#its genuinely hilarious they're so good at storytelling

[crypticallylies]

Things I've learned about Disco Elysium through my friend, despite never playing the game or paying attention online:

• Harry or Henry or whatever his name is is incredibly mentally ill

→ he wakes up with no memories

→ he literally blacks out and loses PHYSICAL HEALTH anytime he thinks about his ex-wife

→ there are so many voices in his head

• Kim whats-his-name follows you everywhere in an "annoying pose" with his hands behind his back, judging Harry (rightfully) for everything he does

• There's a horrific tie that talks in, reportedly, the best voice in the game

• harry is the most pathetic guy to exist he is literally like a wet cardboard cutout of a sad dog. and he probably smells like wet dog too

• there's a murder case happening apparently?

• My friend apparently chose to make their Harry so incredibly stupid he did not even know what a postcard was, but he's great with people!

→except for when she messaged me asking if she should take a 17% chance to punch a guy (i said yes) (she failed) (it was apparently a racist) (she nearly died) (its ok she succeeded when she tried again later)

• At some point Harry can input a random "familiar" number and sob to his . presumably ex wife. but we have no idea if this leads anywhere because my friend saw him losing health and morale so quickly during the phone call that she quit the game and reloaded the last quicksave

•it took learning harrys name was harriet dubois to tell the difference between whether he was named henry or harry. i still call him harry on accident

• the horrific tie is the best character in the game

[goingbuggy]

When you have time I would LOVE to hear your thoughts about post time skip buggy!!

Hi, anon! Sorry for the late-ish reply. I thought carefully about how I wanted to reply, but alas, here I am again, starting my metas in the strangest places. Anyways, here’s a seemingly unimportant question: Why is it funny that Buggy keeps failing upwards?

My answer also happens to be one of Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling:

"Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating."

You might be wondering why I chose this quote -- after all, Buggy manages to escape most conflicts by sheer coincidence. Take the canon-filler episode(s) “Little Buggy's Big Adventure,” for example; coincidence is the sole reason why he ends up on Gaimon’s island and eventually finds Alvida, one of his future allies. But for as much as Oda is guilty of using coincidences to benefit Buggy, he also creates coincidences to get Buggy into trouble. Sure, Buggy left on good terms with Gaimon/found Alvida, but only after:

Suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of Luffy

Losing most of his body

Being chased by killer fish/eaten by a ginormous bird

Nearly getting shot in the head by Gaimon over a misunderstanding

Being chased AGAIN by a deadly crab???? LMAO???

Buggy’s “luck” functions like a pendulum -- for every good thing that happens to him, horrible things are guaranteed to follow. This core aspect of his character is what keeps the gag afloat. Buggy is never rewarded by the narrative without experiencing consequences. In order to earn moments of respite, he has to suffer.

I find it hilarious when people argue that Buggy doesn’t deserve to have good things happen to him. Because, yeah? Duh. Oda loves having his cake and eating it too. It’s not necessarily good to play both sides with the audience when it can cheapen emotional impact, but Oda will absolutely continue to make Buggy both a complete joke and a genuine character. He has fun that way. However, he’s not going to help Buggy without hurting him first.

But that's a very meta perspective. How does Buggy view his own beneficial coincidences? He’s now an emperor, and extremely close to the One Piece/Pirate King title that he so desperately wants. But why does he think he’s being rewarded, in-universe?

His facade.

His devoted followers, his influence, that billion-berry bounty, his emperor status -- all of it stems from his fake persona and its snowball effect. He’s well aware of this. In fact, I think it’s likely that he hates himself for being such a coward and hiding behind lies. But when he sees his true self as worthless, what else can he do except dig himself into a deeper hole?

Look at 1082. Buggy finally stands up for himself, claiming that wealth and power come from chasing after your dreams -- not grand schemes. Here, he’s talking to himself as much as he’s talking to Crocodile and Mihawk.

“This is wrong… This isn’t how I wanted my life to go…”

It’s a very depressing peek at the man behind the curtain. Buggy only ever wanted to follow his dreams, but he uses schemes to get ahead instead, because they're all he thinks he has. His lies are a crutch to depend on, so he doesn't have to face the truth: he doesn't believe in himself. 

To me, 1082 reads as a "Hail Mary" moment from a character at an emotional low. Buggy still doesn't believe in himself, but he is saying: Fuck it. If Shanks and I finally have an equal chance at becoming Pirate King, I at least have to try... Right? We can confirm his lack of self-confidence, because Buggy even admits he got here by “luck or chance or whatever."

He cannot entertain the possibility that he'd get this far any other way. Of course he doesn't see himself as Shanks' equal. It’s one of many reasons he didn’t want to go with Shanks at Loguetown; he assumed he’d be working “under” Shanks (even though Shanks only said “Come with me!"), because he truly believes he is lesser in terms of potential/greatness. ("You coward!" can also be interpreted as Buggy projecting his own insecurities onto Shanks.) Buggy's decision in 1082 is a desperate leap of faith. "Go for broke," "shoot for the moon," etc.

Post-Timeskip Buggy may appear more dangerous than ever before, but in reality, he’s just a small fish in a big pond. The farther he crawls his way up the ladder of success, the worse he feels, because the life he has built is not how he wanted to live at all. Based on everything we've known about Pre-Timeskip Buggy, we should expect him to be happier than ever. He has influence. Power. His monetary value in the eyes of the World Government has shot up exponentially. But look at the poor guy. He's miserable.

If you've ever seen Better Call Saul, I think this scene from S4E9 is very similar to how I feel about Buggy:

JIMMY: There you go! Kick a man when he’s down! KIM: Jimmy, you are always down.

Buggy is a character who is always down, even when you think he might be up. Until he stops maintaining that false image, he will always be punished by the narrative pendulum he's trapped himself in.

Unfortunately, change is hard, especially with the stakes he’s currently facing. If Buggy actually has to fight Blackbeard, Luffy, or Shanks... he can’t. Not alone. He needs people to believe the facade, because that's what got him here in the first place. He may look invincible, but he is quite possibly the most vulnerable character right now.

Crocodile and Mihawk would sell him to Satan for one corn chip (especially after that stunt he pulled in 1082). We haven't seen him improve his physical abilities (unless Oda pulls some off-screen bullshit). As an emperor, he has more people gunning for his head than ever before. Buggy’s last line of defense is his long-running gag -- if Oda decides to subvert our expectations, he’s a dead man walking.

And who would he have to blame but himself? He built his image on smoke and mirrors. Eventually, he's going to have to pay the price.

If Pre-Timeskip Buggy is a man defined by coincidence, then Post-Timeskip Buggy is defined by consequence.

[dustteller]

I just finished watching all the available episodes of The Apothecary Diaries, and I have to say that it surprised me!

The premise of an apothecary working for the emperor's consorts and solving medical mysteries is already a gun one, but the execution really elevated the concept past entertaining romcom to genuinely fantastic storytelling. It's not revolutionary, but it's certainly deeply endearing, and I really enjoyed how it found a balance between lighthearted comedy and acknowledging the awful aspects of sex work and being a woman/lower class in a world where neither are valued. It doesn't explore the darker side in detail, at least not so far, but it still does a fantastic job in making the horrible parts feel like a real part of the setting while still making the choice to focus on the women's joy even when faced with hard situations. I guess I just appreciate these things being openly discussed without immediately having it be a psychological story about dealing with trauma?

The characters are also soo good, and while most lack depth (its been nine episodes, so for a cast this big, that can be excused), usually their schtick is strong enough that it can easily carry their appearances. You also get the sense that while a lot of these characters do fill out comedic roles/archetypes, there's a lot more going on beneath the surface. Their schtick is fun, but its not all they have, its just there to help the audience familiarize themselves and bond with the charcaters while their entire personality is unearthed. The entire cast is genuinely absolutely delightful and reasonable and feel incredibly real while also being really funny.

The romance portion is also really really fantastic. Both Maomao and Jinshi are hilarious little freaks, and their dynamic is so fun to watch. Maomao is such a good take on the cold, blunt, genius character, who is socially challenged but very far from frigid. She's practical and logical while also keeping a very strong emotional core founded in empathy and genuine care for the people around her. Her obsession with poison is also pulling triple duty, as it 1) serves to break her cold facade and provides comic relief in the form of an ongoing gag, 2) gives the reader a strong understanding of her guiding motives/desires, and 3)gives her role as a medical investigator narrative justification. Of course she'd know what was used to poison someone, that's her whole thing! Jinshi himself is a counterpart to Maomao's colder tendencies, being very clingy and emotional. This show is not afraid of making him a pathetic little obsessed man, and it's all the better for him. Unlike other possesive and obsessed male leads, Jinshi manages to mostly stay away from the creep factor by being so uttely pathetic and cringe that he never really comes across as an actual threat. Couple that with him actually being very respectful of Maomao, only engaging in light flirting, and how he never actually wants to change her (most rapey MLs try to break the FL out of their feisty charcater or demean her for it while showing her how they're more powerful), and Jinshi makes for a very good love interest that also feels like a very safe comfortable person, which I feel matches the tone of the show very well. He's also as much of a freak as Maomao ("she wants to crush me like a bug <3333🥰🥰🥰), so they're very well matched there, too. He's such a petty loser, and that makes him a stronger character.

The story seems to be ramping up, and while I don't think it'll ever lose the lighthearted tone, I'm excited about how it already seems to promise a more in-depth exploration of the world it's set up the scaffolding for. For what it's worth, I also think the show has done a very good job at making the world feel expansive and mysterious, while also balancing that wholesomeness, which for a show centered around sex workers is quite the feat.

Anyways, long story short, I think the nine episodes that are out so far are really great, and the story thrives through how utterly endering it is. I am charmed by the world and the characters and what the plot has promised us, and while I don't expect it to revolutionize anime or whatever, it's still a masterclass in narrative shorthand and the act of balancing its heavy themes, especially when it comes to the characters themselves. There's so many of them that are so fun and memorable that I didn't mention, but who absolutely deserve their own posts, and that's only nine episoded into a comedy show, which I think goes to show how strong of a start this series has. Overall, I'd rate the show so far an 8/10, and I'm really excited to see what will come from the next 15 episodes.

[thewadapan]

In light of the good news, I've finally sat down to watch skibidi toilet. It's pretty good, not too surprisingly! Absolutely no wonder that Michael Bay seems to have such a genuine fondness for it, considering how much of a love-letter it is to his work on Transformers and how dedicated it is to just producing spectacle above all else.

The first-person-POV of the cameramen in the show is easily its most inspired element, giving an intuitive structure to the episodes (about 50% of the time the episode ends because the cameraman gets fucking bodied). As it escalates in scope and ambitions, you see the device being used in more impressively inventive ways towards narrative ends, as cameramen and TV men are used to diegetically transition between subplots. But it's also used in more subtle ways, with different effects or overlays, or simply in how the cinematography itself can communicate the emotions of the cameraman doing the recording.

Moreover, the whole thing is very video-game-y, isn't it? Not even just in terms of the assets, but in terms of the action, the beat-to-beat plotting. It's a lot of sneaking around open-level environments, picking up new weapons from dead enemies, encountering new types of enemies or bosses with their own attack patterns and weaknesses. It instantly transported me back to being a teenager, fucking around in Garry's Mod, playing Team Fortress 2 with my mates, getting through Half Life, and all that. The SFM-filmmaker aesthetic isn't just a mode of convenience—although obviously the fact that DaFuq!?Boom! has managed to maintain a pretty prodigal output can be partly attributed to the fact he's using software and assets he's clearly very comfortable with—but rather, it informs everything about the storytelling.

People love to performatively (or ignorantly) act like skibidi toilet is some incomprehensible, unprecedented "brainrot" that the kids are into, but it's nowhere near as absurd as everyone likes to pretend. I feel like I've seen something very similar to it before, but the closest thing that comes to mind is the old trend of stick-figure fight animation borne out of Newgrounds. Or if not that, then yeah, the Transformers films! It's like the entire back half of Dark of the Moon depicting this huge guerrilla war in occupied Chicago—that's clearly the main touchstone.

It's a crime that the most absurd (and often disturbing) part of the show, the SKIBIDI DOB DOB DOB YES YES earworm constantly being repeated by the skibidi toilets, has seemingly been copyright struck, resulting in many portions of the official uploads suddenly just going silent for multiple seconds. It actually incenses me that someone, or some organisation, has been able to do this. I don't really have an ethically-consistent model of how copyright should work, but in cases like this, it seems like obviously a net negative for the world. For whatever reason, the Shorts versions of the episodes seem unaffected, but they're unideal for their own reasons.

The main thing is that past a certain point, the Shorts clearly become cut-down extracts of the main widescreen episodes, which presumably have the intended aspect ratio. Some of the longer uploads have what the content-slop lore freaks describe as "secret scenes", added-in, revised, or unabridged, often containing more of the long-term plot points. The idea that these might be "secret" from the perspective of anyone just watching the Shorts is really funny to me. Also, the fact that the episodes are being collected into "Season" compilations is hilarious to me in its own right—in what attention-deficient world can 20 minutes of a show be described as a full season? Gen Alpha is so cooked bro.

Thankfully, I was able to find a Google Drive where somebody's managed to archive the full series so far with uncensored audio. But then I was checking the YouTube uploads, and I realised some of the newer ones actually have closed captions for certain lines of dialogue! As in, the reversed speech of the cameramen etc, or even what some of the skibidi toilets are saying! These subtitles are missing from that Google Drive archive, meaning it's not a perfect way of watching the show either.

But the thing is, I also think adding subtitles to the show is a huge misstep on DaFuq!?Boom!'s part. One of the things I found most surprising about skibidi toilet is that, for the most part, it actually requires the viewer to be paying pretty close attention in order to follow any of the "plot", insofar as there is one. You have to be able to tell apart all these near-identical and often silent appliance-head guys. Sometimes the POV will be some random cameraman, but other times it'll be a recurring character, and noticing that will add something to the viewing experience. Most of all, the lack of speech (and lack of expressions) for most of the characters forces you to constantly be interpreting their body language to understand what they're communicating to one another.

The subtitles stand to ruin this aspect of the show. Also, the dialogue itself is poorly-written, bro. It's nice that the writer does have something in mind for everything they're saying to one another, but it's a complete mistake to actually present that as part of the text. Frustratingly, I can't even commit to just watching future episodes without captions, because what if he decides to seriously start putting load-bearing plot stuff in them?

(According to DaFuq!?Boom!'s word of god, all the skibidi toilets can understand all languages, they just choose to speak their superior skibidi language. God I love that.)

The main completed arc of the story, set in and around a bunker, is honestly fantastic, thrilling stuff, with some individual (rudimentary) character arcs and tons of great setpieces. My favourite episode of the show, in the immediate aftermath, delivers a legitimately great twist in a brilliant way. I'm excited for the next episode to drop, but moreover, I'm on the absolute edge of my seat waiting to see how skibidi toilet transforms itself for the mainstream media of TV and/or film.

[lensman-arms-race]

Damn, I love Skibidi Toilet

Firstly, it's eternally hilarious that it started off as merely a shitpost about a janky Gmod head in a toilet, singing a silly song then biting the viewer's face, and then ramped up to what is essentially a mecha anime... but still with the evil singing toilets that bite you.

Secondly, I've said before on this blog that it's genuinely just plain glorious. Skibidi Toilet has provided me with more amusement, excitement and drama-induced anguish than literally anything on broadcast telly. DFB is a genuinely good storyteller and animator.

Thirdly, it's so high-concept (AV tech-themed robots versus singing toilets) that you can pretty much do anything with it. You can make it serious and sci-fi or you can be Looney Tunes batshit with it, and both would work with the source material. There's scope in it to add roving human survivors, alien origins (of the toilets or hardwares or both), Half Life-crossover stuff... you could pretty much add anything and make it work with the established canon.

Fourth, DFB hit upon an excellent formula in making it completely dialogueless (yes, TVs have voices but they're just easter eggs), relying on action, posture etc. (on mostly faceless characters, no less) to convey what's going on. It means pretty much anyone can understand what's going on regardless of age or language.

I wonder how long it'll be before we see Skibidi Toilet zines, or even its first fan convention?

[lightningfilledsaber]

i have a quastion. what is dungeon meshi like i’ve considered watching the anime since it looks amusing…. i trust you as an authority on this hence why i’m in your asks :3c

Dungeon Meshi is so good!!!

So Ryoko Kui (the author of the manga) is a super super great artist and writer in general, and her knowledge of intimate and expansive worldbuilding, including the cultures of different fantasy races is VERY apparent in dunmesh without being super in your face. It strikes a perfect balance between showing and implying and telling; giving you information when you need it but not holding your hand throughout the process. Ecology and biology of creatures and the places (mostly dungeons but yk) is SUPER important and expanded upon in the story. It scratches my Creature autism SOOO well. And all of the characters are VERY distinct and fun AND THE DESIGNS FUCK SOOO HARD. Dungeon Meshi has become one of my favorite series of all time, because it's so. so fucking profound. There are a LOT of funny moments and gags but there's an equal amount of genuinely serious and emotional moments. The character dynamics. GOD. Cannot recommend it enough.

Also. Dungeon Meshi is super fucking horny. LMAO. Not in a "fanservice-y" way (in fact, there is only ONE character that ever gets upskirt/panty shots and it is Senshi, the bearded dwarf man. He's my fave btw <3). But dunmeshi uses consumption (and to a lesser/technical extent cannibalism as well) as a... metaphor for love and obsession, and frequently eroticizes it. I hesitate to say metaphor because it's honestly VERY obvious lmao. Especially with how genuinely autistic Laios is about monsters and eating them. Then there's also transformation and change that's also VERY eroticized. A lot of the focus of Dungeon Meshi is desire. How people experience it, and just how far people will go for it. Which, again, is super eroticized a LOT. All done in a tasteful(? not sure if this is the right word but yk) way and not in a surface level "LOOK, SEX!!!!!!!!!" way. Not that there's anything inherently WRONG with being horny and not being like profound about it but I'm just trying to make a point lol

Now to specifically talk about the anime since that's what you mentioned wanting to watch (though I REALLY reccommend the manga, it is fucking GORGEOUS and there are so many hilarious panels that haven't been brought over to the anime, despite how well it's been doing with that so far. It just happens with turning a manga into an anime yk?)! It's doing a really good job so far!! The only issues I have are relatively nitpicky (I've gone into detail abt it if you wanna see here) and more of an issue with modern anime overall so! They're doing a really great job of translating over from the page to the screen and the voice acting work (both the original japanese and english dub) is really fucking good. And I don't typically like modern english dubs. The layout of the episodes is really nice so far too, centering around the "dish/es of the day" without feeling too constrictively like your typical "monster of the week" type episodes. It helps that Dungeon Meshi as a media itself strikes a really good balance between that and its storytelling. Though again. Laios is genuinely SO fucking autistic about monsters and eating them lmao and the series focuses on him/his party so! There's so much good in depth discussion about monsters, both their biology (especially in relation to their taste hehe) as well as their natures, and ecology!

I'm also really a fan of netflix releasing the episodes weekly instead of dropping them all at once. It's refreshing coming from netflix specifically considering their... track record.

But anyway yeah! TYSM Marty for coming to me about this and letting me go on an autistic talk about it!! I only apologize for not being more specific, but a lot of my dunmesh posting (reblogs anyway since I'm pretty sure the posts I've MADE about it have been relatively vague??) is already pretty spoilery and I'm a firm believer in a first watch/read being as spoiler free as possible!! It makes subsequent rewatches/rereads all the more fun to me personally <3 Though that's obviously up to you lol

[mdhwrites]

Okay so, we know the show is over, and that shortening is not the sole reason for the show's decrease in quality but with that begs the question.

We know that dana was offer to produce the owl house in other channels under the condition of the episodes would be 2 segments of 11 minutes each per episode.

Could have this formant change benefit the owl house, helping it to streamline storylines from the start and dedicate shorter episodes to more simple concepts?

So this feels like a misconception with storytelling. See, I've talked about characters getting full episodes to themselves, specifically Hunter's Arc versus what time we may have gotten with The Collector in a full S3. Technically, one could say there is no difference. Every episode is a full episode so claiming Hunter gets any half episodes is wrong.

But that's where A and B plotting in stories comes into play. So as to fill time in an episode, or cover an idea more expansively, a show will often implement a B plot that usually has less importance than what is going on in the main plot. King gets a LOT of these in S1. In fact, like 80% minimum of King's plotlines in the show are in B plots. A lot of them also serve zero point to ANYTHING.

And technically B plots do not have to be this way. They can actually be covering something just as important as the other things going on. Knock Knock Knocking is actually a good example of this because all three plots, so even a C plot, are theoretically of true importance. They're all moving characters forward, they all have developments that matter to the story as a whole, etc. like that. Lumity is weirdly the least important in that episode because Amity is never actually important to the plot in a meaningful way which sucks.

But the larger point in general is that this is a critical part of TOH. Very few episodes stay focused on a single pair of characters during its entire run time. After all, how different really is splitting two plotlines between two halves and constantly, as an example, cutting back to King who is having his stuffed animal boot camp while Luz and Eda are off training at the Knee? There is none except that you can have an ebb and flow of tension by those cutaways that I would argue commonly just hurts the show more than anything else. It's hard to keep tension when all of your B plots are constant comedy.

But this may have been also why Dana wanted this. She could allow characters like Amity and Luz be more serious in their interactions while claiming it was a comedy because the B plot is the main source of comedy in the episode. That's why TOH has comedic relief characters when in most kid's shows, you can't just point to one character in each group of characters as the comic relief. They normally all pull that duty or none. TOH makes it very pointed that certain characters are the butts of jokes and they commonly get B plots.

This actually leads to the hilarious fact that Willow has one conversation with King in the whole series... While Gus has two plot lines with him. One in Understanding Willow with the B plot of the interviews and once during Grom with King and him being Masters of Ceremony. Even HOOTY gets more plot lines that are genuinely about him and King than say... Amity, who never properly interacts/has a plot line with either Eda or King despite how many plot lines she has the show. And no, Eclipse Lake doesn't count because she's practically talking past the other two the entire time. It shows how they interact but has no weight or meaning behind it. It's easily forgettable and disposable.

Now this actually touches on the one strength TOH could have gotten from the other format. See, the problem with the full episode format with B plots is that commonly the multiple plots don't interact so each episode can only have one plot line per character. If Amity has fourteen plot lines with Luz, Luz literally loses a third of the plot lines she can have in the WHOLE SERIES to Amity. Amity, Gus and Willow altogether take up roughly half of the entire storytelling potential Luz has like this. That's why during a lot of S1, Eda is either doing things alone, with King or with Lilith. King has even less characters to interact with so he gets plots alone, with Eda or with Hooty. This problem directly is part of why the Found Family Theme doesn't function for The Owl House. Luz literally has no time to spend with King and Eda because she's constantly with other characters. After all, she has one off characters like Viney or Vee to spend time with. She has Hunter to deal with for two episodes. She has two episodes dedicated to facing Belos alone or with friends. She has three episodes in S2 where she either effectively isn't there, like Eclipse Lake and Thems the Breaks, or literally never shows up like Labyrinth Hunters.

This is really the only strength TOH I think would have gained from twin 11 minute formats. Luz can have plot lines with her friends and her romantic interest and now they only take up a quarter of her time rather than close to half.

There's one problem: This also requires the idea that the 11 minute episodes would be good. There's no guaranty they get spent on plot after all. In S1, they would more likely be spent on shenanigans like the B plots or villains like Tibbles. Most people point to the one villains and the more traditional kids show episodes like Once Upon a Swap as when TOH is at its weakest... And I don't disagree. TOH has very few narrative tricks up its sleeve to make these characters interesting, the best one being when they make crunch culture literal, and none of them are ones you can take seriously. Frankly, The Owl House is so against its genre that having to come up with more plots for its world, its magic, etc. like that...

Now, one last note: The B plots likely couldn't have been just made half episodes either. Not if the show wanted to be taken seriously at all. How much more annoying would King's B plots in most episodes feel if you couldn't cut away from it? Him constantly trying to make an army and obviously going to fail because of it. It's too repetitive, the point is made within five seconds and then drawn out and it would be repeated too many times to be VERY noticeable.

King would have had to be MUCH more a real character than his one note self in order for the 11 minute format to work... Or it'd become even more noticeable that he's just mostly absent or inconsequential to most of the series. You weirdly enough need MORE distinct characters for 11 minute episodes than you do in a longer format. The more stories you have to tell with them after all, the more they have to be capable of multiple types of stories. This is part of why the Plantars are all so distinct from one another because they all have different tales they can then tell and have a full range of tales to tell, whether they be fully comedic or emotional. Even Polly has that with her tomboy nature, her age, her immaturity, etc.

And that is the real killer for if the writers of TOH could even do it. As someone who watched some Rise of the TMNT just yesterday, that show is WILD. But do you want to know what it doesn't do? It doesn't waste time. It doesn't waste a damn thing. You are bombarded with EVERYTHING a concept can be at all times at 11 and even that still allows morals and character to somehow shine at times, or let the creativity of the writers shine and how they're making this different from other TMNT interpretations.

And TOH is not good about not wasting time. It loves its languid pacing. It loves its setups even though could be cut. Gus and Willow contribute NOTHING to Covention after all so why not have Eda, King and Luz just show up at the Covention hall with a couple lines of "Now, I know you're grumpy but thank you so much for taking me to this."

"I only did it because otherwise, you were going to read that fluffy witch dreck at me the entire day. Let's just get this over with and quickly if we can."

We could have had that ten second exchange instead of the full two minutes that is spent on the intro before the title having Gus and Willow show up, having the banter, having the admittedly good, fun joke of Eda trying to leave through the portal but with King on her head and THEN going to the Covention. Not to say these other shows don't waste any time but they'd never waste two minutes setting up to the good stuff with characters who are going to vanish in almost just as many minutes, even if that makes little sense. Seriously, why doesn't Willow comment at all about the Witch's Duel?

So I don't think it would have fixed the problems of TOH. I think, quite honestly, it would have just doubled down on the issues and made them more glaring to more people because constraints have never helped this show.

Just look at their unwillingness to make obvious, required changes in the face of the shortening. =======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[gerogerigaogaigar]

Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

Oh no! It's another one of my Favorite Albums Of All Time™. This is the best rock album of the 90's. Somehow blending ennui and deep longing into one contradictory emotion. Crooked Rain speaks to the contradictory feelings of growing up in a middle class suburb. The rebellion vs the comfort. The desire for something that you don't know what it is, but you need it so bad. It's an album about growing up, but it's great contradiction is that it brings me back to childhood every time I hear it. And that isn't nostalgia talking either, I didn't hear this album at all until I was out of high school. If you only listen to one album off the list so far make it this one.

LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver

Deadpan irony delivered with dispassionate sincerity. It's hard to tell whether LCD Soundsystem is making fun of you for having feeling or if they're making fun of you for thinking that you don't. Are they genuinely mad about being mistaken for a European band or are they joking? Is the title track sympathetic or dismissive of teenage angst? Is party culture self destructive or triumphant? The lack of any real answers meld with the slow building and steady instrumentals to create a world where the answers are whatever conclusion you draw. Maybe things can be more than one thing.

Usher - Confessions

Ngl man if you gotta write two back to back songs apologizing for shit then she's probably in the right to leave your ass lol. This album is solid. I think it drags a little, but its not like it's top heavy or anything. I think I just get bored with sensitive R&B guys faster than others. The fact that the album's tone is to be unapologetically horny but also very apologetic at the same time is hilarious to me. I know it isn't deliberate camp but when Usher goes from I'm good at sex songs to please take me back songs it's like environmental storytelling for toxic dudes.

Los Lobos - How Will the Wolf Survive

I'll admit that a sorta folksy sorta rockabilly album from 84 is not an exciting prospect to me. It wasn't bad by any means, but it didn't rock my world either. Not a complete bust though since there is some nice accordion playing here and that always makes me happy.

Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True

The idea to wrap up the brattiest, meanest lyrics in Buddy Holly style rock n roll was one of the greatest masterstrokes of the 70s punk scene. Typically when an artist tries to emulate past styles, especially from the pre stereo era, they either emulate too perfectly and end up derivative or they fail entirely and wind up sounding sterile. Elvis Costello somehow avoids this entirely. The lo fi punk rock production compliments the 50s throwback aesthetics in a way that feels authentic to both styles.

The Four Tops - Reach Out

When I was a child my dad listened exclusively to an oldies station that didn't seem to realize that music existed outside of the years 1951-1968. Hits from the Motown records label were naturally staples of their lineup and the songs that always stood out to me happened to be by The Four Tops. I Can't Help Myself, Bernadette, Walking In The Shadows Of Love, and Reach Out I'll Be There wound up being some of the most foundational songs of my childhood. This album contains three of those four songs. The only real point of this anecdote is to explain how I'm not qualified to review anything by The Four Tops. Hell I even named myself after Levi Stubbs' character from Little Shop of Horrors. This isn't one of my favorite albums of all time, but it contains some of my most essential songs of all time.

Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising

Right in the middle of their discography and in the middle of their evolution from hardcore punk to alt rock pioneers. New Day Rising almost feels like it could have been an early emo influence. Buzzsaw guitars threaten to drown out helplessly shouted vocals. And far from the traditional punk aesthetic that prized political lyricism and outward facing aggression Bob Mould writes personal and introspective songs. Without a doubt this album, while not a turning point in and of itself, is still part of a large scale shift in what rock music would be going forward.

[james-stark-the-writer]

just binged through The Boys Presents: Diabolical S01 bc i didn't have anything else to watch rn, so, here's some quick thoughts on the episodes. mild spoilers.

Episode 1: not as funny as i'd expect given the Seth Rogen writing credit, and it's got some pretty wonky comedic timing but the homages and the lack of dialogue makes it kinda work overall, though you can feel the tendency of thinking it's the violence that makes The Boys what it is, and not it's politics or the storytelling craft. it's a fine opener ig, and the incredibly dark ending played completely straight as sweet is really interesting. 6.5/10

Episode 2: already funnier than the first episode, that writing credit was a jumpscare, but it was actually a pretty good episode, though you can really feel the Rick and Morty shit in there (though the title card intro was fun) which is kinda annoying bc it's not really my thing or what i'm looking for in a The Boys spin-off, but the ideas are interesting and it's always fun to see some shitty parents get what they deserve. 7.5/10

Episode 3: let's just say you can tell Garth Ennis wrote this. probably fun for the comic fans. nothing but annoying for me, and a reminder of how much better the show is from its source material. at least he didn't have the characters yell slurs. 4/10.

Episode 4: by far the best episode of the series, incredible, incredible work, the comedic timing, the story, the pacing, the VA, the direction, the music choices, it's all fucking great. i got no complaints, really, other than just wishing we saw more of a gradual buildup of their relationship, though within the timeframe we do still get a really good and effective story, and the ending punchline is hilarious. 9.25/10.

Episode 5: what a fucking downgrade lmfao, that voice is a jumpscare and then the writing credit just spreads full body terror, and the episode is by far the worst fucking thing in the show, it's (heh) shit. it really is, though, like my god, it's bad and unfunny and just there's literally nothing there, it's sad to even see it trying so hard. like occasionally the animation is cute but it's just an imitation of better work. stop giving that woman work. on the other hand, please keep giving Nicole Byer more work. only highlight of the episode besides Chace, and ig the base story isn't the worst but it's like a rejected South Park episode, and not from one of the good seasons. 3/10

Episode 6: alright, this is at least a good comeback episode, it's pretty funny, i don't know about the names of his balls, that's an odd fucking choice, the parenting stuff is funny, the political stuff is good, i enjoy the story, it's overall a pretty good episode, there's nothing to really say about it, it's just pretty good! 8/10

Episode 7: turns out i need Andy Samberg to be writing more bc this ending made me fucking cry. jesus fucking christ, what an incredibly touching episode in such a short space. genuinely phenomenal shit. easily the second best episode. the middle chunk is just a tiny bit slow and narratively weird but otherwise, peak. also avoids the shitty implications of the base narrative handily, which many other writers wouldn't even have realized. 9/10.

Episode 8: man, what a weird episode to end on. as a weird what-if episode about Homelander? pretty decent. could use some work in the writing, but largely it kinda works. like a 7/10. as a "this is how Homelander happened" episode? did these guys watch the show they're a spin-off of bc................. woof. 4/10. let's say a 5.5/10 as a compromise. it's just. not very good unfortunately. like it had interesting ideas, the PTSD flashbacks he gets are interesting, but besides that, it just feels like it's trying to ape the first S01 more than anything, and kinda desperately failing.

overall? really interesting! like i loved the different animation and art design styles, and besides those few episodes, it was all pretty fun, the episodes are a perfect size to still give you satisfying stories, like it all kinda just works. feel free to skip episode 5 after the intro when you hear Nicole Byer but the rest are at least worth a watch. 7.5/10 for the season as a whole! excited to sit down and watch S04 of The Boys once it's done airing!

[lotus-tower]

WHY WON'T TUMBLR LET ME POST A READMORE

not really well read enough in philosophy Or dnd history to truly understand everything it draws from but i think dnd's conception as good and evil as natural forces in the universe is so fascinating from both a pure worldbuilding perspective and a game design perspective. but in a way that is severely undercut by how it tries to apply that onto realistic human morality

like, the idea of gameified moral alignments is genuinely interesting to me because rather than being an effective shorthand storytelling tool (which i don't think it really is), what you end up with is a cosmology heavily mired in futility due to being shaped by the demands of ceaseless gameplay. good can never truly defeat evil, but "balance" is not the goal like in a, say, taoist sense. instead the good guys should still strive to defeat evil, but there will always be more monsters and enemies to defeat, because if there weren't there would be no more adventure to be had. because dnd operates on "enemy" logic where if an entity is evil-aligned, you can kill them without thinking twice about it, whether they're an amorphous monster or just like, a normal human bandit.

the way it appropriates eastern and other non-western mythologies and mixes everything up in a blender for its cosmology is also interesting because its mixture of apocalyptic vs cyclical also feels like it's only tenable because of game utility. bad guys are always biding their time until they can unleash something that would presumably Destroy the World. but if it's not relevant to your specific story or campaign, that day will literally never come. but if you do want to roleplay through that crisis, there are a million apocalypses to choose from.

dnd lore feels like it's constantly aggressively chasing itself into a corner for no reason with regards to wanting mindless, one-dimensionally evil enemies who are evil because they're born evil, yet also wanting fleshed out villains because bad guys are cool and there will always be people drawn to the evil races. this leads to just frankly hilariously nonsensical lore for races like the drow. you can read their wiki page and actively Feel the writers adding caveats and then going 'but they're still evil' and then new caveats and then 'uhhh but still Evil' over and over. enough people have talked about the actual racial dynamics in fantasy race design, but i'm weirdly interested in the underlying philosophical issue as well.

the alignment system is simultaneously something meant to showcase your guys' character development and make it feel visible and codified, in a game that is all about, y'know, roleplaying and acting out the fantasy of your guy Doing Stuff, and something that imposes a significant level of determinism to the whole setting. lawful evil isn't just a label to describe a type of sentient creature. instead it becomes a cosmological force of its own, or like an element. creatures have to be predisposed to a certain alignment, or how could that alignment be a tangible thing in the cosmos? there HAS to be straight-up evil races because there is a straight up evil plane. lawful evil people automatically go to the lawful evil afterlife when they die. everything is neatly categorized taxonomically, with even the 'world tree' type cosmological structure resembling a taxonomic tree. i think it quickly becomes obvious how futile it is to think of something like "defeating evil" when you look at a cosmological tree like that. that wouldn't mean just fighting against designated bad guys. it would mean destroying entire planes of existence, including... afterlives? how would that even work?

but you still DO need to fight against designated bad guys. that's what the whole game is built around. you need a clear divide between "civilization" and the "savage" so that you can have random monsters to kill out in the wilderness, "monster" itself being its own special category that is separate from flora or fauna, you need to preserve that sense of undefinable chaos so that there are just random beings you can kill with impunity without needing to work in some kind of narrative about it. even for obviously irrevocably evil enemies like devils, there's a distinction made between them (who you can reason and bargain with) and demons, who are mindless because something something chaos. lawful forces exist for interesting interactions you can have with them, and chaotic forces exist so you can just have enemies hellbent on destruction for absolutely no reason. you need a clear divide between "good" and "evil" for the same reason. player characters become the only characters possessed of full freedom of will, so that players can act out any fantasy they want. but that same fantasy would be weakened if they felt constrained in what kind of violence they can dish out.

and, you know, why are good and evil dragons colour-coded? isn't that super silly? well obviously it's to make obvious at a glance what npcs are enemies and what aren't. it makes perfect sense from a practical game design standpoint. like, you can try to justify it however you like in-universe, but the fact remains that making all of a certain Type of creature uniformly enemies is the most standard RPG thing ever.

but what does it mean for your characters' free will to only be able to be exercised in a setting where they're the only ones that have it? what does it mean for a person's relationship to god, knowing that that god is more static, less capable of change, less containing of possibility? it's not that gods can't change alignment at all, but it's so much more unlikely than a person. "only humans (as in, sentient playable races etc etc.) have free will" is another standard theme in fantasy and religious thought. and my personal art. i guess. but in dnd this isn't a theme that's explored, it's just the playground set up for the players to have fun in.

what does it mean to be an ardent crusader for good, to fight against "evil"? if that evil is just a force in the universe? is it exhausting, knowing your life's work will never get to the root cause, that there will always be more evil? does it mean you just have an infinite number of enemies to slaughter mercilessly? do you spin it into a "but someone has to do the work to hold the monsters at bay this generation" thing?

there's a lot more you could say about law vs chaos but i don't want to get into that lol

[qqueenofhades]

I always thought the Prequels were good Star Wars stories told less well than they could have been, and one of my pet peeves (obvs. YMMV) was that GL forgot they were prequels and so spent far too much time teasing Anakin's inner conflict when everyone already knew how that was going to end. We did need that taste of what was to come, but the better movie would have been less in Anakin's headspace and more in everyone else's. We all know Anakin's going to fall. Focus on making it hurt. I think Obi-Wan Kenobi's got it figured out. They don't need to explain the obvious over and over again, they just need to stab you in the heart with it in new and cinematically pretty ways.

I mean... yeah, pretty much. The prequels were underwhelming for a few reasons, firstly because George Lucas insisted on writing all the dialogue himself (he had done it for the other films, but there were multiple co-writers and script polishers and actor improvisations that saved it) and it was.... bad. Ponderous, self-important, clunky, and in the case of Anakin and Padme's romance, inadvertently and unfortunately hilarious. This was compounded by his insistence on directing it as a dreadfully grim and wooden tragedy (Hayden Christensen got panned for his performance, but he said that he tried to lighten it up/act in a different way, but George didn't want it), when SW works best especially in its moments of lightheartedness and self-aware gentle mockery of itself. It's a soap-opera fantasy/sci-fi popcorn universe; it doesn't need to be written and directed like King Lear, and the prequels were weaker due to George's insistence on playing them completely straight.

So... yeah, we all know that Anakin is going to fall to the dark side, and I have said before that the whole thing where Padme dies in childbirth because lady parts (apparently there are no gynecologists on Coruscant but Luke can get a totally realistic fake hand?) and that's what makes Anakin go evil is also Bad. The parts and components are there-- Anakin's deep attachments to his mother, Padme, and Obi-Wan, and his problems with anger and desperation to fix the injustice that he experienced as a child slave -- but they're never given enough narrative elbow grease and genuine emotion to make them really hit the way they should.

This is especially obvious because yes, we are now all suffering buckets over Kenobi in the way that we came the closest to doing in Revenge of the Sith (which is by far the best of the prequels, despite its problems). We already know the story backward and forward, we know what happened before and what's happening next and how everything ended up this way, but because it focuses on emotions and character relationships and love and trauma more than clunky exposition or cliché narrative gimmicks, it still hurts a lot anyway. Yet again, it shows the idea that you constantly have to Shock The Audience to tell a good story is total hooey. If you're not necessarily shocking them, but you're still landing your emotional punches because your storytelling focuses on GENUINE feelings and respects the decades of engagement that fans have poured into this story and these characters, you don't NEED schlocky gratuitous random "twists" and the wanton Grimdarking of everything.

Basically, that was why I hated the sequel trilogy so much: the sheer disrespect shown to Han, Luke, and Leia, the destruction of their story arcs and narrative goals from the original trilogy, and the way this was all done in the name of Game of Thrones-ifying Star Wars and never felt authentic to the tones and themes of the original. As a SW fan for my entire life, I simply can't enter or engage with that take on it, because it is so disrespectful and destructive from what the story always was about before. Even the prequels, while they're technically and narratively underwhelming and I wanted them to be much better, still are Star Wars movies. The sequels on the other hand feel shoehorned in from an entirely different franchise, and the fact that mediocre white men can just make up shit and not even properly plan out, script, or plot their addition to one of the most beloved properties of all time will never not make me see red.

That being the case, the obvious adoration that Kenobi has for the characters, the way it tenderly focuses on their love and their relationships and their agonising pain, while still centering hope, Obi-Wan's rusty but deeply rooted compassion, his desperate desire to rest but his equally grim determination to fight for what's right even when it's totally hopeless and his heart is broken... that got me feeling Some Kinda Way. Because at its heart, that is what SW has always been about, and I think the reason people are responding to it so strongly is exactly because they recognize that.

[theoverlander]

you've been reblogging things tagged as TAZ. what is it? I like the characters but can't find what they're from

TAZ stands for The Adventure Zone. Which is a D&D podcast done by the Mcelroy brothers (and dad) over on maximumfun.org. The episodes come out every other Thursday and are usually about an hour in length. Its genuinely hilarious and has some really amazing storytelling. You dont need to know anything about D&D to listen, they spend the first part of the first episode explaining just about everything you need to understand. It starts off kinda slow but once they start feeling more comfortable in their roles it really picks up (i think i fell in love with the show around episode 3). And I cannot  stress enough how good Griffin’s storytelling is, they’re almost at the end of the campaign so a lot of things are coming together and its awesome! Theres more I could talk about but I think you’d get a better understanding of the show by just listening. People have done a lot of really good animatics of some of the shows more iconic moments which helped me get into it. Just be careful you dont look up anything too spoilery!

If you start listening I hope you enjoy it!