#also it seemed to me that this pilot was not the same primary love interest from the first story that stood out from all the other pilots

[daydreamerdrew]

Contact Comics (1944) #2

[sophieakatz]

Thursday Thoughts: Marvel What If’s Women Problem

Welcome back to the feminist rant!

I really didn’t intend to spend three weeks in a row writing about the Marvel animated series What If…? But I wanted to see this through.

Last week we talked about this show’s abundant use of the “fridged woman” trope. However, a show doesn’t need to kill its female characters in order to fail them.

Remember that time I made up a feminist movie test? I call it the “Want Test.” You can read the full explanation here, but here’s the summary:

This test requires that a film (or, in this case, an episode of a TV show) has at least one named female character. After watching the show, ask, “Does what the named female character want matter to the plot?” Then, score the movie based on the answer to this question.

If the answer is “Yes, what the named female character wants matters to the plot,” then give the movie a checkmark!”

If the answer is “Yes, AND this is true of multiple named female characters,” then the movie gets a check-plus. If these characters help each other get what they want, the movie gets a check-double-plus!

If the answer is “Yes, BUT her wants are an obstacle to a male character’s goal,” then the movie gets a check-minus. The woman may matter to the plot, but her importance is centered on her relationship to a male character and how much he matters to the plot. Often movies with a check-minus involve a male protagonist actively trying to stop a female character from getting what she wants; while she has an impact on the world around her, the movie isn’t rooting for the woman.

If the answer is “No, what she wants doesn’t matter,” then the movie fails the test. Give it a minus.

Okay, now let’s talk about Marvel What If. Once again, there are spoilers for the first seven episodes of this show below the cut, and some discussion of the plot points in the movies these episodes are based on.

When I compare the first seven episodes of What If to the Want Test, they each barely scrape their way to a check-minus (though after my rant last week, I’m tempted to edit my test so that a show that fridges a female character automatically fails). In summary, it does not matter what most of the named female characters want. Each episode has a single woman whose wants do affect the plot, but what she wants is always some kind of obstacle to a male character’s goal. Even when the women of What If survive the episode, the male characters’ feelings are the primary engine of the show.

As I neared the end of Episode Six, “What If… Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?” I said to myself, “Well, at least Pepper and Shuri aren’t dead.” But then, in the last minute of the episode, Shuri and Pepper meet and state their intent to take down Killmonger. And I said to myself, “Okay, so why didn’t we get THAT episode?”

Sure, it’s cool to see two smart girls teaming up, but they don’t get to do anything! This episode repeatedly puts Pepper and Shuri down. Every time they express suspicion of Killmonger, someone contradicts them. What they want does not matter. They are obstacles to the men, and they are easily pushed aside, and so all they can do is stand in the background and watch while the boys run around and play war games.

If your named female characters only matter in the last scene of the show, then they don’t really matter. This episode wasn’t about the women at all. It was about the men killing each other and making each other sad.

*

I really don’t want to say much about the seventh episode, “What If… Thor Were an Only Child?”

What I will say is, “Why, why, WHY is Dr. Jane Foster more concerned about hurting the hot guy’s feelings than she is about how the hot guy is about to cause the end of the world?”

And I will also say, “Why does Captain Marvel need to be nice to Thor at the end of the episode after he spent the entire episode being a jackass to her?”

And I will end this section of the blog post by saying, “Frigga deserves so much better than any man in her family has ever given her.”

*

The second episode of this show, “What If… T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?” might be my favorite episode. Mainly because it’s the only one I genuinely liked while I was watching it. It was fun, and I was happy to hear Chadwick Boseman’s voice one more time. Overall, it’s a lovely tribute to both the actor and his character.

But, for me, liking this episode required ignoring a big problem: Nebula and Thanos’s relationship.

We don’t know exactly when in this timeline T’Challa met Thanos and convinced him to give up on the “murder half the universe” plan. But we do know that even before Thanos collected the Infinity Stones, he was roaming the universe slaughtering millions. We know he committed genocide against Gamora’s people the day he “adopted” her, and it’s safe to assume he did the same to Nebula’s. We know that he raised Gamora and Nebula to fight each other, and every time Nebula lost a fight, he replaced a part of her body with cybernetics, constantly torturing her.

What If never tells us that that Thanos did not abuse his daughters. It never tells us that he did not slaughter millions, including his daughters’ birth families. But it does tell us that Thanos is Nebula’s father. And he wouldn’t be her father if he hadn’t been roaming the universe killing people.

In this episode, we see an adult Nebula who seems to think her dad is annoying, but any feelings she might have about how genuinely terrible he is – feelings she was freely willing to admit in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies – go completely unmentioned.

Thanos and Nebula’s relationship is played for laughs, like they just need to get over their past and hug it out. That bothers me a lot. It’s like the show is saying that Nebula’s pain doesn’t matter. What matters is that Thanos is sad she doesn’t want to hang out with him.

I should also point out that in Avengers: Infinity War, Gamora gets fridged. Her feelings are unimportant to the plot; her stated desire to die before she can be used as a part of Thanos’s plot is mocked and discarded. When she is murdered, the moment of her death is all about how it would hurt Thanos to kill her. Gamora’s death also serves as motivation for Peter Quill to sabotage the other heroes’ efforts to stop Thanos.

Gamora is nowhere to be seen in this episode of What If. The women that Thanos abused really don’t matter here at all.

*

I’ve been putting off talking about this show’s pilot episode, “What If… Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?” This episode was… You know, it was fun, in a very similar way to how the Star Lord T’Challa episode was fun. I can’t lie and say I didn’t like seeing super buff Peggy Carter beat the crap out of Nazis. That was a lot of fun.

But the thing I couldn’t stop thinking while watching was, “This isn’t Peggy’s story. It’s Steve’s!”

Peggy Carter may have gotten the super serum in this reality, but Steve Rogers is still the main driving force of the plot. Peggy goes to Germany to save Steve’s best friend. She works with Steve’s allies, the Howling Commandoes, instead of finding her own. Steve’s issues and emotions are central to everything Peggy does; she may say in dialogue that she wants to end the war, but what we see is that Steve is her motivation. In fact, he’s everyone’s motivation – in the scene where Peggy, Bucky, Howard, and the Howling Commandoes decide to go take down Red Skull, they all go around the table and say that they’re doing it “for Steve.” Not because ending the war is the right thing to do, not because they care about the millions of people murdered and tortured by the Nazis – but because they care about Steve.

When I first heard about this show, I thought that Steve was going to die, and that would be why Captain Carter would exist. The interesting/ironic thing here is that the episode pokes at the idea of fridging Steve, but it doesn’t quite have the guts to go through with it. Everyone thinks that Steve died on the train, but then they find him in Red Skull’s castle, and he’s totally fine! Killing off Captain America would have been an interesting, powerful new direction to take the story. But this episode doesn’t seem interested in taking new directions. It seems more interested in showing how things would stay the same even if Steve didn’t get the serum, even if Peggy switched careers from secret agent to superhero, even if Bucky never became the Winter Soldier, even if Red Skull decided to open a portal to tentacle hell. Things just stay the same.

And I don’t get the point of presenting us with a show where there are “endless possibilities” if things are just going to stay the same. If Peggy Carter will still be a side character in Steve Roger’s story. If Hank Pym’s grief still matters more than Janet and Hope Van Dyne’s lives. If Thanos will still never be held accountable for abusing Gamora and Nebula. If Doctor Strange is still an arrogant jackass. If the only realities we see are ones where men get to act and feel, and women get to be plot devices.

The truth is that the Watcher just isn’t interested in showing us realities where women live and thrive in their own right. For all its emphasis on how different decisions can cause dramatic changes to reality, the creators of What If have no real investment in making different decisions in how they portray female characters. It’s just more of the same.

I’m done thinking about this show. Let’s talk about something else next week, okay?

Be good to yourself, be kind to each other, and you’ll hear from me again soon!

[firstofficerwiggles]

Only for You

Pairing: Mandalorian x female reader

Rating: G

Warnings: None

Summary: You like to sing and it ends up bringing you closer to the Mandalorian. Events take place sometime between Seasons 1 and 2. It’s pretty much fluff with a teeny bit of story.

Word Count: ~4600

Author’s Note: Inspired by the Adele version of Make You Feel My Love, I use several of the lyrics in the story but I did make one small change to make it fit the SW universe. Also in my SW universe, all Earth music is readily available by some magical means, don’t overthink it.

P.S. To everyone I tagged, I did a presumptive tag here since you were on my list for Dress Code and I thought maybe you’d enjoy reading this too? I’m sorry if you aren’t interested and just let me know if you don’t want to be tagged for any future works.

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The soft sounds of you singing to the child drift through the Razor Crest up to the cockpit making Din smile under his helmet. Ever since you came aboard to be the caregiver for his little foundling, life has been filled with music and boisterous sounds. It’s a nice change from the lonely silences that previously filled his days. He never really listened to music when he was alone, it just wasn’t something he was used to, but now he knows he would miss it if you weren’t singing all the time.

“Heeey, hey baby, I wanna know-ow-ow, if you’ll be my guy.” You sing to the child causing him to giggle and coo at you. You swear he is even bopping his head along to the rhythm of the song. You’re preparing the evening meal, dancing around the Crest’s hull and singing to your little green charge as you do. Thank goodness Mando doesn’t mind how much you sing and generally create a ruckus in the ship. From outward appearances, your primary worry should have been Mando’s dangerous lifestyle and the bounty on the child, but honestly, when you first started this job, your primary concern was about being way too noisy for the taciturn bounty hunter. You feel like you can’t help it though because you were raised in a loud household with three brothers where everyone was always talking, laughing, shouting, and generally being rowdy. Later, you were away at school living with hundreds of other students constantly surrounded by racket, the perfect environment for your noisy nature. Not to mention, you’ve always loved to sing and were known for being that one (slightly annoying) friend that was always humming a tune or breaking out in song like you were in a musical.

You were fortunate to be sent to a school with a great arts program and you relished your music classes. You had dreamed of someday being able to have a career in music, but as the war grew closer to your corner of the galaxy, those aspirations quickly faded. By the time you left school, you were lucky to find the odd teaching job as a tutor and the closest you’d come to having any sort of musical profession was singing and playing the piano at the local cantina a few times a week for tips. It had been fun for a while, but it wasn’t how you had envisioned your life. Playing the same requested songs night after night while increasingly drunk men hit on you loses its charm real fast. When your older brother, another bounty hunter, had told you about Mando needing some help with childcare, you had jumped at the opportunity for something new. So far it was proving to be the most rewarding job you’d ever had. Not only was the child unbelievably adorable, you’d also had the opportunity to travel to many new places and gain experiences that would have been impossible back on your home world. And while caring for the special alien baby was your main task, you found yourself helping out his father as much as you could too whether it was simply cleaning up around the Crest or making sure that Mando ate something on a given day. You had seen that he frequently put everyone above himself, going for long stretches of time without seeing to his own personal needs. He seemed to appreciate everything that you did for him, always quick to thank you even for the smallest of tasks.

You checked the timer on the food and saw that there were just a few more minutes until it would be ready. To keep the baby from getting fussy, you pick him up and spin him around a bit singing to him again, “So won’t you, please, be my, be my, be my little baby, my one and only baby...” It’s silly but you love singing songs to him with the word “baby” in them even if they aren’t traditionally songs for children. You are mid twirl with the child when you realize the Mandalorian has come down from the cockpit and is watching your little performance. You feel your cheeks heat up, a bit embarrassed that he has caught you being such a dork, but then he puts you at ease when he chuckles, “You two look like you’re having fun.”

“Yes, time for dinner and a little dancing,” you reply with a smile, twirling the child one more time causing him to erupt in happy giggles.

“Good, I’m starved,” Mando wanders over to the food, “Smells delicious. You’re too good to us.”

You put the baby back down and turn back to the little stove to dish out the stew you’ve made. You try not to think about the fact that you made this particular dish because Mando seems to like it so much. You couldn’t be certain but it looked like he licked the bowl clean the last time you made it. Mando moves to take his bowl up to the cockpit so he can remove his helmet and eat in privacy, but then turns to you to say, “I’ll let you know when it’s ok to come up for lullaby time.”

Ah yes, lullaby time, as if you would ever forget. It is the highlight of your day, and you would love to imagine that the same is true for Mando even though he’s never given any indication of the kind. When you first started this job, you had tried to give the Mandalorian as much space as possible not wanting to pester him in any way. As much as you could, you had stayed out of the cockpit treating it as his own private domain. So the first few times you put the child to bed, you stayed down in the hull as you sang him a few songs to help ease the little womp rat into sleep. But, after a few evenings alone like that, Mando had managed to be downstairs, tinkering away at little odd jobs while you put the baby to bed. At first you didn’t really think he was paying much attention to your singing, but by about the fourth night you realized he had been cleaning the same blaster over and over, and you began to suspect that he was listening to you as intently as the child. A few days later, he suggested that you come up to the cockpit for the child’s nighttime routine, saying “Maybe looking out at the stars will help him feel sleepy.” You had agreed, but, you had to admit, that it was more because you were curious about spending more time with your employer than finding a way to help the little one fall asleep faster. Mando had been the one to coin the term “lullaby time” as a way to let you know that his helmet was back on and he was ready for company. Your heart almost melted the first time he said it, and now you lived to hear him call down to say “Ok, you two, it’s lullaby time.”

In the cockpit, Din is gulping down his dinner. He knows he should probably slow down, savor his food a bit more, but truthfully he’s eager to spend more time with you and the child. He’s thought about staying down below with you both when he eats, but tipping the helmet up each time he wants to take a bite of food or a sip of a drink is a pain and he can’t risk the chance that one of you will see too much of his face. Din would never admit it out loud, but lullaby time is his favorite part of the day. It’s the one time he gets to spend time with you and the child just relaxing and enjoying your presence. Plus the fact that he gets to listen to your beautiful voice is a special bonus. At first Din would just watch you hold the child and sing to him, but now he’s a more active participant, often taking the child into his arms, rocking him gently as you sing to the both of them. He’s even started to ask you more about the songs you sing and where you learned them. It’s been a nice way to start conversations with you, to know more about you, something else he is eager to do.

When Mando calls down to you, you beam down at the baby and tell him happily that it’s time to get ready for bed. Scooping him up, you climb the ladder to the cockpit and you can see Mando already holding out his arms for the little one. You adore how affection this hardened warrior can be with his adopted son. You settle in the co-pilot’s chair as you start to sing some of your favorite songs. They’re all love songs, not really lullabies, but they are soft and dreamy and create the right mood for the evening. You’ve sung about four songs when you notice the child’s eyes are closed and you can tell he’s almost asleep. You’re about ready to collect him from Mando so you can put him into his pram for the night, when Mando asks, “What’s that song you sing about feel my love?”

“Make You Feel My Love?” you ask, “Is that the one you mean?”

“Yeah,” he replies, “you didn’t sing it tonight.”

It’s not exactly a request, but you understand what he’s hinting at. He’s asked you the name before, so you suspect he remembers the song fairly well. Even though the child is practically asleep now, you sing it for Mando, feeling touched that he must enjoy this particular song to want to ask about it.

             When the rain is blowing in your face

             And the whole world is on your case

             I could offer you a warm embrace

             To make you feel my love

             When the evening shadows and the stars appear

             And there is no one there to dry your tears

             I could hold you for a million years

             To make you feel my love

Din listens to the beautiful words and the haunting melody as your voice sings to him about all the ways you would show him that you care. He watches your lovely face as you sing and he imagines that you really mean what you are singing, that you’re singing it just to him, that you really would do all of that for him. When you get to the line I could make you happy, make your dreams come true he feels his heart lurch at the truth in those words, knowing how much you already make him happy every day and acknowledging that if you were ever truly with him, it would be like a dream come true for him. As the song ends, he sighs, both contented at hearing it but also saddened to come back to reality. Din won’t let himself believe that a woman like you could ever really love him so unconditionally. His life is too turbulent, full of violence and hardship, and what woman would want to saddle herself with that?

Even though you’re not privy to Mando’s true feelings, you somehow feel that you could tell how much he enjoyed hearing that song and so after that evening, you are sure to sing it as the last song every night. Usually the child is already fast asleep when you sing it, so each time it becomes clearer to you that you really are singing it just for Mando. As the days and week progress, lullaby time has come to be followed by conversation time since you have taken to returning to the cockpit after putting the child to sleep in his pram. At first you mostly spoke about your own life, answering Mando’s questions about where you learned to sing, what else you learned at school, and what life was like with your three crazy brothers. Yet, little by little he has begun to tell you about his own past, sharing stories about his training in the Mandalorian fighting corps and his earlier years as a bounty hunter.

The more you find out about Mando, the more you’ve come to develop real feelings for him. So when you sing that there’s nothing that you wouldn’t do for him, that you want him to feel your love, you know you really mean it. If only you could bring yourself to tell him in your own words, and not only in the song. Nonetheless, if you’re honest with yourself, you have no indication that Mando shares your feelings even slightly. While he does seem to enjoy spending time with you, and clearly he likes Make You Feel My Love, truthfully he could be thinking about anyone when you sing it or it could be that he just likes the music and the company, it’s not like there’s someone else here. Sure he’s always polite and kind towards you, but he’s like that with lots of people, as long as they’re not a threat. You’ve seen how quickly he can make friends, despite being an intimidating wall of metal, his quiet charm and respectfulness draws people to him in an unassuming manner. Perhaps you’re simply another friendly admirer swept up by his intriguing aura. So you do your best to keep these feeling to yourself, maintaining as neutral an expression as you can when you sing to him and doing your utmost not to embarrass yourself by sharing too much and potentially ruining the friendly companionship you’ve managed to cultivate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I don’t think this will take too long, and you two can probably get something to eat while we’re here.” You and the child have accompanied Mando to a cantina on an icy planet where he has a meeting with a potential client. It was too cold to stay on the Razor Crest with its meager heating system, and thankfully this place is warm and doesn’t seem too seedy. The bar top looks well-polished and there’s even a piano in here, hinting at a nicer atmosphere than most of the hole-in-the wall joints you’ve been to with Mando. The only unsettling thing is how everyone in the cantina is staring at your odd little group, the silver warrior, the alien baby in his floating pram, and you, the woman looking about with curious eyes. You have never quite gotten used to the way that Mando can silence an entire room just by entering it, but he seems unperturbed by the stares. He spots his client, an older looking gentleman, and moves toward that direction, but a group of patrons have decided to intervene first.

“What’s your business here, Mandalorian?” A tall, florid-faced man demands. He seems to be the unofficial leader of the group, as the rest of them are looking to him as the voice of authority.

“It’s not with you.” Mando is never one to mince words.

“We don’t need you coming in here and causing trouble, I’ve seen how you Mandos get.” A much shorter man, with clearly a death wish, sticks his finger towards Mando’s chest plate almost poking him.

“Not here for trouble.” Mando’s voice sounds gruffer than usual and it sends a shiver down your spine.

“Well you Mandos never drink in public, so what are you doing in a cantina?” The short man sneers at him and ugh, the way he makes Mandos sound like a dirty word irritates you to no end.

Not one to be baited into confrontation, Mando says nothing in reply, but merely tilts his helmet at the man, and you can feel the annoyance in his gesture.

“This a decent place for decent people, so why don’t you just turn around and get out of here?” The tall man suggests with a malicious tone to his voice. This place might look at little nicer, but the patrons sure are nasty. You look around and see more men standing up, and the tension in the room is palpable. You know Mando could really use the work, but the last thing he needs is to get into a fight just trying to land the job.

You have no idea what possesses you, but before you know it you’re saying “But if we leave now, you won’t get to hear me sing!” And you stride confidently over to the piano, plop yourself down on the bench, and begin playing out a jaunty song, a popular tune from your cantina back home. Despite the fact that everyone is now staring at you like you have lost your mind, you press ahead and start singing as if this was always the point of being there.  You smile brightly at the room as if you are having the time of your life performing for them. Magically, your ridiculous ploy works and the men back off, a bit startled at first by the abrupt change in energy in the room, but as they beginning listening to you sing their animosity seems to drain away. Several other patrons are nodding their heads along with the music and light conversation picks up again. Mando gives you a small nod before finally making his way over to the client. You let the music flow and continue on to another song, keeping everyone’s attention on you. By the third song you feel more relaxed and grateful that you’re able to help Mando out in this way. A waiter comes over from the bar with a drink for you as you end a song, “That was smooth, what you did,” he gives you a little wink.

“Hope your boss doesn’t mind,” you say with a smile.

“The drink’s from him, he said he didn’t realize I hired a singer for tonight, but he’s real pleased with you.” He gestures to the man tending bar.

“That’s good,” is all you can think to say in response.

“Do you know She’s Always a Woman?” he asks. You nod smoothly and start the song and you glance over at the bartender again and see that he’s smiling widely, must be a favorite of his.

After that, a tip jar finds its way over to the piano and patrons come up to add to it and make their own requests, even the tall man comes over to give you a few credits and ask for a song. His cronies are now back to their drinks and none of them even seem to register that Mando is still here. The more you sing, the more you get into the fun of performing for a crowd again, making them forget their troubles and letting them take some time to enjoy themselves. When you glimpse towards Mando and his client, they also seem to appreciate the music. The client has a happy smile on his face and while you obviously can’t see Mando’s expression, his relaxed posture indicates an improvement from earlier. He doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave for once either.

Looking at the pleased faces and jovial manner about the cantina now, Din is impressed with how you managed to transform this place from hostile to welcoming in a matter of minutes. The client appreciated your help too as he was worried about hiring a bounty hunter in the first place, never having had a need for such services before. Fortunately, the client’s explanation of the job was fairly straightforward and it looks to be an easy bounty. Din is careful to repeat back all of the pertinent details to the client and the man seems satisfied in his abilities to find the quarry, which is good because his usual laser-like focus has abandoned him and he can’t stop himself from glancing repeatedly over to the piano and you. Normally, Din wouldn’t hang around and socialize with the client, but the opportunity to see you perform like this is too good to pass up. He knew you were talented after hearing you sing for him and the baby for so many evenings, but seeing you shine like this is a luxury. Din watches keenly as different emotions play across your gorgeous face as you shift from happy, upbeat songs to the more expressive and dramatic love songs. You are always beautiful to Din, but seeing you like this is special, like you’re glowing from within and it makes you all the more precious to him. He’s not crazy about the fact that you’ve clearly captivated at least half of the men in the room with your beauty and talent, but he knows you’re leaving here with him and it makes him feel rather smug. As Din listens to you sing a love song about how you think about the man you love night and day, he indulges in a fantasy where the song is about the two of you, especially when you sing about spending your life making love to him. It’s easy to imagine especially when you keep looking over at him with such an outright flirtatious expression during the song.  

Under the guise of performing, you let yourself look at Mando with all of the desire and love you’ve been keeping under wraps for so long now. You’re careful to let your eyes roam around the room, flirting with the other patrons too, but every time you turn back towards Mando you let your gaze soften a bit more. As the evening wears on, you let yourself sing all of your favorite love songs, telling Mando how you feel with each one, promising that you’ll love him forever, that you’ll never let him go, and how he’s the only one for you. You know you’re just pretending that he understands why you’re singing each one, that they’re all for him. The only song you can’t bring yourself to sing is Make You Feel My Love. It seems too personal, too private to perform in front of all these strangers.

The crowd at the cantina starts to thin out and you know you’ve been here much longer than Mando originally planned. You decide it’s time to bring this interlude to an end and thank your audience for their attention, playing one last song to say good night. When the music ends, you stand and take a small bow to the round of applause. You collect your tips and an additional unexpected payment from the bartender, along with several requests to come back again soon. Mando is back at your side and he places a hand at the small of your back guiding you out the door and into the snowy night. You expect him to pull away once you are out of the crowd, but he stays close to you.

“Thank you for that impromptu performance.” He deep voice rumbles in your ear as you head back to the Razor Crest, “It was a welcome distraction from those idiots and I appreciated not having to get into a bar brawl.”

“Anything to lend you a helping hand,” you reply warmly.

He nods, and then says, “You’re really very talented. You could do well for yourself, singing full time in a nice cantina or a casino somewhere.”

“Tonight was fun enough, but I’ve had my time singing in a cantina, it gets old faster than you think,” you tell him, “besides why would I give up the best job in the galaxy?”

“The best job in the galaxy?” Mando scoffs a little at that.

“Sure it is! I get to travel around all over seeing all kinds of planets and people, take care of the most adorable magic baby ever, and spend time with his amazing father.” Oops, did you just say that last part out loud?  

Mando is quiet for a beat, but then he says, “You’re the amazing one.”

You’re too shocked to say anything more than a mumbled, “Thanks” and hurry towards the Crest.

Once aboard you check on the baby, but he’s already asleep, so all you do is tuck his blanket around him a little more and then climb up to the cockpit where Mando is readying the controls for take-off. Even though you’re still a bit embarrassed by your unplanned compliment earlier, his response has made you curious. You sit quietly as you leave the planet’s atmosphere and the ship makes the jump to hyperspace, the whole time racking your brain for the right words so that maybe you can finally give Mando a clue about your feelings. You’re about to give up, when he says, “You didn’t sing Make You Feel My Love tonight.”

“Ah, no, no I didn’t.” Maker, you want to tell him why, but the words are frozen in your throat.

“That’s my favorite song.” Mando finally admits to you.

“I thought it might be,” you say, “that’s why I sing it every night.”

“But not tonight?”

You take a deep breath. He’s giving you the perfect opportunity and you gather all your courage as you tell him, “It felt too personal to share such an intimate song with all of those people. When- when I sing that song, your song, it’s only for you.”

“My song?” You swear his voice gets deeper when he tries to clarify what you mean.

“Yes, that’s how I think of it now.” You look at his visor where you think his eyes must be, trying to silently confess to him what that song means to you.

“My song.” Mando repeats, before asking, “Do you know why it’s my favorite?”

“No, I- I really don’t. I just knew you liked it when you asked me about it a couple times.”

He’s quiet again for a moment and you wonder if he’s going to elaborate when he finally says, “It’s my favorite song because I imagine that you really mean what you’re singing, that you’re singing it to me for real.”

“I am singing it to you for real,” you finally confess, “I mean every word each time I sing it for you.”

“You are? And you do?” Mando seems genuinely surprised, “How- How is that possible?”

You smile at him and because you feel like you might as well go for it, you stand up coming closer to him and then you reach down and take his hands in yours, “It’s possible because you’re such a wonderful man, you treat me with respect, you’re kind, you let me be my annoying, loud self as much as I want--”

“I don’t think you’re annoying,” he interjects.

“And see, that, right there, you always make me feel good, you just make me glad to be around you, it’s one of the many reasons why I fell in love with you, why I am in love with you.” The words come tumbling out of your mouth and your chest feels tight, but then he squeezes your hands.

“I’m in love with you too, have been for a while,” he says softly. Then he tugs you closer to him until you’re sitting in his lap with his arms around you. He holds you close to his chest, and you can’t imagine how this could be any better, until you hear his rich baritone voice sing the last lines of the song to you,

             I could make you happy, make your dreams come true

             Nothing that I wouldn’t do

             Go to the ends of the universe for you

             To make you feel my love

             To make you feel my love

------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it.

Let me know if you’d like to be tagged for any future fics!

Tag list: @sleepwithacommunist @im-the-nerdiest-of-them-a11 @rueblogsthings @mackycat11 @tv-zepeda @remmyswritings @mudhornchronicles @boomtownboy @mandosboobiez @hoodjarin @haley7242

[strideofpride]

tbh blair/nate wasn’t really… narratively compelling enough to be a vertex of the show’s primary love triangle. for all the talk of leighton and ed’s electric chemistry, i think the other half of chair becoming as initially popular as it did was due to the lack of romantic chemistry between blair and nate (at least imo). i HATE chair, capital-L Loathe It, and yet whenever i rewatch the scenes of blair and nate as a couple, i find myself somewhat understanding why people were so eager for it. i think if the show wanted to have a “central” love triangle like the books did, then dan/serena/nate seems like the better choice - although the serena/dan/blair love triangle, while contextually annoying in season 5, could also maybe have worked if chuck wasn’t as major a love interest for blair and dair had had a romantic arc earlier on.

Okay, while I agree that from a writing standpoint, Nate and Blair were lacking, I heavily disagree about their chemistry, I think Chace and Leighton had really lovely chemistry! You can tell from bloopers and interviews at the time that they really enjoyed working together and they were close friends outside of work as well (Chace even introduced Leighton to Sebastian!).

So I do think that if they had wrote Nate and Blair closer to how they were in the books, a Blair/Nate/Serena love triangle could’ve really worked. But yeah, you’re also right that Dan/Serena/Nate probably would’ve been more compelling based off the pilot alone.

And I…I don’t know. I don’t want or like the concept of a Serena/Dan/Blair love triangle at all. It just doesn’t work for me. Because Dan as a person (at least in how I interpret Dan) would not want both of them at the same time (s6 is fake of course). Serena was Dan’s high school sweetheart, his first love, etc. And Blair was his mature love. Dan was just in two entirely different places when he loved them.

And obviously, I favor Dair so much more and I love the idea of supportive!Serena too (maybe I’ll finally go back and finish my abandoned slight hod!au where Serena is the one that sets them up lol).

[sugarcomatosed]

On Miyuki Inaba and Macross:

I’ve heard nothing but love for wave 2-10 of destruction; but I’ve realized that the scene loses some of its magic for western audience because they don’t know it’s a shout out. 

So today I want to break down for you today the biggest reference in 13 Sentinels you most likely missed out on; Miyuki Inaba, Lynn Minmay and The Super Dimensional Fortess Macross.

Join me under the cut for massive spoilers for Sentinels of course, and a nearly 40 year old anime you’ve never seen.

I think everyone knows Sentinels is chock full of sci-fi shout outs. From War of the Worlds, to Terminator, The Matrix, heck even GroundHog’s day, the list goes on and on. Most western audiences will be able to spot the bulk, so why haven’t you heard of Macross?

Simply put, copyright battles. In 1985, Hamorny Gold stitched together three unrelated animes to create Robotech. One of the anime series involved was Macross and Harmony Gold has kept a tight leash on the copyright preventing the series from ever getting a real proper English release ever since.

...so what is Macross?

Well, in super blunt Wikipedia stolen summaries:

Macross (マクロス, Makurosu, English: /məˈkrɒs/) is a Japanese science fiction mecha anime media franchise/media mix, created by Studio Nue (most prominently mechanical designer Shōji Kawamori) and Artland in 1982. The franchise features a fictional history of Earth and the human race after the year 1999, as well as the history of humanoid civilization in the Milky Way. It consists of four TV series, four movies, six OVAs, one light novel, and five manga series, all sponsored by Big West Advertising, in addition to 40 video games set in the Macross universe, 2 crossover games, and a wide variety of physical merchandise.

If you asked me to boil the series down to it’s three staples I’d pick the following three elements. Big robot fights, love triangles and music, usually all interplaying together to make some of the most exciting fight scenes in anime.

The series is going strong in Japan ever since its 1982 release, with the most recent series Macross Delta’s newest film “Absolute Live!!!!!!” getting its first teaser trailer days before I sat down to write this post. It’s insanely big in Japan and you’ve probably seen a half dozen Macross references if you’ve watched a sci-fi anime before. Most likely the signature missile blast.

Sentinels pulls specifically from the 1984 film: the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? The story is largely a shortened version of the first tv series which aired in 82 and is considered in canon a film retelling of the events.

The film focuses on a colony ship adrift through space suddenly being attacked by an alien race called the Zentardi, it’s both a war film and a very quiet drama all tangled up in the three central characters of Hikaru Ichijo, the young pilot, Misa Hayase, one of the bridge officers and then Miss Macross herself; Lynn Minmay.  An idol singer aborad the ship who has during its journey become a huge celebrity after starting as a simple waitress at her family’s restaurant. 

Minmay is considered something of the face of the series and while other characters may never come up again in its extended universe, the story of Lynn Minmay is akin to legend in later entries in the seires. 

When mankind was faced with these invaders, there was one simple thing that managed to send the enemy into disarray, the music of Lynn Minmay shocked the Zentardi who had no concept of culture and music. They end up capturing her and the other two leads during the course of the film and while the others manage to escape; Minmay is trapped behind with the Zentardi.

They eventually ask her to look and exam a relic they’ve kept on board their ship, and Minmay discovers it’s of all things, a song.

So, if isn’t obvious enough by this description alone, Miyuki is modeled after Minmay. It’s not a 1 to 1, but the curls in her hair and the style of her outfit make it even more obvious.

They have a lot of the same general vibes too, Minmay over the course of the film becomes a tragic melancholic figure and a symbol of the war effort against her will. Her sweet dreamy smile and glittering energy become subdued as she faces set back over setback. She remains strong up until a point behind her facade of confidence until she discovers Hikaru now has feelings for Misa. Culminating in the finale of the film where a despair filled Minmay refuses to sing because it all seems pointless.

Miyuki foils this of course with her journey from the plucky Tomi Kisaragi of a prior loop to a ghost in the machine; a somber beautiful figure but a changed person. She only has this role she’s taken on in the end. All she can do to impact the out come of this fight is sing and hope Shu hears her.

In the finale, Minmay is given a wake up call and asked by Hikaru to sing her song and try to save the lives of everyone left aboard the macross. Roused from her despair, Minmay agrees and the final battle is set to the tunes of the song the Zentardi had shown her, now with lyrics Misa had translated. At long last reaching them and halting the conflict.

This is of course, what 2-10 is a direct reference too. Miyuki sings Seaside Vacation until she can’t be heard any longer.

Even if you’ve never seen the film, the clip alone is a treat in itself. It’s a lovely piece of animation 

But Macross’s influences go deeper than just Miyuki and the original Macross. In Macross Plus, the primary idol is the artificial intelligence Sharon Apple. She is also it’s major villian as her AI becomes destabilized during the course of the film.

With the illegal modifications installed in Sharon takes control of the capital of Earth with her music and nearly destroys the city. Miyuki’s character is all Minmay, but her role in the story is a heroic Sharon Apple.

And outside of Miyuki, Macross references and influences can be spotted in Tomi’s story in which she and Nenji are trapped in 2025 and he begins to fall for her mirrors the arc that occurs between Hikaru and Misa after they escape the clutches of the Zentardi. The pair find themselves trapped on a mysterious planet, which turns out to be Earth rampaged by the Zentardi. Misa and Hikaru’s hostility towards each other fades as they try to come to grips with this truth. They spend a long time alone in the ruins and eventually fall in love before eventually being saved by the Macross. Which, is roughly what occurs in Tomi’s story between her and Nenji.

Shu’s story as well, with the minor focus on his confusion of his feelings towards Tomi and Yuki are also arguably a tongue in cheek reference towards the series many Love triangles, which aren’t always true triangles but always remain a corner stone of the series. 

Does Shu actually have feelings towards Tomi? No but she’s showing up everywhere and it’s left him a little out of sorts and plays into the misinformation sentinels feeds you, leading you to think there’s a triangle of some sorts:

Maybe they’re stretches, but considering it was stated in an interview the film was a huge inspiration for the game, I wouldn’t be shocked. I found the interview on twitter back in November but can’t track it down now and I’m v. sad

There’s also the matter of the Protoculture.

The Macross is a massive colony ship, sent out into space with the goal of returning to earth after a long space voyage to insure humanity’s survival, much like the probes the 2188 colony sent out. Misa and Hikaru return to find this was the only thing that’s had prevented humanity from being wiped by the Zentardi.

While on earth, Misa and Hikaru manages to discover a set of ruins of a highly advanced civilization that had created both humanity and the Zentardi. The protoculture.

The logs they manage to Find reveal that their inventions grew too great and they have all but disappeared from the universe, but humanity in the end are aliens as well. The invading Zentardi were just tools used by the Protoculture to wage war on itself and contributed to the death of their people.

The song Minmay sings is a relic of the Protoculture, an ancient highly advanced civilization from thousands of years ago.

Now Hm. Why does that sound familiar? What was it Fluffy said about 2188 and the Deimos code....

They’re obviously not 1-1 references, but Sentinels was such a labor of love that pulled from so many genres it’s nice to see such an iconic series get a well thought out reference. 

I hope this was something of a fun read and gives you a better love of Miyuki and 2-10.

I don’t know if I’d recommend getting into Macross if you liked Sentinels, but if you’re interested send me an ask and I could probably give you a helpful breakdown. I love both series so much and consider them my top two sci-fi! 

[imaginedmelody]

Today, just for fun, I decided to watch the very first and very last episodes of Community back to back. What fascinated me most was how directly the pilot references the lessons that are going to be so crucial to Jeff’s journey throughout the series- starting from the very first scene, when he tells Abed, “I see your value now.”

Because that’s Jeff’s whole arc, isn’t it? In that moment, he means it selfishly- “I see what purpose you have towards serving my own interests.” But his whole mission, the primary thing he has to learn at Greendale, is how to recognize the intrinsic value of others besides himself. Not to always put himself first, or to evaluate people purely on their benefit to him, but to look outside his own self-centered worldview and acknowledge the worth of others.

And the pilot does this again later on, when Professor Duncan gives him the fake envelope that’s supposed to contain all his test answers and it turns out to be blank. Jeff’s other crucial lesson, as a seasoned bullshitter, is having to accept that he doesn’t have all the answers. Jeff has made his living on pretending to know everything, be in control of everything. Here at Greendale, he has to admit how little he really knows.

I’ve maintained before that the characters on Community grow, but don’t fundamentally change, over the course of six seasons. Watching the finale back again, Jeff is clearly dealing with a lot of the same insecurities he started the whole show with. He craves acceptance more than almost anything else, so the idea that he’ll be the only one left at Greendale, with all his other friends moving on to bigger and better things, is enough to send him into essentially a nervous breakdown. To be completely honest, Jeff is kind of scary in season 6. Even as early as the end of season 5, you can see it- in the episode when he overdoses and ends up in the hospital. He’s spiralling; Frankie blatantly calls him a functioning alcoholic, and there genuinely seems to be some kind of mental issue going on with him. And I love the dynamic between him and Abed, but in many ways he’s kind of terrifying towards Abed in season 6. He’s frequently cruel to him (like in the episode where they’re all trapped in the RV) and even tries to literally strangle him in the “Intro to Recycled Cinema” episode, only stopping from causing Abed actual physical harm when Abed outright says “You’re killing me.” You can see, in the anguish on Jeff’s face as he stumbles away, that he’s losing his grip on things.

But in the midst of all that pain and lashing out, he’s also more vulnerable with Abed in season 6 than he is with almost anyone else, at any point in the series. Nowhere is that clearer to me than in the two hugs they share: first at the end of that same scene in “Recycled Cinema,” after Abed gives Jeff his pep talk, and then the double hug at the airport in the series finale. (As a side thought, I don’t think there’s a single time I’ve watched that scene without rewatching the double hug at least once.) He may yell at Abed, get frustrated and dismissive with him, even physically attack him- but he also clings to him in a way that lays bare his vulnerability and need more openly than you see with anyone else.

To come full circle: in the pilot, he says “I see your value now” to Abed selfishly. In the finale, he really does see Abed’s value, and that of everyone else in the study group. And that’s why he’s both so angry and so desperate to hold onto the few people he’s actually learned to connect with. He still doesn’t have all the answers- he can’t create the season 7 pitch that guarantees they all stay together- but instead, he has to trust that the time they had together meant something, and that the friendships he has now aren’t as fragile and temporary as every other bond he had before them. He has the capacity to appreciate people for who they are now. So he won’t have to be alone.

That’s what struck me as I watched these two episodes back to back. The way the show so deftly sets up what Jeff needs to achieve in this transitory setting of Greendale Community College, and the way that by the finale, he’s both learned those lessons and continued to be the person who needs them just as much as he did when he walked in as a freshly disgraced lawyer six years before.

[doctorcanon]

The Final Days of Ryoko Shinonome (Modern AU Idea)

Just something that randomly came to me. A modern AU with the Older pilots in mind. It would take place in Okinawa during the closure of several Army Bases (that have reopened since) in 2007 when Bush was in office and leaving several Japanese and American servicemen who fought in the Middle East at the height of the conflict without any VA benefits, unable to join the Japanese Defense Force and many with debilitating injuries, specifically loss of eye sight. Will handle subjects such as: Terminal Illness, Narcissistic Parental abuse, PTSD, Infidelity and Death = like lots of discussion about death.

Ryoko Shinonome: A 35 year old civil engineer who has been diagnosed with metastatic brain cancer. Despite battling it for a number of years, she now has a very limited time to live. Suffering from cognitive impairment and Vascular Dementia, she needs constant round the clock care. Her adopted brother Ei moved in with her after her fiance Tetsuya suddenly called off the wedding shortly after her diagnosis. However, she often forgets and Ei has to break her heart all over again. On the days she’s aware of her condition, she’s started getting her affairs in order and is currently working with Renya Gouto to arrange her own funeral and cremation. 

Ei Sekigahara: Ryoko’s younger brother, though they aren’t related by blood. Her primary caretaker due to the fact that he’s recently been released from military service and doesn’t have a 9 to 5 job. The stress of Ryoko’s care and his own personal demons have really done a number on his mental health. He ends up having to hire a hospice nurse who encourages him to attend a support group for veterans. Can and will kill Tetsuya Ida on sight. 

Iori Fuyusaka: Ei Sekigahara’s girlfriend and Tsukasa Okino’s Younger sister, a beloved elementary school teacher and all around ray of sunshine. She and Ryoko didn’t really get along in the first place but the latter got violent with her during one of her episodes. She truly does want to help, but only seems to be making the situation worse. Something her mother Chihiro says she’s quite good at.

Keitaro Mirua: A Routine Care hospice nurse hired by Ei Sekigahara for Ryoko, also a former soldier. Honestly, the man is a goddamn saint; he’s sweet, kind and maybe even a little shy. He’s been through a lot after he was injured in the field. Now that he has control over his life, he wants to help others. He attends a support group for former combat veterans and encourages Ei to attend as well. Trying to find the perfect ring to propose to his girlfriend.

Takatoshi Hijiyama: Miura’s closest friend and Tsukasa Okino’s husband. Also attends the same support group. Really, really struggling to adjust to civilian life, even more so after realizing that his injuries are more severe than originally thought. He has, however, discovered a great love of cooking through his physical therapy and enjoys taking care of his often workaholic husband, sometimes too much if you ask Tsukasa.

Tsukasa Okino: Former coworker and friend of Ryoko Shinonome and very talented Biomedical Engineer. Tends to get really lost in his work and hasn’t heard from Ryoko in a long time and is shocked to hear that her condition is terminal. This puts a lot into perspective not just with his husband but with his family. He decides to reach out to his estranged sister Iori. Unfortunately, Iori wants to bring their mother into it.

Yuki Takamiya: A physical therapist who once treated Shinonome and became pretty close with her and Ei. Occasionally comes by to drop off meals and see how Sekigahara is doing. Sometimes she invites him to the kickboxing gym to get him out of the house, she thinks that the support group is a good idea. After all, therapy helped her a great deal after her husband passed away.

Shu Amiguchi: Met Yuki Takamiya while visiting Ryoko, his former coworker, at the hospital and hasn’t left her alone since. A fellow engineer, he’s much smarter than he lets on. He works pretty closely with Okino too. He was actually really close to Ryoko since she dated his brother Tetsuya. Ei doesn’t really like him, but his weekly visits make Ryoko happy so they don’t talk that much. He believes that Tetsuya broke up with her because of her condition and that was the last straw and he stopped speaking to him.

Natusno Minami: Miura’s girlfriend, Iori’s coworker and Yuki Takamiya’s little sister. The absolute life of the party and a joy to be around. She’s the reason Keitaro Miura is still alive. Knows Ei more through the kickboxing gym and hasn’t really made the connection that Keitaro’s newest patient is Ei’s sickly sister that he keeps mentioning. She and Miura have been dating for almost six years now and she’s really starting to wonder if they are ready to spend their lives together.

Tomi Kisaragi: The elementary music teacher at the same school as Natsuno and Iori and a voice teacher outside of those work hours. The sounding board for a lot of relationship issues despite the fact that she’s not that helpful. She and Tsukasa Okino are old friends from high school. She’s the one who convinced him to help Megumi get a job at Shikishima as an engineer. May or may not have a history with Tetsuya Ida. She doesn’t like to talk about it.

Nenji Ogata: Tomi’s Not-boyfriend and a supervisor at Shikishima’s sales branch is often used as a liaison with the R&D department. Since he was desperate to make a name for himself outside of his family name, Nenji has an...interesting past. After falling on some hard times, his father, a former executive of Shikishima, gave him a job. Needless to say, his department doesn’t like him and he takes on a lot of extra work and stresses himself out. A frequent visitor to the kickboxing gym so he knows Takamiya, Minami, Hijiyama and Sekigahara pretty well. 

Juro Kurabe: Once known as Juro Izumi. An old friend of Ei Sekigahara who suffered a TBI in the field and is basically a different person. Underwent cognitive therapy alongside several other patients including Ryoko Shinonome. He and Ryoko are close friends and he’s just devastated about her diagnosis. Another person who will assassinate Tetsuya Ida on sight. Works with Yuki Takamiya quite a bit but is having a lot of trouble with mobility. 

Megumi Yakushiji: She really looks perfect on the outside. She’s great at her job, a great cook and a near perfect caretaker to her husband Juro. However, appearances can be deceiving. The man she married and the man she’s taking care of are two different people. But her love for Juro might not be enough to get her through their hardest day, sometimes he doesn’t even remember her. There’s only one person who sees the cracks in her facade, not her best friend Tomi or her coworker Tsukasa but Tsukasa’s husband Takatoshi who keeps asking her for recipes. 

Renya Gouto: An Undertaker at Ashitaba City’s Death Services and Mortuary. He knew Ei and Ryoko in high school but now is making arrangements for Ryoko’s cremation and general funeral services. Out of everything he’s done, he’s never spoken to someone who wants to arrange their own funeral and is the only other person who knows that Ryoko is arranging her own funeral without Ei knowing. He’s a close friend of Dr. Morimura therefore he’s familiar with Iori and Tsukasa. That’s not a good thing.

Chihiro Morimura: Dr. Chihiro Morimura is a retired oncologist who is trying to repair her relationship with her kids Iori and Tsukasa. Unfortunately, she sucks at it. While she can help Iori with her situation with Ei and his sister, she and Tsukasa will probably never get along. Who would have thought that years of narcissistic abuse would affect their relationship?

Tetsuya Ida: Ryoko’s ex-fiancee. Broke up with Ryoko after she was diagnosed with brain cancer. Has no idea about her severe condition but wouldn’t be surprised. He still works at Shikishima but not in the engineering department. Refuses to talk about her and is quite aware that several people are out for his head. He doesn’t care.

Miwako Sawatari: A kindergarten teacher who’s a bit of a gossip but really does it out of love. She knows a little bit about everyone. She works at Iori and Natsuno’s school, is a close friend of Nenji, she’s one of Yuki’s patients, and volunteers at Ashitaba Death Services. What I’m saying is, she’s the only person who knows exactly what’s happening.

[itsdoctorhouse]

Pilot/Everybody Lies

CC (Chief Complaint): Conduction aphasia and grand mal seizure

Dx (Diagnosis): Neurocysticercosis

(I’ll be writing definitions/explaining each medical term mostly because its fun and good practice for me, thanks. It’ll go in chronological order for the episode even if it doesn’t pertain to the final diagnosis, which I’ll then explain itself.)

Conduction aphasia:

Patient is unable to articulate full words, she starts speaking gibberish

What’s important is that she recognizes that she isn’t able to form her words properly and that she’s still able to write on the white board legibly (”Call The Nurse”)

The previous point is important because there are different types of aphasia - “the loss of ability to understand or express speech”, I won’t go too in detail about all the different kinds except for what I reasonably think matches the patients symptom and another complementary type.

Broca’s aphasia, aka Expressive aphasia: the loss of the ability to produce language, although comprehension generally remains intact. So, in context of the episode, that’s why she wasn’t able to form full words/sentences, but was able to recognize it and write down a legible call for help.

Wernicke’s aphasia, aka Receptive aphasia: wherein individuals have difficulty understanding written and spoken language. Can demonstrate fluid speech but lacking meaning, for example, “Sugar may be house phone.” It’s technically grammatically correct, but doesn’t mean anything in context of a conversation. The individual might also be unaware of the lack of meaning in their speech (more in s2e10 “Failure to Communicate”)

I like to think of the previous two as “opposites” concerning types of aphasia. Which might be obvious by their names Expressive versus Receptive :)

Both types are common after an infarct (loss of blood supply to a specific region resulting in death of tissue), aka a stroke.

Grand mal seizure:

The most common types of seizures are as follows:

“Grand Mal” or generalized tonic-clonic: the one shown on all TV shows and movies (probably because it’s the most visually interesting), includes unconsciousness, convulsions, and muscle rigidity

Absence: a brief loss of unconsciousness 

Myoclonic: Sporadic (isolated), jerking movements

Clonic: Repetitive, jerking movements

Tonic: Muscle stiffness, rigidity

Atonic: Loss of muscle tone

If you’re familiar with latin roots a lot of the medical mumbo jumbo makes a lot more sense, for example these seizure names all look the same at first glance but the prefix a- means without, so knowing that tonic means “continuous muscle contraction”, you already know what kind of seizures tonic and atonic will be just from the name. P.S. myo- is for muscle.

Pulmonary edema:

Simply put, it’s when there is excess fluid in the lungs, so that it’s difficult for the oxygen exchange to occur. Meaning that the patient can’t get rid of the carbon dioxide inside their body and they can’t get new oxygen into their blood.

Can lead to a whole lot of complications because everything in the body needs oxygen and an abundance of carbon dioxide can cause respiratory acidosis (which is a whole other post because I love how the respiratory system works)

aka lung congestion, lung water, and pulmonary congestion

The most common cause is congestive heart failure (CHF), which is when the heart can’t properly pump blood throughout the body, so a backup of blood builds up, increasing the pressure in the small blood vessels of the lungs, causing a “leakage”

Symptoms will depend on the type/etiology of the pulmonary edema, but generally the patient will have a hard time breathing (technically it’s an issue with the oxygen exchange, not the actual mechanics of breathing) which means their body will try to compensate by breathing faster, aka hyperventilating (there are also so many different types of breathing which I won’t go into, but my favorites are Kussmaul breathing and Cheyne Stokes)

The patient “had an allergic reaction to the dye used in the contrast study.”

I’m not saying they’re wrong but...

People allergic to contrast dye usually show adverse reactions cutaneously, meaning skin symptoms: rash, redness, swelling, etc., and usually more than 24 hours after injection.

For the most severe reactions, which is what the patient might have had, anaphylaxis and death is a small possibility. It’s a 0.008% chance to develop pulmonary edema as a complication to contrast media.

It’s not a true allergy, rather a pseudoallergy, because there is no antibody that causes the reaction. It’s the contrast dye itself that directly stimulates histamine release.

... so they’re not wrong really, just super unlucky.

Vasculitis

I don’t even know why they suggested this as a differential and then started treatment for it. They don’t even mention what type of vasculitis it might be. I’m reasonably sure they only included this so that they’d start treatment with steroids (prednisone) so that they patient would get better then worse again.

Neurocysticercosis

First and foremost, the way that he phrases it in the episode, he would have realized it was neurocysticercosis sooner, if not for the fact that he believed she was jewish (because Wilson lied to get him to take the case)

Reasoning behind this: that the parasite for neurocysticercosis, Taenia solium, is mostly found in pork (which religious jewish people are not supposed to eat). Which, first of all, as a non-religious jew myself, that’s some supposition right there. Immediately thinking all jews are religious and/or don’t eat certain foods because other jews don’t. 

And secondly, that he didn’t double check her religion status, so immediately discarded a diagnosis based on that erroneous fact. Like, I get it’s the pilot and they wanted to establish personalities and relationships right off the bat, but that’s the one annoying part of the show, if only he had gotten to know his patient he probably could have diagnosed her earlier (but that’s why we love House, his charming personality)

Life cycle: Eggs or gravid proglottids (pregnant segments of the adult parasite [tapeworms as a whole have different segments to their body called proglottids, their “head” is called a scolex and is mostly different for each species, the head is connected to the neck, which then connects to the first immature proglottid. Depending on the species they all have different amounts of proglottids, ranging from 5 to 1000. The further away from the scolex they get the more mature they become, and when fully mature they’re impregnated, one segment at a time, with each segment breaking off from the previous so that they can find a nice home in the body]) are found in feces and passed into the environment, from there they’re ingested by an intermediate host, usually a pig, but in the case of cysticercosis, a human. The eggs hatch and liberate larvae, aka oncospheres, which penetrate the intestinal wall and circulate to musculature. They mature into cysticerci over 60-70 days, and can migrate to the central nervous system, which is what causes neurocysticercosis.

The same parasite can cause another disease called taeniasis. This differs primarily through the acquisition of the parasite. The pig is the intermediate host in this case and a human the definitive host. It is ingested through uncooked/undercooked pork containing cysticerci. Wherein they will evaginate and attach to the small intestine by their scolices (head and suckers). This disease will normally only cause intestinal issues.

A primary infection of taeniasis with Taenia solium can cause a secondary infection of cysticercosis which can lead to neurocysticercosis. So it is possible for the patient to have neurocysticercosis even though they explained it using taeniasis.

Neurocysticercosis is one of the main causes of epileptic seizures in many less developed countries (not so much for a pre-school teacher in New Jersey)

Treatment can include steroids (which is what they gave her for vasculitis, and the reason why she seemed better for a time) but ultimately an anti-parasitic is needed, suggesting albendazole or praziquantel for about 2 weeks.

[lovemesomesurveys]

[found at: --rainboweyes--]

When was the last time you did clay work/pottery? I’ve never done that. 

Do you like art, hate it or just not mind it?  I’m not artistic or creative myself, but I enjoy art.

If you had to choose would you prefer dull pain for 12 hours or sharp for 2?  I have chronic pain, sooo.

Koala or Kangaroo?  I’ll go with koalas.  Do you know the words to the national anthem of your country? Yeah.

Is your country ruled by a president, prime minister, queen or other? We have presidents.

Does blue occur in your national flag?  Yep.

Talking of flags. Do you like football/soccer?  I don’t care for sports in general. <<<

If yes, do you play and what position? If not, leave blank.

Would you rather be a Model, Famous Scientist, Singer or Chef? Out of those I’d say singer. I can’t sing, but in this scenario pretend I can.

Would you rather be a pilot, crime scene investigator or estate agent? Crime stuff interests me from a psychology aspect, but I wouldn’t want to be a crime scene investigator, but also I don’t have any interest at all in the other 2 options, sooo.

Does making others happy really make you feel happy?  It’s a good feeling. I don’t feel I make others happy, though. 

What color literally doesn't appear in your wardrobe at all? Brown.

Do you actually read the answers others give to your surveys [I do]?  I keep up with several of you through your surveys.

Did you ever swear at a teacher in school? Why? No.

Have you ever pricked your finger on Holly or another 'sharp' plant? No.

Speaking of Holly, do you adore Christmas or does it bug you?  I absolutely love Christmas.

Have you ever wrote your own short story? Yeah. I used to write short stories all the time when I was like 12/13.

What about a novel? Or perhaps you started and couldn't finish? No.

Either of the above, if this was the case, place short synopsis here: I wrote several.

Do you prefer SciFi/Fantasy/Action/Horror or Rom/Com/RealLife? Are we still talking about books? For the past couple years I’ve read a shit ton of murder mystery/psychological thrillers. I’ve been really into those. I like YA/NA as well.

What do you have a lot of faith in [note: can be anything]?  God.

Think of a material thing you want. Name it here (material, made or bought] I just ordered the book for my next Bible study, a set of nice journaling pens, a new notebook, and white-out tape.

Would $100/$60 be enough for this item? It would.

How about $1000/$600?  Uh, yeah. I’d have a shit ton of money leftover.

Would you rather have a big house, a lot of kids or a high flying job? A big house. It doesn’t have to be mansion big, just big enough to comfortably fit 4 adults and a doggo.

Have you ever been to a creepy/haunted/abandoned place? No, but I watch a lot of videos about abandoned places on YouTube. I find stuff like that really interesting.

What did it look like and what were the circumstances? This one channel I watch, BrightSunFilms, has found actual abandoned homes that still have all the stuff in there but no one has lived in in like a decade. It’s wild. They found home videos in one! Like that just boggles my mind. I need to know what happened. What’s the story? Why did they just leave everything behind? They look like whoever lived there had to quickly get away like there was a zombie attack or something. Super weird. This guy has been to abandoned malls, stores, amusement parks, hotels, and other random places. It just always trips me out when stuff is left behind, like photos, paperwork, etc. Like why?? Some of the hotels still have the beds.

What's your favorite dip? I’ve been really into spinach and artichoke dip with sourdough bread lately.

Chocolate Cookies or Fudge Brownies? Oh, fudge brownies all the way. 

I give you a little baby puppy. What do you name him? I’d have to see him first and see what seems fitting. See what vibe I get.

Is crime a big problem in your area? Unfortunately, yes.

What's your town/city most well known for? Nothing good.

Do you know a Jack? What's he like? Nope.

How about a Lisa? What's she like? I don’t know a Lisa.

Are most your friends older, younger or the same age as you? No friends.

Do you subconsciously hang out with those with the same star sign as you or as each other, perhaps due to certain personality traits? Think about it: No. I don’t believe in astrology, but there was only one other Leo in my former friend group. It’s possible there were others at some point, but I didn’t pay attention to that kind of stuff.

Name 5 objects that you don't have but would like right now? Right this moment? I don’t know, it’s almost 5AM I’m not wanting anything really right now.

When you have children, would you like twins?  I don’t want to have children.

Do you know any twins? If so, what are they called? I do; Aleksa and Maci.

If you were given the choice to choose your child’s gender, would you?

What instrument would you love to learn how to play?  I wish I could get into the piano again.

Does the sound of knocking/tapping startle you? Yes. I’m such a jumpy person.

What's the scariest story/urban legend/creepypasta etc you heard?  One that just came to mind is the one where a girl is driving alone at night and a car behind seems to be following her and they flash their headlights and whatnot and the girl is really creeped out. She drives to a police station or somewhere and the person following them gets out and alerts them that they were trying to get their attention because there’s someone in her backseat and skjsklfjkds that always gives me the chills. It was a story in that “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” book, which I read as a kid, and it always stuck with me. It was a good lesson to always check your backseat before getting in your car!

Do you miss someone currently? I’ll always miss my loved ones who have passed away.

When was the last time you were in hospital? What for [if comfy saying]? Back in 2012 because I had to have intestinal surgery.

When was the last time you went to the dentist? It’s been awhile. :X

Do you get along well with your family doctor/your doctor? I like my primary and the wound specialist doctor I see, but I have issues with my pain doctor.

What personality trait does nearly everyone in your family seem to have? I think we all have a good sense of humor.

The survey’s ended. I hope you enjoyed it. :) Thanks.

[arcaneranger]

Final Thoughts - Netflix Exclusives 2018

Oh my god you guys, I’m finally done. I’m free from the prison of 2018, just in time to actually finish my premieres for spring of 2019. But first, let’s talk!

2018 was the year that Netflix really went all-in on producing its own anime and picking up some big names, so we saw Devilman Crybaby made specifically for the service and high-profile shows like Dragon Pilot and Hi-Score Girl basically hijacked by the streaming service and delayed for months in the U.S. so that the biggest name in the game could release everything in bingeable packages. Unfortunately, bringing in an auteur like Masaaki Yuasa for Crybaby and throwing all the damn money at him worked so well that, long before any of these shows would even premiere, they decided to seemingly take any anime pitch under the sun, and wound up financing disasters like Hero Mask and B: The Beginning. Really, these shows kind of run the full gamut from garbage to god-tier, with an unfortunate tipping of the scale in the wrong direction. I haven’t gotten to see Ingress yet at the time of publication though, so we’ll have to see whether 2019 will start in a good direction.

ANYWAY.

DROPPED

WORST OF NETFLIX: Back Street Girls -GOKUDOLS-

I still don’t get how anyone thought this was worth promoting. The entire concept is offensive, and yet it was directed by a master and veteran of the medium (who is also a woman), leading me to just throw my hands in the air and resign myself to never having a satisfactory answer for why Netflix would pick this up to begin with. Dropped after 1 episode.

Hero Mask

One of the most incompetently written first episodes I’ve ever seen gave me absolutely no hope that Hero Mask was going to actualize into anything watchable or even average-looking. It was boring and unintelligible. Dropped after 1 episode.

Fate/EXTRA: Last Encore

What the fuck was Akiyuki Shinbo even doing on Fate? Did he do this at the expense of season 3 of March comes in like a lion or something? Probably not, but geez... This seems much more like someone attempting to copy his style than the genuine article, but nope, there’s his director credit. In the end, I suppose that Fate/EXTRA, despite being a very interesting game, was not ever going to be adapted well - the protagonist is almost literally a blank slate for a self-insert of the player, and their servant is also not set in stone - but I kind of would have rather had nothing than this. Dropped after 2 episodes.

SWORDGAI The Animation

Oh hey, yet another “the Animation”, it definitely doesn’t sound pretentious yet. I don’t have much to say on SWORDGAI, or at least not any more than anyone else - it’s stupid, very earnestly stupid, and doesn’t seem aware enough of that fact to be entertaining for more than a hate watch - and my hate plate is full already. Dropped after 1 episode.

Last Hope

I remember almost nothing about Last Hope other than that it was both pretentious and nonsensical, which kind of illustrates why Yoshiyuki Tomino is wise enough to stay out of anything that isn’t his beautiful Gundam baby, and it’s a shame that Kawamori (father of Super Dimensional Fortress Macross) doesn’t stick with what he knows, which is mech design. (No, seriously, he’s got a ton of credits on MAL and they’re almost all for that.) Dropped after 1 episode.

BAKI

Oh, BAKI, it’s okay, you’re a remnant from a different time. That time was right around when Mars of Destruction seemed like a good idea. It’s not that bad so I shouldn’t really mention them in the same sentence, but the hyper-violent imagery of this show is on the level of the Berserk manga. It’s unfortunate that I had to leave it after one episode because Netflix picked up a sequel that relies heavily on your pre-existing investment (just like with the Dragons TV show, for the record). Dropped after 1 episode.

A.I.C.O. Incarnation

I stuck with this one longer than any other that I didn’t drop, but in hindsight I shouldn’t have wasted my time. It’s one of the worst-looking Bones productions I’ve ever seen and the plot is a dumb ripoff of a much better science fiction series. Dropped after six episodes.

B: The Beginning

Probably the biggest waste of money on this list, B has such lavish animation that you can almost forget that you have absolutely no clue what’s happening or what the context of the story even is. It tries really hard to be both Psycho-Pass and Death Note at the same time to the point of cutting between them multiple times per scene, and it just ends up a badly jumbled mess, albeit one with really pretty colors. Dropped after 3 episodes.

Kakegurui

I still don’t have much to say here because the topic has been so thoroughly covered by The Anime Pope, so I’ll resummarize here - this is a show about gambling where the stakes seem utterly meaningless, even though it tries to impress us by showering money on the characters.

Children of the Whales

It’s so pretty, but it’s so boring. Children of the Whales succeeds in looking beautiful, but fails as a story that wants to be grim and apocalyptic but comes across as a soft-hearted small-village story that gets surprisingly violent four episodes in. This should have been the tone from the beginning, and the entire thing needed a good kick in the pants. Dropped after five episodes.

FINISHED

Sirius the Jaeger (6/10)

One that I waited a long time for after seeing the PV at Anime Central last year, and wound up pretty disappointed by in general. It looks nice (...at first), given that P.A. Works at least knows how to make a show visually appealing on a consistent basis, but the plot jumps so far into cliched stupidity by the end that, even though it had a few twists I wasn’t expecting, they couldn’t save it from being something I won’t recommend to anyone with as much anime experience as myself.

Lost Song (7/10)

(Author’s note: Yeah, apparently nobody on all of Tumblr has made a GIF of this one...)

Lost Song was a pleasant surprise that I wasn’t expecting to be invested enough to finish. One of the best of LIDENFILMS’ output, it manages to weave together a decent fantasy Symphogear AU fanfic, with interesting third-act twists peppering the last few episodes that made it memorable despite looking pretty generic. There’s a sequel due this year, too!

Hi Score Girl (7/10)

A very visually distinctive show with a neat concept that didn’t dive far enough into the heavy subjects it brings up, Hi Score Girl sits in a place where I like the presentation of it a lot more than I like the story. Don’t get me wrong, the romance is certainly cute, and I won’t begrudge a love triangle if it’s meant to be the primary conflict of a show, but the fact that it spent most of its last episode setting up for later robbed it of the chance to give us a satisfying place to leave off until the next part of this adaptation. Luckily, it got a second season, hopefully to finish the adaptation later this year.

Forest of Piano (7/10)

A good first try by a fledgling studio, but not one that lives up to what it really wants to be due to some very bad habits. I still distinctly remember the constant character shilling, and it feels like the story could have happened a little faster if not for the breaks every few minutes to heap praise upon the protagonist. Also, the mo-cap piano playing still looks weird. I’ll probably watch the sequel though, to see if it gets concluded well.

Dragon Pilot: Hisone to Masotan (8/10)

I literally just did my write-up for this one, so I don’t have much new to say here, but I’m pleased that Dragon Pilot turned out as well as it did despite not being what I quite expected from it.

Aggretsuko (8/10)

A fantastic and rather unorthodox look at what it’s actually like to be an adult in the Japanese workforce, Aggretsuko was an early darling of the year, and the only things that could have made it better were a more interesting visual presentation and a less squirrelly ending. Shame that the Christmas Special was...not good.

Devilman Crybaby (9/10)

It was so, so good...right up until the end. Yeah, that’s the only thing holding this back from a perfect score - I really, really hate the ending, and it needed to be changed. I know that, for most people, the best show of the year was either this one, or the most conspicuous work that hasn’t yet appeared on this list, though, so…

BEST NETFLIX SHOW OF THE YEAR: Violet Evergarden (10/10)

Oh God, what beautiful cry-porn. I hope that Kyoto Animation was paid well for their best show in years, and I’m kind of shocked that the two shows that made me sob the most this year both came out in the same season (thanks, A Place Further Than the Universe). I won’t spoil more than I did in my original review, but Netflix should be pushing this to literally everyone who would be even casually interested in watching it.

And that’s it! Last but not least, the last list won’t be a roundup of the whole year (since, you know, I’ve already done that in big chunks), but a list of the Class of 2018 Superlatives. Look forward to it!

[biot08]

By Popular Request, Adagio’s Will Fragment, related to the Gaming Guardians roleplay (now long over)

I, Adagio Redwinter, being of sound mind and body, do declare this to be my last Will and Testament.

On the Execution of my Will

Over the course of my operational existence, I have managed to accumulate a great many material things of varying levels of worth. This, I suppose, is due to my natural curiosity leading to me find the new and interesting, coupled with a lifespan that is unnaturally long for many sapient species. As well, various endeavors throughout my existence have lead me to make investments and to head several ventures, with varying levels of success and prosperity. It is now, at the end of my operational lifetime, that I intend to try and give some of what I have received back.

To see to the immense task of administering my final accounts, and to assure that my final wishes are carried out properly, I authorize my executor, Zeta Aquilae, to use those funds and materials necessary to establish the Synapse Intercorporation. The Intercorporation's internal structure and method of operation will be determined by her best judgement. The Synapse Intercorporation shall oversee the execution of my last wishes as described in this will.

It is worth noting that parts of this will are hidden from public view. This is not so much to hide anything of true note, but rather to allow some of my instructions to have a certain reactive quality to them, such that if certain conditions are met, other instructions may be carried out that may not be otherwise. My executor is aware of all of the hidden portions of my will, as well as the encryption keys necessary to view them.

I have been working on this will continuously for several years, always ensuring that it accurately reflects my wishes in the event of my demise, whether accidental or not. My understanding is that many sapients who have a tradition of finality similar to a will tend to use them as instruments of encouragement and revenge. The idea of continuing to influence the multiverse at large after my existence has ceased is one that amused me. If I have misunderstood the purpose of a will, I hope others shall view my attempt here in a reasonable light. I would caution those who read this to be aware that I am not human, and indeed, I believe I am the first of my kind to have a will of any sort. I would also note that, as my operational lifetime was originally expected to be infinite, and indeed has stretched on for a great many centuries, I do tend to take a very long view on matters. In addition to ensuring my own matters are tied up neatly, and designating specific recipients for parts of my estate, I have also made several bequests that I hope will benefit all sapients everywhere, both Primarian and System born.

I have always sought knowledge, and much of my life has been dedicated to seeking truth. I have not yet found it, but I hope that, through this will, I may lead others to find it, both for themselves and for others. I would implore all those who read this will to look to one another, and, if failing in all other tasks, that they may reach the lofty goal of one day ... understanding.

To Zeta Aquilae, who sought to understand me, and who was with me on my many travels, I leave the bulk of my estate, save for those things otherwise covered by this will. I name Zeta Aquilae the executor of my estate and the head of the Synapse Intercorporation, in which capacity she will oversee the execution of this will in accordance with my wishes.

To Nightdark, my original second, and so loyal to me all these years, I give you back your life and your freedom. I only wish I could give you your old life back, Megan. I hope that your memories will suffice.

In the memory of a woman who I was often at odds with, and yet who I still feel a deep kinship with, I find myself able to do little. I now realize the trick you played during our last game, old friend, and I hope that in the afterlife I am able to give you the match you deserve. In her memory, I present a red queen chess piece to the orange queen who now rules the forest in Gamer's End. May there forever be peace and understanding in the world she gave her life to birth.

To Aria Winters, I leave my memoirs, and my core, should it still remain, to be disposed of however she sees fit. I hope your path in life will be less troubled than mine was.

To Kale, I leave the Defender, and the legacy that goes along with it. The history of this vessel is long and deep, young Kale. You should ask Majir about it. I also give him my spaces onboard Prometheus Space Station, and my apartment in Gamer's End, as well as the contents of my bank account on Prometheus Station, and the key to my safety deposit box for the same. Remember that while the mind makes the man, the tools allow it to act better on its environment.

To Sage, I leave the Colossus, a five kilometer wide space ship that was carved out of an asteroid in BESM-SF 87-5-29. I am afraid, my dear, that this is the last rock I am able to give to you.

To the first two hundred people who show up, I leave a can of Sprite from my storage unit onboard Prometheus. One of the cans contains an actual sprite, but it got mixed in with the thoroughly mundane cans, and I never did get around to determining which can it was. I figure this is both a good way to make sure the sprite gets some use, as well as getting rid of a fair bit of unused stock. (( Note: If you want the special can, just hop on IRC and get ahold of me before the end of March. ))

To whoever determines the identity and composition of those figures who are in charge of the Gaming Guardians to the satisfaction of the Synapes Intercorporation, I leave the monetary equivalent of 20,000 XP. Transparency in operations might go a long way toward building good will, my friends. As well as being profitable.

To whoever finds Wargolem, I leave 1 million XP or medical care for the remainder of their natural life, whichever seems most appropriate.

To the first party to determine what 'Velvet Fist' is, I leave behind 10000XP.

To the person who finds the original 'Wirrit', I leave 6000 XP, so long as they deliver a copy of this will to her.

To the original 'Wirrit', I leave my yo-yo. Spend some time with it and consider that the nature of the multiverse is not as you thought it was.

To Majir Sobaan, I leave co-ordinates to a little known Fallout system. Do not be startled by what you find there. Hopefully it will explain much.

To Solita Ariennye, I leave my Seattle, Washington condo, a motorcycle, and the assets contained in the safety deposit box to which she will be given a key. While it is not the world you know and love, I hope you will enjoy Seattle, and your second retirement. I imagine you've learned your lesson.

Once a year, a jet black rose, preserved by freezing, shall be delivered to Solita Ariennye's condo in Seattle, for as long as she lives there, as a reminder that some loyalties have too high a price for us all.

Because we who occupy jaunt space are not always so careful as we should be, the Synapse Intercorporation is directed to establish the System Defenders. The goals of the Defenders are as follows: to monitor potential abuses of jaunt space and its denizens; to protect the rights of denizens of jaunt space; to establish a set of parameters that will facility a working relationship between those from the Systems and those from the Primary; to create a sanctuary in Jaunt space for beings in search of a safe retreat; and to patrol Jaunt space in such a way as to ensure that junk and debris accidentally or otherwise left in Jaunt is cleaned up in such a way as to prevent any interference with normal system development. Since many of these functions are already provided somewhat by Gamer's End and Prometheus, I use my last act as an owner of a Captain's Seat to propose that the systems already in place be diverted to form a better, more unified front for members of the Systems.

To any who find a vessel looking like BeRT ( photo attached ), or its Pilot unit, I authorize the payment of 5000 XP for its finding, and 15000 XP for its destruction. The possibility of its existence could mean a dark time for us all.

To the first fifty so-called 'voidkers' who show up to any branch of the Synapse Intercorporation, I grant a token of my esteem. The terrible events that have occurred in the voided Shadowrun system darken all our lives, and I hope to foster understanding between those who were touched by it and the rest of the multisystems at large as we move forward.

For research into jaunt phenomena considered dangerous, such as Jaunt storms and void patches, I leave four million XP, to be distributed by the Synapse Intercorporation.

To Nightengale Nightforest, whose voice is the purest I have ever heard, and moved me nearly to emotion, I know from our conversations that you have no further need for wealth. So I leave 3 million XP to be donated in your name to the charity of your choice.

I leave one hundred thousand XP to fund an expedition to Jaunt system FC-F 00-13-225.

I leave five thousand XP to fund the summoning of a spirit capable of traversing jaunt and casting a permanent Sex Change spell on the Shadowrunner known as 'Suit'. The spell will need to be of sufficient power that he will require external assistance in dispelling or reversing it. While I do not think it will change his outlook in life at all, the change in perspective for him may be educational, and if not that, at least entertaining. If some other method of bringing about the same end effect can be established, so much the better.

To the person who successfully finds what is behind door 13-B in the main building of the Church of True Harmony, I give 10000 XP upon its revelation to an authority of either the Guardians, the Defenders, or the Synapse Intercorporation.

[myhoneststudyblr]

So I am a massive stationary addict and over the years I have had A LOT! I know what good stationary is so I thought that I would share with all you guys my favourite pens to use in my notes and in my bullet journal.

1. Muji Gel Ink Pens

This is the pen I use in a daily basis for all my school notes and class work! It is probably my favourite pen that I have ever used to write with. I also really like the coloured pens for writing key words. There are so many things that I love about this pen but here’s a quick summary:

It basically works like normal literally until there is absolutely no ink left. This is really different to most other pens that I’ve used that have tended to lose most of their colour as they begin to run out of ink.

I really love the dark black colour, which I think always makes my notes really easy to read.

It doesn’t smudge during writing.

I really love the 0.5mm width because it’s not too thin but not too thick. It’s perfect!

It’s really nice to hold in the hand and doesn’t hurt my hand after writing for a long time like most other pens do.

Of course, even though this is literally the best pen I’ve ever used, there is one slight negative that I’ve found:

It can occasionally smudge when highlight with quite a liquidy highlighter but I don’t tend to highlight that often but if I do I use Mildliners (see below), which I’ve found don’t really do it that much.

2. Pilot Juice Metallic Pens

These pens are really new for me as they were bought for me for Christmas by a friend but they have instantly become a favourite!

Pros:

The colours a gorgeous but subtle. They catch the light really well so I use them to write key words in which I think is really effective!

You don’t need to put much pressure to write with them so my hand doesn’t cramp when writing with them.

The silver one in particular is really great because it’s really light but catches the light probably the best out of all the pens so becomes really bold when it does.

Cons:

I haven’t really found many cons thus far when using them apart from the fact that the actual diameter of the pen is a little too thick for me because I hold my pen in a really odd way so can be a little uncomfortable.

3. Stabilo Point 88 Pastel Pens

I love these pens and like the metallic pens I use them to write key words. My favourite one is probably the grey one, which may sound a bit odd cause it’s not really an exciting colour, but I use it for examples and little notes in margins because it doesn’t really stand out too much but you can still read it.

Pros:

It is a really nice to write with. I honestly can’t explain what is so nice about it, it just is.

The thickness of the line is really perfect.

The colours are pastel but still bright and easy to read.

Cons:

I use line Tipp-ex that you can usually write straight over but with these pens I can’t do that, so if I make a mistake I can’t really redo it which kinda annoys me.

On some paper, these pens can bleed a bit which isn’t great. In my school books they don’t because the paper is glossier but in my note books at home they do bleed.

4. Mildliners

I absolutely adore Mildliners. Everyone who follows a few studyblrs will have seen Mildliners because they are pretty well loved in the studyblr community and for good reason. I use them loads to add lots of colour to my notes. In the picture I’ve included some of my favourite colours.

Pros:

I love all the different colours because it makes my notes seem much more colourful and original. Everyone who has tried my Mildliners have always loved all the different colours.

Unlike most other highlighters, I’ve found that mildliners don’t really smudge pen ink which is really good because there’s nothing worse than trying to make the word more readable and end up with one big smudge.

I love the grey pen (as pictured) and I use it to add shadow to boxes with formulae in or diagrams. It’s probably my most used used pen in my pencil case apart from my actual writing pen.

I’ve found that they last a really long time. I know some people have found that their mildliners run out quite quickly but that has not been the case for me. I got these pens over a year ago and use them pretty much every day but they haven’t faded at all.

Cons:

They can smudge some pens occasionally but I think they are definitely better than most other highlighters.

Some of the colours are a little bit dark to use as highlighters but this is fine for me because I just don’t use those as highlighter- I just use them like normal pens.

They can go through some types of paper if it isn’t very glossy.

5. Stabilo Highlighters

These highlighters are classics. The colours are just really iconic, particularly the neon ones. The pastel ones are particularly popular now and most girls in my school have them. I also have these highlighters in the Cool Swing style which have slightly thinner nib and thinner body.

Pros:

The colours really are iconic. I really love the subtle pastel highlighter colours and I think each one compliments the others. The neon colours - particularly the yellow and orange - are really bright and are great for getting your attention.

They last a really long time and don’t really fade at all even if you use them a lot.

The nib of the pens stay quite solid for a long time.

They really are just really classic highlighters and I think everyone should own at least one of these.

Cons:

They can smudge most pens quite a lot.

They often bleed through most types of paper so when you go on to the other side of the paper they are quite a lot of marks from the highlighter.

Some of the neon highlighters are a little bit dark for highlighting.

6. Tombrow Dual Brush Pens

These pens are really popular in the studyblr community and so I thought I would buy a set to try them out. I am really glad I did because they are truly wonderful pens. Pictured are some of my favourite colours.

Pros:

There are loads of different colours to choose from and lots of different sets to choose from as well. For example, I’ve go the primary, secondary, pastel and bright colour sets. I have not yet found a colour that I don’t like yet.

The brush part is really great for lettering. I’ve tried to use many brush pens but these are the ones that I’ve found it easiest to do lettering and calligraphy with.

The grey brush pen is one of my favourites again (can you tell I really love grey pens) because it is brilliant at doing shadows particularly on lettering.

The thin nib is nice and thin and even after constant use has not lost any of its shape or sturdiness.

Cons:

There really aren’t any cons to these pens rather than perhaps they can go through slightly on some papers if you go over it too many times but it really does not do this that much.

7. Papermania Metallic Pens

These pens were in my amazon wish list for about 6 months but I just kept putting off buying them but now I use them almost daily on post it notes and to add something a bit different in my notes.

Pros:

They really do look metallic . There are lots of pens that I’ve tried that are supposed to be ‘metallic’ are just a bit sparkly but these really do seem metallic and catch the light so well.

The colours are quite unique because even though you have the classics (gold, silver, etc.) there are also some blue and green ones that are really cool to add something interesting to my notes.

Cons:

The nib on the ones I use the most has lost some of its firmness so the line is much thicker. You can probably see this in the picture.

If you go over what you are writing too many times it can start to clump a bit which doesn’t look great but this is one if you go over the same line a lot, so isn’t too bad.

I hope that this has been a helpful review and if you have a questions about any of the pens I’ve reviewed or any others in fact- just send me an ask or leave a comment!

[sigritandtheelves]

You told me you don't believe in canon, can I ask why? I am really curious, and I don't mind a long detailed answer ( lol). Also what are your thoughts on the difference between canon divergent and AU?

Crisis on Infinite Truths, or, Why I Don’t Believe in Canon (And Neither Should You)

Thanks for this ask, friend. I’ve thought about this quite a bit, especially when I see occasional comments about what or when events “really” happened, or people saying that they don’t like AU (by which they often mean any canon divergence). So here’s my little manifesto on why I think adherence to canon is pointless (and painful).

The world of the X-Files contradicts itself. Constantly.

Mulder and Scully met in March, 1992 (Pilot). But in December, 1993, they’d known each other only a few months. Scully was missing for four weeks. No wait, Duane Barry clearly takes place in August, and she was returned in November so that’s three months!  Samantha’s middle name is Teena—no, Anne! Margaret Scully gave Dana her cross necklace for her birthday… or was it for Christmas?

Anyone who’s ever tried to piece together a coherent timeline for this show knows that there are constant, frustrating contradictions, and numerous impossibilities—but not the good kind that Mulder likes to investigate. We pick and choose these minor points to accept or deny all the time without worrying about betraying canon. Why, then, do some remain committed to the idea of a “true” storyline (canon), even after major contradictions in story, not to mention the betrayals and cruelties of our Clueless Creator? It’s a matter of personal preference and one’s own relationship to the show, but here’s why I don’t believe in canon.

The smaller discrepancies listed above (just a tiny sampling) appear early in what I think of as the main timeline of seasons 1-7, but the contradictions that began to appear afterward were truly egregious: major changes in the mythology and characterization that were incompatible with earlier seasons, and which were sometimes later retconned by the show itself (Supersoldiers? Never happened. Colonization in 2012, “The date is set!”? Nup.). The plot became desperate (for ratings and to intensify its drama), cruel (to both Mulder and Scully in its violences and unjustified, poorly handled traumas), dictated by real-world constraints (Duchovny’s absence), and utterly nonsensical (the Smoking Man appears to be an otherworldly demon? He dies how many times?). I mostly hang with canon in the first seven seasons, but after that, I feel absolutely no obligation to this nonsense. Season ten was so painful and so offensive in so many ways—I won’t ever go near most of that season. I don’t think any fan should feel obligated to believe in one “true” timeline, especially when it seems written into the show that there are multiple possibilities and versions of truth.

My orientation toward canon, and I think that of many fanfic writers, is based on this multiplicity: we pick narrative elements that are grounded in what’s given or represented in the show itself. We reframe and retell. We offer something new. I’m going to draw, just briefly, on the work that I do academically, and talk about hermeneutics. Writing fanfiction is a transformative act of interpretation. By necessity, all of it is canon-divergent to some extent, because canon (like any primary text) contains no “true” interpretation. There is no single and correct reading, no singular meaning beyond what we, as readers and viewers, bring to it. A text is worth what we make of it and nothing more. Isn’t that incredibly liberating?

Why are some people so committed to the idea of canon?

When I first returned to writing fanfic, I had an epic goal in mind—I wanted to trace the relationship development between Mulder and Scully through all of the years of the show. I failed very early on because the project quickly felt both impossible and unnecessary. Most fic that is “canon compliant” emphasizes a particular piece of the timeline in order to parse out the distinct emotional and psychological nuances of a single arc. We zero in on one place to make sense of it (hermeneutics) and then tell our stories that offer more than the original. Already, we diverge from canon.

Rather than an account of the whole series, my idea became an effort to understand and reframe the reproduction arc, beginning in season five. It became the “Bearings” series of four stories, which attempted to be faithful to canonical events as much as possible. But even then, it diverged after the beginning of season eight because the things that happen in that season do not make sense in the arc of the rest of the show. I could find absolutely no justification for Mulder’s “death” based on what we know of the alien plot. Supersoldiers? They get written out of the show after season nine! They don’t make sense in relation to anything else we know about the aliens, and they never appear again. Screw supersoldiers, and screw the nonsensical mytharc of seasons eight and nine. I rewrote it in the final part.

People focus on the canonical because they want there to be coherence and consistency—they want a true truth that is grounded in the show’s representation. I say: let go of that. It is impossible both because the writing contradicts itself, literally, over and over again, and because many of the events that do become consistent (Scully gave up William? Really, we’re sticking with that one because no one in Hollywood knows how to write children?) are so fundamentally wrong in relation to what we know of the characters.

There is no dogma, there is no truth, there is no single and correct canon. We have pieces. Let’s make beautiful things with them.

Through all of a narrative’s divergent possibilities, we choose our elements.

We know that the arc of this overall story was not planned. There’s no show bible, no “truth” that was ever out there, in the end. What we have instead are truths (plural) and infinite possibilities: factoids, events, feelings, characters. Personally, I have a few things that I hold as true across most versions of the stories that I like to tell, and some of that borrows from post-season-seven events, even as I tend to rewrite canon after that point: Mulder and Scully tried IVF, but it didn’t work. Afterward, they had two children together (at a reasonable human age for conceiving children). They find their way (in all ‘verses) to the unremarkable house. They keep fighting the good fight and are as tough as nails—but they always love the absolute hell out of each other and their kids. These are the elements that I often choose to keep, and the rest I can play around with. Others do great things with other bits and pieces, and I like to experiment with angsty vignettes, too. I dig a good break-up fic, for example. Even an on-the-run fic: I love those, too. There are interesting, nuanced, painful, and beautiful things that can be done with what 1013 gave us—but not with everything it gave us and nothing else.

What’s the difference between AU and Canon Divergence?

This is a difference that gets conflated all the time, and I’m just as guilty of this mix-up as anyone else, because of the way the term AU gets used these days. It’s not a huge deal; I’m not really into taxonomizing and hair-splitting. But I do think story metadata is useful for finding what you’re looking for, so maybe we should clarify what these things mean. AU stands for Alternate Universe, and initially, that’s what this term was used to designate: a fundamental difference in worlds. Let’s put Mulder and Scully in the Wild West, or the 1950s, or in space, and see how their story changes or stays the same. I love these stories, as many do, because they maintain essential elements from the world of the show (characterization, certain plot points, family relations, approximations of life-defining events), but allow readers and writers to speculate about how things might have played out, were the world not as it is.

Canon divergence is different, and also is pretty self explanatory. This is the world of the X-Files, but here’s how things would play out if just this one thing (or these five) happened differently: Melissa didn’t die in Paper Clip; Scully and Mulder kept and raised William; Mulder finds Samantha alive at the end of Closure; etc. These stories are great because they allow for imaginative speculation, but keep us in a world we’re familiar with. But again, all fanfiction involves creative speculation. All of it diverges from what we actually saw. These just diverge a little more widely. They speculate a little bit harder, maybe.

The difference between canon divergence and AU gets fuzzy in spaces like pre-XF, because it’s kind of an AU—a world that takes place before the timeline of the show, and therefore makes major changes before there’s such thing as “canon” (see—we using scare quotes now). It seems like hair-splitting to argue for one or the other, but AU probably makes the most sense, unless you’re going to incorporate major elements of the canonical storyline too.

So that’s pretty much all I have to say. Sorry for the long-windedness, but I’d love to chat more about it.

[shiroallura]

Why is zutara your notp, just curious cuz I don't really ship it and I'm curious why other people don't

ooh boi, um, long answer under the cut cause i don’t want it to be all be in the tags

Zutara was just always something I enjoyed as a brotp, instead of as a romantic ship. I was just never particularly drawn into their dynamic, and I like other ships for them better (Kataang and Maiko, or even Zukaang on the side). I also think they’re too similar and emotionally explosive to really work out in the longterm. Katara is a very giving person, and Zuko is someone who still has a lot of issues, and Katara would feel the need to fix all of them even though she can’t really, and if Zuko wasn’t receptive it would be very distressing for her, and yeah… I just don’t think them romantically is good for either of them, regardless of the fact I ship other things with their characters.

Then, there’s the fact that a lot of Zutara shippers hate Aang so terribly, detest Kataang, and say that any signs that Katara could possibly love someone like Aang is just ooc, and like… it doesn’t work that way? It was always very obvious to me exactly why someone like Katara, or anyone, could fall in love with Aang. I also have a lot of problems with the way the ATLA fandom treats Aang, which basically boils down to ignoring his pain and values as a survivor of genocide, and because he’s not a stereotypical masculine western lead… while also ignoring the fact that Aang and Iroh are the ones who made the biggest impacts on Zuko becoming the amazing person he is, and that in all likelihood, Aang would be almost exactly like Iroh in his old age. 

I’ve written extensively here on my main about why I love that Aang didn’t kill Ozai, which seems to be an unpopular opinion, even though choosing your own destiny, which Aang couldn’t if he went with the nameless Avatar destiny (even of justified murder) is the theme of the whole freaking show.

And 90% of these things is what I see from the zutara side of the fandom, and nowhere else. If someone ships zutara and they’re chill, or even also ship kataang, then they’re rad people in my book. But anyone who believes in the “Aaron Ehasz wanted to write a zutara book 4!!” can gtfo, and Aaron has said he loves Maiko, too.

But also, the show doesn’t support Zutara narratively, because simply speaking, they aren’t each other’s narrative foils. They’re strong, and secondary foils, definitely, but they both have far more compelling characters that compliment them better. Zuko has four ahead of Katara, even, and she has three.

Let me explain.

Zuko’s primary foil is Aang, and then Sokka, almost tied nearly as closely, but we’ll get to the latter later. Aang and Zuko are contrasted as foils in every way: cusp of being a teenager, of marrying age (as far as we know, so cusp of adulthood), blue and red/orange, avatar and firelord, both unable to ever return home without gaining their honour and redemption, which also leads to the redemption of the world. Hell, to the extent that Aang’s conflict starts because he doesn’t want to be the Avatar so he runs away from home, and ends with duelling the firelord and refusing to kill him when he’s thirteen, and Zuko refusing to fight the firelord and being exiled, to him running away from home to help the Avatar. They’re cheery and angsty, learn skills around the same time, their backstories ( “Bitter Work,” “The Storm,” ) and I could talk about the colour symbolism in Sozin’s Comet for days, but Zuko has a righteous orange (whereas Ozai is wicked) and Aang as a righteous blue (whereas Azula, of course, ends in tragedy) coming together to build a new world, and the fact that fire needs oxygen/air to burn, and smoke, and… yeah I think I’ve said enough, but I stand by my statement that they are the best narrative foils in modern fiction.

And Sokka’s primary foil in the series is Zuko, and it’s set up from the pilot when they’re both putting on their suits of armour / war paint. It’s always interesting to see how serious Sokka was at first, given we all know how much of a goofball he becomes, as Aang (as he does for every character, really) helps strip away Sokka’s false sense of maturity, and allows him to actually mature in a lasting and healthier way. But serious Sokka is similar to Zuko, and they have one key thing in common: both boys are defined by their refusal to give up. And their arcs are defined by their relationships with their fathers. The absence of their mother stings, of course, and we see how it affects both of them, but their emotional arcs as we see, are actually all about to do with their father. Both of them even reach their maturation arc, of becoming more than what their fathers were, in “Day of Black Sun,” and then have the last of their fatherly arcs concluded with their reunions with their father figures, Hakoda and Iroh, respectively. Hell, in DOBS they both show an emotional loss over their girlfriend (Suki / Mai) at the time. Seeing the parallels between them is one of my favourite things.

Zuko’s other foils are Mai (yes, because they are Fire Nation yin/yang, but I’ll talk about that another day), and Sozin, and then Katara. (Mai’s primary foil is arguably Zuko, Toph, then Ty Lee, but again: another post for another day).

And then what about Katara? Well, she has Sokka, Toph, and Zuko as foils (in that order, yes, I will fight people over it) but her primary foil is Azula. Both 14, both prodigies, both with older brothers, righteous and wicked blue set up against each other, and both of their emotional arcs have to do with their mothers. Like Sokka and Zuko, the absence or presence of their father defines them too, but what actually causes the root of Azula and Katara’s emotional issues is the loss of their mother.

Katara hallucinates her mother in the Swamp; Azula hallucinates her mother in the mirror. Katara feels rage about her mother’s death, and even towards the person responsible, doesn’t take it out on him. Azula feels rage about her mother’s seeming favour towards Zuko, and at her father’s treatment of her, and takes it out on her. The primary difference is that Katara is compassionate where Azula is cunning, and Katara has the inner strength and support system to bring herself back from the brink (ie. The Souther Raiders, when she bloodbends) whereas Azula goes over.

Lighting in ATLA is a metaphor for abuse, and outright violence. In “Crossroads of Destiny,” Zuko chooses Azula, the sister who was pleased with his banishment, over Katara, the ‘sister’ who wanted to heal that same scar. Then, in Sozin’s Comet, Zuko chooses to save the sister he can, from the sister he can’t, because he knows that Azula is too far gone right now, and then Katara defeats Azula, because she was always meant to. It’s some of the most stunning, beautiful writing I’ve ever seen, and it only works if you see them plaotnically, and just… I’ve never understood why anyone else would want to see it any other way.

Hell, the show is so well written that even Katara’s scathing remark to Sokka of “Then you didn’t love her [their mother] the way I did!” is actually perfectly foreshadowed and set up. Doesn’t make it right, or true, but why she says it is there (Katara seeing their mother in the Swamp, but Sokka doesn’t, and Katara hearing he can’t remember Kya’s face, etc.). In a show this well written, the last thing they were going to mess up on is romance,

So yeah, Zuko and Katara are just far more compelling to me as a friendship, and I just don’t see Katara ever picking anyone over Aang, either.

[asuka--langley--soryu]

@kuribo4indahouse I’m screenshotting your response bc I lost the ability to reply directly somewhere in tumblrs new updates, and also I want to clarify what I mean by ‘waste’ publicly in case other people have questions. 

I agree with you in some ways regarding the general idea that often a scene is never a real ‘waste’ and that they can contribute something to the plot even if they are comedic in nature, but I do want to specifically address why I think that, actually, there are a lot of wasted scenes in 2.0. Under a cut for length!

I’ve spoken at length about what I find to be disappointing about the characterization of Shikinami and won’t talk too much about that side of things. That is, I’m not going to criticize here the content of the characterization, but rather its effect and, more importantly, its absence. My overarching complaint about what scenes like this do to the narrative, and why I think they’re ‘wasteful’, is that they result in a film which gives the audience absolutely no reason to be invested in Asuka.

I think these scenes are ‘wasteful’ because they add nothing to a character who is already starting the movie at a disadvantage. Asuka is completely absent in the first film, which is obviously meant to represent her later introduction in the series and which is understandable to that point. The intention of 1.0 was clearly to be a pretty clean reprise of the first few episodes of NGE, so Asuka not being there makes sense (although, they do have Kaworu appear, and that appearance is, I think, actually really successfully done and beneficial to his characterization and they 100% could’ve done something similar with Asuka...but I’m trying not to digress lol). The downside of this choice is that, unlike the series, we don’t have 20+ episodes to learn who Asuka is and come to care about her as a character. We have a 2 hour movie. 

When I rewatched 2.0 a few weeks ago, it became clear to me that if I did not already know who Asuka is and if I was not obviously already incredibly invested in her, then I would have no reason to give a shit about what happens to her in this film. She is introduced with one short but vaguely cool fight scene (which i liked!) and then just sort of floats around for the rest of the movie being occasionally snippy. As far as characterization goes, we have the doll scene (ew), the scene with her and Shinji in bed, the elevator, and the ‘deep chat’ she has with Misato over the phone (wherein she seems to come to a realization about the nature of her interactions with others which feels...completely unearned at that point and incredibly sudden and like. why is she saying this to Misato? What bonding moment have they had that would make Asuka, whose primary character trait at this point is ‘mean’, willing to open up this way?). Then Asuka is torn to shreds and we’re all supposed to care because....? Vaguely, yes, we would care because she’s a human being and its sad and awful that Shinji is made to tear apart a human being, but the scene doesn’t have the impact it should because the movie has not presented the audience with a reason to be actually, genuinely invested in Shikinami. If I had not watched NGE before, I would assume that she was always meant to be a kind of throwaway love interest made expressly to be killed at the end of the film. To be honest, the scene would probably have been more effective if they had kept Toji as the pilot (which they almost hint at in a REALLY weird moment of like...fake-out foreshadowing), seeing as the audience has spent more time with him at this point then they have with Asuka. But i’m digressing again!!

In order to make the moment of Asuka getting torn apart in the corrupted eva to be emotionally impactful for the audience, or for us to be invested in her continued story line, there needed to be MUCH more work done within 2.0 to lay the groundwork for her character. Not to say that there is no room for comedy, or that comedic scenes can’t establish characterization, but more often then not the Asuka moments rehash the same shit that we know about her: she’s moody, she likes Shinji, and she doesn’t get along with people. We don’t even really get to know why she wants to pilot! Which is like, I don’t know, incredibly central to her character. The bed scene is more about Shinji than it is about Asuka, so I wouldn’t really count it--though it does, I guess, give the best indication. The elevator moment begins to touch on this, but then again shifts towards the romance subplot. Instead of this scene being about Asuka’s insecurities and trauma, as it is in the series, it is used to reinforce the like...half-assed love-triangle of the movie. It adds nothing to her character, and, once again, provides no impetus for investment from the audience. The elevator scene is not ‘wasted’, but its moments like it that puts more and more stress on every other scene featuring Asuka. 

Because this a movie and not a series, it needs to do a lot of things at once. 2.0 makes things much harder on itself by trying to accomplish the work of almost 20 episodes--it introduces several new characters (including one that is completely new to the visual NGE canon), attempts to introduce the concept of beast mode, further develops and complicates Human Instrumentality, and still needs to further the already established character storylines (of which there are...a lot). When you are trying to do ALL of these things in a single movie (which is then necessitated by the time skip at the start of 3.0--that is, we need to know what all these characters are doing and reach at least partial resolution because we will never be in this moment ever again) it becomes important to use every scene you have available to you wisely. Because Asuka is not the only new character and she is someone important to the series and it’s trying to pull off an emotional twist for her in the third act and it intends for her to continue to be a major character later, the film had a LOT of work to do in terms of establishing characterization for her. There wasn’t really time to spare on silly fan service scenes which gave us no further indication as to who Asuka is and why she’s interesting or important (beyond what we ALREADY knew about her by this point, which is, to reiterate, that she’s a tsundere love interest) but they...did it anyway. For some reason. And it didn’t pay off. It never does, imo. They don’t make up for it with several interesting moments of character interaction later, or with an elucidating conversation about something that isn’t Shinji, or with another moment of her in her eva. They just continue to do silly inane shit and then she gets torn up and now she’s cool eyepatch girl!! How fun!! 

 I really, truly believe that if you have not been exposed to evangelion before the rebuilds then there is literally no reason given to you as to why you should care about Asuka. And this is coming from me! Someone who cares like....the MOST about Asuka. I want to like her in these movies even if I don’t like the movies themselves, but they make it literally impossible because it doesn’t even seem like the film likes her or is even remotely interested in her at all. She never grows beyond a one-dimensional character and so fan service scenes just seem even more egregious because their inclusion means even less work spent on making her a genuine character. 

This is very long and I’m sorry for that!! I also am not like...distinctly disagreeing with you or attacking you or anything and am very sorry if it seems like that. I am. very passionate about Asuka and about what they do to her in the rebuilds, and I also, obviously, don’t know anything about brevity or restraint lol. 

[scope-dogg]

Brave Express Might Gaine: Final Thoughts

Might Gaine has become something of an unlikely Super Robot Wars mainstay, having been in the last two games and also in the upcoming SRW T. It’s a series I’ve been holding off on for a while while I waited for its ongoing fansub projects to finish, but with SRW T just around the corner, I was determined to see everything in the roster before the game came out, which led to a change of plans for me. While it’s true that the situation with English subs for this series is really rough and honestly makes it something of a tough recommendation, what we have was good enough for me to make it through and enjoy yet another solid entry in a series that’s yet to let me down.

The story setup is that in the future, the sudden depletion of fossil fuels leads to a revolution in technology, most notably in the form of a global electric train network, as well as the onset of super-powerful artificial intelligence and robotics. At the forefront of this is the Senpuuji Concern, a mega-corporation led by its brilliant teenage CEO Maito Senpuuji, who also moonlights as the leader of the Brave Express, a corps of railway-based transforming robots created to fight evil. Piloting the combined fighting mecha Might Gaine, Maito fights off a wave of robot-based crime that has arisen, although the Brave Express’ true purpose is to fight off an unseen great evil that still lurks in the shadows.

In terms of the other Braves shows I’ve seen, this one is probably most similar to J-Decker, which was the show that came immediately after this, at least in terms of the plot setup. The show’s main plot is a really slow burn up until the last few episodes, with most of the rest of the show being pretty standard episodic monster (or in this case, robot) of the week fare. That’s not to say that it isn’t entertaining though. Like J-Decker, Might Gaine has a pretty wild rogue’s gallery of robot super-villains. However, unlike J-Decker, it has a primary cast of four extravagant opponents - the mad scientist Wolfgang, bent on creating the ultimate battle robot, the Asian mafia kingpin Hoi Kow Low, Shogun Mifune, a man obsessed with recreating feudal era Japan, and Catherine Vuitton, a vain and conceited professional thief who has no issues with bringing misery to people in order to fulfil her strangest whims. Each of these four come up with some bizarre and unusual plots with each new episode, with weird and wonderful robot designs to match. It results in some episodes that I’ll never forget, such as Catherine’s plan to rid Japan of natto or Shogun Mifune’s plan to abduct world leaders to force them to ratify his appointment as supreme leader of Japan. This light-hearted tone is backed up by the cast of protagonists as well - at first, Maito seemed to be a pretty boring guy, being unrealistically skilled and successful at everything at a young age with no real character flaws, as well an a ridiculously rich billionaire to boot. However, it didn’t take me long to realise that it’s all clearly meant to be tongue-in-cheek, with Maito clearly meant as something of a parody of unrealistic main characters in anime. That was further driven home by his love interest Sally - the running joke with her is that she works wildly different jobs every week, and each time just so happens to be close enough to overlook Maito’s escapades and gaze on longingly as he fights.

That said, this early light-hearted, humorous tone actually belies how serious things get later on - firstly in the form of a series of increasingly high-stakes showdowns with Maito’s edgy rival Joe the Ace. It then gradually slowly works its way into the real plot and its surprisingly intense conclusion - this probably had the most serious and unexpectedly violent final arc out of any other Braves series I’ve seen - only Gaogaigar Final felt like it had higher stakes.

I thought the presentation here was something of a mixed bag, although the fact that this isn’t really available to watch anywhere in good quality probably had a lot to do with that. Even disregarding that, this has the same problem that every other Braves series has, that being an over-reliance on stock footage, with the animation work outside of that not being particularly good. That’s offset by a great soundtrack however, plus the mechanical design is overall really good - even most of the jobber bad guy robots are memorable in one way or another, and Might Gaine itself and its eventual upgrade are probably contenders with Gaogaigar for my favourite lead Braves robot design. The supporting cast of Braves are pretty decent looks-wise as well, although it was kind of disappointing not to see each one developed as characters, with them all basically being background to the show’s human characters. I know a lot of Braves series fans loved how the Braves were really-well rounded characters in J-Decker, and even in Gaogaigar. Anybody looking for that kind of thing in here is probably going to be disappointed.

Now for the real sticky topic, those being the status of the subs in this show. The only subs that cover the whole series are a suspect set of Hong Kong subs that range from okay to awful, with the added annoyance of them changing the names of pretty much every major character for no real reason, despite the fact that the subs and the audio no longer match. However, there have been efforts to make a better fansub, which have been assembled into a youtube playlist - it currently covers the first 35 episodes, with more perhaps forthcoming in the future - however, right now the only way to watch those final 12 episodes is the Hong Kong subs. They’re not so bad that you can’t watch and understand, so long as you’re prepared to mentally filter the character names to the correct ones, but they’re still far from ideal.

Overall however, if you’ve got the commitment then it’s probably worth your while, because this was an enjoyable series once all’s said and done, and I enjoyed my time with it. Gaogaigar and J-Decker are probably easier points of entry if you’ve never seen anything in this series before, and personally I think both delivered on the Braves formula better, but even with that in mind and the weird subs there’s plenty to enjoy here. It hasn’t made it into three SRW games in a row for no reason.

As far as that goes, SRW V and X have already set a pretty clear formula for how this show might be implemented in T, although there’s still plenty of source material that they’ve yet to turn into scenarios. Most of all, I’m excited to see how Might Gaine and Gaogaigar play off one another - this is the first time two Braves series have been in the same SRW game.

With that out of the way, I’m getting really close to my aim of seeing everything in the SRW T roster - only Expelled From Paradise and Aura Battler Dunbine and its OVA remain. Expelled From Paradise is next - expect to hear my thoughts on that soon.