#And lore for 9 seasons and one more movie

[stars-and-cows]

Me trying to explain the plot of a story I've been writing since I was 10:

[lilliths-httyd-blog]

Summarising every single HTTYD movie, short and episode in roughly one sentence:

HTTYD 1:

ADHD incarnate befriends Death: The Dragon and with the power of friendship they OH GODS OH FUCK OH HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT

Legend of the Boneknapper:

Gobber likes to tell campfire stories

Book of Dragons:

DreamWorks attempts to write a reader POV fanfiction

Gift of the Night Fury:

Critical series lore in a Christmas special?? Yeah seems normal for this franchise

Riders of Berk:

1. Mildew tries to get a bunch of teenagers executed or some shit

2. Solidifying Gobber as a total madlad: The episode

3. Hot take: You can skip this episode, it's arguably the worst one in the franchise, but you WILL miss a penis joke so there's that going for it.

4. Toothless develops an Older Sibling complex over Beyblade: The Dragon™ and HOLY FUCK WHAT IS THAT???

5. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, MILDEW?? I mean I knew you were an ass but I didn't expect THIS??

6. "The films aren't anything like the books!" UM, ACTUALLY- (aka the episode where Hiccup goes full-on Book!Hiccup mode and Alvin is nothing like his book counterpart but the rest of the outcasts are)

7. "Look at this super dangerous dragon I found! I'M GONNA WRESTLE IT!!"

8. Hiccup has body image issues

9. Mildew gets bitten in the ass (SATISFYING)

10. The Mary Sue: Part One

11. The Mary Sue: Part Two

12. Oh yeah Snotlout's dad is an abusive cuck who can go fuck himself I'm not even joking. Love Snotlout tho I gotta say.

13. "IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT?! STRIKE ME DOWN, ZEUS!! YOU DON'T HAVE THE BA-"

14. Toothless has a mortal enemy apparently and it is fucked up

15. (Dagur fanboys start screaming in the distance)

16. Snotlout fixes his mistakes (they were very big mistakes)

17. VALKA??? VALKA MENTION??? HICCUP HAS A DRAGON PLUSHIE??? (silently weeping by the end of the episode)

18. Fishlegs and Snotlout piss off some helicopter parents who are also Invisible Acid Dragons™ (ohhhhhh no)

19. Are there... other Night Furies????

20. Lol no BUT I'LL TELL YOU WHAT THERE IS-

Defenders of Berk:

1. Fight Club reference

2. That one time Meatlug became magnetic and almost died

3. Dagur is gay for Hiccup but like in a yandere way

4. Whoever designed the Screaming Death must have been on a particularly fucked up slice of magic mushroom because I've never seen something more in need of holy water than that dragon (my childhood favourite :D )

5. Snotlout's dad is a fucking asshole but I never thought he'd stoop that low

6. Behold: My second favourite dragon who canonically killed Astrid's uncle

7. They tried to train Terrible Terrors in this episode, guess how that went lmaooo

8. (grabs more holy water) IT'S BACK.

9. Hey remember Tiny Beyblade Dragon? Yeah now he's kinda sorta the size of a house. Meanwhile everything is on fire (twin's fault)

10. Behold: My favourite dragon's frozen carcass preserved in ice- I mean my favourite dragon is hibernating in ice- I mean OH SHIT OH FUCK HOLY FUCKING SHIT OH NO-

11. Dagur subjugates my favourite dragon and then karma bites him in the ass

12. Snotlout and Gustav are an anxiety/adhd wombo-combo

13. Ruffnut cuts her hair short to save the life of a really cute dragon and Dreamworks was too pussy to keep it like that for the rest of the season.

14. (darude sandstorm plays)

15. The dragons get high and try to kill each other

16. Toothless is on drugs (I'm not even joking, during the Toothless POV shots you can literally hear stoner music playing)

17. Dagur with helmet hair Dagur with helmet hair Dagur with helmet hair

18. THORNADO NOOOOOOOOO T-T

19. ALVIN, DAGUR, SNOTLOUT AND THE SCREAMING DEATH. HOW IS THIS SUPPOSED TO GET BETTER THAN IT ALREADY IS???

20. IT GOT BETTERRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!

Dawn of the Dragon Racers:

The gang got new fits and invented a sport

Race to the Edge S1:

1. Oh shit, Dagur's out of prison, better go chase him down and OOOH, SHINY TELESCOPE THINGY?? (Hiccup is a magpie apparently)

2. Gothi once again proving herself to be an absolute madlad

3. Hiccup and the gang move out of home because telescopy thingy told them to. What could possibly go wrong? (GONE WRONG)

4. Welcome to our new home on Dragon's Edge! It's been years since we've been able to function effectively as a team, and Tuffnut's been smoking way too many hallucinogens lately OH FUCK HE WASN'T HALLUCINATING OH FUCK ME

5. Snotlout is gay for Fishlegs

6. NOT GUSTAV NOOOOOOOO

7. Basically what happens when you put me in charge of anything

8. "Look at this super dangerous dragon I found! I'M GONNA WRESTLE IT!!"

9. Fishlegs and Snotlout are gay

10. THE MARY SUE IS BACK AND I LOVE HER SO MUCH

11. WELL THAT PLOT TWIST CAME OUTTA NOWHERE

12. (darude sandstorm vocoded to running in the 90s plays)

13. they made girl dragon pink

Race to the Edge S2:

1. Astrid becomes that "SHOW ME YOUR WAR FACE" guy basically

2. SCOTLAND FOREVER!!! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (new villain alert and he is AWESOME)

3. MARY SUE IS WORKING FOR THE VILLAINS NOW???

4. Dreamworks introduces Dragon Werewolfism and does NOTHING with this concept after this episode?? What a ripoff!

5. Fuck Snotlout's dad so much

6. Hiccup punches Snotlout in the face and knocks him out which is no surprise considering he is God of Dragons

7. MARY SUE WAS SPYING ON THE VILLAINS ALL ALONG NOW???

8. Two people and a singular dragon try to fight off an entire armada

9. They succeed somehow

10. Oh hey it's a HTTYD 2 dragon (Free Willy parody? You couldn't have done anything more original?)

11. SKRILL!! SKRILL!! SKRILL!! SKRILL!! SKRILL!! SKRILL!!

12. Prepare to thirst in 3... 2... 1: (Viggo appears)

13. If you thought Dagur was homosexual, you aren't prepared for how gay Viggo gets

Race to the Edge S3:

1. Dagur did WHAT NOW???

2. Fuck Cavern Crashers so much but SNOTLOUT SNOUTLOUT OI OI OI!!!

3. Sword in the Stone parody?? Are all the Fishlegs episodes story parodies now??

4. Did... Did they try to portray Snotlout's dad as being in the right in this episode?? Ew fuck that.

5. Viggo almost caused Covid-19

6. Hiccup forgets that not everyone has ADHD and the dragons go completely fucking feral

7. This show loves to force romances, doesn't it?

8. I think these people took HTTYD/Pokemon crossover fics a bit too far

9. A musical episode which has a reason to exist. Sarah Z was right all along?

10. Favourite Fishlegs episode :)

11. DAGUR DID WHAT NOW???

12. My go-to introductory episode for non-fans. It's got everything. Including Viggo.

13. OKAY BUT THAT CLIFFHANGER WAS METAL

Race to the Edge S4:

1. OH THAT FINALE WAS METAL MALA IS JUST SO METAL I LOVE DEFENDERS OF THE WING

2. If you listen closely you can hear TJ Miller in absolute hysterics in the recording booth

3. At this point in time Viggo only values Hiccup as being worth 1000 gold coins

4. I love Snotlout so much... Spitelout can go suck a bag of rocks

5. Oh fuck yes Dagur's back

6. Viggo throws a hissy fit and kisses a man and Toothless is willing to die just so Hiccup doesn't have to die alone (sobbing)

7. Everyone is high in this episode

8. "You didn't think after all we've been through I'd expose myself without some... added protection?"

9. Jumping into a volcano on purpose: The episode

10. Viggo takes a sip of water in this episode (very important)

11. It took Hiccup and Astrid over four years since their first kiss to officially start dating, but they finally did it and it was one of the best episodes in the whole show

12. Ryker has had enough

13. Viggo confesses his love for Hiccup and then fucking dies (or did he?)

Race to the Edge S5:

1. "The volcano on Dragon's Edge is a dormant volcano" THINK THE FUCK AGAIN, FISHLEGS

2. How the fuck did Gen Z: The Dragon get ahold of Viggo's sword?

3. Savage needs therapy

4. Snotlout's casual sexism almost gets him killed: Lesbian Island edition

5. If you've ever watched an elderly person try to escape a nursing home then you've seen this episode before. Just without as many bones and corpses

6. The Gays Are Back In Town ft. Gay Snotlout, Gay Fishlegs and Gay Viggo

7. "my city now" - Krogan

8. You cannot watch this episode and tell me that Viggo isn't in love with Hiccup

9. Krogan insulted Viggo's hobby and Viggo got mega salty about it

10. Astrid punches a dragon with poisonous scales and almost dies because Save Stormfly Make Anditode™, turns out she did this for no reason whatsoever because Stormfly Wasn't Dying

11. Tuffnut fakes his own death in order to make Ruffnut happy

12. Dagur not-so-casually finding his fathers dead body

13. Rage.

Race to the Edge S6:

1. My blood has never boiled so hard as it did watching this episode

2. Stoick gets played like a cheap kazzoo and regresses back to how he acted in HTTYD 1 out of sheer stress

3. THIS SHOW LOVES TO FORCE ROMANCES, DOESN'T IT?

4. Fishlegs can't believe that his ancestors were Dragon Hunters as if he wasn't once enrolled in Dragon Killing School

5. Nothing solves a sibling rivalry like teaming up to kill the annoying cousin

6. THIS EPISODE GOT AGE RESTRICTED ON NETFLIX BECAUSE ASTRID SHOOK HER TITS AT HICCUP AND DAGUR AND MALA HAVE A MUTUAL PAIN KINK

7. The twins are just. So ride or die for each other it's not even funny.

8. Viggo confesses his love for Hiccup and then fucking dies for real this time (Viggo fans start sobbing as The Winner Takes It All by ABBA starts playing in the distance)

9. Snotlout writes a book

10. What if the gang had never left Berk? What if Hiccup never shot down Toothless at the start of HTTYD 1? What if Spitelout actually loved his son?

11. Protecting an island filled with a bunch of dead dragons

12. The satisfied smirk on my face knowing what the characters don't

13. The most satisfying death in the history of mankind.

HTTYD 2:

Way to straight up ruin Hiccup's life, am I right?

HTTYD 3:

Ruining every character and spitting in the face of all that I love

Homecoming:

20 minutes of my life that I'll never get back

Snoggletog Log:

Half an hour of a fireplace and the wrong voice actors. This shit plays like a DVD menu.

[physalian]

Physalian's Top 10 Narrative Pet Peeves

*For now*

In one way or another, these all boil down to “Author took a shortcut and I absolutely noticed”. In other words, most of these stem from Manufactured Sincerity.

All of these come with the caveat of *except when done well*. I’m ordering these from “I’m annoyed but I’ll get over it” to “Nope, DNF”. 

10. Sad times = Alcohol

Everyone drinks when they’re depressed apparently. Only women or fat men are allowed to eat away their sorrows with ice cream and guilty pleasures. No one’s allowed to go on a self-pity shopping spree. No one just goes to bed.

They drink. Or they go shoot something. Or punch a wall. It’s usually out of a flask or a crystal decanter. It’s usually whisky (specifically bourbon) or scotch, or something out of a brown paper bag.

Maybe this is my own bias as someone who does not drink, but writers, please come up with more diverse ways to show your character is mourning someone or something, beyond immediately heading straight for the alcohol. Not everyone likes liquor, not everyone owns a decanter set and crystal glasses.

Let them eat or shop or sleep or get high, or watch their favorite show or a really sad movie or listen to emotional music. Let them cry if they’re bad boys. Don’t make them punch walls.

9. Down time = Sexy Times

This applies of course only to narratives with implicit or explicit sex scenes and what I mean by down time is those situations where characters are either on the run or have some crucial deadline to meet, some race to win, what have you, and the second they get some time to breathe and have a heart to heart, they both let their guard down and ignore impending doom and sleep together.

If you’re in the real world and you are that stressed for any of the reasons above, you’re going to be constantly looking over your shoulder, worrying about what you’re going to do next, wondering if you should even stop to rest, not be dead on your feet but have enough energy to bang.

Obviously if it’s played for humor, that’s different, but in dramas, or especially in environments not suited for intimacy (looking at you fantasy and sci-fi) it just feels ridiculous and particularly gratuitous. Non-aces please tell me if this is a legit thing you would do, I sincerely want to know.

It also tends to happen with near strangers who’ve only known each other for several days, possibly weeks with little buildup, and they also tend to be at each other’s throats bickering incessantly. Save the sex for after you’ve won and can really dedicate all your attention to enjoying it.

8. Pointless Filler Pit Stops

Or ones that last way too long for no reason. I love filler, but only *productive* filler. It doesn’t have to service the plot, but it does have to develop at least one character, a relationship, the lore, somebody’s backstory, or be really funny and/or interesting to sit through.

Usually, it feels like it’s there to pad the run time or slow the pacing, but rarely does anything for the overall story. A fair bit of season one of ATLA is filler pit stops, but even when they go to all these random places for one-off adventures, the story is still showing us the world they live in, making it a teachable moment, introducing important characters, foreshadowing, or is just mighty entertaining to watch.

ATLA has only one pointless filler pit stop: the infamous Great Divide. It doesn’t positively develop any of the main trio, we never see these side characters again, Aang’s story is a complete lie so it doesn’t develop the lore or the world, and, most importantly, it’s just frustrating to watch. Your first job as a writer is to entertain, and this episode is annoying.

7. Fridged Character Motivation

I don’t mind the “fridged lady love” inherently. It’s a quick and dirty way to give your brooding hero backstory and everyone is familiar with it. I’m annoyed at how it’s the only nuance these characters tend to get, like this man’s dead wife/girlfriend/dog is his sole motivation for everything he does in life and all his goals.

I like broody badasses. I don’t like one-note broody badasses. His character existed before he met his dead love interest. Who was he back then? Does he have any friends who hate the man he’s become? Old mentors who’ve lost their faith in him?

This man’s arc is usually not even therapy-via-violence to get over his dead wife, it’s just a ham-fisted excuse to make him mean and short-tempered. Who is he, unrelated to this fridged character?

6. Dumbass Villains

The villain has captured the hero and friends and plans some dastardly torture to break their will. The villain has all their tools prepared and monologues about how easy it’s going to be, and the hero usually says something along the lines of “you can’t break me” or “I can take it,” whatever. And after several pages or minutes of screen time, the hero’s right, and then the villain breaks out plan B: The hero’s love interest, or their parents, who have just been waiting in the wings.

Why is this almost never plan A? The hero can always handle the pain, and always breaks down the second it’s someone else’s health on the line. Why doesn’t the villain, who’s always pissed at the lack of results, start with the proper motivation?

It’s either this or they wait until the perfect dramatic timing to reveal some skill or weapon or ultimatum after precious time has been lost, deadlines have been missed, and money has been burnt. Or they’re in the boss battle and they wait until the hero thinks they’ve won to pull out their secret weapon.

Unless you can give your villain a valid reason to not start with all the tools they have at their disposal, it might as well be a reverse deus ex machina. Even if it’s something as simple as Plan B hasn’t arrived on scene yet.

5. Everybody Has a Somebody

A topic I plan to expand on so I’ll keep it short here. Basically, the story wraps up and every eligible single character has a love interest they’re in varying stages of romance with. No one is spared, or they’re already dead. It’s a race to the finish line to give these characters significant others because that’s just what you do, it’s what audiences expect, there must be a romantic subplot.

Particularly annoyed when it’s an ensemble cast and the entire hero team only has relationships with other members of the hero team and no one outside this unit of 6-10 characters (*cough* Percy Jackson *cough*). No one is allowed to be single, or happy that they’re single. Everybody has somebody, no matter how well developed or plausible this relationship is.

4. Half-Baked Twist Villains

No one likes these characters and I’m not saying anything new here, and yet it still keeps happening. This one comes from just recently rewatching the abysmal Cars 2 (which is older, I know) and just trying to untangle this plot. This plot, that Pixar rinsed and repeated in Incredibles 2, and really thought no one would notice. This plot, where the villain creates a problem that doesn’t exist to make their own agenda look better, whether that’s malignant superheroes or green fuel.

Both try. Neither pretend the story is absent of a villain, unlike, say, Frozen. Both movies have a villain, they just have a hidden identity. The reveal just never hits as hard as the writers expect it to because, once again, they didn’t actually do the work to write a competent villain, they just slapped a “villain” sticker on their foreheads and called it a day. Why? Who cares.

3. Consequenceless Revivals

I love revivals, I love bringing characters back from the dead, love watching it, love writing it, love the drama.

Don’t love it when they’re suddenly back with no explanation or price to be paid. A character death should be a major event, and if you kill a character just to make your audience sad, then bring them back with zero effort, death begins to lose meaning in your world. CW shows are particularly terrible at this, specifically the TVD universe and Supernatural.

In the earlier seasons, when Sam or Dean died and came back, they still experienced character growth by dying and the experiences in hell, the PTSD inflicted, the new emotional battle scars. Even when Dean died a thousand times in the “Mystery Spot” episode, the point wasn’t “ha ha funny Dean dies again,” it was exercising Sam’s crippling codependency on his brother, as Gabriel says. There are consequences, either for the character’s psyche, or a cost for bringing them back to life.

2. Wimping Out on Promised Death

This decision makes me want to throw the book at the wall, or pause the movie and walk away. It’s the penultimate battle, the prophecy is upon us, a character or one of two characters must die to save the day, it cannot be impeded, avoided, or circumvented. We’ve known this is coming since the story began and are prepared for the tears and bloodshed.

Then the magical miracle springs out of nowhere and everyone gets to live. Kill them. Please. Even if it’s my favorite character, I’d rather cry over their death than be disappointed by plot convenience. If this is the tragic, fulfilling end to their arc, then that’s how I want it to end. Rarely do these characters get revived in a satisfying loophole everyone should have seen coming. I just feel manipulated.

1.  Forced Miscommunication

*Picture me walking a stadium hawking Pointless Drama like cotton candy and cans of beer* Cheap Drama! Anybody want some Cheap Drama? Cheap Drama!

In the real world, people make misassumptions all the time and many of us are conflict-averse. We avoid talking about our problems to those who’ve wronged us like we’re polarized magnets. Forced miscommunication doesn’t care about anxiety, which would be fascinating to explore as explicitly anxious characters suffering legit mental issues is under-utilized. No, these instances just have characters eavesdropping or snooping and, out of character, make all these outlandish assumptions, refuse to listen to explanations, and start a fight that lasts juuuuust long enough until it’s magically resolved without consequence.

It doesn’t do anything for the story. It exists independently of these characters’ relationship and has zero impact once it’s resolved. I am 100% down for a single miscommunication causing an emotional outburst so extreme that it has the offended party seriously considering the strengths of their relationship, but it never happens that way.

—

TL;DR: The existence of a trope does not do the job of writing a compelling story for you. If you can look at any one scene in your book and not explain why it matters, what impact it has on the plot, story, or characters, delete it or rewrite it so it does. Even if it only exists to be funny, there should still be something gained from the experience.

[franki-lew-yo]

ALL my feelings towards Friendship is Magic could be so easily summed up as:

" -Twilight Sparkle should never have become an alicorn princess in season 3 of a series with 9 seasons - ''

She should have always had it in the books to eventually become an alicorn, but her becoming one in season 3 is where literally all (my own) problems with the show stem from and almost all of those problems are about the show in execution, NOT in theory. 

Everything about later seasons Friendship is Magic’s writing reeks of the writers trying to make their ideas, fan ideas, and Hasbro’s ideas work all at the same time with so little time. They were told to make Equestria Girls, Princess Twilight, Flurry Heart and the movie “work” while also juggling writing in Starlight and her whole arc (and the characters attached, like Sunburst), the CMC getting their cutie marks, the reformed changelings, griffons and dragons, their Starswirl the Bearded stuff; WHILE ALSO making sure Discord and the Princesses (mostly Luna) and the ‘fan fav’ characters worked on their own and come together.

In my opinion, it just didn’t.

There was always too much going on with little to no time to breathe or appreciate the characters -how far they’ve come, how much further they have to go- at all. And it made later bit of lore and characters feel frustrating. It made potentially great characters deeply unlikable. Starlight and Discord are the biggest victims.

I want to like them. I really do. I can’t though because Starlight is not only a ‘madeawittlemistake’(aka ran a cult)-villain redemption, BUT she has to share her stories with the main six. They underdeveloped her while also trying to make her important and it just made me dislike Starlight and Twilight so much. It made me get mad at Starlight for being in the way of a Twilight episode, it made me wanna scream at Twilight for getting in the way of what should be Starlight’s time to shine!

Discord now had to share his ‘redeemed baddie’ spotlight with Starlight and others meant he had no time for his development which, when it was done* (ALL of Season 4) was abysmally fast, badly paced and in my view insulting. It made Discord, even in episodes where he had a point to be there, feel useless because fundamentally was overall. Season 4 assassinated Discord’s character to me and I didn’t remotely like him. For years I thought I just didn’t like FiM simply because the show and the fandom clearly preferred Fluttercord to Dislestia and I was just butthurt. Which, to be clear, I am. My mega revelation regarding this show was realizing that, no- what I hated wasn’t Fluttercord, it was Discord himself. How he was being handled, how he was written from s4 onward (ALL THE EPISODES WHERE HE’S YANDRE TO FLUTTERSHY SHOULD HAVE BEEN BEFORE HIS BETRAYAL. ALL OF THEM. NO YOU WILL NOT CHANGE MY MIND IT’S FINAL) pissed me off so much as a person who really loved his potential character in season 2 and 3. Discord and Fluttershy being besties and possibly more could and should have been adorable...but it wasn't because the Discord we got was a horrid character. Fluttershy deserves better.

I know you guys don’t wanna hear this same old worn-out critique about FiM, but I’m sorry I have to agree: when they weren’t being crowbarred into stuff that didn’t need their stories, Starlight and Discord were both forgiven -by the show- WAAY too soon. The problem wasn’t that they had redemption arcs and/or that other characters didn’t. The problem was their redemptions were badly done. The show didn’t treat them like they had been redeemed from something hurtful, it acted like they had never done anything wrong. And that was bad because it made it so, when the three baddies at the end of the series were officially crowned "irredeemable", the show felt biased. It felt mean spirited towards Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy when their end should have actually felt fitting and funny. It’s not about ‘morals’ or ‘punishing’ fictional cartoon horses voiced by John DeLancie for warcrimes or whatever tf Lily Orchard goes on about-- it’s about how the show FELT LIKE IT FAVORED some characters more than others. That was a thing that I loved Friendship is Magic for not doing in seasons 1-3, what made it and it’s character’s endearing and wholesome to me, and it’s why the handling of the main cast in later seasons felt so mean.

But to get back to the alicorn in the room; Twilight could have graduated or something for season 3 and then the whole show could build up to her actually outdoing Starswirl’s wrongs as she does in the pony of shadows plot. THAT could have been her ‘upgraded to alicorn princess moment’; but it didn’t. As much as I wish it were that way, it isn’t and that’s not what the writer’s did because they didn’t have the time or foresight for that. Sadly, even though lots of flaws and problems were always baked into the loaf from the start (Celestia being useless or 'sinister', ponies being racist towards everything else, bad and/or basic friendship lessons) Twilight becoming an alicorn princess, which DID ultimately change her character, her role and her presence even amongst her friends and the rest of Ponyville, was the start of all the problems.

We’re stuck with what we got and what we got was a series that -to me- only ever kept adding more and MORE until it felt overstuffed, hectic, and unfortunately mean spirited when it wasn’t trying to be. There’s nothing we can do now. Personally, I highkey am annoyed at other adult bronies saying I “didn’t get” the show and its decisions which is why I didn’t like it. No. Trust me I get “it”; the problem is that “it” wasn’t well done which is why I didn’t like “it”. “It” deserved better.

Of course, I also get some of why those bronies are so defensive. After all I was there when the whole 'Twilight becoming a Princess'-controversy happened. I remember how ugly it got and how annoying and entitled you guys were about it and Equestria Girls' existence (don't even get me started on ur #savederpy).

Something I want to make especially clear whenever I criticize writers, especially of kids shows, is that a criticism IS NOT an attack. Ever. Boycotts and callouts should be reserved for stuff that's actually morally wrong and yes they also count for stuff I like, not just stuff I want to be mad at. Lookin at you, Didney.

There was never and still is never a reason to bother, hurt or ask the writers for MLP gen 4 why they did what they did. No, not even if you're being 'friendly' about it. Leave M.A. Larson alone.

Granted, fans being entitled to creator's attention and creator's being entitled to fans' affection is it's own rabbit hole, but I truly think that FiM set an ugly standard for that with animated shows today.

Besides still being too thin skinned and not liking that a thing they've divested so much real life time into could be bad, a thing about cartoon commentary and criticism in the 2010s-2020s is they're really parasocial and demanding of writers and artists behind a show. The was always the biggest, ugliest, most uncomfortable aspect of Friendship is Magic to me: because it's creators were online and fans knew they were listening, could approve of fan's creations, and especially because they felt 'responsible' for a show's success, they were really into @ing writers about everything. When critics would call something out for being badly written it somehow always made it's way into becoming a personal accusatory thing. People were blaming writers for being human and working within time constraints and network decisions. You didn't have to be like that TinyToons guy who stalked Tress MacNeille about sexualizing Fifi in the 90s to be a harasser. You could just be an aggressively oversupporting 'stan' or angry nitpicking critic to make a writer who's just doing their job, uncomfortable

tl;dr: I disliked the writing of the later Friendship is Magic. I think it was bad because it was bad. None of that is meant as an attack on the writers who were trying their best and don't need to be roped into any fandom nonsense, positive or negative, and never should have been in the first place.

Hopefully, that's one deadhorse finally beaten.

[madeofcc]

2023 Top ♥

Tagged by @someone-elsa and @shesthespinstersimmer ♥ Thanks a lot !

I didn't remember doing all that this year !

Thanks a lot to everyone who's been following me through this journey. 2023 was one of the worst year of my life but also one of the best weirdly so let's hope 2024 will be better for everyone ♥

below the cut I'll put the link and explanations for each edit

1/ The Moonlight/Moonwood Tales concept : Based on the lore that came with the werewolves pack, I imagined a story that would explain everything between the werewolves, vampires and spellcasters. I actually prepared a plan for season 1 ... Maybe I'll post it next year ?

2/ The stories I planned for this year but so far, only Melodia is still going. DH3 will start next year sadly and Another Side has been cancelled because of lack of time and a bad computer.

3/ Aïssa in the city : a special photoshoot/lookbook with some items I love and also a small interview including infos about DH2 and 3. It's also a way for me to show more about Aïssa's modeling life. The title is also a reference to the upcoming spin-off about her ...

4/ The DH3 women and the DH3 gang because I want you to love them when the story will start !

5/ The EDGEWAVE fest organised by @aniraklova ♥ It surely was my favourite event this year ! What an awesome idea it was and a lot of people did amazing stuff during 2 weeks ! You saved our summer for sure ! I used Candy Bher as a reference to Another Side and MOON who's a character in DH3 ...

6/ Toxic Don ! A potential new Another Side story I've been thinking about years now ... It would be fun !

7/ The Ghostface DH3 edits : It's a reference to DH3 and Scream of course; the plot will be a tribute to Wes Craven actually !

8/ The Melodia musical video part : it actually was awesome and fun to create but it took me an entire month just for this little video. I decided to stick to a more boring regular way to post this story. I also don't have a lot of readers so far so I guess they will forgive me. I still see it as one of my biggest achievement here though so check it if you can ^^ I love how the episode turns into a musical movie

9/ @windbrook's Slashed Challenge : it was one of my favourite CAS challenge of all time ^^ I'm a huge slasher fan ! It was perfect for simblreen and people created awesome characters and stories !

10/ A makeover of the Three Sages that comes with Realm of Magic : Ana Mae is actually an original OCs, they all should appear in DH4 and 5 ... Morgyn should be very important in DH4 actually ...

11/ URBZ Mag DH3 edition ! Get the girls part here and the boys part there ♥ I love doing fake interviews and mag covers ! Sorry not sorry

12/ Valentines day ♥ My favourite is the one with the Destiny, Leïla and Aïssa because it's funny and feminist, what this trio is together ! They surely had a great night that day, it's also supposed to happen after Melodia so ...

13 / Franck and Madame Sophie : the first drag sims I create ! I wanted one for the Aïssa spin-off so I guess it will be them :)

14/ Recent edits I like : Maria Perron for @birdietrait's coven (I love her and I'd love to make a little story about her) / An other Another Side new idea focused on Venessa Jeong / Destiny's last portrait for the ocs associations

15/ My favourite gif coming from Another Side Episode 1 : I think it's the best ending for this episode as it shows all the plots and times together. Everytime I see it I want to get back to the story ...

Tagging @trippisimmies @badwoohoo @bobnewbie @uwutrait @frzr-bunny @windbrook @eslanes @budgie2budgie @nefarrilou @kashisun @birdietrait @castawavy @agena87 @fangs-trait @peonypyxels @barbieaiden @void-imp @ladybugsimblr @xldkx @nilonne @bakersimmer @whyhellosims @mangosimoothie @djservo @sea-cross @surely-sims @hufflepuff-sim @aniraklova @therichantsim @wolfavens @cinamun @alelelesimz @moontaart @pralinesims @cyberth0t @squea @helloavocadooo @cross-design @rebouks @crazy-lazy-elder-sims and anyone else who'd like to join ♥ feel free to tag me or ignore this as well ^^ (Also, check out these blogs, they're all great !)

[doofus-and-dragons]

As promised, I'm back on my httyd bullshit. Here's a list of things that don't make sense unless you watch the shows (idgaf if they're cannon or not, they should be for the background of small details!!!)

1. Grump.

Grump is Gobber's Hotburple in Httyd 2 and 3. But not in httyd 1. So this begs the question: Where and when did Gobber get Grump? The answer? Race to the Edge S3 E12, "Last Auction heros." Gobber and Snotlout go to Viggo's dragon auction undercover, and Grump is one of the dragons for sale. Without that episode, Grump is just a dragon they shoved into the second movie for shots and giggles.

2. Inferno

Inferno is a blade that Hiccup created himself that lights itself on fire using monstrous nightmare gel and can eject and ignite zippleback gas. To the casual watcher, he just showed up with it in the second movie. But Inferno is ALSO from rtte! Inferno's first form comes from S3 E9, "Tone Death." Hiccup then works further on it, but Inferno as we know it is actually based on a version of the blade that VIGGO GRIMBORN, the villain for most of RTTE, made.

3. The Deadly Nadder(? Looks like a nadder) plushie

Although this is a small detail that is only seen in the background of the later Httyd movies, it is still a detail that first appears within the SHOW'S cannon lore. According to S1 E17 of Riders of Berk, the toy was made by Valka when Hiccup was a baby. However, tiny Hiccup was so scared of the toy that he threw it in the ocean. Trader Johann managed to get ahold of it, and the episode was about the riders trying to save with mystery item because something happened to Johann's ship. I don't remember what. Something about smoldering smoke breaths, I think.

4. Skull Crusher

Skull Crush is Stoick the Vast's Rumblehorn in Httyd 2 and 3, who is later inherited by Eret, son of Eret upon Soick's death in Httyd 2. But again, where and when did Stoick get Shullcrusher? Because it seems like he just appeared. Well, I have that answer! Skull Crusher first appears in S1 E8, "Crushing It." In the episode, the gang is tormented by a Rumblehorn who keeps destroying their camp. Hiccup asks his Dad for help, and his Dad is able to train and befriend the wild dragon.

5. Hiccup's flight suit

In Httyd 2 and 3, Hiccup has/is trying to perfect a flight suit attached to his armor. Now, this could just be seen as Hiccup being a silly inventor off-screen, but it ACTUALLY shows up in Race to the Edge! S1 E12 "The Next Big Sting" actually opens with Hiccup trying out his first design for the flight suit. He does it many times, each time having to be saved by Toothless before he crashes into some form of rock/sea stack (much like in Httyd 2).

6. Hiccup's aging

I saw a post either on here or on tiktok the other day where someone was complaining about how different hiccup looked between 1 and 2. In 1, he's like...what...13?15? Where as He's about 20-21 ish by Httyd 2. To fans who don't obsess over something and consume all the media like I do, this would be a bit of a shock. I mean, you go from this:

Immediately to this:

Where as fans of the shows had this progression:

Much easier to swallow.

7. The Bewilderbeast

This is, again, something that could be choked up to the writers wanting more than just 7 species of dragons. HOWEVER, this dragon is actually the center point of the last few episodes of Race to the Edge. We learn a little bit about the dragon over the corse of the last season, which takes place just a year or two before Httyd 2.

9. VALKA HERSELF

I watched Race to the Edge long before I watched Httyd 2, so I had 0 clue the Hiccup's mom was still alive or what her mask looked like. But in the last bit of the last episode of race to the edge, guess what we see?

VALKA TAKING THE BEWILDERBEAST EGG.

In conclusion, these show's should be considered cannon to the HTTYD universe just as much as fucking Homecoming should or what ever. These are amazing and fill in so many continuity

[onebadpunspoilsabunch]

I know you're embarrassed to talk about mlp, but am I the only one who finds it WEIRD that Spike and Twilight didn't know about the Molt until Smolder had to tell Spike? Wasn't Spike learning about dragons since he made friends with Ember?

You know… I came to the (very obvious) conclusion a while back that the reason the show started to go downhill after the movie is because the majority of the writers for season 8 and 9 were completely new writers who never bothered to do research on the pre-established characters and lore. Like yeah, they made a lot of references and callbacks to previous seasons, but when it came to character writing and continuity they didn't know what they were doing.

And the writers that have been with the show for a while like Josh Harber had become burned out by season 8.

Oh, about your question. You're right, it doesn't make any sense that both Twilight and Spike wouldn't know about the Molt.

Ever since the season 6 episode Gauntlet of Fire, Twilight and Spike had started learning about dragons from Ember.

In the season 7 premiere Twilight says this:

Twilight Sparkle: Starlight will love it in the Dragon Lands. In her letters, Ember said dragons do a lot of fun things. The Feast of Fire, the Dragon Bowl, Claw-chella.

They also establish in the season 7 episode Triple Threat that Spike was now the royal ambassador to the Dragon Lands:

Spike: Reason number one – I invited Dragon Lord Ember to Ponyville today. Reason two – the Dragon Lord is a dragon. Reason three – she's coming here to learn more about friendship.

Twilight Sparkle: According to Ember's letters, the dragons are trying to be friends, but competing is in their nature, and it's leading to more and more fights.

Spike: Which brings me to reason number four. The Dragon Lord wants my advice, and as the new official Equestrian friendship ambassador to the dragons, I can't let her down.

In the season 7 finale Spike is able to recognize and name a dragon sport:

Spike: Good thing you brought the official Equestrian friendship ambassador to the dragons to help you navigate our customs. Like our favorite sport – gorge surfing!

In the Equestria Girls special Spring Breakdown, Spike is telling the group a funny story about what it was like to attend a dragon wedding:

Spike: ...and that's the last time I ever went to a dragon wedding!

Both Twilights, Sunset Shimmer, and Rainbow Dash: [laugh]

It's unknown if he was there for diplomatic reasons, or if he was invited, but he was there. 

So even though they never show it on screen (for some reason) it's been implied through dialogue that both Spike and Twilight have learned a lot about dragons since season 6. Spike travels to the Dragon Lands for various reasons, and Ember sends them letters with information on dragon society and culture. 

So it makes no logical sense that both Twilight and Spike didn't know about the Molt. The Molt is basic dragon puberty. 

Also in that same episode, Spike was able to recognize and name the pimple that he got:

Rarity: Is there something wrong with your face?

Spike: [sighs] It's a stone scale. It isn't magical or anything like the call of the Dragon Lord. It's just... red. And itchy. [groans] And embarrassing.

It's kind of unbelievable that both Spike and Twilight wouldn't have learned about the Molt until that point. Smolder had to tell Spike what the Molt was… 

Smolder: [laughs] Wow! I have seen some pretty bad molts in my time, but yours takes the cake!

Spike: Molts?

Smolder: The molt? Super painful stone scales, fire burps, uncontrollable volume shifts? It's all part of growing up dragon. Congrats!

…

Spike: No-no-no-no-no. The last time I grew up, I turned into a giant greedy monster.

Smolder: Greed-induced bigness. That's totally different. The molt is completely normal. Every dragon goes through it. Pretty soon, you'll leave and strike out on your own.

And Twilight was genuinely shocked to see Spike had sprouted wings.

Twilight Sparkle: Spike?! How did you get wings?!

…

Twilight Sparkle: This is amazing! I didn't know if you'd ever get wings. I'm so happy for you. Does it have something to do with this molt you were talking about?

Spike: [sighs] It's what's been going on with me. The breakout, the fire burps. The molt is when dragons get older and start to change.

Also up until that point, Spike was the only dragon in the show without wings.

Except for this guy:

Spike was the odd dragon out because he lacked wings. You think at some point of Twilight and Spike learning about dragons throughout season 6 to the movie that Spike's lack of wings would've come up in some way, and Ember or some other dragon would've explained to Spike and/or Twilight what the Molt was.

I can only imagine that they wanted Spike getting wings to be a surprise to the characters as well as the audience, so them knowing about it beforehand wouldn't work. But… them not knowing about it beforehand doesn't work, if you've been keeping up with the show.

In conclusion the post-movie writers didn't give a crap about previous continuity.

And didn't bother to proofread their own work.

[feministsouthpark]

South Park Filler Guide - Season 11

Link for Seasons  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10

You know the drill by now, I’ll judge whether an episode has all the qualities of a canon one, or is it just shameless filler. S11E1 With Apologies to Jesse Jackson is LORE

N-word for white people gets banned instantly. Again, a major character in this one will return as a henchman later, but that's a minor role with one line. S11E2 Cartman Sucks is FILLER

Butters goes to camp. Eric gets himself in a tricky situation that will be forgotten by next time. S11E3 Lice Capades is FILLER

The boys have lice. Clyde's lice moves on. S11E4 The Snuke is FILLER

Bahir moves in, he moves out, a bomb doesn't even do anything in the end. S11E5 Fantastic Easter Special is CANON

Because Jesus is shown to resurrect himself time and time again, which explains his future appearances, otherwise his S6 death and later returns would be pretty much unexplained. S11E6 D-Yikes! is CANON

Janet has an interesting change when she realizes her attraction to women, a part of her character journey of self-discovery. S11E7 Night of The Living Homeless is FILLER

Eric breaks record of jumping over homeless people. While I consider this as filler content in South Park, remind me if I ever do a Happy Days filler guide to include this one as canon! S11E8 Le Petit Tourette is LORE

As with South Park is Gay from season 7, this one helps to establish Craig Tucker's interest in boys, and this one even foreshadows what's his type is like! S11E9 More Crap is CANON

In my mind, when I started writing about this season it started like: Can you imagine the world where I would say this one's canon? And then I would make a joke and advise everyone to skip it. However reading through the transcript of the banned episode 200 of Emmy Award winning series South Park just to make sure, I found Bono making a very specific reference to this one episode, unlike Sally Struthers for instance, who says very basic things about South Park that made her episode only important enough to count as LORE, as did many other celebrities. Thanks Bono, you have a new record now, interfering with my calculations and gaining the longest paragraph in my guide. S11E10 & S11E11 & S11E12 Imaginationland is FILLER

I know, I know, everyone wanted these to be canon, including myself at one point. And don't worry, my step-sister is going to beat me up over this one so it's already taken care of. My bottom line is that these episodes (also once retconned into a second movie) are somewhat a separate entity from the rest of the series, knowing the characters is needed to it, but the world-building is vastly different from the rest of the show, so this is where it ends up. Imagination is real. Filler is real too. That's the main takeaway. S11E13 Guitar Queer-O is FILLER

After what just happened I can't even take this one seriously. It's like robbing a bank and then jaywalking. S11E14 The List is CANON

Stan and Wendy make up. That's a spectacular episode anyway, but for our intents and purposes for inspecting a continuous story, unlike imagination territory, or a random terrorist attacks, relationship drama is exactly the kind of stuff that gets a pass.

SPOILER-FREE RUNDOWN

Again, CANON means you should watch it, FILLER means you can skip it, LORE is somewhere in-between, any episode with the LORE label will have an explanation that helps you decide if you should include it or not. S11E1 With Apologies to Jesse Jackson is LORE* S11E2 Cartman Sucks is FILLER S11E3 Lice Capades is FILLER S11E4 The Snuke is FILLER S11E5 Fantastic Easter Special is CANON S11E6 D-Yikes! is CANON S11E7 Night of The Living Homeless is FILLER S11E8 Le Petit Tourette is LORE** S11E9 More Crap is CANON S11E10 & S11E11 & S11E12 Imaginationland is FILLER S11E13 Guitar Queer-O is FILLER S11E14 The List is CANON *Two minor members of a later organization gain their motives here **If you want to learn about Craig's type in dating

CANON counter:

S1: 9 out of 13  S2: 3 out of 18  S3: 6 out of 18  S4: 10 out of 17  S5: 8 out of 14  S6: 11 out of 17 S7: 6 out of 15 S8: 4 out of 14 S9: 8 out of 14 S10: 4 out of 14 S11: 4 out of 14

Overall: 73 out of 168

[varteeny1234]

Why You Should Watch Marma1ade!

All about my favorite MCYTer :D

Introduction

Marma1ade is a small Minecraft Youtuber, currently with about 8.6k subscribers, and only 75* videos. She doesn't have a lot of series, but she has been uploading regularly for about two years now! Most of her videos are single-player, but she is a part of the Skyblock Kingdoms SMP (link to her channel playlist) and has been a part of two collaborative videos, one a hardcore luckyblock video (her video) with AnimusJ (his video) and one with AvidMC (on his channel). She does not, as of currently, have any inter-series lore or storytelling, so you don't need to worry about having to catch up on any of that.

*the number of videos is listed as 80, but only 75 of them are full-length, 5 are yt shorts

Video/Editing Style

She has chill, relatively slow-paced videos. She doesn't yell loudly, narrating her videos in a quiet but clear voice. She DOES use a lot of background music, especially in her earlier videos, but it doesn't feel like she over-uses it, and she matches the beat of the song to in-game actions (particularly in her chunklock miniseries). She uses B-Roll in building montages (various 2-3 second clips of different stages of building- if you've seen any of Ethoslab's videos, you probably know what this is) as well as timelapses. She tells a story for everything she builds!

Series

Survival Let's Play Season One: Magical theme to her builds, stories about a world with connecting civilizations. Starts out living in a mangrove swamp! 32 episodes, finished (MC version 1.19)

Survival Let's Play Season Two: Builds and lives in a cherry grove valley village, with a story about how time has passed and changed the buildings, and new places have been built. 14 episodes, likely finished* (MC version 1.20)

Chunklock miniseries: Starts out in a forest biome, explores nearby areas, does not have an overarching story. Her main goal is to beat the Ender Dragon- because the chunklock datapack is the way that it is, a long-term series with big builds just wasn't a realistic goal. That's ok though- the sacrificial shrine is worth it! 5 episodes plus a combined movie, finished (MC version 1.20)

1.20 Hardcore: Lives in between a cherry biome and a plains village! Has built a lot of farms, but no large builds yet- smaller builds yes, but nothing really MASSIVE. 5 episodes, ongoing** (MC version 1.20)

Skyblock Kingdoms Season One: SMP series with 19 other creators, all playing on Skyblock, in teams of two each with their own island and tree type! Marm is one of the Mangrove witches, and she has a lot of involvement in the OSSHA arc. 13 episodes (as of 19 Sept. 2024), ongoing (MC version 1.20-1.21)

*Marm has not confirmed the series is finished. However, it has not been continued in 9 months, and she has since started two new series.

**Marm has not started any new SINGLEPLAYER series, and she stated in-episode that she has plans for builds later on, but she is currently busy with SBK. She may return to Hardcore in the future.

Series Lore

While Marm has lore in her Skyblock Kingdoms series, she does not have any canon* lore connecting to her other series. In SBK lore, she has magical powers, and is connected to the void through her magic. Her character is connected to AvidMC's character/lore. On her Tumblr (@/marma1adee) she has made comments about possible connections to other series' lore (specifically LP S1) but nothing has been confirmed or even mentioned in-episode.

Why She Is Awesome

Marma1ade is very talented at both playing Minecraft and editing videos, and her videos are always fun to watch. She's a very friendly person, and cares a lot about sharing her ideas with the world!

She has a good sense of humor, which adds a lighthearted air to her storytelling. Also, she cares less about perfection and more about the experience, so she likes to ask her viewers what they think she could do to improve!

One funny quirk I've noticed is that Minecraft mobs seem to always be in the wrong place for her. If you think, "oh, that's normal!", then you have NO IDEA just how bad this curse is. Not a SINGLE mob is in the right place the first time! In fact, I believe that her frogs from LP S1 are still stuck underneath their lily pad :P

IN SHORT: MARMA1ADE FOR LIFE!!!! :D

[mocha-writes]

Tagged by @rlainarin to do this tag game

Three Ships:

Strahd von Zarovich/Patrina Velikovna (Ravenloft/Curse of Strahd): I admit they’re both close to—if not already at—the point of being original characters with the departures I’ve taken from canon when constructing my own lore for a potential CoS campaign, but I have been thinking about them for years (the guy who tagged me in this can confirm it). Every day I grow closer to the rewrite where the love story at the center of Ravenloft’s formation was theirs instead and they’re co-Darklords of Barovia.

Lestat de Lioncourt/Nicolas de Lenfent (The Vampire Chronicles): I just love how deep, meaningful, and ultimately terrible their relationship seemed in The Vampire Lestat. It’s such an inversion of the tropes I usually see associated with romance between childhood friends. The contrasts between them and their equally fierce emotions compel me, even though I know their story ends suddenly and tragically. (It also adds interesting layers to Lestat’s eventual relationship with Louis)

Orpheus/Eurydice (Hadestown): It feels a bit weird highlighting the musical rather than the myth it’s based on but anyway, I really love Hadestown Orpheus and Eurydice because of their contrasts and how they share each other’s worldviews (though in different ways) by the end, and how despite everything—despite reconciling Hades and Persephone and giving the world back its seasons—everything still ends bittersweetly.

First Ship: I’m pretty sure it was Erik/Christine from The Phantom of the Opera musical. I hadn’t even seen the 2004 movie or the stage version as a kid, but I squeezed everything I could out of (I think) Wikipedia and DeviantArt lists (the kind where one drew responses to prompts) about the film version and made things up in my own head. The memory that’s coming to mind is of gender-flipping them and trying to write my own play with that premise. Now, I personally prefer Raoul/Christine, but they still have a place in my heart, particularly the 1989 movie’s versions of them.

Last Movie: Hairspray (2007)

Last Song: “The New Girl in Town” (stuck in my head thanks to the aforementioned movie)

Currently Reading: The Vampire Lestat. It’s been slow-going with this one because Life but I have around 200 pages left. It’s made me appreciate Lestat even more, though I don’t necessarily believe everything he says.

Currently Watching: Not engaged with any TV series at the moment

Currently Eating: I had popcorn for a snack a while ago

Currently Craving: Stability, that setting up my new PC will go well, that I can play video games again and introduce my fictional people to my friends and their fictional people… I miss having the drive for OC asks and writing prompts. I’d like to get back into those somehow

This was originally titled something like “tag 9 people you want to get to know better,” but I struggle with thinking of people for these things… Tagging @perkeleen-lavellan , @hurl-a-can , @whenyoulosesmallmind and @darkspawntaxcollectors . There’s no obligation, as always, this was just fun and I thought I’d share. If you want to do this but weren’t tagged, do it anyway; let me enable you.

[gritsandbrits]

Ranking ten Thomas the Tank Engine designs 🚂

Bear with me I'm not super deep into Thomas Lore like that so I'm only doing the shows and books. These are 5000% my opinions so if you like them - great! I'd like to start the new year on a positive note. Also it's Thomas Day too, talk about Two for One! Heh. Now let's get into my top ten as that is the limit the app allows.

First on my list is the version that started it all - good ol' classic Thomas! With six small wheels and a short stumpy funnel, you can't deny this is one of the most iconic designs ever put to screen. What makes this design great is the use of real materials like plasticine and metal. It makes him feel that much more real. Like he's more than just a toy he's a working engine. 9/10

This halfway design from season 12. When I saw this for thr first time as a kid it threw me off. I was so used to static faces, seeing them move their mouths all of a sudden was jarring to say the least. Not to mention the PHYSICAL model makes it even more uncanny. Over time I got used to it. Still it was just weird change. 5/10

Now I'm counting all the CGI since it's all one big era (yes even BWBA). I think it's a great update on an already classic design, with none of the physical limitations. The bouncing did come off random though, and sometimes the CGI lacks the charm that makes the traditional model endearing. Overall I give it an 8/10

This artstyle on the Anchor Bay/Gullane media is simple yet it does a good job conveying that 3d low poly look. 6/10j

Now we get to the era succeeding it. This HIT model looks great except the face is sort of uncanny to look like. Like he's celebrating a win after running over a cop. Good job Thomas - cops have no rights. 6/10

Jumping back in time we have the TATMR model. Yes they made new models (well new at the time) to fit the American gauge standards. Don't ask me how that works I have no experience in modelling. But I've always liked his movie design plus I consider his acting to be the definitive voice that I imagine he'd have. 10/10 for devious design and brutal friendliness.

I don't mind the shape or the color, but his face is putting me off. Like I know Thomas is basically a GILF at this point in our time but he's known for his youthfulness. His face makes him looks old. Must be the eyes. 4/10.

Ooooh yall knew this was coming! I'm well aware of how controversial this show is. I have my own gripes but I actually don't hate this design. It follows the basics and it's adorable. But it's attached to a show that ignores almost everything that made the original so appealing. Also a bit of nitpick but since he's already blue, shouldn't his eyes be a different color to stand out? Preferably change it to brown or hazel. I rank it 3/10.

I would get bored when those Learning segments came on, i could tell even as a kid they were a forced attempt to make the show more educational to fit PBS standards. But this model has a certain charm to it that I can't bring myself to hate. Perhaps its the nostalgia talking. 4/10.

I like this depiction of Thomas. Don't know who the artist is but whoever painted it done a great job with his design. He looks so friendly too, and I love how vibrant the colors are. 8.5/10.

That's it! That's all I have for my top ten Thomas designs. Feel free to comment I love to hear YOUR rankings and any thoughts about the franchise in general. Thank you to any and all who supported my blog! Here's to a better new year and hopefully 40 more years of fun - Mattel not included. 💙💙💙

[anthonycrowley]

Pls share the gway/aziracrow lore 👀👀

it's just a separate branch if you will of the 9/11 -> fifty shades thing, it just breaks my brain for more personal reasons lol. the specific logic you follow for 9/11 -> azcrow kiss is as follows: 9/11 happens -> gerard way witnesses it happening -> as a result of him witnessing 9/11 he starts my chem -> my chem gets popular -> stephanie meyer listens to my chem and uses gerard as one of the inspirations for edward cullen -> twilight gets popular -> they make a twilight movie -> michael sheen gets a role in twilight -> michael sheen posts about fan culture (? or something???? something directly related to twilight this is the one little bit i always forget sorry if i'm wrong and you know it please correct me) (edit: he defended fantasy as a genre and cited neil as one of his favorite authors on the twilight press tour! thank you @wanderingoff) as it relates to twilight online -> what he posts gets him onto neil gaiman's radar -> michael sheen and neil gaiman become friends -> when amazon picks up good omens tv show neil floats the role of aziraphale crowley but they change it later to his friend michael who is a known fan of good omens -> good omens tv gets popular -> gets renewed for season two -> azcrow kiss on the mouth with tongue

[agonizedembrace]

get to know the mun! ♥ tagged by @witchcraftandburialdirt ily

what made you pick up the current muse(s) you have? ━━ honestly it was just when i was having a lot of fun playing league/evelynn in general. then i started looking into her lore / fanart more and it all went downhill from there ( that, and wanting to get a portrayal of her out there that was unique yet true to her character! )

is there anything you don’t like to write? ━━ hmm.. non-con for sure. i don't do well with heavy action scenes either, or explicitly graphic violent/gore scenes. im a bit too squeamish for that :(

is there anything you really enjoy writing? ━━ slice of life! and general romance 🥺 besides for that im also very much a sucker for angst and it frequents this blog much more than i can help it

how do you come up with headcanons? ━━ they often just come to me without really putting much effort into it. sometimes i'll dwell more upon it if someone starts asking questions in regards to things, though!

do you write in silence or do you play music?  ━━ 98% of the time i am listening to music ( or have a yt video going ) in the bg as i write. i can't trying to write in silence, music inspires me too much.

do you plan your replies or wing them? ━━usually i wing it! on rare occasions i'll plot things out, but 9/10 times i am just making it work as i go. there are times that i'll dwell upon what should happen in a reply while im at work though? so perhaps that counts as plotting.

do you enjoy shipping?  ━━ yes, but i am rather selective with it and truthfully this blog kinda runs like a singleship sdakfhgjsdkjhfds. here and there i'll do some shippy things, but for the most part eve is very much with akali and doesn't even consider anyone else as an option :')

what’s your alias/name?  ━━ han!

age? ━━ 27

birthday? ━━ July 1st

favorite color? ━━ hmm.. seafoam green?

favorite song? ━━ i cannot tie it down to one so my top 5 in no order is: landslide - fleetwooc mac, villain - k/da, all i wanted - paramore, touch it - ariana grande & last hope - paramore

last movie you watched? ━━ i genuinely think it was HSM when i watched it with nobuu???

last show you watched? ━━ the masked singer ( I WATCH IT WITH MY MOM OK )

last song you listened to? ━━ nostaglia - tae

favorite food? ━━ hmmm.... i think it's gonna have to be like ... any sort of pasta? im such a sucker for it, i gobble it up -- BUT THEN THERE'S RAMEN AND CURRY. man i can't pick don't do this to me.

favorite season? ━━ Fall ... when the leaves begin changing colors and the weather begins to cool. those chilly autumn nights, huddled up with some hot beverage ... yeah that's the good shit.

do you have a Tumblr best friend? ━━ kya .... @witchcraftandburialdirt & @lightdash

and im tagging...! : @kalijhomentethi @lightdash @weavertali @sheavoid @poisonflowrs @voidhunting @ahri-thefoxylady & you!

[bluemooniegif]

besides bungo stray dogs, can u rcm me some manga having thought-provoking theme like that

ABSOLUTELY I CAN!! here are some manga, book and movie recs for you, cause I couldn't help myself :>

MANGA RECS:

1: The Case Study of Vanitas (Vanitas no Carte)

I knowww it's a cliche that BSD fans must also enjoy VNC, but it's genuinely just AHH so good!! it currently sits at 62.5 chapters (10 volumes & 9 uncollected chapters) and it has a 2-season anime adaptation. it's the second manga series by Jun Mochizuki, who's also well-known for her series Pandora Hearts, and is still ongoing.

set in 19th-century France, our story begins with Noe, a young vampire, who's excitedly travelling to Paris for the first time. in his travels, he encounters the strange and enigmatic Vanitas, a human who somehow possesses the power of the Vampire of the Blue Moon- a feared being shunned by the rest of the vampire world.

we learn from the very beginning that Noe is recounting this story to us, and that he kills Vanitas with his own hands- but why? how? nobody knows, but we're bound to find out!

2. Attack on Titan

I doubt anyone was expecting me to mention this one, because it has quite a reputation for being gore-filled and action-packed, but when I say this literally changed my life I'm really not kidding (I wouldn't have this blog or be into anime at all if not for AOT!). it's a completed story, with a four-season anime (including 3 OVA episodes) and 139 manga chapters (in the main storyline; there are multiple spin-offs and 2 bonus mangas/light novels).

many years ago, the final remnants of humanity were forced to flee into a city surrounded by three giant walls. these walls are the only things keeping humanity from perishing at the hand of the titans, giant humanoid figures who hunt and eat them. but a young boy, Eren, wants nothing more than to see the world beyond the wall- until a titan taller than their walls breaks into the city, throwing humanity (and Eren's life) into disarray.

though it's true that a large chunk of this animanga is action, the lore is incredible. I can't say too much without spoiling, but the thought-provoking aspects aren't talked about nearly as much as I think they should be. once you've finished watching or reading, I highly recommend you watch this video, which is one of my favourite video essays of all time!

BOOK RECS:

1. Slaughterhouse Five

this is one of my favourite books of all time, and it's only 177 pages, so it's a super quick read! not only is it severely anti-war, but it's deeply though-provoking. I think about it every day. I quote it regularly. I'd recommend it to anyone and everyone, especially now, with everything happening in the world.

I honestly don't have words for how much I love it, so here's the synopsis on Goodreads:

Prisoner of war, optometrist, time-traveller - these are the life roles of Billy Pilgrim, hero of this miraculously moving, bitter and funny story of innocence faced with apocalypse. Slaughterhouse 5 is one of the world's great anti-war books. Centring on the infamous fire-bombing of Dresden in the Second World War, Billy Pilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we are afraid to know.

2. No Longer Human

there are so many editions of this, and I would recommend all of them- this is my other favourite book of all time, by the way. I may be barking up the wrong tree when I tell a BSD fan to read Dazai, one of the most accessible and relatable Japanese authors for a Western audience, but hey, I've got to remind you just in case you haven't given it a shot.

No Longer Human follows the life of Yozo Oba, a boy born into a big rich family, who constantly feels at-odds with the world around him. it's an exploration of mental illness, social isolation, self-expression, and compassion. I actually have an entire youtube video talking about it and how BSD-Dazai reflects Yozo as much as irl-Dazai, and it's my pride and joy so please go watch it!

MOVIE RECS:

Okay, I only have one rec for you, but this movie haunts me (in the best way possible):

Forgotten (기억의 밤)

I really need more people to watch this actually because holy shit it was amazing and nobody talks about it!! WATCH IT!!! PLEASE!!!!

Jinseok watches his brother get kidnapped right before his eyes, and it powerless to do anything. 19 days later, he returns, and... something is different about him. Jinseok is determined to uncover the mystery surrounding his kidnapping.

the twists in this are actually insane. I can't tell you anything aside from the synopsis without spoiling major plot points. if you only take one recommendation I bed you to take this one.

okay that's all bye!!

[evenmoreofadisaster]

Okay okay 2 hypotheticals and one universe question

1. If one/two looked into the mirror of erised (Harry Potter magic mirror that shows someone their deepest desires) what would they see?

2. If they were in a hunger games scenario would one make sure he and two got to the end and then sacrifice himself (or at least have that be his plan) and would two know that was his plan and come up with a different one or would he be blindsided? (Also would either of them come up with the bluff of both “dying together” in order to survive?)

Lore/universe question

1. Are one and two actually completely unable to access their ninpo at this point? Like I read the q&a response from the rise writer on Twitter recently and he answered the weapons they got originally were more conduits for the existing abilities the turtles have and I wondered if it was similar in the emd universe or different or maybe something undetermined? (If it’s too spoiler specific feel free to just say undetermined so we don’t know if it’s undetermined to you guys or to us right now the readers!)

ooh great questions!

I think One would see Two living happily with the Hamatos + April. Above all, he truly wants Two to be safe and happy and I think somewhere deep down he knows that he can't provide the kind of love and stability that Two needs to have a good life (he still tries though). Two would probably see the ideal version of himself, which would change throughout the story in the details, but overall just be a respected and useful individual. Right now, he'd see a version of himself that is understood by Draxum and an equal to One.

2. HUNGER GAMES. One would definitely have a plan to get him and his brother through the games. If Raph and Mikey are involved, then he probably wouldn't tell Two his ENTIRE plan (assuming Two still wants Raph and Mikey alive). If they're not involved, as long as One knows that Two will be on the same page then One would probably inform him of the plan. HONESTLY though I wouldn't be surprised when they're the last ones standing that Two would double cross One--- mind you, One would probably see it coming so they do wind up fighting each other. I think it depends on what the stakes are though 'cause they'd definitely beat each other up but I don't think they'd go through with killing each other unless the stakes were really high--- but even in that case, One would probably just give up bc he won't kill his brother. Two might come close to it but I don't think he'd be able to go through with it. in the end, they band together and take out the whole organization lmao. Two would blow up the walls.

LORE:

Yes, they are. No ninpo for them. In EMD, the mystic weapons already have some kind of magic on their own, but the ninpo sort of enhances the weapon's abilities, which is why One can still use the portals. He just can't make huge portals and he can't do what Leo was able to do in season 2 or the movie. Any of Two's mystics comes from his mystic crystals, which he uses to make awesome stuff. But yeah, no ninpo, and, to him, that's a very big very bad flaw in their mutation. He's spent a lot of time and resources trying to fix it, even though Draxum doesn't really expect him to. So you can imagine why it's so jarring when their fellow Alpha 9 mutants seem to use their mystic powers just fine :)

[thehopesquadhq]

Summary: On a world of so many villains and heroes, its hard to pay attention on what everyone is doing. There are many goods and many evils that are overshadowed.

One of these evils is a corrupt organization called the Green Light Lab. The press knows little to nothing about them, and they take advantage of that. Besides having the most advanced technology on the whole world, all their experiments are cruel and immoral.

Kids that were genetically modified to grow animal parts, others who had their body parts replaced by machines. 

They decided to take their nefarious plan a step further, and now, they are after the gems of virtues! Powerful artifacts that can grant many powers.

Unfortunately for them, a group made of 5 heroes (well, technically 3, because the other 2 only join officially on season 2, but they help from time to time, and I love them!).

The team is formed by Harry (A Rebel Traumatized Scientist), Zak (A Traumatized Demigod Jock, that deep down has a heart of gold), Amber (A half-fairy and half-human princess, that has a lot of inspirations on Disney movies), and our beloved Charlie and Kitty Nex (half-cosmic entities with the powers of controlling time and space).

Will they be able of defeating the lab? Will Harry’s secrets break them apart? Will the Justice League allow them to handle this situation on their own?

Follow their journeys, see them develop bonds, fight against evil, and heal from past traumas.

_______________________________________________

Ladies and Gentlemen, the cover of Season 1 is here.

As said earlier, this is a DC project, but also involves characters from Clarence and some other smaller cameos.

I am not exactly satisfied, and will probably redo it someday, but, for now, I think it will suffice.

The story will be published weekly, but not in complete chapters. The chapters would have the length of a cartoon episode. So, to help you all read, I will divide the chapters in 5 to 6 parts and publish them.

My schedule:

New Art: Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

Chapters: Every Monday (For now).

DC reblogs to help me understand more of the lore (or just because it gives me ideas, lol): All days.

Miscellaneous (Chapter Lists, Headcanons, and such): No specific date.

Asks are always open.

______________________________________________________________

Chapter List

Season 1

Season 1

Chapter 1: The Green Light Lab.

Chapter 2: The Scape.

Chapter 3: The Thunder.

Chapter 4: The Fairy Princess.

Chapter 5: Back at Aberdale.

Chapter 6: The Nexus Twins.

Chapter 7: Regular Day.

Chapter 8: Library of Laments.

Chapter 9: Aquattack.

Chapter 10: Swan Desert.

Chapter 11: Monstruous Exhibition.

Chapter 12: One's Hope Is Another's Injustice.

Chapter 13: What was Missing?

Chapter 14: Full Disclosure.

Chapter 15: Everything Happening at Once.

Chapter 16: A Hopeful Future.

Chapter 17: 1 Step Forward.

Chapter 18: 3 Steps Back. 

______________________________________________________________

Characters:

Harry Wayne Indigo

Zak Miller

Amber Charm

Charlie Nex

Kitty Nex

Soundblast

Chimera

Lime

Teal

Moss

Pine

Chelsea, Breenh and Percy

Bianca Silver/Tulpa

Daffodil

Impact

Salamagma

Rust Controller

Queen Outunna

Mayor Finn

Felicia Garcia

Juan Garcia

???

???

???