Animation & Warrior cats

Mel | he/they | 31 - Animator whose life revolves around animation and sometimes cats. You can find more in About. I'm always open to questions or critique! If you want you asks to be replied to in private add a * to the front of it!

[hullumel]

every time another 2010s warrior cat dies I'm one step closer to being free

[hullumel]

I might start trying to post something here. I've just been very bad about posting my art anywhere. there's just no drive for me to do it

[hullumel]

I've kinda been drifting away from warriors (due to a variety of reasons) but I just thought about a Song of Ice and Fire - esque AU retelling of warriors...

[hullumel]

just so everyone knows: I've been rotating this in my head for a good chunk of time now

It would be an adaptation of the story through my interpretation of (warrior cats) clan culture

[hullumel]

I've been letting this simmer in my brain and I already mentioned this in my prev tags but one of my bigger motivations is making it into metatextual commentary on how Erins - whether they meant it or not - were writing a story about knights and political intrigue of a court but dressed it up with elements from cultures they deemed to be "more wild and primitive" to match the whole feral cats aspect of the books. (Idk if they meant it but that's how it comes across).

The setting would be created by me for the needs of the text (and to my own liking to keep me interested) and I would adapt the plot by reframing the story through that setting.

The world of ASOIAF wouldn't have any bearing on the setting but the story would be told in a similar way of alternating POVs. Also the whole court politics w knights aspect of things.

[hullumel]

ok I don't care about this enough to actually spend my time writing it but maybe I'll post what I would've had in mind at some point

[hullumel]

why did the erins choose the battle cat religion be starclan when they could've written humans as uncaring gods?

[hullumel]

I've kinda been drifting away from warriors (due to a variety of reasons) but I just thought about a Song of Ice and Fire - esque AU retelling of warriors...

[hullumel]

just so everyone knows: I've been rotating this in my head for a good chunk of time now

It would be an adaptation of the story through my interpretation of (warrior cats) clan culture

[hullumel]

I've been letting this simmer in my brain and I already mentioned this in my prev tags but one of my bigger motivations is making it into metatextual commentary on how Erins - whether they meant it or not - were writing a story about knights and political intrigue of a court but dressed it up with elements from cultures they deemed to be "more wild and primitive" to match the whole feral cats aspect of the books. (Idk if they meant it but that's how it comes across).

The setting would be created by me for the needs of the text (and to my own liking to keep me interested) and I would adapt the plot by reframing the story through that setting.

The world of ASOIAF wouldn't have any bearing on the setting but the story would be told in a similar way of alternating POVs. Also the whole court politics w knights aspect of things.

[hullumel]

I've kinda been drifting away from warriors (due to a variety of reasons) but I just thought about a Song of Ice and Fire - esque AU retelling of warriors...

[hullumel]

just so everyone knows: I've been rotating this in my head for a good chunk of time now

It would be an adaptation of the story through my interpretation of (warrior cats) clan culture

[hullumel]

I've kinda been drifting away from warriors (due to a variety of reasons) but I just thought about a Song of Ice and Fire - esque AU retelling of warriors...

[hullumel]

why the fuck is the first thing I learn about moonpaw the fact that her parents are first cousins

[heathfall]

I generally don't get involved in warriors disk horse because I'm here for a good time and have other things to do than fight about cat books, but I've seen a couple takes (not going to hunt down screenshots or anything) recently that I feel like I need to say something about.

Thrushpelt is not a groomer just because he interacts with Bluepaw in a positive manner like one time while he's a warrior and she's not. (I checked Bluestar's Prophecy-- they have three interactions with each other before she becomes a warrior, all while she's an apprentice. The first is that he's impressed about her catching prey her first time out hunting. The second is him saying that she can't challenge the medicine cat. The third is him saying "may StarClan guide your paws" to her and Snowpaw when they go hunting together. They don't interact at all when she's a kit). If you think a mildly positive interaction between a child and an adult is equal to grooming, that's something you should probably do some thinking about.

In a similar vein, it's not "creepy" for Thrushpelt to not correct people when Bluefur lets the Clan think the kits are his because he's "in it to make people think they're mates". It's not some "doing the bare minimum" thing. It's helping out a friend of his for no benefit of his own because he's a nice guy. Again, if you think some guy doing a favor for someone he once had a crush on is somehow creepy and him trying to make a move, that's a reflection on you.

You're allowed to not like characters for "no reason", but you don't have to go out of your way to give yourself "a good reason" that's in no way supported by the narrative.

[hullumel]

tbh what I love about having subjective opinions about characters is the peace in being able to just go "ok well you're wrong" like you don't even have to entertain a debate about it, you can just be there like "no I won't be changing my mind actually".

you're just free to have your own personal feelings about a character and I really like that

[hullumel]

random warriors take and that I'm begging people to take in good humour

reasons people dislike Grey Wing: detailed list of bad behaviour that are unfortunately inherent to most male protagonists in warriors

reason I like Grey Wing: *points at grey wing* this cat made me realise I have asthma

[hullumel]

also I want to make it abundantly clear that I respect people who look at the characters based on their full book canon and discuss it!

[hullumel]

random warriors take that I'm begging people to take in good humour

reasons people dislike Grey Wing: detailed list of bad behaviours that are unfortunately inherent to most male protagonists in warriors

reason I like Grey Wing: *points at grey wing* this cat made me realise I have asthma

[birdnormal]

here is my one bit of wisdom as a 32 year old with no interest in being a "fandom elder" or "community mom" or whatever -

if someone a little older in your friend group takes care of things and has good advice to offer and whatever, and you all sometimes joke abt them being the mom friend, that's fine and normal

if someone self declares themselves as the mom friend, and begins to act like that is a role with actual authority, Fucking Run

[gayleafpool]

nightheart: it’s just so hard to be related to firestar 😓 and can u believe my mom gave me the prefix flame, it’s so close 2 fire. i may look nothing like firestar and also he’s like my great great grandfather or something but this is about to define my entire life + kickstart my hatred for women

tigerheart, who looks exactly like tigerstar and also now shares his name literally letter for letter: .

[bonefall]

What if having -Star added to a leader’s name was more like a title than a real renaming?

So when the clan is referring to the leader, they tend to phrase it as “The Firestar sent us,“ or “That used to happen under the Brokenstar,“ but they would use the leader’s real name in a personal or private setting.

So if you’re speaking to them as a clanmate, you might say, “Onewhisker, please listen…“ or “I went on a walk with Leafdapple earlier.“ Using the real name is ONLY for clanmates, however. It’s too casual if you’re from another clan, or implies disrespect. So Tigerstar used to speak to Leopardfur using her old name when he was playing power games.

When a leader is emphasizing their power, they might demand you use the honorific suffix. Bluestar eventually snaps and tells Whitestorm to know his place, and to never use Bluefur again because he isn’t a kit anymore. Tigerheartstar only lets his family call him Tigerheart, sparking ire from the rest of the clan.

[feathermedics]

every aspect of the warrior code is designed to incentivize total sacrifice of oneself to The Clan. elders eat first because they have dedicated their lives to it and that is why they now "deserve" to rest. queens, their kits, and the sick are also prioritized because they are expected to either create new or become healthy contributors to The Clan. warriors are not to be killed in battle to perpetuate the atmosphere of "us vs. them" and give warriors a reason to feel so fiercely protective of "what is theirs" without inuring them so much that they cannot contribute-- but kitty pets and rouges and loners are fair game because they are the ultimate other and will never contribute to The Clan.

any strawman villain that neglects the sick or elderly, that kills indiscriminately is not evil because they do these things but because they are either outside the Code (sourge, darktail) or because they threaten the status quo of clan division-- the very thing that sustains the system (tigerstar, brokenstar).

this is all very disjointed but what i'm saying is actually if you want to "rewrite warriors to be better" you have to actually throw away the whole thing. the warrior code cannot be salvaged in any way that would resemble any of its original rules/traditions. Retconning in less ableism or lgbt+ rep fixes nothing because the core of every interaction between a cat and their Clan is "how much can i sacrifice for this, i am nothing without this, this must be preserved and perpetuated at all costs and i must do this however i can even if i have to lie, even if i have to kill"

[hullumel]

Did Onestar's Confession leak? Like beyond what's in the excerpt