Discussing the M9 animated series, of course it would suck if CR continues the trend of nerfing Beau and Jesters friendship just to prop up BeauYasha. But the thing is, BeauYasha as a relationship had it’s issues even by it’s own merits. But if CR uses this animated adaptation as an opportunity to actually fix those issues, then BeauYasha has the potential to be one of the best pieces of lesbian representation ever done in animation. But it’s just a question of whether or not we actually trust CR to do it right, and their track record isn’t exactly great.
Think about it, there’s no “coming out” storyline, no homophobia, both characters are fully-realized adults with their own stories, they won’t exist to appeal to the male-gaze, but at the same time they also won’t be de-sexualised to appease certain heteros in the audience.
I want CR to give us the version of BeauYasha we should have gotten in the first place, and ideally, I want them to do it without downplaying or stealing moments from BeauJester like they did in canon. If CR just repeats what they did the first time, and just lazily leans into the “disaster lesbians” trope and rides it all the way to the end, I will be so disapointed. Beau and Yasha should start off as unbearably-awkward but mutually-attracted strangers that are both shit at communicating with each other for their own reasons, but the worst thing about canon is that they end that way too.
By the end of the campaign, Beau and Yashas conversations should flow smoothly, to show that their relationship has developed, and they should be able to hold conversations beyond “ur so hot bby” “no ur so hot bby”. The fact that this never happened in canon is genuinely sad. I want to see them actually communicate, actually make each other laugh, actually work through problems, and even argue. We see them do these things all the time with other people and it’s awful that they never show this level of depth with each other.
As an example, I firmly believe that even after they had declared their “love” for one another, not one of Beau and Yashas interactions ever had the same organic, unforced chemistry that Beau and Jester display even in a moment as small as them opening a stolen letter from the Gentleman in episode eight. (https://youtu.be/dGv-_8tk8g4?list=PL1tiwbzkOjQxD0jjAE7PsWoaCrs0EkBH2&t=3286). In this scene, Beau and Jester share secrets, place trust in each other, make each other laugh, build on each others ideas, and freely offer each other compliments. Frankly, Beau and Yasha could never. You can imagine how much more stilted a scene like this would be if it were Yasha instead of Jester, even if it happened in episode 141. This is what I mean when I say Beau and Yasha can’t talk to each other, I mean moments like this, real moments of showing rather than telling, and I want the animated series to fix that.
But crucially, I don’t want them to fix it by stealing moments like this from Beau and Jester, because their friendship is great.
After being made aware of the most recent Mighty Nein animated recap, which depicts Yasha as being the one who comforted Beau in Kamordah, @stomp-that-ho-regard brought up this old post of mine:
Posted February 22nd 2021. Once again, BeauJes shippers prove to be clairvoyant 💙 Anyway, vindicated ramblings under the cut.
Honestly, at this point, the entire ~BeauJester Situation~ is just fascinating to me. Not just what happened with that relationship, but what happened with the entirety of campaign 2 post hiatus. How and why the entire thing ended the way it did. Why there were literally hundreds of people, as late as episode 140, saying “Don’t worry, the campaign is nowhere near over, they have so many loose threads to tie up.” Meanwhile, BeauJes shippers were like “Oh yeah, we’ve known this was the last arc for like 30 episodes. We tried to warn you”. I just think it’s fascinating.
So, to me at least, it’s pretty obvious what went down and why:-
1.Critical Role made the decision to retcon Beaus feelings for Jester over the hiatus.
2.They did this so that Yasha could get together with Beau, and Fjord could get together with Jester.
3.Those things needed to happen to give Yasha and Fjords stories anything close to a satisfying conclusion.
4.Which they knew they didn’t have time for, because they wanted campaign 3 to start around the time that TLOVM came out.
What’s interesting about this is that, to some people, all of this will seem so crazy and insane, that you’d have to be delusional or mentally-ill to believe it. But to other people, it was all so obvious, even at the time, that you could use this information to correctly predict decisions that CR would make about an animated recap over a year later.
And look, I know it’s ~in vogue~ to say that BeauJes shippers who point out the retcon are mentally-ill, but like, looking at this animated recap, how were we wrong? They literally create retroactive continuity to downplay BJ and play up BY. In canon, when the M9 were in Kamordah, Jester was the main person supporting and comforting Beau, both with her dad and with the hag, and Marisha said as much out of game. Meanwhile, in canon, Yasha spoke to Beau the least out of anyone in the M9 while they were in Kamordah. But in the animated recap, Yasha is the only one that comforts Beau.
What is that if not a retcon? They are acting like things that didn’t happen, did happen, and vice versa. They imagine a new continuity in the past, and act like it’s true in the present. Retroactive Continuity. A Retcon. The reason BeauJes shippers could predict that this would happen over a year in advance is that they were doing it during the campaign.
That’s what “I fell in love with you in Kamordah” actually was. That’s what “I guess my feelings just kind of transferred (from Jester to Yasha over hiatus)” actually was. That’s what “There’s just always been something about you” actually was. That’s why Beau went from “I like her because she’s complicated and layered” to “Jester is just easy to lust after because she’s sparkly”. That’s why Veth never said “Hey Beau you just told me you had feelings for Jester, why are you throwing yourself at Yasha all of a sudden?”. That’s why the entire cast started giggling and singing love songs whenever Beau and Yasha so much as looked at each other, when they had never done that before.
That’s why the explicit, in-universe purpose for Beau and Yashas big date was to rewrite their own history. Yasha never stayed with Beau at the Nestled Nook, Jester did, so they pretend it was Yasha. Yasha never had black-moss cupcakes in Uthodurn with Beau, Jester did, so they pretend it was Yasha. Yasha never comforted Beau in Kamordah, Jester did, so they pretend it was Yasha.
If you're a BY shipper, aren't you at least a little insulted by this? The tacit admission from CR that canon BY is still so shit that it needs to outright steal and parody moments from another ship that CR actively spent 41 episodes killing?
Ok, I think I’m done. But I’ll end this with a screenshot of one of the other posts I made a few months before the one above.
yo just curious: im a little familiar with the campaign for tlovm for cr but not much: could you elaborate on the vex + keyleth + vax thing? like specifically what happens that makes like you know that they wouldnt set up vexleth in the show even though to an inexperienced viewer think thats what they were doinf? im cool with spoilers because im more interested in learning the full picture now that ive just watched the show!! :)
Without spoiling other important story points, the short version is; Vax and Keyleth get together in the D&D campaign that tlovm is based on, and I really don't think that they'd change that in the animated series. The reason Vexleth shippers are having so much fun atm is because in tlovm, they erased or rewrote a lot of Vax and Keyleth moments from the campaign making them less romantic, and even wrote out a kiss between them, while writing in a whole bunch of really good Vex and Keyleth moments, while also having Keyleth reject Vax. Keyleth did have a crush on Vex in the campaign, but it was never explicit and nothing ever came of it.
My personal opinion on what's going on is that they 100% still intend for Vax and Keyleth to get together, but they've had to slow down the development of that relationship so it feels right in the new animated format. At the same time, I think that they wanted Keyleths bisexuality to be a little more obvious (which I think is great because representation matters. They've sort of done the same thing to Scanlan, making his attraction to men way more explicit than it was in the campaign). And I just think that an unintentional consequence of both of these things happening at once is that the Keyleth/Vax/Vex dynamic follows a lot of very gay story beats if you don't know any better.
Vax spends the entire season flirting with Keyleth, whereas Keyleth seems much more passive the entire time. Vex is watching the entire time and isn't happy about it. Vax tells Keyleth he loves her and she responds very badly (they kissed at that point in the campaign, whereas she basically just tells him off here). Keyleth then dies saving Vex (which also didn't happen in the campaign), with a smile on her face, and Vex actually seems more distraught at her death than Vax is. Then Keyleth rejects Vax (which also didn't happen in the campaign), while Vex is watching and literally sighs in relief (and remember, Vex actually likes Keyleth at this point). Then Vex compliments Keyleth and she blushes, and that's pretty much the final character moment in the entire season.
Basically, if they were trying to change things so that Keyleth gets together with Vex instead of Vax, this is exactly what they'd have to do.
Ok so maybe this is absolutely Batshit Insane, and if so please someone prove me wrong, but one theory I have for who Nonas identity could be that maybe she just... is Gideon. Like, "Nona" (i.e. the person we see on the cover) is just what Gideon does with Harrows body after being stuck in it for a like a year or something.
She has the gold eyes, she has the same body type as Harrow, she kinda the same skin tone (though it's hard to tell with how little skin Harrow shows on her cover).
Nona is just Harrows body sans-skull paint, with Gideons mind and amazing fashion sense. And maybe because of all the lobotomising Harrow did to her own brain, every time someone calls Gideon "Gideon", she hears "Ortus", and Harrows body starts to bleed. And obviously Gideon doesn't want to hurt Harrow so she gets people to call her something else. Nona.
I can even see how Gideon would come up with a name like that. Aside from it clearly being a Niner name, which Gideon probably thinks Harrow would approve of:-
Ianthe: "Well if I can't call you GideonOrtus, and you insist upon running me through with your sword every time I call you Goblin, what should I call you?"
Gideon: "...Nona your business."
Idk I'm sure there's already been info released that makes this impossible, I haven't been following the news super closely, but I think it would be cool.
If I didn’t know any better, I would honestly think that they were setting up Vex and Keyleth to get together at some point. The story follows all the exact right beats! With the distance between them at first, the jabs to prove they don’t care, but obviously caring just-a-little-to-much. The catching each other, holding each other, the tentative closeness later on (that doesn’t feel nearly as forced as Vaxleth to me tbh). Keyleth nearly dying to save Vex! And the compliments! and the blushing! Right after Kiki turns down Vax (while Vex watches!). Their relationship actually has an arc over the course of the season.
To a viewer that’s unfamiliar with campaign 1, it would be so easy to read Vex’s insecurity about Vax/Keyleth as unacknowledged jealousy, and it’s even easier to read Keyleth as being so inexperienced she can’t tell which twin she’s into at first.
areudirty
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