I really hope Whitley gets glyph like his sisters soon. It would be really cool! (^ ▽ ^)
SNOWCONE - REI AMI (PART 1)
Sweeter than a mother fucking snowcone Sassy little bitch, I'm repping SOKO Cotton candy drip down to my ankles
Call your sugar daddy 'cause he blowing up my phone
I don't need his money, bitch I get it on my own
I don't need to flex, oh honey they already know
Don't be mad at me 'cause they keep begging me for more
Bang it up, hang it up, pick it up, hit it up, On to the next one, give it up
And I don't say sorry, sorry I don't really want to (want to)
all I do is listen to music and think about my silly little fictional people
About Willow, and the difference between forgiving and forgetting
Something I've noticed about Willows' characterization and that I genuinely liked is that she does not FORGET and she certainly isn't gullible.
If Gus struggles with not knowing what to expect from people, and doesn't seem to know who he can call a friend & trust & who he can't, lacking restrait and giving himself away too easily, Willow seems much more balanced.
See Willow is amazingly kind, she's compassionnate, she knows just how to offer support, she's forgiving and believes in second chances. She ISN'T however someone who FORGETS. She has a great balance of forgiving but also keeping herself safe & establishing boundaries. She's willing to give others a second chance and see how things will turn out but she won't go all out & 100% undoubtedly believe that they mean well or won't hurt her (whether they mean to or not). And that might be a detail but the TOH crew has conveyed it amazingly and I really like the moments where we see this aspect of her.
Concrete examples I can think of :
In Follies at the Coven Day Parade, we see for the first time Willow & Amity hanging out on one on one. They are rekindling their friendship after all, so this was important to see. And here, as usual, Willow shows that she's a great friend. She lets Amity come in, she listens carefully to her, she gives advice and she's helpful. No visible bad blood in how she treats Amity. She's willing to make this work ! She asks Amity to braid her hair and doesn't seem in a hurry to make her leave.
But when Amity herself rejoice at how everything is (apparently) as it was and how happy she is to have this back, we see Willow herself simply... hums and not answer, seeming pensive. Which shows that NO everything isn't as it was. Willow isn't trying to take up where things left off : this is a NEW start. They are trying to create something new, but that doesn't mean that Willow has forgotten what happened. She is simply giving Amity a second chance, and doesn't confuse the two.
In today's ep Labyrinth Runners, when the Hexside students find Hunter & heal him; they aren't sure if they can actually trust him. They want GUS back, so much so that one of the teacher proposes handing Hunter over to the Scouts in exchance for Gus, since they clearly want him.
Hunter is visibly scared by this proposition and start to slightly panick, and he scrambles to find a way to prove he's on their side. While he does so, we see Willow in the background passively listening. And she DOESN'T INTERCEDE IMMEDIATLY IN HIS FAVOUR. If you look carefully, Willow herself isn't convinced by this whole situation...
Up until Hunter mentions the "breathing thing" that Gus taught him. At this point, her eyes visibly widens.
And then she starts to vouch for Hunter, explaining that they can trust him. Because THAT is objective proof that Hunter & Gus were hanging out, for an extended amount of time, on friendly terms. You don't show someone how to calm down during an anxiety/panick attack if that someone is currently trying to capture you.
Willow might have forgiven Hunter, and chat with him and be kind & compassionnate to him. But she is CAREFUL with her trust, and won't automatically believe him, even if she thinks he deserves a second chance and appreciates him. She strikes a healthy balance, by being willing to be Hunter's friend but ALSO not forgetting what happened last time she hung out with him.
And I just think that showing these details, and showing it as okay is a great lesson. You can be amazingly kind & compassionnate while still protecting yourself. You can hang out with people and appreciate them and have fun with them all while keeping up healthy boundaries to make sure you won't get hurt again. This is good, and Willow is doing great for herself.
Here's my reblog to officially get this going !
For clarity :
if I use "&" it means platonic
I love certain relationships from one side, but I can have other pairings I find more interesting for the other character.
If there's a > here or there, it's just to indicate that I prefer the relationship as platonic over romantic, or the other way around, or I'm more interested in some relationships than others in the team
════════════════ *.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*════════════════
Ruby Rose
Gngrbrd/Rosegarden they are so SOFT and so good for each other. helping the other up. disagreeing healthily but still being allies & here for each other. sharing what hurts, what's ugly and not perfectly optimistic. they just;; are here for each other and i love them for that
Ruby & Qrow they are so cute, Ruby was never cuter than when she interacted with Qrow in Vol1-3 she looked up to him so damn much; and he loves & cares so much for her in return. AND NOW HE THINKS SHE'S DEAD don't touch me i'm sad. I want a reunion hug
✦
Weiss Schnee
Freezerburn i'm sorry, there are few RWBY conversations I have loved more than Weiss & Yang's in V5, i loved them so much in this volume and they still have a chokehold on me. i love them so much also they would absolutely not divorce come on i know "weiss ice queen" jokes have not died out but Weiss has gotten so much softer, also her & Yang have never had a strong disagreement and she'll defend her with her life.
Team RWBY (Yang = Ruby > Blake) THEY ARE FOUND FAMILY i love
Weiss & Winter
✦
Blake Belladonna
Blake & Sun/Blacksun i wasn't particularly invested in the ship for V1-V3 but Blake really needed help & a steadfast presence in V4-V5 as well as some sunny optimism and Sun was there for her so yeah i'm sorry i still love them so goddamn much. also, he just had so much impact on Blake in general by finally geting her to accept her friends' help and stop making choices for them. he might lacks tact but come on he cares for her it's dishonest to argue the countrary. BLAKE HAS TWO HANDS IF THAT'S WHY YOU DISLIKE SUN. JUST SAYING.
Blake & Yang (V1-V5) i really like their relationship, i loved Burning the Candle & i don't have any problems with Bumbleby fundamentally. however i would have liked more for the resolution of their V5 conflict (like a soft & deep convo similar to what Yang & Weiss had, or Lumity in last week's ep if you watch it too). Just my preference. All that Matters is a song I absolutely love, but for me it's not a love song but a very sad one and I would have wanted another resolution than the one we got.
✦
Yang Xiao-Long
Freezerburn
Yang & Tai he's not a bad dad at all okay, i will fight some people. and the way he & Yang are so similar but also he's so much more chill are very nice to see. they complete each other well.
Yang & Ruby
Yang & Blake (V1-V5)
✦
Lie Ren
Ren & Nora > Renora no problem with Renora at all, i love these two together but i also don't feel strongly about the ship, platonic would have been by me. plus i didn't really like the kiss scene we've got, i don't think it was a very good one given that neither of them were in the right headspace. i love most of their relationship otherwise
Ren & Emerald/Envy Zinnia i saw a fanart by *iwantofall* and have never been the same since. please look it up.
Ren & Oscar they are brothers your honor
✦
Nora Valkyrie
Nora & Ren > Renora
Nora & Jaune
Just... Renoarc ;; Nora & her boys. she loves them so much. she takes such good care of them. her 2 beautiful idiots. "jaune stop hurting yourself" & "ren you're good enough stop throwing yourself at dangerous Grim". i care them
✦
Oscar Pine
Gngrbrd/Rosegarden
Oscar & Ozpin dadpin dadpin dadpin dadpin dad-
Oscar & Murder Kids Oscar & Emerald are gonna be a riot I can tell. He's her whole moral compass. and Mercury is gonna be even worse than Emerald. I can't wait. I wanna see Mercury get reluctantly attached to our farm boi. Oscar won't catch a break with these two but he'll have a protection squad ready to do anything for him.
✦
Penny Polendina
Penny & Winter i have no words for how much I loved Penny & Winter. they made me cry. they care so much for each other. they were trying so hard. never judged the others for their decisions & still looked out for each other. we don't deserve them.
Penny & Ruby (V1-V3) absolutely loved Ruby's acceptance of Penny in the earlier volume. set such an important tone for our redhead sweetheart. last volume soured the relationship for me because of the whole "now you have a flesh body" plot, and taking decisions for Penny (even if well-meaning) in a volume where she struggled with agency. i'm sorry.
✦
Jaune Arc
Jaune & Marrow/Guard Dogs they were so cute & fun. Marrow just can't get Jaune name right but he worried so much for him. and they're just fun you know
Jaune & Neo
Caduceus i blame iwantofall again. but the art is,, too cute. it's just very hard for me to ship jaune. i can't vibe with white knight & lancaster at all; but these two ships pass the test. guard dogs more because there is canon content. and they are wholesome.
Renorarc
✦
Qrow
Qrow & Clover/Fair Game they were so good for each other okay i don't care i don't want any clover slander here :( they worked very well together and clover was great for qrow's self-esteem because he didn't let his self-deprecating jokes slide. none of them !! as he should !! they deserved better
Qrow & Ozpin/Cloqwork
Qrow & Ruby
✦
BONUS (no more pictures)
Mercury & Emerald
each other aka Murder Kids (platonic/found family) i really can't ship emercury sorry, but they clearly care about each other a lot they've been together for years. i hope it'll stay platonic but as it is i really love their relationship. please mercury redemption don't separate the murder kids.
Murder Kids & Oscar
Mercury & Qrow qrow had a shitty life too, both have semblance-related struggles & their arc was/is about getting out of the shitty background they were raised in. the potential here is unparalleled. they'd clash so much but also.. there's something soft under. i wanna see it.
Emerald & Ren
Winter
Winter & Penny
Winter & Ironwood this was her dad (affectionate)... they trusted each other so much
Whitley
Whitley & Oscar > Snowpines
Whitley & Ruby i just want good things for Whitley. that is the basis of him interacting with Oscar & Ruby. I WANT HIM TO HAVE FRIENDS. also Oscar & Ruby are an inspiration, maybe it'd alight something in him.
Whitley & Qrow qrow is so opposite to everything he was raised in but that's what makes it appealing. i saw fanfics of this, i love the idea of Whitley admiring Qrow and starting to emulate him a bit even though it's so out of place for a schnee kid. but it would be the point wouldn't it : he can finally stop fawning.
AAAAND I tag @hyperfixation-hideout, @greenteaandtattoos, @gunchucks-wukong ! Spread the game ? if you want - anyone else who sees this is welcome to participate !
Okay, this has probably already been done but A tagging game for fun while waiting for V9, and to celebrate all our different tastes in characters & relationships !
Doesn't have to be canon at all : if you love Yang & Emerald go for it, if you love Freezerburn go for it ! And if it's canon that great as well : if you love Emerald City go for it, if you love Bumbleby go for it ! No judgment from my side whatsoever, just share whatever relationship catch your eye & tickles your interest.
You don't have to do every character, but don't hesitate to do a good amount if you're in the mood ! Just skip characters you aren't interested in, but otherwise background characters are just as welcome as main teams.
I'll start with a reblog, and tag some people at the end. If you don't wanna play, no pressure ! I'm not close to many people so I'll just tag some people I think are cool, sorry if it seems like it's coming out of nowhere :') Just ignore my tag if you don't wanna join in !
We have evolved past the need for pretty lies so let's be honest
RT only killed Pyrrha and Ozpin because of how beautiful they are. They knew they would have had too much power in the new engine, and we weren't ready for them.
Now we know better. Give us Pyrrha and Ozpin in the new engine cowards.
Reaching Out - Part 3 : Edric, Eda & Worldbuilding
Finally & hopefully the last part of this breakdown... The subplots ! And this episode did very well with them !
As previously stated in Part 1; even outside of Luz/Amity/Alador, we've got some neat stuff going on in the background.
Eda is trying to find out more about Raine's situation & the Day of Unity; while Edric is feeling kind of useless & inadequate. And together, they both help the worldbuilding !
Point n°3 : Through her relationship with Raine & her worries, Eda helps to keep the whole season cohesive. She lets kids be kids, but in almost all episodes keep asking questions regarding Raine's situation : this episode is no exception, and thanks to her we get some new precisions on the Day of Unity !
It also helps the worlbuilding, as last episode did, because the Emperor's Coven has been looking less & less like a monolith. Whereas we could have been tempted to think last season that most people wholeheartedly agreed with Belos, as time pass more & more cracks start to show and even characters from directly under Belos' rule start showing some hesitation.
Point n°4 : On the other hand, Edric's subplot is (like Darius in last ep) a perfect example of how to develop a secondary character without highjacking other characters screentime ! Through making him work with Eda, the writers have enabled Edric to show off both his capabilities as well as his insecurities while making him fit inside the plot in a fairly natural way, and thus keep the screentime + plot from scattering everywhere. And when your secondary characters get developped, the world thanks you !
Thanks to Reaching Out, we learn how to better differentiate Edric from his twin; and I have hope we will get a similar subplot for Emira later on !
-> When a family isn't working as it should, all members are always affected in some way. So if Amity is bearing the brunt of her mothers' expectations & expected to behave almost perfectly... Edric seems lost as some kind of middle child : treated as a joke by both his sisters (though neither mean ill) and unable to find his place & carve his niche (at least officially) in the family as a result. He is a jokester for sure, but this episode shows clearly that constantly being the brunt of the joke takes his toll like most things do when in excess, and that he isn't good at asserting himself. Edric would love to help & make himself useful, since as of now he has some clear self-esteem issues.
-> Even better : Edric's character and insecurities help the plot, because it ties back perfectly into the problems surrounding Covens & wild magic. Edric is a character who doesn't seem to be an ace or A+ student in Illusion magic, but rather a jack-of-all-trade who knows some stuff from multiple fields of Magic (Beastkeeping, Illusions, Potions) and likes to play with it and invent stuff. However, this kind of pedigree isn't particularly validated in their world's, and even less by Odalia (most likely) which leads him to feel useless or incompetent. Whereas, as Eda says herself, he could have "a great future in wild magic" !
This directly contrasts Amity who, despite knowing Luz & supporting her in everything, firmly centers her interest & future around Abomination magic. Which is just as valid ! Thus showing that over-specialization AND playing around with every field of magic are both perfectly valid way of learning, but one of these stay unorthodox and illegal under Belos' rule.
--> Even outside of his nefarious plans for the Day of Unity, this episode is a great reminder of how Belos' reign has harmed the witches world, and many teenagers are forced to join a Coven when they would be much happier dabbling into several fields, and end up feeling "wrong" or "not good enough" because of the mold they're forced into.
While I- wasn't a big fan of Emira jumping in front of Edric to ask for a T-Shirt as well ;; (sort of stealing his thunder & putting herself in front again) I do not hold it against her.
I hope in the future we'll have a Emira subplot to get a better handle on her character, but as of now it is likely that she suffers from the opposite problem : still a prankster but also stuck in the big sister position, and feeling the need to be the helpful & responsible one and take good care of her siblings if her parents won't. I don't think we have had the same Wild Magic vibe from her as we did Edric's so far however : she uses Healing magic along with her Illusions yes, but this is still very in line with the ''responsible big sister'' energy that she carries and not some for fun/curiosity skill that she would have picked on simply because she wanted to like Edric seem to have.
Being twins & more often than not being together is a double-edged sword : problematic for the both of them, for entirely different reasons. So I hope that Emira will find a place outside of her family as well and if possible an adult to count on ! I don't know if Eda is that person for her, and if joining the Bad Girl Coven is her answer (it'd still put her & Edric right next to each other, so I don't know if that would be my favorite answer personally). But I have full hope we will get our answer in the future !
Final Point : I had to comment on this after seeing some people pick up on it while I didn't but...
-> About Sharing your burdens with other :
The way they handled Luz's difficulty with sharing her problems and fear of being a burden, the details... were all perfect.
The "immediatly trying to downplay the gravity of whatever you're trying to say before even starting". The carefully controlled & matter of fact delivery to hide the wavering of her voice. How ready she is to brush it off in case Amity isn't interested in delving into it. And how what makes her voice crack is the painfully small & almost inconsequential line of "and I don't have any flowers"
Because listen, I don't have Luz's backstory, and my problem doesn't reside so much in distracting myself from my problems as much as it is not being aware of them in the first place. But, and I'm sure many people can agree... I relate to this behaviour very much.
I'm a very positive person in general, I'm fine more often than not & I rarely realize when something is wheighing on me or only after 3 more problems have piled up on top of it. Sharing something wrong or genuinely sad & important feels almost alien : i never know how to even start and nothing feels natural. So I end up automatically saying I'm fine, and then it's kind of too late to get back on the subject isn't it ? But when I do share, or when the bad stuff starts to snowball & I have to acknowledge it, it always starts to crack with one small inconsequential line like this. And that's the case for so many of us !
Because of course the problem isn't just that Luz doesn't have flowers, but that's an issue so... simple and palpable. So concrete.
It's easy to ignore big imposant problems, but the small ones always manage to dig under our skin and make our throats close up like this. It's never the flowers, or the "you didn't talk to me yesterday" or the "my uncle didn't ask anyone what kind of gift i'd like". It's everything that surrounds it, follows it but that you're unable to tackle without first cracking about the small stuff. The voice acting was perfect, and I felt so much for Luz at that moment
-> About Grief & Luz's family : and FINALLY, by answering our questions about Luz's dad, this episode helped to broaden Luz's character & make her family seem all that more real. Several time already, The Owl House has jested & rejected the concept of Chosen One : but Luz's dad was still a mystery and some people already imagined that it would be a big plot point. And now we see... it isn't. Or it is, but only in how his death impacted Luz and contributes to developping her character. Because it means back on earth, it really was JUST her & her mother, through no fault of her dad.
At the same time, it does good to Camilla's character. She tried her best, as a lone mother, grieving her husband, trying to be there for Luz. And it makes the end of Yesterday's Lie all that more heartbreaking because her "Did you hate living with me that much ?" takes a whole other subtext with that information in mind. Did she fail ? Did she not manage to be there for her daughter and make up for her dad's passing ? Camilla had a husband and a daughter, she lost one to death and then the other to another world without even knowing it. She had both and then she had neither. She was left alone without even knowing it.
Really, this information & this episode in general did so much for so many character : incredible job here TOH crew.
ALSO I LOVE LUZ'S NEW HAIRSTYLE & I LOVE HER WITH EDA'S JACKET. I HOPE SHE'S GONNA KEEP IT <3 <3
That's it everyone. Nex is out
I absolutely love the use of the sentence "I know my love can be the killing kind" through Oz & Salem relationship with the love being Salem (I'm a sucker for perfect association between lyrics & characters)
But what I also loved is the utilization of this same sentence with Ruby's silver eyes !! It reverts the previous idea; the "love" instead of a loved person skips to love as in the care you have for others, the ability. And it subverts the sentence in a positive way : that Ruby's love for life and her closed ones become an actual weapon against Grimm. Her love kills to protect <3
Random ramble but I wanted to express some love for a well chosen scene (+ the rythm and framing of that silver shine going off with the "my love can be the killing kind" is just top notch)
The Killing Kind is one of my favorite AMVs of yours! I love the use of the color and the focus on Oz/Salem and the bird twins, and of course the music choice is impeccable as always.
Thank you! The punchline of the song is that the phrase containing the title, "I know my love can be the killing kind," can be interpreted two ways: "I know my ability to love can be the kind that kills me" (the Branwen twins in converse directions), or, more ironically, "I know the one whom I love can be the kind of person that, well, murders people" (Oz and Salem). Hence, I'm really happy I went with those two focal points, although it does also explore the character arcs of the main characters as well.
WATCH IT please
I made some gifs out of Ozpin's apology in Risk for a future music post, but I figured I'd share them with you all Ozpin's fans in the meantime
Prepare for a very soft wizard boy
I still would have liked his apology to be reciprocated instead of just a lowkey "it's okay, trust is hard but we'll trust you again" but well
Aaah that makes sense :0 I'm not a big fan of Ironwood as this ireedeemable evil as of the end of V8, but I agree that both him and Raven make for very interesting antagonists and they have (or had since one is dead) a lot of potential <3 Raven still having room to grow is true, I hope we'll see more of her eventually ! Thanks for answering my question !
Can I ask why/how you parallel Ironwood and Raven ? (based on the ask about your favs). I'm struggling to find the equivalence, outside of the idea "Fear" that plays a significant part in both their character (mainly through PTSD for Ironwood and self-preservation/survival for Raven). Is there something else ? Have a good day ! (PS : I love your AMVs <3 )
Aw thanks!
Both Raven and Ironwood had a sort of tragic slide into sympathetic villainy. I wouldn’t forgive anything Ironwood does in Volume 8, as I wouldn’t forgive anything Raven’s done since she left her team. But their mindsets are written with such complexity and depth that you understand their compulsions to act in this way better than most other antagonists (which is why Ironwood and Raven are my favorite antagonists from a writing perspective -- Roman just takes the cake for likeability). However, Raven is superior to Ironwood in my opinion because all of this development happened before we met her; it enriches her present character and leaves room to grow, rather than her arc being about becoming the way she is.
Thanks for the ask!