#rather than trying to explain how the analysis makes YOUR ship better | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hopefullystillatheatrestudent · 3 years

Note

i'm so excited about you taking asks again ahhhh okay so. if you'd absolutely had to choose. what would be your top 5 cockles moments, and why? thank you ily <3

here’s the thing: there are so many routes i could go down with this, because cockles moments come in all shapes and sizes and formats. these include moments from their panels, their bloopers, the footage we get when they don’t even know they’re being recorded, stories being passed down from photo ops & autographs(one of my personal favorite ways to get cockles, tbh, because they’re all insane), and social media(tweets to each other, instagram posts & comments, etc.).

SO! since many a list like this has already been made, and i want to stand out from the crowd, what i’m gonna do is definitively give the number one spot to each of these five categories.(i might even throw in honourable mentions because they’re so despicably in love that they warrant that. i really put my whole pussy into this, guys, i hope you’re happy.)

disclaimer: these are my own personal opinions. but that also means i’m right. so. enjoy.

number one: top cockles panel moment

so we’re starting off with a bang, because how do you even BEGIN to rank what atrocities jensen and misha commit at jibcon. every single one they’ve had is damning in it’s own right, for different reasons.

however, considering just how much unabashed fuckery they’ve given us to sift through, it’s a good thing i do have a personal favorite despite it all. it’s heartwarming, the sweetest thing i’ve ever seen, AND it’s jarringly cinematic - mainly because it has a whole ass arc to it that was years in the making. it might even be surprising to some people, but my favorite cockles panel moment, and what i consider the one that encompasses their entire gut-wrenching journey from 2008-2013 in the most sweepingly romantic gesture possible, is this one.

i want this burned into my retinas. i am not even joking. when i'm through with my explanation, let me convince you why this is thee most romantic cockles moment of all time.

first, some history: people call this the resume off, but many seem to forget the botched attempt at a resume off a year prior. and yes, you guessed it: it's during their break up. it's a juicy time period for a reason, guys. it came across as exceedingly one-sided and VERY awkward. let me refresh your memory as to just how bad it was, and just how hard jensen was trying and ultimately failing at winning misha over: the funniest part of the whole resume off in 2013??? every joke/bit had literally already been made/done. they were just going through the motions again, but the difference THIS time...is that misha reciprocated jensen's energy. it. is. fascinating. i want to get into it more detail in another post, and i'll link it here when i'm done, but the main takeaway, i think, and the main difference that showcases how much they've grown in a year, is that in jib 3, misha flat out refused to do an accent, and this time around, he indulges jensen for literal minutes. when i tell you they're crazy, they're crazy. i can't wait to actually dive into it later.

ANYWAY, the resume off culminates in this moment here. and, like, a million things happen in this gifset. actually, more like a million and one. the music starts playingneediremindyouthatthesongissingingintherain(h e l p), misha starts dancing, jensen 'perpetually fake grumpy' ackles lets misha think he's not going to join, misha sits down defeated, but no!!! that was jensen's plan all along(look at his stupid fucking smirk) and he offers his arm to his dance partner who immediately grins like a fool, jensen then leads misha into their kick step, they perfectly synchronise and let loose, and are then very clearly having the time of their lives, hanging off of each other with joy and ease. from their expressions alone i can tell that this moment is so. so. so. so! much more than what initially meets the eye. i mean-misha is fighting back the biggest smile i've ever seen. to me, it reads like jensen is offering something to misha, something that misha kind of gave up on expecting, and him offering his arm like that is like, a surprise to him in the best possible way(and it's so not platonic, let me just say that.) as soon as jensen did that, it ushered in a new era of cockles. this panel is jensen and misha's favourite for a reason, and i think this moment is the biggest clue as to why.

whew!!! ok. that took a lot out of me and that was only point one. moving on,

number two: top cockles blooper moment

cockles bloopers hold an extremely special place in my heart, because it shows just how fucking disastrous jensen and misha are. they are so goddamn infatuated with each other that they HOLD UP PRODUCTION ALL THE TIME TO FLIRT WITH EACH OTHER(???). let me repeat. let it sink in. jensen ackles; arguably one of the most professional actors on that show who puts everything he has into each scene, with mountains and mountains of notes to prove it: would rather hold up production to flirt with misha collins. this sounds fake. it's not. he does it. all. the. time. and here's the thing guys!!! i'm gonna let you in on a secret!!! misha loves it. he loveesssss it. on top of that-misha collins: overlooked because he's pranked and people assume he's unprofessional as well, but his only pranks are in retaliation/off-set, and he rarely if EVER causes problems if he can help it....lets himself get carried away when it comes to jensen making kissy faces at him!!! are you actually kidding me!!! i mean. misha. it's just a face. you've seen it a million times. i don't buy that it triggers something in you that strongly....you like it, and you like jensen's reaction. you can't fool me!!! lisa berry's face in that one gifset shows just how fed up the crew is with their gross, coupley boyfriend antics.

i could pull up so many examples. sooooooo many. but my favourite was sealed since the moment i saw it.

i actually already wrote an analysis on it but i can't find it :(((( which SUCKS because i really unpacked the whole thing. i'll try to summarise.

basically, a backstory is part of this too!!! jensen and misha both had a really really hard time with this scene(because it's explicitly romantic there i said it), they sat down for hours and poured over their scripts together, they were super super nervous going into filming, both of them, jensen especially, were super hard on themselves for their performances not being true to their characters but they both complimented the other's work(boyfriend moments fr). so, yeah. they weren't confident going into shooting. and how do they get themselves to feel better???? by cuddling each other, apparently.

a lot. a LOT. happens in this specific blooper. to the point that i saw it years before i knew about cockles and it raised all sorts of flags for me.

1) stop pulling my face towards your crotch(as a thinly veiled request that misha would, in fact, move jensen's face towards his crotch, considering it was jensen moving himself there in the first place. also, why so comfy down there guys???) 2) you're my baby daddy i know(in the most intimate voice i've ever heard please) 3) i know, i know, i love you too i didn't say i love you i know but you wanted to say it etc. misha's right, of course. that's what jensen meant.

it just reeks of comfort, familiarity and intimacy between the two, and it's a moment that is extremely sweet and silly at the same time. they're so <3

number three: top cockles found footage moment

WONDERFUL category. truly the culmination of the cockles experience. many people have said that shipping cockles doesn't work because 'they're just onstage you dummies!! they're playing it up for the audience!!!' here's the thing, love. i could not disagree with you more. once you climb your way up the cockles ladder, you soon learn that they are, in fact, playing their dynamic DOWN, not up. they really are just Like That™, and they could not care less about the paying audience, if we're being honest, considering how much time they take to giggle with each other and refuse to let the audience in on the joke. and i love them for it <3

anyway, my point is that this category is for all you naysayers out there, all you 'jensen and misha's relationship is just for show and is real life queerbaiting'(?????lordhelp???) oh yeah? ok, explain this.

he. he. he calls jensen sweetheart. literally enough said. there's nothing to really add here, except, misha and jared then immediately engage in damage control. jared's method is distraction and misha's is retconning('get out of the car, dude') this was what got me to buy into the cockles dumpster for GOOD good. you don't call your buddy sweetheart accidentally and sound so completely earnest while doing it! especially not when that buddy is jensen ackles!!! you think he would let any of his friends call him that? do you?

one more thing; if it was a slip of the tongue, little mouth thing or whatever, you think jared wouldn't have jumped on it immediately??? i can hear it now. 'did you just call him SWEETHEART???' yeah. that's what i thought. you know why he didn't? because it was too revealing.

number four: top cockles autograph moment

i mean, i think we all know what it's gonna be, and if you don't, well, do i have the piece de cockles resistance that is gonna send you over the edge.

if you haven't heard of this story by now, as a cockles, truther, i'm gonna go ahead and get you to read it, because there is no possible heterosexual explanation for any of it, and you're fooling yourself if you think otherwise.

spoiler alert: it's the story where phones weren't allowed in an auto session, jensen nuzzles himself in misha's hair, leans his full body weight onto him, holds his hand, etc. etc. i'm imploding just repeating this back, actually. also, just, the sheer amount of stories from photo ops where they tackle hug each other or slap each other's asses or sing romantic songs to each other or almost kiss is, frankly, a lot. if i could wish for anything, it would be to witness them in person.

and finally,

number five: top cockles social media moment

this one is super difficult, because there's obviously a lot to choose from. but you know what? full send, i'm going with this one:

i just. what to say about this. how often do misha and jensen watch sunsets together for it to qualify as ‘always’ ??? why are sunsets synonymous with their relationship??? that’s like??? a very romantic thing????? ‘this guy’??? the fact that it’s a CANDID??? i don’t know guys.

that could have been better but i am TIRED so. there you go rose ily

#cockles #cockles ask #liz answers #i really just. spend hours. writing about misha and his boyfriend.#why. why do i. do that #long post for ts

589 notes · View notes

popculturebuffet · 3 years

Text

Prince of Wishful Thinking Tom Lucitor Retrospective: Divide and Conquer

In Loving Memory Of Jessica Walter

1941-2021

Hello all you happy people, and welcome back to Prince of Wishful Thinking, my look at the life and times of Tom Lucitor by going through every episode featuring my boy. And at long last we’ve come to the end of Season 3 and our interwoven look at the Meteora arc with the two part season finale, Divide and Conquer.

As for why it’s taken me several months to get back.... (points to the in memoriam up top). That’s the primary reason: This review was originally set for May, but I pushed it back to July, as I wasn’t nearly emotionally ready to cover an episode where Jessica’s character dies in a very heartbreaking and brutal manner and I suspected my audience wouldn’t be either. It then got pushed back an additional month or two because I overpacked my scheduled and thus had to pritoize things that were either paid for (via comissions which are open, and patreon ) or time sensitive, and didn’t want to try and rush a review that had this much analysis in it. IT’s things like this why i’m down to just four reviews a week: I wasn’t getting five done and i’d rather projects come out slower than not at all.

So now the time’s finally here, i’m pumped. While it was fully my choice, to better cover this very episode, adding the Meteora arc to thinks balloned the project to longer than expected and I still have decent stretch of road left. though a season filled with missed opportunites, wasted plots and ending depressingly for the boy and for pretty much everyone else but starco and Eclipsa’s family, only the latter of which actually deserves it. And if your curious why yes I will be covering the season 4 arc at some point, but given both how long this one’s taken and how much I have planned for next year there will be a break first.

For now there’s only two episodes left of the season, two of the series best episodes. So it was only fitting I brought along my wonderful friend, sometimes consultant, and mistress of all things star vs the forces of evil @jess-the-vampire to watch this with me as part of our weekly movie night, providing her usual incredibly helpful dollop of insight and snark. I’m also convinced she converted her entire body to salt because there was a lot rightfully thrown around, and a lot of praise too. But was the overall product good? Will the series promote a poly ship they have no intentions for? Will they not kill tad despite all of us wanting it? All excellent questions waiting under the cut!:

So since i’ts been a few months,

PREVIOUSLY ON STAR VS

Tom spent the season slowly becoming a better person, going from not knowing how to be nice, to trying to have his soul taken, to being an instesntive dick about Star’s politics and the plight of monsters, slowly growing into a charming, repentent young man and a true hero.

So the show naturally decided NOW, rather than when Star was single not 8 episodes ago, was the time to have Star and Marco finally resolve their romantic tension with a kiss, then both deeply regret it because Star’s with tom and Marco wants to be with tom is his best friend. Oh and just to make it so not even the shippers who want tom to die in a walrus stampeded so Starco can happen could be happy with this, said kiss was coerceed by a little goblin man who locked them in a booth so he could force two teenagers into a situation where they’d make out.

To the show’s credit, what I can give, both were shellshocked and didn’t have a chance to break it to Tom before shit hit the fan.

Yes twice in a row as after an episode with Pony and a Korean Soap Opera, Moon and Eclipsa went hunting for Meteora, who had gained a new soul sucking power.

Yeah they never explained this and never will but it makes her big and strong so fair enough. Eclispa tried talking her down but Moon’s own inherent racisim an dimpatience caused a fight and nearly ended in Meteora’s death with Eclipsa stopping moon.. and accidently wounding her in the process. Moon ended up portaling away , Meteora left and here we are: Moon’s gone, Meteroa’s only getting stronger, and Eclipsa is left devistated and alone. So SURELY Star will make it bettter for her after Eclipsa tells he everything right?

Nope instead it’s the dungeon for her. Mind you I get it, as this episode will lean into she’s in very bad place emotionally and given Star dosen’t think clearly on a GOOD day and this is a “lost her mother, had the crown dumped on her, and has a kaiju coming to rip everyone she loves asunder”, this is less of a bad day and more of a

day... so I can forgive her for not being 100% on her best all the time when her world’s crashing down around her, not helped by EVERYONE leaning on her to make decisions as Queen, with star emphasising “acting queen” as if that makes her any less responsible.

It’s both a parallel to the same pressures that turned Moon into what she is, and the cumilation of three seasons of build up. Star’s terror at her seemingly inevitible future has been part of her character since day one, her rebliious nature in at least some part coming from the fact Moon put way too much pressure on her teenage daughter. Now granted as we’ve seen with Tom putting NO pressure on your child who’s destine to inheit a country isn’t good either: by not pushing Tom to prepare at all for what he’ll be, he ended up a sheltered entitlted mess who had trouble interacting with people on more than a surface level. But Moon went too far in the other direction: constnatly badgering her daughter about proper etiquuite nad bullshit that HONESTLY dosen’t matter to how good a ruler star is and later sending her daughter into a mental breakdown with describing how restraining being queen is. To moon it’s just who she is but to star it’s a cage... a cage that nearly made her do a violence on a mermaid. Now with that incident it’s also Tom’s fault as part of his gaslighting, but the diffrence is, and it’s very hard to spot TOM IS A TEENAGER WITH SEVERE EMOTIONAL ISSUES. Tom was simply trying to nudge Star into marrying him and geninely apologized. Moon.. never seemed to realize she did ANYTHING wrong.

Star slowly accepted it on some level though, seeing she could try and change systematic racisim on mewni in a way her mother clearly would never do. Buff Frog outright said he’d comeback if she took over. The series had been building to it for this long and this is finally it.

Naturally even if she’s gotten better though.. she still dosen’t WANT the roll and all Star can think about is finding her mom. And while she is being selfish, bigger issues to worry about you have to remember again that this is a 15 year old kid being given no time to process what’s going on. It’s not helped by Moon having clearly been such a control freak she tightly managed everything.. something Star REALLY dosen’t have time for right now and on one seems to get. She lost her mom, was thrust into a role she didn’t want and now has to both find her mom, AND run the kingdom, AND save it somehow without half their usual resources, and with Marco, uch as he tries to be supportive, trying to get her to see that going after her mom simply isn’t the way to fix this. But despite all Moon’s done.. she’s still star’s mom and she can’t see past it or her own fear of becoming her mother if Moon dosen’t take the crown back so she makes mistakes.

Still she has a war room to attend... with the commison deciding to sit in as always. Star angrily asks what they think their doing here.... you know given this entire situation is directly their fault for imprisoning metora’s parents, letting the angry former husband of the queen decide what to do with her, and then clearly not having kept one iota of tabs on her since then. Not only that but since this whole situation was outed and it was clear Meteora was on a rampage they’ve done NOTHING to actually try and go out and stop her, and when confronted by star Hekapoo just says “Councling you?”

They’ve learned NOTHING from what they’ve done and Star rightfully tosses them out. And rightfully so: While they COULD be of use it’s very clear just by actions alone they’ve learned nothing. THEY caused this, all of it, and Mewni is in danger because of them, lives were ruined and they do not care. If they were contrite, if they truly cared about anything but their own power and egos, then Star would’ve been wrong for throwing them out and not giving them a second chance. But they don’t. It’s also VERY telling that only ONE of them actually bothers to help later and i’ts clear it’s more because Hekapoo likes Marco as a person more than because she actually cares who lives or dies.

This also brings me to a fun counting gag for this review: The Wasted Plots count. Things that the series either didn’t follow up on or BARELY touched and thus didn’t do so properly. So our first two up are not having the comission as the main villians of season 4: their responsible for a lot of Mewni’s bloody history, didn’t help in it’s hour of need and their desire to control the coutnry against it’s rightful ruler’s wishes could’ve been great. Mina still coudl’ve been around as the heavy for them, but it’s weird they just never got properly dealt with. I mean they die at the end but i’ts more a neat consequence of Star’s genocidal temper tantrum than any dramatic payoff

The other is that Omnitraxus.. has lost his empathy. He was the one who confessed, the one who felt sorry, the one woh truly seemd reptentant.. and it just vanishes here. From here on out he’s just a grumpy jackass who thinks the worst of eclipisa for no reason. He’s at odds with star and eclipsa from ehre on out because they coudln’t be bothered to write a complex motive because it’s not what they remotely cared about. So that’s two

Wasted Plots Count: 2

The rest of the meeting only goes slightly better: The Knights have no real working plans while one condescends to star which earns him a rightful blast across the room, and they did try sending mina.. but she comes back a husk.

So... after setting up Mina as this big brolly style threat, whose DETERMINED to stop meteora instead of following that up, giving us a cool fight scene, having mina turn out to be the real villian or at least have an enemy mine with star against her... you just.. have her sucked dry. And she’s supposed to be big bad next season after getting easily jobbed out OFFFSCREEN to this season’s big bad. And you thought everybody would be on board with that

Wasted Plots: 3

So Star’s out of time, out of options and out of patience and goes out into the hall, running into her dad. Naturally given the state she’s in she begs him to take charge but he dosen’t. He gives her a good reason to: while he’s good at parties at what not he’s just not good at ruling like Moon was, and much like everyone else he’s lost with her gone. He does give her the one thing he can though: his full support. Which in a LOT of situations would come across as a hollow gesture of an asshole foistering too much responblity on a stressed out teenager. Here though.. it’s him being honest. In a parallel of what happened with moon decades ago, he’s giving the stressed out queen the one thing she hasn’t gotten, and the one thing she’s badly needed: someone to say “I trust your judgment , you can do this, and whatever you do I will be behind you.”. And like those decades ago it makes the diffrence. While this dosen’t SOLVE Star’s meltdown, she stil goes back to her room to understandably mope in private, it’s clearly the first time anyone in the castle has been able to actually make her smile or give the poor girl hope since moon left. Before I move on credit to Jess for noticing the parallel, I missed it the first time and only got it the second time thanks to her.

I’d also like to say River.. is such a great character. Easily one of the series best, intitally introduced as what seemed to be your standard sitcom dad, if the parent star clearly got most of her personality from and liked better. Instead he proved to be a loving partner, a good father whose far smarter than he appears and a hell of a warrior. I honestly feel he desreved to actually get a reaction to the events of the finale and i’m still mad he didn’t. But.. that’s a story for another day.

For now Star is panicking, only getting relief once again because Larvbo comes in, the laundry knight guy who was the only good part of that terrible episode what where marco comes back, everyone but Eclipsa and Moon have lost hteir brain cells, and I die a little on the inside. But here he gets to be in a good episode and the simple act of picking out a bunch of outfits for star instead of pressing her for a choice and giving her plenty of options.

Star eventually has a eureka moment though: her mom disappeared into magic.. so Maybe she’s in the realm of magic. As a refresher the Realm of Magic is the source of all magic and the place where all those unicorns, and as Jess coudln’t help pointing out lizards and jellyfish, are.. .and all of whom star eventually kills directly or indrecitly, something Jess couldn't stop pointing out, and couldn’t stop making me laugh as a result.

Thing is SOMEONE needs to hold Meteora.. so Marco volunteers. This leads to one of the best fights in the entire show.. but starts with something confusing as Marco ONCE AGAIN says he has 40 years of experince. Yeah I think nows’ a good time to put on the breaks, and talk about the whole neverzone thing.

See the idea of the Neverzone was a bit dicey: having marco age 40 years and apparently remember it, meant that he was basically an adult.. and in a show where he had four diffrent possible love intrests, all the same age, that was a problem, especially since it did nothing to stop his relationship with Jackie. Now hard as it might be to belivie it was actually settled during season 2: In the remaining episodes in that season, Marco didn’t really act on his new abilities, and one of those weird live q+a’s where they used a limtited animation version of the characters to answer questions (thoguh using the voice actors) they had a perfect solution for this: It was like a distant childhood memory. This even accounted for Marco later having some memories of the NeverZone and having his skills: while they were distant, he could likely recall bits and pieces, and as for the skills the muscle memory was likely still razor sharp, and is something he could simply practice. He didn’t have to remember HOW he learned some form of neverzonan combat to remember it, just the steps to do so.

The problem is season 3 frequently implied Marco FULLY remembered everything that happened to him in this form. That meant Marco was for all intensive pruproses a 56 year old man dating high schoolers. A thing they JUST fixed and could’ve easily woven into the actual episodes.

There was a LOT of potetial that could be mined from either scenario.. but they instead kept it vauge and annoyed the hell out of everyone as there was no real answer to if they should stop shipping or not. Also this certainly counts for

Wasted Plots:4

As the idea marco was loosign these ablities or his longing to be his older self was a good idea and while the latter was touched upon in the portal episode this season, it wasn’t ever again. So it counts.

So yeah putting Marco vaugely being a pedophile aside, the kind of sentence that makes me regret my job for a second till I remember “Oh yeah I got to write about Goofy doing an exorcism yesterday what am I complaining about, the fight itself is spectacular, showing just how far both our heroes have come in 3 seasons. For Star it not only shows off her full range of spells, both invented classics like an upgraded version of the narhwal blast, a kitten shower, and of course spider with a top hat blast, it also shows how she’s changed as a person: while her style is still all about power and strength, instead of just blindly charging in each attack is designed to try and knock Marco off his guard and hit him while his guard is down in a specific way. Meanwhile with Marco he’s gone from Daniel Larusso about halfway into his training, to a full on master the present day , full on Sensei LaRusso would have trouble with, countering every attack of stars with expert timing and with whatever weapons he can grab off her wall. The fight is quick, brutal and ends in a draw, showing the two have stayed equals but have become MASSIVELY more powerful.. and that Marco is capable of stalling meteora.

So it’s here our two heroes depart into seperate subplots. As such i’ll be doing each one separately and then dovetailing back together for the climax.

Magical Bonding Time with your Naked Mother:

So star heads into the realm of magic. She’s prepared for the amnesia thing this time with a compact reminder telling her “you are star butterfly”, and having brough plenty of backups, traversing through this majestic and storied land she’s going to blow up real good in a season.

She runs into unicorns, other creatures that will die soon.. and most troublilingly one bathed in black magic. This ends up being a clue though as it turns out the pure magic flowing throughout the place washed off Moon’s magic... and corrupted the rest of the magic even though if it can wash it off that makes no sense, but the more I think about season 4 the more I get closer to have an ulcer so let’s not dwell on this kay?

So Star finds her mom... nude.. and using her own hair as clothes...

Yeah I don’t get who approved of this either. Point is Star TRIES to job Moon’s memory, slowly fails.. and then slowly looses hers, ending part one frolicing with her naked mother, a sentence I REALLY hope I never have to say ever again, as Marco desperatley calls for help.

As part to begins the two just sorta.. wonder around magically high and braindead for a while, though it does bring up something intrestnig: the fact the realm of magic zig zags into every other kingdom and seemingly every other type of magic... despite the fact Daron says other magic types are fine....and they ONLY use this for the finale and no time before that despite being an interesting idea and something Star MIGHT be curious about. Just saying.

Wasted Plots: 5

Eventually though the Unicorn in charge just.. zaps both back to Mewni. That’s it that’s all the climax for ten minutes of screentime. This plot isn’t TERRIBLE, I just felt we probably didn’t need most of what we get of it in part 2 as it starts to drag by then compared to Marco slowly loosing badly on the other side. Speaking of which.

The Marknificent 7

So with the fate of Mewni , Marco has to assemble his best team. His avengers, his justice league, his justice society, his fantastic four, his x-men, his x-force, his x-factor, his new mutants, his maruaders, his hellions, his legionaries, his legion of superheroes, his legion of substitue heroes, his teen titans, his team titans, his titans, his justice society, his all star squadron, his agents of wakanda, his extreme justice, his young justice, his old justice, , his inferior five, his robonic stooges, his freedom fighters, his arctic freedom fighters, his downunda freedom fighters, his forty fathoms freedom fighters, his secret freedom fighters, his secret avengers, his mighty avengers, his uncanny avengers, his defenders, his champions, his squadron supreme, his strikeforce, his skrull kill krew, his spirits of vengance, his gotham knights, his birds of prey, his web warriors his justice league international, his justice league europe, his runaways, his redeemers, his young avengers, his thunderbolts, his suicide squad, his teen angels his...

Oh thank god. Point is this is his superteam assembled of the finest people.. whose numbers he has: Kelly, Jorby, Talon, Hekapoo, Ponyhead, Tom and Himself, the Marknificent seven.

Breaking this team down itself, in case it wasn’t obvious I’m a bit of a fan of super teams: the picks are MOSTLY good: Kelly is his love intrest/one of his closest friends, Jorby is her closest friend, mount and one of the series most underutilized characters. Seriously after seeing his personal life in Lava Lake Beach I want to know this guy.. and do mushrooms with him. What is he like? Why is he dating a seemingly non anthromphic goose? how do they do stuff? Okay I don’t want answers to that last one but point is I want to know this guy.

Talon is a good addition as he didn’t get much real fleshing out in his debute, but here gets to be a grizzzly goofus who insists on group photos and shades for everyone. We also needed more of him and at least got ONE more proper episode with him. Tom is an obvious choice as tom’s best friend, one of his love intrests, and damn powerful.

The only questionable additions are Ponyhead and Hekapoo.. For ponyhead.. there’s only one way to put it she’s...

She is able to put stuff on her horn now so.. progress? I dunno. But she’s SOMEHOW not the most questionable member of the team.. which given who we’re talking about, is a TRIUMPH.

It’s also because the most questionable member is a fucking war criminal who staged a cou, ruined a baby’s life and out of all her collegue’s has been the biggest dick about it. It’s Hekapoo. And look in this one episode.. it’s forgivable: Given her mental state and tendency to avoid issues for as long as possible till they blow up in her face, it’s likely Star simply hadn’t told Marco the whole truth yet, and likely didn’t know how, knowing it’d cost him a friend and not really ready to face it.

The problem is later on. This issue is NEVER adressed, as we’ll see later in this very retrospective Marco still hangs out with her casually, and it makes him come off VERY badly to be hanging out with a sociopath casually knowing the horrible things she’s done. It dosen’t impact this episode.. but it really should’ve. Marco SHOULD’VE found out what she did mid battle and that easily coudlv’e provided the perfect reason for the plan to fail. Instead of what we get which is the plan being stupid. Instead it just NEVER gets explalined and it’s subtextual that Marco hangs out with someone he finds attractive despite them being one of the worst monsters (metaphorically) in mewman history.

Wasted Plots: 6

So about that stupid plan: Marco’s plan is the doomnut, basically creating a giant donut with a pit in the center and a giant pillar of flames to trap her.

He.. he wants to trap a juggernaut the size of a buildling.. with fire. Is she.. is she frankenstien now? This plan makes no sense and Marco is smarter than this. Don’t get me wrong he’s a dumbass a LOT of the time, especially this season, but he CAN actually come up with good tactical plans. This is not one of them. Tom hypes them all up to do it though when Marco’s inspriational speech fails, and they get to work.

We then get a REALLY great scene and one of the two that truly makes this finale VITAL to covering tom’s character. As tom gets dressed in prince Zuko cosplay, because why not, and I do agree with Jess this is a damn awesome outfit. My faviorite will ALWAYS be tom in a suit, but damn if samurai zuko tom dosen’t look dope. But Tom also has a heart to heart with marco, bringing up every shitty thing he’s done to the guy: the blood moon ball, the roulette wheel of death, beating his ass at ping pont, the mackie hand tickets, naysaya, the monster arm... which Marco then has to point out wasn’t him. Which, fair to Tom, that DOES sound like something Season 1 Tom would do. The point is Tom realizes he hasn’t exactly been the best person, or best friend, to marco over the years, and wants the guy to know he’s sorry, he has his back, and wants to kiss his face... okay the last parts’ implied. Look it is telling when these two have WAY better chemistry with each other than with star. Either of them. I see why Jess has that hidden mural in her basement next to the antilion and my betamax copy of weekend at burnies. Look I need to keep that shit safe as humanly possible and that basement is a fortress.

So the trap is sprung as Marco uses the best bait they have: Princess Turdina, putting on the dress again. And while this dosen’t really impact the plot the fact they just sorta had marco dump the identity and clearly state he wasn’t a girl in any way shape or form, especially when so many trans viewers identified with him, so it’s nice ot see it back. Also

Wasted Plots: 7

The plan goes off with several hitches as Marco uses Nachos as his ride.. only for the sentient being to somehow flood, thus making it so he gets a slow start and Meteora is able to soul suck him with that power that never gets explained, was pulled straight out of the writers collective rectums, and is op as hell. Also it never getting explalined

Wasted Plots: 8

Kelly and Jorby are able to save him.. but at the cost of Jorby. Also if Nachos was in the group dosen’t tha tmake it 8? Questions for later point is they get her in the pit.. and she easily puts the fire out with tail shockwaves.

So yeah Marco and friends are fucked, down two people, and flee for their lives as we end part 1.

Part 2 opens up with them hiding.. and everyone but Marco and Tom deciding to quit and flee to the nearest pub til this blows over.

Okay so taking them down one by one: Kelly is written out of character as all hell. While she can be flighty she DOES genuinely care about Marco and is implied all this season, and confirmed next season, to have a crush on him. It makes ZERO sense, especially after meteora killed her best friend, that she’d want to just up and bounce with Marco and danger and Jorby’s blood on the one endangering him’s hands.

The other three do make sense: Talon didn’t sign up for this, the plan he did sign up for failed, so while it’s a dick move it’s in character to bounce and given how easily he folds in a second, I can’t stay mad at him. Pony.... well that’s easy.

Hekapoo, unsuprisingly though is STILL the worst wanting to flee and not only leave a child she’s friends with, and in his future life has an implied relationship with, to die to a monster SHE IS FULLY RESPONSIBLE FOR CREATING. Meteora would nto be rampaging and probably would’ve been a good queen had you, crystal himbo, ba ba baaastard, and the doucheist cloud in existance not DIRECTLY CAUSED THIS. This. is. your. fault!

Thankfully Tom turns things around, calling them out and pointing out they don’t follow marco because he has good plans, they follow him because they like him, because he’s marco: he’s too stupid, too noble to give up and he’ll keep going tillt hey win and he WILL win because he’s Marco. Somehow it works, mostly because like Tom, Kelly wants to make out iwth him, Hekapoo figures why not, Ponyhead is a sucker for speechs and Talon... is sold once Marco agrees to the photo, the last of which I consider to be the best gag in the two parter.

So it’s on to Plan B, which is an actually GODO plan: Hekapoo gets Meteora’s attention, not hard given again THIS IS ALL HER FAULT. And if I sound like a record it’s only becasue the episode NEVER brings this up, and it’s infuriating. Anyways Meteora takes the bait.. only for marco to put his bloomers over her eyes.

Meanwhile Tom has been AWESOMELY using a GIANT FLAMING AXE TO CUT DOWN TREES FOR THEIR TRAP. THey then wrap her in the trees, seemingly beating her, only for her to roll off before they can take her back to the castle. Thankfully Tom improvises and simply opens a craggy pit to hell, let’s her go in then seals it.

So the day is saved.. for a bout a minute. Meteora claws her way back up, rips off the bloomers and takes out Talon, then pony and quickly gets an escaping Hekapoo.

More actually troubling is whose next: Kelly. One of Meteora’s attacks rips off part of her hair.. revealing Tad. Because apparently douchiness runs on equilvent exchange and with Hekpaoo and pony down, someone had to fill the void.

I LIKED tad: the twist with him and Kelly being some weird symboitic being at first was hilarous, and his apparance with Marco in Lava Lake Beach was fine. But they HAD to keep bringing him back and not only were his returns not funny he’s just.. a creep. He won’t leave Kelly alone, refuses to move out, stalks her, and last time we saw him questioned her on hvaing a crush on marco which is none of his buisness. This time he fakes his own death to read her a photo, refuses to move out, and Kelly eventually gets fed up and gives him a dressing down telling him to “Go live in the woods tad, go live int he woods” Maybe some deadites will get him there... eventually. I know we have one more episode but I like to think he found the necronomicon after that and nature took it’s corse. It’s the only way I sleep at night.

So yeah everybody’s dead dave, and Tom and Marco are left hiding> So Marco does the only plan he has left.. he’s going to go out there and sacrifice himself, hopeing Meteora toys with him long enough over their history so Tom has time to warn star. Tom, being the goodest boy and the purest of heart after his character development, naturally wants NONE of that, so Marco pulls the one trump card he has left, the ONE thing he thinks will guarantee his best friend will abandon him for his own sake and for star’s sake: He tells Tom he kissed star. And the pure devastation on that poor demon’s face shows that he gets it’s true and seemingly bolts.

This one act to me.. is one of the best Marco moments in the entire series, and helps make up for a series of terrible decisions including the one that brought us to this one: his mildly predatory and terrible act of kissing star. He intitated, he went for it, and he didn’t try anything else. it was a douchey, scummy, creepy thing to do... but it was clear from seconds later he regretted it, and it was clear from the earlier scene he felt nothing but guilt. Not about getting caught, not about not being with star, he just felt bad he hurt his best friend this deeply for his own satisfaction and BADLY wanted to tell him.. but couldn’t. Their lives were abotu to be at stake. He couldn’t risk putting everyone else at risk just to ease his own concnsionse. I feel fully from this act and from the way he acts during this two parter that Marco would’ve told tom as soon as things were better. But he choose to tell him now. Not to aleivatie his concionous, not to redeem himself, not for the glory of a bit sacrifice.. but because it was the right thing to do. Tom is stronger than him, can fly and could be there quicker. Marco probably woudln’t of made the journey but Tom, Tom can and tom HAS TO if Star is to have any chance. And Tom being just as noble would not leave him. Marco had to do SOMETHING to get the love of his life to save the other love of his life even fi it meant destroying him. Him telling tom is not an easy thing, and in these circumstances? Telling tom when he might DIE knowing this horrible thing and die in pain and heartbreak? It’s something no one would wish on someone they care about.. but Marco HAD to. After way too long a season of being selfihs, of putting his needs before everyone elses, of being all about marco... he puts everyone elses above him to save those he cares about. He does the hard thing to save a life.

So Marco accepts his fate but unfortunately, Meteora’s just.. stopped carring about him. Star is the only thing standing between her and the crown and while kiling Marco is fine.. i’ts no longer her life’s purpose like it once was. So she dosen’t bother taking forever reveling in it, she just tries to kill him... and Tom gets in the way, taking the shot for him.

This is easily Tom’s finest hour. While he flies in telling marco “i’m calling your bluff”... it’s very clear he’s at best lying to himself: Tom knows deep down Marco wouldn’t lie to him about that, even to save his life.. and that let’s face it with the smooch buddies thing and Tom’s eyes not clouded by jealousy anymore, tom knows his boy can’t lie. But he went back anyway. Because he loves marco, because marco’s his friend.. and because like Marco trying to shoo tom away.. it was the right thing to do. No matter how bad Marco wanted to sacrifice himself.... Tom can’t let him do that. It’s not what Star would wnat and more importantly it’s not where he wants.

It’s the culmination of 3 seasons worth of character development: Tom started as an entitled creep, an asshole who DEMANDED star’s love instead of trying to earn it, and refused to see why she left him: his anger, his arrogance, his need for control. She had every reason to walk out on him and he couldn’t see it. All he could do was blame Marco because SOMEONE had to be responsible for STar breaking up with him and it couldn’t be Tom himself.

And it was marco that broke that: Marco who got tom to see that trying to dominate star and make her do what he wants.. isn’t healthy and isn’t who she is. Star is a person who does what she wants.. and that’s what he loved about her. You can’t love somebody for being free then try to cage them. So Tom... finally let her go. Sure his next interaction with marco was a scam.. but hte geninely bonded with the guy, letting go of his hatred and finally finding a friend.

And with that... Tom slowly changed: After the song he realized he was never getting star back for good.. but was still inspired by her wanting to be a better princess by trying to be a better him. Sure he stumbled: ignored her instead of apologizing to her, nearly caused a war, tried to yank his soul out instead of actually trying to change, but every step was for himself, and not to win her back... and because of that he got her back anyway, the reasons she left him in the first place melted away.

Tom still had bumps: he had to learn empathy, just HOW bad monsters had it and to accept he was one of them, only insulated from it because he was rich.. and even then not entirely. He realized deep down that he had still gotten his share of funny looks and fear just for being waht he was, and not helping the other monsters get it was horrible.. and thus got why Star spent her time on it. T

By this time Tom’s evolved from a spoiled brat to a true, purehearted hero... and it’s all come down to this. The Old Tom, he would’ve left marco to die and laughed about it. This tom...leaps in front of a psychotic demon to save a Marco who geninely hrut him, who tom would have EVERY REASON to want to abandon.. but can’t because that’s not who he is. He’s Thomas Draconius Luciotr, he’s a good person... nad no matter what his best friend’s done, Marco dosen’t die if he can help it.

Tom does have good logic too: he has a LOT of souls so he’s the natural weakness to metora’s ablitiy: she can keep absobring and abosrbing, but he cna’t be rendered a husk from it. Unforunately this has a natural side effect: every soul just makes her stronger. The two are seemingly doomed.. just as Star Awakes.

The Right Thing

Star wakes up, and River assumed she just napped. Once she’s concious though she remembers.. and has to sadly tell her dad Moons lost.. again. Now Star has almost no hope lest.. and looses the last of it as a heavily battered tom comes to the door.... carrying marco like a baloon. Marco’s been soul drained.

Oh and to make matters worse Meteora is at their doorstep. Star runs away, with tom following, leaving River to take care of it. Star, in a panic, tries summoning the citadel so she can heal marco the same way her mother healed the comission, using the basin at the temple. But she can’t get it right, so Star’s simply left looking crazy to her boyfriend and wallowing in despair. Some could insult her for this, call her out for being selfish.. but she’s a 15 year old whose mom is missing, whose kingdom is in ruins, whose best friend is basically dead, and implicilty given who marco recurited so’s all but two other people she cares about, and she has NO idea how to stop it. She’s not a queen in her own eyes.. she’s just a scared child desperately wanting her mommy.

So Tom tries to fix things, in a slightly shitty but understandable way; he opens the pit to the underworld and offers to take them both away, get her to saftey. It’s what Marco would’ve wanted and it’s all he has left. Meteora can’t find her there. He promises. he can’t really keep that promise but he can try. Star, at her lowest point, with nothing to gain and only two things left to loose prepares to go.. only to notice the eagles her father road in drifting back souless. Her dad has died.. and because she didn’t stay to help she’s responsible. As bad as she feels, ad much pain as she’s in she can’t just walk away and pretend this sin’t her fight. Sure it’s understandable why she’s been in such a terrible state and made terrible choices.. but it makes it more admriable when she realizes the consequences of her constant running away, the lives it’s cost.. adn decies no more. She trusts Marco to tom, and flies off to confront her destiny.

Tom naturally follows..balloning in, and as he makes his way through we cut to Star, in a geninely haunting scene as she goes through the castle, seeing all the dead, souless husks around her.. nad finds meteora, sitting on her throne at last. ... and holdling BOTH tom and Marco and glefully taunting Star about how she killed “both her boyfriends.

Let’s hit the breaks one more time to talk about Meteora. Meteora.. is easily the best of the shows antagonists and the only one to reach her full potetial. Toffee is still my faviorite, but we never got to see the full scope of what caused him to be this way, or got any sense of why he was like this. Mina we got a little of.. but she ultimately came off as a lunk headed racist instead of the tragic figure she could’ve been with just a little more pushing, and clearly WAS supposed to be.

Meteora on the other hand is perfectly excuted; As Henious she wasn’t bad, Jessica walter is a delight no matter what form she’s in, but slowly offered dimnishing returns as her threat dropped and dropped.

But by turning everything about her on it’s head, by revealing this cold, uncaring headmistress who abused teens, stalked one just because he had the gall to... destroy her mind rape academy and give it to the people she was abusing to run better, we instead see something diffrent: We see an innocent child who was yanked from her parents, tossed to an uncarring robot and abused into being something she wasn’t: Told what made her special, her scales and tail and cheeks, were all monsterous and to repress them, that she was somehow wrong for being born and needed to change... and thus morphed into the spitting image of the machine that made her: a cold, heartless woman who glefully drained the joy and individuality from teens, good , abd and neutral, it didn’t matter, it was sick etiher way, to supress what she was, to keep herself alive.

And then she finds out her years of doing that, her years of hard work and horrors.. were for nothing. She was never SUPPOSED to be a metephorical monster lining up children for slaugher. She was queen... and it broke her. Everything she was was gone and all that was left was rage; Rage at her abuser, who rightfully died, rage at the kingdom for throwing her away, and rage at the people who replaced her. All that was left of what could’ve been a charming, wonderful young woman, thanks to abuse, racisim and scorn.. .was pure anger, deterined to burn down everything that had mocked her and rule over the ashes. Even if there was nothing left in the process she would be queen.

it’s terrifying, heartbreaking, and amazing all at once, taking a seemingly one note villian who clearly had layers to her.. and peeling back those layers to reveal a tragic monster created purely by racisim. Purely by people thinking just because of how someone was born, they were less and didn’t deserve their birthright. And her story... as tragic as it was... could only end one way.

So we’ve come to that ending, and sadly to the ending of Jessica Walter’s time on the show, though for her final performance, this is one hell of a showstopper. Star TRIES one last time, begs Meteora to help fix it together, to work.. but what parts of metoera could’ve done that, could’ve made a better world.. their dead. All that’s left is a want for the crown.. and to kill the last person in the way of it.

And so we get the best fight in the series. Jess said it, I agreed. It’s an utter spectacle, with both sides using everything they had: meteora her strength and bullshit soul sucking powers, and star all her spells pumped up to infinity, finally using her golden mode for full combat and showing just how poweful it is again. Every blow has purpose, every spell is dazzling and every move is captivating. It’s just one long, glorious fight with EVERYTHING for both sides on the line.

Sadly.. it’s a fight Star can’t wint. Eventually exaustion gets to her and while Meteora’s not at full either.. she’s still far more powerful. Star is left iwth one last desperation manuver: PUT ALL HER MAGIC into a spirit ball type bove and shove it at meteora. It does a lot of damage.. but ultimately leaves Star exausted.. and Meteora about to win. It also apparently DOSEN’T drain sta’rs magic despite that looking exactly like what it was, and star having to navigate without it would’ve been both intresting and made the ending of next season make WAY more sense. So

Wasted Plots: 9

But the fight isn’t over.... A NEW CHALLENGER APPROACHES for what is easily the best scnee of the entire show: Eclipsa. There’s a moment of worry at first as Eclipsa takes the wand from a stricken star and in a stunning sequence transforms it back into her parasol.. and takes back her full power.

Eclipsa has been through hell: She lost her husband, her daugher, her throne and her legacy to racisim, was woken up only to be used, nearly tossed back despite being freed fairly, had to be shackled up, and then found out her tormentors had rewritten history to erase her child and left her child to her abusive ex who threw her to an even worse monster, turnign Meteora into a being of pure hate. She then had to make the hard decision wether to save he rfriend or her daughter, was unfairly scorned for it.. and now faces the impossible. Fight her daughter.. or let the daughter she’s found die.

And it took me this long to realize that. Star isn’t her grandaughter, like she thought.. blood or no blood.. Star is Eclipsa’s daughter, more so than she was ever moons. Star was the only one who ever fully embraced this poor woman, accepting she wasn’t some evil boogey man but just a woman. Sure star later has to parent her own surrogate mom a bit.. but Eclipsa returned the favor plenty: She’s been nothing but supportive of star, and while her advice sometimes lead to some bad stuff... it was neerintetional. She always trusted star to make the right call when she needed to and time and time again she proved her mentor right.

So when faced with the choice.. Eclipsa sees no chocie at all. She TRIES to talk down meteora.. but it’s clear that won’t work. But she had to try.. because what comes next... is painful to watch as it is beautiful. In just a few spells, asll said firmly and authoratively, Eclipsa easily finishes metoera, showing off just HOW powerful she is, how dangerous she is.. and just WHY no queen until star was said ot be as strong as her. We’ve been hyped up with how powerful Eclipsa could be and how dangerous it could be and in one awesome sequence.. we see there was no hype: Just fact.

We also see pain, the poor woman streaming tears down her face, as her daughter desperately calls for Mommy.. her final words as Eclipsa completes her spell.. and killls her daughter, tears streaming down her face, panting in exaustion the following exchange just pure heartbreak, and a pure example of Esme Blanco’s talent as Eclipsa

Star: “What did you do?” Eclipsa: (Utterly heartbroken but firm) What I had to

For the good of her people, mewman and monster, Meteora had to go. Her child had gone from an innocent child to pure desctruction and nothing would be left if Eclipsa hadn’t done this. By doing so she freed the souls her child had destroyed, gave the kigndom a future.. but it dosen’t make having to kill her own child, a child who never had a true chance to live, any easier. Meteora died as she lived... tragically.

Star finds Marco they hug.. and to close ourt our boy he decides to make this weird and joins them, the two accepting. This.. REALLY promotes the three as t throuple and really makes me wish they’d gone with that instead of..

Wasted Plots: 10

So Star goes to comfort Eclipsa.. and in a show of just what a good person she is despite the hell she’s been through, Eclipsa gladly offers the wand back... and Star shows her own development.. by giving it back Not because of the fears she’s had all episode of the crown.. but because time and time again the butterfly family has hurt people. And ever since the Comission destroyed the line and started over, it’s only gotten worse. An endless cycle of vengance and death with no defendants, mewman against monster, mewman opressing monster, monster fighting back, some monsters going too far, some mewmans doing worse. it just got worse and worse.. and has just resulted in what could’ve been a great queen some day long past put down like a mad dog by her greeving mother. Star truly wanted to change things.. but she can’t. And she knows deep down while she needs to find her mom, Moon won’t either. Only one person can fix this... and that’s the person who was robbed of her chance to do so. Star gives her the wand back, telling her it’s the right thing, putting her trust in Eclipsa to fix the mess both their ancestors, and the comission, and so many other horrible people, have made.

And after getting the first kind gesture she’s gotten in far too long.. Eclipsa gets another: she hears a baby cry.. and finds meteora. While her old daughter is sadly dead and gone... she’s been reincarnated. How?

Wasted Plots: 11

But i’m not going to fight it: after a lifetime of hardship... Meteora gets a chance, reborn to get the life she truly deserved all along, free from racisim and supression and Eclipsa finally gets to raise her daughter. She thanks star then Mary Poppins off into the distnace, Star unsure if she did the right thing.

It’s then Glossaryck runs in, screaming Globgor as he did all season.. before swtiching from professional asshole Jefffery Tambor to professional sex god Keith David, who uses his silky voice to reveal that’s the name of Eclipsa’s husband, and that’s where she’s headed. He then fucks off for the rest of the series, only showing up thrice more for plot stuff and a few times in the background, never explaning why he was only saying globgor for a season. He created the line of queens and stuff sure, and plays a key part in the finale and premire but that’s it.

Wasted Plots: 12

So with that we get our final scene with his awesome. Eclipsa flies to the monster temple, does a few blasts.. and finds her husband, frozen in crystal, and ending the season on:

“Hello my love... we’re home”

Final Thoughts; Divide and Conquer are an excellent set of episodes. I’ve poitned out my flaws; The doomnut is stupid, something it once again took jess pointing out ot me to have it click, Hecckapoo should’ve been called out, and some parts of the Star and Moon plot meander.. but i’ts not enough to take away from the whole. And the whole is an emotinal roller coaster ride, full of payoffs for character arcs, setups for later, some pays off way too damn many not so much, and jawdropping moment after jawdropping moment ,leaving on an excellnent cliffhanger the next season sadly fails to live up to. And we’ll get more into that some other day. For now the story of Metora has come to it’s tragic conclusion.... hopefully her other self’s life comes to a better on

Final Thoughts on the Meteora Arc:

This arc is excellent, as should be made clear. It’s easily star’s best arc, starting with Eclipsa’s proper on screen debut in battle of mewni, and tragically concluding here. It has the most depth, unmasking the comissoin as true villians and throwing a lot of the series into question, Eclipsa and Meteora are both throughly engaging characters and it evolves star intrestingly..... before next season utterly wastes that development but again story for another time. I was glad to take a detour for this arc, and while there was still plenty of tom, this arc was one for the record books..... and i’m going to miss it as we slowly descend into crap.

But now it’s time to fully double down on tom, and to make sure this dosen’t get put horribly behind again ill be covering another tom episode next month, as Star finds out Tom knows about the kiss , and Tom’s mother also knows and is understadnably ready to throw a white girl into the volcano.. because I assume all rich people, especially demons own volcanos. It’s Lava Lake Beach.

#star vs the forces of evil #star butterfly #tom lucitor #marco diaz #meteora butterfly #eclipsa butterfly #globgor #moon butterfly #river butterfly #mina #hekapoo #kelly #jorby #ponyhead #prince of wishful thinking #startom #tomco #startomco

113 notes · View notes

captnjacksparrow · 3 years

Note

if you had to rank your fav naruto characters how would it go? love your blog btw!!

Hmmm... Complicated ask, anon.😂

[My personal life would be splashed here and there. Please bear with me]

Before 5 months, if you asked me about Naruto, my response would be ‘What the fuck is that?’. I absolutely had no idea such a treasure existed. For me, it started out like a blockbuster movie for the sheer variety of fights and the resulting emotions it brought within me.

However, there was a point I stopped and thought, ‘Wait a fucking second. This resembles my family dynamics. This person is speaking the exact same lines I spoke to my parents few years ago. This person’s situation resembles mine. Did this creator a time traveler?’. Naruto is the only piece of media that gave me such feel. Am not even exaggerating, believe me.

I really liked so many characters very much but am going to try my best to list just 10.

The only characters I hate in this series are Danzo, Sakura and Hinata in no particular order. Meaning, I absolutely cannot see any positives in them. They are crassy, cringey and completely detestable.

FAVOURITE NARUTO CHARACTERS

10. Killer Bee

HaHaHa :-) Just seeing this character makes me smile and light-hearted.

It’s a pity that he is the only character who don’t belong to Konoha in my Top 10 rankings who was developed well apart from Gaara.

I loved him from Frame 1 onwards and I sincerely wished Team Taka should be packed up with their ass beaten up mercilessly. And that’s what happened.

Despite being a Jinchurikki, he never bothered to mind his surroundings and filled his heart with love from his over protective Brother alone was nice to watch.

He makes a great Tag Partner with Naruto next to Sasuke. No doubt.

The way Killer Bee treated Team Taka like some annoying flies and his cool and don’t care attitude was top notch. It’s not just with Sasuke, Bee treated Naruto with the same IDGAF attitude at first.

Best Moments:

Lariat punch to Sasuke (TBH, Sasuke deserved it. LOL)

Blasted off every member of Team Taka like a doll

His entire conversation and fight sequence with Kisame (Their banters and exchanges are way too hilarious)

His dynamics with his Elder Brother (God!!!! Whenever Raikage gives him an Iron Claw.... What a hilarious duo!!!!)

9. Hatake Kakashi

Kakashi was my most favourite character when I started the series for simply being ultra-cool with the way he conducted the Bell-Test and taught a valuable lesson for those bratty kids in Team 7 called ‘Team Work’.

Best Moments:

Kakashi vs Obito Hand-to-Hand Combat (the best in the series)

Kakashi in the Gaara retrieval arc (His fight with Itachi & Deidara gave a good start to the shippuden series. His Mangekyou reveal was surprising).

Kakashi & Guy teaming up with Naruto to reveal Obito in a twisty and tragic way. (Kakashi couldn’t handle the truth at all and neither did I)

Kakashi vs Zabuza (That’s when I realized that the series was getting real serious)

8. Jiraiya

Jiraiya was my next favourite to Kakashi during my Part 1 days. His open perversion and his entire dynamics with Naruto was one of the best things during the Chunin Exams arc. Taught Naruto about Chakra Control and about the way of a shinobi by just enduring. Naruto follows this even today.

Best Moments:

Kuchiyose No Jutsu training (Man, I never expected him to push Naruto off the cliff)

Rasengan Training (One of the best arcs in part 1 and it was soo satisfying to see Naruto punching his first Rasengan on Kabuto, He also acted like a quasi parent to Naruto... heartwarming)

Jiraiya Vs Six paths of Pain ( 6 vs 1 was always doomed but still he had the guts of a shinobi and plunged ahead)

7. Uchiha Madara

Geez. What is there to not like him??

Everything he did was absolutely wrong ever since he broke up with Hashirama in a romantic way much similar to how couples break up in my country.

I am an Uchiha. You are a Senju. I wish it had been different.

This roughly translates to how 75% of lovers break up and marry someone else from their own clan in my state. (Duh!!!)

I am from XXX clan, you are from XXX clan. So we can’t love each other and my parents won’t accept this relationship. So let’s break up.

Alright, my first shipping couple in this series is HashiMada for this exact reason. (I started shipping SNS only after episode 478).

Just like Hashirama, Madara had an extensive build up right from episode 1 where Kurama compares Sasuke with Madara. And flashbacks from Itachi and Tobi spiked my curiosity and I wanted to see his face so badly ever since.

But the moment he landed gracefully like a diva in episode 321.... Woaahhhh!!!! He literally danced in the battlefield and ate up 100′s of guys with just a fucking Sharingan.

Best Moments:

Going Shirtless before 1000′s of people with Hashirama’s face, no less (Well, I literally went heart-eyed for 5 minutes. Sorry Sasuke, your ancester was way much sexier than you in the Orochimaru hideout and beats you by a million points).

Screaming Hashirama’s name like a cockatoo for 300 times even till the very end (Sorry Naruto, your obsession towards Sasuke for about 6 arcs is pale in comparison to Madara’s obsession which was established in just 6 or 7 episodes.)

I have 25 clones now. Do you want me to put Susanoo or not? You can’t answer. The answer is yes. (Man, his I don’t give a fuck attitude is just an alien level thing)

Openly admitting Only Hashirama Can Beat Me (Say what you will about Sasuke, Madara has no qualms about accepting his inferiority in terms of power. An absolute Straight Forward diva-queen)

Awakening Sharingan for breaking up with his ‘friend’ rather than for his 3 dead brothers. (Geez, Poor Soul. He is the forefather of a Romantic Uchiha. That romantic blood still flows in Sasuke)

6. Senju Hashirama

Man, I would have placed him somewhere in top 5 if only he was introduced early or had more scenes. I started watching Naruto only because of this very name. There is a local podcaster in my state who goes under the alias of Senju Hashirama and in his podcasts, he hinted about this character and how he was inspired by his ideals. I just googled and saw that this character belonged to Naruto series and I considered watching it. Here I am, making analysis on that very series.

There was this excellent build up for him right when we got introduced to Captain Yamato. He was constantly referred in flashbacks from Itachi and Tobi especially.

But the moment he was reanimated again..... Geez..... It was an hilarious ride all throughout. Out of all the flashbacks we got from this series, Founders Era flashback was my absolute favourite.

From where I come from, we are still under the stupid influence of Clan infrastructure and are not growing up in many aspects like people in western countries do. For me, I hope, one day, someone like Senju Hashirama appears in our state and change our lives for better by uniting all clans as one and treats everyone equally without the shitty favouritism for their own children, friends, parents, siblings.

That’s why this dialogue struck a thunder in my heart

“Be they a friend.... Be they a sibling.... Be it even my own child. I will not forgive anyone who threatens the village.”

Because the clan leaders in our place are absolutely selfish, trash bastards who serves their own needs with no regards for other people from other clans. For a person like me, Hashirama is not just a fictional hero, he is someone who many aspires to become. No wonder that podcaster chose this name as his alias.

He rightfully deserved the title ‘God of Shinobi’. And no one can surpass him, not even Naruto.

Best Moments:

Wood Style vs Eternal Mangekyou sharingan + Kurama powered Madara (He just beats Madara’s ass by a wide margin. This shows he was a whole fucking different level than Naruto + Sasuke combined. In terms of strength, nobody surpassed him YET. Sorry Naruto and Sasuke, you guys are no match even now with your Rinnegan and Kurama lost forever).

His entire banters with Madara (ROFLLLL. Without him, it would have been just another lifeless arc.)

5. Senju Tobirama

Hmmm, let me tell you something about him.

First off, he is not a racist or fascist as many hardcore Sasuke fanatics claims. He is one of the best hokages according to me. He is abso-fucking-lutely practical, rational, logical and holds no grudge. And Sasuke resembles Tobirama with all these characteristics as compared to soft and naive Naruto. If only he had more screen time, he would be easily in my top 3.

Just because he didn’t lick the boots of Uchiha (many people’s favorite clan or may I say the only clan that was given any shit about in this series), it doesn’t make him a racist or fascist.

No, he never persecuted the Uchihas. Danzo, the crass bastard, driven off the Uchihas only after the Kyuubi incident. It was explicitly mentioned in the databook and was clearly explained in the series.

He literally gave the highest position in the village for the entire clan. That is, a military power inside a military village. ‘Shinobi who can cause crimes can only be stopped by shinobi who are even better’. In my state, if a powerful clan decided to persecute another clan, they simply start by cutting off basic amenities like Water and Electricity. Compared to what I’ve seen, Tobirama did nothing but given the Uchihas, the highest position in their village.

Orochimaru only said giving such a power made them conceited (arrogant). Tobirama had a trusted subordinate called Kagami, an Uchiha in his team. He suggested Kabuto to help Sasuke and even teleported him on his request. He even spited Madara for killing Sasuke, an Uchiha. He openly claimed Uchiha clan exceeds Senju in terms of Love. He openly appreciated Itachi and Kagami as someone who sees beyond their clan. In what world, would a racist or fascist do all this for a clan he hates???

Yes, he was cautious of Sasuke at first because he saw him with Orochimaru and even went full-on battle mode because of Sasuke’s carefree threat to destroy the village. But once he decided to go to the battlefield to fight Madara, he simply forgot everything that happened before and started to work with him as a comrade, and even helped him twice. In which world, a racist or fascist behave this way?

Believe me, a person like me who was grown with these clan politics surely can say who is a fascist. He was not. He was just cautious of them because of their ability to attain superpowers with just emotions alone. Let me ask you all this, ‘Would you be okay with people getting crazy powers whenever they are depressed?’. Being cautious is not racism. It really disrespects people who faced real oppression under fascism.

What Madara and Danzo did was a classical example of fascism.

And No, Izuna didn’t die only because of Tobirama. He died because Madara was too arrogant to instigate war with Senju clan. And this was way before forming Konoha. If Tobirama killed Izuna after the alliance between Uchiha and Senju, I would agree that he was a racist. Izuna lost his life just like any other Uchiha and Senju soldiers in that battlefield.

Just because he shitted your beloved ‘Sasuke-Kun’ doesn’t mean he is a racist too. Tobirama saw Sasuke along with that scoundrel Orochimaru who once used this very two hokages to destroy the very village they strived hard to create and protect. What will you do, if you were in his place?? Please don’t lie and say ‘I wouldn’t be judgemental’.

And Imagine you are Tobirama, Sasuke is threatening to commit genocide against the entire village who had no idea about this coup detat instead of going against those old hags. Will you sit quiet as a Hokage??

He was the first person to suggest his brother, Itama, that Revenge against Uchihas are futile. All we need is an agreement to make truce. That gave the idea for Hashirama to pursue his dream. And Tobirama was happy to follow that dream and very supportive.

It’s because of all these reasons I placed him above Senju Hashirama.

Best Moments:

Amazing power display against Sasuke & Co with just an index finger (It was a pleasure to see everyone’s face trembling with mild sweat including Sasuke).

Acted as a decoy to save his young subordinates. (The way he sacrificed his life saying young wills of fire must be protected is just Woow!! I wish his subordinates listened to his words and passed the mantle to the younger ones rather than playing game at such an old age and screwed up many lives. Pfft!!!)

Any time he says ‘Shut Up’ to Hashirama (ROFL)

His absolute ‘I don’t give a fuck’ attitude to Naruto, Sasuke, Hashirama, Minato and Madara (He trolled them all mercilessly and I love it)

4. Senju Tsunade

It hurts me to say that Tsunade is the only female character in my list because every other female characters were written in a much more piss poorly way. Only Konan came close to Tsunade but her role was very short.

Despite her character’s purpose revolved around another male character (Dan) and a blatant objectification of her breasts, I liked everything about her other than those mentioned above.

She is the Second Best Hokage who took Konoha right after the destruction made by Orochimaru, excellently handled the aftermath by making friendly relations with Suna (Sand village), provided her best medical support to Konoha in the Pain Arc and successfully handled the fourth Shinobi world war.

She is such a badass who developed her own original jutsu called Byakugou no Jutsu, which can heal herself.

She is just way too amazing and it’s a pity that we got very less scenes in Shippuden.

Best Moments:

Took 25+ stabs from Madara’s Susanoo like a piece of cake (Man, I simply couldn’t describe that scene. All the other Kages were shocked and even Madara too)

Lifted her advisors like a cabbage sack (Those fucking old hags deserved it. Those shits should’ve died)

Her index finger flick assault on Naruto (Aww, Naruto was definitely bratty in his first meeting and Tsunade didn’t hold back at all)

Played Orochimaru like a basketball (In that same arc, she fought Orochimaru mercilessly like a devil left and right. Someone who claimed to have surpassed Tsunade never even dared to fight Orochimaru’s student and crying for his attention after just receiving one stab from Madara. Just saying)

3. Uzumaki Naruto

Naruto is the titular character and your emotions evolve along with him. He surely deserves a spot in Top 3. The only reason I didn’t place Naruto even more higher is because he didn’t experience something very important which many characters in this list faced. That is, Losing a loved one before his eyes. Every villain in this series became what they are because they lost someone important before their eyes like Nagato, Obito. (Nope, I don’t count Neji as his loved one). I think this tests the mettle of any character and Naruto failed to experience this. The only person he ever lost was Jiraiya and that too from off-screen. That’s why I felt his journey to his dreams seemed little easier compared to the rest of the characters.

His best block of episodes will always be the part 1 Episode 1, 2, 3. Episode 1 is the character defining episode for Naruto and what he learned there will be applied everywhere till the very end of the series. He learned 3 things

Forgiveness, Empathy and Acceptance

Talk-No-Jutsu

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu

From then on, this boy wins many friends to his side, not only from Konoha but from other villages too and even made them to acknowledge his strength only through his sheer hard work.

However, there is this person, whose acknowledgement he wants the most. That person is his most important bond along with Iruka Sensei. He is none other than Sasuke. One day, Sasuke left him alone for some unavoidable reason at the end of part 1 which left a huge scar in him and he vows to bring him back to the place where he belongs. That becomes his ultimate goal rather than becoming an Hokage.

The way he goes to any extent to protect the people he cares about is just simply entertaining to watch.

Every time he makes an heroic entry to save the day was never boring, not once.

Best Moments:

Sobbing from his heart after hearing Iruka Sensei acknowledging him (It just makes me feel heavy for no reason. The anime team did an awesome job to capture his emotions convincingly)

Awakening Kyuubi Mode for the first time after seeing Sasuke die in his arms (Man, out of all the collective hatred he got from the villagers, this moment affected him a lot speaks volumes)

Punching Neji from the underground to win the Chunin exams (God, I honestly believed Naruto lost but he just surprised us heavily from nowhere. And that failure speech was just pure bliss to watch even today)

Pain Vs Naruto (One of the best arc for Naruto. Because unlike other arcs, where Naruto fought with a team, this arc he was all alone fighting a person with Rinnegan. Be it the exuberant landing from the frogs with a dramatic kabuki music, creating multi-step attacks, coming up with novel solution in that difficult situation, finally ending the conflict without killing the enemy, becoming an hero. Superb journey. The only thing I didn’t like in that arc is some shitty selfish proposal. PUKE!!)

Bearing the burdens of his most important person and die along with him (This boy always shouts he will never die until he becomes an Hokage. But for Sasuke, he was ready to die along with him in order to not leave him alone proves how much he loves him. This shows his emotional maturity rather than shouting at Sasuke like he always did before which never reached his ears. This time it did)

Final Good Bye to Minato (Honestly, I was bawling just like Naruto in that scene no matter how many times I watch it. It started out slow but as he speaks more and more, he simply couldn’t hold back and wept a sea of tears 😭😭😭)

2. Uchiha Sasuke

One of the well written characters in this series, with all the flaws and positive stuffs which makes him more of an Anti-Hero. He always subverts my preformed opinions and never ceased to surprise me.

Despite being aloof and cold, his warmer side will always be exposed towards Naruto. This is evident by many things he had done for Naruto which he don’t have to or no reason to. Starting right from roasting Sakura, offering lunch, asking for tips, enquiring about breakfast, protecting him many times and dying for Naruto.

Why I placed him above Naruto is because of his unavoidable decision to tread in a complicated dark path primarily due to the trauma he carried and was stirred up again by collective factors such as Orochimaru’s cursed seal, Itachi’s arrival and Naruto’s growth. Compared to Sasuke, Naruto had an easier path because he never saw anyone die before his eyes and hence he don’t carry any trauma which can divert his path.

Even after watching his entire clan and family members murdered before his eyes at an age 8, he managed to pull himself and never snapped out like many other good characters does. But the moment when he found out that Itachi was good all along, he simply couldn’t tolerate the truth and gave himself to Vengeance. Because, he loved his brother more than he hated him all these years. This shows he loved his brother more than his parents. His resolve to destroy Konoha was perfectly understandable. But is it good? Nope. He can kill Danzo and those old hags but killing other people was never justifiable.

But still, his resolve to have his vengeance was diverted by Naruto and weakened by Itachi, at some point. So, he decided to know the truth and when he heard it, he understood the Hokages also sacrificed many precious things to protect this village just like his Brother Itachi. He understood the mistakes of his clan and decided to protect the village which he swore to destroy. [Many Sasuke fanatics think that he succumbed to the Government and Kishi wrote Sasuke to bootlick them. Their idea was to tackle genocide with another genocide. What a stupid idea!!!!]

And No, I don’t consider him trying to kill Sakura, Karin and Kakashi as his bad moments (though I feel bad for Karin). For the simple reason being, he became a monster by losing himself in the darkness who lost the rationality to differentiate friends from foes. Much similar to how Naruto lost himself to Kyuubi’s hatred against Orochimaru and in Pain Arc. It’s so hypocritical to ignore Naruto and accuse Sasuke here. Plus, Sakura had no business to be there otherwise Sasuke would not have tried to kill her.

But does it mean Sasuke did nothing wrong???

Nope.

He definitely shouldn’t have joined Akatsuki and hunted Killer Bee like an animal. Because, he knew that Tobi was the one who helped Itachi massacre the clan. When fighting Itachi he specifically vowed to kill Madara (Tobi). On top of that, Itachi passed on Amaterasu in his eyes specifically to stay away from Tobi. Why did he ally with him? Plus, Sasuke was one of the few characters who was exposed to the name ‘Akatsuki’ in part 1 itself. He clearly knew that this organization targets Naruto, his closest bond. Why did he join there? This is where the stupid part of Sasuke came out. I was grunting... ‘Oii Where did that clever Sasuke, who faced 1000 soldiers without killing any of them, went??’.

And his plan for Revolution???? I thought it would be reasonable. But his vision was eerily similar to Danzo’s vision. Grrr..... Danzo also wanted to create his ideal village by destroying the current Hokage. He wanted to unite the Five Village and put himself on top of everyone as evident from the Kage Summit arc.

I appreciate him that he finally adopted the Will of Fire, by wanting to protect the village at all costs just like Itachi and Hashirama did. But his methods are not very democratic. Plus, he wanted to do it alone. I was screaming at him... ‘Grrr, Sasuke, did you listen to Itachi at all???. He failed because he did everything alone. Why can’t you understand????’ This is also another instance, Sasuke’s stupidity glanced out.

I am happy Naruto knocked some sense into him by telling him not to do it alone but together.

Many fanatics also ask, ‘What did Sasuke do wrong to atone for his sins at the end?’.

I was like ‘Reallly????’

He joined Akatsuki, an organization which terrorized all the 5 villages and he hunted someone like an international criminal.

He spoiled the Kage Summit and attacked Raikage who lost his arm because of him. I know what happened over there is not Sasuke’s fault. But these are the kages who was loved by many people in their own villages. How can the world forget it and simply let him go?

It’s exactly because of all those lovely stuffs he did in Part 1 and all these mistakes he did in Part 2 but willing to correct his mistakes by sharing the burdens of his other half in the end made him more interesting, complicated and exciting and that’s why I love this character.

I also have a personal bias to love this character sooo much because of the character on top of my list.

Best Moments:

Defending Naruto before Sakura (Awww!!! Such a good boy he was. Eventhough I thought he was a typical arrogant K-Drama hero, he just subverted my opinion in that one scene. I always have a thing for people who stands up for someone even though they don’t have to. This is where I started to like Sasuke)

My body moved on its own. (Is there anything that trumps this scene in terms of emotions and love in this series?. This moment is where I understood the depth of Sasuke’s emotions towards Naruto).

What is a Clan? What is a Village? What is a Shinobi? (I was really hoping for Sasuke to question himself something similar to this. Because he was so self-absorbed in his hatred and failed to look outside him ever since he left the village. It was so gratifying that he did that)

Killing Orochimaru (I always thought Sasuke will kill him only after he tries to take over the body. Never imagined that he will strike the snake first)

Killing Danzo (Man, what an amazing battle!!!. It was so gratifying to see such a crass bastard die many times over and over).

His dramatic confession through his monologue (After the mystery of Who is this Tobi, Sasuke’s obsession towards Naruto remained a mystery for me. Why did he listen to Naruto under the bridge? Why did he protected Naruto in the War? I got the answer only after this confession. It was so heartwarming to see this mellow side of Sasuke)

1. Uchiha Itachi

I could write pages about him. The foremost reason I like Itachi and earns the top spot in my rankings is because he shockingly resembled me in many ways. As I already said, I come from a place where clan politics plays a major role and when I see Sasuke’s flashback in part 1, I was simply dumbstruck by such a detailed similarities.

Elder child of the family - ✅

Have an adorable younger sister who loves me more than my parents - ✅

Same age gap (5 years) with my sister as Itachi and Sasuke - ✅

Parents paying total attention on me while ignoring my sister completely - ✅

Parents constantly comparing my achievements with my sister - ✅

A sister who bear hugged me every time I entered the home after returning from my school - ✅

Despite my mom being a teacher, my sister always prefers me to teach her stuffs as she considers me to be way too better than my mom - ✅

Love my sister more than my parents - ✅

Clan-Obsessed parents - ✅

Used me as a tool for the benefit of the clan - ✅

Sending another person from my clan to spy on me - ✅

Strained relationship with my parents - ✅

Disgusted with my clan - ✅

Most importantly, this dialogue from part 1 episode 129,

Clan? Clan?

Obsessed with the organization, Obsessed with the clan, Obsessed with the name, that’s merely the detestable action that restrict yourself.

I have given up all hope in this worthless clan

Because, people obsess themselves to their clan, a thing so petty, they lose sight of the things that are truly important.

A real change cannot occur under restraints and controls

I confronted my parents with the exact same dialogue (almost 98% similar) in my own native language some years ago.

I didn’t even know the existence of Naruto series at that time. I was simply shell-shocked by all these similarities with this character.

And Yes, The moment I heard these dialogues, I knew Itachi, was a good guy, who had a very strong reason for his actions and I instantly knew Sasuke’s revenge will not bear him any happiness.

It is exactly because of all these striking similarities of myself with Itachi, and my lil’l sister with Sasuke, my family dynamics with the Uchiha family.... I could understand the magnitude of Sasuke’s love towards Itachi.

And precisely because of that, I could understand Sasuke’s love towards Naruto is not fucking ‘brotherly’ one but something that leans towards Attraction.

No wonder, Itachi left Sasuke in Naruto’s care.

Anyways to speak objectively,

Itachi is an extremely self-sacrificial person whose life is full of pain and miseries but never blames it on the world unlike other Uchiha members like Madara, Obito and Sasuke to an extent.

He did things considering the bigger picture which never benefitted himself in anyway and was willing to go to any extent even at the expense of his own family and his brother’s happiness. That is, Uchiha Clan Massacre and Joining Akatsuki. None of this benefitted him in anyways but he did it anyway, for the village of Konoha.

His ideals are shockingly similar to Hashirama, Which Sasuke pointed this out and Hashirama acknowledged that Itachi was a better shinobi than he was. ❤️❤️❤️

Now, does this means I support Uchiha clan massacre?

No way. Even Itachi didn’t.

This massacre happened because of the huge clusterfuck from Hiruzen’s incompetence, Danzo’s paranoid arrogance, Uchiha clan’s devious plan to over throw the government by force rather than approaching it in a peaceful way, say, a peace talk or a protest.

All these people acted on their own self-interest. Itachi and Shisui caught in their whirlpool, bear their burdens and paid for it with their life. Sasuke suffered for it.

But, it’s not the only reason I love this character. It’s because, the moment he decided to massacre everyone, he marked his own death by the hands of his beloved brother. I love people who owns up their mistakes and face the consequences rather than making excuses (even though it’s not entirely his mistake).

Itachi is also the only character in this series who realized his failures on his own without anyone’s interference or Naruto’s Talk-No-Jutsu.

And he apologized for everything he did to Sasuke.

Again, some hardcore Sasuke fanatics criticize/hate him for torturing their poor ‘Sasuke-Kun’ with his Tsukuyomi. I was like ‘Hmmm...What?’.

First off, Itachi apologized to Sasuke for not thinking out from his point of view and also for not telling him the truth earlier.

Second off, Sasuke never even blamed Itachi for anything (even he didn’t hold him for killing their parents). If Sasuke himself, forgiven Itachi... Why are his fans being so rabid?

Third off, for all of his supposed ‘crimes’, he paid for it by dying as a disgraceful Madman rather than a Hero who really saved the village. He is someone who should be celebrated like Naruto but instead died proudly as a Traitor of Konoha.

All in all, One of the wonderfully written character I have ever seen in the media.

Best Moments:

Itachi vs Sasuke (That battle was a pure brilliance and highly emotional especially after knowing the truth. When Sasuke released his Kirin, Itachi showed off his ultimate armour Susanoo like a badass. Seeing Susanoo for the first time gave me chills. No, Sasuke didn’t kill him. Itachi died on his own)

Itachi vs Orochimaru (Man, Itachi may look mellow but when it comes to Orochimaru he is a pure Sass. He screwed that snake up both the times by a wide margin. It seems Uchiha brothers like to fuck up Orochimaru, LOL)

Talk-No-Jutsu’ing Naruto (Geez, Naruto was being completely bratty and was full of saviour complex like he was going to bear everyone’s hatred by himself. I was almost annoyed. Thanks to Itachi, he realised. Probably he is the only character to shut Naruto using his own jutsu)

Izanami’ing Kabuto (Other than Naruto, he is the only character to go out of his way to empathize with a villain and put extreme effort to change him. I think this is why Sasuke loves Naruto, for seeing these similarities??? ).

Goodbye to Sasuke (The first time when he said ‘Forgive me, Sasuke. This is the last’ by poking his forehead and finally closing the distance by butting with Sasuke’s head softly saying ‘I will love you always’.... It always evokes uncontrollable tears in me, no matter how many times I watch it 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭)

HONOURABLE MENTION

Uchiha Obito

God, Am such a sucker for Uchiha guys individually, though collectively as a clan they fucked up big time. I simply couldn’t find the place for him in the top 10. He is a classic example of What Naruto will be like if he becomes a villain?

However, all those horrible stuffs he did just for a girl whom he had a crush on which was never reciprocated seems childish. That’s why I couldn’t put him in Top 10.

And his understandable but weird obsession on Naruto was always enjoyable to watch.

One cute thing I liked about him was, whatever criminal stuffs he may have done, he was never a cheapskate though. He had every chance to take back Kakashi’s Sharingan to activate his own Susanoo. But he never even thought of such an idea. He was a bad guy. But a good friend, no matter what.

Pure Baby!!! But lost his way!!!

Best Moments:

Importance of Team Work (’In the ninja world, Those who break the rules are scum. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum’. This very legacy he left to Kakashi came to defeat him later. And Naruto follows this motto even today)

Sacrificing his Sharingan (’I am giving you my Sharingan. No matter what the villagers say, you are a great Jonin. Please take it’. Awww!!! Obito. He left his Sharingan which helped Kakashi to complete a jutsu called ‘Chidori’, which is a go-to jutsu of Sasuke)

Thanks for the ask, anon. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this. ❤️

#ask #itachi #itachi uchiha #sasuke #sasuke uchiha #naruto #naruto uzumaki #hashirama #tobirama #hashirama senju #tobirama senju #madara uchiha #madara #killer bee #kakashi #jiraiya #tsunade #obito #obito uchiha

124 notes · View notes

dogbearinggifts · 4 years

Note

What are your thoughts on tua S2? Did you feel like the characters grew? What did you like? What did you not? I’m interested in your perspective. Your analysis are super thoughtful and interesting!

Aw, thanks, Anon!

Overall, I really enjoyed S2 and thought it was a solid follow-up to S1. I do have my quibbles about it, so I think (for ease of reference and because my thoughts are a little scattered today) I’ll list some of my personal highlights (in no particular order) before getting into what I didn’t like as much.

Big spoilers ahead.

Allison. I thought they handled her storyline especially well. Of all the siblings, I think she had the most difficult obstacles placed in her way (not only is she a Black woman landing in 1961 Dallas, but she’s a Black woman landing in 1961 Dallas who can’t even speak in her own defense for a year) and they sugarcoated exactly none of it. The writers pulled no punches when showing what civil rights protesters went through, which just made their nonviolent response all the more breathtaking. Allison’s fear and anger during those scenes were palpable even as she kept them hidden. But along with that horror, we see the kindness and warmth of the Dallas Black community, the women who take her in simply because she needs their help, and her love for Ray, perhaps heretofore THE most thoughtful husband ever portrayed on screen. I loved him, and I loved him and Allison together. While I understand and respect his choice to stay in 1963, I wish they’d gotten more time together. They both deserved it.

Vanya. We got to see how much the baggage from her past affected her by glimpsing what she might be like if it were taken away. It’s an interesting philosophical question, and it was explored well, in my opinion. She finds it easier to love and be loved, and she stands up for herself more readily—but she also doesn’t hesitate to use powers she can’t quite control and threatens Five without fully realizing how dire her threat is (or how it might dredge up traumatic memories she doesn’t know exist). The moment where Ben finds her curled up, fully convinced she’s a monster, was heartbreaking. I loved watching her find happiness with Sissy, even if that was fleeting (and dear god, Sissy deserved her happy ending with Vanya, dammit, I don’t care if it would fuck up the timeline). Her patience and sweetness with Harlan were just beautiful. And the way she used the confidence she gained during her amnesia to fully come into her own not to exact revenge on her siblings, but to save them, was fucking phenomenal.

The humor. There was a lot more humor this season, and it was awesome. So many iconic scenes—Olga Foroga, Luther babysitting two homicidal Fives, Elliot awkwardly lecturing his guests on the history of Jello, “NEW TIMELINE NEW ME,” “Your vagina needs glasses,” AJ the fish gobbling up the cigarette bubbles, Five getting to say “fuck”….this season was a lot funnier than the previous one, and I think that was one of its strengths.

Klaus’ cult. It was played for laughs, which I both expected and thought was the best way to handle it. He didn’t want to start a new religion with himself at the center; he just wanted to not get thrown out of any more diners, but Destiny’s Children had other ideas. The “I too am a fraud!” scene was hilarious and tickled the question of whether or not a religion founded on false pretenses can still help those within it find meaning.

Luther. Getting him away from his dad, his siblings, and the Academy was exactly what he needed to become the pure of heart and dumb of ass genius we always knew he was, but his first major step in that direction was heartbreaking. We all knew he’d be rejected once he got to the Academy. We all knew Reginald would rip his heart out and stomp on it in his admittedly fashionable shoes. It gets Luther out on his own and forces him to become his own person apart from his dad, but that doesn’t make it any easier to watch. He got the positive character development he needed, but the catalyst was tragic.

Diego. We see, for the first time, exactly how Reginald kept him in line—not with meds or with PTSD-inducing torture, but with words. Even when he knows Diego as little more than a stranger, Reginald is able to rip off his skin and fling it in his face with a single diatribe; and even at 30, with years away from his dad, Diego is left unable to speak, feeling as if all of his accomplishments up to that point were the work of a dumb kid who thought he was smarter and more capable than he actually was.

Luther and Diego sharing a braincell. Luther has bad ideas. Diego has bad ideas. When they put their bad ideas together, they get terrible ideas. I loved watching them work together as a team, rather than being at each others’ throats for most of the season, even if I’m left hoping Olga Foroga had a pleasant and quiet day after that phone call.

Reginald. At first glance, it may look like the writers were trying to make him likable so they could parade him around as your average abusive-parent-with-a-soft-side. But it’s more nuanced than that. Abusive parents (and abusers in general) often fly under the radar because they fool outsiders into thinking they’re good people. They’re active in their communities. They give to charity. They have friends who attest to their virtue, significant others who think they’re the greatest. And that’s what we see with Reginald. We see him as the rest of the world did: an intelligent, eccentric man with a sharp sense of humor who cared deeply about scientific advancement. That’s how he evaded suspicion—because there were stories from years past of lively parties at his mansion, of what a gentleman he was to Grace and of how he did everything he could to save little Pogo. But those stories would all have come from people he considered his equals. When he’s with people he considers his inferiors—aka, the Umbrella kids—he’s openly condescending and demeaning. We get to see how he fooled the world, and it is chilling.

Elliot. He deserved better, and you can ship him with any one of the Hargreeves kids and get the cutest thing ever.

The Swedes. They said so much while speaking very little.

Ben. He got more personality and screen time, and it was glorious. His love of his family and resentment toward Klaus practically leapt off the screen. The way he says “I’ve missed you all…so much” once they’ve all left was one of those right-in-the-feels moments; and watching him get so much of what he’s wanted for years when he possesses Klaus was beautiful.

Now, as for things I took issue with….

Ben. I understand why they ended his arc the way they did. I get that they were probably afraid the Klaus/Ben dynamic would grow stale if they didn’t change it somehow and wanted to give him a larger role in S3. His death(???) was heartbreaking and extremely well-done. But it also wasn’t foreshadowed. We never got any sense of what ghosts in the TUA ‘verse are, so the fact they can be destroyed by a ton of sound-turned-energy or by going too far into someone’s psyche or whatever happened….it’s not that it doesn’t make sense so much as there’s not enough evidence to determine whether or not it makes sense. It feels like the writers just kinda made that up so they’d have a reason to change Ben’s relationship dynamics, but if that’s the case, couldn’t they have done it another way? Couldn’t they have made it so the immense energy or psychic woo-woo or whatever gave him a power-up instead of destroying him? Vanya transferred some of her energy into Harlan and brought him back to life. Couldn’t something similar have happened with Ben? And if it tied him to Vanya as well as to Klaus, great! More fodder for angst and humor! (”Vannyyyyyyyy, stop hogging Ben!” “You got him for 17 years, Klaus, you can part with him for 20 minutes.” “Guys, don’t I get a say in this?”) I’m glad they didn’t write him out of the series entirely, but I still wish they’d kept him and all the character development he’d gotten throughout S2.

Episode 10. It looks like they tried to cram half a season’s worth of developments into 45 minutes. Twenty minutes in, I’d already said “Wait what the fuck” half a dozen times. A lot of those moments were explained later on, and I was able to make enough inferences to fill in any lingering plot holes, but…still. Too much stuff, too little time. E9 was a perfectly satisfying ending to the season. Yes, it leaves the siblings stranded in 1963, but they could’ve tied up those loose ends in the S3 premiere.

Lila. She’s an incredibly fun character, but her arc is kind of a mess. Most of that is due to E10, and I do feel that more time to let her arc breathe would’ve worked wonders, but I’m left feeling like her turn from “Handler is the best mom ever and I lurve Diego too” to “KILL DIEGO AND HIS EVIL FAMILY” to “Handler is a bad mom and Diego is right” happened too quickly.

The Commission. Okay, so, the Handler announces the entire Board has been killed, and she’s stepping in as director even though everyone appears to know she’s been demoted (and demoted pretty severely—she went from having an office bigger than some apartments to being a case management drone). There’s suspicion and lots of it. But then, La Resistance is….ten or so people in a single room? And when she calls the temps agents to her side, thousands of them show up ready and willing to fight and die? I dunno. Just seems like there should’ve been more splintering going on there. Again, I think they needed more time to tie everything up.

Aside from those complaints, I loved the season. I set aside most of a day to binge it, and I do not regret that decision at all.

1K notes · View notes

offbeatcappuccino · 3 years

Text

Love Alarm Season 2: In Defense of Hye Yeong (written by a Sun Oh stan)

Warning: This analysis contains spoilers. Read at your own risk!

I binge-watched two seasons of Love Alarm in two days and I have some thoughts on the Kim Jojo- Hye Yeong ship. I genuinely hate watching k-dramas that involve the audience having to do deal with not only the relationship between the female and male lead, but also the relationship between her and an equally if not more swoon-worthy second male lead. I had a brief encounter with Love Alarm Season 1 two years ago before I decided against finishing the season because I discovered that it ends on a cliffhanger. Like many fans of the show, from the first three episodes, I strongly believed that Sun-Oh and Jojo would end up together. They both had difficult childhoods and parents and with Jojo enabling the shield, their breakup seemed temporary and that they would get back together once Jojo figures out how to disable the shield and realizes the she was never happy without Sun Oh. Therefore, I found it surprising to find the creators of the show positing a Jojo-Hye Yeong pairing. By doing so, they not only broke Sun Oh's heart but also millions of fans worldwide. However, upon deeper reflection, I think I can understand why a Hye-Yeong-Jojo pairing was the most probable all along and is necessary for the premise of the show to succeed.

Love Alarm is more than a rom-com about a bunch of teenagers overcoming adversity through love. Love Alarm offers its audience a nuanced critique of our dependency on technology and how such dependency makes us less intuitive about our feelings and needs. The best way to explain this in our current society is by quite literally focusing on the invention of the alarm. Before the alarm was invented, humans slept and rose based on our circadian rhythms and we instinctively woke up every day to carry out our various responsibilities. However, with the invention of the alarm clock, many of us are not able to wake up on time for anything without it. Try to sleep one day without setting your alarm and you'll find yourself waking up four hours later ( been there done that!). Similarly, in the world of Love Alarm, we see individuals overly reliant on the app to the point that it has dominated every single discourse being had in 2023. For instance, in the first scene of Season 2 Episode 1, we see a marriage ceremony that only concludes after the bride and groom ring each other's alarms and with the release of Love Alarm 2.0, people aren't even giving a chance to individuals, who don't show up on the list. The notion of blind trust in our relationships is completely thrown with Love Alarm when there is an app that is constantly verifying whether a person has feelings for you. This is detrimental because the success of true passionate love rests on the fact that we come to care for someone so deeply that we ultimately trust them to feel the same way about us, so we let them into the most intimate aspects of our lives.

This statement mentioned above is precisely why Sun Oh and Jojo were never endgame. Sun Oh and Jojo's relationship was only initiated because they rang each other's alarms and while they shared moments of happiness, their relationship was not founded on trust because both Sun Oh and Jojo lacked the intuition to see their relationship as something that transcends an app. Throughout Season 2, we see Sun Oh consistently warped in the technicalities of the app with his obsessive questioning of Jojo over the shield. While we see him question Jojo about why she can't ring his alarm, he can't seem to comprehend this idea that you don't need the alarm to be in a successful relationship even though he seems to be doing that quite wonderfully with Yok Joo. Yok Joo because someone that truly makes Sun Oh happy and remains a constant source of support that he can rely on. Likewise, we see Sun Oh prioritizing and caring for Yok Joo, signs that he is growing to love someone, but cannot accept it because he excepts the Alarm to tell him that he is in love.

Love rarely is an instantaneous experience, but rather something that develops over time, and Love Alarm completely strips this experience. In his decision to woo Jojo without the alarm, Hye Yeong embraces this idea successfully. He remains undeterred about the fact that Jojo can't ring his alarm and continues to spend meaningful time with her because being around her simply makes him feel happy and a part of him trusts the fact that Jojo feels the same way. Hye Yeong trusts his intuition more than he trusts an app. In doing so, he makes Jojo realize that she has to listen to herself rather than an app. Throughout her storyline, a common thread is the supposed lack of control that Jojo feels from her parents' death to her being left with no choice but to rely on her unkind aunt and cousin for support. In Jojo being able to finally make a choice in her life in choosing to love Hye Yong, she is arguably able to express autonomy over her life for the first time and she is not bound by her status as an economically struggling orphan in doing so.

Additionally, another reason why Jojo and Sun-Oh's relationship failed is that while the two may truly be in love, they were not in love with each other at the right time. When Jojo and Sun Oh were both dating each other, they were arguably at the lowest points in their life. Sun Oh was dealing with extremely abusive and negligent parents, while Jojo was still traumatized by the death of her parents and the bullying that she faced at the hands of her cousin and classmates. Throughout their relationship, Jojo was terrified at the prospect of Sun-Oh finding out about her background and was embarrassed by her socioeconomic status, which was what prompted her to download the shield in the first place. Jojo's period of However, by the time Hye Yeong pursues a relationship with Jojo, she is in a much better place. Not only does she feel more comfortable with Hye-Yeong because they had already seen each other at their all-time lows, but she's become more assertive, confident, and found some fame in her work as the artist of The Ringing World. She also has a best friend that understands and respects her boundaries. Loving someone but having to let them go because it simply wasn't the right time and place is all too common of an occurrence and the creators of the show challenge us to question the idea that we are only destined for one person our entire life. We can love many people throughout our life, but the ones who we grow to love when we love ourselves is where the key to long term commitment lies.

I know that many fans of the show are upset and I also have many issues with the writing and development of Sun Oh's character. Regardless, I also feel that Love Alarm challenges many of the expectations that arise from cliché k-drama tropes. There are so many things that I would change about the show, but I have grown to accept the fact that Sun Oh deserves better. But, I'm not sure if Jojo would have been the source of his happiness and I only wish that his ending didn't feel so incomplete and heartbreaking.

#love alarm 2 #love alarm s2 #love alarm #love alarm spoilers #song kang #kim so hyun #netflix #kdrama #jung ga ram #kim jojo #lee hye yeong #hwang sun oh #kim soo hyun

148 notes · View notes

petri808 · 3 years

Text

Oh look at the date! Klance ficlet for @diablosart they know why lol 😏

“What the hell we’re you thinking?!” Keith snapped as he popped his helmet off and chucked it hard at the ground. “Thanks to you were now trapped in a cave in!”

“Look, I’m sorry! I got distracted!” Lance snapped back.

“By what?! We were supposed to be scanning for the jababian dagger. What were you doing, watching your smut videos again?!”

Lance pulled off his helmet with a scoff. “First off, I don’t watch smut videos. Second, even if I did, that’s none of your business. And third, no, I was scanning, just wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

Keith rolled his eyes and spat back with a sarcastic riff. “Well that explains why you knocked both our cats out of the damn air crashing us into this place!”

Using a flashlight, Keith scanned the inside of the cave and noticed a lot of fractures spanning the walls. According to the computer in his Lion, the cave was full of an unstable and weak type of volcanic rock. ‘No wonder it caved in so easily…’ He groaned again. “Just great, if we try to blast our way out, it might collapse the ceiling on us.” Keith walked over to his helmet and picked it up. “I’ll need to do a thorough analysis before attempting to break free. The computers on the ship could do a better job scanning this cave, but they won’t arrive until morning.”

“Are you serious?! We’re stuck in here?!”

“At least for the night, so, stop your bitching since you’re the one who got us into this mess! Why don’t you start a fire while I get to work with the computer.”

“Fine,” Lance stomped away muttering to himself. He was just happy Keith was too irritated and didn’t press him further on what he’d been distracted about.

The pair had been sent ahead of the rest of the Voltron group to look for some kind of special dagger. Lance couldn’t remember what was so important about it, just that it possessed magical properties and they didn’t want it falling into the enemy’s hands. A distress signal was sent out to their ship, so now they just needed to settle in and stay warm until help arrived. He managed to find a cache of old animal bones deeper in the cave to use as fuel for the fire, coupled with some dried leaves and tetrodontyl feathers that must have blown in over the years for kindling. Whether it would last the night was yet to be seen, but it was all he had to work with. Their Lions only held so much in terms of supplies because they weren’t meant to hold long term reserves. But luckily there were emergency blankets and some instant rations they could eat.

Lance never realized just how cold and uninviting a cave could truly be until he became stuck in one. It was creepy with the sounds of bugs scurrying in the darkness, water drops echoing through the silent air, and occasional cracking sounds from any temperature fluctuations. He hated the quiet emptiness because it left open room for his mind to wander and more thoughts to break through as he stared into the flames of their campfire. Lance frowned and brows furrowed, remembering the distraction that led to this debacle. Of course, this was the opposite of what he would have wanted! Their lions sustained damage, and to be stuck, alone, with the reason for his distracted mind was causing his stomach to turn inside out.

Maybe Lance should have pushed Keith harder to drag Pidge or Hunk or Allura along on this trip and not him, anyone but him. He didn’t want to come. Didn’t want to be alone with the man. Hasn’t, for a while now ever since he’d developed different feelings for the guy. ‘How ironic,’ Lance groaned in his head. To go from professional jealousy to romantic pining, he was such a fool. Could anyone blame him? Keith was handsome and smart, but not surprisingly it took someone who could be as hot-headed as himself to catch his eye. Or maybe it was surprising if Lance really thought about it. Girls easily caught his attention, but with Keith it was an attraction that grew through close working confines and of admiration. In essence, he fell for the character of the man and not just for his looks.

“Oi?” Keith snapped his fingers to get Lance’s attention. “The eta is now 8 hours till Shiro and the rest get here.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, okay.” Lance responded in a rather distracted tone that mirrored the monotonous looping thoughts in his head. He felt horrible about causing this disaster in the mission while at the same time kept thinking about Keith…

“That’s all you can say?” Keith questioned his teammate. “Okay?” But when he received no response, he pushed the man’s shoulder hard. “What is going on with you lately Lance? You’ve been distracted a lot and it’s starting to affect your performance.”

“Am I not allowed to have a bad day?” Lance retorted. “Everyone has their bad days, man, it’s not always a crisis.”

Keith sighed. His anger had dissipated but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still annoyed. He thought they were close enough friends that would turn to each other if something was wrong, but apparently he was mistaken. “It’s my job as the leader to worry, so cut the bullshit Lance. I know enough to know something is really bothering you. If you don’t wanna talk about it, fine, but you need to figure it out cause this,” he gestured to their damaged lions, “can’t keep happening.”

“I know, I know,” Lance dropped his head with a long exhale. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to screw up. It’s just— there’s something eating me up and I have no idea what to about it.”

A silence took hold as the two men sat there illuminated by the fire’s light. Keith didn’t want to keep pushing, but he could see the angst on Lances face and it bothered him. In all the years they’ve known each other, there was only one other time he’d ever seen the man so… sad? But it couldn’t be for the same reason, because if Lance had met a new girl he was interested in, Keith was certain he would have heard about it immediately. Lance wasn’t exactly shy about the subject unlike himself. So, what could it be? Keith stared at the fire as he pondered what to say next, but nothing really felt right to say to his friend. This wasn’t exactly a topic he was skilled in with his own little buried secret. For the next couple of hours, they stayed that way, shifting only to stoke the fire or eat some of the rations they had available. It would probably be a great idea to get some rest, but neither made a move to do so. Just… kept staring in awkward silence at a dying fire.

The temperature change in the cavern was slower than it would have been if exposed to the outside air, but nonetheless, by the mid-way mark of their wait the pair could feel it dropping. Blankets were pulled tighter around their bodies in an effort to hold back the cold, and the men had moved closer together to conserve the body heat between them. Maybe it was the exhaustion kicking in, but the limited distance no longer bothered Lance. The hours of silent reflection were also leading him to one conclusion. If he wanted to stop the frustration, coming clean was the best solution. Yet one thing kept holding him back from making the leap— the proverbial aftermath.

Yeah, so telling Keith how he really felt might take the weight off his shoulders, but what would happen after that? What if Keith is disgusted? He’ll not only lose a friend, but how could they continue working together? That would be so uncomfortable! Lance groaned in his head. Would he be willing to give up his role in Voltron? What if Keith ended up leaving instead, causing him to feel guilty about it? Would the others hold it against him? Maybe if they talked it out, they can work out something amicable… ‘Argh!’ Lance screamed in his head as cradled his lowered head. Why did he fall for a teammate!

Keith looked over at the movement and saw Lance’s demeanor. “If you’re tired, why don’t you rest?”

“It’s not that,” Lance mumbled. “I mean I am, but it’s not that.”

“Oh…”

“Have you ever had a crush on someone but didn’t know how to tell them?”

‘So it is over a girl…’ Keith’s brow raised. “Why can’t you tell them?”

“Because, it’s awkward when you’ve known them for so long.”

‘Huh, so maybe it is Allura.’ Keith couldn’t say he was surprised, but it stung just a little. “You should probably just tell them, I mean if it’s eating you up this bad, isn’t it better to just know how they feel too?”

“I don’t know…” Lance sighed. “It’s not like they’ve ever given me a reason to think they’d like me back.”

“Still, once you do know, you can start moving forward again, cause right now you’re stuck and that’s worse.”

Lance glanced over to Keith who was looking in his direction. The man was right. Didn’t make a decision any easier… but he was probably right and all he could do is hope for the best. That didn’t mean he was ready to face Keith head-on either or see the physical reaction the man might have. Lance turned his head away and kept his arms wrapped tightly around himself for protection. “It’s… you…” he mumbled quietly.

“Come again? I didn’t catch that.”

“I said… It’s you.” Lance mumbled again, but this time a little louder.

“Me??”

“See, yeah, I told you it would be awkward— just forget I said anything. I feel better just getting it out.”

Keith forced Lance to turn back to him. “No, I mean I was just surprised cause you’re always chasing after women, but—”

“I’ll just drop it and move on,” Lance cut him off. “I don’t wanna make you feel uncomfortable.”

“But that’s the thing,” Keith interjected, “I’m not. It’s okay because I’ve liked you too but I just thought you weren’t into guys.”

Lances eyes flashed wide. He really hadn’t expected such a response, especially not this quickly. “You do?” His voice trembled as he verified the man’s statement.

“Yeah…” Keith blushed. “I don’t exactly have experience in this stuff, but I like you too Lance.”

Lance jumped up in excitement. “Wow— for once my screw up turned out to be a good thing!”

“Uh-huh…” Keith chuckled. “But don’t do that again!”

#klance #voltron #lance mcclain #keith voltron #klance ficlet #klance fanfiction

63 notes · View notes

ladyeliot · 3 years

Photo

Aftermath

Request: This is a request that @mycosmicparadise asked me for a long time ago. Sorry, sweetie.

Pairing: Tony Stark x Avenger Female Reader

Summary: After the events in New York, the team reunites to carry out the mission to get Loki's scepter, but things go wrong and your mission changes completely, now you have to go after Ultron, but you find yourself unable to keep your powers under control.

Warnings: Angst, Mentions of abuse.

Word count: 3972

A/N: Avengers Age of Ultron. Some of the dialogue is taken from the film. Sorry for my spelling and grammatical mistakes, English is not my native language, I am learning.

Reader's powers: She is a powerful empath, as she can sense and manipulate other people's emotions. Proficient unarmed combatant.

Hydra, Research Base, Eastern Europe.

You felt like your insides were full of hate and rage, every person you met through the thick forest, the only thing they felt when they saw you was dislike, mixed with the anger of wanting to get rid of you. Your powers worked because you kept your own emotions under control, but it was a constant struggle, as you used to feel inside you the emotions that others possessed and that made your insides filled with every negative emotion.

"Shit!" you heard Tony through the relay you had inserted in the back of your ear.

"Language!" Steve instantly rebutted him.

You held your position through the thick forest of Sokovia, Hydra's base was on top of a mountain, or rather it was the mountain itself, for around it they had built a rather impenetrable base that you wanted to access in order to get the Sceptre that you were unable to take from Loki at the time. Numerous clearly trained soldiers were trying to stop you in your tracks. Jarvis had informed you that the building was protected by an energy shield, which was against you as it was the most advanced technology you had seen in any Hydra base of operations.

"Loki's sceptre must be in there," Thor announced, as you guarded one of those soldiers under your body rendering him completely unconscious. "They couldn't have those defences without it."

You ran across the field trying to close the gap with Natasha, who was a few metres ahead of you, Clint following.

"Okay," you said staring at one of your targets and getting him to lower his gun to tackle him, "so what do we do?"

"Wait a second," Tony interjected. "No one else is going to deal with the fact that Cap just said "language?"

"I know," Steve replied, making your eyes roll at the distraction they were causing in the middle of the mission.

The graze of bullets was almost audible through your body, it seemed to go on forever, you had been going on for hours and all you could manage to do was run into more troops sent by Hydra to hold you in that quadrant of the forest. Natasha was trying to get rid of two guys who had tackled her, you turned to her and stared at one of them but just as you were about to make the mental connection something that you barely noticed made you fall to the ground.

"What the hell?" you exclaimed getting up again and looking around you hoping to find the cause of it.

"We've got an upgrade," Steve informed you.

"Wait, you don't call her 'language'?" Tony complained at the situation. "Okay, I'll tell her. Language!"

At that instant a muffled shout from Clint sounded behind you.

"Clint!" Natasha had effectively freed herself from the two henchmen and you both headed towards Clint, who had been shot from a bunker. "Clint's hurt. Can someone take care of that bunker?"

As if Natasha's words were an order, Hulk appeared out of nowhere to overwhelm the small building and the soldiers inside. You stood up and turned your full attention to your surroundings while Nat continued to perform the necessary treatment to alleviate the blow that your companion had received.

"Clint is in bad shape, he needs to be evacuated," Nat reported over the transmitter, as Thor and the Captain instantly landed next to you. "I can take Barton to the Quinjet," Thor replied and focused his gaze on Steve. "The sooner we leave the better.

"Copy that," Steve replied for both of you, but at that moment he noticed your face.

"Roger that," Steve replied for both of you, but at that moment he noticed your face. "Are you all right?"

You nodded, returning to an introspective position beside Natasha.

On the ride home, silence flooded the Quinjet more than ever, the mission had finally succeeded but it wasn't really in the air, it wasn't felt inside any of you, even though Stark had proposed a victory party.

The following days nothing had gone as planned, the analysis of the sceptre that Stark and Banner had carried out, more than an analysis it was a reconfiguration of a network of neurons that they had found, in order to create an artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence that they used in Stark's secret 'peacekeeping' programme called Ultron, designed to allow the Iron Legion to operate independently. That brought some trouble, when at the end of the Party he showed up to personally attack you, well rather, the whole of humanity, as Ultron thinks the best way to save Earth is to eradicate humanity, he might be partly right.

"Ultron is gone," Banner's voice echoed within the four walls of the lab, "he has used the internet as an escape route."

"Ultron," you whispered to yourself, as one hand covered your face thoroughly.

"He's been all over. Files, surveillance," Natasha explained. "He knows more about us than we know about each other."

As the conversation continued to escalate, emotional energies radiated through the atmosphere, and you picked up on every one of them. Negativity, gathered together with worry, confusion and concern took over your body, you still felt a resentment from the attack you experienced three days ago in Sokovia, which managed to heighten each of the sensations. You closed your eyes as you hid your face with one hand and the other voices became ominous, frustrating your senses. Natasha was the only person who seemed to notice your situation, stopping the voices with a "guys", but just as they stopped, a small laugh from a completely distracted Tony typing on the computer made you burst.

"You think that's funny?" the hand hiding your face disappeared to give way to hard features and a raised, gruff tone of voice, Tony turned and looked at you a little quizzically, but you could see a hidden smile.

"No," he said indifferently. "It probably isn't, is it? This is terrible, it's so..." again his laughter tackled him, causing you to be completely confused and your frustration to grow. "I know. It's so terrible."

"It's just as terrible that you're taunting all of us right now with your fucking arrogance," you said approaching him.

"No," his tone unlike yours seemed pleasant and friendly, "It really is funny, just like it's funny that you don't understand why we need him," Tony closed the distance with you, positioning the two of you in the middle of the lab, his voice had completely changed it was just as gruff as yours.

"Tony, maybe this isn't the time," Bruce interjected in a melodic tone.

"So, a killer robot was what we needed?" you reproached, lifting your chin to position yourself against his height. "The shield that was supposed to free us from alien threats frees us by wiping out all of humanity, yeah, really brilliant."

"Remember I put a nuke through a wormhole?" he rebuked you, recalling for the umpteenth time that night the event in New York. "Tell me, how did you plan to win that? What was your damned solution to get rid of that damned hostile alien army that came through that wormhole in space?"

"Together," Steve interjected quickly, causing Tony to look away from you and back at Steve.

You made the air rush into your lungs offering you some relaxation, instigating your mind to let positive memories come to you. Your differences with Tony were known, your understanding of his views was limited, a fact that generated the occasional verbal conflict between the two of you, let's just say you couldn't stand each other more than you deserved.

The night was long, mostly because there was hardly any rest after planning what you were going to do to stop Ultron, which led you to South Africa.

"She should stay," Nat's whisper reached your ears. "The mission in Sokovia has left her with aftermath she has yet to overcome."

"Oh, last night was a aftermath?" Tony from the pilot's seat added to the conversation. "Nice."

"You know I'm here and I can hear you?" you asked without opening your eyes from your seat. "I'm coming down, worry about you guys that..."

"Okay, listen," Tony stood up from the command post. "I may regret saying this but I agree with her. I think you should stay here with Banner. Keep you two company. Get to know each other better. You know."

"Why don't you stay here, Tony, and get to know Banner better?" you opened your eyes and looked at Tony, but thought for a second. "Well, I'd better not, lest you get the bright idea to create Ultron's sister."

"He's an only child," Tony countered your irony.

"The roles are split," you added as a definitive point. "I'll take the girl, you take Ultron."

From a mountain fortress to a ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. You entered its interior, a quite feasible target, when in fact what you all feared lay within. Darkness fell over your pupils, the smell of dampness professed in every corner.

"You're with me, aftermath," reported a voice from behind a suit of armour. "Stay sharp, this guy is made by me."

The long corridors soon took you deep into the heart of the ship, they were as eager to run into you as you were to run into them, so it was only a couple of minutes before you were reunited in a vast maze of iron catwalks.

"Stark is a sickness!" exclaimed that robot called Ultron.

"Ahh, Junior," Tony posed in front of him and his two enhanced companions, "You're gonna break your old man's heart."

From that moment on things happened too fast for a clear description to be made. The corridors seemed to lengthen as you tried to keep that enhanced girl, Wanda, away from the others. She was powerful, trying to play with your mind and you with hers. It was a battle of mental endurance, if you could keep your mind blank and safe from all the negative things she was trying to make you see, you could keep going. It seemed doable, you seemed to have it under control, you had freed yourself from the transmitter that kept you in contact with the others to avoid any external distractions, but none of that was enough when a new enhancement came into play making you lose your balance completely, you felt the emptiness flooding you, as if your body was falling unchecked into the darkness.

A halo of light circled over your eyes making you recognise what was around you, you had escaped, you had fled from that ship thousands of miles in space and time. A figure that you recognised instantly was in front of you, smiling at you, raising her hand to caress your face, it was the figure of your mother, she was laughing, but with each laugh the atmosphere became darker. The main living room of your house appeared before your eyes, but it seemed totally neglected, the furniture was worn out, there was dust and mould in every corner, your mother was prostrate on the floor and a figure without a face was on top of her beating her, you heard the screams of a little girl, they were quite familiar, they were yours. That scene began to repeat itself over and over again, reliving your childhood, you fought to try to change it, but you had no control over it or over your mind at that moment, time after time the pain invaded you and although you tried to stop it, it became impossible again. You had entered a loop, you had lost track of time and space, you couldn't run away from it. Your own mind had become part of it.

Your ears only picked up your screams and those of your mother, you kept your eyes open but your vision was not able to see, you fell to your knees wherever you were in reality and you stayed there, until someone managed to locate you.

"I got her," as a faint whisper drifted into the scene you were living. "Okay. You're safe, I've got you."

As if you were again falling into the void your body rose into the air, and the darkness once again hovered over you, causing all your limbs and your brain to go into a deep, eternal sleep.

Without really knowing where you were, you could hear a faint hissing sound that came more and more strongly to your senses. Light broke through your eyelids, which were struggling against their will to open. Familiarity with the space made you realise where you were. The whistling sound was coming from the air hitting the Quinjet, for all was silent inside. You sat up slowly, the mental pain was suffocating, not only because of what you had seen and what you had been through, but because you could feel the same sensations all around you.

You sat up, covering your face with your hands and hiding it between your legs trying to pull yourself together, but at that moment you felt someone kneel down right in front of you and put a hand on the back of your neck.

"What can I do?" Tony's voice sounded cautious, but there was really little he could do in those few square metres of anguish, so you just shook your head. "Okay, look at me," you shook your head again not wanting to have direct access to any more emotions at the moment, "Look at me. Please."

Your breathing was rapid and your heart kept shrinking, causing a lump in your throat that almost prevented you from breathing. You couldn't extract everything you had inside you, nor could you find the calm you needed to let him go, you were afraid to look at him to interfere with his feelings and manipulate them by offering him yours, you were also afraid of acquiring his negative emotions and adding them to your own. But still you felt his hand go to your chin and he gently lifted it up to catch your face in his gaze.

"In a couple of hours we'll be in a shelter," his face was close, his fingers held firmly on your chin. "Do you think you'll be okay?"

A subtle nod is what you offered in reply, Tony nodded as well and took a seat right next to you after having moved closer to Barton.

"In a couple of hours we'll be in a shelter," his face was close, his fingers held firmly on your chin. "Do you think you'll be okay?"

A subtle nod is what you offered in reply, Tony nodded as well and took a seat right next to you after having moved closer to Barton. Those two hours seemed endless, you kept your hands pressed to your temple trying to forget what you had seen, but more so what you had felt. Tony, along with Barton were the only ones who had not suffered the effects of Wanda Maximoff's mind control on you on that occasion, it was evident from the physical and mental state of the other teammates.

Tony stayed by your side for the entire 120 minutes, worried and afraid that everything that had happened was his fault, and it was all coming back to you.

"Stop," you whispered trying to get Tony's attention.

"How?" he whispered and bent his face closer to yours, which was resting on your hands.

"Stop flogging yourself, I've had enough of the others," you pleaded a little rudely, unable to control yourself.

"I'm sorry," he placed his palm on your back, but an uncomfortable gesture from your shoulder caused him to remove it a second later. "I'm sorry."

A couple of hours later, the Quinjet took up position on a large greenish esplanade, the greenest thing your eyes had ever seen in your life. In the centre was a small cottage, cosy enough for anyone to see. Tony held you firmly, as it seemed that your body would fall if he let go. You went inside together, a hospitable warmth surrounded each of your limbs causing you to get some peace in you after hours.

Time seemed to have taken its toll on your senses, as you barely understood half of what was being said around you. But everything changed when two children entered, bringing joy and life to the room, it was the most comforting thing you had felt in weeks, the innocence that each of them possessed was like a breath of fresh air to you. You gently removed your arm from Tony's shoulders, murmuring "I'm feeling better," and he returned an "Okay" with a still worried look on his face. Actually Barton's idea of taking you there had been really successful for all of you, except for Thor who left, but for the rest of you it was something you'd never been able to contemplate in your lives, kind of like what it would be like to have a family.

Sunset was near and the view from that wooden porch surrounding the house was charmingly soothing.

"You look good," Tony appeared behind you with his hands in his pockets and perched next to you, leaning on the railing.

"Thank you," you said, looking back up at the grove of trees that loomed before your eyes. "And thanks for earlier."

" For what?" he asked with confusion in his voice.

"When you tried to reassure me on the Quinjet," you said without looking at him. "And... I think it was also you who took me back."

"Yep," Tony put his hand to the back of his neck and turned to you. "The truth is, that process would have been a lot more feasible if you hadn't gotten rid of the transmitter, it would have saved me a lot of time."

"I know," you ducked your face, but a small smile appeared on it.

"Do you want to talk?" Tony's voice seemed somewhat hesitant after stating the question.

"No," you shook your face, letting the last rays of sunlight fall on him. "Do you want to talk?"

"What do you feel?" he answered your question with another question, ignoring it completely. "What do you feel inside when you feel us?"

"I feel what other people are feeling," you explained, looking at him for the first time. "If I concentrate I can feel what you're feeling right now, or what Steve is feeling, or how the Hulk feels when he turns."

"How?"

That conversation you'd had on several occasions in your life, but at no point had you had it with Tony, you hadn't been close at any point, closeness you could find in Natasha or even Steve, but not in Tony, that's why that moment was peculiar, as well as comforting.

"It's easy when my emotions are in control," you turned your body towards him and leaned against the wooden railing. "I just have to look at my target and focus on how he feels, knowing that whatever is inside him I'm going to feel it too," you focused your gaze on Tony's eyes, "for instance, right now you're remorseful about what happened with Ultron, but you also feel misunderstood because no one understands your point of view, you're also melancholy about being in this place, a little envious about discovering the life that Barton has, and..." you paused slightly as you discovered one of his feelings, but you chose to ignore it, as he seemed to be really nervous about the process of analysis he was undergoing, "embarrassed because right now I'm feeling the same way you are.”

You offered him a slight smile, which he himself returned a little nervously at the exposition you had offered him, Tony was a very rigorous person when expressing himself and this had completely thrown him off.

"That..." he put one hand nervously to the back of his neck while the other was hidden in his trouser pocket. "Great, I guess it's nice to know I'm not empty. But well, we'd better keep this between us."

"Of course," for the first time you felt a little satisfied with your task just done, it was nice to see that this person could shed his pride on several occasions.

"Well, I'd better go and help Rogers chop wood," he said, standing up beside you and scratching the bridge of his nose.

" Yes, he certainly looks like he could use your help," you commented wryly as Steve had little difficulty chopping wood in one fell swoop.

"Yeah," he shoved his hands in his pockets and slipped out of the place as quickly as possible.

Within a minute you could feel him perch next to you again, leaning his body on the railing and looking at you.

"That's all you found?" he asked with a frown and gesturing nimbly with his hand, a gesture that denoted nervousness. "I mean, there was nothing else."

"What do you mean?" you frowned as he did, looking completely puzzled, since you already knew what he meant.

"Well..." he scratched the back of his neck again, "Do you usually do this to me? I mean, have you ever gone inside my head before to see how I'm feeling or have you only done it this once? Is it usual?"

"Do you really think I want to know what you keep in your head Tony?" you asked holding back a laugh at his reaction.

"Okay," he gave a long nod biting the inside of his lip. "And there was nothing else you said?"

"Do you want me to try again? Maybe I can find something else," you offered humbly, knowing what he wanted.

"No, it's... all right," his words were accompanied with a step back, putting distance between you and him. "It's all right. I'm... going to go help Cap."

"Okay," you bit your lower lip as you watched him disappear behind you again. behind you again.

You watched as Tony walked over to Steve's pile of firewood and picked up an axe to imitate his movements. You remained in your position, keeping your gaze lost in that grove of trees that made you feel so calm, but it was very easy to catch Tony's gaze watching you from his position. He knew that you had felt it, because perhaps it was one of the emotions that was strongest inside him at that moment, but evidently you didn't want to expose it out loud, and let him know that you had discovered it. Yet there it was, and it was going to take you too long to forget that feeling, because it felt too good to let it go.

Taglist Open (DM)

MAIN MASTERLIST

139 notes · View notes

chaoticevilbean · 3 years

Text

Voltron Humans Are Weird 1/?

"C'mon Keith! Just follow the instructions! When I say Vol, you say Tron! VOL-"

"Voltron?" Lance facepalmed for what felt like the millionth time, a headache already forming once again. He'd been trying for a week to get his teammate to understand the chant, but he just couldn't get it! It was frustrating beyond belief.

"PALADINS! THE GALRA ARE APPROACHING! TO YOUR LIONS!" Allura's voice rang out from the speakers in the hallways, and both Paladins wasted no time rushing to their hangars. Shiro was already out and racing towards their enemies, and Lance and Keith followed soon after. Hunk was the last one out, once more complaining about the stupid zipline not supporting his weight.

There were three cruisers advancing on the group, and fighter jets rushed towards the humans in droves. The team began blasting immediately, explosions lighting up the nearby space more than the stars and the Castle's light. They fought hard, but it was obvious they couldn't do much individually.

"We need Voltron!" Shiro called out, and the group went into formation. As they did, an idea struck Lance.

"WHAT TEAM?" he screamed as they merged.

"WILDCATS!" four voices screamed back. The Paladins felt the rush of confidence that came from the simple call and response, and it was enough to let them finish off the Galran ships in only a few minutes.

The humans boarded the Castle laughing, meeting in the lounge with grins firmly in place.

"Lance, that was perfect," Hunk told his friend, pulling the other into a side-hug. "I can't believe none of us have done that sooner."

"Well, I thought it was better than the Voltron chant," the Blue Paladin responded, eyeing Keith.

"That one actually makes sense," the boy said defensively, arms crossed.

"That's why I think it's better. The Voltron one makes sense to most of us, this one makes sense to all of us."

"Excuse me," a voice interrupted. The Paladins turned towards Allura, only now noticing she had entered the room. Both her and Coran seemed rather confused. "But, who are the Wildcats? They are a team? Of what?" Pidge smirked at the princess, glasses glinting in the artificial lighting.

"Schools on Earth sometimes have names that they call their students in a general sense, and their sports teams are named after that. There's a school with kids called Wildcats, so their basketball team is called the Wildcats. However, actual wildcats are just what the name says. Cats that are wild, as in known to be vicious and not meant to be around humans much if at all."

"And what are cats?"

"Small feline predators with sharp claws and teeth, impeccable balance, night vision, and a strong hunting instinct. Their tongues have small hooks on them to help rip the meat from their prey's bones, and they can jump really high or far when they pounce. Humans domesticated some, creating smaller variants called housecats. We also took lions and tigers, two incredibly dangerous and very big cats, and bred them together to make an animal that can't even reproduce. Some big cats are kept as pets or in captivity in zoos and stuff, and they could kill us in seconds. But they're fluffy and occasionally very sweet, so we keep attempting to befriend or domesticate them more than we already have."

Allura and Coran were silent. And horrified. Very very very horrified.

"You keep these creatures in your homes?" Allura finally asked, eyes wide and seeming to be unable to comprehend what had been said. To be fair, Pidge had made it sound rather terrifying, or at least caused unease to her fellow humans. Lance was the only one unaffected. He blamed Tumblr.

"Yeah, of course we do," Lance commented, joining the fun. "Same with dogs. Those are canine predators that rely more on strength than agility when hunting. They're used for hunting, pest control, disability management, companionship, and pretty much anything else we could think of. They travel in packs more often than felines, and the wilder canines are wolves and coyotes. Unlike housecats, dogs can get really big. I mean, English Mastiffs are absolutely huge, and that's just one breed. Dogs are more likely to be kept as pets because they're generally considered friendlier, though nowadays it's a 50-50 chance. And that's just dogs and cats that's being counted. If you put in all of the other types of animals, snakes - reptiles that don't have legs and some are venomous, and some just literally squeeze the life out of you - and lizards - basically snakes with legs that don't use constriction but instead sometimes use their tongues or claws and just latch on - and frogs - the poison dart frog is tiny but deadly - and all sorts of birds, from eagles that dive at high speeds and snatch prey off the ground to parrots that can mimic sounds so well people have mistaken them for sirens or babies crying. Humans like taking the animals that could kill us and making them pets so that we can enjoy how cute they look. Or just feel kickbutt when our boa constrictor hisses at bullies but no one can get rid of it because it's a certified service animal."

"Princey was terrifying."

"Hunk, you only thought that because he tried to hug you before I explained that he does things like that."

"HE WAS TRYING TO MURDER ME!"

"HE WAS SAD WHEN YOU STARTED SCREAMING AND HE JUSTED WANTED TO SHOW THAT HE ACCEPTED YOU AS MY FRIEND! HE WAS GIVING YOU HIS BLESSING! HE SULKED FOR THREE DAYS AFTER YOU REJECTED HIM, HUNK! IT WASN'T MURDER!"

"ATTEMPTED MURDER!"

The argument escalated, with questions tossed in by the other humans about why Lance needed a service animal and why a boa constrictor and why Princey and more. Most questions were ignored in favor of the shouting match between the two bros. Shiro put a stop to it when Pidge and Keith looked at him for guidance. After all, the Yellow and Blue Paladins never fought. Ever. And now they were fighting about something obscure and personal.

The Alteans left the moment the teens raised their voices, heading directly for the control room.

"Coran, pull up a new log, and please make sure none of the Paladins can access it. A secure file for just you and I, at least at the moment."

"Of course, princess! And what should I label it?"

"A Guide To Humans." The log was created and pulled up, and both aliens stood at the computer. Together, they inputted their newly learned facts, agreeing that they would never understand their Terran companions, but they may as well try. Especially if they somehow found living with other predators to be normal and beneficial, and yet could make it sound absolutely horrifying.

Humans live with many different predators from their home world that are domesticated for different uses. These uses are listed below as they are discovered. Fauna that are considered 'normal' or 'okay' to be kept within a home, as 'pets', will also be listed and described. Beware, as the human's normalcy for having these creatures may cause their analysis of other 'alien' creatures' danger level to be incorrect or considerably lower than the official assessment.

If in a battle and struggling, verbalizing the question, "What team?" (preferably in a raised and/or enthusiastic voice) will result in any Terrans to respond with the word "wildcats" (at an extremely increased volume) and an aura of confidence within the humans. This most likely can be used every battle with continual effects, and will leave the humans with increased success and higher dopamine levels. It will also unify any Terrans, so there is a possible use in causing multiple groups of the beings to join together, despite any previous disputes or separations.

On all accounts, proceed with caution until new data can be collected to verify the information and theories presented here.

#humans are weird #humans are space orcs #earth is space australia #voltron #vld #voltron humans are weird #oneshots #voltron oneshots #humans are weird oneshots

216 notes · View notes

bookofmirth · 3 years

Note

I haven't read ACOSF yet, and tbh I'm rather rusty with the characters but it was really interesting to read your opinion on Elain! I feel there's a lot of complexity to her. And how she presents herself as well because as you said we literally have no chapters from hers or Lucien's POV and I think that's the important point to note because right now we're all just guessing and assuming her to be like Feyre, but she's not. People deal/show their traumas in different way and l think people expect Elain to deal with it as Feyre did. But, Feyres trauma and Elains are very different!

I don't really know what I'm saying. But I read your answer and it made me go 'oh... Huh!' in a good way, it sparked my curiosity! So thank you! But I think Elain perhaps is the most complex person with their trauma. I know people say 'oh Nesta is so different' but (I specialised in drama therapy so I love psycho analysis) and what Nesta did is self destructive to prevent relationships to avoid hurt or more emotions that she doesn't want to acknowledge (in my opinion!)

Elain just shuts down. She doesn't drink, she doesn't screw, she just remains in her garden which in itself says a lot! That's a very grounding way to handle trauma and not a lot of people are aware of that side!

So yeah I don't know what I'm saying but I think it's a really interesting discussion!

I have so many thoughts about Elain! This took me a few days to get to because i knew I had a crapton of thoughts. So this is basically me using this ask to explain the way I see Elain post-acosf!

There are three important scenes in acosf off the top of my head: when Elain talks with Nesta and they fight, and then with Nesta and Feyre and she gets mad and leaves, and then Feyre and Rhys talk about her in their chapter. We’re getting a lot more information about her, and for me, it wasn’t so much about who she is, but why we don’t know who she is.

So far, what we’ve had is Feyre’s and Nesta’s POV. Even when Feyre and Lucien tried to help her in acowar, they were unable. So we’ve never had anything about Elain from someone who didn’t grow up with her and experience the same trauma (such as becoming destitute, their mother’s death, their father being beaten, the Cauldron, etc.)

The sisters do handle it very, very differently. And I think that at this point the fandom consensus is that Elain runs away from her problems, but I actually disagree, and partly because of what you mentioned - that she isn’t using those self-harming, destructive coping mechanisms. Nesta was avoiding her problems, hardcore. It’s absolutely possible that Elain avoids things, but I don’t think that she just runs from all of her problems because:

Elain grieves her father. Openly. She tries to accept the fact that it wasn’t her fault and that she couldn’t do anything about it. (See: her going to his grave in acofas, her first talk with Nesta in acosf.) Elain does not run from her grief, she doesn’t pretend it doesn’t exist, and she doesn’t hide it from others. As one of the most defining events we’ve seen her go through in the series, that’s a pretty big deal.

Elain does not cling to unhealthy coping mechanisms. There could be ways that she does this that we are unaware of. She does seem like the type who would be really, really good at making people think she’s okay, all while she’s silently imploding. But we don’t know that yet?

Elain does not isolate herself.

However, Elain definitely needs to deal with some stuff! She definitely needs to deal with Lucien, and she needs to have an actual talk with Nesta because I don’t remember a single satisfying resolution between those two in acosf. Not like Nesta had with Feyre.

I have this idea that is purely based on Elain’s line in acosf:

“I went into the Cauldron, too, you know. And it captured me. And yet somehow, all you think of is what my trauma did to you.” (pg. 233)

And then Feyre tells Nesta that yes, Elain was right.

This is so so so sossosososos important. I cannot emphasize it enough. Elain is used to putting on a fake, smiling face because she doesn’t want the weight of her sisters’ concern. She has been pretending to cope for so long - and tbf, she seems to have been doing better than Nesta - that people not only forget that she has suffered, but she doesn’t feel like she can even express that suffering.

Emotional labor often means negating one’s own feelings in order to acknowledge or tend to someone else’s. And that is Elain’s major role, in the series. Feyre has been caring for everyone’s physical wellbeing (hunting), while Elain’s role has been to care for everyone’s emotional wellbeing. But, like with most emotional labor, it has gone unnoticed.

I’ve made posts about emotional labor in the past (four years ago!!!!) but I’m gonna spare you the link because a lot of it was about a ship that’s no longer a ship, so here is the relevant content:

What I am talking about is the regulation of emotion - any time that you give comfort, are especially attentive to someone’s needs, stop thinking about how you feel in order to focus on how someone else feels, try to cheer someone up, make sure that they are taking care of themselves, try to allay their insecurities, etc. Basically, helping them with any sort of emotional distress.

You know those posts you’ve seen, about women protecting men’s egos constantly? Or about making time for self-care? Or about recognizing toxic relationships? That tell you “if X is being demanded of you in a relationship, get out”? Those are ALL about emotional labor, broadly speaking. They are warning you not to do more than you can handle, more than you need to do, because it can be harmful to you.

If you have ever been expected to make a person or people feel better any time you are around each other (including when they are angry, upset, anxious, ill, frustrated, insecure, etc.), you have performed emotional labor. Pretty much everyone has done this at some point, unless you are a completely insensitive jerk.

Notice, though, that I said expected to and any time you are around them – this is where the problem comes in for YOU. This is not about just being there for a friend.

Making loved ones feel better is fantastic. Seeing people be polite and kind to one another makes my heart shine. That is not a problem in and of itself. That can be seen as emotional labor, but there are no requirements on you in those circumstances. This is something you are doing of your own free will.

The problem, again, is when this is expected, constantly, over time. Now, in my experience, the expectation is not necessarily coming from the other person. One of the problems with this type of labor is that not only do others expect women to perform these tasks, but women expect it of themselves.

It’s super easy to see this – who is expected to take care of a child when they fall? Who is expected to baby-sit? Who did you want when you were sick as a child, mom or dad? Who is expected to be sensitive and pay attention to others’ emotions?

For more info on this idea specifically, read Of Woman Born by Adrienne Rich. As a woman, I realized how much work I had been performing and how much it was harming me and I just… got real upset. She comes at this mostly from what a woman’s role is expected to be within the family, and might actually be a bit outdated in that respect because I feel like family structures and dynamics are shifting (that is a totally un-academic evaluation of the situation, don’t quote me on that), but still, it’s really informative.

While I was doing some research for this post I came across a peer-reviewed article about nursing and basically, high amounts of emotional labor led to anxiety and burn-out in those performing it. It literally will cost your mental health – not to mention your time, energy, attention, and it often requires you to ignore your own needs (this last part came from me, not the article). On the other hand, high levels of emotional intelligence (being able to recognize your own and others’ emotional states) meant less emotional labor (and therefore less anxiety & burn-out). One of the most important things to realize is that while you are taking care of someone else’s emotional needs, your own are frequently unmet. That is why it’s important to recognize this in yourself, not just in these characters.

So where does Elain fit in? Elain is the #1 emotional labor provider of the family, and she is about to freaking SNAP. I know, because once I realized how my trauma was hidden in order to spare someone else its consequences, I fucking SNAPPEd. I’ll also spare you the personal details, but Elain hasn’t been “okay”. She hasn’t been “boring”, or “nice”, or “chosen” Feyre over Nesta. She has literally been unable to express herself because (and I am NOT blaming Nesta or Feyre or her father one bit) her family’s emotional state has been so fragile, there hasn’t been room for Elain to feel or express her emotions in years.

In the feysand short, Rhys says:

I wonder if everyone has spent so long assuming Elain is sweet and innocent that she felt she had to be that way or else she’d disappoint you all.

And that completely tracks. Everyone has gotten used to Elain being not just “nice”, but being the emotionally predictable one. The one they know they can go to for a smile. The one they can count on for never, ever making them realize that she has been through Some Shit Too. And being that person is exhausting.

When Feyre thinks about Elain not using Lucien’s gloves, 1) she still has them, otherwise she couldn’t think about Elain not using them, and 2) I like to see the gloves as something that she will come to use, once she realizes that she can feel and express those emotions without it causing a breakdown in the family. Right now, she just wants to feel. And she can’t do that emotionally, so she’s doing it physically. Once she heals and finds a better balance, she won’t need to resort to physical pain. (Which, lowkey has me thinking some other thoughts, but.... maybe later.) But anyway, once Elain does go through her very own special journey, I fully expect her to welcome those gloves. She won’t need physical pain to feel anymore.

Not to mention my completely unacademic and non-professional opinion that people will judge a nice women harshly for being rude once, but accept a woman with a history of rudeness for just “being that way”. It’s another way that Elain may feel trapped in her “nice girl” persona. I think she started out that way - kindness and light and generosity is 100% in Elain’s character in the first place. It’s not as if she went into the Court of Nightmares and suddenly Cassian thought, “wait, she fits right in to this shithole of depravity”. No, he still thought the literal opposite. It’s just that once people get used to you doing all their emotional labor, they will continue to take advantage of it, even if they don’t realize its cost.

#elain #acosf #acosf spoilers #spoilers #ask #PHEW I needed to get that off my chest too #midnight-wonder

90 notes · View notes

louise-echoes · 3 years

Text

Why you shouldn't ship Sea Fairy with Men

This is a rewrite of my old post called "Why FireSea and FireMoon are problematic", admittedly very sloppily written and involving a lot of emotional biases (In fact, this is the same post, just, edited). I'm instead choosing to remake this into an informative post on why you shouldn't pair Sea Fairy with male cookies. In order to explain why though, I'm gonna have to tackle the most commonly used arguments, because in all brutal honesty they're very repetitive and they're very weak and bad. a. "She's in love with the moon, not Moonlight." *Sigh* Straight off the bat- this is plain wrong. It's been shown time and time again that "The Moon" in context of Sea Fairy refers to Moonlight- Whether in-game(Ovenbreak Relationships), in bonus content(CookieWars' ending cutscene), external media (The music video, merchandise), or social media (teasing posts), The Moon always refers to Moonlight from the lens of Sea Fairy. That is without taking into consideration the evidence that Moonlight and The Moon are interchangeably the same (See: Wizard Cookie calling both of them mistress, Moonlight being referred to as the moon in her costumes). So, no, you cannot deny their connection. It's a much better look for you to acknowledge their relationship and be on your merry way than it is to fight on the losing hill that is denying this. There is evidence on both ends of the characters. b. "How is she gay?" Sea Fairy's central writing point is her love for another woman, how it empowers her and helps her overcome the curse that keeps her from living her life. I have yet to write a full analysis of this couple and why it means so much, but you need to realize that it's not just a "hinted crush" - It's an actual relationship between two women with weight, depth, and a lot of importance to it. No one is obligated to ship SeaMoon, only acknowledge and respect it- However, as it stands, most people who argue on the validity of Sea Fairy's lesbianism always seem to veer into slander territory and highkey lesbophobia (I'm looking at you, Tiggyloo). c. "Has DevSis ever said Sea Fairy is gay? No." This is why it's called coding, you can't reasonably expect the company that doesn't confirm anything to pay basic respect to one of its most queerbaited ships. SeaMoon is downplayed by DevSisters and the fandom alike, which is why Sea Fairy fans (most of whom are sapphics and lesbians) are outspoken about this character's sexuality. You should at least keep in mind the importance of this character to an underrepresented side of the fandom, steer away from provoking them rather than try force the ideal that they're wrong... because they really aren't. For the record, because I know I technically haven't really answered the question: Sea Fairy is a character who's central writing point is her love for another women, with no positive relationship with men except for one (who wants nothing to do with her for the record, SeaFire doesn't float either). There is little room to interpret that as anything else, and if you want to argue otherwise... Well, sorry to pull the carpet from under you, but if this doesn't hold weight then neither does anything else. d. "You don't have to follow canon" No, you don't, but it's not about following canon. It's about having the basic decency not to undermine something that's important to people. e. "It doesn't hurt anyone" Actually, you'd be surprised how undermining an important WLW relationship can push people away and feel a group unwelcome. This fandom is oversaturated with MLM and you generally won't find people who argue on literally any character headcanon you can come up. Just about every character (minus a few) can be headcanon as bi, or pan, or poly, or anything really, and it'd be valid. But approaching the one character with the most Lesbian coding and insisting on making her something else entirely (when there's a plethora of other characters to do that with) is not fair. It is not biphobic to insist that Sea Fairy is a lesbian, you do not have to erase someone else's representation to get your

own. ...Come to think of it, it's kind of odd how Bisexuality is only ever brought up when an excuse is need to pair her with men, it's almost as if people forget Bisexuality also involves loving women? Of course, at the end of the day, I cannot stop people from doing what they want, and that's not my goal in the slightest either. However I hope this offers more insight into why most Sea Fairy fans dislike seeing her shipped with men, and I implore those who read this entire post to understand that all you have to do is keep your distance. You do not have to engage, you shouldn't try to disprove it- It's how this issue gets brought up time and time again, just be respectful and things will be fine.

#cookie run ovenbreak #cookie run #cookie run kingdom #sea fairy cookie #long post

75 notes · View notes

hadesisqueer · 4 years

Text

I'm bored and I don't care and you most probably don't care too but I don't care about that either, so here it comes: my Blake analysis.

People tend to think Yang is my favorite character. And, although they're not entirely wrong, because she's the character I relate the most to, my actual favorite character is Blake. I just find her so inspiring, and such an interesting character yet flawed character. CRWBY did a great job showing her traits as both the Beauty and the Beast, and I just love it.

Leaving the White Fang and Beacon times

Honestly, one of the things I admire the most about Blake is just how freaking brave she is. Because it takes an incredible amount of courage to be able to realize about your mistakes and seek a way to redeem yourself by learning to help people. And it takes a lot of strength to be able to leave your abuser behind.

Blake leaves the White Fang and gets into Beacon hoping for two things: redemption and a new life. She starts off as the typical quiet, kind of cynical (yet still idealistic), emo and mysterious girl who we knew basically nothing about her. We had basic information about the other three, but nothing from her except that she wore a bow and liked books.

I really liked how she seemed to not want to get close to anyone, but then the interactions with Ruby and Yang came. She, although kind of annoyed because they wouldn't let her read (mood), seemed amused by them, and even awkwardly tried to tell them that it was a pleasure to meet them as they fought and before Weiss came and she gave up reading (mood).

Which is one of the reasons I think she chose Yang as her partner. She was probably looking for a partner who she knew she could work well with. And having being partners with Adam, who was just as much of an offensive fighter as Yang, she knew she could work with that. That and the fact that she also seemed to like her and Ruby the night before, so Blake probably recognised her and followed her around to check if Yang could fight too (also because she was hot okay this is just me shipping). And when she saw she could, she was probably like “Okay, I'm keeping this one”. Which is fun, because Blake was the quiet girl and then she went and chose the most extrovert partner (besides Nora) there was. And actually liked having her around, as anyone could see when she smiled when Yang said something.

And that's the thing: she didn't want to get really close to anyone, but she was really eager to start a new life. Even though she wasn't really sure about Weiss, she had good teammates and genuinely liked them. She joined Ruby and Yang in their idiocy (love those two) from the start and showed to be as much as a dork as them if she wanted. She was relaxed with them and liked team JNPR too (we never really saw her having conversations with them alone but if she sat with Pyrrha in class it meant she was cool with them too) and, if you read the books, she was really good friends with team CFVY as well.

Still, she was afraid to open up about her past, or even tell them about being a faunus to the point that when she slipped and told them when she was mad at Weiss being an ignorant, she ran away. Because after all, she doesn't think they would like her true self. I mean, we're talking about a girl who ran away from the White Fang because she realized it had turned into basically a terrorist organisation -one she took part of, and left her family behind for. A girl who's suffered from abuse, making her feel like she doesn't deserve anything good. It's crystal clear in the comics (though they're vol 4 content), Blake thinks she is poison and ruins everything good around her. And she felt like she'd just ruined it again. Which is why when she sees that they don't care, and that Weiss has decided she doesn't care either (and to me, that's the beginning of her arc of being an ignorant and daddy's girl to “when I see a racist a floor him and fucky you, dad), Blake almost cries.

Then in vol 2 she is literally obsessed with Torchwick and the White Fang. It's understandable: she used to be part of that organisation (goddammit, her own father created it) and she's had to see how it went from believing in peace and equality to becoming more violent to start working with human crime lords in a way that doesn't seem to benefit the faunus at all? She knew there was something big going on, and even if she had to fight her own past, she was willing to if that's what it took to find out what it was. It's funny because I felt like she was the main protagonist in that volume instead of Ruby and it's true: she was the one calling the shots.

The thing is that she took it too far and led her to basically become obsessed with the White Fang, as I said. To the point that Yang had to almost literally slap some sense into her and tell her to chill and go to sleep. And well, it worked. She took Yang's advice and didn't forget her goals, but took her time instead of destroying herself in the process.

In vol 3, she seems more relaxed than we'd ever seen. She doesn't have to hide who she is to the people she cares about, because she's slowly opening up more and they are understanding. They succesfully stopped a Grimm attack in Vale and got Torchwick in jail, so she felt more confident and hopeful. And they were killing it at the Vytal Festival. So yeah, she deserved to chill a little, enjoy herself, to be a little goofy and eat some tuna with her friends. The girl had earned it.

... but it's volume 3, and if it fucked everyone up, it wasn't going to be any different with Blake. Like, for fuck's sake, give the poor girl a break.

It starts with Yang breaking Mercury's leg and Blake not knowing what to think. Because as she said, the whole situation was so familiar. She'd had a passionate and aggressive yet “kind” partner before, one she thought she loved and trusted, and he slowly became more and more violent, and more abusive, and for a long time, she was blind to it. And then Yang does that. Her passionate and kind of aggressive yet sweet new partner, who she may already had romantic feelings for (even if she hadn't realized yet), who even had the same semblance as Adam. Was it all happening again?

Yang and Adam are, after all, foils of each other in a way. They're really similar. The main difference is how they deal with their suffering: Adam used it as an excuse for hurting others and never really got over it, and Yang took meaning from it instead and found the way to move on. Her heart was never driven by hate; she used her pain to become a better, stronger person. After all, just as Blake said, Adam was Spite, and Yang was Strength.

Blake's reaction was understandable. She was a victim of abuse and the situation reminded her of it. And as I said, it didn't help that Adam and Yang were so similar. But deep down, she knew that Yang wasn't Adam, that there was an explanation, which is why she gave Yang that chance to tell her. And she knew Yang wasn't lying.

And then everything gets REALLY fucked up for everyone. The situation couldn't be worse. Penny has died, Ruby is at Amity Arena, Yang is still at the dorms. Blake and Weiss are fighting together at Beacon against the White Fang and Grimm- and also the robots. And getting separated was honestly the worst thing they could have done, but Blake went after that Beowolf. And then she found Adam.

I don't think I have to even explain how I think she felt at that moment, when she saw her abuser right there in front of her eyes, for the first time since she left him. I think the look in her eyes are enough to express how terrified and conflicted she was. And yet, she is brave enough to fight him. And she loses. And then the guy uses “summon love interest” card and Yang appears, and he sees right through Blake. And the thing she feared the most happens. She's ruined it. She's really ruined it.

Vol 4 & 5 or the Belladonnas, Sun and Ilia.

Volume 4 is, without any doubt, Blake's lowest point, and again, thank God for having her parents and Sun around, because the girl was almost suicidal (most of all, when you read the comics). As I said, she feels like she's poison who ruins everything good around her, and this once, the universe has proved her right. Yang, her lovable partner who had been nothing but sweet, funny and understanding since she'd met her, had lost an arm trying to save her. And she knew that Adam wasn't kidding when he said that he'd kill her. So she left because she'd rather have Yang, Ruby and Weiss hating her than risking their lives. And because she couldn't stand the guilt she felt. The poor girl hated herself for what happened.

It took her while to decide to go back to Menagerie, but she did, and I was honestly thrilled to find out about her family. Like, we knew about Ruby and Yang being sisters and later we also find out more about their family life. We knew about Weiss being the heiress of the SDC, that she came from an important family, and later we know that she has siblings and it's implied that her father is a dickhead. But we didn't know anything about Blake's family life. We didn't know if she had any family at all or if she was an orphan, or if she had been abandoned, or if she was poor or rich. I think a lot of people had those headcannons before vol 4. But nope. Those ideas were obliterated.

Her father had created the White Fang, which explained why Blake always took the whole matter so personal: it was her legacy, and it had been taken from her and became corrupted. Not only wasn't she poor: she was some sort of fucking princess and owned a mansion. And not only wasn't she an orphan or an abandoned kid: out of team RWBY, she was the only one with two functional, loving parents. She clearly felt guilty about leaving them as well but both of her parents forgave her without any doubts, and showed her unconditional love. Kali and Ghira were two understanding and forgiving people who loved their daughter more than anything, and really, it was such a relief.

And I have my issues with the whole Sun thing, most of all after reading Before the Dawn. He followed her without permission, didn't respect her boundaries and she got too aggressive with him sometimes because of that (first slap I get it, the other two no). And I don't think he was completely necessary for the whole Battle of Haven thing. But at the same time, I really think having him around actually helped Blake a lot. Because yes, he didn't understand her many times, but I do think that having him around helped her as much as her parents. He had a big crush on her, and Blake did like him back, but never at the same level. After the time-skip, he still liked her but her crush on him had faded. And he took his time, but he realized. Blake didn't need a boyfriend, she needed a partner, a good friend who opened her eyes and made her understand that not everything that happens is her fault. That pushing people away with the excuse of protecting them wasn't helping anyone: she was just hurting herself and others more. And that's what he became. And I love the fact that he never for a second thought that she owed him anything: he helped her because he wanted, not because he expected anything from Blake. He would literally be disgusted with people who think she did owe him. Sun has his issues but he is an amazing friend and a perfect example of a guy without one bit of toxic masculinity, and his friendship with Blake is just great (can't wait to see more of them. Brotp).

Blake got love, forgiveness, support and friendship from her parents and Sun, but honestly, I think that what finally pushed her to stop running away and put an end to this whole bullshit was Ilia's appearance. Her former best friend up until she left the White Fang (who was, by the way, the person who indirectly gave her the idea of using a bow to pass for human).

She had already seen someone she cared about lose his way and turn into a monster. Blake herself had lost her way for a good while, found it back and then lost it again, and was working to find it once more. Seeing Ilia in that situation too made her brain go like “Okay, there's no way I'm letting you end up like Adam”. Blake knew Ilia wasn't like Adam, she knew it wasn't too late for Ilia yet, just like it hadn't been too late for Blake herself. So she gave Ilia the same things her parents and Sun had given her, the same things team RWBY gave her once too: love, forgiveness and friendship. And by helping Ilia, Blake also helped herself. I've done this before in another post, but I'll do it again; as uncle Iroh said once: sometimes the best way to solve your own problems is to help someone else.

(I'm not going to get too deep about the White Fang; most of all, because I'd need an entire post just about it. I'll just say that even though I thought I liked most of it, I still have a lot of issues with the White Fang thing and I found the end to be a bit disappointing and rushed).

Back with team RWBY, rebuilding relationships and Adam's end.

I'll never stop thinking that the fact that she didn't know what the fuck was going on at Haven but still joined the fight was hilarious, but still, it really made sense. She's done running away from her fears and her past, and one of her fears was that: confronting her team (mostly, Yang, because of the whole Adam thing) after leaving them. And then they all appear right in front of her eyes.

Past Blake would run away again to avoid the consequences. But she'd grown from that. Instead, she dealt with her own problems with Adam and the White Fang, and as soon as she was done, she went right back into the building and start fighting by Weiss and Ruby's side. And after the fight, while she was talking to her family and Ilia, Sun gave her the final push: he encouraged her to go and actually talk to the team, and she did. She went and told them that if they gave her a second chance, she wouldn't leave them again. Because she knows that leaving them had been one of the biggest mistakes of her life, if not the biggest one. She didn't know if they'd forgive her (a part of her probably still thought they wouldn't, and that she probably didn't deserve it anyway) but she still tried. And Ruby and Weiss accept her without questions. And honestly, the face Blake makes when she sees that Yang is also accepting her back and then they all invite her to the group hug still gets me every time.

She was obviously really happy that they'd forgiven her and that they gave her another chance that it's clear she was really trying to make the most of it. She clearly wanted to make up for lost time, and really make up for leaving, showing Ruby a bunch of times that she was always ready to follow her lead, reassuring Weiss after finding the bodies and... the whole thing with Yang. Because she felt guilty. But don't think Blake was feeling guilty because of the arm thing; at least, not anymore. She had reached a point where she understood that Adam's actions weren't her fault. No, she felt guilty because she left.

Yang had told her about Raven, and Blake knew that the poor girl had some serious abandonment issues (actually, Blake and Raven are kind of similar as well but with many differences, like the fact that they both tend to run away when they're scared, but for different reasons; one leaves by putting people in harm's way to protect herself, and the other because she wants to protect people in the wrong way. Eventually both get called out on that behaviour, and one responds with running away again, and the other with learning to not to run and face her fears. Both are foils of each other in Yang's eyes just like Yang and Adam in Blake's. Okay I'll continue). And Blake knew that when she left Yang, she most likely made said issues worse. Which is why she was trying so hard to make sure that Yang knew she wasn't leaving her again. She even actually tells her over and over again. “I'm not leaving”, “I'll hurry back”, “I'm not gonna break my promise, I swear”. Even during the Bees vs Adam fight, she says “I have people who actually care about me and I promised I'd never leave them again, so I'm not dying now”. That states two things:

1) She wants to fucking live, of course.

2) Blake is telling Yang that she is not going to die, not only because, as I said, she is a normal person who wants to live. But because she knows that, even if she would totally do it given the case, Yang doesn't want her to sacrifice herself for her, because then, she'd be leaving her again. She is telling Yang that she's not going to do that, and that they'd leave that place together.

But the thing is, Blake was trying SO hard to be there for her that she made things awkward, making Yang think Blake believed she was fragile and needed protection, which wasn't the case (I already talked about all this and Yang hating people taking care of her she thinks it makes her weak in the Yang analysis). And which is why Blake corrected herself and said “protecting each other”, as equals.

(Before people complain about how I'm talking too much about Yang in here, let's be clear: you can't make an Yang analysis without talking about Blake. Just like you can't make a Jaune analysis without talking about Pyrrha. You can't make a Salem analysis without talking a lot about Ozma. Or a Weiss one and not mention her entire family. Because that's what happens when you write a complex character with varied relationships with different characters - the relationships shape the character into what they are-. And Blake and Yang's arcs is so intertwined with the others' since the Fall of Beacon that you can't make an analysis of one without talking a lot about the other. Thus, I'm analyzing their relationship too, just like I'm talking about Sun, Adam and more. And yes, I'm doing this from the romantic perspective. Because, in case you hadn't noticed, the relationship stopped being platonic since Heroes and Monsters, and has been showing to be more and more romantic as the show goes on. It's been even confirmed to be romantic. So please, anon, I'm talking to you: if you don't like it stop reading lmao).

Now for the Adam part. Man, I can't even talk about this.

People complain that it didn't make sense that Blake seemed full of confidence at Haven when facing him, and then at Argus, she was terrified. Well, let me clear one thing up: the situation was totally different, dude.

At Haven, she was surrounded by people she knew they would help her: Sun, her parents, damn, even team RWBY. She had a whole army supporting her (and even with Sun's help, she wasn't dumb and she knew better than trying to follow him, because she knew him and knew that that's what he wanted). So of course she was going to feel safer then than being totally alone with that guy who had been stalking her across the world like a total creep. Like, thank God Yang appeared and helped her.

Once again, these three are all together again since the Fall of Beacon. This guy, who maimed and traumatized Yang in a way she will most likely never completely get over (as a person with PTSD, I know it gets better, but it will never entirely go away). Blake's ex boyfriend. A person she trusted and loved, and turned out to be completely different than he made her believe.

Blake's done with running away from him. And she's done with being afraid, because she is. But even though she's afraid, I love how during the entire fight, he tried to get in her head but Blake didn't let him. Because she was done with that. He had abused her, tried to kill her and the people she loved, took her innocence and confidence, even stole her own legacy. And she's not letting him do that again. Not now, and nevermore.

Sorry, I had to.

Blake and Yang give him multiple opportunities to leave. He didn't. We know how that ended for him. And even after that, Blake feels terrible about having to take his life, and feels guilty about it, or felt like she'd ruined the whole “let's steal an airship” plan. But luckily, she had all of her friends reassuring her and being completely understanding and loving, and honestly, I'll say it a million times: that scene between Ruby, Blake and Yang is one of my favorites.

Volume 7

We don't see much Blake during volume 7, to be honest. Yes, we get that great moment with Weiss and Jacques (fuck you). We get to see how she really hasn't forgotten about the whole Adam thing, and how killing him was haunting her in a way. We got to see her and Yang being the ones who reached out for Robyn (people with brains who don't try to take her out and try to make her and the HH allies instead. THANK YOU). We got to see her and Yang kicking some ass in the RWBY vs Ace Ops fight. And of course, we get confirmation (we already knew, but some people are blind and needed more. Some people won't understand until they kiss) of Bumbleby going the romantic way. And I liked that.

But neither Blake nor Yang had much of an individual arc or important stuff to do last volume (and I really hope that changes in volume 8). That annoyed me. But at the same time, I remember that they hadn't had a break since vol 3; Blake had never had one, actually, because every volume found the way to emotionally fuck her up in some way. And after losing limbs, being stabbed, having to deal with terrorists, with bandits, with terrible moms, with abandonment issues, with PTSD and depression, with an abusive exboyfriend they even had to end up killing to survive... I was kind of fine with both of them getting an “easy” volume where they didn't have to deal with big emotional arcs like that, and were just chilling and enjoying themselves for a little while. Still, I want them to be more important, both as a couple and individually, next volume.

Conclussion

As I said, Blake is my favorite character. She is a very flawed person who learns about her flaws and works hard to be better. She is incredibly brave, by far, the bravest character in the series, who overcomes her fears and her abuse and moves forward. Blake's arc, besides taking back her legacy and fighting for equality, is about her finally understanding that she's not to blame for others' actions, that she isn't poison. She learns to finally stop running from her fears and her guilt, to stop pushing others away, and realize that she deserves a second chance, that deserves forgiveness and love and friendship, and to be happy. Blake's entire personal journey is about her finding her path, about overcoming her abuse and trauma, and about learning to love herself. And I love it. I love her.

#rwby #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #weiss schnee #ruby rose #bumbleby #sun wukong #kali belladonna #ghira belladonna #damn this is long #i just love blake so much #rwby analysis #blake analysis

234 notes · View notes