#idk if i can call this ''trauma inducing'' because i mean i have my happy moments i wont lie

[malaierba]

What monster do you want to see the dungeon meshi crew cook up?

Hi pal! Sorry I took so long to answer, I wanted to add pictures to my reply and go through my trusty youkai book to see if something besides my first 3 choices caught my attention (in the end I decided that 3 is such a nice number already, let's not be extra) (you will soon see that i failed step one, this post gets very very extra)

That we haven't seen before? Hmm 🤔

Well, I'm pretty happy with what they eat in canon. Post-canon in true "Toshiro my beloved, I would kill and die to learn more about the pandemonium you call home" fashion, I think there's several yōkai that would be interesting to see cooked!

Yosuzume

Bird yōkai that appear in the night and chirp "chi, chi, chi" like a sparrow, and are said to pass in front of people who walk along mountain trails. In some prefectures it takes the form of a butterfly or a moth. It generally warns travelers of upcoming encounters with mountain dogs or mountain wolves. Often, only one person within a group of travelers can hear them.

Since it's essentially just a bird with supernatural abilities, that's quite an easy hurdle to overcome when it comes to eating, right? Even if it probably WILL give the killers bad luck.

Would be fun to see it as a moth/butterfly though, since THEN we'd get to see the Bug Besties (Falin + Toshiro)'s position on eating bugs.

Ushi-oni

A yōkai from the folklore of western Japan. They usually have an ox's head with sharp upward-curving horns, wicked fangs and a slender tongue, and an oni's torso. Other ushi-oni have a reverse appearance, with an oni's head and an ox's body. Their body is also commonly depicted as spider-like with six legs and long singular claws at the end of each appendage.

They may appear wearing human clothing, or flying with the wings of an insect. They spit poison and enjoy killing and eating humans.

Now THAT'S unsettling, isn't it? I like the challenge of eating an arachnid. It's doubly irk-inducing, because it's a very ugly monster, and also what would the meat be like? Beef? Would it be more insect-like?

If your culture doesn't eat both it's going to be challenging. And even if they do, it's such an odd mix, I think only the most adventurous would dare to take this one on, which is very interesting!

Yamabiko

An echo-spirit depicted as a small goat-like humanoid in a sitting position.

Yamabiko will echo any sound created by humans. They're rare to encounter and even rarer to engage. If someone tries to touch it, they will feel their hand passing through a viscous liquid. If you talk to Yamabiko, it will repeat what the person said before responding. For example: "What is your name?" "What is my name? My name is Yamabiko"

Now on to the other side of unsettling, this little dude is not only not what it appears (viscous? really?? how do you cook that! soup time?) it TALKS.

I know I'm leaning hard on the taboo side of monster eating, but, I mean, would you eat an animal that talks back? Many people think that eating parrots and crows is evil for that very reason, but are they that different from a chicken? Idk! It's interesting to me.

Also!!! I've made this joke before but I low-key really do think that eating the flying hag would fix Toshiro lol

"Mar, It's made of magic and paper" idc eat your trauma to assert your dominance Toshiro do it for me, beloved. High in fiber too, essentially a health food!

Since we're on the topic, I think it'd be very fun if this... Yknow, monster eating business was seen from the perspective of Toshiro + Falin + Namari + Kiki + Kaká + probably someone else though I haven't figured out who. Tade would be cute since I think Toshiro would benefit from being closer to her, enough that he can talk openly to her about... spoilers?

The plot could be that as she's about to go on her Journey Around The World, Falin asks Namari if she wants to tag along to visit Toshiro, since the two of them got along so well in the party.

I imagine Namari would not only have an interest in going to Wa and learning what their weapons are like (Wa is after all inspired in Japan, who is renowned for their swordsmithing & polishing tradition. Maybe they could reference the 10 legendary katana legend too?), she'd be excited to see Toshiro again.

Kind of want Kaka and Kiki to tag along, since they have such a cute dynamic and I quite liked how they were used for exposition. Besides! KikiMari crumbs. Wouldn't it be sweet if Mr. and Ms. Tansu encouraged them to tag along so they can broaden their horizons?

I also kind of want to see them interact with Toshiro? Toshiro and Kaka are probably too similar to be too talkative, but it'd also provide an opportunity for the theme of kinship (prevalent in Toshiro's story) and also just. situational humour around two guys who are reserved. Not many mangakas can pull it off, but Ryoko Kui is definitely one of the few.

And with Kiki, idk I see something there! She has the type of personality that's a good balance of polite and cheeky. And Toshiro's so easy to tease lol. I think they'd have a fun friendship. Also tbh there's my 'toshiro and namari are each other wingmans, its not very good but its what they've got' agenda.

Showing everyone around would be a good opportunity for Toshiro to leave his household and do a little soul-finding himself, too.

Finally, I'm kinda super into the idea of their adventures actually being narrated by Laios, who's reading to Kabru and Marceille and others but mainly them the letters he's receiving from Falin, Toshiro and Namari.

Oh btw, if they're eating yokai it's absolutely because of Falin lol. She gets her way every time, somehow.

[milogreer]

SIGH. I JUST. listen. i’m gonna do what i do best on this blog and ramble. geordi and cutie’s arc is so good. it’s cute and sweet and fun and sexy and then it’s awful and anxiety-inducing and frustrating and a little scary. i love how messy their relationship is. the separation put a knot in my stomach to listen to because you can tell how much both of them are hurting and traumatized in their own ways.

and things sometimes have to get bad before they can get better. cutie can love geordi with everything they have and it still isn’t enough when they keep hurting him. their trauma and insecurities aren’t an excuse to repeatedly cross his boundaries. they think love is a bandaid when it isn’t. you can’t treat someone like that and think just because you love them however much that it’ll wave away the hurt. it wasn’t until geordi really put his foot down that cutie had to listen to what he was saying. they needed that wake up call, for someone they love and trust but who they’ve hurt so deeply to show them how they’re hurting him and to say “i want you to heal. i deserve happiness, and safety, and peace. and so do you. and right now you don’t have that, and that’s leading to a lot of hurt. i don’t want that for you. i love you.” to make them see that they can’t keep acting the way they have been because it isn’t going to fix anything. it’s just going to keep hurting everyone involved.

and getting to see them work on that, on bettering themselves for themselves, was just… man. that audio left me emotionally exhausted almost more than the initial separation. they kept in touch and they were comfortable enough to hug and geordi got them their usual drink order and it’s like. sometimes love does prevail past all the ugliness. and it’s not fixed overnight, they both still have their things to work through, geordi himself says he wasn’t blameless in sort of why cutie acted the way they often did, but it’s progress. and that matters. it’s proof that cutie recognized that they were in a bad place and that they wanted to be better, and that means a lot to geordi. and i love that this is an ongoing process, i love this in-between bit of them figuring themselves out and i hope we get more of it. it makes them feel realistic and flawed and just so fantastic to listen to.

anyway at the end of the day it always just comes down to love, you know? love for others, love for yourself. love driving you to be your best self and to want the same for the ones you care about. it comes down to “i love you. i loved you then and i love you now. you are worth work and effort. i want us both to heal from the things that have gotten us to this moment.” idk if any of this makes sense i just really care about them and i miss them constantly </3

[spacelazarwolf]

at the risk of sounding gatekeepy/transmed-y (which i assure i’m not, and it’s not my intention to be), as a queer older-teen who has been out in some capacity since i was about 10 years old, it can be… really really frustrating that almost all of the queer people that i’ve met at my school (and lots that i’ve met online, too) are people who 1 realized they were queer during the pandemic full stop, but also 2 realized they were queer during the pandemic and have only ever been out in a relatively sheltered, accepting environment (and i find the latter is extremely common).

and while i’m very glad and all that being queer is safer for lots of young people nowadays, it can feel very alienating when it’s so obvious that these other baby queers, though we are the same age, have so much less experience engaging with queerness itself in a thoughtful way & engaging with other queer people in a thoughtful way. they’re very flippant with their use of slurs despite having never been called them, they ask others about their sexuality/gender without thinking how that might be extremely anxiety inducing and invasive and uncomfortable for closeted people—even in a “safe space.” like, i still feel sick and anxious when i hear queer topics being talked about casually irl! sure, i’m recovering, slowly, but the violence i faced for being queer is still traumatizing- it doesn’t matter how safe the space is! and they just can’t comprehend that.

idk. while i’m happy that some people live in more accepting places than i did, it’s just so fucking frustrating that i can’t connect with anyone i know irl (with the exception of like… one person lol) over the collective trauma of growing up openly or closet-ly queer in a shitty middle school, because it isn’t something that’s commonly shared anymore, i guess. it’s getting harder and harder for me to find queer people in my age group who have actually been the target of queerphobic violence, whether that’s physical or emotional. and i can’t help but resent them for it.

anyway. this turned into a rant oops but i initially was sending this ask in response to the conversation about gen Z queers who are really into slurcourse and identity discourse and such, and like. i fully believe a big reason behind that is because since they don’t have real life experiences of oppression to look back on, it’s harder for them to see the bigger picture of queerphobia and how fucking dumb identity discourse is, because they’ve never directly experienced oppression that Actually Matters. like i think once you’ve been assaulted for being queer, you realize that discourse does not fucking matter. it’s a maturity and experience gap i think, regardless of age. so that’s my 2 cents as a gen Zer queer who grew up in the shitty midwest lol

yeah a lot of the people who are really into specifically online discourse like slur discourse and identity discourse usually haven't had much to deal with in their real lives. which like. i'm glad bc maybe that means shit's getting better even though it's scary now. but it's also frustrating as someone who has experienced a lot of irl discrimination.

[violetren]

Aether Chapter 26

My "I'm gonna be annoyed at Sierra" senses are tingling.

At least Maggie got a cute peck on the cheek from Varsha first.

Revenge? REVENGE!? EXCUSE THE FUCK OUT OF YOU!? THE AUDACITY! THE ENTITLEMENT!

I have a mighty need for Maggie to give Chance the nod to get Eurion to punch Stupidhead.

Fucking revenge... I was right. I am annoyed at Sierra.

At this point I could probably write a fucking essay on why it's not just reasonable but healthy and better in just about every fucking way that Maggie chose Varsha over Sierra. It's probably get to like paragraph 8 before it even touched on the fact that Sierra is in a highly unstable trauma induced transitory period of her life and should not be trying to date anyone. Fucking hell. I think at this point I'm closer to thinking of her the way Maggie would think of Garrett (not wanting to be too mean because she's someone Maggie loves, and therefore giving her more credit that she's fucking due).

"She lets me be selfish" is a very interesting way of "she reminds me I have choices and encourages me to do what will be right for me and doesn't try to push me into making decisions that would suit her" but you know what basically everyone who ever puts on a supersuit and means it has this kind of thinking when it comes to letting themselves be happy so I can't even pretend to be surprised, or exasperated over it.

I live in desperate hope that Maggie will be the straw that breaks the camels back and gets Ashley to just fucking talk to Hannah already.

I kinda wonder if Maggie actually needed the heads up about Chance's pronouns. I mean... I guess a big part of Digilife is being someone else, but Chance could put their pronouns there or let slip to Maggie as they got closer online. Idk. Still nice of Ashley to give the heads up even though they're technically already friends since this is kind of a paradigm shit for them.

I'm gonna blame this on playing Synth Riders with some suprise custom songs earlier this evening, but probable hologram Change was just spotted talking to Fractal and a little gremlin voice went "oh Hatsune Miku style" followed by another thought slipping in like a wizened elder gremlin smacking the other with a stick to go "Like the Voyager EMH you heathen." Wild experience since both are pretty well valid comparisons but the important part is actually CHANCE CAN VISUALLY MANIFEST INDEPENDENTLY OF NAOMI AND TALK WITHOUT EVERYONE FEELING LIKE THEY ARE ON A PHONE CALL!

I love this for them.

It is of great comfort to me that Jia Li is consistently a flirty shit stirrer and genuinely hilarious that Eurion stands there grumping over the fact that Jia Li gets away with it when she doesn't.

There is so much good banter (and general dialogue and a decent bit of description) here that is doing a fantastic job of drawing relationship lines, (re)establishing character personalities, and showing how these people fit in a space that I cannot possibly gush over all of it and get to bed in time to be up for work in the morning. But I did want to say it was all awesome and I was delighted to finally see Maggie meet not just Chance, but Naomi, Anika, Jia Li, and Emilia. And she even managed to be so distracted as to not immediately have a gay meltdown over Emilia! Good on her!

Maggie is about to have a VERY full schedule, but she's going to have EXCELLENT company. Also the potential variety of "hot for teacher" jokes that I might get to make (if in world characters don't make them first) as she trains with Varsha is great.

It's very secondary to wanting to see Maggie become a competent ass kicker and kiss Varsha some more, but I think it would be cool af to see Hannah stop by for some of these training sessions and just be cool with Chance and Naomi (both much more open and out about their trans/nontraditional gender status) and just blow that "what if she isn't accepting" fear of Ashley's right out of the water in text.

[revol-lover]

nope i do need to vent

the thing is like i guess i’m just upset and got triggered by something today because like i can accept i guess what happened to me. well i guess i dont know if accept is the right word but it happened. i cant go back and change a single thing. i know that.

but whenever i’m reminded that what happened wasn’t ok and wasn’t normal and was literally so rare and so abnormal it just makes me so fucking sad because i wind up in the mindset of what if it didn’t happen. what if things went right. the way they were supposed to. who would i be right now? 

i get reminded of who i was before the trauma. i was in such a GOOD place. i was SO happy. i was FREE from a toxic environment that i had patiently waited for YEARS to get out of. it was finally happening. everything was falling into place and i was so happy with my life. and i was so freaking happy to be having my baby, finally. and a daughter too, which was surprising to me because my whole life i was convinced i’d have a son and that like, me getting a daughter would never happen (i wouldve been happy regardless i guess i just never genuinely imagined having a girl so it was a huge happy shock)

and then it all happened and everything came crashing down. starting with not being able to go into labor on my own. being 2 weeks late. being induced. labor forever (over 24hr). push for almost 3 hours. baby not doing well. low apgars. birth injury. immediate nicu transfer. not able to see her except for a quick minute before they sent her to another hospital and even then it was a glimpse, didnt get to hold her. going to bed that night in complete emptiness. complete fucking emptiness. why. why did it have to happen that way? being left alone the next morning so kevin could be with her (this was hard but i wanted one of us to be by her side.) having to suck it up and try my hardest to LOOK “ok” so that i could be discharged early and be able to go with her. have to suck up my pride and call my parents to drive me to the other hospital. mom comes. i get a call from kevin that babies having seizures. i cry. obviously. midwife (she was determined negligent so a lot of all of this is her fucking fault) told me that it was “normal” and “Happens sometimes” “but you pushed her out though!” i wanted to fucking slap her. it wasnt normal. and who cares if i pushed her out? if a c section would’ve prevented this i wouldve gladly done so for my child’s wellbeing the fuck. 

midwife approves d/c. leaves room. i cry. because wtf is my life. wtf is going on with my baby. everything is a disaster. my mom slams her fist on the food tray and tells me “stop crying!!! youll get that post partum shit!!”

...

because that’s how it works

...

i could go on and on about how the day and day after my baby was born were the worst days of my life not the best. the worst. because i literally almost lost her. she could’ve died that night. she had to be in cooling therapy for 3 days so we couldn’t hold her until she was 4 days old. by that point we already got the talk about the future. about how they didnt know if she’d ever walk or talk or if she’d have behavioral or learning problems etc because of her brain injury .it was a fucking lot.  not to mention at the same time i was so sick physically myself (couldnt keep food down. was trying to pump breast milk for her, but would vomit after every time. it was horrible and i stopped before we took her home) i definitely shouldnt have been d/c 12 hours after birth but i had to because i wasn’t going to be away from her for longer .but it just all was so terrifying and we had a hard time bonding initially because of all of this and it was truly such a horrible time. and then the denial from our family. telling us doctors could be wrong and “she looks fine”. people dont realize how hurtful and not help that is. you can be in denial all you want because it is not YOUR child. and no you cant “see” a brain injury.

 and when there’s no reason to think of all this i can go a long time without thinking of it but then it happens

the triggers.

the pampers commercial. the perfect birth story. a photo of a newborn on their mother’s chest.

and all those emotions just come flooding back and it sucks. i grieve for what life could’ve been if this hadnt happened. i grieve the fact that my daughter didnt get to be held for those first 4 days. that her little body had to go through what it did. that she had to lay on a cold pad (it helps slow down the bodies response to injury, which can prevent further damage) for 3 days after being warm and safe inside me for her whole existence.i grieve because although my daughter is doing well, it still should not have happened. shes not out of the woods. kids w her diagnosis have seizures return during developmental points of childhood.i have no idea what school will be like for her -- and the thing is like its ok. i am capable of handling that when/if we get there but.  it just sucks and none of it should’ve ever happened and i cant change anything. i know that. but sometimes i cant help but wonder what wouldve happened if things had gone right. would i have bonded better? would i not have had such a hard time adjusting to new mother hood? would i have had another child by now? would i have continued on that journey of feeling so happy and content with my life that i was on before all of this instead of just feeling kind of empty and jaded a literal 1/2 of the time? not with motherhood, necessarily, because after the first year i started to find myself as a mother more and thanks to the encouragement i got from her early intervention nurse, i really feel certain that i did well that first year especially. like we both (kevin and i) did our best for her and are partially responsible for her good outcome. but  i mean with life. i feel so jaded half the time. because life is unfair. and i knew that but man. no. life can be REALLY fucking unfair and idk where i’m even going with this anymore. sometimes i can find the way to having a mindset again of, we aren’t in control and all that, i get it but, idk. certain things still shouldnt’ happen and sometimes i really wish i could go back to who i ws before all this, when i had a genuine sense of optimism, because i thought, i had been through some of the hardest days already, and that was naive of me to think, but i just could have never predicted what was coming. and i’m still grieving that.

[ship-obsessions]

Thoughts on 6x01 & 6x02

Season 6 spoilers ahead...

6x01

- Ugh I hate the Spacekru gang up on Clarke... like she’s saved ALL of your asses a billion times, jesus give her a break. Also if you all would just COMMUNICATE we wouldn’t have these issues!! Especially annoyed that Murphy is against her though... like WTF I was sure he’d come around after Bellamy. Surprised yet loved Echo low key sticking up for Clarke though.

- Season 1 parallels!! Miller mentioning “We’re back, bitches” had me smiling so hard. Wish they would have thrown in a callback to the first Bellarke convo with “The air could be toxic” but I guess we can’t have it all...

- Murphy diving into the water and then pulling Emori in with him made me so happy. Also reminded me of the first “mission” on Earth when Octavia jumped in the water and got attacked. I wonder if that crossed Clarke’s mind but she didn’t say anything because no one from that day was there (and 3 of the 5 are dead 😔)

- Shaw, NO! I honestly did not expect that to happen. I more concerned for Raven’s sake though. She is going to be so sad just as she was FINALLY starting to be happy again. Ugh I just want her to have happiness like she deserves but also so she can stop hating Clarke and blaming others for her trauma.

- Okay but Clarke AGAIN risking herself to go after Shaw and turn the fence off... and Bellamy’s “NO CLARKE STAY BACK!” Man, he’s going to continue to have a tough time keeping her alive again...

- God I love John Murphy. From breaking into the houses nonchalantly to singing along and trying to dance with Emori. He’s the best (Now just forgive Clarke already)

- The Bellarke convo about the radio calls was so pure and had me crying I’m so happy. Clarke’s face when Bellamy mentioned them and the relief when he told her that Madi mentioned them... yo she was worried he heard something. Like what did you say on those calls, Clarke??!? Then after she tries to explain them and says he probably thinks she’s crazy and he just whispers “it’s not crazy” I swear my heart stopped. Of course he had to throw in a joke after though because my OTP can’t handle too much serious emotion when it comes to one another. (Like me IRL)

- Omg the eclipse induced psychopathy I was honestly thinking it would happen later from the trailer (idk why) but I’m so glad we get this over and out of the way.

- I love having the adventure squad together again it seriously fills my heart! I’m getting season 1 vibes again by going back and forth from the kids on the ground to the “adults” in space. Love it

6x02

- Okay yes Bellamy, Clarke and Murphy locked in a room, here for it. And you TELL EM Clarke! Finally appreciate her standing up for herself but honestly girl go off you constantly save EVERYONE and they still have the nerve to hate you for the decisions you’re forced to make. I’d like to see someone else try to lead and save the goddamn world. And don’t think I missed the “When I’m in charge, people die. Isn’t that what you said?” subtle line directed at Bellamy. Damn... 125+ years later and Hakeldama is STILL a major plot point.

- Damn, Octavia really hates herself behind this mask. She was asking for that fight, the pain is the only thing making her feel alive. But please, the whole “I saved you” shit... come on. She’s so power hungry and delusional. If anyone saved them it’s fucking Clarke.

- Raven is so smart to wake Diyoza. I love how Diyoza immediately goes into war mode and makes a plan of attack. She is def needed and should become an essential member of the team. Although I appreciated Raven’s input on the plan to make sure it was too ~murdery~. They actually made a pretty good team.

- Wasn’t that surprised that Echo couldn’t handle the psychosis and tranquilized herself. Now comparing to how Clarke’s psychosis was only attacking herself and she STILL pulled through it... Just saying it’s clear who is mentally stronger and there is a reason Clarke has been a natural leader all this time. Aka she’s never been selfish and is always trying to help everyone else.

- My poor Clarke! Her psychosis of her mom telling her to just kill herself was heartbreaking. Also makes me wonder why that was her reaction to the toxin. Like it says it makes you turn people you love and that was clear for Emori & Murphy (& Bellamy with Clarke later hehe), but rather than that, she goes after herself. And we damn well know that she loves her friends, especially Bellamy, so I’m curious to know if there is a reason why.

- Of course! Madi fits through the vents, duh. I felt real dumb for not seeing that coming. Lol

- Omg so much happening with this crazy fighting sequence of Murphy and Clarke v Bellamy. I hate yet love it at the same time. My new OT3

- NO BELLAMY GET OFF OF CLARKE. Omg he is going to regret this so much when they are fine again...

- Adventure squad 2.0 hits the ground. This time Octavia was the stowaway instead of Bellamy. Hmm more season 1 parallels, me like

- Oh god, who has to explain what happened to Shaw to Raven...

- That aerial shot of Bellamy, Clarke and Murphy with Bellarke TANGLED together... yes! Love it, here for it, give me more

- Bellamy’s face when he remembers what he did to Clarke had me DEAD. And her simple touch to his arm to let him know without words that they are okay... They have to address that in the next episode, PLEASE

- The cliffhanger ending with the children asking if they are here to take them home was crazy but my real question is: Where the hell are all of these children’s parents??

I’m honestly glad that about 60% of the trailer was made up of scenes from those first 2 episodes (as it should), because that means there is SO MUCH more for us to enjoy. Omg this is going to be one hell of a season and I CANNOT WAIT.

[allthefilmsiveseenforfree]

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

So I may or may not be a little behind on reviews right now. But joke’s on you, there are a bunch of scary movies that have been released in 2019 (and very few being released in theaters this October) so you can enjoy some seasonally-appropriate spookiness right on schedule like I planned it that way and not at all because writing reviews for 119 movies is really hard and time-consuming. Everything’s going according to my master plan.

Hey, so do you remember the 90s? Between Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, kids in the 90s basically just wanted to have the bejeesus scared out of them. Enter Alvin Schwartz, who produced a couple of collections of folk tales and urban legends that were unsettling but fairly bloodless and combined them with the nightmare-inducing artwork of Stephen Gammell. BOOM - generation of kids traumatized. I know all my fellow #90skidsremember and probably have very high hopes for the spookiness of this movie. Does it deliver? Well...

Mostly, but it misses the mark somewhat. What’s worse, I think some different choices could have really propelled this into blood-curdling classic status. As it stands, those stories we knew and loved as kids have been roughly strung together into a PG-13 horror flick held together by a somewhat clumsy connective narrative about a young girl named Sarah Bellows (Kathleen Pollard), who was tortured and abused at the hands of her family, locked in a basement, and took her revenge by writing scary stories that came to life and killed all those who tormented her. Now it’s Halloween in 1968 and a group of teens (Zoe Margaret Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush, and Austin Zajur) investigate the derelict Bellows house and find Sarah’s murderous book - and then start dropping like flies as Sarah’s stories start to come to life once more.

Some thoughts:

The movie theater we saw this in was an independent theater recently acquired by a big corporate chain, and as such, the employees could not figure out how to turn the lights all the way down. And we were in the biggest auditorium they have - think almost IMAX size - so the lights were those really strong spotlight kind recessed into the super high ceiling, but dimmed to about half strength. This is all to say that my experience was less Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and more Scary Stories to Tell in an Office Building Past Nine.

The soundtrack is absolutely banging. I really, really enjoyed the extended intro sequence to “Season of the Witch” particularly.

Ok, hard and fast rule - don’t throw things that are on fire into ANYONE’s car, even if they’re a bully.

How are all these walls of cobwebs not a deterrent even if a scary murder basement isn’t?

You know, I don’t think I had overbearing parents in high school by any means, but even my friends with hippie parents could never have come home absolutely fucking WASTED and just be told, “go deliver eggs.” In the middle of the night. On Halloween. Like people do.

Harold was always the scariest story in the collection to me, and Harold himself is not fucking around here. His character design is deliciously creepy, plus the fact that he’s isolated in a huge cornfield at night. Anyone who grew up in the middle of the country will tell you - one of the scariest things on God’s green earth is a field of corn. Listen to this and listen well - cornfields are full of blood and old magic. Don’t. Fuck. With corn.

Glad to see they’re not underplaying the racism that someone with the name Ramon Rodriguez would be experiencing in a small town like this in 1968. Or now.

I can’t help but feel this would have been a far better movie if it was A) rated R and B) about a half hour longer. I’m all for short and snappy when the movie calls for it! But things moved SO quickly that nothing had much room to breathe. There were entire plot lines that felt dropped, or completely breezed past. Example - there’s a whole subplot about our Final GIrl Stella’s strained relationship with her dad (Dean Norris) that could have carried a lot of the emotional weight and really underscored some themes of the movie about generational trauma...but Stella and her dad have I think 2 very brief scenes together? Maybe 3? It feels like a LOT was cut from their arc. Even small details that could have been fleshed out into something really creepy feel dropped or missing - like, the corn in Harold’s field? Completely green and thriving on Halloween night, dead and yellow the next day. It feels like a scene is missing or that lines illuminating this choice were cut - even something as simple as “What could do something like this to an entire field of corn?” and the answer is E V I L.

I’ve been around lots of teenage boys before, I’m not a nun, but seriously who eats stew of all things that 1) people told you they didn’t make (and that you know YOU didn’t make) 2) that is COLD and 3) when people you love are saying DO NOT EAT ANYTHING OR YOU WILL DIE. I’m willing to concede 1 and 3 through sheer stubbornness and stupidity but COLD? COLD STEW? Cold, chunky, brownish stew??? Disbelief unsuspended.

There are a number of Very Good Dogs in this movie, including a beautiful Doberman, some excellent police K-9 units, and a Very Good black dog named Trigger! And I’m happy to report all of the dogs make it out ok!

“You don’t read the book - the book reads you” might be the worst line I’ve seen in a film this year. What does that even mean?

Why did Chuck say “My sister’s gone” - based on what we see in the film, the implication is that she actually survived? Unless there was a scene establishing her death definitively that was cut. This is what I mean when I say that the brutal to-the-bone editing to keep it PG-13 really makes the plot and continuity suffer.

Why would you throw away that perfectly good clipboard? Hospitals aren’t made of money, young man!

But maybe this hospital is, because they own a fucking gramophone?? And for the record, it has never been that easy to find any hospital records in the history of ever, so maybe this is a magic hospital, idk.

In terms of the actual scary stories come to life, the red room lady (see gif above) is really the only one that feels the same way the Stephen Gammell’s original artwork feels. All the other scary stories embodied in the film either rely too heavily on CGI to look convincingly real (Me Tie Dough-ty Walker) and therefore lose their dreadful creepiness or the character design, while scary, doesn’t really resemble the look or feel of the original illustration (Harold).

Speaking of Me Tie Dough-ty Walker, that part really rubbed me the wrong way. He moves super fast, and is so violently in your face - it doesn’t at all fit the tone of the books or the creeping dread of Gamell’s art. I understand you need to escalate the action as you’re heading into the climax of the film, but this move felt completely wrong to me, like it came from a totally different (and lesser) B-horror movie. He’s loud and gross and terrifying looking, like The Toxic Avenger doing parkour and shit, and that is not at all the vibe that any of these urban legends have.

Did I Cry? I teared up a teeny bit during Stella’s phone call with her dad. Dad-daughter stuff just gets me, ok?

It feels weird that they’re so clearly trying to set up a sequel, especially when the scariest story the movie tells is that Nixon wins the election and Ramon is drafted to go to Vietnam.

Overall, this could have been something pretty great. The acting and characterizations are solid, and there’s some rich thematic material to make this feel less like an anthology collection cash-grab. There’s even some pretty profound messages about trauma at the heart of Stella’s confrontation with Sarah Bellows - Stella understands that Sarah is only a monster because she is lashing out in pain, but she’s hurting innocent people. All Sarah wants is for her trauma to be heard, acknowledged, and remembered - all she wants is her story to be told. And while it doesn’t always reach its highest potential, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is still certainly a story worth listening to.

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[chromsai]

Sai, I just went and watched Yugioh Everything's video on Yusaku and Aoi having Autism and Depresson, respectively. While he makes some solids points and I agree with them having mental problems, he basically said Vrains is the first yugioh to talk about 'such dark topics.' If your up to it could you bring up some characters in previous ygo series (Arc-V or all your choice) that implied to have mental problems cause Vrains is not the first by a long shot lmao.

Lmao sorry this answer is kinda late since the past few days have been busy for me and ironically enough you sent this right when I just got back from a grad school info session (regarding psych programs ofc) which made me realize I kinda wanna pursue a career more along research in the field of abnormal psychology which is one of my stronger areas of knowledge in psychology already anyway. I just really like it that much.

So yeah I did see this ask like almost right when you sent it but it was late and I had just gotten home after a nice day and YE’s videos haven’t been making me too happy lately so ofc sorry I kinda avoided watching it that night cuz I didn’t wanna ruin my nice day (just in case). But now that I watched it, well as far as I can remember he didn’t outright say that this is the first time a Yugioh’s dealt with these issues before (but I can see how you got that he perhaps implied it).

That all being said, I still have just a, I’d say, general yet above-average knowledge in these subjects (hey I have a degree in Psych, yes, but that doesn’t make me an expert by any means and I’m not afraid to say that, hell I love learning new things about psych all the time) so please keep that in mind (also please keep in mind too that I cannot professionally diagnose anyone, but for the sake of discussion about the psychology in fiction, I can definitely give my thoughts on what would be the most probably diagnosis for certain characters). Besides that though, if YE does actually believe that this is the first time these kinds of issues have ever been dealt with in Yugioh, well wow idk how much he’s been paying attention before this...

(Long read with further examples + explanations from characters in each series under the cut)

Regarding his statements on the Vrains characters and the disorders he mentioned, I’ll give it to him. In fact, I too am pretty sure by now that all of Yusaku’s “quirks” point to Autism, though, and YE didn’t mention this so idk how knowledgeable he is regarding other personality disorders, he also seems to show symptoms of OCPD (obsessive-compulsive); these include being obsessed or preoccupied with making lists and keeping track of small details, over preoccupation with work or meeting goals to the point of neglecting your social life or forming close relations, unwillingness to see ethics or values in someone else’ light, being stubborn, etc. Wouldn’t surprise me if he has both since there’s a high co-morbidity between ASD and OCPD.

In regards to Aoi, again yes I agree. Girl has depression. It’s very obvious (this I can say with confidence as someone who has suffered previously from it [note: I sought help and let’s just say I’m very glad I did]. The Paranoid Personality Disorder... (I’m gonna be honest.... I didn’t pay enough attention to Aoi’s character enough to determine a firmer answer and I don’t really feel like rewatching the ep). According to him, it’s a possible thing. He did mention that she could just be acting that way because her whole entire life she’s been kinda used so she has a general distrust of people, but that’s just the thing. If in fact he’s correct about her symptoms matching up, it doesn’t necessarily matter if she’s acting this way due to her childhood trauma, in fact, that’s even more reason to validate her suffering from PPD (another area I feel more confident about in psych is child/adolescent development and hey guess what, lots of personality disorder symptoms start showing up during childhood or are even a direct cause of childhood trauma).

Speaking of childhood trauma, you wanted to know characters from other series that have mental illnesses/suffer from personality disorders? Well... (*cough cough* as a psychologist, why do you think I enjoyed Arc V so much?)...Here’s a quick list of just a few select characters I can think of:Arc V:-Yuya (remember, the childhood trauma I mentioned): Oh my poor boy suffers from dysthymia. Again, I’m pretty confident here because I can relate (because I suffer from it too ahaha). While we don’t know exactly for how long, it’s been at least three years with it (ugh) since his father’s disappearance and all the bullying. He shows so many signs of it throughout the show (it would be pointless to get screencaps because the signs are literally everywhere): dysthymia (sometimes called “persistent depressive disorder”) is noted by sadness, anger, irritability, mood swings, loss of appetite, insomnia (did you notice in Synchro when we was feeling depressed in his room he didn’t eat at all and stayed up all night despite being noticeably tired), indecisiveness, low self-esteem, among others. I’m sure people might argue against me, trying to say “oh well he’s energetic for the most part and still smiles a lot” well guess what, there’s lots of entertainers, comedians, performers, and just overall really sociable people who do a terrifyingly good job hiding it.I saw someone once mention that they headcanoned Yuya also has Histrionic Personality Disorder and well... he actually does show signs of it but not so much that he actually meets criteria. Even for being an entertainer tho, he shows this more than the others (either Dennis, Yuzu, or even Yusho), but again, can’t be diagnosed with it.Lastly, and this is more of a post-canon thought regarding the prognosis of his mental health... he’s definitely gonna deal with some dissociative symptoms for the rest of his life (or until somehow, some way they find a way to separate him and the other Yuus, and even then still...). There is just no way in hell you can convince me that he’s not gonna experience dissociation on a regular basis with 3 other people living inside him. Same goes for Yuzu. (Side note: RIP my heart.)

-Shun: He suffers from PTSD. Oh man he’s kind of textbook PTSD: irritableness, mistrust, social issolation, flashbacks, hostility, fear, anxiety, paranoia, agitation, hyper-vigilance, etc. (I’d also say Yuto and Kaito suffer this too).

-Reria: Also suffers from PTSD, but since Reira is much younger, coping with childhood PTSD is a lot harder and leads to more frequent panic attacks, flashbacks, intrusive or unwanted thoughts, nightmares, avoidant behavior, etc.

-Yuri: Conduct Disorder, aka the precursor to Antisocial Personality Disorder. He’s 14 so he can’t really be diagnosed as the second. Anyways, what really tipped me off about him having this is his blatant disregard for any remorse towards harming others. He just doesn’t feel it. On the contrary, he straight up says he enjoys it, says he needs it “just like breathing”, he’s an overall really violent kid and starts fights with literally anyone that gets in his way (like... it’s even his catchphrase “You’re in my way!”), has no knows long term close relationships with anyone (reeaaally wish they had given us more of him and Dennis together tho...), and he’s known to deceive, trick, or lie to others with no guilt at all. (He’s also seen as similar to past villains of Yugioh, outright disproving the implication that Vrains is the first Yugioh to deal with personality or mental disorder issues).

-Zarc: Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Again, another textbook example. And yes, similar to Aoi’s possible Paranoid Personality Disorder, this is canonically induced into his personality as a result of the society he lived in praising his violent duel style and eventual lust for power due in part to the same reason. But just because it was induced due to circumstance doesn’t make it any less valid. It’s another form of trauma, just like Aoi’s whole “being used all her life” led her to develop PDD.

And well there’s more examples in Arc V (you can also argue that Shingo also suffers from NPD to some extent, etc.) but I think those are the biggest ones I can think of right now.

And of course, though I’ve seen them all, I know Arc V the best + it’s just the one that’s in my most recent memory so it’s easier to talk about them, but some other quick examples from the series that I can think of:

DM:-Kaiba: Again, Narcissistic Personality Disorder.-Marik: I think he’s a strong candidate for being diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (at least the way his villainous arc portrayed him as).-Bakura: Actually an adult so actual Antisocial Personality Disorder.

GX:-Judai: Depression & Dissociation. Yep.-Ryo Marufuji/Hell Kaiser: Definitely could argue that he displays signs of Sadisitic Personality Disorder, just keep in mind that it is no longer included in the DSM-V so it is not something someone would be typically diagnosed with professionally.-Manjoume: Another Narcissist.

5D’s:-Jack Atlas: Okay so he’s more of an accurate example of Histrionic Personality Disorder, minus the sexual criteria (which, if the Yugioh anime genre/audience allowed, I’m sure would be plausible since he also displays signs of NPD, implying that he might actually want that kind of physical/superficial attention).-Aki: Also like Aoi, displayed symptoms of PPD, though I’d argue she definitely has it and just learns to cope over time after befriending Yusei & co.-Sherry: Shows signs of high functioning ASD (being perfectionist and being obsessed with finding out about her parents murder), but ASD isn’t something I’m too confident talking about yet so maybe don’t quote me on this.-Divine: I’d say you can argue he’s has Antisocial Personality Disorder.

Zexal:-Vector: Another one with.... I mean... he’s not really 13 or 14, he’s actually, what, like 100s of years old? So instead of Conduct Disorder, he actually has Antisocial... technically...-Fuya: OOOOOHHHH You thought I wouldn’t remember a character like him??? (Again, as a psychologist, these are the characters I like the most). He’s memorable to me, despite being a minor character, cuz I’d say he definitely displays signs of having Avoidant Personality Disorder, especially with regards to using his Esper Robin personality to avoid all those intrusive, self-conscious thoughts he doesn’t find pleasant.-Shark/Ryoga/Nasch: Also has PTSD.-IV: He’s borderline Antisocial. Not quite. But almost there.

OOOKAYY Well anyways, those were just a bunch of examples. There’s way more, I’m sure that I missed A TON. But yes it’s as you said, Vrains is definitely NOT the first time in Yugioh history where characters have had to struggle with mental health / personality disorder issues. Far from it.

And wow actually thank you for the ask! This was really fun to think about and I welcome the discussion any time! Anyone, don’t be afraid to let me know if there’s stuff I might have left out or if there’s anything wrong with this or any arguments for or against any of this.

[ides-aglaecwif]

moving the content of my Discourse™ post here under a cut bc discourse never induces happy feelings and i’d like to put it away bc i think at this point we can end the conversation

(standard text is me, block text is @deviantdragons, relevant tags are in brackets)

Okay I go out of my way to avoid The Discourse™ but like. I need to know. What about Sazed and Taako’s relationship was abusive? Hear me out. As far as I’m aware, abuse is characterized by one person using tactics of manipulation such as gaslighting, threats of force, fear, guilt, etc, to maintain control over the other person. Isn’t that the main thing? Abuse is about power imbalance?

Like, I know Sazed’s actions are the direct cause of Taako’s current trauma, I understand that. But I don’t think that’s grounds for calling his behavior abusive. Sazed didn’t play on that event to influence Taako in any way. He didn’t hint about it beforehand. In fact, he left Taako immediately afterwards. I’m not saying he was a good person or his actions were justified, only that he acts more like a standard-fare villain than an abuser.

Cowardly, deceptive, and murderous? Absolutely. But abusive? I don’t know. Thoughts, anyone?

[ #and i know ppl like to project on taako#and thus might relate his backstory w sazed to their own abuse#and thats absolutely fine#but its kind of alarming to me to see this one character#who we got about 3 minutes of description of#treated like literal satan#like who the fuck knows??#he could show up in the finale as like an avenging angel and save the mcfucking day#and yall will have already had this 'if u think sazed is redeemable ur an abuse apologist' clusterfuck going on for 6 months#we! dont! know! him!#we have no details on his relationship with taako!#we just know he framed taako for a murder!#and frankly thats not the worst thing ppl on this show have done!]

@deviantdragons said, “…………… he tried to murder taako for saying “no” and then blamed taako for mass murder.”

Okay but what part of that is abuse? Didn’t THB murder Barbara and the rest of the Hammerhead Gang for saying “no” in Petals to the Metal? Or do the ends justify the means? I’m not saying framing someone for mass murder is okay; it’s criminal and evil and a horrible horrible thing to do but I’m really not seeing abuse here.

if an action you take against your friend/partner is “evil and horrible” then it most likely falls under the realm of abuse, yes.

So does the difference between standard-fare villainy and abuse lie in the relationship to the victim? If Sazed had been, say, a fan who wanted to join the show, Taako said no, and Sazed framed him for mass murder in revenge, would it have been abuse? The effect on Taako would have been the same regardless: Taako would have thought he was at fault, would have stopped cooking, and would have gone into hiding. Or does it only count as such because it was a betrayal?

[ #I'm Just Tryin To Understand#it would be much easier if there was a universally agreed-upon definition of abuse#but i understand that people's experiences don't often fit under one criterion#nevertheless i dont think 'abuse' is a catchall term for 'acts of violence perpetuated against one with whom you are familiar'#if my best friend decided one day to beat me up and then skip town for milwaukee and never speak to me again#i wouldn't call it abuse#ya feel?#assault and battery; betrayal; a gross and unexpected thing to do; yes]

okay so like

you’re asking “what’s the diff between villain & abuser?” and the answer is: one is a vague term w/ many different meanings, mostly interchangeable w/ “antagonist”, and the other is a purposefully broad term to describe acts of cruelty. lots of ‘villains’ are abusive.

All right, I can see that. I guess I just always had the idea that abuse was the stuff you learn about in safe environment classes at school: you know, divvied up into verbal, physical, sexual, and neglect, most often perpetuated by relatives, figures of authority, and significant others, et cetera. Specifically the word “abuser” just has a very different connotation in my mind than someone who fits the Google definition of abuse, which could be anyone from like a school shooter to a bully to someone who graffitis hate speech onto a wall.

[ #am i the only one who thinks that way?#idk just the connotations of abuse are much more heavy than this definition indicates]

alternate replies to the post that i didn’t respond to but whose points of view i nevertheless appreciate:

where-are-the-owl-s said: honestly it’s more that when people ship them in a romantic relationship it’s abusive not so much the canon relationship they had (although like…….he did try to kill Taako and then made him feel guilty for something he didn’t do so)

shameparade answered: Totally agree. Honestly, there is so little canon for Sazed it’s hard to say anything about him besides “sure did kill a whole town.” He and Taako seemed to have a crap professional relationship but anything beyond that is pure conjecture.