#this batch has some good ones. imo

[firethekitty]

(1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8)

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

Pre-2020 Cdrama List

Okay, because I made my earlier post about how I really do think more people in the cdrama fandom should watch pre-2020 cdramas.

(why 2020? it's a nice round year, but also, there was a big censorship overhaul around 2020-2021. Plus I feel like 2020-21 was when there was the influx into the cdrama fandom.)

Anyways - categories purely by me and not at all scientific. I have more, but I tried to keep this list to things that (I think) have subs.

The Prestige:

Legend of Zhen Huan: yes, harem dramas aren't everyone's thing and I acknowledge it. But if you are going to watch one harem drama, make it this one. It is one of IMO the best character study revenge plot in cdramaland that really explores the concept of patriarchy and power and sisterhood. Bonus, certain scenes in more recent cdramas will suddenly click because Zhen Huan is *that* influential. One note: I recommend the viki version, which the subtitle team does a wonderful job in explaining the context for the numerous poetry that the characters use.

The Story of Minglan: you know the story of the unfavored daughter getting revenge on her evil stepmother and then finding love with a hot noblemen? yes, this is the OG. Except everyone is fleshed out and 3D and you feel like you're watching real people.

Battle of Changsha (available on YouTube, no idea where else): Republic era/WW2 epic, so utterly real, so utterly heartbreaking, flawlessly written and acted. Yang Zi's best work to date, IMO.

(I'll put in Nirvana in Fire and Advisor's Alliance -- but I"ll be honest -- male centric stories tend not to be my cup of tea even if they are very well made, but I can acknowledge that the quality is there.)

The Idol Historical (aka my genre):

Scarlet Heart (no, not the k-drama version that I slowly grew a grudge against. The OG cdrama with Liu Shi Shi, currently available on Iqiyi): it borderlines prestige (TM) for me, but it's categorized as an idol historical so I'll address it as such. Modern girl transmigrate to Qing dynasty, and the writing is so cerebral and it's ultimately a thought-provoking piece about keeping one's sense of self and identity, and the difficulty choices we make along the way. You don't have to ship anyone to enjoy this drama. Ignore the sequel.

Goodbye My Princess (I know there's an English version on YouTube): a grand romantic tragedy (I'm putting that in open disclaimer) about how a murderous bastard soft for one girl trope and love isn't enough. The fact that the ML is also the villain. And then get salty about Cheng Xingxu (ML's actor)'s subsequent projects with me. (addendum - if you enjoy this, the King's Woman with Zhang Binbin and Dilreba is also excellent).

Singing all along (I have a separate genre called "Ruby Lin dramas"): it's a fictionalized story of Emperor Guangwu of Han and Yin Lihua, and it definitely has the most resemblance to post 2020 idol historical romances, except the harem plot which is historically accurate and added some fantastic tension. I also adore the costuming, which had some heft (TM) to it.

Not Necessarily Quality but Fun (bonus: MLs are now uncles/fathers to the current batch idol dramas):

The Glamorous Imperial Doctress (on Netflix): is it quality? I'm not sure, but if you are watching the Princess's Gambit and wondering if you can take off all hinges, congratulations! I don't even know how to describe it, other than ... it's unhinged but in the most entertaining way. ML gets chained in a palace by SML.

General and I (on Viki): does it have bad blue/green screen? yes. Can Angelababy act? not really. Does she and Wallace Chung have insane chemistry and this drama is a romance novel coming to life with surprisingly a complicated story involving the SML? absolutely. (I have a whole list of Wallace Chung dramas, including My Sunshine and Too Late to Say I Love You, but I do think General and I seem to be a good starting point if you are used to watching post 2020 idol historical).

...don't ask me about xianxia, because it's not my genre. Although Chinese Paladin 3 (available now on Iqiyi) is fun with a legendary cast (seriously, the cast). Or wuxia, for that matter. Or moderns. But if you do want harem drama recommendations, I have about 5 more.

[petermorwood]

Parsnip soup - the garnish recommended by Terry Pratchett for adding character to a beloved copy of "Good Omens"...

...has appeared in a couple of posts, first here and then, when @dduane decided to make some, here.

She didn't use any of the recipes I'd posted but literally cooked up something slightly different off the cuff, and it is (trending rapidly to was) delicious!

Full info on DD's blog here. It's not so much a recipe as an illustrated step-by-step.

*****

NB, that post doesn't mention, because her IBS meant she didn't include, the chopped half onion and two minced cloves of garlic sautéed in smoked-roast-bacon fat which I added to my batch. It's just fine without them, but IMO is even better with, if non-dodgy digestion permits.

*****

Parsnips and carrots over here are, as her post says, all too often mashed, one of the great culinary non-delights of my childhood. They're frequently sold together for that purpose, either raw or pre-cooked...

...and it's a pleasure to find them specifically meant for roasting...

...though I can handle a peeler, a knife and a selection of seasonings well enough not to need to buy them like this.

The soup was sampled two ways, first in its basic form as roasted veggies and roasted smoked belly pork...

...cut into spoon-size pieces and simmered in a light but quite spicy broth (there was a fumble when shaking on the chillis!)

After that DD made flour-and-butter dumplings (Middle Kingdoms style) which absorbed some broth and made the soup a bit thicker.

Both, as I've already said, are - soon to be were - very good indeed.

10 / 10, will make again.

[kobitoshiningneedle]

!!! New PnF episodes spoilers!!!

The new batch be like

Canderemy shippers 🙂*

Phinabella shippers 🙁**

Perryshmirtz shippers 🙂 ***

*FINALLY! I was always cool with Canderemy, but I was thinking the writers forgot that Candace actually has fully-developed wholesome relationship! Good stuff. That said, Jeremy's new VA was the only thing that reminded me that I'm watching a revival. Which makes a point that the new season really delivers so far

**gotta say, I was honestly surprised when Phineas DIDN'T rush to help whan Isabella was attacked by Beatrice. Let me overthink it for a moment, it could be that a) he was confident that Isabella will manage and gave her space, b) he was paralyzed from the fear or c) the writers just didn't see the opportunity to show how overprotective Phineas can be with Isa (remember the NOTLP special). You know the right answer

***my appreciation for perryshmirtz is really recent I admit, and seeing the B plot reduced for the sake of making room for the A plot was refreshing. In s4 it was the other way around, frustratingly often imo. Anyway, the way they going for Nuanced Nemesisship (тм) is immaculate

Some other remarks

I loved Adyson here! Introducing the mom was neat too, but it was so cute to see her rushing to the boys and helping them to build some sculptures (strangely everything PnF did in these episodes was food-related). Also! Candace, Irving and Alyson on a seesaw bit was so cute too. Details like these make this world more alive

Also makes me remember how I lamented the canceled Fireside Girls spinoff back there

Again, food-related Big Ideas? One of my few complaints about the new season is how it continues the tendency of s4 to make the boys' invention an afterthought. Yeah, "Phineas and Ferb are the setting and the actual plot happens with Doof and Candace" and allat, but in early seasons there was a different approach I feel? I wonder if there's a meta discussing the progression of the Big Ideas throughout the series somewhere

But combining the previous point with the reduction of the B plot these new episodes are more Candace-centric showing some new sides to her. Attack not so much (there's a plenty of Candace-going-through-existential-crisis-because-of-Jeremy episodes), but Book Flub was fun in that regard. More funny wholesome moments between Candace and her mom please

I dislike horror/thrilles media (except for some games) because I'm a scaredy-cat, but I wasn't all that off-put by the Candace suit episodes at all? Yes, it was really wacky to see how this deformed design was deformed, but, eh. I don't mean it in a negative way, but I keep seeing people weirded out about it and I feel like I missed something maybe

The grin on my face when I guessed that the kids are going to introduce Beatrice to Klimpaloon. Beatrice is lowkey one of my favorite characters introduced in the new season. Along with Tropey

[local-omen]

bad batch finale thoughts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

first of all damn. like damn. they really did it. those crazy sons of bitches did it. they ended this beloved show in a way that was cathartic, happy, full of tension, and did all the characters justice. my faith in star wars has been restored. i am so happy

—— the tension was unmatched this whole episode. like narratively, killing off tech told us as the audience that no one is safe, there’s no plot armor. so the whole time i was like omg they’re all gonna die but they dIDNT BECAUSE THEYRE THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS AND BECAUSE THEY HAVE LOYALTY AND LOVE FOR EACH OTHER AND THATS WHAT THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT. LOYALTY AND LOVE. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

—— CROSSHAIRS HAND IM SOBBING there is something so heart wrenching but amazing about his 'shooting hand' being taken away from him. it's like the physical embodiment of why he was created but now that he's free of that embodiment, he can choose to be whatever he wants. such a good choice narratively imo

—— that elite task force was badass i'm obsessed with their designs and their fighting styles i kinda wish we got more of them but they were also terrifying

—— crosshair finally made the shot that mattered the MOST. i love him so much. like he seriously means so much to me idec

—— still bummed that tech is actually dead (no he’s not haha loser i’m happy in my delusions). while i do think it’s technically more realistic for clone soldiers bred to die and raised with the expectation that they’ll be killed in battle to lack emotion, i think the lack of emotion this season was to its detriment. however i will say that the “clone force 99 died with tech” line was so good it pretty much made up for it lol

—— THE ENDING WAAA A A AAA A. A A A A. A AAA. A A A A A. A A AAA AAA AAA AAAA A A AAAAAA A A. omega and hera best friends confirmed. they were rebellion pilots together. omega is in the rebellion. like that is just the perfect ending to her character i can’t even. because of course she would. and i love her. i’m so proud of her. she is the heart and soul of this show and anyone who hated her is prolly feelin realllll silly right now

—— damn we’re really just not gonna know who the cx 2 operative was huh. like. he really was just a guy

—— that last shot of tech’s glasses almost got me i fr almost cried. he would be so so so proud of omega. he would be proud of all of them

—— omegas and hunters older designs mean everything to me. just. storytelling through clothes will never not be my favorite thing. her little skull patch 😭🫠 the bandana 🫠🥲

this show means so much to me, truly. it has inspired me artistically, comforted me, and connected me to some amazing people. i don’t even feel stupid for writing all these thoughts about a ‘silly little star wars show’ because damn it this is what art and stories means to people!! this is how powerful they can be! i do not need to hide behind jokes and irony to communicate how much this artistic work means to me!

<3

[sabrerine911]

Dragons Dogma/Unholy Trinity crossover tribute piece finished. Featuring my Unholy Trinity, Beth Ravencoft, Galmar Berastok and Cerise Jarena. So recently I wanted to go back to DD2, wanted to make this heartfelt tribute piece. This series means a lot to me. I absolutely loved Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen to bits. It was a Fantasy game where not only I could make my veteran Vampire/Undead hunters in a more accurate light aesthetic-wise, but the combat was also super good(very close to DMC, one of my personal favorites combat-wise).trough creating multi accounts I was able to have these 3 characters working as a team across all 3 perspectives and this has been the most incredible thing Ive achieved in a game(its very personal, but means a lot to me). When DD2 came I still loved the game to bits even tho it felt short on a few things(still has the dogs**t one save system, making super bulky characters is worse, with muscle textures being atrocious to boot, story also feels worse imo, and the player stagger feels horrible). The game still has that special thing that pulled me in like the first one, and even tho enemy encounters feel samey, and the quests are overall very meh, it still has that funny cozyness the first one had for me. Combat and monsters are still awesome, and my Unholy Trinity is as fun to adventure with(if not more) as the 1st game. But with all that said, it really saddens me that we have not got any news on a potential DLC/Expansion. Dark Arisen is to me the best part of the 1st game and it just completed the whole thing for me. As it stands I will admit that the 2nd game def dissapointed me, it still fills me with joy to play it an all...but it could have been, so much more. There is a bunch of people that are trying to get Capcom to realize how much some of us want more Dogma, so Ill leave the links Might amount to nothing, but I dont care, Ill take my batch of copium, the series means that much to me XD [https://x.com/ExpandDD2] [https://bsky.app/profile/expanddd2.bsky.social] [https://www.facebook.com/groups/1169764027949990] #thearisenwantmore #expanddd2

[kolyamanic]

Dove and a Cage

nikolai gogol x gn! reader

Synopsis: Basically SFW headcannons and other shit about Nikolai as a boyfriend !

A.N: I love Nikolai Gogol ! Also NOT proofread, poorly written (IMO) and I don’t have autocorrect SO-

Buddy’s an eccentric guy. Terrorist. Mass murderer. All good qualities. Obviously, your relationship is something (cough insane cough). With this in mind, see to the following as a sort of guide when adopting your very own Ukrainian magician as a lover.

Baths. Nikolai adores bath - the cool water, fruity scented shampoo that he washes his braid with. But they're better with his darling dove! Sure, he could wash the blood of his victims off his body by himself, but that's boring. Better to have your hands trace over every single inch of him as you're stuck in his lap in a overly filled bubble bath. it's a miracle if you don't inhale one or two bubbles. you're also lucky if the whole apartment doesn't flood with how much water Nikolai splashes around. It's free will, y'know.

flooding y'alls apartment because he left the sink on while washing off his clown makeup

Ooooh, speaking of makeup! Have you seen the man? Nikolai’s a clown, and he’s got nearly everything someone could want. Especially eyeliner and red-colored products. Eyeshadow. Lipstick. Blush. Have fun being held down at the vanity chair as he dolls you up to look ‘just like him!’. Sure, the desk is covered in red particles and a few black smudges, but now his dove is a duplicate of him. You two are that one couple during Halloween that goes ALL out on the makeup. Honestly, Nikolai recreates facial gore pretty well (praise his terrorist tendencies please and thanks!) so if you’re trying to cosplay Cosmo from Chainsaw Man with the eyeball hanging out, he’s gotchu!

And when you do his makeup he melts because it’s so cute how your fingers are fumbling around with the brush as he hums some Ukrainian song and complains that you’re taking so long yet also praises you for doing such a good job? Two sides of the same coin for sure. Expect to have lipstick stains on your skin after you apply his lipstick.

In case it wasn’t ducking obvious enough, this man LOVES physical affections and contact. Drop him in the middle of the Sahara Desert with no food, water or shelter and he’d perk up after one kiss from you. Cuddling is a big deal of your relationship. As energetic and manic as he seems, Nikolai’s a human too who craves attention and affection from his s/o! He’s always big spoon and makes sure his hands are on your chest at all times. Or thighs. It’s either that or the boobs. He likes to bury his head in your chest too and claims it’s more soft than your pillows.

Kisses are to be given at random intervals by Nikolai. You’re cleaning his bloodied clothing? Cool, you’re making out with him in the laundry room now. Especially when he’s jealous. Nikolai is possessive as fuck. You’re his dove for a reason - kept in a cage for him to coo and fuss over. It’s hypocritical of him - always crying about freedom and ‘free will’ - but he doesn’t care. You’re innocent, in his eyes. The world’s dirty and he’s gotta purge it for you through destruction and kisses! So. Many. Kisses. Tongue, too. And lotsa times spent together!

Dates…are something. Nikolai’s a globally recognized terrorist, and so he can’t just waltz outta the house with you. No, sir! Either it’s something illegal (usually stupid little things that turn out to be a major violation of the law but he claims he ‘didn’t know’) or it’s staying at home brushing and styling his hair or letting Nikolai attempt to teach you the hopak dance. He’ll tease you, but he’ll love you. Bonus points if you make piroshki afterwards too. Bonus BONUS points if you make a second batch after he eats the first one !

there’s only so many things to do with your ukrainian boyfriend, but Nikolai has the brilliant ability to somehow find the dumbest shit possible to do. Safe to say, your dates are NEVER boring. Either it ends in bed cuddling, or running away from the police as he uses his cape to smuggle you two back to your temporary apartment.

Nikolai is a great boyfriend overall - affectionate, humorous (in a dark AND normal way) and never boring. The cops may be on you two’s asses all the time for various crimes, but hey - it’s not a crime to love Nikolai Gogol!

[doodlemancy]

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughhhhhhhhhh

so here's the deal re: this fucking horseshit. god i hate this.

i, personally, have mostly given up on trying to dodge inclusion in AI datasets. the stuff i make generally isn't what they're looking for anyway and there's no real way to 100% avoid being scraped short of becoming entirely invisible online, which would um, lead to me having no money and dying. that's part of the cruelty of all this, but also, in a way, it's the same risk artists online have always taken; if you want people to see your work, you have to post it knowing that some of those people are fucking lowlife piece of shit scumbags who will try to resell it on redbubble or something for a quick buck. AI is just a new and exhausting way for garbagey people to stink worse. i am not in any way excusing that behavior or trying to imply people should not be mad about it or that we shouldn't condemn this move and fight back. "if you don't want your work stolen, don't put it online" is the kind of shitty Internet Tough Guy talk i've always hated since my dA days. it's as useless and heartless as telling people that if they don't want their bikes stolen, they shouldn't leave them at the bike rack. i'm saying that i, personally, will not let a bunch of soulless thieving shitheads drive me offline. i belong here. they belong in a wifi-proof dumpster.

nightshade and glaze eat my artwork alive. they make it look terrible. when you have to sell things on the basis that they look nice, it's a big problem when protective measures make them look like dogshit. my work is not a good candidate for these processes. even if that weren't the case, i don't have the stamina, especially right now while my chronic pain is flaring for the third month in a row and my adhd meds are scarce, to go back and shade/glaze everything, and it wouldn't work on reblogs anyway. given the way midjourney and its equally stinky siblings have already scraped years and terabytes' worth of image data from popular websites, it doesn't seem worth my time. if you think it is worth yours i am not going to like, yell at you. i am just one person. but i want to be clear about the kind of situations some of us are being forced into.

i think some of the doomsaying about AI and what it will do to us has been overblown-- they need you, for marketing purposes, to believe that someday their shitty robot will be as good at "drawing" and as practical to work with as a human-- but the consequences of "AI" (which is not even actually AI) are already real and visible and obvious to anyone paying attention. i unfortunately am not infinitely wise and powerful and therefore do not have an ideal all-encompassing solution to this deeply stupid problem that the Most Unlikeable Manbabies On Earth have imposed on us after NFTs fizzled out.

what i do have is a very large repository of nice anime and game screenshots i've taken, knowledge of many archives of nice public domain images, a computer that can run nightshade overnight or while i'm off doing other things, and, most importantly, near-infinite capacity for pettiness. i do kinda feel like the jury is still out on how well nightshade/glaze will work in the long run, but in the meantime, i suppose it wouldn't cost me a lot to... perhaps... every time i get Mad About AI™, channel that anger into dumping some thoroughly-but-not-spammily-tagged, high-quality, inconspicuous poison onto this godforsaken hellsite via a secret side blog. i could make a batch of poison ahead of time, keep it on my phone, use my Toilet Scrolling Time or my Public Transit Time to post and tag up an image here and there. it could be a fun challenge to try to make some pretty robot poison that some humans will still enjoy.

the other thing we need to poison at this point, IMO, is the word "AI" itself, by being loudly and mercilessly critical of any company that dabbles in it, the same way we all clowned on any company that pushed their luck with NFT/crypto shit a couple of years ago. we need to have every corporation terrified that association with AI will tank their sales and hurt their brand. AI must = number go down and lots of people screaming at you. companies will fuck around. we must provide the finding-out. we shouldn't have to. but we can!

so make sure to let tumblr know you hate this. maybe you could include this interesting link (tw child abuse) about how Stable Diffusion was trained on some extremely serious crime. or these screenshots of Midjourney devs just sort of admitting what their whole thing is, which i got here but which have kinda been spread all over since January.

spite and anger can be forms of hope. that's all i have to say, or at least all i'm willing to type with my left hand tonight.

[dollsorwhatever]

Creeproduction Spectra

Figured this would be valuable to post here as well since these are so new lol Despite spending almost an entire day complaining about Creeproduction Spectra having the wrong head sculpt and polypropylene hair, I did actually buy her from Paulmart the day she was first listed because Spectra is one of my favorite MH characters (along with Cleo ofc, and Wydowna- please make a collector or G3 Wydowna Mattel I am begging you) and because I was curious to compare her with my original Sig Spectra that came from the very first batch and is slightly different from later batches of Sig Spectra lol Original on the left, Creepro on the right!

Some things of note: -Can confirm she has poly hair! Appalling. I get that kanekalon is discontinued, but there are nearly identical saran matches for Spectra's original hair colors, so this was purely a result of Mattel being incredibly cheap. Mattel has recently made a pretty significant effort to make new saran batches of g3 dolls that originally had poly, so I really do not understand why they would do this for a reproduction doll that is primarily directed at adult collectors lol It's also horribly layered in a way that I find baffling? Sig Spectra has always had weird layers but the creeproduction has, like, a mullet. I'm not even bothering to style it because she's getting a reroot ASAP.

-Creepro uses the less detailed Spectra sculpt with less prominent cheekbones that was introduced with the final batch of Signature Spectra and used for most of her subsequent dolls until 13 Wishes. It also sits a lot lower on the neck than the original sculpt, which is why she looks slightly less relaxed than my original.

I honestly hate that they chose to reproduce this sculpt instead of the original (her HC doll also lacks cheekbones btw) and she would have been lesser compared to my original even if she didn't have poly. Spectra's original sculpt is one of my favorite MH heads they've ever done so it's pretty annoying to see them using the simplified version for her new dolls, especially considering they made switch in the first place because corporate allegedly thought the original was "too scary" for children. Despite my disappointment at her lack of cheekbones, I do actually really like her face and I find it a little hilarious that I managed to get such a good one after all the complaining I did lol

-While Creepro Spectra has a shorter neck than her original doll, she has a longer neck than the other Creeproductions; this is because the other Creeproductions (both waves) have shorter necks than their original dolls, but Spectra's original doll already had a much longer neck than the other characters. I guess she had some extra neck to spare compared to the rest lol (it's more accurate to say that the neck length is still the same, but all of their heads sit lower on the neck knob than their original dolls for some reason) -Her screening is mostly based on the version used for the late batch of Sig Spectra, but interestingly has a side glance! The only other version of Sig Spectra with a side glance is a variant from her second or third batch (with cheekbones) so it's interesting that they chose a side glance for the reproduction.

-Her earrings match the first batch Spectra (black chains instead of silver like subsequent batches), but the rest of her outfit is more reminiscent of the batches that came after. For example the belt on the first batch is much more simple than the one used on later batches, and the creepro comes with the more detailed belt. -Skirt is slightly shorter and her boots are also darker (improvements imo) -The silver necklace and bracelet shackle are made of a much more transparent plastic than the original (not an improvement) -Her top is mostly the same but the construction is slightly less fitted and the pleather feels a bit cheaper.

As much as I actually sincerely like her, I think it's overall a mixed bag; the poly is the worst part imo. I can look past the sculpt being wrong because she is really gorgeous despite that, but it's unacceptable for any doll to be rooted with polypropylene, and especially not a reproduction. And I can't help but think about how amazing she would have been with her original sculpt. Luckily I can reroot and I look forward to giving her knee length saran hair..... but I shouldn't have to do that! According to the retailer who first got these, they will get a wide release on Amazon exclusively in April of 2024 and he only managed to get them directly from Mattel because they hadn't decided to make them Amazon exclusives until after he ordered stock. So keep an eye on Amazon in a few months! Also according to a very reliable inside source on Reddit, there will also be a new batch of wave 1 Creeproductions in 2024 as well!

Don't buy from scalpers!

[crehador]

brother crab's fall 2024 parting thoughts: uhhhhh basically everything

doing these all in one batch because i have been falling behind big time this season orz

long post under the cut

acro trip & kabushiki gaisha magi lumiere: the two magical girl series i picked up this season, both delightful! my only gripe is i wish acro trip had also gotten a season two, but thrilled to have more magilumi coming eventually

sengoku youko: after the wreck that was biscuit hammer THANK FUCKING GOD THIS WAS GOOD, and it was really. really. really good. it's not the, like, shiniest thing you'll ever see in 2024 in terms of animation, and the story isn't exceptionally unique or anything, but it's a great, classic adventure fantasy that has a really nostalgic feel to it

haigakura: ummmmmmmmm the less said the better. let's move on

tasuuketsu: was it good? no. was it compelling? also no. did i watch all 24 episodes? well. man idk the beginning was a mess, and not even the fun sort of mess, and the situation did not really improve. however i do feel like there's some potential in the characters and death game mechanics here, just fully unrealized potential, which is just... frustrating. anyway. do not recommend

touhai: this one's rolling onwards into a second cour but this is the fun sort of mess. it delivers on its gritty-dark premise in all the ways that yakuza fiance (i'll get to that) doesn't. do i even necessarily like its gritty-dark premise? ehhh... but i do respect it for being just. balls to the wall ridiculous

raise wa tanin ga ii: mannnnn this one probably warrants its own post because i could go on and on about what i found lacking here if anyone wants to hear it, but the tl;dr is i just don't feel like they committed to the yandere-ness of the yandere relationship quite enough. but i did love yoshino and i did love kirishima... 's voice (basically picked this up solely for ishida akira lol) so it was fine. whatever. it was fine

rekishi ni nokoru akujo ni naruzo: surprisingly decent villainess series! for a while it seemed like it was going to fall into the boring old trap of actually the villainess is Good and the heroine is Evil. while our aspiring villainess is clearly not Evil in this, she's at least going about her supposed 'villainy' in a somewhat interesting way

kimi wa meido-sama.: i... i don't know. i think overall i did enjoy this, i remember it having a really strong start, the main characters were both really charming and fun, but it sort of fizzled out for me. i don't really have a problem with the flagrant wish fulfillment-y vibe here, it's just i guess i feel like it didn't really strike a steady balance between the romance, the slice-of-life bits of yuki trying to lead a normal life, and the looming hints of her ominous history. it's not that these things can't all coexist, the show was just a little clumsy about balancing them imo

kamonohashi ron no kindan suiri s2: honestly i don't think this has gotten worse, i think it's just gotten to be not my thing. when ron said "this is the last case i'll ever thought" i said out loud "promise? 🥺" so... i probably shouldn't continue if they make another season. but they did just get suwabe in here so. we'll see

blue lock s2: lol. lmao even

goukon ni ittara onna ga inakatta hanashi: an absolute delight! all the characters wound up being really fun to follow but for me fuji and asagi absolutely stole the show. they were just too good

maou 2099: this has one more episode to go, but i can't imagine my thoughts on it changing much. and my thoughts are it was fun! nothing mindblowing in the end, but solidly fun. you can feel the hpmi all over it

natsume s7 & bleach tybw cour whatever & beastars final season pt1: lumping these together since pretty much all i have to say on them is it's more of the same, which is a very good thing. bleach and beastars quality is staying up, and natsume is still the same natsume we know and love which is exactly what i want it to be forever and ever

dandadan & ranma 1/2 & ao no hako: grouping these together because they're clearly the big names of the season (well idk about ao no hako but i certainly hope it's one, because it deserves to be) and there's not much i can say that hasn't already been said. they look great and were/are (ao no hako is continuing into a second cour) a delight to watch. dandadan does a great job of portraying not just kids being kids but weird kids being weird kids, which is a somewhat rare delight. ranma 1/2 and ao no hako are both peak romance. ranma is also such a visual joy to watch

of the three... ough... i feel like i have to give anime of the season to ranma because it was just such a pleasure to watch, but i have such a soft spot in my heart for ao no hako right now. it's just gorgeous, and the characters feel so wonderfully real. the only thing knocking it down a bit is i don't enjoy love triangles in general, but like if there has to be one, ao no hako's is not (currently) that annoying

anyway this is not my anime of the season post so more on that later

i think... that's... everything? maybe? chi and slf s2 are both excellent, but more on those after their second cour. the one thing i will say about slf s2 for now is nothing has topped the wethermon fight for me yet and phew. it's gonna be tough because that fight was peak

tsumasho, mecha-ude, and murai no koi i've already made separate posts on. some other two cour stuff i'll also save comments on for next season

oh wait

kinokoinu: this was cute but not all the memorable i guess, as evidenced by the fact that i. just. nearly forgot it lol

anyway! i'd say overall this was a very solid season with some seriously underwatched sleeper hits like mecha-ude. anime of the season is... going to be fun to think about. much to consider

[eriexplosion]

I never let myself really believe they'd bring Tech back (because Occam's razor, or whatever). And I'm so used to weird/bad writing choices from other works that I'm mostly able to shrug my shoulders and go "aw rats, disappointment again :\" about TBB's ending.

... But I still feel kinda hollowed-out, post-finale. I'm not autistic (I think), but my sibling is, so it meant something to my old withered heart that a Star Wars show about family would have a confirmedly-ND character among their cast (though, somewhat tangentially, I agree with your post about all of the Bad Batch being arguably ND-coded). I was delighted that he was well-written, and that he'd eclipsed the stock "smart guy" trope he'd started out as in TCW.

And, I dunno. I feel like a sucker, having hoped for a brief moment that the writers wouldn't throw all that away. And for what? People on reddit were saying for months on end that "his sacrifice is meaningful and shouldn't be wasted", but I can't agree. I think it would've been more meaningful had he lived.

I feel disappointed with the trajectory the back half of S3 took, and I don't think that's unreasonable. Even beyond the disappointment of "dang, they really did that?", S3 after the first handful of eps (imo) felt kind of... rushed? Underexplored? Like there should've been a season 4 (for pacing/development's sake) and various changes to the plot, but there weren't.

Told myself several years ago that I'd reserve judgment for the writing until the series was over and done with. And now that it's all just wrapped up, I suppose I'm stewing with my thoughts, a little. The character arcs all feel like they fell short of their potential payoff, to me -- and maybe I'll change my mind in a few months, but right now? Eh.

Crosshair's got PTSD/trauma that makes his hand shake? Cut off the hand. Omega's got potential force sensitivity/a decision to make concerning what to do going forward? Who cares about that. Tech's getting a decent (and suspicious, in hindsight) amount of character development? Better kill him off so the audience really feels the sting. Cid, Phee, CX-2, Echo, Scorch? Who cares about them; they can show up when their skills are needed and fuck off without halfway-decent closure when they aren't. The familial/sibling themes that were open to being explored? Eh; let's focus predominantly on this one father-child bond. Omega doesn't even need to say goodbye to Crosshair and Wrecker, lol. Foreshadowing and setup? What foreshadowing and setup.

... I'm realizing that I'm actually Quite disappointed lmao. In a lackluster "I don't know what I expected" kind of way. Time to read so many fix-its

There's just a lot that was set up that never came to fruition and it's frustrating when the show has been so good up until that point. And the thing is that Tech being CX-2 would have resolved at least some of it! The CX-2 plot obviously but also, Crosshair's guilt and trauma being helped by being able to fix at least one of his mistakes? Omega's guilt over putting her family in danger being relieved because she finally has them all back?

It didn't even need to be fleshed out, I wouldn't have cared. The only thing I wanted this whole show was the family to be together and complete. And not only did we not get Tech back but yeah Echo was basically just not counted as part of that and Phee was ignored in the end.

This season feels like it needed another editing pass to work as a whole, even though I'd liked everything up to the finale it didn't really end up coming together for me. I'd even have accepted Tech being gone if they had put actual mourning in the first half, instead of stringing it along with little mentions and the CX-2 stuff. I'd be frustrated and mad, but at least it would have felt like they respected him as a character.

Really the only good things I have to say is I think Nala Se blowing up the databanks was a fantastic end to her character that didn't really redeem everything she's done but did bring her to an interesting stopping point. And I am glad everyone else made it out alive. I'm glad that Crosshair especially did after everything he's been through, he's still my boy after all this time even if the Tech stuff has overshadowed a lot of his growth in my head.

[myrmyrtheorca]

give me your favorite manga or anime of all time. NOW. like, the ones who changed you as a person. if you are okay with questions like that!

HELLO HI I RISE FROM THE GRAVE FOR THIS INCREDIBLE YAPPING OPPORTUNITY

fr tho thank you Lottie for asking me too despite my death apparent, this will be long, I'll put the honorable mentions first as to make it a little more interesting and KHR will be at the bottom for the same reason-

Honorable mentions!

Sailor Moon - love myself some female friendship and magical girls. And women who could kick my ass like Pluto.

Black Rock Shooter - as above, plus vague setting and cool transformations.

Fate series - ok hear me out. I haven't watched the anime and just started the VN, I mostly play the mobile game, but it's about history and there's cute girls in it. Peak.

The Vision of Escaflowne - COOL MECHAS (hasn't finished it)

Yuru Camp - CUTE GIRLS FRIENDHIP AND COZYNESS also relaxing music (hasn't finished it)

Serial Experiments Lain - what the fuck was that

Violet Evergarden - tears? tears in my eyes? stop???

Dungeon Food - I'd have put this above if I wasn't just at the second volume of it, holy shit this is so fun but I feel it will crush my soul soon

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Ah. Lord, NGE. The vagueness of its worldbuilding, the psychological aspects, the occult and religious simbology, and the GODDAMN MUSIC. If you like classical, epic and otherwordly music, I beg you to check out NGE's score even if you're not interested in the anime itself because Shiro Sagisu is a gift from the gods and one of the best composers of our time. The series is a masterpiece. People despise the movies but IMO they do exactly what a movie should do: entertain. Anno embraced the "I'll be cringe, but I'll be free" and went all out on them, as he should have. Also, there's Kaworu Nagisa. Look at him!

Steins;Gate

PLEASE. PLEASE DO AND DON'T DO THIS TO YOURSELF AT THE SAME TIME. I WAS NOT READY. This anime will take your heart, embrace it, warm it up, GRIP IT IN ITS HANDS, CHEW IT AND SPIT IT OUT. Admittedly I played the VN because I wanted to experience all endings and OH MY GOD. It's terrifying and emotionally damaging. I started playing the sequel (Steins;Gate 0) and I had to STOP because it's so gut-wrenching in all the good ways that I need to be in the right spot for it.

Bleach

talk about recent experiences. I live under a rock when it comes to popular anime most times, and I never had the occasion to watch Bleach until recently (still haven't technically finished it because I'm waiting for TYBW to finish releasing to watch it). I... don't know what it is about Bleach that I like so much, but it got me in a similar way to KHR, as in I think about it often against my will and I'm even considering creating an OC for it. I think it's the characters, because the story is pretty straightforward... yeah, yeah it's the fictional men again. Kubo makes handsome men who fight with swords and transformation and everyone has their own powerups and...hhhngh. Look at this batch of cookies.

Ah no, wait, there's Shiro Sagisu again as composer. Almost forgot. *dances aggessively to spanish guitars*

Dr. Stone

I'm not a science brain, totally the opposite. Math doesn't math, geometry is evil and chemistry is wizardry. BUT, I love things that TRY to teach me those things in a funny and accessible way. I still won't understand them, but it was fun trying! And Dr. Stone has that, it's the moment I realize I like it when things are explained to me in that way, especially through media. Plus, fun characters, emotional moments, and cool plot.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your opinion on the show, KHR was the first ever japanese piece of media (excluding videogames) I've ever consumed. Being a lonely and socially awkward human being, it soon became my personality. It was these fuckers who made me get into manga altogether, I started buying the volumes (but only up to Varia Arc because 1. I didn't have an allowance, everything was done with Christmas/Easter/birthday money and 2. I was so obsessed with the Varia that my goldfish brain lost interest mid Future Arc.) and from there I discovered the pleasure of physical copies. The show has never aired in Italy, so nobody knew what the fuck I was talking about. It was, as many others were for me, a very lonely experience. But it was also the first time I felt... unique? Like, "this is my special little treasure and nobody can take it from me" kinda thing. I was emotionally invested in this show and every small piece of merch I could find like my Varia character songs CD became some of my most prized possessions (UNTIL I STARTED GIFTING AWAY MY SET OF VONGOLA RINGS BECAUSE I WANTED TO BRIBE PEOPLE INTO LIKING THE SHOW) (YEAH THAT WAS. STUPID. BECAUSE IT OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T WORK. AND ONLY MADE ME FEEL MORE LONELY AND RINGLESS) Then, the falling off. I started playing an MMO that also shaped part of my personality and as you often do with things that remind you of lonelier times, I sold my volumes and stopped thinking of KHR... until recently, when I joined this fandom and the spark came back because fuck it I'll be cringe but I'll be free. I got my fair share of flack for hyperfixating on an old anime at 24 years old, but it's one of the best experiences I've ever had. So yeah. KHR was ultimately good for me.

[marshallpupfan]

Marshall Merchandise Update - Rescue Wheels Edition™

Slowly but surely, the Rescue Wheels merchandise has been popping up in stores here in the USA. Naturally, I've been keeping an eye out for them, so it's time to show off what I've found so far!

First off, I decided to put a background on my monitor again, just to spruce things up. I also attempted some better lighting by using a lamp instead of my camera's flash. Some pics still came out a bit iffy, so I apologize.

In any case, here's the first piece of Rescue Wheels merchandise I got! Nearly a whole month ago, in fact. I seen it listed on Amazon and figured why not go for it, since stores here in the USA were taking a long time to get them.

The vehicle, itself... it's not my favorite, I'll say that. It's just shaped a little too box-like, but the flame graphics are cool, even if they are just stickers. Strangely, the ladder water cannon on the back doesn't move at all. If anything, I do like the figurine. Not the best, but I still like it.

Next, the usual plush doll, which we always seem to get upon each new subseries or movie. They decided to go back to the old style, which is kind of a shame, since I liked what we got for The Mighty Movie and Jungle Pups better. It just looked cuter, imo. Ah well.

Now that's one cool-looking pup. Super cute! 😎

Next, a new "Pup Squad Racer" vehicle! With not-so-good lighting that I didn't notice until I upload these pics. I probably should've put it on something to get more of that background in the shot. Also, ignore the dust under the monitor... I forgot to get rid of that. 😅

As you can see, this is yet another one of those smaller vehicles. I'm fully convinced these are indeed meant to be replacements for those True Metal vehicles... which is perhaps for the best, since the last few we got were kind of cheap. These are a nice alternative.

Unlike the True Metal vehicles, the pup's head is a lot bigger, so it's a bit more detailed and nicer. I dare say it's pretty cute! And...

...Hey, wait a minute. Who's big tires are those? That doesn't look like Marshall's vehicle...

Wait...

Is it...?

BOOMER??

That's right! Boomer, the villain pup of Rescue Wheels, got his own figurine and vehicle! I'll admit, that's quite rare, since PAW Patrol villains rarely ever get merchandise of any kind. It's only happened a few times in the past.

If you remember that character spotlight post I made of Boomer, then you might also recall that I became quite a big fan of this pup after watching Rescue Wheels! Thus, when I heard he was getting his own toy, I knew I had to have it. Admittedly, I think his vehicle turned out a bit nicer than Marshall's. Don't tell anyone I said that.

His figurine's also nice, if you ask me. Even as a toy, this pup looks quite cool... and cute! I'll certainly have to add this somewhere to my Marshall collection. He'll go nicely next to Claw. Two of my favorite villains, hanging out. We just need this in the cartoon now! lol

Oh, by the way, if anyone's interested in one of these, know that they're exclusive to Walmart (at least, here in the USA). They also made one for Roxi, which I believe is exclusive to Target. Just an FYI.

But wait... that's not all! Even more surprising than the vehicle...

Boomer also got a plush doll! Wow, you really lucked out, Boomer! At this point, I'm hoping the kids asks their parents for these and his figurine & vehicle... that way, Spin Master will see him as popular and we'll see him again someday soon. Hey, let me dream. lol

That is also one cool-looking pup! Boomer! Boomer! Boomer!!! 😁

Alright, that's all for now. And a good thing, too... after all these purchases, my poor wallet is probably screaming at me again. Too bad I'll likely make one or two more soon, since Rescue Wheels got its own batch of mini-figurines in mystery boxes, of course. Sadly, Boomer didn't get included in that, else Marshall wouldn't be the only one I'd be tracking down. It's still crazy to see him get what he did though! Man, if only Claw got his own plush doll instead of Sweetie...

So... what's next? I wonder how much longer until we start to see merchandise of Air Rescue? Then again, the USA hasn't even aired Rescue Wheels yet, so no doubt it won't be until next year. Good... that gives my wallet plenty of time to recover. lol

[coffeebanana]

You wrote a post about loving food but what kinds? I’m trying to get into cooking as someone who doesn’t have a good relationship with food so I’m curious what some good foods are

FOOOOOD I LOVE TALKING ABOUT FOOD

idk how helpful this will be because everyone's food preferences are different obviously and also i'm vegan so i have probably a different viewpoint on it but here are some of my favourite go-to meals or ingredients or. idk i guess i'm just rambling about food hahahaha

bagelssss (i love bread in general but oh my god i'm a bagel girlie. i bought costco bagels recently and been having that for breakfast lately with some coconut based cream cheese nomnomnom)

bread -- this gets its own point, because bread is so important to me. and i think the kind of bread matters. like, spending a dollar or two more on a nice loaf of bread at least sometimes as a treat (or making homemade bread if you're into that... i need to do that actually it's been too long) makes the BEST sandwiches/toast/etc...

tofu scramble -- kinda like scrambled eggs but with soft or medium firm tofu (imo preferably the second one). you can add some spices and veggies and sometimes i also throw in chopped up vegan sausages and imo it keeps better than scrambled eggs. i make a batch and then have the leftovers for the next 2-3 days to heat up with toast for breakfasts (or honestly... any time of day)

battered and/or breaded tofu (can you tell i'm a tofu girlie? LOL). battered tofu is so fun. i've cut it into little strips and then dip in batter that has a little bit of baking powder to make it puff up when you fry it and it's soooooooooooo good sfkdsjk i have used that to make vegan sushi before. and then breaded tofu is just like breading meat. but i use whatever milk i have on end as the wet part instead of eggs

POTATOES. once my friend said he didn't really like potatoes, and at the time he lived down the street from me, so i proceeded to make him dishes with potatoes as the main ingredient and deliver them to his door for the next 5 days to change his mind 😂. i just love how versatile potatoes are. baked potatoes, masked potatoes, baby potatoes, hashbrowns, hassleback potatoes. i've also used potatoes as bases for plant-based sauces (like vegan mac n cheese. not my fave way to make vegan pasta sauce, i'd usually use cashews, but still intriguing!)

as an easy meal i'll often get some store bought pesto and add that to some sort of small pasta noodle (often shells or something like that) and then i bake some sweet potato cubes tossed in salt/pepper/maybe a bit of flavouring and throw that into the pasta along with some chickpeas. it's a good side or meal that lasts a while in the fridge

smoothie bowls -- these are so good in the summer especially. i try to always have frozen fruits on hand to make some. i'll top with some nut butter and sometimes granola or chocolate chips or fresh fruits if i have any. i love themmmmm

getting good at sandwiches and wraps is also really useful for a day to day basis. and by "good" i just mean... figuring out what YOU enjoy in a sandwich. like personally i like them better if i put in the effort of cutting up some cucumber and tomato and have some mock meat and cheese in there too. the full experience. or sometimes i do like a mash of avocado and chickpeas and have that with cheese and lettuce. sometimes i use pesto as a sauce on one side of the bread. and wraps i feel are great for using up leftovers. say you have some kind of leftover rice and protein but are sick of having them one way? throw it in a wrap with some cheese or smth

love making cashew-based/creamy pasta sauces aaaaah

i really like mushrooms... there are so many different kinds and i would like to experiment with more ways to use them for sure

i also just love looking up new recipes. love playing around with cuisines i'm not as familiar with like indian food or lately i've been looking up a lot of chinese recipes (that i haven't gotten to yet because i just moved LOL my kitchen is still kinda a mess but shhh). just browsing food blogs and youtube is really what got me into cooking in the first place... especially when i was getting into vegetarian and vegan recipes, because it was interesting to see how people mimic flavours/textures/etc... people have such cool ideas of what to do with foods!!

Idk if this was at all helpful but feel free to hit me up if you are ever looking for recipes. I have a lot of things bookmarked, even non-vegetarian things from when I used to eat meat and such.

[ojamayellow]

People are claiming that kids groaned at the Earthspark trailer (therefore "kids don't want ES") during the 40th Anni Transformers Event but imo even if that's true I still doubt it? Kids go NUTS over different variations of their fave things. see: Live Action Transformers, or like multimedia franchises like Marvel or Sonic!

But even so, people saying "not even kids enjoy Earthspark" is wrong unless you personally surveyed every child. There were young teens (or pre teens?) at my local 40th Anni Screening who lost it at the Earthspark sneak peek.

Not always, but people who tend to dislike Earthspark dislike it because it's "#woke", or they're a genwunners/tfp-fanatic. I haven't seen TFP, but the way people obsess over it as if it's the only good Transformers show makes me want to avoid it until the very end.

And sure Earthspark has flaws, but that doesn't make it a failure in writing. Everything that exists has a flaw. Your favourite cartoon, Transformers or not, has flaws. G1, Beast Wars, TFA are all highly regarded cartoons that have incredible flaws and issues that frustrate me. But they're not overall terrible shows, unless you solely focus on the flaws.

IMO, Earthspark being a Paramount/Nick show severely affected it. Nick only cares about SpongeBob now. And the "10 episodes in batches every few months" affects the show. A weekly show would've been so much better! One of our free tv channels here only has a batch of S1 Earthspark, but they screen those on a regular basis, much preferable!

And god I DO wanna blame Hasbro, and I sorta do. But toys are bought always. Yeah the quality could be better but that's a sad reality of production these days. I don't know how well the distribution was in other places, but I live in a small city in Australia. We only have some of the smaller toys and Megatron + Twitch + Bee combo. I've never ever seen Nightshade. Can someone please send me a Nightshade? (Yet again we still got loads of Cyberverse Starscreams here... Maybe I'm just in a weird spot).

Actually yeah I'll blame Hasbro too cos they rehashed older toys when we wanted some screen accurate Seekers, but the whole Paramount thing was stupid. Anyway if Earthspark /is/ cancelled after Season 2, I'll be extremely upset. I love this show dearly. There's heart (spark?) in it. And what's worse is that if it is cancelled, the haters will be like "HA! I TOLD YOU SO. WE DONT NEED KIDDIE WOKE MEDIA, WE NEED SKYBOUND QUALITY CARTOONS OR TFP AGAIN" like shut up? Transformers is initially for kids to sell toys? Shut up?

[niobiumao3]

.

'TechPhee is rushed'

Nothing has been rushed because literally nothing has happened! The closest they've come is an awkward not-goodbye after an episode clearly showing them circling one another. What's there to have been rushed??? Phee attempting to express interest and Tech completely missing it? How do you rush the ground level, absolute first step of a romantic interaction?

'Phee needs more characterization'

Definitely! And yet somehow that's not a reason to not ship her with Fennec, whom she's never even met (that we know of), or Cid, who she's been on screen with for about 1/10 as much time as Tech. Those are the 'better' canon options for her despite little to no interaction with them. How does that make more sense than Tech??

'She was neurotypical at Tech in their last scene. '

As we all know, neurotypical people are immediately aware of how to interact with ND/autistic people, they're all taught from an early age about the differences, how to spot them, etc. <sage nod>

I'll come clean; what I saw in this scene was two people misunderstanding one another. That the reason is Phee is probably neurotypical was likely the root cause, but an autistic person in her position probably would have ALSO been frustrated, they'd simply have expressed it differently. Are you going to tell me any two autistic people are automatically better at communicating because, do I have news for you...

Phee is mildly concerned they're running off in the night, prods at Tech a little. Tech doesn't know what she wants/expects, so he offers her a briefing, which to him makes perfect sense. That's how you tell someone what your mission is about! But to Phee, it comes across as a distancing, a pushing away, which is why she reacts so negatively IMO. They've been there for, what, probably a month or more, helping rebuild after the tsunami, integrating into the community, and there's no goodbyes or anything, just a 'briefing'. So it upsets her, this cutting off that she perceives. Which is of course not at all what it is, just the entire Batch has literally no experience with telling friends/non-combatants 'going on a risky mission with little chance of returning, wish us luck!', and definitely Tech doesn't if his body language is any indication. (And yet he was standing outside the ship...)

And she tries to get through to him in the way she knows how, which obviously fails--you can practically SEE him thinking 'what does that MEAN' when she talks about not running off. What she means is, 'come back to us, to ME, in one piece'. But hey, she has her own reasons for being careful and not putting herself too out there, it's just Tech has zero context for her wording.

At which point she seems to realize there's still a long way to go in getting to know one another, in coming to an understanding about the differences in how they experience life and express themselves. So she stops, lets it go. They can discuss how friends--good ones, at least--do not go on do or die missions without at least an 'I hope I can come back' once they return. (*cough*)

I don't know how this scene could have gone differently without an implication of a lot of interactions happening which addressed some of their differences. Which would be the 'rushing' people are accusing the ship of--and it literally isn't implied! At all!! If anything this scene plays right into need to slow roll things. It's like the writing can't win; either it's rushed, in which case omg lazy writing, or Phee is being horrible to Tech for not knowing how to interact with him in more personal moments despite them still determining where they stand.

The expectation that Phee handle Tech 'more carefully' in this scene is both racist in its assumptions about her and infantalizing to Tech. Sure, she could have done better, but she didn't exactly do him some sort of irreparable harm, any more than Hunter did when saying Tech can talk for hours on a subject. But Phee is a black woman and suddenly the expectation she perform this interaction perfectly as acceptable by every fan (NT/allistic or not) is the only way for the ship to be even moderately acceptable.

No one says you have to like the ship or be remotely interested in it, but attributing characteristics to it that it clearly doesn't have reveals a need to negate it, to declare you're correct in not liking it.

You can just not like it. But claiming things with no actual basis in the writing or canon looks really suspicious.