#it would not have mass appeal imo but it would be real

[mithridacy]

i dont really mind not seeing my type of guys in games but i do think it would be funny if there was a normal dating system and one of the routes is the kind of relationship you get out of meeting as a known sadist/masochist pair or a 20yr/50yr grindr hookup and all the rest of the routes are the normal types

[keeperoftinyarmy]

I’m about to cleanse my SM because apparently I follow a whole lot of JM solos.

People wishing for Jimin to leave Hybe. Are they for real? He’s not leaving. He loves Bangtan and they have really good contracts. What other company would be better for him?

Then the people calling JK an obsessed copycat and wanting him away from Jimin. Just wow. As if Jimin wouldn’t have spoken up if he didn’t like that Seven styling looked so much like Face. As if JK and Jimin aren’t close and talking all the time about their work. Logically speaking they probably planned for a tie between their projects…it’s too much to be lazy styling or coincidence.

In no way would Jimin be happy that people are trashing JK or trying to sabotage his debut in his name. Jimin would never ever want that. It’s not some shipper fantasy that Jimin is in NYC. Jikook are bonded and support each other. Tearing down Kookie is like the worst way to show your love for Jimin.

I’m Jimin biased and wished for more Jimin hype/promotion in the US as well. I’m disappointed but I’ve always thought …when all the solos were announced…was that JK would be the one they’d try to make their golden ticket. It makes the most sense from a business standpoint…the lead singer…sellout king…arguably the most popular member and he sounds great singing in English. That’s a stockholders dream.

So if regular me sitting in the US thought of that…then you know the members did…and agreed with it. Jungkook has tons of mass appeal. And Hybe wants to create music for the masses. Jimin who is quite popular in his own right, threw them a curveball with the global success of his album. (Especially since Jimin mainly did promos in Korea…world domination wasn’t the plan for him. And I strongly believe he was aware of the plan.) Jungkook is their weapon they planned to use to push further into the west. I’m sure it was all plotted out and Jimin wasn’t supposed to be the one vying to be a US household name…they couldn’t have him “beat JK to the punch”. It sucks but it’s business.

And Jungkook doesn’t do things he doesn’t want to do, so he’s up for this challenge. If it’s true his album will be all English…then again I firmly believe he wants to do it. (And doing an English album is not selling out…they’ve done all Japanese albums…it’s no different imo)

I personally love Seven. It’s Jungkook’s child star breakout moment. He’s showing the world he’s grown now and I’m glad he did it. And beyond that the song is a great dance song that follows in the age old tradition of boy band singers getting raw in their solos (maybe I’ll do a post on that later).

I’m fully supporting JK…like I did for all the members. They all deserve success.

[topnotchquark]

hello omg would you be willing to expand your thoughts a little on the throwaway shah rukh x south asia tag on the manipulative hurt/comfort post because i dooo get it a little bit as someone who grew up in an india where he had almost as much sway over the masses as any political figure (also would you agree that he no longer has that kind of social capital as he once did, with how the country has increasingly given in to the ruling party’s political manipulation, esp vis à vis the. well. communal rhetoric)

I think again this is v similar to what I said about Vale! I wasn't an Shah Rukh girl growing up, his deal didn't really appeal to me but I think it has made more sense to me with time. But there is a reason he is one of India's last true superstars. I think the post bacchan era where cinema halls were more ubiquitous and going to the movies became a bit more democratised he was truly able to produce some emotionally intense and tasteful work when films were becoming bigger cash grab opportunities and quality was going down the drain. SRK's real gift (quite like Vale) is that he's simply too sharp but with a real emotional vulnerability at the center. He got his start with Delhi's theater scene and carried those chops and that honest sentimentality to the screen in a way idt anyone else has since. And that's really what's at his core, he is incredibly smart, he knows he wants to be loved and he has done what he could to get that publicly, there is an honesty to him that I can appreciate.

And you're right he did hold some political sway at some point because he signified the kind of diversity the country was okay accepting pre 2014. A Muslim man who privately but steadfastly holds his faith and married a Hindu woman. The idea of a person like this would cause many people to short circuit in the current age. Imo srk still tries to bring some of the tolerant values back but we are a bit too fargone in what we have become. I don't look to srk as my political messiah tho, and he has never wanted to be one (imo), so I guess there is not much to be done there.

[joker-daughter]

It's something that I think @stanleyl said once, but Tom needs a GROWN role so bad, something sexy, something appealing. I don't think romance is mandatory per say, but for him, at this stage of his career, I think it's the one thing that will set him free from the image of the "golden retriever innocent man child" that he has on, and I hate to say it, OFF screen too (which indirectly has an impact on the range of characters he's offered to play)

I don't really like to compare their careers because they're different in so many ways, but it seems relevant in this context: Zendaya picks her projects [and costars] really meticulously. She knows what will make people talk and pop off. I mean, I think they're all talented and don't want to take that away from them, but they're also really beloved by the masses , Timothee, Mike, Josh and now Robert. She's not afraid to use that appeal and her star power. She's now associated with these men as they're telling a fictional story, yes, but also on a broader scale, during promo and in the real world. It's all jokes I know but all those "she's collecting those white boys like Thanos" memes show how people not only accept it, but crave for it. They don't know anything about the synopsis and ultimately it won't really matter (because let's be honest, Challengers story isn't life changing in any way but it's sexy! and fun enough to be enjoyable to watch). What matters is seeing "desirable" actors doing their stuff, it sounds shallow but its true. And it's a smart thing to do Imo. It's what sells tickets, make people talk and ultimately what studios are looking for. not to be crude, but the audiences are "horny" for that, to see sexy people on screen in sexy stories, love and epic stories.

Tom's taste in movies seem to be much more grounded, either historical stories or biopic or more gloomy and dark fictions. He needs to switch to something else in my opinion, at least once. to build something new, outside of Spider-man (and his pairing with Zendaya) and outside of the depressing stuff he already tried. He is a 28 years old actor but doesn't feel like one for most people. so picking Something that could change that perception is maybe the right move now, by building his sex appeal back, the one thing that movie stars need to thrive and book things nowadays (and I'm not saying he doesnt have sex appeal, I'm saying he doesn't play his cards right)

yeah, I hear you…and I do agree to a certain extend, I’m just here for whatever (with a good story, might I add) but a role that makes use of his sex appeal and establishes him as being more mature in general would be great…as long it’s not The Winner tho

[demystifiedstardust]

Seelies

Not the mythological kind, the Gen//shin kind.

Ever since I started playing this dumb game, they've been driving me insane.

Cw unreality

Why do they look like that? Why are they that color?? That shape??? Why do they have that transparency and flow????

I dropped my tablet the first time I encountered one in Wind//rise. Why? Because that likeness has a very personal significance to me.

Way back in the day when I was quite young, we had a school assignment to draw god (outing my location through this anecdote immediately?? Rip to my cool guy persona). I (wisely imo) didn't turn in the assignment, but if I had followed through, my drawing would not have been supply-side Je//sus but rather a seelie. That same shape, that same color. Albeit much... larger. Much, much larger. Incomprehensiblely large. But still, the spitting image of Gen//shin's seelies.

The world has no shortage of coincidences, and I'm willing to believe this is one hell of a coincidence that I've found myself part of. But I really, really want to know what the design process was like for seelies. Why did the devs choose that likeness specifically? What design considerations were there? Are there discarded drafts? If I could get more information, it would put my overactive brain to rest. Or maybe make it worse, depending on the answers I get. HYV is a large, well-oiled machine of a company, so there must be some market-research reason behind their decision.

...but would I truly be satisfied with an artbook-commentary-style answer? Because at the end of the day, the way that design got into Genshin is only trivia. The real thing I'm grappling with is how to reconcile the divine avatar of my childhood independently cameoing in a video game. Of course, it can't be just any video game, but it has to be the same one that gave a name to my twin, and the same one that gave me a stable sense of fictional self that slotted itself oh-so-slowly-and-seamlessly into my life that I don't see a point disambiguating the "Aether" out of the "me" nowadays (and melusines, I guess, though that's more of an if-the-glove-fits thing). (...and the whale. But that's whole other post to screech about).

It's literally just a video game, meant to have mass appeal. But why does it seem to go beyond that? How does it manage to consistently target intimate parts of my life in such hyperspecific ways?? People joke about instead-of-brain-it's-[interest] but this damn thing is hopelessly rooted into my mind, and every time I think I'm getting used to the flow of things, it finds another way to poke holes into my sense of... self? sense of reality?

Like, I know the devs aren't reaching into my head and pulling out my memories, because that's not a thing. That's literally impossible, and even if it were somehow possible (and I want to reiterate that it's not possible and I don't believe it to be so), they would have no reason to do that. There's no benefit. But damn if it doesn't evoke a similar feeling to my memories being in there.

It annoys me greatly not just because it sounds so fake, but also because I'm not a fan of metaphysical thinking as applied to myself. It would be easy to call this evidence of [insert popular metaphysics], but I will never personally be satisfied with that. (Note: I support spirituality, and metaphysical beliefs are valid! I just have baggage to work through surrounding my own experiences.)

(Note 2: I realize this makes my shark past life hypocritical, but to go into it more deeply would derail the post, so it will have to wait for another time.)

Big props to the devs for sending me through such a mindfuck. Every major story update has me wondering what new plot beats are going to ripple through my life as though I'm a raft on a stormy sea. Ughhh.

[dulcewrites]

Forgive the roasting of aemond in this post, but what op said about alys also got me thinking real hard tbh. Cause in what way a person would forgive and willingly procreate with someone who mass murder and decimate their entire city(?) if not from a stockholm syndrome or if they have a secret agenda. Also in the book, in the end alys comes out and declare that her son is aemond's right heir of sth idk.

The idea of consensual alys x aemond is appealing but I wanna see seduction- spellcraft in action. It would be a true testament of her power if she can bewitch someone as logical and rational as aemond imo.

I read show Aemond more as someone who puts on a front of being self assured but because he has not been able to work through things he’s gone through, it’s all an act. I think when real emotions come in (like maybe anger towards someone who took his eye), a lot of that rational behavior goes out the window. I think he could fall for someone without much coercion if put in the right situation.

Also I would be surprised if alys had a healthy or great relationship with her family, so I personally don’t see her caring that much about them dying but that’s just me. I wouldn’t mind if they do a mixture of both like maybe she uses something to make him spare her life but then they create an actual bond

[baeddel]

I think the distinction between tropes/fanfic and "real literature" (which imo can be independently published and not part of the western academic canon and still be 'real') is not necessarily a semantic distinction but moreso one of quality. If it's something mass-produced or cliche or pandering it's a trope. If it's something meaningful it's an archetype. Of course there's a high degree of subjectivity there, but, there's that much subjectivity in this entire discussion as a whole since we're talking about high-brow vs low-brow art in the first place. But personally what I would consider low-brow is what's popular, but not popular as in 'well-liked', popular as in 'this was very obviously made for no other purpose than to generate profit and it did exactly that'. Artwork that's essentially just product, made for mass-appeal and marketability, and all the fan-works that simply reflect and reproduce those writer-slash-advertiser's same capitalist values. That's the connotation I get for 'tropes'. Just mass-appeal for the hell of it. Why is it fair that the zeitgeist of the old days contained characters and stories made for creative and expressive purposes whereas nowadays we have characters and stories made to sell toys and movie tickets.

here is something i'd like you to think about: like comrade Bela Belasz you use 'popular' and 'commercial' interchangably. Belasz argues (2010, pg 212) that the production of a film takes place on an industrial scale. it is the "collective achievement of the scriptwriter, director, cameraman, set designer and actors" along with the "producer's perpetual meddling" (today we'd add CGI animation studios and so on). because of the cost involved and because of the level of coordination in the production, for Belasz, a film relies on its "universal comprehensibility and popularity, in other words, [its] profitability" (pg 211). every (collective) artistic decision will be tempered by the injunction not to put this popularity in jeoprady. this is the extent to which popular and commercial are interchangable in mass culture; if a work is to succeed as a commodity it has to be capable of achieving popularity.

[1.2k words, obtuse]

but look here: for Belasz, this popular imperative snatched cinema from the bourgeoisie. "An art form that has grown into a major industry could not remain the privilege of the ruling classes. It is a dialectical feature of the capitalist economy that on occasion a privilege has to be sacrificed for the sake of profit" (pg 212). the commodification of cinema in some sense democratizes cinema; it is forced to move from a vehicle of élite valorization to a Volksgeist where several contradictory aspirations contest. so for Belasz this popularity is not irredeemable. while popularity, as he sees it, "inevitably lowers the level of expression initially," the audience is educated by the medium, is quickly bored of the safe and trite, and itself demands more challenging work. the audience and the medium develop together. soon the appetite for challenging work is placing strain on the limits of universal comprehensibility. the availability of niche cinema waxes and wanes (there was a time when Sony set a high watermark for sponsoring independent cinema, then quickly stopped supporting it; Netflix and Adult Swim both license a lot of small shows and give their creators an essentially unprecedented level of freedom to make television, at the same time as mass market toy-driven shlock like Disney's Marvel is reaching its zenith) the reasons for which deserve an adequate empirical explanation. but as i see it, commercial forces actually habitually clear the way for sophisticated art.

now it sounds like i'm defending the Value-form. that's not really what i mean. it's just that your criticism of art under capitalism is reactionary. to rescue art you would restore feudalism. then whenever Disney starts making films you actually like you'll stop complaining. but what is frightening about capitalism isn't what it takes from us, it's what it offers us. Orwell's 1984 of repressed and deluded prisoners isn't half as frightening as Skinner's Walden Two of free-range happy lemmings. the only question worth asking, to my way of thinking, is what emancipatory potentials are opened by the dynamic under discussion?

now here's where i really disagree with you, anon. according to you, fan works "reflect and reproduce" the "writer/advertiser's" "capitalist values." my disagreement is twofold. my first case is already obvious: even the original artistic commodity doesn't simply or exclusively contain capitalist values; it is forced by the conditions of its production to accomodate multiple aspirations, such that even completely uncritical fan work can express values antithetical to capitalist domination. but here is my second complaint: fan works are NOT commodities. further, they are not even mass culture; they are the immediate, personal expression of a single creator (or doujin circle). therefore, they are under no obligation to hitch themselves to universal comprehensibility, popularity or profitability. they are not determined by the same market conditions as the original work. this means that fan works have complete autonomy and can achieve any level of sophistication without anxiety. this is a luxury only enthusiasts have access to today. even Alexandre Dumas was paid by the word. and if you actually go and read any fanfiction you'll find out that their authors do not recognize any obligation to reflect or reproduce the values of the original work. in fact it's an absurd idea. most fanfiction authors tear the original to pieces; they ruthlessly criticize it and then submit their own corrected version.

but i think when we talk of fan works like this we're sometimes missing the point. perhaps all fan works are works of art, but they are often also other things too, and artistic values might not be the guiding values in either their creation or reception. fanart of a character often serves a devotional function; people have a favourite character who becomes something like an imaginary friend (or a waifu), and to satisfy this companionship such a person will surround themselves with fan art, draw it all the time or comission someone else to draw it for them. at other times the character appears in fanart as an ubermarionette, something like a stock character, not substantially different from other tropes(!) like the maid outfit. in this respect Touhou is comparable to Harlequinade: every character is reducible to a handful of memorable relationships and quirks and can be arranged in an endless number of comic situations. meanwhile most fanfiction seems to serve a function within the fandom community, establishing the writer's identity, satisfying, shocking or pleasuring their peers, and so on. these are uses of drawing and writing other than artistic expression that people find worth doing.

to you this will all sound horrifying. by absorbing characters as imaignary friends and mediating interpersonal dynamics with retellings of light novels these fans are brainwashing themselves with the Value-form! gasp! but it just isn't true. let me tell you something: commodities don't exist for very long. a use-value is a commodity insofar as it is being exchanged. when i am making it it is not yet a commodity; it merely expresses a potential to become a commodity. and after i have purchased it, when i get home and unwrap it, it is no longer a commodity. now i am embracing a use-value. its potential to become a commodity expresses an influence over its production (as we have expressed), and it might express an influence over how i interact with it at home (if i hoped to sell it later, for example). but when eating spinach, the commodity-form is not nourishing me, it is the actual protein that i'm consuming. when i fuck an onahole i am not reproducing capitalist values any more than i am the human species. it's a silly idea.

now let's apply it to characters from commercial properties: how often do i encounter Zero from Drakengard 3 as a commodity? in fact never; i cannot buy Zero, only a token of zero (a game featuring her, a 3d figure, some lewd fanart; or an NFT, the token on everyone's minds). characters can never actually even become commodities (with the possible exception of 'adoptables', characters associated with a customary form of ownership). i might encounter Zero as someone's property, for example if i tried to sell my own Zero tokens at a large enough scale that it attracted Square Enix's attention. but what is being limited is my right to make products derived from this character, not my access to the character herself. in fact, what is limited is only my access to elements of her specific design and so forth. the breathless moments i spend with her in my imagination are completely authentic, unalienated, impenetrable to the form of Value.

[nightswithkookmin]

THANKS FOR THE REASSURANCE JIMIN

Working out, not bulking up...

Aye aye captain. Roger that.

And yes I agree. The only thing I see getting bigger and bigger lately is his butt and I ain't mad at that at all😌

Please maintain that 'submissive gay looking body' so I can keep twerking on my haters

I love when Jimin is on my side🤭

He is not bulking up for shit thank God🤣🤣

A part of me feels though he might be bullshitting us though.

He not messing with us is he?

I don't know why they feel a need to bait and switch us sometimes. If you want to do sommin do it with your chest. Your whole chest not just half of it.

Don't start with an M and add a J later.

Don't start with fake piercings and make em permanent later.

Don't Get fake tattoos and make them permanent later.

Don't start with 'my health' and then go ' boom, oh but that just came naturally from working out yet that wasn't the goal so...'

It's exhausting really.

A lot of us can't relate with the part of the fandom that that sort of tactic placates.

We is grown.

If you wanna bulk up bulk up. If you want a tattoo get a tattoo. If you want to pierce your lips pierce it.

You don't owe anyone an explanation and you don't need an excuse for any of it.

For sometime, he's definitely been complaining and expressing dissatisfaction with his body- since somewhere last year... But then again when is he not ever?

I wonder why he didn't talk about this whole health thingy/posture thingy all those times.

Is it a concern he's developed after the fact?

"My body isn't looking as good as before" he says while watching his old debut videos.

'Jimin, I told you your for was great back then." Jk says to him as if to mean he's always questioned his body and how he looks.

Free us Jimin.

I just hope he realizes we are in a midst of a global body positivity and body acceptance wave and we are all trying to battle the status quo and what has become normalized as accepted universal body standards.

And that that too is an extension of their love yourself UNICEF campaigns and agenda. They gotta walk the talk.

I don't know what he means by his posture isn't great from too much sitting. Is he talking bout like a hunchback or back pains??🤔

Either is worrying and I agree he must take care of it. Hit the spa, get some hot stones, aromatherapy massage, give yourself a Royal treatment like the king you are- or you can hit the gym at 3am and sweat it out. That works too chilee.

And he's getting his teeth 'fixed too??'

What's wrong with his teeth. And where is this coming from 😭😭😭😭

These people have too much free time on their hands is what it izzzzz.

From sleeping all day to 20hrs a day- let me not hear any one of em say they are too busy to come see Army🤺

Jokes aside, I don't see anything wrong with him wanting to look his best. Plus, I keep saying this, we all deal with body dysmorphia to certain degrees and there's always gonna be something we aren't totally ok with or satisfied with in one way or the other.

For me, it's always going to be my flactuating body weight. Or my mismatched kangaroos on my chest- ok that's a lie I love my tiddies. It's my best feature.

But if I thought losing weight or having a symmetrical chest was tied to my femininity and self worth and invested capital into fixing it then that would be worrying and toxic af imo.

There's just too much vanity in this world for me. Bodies are meant to do what bodies do- host your soul or brain. It's a vessel nothing more.

There's nothing wrong with it unless it can't host you. If you are sick, obese, or dying because of your body then by all means FIX IT so it functions properly. Everything else is a construct and it's not real.

Jimin's case is...

His body has become commodified by virtue of his work as an idol and there's always going to be pressure for him to look good, dance well, sing well and have mass appeal.

That muddies the situation.

What may be considered ethical for him as an idol may not be ethical and or healthy for the lay man even- not to mention inaccessible.

It's ironic this whole love your self campaign and ambassadorial work they do. If their prescription of self love is not accessible to us- is it self love or work life??

I think they can participate in the conversation if they focus on the very thing that makes their situation different from the lay man and what their version of self love is.

Fixing his teeth don't make him look more pretty it makes him more commercially viable because beauty is a commodity.

He's going to earn money and generate wealth from that investment in his looks and appearance. Perhaps you should invest in what makes you more money too- if making money is a personal value. If that money making machine is your beauty then cool definitely invest in it.

I personally don't care much for the privileges of beauty unless it impacts my quality of life. My skin color and my looks is not central to my job at the moment and so I don't stress over that. For now. Lol.

It's the diminishing returns on beauty investments for me. Lmho.

In the past, I've always been able to relate with BTS in that way. Not because their struggles are similar to mine but because it rendered them human like the rest of us.

Poor people have struggles. Rich people have struggles. Idols have struggles and us mundanes have our own struggles too.

Idols have their own struggles.

And yes he has a track record cough cough.

And like the members say, one minute he says the gym is not for him, the next he a gym guru- it's all so fascinating and frankly I'm just tired at this point.

You do you brother Jimin.

Just lemme know where you do your nails and your night time skin care routine. Also if you wanna do a clothing line or jewelry curation or start a pinterest... just saying.

Anywho chilee, I'm minding my own business and loving myself the best way I can. Jungkook can stress over him for the rest of the week. I'm taking a break.

I'm just gonna say though, we don't stan toxic masculinity in this household no matter the justification for it and we shall call it out if we catch a whiff of it as and when😌

Tough love. Get used to it.

We are fighting the stigma. FIGHT IT.

I think I love him either way as long as it's authentically him.

One of the perks of being androgynous. You get to serve all kinds of looks and energies.

If he's taking care of himself I don't see anything wrong with that. We all should take care of ourselves and love ourselves.

Taking care of your body and health is a form of self love too.

I respect him for that and I sure hope he is not using a legitimate excuse to cover up his shenanigans cos that would make me very mad.

I have a problem with idols and celebrities packaging and promoting their way of life as ideal to us regular jugulars or assuming their way of living is the standard we should all live by. WRONG. FIGHT THE STIGMA. FIGHT IT.

Whatever happened to "Do not try this at home?"

They should bring that back.

Anywho, it's Jungkook's birthday.

I'll be on Twitter.

Signed,

GOLDY

[meggannn]

i knew the ending of me3 was/is widely despised, but i didnt realize until reading some comments and threads recently how many people consider the london segment as part of their hated ending as much as the starchild stuff. cause for me, like, priority: earth is one of my favorite missions of the game?

its biggest criticism seems to be that players wanted the ability to direct and command forces against harbinger in london (i think like the warden commands forces in the final fight of dragon age origins), and priority: earth lacks a boss battle. a boss fight isn't particularly important to me, but the "i want to direct all these armies i've acquired" criticism is so far from my view of the game and who shepard is that i'm relieved we didn't have that... like, shepard is a commanding officer of a single ship, not an admiral of a fleet. shepard was sold to me for three games as a ground officer that works best with a small, specialized team; their skills are not in directing large groups of forces, either from a desk or from the front lines. so i guess it was very clear to me at least that everyone shepard had recruited over the game would be directed by hackett, because shepard reports to him at the end of every arc and asks him for status updates on how the forces are getting along.

i suspect part of this disparity in opinion is because the difference between "being a badass commander" and "being a soldier in a war" is muddled in a video game when shepard is sold to us as both, and in priority: earth, bioware leaned into the second aspect where it seems like some people would've preferred the former. but i think london really nails the atmosphere of the war in a way few other missions do (menae was another favorite mission of mine for that reason). i'm not saying that's a weakness of the game for lacking in "real war" missions, because imo despite the plot, the mass effect series is not really a game about war, but it does have a war, so i feel like i needed to see a mission that captured the severity of what that war entails. i think the atmosphere in london was one of the best of the game and being a badass commander directing armies of thousands would've killed that.

that's why london works for me; i don't want shepard directing like five armies to defeat harbinger. the thought of shepard on the ground with their squad, just a commander and the team they've known for months or years, spending these possibly final days with the people they trust taking shifts sleeping in bombed-out buildings, avoiding reaper forces, and rendezvousing with anderson as plans come together and fall apart, appeals to me on both a companion level and a thematic level.

[aspoopalypse]

theres a real problem imo in how we present a lot of academic subjects through pop science/sharticles/youtube essays/etc, and how that warps peoples judgements with regards to their own understanding of subjects, as well as a sort of latent anti intellectualism in how it reduces the complexity of the subjects at hand. its not unlike how every true crime nerd acts as some armchair psychologist armed with buzzwords and snappy synopses using layman definitions of terms with real significance and weight with full confidence they know everything there is to know. its like an insipid pseudoscience built off the impressions of actual science in that its presenting people with real facts in such a simplistic and dead end fashion that is presents them as bulletproof, and by extension the understanding the viewer is left with is equally invulnerable, creating a state where you know true facts in an entirely false fashion. then from this people start to think that not only is their knowledge of the matter sound but so is the science, yet their view of it is so simplified and sanitized for consumption that they practically know less than they did before by virtue of being so wrong in what they know. like you could make a 30 second infographic and reduce the average internet user’s knowledge of a given subject by a non insignificant factor. this kind of content feels like giving just enough knowledge to hang oneself with, and its all sort of by virtue of the nature of the content. like in trying to make a mass market approachable piece of media you have to oversimplify and pave over the actual information and impart an incomplete picture, one that ideally would be taken with a handful of salt - which hinges upon the viewer knowing how much is or at least may be being omitted, running counter to the intended audience of the video, and never presenting the information given as incomplete or flawed by the demands imposed to appeal to said audience, leaving them with an image painted as complete and issued from a position of relative authority on the subject and without the knowledge to question nor expand upon the information given. this then of course has insufferable knock on effects of people acting as authorities on things they know next to nothing about and spreading through word of mouth and similar the same half truths, granting them an intellectual inertia what must be overcome to have any fruitful discussion on the topic. in a similar vein this sort of dead end knowledge is anecdotally inclined, lending itself to being used to make a point in the abstract rather than the specific context within its meant to exist, often overstating what was a facsimile or thought experiment regarding the original topic and understating the scientific context from which it is meant to exist, and ascribing some sort of academic weight to what amounts to them talking out of their ass. it also just kinda suggests that all science can be boiled down to entirely non academic contexts in a way that can make sense on a level anyone can pick up which is patently false.

[hopeshoodie]

what do you think of the independent article about fusebox games??

For those who don’t know, here’s a link to the article (luckily not behind a paywall). 

In summary, we knew that Fusebox laid off all of its writers and a bunch of unity engineers on July 30th. What we didn’t know, is weeks before there was conflict about Seduction Games on matchmaker (which imo is super misogynistic and not even erotic enough to make up for it) being biphobic, and the staff wrote an open letter to management. Then they all... Got fired....

And oh boy I have THOUGHTS on it

Before even reading the article I knew what the homophobic issue the writers were concerned about was. I wrote about it when first playing Seduction Games on matchmaker (lol fuck Matchmaker)- there's a scene where the player dares the love interest to embarrass a man by pretending he's gay and making a scene. And that's just... So gross.

After reading the article I guess it was more that Seduction Games is fetishistic and treating bisexuality as a voyeuristic game for het relationships. And that's valid (but also imo not the worst thing FB has done in the department, see Boah in CMM and how they hide their mlm ships from straight players).

I want so badly to read the internal letter sent by the staff because I'm nosy but also I wish I had their words on the matter specifically. I wonder if they were more frustrated with not having control/input in Matchmaker (understandable, it was the precursor to losing their jobs), being lied to that the offending content would be removed only for it to then be released, or just that Fusebox would let offensive content be put out under their brand name to begin with.

Some other disorganized thoughts

The COO sounds like a real piece of work. I don't remember which article I read awhile ago that made it sound like the leadership (CEO and COO) changed and then Fusebox swiftly pivoted to prioritizing shorter content for an international audience. It sounds like he was a part of that. He has a ton of op eds about how to monetize free-to-play models and generally has Bad Takes. But walking out of a meeting and refusing to hear constructive criticism? What an absolute man baby. But also, doesn't he look the part

a real nathen mazri looking dude.

From a business standpoint, I see why they released Seduction Games despite their writing department vocalizing discontent with it. I've seen this shift on a bunch of other story apps. There's money in romance games that target a 13-22 year old female audience that incorporates softcore porn or questionably sexy content. It's a huge issue on Episode, which is technically a childrens app, but the stories that skirt the boundary of appropriate and not are the ones that get the most reads/gems spent/revenue. If you've played Seduction Games, you know it's exactly that. Written with really bland, simple language so that younger readers are engaged, with juvenile, surface-level romance elements and attempts at erotic writing. The characters aren't unique or interesting (the love interest is a massive creep), but it's optimized to appeal to the most amount of people. If they were planning on firing and outsourcing their writing department anyways, it's a win-win for the executives- put out content that establishes their new direction and communicate to the writing staff that they're not in control.

Fusebox's direct comments to the reporter, that their content is "subjective" and 'based on reality shows' is such an aggravating cop-out. The first is literally gaslighting their writers, saying they're reading too much into someone and it's a matter of perspective instead of just... something that they did. Like that story just IS sexist and biphobic, no wiggle room there. The second is just 'other people make bad content so we can too', which... oof. I see why the writers were mad enough to risk their jobs.

I've just got to wonder what's the financial benefit to not releasing S4. Like I totally get that they're shutting down the main LITG game to focus on Matchmaker which makes more money, but at this point we KNOW they have the S4 art assets because we've seen then in promos. They must have some if not most of the writing done, because this all went down close to the scheduled release of S4. Since Fusebox has been clear they're just money grabbing with no integrity for their story or their writers' intentions, why not just release S4? You're not going to /lose/ money- if there are art assets incomplete they can just reuse past assets or cut out scenes. It seems like it'd make financial sense to wring the last bit of gems/interest out of the LITG fandom that won't transition to matchmaker, then full pivot to matchmaker.

IDK anything about Britain's workplace protection laws (in the US it's at-will employment so retaliatory firing is a-okay as long as it's not on protected actions) but maybe in the UK it's not? Like you can't argue this is discriminatory, but it could be argued that the firing was a retaliation for the employees complaining to HR about inappropriate behavior, which is a protected action. But then again you could say that more than just the people who complained got fired so it's a moot point.

tl;dr it doesn't surprise me that Fusebox openly disrespected and antagonized their writers before the mass layoff, but it's super disappointing.

All the more reason I encourage yall to leave poor reviews on LITG/matchmaker, uninstall the games, and not give FB a penny more.

[bestworstcase]

Hi, I really love your thoughts and analysis on tts so I wanted to ask if you have read The Vanishing Village Book? It made me really think about Eugene's character. I sorta disliked him in the book and felt his relationship with Rapunzel was different and strained. I guess my question is if you think Eugene is a good character? I feel that I am biased for liking the story and relationship between Cassandra and Rapunzel so perhaps I am not seeing him in a fair light but there's just factors that make me feel he might not be the best for Rapunzel. I love their relationship and value & dedication towards each other but their relationship can feel a bit stale sometimes and Eugene can come off as not understanding and dismissive towards Rapunzel sometimes so ig I'd like to be proven wrong and be reminded that Eugene is good for Rapunzel

i have read vanishing village (and i remember liking it better than lost lagoon) but i have to admit i don’t remember anything but the very broad strokes of the plot, so i don’t feel equipped to do any analysis of eugene based on it; that being said -

i do really like eugene as a character in the sense that he is. interesting / engaging / compelling, which yeah to my mind that’s what makes a “good character” but also has nothing to do with the, kind of, moral or personal question of but is he a good guy or is he likable or sympathetic or that kind of thing. and on that my feelings are more ambivalent kfjfjdhs

on the one hand i do find his relationship with rapunzel in tts to be fairly refreshing. it’s nice to see a fictional m/f couple that is just… comfortable with each other, friends with each other, able to talk about their problems collaboratively with each other. that is so rare in fiction, where the tendency is so often to rely on miscommunication to manufacture relationship drama or do the will they won’t they, on again off again nonsense which is just so tiresome - and it feels good to have a m/f couple that eschews that altogether. and it’s also imo really nice that the m/f relationship fades so much into the background vis a vis the wider plot, which i know is not necessarily a popular opinion [vague gestures at all the ‘eugene was sidelined’ discourse] but, like, i feel like i can count on one hand the number of stories i know where the female protagonist *has a male love interest* without the story being ABOUT him, and with the male love interest filling this supportive narrative role while quietly and subtly dealing with his own problems on the side? it’s so difficult to find stories where men aren’t centered and so i appreciate eugene and new dream a lot for that reason too.

but at the same time like - eugene def falls victim to the plot-driven writing just like every other character does and that frustrates me because i think ultimately having all these loose threads hanging with him means his character feels a bit stagnant, and that in turn makes his flaws more glaring because they’re never… worked on or addressed, they just sort of persist or silently fade away for the most part. (which again, is true of literally every character because the storytelling of tts is highly plot driven and episodic)

& that phenomenon can make character interpretation a little convoluted, because… well the intentions of the narrative are signaled pretty baldly (eugene grows out of his selfishness and becomes a compassionate hard working leader for corona, which he has embraced as his home) without having much if any on-screen development to back it up (indeed the premise of flynnposter involves eugene shirking his new responsibilities, and then it concludes with a commitment from him to take the captain gig seriously - but thereafter the only time we get to see this demonstrated through him encouraging project obsidian [which makes him look the opposite of compassionate or responsible given he is excitedly planning to extrajudicially murder cassandra] and then joining the fight against zhan tiri [which literally everyone in corona does]). so do we take what the textual development shows us and conclude that eugene is, at the end of the day, just another cop, or do we take the narrative signaling as a given and fill in the textual gaps with our own imaginations? i tend to fall heavier on the textual side but i do try to take intentions into consideration when they are signaled so clearly, because i understand the structural and corporate limitations on what the tts team were able to do with the story.

anyways - i also have some fraught feelings about new dream because, in the film, it’s not a relationship that i can buy into at all. rapunzel is 17, a few days shy of 18, when an adult man in his mid-twenties tumbles into her bedroom, hits on her, tries to take advantage of her naïveté so he can recover his stolen goods and screw her over because he’s spent his life cultivating an attitude of selfish disregard for anyone but himself, but she’s so sweet he decides to give emotional vulnerability a try and within three days they’re in love and then they get MARRIED?? and he’s literally the first person rapunzel has ever met who wasn’t her “mother”? excuse me???

and i get the impression the tts team was fully cognizant of that problem and made a real effort to address it, as much as they could within the context of the designated disney princess couple - that’s how we get things like the BEA proposal and rapunzel and eugene talking their feelings out afterwards and agreeing to take things slower, and that’s how we get things like rapunzel having cass and eugene having lance so they have lives and identities and relationships outside of each other, and it’s why eugene has a little arc of becoming less self-absorbed in the front half of s1 and why cassandra overtly criticizes his treatment of rapunzel in BEA and so on and so forth. like no one says it OUT LOUD in the series but rapunzel’s and eugene’s relationship is fraught with peril because of the way they met and came together, and it takes significant emotional work from both of them to navigate that to arrive at a healthy place, and i enjoy watching that play out.

so yeah eugene is sometimes too in his own head to notice when something is wrong with rapunzel, like how he misses how unhappy she is in BEA because *he’s* so jazzed about palace living, and sometimes they struggle to get on the same page with each other in general; but that’s just, kind of the gig where relationships are concerned. what matters to me is that whenever these hiccups happen we see, typically some confusion or distress from him or rapunzel or both, and then they reach out for each other and talk about it until they reach an understanding, which is the correct healthy way to manage this sort of conflict in a relationship. and of course through it all eugene is pretty unflagging in his absolute support of rapunzel - even if he doesn’t always *express it* in a good way, he is always very invested in rapunzel’s happiness and well-being. like even the BEA proposal, eugene’s fuck up lies in assuming that rapunzel felt the same way he did about everything and that proposing now would make her happy - there’s self-absorption there but not to the point where he isn’t concerned about her feelings, so when he upsets her he immediately realizes that he screwed up and shelves his own feelings to focus on hers, which is very Good Partner of him.

and then again on a metatextual level i do kind of hate that rapunzel’s arc is essentially, trapped in corona -> adventure! -> adventure is traumatic time to go home -> exact same circumstances she started in but she’s happy about it now. not to say i object to rapunzel embracing her role as a princess/queen per se, but in an ideal world i would like that to come from a place of rapunzel remaking her role to suit herself rather than just kind of… this ‘well got the wanderlust out of my system forever!’ vibe i get from plus est. this isn’t directly related to eugene at all but i think it does splash over onto him on account of him being so closely intertwined with her life in corona. if rapunzel were given an arc about tearing down institutions that stifled her in s1 and really rebuilding corona to be better (something that is lightly implied in canon but never quite makes its way to outright text) then of course eugene would have been her number one supporter - but she doesn’t get that arc and so eugene ends up just kind of being there while rapunzel settles into the role laid out for her. (the destiny narrative being played painfully straight in this regard doesn’t help either.)

this is all a bit of a ramble but i guess what i’m getting at is i think at the end of the day the thing that makes new dream feel a bit stale or stagnant is the series sticking to this aggressively pro-monarchy, status quo is good, mass market appeal narrative enforced by the reality of Disney Princess Show, and that’s not eugene’s fault or any character’s fault, it’s a corporate issue and writing issue.

oh and also personally i think eugene’s biggest flaw in the new dream relationship is he has a tendency to enable rapunzel’s worst impulses via unquestioning support - a little healthy skepticism can be very good for a relationship vs just being your partner’s yes man. so when i imagine a character trajectory for him post-series it involves eugene getting more comfortable pushing back when rapunzel is pursuing ideas that are bad in some way.

[nileqt87]

More thoughts on how to resurrect the Indiana Jones franchise post-Harrison Ford

Perhaps a proper, modern television show would be a good way to bring back a younger, but adult Indy (with perhaps flashbacks littered throughout). You can also get away with a lot more content (definitely aim for TV-14) and characters who are allowed to be flawed. Relationship dramas are serialized storytelling's forte in a way that is disappearing more and more from blockbuster films. Complicated characters are better left to television, as the audience expects and allows for it because of the nuance and depth the serialization affords. The complicated, messy story of Abner and Marion is a story best left to being explored only after the characters have some real complexity and development. It also wouldn't be forced to play to the mass audience of under-13s that makes modern PG-13 often meaningless. In comparison, TV-14 actually pushes up harder against its limits regularly--not just violence, but also with innuendo and sexuality minus nudity. The amount of historical-style, pulpy violence, not to mention potentially comically gruesome deaths, in Indy would also necessitate the rating. Indiana Jones might be niche enough at this point with an audience veering towards adults who grew up with it (Gen-X and the older end of Gen-Y), while Gen-Z has little awareness of it, that Disney wouldn't be forced to make it a total kiddie property. It's not the same situation as back in the early '90s with Young Indy being aimed at older kids who had recently seen Last Crusade in the theater. They could reboot it for television with a young adult Indy who potentially could grow into a fully adult version. And I wouldn't try too hard to not step on the trilogy's toes with the timeline. Just let it live in its own developing continuity.

Use of long-running supporting cast (parents, Remy and returning guest stars aside) would also be a big difference from Young Indy. Characters like Belloq (could potentially go from friend to antagonist, akin to how Smallville handled Lex), Sallah, Henry, Brody, Abner, Marion, etc... could actually be around a lot more than just for an adventure here or there. These are all characters Indy had clearly known for years. Actually put the show into a seasonal, serialized format that isn't a new cast every episode. You could also stick around in locations a lot longer this way, which would help with budget.

Another thought I've had since watching an absolute ton of fantasy/sci-fi dramas in the last few years is that the influence of Indiana Jones is actually pretty apparent in a number of pretty famous characters, sometimes overtly and sometimes a bit more subtly. Harrison, Indy or Raiders in general are outright name-checked in quite a few places, often by scrappy action hero types who tend to take hard beatings (the kinds of characters who should've died a hundred times over) while in situations they're way over their heads in or literally impossible odds they can't win. Like Indy, the intended prize isn't won at the end and, outside of a few gruesome baddie deaths, the shady, corrupt or evil barely get a dent. Fox Mulder and Dean Winchester are two characters who name-check the comparison overtly and you can see the writers and actors both having the influence in mind. It's obviously a male fantasy, too. The influence on The X-Files and Supernatural is definitely there. Supernatural is chock full of biblical MacGuffins (not to mention having angels and demons as most of its recurring supporting cast), so it would be a hard comparison to avoid. Raiders came up in the WWII Nazi submarine episode with a piece of the Ark onboard (it's subsequently a show to raid for Indy ideas, because they pretty much mined everything biblical), for example. The X-Files likewise was dealing with shady government officials and pretty blatantly copied the huge warehouse of government secrets loaded with alien relics (and then repeated the Cigarette Smoking Man's warehouse reveal with the tunnel of filing cabinets stretching on forever). Mulder was also very much a one-man army a lot of the time when it came to the alien conspiracy (no offense to Scully). Moments like him climbing/riding the tops of sky rides, trains and escaping the spaceship were total Indy-esque moments. Sam and Dean had literal God-tier levels of plot armor keeping them alive (repeated resurrections included). Angel is another one that, unlike Mulder and the Winchesters being very human, is a supernatural character (subsequently his level of pain tolerance and durability is at the level of regular impalement, defenestration out of skyscrapers and being set on fire), but the comparison still holds because of how often he's getting decimated and fighting forces way beyond his pay grade. Wolfram & Hart, the Shanshu and seeking redemption with the Powers that Be, like the mytharc conspiracy/alien takeover and literal God a.k.a. Chuck, is another endless, unwinnable fight that is so far beyond all the protagonists that there's no win/happily ever after and they'd be lucky just walking away from it with nothing. Angel also name-checks Indy with a blatantly Indy-inspired fantasy dream episode (Awakening in season 4) with Angelus making a crack about the Raiders fantasy. George Lucas actually visited the Angel set back in 2000 and was interested in how they were making mini movies every week and doing some pretty huge stunts on television. David Boreanaz had lunch with Lucas and has talked about it a few times over the many years. I mean, these are all shows starring action-oriented leading men and writing staffs of relatively similar age. Mostly Gen-X males with a few Baby Boomers (more so on the writing staff) with an audience that's primarily Gen-Y but appealing to a pretty broad age range (and probably a lot more female than originally intended!). Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford films in general were very formative to that generation. Harrison Ford is the ultimate leading man action star to a certain generation. Gen-Y got their familiarity with all of that by being the original home video/VHS generation and subsequently a lot more familiar with retro media (including things that were made before they were born or around that time) than Gen-Z. '80s movies have a lot of currency and familiarity still with Gen-Y, even if Baby Boomers were the stars of them and Gen-X were the ones who saw them in theaters. Gen-Y fangirls absolutely dominate the fandoms of many iconic television supernatural/sci-fi franchises (many are admittedly aging franchises). The WB/CW have catered to this group of fans for the last two and a half decades. If you're going to be reviving the character as a mid-20s-to-30s version (if the show lasts long enough, it probably will be stepping on the trilogy's toes timeline-wise by the end), I'd absolutely be aiming for this same audience and their tastes. They're also the audience who would be most receptive to and familiar with the character, IMO. If I were going to reinvent Indiana Jones for the television landscape, I would definitely be looking at those sorts of shows that have influence from the character already in their DNA. I think for the target audience, they'd definitely need to be aiming it at the same fanbases. Young Indy mostly tried to avoid stepping on Raiders' toes (despite Temple of Doom and Mask of Evil already making it ludicrous) by limiting the amount of supernatural elements, but I think a show would have to go all in on it. Indy would have to be transformed a bit in regards to trying to line him up with a character who would still be skeptical after all he's seen. Young Indy ended up forced into being a straight period drama with educational elements, which is very counter to what the audience wanted. There are things to keep from that approach (meeting historical persons, being a WWI veteran and witnessing history could absolutely be mined as backdrops to the stories), but the supernatural elements would have to exist in a revival now to get the audience who I think would be most receptive to it. While I would aim for a serialized drama format that would mean the globetrotting wouldn't have to completely change locations every episode (have it instead in arcs with some bigger MacGuffins and baddies perhaps crossing entire seasons), it's true that there would probably have to be more location filming than good, ol' Vancouver, but Disney is one of the few who could afford it (though Covid certainly would throw a wrench in it and political situations could potentially kill off certain locations). There's only so much green screen that Indy could get away with, though I imagine that a fair amount of it would have to be used for period piece reasons alone. There are a lot of modern intrusions even in historically-intact cities (Eastern Europe comes to mind as having a lot of its architecture intact and is affordable to film in) and around iconic landscapes to paint out. But at its core, it probably would need to bulk up its focus on the relationship dramas. Indy tends to have a girl at every port and to a degree you would introduce some of these love interests, but there's still a lot of relationships of every kind that could be developed and serialized. Certainly throw in a few femme fatales and tragic losses, given the Smallville-esque situation of there being an inevitable Indy/Marion endgame that should be kept--it thus becomes about the journey when it's a set conclusion. Absolutely have a strong recurring cast of Henry and friends new and old. The films actually have a lot of characters that Indy didn't just meet yesterday and could be developed to a huge extent. For a show to work now, there'd have to be a lot more connectivity to how often the recurring cast appear. Young Indy had a lot more of an anthology format with little chance of us getting attached to most of the revolving cast outside of a very tiny few. That's the biggest thing I'd change. You need characters to become regulars beyond just Indy if it were revived for modern cinematic television (the true successor to the film serials of the '30s!) in a way that isn't necessary for film installments.

[radramblog]

Every Boros Commander, Part 2

Where we last left off, I was shitting on Adriana, Captain of the Guard, who gives ACAB a pretty different meaning. Fortunately, most of the pickings this time aren’t quite as dire.

Depala, Pilot Exemplar (3rd most played as of writing)

Holy shit, a Boros commander with card advantage? It’s niche, but it was a first. Being limited to Dwarves and Vehicles does leave her with a problem a lot of commanders and tribes tend to have, which is being just a smidge under critical mass- but with the upcoming Kaldheim appearing to support Dwarves, and vehicles appearing to be a deciduous mechanic, I feel like it won’t be long before Depala is as powerful as her placement suggests. She is niche and mana-hungry, but basically the only Vehicle commander (and definitely the only Dwarf commander at the moment), so I suspect she’s here to stay for a while.

Tiana, Ship’s Caretaker (15th most played as of writing)

Tiana is possibly my favourite character lorewise in all of magic, frankly. She’s cool and cute and a massive dork and also someone who found her purpose in life, and frankly I love that for her. 

She’s also a really interesting commander to build around, seeing as she has a unique brand of card advantage that leads to the addition of old and weird cards, which I’m always a fan of. I should really get around to building a Tiana deck, to be honest, though I already have 10 commander decks with an 11th in progress, sooooo…

Firesong and Sunspeaker (4th most played as of writing)

I’m surprised to see F&S this high, but the first unique Buy-a-Box card did expand into an archetype previously unseen in the combination in the form of Boros Spellslinger (Dalakos would later return the favour as an Izzet Equipment commander). Previously, you had to go into Pauper EDH and play fellow Minotaur Blaze Commando for this kinda deck. Like Depala, F&S are heavily played despite being niche, though the also have the benefit of being a RW minotaur commander, if you want to play White instead of Black in that deck for…some reason? The siren moo of Boros Reckoner speaks to us all, I suppose.

Sylvia Brightspear and Khorvath Brightflame (17th most played as of writing)

The only partner pair I’m discussing today on account of their monogamy. Knights and Dragons make a weird combination, seeing as there are basically no other cards that help them work together rather than apart. You could almost run them as a goodstuff deck if you wanted, seeing as many of Boros’s best creatures are Knights or Dragons, but largely I think sticking to one or the other is probably for the best. With that in mind, the pair are actually the only real commanders for either tribe within Boros- the only other Dragon is something we’ll get to, and the only knight is…Adriana…so…. The buffs given by either pair are excellent, and not something that either tribe gets easy access to typically, so I can see the appeal of them in that slot. At that point, the extra commander is just a bonus.

Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice (21st most played as of writing)

Oh, another Aurelia, and she’s worse this time. In seriousness, her ability looks like its likely to be targeting herself most of the time, and Mentor just doesn’t do enough in this format. She has enough keywords and power to Voltron, but I’m not expecting much interesting from her outside of that.

Tajic, Legion’s Edge (18th most played as of writing)

Tajic has 4 separate lines of text for some reason, and only one (ok fine two haste is nice) actually matters. Having a damage prevention effect is nice in the zone, but it doesn’t apply to himself, so if you’re planning on turning mass damage one-sided you’re going to need to protect him still. And like, what else does he do? He’s not a good aggro commander at all, his last ability is a joke, why are people playing this card? If I was in a mass damage deck I’d just play Gisela, at least she does something on the off chance she survives. Probably no-one is gonna go out of the way to kill Tajic, at least. Beats out Aurelia for biggest downgrade, imo, even if Aurelia fell from higher.

Feather, the Redeemed (Number 1 most played at time of writing)

Feather is the most popular Boros commander, by over triple the next most popular. It’s not hard to see why: she’s a cheap commander that turns any targeted cantrip into a draw engine, she synergises with so many random powerful cards that you can build her a fair few different ways, and she’s a cool story character getting a card 12ish years after her appearance in the Ravnica novels. She does so much and is so interesting that it’s completely understandable that she’s as huge as she is. I’m still never going to build her though, even with my funky Japanese copies, if only because I’m too much of a hipster.

Gerrard, Weatherlight Hero (13th most played as of writing)

Kinda funny that Gerrard’s little text that made him work in the command zone until recent rules changes is now a strict downside. Gerrard has his niche, with a Second Sunrise in the zone unsurprisingly supporting Eggs decks rather nicely, and synergising with a lot of just random bullshit. I’d probably never build him, and it seems pretty easy to make it degenerate, but I’m glad he’s here and he’s certainly better than the first iteration of the character.

Haktos, the Unscarred (12th most played as of writing)

I’m kinda surprised to see Achilles this high, considering how recent he is. He reminds me a lot of Progenitus, oddly enough, as a commander that would be good at Voltron but can’t get buffed easily by traditional means. I think adding equipment on the off-chance that it fits his heel is a complete mistake, but things like Silverblade Paladin and Exalted cards do exist, so fair play. He’s pretty hard to kill unless you’re boardwiping, and even then damage-based ones probably miss, so I can see the value in that. But that mana cost hurts to look at- hitting 2 mana of 2 different colours on turn 4 was a pain back when I played Trostani, and that was a green deck.

Stet, Draconic Proofreader (No data available)

Okay look, I tried so hard to find a way to abuse this dork’s ability but there’s just no good way to do it. Stet sucks hard enough that even if you are playing with Silver-Bordered cards legal I just don’t know why you’d ever run it. His art is pretty funny, I’ll give it that. We got Alexander bloody Clamilton and Surgeon Commander in the same cycle, keep in mind.

Winota, Joiner of Forces (2nd most played as of writing)

Having menaced standard, Winota is still pretty decent as a commander, even without access to her 7-mana blue payload.  There actually aren’t that many beefy humans to cheat out in general, but considering how easy it is to enable her ability and the fact that she digs *6 cards deep* on trigger, I think you just kinda end up swarming the board distressingly easy with her deck. It’s shocking to see a card from 2020 in the top 5 like this, considering how the year has gone for the format in general, but like. 6 cards.

Zirda, the Dawnwaker (8th most played as of writing)

Look it combos with Basalt/Grim monolith in the command zone isn’t that neat. Zirda is pretty open-ended, but not especially powerful outside of the aforementioned combo. I find them much more appealing in the Companion slot, frankly. With that said, I do like that Boros is the colour pair getting access to Training Grounds in the zone, seeing as it works well with its other themes (Equipment mostly) and opens new archetypes (Cycling, etc.) up as possibilities.

Akiri, Fearless Voyager (7th most played as of writing)

Haha, Brion has more decks than Akiri. That’s probably since it only released a few months ago. Of course, I’m not including the other Akiri, so this is the first time we’ve seen her on the list. But apart from that, Akiri was somehow the first of these commanders to actually say “draw” on it. Her synergies with Living Weapon (and the recent equipment cards that do the same) are pretty sick, though her second ability will end up costing a lot of mana over time if you have to use it. I think its hilarious how much more value this gives you than Adriana for doing the thing Adriana wants you to do, at 2 less mana.

Also, she’s probably the best general for Kor tribal? I guess you could go Akiri/Black partner so you can play Orah in the deck. Someone build this! Kor like equipment, Akiri likes equipment, lets go.

It’s only just occurred to me that Akiri gives you more for attacking other players than Adriana does. Fuckin hell, man.

Bell Borca, Spectral Sergeant (25th most played as of writing)

Bell finally getting a card 15 years after his fictional death was a welcome treat, but the exile-related ability is frankly awkward and abusing it to 1 or 2 hit commander damage is pretty difficult. Still, having impulse draw in the zone makes him probably just the best generic #goodstuff commander. I’m surprised he’s as low as he is, but he only released a month ago (at time of writing) and we got an absolute stack of legends (including 2 other Boros ones and the partners) in the same set.

Reyav, Master Smith (28th most played as of writing)

Reyav is neat since he combines 2 of Boros’s more traditional archetypes, being Aggro and Voltron, into one damage doubling dwarf. I suspect his lack of play is again due to the other legends in the same set and that it only dropped a month ago, because there’s no way he deserves to be below Munda. Also, he’s 2 mana! The only other 2CMC Boros Legend is partner Akiri! How did that happen? I think he deserves better. You can suit him up and get dunking real quick.

Wyleth, Soul of Steel (16th most played as of writing)

Our final general is Boros’s second ever Precon commander, and the only one with flavour text. He’s got the space for it, considering how much work that second line is doing. I appreciate that Wyleth, despite being superficially similar to Akiri, plays pretty differently, as he prefers Voltron while she prefers spreading equipment out. I assume Wyleth would be a lot higher if the precon itself was included, but there’s no way of knowing how many people are playing just the base deck, so who knows.

A CHALLENGER APPROACHES!!!

Koll, the Forgemaster (no data available) This bloke got spoiled between me writing most of this and going to publish it. I can see a few easy combos with his first ability, especially seeing as Grafted Wargear is a card. Playing fairly though, his first ability feels kinda slow, and not being able to protect himself is a huge drag. The second ability feels kinda stapled on, as its a way of giving you a bonus since the first one doesn’t do shit for tokens. But like, just don’t equip them, lmao. Awkward, but has potential.

And that’s the lot of them! Uhhhh yeah that’s all I’ve got, stan Tiana kthnxbai

[hoochy-coo]

i've only recently gotten into celebrity/pop star culture (by way of the only person i truly stan, lorde, and then-since lorde never releases anything- taylor swift). and maybe i'm just looking in the wrong places, but Harry Style's doesn't seem to have much of a personality for what a cult following he has. I don't listen to Ariana or Dua, or Megan's music, but I feel like I have a rough idea of what their brand and personality is. Harry seems like a blank slate to me, and it's so strange to think 1989 was written partially about him. Do you think he's skating off his musical talent, 1d days, and looks, or do you think he has real charisma?

A Lorde and a Taylor Swift stan - taste tbh!

Personally, I think Harry’s got mass commercial appeal. You know how when you were in high school and there’s that one guy in your level that everyone seems to just like (guy or girl)? He’s not the best-looking dude but he’s nice and funny and radiates good vibes? I feel like that's how the media view Harry and that’s why it’s so easy for him to pull in casual listeners (especially with women). I definitely think he’s got an advantage over his peers due to his 1D days, but I don’t think it’s a major factor or anything like that. If that was the case, the rest of the 1D boys would be just as big. Imo he’s got real charisma and stage presence (like more so than the rest of the other pop male on the market atm) but his stans definitely overhype it at times lol

I love Tay but I don’t actually think she’s got a personality to pull the cult following that she seems to have either but I think her music is relatable to most women so it’s easier to build a fanbase. Whereas Rihanna, for example, has cultivated a whole following with her personality. I think that's a good example of someone who’s got such a distinct, strong personality that people can’t be helped but be grabbed by her. 

[magicrobins]

Mass Effect Tag

Tagged by @commander-krios & @actualanxiousswampwitch! 💕

I am a fan since: ...Um... Oh god I can’t remember when I first heard about Mass Effect and decided I want to play it. It was a while after the trilogy had been out though. Like Andromeda was the first Mass Effect game I was there for the launch of. 2016 I think is when I first started ME1.

Favorite game of the series: If we’re only going with the trilogy, then ME3. If we’re going off of the Mass Effect franchise, then Andromeda is my favorite hands down.

MShep or FShep: My main Shepard is a male Shepard but he’s actually genderqueer, using he/him pronouns. So technically mShep but also technically neither as majority of my Sheps are nonbinary iirc.

Earthborn, Colonist, or Spacer: Colonist

Biotics or Tech: I’m a sucker for magic and biotics are the closest we get to magic in ME so while I have characters that don’t have any biotics, biotics and their classes are my faves.

Paragon or renegade: Paragade! : D Why pick one when you can have both? LOL.

Favorite Class: In the trilogy it’s adept, though I excitedly can’t wait for either of my vanguards. If we’re counting Andromeda, then my favorite is the explorer profile because of the biotic blink effect it gives you asdfghjkl;

Favorite Companion: I uh - I’m very basic in the fact that I love and adore them all and who I pick is more based off of the Shepard I’m playing and who they’re drawn to. With my main Shepard, Duncan, I had a variety of different squads I’d take with me ‘cause his main romance was Steve so I didn’t have a love interest to take around. I did take Samara a lot iirc in ME2 ‘cause I did her “fling” with Dunc.

Least Favorite Companion: I don’t have any LOL. I love them all. :’D It’s actually very rare for me to dislike a companion in a game (tho I can def think of two, they’re not from Mass Effect LOL).

My Squad Selection: Depends on the Shepard and who I feel like bringing along. Like stated above, the most consistent I took with me I think was Samara a lot in ME2. In ME3, I took Garrus, James, and Kaidan with Dunc a lot for reasons specific to Duncan. It’d def vary from my other Shepards, who are lucky enough to date squadmates and bring their LIs are mission dates. :’)

Favorite in-game romance: My favorite for ME in general would be in Andromeda. I’ve only completed Steve’s romance - and Samara’s “fling” - in the trilogy so far and while both are very nice imo and I adore them (the pacing in Steve’s could’ve been written better but I can admit that and still enjoy it) I wouldn’t say either are my favorites. /:

Other pairings I like: I like any pairings so long as they’re not like Steve/femShep or Traynor/mShep. All the romances in the trilogy are nice and I think quite a few are underappreciated. Jacob/Shep (regardless of gender) could use more love imo. I know how his romance ends in ME3, but his romance in ME2 seems quite nice still to me and Dunc would’ve romanced him so fast if he’d been bi, gdi the chemistry. -clears throat- Don’t mind me, I’m just crying in a corner LOL.

Favorite NPC: Oh no I love so many. ;-;

Favorite Antagonist: As a character I actually quite like Kai Leng and the Illusive Man. As people, I don’t like them LOL but as characters they’re very fascinating and interesting to me.

Favorite Mission: I really liked the Leviathan mission, the one at the end in that ocean. Maybe it’s ‘cause Steve was actually in it quite a bit and Dunc had some new/feelsy scenes with his boyfriend LOL. I’m desperate for Shortez content, okay? ;-;

Favorite DLC: Citadel. I am bASIC LOL. I like how almost everyone shows up again (I say “almost everyone” ‘cause obvs Chakwas isn’t there and Kelly doesn’t make an appearance again) and it’s funny and goofy and parts of it were some of the few times I actually felt like I related to my Shepard more or he felt more real to me during that DLC? Idk how to explain it tbh.

Favorite Loyalty Mission: It’s been a while since I played ME2... I think Tali’s maybe???

Control, Synthesis, or Destroy: Destroy! The other options don’t really appeal to me however I find it fascinating that there are players they appeal to and I find that really cool. :3

Favorite Weapon: Sniper rifle. Unless I can count biotics LOL. I got Dunc’s weapon weight down so low in ME3 that his biotic powers’ cooldown was 100% lolol.

Favorite Place: ...A bad thing about Andromeda being the most recent game I’ve played, I only remember the locations in that one LOL. ^^”” The quarian (sp?) homeworld was nice iirc!

A quote I like:

“They rebuilt Mindoir... It wasn’t the same.” - Colonist!Shepard

“Someone needs my boot up their ass.” - Shepard

“Never do that again! ...Sir.” - Steve Cortez

“50,000 years and I still don’t get picked.” - Javik

And honestly any dialogue line from the Citadel DLC or the final mission in ME3 LOL.

Tagging: @bxtgrl​ and anyone else who wants to ‘cause I’m realizing idk how many of my mutuals play ME. o-o;;