DC Comics - A Thought

ATLA Thoughts

I was rewatching the first season of the show and I had some thoughts about how they wrote Zuko. I think it’s really interesting how in the first two episodes they had Zuko as just the full antagonist. Only to turn around in the third and make you root for him by pitting him against the immediately dislikable Zhao. You also had his ship be revealed to be so much smaller than the others after making it seem larger than life next to the Katara and Sokka’s village. I just find it really fascinating how we were being primed to support him from the very beginning.

Buffy Idea

So there’s all sorts of ideas and headcannons for how vampires work in the Buffyverse, most of the ones we meet are mindless which completely contrasts just how much personality we get from the Whirlwind. The meta explanation for this of course is that most vampires are just plot devices rather than actual characters the way Spike, Angel, Darla and Dru are. Then there’s the whole Angel/Angelus dichotomy vs how Spike doesn’t change too much after he gets his soul aside from a better moral compas. So I was thinking, we know vampires are made when the human soul dies and a demon takes over the body, but what if it’s essentially a demon soul that takes the place of the human one but leaves everything else intact. Like, people are made up of mind, body, and soul and it takes all three to make a person, so a vampire is still 2/3 who they used to be but the demon that replaces their soul completely changes who they are on a fundamental level. Just how evil the new vampire is depends on what kind of demon ends up reanimating them. So poor Angel got reanimated by a particularly nasty demon and since as a human he was unfulfilled and pretty immature, the demon has a lot more influence over who he becomes as Angelus compared to Spike who, I would say, had a weaker demon reanimate him and probably a stronger presence from the other 2/3 of William, he was a poet and a pretty passionate guy, so the demon didn’t have quite as big of an influence. Of course, the rest of the Whirlwind trained him to suppress his more human aspects and let the demon have more control. The chip wouldn’t let him have his demon have free reign so his more human sides could come out more. That’s why when he got his human soul back it wasn’t as big of an adjustment, because he’d kind of already been making space for it. Angel on the other hand had his properly evil demon running loose completely before his human soul was stuffed back in without warning. It was a far harsher adjustment, traumatic enough for him the completely wall off the demon aspect in his mind to the point even some memories were actively repressed along with it. They just ended up with two very different demons and started out as two very different people, which is why they ended up being two very different vampires. All vampire are as unique from each other as humans are.

OUAT Opinion

I hate the idea that Hook went to Neverland because of Emma, in fact I don’t really like how their entire relationship was established. They had way too little screen time to show anything properly building, the entire thing felt way too rushed. Which is unfortunate because I do actually like their dynamic as a couple. Anyway, Neverland, Hook didn’t go because of Emma, he went because of Neal/Baelfire and Milan. Henry is Milah’s grandson! Of course Hook wanted to save him, he’s a part of the woman Hook loved for three hundred years!

I don’t even know why I still care about this, I stopped watching OUAT after all the Frozen bullshit and it’s seriously problematic on a lot of levels, I’m not even sure I like any of it anymore.

Superman Problem

So the one thing about the old Superman movies I’ve never liked has been the Jesus analogy. The idea that Joe-El sent his son to earth so he could guide the humans and be their savior. I think Smallville did this too and I didn’t like it then either. Why would a man from a completely different planet who has never been to Earth and has no reason to care anything about it except as the planet where his son is going so he doesn’t die on Krypton care at all about saving humanity? He was facing certain death as his planet died around him and risked a lot n the chance that his son would survive being sent away in a ship, why would he spend any time creating a plan where he ordered his son to be alone and isolated apart from the species he was being sent to spend his life around. It just doesn’t make sense.

Star Wars Thought

So...did Bail Organa basically kidnap Leia? Luke went to his aunt and uncle, which is already kind of suspect because it doesn’t seem like either of them really had much of a connection to Padme or Anakin but at least there’s a legitimate familial connection and I guess Anakin probably lost all rights to decisions over his kids after he became Vader, but I really don’t think Padme would have been all that on board with a.) her children being separated or b.) neither of them going to her family or people she trusts to raise them. She met Owen and Breha all of one time? And I get Bail was probably her friend, but I really don’t think a work colleague would have been all that high on her list of guardians over say...her sister? Her parents? Her handmaidens/best friends? Luke can be explained, he went to nominal family in a place outside the purview of the Emperor where his father couldn’t find him. But Leia? She was raised on a stage in the very heart of the Empire, very obviously not related to Bail or Breha and being given the same title and position as her mother. She could not have possible been in more danger, besides that, no way Bail had any legal right to take her, whatever his intentions, he basically kidnapped her from her proper family who definitely would have done a better job of keeping her away from Vader and the Emperor. Even if Padme’s family were considered too dangerous, Padme’s handmaidens could have easily disappeared outside the Empire. I just can’t stop thinking about how Padme’s agency as a mother was violated by these three men who had very loose connections to her and really didn’t have any right to decide how her children would be raised.

I’m also never going to not be angry that Bail had C-3PO’s memory wiped without any kind of by your leave. He had no right to either of those droids either. The more I think about it the more angry I get.

Suspension of Disbelief in Sci-Fi

The problem with learning anything of significance about history, geography, linguistics, biology and psychology is that it really interferes with the suspension of disbelief you need to enjoy science fiction. Humans are so complicated and so different depending on their culture and region, their language and the time period they exist in that all the alien species that are introduced always seem overly simplified. Not to mention how diverse the planet is depending on where it is, the alien planets are also overly simplified. The thing of it is, I really like sci-fi, I just want more thought given to diversity of alien species and planets.

Maxie-kitty

Green Arrow

If I had a nickel for every time the CW made Oliver Queen’s love interest their tech support OC instead of his canonical girlfriend from the comics I would have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.

Disney Hercules

Was watching some old episodes for the nostalgia (forgot how charming this show was) and I realized that this show is actually super in line with Greek mythology in one way, it could not care less about timelines and ages making any sense.

Comic book Geography

One of the things I like more about DC over Marvel is that every hero has their own city and they’re all spread out. It gives them plenty of space to do their own thing and they have the technology and superpowers to be in easy reach of one another if they need back up. I thought it was a really neat idea to have the Justice League in Young Justice be connected with the UN, though I also think they work as an NGO.

I’ve always found it frustrating having Marvel crammed into New York City. I understand the original appeal to have the heroes in a place where the writers were familiar, to make them more down to earth. But they’ve outgrown that, Marvel has spread them out a little but they could do more. It looks like the X-Men are going to be all over the place in their new titles, which I’m really happy about, can’t wait to read about the team that’ll be in Chicago. Aside from a handful of heroes, like Spider-Man and Daredevil, who really embody New York City, most of the Marvel heroes don’t really need to be there, Move the Fantastic Four to Pittsburg or something, have the Avengers in California or Washington, the real team not the West Coast Avengers, just somewhere that isn’t New York. It might seem a shame to separate Spidey from his friends in the FF, but Reed easily has the ability to make instant teleporters and Johnny can fly. Whatever, it’s not a big deal, just give them some space.