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#and it is fun in any fandom to dunk on the creator of a show
charmac · 4 months
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I’m new to this fandom and was hoping you could provide some insight. How come people seem to really dislike Rob ? What are your thoughts on him?
We need a welcome packet to the Fandom at this point, honestly.
I'm not gonna go through the exhaustive list of things you could call Rob McElhenney out for, but I will give you some insight on the fandom relationship with Rob.
Rob was always the more "humble" of RCG, having actually come from Philly, growing up in the lower class, no college education, basically completely scraping by to become an actor and create Sunny.. well, you know that story. Up until very recently, Rob has always seemed to hold to his values in the core idea of Sunny, that creatives should have control of their work, that the best stuff comes from the people who have the ideas and create it.
Since meeting and going into business with Ryan Reynolds, he's kind of done a complete 180 in that regard. Buying into NFTs and Crypto, believing A.I. has a place in writing for television and we should be using it.. (you can look into his company Adim for more on that) and straight-up admitting he wants to be in the "Ownership business," and is moving away from the creative side of his endeavors. Every other thing out of Rob's mouth nowadays is to build this new image of "Ryan Reynolds magnitude": that he's a businessman, that he should be seen as Hollywood elite, that he wants to be worth billions...as opposed to, you know, a guy that has cool ideas and makes really cool things...
So the Fandom watched Rob go from a humble, "doing it for the love of it" guy to "owning as much as possible and exploiting new technology to get there" business man, and that's rough, and gross, and sucks (and backseats Sunny.. a lot). On top of that there's the history Rob has, especially with Sunny, satirising/commentating on certain subjects poorly and doubling down on having done it, and him having the political views of what I'd call an "Obama Democrat," (take a walk through his older Instagram posts and off-handed remarks on TASP)... It's enough to kind of pick your poison or pile on and actively dislike/hate Rob as a person.
My personal thoughts are.. complicated. I don't "stan" Rob (or any real person for that matter), I love the show, and I will continue to see and value what Rob has to say about it because it's his show. He's the creator of my favourite thing in the entire world, and he still does put a lot into that thing, and you can't shake that Sunny is not Sunny in any way shape or form without him. On top of that, I have met him and I can't understate how genuine he was to meet and talk to, and how kind he was to me holds a lot of weight in my opinion of him (unfortunately? lol?). So I can't say I dislike him, but I can say I continue to be disappointed by his recent endeavours, and I hope he snaps out of it (though I don't think he will).
I don't blame people who dislike him or even hate him, I don't think there's any expectation for a fan of Sunny to like RCG (whether they never talk about them or openly talk shit about them), and I don't think there's a reason for fans to argue over liking/disliking them as people. They're all white, cishet (presenting) middle-aged guys in Hollywood who live in million dollar houses, there's no brownie points for defending them and there's no morality awards being handed out for calling them out. Feel how you want, Sunny's the focus here
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painthorseblues · 1 year
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CALLING ALL ARTISTS, WRITERS, AND THE BAD BATCH FANS! PLAN 86: FIX THE FINALE, ON THE DOUBLE! This is a fandom event in honor of the collective trauma we all received in the finale of season 2. With your help, we can cheer up the fandom and bring some positivity back to the community. Registration forms open TODAY (April 5th), and can be accessed by going to the #announcements channel in The Clone Zone. (If it has been buried, check the pinned messages)
If you have any questions or concerns, please send me an ask or direct it to the #help-desk channel in the Discord. Since all participants of this event must be a server member, here’s a link to the server. We’re excited to see you there! DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT AN EXCUSE TO DUNK ON OR BASH THE ORIGINAL WRITERS OF THE SHOW. We understand that Tech meant a lot to everyone, he is personally a big comfort to me -- but the creators of The Bad Batch are real people. Bullying, harassment, and threats towards any member of The Bad Batch crew is not tolerated nor will it be associated with this event. This is all in good fun. THANK YOU! 🧡 REBLOG TO SPREAD THE WORD! 🧡
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solisvia · 1 year
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2, 4, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19 for Winx
Let's-a-goo
2. What I like most and least about it
Ok ok just AALLL the potential for worldbuilding! The creators crafted such a fascinating, widespread lore and universe, you can fit almost anything in. It's heaven for worldbuilders. The most detestable part of this show is the nonsensical timelines and plot holes, as well as all the garbage behind the scenes. Stop milking this franchise's corpse - and enough with the racism and whitewashing.
4. A character I couldn't care less about
Uhm, how beloved is Palladium? Is the fandom going to hunt me down? He has a nice design but... I just can't connect with him. Who is this man and why did he have a growth spurt between Seasons 1 and 2?
10. A ship I would gladly go down with... and then become Davey Jones, so I can continue to captain said ship for eternity
It started out as a crackship, but the more I thought about it the more I liked it, and people need to stop sleeping on it and that's Flora x Tecna!
Do they have a ship name? Must I make one?
Anyways, what happens when you put together two insecure (going by Season 1 characterization) nerds who are seemingly polar opposites but in actuality have more than a few things in common? This ship. And brooms and buckets.
11. A ship that makes me want to look into the camera like I'm on The Office
Valtor x anyone from the Dominian Royal Family. No thank you. I doubt any one of the RF would care much for the man partially responsible for the pain they went through. Marion, Daphne and Bloom would be an especially ill fit due to them having the Dragon Flame. Valtor is rather self-obsessed and self-aggrandizing, so anyone who could rival or even surpass his power would be a threat to him and his self-image.
... And Daphne's not into men. I'm objectively correct here.
That said, I have nothing against the shippers. You do you friends.
13. The non-canon pairing I find the most intriguing
Griffin x Valtor, and that's actually largely thanks to you! I hadn't thought of the ship much before, but then I read a bunch of your posts, and looked at their scenes with fresh eyes and thought how did I not see this before? Best totally-not-canon-we-swear ship, hands down.
15. A character/story arc that bores me to tears
Season 3 only has 25 episodes. Episode 20 and its stupid pixie filler, doesn't exist. It's not only boring, but annoying too, as I'm not the pixies' biggest fan, and it dunks on the Trix too. :/
16. A scene/moment that makes me really emotional every single time
The scene in SoLK where Daphne reunites with her parents. It's the first time they see her as a ghost. It's very possible that they've (or just Marion, if Oritel was unconscious) held on to a desperate hope that their daughters might be alive, and to find out that isn't true... Bloom's inclusion is poorly handled but I'll give it a pass because the earlier seconds are just so 🙏🙏
18. A plot hole that makes me want to tear my hair out
What hasn't been said about Domino's weird timeline? Instead, I'll yell about the Earth Fairies' weird timeline! :) WHAT IS GOING ON HERE RAINBOW? How can Roxy be Morgana's daughter?? If Roxy was born before her mother's imprisonment how can she be Klaus' daughter? If Morgana SOMEHOW escaped why did she do NOTHING for the others? Morgana's relation to Roxy is a fun idea but at least make it make sense!
19. Crossovers/AUs that pique my interest
I'd love to see an AU where the Winx fairies resemble the Fae seasonal courts more. Give me fish-out-of-water Bloom trying to navigate a world full of technically-not-lying-jackass Fae. Do it for the funsies
Fandom ask game
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Welcome to Tumblr, Spop Fans!
Having seen a pretty decent post about the need to be welcoming to the tumblr refugees... (regarding how some of the nastier groups are always welcoming to new potential members, therefore decent people ought to knock off the “get off our lawn!” crap).... in that spirit, I’ve decided to give a little rundown of how things work on here for this specific fandom.   Okay, so She-Ra and the Princesses of Power fandom - a contentious place.  We all have our favorite characters and ships and also our NOTPS and characters we hate.   Having been here a while, well, the Spop fandom on tumblr has developed a certain etiquette to avoid drama.  It is not always followed.  Those who do not follow it suffer the consequences.   If you have a rant AGAINST a certain character or ship - you’re just talking about how much you dislike them or how much you think the creator-crew messed up their story-arc, or you hate the way their fans behave and have a “don’t trust fans of X-character!” rant or even BASIC ANALYSIS that is critical of a character or ship, the common convention is to please tag your post (tags are at the bottom of the window when you post, labeled “#tags” - you can put anything there you want), do not, I REPEAT, DO NOT put the character’s name / character names / ship name plain in there!   You need to put “anti-”  If you are critical of Catradora, for instance, or you dislike Hordak, you HAVE to label it “anti-catradora” or “anti-hordak” to avoid trouble.   You may still run into trouble because sometimes tumblr reads an anti-tag as a character-tag.  Generally, if you have an “anti-” tag in there, you have an alibi if tumblr screws up.  Usually it will not show up in the regular character-tag, but on the chance that it does, you can point to your original post or screenshot it with the tags and show people that you’ve tagged it correctly.   This is something that has developed in the fandom because people who enjoy characters and ships and want to search for something positive - fun fanart, fanfics, happy analysis - well, we like to be able to search clean and not have to deal with the negativity of people who are dunking on the things and characters we like.    THIS IS ENFORCED.  It is not necessarily enforced by tumblr, but it is enforced by the respective fandom-cliques.   Post an anti-character rant tagged with that character’s general tag? YOU WILL BE DOGPILED.   There are people here who make sport of analyzing “bad takes” and having a field day arguing with people and putting people up for ridicule and callout posts - sometimes with stalking and screenshots.   Sometimes even someone who enjoys a character making a silly joke about them will have their joke taken the wrong way and will get dogpiled and might even run the risk of getting labeled this or that “phobic” over the misunderstanding, or at least labeled as not respecting the character / ship or their fans, even if it’s furthest from the truth.  (I’ve seen it happen). So, use those anti-tags or maybe don’t tag at all if you’ve got such a rant.   Now, I don’t think this stuff goes on as much as it used to - the fandom mellowed out a great deal in the last year or so, but just in case some of you birdsite-refugees are coming in and are simply unfamiliar with the tagging-system here or some of the divides in the fandom, I’m trying to put forth tips to keep down honest misunderstandings.   Purposeful trolls, well... I’m just hoping people in my fandom will be mature enough simply to block people they don’t like (but I doubt it until some screeching has passed).  I’m not looking forward to it.  
For that matter, if anyone has anon-ask enabled on their Asks-box (I do not on any of my blogs. You have to use a signed account as I got some obnoxious asks), do not abuse the privilege.  If you actually harass someone over their fandom opinions, they will very likely take away anon asks or asks altogether. Those who don’t are probably drama llamas and I suppose they leave themselves open to what they get.   That brings to mind another thing:  New account? If you want people to send you Asks, you have to enable that in your settings.  You have the option from there to Allow Anon Asks (in which case people do not have to sign their accounts) or to disallow it.  If you disallow it, all asks to you must be signed (therefore if you get someone obnoxious, you can block them.  You cannot block anons, you can only delete them instead of answering them, but you will still get them in your inbox). YOU HAVE TO DO THIS FOR ALL YOUR BLOGS.  If you run sideblogs (such as what I do for different fandoms and different interests - freedfromthegalactichivemind is not my main), you have to work your settings specific to every blog.  If you block someone from your main account, for instance, but do not block them from your sideblog, they will be able to see and respond to your sideblog.   Anyway, I hope that this is helpful, but in general and in specific to this fandom. Please manage your Asks, use character tags and anti-tags appropriately, and be careful out there.  
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opinated-user · 1 year
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Did lily just give her HP aliana oc a gardevoir for a Petronas? And also totally change the magic so it's sentient and never fades away so it can hang out with everyone?
Fanfic is self-indulgent by design, so it's fine that she does whatever she wants. The only issue I have is that LO always acts like her fics are first that aim to improve the original when they're not. All they are is super self-indulgent stories she writes for fun. Yet she dunks on other fics for the same thing. Or people who don't agree with how she writes certain things.
I'd respect her so much more if she just said 'Hey this is my fic, not a book and I do what want' rather then defend her choices as fine and pat herself on the back for fixing a story while simultaneously saying other fic writers are trash for just enjoying a trope she hates.
Side note I do find funny that she really only has like 3 stock characters she uses at nauseum and can't write anything else. But, yeah, she totally could get a book published.
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i admit this could be a cute idea. some people in the fandom always speculated that the Patronus of Harry had some form of own consciousness based on how they were portrayed in the third and fifth movies, so it's not a bad idea to take that concept further and turn it into "you can create your very own best friend". if you ever heard about the concept of tulpas, beings you can create within your own mind to be independent of you, LO's essentially doing just that with a physical form. LO could have created a entirely new spell just for that, but i don't really have an issue with this being her new interpretation of patronus. my problem is the "only some patronus can talk given their form" because... why? they're already beings made of light, why biology of all things would be the thing that impedes them communicate? i guess just because LO's characters have to have the most especial pokemon/patronus by default.
... the issue that i'm already seeing is that this is literally just the exact same thing she already did with the AI that rey created. it hasn't been that long and she's already recycling her own ideas again, blatantly so. does LO even realize that or she does not care? remember that AI robot that started as basically a toddler that alaina, not rey, had to teach her about everything until the AI develops a crush on alaina? the thing that we called out as being plain grooming? think about it: -both beings are entirely dependant on another character. if rey stops the servers or brent just undoes the spell, they both cease to exist. -they're both empty shells until their creator/wife's creator takes them under their wing. as a note, how come something can be an "empty shell", but their loyalty still has to be earned? that makes no sense. -they're essentially free servants, borderline slaves. they're both told that they have free will, that they're part of the family and they aren't under anyone's control... but there's really nothing showing that because neither of these characters has any personality beyond adoring brent/alaina and how useful they're for their respective "families." do they have any hobbies? do they enjoy doing anything outside of the people who made them? can they create art? do they have imagination? do they have preferences? do they dream about mechanical sheep? we don't know, and i frankly doubt that LO even thought about it because it's not about any of them becoming actual people, it's about alaina/brent having adoring servants that they don't even need to pay.
-they both have overtly formal speech patterns regarding the "family" as if they were their superior and, despite all the talk about them not being subservient and being on equal footing, nobody seems to mind? i just don't know how equal a relationship can be when one of the parties keeps using "my lady" and being so reverent. it's almost like LO want to replicate the relationship between Sylvannas and anevay, but she missed the part about that dynamic has a different tone when it comes to a creator and the creation.
-neither that AI or this patronus have an actual option to leave their creators, even if they wanted to. they're bound to them to continue living. because of that, no matter how much talk there's about "you're part of the family", there's always going to be a power dynamic at play here that, considering who's writing, is almost for certain going to be abused in some way in the future.
as a side note, that "she's opinionated" and "she's the first one to say she isn't an slave" (even though she is because there's no talk anywhere about her having any actual indepedence or actual rights) are entirely recycling what little of a personality G has on pokemadhouse. this is just G.
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feralphoenix · 3 years
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NO ONE IS HAPPY WITH THIS: Leitmotif & Sound Palette In “Sealed Vessel”
whats UP hk fandom i am back with—“more picante takes?” WOW YES HOW DID YOU KNOW!!!
CONTENT WARNING FOR TONIGHTS PROGRAM: today we are discussing the hollow knight boss fight, and all that entails for all the characters involved. relatedly this post does not have anything nice to say about the pale king, so if you’re very protective of his character, you may want to skip it.
FURTHERMORE, i would like to iterate that this essay is working from a place of compassion for ghost, hollow, radiance, AND hornet, because every single one of them is miserable at this point in the game and doesn’t want the events of this boss fight to be happening at all. this post is not an appropriate place to dunk on ANY of them. if you want to do that, please do it elsewhere.
thanks for your understanding.
ALSO, AS USUAL: if youre from a christian cultural upbringing (whether currently practicing, agnostic/secular, or atheist now), understand that some of what i’m discussing here may challenge you. if thinking thru the implications of radiance and the moth tribe’s backstory is distressing for you, PLEASE only approach this essay when youre in a safe mindset & open to listening, and ask the help of a therapist or anti-racism teacher/mentor to help you process your thoughts & feelings. just like keep in mind that youre listening to an ethnoreligiously marginalized person and please be respectful here or wherever else youre discussing this dang essay, ty
NO ONE IS HAPPY WITH THIS: Leitmotif & Sound Palette In “Sealed Vessel”
A while back @grimmradiance​ made a lovely essay about comparing and contrasting Hollow’s moveset in their Hollow Knight and Pure Vessel boss fights and using what can be gleaned from the differences to speculate about their psychology. (This essay is currently their pinned, but I’ll attach a link in a reblog.) It is extremely good, and it made me want to look at the Hollow Knight boss fight my own self through one of my own areas of expertise, meaning music!
As we are all well aware, Christopher Larkin's soundtrack to Hollow Knight rules ass. There are two specific ways in which it rules ass that are relevant to this essay: Leitmotif, and sound palette.
Quick rundown for folks who aren’t familiar with these terms: A leitmotif is a melody associated with a character or event or mood that's incorporated into songs in different ways based on what's happening in the story. Undertale is an example of a game with an incredibly strong use of leitmotif that’s really only possible because Toby Fox is both the composer and the game creator, so he can synchronize the subtleties of the writing with music and scene scripting too.
The phrase “sound palette” can have a lot of meanings, but in this case I’m using it to refer to specific instruments or groups of instruments that are associated with certain characters. If you’ve watched Steven Universe and seen interviews/production commentary by its composer team Aivi & Surasshu, you’ll hear them talking about part of their approach to scoring episodes being how each main character is represented by certain instruments: Steven with the triangle wave, Pearl with jazz piano, and so on.
Hollow Knight is a small team project rather than a one-person show, so Christopher Larkin can’t go quite AS over-the-top with leitmotif integration as Toby Fox can on simple virtue of Team Cherry having to communicate what they want to him. But Larkin is Hollow Knight's sound designer as well as its composer, so he folds leitmotif and character sound palette together with striking use of stems to create a very immersive and cinematic musical experience that enhances HK’s story and gameplay.
This brings us back to the track Sealed Vessel, which has EXTREMELY tight and cinematic sound design and uses leitmotif and sound palette to not just sock players in the feelings during a charged and dramatic boss fight, but also tell us a lot about what Hollow and Radiance are experiencing emotionally, especially with the gameplay in mind.
So, let’s play the soundtrack version of Sealed Vessel (and some other stuff) and talk about what’s going on in the game during it!
You may want to get out your copy of the OST or visit Christopher Larkin’s Bandcamp page so that you can listen along.
LEITMOTIF & SOUND PALETTE
Before we actually get into analyzing Sealed Vessel, let’s talk about the involved characters’ leitmotifs/sound palettes so we know what we’re listening for.
Both of these things are easiest to identify when characters have a distinct theme song. Ghost does not. However, the main theme of Hollow Knight (see: the title track, Hollow Knight) is used as a leitmotif for the vessels as a whole. Most pieces involved with a vessel character include this leitmotif somewhere. For instance, you can find this leitmotif and variations on it in Broken Vessel’s boss theme. The Vessel leitmotif is led by a cello solo here, so we can identify that the cello is the central part of Broken Vessel’s personal sound palette.
When the Vessel theme is associated with Ghost in specific, it tends to be performed by viola and/or piano, as it is on the title track and in other places like the opening cinematic.
Moving on to Hollow, their specific sound palette is established not in Sealed Vessel but in Pure Vessel, their pantheon boss theme. (Sealed Vessel was composed first, since the Godmaster DLC didn’t drop until over a year after HK’s initial release, meaning Pure Vessel was reverse-engineered/extrapolated from relevant parts of Sealed Vessel. But we’ll get into that later!)
The major instrumental fixtures in Pure Vessel are choir and tubular bells (i.e., those dramatic vertical fellas that sound like church bells or a carillon), with some soft background instrumentation: bass drum, woodwinds (appropriately led by flute in the main melody’s “falling motion” - flute is the centerpiece of TPK’s sound palette), strings, and high/mid brass. Hollow’s overall sound palette has a very Christian choir-esque sound (in the Pure Vessel theme this is very idealized and saintly: soft and slow and tragic) and the beginning of their leitmotif has a very distinctive climbing melody that mirrors their ascent from the Abyss. The Unbearable Vesselness Of Being leitmotif is absent from the Pure Vessel track.
Meanwhile, Radiance’s boss theme is a very fun expression of her character upon which Larkin evidently went ham. Her sound palette is expressed through full orchestra (plus choir and pipe organ) that has a special emphasis on the bass part of the brass section, which does not see much use in the HK soundtrack. Her leitmotif has also got cute and distinctive touches: It’s full of triplets to match her tiara-looking antennae, and also has a repeated “fluttery” pattern of background sixteenth notes as countermelody, often spiraling downwards.
The majority of the piece is loud and bombastic and in a minor key to play up the “resplendent and terrible” wrathful aspect of herself Radi is pushing during this section of gameplay, a very quintessentially moth intimidation tactic: Try to look as scary as possible to keep your enemies from messing with you, since you’re not built for fighting. These blasts of intensity from the brass section match Radiance’s strategy of Overwhelm You With Bullet Hell Spam To Make Up For Lack Of Battle Experience/Poor Aim. But in between said intensity spikes you can hear traces of softer instrumentation and major key, little glimpses of a gentle warmth we can otherwise only infer from her backstory and the implications of Moth Tribe lore.
0:00 - 0:41 - OPENING AMBIANCE
The Sealed Vessel track begins with the ambiance of the Black Egg Temple’s interior: The faint tones of the glowing seals we hear when we pass by them, the only light in a pitch-black world besides the floor lighting up under Ghost’s feet.
Then a slow string tremolo fades in, slowly growing louder. In the track new notes join the tremolo progressively, while in-game a violin joins the anticipatory chord every time you snap one of Hollow’s chains. Which, may I say: A+++++++ sound design!!!!!! Rules ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The tremolo reaches a peak in dynamics - all three characters present are extremely tense - and then cuts off to allow for Hollow’s boss battle opening, i.e. Radiance screaming. Team Cherry kindly demarcates each phase of the battle with a Radi yell.
0:43 - 1:39 - PHASE 1: HOLLOW ON AUTOPILOT
Phase 1 opens immediately with Hollow’s leitmotif in bells, but with brass, piano, and percussion backing them up; grand and tragic. In the background the bass section of the orchestra's strings flutter in a repetitive pattern of 16th notes, i.e. Panicky Radi Noises. The violins harmonize with Hollow's leitmotif as it climbs, but then join the rest of the string section in fluttering 16th notes, transmuting what in Pure Vessel is the flute leading Hollow back down (8th notes) to a slightly louder “a” from the backseat.
In actual gameplay, the only attacks Hollow uses are their basic nail skills. Building on grimmradiance’s analysis of the window their attacks provide to their psychology, and pairing that with the Pure Vessel leitmotif booming over the metaphorical loudspeakers, we can tell that this is Hollow reacting automatically to a threat the way that their father trained them to. Their conscious mind might still be making dialup noises at Ghost’s sudden reappearance jumpscaring them with murky childhood guilt and trauma, but that’s only let muscle memory take over. Slash, parry, charge and thrust. Their time spent at bee bootcamp (which we can assume because Hornet was trained at the Hive and Hollow’s form while nail fighting is identical to hers on their shared moves) has served them well.
Radiance, meanwhile, has frozen completely for this combat phase, and contributes nothing here except the anxiety of the string section.
As the strings continue to go “a” the piano (Ghost) and woodwinds harmonize on something between Hollow’s personal leitmotif and the Vessel leitmotif in the backdrop.
However at around 1:29ish, the key changes, building into an overall color change for the Sealed Vessel piece.
1:39 - 2:15 - PHASE 2: SHE’S AS SCARED OF YOU AS YOU ARE OF HER
In actual gameplay, the part of Sealed Vessel used for phases 1 and 2 of the Hollow Knight fight is the Entirety of 0:43 - 2:15, possibly because there’s no easy transition spot like there is between phase 2 and phase 3. But the changes to Hollow’s moveset are clearly tied to this specific part of the piece.
Phase 2 is where Radiance pushes herself past her freeze response and starts trying to hit Ghost. Hollow gains two attacks here, which we can tell are Radi because they’re often accompanied by her crying (a softer and more abbreviated sound than her full scream): These two attacks are the Infection blob blast and the Light/Void pillar attack that hits for a full 2 masks damage (which appear to be Radi’s take on Hollow’s Pure Vessel-exclusive moves, their grabby tentacles & silver knife pillars respectively).
In the Sealed Vessel track, this part of the piece is almost entirely Radiance’s fluttering. The strings start by following the descending motion of Hollow’s leitmotif but in 16th notes, then ratchet up to start spiraling down again while straying further from Hollow’s leitmotif. This section ends in a back and forth between hard blasts in a one-two-(rest)-one-two-three pattern and gasps of fluttering between, with piano and low brass building behind it. Eventually the nervous fluttering of the strings becomes less frequent between the blasts: Radiance is inexperienced with fighting and very very afraid, but she’s also FUCKING PISSED and prepared to defend herself.
The OST version of the piece punctuates the break between the first half of the piece and the second with Radiance’s scream.
2:16 - 4:04 - PHASE 3: “I’M HELPING! :)” SAID HOLLOW; “HOLY SHIT PLEASE DON’T,” SAID LITERALLY EVERYONE
Phase 3 opens with Hollow stabbing themself repeatedly, a movement pattern they repeat throughout the phase. It is shocking the first time you see it, and never stops being horrible and sad no matter how many times you do this part of the fight.
Here, Hollow’s mind has finally come back online after their own freeze response, and they choose to destroy themself and bequeath the duty of sealing Radiance to Ghost. Even if they can’t be the one to make their father proud, they can still make sure their directive gets carried out.
Radiance knows exactly what they’re up to and why, and she reacts to this by completely losing her head and mashing buttons in a panic. This is something we see out of her at the ends of her boss fights too, where she’s feeling too threatened and afraid to do anything but spam optic blasts. In the Hollow Knight boss fight this manifests in two horrifying-looking but easy-to-avoid new attacks: The Infection blob sprinkler and the ragdoll.
Ghost does not react visibly because we're in gameplay, but their horror and grief at their sibling’s choice is echoed in the BGM. The Sealed Vessel piece goes soft and sad, with Ghost’s associated viola leading the bass strings in the Unbearable Vesselness of Being leitmotif. At 2:51 the violin comes in with Hollow’s leitmotif, and gradually the choir appears in the backdrop. The ensemble’s overall dynamics build in a slow crescendo, and at the very end of this segment the other instruments begin to join in.
This segment of the piece is also used in phase 4, which occurs if you don't have Hornet’s help or miss your cue to Dream Nail Hollow. Phase 3 ends when Hollow reaches 0 HP; in phase 4 they are for all purposes already dead. But Radiance manifests an extra 250 HP out of terrified, unadulterated FUCK YOU FUCK THIS!!! even though all she can do is get Hollow to fall on their face trying to slash and ragdoll them around. The BGM continues to play as Ghost absorbs Radiance from Hollow and Hollow’s body loses its shape and dissolves into liquid Void.
And there’s one other place in gameplay Sealed Vessel (Unbearable Vesselness of Being) is used: The Path of Pain, the completely evil kaizo-level obstacle course which presumably featured in Hollow’s childhood training, and behind which the Pale King has hidden his last and most terrible secret—that he had realized on some level that Hollow was a kid with feelings who loved him and wanted to make him proud, and condemned them to death despite it all by using them to imprison and torture Radiance as he’d always planned.
The OST version of Sealed Vessel includes the music for both normal ending cinematics, so we’ll be looking at them too.
4:05 - 4:35: ENDINGS 1/2: NO ONE IS HAPPY WITH THIS
In the BGM for The Hollow Knight and Sealed Siblings endings, the Vessel leitmotif is played by violin, viola, and choir while the cellos and contrabasses—and then the brass bass section too—play a slower version of Radiance’s downward spiral. But once Ghost is pierced by the Black Egg’s chains and Radiance’s struggle to free herself ends in failure, the soprano and bass sections harmonize. The animation zooms out of the temple and the seal reforms. They are stuck together now until the end of Ghost’s life. Hooray.
The OST version of the track immediately segues into the BGM for Dream No More.
4:36 - 5:45: ENDING 3: THANKS, I HATE IT
Here, Hornet’s associated instrument, the violin, plays one long sustained note with a few notes of Ghost’s piano alongside as she wakes up.
TPK’s goddamn flute comes in at 5:00 with his leitmotif overpowering the backdrop Vessel leitmotif on piano while Hornet surveys the carnage: The temple has been destroyed, Radiance is dead, and what’s left of Ghost’s corpse is smeared across the floor. The Void may have taken umbrage with his horseshit and unceremoniously vored him, but the motherfucker still got what he wanted in the end; the Pale King has ended the Infection by completing his genocide of the moths, using the children he abused and abandoned as his proxies, and wasting two of their lives. Can I get a hearty THIS SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! in the chat.
Given that Hornet herself is canonically unsure if bringing the fight to Radiance is really a just course of action, one can only imagine how she must feel when she sees the cost of that decision.
Our only real moment of catharsis is in this shit situation comes in at 5:13, where the flute gives way to a solo from Ghost’s associated viola, playing the Vessel leitmotif as the Siblings curl up and sink back into the mountain of their corpses. Goodnight, kiddos. You deserved better, and so did literally everyone involved in this whole stupid boss fight.
This is where the OST version of Sealed Vessel ends. Even without the gameplay and story context it slaps, but now that we’ve taken a look at how this 5:45 piece is wall to wall misery and fear on the part of literally every involved character, hopefully it will have even more impact!
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But You Can Never Leave [Chapter 7: Forget Everything You Know]
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Hi y’all! I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all so much for reading and for showing me and my fics some love. You better believe that I see EVERY. SINGLE. reblog, comment, tag, and message, and they mean the absolute world to me! I know that a lot of content creators are frustrated and taking breaks right now, but rest assured you will not be able to get rid of me if even a SINGLE person looks forward to something I write. I’ll finish this fic (eventually), and I’ll finish the next one too (it already has a name!), and I won’t disappear or leave the Queen/BoRhap fandom at any point in the foreseeable future. Lots of love to you all, stay safe, and I hope you enjoy! 💜 💜 💜
Chapter summary: Y/N brings home some friends; Brian attempts an intervention; John draws a line; Roger gets an answer.
This series is a work of fiction, and is (very) loosely inspired by real people and events. Absolutely no offense is meant to actual Queen or their families.
Song inspiration: Hotel California by The Eagles.
Chapter warnings: Language.
Chapter list (and all my writing) available HERE
Taglist: @queen-turtle-boiii​ @loveandbeloved29​ @killer-queen-xo​ @maggieroseevans​ @imnotvibingveryguccimrstark​ @im-an-adult-ish​ @queenlover05​ @someforeigntragedy​ @imtheinvisiblequeen​ @joemazzmatazz​ @seven-seas-of-ham-on-rhye​ @namelesslosers​ @inthegardensofourminds​ @deacyblues​ @youngpastafanmug​ @sleepretreat​ @hardyshoe​ @bramblesforbreakfast​ @sevenseasofcats​ @tensecondvacation​ @bookandband​ @queen-crue​ @jennyggggrrr​ @madeinheavxn​ @whatgoeson-itslate​ @brianssixpence​
Please yell at me if I forget to tag you! :)
“Smile, everyone!” Your dad peeks through the viewfinder of the Canon F-1 and beams. “One...two...three...say Queen!”
“Queen!” you all shout gleefully. The flash illuminates the dining room, and you blink away momentary blindness. The table materializes back into vision: lobsters, clams, haddock chowder, sourdough bread, fried oysters, pierogis with Vermont cheddar cheese, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes...and, of course, Boston cream pie for dessert.
“Ah, perfection,” your dad sighs contently. “Please continue, Mr. Mercury.”
“Mr. Mercury!” Brian whines, incredulous. “Like he’s got a bloody PhD or something!”
Freddie cracks a lobster claw. He hasn’t taken his sunglasses or wrist-full of clanging bangles off all afternoon. Your parents are profoundly confused by him, but welcoming nonetheless. “I’m a professor of lusciousness. Pay attention and you could learn something.”
Brian rolls his eyes and dunks a hunk of sourdough bread into his chowder.
“So,” Freddie tells your mother between bites of lobster dripping with drawn butter. “Our darling damsel in distress was in the clutches of that horrid, dodgy wanker when none other than our very own Roger Meddows Taylor—”
“You weren’t even there!” Brian protests. “I wasn’t even there! This is, what, a third-hand account?!”
“Eat your soup, peasant. Thank you. Anyway, our beloved Roger comes raging out of nowhere, red-faced, nostrils flaring, a terrifying sight to behold, grabs this guy by his hair and slams his despicable face directly into a marble column. Broken nose, cracked orbital socket, blood everywhere! It was magnificent. I’ve never been more proud.”
“Good for you!” your mother cheers, patting the back of Roger’s hand encouragingly. He smiles at her, warmly, radiantly, like the wildfire he’s always reminded you of. And you marvel at how every human on this earth is made of the same fundamental components—blood and muscles and vessels and nerves, hearts and enigmatic brain matter and ribs, vulnerable parts, armored parts, all webbed together like nature’s own organic circuit board—and yet the marks they leave on you can feel so different: burns, scars, bruises, shadows, imprints that are deep enough to brush bone and never fade.
“Mom, the guy could have died!”
“Did he?” she asks innocently.
“Nope,” Roger says.
“Well then, Mr. Taylor here is a hero in my book.”
“Mr. Taylor!” Brian groans.
“I was petrified he would turn out to be the son of an executive or producer or something and the band would be ruined,” you say. “Fortunately he was just someone’s annoying frat brother from college who already had a reputation for being a sleazebag. So, we were in luck.”
“You were in luck that Mr. Taylor was there,” your mother points out, gazing at him dreamily. This delightful English boy is going to be my son-in-law and give me gorgeous, doe-eyed grandchildren, that look says.
“Yes, a literal superhero,” John says ruefully, sipping a Manhattan. Your dad has a passionate love for mixing cocktails, especially for guests who also happen to be rock stars.
“Mom. Don’t make his ego any bigger, please. I’m begging you.”
Roger snarls around a mouthful of Boston cream pie, sending your mom into a fit of giggles.
“I’m just glad you’re okay, dear.” She smooths your hair. “And that you have people to keep you safe all the way over there across the ocean, and that you’re happy.”
“Yes, your work environment is much improved, isn’t it?” Brian says. “That supervisor you had at the hospital was an absolute bear!”
Your dad strokes his short grey beard. “Well...” he admits. “That may have been my fault.”
Brian’s brow crinkles. “Really?”
Your mom turns to you. “You didn’t tell them?!”
“Oh, is there a scandalous backstory?” Freddie inquires, elated. “Do tell, darling!”  
“Once upon a time, in a kingdom far far away—just kidding, it was here in Boston—my archnemesis Patricia and my dad dated.”
Roger drops his fork, appalled. “No!”
Freddie’s nose wrinkles in revulsion. “Why?!”
Your dad rocks back in his chair and laughs loudly, heartily. “She wasn’t always so cantankerous, if you can believe it. She was a sweet girl, wonderful even. But then I met my future wife, and...” He smirks guiltily. “What can I say? The heart wants what it wants!”
You nod along. “And I got the illustrious honor of being an outlet for the frustration stemming from Patricia’s lifelong unrequited love.”
“You saucy minx!” Freddie playfully lashes your mom’s shoulder with a cloth napkin. “Homewrecker!”
She chuckles, not the least bit offended. “People get together under all sorts of strange circumstances, and you know what? You can’t wreck a home if the home wasn’t already half-wrecked before you got there, that’s what I think.”
Roger raises his Patriot’s Punch. “I’ll drink to that.”
Brian clutches his New England Express, bewildered. “Are we...toasting to infidelity?”
“Oh, does that horrify you?” Rog asks sarcastically. Brian grimaces, but dutifully raises his glass.
“We’re toasting to love,” your dad clarifies. “However it comes, as long as it’s true.”
John holds his Manhattan aloft. “To love.”
Freddie clinks his Flying Elvis against the other beverages, including your parents’ wine glasses and your Cranberry Crush. “Cheers!” Then Fred glances at the clock and swiftly polishes off his slice of Boston cream pie.
“Can’t you all stay a little longer?” your mom pleads, collecting plates and gazing longingly at Roger. “This has been so much fun...”
“They have soundcheck at seven, Mom. We have to leave for the stadium soon.”
“Well, before you jet off to your next adventure, can I treat anyone to a long distance call?” your dad asks.
Brian perks up. “Really?!” You know there’s a ring in the future for Chrissie; not an expensive or extravagant ring (not that Chris would want that anyway), but a ring nonetheless. You know because Brian has taken you shopping to help him choose one.
“Of course! You can use the phone in my office. It’s Valentine’s Day, after all. I’m sure there are some lovely ladies back in jolly old England who would be over the moon to hear from you.”
“That would be very much appreciated!” Brian says. “And thank you so much, this has been such a treat, you have no idea how long it’s been since we had a proper homemade meal.”
“I had to rehabilitate the reputation of us Yankees, didn’t I? Now come on, Mr. May, I’ll show you to the office...”
“Mr. May...I like the sound of that!”
“Ten minutes, Bri!” Freddie calls, following them down the hallway. “Then it’s my turn...!”
You begin gathering up the empty glasses, but Roger promptly snatches them away. “No way, Boston babe. You go relax. I’ll help your mom.”
“I think she’s in love with you.”
He grins. “Do you have a secret stepdaddy fetish I could exploit?”
“Oh my god. Roger.”
He snickers and sweeps off into the kitchen. It’s only then that you realize John has disappeared. You check the kitchen, the living room, the hallway, the study, and finally the front porch; John is standing outside in the cold, smoking and watching the setting sun. The sky is threaded with cerulean, rust orange, lavender, indigo. You pull on your coat and go out to join him.
“We’ll make it to Florence one of these days,” you promise John, resting your arms on the wooden, white-painted porch railing. Your mother hung baskets of fresh flowers for the band’s visit, which swing lazily in the breeze. “Crank out a few more hits and we’ll get the record company to add it to the tour itinerary.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice.”
“Are you going to call Veronica?”
He shrugs, frowns, exhales a lungful of smoke into frigid New England air. “I don’t know if I should.”
“You don’t think she’d like that?” you ask, confounded.
“I think she might like it too much.”
“Ohhhhh.” You read his soft greyish eyes, which are faraway and somber, sad even. “I’m sorry, John. You know she’s wild about you.”
“I know it.” He takes a drag off his cigarette. “She’s the first person who ever was, actually. The first person who ever noticed me. Came up to me out of the blue at a disco and asked me to dance, me! So I said yes, like you do when you’re the guy nobody notices. And then I said yes again, and again, and again, until one day I realized...oh, this girl thinks we’re getting married. When the hell did that happen?”
“I noticed you,” you contest.  
John chuckles and nods. “You did,” he agrees. “Right away. Tried to win me over when I was too nervous to finish a sentence around you. But that was long after I’d met Veronica.”
“Well, you can’t break up with her tonight. On Valentine’s Day?! That would be traumatic.”
“Agreed.”
“We’ll have a few days in London between the American and Asian legs of the tour. You can think it over and decide what to do then. I’m happy to arrange the getaway taxi if that’s something that interests you.”
“Yeah.” Again, he peers out into the Western horizon, into rising stars.
“John?”
Now he looks to you. He’s a little too thoughtful, too low. There’s something you’re not seeing.
“...Is there somebody else?”
He doesn’t speak; he just stares at you with those velvety azure-grey eyes, drums his fingers against the railing, lets the ash from his cigarette crumble into the snow-dusted Blue Pacific Junipers.
Roger barrels through the front door and out onto the porch. “There you are, Deaks! I thought we were going to have to find a new bassist. Enlist Nurse Nightingale’s mum or something.”
John smirks and crushes the rest of his cigarette in your father’s ashtray. “I suspect you’d do just fine without me.”
“Oh no. No way. Not happening.”
“That’s kind of you,” John says, unconvinced.
“Here, I’ll prove it.” Rog holds out his calloused hand. “If you ever leave, I leave too. Come on, Deaks, shake on it. It’s official. It’s a pact. There’s no Queen without John Deacon.”
Reluctantly, trying not to show how pleased he is, John shakes. “Alright.”
Roger grins triumphantly. “Signed, sealed, delivered. You’re ours for life, baby.”
“Deaky, do you want the phone?!” Freddie yells from inside the house.
John sighs and exchanges a knowing glance with you. “I guess I should say hi.”
“Okay, but quickly!” Rog presses. “We gotta go!”
“So bossy...” John ducks inside; and Roger, though he’s not wearing anything over his pale pink button-up shirt—sufficiently sophisticated to impress your parents—comes to the porch railing to join you.
“You’re not staying out here, are you?” You eye his thin shirt worriedly, the goosebumps rising over his collarbones, his bare forearms where he rolled up his sleeves to help your mom wash the dishes.
He tosses you a mischievous wink. “I’ve got no one to call.”
Roger looks up at the hanging baskets of flowers, plucks out a cerise carnation, and offers it to you. You mean to say something witty, something sardonic, something that will make him laugh; but all your words vanish into cold February air. You take the carnation, smiling helplessly.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Roger whispers.
You just let me know if you ever change your mind, okay?
Okay.
He turns to go back inside the house.
I won’t fall in love with him. I won’t fall in love with him. I won’t fall in love with him.
Then Roger pauses in the doorway. “You coming, Boston babe? I can’t have you catching pneumonia or something. I won’t know how to fix you.”
Oh, you realize, with horror and yet relief, all those grueling lies stripped away. It’s too late.
~~~~~~~~~~
You knock on the frame of the dressing room door. “Hi Bri!”
He glances over from where he sits in front of the mirror, rimming his eyes with inky liner. Soundcheck went swimmingly, and now Queen has thirty minutes until they need to be onstage. You can hear the disembodied reverberation of voices from the waiting crowd through the walls. “Hello, love. Come in.”
“Freddie said you needed to see me. Did you rip a sleeve or something? I brought my kit—”
“No, it’s not that.” He pats the chair beside him. The boys practically always get ready together before a show, but you suspect profoundly introverted Brian is experiencing one of his post-socialization crashes after dinner with your parents. Something about him is tired, very tired, almost drained to empty. “Join me.”
“Sure,” you say cautiously. You shove your medical kit onto the countertop and then reach to feel his forehead. “Are you feeling alright...?”
“I’m fine, love. I just have a favor to ask.”
“Anything.”
Brian sighs deeply, sets down the eyeliner, swivels his chair towards you. “I need you to promise me that you’re not going to start seeing Roger.”
You titter, deflecting, brushing Brian’s hair away from his troubled, angular face. “Well, as the official Queen touring nurse, I see him quite a lot.”
Brian catches your wrist. “I’m being serious.”
Now your brow knits into tight agitated lines. “I’m curious as to why you think that’s something you have a say in.”
“Bloody hell, I’m not trying to offend you—”
“Job well done.”
“Dear, please, listen to me—”
“Eight months,” you hiss through your teeth as you tear away from him. “For eight months I’ve listened and avoided and resisted and ignored and it’s not going away.”
“Oh, fuck,” Brian breathes in despair. “You love him.”
There are tears biting in the periphery of your vision; you don’t want them to be there, but they are. Your voice is hoarse and trembling. “Bri, please don’t.”
Brian shakes his head and motions with his hands frenetically, desperately, trying to make you understand. “Look, sometimes...sometimes the people we love, the people who own us, the people who fucking set us on fire...they’re not the people we end up with. And that’s not always a bad thing. It’s necessary. It’s self-preservation. Because sometimes the people who set us on fire would burn us alive.”
You gape at him, furious, stunned. “That’s just fantastic, Brian. You’re a true romantic. Jesus christ, does Chrissie know about this? Is that why you’re with her, because she’s, what...safe?!”
“No, that’s not fair, Chrissie’s great, she’s steady and supportive and she’ll make a wonderful mother one day, and my parents adore her—”
“Those aren’t reasons to marry someone, Brian!”
“They are!” He leaps to his feet. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you! You have to think about these things, you have to be rational, you have to protect yourself—”
“Why the fuck do you care?” you flare bitterly.
“Because you saved my life.”
“Stop it, I didn’t.”
“You did, I truly believe that. And I want you to stay with the band. And I want you to be happy. But, dear, please, I’m begging you...this is not the way to do it.”
“I’m not going to go out to some pub and drag home a random guy who’s suitably passionless and predictable enough to be Brian-May-approved.”
“That’s not what I’m asking you to do—”
“Because you’re such an expert on relationships!” you shout, exasperated. “Planning to propose to Chris while you’re still secretly pining over some fling from New Orleans, fucking groupies and then having the nerve to mope around guilt-ridden the next morning as if anyone but you was responsible for that decision, and do I say anything about it?! Do I ever say a single fucking word about it to you, or Fred, or Roger, or your future wife, or anybody?! No, because it’s not my life!”
The dressing room door flies open and John storms inside. “What’s going on?!”
You cross your arms and stare at the floor. Brian’s wide green eyes flick to John, to you, back to John. If it was Freddie, Brian would tell him in a second, would try to enlist him in the effort, and it would probably work; but John is a different story. John won’t side with Brian over you, everybody knows that. And John has a talent for sharpening words into blades. “Um. Nothing.”  
“I could hear you in the hallway,” John says flatly. “Obviously it wasn’t nothing.”
Brian points to you. “Have you tried to talk her out of this? Maybe you should, maybe she’d listen.”
“It’s not my choice to make, just like it isn’t yours. Worry about your own body count. It seems to be growing exponentially these days.”
Brian scoffs. “Because you’d be so thrilled if she ended up with him, right?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!” you demand.
Brian and John glare at each other from across the room. John raises his eyebrows, daring Bri to answer. Brian gnaws his lower lip, but doesn’t elaborate. The air is heavy, tense, electrified.  
“Don’t upset her again,” John says darkly.
Brian shows the white palms of his hands in surrender. “Fine.”
John waves for you to follow him. “Come on.” And he slams the door behind you as you both escape into the hallway.
“I’m sorry.” You chase away stray tears with the back of your hands. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to get anyone worked up right before the show...”
“Don’t worry about it. I treasure any excuse to harass Brian.”
You study him, seeking answers, seeking more than you know how to put into words. “Do you think I’m being stupid? If you do, you can tell me.”
“No,” John responds carefully. “I think you’re being hopeful. And I’d like to believe that stupidity and hopefulness are two very different things.”
You smile. “I don’t deserve you.”
“That’s very inaccurate.” He fluffs his hair with his fingertips. “Do you want to touch it before we go on stage?”
You feign demureness. “Hmm...”
“Oh come on. You know you want to. It’s extra voluminous right now, Roger shared some of his magical mousse or whatever. Something way too expensive. You should thoroughly berate him for it.”
You laugh. “I’ll see what I can do.” You comb your hands through his brunette hair, and John’s right; it’s extraordinarily full and soft, and smells like honeysuckles. “You always know how to get me smiling, don’t you?”
“You do insist that I have game. Though I remain skeptical.”
“Good luck tonight. Not that you need it.”
John’s rough thumb lifts your chin, then whisks away a tear you missed. “You’ll be watching, right?”
“I always am.” And that’s the truth; you haven’t missed a Queen show since you met them.
He beams, those gentle grey eyes incandescent. “Then we’ll have an ocean of luck.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Exactly twenty-four hours later, Queen is in New York City.
The thunderous bassline of the opening act shudders through the concrete walls. You’re staring yourself down in the bathroom mirror under harsh florescent lights, your palms gripping the cold rim of a white sink, your eyes shimmering with black and gold shadow, your lip gloss slick and crimson. There’s not a single thing left to do. You’re running out of time.
You breathe in, breathe out, snatch your purse off the floor, breeze out into the hallway.
You can hear the boys’ laughter even before you open the dressing room door. Inside, Brian is tuning his Red Special with his mantis-like legs propped up on the countertop, John is attempting to teach Freddie how to make popcorn in a microwave without setting anything on fire, Roger is scrutinizing his hair in the mirror and frowning as he rearranges it with a comb.  
“Hello, darling!” Freddie warbles. “Can I interest you in some delicious and expertly-prepared popcorn?” He opens the microwave, and smoke pours out. “Oh, you bitch!”
“I’ll pass, Freddie.” You glide to where Roger is sitting, knot your fingers through his blond hair, and tug his head back so you can kiss him. He tastes like mint gum and the ghost of smoke and reckless intemperance; he tastes like everything you’ve ever wanted. There are gasps, and surely dropped jaws as well; but you don’t have eyes for them. “Okay,” you tell Roger.
He stares up at you with huge, starry eyes, a dazed grin slowly lighting up his face. “You changed your mind.”
“Come find me after the show.”
“Yes ma’am.”
You move to wipe your blood-red gloss from his lips, but Roger stops you, knits his hand through yours, stands to meet you.
“Leave it,” he murmurs. “I want them to know.”  
“Want them to know...?”
His lips touch yours again, smiling and scorching and ravenous. “That I’m yours.”
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weaselbeaselpants · 4 years
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Hazbin/Helluva are hated for the exact same reason they’re loved:
Before I begin I need to repeat something and that’s that you please, kindly, DO NOT BOTHER ANYONE WORKING ON THE SHOW WITH THIS POST. I don’t care if you’re a fan looking for their opinion or a “critic” looking for their response. THESE PEOPLE ARE WORKING HARD, THIS IS NOT A CALL OUT POST IT’S JUST FAN DRIVEL LEAVE PEOPLE ALONE OKAY?!?!?
okey
Here are the facts of the matter:
Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss are independently produced cartoons made by a bunch of people juuuuust breaking in on the animation market, and/or internet famous artists having fun with the world they’re producing. The creator, like her style or not, is inspired and VERY passionate about what she likes and what she wants. Everyone working on the show is really into it and their work. It’s such a self-made fandom it was technically a fandom first and a product second. Fans feel like they (and technically do) have a say in how the show should be run and what the characters should be.
It is popular enough to attract attention online but not overblown by the mainstream media.
On the positive side all those things mean:
It’s crew is tight-nit and very passionate + stick up for each other and their projects. It’s basically a giant colab. Whether they were preexisting fans/friends of Viv, the people working on it got to work on something they liked and with people they liked.
The animation community is super pumped and excited for them be they fans of the animators or just people who like cartoons and monsters and stuff. They’re positively skeptical and in on the hype cause they want to see more fluid adult animation and more indie projects take off (also 2D)!
It’s fandom LOVES the characters, concept, and story. They are more invested in what the characters could be rather than what they actually are, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing; to love something based on the concepts presented and use it to make AUs, hypotheticals and what not. Cringe all you want at the Onceler fandom (you can) but it is impressive to make all that material from so little!
They’re both edgy and insensitive based on their subject matter alone. And yet, the creators and fans DO intend for the show to be a net-positive: there IS supposed to a be representational aspect to it’s design and it’s audience. Brandon Rogers, the modern John Waters, is a pure shock-humor artist; an example of the sincere but not TOO serious risque nature these shows should have, and BOTH attract a pretty happy and excitable LGBTQ fanbase who hate bigotry.
The creators directly talking with fans means there’s again a sense of togetherness to the whole production. That the creators tell people to ship what they want BUT NOT TO BULLY is really cool + important.
As an aside, they can only say so much and Viv is at this point not 100% of Hazbin or Helluva’s creation. It’s other people speaking for or with it now. Neither pilot is a singular idea and musing of one person anymore, they are stand alone products and they are not immune from critique or favoritism.
Buuuuuuut, there’s a flipside to these things as well:
Beyond NDAs (as an aside, a lot of productions have these I don’t think it’s amoral that Viv had this) the crew is tight. When they hear how a site that they’ve heard through the grabevine hosted the guy who sent Viv rape porn*, even if the critique is from a user who hates that guy, THEY AREN’T GONNA HEAR THEM OUT. And they shouldn’t. They are tired and don’t want to be involved, at best (or want to move on from past drama) and biased towards Viv, at worst. They stick out for each other in the business and also who are you gonna stan if you were in their shoes? A person you don’t know on a forum you’ve seen post creepy shit OR your friend who paid you, promos you, talks to you and you like to work with?
Ask yourself honestly what you would do if someone said:
“hey I’m from [4chan/Kiwi, ED, Tapatalk, Reddit, ect]. I’m sorry for what happened but just so you know-”
I so get the crew just straight up blocking on sight. I don’t CONDONE it, but in a postGamerGate world I understand it.
AND when it comes to accusations made against the VAs, a producer, or one of the artists, and ESPECIALLY the creator - people are gonna just handwave it away convinced, it’s just whining or has alterier motives + again, friends stick together and choose sides...like Brock Baker’s :B
It’s popular so it’s gonna get love and hate. I know critics are not gonna like to hear the later, but it is true. It feels cathartic to dunk on a property when fans are crazy and you feel it’s overrated/bad. People feel good dunking on this mishandled, problematic clusterfugg cause they know not as many people are watching and unironically liking, say, Alfred Alfer ----- (please don’t look that or Emily Youcis up. Here’s the tvtropes page. Do not look beyond this point PLEASE)
Likewise, the clout surrounding the show is biased and detracted form being too mean as well. Everyone can tell there’s a kind of toxic mess under the covers but no one wants to deep dive or prod the details of something people are working on and liking so much, especially not when the loudest detractors are asshats like P.K. Russel.
A lot of merch has been sold and produced WELL BEFORE the rest of the shows or the finalized series/designs have been laid out. If nothing comes of either show it will be bad having all this merch hyping something that doesn’t exist. If it does but is so radically different than the vision in Viv’s and fan’s heads (these are both PILOTS, I’ll remind you) it’s gonna disappoint. I just know it.
People were writing Hazbin fanfics and AUs before the pilot was dropped and have made sequels to both before we have even a clear picture of what the ending is gonna be. People are in love and writing for a franchise they don’t know. They know the idea of it and the version of it in their head, but they don’t really know it.
The fandom can not take criticism. This is bad. Everyone is a critic and inside every critic is a nerdooo ~ ((critics do have fandoms and everyone will like something problematic for reasons)) Fans want to criticize but they’re scared of being ostracized from the fandom and kicked off of forums/servers, which has happened to two underage fans already. **
The fandom feels entitled to their ideas and to the creators’ attention. If it were any other fandom it is sooper cool that creators allow people to ship as they please, but not one that’s currently still in development and whose finalized characters haven’t been figured out. The babies have been sent into the battle field at only a few months old alongside veteran ship/canon/entitled cartoon fandoms like Steven Universe and Rick and Morty. It’s like the scene from mother! where the crowd dismembers and eats the baby.
Viv and has a serious influence on these people so even when her and a bunch of fans/artists are just gabbing about stupid memes on twitter, this invites a slew of onlookers to attack these people***. Despite the influence you can have or say to stop this behavior, it’s waaaay harder to put a stop to it than just saying “hey guys be nice” (Anyone else remember the inner-drama of Brony fandom? Like chuds would even take the word of the AskMolestiaMod to heart when their one goal was to take down the dreaded Essjaydoublewes that threatened their rape jokes).
Fans also have no boundaries. Sea also; Lincar Rox.
Being a netpositive doesn’t mean everything you say or do is devoid of critique. If you make vulgar/shocking adult content it will have fans and it will have detractors regardless of the positive intent. As I’ve said earlier, the problem with Viv’s works isn’t really the content but the context and the presentation. You can say Angel Dust is an inspiring character all you want. To some people that’s absolutely true but that does NOT absolve the fact that the it’s a cis woman writing and glamorizing an abused crossdressing gay man. People are gonna be offended and the creator needs tougher skin about this be it satire, parody, or drama.
*back when they were fixated on Zoophobia, there was a guy on Bad Webcomics Wiki/Tapatalk for the comic who posted art of Viv’s decapitated head getting raped by Angel Dust as a “joke”. Oh! and he also took the complaints the wiki had and made Viv and ED page. The rest of the forum was not happy but yeah that happened. The forum itself is the same as any reddit thread and NOT a hate site, but yeah um Viv has every right to quit after that, sorry.
The evidence is linked here in this google doc, which is why I linked it. (tbh I sympathize with the author but I don’t think it’s their place to say when Viv should have let the world known about the harassment porn )
**the underage fans who were bullied/blocked/demonized by creators are frootrollup1, for doing redesigned fan art, and StarVader from the Tapatalk/BWW forums, who was targeted and blamed by fans for Lincar’s shit. I’m not linking them for fear of their safety.
***The meme and twitter thread that went off the rails is one you’ll have to scroll down a bit through @gamergirluprising‘s post to see.
Okay that’s all.
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trickstarbrave · 3 years
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the worst thing i have seen from the voltron fandom, besides the usual made up or real harassment and general douchebaggery of the fans that ppl cite, is just the unironic worship of the source material. people calling it perfection, a gift that everyone should be thankful for, taking critiques of the media as personal attacks on themselves personally, and fucking more. 
its a tv show designed to make money. it isn’t a gift for you. it is something you can enjoy, but a piece of media should not become a core pillar of your entire identity. it isn’t a gift unto you from saints you should be grateful for. writing fics or aus that go against the canon is not blasphemy against the “original creators”, and the people doing it are doing it as a deliberate attack on them. you also don’t need to universally defend the actions of any creator or voice actor or anyone on the show (even tho they dont deserve harassment or death threats either). they don’t know you. they don’t really care that much. you’re building a parasocial relationship that is toxic. 
so many people built up ideas in their head they wanted the show to follow exactly, to a T, and justified it to themselves and everyone else that that is exactly what was going to be canon. and then when it failed to happen, people got angry. yes the show was also in general just written poorly, but so many problems i see dont center around that, they center around people fighting over if their ideas were canon or not, which doesnt even matter! it doesnt! and then there are people getting mad at others for making aus because they dont like everything in canon or just want to have fun, because “if you dont agree with everything in canon go fuck yourself, you arent a REAL FAN at all, and youre a spiteful, hateful, DISGUSTING person and i hope you all get SUED.” 
your favorite piece of media isnt unfalliable, liking things that are ‘canon’ is a boring personality trait, and all of you needed a little dunk in ice water to chill the fuck out 
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faketextson-ice · 7 years
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~Admin Hidari Ver.~ elliott and I talked about this a little and being the great content creators we are,,,, decided to copy paste an ask meme to satisfy your curiosity. questions are from here --> http://fyeahaskmemes.tumblr.com/post/152629812132/identity-askoh-shit
I’ll now answer them under a cut so if you don’t give a shit you don’t have to read it. it’s 30 questions. 
if someone wanted to really understand you, what would they read, watch, and listen to? -deep inhale- let’s see, on the trash side, just sO much gay manga, kpop, and youtube filth. on my Intellectual™ side, I quite like sci-fi and horror, a lot of Stephen King, right now my favorite novels/series are House of Leaves and The Monstrumologist. So the answer is, a mix of wholesome sparkly gay content, and just like, the darkest shit out there. Shout out to My Favorite Murder, the podcast I’m listening to now. Stay sexy, don’t get murdered.
have you ever found a writer who thinks just like you? if so, who? It’s hard to tell since I mostly read fiction, but i’ve read a couple of comedic biographies/memoirs I really feel, like you go through this Bad Shit™ but you laugh at it, y’know? Trevor Noah is a fuckin icon, I read his book Born a Crime in one night, it was so fascinating and funny.  
list your fandoms and one character from each that you identify with. listen. We could be here all day. let’s just boil it down to what I’m currently following in the weeb world. anime: violet evergarden, no one on this show is really relatable to me, but I love Violet and anyone who’s ever mean to her will catch these hands sanrio boys, I stan Hasegawa Kouta gakuen babysitters, I identify with the guy running the daycare tbh, I just always wanna take a fuckin nap manhua: their story, both girls are super cute and super gay, HEAVY RELATE  19 days, Guan Shan, probably because I also want to slam dunk He Tian into a trash can kpop: ikon, probably Chanwoo, I’m always ready to roast someone bts, Yoongi is absolutely just me 1000% blackpink, idk but I want each and every one of them to punch me in the face
do you like your name?  is there another name you think would fit you better? I use ‘hidari’ here, which is just the kanji reading for my last name. which reminds me, y’all can follow me @hidariprince on insta even tho I never post u can see some of my art
do you think of yourself as a human being or a human doing? do you identify yourself by the things you do? mate, I’m barely even a human
are you religious/spiritual? nope, wasn’t raised that way, never picked it up.
do you care about your ethnicity? I have a slightly complicated family history that’s not directly acknowledged, so in the broader sense I just refer to myself as Asian, or east Asian. but I’m totally here for racial equality, representation, and making fun of white people lol
what musical artists have you most felt connected to over your lifetime? my all time favorite band is 2NE1, and I will never fucking forgive YG for disbanding them what a fuckin gremlin that man is. 
are you an artist? yes, but I’m aiming to be an animator. even though I’m awful at digital stuff.
do you have a creed? things I repeat to myself a lot are ‘do no harm, take no shit’ and also ‘but did you die though’
describe your ideal day. I sleep until noon. we eat the most calorie/carb filled brunch, then we go to the dog park. we stay there until sundown. we buy more disgusting junk food, and go home to binge watch movies or shows. it’s 3am, we’re eating cereal and talking about everything and nothing. we fall asleep at sunrise.
dog person or cat person? both, but definitely more dog
inside or outdoors? hella indoors, my bedroom is a dank cave with the blinds always closed, I emerge once in a blue moon
are you a musician? a terrible one. I played flute and piano but it’s just a casual hobby, I guess.
five most influential books over your lifetime. the bell jar -sylvia plath house of leaves -mark z. danielewski one hundered years of solitude - gabriel garcia marquez the shining -stephen king complete h.p. lovecraft collection
if you’d grown up in a different environment, do you think you’d have turned out the same? I grew up in a totally great environment and I’m still constantly on the verge of losing my fucking mind, so yeah, maybe. genetic predispositions and all that.
would you say your tumblr is a fair representation of the “real you”? not this one, but my personal, @skribblindaydreamer, is 100% me, just a living shitpost, just,,,, a mess
what’s your patronus? a polecat, according to pottermore.
which Harry Potter house would you be in? or are you a muggle? we all know I’m a hugeass fucking slytherin, I’m not even in the hp fandom and I knew well before I took the pottermore thing
would you rather be in Middle Earth, Narnia, Hogwarts, or somewhere else? I wanna be wherever the wi-fi is, tbh
do you love easily? my first thought was ‘god I fall in love with every dog I see’ but then it occured to me this question probably means people, and in a romantic sense, listen I’m more about platonic love ok
list the top five things you spend the most time doing, in order. -staying the fuck in bed -watching/reading/listening to something -drawing/writing -taking a fuckin nap -spending time with my doggo
how often would you want to see your family every year? I kinda live with them. I’m like,,, move out?? in this economy???
have you ever felt like you had a “mind-meld” with someone? I don’t fucking know what that means, but I heavy relate with anyone who’s depressed, anxious, and gay af
could you live as a hermit? oh yeah abso-fucking-lutely, as long as I can have everything I need shipped to me. But also keep communication open and not run off into the woods because that’s how you get fucking murdered.
how would you describe your gender/sexuality? am I a pretty boy or a cute girl? who knows? I’m pan, so it doesn’t matter either way.
do you feel like your outside appearance is a fair representation of the “real you”? absolutely not. I’ve had many friends refer to me as ‘cute, until you open your mouth and speak’ 
on a scale from 1 to 10, how hard is it for someone to get under your skin? I mean, on a superficial level, it’s easy to make me snap something harsh if you’re being an asshole, but really get under my skin?? you’d have to have done something pretty bad because I’m honestly dead inside. Like, something goes wrong and I skip straight through the 5 stages of grief to acceptance.
three songs that you connect with right now. honestly, anything from the kimi no na wa (your name) soundtrack immediately hits me straight in the kokoro, especially Nandemonaiya not today -bts also literally any of Big Marvel’s screaming chicken covers is such a Big Mood
pick one of your favorite quotes. ‘Get a job. Buy your own shit. Stay out of the forest.’ -MFM
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