Okay so people need to stop holding disabled people to a standard of "just do everything you can to be healthy!" and not letting us take risks. I get why people do this, of course, but that doesn't make it good.
"Oh but drinking soda isn't good for you, especially because you're.. yk..." Martha please shut up you literally do drugs at raves (which I don't mind btw) you cannot be telling me that I'm putting too much in my body </3
"Oh but if you walk too far it'll make you really sick..." yes I know, Martha, I am aware, but also, I want to do fun shit with my friends. If we all get injured in an attempt to cross a fast moving creek over a that's about 3 pounds of force away from breaking, we all get injured. If I'm vomiting because my body hated the exertion, let it be. I want to engage in the SAME RISK as my peers. Not just risks in Minecraft Hypixel where I might lose some gear in The Pit...
I'm mostly homebound, so being able to do these things on days where I feel good really means a lot. Please let me take risks. I grow from them. If it's a risk you would let healthy, abled people take, LET ME TAKE THOSE RISKS.
I have no idea how relevant The Villainess is a Marionette still is in 2024, but I just have to air out my grievances regarding the manhwa.
Below is my mini-essay and speech on why, as much as I believe Heinrich should've been the main male lead, the problems in the way the novel is written simply would make Heinrich and Cayena impossible.
Everyone, it's already obvious from my display name, but I am a big fan of Heinrich. There are so many facets of his character that, if written right, could've made him outshine even Raphael and Rezef. One of those facets lies in his character. Appearance wise, his cooler color scheme works fantastically in contrast with Cayena's warmer color palette, which in turn creates a striking imagery: that of the sun and the moon.
His character design is also arguably much more striking compared to Raphael's and Rezef's designs, simply because Raphael is modeled after the typical dark-haired male lead and Rezef after his sister.
I'd like to expand further on my point about Heinrich's character and bring the attention to his role as an antagonist within the story. He is the manipulator behind the scene, who clearly acts as he pleases, whenever he pleases. As a writer myself, I absolutely enjoy villainous characters who do villainous things for their own amusement and benefit, and that's exactly what Heinrich brings to the table. He doesn't need to be redeemed and turned into a "good guy", and that's perfectly fine with me. Like wise men once said, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
(I also have... some opinions regarding Cayena x Rezef, but that's a story for another post.)
By making him the main male lead, the author could've had the chance to explore an enemies-to-lovers dynamic through expanding and creating more opportunities for them to interact. The pieces are already there: Heinrich and Cayena are thematic opposites of each other (the sun and the moon) and they both have a mutual goal of becoming powerful, which they pursue through different methods that can also be used as thematic opposites (working in the light and working in the shadows). Isn't that a more interesting dynamic to explore than a relationship where Cayena (after her transmigration) doesn't even need to work for Raphael to suddenly fall in love with her?
However, even with my evident(ly huge) bias for Heinrich, making him the male lead wouldn't fix the main issue the novel suffers from - and, I would say, would make the novel even worse. He is much too one-dimensional as a character, which brings up questions that, as of season 3 of the manhwa, have not been answered yet: what is the reason why he became like this? What will he do to balance out his tendency for acting recklessly and vulgarly? Is he even a true mastermind capable of bringing forth someone's downfall, when all of his screen-time is so heavily focused on Cayena and what she's doing?
To finish, there really is just so much untapped potential in his character - and in all the characters in the manhwa, frankly. There is too much happening, and not enough nuance to each situation Cayena is placed in. So much to explore, but it's all abandoned for Cayena's romance with Raphael.
Something that is actively pissing me off in regard to the United States is whenever something happens people are like "why aren't they resisting" WE ARE FUCKOS. SAYING THAT IS NOT HELPING. You have to remember:
-The United States is really fucking large
-to the point each state is it's own country large
-to the point national government nonsense is really disconnected from your average person.
-the only way to contact representatives tends to be by mail or phone. And even then talking to anyone is a crapshoot.
-the image of the big protest is something that can only happen in a larger city or town.
-People can and ARE working in local or state governments. These resistances are small and not flashy, therefore do not get the publicity they deserve.
-saying people ARENT resisting at all discourages resistance. It feeds into the hopelessness.
Wow so the new mythic quest epsiode was really, jo and brad hate who they are and are stuck in jobs they hate, and they’re cold ruthless killers, but they won’t kill a pregnant rat, instead they just give it to David.
and then poppy makes fun of Ian once and they seem so fragile after sarian. It’s like Ian’s only thing is his creativity and he puts his entire being into that, and he values the control so much. But poppy relies on him so much and she’s not the best at people and her coding is so important to her. And these people care so much but they can’t agree on anything else. And Ian really did try his best for poppy but it wasn’t enough. Not when poppy has always been there for him. But he CANT do the same.
*rings the bells* REMINDER THAT THE MUPPETS WERE A PASSION PROJECT THAT STARTED ON PUBLIC ACCESS TV.
REMINDER THAT JIM HENSON DID HIS ART EVEN WHEN IT WASN'T POPULAR AND SAID MUPPETS ARE FOR EVERYBODY NOT JUST KIDS.
REMINDER THAT LABYRINTH AND DARK CRYSTAL WERE NOT POPULAR IN THEIR TIME AND WERE GROUNDBREAKING IN PUPPETRY AND PRACTICAL EFFECTS.
REMINDER! THAT ART IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN AND CREATIVE AND DONE BY PEOPLE WHO WANT TO HAVE A GOOD TIME WITH IT AND NOT AI! WE WOULD NOT HAVE MUPPETS IF POPULARITY AND MONEY WERE ALL THAT MATTERED!
REMINDER THAT SESAME STREET EXISTS BECAUSE PEOPLE WANTED GOOD SHOWS FOR INNER CITY KIDS TO MAKE UP FOR SHITTY SCHOOLING.
please love puppets,and please love what the jim henson workshop was founded for. it was for art, it was for creativity and companionship of artists and doing something worthwhile.
frick disney for their neglect of them, and frick anybody who doesn't think puppetry is art.
I'll start off saying that I wouldn't really want a re-write or a reboot or something like that, but the way it could have been spread out was a missed opportunity I'll always lament on. What do you mean Gal? I'm glad you asked ghost in my corner! I mean to say that HT really could have been the Cromwell series and not just about my gurl Marnie. But instead ALL of the Cromwell children and their relations with magic and the magic worlds.
(Is she about to go into a tangent? Yes, yes she it)
Let's talk about little Sophie. Movie one demonstrates just how much more powerful she was to Marnie with her being much younger and already using magic without her knowledge. Now the argument could be that its just how all the children were since at that age of course they wouldn't know how to control their magic. However, never once was it mentioned either offhandedly or directly that Marnie or Dylan also experienced such a thing. Perhaps they did, but for argument sake, I'm only using the facts shown in the movies and the fact is, Sophie wanted that cookie and gonna get that cookie 🍪. All that being said, I wish we got more of Sophie and that struggle of obviously being the Family's prodigy but being overlooked by Aggie's favoritism towards Marnie (*I'll be going over this much much later in a different post 👀).
Perhaps we could have seen the fear that she'll never be as good as Marnie despite being stronger and since she's not getting that same level of training, Sophie might fear that her abilities will diminish instead of flourish into the Witch we all know she could be. I think the third movie should have been more about Sophie and that internal struggle of knowing deep down she's naturally stronger, but could never measure up to Aggie's high expectations. I'm not saying I'd like to see Sophie suffer or turn "Evil" but I'd love to see the turmoil that would arise from that internal struggle and how she views her relationships with her grandma and Marnie. Maybe she sees Aggie the way that her mother sees Aggie, maybe Sophie gets Gwen a little deeper. Maybe she understands Dylan in a way that makes Sophie a bridge between him and Marnie.
Speaking of Dylan. My poor boy, Dylan. OK, where to start. Oh, I know! (Bit of a rant incoming) How about the blatant disrespect for his boundaries and preferences? How many times has he stated he doesn't want to identify as a Warlock or that he doesn't feel comfortable with Magic to begin with? Since movie one this man has stated that he didn't like magic and that's more of a science guy. Cool, that's cool right? Nope, not for Marnie and Aggie apparently.
Yes, we all know that Dylans isn't the strongest warlock and that's because he has successfully locked it away within himself, that's his prerogative, he's happier with the "Normies" he's comfortable. Yet time and time again he's pushed into uncomfortable situations for the sake of Marnie's comfort (end of rant). Dylan is a muti-layered character that's actually very complex, however the story seems to continue this one note narrative of him being the "buzzkill" the "party-pooper" the one always complaining about having an amazing gift. But what may be a gift to you can be a curse to someone else. To Marnie, discovering that she's (genetically and historically) special was one of the greatest days of her life while simultaneously, it was crushing to Dylan. That gap of weirdness to normalcy has just widened and now its not as simple as being an outcast (for early 2000s standards lol) but it's inherently linked within. To Dylan, he knows he could never really be normal. Like Sophie, we really needed to see that turmoil played out without it being a joke because after the first and second movies, it's not funny anymore. He's not Marnie, he doesn't see Magic as a deep fundamental part of his being.
Can you imagine the feeling of being told your family name is important enough that it links to the founding of an entire world and that very world expects so much from you, but you don't have the drive to deliver? And why should you, it's just a name, right? You didn't choose to Heir from greatness, why is there so much pressure to do what you don't want to? That's what I think rings through Dylan. Because even in a place of Monsters and ghouls and magic, he's still the outcast. A Cromwell who doesn't have the ambition to become as great as their line before them? It's unheard of, it's strange. So, something must be wrong with them right? I think the fourth movie (we will FOREVER ignore HT4, what HT4?!) Should haven been about Dylan and his full acceptance as he is without the influence of his family. I think it should have been him going to a college of his own choosing (bc why would you make one child attend the same college as the other child just to keep an eye on them – uh, huh!?) we watch him find his footing and meets another witch/warlock who also finds mortal normalcy comforting. I think if he finds people like him who validates his feelings Dylan would be able to come to terms with so many internal struggles that be has such as he quiet resentment towards Marnie and Aggie. I think at even at a young age, Dylan truly understood Gwen and that's why he was always on her side with everything (also bc he's a mama's boy. Let's be real ✨️).
Often times I just that there were several missed opportunities for flesh out these characters and their importance in the world of Halloweentown and how they each interacted with their magical roots and culture.
I want to talk about Gwen as well, but I think that deserves its own post so I'll be doing another long one on her (and Aggie). But I will say you do look at things from her perspective as an adult in comparison as a child. I actually feel sort of sad for her, but I'll get into it soon. I have so many things to say about Halloween town and alot of the old 2000s disney spooky movies we grew up with and how they connect. I did an entire video on TT on how I believe HT and nightmare before Christmas is connected which I'll be placing here but in a more written cohesive format.
That's all I have for now, there's still so much i want to talk about, I'll be back soon 🖤
