I Feel The Same Way. Poor Kid Spent His Whole Childhood Excluded By Neytiri /his Own Biology So It's

I feel the same way. Poor kid spent his whole childhood excluded by neytiri /his own biology so it's fitting in a twisted way that a lot of the fans exclude him too.

But I never say anything 'cause at the end of the day the artist can do what they want with their art ya know 🤷‍♀️ it's just still sad to see and very telling about how a good chunk of the fans don't see him as important when James Cameron himself called him the "glue that holds the story together." I got a feeling the fan attitudes will change towards Spider after A3 but we'll just have to wait and see.

Me when seeing a wholesome art piece of the atwow kids nr 1382638237 but Spider is absent:

ATWOW extended cut: When one’s heart is opened in the face of death (my thoughts)

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Ok I held back long enough, I think we have to talk about the Socorro Quaritch moments the extended cut provided us, because I’m obsessed with them. The dynamic that the fandom made up turned out to be true, with Spider being enabled to do as he wants during his time with RDA and Quaritch not once scolding him for his behaviour or "putting him in his place". Captivity was undoubtedly a very stressing time for him, a very emotionally taxing one but it’s interesting to see how the chemistry between these two characters bloomed. The scene where Socorro and the recom squad moved through the forest has shown just how fond Miles is growing of the kid, to the point where he lets go of his toxic behaviours and creates and environment in which the boy feels safe enough to go as far as leading recoms into traps. Also, it’s insanely funny.

The second scene is the extended edition of the Tau’nui village raid, with more violence and more tension. I feel horrible for these poor Na’vi, and for Spider, who got a little more screen time and with that, the movie makes it abundantly clear that Quaritch only makes the decision to burn the village because Spider was begging him not to take a Na’vi life. Not that it wasn’t clear before but I saw some ppl argue that Miles just has a “kind heart” (he does not.)

And then the cherry on top, the stand-off. A scene that should logically have never been cut out because it provides large amounts of character depth to everyone involved, but we’ll finally talk in depth about Quaritch and how he changed Spider’s opinion on him in just one minute of runtime.

Miles lets go of his charade of “I don’t care about this random kid” and frees Kiri, but Neytiri does not let go of Spider, instead pulling a knife to his throat. The Sullies panic, trying to bring Neytiri out of her grief-ridden trance.

And Quaritch tries so too.

His breathing is laboured, his ears pinned back, he was panicking. He asked her, in disbelief, “You really gonna kill the kid Mrs.Sully?”, and then told her, “You’re a warrior. Your fight’s with me, not with the boy.”

And Spider heard all of it loud and clear. He saw that horrible man whom he spent months with let go of his last ticket to victory, and then try and reason with a woman who holds him at knifepoint. I’m gonna quote @/soccorism a little on this, but Miles basically asked Neytiri to re-direct her rage from Spider to him.

Miles asked her to hurt him instead.

And after all that, how could Spider possibly have left him dying?

Every horrific thing he did is not cancelled out by his fatherly behaviour, but Spider had no time to ponder on everything and put his feelings to the side on the bottom of the ocean. The woman he knew all his life almost killed him, and the man whom he spent months travelling Pandora with pleaded with her to let him go. It was a decision made in a fit of emption, in a fit of sentimentality for a monster who got so strongly attached to him, he threw his mission out the window to ensure that he gets to live.

This cut of the movie provides so much more tenderness to the tragic relationship of these two characters, and ties the arc of their growing bond into a nice bow. No longer do we have to rely on glimpses of raw emotion and facial expressions. We have definitive proof that Miles and Spider had a bond, and a very strong one, which made both of the characters go against their respective groups for the sake of each other, and in the end?

It’s just the two of them.

Thank you 💙💙💙

Update on Blood is Thicker Than Water

Hey guys, my life has been super busy right now and I've gotten super burnt out with writing BITTW. I've been trying to write ch19, but i end up just staring at the half-finished document not able to write anything. I'm sorry to disappoint everyone who was excited for the upcoming chapter, but I really need a break, so BITTW is going on hiatus, I'll probably get back on it sometime in January. And don't worry, I'm not going to start any other projects until I either get to a stopping point in the storyline of BITTW or finish it entirely.

Thank you to everyone who has been commenting and showing support for my fic 💙💙💙

That's why I'm also so annoyed they removed the scenes of Neytiri failing to ride an ilu and instead choosing to adapt her ikran riding skills to hunting fish instead. The fact that she's the only one who didn't learn "the way of water" shows a lot about her character, how she's stubborn and resistant to change, but can also adapt in her own way! Neytiri spent the whole movie stuck as either crying because something bad happened, scolding the kids, or rescuing the kids. She deserves to have her own character arc!! And it sucks so much that they laid the groundwork for two different arcs, 1. failing to learn the way of water and adapting differently and 2. being pushed to hurt an innocent person and grappling with her desire for revenge vs her big heart and moral compass, but then end up cutting them both out!

Out of all the characters, Neytiri is definitely the one who got pushed to the side the most, which sucks because she's literally the face of the franchise.

omgg please tell me that you’ve seen the extended atwow extended cuts?? they’re phenomenal and canon and i can’t be told otherwise.

The Parents from hell one had me on the edge of my seat I was so scared even though I know the outcome, well now we know that Neytiri was definitely going to kill, not even to bargain for Kiri but for revenge and that’s just ughhh i can’t wait to incorporate this in my fanfic

I gotta say, I do fundamentally disagree, at least about the parents one. It's not so much of a deleted scene as a full rewrite of the scene. If Neytiri's goal was to kill Spider and take revenge over saving Kiri, why did they do with the version where she lets him go immediately? I don't know, man, to me it seems like they filmed that and then decided it didn't work with the character or for what they had planned. It definitely makes sense to me that they chose not to go with that version. Even the name, "The Parents From Hell," it makes it seem like it's a dark alternate universe.

But yes, scenes that were missing and not included I am all for thinking of as canon! But this is a full rewrite. It's not canon, because it's not what happened in the final version. I think the reason they chose to change it is more telling than the fact that it was filmed in the first place.

But of course, I am mad it exists. I wish they never released it. I don't like what they seem to think of Neytiri's character. I don't like the framing of her as less sympathetic than Quartich (even though a lot of idiots still took it that way which is still on the writing team as well), but I'm glad they understood they had to change the scene. I'm trying to withhold judgement until I see the full arc they intend for her, but as of now I'm not very pleased. She should be the heart of this series if it is to stay it's course as a true love letter to indigenous communities and what has happened to them. I hope they don't forget that.

That's a good idea as to why they might've removed it. The fact that it is fully rendered suggests it was a last-minute removal so I wonder why they did it.

My guess is that they didn't want to paint neytiri in a negative light and this version of the scene makes her less sympathetic than the original. However, I wish they had kept it in any way and not shied away from making their female mc do a bad thing. Having characters do bad things and make mistakes is how you create characters arcs that bring conflict and depth to the characters. Jake wouldn't be the character that he is if he didn't have to learn his lesson about lying to the omaticaya in A1 and trying to run away from his problems in A2. As much as I like neytiri, she is a pretty static character. We never see her grow or change or realize something. The closest we got to that was her forgiving jake in A1, but that conflict revolved more around her status as jake's love interest than her as a character. I would LOVE to see neytiri get some actual complexity and showing that she is willing to stoop to quaritch's level would've done that! James Cameron has been hinting at Neytiri getting an arc about learning to trust some humans in A3 and I think this would've been a WAY better way to kick it off. In the original version, it can be explained away by her just being desperate to save kiri, but in the extended version, kiri was already safe and it shows neytiri truly does harbor a deep resentment towards spider, who is an innocent party in all this. as Quaritch said "your fight's with me not a boy." Establishing that neytiri actually does hold an unfair hate towards spider would make any character arc she gets in the future much more satisfying.

OMG GUYSSSS YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS! SHE WAS NOT BLUFFING I REPEAT SHE WAS NOT BLUFFING!

Skip to 5:50 for the deleted scene

Holy shiiieeeet no wonder spider saved Quaritch after this scene, why did they not keep this in? It was so intense!! I was on the edge of my seat!

Jake and Kiri's shock as they try to talk her down and then Quaritch hiding his panic and trying to turn neytiri's anger back towards him, and then just the wild grief and anger in her eyes, and then spider staying completely frozen because he doesn't want to set her off... it's so cinematic!!

Seriously, THEY SHOULD'VE KEPT THIS IN!!! It would've fit Neytiri's grief/rage and Spider's desire to save Quaritch SO MUCH BETTER!!

@hyperfixatedfandomer @naavispider @ao3gobi17 @raving-raven-writing @mist--walker @dumbass--tumbler--cryptid @goodbyetothenight @lilt78

Yoooo this is so cool! I'd love to see a part 2!

Merciless

What if, 16 years after his Ambassador Programme failed, Mercer returns Bridgehead to deliver his quarterly mining report to Ardmore, only to run into Quaritch? What if he'd heard whispers of a human boy captured from the hands of the Na'vi, with incredible physiological adaptations? And what if Quaritch knew of Mercer's merciless past... his history with children who don't belong? (Inspired by a prompt from @hyperfixatedfandomer 💞)

“There’s only so much you can do, boss…” Wainfleet’s voice tailed off as they entered the mess hall. The canteen was filled with soldiers hungry for lunch, who all looked up at the recoms as they entered. They still hadn’t gotten used to seeing them around base. 

The men weren’t what got Quaritch’s guard up, however. There was something else. A face, across the room… one he hadn’t seen in sixteen years. 

Quaritch’s usually alert tail stilled behind him. John Mercer’s presence filled any room he occupied with a heavy sense of trepidation. It was a feeling that Quaritch had become familiar with as a human, one that he himself exuded. Looking at the disgraced RDA leader now, Quaritch was disturbed to find that the sense of unease exuded by his ugly presence had only grown.

“As I live and breathe…” Mercer’s eyes caught Quaritch’s and widened in disbelief. He had always been a short man, even shorter now that Quaritch had grown several feet himself, but unlike most men who seemed to shrink in Quaritch’s presence, Mercer stood up straighter. His thick set eyebrows framed his calculating, dark eyes. “Miles Quaritch, they told me you’d come back, but this is something…”

“Mercer,” Quaritch greeted him shortly. He closed the short gap across the canteen. “It’s been a while.”

“And Lyle Wainfleet too,” Mercer’s eyes roved over Quaritch’s second in command, taking them both in. 

“I didn’t expect to find you here,” Lyle commented awkwardly.

Mercer’s lips curled up in an unpleasant smile. “I wasn’t about to pass up a shot at revenge. Much like yourselves I assume. What have they got you running around for now, then?”

Quaritch’s tail flicked involuntarily behind his back. The conversation around them had quietened, the soldiers who were eating nearby interested in this exchange, though they tried to hide it. 

Something in Quaritch told him not to divulge the specifics of his latest mission to Mercer. The man opposite him was known for his brutality and mercilessness, and an uncomfortable sensation was starting to prick at the back of Miles’s neck.

He sniffed. “Same old business, Mercer. Sully’s still out there. Which means we got races to run.”

Mercer appraised him for a moment, as if still taking in Quaritch’s new body. “There’s no doubt they got the best parts of you in there,” he said slyly. “I always admired your… commitment to the cause.”

Quaritch nodded. “What about you, Mercer? I thought the Ambassador Programme closed down after the war.” A sliver of unease ran its way down Quaritch’s spine. A nagging sensation that even as he said them, his words could be wrong. 

A sly smirk slithered its way across Mercer’s dark features. The soldier who he’d just been talking to grabbed his tray and moved on, leaving them to it. “The Ambassador Programme was cut short too soon. We were in the process of wielding great results.”

Quaritch nodded, making sure to keep his ears from flicking backwards in annoyance. If there was anyone who would be able to read him, it would be John Mercer. 

“I’m in the mines now. Overseeing production in the North. Only checking in with base every now and then to report on progress. It doesn’t quite have the… job satisfaction… as my previous work.” The slippery tone of his words floated across the air ominously. “Speaking of, I’ve heard some very interesting things about you, Colonel.”

Quaritch had become too still. 

“Tell me... Is it true what they’re saying?”

“I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Quaritch replied evenly, trying to appear uninterested. His heart was thundering. 

“Come now, Quaritch. Don’t be coy.” His ugly smirk was back in place, and Mercer took another step closer, leaning in so that the other soldiers wouldn’t be able to hear. “There’s a human boy on base. One that grew up on Pandora, with the natives.” 

Quaritch schooled his expression, looking down at the ugly little man in front of him. How had Mercer found out about the kid? “He’s being ground for information now. There won’t be much left of his brain when they’re through with him. He’s worthless.”

“Oh, I’m sure I could get some results.”

Beside him, Wainfleet took a step towards Mercer. “The kid is in SecOps custody. There are no plans to release him.”

Mercer turned to Lyle, his hungry expression settling into one of boredom. “A shame.” He returned his icy eyes to Quaritch, each word dripping with threat. “A great shame. That boy is worth a great deal.”

Quaritch couldn’t help the flinch his hand made towards Mercer. Every inch of him wanted to throttle the vile man standing before him. He had to cool it. 

“As my Corporal said, the boy is undergoing information extraction. He’ll be put to use by our SecOps. Apologies if you had any interest.” 

Mercer never stopped smiling, as if he already had a plan. It was beginning to scare the shit out of Quaritch. Eventually, Mercer made a gesture of acceptance, jovially exclaiming that he might still ‘get his hands on’ Spider eventually. 

It was all Quaritch could do to nod goodbye curtly as Mercer turned to rejoin his companion at a table across the hall. 

“What a psychopath,” Lyle mumbled. 

Quaritch didn’t know how to respond. He had never seen how creepy Mercer’s attitude was until now. In all his years as a human, it had never bothered him. Hell, he’d even been curious to hear about Mercer’s progress with TAP. Why now did it boil his blood to picture Mercer locking Spider into one of his science experiments? 

It was no worse than what the kid was facing now in the Neuroscanner. 

Quaritch set his jaw, thinking hard. “Spider needs to talk.”

With Mercer sniffing around, eager to snap Spider up into some sick reimagined version of the Ambassador Programme, Quaritch doubted that Ardmore would be lenient, even if the kid did talk. 

“Okay, but what then?” Lyle pressed as they grabbed their food. “He reveals Sully's location and then… the RDA dispose of him?”

“Jesus, Lyle, I don’t know!” Quaritch didn’t want to think about it, because he didn’t have the answers. 

“If the kid talks, he’s sealing the nail in his coffin.”

Quaritch looked up sharply from the coffee he was pouring. 

“He’s of no more use to Ardmore,” Lyle said, with the air of delivering bad news to a sick patient. 

“That’s not gonna happen.”

He didn’t know how, but he had to make a deal with Ardmore. And he had to do it before Mercer got there first. 

***************

“Well, well, well. John Mercer. I never thought I’d have the privilege.” General Ardmore flicked the report closed on her desk, determining that that particular problem would have to wait. “What brings you to my door?” She narrowed her eyes shrewdly, though she thought she had an inkling already. 

“General,” Mercer saluted before entering her office, closing the door behind him. “Thank you for seeing me. Word of your successes gets around. I’m sure you’re a busy woman.” He paused, but Ardmore made no sign of replying. He decided to cut to the chase. “I assume you know about my previous projects on Pandora?”

“You assume correct.”

“Well, mining is essential to our progress here, but I’m sure you can understand it isn’t where my heart lies.”

Ardmore sighed. “Your efforts in helping to colonise the Western Frontier have not gone unnoticed. You’ve made a strong vice president in resources acquisition.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” He bowed his head. “However I cannot deny that I feel somewhat… misplaced in my current deployment. My previous programmes-”

“Your previous programmes were shut down. And for good reason.”

“The Ambassador Programme was leading to real results!” Mercer urged, taking a step towards Ardmore’s desk. His passion came through in a way Ardmore hadn’t expected of the washed up, sleazy ex-mission leader. He came alive when he spoke of TAP. 

“I can promise you right now, if you hand the human boy over to me, I will get you results.”

Ardmore considered him, joining her hands together on the table in front of her. Mercer looked desperate - greedy - which was precisely the quality that worried her most about him. She wasn’t above brutality in war, but Mercer didn’t seem to have a conscience at all. He proved that when he ordered the massacre of the TAP children. 

“And precisely what kind of results do you think I’m after?” she asked.

“You want the location of Jake Sully, right? So do I. I can get you that, first and foremost. But the boy is worth far more than just that. He’s grown up on Pandora. His whole physiology is different - he has adaptations we can study and utilise. He can teach us so much about how to adapt in this environment. We can learn how to use this to our advantage!”

“I hear what you’re saying, Mercer. And yes, eventually it would make sense to study him. But we are at war. And there are other considerations to be taken into account.”

Mercer paused. “Other considerations, ma’am?”

It was sensitive information, but Ardmore saw no point in hiding the truth. “The boy. He’s the biological son of Miles Quaritch.”

Mercer’s jaw had tensed, his eyes narrowing. 

Ardmore continued. “The recombinant Colonel has already started to form… an attachment. The RDA poured billions into his creation and we cannot afford any… defects. The situation is sensitive. I’m afraid we are bound by keeping Quaritch on side.”

At this, Mercer visibly bristled. “So you’re holding back the progress of all mankind on the whim of not wanting to upset your Colonel?” 

His voice had risen just too much. Ardmore wouldn’t entertain this tangent any longer. “That, is not your place to question, Mercer. It is my decision what happens on this moon, and I do not take kindly to insubordinates.”

This seemed to have stumped Merer, though he still surveyed her with a foreboding glint in his dark eyes. “Of course not, ma’am.” His voice was silky smooth, laced with poison. “I would never mean to imply I disapprove of your decisions, hard as they may be.”

“Is that all, Mercer?”

Mercer smiled. Ardmore wasn’t easily intimidated, but he had the uncomfortable ability to make her skin crawl. “Yes, ma’am. I apologise if I overstepped the line.”

“See that your next report has the highest gross profit,” she said by means of dismissal. 

Mercer bowed his head respectfully and was about to leave before turning, his hand on the doorknob. “If you run into any… problems… with your Colonel, you know where I’ll be.”

With that, the greasy haired man disappeared around the corner and out of view.