#also why is it something technically complex specifically

[alteredsilicone]

why can you use transference on necramechs... they predated warframes but they're not warframe replacements

waddahell

is it because they have "sentient pulse disablers" which probably are void related (since otherwise sentients would have easily adapted to something technological)

honestly if i start thinking about necramechs my brain is gonna break

[david-watts]

I will not fall into the trap of rewriting everything because my writing skills have improved since starting the work

[elodieunderglass]

Hi! I was wondering if you could help me out with a word I've forgotten? I'm trying to remember the name for a concept that (I think) talks about how people better understand or process Things once they have vocabulary to describe it - I've heard it talked about in regards to the colour orange, or coercive control, etc.

long story short i've just read a paper saying ancient Greeks and Romans weren't racist bc they had no word for racism and am trying to form an argument against!

(no worries if this is unanswerable, i'm aware its a bit of a long shot but you struck me as a person who Knows Things)

That’s extremely kind and funny of you. i don’t know much but i am ok at synthesis.

I think you might be thinking of the concepts loosely called the “Sapir-Whorf hypothesis”, which describes something called “linguistic determinism.” This idea has been “disproven”, as it is just too reductionist as a concept - people are clearly perfectly capable of having experiences that are tough to describe with words. There will be plenty of papers showing how this reasoning is applied.

but it is still commonly thrown around and still considered a useful teaching framework. That’s why you’ll see it referenced online as if it is fresh, new, and applicable - people learn about it every year in college. Also, elements of the framework are probably perfectly sound. It definitely seems to be the case that language shapes brains; it just doesn’t seem to be the case that humans who don’t have specific words for them can’t experience orange, or the future.

(Many things in college are taught using teaching frameworks that may not be, technically, true; the framework is intended to give a critical structure for interpreting information. Then, when we later find evidence that disproves the hypothesis, that single piece of information doesn’t destroy our expensive college education; what we paid for is the framework. This is mostly frustrating in the sciences, when fresh crops of undergraduate students crash around on social media, grappling with their first exposure to (complex concept) and how it’s DIFFERENT to what they learned BEFORE and their teachers LIED TO EVERYBODY and they’re going to save the world from POP SCIENCE by telling the TRUTH. You’ll notice that these TOTALLY NEW INFORMATION reveals map along the semester schedule. The thing here is that getting new information, or information being different from what you were previously told, does not cancel out the fact that you are getting what you pay for - an education. Learning new facts that change our relationships to hypotheses isn’t a ✨huge betrayal ✨ , but the expected process of academia. Anyway.)

You have an interesting response here, and can start by looking at the ways that Sapir-Whorf has been disproved. There will be loads of literature on that.

However, it would be interesting to look at the argument as an unpicking of the other side’s rather weird, ritualistic superstitious belief that a behavior doesn’t exist if the creatures doing it can’t describe it. It is not on the ancient Greeks and Romans to categorise and interpret their behavior for a modern educated audience. They do not have the wherewithal to do so. They are also fucking dead. We can name the behaviors we see, and describe their impacts, however the hell we like.

Sure, the ancient Greeks used “cancer” to refer to lumpy veiny tumors. We can infer that they still had blood cancer, because their medical texts describe leukaemia and their corpses have evidence of it - they just didn’t know it was cancer. But we do, so we can call it cancer. Just because Homer said “the wine-dark sea” in a flight of girlish whimsy doesn’t mean he was unable to distinguish grape juice from saltwater, which we know, because we can observe that he was an intelligent wordsmith perfectly capable of talking about wine and oceans in other contexts. We are the people who get to stand at our point of history with our words, and name things like “this person probably died of leukaemia” and “poets say things that aren’t necessarily literal” and “this behaviour was racist” and “that’s gay” and “togas kinda slay tho” despite Ancient Greeks having different concepts of cancer, wittiness, prejudice, homosexuality, and slaying than we do today.

Now just to caveat that people do get muddled about the concept of racism. Our understanding of racism from here - this point of history, with these words, probably from the West - is heavily influenced by how we see racism around us today: white supremacy and the construct of “whiteness,” European colonial expansion, transatlantic chattel slavery, orientalism, evangelism, 20th century racial science, and so on. This is the picture of racism that really dominates our current discourse, so people often mistake it for the definition of racism. (Perhaps in a linguistic-deterministic sort of way after all.) As a result, muddled-up people often say things like “I can’t be racist because I’m not a white American who throws slurs at black American people,” while being an Indian person in the UK who votes for vile anti-immigration practices, or a Polish person with a horrible attitude about the Roma. Many people genuinely hold this very kindergarten idea of racism; if your opponent does as well, they’re probably thinking something like “Ancient Greek and Roman people didn’t have a concept of white supremacy, because whiteness hadn’t been invented yet, so how could they be racist?” And that’s unsound reasoning in a separate sense.

Racism as the practice of prejudice against an ethnicity, particularly one that is a minority, is a power differential that is perfectly observable in ancient cultures. The beliefs and behaviors will be preserved in written plays, recorded slurs, beauty standards, reactions to foreign marriages, and travel writing. The impacts will be documented in political records, trade agreements, the layouts of historical districts of ancient towns.

You don’t need permission to point out behaviours and impacts. You can point them out in any words you like. You can make up entirely new words to bully the ancient romans with. You are the one at this point of history and your words are the ones that get used.

Pretending that “words” are some kind of an intellect-obscuring magical cloud in the face of actual evidence is just a piece of sophistry (derogatory) on the part of your opponent here. It’s meant to be a distraction. You can dismiss this very flimsy shield pretty quickly and get them in the soft meat of them never reading anything about the actual material topic, while they’re still looking up dictionary definitions or whatever.

[aspdboy]

Why should you support, or at least respect, paraphiles?

Stupid little [informational] rant on why there's nothing wrong with paraphilias and paraphilic disorders, yes that includes the bad ones, and why anti-paraphilia is technically ableist. "S-so i'm ableist for not liking pedophilia?!" shut up and listen.

Before I go all out here's some terms you should know ;

anti-contact : someone who doesn't support *practicing paraphilias, more specifically ones that cannot be consented to.

pro-contact : someone who supports *practicing paraphilias

there's also neu-contact, complex-contact, blah blah

*practicing : a paraphile who practices (acts on) their paraphilia

non-practicing : a paraphile who doesn't practice (act on) their paraphilia

okay keep reading for the actual reasons, please repost to spread awareness /nf.

To start, paraphilias are completely uncontrollable just like any other fetish or even mental condition. Their causes are mostly trauma, internet exposure at a young age, and sometimes can be passed down through genetics. Again, they cannot control any of those, so why judge them for it?

Because of the way paraphilias are looked down on, it makes it difficult for them to seek treatment or even supportive communities. Especially younger paraphiles who may not be in a good environment or feel too ashamed to tell anyone about it. Not being able to get help can lead paraphiles to harm others or themselves.

Paraphiles do not choose to be paraphiles, they do choose however, whether they act on their paraphilia or not. If you still don't understand, let me explain it in a different light. Take NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) for example, people view those with that disorder as horrible and abusive (which isn't true mind you.) NPD is also caused by trauma or genetics, and narcissists have the choice of being abusive or not, just like any other person.

So what makes it so different from other mental conditions, especially since paraphilic disorders are also a thing? They're only viewed horribly because of the stereotypes, just like almost every mental condition. Does that make them deserving of being discriminated against, for something they have no control over?

Now take anti-para and replace it with something else, like anti-PTSD or anti-hypersexual, now that doesn't sound like something you'd want to be, does it? Be support of all neurodivergent / mentally disabled people, not just some.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

To add onto that Malleus popularity speculation, I think another major reason why that you never mentioned is the simple fact that characters of Malleus' archetype are just more popular in general in the west amongst working age women.

There are plenty of adult novel containing male supernatural love interests. Fae and vampire romance novels are still extremely popular amongst adult readers. A Court of Thorns and Roses is technically an ADULT novel, NOT YA. Even m|m supernatural stories even fall into this category with Stolas/Blitz from Helluva Boss being an extremely popular over here. That pairing is from an adult animated show. Stolas shares a lot of similarities with Malleus.

Hell, even if you step into western contemporary romance novels, the male love interest tends to be more brooding and angsty with flawed leads. Everything from classic literature like Jane Eyre to modern shit like anything Colleen Hoover writes. (Don't get it twisted. I'm NOT saying that Malleus is anything like those leads. Just using those very popular example of brooding bad boy love interests in adult contemporary fiction in the west.)

Meanwhile in East Asia, those sorts of leads tend to be geared towards teenagers. Working age women want a more stable, realistic love interest that would take care of them like Trey.

Westerners seem to prefer more complex, intense romantic relationships, where the stakes feel higher and the emotional payoff is more significant. They will naturally write Trey off as a "big brother" character instead of seeing him as a romantic lead material thanks to being more used to seeing characters like Malleus as the love interest in stories.

I could be way off base, since I'm not Asian and far from being an expert on Japanese culture, but that's my two cents based on my observations. This is also based on broad generalizations. Neither culture is a monolith.

[Referencing this post and (more specifically!) my speculation here!]

Oh, for sure 💀 I made a post a while ago talking about how Malleus (especially from the yumejoshi/self-shipping perspective) reminds me a lot of the new "Shadow Daddy" archetype that has emerged in the romantasy genre. I mean, just look at how many of the Shadow Daddy traits Malleus ticks off:

is a nonhuman being (usually fae)

500 yrs old (or at least several hundred years old or a significant age gap between the Shadow Daddy love interest and typically female main character)

looks young and hot/conventionally attractive despite the age

is OP (usually with shadow/night/darkness related magic)

is royalty or in some kind of position of power

dark hair and/or skin (sometimes both)

“morally grey” and/or has issues (you can fix him)

brooding

looks or is rumored to be intimidating but is actually lonely and misunderstood, with a heart of gold

animalistic in some manner (usually with bat/raven/dragon-like wings)

has a tattoo or some kind of bodily markings (Malleus has the scales under his hair; you could also count the OB facial markings I guess)

Outside of romantasy novels geared towards older teens (18-19) and adults, the west seems to really love brooding bad boys as love interests in a lot of its media. Something else I noticed is that the "good guys" or the "boy next door" types like Trey tend to be "the other man" in heterosexual love triangles, which miiight also explain why he gets looked over in the western fandom. (I discussed some of my own observations, which are similar to the points mentioned here, in the posts linked above.)

I wouldn’texactly phrase it like westerners preferring "more complex, intense romantic relationships [... with higher stakes and more significant emotional payoff]", as that unintentionally implies that there has to be brooding or angst in order for the story or character arc to be "good". I feel a lot of it actually depends on the execution rather than the tropes present. For example, I've seen many "Shadow Daddies" that exist purely for wish fulfillment rather than emotional or story/character complexity (which, to be clear, there's nothing wrong with if this is the kind of thing you enjoy!). Wholesome or "normal" romances also have the capacity to be complex, intense, high-stakes, and emotionally significant too! Again, it all depends on the quality of writing and what one's personal preferences are. You'll find outliers regardless of culture as well--as the asker has stated, no culture is a monolith!

[dear-ao3]

how to get f1 driver cards, a guide for mclaren, mercedes and williams (more to come)

im going to start by saying that there is a high high chance not everything on this is accurate. for some reason this is a stupidly complex process and i am just trying my best :)

what are driver cards? every year (most) teams have cards made of their drivers with their pictures and sometimes stats and fun facts, etc. they change every year and are collectible. theyre free, technically, as long as you pay for the postage.

ive sent away for some of them before, and those are the teams i have included as i know these ones work. will add more teams on as i attempt others this year.

MERCEDES

objectively this is the easiest one to get. you fill out an online form and if you are lucky you will get cards sent to you. the form is live for the 2025 cards as of me posting this.

beware: the address form is formatted for UK addresses only for some reason. if you are trying to send to the US with an address that is two lines (ie, a street address with an apartment number or a po box) there is a good chance it wont work. i have gotten it to work for street addresses only (both attempts to have them sent to an apartment address failed). this one also took the longest, several months.

all other teams require a double envelope, stamp and letter situation.

very basically, you address an envelope to the team and put yourself as the return address. it needs a stamp (domestic if the team is in your country, international if it is not)

write a letter to the team, something along the lines of "dear x team, i am a big fan of you and your drivers x and y and i like watching you / rooting for you for xyz reasoning (etc etc). i was wondering if i could get the 20xx drivers cards? thanks (name)." it doesnt have to be super fancy.

put this letter in the envelope along with another a5 size folded envelope addressed to yourself (this is the envelope that the team will send your cards in, make sure it is the right size and also has your correct address.

the a5 envelope also needs a stamp and here is where it gets a little tricky. if the team is based in the same country you are you use a domestic stamp. if you are Not in the same country as the team this is the terribly fun (read: tricky) part.

you can either include the pounds/euros needed to buy a stamp in the envelope or you can purchase an international stamp from that country and use that. i have gone the stamp route before (ordered royal mail stamps off of British amazon) and it worked. i put five second class barcoded stamps on each envelope and they came back to me okay. (could also use first class stamps, i dont remember why i ended up choosing the second class ones) (you have to check the stamp prices and make sure that the total stamp costs equal how much it costs to send a letter internationally (second class stamps are 85p as of me writing this and it costs 2.80 pounds to mail a letter internationally from the uk to the us specifically (all of this is findable on the royal mail site) so i would put 4 or 5 stamps to be safe per envelope in case stamp prices rise again)

put that whole folded envelope and your letter in your addressed envelope to the team and mail it out.

MCLAREN

they seem to be pretty responsive. i got my card for mclaren within i think 2 or 3 months. be extra careful when addressing your envelopes to the uk, the seven letter/ number combination is the most important and should be the most legible thing. i think this is formatted correctly. (again, im from the us. uk addresses confuse the hell out of me)

address:

FAO: Autograph Cards McLaren Technology Centre Chertsey Road Woking GU21 4YH UK

WILLIAMS

again, they were pretty responsive. i think i got mine in 2 or 3 months. my envelope was the wrong size for this team but they sent me the cards anyway in a different size envelope. again, really make sure that your seven number/letter thing is clear. there both a O and 0 in it so i would put a slash through the 0.

address:

Fan Mail Williams Grand Prix Engineering Grove Wantage Oxfordshire OX12 0DQ UK

fun little note: my sister and i both sent away for mclaren and williams last year. despite them having the Exact Same Addresses and being sent from The Exact Same Post Office on the Exact Same Day, my mclaren one was returned to sender for the reason unable to be delivered. my sister got her mclaren card in the mail the next week. and i got my williams card but my sisters got returned to sender for the reason of unable to be delivered. i have absolutely no idea why. not remotely. i resent both of them and had no problems the second time around.

good luck. its kinda challenging but it is fun. im going to try to send off for more this year so ill provide more advice once i figure it out but as for now, i know these ones work. i would wait until the start of the season to mail any requests, though fill out the mercedes one sooner if you want that :)

and, proof that i got my driver cards and im not just making this up:

[z-eel]

Red Rose Surprise

[a rosekiller kid fic]

BARISTA BARTY | ROSEKILLER | WC: 2.7k

i'm not sure why no one's written a rosekiller kid fic, but i give you this. i will definitely expand on this because i just love this idea so fucking much.

"Stupid strawberry milk."

If Barty was allowed to say one thing publicly without the risk of being fired from his place of employment, he'd probably say fuck big companies who ruined coffee shops for regular ass people. 

Sure, the big coffee chains have been around for years and it’s not like he knew what ordering coffee was like before them, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t despise them.

At least they were taking away the really insufferable customers, or that's what his boss liked to say. The only reason she can say that is because she doesn’t have to deal with them. 

Barty’s known to have a shit attitude. This is especially known in the coffee shops that employed him so many years ago. He doesn't take shit from anyone, and who have been going long enough know that Barty doesn't fuck aroud. 

He’s pretty sure Rosmerta is using his bad attitude in some marketing scheme.

“Stop by The Three Brews and get uniquely insulted by our prickly barista as he makes you latte art.”

He has to give it to her if that is actually what she’s doing, it’s one hell of a marketing tactic.

Still, it doesn’t mean he enjoys dealing with the annoying customers, and sure, he does know how to make the complex orders, and yeah he technically can make them, but it's not like he wants to. There’s a menu for a reason. Barty was not going to make a triple shot latte with a fraction of every type of milk substitute they had in stock. 

I mean, he could use the syrup pumps when people wanted hyper specific orders, but there’s a reason why they were placed so far back. Barty wasn’t going to walk all the way back there when the next customer just wanted an espresso. Getting orders out quickly got him tips and tips were what paid for his lunch.

What really worsened them was Rosmerta's seasonal menu, because now if Barty said they ran out of something they could just point to the menu’s seasonal options. 

“If you’re out, why are you still offering it? The least you could do is take it off the menu."

Apologies Susan, he wasn't aware someone could simply wipe off the words from their laminated menu that was placed in front of the cash register.  

He also hated the menu because it meant he had to put even more effort when serving. It’s not like you could serve a ‘Heart Flutter’ with a frown. It ruins the atmosphere or whatever.

Sometimes he wishes he would’ve just taken Regulus’ money, at least then he wouldn’t be forced to work the morning before Valentine's Day listening to the same romantic pop songs as he wiped down the coffee machine for the umpteenth time. 

One more hour, he just had to hold off for one more hour.

The door chimed and Barty only rolled his eyes when he heard the soft clicking of metal rings rubbing against each other.

“If you're not gonna order, you can make your way out, Sirius. I'm not dealing with your shit today.”

Barty could feel the judgemental stare of a mother on the other side of the counter. If it wasn't for the fact that he was still on the clock he would've flipped her off already.

“You can't kick me out Crouch, Rosmerta loves me.”

“Rosmerta loves using your face to draw up business. Hurry up and get behind the counter before we get told off again.” Barty threw him an apron that Sirius was just barely able to catch.

So, the thing was Sirius didn't actually work here, and technically he wasn't allowed behind the counter, but it's not like Sirius needed the money and Rosmerta wasn't going to keep him from working for free. 

“Are you still pissed off that I'm ditching you to go out with my super tall, super smart, super hot boyfriend tomorrow.” 

Sirius pulled his hair back carelessly before tying it up. Only Sirius Black could present an effortless look with no actual effort.

“Do I need to remind you that I've already had the pleasure of enjoying your super tall, super smart, super hot boyfriend.”

Barty had in fact had a go with Sirius’ boyfriend some couple months back. They hadn't known each other at the time, and Barty was certain that if he hadn’t hooked up with Lupin that night, Sirius and Remus would have never even met. Sirius’ entire relationship existed because of Barty.

“Don't talk about Moony like he's a piece of meat.”

“Oh, so only you can objectify him?”

Sirius nodded as he took off his jacket to hang on a hook and tied his apron. “Boyfriend privileges, but you wouldn't know about that would you Crouch.”

He wouldn't actually, Barty Crouch Jr wasn't known for settling. Not a single one of his relationships lasted longer than three months, at least if you didn’t count Emmeline Vance, who Barty tends to go back to every couple months when she’s single.

Sirius didn't count Emmeline as a relationship.

Barty could only roll his eyes before he started on the next order, cappuccino, no foam. He wanted to kill someone.

And so it went for the next half an hour, Barty rotated from creatively insulting one of his regulars and resisting the urge to pour the frothing milk on some prick's head. 

“Fuck this, I'm taking a break, call me if you don't know what your doing.”

Sirius waved him off before he turned to the cash register with a bright smile, his loose curls falling to frame his face. Barty wasn’t even surprised when the woman began to stumble with her order, Sirius had that effect on everyone.

He was sitting across the counter when a little girl walked in all by herself.

Bright blonde hair held in two crooked pigtails. A set of plastic butterfly wings that were sliding off her shoulder, her face decorated with glitter and star stickers. He was pretty sure that the smudged paint around her eyes was supposed to resemble wings as well. It was the sparkling princess skirt and mismatched shoes with untied laces that really pulled the whole thing together.

She was already heading towards the display case, eyes focused on the pastries that had been delivered earlier that day by the local bakery.

Sirius leaned over the counter when he noticed who Barty was looking at. 

“Hi sweetie, you see something you like.”

The girl looked up at Sirius with a nod before she pointed at one of their last brownies. Barty bit the inside of his cheek, he was really hoping that someone wouldn't take it before his shift was over.

As if to sense his despair Sirius looked over at Barty in question.

Would Barty be generous for the first time in his life and sacrifice the last brownie to the little girl who had her face pressed against the glass, or would he be a selfish prick and break this little girl's dream?

Barty sighed before gesturing for Sirius to give it to her.

He hated kids. He hated seeing their round faces with their big eyes.

Oh, but the smile that broke out the moment Sirius handed it to her in a napkin was heart melting. Barty couldn't help but laugh at the way she began to jump around in joy. Her little wings flapping with each jump she made.

“Luna, there you are. What did I tell you about running off on me?”

The girl turned around proudly presenting the brownie she had just received, “Evie look, brownie!”

Barty hadn't even noticed when the guy walked in, too focused on making sure she didn't slip on her untied shoelaces.

He was tall, and that was saying something because Barty was tall. He might not have been Remus Lupin tall, but he was definitely tall. He also had blonde hair, nearly platinum. Barty was almost in awe of how good it looked on him. He didn't know many people who could pull off platinum.

Silver septum ring with plenty of other piercings on his ears. Each one carrying silver jewelry. Barty couldn't help but think that gold would've suited him better.

“I can see that angel, but I only have enough for one treat right now. You're going to have to choose if you want this or your red rose surprise.”

The girl, Luna, pouted, and Barty wanted to groan. Kids were his weakness.

Sirius looked over at Barty unsure of what to do. Barty only mouthed his response.

“The brownie's on the house.” Sirius gave the customer that charming smile of his as he rested his arms on the counter. This was the real reason Rosmerta kept him around. Always so charming that Sirius Black, no one could resist him. 

“My boss just loves fairies, and she told me that every fairy who visits is supposed to get one treat for free.” 

Luna beamed up at Sirius before turning around to the guy, Evie, and sticking her tongue out before turning back to Sirius.

“I want a red rose surprise.”

“I don't think we have those here.”

Evie let out an exaggerated sigh before he kneeled in front of her. “Imma have to work my magic little moon. Why don't you go pick a seat and enjoy your brownie while I get that red rose surprise.”

Fuck it all to hell, ‘little moon’. Kill him, kill him now. End his existence before he ends up falling in love with a complete and utter stranger.

There was something that needed to be known about Barty.

He found people who were good with kids attractive. And he didn't mean it in a ‘Oh, wow. That's so cute. You're sweet and protective.’ kind of way, but more like, ‘I don't care if it's biologically impossible. I want to have your kids so that I can see you do this for the rest of my life.’ kind of way.

Regulus says he's absolutely mental and this is a result of his daddy issues, while Sirius says that it's perfectly reasonable because it's exactly how he feels about his own boyfriend.

Seeing this super hot guy talk to this little girl like she was the only good thing in the world made his heart race a little. A strangely weird feeling because even though he's felt this way before, it's never gotten this intense.

His friends find the dichotomy between what he's like and what he finds attractive absolutely hilarious, because Barty liked pretty people. He liked sweet looking people who take control of a situation with a smile on their face. A big contrast to Barty who was covered in tattoos, used cheap black box dye, and had a shitty ass personality, or so he was told.

His last boyfriend would disagree, but Sirius refuses to listen to anything James Potter had to say in regards to Barty. Skewed perception was his reasoning. 

“Cute kid, is she your's?” Sirius stood back up and eyed Evie as he stood up, blue eyes following Luna as she sat down at one of the booths.

“My sister's, actually. I’m babysitting today.” 

“Oh, and what, no girlfriend to help you out.”

The guys smiled at Sirius and Barty wanted to roll his eyes. 

Although in a fully committed relationship, Sirius Black was incapable of not flirting with their customers. He's probably the reason why Barty has to deal with so many annoying customers. Charmed by Sirius and insulted by Barty, only at the Three Brews.

“No one at the moment, but Luna’s a good help in getting people interested. Someone's bound to find me worth sticking around for.” He smiled at Sirius and although Barty couldn't see just how lethal it was he could definitely see its effects by just how red Sirius was getting.

It wasn't by much, but no one's been able to get such a reaction from him since he's gotten with Lupin. It wasn't often when Sirius Black could be brought to blush, and if someone ever did manage it, it was a sure fire way to get Barty interested.

Sirius looked over at Barty and Barty took it as his cue to go save his friend from possibly ruining his newly established relationship.

The transition was quick and simple. Barty pulled Sirius back and told him to check on that order Rosmerta had placed for sandwiches for the incoming lunch rush. Sirius barely had time to wish him luck before he was pushed to the back where the phone was.

“Good morning, I'll be serving you since my coworker doesn't know how to keep from drooling when he sees a pretty face.”

And fuck did he have a pretty face. Barty was going to need more than luck to get through this.

“Well, I'm not complaining. One pretty face replaced by another, nothing to be disappointed about.”

Red alert, red alert! This is not a drill! Why the hell is this guy flirting with him?

“Um– what would you like to order? We have plenty of Valentine's Day specials if you're feeling festive, but we do have regular coffee if you aren't looking for anything fancy.”

Barty looked over at the little girl who was carelessly kicking her feet as she broke off a piece of the brownie. He was kinda regretting giving it to her now. He could really use some chocolate to ease the nerves that were eating at him. 

“Do your Valentine's specials have strawberries?”

No, no, don't do this to him. He really didn't want to make anything too difficult. He already had to make three of those today and tomorrow that all he would be doing.

“Some do.”

“Okay, then, do you mind just putting regular milk in a cup, adding some diced strawberries and whipped cream with strawberry syrup on top. It's my niece's birthday today and I always get her one of these, but the last place we went to ran out of strawberries.”

“So, the red rose surprise is just strawberry milk.”

He shrugged a little, “It's what my parents used to do for my sister and I on our birthday. I guess I'm just following the tradition.”

Oh, he was so fucking screwed.

“Yeah, I can make it work, Evie.”

He laughed and Barty could only stare at him as he covered his face in embarrassment. 

“It's Evan actually.”

“Barty.”

“Well, thank you Barty, you just saved my day and made her birthday ten times better. How much would it be?”

And Barty knew the moment he made eye contact, he was done for.

“It's on the house, a gift for the birthday girl, and you if– if you want something?”

“No, I'm good for now, but thanks.”

Evan smiled and Barty swallowed nervously.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

“Yeah, no problem. I'll have your drink ready to go in a moment.”

Evan nodded his head before he turned around and sat next to Luna who was now staring at him with wide eyes and head tilted to the side. As soon as Evan sat down she turned to him and pointed at Barty before gesturing at her cheeks. 

Evan laughed for a moment before looking over in Barty's direction. They made eye contact, Evan winked at him and Barty quickly turned around to get that drink ready.

Strawberry milk, strawberry milk, strawberry milk.

How the hell was he supposed to make strawberry milk?

“Hey Barty, are you okay? Your face is all red.” 

Barty jumped at Sirius' words

“Relax, it's just me.”

“You know how to make strawberry milk right? I mean the pretty kind that you see all over Instagram and shit.”

“Yeah, I used to make it for Reggie. Why?”

“Teach me.”

“What?”

“Teach me how to make your stupid strawberry milk.”

“I can just make you some.”

“No, you have to teach me so I can give it to that little girl and then when Evan sees how good I'm at making strawberry milk he'll have no other choice but to marry me so I can keep making strawberry milk.”

Sirius blinked at him before laughing. 

“Evan? Is he the reason why your face is all red like that?”

Barty wanted to strangle Sirius or drop to the floor and die, preferably both, but not necessarily in that order.

“Fine, I'll teach you how to make it, but first go wash your face. You're as red as a strawberry right now.”

Barty could only hang his head in embarrassment when he saw his reflection on the mirror. Bright red, strawberry red.

Stupid red rose surprise. 

Stupid strawberry milk 

Stupid Barty for falling for some guy named Evan.

tags: @the-person-that-did-that @saiichai

[wherevenusholdssomeofficespace]

While Linda is usually distinct from Danville weirdness, it's not like Linda has never been hit by an inator in fact… it's not like Linda's never been the victim of world ending shenanigans. But for HER to be the one the siblings have to rescue is a direction they've never gone before. (Or rather her specifically, see Phineas and Ferb effect, NOTLP). It IS unusual to see Phineas and Ferb seem genuinely upset; usually that's reserved for things like… Klimpaloon. Or Isabella. While the kids often talk a lot about how much they love their mom, focusing several of their inventions on her specifically, but the combination of "rescue mission" and "Big Idea for Mom" is a new combo.

What I'm hoping for from this is a bit more insight on what the kids love about her. While we definitely see a lot of the things that Linda does for the kids, and we see the kids talk about how much they appreciate her, I'd love to get some more specific insights, particularly on Linda's relationship with the boys as we don't see them hang out as much as Linda and Candace do. I'm not asking for a lot here, maybe just a CATU-mug-like scene where we get a few flashbacks of some interaction. Candace wrote a whole song about why she loves her mom, so I just want more of that.

Especially since the first episode segment highlighted how Linda feels about her kids growing up and lamenting not spending enough time with them. I'd love to see the kids perspective as well. I mean she's their mom. I want to see them think of her hugs and her jokes and all the little mom things she does for them.

Though PnF isn't the type of show to dive too hard into this kind of stuff, and Candace needs to continue busting for the story to work, but she IS the kind of person who would feel guilty for something like this happening even though it isn't even remotely her fault (she knew her mom wasn't destined to see the stuff but she kept pushing it).

Despite her otherwise being a sometimes impulsive and irresponsible teenager, Candace is nearing adulthood and thus Candace and her mom tend to be on more even footing. As much as Linda and Candace are often at odds, Linda does generally trust Candace to be responsible enough to watch her brothers for extended periods of time, and the two do seem to like to spend time clothes shopping and going to the salon and doing similar activities together. But also Linda is pretty much Candace's role model, or at least one of the people whose opinion matters most to her. And Candace has repeatedly been shown to have no issues confiding in her mom about things like boys.

In short: Candace is an anxious wreck of a girl on the precipice of adulthood dealing with near supernatural shenanigans whose mother ("normal" adult woman) is her emotional anchor. Her mother disappearing right in front of her is not good for her emotional state either way.

"When I'm bouncing off the walls you're the one who stays calm"

Conversely Phineas and Ferb also are just kids whose relationship with their mom is a little more one sided... she sees them as children... good responsible kids, but children nevertheless. Conversely while Linda is Candace's role model, the boys role models include people like Santa. This isn't to say that they DON'T adore and depend on their mom (they just assume she'll be able to solve the Gordian Knot) their relationship is just a bit less complex than Linda and Candace's (not a low bar mind you). The boys are ultimately just kids who we know feel deeply and can (though not always it depends on the tone of a given episode) react dramatically when the people they care about (Perry in AT2D for example, Phineas with Isabella in NOTLP) are in trouble. Of course seeing their mom disappear isn't great for them either, they've just got a bit more optimism and technical know how to fall back on then Candace. It's always fun to see the lengths these boys will go to for the people they love, especially since they have the means of going pretty damn far.

Linda is a central character of the show, but for the premise of the show to work she has to remain outside of the shenanigans, so can't meaningfully engage with the kids (especially the boys) a lot of the time. While Linda still won't be an active participant in this storyline... probably... she's already expressed her stance on the subject (she wants to spend time with her kids) so her character is still being highlighted. I think Linda is one of the most underappreciated characters in the show so I'm happy to see anything with more Linda focus. The A-plot literally revolves around her just as much as it does Candace. Without her there's no show, so it's good to see that acknowledged on some level.

Though, I have a feeling it's just going to be standard rescue mission stuff, I feel it's pretty likely we'll get to end on the entire family spending some time together which is always a treat. (Well, taking the picture obviously but still). I'm hoping the rest of the episode lives up to the lofty expectations that cliffhanger set.

[hoodedjelly]

Nicktoons unite main 4 in their respected styles ( minus jimmy neutron i'll explain more below)

i feel very mixed about these but it was still fun either way studying all of these cartoons respected styles. the final does make me happy, seeing all of them together ^__^ 💞

below i will explain my thought process working with each style so get ready for a wall of text:

first before anything you may be asking: why no jimmy neutron style!? it's because i tried and gave up! i was starting the rendering process for timmy and i hated it so i just didn't continue! no point of making myself miserable for something thats harmless fun style studies. but have these as a little treat:

Fairly Oddparents style: the easiest style to work on and research for, fop style is not that complex. i should also add i didn't draw each style in one sitting i drew each character together and then edited them all, so that might be the reason why some look better then others, i just got good. but i'm saying that because the character i started with was spongebob! specifically because i was tired of ppl thinking dp style and fop style are the same and how spongebob would look the same in both styles, just a flat square. which is wrong! fop style is very different! i would prob describe it as a flat paper style. has sharp and rounded thick lines. the main source of research i used for it was the designer for fop was Ernie Gilbert. he has designed a lot of iconic characters for the show and i highly would check out his work, this is his website

Danny phantom style: now this one was tricky, prob the hardest one to figure out and i honestly don't think i really DID figure it out. the possible reason is i am still trying to go through the show atm myself, but i'd doubt it. they all just look off to me, just a little. which no need for me to work myself in a circle trying to make it "perfect". im no professional character designer! especially not Stephen Silver.

Spongebob Squarepants style: this one was tricky but in the opposite way to dp style, where i didn't know what to reference! to start off the show is mainly nonhuman characters, so finding character refs were hard. the refs i did use were the mermaids and the superheros, so i used that for timmy. but in the middle of working on jimmys i was watching a video of someone ranking every single spongebob ep and TURNS OUT in the later seasons, i think season 13, there were human designs! (technically elfs but whatever).

and weirder thing is how they draw patchy but im not going to get into that. i am assuming that style is for characters that are supposed to be real life humans up on land in that universe (but why not just use real life humans? idk, maybe tom kenny is getting to old for the role). BUT ANYWAY, i used the elfs for a main source for jimmy and danny, they turned out a lot better then the timmy in my eyes. i wanted at least one of them to have the black eyes but they all have bright blue eyes and the show usually always colors blue eyes. i get ahead of myself cause there was a lot more factors i still had to figure out. like the line art. the show doesn't have a clear line style like dp or fop, its just relatively consistent medium lines. so i just went with more recent show stuff then older stuff since it's HD.

ok but thats basically it, i can prob go on more but i'd feel no one gaf. i made these for fun and it was fun making them! i love all of these shows a ton so it was nice looking up the designers and artist for these shows. support the artists!!! fuck bitch fartman!!!!!

[bahja-blix]

Besides martha x Mayberry weirdly being a thing my ass is trying to figure out what’s the theme of this pride party 😭

Why is there multiple different party themes going on why does everyone feel like they are photoshopped into the photo it’s giving AI generated because everyone looks broken especially vortex

PART 1: Your not alone when I say that a Lot of people are confused, concerned, and have questioned the non existence of MarthaBerry as a fake ship since it was made specifically for corporate pandering purposes since June is around the corner. The ship itself doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

@doodler16 confirmed was Morgana herself that wanted more of this for "representation" so of course there will be more merch of them together regardless if it makes sense or not...

Of course because of Morgana's identity, she has to self insert herself and the way she is into the show and tank it some more with poor decisions like this that dont make sense.

Look if you're going to self insert than you have to be more than just your identity! I get wanting representation but this is just 💩

A human being with complicated struggles and arcs is more complex than this

Part of The Doodlers post explaining it ^^

🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

PART 2: Before I point out some things in the mess, I'll quickly say this!

The theme itself is cluttered and Clunk as Fuck!

What am I supposed to say to this? What the HELL am I even supposed to be looking at?

It's just... Infinitely worse than the last pride parade poster they put out last time.

Theres so much going on here I can't even focus on anything.

It's a literal eyesore and my OCD is Through The Roof!

The reason it looks like broken, poor photoshopped ai is because like I said there's too much 💩 going on at once! Plus Vivziepop tends to hire an altitude of artists to work at the same time and maybe the artist didn't know how to draw everyone because I can totally see a lot of errors.

How the Fuck is this diversity? Or inclusive?

I mean... if you were going to pander so hard and so heavy than you should've just went all in but then that would also mean more of a mess to look at!

Is diversity Supposed? to look like 💩? Because this just isn't it mate 😭

Number 1: Why does Bee celebrate her sexuality by wearing Granny Pannies or a Diaper over tennis shorts? Is that supposed to scream "PANSEXUAL YAS"??? Is that supposed to be a cooking outfit??? Because holy sh💩 it doesn't look good.

The only thing I liked was the fact that Bee looks like she's about to cake face plant Stolas because he Fucking deserves it I'm ngl

2: [Slight TW: Briefly talking about Sallies Identity]

Of course we have to stereotype and emphasize the fact that Sallie May whos lesbian does in Fact have a penis because why wouldn't you want to stereotype the Trans community or your own Trans character whos got a complex and complicated identity to explore since theres a lot more than the eye meets to transitioning.

The pride picture even goes as far as to literally HIGHLIGHT her area with the white surrounding it.... because I guess thats All Sallie May is right???? Just her fucking identity and thats it... no character development, barely a story, no arc, no realization on how she became the person she wanted to be, just jack 💩.

You know Vivziepop, transitioning is Not a walk in the park and there's a Lot involved.

It's not easy to do where you snap your fingers and boom it happens because fucking magic.

Do you know what I mean Vivziepop? We could've got something far complex than the Fuckass Stolitz Show that doesn't give us 💩 but drama llamas and soap operas but we got nothing. Nothing but over sexualization of our gal Sal...

I get that Morgana is comfy not tucking and that this Is technically her self insert (and I think Sallie May is Levels better than Morgana's mean narc ass) but to continue:

There has been such horrible backlash Vivziepop faced for sexualizing Sallie for her identity alone, For the Bulge she has in the fucking merch lines instead of treating her like a Real character with deep complexity and story arcs like the fans want! Morgana approves of this! She allowed Sallie to be wasted instead of treating her better. Because that's representation to her!

I get we got a short with Mills and Sallie but that's Not enough for our gal Sal... she deserves better dude come on spindlehorse. Does it really kill you to actually expand on her as a character? Because I actually like her. Do better, but I guess Vivziepop didn't learn that lesson regardless of the backlash she constantly faces due to her and the crews horrible ass writing decisions.

End of that...

Moxxie who's represented as bisexual in this is literally covered up by All of these assholes because F You that's why. Why would the punching bag get to shine and catch a break 🤪

We have Verosika who's probably in her 30s tryna cosplay as a younger version of Jojo Siwa ripoff because????? This isn't 2010 anymore and you aint 13 years old. I can see why people call this Millennial Core and it Shows!

🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

Honestly that's all I have to say for now I of course wanna make separate posts on other stuff so I'll save that for later.

[readingtoinfinity]

Jelloapocaylpse and One Piece

So, there's this thought I've been having about gigantic franchises: any criticism against them needs to be taken with two specific grains of salt. First, people who dislike the franchise will be more annoyed by its flaws because of overexposure, and second, reactions to these criticisms will be overblown because there's so many more fans. I'm of the opinion that you shouldn't respond to criticisms of your favorite things if they're enormously popular, meaning I'll be more silent on negative reviews of things like Critical Role, One Piece and Brandon Sanderson's works than I would be for smaller things like Wayward Children, Grimm or The Craft Sequence.

But when these two grains of salt come together? Oh, boy. OOOOOOOH boy.

I love So This is Basically..., and have since I discovered the channel. A good chunk of my humor comes from the jokes in those videos, and even for something like Kingdom Hearts where it's negative, I still enjoy both the video and the franchise, so I've elected to let it be. But in his recent video on One Piece, while it was funny he got so many things seriously wrong about the series that I've struggled with whether or not to say something about it. I think the artistry on display in the video can get drowned out by the negativity being poured into it, and while I don't have much of a platform I can yell into the void like the best of them, and it's bothering me enough that I want to lay some things out.

So, for your discretion: a time-stamped review of Jelloapocaylpse's So This is Basically One Piece. I will endeavor to only time-stamp things I found wrong about the series. I understand jokes aren't meant to be taken seriously, but I think humor is revealing, and if we can dissect the jokes of the anti-woke crowd to find the ugly truth within, we can do the same to ourselves. And if I can shout out a more complicated thought about One Piece from a joke then I will, and even point out moments where Jello is right.

I will not talk about Brendan Blaber's personal life nor his anime work. I am aware of what happened with Lovely★Complex but find it immaterial to the video on his YouTube channel. Perhaps his motivations were dishonest, and that could explain his rampant dislike of the source material; at this time, I don't think it factors in, but if I'm proven wrong I will make an edit with the proper updated information. And, per a beef I have with the video itself, I also want to stress that you should not harass nor send death threats to people you dislike, especially about a piece of media. THIS INCLUDES ASSHOLES.

With that, let's begin. Video is included so you can follow along. There will be spoilers freely discussed; be forewarned. If I am wrong, chime in and correct me; I am not above mistakes.

0:08: This is a fun callback to the 4Kids dub of One Piece, which is widely reviled but for some small moments of genius.

0:11: an out-of-context, raving explanation of the worldbuilding, which is entirely correct.

0:38: Incorrect. The Grand Line is specifically written to be hard to get into and out of unless you have the tech for it. This is a big deal in both the manga and the anime and I don't know why/how he missed this.

0:50: This is a fan theory. I was willing to accept it but googling it turned out it wasn't correct. The following jokes require this to be true, however, so creative license applies.

1:06: Arguably true, and I say that because, while each of these characters technically has a different power, they're all used to manipulate the environment and stone like it's water. That's a thing and a theme in the series; Luffy even gets to fight Charlotte Katakuri, who has a similar Devil Fruit. Call it lazy, call it creative, it's debatable, and funny.

1:11-1:38: the following explanation is also true, but insulting. The boundaries between each Devil Fruit are more fluid than the initial system lets on, true, but as in real life aggressive categorization is usually incorrect and uninteresting.

1:43: The description of the fights applies less to One Piece than Shounen as a whole. You could be uncharitable and say it describes all fights, but I will restrain myself. A lot of fights do have an element of unpredictability to them; sometimes it's the randomness that feels realistic and other times it's Deus Ex Machina. You could argue the fights are more about the philosophical difference between the two (Sanji vs Wanze comes to mind) but it makes for long, drawn-out fights. I think most of the pacing problems come from the anime but I've been annoyed by the manga as well.

1:55: It is true that Robin doesn't get many fights, which is disappointing as a Robin fan. And I won't deny that sexism pervades the writing of One Piece when it runs unchecked. But I don't think the two are related; Robin's fights tend to be brutal and fast, and she deals more with grunts than generals. The exception is Robin vs Black Maria, which was Very Good.

But her focus in the story is less on fighting and more about archeology and history, and in that case she often reshapes the way we see the world with her investigations. Fighting ain't all there is to a Shounen series, and the wise reader remembers this. (this point copied wholesale from Anthony Gramuglia)

Obligatory "Yes One Piece is very long and I hope it ends well".

2:02: The espionage episodes are quite good. But I think this conclusion draws from the dislike of the adventure and action, so you need to agree with the first to reach the second, and I do not.

2:08: I had not realized how many islands were circles in One Piece so that criticism applies even if it doesn't mean anything for the quality of the series. But Punk Hazard isn't about stopping Smiley (who barely features) and I would argue that "natural disaster" doesn't apply to some of the threats the crew faces, and it's definitely not every arc.

2:24: only Punk Hazard was (half) on fire. Fires do happen a lot as a way to push tension but the arcs were flattened to make this point.

2:30: "from the jungle" is the best joke in this episode.

2:37: "Hit 'em with the poison that doesn't work!" happens a lot as well. It is often because the characters have to figure out a way around it, like other protagonists do during Good Fights.

2:46: This is a weird take. I know Zoro is an asshole but sexism was something he hated in his childhood and that disdain forms a big part of his personality. You could also call him Minority Hunter like the fanbase does, given he fights mostly black people.

2:52: Nami's not gay in the series, not explicitly, anyways. Alas.

2:56: God, to be a Sanji fan is to suffer. He has some of the best and worst moments in the series and the live-action series made him a bajillion times better.

3:15: good follow-up on a joke with a bad setup.

3:16: I'm annoyed Franky was removed from this. He's a lot of fun. And I'm also annoyed that you talk about Sanji's perversions but don't bring up Brook who is arguably worse in every way. These as well as Chopper and Jinbe get flattened for the sake of this video, and considering Chopper is my favorite Straw Hat this very much annoys me.

But he does make a point about these characters: Robin through Franky don't get to do as much throughout the series. They're often rendered as side characters who react to things instead of having their own arcs. For all that Thriller Bark was Not Great, Chopper was given an arc that ties very directly into who he is, and I'm saddened we didn't get something like that again until Wano.

3:21: The characters have personality, it is just now shown in this video. Usopp is not given a description and Nami is summarized as "lesbian" with nothing else of their character depths.

3:26: again, the best joke is the jungle joke.

3:39: I am not certain we're supposed to like Aokiji. He does some pretty heinous things throughout the series. Garp is a more-interesting case, in that his loyalty to the World Government is treated as his greatest flaw, but he's also an asshole. It's almost like he's a very complicated character or something.

3:47: This is the part that I kept coming back to, the part that's most insulting. I am bad with names so I admit I had to google this fish-man's name, but his name is Macro, he was a member of the Sun Pirates and he didn't keep slaves. The Sun Pirates especially freed any and all slaves they came across because they were also enslaved. Arlong did keep slaves but he was not enslaved himself, and the continuing stain of racism and slavery washes out over the rest of the series itself almost as if it were good or something. Out of all the things to get wrong, this one was the most egregious.

4:00: The Marineford arc was VERY LONG. A lot of stuff happened and it affected the pace quite a bit. The dig at the author is unwarranted.

4:07: FROM THE JUNGLE BA-

4:15: I'm torn on this complaint. On the one hand, subtle foreshadowing is usually the way to go when it comes to announcing what is going to happen. On the other hand, you can easily forget a lot of things that happen in a single narrative so sometimes twists come out of nowhere.

However! This complaint is mitigated by the fact that the series will readily bring you up to speed on context whenever it's necessary. Take that as you will.

4:20: Localization is a Thing™ that happens and translation hasn't always been the best. I first learned the word "nakama" from Japanese because of a fansub of this series that insisted it wasn't just "family". I am also annoyed by newer chapters that insist on calling the swordsman "Zolo", and these issues extend to the fan wikis. This has nothing to do with the show or manga, however.

4:33: There are a LOT of characters, true. Whether or not that is too much is debatable; they are drip fed to the reader over the course of all the chapters, and even if there are twice as many characters as chapters (there are not) that's two characters per chapter to introduce. That's not a lot for an audience to read; if you've gotten through Wheel of Time you will be fine, but this ties into a latter issue I'm about to bring up.

4:47: I'm almost certain these characters were chosen at random. On a whim, I decided to return the favor and pick a character at random to defend its inclusion. That turned out to be Pekoms.

Pekoms is a character in Big Mom's crew, loyal but deathly afraid of her. He's defined both by this bond to Big Mom as well as to his Mink heritage, and he takes pride in both. It's only when he learns of the Straw Hats' defense and salvation of the Mink Tribe that his courage starts to grow to outweigh his fear, and he eventually turns on her in response to the sacrifice of a friend of his, demonstrating the themes of the Whole Cake Island arc: a family bound through fear is a temporary measure, and it will fall apart when something better comes along.

I bet you could make a defense of just about any character he removed, even characters that are bit players. That's the thing, too: complaining about "too many characters" ignores the fact that sometimes, the guy who gets one line also gets a name. A stage play should be stripped down to pure essentials, not so much with mediums you can edit.

And fuck, he cuts out Yamato?! The best guy around?!!

5:07: It's very strange that he says the Straw Hats don't have any meaningful dynamic with each other when the #1 thing people keep asking for is downtime so these characters can hang out and interact almost as if their dynamics are what carry them through the arcs. I mean, it has been a while since some characters interacted, true, but remember: there are 10 Straw Hats on the crew. That's 45 different interactions that are possible. There's, sadly, not gonna be enough time for Robin and Jinbe to sit down to tea with everything else going on.

(Also I know that in Wheel of Time (the closest approximation in length) Rand, Mat and Perrin have a wonderful dynamic and then don't talk for several books. Sometimes the plot happens, but I don't know if people hate this part of the series so this might just be me; I stopped reading during The Path of Daggers or The Winter's Heart, I'm not certain. I remember being annoyed by Tuon a lot)

5:26: I'm going to divide this between the two questions people asked on SBS. None of what happens with Fuckass Joe in this question is relevant to One Piece as a whole because it doesn't happen in the story proper. But the way the video frames Oda's relationship with his editors is weird.

5:47: I'm gonna be honest this is a really weird question to include in SBS. Whoever sent it in definitely has some things going on, and while Oda wasn't responsible for it (and he answers the question with annoyance and confusion) the fact it was included at all speaks to the priorities of the people writing it. Again, this is about SBS and not really relevant to the manga as a whole but I think you can absolutely be critical of this with Oda.

5:54: There's three complaints in here in rapid succession, so I'm going to go through each:

"Breasts grow larger": absolutely a thing that happens. It's a well-documented annoyance in the fandom at this point, and hard to miss.

"Negative space grows rarer": I'll be honest, I didn't notice this as a problem. So I went back to the manga and re-read chapter 1, chapter 1133 and chapter 566 (about halfway through). In the first chapter, there is a lot more negative space in the panels so you focus more on the characters, and there's a lot more characters and background details in the latter chapters, but it's not hard to follow even still. So I'm not certain this is an issue, but it could be an eyesore; adding detail is not always to the good.

"Oda doesn't credit his assistants" I didn't find the names of his assistants through Google. The fact it is hard to find is telling, either for Oda or search engine optimization. In either case it's nothing to do with the manga. It should definitely be easier to find these names.

6:07: The sketchy art had a purpose in a flashback, showing someone losing memories (and on a more-meta level I think Oda had a health emergency... correct me if I'm wrong). I don't think the artwork has changed overmuch from the beginning, and there's a conversation to be had about the changing amount and quality of the details, but given it is shown that they're specifically referencing that kind of art I wanted to respond to that directly.

And the pot-shot at the anime is more deserved. The fact it's weekly means quality can vary wildly and characters are often drawn off-model in a way that's meant to be sexy but doesn't look very good. (I couldn't find it, but there's a specific part where Nami gets injured and scuffed up, and the anime adapted it more sexually than the manga made it. Not that it was nonexistent, mind you. This part is a "trust me bro" more than the others so please keep that in mind).

6:17: The pacing in the anime can be quite bad. The joke with the water slowly turning yellow is also quite funny.

6:38: This is debatable. The story has happy and sad moments like most good stories and it's an adventure story, with a focus on fun. But the story is also willing to leave you with strong negative emotions and just deal with them, the backstories being the most notable examples of characters dealing with trauma.

6:46: This criticism is overblown but not incorrect. Pell should have died from that explosion and I stand by that, but no consequences to anything? There are whole chapters where the balance of the powers of the worlds are shifting and these consequences play out. Whole arcs are built from the consequences of of the death of Whitebeard alone and, as Anthony Gramuglia pointed out in his stream (I'm still watching it to conclude its accuracy) if the manga has intense foreshadowing and knows where it's going that goes against the "no consequences" criticism. (again, thank you Anthony Gramuglia for this note)

6:54: Uta is from a movie that is non-canon, even if she exists in-story. It would be unreasonable to note any criticism of the story from One Piece: Film Red because it's unreliable as a foundation.

Yasopp leaving Usopp is something the fans have complained about for some time now. At this moment we don't know if he had a good reason for leaving beyond heeding the call to adventure, but I know I, personally, think it was a dick move.

7:03: I find this next part disingenuous, for all the potshots Jello takes against Oda before and after. It's also unrelated to the story as a whole (mostly) so I'll be skipping through it.

7:26: I think this criticism stands. Oda is very weird about women in the story and tends to draw them a specific way (thin waist, large bust, tall and lithe). This doesn't stop almost all of them from being interesting characters, mind you, but it's something to keep in mind as you read the story.

Also, if you were going to criticize Oda for Ephebophilia (sexual interest in mid-to-late adolescents, according to le Wikipedia) in his story, that's great, but if you're going to take potshots at him why don't you also mention his friendship and defense of Nobuhiro Watsuki, writer of Rurouni Kenshin and most-known for possession of child pornography? Why drag the family into this when they have nothing to do with Oda's behavior or predilections?

And that's that. I won't be doing this too often (I am a writer and a critic, not a drama channel) but that specifically left a bad taste in my mouth I wanted to get out. Again, if there are any mistakes I will be calling them out in the edit.

One Piece means a lot to me. I've been following it since I was a tween, and it was the first series I read without my parents' permission (oddly enough, my very conservative mother also though the women were too sexualized... on episode 92, before it got so much worse) because I loved it so much. And even now as an adult I find it an old reliable that makes me happy. I try not to be blind to its flaws; I can see the sexism for female characters and character design, the way Oda writes gay people has improved but isn't perfect, and his examination of racism is hampered by not having stories to draw from about it. But it's a long, wonderful series that I can heartily recommend to anyone who enjoys adventures and themes of freedom, family and fun.

So This is Basically... is a series that always manages to make me laugh, even in episodes I dislike. I say "Sora, become a beekeeper!" to myself all the time, and the specific way Jello says "garbage" in the RWBY video sticks with me. But if you engage with the media he talks about you can see the cracks; it's the CinemaSins problem, disguising criticism as jokes and jokes as criticism, never taking a firm stand on either.

I hope both these series improve. I hope we look back on this video as a fluke rather than the standard. I'd like to continue to enjoy Jelloapocalypse in its purest form. But this whole thing has been uncomfortably revelatory to me, and I will keep my eyes open and my mind sharp.

EDIT: I finished watching Anthony Gramuglia's video on the subject. I don't 100% agree with his takes (in particular the speakers' disdain the humor, which I enjoy quite a bit) but he and his guests go into more analysis than I do, at times coming up with ideas I hadn't considered (as mentioned in my previous notes) and at times reaching a bit. I still think it's quality analysis on why Jello is a terrible reviewer in a number of key ways.

EDIT2: I did eventually get a look into what all happened with Lovely★Complex, but in the process I also found a video that more formally breaks down the flaws of Jello's arguments, even before his video was controversially-received. I'm including it here for anyone who only has 30 minutes for this kind of thing.

[pritong-baboy]

Absolutely adore your characterizations for Bumblebee & Shockwave respectively! They are so incompatible and wrong in all the right ways oughhh… it’s like someone shooting a bird just to capture and tame it, but the difference is Bumblebee is strong and smart enough to recognize it’s wrong & stick to that, and the entire “relationship” as a whole feels almost tragic on Shockwave’s end because he doesn’t have the capacity to even process how wrong it is. I’ve GOT to gush about how you write all the characters out in general honestly! They’re all so lively and filled with personality, completely in character in such a different setting. Nobody shown so far really feels “neglected” and it works so well because you can feel their absence when you switch back to Bee and feel just how lonely and suffocating it is being with JUST Shockwave

The scene where he meets the twins and have fun for a bit is so sweet & sad, call me shockwave but god that young ass man… i got maternal feelings for him 😭 take the boy out shockwave he needs sunlight…. And I love the tension in each chapter, even if Optimus & Ratchet are barely mentioned you still keep them in mind subconsciously and worry for them, and STARSCREAM!!!!!! His bicker with Bumblebee cracks me up, 2 hard headed bots put in the same room & forced to negotiate & breathe the same air. Their dynamic is so charming! I wonder if we’ll get the chance to see more of it through their temporary truce. I feel like them both possibly being the only ones caring about the twins is also something that could potentially be interesting but who knows what’ll happen next! I also wonder if Starscream isn’t doing this deal with Bumblebee purely to fix Shockwave, but also himself? Like maybe he notices he’s also beginning to care and Starscream just cannot accept that and wants to be rid of it immediately…but maybe it’s too early for him to recognize he doesn’t completely hate the twins. Regardless it looks like he just has beef with Bumblebee at the moment LOL

Sorry for the ramble!! I just really adore the horrific dynamic between Shockwave and Bee ESPECIALLY since it’s under a familial lense, it’s something usually so genuine put under a completely .. grotesque? Light and it works so well as an almost horror-tragedy type relationship & it’s so complex! So many layers to bite into! Absolutely adore it

As a bonus I feel like “Old enough 2 Die” by heart attack man & “Now that you’re Gone”by The Raconteurs really fit Shockwave & Bee :-]

ohhh this is so nice! thank you! the bird comparison is sooo good and captures them both so well auughh...

and lmao i relate to having a lot of feelings towards tfa bumblebee specifically. i really like portraying him rather young bc the implications of that are just VERY interesting to me. like, why is this guy here, why are they ALL OKAY WITH HIM BEING HERE. and also like, the themes ive written with growing up/capturing a childhood that you never had. and hehe, if you want even more things to think about, its a very deliberate thing that i talk about bumblebee's status as technically being a child solider and shockwave being "created for war"

and thank you so much for the song recs, bangers. (even tho one of them is funnily associated with That Series now LOLLL)

[sensitivehandsomeactionman]

350 fans attended. 10 fans per table. Buffet style. It took a long time for us to all get our food, pick a seat and sit down. 10 minutes later, Jensen and Steve walked in and greeted all of us from the stage.

Jensen started by explaining how they got this panel idea: because he often gets band related questions in panels and he feels bad about it sometimes, because not everyone with him is involved and they couldn't weigh in. (He jokingly lowered his voice)"Jared", and he doesn't want anyone to feel left out. And also, the only person(s) who could answer Radio Company related questions are either him or Steve. So they got the idea of doing a panel specifically for music related questions together and since we are in Texas, BBQ!

How do they collaborate with each other? Jensen said Steve is the more musically talented of the two, he is the one who could read music and communicate with professionals and explain what they need. Jensen just, he considers himself as having sharp ears. He might not know what exactly something was called but he knows when something just sounds right (or wrong), just by listening to it. And Steve is the one who enriches and develops from his hunch, and communicates with other professional musicians to work on them. Because, Jensen admits, he does not have the vocab of all those technical terms.

They did a little demonstration with guitar, Jensen strung a simple tune and gestured to Steve, and Steve was like, "You want me to do it here, now?" but he picked it up and made it into a much more complex melody and Jensen laughed, "now you are just showing off!" Steve mentioned it's like Jensen's "acting stuff" and Jensen fake astonished like, "Acting STUFF?" And Steve was like, How would I know what you do? All I know is you were always off busy doing your...stuff!

City Grown Willow. It's a song Steve wrote as a gift to a couple of his friends 10 years ago. The husband was from Colorado (cowboy) and wife from LA. They had split up now but they were a great couple. And the song was just kind of put on the shelf after it was written. One day Jensen and Steve were trying some music together, and Jensen asked Steve if he has anything that's already baked. Steve said you know most of my stuff already! You were there when I wrote them! Then he suddenly remembered, oh there is this one...and afterwards Jensen was like, can I have it? And that's how it came to be.

How did they first start? They were both from Texas and became friends in the good old days. Early 2000s they were roommates in Vancouver and Steve sometimes recorded at home. When he was recording his first album, Jensen walked in and was like, what is that? I love the song. He casually sang the harmony and Steve was like, I didn't know you could sing? Jensen was humble about it and said something like, Yeah I could carry a tune now and then. But Steve was so impressed he insisted for Jensen to record it properly right there. Well they were at home anyway so, no biggy? And Steve ended up using Jensen's harmony for that song in his first album. And it went from there. They've collaborated together and developed more than 50 songs now.

Austin summer! Hhh Steve is an Austin local. He said every year he gave a birthday concert. It's a small gathering, just for friends. And this year is the 10th anniversary and everyone was like, Steve, could we do it anywhere but Austin for this year? August, too hot! And he was like, well, yeah, all right. And then Jensen called, and his 10th anniversary concert was still held in Austin! Last week. Jensen said, Well, it was meant to be! Also Jensen: I used to live here! Austin is great! But not in June, July, August, and sometimes throw in September too. Never liked Austin summer, and why did creation choose August I have asked this question for a year now.

Fans asked him what he misses most about Texas and he said, I don't? I am still here all the time. I am here now, I was here a few weeks ago and then a few weeks before that. My whole family's still here my mom and dad are in Dallas I often visit them. So I kind of... I didn't catch what he said after that but I got the idea that he thinks of himself more like commuting, instead of permanently moved out.

They mentioned an Easter egg they put in one of their songs, they used the exact same letters for 2 sentences and they were really proud of it and high fives each other all excited afterwards. I think it might be All Our Own but I'm not sure. Maybe someone else remembers?

The new song Home on the Road Jensen was shooting Rust in New Mexico and rented a small house next to the Rio Grande river. It's quiet and out of the way and he walks on riverbank trail on his day off and loved it. When Steve visited and they tried to hum a tune out and once they got it, the first words came out of Jensen for that tune was "home on the road". Just like that little house, his home on the road. Both him and Steve travel so much for work, it resonated. And they wrote the song. They said it's not polished yet but they sang it for us anyway. The tune reminded me of City Grown Willow. I think it'll become my new favorite.

If they were invited to perform in ACL festival will they go? Jensen: No!! Steve: Ugh definitely? Jensen: So here is your answer. Steve will drag me kicking and screaming to there. They laughed so hard and then Jensen said, no any time you have a chance to perform in that capacity, of course you go.

Talked about Kaleo and JJ. J2 and JJ are friends and they get together whenever JJ visits and they'd love to collaborate together if ever get the chance. This is all I could recall!

[oneslimybastard]

Another underutilized aspect of N, Natural Harmonia Gropius himself, is that he's conceptualized as not just a Math Guy, but a Math Genius if we go by some interview trivia notated on Bulbapedia.

It clearly shows in the way he speaks since his (translated) dialogue (idk about the original japanese one) is full of hamfisted references to formulas and frustration expressed when the chaos of the world does not align with them — which to me is like, the core of his character, something that makes him both An Asshole to deal with but also a very intellectually curios and creative individual. It's just a brand of creativity not a lot of people can keep up with nor understand.

N likes math because a lot of math is about clearly defined variables and their relationship to one another. If you come across an inconsistency that doesn't fit any prior definitions, you iron out a new definition and suddenly the field has expanded upon itself tenfold. It aligns with how his Very Autistic Brain functions, x + y = z, if I do x to y then z will happen. If z doesn't happen, then that just means I have to identify the hidden variables within the exchange and rewrite the formula to be more accurate.

Black and White's quality of writing is. Like pokémon often is. Questionable at best. The foundations are there but the execution is dumbed down and corny because it's still aimed at kids, BW in specific really cutting the theme of pokémon trainer ethics short in favor of just "dang u beat me in the pogiebattle guess ur right!". How-ev-er. In my head, and the reason why I still find the plot of those games compelling (aside for my unhinged thirst for goth man-milf Ghetsis) is that to me they're about local cult-raised autist Normal Henry Gropus bashing his head against the world over and over to desperately try and make the formulas make sense, to distill it into variables he can understand and predict on a consistent basis, and failing miserably at it. Because even if the world is Technically made up of a bunch of chemistry that you could, in theory, predict, there's just a lot of random noise in there from microscopic complexities that fuck everything up.

Pokémon are simpler creatures (discounting the eerily intelligent ones) who will be nice enough to behave like math problems most of the time. Humans rarely extend that grace, the more N studies them like a science project the more contradictory variables pop up. They have a million thoughts in their head he doesn't have access to, that brew into feelings he doesn't understand, which leads to actions he can't do a proper traceback through. Which is frustrating, devastatingly frustrating. At least at first.

Due to how BW2 pans out and my own yearning for thematic mirroring, whereas Ghetsis gives in to the Autistic Bitterness over all these NTs he doesn't fuckign understand, I like to think N develops a sort of joy in studying people like the impossibly complex math problems we are. Because he likes math, he likes figuring shit out, he likes buying a nightmare rubik's cube and charting the squares out on a nightmare variable graph (listen i am not a math guy. i respect the hustle but my skill level is too low to accurately attempt to simulate the process in writing. im sorry math guys) so he has a home-made flexible cheat code on how to solve any possible mix-up of it. It's fun for him, it stimulates his brain and he is so stupid good at it that he can only share that joy with like a stray alakazam or metagross because he's a bit of a tarzan just hanging out in the wilderness, he doesn't know any high end mathematicians he can casually geek out about combinatorial game theory with, and the normies just do not get it .

I think this math enjoying is kind of a big part of his ~Innocence~ as well, since there's a lot of childlike glee to being a Math Guy. It's the love of problem solving as a process rather than a means to an end, it's playful, but severely misunderstood to the point where people kinda might assume things about you if you are a math guy.

N's love of math helps him love the world but it also isolates him. He's a genius, but since he can't communicate it in a palatable way it'll get overlooked in favor of him just being a loomy weirdo on the street chatting up the local patrats.

If introduced to DnD though he'd spend so much time on forging ridiculously optimized multiclass builds, then migrate to digging through old obscure sci-fi ttrpgs from the 80s with hellishly complex systems just for the funsies of learning how the presented variables behave within a variety of frameworks, but then if you actually invited him to play with your group he'd look at you like you'd just called his mom a llama.

He's a neat guy to me, STEM guy who's also one of those animal rights activists who's a little too PETA-coded, I like him :)

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

let's be more positive about books for a while! here are some queer historical romance novels that i've been rereading recently that i think do something interesting with making characters feel historical in their mindset and worldview, but are also fairly progressive, diverse queer books that are, frankly, a delight to read

this is by no means exhaustive and to be honest i could put almost anything by cat sebastian or kj charles on a list like this so this is purely the highlights of what i've reread in the past week to take my mind off work, and why i think they're interesting from this specific angle

cat sebastian, the ruin of a rake (turners #3)

this is technically the third in a trilogy but they're only very loosely connected, so you don't need to have read the others if you don't care about knowing who all the background characters are. the others are also good though

why it's interesting: features a character who has had to painstakingly study and learn the rules of polite society in order to claw his way up to respectability, and is now deploying those skills to help another man repair his reputation. shows the complexity of those rules, the social purposes they serve, and the work that goes into living by them, as well as the consequences of breaking them. also explores some of the financial side of aristocracy, and features a character with chronic illness (recurring malaria following repeated infections as a child in india) whose feelings about his illness are very relatable without feeling overly modern.

kj charles, society of gentlemen series.

this trilogy is closely related plot-wise and best read in order. all three explore cross-class romances and characters struggling to reconcile their political views and personal ethics with their desires, in the aftermath of the peterloo massacre, with a strong focus on the political role of the written word. first book is long-lost gentleman raised by seditionists / fashion-minded dandy teaching him to behave in society; second book is tory nobleman submissive / seditious pamphleteer dominant who've been fucking for a year without knowing the other's identity; third book is lord / valet and all the complicated dynamics of consent there with a generous side-helping of crime.

why they're interesting: close attention to the history of political printing and the impact of government censorship and repressive taxes on the freedom of the press; complex ideological disagreements that aren't handwaved as unimportant; examination of trust, consent, and social responsibility across class differences and in situations with problematic power dynamics; most of the characters are progressive for their time without feeling like they have modern attitudes. the second book, a seditious affair, deals most strongly with the revolutionary politics side of things, but all tackle it to some extent.

kj charles, band sinister.

look i'm probably biased because this might be my favourite KJC. it's a standalone about a pair of siblings: the sister wrote a gothic novel heavily inspired by their mysterious and scandalous neighbour whose older brother had an affair with their mum (causing scandal); the brother is a classics nerd. the sister breaks her leg on a ride through their neighbour's estate and can't be moved until she heals so they both have to stay at the house and find out if the neighbour is really as scandalous as he seems.

why it's interesting: discussion of atheism and new ideas about science and creation (very shocking to the brother, who is the viewpoint character); details of agriculture and estate management via main LI's attempt to grow sugar beet, as well as the economics of sugar (including references to slavery); "unexpurgated" latin and greek classics as queer reference points for a character who nevertheless hasn't quite figured out he's queer; material consequences of society scandal

bonus: wonderful sibling dynamic and a diverse cast including a portugese jewish character, which i don't think i've seen in a book before

i will add to this list as i continue to reread both of their backlists! (bc i have read them all enough times and in close enough succession that they blur together in my head unless i've read them very recently)

[phoenixyfriend]

Totally the Real Jango

Have another time-travel concept:

Clones go back in time. Run into some Mandos, most probably the Haat'ade. Subsequently LIE THEIR ASSES OFF. Specifically:

Sheer, bald-faced lying that they are are Jango himself from the future, relying on the pronounced age but identical DNA to sell it.

Any questions of fact that they get wrong regarding current and recent status with the Fetts or with Jaster get explained away with 'it was decades ago,' because they look like they're fifty, and this Jango is Twelve or something.

@jebiknights offered:

I can't decide if baby Jango would be really impressed with "older him" or extremely "unimpressed." Also potential hilarity for Jango to be POSITIVE that the person couldn't possibly be him but DNA checks out and all the adults are like "nah Jango is just being a brat."

…technically this only works if there's one clone, unless the second clone is Boba or Omega, or both, posing as Themselves but selling the clone-is-actually-Jango gambit for reasons.

In my mind it's one of the clones that got scarred up enough that if one of Jango's childhood scars is missing, it's explained away with 'well half that leg is synthskin grafts anyway, so who the fuck knows when the small scar got replaced with a Big scar.'

Which is. Most of the clones that survived that long.

So much of the ploy is reliant on Boba feeding information to whichever clone this is (Wolffe or Rex, probably) about his dad in order to sell the bit, but like. IDK why he'd even be cooperating. Just that he is. For the bit. And some scheming.

Boba's already an adult if the clone in question looks fifty or sixty, which means Jango is following him and Omega around with stars in his eyes. Jango thinks future him is scary, but future kids are badass, so he's gotta figure out what kinda cool bounty hunter he can be, even if the future sounds like hell in a handbasket.

But the IMPORTANT PART is that Boba is uncomfortable as hell due to. uh. lying to his dad. and also the fact that bb Jango does not know, at all, how complex all the feelings that he and Omega and the older clone hold towards dead future Jango are.

Jaster is kind of happy/excited to see them all, but the fake future Jango is... not very friendly or familiar with him? Which he's upset by until Boba says "you died when he was fourteen, so um. I never even got to meet you? And I guess he doesn't know how to feel about it" which is a great way to lie with the truth.

I don't want Boba to be too old, but the age difference needs to make sense with how old they look. Early twenties for Boba would be mid-forties for the other clone?

And stress added a bit.

And they can drop the odd joke about how Jango 'aged well' and looks younger than he is.

(If the time-traveller clone is Rex, they are definitely being stalked by a former Jedi who is really weirdly fond of staking out in trees.)

By the time the double aging actually shows, they'll have hopefully come clean and/or skipped town (whatever their actual goal is).