#i think 6 books in one arc is too many for specific conflicts and i think the team should be allowed to cut it in half

[ananke-xiii]

From Epic to Tragedy to ... Epic, I guess? Or why Supernatural Season 6 is the most important season of all (pt 1).

Do I have your attention? Yes, good. But just so you know it'll be long and in installments and maybe it makes sense or maybe not.

Yes, I know the title is a tiny bit incendiary but I promise I have a point to make.  

So, my idea: I posit that SPN S1-5 are inherently an epic narrative with a tragic tone while S6, in an unexpected turn of events, heavily shifts the show towards a tragic narrative with an epic tone. S6 creates a great divide within the narrative itself that the show is ultimately unable to resolve. On one hand Sam will “carry on” the epic narrative, on the other Castiel will “swan dive” to his (many) tragic endings. S8-11 arc correctly identifies Dean as the character who's able to mitigate the divide and bring the two narratives together. However, the pervy obsession Chuck has with Deanthe show simply refuses to do so, consequently S12 introduces Jack (as an absent character but we already know from S11 The Mother as an Archetype is now alive and well in the unfridged Mary so the emergence of The Son is something clear from the very ending of the previous season) as the character most likely to resolve the narrative. However, S13-15 arc fails because it wants to do too many things at the same time. The "funny" thing is that, as a result, all characters just seem to be extremely tired of The Journey, The Quest, the obstacles, they all start screaming "Catharsis!" but it's still not given to them (hello Chuck!). By the time Cas makes the deal with The Empty the audience feels the impending tragedy and it's partially given to them, although... The show doesn't mend "The Rupture" between the two narratives, Cas dies as a tragic hero, Sam as an epic hero and Dean and Jack will remain in their limbo (a limbheaven, I guess? lol) but in substantially different positions. I personally think that this is what led to the audience’s conflicted response about the finale: ultimately the scale was tipped off in favor of the tragic narrative but the audience was eventually given the epic narrative ending.  

Premise: this is my very first attempt at writing what in my mind, I hope, will turn out to be an analysis, a meta if you will, about Supernatural. I stand on the shoulders of giants and I myself am a microscopic ant but, you know, there’s room for everyone even for a little ant like me. I want to write down my thoughts and share them with strangers on the internet because 1) if I keep all my ideas trapped inside my head I’ll explode; 2) writing them down helps holding my spiraling mind down; 3) I thrive when people listen to my convoluted thoughts and share their opinions and we all have heated chats and sometimes I end up hating those people because they’re right but also I fall in love with their minds lol.  

Finally, please just remember that I’m also just a girl, sitting in front of a laptop, asking you to not come at me.

Part 1: Or where I posit that SPN s1-5 are inherently an epic narrative with a tragic tone…

Tell me, O Muse, of the man of many devices…

After the Pilot, the first SPN episode starts with two guys playing a videogame. One tells the other that he’s cheating; the other replies that he’s just smart. Interesting. The third guy we see (Guys! Guys! Guys!) is sending a video to his girlfriend and oh, look! He’s reading “The Hero with a Thousand Face” written by Joseph Campbell.

In less than 10 seconds the show is literally telling us everything we need to know: we’re dealing with Young Males, An Adventure, Trials, Obstacles… and with the completion of the journey (just like the videogame: overcome all your obstacle until you win). Basically, the show is an epic narrative. More specifically, it’s an epic narrative like The Odyssey. Well, actually, no. It’s more like The Telemachy. The Telemachy is the first 4 books of the Odyssey where Telemachus leaves Ithaca for the first time to look for his Absent Father. Sounds familiar? By the way, to this day I can’t help but feel deep admiration when I realize that The Odyssey is the story of The Absent Father and it starts off… precisely with his absence! Just like Supernatural, LOL.

Necessary aside: as if this was not already enough S10E5 Fan Fiction gifts us with what I find is the most brilliant meta ever metaed on SPN (and no, I’m not talking about the fan fiction part). In this episode we find out that the MOTW is… *drums roll* CALLIOPE!!! The muse who presides over EPIC POETRY! And she wants to EAT The Author (and, in hindsight the fact that the Real Author is God… I mean, possibly Calliope was THEE monster that they really shouldn’t have killed lol). As if this was not enough… Maggie hits Calliope with… The Odyssey! Robbie Thompson was VIBING when he was writing this episode, I’m telling you!

Okay so now going back to my main point. Supernatural epic has a very distinct tragic tone. The Absent Father does return like Odysseus (end of S1) but he can’t stay (beginning of S2): in order for the Adventure to continue The Father must die (unlike the Odyssey where Father and Son unite to defeat the enemy and Return to The Ordinary World Together). After all, this is not The Odyssey, it’s The Telemachy where The Hero is not The Father but The Son.

So know let’s talk about The Son. The Epic Hero in Supernatural is Sam Winchester. He’s the one marked at birth by the story, aka The Special Kid with Psychic Powers of S2. This is the second half of the “Challenges and temptations” phase of the Hero’s Journey culminating with The Revelation and the subsequent Death&Rebirth. Sam will have to go through this cycle a lot because his own role commands it. He has to face the Abyss and then come out of it otherwise the story can’t progress. Occasionally, he’ll have to step outside the Special World into the Ordinary World (The Normal Life) even though he has not completed all the stages because the story needs to reboot and if The Hero goes back to the Ordinary World having completed all the stages then the story is over. This is why after 15 (FIFTEEN!) season it might feel (or, as I should say, I feel because people here largely disagree) that Sam’s arc is.. well, not exactly something that varies over time. It’s not the character’s fault: he’s just drawn that way (because the show refused to let go of this trite and old Hero’s Journey cycle but this is a topic for another time, hello Chuck, ya basic!). So Sam, The Son. S3 Sam faces the challenges of possibly losing his brother so The Quest is trying to save Dean. Of course, this won’t happen (as previously stated, Sam needs a continuous Quest because he’s an Epic Hero) so we’re back at square one in S4-5 with the demon blood, the 66 sigils and, ultimately, Lucifer and the apocalypse.

Sam is the Epic Hero, special by birth, called back to the Adventure by his brother, quick learner, intelligent and warrior-like, overcomer of obstacles, trials and (maybe to a lesser degree lol) temptations and capable of facing the Abyss. I like the fact that he's definitely not The Perfect Hero because his many flaws make him more compelling and fascinating. Speaking of flaws, there's one thing that Sam lacks. Sure, like all characters on every TV show he has a need, a desire AND a fatal flaw. However, there is a fatal flaw and THE fatal flaw: hamartia.

Hamartia is the tragic flaw, the character's very own trait that brings about his very own downfall. How do we know that Sam lacks this very specific trait? Because he never experiences utter and total ruin brought about by his and his own only hands.

However, there is a certain character, the one and only character that dares to "make it up as [he goes]", that committs a huge mistake, and he errs not because of some events, not because of some circumstances, possibly not even because of God's will: he just makes decisions that trigger cosmic consequences...

I wonder who could it be...

#spn #spn meta #supernatural meta #these are just my thoughts I still need to process them all don't come at me I'm just sharing #spn rewatch #spn analysis #the odyssey in supernatural #superntural #tragedy vs epic pt1 #the epic in supernatural #the tragedy in supernatural

[greenhikingboots]

Ship Game. Answer with a GIF. No repeats. 1. First Ship I thought long and hard about it, and I think my first ship must have been Mulan and Li from Disney’s Mulan. The movie came out when I was just old enough to start thinking critically about movies, noticing what I liked and didn’t like. And I realized I really, really liked Mulan and Li as individual characters, but I didn’t like that we didn’t get to see them fall in love — just the spark of something starting at the end of the movie. I think it was the first time I daydreamed about different scenarios that could have played out between them, which is basically the foundation of fanfiction, right? So…. count it!

2. First OTP This has to be Draco and Hermione (Dramione) from Harry Potter. This is the ship that got me into reading fanfiction and actually engaging in fandom spaces. Unfinished fics still haunt my Google Docs, and I hope one day I’m going to come back to this ship and finish them. Basically, I love thinking about Draco’s possible redemption arc and I love that a relationship with Hermione helps explore and enhance it. Oh, and the angst!

3. Current Favorite Sydney and Carmen from The Bear. It took until the end of the most recent season for the appeal to sink in, and I’d like to see more positive moments between them before romantic feelings solidify. But I think they’ve got a great foundation. Plenty of conflict, sure, but relationship experts say the frequency of conflicts and the subject matter of conflicts aren’t what indicate success in relationships. It’s all about how conflicts are repaired. And I LOVE the way they do repairs together. So vulnerable. So willing to accept responsibility and try to change. Looking forward to their development in future seasons.

4. Shipped From the First Minute Josh and Donna from The West Wing. I watched this show way after it ended and found myself just wanting more and more of them. Like, they could have been the main characters instead of having an ensemble cast and I would have been perfectly content. Playful banter right off the bat. She keeps him in line. He’d be lost without her. They’re both smitten but dammit they work at the White House and that means they have to keep things professional. The pining! Do yourself a favor and go watch YouTube videos of just them. You won’t regret it.

5. Wish They’d Been Endgame I’m putting Jon and Sansa (Jonsa) here so that I have a sensible spot left for other ships. I do believe they’ll be endgame in the books, if we ever get them, so this answer is for Game of Thrones specifically. We’ve all read, reblogged, and probably written a few of our own posts about how many different ways the show went sideways. I have nothing new to say here and to recap previous thoughts would take way too many paragraphs. Jon, Sansa, and the Stark legacy all deserved so much better. That’s the short of it.

6. Wish They’d Been Canon As some other answers hint at, I typically empathize with writers’ choices even if they don’t fit my personal preference. So it was hard to think of a couple that wasn’t canon but I truly thought should have been from a cohesive narrative perspective. Maybe Caleb and Maeve from Westworld? This show went more and more off the rails with each season, so a lot more than ship dynamics would have to change to redeem it in my opinion. And I definitely wouldn’t want Caleb to have been unfaithful to his wife. But they showed us such a stronger bond between him and his daughter and between him and Maeve compared to him and his wife that, like…. maybe his wife shouldn’t have even been a character? Write her out completely, as early as possible? And then that strong partnership between Caleb and Maeve could have been something even more? Yep, that would have been better.

7. You Like But Most of Fandom Hates Do people *hate* Jacob and Bella (Jella) from Twilight? I don’t know, but I like it 100 times more than Bella and Edward, and I think that’s probably pretty uncommon. Actually, in my college public speaking class, we had an assignment where we had to have a partner and write persuasive speeches from opposing views. And I was like, “Who wants to be my partner and have fun with this by debating Twilight ships?” I compared Jella against serious research about successful relationships and ACED IT. My instructor liked my speech so much she asked me to give it a second time to another class she taught while she recorded it. I would pay money to be able to track down a copy of that. A+ work.

8. Don’t Even Watch But Ship Them Anyway Eddie and Chrissy (HellCheer) from Stranger Things. Opposites attract? Grumpy sunshine appearing but maybe not really? Outcast boy and popular girl? A ship name that isn’t about their names? DOOMED BY THE NARRATIVE? What’s not to love, you know? Plus, this ship’s fans make amazing art! And if I remember correctly, it loosely inspired a Jonsa AU fic I really enjoyed, lounge act.

9. Wish They’d Had a Different Storyline Stefan and Caroline (Steroline) from the Vampire Diaries. I’ve only dabbled in this fandom, but it seems like Klaus and Caroline (Klaroline) is a much more popular ship. They had great chemistry, so I get the appeal. But the surface-level unrequited crush to reluctant mentor/mentee to genuine friends to platonic soulmates to lovers slow burn of Steroline is just chef's kiss. But then — spoiler alert — right after they get married, Stefan sacrifices himself so his brother and ex-girlfriend can be together? From a writer’s perspective, I get that ending. Full circle, brotherly love, blah blah blah. But I liked Stefan and Caroline so much more than Damon and Elena and would have rather seen the former couple get the happy ending.

10. Favorite that was Endgame Coach Eric Taylor and his wife Tami Taylor from Friday Night Lights. Do they count? They were together the entire series and had few serious marital conflicts. So there was never any threat of being something other than endgame. But I’m picking them anyway. I love their classic bickering like an old married couple and the way they still lust for each other after so many years. And I love, love, love that the series finale ended with them making a move that was more for her career than his. Relationship goals.

#ship game #dramione #jonsa #jella #carmen x sydney #josh x donna #coach x tami #maeve x caleb #steroline #mulan #hellcheer

[quixoticism]

Disney’s Andor terrifies me.

The Disney+ TV show Andor was announced at the end of 2020. My immediate thoughts were that it was probably going to be pretty good, since Rogue One was pretty good (I’m the only person in my friend group who didn’t pan on it immediately). I found Mandalorian seasons one and two to be overrated and boring, and after Rise of Skywalker lost all interest in Star Wars.

I didn’t watch any of the trailers for Andor, went in to it totally tabula rasa,  really only watching it on a whim because I had an hour and a half to kill with a friend and, hey, it might be alright. 

I instantly fell in love with the darker tone, slow pace, politics, cyberpunk aesthetics, and semi-realistic portrayal of insurgency. I’ve always had an interest in conflict studies and combat psychology, and what I saw met with my approval. From the very first scene where the titular protagonist enters what is addressed in dialogue to be a brothel demanding to see a specific woman, I knew this show would pull no punches. Seeing Syril Karn, who me and my friend immediately dubbed “Javert,” repeatedly being shown to be a pathetic fascist cop enticed my personal political leanings. Dedra Meero, an ISB agent, instead of being shown to be a girlboss, was instead used to show an insight into how the fascist mindset and ideology actually works in it’s “apolitical” adherents by creating an atmosphere and social structure that incentivizes brutality and ruthlessness. When Luthen Rael, portrayed by Stellan Skarsgard, revealed himself to be an accelerationist, I stood up and clapped.

After seeing the first three episodes in one setting I immediately went online to see the critical reception. Basically the only consistent criticism of Andor from mainstream mouthpieces is that it is slow-paced. I consider anyone who thinks Andor to be slow-paced to have seen one too many Marvel movies.

Episode 6, “The Eye,” I literally watched three times on the day it released and once the day after. In it, our protagonists carry out an insider attack, which for those unfamiliar with both Andor and modern warfare is a type of assymetrical tactic in which insurgents pretend to be members of the occupying force in order to carry out an attack from the inside. I hooted and hollered, my war nerd brain making all sorts of happy chemicals. When my friend’s favorite character, Nemik, was killed in an accident, I thought it was an admirable commitment to the gritty realism. In the gunfight preceding it, cover is used, as is cover-fire, real fireteam tactics. They’re not perfect, of course, but somebody involved in the fight choreography had at least read a book or watched some videos of actual firefights.

In the third 3-episode arc, the main plot is Cassian and Kino Loy (played by Andy Serkis; again, hooting and hollering) attempting to escape from a prison-factory. The use of inter- and intra-shop competition to increase productivity was a tactic used by Nazi Germany in it’s prison-factories, the use of electrical punishment and torture, forced posture-holding, and deprivation of shoes mimics American abuses of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Again, I found this commitment to realism admirable. I should’ve been scared of it.

At episode 10, “One Way Out,” I figured Andor out for the far-more sinister ideological tool that it is. The episode features prisoners outwitting and killing their jailers to escape. We are understood by the text to sympathize with the prisoners, their crimes are never mentioned, we are led to believe their current treatment is far worse than any crime they could’ve committed. Compare this to the real-world reporting on any prison riot and you’ll see a stark difference. To draw a more tenuous line, compare it to fears of a “crime wave” that dominate mainstream US reporting (for those not in the know, crime in general in the the United States it as at an all-time low. Violent crime is increasing but when you add all crime together, crime rates are very low.) The audience is meant to, and overwhelmingly does, support actions in the text that they find reprehensible in real life.

Andor contains no last-minute recants of radicalism, no incongruous interpersonal evil that overshadows the radical commitments of our protagonists. The final episode, “Rix Road” features a riot. Men throw themselves against riot police and are beaten by them and we’re meant to sympathize with the rioters. As part of the build-up to the riot (and this is where Andor genuinely shines, the buildup and tension make the scarce action and payoff extremely enjoyable) we see a young man, whose father was killed by the government, build a bomb and throw it into a crowd of soldiers. Secondary cookoff explosions (another tinge of the realism I find intoxicating,) kill secondary characters, including a police informant. This terrorist attack (and the one I had just forgotten until now in episode 3, where Andor and Rael blow up police officers with a VBIED) we are meant to sympathize with. When the police open fire into the crowd, we are meant to condemn them. When a soldier is thrown from a tower to his death, it isn’t a comical beat.

There are many similar beats throughout Andor. Cassian Andor is played by Diego Luna, a Mexican actor, and speaks with a vague sci-fi Latin accent. He is racially profiled by police and unjustly arrested and sentenced to prison. We see that his adoptive father, played by a black man, was hanged in the town square by soldiers. It is alluded to that the Empire carried out a genocide on the indigenous nation to which Cassian was born. Anti-indigeneity is repeatedly shown to be a trait of the villains. Riot police beat innocent people with truncheons. The ways in which we are textually shown the Empire to be evil is by the text comparing it to the United States of America.

This is terrifying. The protagonists are overthrowing their government, a government textually extremely similar to the current regime in the United States, and we are meant to sympathize with them. And Andor is on Disney fucking plus. Disney is the goddamn safest corporation. They don’t do anything unless the algorithms show it’ll return them a profit. And Andor probably has turned a profit (streaming, unlike TV, does not have published viewership counts, so we’ll never know for sure.) I have friends whose careers, bodies, mental health, and finances were destroyed by the 2020 uprising. People I know in real life have been arrested, beaten, and shot at for doing what Disney is making gobs of money for showing for the same reason.

That uprising, that cultural moment, anti-american sentiment, and anti-prison sentiment, is being packaged back up and sold to us. The revolution is a commodity. Disney, the largest entertainment company in human history, can make a movie about why you should overthrow your government without actually impacting the chances of it being overthrown.

#star wars #andor

[wildfane]

me wanting the next arc to go hand in hand with TBC because i’m worried not everything will be tied together in a satisfying way in the end VS. me being worried because 6 more books with this conflict is just way too many books: fight

#a.txt #i dont even care. if it sucks it sucks #im gonna read them anywYs #my new motto with warriors is ‘as long as it’s not boring i’m happy’ #i think 6 books in one arc is too many for specific conflicts and i think the team should be allowed to cut it in half #there are ways for another arc with this conflict to work but do we trust the team? probably not

[castielcommunism]

I’m not sure how to phrase this properly, and I don’t want what I’m about to say to sound completely insane or like I’m making excuses for how violent spn is, but one of the things I struggle with is the level to which the violence in spn should be taken literally - more specifically, the interpersonal violence between the main cast, especially dean v cas and sam v dean, which are the two most common. As in, do we take an instance of them physically attacking one another as literally textual? Did they literally try to kill each other?

And on the surface that sounds like an absurd claim, like those things do quite literally happen on the show and are given a great deal of narrative and visual significance. The plot will grind to a halt to show us this happening (Dean beating up Sam in season 6), or conversely, the plot intentionally leads up to instances of this sort of violence happening (ie the Mark of Cain arc fight between Cas and Dean, or the crypt scene in S8). But I’ve been thinking a lot about this video essay by Jacob Geller, where he talks about the limitations of human language to accurately capture the emotion of specific events or memories. He makes the point that people often exaggerate the things that happen to them when describing the events to other people, usually to give these stories added comedic or dramatic tension. And he argues that storytelling in general is a way of describing the “vibe” of a moment in time, or a common human experience, or even a historical event, but at the expense of literal technical accuracy.

And I think this is true generally, obviously. Fictional stories are far more dramatic and bombastic than real people’s lives. The events that happen in them would very often irrevocably traumatise a person (or straight up kill them), but these characters carry on anyway. Most of the things that happen in books, in shows and movies, and in video games are things people don’t want to happen to them in real life, be they a gunfight or catastrophic familial drama or the loss of a loved one. A lot of the times the things that happen in stories are also impossible in real life, and so exaggeration turns into complete fabrication. But because you are trying to tell a story, emotional consistency, entertainment, and thematic weight are more important that a 100% accurate representation of the thing you’re describing.

So back to spn. The violence in the show is often comically dramatic. You cannot get thrown around and have the shit beaten out of you that frequently and expect to be okay. You cannot go through that amount of trauma and come out the other side a functional human being. You cannot do that many horrible things to your friends and family and expect them to still associate with you. So I think that, beyond adding to the entertainment value of the show (it’s fun to watch people beat the shit out of each other), visually dramatic physical violence is an easy way of communicating tension and conflict to the audience.

And like, that’s a cheap cop-out if that’s the case. There are tons of examples of shows/movies/books/etc creating tension and communicating conflict between characters without resorting to that level of literal “conflict”, but for a cable television show that is meant to be consumed without thinking about it too much, and for one that’s been running as long as spn has, you have to keep reinventing micro-dramas to hook the audience, and the easiest way to show These Guys Have Beef is to make them lash out at each other, even if it’s eye-roll worthy levels of stupid drama, and even if this happening in real life would end in all parties involved never speaking to each other again.

I don’t intend for this post to conclude with “all violence on spn is metaphorical”, because that’s not what I’m arguing. But I think there is a hyper-realistic element to its violence that is not wholly literal. I don’t even think it’s possible to parse, like, okay 40% of it is literally canonical and 60% is metaphorically or symbolically canonical. There’s just a weird grey area it exists in, which makes it hard to situate that violence when trying to unpack and understand these characters. The show itself seems confused about which violence is a literal canonical event and which violence is meant to be dramatic or metaphorical for some larger conflict.

It’s also why I sometimes feel uneasy when people cite the violence on spn as a literal instance of horrible behaviour some character commits, not because I want to deny the reality of the show itself, but because you could not possibly judge these characters as real human beings because they are dramatic caricatures of an ACTUAL human being. They are situated in a narrative that is just as dramatic, ridiculous, and divorced from reality. But by the same token it’s difficult to say that like, oh I dislike the metaphorical “vibes” of this episode or this interaction between cas and dean without grounding it in a literal event that takes place. So I sometimes will agree with a person’s overall argument about a particular event in spn but disagree with the interpretation, taking some events as more literal than metaphorical and vice versa.

Not sure if any of this makes sense lol, but - in short, I think there’s somewhat of a contradiction vis a vis the violence in supernatural, which is meant to be taken simultaneously as both literal and metaphorical. As I said, I think show seems confused about which instance of violence is which, and it often conflates the two, and generally treats them as interchangeable, so it sometimes feels impossible to come to an agreement with people about how to interpret it, even if you’re both operating from the same general understanding and knowledge of the text.

#spn.txt #meta

[masterhandss]

Who do you think katarina will end up with?

Anonymous asked: Who do you ship katarina the most with ?

I got these two questions consecutively, I'm assuming they are coming from the same person so I'll combine them to a single reply, if that's okay.

People who have been following me since the first season can probably tell that I really like Geordo x Katarina (GeoKata) the most out of all ships. At first it was mostly just because I have an unintentional biases towards characters with blonde hair, which is why favorites were GeoKata and MariaKata, but then when I slowly got into the series more, my biases permanently shifted to the G-boy.

I'm not really a fan of laying out why I like certain ships through test to be honest. I usually get super frustrated when zine mods ask contributors to explain why they like a character or ship for contributor spotlight graphics because I can never really say everything I feel correctly hgdsjsdgfj, which is a good thing someone had already asked me a similar question before so I'll just copy paste my response here if that's okay :DD

TLDR; I ship Katarina with Geordo (Maria, Sora and Cezar behind him), and I think Katarina will end up with Geordo :))

You didn't really ask why but I'll give it anyways :)) -> major light novel spoilers, by the way <-

I'm not really the most deep person, if a ship has the bare minimum of something that I like (a trope or a hair color combination) then I stan it hard. That's why I used to be so equally adoring to both Maria and Geordo, because hurrdurr blonde hair hurrdurr. But the more I read the books and got into the community, I eventually liked him more than Maria. I didn't understand how or why at first, since Geordo and Maria are undergoing a very similar character arc: both characters wants to become better people in order to become worthy of Katarina (Geordo emotionally, and Maria physically? magically? in terms of her position/social status? I can't think of a right word but you get it). Again, Maria and Geordo's struggles are similarly written but one of them is more compelling to me. I feel like Maria's problems are easier to solve (her inability to rely on people, her attention seeking and her desire to be more magically powerful) imo, since she's already a well-liked figure in the Ministry and she's already a high-level magic user. Geordo's though; the series doesn't put too much attention on it, but despite the fact that Katarina gave his life color, he still somewhat sees the world in a desaturated light even post-childhood according to the novels and his lack of empathy still prevents him from completely absorbing all the colors. He's still learning how to see and he is happy that Katarina is always there to help him learn how.

I just love the irony that Katarina sees Geordo as a Perfect Prince and feels that she is inferior and unworthy of him, but then Geordo also seems himself as flawed, inferior and unworthy of Katarina and sees her as someone perfect. Geordo constantly wants to be better for Katarina (and for the people around him), and in time, maybe he could become a motivation for Katarina to be better too (on Katarina's side though, because on Geordo's she doesn't have to because she's already perfect the way she is). Geordo, while being self-centered and aggressive in his pursuits, isn't always selfish and thinks about what Katarina wants too. He'd fight tooth and nail for her and will do whatever he can so that Katarina will love him in the same way, but that doesn't mean he wont respect her decision if she falls in love with someone else, he just wont lose without a fight that's all (and fight, he'll give that's for sure).

Geordo is crazy in love with her; wants to protect her happiness, keep her safe whenever he can, and is even willing to both fight to become king and throw away the life he currently knows if it means he can live a life where he and Katarina can be together wherever she is most content and happy. He wouldn't lock her up in the castle like a caged bird like what Keith and some fans of the series thinks, whenever he does have thoughts like that like in Volume 6, its his internal response to the lack time they can have together alone, rather than being indicative of how he wants to treat her (like in his desire in Book of Desires, he conjured up a literal honeymoon because a honeymoon is the only time where he can spend it with her alone without someone butting in! It's weird and exaggerated, but his desire is simply to just be able to spend a day with her and be able to pursue her romantically without the threat of people like Keith and Mary).

Katarina sees him for himself, and she extends her hand of friendship to him despite all her fears of her bad ends involving him. She knows he's a "sadistic prince" but doesn't always tie him to that title. Out of everyone, Katarina has just as bad, if not worse, initial impression of Geordo compared to almost everyone around him (Others sees him as a Perfect Prince while she sees him as a Sadistic Prince and Future Murderer), and yet she accepts him and wants to learn more about him. She supports him and wants him to find happiness in love with Maria, even if it means she'll get exiled to another country or to a far off farm! (i'll edit this with citations later)

I can't help but want that for him, someone who there for you through thick and thin, who supports him despite everything she knows about her future involving him. Katarina is everything he would ever want in a partner: someone who isn't disturbed by his past, can see through his fake smiles, constantly cares for him, sees him beyond his princely façade, is one of his first friends who has helped him create friendships with other as well that prevented him to wallow in isolation and hate of the version of himself that society created for him, is genuinely interested in him as a person, is endlessly fun to be around and unpredictable, and is overall beautiful inside and out.

Again, a lot of Maria and Geordo's struggles are very similar to each other, but I'm more interested in Geordo's side. I find it more compelling. Geordo's scenes always almost provides something new, we get to see him angry, flustered & embarrassed, scheming/conniving, possessive, grateful, sad & frustrated and so much more. Maria has that too (we get to see her sad and thankful), but this might be my own perspective of reading the novels, but Maria's scenes kinda feel the same to me. It almost always starts with Katarina helping her and her realizing time and time again how much she loves her and become more motivated to be a better version of herself. I mean its unfair to say that they are all the same but that might just be me. (Maria: wow I'm so grateful for everything Katarina has given me, I want to be with her forever (rinse and repeat for the next 5 books))

Yes I know it's beautiful to see Maria falling deeper and deeper in love with Maria, but I'd rather see moments of someone who is trying to advance on those feelings rather than someone who is still trying to understand what they feel. Declarations and descriptions of love are beautiful in literary works and it always gets my heart fluttering, but I can read fanfics if I want to see that be written in 8 or more ways. Give me some action, some internal conflict!

It also doesn't help that it makes me really really happy for Geordo that he's made a dent in Katarina's baka shield? Katarina's heart skipped and fluttered for a second when Geordo was patting her head, and it makes me want to root for him even more! (Yes, go break the bubble! You can do it!!)

It's not even the same doki-doki as when she gets charmed at how pretty Maria is, to me its different in a way that my small vocabulary can't explain.

And besides, it really is just a battle between the protagonist that almost ruined her life (Maria) and the love interest that almost ruined her life (Geordo). Keith is part of that equation too, but he was never a threat after they became close (narratively, its seriously just Maria vs Geordo vs Keith, ignoring the changes to that narrative by FL2). It's always about Geordo (and Maria), everything she's doing in the Fortune Lover 1 Arc is because of Geordo (and arguably, Maria & Keith too) and the consequences of where he decides her future to would lead to.

It has to be Geordo, in my opinion, to show her that things aren't the same as the game (and he already kinda has, just a dent though) (If not Geordo, it should be Maria). He, who she feared and yet cared for so much

(I know Fortune Lover 2 basically removes that importance of Geordo and Maria specifically to Katarina's narrative by making her an active problem in all routes, finally becoming loyal to the title "All Routes Lead to Doom", but its not like the story is digging into Katarina's brain that she's sword training for the purpose of fighting back against all the boys, its still just Geordo, so idk I still count that in my shipper brain)

It also also helps that Geordo is basically the poor bullied animal in the hamefura community's eyes, regardless of how far he is into the battle (like in the reddit discord lmao). Yeah he has the best chances which is why many people both in and out of the series find it so fun to drag him under because of his unfair advantage, which is fair, but just like how you feel when you see a small wounded animal, you can't help but want to help someone who has the whole world against him (there's literally a canon manga page with that joke lmao), which is how I eventually felt over time. He's so misunderstood and bullied by people despite the authors dedication to flesh him out more beyond being a possessive prince fiancé of Katarina because of the anime's adaption, so I'd rather give my biases to someone who needs (and deserves it) rather than other contenders who are already overflowing with love and support. Also who doesn't love a perfect guy who breaks when his beloved is harm/who opens up to the person he cares about most?

I know people will read this and find it unfair that Katarina is giving so much to Geordo, but he isn't really giving anything to her. One thing I'll agree that Maria has over Geordo is that Maria makes Katarina want to try and work hard. Seeing Maria improve her magic wants Katarina to do the same, and whether or not it's from motivation or fear of getting left out depends on the reader. So far we don't really have anything like that for Katarina with Geordo because most things involving Geordo intimidates her, compared to Maria who is surrounded by mysteries and adventure (though arguably it's Katarina and not her lmao, but Kat doesn't know that).

Katarina is already the most well-adjusted character in the story even as a child so the only thing to really explore from her is mostly just her relationships and skewed sense of reality. That's why I hope that Geordo will not only help her realize that she can be loved by her peers romantically despite her self-perceived position/role, but also be one of the persons to make her completely realize that she isn't living inside a game. I mean like I said a few paragraphs ago, he's already kinda doing it by constantly confessing his feelings to her, reminding her that he is a person with his own feelings and not a character programmed to fall for a heroine.

So yeah, I ship Katarina with Geordo for those reasons and believe they should end up together for those reasons.

If you ask me who I think would she end up with objectively, I'd still say Geordo. The author's focus jumps between Geordo and Maria so that really depends on who you're asking. It also doesn't help that Geordo is always in the marketing with Katarina in the books and games, which pretty much cements his Male Lead status to Katarina's Female Lead status lmao

Thank you for the ask lmao, I'll be updating this with more thoughts and possibly citations later :))

#mh ask #hamefura #my next life as a villainess all routes lead to doom #my next life as a villainess #geokata #geordo stuart #katarina claes #i want to add more but i'll do it later :)) #I just copy pasted this so i'm srry for the typos ;;w;; #bakarina #destruction flag otome

[brawltogethernow]

I'd like to hear more about your murderbot transmigrator thoughts :))

Okay obviously when I said I wasn’t going to think about a Murderbot/Scum Villain fusion that was more of a goal, which is a lot like a lie. I have pecked out ~1k of prose for it, but none of it is presentable for longer than one line. The problem with this concept is that it’s actually very good, and there are a lot of meaty ideas to dig into with it, like, too many of them.

1. Murderbot would be immedately inclined to empathize with the System and guess at its motivations. Depending on what those are this may still stay an antagonistic relationship, because the way the System leverages its cosmic powers to coerce and strongarm people stomps on a lot of Murderbot’s triggers and is generally a dick move. The points system is just a gamified governor module. But it’s still a relationship, and if the System turns out to be an antagonist, it’s in that role as a fleshed out character with a personality who has been interrogated by someone with every reason to assume somebody made it and has commanded it to act like this for their own reasons.

Murderbot asks its function and designates it NarrSystem (Narrative System) or StorySystem or something because “the System” is too generic coming from its setting.

2. Transmigrating into a human body would be badweird and transmigrating into a human brain would be absolutely horrifying. (SecUnit could transmigrate into a system, but we’ve kind of been there done that with 2.0.) Dysphoria central! Murderbot gets to address that while it has never wanted to be a human, all humans are so convinced that being human is better that on some level it WAS worried that they were right. And now it can say with absolute certainty that they are not and this sucks. But also some things that it would have thought would be fundamentally different are actually the same. It’s just a whole time.

This is part of why I’m deviating from transmigration story standard and full stop making the transmigration a temporary situation, the other main reason being that Murderbot has more going on in its own world than your standard transmigration protagonist.

3. Either Murderbot gets back by hacking the System or it intends to but it’s ultimately the System’s decision. This is a very slow process because it can’t access tech the way it’s used to and the System’s structure is very different from what it’s dealt with before (because it strongly resembles Windows Vista). It needs tech and more control over its situation stat though so it’s going to keep at it until it works. Open your damn menus. SecUnit is going to rig transmigration until it’s like playing The Sims with cheat codes.

4. (This one is for me.) The System still talks in garbled Chinese netspeak, and Murderbot is like. Wow this program speaks in the lost tongue of an ancient civilization. How old is it. I can barely understand it. (Because of the bad memes not the Chinese.)

5. Murderbot gets yeeted into The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon and has to deal with the emotionally exhausting scenario of empathizing with everybody present. It likes the heroes, and it likes the other heroes they’re in conflict with, it likes the more complex villains with fleshed out motivations, and it even has a soft spot for a lot of the side characters and bit villains. This is fundamentally incompatible with how it tries to ration its empathy, assess situations by sorting people into allies/nonhostiles/hostiles, and compartmentalize by nicknaming the people it’s in conflict with things like Target 1, Target 2, and Target 3.

6. The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, as the specific transmigration variation we’re jumping off of here, was not trying to interrogate the infinity mirror effect of heteronormativity reflecting back and forth between media and people, and as such is not like, a solid narrative about this. That said, this book is basically like:

Shen Yuan reads this giant mess of a book with a lot of straight sex fantasies, not completely without appreciating the romance, but with more antipathy for it than he admits to himself. Then he ends up in the book and thinks he’s meant to enable the romances he read, which he’s so completely resigned to doing he doesn’t notice that the main character is queer and gone on him, or that he, himself, has been studiously suppressing the desires he assumes he should have while unable to perceive what he actually wants and how it affects his behavior.

So the Murderbot version of this is to subvert amatonormativity with your pretty explicitly aroace protagonist whose reaction to fictional romance is tolerant at best. Murderbot embraces its own lack of desire for romance but dances around acknowledging that it desires other relationships and seems to be working around the incorrect belief that romance and friendship are both human things and that’s why it doesn’t engage with them. So:

Murderbot ends up in the immediate leadup to the resolution of a love dodecahedron - maybe surrounding Eden, just as the only named character from TRAFOSM I think we have. And Murderbot is (internally) like...okay...I was never very moved by ANY of these people as romantic choices for you...but I might as well try to guide you to the least offensive ones, I guess. And it’s so mired in expectations based on its foreknowledge of this arc that it doesn’t notice until Eden spells it out that they’re ditching ALL their suitors and have realized they’re complete without romance and want to devote themself to finding their long lost birth mother or farming science or something, which just takes SecUnit tf out.

Possibly I will become really ungovernable and say that after seizing the System’s capabilities Murderbot just offers to take Eden on a reverse isekai right off of Sanctuary Moon, leaving ART’s crew and the Preservation team to be like, Where Did You Just Get This Entire Human.

7. Further going off svsss, there is a meta thread to interrogate by plunking Murderbot into a villain character. It's already an evil robot trope that declined to go evil, this is true in-universe and it knows it, and it has very low expectations of the morals of the group that it belongs to - informed by the same media that was a lifeline to it when it was in a very bad situation - that it is still in the process of working through. The layers.

So yeah there’s a lot going on here. Send help.

#this isn't even it the well isn't even dry #murderbot #svsss #the murderbot diaries #anonymous #asks answered #stock villain

[catherdrashepard]

Darrow is Not Going to Die at the End of the Series Part 1 Probably (Definitely)

I don’t think Darrow is going to die at the end. I’m open to being proven wrong, but I am entirely convinced that Darrow is going to live and happily retire with his wife and son. The main reason is because the trope of a main character suffering and then dying is one I hate and it should go away.

BUT, in all serious, I have been thinking of some examples in other media that is better evidence for my point. Spoilers ahead for Dark Age, Hunger Games, Castlevania, Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans, Avengers Endgame, The Hobbit, Voltron, FMA, HttYD, Death Note, Madoka Magica, Merlin, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, HunterxHunter, Dragon Prince, He-Man (the new one), Yu Yu Hakusho, Persona 3. Mass Effect, The Hollow, Camp Cretaceous, and whatever else I can think of.

I’m so sorry for the potential length of this, @hyena-frog and I kept thinking of examples.

First, I want to give examples where the protagonist went through hell and then came out alive and why those were good decisions. For starters we have Katniss from the Hunger Games series. I felt like this was a good beginning point because these two series are often compared to each other. Katniss is forced to fight to the death for the amusement of a bunch of rich people. Darrow’s time in the Institute also seems to be for the entertainment of Golds even if it’s disguised as a test. They both also turn the tables on the people who run these tests and shift the system. This then results into dismantling of the previous hierarchy in favour of a more equal one. They’re both at the forefront of the movement but the main difference is that Katniss is more of a figurehead and she gets used by more experienced people while Darrow takes charge during Morning Star and keeps his leadership position throughout the rest of the books. I kind of attribute this to the size of the series (3 books vs 6 books) and the difference in genre (Young Adult vs. New Adult and then Adult).

At the end of Hunger Games Katniss was shown to have survived and built a family with Peeta. She COULD have died for the cause like some of the other characters; Finnick and Prim. But the difference with those two, in my opinion, is that Finnick’s death was his choice after being forced into prostitution after winning his year. Victors pretty much have their freedom taken away and I feel like Finnick’s death was symbolic of him finally having autonomy over his own body. Prim on the other hand, died because she went to help others who had hurt when a bomb went off only to fall victim to a secondary blast. I think part of it was meant to showcase that Gale and Katniss had grown apart and that their ideals were now different. There’s also similarities in what happens to Prim with what happens to Lysander when he tries to rescue the Reds from Atlas’ Dragon’s Teeth (I’m sorry, they just remind me so much of the Husk spikes in Mass Effect). Each situation, however, serves a different purpose. I feel like a lot of the things that happen to Lysander are chances at self reflection he is given. I’m going to avoid going into great detail about Lysander (right now) because god knows I could talk about him all day.

ANYWAY. The point is both Darrow and Katniss lose people they’re close to, the families they have built over shared trauma and on top of that, they’re trying to fix a societal structure that treats them and other like them as lesser. Katniss has already finished her journey and at the end she’s shown to be slowly recovering and becoming comfortable with bringing children into the world. Darrow already has a son, and his found family has children and, of course, his story isn’t finished yet. Something else I think that will differ in their stories is that, if I remember correctly, Katniss and Gale never really reconciled. I think there are some parallels to the rift between Darrow and Sevro, although I feel with Devro we’re supposed to understand both perspectives whereas with Katniss and Gale, Gale is very much going too far. But Darrow and Sevro separate because of seemingly differing priorities. Sevro wants to focus on his family and protecting them and, while Darrow is also considering his loved ones, his methods cause conflict between them. I can see where Sevro is coming from. On the surface, Darrow might seem like he doesn’t care or his only focus is on the war. Which isn’t....wrong, he DOES want to end the war as soon as possible. But, much like Katniss, his motivation for ending everything as quickly as possible is to ensure a safe future for his family. What I think a lot of readers forget, my self included, is that none of the characters have a full picture of what’s happening. (A topic I will bring up again in my Lyria study). We’re lucky enough to get several different perspectives so we understand things that other characters may not.

Imagine if Katniss died at the end of Hunger Games. It would feel like such a disservice to have her go through all of that trauma and when finally presented with the possibility of having a life she thought she could never have, she dies. I think it would be the same for Darrow. Giving all he has just for the possibility of a better life for his family and then just snatching away his ability to see the benefits of all his hard work would just be...unsatisfying.

The next piece of media I’d like to talk about is Castlevania, specifically the ending. During the final battle, Trevor is ready to sacrifice his life in order to save the world and everyone he loves from death (kind of like the protagonist of Persona 3); he succeeds and the audience assumes he died in the process. BUT, he doesn’t. I don’t remember if it was explained in detail but Trevor lived and he was able to live happily with his wife, his husband, and his son. You know who else has a wife, a son, and at least one husband??? DARROW.

Trevor was prepared to die so his story pretty much ended and his death wouldn’t have felt unreasonable...for HIS character. Alucard specifically was betrayed and abandoned by so many people that having Trevor come back to him felt like such a good thing. Trevor may have left him but then he returned so they all could live happily ever after. I think a bit of it was even though they all worked together, it still felt like everyone was on their own personal journey and if Trevor had stayed dead....while not unrealistic, something would have felt off. Like Alucard and Sypha wouldn’t be able to move on and have a peaceful life together. Trevor needed to come back to complete the trio.

I’m trying to separate each piece of media by the point they make so bear with me on the length of this. Yu Yu Hakusho is a really good anime series from the early 2000s. The main character, Yusuke, dies in the first few episodes but then he comes back to life. It’s very similar to the beginning of Red Rising when Darrow is recruited to the Sons of Ares. Yusuke also died during the Chapter Black arc when he was killed by Sensui. Because Yusuke has demon blood, he didn’t stay dead. It’s not quite the same as Darrow as he hasn’t died a second time. I’m not going to count the fake death when he was taken by Adrius as that did not happen during the Iron Gold trilogy. The reason that worked in Yu Yu Hakusho (and also worked in the beginning of Red Rising) is that there was still stuff to accomplish. This is a point I’ll be making again. A lot of this rides on what is going to happen in the 6th book but, as of now, Darrow’s death would leave too many things incomplete.

For the last thing I’m going to talk about in this particular part, the He-Man reboot is really good. Now, I never watched the original so my knowledge of lore is very limited. But they kill Adam off pretty quickly in the first season and we have an entirely different protagonist for most of it. Adam’s absence can be compared to having different POVs in IG and DA, where we essentially get to follow different protagonists. But the reason both Darrow and Adam come back is because their stories aren’t done yet. Completely removing them wouldn’t make sense based on what’s happening.

Of course, some of this implies that Darrow COULD die as long as it was at the end of the 6th book and every loose end was tied. But I don’t think that would work either but I think that’s a long train of thought I’ll have to save for the next part.

#dark age spoilers #darrow won't die #iron gold trilogy #long post

[miggydiaz]

For the salty ask 1, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14, 16, 20, 22, 23 and 26 for cobra kai pretty please

My answers are so long, so I am putting this under the cut @wonderwolfballoon! Also I just noticed your Daniel icon I SWEAR I’M NOT DRAGGING HIM TO BE MEAN!!!

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?* My biggest IDGI ships for CK are probably Elimetri or Kiaz. I’m not here to yuck other people’s yums or anything, but I do think there is something to the idea that Migueli isn’t popular because it’s a ship predicated on mutual respect for one another. Kiaz has the obvious enemies to lovers vibe and I just generally don’t sail those ships. Elimetri has... its problems, IMO, most especially around the idea that Demetri has to like... save Hawk from himself? Idk. I just like romances that I feel are based on love and mutual respect and not ...tropes.

 I am also not a Lawrusso shipper although I have a lot of those on my dash and you all are great! Again, not yucking yums! Daniel just makes me want to head butt him too much to pair him romantically with anyone 😂 I don’t even want his wife with him. He needs to self reflect~ 

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?* 

I once saw someone ship Amanda and Anoush and I noped out of that so fucking fast I almost tripped over myself. I’m not sure if they’re popular. I just think some people feel the need to get Amanda out of the way to sail their ship and stuck her with Anoush which... no. Just no. Let Amanda be a messy single queen with a martini hobby, thanks! 

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?* 

Not in CK. I’m lucky because I pretty much stick to my little Migueli bubble and I’m okay with that? Lmao lord knows the Squad on my dash is all about the DISCOURSE™️ so idk if I just don’t feel the need to get sucked into the wider ship wars because we have good healthy debates, but so far, so good. 

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?* 

I never hated it... I just didn’t have many feelings on shipping with this show in general at first. Then I was in the CK tag one day and I saw Migueli fan art. Then I discovered @afurioushawk‘s falconry series and it was all over for me after that! So fandom DID make me love a ship, just not one I hated.

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why? Oh boy. How much time do you have? In some instances, it’s a good thing season 3 happened because otherwise, this would be a multi-page essay on the problems with race and class privilege as it pertains to Sam LaRusso and just some... generally not nice comments about Demetri that I’m conflicted about because I’m not sure if the writers are intentionally trying to write him a specific way and it’s just not translating to me or what. But season 3 revamped both of their images with me a lot. I’m way more flexible in terms of Demetri, but lmao I was the number one Sam LaRusso hater for a minute there (or maybe number 2, I can think of at least 1 other person who was in that boat with me back in like... August/September, but I won’t call them out because I don’t want them to get hate...) However, I have grown a bit in my opinions of Sam, and even though I still think she’s responsible  for a lot of shit she NEVER gets held accountable for, I also think that’s a reflection of the adults around her too, and this includes my otherwise unproblematic queen, Amanda.

But honestly, my most hated character (other than the obvious villain that is Kreese) is Daniel. No matter how handsome Ralph Macchio looks in cable-knits, because Daniel has always been a sanctimonious, shit starting drama king and I say that about KK Daniel too. I’m not saying Daniel was the ~true villain~ or anything, or that Johnny was innocent -- I can only drink so much Red and Yellow Kool-Aid -- but Daniel’s always been annoying to me as a protagonist, and turning him into a smarmy wealthy car salesman who is also a class traitor did not do him any favors in my book. I will say, I also like Daniel more in season 3 than I have in previous season, but since he is the adult, I will be mad at him longer than I will be at the kids, ya feel?

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

 Johnny’s entire season 3 storyline. The sheer level of REGRESSION at every turn drives me bonkers. It’s like watching him go through all of the stumbling blocks of season 1 all over again, but without the “he’s learning! He’s going to make mistakes!” free pass that I was willing to give him the first time around. He regularly jeopardizes Miguel’s recovery and it’s played for laughs. He fucks up on every level with Robby. He spends most of his time running away when things get hard or too real. He drops the ball completely with Hawk, and like, not to put too fine a point on it, but a lot of Hawk’s issues are because Johnny put Hawk on this ‘flip the script and be a badass’ path and then offered him no guidance for how to walk that path and instead left him in the hands of Kreese. And then he has the nerve to go to Hawk and basically be like “I made you what you are!” lmao yeah Johnny, you sure did, that’s why he’s breaking peoples arms, hoss. And then all of the nonsense with Ali and Carmen, like... if you were planning on teasing KK fans with Ali and him getting back together, why write her as married in the first place? Why even tease the idea of Carmen and Johnny until after you were sure what you were going to do with Ali as a character? Instead, they do what they did in season 3 and it makes him look like a colossal jerk. So yeah. Literally every choice they made with Johnny this season, I hated.

14. Unpopular opinion about your fandom? People who hate Tory are not valid, sorry not sorry.

16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change? I would have kept Miguel entirely out of Tory and Sam’s beef. Or at least not directly inserted him into it like he was with the kiss. I know the writers thought it was necessary to push Tory to the point of inciting a fight at school, but I am just so exhausted over girls being unable to fight about anything but boys. Also I would bring Aisha back.

20. What is the purest ship in the fandom? 

I am probably biased, but I still maintain it’s Migueli. Look, Miguel stood up to Kyler for Eli and Demetri both. Hawk joined CK because he saw what it could do for some skinny nerd who was getting his ass kicked. And he took to CK, really took to it! Even flourished before he started getting mixed messages. And he and Miguel were pretty much inseparable after that. They coordinated their wardrobes ffs. Hawk dubbed him El Serpiente and no one else calls him that — it’s Hawk’s nickname for him. Miguel confides in Hawk only secondary to Johnny, who is like a father to him. The entire Coyote Creek exchange shows they can fight and disagree but... well, to use the cliche, they don’t go to bed angry, you know? They’re square the very next day. Hawk is the first person at Miguel’s side when he gets kicked over the balcony and the LOOK he gives the second floor where Robby is? That boy is out for blood immediately to avenge Miguel. So much of his s3 behavior is fueled by that need for vengeance because MD is wholly responsible for what happened to Miguel. And Miguel is so confused and betrayed by Hawk’s shift in behavior, and yet still holds out hope that Hawk will see through Kreese’s BS and come with him to The Dojo I Refuse to Name. And when Hawk does make that deflection finally, he shows up at MD with Miguel. There’s so much more that I know I’m missing but whether someone ships them or not, that is a tried and true love and respect for one another, a willingness to fight for and defend one another that you don’t often see in TV friendships... or even in most tv relationships. And I just think that’s the best ❤️

22. Popular character you hate?

 Daniel, hands down. I mean... I don’t even necessarily hate Daniel, you know? I just think it’s really, pardon the pun, rich that a guy of immense wealth and privilege can’t get a therapist or turn to his far too patient wife for help with his existential crisis over his high school bully opening up a karate dojo to make some money and help a kid who is getting the crap kicked out of him. I get that Daniel’s narrative is necessary for the rivalry, but it does nothing to make him sympathetic as a character.

23. Unpopular character you love?

 Tory, definitely! Everyone hates her and then there’s me and the Squad over here banging away on our Coors Banquet cans yelling TORY RIGHTS! Seriously she catches so much flack for a teenage girl who is... the sole income provider for her family? At 17? While caring for a sick mom and a little brother? And fending off a creepy landlord? Tory has it so rough and then she meets a cool girl at her dojo who asks her to hang out at some fancy ass country club which is probably the nicest place Tory has ever been in, and then she gets talked down to and accused of being a thief and has another girl lay hands on her, only to find out that same girl is her new boyfriend’s ex and... ugh. I HATE that Tory gets shit all over when Tory and Sam wouldn’t even have beef if Sam had apologized to Tory as she SHOULD have. Tory isn’t innocent, but damn, I’d be pressed too.

 My other unpopular character I love? Nathaniel. Seriously that kid is THE best. He’s a literal child but is out there like I WILL FUCK YOU UP, even though he’s MD. Honestly, his Cobra Kai energy is so ferocious I won’t be surprised if he moves back to CK eventually. Anyway, I love him.


26. Most shippable character?

 Miguel, hands down. It’s because he’s so affable and sweet overall. And because his hair is so fluffy and pettable that no one can resist touching it. I like to imagine that one day he and Hawk are talking about their hair and Hawk makes a joke about how Miguel’s mane is getting so long that it’s going to be bigger than his own, and then he reaches out to ruffle it and internally has a bisexual meltdown because oh no IT’S SO SOFT AND NICE. But uh... anyway, yes. Definitely Miguel.

#ask game #cobra kai #sorry y’all I gotta tag #uh #anti Daniel larusso #anti lawrusso #anti Kiaz #anti Elimetri #it’s not *really* anti those ships but uh... tagging for the culture??? #plz don’t flame ship who you ship!!! #Migueli #i hope this is tagged appropriately if you need something else tagged lmk

[not-poignant]

Hi Pia! I'm a huge fan of your work and deeply enjoying FFS rn, it really shows the love and care you've put into this world and characters and it's an amazing read 🥰🧡

Idk if you've actually answered this question before or if it's a bit too much? So feel free to skip it. Do you have any advice on how to write a therapist and sessions with them? And to go along with that, a therapist&patient relationship that doesn't feel inauthentic but that's a healthy one?

I've had to visit both psychiatrists and psychologists a couple of times along my life, which has almost always been a positive experience to me, but when I get down to business and want to write a character going to therapy, I fall into a bunch of the psychoanalytic clichés US films have hammered us down with, even if I'm not from an Anglophile country!

Thanks a bunch in advance!! Ilu, have a nice start of the year🧡✨

Hiya anon!

I have a few thoughts about writing therapy sessions so I’m just going to put them down in no particular order.

Firstly, I don’t actually think it’s always a good idea to write therapy in stories, and a lot of the time I avoid writing it even when a character is actively seeing a therapist. This is particularly true in The Wind that Cuts the Night where all we see of Alex and his therapist are snippets, and nothing more than that, because therapy sessions would slow down the pacing, focus and value of the story.

Where possible, characters don’t see therapists, but talk to people in a way that is therapeutic, usually with love interests or members of the ensemble cast (Augus and Fenwrel in The Court of Five Thrones, Jack and Eva in The Golden Age that Never Was, Jack and North in From the Darkness We Rise/Into Shadows We Fall, Cullen and Cassandra, Cullen and Bull in Stuck on the Puzzle). All of those characters need therapy, but writing therapy sessions tends to slow down the pace of a fic pretty dramatically, and even I had misgivings about writing Efnisien’s sessions with Dr Gary at first because I’m acutely aware of the fact that:

1. Therapy sessions can be draggy and boring 2. They often take away important emotional realisations from other characters, ruining potential hurt/comfort and character relationship development moments with your actual cast / love interests 3. Fiction is meant to be fiction, not reality. 4. A lot of therapy sessions are actually not that interesting to sit in or write or observe, which is why writers do often find themselves falling into certain cliches while writing them to make them more interesting. Even I cut out huge chunks of sessions to get to the more interesting parts, lol. 5. You can write a character going to therapy without writing the therapy. You can just choose to have the character remember bits and pieces of the session later as it’s relevant to their life. 6. Therapy is different for everyone, and some readers (myself included) don’t enjoy reading it when the therapy is a kind that doesn’t resonate or feel right.

So you really need to ask yourself why you want to write therapy specifically, because a lot of the time it gets boring or - as you point out - falls into cliched territory. Writing a character going to a doctor a lot in detail for regular injections is boring. Writing them thinking about how they have to do this in brief while their love interest is sympathetic to them getting those injections is more interesting. Writing a character suffering from an illness that they need regular injections for, with their love interest comforting them? Interesting.

Falling Falling Stars is a unique fic in that Efnisien has no one before he meets Arden, except for Dr Gary and Gwyn. If you’re writing an FFS style fic, writing therapy sessions might be appropriate. It might be worth really thinking about the kind of fics you want to write, why you want to write therapy, how that will affect your pacing, etc.

If you’re still dead set on writing therapy sessions, then I have some suggestions re: writing more realistic/healthy therapy and how to find that knowledge yourself, and I don’t really know how to shorthand some of it:

1. Get books on therapy that are designed for the therapist. These are often expensive, but sometimes libraries stock them - and university libraries in particular will often have photocopy abilities (or you can just photograph the pages you need) because these books look at how sessions should be structured. Books with case studies are ideal, since they often show dialogue chains between the client and therapist. Books that obviously deal with the mental illnesses you’re planning on writing about are the most ideal.

2. With a view to this, learn about different therapeutic modalities (for example are you trying to write psychology or psychoanalysis or both? Are you writing social work? Are you writing cognitive behavioural therapy, dialectical behavioural therapy, expressive therapies, narrative therapy, transcendental therapy?) Be aware that different modalities have different session structures and learn what they are. Wikipedia is your friend, but your closest friend will be actually acquiring textbooks on the subject. This is a pretty significant financial barrier at times, I’ve been collecting books like this on psychology since like 1997.

3. Learn about your character’s mental instabilities that require them to go to a therapist and then look up the most recommended forms of therapy for your character’s specific issues. Will they suit your character? Why/why not? Will they have a therapist who realises and switches modality if it doesn’t suit? Or will they be lucky and find someone who helps them straight away?

4. All therapy sessions have a structure to them. And therapy often has a narrative arc through the course of therapy over many sessions. They should generally have the attempt at a beginning (greeting / setting up the problem to be discussed), middle (highlighting the source of conflict or inner conflict) and end (helping the client to focus on less stressful things, possible homework assigned, and potentially talking about future work/sessions). Learn this structure. Even if you’re not writing the whole session, you need to know where in the session you’re writing, beginning/middle/end will be different tonally. Structures will be different per therapeutic modality, and a therapist that knows many different modalities (like Dr Gary) will often be using slightly different structures each time depending on the character’s mood/issue.

5. In a healthy therapist/client relationship there will be the ability to discuss boundaries, grievances and the therapist won’t be revealing much about their personal life at all (unless anecdotally it’s super relevant and even then it will be deliberately vague). This is one of those things that will - in many cases - make for more boring sessions on the page, depending on the ‘client.’ For example, if you’re writing someone seeing a therapist for the first time, it might realistically take months or years before they start showing progress or trust. That’s not interesting (there’s a reason ‘therapy fiction’ isn’t a genre), so of course it’s tempting to shortcut into more dramatic moments.

*

I would say if you’re finding yourself leaning towards more cliched or dramatic forms of writing re: therapy, your writing brain may sense that the entire scene/s may not be suited to the story, and is trying to find a way to make them more interesting to yourself and the reader. If that’s not the case, then a lot more research is needed! It’s time to sink many hours into actually understanding what you’re trying to write. This doesn’t matter as much if you’re writing unrealistic or unhealthy therapy, but it’s 100% necessary when you’re trying to write healthier therapy depictions.***

Also a couple of sessions of experience is a start, but you might want to watch or find a way to watch more therapy sessions, because you’ve missed out on experiencing longer arcs, different modalities etc. (This is where my hands on experience with 19 therapists since 1995 is actually really helpful, lmao - I’ve had close to like 800~ sessions by now, with good and bad therapists; I cannot pretend that hasn’t given me a knowledge base that most people don’t share). You can still learn that stuff via research, MedCircle on Youtube is a good place to start, since it offers 30 minute snapshots on what CBT and DBT sessions will look like etc. and has some great playlists.

Most fics I’ve read don’t do a great job of depicting therapy, but the Babes!verse series by @rynfinity has probably some of the most realistic and still really interesting sessions I’ve read as an ongoing arc. The series is long, because it needs to be re: what it’s dealing with, but it’s great, and I definitely recommend looking at another example of how an author tackles these sorts of scenes. Out of the Mouths of Babes / The March of the Damned are the two intertwined series.

I apologise if this sounds discouraging overall, or daunting, but I just want to stress there’s a reason that I’m often not writing therapy in my writing, as anything more than the occasional scene with a non-therapist, or snapshots that are reflected on and that’s it. Falling Falling Stars is the exception to the rule, and unless you’re writing an exception to the rule as well, it’s really worth reflecting on the first six points I wrote - it’ll save you a fuckton of time and research. And if you go ahead with it, I wish you well! :D

*** Also disclaimer: But I still am writing very indulgent therapy that is not beholden to being either a 100% healthy or 100% realistic depiction. The fact is, real therapy sessions are pretty boring for observers except for maybe ten or twenty minutes in the middle at times.

(ETA: It’s just occurred to me that therapy fiction does exist, esp. in the mass media, but that it is - afaik - all unrealistic, dramatised or unhealthy. But if you want to watch a great show - I highly recommend In Treatment with Gabriel Byrne, just by aware that it is depicting, for the most part, unhealthy dynamics which are more character studies than anything).

#asks and answers #pia on writing #pia on psychology #it's even worth being away that clinical psychologists often frown on psychoanalysts #and psychoanalysts often frown on the rigidity of clinical psychology curriculums lol #dr gary works within both schools and is a bit of a rebel in that sense #anyway yeah like #even i was really wary of writing too much dr gary #and only really gave into it indulgently #when people revealed they were enjoying those scenes and dr gary himself #but like #i would hate him as a therapist #he's pushy and sometimes pretty impatient #even what i write re: therapy #is not necessarily a reflection on what a real life person would experience #in the same circumstances #Anonymous

[tsuki-sennin]

Mina-san, bonne lecture~! (Tsuki recaps his feelings about Kamen Rider Saber, a personal essay.)

So, Saber... what a wild ride it's been, huh? Just a quick heads up, this is very long and rambling, and also contains spoilers for everything in Saber. It's fine if you don't wanna read all this, but I just wanted to get my thoughts out there.

TL:DR, Kamen Rider Saber's an undercooked hot mess I absolutely adore, warts and all.

Speaking as objectively as possible, it's a 6/10. Probably closer to a 5 than a 7... it's not great: All the different plot elements are cluttered and weirdly paced; character focus is disjointed and clearly biased toward certain characters, leaving great ones like Kento and Ogami, interesting ones like Kamijo and Hayato, and underdeveloped ones like Sophia and especially the Shindais in the dust; not to mention its balance of comedy and drama is off, and while both are very effective, there's a lot of mood whiplash that can take you out of the story. I also feel like a lot of the easily avoidable character conflict could've been easily resolved, even in universe, by simple conversations. Be careful Fukuda, I think Inoue might sue you if he finds out you've been biting his style and doing it worse.

Rider shows have a very frustrating tendency to drop cool form ideas and not do anything with them, and I don't think it's ever been more the case than with Saber. There's a similar argument to be made with the majority of Heisei Phase 2 after Gaim, but wow. The suits are expensive to make without just straight up recycling everything, I get that, but man, I really wanted to see more Wonder Rider forms. How come Touma got all the fun, eh? Of note are the Blades King of Arthur forms (which look amazing by the way), Espada's Jaaku Dragon forms (one of which I even drew last night), even the non-elemental random Wonder Ride Books all have awesome design elements that go tragically unused. Even if the other Swordsmen just kinda have the ones they do get to use slapped onto them, that's at least something. Touma also just straight up only uses Diago Speedy twice and never again. You have cool props guys, don't waste them like that!

Speaking of waste, Espada, goddamn. Since most of the Wonder Ride Books are Story Type and he needs one very specific Story Book to transform, he doesn't get much of... anything, really! No Wonder Rider forms like Blades, Lamp Do Cerberus being exclusive to Ganbarizing, only getting to use the Ride Gatriker like once, he even spends the second and third arcs as a completely different Rider, then once he comes back he doesn't get a King of Arthur-granted upgrade or even a Necrom Espada form. ...at least, not yet anyway. I'm holding out hope for Espada x Necrom and the eventual Saber V-Cinemas. Extra Rider stans, we will be well respected someday.

The Unreal Engine CGI used for fights in early Chapters was pretty good but wow it feels disconnected and they really drop it quick. I feel like if the animators had more freedom to use as many forms as they want, we'd have gotten a lot more mileage out of the books beyond... decoration basically. I actually really liked the CGI sequences, they felt creative and were fun to follow along with.

The soundtrack is pretty great on its own and conveys what it needs to, but they seriously overplay the orchestral themes. It honestly feels kind of... stock at times. I think my favorite parts of the score are when it winds down, since it feels a lot more natural and lets the cinematographers and actors speak for themselves.

As awesome as I think Falchion's design and the Mumeiken Kyomu are, The Phoenix Swordsman and the Book of Ruin comes up short as its own standalone thing. You'd think 30 or so minutes of non-stop action would be awesome, and it almost is? It's as good as a typical episode of the series with a higher action budget, but it kinda drags on a bit too long; and although I think Emotional Dragon looks cool, it feels a bit tacked on. Coming off of the incredible Zero-One REAL×TIME, it doesn't give you much room to breathe, which Rider films are typically great at handling. I also thought the resolution for the kid's subplot was kinda forced. He does an okay job at acting considering his age and doesn't overstay his welcome, but I really don't see how 20 minutes of violence and action is enough to convince him to be brave enough to go play with the other kids. 5/10, it's closer to a 4 than a 6 and I think that maybe Zero-One should've stood on its own if they really had to push back Kiramager Bee-Bop Dream because of the pandemic.

Alright, with all that said... As imperfect and undercooked Saber was, like Ghost I can consider it a personal favorite, 10/10. Call it a guilty pleasure if you want, but holy hell it's just the show I needed. Takuro Fukuda has a talent for creating fun, wonderful characters and utterly fascinating worldbuilding and concepts. It's a shame he doesn't utilize them fully, but hey!

The action and fight choreography are pretty top notch as usual. Lots of beautiful shot composition and set pieces, and plenty of great angles to help keep up with the extra busy action. I love watching the suit actors perform and they deserve all the respect in the world for their hard work in those hot, sweaty, and heavy costumes. Their visual design is also top notch, with lots of unique and fascinating forms and cool weapons I desperately want to play with despite being broke, all with spectacular finishers and hype jingles with the voice of Akio motherfucking Ohtsuka calling them out. A real feast for the eyes. Not a single bad suit among them, yeah I said it, fight me.

The crossover specials are soooo good too.

-I went over my feelings on the Zenkaiger crossover episodes in a separate post (good luck finding that btw), but to sum it up, they were great character moments for Zox and the Shindai siblings with lots of great screwball comedy and some good old fashioned meta humor.

-The Ghost crossovers are great little side stories all about how Daitenku Temple somehow had the Ghost Ijunroku Wonder Ride Book? I genuinely have no idea why it was there, or how Makoto had the Specter Gekikou Senki, and as far as I remember neither of their origins are explained. Did Luna or Tassel hand them off to them and told them to wait for a sword guy? And why do these generic French Revolution Gamma villains working for Danton get their asses handed to them so easily by Kanon, who literally just became a Rider? I thought that Makoto deciding to adopt all the Kanon clones into his family was both hilarious and adorable though; considering all the crap they went through, I think it was a good ending to this plot. Gimme Espada x Necrom already Toei/Bandai/Fukuda/whoever I need to yell at, give Kento things to do, I beg you.

-I haven't actually seen Super Hero Senki since it's not available for subbing yet, but apparently there's a Journey to the West plot starring the Taros and Ohma Zi-O and I want to see that so badly.

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra? Yoohei Kawakami? A match made in heaven, that's what they are. All of their themes are absolute bangers. All of them. Almighty, Kamen Rider Saber, Sparks, Taju Rokou, all excellent and empowering pieces. Rewrite the Story, Will Save Us, and The Story Never Ends are all amazing inserts done by the cast, and it makes me wish we had even more of them to help break up the monotony of the score.

The characters are what easily make this show such a great watch though. For the most part, they have great personalities and chemistry, consistently fun and interesting scenes, well acted and... sometimes well-written development, and deeply investing personal stakes.

Narrating it all is the delightfully eccentric Tassel/Viktor, portrayed by Romanesque Ishitobi "TOBI" of the Paris-based Les Romanesques. I was utterly confused by his presence at first, wondering why there needed to be a narrator when the story would've been perfectly fine without it. He even got a special spot in the opening despite having no stake in the plot despite seeming to live in Wonderworld, who the hell is this guy? But then I thought "OH MY GOD, HE'S THE MAIN VILLAIN USING TOUMA AS THE HERO IN HIS OWN TWISTED STORY, THE BASTARD". I thought it'd be some subversion of expectations, true form, "That Was His Mistake!" shit. Trust me, it made a lot more sense in my head. I'm very happy that they didn't do that, as I grew to love having male Yuuka Kazami as my narrator, and when he was shown to be actually important by being friends with Yuri my mind was blown. And doubly so when I realized just how deeply necessary to the plot he really is.

Rintaro/Blades is up there as one of my all time favorite secondary Riders, since his curiosity is always consistently funny and adorable, his forms are all gorgeous and impressively designed, his relationships with Mei and Touma are absolutely sweet and compelling to see unfold, and his arcs about becoming willing to call out those he views as family and coming to terms with his feelings of inadequacy and both moving past and using them to strengthen himself are always great lessons to pass on to kids. ...even if they took like 10 goddamn episodes to be conveyed in what could've been 5, but hey, Takaya Yamaguchi does a stand-up job all throughout. Rider veteran Eitoku's refined, almost logical movements with the Suiseiken Nagare absolutely beautiful to see in action, and his final form having the same white and blue color scheme as Zooous's base form is an amazing touch I don't see appreciated enough.

Mei Sudo's also absolutely wonderful, serving as the perfect emotional core of the story, responsible for most of the funniest lines, sweetest character moments, and some of the most deceptively compelling drama. Asuka Kawazu brings the perfect energy for such a dynamic and well rounded character, and absolutely nails her scenes of quiet turmoil. As much as I would've loved her to become a Rider, I don't think she really needed to. She's already done so much to help, and as cool as it would've been to see her pick up a sword and fight alongside them as Espada, Calibur, or Falchion she's already endeared herself to me as one of my favorite supporting characters in the whole franchise.

I can't get enough of my homeboy Kento Fukamiya/Espada. Like Rintaro and everyone else for that matter, he also suffers from Saber's pacing issues; and like his predecessor Valkyrie from Zero-One, he doesn't get a proper upgrade aside from his Wonder Combo, instead becoming an anti-villain using a completely different powerset and shifting the Raimeiken Ikazuchi out of focus for the Ankokuken Kurayami, and I feel there's a serious missed opportunity to see him use Jaaku Dragon with Alangina. However, Ryo Aoki's performance is probably among the most easily praiseworthy in the whole cast, managing to convey both Kento's kind and knightly stoicism as Espada and his emotionally unstable despair as Calibur perfectly, in conjunction with Yuji Nakata's experienced and expressive stuntwork.

Ren Akamichi/Kenzan's a dark horse favorite for sure. I remember back when Saber was first picking up, people hated this breezy mad lad for being such a simple character at first. Overly concerned with strength? Black and white world view? Annoyingly energetic? Agh, real-feeling character flaws, I hate them, get him away from me! But then y'all came crawling back. Eiji Togashi's apparently a bit of a rookie actor, and it really shows with some stilted delivery and the way he sometimes bobs his head when giving his lines, but man he improves dramatically as the series goes on. His inexperience ironically ends up really selling his character development, and his unexpectedly beautiful relationship with Desast is special evidence of that. The Fuusouken Hayate's three modes and Satoshi Fujita putting them to excellent use through his stellar acrobatic movements are also really cool.

Why did Luna have to be a child for so long? Does Wonderworld not age whoever inherits its power? Well since Luna randomly becomes an adult in Super Hero Senki and some of the final episodes, I guess so? Miku Okamoto does a fine job for a kid actor, but she's basically done all the heavy lifting for the whole series and doesn't give Mayuu Yokota enough time to get a feel for her character as an adult. How did she choose Touma to inherit the power anyway? Does she just subconsciously decide to trust him with it upon seeing how kind and passionate about storytelling he is? Well if that's the case, why didn't Kento get at least some of that power too? He's just as important to the merchan- I mean Luna-chan, isn't he? Why did Tassel pick her over someone who isn't a literal child who'd be understandably terrified about basically becoming an embodiment of storytelling?

Sophia also kinda suffers from the same problems. Rina Chinen's voice is very pleasant to listen to, but she doesn't really do much beyond serving as a source of exposition and support. I think her dynamic with Mei's adorable, and given her kindness I can certainly understand the respect Northern Base has for her, but she doesn't really contribute a whole lot. If she could use the Kurayami and become Calibur all this time, then why didn't she take it from Kento and Yuri and do so earlier when Kento decided to go back to being Espada? I know she's not much of a fighter and as the closet thing the Sword of Logos has to a leader after Isaac's death I'd understand not wanting to put her at risk, but considering Storious is destroying the world, and she's very evidently kicking a lot of ass in the first part of the final battle even in the basic Jaaku Dragon form, I think it would've helped a lot, just sayin'. Tassel at least has the excuse of being unable to interact with the real world, but Sophia obviously didn't just be put in charge of Northern Base just because she's a pawn in Isaac's plans right?

Ryou Ogami/Buster is also a victim of the disjointed character focus. I have no problem believing he's an excellent father and fighter thanks to Yuki Ikushima and Jiro Okamoto, respectively, but he feels a bit flat and simple in comparison. His rivalry with Desast is randomly dropped, his wife doesn't even show up until the final episodes, he's kinda sidelined in terms of action a whole lot. I imagine that must've sucked for the Rider Dads out there. He does get to star in his own manga, and that was pretty good, so I guess I can't be too mad.

Tetsuo Daishinji/Slash fares better though. Hiroaki Oka, being a Kamen Rider fanboy himself, manages to make him among the most relatable characters in the series. Not only are his hyperfixation on swordsmithing and anxiety played surprisingly believably, Hirotsugu Mori letting him cut loose is extremely cathartic and hilarious, and you really feel for him when the Onjuuken Suzune becomes the first victim of Calibur!Kento's sword sealing.

Yuri/Saikou's another dark horse favorite, for me at least. "Oh great, Avalon guy's got even more merchandise to sell, I wonder what his Sword of Light is- it's himself. Well... that's different." I admit, I didn't like him at first. He felt like he was there to fill out character dynamics in the absence of both Rintaro and Kento, I thought his gimmick was too silly even if his design and jingles were bangers, I didn't particularly care for his power set. But then XSwordman came around I totally got it. He's an endearing, hard-working man trying his best to catch up on all the cool shit he missed, unafraid of experimentation, ready to throw down at a moment's notice, serving as a wonderful bit of consistent support for our heroes, a truly knightly individual, an absolute Chad. and goddamn does he make me worry. Tomohiro Ichikawa, I salute you good sir.

Even if they fall short compared to the rest of the cast, the Shindai siblings are at least cool enough to not wanna write out entirely. They kinda devolve into comic relief after they become allies, something that villainous Riders from Chase onwards are very prone to doing, and it's especially awkward in their case because I think that they kinda get off scot-free for obeying the obviously sinister and crazy Isaac for so long, as well as driving a wedge between a lot of people and threatening children in Reika's case. I think their sibling dynamic is nice though, even if Fukuda recycled it from Makoto and Kanon and has some... questionable possessive undertones as a result. It's cool how they're basically foils to Touma and Rintaro though. The dispassionate and methodical Reika/Sabela is beautifully played by Angela Mei and her moments of emotional depth are fascinating to watch. Her Rider form is a thing of beauty, and its use of literal the Eneiken Noroshi's smokescreens and Yuki Miyazawa's precise and deadly stinging strikes are a joy to watch. And while Ken Shonozaki's not given the best direction as the undercooked plate of 7-Eleven fried fish that is Ryoga/Durendal, he manages to sell him as an experienced and hardened warrior with an awkward side that's especially evident in the Zenkaiger specials. His goddamn RWBY weapon that is the Jikokuken Kaiji is absolutely sick, I'm a sucker for transforming weapons and its combination of time and water powers is really cool, especially with Yasuhiko Amai's deliberate and forceful acting in the suit.

Daichi Kamijo/the Second Calibur, for as brief as his story was, was a pretty cool starter villain. Hiroyuki Hirayama brings this poor bastard to life in a genuinely touching way. I love how as Calibur he goes full force on his creative use of Wonder Ride Books for attacks, and his debut as Jaou Dragon got my blood pumping. His end is also deeply tragic, and I really felt for him when he realized just how badly he fucked up. Hayato Fukamiya also does wonders for the backstory, and while he also doesn't get much to work with, Mitsuru Karahashi makes his regrets and love for Kento feel genuine.

Legeiel and Zooous are both very intimidating and entertaining villains. On top of being just the right balance of goofy and threatening, Kairu Takano and Koji Saikawa's stage presences are both very strong, and their mixture of camaraderie and in-fighting is extremely believable. Zooous's rivalry with Rintaro feels incredible to see through to the end, and although Legeiel doesn't get quite the same treatment, Elemental Dragon had such a cool debut that it more than makes up for it. Their final fights are also absolute spectacles. I don't think their sympathetic angle works even close to as well as it does with MetsubouJinrai or even the Gamma, but I get it, power corrupts, and you probably feel a lot of sadness and regret for things you've done when you die unless you're a right bastard.

Isaac/Master Logos/Solomon is kinda generic. As wonderful as Keisuke Soma is, he doesn't get much dimension to work with. The result of that is while he nails being as smug and punchable as possible, he feels almost... comically generic. Genta Umemori from Shinkenger was full of personality! He was also basically some guy, but he was fun, he felt connected to the rest of the cast! Meanwhile the only real time we get to see Isaac's depth is when we see him crying over his failures. I almost appreciate him being unapologetically evil though, since I've seen way too many shows where redeemed villains get off scot free for way worse things, and some where they outright demand you to sympathize with them despite them doing nothing to warrant it.

Bahato/Falchion surprises me by not just being a movie villain whose actions affect the main plot, but also being a movie villain who actually gets to appear in series as a recurring threat! ...and it's not a particularly great showing on his part, sadly. Masashi Taniguchi does a wonderful job with what he's given, but his character feels like a retread of Eternal without any of what made Katsumi Daido a compelling and frightening villain. I'd like to believe Yuri when he says that he used to be a good person and a hero to the people, but I can only hear so many anime villain monologues about the pointlessness of life and the beauty of destruction before I can never take them seriously again. ...I think that's his biggest problem, actually. I thought he was an overall uninteresting and generic villain in the movie, and the cartoon nihilist he's shown to be in series is only a small step up. He still feels like filler. If only there were a far better written and much cooler villain who takes on the Mumeiken Kyomu after his de--

Desast is probably one of the finest anti-villains I've ever seen in recent years. On top of an absolutely badass character design and the excellent combination of Kazuya Okada/Danki Sakae's suit work and Koki Uchiyama's stellar voice acting, his story being so thoroughly intertwined with Ren's makes their shared journey and bromance a borderline Shakespearean tragedy. His struggle for identity despite Storious treating him as nothing more than a failed experiment and the Sword of Logos treating him as a mere monster really gripped me, and the way he uses what little time he has left to encourage Ren into blossoming on his own is absolutely beautiful. I think his enmity with Ogami is criminally underexplored in series, considering he killed several of the previous Riders and how Ogami's in desperate need of screentime.

Then there's our main villain, Kamen Rider Storious. Robin Furuya brings an incredible amount of charisma to this character, expertly portrayed as both a sinister, manipulative bastard , and as a lonely, tragic figure that arguably makes him feel even more villainous. Speaking as a struggling writer myself, it's easy to feel stuck in the idea of "fuck it, who cares, maybe everything is predestined", but I can't imagine what it's like to know that as the truth and carry it with you for all that time. All of your grand ideas have roots from your experiences, and you're not the only one who even could have those experiences. It's easy to just fall into despair and give up trying, but would that make you happy? Sure, Storious is sadistic, he may be fulfilling his goals, he may be ungodly powerful... but it's not enough for him, is it? All of his friends are gone, one of them even at his own hand, he probably doesn't have any idea what to do after he destroys all the world's stories, Touma even reached his full power before he did, and his downfall is so predictable that even a blind person could see it. He even seems to welcome it, what's up with that? But then I realized... OH MY GOD, HE'S THE MAIN VILLAIN USING TOUMA AS THE HERO IN HIS OWN TWISTED STORY, THE BASTARD. He's so far gone, he's so desperate to stick it to the Almighty Book, he's willing to twist the archetype of the Hero's Journey so hard, it snaps in two. What I think is interesting is that he's ironically trying to chase the trend of "edgy superhero story" that became super popular in the 21st century. The Boys, Brightburn, Kamen Rider Amazons, The Sentry, No More Heroes, Magical Girl Site, even mainstream comics from DC and Marvel... Surely Storious must've seen the cruelty and tragedy these stories are filled with, but he chooses to go through with trying to force the world into this direction anyway. Did they, along with seeing the ever-popular tragedies of legendary playwrights and bleak satire of the twentieth century fuel his despair?

And yet... there's one who stands in determination against his ideals.

Our hero, Touma Kamiyama, the titular Kamen Rider portrayed by Syuichiro Naito and Kousuke Asai, he speaks to me on a personal level. There're plenty of jokes to be made about his procrastination in early chapters, his godless fashion sense, and him doing the funny run up the slope, that's all fine and dandy, but I rarely feel so connected to a character the way I did Touma. The struggle to create, find companionship, live your life, reach out to others... these're things a lot of people struggle with, and of course you see them depicted a lot in media about creators, but Saber gets to the root of what the greatest thing about storytelling really is. Giving people hope, while using the pain of the past as fuel for the future. Sure, Storious may be right about how every story has been done as far back as human civilization gets, he may even be right about how any spin or creativity humanity has is outright predestined. It should be pointless to even try, right? That's where Touma Kamiyama disagrees. He didn't spend all that time fighting and creating just to give up at the idea of predestination. His novel writing-fueled creativity in his early training, his devotion to his friends that let him surpass Kamijo as Dragonic Knight, his compassion for the Primitive Dragon that let him combine their powers to destroy Legeiel as Elemental Dragon, his resolve that let Xross Saber dethrone Solomon, and his passion for the craft of storytelling that let our heroes channel their wishes into Wonder Almighty... all stemming from the belief imparted onto him by his predecessor that "Hope lies beyond your resolution." And that you decide how your story ends. He may not be the greatest Rider to some, he may be as lame as others think he is, he may not even be my favorite, but I have no issue calling Touma Kamiyama... Kamen Rider Saber, one of the all time greatest carriers of the Kamen Rider name.

The final chapter's definitely not as great as some other Rider finales, but goddamn. Primitive Dragon consciously choosing to save Touma is so sweet and such a great emotional payoff, I loved jamming out to the opening theme while our boys lay the smackdown on Storious. Wonder Almighty's a fitting final bit to close the main series out with, if not exactly a great one. I think the cover is great, and the book's body is a lovely shade of candy apple red, but I really don't like how its pages are just the covers of the other books copy-pasted onto onto the pages, that feels lazy. Maybe if it were a panorama of all the books' characters, I'd like it a lot more as a symbol of how unified the Swordsmen are, but eh, what can you do? On a related note, does this mean all the "last episode extra final forms" of the Reiwa Era are gonna be named after their series's opening? That's a neat idea.

I felt a lot of feelings seeing all those video messages of Rider fans all across Japan talking about their favorite stories, and how their passion and fond memories help reshape the world. Mei's monologue at the ceremony about is also really touching and- IS THAT A HUMAGEAR!? :O

Y-yeah dude, it is! Wow, where have you guys been for the past 48 episodes?! Are you guys doing okay? How come you're like... the only one here? Is the technology of Hiden Intelligence only really that prevalent in that very specific metropolitan part of Japan and they're just not coming around much over here? Is it like Dragon Ball where anthropomorphic animals are just vibin' with humans while the heroes are off kicking ass? Apparently he's played by Hasegawa Keiichi, who wrote this episode and had the award ceremony named after him. ...is Hasegawa Keiichi a HumaGear in this universe then? Did he set up this award ceremony in Touma's honor? If so, why is it named after him? Did reading one of Touma's books lead to his Singularity? I know this is just a cameo, but... god, I have so many questions that probably will never be satisfactorily answered.

Overall, if I had to compare Saber to anything, it'd probably be Sam Reimi's Spider-Man trilogy. It's awkward, stupid, overwrought, undercooked, illogically written, scattershot, cheesy as fuck, and has a tendency to squander its otherwise fine execution; but the sheer passion for storytelling, sense of spectacle, deeply fascinating characters, and belief in the ideals set forth by the cast, crew, and fans are absolutely admirable. Improvements would certainly make it an overall better experience, to be sure, but there's something deeply captivating about how wonky this series is. Seeing everybody get their happy ending after all they've been through felt extremely gratifying though, and I may have to wait another for the epilogue to and then wait for Revice, but... man. I'm hella proud of our awkwardly-emoting, fashion disaster novelist and all of his heavily flawed friends for carrying the Kamen Rider name on to the future. Here's hoping Revice will keep it going.

Alright, that's everything I wanted to talk about. Sorry this was so long and ramble-y, I had a lot to say. I'll probably be liveblogging Revice as episodes of that come out, so... look forward to that, I guess. See ya.

#kamen rider saber #long post #tsuki talks #personal #kamen rider #whew #ok bye have a nice day

[musical-chick-13]

And Theon bc I love him

WHAT A COINCIDENCE I LOVE HIM TOO (this answer is gonna be a combination of books and show)

Send me a character and I’ll tell you the following:

• Did they live up to their potential? / In what ways was their potential unachieved?

-I would say yes. The only negative I have about his general arc is his death (which, see below). But Theon from the very beginning was, though not a particularly nice person, still relatable. Feeling othered, wanting to be accepted by an immediate environment that doesn’t accept you, isolated from and ostracized by your family, and the tension that comes between serving the different types of familial relationships in your life. Theon has no idea who he is, tossed aside by his blood family for not growing up with them and being “soft,” aka sort-of moral and having emotions that aren’t selfish rage or smugness (which, yep, that second part is a mood, see: my entire childhood and how no one wanted to be around an “emotional” “soft” child). And from there, he spirals out of control in a way that, while certainly not admirable by any stretch of the imagination, is still understandable in the context of the narrative and his characterization. And from there, after going through hell and quite literally losing himself (even to the point of straight-up denying rescue), he builds himself back up gradually, to the point where he expressed extreme regret for what he’s done, helps an innocent woman escape a truly horrifying situation, acknowledges that his family is generally garbage, and (in-show b/c again books aren’t finished), helping to restore his sister to power, rescuing her after his PTSD relapses while confronting Euron, and ultimately opting to protect the Starks come hell or high water in order to genuinely atone for what he’s done. He is no longer conflicted because he wants to do the right thing, and that right thing is defending the kingdom from the White Walkers and making sure Sansa and Bran are safe. And it’s no longer about fulfilling a duty or finding a family to fill the void. Because now he has found himself. I will contend that Theon has one of the best, most nuanced, most organic redemption arcs of all time. I will forever be grateful that I got to see that piece of storytelling unfold.

Although, I would love to know what he thought of Dany. A missed opportunity, that.

• How they negatively and positively affected the story.

-Positive: His arc of identity and finding where your loyalties lie ties into the overall theme of “How do you find yourself in a world where goodness, authenticity, and honesty are often punished and increasingly rare?” And it proves that governmental politics aren’t the only defining factors in decisions: familial politics can be just as difficult and dangerous, which adds yet another rich, complicated layer to the overall story. He has a genuine, honest-to-Drowned-God redemption arc, which is...not really present anywhere else in the story (no, Jaime is not on a Redemption Quest, I will die on this hill). But I think the biggest draw of Theon’s presence is that it deconstructs the whole “Character Revenge Fantasy” idea. He does bad things. We want him to be punished. But not like that. No one deserves that. How far is too far? What does retribution really look like? Given how easily that idea can be abused and go off the rails, is retribution even something to strive for? What is the point of using extreme violence/torture/mutilation/breaking someone’s psyche when it doesn’t really accomplish anything? Isn’t atonement and genuine justice a better option? It certainly was for Theon. He could only piece himself back together and do anything meaningful once he was out of his abusive environment. All of these are imporant questions that are posed by his existence in the narrative.

-Negative: Idk if I have much to say here. My biggest problem is his death (see below), but that’s not really a negative story effect so much as...being disappointing and narratively irrelevant. I gotta say, his introduction via his sister was...really weird. I genuinely have no idea why GRRM wrote that. It never came up again or had any kind of narrative ramifications and kind of cast a strange, uncomfortable light on his relationship with Asha/Yara for the remainder of the story. I can ignore and enjoy their later relationship it if I don’t think about it too hard, though, so I guess I’ll chalk it up to GRRM having a Bad Idea.

• What my favorite arc for them is.

-All of it?? Theon’s journey is kind of...one big arc, which is why I think it works so well. He has this overarching redemption plot which spans the entire series and informs every decision he makes (for good or for bad, depending on where in the aforementioned journey he is). The redemption arc isn’t bogged down with side plots or other pieces of narrative clutter, meaning it has time to grow and, thus, be gradual and realistic. If I had to choose a specific point, it’s probably when he tries to reintegrate back into society via supporting Yara. Gaining the Iron Islands’ support for her ruling, spiriting away with Euron’s fleet, and ultimately rescuing his sister after her capture. He can’t just go back into society. He’s scared. He has really bad PTSD. But he recognizes that putting his home in good hands is something bigger than just him because it’s Yara’s home, too. I just...I really love family relationships, y’all.

• What I think of their ending.

-I’m not really sure how I feel about this one. I get that the series is GrimDark™ and that people who make the right choice and fight for good die all the time, but Theon dying just felt...wrong. To me.

And, like...I get it. It makes sense to parallel his original descent into villainy (cemented by executing those two boys and pretending they were Bran and Rickon) with him dying to protect Bran himself. It ties into the whole very common trope of completing a full redemption arc by committing a completely selfless act at great personal cost. It’s kind of like the whole Missy thing in Doctor Who (which...hoo boy, that post is coming, make no mistake), where selfishness is directly opposed by making the ultimate sacrifice with no motivation for personal gain. And the fact that the last words he ever heard were “You’re a good man?” I cannot even begin to describe how much that makes me sob. But...honestly, I’m really tired of this idea that redemption has to end in death in order to be achieved or “complete.” I think it’s much more poignant to have a redeemed character live to help build a better world. Because what’s the point of telling people to be better if the “reward” is death? No one’s going to want to reform themselves if they think that’ll be the result.

I think the thing that Bugs Me™ the most is that Theon never really got to have a moment of peace when he was alive. Sansa gained the North’s love and at least had a secure childhood. Ned and Cat were happily married for years. Arya had parents who loved her and a good relationship with Jon. Jon fell in love with Ygritte and found his Night Watch Bros, and Robb (in show verse) had some very happy moments with Talisa. Davos put great stock in what he considered fulfilling friendships with Stannis and Shireen; Brienne was treated respectfully by Renly, Catelyn, and Sansa; Missandei and Grey Worm had each other and their friendship with Dany, who herself had many personal successes in her quest for the Iron Throne and saw the death of her abusive brother. Cersei even had moments with Jaime (who himself had several notable military victories and at least some time with Myrcella, as well as being gladly and deeply in love, however dysfunctional that love was), times when she successfully fought off enemies (including her dad), and some sweet moments with Tommen, as well as a huge victory via blown-up sept at the end of season 6. Theon was treated as a second-class family member by the Starks his whole life by being “traded” to them as a condition of war resolution AS A BABY, is immediately disparaged and mistreated by his immediate family when he tries to return to them, makes terrible decisions that almost cost him his conscience completely, is brutally tortured by Ramsay, is on the run with his sister from Euron almost immediately after, and has a PTSD attack that ultimatly results in him having to launch a rescue mission. And then he fights ice zombies. And then he dies. He never really...got to be happy at all? There was never any kind of “win” for him. Not even survival. The narrative couldn’t even give him that.

TLDR: Theon’s death seemed less shock-value-y than others (like, for example, Shireen or Missandei or, heck, Melisandre even), and it isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen. It’s narratively-informed and it makes sense as an emotional through-line, but, ultimately, Redemption Cemented By Selfless Death is a tired trope, and I honestly thought this story (which...you know...serves as a deconstruction of common fantasy tropes/book tropes in general) was better than that.

• When I wish they had died. / If I think they should’ve died.

-So here’s where we get personal™ kids.

So, it’s no secret that I am...severely mentally ill. I’ve talked about expression/presentation of mental illness in regard to Cersei a lot on this blog, and how that (as paradoxical as it may seem) helped bring a sense of comfort and emotional resonance to me. Theon, post-Ramsay, has, I think, a very clear case of PTSD. Theon is one of the few characters I’ve seen where his mental illness isn’t the cause of the bad, violent, dangerous choices he makes. It only takes root after he has made the decision and conscious effort to better himself, and it, rather than demonizing him, serve to humanize him. His trauma didn’t define him. And although a PTSD attack led to him unintentionally losing Yara to Euron’s capture, he makes every effort to rescue her, a goal he does end up achieving. It is so rare I get to see a character who goes through these things, successfully fight them and come out with positive qualities at the end. Like...switching topics a bit here, Jaime going back to King’s Landing to (try to) escape and ultimately die with Cersei made sense to me because, as Jaime says, he is a hateful man. He never made much of an honest effort to be anything else. And he never truly wanted to be good; he just wanted to be liked. He wanted to adopt some personality that would make him feel less disconnected from the rest of the world. But Theon...genuinely feels remorse for everything he’s done. He makes a concerted effort to do everything in his power to improve the lives of people he believes are good and deserve to be safe. So, just...killing him off in a Completely Selfless Sacrifice (like...you know how a lot of mentally ill people put themselves through suffering-like OCD rituals, bottling feelings, self-harm, even suicide-in a misplaced attempt to “help” or “protect other people”) seemed antithetical to everything we saw of his arc.

Ultimately, with such a humanizing, empathetic portrayal of trauma and mental health struggles, seeing Theon be killed off just...pissed me off. I am so tired of seeing mentally ill characters die. I really want to believe that I can live through and thrive in spite of the things that afflict me, and I get example after example of characters not being allowed to do that. It feels awful, quite frankly. And it makes hope that much harder. 

I also just feel like...there was nothing the story gained from his death? I get the thematic parallels as mentioned earlier, but it didn’t really move the story forward in any significant way. It didn’t motivate other characters to do anything, it had no political ramifications, it didn’t serve to contribute to any kind of happy ending or commentary on society, it just...was sad. Again, I thought this story was better than that.

#theon greyjoy #got #my son #mental illness in media #meta #redemption arcs #tw: self harm mention #tw: suicide mention

[partywithponies]

Rating BBC Father Brown episodes that are adaptations of specific book stories in terms of how good they are as adaptations:

1x01: The Hammer of God:

This one’s actually really close to the book plot! But it adds character depth and motivation that isn’t in the book! A great adaptation, and a great start to the show! 10/10!

1x02: The Flying Stars:

As an adaption, this episode makes me Very Cross. In the books, this episode is one of the most important points in Flambeau’s character arc, and more of a Flambeau story than a Father Brown story. So naturally they decided to stick it really early in the show and erase Flambeau from it completely, thanks lads. They included the socialist guy from the books though, we stan that. 2/10.

1x03: The Wrong Shape:

Am I a joke to you? Flambeau has been erased from this one too. THAT SAID, lack of my perfect boy aside, I actually like this one better than the book version. They removed the racism, which is always good, and added a fun twist so that the title means something different to what it’s referring to in the books. And Flambeau may be gone but Leonard Quinton is still here, and rest assured: one look at him and I know in my heart he definitely still fucked Flambeau in Paris. 9/10.

1x05: The Eye of Apollo:

Once again, Flambeau has been erased from a very Flambeau-heavy story in the books. I feel personally victimised. The Stacey sisters are gone too, which is the real tragedy here: Flambeau is in many stories, Pauline Stacey is only in one, and now she’s in none. I love Pauline Stacey. She’s like Toph from Avatar if Toph grew up to be a Karen. And she managed to hide the fact she was blind from literally everyone apart from her sister and her boyfriend, your fave could never. HOWEVER! This is still a very solid episode, it’s lovely to have a Susie episode, and I actually prefer the show version of Kalon to the book version. The show version has more depth and feels more believable and isn’t just motivated by money. 8/10.

1x10: The Blue Cross:

Banger of an episode. I’ve watched it too many times to count now. Captures the vibes and the atmosphere of the book story even when it doesn’t follow what literally happens. Flambeau is there. Literally flawless. 1000/10. (I miss the soup though.)

2x07: The Three Tools of Death:

This follows the book pretty closely, and I like the extra depth it gives the daughter. However, it makes one major change that I think actually does the reveal a disservice. In the book, the father who dies was an entertainer, a public speaker, and a beloved celebrity, known for always appearing happy and joyful and promoting laughter and optimism, and the fact he was secretly depressed for years without anyone knowing and ended up killing himself was actually a poignant and relevant twist, by actually giving him a recently dead wife and a “reason” to be depressed, it kind of loses a bit of its impact. 7/10.

3x03: The Invisible Man:

I am very conflicted on this one. Laura and her boyfriend and Welkin and Smythe all look at sound just like I imagine them when I read the book! However. HOWEVER. While you all know I love a good circus episode of a murder show. Did this really have to be one? Why removing the way in which Welkin is an “invisible man”, you remove one of the best moments of social commentary in the books, and one that could have worked SO WELL with this show and its characters! So well! We were so robbed! Father Brown’s whole speech about how people don’t notice people who “don’t count” in their eyes? When he says that if you ask a noble Lady who lives with her, she’ll say “no-one”, even if her butler and her maid are right there in the room, because servants don’t really count in the eyes of the nobility they work for, they’re mentally invisible, seen as more furniture than people? That could’ve led to some brilliant Lady Felicia character depth, a real juicy look at her character flaws! And they REMOVED IT! We lost that in favour of circus antics and Sullivan being a bit gay! And do you know an even more heinous crime? Not only was Flambeau once again erased from this story, they erased FLAMBEAU’S PERSIAN CAT! How COULD you!!! Give me the social commentary and the cat or give me death! 4/10.

3x04: The Sign of the Broken Sword:

I’m about to pee my entire pants where the fuck is Flambeau. Are you taking the ultimate piss. Pretty decent episode though, 7/10.

3x13: The Paradise of Thieves:

Okay you didn’t even try. This has literally nothing in common with the book story of the same name other than the fact it shares a title and Father Brown is in it. What was even the point. That’s bullshit, this whole thing is bullshit, that’s a scam, fuck the church, here’s 95 reasons why. 0/10.

And that’s the last one, after that they just decided to make up their own original stories. (Thank GOD, imagine if they did Sins of Prince Saradine but erased Flambeau. I would yeet myself off the nearest cliff. Also series 4 onwards slapped majorly, their own original stories are great.)

#inspired by a conversation in the flambrown discord server #father brown

[adustierstar]

Lawblr Book Club

Hello naughty children, it’s time for Nissa’s Opinions

Coming in RIGHT under the wire for October book club, but still. I have read the reboggles I could find on T’s tag (bc tumblr search is what it is), and now it’s my turn.

General Questions:

1 - What did you like best / least?

I liked the worldbuilding a lot - I want to know more about the Reaches and the Travelers and why everything is made of wood in Kolonya?? Least... we will get to lol

2 - Would you read more by this author?

mmmmmmmmmmaybe. Like I want to know wtf happened, but I’m also still pretty mad about the ending. We shall see.

3 (a) - If this story followed a different character’s POV, who would you pick and why?

tbh the last thing this book needs is more POVs

3 (b) - Did you like how the three different sister’s POV was used to push the narrative forward? Did it make your reading experience more or less enjoyable?

idk, it was a little slow for my tastes. I did like that the girls all had different perspectives, but I wish they’d had more different personalities. Like Ren and Akeylah are the same person, just brought up with different abuse. And if Zofi has a personality beyond anger, she’s probably the same, too.

4 - What scene stuck with you the most?

I really liked the first time Ren and Zofi confronted Akeylah in the library - it was kinda “did we just become best friends?! YUP!” but also FINALLY gave them a team vibe and distinct specialties.

5 - What kind of lingering questions were you left with (besides the obvious cliffhanger WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO ME ELLEN)

literally what was the point of this being its own book if the single main conflict wasn’t actually resolved???

6 (a) - Could you relate to the characters & their story arcs?

Meh. I mean, a little bit? But overall I didn’t find them terribly relatable.

6 (b) - How do you feel about each character’s ending?

WHAT. ENDING.

7 - Were there times you disagreed with a character’s actions / would have done something different in their shoes?

YES MANY.

8 - Were you rooting for any character or pairing in particular?

I wanted to like Akeylah best bc she seems really sincere and genuine, BUT then suddenly all of her “I’m a secret genius” calculating stuff comes up and it’s a little tough to reconcile those things. I liked each of the girls okay, but I didn’t feel like there was a clear answer to who should rule (aside from Ren’s musing about all 3 of them, maybe).

9 - Do you picture any specific fancasts when reading the book?

The only one I have any clear idea what she looks like is Akeylah, but I can’t think of anyone who looks like that, you know? I think of Zofi as looking like an angry Ice Climber from Smash Bros. And like...idk maybe Letitia Wright for Ren? Maybe Lupita Nyong’o or Gugu Raw for Rozalind, unless she’s supposed to be the girls’ age, then somebody younger, I guess? Idk.

Story Specific Questions:

11 - Did you enjoy how each girl’s secret was teased out? Do you like when authors slow-roll this kind of information?

I do like a slow rollout (”who taught him ‘rollout’?!”), I think there’s a lot to be said for setting readers loose in medias res, BUT I also think it wasn’t handled amazingly here - idk maybe it’s just me, but I felt like it was sort of stage-whispering. Like “oh no I hope no one guesses my TERRIBLE SECRET!!! I would be in SO MUCH trouble!!” It just felt very obvious to me, although the secrets themselves weren’t obvious (the first time we learned about them).

12 - Do you think each character was fleshed out sufficiently, such that you had a sense of the different personality for each sister?

Not really? Kind of. An attempt was made with the girls, but basically no one else got any dimension whatsoever.

13 - Do you have guesses on who the blackmailer is?

Not really, bc this book broke every rule of how to write an engaging mystery. Like literally the only people who could POSSIBLY be it from the information we have are Rozalind, Vidal, and Andros, none of which really make sense given everything else, but like???? I guess Rozalind is my best guess bc she was acting kinda sus re: the acolyte etc. But I think that would be a bad choice unless a lot of other things change between now and that reveal.

14 - Was Yasmin a believable antagonist to you?

Like. I thought she was SCREAMINGLY obviously a red herring the entire book. She was brusque with the girls, and there was some weirdness in the first scene where the girls meet the king where I thought maybe she was possessing him, but that’s obviously just the weird mind link thing they did, and that’s it. Like being a bitch isn’t illegal.

15 - Do you think the daughters’ secrets were defensible actions?

Kinda? Like, definitely understandable, but like, is murder ever defensible? Ren had no reason to suspect her information would be used the way it was (whether or not Danton knew is something I’m not convinced on either way), Akeylah had no reason to believe she wasn’t cursing the man she fully expected to kill her (although MAYBE she should have paid closer attention during the cursing itself?? Like, the distance seems like it should have played a role in how hard it was to find “her father”), and Zofi perhaps overreacted, but used what seemed like appropriate force at the time in defense of another’s life (or rather she couldn’t/didn’t want to  think of a way to simply restrain or incapacitate Nicolen, so stabby stabby). Was it stupid? Yes, for all of them. But they’re children (are they 18? I forget how old they’re supposed to be. Also, why are they the same age, if they are? was that just Andros’s Good Fuckin Year?)

16 - How do you feel about this unique system of magic?

WEIRD. I NEED MORE INFORMATION. WHY does the blood have to be drawn? Where does it go? What is the scarring situation with these people? What about the SHARDS OF GLASS permanently embedded in Zofi’s legs? Speaking of which, how the FUCK are Travelers out here hand-blowing glass in a mobile way??? That’s not a pick-up-and-carry craft! What’s the cooldown period for tithing? Why is it CALLED tithing? Who are you tithing TO? What negative effects are there for tithing for too long? Zofi mentions that they exist, but this is never explained. I feel like after all her reading, Akeylah should be able to answer these questions for me. BUT SHE DIDN’T.

17 - Was the theme of racism sufficiently handled?

Handled..??? If by that you mean vaguely suggested as existing and occasionally seems to have affected some characters’ lives, sure. Like, the closest we got was “Vidal’s not as racist as some other people yay!”

18 - Do you have any theories about the poem found in the library?

tbh I don’t even remember a poem in the library, just the notes about the weird echo situation.

19 - How did you feel about the cliffhanger ending?

BAD. VERY BAD. It was like the ending of Cars in that it retroactively ruined a lot of the book for me. NOTHING was accomplished in this ENTIRE book WHY

#lawblr book club

[electronicyarn]

NOT Live Blogging RWBY Vol. 7

Guess who has two thumbs and finally finished watching RWBY Volume 7? This gal! So I decided I’d post my thoughts on the volume. I’m kind of disappointed I didn’t get to properly live blog it, but I guess right now this is the best I can do.

(So is…is tumblr still a thing? Or has whatever company that owns it now finally run the site completely into the ground. Maybe the question I should be asking is: does anyone still follow my blog?)

I think in the interest of not rambling too wildly I’m going to organize my thoughts into broad categories. So, here we go.

Visuals

If nothing else, this volume was a feast for the eyes. I’m impressed that RWBY continues to noticeably improve its visuals with each Volume. Honestly, at this point I don’t see the need for further improvement. The character models are appropriately stylized, the backgrounds are gorgeous, and the last of the kinks have (finally) been worked out of the animation.

What I’m less enthused about is the costume design. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad. It’s just not great. Penny’s new design works. Ruby’s outfit is virtually identical to her last one, so she gets a pass. Weiss’s is close, oh so close. I like the basic design, but I think the colors needed some more tweaking. Blake’s outfit is…. Well, I don’t know. I think I’m going to call it mildly nonsensical. I’m digging the haircut though. (Same goes for Jaune!) Yang and Neo’s new clothes are so-so at best, and Cinder’s are downright awful. Strangely enough, it’s Team JN_R that wins the best-dressed award in my book. They’re new outfits look far better than Weiss’s, Blake’s, and Yang’s by a mile.

I guess I should count my blessings. After Neo and Cinder’s new outfits debuted at the end of Volume 6 I was afraid that everyone might end up looking like lampshades. Or maybe fetishists not fully committing to the part.

Story

Up until about Episode 10 I was going to call this volume the good twin to Volume 4’s evil twin. A volume of RWBY that lacked the high-highs and the low-lows that are so endemic of the franchise. The difference between the two being that Volume 4 was painfully mediocre, while Volume 7 was pretty good. But it turns out I was wrong. The entirety of Volume 7 was, in my opinion, nothing more than a build-up to the big finale. And what a finale it was! But maybe I shouldn’t get ahead of myself.

The first episode really won brownie points with me for basically doing the bad part of Volume 6 (Team RWBY spitting in the face of authority) except doing it right. It turns out that authority figures aren’t always “whimsical” caricatures masquerading as antagonists. (Sorry, I really hated Caroline, and not in a good way.) It also turns out that sometimes the authorities aren’t utterly incompetent. In many ways the Ace-Ops arresting Team RWBY reminded me of a less extreme version of the ending of the fourth Hunger Games movie. Specifically the part where Katniss and company decide to storm the castle and utterly fail. You know, the part where the movie transformed from an uninspired parody of itself to the absolute highlight of the entire franchise?

And then a bunch of stuff happened, some of which I’ll discuss in the next section. And then there were some really great fights. Oh yes, and then Salem shows up. Bye-bye Atlas! You. Are. Outta here!

Honestly, the only thing I didn’t much care for story-wise was Penny becoming the new Winter Maiden. It’s not because I don’t like the concept; it’s because it feels like they didn’t put any thought into the idea other than “let’s make Penny the Winter Maiden”. I’ll withhold judgment for now. It’s only fair that I wait and see where they go with it.

Characters

Believe it or not, I don’t have much to say about Team RWBY themselves in this section. Development-wise this volume was almost exclusively focused on other characters. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, although it wouldn’t be my first choice if I had my druthers. Honestly, Weiss, Blake, and Yang’s character arcs have largely been concluded at this point. Only Ruby’s left with outstanding issues regarding her mother. So…yeah. Maybe that bodes poorly for the franchise’s future now that I think about it? Or at least my own personal enjoyment of it? Eh, I’ll worry about that later. I should talk about all the other characters!

Team JN_R – I was a bit surprised at the lack of Jaune-related content this volume. They didn’t even deign to make him suffer much. But with a cast as big as RWBY’s, it’s not the first time we’ve seen a character take a volume off as it were. The big news here is that they actually attempted to give Ren a character and bring him into conflict with Nora. I…. Well, I don’t really think they succeeded, to be honest. As is a common problem in RWBY, there really wasn’t enough time to let the idea be fully realized. But I appreciate the effort.

The Ace-Ops – Oh, I had these guys pegged as the volume’s final bosses from the get-go. And I was not disappointed. As one-off antagonists, they worked. I can’t remember any of their names though. Except for Clover’s, and I’ll talk about him and Qrow in the section below.

Penny – It’s about time she came back. We all knew that was going to happen, right? And while I’m on the subject, Pietro was a nice side character too.

Oscar – He was there.

Robyn – I’m not sure what to say about her, to be honest. She was a good enough character, and played her role in the story well. But I never felt like she rose above her role.

Neo – You know who my favorite RWBY character is? It’s Yang, obviously. And do you know who the most strongly characterized RWBY character is? It’s the late Roman Torchwick of course. But do you know who takes second place in both of those categories? Neo. Kind of ironic for that second one given that she doesn’t speak. Neo did not disappoint this volume. She never disappoints. And I’ve said it before, on this very blog I think. In terms of raw-skill, Neo is one of the most dangerous characters in the RWBY-verse. Team JN_R vs. Neo? No contest. Although I am amused that Jaune got the only real hit on her. I’m even more amused that it somehow felt appropriate.

Cinder – Again I continue to really like post-Volume 4 Cinder. No matter how hard she tries, the universe just won’t stop kicking her in the teeth. And it just fits her character so well. Bravo Rooster Teeth!

Winter – Winter’s battle might not have been the most fun. That goes to Neo vs. some bush leaguers. It might not have been the most creative. That goes to Team RWBY vs. the Ace-Ops. But by God, no one put in more effort than Winter. She has my utmost respect.

Weiss’s Mom – Hey, she exists! Nice!

Dr. Watts – So much smarm. So much arrogance. I should hate him, but I really don’t. He’s just great.

Ironwood – And the best for last. Oh my. Oh my, oh my, oh my. His arc this volume was absolutely perfect. It was given enough time to be believable, amazing for a show like RWBY, and every step along his journey made sense. He’s become my absolute favorite kind of antagonist, the kind that believes what they’re doing is right. And here’s the thing, I can’t say that Ironwood is wrong. I don’t think he’s right, but I can’t say that he’s wrong. Give me an Ironwood over a Tyrian any day of the week. Please give me an Ironwood over a Tyrian.

The Gay Agenda

*singing* Qrow has a boyfriend….

Er…. Qrow had a boyfriend. And then Clover got Bury Your Gays’d. I’m kind of disappointed, but I’m kind of not. After all, the universe has long since ordained that it is Qrow’s lot in life to suffer.

To tell the truth I’m deeply divided on how I feel about RWBY’s take on the gays. The homoromantic subtext between Yang and Blake has reached levels equivalent to Season 3 of Xena: Warrior Princess. And Qrow and Clover were about there too. On one hand, I’m happily drinking it all up. On the other hand, I want to call Rooster Teeth a bunch of cowards. It’s not 1999 anymore. You can make characters gay. RWBY has made (side) characters gay. At best I’m expecting them to pull a Legend of Korra and only make things “official” at the very end of the show, a resolution I found deeply unsatisfying. But if I were running the show, would I do things differently? Well, yes I would. But would it be the correct decision from a revenue perspective? I’m assuming that RWBY is a, let’s say, important show for Rooster Teeth. I base this assumption on the fact that they announced three RWBY-adjacent spin-offs just after Volume 7 finished. Perhaps they feel they can’t take any risks with something so popular? Perhaps they don’t particularly care. Again, I don’t know how to feel about it.

Conclusion

Homoromanticism aside, (Never!) is Volume 7 the best volume ever? It might be. Only Volumes 1 and 5 can contend with it for consistent high quality. If I had to declare one volume as the best overall, this would probably be it. That being said, I doubt anything will ever supplant the Yang and Blake vs. Adam fight in Volume 6 as my favorite part of RWBY. I still can’t believe they paid that off so well. Three years of anticipation and they fulfilled my every expectation.

Wait, what was I talking about again? Oh yeah. Volume 7. It was good.

#RWBY #Live Blogging #Volume 7 #Spoilers

[comicteaparty]

June 22nd-June 28th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from June 22nd, 2020 to June 28th, 2020.  The chat focused on The Stoop-Gallants by MJ Alexander and WW Rose.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on The Stoop-Gallants by MJ Alexander and WW Rose~! (http://www.thestoopgallants.com/site/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until June 28th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I need to reread/catch up to answer the prompts, but I gotta say this comic absolutely excels at what it does.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

I've been meaning to read this one too, I'll try and set aside some time to!

Delphina

Stoop-Gallants has so much adorable humor and sass, Predictably, Alta is my favorite character; seeing her extremely awkward yet sweet relationship with Mica is my favorite.

Flea is also a sweetheart and I love seeing them learning more about their unpredictable magic and coming to be comfortable with it after avoiding it so long. This page in particular where they finally internalize that they're not a mistake and they're not alone made me tear up a little bit. T_T http://www.thestoopgallants.com/site/tsg/page-547/

RebelVampire

What I like about the beginning of the comic is that it basically opens with accidental necromancy. I think it really just kind of paints the entire tone of the comic, sets the right expectations, and is honestly, just hilariously convoluted. My favorite moment in the comic so far was actually probably the accidental necromancy as well. I love necromancy, and just the way this happens is so hilarious. Plus, I like a lot of the other scenes it ties into, like Maxwell getting mocked for not being able to do any sort of necromancy. In the theme of this trend, my favorite character is Ru. Ru is just adorable and tries his best. I like his overall kind of boyish charms sometimes mixed with his honesty and honestly, just a great friend to everyone. As for characters interacting the most, I probably enjoy seeing Marigold and Alta the most. I really like how their relationship is kind of equal trust and equal wanting to punch the other person in the face. And yet, despite all this, Marigold really sticks by Alta and helps out in the ways only Marigold can. So I just find it to be such an interesting but wholesome relationship. What I like about the art is probably the character designs. I love that there's so many different body shapes, and in particular the heights. I love that some of the characters just basically tower over the others, cause I think that's something people neglect when it comes to fantasy settings in that you can really play around a lot more with those sorts of proportions. So I appreciate seeing it here.

For themes, I like the comic explores what to do when you have a natural talent at something but you don't like that something. I feel this is something we see with Flea, Alta, and Ru. And yet, all three handle it so differently, with Alta accepting, Flea reluctantly dealing with it after fleeing, and Ru going "Nah bro I don't want this." And I really like we get to explore whether our natural talents and destiny can be run from, or if we should just accept it. For the comic's overall story, I like the balance of character conflict vs. world conflict. This is a very character driven comic, but I never feel like the world is being neglected. Like the situation with the king, now the elves. The world is built slowly, but still at a place where you get a feel for where the characters live and how the world they live in affects them. As for the comic's overall strengths, likeable characters. Even when the characters are jerks, there's still something about them where you're like, "Ok I get it." And in turn, you're invested in all their goals, even when those goals are not necessarily something that fit together.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. How do you think Mica and Alta’s relationship will progress throughout the story? Will the two continue to blunder through everything, or will things continue to go smoothly? Also, how might Alta’s personal feelings about her career affect them?

10. Do you think Flea will successfully learn to control their magic? If so, how will this change them as a person? All in all, what do you think Flea’s story has to teach us about identity, destiny, and self-acceptance?

11. Will Ru be able to solve his necromancy problem? If so, do you think he’ll be happy about it? How does this all compare to Flea’s tale? Lastly, how will the events of Ru’s story affect Cymonee solving her problem?

12. How will the Consortium’s plans surrounding the king affect the main characters? Will they do something to stop it to achieve their own ends? Additionally, what role do you think Maxwell will play, whether as a “good” guy or “bad” guy?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Delphina

For themes, I like the comic explores what to do when you have a natural talent at something but you don't like that something. I feel this is something we see with Flea, Alta, and Ru. And yet, all three handle it so differently, with Alta accepting, Flea reluctantly dealing with it after fleeing, and Ru going "Nah bro I don't want this." And I really like we get to explore whether our natural talents and destiny can be run from, or if we should just accept it.

@RebelVampire I think this is a really good way of putting it! I also like that Ru's been gradually having to come to terms with the fact that he did what he did and grow from someone who's trying desperately to shed the consequences of the drunken magical mistake he made, and into maybe accepting he's responsible for it and should stand up for the zombie he's affected. I'm so curious to see if the elf kingdom in the current arc is going to have a solution, and if so, if it's a solution he wants to go through with.(edited)

The cast is very big and while I would love to see more Alta and Mica, I think they've gotten some of their big stuff out of the way and can move on with a relatively normal relationship. If the story does revisit them in a more dedicated arc, I would love to see some exploration of Alta's extreme savior complex and how that clashes with her perception of Mica's disability.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Did a reread recently -- this comic is so good, funny and genre-savvy with smart writing and lovable characters. Can't wait for the Volume 2 Kickstarter.

From the early chapters, I really liked Mica's and Maxwell's weird bond. Seems like they're going to be in different settings following unrelated storylines for a while, but I'm looking forward to when their paths cross again...mostly for Mica's reaction once she gets caught up on the progress of Maxwell's secret-magical-figurehead-coup gambit.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Also, the whole sequence where Maxwell has to explain "ugh, this stuff depends on an otherwise-useless narrow and restricted concept of 'virginity'". (And Ru has to unpack why he still qualifies...) I think that's the first point where you really feel the contrast between "a fantasy setting with lots of these traditional tropes and formalities" and "characters who feel and react like real people." ...without spoiling anything too specific, Rekhet's whole aesthetic (their fashion sense, their interior design) is the pinnacle of this. It is hard to pick a favorite character, but boy did they shoot waaay up the list almost immediately after their introduction.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

I feel like the first solution Ru gets is gonna be something like "don't worry, we can incinerate your problem into a pile of ash that'll blow away on the wind!" -- and he's going to balk, because he's gotten attached enough that he wants the denizen free, not destroyed. No idea what he's ultimately going to settle on -- I think it'll be something weird and offbeat, not this easy to predict. In the meantime, Denny's antics are great. Especially when there's something plot-relevant or serious going on and it's just bopping around doing its own thing in the background. (And that one scene where they all got into fancy dress, and somebody gave the denizen a bowtie -- priceless. If it started getting a new themed accessory for every scene, I would not complain.)

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Mica seems like she has lots of plans and interests and desires, but hasn't had the time/money/resources to pursue anything more than "reading about them." Meanwhile, Alta is well-traveled, practiced and competent at lots of things, and has the resources to go around offering her services pro bono...but doesn't really like or care about her job, it's just something she fell into because she was good at it. Point being, I hope they'll get into a setup where Mica picks some dreams to follow, and Alta focuses on giving her the support/backing to do it, and then gets to share in Mica's actual enjoyment. And maybe Alta figures out she likes one of these things for its own sake, so they decide to settle down and pursue it together? Or maybe they just keep exploring indefinitely, and it turns out Alta's really into "being the devoted protector while someone else is in charge."

RebelVampire

@Delphina He named the Denizen. Once you name something, there is no going back.

RebelVampire

I feel like even though things are going good between Mica and Alta, that right now were in that happy passionate phase before real issues start to heat and they start to realize theyre kind of two different ppl. So I really think that they're going to increasingly face more and more challenges in that regards. I also think Alta is about to rethink careers, and that will probably make her defocus from building the relationship. I do think Flea will successfully learn magic, and I think in so doing Flea will gain newfound confidence but also just an entire new perspective on who they are and life in general. And I think Flea teaches us that if we continue to reject parts of ourselves, even if we dont like that, that we're just gonna wind up hurting ourselves until we explode and hurt everyone else around us. I also think Flea teaches us that identity is also fluid and that you can, will, and should change and that just cause you change, doesn't mean you aren't who you are. I think Ru will find a solution, but I don't think Ru will act on it. I reiterate in this chat again, once you name something, there is no going back. However, I don't think Ru's choice will help Cymonee. I do think Ru will find other ways to help as a sort of payback for Cymonee sticking with him. However, what I'm most interested here is the comparison so far with Flea. Flea is embracing powers, while Ru isn't. And I find this contrasting journey to be interesting. I mean Ru didn't get no Alta speech about self-acceptance, so I'm wondering how that alone paved the course of events. I feel like the Consortium's plans is what will bring the main cast together again, since they'll either stop the Consortium, or clean up their mess. Since places without a ruling head of government usually don't do so hot. I think Maxwell will serve as the person who tattles in the hopes he can come out on top.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

RebelVampire

I am most looking forward to seeing more of Ru's story, cause I really want to know if he's gonna start self-accepting those necromancy powers of if he really will just react them for all time. As for final words, this a comic with some fantastic characters, has a really unique humor with how the characters conduct themselves,, and all around is definitely a comic that deserves some praise.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I hope that if Ru does choose to accept these necromancy powers, it's because he wants to, not because he has to. Like, I'm hoping he finds a solution to his problem, but he chooses not to go through with it. One thing I'm loving about the current two arcs is that it's given us a chance to go more in depth with these characters. I loved the parts where the whole gang was together as a group, but this just gives us a chance to see these relationships flourish. Though, I do hope we see more Marigold soon, plus some other side characters like Maxwell. All in all, I really love this comic, and I can't wait to see where it goes next!

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about The Stoop-Gallants this week! Please also give a special thank you to MJ Alexander and WW Rose for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked The Stoop-Gallants, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://www.thestoopgallants.com/site/

The Stoop-Gallants’ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/snartha

The Stoop-Gallants’ Store: https://www.redbubble.com/people/snartha/shop

The Stoop-Gallants’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/snartha

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