This was SUCH a fun video to work on! I hope you guys like my ideas on this topic 👀 I think it would've been so interesting if Tui stuck with something similar Question of the day: What's the most recent movie you've seen? My answer: Deadpool and Wolverine (peak btw)
Cricket being a journalist would have been great, but it couldn't have really worked out the way you described. In dictatorships, all media is strictly controlled by the state. If Cricket even thought of publishing something against them, she would have been arrested, executed, or maybe permanently mind controlled. Perhaps Cricket learning to stand up for what's right could have come in the form of publishing a secret, underground newspaper (or scroll) for the Chrysalis. She'd be taking advantage of her journalist access to get into places and see things others don't normally see, keep writing Wasp's propaganda in public so as to not get caught, but secretly expose everything that's wrong.
Me when I saw the thumbnail: Ah, what change? Not making Wasp a pathetic little voodoo doll? I would’ve loved if Arc Three was like The Last of Us, I have no idea why the BoE was made to be a plant and not a fungus. Wasp would’ve had full control at first, but as the fungus mutated, it would gain control over her and kill her quite brutally to have full control over the HiveWings. The BoE would also pilot Wasp’s zombified (think zombies from The Last of Us) corpse to infect others with the tail venom. Does anyone want me to write a snippet of it? Perhaps Wasp’s demise?
As much as I think evil plants are cool (not Cottonmouth), arc 3 would have been SO much better if it just stuck to the conflict between the three different tribes. It would have been more grounded in reality, and also probably darker, but it just would have worked better as a story with a stronger message. Also, I personally don't think Pyrrhia should have gotten involved in arc 3 at all :/
I really liked how the Flames of Hope epilogue referenced Cricket being a reporter In case you don't know, her father mentions how he had an idea when he was younger to write down the events of a day & pass around copies to the neighbors Cricket had a similar idea herself as a dragonet, so they decide to do it together Cricket is canonically the co-inventor of the newspaper & I love it
When I first saw the thumbnail, I was hoping it wasn’t something that changed crickets point of view or personality, so I’m very happy that it was about her being a journalist! I think that would have greatly improved the book
I wish it turned into an apocalyptic series, if they weren’t able to escape after book 13, it could be a really fun read for book 14 to see what would happen.
This would've been so interesting! To be honest, I do like Arc Three (mainly because of Cricket and the idea of mind control), but overall, the plot kinda disappointed me. But Tui could've done SO MUCH with this idea! It would've been super empowering and it can trace back to real life, where there are people like Journalist Cricket fighting to bring out the truth. Maybe somebody can make a fanfic out of this. I know I would read it.
Honestly I think it would have been better to leave the plant out entirely and make Wasp’s ability a reference to the way parasitic wasps can brain-jack their hosts and have her be the hivewing equivalent of a 3 moons nightwing: a hivewing that just randomly hatched under the light of 3 full moons and her nightwing blood took that and used it to supercharge her natural abilities. Possibly Hivewings are usually hatched during the day the way silkwings are but the rare ones that are throwbacks to their nightwing ancestry hatch at night and gain power from the moons. This could also have explained why some dragons, like cricket, are immune to Wasp’s influence, these would also be dragonets that hatched under the light of the full moons and have the ability to resist the mind control. This could also be explained as one reason Wasp created the communal hatcheries, since any dragonets hatched inside the hatcheries wouldn’t get moonlight. Cricket then, being a somewhat illegal dragonet, would have had her egg hidden outside so she’d have hatched as a 2 moon dragonet and gained the mental powers needed to resist Wasp’s control.
This IS quite a big change. In the epilogue of The Flames of Hope, it's mentioned that many HiveWings refused to join the LeafSilk kingdom and preferred the old ways of society. But if Cricket was a journalist, the deep flaws and horrors of Wasp's rule would be made more apparent; from a fellow HiveWing's perspective nonetheless. This would've lead to the Pantalan tribes being more united and, not to mention, a more complete and powerful ending to the third arc
This is a cool idea indeed, but I think u should also consider that Wasp has had years to consolidate control over her empire. I'd imagine her control and monitoring would be something akin to what we see IRL with the America's NSA / CIA and China's Ministry of Propaganda, which exercise and have considerable monitoring and influence capabilities over the people both in their societies and those outside of it. Even if Wasp didn't have her mind control capabilities, Cricket as a journalist would've been fighting an uphill battle not just to win over the other HiveWings with her arguments, but also to preserve her reputation since I'd imagine Wasp wouldn't take kindly to her efforts and would do everything to try to slander her reputation and discredit her as a trustworthy source of information to any potential readers.
Cricket would've been way more engaging had she been a journalist! She was the character I identified with most, however I couldn't help but feel like her development was pretty by-the-numbers and she felt kinda mundane in later appearances. I think it's an issue with how the POV format is structured. Regardless, I always felt like there was a piece of her character that was missing, and now that it's been pointed out it makes so much more sense!
I like this idea! I loved each arc 3 book individually, but as a whole I felt like there was something missing to connect them all together, and was disappointed by how Wasp was defeated. I enjoyed Arc 3 for it's characters and character development, and this would have been a good change to her character. And would have made her more important in later books, especially after the mystery of why she couldn't be mind controlled made it seem like she would be more important to breaking the control Wap had over the hivewings... if she were a journalist, she could have actually done that.
I would’ve loved it if Cricket was a journalist. Other than showing the truth to the other Hivewings, Silkwings could see there are Hivewings that do support them.
Things I would change in Arc 3: I wouldn't put scavengers in the storyline. I'm not saying they're the worst thing that ever happened, I'm saying I like the storyline better without them. (Like Arc 1 and Arc 2) I would make it a zombie apocalylpse. That would be AWESOME. First, the dragons would have to prepare and survive, and then the dragons from both continents would team up and fight Queen Wasp and her army in one huge battle. In the end, Pyrrhia and Pantala would be reunited.
My hopes for Arc 4 is for it to be a set of smaller stories with out 4 potential protagonist: Peacemaker, Bumblebee, Cliff, and Aunklet. I want them to go around Pyrhia and fix a lot of the odd customs and cultural issues that exist. For example, the one thing that still bothers me is how Queens have to fight for amd defend their throne. Should we really be starting a new queen's reign by having them kill another dragon?; their mother no less! No, thats how you get terrible Queens like Scarlet and Oasis who either are out for blood or eant to defend their throne at all costs. Something to replace this system would be ideal, kinda like how the Rainwings have their own system, our main group helping tribes invesnt their own systems could be great! This would really help have a lower stakes story, because Pyrhia has had crazy event anfter crazy event for the oast year or so, and its all a bit ridiculous timeline wise you know? I want to see the haoiy Jade Mountain future we saw in Moon's vision, and our story being set in the future, after stuff has cooled down, and continue yo be relatively peaceful, with our main group helping the continent further improve, could be a great message to kids that not everything is magically fixed once the big bad is extinguished. Sometimes working through peace to maintain it is harder, and there isn't always going to be another big bad to distract from the hard question of: "What happens after the big heroic story is over?"
I just finished murder drones episode 7 and I wish the hive mind was more like the absolute solver!!! More of a disease with a main host (which would have been wasp) just imagine though, the hive mind was a disease from the abyss that took control of wasp and spread it all over the hive!!
I mean, unless Tui decides to make a re-write of Arc 3 as a limited version of the Arc 3 books that's connected to the books, but not retcon the original, more like semi canon
I actually didn't realize Cricket being a reporter would change Arc 3 so much. I really like this idea! Also, I feel like Pyrrhia shouldn't have been as involved in Arc 3 as it is.
The thing with the plant made the story too cluttered. What I hated most about it is that it shoved aside the characters we’d been following and developing throughout the arc in favor of Tui’s favorite child(cough cough moonwatcher) and an annoying poorly written example of depression.(I hate Luna, I’ll say it.) and that frustrates me so much. The pantalan group was probably my favorite group of protags and it was beyond frustrating to see them so carelessly tossed aside so Tui could shove in characters who already had their own books or didn’t need screentime. It wasn’t like the arcs with snowfall and sky couldn’t have been fulfilled in other ways. Much as I ADORE snowfalls book, that plot could’ve been worked into another legends book. Same with Sky, which arguably would’ve done his character much more justice than just tossing him in as a side character.
Luna was depressed?? Warrior cats have made better depressee characters lol. Snowfalls book was the GOAT. Luna's book was good, but didn't fit with the other books, went waaay too hard dark etc. Cricket was my favourite character, but then they just made a side character. She was genuinely inspired and they made her soooo bland. Sky should have had a book. We get this MASSIVE thing with Dragonslayer, which set him up perfectly for in book scenes, and just made him goofy. (Though come on his interactions with Snowfall were MARVELOUS.)
@@lykhra2178 it doesn’t really affect Luna at all. She just makes vague mentions of having “rainy days” and that’s it. It felt like Tui throwing in representation just for the sake of it. Connecting to that as well, Luna was just a huge brat about everything. Luna *describes* being sad and having bad memories and stuff, but her actions never reflect that. That’s an important part of the equation that was neglected. I bring up her acting like a brat because outwardly, it only shows as racism towards Cricket. She constantly refers to Cricket as “one of the bad guys,” nevermind the fact that Cricket gave up literally everything to help the other tribes. She throws an inward tantrum about Cricket dreamvisitinf Blue. Moreover, she does nothing but complains about the Pyhrrian dragons who are *flying across the ocean to save her friends.* The least Luna could do was be grateful, but I distinctly remember a long monologue where Luna goes through each and every member of the team, describing why they don’t live up to her standards Sorry if that rant went a little off topic lol, there’s just a lot of parts to her character that makes her poorly written and unlikable that I need to get out.
I thought arc was perfect except for the part where queen wasp DOESN’T DIE!!! We can all agree that would have made arc a whole lot better ❤ also like if u miss Freedom 👇
honestly I think cricket is perfect how she is in the books rn while a journalist or reporter change would have been cool I just probably wouldn't relate to her as much honestly in my opinion wings of fire is perfect the way it is my biggest gripe with the fandom is how critical they are of the series (not you tho) which makes my mindset feel more negative and make me feel like I hate the very thing that stopped me from almost killing myself sorry if that felt a little guilt trippy but I LOOOVE arc three and it's my favorite arc I just don't really like seeing Wof criticism if it even if it might not be that also I really loved the evil millions of years old plant guy it was cool to me :') maybe the thing that puts me off is that she would probably be an adult because she would have a paying job therefore no blicket :/
Hi moon!! You have been one of my favorite creators for a while now, before I had an account. Your What If...?s are wonderful!! I have a couple of questions. Could you do a What If...? Queen Coral/Tsunami was an animus? Also what are your pronouns? (I don't want to accidentally mis-gender you :))
Oh my goodness, thank you so so much for your kind message!! :D That means the world to me 1. That's a good idea! I'll consider that 👀 2. My pronouns are she/her!
@Dogloverlikesdoge your rewrite of book 15 was so dramatic i was on the edge of my seat i sat there wiating for cricket to be saved when she wast i was left speechless
Cricket being a journalist would make Cricket herself more interesting to read as a POV. I wonder why Tui scraped the idea. 🤔 Btw my answer to your question: Kingdoms of the planet of the Apes
Okay, was it just me or is anyone else super annoyed with book 15. It completely negated the interesting idea of a sentient plant and just made it some random ah human with a baby dragon (?) which was not even something MAYBe hinted at. It also gave us, like, zero inside on Luna, and, is it just me or did anyone else want a swordtail instead. We already have so many books centered on generic girl characters, no offense to Tsunami and Sunny (I like their books, but they are pretty basic characters) but the problem is that Luna has no character interest while Taunami had her ferocity and Sunny had her innocence and interesting past. If Swordtail had gotten one we would’ve seen the perspective of a Steve Harrings-like protagonist, a protector who fights for those he loves, but yet is edgy enough to hold his own, making him different from clay. Idk, the last book was such a letdown. Especially the actual ending of the book didn’t feel like it was an ending. They were literally just like, let’s build some guts, or whatever.
@@lk_3099 Like y’know, they act all sassy and would probably actively and unironically say “slay” if they got the chance but also have this nice side whenever someone they know gets hurt and defends them or something. It’s just something I feel we’ve seen quite a bit in WoF, (Tsunami, Glory, Sunny, Sundew, even Moon in a way) and I know it’s hard to make so many characters all different, but you might as well stop making characters if you can’t give the, different personalities. Or at least kill off some of them so you can use their personalities for new characters and it doesn’t feel that bad, because maybe we haven’t gotten to see that archetype in a while. The best and most unique characters we’ve seen are Turtle, Cricket and Snowfall, a coward, a nerd and a paranoid queen. If we got more variety like we did with them, I’d probably have more favorite characters, but alas.
@@DrakeDragonton I feel like I wouldn't call them generic girls but rather 2D stereotypes. Like these personalities have been overused in a lot of other stories and that's not much depth to them. At least Turtle and the others you mentioned feel unique but Sunny and Moon especially... ehh
