Quibblet's corner

Damsel (2024) - God, I HATE this movie.

This is one of the most morally bankrupt, logically lobotomized "feminist" movies to ever disgrace a streaming platform.

Let’s get one thing straight: the dragon's actions are indefensible.

The movie attempts to create sympathy for her because she lost her hatchlings. While that is a tragic backstory, the response to that grief is to spend centuries demanding three innocent daughters every single generation as a sacrifice. They weren't quick deaths - the flashback Elodie had of the women showed how they were brutally killed.

The "dragon was tricked" excuse also falls flat. This is presented as an ancient, telepathic, sentient being. It is hard to believe that for centuries, not one single person managed to explain the situation to her. The victims likely begged and explained they weren't royals, even admitting the "ceremonial trick."

Yet the dragon continued the cycle because she didn't confront the actual royal family responsible. She chose not to listen to her victims, even if they were telling the truth.

Why, after so many centuries, does it take someone like Elodie to get through to her?

You expect me to believe that for 300 years, the dragon was too stupid or lazy to realize these innocent girls she was killing weren't royalty?

You expect me to sympathize with monster who, instead of going straight to the castle and targeting her children's killers (maybe burning it down), she hides in a hole and demands three daughters for every generation of the royal family?

Instead of finding ways to cope with her grief and go after the actual villains who hurt her?

Instead, she becomes the very thing she hates by killing the children of other mothers. That doesn't make her a "misunderstood monster victim," it makes her a petty, sociopathic mass murderer who took her vengeance too far and let the King and her enemies dictate how she lives through a deal that has more plotholes than moldy swiss cheese.

What fucking loser!

It's also an insult and desecrates actual motherhood. A character who loses a child should ideally be the last person to inflict that same soul-crushing pain on hundreds of other mothers. Instead of honoring her children, she created a mountain of innocent victims.

And the ending feels completely unearned.

The dragon and Elodie team up and fly off as allies? If someone had attempted to kill me, killed countless other people, I would not play nice with them, heal them or form an alliance with them.

The filmmakers treat the audience like they're stupid, betting that they'll be too distracted by the high-budget CGI and stunning visuals to notice the shitty story and its glaring logical voids. They gaslight the viewer into accepting a "feminist" triumph while ignoring that a dragon, who's suppose to be wise and smart, spent three centuries murdering innocent women (yes, those women, regardless of whether they were true royalty or not, had NOTHING to do with the first King's sins).

The writer and director assume we lack the basic intelligence to realize that a "grieving mother" wouldn't spend 300 years inflicting that same soul-crushing pain on hundreds of other families. The senseless twist at the end where Elodie teams up with the creature that hunted her for sport as she did with the other victims, insults our emotional memory, expecting us to swallow a narrative of "sisterhood" that is built on a literal mountain of female corpses.

Ultimately, the production treats the audience as vapid consumers who will prioritize flashy spectacle over moral consistency and basic common sense, using "Girl Power" tropes as a cheap veil for unearned redemption and narrative rot.

It masks a plot about a character who has committed horrific acts without facing consequences. The humans did horrible things, I'm not ignoring that fact. Lord Bayford willingly sold Elodie for gold to be killed by the dragon when he could have sold any other asset he clung to or could've escaped with his family, going into exile.

But he and the royal family suffered the consequences for their atrocities. While I thought selling his daughter shouldn't even have been in the script (she could have been some peasant or servant seized by the royals), the dragon should have died too as atonement. She was so goddamn unlikable in her petty vengeance, taunting and playing with her frightened victims before killing them.

The dragon isn't just a monster. She’s a predatory hypocrite. She spent centuries listening to those girls cry and watch them carve their names into the walls in desperation, and she never once stopped to think, "Maybe I'm the villain here."

To have her fly off into the sunset without ever acknowledging that she is the reason those women and Elodie's father are ghosts in a cave is the height of vile, lazy writing.

She willingly killed more people than what the original King did to her, murdering her children. She took away the children of countless other mothers. That doesn't make her better, it makes her worse. A pure villain.

And I don't buy for one minute her claim that she is the last of her kind. Just because there hasn't been any other dragon in centuries doesn't mean they're not out there.

This dud is hollow, logically inconsistent, and deeply frustrating.

No wonder it went to Netflix's dumping ground of mediocre and shitty original films instead of a wide, theatrical release. The film tried to have it both ways by demonizing a dragon through a Western, Christian lens but suddenly pivoting at the last minute with the modern view of the 'sympathetic monster.' It's a sudden, tonal whiplash that ruins the last half of the film.

Dan Mazeau, you shitty writer, please stay away from the film executives offices. Or better yet, don't write anymore fake "feminist" bullshit scripts. The same goes to you, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Agreeing to change the script at the last minute where the dragon lives because you starting liking the creature.

And Millie Bobby Brown, you're a clueless, huge sellout for producing this trash of a film. You too, Shohreh Aghdashloo, for caring more about a paycheck and working with a hack writer and director instead of walking away from the script, preserving your dignity and appreciation for true art and storytelling with smart characters.

Can we actually talk about why the Yuki-onna legend needs a modern sequel? ❄️🔥

I’m sitting here thinking about the 1964, 1968 and 2016 films and, honestly? I’m frustrated. We keep getting these gorgeous, atmospheric "cautionary tales" that basically end with: “You made a mistake, now your family is destroyed. Bye!”

It’s peak nihilism, and I think we’re overdue for a rewrite that actually respects the characters. Here’s why we need a sequel that follows the "Sentinel and the Spirit" arc:

Western Folklore is already doing the work: Look at Hades, where the game features Orpheus and Eurydice helped by Zagreus and reunited again. Or even Hadestown musical. We are obsessed with taking these "tragic" Greek myths and finding the human agency inside them. Challenging the rules/Gods and Fate.

We’re asking “What if Orpheus tried again?” or “What if Persephone chose her own throne?”

Are Japanese myths still trapped in "rigid, archaic rules" era where there is no room to explore the aftermath of the tale or the films? It's time to stop treating these stories like museum pieces and start treating them like living metaphors. The West is way ahead of that with their own deconstructions of mythology and folk tales. We're driven by the "what if" explorations in even our most tragic ones.

The Original is a "Male Gaze" Trap: Historically, these stories were recorded by men to warn men about the "danger" of powerful women. In the original, Minokichi is a passive victim, and Oyuki is a plot device. A modern sequel gives them the ability to change their fates.

It turns Minokichi into a Sentinel (and a badass) - a man who uses his wit and backbone to protect the mysterious nature of his wife, rather than just fearing it.

Buddhist Principles > Nihilism: The original ending is so... un-Buddhist? Where is the Karuna (Compassion)? Where is the Atonement?

Sentient Accountability: Traditionalists argue that she represents winter - beautiful, cold, but deadly. She's not human, she is a natural force operating under the same ruthless laws as a blizzard.

Except, Oyuki is portrayed as a sentient being: if she can love, cry, marry and build a family as a human, she is sentient enough to atone. Compassion and mending a broken home shouldn't be reserved only for humans.

In the modern era, atonement for one's crimes also extends to supernatural beings and monsters.

Universal Principles of Atonement, Reconciliation, Love and Forgiveness: Minokichi and Oyuki would need the courage to forgive each other because they both screwed up: him for breaking the vow, and her for killing his mentor and holding him hostage all those years under a burden that was bound to explode. In Buddhism, this is called Zange (repentence or confession), Tsumi-horoboshi (atonement for expatiating one's sins) and Jihi (compassion).

Minokichi would not be passive either. He would fit the modern hero archtype with cleverness, wit and selflessness: He would ask Oyuki that if she can't forgive or be with him, atleast "be there for your children." He would not care about the supernatural rules either, as they're outdated and cruel from a modern perspective.

This is only if Oyuki had the choice to stay and wasn't kept prisoner by her own supernatural world. And if she was? Challenge them. Do it if you truly found something worth loving a human man and living a human life, and your children.

- In a modern sequel, Minokichi’s breaking of the vow isn't the end. It's the beginning of his sincerity (Makoto). He would vow to protect Oyuki's secret, but this time not out of fear, but fear for her. He knows how cruel and evil humans can be when they fear or envy what they can't control.

Instead of the story ending in abandonment, it should explore Kintsugi and Buddhist Atonement. True strength isn't never making a mistake. It's staying to fix the mess you made.

The Philosophy of Kintsugi (金継ぎ): This is the biggest missed opportunity. In Japanese culture, we have the art of repairing broken pottery with gold, making the piece stronger and more beautiful for having been broken.

The broken vow, threatening and traumatizing the one you love by that vow and then lying to them for 10 years about your true identity are the cracks in the bowl.

The reconciliation, atonement, forgiveness, trust, love and a new vow (one actually kept under sincere circumstances) are the gold.

A sequel that shows them rebuilding their life together—scars and all—is, to me, more profound than a story that just throws the bowl away because it’s not "perfect" anymore.

Mono no aware: A lot of traditionalists cling to the original ending because they believe the tragedy is the only way to express mono no aware (物の哀れ)—that bittersweet "pathos of things" and the beauty found in transience.

But a modern sequel doesn’t kill that feeling; it actually makes it deeper. Traditionalists argue that Oyuki must leave because she is like the snow—beautiful because she is fleeting. But that is a surface-level reading. Mono no aware is found in the "replanted grove." It’s the sweet sadness of Minokichi and Oyuki choosing to build a life in the "middle ground" while knowing their time is limited.

Minokichi is a mortal woodcutter and Oyuki is an eternal spirit. Their Soul-Bond is precious precisely because it is a "loophole" carved out of a finite human life.

We need the "Loophole Woodcutter": I want a hero who acknowledges he’s "messy and flawed" but uses his human cleverness to out-reason the gods of winter. We need to see that a family built on Truth is more powerful than a law built on Silence.

Chapters: 2/2

Fandom: Team Fortress 2

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences 

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply 

Relationships: BLU Soldier & RED Demoman (Team Fortress 2), RED Heavy & RED Medic (Team Fortress 2), minor RED Scout/Miss Pauling 

Characters: RED Team (Team Fortress 2), BLU Team (Team Fortress 2), Miss Pauling (Team Fortress 2), Original Characters 

Additional Tags: Epiphany, Friendship, Team Dynamics, Game Update: Mann vs. Machine (Team Fortress 2), pre-A Tale of Two Cities, BLU team are clones, Confused Soldier, Rituals, Crazed American antics, Light-Hearted, Potions, Deus Ex Machina, amateur writing, Story within a Story, Le Fantôme de l'Opéra | Phantom of the Opera References, Headcanon, Portal Reference 

This is a follow-up to "My Headcanons For BLU Sniper and BLU Scout," which I attempt to characterize over two fanfictions, 'Bubo' and 'Dichotomy,' with BLU Sniper being the main character.

For me, it's a bit harder to write for Demoman as he is not one of my favorite characters. Though I appreciate his official backstory in the comics, videos as well as the fanfic writers who build upon his character, particularly on his friendship with BLU Soldier before, during and after the events of WAR!).

So, this is just from my point of view. Anyone who finds these ideas dumb or absurd, oh well, can't please everybody :)

Like with the rest of BLU Team, he's a clone, supposedly created by TF Industries. In reality, aliens did the work and supplied the clones to the human scientists.

Since all clones didn't have names, he was allowed to call himself Thomas. In the Aramaic language, it means "twin," in reference to being a copy of RED Demoman.

Unlike his original counterpart, BLU Demoman has two normal eyes. He still wears an eye patch out of habit due to feeling completely "naked" without it. The other cause is having subconscious memories of RED Demoman's adversity with his cursed eye.

Even though he possess the same training and skills as RED Demoman, he doesn't have his memories of growing up in Scotland.

He's not as sympathetic as his RED counterpart, as he is more narrow-minded, judges others, makes obnoxious remarks and tends to bully BLU Scout.

Sometimes, he has a habit of gaslighting others over passing off offensive and rude remarks as, "It was a joke!"

Like with some of the other BLUs, his immune system tends to be weak, so he gets sick more than their rivals; this leads to putting off battles until later, which greatly annoys RED Team.

He's more obsessed with money than his RED counterpart and tends to be greedy. He blows his earnings over stupid and unnecessary things like gambling $5 million dollars away in Las Vegas, buying an ugly painting for $10 million (it was probably a scam) or calling expensive tech specialists to fix things around the base when obviously Engineer can handle the repairs.

He has a cockatoo named Glasgow, while RED Demoman has Great Green Macaw named Aberdeen. Both names are based off towns in Scotland.

He often gets into fights with his parrot and kicks him out the room or outside. Glasgow usually spends the night with one of the other mercenaries (usually Pyro, Spy or Scout) as they can take his crass humor. In contrast, RED Demoman's parrot is his partner in crime and they both get along.

BLU Scout doesn't get along with BLU Demoman due to being picked on. It's akin to two siblings fighting, and usually Engineer or Medic has break up their fights.

Despite being an asshole, he views the BLU Team as his 'family' since they're the only ones he knows, being from the same lab at TF Industries.

Like the other BLUs, he tends to screw up more in the matches or scores a victory by some accident. This was partly inspired by Dr. Clay999's hilarious "Meet The BLU Team."

He is insecure about his abilities and puts down the others to mask it. Furthermore, he sometimes plays dirty with RED Team in the matches in order to feel better about himself.

He has a self-contradicting personality, as he alternates between praising and criticizing himself on the battlefield. Again, inspired by the "Meet The BLU Team" videos.

In DemoKnight mode, he uses a regular sword.

Like RED Demoman, he inherited some of his superstitious beliefs. He believes in psychics and calls one every week to find out predictions (usually about his money or who will win the match). Unfortunately, the psychic is unable to tell him the match's outcome, but he still calls anyway.

He's the first to know about Blutarch's impending doom from the psychic, but is more upset that he won't keep getting paid handsomely each month when the old man dies.

While RED Demoman is usually jolly, temperamental or depressed when drunk, BLU Demoman tends to be emotionless and introspective when he drinks. He is a lightweight though compared to RED Demoman, and three shots will knock him out.

He's lucky that he doesn't have to contend with his organs if they threaten to shut down because he stops drinking alcohol. His organs are normal and don't have independent minds of their own.

He's not into blowing up things like RED Demoman. He does enjoy the thrill of taking out enemies, which is what the deadly bombs and other arsenal bring.

Unlike some of the other BLUs, he doesn't identify strongly with his clone heritage. He's able to relate to anyone, human or clone.

He's never been to Scotland, but would like to visit one day.

This is a follow-up to "My Headcanons For BLU Sniper," which I attempt to characterize over two fanfictions, 'Bubo' and 'Dichotomy.'

While BLU Scout is a secondary character in those stories, it's sometimes fun to write him. There are many fans who have headcanons for the TF2 team and several are quite interesting to the point that I adopted some of them.

So, this is just from my point of view. Anyone who finds these ideas dumb or absurd, oh well, can't please everybody :)

Like with the rest of BLU Team, he's a clone, supposedly created by TF Industries. In reality, aliens did the work and supplied the clones to the human scientists.

Since the clones don't have given names, he calls himself Billy, after the historical outlaw, Billy The Kid. An earlier concept version of the BLU Scout resembled the outlaw, so this is what I based it off of.

He tends to be of a cheapskate with money.

Despite appearing to have the same cockiness and mannerisms as RED Scout, he can sit still longer during 3 hour films and quickly gets over bad things, holding only a few grudges in his life.

He's not as hotheaded as RED Scout, so it takes a bit more to really anger him, despite his violent actions in matches.

He still retains the warfare skills, speech, learning and muscle memory of how to fight from his RED counterpart, despite being a clone.

He is more naive about things, as he lacks RED Scout's street smarts. This is due to barely having any memories of the latter growing up in Boston.

He gets along with his clone dad, BLU Spy. Both love playing pranks on the other teammates and strangers sometimes. This is nearly opposite to RED Scout and RED Spy's antagonistic relationship.

He finds it cool when he discovers BLU Spy is his dad. They still treat each other like teammates as Spy lacks the paternal instincts and views Scout more like a cousin since neither have solid memories from their RED counterparts.

Unlike RED Scout, who has dyslexia, he tends to get words mixed up that he hears. While RED Scout can occasionally have this problem, it's more chronic with BLU Scout.

Despite his naivety, he did inherit both Spys' ability to be sneaky in matches, so he's not as direct in offensive as RED Scout is, preferring to fool the enemy into thinking what his next attack will be. He'll also eavesdrop on conversations.

He named one of the base's guard dogs "Jerkwad" since the dog barks alot and is the meanest of the three. The other BLUs just accepted the name.

His bird friend is a Blue Jay, while RED Scout's is a Cardinal.

Like RED Scout, he hates spiders.

He likes Tom Jones music, but tends to branch out in other genres like classic rock, funk and ballads.

One of his favorite stock weapons is the Nail Gun, which the mod game "Team Fortress 2 Classic" features. It was scrapped from the game's debut, though its a primary weapon for Classic Scout from the first "Team Fortress" game.

He doesn't get along with BLU Demoman at times since the bomb expert picks on him, like an older sibling would with a younger one. BLU Engineer usually has to stop their fights like a distressed dad.

His ADHD is not as bad as RED Scout's, so he tends to listen a bit more when someone is talking to him.

He still retains some of RED Scout's characteristics, like talking too much and wanting to get the glory in a match to later brag about.

When not having fun with BLU Spy, he hangs out with BLU Pyro and BLU Sniper. He has outside friends, but keeps quiet about his mercenary role.

He has his dumbass moments like RED Scout.

When drunk, he starts blurting out his real name in public until the other BLUs have to gag him or knock him out from revealing more secret information. This is why he's never allowed to go drinking alone.

He does better in hot, dry environments since he was "born" in the Badlands and used to its arid weather. RED Scout fares better in the cold since he grew up in Boston and hates the heat.

He's one of the first to be open to a truce with RED during Mann vs. Machine. While some of the BLUs aren't happy about him being so accepting and berate him for it, he tends to forget what happened during most of the matches. In contrast, RED Scout remembers nearly everything bad done to him and holds a grudge longer, refusing at first to work with a former enemy.

Like with the other clones, he was designed to last 10 to 12 years. He's the last BLU to go and makes it one more year, dying in November 1981. RED Scout outlives him by six more years (going by the comics).

His sexual preference can go either way.

There are many fans who have headcanons for the TF2 team and many are quite interesting to the point that I adopted some of them. The one I mainly (attempt to) write about is the BLU Sniper and his fellow teammates, since he's the main character in two fanfics I churned up ("Bubo" and "Dichotomy").

So, this is just from my point of view. Anyone who finds these ideas dumb or absurd, oh well, can't please everybody :)

NOTE: This is a long bullet list, so read at your own discretion and only if you have more time to spare.

Like with the rest of BLU Team, he's a clone, supposedly created by TF Industries. In reality, aliens did the work and supplied the clones to the human scientists.

Since the clones don't have given names, he calls himself Cyril.

Unlike RED Sniper, who's far-sighted, he's near-sighted and so his aviators also double as prescription glasses. Not good if they get shot out during a match. The only plausible explanation I could come up with is TF Industries or Mann Co. found a doctor who customizes glasses to resemble the real thing.

Although he has the RED Sniper's warfare abilities due to retaining learned memory through cloning, he's still not as highly skilled as his enemy. He keeps practicing though.

He's a bit more social and curious about asking people things, not making him quite an introvert or a loner per se. He has some friends outside the team, though he's very careful about disclosing to them what he does for a living.

He views the BLU Team as his family; they're the only ones he's ever known living and training with them at TF Industries' R&D branch during their extremely short "youth" phases.

He prefers his living quarters at the base.

He has a camper van, but it was given to him by TF Industries; they assumed that he would make use of it like RED Sniper does with his van. Not having any interest in mobile living, BLU Sniper simply uses it as a transportation vehicle. He does have to deal with Scout or Demoman asking multiple times if they can borrow it.

He has several of RED Sniper's preferences, mainly that he loves coffee and is not a happy person if he doesn't get it. He also doesn't mind wearing an Australian slouched hat.

He gets along with most of his teammates, with the exception of Soldier, who sometimes steals food off everyone's plates and Spy, who loves playing pranks on everyone.

Even though he's a clone, he doesn't possess the RED Sniper's uber hunting instincts or utilizing his own piss against enemies. So, you won't find him hunting rabbits or pheasants in the morning for breakfast. He also prefers a strong pressure washer-like weapon to blow back enemies (similar to Pyro's Airblast) or put out his teammates on fire.

He is considered more empathetic than his RED counterpart and more trusting, giving the chance he could sometimes be manipulated.

After the war, he'd consider a career in wildlife or for a more risky approach, a sniper on the SWAT team. He doesn't possess as much of a killer instinct enough for an assassin role, but still enough to be a dutiful soldier in battle.

Although he speaks with an Australian accent (a strange side-effect in the cloning process), he tends to use more American vernacular like 'my towel' instead of 'me towel' or 'Hey!' instead of 'Oi!'

He and BLU Team are actually Americans since they were born in the Badlands at TF Industries (or so that's the story they've been told).

He could easily imitate an American accent just for fun.

He has a close bond with an Spotted Owl named Bubo enough to the point it later becomes a psychic link.

He suffers from PTSD (Combat Stress Syndrome during the 1960s), based on real-life cases with veterans. It gets worse during the last year of the Gravel Wars.

He has erratic dreams of a strange symbol and ominous aliens.

He occasionally sleepwalks.

He's often a victim in his teammates' crazy antics when they're caught by police.

He often accuses Demoman's parrot of stealing his trail mix and candy in his bedroom.

Unlike RED Sniper, he doesn't like alligator or snake meat.

He doesn't keep pictures of his enemies to cross out.

He's not as cool-headed as RED Sniper and can get emotional about things, particularly if it concerns innocent people hurt or a dirty antic that RED used in a match.

He's often hunted more in the matches by the RED Sniper, as the latter has a strong predatory instinct to take out prey that's a mockery of him.

He later falls for Athene, another clone and younger version of The Administrator. This is a tribute to their married voice actors, John Patrick Lowrie and Ellen McClain.

As a clone, who was intentionally designed to last 10-12 years, he dies sometime around 1980. RED Sniper outlives him by several decades.

In terms of archtype, he's the Hero to RED Sniper's Anti-Hero.