#dragonnutt

I don’t even watch Voltron, but the idea that EVERY fictional female character needs to be a Badass Strong Independent Woman really needs to go away. If men are allowed to have a variety of personality types in fiction, then women should, too!

Hannibal's Revenge for giving Chase an unexplained eleventh hour weakness that doesn't matter to the plot, shoving another "girl power" episode down our throats while refusing to call out Kimiko for invading her teammates' privacy, cranking up Omi's sexism for literally no reason other than to make Kimiko look better, having Jack at his absolute most pathetic for no real reason, and having all this happen literally right before the SERIES FINALE.

1- What is Hannibal’s “Revenge” even for? Is it for Chase? Was their conflict supposed to be the focus of the episode or was Kimiko? Which one’s the A plot and which one’s the B plot?

2 - Why on God’s Green Earth did they need Jack to win the battle. Why did they give a shit.

3 - Kimiko burns down a whole forest and there are no consequences for that

4 - Jack is shown dropping an anvil on the bubble bots and they don’t break so clearly they’re well made?? It seems unreasonable that the monks can punch and kick harder than the force of a DROPPING ANVIL. Maybe if they’re using shen gon wu and stuff but just on their own? Weird. 

4 - Again, KIMIKO DESTROYS AN ENTIRE ECOSYSTEM. I’d like to watch an episode where she (or any of them or all of them) have to face consequences for using their powers with abandon. Let them learn a lesson that being a good guy means you don’t get to do what you want all the time.

lmao i feel like i’ve answered all i can about rbte but ok

3: What’s your favorite line of narration?

Clay had always been soft, in his mind; soft in the head, soft in tone, soft with fat. But now, Clay was just…eerie. And it wasn’t because he was different – and oh boy was he different. It was because, by and large, Clay was the same.

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

mmmmhhhhh that’s hard ok let’s see

“Goddammit Raimundo,” she said, clutching onto the wheel just so that she wouldn’t let go, “you just had to ask.” 

5: What part was hardest to write?

*throws confetti in the air* i still don’t know how to write endings

11: What do you like best about this fic?

obviously the concept because immediately afterwards basically i did the same fuckin story again but slightly different and in ask blog form

15: What did you learn from writing this fic?

I was super annoyed by ashi's death since it gave a lot of "stuffed into the fridge" vibes, like it only happened to give Jack some extra Man Angst (TM). I feel like it could have worked better if they'd given Ashi more, I dunno, agency in the whole thing? Like have her be AWARE of the paradox and CHOOSE to save Jack as a heroic sacrifice, rather than just... passively dying like "whoops I guess this is a thing huh."

ALSO the series would have massively benefited from a "distant future" epilogue, showing all the characters like the Scotsman alive and thriving in the new future. They don't remember Jack because they never met him, but every one of them is better off because of him. (Maybe draw some parallels of how Jack had "nothing but memories," and they have EVERYTHING but memories of him.)

^YES, that’s exactly what I was trying to say I wanted, thanks for putting it into actual words!

Pretty sure it was one sweetheart just passing through, but I’m grateful to get it. XD

Oooh, your rewatch has me stomping back the urge to completely rewrite Xiaolin Chronicles again, because it has reminded me of all the elements of the show that could have been great if handled right (the monks taking on a student of their own, Kimiko becoming a Dragon rider, Shadow, Boris, Omi becoming more proactive in trying to learn about his past/family) and yet everything went so, SO WRONG.

Sorry I didn’t see this earlier! I’m getting to it now though! 

I mean, yes, I would change just about everything about Chronicles, but as for the five things I’d change the most...

THE PACING! I mean Great Ghost of Dashi I can’t stress enough how bad the pacing is! Take for example, Princess Kalia and the Thousand Layer Disaster. They crammed what was easily three episodes of material into one episode and wound up with a directionless, confused mess. I mean, IMHO that episode should have been split up and made into at least the mid-season finale if not the season finale in general. 

Honestly, I’d just cut out Kimiko’s sister because I don’t feel she adds anything meaningful to the plot and takes screen time and development away from other characters, then once her episode is over she really doesn’t come up again and is ultimately forgettable. 

While I’m on that topic, I just want either fewer side characters or more developed side characters in general because the way it is, they’re either not memorable or they’re outright annoying and they take development away from the main characters. I feel this way about most of the one episode characters and side characters (and for Chronicles sake, I’m including Clay, Raimundo, and Ping Pong in the side character category because LBR, they’re side characters), but mostly towards Tomoko and Salvador Cumo. And I freely admit that most of my dislike of Salvador is the whole Leather Pants treatment the fandom gives him because otherwise, the smarmy con man lizard would be fantastic. 

While I appreciate Kimiko getting more of the spotlight, I really do wish Kimiko had some legitimate flaws, and not the kind that they mention (e.g. her temper) and then never do anything with. Like, if they actually gave her a quick temper and did more with her tendency to be self-sufficient to a detrimental level she would be more interesting and her journey would be more meaningful. If they acknowledged her flaws and had a story involving her overcoming and working with said flaws, her eventually becoming the first dragon rider in hundreds, if not thousands, of years would have more emotional resonance, somewhat akin to Raimundo becoming the leader at the end of Showdown as opposed to just another plot station.

OMI. Just OMI.  In Showdown, he’s an arrogant little snot, but he’s an arrogant little snot who means well as opposed to the arrogant, bratty, entitled SOB he is in Chronicles. Like, I could not see Chronicles Omi insisting that one of his friends going to the dark side was a Secret Elaborate Plan or insisting that the good in Chase is stronger than he knows. This is an Omi who if Raimundo turned to the Heylin side would for all intents and purposes say, “Well of course he did, he’s in no way as good as me,” and it’s painful to watch.