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messiahzzz · 4 months

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the IGN article has already been addressed by several users, but imo the points of critique raised by others were still often misinterpreted, or ignored entirely.

— so i’d like to talk about it.

beforehand, it is important to mention that it remains everyone’s respective responsibility to curate their own online experience. you shouldn’t purposefully expose yourself to topics that cause you distress or trigger you. however, general discussion should always be valid and welcomed. you have every right to voice your opinion on the matter and to be upset about this. please don’t feel guilty about venting and expressing your emotional response.

we also need to differentiate this specific interview from the fandom’s overall treatment and interpretation of gale. several of the posts i’ve seen on the subject tend to derail into the latter, without addressing the valid points many have raised or glossing over them entirely. this isn’t about the usual “haha gale eats shoes” joke or whatever new meme fandom comes up with. this is solely about the developer’s treatment of gale, the character, and about a specific, internal bias that has been prevalent throughout the entirety of the game, as well as their social media. this particular interview merely adding to the amalgamation of points mentioned.

yes, it is certainly unrealistic to expect larian to address every single companion in detail and to touch on every nuance possible, in an interview that broadly focuses on the game’s narrative and gameplay. there are, however, specific character sections. each companion received a headline that was reflective of their overall character archetype or provided quick insight into their development.

Karlach: 'The Labrador of the Party'

Lae'zel: 'She's So Young'

Halsin: 'A Creative Risk'

Shadowheart: 'The Jason Bourne'

Wyll: 'We Lost a Little Bit of Narrative Room'

Astarion: 'Much of What He Does Is Out of Fear'

Minthara: 'It's Not a Redemption Arc...But She's Got a Lot of Love'

and last but not least:

Gale: 'The Guy Who Starts Off Annoying Everyone'

what followed was a brief discussion about their respective storylines, each being addressed with a certain level of respect, empathy, and consideration. except for gale. all that was mentioned in regard to his character was the narrative impact of gale’s suicide. talking about the overall logistics of this ending, the visuals of the cutscene, and how, to them, his sacrifice felt like the right ending and how in many ways, it is.

Chrystal Ding, Lead Writer: On a very human level, you have the guy who starts off annoying everyone, he's constantly asking you to give him your most treasured possessions to eat, otherwise he's in trouble, and at the end, he gives himself for the world. Sven Vincke, Founder: And he had the choice already once before where he wasn't ready for it. So it's a very powerful ending, and it comes in different permutations.

gale is the character who is initially annoying companions and players alike. he is verbose, enthusiastic and has a tendency to break out in long-winded rants. he repeatedly asks for your assistance, to help him manage his condition. to spare himself and his surroundings from an untimely, explosive death, he must consume items that you’ve carefully collected. gale is, essentially, a liability. a ticking time bomb. he already had the option to have his life be a meaningful sacrifice, but he wasn’t ready to die yet. now, that the party has reached the end, he has another chance to give himself up for the world.

short after, gale’s section of the interview quickly diverts into a more general discussion about the difficulties of playing as a wizard and other classes.

larian claiming that there is a universal “right ending” in a game with many branching paths and choices very much contradicts the definition of a role-playing game. where it is solely in the player’s hands to decide what direction to take and what outcome they deem to be the right one. moreover, it is important to remember that the interviewees weren’t just any developers, but consisted of two lead writers and larian’s founder himself. some of them industry veterans who are, to an extent, pr-trained. we all know that fandom often sees statements from developers synonymous with word of god. as such, the implications and impact are truly unfortunate.

if larian was referring the SA survivor and stated that “the right ending” for him was to return him to enslavement or to hand him over to the gur. that for all the death and misery he (involuntarily) assisted, his sacrifice would at least grand them a slither of justice.

astarion caused death, perpetuated racism, and now that you have handed him over to the gur hunter, he is offered a chance to give himself back to the world.

it is then deemed the right choice for him because it is the most narratively satisfying/impactful/powerful outcome in the context of the overall story. the majority of us would agree that such would be a rather tactless statement, no? not specifically for mentioning it in relation to astarion as a character or his influence on the narrative — he is fictional, after all, but because of the real-life implications and the very real stigma the affected face. we can't deny that it would be hurtful to irl victims. maybe we would even fault the writing altogether for such biases. after all, why should astarion be the only character whose redemption and healing are considered to be significantly less important in the grand scheme of things?

fiction functions as an abstraction and simulation of our social experience. we are supposed to get invested, to explore the meaning, examine the parallels, or maybe just to enjoy stories for the sole purpose of indulging in the occasional escapism. perhaps a way to temporarily forget about one’s limitations and the prejudices we face. in many ways, chronic pain/impairment, suicidal ideation, and autistic traits appear to be disorders & symptoms that are perhaps less relatable to some, and that they are maybe not as sympathetic to.

it truly would’ve been nice to see larian approach this interview with more professionalism. opting for a simple, diplomatic “actually, there is no right ending. the sheer variation in choices makes such a distinction impossible” would’ve more than sufficed.

this isn’t asking for larian to touch on every nuance possible, in an interview that largely resembled the flow of a regular conversation. it’s about asking for the same level of consideration and care that was granted to the rest of the companions. it’s about addressing gale’s particular brand of trauma with the same level of basic human decency. maybe we even could’ve received some new bits and pieces of insight on gale’s development, rather than the regurgitation of every shallow reddit/tiktok take we’ve seen up to this point. alas..

#gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #fandom discourse #at first i didn't even want to make a post about this but here we are #reducing the discussion to “blorbo trauma” feels like a very condescending/belittling approach #ultimately invalidating a lot of thoughtful points that were raised #this is tumblr. getting invested in fictional people and overanalysing every little scrap of content is what we do.#so to mention it once more: you have every right to be upset #it speaks #sa mention #suicide mention

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carlyraejepsans · 3 months

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Hey, if you don’t mind the question. What’s your opinion on Undertale Yellow?

8/10 game. pretty good at being a game, not so much at being an undertale story. the gameplay itself was fun, the area/puzzle designs too, the soundtrack was untouchable it literally gave me the same rush i felt hearing sburb initiation for the first time. minor NPCs designs were fun but the primary cast was too monotonous, tbh. (all the main characters have tall gangly very detailed designs save for like, axis). its attempts at landing Undertale's humor were quite often successful, but it held back on exaggeration and caricaturing its original characters which took away that oomph from the canon game. the character writing was... lacking. which is a pity.

i love fucked up women so i was really disappointed that every single one of ceroba's actions/ideas/influences on the story were nothing but an extension of her dead husband. when you take chujin away she's just... A Good Wife and Mother. or starlo's past love interest ig. i mean both dalv and martlet's backstory were tied to her family and we never see them interact at all. but they do have an established dynamic.... with the dead husband. again. UGH. she's just really wasted as a character (she and chujin should've BOTH been scientists and she should've continued the project AGAINST his wishes after he died. she's the main cast character, she should be the driving force in the narrative, not him—even if chujin sets the plot in montion by inventing the serum first).

I'm not a huge asgore fan—not that i dislike him, he's just not a character i care about all that much—so congrats to this game for making me say "he would NOT fucking say that". the "fuck the royals" subplot thing was really unnecessary. actually, that was a bit of a recurring thing in the game. suddenly introducing these Huge Social Dilemmas like labor exploitation, anti-monarchic sentiments, misogyny (bro who on earth "needs to take a wife" this is Undertale) everyone realizing that clover is a child, over exaggerating the violence at stake... while also attempting to maintain Undertale's careless, bouncy treatment of the situation. that's... not how things work. undertale is able to maintain its light tone BECAUSE it doesn't let you take those topics seriously, they're not meant to be. the fairytale-like king, the battles, the child protagonist, they're all set dressings for the REAL story and REAL power imbalance it wants to highlight: that between player and game characters. everything is in function of that. you take that layer of separation and make everyone aware that theyre violently attacking and killing a literal child... that's not. a good thing dude. if it's not gonna impact the tone of the story, why acknowledge it in the first place? it's just unnecessary

anyway flowey neutral run was really, really fun. his dialogue writing all throughout the game was very solid and i had a blast having him around. however, they shouldn't have tried to anticipate his character development. this game is a prequel, you can't do that without undermining his arc in the canon events. pacifist should've had him doubling down on his frustration from the neutral ending. i do all this work for you keeping you alive and you make the same mistake i did sacrifice yourself for them??? are you BRAINDEAD???? what I'm saying is he basically should've thrown the biggest tantrum of his LIFE. oh and in the NM run he should've been terrified when he lost control of the SAVE file. this is the first time it's ever happened to him and now he's gonna die for good. he wouldn't have gloated like he did.

if you want to hear more criticism along the lines of what i said then this post by the fantastic @andreabandrea covers a lot of what i also felt during the game. i know this might sound like a lot of negativity, but the fact remains that UTY was an absolutely phenomenal work of fan creativity the likes of which we have never seen before in the fandom. considering the quality and polish, i thought it only fair to approach it as the piece of art it is and give it my genuine thoughts on the matter.

overall, still a really fun way to spend the afternoon with a pal. so. thumbs up

#it's just that. it is a product of fandom. with a lot of fandom shortcomings too #and seeing people praise it so wholeheartedly that they insinuate it surpasses the original #just reminds me once again that the majority of people have absolutely zero idea about what makes undertale 1) good 2) what it is #lol #answered asks #no word on the music i have the tag blacklisted because I'm tired of seeing it everywhere but not the music brother #i am listening to that shit 24/7 #turn it UP

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general-cyno · 6 months

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I finally got to thriller bark and of course I'm having many feelings about it, so long ramble ahead. what makes this kind of sacrifice have so much impact narrative-wise is precisely bc of which character does it and imo there was no better choice than zoro.

while his life was certainly in danger, zoro still joined luffy's crew in way less dire circumstances than most of the other straw hats and he's someone that luffy actively sought out to embark his journey with. zoro's dream of becoming of the world's greatest swordsman is one that matches luffy's own of becoming king of the pirates. this doesn't lessen the importance of the crew's dreams, but imo it's clear that there's a reason why zoro's the first to join. why luffy trusts him to take care of everyone and lead them when he's otherwise busy fighting the biggest bads, incapacitated or just not present for whatever reason and why zoro does exactly that. why, for example, he trusted zoro's judgment abt usopp coming back even though luffy was initially ready to accept him without even an apology needed.

another thing to note, which I don't think is a coincidence either, is that zoro's either been mistaken for the captain or has left ppl wondering why he isn't more than a few times already, throughout the manga. zoro's strong, a very independent guy, who already had quite the reputation before he decided to be part of luffy's crew. ppl still call him the pirate hunter. he's got a dream he's hellbent on achieving, and it's not only his, but also kuina's. he's not afraid of dying for it but it's not like he wants to, yknow? and he's never one to go down without a fight. zoro also admits during the davy back ordeal that there's no point to him being a pirate if he's not part of luffy's crew. all of these things make thriller bark so special.

this?

is zoro renouncing to his dream, his promise to kuina, to his own life - not in battle, and certainly not as a way to achieve the very dream he's forfeiting - and he's doing it to keep luffy safe. bc zoro's absolutely certain that luffy WILL become the pirate king and if zoro has to cast all that aside to make sure of it, he will. this is zoro taking all of luffy's pain as his own while protecting luffy's life and dream, putting them even above his. which, to an extent, also guarantees (from his pov, at least) the rest of the crew's safety. that's huge, so much that even kuma questions his decision.

and yeah he's protecting the crew, but it's very obvious that he's doing this for luffy. kuma points it out, as shown above, and he had already voiced out his intention to leave with luffy's head only, specifically. it's luffy's pain that zoro's willing to take on and die for.

also perhaps you'd think this seems a bit one-sided no? but if you ask me, zoro choosing to pretend nothing happened is proof that it isn't. sure, it's not like zoro's the type of character who'd boast or openly talk abt this kind of sacrifice, but this is what he said to luffy when he agreed to join him:

luffy adores his crew. he's willing to die for them, protecting and saving them always, and he takes their dreams very seriously. zoro has witnessed this from the very beginning, and also took it upon himself to remind luffy of how much they all relied on him back when usopp left the crew, so that luffy wouldn't doubt himself. imagine how luffy would've reacted or even felt knowing that zoro had done this. for him.

in hindsight, this panel from the beginning of the arc is a bit of a tragedy honestly. (still cute though!)

#zolu #tp #long post #going insane in several different ways. I already cried on twt so ofc I had to come here too #I can't think too much abt that panel of zoro tossing aside his swords (EVEN WADO!!) otherwise I'd lose it fr the brainrot is catastrophic #I was heavily spoiled abt this ages ago anyway but it still hit me like a fucking truck #I remember seeing all these posts recently wondering abt why zoro is even this devoted to luffy and like.#if anything; zoro's loyalty and devotion are a reflection of luffy's for him (and the crew)#I love them so MUCH #also just. to think luffy's always risking his everything for other ppl and this time it's zoro who keeps HIM safe. I feel crazy #jay reads op

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pop-punklouis · 1 year

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OKAY so i have lots of thoughts but i think the main takeaway that really sat with me throughout the film and even after is that so much of this documentary was about feeling. when you strip back the content regardless of how one perceived the film, it’s obvious that AOTV was a cathartic release for louis. it’s something he has wanted to put out for a long time. and when you really look into his career arc throughout the band and into solo territory, so much of his thoughts and feelings and words had been minced or sanitized or completely overshadowed by others whether that’s through his image or the media etc. he’s never been able to sit down in a room and just freely speak openly about his inner struggles/outer struggles and it come from his own mouth without worry of someone taking his words out of context or cutting them up for a headline. there’s a sense of vulnerability that fills up a lot of space in the documentary. you hear it in his voice. you see it on his face. you feel it in his body language and how he crafts his words. being able to bring the audience into areas of his life where he felt the most insecure or afraid and lead them through it to where he ultimately feels “deserving” of what he has in a satisfying yet human way is something i believe was difficult for him to do, but he does it with so much grace and strength.

and i think working through this documentary and flipping through these pages in his life regardless of if it was a speed run at times or lingered for a bit longer, is cleansing for him. for the first time in his career this documentary gives him access to be able to take off the tape and just. feel. not only privately but publicly. he’s at a place where he wants to open up his chest to fans and anyone who wants to listen in a way that still protects his privacy and personal life (and still sets a narrative) but tells bits of his inner dialogue about his career and personal reflection in the way he ultimately wants to tell it. and even though we know louis humanity already, there is a deeper and rawer look at his humanity (especially in the first half of the film) that grows throughout the footage. in the absence of words you’re able to perceive how human he is. you’re able to strip away that louis tomlinson™️ vision (for better or for worse) that we all know, love, and have independently created and just see him become more and more human which is something that truly impacted me the more i observed him outside of the interviews. the candid moments. the quick shots. the personal venting. the adrenaline high after performing. the words spoken into the void after certain life circumstances occurred. how he carries himself and has grown into himself the past 10+ years. they’re all small details but it snowballs into so much feeling and catharsis from himself and the viewers watching. he should be so proud of what he is and who he is. he’s always been deserving but i’m so happy he now personally feels like he can say that and feel that out loud. just lovely

#i’m just!!!!#i have many other thoughts but that’s the one i wanted to get down first bc yeah ❤️‍🩹

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lakesbian · 3 months

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So like… whats up with Cozen? Why did they date? Is she cool or does she have the word “REBOUND” tattooed on her forehead. I just don’f understand how or why Brian is so so so sidelined after the Imago

i think she's genuinely more sustainably compatible with brian long-term than taylor would've been...and also still has the word "SAD REBOUND" tattooed on her forehead. i really enjoy when she tries to be like Umm you're not the Leader to taylor during the s9k arc and brian is immediately like "oh she is, actually. yeah no my ex-girlfriend is the leader. by default."

the racism probably but also i cant think about this for too long or i'll get so mad my head explodes. if i think for too long about how he has that really good moment with taylor during crushed & then is just literally never relevant again including in aisha's epilogue i will get so mad my head explodes. it's just so motherfucking stupid how wildbow is so insistent on cinching the "surprise, he's dead!" coming in at the very end to the point where he's forced to erase what the other undersiders think/feel about him, including his own sister. and it's especially stupid because literally at no other point in the book do i recall worm trying to do a cheap twist like that at the expense of the actual character narratives & dynamics. it just feels meanspirited and it adds absolutely nothing. actively subtracts a lot of things, actually. thinking about how wildbow could've just Not Killed Him and we could've had a good brian epilogue and i start gnawing on wood. or if he really felt that there was no possible way for brian to survive the oil rig (personally i think he shouldve fudged it and let him live) he shouldve at least let the impact be felt 4 the other undersiders. man. I miss my fucking boy they cant do him like this. oh my god i just remembered his actual trigger event isnt even in the book either. ok my head is exploding now so this post is over 👍

#ask #worm spoilers #scarf don't look

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hamliet · 10 months

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Beauty and the Beast, But Make It BL

Or, about a year after the hype Hamliet finally watches KinnPorsche properly instead of just clips.

My overall thoughts are that I really, really enjoyed it. The characters were likable and interesting, and plenty flawed. The story also had some really fascinating ideas and nice fire, water, and air symbolism, as well as a really beautiful retelling of Beauty & the Beast. The main couples all foiled one another in interesting, thought-provoking ways. VegasPete? Is one of my favorite love stories in any media ever.

The side characters were also really well done, for the most part. I loved Kinn's friends, and Yok was a standout in terms of her mentorly role. And, the other bodyguards each got their own personality. Arm and Big were particular standouts to me, and I appreciated how Big's story arc (his unrequited love for Kinn) was handled: with subtlety, but thematic impact. His sacrifice showed Porsche that love sometimes involves sacrificing for the person you love.

The series also used symbolism fairly well. The lighting always changed to colored/rainbow lighting when it was a romantic scene, and stayed natural when it was not. The use of mirrors and windows, and phoenix/fire with Kinnporsche and water with Vegaspete, was intelligently woven into the story. I do think some of the symbolism was too heavy-handed at points, though.

Of course, because I'm me, I do have quite a few critiques as well, which mostly has to do with what I saw as potential that went untapped. The story never did anything "wrong" exactly, but it just never dug into how much potential it had. The foiling was strongly set up, but it could have been far more powerful than it was.

The plot was basically *vibes* which I'm okay with because I'm not super into plot in general, but unfortunately, as can happen when plot is weak, the themes suffered for it. If plot is a tour guide through a story's themes and characters, this was somewhat of a bumbling one... with an occasional stroke of brilliance that reinforced how satisfying the potential was.

Kinn + Porsche

Let's start with the main couple. I really enjoyed their characters, but I wasn't as invested in them as I was in the other characters I'll be covering. They seemed more like ideas rather than human beings, even though they had more complexity than some of the other, more human characters. While that might sound contradictory, what I mean by that is that the other characters always had drive and purpose for the narrative, while Kinn and Porsche sometimes felt more like vehicles (heh, get it, because--) to get to something that never quite arrived.

Kinn and Porsche also started off the series really strong, but weakened after they got together. After they were together, the writers kept bringing up the issue of "trust" between them, but I wasn't quite sure what they were trying to say about trust. And maybe they were just trying to explore the different sides of trust rather than give any particular message, but I thought it was a bit messily handled.

Still. Still. Porsche's line in the final episode, where he pointed out to Kinn that he was there not because he was on the minor family's side, nor because he was on the major family's side, but because he was on Kinn's side, was beautiful.

Kinn also starts off as a dark foil of Vegas... which is interesting because Vegas is so intensely jealous of Kinn and wants to be like him, and is set up as the antagonist. But we'll get there. Vegas kidnaps Porsche and attempts to make it look like he was assaulted, but Kinn saves him... only to assault Porsche himself. (I did appreciate the way the narrative did frame it well, which I wasn't expecting in a boy's love story.) Kinn then compounded it by punishing Porsche for his mistake--essentially, doing to Porsche what Vegas was doing to Kinn and would later do to Pete.

The irony, of course, is that the narrative still frames Kinn as a protagonist, but without giving him a halo. We're allowed to see that he is, intrinsically, no better of a human being than Vegas. Maybe even worse, depending on how you judge.

Porsche outright telling Kinn that he had hurt him, while Vegas hadn't (even if, kinda) and Kinn actually having to work to earn his forgiveness and trust--all of this was well handled.

Kinn's final realization in the wilderness that he could not keep Porsche and his act of selflessly setting him free , followed by a literal sacrifice, mimics what Vegas would have to do in later episodes with Pete, as well.

When they consensually have sex for the first time, it starts because Vegas again makes a move on Porsche... right in front of a mirror. Then, Kinn bursts in and Vegas leaves, and Kinn takes his place in the mirror with Porsche.

The symbolism is clever here and poignant: Kinn, you are Vegas. I just wish he had been asked to do more with that realization, particularly after the Tawan incident (later).

Again, my main issue is that I wish the show had more an idea of what it wanted to say concerning the theme of "trust" between these two. Especially after they got together, it all seemed a bit hazy.

The theme that was best explored with them was the idea of being a human being. Porsche continually insists that he's a person who decides his future for himself, while Kinn is like "I control your life; your life is mine, I can kill you at any time because you're just a bodyguard" early on. However, towards the end of the series, when they exchange quasi-wedding vows in one of the final scenes on a ship on the same river where Kinn first offered Porsche a job and Porsche told him he'd rather drown, there's a really beautiful moment where Kinn tells Porsche that they are making a new family together, and Porsche tells him again that he's not on any family's side--just Kinn's side. And then he tells him:

Porsche: All my life... is yours Kinn: I promise you, I'll treasure it.

It's almost fairy tale esque in this scene, showing how far they've come. It also emphasizes that the point is that Kinn recognizes Porsche's humanity, and Porsche still affirms his own. Humanity is not a drawback but a benefit, because Porsche chooses Kinn, and choice is the realm of human beings.

Vegas + Pete

*screams* VEGASPETE ARE EVERYTHING

But honestly. I've talked how Vegas (who is, undoubtedly, the best written character) foils Kinn and will talk about Tawan, Kim, and Tankhun later on. Firstly, though, we have Vegas and Pete, asking the main thematic question of this series:

(As a human, of course. Except that's not easy.)

Vegas was so clearly my favorite type of character (Lee Yut-Lung from Banana Fish, Akutagawa Ryunosuke from Bungo Stray Dogs, Illumi Zoldyck from Hunter x Hunter, etc.) Someone who just so, so desperately wants to be loved, especially by his father, and cannot fathom why he does not have it. So he lashes out at everyone around him, especially those he's jealous of. He might claim that he's jealous of Kinn's power, but he's really jealous that Kinn is loved not just by Porsche, but by his brothers, by his bodyguards, even by his father (for all Korn's faults--and we're gonna get there--I do think Korn loves his sons).

This is so profoundly seen when Vegas initially kidnaps Pete and forces him to call his Grandma. Vegas leans in, groping Pete to make him terrified, but as soon as Pete tells his grandma he loves her, Vegas jerks back and rips the phone out of his hand. It's another reminder to Vegas that love exists, but he can't have it.

The only thing that truly shows Vegas love is his hedgehog... which of course is a symbol for Vegas himself (here's where I think the symbolism was too heavy-handed--not that he had a hedgehog nor what happened with it, but in that Pete actually bluntly tells him that he is the hedgehog. Leave it to your viewers, we're smart enough to get that.) The hedgehog, of course, is prickly and spiky but soft inside, just like Vegas.

The hedgehog is also specifically Vegas's inner child, in Jungian terms. It's always sick and dying, and he's afraid of it dying, but also afraid to actually recognize it. He doesn't name the hedgehogs because they always die. This is symbolizing how Vegas never really had a childhood, or the chance to develop normally. His father always beat it out of him and let him think that it was his fault, just like Vegas blames himself for the hedgehogs' deaths.

Vegas's father is the biggest obstacle in his growth. He can't ever truly grow up and overcome the father figure until his father's gone. Again, the symbolism is pretty blatant (but well done): Vegas is literally reading the novel Childhood's End, but his father slaps it out of his hand.

The message is clear: Vegas can't ever grow up until he lets go of his father. Fittingly, he's then seen reading the book again after making a meal for Pete.

Vegas and Pete are actually quite similar, not just in their terrible dads, but in that both of them, at their core, truly don't believe they are human beings. They don't believe they deserve love, or life, or anything. They're animals. Hence, Pete actually being called a pet is actually also Vegas pointing out how he sees himself.

But what they really want is to be human, which means to be free and to live.

Consequently, both Vegas and Pete are suicidal. Vegas drops about a million hints that he wants to die before he actually attempts it, even telling Pete he's feeding him so "you'll have energy to kill me."

Vegas self-harms too, and Pete tells him not to. Yet, after they have sex, Pete hits himself when Vegas can't see, telling himself that he didn't like it, even though he initiated. The reason they are both lost after they have sex is that neither of them are free physically or emotionally.

We see Vegas trying to do the right thing and making a fancy meal for Pete, even standing up to his father for a moment, only to have his father tell him he wishes he wasn't his son. At that added cruelty, Vegas smashes the meal he made, proving that even though he thought he was free of his father because he was in love with Pete, he wasn't. Not yet.

And Pete thought he was going to be free because of sex with Vegas, but Vegas still left him chained. Hence, he attempts suicide in front of Vegas. He also then calls Vegas out on everything in a well-done way, pointing out that Vegas is projecting his feelings of inhumanity onto him:

Need me? Like a pet with no feelings for emotional projection? I'm a human, Vegas... I have nothing left, not even my humanity.

Pete is then pointing out to us that after Vegas's childhood is grieved (shown in how Pete helps Vegas bury and put flowers at the hedgehog's grave), Pete embodies Vegas's humanity. If the hedgehog and his childhood should be grieved, because he'll never get them back, he can still have a human future in Pete. But to do that he has to embrace his inner humanity, and he cannot chain it up and take it out when he wants it, because that's just not how human beings work.

Even through making Pete realize and admit just how miserable he was--that he has no use and should just die, thereby showing Vegas that Pete truly does understand how Vegas feels--Vegas doesn't find what he thought he'd find. It's not comforting to be empathized with when it means someone you love is suffering so.

Vegas's apology to Pete is genuine, like Kinn's earlier, and heartfelt. Once his dad is dead, you'd really think he'd be free, but he's very much not. All his self-loathing, all his worst fears, have finally come true. Freedom isn't really found through death, but through embracing life and love. The hedgehog didn't have to die for Vegas to live, because death isn't freeing really. But choosing to live, even when you're in pain, for someone you love--that can be freeing.

Pete's "there is no legacy so rich as honesty" tattoo is somewhat amusing to me, because the quote comes from Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well, a play that is considered a "problem play," in that no one can quite decide what genre it is. Also, "honesty" in the play's context is actually "virginity," which also seems to fit, but anyways. The genre/problem play thing is interesting because Kinnporsche itself, as a show, seems to zig-zag between whether it's a comedy, romance, or serious crime drama. I think the reference is somewhat meta, but should have been delved into more.

The play is also relevant in that All's Well That Ends Well is about families, too--particularly how sons struggle to define themselves when it comes to being compared to their fathers, and how they react when they feel like they have limited choices in life. Hrm, hrm, Vegas.

Anyways, Vegas and Pete totally deserved their beautiful ending. When Vegas wakes up post being shot and tells Pete:

You're not my pet. You're the most important person in my life.

It's a great way to tie the themes of their arcs together. Firstly, it is a fairy tale ending. Secondly, it's an affirmation of Pete's humanity, the thing they both doubted they had. Lastly, it's affirmation that Vegas chooses Pete, and in choosing, affirms his own humanity. That Macau then bursts in calling Pete his brother-in-law and welcoming him to the family is adorable and shows Vegas just how much he has.

Kim + Chay

So now that we've talked about two self-destructive emotionally constipated men, let's talk about the other one in the other major relationship: Kim.

Kim's actor does a great job of showing how Kim maintains a veneer of cool aloofness when Chay confronts him, but is internally panicking. Kim is reckless, running into battle to save Chay in literally nothing but a tank top. When Chay calls him on who he is, Kim doesn't even try to defend himself. When he saves Chay again at Yok's bar, he makes sure Chay doesn't even notice.

Unlike Kinn and Vegas, who are too active and possessive, Kim is too passive and cowardly. He cuts himself off from people not because he doesn't love them--he clearly does--but because he feels like he's bad luck. Essentially, the same issue Chay has--that he feels like he brings bad luck.

But, that's not how life works. Human beings don't bring good or bad luck. It depends on choices, another theme from Vegaspete and Kinnporsche that wasn't delved into as deeply as it should have been. Still, choice is an integral part of being human, and the show does depict this.

Still, it was a nice touch to literally have Kim wear a shirt with the word "human" on the front the same episode Pete insists "I'm a human, Vegas." Pete, of course, tells Vegas he has choices to make, and Vegas then tells Porsche that same thing in the final episode: that it's time to make a choice.

Anyways. The unfortunate thing is that the series didn't fully explore Kimchay in the same way they did Vegaspete. That's especially clear in the cliffhanger ending, though I think it was fairly clear that they were heading towards something positive. After all, Kim finally does something he needed to do: saying outright that he is singing for Porchay. Keep working, boy.

On a production level instead of narrative, I'm guessing the actor's ages may have played a role in them not fully exploring their story. Idk. I think the implications--the fade out with a way-too-dramatic kiss on the cheek that the fade obscured and them waking up together--were that they were sleeping together, but because of the actors' ages they clearly cannot and should not show that. But I wish the writers hadn't let that limit them--there are other ways to show growth and explore issues even if you can't directly use sex to do so. See, the sex scenes between Vegas and Pete and Kinn and Porsche were well done, and always had interesting meaning and commentary to them, which is great. I just wonder if they let the fact that they couldn't use this motif stifle their creativity when it came to exploring Kim and Chay's issues.

Tawan

Tawan's story was heartbreaking. He was a fairly well done, pathetic antagonist. When Vegas proposed to him, knowing tha the didn't love Tawan... that broke my heart. He was suicidal and his death ultimately foreshadowed what Vegas would later attempt to do.

But Tawan was desperate for love--truly desperate. He would do anything to be loved by Kinn, by Vegas, by anyone. But it wasn't really love for a specific person (as shown in how he switches from Kinn to Vegas) so much as that he wanted to feel safe in that love. Because denying love means denying safety, which sets him up as a good foil for Kim (who clearly thinks it's safer for your loved ones not to act like you love them)... but it wasn't ever explored.

Tawan's desperate love also foiled Chay. Yet unlike Tawan, and unlike Kim, Chay is able to express what he wants... and to assert himself when he's been disrespected and not seen as a full human being (Kim seeing him as just Porsche's brother is what breaks him).

Tankhun

Tankhun was everything. I love him. I think they could have done more with him, especially around his relationships with his brothers. Like. We only see the three brothers--Kinn, Tankhun, and Kim--in the same room ONCE in the final episode. Once! A crime, a crime, I tell you! I know next to nothing about how all three of them feel about each other and interact with one another and I WANT IT!

Ahem.

Tankhun is still, in many ways, the beating heart of the series. He wears love and his feelings on his fabulous, colorful, patterned, and often feathered sleeves. He chooses to live how he wishes, but will do things for those he loves.

He's also always right, if you pay attention--he knows Gun is bad news, and he knows Pete is in danger while Kinn and Porsche are inexplicably dumb as hell for not suspecting Pete was in danger. When Pete reappears and Tankhun literally thinks he's a zombie, he still rushes to embrace him even so, just because he loves him.

Also, Tankhun is, much like Pete and Chay, fairly pure of heart. I don't mean that in a naive way, but it's clear Tankhun is somewhat childlike because of his trauma... yet, he's still the one who adopts fish and gives them names like Elizabeth and Sebastian and mourns them. He loves his siblings, and he welcomes Chay like a new brother.

The Little Mermaid reenactment with Porsche was A Lot, but also hilarious and fitting. See, he's childish, so of course he's going to like fairy tales. He knows the world isn't one, but he still enjoys ones and wants stories where the good ones don't die, and he does his best to live a fairy tale despite everything. I really think the series should have dug into this more, especially since Kinn and Porsche and especially Vegas and Pete are very clearly modeled after Beauty and the Beast. Sigh. The potential.

Not gonna lie, I think the brother relationships were somewhat failed all throughout. Macau and Vegas's bond wasn't fully explored either, and neither was Porsche and Chay's. Like, Porsche doesn't even know about Kim and Chay, and Chay had told him about being tutored by Wik, so... wouldn't he at least ask? Sigh.

Korn

So, ironically, the brotherly relationship best fleshed out is... Korn and Gun's.

Theirs is highly tragic, and the relationship they have with their foster sister is also clearly a warning to Kim, Kinn, and Tankhun about what they could become if they prioritize the power of the mafia family over each other and their own rights to make their choices and live and love. It seems like that won't happen, given Kim and Chay and Porsche as the minor family head and Kinn, fortunately, but again I think this could have been more clearly explored.

Like, if love, both romantic and platonic and familial, offers a way forward, a potential answer (though no guarantee, see Tawan), which I think the show suggested, it should have been more heavy-handed in showing us. This also actually ties into the fairy tale motif, and the human being theme, and choice, and it just could have been so much more neatly braided together than it was. And also it works with the trust motif, because you can't control someone you trust.

I do really appreciate the ambiguity about Korn, and the uneasy lack of answers about what really happened between Korn, Gun, and Namphueng. On the one hand, Gun's utter cruelty to Vegas and Macau makes it seem more than plausible that he's the worst and he did assault Namphueng and kill her husband. On the other hand, seeing Korn murder Namphueng's husband would surely explain the vitriol he has towards Korn that seems unusually intense even for someone consumed with envy and jealousy.

I think it's clever that the series doesn't answer it for us. Even when Korn kills Gun in the end but chooses to tell his guards not to harm Vegas, despite the fact that Vegas just killed a bunch of his most loyal men, and promises to protect Vegas and Macau, we're left wondering. Is this proof that Korn is indeed the merciful man who would never have harmed Namphueng and her husband? Or is it the actions of a cruel man who killed his own brother and then told his kids not to worry because he'd provide for them, just like he did with Posrche and Chay?

Alas, what would have made this even more powerful would be an emphasis on what trust is supposed to mean... sigh.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I really enjoyed the show. I loved the characters and the three main ships. It had great ideas that could have been better explored.

Also of note: from its lighting to staging of certain scenes, it also clearly took inspiration from Queer as Folk, which is one of my favorite stories ever, and there were some potential Crime and Punishment references in Pete talking to Vegas in a scene that mimicked Sonia and Raskolnikov.

Basically, it was designed for me to fall for it, and fall for it I did. I just wish it had been refined, because it could have also been a masterpiece in addition to being entertaining (yes, really), but alas, didn't quite get there. Still, I'd definitely recommend it.

#kinnporsche #hamliet reviews #vegaspete #kimchay #vegas x pete #kinn theerapanyakul #kim theerapanyakul #kinnporsche tankhun #tankhun theerapanyakul #pete kp #kinnporsche meta #kp meta #pete saengtham #vegas theerapanyakul #korn theerapanyakul #gun theerapanyakul #porsche kittisawasd #porchay kittisawasd

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upsideoutinsidedown · 1 year

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“Will doesn’t need a relationship to be happy”.

This is something I’ve seen people throw out there as to why Byler shouldn’t have to end up together for Will to have a happy ending and that anyone who says otherwise is reducing Will’s character to his sexuality. I think it needs to be addressed why that view is simply ignorant.

First off, I don't care that Will is gay. Will Byers became my favourite character back in the first season when he had a total of like fourteen minutes of screen time. I enjoyed watching the cast's reactions to his absence, and the goodness of his character shown in the flashbacks we see. I remember thinking "how impactful he must've been on these characters' lives for his absence to drive the story for an entire season," and the more I got to know him in subsequent seasons, the more I liked him. So, when it was teased, implied and ultimately confirmed that Will was gay, I couldn't care less. His sexuality didn't change how I felt about him in any way, but it did change how his narrative could be perceived.

Will being gay is a core part of his identity. If Mike and Will were not the intended endgame couple, the duffers wrote themselves into a corner by how they handled Will's sexuality, because of the message they are giving by committing to that representation. Will being gay is not the problem. Will being gay, canonically in love with Mike, and willing to sacrifice his own feelings for a heterosexual relationship is the problem.

I, personally, am a big fan of "don't need to be in a relationship to be happy" endings. In fact, it's what I'm hoping for with El, and if season four had been handled differently, I would like it for Will too, but the fact of the matter is, that's not what happened. They built up Will's feelings for Mike over several seasons, even despite the distance (both figuratively and literally) between them in between seasons, and now they have to commit because the truth of the matter is, gay people do not have the same representation straight people have in media.

A heterosexual character could go through the exact same romantic arc as Will and still not end up in a relationship without it feeling like a cop-out simply because there is a lot more positive heterosexual representation than there is gay representation. It is essential to understand that there is a difference in the message being sent simply because of the character's sexuality. Whereas the heterosexual character's journey's message would end up being "sometimes it doesn't work out, but that doesn't make the love felt any less profound," the gay character's journey's message would instead come across as "a same-sex romance is not as profound as an opposite-sex romance." Will, especially, in the van scene, where he used his own feelings to promote El, would be telling the story of how the best a gay character could offer would be to sacrifice their own feelings.

Now, I'm not gay. Despite being ace (♠/♢), I don't even consider myself to be a member of the LGBT+ community (not that there's anything wrong with identifying as LGBT+ if you do share my sexual identity). But I understand the importance of good, and positive, representation of LGBT+ characters in media, as well as the damage bad representation, whether intentional or otherwise, could cause.

And ignorance is not a sin. I wouldn't disparage someone for not understanding the implications, but willful ignorance on the other hand is different. You don't have to ship Byler, but you should understand why the ship is important and why it not being endgame would be so devastating even after it's been explained to you.

#byler #stranger things #will byers #gay will byers #meta analysis #character analysis #i may not be gay but as an ace i know the importance of good rep #and the dangers of bad rep #i have loving and supportive parents but goddamn if that one house episode being like the ONLY ace rep on television for the longest time #didn't cause SO MANY unnecessary problems #also hi im new here >.<#as in to this fandom #not tumblr #sorry for like the mini rant right off the bat #im friendly i swear

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aihoshiino · 1 month

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I honestly liked ruby a lot before. How she was so full of hope and all, then the character development she got after finding gorou's body. Even the recent part where she says she won't be like Ai and won't give up on her friends. But I think all the incest and related part ruins her character and reduces her to a simp. At least show some depth in it tho😭 like before whenever ruby talked about gorou that felt impactful. Man i miss the old ruby.

YEAH!!! This is pretty much exactly my issue as well. I know something a lot of folks have criticized about the story pre-Mainstay is that Ruby lacks development but TBH, I never really felt like Old!Ruby was a character who needed a more active arc in the way characters like Aqua and Kana did. She definitely had some Big Overhanging Issues dangling above her head that she was going to have to address eventually but on a moment to moment basis, Ruby was doing really well. She functioned best as a sort of guiding star for the characters around her, pulling them along through the force of her own positive energy and personality.

A big part of this is simply that a lot of the things that made Sarina's life miserable are not actually issues for Ruby anymore. She's healthy, she's surrounded by family and friends who love and support her, she's getting to pursue her dream and even has a pretty healthy relationship with her memories of and grief for Ai. That's not to say her history as Sarina has no effect on her, of course: her bull-headed stubbornness and willingness to charge on into things no questions asked comes specifically and explicitly from the ways she was disempowered and lacking agency in her past life and moments like her getting upset about Aqua no longer eating dinner with them on Sundays during the LoveNow filming pretty clearly stem from her issues with abandonment and lacking familial care. But her environment and the support system she has as Ruby very clearly did a lot to help her organically heal and start moving on.

New!Ruby really feels like a retcon in that regard, like Akasaka suddenly scrabbled to go "oh actually Ruby was ALWAYS secretly fucked up!!!!" for the sake of drama and ramped everything about her up to an 11 to try and convey this but the end result ultimately just feels inconsistent. I know I link this post basically every time I talk about Ruby these days, but @all-of-her-light's Ruby and the Unplayed Role essay really is the best at breaking down all these differences and inconsistencies and why it is they feel so jarring. But one of the things that stands out to me is the ramping up of the intensity of her feelings for Gorou.

Some of this makes perfect sense within the context of the narrative; finding his DESSICATED FUCKING SKELETON jesus CHRIST and realising he'd been murdered by the very same person who killed her beloved mother absolutely makes sense as the impetus for her feelings to go into overdrive. But as of the Mainstay arc onwards, we have continually gotten backfill that implies she has always been operating on this level of intensity, elevating Gorou to a position of importance in her life that matches or even exceeds Ai to a degree that feels retconny.

Actually, now that I've articulated that, I think that key difference is the core of what makes Old and New Ruby feel so split to me. Old Ruby absolutely still adored and deeply valued Gorou and wanted to be reunited with him, but she was nowhere near as emotionally dependant on the idea of him as New Ruby seems to be. Old Ruby was characterized much more strongly in relation to Ai, both in the sense of love for her as her mother and her legacy as an idol and while this is still true to a degree for New Ruby, the manga frames Gorou as being just as if not more important than Ai as a factor in Ruby's motivations for becoming an idol, when it really hadn't been framed that way prior to a certain point in the manga.

Ultimately, it's just kind of frustrating. Like you, I really loved Old Ruby and I think New Ruby is just kind of a flanderized and flattened version of her - though the story pays some lip service to her uglier and more complicated emotions, the story's failure to genuinely and seriously interrogate them and its consistency in reducing her to a gag character just makes her feel so much less lively and interesting that Old Ruby, even if Old Ruby was (at least on paper) a much more simple character. It really feels like the last time the story genuinely took Ruby seriously was prior to 123 when we were getting teased with the idea of her meeting Marina again but that thread has since been completely dropped and I'll be shocked if it gets so much as mentioned again.

#oshi no ko #oshi no posting #onk asks #onk spoilers #ruby hoshino

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dr3amofagame · 4 months

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hot take: las nevadas four does not queue up a c!q redemption arc. las nevadas five makes some interesting forays in the direction of comeuppance but fails to make the narrative link between that comeuppance and, ultimately, any change. the reason for this is because the prison arc is inadequately integrated into ln4 and ln5. (i'm writing an ln5 essay rn and this is my prompt for you to join me in hell)

i think people who think LN was heading towards a c!quackity redemption arc were tripping fr 😭 like it's not that i would oppose the idea of c!quackity like, even heading in a different direction. but he didn't? he literally didn't. his interactions with c!slime were never examples of c!quackity realizing the dark course he was taking and changing his ways--if anything, they were a reason to double down? he makes a literal slime army in LN5 like. a literal slime army.

i feel like it comes from this misconception that c!Quackity's whole deal revolves around how he ~cares~ for people, and when he felt betrayed and whatever by the fiances and such then his heart froze over and he went for ambition instead. and therefore learning to care for something can unfreeze his heart and make him good again, or something (<- oversimplified). but c!quackity's deal isn't that he closed his heart off to love? like c!quackity's issue is that he's terminally insecure and therefore kinda terminally self-centered--even in c!karlnapity, he was frequently portrayed as being insecure as hell about c!karlnap and preferred when the attention was on him. when c!karl was freaking the fuck out at him in LN4, his immediate reaction to c!karl like having literal memory loss was to scream at him.

all of this is way oversimplified for the record but it's like.

like, c!quackity and c!slime isn't about redemption as much as it is giving c!quackity an opportunity. and what we largely see, honestly, is c!quackity caring about c!slime...and also grooming him to be like, the successor of his country, seeing him as something malleable that he could use to create another version of himself. it's not that c!quackity was necessarily seeking to harm c!slime, but was he being manipulative? i mean, yeah???

and yeah, for sure, LN4 and especially LN5 heavily suffer from a lack of the prison being properly addressed. the prison and c!dream in specifics haunts c!quackity throughout the entirety of LN--any conclusion to this arc no matter what direction c!Quackity took needed a proper resolution to the prison imo ???

like i don't hate purpled's revenge quest, but bringing it back to purpled-quackity-slime Again in LN5 after the conclusion of LN4 made that all hit a lot less hard. i liked the c!punz scene tbh and i also liked c!dream's ditching las nevadas, but that also feels a lot less impactful when he had like, five lines and barely a confrontation (fuck the internet connection there FR). like, c!Quackity rejecting change isn't bad in itself, but it feels like later parts of las nevadas emphasize his decisions less in favor of what's done to him, and what's done to him doesn't feel enough like a consequence of his own actions. furthermore, so much about Las Nevadas and the Prison (the revive book in specifics) has everything to do with self-centered ambition moreso than revenge, and it feels like that in particular gets kinda poorly addressed? like, the deal with c!Purpled doesn't have to do with revenge, he's not really taking revenge on Purpled--he is, however, ambitious and doing everything that he thinks will make Las Nevadas Great, and the whole thing with him still continuing doggedly on LAS NEVADAS!! even after alluvthat is much more of a commentary on his relationship with power and ambition than on revenge.

this is kinda scattered (like the LN finale LMAO!) but yeah. las nevadas is literally created as a response to imprisoning c!dream, the beginning of this arc happens in parallel to the beginning of his visiting the prison, so having c!dream play as small as a role as he did in the latter two streams really ends up hurting the arc as a whole when so much emphasis had been on c!quackity and ... violence? both outside of the prison and inside it. having c!quackity come to terms with the fact that he does in fact suck fell kinda flat without properly addressing the ways that he actually does suck...? anyway yeah not the best essay kat dorry

#my asks !!#kat :D #disk horse #<- not really it's just kinda crit ig #c!quackity crit #like las nevadas has a lot of loose threads in General but in a lot of ways it dropped the ball on some of the most important ones #and also im lowkey a c!slime hater on principle lmao #the acting was well done but i think a preoccupation on c!quackity and c!slimecicle in the fandom and in the actual series #led to a failure to address what was most important to the story being told #because all of it just turned into ohhh c!quackity cares about c!slime but he hurt him and now c!slime is telling him why he's a bad person #and it's like. okay and #all this being said i dont hate las nevadas including the final stream #i just think that i bit off more than it could chew a little and then prioritized what it needed to address weirdly

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fastcardotmp3 · 1 year

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even if they were never going to let hopper stay dead after season three because the don't know how to Do That, I still think it's bonkers that they chose to tease him being alive in the post-credits sequence LIKE.

his death felt impactful when I watched it the first time when it was released. it felt like a really big deal and a great set-up for questioning well fuck what are they going to do without him next season? what will happen to El? How will Joyce cope? what will the police force look like without someone in the know in charge?

and yeah, those questions still get answered in season 4, but during that (extra long) hiatus between the two seasons, we didn't even get to relish in ASKING because three minutes after the show ends it's just a letdown of hard-won emotion like. oh. oh he's still alive so no matter what changes it's just gonna... maybe not matter? lasting impact TBD?

there's just. like okay if he HAS to come back from the dead lets think about a slightly different way to do it, yeah? for shits and giggles?

(I am just having fun I am just playing what-ifs please do not take this too seriously fjsdklf)

step one: let the audience actually grieve that character.

let them believe he's dead or at least be very uncertain about his ability to get back up from that particular fight. let them mull on a ST universe without him because that's part of the joy of ongoing TV right?? that we get space to think about what might happen next? let them MOURN.

step two: don't send him to russia.

why are we sending him to RUSSIA when we have access to the opportunity for trapping him in the very dimension his daughter both single handedly opened and closed. why are we sending him to RUSSIA when the upside down was brought into contact with Hawkins by his kid, this girl who he has to find determination to stay alive for, who he has to find pieces of in this rotting place because if she had even some small hand in touching it then there must be something good here right?

(this also has the added bonus of opening up Joyce and Murray for having a more narratively impactful arc too. Like as if they both haven't gone down the government conspiracy rabbit hole in the wake of losing their friend? as if they wouldn't take an opportunity to investigate their OWN government and military if there's some sense that Owens is still hiding something from them?? let Joyce be contradictory in the face of having lost so much; let her outwardly look for a safe place to raise her kids and actively chase down danger because she doesn't know how NOT to at the same time)

(anyways ahem)

step three: don't bring him back in episode one.

maybe not even episode 2 or 3 either. maybe let us watch characters want him or need him or miss him in the aftermath of his loss in a mirror of what the audience feels in the wake of his death too.

step four: bring him back in a moment of high stress or action.

bring him back when Steve's got a bat's tail around his throat and his friends are wailing on monsters with rowboat oars because it's all they've GOT. bring him back-- equally changed, looking hardened and rough on the outside but with this flash of shining hope in his eyes when he realizes-- if they got here, then they can help him get home.

step five: give him the chance to be Different Now.

He's single-minded and single-missioned-- get back to El-- and that has the potential to get in the way of a lot. just because he's in hawkins this time around doesn't mean he's going to be all that helpful when the kids have a different first priority than he does. don't worry, they can still lose this time around, especially when you add the conflict of not knowing how much help Hopper is going to be when he's running exclusively on adrenaline and love for his kid.

step six: the reunion.

there is so much satisfaction to Hopper and El reuniting I love that scene in canon, but imagine how much better it could feel if, instead of his season 4 arc being about getting out of russia it could be about coming home to El.

they've both, in their separation, come to understand each other better this way too-- El because she better understands the grief that has run Hopper's life since Sara died and Hopper because he has become so familiar with the world and the creatures that have haunted El for so many years.

let there be symmetry to their reunion. let Hopper realize he wasn't there when she needed him, let El realize that she left Hawkins when he was there the whole time.

let them both be changed and have to get to know each other all over again.

let them be willing to do it.

bonus alternate tragic ending if you're into that:

there is no reunion because he dies in place of Eddie and El has to face the realization that he's been alive for 10 months only for him to die as soon as they find him and before she even gets to see him okay BYE

#dot post #hopper #think about this All The Time it was eventually gonna become a post who are we kidding afjkdsljf #i love playing posthumous script doctor i love dissecting media i care about

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chuuulula-sauce · 5 months

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**SPOILERS FOR OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH SEASON 2 BELOW**

About Izzy in that S2 Finale…

Well. I’ll say some nice things first. Unlike other tv shows I’ve seen, Izzy had a whole redemption arc for being the show’s previous antagonist rather than just jumping straight to a “redemption” death. And as a friend poetically said, at least he died doing what he loved, knowing he was loved.

HOWEVER. HOWEVER HOWEVER HOWEVER, I think Izzy should’ve been allowed to live, for the following reasons:

Con O’ Neil is an international treasure and the man acts his ass off.

We could’ve explored Izzy moving on from the abusive relationship with Ed. He repressed a lot of the trauma. Naturally, negative side effects would’ve cropped up. I think showing Izzy further learning to thrive and explore healthy relationships would’ve been reaffirming for viewers.

Speaking of romantic potential, we could’ve gotten an Izzy-Lucius-Pete pairing. The romantic tension between Stede and Izzy could’ve been addressed. Or Izzy could’ve found a leather daddy/daddies who deserved him. Etc, etc.

Izzy is a significant, visibly disabled queer character on a tv show. That’s rare media representation that has to be treated with the care it deserves. With the way his death happened, it not only removed the representation but also made it so a disabled queer character lost the will to live. Other tumblr users like @bougiebutchbitch and @cononeillbreastingboobily explained it better. Their posts can be found here and here.

Izzy also represents the emotional core of the crew and hope for an older queer generation. Why would you ever get rid of those things?

Although I can see how Izzy’s death was intended to create a more dramatic finale, it felt both anticlimactic and unnecessary. If Izzy’s death hadn’t happened, the narrative would still make complete sense. The finale-worthy emotional impact they were going for could’ve been achieved by showing the whole crew saying goodbye to Ed and Stede as they started a new life together. Ed and Stede could’ve appointed Izzy captain, which would’ve had precedent since Izzy has been the heart and voice of the crew. Ed and Izzy still could’ve had their healing moment together. And Izzy would’ve been set up for a potential matelotage, since this show loves its parallels. Sometimes a straightforward, happy ending makes the most sense and you don’t have do too much. It’s already great.

#ofmd spoilers #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd #our flag means death #our flag means death spoilers #our flag means spoilers #izzy hands #ofmd izzy #ofmd commentary #ofmd analysis #rights for Izzy Hands #suicidal ideation tw #death tw #bias tw #violence tw #abuse tw #trauma tw

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copperbadge · 1 year

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i'm reading all the peter wimsey novels because someone recommended gaudy night and that's how i work, and now i'm up to the nine tailors and just finished murder must advertise (my favorite so far), but i found it really hard to get through have his carcase, which was odd since i loved harriet vane so much in strong poison. even the characters seemed to bugger off at the end of have his carcase instead of tying up all the storylines and sayers seemed disengaged after the first act or two. i liked the parts with peter and harriet, even the two chapters that are 99% cipher, but everything else felt weak. did you enjoy this one/why or why not? do you have a favorite of the wimsey novels other than gaudy night?

I may be inducing a fight by saying this but I think Have His Carcase is one of Sayers' weakest novels, and certainly the weakest of those featuring Harriet Vane. I tried to re-read it recently and couldn't get very far into it, and I'm a huge fan of Sayers. I think it's also a necessary book in order to create a complete story for them -- but I don't know that it's necessary to read it in the modern era, and certainly not necessary to re-read it.

(My other picks for least enjoyable: Five Red Herrings and Nine Tailors, both of which are visibly her attempts to write like Agatha Christie, one of her literary heroes -- and they're not bad books, I just don't like Agatha Christie style "clockwork" mysteries, which tend to sacrifice personality to logistics. I suspect this may have impacted Carcase somewhat. We will come back to this.)

Gaudy Night is actually not my favorite overall -- I think it's one of her best, but Murder Must Advertise is my favorite and in fact the first one I read. Which is hilarious because Peter spends a significant amount of time Not Being Peter Wimsey in it, but it's just such a combination of things I love. Advertising (which Sayers worked in and which she also clearly loved writing about), secret identities, crime rings, a hint of romance, office gossip...

Anyway, Carcase. I think the problem is that to get from Strong Poison to Gaudy Night, there has to be a bridge, and it has to be kind of an unpleasant one, and thus you get Have His Carcase. One of the major points of Harriet's arc is that Sayers wanted to contravene the "damsel rescued by the hero" narrative. Not so much because she believed women should save themselves or not, but because she believed that a relationship based on that kind of inequality, where one partner was grateful (or was expected to be grateful eternally) for being saved, was inherently unhealthy and unsustainable, and it was also a super common narrative at the time she was writing. This reaction to the narrative is most visible in her unfinished novel Thrones, Dominations -- which was finished after her death by Jill Paton Walsh, and I'm not a huge fan of the end product, but I've seen the original manuscript held at Wheaton and it's evident that this was a theme before anyone else took over, it wasn't forced into the plot.

In any case, Sayers had to get Harriet and Peter from victim and rescuer to equal footing, and while Gaudy does a lot of lifting in that regard, it doesn't do enough on its own, there had to be a previous groundwork laid. In a sense I'm glad that the grappling they have to do, which is sensible and intelligently written but also really unromantic, was done in Have His Carcase, so that it doesn't intrude more than briefly into Gaudy Night. Carcase is a lot about Harriet setting boundaries and testing whether Peter will cross them, and Peter reacting (sometimes poorly) to someone challenging him in ways he's unaccustomed to being challenged. Carcase is two people finding out the worst parts of each other so they can work out that they love the reality of each other anyways, which is what they're doing in Gaudy. But we have to witness it in Carcase, which is unpleasant. At least for me.

As she matures as an author and gains more power over how she's published, you can see Sayers trying new things -- after Bellona (another fave) she gets very literary with Strong Poison, and then seems to swing between these kind of torturous attempts at Christie's style (Herrings, Tailors) and incredibly sensitive, emotionally delicate books like Murder Must Advertise and Gaudy Night. Carcase is a weird combination of the two, where she seems to be applying the dispassionate Christie style to a book that wants to be Gaudy Night but can't be.

Anyway, even her less enjoyable books can still be pretty fun, and it's worth it to have books like Murder Must Advertise and Strong Poison, and the thrilling romance of Gaudy Night. But yeah, Carcase is a bit of a slog to get through.

#dorothy sayers #peter wimsey #harriet vane

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suckishima · 4 months

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haikyuu chapter 281 "pitons" & expectations

basically i wanna talk about how furudate crafts a Moment

early in the chapter hinata rotates into the front row and the commentators remind us of how hinata is a known point getter for karasuno—an offensive asset for them. there's the air that anything can happen when hinata is in the front row, which is emphasized again by kindaichi commenting about how hinata just needs to do something

but the rotation moves quickly. the panels are cluttered and full of action with a lot going on—inarizaki is continually pulling out new tricks, even baiting karasuno into a reach-over violation. everything builds to feel fast paced and like karasuno is hanging on by a thread. and before we know it's a few pages later and hinata is already rotated into the back row. furudate takes the opportunity to acknowledge his position in the rotation again

and just like how being in the front row comes with the expectation that hinata will do something, the opposite is true when he's in the back row. the expectation is that he won't contribute much to the team effort—he's their offensive wildcard after all, and he can't be as effective as a decoy in the back. so furudate has set the audience up not to expect much from him this rally.

the expectation of action switches instead to tsukki, who we have seen make several quick and decisive reads so far this match. and he continues doing so, making two more impressive reads of the ball and jumping to meet them both times as well—something that both the commentators and kuroo in the audience point out.

he's on top of his game and furudate wants us to know it. everything is perfectly set up for him to block this spike from osamu. except, he's wrong. osamu doesn't spike it, he sets it to aran.

inarizaki's cunning style of play is at an all time high, and karasuno's player who is arguably the best at reading the ball fell into their trap. aran slams the ball out of frame and it seems like it's over for this rally

but then

we get this absolutely stunning full page spread of hinata perfectly receiving the ball.

amongst all the clutter and action furudate dedicates the entire page to these simple, clean, and elegantly detailed panels that feel like a breath of fresh air and hope as hinata is exactly where the team needs him to be.

hinata, who is arguably the worst on the team at making reads, read the play better than even tsukki did.

hinata, who the audience/reader had no expectation would do anything this rally—who is literally absent from every single page between the one where he rotates back and now.

he's been completely out of sight, out of mind for a page and a half, and now we're bombarded with these six cells depicting one action as hinata comes in and does what no one expected

but at the same time, it isn't unearned. hinata has spent months building up to this moment. practicing, studying, moving his body to match the path of the ball. furudate has been crafting the narrative to reach this moment for months and months, and that's what makes it so satisfying. we should know it's coming, everything has been leading to it, and yet furudate manages to keep us surprised when it does, by briefly focusing our attention elsewhere right before it happens

this is it, that page is the peak of hinata's major volleyball moment. but furudate doesn't end it there, they let us and the characters sit in it just a little bit longer

we've seen the height of the action of the receive itself, we get to be still and in awe with the characters, and then furudate emphasizes it again by telling us the importance of the receive

before we begin to transition away from the peak of the action and into the high of the emotional impact as kageyama looks up at the arc of the ball

and says "nice dig."

we finally get to see hinata's face and it confirms to the audience that yes, he felt it too. his teammates, the people watching back in miyagi, kageyama, hinata himself, and us as the reader, we all felt this moment together. we all earned it alongside him.

the months of buildup, the emphasis in this chapter of hinata's place in the rotation, then the misdirects of action—it all manipulates our expectations to be in the right mental state for the sudden harsh cut into slo motion as we get to float in the emotion along with everyone.

it's exceptionally well done.

and instead of letting it fade, furudate ends the chapter there, letting us all sit back and just soak in the catharsis

#i came back from the holidays read a single chapter and my brain immediately exploded lmao #hinata #coach what should i eat #hq #hq meta #2021 reread #the impact for me this time was also probably helped by the fact that i didnt realize which chapter i was reading at first lol #i was on the page where osamu sets to aran and i went 'WAIT omg is this pitons???' saw that you couldnt see the ball hit the floor #after his spike and went 👀👀👀 to then click next page and scream lmao #x #long post

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godzillabreath · 8 months

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wwdits s5 spoilers below

I was so deeply invested in season 3 of wwdits that every subsequent episode that releases just kind of makes me feel… sad? Nothing has since hit the high of Wellness Center and I don’t think anything will.

For me, that was the pinnacle of their storytelling because it combined humor with the genuine ways in which this dysfunctional group of people have come to care about each other. Nandor feels divorced from his humanity and is looking to find ways to regain that aspect of himself. Guillermo can’t understand because he’s fixated on becoming a vampire to fill the void inside himself where he feels self-conscious, overlooked, unimportant. It’s funny to see these genuine, emotional character moments butt heads with a vaporwave 80s aerobics cult. They expertly balanced character development that had been building throughout season 3 with a bonkers premise and it ended up very touching and very satisfying. And then, well. Season 4. It was frustrating, first of all, to see the climax of Season 3 completely swept aside in the first minute of the premiere. This season prioritized episodic, unserious episodes that had no lasting character growth, only to emphasize in the finale that nothing changes and nothing matters. You can’t make that your artistic statement for season 4 when you’ve shown your audience three seasons of dynamic relationships being built and reforged and changed in unique ways! Season 4 and even Season 5 continue to wipe the slate clean again and again. Hypnosis, Djinn wishes, other forms of deus ex machina utilized to undo everything magically and inorganically. There were no stakes for Colin’s death or rebirth, no lasting impact on the relationship between Laszlo and Colin from a season showcasing a very different dynamic between them. Nandor is petulant and rude to Guillermo in irritating ways, as if they had never built a tenuous respect and trust and eventually affection for one another. Does Guillermo care about his family, does he crave their approval, only to have him vaguely continue to push them away after what was supposed to be an emotional coming out episode? Why is Nadja appointed as a leader on the London council only to immediately abandon this position for a wanton night club idea? (Which is then abandoned again in favor of… I’m not really sure what her goals are this season? Vague mentions of a hex with unclear affect on her life.) The audience just has to sit with this continuous lack of narrative resolution.

And it sucks, man. I think it’s a mess. It’s unsatisfying. I see Season 5 trying to incorporate and juggle more plot-dense episodes and they end up feeling too long and weirdly overworked and like all of these ideas are coming too late to feel impactful.

I’ll say I really don’t like Guillermo becoming a vampire, or half-vampire or whatever is happening. I think it absolutely ruins his character arc of finding strength and value in being a human being—with kickass cool Van Helsing abilities even. It would have been way cooler to parallel Guillermo’s realization that he cherishes his own innate humanity with Nandor wanting to regain that humanity he felt he lost over centuries. At this point, I don’t understand what either of them want or need or feel or anything. And the rest of the cast feel like b-plot set dressing.

Well, that’s enough for now I guess. Every episode I just feel like… why did they write this this way. Of course, I’m sure every element of conflict will be magically undone and ironed smooth at the end of Season 5 as it always is and we’ll start season 6 with zero carryover or growth. Again.

#Wwdits #wwditsfx #spoilers

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destinysbounty · 2 years

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I think one of the things that made the original series so compelling is how interwoven everything was. Sure, it wasnt always perfect, but each season brought to the table some new connections to the lore, some character growth, some advancements in continuity. Even if a character or subplot only lasted one season, you could still feel their influence on the story several seasons later.

Chen is my favorite example of this. He may have just been the villain of season 4, but his schemes introduced a lot of information about elemental powers, his defeat initiated season 5, and his impact can still be felt as late as season 7 (foreshadowing about Ray and Maya, elemental alliance stuff, etc.) In Way of the Departed theres even suggestions that Chen had Clouse use dark magic to corrupt the Time Twins, leading to their villainy and causing not just the plot of season 7, but also Kai and Nya's whole backstory. Clouse, having returned as a ghost thanks to season 5, is responsible for conjuring Nadakhan and starting season 6.

And on the note of season 5! That season introduced us to the Sixteen Realms and the Realm Crystal, which become important aspects of season 6, and Yang's temple, which became important in DotD and season 7. It also formally introduced Ronin and turned Cole into a ghost, which are *also* major plot details going forward. AND it planted the seeds for Wu's eventual character arc in seasons 7-9. This season's impact expands past itself.

A lot of times, not all the time but often enough, whenever lore gets introduced at some point in the og series, it gets utilized much later on. Captain Soto, formerly a one-off villain from season 2, becomes plot-important in season 6. The Golden Weapon is shot into space in season 2, melted into Golden Armor in season 3, then melted down back into the weapons to defeat the Oni in season 10. The Great Devourer causes Harumi's tragic backstory. Mystake, who started out as a background gag character, became a key participant not just in the show but the worldbuilding and lore. The love triangle and subsequent rift between Jay and Nya doesnt get fully resolved until season 6. The ninja return to the burnt-down monastery in season 6, DotD, and season 7, and eventually rebuild it in season 10.

See what i mean? Everything somehow ties back to itself. Its far from perfect, but there is a solid sense of continuity that connects everything in increasingly complex ways.

I think thats a big part of what makes Wildbrain feel so different. Dont get me wrong, i love Wildbrain and i enjoy a lot of it, but it definitely lacks the cohesion that had seemingly defined Masters of Spinjitzu. A lot of their Wildbrain adventures feel less like installments in a greater narrative, and more like a series of loosely connected sidequests. Exciting sidequests that are usually really fun to watch, certainly, but sidequests all the same.

With the exception of Seabound and Crystalized, you could probably watch Wildbrain out of order and not much would change. If Prime Empire or the Island happened before SotFS, none of those seasons would face any impact from that. They are largely episodic and detached from each other in ways the og series never was. But if you tried to shuffle up the season order in Masters of Spinjitzu, youd have to rewrite a lot of stuff to make it work.

I almost wanna say thats part of why Seabound and Crystalized feel like such a return to form, and why MotM is so well-beloved. MotM introduced us to Lilly, fleshed out Cole's backstory, gave Wu a lil character arc that built on what came before it (Wu feeling useless bc the past few adventures were done without him), and finally gave some kind of resolution to Lloyd's Harumi-related trust issues (not just referencing her, but actually giving him a character arc about it). Seabound introduced us to more lore about the world's history and the backstory of the FSM, gave Nya one of the most compelling character arcs in the whole show that builds on and satisfies her past arcs, even gave her name a backstory that ties into the lore, featured relevant cameos from prior seasons (Vania, Maya, the Keepers), and provided an ending that would have lasting repercussions on seasons to come. And Crystalized...well, i wont spoil anything, but you get where im going with this.

Now, obviously this isnt the only deciding factor of whether or not a season is good. Seasons 6 and 7 are a mixed bag in terms of quality, yet have very integrated lore and character arcs. But seasons 11, and 12, which many people dislike, are also the ones that most noticeably feel like theyre happening in a vacuum. Any effect they have on later seasons, or any effect prior seasons have on them, is not as significant or immediate as in other seasons.

With the original series, there was a sort of cause and effect, almost. Rebooted caused ToE, which caused Possession, which caused Skybound, and so on. Theres a clear and specific chain of causality, and the sequence of events has a large impact on the events themselves. The same cannot be said of Wildbrain.

Again, i do enjoy Wildbrain, and there are a lot of things i even think it did better than the og. But i definitely feel like it wouldnt be half as contentious among fans if it had the same cause-and-effect plot structure as the og. Like, something in ns11 being the inciting incident for season 12, and something in season 12 causing season 13...you get the idea.

Anyway brb i gotta go rewrite Wildbrain

#i do genuinely wanna rewrite wildbrain but i wanna wait for crystalized to be done first #with the goal of making it feel more consistent with the tone and structure of the og #ninjago #destiny post

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