#chibified because I said so

[little-demy]

smol

[thefatisland]

Okay so I did a brief digging into the manhwa works of Taejun Pak, the creator of Lookism. I won't go too deep into it all because these stories all are basically about hyper-violence in one way or another, and that's not something I feel I can enjoy. I don't mind a battle story, but Pak's creations are... a bit too much for me. I said how much I disliked Lookism, his more recent works like My Life as a Loser seem to be a bit better, though still not my cup of tea. Though this is obvious that it is because Pak is still making himself out as a manhwa creator - Lookism was literaly his first creation, and it shows as it bears all the marks of a "first project". His later projects seem more focused, more well-handled, more precise in what they try to do. However, I digress...

What I meant to say is that Pak clearly has a certain interest in exploring the various male body types and indeed, as I thought, almost all of his works contain presentations of fat male bodies to various degrees. (Since this post is VERY long, all under cut)

All was sparked recently due to the main character of "My Life as a Loser 2" being a very muscular guy who turned basically obese since the last time we saw him

I already talked a long time ago about Lookism, which started out and maintained this very bad habit of depicting all the overweight characters as... inhuman, grotesque, half-chibified abominations.

Except for this one side characters, originally the main antagonist, then turned sort of side-kick, then co-protagonist? I don't know, Lookism is very convoluted... but this guy who is drawn like a regular person, and does get an entire arc of him losing weight, and then regaining all back and some more, before returning to his usual size. Logan Lee, that's the name. And apparently from a quick image research he at one point loses the fat and get buff? Okay...

Oh yes and you can count the main character who, as he loses the weight, slowly turns more and more human-looking but... I mean come on, that's typical Korean fatphobia to the max, the guy literaly has to slim down to be human.

Well I would have said "typical Korean fatphobia" if there wasn't all those other detailed, constantly shirtless, and shown as strong fat characters that keep popping up in th artists' other works.

Another one of Pak's famous works is "Questing Supremacy" which also has its share of fat characters (notoriously shown here as hard to fight due to their weight apparently? I am relying on the screenshots I could find)

Though it makes sense since most of these series all take place within the same universe, with recurring background, organizations and characters. One of the fat guys is actually a (tertiary I would say?) antagonist that started in Lookism and then returned in Questing Supremacy. Someone did a compilation of how his frames were reused, and you can see the style evolution between the two works)

Viral Hit (also known as "How to fight") also contains some characters with fat on them (though I don't know much about this series), most notoriously Donseok Ok (referred to as "the fat boxer" by some Internauts)

And this guy everybody is crazy over apparently, Mangi Hwang

There's probably many more but, as I said, I probably won't get too deep into this all because... I just don't have the time to explore entire multiverses of webtoons about gang members and bullies beating up each other - no matter how cool or good-looking the fat guys might look. If anyone has specific info, indications or screenshots they want to share, as usual don't hesitate (I think I should open a "Submit" option on this blog...).

And why do I have the strange feeling that someone Pak hesitated drawing fat men early on but as time passes by he just goes all in and takes a huge kick out of it?

I am thinking especially about "My Life as a Loser 2": the main protagonist, after letting himself go massively, returns to the past (though in a different body) and we get to see back his muscular, fit self... Only for this old body to become just as massive if not more as the "future obese" self for reasons yet unknown and unclear (I will be on the lookout for explanations as to how he could grow that big in just a month). If there's no explanation, it's just that the creator wanted to have this fat design for as much as possible...

[imagineitdearies-old]

Reading the newly finished I lie with him and he with me lucemond fic by chibifier and THIS PART, AHHHHH:

“Sometimes your obliviousness disgusts me.”

“No,” Lucerys said, his voice trembling. “I think it’s you you’re disgusted with. You force my hand and drive us both to inevitable disaster because you’re so in love with your own demise it sickens you.”

Aemond’s look was dark. “Are you saying you’re my demise?”

“Are you saying you’re in love with me?”, Lucerys countered, raising his chin in defiance, daring him to admit it.

Aemond didn’t answer.

[likecrapthroughagoose]

So I've only watched the first episode of Gamera Rebirth, but so far I'm torn, but optimistic. Full opinions below...

On the one hand, it felt kind of middling... I don't love the animation, for one thing. I don't hate it, per se, but... the human characters have a very early-mid-00's Toonami vibe and it doesn't always work. When it does, I like it. It's nostalgic. When it doesn't, it looks really, really cheap. The monster animation is decent, but it doesn't blend with the backgrounds well for the smaller Gyaos. Also, the weird photorealistic smoke effects that appear every time they're on screen are really distracting (honestly I worry they may have been partially AI).

I'll reserve judgement on the story as again, I've only seen the first episode. What I've seen thus far is very twee, which wouldn't bother me that much, except that they also don't actually show any real kaiju action until the second half of the episode. And I know Godzilla Singular Point also did a lot of slow burn stuff, but the difference is that I liked the story there. Singular Point also did its political scenes a lot better, and that's all I'll say about that for right now. Again though... that's just episode one. Pretty much every anime these days takes a few episodes to get going.

All that said... for everything I can criticize, there's a part of me that was just going "yup, that's Gamera" the whole time. Silly and harmless if mildly annoying plot about boyhood adventures contrasted with some surprisingly gory and truly brutal kaiju on kaiju violence. That's pretty much Showa-era Gamera in a nutshell. If you ever watched a Gamera flick and So I guess what I'm saying is, the monster stuff was cool enough that I can forgive the plot stupidity; and really, what more can any kaiju fan ask for?

Speaking of monsters, I like the designs a lot! Gamera's look seems to mainly be based on his Heisei-era design, but make no mistake, it's an absolutely brand new take on the look. 90's Gamera had a sleek, tall, almost modern feel. Something classy that could easily be slightly chibified so the various Heisei trilogy actresses could pose with it. (Which of course would lead to the overly cutesy Gamera the Brave design which I hate).

Rebirth's Gamera is a lot more rugged. There's something almost ancient about him, a bit dinosaur-like. Most importantly, he's a lot chonkier. I always stan thicc kaiju. He's a lot more feral-looking than any other Gamera design (unless you think Showa Gamera looked like he had rabies). He is not particularly cute, so naturally I think he's adorable because that's my whole thing. I want a plushie.

Speaking of feral, goddamn the Gyaos redesign was pretty awesome. They are absolutely nasty looking, especially the juveniles with the big gross eyes. I want a plushie of the baby Gyaos too. They're so nasty and I just wanna snuggle and squeeze them. The big one is great as well, but I wish they had gone even more over the top with it. Not like any of them stay in one piece long enough to really be appreciated... not that I'm complaining, of course.

Anyway I intend to keep watching. I feel like I haven't quite gotten a feel for exactly what they're doing, but at the very least they've piqued my interest.

[eeveezone]

Item name: Small Bean

Cosmetic effect: Your eevee becomes small! They are reduced significantly in size, and their body proportions become exaggerated and chibified to reflect this.

Words to earn: 300

Give to: whichever eevee is the cutest

The Small Bean

"It's a magic bean," Dame informed them while they huddled under the bed.

"Really?" said Fufu.

Lili smirked. "Did you sell your cow for it?"

"What? No, for real." Dame rolled the large bean across the floor. "It's called a small bean," she said while Fufu and Lili peered down at it. "It's called that because it makes you small, but it only works on the cutest eevee in the room."

Lili perked up. "That's obviously me," ey said confidently. "Fufu, kindly leave the room so I can eat it."

"What?" said Fufu. "If I have to leave the room, that means I'm the cutest!"

"No, I just don't want to take any chances. We only have one bean, remember?"

"Yeah," Dame said, carefully kicking the large bag of small beans behind her. "Only one."

Fufu huffed. "How about you leave the room? Then I can eat it!"

Lili puffed up eir mane and growled. Fufu glared at em and growled back. The two eevees stared each other down while Dame carefully backed away. Neither of them noticed when she absconded with the rest of the beans.

"Alright, Fufu," Lili said. "We both know I can beat you in a pokémon battle."

Fufu extended eir claws. "No you can't," ey said. "Demons beat angels. It's like type advantages."

"Angelic and demonic aren't types!"

"I didn't say they were types, I said they were like types! There's a difference!"

Lili took a step forward. Fufu took a step forward, too, putting them nose to nose with the small bean at their feet. The battle probably would have been legendary, a never-before-seen event for underneath the bed, but Fufu gave in first.

"This is stupid," ey said. "I don't want to fight over a bean. Just take it if you want it that bad. All it does is make you smaller."

Lili sighed. "Yeah, I dunno. You can have it, if you want. I just wanted to prove I was the *most* at… something."

Fufu tilted eir head. "How about we cut it in half? We'll only be half as small, but it's a good compromise."

"Oh, sure, that makes sense. How do we cut it?"

After some careful finagling, they cut the bean in half with Lili's halo. "Is mine bigger?" Fufu said, narrowing eir eyes. "I can trade, if you want."

"I literally don't care," said Lili. "Let's eat them."

Ey bit eir bean half and swallowed it. Fufu followed eir lead.

The transformation was largely uneventful. The two eevees shrank, their proportions becoming more exaggerated–chibified, perhaps. Lili and Fufu sniffed each other, examined their new bodies, and deemed the change boring.

"Man," Fufu said. "I guess it didn't really matter after all."

"Eh," said Lili. "It was a neat experience. I'm at least glad our friendship can survive almost-fighting over a bean."

"Yeah, that's good to know." Fufu paused. "How do we get back to normal?"

Dame, meanwhile, was attempting the same trick on Rolly and her siblings with the other beans, only for Juno to steal the entire bag when she wasn't looking.

[phoenixyfriend]

Commander Buir

Follow-up to this post. Not in any particular order, just spitballing ideas, with contributions from several friends on discord.

Like presumably it takes long enough for them all to meet up again that Anakin and Cody do, in fact, end up treating each other like family, just so I can have that good good "well, guess I'm Dad now" energy. Shmi isn't entirely sure what's going on but she's not a slave anymore and her kid seems to like this rando mando, so.

Anakin gets to have a mom and two dads, though one of the dads is arguably younger than him.

Also when they all meet up again and Cody explains the "General Skywalker got shrunk" thing, there are three reactions: (General) Obi-Wan: Oh, Anakin. Obi-Wan: [gestures to take him, ends up with an armful of clingy padatoddler] Anakin: You can't blame this on me, Obi. Obi-Wan, a little teary, because babies cause emotions: Of course I can, you absurd human being. ------ Rex: That's... my general. Anakin: I am, Captain. Rex: Cool cool cool I'm gonna go stand where I can't, uh, break you. Anakin: I'm not THAT fragile! ------ Ahsoka: [gasp] Skyguy is SKYKID! Anakin: Padawan, this is-- Ahsoka, grabbing him and cuddling: Oh my goodness you're adorable this is the best day ever. Anakin: This is humiliating, Snips, put me down. Ahsoka: Never.

Anakin hates being a toddler because of the lack of independence but Cody keeps picking him up when he's cranky and just holding him until he falls asleep and that's... nice.......

- The brain limitations aren't quite as bad as the situation with Sokanth and Ylliben in the other AU, but - Even if his brain is mostly adjusted he’s still got a tiny body with different needs that he’s not used to. Like, he needs to sleep more but he’s got more energy than usual when he’s awake and it’s all weird.

Cody carrying around toddler Anakin like "God you give me ulcers but you're adorable, you little shit."

Inconveniently tiny body aside, Anakin has a pretty great time in this au. His family are all together and safe and within reach. His wife isn't around, but toddler brain means he doesn't have the Romance Drive, so that's not as bad as it could be It could be significantly worse.

@atagotiak asked: Does Anakin get annoyed about being called cute? - To which I say, He bites the first few times but Shmi tells him that's Naughty so he stops. - Babies are cute so you packbond with them before they’re annoying, Anakin is cute as a self defense mechanism - He’s extra annoying so he needs to be extra cute

You know how you need to keep an eye on toddlers so they don't, like, fall down the stairs or put something toxic in their mouth? - They need to keep an eye on Anakin specifically so he doesn't rewire the ship they're in while they're in hyperspace. - He has less self control on account of being smol. He still has all the mechanical knowledge! Just less comprehension of y’know, consequences.

Anakin, with a sippy cup: This is demeaning. Ahsoka: Your hands don't work great enough to avoid accidents yet. Anakin: It's still embarrassing.

General Kenobi can't just kill Maul, not when Maul is baby right now (sixteen, which is baby enough) so he just. Kinda. Kidnaps a baby Sith. (It's fine. He's fine.)

General Kenobi (not to be confused with Padawan Kenobi) decides to declare Maul his new padawan because someone has to deal with this teenager, and Plo already claimed the rest of Ahsoka's training. And Anakin's three, so.

"What do we do with Maul?" "Eh, I can handle him. I dealt with teenage Anakin getting arrested for illegal pod-racing twice a month, I can work with this."

Maul bites, but only slightly more often than Anakin, it's fine

Ahsoka definitely bullies Maul whenever possible

Consider: Rex holding very still because Anakin wanted to be tall, so he climbed Rex. Being unexpectedly climbed is better than being unexpectedly yeeted. It's still extremely nerve-wracking. - Cody is perfectly capable of running around with a backpacking toddler General, but Rex freezes like a statue. - Ahsoka finds this hilarious

You know how little kids like to be thrown around and swung in circles and stuff like that? This must get even more ridiculous with force users. Can throw a child real high and catch them safely. - Rex panics whenever Ahsoka throws her chibified Master

Literally everyone except Rex loves being yeeted. Even Maul can appreciate a good tactical yeet no shut up he's not having fun this is TRAINING - Rex is Suffering - Cody, a very Tired Dad, deserves to mock his vod'ika a little, as stress relief - Rex, a certified Little Brother, shoves Cody off something tall. Jokes on him, Cody thinks freefall is fun too.

Tia asked: So the people who didn’t exist yet got flung bodily back in time and Anakin did the mental time travel. Why did Obi-Wan not become Padawan Kenobi? (I mean “because I want it that way” is def a good enough answer I’m just wondering if there’s any reason.) - Which, well, it really was mostly "I want to" but here's two options, both of which come down to Blame Daughter and Father. 1. They figured a responsible adult Jedi Master was needed to convince people. 2. Nobody was supposed to get de-aged but Daughter figured they needed to make Anakin less liable to kill things for a few years. - Also IDK the Force God-Manifestations also took away any risk of rapid aging and early death from the clones because uhhhhhhhhhhh I said so

Rex and Ahsoka are fumbling their way through a relationship where ages are just really confusing and awkward, so they're keeping it to just kisses and cuddles for a bit.

Cody is so tired he doesn't even realize anyone's hitting on him until it's been three years of co-parenting with Shmi and his General. - Somehow Anakin knows Cody is in a relationship before Cody does. Cody has never been so embarrassed. - How did he manage to be less observant than Skywalker? -- it was sabotage; all his brain cells were taken up in managing said Skywalker -- Because Skywalker was up at three in the morning whacking a training droid with a stick so he didn't have the energy for Relationships

Also Shmi's come-ons are super subtle, while the General's are... well, Cody's gotten very used to ignoring anything ambiguous on that end because fraternization rules, and also because Obi-Wan flirts a lot with everyone. So.

Please imagine Cody and General Kenobi walking around with Anakin tucked into a toddler sling while they do whatever work they've ended up with at the Temple. - Yes, Cody is helping the Jedi figure out the best plan of attack to take down this slave ring because his grasp on tactics is phenomenal and he knows how to deploy people at greatest efficiency, but also he's got a nosy toddler on his hip who keeps offering his own insane-but-competent ideas. - General Kenobi ends up with a Council Seat just on account of, like, being the kind of person he is. As often as not, he's got Anakin tucked into his robes, chewing on the ear of a stuffed tooka or something.

IDK what Shmi's doing but apparently Legends had it that some of the administrative and support positions in the Temple were held by non-Jedi civilians? So probably something like that.

GENERAL KENOBI LECTURING PADAWAN MAUL WHILE ANAKIN'S BALANCED ON HIS HIP AND GLARING AT MAUL FOR STEALING HIS DAD

General Kenobi: Ahsoka's babysitting. Anakin: I'm her master, I don't need babysitting, this is-- General Kenobi: Fine, then you need supervision, so that you don't blow up a training salle again. Anakin: And you think Ahsoka would stop me? General Kenobi, eye twitching: Fine, I'm leaving you with Plo.

Even if he’s mentally an adult Anakin always needs supervision Look at canon! Anakin was left without supervision for like two days and he became a Sith

Quinlan gets distracted by how attractive General Kenobi is and tells Obi-Wan "dude, you're gonna be so hot once you can get rid of the stupid haircut" and Obi-Wan pushes him into the nearest pond.

They end up with this weird "Uncle Jango" situation (uncle to Anakin, via weird brotherhood-ish to Cody) because Rex and Cody are just like "Uhhhhhhhhh yeah okay" about him eventually, and Jango just like. Drops by. Trying to Earn Affection Of Blood Kin by bringing weird gifts for them and their (ugh) Jedi.

"Okay, Rex'ika, I stopped by Shili--" "What?" "--and apparently this is a delicacy there, so just... your girlfriend will like it." "She's not my girlfriend." "..." "Okay, I can't call her my girlfriend. Jedi have rules about that sort of thing, and--" "This will make your Jedi happy, probably. Just take it, kid."

Baby Anakin got his arm back but for some inexplicable reason still has The Eye Scar. He matches Buir.

[tainted-wine]

Just gonna leave this here: a quirk that turns Hawks into an actual hawk version of himself that can talk, and his poor s/o must be his falconer until the quirk wears off. Alternatively, Dabi getting chibi’d. MANY LOLS TO BE HAD. And also burnt pants pockets, if I’m not mistaken.

If Hawks was a bird, I’d imagine his appearance would resemble a Brahminy Kite aka red-backed sea eagle. Yeah, I know they’re not exactly hawks but it’s such a perfect look for him. Though I’d imagine his front plumage to look more blonde than white.

The news reporters were already swarming him. At least give him a chance to breathe; this was probably more shocking to himself than it was to them. It’s also just a little intimidating to have so many people several times his height squatting down and shoving mics into his little beak.

“Did you see the villain that did this to you, Hawks?”

“How long will this quirk last?”

“Will you be able to carry on with hero work in this condition?”

“What do you have to say to your fangirls right now?”

“Would you be willing to have a photoshoot with us and promote our bird shop?”

He raises his wings (man, it’s weird when they���re your only upper limbs) and attempts to calm everyone down.

“Relax, everyone. I’ll have this all fixed up soon, I promise! And don’t think I’ll be taking a break from hero work just because I’m small enough to perch on your arm. You villains out there better stay put!”

The flashing cameras hurt. His eyes felt more sensitive than ever.

Of course, that was a bit of a lie. Hell no, he isn’t fighting any competent villain while he’s a literal bird, but he already knows that the Hero Commission isn’t going to let him sit back even while he looks like this.

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

What the fuck were you watching.

A group of reporters were crowding a bird that had just hopped out of your lover’s hero outfit which was piled on the floor. And they were calling the bird Hawks.

And then the bird spoke. With Hawks’s voice.

No way.

A bit less than an hour after those surreal interviews, a rapping sound was heard at your window. Lo and behold, the same bird you’ve been looking at all over the Tweeter feed was waving at you as he waited patiently to be let in.

You didn’t know where to even start as he waddled in, unsteady on legs that bended in ways he wasn’t used to, and large talons that scratched every surface.

“Did ya miss me, baby bird?” Wow, he really just used his seductive voice. 

Your discussion with him about what he plans to do while in his current form is as awkward as you expected, with one extra curve-ball thrown in.

Your face looms over his smaller head. “What do you mean you need me on your patrols? Patrols that you shouldn’t even be doing right now?”

He shakes and puffs up his feathers. “You’ll be my partner in crime! Well, more like you’ll be the one carrying my goods around and answering calls while I take down bad guys. And I have to make sure I always have a good takeoff spot, since I’m not as quick and limber of a flyer as I usually am. It’ll be safe, I promise.”

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

It wasn’t very safe.

Sneaking up on a villain in a sketchy ally was not safe at all. Hawks was unknowingly digging his talons into your skin as he kept his body low, his wings only half-folded in case he needed to fly at any moment.

With a signaling squeeze (ouch), you swung your arm as he leapt off and flew toward the unassuming criminal.

It was...ridiculous, watching what was an intimidating man make high-pitched yelps of surprise and swat at the hawk flapping around his head. All respect as a villain is probably lost if you’re subdued by a bird that isn’t even half your size.

“Now!” Hawks shouted while he had the man’s arms pinned behind his back.

You rushed in to click the handcuffs around his wrists. 

“That’s your third arrest, baby bird! You oughta try for a hero license!” He praised you with a wink.

“Thanks, but I’d rather have this entire fever dream end as soon as possible.”

His phone vibrated in your pocket and you withdrew it to see which sidekick or Commission member was calling him this time. Instead, a strange name popped up.

“Who is...‘Burnt Bitch’?”

Hawks swooped in and snatched the phone out of your hands before you could even blink.

“Aheheheh, sorry love! This is a personal call that I gotta take myself!” He flew out of your sight, leaving you to handle the humiliated and angry villain by yourself.

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

Hawks swore when he scratched his screen as he attempted to answer the call. Dammit, Dabi sure was a master of contacting him at inconvenient times. 

Having finally pressed the button, he gave his usual greeting to the fiery villain. “What’s up, Dabs?”

“So you’re a literal birdbrain right now, are you? Pretty hilarious.”

That...was not Dabi’s voice.

“Um, why do you sound like a chipmunk?”

“...I’m just using a voice changer,” the squeaky villain said. “I shouldn’t make myself too obvious when talking to you.”

Hawks scratched his head, flinching when he nearly poked his eye. “You’re just now deciding to do that, and you couldn’t pick a voice that I’d actually take seriously?”

“Like you’re one to talk. I’m impressed you managed to answer the phone without any hands. You’re meeting up with me at the usual spot tonight.”

“...Tonight?”

Dabi groaned, which sounded more like those low meows that angry cats do. “Did I stutter? Those holes in your bird head work, right? And you better not laugh when you get here.”

Click.

Hawks’s inner eyelids blinked rapidly at the phone. What would he laugh about?

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

Oh.

That’s what.

Hawks rested on a trash can as he watched Dabi emerge from the shadows behind the abandoned building. He was pretty far away, his form slowly getting bigger as he got closer. Although...Hawks is pretty sure that he should look a lot bigger from that distance. Maybe the angle of his giant eyes was screwing up his depth perception.

It was only when Dabi was right in front of him did Hawks realize that the villain was the size of a toddler.

He tried not to let any laughter slip past his beak, and failed miserably.

“What did I fucking tell you?” Dabi growled in his helium voice. Oh god he wasn’t using a voice changer on the phone.

That made the bird hero laugh even harder, wings outstretched as he tried to keep his balance. “Wh-wha...” He struggled to speak between wheezes. “What the hell happened?”

Dabi shuffled in his kiddie hoodie. “Some dumbass thug thought it would be funny to chibify me. I thought it would be funny to turn him into ash, so I did.”

“Really? Do you know if it wears off overtime or did you just kill the poor guy without asking questions?”

“......”

“Holy shit!” Another fit of squawking laughter. “You might be adorable forever!”

A blue flame appeared in his tiny baby hands oh my god he’s so cute!

“Unlike you, I can still use my quirk, so keep talking if you want to become the fried chicken you love so much.”

"You-” Cough. “You don’t even need your fire.” Hawks's feathers were fully fluffed out as he tried to breathe. “If you keep talking with that high voice, I’m gonna keel over!”

A tiny scarred hand around his neck finally silenced him with a startled screech.

“You tweety little bastard.”

Hawks cracked up again as he choked.

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

Shouta Aizawa has come across many strange sights during his late night patrols. Some of them gruesome, some of them obscene, and some that are just too weird to even be questioned.

Finding a child concealed in an oversized hoodie in a bout of fisticuffs with a bird of prey was in the third category.

He couldn’t even tell who was winning. The kid would sometimes get a hold of the bird for no more than a few seconds before a sharp beak digs into his hand and forces him to let go. It was the strangest wrestle that the underground hero had ever witnessed.

“Aww, try again, little baby! You almost had me that time!”

Wait a minute. That voice...

Right, Hawks was still doing work even though he was a damn actual hawk. Well, he probably doesn’t need his help with an unruly brat. 

Aizawa walked away from the scuffle and continued his scouting. There are real dangers out here that need to be taken care of.

[henpendrips]

Top Ten #3 - World of Final Fantasy (Vita)

"Why is this game here? How is it this high up the list? When did we get to this point? What the fuck is the deal?" I can hear myself and everyone else asking.

If there was ever any expectation of this list being at all objective in terms of game quality, then World of Final Fantasy completely shatters that notion, being at most a 7/10 game (leaning more 6 than 8). It's a Pokémon clone; a monster catcher RPG with a generic kiddy animu story, chalk-full of jokes and tropes that you must've seen a thousand times if you've ever glanced at a shonen anime. However, while at first it appears to be an uninspired cash-in, as Squeeenix attempts marketing to  kids that might not've owned a Nintendo handheld in 2016, it achieved something else entirely: it made me happy.

It's RARE for a piece of media to have that impact on me; I might be entertained and have fun, fall in love with the story/characters/setting/artstyle; but to actually make me happy, that is a herculean feat. And it's no mystery why: I was a Final Fantasy fan for years, have now played all main series titles pre-XV (sans the MMOs and Lightning Returns); I adore turn-based RPGs, especially if they aren't a real-time hybrid or ATB-like; and since I have a collectonist playstyle, the inherent aspect of Pokémon games (gathering all the critters), reskinned with stylistic interpretations of several creatures in the FF franchise in the form of 'Mirages', immediately appeals to my sensibilities. Even as I replay it at time of writing, that love hasn't faded, and this is why, while a 7/10, WoFF is one of my personal 10/10 games.

But I think it's because of the simplistic story that this game shined so brightly. Lann and Reynn, the ginger twins that lead this adventure to catch 'em all, have the necessary elements than one should hope are present in these types of stories, and the rug isn't so much pulled from under your feet later on, but more that you're incentivized to push it aside and see what lies beneath. Sure, it relies on the recurring FF tropes of clueless protagonists and killing god-like entities, but it managed to take characters and elements from (almost) all of its previous games and present them in a new light. Awkward at best, but it's not shocking to see the new roles attributed to old characters, all in the shape of chibi vynil figurines called Lilikin. For fuck's sake, it has the only version of Claire 'Shaitning' Farron that I actually liked, as she manages to fucking emote and interact with others in an enjoyable fashion, rather than an automaton pretending to have human emotions.

That being said, WoFF is a perpetual give-and-take:

1) Until the post-game, Lann and Reynn are obligatory choices for your team, with the ability to change between Jiant (L size) and Lilikin (M size) forms. The stacking mechanic is a great way to justify using more than one Mirage in combat, and different Mirage stacks will give you access to different combos and abilities, therefore taking the limited action slots from Pokémon games and blending it together with the inherent growing list of skills from FF games. This means that you're less inclined to overutilize certain Mirages to deal with specific enemy teams and bosses (as it's how prepared you are beyond just your setup that will determine your success) and experiment; but the game's difficulty curve is all over the place (yet rarely a challenge), and you'll find yourself taking frequent pit-stops to the Prismarium, be it for imprisming Mirages, recharging your VERY limited AP, handling specific challenges, or just solving puzzles that require the use of HM-equivalent field abilities.

2) The chibified artstyle translates classic and more recent creatures in Final Fantasy to have a consistent look AND be desirable to collect (same couldn't be said of FFXIII-2); but there's several reskins for some Mirages which, while offering different abilities and attributes, still look the same. Kinda like shinies, but without the bragging rights. Since you can transfigure Mirages as long as you have met the necessary prerequisites, and without meta alterations in stats, collecting them will be far more expedient, yet you'll end up leveling a lot of creatures with far less personality than most Pokémon you catch, even if you don't have to worry about chasing the top percentage of Chocobos.

3) Pokémon has always been more oriented towards community/multiplayer gaming, but WoFF is unquestionably a single-player experience, with all Mirages available for you to get eventually, and the closest thing to 'Legendaries' being XL Mirages, which take the roll of Summon-equivalents for you to play as (rather than a single-skill mega ability); however, the action-activation to imprism (catch) can sometimes be completely asinine, if not incredibly vague, and the memento items necessary to transform certain Mirages can be attained only by the most awkward of means.

4) Even what at first might seem to be optional aspects of the game are utilized in the story and overall gameplay, and I appreciate that mechanics introduced have a reason for being there, for both story and play. What I don't appreciate is how the story grinds to a halt because you have to partake in ridiculous minigames to progress, or because the writers gave up on how to insert specific interventions within a cohesive narrative, and just said "Fuck it, do this as sidequests in the Tardis Tearoom. We couldn't be bothered to have you revisit every zone in a natural way".

I could go on how the game isn't as optimized as it should be, that mechanically it stumbles and lacks in quality-of-life improvements. And while you can get immersed, either the kiddy story or a lack of long-time investment in the FF franchise might prevent most from getting into WoFF as much as I did (and believe me, those things ARE there and they ARE a problem). But I'm not here to deny the faults, I'm here to explain why I like these games. It's cheezy, but I love this game, warts and all. It had no right to be as fulfilling as it was.

If you're a Poké-fan and want to give WoFF a chance, always remember to first consult with your local RPG aficionado, to make sure it's right for you.

[raymondshields]

6-15 for the proship ask meme??? 👀

6) what kind of “problematic” ships you like?

Incest is such a good one, so is enemies to lovers and tbh quite a bit of the underage, because teenagers be stupid and hormonal and that's good for the emotional mess we like.

7) what kind of “problematic” tropes you like to put your ships through?

Consensual brainwashing is fun. So is sex pollen [coughcoughOstara] and who can forget, underage is great for the 'first time and everyone's embarrassed and trying to act like they have their shit together but they're all immature and start giggling whenever they see a dick'. :p

8) a character you think did nothing wrong but fandom demonizes?

Gemini Aspros, obviously. :p Also Minos, we love our griffon-girl.

9) a character that did a lot of things wrong in canon that you think fandom woobifies?

[glares @ Sage] Oi you asshole.

10) what is your favorite “problematic” fandom?

Deep-Sea Prisoner's works! Insofar that it's the only really problematic fandom I'm into, I'm very picky.

11) is there a fandom that ever made you think “how are there antis in this fandom, why are they even into this”?

Also Deep-Sea Prisoner's works. :p Seriously. This lass has literally every problematic trope. I think the only one she doesn't actually hit is shota porn, but that's because Licorice, a canon toddler, sometimes just ages himself up to be an adult and then he goes and sleeps with his mom. Who is a boy and got pregnant anyway. I don't think she's ever done porn of Licorice when not aged up? But then again, Wadanohara is over a century old but because she's usually chibified, apparently she's still a loli and thus child coded and there's been canon porn of her blah blah blah.

You know how many 'DSP critical' blogs I've blocked? So fucking many. I don't get it. How are they here. Genuinely, what do they like about being here. They literally harassed DSP off of tumblr for drawing a canon ship, that had been in WatGBS for over a decade, because that canon ship started with noncon.

How antis exist, I don't know.

12) have you ever had to leave a fandom because of all the antis in it?

[cries in not being active in the DSP fandom because I don't fucking trust any of them]

13) are you a villains fan?

YES. I mean, you know that, but hehehe evil sexy man gud. :p

14) favorite “unproblematic” ship?

I... I want to say Dohko/Kagaho??? I really do??? Literally every other ship we have is somehow problematic, but also, they're rivals to lovers?

The Ptolomea OT3 is unproblematic, but Minos is 'child-coded' and also knowing each other's fate is clearly problematic and uhhhh, Albafica's memory issues makes it ableist to folks with dementia. Gatelutemas is out, there's age gap and power imbalances and Artemas kills too many people when he's mad. Fyodor and Leona would probably get classed as bestiality if we asked antis. Most Spectre ships are villains and thus immediately problematic.

Wait.

Degel/Fluorite is unproblematic.

I think? I don't actually know how old Fluorite was. I know Degel was-

fuck he was seventeen it's underage. Riiiiiiiiip. xD

15) something cool about the last thing you watched/read/listened to!

Last piece of media I watched was actually Hermitcraft last night! And arguably that's RPF since the line between actor and character is very blurred. I like Hermitcraft because it's very peaceful with some shenanigans, and they just started the new season which is already fun as all hell.

That being said, Mumbo made his starter base a hippie campsite and literally programmed a switch to play Wonderwall when he hit it. It took him like six hours. I admire the man's dedication.

[unclegrimsley]

I feel like pokemon fans assume that we dislike the art direction for the diamond and peal remakes because they're chibi, but my biggest problem with it is the lack of shading on the characters and the color pallete they chose. For a Switch game the character models shouldn't look like they're made of plastic.

i mean, at least they might still fix the colors and shading before release (even though people said the same thing about swsh and they still ended up not looking like sixty dollars games so lol) and its not like i hate chibis or anything but it just doesn't really make any sense for them to look like that??? if they were trying to make it look nostalgic it just didnt work, the style would have made more sense for a spin off game or something. like, im pretty sure no one asked for this. personally i was expecting the remakes to look more like the actual eighth generation games rather than lgpe but chibified

[little-demy]

smol

[senotsuri]

Ultimate Battle Tournament- Why Does The Most Important Tournament Have Elemental Advantages

Personal note- I don’t like the fact that the UBT, the most important tournament, has elemental bias towards haos and against darkus (even if it is specifically to dunk on Marduk and Masquerade.) From any other perspective, it would make sense for the UBT tournament to be an even playing field, to be the normal or extra stage. But nope! It’s the haos arena! Yes, the theme is godly and so is the arena’s appearance, and yes, the arena is opposite to the last arena of the game... but this is the champion-deciding tournament!! So why---

The game gives you a very rough timeframe for when the Haos tournament occurs, even if it’s questionable- all main bakugan have evolved once (Delta, Storm, Angelo/Diablo, Blade, Hammer and Dual). This would put this after the trials of the legendary warriors, and before Drago gets to evolve from the trials (still Delta, and not Ultimate,) but uh... Hydranoid is still Dual Hydranoid... When he should be Alpha Hydranoid after the trials.

This does mean that BBB is very much an AU where Drago and Hydranoid first evolve after battling Apollonir and Exedra respectively, or, the other bakugan evolved before the legendary warriors dealt with them, considering what the brawlers say after the UBT tournament.

Basically BBB isn’t canon compliant here and it annoys me.

Anyway, on with the actual tournament!

Dan said that this tournament involves people from all over the world, but you only get to fight the other battle brawlers, Masquerade and finally Marduk. Either this means that you never got to see anyone else who was actually in the tournament, or the game just wants to make you feel cool (why is Dan surprisingly easy in this whhhh)

The next episode preview ost is used for the pre tournament cutscene

“Everything is riding on this battle, guys!” don’t you mean these battles, and not this battle? You’re not fighting Marduk right away! Minor nitpick, since they are technically at war here.

“Yeah! Whichever one of us makes it to the end of the tournament has to take them down!” Shun’s high pitched (for him) yeah is very cute, but again, he sounds serious to the point of humour. That being said, you can hear him adjusting his gloves while he’s speaking, but you won’t see his gloves move. Despite being on model, Shun looks like his proportions were chibified a lil to be in line with everyone else. This is only visible in cutscenes though.

Julie’s voice is so popular-girl-squeaky that it grates my ears and I wish it was toned down for serious moments, but she’s at least in character?

Everyone yells bakugan brawl when there’s no genuine reason to- you are in a hallway, and there is no battle going on... it’s fine it just looks funny when you notice how serious Marucho and Shun look- those are determined frowns.

Only Runo and Julie mention their evolution, which means that the other brawlers didn’t already know, or at least BBBmc didn’t know, despite being able to see Drago pretty easily.

Marucho does not use Preyas Angelo, which makes this battle a bit easier. I say this because Angelo and Diablo are separate bakugan.

Haos arena is also horrible for anything that isn’t landing straight onto a card- it’s an ice level, but the ice makes you stop rolling as well as make steering harder.

Tigrerra statue roars make the screen go fuzzy. They also throw you up like a hairball if you reach the diamond shaped portals on the sides.

I think it might be the space/nightsky of the haos arena, but Shun’s colour palette looks really good here. His intro animation also looks super good, but I’m blaming the arena for that.

POWER SHOTS ARE BASED ON YOUR SPEED STAT

I’m saying this because Nega power threw a speed 1 bakugan at Storm Skyress, which only did 32 gs of damage.

All of Nega’s bakugan are speed 1 or speed 2, so they’re terrible for power shots.

I’m skipping over a lot of battles, because very little happens in between fights.

That being said, Nega still had his freecam mode active, and so has zoomed out on the haos field and I’m just... wow...

Really thinking that the fields in BBB should’ve been brought back for MS at most... This looks amazing and I want it.

Also, you are surrounded by a sea of purple. it’s nice.

The roar still affects him in freecam.

WHY IS THE ARENA SO BIG WHAT

Cutscene

“Vladitor! You imbecile! The deal is off-- wait, what, wait-- What are you doing?!” Hi Hal-G, maybe don’t bring your Silent Orb with you next time?

Vladitor is unreasonably huge. He’s also fusing with the Silent Orb to try and redo what he set out to do- beat Leonidas.

While Dan is announcing that Vladitor’s evolved, the battle brawlers (minus BBBmc, who’s not in frame) look completely hopeless, and then there’s Julie- Julie’s visibly angry.

“Hahahah! The power!! Who’d like a demonstration?” The demonstration is turning the haos arena into the darkus arena, which is actually the doom dimension with the darkus arena in it

The doom dimension is hard for bakugan to breathe in, and losing their power means dulling in colour.

Can Skyress’ revive themselves in the doom dimension?

The arena is surrounded by, and I quote, “doom dimension hyperspace”... Vlad just say it’s surrounded by the doom dimension.

They haven’t been to the doom dimension before, apparently, given that Drago actually explains what it is to Dan. If they had been before, then he wouldn’t have explained what was going on.

That being said, being in ball form seemingly makes the doom dimension interact with a bakugan differently to being in full form...

Leonidas can survive in where he was born, unsurprisingly. BBBmc yells at Vlad to back off with the rage of an army.

“According to my analysis” goddamn it, Marucho

Anyway, the crux of what Marucho says (with Shun’s input before he speaks, who just mentions that the doom dimension and the pocket they’re in are both in tension) is basically that, the doom dimension is expanding, and if we don’t stop Vlad, it will destroy, and kill everything by result.

BBBmc has a plan- it’s give your strength to my death dragon- and it works!!

Shun looks surprised instead of hopeful when Skyress starts glowing, which is unexpected considering no one else does this? Was he expecting Skyress to be unable to do anything because she’s dyin-- oh... oh no...

Leonidas evolves from this into Omega Leonidas- WHOS DARKUS FORM HAS SOME NEAT LIL GREEN MARKINGS ON HIS FACE

“Let’s see who the real champion is now!” Vladitor I don’t think you understand how human tournaments work.

[whaq]

Fuck You, Animu (1/4)

A dumbass’ war of heart and mind A few months ago, I hit a creative block. Despite considering myself a jack of many mediums, I couldn’t for the life of me bring myself to make--well... anything. While I do have a Google Keep of creative ideas I’ve come up with over the years, I was unable to find the drive (pun shoehorned) to get started on any of them. This sent me into a bit of a spiral. A lot of creatives probably empathize: you find yourself lacking the motivation to create so it starts to negatively affect your self-worth, which is tied to your ability to make things, and this lack of confidence compels you to just succumb to melancholy, finding yourself the victim of a self-fulfilling prophecy to become a slacker because you think you already ARE one.

I was a couple months into this when a buddy of mine hit me up asking if I heard about a call for local anime reviewers. At that moment, it almost felt like divine intervention from God, who I only ever felt in the burning sensation radiating through me whenever I was within 10 feet of a church. An anime news site, let’s call em Animu, with a relatively large following, was searching for writers who would join their staff to review anime being released in the winter season with a salary to boot. As an avid anime fan myself, who just so happened to have honed his critiquing skills over years of media consumption {that has since ruined my viewing experience for the foreseeable future (I legitimately suck the joy out of every piece of media I consume now)}, I saw this as my opportunity to be able to use my skills for some form of monetary gain; which was always a concern of mine throughout my life. Growing up, I was never really good at anything that could easily become a profession later in life. I was too awful at biology to become a doctor, not smart enough at maths to be the next Pythagoras, nor was I athletic enough to shoot a basketball, let alone make it in the NBA. I was good at talking in, and understanding, English... and that was it. At the time, I didn’t realize I had a knack for writing and oration, but even once I did, I found that the trajectory towards being a professional for either of those fields wasn’t so simple. Most people still have the childish idea that “Oh, writers write books and speakers do… speaking things!” but it waters down such a wide yet closed off section of the professional world. Writing alone has so many different specializations: journalism, screenwriting, book authoring, all such niches that don’t have as established a path as scoring high on the Bar exam or being scouted on varsity; it’s difficult to find a place in this world with that skill set, a fear that a majority of creatives have. So I needed some form of validation, an instance of acceptance that’ll allow me to finally believe that my work is worth something and, most importantly, enjoyed by someone. So I started working on my application for Animu by selecting three different series that I was interested in tackling: Re:Zero, Cells at Work, and Kaguya-Sama: Love is War. Starting from zero The posts after this contain these reviews in the state I submitted to Animu. I spent about a month working on these. Re:Zero’s review was close to my usual style of critique, which focuses on the technical aspects and their execution as well as commentary on any relevant subtext, minus the subtext. I wanted to seem as professional as possible with the first one and tried to keep to the proposed 1200 word word limit. With Cells At Work, however, I tried to have a bit of fun. There were many rumblings around the community about the series’ cancer episode which I was eager to capitalize on. That said, upon rewatching the episode, I came across some potentially problematic scenarios that could’ve been blown out of proportion by some headline-chasing media outlet; so that’s exactly what I did. No, I wouldn’t in my right mind compare chibified blood cells to Nazi sympathizers (then again, I’m never in my right mind). Lastly, was Kaguya-Sama, which became my favorite anime of the past couple years. This series was the first anime that got me to actively follow the source material as it hit two of my most identifying traits, being a cinephile and humor academic, as well as a side I’m slightly embarrassed by, my interest in romantic comedies. I wanted to attempt a review that was just hype-hype-hype as it was what the series sparked within me. Oh, and you SHOULD read Kaguya-Sama. Bleeding out After a modicum of proofreading, as well as some peer review from my closest confidants, I sent over my application and I waited. As my heart raced on the day of the announcement, my name was nowhere to be found. To add insult to injury, I was informed that I scored absolutely horribly by Animu’s criteria, my highest grade being one that’d flunk in the most forgiving of schools. While you’d expect me to be crestfallen, I was actually ecstatic to know that the community I’ve been a part of, a local one no less, had people with an even larger passion and greater skills than even I. As someone who went through childhood being made fun of for my interests that have somehow developed into geek chic and gone mainstream (something that, contrary to most of the community, I’m happy to see), I was glad to see how much people like me had developed from waifu worshipping weaboos to outstandingly ornate otaku. Hell, I was content to have made some content. I was looking forward to seeing the fruits of labor from those who were more deserving than me. So imagine my surprise when what I found posted a month later was absolute garbage. I’m not going to get into detail, seeing as said details could lead to someone getting doxxed just because they didn’t meet MY oh so high standards (/s), but what I will say was that the quality of the content indicated something more telling about the whole ordeal. I have taken part in two completely different student publications in my time, and I can say with utmost certainty that THE GRADE SCHOOLERS I MENTORED WROTE BETTER, AND THEY WEREN’T EVEN PAID. Still, it was nice to know I still had it in me to make something of substance. And on this commemorative day, I open up my blog by making public my entries for all to ridicule. As much as I talked down the winning entries, I don’t believe mine were perfect. Like most of my work, it’s rushed and rambly, full of tangents and misnomers. But, it’s very me, and I’m quite happy to see something from me see the light of day.

I hope you find some amusement in my bemusement.

p.s. Yes, the headers are attempts at relating to the three shows p.p.s.s. Yes, they’re BAD attempts at relating to the three shows

[goldenworldsabound]

Since you were amazing enough to ask me about my love for Sucrose, could you please tell me about your genshin dragon bf? :3 Feel free to gush. I loved that story you wrote with the two of you so feel completely free to go absolutely 100% gush mode!

MMMM ZHONGLI!

I pulled C1 so why not finally gush about him UNDER THE CUT

Look. I just. Love him. One of the things I really like is that he presents as like this very formal very well educated man (which he is these things he knows so many thing) but he’s got VERY low wisdom. Money? What’s money? Everyone loves this about him but I just find it so endearing as well. I think it also can apply to emotions - while it doesn’t come up in game I think he’s still learning why people react the way they do (I feel autism/adhd vibes with him, though I lean to adhd since that’s the one I know since I have it) and he can sometimes be confused by it. And he doesn’t always react the way people expect either. He’s generally way too chill compared to the average person but that’s also pretty great. Me, who has a conniption about EVERYTHING, with Zhongli, the calmest person ever. It’s a good balance I think.

Additionally. After his story quest it makes it pretty clear to me that while he knows all the facts he’s not actually interested in correcting people. He only tells um. Fake archeologist girl about Havria because she breaks the contract. Like he was totally willing to let her just believe he was a horrible god who assassinated Havria for no reason like. He’s unconcerned. It’s really interesting to me? I have this horrible tendency to want to correct people anytime something is even a little wrong but he just doesn’t care.

Despite this, he does engage in discussion with other people. I was just so taken by the fact that he’s on the Pearl Galley associating with historians and archeologists and just being like, “oh this isn’t my opinion this is a fact” like I don’t get the feeling that he cares if they believe him, but he’s still just going to say his piece straight up KEWHFKJW he’s pretty straightforward which turns out to be quite cute a lot of the time.

Okay in basically every fic I write I talk about his eyes being intense. His eyes are so gorgeous though like. I just. When I look at Zhongli fanart I always beeline to the eyes because when done well they just. They’re gorgeous. I think I’d get lost staring into them (he doesn’t mind though) or staring while he’s doing something else you know...they’re just...so fucking pretty

Look at them. Also? eyeliner game is on point. AND HIS OUTFIT IS SO FANCY AND WE ALL KNOW I’M A SUCKER FOR FANCY OUTFITS

I think people also gloss over this to make him a himbo but even though I said he’s low wisdom he is very high int. He’s super smart and cunning. What he pulled off in Liyue while a bit cruel in many ways took so much planning and wit. And I’ve no doubt there’s a ton of that which goes on behind the scenes all the time, even as he presents himself like a bit of a clueless man at times.

Also I know I say this everytime but the idea of him infodumping to me just gives me all the happy chemicals 😭😭😭 please tell me everything!!! And listening to me gush and dump in return!!! It’s just!!! So good!!! Really really good makes me really really happy. He’s definitely the kind to learn about my interests simply because they are my interests too.

Also. Side note. Wanna cuddle his dragon form.

Okay one more picture

EXCITED CHIBI ZHONGLI!!!! major kudos to the artists who chibified his crazy ass design fdjkfhsklfsdj

oh wait also he’s nonbinary and maybe even gender fluid

I’m a she/they he’s a he/they and together...WE GAY/THEY!

/bricked

[silenthillmutual]

Wait how is it nazi propaaganda

This is far from being new discourse about the series. I only got up to episode six of season one or something but for my personal issues with it:

Building A Wall To Keep The Titans Out  - anyone here remember Trump’s Big Campaign Promise that high-key appealed to racists was?

The fact that Titans Are Actually Humans That Can Turn Into Massive Brutal, Stupid, Cannibalistic Monsters  - again, anyone wanna remind me how imperialism and white supremacy work?

The fact that it’s a ~ horror reveal ~ that the main character is One Of Them

Taking a side note to the fact that we get to watch a graphic scene where a thirty year old man beats the shit out of a fifteen year-old for this and the whole fandom thought it was Cool And Fun And Sexy To Ship Them and the fandom loves this guy for whatever reason

One of the Good Guys likes to keep Titans restrained to experiment on them and is depicted as being Fun and Goofy and Quirky

The entire aesthetic of it is Aryan for whatever goddamn reason, including the first OP starting in German

As far as I got up to, it was heavy on the glorification of the military

Not fascist-related but it’s also guilty of the Bury Your Gays trope since I seem to remember it being confirmed somewhere - off screen because god forbid you let people know For Real - 

Things that I was informed of by friends who were fans of it and that took me less than five minutes to find on my own:

Starting off I actually wanna say that the articles I found that were pro-AOT claiming that it’s “actually anti-fascism” just described things that made it worse for me

Also “it’s just a narrative device!” is not a good fucking excuse, especially when you’re drawing illusions to atrocities that you were not the victim of. 

Dot Pixis is literally modeled after a fucking war criminal that the mangaka admires

(his name was Akiyama Yoshifuru, the article I read about this is here but it’s been brought up several times; here’s a fan talking about it)

And Mikasa Ackerman is named after a war boat

Couldn’t find the screenshots anymore but Back In The Day there was something about the mangaka expressing that he thinks Koreans aren’t really human and Japanese Imperialism was a Good Thing

This Polygon article is pretty thorough about it.

And here’s an article about putting AOT in context.

And another article about why its recurring themes are problematic.

Here’s a short article about the parallels between the Titans and Jewish people.

and if that wasn’t enough to convince you for whatever reason, here is a literal side-by-side comparison of the Titan “race” in human “form” before the start of the story and a WWII-era Jewish person:

So you have a bunch of characters who have German sounding last names in a German-aesthetic setting dehumanizing and graphically slaughtering characters who are based on WWII-era Jewish people.

Here are a couple of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that you should be aware of even outside of your association with AOT: the hoax that most modern anti-Semitic bullshit is based on, every right-wingers favorite theory, a masterlist of these conspiracy theories, and the White Supremacist Dogwhislte Masterlist.

If this whole thing does eventually turn out to be ~ anti-fascist ~, then: 1, why was it necessary to show an allegory of Jewish people as literal monsters, literally another race, cannibalizing other titans and humans on screen, and being slaughtered, kept in captivity and experimented on only to turn around as a sorta “GOTCHA!” at the fans, and2. I think that three or however many seasons it has / will have plus a movie, the entire manga and chibified cutesy Middle School AU is taking a little long to get to the point. “Dehumanizing and systematically exterminating human beings is wrong” is not something that you should have to be told in the first place, let alone for as long as AOT has been going on. Shockingly enough, Orson Scott Card - notorious homophobe and author of Ender’s Game - managed to get that point across in one YA book. At this point it just feels like torture porn, and he’s certainly profiting nicely off of it.  

But Google is your friend here, like I said earlier: this is not new discourse so you could have looked literally any of this up yourself. If you don’t see it, that is your problem, not mine. But don’t interact if you support that shit.

[figureviews]

Review: Nendoroid 803 Conan Edogawa

For some people anime conventions are a chance to have fun... for my wallet they’re the reason he’s emptied due to me getting new Nendo in my collection.

Conan Edogawaf rom the popular anime series "Meitantei Conan" based on the homonym manga, came into my collection exactly when I spotted him (along with other Nendos I’ll talk later on) in an anime convention... (below in an official photo).

I’ll be frank, I was a little hesitant in getting this little guy because I love the manga but I wasn’t sure a Nendo version of Conan would work well since Conan is... well, already chibified so I feared it would simply feel like having a copy of him more than a cute Nendo.

Well... copy or not I’ll admit his Nendo version is still adourable so I’m happy he came home!

His package is... of the old standard size but with a larger window showing him compared to the old standard model. It not only has the Good Smile logo but also the made at GSC's 'Lucky Factory' in Tottori, Japan logo. I guess they were afraid if they were to make it in China there would be too many bootleg of such a popular chara. Try to avoid them as well, the original is so much better.

If you’re not familiar with the old package here there’s a comparative image.

They’re not terribly different but still you can see how the window showing Conan is larger. I wonder if this is the standard package for Nendo made in Tottori as Chris Redfield which I previously reviewed, also made in Tottori had it as well and the same goes for Tanya Degurechaff and Sakura Miku Bloomed in Japan which I’ll review in future and which are also made in Tottori.

Anyway, going on, let’s give a look at Conan’s blister pack.

As you can see the plastic wrapping is the same of the other blister pack, here, look at him without all that wrapping for a better view.

As you can see already he comes with a good amount of spare parts. Nothing over the top but it’s clear they gave him many options for posing.

The stand and the brace (let’s get over with the boring part immediately) are the standard ones.

Of course we’ve instructions in English and Japanese.

And now let’s move to more juicy stuffs, let’s look at all of Conan’s disassembled parts!

Quite a difference in amount compared to Okanehira, isn’t that right? Really, if I compare him and Conan I feel sorry for him.

So, going with order we’ve:

Legs first.

Conan comes with a total of 5 legs, which are meant to be 3 right legs and 2 left legs.

Although you can see bent legs they aren’t actually for sitting, just for kneeling. They don’t really work that well on sitting due to Conan’s short which hint at how his legs are in a straight position. In fact the only slightly bent leg is the one on the left (which Conan uses to go on the skateboard) which, to work, has on its top an extra part that hints at how the fold of the pants get bent.

As I was pretty curious about the working of that leg I couldn’t help but immediately try it out.

Uhum... up close you might notice how the folding of the pants on the leg doesn’t perfectly match with the pants (unless I had a defective leg?) but it’s still something that can work.

Anyway 5 legs are a good selection which gives him mobility options.

Arms and hands now.

6 harms, 3 right and 3 left but with an addition of 2 extra right hands and 1 left hand for definitely A LOT of posing.

It’s also worth to note that you can detatch the bowtie from the hand holding it so you can use that hand for other posing.

As it happens often with chibified figures, proportions of objects change according to the characters holding them or wearing them. While hats or helmets become much smaller when a Nendo hold them opposed to when he wears them, in the bowtie case, the bowtie Conan hold is much bigger than the ones he wear... in fact this Nendo comes with two different bowties, one for wearing and one for holding.

In fact if you look at the upper part of his body...

...you can notice the bowtie can be easily detatched so that Conan won’t look like wearing his bowtie while holding his bowtie.

As the position for speaking in the bowtie still covers the part where the bowtie is, it succesfully hids the slot in which the bowtie would need to be inserted.

The photo don’t really do justice to the colour of Conan’s clothes but they’re bright and ‘television-like’. Sure, they’re very simple and essential but I still love how they come out.

Faceplates now!

They’re the standard amount, 3. The interesting part is that, apart from the serious version, they’ve a sideway look, a hint that Conan is normally better when displayed not straight but slightly turned.

And, of course, Conan has his eyeglasses.

The shape of Conan’s hair allows the glasses to remain firmly on Conan as the tips of the frame can attach to the frontal part of the hair, while the frontal part of the eyeglasses is further insured in it’s stillness by both by standing on top of Conan’s nose (they don’t quite rest on it but if they come slightly lose it would stop them from sliding down) and also by having the hair covering them slightly. Mind you, it isn’t pressing them down, it’s just stopping them from getting distant from the face.

So let’s look at the hair.

If you want the hair isn’t really shaded, they’re mostly a single colour but it’s also a faithful and good reprodution of Conan’s hair. And yes, if you need to, you can detatch the strand of hair at the top of the back part of the head.

Oh, I forgot to mention, Conan also comes with his skateboard which is really faithfully reproduced.

In case you’re curious this is the original.

And with the skateboard we’ve finished Conan’s accessories.

If I’ve to be fully honest I wish they had given him a soccer ball and a pose for him to kick it as not only Conan often uses a soccer ball to knock down escaping culprits...

...but playing with it is also is favourite method to relax himself.

An alternate pair of glasses with the radar included would also be nice.

... while I think it would have been difficult to use the pose for when he’s using his watch (in his small Nendo size the watch is not even visible)....

but well, although I’m saying so, I still think Conan has enough parts that allow him to make enough poses. So while extra would have been welcomed, he’s already a fully furnished Nendo.

So let’s look in deep to those poses. Conan has many poses that are recurring in the series... but in many variations. Due to this I couldn’t quite find the perfectly matching pictures.

For example the first pose Good Smile proposes is a mix of this two poses.

The bowtie pose is performed actually in various way during the series which include kneeling but also standing or sitting.

As for the skateboard pose... both the manga and the anime presents us with some HIGHLY dynamic skateboard poses so the pose Good Smile suggests feels rather tame but it still works.

The “Only one truth prevails!” pose also comes in many variations.

And the dumbfounded pose also comes in many variants.

Overall the poses are all good and you can vary them to make them more appealing as Conan, as said before, comes with many spares.

Overall I think it’s a really good and well furnished Nendo.

Would anyone who’s not fan of the series, want to buy him?

Hum... maybe.

While I think Conan is really good as a reproduction of his own character, on the whole he comes as a Nendo with the body of a child and with clothes a bit peculiar. You might want him if you plan to custom make a child... otherwises... hum... I’m not sure.

Still, I love this little one!

On an interesting addition I’ll mention Re-ment too also released a Meitantei Conan set, the small day collection.

Accessories don’t involve just Conan but also the rest of the cast... but if you want to give a better look at the Conan accessories here they are... and they include the soccer ball!