#the plot would not be affected whatsoever. literally nothing would be lost

[blog-of-frontiers]

Oh my god. Astarion is the sexy lamp

#the game would be literally 0% different without him #the plot would not be affected whatsoever. literally nothing would be lost #bg3

[sam-t-a]

Okay. 

*Deep breath* 

I think I’m finally calm enough to put into words exactly why I hated the finale and why I wasn’t completely surprised that I hated it. 

(Heads-up: this is really long and pretty negative. If you disagree, I would of course appreciate your point of view and love to hear it, but just thought I’d let you know in case this is the kind of post you would like to avoid.)

To me, it felt like every character on the show got betrayed in some way or another, but the main ones are Han Seo (devastatingly), Chayoung (obviously) and Han Seok (bear with me). 

Cha Young: 

She started out as a solid FL who annoyed some people for sure, but who had so much promise as someone unconventional and bold. The way her mother’s death affected her and caused a clear shift in her personality was a super interesting plot point that really never got explored. We have no idea how she came to sacrifice her morality in joining Wusang, just that she wanted to spite her father, which is a very superficial exploration. She gets cute idiosyncrasies in lieu of an actual character and an actual character arc. 

We also, halfway through the show, seem to forget that her father's death was the initial trigger. Cha young does not suggest bold ideas or intricate plans, she doesn’t fill the gaps Vincenzo is incapable of filling (because that would require that Vincenzo have flaws, and that’s not something the writers can abide), and she’s literally victimized in episode 19 and bedridden in episode 20, and that is IT. 

Someone who started out supposedly as Vincenzo’s equal just became another piece in his chess set, no matter how important a piece she may be. 

So her role as a badass avenger is trashed. That leaves her role as a love interest. Now, as Vincenzo’s love interest, she was supposed to get kidnapped in like episode 5 or 6 at the most if the villain has any brains whatsoever (Han Seok may or may not, more on that later). We need a reason for that not to happen too early. Cue villain is somehow in love with her for all of 15 minutes or so throughout a 20-episode series because a love triangle is inconceivable with the show’s current structure and for its purposes. 

So, she spends 15 or so episodes making the first move on Vincenzo, every time, putting herself out there, creating cute moments, getting nothing in return, and then he leaves. No confession, nothing much, he wasn’t even going to say goodbye or give her the choice of coming with him. 

I’m sure more chayenzo-oriented fans have already expressed all the necessary outrage over this, so I’ll move on to the part that I’ve personally been way more emotionally invested in from the get go: the Jang brothers. 

Han Seo: 

I was among the minority that  hated the “Vinny hyung” angle from the get-go and I’ve ranted about it in another post, so I won’t get into it here in-depth, but basically it was because I felt like Vincenzo hadn’t earned it, so to have the last words Han Seo hears be “You deserve to be my brother” or whatever the fuck he was on about PISSED ME OFF. It’s VINCENZO who doesn’t deserve to be Han Seo’s brother and hasn’t done a single thing to earn it. He was a good ally. The situation he allowed Han Seo to be a part of was beneficial to him, but Han Seo’s attachment to him was neither healthy nor heartwarming, and it certainly wasn’t returned on the level he offered it.

Vincenzo’s disregard of his death didn’t strike me as odd because I never saw enough indications that this was a two-way street and Han Seo’s safety and well-being came second so often that I didn’t get the impression Vincenzo was doing much to keep him alive. This is what I meant when I said the show was glorifying a torture survivor’s trauma responses. Han Seo himself, as a torture survivor, meant nothing to them. He was just there to create one more contrived comparison between Vincenzo and Han Seok. Instead of recovering from the trauma, it’s simply employed to someone else’s favor. He doesn’t go to prison for Han Seok, he takes a bullet for Vincenzo, and we’re supposed to see that as so much better.

All of that might (JUST MIGHT) not have ruined the show for me if he’d died better. 1) It was narratively pointless and totally avoidable, 2) they could’ve framed it as heroic, but instead Han Seok’s hand patting his head is pushing it down, so he can’t even get shot with his chin up and his back straight, Taec’s already taller, so the angle’s fucked and the whole cinematography screamed “kicking an injured puppy” and most certainly NOT “survivor finally stands up to his abuser”. The final nail in the proverbial and literal coffin is that he is mourned by no one. They’re FLIRTING not 3 MINUTES LATER, it felt so tone deaf and left such a bad taste. As I said, I didn’t expect significant mourning from Vincenzo (gotta say, I didn’t expect no mourning, that was a shocker), and Cha young and the tenants had no real interactions with him and no reason to mourn him, which left only one person who could. 

Which brings me to Han Seok. 

Han Seok started out as a solid villain, clear goals, clear skills that help him achieve his goals and basically make him a villain worth defeating, and a very complex relationship with both his own psychopathy and his brother. 

Let me get it out of the way: I do not believe Han Seok is capable of killing Han Seo because he had every reason and every opportunity to do so in previous episodes and couldn’t do it (I say couldn’t because a certain degree of reluctance is in itself inability). Han Seo’s danger far outweighed his material value the minute he shot Han Seok and then completely lost any value once he came out to the world as the chairman and it became clear that the prosecution would be going after him if anything happened, and not his brother. But time and again, he’s proven he’s all bark and no bite when it comes to Han Seo (killing-wise, specifically). 

The scene where he asks him to beat Vincenzo to death could be interpreted as him wanting to give Vincenzo the “painful death” he would have given him, but honestly, I think he was way past that point. He just wanted him dead in the “You crazy? we have to kill him before he kills us” sense. To that end, killing off a key ally of Vincenzo’s, who betrayed you and almost got you killed a bunch of times, should take priority, but Han Seok’s priority is reclaiming Han Seo by forcing him back onto his side. Now, much like his “love for Cha young”, Han Seok’s keenness on not killing his brother was essential to the writers so that Han Seo can justifiably make it this far and still be useful to Vincenzo (he can’t help if Han Seok completely excludes him from all events, plans and management processes, so Han Seok needs to want to keep him on his side enough not to do that even when it’s more prudent). 

All of this isn’t to say it’s unbelievable that he would kill Han Seo, but it’s DEFINITELY unbelievable that he would stay the same man after killing him. Someone here (I’m sorry, I don’t rememebr who) once said that Han Seo had become, over time, far more of a foil to his brother than Vincenzo was. To me, this means that Post-Han Seo Han Seok would be out of balance (tilted screen), unhinged in a way he never was before. The Han Seok we see shrugs and “oh, well”-s and moves on in a flash, not really any different from the villain he was four minutes and a whole brother earlier. 

This is very consistent with the way the show has been de-humanizing him from the start. I’m not saying this to defend Han Seok in any way, he’s a serial killer, an abuser and a total maniac. But you can be all those things and still a human being. In fact, you can ONLY be those things if you’re a human being. The show used its villain vs villain idea to justify a lot, but in the end, Vincenzo had to be a protagonist. He had to follow up every “I’m a villain” with a contrived “but at least I’m not (insert something worse)”. 

On the level of humans:

1) Vincenzo is supposedly different because he doesn’t hurt children or women (unless the women deserve it, and shooting a parent in front of their kid doesn’t count as hurting.) 

But we never see Han Seok hurting women or children either. In fact, if we proceed with the “chayoung is the myung hee of the good guys” comparison, he hasn’t hurt any women nearly as badly as Vincenzo did. 

2) Babel vs Mafia 

Babel’s corruption is compared a lot to the mafia, with Vincenzo commenting repeatedly that the people are WORSE than the mafia...which is bullshit. Babel is a set of companies that provide goods and services, but use illegal means to maximize their profit, so they hurt/kill people in the process because they want more money and care about money more than ethics. The Mafia is an inherently criminal organization that functions PURELY on the basis of its criminality. Every single dime Vincenzo spends is blood money. None of it is clean. And while we’re on the topic, I find the whole “taking Miri under his wing” thing pretty unreasonable too because he tried to have her killed you guys, I cannot believe we’re just glossing over that. He had everyone who worked on that vault killed, just random fucking construction workers. And he’s not sorry. And the show tells you he shouldn’t be. 

3) Repentance

Han Seok says outright he won’t atone, and while Vincenzo says no such thing out loud he just...doesn’t repent, I guess. He keeps the blood money, he goes back to being a full-time mafia dude doing mafia things. He leaves the same man he arrived. 

So, if on the level of harm inflicted upon humanity, Vincenzo and Han Seok are pretty much equal (and Vincenzo might actually be worse), then why should we root for Vincenzo? 

Well, my friend, that’s where the dehumanization comes in! 

I was initially very excited to see their portrayal of a psychopath because of the very interesting ways in which the informal moral code and official justice system surrounding a psychopath/sociopath/narcissist affect their behavior and their chances of not turning out rotten, and the show looked like it was looking at corruption in general. 

But as the show went on, the villain vs villain thing proved not to be enough, Vincenzo has to be better in some way (or if you’re as obsessed with him as the writers are, then ALL ways), so it became a villain vs monster narrative. Vincenzo isn’t ethical or fair or in any way interested in having a remotely positive impact on society, but at least he’s A HUMAN BEING unlike SOMEBODY. So, the characterization goes to shit, Han Seok becomes a cartoon card-board cut out of a villain and emphasis is put on how pointless his violence is, as opposed to how purposeful Vincenzo’s is. 

This is dangerous on multiple levels (and I promise this is the last point I’m making). 

1) For people in general, dehumanizing abusers/murderers/etc. makes us very liable to forget that you don’t have to be “a monster” to cause harm, and it makes people complacent in their belief that they are “not bad people” since they aren’t total monsters. The Banality of Evil is a thing, and in this series, it goes completely ignored. No one is inherently incapable of good or inherently undeserving of humanity. 

2) For victims of abuse in specific, it’s dangerous to portray abusers (including serial killer and non-serial killer ones) as entirely bad and unlovable, because it poses the dual risk of making victims less likely to acknowledge their abuse if it comes from someone who cares about or loves them on some level because the idea that someone cannot both love and hurt you is so stereotypical. Your abuser can genuinely want you in their lives and need you and, on some level, love you, and IT DOESN’T MATTER if that love doesn’t stop them from hurting you. 

On the other hand, portraying the victims of abuse as capable of flipping an off switch and hating the abuser with no hesitation or second thoughts to the point of unapologetically and cheerfully helping someone kill them and having no mixed feelings about it sends the message that if you CAN’T do that, then are you really abused? Are sure you’re not complicit in your own abuse? Do you even want to get rid of them? 

So this is basically why the way the show ended was so painfully disappointing for me. And the main reason it hit so hard was that it was initially so good and had so much promise. I really expected more.

#Vincenzo #vincenzo meta #vincenzo spoilers #not that mad anymore but still so disappointed #hong chayoung #jang han seo #jang han seok #so much it to fix #my brother says hi #he is disappointed too

[let-me-touch-your-soul]

a loveless letter

I’ve been wanting to write you a letter for years now but I just haven’t been able to formulate my thoughts into words and I never knew when would be the perfect time to write. I was waiting for us to end so I can have the whole picture to reflect on but I no longer see an end in sight for us and this letter is probably going to be very messy with no plot at all, so just bare with me for now until I can write a better, more chronological letter. And let me just preface this by saying this is in no way me putting any blame on you, this isn’t me trying to call you out and paint you as the bad guy. This is just my side of our story. 

We met when I was 4 years old, and all you were to me was my friend’s older brother, nothing more nothing less. I don’t know where exactly I crossed the line or you did, but you are no longer just that. You are now someone who stole my innocence and gave me a warped perception of this world and the word ‘love’. There is so much to say but let me try to start from the beginning. 

When we first started talking outside of family functions, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I have no perception of time so I just like to say it all started when I was 12, but I’m pretty sure it was before that. We started talking and at that time you were just some guy I was interested in; it wasn’t even remotely close to a crush yet, I was just hyped about getting some sort of attention from an older guy. Don’t know where the lines blurred but suddenly you were making sexual advances to a little girl, someone who had no idea what some of the words you were saying meant, someone who was just learning about the horrors of the world, someone who was already getting their childhood and innocence stolen from them. 

I just went along with everything you said and wanted because I didn’t want to disappoint you and didn’t want you to stop talking to me. I became obsessed with the attention you were giving me, well my body. As someone who suffered with an altered body image for as long as I can remember, I was basking in the attention you were giving to the physical parts of me, no matter how objectified and dehumanized it made me feel at times. I lied about the number of people who had touched me and about all the experiences I never had, (I was only 12 so how could you even think I had other people touching me in my most intimate places?), just so you wouldn’t think I was as innocent as I was. You made me grow up too early. 

As we kept talking, my heart slowly made its way to the surface and I caught feelings, despite us both discussing it would be ‘no strings attached’. I thought I was the only one with these flutters and I was way too embarrassed to say anything about the way I really felt so I never brought it up, I just went along with everything you said. After all, I was still just a shy little girl who had no idea what she got herself into. But then one night, you told me you loved me. I still remember that moment vividly, as if it happened just yesterday. It was the night before my first day of school (6th grade) and I was charging my phone in my parent’s bedroom, telling you goodnight, and you replied with “goodnight, love you”, and with shaking hands and a heart going a mile a minute I replied with, “goodnight, love you too”, smiling so hard my cheeks started going numb. That was the beginning of the end of me. 

Truth be told, I wasn’t even sure at that time if I really did love you, but I still said it back because I didn’t want to lose you, but after all these years I think I can safely say that somewhere along the line I did fall in love with you, with what exactly I don’t know, but I did love you. But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, there is so much more left of this story, this is barely the beginning. 

You made me believe you loved me. We texted all day and night, meaningless conversations filled with sexual tension. You were the first boy I showed my body to, the first boy I kissed, the first boy who held me and touched me, the first boy I shed tears for, the first boy I had feelings for and said “I love you” to. 

I remember seeing you with different girls on your snap everyday and remember hearing about you from other girls you were doing the same thing to them as were doing to me, and with every girl I lost a piece of myself. Now don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t jealous. I knew you weren’t mine, you made that pretty clear from the beginning, and I was never the jealous type. But, I was hurt. I thought I was faulty. I couldn’t blame you, because you made it clear from the beginning that you didn’t want anything exclusive, this was all just fun for you, a passing time, so with no one to blame I blamed myself. All the other girls were much older than me, and prettier, and skinnier, so if I was just prettier and as skinny as them maybe you would show me more attention right? I started changing myself. I ate less and threw up more. I started wearing tighter clothes and starting drinking and smoking, because that would make me more cooler and desirable right? Wrong. You still looked at other girls, and I couldn’t change myself anymore, I was on the brink of losing myself, love. All for you. But you never noticed. You never cared enough to know. 

I remember getting drunk one night and texting you that I loved you but felt as if you didn’t love me. Do you remember that? You replied back in the morning saying you did love me. It was all baseless though. It was very clear you only said that to not be painted as the bad guy, but I still took your word for it and never brought it up again, and neither did you. I think that was the last time the word “love” was uttered between us. Did I ruin it? 

I also can’t help but bring up how all our conversations happened within apps that couldn’t be seen by others unless specifically searched for. After all, who would even believe you were talking to lil ole me. Were you ashamed of me? Embarrassed to be seen talking to me? Well thats exactly what it seemed like. You made it very clear we were to be kept a secret, not a single soul should know you were talking to me. So I kept quiet. Didn’t tell a single soul about the boy who held my heart and crushed it along with my innocence. 

I tried to distance myself from you. I wouldn’t answer your texts, but at times my longing got the best of me and I couldn’t stop myself from responding back to you. We would go months without any contact and every time it was you who would hit me up first and I would lose the battle within me and respond and we would be back to square one, texting as if nothing changed between us. I think I found comfort in that familiarity of knowing exactly what to expect when talking to you. Our dynamic never really changed over the years, did it? I still can’t decide if thats a bad thing or a good thing. 

I tried to move on from you, I really did. But no one, nothing, lasted and I always ended up going back to you one way or another. I tried to fill the hole you left in me with drugs and drinks and boys who also only wanted me for my body. After all, that was all I knew. I didn't know love outside of what I could offer with my body. You taught me I wasn’t anything beyond my body and I never stopped to question it, and sometimes I still regress back to that little girls mind, and I’m still forced to exist in the body I destroyed for you, in the body I still let you use from time to time.

There are times when I think I am completely over you and nothing you do affects me anymore but then you text me again and all the feelings I had for you over the years come rushing back and I feel like I’m 13 all over again falling head over heels in love with you. But honestly, I think I just find comfort in the familiarity of you. We’ve been in this push and pull situationship (what else is there call us?) for I think over 6 years now, and I’ve honestly just come to accept that it probably won’t be a solid ending to this anytime soon. I tried so hard to end it and move and forget about you, but the truth is that I am too weak when it comes to you. Now, I have no idea whatsoever why you keep coming back to me when there are so many other better prospects out there for you and I try not to think too deep into it because I don’t want to create false hope and hurt myself any more than I already have. I gave you all my teenage years, and I am still giving them you. We grew up with each other and these years are just something neither of us can take back and I’ve come to just accept this and try to live with knowing there will never be anything more to us, no matter how hard that acceptance is for me. 

I told myself that going away to college was going to be a fresh new beginning for me and that I would completely cut you off. We all know that didn’t go as planned. I had sex with you for the first time this summer. Did you know that was my first time lol? Yeah I literally have never had anyone touch me like that except for you. I don’t think I can ever come clean about that to you because that’s just too much power in your hands over me with that information. I’m sorry for lying and making you think I was more experienced than I actually was, but I guess now you know why I did it. 

I think for me to be able to fully move I would need to hear your side of everything from you. But I don’t know if I’ll ever get the closure I need directly form you so I guess this is why I’m writing this, as a way to get some type of closure for myself. I never plan on telling you any of this because being vulnerable is just not something I have in me, especially to you, so I guess we both will just be living in the dark about this without any answers for the rest of our lives. 

Sometimes, and I know this sounds hilarious and dumb, I wonder what the future holds for us. I wonder if we met at a different point in our lives, where we were both older and wiser, would we have been able to be more than what we are now, whatever we are now. I’ve held feelings for you inside of me for so long I really don’t think it will ever go away; I’m just going to have to find a way to live with them for the rest of my life. I just want to end this by letting you know that if you ever change your mind about me and us, and want there to actually be an ‘us’ exclusively, I will say yes to you without hesitation. You hold pieces of me I will never get back, pieces I don’t even know if I want back, and I don’t think if I will ever be able to devote myself so someone else with the same intensity I devoted myself to you. I used to be able to see a future with you, and I would like to blame that on my naive, young brain. Thank you for teaching me that not everyone who comes into my life will reciprocate the same feelings as me and that love is only a figment of one’s imagination. I sincerely hope you never feel what I felt and that you find someone who loves you back the same way you love them. I hope you are happy and content with wherever you end up in life, just don’t forget me. :)

#09/20/2021 3:04am

[x0401x]

Hi there! Just want to thank you so much for translating for the VE fandom! I've been looking through your VE posts and noticed you mentioned how anime!Gil is completely different from LN!Gil. I agree with you and was wholeheartedly disappointed in the anime. I was hoping you could elaborate more on your thoughts, where you thought anime!Gil and anime!Violet went wrong and how they were different from the anime. Sorry if you've already made a post on this previously. Thanks again!

Hi! You’re welcome!

This reply took me long enough, lol. I haven’t gone too much into detail, or else I’d just end up writing a bible. It still turned out long as hell, though, so I’ve put it under a cut.

I really didn’t know how to begin with this. “Where they went wrong” kinda implies that those two were going right until some point, and that’s just… not the case. They were a trainwreck from start to finish. And it’s kind of impossible to really discuss this without touching upon the massive fails in the writing of the entire show. It does try to convey important messages to the viewers, but mostly with visuals and repetitive lines, never with the actual plot or the characters. You get an inkling of what the story was attempting to do with them, and that initial idea is what seems to stay with most people, because there’s nearly nothing beyond it.

As director Ishidate has stated more than once before, he made changes to the story because he thought the novel was, in his words, “too orthodox”. But watering it down meant watering the characters down too, Gil and Violet more than anyone else. And this results in a show that ironically fails to grasp its own themes and cast — the personalities and conflicts get lost in the details and have to be patched up with excuses that end up displaying how little the show trusts its own audience. It keeps spelling out plot devices and character traits in an almost robotic manner, with very scarce effort put into actually showcasing them in the situations and dialogues. Everyone is too one-dimensional and the main plot line is repeated over and over instead of being alluded in parallels or even just slightly more intelligent exchanges. Animators like Ishidate have grown dangerously used to committing a grave narrative suicide: to give vague and unconvincing reasons for things to be the way they are and expect the audience to take it all as is simply because it was stated there. Everything is oversimplified because they clearly want the viewers to get invested in the emotional baggage of the show, and only the emotional baggage, because they think that’s all we get invested on. They forget that details are necessary for the whole experience.

These problems are recurrent in Violet and Gil, and they never stop. I’ll start with Gil, since he was mentioned first.

Gilbert Bougainvillea is a very complex, humane and multi-faceted character in the novel. What’s interesting is that he doesn’t look like it at first, so he surprised many readers in volume 1 with how caring and endearing he can be. And I mean caring for real. Anime!Gil seemed like a poor excuse for what he was supposed to represent, which in turn made him into a walking contradiction. In the novel, Gil is by far the person that emphasizes the most with Violet, because the two of them are two sides of the same coin. This is where the anime falls short most frequently. They at first look like polar-opposites, but are absolutely not, yet the show portrays them as such. Novel!Gil is gratuitously kind and righteous, and he’s brave and pure-hearted enough to stand by his values no matter what. He’s used to giving up everything for the sake of other people, but he has morals that he holds to the roots of his very being, so he always chooses to donate himself to what he deems as good causes. And once he has his mind set on an objective, he doesn’t mind playing dirty to achieve it, as long as he’s not hurting anyone. That’s exactly the same as Violet, and Gil isn’t the only one who sees himself in her — Hodgins and Dietfried also notice how alike the two are. Novel!Gil relates to Violet on a spiritual level, and he knows first-hand how she must feel. He’s been there and done that. And that’s why she’s his number one priority. His purpose in life is to protect her and keep her in a healthy lifestyle within a blessed working environment and a loving family. Quite literally, all he wants is to make sure that she’s happy, and he’s active and vocal about it. He’s also an unapologetic and unabashed feminist, so he completely approves of her doing anything for a living — she doesn’t need to live her life like an ordinary woman and whatever she wants for herself is fine, as long as it’s not too dangerous.

Apparently, his personality is one of the book aspects that Ishidate believed to be “too orthodox”. He depicts Gil the way you’d expect any male creator to depict a man — a brooding martyr figure who only has a heart of gold in fleeting moments that get replayed again and again in flashbacks to serve as justification for Violet’s undying love. He makes very little strides and there’s a lot of flawed reasoning behind his affection that makes it oddly disconnected, which is the fact that said affection is barely ever there. Gil hardly treats Violet like a person, let alone an equal. Violet is ready to give her life for him anytime, and as we see in the last battle at Intense, he’s ready to cling onto that to save his own life. Ishidate doesn’t shy away from making very evident that he thinks it’s okay for Gil to do only the minimum to earn Violet’s respect and trust, like it’s a given and all he’s required in order to earn her love is to exist. This is very visible in scenes like the one where they first met. Gil seems to shield Violet from the abuse of his brother, but shows next to no distress or even interest over it as he doesn’t even question where she came from or why Dietfried was treating her that way. There’s also the scene where he takes her to one of his family’s residences, and she has his jacket on, just like in the novel… yet he’s letting her walk barefoot in the snow without giving a single flying fuck. He then leaves her side as soon as he instructs the maid what to do with her, not looking back. I also hate that scene where he gets back home and she bumps into him and falls on her butt. He just stares at her and makes no effort to help her back up. But the one I hate the most is that festival scene where he nearly thanks Violet for fighting so well in battle. I mean, she’s killing people for him. She, a literal child, is in the frontlines of a long-lasting war, risking her life and committing mass murder for his sake. That’s literally nothing to be grateful for. Especially not when he’s supposed to love her. And I despise that he only stopped himself from finishing the phrase because he noticed the bruises on her.

Another major defect of the anime was changing Gil’s backstory. Anime!Gil was, by the looks of it, just a rich kid who enlisted simply because that’s the family tradition. And if you take away Gil’s backstory, you take away the viewers’ reason to empathize with him. Why? Because that means he’s morphed into someone who can make choices. Erase any factor that binds Gil to doing what his family and his superiors make him do, and what you have is a grown man with his free will intact. And he uses none of it to help Violet. Anime!Gil was always given the opportunity to say no. He could’ve said no to Dietfried and sent Violet straight to the Evergardens, he could’ve said no to his superior officer and not taken her into the military, or he could’ve at least said no to assigning her to the men’s troops. He didn’t because there would be no story otherwise. Novel!Gil is always attempting to save Violet from the war and from herself, while anime!Gil’s actions beg to differ. And so, anime!Violet’s obsession with Gil stems from the fact that he was the first to treat her remotely like a human being and that, for a long time, he was all she had. None of that fate thing, because it’s also “too orthodox”. But without the fate element and without Gil having no control whatsoever over how he feels about Violet, he’s straight-up a pedophile. If he feels regular romantic love for Violet, who is in her mid-teens, that’s pedophilia right there. This one is my biggest beef with anime!Gil, and I don’t take criticism for it.

Now Violet. Not to be rude, but I see so many people talk about how interesting her anime counterpart is, yet I rarely ever see anyone going in-depth on it. It’s like the way the fans talks about the show. Literally every single person who comments that they liked it always says the exact same thing: “I cried during every episode”. I sort of feel like most of them are just reproducing what they see other people say out there, which is probably what got them interested in watching it in the first place. I don’t mean this with ill-intent; it’s just seriously the impression I get from looking at the tag. I’ve accompanied it since the novel came out all the way back in 2015, and when the show was running, believe it or not, I didn’t really see much of those comments. It started becoming a habit to say it after episode 10, which seems to be the highest-rating episode (the irony being that it was the closest the anime ever got to the novels). Hence why it feels to me like some people just say it on automatic, and I get the same vibe from the fans of anime!Violet.

I’ll just be blunt here: the main difference between anime!Violet and canon!Violet is that canon!Violet was made to be liked by girls and women, and anime!Violet was made to be liked by men. I have already said this before, but Violet is the very definition of independent professional woman in the novel. She’s educated, confident, strong, reliable, altruistic and overall well-versed in at least a little bit of everything. Half of it is due to luck and half of it is her own merits, but all in all, she was created not just to be relatable but also a character that people could look up to. Meanwhile, anime!Violet was clearly made to be waifubait.

I can’t really stress how little thought was actually put into her portrayal and development. We never truly see her internalizing the lessons that she supposedly learns in each of the self-contained episodes. We only ever witness her displaying sudden significant hints of emotion at convenient times, paired to her either repeating what she was told earlier by one of the characters or taking an extremely obvious conclusion to a question that was already half-answered by someone else. Because of this, Violet’s growth process has an unsteady pacing in the anime and mostly feels disjointed. In comparison, novel!Violet is usually not the point of view — she’s often in the role of observer, and we notice through the solutions she comes up with for her clients’ issues that she does have a very humane connection with them. We also notice through the clients’ opinions on Violet that she shows subtle changes at certain specific points, such as smiling just a little when she manages to not only accomplish her duties but also help solve their problems. This makes her more real and believable because, unlike the anime, it presents no abrupt alteration to the essence of her person. She’s growing in her own way, but it’s still easy to tell. It’s also very clever to have Violet be disliked or misunderstood by her clients at first because she’s so aloof and apathetic-looking, but then she grows on them after they actually understand her, and the readers can absorb that from them. I’ve seen many people complain that they can’t really empathize with anime!Violet, but in the novel, the author takes care not to let this happen, and it really doesn’t.

What upsets me the most is that anime!Violet is overly infantilized. We all know that director Ishidate loves her like a father loves a daughter; it’s been said by himself and his colleagues quite a lot. That’s cute and all, but it made her depiction extremely shallow. The biggest problem was making her 14 in the anime. I still struggle to understand what would’ve been so bad with keeping her as a 17-year-old. Sum that up with removing many of her merits and adding forceful childish traits, such as being okay with changing clothes anywhere in front of anyone or pouting when she’s frustrated, and you have the perfect recipe of what waifu junkies like to be spoon-fed with. In my opinion, anime!Violet was a downgraded tragic heroine played in a cheap and boring way to attract tearjerker lovers.

I hope this has covered enough of my take on the matter. ✌️

#violet evergarden #gilbert bougainvillea

[365days365movies]

January 6, 2021: Last Action Hero (1993) (Part 1)

Let’s have some fun, shall we?

Comedy is my favorite genre, and I obviously also love action. So, when looking at the subgenres to cover this month, action-comedy most certainly was at the top of the list. But what exactly is action-comedy?

Exactly what it sounds like, funnily enough. Action-comedies rely on physical action sequences to further the plot, but also inject dialogue with humor and jokes throughout the script. Entertainment and amusement combined into one beautiful, succinct package. I’ll be judging the writing for these movies on how much they made me laugh while watching it. That said...

OK, so, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Last Action Hero. Schwarzenegger isn’t exactly the most emotionally expressive actor in the world, as you’ve probably noticed. And expressiveness is somewhat necessary to express humor. Look at Eddie Murphy up there, and see how expressive he is. Schwarzenegger...doesn’t have that. At all. But, this movie could still be funny! Shane Black wrote it, and he wrote one of my favorite guilty pleasure Halloween movies, The Monster Squad. So, I’m looking forward to this movie for that in and of itself. And with that...

 Recap

We start with a sick guitar lick on Christmas Day, as a group of cops close in on a criminal known as the Ripper holding children hostage at an elementary school. But then...Jack Slater (played, naturally, by Arnold Schwarzenegger) arrives. And yes, this is a parody character and scene, meant to lambast all of the stereotypical renegade cop tropes that I’ve literally never seen in a movie. Like, I guess Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop have it, but I think this character concept has been Flanderized into...well...Jack Slater.

Slater kicks a cop through a window with a Schwarzenegger-esque action line, and CRUSHES A RADIO LIKE A NAPKIN. I appreciate Schwarzenegger making fun of himself like this, and we’ve only just begun. Jack goes through banter with the Ripper (Tom Noonan), who...is unironically terrifying. Holy shit, that guy is creepy as fuck, and his stylized ax is intimidating as hell. And as he holds Slater’s son hostage out of revenge, the two face off with some cool action beats, and...

...Shit, I think I want to watch this movie. And I don’t mean Last Action Hero, I mean the in-universe movie that our actual main character, Danny Madigan (Austin O’Brien) is watching. Danny’s a big Jack Slater fan, and one of the only patrons of a movie theater owned by Nick (Robert Prosky). Nick, a kind old man, invites Danny to see the next Slater film before anybody else. And honestly, I get it. I’d watch this movie series unironically if it existed, real talk. Mostly because it seems fun.

Danny’s skipped school just to see this movie, and he walks into his English class, where the teacher shows Lawrence Olivier as Hamlet. Fun fact! The English teacher showing it is played by Joanne Plowright, Olivier’s real life wife! Very sweet! Anyway, Danny, bored by a goddamn classic movie, conjures a different movie in his head.

Fuck yes. I need this movie to exist. 

We learn from Danny’s mother (Mercedes Ruehl) that his father has recently died, and he spends far too much of his time watching movies at Nick’s theater. I look forward to this revelation never being explored. As he’s headed to the theater when he isn’t supposed to, he opens the door at the exact wrong time, and A ROBBER BREAKS INTO HIS PLACE, OH SHIT! Confronted with the type of real danger that he’d see in an action movie, and with no action hero to save him, the robber finds nothing of value and leaves the place. He gets rescued by the cops eventually, and they tell him to go home. But, no, he goes...to the movies.

Mom might have a point there, sport.

While he’s there, Nick brings him in, and begins to monologue to him about his past in the theater business. And that monologue introduces the MacGuffin of the film: the Golden Ticket, given to Nick by Houdini himself, and an alleged portal to another world.

So, is this gonna be more of a Pagemaster situation, or a The NeverEnding Story deal? The Golden Ticket is torn for admission, Danny sits down, and the movie-in-a-movie begins in earnest. In the film, Slater’s cousin Frank (Art Carney in his last film role) is being held hostage by the crime boss Vivaldi (Anthony Quinn), and his henchman...one of the most immediately visually interesting characters I’ve ever seen in a film...in a FILM.

Benedict (played by Charles Dance), is immediately a fascinating character, essentially a non-Marvel Bullseye, and a gunsman with flawless precision. And yeah...I dig it. Oh, how I dig it.

Jack Slater arrives in his snakeskin boots, and discovers Frank, who delivers a message in the cheesiest death sequence I’ve ever seen, followed by the cheesiest bomb compound I’ve ever seen, followed by a bigger explosion than anyone would’ve expected, FOLLOWED by...OK, look, the references to other action movies in this are already ridiculous and all over the place, and I refuse to spoil them all for those of you who’ve never seen this movie.

By the way, I gotta make a comment about Danny real quick. Watching this many action movies may have made him a little...detached...from reality. I say this because he expressed no shock or emotion during or after the robbery, then went immediately to the movie theater, and had no reaction whatsoever about the death of the two cops in the movie. Little budding sociopath, that Danny.

Although, that might change, now that the ticket’s getting all magic-y, and a stick of ACME dynamite (actually in the film, I swear) makes its way into the theater. It explodes, and Danny inexplicably (magically, even) finds himself in the movie. So, Pagemaster, then.

Danny’s complete lack of reaction and emotion in this situation confirms my theory on him being a liiiiiiiiiiittle detached from reality. But then...the most gloriously stupid thing I’ve seen this month happens.

Arnold proceeds to make a pun that is NOT “Nasty brainfreeze,” and I am disappointed forever. Who wrote this? Who wrote this?

We get a car chase fueled with jumps, gunfire, puns, a casual mention of premature ejaculation, and Coca Cola product placement, all accompanied by Danny finally showing a modicum of reaction to the fact that he is IN A FUCKING MOVIE. REACT MORE, DANNY. At his age, I would have soiled myself immediately. At MY age, I would soil myself if this happened to me! Anyway...

OK, I just have to say this now: this movie has some of the most insane shots and set-ups that I’ve ever seen, and by GOD, I am here for it. Like...Did you SEE the motorcycle dress girl panic while a man WAS ON FIRE IN THE BACKGROUND? Earlier, a car does an INSANE jump and crash and explodes in the BACKGROUND, and the movie just treats it like a pigeon flew on set! Nobody cares! THE SCENES IN THIS MOVIE MAKE INSANITY AN ART FORM.

Anyway...we get to the LAPD, and...HOLY SHIT. IS THAT…

Was that Sharon Stone as Catherine Trammel from Basic Instinct, and Robert Patrick as T1000 from Terminator 2? I...but...wait...if...how...I’m broken now. 404, blue screen, reboot, update needed, WHAT?!? I...just...SO many questions, and this movie better answer them.

We see some added insanity, including a man with a houndstooth suit which I DESPERATELY WANT but could not pull off. There’s literally a buddy cop generator, where we also see a rabbi cop, and an Amadeus reference is dropped as F. Murray goddamn Abraham (playing a cop named Practice) appears in this movie, and THEN...an animated cat cop sexually harasses a female cop. I am not joking.

Am...am I insane? Also, if I was in the theaters watching this movie-in-a-movie, I would be both angry and confused as to what in the FUCK was happening!!! WHY IS THERE AN ANIMATED CAT COP IN MY JACK SLATER MOVIE? WHO DIRECTED THIS BULLSHIT (in universe)?? Also that cat was recently suspended, and is also one of their best men.

And then, Danny uses his knowledge of the Jack Slater franchise to break down the barriers of repressed affection between the chief and Slater, and it’s briefly heartwarming for some reason. Anyway, they’re now suspicious of his knowledge of Slater’s life, and this leaves to the inevitable buddy cop pairing of Jack Slater and Danny Madigan. This art-deco something walks by…

...and I desperately need to know more about the art direction of this film. Because, wow, it is an absolute masterpiece of randomly exaggerated shit, damn.

To prove his point about being in a movie, Danny goes to a Blockbuster, which... man, does THAT bring me back! That’s right you young whippersnappers, I WAS THERE FOR BLOCKBUSTER IN THE ‘90s! We used to go to the store and look at the VHSs. I remember seeing The Lost World there, but my dad said I was too young for it. I was sad, but he got me some candy and a Really Wild Animals video, and we watched it that night after Carmen Sandiego. My God. It was paradise.

Anyway, Schwarzenegger doesn’t exist, and find out that Stallone has taken over his roles.

...I’d watch that. I’d watch the HELL out of that. Danny then uses some legitimately impressive math to dissect the “555” number thing in movies, as well as pointing out the lack of non-conventionally attractive women. Which, credit to you, kiddo, for addressing the overwrought emphasis on conventional attractiveness that permeated Hollywood at this time, and to this day. I mean, he’s not criticizing it, but he is pointing it out, and that’s better than nothing in the ‘90s.

Danny guides his way to Vivaldi’s house, where the butler is...Professor Toru Tanaki! He looks exactly like Odd Job from the James Bond series, but the actor is SubZero from The Running Man! You know, the hockey killer!

Anyway, after crack about Schwarzenegger’s “I’ll be back” line, a conversation with Benedict (who has a smiley face instead of a bullseye), and some terrible CGI dogs, Benedict becomes correctly convinced that something’s up with Danny. They arrive at his house, and his college-aged daughter Whitney (played by Bridgette Wilson, in her first film role in and out of the movie, in a neat little twist!) kisses Danny directly on the mouth, and I’m a liiiiiiittle uncomfortable with that. Anyway, we brush right past that, and realize that his son...died. Oh. Uh. Guess we didn’t see the end of that movie, huh? Yikes. Poor Jack.

Hey, Benedict and his gang arrive at Slater’s place! Fun! There’s a sort-of amusing play on “harming a hair on one’s head,” and the interrogation continues. Charles Dance is legitimately threatening as Benedict. And, while we’re at it, Bridgette Wilson has an entertaining action sequence all her own.

Anyway, Jack arrives, and makes a ridiculous jump off of the balcony to pursue Benedict. Benedict name drops getting a tank, which I’m assuming is named the Chekov (film trope reference there, have a good time). Danny realizes that he’s the comedy sidekick of the movie, and at this point, I need to mention something: in case you haven’t noticed, this film is delightfully meta. And I love that about it. 

But it’s also...cluttered. You’ll see what I mean in a little bit, but real talk, I didn’t realize that Benedict had stolen the ticket until Danny mentioned it, because I was apparently quite distracted. And this is an important plot point, as Benedict soon realizes the true power of the ticket, cleverly overlaid by the opening to the Twilight Zone, with Rod Serling mentioning traveling to another dimension. Also...his eye was a bomb. What. Anyway, that explosion results in Slater officially getting fired from the department, and the chief...

Um. Yeah, this movie is also kind of a cartoon, not including the cartoon cat. And you have no idea how much I’m omitting from this movie. The digitization of Humphrey Bogart, the fact that Slater can’t say “fuck” in a PG-13 movie, the surprising character realization that Slater’s ex-wife is actually remarried, the clearly dominatrix cop clad in leather, the fact that there’s a plan to detonate a nerve gas-infused bomb stuffed into a dead man nicknamed Leo the Fart at his own funeral, a digitization of Humphrey Bogart. Yeah, I said that last one twice, because the effect actually holds up really well, like, seriously.

OK, let’s take a break, yeah? Part 2 later today!

#last action hero #jack slater #arnold schwarzenegger #austin o'brien #danny madigan #charles dance #benedict #robert prosky #tom noonan #f murray abraham #frank mcrae #anthony quinn #bridgette wilson #art carney #365 movie challenge #365 movies 365 days #365 Days 365 Movies #365 movies a year #movie challenge #a movie a day #mygifs #my gifs #throwbackblr #animusrox #movieassholes #only80sgifs #ferfrancuito #user365 #action january

[blodreina-noumou]

question: how sexist do you think the show is? I used to think it used to be the height of feminism (I was a dumbass) but I want your opinion on what it does wrong, etc because as time goes on the way the narrative treats female characters is disturbing to say the least, at least to me

Be kind to yourself, anon - at one point, I do think this show was pretty good in terms of representing women in a diverse, positive way. While not “the height of feminism” (which is a tricky thing to pin down anyway,) the early seasons featured a range of women of all ages, abilities, races, and most sexual orientations. 

Back in 2014, when it premiered, I think it was actually doing pretty good work at not only featuring these female characters, but making sure that their storylines included agency and motivations that went beyond what the men in their lives wanted/needed.

But the show has slipped a lot since then. Not only have our standards lifted, but the writing itself has taken a serious dive, and season six was the lowest point so far, for me. If we look at the way the female characters’ motivations have changed from season to season, it’s clear that, at some point, the writers kind of forgot that these women have agency and conflicting motivations, and don’t just exist to prop up the missions of the men or children in their lives.

In s1 and s2, Clarke was all about making firm choices and sticking with them. She was motivated by the safety of her friends and the rest of The Hundred, and a general impulse to “do the right thing.” No one single person or role compelled her - she was flexible and realistically able to fit into leadership positions, rebellion stoking, and squad commander. Although she was backed into a corner, it still felt as though her choices were hers.

In s5 and s6, Clarke is a “mama bear” driven into a illogical frenzy at the thought of her adoptive daughter being put into any sort of danger whatsoever, despite that being a reality of the world when one actually has to interact with people. Her decisiveness becomes impulsiveness, and her motivations are drained of all their complexity. It just becomes “Madi, Madi, Madi,” with no room for anyone else, and even less room for flexibility. She’s one-note, now. By giving her exactly one motivation in her life, one singular person to focus all of her affection and need to protect on, she’s been stripped of all of her complexity and agency. This is made even worse by the fact that she spent half the season on ice, essentially dead to the world, while her body was inhabited by the most charming lil sociopath this show has ever seen - one Josephine Lightbourne. A character who should have been a refreshing return to that kind of complexity, but falls flat for her own reasons. 

In s6 we’re introduced to one of the most interesting characters in The 100 universe. A cunning, cutthroat, cold young woman with a cheery disposition and enough cleverness to kill a cat with a smile. Josie has been alive, on some level, for hundreds of years. She’s seen untold violence, and has become a greedy, selfish, cruel woman because of it. You would think that this kind of person’s return to life in this universe would’ve been earth-shattering - that she would’ve had some sort of epic, evil plan, motivated by the need to grab more and more power for herself. But what did Josie really, truly want in the end, more than anything? To reunite with her ex-boyfriend and body-snatch until the end of time, so she could stay with him, forever and ever. She was motivated, at the end of the day, purely by her romantic feelings for a man.

That’s disappointing to me. Especially because, in the latter half of the series, everyone’s motivations, but especially the women’s, end up coming down to one person - a person who is dependant on them for affection/comfort/softness/love, etc. Basically, everyone has now been hamstrung by their inability to focus on anything other than one person. And for each of the women, that’s often meant taking on the role of supportive girlfriend/mother, rather than having agency and goals of her own.

Other examples - Emori was a background character for most of season six, basically Harper Mcintyre’d, right up until her necessary betrayal of Josephine and Murphy becomes relevant to the plot. Echo was sidelined by her longterm romantic partner, ending up in serious danger, while he gallivanted off making googly eyes at his (old??) best friend, and this was treated as perfectly acceptable. Raven has been reduced to nagging shrew, and was also more or less set dressing until she become plot relevant to Madi’s story. Madi herself was the literal meat puppet of a creepy dude controlling her brain. Abby lived just long enough to make a meaningful sacrifice as a grandmother and then died. And so on.

I think that, as the series went on, and more and more characters and set dressings and crazy scenarios were added, the writers had to simplify character motivations and story arcs. If you just compare everything Raven went through and had to do in s2 (losing use of her leg; learning to use a brace; her romance with Wick; cracking the Mt Weather radios; figuring out how to stop the acid fog; watching her first love die; dealing with her grief; getting seriously wounded again at the end of the season, etc,) with what she had to do in s6 (work on a motorcycle; chastise Ryker for being a body-snatcher; watch Abby die; save Madi from Sheidheda) - it’s clear that the writers have shelved certain characters for the sake of others.

And what ate up the most time this season? The story of the Lightbournes, which is ultimately, yet again, a story about how a small group of people are solely motivated by protecting only each other, even if at the cost of everyone else. Specifically, Josephine is motivated by wanting to protect Gabriel from death forever, and her parents (particularly Russell) are motivated by making her happy, whatever the cost.

A cautionary tale for our OG heroes? Maybe, but it sure didn’t feel that way during the season.

The weird flipside of this is the way Bellamy and Russell existed purely for women in this season. Bellamy wanted nothing but to save Clarke, Russell wanted nothing but to save Josephine. But the difference is that, even within their singularly-focused motivations, Bellamy and Russell still had agency, and they both ended up making more decisions for the women in their lives than those women made for themselves. They moved the plot around the women, who simply had no choice but to react accordingly.

I think the show is trying to not be sexist, but in its current bloated state, it’s gotten really lazy, and the writers have lost sight of the complexity and characterization that made s1-s3 more impactful. I think JRoth and Co are probably bored with this universe - that’s why s6 was such an insane leap in tone, setting, and world-building.

And I think, like most human beings, they’ve allowed themselves to get comfortable with what they’ve already achieved. Unfortunately, the “good representation” aspect of this show has suffered a lot for it.

The short answer is: on a “how sexist” scale from 1-10, with 1 being “super sexist” and 10 being “not sexist at all” - we started at an 8, now we’re at about a 4. The show has done better. It will probably never do better again.

#asks #anons #sexism #the 100 #the 100 meta #pop culture #stephspeaks #long post

[heavensentgohansrage]

Sunflower Marimo

PG-13, 4958 words

Fluff and Crack, Magical Seeds

AO3

So in this post on my main blog I gushed over this adorable work by @kingofalltsunfish​ and sorta made a promise to write it for her lol

It may have happened almost over two years ago, and the art itself is even much older than that, but I knew I had to do it.

Even if the outcome is all over the place for so many reasons, it’s better now then never.

Sanji has been howling with laughter for the last half an hour, as he keeps understanding more and more the reason behind Zoro’s strange behaviour.

Ever since returning back to the ship at almost the middle of the night, Zoro has refused to leave Chopper’s infirmary, where he has spent the night instead of the boys’ quarter. Then, all throughout breakfast, he proceeded in arguing with Nami about his mysterious need to turn the Sunny against the location of the sun - or, in words of people who actually know how direction works, to turn west - even though the Log Pose is directing to north-east.

Nami eventually agreed, even though he refused to give any explanation whatsoever. Then, it was only when he checked - through more than one window, because, you know, safety first - that the shadows outside were stretched in alignment with the ship’s structure that he rushed from the galley and through the short way that the infirmary created to the backside of the ship.

The crew’s excitement as they followed right after him was short, though, as it turned out he simply had to pee. Looking at each other, the group asked Franky to check if there was something wrong with the ship - although it did not explain Zoro’s secrecy about it - but he quickly found out that everything was just fine.

It was just then when Zoro finally went out, but slowly so, as he opened the door way too carefully, and even then took his time to look around, clearly making sure the ship was still facing the same way as he had asked for. Weirdly enough, it suddenly was not good enough for him to get out, but just shouted that they could now turn it back.

Before Sanji could tell him once more that Nami-san is not one to order around like that, though, Luffy stretched his hand all the way to him, assuring that he would make it quicker for him- and pulled Zoro’s shirt back to him without sparing him a moment to object.

Zoro, as usual, crushed right at Luffy and most of the rest, like Robin-chan, who Sanji had the utmost pleasure to pull away; but as he was bathing in the delight for having her thanking him that, suddenly he heard Zoro grunting.

The instinct to stand guard for his Nakamas overcoming any other nature of his as usual, Sanji cut his blessings off right away and turn to the Marimo-head, who was gritting his teeth and shaking with effort, although there was nothing visible to be affecting him.

Usopp and Luffy were arguing with one another, seemingly sensing nothing themselves, but Sanji activated his Haki anyway, in case some Devil Fruit power was casting on him from afar.

“What are you doing, dumb Cook?”

Sanji blinked back at Zoro, who, weirdly enough, looked completely fine as he was standing quiet and still. Had he seriously stolen his attention for nothing? Was it all just about some stupid bet he filled, considering Zoro never backs down from a promise he makes?

Sanji frowned. “You gotta be kidding me- you weren’t okay just a second ago! Just what’s wrong with you today that you’re acting more weirdly than usual?!”

There was a flash of realization in Zoro’s eye, and suddenly he was giving him the kind of smirk he always has when he uses Sanji to his advantage, although usually it is only for his amusement. “Me? I’m completely fine. You’re the one who imagines things. See?” He stretched his arms to the sides and walked backwards, as though to give Sanji a better look of his entire body.

But then he walked right into Nami, who had returned from the helm on the front of the ship to their side.

“Not only you didn’t watch your mouth that entire morning, but now you don’t even mind crossing others’ paths?!” She rebuked him.

“Yeah, how dare you running into Nami-san so carelessly?” Sanji followed with a yell of his own.

Zoro tsked and scratched his head in annoyance, but Sanji cared even less than the indifferent he would have been anyway about him being sandwiched between the two of them.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you!” She demanded, holding Zoro’s sides and turning him to her.

Zoro grunted again, this time like she was straining all the muscles in his body just by rotating him on his axis. Startled, Nami let go of him- but simply realizing her hands was like letting go of a swing that was spun 180 degrees, as in an instant he was turning his back on her, facing against the backside of the ship.

Everyone silently stared at him for a while, until Chopper started freaking out of the blue.

“Is it- Could it be- Th-that’s bad! Where’s the doctor?!”

“Calm down Chopper and tell us what’s wrong!” Usopp entreated him tiredly.

“Ahh, sorry!” Chopper circled Zoro, who still did not bother to change his position back, to be able to face him. “Zoro, yesterday when we split in the island and you wandered by yourself, did you come across sunflower seeds, or something similar, while exploring the island?”

“Yeah, I helped some old lady carrying her groceries, then the garden kept leading me to her backyards where there were flower plots, so it tempted me to try some. Why?”

Sanji felt a squeeze inside his stomach, but just like every time Zoro’s words affected him like that, he made himself to ignore it. He should know better than react that way to such an idiot who would not admit he got lost in a porch, for fuck’s sake.

“Then it is serious!” Chopper squealed and put both paws on his face.

Sanji patted him on his head, trying to soothe him as much as he could. “What it is then?”

“I’ve noticed the sunflowers here are a rare species of a clan-type.”

“Clan-type?” Robin parroted him with an inauspicious voice.

Chopper nods. “It is kind of plants which try to make other living beings to become like them instead of naturally reproducing. Luckily, this species is too weak to actually make a human into a flower, and maybe this is why the locals allowed themselves to grow them for their beauty. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t succeed to leave any effect at all.”

“Eh? But he still looks normal!” Luffy wondered as he searched for anything outstanding all over Zoro’s body, who was losing his patience by the minute.

“Didn’t you notice? As long as he sees it, Zoro can only face the sun!”

Sanji cannot help himself but losing it.

  -

  For the following days, Zoro spends even more of the day in the crow’s nest. He even stops looking for booze, too, as he has to make sure he drinks just as much as his body needs to deal with the amount of sweat he perspires during his workout, so unlike the first morning he will be able to hold it until the sun is down, when he finally can go out.

Since Nami asked Sanji so, he prepares breakfast for Zoro earlier than everyone, just before the sun is up, and delivers him lunch while everyone eats inside the galley.

Sanji understands it is serious, especially as out on the sea, the next battle can happen at any given moment; not only everyone will have to have Zoro’s back, the proud bastard will not even let them cover for him that easily himself.

In the meantime, though, he still takes advantage of that to make fun of Zoro every time. He cannot be blamed for not being able to stay quiet with a - now literally - moss-for-brain guy, who could not even figure out himself that the sunflower seeds he has eaten just before it all started were the reason for it.

As the sunflowers act the way they do because they know what is best for themselves, even without consciousness, that man is officially dumber than a plant.

“Enjoy your meal- unless you’re already full by photosynthesis,” he wishes him the first time he brings him lunch.

“It’s exactly noon, so make sure to warn us when you sense a Knock-Up Stream, South Bird,” he cheerfully remarks another time as he brings him a snack.

“Maybe you should consider renaming this one after Thousand Sunny instead,” he notes at one of the time he comes back to take the dishes, while Zoro was practising the movement of the 1080 Pound Ho technique with weights.

For the last bad pun Sanji actually has to dodge an attack directed at him, and each time it is still worth it. After all, if he has somehow spent the entire first day under the effect of the seeds facing the sun, which allowed him to find the right path back to the ship even later than usual, without getting his face burn- then at least Sanji can amuse himself by attempting getting his face red himself.

Although while not finding it as cute as it is amusing, of course. Not at all.

At any case, the rest of the crew takes their part in toying with the current member to get into an unfortunate situation, so Sanji is afraid he will soon run out of original good material himself - only Usopp, for example, has used up anything clever you could make with a comparison to the Sunlight Tree Eve -  but that until Chopper gets concerned about the lack of vitamin D Zoro will soon suffer from, as it is not clear when the effect will go away, and orders him to take his naps outside.

Luffy and Usopp get bored of it quickly, as the sun moves too slowly for the direction Zoro’s head leans to noticeably enough, but Sanji still manages to entertain himself with trying to guess the time according to the direction Zoro’s head is tilted to.

But that also means he stares at him more as he sleeps, and perhaps Sanji does more damage to himself than good while suddenly noticing how beautiful Zoro’s face are, once he is too peaceful to distract Sanji with some sort of annoyance. It even exposes some of his soft side he usually does not show, well hidden behind the stiffness the usually carries himself with.

Sanji is reminded of one of those rare times, where they got stuck with each other as circumstances made them split together from the rest of the crew; as they walked by a small waterfall, Sanji’s eyes caught a small rainbow it created. He got closer to make it illuminate over his hand, and only by luck Zoro was still not that far away once he raised his head to look for him. He called him, intentionally to warn him to not drift away- but was then surprised when the swordsman not only was marvelled once he noticed Sanji’s his finding, but was interested enough that he got closer to take a better look, touching Sanji’s hand in the process. Sanji somehow avoided jerking away, but it did make his gaze to lock on the full exposure of Zoro’s long, moss-green eyelashes as he was looking down. The way their arcs were as perfectly round as the sincere, more unalloyed than his katanas smile stretching beneath them caught Sanji’s breath. He had seen him smiling astonishedly like that before, like when they arrived at Water 7, but had never thought he would have ever care to share it with him.

Then the singular hazel eye looked back at him, which may have carried less variety of shades than a rainbow, but the natural phenomenon still had nothing in comparison to the depth and strength of the overall tone.

Okay, that is it, he should stop wasting time on bittersweet memories and focus on important issues, especially those which will actually grant him happiness, like making drinks for the ladies.

He manages to actually lose those previous thoughts in his new occupation, that he even manages to not pay attention to Zoro as he leaves a drink beside him, and passes him to Nami and Robin- the only targets that should matter.

And that is why it takes another whole day for anyone to notice that he became the one according to whom Zoro’s body changes the angle it is facing, overcoming even the sun’s position, whenever he is near him.

  -

  “Best. Development. Ever!” Usopp cries, rolling on the ship’s lawn while holding his sides.

“How the hell having our Swordsman losing control over his body is a good development?!” Nami scolds after him.

Luffy, who has been crossing the grass back and forth just like Usoop, suddenly clashes into the other- but it does not stop the two of them to bark out in yet another wave of laughter.

“We should find a yellow ball on the next island to throw at the Marines so he could fight them,” their Captain finally suggests.

“Great idea, so very helpful,” Nami sighs as she walks up to the duo to give them their justified punches.

Sanji has never had any special thought about his hair, really - unlike someone else’s, it is actually a completely normal one - but that situation makes him to actually wish it was not yellow.

Not that it means he plans to dye it to anything else, of course.

“Why doesn’t anyone listen to me?!” Chopper waves his arms helplessly, and jumps for a good effort. “It can’t be about Sanji’s hair resembling the sun!”

Zoro groans. “Either way, Cook- why don’t you go there too so I can give them a piece of my mind too!”

“Tch, good-for-nothing Marimo.” Sanji lights up a cigarette as he remains standing. “Now I won’t be able to stand close to either Nami-san or Robin-chan, for who knows how long, in case you’ll hurt them accidentally.”

“Won’t happen as long as you don’t give me a reason to try going after you, Ero-Cook.”

Sanji jumps in front of Zoro at once, pressing him against the wall with his foot on his chest. “You mean you actually won’t even try to control yourself when you have a lady in view?!”

Zoro holds his leg and tries to shove it off of himself, but that also means he has to try incline to another way; as he is physically not able to face a point even a little skewed from the one Sanji is at, an attempt like that is clearly utterly impossible- or at least looks to be as painful as trying to twist one’s hand beyond its maximum flexibility point.

Sanji smirks triumphantly. “Well, at least you finally won’t be able to ignore the truth anymore while it is standing right in your face.”

“What truth? That your women-obsession is a much more ridiculous sickness than mine?”

“What was that - ?!“

 “ - Didn’t you hear me? I told you to stop it!” Chopper, in his grown Heavy Point form, comes to stand aside them and force Sanji to step back. “I finally figured it out- it’s adrenaline!”

“Huh?”

“His body can't absorb light, so it searched for the next closest thing- something that drives itself to accelerate energy creation through cellular respiration, and I think it found it in the rush of adrenaline Zoro has been triggered to experience during all the times you angered him recently. You’ve teased him more than everyone when you came every day to bring him his meals.”

“That might be true,” Brook comments, “but when we tried earlier, Zoro was back to being attracted to the sun whenever Sanji was gone out of his sight. Even while searching for alternatives, it still doesn’t solve the original problem.”

“That’s true,” Chopper nods, “but I still think that it’s still progress. Soon his body will understand that the best way to get energy is through food alone, and will teach itself to get over that added instinct, just like there are a lot of instincts the human body forgets as we grow up.”

All the while they discuss this, Zoro has his eye closed so he will not have to stare directly as Sanji, who knows that he will not be able to get on with it for long himself. While he is currently not the one to be stuck in a state he cannot get away from, it can soon be him if Zoro will start finding things he could use to his disadvantage, like that time he caught him off-guard by the waterfall.

“Anyway, I’ll go hang back at the galley, where I better keep staying out of the zone of staring creepers,” he declares as he starts making his way back to the kitchen, even though it is too early for any dinner preparations.

“Like having to look at your swirly eyebrows the entire day doesn’t creep me out,” Zoro murmurs as his body spins in accordance with Sanji’s advance, which Sanji senses on his back way too well. Another roar of laughter commences, but is cut short as Sanji finally closes the door behind him- living the two boys in the direction of the sun fully exposed to the Swordsman’s range of attack.

Sanji puffs out smoke in relief. Being away from a compassionless eye constantly following and judging him, now he can finally think clearly: while he does not turn down Chopper’s speculation completely, Sanji still has a feeling there is something else that Zoro’s instincts connect between the sun and himself, even if not the shared colour.

Going over any association he has about the sun which he can somehow be also linked to him, he finds quicker than he would think an idea with a considerable possibility, and he is not happy when the solution he comes out with intensifies it on his face.

Unless he comes out with a better idea, though, or somehow he will be miraculously proven wrong even before that- he knows he will have no choice but to try it.

  -

  He waits until the next day’s sunrise, since the last dinner’s attempt has proven that Sanji still affects him even after the sun has sunk completely below the horizon, to the point the cook had to go out of his own kitchen to let him eat in peace.

While Zoro technically can get around with his eye closed whenever Sanji is visible to him, his lack of sense of direction for sure will take a disastrous turn.

Chopper volunteered to carry his next meals - Luffy tried to too, but everyone was too smart than letting him touch food that is not on his own plate - and Sanji hopes that it will not be the only excuse to not have to see Zoro, well, just about ever again in case he is wrong.

Sanji takes his morning preparation slower than usual, but inevitably, the time eventually arrives.

Despite peeking inside his pack of cigarettes, to make sure it is not empty, he throws the one he has smoked until that moment without taking a new one; he will have to face this situation head-on.

Getting out, he moon-walks his way to the crow’s nest.

Probably sensing him in advance, Zoro is standing where he can match the line of the sun, shining through the window, while having his back to the entrance when Sanji makes its way through.

“There’s no need to test it again every day, so just leave,” Zoro asserts.

Sanji sighs, as he for once wants to listen to Zoro so much. “Not before I try something I’ve thought about.”

“And since when do you have good ideas?”

Sanji crosses his arms. “When I rescued you from Crocodile’s cage? When I delayed Enel’s ark by attacking his engines before facing him? When I opened Enis Lobby’s Gates of Justice? Starting to find a pattern yet, human-plant? ”

A few beats pass, but finally Zoro’s shoulders slump with a sigh. “Fine, you have good strategies, but only when you’re unseen. Isn’t that part of the pattern too?”

“There’s no point if I don’t return to the light again, as much as you hate it.” Sanji rounds Zoro to meet a suspicious, unwelcoming eye that hopefully only hides the truth he has once witnessed from it, back at the waterfall.  “Supposedly.”

“Eh - ?” Zoro opens his mouth to utter, luckily, and by that makes the task easier for Sanji, as he can immediately use it to grab his face and meshed his own mouth to his.

Zoro tries to hum something, but Sanji has to make sure he acts as thoroughly as possible before he is thrown away through the window, and with each press of lips tries his best to make a profound contact, so the instinct holding Zoro captive will not be able to miss it.

Once overcoming his initial surprise, Zoro starts to react back with just as much force, not willing to let him take full leading so easily.

Instead of relief, like any normal person would feel for the cooperation, Sanji actually enjoys it. Thanks to becoming breathless, though, he does not have to face the painful temptation stretch it further than needed.

He somehow remembers then that he should check the results, as it was nothing but an experiment, and start jumping between different spots around Zoro.

“What the hell?” Zoro gasps, his head moving back and forth as he tries to catch a glimpse of him.

Grinning, Sanji stands right behind him and shifts him around. “It worked!”

Zoro blinks, but then stares out of the window he is now facing, which is finally not the wrong one to him, but just another window. A smile that only a free man can make is slowly drawn across his face, and he even releases a rare laugh that pulls at Sanji’s stomach much more than it should.

“How did you know what to do?” Zoro asks him.

Sanji slowly lets go of Zoro, eyes darting elsewhere. He clears his throat and lights up a cigarette, at long last.

“Unlike what Chopper said, I don’t think I annoyed you to the point your instinct will see me as a trigger to create energy, but that your body made it figure out that this is a human body, and you need the sun mainly for warmth- although it is something you get more effectively by a contact with someone else.” Sanji walks over to a window, although not one where the sun is seen; he is not that cold. “I’m the one who happens to touch you the most, during our quarrels, so I figured that was the reason you fixed on me, so I wanted to make sure you felt my warmth as effectively as possible.”

“Body warmth, huh…” Zoro mutters behind him.

They fall into silence, which Sanji desperately wants to get away from, but has no idea how to get out. Going near Zoro, ironically, has become intolerable.

“No, it’s both,” Sanji suddenly hears the other man says behind him, following by footsteps coming closer.

Sanji takes a long drag on his cigarette, and closes his eyes.

“Whether I liked it or not, you’ve been central in my life on this ship. All the times you got me to heat up, you influenced me to train even harder. I don’t depend on it, but by this point, it is almost as vital for me as the sense of Nakamaship I’ve developed."

Sanji huffs. “The point was that you’re a muscle-brain anyway.”

“Shut up, dumbass. I’ve simply persisted to one specific path - ”

This time, Sanji snorts.

“ - which made it hard for me to see alternative ones,” Zoro finishes explaining his insight, although a bit too annoyed for someone who has experienced one. It is not like Sanji want to ruin this moment for Zoro, but he has to get back on track, right after messing with their status quo.

This is how they communicate, and this is how it shall stay. Being able to fantasize a much more meaningful future with him than with anyone he has ever attempted to attach himself to does not matter.

“But since you keep trying multiple ones for no reason,” Zoro suddenly continues, “maybe combining to find a balance it will make you finally stop pretending like another person is better than you just by being born with the right set of milk glands.”

Sanji snaps his eyes open at that, forgetting all about his discomfort he has felt until just a second ago and coming forehead-to-forehead with Zoro. “Oi, just because you don’t appreciate that doesn’t mean you can talk about it like its speciality is unadmirable like that green head of yours.”

“It doesn’t matter what it is- you can keep pampering women, if it makes you happy like cooking for anyone regardless of gender. But you can’t let this cost your self-worth.”

The smoke from Sanji’s cigarette blocks his view, so he takes it out of his mouth for now. “Well, you did help to raise it during the last few days while I was constantly reminded of that stupid mistake you’ve done on a whim that I’ll never do, and I don’t see how cherishing women is beneath that. Then what do you suggest?”

“Blocking your path and see what you do about it.”

Before Sanji knows it, Zoro’s palms are on the back of his head and he is being pushed forward until their lips meet again, though this time for something simpler that still leaves the both of them frozen to their spot for the few seconds it lasts.

Shocked, Sanji tries to connect the different points that brought them to this- because if he has kissed Zoro to help him break through the seeds’ effect, Zoro has to have his own legitimate reason for this. He may not be dumb enough to force him like that to stop his so-called women problem, but it is too surreal for him that it could be what it looks to mean. How could anyone want him and yet trust him so much that they will not care about his admiring attitude toward others?

But Zoro’s eye, while not looking at him as tenderly as one would expect from someone with sentimental meanings behind this kind of action, is assuring it in his own way by staring at him with his frank, unreserved expression.

“Finally it looks like I'm the only one who was warmed,” Zoro smirks as he trails his fingers on Sanji’s burning cheeks.

“Shut up, shitty bastard,” Sanji murmurs as he flicks his hand away, but ultimately let Zoro’s fingers to comb some of his shiny hairs.

“Same to you, asshole.”

  ~~~

  Finally able to enjoy the sun properly, Zoro thinks back to the period of his life as a wanderer, where many times he had to walk under the warmth of the sun with hunger eating him from the inside.

Later, soon after joining Luffy’s crew, not only he did not have to worry about that- but he could actually build muscle more effectively, with no worry that his body would resist it- all thanks to one pesky, obnoxious cook coming abroad.

Even if there was a proper way to truly return him the favour, Zoro is not one to express that deep kind of gratitude directly, obviously, but since he happens to be the first one to get back to the ship from a stroll, for a change - even while the sun already barely presents in the sky - and only Sanji is there, as he stayed to look after the ship, he still wants to communicate it somehow.

He finds him leaning against the railing, watching the sea, and does not turn around as Zoro gets closer. The latter embraces him from behind with one hand, and turning his hair aside with the other so he could mouth the skin behind his ear.

Sanji sunk in a sharp breath, but his voice is mostly levelled when he speaks. “Are you bored?”

Despite Sanji is still uncertain about what they have started, as it is still too fresh for him- Zoro keeps being patient about it as usual: “No.”

“Then what's that about?”

Zoro smirks into his skin. “Isn't it clear by now? Disturbing you is always too tempting.”

“I thought you prefer doing that by picking on me until we start fighting.”

“Maybe, but that's when your mood is neutral.” He slowly nips his ear shell. “Now you're peaceful.”

Sanji is right by most probably figuring out that Zoro does not really have romantic moods, where all he wants is to be the man who initiates nice settings. He is a spontaneous kind of guy: he lets life lead him to find in a new island’s market something that the cook would like to receive only by a chance, and will not pull him to a place with unconventional, noteworthy settings, whatever that counts as, as letting it naturally occur around them is much better.

Just like waterfall creating a rainbow.

But when something reminds him of Sanji, he simply cannot help but look for him, no matter whether they end up trying to tear each other’s throats - and no matter what, there are still times where the cook makes him see red - or other behaviours that have to do with their proximity which feeds his satisfaction.

Because, as great as watching the sharpness in his eyes every time he uses an opportunity to drive him up the wall- being absorbed in the warmth of his smell and taste is quite remarkable, too.

“Sun's coming down,” Sanji mentions latterly.

Zoro hums into his shoulder agreement, even though he could care less about it so long Sanji is still there.

#zosan #zosan ficlet #my writing #marimo!zoro #plant!zoro

[nadziejastar]

So how do you think Isa would act/react after being saved, if they had gone with the mind control angle instead? Because, by my understanding, it wasn't a "clean" takeover, like with Terranort, instead more of a gradual infection until there was nothing of Isa left in Saix, enough that he hadn't noticed it himself. I feel like after the fact there would have to be a lot of soul-searching to figure out where Isa had ended and Xehanort began.

That’s a very great and also very complex question. It’s going to require a pretty long response, since there really are SO many plot holes to fill in. But I feel like any explanation I give won’t make sense without knowing what exactly happened to Isa in the first place, and what the true nature of Saix is. And I can’t do these concepts justice unless I go into detail. You’re absolutely right that Saix is very different from Terranort. I have a theory as to why Saix is such a unique case and it has to do with his orange eyes.

Three elements combine to create a life: a heart, a soul, and a body. But what of the soul and body left behind when the heart is lost? When the soul leaves the body, its vessel, life gives way to death, but what about when the heart leaves? A being does not perish when its heart leaves its body. The heart alone disappears into the darkness.

But first, in order to explain what I think happened to Isa, it’s important to get down to the basics. This chart is the most analogous I could find to the metaphysics of Kingdom Hearts. A complete person consists of three aspects that combine to make the true self. These aspects are Body, Soul, and Heart. When these three aspects are united, they connect the person to the Higher Self, henceforth referred to as Spirit.  

Body: Pretty straightforward. These are the 5 senses. The biological “shell” we exist in to interact with the physical world.

Soul: “Soul” and “mind” are used interchangeably in KH. It’s basically our life force, as well as the “database” of accumulated lifetime experiences. Our memories, our thoughts, etc. All information is recorded here like on a hard drive.

Heart: The seat of our emotions that allow us to form interpersonal relationships. The Heart is absolutely vital because it acts as the bridge between the Spirit and the lower aspects of our being. If the Heart is compromised, it cuts someone off from their connection to their Spirit. If it breaks it also cuts them off from the Soul and Body.

Spirit: This term describes a person’s essence when they are connected with the Divine Source. This would be their true, fully conscious and aware, spiritual self. This is the complete self that is capable of making fully conscious decisions with love, meaning, and purpose.

Kingdom Hearts mythology borrows heavily from ancient shamanism. There is a term called “soul fragmentation”. Minor fragmentation can disrupt soul energy and cause someone to not feel fully alive and engaged in life, develop chronic depression, addiction, etc. However the most severe form occurs when a living being is tormented into feeling extreme pain or suffering, especially when the trauma is repeated and they are never given the ability to heal. When the person reaches their breaking point and they cannot take the pain anymore, they will disassociate from their body and reality in order to get relief, and the soul will fracture into pieces. The ego that has been hurt or traumatized literally splits off and hides itself away. The most extreme type of soul fragmentation is where the soul leaves the body entirely and is caught between realities. Not dead, but pending in the astral realms.

It’s a natural and healthy survival mechanism that protects your soul from being annihilated, and shields the individual from the pain of severe trauma. But it also hinders the being from experiencing completeness. Since soul fragmentation is a natural coping mechanism, most of the time it is not severe and the fragments return on their own once things settle down. But this is not always the case. When the trauma has been particularly severe, repetitive and accompanied with extreme feelings of vulnerability and zero safety, the fragments do not return to the body. They refuse to return for fear of repeated trauma. Fragmentation may continue even after the consciousness has transitioned from the body.

Xehanort: Your body submits, your heart succumbs—so why does your mind resist?

Unfortunately, when the soul becomes fragmented it also makes possession by a low-vibrational spirit possible at the moment of dissociation. This is because nature abhors a vacuum, and will try to fill the void with something to be complete. When someone is not self-aware, they become susceptible to dark forces that can overpower their consent. A negative entity can keep the fractured pieces trapped in time, enabling full control of the possessed person.

This was what the Lingering Sentiment (also called the Lingering Will) was. A disembodied soul fragment of Terra that had taken up refuge in his suit of armor. The residual thoughts and sentiments that Terra had at the moment of his possession. Unable to move on, it remains trapped in that moment of trauma. It has a will of its own, but it’s not a truly conscious being in the way that complete humans are.Soul fragments are similar to a ghosts or poltergeists.

What it comes down to is this: if you can control the thoughts of the mind, you can control the soul, and you will then have control of the physical body. This is what Xehanort was attempting to accomplish with his mind control experiments. He wanted to fracture a person’s soul in order to make them a vessel. Fracturing the heart doesn’t work, because that results in the total breakdown of everything, including the body, which is the only thing Xehanort actually wants.

Mickey: You want him to dive back into Sora’s sleep? But Master, Sora’s heart is down in the darkest abyss. If Riku’s not careful, he might just get trapped down there with him. No… I’ll go instead.

The more fragmented the being, the more disconnected and less evolved the consciousness gradually becomes. If it is not healed and remains that way for long enough, it enters a danger zone; it continually sinks into the lowest dimensions of reality, where the personal shadow of the individual’s psyche and the collective unconscious start to flow together and merge.

Where this merge with the collective unconscious occurs, dark shadow beings start to emerge and multiply. In other words, the soul enters the the demonic realm, or the Underworld. This is no doubt what inspired the idea of the beach in the Realm of Darkness and even the Pureblood Heartless. The beach represents the meeting point between individual’s shadow self and the shadows of the collective unconscious; the darkness inherent in all people.

Yen Sid: The “Sleeping Keyholes,” are harder to reach. You’ll recall, in your first journey, that you brought many worlds back from the darkness–but some never returned completely. They still sleep, cut off from all outside channels. Not even the Heartless can enter.

If the soul is still not healed, it goes even deeper than the Underworld. In KH terms, that would be the Realm of Sleep. It becomes totally unaware of what is happening in the “surface” world as it escapes to a place of total darkness and safety with no conscious awareness whatsoever, just like going to sleep. In physical reality, it results in a sleepwalking, amnesiac or trance-like state of consciousness.

So if they stuck with the mind control plot, how would that affect Isa’s true consciousness? Basically, he would be in the same boat Sora would have been in if Riku didn’t dive into his heart to save him. Same with Terra if Aqua didn’t jump in after him. He’d sink down into the deepest, darkest abyss. Would Isa be conscious of what’s going on with his possessed self? Well, the spirit is only consciously aware of the contents of the soul when it is actually connected to the soul. When the spirit is disconnected from the soul, it becomes unconscious of the soul’s “database” of accumulated experiences. So, I would say no. He’d have no actual awareness of what his Nobody is doing.

But what about Saix then? What would that make him? And what about Isa’s heart? Well, basically I believe “Subject X” was nothing but a badly plagiarized version of Isa’s original backstory. So here’s what I’ll do: I’m going to use Nomura’s interviews and the Secret Reports to tell a story, and I’m going to edit the Reports from KH3 to more accurately reflect what I think was originally going to happen. This is my speculation on what the story would have been like if BBV2 never got cancelled.

Nomura: Master Xehanort commandeered Terra’s body, and became Ansem the Wise’s apprentice. According to Secret Ansem Report 1 From KHII, the young man asked to become a test subject for Ansem’s research so he could get his memories back. After that they began the study of darkness, but did he really lose his memories? And are those memories Terra’s or Master Xehanort’s?

At what point were Ansem and Xemnas separated from Xehanort? When did they lose their memories?Nomura: Sometime between Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts I. It happened during the events in the Ansem Reports from Kingdom Hearts I. Was it really memory loss? In the Birth by Sleep Secret Movie, Braig doubted it

When Terranort first becomes an apprentice, he seems really uncomfortable around Braig, suggesting that Terra is actually the one in control at first. Nomura also suggests as much. He probably does have amnesia, and it’s just his subconscious reacting to Braig. But Terra’s presence definitely seems to be the dominant one, at least at first. This is no doubt thanks to Aqua saving him from the abyss and Eraqus’ influence on his heart.

Secret Ansem’s Report 1

If I explore Xehanort’s heart by means of psychological tests, I may be able to awaken the past locked away within. My apprentice Even, too, has shown great interest in Xehanort’s memories. But is he really the right subject? Xehanort does indeed exhibit extraordinary talents…Too extraordinary…Perhaps they are even superhuman.

Even is very intuitive. He could sense that Ventus had no darkness in him at a glance. I think he could also sense darkness, and he took a special interest in Terranort because of this. I don’t think he trusted him. Anyway, Ansem conducts the initial experiment and successfully restores some of Terranort’s memory. Memories of Terra’s old life start coming back, but not fully. He’s desperate to know who he really is, so Ansem agrees to continue the experiments.

Secret Ansem’s Report 2

I have made a grave mistake. My study of the “darkness of the heart” began with a simple psychological test and quickly snowballed. Spurred on by my youngest apprentice, Ienzo, I constructed a massive laboratory in the basement of my castle. Unbeknownst to me, my six apprentices then began collecting a large number of subjects on which to perform dangerous experiments into the “darkness of the heart.”

From Ansem’s point of view, the experiments seemed to be having favorable results, and he even decides to build a huge laboratory in the castle’s basement. Ienzo spurred this on, but since Ienzo was just a child, he was no doubt told to suggest this idea to Ansem. Probably by Braig.

Ansem’s Report 7

I am studying material from the meteors that rained down that fateful night. What a find! The material is foreign to our world. It is elastic to the touch, and when two pieces are combined, they bond easily. None of the records even mention such a substance.

Was it introduced to this world when I opened the door? I wonder how many other such materials drift through the atmosphere of this tiny world… I wish I could soar off and find out! Could there be uncharted worlds up there? My curiosity never ceases to grow. But I should stop speaking of such unrealistic dreams. For now, there is no way to venture outside this world. My people and I are all but prisoners of this tiny place.

After repeated experiments, Ansem probes the depths of Terranort’s heart. But in addition to Terra’s memories, the experiments also restore his memories as Xehanort. Terranort remembers being a Keyblade wielder and his plan to create the X-blade. He regains his ability to use Master Xehanort’s Keyblade and opens Radiant Garden’s Keyhole.

Nomura: While studying darkness the young Xehanort opened the door to the heart of Radiant Garden. This would have been possible if he had a Keyblade, but according to the Ansem Reports 4-8 in KH, he did not yet know about the Keyblade at the time.

Since Xehanort is possessing Terra, he also regains a lot of Terra’s fragmented memories along with his own, and they become intertwined. This creates a very mixed-up sense of identity, similar to someone with multiple personality disorder. They have “alters” that are totally compartmentalized, completely unaware of the other’s existence. Terranort constantly flip-flops between alters; sometimes, he can use the Keyblade, and other times he doesn’t even know it exists. The title for Birth By Sleep Volume 2 was supposed to be 0.5 A Fragmentary Passage. It seemed like it would totally revolve around this concept of soul fragmentation, and its style of story-telling would reflect that. It was supposed to be “bits and pieces of something whole” and tell the untold stories of many characters across the entire timeline. It’s probably why the producer went “…what?” when Nomura told him about the idea.

Although Terranort flip-flops between alters, Braig can see that the memory experiments worked, and the Xehanort alter remembers their original agreement. So, they decide now is the time to create vessels. Braig acts as Xehanort’s handler during the times he goes back to his Terra alter and they begin the experiments.

Ansem’s Report 2

It is my duty to expose what this darkness really is. I shall conduct the following experiments:

Extract the darkness from a person’s heart.

Cultivate darkness in a pure heart.

Both suppress and amplify the darkness within.

The experiments caused the test subject’s heart to collapse, including those of the most stalwart. How fragile our hearts are! My treatment produced no signs of recovery. I confined those who had completely lost their hearts beneath the castle.

But the experiments are not working. All the subjects experience the collapse of their hearts, making them useless as vessels.

Ansem’s Report 11

If the princesses and the Keyblade are connected, they should resonate.I’ve chosen a girl. I don’t know if she holds the princesses’ powers, but I will find out. She may lead me to the key bearer.

Sometime before Mickey’s visit from his flashback in KH2, Kairi is abducted by the apprentices and is experimented on.

Memoirs

On the day we finally secured our entry, we descended the long spiral stair at the heart of the castle to find a dark space below it, lined with cages. There wasn’t light enough to see if they were inhabited, and we were in no position to call out to any occupants within. Yet we could feel it. A definite presence, there in the black. Terror washed over us, and we immediately regretted coming. But just as we turned to flee, we heard the faintest of voices. The urge to run was nigh overpowering, but someone or something beckoned us on. There, framed by a tenuous sliver of light, we found her. It was too dim to make out her features. We spoke to her in hushed whispers. Who was she? Why was she imprisoned here? She had no answers for us. Had no memories at all. She was an enigma, but I knew I wanted to help her. Lea was determined to free her, too. We slipped deeper into the castle that day knowing only that we wanted, with all our hearts, to save her.

Isa and Lea also come to the castle for their own personal reason. But at some point they become aware of Kairi’s situation and try to help her. I think the “stray puppy” scene was actually foreshadowing. I think Kairi was going to be another “stray puppy” that Lea would want to help.

Since Isa is basically a male tsundere, he may scold Lea for it, but he likes puppies just as much as Lea does. Even the manga jokingly references Isa’s love of dogs. One of Isa’s weapons in 358/2 Days is named after a lunar goddess who is often depicted with a hunting dog as a companion and she was considered the patron and protector of young girl children. So given their personalities, they both attempt a rescue of Kairi. They are unsuccessful and the apprentices catch them.

Xemnas: “As your flesh bears the sigil, so your name shall be known as that…of a recusant.”

Isa, as a Moon personality archetype, has a large capacity for darkness. Even can sense this. So Braig and Terranort take a particular interest in him and dub him “Subject X” for being the most promising prospective vessel for the X-blade. He becomes Xehanort’s favorite lab rat. They do horrible things to him, including carving the Recusant’s Sigil onto his flesh.

Lea doesn’t go through anything nearly as horrific, because as a Sun personality archetype, his potential for darkness is not as great as Isa’s. Plus, there’s a better use for him. He is a good source of trauma for Isa. If the apprentices threaten to torture Lea instead, they can greatly increase Isa’s mental anguish and also get him to submit more easily. He’ll let himself get tortured to protect Lea. Isa’s Mystery Gear weapon (the one that’s supposed to bring out the wielder’s true personality) is actually a reference to a myth about a rabbit who is so selfless, he offers himself as food to a hungry beggar because he has no other food. So I think this is a fitting story line for his personality. Isa endures as much as he can possibly handle until he reaches his limit. He dissociates, his soul fragments…but his heart doesn’t break. Everyone realizes what a special subject he really is.

Isa is now an amnesiac in a trance-like state, leaving his body wide open for possession. Terranort successfully implants a piece of his heart into him. Isa gets Xehanort’d, and gets gold eyes and pointy ears. Weirdly, his BbS concept art shows a young Isa with gold eyes, along with his normal version with green eyes. Was there going to be a scene in BBS showing him get Xehanort’d? Was this reference art for BbS Volume 2? Who knows. But from here, I will refer to him as “Isanort”.

Secret Ansem’s Report 2

As soon as I found out, I called my apprentices together and ordered them not only to cease their studies, but to destroy the results of their research thus far. What on earth was happening within the hearts of my six beloved apprentices? While pursuing the mystery of the darkness of the heart, could they themselves have strayed into its depths? Yet I remain the most foolish of all, for having begun these experiments. We are not meant to interfere in the depths of another’s heart, no matter what our reasons for doing so…And my error plunged me into despair.

Experiments of the Heart – Notes on Subject X, Excerpt 2

Subject’s memories have not returned, and our conversations remain less than lucid. My pilot studies used a handful of subjects, but none possessed the fortitude to endure them. Ultimately, all suffered the collapse of their hearts. I knew it would be a heavy blow to lose a subject as unique as him. Upon discovering the tests I’ve been conducting, my master demanded that I cease my work immediately and destroy what research I have compiled. Worse still, he ordered the release of my remaining subjects. He is gone. Where is Subject X now? Has “wise” Master Ansem hidden him away? Whatever the case, I will not be deterred. I will get back the first successful subject of my grand experiment. —Xehanort

Anyway, Ansem the Wise discovers what Terranort and the other apprentices have been doing and he is horrified. He demands they destroy their research and release all the subjects immediately. He falls into despair for having begun these experiments in the first place and blames himself. Mickey arrives and consoles him. From the novels, we know that the apprentices kept Kairi sleeping in a pod even after Ansem ordered the release of the subjects; I would wager they kept Lea as well. He’s Subject X’s friend. But Ansem the Wise does get a hold of Isanort and takes him away. Terranort wants him back, though.

Experiments of the Heart – Notes on Subject X, Excerpt 1

Subject was found in the castle basement shortly after dawn. Male, approximately fifteen years old. After seven days’ observation, he spoke his first words, but could not provide a name. Subject exhibits signs of profound amnesia and displays concern for where his friend is. His words suggest that he arrived with another, though he cannot recall the name of his erstwhile companion. All efforts to explore those memories have met with a rejection response.

After my initial experiments on my apprentice, I ceased my research into the heart, my hand stayed by some profound fear I could not fathom. My fears proved to be well-founded. And now this subject is just like my apprentice was when I first discovered him: devoid of memories. The fault is mine for having begun this research. And yet this subject is someone who could actually benefit from my original work. My apprentice, Xehanort, had begun to reclaim his lost past thanks to these very experiments: by traversing the heart, we have a direct path into memory. If my research can help him regain his memory, perhaps I can atone for the mistakes I have made. Who is he? This is a question I cannot ignore. I must ascertain his identity.—Ansem

It’s funny to me because I honestly don’t even have to change the Reports that much to make them fit Isa’s situation perfectly. It’s really too easy. Like, they’re just too good of a fit to be a coincidence. Anyway, Ansem takes Isanort away and tries to figure out who he is. Because Lea is gone, no one can identify him and Ansem has no idea what to do with a mysterious teenager with profound amnesia. He feels it is his duty to help him regain his memories, and reluctantly performs experiments on his heart.

Recollections

Am I alive? I awoke in a cell, alone until the researcher came and asked me countless questions to uncover my identity. I had no answer to offer him. A friend…that is the sum total of my memory. I could not even recall my name. I was simply called “X” there. I found no solace during the time I spent in that dark and lonely cell. One day, a man came to take me from the prison. I could not see him for the darkness, save that he wore an eyepatch. Even now, I feel no closer to understanding who I am. —Unknown

This is how Isanort would be after Ansem takes him into his custody and he helps him become coherent enough to talk. He has Xehanort’s heart fragment in him, and his soul was fractured, so his memory is a total mess. A person’s heart getting swallowed by Xehanort’s is a gradual process, so he’s still not fully Xehanort yet. His heart still remembers certain things. He remembers a friend, that he was called “X”, and that a man with an eyepatch took him from the prison cell to somewhere else (probably when he was going to be tortured). And his memory cuts off there. It’s too traumatic; these memories stay blocked out and relegated to his subconscious.

“The mind forgets, but the heart will always remember. And what is the heart’s memory but love itself?” ― Twan Eng Tan, The Gift of Rain

During the experiments, Ansem connects with the depths of Isanort’s heart, bringing back his lost past. Since Terra and Isa were both fragmented previously, a piece of Ansem gets left behind inside of their hearts, affecting their eye color. This is how Saix gets orange eyes, not the gold ones the other vessels have. Since the heart is the bridge, Ansem can restore the “databank” of information, even though the real Isa is still lost in the Realm of Sleep. Even when Isa’s heart gets completely consumed, the soul data will remain. So this alter ego of Xehanort will now gain access to the collective sum of Isa’s memories, thoughts, experiences and emotions. He will believe he is Isa—the real Isa. He has no other memories to give him any other identity. But of course, he’s really not.

Sometime later, Isanort is stolen back from Ansem the Wise, who gets banished to the Realm of Darkness. But then something goes wrong. Terranort is struggling badly with his split personality, as well as Ansem the Wise’s influence on his heart. He starts thinking he’s actually Ansem and he turns on everyone, steals their hearts, then becomes a Heartless himself. He becomes Ansem Seeker of Darkness, who also has orange eyes. Everyone becomes a Nobody at this point. Saix is created as the Nobody of Isanort, similar to Xemnas being the Nobody of Terranort. He’s STILL another self of Xehanort. But thanks to Ansem the Wise’s experiment, Saix retains all of Isa’s memories. So he doesn’t seem any different from the other Nobodies who never lost their memory.

Lea has no reason to think his friend’s situation is any different from his. They were both wearing black cloaks then they became Nobodies. They were both experimented on and are both victims, though Axel wasn’t hurt as badly. He’s still mostly the same person afterwards. Nobodies lose their heart, but what makes them unique is that their soul and body remain due to their strong will. He has no clue what really happened to his friend, though. And despite being another Xehanort, Saix actually thinks he’s Isa and he genuinely wants to overthrow Xemnas with Lea. They make these plans together and work cooperatively. Saix doesn’t trust Xemnas and wants to figure out his secrets. And Lea feels the same, plus he wants to support his friend. Xemnas really likes Saix for some reason, so they work together to get Saix to the top of the hierarchy.

Nomura: It is a fact that Saix and Axel probably wanted to take over the Organization, however they didn’t understand what they were going to do or how to do it. As for Xemnas, he knew about this betrayal, but never brought it up. Generally, one’s conduct was for the sake of their purpose.

Xemnas knows ALL about their plans to overthrow the Organization, but he doesn’t try to get rid of them like he did with Marluxia or Larxene. Why? Nomura says that they were serving their purpose. With Lea, it’s probably because he’s very useful. He follows orders, eliminates traitors and since Xemnas knows where his loyalty stands, he can predict his behavior.

Xemnas: But weakness has the power to awaken that which is dormant. It is clear that through his actions, however foolish they may have been, Axel has touched Sora’s heart. Perhaps HE will soon awaken.

Axel was very useful to Xemnas in 358/2 Days. Riku wound up in Castle Oblivion because he “resonated” with Sora. And Axel grew closer and closer to Roxas during Days. I think that’s why they kept sending him back to Castle Oblivion. Xemnas thought that Axel might “resonate” with Ventus, allowing him to find the Chamber of Waking. It didn’t work, though, because Ventus’ heart was said to be inside of Roxas.

I just did what I thought was the best thing at the time. For Roxas, for Xion, for the Organization—and for Isa. But most of all for me.

This is from the novel. It’s Axel’s inner monologue after Roxas gets angry at him for attacking Xion. He’s STILL loyal to his friend, even though his friend is no longer even there anymore. I think this is why Axel was never considered a traitor. He’s technically still loyal to Xehanort, even if he doesn’t realize it.

Xemnas: The poor fool. How long will he keep chasing the illusion of friendship, when he himself lacks emotion? Trying so hard to retrieve what he has lost, when it may never have existed in the first place. He deserves nothing more than our pity.

I think Xemnas’ quote in KH2FM+ was even more about Axel’s relationship with Saix than it was about his relationship with Roxas. Xemnas’ face was shrouded as he just stared at Saix. It seemed like the same visual cue they used when Xigbar was asking about the Chamber of Repose and the Chamber of Waking. It felt like a hint that there’s more to be revealed on this subject that is still shrouded in mystery. Axel’s friendship with Saix never existed in the first place. It was all an illusion. Xemnas knew. It really shows how he was able to use Axel’s desire for friendship to manipulate him.

Poppet…? Apparently he meant Xion. But what resemblance was he referring to? Xion was just as much a puppet as ever. Saix had no time for these deliberately oblique remarks from Xigbar.

“Nonsense. I see no problem whatsoever.”

Xigbar only laughed louder. “Pa-ha-ha!” No, apparently you don’t!”

“Something you find amusing?”

“Oh the things you hear from a guy with no heart,” Xigbar said through his hilarity.

As for Saix, Xemnas was probably just amused because he is not actually a threat to him. They’re the same person, even if Saix is none the wiser. This conversation is from the novel, but it also happens in the game, as well as the movie. Saix clearly has no idea he has been Xehanort’d. Braig does know, and he finds it hilarious.

“Don’t let us down now, kiddo. Shouldn’t be too much trouble without a heart,” Xigbar told Saix.

Then there’s this scene later on, also from the novel. It’s when Xemnas decides to eliminate either Roxas or Xion, and orders the memory devices to be placed. Xigbar calls Saix “kiddo”. I think Braig played a huge role in the human experiments and Isa’s condition. Seeing Saix act so clueless made him remember experimenting on teenage Isa and he nostalgically calls him “kiddo”.

“I’ll bring him back to our side. Let me—”

“That’s enough.” Saix turned his head, giving Axel a sidelong look over his shoulder. “Traitor.”

Axel scowled darkly.

“I’m going. You know, don’t you, that you won’t stop me except by force? And even if you tried, you would fail.” Saix went on his way. Memories informed him that he hated this kind of thing.

There are other scenes from the novels that are phrased in a manner that made me feel Saix is simply Xehanort who has Isa’s memories. Right after Roxas leaves the Organization, it talks about how his “memories informed him” that having conflict with Axel and fighting was something he hated. It’s just phrased in a way that makes his memories sound so…foreign to him. Like they’re so at odds with his current personality that even he doesn’t understand them.

Saix blocked the sweep of the Keyblade. It brought back those long-ago days when there had been some pleasure in fighting. The Claymore slammed into Roxas…And he recalled things from long, long ago.

This is while he fights Roxas. What exactly is he remembering? It sounds like he’s remembering Isa’s past. What pleasure did Isa get while fighting? That’s definitely not something we ever got to learn in KH3.

So why can’t Saix just regrow a heart like everyone else? Nature dislikes a void and seeks to fill it as soon as possible. Well, I think Saix does have a Heart…sort of. He shares a heart with Xemnas and Xehanort. The jokes Xigbar makes about him having no heart are a reference to Isa’s heart.

This is a scene from the KH2 novel that isn’t in the game. It happens after Kairi is kidnapped by Axel, and Saix faces off with Riku in Twilight Town. Namine is with him.

“You have no part in this!” Saix slapped her across the face, hard enough to throw her to the ground.

“I feel bad for you, too,” she told him.

“What are you talking about?” Saix towered over Namine.

“You haven’t even noticed yet…that you have a heart.”

Several Nobodies emerged from a rift out of the corridors.

“A heart? I have a heart? No one wants your nonsense!”

Saix raised his sword over Namine—but Riku was there with Soul Eater to intercept the blow.

“Hmph. I don’t have time for these games.” Darkness welled up from a rift behind Saix. “Run along and help your dear hero.”

With that, he disappeared.

“Are you all right?” Riku helped Namine to her feet.

“Now I understand…,” she murmured.

“Namine…? You understand what?”

She was silent for a moment and quietly shook her head as she stood. “It’s nothing. We have to find Kairi.”

Namine realized something important about Saix, but she had no time tell Riku about it. I think she realized at that moment that Saix’s true heart is actually captured by Xehanort. So, where exactly is Isa’s heart, then?

And he had some kind of power—something that gave her that weird feeling when she fought him. Like a Saix aura. Who was he?

That’s what Xion says in the novel after she fights Riku. She says he gives off a “Saix aura”. Interesting choice of words. We know that Riku has Xehanort’s Heartless living inside of him, which is the cause of his dark aura. Why does Saix give off the same aura unless he’s different from the rest of the Organization in some way? In Days, there are a couple of optional boss fights that really stand out. Anti-Riku and Anti-Saix. The only Anti-form boss fights in the game.

In “KHI” when Sora stabs the “Keyblade of people’s hearts” into himself to release his heart and Kairi’s, Sora’s Heartless and Nobody were born. When Master Xehanort and Terra:Xehanort stab themselves with the Keyblade, were his and Terra’s Nobodies not created?

Nomura: That is not yet clear. However I will say that the fixed sentiment that remained just after Master Xehanort stabbed himself with the Keyblade was not a Heartless.

If Isa’s heart has been swallowed by Xehanort’s heart, then he should be in a similar state to Terra, who became Xehanort’s Guardian. It mostly does his bidding, but it is capable of recognizing certain people that it had a strong emotional connection to. It clearly remembered Riku in DDD, and he recognized it as well. And it refuses to attack Aqua and Ven in KH3. Nomura said that it is not a Heartless.

What happens to the hearts of those who have had Master Xehanort’s heart planted within them?Nomura: They’ll gradually be swallowed by it. As for Master Xehanort, he plans to control them completely. The planted parts of the heart are captured rather than disappear.

It’s Terra’s captured heart that’s being controlled by Xehanort. That’s what I think Saix’s Berserk state is. That’s what I think happened to Isa’s heart. The Berserk state is his repressed shadow self.

Second in command who longs for the heart he does not have. Only the moon breaks his icy calm.

Soul fragmentation plays a huge role in creating the shadow self. This is a part of the subconscious that is composed of repressed feelings, instincts, impulses, weaknesses, desires, and fears. The heart remembers even when the mind forgets. The Berserk state contains all of his rage and pain from the repressed memories of being experimented on and tortured. So it goes insane during the full moon, which brings the repressed memories of the subconscious to the surface. Because of this pure rage, it’s a very effective weapon.

Saïx: Do you know what happens to those who lose their true purpose? Inevitably, they destroy themselves.

The Berserk form is used when Saix fights Lea at the Keyblade Graveyard. I noticed during the final battle that Lea doesn’t try too hard to fight Saix. He pleads with Isa to stop attacking and looks directly into his eyes. Berserk Saix raises his Claymore, but he stops and doesn’t attack Lea. Then Xemnas shows up. Of course, canon!Saix was fully in control of himself and was just pretending to be loyal to Xemnas (which makes no sense).

I think originally, that scene would have showed that Isa’s heart still remembered Lea even when his mind didn’t, and he didn’t want to hurt his best friend. Just like The Guardian wouldn’t attack Aqua and Ven. He promised his friends that he would set things right. Terra remembered his true purpose. Same with Saix. His heart would finally remember that friend whose name he couldn’t remember. So Xemnas has to step in and take over the fight.

Young Xehanort: It’s for traversing hearts to reach worlds. Not for traversing worlds to reach hearts.

Lastly, there’s the issue of how to heal Isa and what his personality would be like after getting saved. There is a concept called “soul retrieval”. Soul retrieval is an ancient practice that shamans use in order to bring an individual who is suffering from soul fragmentation back to wholeness. The shamanic approach to healing this condition is to enter an altered state of consciousness and journey into the inner spirit world, retrieve the lost parts of the soul, and reintegrate them into the psyche of the afflicted person. This is where the whole concept of “birth by sleep” and “the power of waking” comes from.

The soul cannot return, in whole or part, if there is anything occupying that space. So it is not just about calling the soul back in, but also removing from the energy field all that is blocking the return of the soul parts. The inner spirit realms are often inaccessible and are guarded by heavy defenses that make it difficult or impossible for the fragmented person to go through on their own, without the guidance of a shaman. 

Generally, it is not recommended for anyone other than experienced shamans to attempt a soul retrieval. It can be very dangerous even to experienced shamans. Only one who has gone through a shamanic death initiation can go to these realms without risking injury or even physical death. There are some scary parts of someone’s subconscious and the astral realm in general; parts that could be threatening, angry, violent, self-destructive, primal, and so forth. It’s probably why it’s considered something that only a Keyblade Master can do.

Mickey: There’s something real strong that binds us to each other. Even in the darkness, you can reach him. All you gotta do is follow that connection!

Soul fragments generally hold a lot of psychic pain and trauma. Realigning them is not an easy endeavor and requires assistance from those who are balanced and connected with the higher realms of light. Fragmented soul pieces may appear as shadow selves as well. When Riku dives into Sora’s heart, he sees anti-Soras as well as normal Soras.

In these soul retrieval journeys, harsh energies manifest in the form of archetypal images of monsters, demons and other dangerous beasts. These are the guardians of the soul, or in psychology they are known as defense mechanisms of the psyche. The shaman must overcome these in order to persuade the soul fragments to come back.

Once the lost fragments are located, the shaman communicates with them, in order to ascertain how or why it left. They will acknowledge the former pain and gently negotiate the soul’s return to the body. Each part is gathered and brought back through the “veil” between the worlds and gently reconnected into the person, by blowing into their heart.

The soul cannot be forced back, though. It has to want to come back. The shaman can only persuade it. The soul pieces must process the original trauma that caused the splitting and find a way to overcome it. I think this is why the theme song for KH3 is “Face My Fears”. It’s all about confronting the darkness within and emerging stronger and more whole than ever before.

Soul retrieval brings back one’s consciousness, personal essence, life force and vitality. It is a major action that changes a person’s life. A soul retrieval is one of the most powerful forms of healing a person can experience. Upon the return of lost soul parts, people feel a sense of well being and wholeness, childlike joy, exuberance and vitality. They experience a dramatic shift in consciousness, a sense of personal power, and a new level of spirit to heart connection. Not only do I think Isa would be the same person he was before he fragmented and not influenced by Xehanort…I think he’d be more spiritually healthy than ever.

But someone would need to perform this soul retrieval on Isa. You need to be able to ease the person’s pain to convince them to come back to reality. For such severe fracturing, a deep heart connection with the person is mandatory. Anyone else would just wind up hurting him and fragmenting him even further. This is another danger of soul retrieval. The only one who could do it for Isa is Lea. But he’s not a Keyblade Master.

Nomura: Ansem’s research results will become the key to healing the “pain” in the future of the story.

Nomura: The data that Ansem has hidden within Sora is the secret to that revival. When Ansem had become DiZ, and studied the heart and emotions, the results he found he hid within Sora.

Nomura: You could say it’s the key. That data contains the details explaining the way to connect lost hearts.

Nomura: There are two possible meanings of the “key.” One of which is the ‘hardware’ key, which opens doors - this is what keys are in general, and the other is the ‘light’ key, that opens something else. In this case, it is currently unknown as to which type of key Sora must find. This is the main storyline of Kingdom Hearts III - Sora must go on an adventure to find the “key” without knowing what or where it is.

Although the ancients discouraged untrained people from performing soul retrieval, technically anyone can do it. Truly empathetic and unconditionally loving humans gain the spiritual power to recollect the consciousness fragments of traumatized people that are trapped in the astral realms. When someone practices unconditional love, it helps to integrate and heal the fragments, as well as neutralize any negative emotional energy in the environment. THIS is what I think Ansem’s research was originally all about. The “power of waking” exists in us all. Sora is looking for a key that is inside of him the whole time.

Go on, you just keep running. But I’ll always be there to bring you back!“

The Realm of Sleep exists in the deepest, darkest abyss. Only the farthest-reaching light could possibly penetrate darkness that deep.

#long ass post #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts meta #kingdom hearts 3 meta #kh3 spoilers #anti-kh3 #kh saix #kh isa #kh axel #kh lea

[fluffmugger]

introspectivenavelgazer said: I’m curious about your thoughts OH HOLD ON BB I GOT OPINIONS. ITS BAD. 

sabacc said: ah, the disturbing things bingo movie oh no. nononoo. Make no mistake. This was not a “nooope” situation.  There was precisely one moment in a teaser that actually triggered me, and that was so fucking poorly done in the end product I ACTUALLY ENDED UP LAUGHING. I’m  not exaggerating, check the post. First time I saw that it pulled a very hard visceral cord, and when the Kersh scene came up in the movie, I was huddled up in my chair, hoodie on, ear blocking ready to ride out that wave of programmed fear.   Instead, I fucking laughed because the whole thing was so fucking ridiculous. What was a deft, vicious piece of editing got completely fucking wrecked.  And that’s pretty much what happened to the story, that film was a hot mess of absolute bullshit.  It not only completely fucked up the overarching themes of the original story, it made no fcking narrative sense in and of itself as a movie verse Lo, there be spoilers...

While some parts I can understand for expediency - such as sidelining Audra and shifting Bill’s obsessive run to IT being based on a local child that he ultimately fails to save, why the fuck have Audra in it in the first place? A five second appearance so ...wha, you can make a running joke on Bill sucking at writing endings that’s just an endless sledge against King? What was the fucking point of that?     Likewise the inclusion of Silver, stripped down to a single cameo that only got vaguely saved because it put him in the place where he could meet aforementioned kid (now living in Bill’s old house in a most contrived of plot points but I will allow it because it works) and form an emotional connection. The whole reason for them standing to face IT is shifted from the pact they formed - the childhood vow they could never break - to Beverley instead somehow magically seeing the future while trapped in the deadlights, and realising that if they didn’t finish IT once and for all, even after the cycle they would all eventually take their own lives like Stan did, unable to live with the taint.  While this could be a interesting take in and of itself - if you do not face the demons of your childhood, they will destroy you one way or another - it completely shifts the core motivation to one of self interest.    Initially the Losers (especially Bill) did actually take on IT from a position of self interest (and young Bill actually has a moment of self agony over it, is he only leading  his friends into a deadly crusade because he wants vengeance for Georgie? Does he have that right? Is he nothing but a “selfish little shit waving a tin sword”), but it became so much more, and these children became monster slayers.   It’s the hero’s journey.   And shifting that makes it a corruption, not into a subversion.   It was also so damned messily handled - it could have been interesting , the idealism of childhood shifting to pragmatism of adulthood, but it was reduced to a handwave threat, and they didn’t need to be threatened.  The original story had a whole intertwined creep that was fucking beautiful, this veneer of adults in control of their own lives and destiny being stripped away in thin layers, with the Losers gradually beginning to dimly perceive they are simply parts  of some great cosmic machinery and their illusions of control and indeed  their entire lives are all just that - illusions. The undermining of reality and stripping of power were great Adult Fears that played fucking beautifully in the book.  The silent unspoken Imposter Syndrome, hinted at, but never directly addressed, that all their successes were simply due to being touched by IT.  In the movie? Oh man we’re all gonna kill ourselves if we don’t fix this and it means ...nothing to the characters. Seriously. They all still walk anyway.  And   way too much fucking time is wasted on characters abruptly deciding to leave only to Not At The Last Second.   It’s just a big fat clumsy mess.

They completely chunked out Bowers taking Mike out of the final battle, yet still included him in the film - Why? what was the fucking purpose?  They also intimated that IT was responsible for killing his father - ironically the one fucking murder Bowers did commit -   and adult Bowers was delightfully played, but he served  no fucking purpose whatsoever. Not to drop them to the lesser number of power (5 as opposed to 7), not to drive them into the sewers, what was the fucking purpose of having him there? He shows up, doesn’t even break Eddie’s arm (so there’s your other purpose of resetting the gameboard to the positions of the last confrontation) gets stabbed, gets killed, and they go on la de da.

Michael’s story is absolutely fucked into unrecognisability.  I’ve already ranted about killing off his parents - it’s a dumb fucking decision and I will never fucking excuse it. William Hanlon is a key player in the books, inadvertently preparing his son for his role of watchman.  This is completely lost to the most basic of fucking racial stereotypes.   Holy shit they actually refer to his parents as fucking crack heads  at one point (although this is later revealed to be a fake out by Pennywise), but what does it serve?   While you can argue that removing him is what destabilises Mikes character THERE IS NO FUCKING REASON TO HAVE AN UNSTABLE MIKE.   In the sequel, Mike is clinging to sanity by less than the skin of his teeth, drugging Bill against his will at one point, actively leading everyone into danger with a false promise of victory and generally acting like a desperate fucking madman. Why take a dignified black character and turn him into an unstable Kassandra?  You don’t need a fucking unstable Kassandra, the very nature of what IT is, and its horrific, aeons-long parasitic relationship with Derry is so fucking unbelievable in and of itself it does that for you.   

Likewise Eddie’s adult career  is suddenly changed to being a ...investment? insurance? boring person thing? what the shit? Why not have him own the goddamn largest fleet private chauffeurs? Why change? that one tied back into his navigation skills at least, and there’s serious coin in that shit.   And fucking hell do not get me started on fucking Myra fucking hell if you want to touch a complex and fucked up relationship like that, you don’t handwave it. His entire rampant hypochondria is shifted to  something closer to ...smart arse with some small neuroses?  Ok, but you’re telling me this..why? what is the purpose of this?

Completely out of left field, Richie is heavily intimated to be Queer. Ok.     But they then go on to jam in additional homophobia (and this is on top of Mellon’s death that to be fucking honest is shot way too fucking far on the side of “lookit the smartmouth gay get stomped”)  and Pennywise threatening to reveal Richies Great Secret to the point I literally leaned over and asked His Lordship “The script writer does know this is set in the fucking 21st century, right?”   It could have been a fascinating side story of a man whose trauma keeps himself in a cage even when he doesn’t have to, but it’s not. It’s a hot mess of what the fuck let’s throw a gay (but not too obviously gay we’ll do it so we can claim he’s not so it still sells in china and we have plausible deniability hide your queers, hide your queers!)  in just so we can kill the object of his affection.  YOU DON’T NEED TO AMP UP THE ANGST OVER EDDIES DEATH. WE ALL KNOW ITS COMING. AND IT HURTS.    You know what woulda been ground breaking? You’ve laid the groundwork with Beverley already, have Richie in the deadlights as he is, have Eddie do his Big Damn Hero Save, and then have richie see what’s coming and shove eddie out of the way.  Having Richie die instead of Eddie? Holy crap, no one would have seen that coming. It would have blown up fucking everyone, film, telemovie and book fans alike.   (Also holy shit adult richie, far from being the smart, funny man we all know is a wanker. His comments at the chinese dinner party have none of the genuine humour of the book or even the  Curry adaptation, he comes across as a mean spirited bullying dickhead that you’d all go to the toilet at the same time and climb out the window to avoid. In a kid it’s funny. Kids have no filters. From an adult, it’s fucking poison)  

We also have all these elements of childhood coming back, but there is no purpose to them in the film.  In the book, it’s the wheel turning, the gameboard sliding back to where it was last time they faced IT, a very real embodiment of unfinished business and an inability to escape your childhood - a fact the characters are very well aware of and in varying ways horrified by their own regressions -  but in the film it’s just leaving the audience wondering why are they doing that? why’s that there. what the fuck man. why have bill stutter? So you connect the adults to the kids by using the broadest fucking flanderised tropes possible?  It doesn’t even stand on its own two feet, it relies on way too much back knowledge from other sources. And it reeks as it they bolted on large chunks of some other horror movie script that was presented to the studio and changed the names.  There’s no psychological implications, there’s no deftness, hell there’s no fucking chemistry with any of the fucking actors.  It’s reduced to a jumpscare gore fest. It doesn't even compare to the first half.  It got so bad that by the second act I was literally pointing at the screen and BAM right on cue, there was the jumpscare. That’s how fucking predictable it is.   The CGI was shithouse (I actually burst out laughing during the Paul Bunyan scene as well as the Kersh one it was so fucking bad) the ending is..my god they literally prance around him screaming “fucking clown” until he shrinks, they pluck his heart and crush it. Fuck me, the Curry adaptation had its problems but the savage, ritualistic destruction of IT as they all fell to their knees around and tore it apart with their bare hands had fucking balls at least.  And BTW, it’s only the caverns and the house on neibolt street that get destroyed, the rest of the town is just fuckin’ dandy and it’s like DUDE THE TOWN WAS LITERALLY BUILT ON IT. DERRY CANNOT SURVIVE WITHOUT IT.  IT’S A PARALLEL FOR THE HORRIFIC CANKER  AT THE HEART OF EVERY “LOVELY” AMERICAN SMALL TOWN. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY SOMETHING TO PLAY WITH.  and then, THEN they end it with a letter from Stan. See, Stan didn’t kill himself because in one brief, horrific instant he remembered everything, and even as a child knew he couldn’t face it again and bailed, no... he knew he was going to buckle and killed himself so..he wouldn’t die they wouldn’t all die what. the fuck. was the purpose. of THAT.

In short, it was a phoned in, badly written, badly edited piece of shit, completely purposeless and not even worthy of its predecessor. 

#IT

[the-seas-song]

Tolkien Gen Week Day 5

DAY FIVE: diversity How does diversity affect Tolkien’s characters and your interpretations of them? Does a disability or orientation affect relationships with other characters? Have you lost sleep thinking about hobbit race relations? This is the day to consider all the other factors that go into a character’s life.

Work has been insane lately, so unfortunately I wasn't able to write everything I wanted to for this amazing week, but I really wanted to make sure I got this one done.

This is mainly a thank you post. First, I want to give a big thank you to @starlightwalking for creating and running this week. A lot of time must have gone into it, and I've had a great time.

I love all forms of love, and one of my favorite things about Tolkien's works is that he highlights a large variety of emotionally intimate platonic relationships. Thank you Tolkien. And also thank you to everyone who worked on the films, for not only portraying those in the texts, but actually adding and expanding the amount of deep platonic relationships.

As someone who is gray aro/ace, another one of my favorite things about Tolkien's works is the diversity in racial sexualities.

Elves only fall in love once in their life (technically it is possible for them to fall in love a second time, but we are only given two cases in all of Tolkien’s works, and both times there was a greater power at work). The foundation of elven-kind is memory and emotion. Their souls control their bodies. Elvish memories remain crystal clear, no matter how many decades or centuries pass. They never fade, even the slightest bit. Connected to memory is emotion. Elves feel things in a clearer way. They are ruled by emotion. They can literally just lie down and kill themselves with their mind, if they wish. Also, because of this clarity, they know from the beginning if they are feeling romantic-love or friendship-love for someone. There is nothing more important to an elf than their relationships, of any kind. Their anti-possessiveness goes so far that they will not even say 'I have two children’.

Tolkien says in LACE that almost all elves marry, and marry young. However, the entire legendarium contradicts that. Over half the elves we meet very marry/are never said to be married, and almost all of those that do marry do so well into their centuries and millenniums. Feanor and Nerdanel are literally the only elven couple that we are told married young.

Also, who could ever forget the tragedy of Beleg's death? “Thus ended Beleg Strongbow, truest of friends, greatest in skill of all that harboured in the woods of Beleriand in the Elder Days, at the hand of him whom he most loved; and that grief was graven on the face of Túrin and never faded.” - The Silmarillion

We are also given a tantalizing hint of one deep female friendship: “Fingolfin’s wife Anaire refused to leave Aman, largely because of her friendship with Earwen wife of Arafinwe (though she was a Noldo and not one of the Teleri). But all her children went with their father.” - The Shibboleth of Feanor

Another thing I rarely see people mention is Tolkien explicitly separating sex and gender:

According to the Eldar, the only 'character' of any person that was not subject to change was the difference of sex. For this they held to belong not only to the body but also to the mind equally: that is, to the person as a whole. [cut] Those who returned from Mandos, therefore, after the death of their first body, returned always to the same name and to the same sex as formerly.

[cut]

For the [souls] of the Elves are of their nature male and female, and not their [bodies] only. - LACE

Because their souls control their bodies, there are no trans elves. However, the fact that Tolkien took pains to explicitly say this for elves, throws the door wide open for all of the other races!

We're also told that about two thirds of dwarves are naturally aromantic, and those who aren’t only fall in love once. So, another gray aro/ace race!

There are so many amazing fanworks out there that diversify Tolkien's works even more.

Throughout my years of being a fan I've met a fair amount of purists, and there's nothing wrong with being a purist. Most of them are lovely people. I am, however, a firm believer in Roland Barthes's The Death of the Author (found here) theory. The great thing is Tolkien was too:

The Lord of the Rings has been read by many people since it finally appeared in print; and I should like to say something here with reference to the many opinions or guesses that I have received or have read concerning the motives and meaning of the tale. The prime motive was the desire of a tale-teller to try his hand at a really long story that would hold the attention of readers, amuse them, delight them, and at times maybe excite them or deeply move them. As a guide I had only my own feelings for what is appealing or moving, and for many the guide was inevitably often at fault. Some who have read the book, or at any rate have reviewed it, have found it boring, absurd, or contemptible; and I have no cause to complain, since I have similar opinions of their works, or of the kinds of writing that they evidently prefer. But even from the points of view of many who have enjoyed my story there is much that fails to please. It is perhaps not possible in a long tale to please everybody at all points, nor to displease everybody at the same points; for I find from the letters that I have received that the passages or chapters that are to some a blemish are all by others specially approved. The most critical reader of all, myself, now finds many defects, minor and major, but being fortunately under no obligation either to review the book or to write it again, he will pass over these in silence, except one that has been noted by others: the book is too short.

As for any inner meaning or 'message', it has in the intention of the author none. It is neither allegorical nor topical. As the story grew it put down roots (into the past) and threw out unexpected branches: but its main theme was settled from the outset by the inevitable choice of the Ring as the link between it and The Hobbit.

[cut]

Other arrangements could be devised according to the tastes or views of those who like allegory or topical reference. But I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse 'applicability' with 'allegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.

An author cannot of course remain wholly unaffected by his experience, but the ways in which a story-germ uses the soil of experience are extremely complex, and attempts to define the process are at best guesses from evidence that is inadequate and ambiguous. It is also false, though naturally attractive, when the lives of an author and critic have overlapped, to suppose that the movements of thought or the events of times common to both were necessarily the most powerful influences. One has indeed personally to come under the shadow of war to feel fully its oppression; but as the years go by it seems now often forgotten that to be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous an experience than to be involved in 1939 and the following years. By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead. Or to take a less grievous matter: it has been supposed by some that 'The Scouring of the Shire' reflects the situation in England at the time when I was finishing my tale. It does not. It is an essential part of the plot, foreseen from the outset, though in the event modified by the character of Saruman as developed in the story without, need I say, any allegorical significance or contemporary political reference whatsoever. It has indeed some basis in experience, though slender (for the economic situation was entirely different), and much further back. The country in which I lived in childhood was being shabbily destroyed before I was ten, in days when motor-cars were rare objects (I had never seen one) and men were still building suburban railways. Recently I saw in a paper a picture of the last decrepitude of the once thriving corn-mill beside its pool that long ago seemed to me so important. I never liked the looks of the Young miller, but his father, the Old miller, had a black beard, and he was not named Sandyman. - LotR Foreward

And:

The Lord of the Rings as a story was finished so long ago now that I can take a largely impersonal view of it, and find 'interpretations' quite amusing; even those that I might make myself, which are mostly post scriptum: I had very little particular, conscious, intellectual, intention in mind at any point.* Except for a few deliberately disparaging reviews – such as that of Vol. II in the New Statesman,3 in which you and I were both scourged with such terms as 'pubescent' and 'infantilism' – what appreciative readers have got out of the work or seen in it has seemed fair enough, even when I do not agree with it. Always excepting, of course, any 'interpretations' in the mode of simple allegory: that is, the particular and topical. In a larger sense, it is I suppose impossible to write any 'story' that is not allegorical in proportion as it 'comes to life'; since each of us is an allegory, embodying in a particular tale and clothed in the garments of time and place, universal truth and everlasting life. Anyway most people that have enjoyed The Lord of the Rings have been affected primarily by it as an exciting story; and that is how it was written. Though one does not, of course, escape from the question 'what is it about?' by that back door. That would be like answering an aesthetic question by talking of a point of technique. I suppose that if one makes a good choice in what is 'good narrative' (or 'good theatre') at a given point, it will also be found to be the case that the event described will be the most 'significant'.

* Take the Ents, for instance. I did not consciously invent them at all. The chapter called 'Treebeard', from Treebeard's first remark on p. 66, was written off more or less as it stands, with an effect on my self (except for labour pains) almost like reading some one else's work. And I like Ents now because they do not seem to have anything to do with me. I daresay something had been going on in the 'unconscious' for some time, and that accounts for my feeling throughout, especially when stuck, that I was not inventing but reporting (imperfectly) and had at times to wait till 'what really happened' came through. But looking back analytically I should say that Ents are composed of philology, literature, and life.

[cut]

That of course does not mean that the main idea of the story was a war-product. That was arrived at in one of the earliest chapters still surviving (Book I, 2). It is really given, and present in germ, from the beginning, though I had no conscious notion of what the Necromancer stood for (except ever-recurrent evil) in The Hobbit, nor of his connexion with the Ring. But if you wanted to go on from the end of The Hobbit I think the ring would be your inevitable choice as the link. If then you wanted a large tale, the Ring would at once acquire a capital letter; and the Dark Lord would immediately appear. As he did, unasked, on the hearth at Bag End as soon as I came to that point. So the essential Quest started at once. But I met a lot of things on the way that astonished me. Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never been to Bree. Strider sitting in the comer at the inn was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than had Frodo. The Mines of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothlórien no word had reached my mortal ears till I came there. Far away I knew there were the Horse-lords on the confines of an ancient Kingdom of Men, but Fangorn Forest was an unforeseen adventure. I had never heard of the House of Eorl nor of the Stewards of Gondor. Most disquieting of all, Saruman had never been revealed to me, and I was as mystified as Frodo at Gandalf's failure to appear on September 22.1 knew nothing of the Palantíri, though the moment the Orthanc-stone was cast from the window, I recognized it, and knew the meaning of the 'rhyme of lore' that had been running in my mind: seven stars and seven stones and one white tree. These rhymes and names will crop up; but they do not always explain themselves. I have yet to discover anything about the cats of Queen Berúthiel.8 But I did know more or less all about Gollum and his pan, and Sam, and I knew that the way was guarded by a Spider. And if that has anything to do with my being stung by a tarantula when a small child,9 people are welcome to the notion (supposing the improbable, that any one is interested). I can only say that I remember nothing about it, should not know it if I had not been told; and I do not dislike spiders particularly, and have no urge to kill them. I usually rescue those whom I find in the bath! - Letter 163

Tolkien's loathing of allegory is well known. However, most don't talk about the fact that his fundamental reason for loathing it is because it enforces the domination of the author over the freedom of the reader - “I think that many confuse 'applicability' with 'allegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.”

So, as we continue to love these works and create our own, let's never forget that Tolkien himself believed in our agency.

P.S. I have to share this quote from Letter 66. It's too funny!

A new character has come on the scene (I am sure I did not invent him, I did not even want him, though I like him, but there he came walking into the woods of Ithilien): Faramir, the brother of Boromir – and he is holding up the 'catastrophe' by a lot of stuff about the history of Gondor and Rohan (with some very sound reflections no doubt on martial glory and true glory): but if he goes on much more a lot of him will have to be removed to the appendices — where already some fascinating material on the hobbit Tobacco industry and the Languages of the West have gone.

#Faramir #Tolkien #tolkiengenweek #Mine

[misscrawfords]

The Force Awakens Rewatch: Part 2

See Part 1.

So I actually have less to say about the second half of the film, perhaps because a lot of it is following on from themes and characters already introduced and discussed in the first half and not much happens that is surprising. Perhaps also because I’ve had two glasses of reeeeeally nice wine and my head is buzzing and I’m listening to Roger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella and they’re telling me that it’s impossible for a country bumpkin and a prince to join in marriage. (”But the world is full of zanies and fools who don’t believe in sensible rules”…) 

I’m sorry, where was I? Ah yes, Takodama…

- Hux. Already mentioned him separately, but, like, literally, what is the appeal? He is coded as a Nazi with no redeemable features whatsoever. I mean, by all means like him if you want. Fans can like who they want! But I see nothing to like. I mean, the First Order needs people like Hux, but fan favourite? I don’t get it at all.

- OK, I’m now listening to The Pursuit (”I just know I will find you, you’re the girl of my dreams and the thrill is more than I can bear”) and it’s making me think about Kylo going after Rey. I mean, this bit on Takodama (as others have said before and in much more detail) is another example of Kylo Ren the Dark Side Fail. He goes off on his own, abandons his mission when it would be so easy for him to take the droid and the girl and then drops his guard down to sweep Rey up into his arms. I mean, wtf? Again, we have an example of Kylo being just as young and earnest and naive as Finn and Rey. Also, what is up with what his attitude to her? That famous shot of him standing behind her with his lightsaber pointed over her shoulder? It’s such a weird position to take unless you’re meant to think of phallic symbolism tbh. Not wholly convinced by the Romeo and Juliet theme when he’s carrying her onto the ship - maybe for one bar. But the music when they leave is an epic version of Rey’s theme and that’s nice.

- Sticking with Kylo and Rey for now, the interrogation scene. I mean, so much has been written on this I’m not going to attempt anything detailed. Kylo’s removal of his helmet is shocking and deliberate and honestly, if they didn’t want people to think he was a dark prince and a Byronic antihero they probably should have cast somebody different. This isn’t being superficial, it’s being realistic. And that scene is not some massive scene of horrific abuse. I mean, COME ON. Stop saying everything is abuse! Yes, he tries to get in her mind, a fascinating experience for him and his emotions are so clear on his face. And then she stops him! This moment is all about Rey coming to terms with the Force. She blocks him out and then turns the tables. This is a fantasy. Mind reading is a fantasy thing. If they wanted to show this as a metaphor for rape, they would have presented this very differently. What we are clearly meant to take from this scene is that Rey is Kylo’s equal, that she is able to turn the tables on him, that she is awakening to her Force potential, and that he is not at all the monster he appears and is deeply affected by what he sees in her. Remember, the next time we see Rey, she manages to Force control two guards. Is Rey acting like someone who has just been brutally violated or as someone who has awoken to her own power? I’ll leave the answer to that with you. Anyway, it’s an incredibly compelling scene; I remember barely breathing through it when I first saw it in the cinema.

- The Han/Leia scenes are so beautiful and it’s lovely to even have these brief scenes of a mature couple and a little insight into the complexity of their relationship. And how can anyone think that this trilogy isn’t about the soul of Ben Solo/Kylo Ren? I mean, literally every character exists in relation to him and his decisions. I’m not trying to lessen the importance of Rey and Finn as heroes but Kylo and the possibility that he could be brought back to the light is the glue that holds the entire plot together.

- Starkiller base. Han’s death is so predictable. I mean, not predictable exactly, but it is not a twist - it’s set up very well so there’s not much to say about it. But Kylo is weakened immediately. The physical weakening from the bolt from Chewie and then Finn and eventually Rey are a symbol of his mental and emotional weakness. Making him stronger, my foot!

- The fight in the woods… I mean, everyone goes on about the interrogation scene and I do get that, but this is the sequence that does it for me. I really think the moment when the lightsaber nearly whacks Kylo in the face and Rey catches it is THE most important moment in the film. This is the moment Rey accepts her destiny for the second time. The first is when she uses the Force on the guards. Both times are inextricably linked to Kylo. But anyway, yes, this is Rey accepting the call to adventure properly. The look on her face as she glances between the lightsaber and Kylo as the music swells with the Force theme is just so beautiful and full of wonder and Kylo’s face is absolutely amazing. It’s not a look of “oh crap, she’s got a lightsaber” it’s a look of “oh wow, she has my lightsaber and it’s the best thing that’s happened all day”. Then they both ignite their sabers and you just think that this is where they have met their match and everything in their lives so far has led towards them facing each other like this. I could watch this 30 seconds or so of film over and over again (AND GUESS WHAT, I JUST HAVE). Then the fight starts in earnest and it’s interesting to look at it in contrast to Kylo and Finn’s fight. In both fights, they get right up and close to each other but Kylo and Finn seem to be just struggling together, Kylo and Rey take the opportunity for Kylo to offer to train her - he’s not trying to attack her properly - she’s the one on the offensive. And in fact, he actually starts teaching her here. He is the one mentions the Force and that is the catalyst for her to close her eyes and centre herself in the Force and gain enough control to actually push him back and control the fight. And that leads them to them being locked together, not with lightsabers but actually clutching each others’ arms like an embrace, with their lightsabers stretching one from the other and both facing the same way. It’s a really, really interesting few seconds because you could almost be mistaken for thinking they are working together. Yes, they are opposite each other, but they’re not pushing against each other. They struggle and then their lightsabers align with each other - red to the bottom, blue pointing upwards, and their faces are pointing in the same direction and they’re grabbing the other’s arms. All I’m saying is, this is a really different fight scene, especially compared to the Kylo and Finn fight and filled with a different kind of tension. I mean, there are several seconds where Rey has her eyes closed and everything goes completely calm and he’s just staring at her.

- Just to reiterate, in case you didn’t read that massive paragraph, it’s really interesting how both of the occasions when Rey uses the Force are enabled by Kylo. In other words, he is not responsible for her awakening (or is he?) but he is already teaching her to an extent. He invades her mind which allows her to fend him off, block him and invade his mind in turn. This then somehow gives her the understanding that she can manipulate the guards using the Force. He also reminds her that she can fight with the Force using the lightsaber. Thanks, Kylo! Rey’s use of the Force is intimately linked to Kylo Ren.

- Finn and Poe belong together. FIGHT ME ON THIS. What else is the purpose of the jacket line, Finn’s admiration of “one hell of a pilot” and the beautiful Regency dancing twirling camera work. Seriously. I’m torn because Rose looks like a great character but if she erases the potential of Finn/Poe then that will be such a lost opportunity. There is no way Poe is not gay and I headcanon Finn as bi because he does kind of have a crush on Rey. It’s all so beautiful.

- Rey and Leia’s hug makes me so emotional. Women comforting women! Unspoken understanding! Rey gets a mother figure from a woman who has lost her child! It’s so beautiful and sad.

- Finn and Rey remain an absolutely glorious relationship and I ship them platonically to the ends of the earth. And I really don’t think that is somehow lesser than shipping them romantically. For Finn and Rey to have a friend whom they love is the most amazing and important thing. A real friend > a romantic partner any day. I mean, come on. They’ve had nobody and now they have each other. It makes me so happy.

- I’m coming round increasingly to Rey Kenobi. Considering this is a SW trilogy, it makes sense that we should have a Kenobi in there somewhere and Rey’s use of the Force on those guards is extremely suggestive of Obi-Wan’s abilities. It really seems like a massive hint. It would be a great revelation, would link her in to the Skywalker saga, provide opportunities for even more parallels and contrasts, but also not force a relationship between her and the Skywalkers and Solos that would mean Han, Luke and Leia have conveniently forgot they had a child and never talk about it which is just stupid.

Anyway, that was my TFA re-watch and it was tremendous fun! It’s a great film and reading all the meta I’ve been reading recently has only enhanced it. My impressions are slightly different to when I saw it first in the cinema and overall slightly more positive because I’m seeing clever things in, for instance, the parallels with ANH, rather than being irritated by them. And considering how it sets up for TLJ adds a layer to what is going on and being suggested in this film.

Things that still confuse/annoy me:

- The relationship between Hux and Kylo and Snoke and the First Order and the Knights of Ren. How do they all fit together? I do not know. I am confused.

- Rey’s background???????? Lor San Tekka???????

- How did the First Order even arise and become so powerful in the relatively short period of time following the defeat of the Empire? It’s basically an Empire clone and I’m still a bit annoyed they went down that route for the sequel trilogy rather than do something original and deal with the fallout from the defeat of the Empire in a different way. Like, if the Empire was meant to imply the Nazis, then surely the sequel could do a metaphorical Cold War and that could be really interesting. This is where the parallels with ANH do still annoy me.

#star wars #reylo #kylo ren #rey #okay apparently I did have a lot to say #I mention rape and Nazis in this post #so maybe avoid if that's a trigger #meta

[xphenxmenalx]

Guidelines

General Bits and Pieces

Heres a warning before you roleplay with me! Not following these rules can and will lead to me unfollowing you. These are rules for a reason meaning they are to be followed as such. Don’t like my rules? Don’t like something I say? Delete me! Your negative comments has no affect here, only consequence. Plenty of other roleplayers, you can follow and roleplay with instead..It’s all about fun! we’re all here to have fun, so let’s make the most of it. I don’t like to be miserable and I would never purposely make anyone else upset or miserable either. so let’s have fun.

Interacting

I will never ignore you! If you send me a message and I don’t reply? It’s mostly because Tumblr is being a douchebag and ate it. If we have a thread and I haven’t replied to it? Please message me because more than likely, didn't see the reply, got distracted and forgot it or I lost it. If you decided you want to drop something between our characters, for whatever reason, please let me know, don’t just disappear and/or ignore me because I will assume the worst, so yeah please tell me. I won’t get upset, I will respect your reasoning behind it, and I’d like to know rather than being left hanging.

No Out Of Character Drama! No God-Modding!

Important! I absolutely can’t stand drama, it absolutely makes me sick, so keep your drama away from me. Besides I will not tolerate any ooc drama whatsoever. I come on here to have fun and roleplay and meet new people, I’m not here for all of the petty drama that comes along with rping sometimes. I don’t care to start drama, but if you start drama with me, then I promise its going to start a war with me. I can’t stand immature roleplayers, cry babies, or attention whores meaning I really can’t stand immature people acting like cry babies to get attention. Oh I do have a short temper and when I explode its never pretty. I will go off majorly and sound like a bitch only cause you deserve it for actually being a dick and starting drama instead talking your issues you have with me, in private with me. HOWEVER, this doesn't mean in character drama isn't allowed, in character drama is definitely allowed.

This is roleplaying essentials! Unless I’ve given you permission, I don’t want you to use my character and do things with them that I haven’t said okay to. Which means you need to understand that I am the one in control of them, not you so just don't try to control my muses and do not kill any of them. God-mod is never okay to do so please don’t do it here.

Relationships & Shipping

This blog Is Multiship/Multiverse! This means that they will have more than one relationship/plot going at a time. This does not mean any of them are cheating on anyone, unless we discussed it before hand. If you’re unsure of what this entirely consists of, please, google it before trying to get into it. I just want to make sure you’re informed. Don't force a ship down my or my muse's throat! That's absolutely not cool and fucking rude, so just don't do it. If you force a ship upon my muse and me, I will not be accountable for my muses actions towards your muse or you. However I will not allow them to kill yours, just let them be a dick towards yours and possibly allow them to hit yours. It will invertedly lead to you being blocked, I will not apologize because you are the one who broke the rules. I ship based on chemistry. Don't assume we are shipping without talking to me. Just because my muse kissed or had sex or flirted with yours doesn't mean we are in a serious ship.

My Muses Sexuality.

Alexa ➳ Straight

AJ ➳ Bisexual

April ➳ Straight

Jon ➳ Bisexual

My Muses Main Verse Relationship.

Alexa ➳ Single

AJ ➳ Single

April ➳ Single

Jon ➳ Single

Their relationship upon interaction unless plotted out is SINGLE which means they are currently unattached. That means Alexa is not engaged to Murphy, AJ is not married to Wendy, AJ is not married to Punk, and Dean is not married to Renee.

My Opts Who I Will Instantly Be Oki With Shipping With:

Alexa & Baron

Alexa & Allen

Alexa & Dean

Alexa & Randy

Allen & Dean

Allen & Alexa

Allen & April

Allen & Baron

April & Dean

April & Allen

April & Punk

April & Randy

Dean & Allen

Dean & April

Dean & Alexa

Dean & Punk

Dean & Randy

Dean & Baron

My Hell No Opts Who I Will Not Be Oki With Shipping With:

Alexa & Murphy

Alexa & Blake

Alexa & Sami

Allen & Charlotte

Allen & Natayla

Allen & JoJo

Allen & Renee

April  & Dolph

April & Daniel

April & Sami

Dean & Renee

Dean & JoJo

Dean & Charlotte

Dean & Natayla

Just because your muse isn't on the list, doesn't mean I wouldn't be okay with shipping our muses, you can always go ahead and ask me or tell me if you wanna ship just don't force a ship on me or my muses, for there to be chemistry between them first before a ship happens. Just remember I hold the right to turn you down for a ship I don't feel comfortable with.

If your muse falls on the hell no opt list and you want to ship then please talk to me and we can see if something can be arranged but remember I do have the right to turn you down. If it does happen, I will possibly only allow ONE ship of it, not multiples because I want to be comfortable on my blog. Tho same thing goes there has to be chemistry between them first.

I Write Smut But You Must Be Of A Certain Age To Write Smut With Me!

Yes, I do write smut paras and posts, yes sometimes I'll post smutty pictures. However I will not place them under read more tags, just because I shouldn’t have to. I'm sorry but if you have a problem with this then just don’t read my posts, its that simple. I will always try my best to make sure I tag them NSFW, no promises tho cause shit happens and I may forget.

You need to be 18+ in order to write smut with me, why? Because I'm in my twentys, which makes me a legal adult and I’m not going to jail if your mom or whoever is legal guardian of you finds our paras. It will fade to black before it even heads in that direction if you are younger than 18. Also if you are legal age and uncomfortable with writing smut then we can make it fade to black, I have no problem with that.

Smut however may be a rare thing that happens even if I have a sex driven muse, the mun is very shy and unexperienced in that area. I will however try my best but if it sucks then I am sorry, I just don't want to make promises or forbid it at all so I'm just gonna keep it at a rare thing because it can happen if threads lead in that direction or if a meme is sent or received.

Quick Facts & Rules

Make sure you read all G u i d e l i n e s and I n f o r m a t i o n accordingly before you interact with any of my muses

I am not exclusive but I am extremely selective and semi private so I reserve the right to deny any interaction between our muses. However that happening is rare since I am usually very open to roleplaying with anyone unless I have reasons of not wanting to roleplay with someone.

If I post a meme please don't be scared to send one in, even if we haven't interacted yet or if we already have other threads. I don't care if we have to skip ahead or a bit behind in the timeline, lets just build the story of our muses. I reblog them so we can interact and build a story. If you don't send one in occuasionally then reblog from the source and not me.

 If you send a meme in then please specify which muse you want! If you don’t then its either gonna get deleted or randomize. I get it that you may not care who you get but have the common courtesy to say ANYONE so I know its definitely oki just to throw a random muse at you and that you'll be oki with it.

If we are mutual following each other then please try to interact with me and I'll do the same with you, I may be a bit shy but the effort of trying to make it work is so much better than feeling invisible and horrible. 

If I post a starter call, please only like it if you plan on answering. I rather not waste my time typing up a starter for someone who doesn't even answer it. If it doesn't work for you then please tell me and I can try to fix it to where it will work for both of us. Also if you possibly like it to notify me that you received it and tumblr isn't being a dick, or I'm gonna possibly have a panic attack over worrying about if you got it or not.

I'm sorry but if you break any of my muses to where they are no longer happy outside of threads then I will literally go off on you. I don't mean to be a bitch but it has happened before to the point I almost lost a muse and I don't need to lose any of my muses. Try to understand it doesn't just affect my muse but it affects me too. This is my escape from everything I have to go through in real and when roleplaying starts hurting me too then something is in major need of changing.

Now I need to point out one thing, I aint exclusive means my muses will play with other muses of the same muse and possibly ship with them. But that doesn't mean you will be replaced or I like them better. No one thread will be exactly the same as others and I don't want to restrict my muses to having to miss out on others incredible writing and muses. I LOVE YOU no less. just remember that.

If I reply to certain threads faster than yours, its nothing personal its just sometimes I only have muse for certain threads. I promise I'll reply to our thread when I have muse for it til then it will be sitting in my drafts, unless I lost it or eventually ended up dropping it cause I had no muse for it. I'll mostly likely drop you a message saying sorry about dropping it so you know I did. I may ask if you received my reply or replied to our thread to see if it was lost. However it may be awhile before I ask that because its sorta hard for me to ask since I worry about annoying you, so either I'll just assume its in your drafts or the worst it was lost.

In order for me to even consider following you, you need to CUT YOUR DAMN POSTS, honestly this is my biggest pet peeve and I really don't want my dash to be a clutter fuck. If you’re entirely unsure of how to do so, please google it, I don't want to be rude I just want to make sure you’re informed. Honestly I know how hard it can be when you are on mobile but its not impossible, tumblr gives you an option to delete old replies. If you can then you can either have someone help you or start a new post after like 2 long replies or 6 short replies between both partner

If you want to turn an ask into a thread then go for it, all I ask of you is you move it to a new post. DO NOT REBLOG IT FROM THE ASK. I will not follow you if you do that shit, it clutter fucks shit also and its fucking annoying to see.

I don't care how many threads we have but do try to be a bit understanding, I'm not supergirl. My muses and I can only handle so much before we gets to the point everything is too much to handle. Which means replies may take a while to be answered and posted, hell some may be answered and place in queue that following night so I can keep up. I may start to limit the amount of threads each muse can have with a certain muse to about 2-5 depending on the length of them that gets posted straight away then the rest shall go into queue. I'm sorry but  I don't need my muses or myself to feel like we're drowning in replies and get stressed about not being able to keep up and get everything posted in a reasonable manner. This is supposed to be fun since this is a hobby, not a job.

If you tag me in a starter then please make sure my muses and I can understand it. If its too confusing for my muse to figure out how to reply to it and I can’t help them then its going to be in my drafts for awhile til it gets deleted. I’ll feel like shit about it cause it isn’t because I don’t want to roleplay with you, its just my muse doesn’t know how to answer and I can’t help them. Its not fair to my muses if I make them do something they are completely confused about and don’t even know how to answer.

Alright I’m sorry but this has to be said because right now I just can’t stress it enough. I’m a multimuse blog, which means that means this blog contains more than one muse on it and you know what, you may not see them all being active because a certain one may become popular. I don’t know why that happens but it does and I appreciate the love you are giving to that muse but it is unfair to the rest of my muses. They deserve a chance, not just one damn muse. I get it you have favorites but honestly its not fair that you don't even take a chance on the others, since you may never know what could happen there. Plus I don't need any of my muses feeling left out or unwanted because you decided to play favorites, it makes them want to disappear and I honestly don't want to lose any of my muses so please try to give them all a fair chance, not just one specific muse of mine. If you are unsure where you can find out what all muses I have then here let me inform you real quickly. I have a page that lists all my muses which you can find under the word my muses which is right next to the words Read First! You can click the link to the page underneath the gif at the top of my guidelines page or you know it states my muses faceclaims at the bottom of the guidelines page, it actually gives a list of everyone I have a couple of times through my rules so there is no way you could miss it if you are actually reading my guidelines.

Mun Notes

I have anxiety, depression, bipolar, mood disorders, and phobias. I'm sorry I can't control how fucked up I am but you are gonna have to bare with me. If I disappear without warning, its because my depression has hit an all time high and tumblr isn't helping me any. I always return tho and do my best to get all replies I owe done, even if it takes me forever. They will come I promise, unless I have dropped or lost a thread; in that case I will let you know.

I have a personal life and that will always come first, which unfortunately means that there will be times where I may not being able to get on and there may be times that I am online but to distracted to be paying attention to my laptop. There will be times when replies are fast as fuck and there will be times where replies are so as fuck but either way I will do my best to reply to you.

I will never ever send anyone any hate messages since that is very immature, I only send adorable messages to try to make one smile but its very seldom that I send anything because I am a bundle of nerves and shy as fuck haha.

I am a sweetheart til I'm pissed off, in which I must warn you that I have a short temper. Unfortunately you can say I truly am a nightmare dressed like a daydream.

Please don't assume shit, I hate that shit so much. I had that happen to me more than once and it hurts like hell. Especially when I am accused of something I didn't do, plus it is highly rude to assume shit without proof.

All Icons have been made by me, unless stated otherwise. Don't steal or use them without asking me first. It was hard work that took forever to do, I spent alot of time on them with the lil resource to make them. I do not own any of the gifs I use, unless I have stated otherwise.

I play my muses the way I want to play them, not how the show plays them, not how the actor plays them, not how others want me to play them. I shouldn't have to since I play them for me, and only for me. I play them so I can have an outlet away from stress, not to gain stress from the pressures of following canon perfectly. I will never follow canon and I'm proud of that, however if you have a problem with how I portray my muses then please go somewhere else.

I do not claim to be any of the muses I protray nor will I ever!

URLS

These are the urls I'm tracking.

Main ➳ xPhenxmenalx

AJ ➳ P1Stylez

Alexa ➳ lilxmissxbliss

April ➳ lxvebitesx

Jon ➳ xlunaticxfringex

#✘PSA✘ ʏᴏᴜ ɴᴇᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴋɴᴏω ωʜᴀᴛ ᴍʏ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ωᴀɴᴛѕ ✘ ☪ ✘ #✘Out Of Stars✘ ɪ ᴍᴀʏ ʙᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ωαʟᴋɪɴɢ ᴀᴡᴀʏ ʙᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ′ʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ωʜᴏ′ѕ ʟᴇᴀᴠɪɴɢ ✘ ☪ ✘ #✘Save✘ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ѕωᴇᴇᴛʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ✘ ☪ ✘

[cartoonfandomhell]

So, we may be all a bit in denial about it; But somehow MML's quality dropped 400% with the new episodes?

And this is one of the most baffled and disappointed I have ever been in entire my life? I still can’t believe it?

And let me explain just some of the things I’m so puzzled about and let down by:

- The pacing was incredibly off most of the time. With way too much filler, awkward, unfunny joke attemps, and dragged out scenes that shouldn't have made it past the storyboarding.

- The animation quality is plain shameful. I mean, some 90's CGI looked better than what they did. And what's with all the off putting facial expressions? It could almost make Rapsitte Street Kids' CGI blush. And the lipsyncing was so poor at times that characters could say lines without opening their mouth. Or say nothing and they were just opening and closing their mouth for a moment.

I understand that animators need to get used to the characters they bring to life first. But the CGI just doesn't have any excuse beyond someone being a massive cheapskate there.

- The voice acting was really off at times. Most notably Melissa's. As were the sound effects. Sometimes they didn't make sense, or were terribly out of tune with what's going on on the screen. They were recycling way too much as well.

And the minor, and even some of the major songs, were plain awful.

And I get that song writing can be difficult. But not only has it been amazingly done before in Phineas and Ferb, but also in the show itself.

And if a song just doens't work for the final product; Don't put a song in it.

Sure, we all love a good song. But I can assure everyone that all viewers would choose good story telling over a cringey, lazily inserted song anytime.

- The writing was simply horrid.

The morals were there, and they were good ones too. But they were executed so poorly you could hardly take them seriously. There where many continuity/general errors too. Why would Zack's father not believe in Murphy's Law when Dr. Underwood clearly knows about it? Why the heck would they watch one of their teachers getting an MRI? Why did Martin's skin tone go back to pale in Time Out? And so on... And some plot point where just unneccessarily stupid. I mean, it'd be a much better explaination for the school to be out of money because of constant repairs. Buying a yacht just doesn't make sense on any level. And Melissa could be scared of rollercoaster simply because it's a normal fear some people have. Or because she knows how Murphy's law affects things and find the thought of being in such a needlessly dangerous situation unappealing and frightening. Also, adressing your own plot's flaws doesn't make the problem go away. If it doesn't work as an actually funny joke, it will just make the team behind the show ignorant, and at times even disrespectful, for not fixing the problem despite letting us know us that they were perfectly aware of it.

- The story telling was lazy as all heck. To the point that, while you're watching it you can come of with dozens of better ideas that would make each scene and the plot as a whole a million times more appealing than what they put together.

Melissa lost her Math book in school? Sound simple; But Wait! What if she, Milo and Zack get locked in over night at the school and have fun, make themselves a little camp there and explore despite initially trying to get out?

Milo's backpack isn't his own? Shocker! I think that caught us all off guard. But while we were preparing for an awesome backstory that would justify such an otherwise uneccessary show detail, we got basically "well his babysitter had a backpack with caution stripes, for unexplained reasons, and it just somehow magically just had all the perfect things for every situation it it" making Milo's thoughts that go into packing it completely pointless.

Where did that get us? Nowhere is where. It just weakened Milo's character in attempt to strengthen another character that is too underdeveloped for us to really care about.

Cavendish and Dakota are unappreciated in their job? What a surprising turn of events. But where do we go from there now? It's still the first half of the first season. And especially casual viewers were hardly indulged in the characters unknown stories. It wouldn't have harmed the show in the slightest to build up tension and keep the mysterious attitude towards the pistachio guardians. In fact, it would have helped feeling incredibly sorry for them once we do find out who they are, and once they find out themselves that their story has a tragic twist. Which we should have found out much later. Given that we still don't know anything about them personally, or about their mysterious world that is the future. They should have stayed blind to how unappreciated they were much longer, to the point where the viewers would have questioned their importance either before them, or with them. Now they are just stupid characters for the sake of being stupid characters, and there is nowhere up to go for them. Their boss in an unprofessional, mocking jerk. If he didn't care about them from the beginning, he surely won't care about them in the future. So now what?

Going to the Zoo? Wow, great a class trip! Literally anything about that would be interesting with Milo around. Just let things unravel. Show how animals react to Murphy's Law. Let Bradley comment on the animals safety to make the gang think. There's no need for a clichéd momento retrieval plot. And even if you're going for that. Give it more reason. Let characters show emotions. There are such things as guilt or fear of making your mother sad. What did we even learn from that hollow cookie cut-out plot?

The show is different because of it's daring premise. You can't tell the same old stories without giving them a unique spin. And it shouldn't be that hard either, considering you have Murphy's Law and a family constantly affected and adapted to it. It's interesting people. Make something of it.

- The characters were dummed down, out of character, and generally behaving contrived as all heck.

Zack is new to Murphy's Law. And he's scared of it too. But he tries to get used to it to stay friends with Milo and to bring a bit more life into his otherwise dull, ordinary life. Now he's just as calm as Melissa? Or should I say just as scared as Melissa? Whatever happened to her being used to Murphy's Law and being kind of dry humored and apathetic because of it? Or at least, what happened to that being -her- trait? Now Zack and her are basically on the same level and just blend together as "Milo's friends". And they aren't good at that either. Both were supportive sometimes, and other times Melissa was unexplicitly selfish, and Zack was all over the place, being completely mean spirited and ignorant at times for no reason.

Amanda's change of heart was complete bullsh*t given that she didn't even fully forgive or accept Milo around her after he did everything in his power to keep her precious opera going and saving her scheduled enjoyment hours.

Diogee caused problems just because. To points where you really can't blame it on him being just a dog anymore.

Whatever happened to Mort's esoteric interests? They only made one reference to it or so. Which is a bummer considering that it’s a unique character trait and makes for excellent humor.

What about Bradly? I thought he was some sort of low-key antagonist? He hardly did anything at all in any episode. And he never once complained about anything involving Milo.

Here’s a tip: Bradly is perfect for giving Milo something to think about. Use that.

What was up with Principal Milder? I don't know if you can even call that a character what she displayed in "The Math Book". There was no need to make her this weird, cryptic a**hole. It's perfectly sufficient to have her worried about losing her last key. Making her not wanting to give it to Milo and the gang. And it could have played out wonderfully if Murphy's law wasn't the actual culprit for losing it in the end but instead Melissa's forgetfulness.

Why did they abandon Elliot? He's a useful character. He can make useful plot points happen. Degrading him to mutant fodder is not doing him justice.

And please don't make Sara randomly sexist for no reason whatsoever. She hardly knows Zack, and why would she ever be mean to Milo and accuse him of not talking about feelings? It's pretty much impossible not to have any kind of conversation about feelings with a condition that constantly messes with you and all those close by. And he's a fanboy for goodness sake! Are you telling me that he never has any feels about an episode that he shares? Especially when they are both huge fans, and that its a show based on the tearjerker that is Doctor Who?

And the new characters like Milo's babysitter were looked into so little, and so poorly that it's hard to care for them at all.

I mean, it would have been so easy. An episode or at least a flashback to when Milo was a baby/toddler would have made that episode amazing without having to do much more. They could have completely sticked to the routine of things going wrong and Milo and Veronica dealing with it. Bonding and/or overcomming obstacles that made her, or even him, realize something important.

Instead we had to make time for two bizarre robot Melissa daymares, "Badgering", and a beyond forgettable Ye Olde Pizza advertisement song.

- Murphy's Law was handled really out of character as well. Milo wouldn't even go to simple football games to spare other people from his condition. And it took encouragement, the wish to support his new friend at his first game as part of the team, and the reasurance of a sure-to-fail-anyway game to get him to go to one. Now he goes to an amusement park just like that? And neither he nor anyone else has anything to say about it? And he even goes on a rollercoaster? With his friend that is terrified of rollercoaster accidents? Before, Milo and Melissa wouldn't even go Bowling anymore because of the dangerously heavy Bowling balls. Milo used to not even have his Birthday celebrated. Heck, he isn't even allowed to tap his feet.

You can't show Melissa and Zack being afraid of Milo cooking, but not afraid at all when going to an amusement park. Or say no word when going to the a school dance.

It's open whether it ends up being positive or negative talk. They could say that maybe he should think about something twice, or do it anyway to live a little now and then. But you have to adress the topic.

There is a difference between optimism and ignarance towards problems. Milo is an optimist. In the end that's what the show is all about. And that's a good thing. It makes us look up to him. Admiring his strength, and learning valuable lessons. Don't throw away such a gift. You’re viewers deserve nice things.

- The only thing that stayed the same, was that Milo still had all sorts of funny, interesting and unexpected utensils in his backpack. And they where pretty much the best thing about the new episodes. But by far not enought to save them.

I may be bitter over here. But only because I take the subject to heart. Milo Murphy's Law is a show that inevitably makes you think. And that is beautiful. We don't have that many other shows where you can't help but do that. It tackled the topic disability realistically. Characters defied stereotypes. (Milo isn't miserable, nor is he generally disliked by most. Mort isn't a bully despite his physic. Sara still grew up to be a nerdy teeneager who is typing away on her phone all day.) And despite tough issues the characters have to face, it was still funny.

And MML's premise is utmost genius.

Even the smallest and most mundane everyday things could become an adventure. So many things could have unexpected turns and sides to them that no one would usually consider. They could make the most abstract of situations happen. Leading to countless, unique, memorable moments, unimaginable amounts of joke and reference material, tons of character development, and resolutions that wouldn't have stopped tugging at our every heartstring.

But instead we got 10 episodes with typical early first season flaws but great potential to build upon, and 10 episodes (so far) of bizarre, atrocious sh*t.

(Though I guess it's worth noting that, except for the animation, Family vacation wasn't really bad until the end of the song in the first few minutes.)

It's almost exactly as it was with Dude, That's My Ghost!, where the premise was intriguing and had tons of potential in all directions. But it was written, animated and executed so poorly that it was unbearable to watch the vast majority of the time.

We're talking Spongebob season 4+ and Powerpuff Girls 2016 kind of bad. And I'm still completely and utterly perplext as to how they managed to mess up so badly.

Phineas and Ferb was amazing. The crew brilliant. The show had something for everyone. And only it's formulaic structure made it age so unfortunately in the later seasons. But even despite that, the show was never truly bad at any point, and can easily be forgiven.

Milo Murphy's Law doesn't have any excusable reason whatsoever to be that bad at such an early stage.

The team threw away their dignity, and their respect for themselves and their viewers, and I just can't figure out why.

They didn't the first episodes.

What happened?

#mml #milo murphy's law #episodes 6a - 10b #disney xd #dan povenmire and jeff swampy marsh #what have you done? #you are so many peoples idols #your previous show was dearly beloved by millions #why would we deserve this?

[orpelia]

Air: “The Aftermath”

I love when shows recycle old running gags; in fact, the cabbage man was a personal favorite.

Book I, Chapter 7′s got a lame title and a pretty lame plot to match.

But at least the favorites are still on point~~

Omg

When I saw this

my ass

busted up

LAUGHING.

Robots? Seriously? 

Sorry for hatin’, but they just look so silly! They’re not menacing at all, and they have no business in the Avatar-Korra universe whatsoever.

The Satos

In a way, I was both right and wrong.

Asami’s arc does involve technology, but that seems to be a byproduct of being Hiroshi’s daughter. As it turns out, Hiroshi’s role is the one that expands, as he is revealed to be working with Amon and the Equalists. 

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised, but I found his reveal to be a bit... lame? Convenient? I didn’t feel the impact of it, that’s for sure... 

I wonder if they could’ve developed Hiroshi’s character a little more, detailed his back story a little more? 

For example, the reason he joined the Equalists was because a firebending triad “took away [Asami’s] mother, the love of [his] life.” Expanding on this could’ve done wonders for Hiroshi’s arc. I know Asami tells Mako that she lost her mother in Chapter 4; however, at the time, sharing this seemed to be a way of connecting Asami and Mako as potential love interests, nothing more. Then, in the second act of this episode, Tenzin is the one who tells us about the Agni Kai Triad robbery and murder, not Hiroshi. In fact, Hiroshi doesn’t explain his motive until the third act, but by then it’s already old news.

Up until now, I’d written Hiroshi off as an inconsequential background character, which is probably why his reveal fell so flat. That may have been my mistake, but there were merits for it. 

And y’all already know how I feel about Asami’s lack of character development.

Unfortunately, her big moment---will she join her father?---was pretty predictable.

While I’m compelled to see how this decision will affect Asami, I think it could’ve been super interesting if she’d joined forced with Hiroshi. Frustrating, sure, but thought-provoking: why’d she do it? What’s her motive?

Perhaps she would come to regret her decision and then have to make amends to Korra, Mako, and Bolin (not to rip off Zuko’s storyline or anything). Or maybe she went along with her dad hoping to convince him otherwise? And when that plan fell through, maybe she could’ve acted as an inside mole or something? Or for all we know, she could’ve stepped wholeheartedly into the dark side and never looked back.

I don’t know---something! Something other than what the creators have reduced her down to so far. She’s got so much potential, you see.

Tell me she doesn’t look like the best baddie there ever was:

(Just pretend that’s not her Dad and Amon’s henchman she’s electrocuting.) 

I’m telling you: there was something there. 

Korra, Asami, and Their Idiot

I’m glad that Korra and Asami were (briefly) getting along in this episode; or rather, I’m glad Korra finally gave Asami a chance.

I strongly loathe female animosity, especially when it’s over something as trivial as a boy.

And especially when that boy is so. friggin. frustrating!!

Tell me, Mako. 

Why is it that when Korra accuses Asami’s father of conspiring with the Equalists you automatically assume she’s just jealous of you and Asami? 

You fool, can’t you see there are more important matters at stake? 

Tsk.

At least you have the grace to look ashamed when Korra proves your ass wrong.

I’m sorry for stomping so hard on the romance plots. They’re just so poorly written!

If it makes you feel any better, I was never crazy about the romantic stuff in A:TLA either. Aside from Suki and Sokka, I never really cared for anyone else’s relationships. 

In fact, I often enjoy poking fun at the different ships on A:TLA, much like this video does.

The Avatar, The Master, and the Badass

This is the team up I’ve been waiting for!

Can’t you just see Lin and Tenzin as, like, chaperones on a field trip?

And Korra’s that one kid they keep putting in time out because she’s being a lil shit, haha.

I loved how supportive Lin and Tenzin were of Korra. Even if she didn’t have explicit proof of Hiroshi making weapons for the Equalists, they didn’t dismiss her. They were willing to investigate further and see through Korra’s hunch to the end, even if it meant putting Lin’s job on the line.

That’s why Badass Beifong is the MVP of this team:

Look 

at

her

GO

Now that she’s planning to resign as Chief of Police, does this mean Lin’s going to get roped into more missions with Korra? Which means Tenzin’s going to tag along too, yes?

In that case: FIELD TRIP!!

Parting Thoughts

Let me get this straight:

Korra still has feelings for Mako, but she pretty much gave him the “go” signal to devote all his attention to Asami, who just found out that her father’s been manufacturing weapons for Amon in a secret factory located beneath the Sato estate, all while Bolin was being well, Bolin?

Huh.

Well, with these four staying at Air Temple Island, at least they’ll be giving the Sato butler a much-needed day off:

Favorites

My favorite’s section is missing the airbender kids. 

Luckily, we have Bolin to make up for their absence:

You are precious. 

Shenanigans

Please give me an entire episode where the brothers are just up to no good.

More of this:

And definitely more of this:

;-)

Makeovers

Korra assumes that “daddy’s prissy little rich girl” has planned a day of shopping and makeovers; Asami, of course, proves her wrong by taking them to a race track. Still, I would’ve been so down for a makeover episode!

Especially if it means having more scenes like this:

But you’ll have to get in line, Korra. Someone’s already volunteered himself:

(No, really. He votes for makeovers, haha.)

And you know what, I think he’s halfway there:

Haha @ Mako

Also, Bolin is built exactly how I imagined an earthbender would be built:

;-)

Quote of the Episode:

Korra: I’m supposed to airsit--- I mean babybend--- I mean babysit the airbender kids.

PICS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN

Runner-up:

Literally all of Bolin’s lines

Question:

Can someone please tell me why LOK’s hybrid animals look so creepy? 

First the wolfbats, now these bird-man things? (Look at those arms! That knee! Those pecs!) 

Is there somewhere I can start a petition to bring back the cute hybrids from A:TLA?

No? Alright, Pabu will do.

credits

#legend of korra #book 1 #1x07

[lilietsblog]

sailor moon liveblog episode 20 (I skipped 19 because im too tired for that shit right now)

omg omg i think the next episode is The One That Had Nothing To Do With The Main Plot

and that's the most beautiful thing that exists

particularly in context of my ongoing analysis effort of Everything Usagi

tsuki no hikari ni michibikare~

I will forever love Usagi's enthusiasm in the opening when she says 'I don't look like a superheroine, but I am!' (but no child you do look like one you're the defining superheroine of my childhood)

Ami's summer outfit is the best actually I love all of their summer outfits but Ami is just special oh right its the weird one week summer holidays or something? how it works in Japan?

Usagi is dreaming of being tan and I can't help but note that I like this particular beauty standard

Usagi omfg got very distracted no but seriously why is everyone so shitty to her they just. leave her behind as she's lost in her dreams im the slow autistic (tm) and i tend to space out and lose track of what's happening and i have been hiking since i was 5yo and listen. trailing behind everyone trying to catch up is my worst nightmare. when everyone stops to rest and let you catch up but when you, going at your top speed, exhausted, arrive, is exactly when everyone else, refreshed and rejuvenated, stands up and goes on

like i should probably not project my feet issues on Usagi (SURPRISE IT TURNS OUT MY WHINING ABOUT MY LEGS HURTING WAS NOT IN FACT ABOUT THE SAME SHIT EVERYONE ELSE WAS GOING THROUGH AND MY MOM HAD NO IDEA)

but goddammit STOP LEAVING MY GIRL BEHIND YOU FUCKS YOU DON'T DESERVE HER

honestly 99% of my feelings towards Usagi are bitter bitterness towards everyone around her except like. Naru

aww Usagi so tired she's lost any and all control whatsoever sniping at Rei, screaming at the sight of a little kid she does not atually normally complain this much this is no-filter tired!Usagi

also Ami is the sweetest creature known to men 'are the flowers okay?'

these creatures are genuinely spooky it's kind of interesting to analyze how Ami and Rei aren't reacting to their appearance at all while Usagi is freaking out this is the Weirdness Filter - when people just assume that the weird thing has a perfectly ordinary explanation and anyway if it doesn't affect them it might as well be ordinary either way

also I love how Ami immediately picks up on the fact the girl is being treated badly

Rei is too distracted by Usagi, Usagi is too distracted by EVERYTHING IS SCARY

and here's Luna chiding Usagi for making a commotion

you know when I was a kid I thought of myself as being a bad student and lazy. I got nearly all perfect marks and the only person who was better than me was my best friend but all I could think was 'i am worse than her' bc my mom was ~in a very bad place~ at the time and more or less did nothing but criticize and tear me down for everything that went the least bit wrong

I think back to my kid years and I just feel so weirded out by all the self esteem I was missing back then. like I'm sorry but I was kind of awesome??? and like. the only person who would tell me that was my grandma who lives in a different fucking country and visits twice a year. her praise did not exactly impact my daily life much

my point is FUCK OFF LUNA USAGI IS GREAT AND PERCEPTIVE

she is freaking out because she is paying attention okay

poor kid

omfg Rei 'it's incredibly cheap!' why do you think

'costumes of the employees' see this is what im talking about Usagi is perceptive enough to understand it's not costumes Rei is I guess perceptive enough to know they aren't a threat regardless? but she doesnt comfort Usagi either beacuse OF COURSE WHY WOULD ANYONE COMFORT USAGI EVER

aaaAAAAAAAAA I WANT SUMMER BEACH AND WAVES SO MUCH I LOVE BEACH SO MUCH also hee Usagi still has her bow-decorated swimsuit <3

also Usagi had failed to quite grasp what 'private beach' means XD

Usagi is really wise like normally I'm against snatching books from people but Usagi is very right

also oh my god Rei "Usagi is for once saying something reasonable" more like "for once I take a break from tearing down Usagi for long enough to notice that things she's always saying are actually Not Wrong"

man I hate this kind of "you doing not bad is an unexpected exception" verbal abuse shit so much

also girls why do you think knocking over Usagi is fun??? jfc she's the designated punching bag of the group wtf

this is the kind of fun where you end up feeling like 'wow that sure was a normal teenage thing that just happened to me! i totally fit in! they laughed and there were no freakouts so clearly that was Fun(tm)'

Usagi is really good at seeing the best in situations and loving her friends selflessly but holy shit she's being put through so much fuckery

I absolutely love that this anime just kinda casually includes a werewolf, a frankenstein's monster and a vague monster creature in one episode without them being either explained or ever brought up again

hm so here's Rei and Ami independently stumbling across some secrets how bout my Usa-chan

man Ami knows all about recognizing loneliness doesn't she ...makes me wonder how her parents treat her. i dont think her family is ever featured ever and i also dont think its for no reason

AND AMI'S SOLUTION FOR LONELINESS IS FOR EVERYONE TO BEFRIEND USAGI GOD BLESS HER CLUELESS BUT APPRECIATIVE HEART the one person who realizes how much emotional labor Usagi's ready&willing to do for anyone ever

this guy is such a good portrayal of an abusive parent. hes technically doing all the parent things, never going more than /slightly/ over the edge, so if the girl complained to anyone it would never sound like anything really bad was happening to her. he sounds so reasonable and caring and his selfish motivations are so obvious

so hey theres Usagi literally stumbling upon something scary omfg Rei are you seriously that oblivious 'normal human beings' omg well hey at least she feels the kid psychic

ahh!!! Ami busts in to protect the kid!!! oh hey the point where the girl has had enough <3

what I wanna note here is that Usagi and Rei's roles here are 'the person who actually gets what's going on and resonates emotionally with the locals' and 'the clueless sceptic outsider' also that when terrified out of her fucking mind Usagi still obediently pulls out her moon stick sailor soldier indeed there is nothing about this that is fair to her but she manages still

Usagi is the one of the girls whose life became only worse since Luna came and I'm not going to stop reiterating that

and her father is capable of /some/ actual caring he's not black and white but his actions are and it's very well done

I kind of wish the senshi could do more to help, I vaguely dislike the idea of their powers /only/ being useful to combat their Designated Foes

Rei and Ami picking on Usagi is genuinely actually really not fun even if Usagi's capable of making the best out of it

#tsukino usagi #sailor moon #its not funny! not funny! not funny! #yes i project unashamedly and im not going to stop #liliet rewatches sailor moon