Redemption Arc - Blog Posts

Guys, it's nothing of that sort I swear!

@blu3berry4non needs to be put into containment

Got an idea for an Artificer redemption AU... It gets pretty dark. I feel like a lot of people forget that slugcats and the ancients aren't the only organic creatures that go through unending cycles...

I am, unfortunately, not immune to the power of reformed baddies in TV! What about you -- do you love this trope as much as I do? 👀 Thanks for reading the 35th episode of Slices of Gremlin, my weekly webcomic! It currently releases every Tuesday here, on Webtoon, and on Tumblr! Please consider supporting me and the comic if you like what you see, and check out my Ko-Fi -- there's a link in my bio!

Unredeemable Hope

This is not what I originally opened Procreate to do, but Hans kinda sneaks up on you like that.

Frozen (c) Disney — fanart by @sunflowers-and-sandwiches. Please do not repost or use my art without permission.

Emptiness Machine

Starscream X Reader (mech pilot AU)

Author note: sorry for not updating for awhile but here is chapter 2! Might release chapter 3 today…

Chapter 2

Spinister. That name meant nothing to you but clearly he was a force to be reckoned with. You look sideways at the lambo twins just in time to see them shift anxiously on their peds. You look to Bee for confirmation.

“Are we rushing them or are we going to regroup.”

There was a moment of silence and then a deep rumbling started behind you. You turned to see sideswipe with his denta bared in rage. You remembered the bot had revealed the Decepticons had razed his town back on cybertron. The twins lost everyone they knew. His servos flexed at his side.

“I’m taking them NOW!”

Before anyone else could react he darted from behind the iron doors and into the cavern.

“Wait Sides no!”

Bee shouts after him. His twin on his heels and Cliffjumper cursing in Cybertronian as he launches himself in as well. Michael whoops from behind you and dives forward leaving only you and Bumblebee. The scout mumbles a muted “Primus…” before gesturing for you to follow him. The scene is in chaos. Both lambo twins had jumped Spinister and had the con firing aimlessly trying to shake them off. Shockwave was aiming his cannon at Cliff who was occupied trying to grab the humans who hadn’t been turned into red goop.

Michael leapt at Shockwave, grabbing his cannon in his mech’s massive servo and crunching the barrel on the end so it couldn’t fire. He looked at Michael as if he hadn’t seen him before. Tilting his head and examining him before taking action. The con took a swing, knocking Michael to send him sprawling into Cliffjumper who had just seconds ago safely tucked the two survivors in his subspace. The two knocked into Spinister who brought his ped down hard on Michael’s arm. You launch yourself at Shockwave who turns as if surprised to see you just as he had done with Michael.

‘Is he partially blind?’ You think as he examines you before muttering to himself. The fins on his expressionless faceplate flaring out as he brings a massive servo up to swat you out of the way. Instead his digits close around the arm of your mech and he begins dragging you towards a familiar circle of light. A ground bridge. When did that open up? Alarm jangles through you as you realize what’s about to happen.

“Spinister stop playing. It’s time to go. We got what we came for.”

Came the growling, deep voice from above you. Shockwave didn’t even look at you as you struggled in his grip. The other Decepticon breaking free of the twins and joining the scientist near the bridge. You desperately com the others, screaming into your mic for help. The expression of horror on Bumblebee’s faceplate was the last thing you see as you are dragged through the ground bridge to wherever the cons are taking you. His voice cut off as the swirling light envelops you.

“Sera! Wait shockwave! That’s not—”

The awful pulling sensation of the ground bridge nearly makes you pass out as Shockwave drags you along. You aren’t even standing now, the scientist has his fist locked around your wrist. The sound of scraping metal and the smell of ozone cloud your senses. It’s dark here. The halls lit with an almost sterile purple glow. You pass drone after drone. None looking your way as you dangle from the fist of the enemy. After passing through several corridors and through double doors, you enter what you think must be his lab. The feeling you get when you enter makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. You can feel it even through the split consciousness. Goosebumps erupting on the skin of the small body inside you. Insidious was an understatement. Tools and gadgets lined shelf after shelf. An assortment of wicked looking drills lay on a tray next to an inverted table.

Without saying a word or even glancing your way, Shockwave lifts you to rest against that inverted table. As if you weigh nothing at all. Cuffs lock around your hand, pinning it in place. You try to keep your other hand out of his reach. Using the fact that his cannon is damaged to your advantage and kicking at him with your peds. He takes the blows, not even moving when you kick at him. Reaching around he wrenches your other arm up to join the other. You let out a growl deep within your chest. Fear mixing with anger now as you watch him above you. Just observing you. Quietly curious and unsettling.

“Your energy signature is non existent. But you do not have an active cloaking device.”

He pauses for a moment to scan my chassis.

“What are you.”

It was framed more as a statement than a question. Gritting your denta you snarl back at him. Trying to make seem like none of this scares you. He doesn’t react when you make the sound. Rather, he turns to the display mounted near the table and studies the scan. You can see that it reveals the tiny organic body inside your chest. Your body, you remind yourself. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that you aren’t Cybertronian. He whips around digging a massive servo into your chest plating and prying open the compartment. It hurts. Pain ripping through your receptors to make you scream. Writhing against his grip as you fade in and out of consciousness from the sudden trauma. Energon leaks from the proto-armor underneath your plating protecting your small form inside. You vent raggedly as he grabs a scalpel and slices at your metal flesh to reveal the cockpit where you sit. Unconscious and slumped over in the gel seat, your body feeling delicate and exposed again.

“Stop stop stop! You can’t!”

And he’s reaching again. Gentle digits now curling around your body before you even have a chance to run disconnection protocols. You can feel your consciousness bouncing back and forth between the two vessels as the pneumonic needle slides uncomfortably out of the back of your neck. Gasping in a breath, you open your eyes. Wet with tears as you try to come awake. White light clouds your vision and sounds are muffled as the red glow of the scientist’s lone optic bathes you in ruddy light. Groaning incoherently, you hear him make a deep rumbling sound. One you’ve heard before when the auto bots speak Cybertronian to one another. Your mech had been translating this whole time. You shake your head trying to clear it. You didn’t know any Cybertronian and couldn’t communicate with him without your mech.

Before you can process what’s happening, he dumps you into a glass tube and sets it on a table next to your mech. You watch as he walks towards the door and leaves you there disoriented and unable to move. Your limbs feel achy and you can still feel the phantom pain of your chest being ripped open. Hands moving over your body you don’t feel any actual injuries. He hadn’t been rough with your actual body now that you think of it. His hands had been warm and gentle when he lifted you free of your mech. Looking around you try to get your bearings. It takes a moment for you to get your feet under you to stand, your legs shaky and weak. You only topple back down to the cold glass floor of the container when you try to move. Giving up, you lay there hoping sleep will take you and the pounding in your head will cease.

When Zuko apologized to uncle Iroh in the tent cause he was so ashamed of his actions and what he’d done to the only person who unconditionally believed in his ability to do good >>>>>

Cozy Glow as a character frustrates me. Moreover, how we never even sniffed in the direction of a redemption arc for her. (Outside of the shared one with Tirek and Chrysalis in S9 that lasted a whole entire 3 minutes). We never get to see her backstory, learn about her family, and we don’t see any motivation for her actions other than simply wanting more power. We see some other villains who do the same throughout the series, but as far as we aware, cozy glow is just a little girl. Literally just a filly. And she never gets a redemption, or help, or learns a valuable lesson.

She is a kid that hates for the sake of hating until eventually she is turned to stone. I can see from one perspective that this was intentional: having a character that is just bad to be bad can be a refreshing break in the well-built stereotype throughout this show that everyone and anyone can be redeemed. But also. She’s a kid. I don’t like it. I would even argue that that throwing a 10 year old into a horrible, vile, dungeon meant for the most vile criminals and beasts, and then turning her to stone, is inherently immoral. But that’s just me.

I’ve read around about theories that Cozy Glow isn’t actually a filly, and is instead some bigger more-ancient evil being trapped in a filly’s body, or just looking like one. When we first met her character, this is also what I thought. All things considered, she totally could be! In which case, I would probably like the way her story ended a lot more. But in canon, we don’t really get anything that hints this is true. She is a cunning and manipulative foal, and her cutie mark is a chess piece. It tracks. She is kind of just evil because she wants to be, and this little kid gets sent to a horrible prison, and then turned to stone

I didn’t mean to start a debate, but since we’re at it . . . .

Starlight was a broken and lonely pony. She didn’t want to be alone, and she hurt people in an obscene way to achieve that. Obviously, the things that she did was terrifying and I also think her redemption was rushed (discords redemption arc is the only one I truly adore in FiM) but after her initial redemption she struggles to fit in and cope with how terrible she was to ponies. We see how her horrible actions hurt her later in life as well. Chancellor Neigh Say literally flipped like a switch (I have only finished season 8, so if his redemption is more fleshed out in season 9 I may backtrack this opinion, but don’t give me any spoilers). He went from extremely racist and hell bent on destroying Twilight and everything she has built, and one incident toppled him on his head and turned him into a good guy without any repercussions for the things he did and said and how he treated literal CHILDREN. Do y’all realize that? He chained up innocent CHILDREN. He doesn’t deserve a redemption arc because his only justification for his horrible treatment of non-pony creatures was simply that. Because they were non-ponies.

If a character has such violently hateful opinions of other species and his entire personality was written around him being a pony supremicist, then no, I don’t think he deserves a redemption arc. No one changes that easily, especially on that kind of opinion. If it was taken more slowly and dug a little deeper into his rooted dislike for other creatures, I could give him a chance. But not with the knowledge I currently have of him. But again, I’ve only seen up until season 8, so any actions he may take in season 9 could very well change this opinion.

I just finished season 8 of FiM.

Chancellor Neigh Say shouldn't have been redeemed.

Discord has one of the best redemption arcs I have ever seen. Everything that drives him is the true and honest kindness he received from Fluttershy from the very beginning. She gave him genuine friendship that he didn’t have to fight for, unlike with the other mane 6. Don’t get me wrong, their wariness and distrust was 100% valid. Especially considering how discord betrayed them more than once after his initial redemption. But this betrayal is exactly what I love most about his growth. It wasn’t instantaneous. He didn’t immediately change into a good person or a good friend, He lapsed back into his bad habits and his old lifestyle because that is where he felt safe. He didn’t know how to be a good friend. And certainly didn’t know the first thing about changing. But he worked to become better anyway. Despite his poor choices, Fluttershy stuck by his side as he worked to turn himself around and break away from the lifestyle he used to rely on.

It is such a real representation of what it takes to change. Mistakes, grace from those around you, and most importantly, it takes time. The writers captured all of this and more while still staying true to the whimsy and the chaos that makes Discord who he is. I love this show.

I feel like people forgot that redemption arc doesn't mean making the fans forgive the character.

Redemption arc is a process of a character actively trying to change their ways in order to redeem themselves from their past dids.

It's not just "I did bad things but I'm good now" (AHEM CATRA FROM SHE-RA).

If I killed a person but saved a life it does not compensate the life I took, I'm not "redeemed".

I LOVE good redemption stories but sometimes I feel like society forgot what redemption arc stands for. A lot of times it became to just making a bad character do good things so people will like/forgive them, not an actual redemption.