How The Women of Flash & Arrow Are Treated Like Shit

Not sure where to go in terms of this topic and the reason being is what could possibly be said about this particular topic that haven't been said before? But after viewing this video

I feel I should put my two cents on as to how the women characters are treated in Flash and Arrow. And starting things off is the most polarizing character of them all, Laurel.

When first introduced there was an aspect of a good character in her. She was a competent DA whom also happened to be the closest Thea had to a big sister. But the moment Oliver entered the picture just bit by bit something inside her started crumbling. Given the recent events its actually scary how each season leading up to that point happens to be the complete destruction of Laurel as a character and eventually her whole life. She used to be a strong and confident woman but eventually end up as a token superhero girlfriend. With little to no intriguing character arc at all.

Since I've brought Thea up. There is a character that needs a hug. Between finding out that she has a monster for a father and a brother who pretty much haven't been much of a brother to her I tend to question why she's still around in Star City? And just like Laurel she doesn't have an interesting angle either. Ok yeah she has taken a level in badass but the writers never bothered to take that fact anywhere interesting. She's mainly nothing but a plot device for Oliver to rescue. Come to think of it all the characters are plot devices for a hero to save than an actual character.

Take Felicity. She used to be an intelligent person but now she's nothing more than a shadow of what she used to be. And that moment she became paralyzed? They could have taken that to an empowering location but instead they wasted it and her walking for some dumb Olicity drama.

Iris West used to be a no nonsense go getter, she helped teach Barry how to fight!!! But like the women of Arrow she's reduced to being nothing more than a token superhero girlfriend who needs saving.

And lets not even get into the whole women in refrigerators nonsense Arrow toss around. All for the main reason to get a rise out of the hero.

If there is anything I respect about Supergirl its that the women characters on there are actual characters. Alex for instance has always been that rock, that morality chain to Kara, who can also hold her own when the chips are down. She even saved Kara on some occasion.

So outside of the many reasons as to why I haven't watched Flash and Arrow the lack of respect the women characters are getting is one of them. I'm not saying they need to be a "Mary Sue" to be written well. All I want is for them to be written well.

Anime Review: One Punch Man

Either you're an anime or a superhero fan or just want to see something good I just have one thing to say.

GO!FUCKING!SEE IT!!!!!!

 

How The Final Fight In The Force Awakens Should Have Went

Ok in my last topic I mentioned how Han's death have raised the stakes of the final act of the film. How the characters involved Finn and Rey vs Kylo were literally fighting to the death. Here's how I personally would have done it.

Ok both Finn and Rey are piiiiiiisssed at Kylo for killing Han and they're out for blood. Kylo meanwhile is in full on death seeker mode. The dude has killed his own father, in his mind he has nothing left to lose. So instead of the usual one on one battle why not change it up and have both Finn and Rey fight Kylo Ren. As noble as that may be they're facing one problem. You are dealing with a dude who has just killed his father and because of that fact something inside him broke. Now Kylo's fighting like a freaking beast.

You could have Rey fight Kylo straight up but why not change Finn's fighting style to that the dude fights dirty? Survival and revenge is on the line and given the opponent in question there's no time to take the noble route. He could even take note at the wound Kylo got from Chewie and would target it.

Thanks to experience and Sith powers Kylo's a freaking beast eventhough he isn't 100%. Despite the odds Finn and Rey are the underdogs. Kylo would be taunting the two on Han's death and despite as furious as they are they're still overwhelmed by Kylo but they're not going out like pussies either.

So Kylo force pushes Rey away then takes down Finn the same manner as the movie. Rey sees this and is mad. Kylo takes note and uses this against her. He keeps goading her in an attempt at two things: pushing her to the darkside and to kill him. As we'd gradually see.

She her lightsaber gets knocked away then Kylo uses the force to lift her off the ground and proceeds to Force Choke her. She sees Kylo's face, twisted in hate, and by doing so she feels a presence calming her. She examines Kylo then herself. Noticing she could be pushed in that direction. This myserious presence help her awake her potential and she fights out of the force choke by summoning her lightsaber and have it strike Kylo across the face.

The two fight but Rey's mind is at a more serene place now. The fight concludes just about the same as the movie's conclusion. Minus Kylo offering Rey to help train her of course. The way I see it Kylo would either make Rey want to kill him or he'd end up killing her. Kill or be killed.

In this scenario Rey would work for the win and you'd actually get a sense of danger and in return you don't nerf Kylo in the process. It also opens the possibility that Rey had an outside help from...you know who to help her win. Hey Ben Kanobi helped Luke in blowing up the Death Star after all. I figure with this scenario everyone comes out looking good.

Why Han's Death Was More Impactful Than Superman's

Before I go there I just want to clear a couple of things. First off I'm not even going to bother with a spoiler warning because I'm sure, judging from the box office numbers, everyone and their own mother have seen The Force Awakens and Dawn of Justice. So if you're going to complain about spoilers then its your own fault for reading the title and the topic.

Secondly this isn't a DC bashing topic. Basically me providing my opinion of the topic and if you still like DOJ regardless of it then power to ya.

So, lets get to it.

Having seen both movies and taking a look at the deaths of two of the most iconic characters: Han Solo and Superman I find myself asking how much of an impact their deaths made? With me I'm judging on how well the death was handled and what it delivered on a storytelling perspective.

Lets take a look at Han. From the starting gate you could see how the situation with Ben/Kylo effected him. It not only made him a little distant to those he cared about but it also sort of lost that spark that he had in the original trilogies. It wasn't till Rey and Finn's arrival that returned that spark that he had lost. And the more time he spent with the two the more the old Han was starting to resurface. While at the same time Rey never knew her original family so due to the time she spent with Han there was a definite father/daughter bond with that. Rey found a surrogate father and Han managed to find a new family in Rey. When Han Solo met Leia you could still see some form of estrangement between the two but also a little hope that maybe things could work out.

As much flack I give Kylo I did like that meeting between him and Han. Yeah we all knew what was going to happen but the reunion was so moving that I honestly felt something in the guy. And when he killed Han, what I got from that was: shit got pretty real, pushed Kylo to the point of no return, it just got personal between the three characters.

Ok lets compare everything after Han's death to everything after the death of Frigga in Thor: Dark World. The stakes got pretty freaking high and both Rey, Finn, and even Chewie want Kylo to die. No joking around, no hur de hur, the participants involved wanted to fucking kill eachother. Sure we can debate on Rey winning the fight but I liked the emotional storytelling behind the fight. And that was what I felt was lacking in most fight scenes in films these days. Just fight fight fight but without any emotion behind it, without any sense of story. That was also where Age of Ultron failed. There was no emotional storytelling in the fight with Ultron. In this one its a fight to the death. With Finn and Rey its revenge for Kylo killing Han. With Kylo going borderline Death Seeker. And I believe that Han's death was what drove Rey to seek Luke out and to improve upon her training.

The only con I'd give this is that while Dawn of Justice at least had a funeral for Superman, Han didn't even get that kind of honor. Spock had one in Wrath of Kahn so it would have been nice for Han to get that kind of send off.

Now for Superman's Death. The more I look back at it the more I felt that it wasn't really needed. Personally my ideal ending would have been the Trinity fighting Bizarro, they kick his ass, then the Trinity search for more metas.

I wouldn't have minded Superman's Death if they actually built it up. Say around Part I of the Justice League film. Which is when I would have used Doomsday. Maybe even do it in a way that Darkseid was responsible for Doomsday's creation and sending him on earth was Darkseid's way of saying he's waging war on earth.

Superman's Death would have been awesome had it had the proper build but I didn't felt it did. For one neither Batman or Wonder Woman knew him enough to make it impactful. And if Suicide Squad is any indication the world still treats Superman as the bad guy. So from the mindset I'm seeing Earth still hates Superman despite the fact that he died? That just makes me dislike the people of Earth for being a bunch of ungrateful assholes. Kara from the Supergirl series gets better respect regardless of that Red K incident. And the whole finding the Justice League? Well we have seen scenarios that they could have done that with Superman being alive. Also it didn't help that Lex in Dawn of Justice was a bigger joke than Hackman's Luthor in the Reeves Superman films. It would be like Captain America being killed by Justin Hammer. At least with my suggestion Superman would have at least been killed by an instrument that Darkseid sent down. Plus the whole death just felt like a rush job. I think if it had some proper development it would have meant something. But unfortunately it didn't. If there was anything I've gotten from Superman's death its the feeling that I actually want Darkseid to destroy a planet filled with ungrateful assholes.

The Future of CAU Legacy

I've had a blast in writing CAU Legacy. I believe that because of this I wouldn't have created Age of Heroes or even my other superhero works. I find it interesting that, what started as a proposed Ultimate/Semi-Prequel Universe of CAU Prime has spawned into a universe of its own. Filled with diverse characters with diverse backstories and motivations. Yet unfortunately there comes a time when a person has to hang it up and I'm doing so with CAU Legacy.

I've had many great memories with that universe but right now its time for me to move on with other projects. Like City of Adventures or A Heroes Journey. I know that there are some unsolved plot points left unanswered and I will address them in a future topic down the road.

To those whom have followed and even participated in the universe I'm honored that you enjoyed it as much as I have. And if you want to write stories based on it then you have my blessing. Peace.

Someday Writing Projects

I've written alot of stories and have ideas for others but other projects and RL prevents me from doing such. So here are some projects I may consider doing in the event I have the time to do so.

Slayers Inc: Picture a world where all things horror is true, just influenced some of the horror icons that we recognize today. Because of that fact people need a group of individuals capable of protecting innocent civilians from all that is horror. This is where the Slayers Inc come in. A group that consist of mainly people whom have survived the horror crisis and want to make sure nobody fall victim to the monsters who prey upon the innocent.

Its, in a way, SCP Foundation meets MIB meets The Boys(with horror monsters)

Monster Squad: Was originally intending to be a unofficial sequel to the movie. In which the characters in question are around college age. It has been several decades since the first movie and the kids, now young adults, are facing new supernatural threats that are more dangerous than what they've encountered in the past. So they must use their knowledge of the supernatural to fight off another supernatural crisis.

Normally I'm an original fiction type but I would do fan

Anime Review: Myriad Colors Phantom World

Since my Assassination Classroom review went well I thought I'd discuss a recent anime series that I have discovered called Myriad Colors Phantom World. It is an anime adapted from the light novel, I personally haven't read the light novel so I'm just going to talk about the anime atm.

Plot:

A mysterious incident 10 years prior changed how humans perceive the world, allowing them to see creatures long thought imaginary. These formerly mythical beings, called Phantoms, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The incident also imbued certain people with special abilities. Haruhiko Ichijo possesses a special ability allowing him to seal Phantoms by drawing them in a sketchbook. Along with his classmate Mai Kawakami, Haruhiko is a member of the Hosea Academy Neural Error Corrections Club, where students accept jobs handling Phantoms in exchange for useful household goods. Unfortunately for them, Team E (consisting only of Haruhiko and Mai) have the worst performance record out of all teams. In an effort to change this, Haruhiko and Mai set out to find more members to join their team.

Basically its a gotta catch em all kind of situation. Personally I see it as an high school anime version of Ghostbusters. My first impression after reading 13 episodes of it is....it was ok.

The animation looked good but too bad the story that went with it left little to be desired. There was world building potential but the anime felt too rushed. Like it was suffering from a case of ADD. It would develop some backstory to the characters but not enough to get you emotionally attached to them. There were also some episodes I felt could have had potential for a future character arc but was quickly dropped. For instance in one episode the main cast discovered that one of the classmates is a Phantom but ended up befriending her in the end. It would have been interesting to see her as a recurring character but she was never heard from again the next episode.

Every episode felt like one filler after another, least until the final two episodes. Which, to me, was an ass puller. They introduce the big bad without any build. Up until then the series honestly lacked a serious antagonist for the main cast.

Also I never honestly got a sense of danger from any of the main cast. Cause most of the other phantoms they come across don't appear dangerous to begin with so you never get a sense that they're fighting for their lives. I also never got the underdog appeal either. The plot synopsis says they are but they hardly scream social outcast. Just about the whole school likes them. Even their headmaster. It wasn't like Class E's situation in Assassination Classroom.

Characters: 

One word to describe the characters, forgettable. The only character that stood out to me was  Koito and Mai. The former because I like her Black Canary powers and her backstory was interesting and Mai because she's a badass and she's hot.

Haruhiko's basically Tenchi but take away anything that made Tenchi interesting and make him as dull as wood. His whole character from time to time is reacting to things or providing exposition. Like when the other characters are fighting he reacts like he's providing color commentary. The only time I found myself remotely interested in him was during an episode where he was de-aged to a kid.

He basically represents everything I hate concerning main characters in harem animes. In that he makes me wished the girls were the main characters but heaven forbid we'd have a harem anime where the cast are entirely female. The only harem animes that worked were Negima and Tenchi. Helps that the characters were diverse, character wise.

Ruru. A pixie like Phantom who operates as the groups comedy sidekick. Thats all she is. She provides NOTHING but comic relief. Even Xander Harris of Buffy actually provides some use.

Overall: I wouldn't recommend this. While the potential for world building is there it provides nothing new to the table and I was left with nothing but unanswered questions instead of world building. It also lacked an emotional punch that would make me intrigued on the characters struggles because I felt that, with the exception of the final two episodes, there was hardly any obstacles the characters faced. Sure there were villain of the week but its like the villains of the MCU sans Loki and Hydra. Good guys trumps them and look no worse for wear after.

The animation was pretty good though.

So overall I'd give it a D

In the spirit of civil war and competition

Faora: "Don't you look adorable"

"You aliens just never learn do you?"

"Back off and phone home, E.T"

"A good death is its own reward"

Making A Treatening Villain

Creating a good villain can be hard. It has to take the right kind of craft to pull it off but when its pulled off you'll manage to create something memorable with the villain. But what makes a good villain? Correction, what makes a dangerous villain?

A hero always strives to be in control of the conflict because the last thing they need is to have a bad guy back a hero into a corner. But what if they are backed into a corner? How will they respond? If a villain is good enough to put a hero into a false sense of security then you know that you have one dangerous individual on your hands. Lets take a look at one of the most iconic villains of them all, Darth Vader.

The dude was The Terminator before The Terminator became The Terminator. He was a living nightmare for all jedi because he can hunt you down relentlessly until he catches you and may God help you if you got captured alive. He'd kill anything and everyone just to get to that one target. It doesn't really matter where you go because he will track you down. He's the reason why so many other villains were influenced off of him. And even in the end he never lost his cool factor.

I'd say a dangerous villain is someone that not just makes a innocent civilian feel vulnerable but also the hero. Cause if a hero doesn't feel threatened by you then the villain is doing something wrong.

Arrow Should Have Ended After The Slade Arc

Its pretty much agreed that,when compared to the seasons later on, Season Two happened to be the best season of Arrow. Slade was pretty much the ultimate enemy and Oliver's shadow archetype in every way.  What made the second season better was how it was all tied with the first season.

Also Season 2 showcased how Oliver was growing as a character and introducing some interesting supporting characters in Sara. Which ended things in a nice little bow. Oliver gets his revenge by not killing Slade but in a clever way. Sure there was a bittersweet moment with Thea running off with Malcolm but it left an opening for audiences to do whatever they could with that scenario.

Oliver's hero persona was starting to gain respect from the citizens and things were looking up for him. Then the first episode of Season 3 happened.

The best way to describe seasons 3 & 4 would be going through the motions. Cause no way in hell is there any character development. The heroes keep on making mistake after mistake by keeping secrets from one another. It reached a point that it has became formulaic. Also instead of becoming smarter the protagonist in question seem to be more dumber by each season. Compare current Oliver to Season 1 & 2 Oliver. The latter wouldn't have made the stupid mistakes he has been making. I personally feel that the best course of action should be end Arrow at season 2. Oliver could still be used as guest spots on Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.