Warrior Princess Exchange!
3 June 2014 01:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
frayadjacentchaila and I recently did a Warrior Princess Exchange: she gave me some Wonder Woman comics to read and I suggested some Xena episodes for her to watch! My Xena suggestions were "One Against an Army" -- an obvious choice, IMO, for the the competence porn and the Xena and Gab being awesome and having an amazing relationship -- and "When Fates Collide". The second one seemed a little counter-intuitive but I still think it was a good choice for chaila, and for showcasing how awesome the characters can be. Also I re-watched the episode for Research and OMG so much fanservice. It was delightfulChaila gave me The Hiketeia, which I devoured pretty quickly (well, after I figured out how to get Simple Comic to work right). It was a great story with some awesome Wonder Woman action and two great women characters.
I was surprised a little by how Diana claimed she didn't care what Danielle had done, to the point of kinda cutting off the conversation. It was an interesting ethical dilemma where I didn't really agree with anyone. I mean, I am fine with what Danielle did, but only because of the reason why she did it, which Diana claimed to not care about. (Though it seemed like she did care about it, since she was contemplating how she'd have felt if it were her sisters.) But honoring the Hiketeia was the major motivator for her, which I obviously don't identify with but it was pretty interesting nonetheless.
It definitely made me want to read more, and I imagine that if/when I do read more WW, I'll go back to the story and read it with a new level of emotional/intellectual engagement with the characters and stories.
I also thought the art was quite pretty, though I do predictably dislike the way women are drawn. It's not as bad as many comics but the contorted-torso-butt-and-boob poses were definitely there. But I liked how it conveyed the action.
The only thing I really wished was different was that it had spent more time on Diana and Danielle's relationship. I wish I had gotten to see them spending time together, to see how Danielle got good at her job instead of just having Diana tell me. But I wouldn't have wanted that at the expense of anything else, so I'd have wanted the book to be longer. :)
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on 5/6/14 04:30 pm (UTC)THE ONE IN THE BARN!! Damn, I don't have time to rewatch that right now. But yeah.
Oh, and the other one is the next ep up for us! We stalled out a couple of times trying to make it through S6, and are stalled out right now. When we finish our ATLA rewatch, I'll use the fact that you rec'd the ep to
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on 6/6/14 01:42 am (UTC)For the rest of the series, everytime Xena faced something that seemed like way too much, I said, "well, she fought off a whole army that one time, so she'll be fine."
I liked that the show basically dispensed with any tension around whether Xena would win the day, and instead built drama/suspense in other ways.
Many fans consider the next episode, "When Fates Collide" to be the finale, because the actual finale is, well, upsetting. If I were to argue against "Friend in Need" as the finale (which I seem to be constitutionally incapable of, I am really not very good at deviating too far from canon), I'd argue for the one after, "Many Happy Returns". It's a bit silly -- OK, it's really silly -- but it has a delightful ending.
Which is a long way of saying that, should you stop after the next episode or the one after, you'd still have earned your Xena badge.
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on 7/6/14 01:58 pm (UTC)And thanks for the advice on where to stop!
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on 9/6/14 01:17 am (UTC)no subject
on 9/6/14 01:46 am (UTC)