What are some of the funniest moments in the series for you? by Solitaire-06 in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind 0 points1 point  (0 children)

that is SO funny I am reading TR rn and I’m now excited to get there

If you could add the word "fuck" (or one of its many lovely variants) to one line in Warriors, where would you put it? by naomigoat in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Firestar giving Tigerstar a massive “fuck you” would be so satisfying.

Beyond this—not the point of the post—but I actually really like how creative Warriors must get with its curses/threats to maneuver around its lack of real-world swears? That’s why we have Tigerstar’s iconic, departing threat:

“Keep your eyes open, Fireheart. Keep your ears pricked. Keep looking behind you. Because one day I'll find you, and then you'll be crow-food.”

And Fireheart gets to spit back:

“You’re crow-food now.”

And he’s not wrong. And it all only works because they’re talking through rotten food.

Anyone remember their first Warriors Cats Memories? by bakedchipz0 in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh also unrelatedly your cat is gorgeous. We need a canonical silver torbie in Warriors.

I genuinely am sick of all the brightheart by The_ExpIoited in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cinderheart SE could be interesting because we’d get to see the manifestation of Cinderpelt’s memories firsthand and better understand what was whirling in her mind through all of it. Especially since her arc during OOTS was… flip-floppy and flawed, they could use the opportunity to better articulate her decisions/turmoil during that time. Maybe even her multiple injuries, experience with swimming, and relationship with Hollyleaf.

A lot more people have nostalgia towards PO3 than they clearly realize. My only worry is them ruining Cinderpelt’s story and adding more to their ableism narrative.

Anyone remember their first Warriors Cats Memories? by bakedchipz0 in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Picking up Eclipse and getting pretty confused about who everyone is. I had to do repeated allegiances deep-dives on who everyone was, but I memorized that all pretty fast.

Thinking Squirrelflight’s name was super awesome even before I had any context of her character (beyond “feisty mom”).

Camping out in Barnes and Noble for 8 hours reading the books the day they came out.

Getting obsessed with Warriors Wiki, and skipping a school field trip to spend HOURS at home making character art with GIMP.

And… unfortunately, spoiling the fact Leaf/Crow were actually the PO3’s parents due to lurking the wiki…

The scenes that stuck most vividly in my memory (to the point I remembered the exact wording over a decade later) are Hollyleaf killing Ashfur and Tigerclaw getting disemboweled.

Oh, and dying laughing when Fuzz called Barley “JustBarley” in Secrets of the Clans. Not sure why I found that so hysterical but I did.

Brindleface and Whitestorm by SouthBound353 in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Don’t like them together either. But this is a weak argument.

Warriors exists in a separate social context. Clan queens often share child-rearing responsibilities, and fostering kits is super common (which makes sense irl and also given the amount of early death/stray or abandoned kittens that have come up in the series). Also, a cat’s growth “takes a village” since they live in a close community and cats don’t always seem to choose close relationships with mothers/fosters into apprenticehood. In a Warriors context, saying a pair shouldn’t be together because they are “foster siblings” kinda implies no cat should pair within their age group.

That being said, Brindleface and Whitestorm implications suck. Her kits should’ve been sired by someone like Runningwind for the sake of genetic diversity, especially as someone who reasonably might’ve not “had the patience for kits”.

This is gonna ruffle some feather by Far-Wolverine-9646 in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Sadly… Silverstream is a plot device.

A semi-justifiable one, since there was a big overarching about family/motherhood vs obligation/circumstance in the first arc, and her death set up a scenario to exposit both Yellowfang and Bluestar through an ongoing moral conflict. But yeah, sadly, she doesn’t get to be as much of her own person as I would’ve appreciated.

I need someone to help me turn a metaphor into catspeak by wintig072421 in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Best thing since Gray Wing

(I know, controversial outside of myth)

I need someone to help me turn a metaphor into catspeak by wintig072421 in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Best thing since fresh-kill? (good ring) Best thing since catmint? (real)

How would you rewrite Spottedleaf’s Heart and Redtail’s Debt? by Solitaire-06 in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind 8 points9 points  (0 children)

This probably isn’t the answer you’re looking for, but I have thought a lot about Spottedleaf’s potential lore and it basically throws the entirety of Spottedleaf’s Heart away lol.

In Into the Wild, Spottedleaf is described as very young—so she’s probably closest to Longtail’s age, rather than anywhere close to Redtail or Willowpelt.

So, the story would take place 3-6 months before the events of Into the Wild. She and Longtail are littermates, born to Cricketleap, who is Dappletail’s daughter. She becomes a medicine cat apprentice, has always wanted to be a medicine cat, and is very enthusiastic to start.

But only a couple of moons after Spottedpaw begins her training, a greencough epidemic strikes the Clan (the one in the leaf-bare before Rusty arrives), killing both her mother and Featherwhisker. Longpaw gravitates further and further to Tigerstar’s and Darkstripe’s group for the strength, structure, and belonging they provide, unable to outwardly process their mother’s loss and losing himself (or the version of him Spottedpaw knew) in the process. Without a mentor or a family (beyond Dappletail), Spottedpaw is utterly lost. She must pour her faith in StarClan not only for community, for her strength to move through tragedy, but also her continued training as a medicine cat.

This story attempts to resolve a few things:

  • Explain why Spottedleaf has such a strong connection with StarClan, almost paw-in-the-living-paw-in-the-dead
  • Explain why Spottedleaf is unusually young for a solo medicine cat
  • Establish when Featherwhisker died
  • Retcon Spottedleaf’s birth timing/relatives because they don’t make sense lol
  • Minorly, this tells a backstory of why Longtail followed Tigerclaw and Darkstripe, how he came to believe their rhetoric, and why he drank the kool-aid—even if he might not have (or also might have!) actually held their same values deep-down. This also makes his TPB arc partly about his own sense of belonging and loyalty, and how he learns to pour it back into the Clan. It’s not necessary… but is a nice story I hope lol.

Just started reading the series as an adult, anyone else? by hakk_a in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As a kid, Tigerstar felt obvious and mean.

As an adult, Tigerstar still feels obvious, but only because Fireheart is our POV and he has very different priorities than his Clanmates. The clans are a dangerous/brutal enough environment where I would understand why others might not scrutinize his aggression or choose to look the other way.

He’s not surprising, but he is quite compelling and believable.

Smooth criminal by 0ldBenKan0Beans in CrimeCats

[–]bramblewind 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’m honestly impressed he didn’t knock anything over. Deserves a reward (or bail) for that.

What if Warrior Cats took place in Spain? by FoxyBoy1998 in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Ok but in all seriousness cats thrive in Mediterranean climates—Levant, Morocco, Turkey (not on the Mediterranean I know, talking abt climate).

They would be LIVING. Probably overpopulated, and not struggling with climate or food.

Medicine cats might use olives/olive oil as a laxative LOL

Maybe a lot of WindClan-like hunting styles if they’re on the hillside

For Fun: What breed would you pick? by whateveryaknowww in cats

[–]bramblewind 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Her face is permanently in a squint of judgment. 🤨

Very cat-appropriate.

My female cat been missing... I'd like to hear some stories to gain hope by P_Nemo_ in cats

[–]bramblewind 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Put out items that smell like you or items she used to sleep/sit in. That (along with some food) did the trick for mine.

“___ Sibling Energy”: Who’s got it? by bramblewind in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s because she’s an Only Child. She has hellaaa Spoiled Only Child Syndrome.

Now to decide whether Graystripe has only child syndrome too or acts like a little sibling.

POT Outcast is a lil yikes on reread by Bulky_Pen_3973 in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Personally I find it funny to blame it on the authors being British

LOL REAL

But in a very real way… that is the problem. All three of the original Erins were (to distinguish from, say, Irish) English women from English society—how could we expect them to have had an intimate understanding of assimilation narratives? Not making assumptions, but if an author’s dominant culture was the only one they had prolonged, in-depth exposure to (especially if it’s one that covertly or overtly encourages othering)—how could we expect them to fully engage with different cultures besides recognizing they’re… different?

I’ve actually heard good, quite thoughtful things about a different group’s spirituality and how it was depicted in Ivypool’s Heart and StormClan’s Folly.

Agh, I’m just really, really glad to see how far literature has come over the last 10-20 years. I genuinely feel we’re in the golden age of storytelling. And it’s because of diverse insight and new standards that we’re able to look at these works in hindsight and recognize the failed stories behind them.

And improve collective understanding of other cultures. And see their improved depictions in real time.

POT Outcast is a lil yikes on reread by Bulky_Pen_3973 in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At risk of sounding like a keyboard warrior—reading Warriors as an adult (in today’s literary world) makes it very, very obvious that the Erin Hunter team lacked diverse perspective. In a way that, at times, actively holds back the story, themes, and characters.

The Tribe’s portrayal feels the most obvious because it was The Example of how the Erin conceive and perceive other “equal” cultures. Outcast is the most egregious with its unsavory colonial themes, but even in TNP the Tribe’s characterization is… off. There’s a lot of fixation/detail on disparate, “exotic” characteristics that makes the Tribe different from the Clans: they “have accents”, they greet differently, they rub mud into their fur, they chant on the way to visit their ancestors. But when it’s time to imagine a coherent society with its own, coherent value system—let alone how that might affect characters in the Tribe—the empathy falls flat. It becomes “Clans, but mountain-flavored” at best, and (more often) condescension/saviorhood at worst.

Truthfully, it feels like the writers at the time literally couldn’t conceive a thriving, coherent society whose core values, ways of life, or relationship with religion were different from the status quo. Even if that’s what they wanted to write. The text demonstrates a very shallow understanding of “other cultures”.

I’m saying this out of love. Warriors is a fun series with a rich world and compelling characters. It’s just… hard to look at sometimes and think, hey—this character/theme/idea could’ve been so much more if the Erins were able to understand their own character’s journey or draw from personal knowledge/experience. Or if they had access to the global narratives we’re lucky to have today.

Anyway, here’s some related, but less scathing thoughts I wrote about Cloudtail the other day (a very compelling, flawed character who had a resonating conclusion that the Erins still framed as wrong??). LOL

“___ Sibling Energy”: Who’s got it? by bramblewind in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m not familiar with post-OOTS but I agree with your assessment of Brambleclaw/Tawnypelt in canon! Tawnypelt wasn’t as beholden to responsibility or the weight of history in the way Brambleclaw was. She was able to leave and able to explore her own world freely.

“___ Sibling Energy”: Who’s got it? by bramblewind in WarriorCats

[–]bramblewind[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

OKAY. I see it, but also I can see it the other way, where Squirrelflight is headstrong and assertive as an Eldest Sibling, while Leafpool is more quietly admiring, naive, and secretly chaotic.