#literally every piece of media i have consumed basically

[freerangewhales]

Me staring a new show: *heavy breathing* I want to be you so bad that I will fuck you to achieve it

[beauspot]

The Bear Season 2: And Why I’m Fucking Annoyed (Full Spoilers below)

*Long Post*

The Bear is something truly special. When it dropped in June of last year it wasn’t a major hit right away. It was a sleeper and it grew its fanbase over time. If you were here this time last year you remember how small the fandom was posts on every platform could barely reach 200 interactions, but with the Golden Globe wins and the word of mouth this fandom began to grow and expand, because season one of the show was just so good.

Season 2 however is an interesting piece of media. I am well aware that I have some bias in this department and I can’t view this season objectively, but neither can the rest of you so I’ll say what I want.

To start off I really enjoyed some of the episodes this season, the first two? Excellent. The Marcus Episode(with my husband Will Poulter at his side)? Fantastic. The Richie Episode? Perfection. And let’s not even talk about Fishes, which was beyond words. I genuinely went into this season wanting to like it and praise it the way I did the previous season because I thought it was good. The writing—which is spectacular in nearly every other place—takes a nosedive with this romance plot. I still do think it’s good, but I can’t act like this whole season hasn’t left a sour taste in my mouth, because it has. Because the show runners are lying racist misogynistic nasty assholes who bullshitted us for nothing.

Toward the end of last year/beginning of this year Chef’s Kiss fans words made their way to some journalist who then asked about the potential for it with the actors and the writer( in an article stupidly named “don’t worry the bear doesn’t want carmy and sydney to kiss, either” the writer of which goes on to ship carmy and marcus so clearly they have excellent taste 😒) who all shut it down. Fine. That’s fine. That’s their opinion and it doesn’t affect us. What bothers me is the words of the co-creator Chris Storer who said this 👇🏾

He went on to say the show was also just meant to be focused on these people doing their jobs. So fine. We said even if it won’t be canon there’s no way they would bring in a new love interest cause that’s not “the vision” they have for the show, right?(He also goes on in the pic above to act like we couldn’t separate our love of the plot of the show from the ship which is…infantilizing and annoying) continuing on though, he also said this

He thought it would be cool to see a show with no romantic plot. Mind you this statement was made in January and the show starting filming in February. So unless they want me to believe they added this romance plot as some last minute thing (which very well could be the case as Claire has quite literally no personality outside of being pushy and being Carmy’s girlfriend) they knew they were having a romance plot in the second season and chose to lie about it. So the actors, the creator, basically everyone who was apart of this project said that Syd and Carmy were a weird ship (a strange thing to say to your, at the time, small audience even if that’s how you felt) just for them to turn around and have Carmy with a new love interest from school and have Sydney and marcus develop feelings for one another in the second to last episode? can y’all be fucking forreal for one minute?

Suddenly all you “yesss let men and women be friends, not every show needs romance” ass bitches want to ship something. I can tell you know Syd and Carmy have chemistry otherwise you wouldn’t have been shaking in your boots hoping the writers wouldn’t get them together. There was some dumb post i saw rooting for Claire and Carm but then adding ‘no one was better than platonic Sydcarmy’…

I see you.

I spoke about this before, but this constant sidelining of black women in these types of shows irks me. Sydney is basically hunting Carmy down for 85% of the season because he can’t do his fucking job he’s so consumed with Claire. And I know people are gonna say i’m being overdramatic, but it’s so clear they just did not want their main white boy to be with a black girl. Something that happens over and over and over again so many fucking times you can just lose count. Carmy, who in season one was so in tune with Sydney’s emotions he quelled his own anger and anxiety to ask if she was ok now ditches her at their restaurant to go help some girl he hasn’t seen since high school. He ditches her to go to a party then has the nerve to bring up Claire’s helping to inspire him.

Like yeah no shit Sydney is sorry that she’s there, y’all are opening a restaurant together which could fuck both your lives if it fails and Carmy is off doing god knows what instead of his job!

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!? And yeah, Carmy fucks it up at the end with Claire but that doesn’t negate the rest of the season. Chef’s Kiss shippers are strange and delusional and the show doesn’t need romance and then Claire is half naked in Carmy’s apartment? Look Carmy deserves happiness, his life has been basically nonstop stress and trauma since he was a kid and him ending the season thinking he doesn’t deserve fun or love is heartbreaking because it isn’t true, he deserves all the love in the world especially since he is actively trying to break the cycle (along with his sister). That doesn’t negate the fact that he agreed to being partners with Syd and then left her to make decisions on her own about a business they agreed to start together. Which is why he apologized and rightfully so.

And I know for a fact annoying Sydney and Marcus shippers are going to be like “well ackshully they are clearly setting up Sydcus this season so how can they hate black women.” I love Marcus as much as the next person and honestly after I saw where the writing was going I was like fuck it why not at this point, but if Sydney and Carmy’s shippers were living off crumbs Sydney and Marcus shippers were living off the memory of food. But sure that ship had development.

also no i don’t fuck with that syd and marcus ship because why the fuck are you snapping at sydney cause she rejected you and it wasn’t even really a rejection that was very incel core and it’s not about being upset half the kitchen is always screaming about something, it’s why he snapped at her.

I’m just angry so yeah fuck this show.

I’m genuinely contemplating if I want to watch the next season at all. I said if they wanted to go no romance, fine go no romance, but to not only lie about that but bring in some whole new girl we don’t know and throw the black girl to the closest guy despite the fact Sydney and Carmy are more alike than anyone else? You clearly need to do some introspection and think about why you can view Sydney and Carmen as friends but get sick at the thought of them being more.

There is a possibility (a slight possibility) that they are playing the long game we wanted, but i am wary because they lied and put a manic pixie indie girl in as a love interest this time and it sucked. But then I remember the scene with Syd and Carmy under the table and how open and honest they were with each other and even though their relationship wasn’t the best this season I can see it’s potential, because that one scene had more chemistry than all of that other ships other scenes combined. I don’t know.

This got me thinking though Will Poulter romcom when? I will be seated. Also the consensus on twitter is that people really didn’t like Claire and thought the show should have ditched their plot all together so that’s nice. A lot of people seem to think this is a setup for sydcarmy and idk, maybe i’ll rewatch when i’m more calm.

[thrown-away-opinions]

Watching "Why Do You Always Kill Gods in JPRGs?" and I am in awe of the stupidity on display.

>45 minutes of rudimentary Japanese/eastern history in broad strokes > glosses over the fact that Japan has basic capitalistic free trade and business for its entire history >no, fucking seriously, Japan had industry, independently owned businesses, the general free exchange of goods and services... otherwise known as capitalism. >Japan underwent a post-war economic boom >Some people get very rich and powerful during this boom primarily due to controlling the banking system with backing from a corrupt government >"Their new religion was... CAPITALISM." (paraphrased) >youtube essayist proceeds to explain at length the ways that forcibly aligning culture, religion, and government with private corporate interests is a bad thing (which it is, but it's not capitalism) >... but still constantly invokes "Capitalism" being forced on Japan from the West ("The False God") as the true evil in this narrative >Points to various examples in games where the bad guy is literally just the government and politicians, corrupt megacorps, giant evil monsters, and/or overt oppressive authoritarianism and tries to frame them as symbolic representations of western culture and Capitalism (spoken of as an evil ideology that makes people evil) >At no point do any of these stories (FF7, Persona 5, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, etc) present the idea that anyone except the already corrupt and evil are in favor of oppressing/destroying/enslaving all humanity and the planet in the name of endless economic growth and power for power's sake. >Several examples are literally evil entities that demand destruction for the sake of destruction and say as much directly >essayist's explanation for why none of this seems obvious and so far detached from the far more clear messages in their stories is because Japan speaks in deep contextual code so as not to offend anyone >aka, essayist gets to assert his beliefs and you can't tell him he's wrong because you just don't get the triple-secret encoded message hidden under all the deep cultural context clues that only a true Japanese audience (or foreign weeb, apparently) would understand >his western examples of Capitalist metaphor are the Outer Worlds and Bioshock Infinite... games where corporatism and an overt pseudo-religious authoritarian are the villains >this guy is a goddamned lawyer, apparently.

This is so fucking stupid. I should have checked out the moment I detected that hint of venom when he named capitalism as the culprit, but morbid curiosity got the better of me. For a bit there, when he was talking about the economic bubble and the lost decade, it seemed like maybe he wasn't going to be totally retarded, but he sure proved me wrong.

The message behind the JRPG genre is often that protecting the world is good, amassing power for the sake of power is bad, and that with the power of friendship and grinding side quests, a ragtag gang of spunky kids can save the world from malicious extraterrestrial entities that aim to mindlessly consume.

And also that the SMT series and many other pieces of Japanese media invokes western religious iconography, names, and symbols because it sounds cool and mysterious to Japanese audiences. That's literally the direct explanation given by nearly every single game and anime writer when asked about all the obtuse and confusing mythology and symbolism in their games.

[lazorbeanz]

Why do you personally ship, like, or appreciate Sonamy? What got you into Sonamy? What’s your favorite moment between the two?

Why do I ship Sonamy?

Okay, ima admit it..for someone who is a diehard sonamy fan, and thinks about AND ONLY about them literally every waking second, I can not think of ONE reason why I ship them to begin with….

“So you just ship them for basically no reason WHY?!” Pretty much 😅

And I’ve seen so many other people give their really good reasons and opinions on why they ship sonamy, and I full on agree with ‘em, but as for myself, I rack up nothing…and it’s my favourite ship too I mean come onnn TwT

I’ve also had my sister ask me this same question not long ago, and all I could do was just sit there and think “Damn your life almost revolves around these 2 HOW CAN YOU NOT HAVE AN ANSWER?!” I constantly beat myself up for this because I know I should 😭

And I mean, stuff like being the dynamic duo that they are, (whether in battle or not) their attitude and affection for each other evolving over time, respecting the other’s wants and needs, respecting boundaries (kinda the same thing tbh lol) , enjoying each others company, and just how the whole idea of sonamy has turned from what some people may see as “toxic” or “forced” (that might be the better word for it) from early 2000s media, to something more laid back and healthy like recent media because of all the character development over the years… etc, etc…are all fantastic reasons, and even reasons I would now apply as to why I love the ship even more…BUT they’re not the reasons I began to ship them in the first place, because these things I NEVER took into consideration when I starting doing so.

To put a long story short, I just saw pink and blue hedgies and was like, “ooooh I sense chemistry”

I feel like I could be going no where with all this. But all I’m tryna say is that I LIKE sonamy simply because of who they are…just a speedy blue boi and his hammer-wielding pink girlie. I APPRECIATE them solely because of their existence, especially in my life. They are like- one of the few things I ever look forward to these days. I SHIP them because unlike any other ship that has sonic or amy in it, sonamy just… “works” (I don’t know how to explain it but you know what I mean right??) And despite not being canon, (YET! 😏) they have got to be the closest ship to becoming canon (besides vectilla) ..unless I’m just biased :p

What got me into Sonamy?

Well, I did kinda just answer this in the previous question lol but I have to elaborate!

So yeah it started off with just seeing them 2 together and thought “I like where this is going hehe” tho tbh it never really went anywhere…because I was watching Sonic Boom at the time XD, the first piece of Sonic media I consumed since regaining an interest in the franchise. AND WE ARE NOT going back to like 2015 or 16 when I first discovered Sonic…idek what I did regarding shipping back then…I think I like shipped blaze and shadow or something OH LAWD-

Also to think that those short lived Sonamy moments in Boom didn’t even bother me in the slightest?! Present me is disgusted by such lack of interest or care! 😫

Okay okay I’m straying from the question, I’m sorry!!

There are a few things that got me hooked on Sonamy. First was definitely the tv series’. Boom, Prime and X all had adorable and wholesome moments that I could’ve almost died of cuteness from! Some of it was also hilarious too. In Sonic boom for instance, sonic and Amy would fight like a married couple lololol

Another thing (and this was the game changer) was the fanart and animatics. These became the addiction for me; one comic would lead to me reading another, which lead me to read another and so on. Or I’d find an animatic on YT and watch that and then begin scavenging trying to find more animatics to feed these cravings of sonamy I was beginning to gain all of a sudden.

And it just got worse and worse to the point I practically need a daily dose of Sonamy or I just might go feral

But I mean, how could I not?! YOU GUYS ARE SO GOSH DARN TALENTED AKJDJSJDND

Sadly now my food hath runneth dry over the months…so if any of u like come across anything sonamy pls don’t hesitate to tag me or send it to me pls I need it ajhshsjs

On top of all that, came the brainrot. My growing love for this ship and all the incredible media really sent me into a serious Sonamy delulu era. Literally almost ANYTHING can send me into deep thoughts about those 2, no kidding. I literally planned out in my head an entire story of them a couple days ago. Sometimes it’s a head canon or 2, other times just something extremely wholesome I’ll imagine them do and I’ll be deceased. Those rats live in my head rent free omg-

As I said, ANYTHING can trigger this brainrot; a song, a scene, a quote, a random object…you name it, I’ll come up with a Sonamy headcanon in relation to it.

I can’t also forget other sonic media that also boosted it like game cutscenes and IDW. Lately IDW has been CARRYING it for me with the little Sonamy moments like in the 900th adventure, #67 and other tidbits I’d find in former issues. The amount of frames I’ve seen of them hugging warms my heart waaa🥺🥺

Overall, this fandom has really impacted me and my love for Sonamy. (and sonic in general) all the things I’ve learnt and discovered have made me love them all the more because of it. My life has almost become an Sonamy aesthetic now…I am NOT joking when I tell you my PJs are Sonamy coded, and that was hardly intentional…🤣

Favourite Sonamy moment?

Arrghhh why just one?? Pretty much ANY moment involving those 2 cotton candy hedgies are bound to be my favourite!

Totally not saying this cuz I can’t pick a favourite *cough cough*

Take this, it’s the only Sonamy image I really have in my photo album rn.. (I should be in jail for this)

Its one of my favs so it counts :)

Woowee that just about covers it! Now you know all about my weird and wonderweird love for my favourite ship :D 🩷💙

[bunbunbillion]

THE BUNBUNBILLION Q1 2024 MEDIA THREAD EXTRAVAGANZA

i've been recording everything i consume for the past few months to do a media thread at the end of every quarter. and now april is over... so its time to talk about stuff!! forever!!!!!!

01/13 - Homestuck (Re-Read)

I finished re-reading Homestuck for the... 4th? 5th time? I've lost count. It's a good way to start the year though. This time around I read it with my girlfriend, who you should give all of your money too (@yinkybaginky), and it was very fun to see someones reaction to it for the first time. She knew literally nothing about Homestuck, not even what a Vriska Serket was. A truly great experience, especially thanks in part to the Unofficial Homestuck Collection. I'll probably have more to see about Homestuck in depth on a later date, so I won't bog down this post with that. It's my favorite piece of media ever, and that's all there is really to say on the matter.

01/24-01/25 - The Trolls Movies

I've been surrounded by gay people who love Trolls for the past like 5 years so I finally decided to give them a watch on a whim with my girlfriend, after catching some of the first movie in a streamers server.

They were fun! I really don't think I have much to say on them. They're kids movies, sure, but they're also just very visually great and made me go "yeah you know what some of those old pop songs WERE pretty good". I think when it came to stories I liked the first one the most just because I liked the Bergen's a lot, I thought their whole world was very well designed and all that. Don't have the most care for Branch, and Poppy is OK as a protagonist, but otherwise I had more fun with the other characters. Creature design is absolutely excellent and is what stood out to me the most of anything, though. The animation in the 3rd movie is also top notch, I really do want to see the series continue. If they do, I like the third movies approach of finding a niche to make "the thing" for the whole movie, it's a fun way of doing stuff.

We thought this shot was really funny.

1/20 - Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio

I was gonna watch this when it came out awhiiile ago, but just put it off forever. I saw Jacob Geller had uploaded a new video about Pinocchio, which talked about the movie and was like. Man. I wanna watch that video. Guess I'll go watch this entire movie. So I hopped into VC with Netflix on and just watched it.

It was Fucking Good!!!!!!!!!!! Every good thing you've heard about the movie is absolutely true. Do yourself a favor and just watch it. That being said, I also don't have too much to say about it! It's been a few months and it hasn't totally stuck around in my head, but that just means I get to rewatch it sometime, and I can look forward to that. It mostly made me want to watch more stop motion movies.

If I were to highlight anything, its that I love to make the movie all about death. Pinocchio as a story seems to constantly get turned into this thing all about freedom and living and how great life is and all that, but this movie completely nailed that yea. Pinocchio works so much better as a movie about death. A puppet living on a blessing against the laws of nature being used as a vessel to explore acceptance of death. It's really great.

the demons are such baddies btw

01/29 - Earthbound USA

Not the game, but the documentary put together by Jazzy Benson through Fangamer. It was absolutely fantastic. Easily my favorite game documentary I've ever watched... Because it's not really about the game.

To put into words, because I imagine 90% of people reading (not including the people I watched it with) haven't seen it or even heard of it, Earthbound USA is a documentary about specifically starmen.net and Earthbounds western fanbase.

The doc highlights basically every aspect of Earthbound in the west. They talk to the people who translated the game, who made the marketing campaign, the fans who bought the game day one, the translator of the MOTHER 3 fan translation, they talk about Earthbound Zero, about the virtual console releases, the quest to get MOTHER 3 officially localized and every single defeat that came with it, I mean Shigesato Itoi is just here too. It's everything you could ask for all combined with home videos from the early 2000s, an outstanding soundtrack that gives me goosebumps from Robbie Benson, it's just... So good.

I bought the DVD for the movie and streamed that to my friends, which you can get here on Fangamer, whenever they plan on restocking it at least. Or, you can watch it on streaming services listed on their website! If your a MOTHER fan, I'd say this is like, essential viewing. It may as well be official with how good it is.

01/29 - A Brief Retrospective of The Simpsons' Golden Age

I finished this the same day. I recorded this mostly as a joke, but hey if your insane and have watched every single Simpsons episode like me and want whats basically a Simpsons Summary Podcast, I recommend this 11-hour video.

02/06 - MOTHER

A week later I couldn't get Earthbound USA out of my head, so I decided to finally sit down and go where no MOTHER fan has gone before. To the first game in the series.

It was really really good. Like, man, I don't know why I slept on it so long just because it was an NES RPG. Ok, I mean, I know why I did, it's because it's a NES RPG, but still.

This game really highlights everything that went into its two sequels to make them so good, and has so many little unique novelties about it that make it just so so memorable. The music, the writing, the places you go, it's just... So, so good. I still think the best way to get into MOTHER is to start with Earthbound, just due to how approachable it is, but if you like it and/or MOTHER 3, do not sleep on MOTHER/Earthbound Beginnings. It's just so good.

Probably use an emulator with rewind or save-states though.

i'll be fine with not hearing magicants music anymore though

02/17 - Yakuza Kiwami 2

I started this game probably years ago, and never got that far. Yakuza 0 is definitely one of my favorite games ever, and I was kind of mixed on Yakuza Kiwami, but I was enjoying the start of Kiwami 2 for sure.

How did I feel by the end?

I mean it's not BAD, per say, it's just... Not very good, either. The gameplay never really felt like it evolved much, the writing really felt like it never picked up and just kept ADDING stuff, but at least the side quests were probably the absolute best the series has given me so far. That definitely saved it for me, but man the story. It just wasn't very good.

I had a lot more thoughts after playing it, but I think think in the end it just comes down to;

Ryuji did not get nearly enough time to shine to be an impactful villian

The bastard cop was a character I was given no reason to care for, and the focus put on him did not feel earned in any way

Kiryu really did not feel that involved with everything going on

Sayama did not get nearly enough agency in this story

As for the twists, I didn't like how many there were at first, but I think by the end there were just so many twists I was like. Yeah nvm this is so fucking stupid it owns. So good on them for that!

I don't think I'll ever replay the main story for this game, but I will absolutely come back to those side quests, they're so good I don't want to spoil a single one. I am also really enjoying Yakuza 3 so far, so that's a we might just be back regardless.

the selfie feature is really funny. you really feel like your some 40 year old dad.

02/22 - Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: The Hidden Treasures of Area Zero - Epilogue

I have a lot of thoughts on Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. I am a HUGE Pokemon freak, like omega huge freak levels of such. I will claw and bite tooth and nail defending Sword and Shield any fucking day of the week. I think Scarlet and Violet are like, painfully mid games in such a disheartening way. I still enjoyed a lot of it, but man it's so held back by... everything, really.

And the DLC fixed I'd say about none of it. In fact, I'd go as far to say the 2 DLC stories only highlight and strengthen every single problem scarvi has as a game and it disheartens me, so, so so much. Unlike the Sword and Shield epilogues, which expanded upon the best parts of the game and experimented with brand new formats as prep for the next generation, scarvi kinda just does. Nothing. It's more Scarlet and Violet, slime grease and all.

Kitakami is... Ok, I guess? It's an exceptionally uninteresting region with absolutely no landmarks that stand out in my mind. The story in it is pretty subpar, it's a really annoying kind of "player has no control over a misunderstanding" narrative in a really obnoxious way and by god I'll say it I never really get a reason to care about Kieran. He's not bad by any means, I mean he's just a kid, but really I don't feel like I'd ever call him a friend. The story with the Loyal Three and Ogrepon is really cute though, I do love that they completely flipped the story of Momotaro on its head in such a fun and unique way.

Blueberry Academy I was looking forward to much more, thinking that while Kitakami was really rushed and pretty bad, it must mean more resources were just put towards the second DLC. I was pretty wrong, it was basically just as under baked... But also still better, regardless. They introduce a lot of characters you won't really remember with this DLC, and it feels weird because it feels like there SHOULD be more to these characters, but it's all confined to a pretty short campaign.

The story is pretty ok, and I like what they did with Kieran here, but the second you beat him in the champion fight the story like, immediately halts the breaks and everything stops mattering. I really thought Drayton might've been set up as an interesting antagonist, someone subtly bullying Kieran and egging on how he is, but in the end he's just a well meaning friend who's just eccentric. All the other trainers basically disappear as well, and Kieran reverts back to how he was before all this for the most part. Then the story with Terapagos has to happen, and you get the return to Area Zero, except with your new friends you've barely built bonds with and Briar instead.

Similar to Drayton, I thought Briar might've been getting set up to be a bit fucked up. She's pretty obsessed with Area Zero and proving that Heath was right, and that feels like obvious easy set up for a villain right? Obsession is kind of the text book villain motive, especially in a series like Pokemon. But, no, like Drayton, Briar is actually exactly as she seems, and there's nothing underneath.

Unfortunetly, Area Zero itself was also not as interesting on revisit. I imagine it was the far lower budget, but it ends up mostly just being a very basic crystal-cave environment, without that really fascinating hollow-earth vibe Area Zero has in the base game. You're also mostly just traveling alone going on fetch quests to beat mini-boss Pokemon to open up gates, so that feeling of traveling an unknown place with friends is also completely lost. In the end, Terapagos isn't much of a character at all, like Ogrepon (or Miraidon/Koraidon) are, and is just kinda There. I'm sure the anime is doing a lot more with them, given they're a main character, but man they are NOTHING in this game and it's really disappointing with how incredibly hyped up they are.

In the end though, the thing I really came out loving with the second DLC was something I didn't actually know about until after finishing the epilogue, which was the brief interaction with the Professor in Kitakami once you have Terapagos. I won't spoil it, I'd recommend going to the crystal lake in Kitakami with Terapagos in your party to see it, but it was a moment where I was really like... Damn. This story really could've been something special.

NOW WITH ALL THAT OUT OF THE WAY, it was the Epilogue that I beat this year, which acts both as a bonus to the DLC, and a Mythical Pokemon event similar to ones from the DS games. And, I gotta say.

It's easily the best thing in the entire DLC, bar none.

Despite just being a revisit to Kitakami, the Epilogue is not only better written then both of the DLC chapters, but actually shows that promise for future games like the SWSH DLC did years ago. I had a smile on my face basically the entire time.

First off, hanging out with the three friends again after they basically disappear once you beat the game is so incredibly refreshing. Just having them over to your house is the first time in a Pokemon game I've actually felt that like... Oh, I'm a kid hanging out with my friends, kind of feeling. That original inspiration the Pokemon series had was just completely captured with that, and I love it, and it continues through the entire DLC. On top of that, the DLC does a lot of very small things with its cutscenes that I felt were really missing from the main game that actually completely caught me off guard. Seamless transition between overworld cutscenes, cinematic cutscenes, and battles mainly. It feels like Pokemon games have always struggled with taking you out of the story for loading screens or transitions or letting the player wander off or something. It's hard to immerse, but with this DLC just through the most simple methods they really catch you off guard with the cutscene framing and battle starts in a way I absolutely adore, especially since your with your friends who can actually Talk for you too. Helps that all of the writing is just really funny too, I had such a good time.

Overall, I think this is where I want the Pokemon series to go. The segment of Area Zero where you travel with all your friends already stood out to a lot of people, but didn't have the most writing to back it up. Similarly, this DLC has all of the writing, but it can feel like you aren't actually traveling with your friends, as they don't follow you. I think having a Pokemon game where you travel directly with other people in a bit of a party is the way to go with expanding on Pokemon as a series, and this DLC combined with base scarvi really proves How it can work. It makes me so excited to see where we can go from here, and I can only hope they learned from all these mistakes.

wow i had a fucking lot to say about scarlet and violet dlc and i didnt even mention this thing. whatever.

02/26 - Splatoon 3: Side Order

Funny story, I actually beat Splatoon 3 on a friends copy, but on my own switch, so when this DLC came out I ended up buying an entire new copy of Splatoon 3, with DLC, and an already completed save file. So was the DLC worth 80 bucks? I mean, no, not at all, but it was extremely good!!

It came out while I was out of town with my girlfriend, so we had a lot of fun playing it together, and I think it's just overall a genius idea for a Splatoon mode. It makes me like, viscerally crave an even bigger Splatoon roguelike, but I'm also like an extreme roguelike freak. The story was super cute (my big "I <3 PEARLINA" shirt notwithstanding) and basically everything it introduces is great. I haven't actually beaten the Agent 8 locker yet, because I'm Bad At Splatoon </3, but I everything else was just so good.

im actually extremely biased, btw

02/27 - Ponyo (Rewatch)

I rewatched Ponyo with my girlfriend while I was over for the first time since I was a wee little amoeba. It was so fucking cute!!!! I really do love Ghibli movies a lot. I don't think there's a lot I can say about Ponyo, per say, at least not as much as other Ghibli movies I love like Spirited Away (my fave movie evarr), but I think this movie combined with like. Finding Nemo, Animal Jam, and going to the Houston Aquarium combined are probably why I love marine biology so much now.

02/29 - Death Note

The anime, to be specific, for the first time. Yeah, I can see why this became such a big thing with fujoshis. I get it, I understand now. I'm sorry L, I didn't know your game.

Death Note is overall both an anime of its time, and an absolute classic you should be watching. It's engaging, it's dramatic, it's funny, and there's so many points where your just like "damn are they gonna bone" about the two characters the authors 100% had no intention to be seen in that way.

It's only real problems come from the authors also having no fucking clue what to do with women in the story, and making pretty annoyingly shallow characters that get sidelined really hard. The final arc is also a bit head scratching, but it makes for good drama, so I can't really complain, even if I remember a lot less of it. Great show, great ending. Where's my Misa & Rem yuri manga series.

he really is just fucking jeff the killer huh

02/29 - Promare

Watched this with my girlfriend on a whim, cus we wanted to watch a movie together. I've been a very lowkey TRIGGER studios fan since I was a kid, watching Kill la Kill when I was way too young to be watching shows that crazy boobed, but it did definitely contribute to my transgender-ness, so you can't fault it there (you can fault it for a lot of other things though). No matter what though, when TRIGGER just randomly came out with a full feature length movie released in theaters, I was pretty interested. Which is why I didn't watch it for years.

After watching it though? Yea, that was really fun. It's not much in the way of story, very basic Minority Allegory story I think, but it's all to make way for extremely crazy action scenes and homages to all their favorite mecha anime, which like, yea props they did a great job. Character design is extremely fun, environments are super colorful, animation is what you'd expect from TRIGGER (good), and there's a lot of man tits this time around. I recommend it!

03/04 - 2001: A Space Odyssey

I'll be so fucking honest I watched this on my phone on a plane ride and I don't fucking know anything that happened. I think it was good?? I think it made sense??? I really wanted to fall asleep but I really wanted to watch the movie. It felt like it was simultaneously 4 hours long and 30 minutes. I think I should probably watch it again. I don't know why I chose to watch it on a plane. But hey, I did!

watching this shit while half awake on a dark plane felt like i was in another fucking dimension. what the hell happened

03/08 - Fortnite Chapter 5: Season 1

Hey Fortnite, I play that game! Sometimes.

I've been pretty consistently "playing" Fortnite since Chapter 2: Season 5, and I do really like the game. I love the gameplay, I love all the stupid crossovers, I loved the story, it was just a really fun time!

Well, up until like half way through Chapter 3 at least. The problem with Fortnite is that, no matter what, in the end of the day, it's still owned by Epic Games, and that means at some point, shits gonna get sloppy. I won't go over my whole history with how I feel Fortnites been on a decline since Chapter 3, but I can at least say i was pretty fucking checked out most of Chapter 4. I really didn't like it.

So, coming back on for Chapter 5? Oh shit this game is actually fun I forgot. Played a shit ton that season, actually finished the main battle pass for once, had so much fun with all the new things they added, it really feels like Fortnites back.

Oh... and there's that LEGO mode... and that rockband mode... and there's racing I guess... I didn't really touch them much but they're neat... They were pushing those modes pretty hard, I hope this isn't a sign of something to come... I'm sure they'll keep up the momentum for the next season right? Battle Royale is totally back, right?

i ended up staying up till like the last day grinding in creative to get this emote. im so glad i can make perfect cell do the bird is the word dance now.

03/12 - King of Crusher

I beat this game over on my twitch, you can catch me live playing obscure games every so often each month!! Check it out and give me money! I said mostly everything I wanted to say about it on stream, but this game was just a really fascinating little art project that was both really frustrating and really funny to play. I really wanna find more little gems like this to play, it's so ODD but fun.

03/15 - Animal Crossing (Movie)

Watched this movie as apart of a movie night with my groupchat and it was adorables so cutes! I don't think there's really anything I COULD say about this movie, but it does really make me wish Nintendo was more willing to make more stuff like it. Just a really well animated fun anime movie that's not trying to be this big thing.

the ending caught me completely off fucking guard though

03/17 - Unpacking

Similar to Animal Crossing, I don't really have a lot to say about this game besides so cutes! The story told through the environment was super adorable and I really do think back to this game a lot in a very emotional way.

That being said, I wish it was a tad longer for how expensive it was, as great as the art was lol

If you can find it on sale though, go play it!!

i was playing with my girlfriend and we ended up interpreting the main character as really hating her boyfriend. my fucking Pig of a husband wont let me put my posters on the wall. my Pigly husband. i need to Kill my Meat Pig of a Husband.

03/17 - Pizza Tower (The Noise Update)

In complete tonal contrast to Unpacking, I beat the Noise Update in Pizza Tower right after. It was, like Pizza Tower, really good, but not without its flaws.

In the time since I've played Pizza Tower, I've reflected a lot on what I love about the game and what I honestly don't care much for. I've been playing demos since the very first public one, and I've loved watching it evolve, but if there's one bit of context I've gotten that shapes how I look at the game, it's that the games creator has a really big issue with having a lot of ideas for stuff, and not really thinking about how they fit in together.

Pizza Tower is like, a REALLY good game, don't get me wrong. The movement is borderline perfect, the level design is consistently fun and flows well, the graphics are unmatched in how expressive they are, the music is some of my fave from the entire medium, but if there's one thing really holding back Pizza Tower it's that lack of focus, and I think you can boil that down to the core game design of levels.

Pizza Tower is easy to compare to Wario Land, given that's its primary inspiration, but I think it's much more akin to Sonic, which is also a major inspiration for it. The problem is, it definitely tries to apply Wario Lands brand of "wario can be anything" to sonics "levels can be anything". Sonic levels are all about super quick flashy levels you can blast through, each one having a gimmick unique to the level that you learn, master, and then use throughout the multiple zones. On the other end, Wario Land presents you with these large winding interior-like levels that you slowly (or somewhat quickly in the case of entries like WL4), navigate and solve puzzles throughout for treasure, with your main solution typically landing on how Wario himself can be controlled using various gimmicks unique to him. Your presented a gimmick, and then you remember that gimmick for the future so you can use it to solve a future puzzle. In many ways, these two games can almost feel like the opposite kind of game, only linked by being sidescrolling platformers where you can bust through walls. Pizza Tower, despite that, tries to be both, and in many ways succeeds, but cant avoid the problems that inherently comes with trying to be these two very polar ends.

Basically, I just feel theres a lot of really forgettable levels and an overall problem with gimmicks getting absolutely no chance to be explored so you can never really be rewarded in basic play for mastering a gimmick, other then replaying a level multiple times. I think less gimmicks but more places to use the same ones would be really great.

Talking about the Noise update specifically, it was just a fun retake on the main game, and made for a fun replay after not playing Pizza Tower for about a year since release. I find it really fascinating how even after changing how the entire game controls, the levels still work with minimal changes. I'm looking forward to see if they decide to change it any more in the future, and I hope whatever comes after Pizza Tower can be a much more focused experience.

03/17 - Hiveswap Act 1 (Replay)

See; Homestuck Reread. Been here a billion times, here to show my girl this time. I'll probably scream about this one later. <3

03/20 - Rescue Shot

See; King of Crusher. Another stream game! This one I liked even more, though I Really wish I had a lightgun (or could fix the mouse controls on my emulator). Incredibly adorable game with insanely good music, check out the VOD if your interested!

03/25 - Super Mario Bros. (1993)

I feel like in recent time, people have been hyping up this movie as like, secretly a really good film that people only hate because it's not a Mario movie. I'll be real, after watching it for the first time, I don't see it at all, I think this is just an incredibly funny bad movie.

Beyond not being Mario, which really doesn't matter at all, it kind of just felt like a fever dream of a script. Things kept HAPPENING there wasn't a single second to break I felt like I was in a nightmare hell dimension being blasted with insane plot beats and I couldn't keep track of anything. Without the Mario branding this would be like 10x LESS comprehensible, but good lord.

Maybe this is like, an arthouse film, and I need to watch it 12 more times and be high at least half those times, but idk I think it might actually be bad guys. Big Bertha a baddie though.

03/29 - The Croods

Another movie night with friends, we got the PRIVILEGE of watching The Croods. I saw it once when I was a kid, but I didn't really remember anything about it other then there was a character named Grug.

I now realize that the reason I remember this character is because this movie literally lied and he's the main character. It really tries to set up that the conventionally attractive main teenage girl is the protagonist but no this movie is 100% about Grug and it's so fucking Particular. Why pretend it's not about him when he becomes our sole point of view for half the film? Why pretend its about the teenage girl when she basically doesn't have any dialogue for the last 25% of the movie? What is this movie trying to say, politically? This movies a thinker. I think its a bigger thinker then 2001, honestly.

04/12 - Police Story

The first Jackie Chan movie I've ever seen and damn what a fucking good one to start with. Insanely entertaining, incredibly funny, and just a really great film! I don't think I have much else to say about it other then gush about each and every scene and how well made it is, but it really makes me wish we could get movies like this more. Just a practical effect wonderland where the main guy is just having fun with people on set. It's great.

hes kind of a babygirl

04/13 - Con Air

Actually the first time I've seen this movie, surprisingly, given my attachment to the media that has essentially co-opted this film. It wasn't good, like at all, but it was very very entertaining with friends. I didn't expect it to get so much into like, weird racism stuff?? Characters just keep appearing and getting named it's so fucking weird. What was the deal with Steve Buscemi's character, I feel like scenes were cut or something. Nick Cage was incredibly funny as the lead. It's the thing you watch with friends on 4/13, what else can I say.

why did he do this

04/19 - The Princess Bride

Honestly, I thought this one was a rewatch when we put it on in the GC, but I think I just remembered watching clips of it or seeing half of it on TV as a kid, so I'll just consider this a first time watch. It's really good! Just a fun simple movie full of extremely witty jokes. It's kind of like watching a Simpsons episode for the first time and getting to a part where they say something and you go "oh i've heard this quoted like a fucking million times, i get it now". If you haven't seen this movie, whattarya doin, go watch it!

i feel like were it not for andre being basically irreplaceable we would have a netflix reboot about these three right now. maybe that does exist already.

04/21 - PokeRogue

Half this thread is Pokemon and as I already said, I'm a roguelike freak. This game is like crack for me. That being said it's just alright. I think I'll be willing to judge it more once it's more finished and not just Pokemon in the most barebones form imaginable, coding wise. It's the basis for an extremely addicting game, and I plan on sinking even more hours into it soon. Extra points for using PMD music as well <3

im only just now finding out the rival is gendered. hey cunts let me play as a girl and get the girl rival or you hate me ok?

04/22 - The Mask (2023)

Now you may be wondering, The Mask? The movie from ten TRILLION years ago staring the homunculi known only as Jim Carrey? You'd be a fool to assume this. I am talking instead about Connor O' Malley's current best work, THAT The Mask.

There's not much I want to say about it, because I just think it's good, but if there's one thing I can say it's that Joker (2019) should be fucking embarrassed in how hard it was stood up by this short film.

Content warning for pretty heavy themes and a lot of crass jokes.

04/23 - Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) & Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) (Rewatch)

In preparation for the Knuckles show (which I still haven't finished), I decided it'd be nice to rewatch these two films for the first time. I haven't seen the first one since I watched it for the first time before Sonic 2, and I haven't seen Sonic 2 since I saw it at an early screening. What do I think of them now in retrospect?

Yeah, not very good films. Very fun! But damn, yea wow, I think with enough time to look back on them, there's a lot I really don't care for in them, and I'm not just talking about the human scenes.

I've been having a lot of conversations about adaptations lately, so I'll mostly summarize my thoughts here. In making an adaptation, your one mission in my eyes is maintaining what made the original loved. Not good, because that's not really a quantifiable thing. Not faithfully, because I feel you can make a good adaptation without being faithful. All you need to truly keep is the Reason people came to that piece of media originally, in my eyes. Whether that means going as hard as you can with something like The Last of Us, which essentially 1 to 1 recreates an entire video game, or be much more out there like with One Piece (Netflix), which essentially tells the same story but with wildly different circumstance and aesthetic.

The Sonic movies, in my eyes, simply don't capture that. In the first movie alone, Sonic and Eggman are essentially our only ties to the games, which is fine as long as they can nail them right, right? And, as many before me have really pointed out, no they don't really at all. Sonic isn't really like Sonic at all, he's a much younger, innocent, and hyperactive "version" of the character, and I say version in quotations because I don't really feel like with those adjectives removed he'd be all that similar to Sonic still. This is basically a new character, and that's fine, but I'd be hard pressed to say it captures what brought people to Sonic. Similarly, Eggman is very much not really similar to any iteration to Eggman at all (except maybe AoSTH?) A lot of people love Jim Carrey Eggman, and I totally get why, but man he really has never clicked with me. I think I like canon Eggman too much to let go, it's over for me.

But I'm sure anyone who's been around Sonic long enough has heard a trillion complaints about the first movie. In rewatching the second movie, I found that it moved way faster then I remembered, and just had way less.. character? Tails is so incredibly shoehorned in, which is a common complaint, but it really felt like at times Sonic was too?

In Sonic games, Sonic isn't exactly a character we put ourselves in the shoes of. Sonic is like this cool older brother we're just along with for the ride. If anything we insert ourselves (as kids) in Tails' shoes. Sonic doesn't really have an internal monologue, nor does he really tend to need a big shonen arc to overcome in his games. He's very much this vessel to explore other characters, to see how people respond to his brash and cocky personality. In that way, Sonic works really well, but can struggle really hard when he's placed all alone. He needs people to not only bounce off of, but to do the emotional side of the story in his stead. With the Sonic movies, we get this very very diffrent form of Sonic being put into this scenarios the canon Sonic wouldn't typiclaly find himself in, and see how he acts. It can work for original stories, because it's basically an original character, but that's the struggle with Sonic 2, and I worry Sonic 3 as well. They aren't fully original stories. Sonic 2 is a loose adaptation of Sonic 3 in most ways, with Knuckles being the true second character, and Tails being mostly to the side. Knuckles acts basically perfectly, like yea that's Knuckles, no notes there outside of maybe not taking his heritage seriously enough, but that's him. So how do you write this movie sonic into this adaptation with a Knuckles whos playing it basically straight like the games? Well... I mean, you kind of just... You, don't, really? Sonic is really just There sometimes, to say quips and to move the story forward. With exception to the scene where he's having a feeling jam with Knux, which I like, Sonic is very much Just There, and it feels really odd. In the games, this works because of his aforementioned status as this guy your along with for the ride, a dude whos too cool to even be the protagonist, but Sonic Movie Sonic IS the protagonist. He's meek and still learning and is far from the asshole we know in the games and comics, but implanted into a games storyline, he just doesn't have much he can do. He can't be that too cool guy that let's his friends do the talking, because he's already been set up as this superhero esque main guy who needs to learn a lesson by the end of the film, or overcome some kind of arc. It's just all odd in retrospect, and I really wonder how they're gonna tackle it in Sonic 3, especially without all the characters that make Sonic Adventure 2s gears go.

i also couldnt stop staring at his teeth in the movie. i really dont like the teeth idk why im just now noticing them.

04/25 - Pseudoregalia

Knocked this game off my backlog and I'm really happy I did! Beat the game with all the time trials done and I really do love it. I want to call it the perfect length, but really I think it was just a bit too short and I hope we can get more content in the future, I'm definitely itching for more levels and maybe even more time trials.

I can't think of much else to say about the game. I don't think I picked up on the story much at all, I'll probably have to ask my girlfriend about it sometime, but it's not exactly a big part of the game. The music was absolutely fantastic, and I adore all of the costumes for the main character. I like her design, for many obvious reasons.

For further criticism besides length though, combat feels pretty useless. There's really no point in the game where I ever feel like I have to or even SHOULD fight, and the final boss ends up losing a lot of impact because of it. Enemies just become a hazard in navigating the world in a way that isn't particularly fun. Similarly, there were a few upgrades that had maybe one use ever and I don't even know why they're there. I think this game could benefit a lot from playing even harder into it's all too obvious inspirations and just getting a bunch of RPG mechanics and more RPG inspired elements in here. Give me Symphony of the Bunny-Cat-Goatgirl, full on.

I also watched madagascar 2 with friends, but i don't even feel like counting it. watch this fucked up compressed video instead.

THAT'S IT FOR Q1 2024!! I'm really trying to look at a lot this year, and I hope to have EVEN MORE TO TALK ABOUT in 4 months! maybe ill do it even earlier because damn this was a fucking lot to write. If you read this far thank you, I'll be sending you a giant mettalic muscular butler sir in the mail as thanks.

[blupenguinz]

I don’t want to sound whiny but I can’t help but feel annoyed at how the majority of the Batman fandom on tumblr just flat out ignores comics.

Like you can’t even make the excuse that they can’t afford comics or they don’t know where to start reading for their favourite characters as there’s literally websites where you can read comics FOR FREE and there’s multiple detailed reading lists for basically every major batman character.

Like I don’t understand how people can easily read a 300k word fanfic but can’t be bothered reading a 200 page picture book. Is it because they don’t like the characterisations of certain characters in the comics and other pieces of batman media for that matter?

I would understand it a bit better if that was the case. But here’s the thing, Batman has been around for nearly a century. Multiple different writers and artists have worked on him for the past 80+ years, you can’t seriously be surprised that not every interpretation meets your liking. It’s not bad writing when Batman doesn’t kill the Joker or when Bruce and Dick don’t get along. Batman can’t always act like the tired but loving father to the wacky and quirky batfamily .

There will be times where the characters don’t act like themselves, especially right now where it honestly seems they’re just regressing the batfamily at this point. But as someone who has been reading the comics for a year now and is massively enjoying it I can definitely say that the good outweighs the bad. Collecting and reading comics is really fun and satisfying in my opinion and the best part is that it helps you understand and appreciate your favourite characters more.

For example, let’s say your favourite character is Cassandra . Wouldn’t you want to consume as much media as possible with her in it. Stuff that understands her character the best and gives you the most accurate portrayal of her character? A medium that isn’t plagued with stories of batcest or stories saying that adoption doesn’t make people legitimate members of the family?

I don’t know man I’m not trying to say you can’t enjoy fanfics or bits of fanon, but I BEG that you give comics a try at least.

At the end of the day we are all fans of Batman and I think we should start appreciating canon for all the good it gave us over the years.

[yourpintilts]

Only Friends and Genre Theory

Well - I guess I'll start this blog off with post about everyone's (my) favorite series (it literally has not aired yet) of 2023: Only Friends.

Recently, the nominees for the ContentAsia awards were released, and my friends and I were celebrating the nomination of The Eclipse for Best LGBTQ+ Show (yay!) when a really interesting topic arose. Someone pointed out that Jojo Tichakorn's Never Let Me Go was chosen over The Warp Effect, which they felt was his better work in 2022. Regardless of your opinion on that (though, I agree), we wondered if The Warp Effect is even eligible at all. Of course, the category is LGBTQ+ Shows, but every single nominee is a BL.

I've noticed, in my perusing of BL Twitter and Tumblr that most fans seem to differentiate between BL, lakorns/dramas, and the LGBTQ+ genre, but nobody seems to define them. They are designating the genre by, for lack of a better word (although I consider it pretty accurate), the vibes.

I've seen the off-handed "I wonder what genre it will be" or "It seems like Jojo is leaning away from BL with this series" comment more than once about Only Friends. And really, it's hard to say at all when all we have is a trailer and cryptic social media posts from the cast and crew, but, uh, I'm gonna try. Sort of.

So, let's get into it: Is Only Friends going to be a BL, drama, an LGBTQ+ show, or something else entirely?

Alright, before we get into trying to put a label on the series, let's talk about the labels themselves: it's Genre Theory time!

So, what is genre? Well, most of us would consider it to be the category that we put a type of media or art into: country music, romance novels, etc. Genres help us differentiate amongst the huge sea of art, find patterns and create links between work, and, most practically, help us decide if we will likely enjoy something or not.

Normally, it's not much more complicated than that. Sci-fi, drama, noir, biography - each of these gives you a basic idea of what you're getting into, what tropes you might expect, or how you might feel while consuming it. But film theorists will be film theorists, and it's not actually that simple.

Let's take the horror genre as an example. At its face, we define films as horror because they follow certain tropes and patterns: things like jump scares, the final girl, dark and saturated style, slashers and paranormal, etc. But what about movies like Parasite or Get Out? These films rely less on jump scares and physical horror - it's their concepts themselves that are so scary. And so this is where sub-genres come in, in which Parasite and Get Out are labeled as psychological horror to further define them. And then there are films that just... don't seem to be anything at all. Something like (because I recently watched it) In Bruges, which mixes crime, drama, and comedy, but also never fully leans in to any of them. It sort of defies genre altogether.

So, that's the gist of genre theory. Basically, the point is that sometimes you can put a film or other piece of art in a category, and sometimes you can't.

But, let's be honest. We don't care about other movies. Let's talk about sexy, spectacular, groundbreaking masterpiece that will be Only Friends, and how we can apply genre theory in order to try to figure out what label best fits.

There are several different indicators of a BL, and Only Friends does fit some of them:

Most straightforwardly: the primary story in a BL is a relationship between two male characters. Of course, in this case there are six male leads (and who knows how many different pairings... TopSan, NickSan, RayBoston, and more have their advocates, some even seem likely), but the point is that the series is focused on their relationships together. Along with this, two of the three primary couples - ForceBook and FirstKhaotung - featured in the show are official pairings at GMMTV. BLs nearly always feature couples who have worked or will work together in multiple shows.

The series is also being produced by GMMTV, a company well-known for its stake in the BL genre, and it follows the logistical style of a 12-episode limited series.

But in several other ways, the show is in direct opposition to many of the components of BL. Some may not be intentional, or hard and fast "rules," but they occur so often that they are undeniably associated with BL as a genre.

As mentioned above, two of the lead couples are official pairings, but the other isn't. In fact, Neo and Mark both auditioned for their roles in Only Friends, and Director Jojo Tichakorn has spoken about his intention in casting them: to divert the expectation of clear masculine/feminine and top/bottom roles in queer relationships. The "seme" and "uke" trope, designating who gives and receives sexually (and usually indicating personality and relationship dynamics), has been pervasive in BL. It panders to the homophobic notion that queer relationships must still follow heteronormative standards. With NeoMark - and, as I believe, with all of the relationships in the series - Jojo will subvert that standard.

Also, Only Friends has a not insignificant amount of openly queer people writing, directing, etc. for the show. This certainly isn't the first time this has happened, but since BL began as a genre made by women and for women, Only Friends seems determined to be a series by queer people and for queer people.

And, because we've already established genre is not black and white, there are other aspects of Only Friends that blur the lines of its BL status. Only Friends seems to be much darker, grittier, and realistic the typical dramedy BL. We already know we will see smoking, drug use, sex, cheating, and according to Jojo, this is only scratching the surface. But, of course, the BL genre has evolved as of late, giving us shows like KinnPorsche, which also delve into such topics. So, while BL is largely more comedic and lighthearted, a darker series still can fit the genre.

Of course, there are many other characteristics of BL that Only Friends exhibits and opposes - I could be here forever if I wanted to list every single one, but we have less than a week until episode one, and personally, I want to watch the trailer a thousand more times before Saturday. So hopefully these examples gave you enough of an idea that Only Friends sort of straddles the line of BL (but also that BL itself is incredibly difficult to define, especially as it continues to evolve).

What about the LGBTQ+ genre - can Only Friends better be defined by this? Likely, yes, but my answer is so because the LGBTQ+ genre itself is even vaguer than BL.

(Some even argue that it isn't a genre at all. That's a post for another time.)

Shows labeled as LGBTQ+ are often done so because of a few defining characteristics, usually occurring at the same time: the show features LGBTQ+ characters, depicts LGBTQ+ themes (coming-of-age, acceptance, found family, etc), and is broadly accepted as such by the queer community. Only Friends certainly does the first two, but the third might be a bit trickier than it seems. With the divide between the LGBTQ+ and BL genres, some audiences will argue it fits one over the other.

And perhaps there are some important differences: the LGBTQ+ genre exists on an international scale, with media added to the queer canon from all over the world. Comparatively, I'm not sure I can think of a show outside of Asia that has been labeled as a BL. The LGBTQ+ genre does tend to be more diverse in gender and sexuality than the typical gay male leads in BL, too - BL does stand specifically for Boys' Love while LGBTQ+ encompasses any form of queerness.

But if we're focusing on these standards, I think Only Friends checks these boxes as well. The show seems to clearly be a test for a less conservative international market. And it is more diverse than just gay male leads; Namchueam is sapphic, Jojo has indicated that Ray is bisexual, and Yo is played by Jennie, a trans woman. Sure, there can always be more diversity, but this is absolutely a step forward compared to past, and many current, GMMTV series.

After positioning Only Friends next to the BL genre, then the LGBTQ+ genre, I would love to be able to make a judgment and wrap this all up in a neat little bow.

Actually, that's a lie. I don't want to do that - I am the complicated film theorist I was talking about before. So, it's a good thing I can't, isn't it?

Ultimately, Only Friends is a show that is here to break boundaries, to subvert expectations, to give us something we've never seen before in Thai, or maybe even international, entertainment. It would be an injustice to the series to try to put it in a box, to ignore its little nuances out of convenience.

It doesn't matter whether Only Friends is a BL or LGBTQ+ drama. We should be looking at the show holistically, taking it in as it is rather than through the lens of the things we come to expect from a specific genre. Genre can be useful, yes, but we can't get too held up on applying it where it may not be productive.

And yet (plot twist!), it sort of... does matter? It matters, not in the sense of changing what the show is, but changing the way we perceive and discuss it. The implications that come with a BL series are different than those of an LGBTQ+ series, even though both genres are difficult to define and are ever-changing.

The conversations we have about how innovative Only Friends is, its place in Asian versus international culture, whether it can be considered a success or not, if it's "good" representation and who gets to decide that... all of that is a product of the genre we label a series with. And I'm not really here to argue whether that is a good or a bad thing; like I said, genre can be useful, and fun - there's a reason specific genres remain popular! What I hope this post sparks is external and internal conversation about why we label, and how that might do a service and/or disservice to the media we engage with. Think about the way that you, personally, want to interact with Only Friends and shows like it, accept it, and then challenge it.

[anaquariusfox]

No shade towards this user! But I would actually love to address this statement or thought process.

(And its actually £37 for you!)

But nonetheless, there are many things to consider when you’re criticizing an artist for the price of their works and here are a few!

How much time goes into the process of a piece(s)!

For example, I made not only one zine, but two in the span of 7 months. While working a 40+ hour a week active job. So all my free time was consumed with this zine. You may think $43 is a lot for a zine, but I am just one person make a whole NSFW zine. I wasn’t one of 20+ artists and fic writers putting one piece into a whole zine. And I won’t undervalue myself and my time! Also, most of my commissions, for one custom piece, cost more than not only my nsfw zine, but both my zines combined.

How much time goes into the technically side of the piece(s) (I.e. creating the actual zine with printing companies and sizing and resizing, and shipping and handling artists usually handle themselves)

For myself, it was hours and hours of file converting and resizing and in the end it still didn’t look good in zine previews, that’s why I decided to go digital.

The exclusivity of the artwork(s)

You’ll find a lot of things of this nature are either limited time products or exclusive to the product itself! For example, all my pieces in my NSFW zine, are for the zine supporters only, as well as my SFW being half favorite pieces and half new, zine exclusive pieces!

The content of said artwork(s)

My zine for example, is a “taboo” type of artwork, it’s basically a book full of porn. Not a lot of artist draw porn and even less nsfw artist, share it on social media! But here I am, sharing a whole exclusive zine of porn for two lovable characters! Oh, and as trans characters haha. They’re t4t in my zine because I draw the representation I want through my favorite characters!

* And in the end really! *

You’ve got to understand, as artists, we are putting out so much free content on social media. Whether it’s every day, every other day, once a week or once a month. You, as a consumer of our work, get free content (both old and new), all for free! Is that not wild?! For example, people pay $10 a month to see all the porn I’ve ever drawn on Patreon on then get to see the latest porn and sfw stuff I post! Ive been told by so many friends that I should charge more even! But that’s not the point of this post.

Artists could never share again, or put their craft and skills behind a massive paywall, but we love sharing and putting art into the world, cause fuck, a world without art would kill me. I literally love scrolling through my social media and seeing all my mutuals and artists I follow share their work and interests through art. I love seeing their minds work and what they felt so proud of to share it with the world.

And on top of that, if you think something is a bit too high in price, just remember all the free content the artist puts out, remember what art piece you love the most from them and why you followed them in the first place maybe! And by purchasing an item(s) from them, is a way of showing them support for all the joy their art has brought you 🫶😊 and just supporting artists in general vs large corporations who usually underpay their artists or just straight up steal art.

**In the end, I won’t undervalue my time and skill for a quick sale cause I’ve had people happily support me at the prices they are and I’m so grateful te for them.**

*** No artist should undervalue their work! We have a skill and took time to create this skill and study our skill to become better and better 🫶***

I do hope that anyone with the same mind set as this user, might have a new POV on the artists side/ BTS side of an artist and content creator when judging their prices.

[desultory-suggestions]

I struggle with getting anything done. I have a huge lack of willpower, self-discipline, and just generally pushing myself to do anything. It feels like I have researched every piece of advice and experienced luls in my progress of getting up and doing the most BASIC things like brushing my teeth or showering, even complex-er cooking for myself instead of eating junk and easy quick food.

Do you have any advice, any articles, any research or insight into what I am struggling with or people who have sort of gone through the same and what they've done?

It is hard to find and take genuine advice without feeling like such a loser in the world and in society because I cannot do anything. ANYTHING to do willingly than fuel my unhealthy relationship with food, social media, consuming content, and terrible self-esteem.

Hello, love. I'm sorry to hear that you're dealing with this. It can be so stressful to struggle with a lack of willpower and energy to accomplish what we need, or even want it. First of all, you are not a bad person for struggling with this. Many people are in the same situation, including my brother and partner! It's easy to label someone as lazy rather than looking closer and seeing that they are truly struggling.

I know nowadays many people throw terms and diagnoses around, so I want to stress that I am not telling you that you definitely have anything. However, what you are describing is what I have found to be a common set of symptoms of ADHD. We know ADHD can manifest in many ways, but one that goes under the radar is what looks like laziness but is a literal inability to override certain behaviors. This is correctable, and many people find medication to be useful. I highly recommend seeing a professional, and a therapist who works in behavioral therapy could be very helpful.

Regardless, it is very important to set small achievable goals. You may not be able to do 100% of what you want, but starting at 10% and adding more can help. I have also found one of the only ways to override my ADHD and MDD with things like tooth brushing was to have an additional factor. I pierced my ear, and I have to clean it twice a day. I keep that stuff at the sink. So when I go, I'm already there and might as well brush my teeth even if I don't want to. My fear of skipping cleaning and getting an infection overrides my avoidance of dental care. Strange isn't it? Placing something you know you will need or want at that time of day in your bathroom could help. Maybe a game controller is by the toothpaste.

You can also try to make any experience more enjoyable. I listen to a video while I brush my teeth, play music in the shower, and watch a show while I fold laundry. If I get bored, things get a lot harder. Remember you are not bad for struggling, and you are not alone. I hope you can find the right support and excel in all the ways you want to.

-Evan

[bingsoo-jung]

an rating of every piece of arthurian media i have consumed

Hi. So I really like Arthurian mythology. To an deeply concerning and obsessive point. This has led me to consume a lot of Arthurian media, and thus I figured I would give you this. Ratings of all the Arthurian media (up until now) that I’ve consumed.

This is going to be a doozy.

Books!

The Mabinogion. 9/10. It’s less Arthurian mythology and more proto-arthurian. But it’s welsh as shit and goes hard.

Historia Regum Britanniae. 6/10. 10/10 for iconicness. 2/10 because it’s geoffrey of fucking monmouth. This mother fucker cannot write and basically is responsible for the englishfication of arthurian mythology and eventually the frenchification of arthurian mythology. So I rightfully hate his ass.

Knight of the Cart. 6.5/10. 10/10 for iconicness. 3/10 because if I could accuse a man of cultural appropriation who’s dead and didn’t really commit cultural appropriation, I would pick Chretien de Troyes. You’re too french and too annoying and can’t even do chivalric romance well because the french are actually terrible at it. Like go read avicenna you illiterate french peasant.

The Vulgate Cycle. 5/10. It’s good. It’s iconic. It’s french.

Bulfinch’s Mythology. 4/10. It gets what the basics of arthurian mythology is, but fails to understand the actual point of Arthurian mythology and what it’s trying to do and it’s function.

The High King. 8/10. Such a good reference book on Arthurian mythology and the history behind the name and the title and how he came to be.

The Mists of Avalon. 5/10 it’s a solid retelling, and I like the arguably feminist stance it takes. I’m knocking 3 points because of quality, and 2 points because it isn’t gay, and I think the author got a little confused about what Celtic is. Like they clearly know it’s wales, but they seem to have gone for the bad folk etymology that Morgan le Fay/Morgana is somehow related to the Morrigain historically. Which she’s not. Also because the author should’ve gone full ass in on the anti-colonialist messaging. And neither of them did.

Grailquest. 3/10. It’s just… not good enough. Also for some odd reason it’s in Ancient Greece because a spell went wrong? So I think the author was just trying to make it enjoyable for youn boys.

Avalon High (the book). 4/10. It’s just not good enough.

Merlin’s Blade. 1/10. Literally the worst. Merlin is Christain and weird as shit in this. I would give it a 0/10, but I’ll give it kudos for having a blind MC. Even though he keeps talking to God about it and it sucks.

Le Morte d’Arthur. 8/10. One of the og’s. Honestly of the better cycles in the Arthurian canon. You can, and will, read worse than this one.

Legendborn Cycle. 10/10. Perfect. Should literally be added to the actual Arthurian canon. I don’t care if this is an unfinished YA book series that started coming out in 2019. Y’all are fools if you haven’t read this and I fucking laugh at for calling yourself an Arthurian Mythology fan if you haven’t. Literally laugh.

The Once and Future King. 8/10. So I love this book. That being said, this was written in the 40s by a british white man. Like… it fails me. And that’s where those two points have gone. A fun fact is that this book wasn’t published during WW2 because the author really hated war.

Magic Tree House. 6/10. Good. Could be better. I deeply appreciate that the entire series is Morgana and Merlin fighting for a fucking tardis treehouse. That alone makes this worth reading.

Idylls of the King. 0/10. Literal colonial propaganda. Fuck you Tennyson.

The Fall of Arthur. Like a 5/10. Unfinished. Not Tolkien’s better work.

The Green Knight (Tolkien Translation). 5/10. LISTEN I LOVE TOLKIEN BUT THSI ISN’T A GOOD TRANSLATION. He uses such estoric language sometimes that it shouldn’t be counted! As a fucking! Translation!

Camelot Rising. 4/10. Idc what you say and if it’s feminist. It’s not good enough for a higher rating. It also should’ve been gay and thus has been docked points

Once and Future. 4/10. I really really really wanted to love this book. It’s a queer arthurian retelling where arthur is sapphic and arabic. But it so deeply reeks of white queer people who make being queer a central part of their identity to avoid talking about queerness. On top of which, for some odd reason, the like… five thousand year old sorcerer seems to struggle with the concept of genderfluid people to me. Which makes no sense. It’s not good. It’s really bad. I’m giving it 4 stars for at least being gay and not outright offensive. It’s also a decent adaptation

Sword Stone Table. 10/10. IT’S AN DIVERSE ARTHURIAN SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGY. IF YOU DON’T LIKE ONE YOU CAN READ THE NEXT ONE. EXCEPT THEY’RE ALL EXCELLENT.

Once and Future (2019 comic). 7/10. YEAHHHH FUCK BREXIT. It’s just a good comic by my favourite comic book writer. Mr kieron gillen (not to be mistaken with karen gillan).

Gails: Quests of the Dawn. 5/10. I love Neil Gaiman but this short story collection reads like a roster of the white men of SFF. Which makes it mediocre compared to Sword Stone Table. Also OSC.

Plays + Operas + Music

Spamalot. 7/10. Not as good as the movie. Two extra points were given for Tim Curry as King Arthur. Yes. Local queer icon Tim Curry gets two points by his lonesome.

Camelot (Philippa Soo Broadway). 5/10. I love Philippa Soo. She does a really good job in this role. But she looses all the camp of the original versions.

Tristain und Isolde (Wagner). 3/10. I’m not a fan of wagner.

High Noon Over Camelot. 1/10. This is a bad retelling and I dislike the Mechanisms music. It’s also obnoxiously white.

Movies + TV Shows

Camelot (the movie). 7/10. It’s camp as fuck and there’s a song called the lusty month of may. Which is just about fucking. And i think that’s actually perfect.

Avalon High (the movie). 7/10. When I tell you that this movie rewired my brain and truly ignited my passion for Arthurian mythology? I mean it. This set me down a hole for years. Sure, is it gay? No. Is Arthur a girl in this though? Yes. And that makes it better than the book

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. 2/10. I fucking hate this movie so fucking much oh my god. I DON’T CARE WHAT PEOPLE SAY IT’S NOT GOOD. THIS IS A BAD ADAPTATION.

The Green Knight. 9/10. I loved this movie! Weird as shit. But I did really love this movie. And Dev Patel is hot.

The Last Legion. 3/10. It’s a fine movie. But it’s a 3/10 as an arthurian adaptation because while I appreciate the attempt at historicity. It’s actually just bad at that.

The Sword in the Stone. 8/10. It’s less racist than the book which gets it points. It’s also not as *good* as the book.

Shrek 3. Both a 9/10 and a 2/10. Terrible Arthurian adaptation. But Shrek movies are so fun anyways.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail. 9/10. Unironically one of the best Arthurian adaptations ever. It’s so funny and ads and discuss the canon in a fantastic way.

Knightriders. 8/10. It’s a Romero film, who lowkey *invented* the zombie film. But it’s also… anti-capitalist? And gay? Also trying to not be racist? (Trying. It’s the 80s. But p successful). They are also REN FAIRE ACTORS ON MOTORCYCLES.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010). 4/10. I like this movie, but it’s, say it with me, a terrible Arthurian adaptation.

Transformers: the Last Knight. 2/10. I will not speak further on this.

The Kid Who Would Be King. 6/10. Bad movie. Decent adaptation with fun characters who understand their point in this story.

Merlin. 9/10. Honestly a really good Arthurian adaptation that understands it doesn’t need to be source accurate. Also while it doesn’t commit to the gay. It’s still gay-tinged.

Camelot. 3/10. I hate the lighting and everyone in this is weirdly angsty and incestual.

Cursed. 5/10. It’s not good enough to be more. It’s just not good enough. But I do appreciate the diversity and Nimue as the MC.

Stargate SG-1. 0/10. Racism. I hate stargate because it’s just so obnoxiously racist.

The Librarians. 3/10. It’s not a great arthurian adaptation and it drops all the arthurian bits after a while. But it is a 9/10 tv show.

Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia. 6/10. Solid Arthurian adaptation. I just think it was a bit weak and put them in there to give credence to it’s magic things and system without having to justify them further to the watchers. Which makes this not really arthurian.

Fate/stay night. 8/10. I haven’t watched any of this. But Arthur is a woman who was called a man in this version because of sexism. And she’s kinda fruity. So that gives this an 8/10 in my book.

Hellboy. 4/10. I like Hellboy a lot. It’s just their Arthurian deal is just a single lone sad merlin.

Quest for Camelot. 2/10. It’s really just not worth watching.

A Kid in King Arthur’s Court. 1/10. I don’t even hate this one. It’s just so painfully mediocre it’s amazing.

Legends of Tomorrow. 7/10. It’s a really really good show and I like that it’s implied that King Arthur is Sara Lance who is just here to fuck.

TTRPGs + Video Games

Pendragon. 3/10. I appreciate it’s structure having read this entire game. It’s just… not got a great structure.

Runescape. 5/10. It’s fine. It’s just fine. It’s iconic. And it’s fine.

Sonic and the Black Knight. 1/10. Because I do actually have something against this. I hate the fact that Sonic is King Arthur and thus will be cuckooed. It causes me physical pain to think of this.

And that is literally every Arthurian adaptation I have consumed to date. I plan on reading Spear after I read this indigenous anti-colonial dragon fantasy book. I’m wary of Spear because although it’s gay, the author set it in ireland. And arthurian mythology isn’t fucking irish. Have respect and do what the rest of us do and set your arthurian adaptation on a different fucking continent.

[humblemediagenius]

HIIII PERCY HOW ARE U!!!!!!!!!! also what are ur top 3 ruff headcanons

HIIII IM DOING GOOD!!!! I hope you're doing good as well!

Also thanks for asking this because you've opened the floodgates. i have many a thought about him

headcanon #1: he is TOTALLY jewish. and at this point after consuming every piece of fetch related media I don't even think its a coincidence. he uses yiddish multiple times, and grandma ruffman is literally just a yiddish grandma, like i swear at least a little bit of this has gotta be on purpose. Idk if his voice actor is jewish or something, but its all but confirmed for me that ruff is jewish. maybe I'm just desperate for more Jewish characters in media I like, but I feel like I have more than enough evidence to say that it's basically practically canon

headcanon #2: hes bisexual. this has absolutely zero basis on anything other than that i am bisexual and i say so.

headcanon #3: one of my favorite parts of ruff's character is how he learns from his mistakes and the kids so i think when he's not on air he applies a lot of what he learns during his daily life! And he's totally the type to cite when or where he learned it lmao

[jsdimensions]

okay genuine question. why do people like reaper so much? What's the appeal? he's just Death. without any added traits/themes/inspirations to make him more interesting (as far as I know) (IN MY OPINION. i also don't know much about reaper so correct me if I'm wrong about that)

(oops I accidentally wrote a ranty essay(?)...it's under the cut. I elaborate on my opinions in a more organized manner there.)

You could argue that Reaper is important in the multiverse due to...well...his status as a god of death, leading on souls to the afterlife(???). But the other Sanses that are considered "god-like" have unique concepts that aren't seen in characters with their concepts elsewhere! They draw me in, even with a brief summary!

The artist that motivates creators is soulless (and, therefore, able to control how he feels with the vials), quirky, and very forgetful. He has his OWN DIMENSION where all of the AUs reside!!!! And a brush as a weapon!!!!!

The destroyer of AUs has absolutely awesome glitchy themes, uses STRINGS MADE BY TEAR MARKS as both a weapon and a source of entertainment, is a man-child that can switch from being the silliest, dorkiest boy alive to a genuinely intimidating character and back without warning, and he ALSO has his own dimension that he lives in!!!

The guardians of positivity and negativity aren't even Sanses, technically. They're both brothers. Their origin stories are both extremely tragic!!! They potentially fight each other eternally!!!

...and Reaper is just...every other interpretation of Death in Popular Media. Nothing too stand out to me. The same black cloak, the same scythe. He has wings, sure, but that doesn't really draw me in like...well...the others.

My point is, it doesn't feel like Reaper really has a defining trait besides "ohh, he's Death!" That's just not interesting enough for me. Not even his wiki page drew me in! I'd expect a wiki page to have REALLY cool and interesting lore facts that helps sell a character to the person browsing their page, but there's nothing!!! Nothing at all!!! Not even fanon can get me intrested!!!

I will admit. I do have a bias against Reaper. Geno, who is one of my biggest blorbos, up there with Error, ONLY seems to have content where he interacts with a character I never really cared for in the first place!!! Afterdeath feels like the only thing people do with Geno, and I DESPISE IT. Geno is a complex, excellently written character with so many interesting ideas to go off of. If there was more content, whether it be comics, fanfic, fanart, etc of Geno interacting with literally anybody else, I bet it would be absolutely excellent! There are way too many things one could do with Geno in the multiverse, and...nobody (besides Underverse, briefly) does it for some reason???

Here's some example ideas of non-Afterdeath geno content to further push my point!!! Take them!!! Consume them!!! Make something from them!!! I don't care!!! I want to see more Geno!!!

Geno interacting with Error.

Geno accepting Gaster's "deal" (from the original Aftertale comic) and what would happen afterwards.

After Aftertale (basically post-canon Aftertale shenanigans).

Geno interacting with...anybody, really.

Geno somehow finding himself in a different AU, and having to...deal with that.

Bitty Geno?

Nightmare somehow convincing Geno to join him?

Geno being combined with other, less common AU concepts. (xtale geno, dust geno, fresh geno...)

My point is, God, I'm salty about my blorbo only having shipping content. And not just the REGULAR shipping content, but SHIPPING CONTENT WITH ONLY ONE CHARACTER??? It makes me angry!!! Afterdeath shippers can still ship them, I don't have a problem with that, but I want to see other stuff when trying to find Geno content!! I've only found...what? 3 pieces of media that has a story to it, not counting the original Aftertale comic? Am I the only Geno fan that doesn't like Reaper that much?

In conclusion!!! I don't really like Reaper as much as the rest of the fandom seems to. And I think I have a decent set of reasons why. If anybody is able to make Reaper interesting to me, please do so! I want to like him more, but the aforementioned reasons prevents me from doing that.

[rollercoasterwords]

consumer culture + fandom rot

here's some more fandom analysis nobody asked for!! this is gonna be my charlie day moment this is gonna be me standing in front of a red-string corkboard shouting about how i've connected the dots bc i cannot sleep and i am in desperate need of a topic to take my mind off Other Things. so here's me breaking down what i mean when i say that consumer culture is the root issue of all (? or at least many of) the problems i currently see in marauders fanfic/fandom spaces (the only fandom i am plugged into; perhaps some of this can be generalized outwards, perhaps some of it cannot. i'm not an expert on anything i'm just overthinking shit i Observe).

Part 1: The Black Hole of Consumer Culture

ok so first we need context first we need to make sure we're on the same page and the page that we're on is that late stage capitalism is destroying our ability to see literally anything outside of a consumer culture. like we are reaching a point where literally every facet of our lives is monetized, including our hobbies, our entertainment, our art.

like. ok. part of the sort of like...promise? expectation? assumption? with capitalism is that work, money, the consumer economy, all that jazz is a contained sphere, right? you have your home life, and you have your work life. but that just...doesn't really exist anymore. no matter where you are, no matter what you're doing, you are consuming or being consumed. everywhere we turn, somebody is selling us something; everywhere we turn, our lives, our data, our attention is being sold to advertisers, who then use that information to sell us back their products. we are all stuck in this endless consumer cycle. and because we're stuck in this cycle where the lines between our private interior interests and thoughts versus our public selves and images are constantly blurred, it's getting to the point where we are being taught to literally always see ourselves as products for the consumption of those around us. this was only exacerbated by the pandemic, where suddenly everyone was lonely and isolated and seeking connections through algorithmic social media platforms that turn you into a product for advertisers and then work to sell shit back to you. i mean, i think about margaret atwood's whole "you are the male voyeur in your own head," right, but with the growth of social media and the surveillance state there's almost this constant sense of being watched that i think applies to practically everyone, and there's also this sense that the only way to assuage our loneliness is to boil ourselves down into byte-sized (couldn't resist the pun sorry) aesthetic photographs or 30 second tiktok clips or pithy little tweets to gets as many likes as possible, and that's--fuck, sorry, i'm already ranting, but it's just. it's just. that's not what being human is, and yet because we are stuck in this consumer cycle it is becoming more and more difficult to see ourselves outside of it, and that means boiling ourselves down to the most shallow and basic little pieces of meaningless shit in a desperate attempt for some part of ourselves to just be seen by strangers on the internet. and social media is tugging us in with these algorithms, destroying our attention spans, getting us addicted with little dopamine hits until we literally do not know how to connect with each other as people, as human beings, because all of our social interaction is coming from people's boiled-down internet personas and these parasocial relationships we develop with what essentially amounts to cardboard cutouts of humanity, and we wonder why we're all so fucking lonely all the time, and we open our phones to scroll through tiktok to get that dopamine hit and try to forget. fucking FUCK it's a nightmare and we're all stuck in it. sorry.

the point: it is becoming more and more difficult to see any aspect of life outside of the framework of a consumer culture, where everything--even our very personalities, our very selves--is a product for consumption by someone, somebody, somewhere, anywhere.

so if this is what's happening to us, what's happening to our art?

Part 2: The Deterioration of Art

look, let's get my personal stance on art established and out of the way, alright? i think that good art, dare i say real art, is one thing: a conversation. i think good art (using "art" broadly here--literature, music, performance, etc all included) asks us questions, good art makes us think, good art sits with us and says: what does it mean to be human? good art does not hold up a set of moral guidelines and say "this is how you're meant to live your life"; good art holds up a mirror and says "how do you think you're meant to live your life?" good art engages our critical thought.

the consumer economy is not conducive to critical thought. the consumer economy is not conducive to good art. the consumer economy wants your attention now, right now, and now it wants you to look at something else, and now it wants you to look at something else, and it wants you consuming as fast as possible, and it doesn't want you sitting and thinking and reflecting on what you consume. and it is extremely difficult to find any art that exists outside of the consumer economy, at this point, because like i said--we're all stuck in it.

and the thing is, like. it is incredibly difficult (maybe even impossible) for any art, any media, that is created within the consumer economy to actually challenge its hegemony, because like...i mean, the organizations producing so much of our art are businesses. the tv shows and movies we watch, the books coming out of these big publishing houses, the music that gets played on the radio--all of it ultimately has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, because the status quo is what puts money in the pockets of these giant corporations.

so what does that mean? what does it mean that so much of our art is being produced by corporations that want to keep us happy and distracted and consuming as much as possible, as fast as possible?

it means we aren't getting art as a conversation. we aren't getting art that challenges us to think deeply, and critically, and to struggle with what it means to be human. instead, we are falling prey to this insidious idea that art ought to exist with moral guidelines built in, that art is supposed to tell us how to live. and it concerns me to see this growing spread of moral puritanism that aligns in many ways with what i've seen in the conservative christian spaces i grew up in, which decries any moral ambiguity as Supporting Moral Wrongs--as though art is something meant to be morally pure, and if it's not then it is a corrupting influence that must be eradicated. and because we're being brainwashed into thinking that art is no longer meant to be a conversation, but instead a simple product to consume that already has all the answers pre-packaged for us, we end up seeing so much mainstream art and media that is so incredibly shallow, as well as increasing censorship surrounding art. i'm just gonna link to this jen silverman essay, which talks about this really well.

Part 3: Bringing it Back to Fanfic

ok so here's where i finally start to get to the point. and the point is that fanfiction is meant to exist outside the consumer economy (if you've read any of my other posts about this, you'll probably think i'm starting to sound like a broken record. that's because i am). and that is so incredibly unique in this day and age. there is so, so little art left that exists entirely outside the realm of the capitalist meat-grinder, and we should be striving to protect it at all costs.

but! but. of course, the consumer economy is insidious and it spreads like a mold over everything. and the thing is--here's my theory, okay? here's my theory. not an expert, new to fandom spaces, disclaimer disclaimer blah blah blah. here's my theory.

i really think that tiktok is largely the reason that fanfiction has become so much more tied into a consumer economy over the past 3ish years. like, marauders fandom specifically--it seems like atyd going viral on tiktok is what essentially started this wave of people going, "oh, fanfiction can be TikTok content," and then suddenly...it was. and once fanfiction became TikTok content, it got placed inside a consumer economy, because tiktok is an algorithmic social media that does all the shit i discussed in part one of this fucking. rant. essay. whatever.

SO suddenly people are interacting with fanfic within the framework of a consumer economy, and we see this shift in fandom culture that i think has left a lot of people really confused and upset and has also led to just a lot of people talking over each other, because if two people are engaging with a form of art using entirely different frameworks, it's just like...well ur starting with different premises. like of course you're going to have communication issues.

anyway here are some problems that i personally have observed that i think all tie back to this issue of engaging with fanfiction through the framework of a consumer economy:

unnecessarily criticizing fanfction the way you might criticize a product that you paid for and didn't like

demanding that fanfic writers produce a certain amount of content or produce content in a specific way, as though fanfic writers are making a product for audience consumption

engaging with fanfiction under the assumption that anyone writing fanfic wants it to be advertised and go viral and gain a huge audience

when a fanfic does go viral and someone gains a huge audience despite never seeking it out, treating that person like an influencer or celebrity and placing expectations + responsibilities on them that they literally never asked for

on the flipside of that, people getting into writing fanfiction who like...advertise their fic as though their goal is to go viral. i mean there's nothing wrong with sharing your work on the internet and wanting people to see it, y'know? but just like...evaluate your own motivations behind why you're sharing your writing. if your main priority is to just to get as many likes as possible, it will probably not end up being a very sustainable or joyful hobby for you.

treating fanfic as though it is meant to be a set of moral guidelines (rather than a conversation about morality) and loudly declaring fanfic problematic when it contains subject matter that does not align with your personal moral code

acting as though there is a clear delineation between writers and readers of fanfiction in a way that plays into the dynamics of producers and consumers

i'm sure this isn't a comprehensive list but this is everything that's coming to mind for me right now. so. yeah. when i say that placing fanfiction within consumer culture is like the Root of All Evil this is what i mean! and this is why i think it is so so so important to push back against fanfiction being placed in a consumer economy and to try very hard to keep it separate in its own little oasis.

in conclusion i have cracked the code. i am so tired. the end.

[imperiuswrecked]

Kinda of random but what do you think of Alan's Moore comments about people liking comic book movies could lead into fascism? Seems like bitter old man territory but what do you think?

Long reply. These are just my personal thoughts/opinions ~

Tbh I don't read Alan Moore but I know of them, I know of their works, and I know that alot of the wrong people take their work and basically "Fight Club" it.

If you know the movie Fight Club then you understand how a piece of media is often taken into the wrong context. What was supposed to be a satire/examination of anti capitalism was usurped by men thinking they need to be in peak form/fight for what they want, reprogram themselves etc. Basically they thought all the wrong ideas.

Moore's Watchmen gives way to such things like The Boys, where violence in superhero media is the focus rather than the message behind Watchmen. So everyone focuses on the violence, the spectacle, etc.

Many people treat comic books like it's a thing for kids, or people who can't read books, or whatever.

Yet comics have been a form of literature for a long time. Comics have a finger on the beating pulse of pop culture, world events, and shifting tone of the public thoughts.

For example: Something Happens. In the world, real-life, a big event occurs that effects many people. Someday you will see that someone has written a very good book about the subject, but by then maybe years have passed, meanwhile a comic captures things in the moment as time moves on, you can see the trends in the form political cartoons, or someone who was effected creating a comic witin days/weeks, or generations of people who grew up effected and began pouring their message, their hearts into comics. Some stories that are not easily told through novels.

Superhero Comics began as a message from Jewish creators, a hope, a story.

So while I know people will be quick to dismiss Moore as a bitter old person, I would really recommend people stop a moment and look at what they are saying.

See I think it's less "Liking Superhero Movies will lead to fascism" and more "consuming media controlled by massive corporations uncritically will have an effect on people".

Look at the way Superheros Movies have a chokehold on pop culture, look at the way there are literal nations of fans supporting Superhero Movies. Look at the way they defend Superhero Movies even at its worst, at its racist, at its mysoginstic, at stuff that literally makes my skin crawl. Look at the way these super fans doxx marginalized actors/ess, at the way they harrass, they swarm into comments to spew their hatred. Look at the way they say "it's just a Superhero movie, it's just a cape comic, it's nothing serious".

Then I need you to look at the way Marvel tried to market a choice to people: "S.h.i.e.l.d or Hydra, which side are you on?"

Hydra isn't just a bad guy team. It's Nazis. It's always been Nazis. It's literally headed up by the biggest fictional Nazi to ever have been created. So not only this question but, to make contests, merchandise, so much for this event. It really makes you sit back and ask: How did we get to this? How did this industry get from superhero characters created by Jewish people, to a comic company asking if you would join Nazis.

Fascism doesn't just happen. It's created over time, over years, and I agree and disagree with Moore. In my opinon not every Superhero Movie is propaganda for the American Military but many are, not every movie is racist/has propaganda, but there are those that are, not every Superhero Movie will lead a person to Facism, but some will plant the seed. We can't control how people internalize things or what deep web rabbit holes they follow, or what Nazi/Racist/Facist groups they join.

Movies are power, movies can reach a lot of people, not everyone will be able to read the same books, or comics, but many people will be able to watch the same movie. I just think people should be critical to Superhero movies when there is something to discuss. I don't mean complaining about the cgi, but talking about the actual plot, who is making the movie, who did they cast in what role, etc. Blindly following whatever big companies decide to put in their movies isn't a good idea.

I may not be a Moore fan but I do think he's earned a right to be bitter after how the Comic Industry has chewed him up and spit him out. Many creators are ground down by how the Comic Industry runs, and the Superhero Movie Industry has become a behemoth, to ignore an industry that shapes the mind of kids and has a hold on adults is pretty dumb. Again, I don't think it's a pipeline of Superhero Movies > Facism, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't look critically at movies just because they are about people flying around in tights.

[jittyjames]

1, 7 and 17 for the ask game!!! (Only the two first if its too much but im very very curious of your answers!!)

YESSS CRYS THESE ARE SUCH GOOD QUESTIONS!! OK OK OK

i basically started writing fanfic when i was very young, but it would basically be me in my friends at the time's dms helping them write and giving ideas. i was in the star wars fandom and i was probably eleven or so. it predated hamilton (which i found hamilton through star wars teehee so full circle moment there) BUT y'all prob want to hear about why i started writing for hamilton. i always wrote little fics just for me without posting bc when i'm obsessed with something, it's all consuming (like i'm almost positive i'm on a spectrum, but i won't self-diagnose. even if i'm almost finished with my psych degree and i'm nearly certain.) i literally started creating my own little worlds with the characters i love to self-soothe, because i needed more content, and for entertainment. then i slowly began to project trauma onto my stories and BOOM here we are. i posted because i wanted to share and finally be a part of the community instead of just lurking in the background without an account and not interacting, so i put myself out there. which i'm so glad i did bc i genuinely love y'all and i wouldn't trade any of it for anything.

7. listen... LISTEN... i'm not sure if there's really a balance (given that i'm so behind on every fic) but school, work, and pursuing theatre is very time consuming things. like i'm barely even in my house anymore. HOWEVER, once i finish all my responsibilities, i start writing from then until i'm so tired i can't keep my eyes open anymore. (sleep is for the weak). whenever i get small breaks, i brainstorm and jot down my ideas or phrases. it helps that i find writing relaxing and it's something i love to do. i don't think i would be able to squeeze it in if i didn't adore it and this community so much. but i think it's the passion that helps me keep up with the demands of it. this is probably a good way to get burn out and unhealthy, but so far i'm doin' it, and at the moment i'm the happiest i've ever been :)))

SOMETIMES THO i choose to write instead of hanging out with friends and doing other stuff like that (not this past week. the girlies were OUT.) i know it's just fanfic, but sometimes if you want to do something, you have to choose it over everything else.

17. the best writing advice i've ever been given is to write what you want to see courtesy of mr. miranda himself. i think he said something along the lines of "if you see a piece of media, and you're immediately thinking of what you would have added or done differently, you need to get to writing." like creating media curated to me and only me has not only made writing so much more fun, but it's also helped me find people with the same tastes as me, and has helped me make some very close friends. i don't feel bad when a fic flops in the kudos/comments fields bc i know i liked the fic even if no one else did. i'm putting the fics out into the world that i would love to read myself.

[neonleonsmessymindpalace]

hi. i saw the movie today. part 2 is coming out in 2024 and i am dying, because the end of the first half punched me in the gut. brace yourself, because you were the one who said i could spoil you. also i fully apologize for the essay i’m about to write, but i have literally no one else i can gush to, and i get a really uncomfortable jittery feeling when i can’t let out my excitement. before we begin, this is going to spoil possibly the entire movie. be warned. first the ✨big villain✨.

this came as a surprise to me, despite seeing the trailer, but it’s “the spot”. yes that’s the guy in the trailer who has sliced bread fall out of his weird, black, stomach vortex. he spends around the first half being a very bad villain who’s personality is hilarious, and then he becomes a threat to the entire multiverse in the span of five minutes. he’s hilarious either way though, and i feel like if deadpool was pg and a villain he would have a very similar personality to the spot. also i would be just as awkward as he is before he gets his evil power up, if i was a villain.

the movie spends the first bit focusing on gwen, and she’s actually the catalyst for miles getting into the multiverse! he would’ve been completely oblivious if she hadn’t dropped in, broke every dimensional club rule ever, and accidentally let him follow her through a portal. side note i love the spider-man they meet there, and also spider-punk who i love with my very whole heart.

this ends up with him being told about “universal canon” ex; the uncle always dies. there’s also a “police chief close to spider-man always dies”, and this is a problem because as soon as miles’ dad is promoted, he is destined to die. obviously miles is very not chill with this, even though stopping it could break the entire multiverse, and destroy that dimension entirely. he ends up booking it to try and get back to his dimension, with every spider-person ever(also the cat, the horse, and my personal favorite, peter parkedcar.) after him.

fancy, high tech, creepy, future spider-man, miguel reveals that miles is basically the “original anomaly”, because the spider that bit him was from another dimension, and was supposed to bite someone there instead. this dna oopsie leads to the big fancy weird, white, fleshtech spider dna reader to send him to the completely wrong universe. gwen is also having a terrible time but it’s kind of overwhelming to explain all of it and her story is kind of separate but parallel to his.

tldr; miles ends up in a very bad place where he is the prowler, and also captured, gwen sets up a very small spider team to help him(including peter b and his absolutely adorable spider baby who is actually the smartest spider-person, because they’re all idiots at heart), and every other spider person in the multiverse is straight up going to shoot him on sight(yes one of them has a real gun.) also his dads going to die in two days, he has no way back home, and gwen has no idea where he is and thus cannot find and help him. OK NOW THAT THE STORY IS OUT THERE, MY REAL FAVORITE BITS.

every universe and spider-person or animal has their own animation style. the colors and shades are all different and my favorite dimension is gwen’s because it’s super watercolor and the lighting changes people’s colors completely. all the spiders have different fighting styles, and the music is epic.

also peter b is still an idiot despite being a dad and i love him. my other favorite is the spider-man who narrates everything he’s doing, all the time, in a very dramatic batman esque voice. i would say more but i might be having a slight mental collapse right now. don’t worry about it i’ll probably be done by thursday(hopefully.). i have to go consume every piece of spiderverse media i can find now.-G

You're excitement in these words - I LOVE IT !!!

I can agree with everything you said!

I loved the twisty part of the villain, it made him a even better character. To me, these are the best written villains!

The ending though - whyyyyyyyyy.

It makes sense for the Part 2 coming in 2024, but C'MON! ( T . T; )

I love the style of Gwen's universe too! The different animation styles in one movie were the thing that confused me at first, but they MATCH SO WELL AND I- WHY hasn't anyone else had this idea yet???

Several soundtracks of the movie have found their way into my daily playlist ... (　＾∀＾)

I wish you a great time pursuing that lovely hyperfixation!

Get your sweet dopamine ! 🤌🏾🔥

Don't apologize for that long inbox, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!