#tangled series character analysis

[cookiehusky799]

Same position, different mood.

To go with the differences between Varian on the good/bad side.

#tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tangled rapunzel #tangled varian #brotp: i'm not giving up on you #character analysis #parallels

[weird-science14]

I LOVE Tangled Before Ever After SO MUCH !! It’s story is great and sets up the series extremely well but I love everything it represents in just an hour!

You are allowed to be sad, angry, etc even if you “should be happy”! Happiness is not a constant you will experience negative emotions and you are allowed to feel and express them! I love Rapunzel’s conflict in this!! The internal battle of not feeling content with her life in the castle due to how limited her freedom is thinking she should be happy because this is supposed to be her happily ever after she doesn’t feel like she should be sad! Yes her situation is better now and she is very obviously thankful but she needs more out of life than just being trapped within the castle walls and I love the exploration of that AS WELL as how it makes her feel! I feel like continuations, especially negative ones, of “happily ever afters” are rarely explored and I love how they did it here!

I also love that the conflict isn’t black and white! Yes Rapunzel wants freedom she is not being given and you are obviously made to sympathize with her with it being from her point of view but it’s incredibly hard not to sympathize with her dad as well! It makes it incredibly obvious that not only does he know what he’s doing is hurting Rapunzel emotionally but that he feels genuine sympathy and sadness because of it, yet he still acts on it because he believes he is protecting her from the outside world especially since it’s taken her before! When he talks to her about a part of him dying when she was taken as a baby and saying that was his best part it’s so obvious how much he cares despite going about it wrong! I love understanding both sides because it gives so much more complexity rather than character a is wrong and character b is right! I’m reference to this I also love that the conflict isn’t just wrapped up after Rapunzel’s dad sees her fight! I feel like a lot of Disney media would have the dad see her fight and be completely changed and willing to accept she can defend herself but he’s not! He actually gets upset when she does this and even more so when he learns about her hair and her disobeying him! And it’s not about restricting her freedom or punishing her he just loves his kid and he’s not willing to let her go again even if that means she may be upset with him!

Also the fact that Rapunzel rejects Eugene’s proposal?! Love does NOT have to be rushed! It’s okay to take things slow and want to better know yourself and your partner before making that commitment! It’s okay to not want to make that commitment for any reason! And despite her clearly being happy about it she wasn’t ready and they don’t present her as being in the wrong or being a bad person for it she just wasn’t ready and that’s okay! It’s not wrong to reject someone and it’s not wrong to feel you’re not ready and it doesn’t mean you don’t love that person or don’t want to continue being with them! I also love the fact that they don’t end with them getting married as a “fix it” they instead end with a heart to heart between Eugene and Rapunzel which helps Eugene better understand the rejection and Rapunzel feel better in having him understand!

Oh and don’t even get me started on the heart to heart!! It was AMAZING! It’s very obvious that Eugene is still upset about the rejection but he isn’t just upset for the sake of being upset he TRIES to understand and succeeds! Instead of brushing her off or having the series portray her as being wrong or cruel for it he takes the time to listen and goes as far as to state that he understands and will respect her boundaries regarding the situation! It’s such a great moment! Eugene even breaking his usual cocky persona for this moment because he wants to be genuine with her because this is important to him and their future together! Because she’s important to him!

I know I may be setting the bar low for some of these but I don’t care I genuinely have such high praises for Tangled Before Ever After I love Tangled so so much </3

(Also thank you for reading if you read this far !!)

(Also also tagging my pookie because this is kind of an analysis? And I think he’d like to see it >:D hope you like it pook)

@anthony-ant-14

#Me tag #Interests tag #Ant tag💕 #Tangled #Tangled before ever after #Ramble #Infodump #Analysis #Series analysis #? for the last three #Tangled the series #Also side note I love Rapunzel she’s a great main character and character in general and one of my all time favorite characters #She’s genuinely so cool and strong and capable but also kind and caring and smart and rah!!! #She’s cool that’s all #Fandom tag

[lightdrizzel]

What would you say are the biggest flaws of the main tangled gang?

I almost feel like i've answered this in the past, laughs. But let's see...

Rapunzel: She's a people-pleaser, and socially naive, at least at first. Which is a terrible combination for almost anyone who isn't named 'Gothel'. All she knows is that she wants things to be OK, and will do almost anything to help others make it so. This leads to more than a few mix ups where she fails to catch onto social cues. Ironically, it's part of her best qualities that she will ALWAYS stand by anyone she cares about.

Eugene: It's pretty obvious that Eugene's ego is one of his defining traits. Even in season 3, when he's really learning what defines him now vs the Flynn Rider days, he can't bring himself to let go of the old persona, the great thief that he was. At least until a wakeup call from Rapunzel - and Brock - that makes Eugene realize that since others have faith in him as he is, he should too.

Cassandra: Obviously I've talked about this at length, but Cass's flaw is definitely her lack of self-worth. She fights for recognition like she needs it to live. Ironically Cass struggles with basically the opposite thing Rapunzel does. Where Rapunzel expects people to show love to her as much as she does them, Cassandra internalized that 'earning her keep' with others means everything.

Lance: Funnily enough, I could talk about Lance's fear of cliders (clown spiders), but I think the real flaw Lance faces is that, for most of the series, he's still a thief. Or, at least, more of a thief than Eugene is now. Lance never has the same aversion to his past that Eugene develops, but he does grow out of it with time.

Varian: He never thinks things through, plain and simple. His inventions are only so amazing until something unexpected happens. And then there's his villain arc, of course. He gets thrown out of the castle because he didn't expect Rapunzel to have to care for the whole kingdom, he steals the Sunflower when its power has been fully absorbed by Rapunzel, then he fails to realize what would happen if Rapunzel's hair couldn't break his father three. And, finally, he sides with the saporians to overthrow the kingdom, and never expects that they'd try to betray him too.

#tangled the series #drizz's answers #rapunzel #eugene fitzherbert #cassandra #lance strongow #varian #character analysis

[spicylove4ever]

Why Tangled's Cassandra fall into the dark side makes sense but still doesn't feel right.

Now I was disscussing with a friend about why would Cassandra act the way he did and I was "man, I need a long speech to provide a good analysis on this". Here's the speech.

Also, I must say I'm not justifying Cassandra's actions, this is just an analysis.

First thing: if Cassandra takes something after her mother, is being ambitious and has a need of validation.

But unlike her mother, Cassandra wants to appreciated and validated as what she wants to be, which is a mighty warrior, instead of adored like Gothel wanted.

Her ambition/goal in life is not just being a mighty warrior, she wants to be considerated the best. Now, the reason why she wants to be that type of person is because she admires the figure of the royal guards, and that life-style was with her thanks to her father, and of course she wanted to stand out in that.

The problem is:

Nothing but obstacles and struggle to get what she wanted.

And that lead to nothing but to a constant frustration.

Second point: as lady in waiting of the Princess, she had to endure what at first sight seemed like a brat who had everything on a silver platter.

You might remember how Cassandra didn't like Rapunzel even one bit at first. And that was because they were complete oposites. Rapunzel was a ray of sweet sunshine and everyone loved her, and she had every privilege only a princess could have. Meanwhile, Cassandra struggled a lot to have her voice heard, worked hard but apparently going nowhere on her goal (mostly because her father was too protective of her to let her be a guard). So why Cassandra didn't like Rapunzel at all at first was a part of envy as well.

But they bonded because Rapunzel showed that she was struggling too, by having to learn about a whole new world, with dangers and stuff, and they both wanted more of life, Rapunzel wanted to explore, and not just a cuddled life, and Cassandra could relate to that.

But Cassandra became Rapunzel's guide and protector in life, which was a little fullfiling for her wishes.

So we have a friendship where Cassandra feels good being the big sister, being looked up to by her small sister, but at the same time, she was still struggling to get to be a knight, while Rapunzel still seemed to get everything she wished for easily.

Point 3: seems like no one told Cassandra that being a royal guard has its own small writing, and it's that they are there to serve and protect the royal ones.

What I mean to say about this, is that when Cassandra became Rapunzel's guard on the journey to find out about the rocks, Cassandra wasn't aware that Rapunzel was basically on charge, and that means Cassandra would end up being bossed by what was her younger sister, who she wanted to look after and protect.

A meaningful change of dinamic that made her feel more unheard and unapreciated, and this time by someone she is very close to.

And the thing is, Rapunzel had a heck of emotional journey and had to gain tons of experience and had to take resposabilities to evolve to what she is supposed to be (she is going to be queen someday). That means she no longer needs Cassandra's guidance, and she also developed a bit of Atlas complex, which means she wants to take charge of everything because she feels like she has to take care of everything, which is a little bit of true, but a royal still could make room for the voices of others.

And what did this lead to? A HUGE conflict between best friends. Cassandra also started to feel like Rapunzel was taking things from her by not listen to her advice, and as a guard, her purpose is to fight for her, and Rapunzel always jumped to protect and fight. She was eclipsed by Rapunzel.

And with all that she had in mind, then this came:

Cassandra interpreted that as another time Rapunzel took something from her Zhan Tirir made sure she did.

Point number four: Cassandra has the learned behaviour of keeping all her feelings and frustrations in. Not only because she doesn't feel heard, but because she doesn't want to show vulnerability.

People who keep everything in tend to snap when what they're holding becomes too much, and in Cassandra's case, when that reveal about her mother, that was the last strab.

All this makes no surprise when Cassandra decided to start getting things and turning her back from Rapunzel. It makes total sense she got the Moon Stone as a way to get spot-light and also left with such a big show. Heck, her solo on the song Crossing the Line had a cathartic feeling that was contagious.

Now, there's a flaw on her logic. I take everyone thinks "wait, seriously, Cassandra? Have you forgotten Gothel kidnapped Rapunzel? Are you seriously blaming her for being through such tragedy?" and all of you are right. But Cassandra's point of view is even her mother casted her aside for my so called friend who does nothing but to eclipse me.

But the whole thing here is: Cassandra was barely thinking. In fact, after take a view on how did Cassandra view Rapunzel on the beggining, it's clear she hasn't stop to think about what Rapunzel went through. But truth be told, she had no idea, since I very much doubt Eugene and Rapunzel told people anything beyond "this mad woman kidnapped me to use my power to keep herself beautiful and pretended to be my mother, and this dude here cut my hair to free me from her, which made her age and die" and that short explanation doesn't enlighten much how hard was Rapunzel's life. Probably only Rapunzel's parents knew any details.

In any case, what happened on that betrayal episode was Cassandra snapping at Rapunzel, and the beggining of her fall on the dark.

Until here, everything is pretty tied up. But the rest of her journey she wasn't exactly herself.

This chick here is the reason.

Cassandra basically dropped everything when she left Rapunzel. She in actually had no idea of what to do afterwards, so it was the perfect time for the person who showed that piece of her past and thus becoming a voice of truth, to voice what would she do after leaving her friend.

On the other hand, Zhan Tiri knew all the time that she had to keep Cassandra against Rapunzel, so she had to fuel her anger all the time, making Rapunzel's actions seem way worse and even ill intentioned and/or that Cassandra's new independence is in danger as long as Rapunzel is out there.

But Cassandra is still not thinking here, since Zhan Tiri wants Cassandra to just be a swirl of anger and negative emotion that does and acts the way she wants. So, if Cassandra seemed out of character, was because a good amount of her thinking wasn't hers.

And in case you wonder, yes, it is that easy to manipulate someone who is trapped in anger, when you know how. Step one: do the opposite of telling them to calm down.

And to make things worse:

To ensure that Cassandra would stay against Rapunzel, and knowing her anger can loose its fuel with time (as it happened a little multiple times), she had to make Rapunzel look totally ill intended. Best way to do that was what happened when they discovered Gothel's mirrors.

Rapunzel speaks facts that are in true not much of a surprise since they were explicit.

But that little sneaky thing had a plan:

Before this, Cassandra still knew deep down that she was the one who went too far and betrayed the other and her own frustration wasn't that much of a motive for all her actions, but after this, it looks like she has a justification.

And then things escalate AGAIN. To the point Cassandra decides to go berserker. We all know how it went.

So after all things considerated, why does Cassandra's evil arc still feel weird?

Well.... for one, when Varian is there to compare, with his completable understandable reaction to his trauma and how people failed him on his time of need, you gonna need something comparable to be sympathetic.

Meanwhile, Cassandra, all her motive goes to a simple envy, and how she dismisses all reason and believes to follow what a stranger tells her. The bad part is that she should have thought that she still had a very loving father and if she only had told Rapunzel to freaking let her do her job. I mean, yes, the frustration is bad and all that, but you don't betray your best friend and then leave everything just for that.

OVERALL, MY CONCLUSION IS: yes, her fall to dark makes sense, but it reveals she wasn't that good to begin with if that's all it toke for her to do that. And she won't ever be sympathetic considering how we all saw how she was clearly being played even if it wasn't for us, and consideration that she should know better after all she has seen.

#cassandra tangled #character analysis #tangled series #tts cassandra #moon cassandra #zhan tiri #embodiment of envy #it doesn't work that good on paper if the audience can see in such a clear way that is is being played #everyone was like cassandra why are you listening to this and don't question any fucking thing #we believed in you #so we were mostly dissapointed with her #it does make sense psycologically speaking but still #varian is way more sympathetic

[rainbowchaox]

QSMP! Missa Character Analysis and How it Relates To Pissa

This is like the twin post to the Philza character analysis and how it relates to pissa. If anyone wants to know about how QSMP! Philza as a character and how that relates to pissa. I recommend checking out that post. Everyone really loved that post so I wanted to do a twin post of sorts focusing on our favorite wet cat Missa. Special thanks to @pepper-mintzyy my fandom demon on my shoulder.

Now I was personally introduced to him in Qsmp so I have no prior knowledge about any lore or character traits he had in other series. So I’m just getting my analysis only from Qsmp! Missa. Missa at his core is kind. I would even say too kind at times. He easily believes and forgives those he shouldn’t. He is kind to everyone. Everyone but himself.

Missa is also primarily driven by his emotions. Not in a bad way. His emotions just bleed out like Ink for better or for worse. Unlike Phil his emotions are the primarily driving force behind his actions. And this isn’t a bad thing. Of course Missa will find Phil more logical and calm approach to things comforting and attractive. Phil is a calm balm and his security blanket. Missa always feels safe with Philza.

Missa also has some baggage from his first week or so involving Spreen and Roier. He had no clue what was actually was happening. And he didn’t want to choose between them. This led to them both leaving him by himself. So of course he was a tad depressed before meeting Phil. And you could say he fell instantly.

Phil was his opposite in a good way. But both are similar when it mattered. Phil is honest, kind, spoils the heck out of Missa, and just cared so much. So of course Missa fell for the man instantly. I’m 100% sure the first day they got chayanne is when Missa began crushing hard on his government assigned husband.

Sadly the fact about Missa as a character is despite being surrounded by his family and husband that cares so much about him and literally will kill anyone that hurts him emotionally or physically (looking at you chayanne numero uno shipper and protector of the pissa nation). He still believes he is unworthy of them. Despite them loving Missa just the way he is. He doesn’t realize he doesn’t have to change or impress.

He is a tangle of insecurities. Any mistake he does is the worst thing. Any criticism he receives is the truth. He loves Phil and his family so he wants to be better for them. He wants to be one they can rely on when things get rough. He wants to protect them even if he isn’t the best at things. He wants to try. And I think Phil loves that about him.

Like I previously said up above. Phil and Missa are opposites but similar in the way it matters. Both Missa and Phil are loyal to a fault. The only other loyal as hell pair in the server is the actual canon married couple. They both also want the best for their family and they both love so deeply. They both just want each other and their family to be safe.

But also Philza only feels safe with Missa. Philza main trait is his paranoia but when Phil is with Missa it’s like the things previous that worried him is nothing next to Missa. Missa is Philza comfort. Philza adores Missa and how comforting and sweet he is. And of course Missa who is emotional (will sob at anything and everything) fell in love first. But like I said in the Philza post. Philza adores him as much as Missa adores him. He just doesn’t verbalize it.

Meanwhile Missa would gladly scream he loves philza from the mountain tops of Philza was okay with that. He would gladly call Philza attractive and the best if he didn’t fear coming on too strong or making his beloved uncomfortable. (We already talked in length about why Philza isn’t used to being vulnerable and fully admitting he loves Missa in the Philza post).

Unlike a certain Brazilian Missa will never even dare think of taking away Philza agency. He loves Philza because he is Philza. And Missa is so kind that despite his love for the man if Philza ever rejects him he would accept. In fact he has kept most of his affections a secret because he doesn’t want to make philza uncomfortable. The fact is everyone can see the two of them are in love but them.

But we all know the truth. Phil adores Missa with his whole heart. He loves Missa so much. And I do think Missa knows on some level. But he doesn’t want to push the issue. Again because he is so kind and understanding. At the moment he is just happy to be in Phil’s presence. Whether it’s under a charade of a platonic marriage or not. He is just happy to be with Phil. And others may say he is not the best for Phil and his family because he was gone for so long. But the fact is Missa never stopped tying to come back home. He was literally kidnapped for months. And the only reason he went out in the first place was to get Phil a gift. And Phil knows this so of course he stayed loyal and accepted him back no hesitation. Missa always will love Phil. Even if Philza doesn’t love him back. And isn’t true love when you don’t expect it be returned and you love him anyways? (Philza loves him so much. It’s just too dangerous to say it. But Philza wants to so badly)

#pissa #Deathduo #shipping #Qsmp #Yes im a bit invested into this ship #hope ya enjoyed this one as well :DD I had too much fun #I love my wet cat father your honor. #qsmp missa #major thanks to pepper and their discord for handing my delulu levels. #pissa newspaper

[nereidprinc3ss]

OMG. i’m just a bit of a overthinker so i have this bit of a bad habit where i tend to overanalyze everything when i shouldn’t 😃 but since you asked, here are some of the things that made me consider that reader might have daddy issues.

just please please don’t let this affect your work, your writing is absolutely perfect and nothing about it should be changed. again, it’s just me being a weird intp autistic overthinker.

1. it kinda looks like she uses sex to feel loved. she even confronts him by speculating that he might not be attracted to her. through the entire series reader is constantly scared of the idea of spencer leaving her after finding out who she actually is as a vulnerable person based on her nakedness if that makes any sense?

“But I just… sometimes I worry I’ll scare you away once you realize I’m not as pretty or… good as you thought.”

2. spencer’s character is obviously well known for having an eloquent vocabulary but he even gives me the vibe of being a little bit much older than reader. which is a common thing in women with daddy issues, like me. but again, this is just my way of interpreting the whole thing. he always seems to be so put up together but of course, that might change with the new chapter. even his actions make him sound more older, like in here:

“He smiles up at you like you’re something divine and lets his hands trail over your hips.” 

i’m probably just being weird about it but i just THINK it’s impossible for a guy close to reader’s age to think like this and be this gentle because young men are stupid by default and very few have this sense of gentleness with their actions. even with the way he calls her honey, i have never in my life seen a guy my age call their girlfriend “honey” and sure, this is merely fiction but for this reason i picture both of them with bit of an age gap going on in their relationship.

3. spencer is a bit of a emotionally unreachable boyfriend sometimes! and i’m analyzing this based on his confession towards reader about him regretting his first time. like there is so much rambling in this dynamic and it takes him long enough to be able to directly say it to her. yeah, he wasn’t ready to tell reader he loved her but there were other ways to tell her that he regretted his first time. almost like there is no emotional connection or actual trust between them.

4. sometimes reader is also unable to trust spencer, it’s so easy to see how she’s constantly battling in her head to ask him a simple question or even taking a compliment from him. i know it’s just meant to be portrayed as insecurity but this is actually a common thing in daddy issues as far as i know.

“He likes me and my questions are important to him, you repeat to yourself silently as you work up the strength.”

5. and moreover, this one sentence:

“It’s every fiber of your being screaming to tell him how you feel, to beg him on your knees not to go because you love him like a child loves a parent or a bee loves honeysuckle or the ocean loves the horizon.”

and this one part as well: Somehow, he makes you feel like a scolded child. But he makes it appealing in ways you don’t understand. 

But again, your work is PERFECT. and i wouldn’t have it any other way. you keep doing you. ❤️

me rambling about the DYBMN age gap and reader potentially being neurodiverse below the cut 🙏 bless

oh so it is definitely interwoven throughout the entire thing and i didn’t even realize you are so right omg😭 this is like in tangled when rapunzel realizes she’s been painting the sun emblem subconsciously her whole life

anyway bff this just made me so ridiculously happy. like the analysis??? the attention to detail???? im ecstatic im losing my mind ily this is so insanely thoughtful thank you for doing this!!!

and yeah i think you could be right about the age gap. i think i technically only put it as an implied warning for one of the chapters but the more i write the more i realize that is definitely a part of the dynamic. but also like?? not all the time?? not for sure?? and i don’t necessarily think that if they DO have an age gap it’s a super big one (although it’s up to you guys, none of my business) i think i feel that way because oftentimes they will behave like peers in the same age group which is how i wrote them on purpose. but it could also be that they’re peers in other ways like let me explain something i’ve been thinking about

reader is insecure not only about being inexperienced in romance but in life, and feeling powerless/helpless in the way that a child might. i think that comes from me being neurodivergent and putting bits and pieces of me into the writing. a very common thing among neurodiverse people is feeling behind developmentally from their peers which the reader is DEFINITELY struggling with so i think she’s lowkey nd coded which wasnt my intent but here we are—and so even if she and spencer aren’t super close in age they might be peers in that sense. as an nd person i often don’t relate well with ppl my age and find myself much more comfortable and finding natural connection w people significantly older than me. so that could very much be a part of it but iddkkkkk reader doesn’t have to be nd and they don’t have to have an age gap but it’s fun to theorize! anyway thank you so much for your thoughts lovely they are so appreciated!!

#asks #ramblings #headcanons

[arogustus]

Splatband Analysis - Bottom Feeders

(Disclaimer: This analysis in based on what I get out of looking into the character descriptions we have of the splatband characters. If you disagree with what I say, that is fine, we are all beheld to our opinions. Just don’t be a jerk about it.)

From my favorite band to their dedicated rivals, the Bottom Feeders. Like Ink Theory, they too got a fair amount of art to them, including a White Day art piece that shows them hanging out with other bands and shows off some character details. Be prepared to see that pop up a lot, considering the fact it contains three bands in total. 

Starting off with the band wide analysis, they’re all stated to be from outside of Inkadia, somewhere up north. The celtic rock and some of their fashion choices make it pretty clear they’re from the Splatoon equivalent of Scotland. They seem to have moved into Inkopolis at some point before their Turf War debut, as a lot of info we get from them gives the impression that they live there, or at the very least spend extensive amounts of time in the area. They also have their own record label to stay independent.

The band is a chaotic bunch. They’ve nearly broken up multiple times (mostly due to Finn), their performances vary based on their mood, and considering the White Day artwork, physical fights amongst each other is common enough that no one is really interested in stopping them. Still, they’ve toughed it out together to the point they’re evidently still together by Splatoon 3, so despite their fighting, they do try to stick together. And also have the same last name? (Bottom in Japanese, Feeder in English.) It’s most likely to be a shared pseudonym they took up for band reasons. Or, considering the Scottish influence, a clan name? Needs more research in this area.

Finn and Tangle are the stars of the show here, getting some pretty meaty descriptions compared to Jawn, Blow and Muruta. The two are clearly the driving forces behind the band, with the rest simply being along for the ride for their own entertainment. At least it seems their rivalry with Ink Theory is something they agree on, as their performance in ZAPP Square was made particularly electrifying when they performed against each other. 

Finn 

Finn is a tropical betta fish, and their description embodies much about the species to a T. They’re stubborn, they butt heads constantly with their bandmates to the point the band has nearly dissolved, is willing to outright fight them as seen in the White Day artwork (Tangle is the main victim, but Muruta is also unconscious), and is the main instigator of the Ink Theory/Bottom Feeder rivalry (Both bands use traditional instruments to bring attention to more classic genres, which they seem to view as infringement on their territory.) The betta fish is notoriously aggressive and territorial, so it all matches. Curiously, Beika’s tweets imply they’re female despite having traits of a male betta (in fact, the behavior I mentioned is specifically in regards to them). Maybe they’re trans, or fem presenting? Or maybe Beika is wrong. I’m sticking to they/them until we get some more official sounding confirmation.

Despite this aggression, they do have some positives. their motivation is to bring attention to traditional styles of music to the world, so it's something they care about deeply. Despite all the mentions of the band nearly dissolving, it still exists in Splatoon 3. In fact, they actually have a collaboration with recently debuted band Riot Act in the song No Plan Survives (Kikura seems to have stolen Beika’s idea for the collaboration), which implies that, for all their aggressive tendencies, they’re fully capable of getting along with other people. The Splatoon Twitter itself states they came together harmoniously despite mostly doing their own thing. 

Tangle

Tangle, the seaweed man himself. Currently the only sapient algae we have in the series, with everyone else being a sapient animal. He’s quite the oddity to even himself, since learning that he talks via the strings of his body rubbing together came as a surprise to him. Stuff like that isn’t focused on, but it’s not the first time a splatband character with some oddity to them went uncommented (Kagi’s skin color, Namida’s disconnected eyemask), so who knows if his nature as a sentient algae is also considered unusual in the world.

Onto personality, he’s described as a rebellious young man (does that make him younger than his fellow bandmates?) who’s dissatisfied with the state of the music scene. He thinks the music of the time has gotten voguish (read:Popular and mainstream), and wants a return to more straightforward styles. A commonality between him and Finn, it must be how the band was formed, considering they’re the two with the strong feelings about music, and him being the leader. Not that the others seem to like him that much. They consider his songwriting to be terrible and are apparently pretty harsh about it, something we will never be able to hear for ourselves since we can only hear funky squid (or seaweed in this case) sounds. At least he really enjoys singing in general, since the exciting avenue he discovered from learning how he talks is that he can sing out of his feet. What would that sound like?

Also Finn is fighting him in the White Day artwork. And judging by the others' reaction to them (read:ignoring it), this is a common occurrence. 

Blow Bottom

Blow, along with Jawn and Muruta, got stuck with the short descriptions. Finn and Tangle are clearly our main characters of this band, but it doesn’t mean there’s nothing much to pick out from what we got. Like his fellows, he doesn’t particularly care about the band’s sound, he’s just here to have fun. Considering the utterly exhausted and apathetic look he’s giving to Finn and Tangle’s little spat in the White Day artwork gives the feeling he simply finds the unnecessary drama exhausting, like it’s not at all worth his time. Being a dad must do that to a person. Speaking of, he’s a dad (DILF Material certified), specifically to an only daughter. He cares about her a lot. 

He’s also part of a rainmaker team with Ryu Chang and Kuze, Underpass Bass Drum. He plays it in his free time, though according to a little tidbit regarding the event in the Deepsea Metro called the Low Water Party, a rave where several people are implied to have died… anyway, the team showed up to the event and apparently performed (one of them played double bass, no mention who it was), so they evidently do music together too. No word outside of that on what their relationship is, but it seems they get on well enough to perform together.

Jawn Bottom

I can’t tell if the two dots are his eyes or his nostrils… anyway, Jawn doesn’t care much for the music and is more in it for the fun than anything. Likes motorcycles and meat, a real manly man here. But he’s apparently fine playing games with kids, he’s seen playing chess with Paul in the White Day artwork while completely ignoring the fight happening right next to them. Though judging by the sweating, he wasn’t expecting to be losing so hard. 

Muruta Bottom

Muruta is in it for the fun over the ideology of music Tangle and Finn espouse. He likes cute girls. Not much to pick out from that, but the White Day artwork has something interesting. See there in the corner, blurry and super close up? That’s Muruta, unconscious, implying he got involved in the fight between Finn and Tangle. Hard to say why he’d be there, but the best guess is he tried to break them up. Those two seem the most likely to be at odds with each other, so it would make sense the reason for his knockout is he tried to get involved to stop them but got knocked out.

—

That’s the Bottom Feeders done. Now, just to answer this, I’m all over the place when it comes to using their names because I have my preferences. Sometimes the english localized names are actually good in my eyes. I just pick and choose which ones I like. Anyway, see you next band!

#splatoon #splatbands #splatband analysis #bottom feeders #finn bottom #tangle bottom #blow bottom #jawn bottom #muruta bottom #my work

[seeingteacupsindragons]

A couple years ago now, I was asked what I thought of the “Captives of the Rose” tagline on chapter 61 meant, and I gotta be honest: I didn’t have a good answer then.

But I think I have one now.

If you don’t remember that center color, it featured Sherlock and Moran on either side of each other, with a faded William between then wrapped in a crown of thorns with a rose over his bad eye and ropes of thrones wrapping around Sherlock and Moran. The tagline on the cover is, translated, “The past and future. The rose’s captives now meet face to face.”

If you don’t also remember, a lot of the covers for The Final Problem featured various characters with rose petals: Louis, Fred, Moran, and Albert all standing with varying facial expressions as rose petals fluttered around them. Louis and Fred look concerned and sad, Moran and Albert resolute. And then there’s one of Sherlock fully on a bed of roses with his hand outstretched toward…something.

There is not, notably, one of William, although there’s a solid case to be made that while those red bits of bridge in the cover of Sherliam falling together do look like cherry blossoms, they also look like rose petals, so there’s something there.

There was various talk at the time of what the rose was, and if it was William’s plans or goals or William himself, and etc., etc., etc. because it didn’t make a real lot of sense.

None of this is analysis yet, but I want to set up and remind people of some old stuff I haven’t talked about in a while, and probably no one really has, so reminder of all that stuff.

Now for my thesis statement: the rose is the life of atonement.

With that tag line, the past and future are clearly Moran and Sherlock, but not as…William’s past or future. He has both of them in his life at the end of the series. Rather, Moran is stuck in the past, the way things were three years ago and what he’d been doing three years ago, and Sherlock has moved forward and onward with William toward a new world and a new path.

But the thorns wrap around William, too, and that crown of thorns is more heavy-handed religious symbolism a symbol of suffering and sin. Sherlock asks William to take the most difficult path for himself to atone rather than simply die to atone. They promise to struggle and suffer together along their path to atonement. They have all committed sins and living with it is going to be hard.

And yet. When William makes the choice to live and atone and bear those thorns, the first thing he says about the world is that it’s beautiful. He can finally see beauty in the world this way, and he never could before.

He has embraced a rose’s thorns and managed to finally also see its beauty.

Wait, don’t go, I’m not done yet.

Because another thing they talk about when atoning is love. We all know roses are love—mostly romantic, but in this case, it’s more than romantic love. Sherlock and William’s vows to struggle and live together are tinged like wedding vows and explicitly called out as such. Moran is subdued immediately and turns back to atonement at the proof of William’s love for him. And when William is talking to Albert in the prison cell, talk of atoning through life turns to the fact that people love each other and seek out love to make up for the hardships of life, and that people love each other specifically because of those thorns and imperfections they bear.

William has switched from trying to rid the world of thorns with hatred by accepting them with love.

So yeah, that’s the rose: the thorny, painful path of beauty and love that is learning to live with your sins and atone. And maybe specifically William’s love and atonement especially so: Morna and Sherlock have been tangled up in his life quite thoroughly at that point. And so of course Moran and Sherlock are both captive by it.

While the captives in that image are Sherlock and Moran, that image also includes William and he’s not even really in that chapter. And keep in mind that this is also the first time Moran actually sees any of the Morigang again since their path of atonement started. And the chapter also ends with William finally going to see Albert again. A lot of captives of this atonement are meeting and reuniting this chapter.

#Yuukoku no Moriarty #Moriarty the Patriot

[bonefall]

You can call me Bones!

I am a queer adult over 20 and I use He/They pronouns. This is a side blog where I post Warrior Cats analysis and discussion, designs, and writing for WC-related projects.

Currently, I'm maintaining the Better Bones AU, a WC conlang called Clanmew, and my Clan Culture series. All of these are free to use, reference, or take inspiration from.

My side-sideblog is @bonebabbles, that's where I do most reblogs, live-read books (currently on Ratha's Creature!), and discuss other media (usually xenofiction). Consider that my 'spam blog' if you will!

Please read this entire post before sending an ask or tagging me.

You are never bothering me with "like spam" or "reblog spam!"

I LOVE seeing people talk in the tags and replies

I adore asks and I read all of them! I can't promise to get to every single one though, please check out my Ask Etiquette

"Can I use Clan Culture in my project?" Yes. Please read this entire post.

Do not ping me for my AU on other people's posts. If you want to know how I will handle something, send an ask.

ASKBOX STATUS: CLOSED

(Doing some cleaning out!)

Better Bones AU, also called BB or BB!AU

My most comprehensive passion project is the Better Bones AU, a revamp of Warrior Cats that aims to:

Fix the tangled family tree and give it clearer rules, expanding on kinship between cats while not neglecting friendships

Make the environment accurate to northwestern England, including education on how different biomes are managed and lists of local flora and fauna

Build out Clan culture by giving the Clans tool use and food preparation, additional traditions and customs, their own language, and medicinal treatment guides from sniffles up to HRT.

Change the themes of canon by addressing (not removing) its problematic elements, giving the cats consistent politics and making the narrative conclusively anti-authoritarian.

Be cool as fuck, with wilder deaths, more clanborn villains, bloodier battles, and even MORE complicated innerClan drama

HERE IS ITS CONTENT WARNING LIST.

Its old name was #Bonefall Rewrite, but was changed as it became more divergent from canon.

Individual posts are tagged #Better Bones AU, and are sorted further by arc such as #BB!TPB, #BB!Po3, #BB!characterName, so on.

GO SEE ITS MASTERPOST OVER HERE

It even has a TVTropes Page that was created by @halogenwarrior

If you want to see or submit memes, you can hop over to @bb-fennelposting!

Clan Culture

Like I mentioned, I create extra culture for Clan cats and society (tagged #Clan Culture), with a whole bunch of guides that expand on canon-adjacent crafts, meals, medicines, and so on. Clanmew is part of the Clan Culture series.

Go check out the MASTER POST here!

These are free to use for YOUR projects, AUs, FanClans, etc.

YES even things unrelated to warrior cats. You can use it in your pathfinder campaign, rainworld project, etc.

Feel free to send suggestions or ask questions!

Other Things

Canon analysis and discussion

I also talk about the books and the general themes of Warriors! When I’m analyzing characters, themes, plots, or anything else about canon material, I tag it as #Warrior Cats Analysis.

When I discuss the newest books as they’re released, I tag it as #ASC Spoilers.

Fan Work

I've gotten fan art for some of the things I do! I collect it all OVER HERE. I try to contribute to this list as I receive it, and its last update was 2/28/2023

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

“But…but mostly I think it’s just that I wanted to be with Mari forever, and”—there was a hitch in his voice as tears began to pool in his eyes again—“even now, all these years later, I guess I…I just still don’t know what forever looks like without her.”

A tear finally struggled free from his eye and splashed down his cheek, followed by another, then another. Hero frantically swiped at them, but they wouldn’t stop. Zoey’s arms wrapped around his shoulders again, and she pulled him close.

He wasn’t sure how long she held him. How long he listened to the sound of her steady breathing, felt her hand gently tangling in the hair at the base of his neck. How long it was until she whispered, “I wish you had gotten your forever…”

Art of one of our favorite scenes in "Am I Ready For Love? Or Maybe Just a Best Friend" when Hero finally opens up to one of his college friends about Mari.

Bonus Hero Character Analysis (Warnings: OMORI spoilers. Grief/Mourning): It is very important to us that Hero eventually finds people who he actually feels he can open up to about these deep wounds and struggles in his life. He takes his role as the "big brother" in his childhood friend group so seriously that we think it's difficult for him to really talk to Kel, Aubrey, Sunny, and Basil about his own struggles especially related to his grief. He wants to protect them and pushes his own feelings aside to comfort them instead.

While Hero loves his brother and his childhood friends deeply, and they care for him in return, there is a concern that Hero, being the selfless giver that he is, will let his fears of burdening them and/or triggering their own grief prevent him from really opening up to them and that he will let his intense feelings of responsibility for them and wanting to protect them and be their "older brother" prevent him from showing them how much pain he is really in. One of our favorite scenes in the game is when Sunny finds Hero at Mari's piano and they share this sweet bonding moment where Hero comforts and supports Sunny, but when Sunny goes back into the room, he realizes that Hero is crying and was really just putting on a brave face and trying to be strong for him because that's what Hero does. He pushes his own feelings aside for others and takes care of people.

Our "When Sun Shines Again" series was inspired not only by wanting good things for Hero and for him to find healing and learn to be happy again but also by the fact that we really felt he needs some people in his life who aren't personally connected to Mari--people who he doesn't feel he has to protect and who he isn't too afraid of hurting to actually open up to about some of the things he could never really bring himself to talk about with his childhood friends. We wanted to give Hero a group of friends in college that he would (eventually) actually let support and take care of him, just like he supports and takes care of everyone else.

#hero deserves some hurt/comfort #he is usually giving the comfort so we wanted him to be comforted for a change #omori hero #hero omori #hero friendships #hero fanart #omori oc #omori oc art #hero and his college friends #hero fic #hero character analysis #when sun shines again⛅ #our content #omori spoilers

[tangledbea]

I'm currently watching Tangled the series for the first time and I'm about half way through S3. I've been looking things up regarding the franchise and your Tumblr has come up a lot! I see you respond to people's asks about things you disliked about the series, but I'm not very Tumblr literate so I don't know how to search your page for them. Do you have any links to your past critiques of the show? I could search general critiques, but I've come to to respect your POV. I don't mind spoilers!

Well goodness! Welcome to the series and to my blog!

I do have a detailed tagging system, but I generally don't tag with things like "critique" or "criticism". The closest thing you'll get is reading through my Analysis Tag (that's a link, right there), or searching the tags of the character name you'd like to read up on. Not all the posts are made by me in any tag except my Answered tag (because that's what I tag asks I answered with). Below, I'll put quick links to the main characters' tags (plus Frederic, because he gets a lot of critique).

Rapunzel Eugene Lance Varian Cassandra Frederic

And to find any link on my blog, go to https://tangledbea.tumblr.com/tagged/[tag name here with spaces]/

#Tangled #Tangled the Series #TTS #Links #Answered

[feathers-blown-in-the-wind]

A Gorizilla analysis through the Spiderman lens : Why Ladrien is a genius subversion of the Peter/Gwen (and civilian/superhero) ship

Or way too many words of me explaining why Ladrien is good damnit

While the show seems dedicated to use every side of the love square but Ladrien this season, I do sincerely believe Ladrien has one of the most fascinating dynamic I've seen in superhero media. 

So here is an analysis of one of their most iconic moment :

THE GORIZILLA SCENE

The scene is crafted to remind the viewer of one of the most well-known tropes in the superhero genre: the love interest is captured by a villain. It's also a very interesting deconstruction of that trope and I will attempt to explain how below.

It's no secret that Spiderman was an inspiration for Ladybug and I'd argue this scene is reminiscent of it in a lot of ways. In the comics and most adaptations, there is one particular use of that kidnapping trope that comes to mind: the death of Gwen Stacy by the hand of the Green Goblin. Now how does that relate to the Ladrien scene? Let's see.

1. Hawkmoth (and Gabriel) as The Green Goblin : a father's gamble

Most people have at least a vague idea of who the Green Goblin is, and that particular inspiration is probably the most obvious between Spiderman and Ladybug: their nemesis is the father of one of their best friends. Which as both of them will realise, sucks a lot.

Now the Green Goblin setup in ML differs from the comics. At the time of the "Gwen Stacy's death" scene, Hawkmoth and Ladybug have no idea who the other is, whereas the Green Goblin and Spiderman are very well aware. This whole situation is a pure coincidence in classic ml fashion, where secret identities are everywhere and get tangled with each other A LOT. There's a reason the two facts people recognize as typical Miraculous are the love square and Hawkmoth's identity: it is a core part of the series, especially in early season 2, right after the audience learned of that fact.

Their identities being unknown to the other doesn't prevent the scene from working, it instead subverts it. It decides to deconstruct this popular trope: Gabriel has no idea that his son is special to Ladybug, but Adrien matters to him personally. You could argue the Gorizilla scene is an AU where the Green Goblin decides to kidnap Harry instead of Gwen (his own son over the love interest) but it would be missing the point of Miraculous "chassé-croisé d'identités". Here Adrien is both Harry, son of a super-villain, and Gwen, Ladybug's love interest, and it's what makes the scene so poignant. The scene is as much about testing how far Gabriel is willing to endanger his son as it is about if Ladybug can save him.

Adrien being directly involved isn't something Gabriel wants at all but he figures he can use it. You could argue this is the first moment in which Gabriel decides no questions asked to involve his son, and for good reason: confirming if Adrien is Chat Noir, his nemesis' partner. Gorizilla and Style Queen are some of the most humanizing moments Gabriel gets. The two moments where he almost lost Adrien, and the two moments where he wonders how far he can go to bring back his wife, wonders if he is willing to put the last thing he has left in danger on a gamble. This time he gambles: if Chat Noir truly is his son, he'll save himself. If he isn't, Ladybug will.

Adrien is missing, and his bodyguard is deeply upset: it's a perfect akuma setup, and the perfect opportunity to fight and potentially de-mask one of his enemies. Two birds one stone as they say. Unknowingly, Gabriel even strikes a third bird with this move : Ladybug's crush is captured.

2. Maribug as Peter Parker and Adrien as Gwen Stacy : the impossible romance

Gwen Stacy is a character that has been adapted and modified a lot. Sometimes made one with Mary Jane — Spider-Man's other well-known love interest — she is however remembered by one scene: her death (or at the very least her fall). For most people anyway. Now that sounds harsh and I don't believe it to be quite this clear cut: Gwen is very loveable during her life, and it's exactly the reason why her death is what we remember most. Her murder is a gut punch to the viewer and to Peter both because we love her as much as Peter does. 

Gwen is Peter's "one that got away", the love of his life that he absolutely can't be with (be it to protect her or because she's already dead): something that Adrien is more and more becoming for Marinette as the show goes on. So is Chat Noir, but Chat Noir is a point I will adress later on.

'Truth' confirms the idea that Marinette having a civilian boyfriend is a bad, terrible idea. To add to this lesson, there are many events in the show that adress why Adrien specifically is someone she is so attached to that she does stupid things. In Volpina, Ladybug almost gives up her Miraculous when she thinks that Adrien is in danger (again another instance where the "love interest in danger" trope is used for Ladrien). In the Christmas special, she gets someone akumatised over Adrien being missing. Desperada's whole plot is about how Ladrien makes them both act dumb and against what they should do. In Chat Blanc she is forced to backtrack on her confession to Adrien - the first one to actually go through - in order to save the world. The season 3 finale was kickstarted in part by her feelings for Adrien and her jealousy towards Kagami. The season 4 finale ended the way it did because she trusted who she thought was Adrien. So far it seems that in season 5 Marinette will take all of these lessons to heart: being close and in love with Adrien is bad for her job as hero. (I haven't watched Kwami's choice yet but from what I know of it, it certainly seems to agree)

There is an evident pattern in the show regarding Ladrien's future : as long as Ladybug and Hawkmoth exist, Adrien has to stay a fantasy, an unreachable relationship that Ladybug can't have, just like Gwen is to Peter. Which seems rather fitting for a romance between the son of a supervilain and Paris' Heroine.

Now the fall in Gorizilla is another example of this phenomenon, but it is a very specific one. For the first time, Adrien's safety is directly in danger. And we, as the audience, know it. Where Volpina and Santa Claws were fake-outs to freak out only Ladybug, here WE are in the same boat. We know Adrien is really there and falling to his certain death. And more importantly: we know Chat Noir isn't coming to save him.

3. The subversion : Adrien as Chat Noir (the importance of trust and agency)

Now here comes the real genius of the scene to me (the genius of the Ladrien dynamic and the love square in general really) : we know Adrien is Chat Noir. We know that Adrien isn't as defenseless as Gwen, or as far removed from the conflict as Harry is. Something that neither Ladybug nor Gabriel know. Adrien isn't an innocent bystander pulled into the conflict by his father and his crush: Adrien is Ladybug's partner and Gabriel's enemy.

We know Adrien is more than capable of saving himself because Gabriel is right: his son is a superhero. However just like our favorite blond boy reinforces to Plagg, saving himself by transforming would be a pretty terrible idea. We're left hoping that it doesn't come to that, and yet it's hard to know how they can avoid it.

The audience is well aware that no matter what happens, Adrien won't die permanently : but thanks to the 'Miraculous Ladybug', that doesn't mean Adrien can't die at all. Sure it would be very unlikely to show his dead body or anything in a kids show, but Chat Noir has definitely 'died' before. And the more the scene advances, the more you're left to wonder how the heroes could win without Adrien exposing his identity. And while Chat Blanc hadn't happened yet, we have a vague idea of the consequences this revelation could have based on our interactions with other superheroes media. Given the very specific game of identity going on, Gabriel confirming his theory would make the plot go way faster than expected (and might just end the show).

We know two things given the show's genre:

Adrien really can't be revealing his identity this early on (it would be kept for a finale or a two parter surely)

Ladybug will win the fight in the end

Whether the situation resolves itself before or after Adrien face-planted on the floor is up in the air. His death being only temporary won't change much on how the audience feels because Adrien is just as loveable as Gwen is. Him dying is the last thing we want since we love him as much as Marinette does and the stakes for the episode are therefore raised.

Now the consequences are all clear but I'd want to circle back to the beginning : how did we end up in this situation ?

In the original comics, Gwen is an absolute damsel in this situation : she's unconscious for pretty much the entire scene and basically gets yeeted off the rooftop. Adrien's situation is very different though and it circles back to one of the most important themes in the show: trust.

If anything, the closest description of the gorizilla scene is a giant trust fall. Gabriel, however willing he is to endanger Adrien, doesn't throw him off the building: he actually attempts to protect Adrien by keeping him with his bodyguard. Now how does Adrien fall then ? That's the thing: he doesn't. Adrien doesn't fall, Adrien jumps. As Ladybug arrives on the roof, she asks him to trust her. And as her secret crush or as Gabriels' son, he doesn't have any reason to do so this willingly. Except Adrien isn't just that: Adrien is Chat Noir. And Chat Noir always trusts Ladybug.

In this scene, Adrien keeps his agency, something Gwen (or most civilian love interests really) isn't usually allowed. There is a lot to be said about the Gwen death scene and some of the inherent sexism that existed in the comics (which is unnavoidable given the time period). Heck even the newer movies, who put a lot of efforts into making MJ a 'feminist' character didn't completely drop the damsel trope (it being inherently a good or bad thing is too nuanced a topic to discuss here). There is however one instance I know of in a Spiderman media where the 'someone I love is falling' is also a trust fall : the 2018 ps4 video game. Now why do I bring that up? Interestingly enough, this video game presents Mary Jane as Spiderman's partner. We can even play as her in some missions ! Now that dynamic sounds very familiar. Video game Mary Jane, just like Adrien, puts a great deal of trust in her partner. And it pays off !

Trust is a fundamental aspect of the love square, and most 'damsel in distress' situations showcase that heavily. Ladynoir trust each other through and through, even when they don't have their own mask on. Adrien is Chat Noir and his lady just told him to jump, to trust her. So he does.

Gabriel is completely panicked because he didn't want that. He doesn't want Adrien falling to his certain death and he sure as hell doesn't trust Ladybug to save him. Gabriel can't understand why his son would and yet Adrien did.

Even Ladybug herself gambles heavily in this scene, hoping against all hopes that her partner will come to save Adrien, trusting that he'll be there, as he always is for her.

Ladrien subverts most damsel in distress trope by virtue of Adrien keeping his agency in them. Adrien is still Chat Noir even when he drops the mask. Adrien chooses time and time again to trust Ladybug, to keep on hoping. And she never disappoints, in clear contrast to Gabriel who keeps on disappointing his son. Trust is a core theme of Miraculous, in both romantic and platonic relationships, and an area in which Marinette and Gabriel really show their differences: Adrien's trust in Ladybug is earned and deserved, whereas Gabriel constantly abuses it.

4. Now what ? An attempt at discussing Season 5 and the 'reverse love square'

Season 5 really puts an emphasis on the trust theme, with almost every Gabriel/Adrien scene being filled with manipulation, while Ladynoir reinforces the importance of trust, no matter how their romantic feelings might evolve. Adrienette follows a similar theme, with Marinette becoming Adrien's confidant, trusting her with his deeper feelings in a way he only did with Plagg (and arguably Ladybug) before.

Adrien might be Marinette's one that got away, but Marinette is undoubtly where Adrien's happy ending lies.

Ultimately, the biggest obstacle to Adrienette is Marinette herself: once she lets herself trust Adrien, their relationship will be smooth sailing (if Gabriel doesn't put his ugly nose where it doesn't belong that is). Interestingly enough, that's what Ladybug has to do in Strikeback, both with Adrien (the real one this time) and with Chat Noir.

The love square plays constantly with the angst, and yet we know the fluff will come eventually. Adrienette is basically the happy version of Gwen/Stacy, an updated version where the damsel becomes the partner, where the happy ending will come one day, as long as they both power through. And it's honestly the best way to describe how Ladybug and Spiderman differs: Peter's ending is rarely happy (seriously half of the comics have the worst endings ever) whereas Marinette's journey, hopeless as it can seem, will lead to happiness eventually.

There are thousands of ways in which the show could get there though, many of which are criticised by at least some part of the fandom for one reason or another. The beginning of the season has flip-flopped a lot between Adrienette and Ladynoir, with Marichat fans finally getting their long awaited 'square reversal'. But where does that leave Ladrien ?

Well according to most: nowhere (despite Marichat being the most popular side, even back when it was unrequited but I digress). There's a lot of hints that the reversal might not be as clear cut as some fans believe, but ultimately, until we get a Ladrien scene in Season 5, it will be complicated to truly settle the debate once and for all.

However, I like to believe that Ladrien will never be an inconsequential relationship: the trust between them will never disappear (I'd argue it's getting stronger than ever), and a love as deep as they had won't vanish that easily, no matter how much they may want to move on. There's still a lot of stories that could be told with Ladrien.

A reprise of the Gorizilla scene would be fascinating for example, and truly showcase how far we've come.

With his slow descent into full blown villainy, would Season 5 Gabriel let Adrien die, and with him the last sliver of a potential reconciliation and redemption ?

How would Ladybug react to Adrien's life being put in danger now ? Season 1 Ladybug almost gave up her Miraculous, but I wonder how a Season 5 one would react: would she trust Adrien to save himself ? Especially if this hypothetical scene happens post reveal.

Would Adrien take a gamble and transform despite the risks ?

There's a lot of different ways this situation could end and I'd be disappointed if they don't use it again.

Since the 'Hawkmoth is Gabriel' reveal, Ladrien has been anticipated to be at the core of his demise, and I still believe it will be the case. By then, the reveal will have blurred the lines, but I have no doubt that Adrien (as Hawkmoth's son) and Ladybug (as his nemesis) will matter most: ultimately, they're the ones that Gabriel cares about, and the finale will surely place them at the forefront, as the ending of the Agreste arc and Gabriel's final confrontation with the Guardian.

In the end, Marichat is the fun and chaotic side that sometimes delves deeper, Ladynoir is the workplace relationship based on complete trust, Adrienette is their teenage first love with all the awkwardness that comes with it, and Ladrien is the one that connects best to the plot: the Love Square is a mix of all of them, and something else entirely and I firmly believe that any analysis of their relationship that aims to do more than breach the surface needs to take a look at all of them and that certainly includes Ladrien, be it requited or platonic.

Now I'm certainly no expert and everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I believe that Ladrien still has a lot of things to offer, even now, perhaps especially so.

(Also for every Spiderman fan out there, don't hesitate to correct me on anything I may have said wrong here, I've never actually read the comics myself so my knowledge is mostly second hand and vague memories of the diverse movies.)

#ladrien #ml analysis #miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #ml spoilers #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #chat noir #gabriel agreste #ml gorizilla #ml season 5 spoilers #they're pretty vague and I've been careful to not include any S5 gifs but I do mention some events in vague fashion #I can finally get rid of this post that's been waiting in my drafts for over a month oops #so much for not wanting to post it right after the Marichat episode #i end up posting it on the Adrienette one #love square #ladynoir #adrienette #i'll put those tags too since I do end up sort of discussing ladynoir and adrienette (inevitable on a Ladrien analysis post to be honest) #long post #adrinette

[user-needs-new-hyperfixation]

Hello! I really love your analysis and depth in understanding Yuumori characters, your fics & hcs as well. I think that they fits very well and it'd work nicely canonly! Anyway, there's something I'd like to ask, my apologies if you've received similar questions before.

What do you think the plot of part 2 most likely be about? since the whole "bad noble die" is now over, chances if it'll focus more on William's redemption? or perhaps the plot will be focused on solving capitalism during that era or some sort 🤣

Oh, and also, since "the third Holmes" is quite popular among ACD's SH adaptations, do you think the same would most likely apply to this series? For me, Sherlock already radiates the annoying youngest sibling energy and having another Holmes could break his dynamic with Mycroft. Unless the story really calls the need for it, I'm excited to see how they'd look like and how they'd take part in the story.

Thank you!

Thank you for stopping in, I'm really glad to hear that you enjoy hearing from me in various ways!

I think there's a fairly good chance that part 2 will lean a bit more into the MI6/James Bond/spy shenanigans aspect of things. Billy and The Honeymooners (band name lol) being tangled up with the Pinkertons, the Empty Hearts arc and the whispers of world war (I am due for re-reading that arc, I admittedly don't remember the finer details of the politics going on there), and everyone sort of regrouping into Mycroft's and Louis' domain could all suggest that being the direction. I think it could be a really fun time.

I am curious as to whether there will be any kind of overarching antagonist going forward; Sherlock and William were never good at being enemies, but at least they were two loosely opposing forces. Now, everyone is on the same team, and it does seem a little late to introduce new main characters. But maybe not; maybe the start of a new part is the perfect time for that. We'll see!! (I can't wait!)

As for the third Holmes sibling, again, seems a little late but who knows! I do think if there was one, they would be the middle child, born sometime in the seven years between Mycroft and Sherlock. So Sherly would still retain his bratty youngest child position lol.

Thanks for the ask!

#moriarty the patriot #yuukoku no moriarty #asks

[bispearls]

hii i'm polypearIs on twt and well i don't want to leave twt but if everyone's gonna be active on here for the next few days i'm gonna try learn how to as well even though its soo confusing.

my main interest is steven universe (i love the entire show but especially pearlrose) and i'll probably be mostly posting su content like character analysis and stuff, and i also enjoy lots of other shows, the main ones rn are probably doctor who, yellowjackets, ducktales and tangled the series. i love undertale and deltarune, and music such as kpop, mitski, little mix, rina sawayama and musicals such as phantom of the opera and heathers.

PLEASE interact with me as much as u want i love talking to people but proshippers please dni. if i do have to properly move to tumblr (even though twt is my babygirl) i'll probably make a PROPER pinned post instead of this mess. thanks!

#my post

[bimboficationblues]

Marv Wolfman and George Perez's "New Teen Titans" Evaluated

Background

This analysis covers Marv Wolfman and George Perez's New Teen Titans (1980) #1-40, Tales of the Teen Titans #41-58, and New Teen Titans (1984) #1-5. My justification is that after #5, Perez leaves the series he helped define through his bold, detailed panels and spreads, and Wolfman self-professedly experiences writer's block and starts rehashing some plots for a while before things go off the rails in the 90s. So I kind of consider the arc "The Terror of Trigon" a good wrap-up point because it takes the character of Raven (whose motivations kick off the series) off the playing field, Perez departs, and most other plots have resolved in a satisfactory way by this point. I may make an addendum post about the post-Perez years at some point.

DC Comics' The New Teen Titans was intended to emulate the success of the Uncanny X-Men under Chris Claremont over at Marvel Comics. Wolfman took the ensemble cast and tangle of interwoven, character-driven plots of UXM and pushed them in a parallel direction.

The X-Men under Claremont's tenure centered on an internationalist group of mostly adult misfits, "hated and feared" as the old slogan goes, caught up in a complex, politically charged science-fantasy soap opera, and all the characters are haunted by death or absence in one way or another in connection to their social position. The new status quo had also cleared away most of the characters from the poorly received Stan Lee era, instead focusing on a new cast with new relationships, motives, and histories to uncover. Claremont's run is very much about the long game. God, I should really reread it and do a writeup.

By contrast, NTT is less politically pointed (and when it does attempt to be politically pointed it usually falls flat) and generally less grand in scope, but still has a very clear thematic thrust. The Titans are teenagers in the middle of discovering themselves as people, and they deal with a lot of pre-rational frustrations surrounding intimacy and emotional forthrightness. They also regularly confront institutions and authorities that have diminishing, exploitative, or degrading expectations for them because of their age or social status. This reflects Wolfman and Perez's intentions for the book, which was to get the team out from under the shadow of the Justice League and make their own unique mark.

In my own estimation, while I think UXM's highs are generally better and more bizarre or interesting, NTT has fewer valleys - at least while Wolfman and Perez are collaborating (though to be fair, Wolfman/Perez worked together for only five years while Claremont wrote his book for sixteen). I think this reflects Wolfman's stronger aptitude for characterization and Perez's guiding touch as a co-plotter, while Claremont's talent lay in worldbuilding and grand-scheme plotting.

Anyway, perhaps unsurprisingly for a book that is basically "X-Men but more immediately relatable to teenagers," NTT sold like gangbusters and kept DC Comics from bankruptcy.

The People

The ensemble cast of NTT is especially strong because it deliberately ties to the book's themes about growing up and becoming your own person.

The empathic pacifist Raven feels as though her own emotions could at any point explode and hurt everyone around her - seeing them as outlets for the aspects of her father that exist within her to emerge - so she shuts herself off from the world (kind of a transfem imo).

Starfire is a sexually liberated free spirit with a passionate rage towards injustice on account of having experienced it herself, expressed by blinding solar-powered starbolts, as well as blood-knight tendencies that place her at odds with her teammates and Earth society at large (kind of a transfem imo).

Changeling (formerly known as Beast Boy) is a young class-clown masking an inferiority complex and a disbelief in his own self-worth, linked to a feeling of being repeatedly left behind by abandonment, betrayal, or death.

Robin is self-serious, overly self-reliant, and trying to figure out what makes a good leader, as well as get out from under his mentors' shadows, which eventually shapes his evolution into Nightwing.

Cyborg's race and disability mark him as an outcast; while some of the writing around this merits criticism, it produces a character who is struggling with a fundamental loneliness, exhaustion, and anger at being treated like an object of utility by the adults in his life and a monster by society at large, which makes his budding friendships with the other Titans much sweeter.

Late introduction Jericho, a non-verbal mutant, is a sweet, sensitive artistic type, but also a bit scary, reflected in his ability to temporarily possess people by making eye contact with them; he's largely a means to ground Raven at a time when her other teammates are getting increasingly wary of her. Just don't read about what happens to him later.

Another latecomer, Terra, is sort of the problem child of the team; she's the youngest along with Beast Boy, she's got buck teeth and a bad attitude, is clearly immature and doesn't believe in other people's ability to help her. She's an insecure and angry child, which makes her highly dangerous given her control over earth and rock. We also learn fairly early after she joins the team that she's a spy, and questions start stirring about how she's gonna turn out. We'll come back to Terra, and not for good reasons, but I do actually enjoy her presence within the team as a spanner in the works.

They're all broadly relatable archetypes, but they have enough flexibility within their emotional journeys to allow for different kinds of fun superhero plots.

The casting isn't universally great, though. While Wonder Girl has a more developed personality relative to her previous appearances - serious, bright, and a bit of a romantic, basically the "Mom Friend" - she doesn't get to change much during this section of the book. A lot of her arc is tethered to an extremely boring and inappropriate relationship with college professor Terry Long, and finding her parents, which is resolved in a single issue. (Crisis on Infinite Earths later made her the victim of one of the biggest continuity snarls in DC, but that is outside the scope of this review.) Kid Flash is also there, but only to be out-of-character, annoying, conservative, and a dick to Raven, because Wolfman didn't actually want him in the book. The leap from this to something like Mark Waid's run on "The Flash" is night and day.

Throughout the series there are a number of interwoven plotlines, many of which tie into a cast of recurring villains. I don't think any of these antagonists, as characters, are especially strong, but they definitely serve as good engines for drama. You've got the Fearsome Five, the demon and Raven's father Trigon, Starfire's imperialist sister Blackfire, mysteriously immortal child-killer Brother Blood and his Church, and wily hyper-competent mercenary Deathstroke the Terminator. I'm not even listing everyone here - the number of iconic antagonists introduced or refined in this period is seriously impressive. So let's talk the plots they brought with them!

The Plots

Raven brings the Titans together initially to confront her father Trigon, making her conflict with him arguably the heart of the book. The first few issues go about establishing some villains and introducing our core cast, who are not getting along super great at this point and are largely held together by Raven's manipulation. Slowly, however, the team grows to understand and trust one another. After an initial encounter with Trigon in which they just barely contain him with the help of Raven's mother, the group gets involved in a variety of shorter and longer adventures. Some of my favorites:

The original Trigon arc is great, and I especially like the introduction of Raven's personal history with the Azarath pacifists, a civilization of passive mystics pledged to non-interference with Trigon's evil and who raised Raven to repress her emotions. It makes for really great drama and angst on Raven's part, as she doesn't understand why these wise people would turn a blind eye to cruelty and oppression.

Starfire is kidnapped by her evil sister Blackfire for a bizarre space opera costarring the rebellious Omega Men, which really lets Perez show off strange creatures and technology. The journey to rescue Starfire splinters the group into different factions operating with imperfect information at various points, as different segments of the alien civilizations jockey for supremacy, until finally the two sisters face off in a bloody showdown.

The team has several encounters with the mysterious Brother Blood and his corrupting Church of Blood, which spreads its tendrils throughout politics and the media and inflicts harsh punishments on heathens and apostates. This is perhaps the most on-the-nose example of authorities trying to use children to their own ends, and Brother Blood is quite imposing as an antagonist.

The group confronts the Brotherhood of Evil in the nation of Zandia, with Changeling looking to rescue the last vestiges of his old Doom Patrol team and exact revenge on the people that wiped out one of his families. It's pretty dark and introduces a new international Brotherhood of Evil that's surprisingly fun to watch.

There are some nice one-shot issues as well, like Robin's investigation of Wonder Girl's (pre-Crisis) origins; Cyborg's reconciliation with his father; the very weird story of Thunder and Lightning, mutant children of an alien who went to Vietnam; and "Who Killed Trident?", where the group has to put together disparate stories to figure out how a supervillain wound up dead. (Spoilers: it's multiple guys in the same costume, a conceit Wolfman would rehash with the Wildebeest Society after Perez departs.)

The only real lowlights here are a couple of blander self-contained issues, and the brief arc where Wonder Girl and Starfire have a confrontation in Themyscira, home of the Amazons, in which WG gets hypno-seduced. It's very lame. This sort of horned up 80s sexism is an unfortunately recurring facet of the book.

But barring those misses, the first volume of NTT is consistently great. We also get a miniseries focusing on the four lesser-known members of the team (Changeling, Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven) that explores their backstories in a bit more detail; it's not necessary but it's a fine read. It's after the book splits in two, the coextensive "Tales of the Teen Titans" and second volume of "New Teen Titans," that things start getting a little wobbly. First, the Brother Blood plot wraps up ambiguously, which is fine. Then we get to "The Judas Contract," the most famous and controversial Teen Titans story.

"The Judas Contract" sees the whole team undone by the viper in their garden, Terra, and exposes the cracks in their collective armor. This arc is a culmination of established plot points rather than a self-contained story, as Deathstroke's vengeance quest towards the Titans and Terra's status as a mole had already been long established. So it's really more about seeing how these things will pay off. Will Terra redeem herself, will she die? What are her motivations? Will Deathstroke complete his contract to capture or kill the Titans, and how? This remains a very popular story and it definitely has its strong points: Dick Grayson's reinvention of himself as Nightwing after a clever issue where he investigates the disappearance of his friends, the introduction of Jericho (who has a very 80s visual design but a great presence on the team), and the final action-packed confrontation. And while I'm about to say a lot of critical things about Terra's character writing, there are definitely things I like about her as a character and villain.

However, it is impossible to escape the fact that the writing of the arc's core antagonists, Deathstroke and Terra, is extremely fucked. Perez's comments about his intentions for the 15-year-old Terra's character are legitimately heinous, and Terra's "evil" is symbolically represented by her wearing eyeshadow and negligees, sleeping with a much older man, and smoking (Deathstroke even says "good superhero girls don't wear makeup"). We basically come away with a story about a victim of statutory rape who gets karmically punished for being innately crazy and evil, while the man who groomed her kind of gets let off the hook and painted as an equal victim. It's such a shallow, regressive morality play, with dashes of sexism and stigma around mental illness, and it stands out very strangely against the otherwise fairly grounded character work in NTT. It's also a severely missed opportunity to write something more meaningfully tragic. Though honestly, if it were not for the narration in The Judas Contract which proclaims Terra irredeemably evil or the follow-up mini-arc which gives Deathstroke absolution (just in time for an anti-hero rebrand and an ongoing series!), I think the story would work perfectly fine. We'd see somebody consumed by their own rage and trauma after being manipulated and used, which would be a good foil for a lot of the core cast's arcs. As is, though, the '03 cartoon's version of these events is objectively better in every conceivable way.

I would also describe The Judas Contract as the beginning of the end. Before Perez's final arc on "The Terror of Trigon," there are a few filler arcs in "Tales," several of which have guest pencilers who don't have his eye for dramatic layouts and action splashes to nearly the same degree. Worse, a lot of these stories are boring (Cyborg temporarily getting a non-mechanical look and Wonder Girl's wedding) or annoying (Changeling's vengeance quest against Deathstroke, which doubles down on Judas Contract's bad choices, and a forced romance between tertiary characters Lilith and Azrael). We get a little more Jericho which is nice, and a fun little Atlantis story that wraps up the HIVE neatly for the time being, but otherwise this is a valley.

"The Terror of Trigon," though, is legitimately a masterstroke. It's some of Perez's finest draftsmanship and neatly bookends the series with a much more brooding, terrifying take on the original Trigon arc. I honestly don't want to say much more about it - it's worth reading for yourself.

The Pages

While as mentioned, I think Wolfman is a good character writer, it's George Perez's draftsmanship that really makes New Teen Titans shine, and it's after his departure that some of the magic starts to go. However, I don't want to diminish the strength of colorists and inkers like Adrienne Roy and Romeo Tanghal, who do incredible work at making all the artist's pencils feel alive and bright. I don't have great equipment to talk about the pages, so I'll just highlight a few that I really like from across the series. (You may also notice that I have a favorite character.)

The Verdict

I definitely think NTT is worth reading up through The Judas Contract (with a critical eye) and maybe the Atlantis arc that follows it; then you can probably skip ahead to The Terror of Trigon. If you still want to stick with it after that, well, that's for another writeup! There's definitely interesting or intriguing stuff in there, even if there's an uptick in shakier stories. But that entire first volume is basically great.

[comingupforblair]

Warrior Nun headcanon

Ava decides to catch up on films, shows and video games she never had a chance to enjoy growing up and eventually decides to start a YT channel to show her reactions which gets really popular due to her enthusiasm and skill at media analysis, even if she doesn’t always get exact terms right

Beatrice has watched every episode although she can’t watch any where Ava cries as Bea can’t stand seeing her cry, even if it’s just in response to a film. She often leaves sweet comments, some of which Ava is embarrassed by but also really loves.

Lilith claims to find the whole idea stupid but secretly watches and loves it and occasionally lets slip out details that she could only have gotten from watching. No one can prove it but they’re fairly certain one of the accounts who always leaves really nice comments is actually Lilith

Mary joins in on occasion as she also missed out on a lot of stuff growing up and pretends to be annoyed by Ava’s commentary but can’t help but smile at her puns. Mary also confesses to Ava that she can’t watch scary films but has never said anything because it’d ruin her tough image. Ava swears to keep it a secret and she does.

Camila has guest appeared on a few occasions and fans absolutely love her. She especially loves watching Disney films, Tangled being her favorite, but is also surprisingly a big horror fan, particularly the Scream films with Kirby Reed being her favorite character from the whole series, and has a really diverse taste in films, naming The Princess Diaries, Clueless, Heat and Casino as being among her favorites.

Father Vincent and Mother Superion join in on occasion though Vincent regrets letting Ava watch The Exorcist as she now insists on shouting “the power of Christ compels you!” at every demon they battle

#warrior nun #warrior nun headcanon #ava silva #sister beatrice #shotgun mary #sister lilith #sister camila