garycxjk

[garycxjk]

I've released this mashup a few days ago. When I first discovered Little Big's Kurwa, it didn't take long to recognize that it was in exactly the same key as Inugami Korone's Wonky Monkey. After that, it was mostly trying to fit the two songs together.

I also wanted to add a third song to it, Mr. Toot, basically due to the trumpet section of Kurwa. However, since that song was in a slightly higher key, I decided to only use the "Play it Mr. Toot" part.

I really enjoyed making this one, even more than the other mashups I've done previously. Hope you enjoy it as well.

[garycxjk]

The best thing about being a Millennial is the ability to weaponize cringe brainrot against the younger generations. I mean, fuck, we grew up with the original brainrot. We've lived through the early days of the internet. We invented brainrot.

[garycxjk]

So after watching this video, I'm more and more convinced that Luchtballon in fact isn't about the EBU specifically, but everything around it, about us, about how we turned him into something political. The song's about processing his grief, about finally being able to let go, but the video clip is about us not being able to do the same.

I feel like Joost doesn't actually hate Eurovision, he still longs for it, but for now, I don't think we'll see him back, not before Eurovision changes, which it still needs to, it needs to prove that it's worthy of Joost. Like, the fact that they try to erase Joost says a lot, the fact that the European flag can't be worn by contestants say a lot. The EBU claims to not want politics in Eurovision, but ironically, they mostly do the most political thing.

Still not gonna watch Eurovision next year. If the Baby Lasagna and Käärijä performance was the only hype thing about Eurovision, I fear for next year. Or not, since I'm not gonna watch it.

The possibly hidden message of the music video of Joost Klein's Luchtballon, and it's not what you think

Okay, this is going to be a short one hopefully, if not, then I apologize, but I'm not going to rewrite this preamble. Also, this is mostly just an opinion piece, not actual facts, but it's something that I believe is what's probably happening.

So, Joost Klein recently released the song Luchtballon, and I know everybody and their grandma has already talked about this song. Like, for the record, I know this song had already been written before Eurovision, though I don't know if the lyrics were different. But, that doesn't matter, because we're not going to talk about the lyrics.

No, there's a hidden message within this video, and, well, it's not what you think.

Okay, let's get this out of the way. A lot of this video is a dig at Eurovision, we all know that. Like, the fact that he's being shot out of the sky by what's a proxy of the EBU, all that shit. But, there's a hidden layer to it.

Within all the layers about Eurovision and what happened being portrayed here, and how he came out stronger, there's another, undiscussed, layer that nobody talks about, and it's about us.

At 0:46, we can see people dancing, "hakken". These people are in suits, which is already a bit odd. We can assume these are from the EBU, right?

Well, later, at around 1:34, we can see him storm Onion Corp, which is basically a proxy of the EBU. Here, the people wear black. However, the suits at the beginning actually wore gray.

My personal theory is that the entire segment where people are dancing in the streets, they're all supposed to represent us, the viewers.

During that 0:46 segment, we can see Joost Klein being dragged away by the two suits who earlier were dancing with his music. However, all the crowd did was dance.

Basically, it's us vibing with his music, but in the end, being just outsiders, bystanders, essentially celebrating Joost Klein but not understanding the pain he's feeling.

Later, his Eurovision suit is being burnt by the suits, who, again, are dancing, this time around the burning suit.

I think that the gray suits aren't the EBU, but something outside the EBU. Maybe even us.

You see, we turned Joost into some kind of martyr, putting him in his own prison. We celebrate the burning of the EBU, but forget that we're also basically celebrating him not actually being able to fulfill his one dream, which was to stand on that podium. We are his prisoners, he's stuck within a prison called the present, not being able to leave the past behind, not being able to go into the future.

It's also why the ending is so effective. In the end, sure, he shoots up some motherfuckers, but he also doesn't outright kill the final boss, instead opting to leave it all behind. He's essentially just letting things be, and is now actually free to ride into the future.

So in short, yes, I'm of the opinion that the video clip is about how the EBU has treated him, but also, how we, in a way, also contribute to Joost's pain.

I know that I don't have some cool closing segment like I usually have, but I was just going to make it really short. So yeah.

Fuck the EBU.

[garycxjk]

Hot take: Marvel will never be "back"

"Marvel's back!"

No it isn't. It will never be back, and there's a really good reason for it: It was never gone in the first place. Or rather, there were several times Marvel was "back", and it never really stuck.

Like, with the Thunderbolts*, people are saying "Marvel's back", but what about, I don't know, Agatha All Along? What about Wakanda Forever? What about Moon Knight? What about the several films and series coming out in-between? Or wait, are we just going to dismiss Agatha All Along for being "woke"? Are we conveniently forgetting that in that time period, Shang-Chi also came out? Didn't everybody love Hawkeye? Marvel had plenty of good or even great projects, but people just sat on it.

No, Marvel will never be back. People made up their minds.

[garycxjk]

"Beperking"

In the Netherlands, we have a certain word for people with a handicap, either physically or mentally. "Beperking". Essentially it's translated to limitation. And, well, I kinda find a problem with this one.

Earlier today, I was talking with my counselor who helps me with both my autism and preparing for a new home, and one of the subjects we were talking about was about dating, specifically dating sites. Nothing like Tinder or Bumble or whatever, those are mostly hookup applications. The thing is, I'm almost 40 now, never had a girlfriend in my life, and, well, it's not exactly that I need one right now, it's just that, I don't know, I can't imagine myself being alone for the rest of my life. Actually, the subject of dating sparked during a conversation with someone at a Dutch event called KaraokeCon, and, well, I decided that now's a good time to actually think about it.

The reason I asked her about it is because, well, to put it simple, I'd like to date someone with autism. It's not exactly because I have autism and I'd have someone who was likeminded. It's more like, people with autism are, well, weird. In a good way, but, yeah. And, certain women with autism have a certain way of talking, a sort of inflection or tone. It literally is hard to explain what it sounds like, but once you know you know. My counselor for example knows exactly what I'm talking about. The point is, I find the way some women talk pretty hot.

But when we were looking for sites that aid in dating, there was one thing many of the sites that deal with neurodivergence like autism, AD(H)D and OCD, had in common. They'd all group them under "beperking".

Now, let me be clear. Yes, autism can bring obstacles in one's life, same goes for ADD and OCD. But they're not limiting. People with autism can still finish university, they can still drive a car. It's just that certain aspects in life are a bit harder. Calling them "beperkingen" or limitations sounds a bit demeaning. Not necessarily malicious, but definitely not positive.

It kinda makes you think. Are these sites really for people who are neurodivergent? Because, honestly, I don't think they are. I'd rather just talk to random women at AnimeCon or whatever, perhaps meet people at a community center or something, I dunno. I'd much rather try to hook up with a co-worker.

I don't know, what do you think?

[garycxjk]

How do you eat a hamburger?

Okay, so this has been bothering me for quite a while, at least a decade, but how the fuck do you eat a hamburger? Now I'm not talking about those fast food burgers, like McDonald's or Burger King. These things seem to be somehow glued together.

No, I'm talking about those fancy gourmet burgers, the ones held together with a toothpick or some other fancy skewer. I can never eat one without spilling 50% of its contents on my plate while getting sauce everywhere. Heck, even when I assemble my own burger, unless it's just a patty within two buns, no sauce or anything, I can't seem to eat a burger normally.

I desperately need to know how to eat a burger. I don't want to look like a toddler who gets solid food for the first time.

[garycxjk]

100 Girlfriends Second Season Prediction

As y'all know I'm a moderately big fan of the 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You, having all translated physical volumes, as well as the first volume of the anime and the light novel. So, I know a bit about this series.

Recently the second season has aired, and so, we're going to make a prediction. What prediction? Well, which chapters are going to be adapted. As most 100 Girlfriend fans know, we can expect around 12 to 13 episodes (I'll assume it's going to be 12 episodes, based on the first season).

Do know that everything beyond this is spoiler territory! If you haven't seen the first season, or haven't read everything up to chapter 50, I suggest you skip this thread! I placed everything beyond a keep reading cut-off, so you have been warned!

For non-spoilers, I'll break down how I think the episodes are going to be split (I'll start from episode 13, as that's how Crunchyroll labels it):

Episode 13: Chapters 23, 24 and the first few pages of chapter 25.

Episode 14: Chapters 25, 26 and 27.

Episode 15: Chapters 28 and 29.

Episode 16: Chapters 30, 31 and the first few pages of chapter 32.

Episode 17: Chapters 32, 33 and the first few pages of chapter 34.

Episode 18: Chapters 34, 35 and 36.

Episode 19: Chapters 37 and 38.

Episode 20: Chapters 39, 40 and 41.

Episode 21: Chapters 42 and 43.

Episode 22: Chapters 44, 45 and the first few pages of chapter 46.

Episode 23: Chapters 46 and 47.

Episode 24: Chapters 48, 49 and 50.

We last left off at chapter 22, where we discover that Hahari has become chairman of the school board, so right now, our girlfriend tally is 6 (Hakari, Karane, Shizuka, Nano, Kusuri, Hakari).

So there are speculations that this season will end with chapter 50. That's because the author, Rikito Nakamura, has said that he'd imagine chapter 50 to be a great cut-off point for a two-cours anime. So, we'll take that as the guideline. We'll also assume there's only going to be 12 episodes this season, based on the first season's episode count.

For the first episode, they adapted the My Name chapter (chapter 23) and Kurumi's introduction (chapter 24). They also adapted the first few pages of chapter 25. So, that leaves us with 25/26 chapters, divided over 11 episodes.

The next arc is going to be the food tournament arc, which includes chapter 25, 26 and 27. I imagine this to be one episode. We don't want to stretch out this arc over multiple episodes, as it isn't that important an arc, but we do still want to cover this one.

Next are chapters 28 and 29. These are smaller chapters. I did contempate adding chapter 30 to it, but that one's quite a bit more important. People said that chapter 29, the Pentarou chapter, would be left out due to its insignificance, I however am of the opinion that this one is in fact important, especially based on the heavy use of Pentarou during the ending sequence.

The fourth episode will most likely contain chapters 30, 31 and the first few pages of chapter 32. This is the maid arc, and having these three chapters be bundled together feels just right, but I do feel that chapter 32 does need a bit more time.

Episode five will therefore contain the rest of chapter 32, with chapter 33, which starts the baseball arc, followed by part of chapter 34. In this case, adapting part of chapter 34 allows us to actually flesh out the next episode.

The baseball arc actually includes chapter 34, 35 and 36. I personally assume they'll adapt about 1/3rd of chapter 34 in the previous episode, leaving us enough time for chapters 35 and 36.

So, after this, it's going to get tricky, but I'd assume they'll use a majority of episode seven to adapt chapter 37 (if you know you know). To end this chapter, chapter 38 will likely contain a special ending, due to the Karaoke Crisis (again, if you know you know).

Then comes the beauty arc. These are actually two connected chapters, chapters 39 and 40, followed by a stand-alone chapter 41, however, I decided to combine the three, not just because they fit together thematically, but also because it introduces a new mini-arc.

The hair arc is going to be episode nine's focus. These are chapters 42 and 43. It's not exactly a big arc, but I assume they do want to take their time showing off the beautiful animation, as well as add extra dramatic effects to it.

After that there's... a certain chapter I'm pretty sure people really don't like, which is the Beef Tongue chapter (chapter 44). However, if we assume every chapter is going to be adapted, it's going to be counted in. I've paired it with chapter 45 and part of chapter 46 to round that episode off, and to allow space for the final arc.

But first, chapters 46 and 47. These don't really fit thematically, but one's a girlfriend group-introduction chapter, and the other's, well, there to fill the rest of the episode.

That's because episode 12 will end with the Tsundere Lost arc, which spans chapters 48, 49 and 50. This is an important arc, though I do assume that if episodes are cut, chapter 48 will be placed in the previous episode.

That's how I see this season, however, there could be differences. The order of episodes might be changed just a bit, which also means we might see anime only scenes (since girlfriends need to be injected in chapters they didn't appear in). I assume if they're going to switch around stuff, it's mostly going to be anything before girlfriend nine, as there wouldn't be any inconsistencies when doing so (if you know you know).

Anyway, that's my ramblings. That's it. Nothing more. Why are you still reading? Go on, there are other Tumblr posts that also need your attention.

[garycxjk]

Theory: The Spider-Verse multiverse is caused by One More Day / Brand New Day

Okay, so, this is a wild theory, and might be disproven at some point. Basically, the moment Peter made a deal with Mephisto, it spawned a new multiverse, or rather, backup universes.

So, I assume people know what happened during One More Day / Brand New Day. Aunt May is shot and is about to die, and Peter wants to bring her back to life, though he has to give up his marriage with MJ. They accept, and now we have the shit show that is the current Marvel Comics.

So, a little side-theory, but I believe that Mephisto is essentially the editorial of Earth-616. Essentially, he upholds the status quo, it's why Dr. Doom isn't allowed to be a hero, it's why Doc Ock isn't allowed to be a hero. Like the Marvel editorial, he makes sure nothing deviates too much, and nothing is ever permanent, save for the deaths of Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy.

But anyway, the moment Peter and MJ agree to the deal, the multiverse is split into two, essentially the A-Earths and the B-Earths. It's why some Earths in the film are designated with B as a suffix.

Each and every B-Earth is a backup Earth, in case everything goes to shit in the A-Earths.

It explains why there are canon events, events that make sure everything stays the same across each universe. Once a universe strays too much, it gets purged. This is also why in the A-Earths, there are no canon events. Nothing has to be set in stone.

Essentially, Earth-616 was the template for each and every B-Earth, at least in broad lines. Sure, they also took from their respective original Earths, like Earth-1610B follows events from Earth-1610A, but with several twists, like Doc Ock being a woman.

It's also why Earth-616B Peter is allowed to be married to MJ, because this version never made a deal with Mephisto, and it would explain how this Peter's aunt May died.

Now there are a few little holes, like, where does Earth-199999 (or the MCU's Earth-616) fit in (as referenced by Miguel), or the fact that they were also able to draw villains from A-Earths.

Anyway, in short, Earth-616 Peter Parker caused the creation of the Spider-Verse movie multiverse by making a deal with Mephisto.

[garycxjk]

Why I believe many "Anime for Beginners" lists suck

So, I've been seeing some "Anime for Beginners" lists, and I have to say... They kinda... suck.

Okay, no, that's not true. They're fine, mostly, but... Most of them are filled with the most popular anime, and the thing with most popular is that... they aren't exactly... diverse.

You have your Dragonball, your One Piece, your Naruto, your Demon Slayer, your Attack on Titan, but, well, most of them are battle shounen. Not everyone's into battle shounen.

Okay, that's not entirely true. You also have your Nichijou, your Your Name, but the thing is, they still all have one thing in common. They're the best of the best, and with the best comes a problem. The best for a big audience isn't always the best for an individual.

See, most lists have this problem where they just list the most popular shows, and yes, it's a mixed bag, but if a person new to anime goes into it and uses such a list... it's not a guarantee they'll be having a great time.

For example, Death Note. If that was my first anime, I would have sworn off anime for the rest of my life, because god I did not enjoy that anime. People always recommend JoJo, but not everybody will enjoy JoJo.

The thing is, everybody has their own taste, and their own preconception of what kind of anime they'll enjoy. Maybe they don't even like anime and never will, and that's okay, but a "starter pack" won't solve the problem of "Where to begin?"

Here's the thing. Many of these lists lack one big thing, and that is categorization. Like, what if I like romance comedies with next to no drama? What if I want a purely comedic anime? I mean, fuck, I've rarely seen Pop Team Epic on any of the lists, and sure, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's something.

I mean, sure, for pure comedy, you can also look at Nichijou, but that's mostly also Cute Girls Doing Cute Things. A better alternative to that one is Asobi Asobase perhaps.

But another problem with picking the best of the best is, quite often, the best isn't a great proxy for what's representative of that genre. I'll give a great example with Precure.

As you all know, I love Precure. I've seen a majority of the seasons, not all of them, but I'll get to them one day.

I would never recommend Heartcatch Precure as a first season.

Heartcatch Precure is arguably one of the better if not best seasons Precure has. It has a great storyline, great characters, and there are stakes. It's also darker and edgier than the average Precure season.

And hence lies the problem. It's not a great representative of Precure. If you look at that season and expect other seasons to be like that as well, you'll be sorely disappointed, because none of the other seasons come near it.

The same goes for anime recommendations. You need to be able to match up the right anime with the viewer, while also trying to find something that represents the average anime of that specific genre or theme well enough.

But yeah, that's my little rant about anime recommendation lists.

[garycxjk]

Short post about why people get Velma (the series) wrong (Or: It's not woke)

Okay, I don't want to talk too much about this series. After going through the first season, I already had enough of it, so, I'm-a gonna keep this one real short.

Velma, the series, is not woke.

I can already hear you say, how can someone be so brave to say something this stupid? Well, let's just say that I actually did watch the series and you probably haven't, but let me explain it more clearly.

A series is considered "woke" when it adds a diverse cast to promote diversity. Think of things like LGBTA+ or POCs. That sorts of things. Now, I don't care if you see it as a good or a bad thing, that's besides the point.

Velma, the series, actively mocks "wokeness" by adding a diverse cast of people. It doesn't in any way promote diversity, in fact, it makes fun of series that do.

Except it does it poorly, but that's besides the point.

Velma is your typical "woke" protagonist, using her skin color or the fact that she's frumpy to "make a point", basically the "girl with the woke agenda", while in fact she's objectively the worst person, even in-universe. Fred starts off as the jerk-ass bigoted white dude who later turns into an ally extremist. Norville actively tries to subvert any black trope in existence. The only person who's actually relatively normal is Daphne, because she's none of the things, she's just Asian. Who happens to have lesbian adoptive parents, who, by the way, are parodies of lesbian representation.

In fact, throughout the entire series, if I remember correctly, Daphne is the straight man, subverting any of the typical diversity tropes. Fuck, I'd even say Daphne's story might be the most compelling. Of season one that is, I haven't seen season two, and I refuse to subject myself to that torture. I mean, fuck, if NerdSync says it's bad, I don't need to be told twice.

But yeah, Velma is as anti-woke as it can get, so stop saying Velma is bad because "woke". It's not woke.

But it's still a fucking bad show.

[garycxjk]

The possibly hidden message of the music video of Joost Klein's Luchtballon, and it's not what you think

Okay, this is going to be a short one hopefully, if not, then I apologize, but I'm not going to rewrite this preamble. Also, this is mostly just an opinion piece, not actual facts, but it's something that I believe is what's probably happening.

So, Joost Klein recently released the song Luchtballon, and I know everybody and their grandma has already talked about this song. Like, for the record, I know this song had already been written before Eurovision, though I don't know if the lyrics were different. But, that doesn't matter, because we're not going to talk about the lyrics.

No, there's a hidden message within this video, and, well, it's not what you think.

Okay, let's get this out of the way. A lot of this video is a dig at Eurovision, we all know that. Like, the fact that he's being shot out of the sky by what's a proxy of the EBU, all that shit. But, there's a hidden layer to it.

Within all the layers about Eurovision and what happened being portrayed here, and how he came out stronger, there's another, undiscussed, layer that nobody talks about, and it's about us.

At 0:46, we can see people dancing, "hakken". These people are in suits, which is already a bit odd. We can assume these are from the EBU, right?

Well, later, at around 1:34, we can see him storm Onion Corp, which is basically a proxy of the EBU. Here, the people wear black. However, the suits at the beginning actually wore gray.

My personal theory is that the entire segment where people are dancing in the streets, they're all supposed to represent us, the viewers.

During that 0:46 segment, we can see Joost Klein being dragged away by the two suits who earlier were dancing with his music. However, all the crowd did was dance.

Basically, it's us vibing with his music, but in the end, being just outsiders, bystanders, essentially celebrating Joost Klein but not understanding the pain he's feeling.

Later, his Eurovision suit is being burnt by the suits, who, again, are dancing, this time around the burning suit.

I think that the gray suits aren't the EBU, but something outside the EBU. Maybe even us.

You see, we turned Joost into some kind of martyr, putting him in his own prison. We celebrate the burning of the EBU, but forget that we're also basically celebrating him not actually being able to fulfill his one dream, which was to stand on that podium. We are his prisoners, he's stuck within a prison called the present, not being able to leave the past behind, not being able to go into the future.

It's also why the ending is so effective. In the end, sure, he shoots up some motherfuckers, but he also doesn't outright kill the final boss, instead opting to leave it all behind. He's essentially just letting things be, and is now actually free to ride into the future.

So in short, yes, I'm of the opinion that the video clip is about how the EBU has treated him, but also, how we, in a way, also contribute to Joost's pain.

I know that I don't have some cool closing segment like I usually have, but I was just going to make it really short. So yeah.

Fuck the EBU.

[garycxjk]

The John Walker effect, and why the premise is flawed

So for those who haven't seen Falcon and the Winter Soldier, John Walker is a character who was picked to pick up the mantle of Captain America, and to make a long story short, he killed a man and got stripped of that title.

Now there's a lot more to it than just that, but I want to break it down. The thing is, there's a thing called the John Walker Effect that's been named after this character. Basically it's when media is trying to portray a character as an antagonist, but they actually feel more like a protagonist.

The mantle

So, here's the thing about John Walker. People think John Walker was right, that... Okay, I need to explain the story a bit more.

At some point, John Walker, feeling inadequate, because a bunch of terrorists with the Super Soldier serum were beating his ass, started to inject himself with the Super Soldier serum, one that was just lying around. At some point, his best friend got killed by one of the terrorists, and in retaliation, he chased another terrorist, and publicly killed him execution style. After that, a public trial took place, and he was fired from his job as Captain America.

And this is where it gets interesting. Marvel fans believe that John Walker was right and that the protagonists, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, were wrong.

I'm here to tell you that both John and Sam and Bucky were right.

You see, throughout the series, Sam and Bucky were being antagonistic towards John. John had been trying the entire series to be a helpful ally to Sam and Bucky by trying to be a good Captain America. This is the first point where people point out that John was wronged.

However, and I keep saying this, but media illiteracy is ever more present even here. The reason Sam and Bucky were against John in the first place was because of John's stance towards the mantle. You see, neither Sam nor Bucky want to wear the Captain America mantle, as it comes with a burden.

The thing is, Steve Rogers also didn't exactly want to wear the mantle, it was just forced on him. In fact, by Infinity War, not once did he refer to himself as Captain America, primarily because he also felt like he didn't deserve the mantle at all.

You see, the mantle comes with a burden. It is a representation of America as a whole. Captain America's weapon isn't a gun, it's a shield. It's to protect the people, not kill them, not suppress them. The shield in general stands for defense, not offense.

It's not that Steve doesn't kill, he just doesn't needlessly kill.

Was John Walker's kill needless? No, most definitely not. But I'll leave that part for later.

Too eager

As said, throughout the series, Sam and Bucky were rather dismissive and often outright antagonistic towards John, with John trying to be a good partner. He was eager to work with Sam and Bucky, maybe even too eager at that.

You see, here's the thing. Steve was Sam and Bucky's best friend, he wasn't just their co-worker. They didn't admire him, they didn't worship him, they were genuine friends.

It's like, when a friend leaves the band because he found a wife and a well paying job, and some talented kid jumps in and pretends to be, like, hey, I'm here to help you guys out. No, you will never be a replacement, so don't act like one.

John didn't try to become his own Captain America, he tried to be Steve Rogers, and that's what pissed Sam and Bucky off. John wasn't a hero at that point, he was just a soldier hired by the US government, a mascot.

That's what pissed Sam and Bucky off. It wasn't that John replaced a hero, John tried to replace their friends, in every single way. John was that kid who couldn't read the room. And sure, Sam and Bucky could have phrased it better, but they also had their own issues to deal with.

The kill

So let's discuss the elephant in the room. The kill, or rather, the execution, because face it, it was a public execution.

So, at some point, John's best friend Lemar Hoskins, also known as Battlestar, got killed, John, naturally, went mad, and at some point chased one of the terrorists. After beating him down, the man held up his hands as if to surrender. John however responded by just using his shield to kill him.

Was the kill warranted? I mean, yeah, it was a Super Soldier powered individual. However, the way he was killed? Not cool. You see, to the random bystander, it just looked like Captain America was brutalizing a person who just surrendered.

In the aftermath, Sam and Bucky wrestled the shield out of his hands, because he just tainted the Captain America image, and the US government denounced his actions, stripping away his Captain America title, because he just tainted the Captain America brand.

And that's the thing. It's all about image and brand. Yes, Captain America kills, but he never executes. He kills to protect, he doesn't kill in retaliation. What people saw was a retaliation kill.

"I did it well"

So, I may have implied that John Walker was in the wrong every step of the way, however, I want to bring to you something that's important, to show you that John Walker was right to be angry.

During the trial, the government tried to put all the blame on John, however, John rightfully says:

"I only did what you asked of me, what you told me to be and train me to do! And I did it. And I did it well."

Here's the thing. John Walker wasn't just selected. He was selected from the best of the best, within the US army. He was literally trained to do what he did.

However, when things went South, when things didn't go the way they expected, they dropped him. Why? Because of public opinion. Not just of the US citizens, or rather, not of the US citizens, and I'll get back to that in a second, but of that of the rest of the world. Even in the MCU, the US doesn't exactly have a great standing. Things like Sokovia didn't exactly help with their image. So to see an American brutalize a seemingly random person outside of US soil isn't a great look, especially if they don't know the full picture.

John Walker wasn't a moral issue. He was a PR issue.

You can even see it in the next episode, where about half of the US population stood behind John. You see, even in-universe, people agreed with him.

John isn't a protagonist...

But let's back up for a minute. Let's create a series from John's point of view. If you look at it, the basic premise would then be, a guy is trying to become Captain America, or rather, trying to replace him. Because that's what his entire story arc has been.

In no way did he try to establish a new relationship with Sam or Bucky. He just asserted himself as Captain America, and expected that, because he was Captain America, he earned the right to have their cooperation. But he wasn't Steve. He wasn't their friend. Not once did he try to look at it from their point of view, how they felt.

After that, when he got his ass handed to him by the Dora Milaje, he essentially got desperate enough to actually go for the Super Soldier serum.

And this is where another character comes into play. Helmut Zemo. Let me write down what he has to say about Karli Morgenthau and the Super Soldier serum.

Zemo: "The desire to become a super human cannot be separated from supremacist ideals. Anyone with that serum is inherently on that path. She will not stop, she will escalate, until you kill her. Or she kills you."

Bucky: "Maybe you're wrong, Zemo. The serum never corrupted Steve."

Zemo: "Touché. But there has never been another Steve Rogers, has there?"

By actively going for that serum, John has put himself on a dangerous path. He wanted to become stronger, he wanted to become the next Steve Rogers. However, the serum never corrupted Steve because of what the serum does, aside from making you stronger.

It basically amplifies your best and worst traits. Steve's trait was his desire to protect people, first and foremost, no matter the consequences. It's what led to Civil War. In his unfaltering conviction, he caused the Avengers to break up, instead of trying to find a middle road. The same goes to Peggy Carter. She too hasn't been corrupted by the super soldier serum, at least not in the What If...? series.

John's strongest trait was his will to be stronger, to be as strong as Captain America. Sure, he did have the feeling of plight to save people, but they were overshadowed by his desires. It's essentially what corrupted him, or, well, I wouldn't exactly say corrupted.

... Yet

By the end, John is no longer Captain America, however, he did feel the need to prove himself, so he set out to take down Karli. However, when people's lives were at stake, he had the choice, either go for the prize, or stop and help people.

It's at this moment that he actually earned the respect of Sam, as he actually did the one heroic thing. He set aside his personal desires to help people, because that's what heroes do.

And that's the thing. John shouldn't be Captain America, because it comes with a burden. You have to set your pride aside and be there for the people, you need to stand behind your principles. The Captain America brand actually stands in the way of John's principles, which is to eliminate threats by any means possible, whereas Captain America stands for protecting first, eliminating second.

It's also why Sam has to take the mantle, not because he wants to, but because he has to. Where Steve stood for the old America, Sam stands for the new. It's a world post-Endgame, one after the Blip. Sam needs to be the shield that protects America.

John, however, has to fulfill a different role, to be the gun, because quite often, you just can't protect the world with just a shield.

[garycxjk]

The MultiVersus rant, or why their monetization model doesn't work

Let's preface this by saying that I moderately enjoy MultiVersus. I have some issues with the game, like how it feels too floaty, but it's fun, for the most part.

But I do have a problem with the game, a big problem, and it all has to do with monetization. However, instead of just pointing out the problems, I'm here to come up with potential solutions.

First, the problem. MultiVersus feels... unsubstantial. Everything feels so... I don't know how to say it, it just feels cheap and lifeless, which is weird, because the character animations are mostly fine I guess, I mean, there is heart in the game, it's just... lacking something.

And it all stems from one simple thing.

Monetization.

Now, monetization isn't that bad, it keeps the game running, however, right now, it feels like, I wouldn't say a cash grab, because cash grabs at least have some effort put in to squeeze us out of our money. No, it feels like a rip-off.

Let me break down what my personal issue is.

Battle Pass and getting Battle Pass EXP

The battle pass has been overhauled, mostly for the better, though with that, I mainly mean what's in it, not necessarily everything surrounding it. You see, there's one way and only one way to earn EXP for the battle pass, and that is to do dailies.

Yes, there's other ways to get EXP, like weeklies, and maybe events, but that's the only ways you can earn EXP. There's literally no incentives to play the game more than what the dailies and weeklies ask of you, and I feel like it all has to do with the fact that they might add a system where you can actually pay gleemium to gain levels.

Now, sure, everything in the Battle Pass can be purchased after the current season, but it really doesn't incentivize people to actually play the game. Which brings me to a related point, the dailies.

The one daily I hate is "Win a PvP", because we all know everybody is really skilled. Seriously, I really freaking hate this daily. Yes, you can complete it with bots, but at least give us an option to play against bots. Don't waste my precious time by having me fight people who are clearly too strong for me because your matchmaking is trash.

But even then, it's not as bad as "Play as X" or "Play as a character from Y franchise." Quite often, people are required to play a character they don't have, the worst example being the person who had "Land Joker's Bazooka" three times in one daily, with Joker currently being the most expensive character in the game. Unless you outright purchase him, you're shit out of luck.

Which brings me to my next point.

Characters

Characters can be unlocked with gleemium or fighter currency. That's basically it. Sure, some characters are unlocked through events, but most of them you need to put either money into or need to grind for, and since fighter currency is scarce, the only really viable option is gleemium.

I get it, you don't want the average player to farm a lot of fighter currency, lowering the incentive for people to outright pay for their characters, but right now, people aren't going to pay for them anyway because they all cost twenty freaking dollars.

Other things

So, there are other things the game monetizes, mainly cosmetics, but let me give you a quick rundown on things that just suck when it comes to monetization.

The Tooniverse skins should not be as expensive as they are. In fact, shouldn't they just be rewards for fully leveling a character or some other incentive? Like, this costume's basically the primary skin, but with a shader.

Rifts just plain suck, and it's made even worse on the higher difficulties where you have lives. Guess what? The game monetizes that as well.

Honestly, for the most part, cosmetics are fine when it comes to monetization. This is where you can have people spend money, not freaking characters.

Possible solutions

So, let's start with the Battle Pass, because I think that one's the hardest to change, but I think that the Battle Pass should just have EXP per play, because here's the thing. I'm a working adult, and I don't want to spend every single free time on this game. I have erotic fiction to write, or songs to time for UltraStar Deluxe. Don't waste our precious time, because what you need to remember is that the biggest group of people playing your game is the adults and young adults. Many of them are tired from their jobs, and want something relaxing, not... tasks. If we wanted to do tasks we'd do the dishes.

Bottom line, don't waste our time, or we'll stop wasting it on you.

Second, characters or fighter currency. Right now, the fighter currency only serves one purpose, and that is to get new characters, but what if you don't make fighter currency as hard to obtain? Well, surely people are going to hoard them until a new character comes along.

I've got a solution for this, though.

Buying skins with fighter currency.

Being able to buy certain skins with fighter currency could incentivize people to spend it on that instead of just characters. However, don't just sell every skin with that. Lock some behind gleemium. But also, don't sell plain-ass skins with fighter currency, sell skins that completely alter the character with custom voice lines. Think stuff like Cake (a Jake genderswap), or the Black Lantern characters. Heck, the Graphic T skins could be fighter currency locked, since they're required for certain Rift missions.

In fact, give some of these skins special tags that could be required for special missions in the Rifts, like the aforementioned Graphic T skins. Add special labels for them. Give people reasons to use their fighter currency on special skins instead of full characters. Things like turning a character from Heroic to Villainous, or Animated, or even Non-Human. Heck, give LeBron a Michael Jordan skin, change the Space Jam: New Legacy tag to just Space Jam, boom, new tag, new incentive to get this skin.

But just having certain characters as alternate costumes instead of full-on characters will make this a good incentive. Imagine having a Fionna alt for Finn, or a Rowdyruff Boys for the Powerpuff Girls.

But also, to continue with costumes. Add a lot more skins. You can easily sell shaders, like, a black and white shader, or a newspaper shader. That's a great way to monetize the game, people will definitely eat that up.

Add a lot more cosmetics, like avatars, backgrounds, ring-outs, badges. But for the love of god, don't sell lives for Rifts. Yes, Play First Games needs to eat, but not like this.

But, if you need to sell characters, don't make them that freaking expensive. For 20 dollars, I can get a new platform fighter. Sure, it's indie, but it's still cheaper than 20 freaking dollars. I'd have a full roster, new stages, everything I need.

But yeah, maybe I should write this down when I'm not dead tired. I just don't know, I'm having less and less fun with this game. It's that I want that Superman skin that I still keep playing.

[garycxjk]

'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess season finale speculation and prediction

Okay, so, I make it no secret that one of the anime I enjoy this season is 'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess. It's a really fun series, though there's something odd going on with the series. Obviously, spoiler warnings. I'll put the rest behind a read more, but it's going to be a major spoiler.

So, last episode, they introduced and neatly wrapped up Gekkou's arc. The strange thing about it is that they actually revisited an older chapter, as they went back to chapter 47 (the Krall chapter with the dog), went on to chapter 62 (the dream chapter), then did chapters 82 and 83 (the youth spell chapters), before going back to chapter 71 (the pizza chapter). So, there's precedent of revisiting older chapters to neatly wrap up each story arc.

So, I want to do a little prediction, and it's going to be a bold one.

I think they're going to introduce Sakura Heartrock.

So, throughout the series, Princess has talked about a friend who betrayed her. In her flashbacks, she's been portrayed as a pink-haired girl. Later, in episode 10, during Vanilla's "torture" with cards, she again talks about that girl, showing her having a tea party with her.

Except the tea party only appeared in chapter 126, the episode where Princess and Sakura are reunited.

So, what I think they'll do is adapt chapter 97 first, which introduces Sakura. Then they'll adapt chapter 100, which is a callback to chapter 1. Next, I think they'll first do chapters 106 and 113, though they might switch the order. Both are Sakura centered, and both can't be shown after chapter 126, since both chapters still work under the assumption that Sakura doesn't know that Princess is also there.

Then as a season finale they'll do chapter 93, the chapter where Torture isn't sure if she's going to continue being Princess' inquisitor.

Look, the only thing I'm certain of is that they'll be doing chapter 93, as that's a great season finale. You're unsure whether Torture or the rest will stay on, so it ends with every inquisitor assembling while the end credits and the series opening start. If they don't do that, 'tis a missed opportunity.

I'm also fairly certain they'll adapt chapter 100, as that chapter only works if the series is still fresh in your mind. Sure they could leave it for a season premiere, but I don't know, I feel like putting it in the final episode would work great, especially if it's after a lore-heavy chapter like chapter 97.

However, there's one chapter that could delay Sakura's reunion with Princess, unless they drop chapter 106, which is chapter 96, which is just starts off as a regular chapter, and turns into a lore chapter at the end.

Of course, they could just adapt an assortment of chapters, like chapter 91 (a very cute Vanilla chapter), either chapter 72 or chapter 94 and 95 (all three Krall chapters, though 94 and 95 are both connected), and, let's say, maybe chapter 98, and Inki and Youki chapter. Maybe also drop in chapter 90, a Maomao chapter. That way, we can leave Sakura for next season, plus, we still have plenty of other older chapters to adapt anyway, so it's not like we're running out of chapters anytime soon.

[garycxjk]

This weekend I did something I didn't do before, go to an event and stay there overnight, or in this case, stay two nights. I went to this little Dutch event called KaraokeCon.

I discovered KaraokeCon thanks to the Asgard Sings Discord server, Asgard Sings being the one(s) to bring Karaoke to Dutch conventions like Abunai or AnimeCon.

I was a bit anxious to go, but in the end, I'm glad I went. Despite my social anxiety I was able to vibe with many people there, and probably even made various new contacts.

So yeah, that's basically it. Nothing much actually, I didn't really take any pictures because I hate taking pictures of humans.

Anyway, I'll be preparing for next year. I've already decided to get a bigger suitcase and a better sleeping bag, and I've decided on a cosplay costume. I've even decided on some songs I could sing for the competition, but I still need to figure out which one I want to do.

So yeah, I really hope the second edition of KaraokeCon will happen, and I'll definitely be there, though next time I might need to clean shave myself.

[garycxjk]

Why most people don't get Europapa

So, Joost Klein's Europapa apparently is taking the world by storm. With its happy hardcore or gabber house tunes and beats and the silly music video, there's no denying that this song has a certain charm, though it also has its detractors.

The thing is, though, most people on both sides don't fully get the song.

To summarize the song, it's essentially about an orphan who travels around Europe to find himself. Those were in Joost's own words.

Europapa is about an orphan who travels throughout Europe (and beyond) to find himself and tell his story. At first, people don’t recognise him, but he goes on seizing any opportunity he gets to let himself be seen. Europapa is a tribute to my father. When bringing me up, he passed on to me an expansive view of the world.

Okay, but why does the song sound so silly? Well, that's something deliberate. I don't really know much about Joost Klein's music, but what I do know is that this is basically what most of his songs are. Silly, yet deep.

Okay, brief detour to give context to the rest of what I'm writing, but it's important to remember that Joost Klein basically became an orphan at a young age. He lost his father to cancer when he was 12, and a year later, his mother died as well. This essentially shaped his music. From what I can gather from the many YouTube comments, he always watched Eurovision with his parents, and told them that one day he'd be there on stage.

So, let's just talk about the elephant in the room. Some people call this European propaganda. However, just the first few lines clue you in that it isn't just some pro-EU propaganda.

Welcome to Europe Stay here until I die

In fact, there are several lines used that wouldn't sit right if it were pro-EU propaganda. Let's look at the second verse.

Ich bin in Deutschland Aber ich bin so allein

Which roughly translates to

I'm in Germany But I'm so lonely

The next lines, "Io sono in Italia / Maar toch doet het pijn" (first line Italian, second line Dutch), which translates to "I'm in Italy / But I still feel pain".

Essentially, the entire song is him trying to let go of his past, to let go of his grief. That's essentially what the burning house and the windmill represent at the end, finally moving on from the past.

And that's essentially what the entire song is about. The entire song sounds like it's stuck in the '90s and early noughties. Naturally the most glaring part is the music style. Back in the '90s, happy hardcore and gabber house was really big, especially in the Netherlands. The way people dance back then and dressed when they did can be seen in the scene with Paul Elstak. Then there's the Gameboy Advance, which came out in the early 2000s.

Another cool thing is a reference to New Kids, a Dutch comedy show from 2007, when someone says "Welkom in Europa jongen!" ("Welcome in Europe boy!"). On the television screen, you can see Gerrie van Boven, played by Tim Haars, a character from New Kids.

But it isn't just a throwback. It's all being done deliberate. Something that gets lost in translation is the text. The rhymes work, however, to a Dutch person, it sounds a bit... childish. Very simple, at the very least. But I think that even that is done deliberately. It sounds like a child has been writing these lines, but I think that's the point of the song. It's supposed to sound like a child has been writing these lines.

The entire song is about the protagonist being stuck in the past, being stuck in his grief. It's why there's a disconnect between the text and the melody. Sure, it's a celebration of Europe, of Eurovision. Joost Klein genuinely loves Eurovision. However, it's also essentially him saying, this is me closing another chapter in my life.

Let's take a look at the outro of the song.

Op kruistocht in m'n spijkerbroek, lopend door de velden M'n papa en m'n mama zijn voor altijd mijn helden Aan het einde van de dag zijn we allemaal mensen M'n vader zei me ooit: "Het is een wereld zonder grenzen" Regen op het raam en ik stond huilend bij het venster Veel te vroeg duister, het is winter in de lente "Ik mis je elke dag", is wat ik stiekempjes fluister Zie je nou wel, pa? Ik heb naar je geluisterd

This... seems quite long, doesn't it? Well, that's because that's the full outro. What most hear during the video clip is this:

Aan het einde van de dag zijn we allemaal mensen M'n vader zei me ooit: "Het is een wereld zonder grenzen" "Ik mis je elke dag", is wat ik stiekempjes fluister Zie je nou wel, pa? Ik heb naar je geluisterd

Let's translate the full lyrics. I'll put the translations of the lyrics in the music video in bold and italic.

On my crusade in jeans, walking through the fields My dad and mom are forever my heroes At the end of the day we are all human beings My father once told me: "It's a world without borders" Rain on the window and I stood at the window crying Darkness far too soon, it's Winter in Spring "I miss you every day", is what I secretly whisper You see dad, I listened to you

So, basically, the gist is, this song has many layers. It's a heartfelt tribute to Eurovision, while also telling a personal story about grief and letting go of said grief.

Though I think this interview with Joost Klein on De Avondshow met Arjen Lubach may say more than I could.

Well, sometimes you must say goodbye to whatever is most dear to you. And when one door closes thousands of others open, apparently. But what I've learned is that you tend to hold on to your own pain sometimes. So this letter provides some sort of closure, dare I say. Saying: "Hey, Mum and Dad... You will always be there for me, but I can't carry this pain forever."

[garycxjk]

Second chances

Let's get this out of the way. Throughout this post, I will not name one certain individual, not because she has done anything wrong, but to make ego searching this post a lot harder for her. This also means that this post will not be easily found. The thing is, I don't really even need to mention her to make a point, as her situation isn't a big part of it, it only serves as the backdrop. So I will neither name her previous life nor her current.

Second, I'm not gonna shit on Nijisanji EN. Too many have already done that before, and it's getting a bit tiring. Plus, again, it doesn't serve the point I am trying to make, however, it does serve as a backdrop.

So, basically, to keep it short, recently a certain person had been terminated in a pretty fricken dumb way which I'm not going to get into, which involves them self-exposing their own incompetence. This termination also came after the person who was terminated made two attempts on her own life, fortunately she's still with us.

But that's not the point of this story. Recently, three of the talents have released a not really smart video, basically digging themselves deeper into a hole, if I may so personally, those being Elira Pendora, Vox Akuma and Ike Eveland. Now there are theories going around, but let's keep it as a fact, they were used as spokespeople, either against their will or otherwise, we don't know. We'll get back to the three.

Now, out of all of this mess, one thing was clear. Zaion LanZa, also known in her current life as Sayu Syncronisity, was right. After her termination a month after debuting at Nijisanji as Zaion, she was terminated, and she wrote a scathing expose about how her experience at Nijisanji was, and spoilers, it wasn't great, and later, it turned out a lot of it lined up with what the most recent terminated member experienced.

The thing is, at the time, she was mostly ignored. Not by everybody, but by too many, in my opinion, mainly because she was only there for a month. I know, I was there when it all happened. People either ignored her, or just said that she was salty or straight up called her a liar. Her reputation as Sayu therefore tanked, and it was only after a week after the most recent termination that people slowly began believing her completely.

The thing is, her reputation only improved almost a year after it happened, and from what I understand, her offenses weren't even that severe. People called it mistakes, yes, but not bad enough to warrant a termination. But okay, maybe Nijisanji didn't think she fit into the Nijisanji ecosphere, so she was let go. I'm not going to go into how she got terminated, that's a whole different can of worms, all I'm going to say is, she got terminated, and her reputation didn't exactly recover.

But, and excuse me for repeating the same phrase but, here's the thing. After almost a year, people should have forgiven her. She had already apologized, I'm not sure if she's done it multiple times, but she did at least once. She had admitted she made mistakes.

I'm a firm believer of second chances, everybody deserves one. Now, I do have to say, people don't deserve second chances from everyone, depending on how bad the offense was, but, look. If we can forgive James Gunn for his tweets he made when he was dumb and stupid, we should be able to forgive Sayu for the dumb shit she said, right?

It's as if people don't actually believe in second chances. Now, I'm gonna be honest, I'm not really willing to give Nux Taku a second chance, not after he did Coco's graduation notice dirty, essentially acting like a rrat. But that's my personal issue, I've been betrayed too many times in my life, taken advantage of too many people that my flight response gets triggered quite easily. Fuck, it's why I stopped associating myself with the Steven Universe fandom, despite me still liking the series. It's not that they're inherently bad or that I think they're bad, it's that they're bad for my mental health, which is why I distance myself from them.

And if you ask me what my opinion is of Charlie (penguinz0) or Asmongold, I don't talk about them at all. They just give me too much of an I-don't-trust-them vibe. Not that they're untrustworthy, but I just don't want to burn my fingers on them.

The thing is, yes, the SA jokes were in bad taste, I agree. However, it just feels like people were looking for an excuse to hate on her. And now that all this shit with Nijisanji EN is going on, she's suddenly being hailed as someone who was right all along. It just doesn't sit well with me.

The thing is, we all want second chances, but we don't all want to give them. I personally believe that everybody deserve second chances. Not just one, but many. People continue to make mistakes in their lives, and yes, if it's better for your own mental health, you can decide not to give that person another chance. Maybe there are some people who just don't deserve second chances because they never take them, they never learn from them. As cynical as I am in life, I still believe people can change, either for the worse or the better.

Which brings us to Elira, Vox and Ike. No matter whether they're guilty of whatever people accuse them of or not, their reputation is toast. In the short term, they won't be able to recover it. However, let's look at another case.

Mikeneko. Amemiya Nazuna. Yes, even Uruha Rushia. Her reputation has sunk to the bottom of the ocean. However, I don't think it'll remain that way. In time, there will be people who will give her a second chance. Remember, it's forgive, not forget. People may forgive her, but they won't forget. Honestly, I've decided to stay away from that drama, as I really do not care about it, but I do believe she can, in time, recover her reputation.

I mean, fuck, if Logan Paul can come back from that Aokigahara controversy, as much as I still think there should have been more repercussions from it, anyone can.

So, as a closing thought. Elira. Vox. Ike. Your reputations are pretty much toast, at least at Nijisanji EN, but possibly also in your PLs as well. However, it's not unsalvageable, it never is. As long as you're willing to change, as long as you're willing to better yourselves, as long as you want all of that, you can come back on top.

Tanking your reputation isn't the end of it all. You'll probably have to start over from scratch, and you'll most likely never going to go back to the reputation you had before. But it's not the end. Just live and learn.

But I do think Nijisanji EN is practically done.