#i think the best thing is to base it on the creators actual time period growing up for astrological purposes

[cloudabserk]

i’m making astrological charts for the characters now and i think the way to go (for me at least) is to place the birth year in 1974 (kishimoto’s birth year). i think this fits better with the setting than to make it 1986 or 1999, which feel way too late.

[frogoru]

i think i've been able to stay relatively calm about my faith as of recently (i had a small freak out period a little while back about homosexuality but i've mostly gotten over it) but i keep finding myself wondering about what's going to happen to me if everything i'm continuing to indulge in is like... actually a sin. i like to cherry pick the bible and i know that's frowned upon but i don't think i could live under those kind of restrictions, and i've been doing well and content in doing so but what if?? what if.

i keep finding it difficult to call myself a christian since whenever i do it, i feel ashamed because the whole point of being one is that you're supposed to base your life around christ's teachings... which i am clearly not doing!! homosexuality is the main thing i struggle with stressing out about but lust in general is a huge one and all the other temptations that people deal with on the daily and although i limit myself a healthy amount i don't really acknowledge it as me sinning usually because i have a "this is normal" mindset but what if this is all going to contribute to me being turned away and eternally damned.

i don't think i can fully grasp the concept of being damned to hell. when i was little i was scared of going there but for a majority of my life i've been in a state of spiritual decline and now that i'm catching up on everything again i feel like the time i spent not worrying about it is all pouring onto me now and it's so!! man!! so many things in scripture don't make sense to me and i hate that they don't make sense because if i want to be a believer, then i need to... like... BELIEVE, but it's so hard. i'm so jealous of people who are easily accepting of it because I WANT THAT i want that unwavering faith. i want that sense of security. i want to be able to believe that God loves and wants what's best for me but i don't and i hate it.

i liked to imagine that the things that bother me about the bible were added in by people wanting to corrupt it but if each translation basically gets at the same thing then i'm pretty sure i'm wrong about that. i try to dance around how a large part of myself is seen as immoral and an abomination to the religion i try to put my faith in but i keep encountering instances where it's hammered into my mind and i hate it so much. i hate that something so beautiful can be seen as wrong in the eyes of an all-loving god. i don't understand how god is all-loving when he's allowed so much pain and suffering to overtake the world and i don't understand why he can't just change things himself if he's the creator of everything. that's so blasphemous to say but that belief is so hard to go by with just your faith as your guide.

it makes me so upset to know that no matter how good of a person i try to be, it just isn't enough to gain salvation on my own. i love jesus as anyone else would but the notion of having to submit and obey a set of rules in order to have eternal life and not go through an eternity of suffering after i die makes me feel odd and i wish it didn't. it feels so constraining in a bad way and i wish it didn't!! i had to read an article a while ago about how god's love is supposed to feel constraining and i was like wow this is so sick and awesome what a cool way to put it but when i actually think about how i would apply that to my life it feels... CONSTRAINING OBVIOUSLY!! because so many of my interests and things that make me human are based around sin

i'm going out of my way to continue sinning and i probably won't stop anytime soon. it's so hard. i used to be so proud and happy in my attraction to women but now it feels like such a sensitive topic that i need to keep secret or else the people i know and admire in my personal life will judge and pity me. i'm so anxious about them finding my online presence and realizing how fucking weird i am because a handful of people i know in real life regard me very positively and i'm so terrified of having that image shattered.

i'm going to continue acknowledging that god loves me despite the things i surround myself with and indulge in. i feel so pathetic talking about this kind of thing because on one hand i don't want my religious friends to know because ermmm jazzy why are you rebelling against god knowingly?? not good not good. i hate the thought of being judged for this

[peridot-tears]

Quick & Sloppy Analysis of Blue Eye Samurai

Mizu is from a time period before western ideas of gender took hold in Japan. A lot of the discourse around Mizu's gender seems to stem from what people think transgender identity is in a 21st century, western context.

They were born as a woman but had to live as a man. The rub over whether or not this makes them trans seems to come from these two points.

Many people transition because they have always known they were another gender born into a body that does not reflect that gender. If they were forced to live as another gender, that doesn't count as trans.

Many people are transgender because their sex and gender are different. Mizu was physically born in the body of a woman, but functions in society as a man. Regardless of how they came to be, they are, by gender, a man.

Mizu themself did find happiness as a woman, but had it snatched away from her by a man's insecurity over being bested by his wife. Mizu found comfort living as a boy under their Swordfather's care, but felt shame for hiding his true sex from him.

I think these two periods of their life are not about which slot in society they fit in, because obviously they don't fit perfectly in either, but acceptance by the people they choose to love instead. Mizu was forced by filial duty and love for their mother to become a wife, but fell in love with Mikio when he began to accept her as she was -- until he didn't. Master Eiji accepted Mizu as a boy, and raised him as he is. He stopped Mizu from confessing his sex not because he couldn't accept it, but because it didn't matter. The most telling scene to me is when Mizu says that they must be a demon, and Master Eiji tells him, Yes, perhaps they are, but that is only one part of a whole.

The show is social commentary on our expectations for people of certain classes, genders, and racial makeup. One of the biggest themes of this show is about the limits of living as a woman during the Edo Period, and the creators refer to them as "she," as she is based off of their daughter.

But we are free to interpret Mizu's gender as we wish. The whole point of their existence is that there is a question of culture and identity in our modern, globalized age, and instead of a yes or no answer, we are given a whole person and the story of their life in a completely different culture and era to draw our own conclusions.

The debate over Mizu also reminds me a lot of how westerners will point to certain historical figures throughout history as examples of genderqueer identity having always been a thing. Chevalier d'Éon of France and Bíawacheeitchish (Woman Chief) of the Crow Nation come to mind. How they identified may not fit the 21st Century English-language phrases we apply to them, but the idea is still that they lived outside of the social expectations of people born in their bodies.

Sidebar:

Mizu's reveal as someone born into the body of a woman surprised me, actually! As someone who grew up on East Asian media (primarily C-drama and anime and K-pop, with full cultural context for the former but only what I learn from my friends for the latter two), I'm very used to androgynous characters! My whole thought process throughout the first few episodes was, "Wow, they really took C-drama tropes and put them in an American show!"

Even after the reveal, I was like, "Oh, they took the other trope!" where in C-dramas, male characters played by female actresses turn out to be female characters disguised as men in order to roam with more freedom.

This whole show felt like I was watching a C-drama turned into a western cartoon, and because one of the creators is Japanese American, it made me realize how many tropes must've carried over from our Chinese and Japanese storytelling, and our cultures' influence on each other.

[whomstwedointheshadows]

Hello, yes you Nandermo shippers, would you like to come along to delulu land?

I have some thoughts on the clickbaitiness of Paul Simms. Reading the transcript of the Nandermo moment (all hail @kyrilu for doing the damn thing on our behalf) and there’s two follow up segments to frame the Nandermo comment from a PR/fuck-around option.

1) the Kiss card was brought up by the interviewer, seemingly pulling the writer ms back to the topic of the panel, segueing to important, pre-planned questions.

I’m not sure where the information about the existence of Nandor+Guillermo+Kiss was first published. Regardless, this had to be a pre-cleared question. Behind the scenes, these media panels absolutely clear questions and topics in advance.

2) Vulture is posting reviews and materials very, very shippy of Nandermo. This was the ship friendliest possible room full of media explicitly gathered to drum up buzz for the new season. It wasn’t a random instagram stream about their writing process. The interviewer confirms the infidelity theme-then there’s going to be some backtracking to make it ‘sooo not sexual’ - the headline is not ‘Nandermo Infidelity Cofirmed’ now it’s ‘That Moment Wasn’t Sexual’

[sidebar: I have no idea how the strikes affected the usual publicity cycle and what impact that has on numbers, other than it definitely did. I would imagine those conversations and reactions to their ‘material’ has some sway/inspiration over the next season, from a producing standpoint or the general glee of a creator reading responses. It’s incredibly fortunate for the show there was already a season in process to come back and make due to the two season renewal. At the time of planning this panel it was not known when the actors strike would end, which I imagine changes the plan for promo cycles, especially one they were already adapting. My guess is the season 5 actors promo was completed based on our media, but any ‘soft power’ that comes from writers work/networking/teasing was altered. We missed anything they planned/reacted/tweeted while the show was airing. TLDR: this panel is coming after a long period of not rattling sabers from the writers.]

I put all of this here to say, as much as I don’t know about the business-side of show business, everyone was explicitly in that room to generate media and attention and demand for the show. That’s the actual point of the event, which absolutely has an impact on word choice. They’re comedy writers, with a flair for dramatic also doing the business part with a streak of evil teasing their audience.

Alrighty, foundation established, the big question and the Best Fan Interjection:

I salute you, sassy audience.

3) The WORDS

Word choice: hook-up

Does ‘the greatest romance on television’ have a one-off hook up, or does it get wrapped in plot and Have Significance and Pay-Off for all of the tension? What’s the most entertaining way in service of the show that’s worth losing the Will-they-Won’t-they dynamic? Can they subvert expectations in a way that makes the writers feel smart and like they’ve spent years building it is worth the investment from the audience? I have theories about A Secret Third Thing for absurdity being the direction they prefer on wwdits. It’s got be a big gambit to land to anyone’s satisfaction.

For an in character analysis of the infidelity not being sexual- I’m just going to put the concept of ‘honor’ and what being a familiar is in vampiric society, that this interpretation is absolutely fair as a breach of trust between Nandor and Guillermo. This response reads as truthful about that specific plot line ignoring everything fucking sexual about vampires, vows and penetration. Yes, he’s right- they didn’t fuck nasty on camera, it was just an intimate betrayal that maps really well giving someone you admire power over you, but realizing what they think is best for you, best for them, and what you want are all different things. That’s another story specific to this plotline. Also super common in anti-sitcom divorce tropes.

Would there be an entertaining story if Nandermo went all-in right now, for these characters? Or would it erase development and stagnate in a hierarchy?

I do think writers feel a responsibility to their stories and their audiences, even if the audience doesn’t like parts. I think WWDITS is a very smart show that loves/hates vampires and sitcoms, and it is always going to choose the highest setting on the dial for dark comedy on a subverted sitcom trope, which means while it can be an absolute riot with horrendous implications so it has to pull back enough for the next episode to be in the format with a new conceit.

There’s toxic co-dependent idiots Nandermo, and then there’s cruel, abusive, worst impulses working against each other being explicit, which kills the heart of the show.

4) What’s the Job?

WWDITS Audience: I don’t think the writers actually think it’s a little group of queer fans getting over invested on Nandermo. In fact, I think they are aware of the past Queerbaiting Sins of Network Television based on their serious storylines for queer characters. I think the archetypes and themes of the show specifically court that audience, and each season has only been more to those tastes by laying a solid foundation to explore what hasn’t been the focus of storytelling in the past. I think writers are a tricksy bunch and they’ve got a team who takes the dynamics seriously enough to tell the story of getting to a better place for the characters and entertainment. Hell, there’s a writer from Frasier on the panel who talks about slow burns.

Knowing that shipping has a long history, everyone is absolutely working from previous playbooks on how to tease and shape a story.

Even if a ship goes canon, absolutely no one is going to confirm it before it happens.

[Trickster storytellers, those liars, always wanting us to see their work unfold rather than spoil the ending. Even when they foreshadow or use dread, it’s just so they can feel smart about their lies when we look back, damn writers, emotional vampires. ]

While I shouldn’t underestimate the power of a straight white guy to mansplain some homophobic spice to ‘deeper than sex’ queerness, looking at the media of the actual show, the romantic ship framing is not in question. I’m of the persuasion it’s been great queer representation by having complex queer characters with varied ambitions and obstacles, often their choices driving the story for comedic/dramatic effect, of very selfish, horrible people.

That established, especially because the show has increasingly grown to be more visibly queer, the characters also have to be compelling to watch in their individual journeys even if a ship goes canon. However, no one would be satisfied if the fulfillment of a Nandermo ship was at the cost of the whole household or the characters themselves. The ‘Sunrise, Sunset’ and ‘No One Ever Really Dies in Shadows’ principles lead to an educated guess even if Nandermo becomes canon and carry their own plotlines, the episodes of the show are still going to be the dark, twisted ensemble shenanigans with sucker punches of heart. We love our djinn-curses in the narrative.

So, if ‘you don’t want what you think you want’ has relevance, I see it as these characters are not at their most compelling to get together-yet, as individuals or in the narrative of what the show wants to tell. That relationship wouldn’t be fulfilling or funny or fair- not that the characters deserve happy endings or an easy road, but to the journey of accepting and receiving love as part of the theme, seeing the love that matters/already exists ties into the conflicts around immortality/meaning. Haven’t we Good Omens fans learned that a kiss is not always the kiss we want?

For a Nandor in Space perspective, central to the vampire in western culture are themes of love/cruelty, class consciousness, the erotic other, transformation/stagnation/decay, inescapable time, the beast beneath the human face, inescapable temptation/indulgence, and cost/callousness of piety.

That’s some inherently kinky romantic shit right there, that necessitates crossing boundaries and abandoning norms. Even if the journey is actually murder-accessory to get what I want at all costs to this guy’s shampoo makes me realize this is a boundary I will not cross today because it reminds me of my own humanity.

[rabit333n]

awkward ||

matt sturniolo🫶

CW - none i dont think ??? kissing i guess. its mostly just fluff (i think im using that word right?). it might be corny.

this is my first time publishing any of my writing !!!!! PLEASE be nice to me. :)

summary - matts been your best friend since middle school. when on a drive late one night something accidental turns into the both of you kissing. reader is the pink text, matt is the blue text. :3

based off this song !

you and matt had been best friends for as long as you remembered -- well, as long as things actually started to matter to you. you moved to matts school in the 7th grade, you were thirteen years old at the time.

it was a fresh start, something new, you had gone to the same place your entire life, so to say you were anxious on your first day was an understatement.

in your first period, you got sat next to a quiet boy. at the time, you were grateful he wasnt immature and disrespectful like most of the boys your age you had met.

you tried your hardest to mind your business and focus on the review from what they were taught the previous year, but your nervs and your lack of understanding got in the way.

after about 5 minutes of visible frustration, the boy beside you took notice of your expression and offered to help

-- "hi, i dont mean to bother you, but i noticed you seem a bit confused ? do you mind if i help you?"

your cheeks flush a light pink out of embarassment, not realizing how obvious it was that you had no idea what you were doing.

-- "yeah, actually, if you want to.. they didnt cover this at my old school so i just.."

you shrug awkwardly and lean back a bit as he reassures you and begins explaining.

-- "dont feel bad though, none of this will matter when we get out of school, yaknow?"

his eyes shift from the paper on the table in front of you both onto your eyes

-- "im matt, by the way."

he mentions his name before quickly leaning away from you, he hadnt realized how close he got to you when explaining.

you nod and smile softly, happy to have had a nice interaction with someone -- specifically a boy, not in a romantic way, really just in the sense that its rare to find a boy your age whos atleast a little bit emotionally mature.

-- "im y/n. thanks for the help, by the way, i really needed it. i had no idea what i was doing"

you mutter with a slight nervous giggle. you and matt soon became close friends, talking everyday in and out of class. he introduced you to his triplet brothers, and his friendgroup. while you didnt fit in with his friends as much as you'd like to, you were grateful you had people to talk to. since then, as the dynamic between you both grew, you became inseperable.

☆☆☆☆

its been 7 years since then, and you and matt are the closest youve ever been. matt knows you better than you know yourself. you cant hide from him the way you hide from yourself.

you currently, though, were on a drive with him. your favorite thing to do was to go on long drives and find some random parking lot to sit in with the windows down, listening to music, talking about random shit, learning about the very few things you both dont already know about the other. you sat in the parking lot of a convience store you didnt care to remember the name of, windows all the way down with the wind gently blowing through your hair.

you always got the aux cord when you rode with matt, he knows how important music is to you. even if he doesnt particularly like the music youre playing, he puts up with it because he enjoys seeing you get excited over certain songs.

"Use Once & Destroy" by Hole played softly through the speakers. matt had turned the radio down so it was easier for you both to focus on each other.

you had the visor down while you looked at your makeup in the mirror, wiping away the smudged eyeliner that had condensed beneath your lower lashes throughout the day.

-- "god, i fucking hate when my makeup does this.."

you mumble to yourself once theres a moment of silence between the two of you.

-- "it makes me look disheveled."

you complain quietly as you flip the visor back up, giving up on your goal of getting rid of the black residue underneath your waterline.

-- "i think you look pretty. i dunno, i dont think you look messy.. it makes you look real, it makes you look like you."

matt says sweetly as he studies you fixing your makeup, seemingly mesmerized by your dedication. you smile softly and tuck your hair behind your ears.

-- "thank you, matti."

you say sweetly to him, studying the look on his face. he turns away for a second as you lean over the center console, expecting to give him a peck on the cheek (..which, is something thats been accustomary in your friendship, its supposedly platonic)

until he turns his head back to face you, your lips landing onto his. you pull back quickly, your eyes growing as you cover your mouth.

his reaction similar to yours, his eyes growing before he starts profusely apologizing.

your cheeks heat up as your mind races, sifting through every thought youve had of moments like this before.

you knew you shouldnt think about your best friend in that position, but you couldnt help it. he was obviously very attractive, and you have always had some romantic feelings for him, whether you admitted it to yourself or not.

matt goes quiet, the awkward silence filling the space small space between you. both of your faces flushed red, studying each other subtly.

usually youd both brush off an interaction like this, but it was different this time. something about the situation maybe, or the subconcious emotions that created tension around you both.

-- "can i kiss you?"

he asks softly after a period of uncomfortable silence that slowly shaped itself into comfort, the way it always does with the two of you.

you nod slightly, the question adding to the absurdity of the moment.

as he leans forward, you mirror his motions until he places one hand on your jaw and the other on the back of your neck, gently intertwining fingers with your hair.

your lips lock and you place your hand on his forearm, the other on his shoulder as the two of you hold the kiss for about 3 seconds before pulling away.

you both stayed in the same position as you smiled widely, your cheeks pink while your eyes shifted away from his, flustered and happy that things werent weird like you thought they might be.

matt brushes your hair out of your face as a smile creeps onto his mouth when he sees the expression on your face.

-- "youre so fuckin beautiful, y/n."

[dropintomanga]

Thinking About the “Othering” of Japanese Media

For those who keep up with Japanese video games, you may have heard comments from a prominent Japanese video game producer about how a certain term labeling a video game genre felt discriminatory in his own eyes. A recent Polygon article about that term made me think about how the Western media has “othered” Japanese pop culture media for as long as I remembered.

The producer I’m talking about is Final Fantasy XIV and XVI producer, Naoki Yoshida (known as Yoshi-P to his fans). Back in February 2023 in an interview, Yoshi-P said that the term “JRPG” (short for “Japanese RPG”) was considered discriminatory to him and his peers in the Japanese video game industry. Polygon took a look at how Japanese RPGs and JRPGs became a thing in the late ‘90s (starting with Final Fantasy VII’s North American release in 1997) and how media outlets in the West never seemed to take them too seriously. Even worse, the outlets shoved Japanese developers into a sub-category they never asked to be a part of once Japanese RPG popularity started to wane in the mid-2000s’.

After reading the article, I actually thought about manga and its perception when I first started reading comics. When I first discovered what manga was back in 1995, I learned about Ghost in the Shell from an issue of Wizard Magazine (a North American-based magazine highly dedicated to Western comics). The first thing that came to mind when I read what Wizard wrote was that it had a cybersex scene and very adult in nature. My mind was somewhat blown since I was in 7th grade at the time. Now that I think about it, almost 30 years later, I wonder if Wizard was trying to say that Japanese creators were super-perverted compared to Western creators. I still remember a non-fan a friend of mine met at Otakon one year who asked “Isn’t anime sexual?” when inquiring bout anime.

With regards to manga, for most of its history in the overall comics world, it has been othered in the U.S. due to how successful it’s been in reaching out to “non-traditional” comics-reading audiences. Statements like “Oh, it’s just a fad!” and “Manga doesn’t have dedicated buyers (i.e. adults with disposable income) like Western comics does!” were thrown to discredit manga’s popularity. Christopher Butcher (of Mangasplaining/TCAF fame) talked about this in a 2015 article on his website, which still holds some truth today. Even though manga sales have peaked around the pre-vaccine COVID time period, they are steady today. New York Comic-Con in 2022 had a substantial anime/manga presence compared to years past. Anime and manga can’t be ignored any longer.

Yet I know that some things haven’t changed in industry recognition. I will use the Eisner Awards as an example. For those who don’t know, it’s a prestigious awards ceremony that happens around San Diego Comic-Con every year and honors the best in comics. However, their recognition of manga is spotty. There has been recent criticism towards the Eisner committee for recognizing only the “hot” manga creators (i.e. the ones with best-selling manga titles on book charts). The best example I can give is Junji Ito. A lot of his works are nominated despite there being better works worthy of recognition out there. There has been some criticism in the manga circle I’m in about how Eisner judges/representatives don’t seem to take the time to explore the greater breadth of what manga has to offer in its new golden age.

Of course, when awards ceremonies like the Academy Awards don’t really seem to care much about praising Japanese pop culture media, what hope is there, right?

Which brings me to a point that the Polygon article elaborates on the West’s insistence on particular views of Japan.

“It’s clear that the mainstream only courts a specific idea of Japan as being acceptable — often reinterpretations of feudal Japan, largely spanning from the 1500s to late 1800s, when the samurai were still part of Japanese society.“  

I do notice that Japan is supposed to be this “quirky” and “weird” place with wild imagination. If somehow a Japanese title has themes common in Western media/culture, but lacks the exotic style Westerners prefer, it’s sometimes heavily ignored in the mainstream eye. I don’t know. What do you guys think?

Polygon does mention that we’re living in some really good times with regards to Japanese video games being popular again. Many fans, including myself, know that too well. I enjoyed gaming again due to the variety of Japanese-developed titles that came out since 2016 (the start of the Japanese video game industry revival). I see parallels in manga and anime reception too. All of Japanese pop culture media is celebrated overseas. Fans that consume all things Japanese are living through amazing times.

That doesn’t mean that it’s going to last forever. I do know at some point, Western media will find new ways to scrutinize Japanese media and our time in the spotlight will fade again. Some degree of othering will always happen due to human nature and I know that we can use that term for positive purposes. Manga is about how “others” that are different from the norm can become celebrated by the world. Reading this post about manga reminds me that comics of any kind can cover any topic imaginable and definitely be made for “other” people to read. 

[claraheaux]

It seems that black (usually male) mainstream filmmakers seem physically incapable of representing darkskinned women in a feminine, positive light.

My roommate has been delving more into black art and film and while I try to ignore it, it's 2023, the cat has been out of the bag. It's impossible. A biracial woman is the main protaganist/love interest in almost every. Single. Iteration. Just saw Spike Lee’s the Black KKKlansmen, and there’s Laura Harrier in a 4C Afro wig. Don’t worry, though, there’s a dark skinned best friend who loudly interrupts the stale, forced chemistry between the two protagonists-I think she gets about 5 minutes of screentime in total. If we manage to be under the age of 60 we’re the overprotective sidekick that the male (same skin shade as the sidekick, too) protaganist inevitably shoos off screen, then her feminine foil apologizes on her behalf. I've seen this same scene play out in black films wayyy too many times.

To be clear, Laura Harrier is a lovely actress-I’m not going to dog upcoming black actresses for taking roles that aren’t explicitly meant for darkskinned women (cough-Zoe Saldana)-a job is a job. It’s not their fault that black creators seem to have such a difficult time seeing us outside of these narrow tropes.  Zendaya has gone above and beyond to keep the stage clear for us by taking white and biracial roles.

 I’ve seen a lot more representation as of recently. I don’t really think I rely on the media for those things anymore, but it’s still a nice treat. It is little embarrassing for them that I’m seeing myself more in the goddamned Sonic movie. The SONIC movie. Oh, and the Great fucking Comet of 1812?! OH, and the same actress who plays Natasha in that being in the Gilded Age. You know who's involved with the Gilded Age? Julian Fellowes, the screenwriter for Downton Abbey, which, if you've ever seen it, is the pastiest show ever. Our own community is getting outdone in terms of darkskinned female representation by a 74 year old British man, a movie based on a Japanese video game, hell, Shakespeare, and a musical based on a 19th century Russian novel. As someone who's into period dramas, I never expected these genres to represent me diversely, if at all. And yes, there's a lot of flaws in some of these representations; but guess what? They're actually trying.

And before you get on me about rEsPECTaBiLITY PoLitics and EnfORcING gENder RoLes: I have no issue with characters that aren't presented as traditionally feminine, loud, or that act 'hood'. Women like that are staples, I love those girls to death. But don't gaslight darkskinned women for being tired of that being ALL there is for us, and act like we're the ultimate traitors when we finally give up and look elsewhere.

[jcmarchi]

Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble Preview - Bringing Monkey Ball Back In 2024 - Game Informer

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/super-monkey-ball-banana-rumble-preview-bringing-monkey-ball-back-in-2024-game-informer/

Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble Preview - Bringing Monkey Ball Back In 2024 - Game Informer

Last month, I had a chance to play Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble, the first all-new entry in the Super Monkey Ball (SMB) franchise in more than a decade. While I went into the demo skeptical that the series, which experienced its best years in the early-to-mid 2000s, could feel like a modern experience in 2024, I emerged from the demo impressed by the gameplay improvements, single-player level design, and the game’s approach to multiplayer (you can read my full preview here). 

Shortly after the preview, I had a chance to dig deeper into Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble with several of the developers behind Ryu Ga Gotoku’s franchise that isn’t about the seedy underbelly of the Japanese organized crime to learn how the team worked to modernize the franchise while still remaining true to its roots.

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[embedded content]

Recently, we’ve received some remakes and remasters, but no new entry for many years. Why did the franchise take such a long break?

Nobuhiro Suzuki, Producer: We believe this is the result of a combination of factors. Whether it was due to development resources being refocused towards other large titles, the creators leaving the company, sales numbers, and more, the SMB development line disappeared and there was a period of time when production came to a halt. However, after releasing two remakes, Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD in 2019 and Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania in 2021, and after receiving positive feedback from our fans, we decided to release a completely new title, Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble. We hope fans are excited to play this first brand new entry in over a decade!

With that unique position in mind, what were the primary goals of Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble?

NS: Following the release of those two remakes, Banana Blitz HD and Banana Mania, our goal is to firmly establish the revival of the SMB franchise with this completely new title. To that end, we set out to make a new entry that firmly inherits or captures the best qualities of past SMB titles while also feeling like an all-new game with 16-player online battles, refined game and character designs, and the addition of new characters and storylines. 

With such a big gap between the last all-new, non-remake/remaster release, were there any updates to the design and gameplay best practices that needed to be applied to this latest entry to ensure it feels modern in 2024?

Daisuke Takahata, Director: Based on the data we pulled, such as the number of people who cleared each world of Banana Mania and comments from various playtests, we updated the game with a level of challenge that new players (as well as longtime fans) will enjoy. Compared to the past titles, the difficulty level of the early worlds is now milder (in previous games, things were too difficult right from the beginning). We also made it so that the first time you boot the game, you will be taken to a tutorial that will help you learn how to play the game and use the controls. The same goes for the camera, where we made some small adjustments to the default settings to help make things feel smoother. Players will also be able to fine-tune these settings in the Options menu, which we think longtime fans will appreciate.

The physics in Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble feel good. How did the team go about overhauling the physics, and how did you know you got them just right?

Jack Ko, Programmer: Banana Rumble’s physics actually builds upon those in Banana Mania, which in turn was based heavily on the original GameCube version’s physics. We made special adjustments to the movement in the previous game to make it viable as a remake, but thanks in part to comments from fans, we were made aware of a few elements that might contribute to some of that unintuitive behavior caused by the physics in Banana Mania. With Banana Rumble being a new entry to the series and having its own new stages, it means that this time around, we were able to focus on making the movement feel simpler and more intuitive.

Additionally, the physics system is extensively parameterized, meaning that designers can make adjustments to different parts of it on the fly. With internal testing happening at least once a week during development, tweaks were made incrementally and whenever needed. We knew we had it right when anyone could just pick it up and be able to immediately roll out like a pro.

Why was the Spin Dash such an important inclusion in this entry? What do you think it most adds to the experience?

NS: In creating this all-new game, we wanted to add the right technique that would give users a wider range of play and challenge. Also, in order to implement the 16-player battles, we needed something that would really emphasize the user’s technique so they can overcome the competition. As a result, the Spin Dash was implemented. While the Spin Dash is simple to perform, we believe it adds a lot to the game; for beginners, it’s an exhilarating element that allows them to sprint and bounce off obstacles, and for advanced players, it can serve as a way to find shortcuts and quickly reach the goal. We are very pleased how players have been responding to it.

This question may be better asked to the localization team, but with the Super Monkey Ball franchise so reliant on puns and wordplay related to bananas, did the team ever consider calling it “Peel Out” instead of “Spin Dash?”

NS: To be honest, we didn’t think about it at all. [Laughs] We wanted to make it easier for users to understand just by looking at the name, so we made it straight out “Spin Dash.”

When creating a level in Adventure mode, what factors must be considered to create an effective stage?

Yukio Oda, Designer: As for “what elements,” our basic idea is to combine “various elements” in a complex and effective manner. For example, if we break down a stage into smaller pieces, you can see that the “path” includes various elements such as “thickness,” “curve,” “slope,” “moving path,” and so on. Depending on how these parts are combined, the stage can be easy or difficult, interesting or boring. The Monkey Ball team has a lot of expertise in these combinations, all accumulated over many years with the series, and we always aim to create an interesting stage based on that know-how. But the first step in creating a single stage starts with the inspiration of the stage designer.

How does the team balance fun with challenge when designing stages?

YO: The stages created by our stage designers are regularly playtested by dozens of people inside and outside the team. Not only do we pick up a variety of opinions, but we also analyze data such as the percentage of clear rates and times, and we are constantly making adjustments to make the stages even better. We are also strongly aware that the Monkey Ball series has been characterized by its contrast between having very easy stages and very challenging stages. Sometimes, even if a playtester finds that a stage is deemed “too difficult,” there are cases where we end up leaving it the way it is. However, we are always pleasantly surprised when, after launch, we see users uploading videos showing how they were able to complete extremely difficult stages with ease. 

The stages I played were very enjoyable and sometimes over-the-top, but they were just in the first two worlds. How wild should players expect the challenges in Adventure mode to become?

DT: We are glad you enjoyed the early stages of the game! As we announced, there are 200 all-new stages to be found in Banana Rumble’s Adventure Mode, all spread across different worlds. The final world, in particular, has a variety of exciting gimmicks waiting for players, which will prove challenging even for fans who started with the previous titles. Stay tuned for a “very wild” challenge!

Can you talk to me about the process of designing the Battle modes? They bring such enjoyable twists on the Super Monkey Ball formula, and I’ve always found the minigames/side modes to be as enjoyable as the main Adventure mode.

YO: Thank you very much! When it comes to the game design of Battle Mode, we paid close attention to how “control” and “sense of speed” were expressed during gameplay, as they are key characteristics of this series. We also took care to ensure that the skills players learned and improved upon by playing through Adventure Mode can be utilized in Battle Mode as well. One of the main features of this game is its emphasis on “ease of understanding” – basically, we made sure not to make the rules overly complicated when adding any twists and turns, so players are able to enjoy themselves.

Where would you like to see the Super Monkey Ball franchise evolve from here? Do you think there is a place for multiple releases in a shorter time window than we’ve seen in recent eras?

NS: First of all, as a basic premise, we will continue to carry on the fun and originality the SMB series is known for, and make sure SMB fans can fully enjoy their time with it. On top of that, we would like to evolve the series to a level that offers something that incorporates a variety of exciting new ways to play that is altogether unique to Sega. With the support of our players, we believe we will be able to continue to release new games on a regular basis. We would really appreciate everyone’s support for Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble and the Super Monkey Ball series!

Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble arrives on Switch on June 25. For more on the upcoming series revival, head here to read our full, hands-on impressions.

[doublel27]

As someone who grew up on telenovelas, I can think of sooo many more stressful scenarios 😂 but I’m here for the ride and your positivity is so refreshing! You made many great points about Carlos that now have me curious to how this will all play out

Thank you! My positivity is fully couched in the fact that I still hate it. I’m calling this storyline Deux Ex Iris. It’s very clear to me that this is Tim Minear’s personal headcanon that got cut from season one in the writers room and he wants it so he stuck it in now. It’s bad writing for personal reasons. And anyone who hates it enough to leave fandom, that’s fully within their rights. Everyone gets to feel about this one how they feel. It’s stupid.

But, my positivity comes from my fandom history!

I grew up on soap operas and General Hospital was my first entry into fandom. The choices that were made for characters as the show runners and head writers changed and the way they’d “go back and film things” and be like “surprise, this was happening all along” or “look, secret murdere” there are worse things. And

My second real fandom was HP and in the period of time between Book 4-Book 7. What this lead to was elaborate headcanons and theories of the next book from the fandom based on scant character development that were often torpedoed when a new book came out (and we had years to craft them too). It taught me that no matter what headcanon you as a fan have, no matter how much evidence you have in the text to prove your point, it’s bunk because you’re not the one writing canon. Also, the creators aren’t thinking about the characters the way you’re thinking about the

My third fandom was Marvel Comics by way of X-Men Evolution. And many have gotten pissed at me for saying it, but super hero comic books are just soap operas with powers. Again, as the writing team changes, the characters change. As personal ideas of the creators trump actual page canon, things are shoehorned in. Is it occasionally ridiculously stupid? Uh, yeah. Go check out comic tumblrs and the rants go on for days.

So, what this left me with is Carlos as a character has been fairly well developed for a procedural with eleven principal cast members. That doesn’t mean he’s been particularly well developed (or that any of them have). In fact, the fact that Carlos needs better character development is pretty well known fandom wide. Most of our understanding of Carlos is based on conjecture and fan theory.

We know he’s prone to keeping secrets and being evasive about things that bother him. We know he’s often not willing to talk about shit until he’s cornered. That’s not out of character.

We as a collective have discussed how painful and awful his coming out was that it lead him to hide for years. Marrying his best friend for his father’s approval? I could see it. We’ve talked extensively about his need for his parents approval and not to let them down.

There are parts of this that would be better if it had been seeded at ANY part in the story.

And I also hated the idea of half the stuff last season and it was executed really well. So…🤷🏼‍♀️ I’m willing to wait it out.

[gayhoediaz]

☕️ + the impact of streaming services on how we consume media (binging over longform storytelling wtc)

this is late i’m so sorry i meant to get to these earlier, but hey - let’s do this again. send me more ☕️!

this is such an interesting question, and i think that it absolutely depends. i do think that as a society, we are becoming more and more impatient, and we want things quickly, and the more technology develops, the greedier we become. (this is a little bit of a sidenote, but tiktok, for example scares me so much, even outside of the content. just the format. it’s a dopamine slot machine. the few times i have downloaded that app, i lose hours and hours on it and it’s genuinely terrifying. i’m not even having a good time, i just can’t stop scrolling.)

if you had asked me a couple of years ago, i think i would have had a completely different answer - but as of right now, i can’t think of any real benefits of the way in which streaming services serve us their television shows all at once. is there a dopamine rush when you have a whole new season of your favorite show (although i don’t know if i have ever loved a show that was released in that manner tbh) to watch all at once? absolutely!

but in the long run - i do absolutely agree that when we go back to long form television, it makes us impatient and unable to wait for stories to develop, and we see that in a lot of the critique that shows like 9-1-1 get when an episode isn’t received well. i don’t think you can judge an episode in and of itself as harshly as people tend to. you can judge it a little bit, of course - but you can’t say that a season or a storyline is trash when you’re nowhere near the end. it’s ungrateful and impatient, and i think that does stem from this dopamine rush that we’re used to these days.

not only are we used to being able to watch several episodes all at once - but if we’re even more impatient, we can always go to google or twitter or tumblr and look for spoilers. does this character die? does this relationship work out? who is the killer? when an entire season is released at once, we don’t have to wait. we have it all at our fingertips, and it makes us greedy.

outside of that, i think that it also makes our lives a little bit brighter in the longrun to have something to look forwards to every week. (for a period of time.) this is hardly an original thought, but what a treat to be excited for mondays or tuesdays or thursdays! rather than locking yourself in your room one weekend out of the year and swallowing it all down in one go. there’s no wondering, no theorizing, etc.

the reality is also that not everyone is going to have the time to watch it all at once, or maybe they won’t have time until a month after it comes out. (although to be fair - and i don’t know if this is a common experience - but i actually tend to procrastinate watching shows that are dropped in this way, even if i like them. it just feels like it’s so much at once.) and i think it’s incredibly unfair to the audience, to the creators, to the actors, etc, to judge a show’s performance based off of how many people watch it in the first week or two. this is also why we see so many great shows cancelled so quickly. i mean - most long-running shows did not have a great first season. but they were given a second anyway, and over time, the shows grow into what they were always meant to be. these originals don’t get that chance.

also in general, it’s a very special experience to watch long form television as it’s airing. especially if you engage in fandom. it’s an experience that you just don’t get if you were to binge the same show after it’s ended - and that’s what these instant drops really are. you just binge it immediately and you don’t savor it, you don’t theorize, you don’t think or wonder or question - and in my experience that’s the best part of watching television.

send me a ☕️ + a topic for an opinion

[ashalsdream]

Guild Wars 2

I can’t write an actual review on steam as I don’t have the minimum one our gameplay through their launcher so I’ll write it here. 

I’ve been playing since September 11th 2016. Just about a year after heart of thorns dropped, I remember it being all the rage and all hyped up. My shitty little laptop that barely ran it at 10 fps on the lowest graphics but I still made an account, logged on and started to play. I had two people I played with, two people I no longer have any contact with and while those memories are fond, many others are no longer fond but this is the one thing I’ll always be thankful for.

This game changed my life. 

I grew with this game, I was 15 years old when I started this game, I’m 21 now. I’ve used this game as a coping mechanism, as a social platform, as a creative outlook, as a creator. I have made entire worlds and entire stories based on this game, I have formed sentences and structures while writing about these characters that I never would have before. 

On this topic I want to talk a bit about my first character, my first main, Tomomi. I was so young when I made his name, it quite literally translates (or what I thought it did at the time) to tiny blue plant. I don’t actually think it specifically translates to anything now actually. His creation was very basic, blue my favourite colour, I chose the elementalist because I was told I could use lightning magic (for a good 2 years I ONLY used lightning). But his gender was something I didn’t want to admit, I made him male because I knew when I was 15 that I was not female. I didn’t know how to tell anyone. So what does a dumb little teenager do? They make a character for how they wished people would see them. All the little “he’s” or “it’s him!” from the npcs made me feel like I wasn’t hiding to them, I could just be who I wanted. When I was 18 I realised I was transmasc non-binary. I finally! had a word for it! And then Tomomi felt like a comfort. He was my realisation that I didn’t need to hide, that I’ll be loved by the people who truly care. I’m very attached to him and I always will be. 

Ashal came from a dnd game. I was invited to play a guest character, Ashal, so I made her in guild wars 2 as a reference. Who would’ve thought I’d love her so much she’d become my main? I love her because she’s happy and she represents the best in people. 

The game itself I have nothing but praise. The story not only is inriching but it introduces you to a group of characters who you genuinely see grow and become better people. 

Canach will always be my example, he went from nothing. From a criminal, a slave to Anise. To becoming someone who is loyal to you no matter what, he genuinely sees you as someone who he can trust and he got the happy end he deserved. But despite the happy end, despite the fact he got everything, he would still do anything for the commander. 

Rytlock who went from brash and closed off to worrying about the commander and opening up to them, defending them, admitting his mistakes. 

Braham who was a teenager who lost too much in such a short period to realising his worth and that people rely on him, that he can be content while carrying a legacy he never asked for on his back. To finding himself.

Rox for yearning for a home, yearning to belong and finding that home! 

Taimi for confiding in us, for giving a voice to those who are disabled that she never gave up and neither should you. That her disabilities do not define her worth. 

For the commander, whichever race you chose, for going from someone thrown into a world they did not understand. From losing one close to them and gaining new family, for creating a home for those who were lost and making them feel safe.

For the community here and in game, who made ME feel like I belonged somewhere. While I will admit my last few moments with my most popular guild were not positive, I will be thankful for the summer nights playing for 12 hours straight on a voice call while making lockdown feel bareable, like I wasn’t alone.

I’m thankful for PRSM. My current home. My friends. 

For @luseminias-dream, @duskroots, @shiverpeakstraveler, @sylvari-bouquet and @greekmuller for staying by my side and never abandoning me. For making the game feel like home after all the trauma I went through.

And also for EXOS, especially @akurathereaper, @fuuinrei, @fellis-world, @arcadios-v and @nyfian for taking me in again and showing me that guilds weren’t scary, that I still had a place within the community. For being my friends. 

I know this is less a review and more just a love note to the game but truly, this game changed me. This game will always mean something to me, so  to the new players joining us. Welcome to Tyria, welcome to our family. 

[unluckyuncle]

canon questionnaire \ still accepting!

sunsage asked: 7, 8, 15

7.  What’s the best thing about the canon you are writing?

There's a perfect statement in the DuckTales artbook that one of the creators makes that I think summarizes it.

"The gold standard of humanizing Disney's classic main 5 characters was A Goofy Movie... he (Bill Farmer) made the silliest character of the main five the most compassionate, relatable, and heartwarming dad character and that's incredible. We wanted to do that for Donald Duck." - Frank Angones (referring to Tony Anselmo's performance)

It is so SO easy in most Disney media to take everything about Donald at face value. To be fair, his creation was meant to be the exact polar opposite of Mickey Mouse. They're foils/rivals and it shows in just about everything they're in together. Where Mickey is calm and friendly, Donald is not. Generally, they tend to be Selfless and Selfish respectively, though I think that's less true nowadays.

But that's what makes Donald so much more relatable. Donald has very prominent flaws and in a lot of his shorts, his comedic stunts could actually happen to just about anyone. He's someone you laugh with because you know what it feels like. There's a very good reason why Donald was the mascot of the WWII shorts. Heck, even the 3 Cabellero's is a perfect example of Donald's ability to reach people. You don't have to understand him to know his struggle.

tldr; The best thing about Donald is canon is that they brought him down to earth with a new and interesting perspective and provide context/explanation to flaws some might take at face value. He's a highly emotional individual and this show doesn't villainize that and provides examples of healthy coping mechanisms.

(Also sorry, how cool is it that he actually went to therapy for his anger issues??? LIKE how often do we really see that??? and it's for Donald of all characters!! My stubborn little baby boi is so good)

8. What’s the worst thing about the canon you are writing?

You know, I think the worst thing is specifically that Disney is big dumb about their main 5 characters not straying too far away from their images.

The only reason that Donald isn't the main character of the Ducktales series IS because of Disney. Despite the fact the show could tackle some really interesting things with him based on their setup, they... can't do it as much. There are things they do in the comics that my heart go brrr, but Donald I guess can't be a main character of a tv show like this with more mature themes or smth idk LOL

Tying into that is how the show writes Della. I really REALLY wish they could have gotten some proper closure about everything that happened, and that we could have watched Dellla earn back her family's trust over a longer period of time. I don't how people are so quick to forgive the fact that she chooses to leave her family behind for her own thrill of adventure. No matter what excuse she has, she still left them. (maybe I just have abandonment issues though LOL)

ALSO Donald... almost constantly remains the butt of nearly every single joke. So even with all of the mature themes they give Donald, a lot of it gets undercut or made even worse because 'haha Donald get hurt = funny.' and yes, when Donald does it to himself, it's usually funny and there's nothing wrong with that. But like, ok.

There's a scene in the comics where Della Donald and Scrooge in the past found an artifact that when opened created a deafening silence. To test the theory, Della opens the idol while scrooge plows his cane into Donald's foot causing him to scream which isn't heard because of the idol.

Stuff like that and like, I get it I do. But there's a very very good reason why I write my Donald as insecure about his familial relationships in general. I've also been inspired by several posts I've seen in the community that talk about this further, and gosh dang it I wish Disney didn't force them to end it at 3 seasons... coming back around to: the worst thing about the canon is just Disney LOL

15. What are your thoughts on the canon ships for the character, if any?

I am here for Donsy literally any day of the week, but specifically only for Ducktales 2017. In franchise canon in general, Daisy is extremely toxic for Donald usually, as she constantly crosses his boundaries and is extremely unapologetic about it (she's also just a brat IMO).

In DT however, they do her SO much justice. Her core of loving fashion is still there, but she is just a woman who's following her passion and working hard for it. Unfortunately, that drive put her in a toxic situation with her employer where she's been put down.

Donald and Daisy compliment and contrast each other in a very interesting way. Donald has effectively had to do very similar things for his family's approval. They're able to understand the constant struggle of sacrificing the things you want or enjoy for the sake of approval. Both of them seek approval for their efforts, and at least in Daisy's case to advance her career.

I really REALLY wish we saw more of those two in the show. It's implied that they spent a lot of time together, and it's just so sweet that Daisy can QUITE LITERALLY understand him perfectly. I think he's very respectful and supportive of her career too. I imagine he'd be more of a stay-at-home dad, or if he didn't finish college, he could do that as well while working on a ship again.

THERE ABSOLUTELY NEEDED TO BE AN AUNT DAISY EPISODE THOUGH!! Like the triplets have their mom back, sure. But Donald is THEIR DAD, and now their dad is dating someone else who they don't know?? It would've been such a great GREAT opportunity to explore a unique side of family dynamics that don't get touched upon in a healthy way. Daisy would be such a good (actual) mother figure to the boys and could get along with them easily.

Like, yeah okay Scrooge is a more main character and I guess they wanted to show him more with Goldie... but Donsy (also the ship name is dumb I'm sorry but that's what I see used)

I wish Daisy appearing didn't sideline Donald further away from his family. Like, I'm super happy that he's able to go on a trip with her in the end. But I think Donald needed more closure with his family AND SPECIFICALLY, HIS GOSH DARN TWIN SISTER before it would make sense for him to move on with his life.

In general, though, I'm really REALLY glad that Donald is given a chance to have a proper love life. I think he deserves a healthy relationship outside of his family, and they both are really great for each other. I have my gripes, but they have very little to do with Donald and Daisy and more with how the show treats him in general.

:,)

Thank you for coming to my Duck talk.

[if-confessions]

I have always been a person that gets bored pretty easily with things and I find it hard to keep my attention focused in one specific thing for a long time. I started writing an IF recently and even though I tried to keep my hopes low because I've also tried it many times before and always end up losing inspiration and moving to other ideas that keep popping up in my brain, it was flowing so well I had no choice but think this one would be for real. A little more than 5k written yet in like, two weeks and I can't force myself to even think about this IF anymore. I wanted so, so much to make it this time, and it was actually going so well I thought I actually would, but now I'm stuck in a vicious cycle of wanting to write other things (past IFs I've written a bit for and new ideas that kidnapped my neurons) - remembering I have this specific IF to write for - opening the doc and stare at it for minutes and minutes in a row - not being able to write a single worthy word - leaving feeling shitty and still tormented by all things I want to write and for the helplessness of the IF I couldn't develop

Staying motivated to continue working on a project is not easy (I have way too many ones myself too) and requires a lot of willpower and discipline. Especially if the project is very long. Having to remind your brain to focus on a project is not fun, you are 100% right.

And writing, especially as a hobby, should fun as a whole. You shouldn't have to feel dread every time you open your WIP or feeling tormented about it because you couldn't make any progress. It shouldn't be a grind.

Assumption corner, please disregard if you don't think it applies, cause I could be suuuuper off on those.

Maybe putting so much pressure on yourself to make it work every time you start working on a new idea might be a reason why you might not feel able work on it after a few say? Time to work on spite (the so what if it doesn't work method)?

Maybe you'd strive more on shorter forms of creation, like quick bites of IF (à-la Adventure Snacks) or having pressure to finish a game in a short period of time (there are many Game Jams on itch for that) ?

Maybe you might need encouragement when writing or peer-pressure? Writing groups with set weekly/periodic time to work on a project might help you progress.

Maybe you're more of an idea person that can create great prompts and settings and so on and so forth but need a partner to bring it to the finish line? Working in tandem can be fun!

Maybe IF might not be the best medium to foster or unleash your creativity? It happens. And that's ok. Even within IF there are very different ways of showing a story, some authors prefer Choice-Based, some Parsers.

Maybe you need a break from creating as a whole? Take a break from the cycle. Might help you feel better?

If you want to rid yourself of older projects/ideas you don't feel you'd work on in the future, check out the @seedcomp-if and donate your ideas to other creators ;)

[tribadismes]

7, 10, 11, 34 for the tv show ask!

Hey love ! Thank you so much for asking !!

7. have you ever been inspired to start a new show based on gifs or memes it has produced ?

oh definitely ! probably the case for 1/4 shows i've watched !

10. what’s one show you thought you’d love but turned out to really hate ?

There's this show called Work in Progress that sounded right up my alley, it's written & stars a butch with ocd so you know basically my life story, i was really excited about it, but it ended up making me extremely uncomfortable and was a huge disappointment. The premise is already... really icky since it's about this 40 something butch lesbian who starts dating a 20 yo pre-transion trans man, but you know it could have been handled in a good way i guess ? but it wasn't, it really really wasn't, and the main character is so unlovable and, yeah, big flop, wouldn't recommend, oh at all. I was also really disappointed in Dead End : Paranormal Park, it's an adult horror/fantasy cartoon featuring a gay trans man lead and his autistic bestie and talking dog. I love adult cartoons and liked the premise and animation style so i was like this is gonna be good but it's not. I watched it less than six months ago and barely remember it so i can't really elaborate lmao but i remember the plot being both messy and underwhelming (proof : can barely tell you what the plot even is) and also that the worldbuilding was extremely lackluster, which is a huge dealbreaker when we're talking fantasy like ?? Needless to say i dropped both these shows after the first season and never looked back.

11. which TV show has the best musical soundtrack, in your opinion ?

if we're talking serious good original soundtrack obviously Twin Peaks comes to mind... if we're judging by how obsessed i am with it then... Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, oh surprise

34. what are your top 5 shows right now ?

i loooove that question and i will even make a proper ranking for yah ! I'm judging by how often I think about them and how much youtube content i consume around them lmfao.

5. A League Of Their Own : best show of 2022, favorite lesbian show since oitnb probably, actually haven't gone into a youtube rabbit hole about it (yet) but i really wanna rewatch it soon, also my thirst for butches in period clothing is endless

4. Arcane : i am obsessed with this show, watched it twice in like a week, it's amazing truly, so fucking well-written, if you're into fantasy, animation, crazy women and butches with big muscles you should definitely watch it. I don't think a show has ever emotionally scarred me like that and i loved every second of it.

3. Young Royals : i regularly rewatch scenes from this show, i'm just fascinated with the acting... also i love their love, makes me wanna fall in love again (yes i have been using it as a coping mechanism since my break up to remember love is beautiful and shit)

2. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend : i mean what can i say that i haven't already said jjjkjkjkjarf the thing is it's the only show on this little list that i watched for the first time a really really long time ago (4, 5 years ago ?) and that has finished airing (cause my obsession for the other shows is mostly explained by : i'm waiting for the next season/episode) but i'm just obsessed with the music man, i listen to it on a daily basis almost

Helluva Boss : indie adult cartoon (free on youtube), hence why it's almost unknown except if you're an embarrassing cartoon dweeb like me lmfao but it's about to be a lot more famous since a show by the same creator in the same universe was picked up by i believe hbo and is going to air sometime this year. The best way to describe the tone of the show is, it's like Bojack Horseman but in hell. It's. So. So. Good. It has everything i love : really really dark humour, fucked up characters, drama, incredibly toxic gay ships, tons of lore, great world-building, foreshadowing, and most importantly a completely hectic release schedule (due to it being indie) that makes my adhd go absolutely fucking bonkers

[sailor-kaiju]

Some thoughts on separating the art from the artist. Which I actually do, to some extent, support in certain areas. Upfront: there are multiple ways to engage with media, and they can overlap and be non compatible, and because humans are complicated and messy we usually do multiple at a time. Also you can just enjoy something without digging deep in but I like enjoying things by picking them apart.

So first off: separating art from artist is one way to engage, not The Way. There is no The Way. The best way to really explore something critically is to examine it in multiple ways to get to the juicy core. And because so much is based on personal experience, even if we try to not, everyone interactions with a work will be different. Even if only a little, even in ways we never will or can express…if you think you have found The Way, all you have found is that you haven’t thought about it enough.

So let’s discuss the internets favorite excuse parading as a way to analyze media: separating the art from artist. The idea is to take the worthwhile art and separate it from the terrible ideas or morals of the artist.

This isn’t short hand for “ignore what the artist does and enjoy the art.”

Let’s take Shakespeare.

When I read Romeo & Juliet, I come into it with context of who Bill was (ish) and I know the time period and the expectations, etc. For example, while it’s part of the narrative that Juliet is a dumb teenager, stupid and young, I also understand that she is not equivalent to a modern teenager. I understand Shakespeare was, by our standards, horribly sexist but by his probably pretty progressive. So I separate the art from him, and read it in good faith and know he isn’t implying that this is child abuse but that it is stupid teens. I go in knowing his ideas of gender are not mine and I separate them out to get to the the story he is trying to tell. This doesn’t mean I’m dismissing the icky in the story, it means I know the icky hits me differently than it would have any one back then and is not meant to be icky in this context.

There is also a place for a reading that is ABOUT the idea he brought from his times and how they effect the story. There’s also a reading about how you should read the story and pretend you have NO context and see how things hit you then. Different ways to analyze things.

But the issue is I KNOW how to pull out the artist because I know what is up with the artist.

If, say, an artist is a transphobe, for a random example out of nowhere, and I refuse to engage with that knowledge, I can’t separate it from the art. Because I’m still participating in it, it is too hidden for me. So I don’t know what to watch out for and put in it’s little box of shame. And that’s when it becomes dangerous.

If I don’t know an artist is a transphobe, for example, I’m going to take in their transphobia without thought. It’s gonna fester in there and become accepted to me that saying a woman has big hands is an insult, that a woman’s biggest goal is to get married and have babies, or that boys and girls must be strictly gender separated. Because the author holds those beliefs and they aren’t questioning them, so if I don’t already KNOW to do it…it’ll slide by. And it’ll be in danger of becoming something that grows and stays in my own brain unquestioned.

On the flip side, if I know it’s there I can think about it, process it, build off it it to make better content, etc etc. I don’t have to accept it to engage with it.

I don’t think you NEED to cut something out because a creator is ~problematic~ but I also don’t think you can just pretend they aren’t and enjoy their content without interrogating how much of it has gotten INTO the text. Because it’s always a lot, and if you pretend you can just chop that connection off with no work….you haven’t actually done anything at all.

And none of this means you have to write essay’s about the problematic elements in everything you watch and report your problematic sins to the literary gods. It’s enough to be like “Quinten Tarantino is weird about feet so when I see that in his movies I know it’s a weird Tarantino things and don’t assume this is a normal way to be about feet.”

[fozmeadows]

race & culture in fandom

For the past decade, English language fanwriting culture post the days of LiveJournal and Strikethrough has been hugely shaped by a handful of megafandoms that exploded across AO3 and tumblr – I’m talking Supernatural, Teen Wolf, Dr Who, the MCU, Harry Potter, Star Wars, BBC Sherlock – which have all been overwhelmingly white. I don’t mean in terms of the fans themselves, although whiteness also figures prominently in said fandoms: I mean that the source materials themselves feature very few POC, and the ones who are there tended to be done dirty by the creators.

Periodically, this has led POC in fandom to point out, extremely reasonably, that even where non-white characters do get central roles in various media properties, they’re often overlooked by fandom at large, such that the popular focus stays primarily on the white characters. Sometimes this happened (it was argued) because the POC characters were secondary to begin with and as such attracted less fan devotion (although this has never stopped fandoms from picking a random white gremlin from the background cast and elevating them to the status of Fave); at other times, however, there has been a clear trend of sidelining POC leads in favour of white alternatives (as per Finn, Poe and Rose Tico being edged out in Star Wars shipping by Hux, Kylo and Rey). I mention this, not to demonize individuals whose preferred ships happen to involve white characters, but to point out the collective impact these trends can have on POC in fandom spaces: it’s not bad to ship what you ship, but that doesn’t mean there’s no utility in analysing what’s popular and why through a racial lens.

All this being so, it feels increasingly salient that fanwriting culture as exists right now developed under the influence and in the shadow of these white-dominated fandoms – specifically, the taboo against criticizing or critiquing fics for any reason. Certainly, there’s a hell of a lot of value to Don’t Like, Don’t Read as a general policy, especially when it comes to the darker, kinkier side of ficwriting, and whether the context is professional or recreational, offering someone direct, unsolicited feedback on their writing style is a dick move. But on the flipside, the anti-criticism culture in fanwriting has consistently worked against fans of colour who speak out about racist tropes, fan ignorance and hurtful portrayals of living cultures. Voicing anything negative about works created for free is seen as violating a core rule of ficwriting culture – but as that culture has been foundationally shaped by white fandoms, white characters and, overwhelmingly, white ideas about what’s allowed and what isn’t, we ought to consider that all critical contexts are not created equal.

Right now, the rise of C-drama (and K-drama, and J-drama) fandoms is seeing a surge of white creators – myself included – writing fics for fandoms in which no white people exist, and where the cultural context which informs the canon is different to western norms. Which isn’t to say that no popular fandoms focused on POC have existed before now – K-pop RPF and anime fandoms, for example, have been big for a while. But with the success of The Untamed, more western fans are investing in stories whose plots, references, characterization and settings are so fundamentally rooted in real Chinese history and living Chinese culture that it’s not really possible to write around it. And yet, inevitably, too many in fandom are trying to do just that, treating respect for Chinese culture or an attempt to understand it as optional extras – because surely, fandom shouldn’t feel like work. If you’re writing something for free, on your own time, for your own pleasure, why should anyone else get to demand that you research the subject matter first?

Because it matters, is the short answer. Because race and culture are not made-up things like lightsabers and werewolves that you can alter, mock or misunderstand without the risk of hurting or marginalizing actual real people – and because, quite frankly, we already know that fandom is capable of drawing lines in the sand where it chooses. When Brony culture first reared its head (hah), the online fandom for My Little Pony – which, like the other fandoms we’re discussing here, is overwhelmingly female – was initially welcoming. It felt like progress, that so many straight men could identify with such a feminine show; a potential sign that maybe, we were finally leaving the era of mainstream hypermasculine fandom bullshit behind, at least in this one arena. And then, in pretty much the blink of an eye, things got overwhelmingly bad. Artists drawing hardcorn porn didn’t tag their works as adult, leading to those images flooding the public search results for a children’s show. Women were edged out of their own spaces. Bronies got aggressive, posting harsh, ugly criticism of artists whose gijinka interpretations of the Mane Six as humans were deemed insufficiently fuckable.

The resulting fandom conflict was deeply unpleasant, but in the end, the verdict was laid down loud and clear: if you cannot comport yourself like a decent fucking person – if your base mode of engagement within a fandom is to coopt it from the original audience and declare it newly cool only because you’re into it now; if you do not, at the very least, attempt to understand and respect the original context so as to engage appropriately (in this case, by acknowledging that the media you’re consuming was foundational to many women who were there before you and is still consumed by minors, and tagging your goddamn porn) – then the rest of fandom will treat you like a social biohazard, and rightly so.

Here’s the thing, fellow white people: when it comes to C-drama fandoms and other non-white, non-western properties? We are the Bronies.

Not, I hasten to add, in terms of toxic fuckery – though if we don’t get our collective shit together, I’m not taking that darkest timeline off the table. What I mean is that, by virtue of the whiteminding which, both consciously and unconsciously, has shaped current fan culture, particularly in terms of ficwriting conventions, we’re collectively acting as though we’re the primary audience for narratives that weren’t actually made with us in mind, being hostile dicks to Chinese and Chinese diaspora fans when they take the time to point out what we’re getting wrong. We’re bristling because we’ve conceived of ficwriting as a place wherein No Criticism Occurs without questioning how this culture, while valuable in some respects, also serves to uphold, excuse and perpetuate microaggresions and other forms of racism, lashing out or falling back on passive aggression when POC, quite understandably, talk about how they’re sick and tired of our bullshit.

An analogy: one of the most helpful and important tags on AO3 is the one for homophobia, not just because it allows readers to brace for or opt out of reading content they might find distressing, but because it lets the reader know that the writer knows what homophobia is, and is employing it deliberately. When this concept is tagged, I – like many others – often feel more able to read about it than I do when it crops up in untagged works of commercial fiction, film or TV, because I don’t have to worry that the author thinks what they’re depicting is okay. I can say definitively, “yes, the author knows this is messed up, but has elected to tell a messed up story, a fact that will be obvious to anyone who reads this,” instead of worrying that someone will see a fucked up story blind and think “oh, I guess that’s fine.” The contextual framing matters, is the point – which is why it’s so jarring and unpleasant on those rare occasions when I do stumble on a fic whose author has legitimately mistaken homophobic microaggressions for cute banter. This is why, in a ficwriting culture that otherwise aggressively dislikes criticism, the request to tag for a certain thing – while still sometimes fraught – is generally permitted: it helps everyone to have a good time and to curate their fan experience appropriately.

But when white and/or western fans fail to educate ourselves about race, culture and the history of other countries and proceed to deploy that ignorance in our writing, we’re not tagging for racism as a thing we’ve explored deliberately; we’re just being ignorant at best and hateful at worst, which means fans of colour don’t know to avoid or brace for the content of those works until they get hit in the face with microaggresions and/or outright racism. Instead, the burden is placed on them to navigate a minefield not of their creation: which fans can be trusted to write respectfully? Who, if they make an error, will listen and apologise if the error is explained? Who, if lived experience, personal translations or cultural insights are shared, can be counted on to acknowledge those contributions rather than taking sole credit? Too often, fans of colour are being made to feel like guests in their own house, while white fans act like a tone-policing HOA.

Point being: fandom and ficwriting cultures as they currently exist badly need to confront the implicit acceptance of racism and cultural bias that underlies a lot of community rules about engagement and criticism, and that needs to start with white and western fans. We don’t want to be the new Bronies, guys. We need to do better.