#also if you saw my post on my main in which i complained about my ankle no you didn't

[depraved-lunatic]

Slut era

[transkingcobra]

Hm

[maxknightley]

Which Touhou Girls Can You Plausibly Read As Butch? A Comprehensive Overview

Earlier on Tumblr I saw a post complaining that someone called Hecatia Lapislazuli from Touhou Project butch. This is Hecatia Lapislazuli:

Obviously, like most Touhou characters, she is in fact quite feminine - she just shops at Hell Hot Topic. But it got me thinking: In a series like Touhou, with a cast overwhelmingly defined by feminine (if rowdy) ladies, how many characters could you say are 'butch' without sounding like a complete doofus or significantly redesigning them to fit your headcanon?

CRITERIA

I'll be using four main criteria to judge characters' butchness. In real life, of course, butchness is a multivalent and extremely personal thing, but I'm talking about funny cartoon women from a video game here, so I'm willing to be a little reductive.

These criteria, in order of descending importance, are:

FASHION. In a series where goddamn near everyone is in either a dress or a skirt, the mere act of Wearing A Dress Shirt can be enough to make a powerful statement. Hats may also play a role here, given how many Touhou characters have gay little hats.

HAIRSTYLE. Short hair is not the be-all and end-all of butchness. I, myself, am Decidedly Butch even though I've been growing out my hair since college. But the length and styling of the hair are still a valuable indicator of how someone thinks of themself and wants to be seen.

'TUDE. Could this character be accurately described as "kind of a frat boy?" How do they speak to others? Do they just kind of seem like a character who ought to be butch, regardless of their looks? Do they even lift?

COMEDY FACTOR. Self-explanatory. This will probably only come into play if I run into a weird edge case.

I'll also emphasize that we're grading on a curve here - butchness is being assessed relative to the characters who do not appear on this list. Nobody in this series has a buzzcut, you know what I mean?

THE TIER LIST

AS CLOSE TO CANON AS WE'LL GET

Fujiwara no Mokou. The girl wears a dress shirt, fucking suspenders, and trousers. Not shorts, actual full-length pants. She's also in a perpetual love-hate mutual-murder situationship with Princess Kaguya, who is femme as all fuck. Obviously you don't have to be butch to date a femme - I'm just saying it feels Fitting given their whole deal.

Yuugi Hoshiguma. Most of the time, her fashion sense is actually quite feminine - but her look in the most recent chapter of Cheating Detective Satori, with the one exposed shoulder and the sarashi and all that, significantly alters the balance. Her hair actually reads as more masc to me when she keeps it long and unruly - when she puts it up in a ponytail, she ends up looking very kempt, even elegant. The deciding factor here is 'Tude: Her sheer levels of butch swag are off the fucking charts. (Still, I wouldn't blame someone for arguing she should be knocked down a tier - especially since I'd argue the Comedy Factor works in reverse here. She's way funnier if she doesn't think of herself as butch in the slightest.)

Minamitsu Murasa. In his original appearance I'd argue that Murasa is in "Reasonable" tier - maybe even as low as "Kind of a Stretch." But her big gay Jotaro jacket in Sunken Fossil World, combined with the emphasis on the weightiness and solidity of his trademark anchor, put her over the top. One of the only Touhou girls I consider worthy of being He/Himmed.

Shinmyoumaru Sukuna. The other He/Him-worthy Touhou girl. Very short, slightly messy hair; wears a kimono, not a dress; inheritor of Issun-Boshi's legacy; wears fucking dinnerware as a hat. Why do you want to be Big so badly, huh? So you can pick up women more easily? So you can carry your awful wife through the upside-down threshold of your upside-down bedroom?

Raiko Horikawa. For the longest time I thought her skirt was a pair of shorts because I straight up could not parse it as anything else. Even now I'm like "that can't possibly be a skirt, ZUN just drew it weird. She has to be wearing a full two-piece suit." Skirt aside, her jacket/dress shirt/necktie are still undeniable, as is her short hair. Also, she is a taiko drum given life, and I feel like taiko and timpanis are naturally butch. Maybe if she was a tambourine or a set of bongos I'd rank her lower?

Momoyo Himemushi. Rough-talking miner. Wears a dress shirt, leaves the top button(?) undone. Tromps around a big weird cave with no shoes or socks on. Wears bows and bangles basically everywhere but in her messy, tangled hair. Also, maybe I'm stereotyping here, but I just can't picture a centipede as being femme.

REASONABLE

Wriggle Nightbug. The dress shirt, cape, and puffy shorts all paint a vivid picture, but I just feel like I don't have a strong enough opinion on Wriggle as a character to put her in the top tier. In other words, she's got plenty of points for Fashion and quite a few for Hairstyle, but I just don't think the 'Tude is sufficient for me.

Reisen Udongein Inaba. The skirts are a strike against her, but her whole "dress shirt + necktie + sometimes suit jacket" thing makes a big difference, especially given that we're grading on a curve. Her rumpled ears and (particularly in Inaba of the Moon, Inaba of the Earth) pathetic demeanor go a long way towards giving her a vibe somewhere between "overworked salaryman" and "Detective Columbo."

Aya Shameimaru. All you need to know about Aya is that her "human reporter" disguise looks like This:

Mononobe no Futo. Butch, but in a really weird, circuitous way, imo. Like. She's sort of wearing a dress, but it's sort of a robe - the contrast of the hemline with her big flowy sleeves makes it hard to pin down - and her outfit quite notably has tassels rather than any kind of frills. I don't know what the hell is up with her hat but it's definitely not femme by any stretch of the imagination. Then thou hast the wayes in which she speaketh all "faux-olde-timey," even though nobody else in the setting does that... she transferred her soul into a plate, but she also throws plates around as weapons... It's like she's constantly putting on a performance that only she truly understands. It's like she reverse-engineered "masculine womanhood" by hanging out with a bunch of queens and doing kind of the same thing but kind of the inverse. The more I think about Futo the more I think she's entirely on her own wavelength, but I think "Reasonable" tier is a... uh, reasonable... approximation for the sake of this post.

Sagume Kishin. She dresses like if Bill Nye were a woman, and I think that cuts to the heart of it - she reminds me of a professor who you're not ever sure is gay, but you kind of pick up on a vibe, and near the end of the semester she offhandedly refers to "her partner" and you're like HOLY SHIT I KNEW IT. I went back and forth between putting her in "Reasonable" and "Kind of a Stretch"; ultimately, the Comedy Factor decided it because I couldn't stop thinking about a scenario where she says she's a woman, accidentally upends her whole understanding of gender in the process, and ends up taking testosterone while still ID'ing as a lesbian. I don't actually know if her powers would work that way and I don't care.

KIND OF A STRETCH

Eiki Shiki. I don't have a lot to go on, here, because she hasn't had many official appearances and seems to spend most of her time lecturing people or tormenting sinners. Her uniform(?)/apothecary outfit(??) is pretty snazzy; combined with the hat, it gives her a vaguely "military officer" look to me. We'll call her "butch pending further investigation," which I think she would agree is the correct course of action.

Sekibanki. She's here partially because of the cape, and partially because being sandwiched between Wakasagihime and Kagerou makes her look way more masc by contrast. I know what I said.

Ringo. It's pretty much just the hat and the pants, though - as a butch woman who Loves Eating - I am also inclined to project my own experiences onto her.

Aunn Komano. She reads as more "tomboyish" than outright "butch" to me, what with her whole puppy-dog vibe, but at the same time... she's very much wearing shorts and the kind of goofy-looking button-up shirt that is central to my own wardrobe and the wardrobe of other butches in my life. I'm willing to count her.

Takane Yamashiro. A living testament to the power of small character design choices. I would never in a million years call Nitori butch, even with her gay little hat and all the pouches on her outfit - she just looks like a girl scout. Takane, though? Takane, with her little hair swoopy, and the fucking suitcase slung over her back, and her camo-print dress? I mean - ultimately it is still a dress, which is why I can't justify scoring her higher, but she's definitely chewing tobacco and riding around on an ATV on weekends.

Chiyari Tenkaijin. If she's butch, it's not really because she's trying to be butch, it's just because being femme seems too expensive and time-consuming. She's got better things to do (drink blood all day). Still, I think an argument could be made.

DEFINITELY A STRETCH, BUT I RESPECT IT

Renko Usami. ZUN is kind of inconsistent with how he draws her hat - sometimes it's more of a porkpie/fedora type thing, other times it's round-topped and looks a bit like Koishi's hat. To me, this is a crucial distinction. In a more general sense, I feel like Renko's outfit gets a little less plausibly-masc with each passing album, which says a lot about our society. Or her society, anyway, since she lives in the future. Still, the capelets and bowties...

Rinnosuke Morichika. I think it would be really funny if the only significant male character in Touhou wasn't actually even a dude. I'm not aware of any real textual support for this interpretation, though.

Shou Toramaru. Pretty much only on here because of the hair and because I think there's a certain je ne sais quoi to her whole deal of "she's not a real tiger, she's the idea of a tiger that pre-Meiji Japanese people came up with from secondhand accounts."

Seija Kijin. Not even remotely butch by any stretch of the imagination... But if she did consider herself butch, isn't that exactly what she'd want you to think?

POTENTIALLY NOTEWORTHY EXCLUSIONS

Cirno. "Tomboyish" is not the same thing as "butch," to me, especially if you exclusively wear dresses. Also, I'm not sure Cirno even knows what a lesbian is.

Saki Kurokoma. Not actually butch, just a horse girl. (And a horsegirl.)

Mike Goutokuji. Can't tell if she's wearing a skirt or shorts. She's got short hair, sure, but the whole "matching bell collar and wristbands that also have bells attached" thing makes her look more like a Very Online Trans Woman who just figured herself out and hasn't started hormones or bought any new clothes yet.

[diegosumbrella]

My observations from s4 of Umbrella Academy

I dont even wanna talk about the main plot of whatever the fuck that car crash of a season four was, but heres some plot discrepancies I noticed while watching Umbrella Academy.

!! Season four spoilers under the 'see more' !!

- Luther's unnecessary body change

It's stated so clearly in s1 that Luther never gained his body from the marigold or developed it along with his powers. When he was up on that mission on the moon, he had an accident and Pogo had to donate his blood which resulted in Luther having that monkey body we all know and love.

So as Luther drank that said marigold, why would he suddenly gain back the blood donated from pogo and the body that comes along with that..? It's as if the writers themselves forgot why he had that body. Why write in unnecessary body dysphoria for my poor baby?

- Diego's sudden appearance of ab's

Listen. I am the last fucking person to complain about a Diego Hargreeves shirtless scene, where you see his pecs quite literally bounce BUT why did he change so drastically from 'dad bod' to suddenly 'ripped'?

I read an article interview with Steve Blackman and saw a few snippets from a podcast that explained that David (Diego's actor) didn't want to gain weight for the role, which is totally understandable. But if you have an actor who doesn't want to gain weight for this role, why not just keep Diego as fit?

Due to the short six episodes, it's extremely easy to miss how Diego slowly becomes more fit as time progressed. For most, and also myself at first, that fighting scene just looked confusing as fuck. Like two episodes before, Lila was calling you 'tubby' (or whatever the fuck she said), so why do you have abs now?? Where did the dilf diego dad bod disappear to :(

- Allison's beloved Ray just leaving her

I'm not sure if i'm taking this the wrong way completely but... In the scene after Allison had given Klaus the marigold against his wishes, but also to save his life. As Klaus is calling out every member of the family, he mentions how he 'took care of Allison when Ray walked out'.

Like i'm sorry but the fuck do you mean Ray just walked out?? Why did he leave Allison if she had no powers. She'd clearly built a better life for herself and began to change her mindset for the better, compared to s3 she's drastically better.

It's never explained (probably again for the lack of episodes) and it's never even mentioned again. Like does Allison share custody of Claire with Ray? Does Claire even see her father? I have so many questions and once again, a severe lack of answers.

- Klaus breaking his five year sobriety

As much as us as an audience are aware of Klaus' addictive tendencies and his utter thirst for form of drug in the former seasons, but why establish that he's not only been sober for three entire years but he's also now a huge germaphobe just for him to ruin it in five seconds.

The main problem I had with this is the fact none of the siblings, including and most importantly Allison, had zero reaction to this. They weren't upset, angry, disappointed or fuck it even happy. They practically ignored the fact their brothers three year detox went out the window.

Five's ability to time jump

Before I get you all jumping up my arse, i'm fully aware I could discuss how they completely just fucked his character development and his entire personality as a whole for a shitty romance that made absolutely no sense but I'm gonna make a separate post on that because oh boy do I have some shite to say.

ANYWAY.

I can't even go into much detail with this one but why is it that every time five attempts to do his time jumps, he ends up in that subway but when he does it with Lila in that end episode.. he can suddenly just jump..?? normally?? Like why. Why can he now only just time jump as he used too. WHY WAS THE SUBWAY NEEDED FOR OTHER THAN FOR THAT AWFUL FIVE X LILA PLOT????

It's as if the writers couldn't come up with a way to get the brellies into that building with Ben so instead of using critical thinking and writing them breaking in, they just said 'fuck it make him time jump with Lila'. Like no I have questions??

[gh0st-t0wn3]

Well, the season 5 trailer for Lego Monkie Kid is out and.... it's something...

I'm gonna be honest; the animation is... terrible.. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be mean, I do understand that the show's production has been moved to another studio, however, when you've built such an amazing show that's predominantly known for its beautiful and fluid hand-drawn animation the worst possible decision you could make is to move it to a studio that uses rigged models.

It looks janky, the proportions are off, it looks unfinished and it's overall just.. disappointing. Especially considering how long we all waited for it.

Again, LMK's animation is big part of why it's so popular, it's one of the main aspects that drew people in, to change that so suddenly and for it to be such a large downgrade is a big slap in the face to your audience.

I don't entirely understand WHY they moved studios, but regardless of reason; Wildbrain (the new studio) was NOT the right option for this.

I still very much love this show, and it will always hold a special place in my heart, and I will continue to make content for it of course, and at the end of the day I am glad that the series just swapped studios instead of being canceled but this was a very disappointing end result after over a year of waiting.

Edit:

Okay I've seen a lot of people on the opposing side of this argument and I get that, I understand some people don't actually mind much for the change and they don't like the new studio being discouraged, I get that and I agree, people shouldn't be sending threats or anything like that to this new studio.

However some of them are acting as if no one is allowed to be upset about the change whatsoever. I saw a post earlier addressing the situation who said people who complain about the change are (and I quote);

"Pathetic, useless, worthless, unworthy ungrateful brats"

...

First of all, if you're going to complain about how people should be kinder to the new studio because "they're trying their best" and "they just need time to get used to the style" (which I don't doubt at all), maybe DON'T resort to insulting and calling people who didn't like the change "pathetic and worthless brats"? Just a suggestion?

Secondly; no matter how much you wanna look past it, at the end of the day LMK is a product and people pay to consume it, WildBrain is a STUDIO full of PROFESSIONAL animators who've worked on various projects over many years and they are being paid to put out a product that people will enjoy. If people don't enjoy it, they're naturally going to complain and let whoever in charge know that they don't like what direction they're taking with the shows production.

Telling people who don't like the change to "just shut the fuck up and be grateful" (also a real thing that I've seen multiple people say) isn't going to help anyone, it's not going to help the animators and it's not going to stop people from disliking the change.

Toxic positivity is still toxic. Do better.

[pluckyredhead]

hi! i'm new to comics and i got in through reading your fics and wayne family adventures. i've since started reading more of the mainstream verse and i realized that most comic fans consider wfa to be totally fanon. you're one of the few i saw that disagrees. would you mind elaborating a lil on why? i'm too new to really form an opinion either way but i'd like to know your's!

(also yes i really did stalk your blog back years worth of posts i'm sorry! 😭😭)

Aw I love this! Welcome!

So I think it's really important to be clear on definitions here:

Canon means it's part of an official text. It's literally in a comic (or book or movie or other property) published or licensed by DC.

Fanon means it's made up by fans. That doesn't mean bad or good, it just means that it comes from fandom and is not part of the official text.

Wayne Family Adventures is an official licensed comic by DC, so by definition, it cannot be fanon. That doesn't mean everyone has to like it, but it's not a fan comic. It's an official DC product. It's not fanon.

Now, WFA isn't part of the main DCU canon. It takes place in a separate universe. The Jason in Batman #138 and the Jason in WFA are not the same and they are having very different experiences. (And I'm sure the Jason in WFA would be grateful if he knew.)

But that's no different than a comic that takes place in an alternate universe, like Dark Knights of Steel or DCeased, or a movie like Blue Beetle or a show like My Adventures with Superman. They all take place in their own universes, but all of those universes are canon. None of them are fanon.

What I think most people mean when they say WFA is fanon is that WFA draws on tropes and characterizations that are popular in fandom. Which...yes, absolutely. This is on purpose, and honestly, it pisses me off when people complain about it. (Not you, anon! Your question was lovely, you just triggered my unskippable cut scene of dialogue. Sorry lol.)

Wayne Family Adventures is probably the single best idea DC has had in the 20 years I've been reading comics. (The second best was the kids and YA graphic novel lines.)

I just checked, and WFA has 1.3 MILLION subscribers. That's more than every floppy comic starring Batman sells in a month, combined. It's more than literally any superhero comic has sold in decades - in this century! The combined strips have over A HUNDRED MILLION VIEWS. That is bonkerstown. That is a readership like DC hasn't seen since the 1970s. That is unparalleled success, and it's introducing characters like Kate Kane and Duke Thomas to a whole new audience.

Now, WFA was clearly designed to appeal to Batfans who were active on social media and fanfic sites like AO3 and Wattpad, and Webtoon readers. The readership of Webtoon is mostly young and female. Fandom as a whole is mostly female. The writer of WFA is female.

And maybe I'm not being fair here, but when I see people dismiss WFA as "just fanon," I always catch a whiff of "It's not a real Batman comic. It's a girl comic for girls."

I have spent the past 20 years begging DC (and Marvel, DC is not alone in this) to see women as a viable audience - as their largest potential growth audience! I have watched in dumbfounded frustration as they ignored the juggernaut success of Raina Telgemeier and Ngozi Ukazu and Alice Oseman running rings around the NY Times bestseller list and counted a 50k shipment here and there as a resounding triumph. I have literally seen them throw out survey responses from women because "those women had an agenda." (This is a true story. 2011 was rough, y'all.)

And all of a sudden, they gave us a comic actually catering to women and young people and fandom, and they put it on the most popular, current, modern platform for comics availably - and it's brilliant. It's smart and funny and stunningly drawn and every episode makes clever, inventive use of the scrolling format. They FINALLY gave us a girl comic for girls, and it's a masterpiece.

And yes, it riffs on fanon concepts. It also has its roots firmly in mainstream DCU canon. It references deep cuts. CRC Payne and StarBite know their shit. Jason Todd being a bookworm may be a fanon staple, but he does plenty of reading - including Jane Austen - in the 100% canon mainstream DCU comics.

It's not going to be for everything, because nothing is. It's completely fine if you don't like WFA. No one has to read it or enjoy it. If you're into Batman for the darkness and the crime and the ongoing plotlines and the angst, WFA won't be for you, and that's totally fine!

But to finally, finally be valued as a reader by DC, to have them do something smart and innovative and so, so well executed, and have the exact people they made it for dismiss it out of hand because Bruce has a "World's Okayest Dad" mug or whatever? Yeah, that chafes.

[bonebrokebuddy]

I’ve been seeing a few folks complain about people writing hcs of DC characters with ooc song preferences, which it’s not that serious. But it gives me an excuse to show off my DC character playlists.

I initially created them as I saw a lot of playlists for Bruce & Jason with just a lot of dad rock.

Which, fair. Not everyone’s into metal.

But since I know it’s not an easy genre to get into, if you want inspiration, feel free to check out these playlists!

My one main rule for making playlists is that a majority, if not all, of the songs need to be in a genre I think the character would listen to based on their canon music taste. This is regardless whether or not it’s a genre I like. I try my best to find fun songs regardless of my personal preference.

The Playlists:

Batman: various genres of metal. I tried to go for more Doom Metal(slow & repetitive vs thrash’s blast beats and fast guitar) but there’s more than one genre of metal that’s characterized by slower instrumentals & I can’t keep up with all the names so it varies. Dad metal. Made sure that there was a sprinkle of Black Metal too (mainly bc I think it’s funny. If you’ve never listened to black metal, it sounds like you chucked the vocalist in a grinder at high speeds then proceeded to mix your instruments & your vocals the worst you could possibly make it. It’s nearly incomprehensible and it’s Perfect for Bruce.)

Bruce Wayne: a touch of old school doom metal, a sprinkle of black metal as you can write a Batman story without Bruce Wayne but not a Bruce Wayne story without Batman. A more chill version of the Batman playlist that I think Bruce would jam out to as not everyone’s into metal and I wanted to give people another option that didn’t have as heavy stuff in it.

Tim Drake: Mostly time accurate with 90s-2010’s punk rock & alt rock influences all the way through with a touch of metal to show his connection to Bruce & a few other off genre songs that represent his YJ98 pals. I tried my best to include as many bands as I could find that he canonically enjoyed as well.

Jason Todd: Jason was introduced in the 80s & is a canonical metalhead, so I think he’d listen to a combination of 80s dad metal, death metal (come on, it’s just too perfect of a genre name to pass up), thrash, & a little black metal (the genre I assigned to Batman).

Clark Kent: Dad metal. He canonically listens to Metallica post-crisis so I just gave him my dad’s taste in music lmao. Made sure to add a few satire ones because Clark is an little shit and would very much enjoy satire songs. Unfortunately, I genuinely could not get my Spotify recs to give me decent country music. I tried. It only gave me modern mainstream artists and after a month of trying to find good pre 2000’s country, I just gave up. So it’s mainly metal:(

If any of y’all want to send me 80s-2000’s country recs, that would be very kind of y’all. (the type of country music ma & pa kent would listen to that Clark would have grown up with)

Kon-El: is full of songs that are, well, time accurate to his original run. Ranging from 1969-2002 [the year his solo run was canceled], this playlist not only has songs he could have theoretically picked up in a record shop or blasted on a boom box during the day but is also full of bands he canonically listens to! This playlist is chalk full of Kon’s canonical alt rock & metal music taste as well as rock and proto-metal hits of the time!

Bart Allen: to be clear, Bart wouldn’t listen to any of these as music is just too slow for him. These are songs that relate to Bart or songs that represent his connections to his friends with no specific genre as I didn’t just want to have playlists full of nothing but metal. (Although I think he’d really like metal concerts as he’d probably enjoy the feeling of the heavy base resonate in his chest.)

[koyoriin]

So I have once again chosen to obtain this Series Pass reward through Frontlines, and I have some more thoughts on the matter!

tl;dr: The issues that existed before have only been made worse this time around, largely due to huge groups of players that game the system and openly mock others for not doing it.

I have some thoughts on “precons” and a postmortem on the whole situation, and will talk more about it through the cut!

Just as a disclaimer, I’m also vividly aware that Frontlines (FL) is one of the most side pieces of side content imaginable in this game; even I only really engage in PvP for FOMO rewards (which bothers me, but that’s a whole other thing), but my main focus is generally the story and raiding. So all of this primarily bothers me as a community issue as well as a game design issue.

Anyhow! So this pass contains the third armour set glamour since the PvP overhaul, Crystalline Conflict (CC), and Series Pass launched. I’ve once again avoided doing CC for it because of my poor experiences with it in the past (see previous post if you’re curious!), but I only do the Series Pass if there’s an armour or emote reward.

Since last time, here are the changes:

The Pros:

- A daily Series XP boost means that it’s now more feasible to get through it with FL only, and not having to grind CC if you’re not in a rush

The Cons:

- Pretty much everything else

So one big “phenomenon” this time that people have brought up elsewhere, are “precons”; groups of people who queue together, both within the 4 person per party limit…and then some. They coordinate in a linkshell or Discord, queue with enough people to fill multiple full parties (up to a full faction at times), and they have set roles of the most frustrating combos that SQEX hasn’t patched out yet (DRK + DRG + SMN are their bread and butter).

This was always a thing since the PvP overhaul and has never been addressed, but it’s only gotten worse. A single “precon”? Well, usually it’s feasible to deal with; I’ve seen them try very hard but still lose. The current trend of “precons” where it means multiple parties of people queuing at the same time, enough for a whole faction or at least close? Well…throw in more than one precon into a faction and it becomes exponentially more difficult to deal with for each one.

As of the last season pass, I noticed a large group of people gathering to run FL together, and I saw them queue back to back all day, daily or at least on Seal Rock days. I assumed this was to get the Seal Rock coat glamour, and I assumed correctly as a large number of them did obtain it after that and left. The fact that Seal Rock has a notoriously difficult 100 win requirement, and SQEX gave people the opportunity to play in the most irritating and broken way possible pretty much goes hand in hand.

In part, I would also blame SQEX for not altering the achievement in some way or even changing the reward structure as it not only incentivizes but rewards this kind of behaviour. In any case, I didn’t play much of last pass so I paid them little mind, and I consider the Seal Rock coat out of my means to obtain anyhow.

However, as of this pass, the “precons” are still running daily, and are now present in every format other than Seal Rock too. The idea is pretty simple; get a group of people together in a community who can coordinate their DRK/DRG/SMN (and AST/RPR/DNC if you want to get fancy) LBs and movements, and you can easily steamroll the other factions, get an easy win. Everyone (cough) has fun, you get the maximum payout of XP/points/whatever. It sounds pretty innocuous and everyone moves on with their day, for better or for worse. Right?

Well, it’s unfortunately grown a bit beyond that at this point. Even if it began as a group of people who gathered together to make getting the Seal Rock coat "easy", it’s become a group of people who exploit the system and then openly mock the people who complain about them; an exercise in punching down on people who aren’t in the clique and sabotaging people who aren’t in on it. Making people miserable has grown beyond just steamrolling them in FL, and occasionally include arguments and mockery.

Essentially, what goes on is:

- The group gathers on a specific DC; locals, Wanderers, and even Travellers, and they queue at the same time. I’ve seen up to 24 and beyond queuing at the same time, enough for a full faction and then some

- They gather in multiple parties of 4 (the current maximum per party) and queue at the same time to get matched in the same game

- If they don’t get into the main group/faction, they intentionally feed the biggest one; I’ve witnessed multiple cases of people just running into combat and not hitting a single skill, repeatedly, just to feed kills and Battle High for an entire match

- The group with the most people will follow one of the group’s shot callers and use their DRK/DRG/SMN LB exploit, with multiple of each back to back to make it impossible to shut them down effectively, since control abilities don’t work that way and are easily cancelled out

- They steamroll the other factions and win with a huge lead because no one else has nearly two dozen people coordinated in that manner, and are just in randomly assigned groups and playing other classes

- Then they gather and queue again; and if they’re called out on it, they begin to mock and argue with the people who called them out, quoting inane things like the “spirit of the solo queue” to imitate people who aren’t in their group, while ridiculing people for losing or not playing DRK/DRG/SMN like they do.

It’s awful. I don’t care about PvP as I only really do it out of FOMO on the rewards so my engagement is not for personal enjoyment—but it’s beyond a chore when a large group of people have fostered a community that’s actively gaming a system SQEX has failed to balance and then openly encouraging unmitigated contempt within their group towards people who aren’t in with them. I love this game, so it especially hurts to see it happen, when the rest of the community has been great.

> Can anything be done about this? Well, probably not unless matchmaking is adjusted, or instances are intentionally staggered for people who queue in the same window, or SQEX finally decides to adjust FL separately from CC. The only times I had matches that were at least somewhat more fair, was when I queued intentionally when these people were not around.

A similar issue existed years ago when PvP used to be based on your Grand Company; Maelstrom was the go-to for PvP, and if you were not in Maelstrom you would essentially expect to lose. Then they made the Freelancer system (joining a random faction when queuing) and it almost dissolved that aspect of it. But even back then, there weren’t unbalanced combos that exist now where you can annihilate an entire faction with your light party in 4 seconds. In addition, the group I witnessed doing it is a mix of people from other data centres. Freedom to queue for PvP wherever you’re visiting has also enabled this kind of behaviour.

The most baffling thing is; there are no leaderboards. It’s not a competitive thing where you get ranked (unlike CC), and by now they have cleared the Series Pass and then some—so I can only assume the group does it for their ego and the joy of ridiculing others, and it’s really so disappointing to see and experience.

Unlike last time when I wrote about the Series Pass, I have no solutions to propose beyond the typical “DRK/DRG/SMN/AST need to be re-balanced”, and FL as a whole needs to be re-balanced separately from competitive CC. “Precons” in general make the experience awful for everyone who isn’t in one, and the even larger ones are just miserable.

And if you’re reading this and my description of that large group sounds like you, I’m sorry you’ve become this way and that this is somehow a point of pride for you. I hope you can find some other way to be have fun that doesn’t involve ruining others’ experiences.

tl;dr: FOMO continues to make people feel like they need to do PvP, and extra large "precons" are ruining the experience for everyone due to a drastic imbalance in specific class combos such as DRK/DRG/SMN/AST, some even going as far as mocking people in public chats.

[redivia]

'I think it's time for bed' Ghost x Reader

Summary: Simon fell asleep on the couch after coming home from work.

Authors note: Heyy! So this is my first ever story. I never thought I would write anything let alone post it, but here we are. Also it has to be said that I don't have a beta reader so if you notice any errors or mistakes kindly point them out in the comments. English isn't my first language so I might have missed some errors. Have fun reading! <3 This is also posted on AO3 .

You were sitting on the couch together with Ghost, or how he wants you to call him, Simon. Outside you could hear the wind blowing through the leaves of various bushes and trees surrounding your joint home. Since it’s been getting colder, the wind was accompanied by some light rain. Not the kind of rain that leaves you drenched if you even think about stepping outside, but the kind that makes the nicest pitter patter noises on your roof. If you listened carefully, you could even, make out the water making its way across the roof and cascading down the rain gutters that ran along the side of your home.

Simon came home a few hours ago, seemingly pretty tired and ready to go to bed, but his face lit up and adorned a fatigued smile once he saw you. You welcomed your boyfriend home with a much-awaited hug and a gentle kiss. Together you ate dinner. During your dinner you made sure to make light conversation with him. Talking about how the weather suddenly switched up on you while you were walking home, or how there was a sale on your favourite snack at your local store and you were therefore indirectly forced to stock up again.

Dinner wasn't really anything that took tons of effort, but it was still as comforting as ever. A simple one pot pasta had to make do for tonight, but for Simon, he might as well could have been at a Michelin star restaurant. Having to rely on MRE's as his main source of calories during his time at work, has set his standards for food very low. A warm meal? With his partner? At home? He might as well be in heaven. Simon made sure to show you his gratitude in the form of cleaning up the dishes afterwards.

Which in all honesty, could have just been shoved into the dish washer and called it a day, yet he insisted on doing them by hand. Meanwhile you were sat next to him on the countertop and listened to him complaining about some new recruits that were trying to turn everything into a competition.

Being able to look at his face and watch his emotions flicker across his face while he was telling a story has always been one of your favourite aspects of your relationship. Simon swore a long time ago that he won’t be wearing his mask around the house, and you’ve been grateful that he stuck to his promise. The privilege of getting to see his face wasn’t something Simon granted to just anyone, and you are well aware of the fact. Making it even more special to you.

The story about the recruits ended in them trying to sabotage and deliberately throw other comrades off of the obstacle course. Some poor rookie had to get stiches because he fell off of the wall they were meant to jump over. But Simon witnessed how the recruit behind him gave the guy in front a not-so-gentle push, because the poor guy was moving too slowly for his taste. It goes without saying that Ghost delivered a long and proper talking to and maybe some extra rounds of running for the saboteur.

While his story came to a close, Simon had also finished the dishes. You both agreed that you only had enough energy left for a movie before deciding on heading to bed.

So that's how you found yourself and your boyfriend sat on the couch in your living room, watching whatever action movie that was currently running on the TV. You listened to Simon ramble and rant about how inaccurate basically every single aspect of the movie was. How they held the guns wrong, shooting for 5 minutes straight without reloading once, not to mention the amount of ammunition they would need to carry with them for them to be able to shoot as much as they were.

All you could do was listen to him with a small grin on your face. Only Simon would be able to pick apart some movie that was clearly produced in some warehouse in Hollywood, with a plot that never even saw the inside of a writer’s room. But of course, you supported your boyfriend in his strong opinions and joined him in his rant.

It must have been about an hour into the movie when you noticed Simon had stopped talking to you. You risked a small glance over at him and saw he was properly passed out. The stress of the day at work must have finally caught up to him. Taking the liberty, you turned down the volume of the TV just a couple of notches, making it so that the movie was now just background noise.

When you were designing the living room you deliberately chose a three-seater couch, ensuring that there would always be enough space for you and Simon to stretch out without hogging the space from the other. Leaning into his side of the couch, your boyfriends arms sat limply at his sides, his right hand placed on your thigh just above your knee.

Normally he would be stroking his thumb gently from side to side as a reminder that he was still there. Honestly you should have noticed that he was asleep once his ministrations ceased. You took a moment to admire how is face changed depending on whatever light flickered across the screen in front of the both of you. In your opinion, he looked the nicest in a subtle orangish tone, the warm light bringing out his faint freckles and blond lashes. Although the universe refused to grace you with your all-time favourite feature of his, his eyes. You would have to make do with Simon’s for once peaceful expression.

Peaceful, but not relaxed, you noticed. There was still a light crease between his eyebrows, even while sleeping he still seemed stressed. Thinking of possibilities to diminish his stress, you gently picked up the hand that was previously placed on your thigh, without waking him up. Simon’s large and warm hand lay limply in yours, and you started to gently massage his hand.

Running your fingers across his knuckles and the back of his hand. Making sure to appreciate every single small cut and faded scar along the way. You carefully turned his hand palm side up and started to massage the palm of his hand with both of your thumbs. The rest of your fingers were supporting what was now the underside of his hand. Your thumbs dug into the muscles of his palm running across all of the folds and creases, before moving to his fingers.

Feeling his fingerprints underneath your fingertips made it feel like he was your missing puzzle piece you have been searching for all your life. Two separate people coming together to make a whole. You couldn’t stop the smile that was now plastered on your face.

Glancing back at Simon, his eyebrows seemed to have relaxed a bit, but not enough for your liking. You had to take drastic action. You lifted your dominant hand to his face you stroked your thumb across the space between his eyebrows in hopes of completely erasing his frown. Your mission was a success, he stopped frowning.

However, he was now blearily blinking awake. The universe obviously had chosen to show mercy today and decided to grace you with his dreamy eyes once again. Your hand slid a bit lower, now resting on his cheek, your thumb still lazily stroking the side of his face.

With a small smile you told him: 'I think it’s time for bed'.

[utilitycaster]

@notstinglesstoo replied to your post “The thing is, and I haven't gotten a chance to...”:

I saw someone not long ago say cr has always felt like a product to them vs D20 feeling organic and I protected my peace but I did want to ask them if they were brain dead

​Oh man I wanted to address this at length because I feel this. My posts have been centered, again, specifically on published journalists picking Daggerheart aprt critically and applauding themselves for doing so despite it being within a couple of hours of its release and therefore any analysis is necessarily going to be based on at best, a skim, when they just as frequently will claim D20 seasons/Kollok are flawless works of genius based on only a partial read, but man D20's got a fandom problem too. (and all of the following comes with the caveat of "I really enjoy D20, and Dropout, and while we're at it WBN and NADDPod which both are half D20 Intrepid Heroes cast, and think Brennan is a particularly brilliant GM, and also it's obvious that the D20 and CR casts are on great terms, and wish the fandom for D20 were more welcoming and enjoyable because I feel it wasn't like this when I first started watching, as a CR fan, in late 2019 and has since curdled into something really weird and bad.")

The first point is the obvious one: technically speaking these are both products. These are performers doing an art form; it is also a portion of how they make their money with which they can buy goods and services. Believing that art is inauthentic when the artist gets paid and acknowledges that is a thing that happens is a fucking libertarian position at best. Like cool, you think only people who are independently wealthy by other means can make art, because it's not real labor, my kid could paint that, etc etc.

The second point is also pretty obvious. I have pushed back pretty hard on the "uwu CR is just watching friends! it's like we're in their living room" mentality among the fandom, which has decreased, thankfully, but like...it did in fact start organically as a private home game, and they decided, when invited, to make it A Show For An Audience. D20 was created on purpose as a show for an audience. This doesn't make it bad or fake - reread the previous paragraph - but in terms of "this is an group of people who really played D&D in this world together even before the cameras were rolling," Critical Role literally is that, and D20 is not.

I think beyond that...my biggest issues with the D20 fandom are first, the level of discourse is abominable. The tag is almost always just shrieking praise and the most surface-level readings possible. I keep bringing up the "Capitalism is the BBEG" mug but it genuinely sums up so much of how I feel; people who want their existing beliefs fed to them as surface-level no-nuance takes. I mean capitalism is fucking terrible but I do not need every work I watch to have a character turn to the camera and say "capitalism is bad" to enjoy myself, and indeed it makes it harder due to the lack of subtlety and grace. For all D20 fans complain about how unhealthily parasocial CR fans can be (and some can be), I find that a lot of the most unhealthily parasocial "how dare they BETRAY my TRUST by having a ship I don't like or not speaking up about every single societal ill" ex-CR fans move over to D20 and then pull the exact same shit; it simply doesn't get called out. Every time D20 fans are like "we don't want to become the CR fandom" it's like "your toxic positivity and unhealthy parasocial behavior exceeds the HEIGHT of what I've seen in CR; the main difference is that CR started in 2015 when D&D was still shaking off the raging bigot dudebros and so in the early days it acquired more of those fans, whereas by the time D20 came around the landscape of who played D&D and watched Actual Play had shifted wildly, and you need to judge September 2018 D20 fans in parallel to September 2018 CR fans, not September 2015 CR fans."

I also feel, and I alluded to this in the post about journalism, and other people have said this better than I have, but the pedestal people have put D20 on does feel like a single...not even misstep, but just, difficult choice that doesn't capitulate to the loudest fans will bring a good chunk of that fandom crashing to the ground. And that includes the journalists. For all the fans of CR can still be obsessed with the cast to an unhealthy degree? The cast and company have put up pretty strong boundaries and have not budged. D20 hasn't, and I think the second they do - and I think it will be for their benefit as a company and a channel - a big chunk of their most vitriolic CR-hating portion of the fandom will viciously turn on them.

[runawaycarouselhorse]

Our pure-hearted, all-loving hero... he can be a little brat (especially back in OS/early in his journey, when he was much more of a hot-blooded boy hero), but his heart's worth its weight in solid gold and he grows into such a kind, patient character with strong ideals, which is why Hero of Ideals suits him best (even the movie manga opted to adapt that version of the movie, rather than the one where Ash is Hero of Truth, and expanded on it!)

[I hope you have "long post" and "image heavy" muted if you need to, because this post's a doozy and given tumblr, if my blog's ever deleted, posts with read mores will be rendered inaccessible forever, so I don't like to make them!]

A lot of people complained about how young Ash looked in BW! (and complained even more about Sun & Moon's very divisive art style... and we wound up seeing great growth for his love of a whole region, and achieved a goal integral to achieving his dreams), but from the first episode of BW!, my first impression was of how mature and calm Ash is with Iris and Trip in regards to their initially abrasive and varingly aloof personalities.

Iris was friendlier and more excitable, more childlike, but Ash took her barbs in stride and patiently waited for her to open up about her dreams (she keeps it secret in the first episode, using that cute, childish word "naisho" instead of saying it's a secret "himitsu"--the same childish word she uses when asked about what Kairyuu/Dragonite told her in their reunion episode) and background (we don't know she ran away from the academy or what her hometown was like until season 2!)

The way Ash handled Tory (who was a traumatized, younger child--and Ash wanted to fight him at first, before understanding him!), Lucario (also traumatized, insulted Ash and Pikachu's bond--Ash fought him and fell off a hill, wrestling with him, before he saw Lucario's memory of being "abandoned" and broke down in tears, apologizing for what he said when he didn't know anything...), Chimchar (a traumatized Pokemon, Ash was patient, kind, and loving to him, even when he lashed out while out of control due to Blaze, which he previously could only use to save his life...), etc., is very different from how he handled Iris (who was bullied subtly by being completely ostracized, no one would sit or eat or play with her at the academy, she was so depressed, she stopped eating--this is canon and not lingered on, but she plainly says it and that her dorm mother making her food that would remind her of home, just berries skewered on a stick, "saved her") and even Trip.

(By the way, Ash apologizing to Lucario, in tears of regret over what he said to Lucario when he didn't understand him is when I first started to truly love and respect Ash's character and growth! Before that, I really was only a big fan of the TRio.)

By contrast to those rockier beginnings with other kids, Ash was patient and encouraging with Trip, even while Trip purposefully kept him and everyone else (even his Pokemon who loved him, as Alder said...) at bay and rejected all his attempts at friendship, before he got the answers he needed from Alder and slowly stopped shutting others out. He had every right to lash out at Trip for making fun of him, but kept trying to befriend him and showed interest in his journey and growth.

(Trip was also his youngest main rival at that point, even if he is a very book-smart child prodigy type who was an excellent battler from the start, he still fell apart in front of unexpected, unorthodox techniques like Bell/Bianca and Satoshi/Ash's out-of-the-box strategies.)

Naturally, there's also his very patient and encouraging bond with Lillie, who also had her trauma-induced fear of Pokemon (much like Tory!) and dissociative amnesia, the early loss of her father in infancy, and the distance between her and her mother (too wrapped-up in work and her obsession with Ultra Beasts to notice her own child's trauma and falling behind her peers...) to overcome, but the focus of this post is BW! I already write a lot about Lillie, she's another favourite of mine. <3

It's worth noting, too, that Pikachu was Ash's first "problem Pokemon"... even if it's usually the Fire types who are traumatized, Pikachu has abandonment issues like Chimchar and Tepig did. Pikachu famously hates being inside a pokeball and Ash always repesects this boundary and becomes very, very upset in XY when he believed Pikachu was forced into a pokeball... the pokeball factory episode was, otherwise, a very light-hearted episode, but Pikachu's boundaries and possible trauma is taken seriously.

This scene mirrors a similar breakdown Alain has when he finds out all he's done, under the impression he was protecting his loved ones, was aiding Lysandre's genocidal plans... both smash their fists into hard surfaces, blaming themselves for failing to protect loved ones.

In a very early Kanto episode, Sparks Fly for Magnemite, we learn Pikachu has abandonment issues so bad, he doesn't want to be separated from Ash for even an overnight stay in the Pokemon Center. It seems Pikachu (fortunately) quickly become much more secure in his bond with Ash and no longer fears being separated for medical treatment, but this is very, very sad and telling!

Although we never delve very deeply into that for most of the series... (an early magazine scan has Ookido-hakase/Professor Oak theorize Pikachu's previous trainer abandoned it), we were finally given some answers late in series!

In the AU movie, Pikachu says* his reason for not going into the pokeball: "It's because I always want to be with you." ;O;

... unless this is a dream or hallucination, given Ash is on the verge of unconsciousness when it happens--but if we really want to believe it happened, maybe his latent Aura post-cognition abailities kicked in and he understood Pikachu's feelings, like when Victini slept in his lap, crying, and Ash saw Victini's dream of his past.

As for the main series canon, in the first episode of Pocket Monsters 2019 (Pokemon Journeys), we learn Ash's Pikachu was a lone, possibly orphaned, Pichu, who was briefly raised by a Kangaskhan, carried in her pouch with her child, until he grew too heavy and quietly left at night (without saying goodbye) to live by his own strength, evolving into Pikachu as he did so.

If Lusamine not taking Lillie's (because they're irrational or not logical) feelings seriously gave her a complex where she always needed to claim her stances are "logical" even when they're based in emotion... I wonder what it tells us that "child prodigy" Trip defaulting to blaming his loss to Alder on him doing something wrong or being inherently lacking ("What did I do wrong? What do I lack?"), because he doesn't ever consider a simple difference in experience is all it is... that Alder's many years of wisdom and Pokemon training give him an advantage over rookie trainer Trip, who's shown to be averse to being called a "child" (Iris ropes him into battling Ash twice by calling him a kid), because he always has to prove he's an adult. He thinks there's something inherently "lacking" in him or "wrong" about his method if he doesn't achieve.

All of that is canon, but if you further analyze his character, Trip has a superiority complex, which is very often a defense mechanism to mask feelings of inferiority. He canonically places a lot of worth in the image he projects and constantly puts down others. Add that to being a child prodigy and his preoccupation with proving he's an adult (but doesn't bat an eyelid at someone calling him "unjust" for his violent methods in the Venipede episode, like he's already accepted being a terrible person, because he thinks striving for peace like idealistic Ash is "naive"--Trip has a very cynical view of adults, yet thinks of himself as such...)

Trip only cares to be seen as strong and mature, not good (he's not even surprised to be called bad, he's already accepted it, he doesn't care), and if he fails, he blames his lack of knowledge or his inherent nature as lacking.

Because his self-worth is in being a genius and being better than the rest, so he seeks outside validation, namely Alder's, who Trip behaves so jealously about, Alder canonically compares him to a fickle-hearted woman (well, he messes up the phrase 'Onna-gokoro to haru no sora.' "A woman's heart is as fickle as the sky of spring" because he was hitting on Junsa-san/Officer Jenny earlier, so he says "fickle as Junsa-san"... Freudian slip. ^^;;;;)

Trip, when asked what he was battling for, what he wanted to prove... he said it was to prove his strength to Alder.

That's all he wanted! To prove his strength and be acknowledged by his hero. Alder even asks him if he likes him. Adeku frankly asks it in the Japanese version, but the dub dances around with "do you have any admiration for a man such as myself"--which Trip doesn't answer verbally, although he really doesn't have to, because the scene makes it clear and is a lens that clarifies all his past behaviour.

That's all Trip wants: love and acknowledgement. Which he believed he could only get by becoming stronger, smarter, and more mature as fast as possible, likely taking Alder's to be some stronger and grow up quickly too literally, as head animator Iwane said, Shootie was just "a little too grown-up."

It takes a long, long time for Trip to unlearn prioritizing battles over anything else and to embrace childhood (which hey, is one of the main themes of BW!), because it's a precious time which we can never return to... so, Alder's current idealogy is to enjoy life, make friends, love Pokemon, and not dwell on the past. Ash's approach to being a Pokemon Champion and Master is the same.

Alder's introductory episode made it very clear he and Ash are very, very similar characters... and we see this again in Journeys, in the kind of advice Champion Ash gives younger kids. Ash and Alder have a similar wisdom they'd like to impart, I know, it's funny calling Ash wise, but he has high emotional intelligence and is incredibly wise in that respect for his age... it took Alder many, many long years to arrive at the same conclusion Ash reached.

Ash's Japanese name, Satoshi, means "Wisdom." (Another cute detail: Ash's little brother, Lei, whose Hawaiian name means a "Garland of Flowers-- in Japanese, would be pronounced as Rei, which also means "Wisdom." Lei likely has a name chosen to have meaning in both Hawaiian and Japanese. ^^)

Bonus shout-out to Ash, Iris, and Cilan all protecting Keldeo until he finds the courage to face his fears, correct his mistakes, and save his friends...

Ash is a very good friend, AG, DP, and BW! are all part of his development into the kinder character he became today. Some people might miss how rude he was to his friends in OS, but he can still playfully dish it out, he's just calmer and more sure of himself, so less likely to sweat the small stuff and recognizes when someone, whether Pokemon or trainer, just needs time and patience.

[beauty-and-passion]

Two last words on the future of Sanders Sides

There is one last thing I wanted to talk about and I would like to do it in a separate post, so you can add your thoughts and we can talk about it here.

However, I also would like to avoid explaining the basics to children - i.e. why criticism is useful, that you can criticize something you love and that doesn’t mean you’re entitled, that constructive criticism is different from complaining, that criticism isn’t a personal attack on you/your loved ones and so on. I already explained these things in the past and I don’t want to repeat myself.

So if you’re old enough to understand all of this and accept to listen to some criticism, you’re welcome here. If you cannot bear it, just ignore this post. Don’t worry, I won’t get offended: we live in a free world, after all :)

So.

We all know Mr. Sanders is taking a lot of time, before releasing the season 2 finale. And we also know he’s doing other stuff, posting other videos, working on other projects and doing things in his real life too.

And that’s perfectly good. He’s free to do whatever he wants, both in his life and his work.

There is only one thing I am asking for regarding Sanders Sides, something I think he owes his followers too: transparency. Honesty. Not content, not to work on Sanders Sides only, not to follow my headcanon. Just pure, simple, free-of-charge honesty about the project that gave him most of the popularity he has today.

It took Thomas three years to finish three parts of a four-part finale: that’s the last official information we got about the SaSi main storyline. And we got it not because Thomas talked about the creative process behind the series, but because he threw this information first in a tweet talking about finishing part 3, then in a cryptic Instagram post about finishing the draft of part 1. Chronological order? Never heard of her, apparently.

But let’s put the organization problem on the side, because that’s not a novelty coming from Mr. Sanders. And let’s ignore the 200th red flag of him not wanting to talk about Sanders Sides' finale and throwing info around instead. Let’s focus just on the information that, as a writer, I find the most concerning.

If Mr. Sanders needed three years to write three videos, that means he needs one year to write one video. So he will probably need another year to write part 4. And then he has to film/edit everything and that means he will probably need another year - or more.

Therefore, in the best-case scenario, that means we will get the first part of the season 2 finale in 2025. And that’s the best-case scenario.

Okay, you may say, that doesn’t sound too bad. I mean, we waited three years, we can wait more.

Sure we can, we can wait forever if we want to. But there are two big problems: one regarding the finale itself, the other regarding the future of the series.

_________

1) The writing is taking too much time

From personal experience, I know that if writing something takes years, it’s not a good thing. And I’m talking about the specific writing part here, not the research or planning part: research/planning can take a very long time and that’s perfectly fine and normal, but the actual act of writing shouldn’t take this long. If that happens, then there’s something wrong. And usually, this shows in the final result, which is never worth the wait.

The thing is: the longer it takes to write something, the more time/memory problems will occur, i.e. inconsistencies, missed elements, personality swings etc. You know, like the ones we saw in the last Asides. And these problems become 10x bigger, without a clear outline to follow.

But hey, you may say, maybe everything is already planned! Maybe it’s taking this long, just because Thomas doesn’t have enough time to physically write!

Well, that opens another box of questions and (imho) bigger problems:

if he doesn’t have enough time, then why is he the only writer? Can’t he share his writing responsibilities with someone else?

if he’s not the only writer, then who is the other writer - or writers, if they exist? A competent expert or one of his friends? And if it’s one of his friends, then why can’t an influencer with his numbers hire an expert, who will be faster at writing, better than him and, most importantly, bias-free and not influenced by the fandom?

how does the writing process work in his team? Is there even a writing process or not?

how does his team actually work? What do they do? Is there at least one expert hired by Thomas or is the team made of just his friends?

seriously, why doesn’t he hire an expert? What did experts ever do to him? Is it so hard to find experts in the US?

And before any of you say “but he doesn’t have money”… please. Please. I saw people with way fewer numbers, followers and influence making better decisions. And they always start by hiring experts, whether they are managers, editors, cameramen or creative team members.

Also, he lives in the US, not on an island in the middle of nowhere. He can find experts if he wants to.

_________

2) The passage of time

In 2025, Mr. Sanders will be 36 years old. And if he needs even more time to release all four parts of the season 2 finale, he will easily reach 40 by the time the fourth part is out.

Age shouldn’t be a problem, everyone should be free to do anything whenever they want. But that doesn’t apply to Sanders Sides, because Sanders Sides isn’t animated: this series has real faces - Thomas’ face. And Thomas is getting too old for the roles he’s playing.

Sanders Sides’ main theme is knowing more about yourself. The theme is relatable for all ages, so the problem isn’t the theme per se. The problem is the type of characters, which cannot work for a man in his 40s.

One example: Virgil. He was still credible as an emo adolescent when he was 20 and he’s still more-or-less credible now that Thomas is 30. But will he still be credible, when Thomas is 40? Or will he look like a cringey grown-up playing the “I’m young!” part?

Sure, some men have that superpower of cutting their beard and looking immediately 10 years younger… but it cannot work forever. Thomas is growing up, he cannot revert the biological clock and look just like he was at 20.

And that’s perfectly fine, because everyone deserves to grow up, change and become more beautiful. But that also means getting too old to portray these characters and make them look credible.

So either Thomas ends the series before he reaches 40, or he shifts it into a much more mature direction, to keep up with his physical growth.

But doing that means a) losing his younger followers and b) switching from a more carefree approach to heavier episodes. And right now, I doubt this is the direction he wants to push his work to. He’s clearly more interested in small, low-effort videos and in pursuing carefree stuff like Roleslaying. And I completely understand why. Small videos don’t take a long time to make and he can talk about anything he wants, while Roleslaying has an already written story and Mr. Sanders doesn’t have to act it: he just listens to it and plays along with his friends. Also, Roleslaying has different, animated faces, so when Thomas is 40 or 50, Roman of Reston’s face will still be that of a 20yo guy. It’s much more convenient, compared to a series with a continuative plot he should keep up all by himself and heavy themes to discuss.

If I were him, I would close Sanders Sides' main storyline with the season 2 finale. Introduce Orange, wrap everything up the quickest/simplest way possible, solve all problems, the end: the series is done, you can move on/focus on the Asides.

If Thomas truly ends Sanders Sides' main storyline with the season 2 finale, I wouldn’t complain - and I highly doubt others will have much more to say. Sure, we can always complain about the abrupt end, the pitiful disorganization and the writing, but at least the main series will be over and no one will be left hanging around for eternity.

However, I don’t think Thomas will ever take this route either, because it would require enough self-awareness to realize he’s not able to handle this series and, most importantly, that he doesn’t love it as much as before. Oh, and let’s not forget that Sanders Sides is his golden goose and he clearly doesn’t want to give up the profit he makes from it.

That probably means he will never be transparent either. He will never sit down and make a video, to explain his feelings about this series. He will never clarify how the writing process works. He will never admit he doesn’t consider SaSi important anymore. He will never give proper answers. After all, he had multiple chances to do it and he never did. At this point, I doubt he will ever do it.

This is, deep down, the reason why I wanted to write my take on season 3. Because I know Mr. Sanders will never do anything of this. He will never talk about religion so openly, show something violent like a punch or normal like a kiss. I doubt he will ever address any mature topic at all. Or that he’ll be able to wrap up all the loose threads in a satisfying way, considering that, in the last Aside, he basically ditched them all.

So, I decided to write this. And by writing this, I proved myself a couple things:

That you can write something in less than 3 years. And no, that doesn’t prove I’m better than Thomas: it just proves I committed myself to this project until the end. And, in order to do that, I didn’t need to undergo 24-hour-long writing sessions either: I wrote a little bit every day, even just one single page. It was a daily effort, not a tour-de-force. And I focused on that project only, not on 20 at the time.

That you don’t need money to write. I didn’t spend one single cent to write FSS3. All I needed were a pen, some paper, a computer and willingness to commit. The computer might be a bit more expensive, but I can assure you the other things are all very cheap.

That an outline should always be the top priority. Sanders Sides has so many themes and loose threads, that closing them all without a proper plan would be insane. Heck, it was difficult for me even with an outline, just imagine without it!

But most importantly, I needed closure. After three years of nothing but empty promises, I wanted an ending. Or rather, a satisfying ending. An ending without loosened threads, an ending that wraps all these characters and gives them the growth they deserve.

And I know this probably wasn’t your perfect ending. You probably would change some things here and there - and that’s great, because you can do it. You can use FSS3 as a base from which you can start building your own ending. Now you know it’s possible to do it. Now you know you can do it, if you want.

So if you need closure, if you feel sad and angry or if you’re just full of ideas… do it. Write your own ending. Get your own closure. You deserve it.

While speaking of the canonical main series, I really REALLY hope to be proven wrong, but all Mr. Sanders is doing proves how much he doesn’t care about this series as before. He doesn’t even want to mention it anymore. Instead of acting like an adult, accepting his responsibilities and apologizing for taking this much time, he keeps showing the series under the rug and complaining every time someone lifts said rug and makes him watch what he left under it. And he does it in the most pathetic, childish, manipulative way possible.

That’s not what an adult does, let alone an adult who doesn’t feel guilty. And that proves he knows he’s not doing the right thing with SaSi. He knows he’s taking too much time and he's aware he doesn’t know how to handle the main series anymore.

So, instead of facing the truth, he ignores it, refers to the series only once in a while, uses it for jokes, flattens the plot and the characters’ personalities. Every anniversary, he talks about SaSi as if it’s something in the past. He doesn’t even mention it as part of his projects anymore. On the contrary: he started 2 whole new projects, instead of finishing the one most of his people want to see.

And that’s even more sad, considering how great the concept of SaSi is. This series has a ton of potential and wonderful characters. It can delve into deep, dark and mature discussions. It can explore relatable aspects of life and present themes people can discuss about. It’s perfect for a fandom.

But hey, if Mr. Sanders fell out of love and/or isn’t able to handle it, I do not blame him. Everyone can fall out of love with a project or not being able to handle it. No one is an expert on everything, after all.

The only thing I blame him for is the lack of transparency. It’s his inability to be open and honest with the public. It’s the lies and omissions, his hiding something and pretending it doesn’t exist anymore.

So, since Mr. Sanders seems unable to move on, I don’t want to get stuck waiting forever for him to grow up. I have other things I want to talk about, other stories I want to criticize and some I want to explore with you.

Starting from 2024, my blog won’t be just Sanders Sides-themed anymore. I will still follow this series and its fandom because I love them both (also, I might end up writing a new fiction in the future, because I love these characters too and want to give them a mature development), but I want to expand as well. I want to talk about a hilariously bad webcomic, a meaningful manga and explore a whole new series. And those are just the first three projects!

(And yes, I want to talk about the Book of Bill too, this summer. So... four projects)

If you’re a fan of Sanders Sides, don’t worry: I will still be around to talk about stuff, episodes and details of the series. And when the season 2 finale comes out, I will be there to analyze it and, if necessary, criticize it. Sure, it won’t be a full analysis nor a full critique, because I will need all four parts to do that, but I can give my two cents on each part. And I will do it even if I’m not invited, as always <3

If you do not care or do not want to follow me anymore, you're free to go. I do not want to keep you on a tight leash forever.

But if you're curious and still want to follow me, get ready: 2024 will be a busy year ;)

Thank you all for this beautiful year, thank you for your time, your appreciation and your nice words. I can't wait to meet you all in the next one.

Happy 2024

❤️

( Support me on Ko-fi )

_______________________________

TAGLIST: (this is your cue to ask if you want to be added/removed from it)

@royalprinceroman @reesiereads @mudpuddlenl@allmycrushesaredead @aquatedia@whatishappeningrightnow  @effortiswhatmatters @bella-in-a-bag  @doydoune @forever-third-wheeling​ @payte @hypnossanders​  @idontreallyknow24​  @imcrushedbyarainbowoffical​ @patton-cake​  @hereissananxiousmess​  @purplebronzeandblue​  @cynicalandsarcastic​ ​@lost-in-thought-20​ @andtheyreonfire​ 

@riseofthewerewolf​ @rosesandlove44​​  @chewy-rubies @groaaaaan​ @arya-skywalker​  @csi-baker-street-babes​ @queen-of-all-things-snuggly

@dracayd-universe​ @starlightnyx​ @stubbornness-and-spite​ @averykedavra @joyrose-fandomer @mihaela-tbg @igonnatalknothing

@thatoneloudowl  @grayson-22  @softangryfuckingdepressed @theotherella  @boopypastaissalty @nevenastark @varthandiveturinn @roses-bubbles @cuter-on-the-inside  @coldbookworm  @snixxxsmythe @charmingcritter  @analogical-mess @emphasis-on-the-oopsie @selfdestructivecat @yangwalkerao3​ @the3rddenialist

[fangirl-dot-com]

Hey there, relatively new to F1 and F1 tumblr and just saw your opinion about Lando. There are similar reasons to dislike Carlos as well? Don't feel pressured to answer :)

hiiiii

so i wanted to preface that these are my opinions and i wouldn’t want anyone to just follow them! please don’t let my preferences deter you from liking carlos or lando!

so for carlos, i haven’t been able to really explain why i dislike him. my dislike comes from a lot of reasons but my main two are - not being a team player and whining over the radio.

many times it’s come up that carlos goes against team orders for his own sake and race, which ultimately costs precious points and positions for ferrari. i don’t have any links right now, but if i find them i will put them in an additional post. for spain, the team plan/strategy was to stay in positions and save the tyres during a race with a track that has very high tyre degradation. carlos made the decision to go against that and try to get the jump on charles, which probably costed charles a very much needed podium as charles had to fight against his teammate rather than focus on race pace.

number 2, he complains so much on the radio for things that don’t need to happen. during imola (i think it was imola, pls someone correct me if im wrong) he wrongly made a move on oscar which still resulted in oscar gaining an overtake on carlos. for a while after that little “touch” happened, he constantly complained to his engineer that oscar should give him the place back so that oscar wouldn’t get a pentalty. penalties only happen if the FIA sanctions it as a situation that needs a penalty. the FIA had not said anything, so carlos wouldn’t have known that oscar would even get one. oscar has been on the receiving end of carlos’s complains since early last year.

i could also get into so many details, but i think this would be a good starter if anyone was curious as to why carlos is in the same tier as lando.

[abby118]

It makes me so happy to see I’m not alone here. Honestly the Loki fandom is so fucking isolating, and I feel like if you say you prefer Pre-series Loki/Loki Prime whatever….you get shit flung at you. This fandom has done a really good job at making me scared to share my opinions. (Hell, I can’t even criticize the TVA without “UWU THE TVA ARE SMOL ANGST BLORBOS WITH TRAUMA! THEY’RE LOKI’s WHOLESOME FOUND FAMILY WHO HELPED HIM!!!”) It’s helped me a little bit to remember Loki in the series is a variant of our boy, because like…he’s literally nothing like Loki in the slightest and no offense to the fans, but it feels like a majority of them haven’t even TOUCHED the previous films. (Literally saw a post calling them old and outdated.)

Thank you for this blog. 🥺

Ooh yes, mhm. It can be isolating, for sure, but I also think we're fortunate that it did split into pre and post ragnarok eras of the fandom because some fandoms die when its source material gets retconned. I definitely relate to the opinion aimed towards the new "fans"; they're one of the most disrespectful and meanest people I have had the displeasure of interacting with in fandom spaces and I've been on this site for a while now.

And no, the character in the series is not a variant of Loki. The *only thing they share is a name, which has been stolen from the original character it rightfully belongs to, with the intent of cashing in on the fans. I refuse to refer to him as the same character. *They do share the same actor too, and as much as it hurts to say it, because Tom Hiddleston has been my favourite actor since I can remember - I was literally 9 when I joined the fandom when T1 came out..(for context, I'll be turning 22 this year), I no longer relate to how he views, or seems to view, Loki. And don't get me wrong, he will always be the person who played my favourite character, that will not change, but I do not see his interpretation of Loki as my own anymore. It doesn't even match his old one. And I know I'm not alone in feeling like this.

The TVA is a topic I don't have the energy to get into but it is beyond problematic. I'll just say that, I'm sure we all know what I'm getting at there. And I wouldn't even say it "feels" like the newer people haven't touched the movies. I have spoken to a few of them and it is an actual thing, apparently. Some of them started with ragnarok...which does explain a lot...and never bothered to check the original ones. And then they complain about feeling unwelcome among the fanbase, I wonder why that is, huh? - "I feel like if you say you prefer Pre-series Loki/Loki Prime whatever….you get shit flung at you. This fandom has done a really good job at making me scared to share my opinions."

Don't listen to them. Block them. They are not interactions that would bring you enjoyment or any sort of positive feeling and that's not what fandoms are supposed to be like, trust me. If you genuinelly feel upset about people's takes and opinion aimed towards you, you have every right to avoid them. Tumblr has no algorithm and blocking is nothing but curating your experience, you don't owe anything to these people. I, myself, have done this, including filtering tags, and it is so much more peaceful than when I rejoined (beacuse I changed blogs). Still, no longer being able to go to the main tag is incredibly sad.

Find a group of people you can interact with, follow the tags that are more specific and avoid what doesn't benefit your fun here. And thank you for being here, really. Especially for reaching out 💚🖤 I'm very glad you like my blog. I'm just doing my own thing, which in my case, means trying to stay true to the fandom I loved and enjoyed (and still do) from years ago, regardless of the notes or what people say. Because, at the end of the day, all that matters is your own enjoyment. I'm trying not to post too much negativity towards post2013 despite having a lot to say because there are blogs who do that, and do so well (thank you guys), and we need one that's focused on the good things too, but sometimes it really is needed. So thank you for the opportunity.

[eaglefairy]

Why I love XC2

I know that I complain...often...about xenoblade 2. I promise that I really do like this game! Believe me, if I didn't love it I wouldn't be complaining, I just wouldn't be thinking about it. Anyway, an incomplete list of why I love this game:

The presentation! This game is gorgeous and has some areas that can just take your breath away. Uraya is one of my all-time favorite areas in any video game, and I just had to sit back in awe the first time I saw the petal rain there. Xc2 also knocks it out of the park when it's going for aesthetics that aren't jaw-dropping beauty; the environmental storytelling in Mor Ardain is top-notch, Temperantia truly looks and feels like a blighted wasteland, and there is nothing I could say about the Land of Morytha that hasn't already been said. Just amazing all around.

The music! Literally on the night I began writing this post my roommate and I played the end of Torna and they use the music from the Land of Morytha for the inside of Torna which is just. ow? The music is all beautiful, for one, and they absolutely nail whatever mood they're going for at the moment.

The characters! The cast is truly unique, in my opinion. Out of all the xenoblade games, it's absolutely the character concepts from 2 that stick with me the most. None of them are generic or cliche, everyone has something new or fresh to appreciate once you dig into them. This post is already long enough but for just the highlights: - I must shout out Rex for maturing, becoming more worldly, and going through an arc learning about the horrors and despair you'll find in the world without ever letting go of optimism that things can be better. A lesser character might end the story by becoming jaded as a substitute for maturity or begin the story jaded and have to be proven wrong about the world, but he just truly believes in goodness the whole way through! - Jin and Malos have one of my favorite relationship dynamics of all time. No one is doing it like them. Jin acts on his desire to destroy the world because Malos found him and gave him something to live for beyond keeping Lora's memory alive. Malos's desire to destroy the world is validated by Jin and the rest of Torna--people who would not be there if Malos hadn't inspired Jin! They're an ouroboros of destructive codependency and I love them for it. - Addam. The way he's built up as this incredible legendary hero in the main game and then you play Torna and he's just a man trying his best to do what's being asked of him. Probably the first time I've seen humility as a fatal flaw done well (done at all?). He never wanted Mythra's power, doesn't want to be king, and that in the end is what undoes him and his entire country. And then the truth of his tragedy and loss is papered over by people who don't care, who just want their story of a savior, and he's remembered forever as something he never wanted to be. Deliciously tragic!

The writing! This one might come as a surprise if you've seen my complaining before, but I'm being 100% serious here: there are elements of the writing (especially in the latter half) that I think are extremely well done. It embraces its themes without yelling them at the player outright. It presents murky situations and asks the player to engage with it honestly and think critically as you experience the story. It's very subtle storytelling that actually requires effort from the player to experience to its fullest, and I've just got to give it props for demanding trust from the player

The setting! The Cloud Sea has 100% grabbed me as a worldbuilding concept and never let go. (Could also be blamed on Skyward Sword, my first single-player video game.) I also love the Titan-Blade life cycle as a concept. This would absolutely come off strangely without context, but it reminds me of like bugs and plants and anything with a non-mammalian reproductive cycle. That's a good thing! I'm a biology nerd, these are all compliments!

Edit: I've decided this is the collective's xc2 positivity post now. Reblog and add your own favorite things about this game! Whether it's something already mentioned in this post or something else, let's get some positivity flowing!

[violethowler]

Was thinking about Maleficent in KH last night and had to cackle like a madman at the reminder of how the KH writers took the criticism of how complicated the story became after KH1 when it was just "boy saves the worlds from a bunch of Disney Villains and the mad scientist whose work the villains were building on" and retroactively made it so that all the complexity of post-KH1 games was literally Maleficent's fault.

Like, Dark Road reveals that the entire chain of events that pushed Xehanort down his path to villainy was started by Maleficent cursing Aurora in Sleeping Beauty.

And by the end of Union Cross, the only reason that the Keyblade Wielding civilization that Xehanort trained under existed in the first place was because Maleficent tried to time travel back to the BBS era and change the ending of Sleeping Beauyt but overshot by several centuries, then inadvertently triggered the destruction of what remained of the pre-Keyblade War world as a direct result of the method she used to return to the present for the start of KH2.

And you can even go back further, because the events of the X saga happened as a result of the Master of Masters manipulating everyone to play out the events he recorded in the Book of Prophecies, which were based on him witnessing the events of the future seen through the eye on Luxu's keyblade, up to and including the events of the Dark Seeker Saga. Meaning that the Master saw everything that happened as a result of Maleficent's meddling and then guided events in order to bring those circumstances about.

I dunno, I just think it's hilarious how if you follow the chain of causality back far enough, you realize that so much of the convoluted shenanigans fans complain about in the series are canonically only possible because of the Mistress of All Evil doing what the Mistress of All Evil does best.

(While also adding to the Sisyphean tragedy at the heart of her character journey that I talked about in my 12th Constructing Kingdoms video, because even as she fights to remain relevant as a serious threat in a post-KH1 world, she ironically created the very villains who surpassed her as the main threat to the universe).