#BIG RANT... AGAIN

[bookie-bookdust]

I've been going THROUGH IT lately, and I just want to toss out there (again, and for myself this time lol) please create things because you LOVE TO AND IT MAKES YOU HAPPY. Don't create for likes, engagement, and for what you'd think other people will like - regardless of what the algorithm says or punishes you for.

You aren't doing this to get popular and to get "fans." We're not fucking influencers, and we were never meant to be. Seriously you will ALWAYS feel bad if you're looking at engagement. I was kicking myself for this recently for literally no reason, but you know what made me feel better? Creating things I actually enjoyed because I wanted them to exist in my world. Because that's the reason to do this. For the love of it. Do not let the current evil age of social media rot your creative, passion, and joy.

CAPISCE??????????

[flowery-laser-blasts]

Astérix et Obélix X Kim Possible

Just watched Astérix et Obélix: Le Combat des chefs on Netflix and I can't praise this movie enough! The jokes were amazing, the color palette and lighting were gorgeous, the perfect blend of cartoony and drama. This story is a really good introduction to people who are new to this franchise, showing Astérix and Obélix and their friendship as children, the origin of Obélix' power (as far as I can recall, it hasn't really been shown before, only mentioned!) and this series is actually based on the original 1966 comic with the same name! Style wise, I think they took inspiration from the spider-verse movies, especially the magic potion from Panoramix reminded me of the glitches and warping that happens in those movies. I am a bit confused that this turned out to be a Netflix series whilst it easily could've been a full on movie!

Also my fave: Apothika. I love her. She's everything.

I can't believe they actually made a historically accurate 'goth' joke. For those who don't know, here's a short video on it:

[starleska]

there is absolutely zero chance we ever going to top 'Big' Jack Horner as a villain in the Shrek franchise. how could anyone possibly beat this 😂😂

[orgonongurlz]

go my yuri

[imaginethathaikyuu]

Em can we please talk about Tsukki. Everyone keeps writing him as a mean dom and it’s killing my soul. Please say it isn’t so 😭😭😭😭

Lowkey hc Tsukki as ace and super sweet on his person… like he just simps and is very soft in private. I just wanna kiss his pretty fingers. but I’d love to hear your takes.

okay like ive beeeeen saying this since day one, popular fanon characterization is NOT satisfying for me.....

tsukishima kei would arguably be the best partner...imo... LIKE i think he'd be an annoying little fucker at first when you don't know each other well. but as you get closer he becomes the softest sweetest kindest bf.

especially as things get more serious, when he can let go of all of his insecurities and finally start feeling equal to you, his curtain of arrogance drops and he can just be himself :]

he is sooo cat coded imo like he's just always There. he will randomly lay next to u and put your hand on his head (instead of asking u to play with his hair) and just sit in silence forever. Annoys u just for the sake of being a Bother. puts cold drink on the back of your neck, pulls ur hoodie strings closed, places ur fav snacks on the highest shelf. but also ties ur shoe for u and remembers ur coffee order and compliments u every day. wait i love him

but also like i get the fun in writing him as big mean dom who fucks like if that is what u like to read i love that for u and honestly i see why some ppl write him as like. a big doodoo meanie like thats a fun path to go down too. that just isnt the tsukishima kei who lives in my house u know what i mean

[delicatepointofview]

gonna have to deal with people missing the point of louis singing 1d songs in festivals... don't get me started on the other covers

[andi-o-geyser]

actually i’ve come to the conclusion after finishing andor and sitting in it for around a week that the sequels were actually fucked from the start. like yeah, no shit from a development and story perspective they were a mess because there was no plan but on a BASIC LEVEL they were fucked because there is a fundamental lack of creativity. yes there is always a push and pull between fascism and democracy, yes it makes sense that people seek power and after swinging far left you then often swing back far right. but none of that should have been the first order. it’s just at a basic level a very uninteresting enemy to examine. we already did that song and dance, and the complete lack of any explication (completely ignoring the whole later palpatine angle because we all agree the writers should be shot and quartered for that) for how another galaxy spanning empire rose not even 20 years after the end of the previous one which lasted almost the exact same amount of time is bonkers. i actually really enjoy the force awakens, i think it’s a fun movie, but it is to its own detriment that it is a legacy sequel with nothing new to say because that means there IS NO STORY. like i honest to god at this point find that for me, the story ends after return of the jedi. that’s it. because it is such lazy damn writing to have actually nothing to say and no creativity to make a new threat. we all think the aesthetic of the empire is cool, we get it. there is no world in which it should pull main focus. and i’m not saying i have a better idea, but all i know is they should have been starting from square one and not relied on the originals at all. the vibe of the prequels is so distinct from the original trilogy for a reason, and that’s because there was an actually separate (not completely, but you get what i mean) story to tell. the basic failure of the sequels was that there was never anything there. we did this song and dance already. we already liked it. this detracts from everything before and devalues and idea that there can ever be change or completion, because what’s the damn point if the same empire won’t stop coming back? there have been thousands of years with different power structures and orders ruling the galaxy or fighting for control, and to think that the fucking empire/first order and any carbon cutout following them is the only option is lazy. i just. it’s fucking lazy it’s uninteresting and lazy and there’s nothing to be saved because it decided it NEEDS to work off of the status quo of the heroes being the underdog. i promise, i PROMISE you there is so much more to explore. also jj abrams meet me on a cliff at dawn i just wanna talk

[laureala]

+

Amelia, Link, and the beach as a secret fantasy escape hatch

It is of hearing the waves breaking, one, two, one, two, and sending a splash of water over the beach; and then breaking one, two, one, two, behind a yellow blind. It is of lying and hearing this splash and seeing this light, and feeling, it is almost impossible that I should be here; of feeling the purest ecstasy I can conceive. - Virginia Woolf

[clayderogatory]

i still find it so interesting how leon is just so incredibly popular within the resident evil fandom. like...i remember seeing this one screenshot of a poll (i dont have it on hand) but it was like a vote for people's favorite resident evil character and leon had like way over 20k votes and then the next character in second place didn't even cross like 10k votes or smth. like it's actually insane...

as much as i do love the other characters of the franchise, i really do think leon is like the poster boy child of resident evil with how popular he is. hell, i remember hearing how many people complained about like him being "too much of a simp" for ada in RE6 back in 2012 so capcom heard their complaints and really toned down their relationship in RE2R and RE4R. like if you compare how the og re4 leon and ada act with one another vs remake its a HUGE difference

AND ANOTHER THING how everyone ships everyone with him too...listen for me i dont really care unless its not illegal/pedo shit...if the art or fic is cool...its cool!!! i just think its a little funny is all

anyways moral of the story leon isnt being let down for a while now especially with games with him as the main protagonist having the most sales and just how popular of a character he is. (till hes 90) like people who dont really know the franchise will probably have heard of leon kennedy before, like hell, i got into resident evil because i watched my girlfriend play re2r and i thought leon was cute and it became my special interest

anyways i love this little blondie freak a lot and i think hes pretty neat 😼

[justanotheryapper]

I just wanted to take a minute to appreciate the scene where Mark gets back from Thraxa and talks to his mom.

Steven Yeun did such a great job in this scene, and I haven't seen anything be said about it yet. He managed to capture the exhaustion and defeat in Mark perfectly and really capture that older sibling feeling.

As an older sibling, I could really feel and relate to Mark's dialogue (his low energy voice) and body language, even his heavy sigh after saying he couldn't just leave Oliver to someone else. [I sometimes feel like I overcomplicate things with my family, but in moments like this one with Mark I just feel so defeated and overcome with dread because I love them too much or can't really do anything about things at times.]

That paired with him having to possibly give up his future (college) and complicated relationship with his father just hits the nail on the head a little too well for me and made me dwell on that moment for a bit after the episode ended. It's crazy because most of my siblings are half siblings too, but I've never viewed them that way until I remember it for a second and forget about it for another year lmao.

The show just managed to capture that part of Mark so well, and it's one of my favorite moments in the show. It may be a mundane thing to obsess over, but it spoke to me personally. He is just so older sibling coded in the best way possible, but more specifically in the parentified way because Mark also has to take charge of how Oliver grows up given their shared alien heritage (something I relate to as well💀the parentification aspect i mean😔)

Honestly, it's just one of those things that I had to unpack for a moment because I don't get therapy and probably won't for a couple more years until I'm ready.

[goosehadfood]

You could not tell me that rainwings wouldn’t have the strangest (and somewhat unethical) pets. Like bro look at this huge ass cat I found I fed it some watermelon and it purrs I think it likes me. Dude I found this humongous snake just saw it eat a crocodile but it’s yellow so I think I’ll name it cornbread. I like to imagine they’re like the white woman of Pyrrhia, yes this cat ate 20 babies and is called Universe Destroyer but listen we all have bad days sometimes I’m sure they didn’t mean it

Btw based the color pallet off the random generator at coolors.co

[genderful-ghoul]

It’s real hard to be excited about tours when concerts are always hours drives away from you at massive arenas and you’re also poor

Like, I can’t even get excited when tours are announced, I just feel this cavernous depressive feeling not just that the musician only plays big cities, but also that they feed the ticketing industry that is killing small theaters and clubs.

Praying to The Last Dinner Party that financially successful musicians pull themselves together and kill Ticketmaster.

[bride-of-hemlock]

"You can only like Ascended Astarion romance if you do so critically" is always, maybe 99.99999% of the time, just code for "admit he's toxic and evil and your Tav will be unhappy, my opinion is better :/".

I do find it super funny that people ask to think of fictional fantasy romance "critically" then use language meant for therapy and real life to describe a fictional world - like saying "there's power imbalances", "toxic" (implying it must be bad with AA, usually), as if that's automatically a bad thing - never mind that to even think of it as bad, you need to first equate to real life... idk, boss and worker relationship. But I have never met a boss who was a vampire-like powerful being who could turn coworker into spawn, so maybe think critically of that idea? Applying real life concepts 1:1 to fantasy is poor. (And also "toxic", "problematic" are such non-words it's pretty much useless.)

Tho I will also say that people who say such things ("he doesn't let you leave, it must be bad!"), also must believe that Tav is a "non-free" vampire spawn (I made a post on spawn as a word because the semantics really annoy me), which... Is very debatable, but that's not this post.

All Tav needs to do to gain independence anyway is bite him while tadpoled (since Tav can't be compelled thanks to it); he probably chose to turn Tav so fast to let them choose freely, too, as show of love. Tav can do it, bite ability - there, full vampire (assuming Ascendant's turning bite isn't so powerful it skips the first phase of vampire un-life growth-cycle instantly...)

You only can therefore get "Tav isn't free-willed" if you intentionally roleplay never biting him after turning - but like, that's your Tav's choice even though they knew from act1 how it works so.

Even then, even if he'd never let Tav leave (and could stop Tav) - why would a Tav ever want to leave someone they claim to love?

If Tav is upset at idea of being "forever till world burns down" with Astarion, then maybe don't agree to be turned...? It's that simple. He clearly gives an option, at this point Tav has enough knowledge to plan far future - Tav knows of compelling, Tav knows tadpole prevents, Tav knows a bite is needed... Like a marriage vow: "will you be my bride?" Knowing Tav has tadpole, and he won't be able to stop Tav from biting if they wish. And if Tav says yes... and then suddenly tries to leave because they changed their minds, then yea, what the hell lol. Liar, used him for power, I guess! I'd be upset and spit at such a Tav, myself. He's very calm considering other companion can attack you for less emotional things. (Also he literally says Tav drank his blood & Tav's turning was completely different to regular no-free-will spawn, like Astarion was.)

Though I also think such Tav is simply... stupid, or didn't pay attention.

Basically - Tav is clearly told by Astarion that he will extend his power - sun protection, removing hunger of blood that never stops, giving back physical sensation, etc. - and by his lines of telling Tav not to go far, implies that it has a range limit (as most things in DnD). It's called reading critically, in sense of analysis - not critique "to disapprove", yes.

Thus, a Tav that's like "yea :/ I got bored, I wanna go find someone else, bye :/ I don't actually want eternity, I lied to ur face haha :/" is actually hurting themselves (perhaps without knowing - Tav trying to leave is likely not to have paid attention to know it'll damage themselves!).

AA is right to be like "lol, lmao even" at the suggestion, and treat such a Tav appropriately ("stupid" child at best) and tell them they can't; because if he let them (assuming he can compel Tav in other ways than words anyway), then... Tav will suffer. Pain of blood hunger - suddenly, feelings; dull, wine will taste of vinegar, and food of ash... Burn in the sun.

If anyone is being uncritical of AA romance, is people who don't pay attention and then get mad at perfectly reasonable consequences of Tav's actions. If anything, AA is being kind by not letting such Tav go off & hurt themselves.

So maybe part of thinking critically of art is also looking at the actual whole story, not just therapy-speech vibes ignoring everything else.

Also - there's nothing wrong with choosing to be with someone forever and giving yourself fully to other, it's deeply romantic. Just like to some people "I want to have a new relationship whenever I feel like it" feels safe, some actually think "we will never let go of each other, nor want to ever leave" is more so romantic and healthy.

Because what's "toxic" and "abuse" depends 100% on the couple. And since AA is happy, and Tav's feelings are 100% depending on what each player makes up - yes, some Tavs (who love Astarion) will be happy in such dynamic. There's no need to constantly "ah they're happy in this fiction [BAD IRL], they love each other [IRL BAD]" like some broken cinema-sinsy 'ding' of moral approval. If someone says their Tav is happy in such arrangement, forever, with AA- that is true to their Tav. Only the player controls the Tav & their thoughts, not anyone else.

Ngl it stinks of of "think of the children women! They are stupid and will make themselves abused!" which is not only victim blaming but also sexist af, lmao. It's "video games cause violence" again, but about romances. If you need disclaimers from every piece of fiction that "erm, but irl its bad :/" I think you'd not survive most stories of any violence or theft or even road-speeding, because they don't come with disclaimers at all...

If you can't imagine AA and Tav to be happy forever despite dynamic of power and dark themes of vampirism - perhaps that's your imagination lacking & a bias of personal preference. (And lack of trope/genre knowledge too; player [of Tav] who is upset AA won't let Tav leave after Tav betrays him after turning, must have never seen any other vampire than cutesy twilight sparkles or "vampires" that are just goth with 0 real bite. Like, how were u not expecting that. It's like being shocked an alien movie has aliens. Or that a plate breaks when you throw it on the floor.)

It's fictional. It's not real. Fictional characters aren't real... "Should mayo and ketchup be mixed in a bowl together, or is that a problematic relationship, unbalanced by power dynamic of flavors? If you enjoy it with fries, do it critically, and admit it's not healthy for the mayo. This is a very real, important conversation that is super serious." 🥀

xoxo ꨄ︎

[ganondoodle]

another thing i feel has deepend my hatred for totk is... how quickly people jump to defending it, as soon as there is any criticism at all, no matter how little or legit, anyone that expresses disappointment, even in the most tamest way possible, the comments are filled with excuses for it like nintendo can do no wrong

(saw someone express disappointment about a concept art in the totk book that they would have liked more than what we got, and the comments were filled with people making excuses for it-)

often the process of cool concepts getting less cool over the development cycle, especially in this modern gaming industry, isnt bc it just wasnt 'possible' or not the best choice, but bc it gets filtered through many layers of corporate "mass appeal" ideals for greater profit, "mass appeal" i think is always going to give you something more generic, losing its edge, its spark, you cant make soemthing that literally appeals to everyone, thats not how it works, but they certainly try anyway bc it promises greater profit in theory

of course, that doesnt mean that has to be the reason for whatever they decide to go for in the end, but they can do wrong, very questionable, and very much bad things, they have done that and ARE doing that, and you should be able to express disappointment about that without getting swarmed by a weird nintendo defense squad, in fact, it SHOULD be criticised, sometimes that can even be fun, sometimes mroe frustrating, but it should be done regardless, does it sound fun to jsut fully accept everything they throw in front of you without question??? does that sound like you will only get better things???

i just realyl hate that weird cult following (exaggeration) the game has amassed where you either worship it or must unreasonably hate it, that you cant express any sort personal feelign towards it that isnt praise without being hit by the squad tm

its not just annoying, its weird, what are you defending them for?? why??? i had this problem a while too, but its died down sicne then, probably bc people realized im not the 'average' fandom guy but a very specific kind of fandom guy- whenever i view outside my little bubble though i see it still happen ... even for the most miniscule of criticism

(dont get me started on how i have MASSIVE gameplay and design frustrations about totk and dont really understand how so many people can say the gameplay is stellar and jsut the writing sucks .... bc its not ..)

[1doesnotsimplyhavejust1fandam]

The thing that gets me is, if nothing changes, if Tim just stays on as showrunner, we will literally never be free of the worry that one of our mains is going to die in a random episode with no real warning in-universe. If the live stream hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t have even thought it was a possibility while the 118 was trying to get the antivirus and escape the lab. It had been nearly eight seasons of ridiculously unrealistic NDEs for all of the main characters, there was no precedent for Bobby’s death. If I hadn’t seen the live stream or anything on social media leading up to the episode, I wouldn’t have imagined a world in which they would kill off Bobby (except as a fake out). I would’ve understood that his oxygen tank was compromised, but would’ve assumed that Athena or Buck or the military or somebody would come up with a solution to the single antivirus problem. Because that is what every previous 9-1-1 episode had assured me would happen. There is no answer that is beyond this team and this family when it comes to keeping each other alive. “There is not a locked room anywhere that the right tools and enough time can’t break open.” It’s engraved into the heart of the show.

But now that there is precedent for a main’s death, we’ll never be able to breathe easy when it comes to the team being in danger, especially in the big emergency episodes or heavily promoted weeks. Because if Bobby can die in arguably one of the most disrespectful and idiotic ways for a main character and lead on a show to die after eight years, then literally nobody is safe. If Tim sticks around, he will always have the ability to “play God” again, and destroy the firefam with another death.

This is nothing new for many shows, including some of my favorites! But after watching this show for five years, and being reassured in and out of universe that they would never kill off a main, and the show keeping that promise, it had become an expectation and a joy of mine that nobody ever dies. I love angst and silliness and found family, and that is what I watch this show for. And call me egotistical, call me parasocial, but I do not appreciate being lied to by a show runner who kills a main character on a whim. That’s not good writing, it’s somebody who lost the plot a long time ago.

[helluvapurf]

*deep breathes* Sooo, those last couple mins from the latest "Full Moon" ep... lets talk about that🍵🍵

Welp, here it is folks... the ep that finally gave us that hyped up "Asmodeon crystal" exchange teased at in the S2 Pt. 2 trailer. And... hooooo boi, I have formed so. many. thoughts. upon rewatching that scene a few times. Some that are... kiiiinda on the rant-y spectrum the more I lingered on 'em, so how bout I share them here lmao

Fair warning in advance, this maaaaay not be particularly "nice" to Stolas in these rambling thoughts, so if anyone out there's a big Stolas(+itz) fan... yall might wanna skip reading ahead- lol .w.;;

*claps*

Okay, so to start things off on a (semi?) positive note, the animation & lighting here is quite beautiful to look at. The glittery curtains, the shine in Blitz's eyes throughout his shifting emotions, even the shots of that one broken chandelier (which I thiiink might've been the same one him & Stolas played under as kids?) was a neat bit of symbolism ngl.

Props to Brandon Rogers as well for his voice-performance on Blitz here cause... gawd did it hit me in the heart how much hurt you feel from his yelling ;-;💔

Curious to see more of the use of Blitz's new Asmodeon crystal in future adventures (esp from that one shot in the trailer w/ him using the portal effects against the DHORK crew), it looks cool~ ✨👍

....ummmm, ok I think that about covers my positives atm. Onto the problems I have with this exchange:

Stolas... okay, you were this close to actually doing a good job ending the Full Moon deal. Admitting to how "wrong" the transaction part of their dynamic was, allowing Blitz more "freedom" via-the crystal (that could also help avoid any legal issues that the Grimoire gave), even wishing him good luck with his I.M.P. business as the night drew to a close... ...buuuuut then Stolas just had to muddle everything up by his whole "even tho you don't have to be with me, I want you with me if you want it~🥺" ...which honestly came off selfish to me than anything else?? Like, dude... if you really ARE regretful of how long you let this deal go for, and truly DO want to let Blitz go... you CAN'T throw in such sappy, lovey-dovey words on top of that?? Otherwise, how can one blame Blitz for getting as confused & flustered as he was throughout that convo... you've basically just sent even more mixed-messages in the grand scheme of things, my dude-🤦‍♀️

"I have wanted you for SO long, the fact that you couldn't believe that I might have these feelings about you, that your first instinct is that its always about sex..." ...Ummmmm Stolas... did you seriously forget HOW this whole deal of yall's started?? 🤨 Waaaay back in the initial-series pilot, to the first official ep, and pretty much the majority of Season 1:

As far as I checked, Blitz wasn't the one who kept making everything about sex... that. was all. YOU. 😒Heck, literally one of the first things you told Blitz upon reuniting as adults in "The Circus", was that you expected he wanted to "ravish" you-

-so like, get outta here with the whole pushing-the-perv-responsibility-bs onto Blitz... you ain't helping your case >>

Finally... like, it was already getting bad enough by the point of Blitz begging & pleading out of fear he'd lose his livelihood without the book, AND not being allowed space to breathe after getting further pushed away (and thus, more pissed off-)... but THEN on top of all this, Stolas just haaaaad to throw in this lil gem: "Blitz... I think so very highly of you. I didn't realize you think so low of me..." ...Stolas, with all due respect... stfu with that lousy, last-minute uwu-ing self-pity party crap😑Just because you TRIED to show more attentive care & concern post-"Ozzie's", outside of the typical bedroom stuff... that ain't gonna prove shit if you're not gonna be consistent with it. Where was that "high opinion" of Blitz during the two of you getting stuck in the sitcom set during "Seeing Stars", when Blitz was having that panic attack performing live, where all you ended up doing was... just hitting on him/praising his bedroom skills again?? 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Like... couldn't you have just, I dunno... TRY to actually cheer him up/comfort him like an actual friend, would? Encourage him on his jokes, "just be yourself", promising another way out of there on his own merit... literally, anything could've worked fine and it wouldn't have come off so skeezy imho >>;;

...*sighs* so, yeah... thats basically what I had to get off my chest regarding the ending of "Full Moon". Honestly, had the writers actually committed to Stolas cutting off Blitz (even if harsh), giving the crystal with no strings, then going about their separate ways afterwards, I would've been totally fine with the scene tbh. But all this... odd lowkey-blaming of Blitz thrown in, the sappy words, and Stolas not once actually-apologizing during all this (Like, literally I checked and the only utterance of "sorry" seemed to come from Blitz's end before he got kicked out... for what, I dunno- 🤷‍♀️). Sorry for the length btw, but hopefully that about covers my thoughts on the matter-