Let's Read: Warrior Cats Series

[Arcaii]

This topic has made me laugh uncontrollably so many times XD I shall be stalking now.

I love the Warriors series, but I do agree that there are many (many) holes in the story and such. Even with that fact, I can't believe these books have made me cry so many times....honestly....

Somebody just needs to rewrite the entire series XD SAVE THIS STORY PLEASE.

EDIT: I was the thousandth view XD

Excellent. Humor is what we drive for here (I say, assuming I made you laugh and not the multitude of other people that post here who are all pretty funny in their own right).

I remember once trying to rewrite the series, but I gave up pretty quickly. Instead, I'll be doing an afterword of the books and writing up what I would change to the story.

[koolkatkoolkat123]

Amazing how fanfiction can be better then the source material, i've seen some beautiful fanfictions by people who really know how clan cats interact and how it works. Also they can keep track of how old the cats are and their names and gender gasp shocking i know
But seriously how did they manage to make that many mistakes with FOUR people working on it

Anyway i've bookmarked this because i'm interested to see what you do with the newer series (Also because i've tried rereading them and i've always stopped at Power of Three)
Only problem is the names, must be honest i don't like it when you say Claw means strong warrior, Tigerclaw has often been described as a huge tabby cat with long claws so in this case his name is for his appearance
As for Yellowfang i adore her and i think her name is Yellowfang because of her yellow/amber eyes

[Arcaii]

Hello!

The naming system I follow is traditionalism, which has its own rules taken from the first series, when names weren't "Glimmeringwish" or "Shiningspirit". Thus, I'm extremely picky about names. In traditionalism, -claw refers to a cat who's a highly skilled fighter (as Tigerclaw is), and -fang refers to a cat who's above average at fighting and hunting, but doesn't excel at either. The prefix is meant to describe the cat's coat color (as that is the most notable thing about the appearance), and the suffix refers to their skill or personality.

So when I see a name like Tigerclaw, I assume it refers to a brown or red cat with notable striping who's a skilled fighter. Tigerclaw in canon is that, so it works. But when I see a name like Yellowfang, I'd be surprised to see that she isn't a golden colored cat who does well in fighting and hunting - but there's no indication of that, and she doesn't even have yellow eyes - they're orange. Thus, I'll complain about the name, because it's deceptive.

That's a quick and dirty form of traditionalism - if you care to see more, there's a link on the front page and I have a review thread all about it.

[Comettail76]

I actually like some of the villains - as villains, though, I wouldn't want to be friends with them or anything. I like Mapleshade, due to how clever she was in Crookedstar's Promise, and Sol was refreshing after cats like Thistleclaw, Darkstripe, Hawkfrost, and Brokenstar, although he does have the issue of being a tortoiseshell tom. Tigerclaw was okay, but nothing I especially care for. Scourge was okay also, although I tend to avoid any fanfics pairing him up with someone (and there are a lot of them!). As you may be able to tell, I prefer clever villains over the ones who primarily use their strength.

[Wolvine]

It's not that I have a particular dislike of villains so much as hunter's characters in general. With a few glorious exceptions such as our beloved yellow fang, pretty much all the warriors are bland and half-baked. The villains however are so ridiculously ott, with none of the grey morality or ambiguity that could have so easily been accomplished. They're just plain boring 'evil'

[Arcaii]

HAPPY CHRIST DAY YA KAHUNAS

[Toxi+Bbun]

I actually like some of the villains - as villains, though, I wouldn't want to be friends with them or anything. I like Mapleshade, due to how clever she was in Crookedstar's Promise, and Sol was refreshing after cats like Thistleclaw, Darkstripe, Hawkfrost, and Brokenstar, although he does have the issue of being a tortoiseshell tom. Tigerclaw was okay, but nothing I especially care for. Scourge was okay also, although I tend to avoid any fanfics pairing him up with someone (and there are a lot of them!). As you may be able to tell, I prefer clever villains over the ones who primarily use their strength.

Thistleclaw wasn't so much of a villain as he was someone victim of author bias, but that's just my opinion-
Otherwise, gotta agree with ya on those opinions - Mapleshade rocks, and Sol's cool. Scourge X other tends to be bad so I don't really like 'em much.

Brokenstar was the most flat villain of them all, and Darkstripe is just a pathetic loser.

It's not that I have a particular dislike of villains so much as hunter's characters in general. With a few glorious exceptions such as our beloved yellow fang, pretty much all the warriors are bland and half-baked. The villains however are so ridiculously ott, with none of the grey morality or ambiguity that could have so easily been accomplished. They're just plain boring 'evil'

Unfortunately, that is the case. Major characters typically get some of that juicy good-character-ness, so the others are just...there. Heck, my DotC-based fic is trying to fix this by trying to give every character at least some personality to distinguish them.

(im so lame omg)

[Arcaii]

Thistleclaw wasn't even that evil, honestly. He was rude to Bluefur, and clearly aggressive about territory, but he had very good reason to be, especially considering that one of ThunderClan was going out and seeing someone from RiverClan. And besides, he was a very good father.

[Arcaii]

Chapter Thirteen

And with the holidays upon us, let's take a moment to gather around the yule logs and bond over terrible writing.

Firepaw rushes to talk with Yellowfang, who quickly picks up that Brokenstar had told everyone about her. Here's the thing: why didn't Brokenstar explicitly say "Yellowfang is a kit murderer"? Why did he not specifically describe her if she's that much of a danger? Even if he is being a big fat liar (WHICH HE IS), and he himself murdered those kittens (WHICH HE DID), saying the name and description of the scapegoat would still be extremely useful.

Which reminds me - Yellowfang is pretty well known amongst the Clans, as we were told. She's specifically said to have a great reputation as a medicine cat and clearly commanded the respect of a Clan leader, enough to keep her in the Clan with no terrible treatment. So we can assume that every cat that knows her thinks highly of her. And while she's shown to be generally grumpy, she isn't dangerous, even to those that irritate her.

SO WHY ON EARTH DOES EVERYONE JUST AUTOMATICALLY BELIEVE THAT SHE WOULD PURPOSEFULLY KILL KITS?!

Everyone at that Gathering should have thought to themselves, "You know, Brokenstar, you just announced your plans to take over the territories and that you drove out WindClan, and a lot of the apprentices with you are very tiny and clearly young-sounding. I don't think you're the right person to tell us to watch out for someone who might hurt our babies." They then should have refused to listen to him, teamed up, and beat him before he had the ability to become more of an issue.

And if they had decided to take his word seriously, they should have gone back home calmly, where Yellowfang is under surveillance and thus not a threat, asked her about Brokenstar and what he said, and then she could tell them about what actually happened, and they could make the decision on whether to believe a very well respected medicine cat or a clearly unhinged, immature leader.

Guess what they pick.

On the flip side, Firepaw has quickly grown to care about Yellowfang, and she tells him to keep himself out of trouble and let her handle things. While I do think they should have had a longer amount of time to interact and bond, I'll accept it because I utterly adore these two, and Yellowfang is clearly touched that he tries to help her escape.

Wait, he tells her to run? In the middle of camp, where everyone can see them? Why isn't the rest of the Clan hearing the angry voices of the rest of the Gathering group and coming out to see what's going on? Even if they're asleep, a scout should have spotted Firepaw and alerted the Clan that a very upset apprentice just came back.

And then Frostfur pelts it for the nursery, not even waiting for a confirmation from Yellowfang, or an order from Bluestar. Hey, remember when Yellowfang told a kitten to step off because it bumped into her? Remember when nothing happened after that? How about the time where she showed no actual threat to anyone? WHY AREN'T YOU STOPPING AND THINKING FOR A SECOND?!

At least Bluestar calms everyone down by saying that Yellowfang hasn't done anything and that Brokenstar is more dangerous. She should have mentioned that Brokenstar is clearly not trustworthy, but whatever.

(sighs)

You just don't get paragraphing dialog, do you?

In any case, Bluestar should at least try to talk with Crookedstar and offer a temporary allegiance to fight Brokenstar, and afterwards they can get back to fighting each other. I mean, granted, they're enemies right now, but there is something a lot worse going on.

And now...the Moonstone is officially introduced, as is the nine lives business. 'Scuse me whilst I rip this idea a new one.

So the basic concept is that the leaders go to this special holy place to sleep and speak with their ancestors, and to receive advice. Medicine cats will also travel there to get a prophecy, and I guess guidance as well. We'll set aside the ambiguity of the roles of a leader and a medicine cat for now, because there's one massive issue I have with the concept introduced, and that is the reality it gives to StarClan.

See, the afterlife of Clan cats is a mysterious thing. Humans sure don't know what lies beyond, and a cat wouldn't either, so to comfort themselves (and assuming they have the intelligence for this), they would create the idea that there's a reward waiting for them, if they've been a good cat. They'll go to the great Clan in the heavens, where a new star will be created just for them. And perhaps this would be real, perhaps it wouldn't. StarClan should be a vague presence - not front and center for a cat to touch and see, but beside and behind them, guiding their thoughts and actions and prayers. Elders who have believed in StarClan's paws leading them through life will believe more fervently as their life draws to a close, and contrast against the young warriors who can't help but question if those stars are really spirits, or if everyone has just been deluding themselves out of a fear of never reaching an eden. The effect of StarClan being an unconfirmed entity should be a major part of the warrior world, and a source of fierce discussion amongst fans and characters alike.

But when you present the concept of these ancestors so factually, to the point of magically gifting a leader with nine actual lives (that's right, you're presented with nine 1-Ups when you become leader), the mystery is lost. It becomes uninteresting, and every plot point concerning a cat who doesn't truly believe in StarClan is forgettable - we already know they're wrong. What's the point of presenting us with something so powerful and vague as StarClan and then bringing it down to our level?

Honestly, and I am being completely sincere here, the way StarClan is handled is one of the most disappointing and misdirected things in this entire series. It almost saddens me to think about how lazily this was used.

That aside, another idea introduced is that all apprentices make the journey to the Moonstone. It's been discussed quite a bit around the web that this rule is ignored completely and even brought up in the Power of Three series (I believe Squirrelflight is the one to say "we've left the tradition of bringing apprentices to Moon_____ behind in the old territories"), so I won't even bother with it here.

And another SpottedFire moment. Gack. Why does she touch him in a suggestive manner right in front of Graypaw? Why isn't Bluestar catching on that something's going on between them? Why isn't Yellowfang? Why isn't Spottedleaf herself taking a step back and thinking, "Oh, crap, I'm being a total creeper right now?" Why am I bothering to complain about this?!

Anyways, the three apprentices get ready to head for the Moonstones, and Graypaw says that every apprentice must make the journey. Even though Lionheart just said that.

I really am starting to think that Erin Hunter didn't read what they wrote more than once.

Up next: Chapter Fourteen.

[I r o n.]

Yes, I dislike Spottedleaf and Firepaw. Same as Sandstorm. And clearly, somewhere in the books, they have mentiondedthat Graystripe was pretty smart, like he wouldn't notice how Spottedleaf and Firepaw we're 'flirting' with eachother.

I also noticed this, when Graypaw was showing Firepaw around camp, he mentionded how pretty and young Spottedleaf is.. Is it just me or is everybody into (yes, even us humans) the young and pretty ones? But it's different when they actually have a crush on them, and their still young and pretty. WHY CAN'T EVERONE JUST BE EQUAL -.- It even excits in the cat world!? IS ANY REALITY NORMAL?!?!?

SPOILER ALERT
EDIT;; Also, in the very first books, Rusty was a normal, orange cat. Yep, and then, of course, he becomes a half tabby, last I checked, his father nor mother had any tabbky markings, then I get confused when Princess comes along, as a white-and-orange tabby cat.. JUST MAKE UP YOU'RE MIND LADIES! TABBY OR NO?! (guess it's to late, here comes the fangirls and fanboys saying that Firepaw is a flippin' tabby with a white chin, or no, here comes the other side, saying that he was darker ginger tabby stipes, oh, and white tabby stripes? OH, And green eyes, and maybe in another picture yellow eyes, is something going on here, or is Firepaw related to a ferret, and changing fur color during the winter and sumer ;u;) CAREFUL LADIES, WHO EVER HAD BABIES WITH FIRESTAR (ahem *cough cough* Sandstorm.. *cough/laugh*), MUST BE REGRETTING EVERYTHING, BECAUSE YOU JUST HAD 'COLOR-SHIFTING' BABIES! Aaaanndd.. then I should stop here so I don't ruin everything else.