#the main character has a line ‘I don’t know about Truth and Justice but there’s a chance that I may get a hardboiled egg’

[mycological-mariner]

This series is my hardboiled egg.

#I don’t even know if I should explain this. it’s from a different series’s book that left me feeling much the same way as Mauritius Command #it’s from Night Watch and just #idk man #I’ll explain it here since why not #the revolutionaries rallying cry is ‘Truth Freedom and Justice!’ #the main character has a line ‘I don’t know about Truth and Justice but there’s a chance that I may get a hardboiled egg’ #(or to the same tune I don’t have my copy on me) #and so the revolution’s motto is amended to ‘Truth Justice Freedom and a Hardboiled Egg!’ #and every time the mc is about to get his damn egg SOMETHING happens #he never even gets his Hardboiled egg let alone truth justice and freedom #so. I feel like that reading these books #anyways #aubreyad

[nateriverswife]

In all honesty, I doubt that L would use the Death Note with the same intention as Light Yagami, or would've even used it at all. He would've read out the entire rule of the Death Note, ask a few questions and figure out a few loopholes he can exploit before going, "That's... so boring???".

L, to me, is the sort of person who doesn't give two shits of the criminal whom he apprehended. He had fun tackling the case, got his pay and let the government do their jobs in the aftermath. At the very least, he wouldn't want said criminal to roam the streets freely— as long as they're somewhere not amongst the civillian, then L fails to see why bother using the Death Note at all.

It's kind of funny when people said, "L would've joined Light had given the chance and eradicate the world off evil" because that would've contradicted L's whole character— and that being having the time of his life solving the unsolvable. What kind of entertainment is there if he just sits in front of his silly laptop, reading off solved cases just to write down the criminal's name and attend meetings with world leader? Sounds boring to me. L would've sentenced himself immediately.

I thought I didn’t have much to say about this, because I agree with it, but if you are the person who sent the previous asks or has read the others, you should know that I cannot for the love of God stop myself from writing. I recommend a drink and a snack, by the way.

I just want to preface this by saying that I did write a post about it, and if you are interested, check it out. It’s not long nor elaborated as these answers I give, but it sums up my opinion and it’s more about the “what if” L grabbed the death note before Light.

I don’t know in which post I wrote that I also think using the death note would take away the challenge he gains from solving crimes, but that’s another of my arguments as to why he wouldn’t use it.

Now, the post will focus on the reasons you provided and the opinions I found in the fandom that would contradict the idea of him being similar to Light in this regard.

[I wrote this after I finished the post.] Before I start, and I’ll talk about this thoroughly: the line between suspects and criminals is slim, and L deals mainly with the first ones. It’s important to remember this, while reading my post, because, while the ask talks about criminals, we have to keep in mind L’s actual job. So, consequently, it might be off topic in some parts, and this is the reason. Another thing is that I consider different situations L might find himself in. I tried to explain the details as much as I could, but there might be some variables that I did not disclose properly. Hopefully, they can be understood by the context.

PREMISE:

In the “I am not justice” speech L gave at the Wammy’s House, even if I think most of it was bait, I do still believe there is some truth to it, because I am not one to point the finger at L and criticise the fact that he does what he does because he likes it.

Work and pleasure can go hand in hand, and hopefully it can also be possible in this universe soon.

At the end of the day, L still solves crimes, still catches criminals, still provides “justice”, no matter what his main goal is here, which can also be getting a kick of serotonin by being challenged. There’s nothing wrong with it, as long as he does what his role requires him to, so it's one thing that I don't get about the fandom or those who think it is wrong.

Do you want him to hate what he does? Don’t you think that would make him more prone to take the short route out and detain suspects without any reason, until they confess? Or just straight up kill them and see if the crimes stop? Which, interestingly enough, I wrote a post about how L saving Misa caused his death, to prove that sometimes winning is not the only thing on his mind, but he wants to understand cases on a more nuanced level.

But the point is, this kind of people have no problem saying that L doesn’t care about others, that his ultimate goal is to entertain himself (and to win) and in the same breath, they continue by stating that he would use the death note in a blink of an eye with the same moral justification as Light, so… Does he or does he not care about the world? Why does he solve crimes? For entertainment purposes or to “get rid of the evil and save the world”?

To me, it’s both (kind of), so it would make sense that he wouldn’t use it.

REASONS: - one by one.

First and foremost, his role in the world and his responsibility of what happens to criminals after they get caught.

There’s a tendency to confuse private detective work with the criminal justice system and law enforcement.

I came across some posts a while back, when I used to dive in his hashtag, and people would read his work in a light that is not applicable to him, and I think it’s because he works with the task force.

L is a high-profile private detective, and like any other, he doesn’t have the ability to arrest nor sentence criminals.

Yes, he says that he will bring Kira’s head to the task force, but it’s a figure of speech and it only means that he will find enough proof to catch him (and I also think it was such a badass move to say it in front of Light, but I digress).

You could argue that some of his tactics aren’t legal, so he could possibly be the one to administrate “justice” (in quotes, because the death penalty is not it to me), but this is different.

If he wires the house of someone and gets proof that they committed the crime, let’s be honest, given his status and the probability of law enforcement or national agencies/government already knowing how he operates, he will get a slap on the wrist, but deciding the fate of a criminal or a suspect is overstepping his already non-existent authority in that field.

He would lose trust, which he cares a lot about. He wouldn’t be able to work with the support of the national law enforcement, which he needs because he is a private detective that countries need to employ, and nobody would do that, if he cannot respect them. It would also put him in danger of his identity being discovered, because that is a patently crime, which would get him blacklisted from working in a country and make him a wanted criminal.

"But he wouldn't be caught. Nobody would know."

Even if he uses the most intricate way to kill his suspects, one time is a coincidence, two times is weird, and three times shows that something fishy is going on. He seems to communicate his progress to high profile people, like the FBI header (we can see that at the beginning of the manga), so going from “yeah, I have suspect” to “they died” continuously would literally point every possible finger in his direction. He cannot afford that, not even if he wanted to do it. We are told and we say that he is smart, so why would he do something so stupid?

It would also be weird if all the criminals he caught were to be killed, so he would need to avoid patterns, which would definitely take him a lot of time and planning and would steal it from his actual activity, that he loves.

Besides, if he manages to kill enough people to raise some eyebrows but they are not linked to him, countries will ask him to do something about it and if he refuses, that's fucking weird, because that's the type of case he is interested in. If he accepts it, but it takes him too much time without any justifcation, weird. If he denies the help offered by national agencies, weird. If he accepts it, but does things that don't make sense and don't actual help the case, weird. Countries will start to think that he cannot be trusted, which goes back to what I said before. It's a circle that he cannot escape. And he is not the only smart person in the world. Someone will notice that something is wrong, that that is not the way he usually acts, and people will start to question his integrity.

But going back to the beginning, since he has no authority after he provides proof, I honestly believe the thought of him deciding the sentence of a criminal has never crossed his mind, because he has no reason to spend time over that. He cannot do anything. Maybe he has a wish but that is it. Nothing he can act upon, so it’s useless. He also came across so many criminals (10.500) and surely, he had no time to individually think about each one of them, so he just stopped doing that. By the way, he works on multiple cases at once, so why would he waste time over their fate, after he caught them, when he can continue to occupy it with more interesting and fun mind games?

So, yeah, he doesn’t give a shit in this sense. If his saying was required, maybe yes, but even then, he wouldn’t follow the criminal proceedings closely.

Anyway, I am not even sure what his opinion on the death penalty is, to be honest, because him using a criminal that was on the death row doesn’t immediately mean that he is in favour of it, and the fact that he was willing to get one of them out of that situation makes me incline to believe that he is not. In Lind L. Taylor, he just used what was already in place. So, if he isn't, obviously he won't use the death note by default.

The fun of solving a crime.

He loves it. You wouldn't ever guessed it, right? It's not as if his character is mainly based on this.

But seriously.

Considering the in-universe tale of what Light managed to do, it says that the crimes have dropped significantly. How can you possibly believe that L would love to be in a world in which his favourite pastime is useless?

I won’t get into math to calculate exactly how long it would take him, because the stats we have are not accurate. I tried to do it but there are so many variables that would change everything (e.g. when he actually started to work), but it’s safe to assume 20 years – or less –, because he still needs to find suspects but if he wants to use the death note on them, he doesn’t need to convince anyone but himself that they are the criminals, so as soon as he is convinced, he can proceed and then move on. He can also work on many more cases than just almost 2 a day. He can take on a lot of them, even five, if he feels like it, because the time for each one would be minimal.

And I think this is something people fail to consider when saying that he would use the death note, because what would his criteria be for choosing who to kill? Or when to kill them? If they are arrested and convicted, what’s the point of doing it? What would he achieve? Nothing, so you have to think he would do it when they are only just suspects, but he is confident enough that they are the one. The question remains: when would that be? L is quick to find a suspect and be convinced that they are guilty. Basically, for most of the easier cases, he would need less than a day. So, I’m going to believe that the people supporting this idea imply this, which is so contradictory to his character.

If you say that he would do what Light did, as I said, it makes even less sense. Other than the fact that he goes against Kira for this reason, that’s not his job nor his goal.

As you said, “What kind of entertainment is there if he just sits in front of his silly laptop, reading off solved cases just to write down the criminal's name and attend meetings with world leader?”.

Key word “solved”. I am repeating myself, but once it’s solved, why would L care? Unless he is personally invested in the criminals because they are connected to his past, or the case is related to a future one, he would literally move on. I cannot even force myself to conjure a reason other than these two, because there is not.

“But it’s Light.”

Yeah, that’s another reason why L doesn’t give a fuck. Who is Light to him exactly, realistically? No one but a suspect, which he is highly convinced that is Kira.

I am sorry, but if your whole reading of a character is through the lenses of a ship that is not even canon or probable to be canon, since Ohba is homophobic and would never do something like that, then I don’t know what to tell you, but I find it a bit embarrassing.

L is an independent character. Just like Light is.

Maybe – in-universe and without considering Ohba – I am at fault for failing to realise this attachment they might have for one another. Probably, I have this rigid way to look at Death Note in general, that does not allow me to consider L’s activity more than a case that he tries to solve, while gaining a bit of excitement out of it, especially after considering that it’s shown to us in the yotsuba arc that L cared only about Kira, not Light, because he found them entertaining and challenging, not because he liked Light.

I know it’s fiction, okay? Doesn’t have to be realistic. It can be silly and yada yada yada. I look at these posts and giggle at the “so obsessed with each other”, the whole university sees these men playing tennis and disappearing, etc. and I think it’s funny. I see the irony. That is a joke, but then I read posts that try to prove through canon that L was in love with Light or meta-analysis about him, butchering his character just for that or reducing him just to that, for a bit of gay love with the most republican looking guy ever (I mean, fair but, yk), and I wonder what I am missing, what piece of this puzzle I lost along the way, and I cannot find it.

[Tangent: And then I cannot even enjoy most of the fanfics in this fandom for the same reason. I feel like I am not in on the joke.

That’s why I also prefer L x Matsuda or L x Naomi, even though I don't ship them. People who do, at least, don’t change his personality, his morals and so on. In Matsuda’s case, it’s just a change of attitude, which is possible and easier. When I used to read L/Light fics, people would often either make L OOC or change Light completely, so that things could work. In canon, Light is no one outside of Kira, and L would have zero interest in a 17/18-year-old boy that is just smart. Also, L can find other idiots with the same intellect as him, that are not murderers and are far more entertaining. Did L ever say that Light is the only one who understands his mind or reach his level? I don’t remember it, so where does this belief come from? To be honest, I don’t even really like when people reduce characters to their intelligence. A person is more than their mind.

And I am glad to have found a small following/a group of mutuals that are like me in this regard, because the reason why I left the fandom years ago was also due to the inability to enjoy any content because it would always have L/Light slapped on it lmao (since the characters in the second half were not really considered).

Some people who ship them follow me, which is cool to see because it means they are not here expecting that, but for some unknown reason. I don’t usually go on a rampage about them – what I said here was very mild and I think bearable – so that’s maybe why they don’t mind being here, so yeah, that’s nice. There also people who like Light, and I despise him, so that’s also sweet, but it also means that I am not hating on him enough. I might compensate for that (jk)].

Killing people as a detective.

Don’t feel like I need to explain how this is just stupid. He uses some very morally grey tactics, but killing is a bit too far.

I wrote a post about how I think L wouldn’t work with Light, even if he caught him, because I honestly doubt L would want to be associated with someone who kills people, let alone be the one to do the killing. It just doesn’t feel in character, like at all. Not only it’s a shallow way to deal with criminals, he wouldn’t gain anything and if he does it long enough, his job will be useless, but why would a detective engage into that, also to that extent? It makes no sense, and, as I said, it’s not his focus.

A detective that kills people is contradictory. It is cool, not going to lie, but L is not that type of character.

I saw a comic a while ago in which L and Light joined forces, and L was the one using the death note to kill corrupted politicians. That would never happen. Not only because he wouldn’t kill criminals or join Light, but he doesn’t care that much, unless it hinders his job. And, even in that case, he would not end their life, but manipulate them to give him what he wants or persuade them to act in a way that is beneficial to him.

Neither of them is that righteous. I don’t believe Light actually cared about the world that much. His speech at the end was just to cover up that he was having fun with the power he held. Just a moral justification. I tried to write a post how him being smart, his supposed interest in this matter and his black and white view of the world don't make sense to me if he actually cared, but I was writing it in my tumblr drafts, and it got deleted. Now, it’s uncompleted in my notes, and I have no motivation to finish it. Nice.

Far-sighted.

As I was writing the paragraph above the last one, there's another thing that is different between Light and L and that is to be taken into consideration: how far-sighted they are.

I will use as an example how they manipulate.

In this post (long ask about characters in general), I talked about the Aizawa’s gateway to explain how L does it. Long story short, he convinces his target to act in a certain way, withholding information that the other person would need to know to change their mind.

He doesn’t do it with the intention to get something and then get rid of them, as Light does.

Besides Misa, who was protected by Rem, and other people, like the task force, that if dead would show that he’s Kira, Light manipulated people to gain something and killed them, because he could not see a long-term relation forming between them, probably due to the fact that he was scared that they might either try to overthrown him, hinder his work or find out who he is (although he does really get a sick pleasure by telling people he is Kira, after condemning them to death). Even in Raye’s case, he could’ve continued to threaten him and use him to kill any FBI agent that might come after him. He could’ve done so much with that one federal agent, but he just tossed him in the trash.

L is not like this. L can see himself working with same people he manipulated for a long period of time. He does not see it as an irreversible act, because other than his identity, he doesn’t have much else to hide, and he doesn’t always do something criminous. He can even create a mutually beneficial partnership.

He is far-sighted. He might think that a criminal he caught could be useful in the future. Imagine if he has a case that connects him to one he already solved and he needs any input he can get from the person responsible for that, I believe he will make a deal or manipulate them to get that information. So, using the death note and killing his possible future assets is such a self-sabotaging move, in my opinion.

What he would do with the death note.

As I wrote in the post hyperlinked at the beginning, he would study it, make Watari and himself remember the rules even without owning the death note and either give it back to the Shinigami, after getting as much as possible information about them too, or lock it up somewhere safe. It would depend on if the Shinigami is someone like Ryuk.

Either way, he would realise how destructive it is and would know not to engage with it.

Will he want to prove its authenticity? I don’t know.

He might ask the Shinigami, “how many death notes are dropped on average on the earth?” and from the answer, which – before Light – is zero, and after returning the death note to them, he might just decide to wait to see it happen without his intervention, because it’s not an urgent matter, so if it happens, he knows how to act, and if it doesn’t, it’s better.

I don’t think he’s that interested in the death note itself. In the Kira case, it was crucial to the investigation, but in a normal day in his life, seeing it actually work could lead him to have some thoughts he might not otherwise have, and that could possible spiral down to testing each rule. He would realise that, and I think he would take the Shinigami’s words at face value, considering that he just met a fucking Shinigami so that must mean that it has a high chance of working, and leave it alone.

If he had been that eager to test it, he would’t have shared his plan with the task force, as to get their approval, and would’ve done it in secret, getting back to them with just the results. It would’ve saved his life, to be honest, because Rem wouldn't have known about that and what would’ve meant for Misa. Or maybe not, because she might’ve just killed him once everything was done and while he was presenting everything. In any case, it shows not only cooperation but also a sense of hesitance on his part.

Going to the scenario of him getting the death note before Light, he would also hope that it doesn’t become a mainstream thing, because that would, like you said, make everything so boring for him, like, “get creative, I know how you are doing it”. A bit like what Near did in the 2013 one shot.

My rambling ends here, and now, I am thinking about L begging criminals to be a little bit more fun to catch, ‘cause they are making him die of boredom, and he can’t do it anymore, he’s losing his mind. And if they continue like this, they could actually defeat him. And all the leaders in the world being like, "bitch, what are you doing?? Don't encourage them!"

But yeah. That’s more or less what I had to say on the topic. I kind of get the feeling that I am leaving something out, so that might make this a “to be continued” post, depending on any external input I might get.

Hope you liked this answer. It’s quite long. Almost 4k words, but it was stimulating, to say the least. I love when I find these type of messages in my inbox, because they make me think lol

That’s all.

#thanks for the input!! #death note #l lawliet #light yagami #dn.inbox #as always hopefully my english is understandable #i feel like i know who you might be tbh #but even if i'm wrong - i still adore you #dn.general #dn.L #meta analysis #death note meta

[henrike-does-writing-sometimes]

i got a LOOOOONG list for ya 👀

the fool, the magician, the lovers, strength, justice, death, 7 of cups, ace of swords, 3 of wands, 5 of wands, knight of wands! :’)

REN :D !!!

Thank you for asking, this took ages <3

00. THE FOOL: BEGINNINGS (What is the opening line to your current work?)

Very few of my wips have their opening lines written, and those that do have already been shared. So instead, here’s a bit of an exchange from Garden of Corpses that is currently the “opening lines”.

"Oh, we must be roommates!" the boy gasped. "Hi, I'm Nils!" he smiled widely, and held out his hand for Isak to take. "Um, Isak." he said and carefully took the other boy's hand. Which immediately sent a small shock through both of their arms. "Woah," Nils said as Isak quickly retracted his hand. "Wait, you have an Aether affinity?" "Uh, yeah?" "That's so cool! I've never seen Aether magic in real life before! My affinity is Fire, by the way." "That's… nice."

01. THE MAGICIAN: SPARK OF MAGIC (What inspired you to write your novel?) 

Going with Wayward Carnival and uhh…

You know the circus scene in Madagascar 3 where they play ‘Firework’ by Katy Perry ?? That. That is what sparked this whole mess. Because yes, originally it was supposed to be a circus and not a whole carnival.

I honestly have no idea where the rest came from.

06. THE LOVERS: RELATIONSHIPS (What are your favorite relationships to write about, whether romantic, familial, or platonic?) 

Honestly relationships that are unclear whether they’re romantic or platonic and bonds that go deeper than labels can describe are my shit. I like the ambiguity of it, I like when love runs so deep that it almost becomes unclear what it is. That “I would both kill and die for you, I love you, we’re partners in crime, you’re my brother, we’re best friends, home is in your arms, I’d marry you for tax benefits, I’ve never felt safer than when I’m with you, you make me insane, you’re the only thing keeping me sane.”. 

I’m not fully sure why these are my favorites to write, but they are <3

08. STRENGTH: COURAGE (What has been the hardest part of being a writer?) 

I think believing that there is an audience for my stories, and keeping to it. That is basically every writer's concern but like, it’s scary when you don’t really see said audience, if that makes sense lmao

11. JUSTICE: TRUTH (What is the 'truth' of your novel i.e the prevalent themes or overarching motifs?) 

Going with The Divine for this one, because I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before. Light and Darkness are equals, you can’t have one without the other.

While I was figuring out some character arcs details I came up with this “mantra” of sorts;

Find the Light within the Darkness. Accept the Darkness within the Light.

Trying to translate that would take forever but trust me it makes sense.

13. DEATH: ENDINGS (What is your favorite ending to write i.e happy, sad, bittersweet?) 

I like my endings happy. My characters go through a lot of bullshit and I can’t just be mean to them, there has to be proper closure and a light at the end of the darkness. That being said the ending always depends on the story and what is both satisfying and in line with the rest. 

Gamellunden has a happy ending because it’s a love story that focuses on falling in love with yourself through someone else.

To The End has a seemingly happy ending, until you start to think about it. Because that story is all about questioning reality.

Realm of Mirrors has a sad/bittersweet ending because it’s a tragedy that tells the tale of losing ones innocence and being forced to leave things one otherwise wouldn’t want to leave.

28. SEVEN OF CUPS: OVERWHELMED BY CHOICE (How do you decide which story idea to pursue? How many do you have?)

I fight for my life. There are times when a wip enters ‘main’ territory and I’m able to focus on it for long periods of time, as was the case with To The End. But now she’s gone with the Alpha reader and I don’t know what to work on. So I’m just hunting down motivation and inspiration and writing a little here and there. Which, tbf is how it usually goes if the wips arent in rotation lol.

36. ACE OF SWORDS: NEW PROJECTS (What project/WIP do you want to work on next?) 

I don’t have one answer for this lmao.

I’d like to workout the plot more for The Garden of Corpses, and get back into my Swedish wips. I also have some wip art to get to, including just drawing the Divine boys more.

66. THREE OF WANDS: FORESIGHT (Do you know what your book cover is going to look like? Do you have a color in mind?)

Kinda ? I have idea but they’re both hard to explain and get down on paper. Though the general list for To The End is gold, eyes, and loose threads. Those are the important ones that need to be on the cover.

68. FIVE OF WANDS: DISAGREEMENT (Do your characters ever act of their own accord? Or do you find that adage false or silly?)

All the time ! It’s actually quite handy when it comes to figuring out arcs and dynamics. Some examples;

Doto was originally supposed to be more in line with Mike’s personality (passionate, creative, reliable), but when I began writing them they turned into this dramatic, rebellious, snobby diva type. Which honestly works much better considering the Lumens are supposed to complement their Wielder. This also made their dynamic infinitely more interesting than if Doto hadn’t gotten a life of their own. 

Asher’s abusive parents was never intended. I knew most of the Martyrs gang would have strained parental relationships, but then Asher showed up in Thea’s apartment crying because his parents were being manipulative assholes and, yeah it added a lot to his character and helped solidify his backstory. 

And on the topic of To The End, Thea’s Borderline Personality Disorder. It’s honestly funny because I kinda had to do a whole evaluation of her, because some things just came a bit too naturally for her. This is usually how it goes when it comes to mental disorders with my characters; they show signs and I’ll be like “Hold up-” (See Robin’s schizophrenia and Janan’s autism). And sometimes you have cases like Ruben, where him being autistic worked better with the story than if he was neurotypical so no evaluation was needed. 

75. KNIGHT OF WANDS: PASSION (What are you passionate about other than writing?)

Filmmaking ! Drawing ! Photography ! and a bit of design too ! I just love to create, don’t know what else to say <3

#ask game

[thetldrplace]

January Reading

Il Gattopardo- Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1956)

This book has taken me a long time to read. I started a week before Christmas. When a 250 page book takes me 5 weeks to read... well... I struggled. I don't know why this one has been such a struggle. The story concerns Sicily at the time of Italian unification, so it should have held more interest for me, but I honestly only usually managed 4-5 pages at a time.

The story is about the Salinas, an aristocratic family at a time of change in Italy. Gattopardo, in Engllish, is a serval, though the English translation of the book is always "The Leopard". The serval is the symbol of the family crest.  

Without going into the details of the story, it's about the end of an era- particularly the era of the Salina family. There are 8 sections of the book. The first six are set around 1860, the seventh in 1883 when the Prince dies, and the final in 1910, when the princes three daughters are old women.  

The oldest daughter had kept an old skin of the Prince's faithful dog, Bendico. But as everything she held true crumbles about her, she has the skin thrown out. During its flight to the trash pile, it momentarily takes the form of the prancing serval of the Salina family crest before it falls limply on the trash pile.

This perhaps symbolizes the briefness of life. Here was the aristocratic line, momentarily taking its place, and then fallen aside and forgotten.

Tomasi di Lampedusa himself had said that the dog Bendico was the most symbolic character of the book.  

There is also an interesting passage where the Prince is offered a political position in the new Italian government, but refuses saying Sicilians will not be changed. His essential reason is that, given how many cultures have fought over Sicily, Sicilians have come to believe themselves perfect already, so why would they accept government from outside?  

Fascism 2-3: The Total Society- HR Morgan

I don't know what the first volume is. Everything I've found of this author starts from 2 and 3. But anyway, HR Morgan describes himself as a national syndicalist, which, I know from reading about the history of fascism, was the French philosophy that grew into fascism. He is clearly writing as one who is sympathetic to the system.

Fascism starts with some of the same assumptions about human nature that Marx had: human nature can be changed, and that humans find meaning in life through political participation. Marx focused on class consciousness. There was a German branch that focused on race consciousness (National Socialists, or Nazis), and the Fascists focused on national consciousness.

While the Nazis were genuinely racists, there is nothing in fascism that requires it. The main ingredient here is a nation-first focus that looks to modernize and build up the nation. That sounds reasonable enough. The problem with all collectivist mentalities is that individuals' freedoms are always curtailed when one party thinks that the best thing for everyone is when everyone thinks like me. Fascists bang on about how fascism is an expression of the will of the people. Well what happens when the actual people don't want to go along with the program? History tells us that they get branded as "enemies of the people" and life gets very difficult for them.  

I might give people in the early 20th century a pass on such stupidity and chalk it up to just being ignorant. But by now we've seen the results of totalitarian movements such as communism and fascism and nazism. There is no excuse for people today believing these are legitimate responses to problems.

Quo Vadis- Henryk Sienkiewicz  (1896)

"Why does crime, even as powerful as Caesar, and assured of being beyond punishment, strive always for the appearance of truth, justice, and virtue? What a marvelous homage paid to virtue by evil."

This is a historical novel set in Rome during Nero's reign. A young patrician falls in love with a Christian girl, but doesn't understand her religion. He comes to learn about Christianity through his love for her and commits himself to Christ under Paul's teaching and Peter's influence. When Caesar has Rome burned and the people threaten him, he has the Christians blamed and the maiden is taken as part of the multitude to be sacrificed.

The novel is really about the growth of Christianity and it's supplanting of the Roman empire. The differences in outlooks are stressed and really, the superiority of Christianity as a worldview.

The Red Badge of Courage- Stephen Crane  (1895)

The story concerns 'the youth', a young man whose name we come to find out is Henry Fleming, who enlists to fight in the civil war with the union. As he waits for battle, he considers whether he will have the stomach to stay in the fight. And when the time comes, he does run. He tries a series of arguments to justify himself, but he is haunted that he failed in his test of manhood. He meets some other soldiers who are wounded and travels with them briefly, but when he is asked about his own wounds, he leaves.

He realizes he too needs a wound, a "red badge of courage".

As he moves on, he finds himself in the middle of another battle. As he tries to find out what is going on by detaining a soldier, the soldier hits him in the head with the butt of his gun and leaves him bleeding.

He is then taken for one who was wounded in battle.

After this, he actually does join battles and acts heroically.  

All the while, he sees war for what it is and is sickened. But he also knows that he has stood the test and can stand proudly.

[radfemblack]

Why Is the UK TERF Island?

An answer-

Tradition of Cross-Dressing: Cross-dressing is a common trope in British comedy & has been for centuries - there are a variety of forms with the trope including the pervy dude who dresses as a woman to access womens changing rooms. So men cross-dressing is a cultural norm here: they do it for fun & laughs. See Monthy Pythons 'Loretta' scene in Life of Brian - link in another of my comments up-thread. See also: The Two Ronnies, multiple Monty Python sketches, Mrs Browns Boys, Little Britain, The League of Gentlemen, and pantomime dames. So in the UK if a man or a boy puts on a dress, we don't immediately think "there must be a reason for this!". Plus we had a lot of gender bending in the 1970's, 1980's & 1990's popular culture: men in make up, with long hair, wearing skirts were common, as were women with short hair wearing suits - see Boy George, Annie Lennox & Bowie.

Gender Non-Conformity: Gender non-conformity is quite normal & accepted. I think a lot of this is rooted in women being conscripted to work in traditional male jobs during WW2 (eg. as engineers or in the land army) when all men that could be spared, were recruited to fight. Working class women have commonly failed to conform to a meek, helpless patriarchal version of femininity. And British women through history have worked to dismantle gender stereotypes as 'gender' was often offered up as a reason to limit our rights - so the concept had to be destroyed. Thus gender identity theory isn't a good fit with British culture, as gender stereotypes were never as rigourously enforced here & have been consistently challenged / critiqued. See also: cross-dressing

National Character: We have a national character which can be blunt & unpretentious (we call 'spade is a spade') with a DGAF attitude - particularly in the Midlands / North. We also have a tendancy towards piss-taking & we don't particularly like cheats or queue jumping - it's a national delusion of truth & justice (it's just not cricket). For all the talk of British manners, we can actually be quite forthright - we're very good at being very polite & 'civil' while telling people to 'fuck off' to thier faces. British people might not complain about things to your face, but we'll sure as hell go home & complain to EVERYONE we know about it. We've turned sarcasm & passive aggression into a cultural art form. We also seem to have a natural skepticism, resistance to authority & subconcious collectivism.

British Left: The British left is rooted in left wing, socialist, materialist philosophy & class analysis rather than liberalism. This means the that whole of the left in the UK didn't immediately capitulate to a liberal, idealist philosophy that elevates subjective individial feelings over objective collective material reality. Our long history of class analysis & strong leftwing philosophical tradition gave us a powerful basis from which to resist gender identity ideology.

British Feminism: There is a strong history of feminist thinking, activism & networking, & of feminst participation in the union movement & in left wing & LGB campaigning. This mean British women activists had a lot of experience in debating, public speaking, organising, awareness raising & delivering material political change in the UK - this made it easier for women to quickly build organisations & networks, set up programmes of talks, work politicians, etc in response to proposed changes to the GRA. Compare this to the UK TRAs whose main orgainising seems to be around hidden politcal agendas, counter protests, social media echo-chambers, de-platforming & colonisation fo established spaces, etc.

Secular: We're not divided politically by religion. We're quite a secular society - so getting us to collectively accept that people have 'gendered souls' was going to be a struggle b/c you'd need to get us believe in the idea of souls first. Our lack of a Christian right also means we don't have religiously enforced homophobia so much here. And gay & lesbian people are part of our cultural history (even though we treated them like shit). Much of the resistance in the UK is coming from feminists, the left, & gay & lesbian people, and the lack of a Christian right means it's harder to smear British left-wing feminists as right-wing religious conservatives, or to denounce one of the founders of Stonewall as "homophobic".

Long History of Civil Rights: We've been fighting over civil rights for centuries - we know a genuine civil rights movement when we see one, & we know a demand for privilege when we see one. See also: we call a spade a spade & sense of justice.

British Womens Culture: It's almost like a 'culture within a culture': my Mum has a saying 'your son is your son until he gets a wife, your daughter is your daughter until the end of your life'. And it's true - there is quite a strong female bond in the UK. I saw it through the female lines in my family with my great aunts, grandmothers & aunts; the women will take on the men in defence of each other - I've seen my 70 year old mother take my 42 year old brother to task in defense of my SIL. She just wouldn't tolerate that kind of shit from him.

Which relates to another aspect of traditional British female culture: the 'battle-axe' - these are older, formidable women who are fierce, determined & take no shit. They're a common trope in British TV (eg. Nora Batty, Ena Sharples) and used to command respect & awe in the British working class. They're not as common these days due to changing social structures, but powerful, courageous women who take no shit are a cultural norm. My maternal great aunt was a battle-axe: she was brilliant & an inspiration.

Country Size, Legal/Political Structure & Population Density: We're quite a small country with a high population density: we have collective experiences as a country & our laws (& power) are very centralised (apart from the devolved powers). This means that you can't really miss the main national issues, as they impact everyone - it's not something remote happening in a state or province on the other side of a large nation. Living cheek by jowel, & having a smaller population than some other countries means that less people have to hear about something for it to become a hot topic, news & ideas spread faster, & you can peak half the women in the country much more quickly as fewer people have to hear about it.

#terf #feminism #feminist #terf island #lgb #lgbt #lgb alliance #gender critical

[rmmcdermott]

Pre-Writing: Creating Your Character’s Overveiw

For more informational blogs follow me on my website @https://rmmcdermott.com/

Congratulations! You’ve continued forward to the next step of creating your characters.

The next step we will take is creating a basic overview of your characters. We will talk about your character’s role, which side they are on, their name, and their gender.

Alright, let’s get to first step one of outlining your characters.

READY! SET! WRITE!

The primary tool that I use to create my characters:

The primary tool I use to keep all my world-building references together and straight is Notebook.ai.

Notebook.ai is a website that is a virtual writer’s notebook. It was created for writers by other writers. This virtual notebook acts as a continuously growing reference page with the information about your story that allows you to plug in information as you go along. They have pages for your characters, locations, magics, governments, and many others. You can use the limited version of the program for free or pay for the unlimited version which costs $84 yearly. This is personally my favorite tool.

I am not paid or compensated for mentioning them in this blog. Notebook.ai is just a tool that I have used for almost five years and love!

What is your character’s stance in your story?

Two things you must have in every story is a protagonist and an antagonist to create the conflict which your story will follow.

Protagonist:

The protagonist is the main character, often the hero of the story that your reader will follow throughout the book.

Antagonist:

The antagonist is someone who is going to be an opposing force against your protagonist. When looking at your antagonist, one thing to remember is that they are not necessarily villains in the comic book sense.

Side or Supporting Characters:

Once you know who your main protagonist and antagonist are, you will need to fill up your story with supporting characters.

Side characters will follow either the protagonist, or the antagonist along their journey through the book.

What is your character’s role in the story?

Characters Archetypes:

Archetypes are a grouping of characters’ behaviors that are readily identifiable to the readers as a specific type of character. For example – The hero, the best friend, the mentor, the teacher, etc.

It’s easier to have in mind what your character’s basic role in the story is and build on top of that to make a round, detailed character.

Note – You can mix multiple archetypes to make a multi-faceted character that encourages your reader to dig deeper into your characters to learn more.

The “Chosen One”

This archetype is the most common hero character in stories. Some wise one, item, or prophecies choose an individual out of everyone else and will be the only person who will break a curse or fight an evil.

The Explorer

This archetype is known for the characters that aren’t happy staying in one place, so they seek new worlds, experiences, and adventures.

These people are great travel companions to your main characters who will help guide them on their journey.

Another archetype that can be combined with this kind of character is a guide.

The Good Guy and/or Traditional Hero

This archetype is a hero that is the person who is going to fight evil with good and save the people from the villain.

Jester and/or Jokers.

This archetype is the character that acts as comic relief in your story. They are the characters that are the lighthearted, fun-loving characters that lighten a darker scene.

These characters might even be the ones that point out the other character’s flaws and insecurities.

The Leader

This character is the person that commands respect from the people around them and does their best to make decisions based on other’s best interests.

The Love Interest

This character stands beside another character with the hope of wooing the other character by the end of the story.

The Mentor

This character is an older character that acts as a person who teaches, inspires, and encourages the main character through their journey in the story.

Evil Incarnate

This archetype is one of the characters under the villain archetypes.

This kind of character is the kind of person that is an evil personification. This archetype has very little development or backstory that comes out through the story.

The Outcast

This character is the character that doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere in particular.

The interesting thing about this archetype is that they can be on the good, bad, or neutral side.

The Warrior

These characters are the fighters and protectors known for their strengths, skill, courage, and integrity.

The kind of character that can come from this archetype is a knight, soldier, etc.

These are sampling of the archetypes I love to use in my own stories, there are many others, and I’ll link to additional websites with lists of archetypes in the sources below.

Build onto Your Archetypes to Fit Your Story

Once you have a general idea of your character’s archetype or archetypes, build upon it in a way that connects their role into your personal story.

For example –

Archetypes: The Warrior

The Character’s Personal Role in the Story:

Rebert is a knight, one of the personal guards of the royal family, and is charged with protecting the king’s daughter, who is setting out on a journey to another kingdom to meet her new suitor.

This brief bio that you have created of your story can help you understand where your character may go throughout the story. It can also help you brainstorm the plot lines for your story that your characters will be a part of.

Your Character’s Name

Name them whatever you want. Please don’t listen to people who say that your names have to be easy or that it has to match your genre.

Just name your character.

If you want to name your character Sally, name her Sally.

If you want to name your character Azriel, name him Azriel.

If you want to use a cool-looking typo as a name, use the typo as a name (I speak from experience on this one).

You’re the writer; you get to create the final truth.

Choose Your Character’s Gender

It is your choice to decide what gender you want your main character to be; antagonist, protagonist, or side character.

Some genres prefer a particular gender for the main character.

Honestly, I have never paid much attention to what gender was more popular in a genre. I just write the character that will best do the story justice.

This Week’s Action Steps.

Decide which side your characters are on: Protagonist, Antagonist, Side Characters?

What is your character’s gender?

What archetypes does your character fall into? Here are some links that you can use to help you.

Create a bio for your characters based on the archetypes you have chosen for your characters.

Name your characters. Pinterest has a great list for that.

Good Luck, and I will see you next week.

Next Week… Breaking Down a Character’s Description

Sources

https://lonerwolf.com/archetypes-ultimate-guide/#h-what-is-an-archetype

https://self-publishingschool.com/character-archetypes/

https://industrialscripts.com/archetypes-of-characters/

https://blog.reedsy.com/12-common-character-archetypes-every-writer-should-already-know/

http://susannacarr.com/2019/08/28/hero-heroine-archetypes-the-best-friend/

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-different-types-of-villains#8-villain-archetypes

#Pre-Writing #writing #character development #how to write

[gins-potter]

Casting Thoughts

Yes, I did a long post when the rumours first dropped but hey now it’s confirmed plus we have characters descriptions, and I’m bored so let’s do this all over again people.  Under the cut because it got long

Sisi Stringer as Rose Hathaway

I said this in my other post but I’m pretty happy with Sisi as Rose.

Visually I think she’s a great fit, I love that they casted a WoC in the main role, and I think if she can bring Rose’s humour and sarcasm to the role, she’s going to do great.

The character description mentions Rose being “fiery and outspoken”, happy to jump into the action, and the strongest fighter in her class but struggling to toe the line, which is all very Rose-esque, especially in the first book.  It sounds to me like they have a good grasp on her character.

I’m a little disappointed we didn’t hear more about Rose as a character since she is the lead - it felt like the descriptions for Lissa and Dimitri both gave us a little more to go on - but it is only a very preliminary description so I’m happy to wait for more.

Daniela Nieves as Lissa Dragomir

Daniele is another one who I was happy with straight away.

She’s probably not what I imagined for Lissa visually but that’s not a bad thing either; I will be interested to see if they dye her hair a lighter colour (like a caramel-blonde) but personally that’s not something I need to see for her to be a great fit for Lissa.

I think she has a very sweet face which works well for a character like Lissa but I think she’s also going to be able to stand up in Lissa’s more fiercer moments which is nice to see as well.

The character descriptions mentions her as being “carefree and kind-hearted” who “coasts” through life until a death in the family thrusts her into a new role.  That sounds a lot like pre-series Lissa so I wonder if we’re going to see a bit of that in the show before Andre (and her parents??) die and see that change.  

It’s curious though that she’s described as the younger sister of the heir apparent - which would be Andre - so it sounds like they’ve changed it so Andre was supposed to be King.  Obviously a deviation from the books but I don’t hate it?  I don’t think it would change Lissa’s arc all that much because obviously she was always going to grow up to be an influential royal figure, this just slightly changes the dynamics of it.

The description also specifically mentions that she’s uninterested in “political machinations” and the “hypocrisy of the moroi royal society” which sounds very accurate to book!lissa as well.

All in all I’m very happy with what they’re doing with Lissa.

Keiron Moore as Dimitri Belikov

This is one who’s really grown on me since the rumoured cast list started circulating.  At first I was kind of eh about him but I can really see him as Dimitri now.

I will be curious to see if he grows out his hair or not though.

As far as I know Keiron is not Russian, there’s not a lot about him online, but there’s some instagram activity on his account linking him to UK based companies so that would be my guess as to where he’s from.  They’ve kept Dimitri’s incredibly Russian name so I guess we’re to assume Keiron might be doing an accent and they’re keeping Dimitri’s backstory relatively the same?  I’m not gonna be super mad if they change it just because I think it’s doable for him not to be Russian (I know, I know a whole book is set in Russia but lbr here they could make him from anywhere and just send Rose there in that book).

The biggest thing for me will be his chemistry with Sisi, Danila and Zoey had great chemistry (imo anyway) which saved the move a little for me, so it’ll be important that Sisi and Keiron do as well.  They’ve interacted a few times online which is cute so I’m hoping they were able to do some chemistry reads and that will translate on screen.

The character description mentions Dimitri as being “lethal, disciplined, discreet, and totally committed” as well as living by “a deep moral code” but with more going on “beneath his stoic, watchful surface” which sounds exactly like book!Dimitri to me.

They don’t really specify what his role at St Vlad’s is going to be but they do mention that he is a guardian so I’m assuming they’re keeping some sort of age gap between him and Rose.  They also don’t mention anything about their relationship in the description, be it student/teacher, platonic, romantic, whatever, but they do say he has “an expansive spirit that could threaten to expose the underlying tension between his sense of what’s right and his formal duty to the Moroi.” which seems like a nod to their relationship.

Andre Dae-Kim as Christian Ozera

This was one of my favourite casting choices from the original rumoured cast list and I still love it.

The idea of a non-white Christian makes a lot of sense to me and I think Andre could do a great job of Christian’s aloofness (in the first book) as well as his sarcasm and growing confidence across the other books.

His character description confuses me a bit though: “Intelligent and thoughtful, Christian is the pariah of the school and royal court, due to his parents’ unforgivable societal sins.” sounds accurate enough to the book (although idk if thoughtful is quite the word I’d use for Christian - maybe they mean it in the sense that he’s quiet and keeps to himself?).

Even “Well-read and hungry for knowledge” doesn’t sound that far off, idk if he was *that* particularly studious in the books, but it doesn’t necessarily not make sense either you know?

But “he searches for faith-based answers and discovers a kindred spirit who is also looking for the truth” ??? My cynical, irreverent asshole Christian is now a man of faith? I’m assuming Lissa is the “kindred spirit” (again weird word choice but maybe they mean she’s feeling lost because of the death of her family?) but I just cannot see Christian as being particularly religious.

I’m trying to keep an open mind about these changes because you never know they might play out totally different on screen, but I really hope they didn’t make these changes, particularly that Christian is studious and religious, just because they cast an Asian actor as him (because they feel a little like Asian stereotypes).

J August Richards as Victor Dashkov

This is one that didn’t appear on the original rumoured cast list (as far as I saw) and it’s so different to his description in the books that I kind of don’t have an opinion about it as a casting choice.

I’ve never seen him in anything before so purely on a visual level I think he could be a great fit for Victor, I just think it’ll really come down to how he plays it.

As for this character description: “Victor is a Moroi noble vampire with a heart of gold who’s highly regarded for his role as advisor and political strategist to Moroi dignitaries.” as well as mentioning that he has intelligence and influence, sounds pretty accurate to the book.  Obviously if Andre was the heir to the throne, Victor had to be shifted out of that role, but I think his book 1 arc could still work if they wanted it to.

The “heart of gold” bit obviously made me chuckle and I really hope they threw it in there as a kind of decoy to throw non-book-readers off the fact that he’s actually the villain in book 1/s1.

As for giving him a husband and two daughters, my thoughts are: why the fuck not? He didn’t have a love interest in the original books and I’m always down for more lgbtq+ rep.  My only concern is it maybe playing into the trope of evil/villain characters being queer-coded.  And as for having two daughters, well as long as one of them is Natalie I don’t mind.

Anita-Joy Uwajeh as Tatiana Vogel

Okay this is the most bizarre one imo, not because of the casting, but just the character description.

I mean “Tatiana is a Moroi vampire and political underdog who slowly takes the royal court by storm. Motivated by love and a sense of justice, Tatiana has a unique skill of making herself seem of no consequence until we realize much too late that she was always the one to watch.” sounds extremely Tasha Ozera to me, so like why not just make this character Tasha?  Nothing about this sounds like Tatiana, and Tatiana wasn’t even a Vogel anyway (well Vogel wasn’t even one of the 12 royal families), she was an Ivashkov.

In terms of Anita-Joy herself, well I mean we don’t really have a character to compare her to, is she supposed to be more like Tasha or Tatiana?  She looks fairly young, so my guess is actually on Tasha, but we’ll have to wait to see I guess.

Mia McKenna-Bruce as Mia Karp

This is another one that I was instantly a fan of.

I was so not a fan of Mia’s casting in the movie (I can’t even remember who played her tbh but I really didn’t like it) so this Mia is a lot closer to how I imagine her.

I think she’ll be able to carry Mia’s transformation from bratty social-climber to badass fighter really well.

The character description is interesting though.  “Witty, cutting, and just the right kind of ruthless when necessary, non-Royal Mia has a long-term plan to social climb her way into the ranks of royalty, with all the privilege and freedom that entails.” sound pretty bang on to Mia in the first book.

“A plan complicated by her instant chemistry with Meredith, a Guardian-in-training, as Mia struggles to reconcile her attraction to Meredith with her lowly status.” is an obvious deviation though, and one I kind of love???  Give me all the queer rep, and if we get to see Mia confront the issue of comp-het I’m so here for it.  

It’s kind of funny though because I’ve seen theories that Meredith is a replacement for Eddie and Mia/Eddie has always been my sort of rarepair ship.

The last name Karp is weird af though.  Is she supposed to be Sonya’s daughter?  And if that’s the case I wonder if we’re going to actually see Sonya turn Strigoi in the show’s first season or something and that triggers the change in Mia?  Interesting concept but I’m not sure how the timeline will work.

Rhian Blundell as Meredith

So this is another new one, and tbh I hadn’t given Meredith *that* much though in the past but she’s probably close to how I would have pictured her which is cool.

The elephant in the room with this casting is that Meredith’s role in the books was relatively minor - she was just kind of that character that got brought up whenever R.M needed a dhampir who wasn’t Rose/Dimitri/Mason/Eddie.  So clearly she’s going to have a bigger role in the tv show which I don’t mind but I do wonder if we’re going to lose a character - probably Eddie lbr - in order to have her.  They haven’t casted an Eddie yet as far as we know, but I have seen it pointed out that Eddie’s role in book 1 was pretty small so maybe they just aren’t announcing it.  But there’s also the possibility that maybe Meredith will sort of replace Eddie and be the third part of Rose and Mason’s friendship.

I’m very interested by this part of her character description though, “She has little patience for Rose’s volatility or Mia’s elitism, and regularly calls both of them out.”

Jonetta Kaiser as Sonya Karp

I don’t necessarily dislike Jonetta as Sonya but I am confused by this choice.  She looks fairly young, which tbf Sonya was young-ish I guess, but if Mia is supposed to be her daughter she doesn’t look old enough to have a teenaged daughter.  So maybe Sonya and Mia are sisters? Cousins? Just have each other’s last names for no reason? I really don’t know.  They also look nothing alike.

Other than that, I don’t really have an opinion about Jonetta as Sonya.  Obviously looks nothing like how Sonya was described but that’s not new nor a massive concern for me.  

I can’t really tell just from looking at her, and I haven’t seen her in anything, if she would play a good Sonya.  I think with a lot of the characters it’s going to come down to the personality they bring to the part and the writing.

I looooooove her character description though:  “Quiet, careful and decidedly odd, Sonya is not of royal bloodline and sits out on the fringe of Moroi society, preferring to spend her time in the library or her gardens. Not a person who likes a scene, nonetheless she has a quiet but profound power of her own. She is taken by surprise when a Dhampir Guardian named Mikhail shows interest in her, a relationship that will expose both the brightest and darkest parts of her heart.”  It’s everything I would probably want from a description of Sonya and I’m more and more convinced that we’re going to see Sonya’s descent into madness and transformation into a Strigoi play out in maybe the first season which I am so curious how they’re going to work into the timeline.

Andrew Liner as Mason Ashford

Our last one and another one who doesn’t look remotely like his description but again? Not a surprise and not a problem for me.  He looks like he could play Mason’s goofiness really well as well as be a solid contender for a love interest for Rose.

“Charming, loyal and popular, Mason is Rose’s main competition in the quest to become the No. 1 Guardian-in-training. Though their relationship is casual on her side, he is hopeful she will finally look at him and see him as something more.” His character description makes a lot of sense, maybe him being Rose’s main competition is a bit of a deviation? But I think that’s more an indication that he’s supposed to be a strong fighter which isn’t inaccurate to the books.  The rest sounds great.

Other Thoughts

Descriptions of the show specifically mention friendship and classism as major themes which I am very happy to hear about because those are the two parts of VA that I love the most.

Am a little more worried about it being described as “sexy” though, if they shove a whole bunch of meaningless sex scenes in it just because it’s a YA show I’m not gonna be happy.

Seen the show compared to “Game of Thrones” and “Bridgerton” which at first had me like oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck not good not good not good.  But thinking about it more and trying to understand where Plec’s coming from with that description I wonder if means similar to GoT as in the cut-throat nature of the Moroi/Dhampir society cause I can kind of see that.  And as for Bridgerton I wonder if she’s referring to the kind of social-climbing aspects of it, because again that makes sense and it seems like a theme she really wants to concentrate on.  I hope that’s what she means by those comparisons, or that she just wants to compare it to popular shows to get people to watch it.  The worst would be if she tries to throw in a lot of unnecessary sex scenes to make it like those shows, because I hate when they do that, especially when the characters are teenagers.

Interesting to hear that Plec has known about the series since before Twilight or TVD - not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Seems like it’s actually mostly (or all??) written by Marguerite MacIntyre which is interesting because I know people were worried about Julie Plec - I’ve never watched anything by either of them so I’m neutral at this point.

#wow this took me most of the day to write so i got absolutely no uni work done #oh well #worth it #vampire academy #va #va tv show #rose hathaway #dimitri belikov #lissa dragomir #mason ashford #meredith (va) #mia rinaldi #sonya karp #christian ozera #respond to this and tell me your thoughts cause i want to hear what everyone things #*thinks #keep things respectful tho guys

[youcouldmakealife]

YCMAL Superlatives Write-ins (Pt 6)

And the final round of write-ins! Coming soon: the Finals, in which the top four characters from each category duke it out for bragging rights/cones of shame.

Most Chill:

Chill dad Dan

Oleg, I feel after all this time, nothing rattles him

Gabe, ever the calm and rational one

My main man Kiro (though in truth probably Gabe)

Ulf. I don't like him but I've gotta give this to him

Kiro. Treating everything as a joke helps.

none of them. not even Gabe

Roman but only because of therapy.

Sandro has never been stressed a day in his life

Dan. So resolute in his laid back approach to life, even in the face of Marc's pamphlets.

I have a feeling it's Georgie...

I searched for who Liam would be annoyed at for not giving him a satisfactory reaction, and I came up with Gabe

None of them? I choose none of them

Jake - at least until he realize David would ditch him for patatas bravas.

Mike "I'm so chill I don't even know how the fuck I ended up in a relationship (not that I'm admitting it is a relationship, Liam)" Brouwer

Most chill being +1 chill, Roman

Gabe???? Literally who in this series is even a little chill

Dima Kurmazov (chaotic but chill - like his reaction to seeing Gabe & Stephen? Chillest guy)

Gabe. reliable Gabe. unless there are zucchini latkes

Grace could (and maybe will) run the world

Gabe Markson, coincidentally stuck with Stephen and Jared, the least chill people on earth

Dan Riley! He puts up with so many shenanigans inc Marc/Ulf/Jaya ..Derek/Andy…give the man a medal ffs

Possesses Zero Chill:

*laughs hysterically*

Harry Chalmers. 0 chill about anything ever.

Pretty sure ‘Bryce’ and ‘chill’ are antonyms

Stephen. Jared. David. Dave. Jake (sometimes fakes it better, but Joe knows.) Marc. Charlie. It's a crowded field, is what I'm saying.

Everyone apart from Kiro.

Most folks will nominate Robbie, but I'd also like to put up Luke before his final break with Nikita

Jared "how dare you chirp ME" Matheson

Stephen-no chill ever existed in his body

Dave. But it's not his fault. His clients have no mercy on his stomach lining.

Playoff Willy, any other answer is simply unacceptable

Adam❤️

billion-way tie for everyone else??? but i'm gonna say Dave (and his ulcers)

None of these people have chill, but I'll say Liam because his dedication scares me

David Chapman thinks chill is something you do in a freezer

Harry Chalmers- he was ready to throw hands with a puppy just cause he was jealous of her owner, -1000000/10 chill

Bryce. No chill at all ever for the beautiful light of his life.

Like... 99% of them? Gonna go with Playoff WIlly though. Regular Willy also has negative chill but at least hides it better.

So many choices, but I'm going with Harry Chalmers (it's the ginger in him)

It's a tie between playoff Willy and Marc 'social justice warrior' Lapointe

how is it all of them? but also. Anton? in a very specific way

Stephen, Jared and Julius. AKA the bitchy hobgoblin triumvirate

Best kindergarten teacher:

Vinny has no discipline so… Gabe?

OMG JOEY. I don't know why I just want to see Massive Man Child interact with Tiny Child Children

Other than the canonical first grade teacher? Has to be Vinny.

Vinny. He'd have 30 toddlers eating out of the palm of his hand.

Vinny! All the baby goalies would agree!

Evan Connelly could you imagine that hulk with tiny children. My god I would die.

Vinny, as long as the kids only need to learn about dinosaurs.

Vinny is every child's best friend (myself included)

Andy — he is an educator and a jungle gym

Gabe - he's great with kids, but not a pushover. And he'd totally be down for coloring.

Jake. Or is he just a kindergarten student?

yvette on account of being a teacher and being able to interact with kids as an authority and not as a fun friend (looking at you derek carruthers)

Vinny!! But also Bryce. Bryce can be Vinny's aide

Willy's done pretty well with the de-aged Scouts...

scratch would be awesome at it? except also he would have zero discipline

Bryce please write this AU, Jared is a cranky divorced dad

Perversely, I think it might be Luke Morris?

Best assassin:

I’d say mike but he’s too obviously threatening… lmao maybe Erin, I think she could kill a dude

Trigger. My boy is a little bloodthirsty.

Stephen (actual assassin and character assassin)

You'd think a meanie, but it needs to be someone with a very cool level head. Adam. Or Oleg Kurmazov.

The OG kindergarten/assassin couple: Anton (with Vinny the kindergarten teacher obvs

Stephen. He knows 32 ways to kill a man and leave no trace.

Devon Crane. He'd get the job done with his eyes alone.

Luke all that quietly controlled rage he harnesses to destroy opponents. He would kill, would be good at it, no mercy, no remorse.

Willy can do anything and everything he sets his mind to, up to and including assassination

Who's to say that's not Cranes main job

This category is just Victor and Crane having a terrifying duel. Pray they don't form an alliance.

Adam Rousseau, he possesses the brain and the skills and the demeanor of one

Val, of whom only Harry is (correctly) suspicious

anton wishes (but it's actually his mom)

None of these idiots actually possess the subtlety necessary to be a good assassin

Jared, only because he genuinely dislikes most people besides his sunshine husband and hobgoblin bestie

Stephen, master at finding his target's soft underbelly.

Julius. It's the arsenic, man

Devon Crane. Trigger except those long limbs stick out in a crowd too much.

Trigger? Just pick a goalie and you get a good one, or Julius.

Slava. Possibly really?

Julius could get away with some shit, I think.

I'm going to go dark horse here and say Erin Matheson

Victor "Spider" Kjeldsen, Former Rookie Detective

David. That focus and understated elegance? Please.

Volkie- he is the sneakiest of the Russian mafia

Stephen Petersen would be on the most wanted list in another universe. And no one would ever be able to catch him

Stephen if it’s poison

Mike Brouwer- kills you with his eyes. Also Bryce when someone harms a hair on Jared’s head.

Most disgustingly in love couple:

Bryce and Jared would literally make me gag if I knew them in real life

ScratchMoney. They proposed at the SAME TIME in front of OTHER PEOPLE with their CUP RINGS.

Jared and Bryce "can't be in the same room without people figuring out that they're head over heels with each other" Marcus-Matheson

Bryce and Jared "We are stealthy" Marcus-Matheson

Bryce and Jared. You'd have to be to put up with either of them

Bryce & Jared Marcus-Matheson, aka That Couple

another billion way tie that Seb thinks he's winning (but based on wordcount alone bryce marcus is actually coming out on top😉

Mike/Liam- they complete each other in the best ways

Jared and Bryce come close, but Marc and Dan are still the Gold Standard here.

Jared and Bryce. Say what you will about ScratchnMoney, as far as we know they've never had a "no YOU hang up" conversation in front of other people

Bryce and Jared, Derek tries but Andy isn't giving him enough backup.

Bryce and Jared. Bryce is just gross.

Bryce and Jared for those who Know. Scratch&Money for everyone they see

I feel it's David/Jake but I am biased - anyway, just the fact that they are a couple means that David is disgustingly into it, into Jake. And Jake 'pining for almost a decade' Lourdes without ever stopping?? Please. They are so in love it makes me sick with joy.

J&BJ sorry ScratchnMoney you don’t have tattoos (yet)

Has Joey mentioned that he and Scratch are ENGAGED????

The Marcus-Mathesons. Literally a high school romcom

Most under the radar couple:

ScratchnMoney only because nothing changed not at all because they’re under the radar

erm... Jake and David? Purely by force of will on David's behalf alone

David and Jake. They are also disgustingly in love, but they do fly under the radar outside of a select group.

Hank and Jordan. Both because of profession and temperament.

Luke and Andreas, Dave didn’t even know

Mike and Liam. Even Mike's not sure they're a couple.

Aaron and Matt, which is to say I miss them so much Taylor. Taylor I miss them SO MUCH

adam and cal just cracking beers and huntin' deers

Maybe Andy and Derek because their couple behavior, while full of nonsense, is IDENTICAL to their pre-relationship behavior

Gabe and Stephen - apparently they give off a "brotherly" vibe without even trying....

Mike and Liam, even with many classes of Rookie Detectives on the case.

Gabe and Stephen. I just want to see mushy Stephen okay!!

David wishes it was him but PINING. So it’s Gabe and Stephen.

Roman/Evan/Harry. They are saying Nothing

Not to keep pulling from the scouts, but Owen and Willy literally had an Entire Thing going on and barely anyone noticed.

Mike and Liam, if Mike has anything to say about it

Luke/Andreas - I bet their couple dynamic is amazing, but we wouldn't know, because they're professionals

Most long suffering wingman/bystander:

Joe. No one but Joe can be the answer here.

Oh Raf. What you had to go through….

Joe. Poor man should have his suffering recognized

Raf. Always Raf. He suffered Bryce and Jared. He has to suffer David and Jake.

Victor Holm put up with too much to not be the obvious answer

Poor Joe. He suffered so much and can complain to so few people about it.

i just think chaz and joe would have a lot to talk about

Mike deserves bystander status after having to listen to Liam's North Stars shenanigans

Darryl Rogers and Dave Summers tie for both being the exact definition of long suffering bystander

Probably Marc with his pamphlets

Canonically, Tate Williams, but only because his friends are actual dumbasses

Chaz and Raf think it's a two-way competition, but this prize is all Elliot's. (Sorry, Joe!)

Everyone? Raf "I was just here for a hockey camp" Sanchez, Darryl "let me take in a rookie" Rogers, Playoff Willy and his bloodlust, VAL

Chaz, mostly because he got it from both ends (heyo!)

willy. its fucking painful. get your shit together guys, damn.

Either Trigger or Marc in response to 90% of Ulf's nonsense

David/Jake does not deserve Joe Forster and Joe Forster does not deserve David/Jake

Literally every captain or alternate in the league: Joe, Rogers, Oleg, Quincy etc. With great power comes great responsibility

Most enthusiastic wingman/shipper on deck:

Liam, despite their repeated efforts to dissuade him

Gally. But he's so, so bad at it.

Kiro. Davidson deserves to be happy.

Gally would like a word and shout "ME"

Vinny, for Sandro/Sylvie

Liam will commit felonies to make his ot3 happen!

Does Seb count if the couple he ships is himself and Si?

Liam upgraded from wingman to kidnapper so he wins this prize along with his felony.

i just know and perceive that the Petersen sisters wanted Stephen to lock Gabe down since junior high

Liam is the epitome of the enthusiastic (if unwanted) wingman

Matty for Robbie and Happiness

Liam, but only because he is always horny and wants other people to also be horny

I just know the Rileys manifested Dan/Marc into existence

Liam (I committed felonies for Threesome Love!) vs Chaz (SEVEN DRAFTS OF WEDDING VOWS). Gotta give it to Chaz. And Ash, dammit.

Jessica/Gritty, somehow still more "two separate entities" than ScratchnMoney.

Tate Williams out of desperation

Chaz Rossi - the way he actually took Bryce aside and told him to stop behaving like an asshole and actually improved his and Jared's life?? Legend stuff. Absolutely the most meaningful shipper gesture, if understated.

The entire Scouts roster other than scratch and money

Willy - but not playoff Willy

Gally and the parent trap

Most enthusiastic while pretending he’s not? That would be Stephen.

Your personal favourite character:

David Chapman. Boy tries so hard.

Thomas Vincent!!!!!!!!!! Not only the asexual representation I so desperately crave but he is also my best friend

Gabe. He is the perfect son. Most caring and clearly would give the best cuddles.

David (though both James AND holden are sneaking up)

Crane. I find his murder eyes alarmingly alluring

Don't do this to me. It's Adam, but don't make me /say/ it.

My disaster ginger son with a praise kink, Harry Chalmers

This answer may change in 10 minutes. But right now, Jared.

Ahhh so many! Being autistic, I identify with the ND characters, and so David is my fave because I relate to him so much. But for pure enjoyment, I love Joey, the sweet, dumb, introverted tweedle.

Any of the goalies, really. Except Connors. We don't speak of him.

Willy. I feel like I need to talk to my therapist after reading why he feels like he can’t be in a relationship ????

Aaaaaaa it used to be David but it really might be Joey or Willy now. I just love them all so much.

Stephen, no question. I talk to him in my head sometimes, he has such good sarcastic advice.

Jared, the snark, the personal growth, the lack of perspective, the eyelashes

Gabriel “number 53 for the Canucks” Markson

The ‘I can’t pick--okay yes I can’ votes:

Sorry. Unable to answer. There’s too many. It’s Mike.

Not fair. I hate this. It changes! Rn it’s Stephen though I GUESS. I’m mad.

5. I can't 4. rank them, 3. I love them 2. all equally. 1. David

Too hard…Bryce Marcus

And then the ballot scratches:

I can't choose just one😞

this is TOO HARD

Personal favourite couple/throuple:

<le sigh> Bringing out the eenies and the meenies again….. Jared and Bryce. They make each other better people.

Oh, come on. Do I have to? Most re-read: Bryce and Jared. Most emotionally invested: Liam and Mike. Most happy they got (back) together: David and Jake

Sebastien and Simon - childhood besties, pining, obliviousness - I re-read their stories so often!

Jake and David are so good together and they grow so much as people and I love them

Robbie/Georgie 'they fell in love with each other's hockey first'

David and Jake to read about, Kiro and Emily if I got to meet them.

Moral Support Pioneers Vinny and Tony

Og marc and dan stan

Gah, why must I choose only one?!? Alright, alright, David and Jake. I love seeing the Canadian hockey robot become a real boy.

ScratchnMoney because they're so kind and so nice to each other and so so dumb at the same time

Gabe and Stephen. I desperately want a mini-extension of their story beyond being side characters to Bryce/Jared.

Mike and Liam (I would like to tell you that my phone just tried to change Liam into "Liability" and that's honestly just very accurate

Bryce and Jared. They are my emotional support children okay

I just really want Sven/Yvette/Gérard to live happily ever after and Georgie to undo what he did to Robbie

David/Jake. That’s some deep love man.

The torn:

David and Jake. Or Mike and Liam. Or Dan and Marc. Look - I suck at making decisions OK?

ScratchnMoney AND Anton/Vinny (please don't make me choose)

LIAM AND MIKE, also I’d die for Roman/Harry/Connie

No. Shut up. How dare, how very dare. U G H Vinny/Anton is very important to me and Jared/Bryce is a delight BUT I GUESS Roman/Harry/Evan hits different. This sucks.

I'm torn between David/Jake and Jared/Bryce. So obviously, I really mean Gabe and Stephen. What..?

Similarly difficult, but Gabe/Stephen, but also scratchnmoney, but also Liam/mike

Gabe and Stephen- they travel so far into others lives. And for so long. Followed closely by ScratchMoney, JaredBryce,DavidJake.

And finally...how dare you come for me like this so accurately:

Jared/Bryce has really grown on me over the last 27 years

[miraculouscontent]

Always.

“Truth” is just... I mean, I want to say “garbage” but that doesn’t even do how bad it is justice? Like, okay, I take four major issues with it (my followers be like: just four? :P):

First is the writing in general and the continuity of it all. This episode looks like it’s been through multiple drafts and the final product is an amalgamation of a bunch of them with no coherency between any of them. I already could kind of guess it from the Adrimi kiss that the finale removed, but it’s obvious that there were going to be Adrimi/Lukanette arcs in Season 4 but then stuff happened (i.e: the staff being cowards) and they got cut. It’s totally possible that the plot with Jagged Stone being the father and Marinette having to keep secrets from Luka were still the same episode even in the original draft, but I imagine it at least wasn’t episode one.

There are other, more subtle hints as well, like the episode giving no time to Luka learning that Jagged is his father (making the fandom wonder if Luka remembered when he was Truth) and Ladybug being shocked when she realizes that the akuma is Luka as if she didn’t already see him be akumatized. Juleka also gets weirdly sidelined in the episode despite being Luka’s twin (Astruc has stated that both Luka and Juleka are older and Juleka got held back, which is why she’s in Marinette’s grade but Luka isn’t), so she’s Jagged’s offspring as well. One might presume that Juleka just never cared at all but that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be allowed to interact directly with the guy or have any involvement at all. All it would’ve taken is for Luka to mention that Juleka never cared about who their father was but he did, thereby implying that Juleka’s reaction to Jagged would probably be more like, “oh okay.”

You know, if they didn’t reduce her to incoherent mumbling.

Second is the timing of this episode. We had the New York special with Paris being destroyed, but it’s clearly fine here (so I guess it isn’t canon now; thank God honestly), and while it’s technically possible that enough time has passed (supported by the vague implication that Marinette having to miss out on dates with Luka has gone on for a while, given Tom and Sabine’s lack of reaction to them dating), it’s not supported by Marinette examining the Miracle Box as if she’s only just gotten it.

There’s also Shadow Moth, where we’re shown an extended version of the scene from the end of “Miracle Queen” where Gabriel repairs the peacock miraculous, giving the episode a “Volpina”->”The Collector” vibe but then why are the events lining up the way they do???

The narrative also does a really bad job at showing us why Marinette is so strapped for time. She has guardian duties now but you’d think it’d balance out with her not having to go to Fu anymore for guardian training (you know, that thing we never saw but was said to be happening or at least that it was Fu’s intent to have it happen). You could argue that maybe Shadow Moth is more active, but then Chat Noir should be affected by this too; Ladybug states outright that she’s been busy and Chat Noir responds with something akin to, “oh I know, because you’re guardian,” which implies that it’s her guardian duties keeping her busy and Shadow Moth is just interrupting her dates specifically.

But we don’t even see what responsibilities she has added on as guardian. I knew the writers would make it so her being guardian was a hassle, but it’s the first episode of the series and we’ve gotten next to no answers for what being guardian actually adds.

It’s almost like this was a rushed first episode to break up the only thing that unambiguously made Marinette happy for the sake of bringing the love square back and needlessly making her suffer because the writers think it’s hilarious.

Speaking of which, the third thing thing is the comedy because--just--I hate the comedy in this show.

Like, just to start, there’s the kwami, who clearly begin with their mob mentality from the later episode of “Furious Fu” and all proceed to act like children. No, I didn’t expect them to all be wise (I mean, Xuppu exists and is very much not that, having been implied to be a fit for Kim who is known for being a total himbo), but I don’t expect them to all scatter like they do. Kaalki in particular, who was shown to be more poised and refined, blatantly reveals herself to a bunch of civilians just for the sake of Marinette freaking out and needing to make up an excuse.

Same with Alya and her friends. Marinette is panicking because of the kwami and Alya “deduces” (while shading Marinette so blatantly that it’s insulting) that Adrien must be there in her house which--maybe don’t SAY THAT OUT LOUD in case Adrien is literally in her room???). Then Marinette gets a call from Luka, shouts his name, and the girls do a complete 180 in support of Lukentte. It’s not like I’m not for them supporting whatever Marinette wants to do, but the shift is so sudden (and contradicts “Frozer”) that it gave me whiplash and the entire scene ends up being pointless since the girls still go with the “Marinette is in love with Adrien” thing when Truth asks them what Marinette’s secret is. Like, we could’ve gotten small, stupid secrets that everyone thought only they knew about Marinette, but instead it’s just the same thing over and over again (which makes no sense since, by the time Alya blabs the secret - which Alya has already told Nino before anyway - it’s no longer a secret therefore making the answer invalid).

Heck, the whole “secret” thing could’ve even been the people Truth shoots finding ways of answering his questions in a way that is technically telling the truth but also not really, such as if Anarka had answered the, “Who’s my father?” question with, “someone you know/someone famous,” so as to avoid saying that it’s Jagged Stone. It’s just boring seeing characters answer with whatever the asker wants to hear instead of being able to find a way around it.

And then there’s Chat Noir, who’s just--ugh.

Like--okay, I’m going to be extremely petty for a moment and just go off because I hate Chat Noir’s role in this entire episode. The Season 3 finale went out of its way to have Chat Noir be all like, “I have a girlfriend,” when it was a lie, and then Season 4 just parkours around Ladybug telling him that she’s dating (Ladybug clearly took no issue with Chat Noir telling her he’s dating so it’s not like she’s worried about issues there; she’s gotten on his case before in episodes like “Startrain” so there are exceptions) because they want to keep having him flirt and not be sAd because this is Marinette’s episode of suffering and Chat Noir actually having to face the reality that Ladybug is dating (not just in love with someone else) would’ve actually been interesting. Chat Noir gets tons of unnecessary screentime in the episode - mostly for the show to shove in LadyNoir shipping fuel - and then actively avoids telling him the obvious thing because he would’ve actually been forced to grow/develop/stop flirting.

It would’ve been so cute and sweet to see him awkwardly trying to flirt without overstepping boundaries (so more like banter than flirt) or - you know - actually try to support Ladybug and want her to be able to finish her dates by him offering to keep akuma/sentimonsters busy, but no, he’s just left in the dark.

The finale had Chat Noir supporting her (terribly but I digress) and then doesn’t do anything with it at the start of Season 4, meaning his support of her was completely meaningless and just there.

His first appearance is him pranking Ladybug when she’s already overstressed and busy, which comes off as super poor taste and I’m both glad he got splatted into that window for it but also upset because it’s screentime completely gone to waste, and of course it’s just a lead up to him guilting her by being like, “nooo the only thing that hurts me is when you leave me alone during patrol!”

I know he’s teasing (...probably) but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth because we know (well, I knew because I know how this show works) that Luka and Marinette were going to break up because of Marinette’s hectic schedule, so it just comes off as insensitive to joke about it, especially when Ladybug’s busy guardian status just serves as a reminder that Fu is gone.

Even when he’s protecting Ladybug from Truth’s questions by cutting in and asking a question of his own, of course he asks about himself to forcibly fish compliments out of Ladybug because she can’t lie to him, and of course they have Ladybug compliment his humor most of all as if that trait hasn’t nearly gotten them in danger multiple times and she’s been repeatedly annoyed when he decides to joke during the worst possible times. It’s as if the writers wanted to pat themselves on the back for their own comedy, so they had Ladybug be a mouthpiece to stroke Chat Noir’s ego.

He claims he won’t force a truth out of her and then literally forces her to say what her favorite things about him are. I acknowledge that this can be seen as me nitpicking but we went from the finale where Chat Noir actually stepped up and took charge (because Ladybug was stressed but I guess him doing anything useful is just whenever it serves the plot) to this where he’s back to flirting constantly and jamming in as much LadyNoir shipping fuel as physically possible. It’s not that he’s useless but he’s annoying and takes up space in an episode that’s supposed to be about Luka and Marinette.

And that leads us into the fourth thing, which is the break-up and just the treatment of Luka and Marinette in general. I could go on and on about how the Season 3 finale built up their relationship just to tear it down in the first episode of Season 4, but that’s not the main issue here.

Luka brought Marinette comfort. He made her happy. He never judged her. He was happy to just date her regardless of any conflicted feelings she might have because hey, who is he to complain if she wants to give him a try and who knows what’ll happen?

And the season couldn’t even give one moment of them being unambiguously happy without ruining or interrupting it. I was ready for the break-up and I was even ready for it to be the first episode but I wasn’t ready for it to be so bad.

Marinette’s Adrien pictures appear out of nowhere (again, makes no sense for the timeline) when they’ve been gone for basically all of Season 3 and even “The Puppeteer 2″ specifically which makes a direct reference to “Troublemaker,” the episode that purposefully overdid it with her pictures (”Truth” has more hanging up and clearly used “Troublemaker” as a reference, by the way). They’re just there for force the love square and Adrien into the episode as much as possible to remind the audience that Adrien breathes. There is literally no purpose to any mention of Adrien and bringing him up isn’t even relevant to Marinette and Luka’s break-up.

It’s just upsetting to know that the umbrella scene from “Origins” (which is already flawed in and of itself) kickstarts this whole thing. Adrien did basically nothing there except for clear up a misunderstanding and give Marinette an umbrella when his ride was a few meters away and Marinette’s house was just across the street, but that actives Marinette’s absolutely crippling crush on him that lasts for 3-4 seasons. Marinette is in this eternal struggle of not being allowed to grow and change because the writers think her stammering/crushing on Adrien is funny while actively punishing her for having this crush in the first place (again, like in the scene with Alya, which insults Marinette for her crush when she wasn’t even panicking over her crush).

It’s the same with Luka, and I can’t believe that it took me until this episode to realize that he and Marinette are both treated the same way: tormented by episodes for having a crush on someone. Episodes will go out of their way to forcibly insert Adrien into the plot to both humiliate Marinette and make Luka feel awkward when the episode isn’t supposed to be about Adrien at all. “Truth” is just “Desperada 2.0″ except Adrien is barely on screen at all and they still felt the need to name drop him constantly. The writers are so sensitive to the idea of people jumping onto another ship or forgetting that Adrien exists that they’ll find any possible way to include him.

“Silencer” knew better. “Silencer” knew that Marinette’s life didn’t have to revolve around the mere mention of Adrien’s name and that she had other interests/desires/traits outside of him. Adrien isn’t brought up once and it was great because the show didn’t feel the need (for once) to throw Adrien into an episode that he had nothing to do with.

Even if I was a love square shipper, I would feel insulted by “Truth” because one half of my ship kept getting name dropped and used as a tool to humiliate the other half, which makes it all the more eyeroll-worthy when the love square stans of the fandom praise this episode for breaking Lukanette up when--oh, wait, they didn’t even break up “because Adrien.”

And that ends up being the real thing here. The writers had to invent a reason for Marinette and Luka to break up. We already know that Jagged Stone being Luka’s dad is a retcon (not technically in the show’s canon but in information we heard about outside of it), so they shoved in Luka having issues about not knowing his father specifically so that he would be pushed over the edge when Marinette couldn’t tell him about her being Ladybug.

When Luka and Marinette were just together and hanging out, Adrien wasn’t mentioned once. Say whatever about the Adrien pictures being on the wall and Marinette’s stammering (she always says stupid stuff when she panics - especially stuff she doesn’t mean - so I’m not upset with her so much as the writing for having her mess up in that specific way), but the only time Marinette talks about Adrien at all in the episode is when someone else brings him up.

She goes on a date with Luka to the cinema and they were having a great time without Adrien involved at all. I know I already stressed this point in a previous post, but one of the reasons that I find Lukanette to be so amazing is because the show actually focuses on Marinette’s interests and doesn’t force her to be the writer’s mouthpiece for gushing about their sunshine boy a punching bag for comedy. In every Lukanette scene that doesn’t bring up Adrien/before Adrien shows up, Marinette is either praised, able to be happy, or is showing one of her interests that isn’t aDrIeN, and whereas Adrien being on-screen around Marinette usually just means that she’s gushing about/stammering around him with no development, Lukanette features us actually learning more about Luka or other characters.

“Captain Hardrock” - lets her bond with Luka over a shared interest in Jagged Stone, and Luka is established as a sort of empath who uses music as a way to speak for himself

“Frozer” - gets to practice ice skating with Luka, who is actually good at ice skating and also can tie laces despite not tying his own because he’s a rebel

“Desperada” - gets to try out guitar with Luka and we learn that Luka has been playing guitar for as long as he can remember

“Silencer” - showcases Marinette’s interest in fashion and properly introduces Kitty Section; has a plot featuring all of them together doing something not even remotely love-related and we get actual confirmation of Luka’s crush on Marinette, along with Marinette’s reaction (blushy+happy; just saying, idk how anyone could watch “Silencer” and not think that Marinette was crushing on Luka)

“Heart Hunter” - Marinette gets a song written for/about her and Luka is established to have a job

“Truth” - brings up Lukanette’s shared interest in Jagged Stone, features Marinette’s interest in fashion when she gives him a gift she made + had Jagged Stone sign, and shows her raising her voice but not being judged by Luka for it, who’s happy with her just the way he is

When the show focuses on Lukanette, it’s all about lifting Marinette up, praising her, and making her feel good. When Adrien is involved or it’s hyper-fixating on Marinette’s crush on him, it’s about bringing her down and making her feel bad for a crush they keep forcing her to hold onto and humiliating her for.

Point being, the writers had to force their way into getting Lukanette broken up because of their precious love square and the fact that Marinette and Luka being happy is the opposite of what they want.

It’s embarrassing to watch a team full of old white guys (I’m convinced at this point that they just hang their female writer on a coat hanger so they can point to her whenever someone says that their staff is too male-dominated) treat their female biracial lead with such disrespect, and I can only presume that the mistreatment of Luka is because he’s supportive of her and they don’t like that, meaning that the way she’s treated ends up rubbing off on him.

It doesn’t come off as a fun or interesting plot; it comes off as cruel. When Adrien is sad, he usually gets people rushing to comfort him (”Party Crasher,” “Gamer”), but “Truth” has Marinette in tears over the fact that she can’t have a boyfriend due to being Ladybug and the writing has the gall to crack jokes about Kaalki not knowing what tears are, and then Marinette has to ask for the kwami to hug her for comfort.

When Luka gets akumatized into Truth, the episode doesn’t even hesitate at bashing away at him, from everyone saying that Marinette’s secret is that she “loves Adrien” (which, as Truth points out, isn’t a secret, and they could’ve had this somehow lead up to a twist ending where Marinette actually isn’t into Adrien anymore and the Adrien pictures were genuinely for reference, but she stammered about it because it was embarrassing that her boyfriend got sent it with no context) to one of Luka’s favorite songs actually being about how Jagged abandoned him to go on tour. Luka has to deal with Marinette ditching him constantly (not that I blame her) and not knowing who his father is despite wanting to know, and the episode treats him like trash for... what? Having a crush on a girl who’s secretly Ladybug? Because that’s all it seems to come down to in the end.

I also have serious gripes with the fact that Marinette has this huge schedule established in “Gamer 2.0″ and they don’t even try to explain why she can’t use it to keep track of her obligations. The episode has her say (in a roundabout way but still) that she’s forgetting stuff constantly because of all of her emergencies (the emergencies of which are not stated and I hate the subtle implication that forgetting something means you don’t care about it when that’s clearly not how things work and also not what Marinette comes off as because - again - they establish that she’s overworked) but fails to properly explain it. The episode hammers away at Marinette having all these issues and even has Tikki chide Marinette by asking her about leaving Luka alone while apparently neglecting the fact that Marinette HAS to go be Ladybug right now and what else is there to even do??

Both Luka and Marinette are punished for just having a crush and wanting to be together and I hate that the episode forces a break-up instead of coming up with a solution to the problem. Instead of “Marinette isn’t ready for a romantic relationship,” it feels more like she’s just not allowed to be happy.

Long-distance relationships are a thing. Relationships where people don’t get to go on dates frequently are a thing. Instead of forcing a break-up, the episode could’ve had a lesson/development where Marinette is told that she’s allowed to pursue a relationship and just needs to plan accordingly. but they just didn’t want to.

For example: instead of planning dates, Marinette could wait until an akuma/sentimonster is defeated to call Luka and ask him out, because Hawk Moth usually doesn’t strike immediately after one is dealt with. I’m positive that Luka would happily take impromptu/sudden dates over planned-but-inconsclusive ones. Heck, they don’t even have to date specifically and can just stick to phone calls (kwami can’t be picked up on technology) or hanging out in Marinette’s room/on Marinette’s balcony while they do their thing.

Relationships are a commitment, but that doesn’t mean they have to be a burden, and the episode absolutely drags Marinette over it. The whole thing with the kwami being released and stressing her out when they’re not supposed to be able to just come out normally is explained away by, “oh, the new box must be like you, Marinette; full of surprises!” when the reality is just that the show wants to take away everything that’s sacred to Marinette. The Season 3 finale had Fu’s letter telling Marinette that “life doesn’t always give you what you want, but the real gift is life itself,” then proceeds to turn Marinette’s life into a living hell.

Her room? She has to say good-bye to her privacy because now the kwami are always going to be around. The first thing one of them (Trixx) did was start reading her diary, showing that they have absolutely no shame or regard for Marinette’s feelings.

Her schedule? Conveniently pops away into the realm of non-existence so she can look bad for ditching Chat Noir on patrol and neglecting dates with Luka due to her responsibilities/stress.

Her boyfriend, the one person in the entire show who loved her, respected her agency, never judged her, actually apologized when he made her sad, and who she was genuinely in love with rather than just having the equivalent of a celebrity crush for? She had to break up with him because plot and needing to force her to go back to fawning over the guy who has only made her life worse by her crushing on him.

When I say the universe hates Marinette, this is what I mean. It created random akuma to attack Paris all for the sake of forcing Marinette away from Luka, and apparently didn’t realize what they were doing in the scene where Marinette hurries back to the Liberty when Kitty Section and Adrien are playing together when Adrien is Chat Noir so he should’ve been late too.

(Oh, and Marinette completely ignores Adrien in favor of waving at Luka and even tells Luka outright that Adrien isn’t even a factor in their relationship issues, further proving the “multiple drafts smashed together” and “the Adrien name drops are pointless” points.)

The whole thing in “Backwarder” where it was basically outright stated that Marianne could’ve been Fu’s confidant had Marianne not been outed by Ladybug’s mistake? Completely forgotten and left to the wayside. Marinette could’ve told Luka that she was watching the Miracle Box in Ladybug’s place (for any number of reasons, really: either Ladybug thinks it’s too dangerous to keep with her, or if the public doesn’t know that Ladybug is guardian, then Marinette can just say that she’s guardian) and that she has to run off to keep guard of the Miracle Box when an akuma/sentimonster happens in case Ladybug needs a miraculous.

Boom, done, episode solved. Luka gets to help Marinette with the kwami, Marinette is less stressed because someone knows half of her secret, and Luka and Marinette continue to date but are able to plan around akuma attacks.

But no. That whole thing in “Backwarder” where guardians (or at least Fu) can have a confidant was just there so Marinette could feel guilty about screwing it all up, because she’s not able to take advantage of that perk herself.

How convenient.

#category: salt #category: critique #episode: Truth #other: ml spoilers #other: ask and answer #((This is mostly incoherent because I am very tired.)) #((''In general or at the episode--'' Yes.))

[starfallskitter]

THIS is Chloe’s redemption arc

Hi! I don’t usually do big media analysis things, but I like Miraculous Ladybug and I’m a writer and familiar with these tropes. I was thinking about Chloe’s character in season 4 and how everyone’s been so upset with what seems like a reversal of her character arc, so I wanted to unpack everything and explain what I believe is going on.

In short: Chloe getting worse, becoming mean again, is the only way she can, after the three seasons she’s had so far, get a satisfying redemption arc. 

Zoe is also very important to her arc; while it could perhaps have been done differently, Zoe’s introduction is perhaps the clearest way of developing Chloe’s character and giving her redemption. But I’ll get to that in a moment.

I recently rewatched the first half of season 1 and most of season 3, so I’ll probably draw from more recent memories in discussion here. Season 4 is, however, the main point of discussion in this post, so big spoiler warning if you aren’t up to date on Sole Crusher and Queen Banana at the very least.

So, character arcs can generally be shortened to a question of, ‘what does this character need to learn? And do they learn it?’, although typically there are bumps along the way, with characters learning the wrong lessons, making mistakes, backtracking, etc. Sometimes it’s a negative character arc where they learn a lie, or refuse to change.

In Chloe’s case, the thing she needs to learn is simple. She believes, in season 1 episode 1, that she is inherently better than other people. She still believes this throughout the entire show up to this point. She needs to learn that that’s not the case.

Success to Chloe is how much power you have, and she expects power. It’s reinforced for her at every turn. Her dad gets her everything she wants, and he’s the Mayor, so his power becomes hers. Her ‘best friend’ is a rich, famous supermodel, which is ultimate success to her, and at the start she’s his only friend, so he must consider her on his level (how he came into this situation doesn’t matter to her). She’s constantly followed by someone who lets her have complete power over her just to get a glimpse of Chloe’s wealth. Bullying and beauty are both sources of power to her as well. Power is success, she has a lot of power, she’s successful, she’s acheived all she wants to.

So, naturally, she loves Ladybug, the most powerful superhero in Paris. She wants to be accepted by Ladybug, and loved by Ladybug, because Ladybug has power, and Ladybug accepting her as her peer means Chloe is on her level. Everyone loves Ladybug, therefore Ladybug has more power than Hawkmoth, the real reason Chloe is on her side.

This doesn’t change much throughout season one. 

In Season 2, though, we meet her mother, who can be summed up as the main source of this thought pattern. Chloe idealises her, more even than Ladybug, and her approval as a powerful person who knows it feels like all Chloe needs. When Chloe gets the Bee Miraculous, it’s not because Ladybug thinks she’s a peer, but Chloe, somewhat desperately, believes that being a Miraculous holder will make her good enough in her mother’s eyes. From the wiki:

Chloé, however, is furious and angrily asks her mother why, out of all people, she would take Marinette to New York City instead of her own daughter. Audrey says that it's because Marinette is exceptional. Chloé retorts that she's exceptional, too, but Audrey says that the only thing exceptional about her is her mother. Hurt by this comment and wanting to prove her mother wrong, Chloé reveals that she has the Bee Miraculous in her possession and transforms into Queen Bee in front of everyone, including the press.

When she gets the Bee Miraculous, it’s not because she’s changed in any way, and it’s not a catalyst for change. The whole plot of Queen Wasp is that Chloe is trying to prove she’s exceptional, but her being exceptional is not what she needs to learn; in fact, it’s the opposite. She needs to learn that she is no more exceptional than anyone else. She doesn’t learn this here.

Again, from the wiki:

Marinette tells Audrey that Chloé is exceptional -- exceptionally mean. She lists all of Chloé's worst qualities, angering both her and Audrey but also making the two realize that they have a lot in common. When Marinette leaves, Audrey asks Chloé if she is really as bad as Marinette said, to which Chloé says that her only friend in school is Sabrina, and she enjoys giving her butler a hard time. Audrey takes back her earlier comment about Chloé not being exceptional, embraces her, and decides to stay in Paris with her.

This is just reaffirming the problem: Chloe’s belief that her power, coming from her cruelty and bullying, makes her special, so she deserves the power, etc. This is not a change in her character arc; this is still setting her up to change later on.

What this sets up is Chloe’s false character arc. It seems, on the outside, that what Chloe needs to learn is how to be nice, or good. That being kind is something she doesn’t know how to do, and she just needs to try. 

This is often a character arc that children’s show bullies have because it’s easy and simple to understand, but it’s not realistic. Bullies are usually not bullies just because they don’t know how to be nice; some are, perhaps, but the truly mean ones who do acts of cruelty because they can have a fundamentally twisted view of the world, like Chloe’s.

A lot of people think Chloe’s false redemption arc was her real one, and it got thrown out the window. Here’s why the false one is important for the real one.

For Chloe to learn that she’s not special, she has to get rid of the idea that being powerful in any way leads to happiness, or the power is equal to success.

In Season 3 we get continuance of the false arc. Importantly, we see her core behavior has not actually changed. At times, she acts heroically, but it’s not necessarily out of the goodness of her heart; and at the times she does this doesn’t necessarily change her character arc, either. She still has a heart. It’ll come out much more later. But she’s still pushing people around. There is no significant change in how she fundamentally treats Sabrina, or her butler, or Marinette, or her father. She doesn’t see them or relate to them any differently. She’s also using her superhero identity to reinforce the idea that she’s special; she remarks constantly about how she’s Queen Bee, she’s a hero, she’s better than everyone, you get the gist. Becoming Queen Bee has reinforced the primary lie (that she is special) that her character arc is going to change.

We see, in Miraculer, Mayura demanding Chloe join them, and Chloe refusing.

At first, it seems like Chloe’s doing well to refuse. Like she has a sense of justice. In truth, though, she’s mainly on Ladybug’s side because the heroes are usually seen as more powerful and cooler than the villains. There might be a sense of justice there, but that’s ultimately irrelevant to the core flaw that she needs to fix to become a better person.

And then, Heart Hunter and Miracle Queen. Ladybug doesn’t give her enough power, so she takes Hawkmoth’s side.

While Ladybug, Cat Noir and Ryuko fight Heart Hunter, Chloé becomes furious and throws her bee signal off of the roof, losing her hope. Hawk Moth comes and tries to convince Chloé to join him. Chloé is reluctant at first, because he is the one who akumatized her parents. Hawk Moth asks what Ladybug has done for her, since Chloé was the one who trusted Ladybug the most as a fan. Chloé finally agrees, but demands that Hawk Moth deakumatizes her parents first. Hawk Moth accepts these conditions.

This is the ultimate thing that reinforces the lie, that she is special and more powerful. The false character arc, that she just needs to learn to be nice, is thrown aside; she was nice to Ladybug, put herself on Ladybug’s side, and tried to work for justice, but it didn’t change that what she ultimately wanted, and felt was most important, was power, being special, status. The moment at the end of Heart Hunter is where she does her heel-turn, and now, what happens next?

Well, rememeber that she needs to learn she’s not special. As of now, she’s had the belief that she’s special reinforced, not weakened. It’s been reinforced as far as it can go. There is nothing she can do to believe she’s any more special than she believes she is. And now, being pissed at Ladybug, her false arc thrown aside, there’s no reason to try and act nice. It didn’t make her happy, after all.

So in Season 4, she doubles down on what she still believes matters: Power.

She’s worse to Sabrina, locking her in her closet, making her chase after the car, etc. She will only consider the best, most powerful friends like her: Zoe, her sister, has to be just as special, just as powerful.... and as we saw at the end of season 2, that means mean.

Which brings me to Zoe.

Zoe is important because she’s everything Chloe could’ve been if she’d already learned her lesson, for one. She’s successful at making friends because she cares about how nice someone is, not their status, which is what Chloe doesn’t get. She’s so frustated that Zoe makes friends at the end of Sole Crusher by just being nice. Chloe wants those friends, but everything in the show so far has taught her that power is important and it’s what will get her love and attention, and her power comes from, again, bullying and her dad.

And that’s also where Andre comes in. The other thing Zoe does is change Chloe’s biggest enabler- Andre. In Queen Banana, he refuses Chloe’s demands for the first time pretty much ever, and draws a hard line in the sand.

Suddenly, a little bit of Chloe’s power is taken away from her in that moment. She can’t understand how Zoe can be happier than her or why her father might tell her no. They’re incompatible with her worldview- that she is special, and powerful, and deserves things just for being special.

At this point, Chloe has to lose everything. She thinks that cruelty to others will make her happy; that demanding things gets her what she wants. It has, so far. So for her to change, that needs to not work. We’re seeing just the beginnings of that in Season 4 so far; she can’t demand anything from her father (although Queen Banana is full of demands she does get). Zoe didn’t find happiness through the method Chloe said she would in Sole Crusher (really, Sole Crusher lays out what Chloe’s been imagining the world is like the entire show. That’s it in a nutshell, really). Adrien told her she needed to be nicer and lowkey rejected her friendship at the end of Queen Banana. Zoe, the sister who is better off doing the opposite of what Chloe thought would make her happy and successful, took her symbol of power- the Bee Miraculous, her superhero identity- away from her. Chloe’s worldview is slowly unravelling as of Season 4.

So, what needs to happen next?

One: she will lose everything. Two: she’ll learn that power doesn’t make her happy. Three: she’ll realise that kindness and justice and equality, etc. are more important. Four: she’ll do something major to show that she understands this and has changed. Five: she’ll permanently stop putting herself above others.

I can’t project too far in the future, but what I can say is what is probably going to come next for the topic of her losing everything. Her father is going to say no more often; her mother will disappoint her; Zoe will continue to do well. Chloe may learn that Zoe is Vesperia, I’m not sure.

But the one main thing that I think, personally, Chloe needs to lose in some dramatic way is Sabrina. Sabrina is just about the last thing that has remained the same for Chloe so far. And I think that that change won’t come by Sabrina’s doing, necessarily. She’s not vengeful and doesn’t see or care about Chloe’s flaws.

But the thing is, it seems obvious by now that everyone in the class is getting a Miraculous. We’ve seen spoilers for Mylene’s and Juleka’s, and my personal opinion is that the four remaining unpaired Miraculous pair up to the three remaining classmates + the one other student who seems to recur (personal guesses: Ivan - Ox, Nathaniel - Rooster, Marc - Dog, Sabrina - Goat), but regardless, what I imagine would break Chloe’s existing worldview more than anything else, and leave it open to change, is Sabrina getting a Miraculous, and Chloe knowing it’s her.

Sabrina is Chloe’s trailing, forever-present symbol of power. She’s always got power over Sabrina. Sabrina being special in a way that Chloe no longer is, a way that got taken by her ‘lame’ sister who she views as less powerful than her, should put a lot into perspective for her.

In short: Chloe is going to have a bad time, and be a bad time, for most of this season, if not all of it. She’s got to learn that her worldview is wrong.

That’s how her character arc will end. That’s how we get a satisfying change, something meaningful happening to her, and her really changing from the bully she was. Miraculous is a lot more complicated than most kid’s shows and it didn’t simplify it down to ‘bully learns to be nice’- Chloe’s character arc is about changing the fundamental thing that made her so mean in the first place. It’s about learning that she is not at all exceptional, and that she is just like anyone else. And that she’ll prefer it that way.

#miraculous ladybug #ml #ladybug #miraculous chloe #chloe bourgeois #character analysis #miraculous analysis #i did not edit this it took too long to write #enjoy

[wedreamedlove]

Xu Mo vs. Mo Yi [Character Study]

I can never get over the aesthetic of these two pictures placed side by side LOL. But, anyway, the point of this post is to nip any undue comparisons in the bud and claims of copying organize my thoughts and compare these two characters to highlight their similarities, differences, and further explore each character through these contrasts.

Q) If you like Xu Mo, would you like Mo Yi?

Honestly, I think this depends on what you like most about Xu Mo. I already knew beforehand that I gravitate towards characters who think 5 steps ahead, are predominantly logical, and scholars/gentlemen, so it’s not surprising I bias both Xu Mo and Mo Yi.

However, as I got to know Mo Yi further (Themis is around 6 months old now), I find that he’s distinctively different from Xu Mo on three crucial points that’ll determine whether people from either camp will like the other character.

1) Stance on Others

In a post for Xu Mo, “Into Your World”, I argued that Xu Mo is an alienated genius who had troubles getting along with others, until he mastered the social game as an adult. However, you can still see glimpses of this as he tries to understand MC’s world and shares his own.

To be fair, Mo Yi’s past is still under wraps but I feel confident in saying that, while he was probably highly intelligent compared to his peers [SR Sculpted Heart], his isolation doesn’t seem to come from his innate nature but rather his social position (there’s heavy implications that he’s like some sort of noble or something) [SR Snowy Pine Fairytale].

IMO, these backgrounds really shaped the way these two men interact with the world.

Xu Mo has a detached and indifferent view towards other people. They simply exist and don’t bring anything positive or negative to him. His ambition to ensure the survival of humanity reflects this too because it’s pure utilitarianism; everyone (apart from MC) can be sacrificed equally for the greater good. If anything, he probably finds other people to be interesting subjects to study, no matter what kind of person they are. IIRC the only time he expressed dislike to people, or a group of people, was when he told Hades he enjoyed killing thieves LOL.

Meanwhile, Mo Yi has an elitist streak to the point where he and his MC actually clashed opinions and debated each other [SR Warm Fingertips]. It’s incredibly ironic because he’s a psychiatrist who treats his patients without judgment, but at the same time he looks down on so many things and people (PUAs, people who betray love, hypocrites who only seek power and fame) [Ch2; Personal Story Ch1-3; SSR Moonlit Ball].

One of the things I noticed early on is that Xu Mo draws from the Eastern scholar archetype, “Xu Mo Character Study”, while Mo Yi actually draws more from the Western gentleman archetype.

So, just to summarize this section, Xu Mo is detached from the world naturally and likes to observe people and try to blend in. Mo Yi deliberately draws a line between him and others and, at times, has the casual cruelty of someone born as nobility (arrogance is carved into his bones, even if he tends to keep it low-key because he generally has a “gentle and polite” attitude).

2) Stance on Love

Xu Mo didn’t understand love, or really even emotions. Love is grown between him and his MC (there’s multiple analogies throughout the game about how their love is like a seed). I think [Ch25] pretty much sums it up for Xu Mo, where he goes through that emotional rollercoaster and muses about how, at the end of human evolution, emotions should be discarded. He also admits that MC taught him the “fear” of a normal person, because now he has someone he cannot give up no matter what, which goes against his previous utilitarian beliefs.

Compared to this, Mo Yi fell in love at first sight. Yes, you read that right. The “scientist and logical” archetype fell in love at first sight LOL. Not only does he acknowledge it right off the bat, but he fully embraces it too and believes that real love makes people better versions of themselves [Personal Story]. Mo Yi is a through and through psychiatrist in that he never underestimates how primal emotions (and love) can be.

Heck, not only is this central to his personal story, but we also have hints that one of Mo Yi’s parents fell in love at first sight with the other person (and he inherited their predisposition for that). Unfortunately, their love had a tragic end and Mo Yi seems to have a huge grudge against his father for whatever happened to his mother (again, Mihoyo is keeping this a mystery LOL), but Mo Yi explicitly confirms that even if his love leads to a tragic end he will still walk down this road and attempt to change it [SR Cool Summer].

IMO one other difference between them re: love is this exchange that lives rent free in my head which I saw in a Xu Mo/Reader/Mo Yi fanfiction LOL. Bear with me here.

Mo Yi: Wearing a mask for a long time will tire you.

Xu Mo: It’s enough just to wear one in front of the necessary person.

Xu Mo and his MC make great efforts to understand each other’s worlds, but this understanding comes from the doors he chooses to open to her. He reveals himself as much as possible, but I think he’s an inherently private person (and there’s all that Ares stuff) so there are times where he hides things so that he doesn’t worry his MC. I think this is enough to count as a “mask”. Sometimes he pretends he’s okay when he’s not.

On the other hand, while I think Mo Yi shares the sentiment in not wanting his MC to worry unduly, he tries to reveal himself as much as possible. There’s an amazingly relatable conflict in him here where he wants her to know every side of him, but he’s also terrified of how she’ll react if he shows her his ugliest sides and imperfect sides (he has some sort of phobia or fear about imperfection, but Mihoyo has been keeping mum on the exact details of this so far) [Personal Story; SR Sculpted Heart].

It’s pretty ironic that Mo Yi wants to be perfect, but he realizes that the more perfect he is the more of a sense of distance there’ll be between him and his MC because of the subconscious pressure someone “perfect” brings LOL [SSR Border of Light and Darkness].

3) Stance on Growth

If you haven’t realized that one of Xu Mo’s greatest themes is the phrase “Take your time in growing”, then what have you been reading? Jkjk, but seriously this gets repeated in multiple places, although my brain always goes back to [Blossom Date] for this.

Even if he and his MC start off with fundamental differences (she believes all people have inherent worth and can’t be involuntarily sacrificed), he wants to personally watch the journey of her maturation. He also subtly guides and teaches her. Unfortunately, due to circumstances of the main story, he doesn’t get his wish and she grows up a lot out of his eyes, but their relationship still revolves around him wanting her to have as much time as possible to grow.

He’s, for a lack of better word, extremely gentle about this (setting aside as much of the Ares and story parts as we can, because LovePro’s story is tragedy on tragedy LOL). I think [Autumn Blaze Date] shows a good analogy for this, because he holds the bicycle steady for MC until she can get going on her own, and he also catches her the first time.

Meanwhile, Mo Yi... ha ha ha. I just came out of chapter 3 for his [Personal Story] and let’s just say his philosophy is tough love. It’s ironic because, in many of his other dates, he wrestles with an internal conflict to protect his MC but also to let her experience all sorts of things to both test and temper her.

This is going to touch on the previous topic about love for a moment, but a part of Mo Yi’s love at first sight experience is also “testing” the other person through all sorts of situations and, after seeing all their different sides, he can determine whether his love at first sight is one that’ll last for the rest of his life or if it’s just a fleeting moment of beauty and emotion.

He also extremely respects his MC’s sense of justice and pursuit of the truth in the world, no matter what she encounters, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is what drew him to her in the first place. But MC’s occupation and beliefs will make her confront a lot of dark and dangerous things and so, whenever possible, Mo Yi lets her confront these in “controlled” situations to train her. If I had to make an analogy, IMO, he’d let his MC ride the bicycle and pick her up only after she falls, or when she’s like 0.1cm away from the ground LOL.

Mo Yi is (perhaps rightfully) called out on this by another character, who believes Mo Yi is too arrogant in believing everything is under his control and he can prevent MC from getting hurt whenever he lets her get into dangerous situations, and I’m interested to see if Mihoyo will let him experience failures with his philosophy so he can grow more, like the things Xu Mo went through re: his personal beliefs [Ch24].

Overall

I don’t know how well I explained myself, especially for people who don’t know anything about Mo Yi, and each section goes back and forth between the two characters LOL so here’s another section that attempts to describe their overall atmosphere.

If, like I said in my Headcanon Notes, Xu Mo makes me immediately think of all the words for soft, gentle, light, still, water, etc etc., then the words I constantly think about for Mo Yi is messily human. He’s like a bundle of contradictions, but coherent because it’s being intentionally done.

Mo Yi doesn’t discriminate against his patients, yet he can be elitist and looks down on others. He wants to let MC have dangerous experiences, but also wants to protect her. He wants to be perfect, but he also wants to reveal himself entirely to his MC because that’s real love.

In contrast, Xu Mo has a very clean and orderly personality LOL. You can draw clear cause and effect lines from his personality to his actions.

So, anyway, these are two interesting characters who start off with similar archetypes as scientific logical men of scholar/gentleman dispositions, but yet they’re also on opposite ends for a lot of things such as their approach to emotions and the world.

Oh wait, lastly, because I don’t have a good place to put this—but I think it’s funny—is that both characters are pretty possessive and greedy, but while Xu Mo does things in a sneaky, cunning and fox-like way Mo Yi gets ridiculously open about his jealousy and it’s hilariously cute but also almost childish? I often forget Mo Yi is older than Xu Mo by a year, because Xu Mo honestly feels a bit more mature than him LOL. If we count them actually aging by when their game came out though, then Mo Yi is 28 and Xu Mo is 29 now.

#mr love queen's choice #tears of themis #mlqc xu mo #mlqc lucien #wdsjb mo yi #love and producer #weiding shijian bu #mlqc #love and produc(ing) meta #tears of meta

[diary-of-a-black-woman]

Rebecca, The End

This is my second part of my review of “Rebecca”, don’t forget to read the first part!

Now this young lady is CRAZY. She went from a shrivel, shy, can’t do anything by myself to oozing with confidence teetering on ignorant arrogance. First she couldn’t even look at Mrs. Danvers, now she’s telling the workers “I do want I want, I’m Mrs. De Winter” (353). And all she had to do to free herself was hear Max say he hated Rebecca. Not only hated her, but murdered her. Why is she not running? How has she found solace in hearing her husband killed his late wife? Does her hatred for Rebecca run so deep? Her obsession with Max that strong to look over such a criminal act?! I understand that Rebecca was not perfect or right, but murder is just as inexcusable as adultery and abuse. I was rooting for this young lady but she was crazy from the start! Now I’m rooting for the truth and justice. Too bad Favell doesn’t have a good case or witness because he’s absolutely right! Given the circumstances of the beginning of the novel, it sounds like everything works out or at the very least the de Winters are on the run. I just hope justice is rightly served.

The story is getting good!! Far from what I had expected the plot to go. I thought Rebecca was the main character who would be haunted and tormented by the ex-wife. I was thinking there would be a ghost flying around haunting her dreams, terrorizing her life, but Rebecca did haunt Mrs. Rebecca created a barrier for both Max and Mrs., preventing them from having an actual loving marriage. Mrs. was haunted by not being able to match up to Rebecca in everything she did (the ball, how she handled the house, the schedule, interactions with the servants). Mrs. Danvers was a physical representation of Rebecca’s haunting in her detestable treatment of Mrs.

It’s too bad Mrs. Danvers isn’t being too much of a help to Favell, I thought she would be on his side. Maybe Rebecca just didn’t let her know what was truly going on. Clearly, Danvers thinks she knows more than she does. And Ben was of no help, which I thought he would have been (353).

What does the doctor mean by “it doesn’t do the profession any good if people can treat us like that” (374). I understand people deserve respect but how is hiding your identity as a patient hurting the doctor? Shouldn’t the doctor be more concerned as to why their patient was hiding this information?

The difference in times is so evident. Imagine being told “please help yourself to cigarettes”.

WHAT DID SHE HAVE!! Omgsh why is the author playing with me, I’m literally at the edge of my seat! Originally I thought she was pregnant, now it sounds like cancer (373). If she was pregnant then you could definitely make a case of murder, but it would be harder with a sickness. Sickness would more help the suicide line. I’m so sad to see justice won’t happen.

I had no idea there was a Soho in London (379)! I’ll have to add it to my travel list. Along with the other places I’ve found in literary novels set in the United Kingdom. How funny would it be to recount “Rebecca” at Manderley.

Even after all is said and done, the guilt and Rebecca is still riding over Maxim. And Mrs. de Winter still cannot shake Rebecca out of the picture, Rebecca still has her frantic. Rebecca for the win!! Never thought I’d say it though. The tables have turned and now Mrs. is the one in charge and getting her way (382). However Maxim is getting very worried! (I like that! I need justice to be served!!).

How interesting is that the moment Mrs. hears Maxim killed Rebecca she begins to become bold and demanding. While you’d think she’d be afraid as her husband kilt his ex-wife! Who’s to say she isn’t next? This just shows how little she thinks of Rebecca even though she hasn’t met her. All she cares about is that Maxim hated her and “loves” her, which makes Mrs. better than Rebecca and pets her ego.

Ahhhh, I’m screaming! Imagine your spouse asking you to sleep in the back of the car when there is plenty of money for hotels?!! He asked if you don’t mind if you wrapped up in a rug and tuck in the back?! No sir!

Can you imagine randomly stopping at someone’s garage for some tea at half past 11??! It’s amazing to see the differences of that time versus ours. I doubt people even knock on their neighbor’s door for some flour or sugar, much less tea! And I wonder what the significance of the conversation with the garage man was, especially when he says “summer is over”, definitely got an eerie vibe from the conversation and that comment solidified my assumption along with the nightmares Mrs. was getting (384). I wonder if this is hinting to what will be a sour turning point in the plot, although Mrs. seems to feel this is a positive turning point. With her imagining how she’ll take supreme charge over the household and finally become the good ol’ housewife she’s wanted to be but felt like she wouldn’t live up to Rebecca. So funny to see how happy she is, but how distraught Mr. De Winter is. We’ll see where this goes!

“There is no Happy Valley” (385). If that’s not a foreshadow I don’t know what is! Oops and now she’s dreaming of Rebecca!

Is Manderley on fire (386)?! And what’s the significance on the sun setting on the west? WAIT THAT’S THE END???? THERE IS NO WAY! NO NO NO! I CANNOT ACCEPT THIS! This is not the ending I was hoping for! Why, I don’t even understand. It took me months to finish this book and that’s the conclusion. I know the first chapter basically started at the end, but I’m still shocked! I don’t know what to say, definitely not a traditional ending to a novel. I just don’t feel like it’s over. I’m going to read the beginning of the 1st chapter to see if that helps a little bit. I just had a different view of how the book would end, I guess that explains my shock.

No wonder the 1st chapter ends with “Manderley is no more”, it really is! I guess the house burning also burnt up their past in a sense that they can start a new life with each other. More importantly, Rebecca and her control is dead. But call me mean, I still think they should be locked up. I still have to read the SparkNotes because this just blew my mind.

                                  Concluding Thoughts

It seems as if I have forgotten the entire novel started with the ending. I’m not sure how that could have possibly slipped my mind, most likely due to how long I had put the book down. However, by reading the SparkNotes summary from the beginning, I’m starting to pick up connections from the end of the novel to the beginning. For example, “there is no Happy Valley”, it makes sense that in the dream she couldn’t see Happy Valley, it was pointing to the fact that “Manderley is no more” as it had caught on fire. Also Mrs. Van Hopper was right, Mrs. wasn’t fit to be mistress over Manderley, which is why it being burnt has turned her life around for the better. She couldn’t be the housewife at Manderley because Rebecca would always reign there, even if the entire place were to be redecorated, her presence and memory would not be shaken. All it would take is for one person to say “that’s not how Rebecca did it” for any of that progress to be reversed. Things start to make more sense when you reread with the knowledge you have. Maybe that’s why reading the textbook either before or after lecture is good reinforcement or a tool for better understanding.

So much connecting the dots being done here. When Crawley said Maxim is the last to want to return back to the pass, or how Maxim said the beach gives him bad memories, and that it was a mistake to return back to Manderley. All because he hated his late wife’s guts and then murdered her.

I wonder if I’m the only one who would have preferred to see Rebecca get justice in terms of Mr. de Winter getting caught.

Also what is the reasoning behind gothic novels, or novels written in the past, the first coming to mind “Jane Eyre” and “Persuasion” include a young women falling head over heels to an older man? Was this the norm of society? I feel like it wasn’t as other couples in the novel usually don’t have a big age difference as the main couple do. Now I know I have a personal aversion to age gaps in romantic relationships and back then woman usually got married much younger than what would be accepted in today’s society, but were they really getting married to such older men? And why is this such big trope in literature?

Overall I loved “Rebecca” and would definitely recommend anyone to read it. I can’t wait for my next gothic novel, I’m thinking “Wuthering Heights”? Also should I watch the move adaption of the novel?

#writing #my writing #writers #writers on tumblr #reviews #20th century literature #long reads #currently reading #read a book #reading #goodreads #read in 2021 #read in december #read #Agatha Christie #black #black woman #black women #blackwomen #black writers #book #books #Book Reviews #gothic book #classical book #books & libraries #bookaholic #book blog #book life #book nerd

[silvysartfulness]

xiao xingchen's mental state is So Terrible

Request: Can we see Xiao Xingchen’s thoughts on near suicide? Abandonment? Betrayal? He’s defined himself by other people for most of his life - his master, his totally-not-soulmate Song Lan, and his murder-soulmate Xue Yang. To be left by one person and then to be betrayed by another must be … a lot. Does Xingchen think he betrayed Song Lan because Xue Yang killed Song Lan’s people?  He hasn’t had any time to deal with it, because he’s been playing babysitter… and then saving his pet murderer, too.  Because I’ve put a lot of thought into this, but my writing skills are about 0, and you are so good at angst.

Okay! I’ll just… stream of consciousness on this. Because there is a lot to say about Xiao Xingchen’s mental state, his sacrifices, his losses and his choices.

There’s definitely a lot of touching on these issues currently in Heaven Has A Road. The callback to Xiao Xingchen’s suicide, and the way both Xue Yang and Song Lan fear the worst when he takes off on his own.

The kicker is that Xiao Xingchen himself doesn’t realize. Doesn’t realize that they worry about that, or why they would. He may still be very much prone to self-sacrificial and reckless decisions for the sake of others, but he’s not actively suicidal or seeking to self-harm now, at least not in such a direct and physical way.

But of course it’s a theme very much hanging in the air.

To look back at canon; Xiao Xingchen is, I think, naive even by Celestial Mountain standards. The previous two of Baoshan Sanren’s disciples who left the mountain either went dark (it’s just vaguely hinted at, but clearly it Was Not Pretty) or was a rather mischievous trickster (shaving off Lan Qiren’s beard for being a rule-obsessed square).

There is a spiritual concept of “going into the world” or “leaving the world” respectively - leaving is what Baoshan Sanren did, letting go of attachment to worldly matters to retreat to her unnamed mountain and cultivate immortality. What Xiao Xingchen does is the opposite - he chooses to “enter the world”, to leave that detached existence behind to get involved in earthly matters - beautifully alluded to by the “chen” in his name, meaning (worldly) dust. (That choice is what Xue Yang curses him for during their confrontation that last day - “If you don’t understand the world, you shouldn’t have come! Why didn’t you stay on your mountain?!” )

But he makes that choice. He wants to help people, make a difference, and so he leaves his family behind, makes that sacrifice even knowing that it means he won’t ever see his home again, and descends into the world.

Xiao Xingchen is described as gentle but determined, not only physically fighting and vanquishing evil, but helping people with any ”difficult matter” they bring before him, never refusing anyone. He wants to do good; what’s good for any humble person, not just the mighty few. And for all that he is naive, Xiao Xingchen is also self-assured and uncompromising. He knows what he is striving for, and he doesn’t hesitate when it comes to putting thought into action.

And down in the world, he finds someone else who puts those ideals over the blood ties of the mighty clans - Song Lan. Zichen. They grow close, they talk about starting a sect together – between the lines that means spending the rest of their lives together, living for those shared ideals. They grow so close, people always mention them together.

And then Xue Yang happens. Something so corrupted and grisly, it shakes even this extremely powerful young cultivator.

Whether you go by novel or series canon, the way the rest of the world handles the aftermath of the Chang massacre, it clearly dents Xiao Xingchen’s trust in the sects, in society and its concept of ”justice” quite badly.

And then Baixue happens, as a direct consequence of them capturing and making enemies with Xue Yang. Xue Yang specifically tells Song Lan, ”Tell Xiao Xingchen this is a gift for him!”

So yes, I think Xiao Xingchen takes the full blame of the Baixue massacre upon himself, because Xue Yang was out to hurt him. But because he and his immortal master were out of reach, Baixue paid the price. Song Lan paid the price.

So he broke his vow never to return home, and he gave up his eyes, in a hopeless bid to repair some modicum of the damage he’d caused, to at least give Song Lan his sight back, if not his home, his family, his ideals and beliefs and and hope.

At some point in that aftermath, Song Lan did blame Xiao Xingchen and told him they should never meet again, and he took that to heart, too. Of course Song Lan wouldn’t want to see him again – what is he now, but a reminder of those losses? The losses his own hubris caused?

So he wrapped up Shuanghua and went nameless into the world, avoiding attachments, described as wandering aimlessly from place to place to offer help and then move on, to make sure no one else would be hurt because of him. (That Xue Yang wouldn’t hurt anyone else because of him.)

I wrote a passage about him thinking back on this in an upcoming chapter;

I tried being no one, he thought, unbecomingly bitter and hurting. To make sure people wouldn’t get hurt because of me again. I thought I succeeded, but I ended up hurting people, killing people with my own hands instead.

He studiously tried tuning out the somewhat uneven footfalls behind them, focused wholly on the hand in his.

I tried being nothing, after that, after learning the truth.

But people had died because of him all the same, even then, even with him gone. The last survivors of the Chang, the people of Yi City, all those nameless victims whose blood had paid for the spells to drag him back into the world of the living… A-Qing.

I won’t hide away again, he thought, setting his jaw. I have to try… Try to be something. To do something. To leave a legacy better than this. To make it all worth it, make sure all this suffering wasn’t for nothing.

It was a bitterness that his hopes of doing that, the chance to realize the purpose he so desperately clung to… came at the hands of the man whose shadow had haunted him into nameless exile and caused all that grief and death in the first place.

How much time Xiao Xingchen had to think about all this varies wildly between CQL-canon and MDZS-canon – in the novel, not a whole lot of time passes between the Baixue massacre and Xiao Xingchen meeting a-Qing and eventually Xue Yang. But in CQL, the Baixue massacre takes place before Sunshot, before Yiling Laozu claims the Burial Mounds, before Nightless City and Wei Wuxian’s death… it’s been years of wandering alone before Xiao Xingchen meets a-Qing, and then Xue Yang. I’m not sure if it’s stated how long the Sunshot war is in CQL-canon, but even only going by the things we do know – Yanli having a child, Wei Wuxian having been dead for 16 years at the end of the Yi City arc where the main events took place 10 years ago, it’s anywhere between seven to some ten years.

So I think he has had a lot of time to reflect on all that grief from the past, but that it’s really just been spirals of hopelessness, never really processing or moving on from it. Shuanghua is still wrapped up when he meets a-Qing. He doesn’t introduce himself by name. It’s her shameless happiness, her choice to seek out his company – oh, how he’s ached for connection! - that finally gets him smiling again.

And once he makes friends with the odd stranger whose life he saves… He smiles. He laughs. They all build a home together. Shuanghua is no longer hidden. At the market, the stranger casually calls him by his name.

I think it’s only once they settle down in Yi City that he really begins healing from the horrors of the past. Dares start to build something new, in a tiny little backwater at the very edge of the map. Surely Xue Yang’s shadow won’t reach him, and this humble little existence he’s building here?

So of course it utterly breaks him when the truth comes out. Not just one, but awful truth after awful truth, tearing apart everything he’s built, everything he thought he had – everything he’s done.

A-Qing lied to him about being blind. His ”friend” was Xue Yang all along. He’s been tricked into killing people. He was tricked into killing Song Lan.

The character songs of the Yi City arc lean very heavily into Buddhist rather than Daoist themes – which is super interesting! - but especially the concept of karmic justice. No matter how unaware Xiao Xingchen was of it, he has killed. Not only did he turn away from cultivating immortality a long time ago – his soul is tainted forever. Gu Cheng speaks of ”debts” that can’t be repaid, falling into karmic sin. This isn’t just about tricking him into doing nasty things which leaves him horrified – he has been spiritually destroyed, and he didn’t even know.

The line of Gu Cheng that cuts the deepest is perhaps ”it was not your fault”/ ”The guilt doesn’t lie with you.”

Because that, I think, is at the core of things when Xiao Xingchen reaches for Shuanghua that day in Yi City - that he feels that it does. That it’s all his fault.

He has lost everything. He let down and/or was betrayed by everyone he knew. Killed his beloved soulmate. He himself is tainted and ruined beyond all salvation, because of what he’s done. And so he doesn’t just kill himself, he destroys himself, kills his body and shatters his soul, beyond all hope for reincarnation and rebirth. He utterly and completely ends himself, ends everything that is and was Xiao Xingchen.

Which is heartbreaking beyond words, and also why Heaven Has A Road clearly needed to happen. D:

…

I hope this was at least in the ballpark of the kind of rambling you were hoping for. XD

#untamed artfulness #meta #xiao xingchen #the happy songxuexiao roadtrip story #asksilvy #submission #cw:suicide

[keyofjetwolf]

We’re All Just Guys

Well it took the entire fucking season, but I FINALLY get the purpose for Henry Fondle: Sex Robot. And while the entire episode (and season, honestly) has been tremendous, that this ridiculous fucking punchline was the vehicle to deliver the overarching point with a solid knockout punch of meaning AND pathos? Absolutely floored. That BoJack Horseman can be (and often is) brilliant isn’t a surprise, but the ways is keeps proving it often are.

So “The Stopped Show”, a tale of accountability and responsibility and how we’re all just guys.

Each of our main characters closes out this season alone (sort of), in assorted stages of realizing the main themes, or completely failing to. I find Diane’s arc the hardest for me to make a decision on, which isn’t surprising, as I think in many ways, Diane’s the most complicated character in the show. She delivers, directly and succinctly, one of the major points of not just this season but the entire show, but how does it relate to her? I’M NOT COMPLETELY SURE. I think part of the problem with (and for) Diane is that she knows better. She’s the most insightful character, she has a fantastic head on her shoulders, but only for everyone else. She’s this fucked up little disaster prophet, her vision clear and her message concise, unable to ever apply her gifts to fix herself.

Diane is just as trapped as BoJack, but in a fun twist, is now lagging behind him in trying to do something about it. Nearly every single scene with Diane this season has been in this sad little room of her sad little apartment with all her sad little unpacked boxes, and no matter how much truth and wisdom she spits out, HERE SHE STILL IS, failing to correctly assemble IKEA furniture with names like Bȧcksleid. She already feels like shit for sleeping with Mr. Peanutbutter, so what does she do? THE SAME FUCKING THING. To which I groan and roll my eyes, while simultaneously being proud of her for directly and immediately setting him straight about not getting back together. Diane rides this constant line where she gets it but also doesn’t, which is so interesting to me in the level of additional frustration this makes me feel. BoJack is so self-absorbed you don’t really expect any better of him, which has the flip side of your expectations being so low that even the whiff of progress feels exceptional. Diane doesn’t come with any of that though, she knows better, you KNOW she knows better, and the consequence of this for the audience is that she winds up being more unlikeable than the guy who literally last episode nearly strangled his girlfriend and co-star in the middle of a paranoid drug-induced frenzy.

Which is fucked up! It’s intensely fucked up! And also, I think, the point! We expect more of Diane, and so feel more disappointed when she doesn’t deliver. Is that fair of us?

But there’s more here, as we pivot to the accountability portion of this episode/season. From the beginning of the show, it’s been incredibly upfront about how everything is unfair. We come back to this time and again. Privilege rules the day in the world of Hollywoo. Fame, money, charisma, gender, power. BoJack has been an asshole from pretty much the moment he set foot in the spotlight (possibly before?), and the only thing ever even attempting to hold him back has been the moments his guilt manages to scream loud enough to be heard over his internal narrative. Whatever he does, however he fucks up, he always stumbles back to his feet, and NEVER with any (broad scale) consequences. Meanwhile, here’s Diane, in her sad shitty apartment. Consequences haunt Diane, even if she’s the one doing the haunting. The crap things she’s done and the shitty choices she’s made cling to her.

There’s no fairness in that either, no justice. But Hollywoo (and the entire world around it) (and our world too oh yes) has that privilege carved into its bones, and Diane bears none of its marks. Her situation is very different from but parallel to Gina, who is just so fucked over, it keeps legitimately making me angry for her.

Gina, of course, brought none of this on herself. She made the mistake of caring about BoJack and trying to help him. OOPS YOU WERE A GENEROUS PERSON WITH AN OPEN HEART FUCK YOU LADY. For her trouble, Gina has been assaulted and traumatized, AND she is in very real danger of her career being over when it’s only just finally beginning. And she KNOWS THIS. That’s the part that I keep coming back to. All this should be an aberration, an anomaly, and while that may be true of the specifics, conceptually, it’s so commonplace that Gina already knows how it’s going to play. She’ll stop being Gina and become The Woman Nearly Strangled To Death By BoJack Horseman. Even if she’s able to keep working, this is what she’ll be asked about in every interview forever. Even if she convinced people to genuinely listen to her, BoJack would, at worst, get a slap on the wrist as he stumbles back to his feet. We know that, WE ALL KNOW THAT, because it happens all. the. fucking. time. Gina did nothing wrong, but this would still define her for the rest of her life, while for BoJack, it would maybe become a footnote on his Wikipedia page.

Nothing about that is FAIR. Nothing about it is JUST. Gina’s choices shouldn’t have to be “this becomes my entire life” or “swallow this down and pretend it never happened”. But it is, as it has been in perpetuity for the victims of the privileged.

So then what can we do about it? Well that’s really the question, isn’t it? This episode answers it in an assortment of ways (I think the entire SHOW is very much about this, really, but this episode is for sure coming with guns blazing), while also showing us why none of those answers can work. It’s funny and sad and awful and true, but also, ultimately, the most hopeful answer because it’s the only one you can actually affect: It’s you. It’s me. It’s each and every one of us, individually, making a choice to be better.

And believe it or not, we embody this with Henry Fondle: Sex Robot.

I thought the whole thing was so unbelievably stupid. Half the season, we’ve had this goddamn multi-dildo’d juvenile frat boy joke running around with its stupid ass Speak-and-Say voice, doing the same shtick over and over, and I’m like, “okay this is just the shit I have to put up with to get the clever stuff, I guess.” BUT THAT’S EXACTLY THE POINT I’M SITTING THERE LIVING THE ENTIRE GODDAMN POINT AND MISSING IT. Henry Fondle: Sex Robot is seventeen shades of overt horribleness, AND WE ALL JUST GIVE IT A PASS. It’s just the way it is, the way the world works, the price of doing business. When the whole time -- THE ENTIRE FUCKING TIME -- all it took was one person to say no. One person who could see the game we all are playing and was willing to give up everything to stop it.

Hilariously, Henry Fondle IS a metaphor, sort of, but of the saddest kind. He is literally a robot, he can’t possibly change. What’s more, media fervor will never affect him, fallout will never touch him, and the powerful will always rally around themselves to retain their power. It takes Todd, the head of the company, the creator of Henry Fondle, and the one person who would benefit most from the unending efforts of the rest of the world bending over backwards to avoid the truth, to put a stop to it. In doing so, he immediately returns to his old, homeless, destitute self, but doesn’t once hesitate or look back.

It’s Todd, and only Todd, that stops that madness, because while individual people are a problem, the world at large is too. Stefani makes a great point that Diane holds herself and everyone else to impossible standards and a little forgiveness and grace wouldn’t go amiss, but when Diane suggests they apply that philosophy to their clickbait gossipy shit on their website, it’s just

Which again, is beautifully cynical and depressing, but not untrue. Fostering a more forgiving culture isn’t in stopping websites from posting clickbaity takedown articles, it’s each person deciding not to take the clickbait. We can absolutely have a conversation about the people creating their world or the world creating its people, but when you boil it down, only one of those things can you yourself absolutely and directly change, and it’s not the entire world.

A THING DIANE GETS BUT SIMULTANEOUSLY ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT.

I can’t take myself away from this Diane thing, I know, but only because she’s the fucking CORE of each and every one of us struggling with this idea. She’s the simplicity of it and the complication all in one. Not BoJack, which is NOT where I thought we’d be when we started this journey. BoJack is more an action on the people around him at this point in the story, he IS the world you cannot change. He’s pointed to rehab, and off he goes -- or doesn’t! I don’t think it’s coincidence that we stay with Diane and watch her watching him.

Oh, Diane, indeed. As she tells her story of her friend Abby, who threw her over for the cool kids, who turned every confidence into a scar. Who Diane still helped anyway, because Abby needed her. Did Abby learn from that, did she get better? We don’t know; we stay with Diane and watch her watching Abby. Diane, who can so completely understand about personal responsibility while failing to recognize her own enabling for the shitty things that keep happening to her.

You can control yourself. That’s it. That’s the only playground with a guarantee.

Will BoJack go off to learn that? Will Diane stay and figure it out?

THAT’S WHAT NEXT SEASON IS FOR

Something I was toying with including in this, but ultimately decided against for a variety of reasons, was the contrast between BoJack’s take on personal responsibility independent of external response, and The Good Place’s argument that people need external support for personal growth. An idea I may not have even considered contrasting save that Doc’s talked before about these two Jewish creators with what are clearly very different philosophies, and basically, if she were ever able to manage a discussion between them on this, I’d love to be in the room. I’ll be very quiet and not get in the way, I promise.

#jet wolf watches bojack #a novel by jet wolf #this has been so hard to write and consolidate into a series of thoughts that made some measure of cohesive sense #i'm still not sure i've managed it #but i'm pretty sure i've kicked it around about as much as i'm able at this point #IT WORKS OR IT DOESN'T I DON'T KNOW FLY MY PRETTY

[dangermousie]

Continuing with my reread

And got to the point where they visit the Rufeng Sect.

But before I get to the chapters-specific stuff, I wanted to talk about something that discussion between @moransumbrella and @momoliee (about SQT and RJ) made me think about.

And it’s that in 2ha, one of the big narrative points is that it is understandable to want to survive/get revenge/protect yourself or others but no goal however understandable or noble in the abstract can justify systematically hurting innocents and when you cross that line and keep crossing it, you become a monster. Maybe a tragic one or understandable one, but there is none of that “oh you poor thing, go on” attitude.

Is there any doubt that Shimei is fully justified in wanting to save his people from the horrors they are subjected to in the cultivation world? No, not at all. But leaving aside the irony of his plan wrecking both the one person we’ve seen who never ever went along with that behavior (CWN) and the person who IS part of those people and a special one at that (Moran), those two also being some of the few people who treated him so well, nobody in their right mind would think he’s justified to literally destroy a Universe he is in and then start working on the Universe of the main story. He is a monster pure and simple and nothing can justify what he does. Or, on a smaller scale take someone like Rong Jiu (mainly 0.5), Song QT, Nangong Xu or even that family in Butterfly Town. They all have reasons for doing the horrible things they do - desperation to get out of awful life (RJ, SQT), rightly wanting vengeance for having his place stolen (NX), or even understandable desire to get ahead as a family (Butterfly Town folks.) Shimei’s sister - same - she does the monstrous things she does because she loves her brother. Meatbun gets that very few people genuinely see themselves as villains - even as mad, as gone, as compelled, as broken TXJ was, he still clung to his “I was justified to torture CWN 0.5 because he killed Shimei″ like a life raft. Even a person who was not in any way in possession of free will in his actions or even his thoughts, still felt he needed to operate on a “just world” theory.

BUT the thing is, it makes their actions justified in their own heads but Meatbun never makes the mistake of letting us forget that even monsters with valid reasons are monsters. There is no justification in the world that can make what Shimei did OK, there is no justification in the world that can make anything any of the bad actors do to innocents OK. It relates to huge things (Hua Binan literally destroying the Universe) and little ones (Rong Jiu in the Underworld betraying Moran and CWN.) Sympathy and justice are two separate concepts.

But the other thing I love is nothing is static either. Meatbun doesn’t shie from calling a monster a monster but redemption is possible no matter what. We see this with Moran (until the twist, of course, that no redemption is necessary (sort of - about this more word vomit below) because he’s an even bigger victim than CWN), we see it with Shimei 2.0 - I will never warm up to Shimei for emotional reasons but there is zero question that he is working hard on his redemption at the end and is earning it. But the thing is - you have to possess moral consciousness to want to redeem yourself. That is what makes you salvageable. Moran possesses it, Shimei 2.0 possesses it (and I love the concept that no matter how high your sins, you CAN be redeemed. But that redemption doesn’t necessarily involve personal happiness or your victims forgiving you, it is basically hard work only for internal reward of the possibility of peace.) A lot of other monsters, large and small, do not. 

OK, the thing about whether Moran needs redemption that I just mentioned. The quick and easy answer is “of course not.” He was probably the biggest victim of them all and none of the monstrous things he did were his fault or within his control. But I love that the answer is actually more complicated because it rings emotionally true. Moran finding out the truth near the end is wonderful and will allow him not to perpetually drown in guilt, but just as TXJ sliver doesn’t really fade into the rest of his souls, I don’t think the guilt will go away fully, not for a while. Because, aside from the concept of utter lack of volition combined with utter lack of knowledge that you actually lacked volition and deludedly thought this was all your ideas, being a whole other different trauma, the fact remains that Moran remembers feeling rage/hatred/bitter satisfaction in murder and rape and torture and burning the world. He remembers all the awful things he’s done to his most loved ones. And he clearly gloms onto “the flower brings out all your darkest/worst/most insane desires and makes them conscious thoughts” aspect of the curse - he tells CWN that the flower made real things he sometimes thought of and so it only worked because it was him and not someone better like CWN - and some of it is trying to comfort CWN and make him feel less guilty that Moran took on the flower so CWN’s won’t be forced to to - but some of it is his genuine belief. And that is what is so insidious about that curse - it twists normal stray thoughts and healthy interests into murder and insanity (compare TXJ’s obsession with CWN because Moran had such strong positive feelings about CWN before the spell, to his utter lack interest in e.g., Nangong Liu who he let run off when he took Rufeng because as long as the man didn’t fight him, he couldn’t care less what he did, because flower couldn’t turn indifference into something negative.) So I do think in addition to knowing on intellectual level about not being responsible not being equal to getting it on emotional level, Moran clearly feels responsibility because it was his emotions only out of whack and insanely perverted that the flower based its compulsions on. Moran became such a monster precisely because he has such strong loves and such strong emotions in general - strong love and desire to protect became strong hate and endless appetite for torture. The flower changes the nature of emotion and thoughts, not the level of intensity. If Shimei actually found someone who was genuinely utterly indifferent to most things (not CWN who feels so intensely; he conceals himself so much precisely because he feels SO much, cares SO much, he’d have been as much of a monster as Moran if he was the flower recepient), I am not sure he’d have been as successful. If the most someone is capable of is mild “eh,” it’s hard to turn it into a drive for world-destruction. So in a way, Taxian Jun was such a monster and so successful because Moran was so good and had such drive. Anyway, as most of my thoughts, this has gone into a random direction but the thing is, whether Moran is guilty of what TXJ did, the answer is not but not for Moran, and that’s one of the reasons I love him.

To get back to the chapters I am at, I hate Nangong Liu, one of the most despicable characters out there. Even TXJ, as messed up as he was, still hated not people who fought him fair and square or other honest villains, but people who’d kiss up only to stab you in the back, doing anything to get ahead and that is what head of Rufeng is. (There is a sentence to that extent when Moran 2.0 meets Nangong Liu - that who he hated most as TXJ was not Xue Meng or MHX but people like Nangong Liu. That loathing, like his obsession with CWN, is one of the few things consistent across any version of Moran and shows how much his “gratitude for good, straightforward is good” is embedded in him that even the flower couldn’t shove it out of him.) CWN’s comment that the reason Rufeng Sect is so rich because they charge God knows how much as opposed to Siseng Peak which charges very little and sometimes nothing, sums up the difference between the Upper and Lower cultivation realms. Rufeng is the wealthiest and most powerful and most respected but morally they are far beneath Siseng (there is a reason CWN is very gentle when he tells this to Xue ZY - CWN has about the truest and most moral heart in the series; there is a reason he stayed at Siseng, an “inferior” sect, even though everyone would love to have him. It’s because Xue ZY is righteous and he sees the wealth of Rufeng and wishes he could use it to give villages protection instead of decorating like Rufeng, because he’s that type of person.)

One of the biggest injustices to me is that Nangong Liu survives the book but Meatbun’s world is often like that. Being good does not mean a good ending, being bad does not mean proper punishment. The main OTP will make it through despite hell she puts them through, but for secondaries even those bets are off.

OK, this is getting War and Peace level long so I am going to stop.

#cnovel #2ha

[samiralula01]

Jason Todd is the Anti-Batman

* A pointless rambling of the relationship and parallels between Bruce Wayne and Jason Todd.

Picture this opening scene: There are two boys in a dark alley.

One is dressed in an expensive suit with a tie his dead father helped him with only earlier that evening. His hands are stained red with the same blood now puddled on the grimy cement. His face is in shock.

The second boy is dressed in tattered jeans and hoodie. His hands are stained with tires grease and are clutching a tire iron. His face is in shock.

Decades later, there are two more scenes to consider.

A seriously injured man sits slumped over in his father’s study. Without warning, a bat crashes through the window, and everything falls into place. He now knows what he needs to do.

Elsewhere, an emotionally distraught teenager is curled up into a fetal position on a hotel room floor. Heart wrenching cries can be heard from him. But it is only momentary. He now knows what he needs to do.

These two individuals are Bruce Wayne and Jason Todd. While they are both broken and determined men, Batman is a hero. The Red Hood is not. He is the anti-Batman and this is why.

Two Boys in an Alleyway

Despite similarities in their stories’ early themes and elements, Bruce and Jason came to walk down very different paths. One of justice, and the other vengeance. Batman is determined to protect the innocent and Jason more so on punishing the guilty. Both their ideologies have intrinsic flaws, of course, and will naturally clash often. But this wasn’t always the case.

Before they became a father and son perpetually in mourning for who they once were and what could have been, Bruce and Jason were remarkably similar. The two are cut from the same cloth and Bruce knows this better than anyone else.

In the Dumpster Slasher three-part story line, (Batman #414, #421, #422) Bruce becomes emotional. Violent. He sits in the batcave alone that night and contemplates his emotions.

“Nearly blew it. I let it get too personal. Lost my detachment...nearly lost control. Almost beat Cutter to death. Wouldn’t have been any big loss.”

Only one issue later, at the end of this story arc, Robin is out on the streets and becomes angry when he happens upon a pimp is threatening a prostitute with a knife. Now, I want you to compare his line here to Bruce’s and note what Jim Gordon said to him as well.

Batman: "I think he’s had enough, Robin. What were you trying to do, kill him?" Robin (Jason): “Would it’ve been that big of a loss if I had?”

It is important to note here that Batman is not worried or upset just because Jason roughs up a pimp. That would be hypocritical considering his own earlier actions. If anything, it’s because one of the main reasons Batman even takes in these kids, these ‘robins,’ is because he doesn’t want them to be like him.

And Jason was acting just like him.

Jason can and has screwed up and failed due to his own actions, but it was never the reason Batman became upset with him. His reactions in the comics when Jason does things like running ahead and ‘jumping the gun,’ are more like this:

He either makes a teaching moment out of it or is attempts to understand Jason’s reasons in doing any such thing. When Bruce does become harsh in his discipline, it’s either when he feels as though Jason has endangered his own life or as I said, he acts too much like him.

While there are quite a few more similarities between Bruce and Jason that makes them alike, such as both being introverted and interested in obtaining all sorts of knowledge that they might not even feel is relevant, they are both, at the core of their characters, deeply caring and compassionate people.

The differences only start to show with how they act on it.

The Not-So Dynamic Duo?

“What happened to you as a child, the terror, the pain, the horrors (...) you were broken, and I thought I could put the pieces back together. I thought I could do for you what could never be done for me. Make you whole.”

Hot take. Jason Todd is a villain and is best written as a villain. 

Not in that campy way like he’s written during Dick and Damian’s Batman and Robin run while wearing that stupid pill-headed hood, (although, I grant he has a few lines that are enjoyable to read) but in all his serious, vengeful and downright brutal motives. 

The Red Hood is the perfect Batman villain because he’s so different from what the widely perceived perfect foil to the controlled and disciplined Bat is...the Joker. 

The Red Hood was vengeance at its purest. It is justice without being tempered by mercy. It is the rage of victims who were forgotten to become statistics. While other vigilantes wait for a cure, hope for rehabilitation, and pretend their system works, the Red Hood is a man of no such faith.

And this makes him a villain. And a damn good one.

During the Red Hood’s time as a crime lord in Gotham, he goes around blowing up buildings. He throws grenades into trucks. He mows down his competition with gunfire. Batman comes upon the bloodied hanged corpse of a man he was finished interrogating. 

But what is so compelling about this all is that before all the murder, all the guns and explosions, Jason Todd was a very different little boy. And all the great and memorable villains start that way.

The Joker is not someone you’re meant to sympathize with or even understand. In fact, I find him more terrifying because he’s unknown. He has no backstory (unless you want to believe the one he gave in Killing Joke, but the clown has a new story for every face he meets) and seemingly does what he does for a laugh of all things.

Jason Todd is in pain. He’s traumatized. Betrayed. Buried. Replaced. He is no one’s son because his father abandoned him.

Once upon a time, Jason Todd was a boy who saved himself. One of the biggest lies that Batman himself perpetuates is that he saved Jason from a life of crime. He tells Alfred that Jason was always dangerous. Bruce simply took him off the streets before he could be any worse.

But I don’t believe that’s true.

Jason grew up surrounded by crime, poverty, substance abuse and yet this amazing kid saved himself everyday by making a conscious choice to be kind and care about school, care about keeping his mother alive for over a year when he was just a child himself. That amazing kid was magic. 

Jason Todd as Robin was magic.

“Jason smiles. A bright smile. The kind Robin, the Boy Wonder should have.”

A good portion of his character’s assassination was in order to push the Tim is the perfect Robin idea. It was editorial decisions. The same ‘suits’ who insisted that Tim Drake be the Robin in the New Adventures cartoon despite having Jason’s backstory and personality. But I digress on that. 

Jason Todd was an introverted, studious, and emphatic person. He wanted to make friends with other kids his age even though he was a loner at heart. He joined the school baseball team and was a class officer, even if his training kept him from most social interactions.

He was also very much in tune with non-verbal cues and small changes in the environment around him. He was a thoughtful person who could be found admiring the stars or passing by scenery. When he teams up with the New Teen Titans, we get to see these aspects of his personality:

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so beautiful before. We’re actually riding above the clouds.”

“Every so often, I notice you become awfully agitated...like something was going on you didn’t want to be part of. Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”

It didn’t take Bruce long to fall in love with this boy and ask to legally adopt him. He found him to be smart, thoughtful, quick at learning and funny as hell. Their first meeting opens with Batman laughing in the very same alley his heart was ripped out decades earlier. 

Even in the Rebirth canon, (RHATO #48) we see that Bruce is already set on taking in Jason while he’s still with Ma Gunn’s school. He likes this kid. A lot.

“Butler, actually. You’ll meet him someday, I’m sure.”

Jason Todd was happy. Most of the time. Unfortunately, he still wrestled with depression and would sleep all day on occasion and could be found crying hidden away on his own, withdrawn from the concerned Bruce and Alfred.

In A Death in the Family, Alfred and Bruce sit down and discuss Jason’s worsening mental health, particularly after the Diplomat’s Son where Jason becomes witness to sexual assault, suicide and the failings of both Batman and the GCPD to protect innocent people. Barbara, his tutor, someone he cared about and got along with, is also shot a few months earlier.

Bruce thinks Jason has become suicidal. Alfred does not disagree with this theory and supplements it with things he’s observed himself about the ‘lad.’

“I’ve come upon him, several times, looking at that battered old photograph of his mother and father, crying. When he’s seen me, he’s hidden the picture and left the room, refusing to talk.”

It is then that Jason discovers the truth about his mother at the worst possible time, when he’s not even thinking straight, and thus leads way to the tragedy that will be his murder at the hand’s of the Joker.

The Curse of Jason Todd

“Do you have any idea what you have done?! Do you? You have no inkling of what you’ve created -- what you have unleashed! You have set free a curse upon this world!”

Red Hood: Lost Days, which depicts Jason’s dark post-resurrection origin, opens with Ra’s al Ghul bellowing this line, the steam from the Lazarus Pit still rising off of him. 

I’m not going to analyze this line, I’m just using it to supplement a point of mine I hope I’m getting through well enough. The Red Hood is a compelling, tragic villain. He is similar to Batman in ways that Bruce always knew and may have even feared because of how intimately he knows his own deepest, darkest thoughts. Jason is the perfect foil as an antagonist for him because of what he represents to Bruce.

And it’s not his anger, or his rage, or even his brutality. 

It’s his compassion. His caring. His emotions. And how they can open up the worst parts of themselves. 

Both are motivated by preventing whatever trauma happened to them from ever happening to anyone else. They both trained for years with this motivation. And they’ve both acted out on the very person who inflicted their trauma onto them.

Here’s where their paths start to differ, however, and what separates them with a line of morality.

They both get angry. They both care so damn much. About Gotham, about innocents, about each other. They both get too emotionally invested and deal with consequences related to that. To manage with that, Bruce shuts down. He creates all these choices, rules and symbols. He uses every ounce of his self control to keep them. 

Bruce Wayne is not a good person. He forces himself to be with discipline and will. He chooses to be a good man and constantly pushes himself to live up to that. Because it’d be too damn easy to be just like the Red Hood.

Jason doesn’t understand that. Because no matter what Bruce had done or will do, he doesn’t hate him. He can’t. Despite his denial of the fact to different people, he still thinks of Bruce as his father. This great figure that so many others revere and are even intimidated by.

He’s not the only bat-kid to think of Bruce in this light despite the fact that the man is not. It took Dick years to overcome that perception. Tim only just started to begin understanding this true nature after his own father was murdered. 

But even if he did understand his (once)father, he still became the complete opposite of him despite so many early parallels. He doesn’t hold back his words and emotions, he doesn’t go into a state of controlled dissociation or emotional disengagement.

Jason Todd—the Red Hood—is Batman without all his rules and control. In a way, he’s what the darkest part of Batman himself wants to be. Jason does what Batman can’t do when it’s needed.

Because in Batman’s book, life beats out justice. Even if he could take down abusers and murderers, he won’t. He will choose saving and protecting lives over the apprehension of killers...he always does.

Batman is justice. Red Hood is vengeance.

Jason is a victim’s fantasy. He punishes and kills the guilty. Something Batman won’t do.

He is the anti-Batman for better or for worse.

#jason todd #bruce wayne #comic meta