#if they got done dirty for like. a whole arc like that

[ukrainian-groove-metal]

you ever think about how Zuko had 3 years to come to terms with the fact that his father never loved him and Azula had like. two hours. like Zuko had this whole dramatic character arc where he struggled to do right and Iroh was there to support him meanwhile Ozai was like yeah here’s a hollow title shithead. gonna go burn the Earth Kingdom without you lol. if i got done dirty by my dad as bad as Azula got done i’d start shooting lightning with my hair down too.

#for clarity this is condemning nobody but ozai #avatar #atla #avatar the last airbender #zuko #azula #iroh #ozai #azula deserved better #vulture chatter

[gffa]

TALES OF THE EMPIRE wound up being a mixed bag for me, there was a lot I enjoyed but there was a lot that just felt really unfulfilled. Morgan's episodes were very pretty to look at but I couldn't help thinking--the entire time I was watching, even--that Filoni's not great at creating new characters that can carry entire episodes like this, none of this felt particularly necessary or like it was fulfilling a void that I wanted to know more about. It doesn't help that I still think her arc in live action was badly handled, that if she was meant to be a Nightsister from the beginning, her first episode should have dealt with that, instead of springing it on us later, so when filling in the background of her on Dathomir in TOTE, it brings all that up for me again.

Morgan's first episode was so pretty and it was interesting to potentially get more Dathomir lore (even if it's incredibly thin and I felt it was too close to the "we see others suffering in the galaxy, but we don't want to get our own hands dirty by fighting for other people or getting involved in helping others, btw we're morally better for that :)" trope for me personally) but everything on Corvus just felt superfluous to me and I spent time trying to figure out why I felt that way. If they had done her story this way or that way, would I have enjoyed it more? If they had included this or that, would I have thought it more necessary?

And ultimately I just kept coming back to that I don't really care about Morgan Elsbeth enough that I wanted three animated shorts dedicated to her, when I could have had so many other characters get fleshed out better. I appreciated that they were showing two characters on opposite journeys, that Morgan was falling into the dark step by step, while Barriss was slowly clawing her way out of it, but that's about all that I appreciated of Morgan's story (other than the beautiful animation).

But I'm not sure I feel like Morgan's motivations were all that well planned out. It's clear that she's looking for revenge and trying to find a new family at the same time, but it's not really clear why she's working with the Empire or how she thinks this leads her to her goals. Grievous is the one who murdered her village, how does working with the Empire (as the Separatists were folded into the Empire, too) achieve that goal? Who or what is her revenge focused on? Is it that she just wants the whole galaxy to burn, because if her village burned, so should everyone else? I feel like that's probably what they were going for, but that it could have been more coherently written.

Barriss' episodes hit a lot harder, where I'm glad that she at least got an arc, but I feel like it just missed so many marks, like why even have Vader there, I'm all for gratuitous Anakin cameos, he's my trash can man and I'm always excited to see him, but absolutely nothing was done with him, despite that he was looking Barriss right in the face there. Not even a moment of showing the audience, "Oh, his soul is so far into the dark of fear, hate, and rage that he doesn't even care about her anymore." Just nothing there, like there was no connection at all. How do you go to the lengths of putting Vader in a scene with Barriss and then treat it like there's no history between her and Anakin??? So completely unsatisfying!

And then it's another series where other guest appearances would have made sense--Barriss has a whole unfinished story with Ahsoka and you don't include her here? I'm as tired of Filoni putting Ahsoka in everything as anyone else, but here it would have made sense and would have brought that relationship full circle on-screen, Barriss' betrayal of her and her clawing her way back to the light after all the trauma and hurt, there's so much she and Ahsoka would have between them. And then nothing.

Or Barriss' relationship with Luminara, TCW never really got into how that must have felt for Luminara, to have her student betray the Jedi so profoundly, for her to fall to the dark, there's such a well of potential there and it's just entirely ignored. She mentions Luminara once and it was a lovely mention, but there's no sense of resolution or completion to that arc.

I did enjoy her story with Lyn and I try not to compare what the show wanted to do with what I wanted the show to do, but I couldn't help it. During all those scenes, all I could think was that this could have been so much more powerful and complete if it had focus on Barriss' established relationships and characters I already care about, because a new random Inquisitor is just not going to hold the same weight for me as my pre-investment in Ahsoka and Luminara. (On the other hand, with the way they butchered Luminara in the last season of TCW, maybe I dodged a bullet!)

For all that negativity, though, I really loved that Barriss found herself in being a healer again, that she found the light again. That's all I've wanted for my girl!!!! (That and put a headdress on her, ffs.) I legitimately took in a hard breath when she said, "Then you have one more Jedi to deal with." because Barriss is still working through too much to fully come back to clarity re: the Jedi at that point , but when it really came down to it, when she really saw what the dark side really was, part of her still was a Jedi. And the way she spoke of her time as a Jedi, once she had a clearer, lighter head again, was sweet, I was so surprised that we got that much from her, but I'm so glad because, if nothing else, Barriss herself deserves to be in the light again.

The way she was settled into her own skin by the time she confronted Lyn on the icy planet, the way she genuinely wanted to help her, but wouldn't let her hurt innocent children, the way she could sidestep Lyn's predictable moves and could stop the blade with just a hand held out, she found her path and what she wanted to do, and oh it was so lovely to see Barriss finding herself again. I loved so much that her unshakable compassion did reach Lyn, it was such a satisfying arc for Barriss to reach that place after all the people she'd hurt. I loved so much that Barriss getting back to this place does a lot to remind us that her foundation is a compassionate one, even if she was lost to the dark for awhile.

I just wish that there had been acknowledgement of those she hurt, the people that died because of her, the betrayal she stabbed people in the back with, rather than just "sees the dark side is bad, walks away, finds the light again", which goes back to that this feels like a generic story that's mostly impactful because I'm filling in the gaps myself because I already know Barriss as a character, rather than that it continues the story that was previously told about her.

At the end of the day, I enjoyed it and I recognize that I'm being a little unfair in how I'm saying I wanted this, this, and this, rather than digesting what the show itself wanted to do, but when you're crafting two stories that are specifically about showing us the journey of two characters that originate elsewhere, you're drawing on the stories from those other origins--except TOTE decided to only halfway do that. There's a lot to love in these shorts, the animation was incredible, the voice work was incredible, Barriss' emotional journey was incredible and I'm so thankful that they even gave her any kind of compassionate resolution. But the specter of how much the shorts ignored hangs over it too heavily for me to say that they were anywhere near what they could have been imo.

#lumi.txt #star wars #barriss offee #morgan elsbeth #meta #tales of the empire #tales of the empire spoilers

[holmsister]

I think one of the things Dungeon Meshi is definitely about is how different people deal with being an outsider/marginalised/neurodivergent/what have you and basically what im getting at is that Kabru is TEXTBOOK "high functioning [insert diagnosis here]". Its that how they say it still? Don't care.

Basically. This man shows up and you listens to him talk and see how his party treats him and you think. Oh this is a cool guy who has his shit together. And then after like two pages you find out that he has constant flashbacks to Utaya that make him completely freeze, anxiety attacks, thought spirals, is incapable of analyzing his own feelings, is a stuttering mess when the stakes are high, has never done a chore in his life, keeps putting himself in triggering situations and re-traumatising himself, and the icing on the cake is when you read the extra material and it turns out he regularly forgets to eat and lives in a depression nest of dirty clothes and self-medicates insomnia with alcohol and also is 22. Which also kind of puts Misilril not wanting to let him go in another light - yeah for sure she's controlling and infantilising and also its not like she was really helping his issues but also she was not entirely wrong in her judgement. This man does NOT know how to take care of himself. He knows how to do the bare minimum so when he shows up at work the next day he can fool his coworkers into thinking hes got it together enough. For a bit.

He is DEEPLY unwell and he knows it but he is carried by the desperate wish to avoid another catastrophe. If he stops for a moment he KNOWS he'll collapse so he doesn't.

I also think this is why him acting nurse to Mithrun is such an important part of his arc. Its like. This person who has spent all of his adult life focused on a single objective disregarding everything else is faced with what happens when you do that for too long. And the result is a wet tissue of a creature who looks like he doesn't know where he is most of the time.

He is a man on the brink. I have no doubt he felt relieved when he decided he could trust Laios - not even in a Labru way, straight up because he knew he could not keep going like this.

But also like. Of all the characters in the manga, I think Senshi and Kabru are the most lonely ones. Except Senshi seems to be OK with solitude - for sure it's not entirely healthy to be alone for as long as he was but he definitely did well enough. He is very good at taking care of himself. Meanwhile Kabru *knows* a lot of people but can you really say he has friends? Rin, maybe, arguably, but even she does not seem to truly know him, you know? He keeps himself hidden from everyone. I think the only time we see him entirely honest is when he says to Laios that he wanted to be his friend, and hes so shocked when it comes out, you can tell he did not mean to say it. And differently from Senshi, he does NOT fare well alone. He likes people, he needs people. Again compare with Mithrun - he has like a squad of people taking care of him. If Kabru had a breakdown of that size can you say his party would go out of its way to help? Im not sure. Not because they're bad people, but because he's simply not that intimate with any of them.

Idk man it just struck me all of a sudden. Laios is weird and offputting and doesn't care about other humans the way Kabru does and YET he is infinitely more successful at building deep, meaningful relationships and taking care of himself as well. I think this is part of why Kabru is so fascinated with him as well. He can tell Laios has something he doesn't have. Wait this is turning into a whole another post I'll write this next time.

#kabru #dungeon meshi spoilers #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #meta #meowing to myself #this is why ive grown so attached to him i realised. i mean who said that. now if youll excuse me i have to go wash a week worth of dishes

[joydoesathing]

what would happen if anatolii knew about this. What was Nacho thinking just running away was he that different compared to now

*cracks knuckles*

hoooooo boy, get ready cuz i got a whole character arc below

(again this is just my take on the story, so it's highly headcanonned)

"I'm sorry for running away. I'll make sure to make it up to you and your mother..."

nacho was more reckless back in his former years when he was first having a fling with frances. but when he did get her pregnant, he realized that he messed big time. realized that not only he's got a child on the way but has no means to provide for them both and isn't personally ready for big commitments like being a father or even getting married. why would he be? he was barely even 20. he never really thought that far ahead.

he didn't want to ask his parents for help. they'd definitely kill him if they figured out he got this girl they never met pregnant. he didn't also have the guts to tell frances the bad news.

his buddies at the time, who were just as reckless and short-sighted as he was, recommended that he could just... leave all that complicated and deep mess with frances behind him. just run away.

i mean he could do it. like him, frances probably wouldn't turn and complain to her parents first for help (for the same reason nacho wouldn't turn to his own parents for help) . his parents doesn't even know they had a fling together. even if she will become desperate enough to find them and try to turn to them for help, would they even accept her? let alone believe her?

"you wouldn't get in trouble. there's no one else that knows about it than you two."

" i mean, i'm sure she'll figure out something. she should know at least the basics."

that's what his buddies kept on assuring him. but even he could see that just up and deserting frances like that is just straight up cruel.

but was he in any room to still complain? it's not as if he had the resources nor the strong will to commit and face the heavy consequences of his actions.

and with that, he ran off but wracked with the small feeling of guilt.

while he tried having his new start, that feeling of guilt just grew bigger and bigger and started eating away at his conscience. he kept on trying to deny and delude himself with the words of his buddies, but it did nothing to stop that guilt completely.

it made him finally see that he's nothing more than a dirty dog running with its tail between its legs. a jerk and a coward. he had a feeling that he was going to have his comeuppance and it wasn't going to be pretty.

and so it did, a year and a half after he ran. his partner, depressed and completely driven to madness , tracked him down and almost murdered him in a psychotic rage.

he was forced to see the result of his cowardice and neglect. he didn't blame frances for doing that. who wouldn't go mad if they've been abandoned by someone who thought they could trust?

after she was stopped, he decided not to press charges on frances , although that didn't stop her from still getting institutionalized. being incapable to care for her child, nacho finally decided to man up and take his and frances' child up as his own and take raise him.

he knew that it's such a scummy thing to do. to just NOW take up the responsibility when everything was blown out of proportion. but he decided to not run away now, just because of that. his son needed a parent more than anything else now.

as he went on raising anatolii, he felt that he had absolutely nothing to be praised for. unknowing people says: "you're such a strong man, raising a son all by yourself."

he just did what he should have done from the start. right now, he takes care of his son wholeheartedly as an act of repentance, for both frances and anatolii. to show that he's truly sorry for being the coward he is.

for now, nacho is keeping the truth the whole mess between him and frances well-kept from anatolii. the only thing that anatolii does know about his mom is that she's alive but never drops by to visit due to some "personal problems and conflicts". but nacho always assures him that his mother loves him no matter what.

#ask stuff #that's not my neighbor #genderbend #nacha mikaelys #why so much character development ? #not sure either #who says that nice people can't be flat out scumbags before #anastacha mikaelys #francis mosses

[coffeeandbatboys]

Hold me close Mesh'la (Commander Fox x Fem!Reader)

A/N I just really wanted to write a little something about making out but not something dirty. So here y'all are.

Warnings: an argument, make up and make out, Fox being insanely clingy. Mention of Fives' death and pretty angsty. Fox tries turning grief into love as a coping mechanism.

"Mesh'la" Fox groaned, spinning your chair around and caging you in with his hands on both armrests.

Anger welled inside your chest. "Fox, for the last time, I'm kriffing busy can't you see?! I will come to bed when I'm done."

"You don't have any idea what I'm going through right now and I need help."

In any other mindset, you would have immediately switched gears and asked what was wrong, but you had a report to write and it was your top priority at the moment. Shoving him away, you grabbed your datapad and without saying a word, slammed the apartment door behind you. Deciding that the best place to work would be the caf shop down the street, you marched in that direction, angry thoughts buzzing in your head.

It was only after you'd written the last line of your report that you realized what he'd actually said.

"You don't have any idea what I'm going through right now and I need help.

Kriff. You hadn't even given him a chance to explain why he was so distraught when you'd gotten home. Were you really that focused on work that you'd neglected the love of your life's mental wellbeing?

You grabbed an extra cup of caf and rushed home as fast as you could, heart pounding in anticipation as the lift ascended into the tower.

"Fox, love?"

You found him in bed facing the wall. Little shivers told you he was crying, but knowing that you were standing right there, he tried to hide it.

You lowered your voice to a gentle whisper as you climbed in bed with him. "Kriff, Fox I'm so sorry. Do you want to tell me what happened?"

It was silent for a moment and the shivers stopped, but then his whole body shuddered as he let out a breath.

"I killed him. I didn't mean to. I swear it was set to stun but..."

Well that was certainly not the answer you were expecting.

"Killed who?" You asked hesitantly, not sure if you wanted to know.

"Fives."

Your heart sank. You'd heard about the ARC trooper that Rex had taken into the 501st. He seemed like a nice guy from what you'd been told.

Forgoing judgment, you wrapped your arms around Fox.

"Do you want to talk?"

Shook his head before turning to face you. "Can...I try something?"

You tilted your head to survey his face in the dim light of the bedroom. It looked almost pleading, and you nodded.

He got up on his hands and knees over you, caging you in once again, before lowering himself to kiss you. His chest pressed against yours, his lips perfectly slotted on your mouth.

Maker, your racing heart could be a side effect of the late night caf coursing through your veins. Or it could be something entirely different.

You reached up and threaded your fingers into his soft hair, pulling ever so slightly at the graying strands. A groan resounded through his chest and echoed on your lips. He pulled away to take a breath and whisper 'I love you' before descending to catch your lips again. You tasted the salty tears that had fallen on his own mouth as they mixed with the sweet caf you'd had before.

In a fluid motion he grabbed your waist and rolled over so that you were perched against his chest, never once breaking the kiss. You had to admit, he was a pretty damn good loverboy.

Finally you pulled away to cradle his face in your hands.

"M' sorry I got angry with you. I was really out of place. And I'm sorry you're going through this. You shouldn't have to do it alone."

He closed his eyes to keep more tears from falling.

"Just hold me close Mesh'la. I'll be okay."

#star wars #marshall commander fox #commander fox x reader #Fox x reader #commander fox #Star wars x reader #clones x reader #The clone wars #Fives #arc trooper fives #Marshall commander fox x reader #Fox x fem!reader #Commander fox x fem!reader

[vesemirsexual]

What is even more disappointing about how game!Ciri is written is that CDPR Can give us compelling and complex “ trauma and grief can cause you to repeat the cycle of violence” arcs for characters like Syanna and Lambert but apparently completely forgot what a huge part of Ciri’s character that is

the first time I played I thought she got amnesia as well because of how much of her fiery temper was toned down, and how her trauma is hardly mentioned ( and it's not like the characters in this game trauma are completely ignored it is talked about in some quests) I wanna see what she really would have done had she seen Emhyr again

I feel like game Ciri had two distinct groups they were aiming for: people who found Geralt even more appealing because of the fatherhood angle so they had to work his actual kid in AND hot girl fan service.

The thing is, if they gave her too much personality or depth, she wouldn’t have fit into these groups well and therefore people would’ve found her annoying and/or off-putting. People already do sometimes but not to the degree that they would’ve if they even BEGAN to touch on the absolute shitstorm that is Ciris psyche after everything.

Also realistically, they made the Witcher games centre about Geralt bc he appeals to their large majority male fan base: combatant, dark mysterious tragic past, ripped, attractive, fucks hot women, is a good guy while still also getting to do badass things and beat people up. If you look in depth at Witcher fans on different platforms when they talk about him, a lot of dudes are very much “oh my god he’s literally me”. Ciri could never be the focus because she wouldn’t appeal to that same group, and we know that every time a game is released people throw the weirdest bitch fits about female characters, especially main ones.

This is also why Ciri is made an attractive character, when realistically that tiny little facial scar they’ve given her is nothing, she’s spent her developmental years on the run/being attacked/under extreme stress so I honestly can’t imagine her being a tall skinny but also hourglass woman with one or two scars, and put her in a cropped shirt (such a bad choice it’s mildly hysterical).

I think Lambert and Syanna are also a really good example of how people handle angry traumatised characters too, because Lambert gets a lot more leeway than Syanna (and I say this as a big fan of both!) Like there are literally people out there and on this webbed site who say she is pure evil, one of the evilest people in the Witcher for being a fucked up mean trauma victim who hurt a Poor Little Meow Meow (Higher vampire with decades of life experience more than her, incredibly possessive, responded to emotional manipulation by violently attacking an entire city). Like Lambert literally brags about axii’ing a guy to shoot himself in the head with his own crossbow.

Ciri got done very dirty, but I see how and why it happened. Book Ciri deserves rights but unfortunately I think Games Ciri will always be how people perceive her, and therefore portray her in fic, art and other work predominantly (praying same doesn’t happen with TWN Ciri). We’ve been robbed of such a complex, angry young woman and I mourn it 🙏

Edit: I can’t even touch on the Emhyr thing because the fact she can reconcile with him is honestly mildly fucking horrific. Like even if they’ve removed the nasty ass incest factor, that man quite literally destroyed her entire world and was willing to do so further in order to get his way. The fact she can call him father in one ending is genuinely vomit inducing and so disrespectful to Ciri as a character (also the audacity to play down that Ciri literally sees Yen as her mama WHILE playing devils advocate for War McCrime is a whole choice).

#sorry I rambled! #but you’re right anon ur right #also this post has swinging at a hornets nest elements but I do not careeeeewwe #katie txt #asks

[tgammsideblog]

Scratch and Leadership

The season 2 episode premiere ¨The New Paranormal¨ explores the consequences of Season 1 finale ¨The Jig is Up / Molly vs The Ghost World¨. With the original Chairman getting destroyed, the Ghost World needs a new leader to fill the space that got left. Since Scratch is the ghost that ¨defeated¨ the previous ruler, he has to become the new Chairman.

In ¨The New Paranormal¨ Scratch gets tricked by the Ghost Council into becoming the new leader by having to use the chairman robes to scare the frightmares that were in the Mcgees house away. He gives the order to not cause any chaos to the ghost population, since ¨it brings trouble to him and he hates it¨. Scratch makes a deal to work with the Ghost Council considering they know how things work.

In general Scratch doesn't want anything to do with taking charge of his responsibilities in the Ghost World. He would rather do his best to avoid them or quickly be done with them and teleport back to what he was doing previously. He doesn't make much of an effort to learn how the system works nor tries to change it for the better. He feels like it is a role that was unjustly dropped into him without being able to make a choice in it.

A lot of this seems to come from Scratch feeling like he was stuck in a very repetitive job that made him miserable as human (Todd). Once he became a wraith/ghost he lost his morals of taking responsibility since it unconsciously reminded him of his depressive state when he was human. This could explain in part why Scratch avoids most of his chairman duties and responsibilities.

As the creators put it in an interview, Scratch's arc as chairman during season 2 is about this:

One of it was [that] a lot of people want to grow up and be in leadership, and something like want[ing] to be president. But then, to be president is really hard, and it takes a lot of responsibility, and you have to care about what you’re doing. So, it was sort of a little metaphor about [how] leadership is tricky, and it takes a lot of attention and care and thought. Again, he’s the leader now, right? He’s the guy in charge, and that comes with a whole raft of responsibilities. And we’re going to see, like Bill just said, being a leader is hard, and you got to be intentional about it. And Scratch is not. And that’ll lead to disasters coming down the pike. Many of them.

Source: https://www.nerdsandbeyond.com/2023/04/01/interview-the-ghost-and-molly-mcgee-creators-bill-motz-and-bob-roth-on-what-to-expect-from-season-2/

In multiple episodes we see Scratch making questionable decisions as chairman, like avoiding his duties, making others do the work for him, causing a mess in the workplace and misusing his power.

In ¨Dance Dad Revolution¨ he tricks ghosts into cleaning the Haunty Haunts club by making it look like a fun dance instead of doing it himself. He abuses his power as chairman, ordering others to do his duties as it was a game while he goes to sleep. At the end of the episode a mess is caused that leaves the room all dirty again and he is forced to clean it up himself.

In Season 1 there has been a few episodes that show how Scratch would be pretty authoritative, if not abusive, if he decided to take his role as leader more seriously. These episodes being ¨Goat Your Own Way¨ and ¨The Internship¨. During both occasions he was giving orders because he enjoyed the power that came with it and it was a responsibility.

¨The Ghost IS Molly Mcgee¨ also shows that he could be an effective leader if he put his mind into it when he decided to take Molly's place to be charge of a play. He threatened kids with using a hammer if they didn't follow his orders, making obey him quite quickly. In this example he was doing this to help Molly and for the sake of having fun, demostrating again that he cares about leadership if he sees it as a game.

As much of a disaster Scratch is as chairman, he does make some positive changes to the Ghost World: He doesn't use the Flow of Failed Phantoms as a punishment for ghosts, instead chosing to trap them in things like dolls and canisters if they are causing trouble for others.

He does give Lord Doom, one of the most dangerous ghosts, a second chance after he got cursed to be trapped into a doll. In Necro-comicon episode he is happy that Lord Doom is doing well with his new family. In ¨Unhaunting of Brighton Video¨ he is seen helping the team dealing with Blair and her unfinished business. He brings down the whole system of forcing ghosts to scare off humans and keep the Ghost World miserable since he doesn't feed off from misery like the original Chairman did. Ghosts now scare for fun like seen in the episode ¨Frightmares On Main Street¨. This allows them to be able to be more friendly with humans. In general he lets ghosts to have fun and be more free under his reign as long as they don't disturb other ghosts or humans.

He seems to have a lot of fans seeing in ¨The Afterlife of The Party¨ and ¨Jinx!¨. Not surprising considering he isn't as authoritative as the past Chairman and he is a lot more approachable. There is a crowd following him in ¨Jinx!¨ asking for his autograph and he gets invited to a popular ghost party in ¨The Afterlife of The Party¨. In contrast, when the original Chairman showed up in ¨A Very Hungry Ghost¨ in the Mcgees's backyard, all ghosts disappeared, being terrified of the Chairman.

The way ghosts act around Scratch in Season 2 resembles someone meeting a celebrity rather than a leader. Makes sense because Scratch doesn't take his job seriously and uses is for the status and fame that gives him. Still, most seem to like it regardless of that.

In ¨The Afterlife of The Party¨ he lies about being sick to Geoff so he is able to go to an elite ghost party, something he wanted to do all his time as ghost. Before becoming the new chairman he was always pushed around by most of the ghosts. He was happy when he got invited to one of these popular parties for once. Near the end of the episode he learns that the party was Geoff and Jeff's 100th anniversary of being partners. He apologizes to Geoff for lying to him and Geoff forgives him.

Scratch constanly misuses his chairman powers to throw random curses as a way to fix his problems. He uses curses to help Molly with her fears in ¨FONAA!¨ and to get a perfect day in ¨Perfect Day¨, only for the curse to end up backfiring. In ¨Alaka-Sham¨ it is shown that he used so many curses that the curse cabinet was as its fullest and, because Scratch refuses to do something about it, the cabinet ends up exploding on him and the Ghost Council and has to clean up all the mess. There is one occasion he used this in a way that was useful: In ¨All In The Mind¨ to find why his spectral body was having bubbles all around. He and Molly went inside his own mind and found a memory that was a childhood friend that Scratch had named Adia.

In ¨All Shark No Bite¨ he learns that he can create ghost creatures using his chairman powers and they obey his commands. He accidentally created a ghost shark that he later adopts as his pet and names him ¨Sharkie¨. Sharkie appears in some episodes after that, either in his small or big form.

In spite of having many followers, there is someone that doesn't see him fit of being a chairman. That is Jinx, who was a huge fan of the previous chairman and wants things to go back the way they used to be before Scratch became the new leader.

Jinx represents someone who doesn't like the idea of losing the power she previously had in the past status quo. She enjoyed being a joy hunter and feels like Scratch stripped that away from her. She doesn't consider Scratch worthy of being the new chairman, thinking that she would be better at it instead.

As petty as Jinx is, she does has a point of Scratch being lazy and irresponsible as leader. Jinx had to explain to him how jinxes worked, something she pointed out it is a thing the chairman should know about. She acts as a constant reminder for Scratch that he isn't a good leader for the Ghost World.

All Scratch's irresponsible behaviour culminates in ¨Jinx VS The Human World¨. This episode starts with Scratch leaving the chairman robe unprotected and unguarded, which Jinx takes advantage of and steals it, using to take over the Ghost World and almost the Human World. Scratch also makes the mistakes of accidentally getting Molly captured by Jinx when they look for her in the Ghost World.

Near the end of the episode Scratch comes up with a plan to stop Jinx. He suggest others to ¨spread out joy¨ and extra feeding the sobgoblins, making them explode as result. Sharkie gets summoned by Scratch and grabs the chairman robes from Jinx. The Chens trap Jinx inside the phantom canister so she can't cause any more trouble.

The ghost celebrate Scratch as their true chairman. This leads to Scratch to reconsider things and to finally admit that he isn't a good example of a leader. He uses his powers one last time to make the chairman robe select the person they consider the ¨most worthy¨ to be the new chairman. The robe fly away, looking for a new leader.

In the end, Scratch's arc as chairman this season gives the lesson that not every person is fit to be a leader and it would be better to step down and give that role for those who would be more responsible. While Scratch did bring some good things to the Ghost World, he was incredibly lazy and didn't take the job seriously, which end up putting both worlds at risk. He gives up his status, knowing someone should be in the position instead of him.

#the ghost and molly mcgee #Tgamm #tgamm analysis #tgamm season 2 #scratch mcgee #tgamm jinx #tgamm ghost council #jinx vs the human world #The new paranormal Tgamm #Tgamm Jinx! episode #The ghost IS Molly Mcgee #the afterlife of the party

[anti-spop]

one complaint i see a lot about spop is how the horde manages to be more interesting character-wise than the rebellion. and i think i can agree.

while all the characters are, well, stereotypes, most of the ones in the horde still have some depth to them. entrapta might be loud and excited about robots, but she's actually very affected when facing the fact she was abandoned (and later betrayed by catra). a little detail i like about entrapta is that she hides her face behind her mask whenever she's vulnerable.

scorpia also has her moment to shine in s4, and hordak is quite an interesting character too (sadly, he didn't get very fleshed out). and of course, there's catra and shadow weaver, whose backgrounds and motivations you can't help but wonder what they truly are. even if, in the end, they were both done dirty by the plot. sadly, i can't say the same for the horde trio, but even they got some moments of reflection in s4.

as for the rebellion... i think glimmer is probably the most fleshed out princess. i'm not sure if i should count adora, bc even if she has her backstory, adora's arc of finding herself and where she came from was completely dropped. her trauma also didn't get as much focus nor respect as catra's did. other than that, bow barely has an arc or a background (we know about his dads but nothing about his siblings - we don't even see them). all the other princesses are just... there. frosta could've been an interesting character, but they drastically changed her personality in s2, and her losing her parents is not at all touched, not even when glimmer loses angella.

on one hand, i can't rlly blame ppl for liking the horde characters more. and i think that sympathizing with the villains isn't a bad thing, it can help us understand that not everything is black and white. the problem is that the rebellion simply doesn't have depth, imo only glimmer does, and she gets a lot of hate for it. but the princesses overall are boring and annoying, they don't have very unique personalities.

spop as whole is superficial, but the horde characters end up being more interesting. and not only that, but the show doesn't rlly treat the war srsly, so it's "easy" to like said characters.

#i post #spop critical

[stellisketches]

why? please explain the soldier, port, king in excruciating detail PLEASE

EDIT: ITS FINALLY DONE i'm so sorry this took me like six months I got really busy with school work and I wanted to make sure I wasn't half-assing this anyway thank you for asking please enjoy

For reference I will be quoting the “Poet Soldier King” test on uQuiz as I feel they summarize each role most succinctly.

"You wonder, sometimes, if anger is the only thing you can feel. Remember: love is passion too. You made your own rules and will follow them to death. You try and forget that there is only one rule, and that it is "FIGHT". You are tired of fighting. You try to forget that, too, and keep going. You dream of quiet. Your love is where you heal." -Soldier

It's a subtle element but Vylad’s entire character/existence is about enduring conflict. It's an easy thing to forget due to his calm demeanor, but Vylad has been fighting since the moment he was born (hell, even before). Fighting the ill-contrived gossip of being a bastard son, fighting to prove himself a genuine Ro’Meave, and fighting against Garte and Zane’s abuse over his childhood. It’s a subtler form of conflict, but it’s very interesting to imagine how he was able to put up with all of it (I’ve planned so many prequel fics about the Ro’Meaves you guys). Then there’s the whole shadowknight topic that really is indicative of itself. Vylad's whole arc was based upon leaving behind the violence of his past as a literal soldier within the Shadow Lord's army. Again it’s really easy to forget but this is someone who was revived to burn the world to the ground and slaughter any and every man, woman, and child that got in the way of it. He told Aphmau himself in season 2: “One good deed does not fix a thousand wrongs done. I'm not a good person, let's just leave it at that. Please.” We may not have seen it on screen, but who knows how long Vylad was traveling with Sasha and Gene. I doubt Phoenix Drop was the first village they targeted, and I doubt Gene or Sasha or even Zenix were ever like “oh yeah you can wait outside while we commit atrocities on this Lord and his family and burn the whole village to the ground.” Vylad has a very practical mindset (another trait indicative of a good soldier), and it wouldn’t surprise me if he was purposefully good at his job so it would land him more opportunities to get out of the nether now and again. He enacted violence well enough that he was trusted to be sent outside the nether to go fuck up the overworld. Vylad is a man thoroughly haunted by war and the violence he’s committed against others in a way his brothers just… aren't. Sure, Garroth knows fighting and violence as a means of protection and ensuring the safety of others, but he doesn’t know war. He’s never had someone he cared about die in his arms. He’s never seen a whole village burn to the ground and see innocent people slaughtered left and right. He’s never seen a child screaming at their dead mother to get up. He may use violence, but he was never a violent person. Zane, on the other hand, most definitely was, however, but he hardly ever enacted any of the violence himself. 90% of the time it was jurors or guards he’d given orders to. And while he was more than happy to get his hands dirty every once in a while, he never felt genuine consequence from it. 

Continuing on Vylad’s inner psyche, we see after he still keeps a very practical, soldier-like mindset out of the nether in company with Aph and Co: He gets annoyed at Aphmau when she puts off telling everyone about the Tuu’la invasion. He surveys Laurance from a distance and does not interfere even in danger because he’s aware of the long term effect of distrust it would cause him. Upon the chaos in Narhaka, he immediately goes to burn books that have important locations the enemy could use against them. This is actually one of my favorite scenes because of how subtly status-quo breaking it is. Tell me right now of any scene involving book burnings done by a guy the audience is supposed to root for. Vylad’s view of the world makes him incredibly pragmatic and able to calculate the win-loss ratio of his actions and let that decide whether or not he will go through with it.

Vylad may not have the typical surface-level look of the characters often put into the category, but if you really dive into his past, his mindset, and the way he views the world, he easily fits into the role of soldier; with the final line “Your love is where you heal” setting him on the path of redemption we see throughout the whole series.

"Loneliness. Strength. Joy. You are powerful, but struggle believing it. You think you're not enough. Here's the truth : you are. You sing songs and hope they carry faith, because you have run out of it, and yet you still throw your heart out to the world and hope it makes it through. You convince yourself that pain is art because at least then, you will always have something to create. You are tired of stumbling through life. You dream of a ground you can stand on. One day, you will dance. Your love is where you feel - without fear." -Poet

Now I admit for Zane it does require a more particular perspective to place him as poet, but I’ll start simple and slowly transition to red string and corkboard. Firstly, from the original song lyrics, “He will slay you with his tongue” applies in at least two different ways. The first being obvious: Zane is incredibly charismatic- you don’t just make it to High Priest without a certain degree of people skills included but not limited to negotiating, preaching, and being able to reason your way through any theological question a questioning sinner could ask you. It’s a shame we don’t see it put into use very often throughout the series, but I think his position gives enough testament to his people skills. The second way this line applied is a bit more literal and a bit more dark, which would be the sheer amount of people who were murdered not by his hands directly, but on mere orders. He can quite literally have people slain in just a few words to the right people. Moving to the more esoteric; the line “You are powerful, but struggle believing it. You think you're not enough.” seems like it be a hitch to his characterization, as it first invokes the idea of someone who lacks self-confidence, which is FAR from what we see Zane characterized as in the story. However I see this from the lense of artists becoming blind to the depth of their own skill. Zane is powerful, but it’s not enough for him. He’s become so accustomed to the level of influence he holds he’s become desensitized to it, like how you stop feeling the cold of the water once you stay in it long enough.The power he’s been swimming in his entire life no longer brings that vitalic shudder of control he craves. Thus he seeks power that goes beyond mortal influence to raw, unchanneled divinity, as that’s the only thing that he has ever been told is above him. He hungers the same as any artist— to be something greater than they already are.

“You convince yourself that pain is art because at least then, you will always have something to create.” The idea of creation draws back to Zane’s relationship with control and divinity. I think it's highly debatable as to whether or not Zane has actual “faith” in the divine (i.e, seeing them as gods he wishes to emulate or simply as extremely powerful beings minus the religious element), but in either case it again leads back to desire for more. (sidenote: Zane’s fatal flaw being lust is such a delicious piece of irony and I could make an essay of its own on it). Anyway, back to the point I was originally trying to make: Zane sows pain and destruction as a means of asserting his power/importance both to others and himself. The “pain” spoken of would normally belong to the poet themself— but this is no ordinary poet, and there is no specific indication where said pain emerges from. 

"Duty. Strength. Resignation. You were told to do things and you did them. The world is something that was put into your hands and that you must deal with - so you will. You have a rigid back and steady hands, either metaphorically or physically. Is it nature or nurture ? You don't know. You are tired of being steady. You dream of feeling alive. Not that you aren't, but, sometimes, it's hard to remember that there is a heart between your ribs. Your love is where you breathe." -King

God where do I start. “Duty. Strength. Resignation” It’s like someone just said ‘describe Garroth in three words’. Duty has been his entire life, wanted or not, which leads directly into resignation. “You were told to do things and you did them.The world is something that was put into your hands and that you must deal with - so you will.” He learned his history. He learned the politics. He followed the dogma. He believed in Irene and his father and the glory of O’Khasis and his divine duty to lord over its people. His people. He said it himself in episode 68 he wanted to be exactly like his father, and that he thought to be lord was an honor and a privilege. To him, the weight of the world has rested upon his shoulders for so long that he becomes accustomed to each additional hardship quickly and quietly, never kicking up a fuss about his growing stress and dissatisfaction, like a frog in a pool of water that is steadily increasing in temperature. He locks his festering disdain for glorification of leadership away from his father, his family, and the rest of the world because he cannot show that he is anything but the Atlas of duty he was born to be. 

Until, one day, he has enough. He saw what happens to his dear little brother, likely the only person he felt he could truly bond with, and despite everything he still dealt with it, for the sake of the people around him, but when his father commands him to marry a girl he has never met (likely while he is still processing his grief) in the name of ‘duty’, it is the straw that breaks the camel's back. He sees that everything he has worked towards is meaningless as he will never reach a point where his father will be satisfied with him. That his father will continue to take and take from him until there is nothing left but a soulless puppet that will continue to speak his words even after his reign has ended. Every burden he has carried, every grievance he has hidden, every struggle he’s overcome and the hard work he’s put into building himself a true heir of O’Khasis— it all amounts to nothing.

So he leaves. 

Now, let me ask you: what would you do if you were a runaway prince escaping the crushing weight of expectation? Take a bunch of money from your no-good dad? Buy a boat ticket and live a new life in luxury on the other side of the world? Never work a day again and dive head first into careless relaxation? Surely, you wouldn’t look twice at a dilapidated little village on the coast. Wouldn’t bother to stop by and lift a finger to help it. You're free, you have a whole life of sweet exemption to look forward to. You wouldn’t give it the time of day.

“You have a rigid back and steady hands, either metaphorically or physically. Is it nature or nurture?”

Garroth finds himself in Phoenix Drop— a rickety dead-end little town as far away from home as possible. He stays, and he helps. He keeps the village running, he helps the Lord wherever he can. He takes in the broken, starved boy he finds in the woods. He does whatever he can to improve the lives of the people around him. Why? He owes them nothing, he’s spent a lifetime crushed under the weight of people's expectations and he turns around just to find himself carrying the weight of more lives on his shoulders. He is doing everything he was taught and everything he ran away from. 

But this time it’s different. This time, he sees how he’s helping. There’s no more grating voice telling him none of the effort matters. He has a rigid back and steady hands, metaphorically and physically. For the first time in his life, he can see with his own two eyes that his effort is worth it. There isn’t doubt and lies and corruption floating in and out of his mind. Just the warm, honest smiles of the people he helps. He feels it and it is real. The question “Is it nature or nurture?” is genuine: Is Garroth helping these people out of the kindness of his heart or because it was what he was always told to do, and now that he is without the purpose he was assigned he’s leaning on something familiar? Personally, I think that’s for the audience to decide. I myself would say a mixture of both, leaning more so towards nature. But I digress. 

It’s better then, when he helps and can see that he is doing good, but of course, that peace is not to last him. With the Lord’s death and impending turmoil of Phoenix Drop, Garroth’s role in the village shifts drastically to closer resembling the role he ran away from. People are treating him with near as much kindness anymore, no. The most forgiving are losing faith and the least are blaming him. Blaming him for failing to meet their expectations. Now, as things are deteriorating, he has more than enough reason to leave. He gave it the good ol’ college try, and he failed. With the sentiments of the village becoming scarily familiar to that of his father, he should just say “fuck it” and head on off to that faraway land where no one will know his name.

But still, he doesn’t. We see him in Rebirth and how desperate he is to fix the village, to make it work. Even when everyone else is telling him to give up, he refuses. Even sinking, a captain stays on his ship. (Side note: it’s scenes like this that cause me to start tearing up people’s lawns whenever I see takes that label Garroth as having a “fear of responsibility”). And he is completely ready to either make things work or die trying, regardless of what stands in his way. 

‘You are tired of being steady. You dream of feeling alive. Not that you aren't, but, sometimes, it's hard to remember that there is a heart between your ribs.’

Aphmau wasn’t the first person he saved. Zenix had likely been around for at least a year beforehand. However Zenix was a hothead teenager in need of guidance, which simply made him become another responsibility Garroth set upon himself. Don’t get me wrong, he definitely cares for him, but their relationship is far different than the one he has with Aphmau. 

With Aphmau, he finally has someone who shares the burden. Not only that, but sharing it willingly and with a smile on her face. He’s not used to having a person who presents themselves as an equal sharer of responsibility. Much less, someone who is willing and wanting for him to put his burdens on her (At least, that’s how he sees it). He can’t remember the last time he truly allowed himself to be vulnerable with someone. All the desires he’s pushed down start to bubble back up again, and he starts to imagine things he’d long tried to do away with. He sees Aphmau as a strong leader, one whose idealism is a strength and not a weakness, and how she accomplishes things he never quite got around to doing. An admiration grows for her, yes, but that’s not what makes her different. The difference, he sees, is her vulnerability. How she allows herself to be vulnerable around him. How despite the brave face she puts on, she has just as much fear that she isn’t enough. And she tells him this, directly, because she trusts him. And all of a sudden he realizes that if she can be strong to the rest of the world, and yet still let him see her weakness, her softness, then maybe, just maybe

“Your love is where you breathe.”

He can take his armor off, too.

#zane ro'meave #garroth ro'meave #vylad ro'meave #minecraft diaries #aphmau garroth #mcd #mcd garroth #aphmau mcd #aphmau #mcd zane #mcd vylad #stelli rants #also just as a sidenote that you don't have to take seriously #i tried taking the quiz as I think each character would and got the same results #mcd aphmau #mcd rewrite #minecraft diaries headcanons #garroth #garroth romeave #vylad romeave #vylad mcd #zane romeave #soldier poet king

[see-arcane]

Jonathan Harker: The ‘Absolute Love Corrupts Absolutely’ Villain That Almost Was*

*LONG before Francis Ford Coppola’s Cinematic Gary Oldman Fanfiction

Spoilers ahead for the Dracula Daily enjoyers, because I’m whipping out all my literary receipts on this.

I recently finished speed-rereading Dracula because I have no self-control. In doing so, I got a refresher on quite a few incendiary factors of the book that time had dulled in my memory.

1.     There’s a TON of ‘I’m not like other girls!’ and ‘men good, women dainty,’ and ‘What no I’m not projecting, honest, I just really like the words manful, voluptuous, manful, aquiline, manful, God, and manful again. –Bramothy Stoker,’ so brace for that from basically the whole cast. I’m blaming it partly on Bram Flakes’ own prejudices, of which there are plenty, and the fact that he’d clearly never met a thesaurus in his life.

(I appreciate everyone’s mental revamp of Mina as the New Woman to Lucy’s Classic Damsel, but…oof. Everyone’s in for a harsh Period/Stoker Accurate reminder.)

2.     Brammy Pajamas was either hanging around some exceptionally devout Christians to write some of the second/third act scenes with everyone basically thrashing and wailing and falling on their knees and clasping/kissing hands as they pray to/thank God, all while thinking it was perfectly natural behavior for these characters…or he legit had no clue how any kind of ordinary human being, Christian or otherwise, would react to the situations he puts them in.

(Seriously, it’s not even that everyone’s devout, it’s that they’re all written to act like they’re in a soap opera where the only direction they got was to be as hammy and histrionic as physically possible. You’ll know the scenes when you see them.)

3.     Jonathan Harker has not only been done dirty by every adaptation since the book in terms of being a main character, along with being the character to spend the most time with Dracula in close quarters, period, and being the love interest for Mina—his whole character arc by the second half of the book is the most blazing hot, “If my beloved is destined for damnation, I’m heading to Hell with her, fuck all else,” shit I have ever read in classic literature, full stop.

Not Dracula. Not any character based on Dracula.

Jonathan fucking Harker is the OG archetype for Love Corrupts (Violently), and the canon story avoided him going full tragic villain by t h i s much. You want proof? Let’s go.

NOTE: MAIN SPOILERS STRAIGHT FROM THE BOOK, SHIELD YOUR EYES

Here’s the part most Harker fans scream over, myself included:

“To one thing I have made up my mind: if we find out that Mina must be a vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that unknown and terrible land alone. I suppose it is thus that in old times one vampire meant many; just as their hideous bodies could only rest in sacred earth, so the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for their ghastly ranks.”

Good shit, good shit! Jonathan was already prepared to risk falling to his death from a cliff or being eaten by wolves rather than stay in Castle Dracula for a bloodthirsty eternity with the ladies. But now? Mina is quite literally his, “You are worth Hell,” Beloved. But there’s more. Fast forward to one of Team Fuck-Up-That-Old-Undead-Man’s first head-on encounters with the Count. As they’re waiting, Jonathan gets impatient, declaring:

“I care for nothing now,” he answered hotly, “except to wipe out this brute from the face of creation. I would sell my own soul to do it!”

He says as much in front of his Christian+ buddies who, by now, had pretty fair reasons to believe in the legitimacy of Hell and all its demons. Van Helsing is definitely startled and seemingly talks him down from such an oath. Key word being seemingly. Because we jump forward again to a point where Mina, in full saintly forgiveness mode (and apparently selectively forgetting Van Helsing’s history lesson about Dracula’s pre-vampire days being ones of a slaughtering tyrant), saying that if/when they destroy the Count, oh, how happy his soul will be to be free of his torment on Earth, et cetera. Jonathan Harker has a rebuttal to share. Namely:

“May God give him into my hand just for long enough to destroy that earthly life of him which we are aiming at. If beyond that I could send his soul forever and ever to burning hell I would do it!”

God forgives. Jonathan Harker emphatically does not.

Onward again, and he speaks volumes by what he does not say. Chiefly, there’s a point where Mina, now in full martyr preparation should the worst happen, makes the boys swear an oath to destroy her body if/when she succumbs and dies to Dracula’s vampiric poisoning so she cannot rise again as one of his ladies. The boys swear. Mostly. What we get from Jonathan is…

“And must I, too, make such a promise, oh, my wife?”

“You too, my dearest.” (Note: The rest of her paragraph here is full of the most knife-twisting, utterly warped martyr ‘pep talk’ I’ve ever read, and I have no idea how she/Bramarama thought it would remotely convince Jonathan this was all a reasonable and chill thing she was talking about. Anyway.)

It’s important to note that absolutely nowhere in the ensuing text does Jonathan ever speak the promise out loud. He does read the goddamn Burial Service at Mina’s request, which he barely chokes his way through. But he never makes the oath.

Another jump ahead. They are on the hunt for Dracula and, alas, have just missed him at a key point. Most of the gang are shaking their fists at the sky, cursing up and down. And what is Jonathan doing? Well, to quote Jack Seward, just before the epiphany…

“We men were all in a fever of excitement, except Harker, who is calm; his hands are as cold as ice, and an hour ago I found him whetting the edge of the great Ghoorka knife which he now always carries with him. It will be a bad look-out for the Count if the edge of that ‘Kukri’ ever touches his throat, driven by that stern, ice-cold hand!”

And upon discovery of the Count slipping them…

“Harker smiled—actually smiled—the dark bitter smile of one who is without hope; but at the same time his action belied his words, for his hands instinctively sought the hilt of the great Kukri knife and rested there.”

For context, by this point Jonathan had already come at Dracula with said Kukri knife a while back, having nearly landed the blow after charging out of the pack and nearly fucking gutting the Count. For extra context, this is a Kukri knife:

He’s just been walking around with that. For half the book. Plotting.

And, with all of this in mind, we can only assume Jonathan had two plans of action in mind.

Plan A, follow Van Helsing’s lead.

…Not counting the moment he almost bit the Professor’s head off for saying he had to bring Mina along with him to Castle Dracula. Another good scene which includes his very succinct reaction to Van Helsing’s suggestion, even if he does have to agree in the end:

“Not for the world! Not for Heaven or Hell!”

Anyway. If the plan works out, cool. He gets to kill Dracula, Mina is saved. Best case scenario!

But then there’s the unspoken, explicitly unwritten (in case his pages need to be read), but heavily foreshadowed Plan B. They cannot destroy the Count, in time or otherwise. Mina is now either a corpse waiting to awake as a vampire, or a vampire already. The others, true to their vow, mean to destroy her.

Jonathan Harker, true only to Mina, in whatever form she may take, still has that Kukri. And the element of surprise. And a full acknowledgment of the realities of Heaven, Hell, and his holding Mina’s continued existence above them, his friends, his sanity, his humanity, and himself.

In short, all your tragically romantic Draculas can kindly go fuck themselves with a wooden stake. Jonathan Harker is the first and best gothic horror example of a person in love to the point of madness, damnation, and willingness to deceive or destroy anyone who would endanger the one he loves. The only reason we never got to see it in action was because Stoker had to tack on a happy ending. If he hadn’t?

The census would be less four unsuspecting heroes and plus two newlywed vampires.

The End.

Suck on it, Francis.

#Jonathan Harker is a good boy a lovely young man and he Can and Will Kill for His Wife :) :) :) #seriously there's a whole other essay to go with how gloriously fucked up-passionate this stance is within both the time it was written #and the novel itself which is SATURATED with God Christ and more God #for this fucker to have gone through what he did in the castle on top of all the very clear proofs of divine VS infernal goings-on #this dude is flipping the bird to all of it #the whole mess (be it of God or the Devil or fucking Dracula) #none of it ranks higher than Mina in his mind #my guy is fucked up and I love him #jonathan harker #dracula #mina murray #mina harker #dracula daily #spoilers

[fishfingersalad]

oughhh i am feeling so normal about Ct <- lying

She got done so dirty in the show... her entire character arc was her setting up Tex and Wash's arcs and dying... and even in the fan space people tend to take her and South and make them background lesbians rather than giving them attention (I have a whole rant about the background lesbians trope in fanspaces, it sucks.)

Anyway I think we need to make Ct weirder. She should get to be unsettling. I've already talked about her and Florida being friends, I think they should be weird together. Florida teaches her how to get blood out of clothes and pin bugs and in return she teaches him how the internet works and how to hack into peoples accounts. She should hang out in the vents. She knows all the gossip and has blackmail on just about everyone on the moi. Too many people make Ct Wash's responsible best friend/sister figure and I'm like no! Shes just very very good at pretending she's not a part of whatever silly schemes they get into!

I think her and York and Wash are pranksters and troublemakers. York is the only one who gets in trouble though because the second an alarm trips or a door handle starts turning Ct and Wash just split. Both of them are good at climbing and hiding so they can 'disappear' within seconds. York has awful perception skills and will not notice they're gone until hes alone in a room he shouldn't have access to with Carolina.

Ct much like Florida is also an intel specialist to me. I think she can pick locks better than York. I think all of alpha team has skillsets that aren't utilised bc pfl sucks and makes them focus on one skillset each.

And don't even get me started on her boyfriend guy. Her and Allison are so fucking detective movie dead wife movie montage its ridiculous ToT

#rvb #red vs blue #ngl some of my info might be wrong and/or warped #i havent watched s9-s10 in a while #and rt removed them from youtube :/ #agent connecticut #mine #mikeys rvb rambles

[chibiisukee]

Some chapter 13 thoughts

First off: I really liked the way they used POVs this chapter. It was way more fluid to read it than some previous chapters

Okay, now to the real discussion

On fate, unbreakable loops and the despair of hopeless endeavors

So, for starters, the whole chapter is asking one question: "If fate is unavoidable, why struggle against it if you know it's a hopeless endeavor?"

The first POVs in the chapter give us lots of variations of this question and little by little we uncover the characters answers.

Siege's question is: You lost Norport, you have a useless piece of metal and everyone expects you to be their savior king. Why won't you answer their expectations?

Reunion's question is: You fight for the Infected, but is it for all the Infected? Should you fight for the Infected that are not different from those who opress the weaker?

The Sarkaz mercenaries question is: What do you fight for? For Kazdel? For yourself? For survival?

And lastly, Amiya's question is: Can you really do anything to change your fate as the Lord of Fiends? Can you even help the Sarkaz? Can you even stop this pointless war?

I won't spend long on Siege, but she's kinda defying fate by doing what needs to be done in her own way, fighting dirty just like Glasgow did in the streets of Norport, charging headfirst into danger with her hammer, ignoring the fancy metal stick and not siding with the Dukes.

Different mercenaries have different answers to their question. But it's a bit sad that Hoederer's answer is a tired one "I fight because I want to go home, to Kazdel." But really, at this point Kazdel might not even be a place anymore (I know it's in ruins, physical Kazdel is a no man land destoyed by catastrophe and war). At this point, Kazdel's simbolism might be the same as Tara, mostly a simbol and a reminder of a painful history.

Amiya... poor Amiya. The power of the Lord of Fiends is one of the worse fates someone can have, and yet, she's the only one who can actually defy the vicious circle of war and strife related to the civilight eterna. And that's because she's not tied by blood by it. When the Sanguinarch mocks her, and try to destroy her, Amiya proves once again why she's the only one who can stand up to that fate. Amiya knows it's naive to try to save everyone, but she doesn't see hope as pointless. And because of that she'll stand against that fate and try to change it. Maybe the event itself is set in stone, but if we can change the outcome, it's still a victory.

And I finally got to the part I actually wanted to talk about: Reunion. We got to see a bit of how Victoria's Reunion thinks (thanks Percival!) and also a bit of how they operate. But the main point here is: Reunion is repeating the circle and Nine is going through the same path Talulah did in chapter 8. And we know how that path ends, in ruin. Guard's POV actually parallels events from chapter 8 in some points. A fracture that starts with the death of a innocent infected. A great fire. Important decisions that need to be made because of what happened. Right now Reunion is between a rock and a hard place. Either they find a way out, or history is gonna repeat itself. Luckily, they seem to be aware of it, and I think that Talulah will stand up to protect them if needed, just like she did when facing Eblana.

Now, all the sides are converging in Londinium. I believe chapter 14 might be the last of this arc. But I'm certain of one thing: Victoria will probably end up fragmented after this whole mess, but it won't cease existing. Because I really doubt the mastermind (or the immortal, we don't know who this person is) behind Victoria will let it be totally destroyed.

#arknights #chibi plays arknights #chapter 13 #chapter 13 thoughts #I'm actually looking forward to how this mess is gonna be solved #because I really don't think Victoria will go back to how it was before

[sunshineonashelf]

"oh but it was satisfying! izzy went on a healing journey and got to die happy!"

again i'm very sorry for being feral about an old man named izzy hands. but i am NOT SATISFIED

(1) the whole point of izzy's healing journey is that he learns to be okay with being himself and being queer and being a part of a community that genuinely loves him. and learning who he is outside of who he has to be in a toxic relationship. he doesn't have to bear ed's burdens anymore and he SLOWLY learns that's okay and that he doesn't have to stay that same person.

only to die when he FINALLY internalizes all of it!! the whole point of his healing was that he learned to change and be loved for who he is!! and then he died after only getting to experience it for maybe 20 minutes!! i don't care that him sailing off into the sunset with the rest of them wouldn't have been closure, because it would have been a much better ending to his story.

(2) it is NOT SATISFYING that his LAST WORDS were basically to further ED'S story arc. he literally dies reassuring ed that his found family loves him when the whole point of the story was that the found family loves IZZY. it was a very sweet moment and yes ed deserved to hear it and yes i did cry over him calling them ed's family but damn. he STILL HAD TO CARRY ED'S BURDENS. his death scene was not about him at all.

it's very sweet that ed and stede stayed with him but the whole point of izzy's journey was that he doesn't have to be a piece in ed's story and now he has to be just a piece in ed's story forever??

(and yes i'm a slut for edizzy so i did appreciate what they were doing. yes it was very special. yes i sobbed. but JESUS was it upsetting now that i'm actually thinking about it.)

(3) he could have lived and it would NOT have undermined anything else. he could have been dying and telling ed the same things and it would have been just as meaningful if he had lived. imagine an ending scene where he's almost dying, says all that stuff, then is brought to a bed to recover. it cuts to the exact same wedding scene and stede/ed scene with the house and the crew being happy. then it cuts back to izzy waking up and smiling or something and that's the last shot.

stede and ed would still have their happy ending and it would have been JUST AS meaningful if izzy had lived and gone off on the revenge. if not MORE so because then there's the aspect of izzy finally being happy with himself and being okay with stede and ed's relationship and being okay with distancing himself from them!! when he says dying is what he wants it's literally that same sentiment, just cheap and rushed and UNSATISFYING.

(4) the entire beautiful fucking unicorn metaphor they spent the whole first part of the season developing is totally tossed out the window!! izzy becomes the literal figurehead and protector and guiding light of the revenge in a metaphor that could not have been more obvious. and he is HAPPY ABOUT IT. he GENUINELY SMILES and CRIES about it. it is what he WANTS TO DO and it made NO SENSE that he said he was ready to go. what was the point of all of that if they were just going to kill him and not let him actually do that duty in the way he wanted. he only got to be the figurehead when it meant protecting everyone from ed.

(5) this is maybe a silly argument but it literally would not have been unrealistic if he survived. like a week prior he got shot then got his leg cut off then shot himself in the head, then walked upstairs in the middle of a hurricane hours later. and was fine. by the show's logic he could have been fine from ONE bullet wound to the side. what the hell happened to "indestructible little fucker"!

tl;dr izzy was very special to me for reasons that would constitute another 700 word post and he was done so FUCKING dirty by that literal TEN MINUTE scene that went against everything we've been doing the entire season (AND SHOW AS A WHOLE) so far

#izzy hands defender until the day i die #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #izzy hands #ofmd critical

[gendervapor14]

treating myself to some old OP episodes to alleviate the horrors and i can’t resist the urge to ramble about bell-mère’s death a little bit.

so, i will start here, with this iconic moment:

manga readers may notice something right off the bat. “hey, arlong’s not aiming for her head!” yes, in the anime, seems they switched his aim for the heart. i actually prefer this. first of all, that flintlock is huge compared to her, so head or heart, it’s gonna kill her. not a fatality issue. i’m just a huge sap, and i think there’s something more symbolic about him shooting her in the heart for defending her love - her kids. (even tho all of this could have been avoided if she just lied, and then she’d actually be able to keep loving and supporting her kids, but, uh, i digress)

this moment really captured me when i was first watching, because for the first time, one piece truly felt dark. this wasn’t just an upsetting backstory. it had some element of gore here, which i’m not sure would be as effective if he went through with a headshot. they might have censored it a bit more.

more (slightly gruesome) photos and analysis beneath the cut 👀

look at what they got away with here!! this was early one piece mind you, so i feel like things were generally a little cushier? (or maybe that’s just my nostalgia talking XD) but the harsh black and white contrast, the utter silence during this scene, the speed in which this happened! (it was a pain to pause and scrub and get good screenshots, let me add). i will say i’m not up to date with current OP shenanigans, but to me, this seems like one of the most abrupt and brutal deaths in the series. (and this doesn’t even put into account the horrid beating she got beforehand)

there are some nice parallels here between her death and rosinante’s, (most notably her last words being “i love you” to nami and nojiko, and a flintlock as the weapon of choice), but even then, i think this is a bit nastier. seven little bullets in a 10ft tall man is painful, yes, but it wasn’t gruesome, and he managed to cling onto life for a little while afterwards. this was just. bang. done. heart – gone. leaves the viewer totally reeling.

in a way i feel like it’s almost an honor for bell-mère to get such a violent death? okay hear me out i know that sounds crazy. she sacrificed herself for her kids and went out kicking and screaming (or standing solemnly, towards the end). she brought forth such a refreshing take on women in one piece. i mean, let’s not forget this scene:

she was gonna blow his brains out!! zero hesitation!! how many characters in this series, let alone women, would go through something like this? i get that different characters have different honor codes and such, but it was sooo incredibly invigorating to see a woman get her hands dirty like this.

so by that logic, it’s kind of weirdly nice to see her not be treated like a little doll? this is highly speculative though, because i’ve noticed there’s this rather annoying trend where women are used as a moral compass for villains. “oh, look how deplorable arlong is, he did that to a young pretty woman!” we see the same thing with doflamingo, for instance, in his “fight” with viola. “oh how heinous, he threw her to the ground! how disrespectful! she’s just an innocent princess!” yeah, ugh. getting off tangent here

this whole scene set a standard for me, (and hopefully other viewers), who kind of saw the series as a fun lighthearted pirate adventure. yes, there was tragedy and sadness before this arc, before this backstory, but something about this moment in particular made my perception tremble. the bar was raised! a compelling character and backstory can have a truly harrowing ending!! a delightful revelation for me, for whatever reason XD

feel free to chime in if ya got any additional comments or takes on the matter. i don’t think bell-mère gets enough love. if you do wanna chime in, just um. be nice. i’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, okay. and multiple interpretations of these scenes are valid! i’d love to hear ‘em! <3

#one piece analysis #because i’m upset and i need to distract myself #this is my first proper unprompted analysis too so go easy on me #i just like the tangerine lady #i think she’s neat #bell mere #bell mère #bellemere one piece #bellemere #she has so many tags #arlong park

[missgryffin]

Girl, actually I’m sorry my Queen!

I thought I was the only one that feels ‘meh’ about season 3 of Bridgerton. Oh, my don’t get me started on the way Colin’s face looks, he looked better before. Not everyone needs a chiseled jaw, that just makes it feel as people wouldn’t care about baby faced Colin.

Not sure about you but I don’t like Polin 😬 sorry, but Penelope just rubs me the wrong way.

Haha you're definitely not the only one feeling "meh"! I'll put my thoughts below the cut since it's spoilers for episodes 1-4.

So I really like Penelope. (I had a very awkward "awkward phase" as a tween/teen for awhile there, and I can relate to the wallflower character, and to being very bookish and shy before I got my confidence sorted out and learned how to be more social. So I really empathize with her character.) But I think she's being done dirty?? I don't know that I have a whole lot of coherency on this yet so I'm just going to ramble in bullet points lol.

I don't know if it's Luke's acting declining or them making him act in a weird robotic way to convey this "different" and "mature" Colin, but it's not working! Colin doesn't come off as charming, he comes off as flat. I'm not seeing the depth to him that Penelope is in love with anymore.

I don't think there was enough done by way of Colin's apology for what Pen overheard or to establish/explain Colin's development of romantic feelings for Pen. There's the kiss, and then there's a spicy dream that we find out is Colin's dream, and that's kind of it until he's interrupting her proposal, ruining her, and proposing marriage in the span of like 5 minutes. I was expecting/wanting waaayyyy more development of those two going from friends to lovers, but as it happened, I found it to be very choppy and rushed.

Penelope's love interest arc with Debling was unnecessary, imo. I do think that in any friends to lovers there needs to be at least a little bit of healthy jealousy to push them toward each other, but that could have been accomplished by Penelope receiving attention at a ball and Colin not liking it. The Debling arc took away space from developing Colin and Penelope together. I still like the Debling storyline wrt El and Cress —

Which, side note, I love the redemption arc for Cress!! Her and ES Adelaide are very similar/serve a similar antagonist role, so I really like that they're giving her more depth.

But I think El being torn between her old friendship with Pen and her new friendship with Cress, and being roped in to help Cress try to bag Debling (who would honestly be a perfect match for her? Traveling all the time and leaving her at home to run his giant mansion and throw parties with her friends? Sounds like a Cress kinda guy lol) would have worked well as its own side-plot without roping Pen into it.

Because the "lessons to get a husband" + Debling arc only served to make Pen's situation "worse." The "lessons" had so little screen time that they served the purpose of the Whistledown leak more than they served creating romantic tension with Colin, imo. And the Whistledown leak served no purpose other than to ostracize Pen further, which felt completely unnecessary to me. She was a character who started really strong, standing up to her obnoxious mother and gaining all this self-confidence. But then the narrative just tore her back down into this ultra-ostracized, self-pitying version of herself, and given that she was already ostracized to start with, I don't think that was necessary or serving the story with Colin in any way.

If they wanted to force Pen to have to write about herself (which I do think it's important for her to be put in that position), they could have done so by Colin courting her and her having to write about the nasty things people were saying about that, and it would have served the same purpose.

AND, I'm probably sounding like a broken record here, but all that screen time about the Whistledown leak and Pen being even more ostracized could have been more time that her and Colin were building up to and then courting!

WHEREEEEE is the courting??? Where is asking her to dance on his own volition? Bringing her a lemonade? Going on a promenade? How does he go from kissing her as a friend to fingering her and proposing marriage? Like????

I digress.

Actually no, we're going to talk about the carriage scene.

PITBULL???? OF ALL SONGS, PITBULL????????? I had his voice in my head the. entire. time. I was cringe-giggling!!! It was visually so hot, but I couldn't even enjoy the hotness because I was like…PITBULL???? So there's that. There's also the not enough in-between from the kiss thing. And then there's the whole ruining her virtue and proposing as a cliffhanger thing.

Which, side-note 1, I was annoyed by the Colin threesome scenes. They felt gratuitous to show Luke's chest hair and make sure we knew that he has sex (which his journal already did, but whatever), but again, they detract from the Polin screen time that was so desperately lacking.

And side-note 2, from a writing standpoint, I get the vibe that they knew they wanted to end Chapter 4 where they did, and so 1-3 was almost working backwards to get to that point. And I personally am annoyed because I think 4 was too early for a proposal. (Again, WHERE IS THE COURTING???)

Also Pen deserves a better proposal than that. The defining aspect of her character is how she feels unloved. Her mom's awful but has moments of compassion, her sisters are monsters to her. Through Colin (and extension, the Bridgertons), she deserves to feel loved. She deserves romantic gestures. She deserves buildup and then Colin getting down on one knee and professing his love to her.

Circling back to 4 being too early — they're obviously going for the angle of Colin finding out she's Whistledown while they're engaged to "up the stakes," and I'm curious to see how they handle and resolve that given the extreme nature of his feelings about Whistledown, so I have to reserve judgment somewhat. But I think I'm leaning toward wishing he would have found out while courting? Idk, a proposal after working through that seems more profound to me, because he has to choose her despite that, versus staying despite that. The second option is more passive?

And then mixed in with all this is the fact that he technically ruined her virtue prior to proposing, so I feel like that might be a shadow in Part 2, and again, I don't think Pen deserves that. Whistledown drama, sure, she is Whistledown, so she brought that part on herself. But I don't want Pen in a position where she's doubting Colin's intentions. His romantic love for her and his intentions for her need to be overwhelmingly clear to the viewer and her, and right now I don't think they are?

#ask #bridgerton chat #wow that was long #I guess I have more feelings than I thought 😅

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

What makes you interested in book!Aegon? (didn't read the books)

Thank you for asking this anon!

There is a LOT I could say about book!Aegon. To start, I think if you haven't read F&B it's kind of hard to understand that even moreso than with ASOIAF, there are almost no "good" characters unless you count people who are the completely innocent victims of other characters' actions, so choosing a character to like isn't really some moral or ethical issue the way a lot of show fans seem to make it out to be. In the actual historical Anarchy, I 100% think Matilda was done dirty and should have been queen. She was usurped by one of her cousins, not a brother, a guy who wasn't even the oldest male of his family, and beyond being her father's choice, her legal claim was stronger and she was a pretty impressive woman in her own right. But Rhaenyra is no Matilda, and F&B as a whole just doesn't have any Brienne of Tarths, or even Robb Starks. Hell, it's even pretty low on Jaime Lannisters. The most social-justice minded character is a five year old bastard and his lesbian sex-worker mothers who try to put him on the throne. You have characters who do one good or heroic thing like Addam Velaryon, and characters who are blandly inoffensive, like Jacaerys, but they are not really compelling dynamic characters either. You also have a lot of really loathsome assholes. Book!Aemond, for instance, doesn't even have the childhood bullying backstory to soften him, he's just violent, and often a liability. Aegon is one of the very few characters who actually has a dynamic character arc and a few redeeming qualities. He changes over the course of the story, shows a lot of resilience and tenacity, and ultimately, what happens to him is tragic. (This is long, I'm sorry. I'm incapable of being concise on this topic and I honestly could have said even more. Also, book spoilers ahead, obiously).

Just to get it out of the way, the show did Aegon pretty dirty in adapting Mushroom's accounts about the "guttersnipes" selectively. Mushroom talks a LOT of shit, and the stuff he says about Rhaenyra is almost more abhorrent than the stuff he says about Aegon, and he was actually on her side. Is Aegon a good, decent, honorable guy? Not really. Aegon is written as a hedonist. He's a drinker, he's gluttonous, and he sleeps around. The more neutral non-Mushroom sources say that Aegon was handsy with the maids (not great, to be clear), and we know he has a couple of bastards and likely at least one paramour, but there's no really credible suggestion that book!Aegon is some serial rapist. Is it plausible that he could have been? Sure. I'll give the haters that, it's not a huge stretch to say a guy who was handsy with the maids might have taken other liberties, but I'll also say this: George does not have a problem outright stating that someone is a rapist or an abuser when that is his intent, even characters he likes (hell, book!Tyrion is explicitly written as a rapist and George loves him), but he did not have anyone but Mushroom say anything like this about Aegon. But Aegon's got a lot of vices, and they start pretty young. If we look at other Targaryens, drinking problems are pretty rampant. Aegon is also called "sullen," and "pouty" but Aegon is in a unique position. He's the eldest son, but his father chose his elder sister as heir, and this is pretty unheard of in this world, an eldest son who gets second son treatment. And unlike other second sons, like, say, Daemon, he doesn't even have an advantageous marriage arranged for him. Daemon might not have liked Rhea or wanted that marriage, but the point of it was to give Daemon holdings of his own and lands he could inherit so that he would not always be beholden to whomever sat the throne. There is just zero provision made for Aegon or his siblings' futures. Instead, Viserys (not Alicent) marries Aegon to his sister, sealing both Aegon and Helaena's fates. It means that when Rhaenyra becomes queen, he and Helaena will be entirely at her mercy, and will basically have to be charity cases, dependent on her continued willingness to support a brother that she hates, who poses a considerable threat to her rule, and his family of dragonriders, all of whom are legitimate unlike her older sons. And book!Rhaenyra is not a great person, the show softens her considerably (I won't get into Rhaenyra in this post because it's not about her, but I have Rhaenyra thoughts too), so there's really no indication that she'd do this. But, in spite of all this, Aegon is not particularly keen to take the throne. He does it because he becomes convinced his family's safety depends on it (and in my opinion, this is true, except taking the throne also, ironically, dooms them. This is a no-win situation for Aegon and his siblings).

Aegon is a reluctant king who is young and inexperienced and he makes mistakes, but he does his best to step up for the sake of his family. And he suffers greatly as a result. There's this idea that gets thrown around a lot that Aegon didn't care for his family, but there's really no suggestion of that in the book. Was he a hands on, present dad? Was he in love with Helaena? I mean, he's an alcoholic teen dad whose father made him marry his thirteen year old sister at sixteen, but he clearly did love his kids. Aegon is devastated by Blood and Cheese. He has to be stopped from immediately taking off on Sunfyre and storming Dragonstone and is forced to wait while Otto keeps trying to win supporters and make alliances. During this period Aegon "drinking and raging." He's upset. But when Helaena falls into depression and can't take care of Maelor due to the guilt of having chosen him to die, Aegon is the one who notices and puts Maelor into Alicent's care. And Otto's lack of decisive action after B&C is what leads to him firing Otto and naming Criston as Hand, and then Aegon joins battle himself and winds up horrifically injured as a result. And Aegon battles back from injuries that really should not have been survivable, which leave him in incredible pain. There are points he's begging for death, the pain is that bad, and no one really thinks he'll survive at first, but he does, he fights back, and when King's Landing falls he and his children are spirited away.

Where does that well of strength come from, if he doesn't have anything or anyone worth fighting for? He shows incredible resourcefulness and resilience, rehabilitates himself and his dragon, kicks milk of the poppy, and infiltrates Dragonstone, Rhaenyra's stronghold. And at what should be his moment of triumph, finally taking Dragonstone's keep, he's injured again by Baela, and his dragon, which he worked so hard to rehabilitate, dies after being wounded in that same battle. Aegon will live out the rest of his life disabled and with chronic pain. By the end he has lost nearly his entire family including both his sons, he's ill, he's drinking again, he's disabled, and he's got an entire clownshow of a council at each others' throats and pulling him this way and that, and still he doesn't give up. Then you get a lot of frankly ableist nonsense (again, mostly from Mushroom) about how Aegon was sitting on dragon eggs and watching other people fuck because he couldn't, there's a strong effort there in Gyldayn's narrative to build up his poisoning as being somewhat justified because Aegon was "not a well man," but it's tragic what happens to him.

Finally, and I might catch some slack for saying this, but in a war that is notably devoid mercy, book!Aegon is one of the few characters that shows any, even when he has every reason to be vengeful. Does he spare Rhaenyra? No. But she would not have spared him at that point either. He does spare Aegon III and Baela, some would argue to his own detriment. He spares Gaemon Palehair, and he grants Trystane Trufyre's last request to be knighted before he dies. His more ruthless actions are also relatively justified in the context of Westeros compared to some of the other completely wanton killings that we see from others in the Dance on both sides. Again, is he a great person? No. He's a impetuous young man with a lot of issues who was not raised for the throne, making some questionable decisions but also showing a lot of bravery, resilience, and yes, mercy.

And you know, just to get it out there, I've been accused of being a book purist and of being oh so above it all by anons before, but it's not that I think the book!Dance is really all that great. F&B has its problems too, and I know that if an adaptation were to follow it completely faithfully, it would not be a very good show. But Aegon is one of the more complex and interesting Dance characters, one of the few who is present and active until the end, and it's a pity that a lot of show watchers and wiki readers have written him off because how the show handled Aegon in season one. (tagging @aifsaath on this in case she'd like to share Aegon thoughts!)

#asks #aegon ii targaryen #fire and blood #hotd critical #kinda