#I think the unnecessary slaughter of animals is bad and you think it's fun. You could just say you think it's fun. You know

[sparkiekong]

Kong's Halloween Review

31 days of Spooky movies... reviewed so you don't have to! I did this once before, but I'll give ya the reasoning. Before 2012 I was terrified of scary movies. Wouldn't watch any of em but then 2012 hit with some medical things and it sort of broke that fear of scary movies.

Rated 0-10 and can go into the negatives for the following:

Kid Death

Animal Death

Preachy

Making fun of a group type

Boring me

The Rule of 20 also applies. I give the movie 20 minutes to interest me, if it doesn't.. I move on because it likely will never catch my interest.

Also you can pre-screen movies on your own by using this website:

It covers more than just dog death and hits upon many different emotional triggers. Also if you are a member of the website you can add things and also suggest new triggers that will be voted for and provided they get enough up votes, added to the list of things to screen for.

Below are the first 14 movies in no particular order. When I get the rest done I will reblog and post the later half with my best picks from the 31.

Hellraiser 2022

Decent reboot but will never replace the old ones. Lots of body mod/horror involved filled with blood and gore filled. Wouldn’t be a Hellraiser without it. No animal slaughters, no kid slaughter. 5/10 Spoops and 3 bonus for not being cheap and using the trope of animal/kid deaths to make something scary.

Grand Total: 8

--

Grimcutty

Not bad… an interesting take on parenting kids who grew up on the internet… No animal slaughters, but some kid damage. 6/10 spoops +1 for no animal tropes -1 kid tropes. Since kids were kind of central to the whole story…

Grand Total: 6

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Jessabelle

Really surprisingly good for a pg-13 scary movie. However, it’s got some depression, some kid killing in it. Pretty decent twist at the end. Some sacrificial animal deaths too. 7/10 spoops +1 for how scary the entity was portrayed, -1 for animal death visuals, and -1 for kid murder tropes. The kid death was kind of crucial to the plot, BUT You don’t have to kill animals to be scary!  

Grand Total: 6

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The Accursed

I think this one suffers from my lack of knowledge on gypsy culture. It had some tense moments, some creepy things…it was good, but I didn’t quite get all the references. I understood the plot and I knew what was happening, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I’d had some exposure to gypsy culture. 6/10 spoops. +1 for no kid/ -1 animal slaughter.

Grand Total: 6

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The Cursed

I didn’t get 15 minutes in. Don’t bother. 0/10 spoops. -3 for not getting my attention fast enough.

Grand Total: -3

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The Last Rite

23 minutes in and I’m bored. I have no idea when the demon is supposed to start plaguing her, but it certainly isn’t interesting enough for me to keep watching. 0/10 spoops. -3 for not getting my attention +1 for boring me to death.

Grand Total: -2

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Lights Out

Holy cow, by the description… I expected a shitshow, but it was good. 8/10 spoops… though I think it was more a thriller suspense than spoops. +2 for the final girl who’s got one heck of a scream. It was a chilling, but somewhat sad story. +2 for no animal/kid slaughtering tropes. 12/10

Grand Total:  12

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The Vigil

15 minutes in and I’m bored. I wanted to like it; but no spoops were hinted at… so I have none to give. No spoops for you. 0/10 -3 for not getting my attention.

Grand Total: -3

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Wish Upon

20 minutes in and there’s graphic dog death. 0/10 spoops. It had no spoops and negative spoops for using an unnecessary trope. -3 for the doggy death and -2 for making it graphic.

Grand Total: -5

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Room 203

Classic moving into a haunted place theme. Some Celtic lore, bit of some dark subject matter in some places, but otherwise a solid good spoopy vibe. 5/10 spoops, +2 for no animal/kid slaughter tropes.

Grand Total: 7

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You are Not My Mother

This one was a slow simmer all the way through, good creep factor. Interesting take on Celtic lore, but really wasn’t spoopy all that much. 5/10 spoops. -2 for implied child death, +3 for [redacted spoiler], and +1 for a new take on an old monster.

Grand Total: 7

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Lantern’s Lane

Standard college urban legend vibes… saw the plot coming a mile away. Bad acting, but… it’s sort of campy in an old school 80s vibe. 5/10 +3 for the vibe.

Grand Total: 6

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Possessor: Uncut

Highly disturbing movie. Lots of body horror and I just didn’t quite know what was going on. I was more disturbed than anything. Not my cup of tea… 0/10 spoops. No bonus or negatives. There were no animal kills though. It's really hard to see a positive to this movie at all! -5 for kid death. It really was terrible and disturbing.

Grand Total: -5

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See for Me

Thriller type spoopy movie. 0/10 spoops… It wasn’t all that thrill/spoop… +2 for no animal/kid death.

Grand Total: 2

--

[girlwithwolftatoo]

Your “eco-friendly fashion” can go and f*ck itself, and so you do.

Let me explain this: no, I don’t hate the eco-friendly trending of, actually, trying to get the less waste of products and similar stuff, for we need to be more responsible with the planet because, just as Starlord said, we are the idiots living on it. 

The problem comes when this idea of a “green life” becomes just another fashion to follow, building another bloody capitalist industry around it so those poor nasty rich people feel a little less bad for basically being the ones who contributes at more than 50% of carbon emissions  and contamination. What am I talking about? Let’s check some advices to contribute to help the enviroment which are in fact just pacifiers for first world, good wealth people:

Wasting reduction, a.k.a “my zero waste challenge”. Yes, plastic is the big villain at this moment, and to fight against it the population across the world is recomending the use of certain stuff to replace it, like glass recipents (fun fact: some idiotics enjoy saying how millenials are guilty for using plastic containers instead of glass like “my good ol’ granpa used to”, but hey, guess which generation started exploiding petroleum -where plastic comes from- to increase their wealth and reduce costs of production? One clue: not Millenials) or fabric bags. A good idea? Yes, until you remember most of the products like food come in plastic stuff, and I’m not just talking about that first world obssession for covering their fruit and veggies with fucking plastic when, hello, fruits and veggies ARE ALREADY PROTECTED BY THEIR SKIN, YOU JUST NEED TO FUCKING WASH IT A LITTLE BEFORE COOKING. 

Yes, Karen, I know what you’re thinking, “Well, duh, if you don’t like plastic around your food go to an organic market, they have this lovelies glass or fabric containers, stop complaining and do what U need to do”. And here comes problem number two:

Organic everything, the new way to show how rich you are. I have some news for ya, except for the processed food, EVERYTHING IS ORGANIC. The only problem is you are afraid of “toxicity in food for pesticides and dark water” which, guess what, is pushed violently by your bloody wild capitalism in order to produce more food. And now a lot of stores selling you organic, zero-waste, green food is just part of the same system, it just puts a huge stick in front of your ecologic container swearing these overpriced carrot (which vitamins are THE SAME AS THAT DOUBLE-LEGGED CARROT PLACES LIKE FUCKING WAL-MART RATHER THROWS TO THE GARBAGE) is good and fair... yeees, you just need to make some researchs on internet to find out the “fair price” for the peasants and agriculture workers just doesn’t equals the price you are paying to your white, nice lady in white uniform attending your weekly shopping of “clean” veggies and soy and quinoa. 

I know some countries aren’t used of local/producers market where you’re actually buying to the producer and paying a low price that goes directly to the field workers, but here’s a funny thing: the organic stores doesn’t just sell you the idea of “organic, ecologic” stuff, but the key word is “clean”, the idea of a mutant potato sounds “unclean” for them, because if it has a brother stuck in a side of it is because it was soaked in “evil chemistry stuff to make it grow like that”. Well, say thanks to Monsanto for covering the world with their bloody products who are actually doing worse damage than your ugly looking veggies, and all of it just to make money and provide you, person of a wealthy, capitalist, whitey country, of your organic stores and the rest of your nice stuff like year model car and Starbucks. 

In short: organic stores are just face washed supermarkets feeding with the explotation of people in other countries, putting an enormous, unnecessary price to their stuff which not everybody can afford just to make you feel good and a planet savior. 

The cow didn’t suffered, but what about Pablo? I know I’m entering a dangerous point here, but with these eco-friendly trending, veganism has been exploited like the panacea for everything, from enviroment contamination to poor cows and pigs crying in the farms. And yes, becoming more aware of the cruelty towards animals has been the iceberg peak to become more humans and protective to the other living forms in our society, and yes, the carnic industry tends to be awful and utterly disgusting... IN FIRST WORLD COUNTRIES. 

This might sound shocking, but the images of cattle of any shape being tormented since the moment of birth are usually from USA, UK and similar “farms” which act more like a corporation in the middle of a field than like a real farm. Places like South and Central America has a carnic indsutry which works pretty different; you can actually see, in a daily basis, cows and goats walking free in the farm’s territory, eating as much as they want and sometimes getting involved in fights with cars on the road, and though this isn’t an excuse for the late slaughter, at least those aren’t creatures jailed and tortured inside a 5x5 box. Chickens are the same, for instead of killing the males the farms in Mexico and sibbling countries rather let them grow to become the source of meat, the hens aren’t eaten a lot in our culture so they live to lay eggs and they also have a nice life in comparison with their north-americans or european pals. 

In other words: stopping meat consume doesn’t make you the person of the year, but fighting for animal rights and stop eating meat from massive industries will help a lot more than just hating everyone for getting a burger. 

“But still I rather take vegan products, soy and quinoa and other stuff...” Uh, do you remember what I said about the organic stores selling you smoke and mirrors? Yes, perhaps none animal died because of your vegan product (at least not none of the cuties like baby cows and chubby pigs, just a bunch of insects which exists as part of the natural balance and very probably wild life), but a lot of people of third world countries certainly will. Illegal buy of land made by corporations to needy goverments, privatization of fucking water from local comunities in order to create and feed fields of “organic food”, child and indigenous abuse due to this “legal steal” of land and bad payed, forced work (because in the end, the poor need to, you know, fucking live even if it’s at the minimun wage)... All of this so the white lady who enjoys speaking to managers and drives a massive truck just for her and her two children, can go and buy her quinoa and post a pic on Instagram claiming how “nice and easy” is save the enviroment.

Oh, I know, I’m being too mean to that people, am I? I don’t fucking care, because the hidden part of this fashion, the worst part of this idea of “ecologic capitalism” comes with this only truth:

Poor people aren’t “eco-friendly”. Classism has become the key to keep this trending just made for the wealthy, the idea of poor people not being “good with the enviroment” comes from a lot of cultural ideas created by the vision of a thirds of the population. Rich people hates seeing images of countries like India, Colombia, Phillipines and similar because the images sell a complete lie which helps to keep them in a bubble: poor people eating fast food or buying things in plastic containers is gross and they think “Oh thank God I left that life style behind” as they drive his car leaving a lot of CO2 compared to those who takes public transport, that same public transport that looks disgusting in those images I’m talking about, because hat portion of the world has no money to get new vehicles every year, because they can’t #govegan because their only sources of a certain quality food is the normal food, those who doesn’ have a seal of aproval which claims how enviroment-savior is, because that lack of wealth forces them to work much more than people of France, Germany or USA and gaining much less than them, with so little time to think on “being green”, sometimes even with little time to cook natural food in their homes, and of course being unable to pay to an inmigrant to cook for them like... well, you know like who. And because these poor people, who works and dies because their country and the “free market” is pushing them to a modern slavery for international corps which provide to their targets, people who aren’t from the South of the tropics, white and wealthy, free of any guilt because they spend 50 bucks every week in organic coffee which was grounded in the last remains of an indigenous land and harvested for a dark-skin, 10 y/o boy who is forced to work instead of studying because all this economic machine made him part of the poorest side of the society, the idea of being “better than others”. Because they’re selling the idea that being a helper for the enviroment is easy, as long as you can afford it in their terms, becaus they’re making you think your green bag is making more for the world than stop and think how those who make that bag are being paid 5 cents of dollar at day in a dark little room in the East of the world, consumed by the greed and vanity of capitalism.

You can be eco-friendly without spending like an idiot in that special stores and markets. How? You can recycle when you’re able to, you can use public transport or walk for short distances instead of depending of your car, you can carry water in a bottle to avoid buying one-use bottles outside, you can support your local producers market and stop thinking of the “zero waste challenge” and making it the “less, well thinking waste daily basis”. And, for the love of any God you’re praying to, STOP SUPPORTING FUCKING MARKET CHAINS OF ALLEGEDLY VEGAN, GLUTEN-FREE, ECOLOGIC SHIT. If you have the time and money to make your own food or to spend less plastic, FUCKING DO IT FOR YOURSELF AND NOT VIA BUYING USELESS SHIT FROM THOSE COMPANIES.

This was my 2020 year advice, thanks for reading. If you want more info, you can search for “international agriculture explotation”, “organic food origin” and “most enviromental dangerous companies” in your favorite searcher.

[recentanimenews]

Sympathy for the Devilman: The Legacy of Go Nagai's Magnum Opus

I've always had a thing for villains. Unlike my brothers, as a kid I'd always choose the "bad guy" action figures. If they went for the ninja turtle Leonardo, then I'd go for the uber-buff Super Shredder. I personally identified with villainy because of how it connected to the idea of "evil." I personally see evil as a generalized concept that expresses antagonism toward violent and dominant societal structures. Due to a coercive religious upbringing, I now see how my younger self unconsciously found ideologically-oppositional comfort in "evil" art. This eventually led me to one of my most cherished pieces of fiction: Devilman.

Devilman has left an indelible mark on manga and anime creators over the last few decades, inspiring major industry heavyweights such as Hideaki Anno, Kentaro Miura, and Kazuki Nakashima. The series was created by Go Nagai, a manga auteur also responsible for Mazinger Z, Cutie Honey, and Violence Jack (which is a Devilman sequel). Although Devilman retains much of the explicitness native to Go Nagai's usual fare, it uses these graphic elements uniquely to deliver a haunting, unforgettable, and compassionate message.

Let's explore the surprisingly relevant political and social significance of Devilman, along with a few of its animated offshoots. Read on but be forewarned, this article contains major spoilers!

  Devilman (original manga, 1972) 

via Seven Seas Entertainment

  The Devilman manga is a dark antiwar narrative in deep contrast to the standard monster-of-the-day, "evil fights evil" set-up of the anime (which ran at the same time as the manga). Ryo Asuka — who turns out to be Satan, the leader of all demons — helps convince the world that anyone dissatisfied with the status quo could turn into a demon and needs to be killed. Every nation starts a war with each other, and Japan creates the "Demon Busters" to murder anyone suspected of being a demon. This plot twist is the most explicitly political angle in Devilman and a clear critique against the genocide of marginalized peoples. One page features a taste of the global hate brewing around the world: a collective white desire to murder Black communities, the renewal of German anti-Semitism, and hatred for any protestor. There are also many moments that display the horrors of historical genocide when Akira and Ryo travel through time.

Devilman builds additional nuance around this theme with Ryo's character. In the manga's final scene, Ryo describes how demons were once oppressed by God, and that they in turn preyed upon humans in the same way that God preyed upon demons. Ryo recognizes that he continued the same cycle of genocidal hate and marginalization he once suffered. This is a striking moment that functions as a cautionary warning against abusing imbalanced power dynamics, and how even once marginalized groups are still capable of enacting horrors against those with less power. 

via Seven Seas Entertainment

  Ryo's character also made a groundbreaking stride in the representation of marginalized gender and sexual identities. His true form as Satan is easy to interpret as trans, possessing emotional, mental, and physical traits that defy the standard gender binary. The manga also makes it clear that Ryo considers Akira more than a friend, and is actually in love with him. Amazingly, Go Nagai does not use Ryo's trans-coded self or his queer love for Akira as fodder for insulting or disrespectful commentary from other characters. Ryo's gender-variant form is certainly mentioned, but it's never negatively framed or conflated with his murderous attitude toward humanity. Additionally, the manga never suggests Ryo is evil because of his romantic feelings for Akira (a simple, yet important distinction). It feels all the more impressive when you remember that this was made in 1972. Devilman's subversive portrayal of non-normative gender and sexual identity could still be considered groundbreaking even by today's standards.

Devilman OVAs

  The first OVA, The Birth, covers Ryo and Akira's discovery of demon existence, with a very brutal early sequence that shows the bloody survival-of-the-fittest origins of life on Earth (which beautifully expands upon and mirrors the same sequence from the manga). It concludes with a gore-soaked finale where we see Akira's fateful transformation into Devilman. The sequence is filled with face stabs, top-notch body horror, and decapitations galore as Devilman rips apart demon after demon in a nightclub setting.

  The second OVA, The Demon Bird, had the same crew that worked on the first OVA and contains a very similar feel. This OVA is more action-oriented than the first since it doesn't spend time on the build-up and exposition leading to Devilman's initial appearance. The animation and art design is probably even better than the first episode, which is most notable during the fight with Sirene. On a side note, the Manga Entertainment dubs for these first two OVAs are absolutely essential if you're seeking a fun evening with fellow anime nerds with a decent sense of humor. Their typically sleazy dubs — where Manga Entertainment excessively hyped up the seedier, more "adult" side of anime in order to market their products as wildly different from cartoons for kids — contain an assortment of unnecessary profanity and generally crude dialogue compared to the Japanese source material, to great comedic effect.

The third OVA, Amon: The Apocalypse of Devilman, is based on Amon: The Darkside of Devilman manga, an alternate-universe offshoot by Yu Kinutani. This OVA contains a reworked version of the end of Devilman and has a much darker edge compared to the first two OVAs. This entry in the series has an ugly, grim quality to it – such as the horrific depiction of Miki and her brother getting slaughtered by an angry mob — that initially felt off-putting to me. I started to enjoy it more on subsequent viewings however, when I remembered that, well, the entire Devilman mythos is pretty damned bleak in general. I think the desolate mood would have been more bearable had Akira felt like the compassionate, tragic hero of the manga.

Actually, overall I'd say that Akira's portrayal is one of my biggest complaints about these OVAs. He displays a cold lack of care for human life — like in the Demon Bird when he unconcernedly tears through an airplane while fighting Sirene and allows its passengers to presumably plummet to their deaths — that for me, offsets one of the biggest strengths of Devilman's core: that although Akira has the body of a demon, he never loses the tender heart of a human. With that in mind, let's explore Devilman Crybaby. 

  Devilman Crybaby

Devilman Crybaby is my favorite animated incarnation of Devilman, period. I might be in the minority with that opinion, but I think there's a lot to love. Masaaki Yuasa is already one of my favorite recent anime directors — Kaiba, Mind Game, and Lu Over the Wall are highlights  — so it's no surprise I'd be head over heels for his take on a classic Go Nagai story.

Yuasa impressively shifts the '70s setting of the original into modern-day Japan: The group of surly highschoolers from the manga are replaced with rappers and smartphones are everywhere. In the hands of a lesser writer, a modern setting would be no more than a cosmetic, surface-level change of scenery to an already-written narrative. In contrast, Yuasa avoids this trap by using the modern setting to make incisive social commentary relevant to our times: social media is the means for both horrendous and beautiful moments in the show. It leads to Miki's murder when she posts on Instagram to defend Akira, but also serves as the online catalyst that unites Devilmen across the globe (in contrast to the original manga, where a set of demon-possessed psychic monks unite the Devilmen). Yuasa explained this in a 2018 Japan Times article:

"Today's situation is a lot closer to 'Devilman' than it was when Nagai wrote it in the '70s," he says. "The popularity of social media means people are a lot more connected, for good and bad – like someone getting shot over a video game. We learn about unarmed black people being killed by police, people being tortured and the rise of nationalism in politics. In Japan, too, where a lot of problems are openly blamed on foreigners.

"But it can also help spread good that we wouldn't otherwise know about. We see people coming out as gay or trans on social media, and there's a greater opening up and acceptance of different opinions and lifestyles."

  Another beautiful aspect of the show is how Yuasa amplifies the queer elements present in the manga. Ryo and Akira's relationship feels even more loaded with romantic undertones, and Yuasa also introduces two queer characters unseen in the original manga. One of the characters is named Miki Kuroda, initially portrayed as a jealous antagonistic foil to the Miki we all know and love. Miki Kuroda changes as the episodes progress and she becomes a Devilman, and we eventually see her sacrifice herself in an attempt to save Miki Makimura, who she confesses her love to before dying. It's refreshing to see a queer woman represented in a story that previously had none, and incorporated in a way that feels organic and thoughtfully integrated within the larger narrative.

  In contrast to the Akira of the OVAs, I absolutely adore this incarnation. Yuasa did a stellar job showing not only Akira's horny goth-jock side but also his compassionate traits. As the name implies, there's a lot of crying in Devilman Crybaby, and Akira is responsible for at least half the tears throughout the brief 10-episode series. Akira evokes such intense compassion and cares for people around him, which is a noticeable deviation from his cold demeanor in the OVAs. The human heart at the core of Devilman is on full display here, taking the emotional elements from the original and turning the volume up to 11. Though the art style and setting might be drastically different from what you'd typically expect of a Devilman remake, Yuasa did a masterful job honoring the source material while injecting it with fresh life and even fresher modern resonance. 

What other aspects of Devilman  — or its many incarnations  — did you find important or interesting? Let me know in the comments below!

Do you love anime? Do you love writing? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[sociopath-analysis]

Sociopath Profile: Felix

Armored (left) and real face (right) Real Name: Isaac Gates From the web animated/machinima series Red vs. Blue (2003-present[valid as of late September 2019]) Voiced by Miles Luna First appearance: “Finders Keepers” S11E12

Felix. It’s pretty hard to take seriously as an antagonist with a name like that. (His real name’s better but still not that threatening.) However, he’s an almost textbook example of a psychopath. Probably the most fitting one in the whole series.

[SPOILERS BELOW]

He’s initially introduced as an ally and for the most part, he’s able to fool the Blood Gulch crew well enough that no one suspects that there’s any foul play. However, even in the beginning, he shows signs of a lack of empathy since he shows no concern about the war in Chorus. Only being in it for the money rather than the cause as he will openly admit. And when Tucker screws up the mission and gets two soldiers killed, he initially looks like he’s peeved but he then says what he did was awesome that he got the data. And of course, while it’s the grand scheme of Hargrove, Felix shows that he can manipulate people since he is able to trick the rebels into war while Locus helps do the same. Manipulating Kimball after the BGC is believed to be dead is a good example.

Tucker: How did you convince Kimball to go to the capital? Felix: Vanessa? Pfft. She was easy. I just made up some story about how you all died heroically. You shoulda seen it, man. I gave the performance of a fucking lifetime. Got all broken up, threw in a few dramatic pauses, and they just ate it up.

Usually, he doesn’t even need to lie to people to manipulate them. While he does lie a lot of the time, he usually relies on telling half-truths and omitting information. Other than a couple of instances where he does outright lie, he can get by with using double-meaning such as when he tells the prisoners that he will let them off the ship if they don’t join. He lets them off, alright… by getting them sucked out of the airlock. His monologuing during the reveal shows many rebukes to the various things he told them during his time with the Reds and Blues and showing that they weren’t technically false. Making his lack of empathy openly apparent is one way to make them trust him since he’s so candid about not giving a shit about anyone living or dying.

Sarge: You dirty liar! Felix: Whoa, hey now. I never actually lied to you idiots. Well, except for one thing. “You’re some of the galaxy’s greatest soldiers!” Pfft! Now that couldn’t be further from the truth.

And the fact that he can still act like the laid back jokey kind of guy even after he is revealed as a bad guy shows his superficial charm. He even describes himself as more of the people-person between him and Locus. And this is just after tricking the crew on the prison ship into thinking he was friendly. He is always charismatic even when crushing the hope of others or slaughtering people. It only serves to highlight his lack of empathy and make him look like even more of a tool. In Season 14, set before the Chorus Trilogy, he tends to be this way around Locus.

It’s openly apparent that Felix only cares about himself above all. All he cares about getting money and having fun on the job (which usually results in casualties). And it is obvious that, as stated before, he has no empathy for anyone. Working with Locus, he shows that he openly hates him and would kill him. And the only reason he’s alive is that Locus can protect him. And he repeatedly calls Hargrove a prick which shows he has no respect for his employer (not that he really should anyway since he’s not wrong). He casually discusses the war on Chorus as just business as usual. As if the lives lost don’t matter. People who trust him ultimately getting slaughtered due to his actions is something that doesn’t matter anymore to him than exterminating bugs.

Even when he works as a hero for hire, he shows that he is only thinking about his own interests. He comes up with pragmatic reasons to bend things their way. Even justifying the ransom of a man (who is admittedly very guilty) when Sirus says that it would make them no better than crooks.

He also displays a pathological need for excitement and entertainment. Even though the Chorus job would make him enough money to retire, he says he’s in his prime and wonders how he’s gonna top this job. Many of the unnecessary risks he takes also reflect this, such as when he let the alarm get tripped while trying to conscript the prisoners of the UNSC into the Charon army. He is also seen killing a few people on his downtime. And he’s a genuine sadist as well. He prefers to draw out suffering for as long as he can whether it be emotional or physical. As opposed to the more detached and professional approach of Locus. It proves to be his fatal flaw since he tends to do this just before defeating someone and it serves him better just to kill them. Something that is taken advantage of twice.

When he loses the upper hand, all that charisma he had will be replaced with genuine anger such as in most cases of APD. It’s more subtle after Tucker revealed he was recording him monologuing and he releases it for the People on Chorus to see. He barely restrains his frustration when he finds out what happened. Near the end of Season 13, he goes completely off the rails with pure murderous rage. Season 14 shows him childishly throwing tantrums whenever he doesn’t get what he wants. Even in the present day, he’s prone to throwing tantrums. And he definitely gets angered with the BGC and their stupidity.

“I! AM EXTREMELY! FRUSTRATED!”

And it’s hard to miss his enormous ego even if you’re Church with a sniper rifle. Felix loves to praise himself as one of the best mercenaries around. His cocky attitude and need to gloat to his enemies just before defeating them reflect this. It’s the very reason he gets so worked up over being beaten and outsmarted by the BGC many times. It’s a major hit to his pride and he wants nothing more than to see them die slowly and painfully. And the fact that he needs Locus to live and Locus doesn’t need him is the only thing that scares him for this very reason. While he will accept the help for pragmatic reasons, this doesn’t make him feel good. But no doubt he will still believe himself to be amazing.

“I am fucking awesome.“

And of the many mistakes that he makes, he blames himself for none of them. He tends to shift blame to the victors getting lucky. Specifically, the recording that got Charon exposed for stoking the flames of the Chorus civil war. He blames it on Tucker getting lucky rather than him blabbing his mouth. Tucker and Epsilon just took advantage of this flaw. And this pride is one thing that proves to be his downfall quite a few times. Especially with final stand being similar to a rage quit because they bested him.

His personality is a virtual checklist of psychopathic symptoms. (I could’ve done that for this profile, but I preferred the standard style for this one.) And possibly the worst monster in the series.

RvB Sociopath List

[akatokuro]

The Inevitable StS Rewatch, Episodes 20-22

AH YES, AFTER TWENTY EPISODES, MY TRUE ANIME STS NEMESIS HAS ARRIVED....... THE ANTI-CAMUS.............

- When I first watched Saint Seiya a million (or six) years ago, I didn't really have a strong opinion on the Crystal Saint. Like, yumetabibito made sure to inform me what was actually up with the "Hyouga's master" situation, and it was obvious at a glance that Camus was the superior option for drama and Hyouga's development, but... he seemed okay for what he was?

- But on rewatch, phew, the Crystal Saint comparatively is... really, really bad!

- And it's not like Camus got much more screentime or anything versus the Crystal Saint. Camus is literally featured in like two episodes total out of 114. I don't even really count Camus as being present in the majority of the Hades arc, because he's there as part of a blob with a Saga-shaped head so Saga can dramatically Athena Exclamation at people. But even so, Camus is so much a better character in like every way possible holy cow.

- Before delving into that, though, I do want to note that a) Marin is super cool! and b) these early Aiolia cameos continue to be charming and also hilarious. I really seriously doubt Toei knew Aiolia was a Gold Saint at the time of writing these appearances, and only had his cameo in the first chapter of the manga to go off of. This leads to some really weird but ultimately interesting depictions, like the Silvers repeatedly disrespecting poor Aiolia hard. It was an accident, but it really works for his character and his endless, endless rage.

- Also, Shun and Saori's friendship is cute as fuck. See, this is why even though the filler is ridiculous, I do like some of the feelings of the dynamics we get out of it before the Bronzies get trapped by eternal stairs.

- I LOVE that Seiya repeatedly loses against Shaina early on and keeps having to be rescued from her by others. I really do like Shaina, but I think her having a crush on Seiya is super unnecessary and a total shame - I love her as ruthless and effective, but not necessarily evil.

- Marin throwing shade at Shaina and trolling her is fantastic. Shaina, fall in love with Marin, not Seiya, goddammit! She is objectively the superior option even putting aside Seiya's brain eventually going full broke for Saori!

- My Camusfamily-loving heart did eeeee to get a quick peek at the village I'm sure they had to go to to buy supplies and such. Please give me a filler episode of nothing but Camus terrifying the grocers as he simply tries to purchase carrots for his kids. Look, he doesn't mean to be scary, guys, he's really just figuring out which carrots to buy, it's just his face...

- I always wonder what's up with Camus (and his kids) wearing, like, the sleeveless shirts but also legwarmers? okay guys.jpg

- Okay okay okay. Crystal Saint time.

- It's really funny to think that the Crystal Saint actually probably preceded Camus as a character concept, since we know Kurumada literally pulled Camus straight from his ass ten seconds before introducing him. What makes it kind of a fun thought exercise to compare both of Hyouga's mentors is that they're really the same character concept and "type."  In some ways CS almost feels like a rough draft for Camus, honestly: Hyouga's kind-hearted master who loves him, and really wants the best for him, but whom Hyouga is tragically forced to fight and kill. 

- Crystal Saint, however, plays this absolutely straight with zero nuance or deviation from the script. He is a Good Guy (slaughtering the poor Sanctuary guards and snapping that one dude's neck aside) who objects to Sanctuary's brutality and evil. He smiles and laughs and pats Hyouga on the head and openly encourages him. The only reason he and Hyouga are forced to fight is because he is literally brainwashed.

- Aquarius Camus, on the other hand, needs no fucking outside influence or brainwashing to make a giant fucking trainwreck out of the situation involving the student he loves. HE DOES IT ALL ON HIS OWN, BABY.

- That instantly makes him a better character, because Camus - again, with pretty much the same amount of screentime - manages an interiority and an agency because he's conflicted about what he's doing and does not know the right or best thing to do, and his priorities are a complete tangled mess. He doesn't have it in him to just turn against Sanctuary on a whim. But he doesn't want Hyouga to die. But he doesn't go out of his way to find out what Hyouga is trying to do and if it's right or not, because oh my god Hyouga is going to fucking die aaaa aaaa aaaaaaaaaaa oh god aaaaaaaaaaa

- Part of what makes me like Camus so much is that he feels really interesting and unique for a "good shounen anime mentor" in what an utter fucking mess he is. Most characters in his type, like the Crystal Saint, essentially have their shit together to be very stable and solid figures for the protagonist to fall back on. They might put up a certain harsh facade in order to push their students forward, but ultimately they are in control of themselves and are deliberately orchestrating how they present and such for their students' benefit. I'm thinking of, like, figures like Hiko from Kenshin, or Izumi from FMA, those sorts. But not Camus. He is held in extremely high regard as a beloved mentor by the text - "not a day goes by that I haven't thought of you!" cries Hyouga (lol), and there's no questioning his love for his student, but he is a legitimate panicky fuckup who makes an assload of genuine, unnecessary mistakes in how he handles things.

- I should probably save some of my Camusramblings for when Camus, like, actually shows up though huh. OR I COULD JUST REPEAT MYSELF WHEN THE TIME COMES. YEAH. I'LL PROBABLY DO THAT.

- I also want to note that it's fucking hilarious that, like, Yakov tells Hyouga "oh no the Crystal Saint is evil now" and Hyouga is like "sounds legit" and fights him; meanwhile against the, er, "master of his master", Camus, Hyouga cries and breaks down and can't bring himself to punch him. I... hmm. HMMMMM

- But that's what makes Hyouga and Camus's relationship great and fun. The love between them is what gets emphasized, more than anything else - because their duty as Saints gets very entangled in the doubt that that love brings them.

- ANYWAY. MOVING ON. tl;dr, Camus is so obviously a superior option for "Hyouga's tragic mentor" in every way - as an individual character, and in his relationship with Hyouga, and how events play out - it's obvious why the franchise as a whole sort of innocently whistled and nonchalantly kicked Crystal Saint down a cliff.

- Shunrei and Shiryuu are cute as fuck! I don't give a fuck! They're sort of fun and unique in this setting as Shunrei is a "normal person" who is forced to just sort of deal with what it means for her beloved person to be a Saint.

- W-why do soldiers from Sanctuary have guns...?

- WHY BUILD A COMPLETELY RANDOM ICE PYRAMID?

- I like how they even ask the filler villain "why the fuck are you building a random ice pyramid" and it's like "IT'S A MONUMENT OKAY. FOR REASONS."

- I do like Hyouga being well-known and beloved by the villagers, though! I could totally see that! Playing interference for his extremely socially awkward master when they need to buy carrots...

- Camusfamily is forever my favorite, but Dohkofamily can be pretty fucking cute too...

- Boy, how many times is Saori's house gonna get blown up...

- Saori's reactions continue to feel really fluid and fun if you pay attention to her. I really like her panicking at first at her house getting blown up (AGAIN), but then forcing herself to hold it together and do the rationally correct thing, with obvious difficulty.

- Tatsumi you useless FUCK

- oh my god tatsumi giving in instantly and giving them information. why didn't you  guys let ikki kill him. jesus fuck

- It's a small thing, but I appreciate Saori remaining focused on her worry for Shun in this situation instead of, like, falling back on crying for Seiya or something. It's a bunch of little things like that that make me able to like them as a shounen hero/heroine pairing. Saori has a lot of different things on her plate, not just Seiya.

- Chains aren't the best weapon to fight against a fire-based Saint, huh, Shun? Try hard! If only your boyfriend was here!

- PHOENIX IKKI TRIUMPHANTLY REAPPEARS IN THE ANIME EARLY TO DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING UNTIL HIS MANGA REAPPEARANCE EXCEPT BE REALLY CREEPILY OOC. THANKS, IKKI!

- i know it's a meme but i still can't deal with that bit ikki waving shun's tears in his face what the fuck

[superherotigerarchives]

My Last Jedi review...

Now it’s finally time to talk about my opinions on The Last Jedi!

The short answer is: I enjoyed the movie for the most part, and I appreciate that it was able to subvert expectations and take a different route than normal.

Now for the long answer, one most of you probably won’t stick around for :P

(P.S Forgive me if I mention things out of order. My memory isn’t always the best!)

For a little background, I went to see the Last Jedi at the midnight screening with my cousin and 15 of his friends. I was dressed as Rey, keeping with the tradition of cosplay at midnight screenings as I had for the past two years at both TFA and Rogue One. I’m telling you this because every time I see a new Star Wars movie, I have the most amazing, awe-stuck experience, and hence, my opinion will be biased and faults that others may realise can be glazed over by myself as I had such fond memories of these movies. So no, my opinion is not perfect, but to me if I enjoyed a movie while watching it that’s all that really matters.

Now to the review!

Starting off, I really enjoyed the first space battle, and I felt it was a great way to start off the movie. I was a little jolted out of the Star Wars universe at first due to the different camera techniques that are not often seen in these movies, but I like that they’re branching out into more cinematic shots and willing to explore their techniques more. Seeing Carrie Fisher and her daughter on the big screen did make my heart throb for a moment, and I still love Leia as much as ever, especially the dynamic between Poe and herself. They were very much a mother-son dynamic, and I still love Leia’s snappy little “You’re demoted” with an equally sassy slap!

I enjoyed where they went with Hux. He wasn’t fleshed out, but he was able to be a comic relief in my opinion, one you often didn’t expect. Some people may not like this, but when both screenings I attended to laughed at the first scene between Hux and Poe, I know I’m not the only one that enjoyed the humour. I thought it landed well, and because of my twisted sense of humour I quite enjoyed Hux becoming the ragdoll to the powerful force users. Just a little light-hearted fun in my opinion.

So basically, the first space battle was great, and I think it was a strong start to a strong movie.

Now, I’ll move onto the Rey plot as Finn’s one wasn’t really explored much until after Rey’s started. Everyone expected this massive moment when Luke got his lightsabre, something huge, something spectacular! And to be honest, I really liked that he metaphorically and literally threw those expectations away. So often the passionate fans of Star Wars lose sight of the fact that we, the audience, do not have control. And we shouldn’t do! How boring would a movie be if it always went the way we wanted?

To the fans that lightsabre is important, something passed down through the Skywalker legacy. But to Luke, it’s a memory of that traumatising day when he lost a limb, almost fell to his death, lost his friend to a bounty hunter, and most importantly, found out his father was one of the most evil figures in the galaxy! To be honest, I wouldn’t want to hold on to something like that either! There must be so much bad energy surrounding that sword, and that’s not even mentioning all those younglings that were slaughtered to the blade.

So yes, I do think it was appropriate for Luke not to care about the sabre. I wasn’t expecting him to do it in such a drama queen fashion, but we’re talking about the Skywalkers here! When have they ever done something not over the top?

Now, I’m going to mention something really quickly, because I’m going to write its own post for this topic.

How the KRIFF is hyperspace tracking a new technology?! Everyone’s acting like it’s the most original idea they’ve ever heard, and people are mentioning that Rogue One hinted to it, but I’m like “Hey, how about that episode of Rebels where THEY WERE LITERALLY TRACKED THROUGH HYPERSPACE WITH A TRACKER?!?!?!” Is it just me, or did this just feel really off? I mean, if the Empire had already at least started that kind of technology, surely the First Order with all their fancy equipment would have that right? And how did the Rebels not know about it? Was the Ghost crew just all chill after that death defying attack and like “We won’t let the other cells know they can literally be tracked through hyperspace by the Empire and destroyed within seconds.” But that’s just me, a Rebels nut that tries to connect Rebels to anything imaginable.

Now that my little rant is over, we’ll move on.

After finding out the ship is being tracked through hyperspace, Finn tries to leave so that Rey won’t accidentally stumble into the battle and get destroyed in the process. Now, I REALLY love this scene between Rose and Finn. It’s great chemistry, and the part where Rose goes “I’ve had to taser 3 other people today trying to escape in this very pod!” and Finn’s all like “That’s disgraceful” *Desperately trying to shove his escape pack out of view*

Anyways, love it, it’s great.

One thing that confuses me is how Finn knows the layout of every First Order ship when he was just… a janitor? Like I get it, funny joke and all but how would the guy that presumably had only worked on Star Killer Base know the layout to Snoke’s ship? And how would Rose, who is supposed to be just an average resistance fighter who’s always in the background, know how to disable something like that? They obviously didn’t even know this technology existed, so how did they know all that information about the tracker and how to disable it? I imagine a hyperspace tracker would work differently to a normal respect in some way or another. But that’s just me.

Now, Kylo Ren in this entire movie was AMAZING! Adam Driver played him so well, I’ve never seen someone be able to express such conflict in merely facial expressions alone! Especially the scene where he’s in the elevator and his eye is twitching, and you can tell he can’t handle the literal roast Snoke just gave him and smashes his helmet to the wall. I love it so much, and just Kylo Ren/Ben Solo was portrayed so well in this movie! And yes, I am one of those people who believe Kylo Ren will get redeemed. Not in the sense that he will come to the light, but in the sense that he and Rey and will balance the force together. I’ll get more into that later.

Okay, now I’ll get to the part that really tripped me out. You all have to admit, that scene with Leia flying through space was pretty strange right? Now, it’s not impossible for a character to survive space. Actually, Kanan Jarrus survived being ejected into space twice, and he still lives at the time I’m writing this. But in those cases Kanan was either A) Saved by someone else as he was unconscious or B) Had things to cling on to and propel himself off long enough to get back into an oxygenated area. Leia on the other hand really surprised me, and not entirely in the best way. She just suddenly… willed her way into the ship? It looked very out of place, especially in a Star Wars movie.

The best way you could fix this while still keeping the theme is to have the TIE’s blow up the command room, but not let their bodies get like… flung so far out? If you kept their bodies floating within the area of the now broken and exposed command room, you could have Leia use the debris to get to the door and then save her. I don’t know, I just feel like that would have been a bit more believable. The force is strong and all but I don’t know if it can go that far.

Anyways, briefly mentioning Holdo, I wasn’t sure how to feel about this character at first. She was giving off a really shifty vibe so naturally I thought she was a spy or at the very least was trying to sabotage their escape, but turns out she was in the right. That’s great and all but it still doesn’t explain why she didn’t tell anyone this plan of hers? Like, if she had just told Poe from the start, he wouldn’t have immediately jumped onto Finn and Rose’s risky plan. Little bit of a plot hole but I can glaze over it.

So, this is getting super long and I’m going to go analyse each plot thread separately now:

The Finn and Rose plot:

Though I think the relationship sort of jumped out of nowhere, I did enjoy their dynamic, and I would like to see them get to spend more time with each other. The casino did feel a little dull on the Star Wars scale, but things like the water ship that became airborne when it left the water was awesome, and I like those animals that they eventually ride on. For those of you who’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know I threw out the suggestion that DJ was Ezra, and at the time that seemed fitting as I was hellbent to get Rebels in there somewhere! But I’m pleased to say that I enjoy DJ as his own separate character. He’s quirky, and just really laid back and relaxed. I really enjoyed that, and not ever really knowing who’s side he was on was great. Like, you think he might be untrustworthy after asking for payment, then he gives Rose back her necklace, and then he ends up betraying them again when his life is put at risk. I love his character, and the little things like BB8 and him discussing who owned the ship was great.

Finn: This isn’t your ship, is it?

BB8: *Beeps*

DJ: *Laughs* He said I stole it. *Glances at BB8* We stole it together.

It’s just bits like these that are the icing on the cake.

I know people are saying this plot was unnecessary and all, but I really enjoyed it and I think if they had taken this plot out and only focused on Rey and Luke, it would have lost of a lot of it’s impact. The Rey and Luke scenes are great because they’re scarce, just like how Luke and Rey don’t actually interact that much. What would we even see? Rey practising stuff while Luke silently tries to figure out his own stuff? I think people forget that sometimes less is more, and I think it applies well to the Luke and Rey plot. I enjoyed the Canto Bite plot, and it was an interesting way to show how those outside of the Resistance and First Order stand in terms of the war.

Okay now to the Poe plot:

This was an interesting one. There wasn’t huge amounts of it from memory, but when it did show up it always made me think. After all, we saw this plot from Poe’s perspective. We love Poe, and even though we all know he can be reckless, everyone knows he has the best intentions and roots for him. We follow him as he tries to help Finn and Rose the best he can, while locking horns with Holdo, a character we don’t know very much about. That puts us in a position where we stand on Poe’s side because we trust him as a person more than Holdo, and it ultimately could have ended in all their deaths. It’s pretty interesting when you think about it…

Now to the meat of the story! The Rey/Luke and Rey/Kylo plots:

Luke and Rey have an interesting dynamic. You can tell there’s a part of Luke who’s curious who Rey is, and naturally wants to help her in some respect. But he’s held back by the fear of failure. That he will lose Rey the same way he lost Ben. So he pushes her away to protect her from himself, only to push her straight into the one who was pulling her to the dark. It’s such a brilliant dynamic, and I think that’s what’s so brilliant about the Yoda scene. My favourite line is “The greatest teacher, failure is…” because it’s so true! You learn so much more from your mistakes then you ever could from constantly being correct. Luke made a mistake with Ben, and he lost him. Now he could choose to wallow in that mistake, or use it to use advantage and learn how to stop it from happening next time. It’s a really good message, one I think should be encourage more often. It’s alright to do something wrong, it’s alright if you make a mistake. We shouldn’t be punishing kids for low grades, and instead encouraging them to learn and grow from these experiences.

The Rey and Kylo dynamic is even more interesting! I definitely found it the most interesting part of the movie by far. Basically, Kylo and Rey become connected through the force and are able to see each other and converse across the galaxy. I love how we see their dynamic go from ‘Immediately shoots at and fight of where Luke is again’ to,

“I’ve never felt so alone in my entire life…”

“You’re not alone…”

“Neither are you…”

AHHH! It was done so well. There’s definitely something awesome about these two characters getting to learn from each other. Rey can sympathise with Ben’s feeling of abandonment, and Kylo and sympathise with Rey’s feelings of loneliness. They are two sides of the same coin, and they compliment each other so well. I think it’s important to note that Rey cares about Ben Solo, not Kylo Ren. And even though Kylo Ren is saying to do whatever it takes to rule, Ben Solo is yearning for the compassion that Rey gives him.

Kylo Ren and Ben Solo are two different people. It’s not uncommon in the Star Wars universe to identify themselves as two different people. Darth Vader was considered different to Anakin Skywalker. Caleb Dume was not the same as Kanan Jarrus. And if you go a bit deeper characters like Count Vidian was different to his old former life before he decomposed due to disease.

It’s an interesting concept, but Rey and Ben work so well together, as seen by that AMAZING throne room fight scene! Seriously, best fight scene in Star Wars to date! It really displays each of their powers really well, and shows how much stronger the light and the dark are together than apart. Speaking of which, the idea of balance is pointed to heavily in this movie. When Rey is meditating, she says things along the lines of “Warmth, cold. Life, death. Peacefulness, chaos. Life, death. And in the middle, a force…” The force is the balance, and they’re using the concept of yin and yang in that one cannot exist without the other, and both are needed to be complete.

Rey is the light, and Kylo is the dark, as shown by Snoke’s quote of: “Darkness rises, and the light to meet it,” and also while speaking to Rey “I warned my young pupil that as he grew stronger, his counter in the light would grow too.” (Or something along those lines.)

I really like where this is going, and even though Kylo wasn’t redeemed in this movie, I do believe he and Rey will work together to start a new Order of Grey Jedi by episode 9. I’ll probably get more in depth about this stuff in another post, but I just thought I’d get that stuff off my mind.

And also, for those upset that Snoke was useless, let me tell you this. Snoke is just a stepping stone to exhibit Kylo’s power. No where was it explained that Snoke would be something bigger. That was just an assumption fans had imposed onto the character. Same with Rey’s parentage. No where did it indicate she was part of the Skywalker legacy, that was just something that was assumed because the saga is about the Skywalkers (even though Kylo is there as the Skywalker but that’s an argument for a whole other day). Basically, the Last Jedi reversed the expectations by making Rey a nobody (thank the force for that), and making Snoke just a tool for Kylo’s rise to power. And it does NOT make it a bad movie for doing that.

In my opinion, I think people had something they carefully theorised on for two whole years, a movie of their own, and were disappointed when they got something different. It’s alright to want to think things out guys, and I’m glad so many people are so passionate about something that they think out their own plan of events. Heck, even I’m guilty of it. But when you let those expectations grow so large that it’s impossible to please, the only person you are hindering is yourself.

Anyways, this post is so long, so I’m going to make a list of things I like and things I didn’t like about the movie to sum it up:

  Dislikes:

-Leia floating through space like a wizard

-Luke milking a creature on screen, like wtf?

-Initial shot of Yoda when he appears. (Once the tree is burning and he takes on more of his original puppet behaviour than CGI it’s much better.)

-Finn knowing the layout of all First Order ships even though he’s just a janitor

-Hyperspace tracking being a new technology

-Rose somehow able to disable a technology that is supposedly new and never heard of.

  Likes:

-“Well when you see Hux let him know Leia has a very important message… from his mother.”

-“I believe he’s tooling with you sir.”

-BB8 plugging the wires with his kriffing head

-Awesome yet sad sacrifice of Rose’s sister

-Carrie Fisher’s daughter on screen

-CARRIE ON SCREEN!

-Consequences to risky actions

-Big deal, Big Deal, BIG DEAL!

-“Finn, leaking, naked, what?”

-Luke throwing the lightsabre like a drama queen

-Chewie breaking down the door like hulk

-Rey literally reaching out her hand

-Luke using a freaking blade of grass to mess with Rey.

-“I feel something!” “Yeah? That’s the force!” “Oh my gosh I feel it!” “You’re really strong with it!” “Really?! I-“ *smacks her with said grass*

-PORGS!

-R2D2 and Luke reunion!

-“Hey holy grounds buddy, watch the language.”

-Force bond

-Rey, the whole way through

-Ben Solo, the whole way through

-Luke Skywalker, the whole way through

-Finn, the whole way through

-DJ and BB8, holy damn they’re like partners in crime

-Yoda sending a flipping lightning bolt cause Luke can’t finish the job

-“Page turners, they were not.”

-“The greatest teacher, failure is.”

-Hux being a kriffing ragdoll

-Crystal foxes!

-Throne room fight scene

-“Bring it on Chrome Dome!”

-“You were always scum…” “Rebel Scum?” *Mic drop*

-Holdo’s sacrifice

-Crait. Just the entire salty, little planet

-Luke and Leia reunion

-Luke brushing off his shoulder like the drama queen he is-

-Realising no footprints were left in any of the Luke battle scenes on Crait

-Rey lifting all those stones like a boss

-Rey and Finn reunion!

Basically, I love the movie, and you’re allowed to agree or disagree about it. That’s the brilliant part about opinions. We’re all allowed to have one, and no one should be disrespected over it. I doubt many of you made it through my analysis, and I’ll probably go into certain points in more detail in the future, but thanks anyways. Hope you have a great day, and may the force be with you always!

-Superherotiger

[dailyveganmeal]

Is Vegan Popularity on the Rise? Analysis with Google Trends

Is it just me, or does the Vegan population seem to be exploding at a rapid rate right now? It seems like there are more and more Vegan options in the grocery store every time I visit. There must be much more demand for Vegan options if companies are increasing their Vegan offerings like this, right? Let's see if we can analyze this somehow. Google Trends is an interesting tool we can use to see if people are indeed getting more interested in Veganism. We search for the term "Vegan" in Google Trends and set the date to the longest we're allowed to, January 1st, 2004 til now, November 12th, 2019.

Google Trends for "Vegan" | January 2004 - November 2019 To read this graph is pretty easy. 100 refers to the most popular the term has ever been in Google searches. It looks like the peak time for Vegan searches was in July 2017. Right now the trend number is 99. We're almost at an all-time high! If we look at the line graph since the beginning, it's on a steady uphill climb overall. It definitely looks like Vegan searching is on the long-term rise. It's logical to assume that the Vegan population is growing, which is leading to an increase in Vegan search terms.

Estimated Vegan Population at 6% in the United States (2019)

According to a recent article from veganbits.com (updated on October 27th, 2019) it's estimated that 6% of the United States population is Vegan. This is an enormous increase from a previous study in 2016 where only 0.5% of the United States population was estimated to be Vegan. Now we can see why Vegan products are getting more and more shelf space. The Vegan population is indeed growing, and it's growing exponentially!

Why Is Vegan Popularity on the Rise?

More studies, documentaries, and books are coming out all the time about how beneficial a plant-based diet is. The three main reasons people are turning to a plant-based diet are for the environment, for health benefits, and for the animals.

For the Environment This article from the Oxford Academic states that Veganism has the lowest carbon footprint of every major diet. Vegan is the lowest at rating 1, then vegetarian 1.1, and pescatarian 1.9. The highest footprint ratings were omnivore 2.3, paleo 2.8, and keto was the highest of all at 4.2. Animal agriculture is not sustainable. It takes too much land to grow crops to feed all of the livestock. It's also a leading cause of global warming from the high amounts of nitrous oxide, methane, and carbon dioxide it produces. 26% of the Earth's land is used for grazing livestock, while another 33% of the land is used to grow livestock feed (source: OneGreenPlanet). That means almost 60% of all of the Earth's land is used for animal agriculture. That's too much! It's not sustainable. Rainforests are being burned back everyday to make more land for animal agriculture. Rainforests are climate regulators, and we need them more than ever right now! This quote from NationalGeographic explains the impact of losing rainforests: "Rainforest loss is a double-whammy for the climate: It contributes emissions while removing a future potential source of carbon storage." There is an eye-opening article published in August 2019 from npr.org - To Slow Global Warming, U.N. Warns Agriculture Must Change. It explains that we need to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half within the next decade to avoid irreversible impacts on some ecosystems. In the article there is a quote explaining how the significance of reducing meat consumption would affect us: "The World Resource Institute estimates that if people in the U.S. and other heavy meat-eating countries reduced their consumption of beef (and other meat from ruminants) to about 1.5 burgers per person, per week, it would nearly eliminate the need for additional agricultural expansion (and associated deforestation), even in a world with 10 billion people. Check out "Cowspiracy" if you haven't seen it yet. It could very well blow your mind! More people are becoming aware of the negative effects of animal agriculture on our beloved Earth, thus leading to an increase of the Vegan population. For Health Benefits According to this clinical trial study where participants switched to a plant-based diet consisting of raw fruits, vegetables, seeds, and avocados for 4 weeks, they noticed drastic improvements in their overall health. The study led to this conclusion: "A defined plant‐based diet can be used as an effective therapeutic approach in the clinical setting in the treatment of HTN, hypercholesterolemia, and other cardiovascular risk factors while simultaneously reducing overall medication usage. Patients may find this therapeutic approach preferable to conventional and costly drug therapy. Further replication trials are needed with larger sample sizes, control groups, and other dietary comparison groups."

Whole Food Plant-Based (WFPB) Diet Foods What about the Keto diet, it's healthy right? The Keto diet is super popular these days. People seem to be able to lose weight at a rapid pace with the Keto diet. This diet is low on carbohydrates and high on fats and proteins. A person on a Keto diet eats mostly meat and dairy, limiting fruits and vegetables, while eliminating grains. In the short-term this diet can lead to weight-loss, but in the long term this diet is putting massive damage on the body. Animal-based products contain high amounts of LDL cholesterol (saturated fats) which have been shown to increase plaque in arteries leading to heart disease. They've also been linked to increase risk of diabetes and cancers. Since someone on the Keto diet eats animal products as their main food source, they're adding dangerous amounts of bad cholesterol (LDL / saturated fats). If this person keeps up this diet for the long term, the results could be tragic due to much higher increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

The long-term effects of a Keto animal-based diet could be devastating Is any Vegan diet healthy? No! Junk-food that doesn't contain animal-products is still detrimental to a human's health because it often contains trans-fats, which are another form of LDL cholesterol. Trans-fats are even considered worse than saturated fats from animal products (animal products contain small amounts of trans-fats also!) because they lower good cholesterol called HDL, while raising bad cholesterol. Imagine how much damage you're doing to your body if you're regularly consuming animal-products AND junk-food. Heart.org says that trans-fats can be found in many fried foods, like doughnuts. They're also found in many baked goods including cakes, pie crusts, frozen pizza, cookies, crackers, and many types of hard margarine. Look for "0 g trans fat" and no hydrogenated oils on ingredient lists of food labels to limit your trans-fats! A plant-based diet can be very healthy though if the diet is fairly balanced, and trans-fats are avoided or limited. Someone who eats a healthy plant-based diet can reverse previous damage done to their bodies and even cure existing ailments, as shown in this clinical trial. For the Animals Definition of Veganism: Veganism is a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose. It's obvious that animals are killed in order to provide meat. What's not so obvious to many people are the brutally tragic conditions that farm animals must endure through their lives to provide humans with meat and by-products like milk and eggs. We're led to believe that animals are free-range and live a good life before they are humanely killed. It's simply not the case. Humane slaughter is an oxymoron. It doesn't make sense. Even if an animal doesn't feel pain when murdered, it's not humane. Humane is defined as: "marked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration for humans or animals". Killing an animal when it's not necessary is NOT humane. It's not being compassionate, sympathetic, or considerate to the animals. Just think about it, would you want to be humanely killed, or would you rather live? These animals want to live. No matter how people try to justify animal slaughter, it is not humane. There are many graphic videos you can watch to see how bad the conditions are for farm animals, who have feelings just like you and me. Check out Dominion and/or Earthlings if you want to see how farm animals are treated. It is truly sad and disgusting how they're enslaved, with babies stolen from mothers, and their lives are cut short when they're murdered. The truth is that no animal deserves to be killed, when it's unnecessary. We don't need to consume their products to survive and even thrive. We are healthier WITHOUT eating animal products. Any nutrient we are missing from not consuming animal products can easily be supplemented, or is in Vegan fortified products, like Vegan milks for example. Take a daily multivitamin and don't worry about it! More people are becoming aware that it's not necessary to consume animal products, and that's a key factor as to why the Vegan population is growing. My favorite film right now is a newly released one called "The Game Changers". It's an excellent fun-watch documentary showcasing athletes who eat plant-based diets. This post contains affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link and make an order, we get a small cut of the sale for referring you. It costs you nothing extra. We greatly appreciate anyone who uses our links, thank you! Read the full article