WOAH
hey tumblr people! remember when i made that AvA animatic a year ago? i made another one. instead of taking 6 hours, this one took 5 DAYS. i'd love for you to leave some appreciation here or on youtube!!
(IT DOES HAVE SPOILERS FOR AVA 11.)
I’m just curious to see just how big our tiny, yet awesome fandom is! TOS TaG or both! I don’t mind!
Secret to getting to know other fans on tumblr is reblogging. This sounds like a trap to get you guys to reblog art and fics and gifs which yes that’s an added benefit but also the way you get a feel of followers or mutuals is the little comments in the tags of a post like subtle little whispers and you start to recognise names like oh that’s the one who’s always nice to artists or that’s the funny one or maybe they have a funny queue pun tag or maybe there can be a little prev tags interaction like that’s how you start creating your own little likeminded souls club here. Also you get to put pretty art and fics and gifs on your blog
You know, with all the language throughout Star Wars about “giving in” to the Dark Side, how the Dark Side makes you more powerful, how the Dark Side makes you age strangely and destroys you, it sure doesn’t sound like an “opposite side of the coin” so much as the “deeper end of the pool,” like it’s actually the true form of the force and being a Jedi is about keeping it tamed so it doesn’t eat you the way it actually wants.
AvM ep. 30 'The King'
AvA ep. 11 'Victim'
AM I HALLUCINATING, OR HAVE WE SEEN THIS GUY BEFORE?
Ok okay
Hear me out-
What if-
But what if-
Just… what if?
(Weird ass hyperfixations I’m sorryyyyyyyy)
please please please please reblog if you’re a writer and have at some point felt like your writing is getting worse. I need to know if I’m the only one who’s struggling with these thoughts
A scorpion, not knowing how to swim, asked a frog to carry it across the river. “Do I look like a fool?” said the frog. “You’d sting me if I let you on my back!”
“Be logical,” said the scorpion. “If I stung you I’d certainly drown myself.”
“That’s true,” the frog acknowledged. “Climb aboard, then!” But no sooner than they were halfway across the river, the scorpion stung the frog, and they both began to thrash and drown. “Why on earth did you do that?” the frog said morosely. “Now we’re both going to die.”
“I can’t help it,” said the scorpion. “It’s my nature.”
___
…But no sooner than they were halfway across the river, the frog felt a subtle motion on its back, and in a panic dived deep beneath the rushing waters, leaving the scorpion to drown.
“It was going to sting me anyway,” muttered the frog, emerging on the other side of the river. “It was inevitable. You all knew it. Everyone knows what those scorpions are like. It was self-defense.”
___
…But no sooner had they cast off from the bank, the frog felt the tip of a stinger pressed lightly against the back of its neck. “What do you think you’re doing?” said the frog.
“Just a precaution,” said the scorpion. “I cannot sting you without drowning. And now, you cannot drown me without being stung. Fair’s fair, isn’t it?”
They swam in silence to the other end of the river, where the scorpion climbed off, leaving the frog fuming.
“After the kindness I showed you!” said the frog. “And you threatened to kill me in return?”
“Kindness?” said the scorpion. “To only invite me on your back after you knew I was defenseless, unable to use my tail without killing myself? My dear frog, I only treated you as I was treated. Your kindness was as poisoned as a scorpion’s sting.”
___
…“Just a precaution,” said the scorpion. “I cannot sting you without drowning. And now, you cannot drown me without being stung. Fair’s fair, isn’t it?”
“You have a point,” the frog acknowledged. “But once we get to dry land, couldn’t you sting me then without repercussion?”
“All I want is to cross the river safely,” said the scorpion. “Once I’m on the other side I would gladly let you be.”
“But I would have to trust you on that,” said the frog. “While you’re pressing a stinger to my neck. By ferrying you to land I’d be be giving up the one deterrent I hold over you.”
“But by the same logic, I can’t possibly withdraw my stinger while we’re still over water,” the scorpion protested.
The frog paused in the middle of the river, treading water. “So, I suppose we’re at an impasse.”
The river rushed around them. The scorpion’s stinger twitched against the frog’s unbroken skin. “I suppose so,” the scorpion said.
___
A scorpion, not knowing how to swim, asked a frog to carry it across the river. “Absolutely not!” said the frog, and dived beneath the waters, and so none of them learned anything.
___
A scorpion, being unable to swim, asked a turtle (as in the original Persian version of the fable) to carry it across the river. The turtle readily agreed, and allowed the scorpion aboard its shell. Halfway across, the scorpion gave in to its nature and stung, but failed to penetrate the turtle’s thick shell. The turtle, swimming placidly, failed to notice.
They reached the other side of the river, and parted ways as friends.
___
…Halfway across, the scorpion gave in to its nature and stung, but failed to penetrate the turtle’s thick shell.
The turtle, hearing the tap of the scorpion’s sting, was offended at the scorpion’s ungratefulness. Thankfully, having been granted the powers to both defend itself and to punish evil, the turtle sank beneath the waters and drowned the scorpion out of principle.
___
A scorpion, not knowing how to swim, asked a frog to carry it across the river. “Do I look like a fool?” sneered the frog. “You’d sting me if I let you on my back.”
The scorpion pleaded earnestly. “Do you think so little of me? Please, I must cross the river. What would I gain from stinging you? I would only end up drowning myself!”
“That’s true,” the frog acknowledged. “Even a scorpion knows to look out for its own skin. Climb aboard, then!”
But as they forged through the rushing waters, the scorpion grew worried. This frog thinks me a ruthless killer, it thought. Would it not be justified in throwing me off now and ridding the world of me? Why else would it agree to this? Every jostle made the scorpion more and more anxious, until the frog surged forward with a particularly large splash, and in panic the scorpion lashed out with its stinger.
“I knew it,” snarled the frog, as they both thrashed and drowned. “A scorpion cannot change its nature.”
___
A scorpion, not knowing how to swim, asked a frog to carry it across the river. The frog agreed, but no sooner than they were halfway across the scorpion stung the frog, and they both began to thrash and drown.
“I’ve only myself to blame,” sighed the frog, as they both sank beneath the waters. “You, you’re a scorpion, I couldn’t have expected anything better. But I knew better, and yet I went against my judgement! And now I’ve doomed us both!”
“You couldn’t help it,” said the scorpion mildly. “It’s your nature.”
___
…“Why on earth did you do that?” the frog said morosely. “Now we’re both going to die.”
“Alas, I was of two natures,” said the scorpion. “One said to gratefully ride your back across the river, and the other said to sting you where you stood. And so both fought, and neither won.” It smiled wistfully. “Ah, it would be nice to be just one thing, wouldn’t it? Unadulterated in nature. Without the capacity for conflict or regret.”
___
“By the way,” said the frog, as they swam, “I’ve been meaning to ask: What’s on the other side of the river?”
“It’s the journey,” said the scorpion. “Not the destination.”
___
…“What’s on the other side of anything?” said the scorpion. “A new beginning.”
___
…”Another scorpion to mate with,” said the scorpion. “And more prey to kill, and more living bodies to poison, and a forthcoming lineage of cruelties that you will be culpable in.”
___
…”Nothing we will live to see, I fear,” said the scorpion. “Already the currents are growing stronger, and the river seems like it shall swallow us both. We surge forward, and the shoreline recedes. But does that mean our striving was in vain?”
___
“I love you,” said the scorpion.
The frog glanced upward. “Do you?”
“Absolutely. Can you imagine the fear of drowning? Of course not. You’re a frog. Might as well be scared of breathing air. And yet here I am, clinging to your back, as the waters rage around us. Isn’t that love? Isn’t that trust? Isn’t that necessity? I could not kill you without killing myself. Are we not inseparable in this?”
The frog swam on, the both of them silent.
___
“I’m so tired,” murmured the frog eventually. “How much further to the other side? I don’t know how long we’ve been swimming. I’ve been treading water. And it’s getting so very dark.”
“Shh,” the scorpion said. “Don’t be afraid.”
The frog’s legs kicked out weakly. “How long has it been? We’re lost. We’re lost! We’re doomed to be cast about the waters forever. There is no land. There’s nothing on the other side, don’t you see!”
“Shh, shh,” said the scorpion. “My venom is a hallucinogenic. Beneath its surface, the river is endlessly deep, its currents carrying many things.”
“You - You’ve killed us both,” said the frog, and began to laugh deliriously. “Is this - is this what it’s like to drown?”
“We’ve killed each other,” said the scorpion soothingly. “My venom in my glands now pulsing through your veins, the waters of your birthing pool suffusing my lungs. We are engulfing each other now, drowning in each other. I am breathless. Do you feel it? Do you feel my sting pierced through your heart?”
“What a foolish thing to do,” murmured the frog. “No logic. No logic to it at all.”
“We couldn’t help it,” whispered the scorpion. “It’s our natures. Why else does anything in the world happen? Because we were made for this from birth, darling, every moment inexplicable and inevitable. What a crazy thing it is to fall in love, and yet - It’s all our fault! We are both blameless. We’re together now, darling. It couldn’t have happened any other way.”
___
“It’s funny,” said the frog. “I can’t say that I trust you, really. Or that I even think very much of you and that nasty little stinger of yours to begin with. But I’m doing this for you regardless. It’s strange, isn’t it? It’s strange. Why would I do this? I want to help you, want to go out of my way to help you. I let you climb right onto my back! Now, whyever would I go and do a foolish thing like that?”
___
A scorpion, not knowing how to swim, asked a frog to carry it across the river. “Do I look like a fool?” said the frog. “You’d sting me if I let you on my back!”
“Be logical,” said the scorpion. “If I stung you I’d certainly drown myself.”
“That’s true,” the frog acknowledged. “Come aboard, then!” But no sooner had the scorpion mounted the frog’s back than it began to sting, repeatedly, while still safely on the river’s bank.
The frog groaned, thrashing weakly as the venom coursed through its veins, beginning to liquefy its flesh. “Ah,” it muttered. “For some reason I never considered this possibility.”
“Because you were never scared of me,” the scorpion whispered in its ear. “You were never scared of dying. In a past life you wore a shell and sat in judgement. And then you were reborn: soft-skinned, swift, unburdened, as new and vulnerable as a child, moving anew through a world of children. How could anyone ever be cruel, you thought, seeing the precariousness of it all?” The scorpion bowed its head and drank. “How could anyone kill you without killing themselves?”
Ok this is interesting, wanted to add my interpretations :D
I personally recon that Purple is such a good character because of the crappy things he did. All that good ol character development, like you said in your end point.
Although i interpreted Purple's relationship with his dad Navy differently than you. Navy may have walked away, but Purple never wanted him gone. Navy was a pathetic father, but Purple couldn't see/accept that or just didn't care, and all he wanted was his approval. (We could also blame Navy for this. He's the one who raised his child with unreasonable expectations.) Navy leaving of course would have made this worse. Purple could have healed from the disease, but in his desire born of a childhood without an adequate father figure, he wanted to stay sick. Which was wrong, but. Yk. That, or it's a response to the trauma he definitely has. Regardless.
All Purple wanted is this approval from a father-figure that cares, which is something he's never had. So naturally, when he ends up in the employment of Mango, Purple goes 'new father-figure unlocked!' Now he must make him proud. And at this point, Purple has literally nobody else. (I wouldn't count the CG at this stage.) So this desire is perhaps even greater. Enough to do irrational, crappy things, like betraying his friends.
This is why I'm with you about how people shouldn't say that he was "under MT's command" or anything. He wasn't. His awful actions were by choice. And that makes his character arc even better.
I'd say that Ep. 25 was Purple's wake-up call. (Mango has his own in Ep. 30 when he sees Gold in Purple and realises what he's doing is wrong, and realises how much he cares about Purple.) Mango disregarding Purple in Ep. 25 is Purple realising that this is Navy all over again. He's giving everything to someone he looks up to, yet he's cast aside for it. So he runs away.
On Purple's backstory, Ep. 29. When I first watched it, I remember thinking, 'bro, why are you trauma-dumping all of a sudden?' But then i realised it's because Green literally asked. Many times, in fact. Even to the extent of "why are you being evil, dude??" And thus gets the full answer he asked for. Of course, Purple has had his wake-up call by this point and knows what he had done was wrong, so i feel like it was less of an apology and more of an explination- repentance. I personally recon Purple never asked for forgiveness or anything because he didn't expect it, didn't believe he deserved it. Green gave it anyway. And Purple didn't let him down, and followed through in Ep. 30.
Purple essentually dies trying to fix his mistakes that he committed with Mango. Which is the greatest lesson learned a character can show, i recon. Wonderful character development.
And i recon it doesn't end there. There'd be a whole lot of healing to be done between Purple and Mango. They did hurt one another, one significantly more than the other, and they can't fill the holes for each other that Gold and Navy left. But neither of them are alone anymore, and they can heal together, and that's a start.
When it comes to the people you mentioned in the fandom defending Purple's actions; no!!! No way! Purple had a redemption arc, not freedom from Stockholm Syndrome or something. Purple made awful decisions entirely of his own volition, and it would ruin his character development to defend him. Flaws are why characters are so good, we all know this lol
I am absolutely with you on how Purple should not be victimised or excused, and how many of his life choices are crap, but I've made my point over why i think that's great writing. Sorry for how fandom interpretations have lead to your dislike of a character, that sucks, and i totally get it. Not trying to change your mind or anything, 100% valid opinion. I just enjoy neat character analyses such as this. Sorry that was so long, lol ✌️
I was thinking about it a long time, and this post contains my thoughts over my whole existence in the fandom. If you don't agree on what i say - it's okay. Everyone has the right to express what they believe, if it's not harming anyone (and I'm obviously not doing it). I'd like to hear what the others think, so feel free to comment or smth.
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I just can't stand people endlessly defending him, like he did nothing wrong. I don't suggest, that he can't be redeemed, and what he was doing was pure evil, but come on. He almost killed two guys back in the episode 10, and for what? There is, like, a thousand different ways to impress your dad, without dragging other people into this. Or without hurting anyone.
Actually, if Purple's father disappeared, then...why is he trying to get him back? Maybe i misunderstood, but if the source of the most of my problems just went gone, i would not give a damn about it. Why is he doing this? It's like recovering from a disease, and once you're fully healed, you try to get sick again.
Okay, season one wasn't that bad, because he apologised and everyone lived happily ever after, but then we have season 3. And Purple returns, and does THE EXACT SAME THING. He never learned anything from that encounter. Better - he now tries to do something even worse.
"But he's under MT's command!" - he never was forced to do it, let's be honest. He agreed to do this.
Episode 25 is Purple finally getting some karma. He finally learned, that he's not doing anything good. He finally gets what he deserves.
And then the narrative undergoes an 180 in ep 29.
I don't want to hate on this episode, it has amazing visuals and music (which i consider one of the best out of the whole season 3), but i need to say one thing. After all this mess Purple did, his backstory looks like an excuse. An excuse to feel sorry for him. Yes, he regretted everything. Yes, he apologised. In a youtuber way. I felt like i was watching a got talent show. I really want to feel sorry. But i just can't.
It might be surprising after all the ranting, but i don't have any problems with Purple getting a happy ending. He's not irredeemable, and he already got his karma, so it's enough for me to not have any complaints.
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Why is Purple overrated? Because people overly victimise him. They forget about all the evil stuff he did, or they excuse him. Let's remember, that he joined Mt and dragged Blue and Green into his plan all by himself. He could not do it, but he did (i already said, that it's kinda stupid but i won't repeat myself). He just could live his life after his dad left, just leaving the past behind.
And to settle thing up - i don't hate him. I think that Purple is pretty good in terms of character development and his story, but i consider some of his life choices stupid. That's all.
PS. Sorry for not posting, school for eight hours a day is sucking the inspiration out of me
I had this idea for a looping animation in which a single dot has a pretty long loop, but the animation as a whole is much shorter. Because of the repetition this animation is only 1 second long!