#animated m9

[nellasbookplanet]

Adored the new m9 episode, and was especially tickled by getting to see Caleb's backstory animated, mostly because it doesn't sugarcoat the fact that teenaged Caleb was fully evil.

Often when I see his backstory discussed in fandom, it's viewed in a very tragic light: he was just a poor child manipulated by an evil man :( it wasn't his fault :( poor Caleb carrying all that trauma :(. What this point of view fails to acknowledge is that, though he was young, he was old enough to have agency over his own choices and actions. He is no more innocent of the acts of torture and murder he committed than any real life teenager seduced into radicalized ideologies. He wasn't mind controlled or even threatened into doing any of that. He believed in it. Ultimately, yes, Trent is the one at fault for preying on vulnerable teenagers, and his students were very much abused under his care (that scene with the residuum is gonna stay with me, man), but Caleb, Astrid, and Eadwulf were not innocent in their actions.

And it's especially beautiful when paralleled with Essek! Others have already pointed out the delicious parallel of Caleb betraying family for the sake of his nation, while Essek betrayed his nation for the sake of family, but it's more than that (to me). From corners of fandom that really hate Essek and view him as irredeemable but who still like Caleb, I've seen the sentiment that while Caleb considers himself and Essek very similar, to these viewers Caleb was innocent (due to his young age and Trent's manipulation) in a way Essek was not. But Caleb wasn't innocent. He was a young man seduced by nationalistic propaganda and power into committing atrocities. Seeing his and Essek's stories played out on screen in detail, this becomes undeniable. And it's delicious.

[dragonpyre]

Paintover of the teaser for Mighty Nein to help me fight art block

Commission info / ko-fi

[crittingcritter]

If you are watching M9 for the first time via the animated series, I don't recommend watching any of the interviews with the cast. There is a lot of spoilers in there.

[radtman8206]

Hay guys here is a little update on the M9 1911 colt animation that I've been working on this is just for the background for one side/angle of the animation and in the animation I have decided to make one of my characters that I have made before to hold and shoot the gun and it's helluva boss & hasbin hotel inspired I'll send the video when it is all colored in and has been animated a little bit more but for now I hope you guys enjoy what I have for now

[nellasbookplanet]

Man I love how Molly and Jester respectively are shown to be so intricately familiar with their homes, how effortlesly they move through and interact with both people and environment seemingly without thinking. Such a great way to show that this place is one that has been their entire life (even if "entire life" is only 2 years) and they know it like the back of their hand

[nellasbookplanet]

It’s so odd to me how I keep seeing the opinion thrown around that Essek "replaced" Yasha's presence in season 1 of m9a (most recently that they had to "make room" for a "promoted npc"), as though somehow there was only time for one or the other and it wasn’t a deliberate narrative choice made to best adapt their storylines.

Had they chosen to not introduce Essek until later, Yasha’s introduction likely would've stayed the same as it is, as their storylines have had zero crossover so far. There is no correlation between one of them having more current screentime than the other (something set up to change in season 2, anyway). Essek didn’t somehow cause Yasha’s absence.

Now most of the people I've seen express this belief are ones who've also expressed dislike of Essek as a character in the past, and they would likely only have been happy had his role been minimzed rather than expanded on. One of their common complaints thrown at Essek fans is that he's "just an npc" and it’s therefore somehow wrong to like or give him more attention in meta/fic/art than a pc (typical "why is MY fave not getting THE MOST attention surely it must be the fault of the fans of a more popular character" behavior); I wonder if they see this "promotion" as somehow validating Essek fans? Or is it simply another way to express dislike of something in critical role without having to openly criticize the cast? If they blame a character (who isn’t real) they don’t have to admit that the cast enjoy something they don’t and deliberately chose to expand on Essek and hold back on Yasha till next season. No, it’s Essek's fault Yasha isn’t there. Naturally.

[nellasbookplanet]

Okay enough serious talk. Let's all think about Astrid and Eadwulf being wizard assassins who jump between buildings and make perfect three point superhero villain landings, while Caleb scrabbles around on all four for spell components and has to get help from a goblin to climb through a window and still faceplants on the floor after

[nellasbookplanet]

Oh man realized the new angle Caleb's backstory created for the scene in ep. 4 where he is the one to butt in and explain what the cobalt soul is. In the moment it was a hint hint nudge nudge that this man is a lot more educated in politics than he appears to be (and if you're in the know, you're already aware he's very knowledgable and why and are nodding along because naturally he'd know), but after ep. 5? Of course he knows what the cobalt soul is, he killed like half a dozen of them in less than a minute and made one of them gut himself.