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I think some people forget or just don’t know that Riptide isn’t ending with the Hole in the Sea and the fight with RAFT
Grizz said that this point is maybe the halfway point of Riptide and he wants an undersea arc and the hole in the sea is Chip’s beginning, not end
Riptide still has a lot to do and cover, in the rolleds they all said that they are expecting Riptide to go for a while
It’s missing Dakota Cole hours. Just, I miss him. I just love characters who are so deeply motivated to do good and are truly kind despite the darkness of their world or their circumstances.
I don’t know if it’s just me or I’m not caught up enough on riptide, but it seems kinda forced to be shipping Jay and Aurora so early on. I’ve seen them have little chemistry, and Aurora comforting her was only because she felt bad that neither Chip nor Gillion who have been with her since the start did. Which is crazy btw. Having everyone so focused on fnc as the main ship and then shipping Aurora and Jay because they’re the “other ones” girl please.
JRWI fans, tell me if this is something that makes sense to you: I think Dakota Cole is the first superhero in a VERY long time to feel like an actual superhero.
⚠️Spoilers ahead for both seasons of Prime Defenders, if you haven’t finished it already, what are you doing here?! Go watch it!!⚠️
I think Grizzly did a phenomenal job in his research of superhero media before making Dakota, and that research really paid off for how real Dakota feels as not just a hero, but as a person. Season 1 made me fall in love with the characters and the story, but as an avid Marvel skeptic, season 2 made me believe in the superhero genre again.
I’ve talked about my disdain for modern superhero movies before, but to condense it, I feel like they don’t really feel like HEROES as much as “the lesser of two evils in a fight that’s destroying a city.” A lot of modern heroes feel too gritty and gloomy, not the symbols of hope they’re meant to be, but only focusing on the reluctance of their position.
Dakota Cole’s story is different to me: we’re able to see all sides of it, the good and the bad, and spend enough time in those moments to feel what he feels. His story feels so perfect to the Hero’s Journey, both in what we start out with and what we learn along the way.
First and foremost, I’m grateful to see heroes that WANT to be heroes again, not just to save one person or some moral obligation, but for the sake of wanting to do good and help others. Prime Defenders as a whole is such a breath of fresh air in the superhero genre for its message, and it gets to the heart of what makes superhero movies good. It feels, for lack of a better word, colorful. In a world of low light and gritty heroes making hard decisions, we get moments like the fight for New Haven where the heroes came together with the sword to defeat the planet, or the showdown with Powerhouse, while we get silly moments like the Wasp Vs Bee debate or the chaos portal in the Winnebago. That doesn’t mean we don’t get dark or gritty scenes, of course- I’m still deeply impacted by Ashe’s sacrifice to save everyone, William’s spiral with his brother, and (most relevant to this rant) Dakota’s surgery. But because we got to see the whimsy and the heart behind the heroes, it just made all of those moments so much more impactful.
Dakota Cole, though, feels to me like the result of dissecting the superhero genre and finding what makes it so appealing and meaningful to people. He is, upon first glance, hopeful and confident, optimistic perhaps to a fault, and wants to see the best in people and bring out that goodness. He starts with a very rigid view of what good and evil is, but as his mindset shifts, we see him open up to other ideas of what goodness means to him.
You’d think this would immediately fall apart when he goes through the heartbreak and disillusionment of losing someone to a villain, and that’s what we see with Ashe’s loss in season 1. He is clearly devastated by the loss, but is the first to believe that they can bring him back. He even says it as some of his last words to Ashe before he becomes The Trickster- “Don’t forget that you have somewhere to come back to.” After the loss, though, he’s only more motivated to save his friend. He goes to train and get stronger, and is the one to suggest getting him back. Throughout season 2, as well, we see the backstory that had been set up throughout season 1 come back to the front, and how it impacts him not only as a hero, but as a regular person. His love for his aunt, his attitude towards others, his willingness to sacrifice…
The first thing that he did for himself, in my opinion, was the heart surgery to keep himself alive, and even that wasn’t all for him; it was largely to help William rather than just staying alive. But he was so desperate to help others that he found the thing he needed to learn most in order to be the hero the world needed: patience. His heart surgery and subsequent training with Master Cole taught him the patience he needed to put his abilities to use.
But I think what his training arc taught him best outside of patience- the lesson that stuck with me the most- was that it is okay to ask for help. In fact, one of the quotes that still sticks with me is the quote from Master Cole: “Sometimes, we can’t carry the weight of the world alone.” He spent two seasons up until this point trying to carry every burden on his own, but this was a turning point for him. He realized that he has a team for a reason, and that he doesn’t have to protect them, and that allowing them to help him will make everyone stronger.
In my opinion, Dakota had the most personal growth out of the Prime Defenders from S1E1 to S2E40. He lost a lot of the innocence and pure optimism he had before, but the wisdom and patience he gained from it turned his passion for saving people and his genuine desire to do good into a more productive and successful energy that could save more lives than before. Sure, he had his silly moments- the consistent Fortnite jokes during his training arc, the goofiness of creating The Purps, etc. But his humor served to deepen his character, and the balance of genuine care and compassion for others with the humor and the struggles he faced (and still faces) just make him such a deep character.
He’s a silly goofy guy and he is one of the best written characters in modern hero stories.
jrwi 123 onward spoilers below!!!
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Dawg how the actual F*ck did he do that 😭😭
CHARLIE MAN ARE YOU OK
My favs from jrwi jackbox gamenight
Honestly, just a list of my Ruptide headcannons.
This is mostly for myself but enjoy lol
Chip plays the fiddle. Jay plays the violin
Gillion was taught traditional art forms alongside his sword play and magic. (Bead work, a particular type of flower arrangement that i do not know what it's called, might add more.)
Gillion Tidestrider is bioluminescent and venomous. (Lionfish spines)
Chip and Gil both have pink-red lightning scars from Pelagus.
Gil has pink streaks in his hair, also from pelagus. Chip has orangish yellow ones.
Triton have their own language. Basically, it's a modernized Primordial. Their stripes light up as part of it. (Think wings of fire.)
Jay knows Primordial because of poetry. Ik Grizz said it as a joke, but it's funny to think she can read the equivalent of Beowulf. It's the type of nerd shit I love her for.
Order of height from tallest to shortest goes Jay, Chip, Gil. Gil will always be 5'1 to me. (6' smthn, 5'8, 5'1)
Gil has so absurdly much beadwork on his and the others clothes. So much free time on a ship, man.
Jay does leatherwork! Partially for practicality, because artificer. Partially because she just likes it.
Gillion Tidestrider has a secret chicken. It's a sea chicken. That's where he gets his special eggs. Thank my brother for this one. It looks something like this v
^Gil keeps giving feathers to Jay. She does not know where the hell he's getting them from.
The captains all have piercings later in the timeline. Jay has angel bites, Chip has spider bites, and Gil has shark bites. ;]
Jay's hair gets progressively more frizzy and big as time goes on because of salt water and humidity.
Chip has an incomplete cleft lip. A gold tooth, a chipped tooth, and extra canine teeth. Because unique features are fun.
Jay has full wing tattoos on her back instead of the little feather tattoo. Cause cool.
Gillion's armor is made from a combination of different types of shells with only a little bit of metal. Lighter, more accessible with very limited trade with oversea, and it doesn't rust.
A lot of Gil's clothes are made out of lotus silk. Traded from swampy areas. It doesn't wrinkle barely at all, is waterproof, and dries very fast. It is stupid expensive.
Chip has top-surgery scars. He got it done cheap and very questionably, but he got it done. Probably aren't symetrical.
Gil's tail is damaged after the stronghold in the black sea. Bro got peeled. Missing half of his main tail fin.
^ Jay made him a prosthetic one. It has their Jolly Rodger on it. (Think Toothless)
Triton have something like palm readings, where they read their stripes patterns!
Triton have retractable gums. Fish have spines, which hurts. So gums retract.
Triton also have claws. Shaped kinda like an eagle or a grizzle bear. Cause they both catch fish.
Triton have horizontal pupils. (Big peripheral vision) They can dialate really big.
Triton have thick ass hair. It's dense, and it doesn't absorb water. Probably diesnt tangle, either. Tend to have a couple of layers of color. (Gil's goes dark green, light green, white. Same with Edyn.)
^ Hairstyles are cut in said layers to show each of them
Chip started kind of opposed to touching Gil, because fish slime and spines. That got thrown out the wondow at some point, though.
Cuddle piles are a frequent thing with the captains now. Because it's sweet, and I said so.
Sometimes Gillion forgets that he can't breathe air through his gills. Habit, mostly. The turtleneck puts just a little bit of pressure on them, so he forgets less often.
Chip's habit of accidentally setting things on fire in his sleep were 100% early manifestations of his fire magic.
Chip learned the hard way that Triton spines shoot venom when pressure is applied.
All of the Captains have SOMETHING that glows in the dark on them by later in the timeline. Gil's fins, stripes, and eyes. Chip's tattoos. Jay's eye, and probably her wings tattoos.
Jay's yellow eye looks more like a hawk's than a human one.
Gillion absolutely does not understand any stigma there might be around being trans or genderqueer in any way. He is a fish. They kind of just do that. That's how a LOT of fish work.
They all have different levels of culinary skill. Jay grew up helping her mom in the tavern. She's a great cook. Chip fended for himself for the majority of his life. It might not be the best tasting, but it'll fill you up. Gillion is not allowed in the kitchen.
Chip has higher heels than Jay does. Jay is still taller.
Jay Ferin does the thing that Blackbeard (the real dude) dide, where she braids slow, burning fuses into her hair. When lit, it makes it look like her hair is smoking. She learned it from Drey, who used to do the same thing. Neither of them have the flame hair, so they made their own.
I'll add more when I think of them :>
Stay tuned for updates lmao
