#but i think it's important if you're a fan of a certain piece of media that has certain identities represented

[theghostofashton]

.

[that-ari-blogger]

On Grim Spectacle and Greatest Fears

There's a reason Enchanting Grom Fright is beloved by fans of the Owl House, not only is it just a plain old good story, it's also a phenomenal queer story.

But why is that so, and what makes it so important? That's what this post is about.

And if you're wondering whether I'm going to talk about @moringmark in this post, you bet I am.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD

If you look at online discourse, there is a lot of discussion about "good representation" and that is certainly an interesting discussion, but I don't think there is much explanation as to why representation is important in the first place. It is a good thing, we all know this, but why?

One word: Normalisation. Representation of varying identities, cultures, and ethnicities is important because it takes apart the implicit bias inherent in society.

The generic individual in western society is white, male, and straight, and while there is nothing wrong with these character traits, this means that anything added to that template becomes a statement. It becomes an important metaphor for the story which doesn't get applied to someone with the three characteristics I mentioned earlier.

For example, there is a question in analysis of what a character being gay does for a story, where a character being perceived as straight doesn't get that level of scrutiny.

This is a problem for a number of reasons, most notably it abnormalizes certain traits that a large proportion of society (myself included) exhibit, effectively othering those people as a result.

Representation does the opposite of this, it allows real people who are not the generic individual to be treated with the same level of respect and for audience members who don't usually see themselves in media to find characters like themselves, to see their own stories reflected in fiction.

I think the best reason for representation actually comes from Ordinary, by Joriah Kwame, the sequel to Little Miss Perfect. This song, written explicitly from Luz Noceda's perspective, says this:

"The characters I read never act or look like me I can't depend on them to lead me through the right door"

Stories are a way of learning about the world and yourself, and in stories with extremely low representation for marginalised people, that lesson is pretty clear.

@jameswoodall has a video essay on YouTube titled How Much Representation Is Enough. In it Woodall discusses the benefits of representation through a queer lens, and argues about the end goal thusly:

"It's not about achieving a certain percentage. It's about making that percentage stop mattering. When queer representation is no longer noteworthy. When queer inclusion is so naturally assumed that nobody feels the need to count anymore. When even if we did put queer rep in every story, nobody would bat an eyelid. Because we have just as much right to be there as anyone else."

So, let's talk about Grom.

Meromorphic is a channel with a two-hour long video about The Owl House as a whole, and while there is a lot in that video that I disagree with (as is the nature of media analysis) it is comprehensive and fascinating, and I would recommend giving it a watch.

However, I am not bringing up that video to talk about its points, instead, I would like to shamelessly steal borrow a term from it: Magic Literalism. In this context, it means when a piece of media uses magic to make physical an intangible concept. In this case, it turns fear into a monster, that being Grom.

When Grom looks into Luz, she sees Luz's mother, and she sees Luz's fear of disappointment. She sees that Luz has a secret that she hasn't told her mother in case she breaks her heart. It's literally about the Boiling Isles, but there's something written between the lines here.

It is possible to read this as Luz's fear of coming out to her mother, and by "it's possible", I mean that this is how I read this.

Coming out is terrifying, even if you have supportive parents, it's still asking people to accept a part of you, and that comes with risk, because if they don't accept you, what do you do?

That's what I think Luz is afraid of.

Amity, on the other hand, is afraid of getting rejected in a similar way, although hers is more direct. Amity is scared of falling in love and not being loved back.

As a side not, I think it's a really cool detail that of Odalia's many flaws, homophobia isn't one. As in, Amity isn't afraid of coming out to her parents, and when she makes passing remarks about having a girlfriend to her mother and father, their surprise is that it's with Luz, not with another girl. Bellos kind of keeps this going, and the message with that is clear. Homophobia is too low, even for these villains.

Anyway, Amity's experience with Grom is the other side of being queer, the romantic part. I am aware that romance isn't something everyone experiences, but when you do, especially when you are queer, confessing your feelings for someone is terrifying.

So, Amity avoids the question and doesn't really confront it directly at all. Even at the end of the episode, she has everything thrust upon her and still doesn't confess. Luz does the same thing with her mother. Fear is a powerful force, and I would argue that the best time to deal with it is when you are ready, not before.

I really like the scene in the forest. The light gives the two a feeling of warmth and safety, and it wards of the night. Once again, it's Luz giving hope to those around her, and here it is in a more personal sense. Light, do not falter.

The colour palate of the scene (that warm light) conveys that these two people are comfortable in each other's presence and can talk freely around each other. They are already in love; someone just needs to say it.

However, there is another side to Grometheus that also factors into being queer. When Amity explains the event, the art style changes into this style that I want to call classical, even though it probably isn't (art nerds, rise up in the replies and tell me what this is please). But she also directly calls the Grom event a tradition.

"Every year it tries to break out and a student has to defeat it before it invades town. Ever the optimist, Bump holds a party and calls it tradition."

Perhaps tradition, at least in the Boiling Isles, isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Perhaps there is an issue with seeing a problem and instead of trying to fix it, stalling it and making a spectacle out of achieving nothing. Maybe there is an issue with willingly putting children in danger for the drama of it. Maybe the fact that certain sports are just the audience enjoying people getting life threatening injuries might be an issue. I'm just throwing ideas out at this point.

If we link Grom with fear, there is the idea that fear spreads from schools and it is the role of the students, as decreed by the adults, to contain it. See the plot of Footloose for an example of this, or certain places in the real world today, where fear of the other (mainly bigotry) takes the form of arguments about schoolbooks.

This is a valid reading, but I'd like to go a bit wild with my interpretation and talk about @moringmark's comics.

Chapter three of A Little Hint of Blue is a brilliant piece of storytelling that actually characterises Bosha a ton. It carries the theme of fear over to both Skara and Bosha, but it shows them in real time. Skara is scared that Bosha won't let her spend time with... (*checks notes*)... Fledermaus?

She has good reason for this, Bosha is overprotective to the point of toxicity and runs on her own fear. Bosha's hierarchical worldview comes from a place of fear as well, she's afraid of being out of control, and a really subtle thing that gets done in this comic is the association of Bosha with fire.

It doesn't really get done in the original series, but Bosha and fire are such a neat thematic paring. They both consume, they both try to reach out, and fire is heavily associated with strong emotions, like anger and fear.

Bosha tries to control everything in the same way she controls her flames, but as it turns out, people aren't fire. People, when they are free, don't immediately destroy things, and a lot of people actually benefit from that freedom. Most notably, artists and musicians, like Skara.

Grom Factor also deals with the subject matter, but from a slightly different perspective.

First up, the most obvious, at least to me. Enna saves the town but it outcast in the process because what she is scares people, despite her heroism, she is not accepted. The metaphor isn't perfect and reading it as a one-to-one analogy is a detriment to the story. For example, the reason for Enna being outcast is because of a curse, and queer people are generally not magically cursed to be queer, they are born that way.

But, there is also the idea of Luz's fear as an adult being the exact same as when she was a child. She is scared of disappointing people, specifically her family and her daughter. This means that she is acutely aware of Ayzee's own mirror of that, and this line is spectacular:

"Make yourself proud"

It's ok to be afraid of what others think, that's part of being human (or a witch, or a demon. It's part of being sentient), but in the end, the only person who you have to make proud, is yourself.

Final Thoughts

I've been dying to talk about the Moringmark comics, and I do plan on talking about them more, but that will happen when I get there. I will do more gushing about their serious artistic and storytelling skill when that happens, so buckle up.

Enchanting Grom Fright is one of my favourite episodes of the series as a whole, and its a testament to the writing of it that there is more that I am yet to cover, and more that I am discovering as I watch it. For example, the storyline with Gus and King is a big part of the episode, but I didn't mention it because it wasn't really relevant to my main point, and the whole thing with the dance is stellar.

Next week, I am looking at Wing It Like Witches, so stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[winged-cries]

What I always thought about Rape Me is that he was so frustrated by the male audience's dismissal of themes in his music like Polly that he tried to do a song so in your face literally screaming Rape at the listeners so they couldn't deny it anymore like "Fuck you, this isn't fun you're going to sit here and listen to what I'm saying. Just stay with me" (annoyingly the statements from those fans at the time was that it was about the media). Off but on topic, Courtney has never been public about it but she sometimes hints at CSA too, like when they mentioned her first psychologist as a child (Maybe 7) was a crook and she said he was a pervert with child porn in his office. I'm sure she and Kurt spoke about these things.

Looking back on it, there is something so personal about what he's putting us through. Combine that with the unexplained stomach pains and certain other issues and..... Yikes. Amazing piece of reflective art. Where did you find the articles discussing it through that lens with the quotes from people around?

i'm sorry, i thought i'd linked the article.

your interpretation is a valid one, i agree that he was trying to be as blunt with it as possible - and it's really funny how people still insisted it wasn't about actual rape. but i've always thought those lyrics were also somewhat personal. i don't like to conjecture about the abuse real people may or may not have suffered, although i think it's already become something of a common assumption that kurt was a victim of sexual abuse at some point in his childhood or adolescence. i don't think that can be taken as certain truth because abuse of other kinds could also cause the trauma kurt obviously suffered. he was neglected and kicked out of his home, and those feelings of being unwelcome and out of place followed him his whole life. other things happened too, we'll never know the details of it. it does seem very likely to me that he suffered sexual abuse but it's just my own way of relating to him, i suppose, you could read anything there. i don't know if it's right to openly conjecture in this way. still, sexual abuse is an important and common theme in his work, both his music and visual art, so talking about it is inevitable.

[ryuichirou]

Replies

Some replies about both TWST and other fandoms.

unofficialwheatdog asked:

Deuce got two hands, he can hold Jack's and Ace's hands! That's what you meant, right?

Right?

Yes, this is exactly what I meant!

Even though with how Ace acts sometimes, there is this inkling to say that both of Deuce’s hands should be used to hug Jack tighter lol But nah, we love ADeuce a lot <3

Anonymous asked:

Thoughts on DC media or Batman?

We used to kind of like it for a period of time 10+ years ago! We still prefer DC over Marvel overall, but we haven’t watched or read anything related to either for a very long time. Superheroes just aren’t our cup of tea.

But back when we were into it, we liked Batman and Robins, especially Tim Drake.

Anonymous asked:

Important question not related to TWST.

Have you seen an anime called Bobobo?

Nope, but I heard that it’s good. No idea about what it is about though.

Anonymous asked:

lol maybe Chenya is the one that helped Trey lose his virginity. He set him up with some random RSA classmate of his, "That way even you're bad at it, you won't have to see eachother everyday!"

You know, Anon, this sounds exactly like something Che’nya would do lol Trey would absolutely try to politely decline such a kind (weird) offer, but somehow would end up hooking up with that random RSA student and never contacting him again... Maybe he is a villain after all. 😔

Anonymous asked:

By certain Diasomnia boy, were you speaking about Lilia’s ? Where one eye was trying to run away from the other?

(related to a reply about bad anatomy on twst cards)

OH THAT ONE LOL I was actually speaking about Malleus, but yeah, the one you’re talking about is also kind of weak, at least in the face area... Such a bummer, honestly.

Anonymous asked:

I too would love to read a detective book written by Riddle 👀

He would be so stupidly good at writing these, I just know it. He just needs to let his creative juices flow...

Anonymous asked:

I was kind of surprised when you mentioned that some fans are angry for the Tweels having pecks + abs, so I scrolled through the tags and not even 1 minute of scrolling did I find posts  crying about how weird it is for some people to sexualize and/or lust over the new cards of the Tweels. In such moments, I just want to bash my head against the wall because sometimes I think  some fans tend to forget what kind of game they're playing! The game literally sexualizes itself! It's supposed to be fanservice!

....I can't do this anymore BIG SIGH

Yeah, it’s either that or they’re just baiting for attention, I honestly can’t believe people can be this stupid sometimes.

I feel like we keep coming back to this conversation over and over again, but still: harassing people over finding anime boys sexy isn’t the way to interact with a piece of media, especially if it’s specifically made for people to swoon over the boys (the fujo way or the yume way – doesn’t matter).

[douglysium]

Episode 16 TMP Quick Thoughts

Housekeeping and Prologue

Hello, this is Douglysium and you might not know me as that guy who wrote over 100 pages of analysis on the Eye (which can be read on Tumblr here (https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/735599414228484097/the-relationships-between-the-dread-powers-the) or Google Docs here (The Relationships Between the Dread Powers: The Eye- Knowledge is Fear and Ignorance is Bliss)) or as that guy who wrote an article on the Extinction (which can be read on Tumblr here(https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/717929126195003392/what-would-avatars-of-the-extinction-be-like-a) and Google Docs here(​What would Avatars of the Extinction be like?: A TMA Speculation)). Suffice to say I might be a bit of a TMA fan. Also, spoilers for TMP up until episode 10. You can read my ramblings on the last episode here (Episode 15 TMP Quick Thoughts).

However, Protocol offers a very unique opportunity and experience for me because I didn’t actually get into TMA until after it was over and I binged all of it. So this is my first time experiencing something even remotely similar to what the original TMA fans probably experienced when waiting for each episode week by week and slowly having to put everything together with the limited information they had. So I decided to throw my hat into the ring since this might be my only chance to do something similar. However, I’m working on some longer form TMA content so I can’t spend as much time on these articles giving a bunch of super detailed thoughts. I will try to keep these short and that inevitably might mean some could have questions about why I think or predict certain things and in those cases I would probably recommend you read at least some of the two articles I mentioned above to get a better idea of where I’m coming from. This also means I won’t be giving you a play-by-play of every single thing that happens in the episode so I encourage you to listen to or read them yourselves and feel free to comment if you feel something is important.

These reviews are probably going to end up focusing mostly on the Entities and their manifestations as they are what I have thought about the most and spent the most time interpreting and there’s been a lot of… interesting theories floating around about how the Entities are manifesting that I want to go over.

Finally, I’m just going to say it right now, spoiler warning for all of The Magnus Archives. I know that Jon and co said one could start with Protocol and be fine, and while that’s probably true, media like this tends to be made in conversation with or take into consideration what came before it in the irl chronology in order to connect them. While I’m sure you could skip The Magnus Archives, I don't really see the point of skipping over it when we are already getting characters from TMA showing up in TMP in Protocol. So to me it’s pretty clear that if we want to understand the full picture of TMP and all the things it is trying to say then we can’t just try to pretend TMA doesn’t exist or scrub it away. Just because you could understand what’s happening without the context in broad strokes doesn’t mean you're getting all the nuances.

These articles are meant to be quick and short so sorry if there’s typos and if I don’t address every possible question or possibility. I don’t want to repeat myself too much in this series outside of the prologue so be sure to skim some of my other articles.

Oopsie

An addendum to my last article. In that piece I said “The possibility of a target being in this episode is interesting since Bonzo’s target also seemed like they were wealthy or had a decent amount of money at the expensive club in Episode 12 (Getting Off). Wealth and money seem like another noticeable theme in Protocol so far.” I went back and skimmed that episode and there’s no mention of the men at the club being rich or having decent money. Just that the club is at best well known or prestigious.

Episode 16 “Anti-Social”

As always, we take in the events of the episode through some sort of device. This time, something is listening through one of the computers in the OIAR’s office. Sam and Celia are comforting Alice sometime after her encounter with the mysterious drowning woman. It is confirmed that the woman did in fact die in the last episode but after Alice ran away she “...went back afterwards. Couldn’t just leave her. Tape player was gone and she’d stopped speaking, and when the paramedics turned up and they just called it straight away. Said she’d been dead for ages.”

I don’t remember if I actually said this in the previous episode, but I originally assumed that the woman wasn’t one of the dead bodies mentioned by Gordon in Episode 11 “Marked.” My original assumption was that the drowning woman had been alive until she met Alice and died. So I thought she was a victim of The Deep or Gordon. Gordon even mentions “It belongs to the deep. I’m going to go get it and I’m going to find it and if they try and stop me I swear the ocean will claim us all” which sounds like a threat. Gordon could easily be on his way to becoming some sort of Avatar.

However, what the paramedics say does make my original assumption a lot less likely. It is more likely that this drowning woman might in fact be one of the dead bodies uncovered by Gordon’s crew in Episode 11. TMA has always had a weird relationship with death in the fact that not every dead character necessarily stays dead and they can come back, or mimic coming back, under very specific circumstances. The most obvious example of this would be with Avatars. In order to become an Avatar one must experience some sort of death. Sometimes this death is purely metaphorical but it can also be a literal physical death acting as the trigger for an Avatarification. Annabelle, Trevor, and Oliver from TMA are all examples of Avatars that had died or were declared dead only to seemingly return later.

So is this woman some kind of Avatar? It’s kind of hard to say. I would say that when an Avatar dies they seem to come back pretty quickly and don’t just suddenly regain life years later and become an Avatar. It’s possible the woman already was some sort of Avatar before her burial since we know people connected to the Powers can have their life extended but this usually requires them to appease their respective Entity in some way. Usually an Avatar being buried and unable to gather fear directly for their Entity would lead to them “starving” and dying. However, in TMA there were previous Archivists who were seemingly ancient and mummy-like with bodies that still moved, and there is the Catalogue of the Trapped Dead. However, the latter doesn’t actually preserve someone’s soul, life conscience, or whatever you want to believe but merely makes a copy of it. In MAG 154 (Bloody Mary) Eric states “I know that I’m not really Eric; I’m just a memory someone wrote down. It hurts, most of the time. I don’t like it.” We also know that Entities have ways of keeping people alive so that they can continue to torture them and draw out fear.

So the way I see it, there’s a couple of somewhat likely explanations on the table right now. First is that the drowning woman is some kind of Avatar. While this isn’t completely impossible or farfetched, at the moment I find this kind of unlikely. The second possibility is that the woman is someone who is being constantly tormented by The Deep and her conscience and / or body are somehow being maintained so that this Entity can feed on the fear or torment. It’s possible that while physically she reads as dead she is in fact alive and being maintained by a supernatural power or her vitals are so weird or wonky they wouldn’t read as normal vitals. The third possibility is that the woman actually is dead and someone or something is merely puppeting / controlling her body for whatever reason. There’s also the possibility that The Deep or some other Entity is recreating the woman’s conscience or somehow remembers what she was like before she died or this is some human-like manifestation / monster being used to scare or torture people (like a weirder version of Michael and Helen as the Distortion).

I should mention now that I think The Deep is an aspect of The Buried. It shares many similarities with The Buried, such as a call to return something to its grave and keep it there, deep waters in relation to drowning, etc.. While there are arguably some overlaps with an Entity like The Vast I would argue that they are overlaps that have always been present in terms of manifestations and themes in TMA. For example, both Entities had an association with tons of deep water and crushing weight (even if it was for often different reasons). Not to mention that two of The Buried’s names were “Forever Deep Below” and “Too Close I Cannot Breathe.” Both of which relate to The Deep in both name and themes of drowning and suffocation.

There’s also the tape that the drowning woman was carrying. If you know about TMA you should know why these tapes are so important, and if you haven’t experienced TMA I don’t know what possessed you to read this. Regardless, the fact that the woman carries a tape only for it to seemingly disappear is interesting and it’s very likely the tapes will have another important role in Protocol. Just like in TMA, it seems like something is capable of listening through the tapes but unlike TMA they don’t seem to be limited to just tapes and can listen through electronics in general. It could be something like The Web again and it just no longer has the exact same plans for the tapes, or it could be some other being or Entity using them.

The fact that the tape disappears is also suspicious. Last episode I had to wonder if something was attempting to give Alice the tape or some information on the tape but that raises the question of why the tape disappeared. Maybe some other force intervened. Something like ERROR (which we still have not heard about for a while) could have something to do with this and I could totally see the possibility of someone or something collecting the tapes or trying to give them to certain people. It could also be that something just wanted to make sure it was specifically Alice who got the tape and took it away when there was a chance Alice might have given it to the authorities or if the paramedics found it instead. The tapes also first reappeared in the episode ERROR was released from the Institute’s ruins so it’s possible ERROR and / or Protocol’s Institute is somehow related or connected to the tapes more directly. The tapes were also capable of somehow moving on their own in TMA. They followed Jon by using The Web’s lighter as a sort of tracking device or beacon but without such a device I don’t really know where they could be moving to or why.

We should also consider the fact that the tapes were connected to each of the Entities. Part of The Web’s plan was to let The Eye’s ritual go off so it could use the voice of the Archivist and the connection all the statements have to each Entity in order to drag them into a new universe. So it’s possible that the Entities are somehow drawn or even attached to the tapes in some way. I don’t think the tapes would be what’s keeping them in this world or anything but I wouldn’t be surprised if the tapes being around causes an uptick in supernatural events. In TMA the tapes were an artifact of The Web so it’s possible that the tapes are somehow being used to control things, such as the drowning woman, in some way.

Going back to this episode’s original scene, Alice also explains that the paramedics found tons of water in the woman’s lungs. So much water that there’s no way the woman could’ve been walking according to normal logic. Alice wonders if she’s finally going crazy, probably from listening to all the wild cases and how strange people like Colin have been acting, and Celia says “I believe you” and reaffirms her belief when Alice doubts her. Celia says “I’m serious. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I know exactly what happened, but I don’t think you just saw a body and freaked out. That’s not the Alice I know.” Now I’m not going to lie, I’ve lost track of how much time has passed since Celia first met Alice, so maybe they’ve hung out long enough for Celia to get a good feel for her, but I think there’s a bit more to it. As I’ve mentioned previously there are a lot of hints that Celia could be from the TMA universe and / or is at least aware of the Entities at a bare minimum. She shares the first name of a character that appeared in TMA as a part of Georgie and Melanie’s cult, she asks for Sam’s help in looking for information about multiversal travel (which we know is possible with the gap in reality, and in Episode 7 (Give and Take) she asks “Oh I don’t know. Every case about being buried alive or meat or… whatever.” Which sounds like someone using cases related to The Buried and The Flesh as examples.

Not to mention that on her first date with Sam she reveals that she already believed the cases to be real and last episode she was quite wary around Lady Mowbray and refused to give the aristocrat her name. So we can infer that even before Alice’s encounter Celia already believed all the supernatural events that were occurring. So whether she actually trusts Alice that much or would have believed what happened regardless is up in the air. I think it’s interesting that Celia comforts and hugs Alice. Especially given that in Episode 14 (Pet Project) Alice seems to take some sort of issue with Celia going on a second date with Sam, but it doesn’t seem like there has been any bad blood since and Alice hasn’t really done all that much to stop Celia and Sam from continuing to date. Seeing Celia comfort Alice like this is just really making me wonder where their relationship is going and if Celia’s relationship with Sam will cause friction in the future.

As Celia and Sam reassure Alice that she’s not crazy Sam says “Same. And it’s not like it’s any weirder than half the stuff we read here.” and Alice responds with “(touched) Thanks guys. Maybe… Eurgh. (sighing) I know it’s selfish but, I kind of hoped I’d paid my horror dues working here, y’know?” Before Celia says “I think there’s plenty of it to go around at the moment.” This implies that at least a part of Alice believed the cases were real and that she simply hoped to avoid the supernatural or believed that there was nothing she could actually do about them. At this point it's safe to assume everyone working at the OIAR at least suspects something supernatural is going on while people like Lena already know. Alice’s comment about paying her horror dues is interesting because later in this episode Lena is extremely upset that Gwen invited Mowbray to the OIAR and she even says “Because that’s the only possible explanation I can find for why you would think it was appropriate to bring an External into our offices.” and “Safer? You marched a dangerous asset right through the office without taking any precautions! For goodness sake, you gave her a tour! You introduced her to your colleagues! That poses a completely unacceptable risk to personnel.” along with “Gwen, if the O.I.A.R. is to function it is imperative that the Externals respect us and the boundaries we impose upon them.”

While I don’t think there’s any sort of trade off or “horror dues” to be paid it does sound like the OIAR does in fact have some sort of procedure or protection (a protocol if you will) in place for its employees safety either officially or unofficially. At the bare minimum, these procedures apply to the workers while they spend their long odd hours in the office. Whether there’s any kind of protection or procedure for when the workers are not on site or off the clock is to be seen. Lena mentions how hard it is to find any workers but if a worker was suddenly taken by The Deep or some External outside of office hours I wonder if the OIAR would anything about it… could they do anything about it? It’s also possible that these are just in place to protect workers from the OIAR’s own Externals as opposed to any and all supernatural occurrences or beings. This is all a long winded way of me saying that Alice may actually have some level of protection granted to her by the company even if she doesn’t realize it. I think Alice believing she “paid off her horror dues” could be her mistaking this protection for some sort of odd metaphorical karma system or something. Then again, it could always just be some level of luck on the part of Alice. What Alice is saying also sounds like she was hoping for some sort of balance of sorts, in the sense that there were “horror dues” that could be paid off or if she experienced enough horror there was less of a chance she would run into it later. In episodes like 13 (Futures) and 9 (Rolling with It) both the case givers seem to be under the impression that there is some sort of societal or cosmic balance only to be proven wrong or screwed over. This actually seems like a continuation of one of the themes present in TMA. Robert Smirke was someone who believed some balance between the Entities could be achieved to safely harness them only to eventually come to the tough realization that this was a false assumption when The Flesh started emerging.

So it seems like Protocol is expanding on that theme. Protocol also does use some alchemy symbols in its logo and such and I could see the themes of balance and alchemy being related somehow. Maybe someone tried / tries to achieve some sort of balance with alchemy only to mess it up or realize the “alchemy” doesn’t work in the way they thought and there is no such balance. The balance thing also seems like a commentary on society. While we would like to believe that everyone gets their dues eventually bad people can still get away with stuff scott free and innocent people who didn’t do anything can get fucked over, even if if they did everything right (this is also something brought up in TMA, and it can even be seen with characters like Sasha. Someone even Gertrude admits was the most qualified for the Archivist but she got screwed over and killed anyway).

Sam asks Alice if she’s okay enough to work and she says “Yeah. I already wasted most of Sunday crying about it. Anyway, odds are Freddie will spit out a transcript of the whole thing. Least I can do is make sure it’s filed properly, right?” Again, I have to wonder what’s determining what the cases the computers choose. Are all the cases somehow related to the OIAR’s externals or only some of them? Are they all just connected to the OIAR in some way (so it could include any employee or hire)? Maybe they’re just more random and only some of them have to do with the OIAR or someone / something is submitting relevant cases for some reason? Sam does what every TMA fan has done at least once and attempts to categorize the encounter, much to an awkward silence: “So would that be Z for zombie or…?” Protocol seems to have some commentary on how unwieldy or awkward viewing the categories as a binary can be when going through statements / cases and this moment might be a funny little jab at fans (such as myself) who will sometimes say “wow that was totally Vast” after going through some sort of experience. Alice has also implied that Sam can talk about his job a lot and Celia admitted he could be intense so this might be a way of showing how Sam’s job is slowly spilling into how he interacts with people and thinks (even if he is literally at his job right now and Alice is talking about it). More likely though, it shows that Sam is actually thinking about the categorization systems and is probably trying to learn about them.

Also, Alice saying that she spent a good chunk of Sunday crying about her encounter could be a joke or hyperbole but it also points to the idea that sometimes Alice is putting up a facade of some sort or that stuff gets to her more often than she might let on at first blush.

Case

Part of this episode’s case is given to us by Chester (Jonathon’s voice) and it follows a series of videos made by someone going by Madam Electrum (according to the url given by Chester) and the transcript refer to her as Madam E. There are some hashtags that tell us a bit about her channel: “#Gothgirl #lifestyle #beauty #alternative #aesthetic” This is also the return of Ink5oul (pronounced Inksoul): “Madam E/Ink5oul - Tattoo Reveal! 30-10-2023.” We even hear Ink5oul speak finally, even if it isn’t much and doesn’t tell us a lot about them. Madam E reveals that she is getting a tattoo from from Ink5. She also says “And let me say, they are the absolute GOAT so I'm here for my very own, completely personalized, absolutely aesthetic, totally vegan, boujee ink, for free!” Apparently, vegan tattoo ink is actually a thing but I don’t know much about it.

Also, electrum is “a natural or artificial alloy of gold with at least 20 percent silver, used for jewelry, especially in ancient times.” This could be some sort of reference to alchemy since gold and silver are very important metals in alchemical belief. According to wikipedia “Electrum was much better for coinage than gold, mostly because it was harder and more durable, but also because techniques for refining gold were not widespread at the time.” Neither gold or silver rust even if both metals can tarnish. So there might be something going on here with the idea of an alloy that never rusts and is resistant to degradation.

Madam E explains “This is seriously… I’m going in straight blind and trusting the process, I am that full on Ink5oul stan. So, as I finna get marked, make sure you’re following on socials, subbed to my Youtube and OnlyFans (if you know, you know) and sending those like, like, likes!” and Ink5 asks “You ready for your heart’s desire?” Madam E saying she’s going to get marked is interesting. Obviously, she might just be referencing being marked with a tattoo but Episode 11 (Marked) has the term in its name. Once again, that could also just be a pun revolving around tattoos BUT in TMA the term “marked” was also sort of used to reference people who were being targeted by or had a direct encounter with one or more Entities. In MAG 019 (Confession) a possessed Bethany O'Connor says “I am not for you. I am marked.” and Jonah’s plan for Jon involves having Jon get “marked” by each Entity. So “marked” here might actually have an extra layer of pun to it. People are getting marked both literally and metaphorically. Or maybe the tattoos are some weird physical manifestation of being marked.

Ink5 asking “You ready for your heart’s desire?” is also kind of interesting. I previously assumed Ink5 was some sort of Avatar of The Flesh, and while I stand by the idea that the case in Episode 2 (Making Adjustments) probably had to do with The Flesh, I’m not so cure Ink5 is specifically an Avatar of The Flesh anymore. Ink5 might be more similar to Robert Smirke in the sense that they have some sort of technique or knowledge that lets them interact with or call upon the influence of one or more Entities in specific ways without being an Avatar themselves. Smirke had his architecture and Ink5 might have their tattoos. Ink5 commentary on “heart’s desire” does sort of resemble how they behave in Episode 2. In that episode Ink5 doesn’t start tattooing until Daria tells them that she’s an artist, to which Ink5 responds with “The artist becomes the canvas!” So there’s definitely some weird “passion” or “heart” thing going on. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the tattoos seem to relate to things that people desire taken too far or twisted (such as artistic perfection or internet popularity). We’ll get back to Ink5 and their tattoos later since there is definitely some other stuff to talk about (such as how their tattoos seem to have different effects and where they might be getting their ideas).

Based on Madam E’s reaction we can assume that, like with Daria’s tattoo in Episode 2, getting it was extremely painful. I mean getting tattoos in general seems painful but these tattoos might be abnormally painful. Daria mentions looking down and expecting to see a bloody mess but maybe this is just Daria’s own expectations despite how weird the rest of the session was (she mentions getting no after care for example). This does seem to parallel what happens to Madam E here since she also seems just as wowed by Ink5 tattoo but Ink5 almost immediately tells her “Now get out.” Once again, Ink5 rushed their client out the door. Is there a reason for this? Is it Ink5's way of protecting themselves from the supernatural tattoos they make or some other reason, like maybe they don’t want the other person to be able to confront them as easily when the tattoos start taking effect?

The next video is titled “Videos: Recent Ink5oul rumours! 19-12-2023.” Madam E has gotten into some sort of internet drama with Ink5 and as she explains it she reveals that the tattoo she got from them was that of a heart in addition to the fact that she and Ink5 were in a situationship. Dictionary.com defines situationship as “a romantic or sexual relationship that is undefined and noncommittal.” The point is they were in some sort of close and probably intimate relationship, which makes the tattoo being a heart more poetic / ironic. “So like, since getting that ink I been feeling AMAZING and I admit I mighta got a bit extra, simping on Ink5oul. So you knows ya girl was slidin’ into their DMs- Holla to all them other thirsty girls!- and got into a bit of a Kiki.” The most straightforward interpretation here is that this heart tattoo somehow relates to things like love or likes in some way.

Madam E asked Ink5 about where they get their tattoo ideas from but didn’t get a straight answer since Ink5 apparently just says “secrets” and Madam E says “and, sure, but that got me sus cos like, we was high key vibing then suddenly they’re just dead y’know?” (so Ink5 became more quiet or despondent). After a period of not talking Ink5 asks Electrum ““so are you a real goth or not?” And I’m like “I’m more goth than y’all can handle”, and they just send me ”from.vision.ruled, Thursday, two thirty AM”. Takes a tick for me to clock that it’s a three words but when I look it up, turns out it’s this patch up in Highgate Cemetery.” So Electrum and Ink5 sneak into the cemetery and “We head on through the graves and then they point to one of ‘em and just give me a look. I was no cap shook and then they just said “dig”. I laughed, ‘cause, like, the ‘hell? But they were serious. “I thought you were goth?” they said. Now ya girl is hella goth, but this, this was just nasty so I told them they were outta pocket and they just give me the look again and whisper “don’t make me break your heart.” And I’m telling you, I could feel the words in my chest y’know? Brutal. That does me and so I am out of there like that.”

While this account does seem to share some similarities with the body being stolen in Episode 11 (Marked) there is a lot of evidence to suggest that this is actually a different body than the one Gordon was talking about. For one, this body is being dug up from a grave while the one in Episode 11 was taken from a medical facility as it was being examined. Not to mention that according to one of the email titles the cemetery Gordon found the bodies in was Padstow Civil Cemetery, but this is Highgate Cemetery. So this is probably a different body but it probably has its own special tattoo, like the one seen in Episode 11. Ink5 saying “don’t make me break your heart” is ominous and potentially implies a strange effect of the heart tattoo, as Electrum even says she could feel the words in her chest.

Electrum claims that she bailed and then the very next day there’s news of someone breaking into Highgate and robbing graves (presumably Ink5). Madam E says “Y'all gotta know what's up. And, like, where does Ink5oul get all their ideas huh? Are they really all that or maybe, maybe they’re just bitin’ stuff from some mouldy old bodies? Nasty. Ya girl is a goth, not a ghoul and I am done with Ink5oul.” This does raise an interesting point. It’s possible that Madam E just doesn’t know what she’s talking about because, like most people, she seems unaware of the supernatural. However, she still might be onto something even if she didn’t have the entire picture. In Episode 11 (Marked) Ink5 appears to steal another corpse that we know had a tattoo on it. In addition to that Gordon recounts “According to them the tattoo is an “Oscar Jarrett”, and that’s a big deal to some folks in that community – something to with Sutherland Macdonald whoever that is.” 

As I went over in the Quick Thoughts for that respective episode, “Oscar Jarrett doesn’t seem like a style or type of tattoo. Which points to the idea that Oscar is a person. Considering all the tattoos we are seeing, Oscar might be comparable to Smirke in some ways. In the sense that in the same way there was special Smirkean architecture, there could be special Jarettian tattoos if that makes any sense. Tattoos that are designed to have supernatural effects of some kind. It’s also possible that Oscar simply learned and taught some kind of supernatural technique, kind of like the techniques that The Boneturner’s Tale could grant someone in TMA or how Martin sort of ended up learning how to “disappear” by following Peter Lukas’ attempt to connect him to The Lonely. Oscar Jarrett and Ink5 are definitely people to look out for in the future. Sutherland Macdonald surprisingly did yield actual search results. He is apparently “a prominent English tattoo artist in the late 19th century and early 20th century, and the first tattooist in Britain with an identifiable premises open to the public.” This makes Sutherland notable for the same reason someone like Smirke might have been in TMA. A historical figure who somehow learned and / or spread knowledge about the Entities. Again, it’s possible that there are Macdonald style tattoos in the same way there is Smirke style architecture. It could also be that the Oscar Ink5 is referring to is in fact the body with the tattoo that Gordon found and Gordon just doesn’t know what they are referring to. It could also be that there are multiple tattoo artists or Oscar is some student or follower of Sutherland in the same way people like Jonah, Maxwell Rayner, and Mordechai Lukas all had a connection to Smirke via being students or associates. Some characters even explicitly got the idea of possible rituals from Smirke and his research, despite the fact that most weren’t concerned with Smirke’s ideals of balancing the Powers.”

This leads to the question of how exactly Ink5 taking inspiration from these tattoos works. It could be that Ink5 is taking inspiration from some sort of technique or style from each tattoo. Which would mean the tattoos don’t have to match exactly or they could vary. But Ink5 could be copying the tattoos 1-to-1 and major deviations, if any, might not be possible. So the question becomes this: When Ink5 comes across a new tattoo is that like adding to their style or is it just like adding a new kind of tattoo to their portfolio? As mentioned previously, in both of Ink5’s appearances their tattoos don’t seem to be picked randomly. With Daria Ink5 waits until they feel inspired and the tattoo Ink5 gives Electrum seems to be based on their situationship and E’s desire for internet popularity. Of course, all the grave robbing causes Electrum to break off her relationship with Ink5.

The next video is “Videos: Madam E – OMG That callout video! 19-12-2023” and Madam E says “Y’all probably heard by now that Ink5oul dragged me on their channels. It was… it was vicious pick-me trash and everyone bought it and their stans are seriously extra cos… yeah there’s been proper hate at me and y’know I try to rise above… but it’s hard.” Madam E insists that they're a good person despite all the callouts, death threats, and doxxing. Even the cops are trying to pin the grave robbing on Madam E despite Ink5 probably being the culprit.

But then something weird happens. Madam E lets out a gasp and clasps her chest before saying “It hurts. All that hate, all those people wanting me dead or worse… I can feel it. No cap, it hits right here. It’s like y’all are bees stinging me over and over right in the heart. I dunno if the camera’s picking it up but you can even see it… ” This is probably related to the warning Ink5 gave earlier “don’t make me break your heart.” She then says “That’s not okay. I’m not okay. I just, I just wanted y’all to listen but instead… ” before announcing the decision to take some time away from her socials.

The next video is titled “Videos: Madam E – Help (Unposted) 03-01-2024” and takes an even sharper turn with E coming to us from some sort of hospital room and sounding worse for wear. Electrum has been getting some comments expressing worry and E explains that the threats and doxxing have been getting worse: “So since that last vid, things got worse… started getting dodgy mail… then someone set my door on fire… The cats are okay but… had to move back in with mum and dad and now…” We then get more details on her condition as she says-

She coughs weakly. It sounds awful. 

MADAM E 

“I’m… in the hospital… there’s something wrong with my heart… but they’re not sure… She gasps again.”

MADAM E 

“It hurts… It hurts so much… mum says its stress but doctor says its an infection from the tattoo. but… I know it’s more than that…”

She coughs painfully again and begins crying. 

MADAM E 

“I just wanted to be noticed… I just… I don’t deserve this… please, please just stop… the views are cutting me... the comments hurt… I’m done… I’m done and… and…”

She struggles to breathe, an alarm starts beeping. There is the sound of tearing skin and a gurgled sound, as though something were tearing itself free of her flesh. The recording ends

In this dialogue even the doctors directly link Madam E’s sickness to the tattoo. Okay, where do I begin? I’ll start with the usual. If we were to view this through the lens of Smirke’s 14 the most obvious Entities that come to mind are The Eye and The Corruption for me. The Eye is the more obvious one since it relates to fears having to do with judgment, being doxxed or having information revealed. The Eye has also manifested as strange diseases in the past. Albrecht von Closen had an encounter with The Eye after coming across a tomb and taking a bunch of old books with numerous statements (something Jonah later stole). In MAG 127 (Remains to be Seen) it’s clear Albrecht is being beset by a strange illness and he is becoming sickly and dying (he’s also spouting statements and staring at people). Albrecht later dies from unknown causes (the mysterious illness) and an autopsy reveals that his internal organs, bones, and inner skin had been covered with eyes… So growing eyes or some other observational tool / organ where they shouldn’t be would be in line for The Eye and potentially explain the pain E feels. E talking about how the views are cutting her and the comments hurt could relate to The Eye and the theme of judgment or being perceived. The fear of people judging you and not liking you is very in line for The Eye. Ink5 threatening to break Madam E’s heart could tie into The Eye’s connection to judgment.

TMA also likes to play around with irony too when it can. This wouldn’t be the first time someone wished for fame or to be noticed only to draw the attention from a being that feeds off the fear of being perceived or known by others.

Then there’s The Corruption. The Corruption is an Entity that embodies fears relating to disgust. As I’ve mentioned previously, this does include non-physical things. People can find specific actions, mentalities, or kinds of relationships gross and / or off putting (which is where The Corruption’s connection to toxic relationships often comes from). Not to mention, that The Corruption can have themes of self-loathing stemming from disgust one might feel towards one’s self. Hopefully, you can see how this could easily relate to the fear of others finding you disgusting. I would go as far as to say that the fear of judgment is something The Corruption and Eye can very easily overlap in. Being afraid of being judged and found gross often go hand and hand, and someone judging you might label you as gross.

So there could be the fear of Electrum’s fans becoming disgusted with her. Not to mention that Madam E seemed to find Ink5 digging up bodies gross, since she says “Are they really all that or maybe, maybe they’re just bitin’ stuff from some mouldy old bodies? Nasty. Ya girl is a goth, not a ghoul and I am done with Ink5oul.” You could also relate this to The Corruption’s theme of unhealthy or gross relationships because this all happened due to Electrum’s situationship with Ink5 (which didn’t seem healthy considering the threats). You could also make an argument for Electrum having an unhealthy relationship with her followers or people on social media. When E describes the pain in her heart she describes it as “bees stinging me over and over right in the heart.” The Corruption has an obvious connection to bugs since they are often thought of as gross and The Corruption has manifested as things such as wasps and hives in the past. Not to mention, out of all the Entities, The Corruption has the greatest precedent for manifesting as diseases due to the connotation sickness has with feelings of disgust.

Something also sounds like it might be bursting out of E’s chest at the end of the video, I can’t say what exactly though. It’s possible something was gestating in her heart like some sort of parasite or hive but maybe her heart just sort of… walked away? I know that sounds stupid but Ink5 did threaten to take her heart so maybe they literally got it somehow.

As for other Smirkean categories that could relate to this case, there’s The End and maybe The Slaughter with the death threats, The Desolation in regards to Electrum’s home being threatened from the door being burned down, and The Web with Ink5 trying to manipulate E and Madam E feeling a negative backlash when she doesn’t follow their command. There’s also themes of The Flesh with something potentially emerging from, or distorting, E’s body.

CHESTER

In episode 12 (Episode 12 TMP Quick Thoughts) I went through each of the voices on the computers to see if there was any sort of pattern. I won’t go through all of them here, but I argued that CHESTER, Jonathan’s voice, seems to show up with cases that have heavy themes of curiosity or someone looking for something. The most obvious example of this would be CHESTER covering the case of RedCanary investigating the Institute’s ruins to find unexplored areas and sate their curiosity in episode 1. There is an argument that this specific episode could have similar themes when you consider that it involves Ink5 looking for a body and trying to dig it up while Madam E is trying to get more followers on the internet.

It’s also possible CHESTER covers cases related to the Institute but we can’t say for certain if Ink5 has any relation to the Institute yet.

Rest of the Episode

This case seems to be getting to Alice and as she walks off Celia and Sam go to comfort her. The cases are probably starting to hit a bit too close to home after her experience with the drowning woman.

Gwen enters the room just as everyone left and exclaims “For god’s sake! The second I’m not around…” She probably assumes everyone is ditching work or something. The transcripts clarify that Gwen “...leans over starts reading Sam’s case.” which is interesting. I wonder if she was about to categorize Sam’s case for him to finish his work or just wanted to see the last thing he had been reading.

“Lena angrily knocks on the glass of her office.” and Gwen is clearly annoyed. Gwen tries to get out of the situation by saying “Look maybe you didn’t notice but no one is at their desks and the case load tonight is” which might imply that Gwen was about to do Sam’s cases for him. It might also point to Gwen being a bit of a workaholic or overworking herself unnecessarily. She might also be doing all of this to try to cope with horrors such as Mr. Bonzo or avoid Lena.

After Lena tells Gwen to sit down she begins to tear into her.

LENA CONT. 

“Are you stupid?’ 

GWEN 

“(bristling) Excuse me?” 

LENA 

“(louder) I said Are. You. Stupid?” 

GWEN 

“I don’t”

LENA 

“Because that’s the only possible explanation I can find for why you would think it was appropriate to bring an External into our offices.” 

GWEN 

“I just thought it might be safer if they were in a controlled environment.” 

LENA 

“Safer? You marched a dangerous asset right through the office without taking any precautions! For goodness sake, you gave her a tour! You introduced her to your colleagues! That poses a completely unacceptable risk to personnel.” 

GWEN 

“I was with her almost the whole time. Besides, Lady Mowbray is a lady, an actual, married into the house of lords, Lady. It’s not like I was holding doors open for Mr. Bonzo or anything.” 

LENA 

“You have no idea how dangerous she is.” 

This is actually a very interesting interaction because it sheds light on the general relationship that the OIAR has with its Externals. Lena describes them as a dangerous asset that shouldn’t be brought into the office. She even says that introducing her colleagues posed a risk to Gwen’s coworker’s. That point in particular is interesting. In the last episode Lady Mowbray takes an interest in Celia and asks for her name. Luckily, Celia doesn’t give her a name but this would point to the idea that if Celia had she probably would have been put in some sort of danger. Nigel also mentioned it was probably for the best he and / or Bonzo didn’t Gwen’s name. This could mean that not revealing certain names is a part of the OIAR’s protocol.

This conversation also reveals that there is some sort of protocol or standard (be it official or unofficial) in place to help keep the OIAR’s workers safe / safer, at least while they are at the office. It also shows that the OIAR’s Externals might not usually know that much about the OIAR or what’s happening within it.

Gwen tries to defend her actions by arguing that Mowbray isn’t a monster like Mr. Bonzo. As we know from TMA, plenty of monsters and Avatars can look like normal people. Also, I don’t find the argument that Mowbray is a British aristocrat, so she can’t be evil, to be very compelling given what I know of history. 

LENA 

“You have no idea how dangerous she is.” 

GWEN 

“No, I don’t, because you don’t tell me anything!”

LENA 

“And I will keep it that way until you have proven to me that you can be trusted to think before you act.” 

GWEN 

“Or I die right? Because I can’t help noticing that you’re happy to send me out alone to meet all these dangerous Externals that you are too afraid to even let into the building!” 

LENA 

“Gwen, if the O.I.A.R. is to function it is imperative that the Externals respect us and the boundaries we impose upon them. Otherwise”

GWEN 

“Fine! No Externals on site, understood. Happy?’ 

LENA 

“It’s becoming clear to me that you are struggling with your new position and so I think it might best if you”

GWEN 

“Give me another assignment.” 

Gwen is obviously starting to lash out because of the lack of answers. This is all too familiar if you’ve seen TMA. Since Jon and co also got very annoyed on several occasions as Jonah strung them along and refused to give a lot of straight answers. So here we have another weird boss putting their subordinate in extreme danger for seemingly unknown reasons. Gwen explains that Lena never told her not to bring Externals on site and seemingly manages to get another chance or at least wants to prove herself. It’s plausible that the reason Gwen invited Mowbray was in an attempt to get answers but it’s also possible that she was just scared and what she said about the controlled environment was her actual justification.

This situation is kind of ironic because for all of Gwen’s talk about how dangerous this job seems, Lena actually didn’t think Gwen was ready for the job. Gwen forced Lena’s hand by blackmailing herself into the position. If it was up to Lena Gwen would probably not be in this position. This does make me wonder who was acting as the Externals Liaison before Gwen or if there are any others though.

Conclusion

If you want to see the categories for this episode’s case in the transcripts they are-

CAT1RB1565-30102023-25032024 

Tattoo(influencer)-/- Cardiac 

Incident Elements: 

- Cyber Bullying 

- Intimidation 

- Harassment 

- Mentions of: heart problems, hospitalization, tattoos, needles, 

exhumation 

- SFX: Tattoo gun, screaming, coughing

If you want to see my previous articles you can read them here: TMP Quick Thoughts Archive

[angelosearch]

This has been languishing in my drafts for a while but with the new season of The Bad Batch being dropped today, I thought maybe it would be a good time to discuss...

The Actual and Potential Star Wars References in Final Fantasy VIII

Preface: For your standard nerd, I was a very late bloomer when it came to Star Wars. The first piece of Star Wars media I actually got into was Clone Wars when I was in my mid-twenties. So the first time my husband saw me play Final Fantasy VIII, he kept saying "That's a Star Wars reference!" and I was like "pffft, no way, not everything is Star Wars."

Now revisiting this game as someone who is so into Star Wars I can give you a 60-slide PowerPoint on why I love Thrawn (recent book series version) and identify characters by just their lightsaber, I can tell you: This game has many connections to Star Wars. Honestly, I will probably miss some in this post.

And it is a long one.

But first, the spiritual connection

We all know that the Final Fantasy series is peppered with Star Wars references; perhaps most notably, Biggs and Wedge. However, I like to think the connection between FFVIII and Star Wars is a little deeper.

FFVIII and the first installment of the Star Wars prequel movies, Episode I: The Phantom Menace, both came out in 1999, which means they were both being produced around the same time. They were both extremely ambitious projects in their field. But I think one of the strongest connections is that both the movie and FFVIII were pioneers in utilizing motion capture technology, and, in doing so, completely changed their medium. (If you want to learn more about the importance of motion capture in the history of Star Wars media, I highly recommend the podcast The Redemption of Jar Jar Binks.)

This may be controversial, and I adore Episodes 1, 2 and 3 so I mean this is the utmost affection, but I kind of think of FFVIII as the "Prequels" of the Final Fantasy series. The Star Wars prequel films were reviled by long-time fans of the IP when they were first released, because they seemed silly, because they deviated from what people were used to from the series, because they took big swings, because the dialogue was a little clunky at times, because the nuance of the characters and the politics was lost on some. But, the Prequels are now being appreciated, mostly by those who grew up with them. Sound familiar?

Onto the in-game connections!

I am going to try to move from the connections that I am most certain are intended to least certain.

Biggs and Wedge. This serially demoted bumbling duo from the Galbadian army share names with Biggs Darklighter and Wedge Antilles--two Red Squadron pilots who fight alongside Luke Skywalker.

Piet. Or should I say Piett? The space guy in FFVIII is named after the Imperial Officer Fleet Admiral Firmus Piett.

Only one of the most iconic lines in Star Wars history. When Squall goes to retrieve Ellone from the library mid-disk 2, Squall is spinning out and asks "why me?" As Ellone is leaving, she says under her breath, "You're my only hope." Um, Obi Kenobi called, he wants his Leia recording back.

EXCUSE ME, BUT IS THAT A TIE FIGHTER? Nope, that's a spaceship we briefly see when we are getting into the Lunar Base on disk 3.

Lunar Cry is a deep, deep, deep cut? Screen Rant calls this the biggest FFVIII allision to Star Wars, but I am not familiar with the comic being referenced. It's still interesting though so I'll pull the quote:

The biggest Star Wars allusion in this Final Fantasy game, however, involves the Lunar Cry phenomenon which works similarly to the pull of the tides. The gravitational pull between the moon and planet occasionally brings about the Lunar Cry, where the moon's surface becomes so saturated with monsters, that it creates a gateway for monsters to fall on and attack the planet. This is a direct parallel to how the Beast Wars started in the Dark Horse comic miniseries, Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi, in which the planet of Onderon and its moon - Dxun - would connect once a year during their orbit. The native monsters of Dxun learned to use the "oxygen bridge" created from this occurrence to travel to Onderon which inevitably resulted in the Beast Wars.

NORG and Jabba. I think they look alike but also have similarities in the way they move and speak.

Martine and Nida. The Headmaster of the Galbadian Garden is named "Martine" in the English version because perhaps it was too obvious to call him "Dodonna" like he was in other translations. Jan Dodonna was one of the first generals to join the rebel alliance in Star Wars. Nida is a bit of a stretch (and honestly I didn't know this one until I looked it up) but there is a character by the name of Lorth Needa who is an imperial lieutenant commander. Like Nida, he controls a big ship (Imperial Star Destroyer Avenger) during an important battle (the Battle of Hoth).

"You can go about your business." I am pretty sure this is just part of a larger trope, but Galbadian soldiers and Storm Troopers are characterized very similarly. They are always masked, ineffectual, silly, and easily manipulated. Plus the soldiers are very weak in battle. Maybe they miss a lot of their shots?

Probably not references, but interesting parallels

Mysterious parentage/separation from sibling leads to epic destiny. Squall grew up an orphan. Being disconnected from his parents and a secure sense of home, along with living in that particular orphanage, made Squall, well, Squall. And then of course is his canon event of being separated from Ellone. Those beginnings set him on his path toward his fate. His mother is dead, possibly dying in childbirth (like Padme), he has forgotten his sister (Luke just doesn't know), and his father, not aware of his existence, is at the helm of a powerful "empire" (like Anakin/Vader). Of course, Laguna's character arc is much different from Anakin's, but I can still see a sort of "Luke, I am your father" moment happening between Squall and Laguna post-game. (Side note: Does that make Kiros and Ward R2-D2 and C-3PO???)

Gold eyes = evil. Palpatine and Anakin (as Sith lords) and Edea (when under Ultimecia's control) and Ultimecia all have gold eyes. Adel is my c-c-c-combo breaker here but I also know there are other evil characters throughout the Star Wars canon that have red eyes. (NOBODY SAY THRAWN.)

SPACCCCEE! Just space. While I am out here Charlie-Day-murder-boarding it (again) I might as well throw this in. Also, sorry sequels, but Rinoa did floating out in space and surviving because of an unseen power (the force of love?) first.

EZRA BRIDGER HAS A GUNBLADE!!! In Star Wars Rebels, Jedi-in-training (AND ORPHAN) Ezra Bridger builds his first lightsaber to have a blaster at the hilt. Also, he later gets a facial scar.

A character's home gets blown up. Sorry Trabia and Alderaan. :(

Idk, I need to look more into this but something about Esthar reminds me of Coruscant. Anybody else get that vibe?

So there you have it! My Venn Diagram of two of my favorite things. That's all the conspiracies I have time for today. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

Edited for typos. Of which there were many. My apologies.

[twinvictim]

is there a good way to get into EMH? i know that series had twitter accounts and live streams that went along w the series, and i've never found a good resource for those so i always feel like im 'missing out' on things when i just watch the youtube playlist

God that is a hard one to answer, emh is one of the best peices of media ever and also somehow impossible to get into if you didn't catch it when it was still going. There's a good chance IM missing things if I'm honest, one of the most beautiful and horrible things about it. Not to say it is impossible ofc but you are going to be putting in effort of some kind to find every piece or as many pieces as you can

Firstly it is best to have the wiki open and around while you're watching, you'll probably have to be digging for parts while you watch, kinda skimming through the synopsis and looking for parts that you may have missed of things that happened between videos. Unfortunately this is probably the best way to do it for the entire series.

Secondly there are several hours long analysis videos by nightmind that will, up to a certain point, cover pretty much everything from what I remmeber. Now, do note nightmind does dig alot of personal interpretations that didn't really pan out by the end into his analysis but they are the best and really the ONLY videos deep diving into the series.

Unfortunately as far as I know these are probably your best bet as far as gathering all the pieces, I really don't want to discourage getting into it genuinely it's such a masterful work of fiction worth of being called a monolith. If any old emh fans still follow me (or idk Jeff I know you're still around) and you have a more concise collection of all the parts please feel free to add to this! I would love to let more people get into it easier and if we don't have some kind of archive or something for everything relating to the series we absolutely should as a community collect it all. Everything from the letters to whatever archived live streams we have to idk screenshots of the cantouseethewords blog. Even if it's not all essential I think it's all important.

[oc-tournament-arcade]

The OC Tournament Arcade

The Arcade might open soon! This post is partially an interest check, as I'm explaining the vision I have for it. ☆

In the OCT Arcade, I'm hoping to host tournaments between original characters, but with a little twist! The characters interact and fight it out. Think of it like multiversal "hunger games" entry, where each character is dropped into a Nexus and they fight it out.

(Long explanation of how I imagine it going and what you can do in the tournaments under the cut! There's a TLDR at the bottom!)

From where I see it now (plans may change) It'll go like this: Creators will submit a Google Form that'll hopefully include a backstory, notes on their personality, and what they look like. Some tournaments may include a motivation for characters to be there, or they could have just been plucked from their universe and dropped into the nexus. You can be as detailed as you'd like.

Matchups are posted shortly before the actual polls so that people can get time to know the characters and show support. Then, when the polls are done and the result is out, creators will come up with a piece of media, as simple or complex as you'd like within a certain amount of time (what I have in mind is a couple weeks before the next round happens). It can be anything that tells the result of the battle; maybe a simple drawing or two of the victor and loser after the fight, some writing about the fight, a short comic, or maybe even animation if you're up for it.

Have your own interpretation and vision for the setting! A setting will likely be given, like a forest or abandoned city, and descriptions (and possibly maps) will come with it for any structures and important points in the area, but you can bend it to your will! Add places, or let bits of your character's universe crash into the nexus!

Collaboration is encouraged! In the battle art, work together to make your depictions of ocs accurate! Make characters form friendships with each other! They don't even have to kill each other, they can lose the fight through things like forfeit or maybe other characters join in on a fight that isn't theirs and defend the winner. Any way you can get to the point where the winner of the initial poll wins, and the loser... loses.

Most characters work! Drag in your fan OCs and have fun with the properties of their source world! Maybe eventually there will be a "banned fandoms" list, but I don't imagine it'll be long, since i dont hate a lot of media (i do believe in death of the author though. if the creators suck but you acknowledge that and the media's flaws, go ham!)

TL;DR: itll take a long time because the ocs will hopefully interact between polls, and tournaments will hopefully form a story as they progress! think of it a little like the "traditional" oc tournaments on deviantart and such. hes i am heavily inspired by animations and comics people make (shoutout unknownperson)

[elkkiel]

I think we need to take a step back and remind people of things like "don't like, don't read." Fandom culture is feeling increasingly puritanical in what is or is not acceptable to explore in fanworks, and the policing of fan creators is suppressing creativity for fear of public shame or harassment. It's *okay* to explore controversial, fringe, or even taboo topics or opinions. It's okay!! Fiction doesn't equal reality, but it can certainly be a way to reflect upon it. Applying a blanket ban to anything that feels uncomfortable or weird purposefully ignores nuance and differing perspectives, and wow is that a dangerous route to continue following.

Fictional step-siblings whose parents got married later in their lives and never developed a sibling bond might develop other feelings instead. Fictional victims of violent crimes may have complicated relationships with their abuser/attacker that would raise eyebrows for outsiders. Fictional people with horrible, hateful ideologies may also be a victim to their circumstances/upbringing that could paint them in a more sympathetic light. They're all complex explorations of controversial topics, so just slapping on labels like incest or abuse/<ideology> apology completely ignores the nuance of the story and the intentions of the author.

In terms of rpf, of course that gets a lot more complicated. It's important to consider both common human decency/baseline levels of respect and explicity-stated boundaries when dealing with real people. Unsurprisingly, a lot of folks might not be super keen on being depicted in uncomfortable or distasteful scenarios. If you're the one making the fanwork, be careful in how you approach certain topics and consider the impact should the subject of your story see it. If it's really "that bad," put it on private or take measures to limit visibility.

If you're someone who stumbled upon a fanwork that you find offensive, distasteful, or boundary breaking, holy shit do NOT amplify it. I'm by no means saying that people should stay quiet about fucked up things, but again, consider the impact on those who may also end up seeing it. For example, if it's a work that touches on a character's (rpf or not) past CSA, would it do more harm than good to then expose potential real life victims of CSA to that work? In calling out a work or fan author, do you then put that piece of media on the real person's timeline where they otherwise would've avoided it? It's kinda like posting screenshots of offensive tweets with 2 likes to your main account of 5k followers. You might find it fucked up, but now everyone else has seen the fucked up thing while they otherwise would have not. Be mindful of what you bring attention to and if it's necessary to give it attention at all.

So yeah that's my stream of consciousness from spending like 5 minutes on twitter this morning. I may have worded some of this a little weirdly, so feel free to reply/send an ask if anything needs clarification.

[ofmdsalt]

Heyyy! Nice to see someone who's not afraid of the gentle beardie's bullying actually make critical takes about ofmd! (I am afraid of their doxxing and harassing behaviour. That's why this is anonymous 🙃) Just curious, since you seem to not just be critical of the show but the fandom in general, how do you view the use of how folks in the fandom use academic buzzwords to moralize their specific interpretation of a character, and then justifying it as the only "correct" or "canon" read of a character and then weaponizing their own personal read against others in the fandom?

hey anon! i completely understand your fears. some people get too attached to a piece of media and make it their whole identity and if that media is criticized, then they may feel attacked themselves. i just think it's important for people to realize that taking a step back is a good thing. logging off is a good thing. doing something other than Fandom is good and healthy and gives people perspectives.

to your point about the use of academic buzzwords within this fandom. a lot of these words just have lost a lot of meaning to me because they're used to justify argument of why i'm right and you're wrong. but it's all done in a way that's mean to imply 'all interpretations are valid! but these interpretations are less valid than mine and are therefore wrong.'

it's another form of fighting within fandoms when analyzing media is meant to be incredibly nuanced. my problems with a certain subset of this fandom understanding 'canon' and weaponinzing canon in way to discredit other people (the canyon, lbr).

there's a reason why Death of the Author exists and everyone keeps misunderstanding it. Death of the Author, as theorized by Roland Barthes if we really want to keep going with this academic angle (because apparently you need 10 citations to have a Valid opinion in this fandom) is the understanding that once a piece of art is out in the world it is no longer defined by what the author/artists intended for it to mean but by the reader. everyone can have their interpretation of a text. to then go about arguing that "not all interpretations are equal actually" is basically the nice way of saying "your opinion is wrong and mine is right."

if you can't handle the fact that some people don't see Izzy as a fucking 'father figure' that's a you problem

if you can't handle the fact that some people see season 2 as subpar, that's a you problem.

if you can't understand why people don't like the fact that this show does commit historical revisionism, that's a you problem!

look at me with my big words and use of theoretical texts to win an internet argument! aren't i just smart and special.

that's how this all comes off to me. and i know i'm participating in it, but it comes off as condescending when people say they're worried about the media literacy of fans these days and clutching their pearls when someone posts an idea that they don't agree with and have to make dozens and dozens of posts with thousands of words refuting something

[ranstylezine]

More Q&A!

Q: What is a Zine?

A: A fanzine (short for fandom magazine) is a collection of fanworks published unofficially by fans for other fans! There's a long history of zines in various communities and fandoms that can involve various medias and mediums (both digital and physical!) I've long been a fan! For this zine in particular it's an art focused fandom zine themed on style.

Q: Will there be a physical copy of the zine?

A: That is the goal yes! Interest is looking sufficient currently to warrant a physical production but factors regarding ability to print and produce bonus merchandise are dependent on interest which is why it's so important to fill out interest checks and promote zines you're interested in!

Q: Would it not be simpler to simply aim to break even on costs?

A: Yes that is the baseline goal of the project but having been involved in zine projects before it felt important to receive feedback regarding potential profit in the case of the best case scenario. Current results are split in regards to charity or for-profit.

Q: How long will the zine last?

A: While the timeline is currently to be determined as I wished to research interest before planning details I think it may be possible to finish the zine for the end of year with a creation period that runs through the August/September period. Please note this is tentative to changes now we are going ahead with formal planning! More information will be announced as plans are cemented.

Q: How will creators be contacted?

A: Creators will be contacted via email and a discord group after being accepted into the zine!

Q: Can we include other characters in this zine?

A: Certainly, all Detco characters are fair game so long as the focus is on Ran! Group pieces with multiple characters shown sounds very cute!

Q: What about ships?

A: The intention of this zine is for it to be a Gen zine without ships but depictions that can be interpreted as platonic still are okay! I am also considering some leeway regarding depictions of canon moments in the series as some outfits do feel tied to certain moments in the series.

Q: What about AUs?

A: If it fits the theme of the outfit then sure!

[jaigeye]

everyone is forgetting that saw gerrera was taught by anakin and obiwan (white) lol

i do take some issue with sw writers plopping characters of color into villain/antagonist/not working with the ‘heroes’ role and the fans making incredibly racist memes, i just wanted to point out the fact that he was already on the edge of being a radical and anakin’s presence and training shoved him over the edge along with the death of steela. as a nonwhite person who has seen their own friends radicalized in Very similar ways, i dont think there’s anything necessarily wrong with how he’s being portrayed. i think he’s a good mirror of real life circumstances. the problem inherently lies with the fans, although again as i said it has disappointed me that fascinating, complex characters who are also poc or poc coded (barriss, saw, Reva, for some examples) are mishandled by sw writers and fans.

I think you're misunderstanding me here. Sure, it's a good point that yes, Anakin and Obi-Wan played a role in his life, but I don't think TCW is even a significant enough piece of media to base judgment of his character off if; Rogue One is where he really began to take shape as the character he is, not just a one-off arc character that was quickly forgotten. The nature of the clone wars anthology style is that unfortunately most characters motivations and actions are molded or influenced by the main trio, so I don't know if that argument holds up, although it is an interesting one I hadn't thought about.

My argument is not that characters of color cannot or should not ever be villains... Yet I would strongly disagree with categorizing him as an antagonist. Even in Rogue One he felt like a sort of indelicate attempt to show the political complexities of the Rebellion. That is both where my praise and issues with his writing begin.

Isolated, he himself is a very nuanced and interesting character. Placed in a space with the other Rebel leaders, however, it quickly becomes frustratingly clear that the only Black leader of great significance in the plot, on the same level of narrative importance as Mon Mothma, is a politically radical and aggressive Black man, plagued by delusions of victimhood/paranoia. This is as some might say, not cool. Imagine a sheet of paper with all the rebels and imperials on it. Who are the aggressive, intense characters who are ruthless? (Outside of Andor, because although flawed I feel they did a better job,) that list would include Saw Gerrera, Reva, and Moff Gideon. The good, harmless Black characters? Finn. Jannah, with a few minutes of screentime. Maybe Lando, but he too is always sidelined and we don't get a really good look at his motivations or character. Who else? There are others, but none with enough plot significance to really make up for this imbalance. Plus, a lot of those characters die.

If he were one among many Black Rebel leaders of varying political mindsets, I think my personal gripes with his writing could be resolved more. (However, Black fans opinion here would matter more than mine.)

The basic thing is that Star Wars writers do not know or care about your friends. They don't seem particularly tapped into the political realities of young radicalized minorities right now. We have to be more serious and objective here than this.

Their points of reference were most likely Che Guevara and Malcolm X, so on and so forth. i could handle that under certain circumstances. Andor did a pretty great job portraying him. The Rogue One book did a good job. Then the animations get their hands on him and, as is kind of inherent to the nature of kids shows, they have to pick someone to make the bad or scary decisions to show kid viewers that actually, changing the world through any means possible is a bad thing, and that you should usually use your words, be polite, and not be aggressive or demanding like these ~scary~ people performing direct action. Why did TBB and Rebels choose to take the one Rebel Black guy and make him try to win by putting children&other marginalized people at risk and using explosives and shit? in a real life context, when we focus on the motivations of the writers and not the content of the character, it gets concerning. It is not all, but many of the writers. It is not all, but I'd say most of the fans. The problem is a pretty big one. When u write him in such a way that people r blaming him for character's deaths and accusing him of parental abuse, the writers did something wrong too, not just the fans

Saw Gerrera is one of my all time favorite characters in star wars, because I think he's fascinating and full of potential. But it's really important to be objective about the inequalities in writing here, and pay attention to the way the very few Black characters in a narrative are portrayed.

[darkshrimpemotions]

Hello! I've been following your blog ever since the finale of The Winchesters and really love all of the metas you've done, they're all very well made.

I have a question about your thoughts on The Leak. I saw that you had made 2 vague posts about it and how the SPN side of tumblr has been treating it, namely poorly (to speak in delicate terms). I'm currently writing a piece about why potentially this attitude is going on, and why it is so pervasive. I'm asking you since you have obviously been in this fandom far longer than I have, and would like to get a second opinion from someone who may potentially have a more comprehensive view on this issue.

However, I completely understand if you don't respond to this as this is an issue that deals heavily with spoilers. I just thought you're 2 posts about it were interesting and would've liked to hear more from you about it as someone who is a diehard heller yet doesn't agree with what's been going on.

Hi hello. I am finally answering this since Good Omens 2 is now out. I didn't want to draw yet more attention to the leak ahead of time, but the time is come so here I go.

There are a lot of overlapping things factoring into some Hellers' overall reaction to the Good Omens leak and Good Omens 2 in general, but I do not have the bandwidth nor the desire to give anyone a crash course in Heller History & Psychology. It mainly comes down to the fact that Hellers, especially those who've been with the show and ship for years, are wounded more than most of us would like to admit by years of queerbaiting, and a bit defensive as a result.

Many of us are in our late 20s, early 30s, or older and grew up without ANY positive representation at all. What little visibility queer people in media were allowed to have was steeped in themes of deviance and tragedy. And the few truly joyful depictions of us that did exist were not accessible to many of us in our communities, especially before the advent of widespread internet access. As a personal example, I only saw the film Big Eden (2000) in the last five years. I didn't know it existed before then!

Queer representation only became more normalized on television once I was well into my 20s. And even then, it was only normalized within very specific limitations. A character could be introduced as queer or have a Queer Life Script type of story. But the majority of these characters were still steeped in negative stereotypes, and it was basically unheard of for a show that didn't set out to be inclusive to suddenly make one of its main characters queer in canon.

(Tangent: I still remember the first time I saw an unexpected queerness reveal on television. Two men were staring intensely at each other in the midst of an argument and I jokingly said "now kiss" at my television screen. And then they did. And after about 5 seconds of wondering if I had magical powers, my entire brain was rewired forever (it was an episode of Cold Case).)

The point is, it was really easy for a long time for general audience members and fans who didn't like Destiel as a ship to tell us we were stupid and crazy for shipping it, because they had the entire history of film and television in North America backing them up. Not to mention the cherry-picked comments of certain actors over the years, and the behavior of moderators at conventions. And many anti-hellers took full advantage of all that, and still do, and don't acknowledge at all the role that real homophobia plays in supporting their stupid little one-sided ship wars.

All of this to say, Destiel fans have every reason to be defensive and prickly.

That being said, I think malicious spreading of the GO2 leak untagged and unwarned-for was extremely shitty. Ruining something important for someone else because we couldn't have the thing we wanted is childish and self-absorbed beyond belief. Shitting on actual, canonical queer representation because it isn't the ship and show you wanted it from is just shitty, full stop.

And for what? It's not like Warner Brothers is going to wake up one morning and say "wow those Hellers really shit on every other queer rep on offer, guess that means it would be lucrative and smart from a business standpoint to resurrect a cancelled show just to give them canon Destiel after all these years!" But then let's be honest, there's no logic behind this kind of behavior. It's just meanness, bitterness, and spite. And while I sympathize with the bitterness, the meanness and spite are inexcusable.

Finally, the veiled-to-explicit accusations that Good Omens was trying to somehow supplant or copy Destiel are unspeakably stupid.

For one thing, I can think of few things further from "trying to be like Destiel" than taking a queer interpretation of a work that was not really intended by its authors and running with it full speed ahead. Supernatural is an example of how homophobia makes a story worse by flattening its characters and wasting its potential. Good Omens the show is an example of how a willingness to embrace queer interpretations of a story can give it new life and dimension.

So if anything, that's an inversion of what happened with Destiel! Supernatural is a straight man's straightwashed fanfic of a censored version of a queer story. It was forced into the closet at every turn by a homophobic network despite the efforts of queer and queer-friendly writers to course-correct throughout its 15-year run. The sheer number of bisexuals SPN took inspiration from only to straight-wash and queerbait for as long as it did is almost as ridiculous as claiming that a show that did the opposite of that was trying to emulate it.

I also find it stupid because Good Omens the book was published fifteen years before the fifteen-year hate crime that is Supernatural ever aired a single episode. The elements of queerness that the show teased out and expanded upon existed back when Eric Kripke was still what I can only imagine was an insufferable teen proto-filmbro making some poor underpaid high school English professor take up drinking to cope with his hypermasc Americana edgelord bullshit in every essay.

Much like when SPN fans started yelling that Matt Ryan's Constantine was a ripoff of Supernatural and Castiel, this is just embarrassing. If anything, the inspiration for Destiel came from Good Omens, not the other way around.

As for any worries fans express (in their adamant denials) about the Ineffable Lovers "replacing" Destiel, I have to ask...for who? Pretty sure no diehard Heller is going to burn their Castiel handprint patch from Stands as a sacrifice to the gomens gods to prove their loyalty. And anyway, nothing is ever going to approach being the "new Destiel" without at least a dozen years of will-they/won't-they slow burn angst and enemies to allies to enemies to friends to coparents to lovers shenanigans. It's just implausible! We can't even get a show to have five whole seasons anymore nowadays.

I know Destiel is important to Hellers. I'm a Heller. It's important to ME. But we aren't doing ourselves or anyone else any favors by acting like every star-crossed queer love story that comes along is somehow copying or devaluing Destiel. That is just laughably untrue. The Ineffable Lovers will never be Destiel, sure. But who ever said they were trying to be? I thought the whole explicit canonicity bit made it pretty clear that wasn't the case.

TL;DR: Hellers including me all have terminal brainworms from being gaslit since we were impressionable teenagers by Eric Kripke and all his successors, but that's no excuse to intentionally spoil big moments or be shitty about other shows giving their audience canonical queer rep. From the bottom of my Heller heart, grow the fuck up besties.

[sapphire-weapon]

I think the problem with a lot of RE fans (and in many other fandoms too, RE just happens to be the current topic), is that there's a belief being upheld, that whatever appears in canon material has to be free of criticism, just because it's canon!

To backup my point, I'll use Game of Thrones as an example. The show literally became infamous because of the backlash caused by its last season. It's not an exaggeration to state that the vast majority of fans and casual viewers (which are worldwide!) criticised it. Am I not allowed to point out Daenerys being out of character, just because the showrunners went ahead with that arc? Is the global viewership simply "just wrong about it", because hey, the showrunners made that decision. Leave it alone. It almost entirely killed the franchise. With books becoming a lost cause, HOTD has just about saved it.

My point being, just because something's canon, it doesn't mean it's good, nor is it free from negative opinions and thought pieces. That's what gets me about certain ship arguments. They have nothing of value to add to their stance... it's just "well, this and that canon storyline happened! So you're not allowed to say it's bad or try to analyse it from a different perspective!" Genuinely, how does someone like that even finish school?

It's unfortunately quite a popular opinion to have that worms its way into every piece of popular media. Just normalise questioning, analysing and constructively criticising the things we consume. That's supposed to be part of the enjoyment in my opinion. Also to add, it's important to recognise that franchises worth millions of dollars are much bigger than your curated twitter corner. Just because you and your friends bully people online, does not mean you're the spokesperson for RE (and others) consumerism. That is a toddlers perspective of the world, lol.

>it's important to recognise that franchises worth millions of dollars are much bigger than your curated twitter corner.

this is the single most important thing to keep in mind when trying to analyze a text and/or predict where a series is going to go, imo

it's so easy for your perspective to get fucked up when you sit in an echo chamber like that

that's why when cordial!aeon anon first came into my inbox, i was like "i need you guys to play video games that aren't RE" bc like

there was absolutely zero understanding of how the games industry actually functions and/or how Joe Average, who makes up the largest majority of consumers by MILLIONS, looks at the games he plays.

i worked at gamestop for eight years and let me tell u it is actually against capcom's best interest to develop their games around appeasing shippers, because shippers are responsible for only around roughly 10% of game sales -- and even that is being extremely generous. it will come as an upsetting shock to learn that a good portion (i estimate about 30%) of people who play video games skip the cutscenes entirely. the other 60% are people who just want a game that will hold their interest and make sense as they're going through it/not be embarrassingly stupid (like RE6 was).

like. no one has a more overinflated sense of self-importance than shippers who only talk to other shippers and engage with the medium in no other way.

[lebrookestore]

Honestly there's a lot of conflicting information regarding the censorship, some people say only the ebook version is censored, but Korea does have strict laws when it comes to graphic s*xual content. So, hmmm. I completely understand people who cannot support the idols involved due to personal matters and the fact they even watched/read MIA is enough for them. The unfortunate part is, since it's widely popular and acclaimed a lot of people engaged with it, I can guarantee that many idols who are into animanga did it, so technically no one is safe. The smart thing to do is simply not mention it publicly.

Even saying "I don't recommend it" brings attention to it, and when you have a lot of young impressionable fans you have a certain responsibility. Tyong's situation is tough, because on one hand he has never spoken about it, most people overlooked the manga copy in his story, I definitely didn't notice it, because the fucking boots were the centerpiece of the photo. So it's not like he said "hey, look at this manga I bought, it's so good" that would make me go "are you fucking insane man?!"... but the copy is still there. Is it his? Probably. Does he own all volumes? Idk. It'd make sense if he at least read them. Anyways, censored or not it's still a very disturbing story, but it's important to remember the awful treatment of children technically isn't the main point, it's still there, some volumes or episodes are more focused on other things though. I still don't see the appeal, but I saw a few episodes... against my will. I know people who engaged with MIA in some shape or form and none of them condemn the terrible violence and s*xualization. So, acting like everyone is a p*dophile is a deranged take, it's not only a serious mental disorder, but a heavy allegation too.

All in all, am I disappointed? Yeah. Am I surprised people watched or read a popular piece of work? No. I'm only shocked it got so many volumes and translations as well as 2 season of anime considering the author is actually a p*do. But if you're not into little kids then you'll definitely not find the s*xual aspects enjoyable. I don't believe you're a horrible person for engaging with MIA, but it's definitely not something you should be proud of.

This controversy once again proved that not only kpoppies can't hold their idols accountable without baby-ing grown ass people, but that many of them have hidden agendas and hate b*ners for certain idols and don't care for the actual issue. Dismissing the feelings of concerned fans is very insensitive, but so is sending threats to to people...

Sorry for the rant, the past few days have been so exhausting and I'm so torn and fed up, but also cannot stop thinking about it. And people's extreme stances and confusing information don't help, lol. I don't wanna be a defender, because MIA shouldn't be a thing, there's time and place to show sensitive subjects, but this story isn't it, but I can't bring myself to act like the idols in question (or any person who watched/read it) are total scums who deserve to d**, because they didn't commit a crime and didn't harm anyone directly (apart from hurting and letting down some fans).

i would like to say that you've worded this entire thing very well anon, i think you've covered all the bases and summarised how i feel about the situation as well. it is a very popular manga and chances are several more people have already consumed it. and exactly, the main point of the manga is to be a horror/gore manga, and an important thing to remember is that there is a difference between consuming media with something and condoning it.

it's been completely confirmed that everything was censored and all the scenes containing anything abusive or anything related to the allegations are not included at all! even so, i'm definitely appalled that something like this exists, but then again, several deranged things exist out here on the internet so. sending threats to people however, is absolutely insane to me.

and its completely alright, don't sweat it!! i definitely understand it weighing down on your mind because it certainly was the same for me until it was all cleared up.

[coolgirlmedia]

Real People Cannot Queerbait: In Support of Kit Conner and Harry Styles

When the news about Kit Conner being outed came out a few days ago, I was angered just like many others. I'm not much older than Kit Conner myself and I can't imagine what it must be like to be outed like this so openly and publicly before you're ready. Young adulthood is so tumultuous and vulnerable and to have the autonomy over your sexual identity taken away from you simply because people couldn't mind their own business is such a terrible thing. As a straight, cis girl, I can't imagine what it must be like to be forced to out yourself like that on social media. I never want to speak over the LGBT community but as a staunch ally, there are certain things that I want to discuss.

For years I have seen the term "queerbaiting" thrown around, mainly in a real-world context and I've seen multiple celebrities accused of queerbaiting. I think it is very important right now, to acknowledge the fact that real people cannot queerbait (Queerbaiting - Wikipedia). Queerbaiting is a term that was meant to be applied to fictional media, not real life living breathing humans. The way a person dresses does not define their sexuality.

Celebrities deserve to have privacy too. Simply being in the public spotlight does not mean that you or anyone else is entitled to know about their private life. Even if you are part of the LGBTQ community, it does not give you, or anyone else, the right to speculate about someone's sexuality. A person who dresses or acts a certain way is not queerbaiting.

This applies to Harry Styles too. Harry is someone who has been in the public eye since the age of sixteen and he has thus grown up being watched very closely. His behavior and his style have changed the same way anyone's style would change over time. Tell me, do you still dress and act the same way you did at sixteen? I have seen some people say that he began wearing dresses and dressing femininely when he realized that "there was a market" for it but this could not be further from the truth. If anything, he has only grown comfortable in his own skin and feels like he is able to dress the way he wants to. Harry has said before "Am I sprinkling in nuggets of sexual ambiguity to try and be more interesting? No." He's simply dressing how he wants to dress. This has nothing to do with his sexuality.

Furthermore, I find it crazy that people feel they are entitled to know what his sexuality is. How is it any of your business? What makes you think he owes it to you, a random stranger, to come out and label his sexuality for your satisfaction? The amount of self-important, nosy, indignation someone must feel to expect that from a celebrity is mindboggling. In addition, Harry Styles is someone who has hinted at not solely being attracted to women in multiple interviews. He even has an unreleased song called "Medicine" where he mentions both men and women (Harry Styles - Medicine (St Paul) - YouTube).

"The boys and the girls are in I mess around with them And I'm okay with it."

Also, just because he has only ever publicly dated women does not mean that his sexuality is any less valid. And once again, his dating history is no one's business but his.

Harry has never called himself a "queer icon" nor has he ever tried to act like he's the "first man to wear a dress". He's not the first man to wear a dress by any means. It is other people, mainly his younger fans, who love to attribute these sorts of embellishments to him. Is the fact that he gets credited like this his fault? No, this is not his fault, and he does not deserve to get hated on because of this.

I was talking to someone who called Harry Styles a "queerbaiting piece of shit" a few weeks ago. Because they are part of the community, they felt that they had the right to assess whether or not he was worthy of being considered it a part of it as well. This had angered me greatly because it made me want to say, "who are you to decide whether someone is queer or not?" When I met them again just yesterday, I brought up how real people cannot queerbait in relation to the Kit Conner situation and this time they talked about Harry Styles very differently, acting like they hadn't called him a "queerbaiter" just a few weeks earlier. "He doesn't owe it to anyone to label his sexuality," they said. While I obviously agree, it annoyed me so much that they wanted to act like they hadn't said what they'd said about him not too long ago. I am however glad that they realized the error of their ways and changed their mindset.

I hope the people who outed Kit Conner feel ashamed of themselves. I also do hope that they take the time to reflect on what they've done and how their internet bullying and "queerbaiting accusations" have had a such harmful effect on a teenage boy who was not ready to come out.

Learn to leave celebrities alone. They owe you nothing.