#On a sidenote : I don't actually watch a lot of animated media

[arealtrashact]

Being a relatively new follower, I was pleasantly surprised to learn you're an Elvis fan, and I have two questions. What is this about an "Animal albums" series, and what did you think of that animated show, Agent Elvis? On the latter, I could take it or leave it.

Last year I started a little personal project where I redrew album covers / artists I enjoy as animals that I felt fit them.

I haven't seen Agent Elvis. This is going to sound like such a nitpicky gripe but I couldn't get past Matthew McConaughey's voice. Elvis Presley is probably the easiest human being to impersonate EVER -- so to hear McConaughey's 'give us nothing' approach made me recoil. I never advanced beyond watching the trailer.

That being said, I think Elvis's design in the show is very charming ! I'm a big fan of Robert Valley's work and I enjoy the fact that, in his own words, he "wanted him (Elvis) to look adorable and dangerous."

He understood the assignment.

[demonsfate]

I'm glad you're talking about the absurdity of Blood Vengeance because I remember watching that and thinking, "who this Shin is? Like I don't remember him from the games but also, Jin is kinda an asshole here oh god. Xiao's and Alisa's relationship is cute but aside from that this is a MESS". Seems that they didn't learn from the Live Action movie.

Sidenote I love the pic you shared of Xiao holding Jin's hands🖤 kinda looks like she's holding the paws of a cat/puppy, so soft. The power that that has 🤌

Nope, Shin was just an OC for the movie to serve as a contrived plot point. Which thank fuck, since I didn't care for his character at all. And yeah, Jin was quite an asshole in Blood Vengeance. Not only the whole "IF A MERE FATHER-SON QUARREL IS ENOUGH TO DESTROY THE WORLD, THEN SO BE IT" (lmao writers pls remember why Jin wanted to end the bloodline in the first place) but like. Not doing anything to help Shin was hilarious despite the fact that Jin alone, could've easily saved Shin's life - then there was also Alisa and Xiaoyu, who are BOTH excellent fighters as well. So like, there was no need for Shin to die - they could've easily fought off Heihachi and get him back. Given that Kazuya just... stood there, and acted indifferent by the death (not happy, not upset either) I don't think Kazuya would've cared if they tried to force Heihachi to let go of Shin. But no - they just stood there for an ENTIRE MINUTE for plot convenience (ugh) and then when the three start fighting, their punches were so POWERFUL, that it fuckigngng BLEW XIAOYU OUT OF THE BUILDING - she would've fallen to her death had Alisa not been there and Jin just doesn't even care. 💀 (Remember how in that Tekken Force comic, seeing Xiaoyu get thrown against a wall was enough for DJ to come out? Or how in the SFxTK trailer, seeing Xiao hurt by Juri was also enough for DJ to come out?)

Although, I can't entirely blame Blood Vengeance for Jin's cunty portrayal. This is more so TK6 damage. As that game was the one that unfortunately started the whole "Jin being a complete cold jerk to everyone" and it just kinda bled into other medias (Blood Vengeance, King of Fighters crossover mobile thingy I believe, Street Fighter x Tekken, and even Tag Tournament 2 to an extent) Really, TK6 did assassinate Jin's character and I'm really hoping TK8 will revive him. (He was better in TK7, but wasn't in it enough to really determine.)

Xiao and Alisa's relationship was very cute. I actually hated Alisa in TK6 just because she was so boring. Like lots of people talk about female characters who have no personality other than Female, and Alisa is perhaps one of the biggest examples of that in TK6. Her only personality was really just, "being pure and agreeing with everything MC says unless it's hurting Heihachi lMAO." 'cos she really did just feel like Waifu Bait. But I actually liked that she was a socially awkward weirdo in Blood Vengeance. It gave her actual character, made her feel more unique, and made sense with her being a robot trying to understand human emotion and behavior. But Xiao and Alisa's relationship was also a downside to the movie as well. Because it felt like it focused so much on it, to the point where it felt like a slice of life anime movie more than one that's supposed to be one based on a fighting game. And I just found myself feeling really bored of it. It's like they remember it's supposed to be an action movie and then just threw over the top ridiculous fighting scenes in it.

Especially the last fighting scene - which lots of people say it's good, but... it's really not. Not only just because imo, it's way too over the top even for Tekken standards. But like as I've stated above - we focused mostly on Xiao and Alisa throughout the entire thing. So when we're now spending 10+ minutes of the Mishimas, who were barely in the film - especially Kaz, and Heihachi, and we don't really know / understand their motives, and why we should even be rooting for them (WHO we're even supposed to be rooting for lmao) Like yeah, I know that mostly only fans will be watching this movie and they've played the games. But this movie is also noncanon, and set in an AU. Soooo... this Jin, Kazuya, and Heihachi are still different from the ones we see in the games.

Watching Blood Vengeance felt like I had to turn my brain off through it all. And that's definitely not a good thing. It may actually be the worst of all Tekken adaptations. As much as I critique and dislike Bloodline - I will say I'd probs rather rewatch Bloodline than Blood Vengeance. Although it was also poorly written, Bloodline had more things I liked in it - and while Jin's characterization is still wrong, imo, at least he's an actual good guy - even if the whole "don't hurt ppl ever :-)" message for a little pretentious at times. And I'd even rather rewatch the OVA and the 2010 movie over Blood Vengeance. I've yet to watch Kazuya's Revenge tho (sequel to the 2010 movie) and I probs never will at this point. But yeah, even though I think the Tekken story can be translated into a good show/movie if written well - for some reason, nobody is able to actually execute it and at this point, I don't think we'll ever get a good Tekken adaptation.

YOU'RE RIGHT OMG - it does!! I guess it makes sense, Jin is but a creechure JNDFGJNG. But yeahh!! It's one of my fav win poses from Tag 2. I wanna see Xiao being cute with Jin more often in the games! Especially given they are supposed to be best friends! (With Xiao obvs having a crush on Jin)

[amazing-spiderling]

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways 🙂

There was a period in my life when I was a painting major (i know, right?) so I was doing a lot of museum trips (which were cool) and art history (which I sucked at). But I also had at least one art teacher who was awesome and taught me a few things about contemporary art, so my first thought was to highlight some of my favorite fine and illustration artists:

Piet Mondrian - One of my favorite artists to come across in a traditional museum setting. Learning about his methodology and seeing some of his earlier more tree-like paintings helped me understand art process when I was just a little bean. Also I find his work to be... relaxing? I guess?

Frank Lloyd Wright - I can't claim to know anything about architecture but I like strong, clean lines and shapes and the integration of his buildings with nature seemed very at peace to me. When my husband and I got married, we found a non-denominational chapel that was designed by a student of his, so it had those vibes and I was pleased as punch.

Takashi Murakami - So when I was a senior in high school, I was working on my AP art portfolio and kind of not sure what to do for my "concentration". (You picked a subject or style and had to do like 12 pieces in that collection.) I wasn't actually in the AP art class bc of scheduling conflicts, but I was able to do a portfolio basically as independent study by signing up for a teacher aide period. The teacher I had was very into contemporary art and making sure students knew art didn't end with Picasso (and was happy to tell students about the weird and sometimes gross stuff people would do bc he knew his audience). Anyways, I was working one afternoon and he was like "Okay. I am looking at an artist on my computer right now I think you would like, but I probably can't show it to you bc there might be some content on here. But I'm going to the bathroom for about 20 minutes and if you used my computer to check your email I couldn't stop you." (SIDENOTE: OUR SCHOOL HAD VERY STRICT CONTENT BLOCKS ON THE INTERNET IT WAS NOTHING BAD BC IT WOULDN'T HAVE EVEN SHOWED UP PLEASE DON'T GO BACK IN TIME AND REPORT MY COOL TEACHER) So yeah, I went and took a look and it was Murakami and the Superflat movement as a whole. As a 90's anime kid I was STUNNED to see Japanese pop culture reflected in a fine art movement. I finally got to see a museum showing of his work a few years ago, and it was incredible. I especially loved the video pieces that showed his workshop (and assistants) and the whole process of making these large scale screen prints. It is my dream to have a large print of his in my home but for now I just have a small one and some pins.

Yoshitaka Amano - An illustrator best known for his work on the Final Fantasy series and Vampire Hunter D, his work is so dreamlike and seamlessly blends Western fantasy conventions with a distinctly Japanese style. His drawings and paintings are dripping with detail and full of fluid movement. Watching videos of him working is like watching someone cast water magic.

Minori - A shironuri (white face makeup) artist who creates fantastical makeup looks and outfits and takes pictures in both urban and natural settings, primarily in Japan. She's been an inspiration of mine for years and I now have two of her pieces (A large scale photo print and a mixed media wall hanging) in my home. Joy!

[vohalika]

hello, this is random but.. could u please tell me some of your fav things about vex? i don't often see people who Really Like Vex and we need more of that

Well, well, well, anon.

I have literally no idea how long it has been since you asked this of me, but rest assured I have not forgotten! Well, okay, I had for a while, then I saw it again and was like “oh, right, huh… And would you look at that, I’m about 100 posts away from 100,000… Wouldn’t that be a good one…”

So. Here we are! An unstructured rambling of all the reasons I really, really love Vex, somewhere between superficial and embarrasingly personal, to celebrate this arbitrary number of things I have spread around on this hell site.

Okay, first of all, the only thing Laura had to say to Kit Buss for the official art was “make her hot”. That is a Statement. And boy did Kit and also everyone deliver on that.

Like seriously. I didn’t use to be a fan of feathers in hair or white armor, but good god does she make it work.

Hey, I said this was going to be extremely superficial

Another thing I really didn’t use to like, twins. Overdone and usually poorly executed. But our girl made a Point out of being as different from her twin as she could be while at the same time being completely believable siblings.

I swear to god I’ll do my absolute best to mention Vax as little as possible. This is not about him.

Third thing I really couldn’t stand! The one, usually female, team member with a pet! Closely related to the one with the nature powers! I don’t know, these just always rubbed me the wrong way in media before, probably because I also never really cared for shows or movies about animals. Fight me.

And yet here she is, and she is not the “won’t somebody think of the children animals!” type of gal and Trinket is amazing and it still ties into her personality on a larger scale without being preachy.

I have a fourth thing. I also really don’t care for elves, ever. Everybody hates them. And then she turns around and makes me cry about the elf thing. Good god.

Yes, watching the first episode way back when was an uphill battle. There’s a reason I started with episode 69 and then watched the rest.

Nice.

Vex has the best worst sense of humor. No, really. I’m not even talking about that time she made a comment about the boy with the shot off fingers not having much of a future as a musician. But I’m also talking about that. And that time Scanlan tried having a meaningful monologue about having a daughter now. “I’ve defined most of my life by the people I slept with, and now…” - “Well, technically, this is still kinda defined by that.”

(Shoutout to Percy “I was just thinking that”)

Also, “We don’t do anything with dignity”, “I only serve gods with big dicks”, “You might live forever, but you will still be fucking ugly”? Girl is iconic, even if her sense if humor is usually pretty inappropriate for the given situation, she just can’t help it. I relate.

On a related note, it is so easy to play a similar archetype and have her just be this always dignified and above the humor kind of stuck-up. It’s basically how most people would have written her (and a certain someone did). But not our girl, oh no.

Also, I recently made a post about this, but we really, really don’t talk enough about how she’s just the leader of the party. She is. No, really, lower your bitch sticks, y’all. She’s the one to talk to the most NPCs, she’s the one to usually say go, and everyone just naturally adheres to her. It’s never forced, it’s never an “I, as the leader” moment, and she doesn’t try to wrestle her way into the role. It’s just what happens naturally.

Which also means she’s good at stepping back and letting other people shine for a bit. But still, Vex is the reason they didn’t just flounder around like a chicken without its head after Scanlan left. Laura was late to two sessions in campaign one; the first one was already in an extended battle scene, and the other was literally spent in a bedroom in hell waitinig for Vex to tell them what to do.

This is why scholars are generally of the opinion that Vex is the only Top in VM. And also what intellectuals refer to as Big Dick Energy.

Let’s talk about what the assholes call Greed. Yes, Vex is, out of all of them, the most pre-occupied with gold and loot. But she NEVER hoards anything for herself, never spends any of her own gold on herself even until the timeskip, leave alone the party funds.

She looks out for the interests of the group, makes sure they get the best possible deals and are paid what they are owed. And she’s the only one to ever worry about money, too, whereas everyone else never bothers to think about it. Hence why her and Vax split the cost of paying their staff after the party spent all the funds early on.

Look, I find her worries very indicative of growing up in poverty with her mom, than surrounded by rich and important people but locked out of the loop, and then poor and on the road again with Vax. I find it very relatable, and everyone who claims that looking out for the financial well-being of the party is “greedy” is lucky enough to never have had to worry about eating next month while also making rent.

There’s Safety In A Fist Full Of Diamonds, okay?

No really I need y’all to read that and send it to the annoying bitches who complain.

Vex is literally never stingy when it comes to helping people with the money she made sure they have. Remember how she didn’t even flinch at spending a five digit number to free angel boy slaves?

WHICH LEADS ME TO ANOTHER POINT. Vex. Vex has a serious hoarding problem. But not when it comes to money of earthly possessions. No. When it comes to PICKING UP STRAYS.

It’s how she got Trinket.

It’s how she got the angel babies.

It’s what she tries to do with the grey render baby.

It’s what she suggested they do with the dragon eggs in the Raishan fight

(LET! VEX! HAVE! PET! DRAGONS!)

IT HOW SHE GOT HER OWN GODDAMN HUSBAND OKAY.

I have no idea how she hasn’t adopted her own zoo by the time VM forms. Though I can totally see her opening orphanages in Whitestone, both for people and animals and creatures of all kinds, really.

Remember when she was the only one to protest the punching of a spectral ghost cow?

The hardships of her youth made her, yes, very afraid of being out of money, but also made her compassionate as fuck. She’s always down with helping people even if there’s little to no coin in it, okay? Stop overlooking that, assholes.

SPEAKING OF COMPASSION. Remember what her original beef with the Vasselheim potion seller was? That he took advantage of Grog being intellectually challenged. Which is what he did! Blatantly so! And he wasn’t the least bit sorry about it!

I mean, I bet he is by now, but, you know. Karma.

When Laura says Vex just wanted justice and then everyone else escalated that scene she is goddamn right, rewatch your own footage Matthew.

Oh god do I have to talk about broomgate now. I don’t want to talk about broomgate.

OKAY

Broomgate is literally the only time in the entire series that Vex ever takes something for herself. Was it the morally right thing to do? Maybe not. Though to keep in mind that a) Hardwick is a piece of shit, b) they literally met Gern when he had the skeletons of Kiki’s dead civilization dancing for him; Vax shanked Nothics for less, c) and this was hot off the heels of fighting a necromancer in the last big arc, too, d) they were on a mission to kill dragons. That fly. With no method of flying for the majority of the party. Vex always intended to use the broom for that purpose, so you could make the legal argument of commandeering it instead of stealing, and, finally, e) SHE HAD JUST FUCKING DIED

Why do we never talk about that

Other characters get cut all the slack for what they do after just dying

Other characters get cut all the slack when they steal from other guests

Other characters get cut all the slack when they withhold loot for the party

Other characters DIDN’T GET AN ALIGNMENT DROP FOR DOING WORSE SHIT THAN THIS

WHY ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT BROOMGATE

WHY WAS BROOMGATE EVER EVEN A THING

okay

okay

MOVING ON

Hey, while we’re at dying. Remember how Vex spent the day after she, literally, died, trying to make sure the person who was to blame for her death was okay? She did that. And Percy was uncomfortable with it, visibly so, but also too guilty to call her out here.

And no one. NO ONE. EVER. Bothered to check in on how she felt after dying.

Vax made it all about the sacrifice he made, Percy felt too guilty, NO ONE ELSE CARED.

And what does she do? Soldier on. Try and cheer Vax up and support him in any way she can.

Honestly, learning the Raven Queen book by heart and then telling him that being the champion of a god is really fucking cool? Relatable. Relatable as fuck. You go girl.

And TO THIS DAY. ACROSS TWO CAMPAIGNS. Vex has been the only one. THE ONLY ONE. To EVER check up on someone after they died. Jester might eventually be the second one, but, you know. I am a big advocate for post-death and just post-big-battle-in-general aftercare cuddle piles or whatever. Someone tell the cast to implement that immediately.

And while we’re at death, let’s talk about THE DARKNESS

There are dark facets to her character. Vex never makes her own issues everyone else’s problem and they go largely unadressed, but they’re there.

Saundor brought up the story about how she got Trinket and had to kill for the first time while doing so.

(Sidenote: Saundor doing more research into her character than an actual writer is extremely telling.)

That was definitely traumatic for a young girl and I don’t mean to dismiss that, but that’s also the part I can understand Vax dismissing when they talk about it later on. They do kill a lot of people after that and this was self-defense, so hey, okay. Fine.

HOWEVER

That short story was indicative of many other things that torment Vex. Mostly her low sense of self-worth.

Like, her entire inner monologue is centered around how stupid she was for getting into this situation in the first place (= for being taken advantage of by criminals at the tender age of probably like 15), and how this would never have happened to Vax, who was away in the city to take care of them.

And we see that low sense of self-worth bleeding into Vex’s character throughout the campaign. That’s part of the reason why she spends the day after her first death making sure everyone else is okay. That’s also part of the reason she blames herself for Scanlan leaving and acts like she’s completely fine when he returns just so he’ll stay.

Honestly that short story is so insightful and explains so much about her, I don’t know how anyone could claim to have any grasp on her character without reading it.

(Also, Laura should write more, she’s talented)

Now a significant part of her self-worth issues obviously also ties back into her time at Syngorn. I can just hear people getting out their tiny violins, oh, waaah, she wasn’t one of the rich, cool kids in elf school, poor her.

But that’s not entirely it?

Like, just that is already plenty to fuck a person up. I’ve been there, too.

But let’s just say the fact that her dad was also cold towards them and acted like they were unworthy is a BIG part of what fucked her up. Call it daddy issues if you feel like being dismissive about a genuinely traumatizing upbringing, but that’s how it is.

And don’t get me wrong, if this were the traumatic childhood olympics, it’s not exactly up there and relatively tame for the background of a character in a fantasy story, but it is very true to life and extremely relatable, and Laura just executes it so well. So, so well.

That’s part of what makes the entire stretch of Feywild episodes so great. From what we see of Vax’s reaction later on, Percy is the only person she ever talked to about this - or at least the only one who ever listened - and he immediately got it. And instead of yelling at her about how amazing she is, he did something to make her feel better about herself. Without making it about himself, by the way.

I enjoy a fake married plotline as much as the next gal, but Percy giving her a title she’d have to earn by her own merits is soooo much more meaningful than just putting a fake ring on her, okay?

Yes, at the end of the day, this is basically a Cinderella fantasy. So what? No, really. One of the best things about Vex and her arc is that it validates feeling upset about not measuring up in superficial, material ways. And it validates getting your come-uppance. These are, as mentioned above, experiences that can really mess with a person, but we’re usually supposed to be above it all because money and titles don’t make you happy.

Also something only people who never struggled financially can say/believe unironically and without specifying.

Hell, that’s about 70% of the reason I’m considering getting a Ph.D. if I happen to get the grades.

I’m also not a big fan of the term daddy issues, but I can’t deny that this is a thing here

not the thing they went into the Feywild for, buuuut

ahem

So. Remember when Laura said during the campaign wrap up that Vex thought of Scanlan as a father figure and everyone was like whaaaaat? And I was like ahahahaha, I knew it.

This is so tragic, really. Because she tried so hard so many times to help Scanlan and be nice to him and he just brushed her off. And then she’s the one who volunteers to spend the night all by herself in some dirty pub far, far away after opening up to his daughter about her own issues to bring him back alive, and then gets yelled at, and never apologized to.

And then he comes back and tries to erase her memory and not only is that never even brought up, she also just doesn’t even think she might be owed an apology because a) she still blames herself for him leaving because, you know, they never really talked out what happened there and b) she’s just too happy for at least that father figure returning to them to make much of a fuss about it, and Percy, bless his heart, TRIES, but it’ll take a few more years of marriage to talk through all of her issues

And like. I am not wild about anything that happens after episode 99. If I’m known for anything in this fandom on this platform it’s probably for that time I was really into the Ioun discourse, which I still stand by, btw. And I personally would have preferred for Vex to maybe get someone like Sehanine as her patron, as fitting as giving her yet another unworthy and disapproving father figure in her life might be

But there is also something somewhat gratifying about everyone talking about how great she is. And she had been sort of working for Pelor before that. Also, the headcanons about her having sun spots or starting to glow when she gets emotional after this are amazing.

So I made my peace with that. She deserves better, but hey, she always does.

She is so smart. So extremely smart. People roll their eyes at her battle plans and say it’s all Travis feeding Laura information, but Travis fed her nothing that time she schmoozed up to the Briarwoods while also making herself appear extremely superficial and unthreatening. Honestly. That dinner scene? Prime Vex. Amazing Vex.

Her battle plans are also so good. Pokeball-ing Grog out of the kill box? Using the Goristro against Vorugal to save the party a trip into the abyss? The only plan of Vox Machina that ever worked out basically perfectly? Amazing. And even IF Travis told Laura these ideas, that means literally nothing in relation to how smart Vex is.

And btw I don’t believe that for a second. People just aren’t good with acknowledging that sometimes, D&D playing women might actually have good ideas.

And she just is so street smart. With her skills, her battle plans, and just her way of handling people. There’s a reason she is the natural leader when it’s not someone’s turn in the spotlight at the time.

Like, the two things holding her back were that her class was extremely underwhelming, so much so that it got completely revamped in the Unearthed Arcana to make up for how bad it was in the PHB, and the fact that she just. Has, what. 1.5 episodes of her own storyline? Even Pike got 2. It’s amazing that I can even say this much about her with how little narrative focus she got throughout the series. And most of what she did was literally due to Percy using his plot clout and putting a foot in the door to force her into the spotlight.

Speaking of which. Percy’s best quality, next to being self-aware of how fucked up he is and actively trying to do better and be kept in check, is how he realizes Vex is the coolest, smartest, most amazing person around and treats her accordingly. The way she deserves to be treated.

Oh hey I mentioned to get this far without even mentioning the romance arc. And oh my god THE ROMANCE ARC. The pining. The slow burn. And the fact that we actually saw them together and later married for like 35 episodes. They were so good for each other.

And yes, PERCY WAS GOOD FOR HER. And Vex was not his therapist and manic pixie dream girl. None of that bullshit here. Percy was already firmly on the path to being better before he even considered that crush he has had on her for forever to turn into something more.

And by he was good for her I mean that he actually UNDERSTOOD her and where she was coming from. Refer again to the titling issue, where Vax is just confused and kind of pissed, Percy got it. And that’s important.

Something I have not made a post about so far, by the way, is also something people have called problematic and co-dependant is how Percy shares his darker impulses with Vex in hopes she’ll talk him out of it. Which she does, and it’s never hard, but that also means so much to her? Because he involves her and tells her exactly what is going on with him and values her opinion? And that is just exactly what she needs? And they’re so good? THEY’RE SO GOOD.

WHEN DOES YOUR OTP EVER

HE COULDN’T HAVE ASKED FOR A BETTER DREAM

This is more on Laura, admittedly, but also, it was just so great to see her unapologetically pursuing this romance? There’s a place at the table for a 72 episode slow burn, and she’s gonna go for it, and there’s nothing any of the dudebros who are just here for the fighting can do about it.

And also Vex is just so unapologetically sexual at the same time. From episode 1 onwards, really, and in general and just limited to Percy. And no one ever treats that as weird or bad or anything. It’s just who she is and that’s great.

And she fought. So hard. For that happy ending of hers. Kicking and screaming, against the world and against Taliesin’s determination that Percy is irredeemable and not capable of getting a happy ending. Defy that auctorial intent, my girl. You deserve it.

Seriously. Seeing her get that happy ending against all odds was unfathomably gratifying and validating and I’ve never connected to any single character or narrative at large for that matter this much and this intimately, and considering how I came across this story at one of the darkest times in my life, I probably never will feel so strongly connected to anything ever again.

Which is probably for the best, but hey. 

Aaaand there you go. An almost unstructured, epically long list of reasons I love Vex. Dammit, I talked about other characters way more than I intended, buuuut hey. That’s how it goes when you’ve got an ensemble piece, they’re all kinda interwoven.

Thank you this wonderful ask, anon, and reason to celebrate my 100,000th post on this site in style.

[saotome-michi]

I'm someone who agrees with your opinion on yoi completely! A lot of my friends are big fans so I don't really have anyone to discuss my issues of representation with seriously, so I'm happy to have found your blog!!! Also, what are your opinions on Flip Flappers and their LGBT representation?

Hello! Sorry for the late reply, wanted to finish watching Flip Flappers before I answered your ask ;) also I’m glad you’re enjoying my blog and yoi criticism posts!

I’m not 100% sure what you mean by your question though. Are you asking whether I think Flip Flappers is LGBT rep? Or are you asking about how I think Flip Flappers depicts Papika/Cocona’s relationship?

If its the former, I’ve talked about how anime is a gray area when it comes to lgbt representation. Particularly shinya anime. It’s just not on the same scale as tv dramas or mainstream movies or books (that are not marketed as BL or GL). So while there are probably Japanese wlws who love Cocona and Papika’s story to most Japanese ppl it just doesn’t really “register” as LGBT representation, y'know? Especially since Yuri at this point is a well-established genre.

You can kind of see that in this interview with the Flip Flappers Director, Oshiyama Kiyotaka (https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/5m1p17/an_interview_with_flip_flappers_director_kiyotaka/) Note the way he talks about yuri, as something “viewers nowadays find easy to hook into” with its own rules and conventions that one shouldn’t break.

If it’s the latter that you’re asking about however, I can talk about Papika/Cocona and yuri references. I recommend that you first read a post I made on yuri media recently, including the article that I link to in that post.

Post: ( http://saotome-michi.tumblr.com/post/157599879119/i-got-these-two-similar-asks-so-i-thought-id)

Finished reading? Cool, let’s move on to Flip Flappers.

(SPOILERS!!!)

Flip Flappers is a moe anime with really obvious yuri themes and references for yuri fans. The setting has no boys who are Cocona’s age and few important male characters,and the Papika/Cocona relationship is sprinkled with romantic undertones.

The main theme in the anime is Cocona’s fear of making her own decisions and failing. For example, Episode 3 with the desert land has Cocona running into a goddess(?) who just oozes the ero sadomasochist yuri archetype. Her interactions with Cocona warn us of Cocona’s desire to submit. Not sexually, but just submit in every way possible by letting someone else take the reins and make the decisions for her, which foreshadows what Mimi does towards the end of the series. Similarly, Episode 5, which is chock full of Class S Yuri references, from the all girls school to the constant lily imagery, has Cocona and Papika fall into a loop where they become passive participants in the dimension.

Ep 7 is the fan-favorite episode for Papika/Cocona. I’ve seen meta posts here on tumblr saying that its about Cocona struggling to leave the closet which was ?? to me tbh. I can understand why people interpret it that way, but to me this episode was strictly about Cocona’s lack of confidence in herself and her relationship with Papika, placed in the format of a dating sim/otome game. At the beginning of the episode, Cocona is scared that her actions in PI have caused Iroha senpai to change. This causes her to lack faith in herself and Cocona, which is why the PI in this episode is a world that doesn’t change, where Cocona and the different Papikas can do whatever without fearing the consequences of their actions. However, after spending time with the different Papikas, Cocona realizes that such a world is not worth it. She’d rather stride forward, knowing Papika will always catch her, and live with the consequences.

Sidenote: You know that nail clippers scene in ep 7 that ppl on reddit/tumblr were saying was a sign of lesbianism? I actually thought of the Japanese horror legend thing that goes “Don’t cut your nails at night otherwise your parents will die and you’ll never see them again” especially with the creepy Papika in the scene (btw this legend freaked me out as a kid I never clipped my nails at night) Thought it was a hint that Salt was Cocona’s dad. But as it turns out, they literally just put the nail clippers there for fun lmao. No deep meaning to it at all, they just brainstormed what could be in the desk and someone suggested nail clippers and that was apparently the most interesting idea they had. Source: https://mobile.twitter.com/315ByFFK/status/819949388134957060

I’m not denying that a part of Cocona’s journey is acknowledging her ~sexuality~ but I disagree with those who focus solely on that. On a more basic level it’s about Cocona finding the courage to make her own decisions and Papika helping her do that, by assuring her she’s not alone and by pointing out the ways their world is fun. Hence why the PI at the very end of ep 13 is a dull, drab world- because Cocona thinks that its a world without Papika.

But now that I’ve finally finished Flip Flappers I’m wondering if there’s PapiCoco fic that actually acknowledges that Papika is mentally around 18 years older than Cocona and is besties with her parents. Where is that fic, I would like to read it.