I feel like fans tend to ignore the line between "fictional kitty society" and "intentional veiled commentary of real world societal issues" when it comes to critiquing Warrior Cats.
When you read a piece of media, you will always come away from it with two seperate interpretations.
What the author intended
What the reader interpreted
Like, I don't think the Bumble thing was a commentary on abusive relationships in real life, and I don't think, based on how Kate or Vicky talk about and treat Warrior Cats, that it was intended that way, for instance.
—But, the parallels are there for those with eyes to see them, and I think it's worth noting that the fandom treats her situation as if it were supposed to be interpreted that way to start with— as an analogue for real abuse— and are incensed by the way the topic was handled.
Similar to Bumble, I see this with cats like Snowkit, or cats like Jayfeather, who, at the time of their being authored, were very likely not intended to convey the authors' stance on disability.
And, if Jayfeather were to do that then the best thing you can possibly say about his portrayal is that came from a well-intentioned, well-meaning place.
To summarize, I don't think Jayfeather or any other situation / character in Warriors is or was—
Intended to be an offensive caricature / stereotype
Purposefully demeaning to children or older readers with a similar disability, or in a similar situation as to what has been portrayed in Warriors thus far
That his character or any other character comes from a place of bad faith, or underlying bias
—even if some readers feel otherwise.
What if one of the cats was a magical girl and went through the sparkly transformation and had a cat costume and everything— and that would change nothing about warriors, but it would be so fun.
I often see the fandom conflate plot points / set-up with whether a character is 'defendable' or not.
For instance, Ivypool lashing out at Dovewing in one of the newer books.
"I can't believe Ivypool said that!"
"She was so mean to Dovewing!"
Well, while I personally feel like Ivypool was acting out in a very understandable, and sympathizable way, I also think fans are ignoring the obvious elephant in the room.
—This conflict only happens in the book to set up the book's story arc about 'alternative' afterlives. Bristlefrost, who we assume has faded from the world entirely, is revealed to still live on, even if only symbolically, through a stag that appears before Ivypool.
In other words, Dovewing's grief over Rowankit is being juxtaposed to Ivypool's loss of Bristlefrost, so that the book can reveal that she's not really gone.
In other book series, a Series of Unfortunate Events, for instance, the choices a character makes say something about who they are as a person,
As an example, from a Series of Unfortunate Events, the character Violet Baudelaire purposefully writes with her non-dominant hand when signing a marriage contract to Count Olaf thereby nullifing her marriage to him.
This shows that she is both clever, and knowledgeable of marital law. She is an inventor, and sees all the possibilites before her, even ones that would require her to think outside the box, in situations where a solution might not seem apparent.
Contrast this to Warriors, and you'll find that most characters are mouthpieces for the plot with characterization on the side.
Cinderpaw getting hurt, leading to Jaypaw developing hydrotherapy, allows us to learn about Cinderpaw being Cinderpelt, furthers the relationship between Jaypaw and his connection to the stick, and allows for bonding time between he and Leafpool.
But, we don't get much overt characterization out of this. We learn that Jaypaw is smart. But, it doesn't really say anything about him as a character. This follows for every other Warriors character, too.
We are dripfed characterization through little moments, Whitestorm spending long hours with Bluestar as her health declines, Firepaw's crush on Spottedleaf, Ravenpaw being happy at the barn with Barley.
But, ultimately, the characters are written in service of the plot, and not the other way around, like in a Series of Unfortunate Events.
This is a book series about a plot with characters, and not a book series about characters in a plot.
Is it a safe space to say this ,,, Sol is the most nothing Warrior Cats character.
He was just there to pad for pages, until we finally got to the reveal. I wanted to smack him with toy hammers every time he showed up.
Our protagonists had much better things to do than stare at the silhouette of a guy on a hill who predicted one thing one time, and then just bloated the arc with his nonsense.
He was just a loser who knew nothing about the three's parentage, or their destiny.
And he sucked— and I think he's boring—
grooming has to be my least favorite word in the world you people have really run that one into the ground. from now on we should only use that term when referring to the act of small cats and monkeys gathering around to clean each other in a friendly and loving manner
Even with John stating outright that she's conventially attractive, I still picture Lilith as looking more like Jeff the Killer than Morticia Addams, lmao.
I just learned that Nene's voicebank has no oto and somehow sings just fine. So, I put her raw samples onto a secondary track in audacity with my mic input on the first track and recorded while using her as a guide.
The bank is missing quite a few phonemes and is choppy because I left in all my mistakes and because I only recorded what was listed under the Monographs and Digraphs section of Hiragana for testing purposes.
Here's the finished result (my bank ALSO lacks an oto!)
Will be exciting when I finish the bank (and re-record all the ones I messed up on!) Anyway, just thought this might be a fun experiment.
Anyone can look like Arthur Lester if i look at them for long enough
Drew myself as a Warrior Cat to celebrate the release of the second graphic novel! :3 Jingle / Jester, the kittypet.