: (laughs) Nice scare tactics, but it's not gonna work. Cat Noir and I are the best at soccer! Cat Noir: (Whispers to Ladybug) I don't know a thing about soccer M'lady. Maybe it's time to call the real team?

And basically just spends the whole episode making Chat Noir seems like a worthless partner while Maribug tries her best to make him - and everyone else - feel special.

Oh, and the episode before Kuro Neko? Well, it's technically Ephemeral, but that got magically overwritten so let's go one further back and we get to Dearest Family, which ends with this:

Cat Noir: (grabs a golden paper crown on the coffee table) Since I'm the king, (wears the crown on his head) would you be my queen, Ladybug? Ladybug: With pleasure, kitty cat! Tradition is tradition!

Oh yes, these two are in such conflict and Maribug does nothing to validate Chat Noir. He's in pain every episode and she's just totally oblivious to it.

If that was what they wrote, then I'd probably agree that we needed more instances of her asking if Chat Noir was okay. But it's not what they wrote. If you look through the list of season four episodes, you'll find that less than half of them deal with the supposed conflict of the season (by my count, only 8 of the 24 episodes before the final actually showcase the conflict and they are not in a logical order in terms of escalation as I tried to demonstrate above). The rest of the episodes flat out ignore it or even straight up work against the conflict like when Ladybug says this to Chat Noir in Guilttrip: "I probably don't tell you this enough, but I couldn't do this without you. And it'd be a lot less fun too."

Seriously, what even is this season? What is the conflict supposed to be? Because it sure as shit isn't Maribug undervaluing Chat Noir, if memory servers, season four sees her validate him more times than any other season. And it isn't her guiltily hiding things from him like so many fanfics claim because we have multiple points of evidence that prove that she's completely oblivious that there even is a conflict. So what conflict are the writers actually trying to write?

What's even more baffling is that none of this logically leads to the loss at the end of the season:

Maribug's new secrets didn't lead to her downfall. The only reason she lost was because of the secret that's always been there - a fact that's never revealed to her - and a freaking evil twin! So why did it matter that Maribug was keeping secrets? This is made even worse by season five maintaining all of the secrets, once again begging the question of what lesson were we trying to teach here???

Chat Noir wasn't needed for the final fight of the season, Maribug only needed the powers of a few of the temp heroes to win, a baffling ending to a season whose focus was Chat Noir feeling unimportant. You could scrap that conflict entirely and the ending would not change. In fact....

Adrien quitting to be nothing more than a good little boy who obeys his father would have actually saved the world from eventually being rewritten. If you think about it, the season four final actually punishes Adrien for being defiant. So does season five as, if Chat Noir had quit, his father would still be alive. I thought this show was supposed to be a romcom, not a tragedy. Why is Adrien being punished for being a hero? Is this supposed to be karma for lying to Ladybug with the whole Catwalker thing?

This shit is why I say I'm a writing salt, character sugar blog. I can't get mad at the characters when they're in such a nonsense story where things never logically tie together. They all deserve so much better.

None of this is meant to imply that ignorance is a blanket excuse for hurting others. Nor is it meant to imply that you have to forgive someone who hurt you just because they didn't mean to. There's a ton of nuance around these topics. But season four acknowledges none of that nuance while creating a situation that desperately needed nuance because there was no clear right and wrong here. Should Maribug work to be more away of others feelings? Sure, but that journey can only start after she's made aware of her faults and no one ever points them out to her. Does Chat Noir need to work on clearly communicating his needs? Desperately, but no one is teaching him that lesson so he remains a terrible communicator who suffers in silence. What impressively bad writing.

#ml writing critical #ml writing salt #adrien deserves better #marinette deserves better #kuro neko salt #my queendom for some good character arcs #and good story arcs #there's just so much squandered potential here #ml fandom salt #ml fandom critical #Adding those tags because I am sick of people holding Marinette to unrealistic expectations #This was long so I didn't add this part of the rant but: #It's important to remember how much we know as an audience vs what Maribug knows #Adrichat is really good at putting up a front that everything is fine #And Marinette knows nothing about his homelife when he's Chat Noir #Plus the show has made this kids kinda terrible at understanding Adrien's home life

[achaotichuman]

Acotar Rant

If I see another take saying "What Rhysand did to Feyre utm was for her protection!!!" I am going to riot.

What protection? Sweetheart, point me in the direction of the protection.

"It was so she wouldn't break" Oh so sitting in a dungeon is more traumatic than being drugged and SAed?

"It was so Amarantha wouldn't hurt her!" Rhysand bringing Feyre out only brought Amarantha's attention to her, reminding her of Feyre's existence and putting her in the spotlight of the enemy.

"The drugging stopped Feyre from being forced to remember!" So give her alcohol in the dungeon, then she can choose to drink it and still forget.

Rhysand made Feyre give him lap dances until she threw up. Until. She. Vomited. Then forced her to do it again and again. She was coherent here enough that she remembers all of this.

"Oh it was so he could make Tamlin angry enough!" Tamlin was angry. He was scared shitless for Feyre's safety as pointed out in the text. Multiple times in the first few pages of Feyre seeing him again for the first time utm, he 'went very very still', 'went white', started shaking etc etc.

Tamlin was playing a mask. Feyre acknowledged it. She said herself "he loves me enough that even now he is still trying to protect me."

Tamlin was going to kill Amarantha the first chance he got anyway. He was under spells that even Rhysand couldn't penetrate, the supposed 'most powerful High lord'. If the one who is supposed to be the strongest can't break free from Amarantha what makes you think Tamlin can?

Rhysand abused Feyre under the mountain. He sexually assaulted her, physically assaulted her, emotionally traumatized her, for literally no reason at all.

So before everyone goes and runs with what Rhysand SAID he did, lets go back and remember what he ACTUALLY did.

#acotar #anti rhysand #rhysand #feyre archeron #feyre archeron deserves better #tamlin #pro tamlin #rhysand was straight evil in the first book #everything he says in the second book is just a sob story coverup #acotar rant

[profoundmakerdreamerss-blog]

Tomarry AU where Tom HATES this book he read because his favourite character dies a miserable death. So what if his favorite character was a no-named side villain? Why does it matter that he only had like seven lines (seven is Tom's favourite number anyways)? He was still gorgeous, smart and strong and beautiful — and it doesn't matter that others think he isn't all that because they would never know him— understand him like TOM DOES.

An AU where Tom has a healthy obsession with a character named Harry Potter, a no named baron's son who was the first to go against the king (MC's father, and the mc who is incidentally known as Draco Malfoy, ahem anyways); he tries to “poison” him. But he gets caught or to be more precise he ends up sacrificing himself for the common girl Hermione Granger (the female lead, I'm sorry guys but imagine the fucking drama.) who gets blamed for his transgressions.

But that is not why Tom falls for this weak villain, no — it's because he respects how this no-named orphan became a baron on his own two feet without anyone being there for him especially in a world where old money and title is everything— and he hates how he had to give his life for the MC to notice the female lead? (Harry is better looking and smarter than her anyways — Tom, in an online forum perhaps.)

Anyways, now imagine Tom dying (he hated it so yes he ends up looking for immorality anyways.) and waking up in the world he hated. Now imagine, Tom Riddle, waking up in the body of a Duke who wasn't even given a name in the novel. (He would know because he has a photographic memory, ok? It's totally not because he read it more than 14 times) and then saying fuck it and owning it.

Just think, Tom taking over the world slowly with his worldly knowledge while trying to keep Harry alive because even though he was right about Harry being smart; the guy treats his life like Draco treats his money - you get the idea.

#so yes #Tom Riddle but isekai's and tries to seduce the canon fodder #oh and he also takes over the world while he is at it #yes order is the main villain of the story tom read #Ron's family is still poor im sorry #Hermione can end up with Ron or Draco #it's up to you #but honestly i put them as mc #because draco is the signature blonde prince while Hermione is the signature smart brunette #like its a trope LMAOO #but dw Tom makes it all better #by being the bigger Villain? #haha. because guess what maybe Lucius was the main villain all along #ill stop #its just #its so like tom to fall for the villain in the story 😭 #my man's probably hate read the story to shit on people because: #his harry deserved better #tomarry #harrymort #tom riddle #Harry Potter #also yes Tom still has black duchy's royalty #but he is the one who ends up winning Bellatrix and Barty #and yes Narcissa (the queen) helps Tom save Harry 🥰 #Ron is still Harry's best friend btw and because of Tom now so is hermione :')

[gunsatthaphan]

🤓🚩🫶🏻

#my stand in #my stand in the series #my stand in ep3 #up poompat #mingjoe #thai bl #bl drama #ming: is a toxic b*tch #me: upppiiiiiieeee 😩🥹🫶🏻 #i have so many thoughts about this show i cant even put them all into words lmao #ming is the reddest of all flags but ON GOD hes a good character #idc what anyone says #deeply flawed characters who are well written? my jam #sign me up #and Up is doing so well #so is Poom #I'm very pleasantly surprised #my heart breaks so much for Joe my pookie bear :( #he deserves so much better #also these flashbacks are giving me all the Gene flashbacks and im not okay 😭 #but yeah this show is everything #im so impressed by how theyre telling these stories #every character is on point even the bad ones #good storytelling even better cast #I love it #A+

[shima-draws]

Watched the MLB movie and I just. I WANT to gush about it but the fact that Marinette’s regular voice actor and her singing voice actor sound SO different just took me out of it every time and left me feeling very disengaged;; At least Adrien’s singing voice kind of sounds like his speaking voice (and Gabriel’s is 👌 bc my king Keith Silverstein can actually sing and he can sing REALLY fucking well) but Marinette’s. The voices are COMPLETELY different and it threw me off every single time. Like obviously her singing voice is really good and I understand why they picked that person to do her songs but bro you could have at least TRIED to get someone that sounds similar to Cristina Vee. It drove me nuts every time she sang bc I was like “That is CLEARLY a different person entirely!!”

I’m realizing this might have been a dubbing issue but still 😭 I feel like I would have enjoyed the movie way more if it didn’t look like Marinette was lip syncing the entire time bc there was such a huge disconnect between her speaking and singing voice

#Also I can’t fucking believe they did that to my boy Plagg. They RUINED him #He did not deserve that #Miraculous Ladybug #MLB #MLB movie #ALSO. Also. Personally. I don’t think it needed to be a musical #Bc that was very jarring in itself I was not expecting it #Since Miraculous isn’t a musical normally anyway!! #They probably could have fit in a lot more plot and made the story flow better if they took out all the songs #And replaced them with actual character development and stuff. #Idk it just feels like they tried to make it like a Disney film. And it didn’t quite fit with the story #I WILL say tho the character models were top notch. Marinette with FRECKLES?? YES PLEASE #Anyway yeah lots of thoughts but I could not take it seriously bc of the awkward voice casting #It actually ruined a lot of the movie for me :’( Again it drove me nuts lmao #Shima speaks #Idk maybe I'll watch it in French next time. Maybe I'll like it better then lol

[demiboydemon]

#Gonna be honest I believe Lotor is the hero of the story #I could write an essay on why he was the best person on that show #Anyway I was thinking of Keitor when I made this but it works for any ship really #lotor #voltron lotor #prince lotor #voltron legendary defender #keitor #Voltron #vld lotor #lotor x keith #lotor deserved better #vld #the ueue after q is silent

[sanyu-thewitch05]

Screenshot is from these translations.

Malleus, step up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Literally step up, Malleus. This is embarrassing. How is Rollo of all people the first one to offer beating everyone’s ass at NRC? He even offered to be that one friend who’s like a therapist who listens to your every word.

I mean if Rollo is treating me this way-

#twisted wonderland #twst wonderland #malleus draconia #rollo flamm #if I were Yuu I’d be trying to go to nbc when I’ve had enough of nrc #like he really said call me up if you want me to beat up these nrc kids who’s bothering you #the visual of rollo hitting Malleus or riddle square in the head with his bell staff is hilarious #I can also imagine rollo sitting on the edge of Yuu’s bed and nodding to their story telling #honestly this is embarrassing for Malleus #rollo has offered best friend qualities meanwhile Malleus wants to play mysterious friend who looters around our house #honestly Rollo would be the friend going you deserve better and screaming break up with him!

[thatsrightice]

The story of these two men is my Roman Empire.

Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Komarov were highly decorated Cosmonauts, both of which made firsts in the history of space flight.

Yuri Gagarin famously became the first man in space on April 12, 1961.

Vladimir Komarov piloted Voshkod 1 on October 12, 1964 on the first space mission to carry multiple crew members. He flew again aboard Soyuz 1 on April 23, 1967, becoming the first Russian man to make two spaceflights.

Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Komarov were close.

The Soyuz 1 was described as being “a piece of shit” and a “devil ship” as issues plagued the spacecraft throughout development and failed testing. Yuri had done everything he could to get the launch postponed, including writing a ten-page memo detailing the 203 structural problems he had discovered during inspection of the Soyuz 1. Any person who had laid eyes on the memo would be fired or demoted.

Komarov knew of these issues, but refused to step down from the missions. In March of 1987 he met with Venyamin Russayev, a then-recently-demoted KGB agent who had been assigned to "mind" Yuri Gagarin.

He met with Russayev and said, "I'm not going to make it back from this flight." Russayev asked, “Why not refuse?” Komarov answered: "If I don't make this flight, they'll send the backup pilot instead." That was Yuri Gagarin. Komarov couldn't do that to his friend. "That's Yura. And he'll die instead of me. We've got to take care of him." Komarov then burst into tears.

Yuri, nicknamed Yura by friends and family, showed up on the day of the launch “demanding to be put into a space suit,” "demanding this and this and this...", doing anything and everything he could to be the one on that spacecraft instead of Vladimir. Unfortunately, his attempts were be futile.

Soyuz 1 would launch on April 23, 1967 and faced serious issues throughout the flight. The parachutes failed to deploy during reentry and the spacecraft burned up while Vladimir screamed and cried and cursed out those responsible.

Yuri Gagarin was grounded from future space flights and denied permission to pilot military jets. This was devastating for the already deeply depressed man and everyone knew it. Even his favorite hairdresser said that “Yuri couldn't live without flying. It was his whole life. A man can't live without his trade. He can't survive.”

He eventually convinced them to let him fly, but on March 28, 1968, less than a year since Komarov’s accident, he was tragically killed during a routine-training flight aboard a MiG-15. The cause of the accident is unclear, though many speculate that the accident was an assassination on the cosmonaut as he had a falling out with several high-ranking officials following the death of his close friend.

Both Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Komarov’s names are featured on the memorial for fallen US Astronauts and USSR Cosmonauts left on the moon by the Apollo 11 crew.

#I KNOW FOR A FACT I read somewhere that Yuri dug through the crash site for his remains but I can’t remember 😭😭😭 #DID I MENTION HE’S 5’ 2??? #there’s tons of controversy surrounding what’s right and wrong but regardless their story is tragic #and I mean tons of controversy btw #there’s absolutely no way for us to know what’s right and what’s wrong #we’ll never know what actually happened but we all know what should (or should I say shouldn’t) have happened #look at how they look at each other and tell me there’s not *something* there #space race #Cold War #Soyuz 1 #Yuri Gagarin #Vladimir Komarov #cosmonaut #research #information #THIS is my Roman Empire fr #like these two deserved better 😭

[kinghenryviii-i-am]

Mission Impossible 6 Behind the scenes

#henry cavill #Tom cruise #he deserved a better story in this movie though #mi6

[bonefall]

So, your Clear Sky post is absolutely horrifying, but it was very needed, so thank you. What are your general thoughts on tackling his abuse for the AU? Like you've said, pretending he's a good guy is not the way to go, but are you planning on toning down *some* of the situations, just to give some of the cats a break? Clear Sky is a very realistic depiction of abusers, but that seems to come across even without victim number 25, yknow? I'm very curious about how you'd like to go about this.

My most recent big change was bringing Slash back into the fold, because I realized that it was actually a disservice to not address where DOTC's themes dip into Colonialism. It's a hard topic, and I'm still trying to work out the details, but I realized it was important.

With how BB!DOTC is such a MASSIVE overhaul, to properly address abuse and the ways it impacts you, ableism and its violence, and xenophobia broadly, a huge reworking of Slash belonged here too. He's one of the greatest examples of how badly WC demonizes non-Clanborn cats. I shouldn't dance around it.

That's what I need to do with Skystar.

MANY of his victims have happier endings than canon, though. Bumble is one of the most famous, bumped up into a major character and directly responsible for the formation of ThunderClan. Bright Storm is taking most of Gray Wing's roles. Birch and Alder are getting examined, with either a father who wants his kids back or Milkweed as the mate of Misty.

A lot of people will die because of him, even more will be hurt, but I see BB!DOTC as a story about victims and survivors.

Others might grab POVs here and there, but as a response to canon which I feel is Clear Sky's story told in many parts, I center this rewrite around Thunder Storm. The path of kindness he marches down, with love and with anger, and the people he helps.

So BB!Star Flower...

Previously I was playing her as ENTIRELY just manipulating Clear Sky. She was loyal to One Eye and trying to get at Skystar to bleed him dry for 8 lives to sacrifice; but connected to Thunderstar over recognizing him as a victim who deserves her idea of justice. So, she offers Thunderstar the final kill, so her father will be grateful to him and he'll get power AND the death of his abuser.

(When Thunderstar looks upon Skystar, pathetic and neutralized down to one life, he thinks about the collateral damage that will descend upon the forest if he accepts the deal. He decides that he has found the line between Justice and Justification. Of course he wants the power to make his enemies cower, protect his people, and eliminate Clear Sky so he never threatens them again; that's not the problem.

He can still do these things. He wouldn't NEED the power of a war god to do so.

But if One Eye returns, he will be endlessly hungry, ruthlessly dedicated to revenge, and set out to devour the whole forest. Everything would get worse, and even more people he loves would die. It's where his desire to destroy a monster would lead to him BECOMING one.)

Even on its face, it was previously missing an element. There's a step between "Starf decides to bring One Eye back" and "Starf offers Thunderstar the final kill" that was bare. This is the piece that was missing-- That she, herself, is trying to reach out to the only person who's ever really understood her.

But more importantly... I do feel this topic belongs here, in BB!DOTC. Abuse is a MAJOR theme. SKYSTAR is a monster already. He's harmed two wives in BB (Bright Storm and Falling Cry) and played toxic games with all three kits (Thunder Storm, Pale Sky, Tiger Sky).

And I'd avoid Star Flower being abused... why? Because it's uncomfortable to confront the pattern that Clear Sky displays? That in-canon, he tries to cut all his victims into the same ideal shape, from Storm to Thunder to Star Flower? ...it should be uncomfortable. Everything that I described in Clear Sky Is A Monster is rooted in the same desire for control, power, and punishment most abusive people share, he just happens to be a severe example.

Yes. That includes how he treats his child and romantic partners. The parallels that are drawn between Starf and Thunder are there because he wants power in the form of obedience. Starf replaces the son as a narrative award for his "growth" of not killing random people anymore for a while.

A cookie cutter is an effective tool because IT ONLY MAKES ONE SHAPE.

You know what's more uncomfortable? Reading canon!DOTC and seeing someone who hurt you reflected almost perfectly in the character the writers think did nothing wrong. Because of "good intentions" that were not there.

I will say though, just to be clear; I don't see a purpose in being more than PG-13 about serious topics for this project. I promise none of my intentions have changed. Nothing will be more graphic or gorey than canon WC-- just more intentional.

I'm keeping the sacrifice because it's dope. No one is taking this from me. Girl Moment: Killed her awful husband 8 times to count as 8 sacrifices and offered the last life to her buddy as a show of good will. How else do you make friends outside of high school

But I know now that Star Flower NEEDS to keep the canon fact she has very little agency, UNTIL that moment she snaps.

She's sacrificing one abuser to try and bring back a bigger, badder one, because in spite of everything, her father One Eye always made her feel safe. Even though he promised her off to Skystar, and expected her to be willing to die for him. She's followed every command, every order, past the death of his mortal vessel.

The first, and only, selfish choice she's ever made was in reaching out to Thunderstar to offer him the power of her father.

Thunderstar's Justice is a story about a Thunder Storm at the pinnacle of his arc, how the survivors of his Clan are settling into the new normal after the carnage of The First Battle, how Skystar's arrogance brings a violent god to the Forest... and the connection Thunderstar makes with the daughter of a monster.

#Kronk meme: ''Oh Yeah. It's all coming together'' #I'll be making the fragments in another post #Just because this one's getting really long #It works well as an explanation of my intentions #I think I had been making a mistake previously to conceive of BB!Starf as a femme fatale who seduced Sky #Again: I'm not perfect! As I analyze and re-read with a more critical eye. My art changes. #Tho I will admit I do like the idea of a Starf who is totally cognizant of how she can manipulate a villain #Into doing what she wants. I do love myself a powerful and scheming woman #It's that it didn't fit my story or my themes OR even the purpose of BB as a fixit that addresses canon #Better bones au #BB!DOTC #BB!Star Flower #BB!Skystar #BB!Thunder Storm #Also imo this philosophy will let me make BB!One Eye what I think he deserves and works best as #THE WORSE OF TWO EVILS #The Tyrant of Tyrants #And man.... the idea that Skystar becomes the Clan patron of war... #The God of Summer laughs at him. #''Outdone and reeling your wounded pride speaks the words your tender mouth can never say'' #''That you were outclassed and now you obsess over the bigger monster you aren't good enough to become'' #''You fell into the step of a lion and think you can replicate what my paw does without effort.'' #Cw abuse #Tw abuse #Abuse #Child abuse

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

I love Moth Howdy’s extreme floof, he is an actual puff ball and I want to live in his hair

i guess you could say he's a.... mothball

(amplified fluff for your viewing pleasure <3)

#as soon as i scribbled the first one i was Immediately reminded of that 'a christmas story' scene #where the protag's lil bro was so bundled up for snowy weather that he couldnt lower his arms #fluffy howdy.... #moths are the Supreme Fluffs #scribble salad #welcome home #i am very very fond of moths so moth howdy Is capturing my heart #if i sit down to actually like. solidify a Design... actually i might keep him this fluffy. might just. #im still not aaaaas attached as i am w/ butterfly!howdy since it suits him much better imo #howdy deserves to be ostentatious and just So Fruity #and butterfly him Delivers on that methinks #but i am still Fond of moth howdy #he must leave dust Everywhere... #im imagining him in his store sweeping while his wings just shower moth dust everywhere #he turns around - didnt he just clean that spot? *sweep sweep* #turns around again - HUH? he just swept! *sweep sweep* turns around- #hard cut to ten minutes later hes frantically sweeping like a complete madman. absolutely losing it.

[kandavers]

you have that one amazingly angsty drawing of radioapple. It’s the one where Luci says “you can break my heart, it’s only yours to break” or something like that and alastor admits that they are only in a relationship because he has ulterior motives. What are his motives?

btw it literally made me SOB. Love your art sm <3

Oh, to be completely honest I did not think that far! I just wanted to project HAHAHA

If I were to think of something on the spot, said "motive" would probably be: he wants to Take Over Hell, and what better way to do that than to strike the Ruler himself?

...something like that. Not very set on it, but yeah!

#alastor wouldnt have told #lucifer he had ult motives if he didnt care about him even a little bit #kanrambles #ask #radioapple #secret story in the tags #when i was with my disgusting ex i said the same thing lucifer did. #oh how i was so madly in love with him. #sadly for my case he *did* ruthlessly break my heart. #i might even say my heart was shattered! #so that angst comic was just me going “what if he just told me he was going to hurt me? would i feel any better about it?” #that comic ended on a sliiiightly hopeful note too because some people in the reply said #so yeah! #i'm hopeful too #i'm not evil #i dont want lucifer to go through the same hurt i did. #sometimes i thank god that im not depressed or else that would have been the last youve seen of me tbh 💀 #alastor and lucifer will continue to love one another #they'll get the love i deserved but never got :')

[starmist]

I genuinely believe Naksu haunts the narrative. Her actions and existence as Naksu heavily impact the entire story. Her past, the life she lived and the shadow of it in Mudeok. But we don't actually know any of it because Naksu is not in the story.

Like. What she lost as Cho Yeong is something that we are never allowed to forget, the loss of her body, her powers, her freedom, and her impending death as a soul shifter hangs over Mudeok's head like guillotine.

All the while we don't actually know the Shadow Assassin Naksu, she died in the first episode, as soon as the story began. Other than training and killing (soul shifters) what kind of person was she when she didn't have to rely on another person else or hide or live as someone else? We don't know and we don't ever learn any of that.

Still, her absence is the plot, yet her former existence as Naksu influences everything; Yul's actions and what she was to him, Jang Uk's goal of returning her powers, the revelation of soul shifters to Park Jin, Jang Gang's departure, Jin Mu's accomplishments, the King's Star even.

Everything is about her existence but she doesn't actually exist at all anymore.

#before anyone disagrees she declares naksu dead in ep 5 or something and tell yul the person he knew no longer exists in ep 19 #naksu is dead but the shadow of her hangs over everything #what could have been and what wasn't is mourned in nearly episode #alchemy of souls #also im not saying one life is better than the other but there is always this sense of loss in mudeok that is never forgotten by the story #SHE DESERVED TO LIVE AS HERSELF #Also for me its the tragedy of all of it that makes the show so good #like dont get me wrong im certifiably insane over the romance and would be very happy with the ending offered but even the then the best pa #*the happy ending #is that #she escaped the circle of tragedy shes been trapped in #and has so many people that she loves and cares for now and how those ppl care for her just as much #this post is brought to you by: my mutual and i finally finishing our rewatch