#no matter if its 3 minutes of screentime and 5 lines

[gunsatthaphan]

First of all I just hope you are having a fantastic day :) Happy New Year my favorite tumblr-er.

Now, coming to my ask, I find it a little silly that people actually ship AlanGaipa when they had exactly 3 scenes 😆 and two of them were business like! JimGaipa and AlanWen had much more storyline and honestly shipping them (even as doomed or one sided pair) makes sense, but no, a significant number of people actually ship AlanGaipa and consider them a proper couple when they are anything but. Honestly, branding pair makes people go stupid. Sending you the ask cause I saw you saying something similar/having similar view. 😇

happy new year to you too anon!

AlanGaipa had 3 scenes but have you seen those 3 scenes lmao like I know I'm slightly biased but those moments were so packed with non-verbal emotions like oof I could write a thesis on those 3 scenes lmao.

I was laughing at ppl shipping them before they even interacted but joke's on me bc I squealed when it actually happened lol. they really made the absolute most out of their limited screentime. And it's not like the canonization was in ppl's heads bc they actually implied it. obviously JimGaipa & AlanWen had more substance in their stories but considering what Alan and Gaipa went through respectively in those arcs, them finding each other in such an innocent and subtle way was one of my favorite parts of the show tbh 🥺

xxx

[wyverncult]

copying u. 001 matel gear 002 otasune or whoever else u want to talk about. 003 SNAKE !! or strangelove <3

this took so long to do

METAL GEAR

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character: basic as hell i love SOLID SNAKE though, i love his writing soo much. i also like miller strangelove & otacon. shoutout to amanda for being the only helpful bitch in all of PW though & mantis for looking like that

Least Favorite character: ROSEMARY. sorry. their relationship in 2 made me feel insane

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): IM BASIC... otasune, bbkaz, strangeboss. not favs but i also like fox/gustava & maybe bosselot

Character I find most attractive: genuinely this is hard. probably big mama she's cool as fuck

Character I would marry: raiden should ditch rose and get with a man like me. i don't want to marry him i just think i could treat him better

Character I would be best friends with: let's be real it's probably otacon

A random thought: ^ spent 3 minutes wondering about otacon's love for anime and whether he really liked it or if it was a thing fandom took and ran. i think he does like anime i just also think the whole terrorism thing took over his life for a minute

An unpopular opinion: i dont think rising is bad but i dont think its a masterpiece either. i think its moral is just currently relevant rn 👍

My Canon OTP: strangeboss OF COURSE

My Non-canon OTP: otasune & bbkaz ofc. bbkaz is dubiously canon though so... Schrödinger's canoninity

Most Badass Character: PROBABLY EVA she's just off the shits 99% of the time honestly

Most Epic Villain: i'll be honest even though she didn't get much screentime the boss is the most iconic & her battle was difficult. also made me cry

Pairing I am not a fan of: ......snox, so sorry LOL

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): MGS4 NAOMI. FUCK.

Favourite Friendship: otasune 100% no matter whether what they intended was platonic or romantic i love their partnership the most

Character I most identify with: i mean ill use miller as my icon but i do not identify with or agree with him at all LMAO

Character I wish I could be: UM. NONE. HELP. i WOULD dress like mantis in a heartbeat though.

OTASUNE

002 | Send me a ship and I will tell you:

When I started shipping them: i'd heard about them beforehand but i didnt know who they were until i started playing the game. probably when i got to the Do you think love can bloom? line i was like. was that necessary LOL and thats about when it cemented

My thoughts: GRRR they compliment the other so well. also they seem like pretty bad parents in 4 but i wanted to see more of that and whether it was just everything coming to a crux

What makes me happy about them: i just really appreciate the amount of trust one puts into the other & keeping the one's life in the other's hands. sooo good.

What makes me sad about them: all of mgs4 GRR. i love it it just makes me sad

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: wish there was more than just fluff or philanthropy-era fics

Things I look for in fanfic: post mgs2-era & longer or more seriously-toned fics :]

My wishlist: i wish we got to see between mgs2 and mgs4! that & i wish we got to see more of sunny, maybe in side content, or see otacon post-mgs4 (mgs4 novel is written in past tense but it doesn't exactly count). also someone drew concepts of a co-op game with otacon and snake and i need that in my life

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Mmmmmmm. no clue. i ship snake with weasel sort-of jokingly LMAO

My happily ever after for them: CAMPBELL CAN LEAVE THEM TF ALONE SO THEY CAN STOP BEING TERRORISTS 👍

SOLID SNAKE

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you:

How I feel about this character: HES MY BEST FRIEND HES AWFUL AND I LOVE HIM

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: see above ^ otacon & to an extent weasel

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: OOH. i love his seniorship to raiden & of course i have to mention sunny. thinking about his relationship (or lack of) to big boss and liquid also makes me feel insane though

My unpopular opinion about this character: none off the top of my head!

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: normally id want them to put the main protagonist to rest but I'll be honest i DO want another game with snake. that or books about things we havent seen happen. a book written from his pov would be really interesting

Favorite friendship for this character: YOU ALREADY KNOW IT !!! otacon is his lover and best friend

My crossover ship: i don't do crossovers, can't think of any!

STRANGELOVE

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you:

How I feel about this character: SHE MAKES ME REALLY SAD id really like to see more of her. ellie you and me lets listen to her tapes sometime i haven't finished them

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: need you ask

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: we didn't really see much of it but her relationship with big boss is extremely interesting just by association of the woman they both lost

My unpopular opinion about this character: i can't believe this is an unpopular opinion.. she's a lesbian 🤯 Also i think that her having a child w huey is fucked up on her part but also extremely funny. sorry you got involved strangelove

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: UGH. we should've seen more of her. shes such a background character it is genuinely sad

Favorite friendship for this character: ... this girl has friends? so sorry..

[faiiriegyuu]

joining their vlives - choi line

pairing(s): beomgyu x y/n, soobin x y/n, yeonjun x y/n authors note: hellooooo guys! this is my first fic ever so take it easy on me 😅 i hope you guys enjoy <3 thank you :) content: fluff, lowercase intended

⋆༶⋆˙⊹ beomgyu you walked into beomgyu’s room, as he turned around with a recorder in his mouth, and began playing it as loudly as possible, your eyes widening in response. you glared at him for startling you, but soon realized he was on live, causing you to quickly begin apologizing. the last thing you needed was to be attacked by netizens for this.  “you see how she changes up, moa?” beomgyu smirked. “she should be grateful that i can play the recorder.” beomgyu spoke as you just glared. “i’ll leave you to your live.” you giggled some as he pouted. “stay! moa likes you!” he motioned you over. “5 minutes.” you laughed..however those five minutes soon turned into 50 as the two of you lost track of time, too carried away in the giggles and the fans.

⋆༶⋆˙⊹ yeonjun you navigated your way through the halls, getting stopped by various staff members fawning on the way to see yeonjun. you had impulsively adopted a kitten you found abandoned, and you couldn’t wait to tell your boyfriend. “junniee!’ you excitedly burst in the room, slightly startling the boy. “Y/N.” He laughed softly, before realizing what was in your hand. “are you doing a vlive right now?” you coughed, as he just stared. “who’s kitten is that?” he asked. “and yeah, say hi moa.” he nodded as you smiled. “it’s mine!” “you adopted a kitten?” his eyes widened as he rushed over. “it’s cute.” yeonjun smiled. “sorry moa!” you laughed as the comments were filled with “awww”s and “what its name?” “her name? her name...” “liv!” you smiled. “i like it.” yeonjun spoke as he carried the kitten to the camera. “look at it!” yeonjun laughed softly. it was moments like these that mattered the most.

⋆༶⋆˙⊹ soobin “odiii, soobin!” you barged into soobins room, odi spiking up as soobin slightly winced, setting him in his cage. “hey, i’m on a vlive right now” he softly spoke as you waved at the screen before apologizing. “i’m sorry! i’ll leave.” you laughed as he motioned you over. “hello moa!” you smiled, sitting down next to soobin. “how are you?” soobin smiled. “i’m doing great, what about you?” “i’m doing good! we were talking about odi.” “right, sorry about that...” you laughed nervously. “its fine, odi had enough screentime anyways.” soobin spoke as you giggled. you guys chatted away, entertained by comments, before soobin ended the live and you gave him a kiss goodbye. “love you!” “love you too.” soobin smiled.

[blueskyscribe]

Beast Machines: Some Observations on Toys

So I think most TF fans have some notion of the usual arguments about BM (the BW characters being out of character, etc), no matter which side of the argument you fall on.

But I would like to point out how weird BM was as a show tied to a toyline.

The Toys for the Leaders

These were the toys for BM Optimus Primal and Megatron:

Optimus' figure was small and not show-accurate and was one of the weakest BM figures for its price point.

Megatron was even worse. He was TINY (but they sold him at the pricepoint of a bigger toy lololol) and just . . . bad. Look at that dragon tail just hanging off his elbow.

Megatron is supposed to be the Big Bad of the show!! If they didn't want to make a new, big mold for him then why not recolor his final Beast Wars toy (the huge dragon) and sell that again? "Oh dear, I hate my organic dragon form. Buuuut look how rad it looks now that it's silver and black."

You might be thinking, "Wait a minute, I've seen a big, cool toy of Primal that looks just like he did on BM. And I've seen a toy of Megatron as a head-spaceship."

Those toys exist, and they are cool. But they're not Beast Machines toys. They were sold in the Robots in Disguise (2001) line, which came after BM.

The point of a show like Beast Machines is "Child sees character on TV, immediately begs parent to buy representative toy". Not "Child sees character on TV, begs parent to buy a representative toy in three years after show is over."

No Size Consistency

Listen, I don't think the toys need to exactly match the show characters. But I think it's very weird that Nightscream, the bat, ONLY had an Ultra size toy. That's huge compared to his size on the show.

My other main issue, Megatron and Optimus having dinky toys, I've already touched on.

They Skipped the Dinosaurs

Did you know there were Beast Machines Dinobots? No, not Dinobot, the BW character, but Dinobots, like a faction. Their backcards explained that they were formatted using memories / data provided by Dinobot's spark. So it was like Dinobot was reaching out from the afterlife to help his friends.

First, that's a cool and touching idea. Second, they were awesome toys THAT WERE DINOSAURS and yet were never in the show. Even though kids love dinosaurs.

I can't believe we missed out on surprised Pachycephalosaurus with pop-up head.

The Dinobot leader was a repaint of original BW Megatron, which could've played into the whole "BM Megatron hates beast modes now", like he'd be personally enraged to see that. Also, a lot of these could easily have been adapted from BW character models.

The New Guys Deserved Better

There was no way every toy-character could / should be in the show. (It didn't happen in Beast Wars either.) That would be way too many assets and too many bots to characterize well. So I understand why we just had a small crew of heroes fighting Megatron and the Vehicons.

But maaaan, I wish we'd had different heroes from what we got.

First, it would've sidestepped all the "Are the BM bots out of character?" debates. (The answer is yes, btw.) Second, I just think it would've been nice to get to know new characters. Third, a lot of coolest toys never got any screentime.

Silverbolt, who had the worst BM toy, with his head peering out of his crotch in bird mode and wings that looked like a stupid cape, got to be in the show.

But not this cool bull.

Or this cool snake.

Or this cool UNICORN.

Just . . . what a waste.

What I Would've Done

Okay, so here's what I would've done if I had to keep the general premise (the Big Bad has taken over Cybertron and only a plucky group of survivors can defeat him and his Vehicons.)

1. The Big Bad would be Nightscream. This is so obvious it blows my mind. His toy is huge and bats freak out a lot of people. Just change his robot-mode head so it looks villainous instead of emo.

His motivation wouldn't be related to organics, it would be something like . . . he's siphoning off the energy from Cybertronians' sparks to become a god or summon Unicron--you know, anime bullshit.

2. Nightscream has taken over Cybertron via some kind of electrical macguffin, like a stasis grid that covers the planet or something. TFs are lying around the streets in permanent stasis.

But then! Optimus Primal & crew (with Megatron tied to the roof) literally crash into the planet. The crash disrupts the grid in a small area and some TFs awaken from stasis. They start exchanging info with the BW crew. Their sparks are so weak that they have to be transferred to new bodies to re-energize them, so the BW crew uses the protoform pods from Earth--which have been pre-programmed with an encyclopedia of Earth animals, which is how they get beast modes.

But then the stasis grid is put online again. A handful of Cybertronians escape--mostly new guys, but maybe one or two of the BW Maximals. Megatron also escapes.

Maybe over the course of the show more BW characters are rescued and added to the cast. But mostly it's focused on these new guys.

3. I would have half the new guys be Maximals and half be Predacons, for some inter-faction tension. (And ROMANCE?!?!) Nevertheless everyone knows they have to work together to defeat Nightscream.

4. If they really want to sell the crappy tiny Megatron toy, they could have him try to cut a deal with Nightscream, but then Nightscream backstabs him and dumps him in the mini body to mock him, idk.

5. After that Megatron decides he's really going to give it his all to defeat Nightscream. And he decides the way to do this is to clone Dinobot, because he LOVES cloning Dinobot. So he tries, but instead creates these other dinosaur robots. They have Dinobot's independent streak, so they flip Megatron the bird and leave.

6. The Dinobots are also trying to stop Nightscream, but they're constantly messing up the plans of the Predacon/Maximal group, and vice versa.

7. But in the end the good guys win. And they sell a lot of toys.

[willowworkswithwords]

1 16 and 20 for the ask game!!!

Hi Cordelia!

fanfic reader asks!!

1. favorite fanfiction trope?

Hurt/comfort, of course!! There has to be comfort though, otherwise I'm not interested. Drawn out hurt, angst, all exquisite IF and ONLY IF there is comfort to heal them.

16. what tags do you search first when entering a fandom?

hurt/comfort, sickfic (beloved), specifications on types of hurt (physical wounds, emotional, etc.).

When I first enter I don't go in for AUs or extensive character pieces usually. I dip my toe in, then go in for character pieces, then usually much later, once I get a sense of true character and place, do I delve into AUs and fix-its (though I don't mind death fix-its for my faves when i first come in)

20. what strength do you think your current fandom has?

I think the diversity and deep sense of community are big strengths. There's all sorts of us from different backgrounds with different mini-fandoms sectors from all the different canon, fanon, legends, movies, and books, and overall that unites rather than divides us.

Also the OC game is super strong in the SW fandom, no matter which subsection you're a part of, and that is really fascinating and very cool. People make amazing OCs that are so well fleshed out.

The dedication of creators to adding depth to existing characters, and having it connect enough, or be a complete departure from, canon material to make it make sense, is honestly God-sent work everyone is doing. Seriously amazing deep content from characters with like 5 lines of dialogue and 3 minutes of screentime.

[rwbyconversations]

The weaknesses of Volume 6

As someone who had sub-zero expectations going in, Volume 6 was overall a really good season of RWBY- in fact I’d called it the best overall Volume since Volume 3, if not overall, the best season we’ve had so far. Everything seemed to come together for this season, and most of the fandom has agreed that the opening salvo of episodes was the best the show had, and that the season hadn’t had a dud episode until the group reached Argus. I know some parts of the fandom don’t love the Argus episodes but I found something good in nearly all of them so I can’t say it was a complete waste of time. 

But, every cloud has a silver lining, and while Volume 6 was unmistakably a huge improvement over the previous Maya seasons, especially Volume 5, there are still several areas the show can seek to improve on as the show moves to the chilly frozen north of Atlas. So in this essay, I’m going to highlight the (ultimately small but notable enough to warrant talking about them) weaknesses I found in Volume 6. 

1) The show needs to more efficiently handle its villains (and why Cinder and Neo’s plot was a drag)

Weird that I’m saying this in the season that gave its longest episode to exploring Salem’s origin story, but Volume 6 had a lot of difficulty managing the pacing of its villains, and the largest subject of its focus arguably didn’t need to be in this Volume. I’m talking of course about Cinder and Neo’s plot this volume.

Now on paper, giving Cinder more spotlight should be what I want. After all, I wrote an essay last year detailing why parts of the fanbase weren’t fond of Cinder, so giving her focus should ideally be able to remedy those problems, right? 

Well, that’s the problem. In that essay, I talked about how Cinder’s two biggest flaws as a character were that she was very boring, and how her lack of backstory made it difficult to really care about her as a character. Cinder has effectively been the same character for six volumes in a row and much like Volume 4, the show has a golden opportunity to finally change that and give her a new narrative arc only to waste it.

Volume 6 should have been a drastic wake-up call for Cinder. Unlike at Beacon, where she lost due to Ruby’s sudden intervention and the awakening of her Silver Eyes, Cinder lost at Haven entirely thanks to her own failings. Raven beat her handily in straight combat and goaded her into the entire train-wreck of an operation to begin with, which for a power-focused individual like Cinder, should have really been an igniting spark to get her to begin seeking some introspection on why she’s lost twice in a row in failing to burn down the Academies. But sadly, just like in Volume 4, right as Cinder appears to be getting an arc about her recovering from her loss at Haven, she just ignores it and goes right back on her murder-Ruby train, as if she’s stuck in a Groundhog Day loop. 

Cinder’s refusal to move on from a basic arc of “Plan to destroy an academy, enact the plan, get slaughtered, blame Ruby, rinse and repeat” has made her easily the least interesting villain in the entire show. At this point we’re six years in and barring a few contextual clues, Cinder has no backstory, no sympathetic traits, not even any character development to differentiate her from her Volume 1 self. And this after the season where she dominates the villain screen-time until the final third when Adam hijacks the plot.  

Cinder’s plot in Volume 6 is therefore largely just setup for Volume 7, in that it explains how Cinder survived Haven and how she reaches Atlas. Along the way, she encounters the in case of bad season break glass button Neo, whose out for revenge and gets a really cool fight scene that’s ultimately just there for fanservice. 

Let me repeat. Good fight, really liked it. Let me also repeat- just there for fan-service. This is not an inherently bad thing, but it does have weaknesses. 

Neo was always coming back to the show and part of me feels like she was always being held in reserve in the event of a really bad season, so that the next one could have her return and generate some hype since her fan-base are that loyal. And sure enough, Neo’s return did see a notable collection of fans who had dropped the show after 4 and 5 coming back to see their ice cream queen return in a non-Chibi format. I won’t fault the crew for using a plan that worked. Where I take umbrage is that this fight was not necessary. It was a good fight, but I’d have much rather taken a Cinder scene of her actually recovering from Haven and thinking about why she lost again. Instead, Cinder and Neo effectively hijack all the villain screen-time for the rest of the season. And as someone who doesn’t adore Neo like her fans, this made their arc very tiresome, especially when the hints we got of the other villains were far more intriguing. I could talk a lot about the symbolism and thematic choices of the Mercury/Emerald scene in Chapter 9 but I’d struggle to find a lot to say about Cinder’s plot that wasn’t just “Setup for Volume 7.” 

The other problem of course is that the rest of Team WTCH are sorely underdeveloped. Hazel at least is interesting again now that he’s several miles away from Ozpin, Tyrian came back and was a delight and I loved seeing him all-but-begging Merc and Em to run so he could hunt them, but Watts remains crucially underdeveloped. He really needs to step up in agency in Atlas because his sardonic wit can only carry him so far, and the man’s voiced by Christopher Sabat, what more reason do you have to give him more to do? The man made the virus that Cinder used to cause the Fall of Beacon, can he be given some agency now please? 

Ultimately, Cinder’s plot didn’t need to be the focus for the villains and yet again, the fragments of focus they got showed how much more interesting they were as antagonists. While ultimately Volume 6 did finally give Mercury and Emerald more screentime than Volumes 4 and 5 combined and reminded the audience why you should be paying more attention to them, the rest of Team WTCH desperately needs development, Watts in particular. Cinder remains the worst villain in the entire show in my opinion, and it’s a shame that she’s almost guaranteed to be the one that makes it to the end of the show. I can only hope in Atlas she finally gets time devoted to what makes her tick, but at this point I’m almost at the point of not caring. It’s been six years, I won’t start caring for Cinder now if the show finally remembers to tell us why she joined Salem.  

... also I just think Cinder’s new costume sucks and I’d rather Em and Merc get new ones over Cinder and Neo buying extensions for their wardrobes.

2) Cordovin was a joke and she really shouldn’t have been

Show of hands, who actually took Cordovin seriously? Yeah, me neither. 

Even during the fight scene, the heroes don’t take it seriously. Having a fight the characters aren’t taking seriously isn’t an inherent flaw but it does mean you can’t expect us to turn around and take it seriously five minutes later.

Cordovin was a wasted character, and one that the show shouldn’t have undershot in all of her scenes by making her the punchline of nearly every joke. Her long-winded rant at the gate scene in Dead End is a huge factor in why a lot of fans, myself included, consider it the weakest episode of Volume 6 despite picking up in the back half. It just drags on for so long that Cordovin outstays her welcome from her first scene. 

Additionally, the show not taking her seriously steals a lot of gravitas from the mech battle, and plays a large role in why I think the mech fight failed to really excite a lot of fans outside of key moments like Ruby’s missile run and canon shot. Being alongside Adam’s confrontation with Blake and Yang didn’t help but even on its own, the mech battle drags. Not quite to the same extent as Haven dragged, but on rewatches I was making liberal application of the skip button. That lack of gravitas itself goes on to hamper Cordovin’s serious moment in the season finale where she realizes that her ego allowed the Leviathan a straight shot on Argus and undergoes a soft redemption to let team RWBY leave the city. However, this moment of taking Caroline seriously comes after the plot has made it clear that the entire reason the Grimm attacked Argus was because of Caroline over-reacting to Maria and breaking out her mech instead of scrambling fighters as Qrow predicts they will. Caroline is solely at fault for the Leviathan getting as close to destroying Argus as it did, so it’s difficult to care when she pulls her head out of her ass to do her job. 

A lack of investment also means a lack of emotional dedication, which I think showed in the lack of fanart Caroline has generated since her reveal. Her design being very drab and militaristic doesn’t help matters but unlike say, the Yang/Adam rematch where the stakes were present on an emotional and thematic level, Caroline failed to excite the audience beyond a few funny memes. 

The additional problem with lacking in emotional dedication/investment is, again, we don’t have enough interest in Caroline to take her seriously, she goes in one episode from the Kooky Racist Grandma to someone we’re expected to sympathize with. And additionally, asking the fans to sympathize with a character whose opening scene includes a not-too-subtle dig at her Faunus traits was asking a lot of the fandom, especially after the previous years showed that the show’s handling of the Faunus racism plot was... varied in quality. 

In short, Cordovin basically took a shotgun to her own foot in her first scene. Establishing her as an over the top comic relief character before expecting the audience to care when she broke out a walking advertisement for gen;LOCK was an extensive reach for the writers to try and unfortunately they fell flat. Trying to make the audience care for the problem she herself created is a similar long-reach. Hopefully this extended comedy sequence depiction of the Atlas military will be left behind as Volume 7 heads into the heart of darkness itself. 

3) Oscar desperately needs limelight

Oscar’s been in the show now for three volumes. He spent much of Volume 4 on his own, much of Volume 5 as Ozpin’s meat-sack, and now in Volume 6 he finally gets to... get some clothes. I like them, but they’re not suitable compensation for the character development that he clearly had stolen from him.

Oscar is easily the most underdeveloped main hero right now, and it’s a problem that’s haunted the series since Volume 4. Oscar wants to be a hero much like Ruby herself did as a child, but this sole fragment of backstory is never used to make a connection to Ruby. Aaron Dismuke, bless his heart, is giving this show his all and his impression of Shannon McCormack’s tones must be applauded, but much like Cordovin he’s not given much to work with. In a way, he’s almost the hero’s version of Cinder- a character who keeps finding themselves in situations where they should realistically develop as a consequence... only for each time they do, it either gets shuffled into the next volume or relegated to offscreen happenings. 

Volume 6 really should have had Oscar undergoing some kind of arc, be it his fear at being persecuted by Team RWBY and Qrow due to harboring Ozpin, his fear as his days as himself become more and more numbered, his acceptance of the fight against Salem or, most glaringly, his running off while the team is in Argus. But every time, Oscar just powers through these circumstances and never gets to develop from them. He never holds it over Qrow that he attacked a child, that Yang indirectly called him a bastard, he never thanks Ruby for having his back after the train crash, and he brushes off Jaune’s apology for smashing him into a wall and alleging he’s Ozpin masquerading himself as Oscar. 

Argus is really where Oscar should have stepped into his own. I was looking forward to him going solo and having to fend for himself for a short while, maybe have a scene where he forces Ozpin to come out and talk or gets to chat with Ozma himself about his place in the war against Salem. Have him be scared of losing his personality and just becoming another body for Oz to inhibit, have him be angry that his dreams of being a hero have been cruelly dashed on the rocks for some agenda he never signed up to. Oscar should be an emotional hurricane and instead he’s just a gust of wind. 

Seriously show, you had a golden opportunity for an Ozma and Oscar scene since we know Oz can speak to his past selves, and you know Arron has enough range to do both roles at once, why do you spite my farmboi. 

But he got a coat now so I guess that’s technically development. Kerry admitted in the Rewind for Volume 6′s finale that some parts of the season got pushed to the next one as they usually do, and I can only hope that Oscar finally expressing emotion was one such scene because Christ alive, he needs it after all the times he just got over crap offscreen this year. I want to like Oscar, he could easily have one of the most tragic arcs of the entire show if they went with it, but the show really needs to give me something to like about him in the first place. Or else he really will become the heroic Cinder, trapped forever in a nightmarish world of never getting to properly develop in spite of countless opportunities being handed to them on a silver platter.

... I still think Oscar lifted Qrow’s wallet for that costume btw. 

4) The reaction to Jinn’s story felt lockstep

I don’t have as much to say on this point but I find it rather saddening that all of the characters have much the same reaction to the truth of Ozma’s past- “Salem can’t be killed, you were leading us on for nothing”- when the weeks around the Ozma reveal had the fandom reacting to the story in a far more diverse way. Even in the hiatus we still have arguments over whether Ozpin was truly in the right or if the story was painting Salem as the true innocent party, to say nothing of the takes that Salem and Ozma’s relationship could be seen as an early iteration of Arkos or even Taruadonna with Salem as the abuser. 

The fandom had such a diverse range of reactions to Jinn’s story, with everyone seeming to have their own take on the episode and the truth wherein. Some people even used this to ponder if Summer Rose had learned the truth during her time and tied it in with Red Like Roses 2, where she laments having made a necessary sacrifice, to ask if Summer had learned the truth and bitterly signed on to the war against Salem in the hopes that she’d be able to turn the tide thanks to her Silver Eyes. 

“Just because I have to give you this origin story doesn’t mean you’re gonna take the right lessons from it.” 

Some idiots even decided that this meant Oz was the main villain now, but I’ve learned to drown those people out. 

But the show itself has a very flat range of reactions, with nearly everyone in-universe only taking away from the story that Salem cannot be conventionally killed and that therefore their entire journey is pointless. Everyone had the same reaction, with the only levels of variance being how angry they were at Ozpin and Oscar, ranging from Ruby’s “ask first if they have a plan and then be angry at Oz specifically” to Qrow and Jaune’s “physically assaulting a fourteen year old child.”  

It almost makes me wonder, if the characters themselves didn’t take anything from the lesson barring Maria connecting the Silver Eyes to the God of Light and that “SALEM CAN’T BE KILLED,” why should the fans? No one took this and went “OK so we can’t stop Salem with force, maybe try talking her down?” Their minds all immediately went to not just being able to shoot her.

Jinn’s story was great, but the reaction to it in universe felt very lacking and I only worry that the more people are told about it, the more chances we’ll get to hear a variant of “Salem can’t be killed.” It’s a shame that such a morally gray out of universe debate has been stripped to its raw components in-universe. 

Conclusion

Volume 6 was really good, I really liked a lot of it and it still warms my heart that I can say that about a season of RWBY post Volume 5. But there’s still a lot of work that can be done behind the scenes to fix up the flaws remaining. I chose three big flaws here but there are a few more I could bring up for quick points (mostly: Weiss getting shafted entirely in V6 feels like an overly corrective backlash to her constantly getting slaughtered in V5, Ruby’s agency does not substitute for a character arc and she still needs one, the introduction of the Faunus in Ozma’s flashbacks felt very contrived, Ren and Nora continue to feel useless to the wider plot but at least this time Ren wasn’t getting bodied every fight, so on and so forth), but ultimately we got more good than bad, and you don’t throw out an entire batch of apples just because of one rotten one near the top. I can forgive a lot more when the overall product is good, and Volume 6 certainly was a good season. Hopefully with these smaller problems fixed, which mostly just extends to “Give Cinder and Oscar onscreen development,” Volume 7 and onwards can keep the show moving forward into a brighter future and a better tomorrow.

[rkpjy]

⭐️MGA 5 EPISODE 4 - SECOND CHANCE ↪ performing i want to fall in love by kim johan with @jacksxnrk version: x (2:00 - 4:00, arranged by the two of them) line distribution: x

Are you really happy at this moment?

and to think that around the same time last week, jinyoung almost expected to hear his name called for the top 3 singing performances. while it’s a competition and a lot of people have already gone home, making the prospect of winning seem more difficult than anticipated... does he really deserve to be eliminated this early? if he didn’t think he was talented enough to win, jinyoung wouldn’t have bothered applying. it doesn’t mean he believes himself to be better than everyone else, but he believes in himself and honestly, he thinks they’re wrong. no matter how he looks at it, no matter how he looks back at his performance with jeonghan and thinks of their flaws... there were duos worse than theirs. but of course, that’s only his truth. he gets no say in it, and did not hear the judges’ comments prior to taking their decision.

to be called mediocre of all things. on a show that clearly isn’t searching for the best talent, it seems a bit insulting. he waits to be given the reason why so jisub thinks that, but it never comes. jinyoung meets his fate with pursed lips and a nod, wrapping an arm around jeonghan’s shoulder for support. neither of them should be sent home right now, but here they are, after working their butts off all week. it’s everyone’s case, probably. but taking a look around him, he can’t help but feel as though the winners have already been selected, and the rest of them were just props meant to fill in some airtime since the beginning. he understands that he’s nobody. he’s no ex-idol, no ex-contestant, he doesn’t have a whole band of friends with him. he’s exactly how he felt the second week: invisible. everyone in this country knows how much these types of shows are scripted, but now that he’s experiencing it first hand, it’s worse than he’d imagined.  mnet has its picks, some that are in the top contestants right now, some who just benefit from a lot of screentime. there are others who jinyoung believe made their own path, like sihyeon who more than anyone here deserves the praises she’s been given so far. he thinks of heejin too, who is no doubt a favorite, but a girl with that much talent and star quality will always hog the spotlight. no one can blame her.

he clenches his fist. for the first time since coming here, there’s a rage growing inside him. he shouldn’t be standing here. if they want to see his true colors, he’ll throw it at them. he feels the urge to decline the second chance at performing, but it would be seen as giving up. he won’t give them that satisfaction, considering they barely notice his existence to begin with. it’s up to him to show them what they’ve been missing, and he’s greatly satisfied to learn he’ll be doing it with jackson.

this week is all about redemption. if so far he’s been a nobody to them, he can only hope to turn things around and let everyone know he’s not someone to mess with. but this could go both ways. he could be beaten down twice in a row. they could still hate it, and belittle their efforts. there’s no pity in this industry, he’s learned that a while ago. but just because they’re big shot ceos doesn’t mean they’re always right. how many times have they rejected talented people who went on to become superstars? so clearly, they aren’t all-knowing. they make mistakes just like everyone else. his talent will be recognized elsewhere if not with them. hyunbin wanted him twice. they will too.

jackson and him spend no time complaining about their situation. there’s no time for self-pity, and jinyoung honestly isn’t the type to just confide in anyone. they’re friends, but they’re not extremely close either. he shares how he’s feeling with his girlfriend, and for him that’s enough. he doesn’t avoid yugyeom at home either, and he congratulates him for moving on to the next round, but he doesn’t really... want to talk to him about what’s going on. he lets the younger enjoy himself and focuses on his own performance instead.

they soon decide on a song they’d like to attempt. it’s a nice ballad, with meaningful lyrics that don’t necessarily relate to their present situation, but tell a story they’d like to help come to life. about loneliness, something jinyoung has kept inside him for the longest time, and love. about being happy about what they have all while questioning why, in that case, they still feel so empty. but rather than only performing a simple cover, they decide to add harmonies to it that would be more fitting for a real duo. not just two people singing side by side, each having their own parts. they want to come together as one, and let their own vocal colors shine through.

they add high notes and other adlibs to the song, thinking this could set them apart and also show the judges the extent of their abilities. jinyoung is very good at emoting, so is jackson, but they also possess a technique they might not have focused on enough so far. for the past three weeks jinyoung has mostly tried to get out of his comfort zone and prove to himself and others that he can do many things and be good at it. but it’s time to go back to his roots, and belt out a powerful, emotional ballad. those are his true colors.

the set feels very empty without everyone sitting in the chairs on each side. there’s so few of them, and he looks at the other duos with a new found compassion. more than ever before, they’re all on the same boat. they both suffered a setback last week, but only two of them will be allowed to return. jinyoung doesn’t speak much, but he silently wishes them the best. the rest of the time he spends with jackson, reviewing the performance in his head. they both know what they have to do, but it’s just two minutes, and that’s very little time to impress a panel of five judges.

minhyun and jeonghan go first, and jinyoung watches his previous partner with frustration. jeonghan should not be here on this stage, he should be arriving later with the others, and so should he. there’s something so powerless about knowing just how much they’re talented but being unable to do anything about it.

once their turn comes, jackson and jinyoung make their way on stage, with their only prop being the microphone they’re each holding. there’s nothing else to focus on. no flashy outfits, no chairs, no glitter. just them and their voices. after briefly announcing their song choice and greeting the judges, they get ready, since they jump right into the song as soon as the music starts. jinyoung closes his eyes, and opens them again so they lock with jackson’s. he smiles. they can do this. they can wow them.

A life like this really seems nice I’m living a good life

it starts off sweetly, their voices resonating in harmony, and right after jackson belts out the first high note with brilliance. jinyoung feels hopeful as they go into the chorus, voices powerful but with a tenderness that shows just how much they feel what they’re singing. they don’t verse into melodrama, but if anyone in this room has ever felt lonely, they won’t be able to remain insensitive.

I’m so lonely, tears come into my eyes Loneliness comes and asks me Are you really happy at this moment?

jinyoung sings the last line alone, eyes closed as he climbs the notes one by one until reaching the final one. this song is vocally challenging for sure, more than any one he’s done up until now, but he’s a musical actor. it’s nothing he hasn’t done before. singing duets that tell a story, and not getting lost in the other’s voice. jackson is a wonderful partner in that aspect.

I answer (lonely) I’m so lonely (tears start to come) What is the reason for my existence? What is love? (what is love?) I’m so curious I am in love but I’m still lonely

the first part of this verse is jackson singing the main lyrics, while jinyoung does the adlibs. the ‘tears start to come’ is very high, and about as high as he can go without straining his voice. he’s usually comfortable in the middle range, as are most people with his tone of voice, but he can also reach unexpected high notes. and that is due to years of singing experience. he can now reach levels he couldn’t five years ago. they switch roles for the third line, with jinyoung singing the main lyrics, and they both finish together, gently, voices fading off as they let the music play.

after the very intense build up that just happened, there’s a long pause during which neither of them sings. they just let the track speak for itself, and let everyone and themselves catch their breath and return to a softer, quieter mood for the finale.

What is life? Why is it so lonely?

for a brief moment when jinyoung starts to sing, the music is silent, but it slowly picks up, guiding him through the last few notes, and jackon’s voice can be heard in the background, although very faint so it doesn’t outshine jinyoung’s. and right after it’s jinyoung’s turn to do his partner the same favor, harmonizing as jackson sings the last words.

it takes jinyoung a few seconds to get back to reality once they’re done, and after stepping off the stage he knows that this time there really is nothing more he could’ve done to prove to them that this is what he was born to do. this is him, and this type of song is what he excels at. some contestants would call it boring, but he couldn’t disagree more. there’s nothing boring about ballads, and it can capture and audience’s heart just as much. and a few people’s shitty opinions will not change the way he feels about it.

[mysticdragon3md3]

Welcome to the Ballroom ep1

In which I go from really liking the show, to getting very confused by character inconsistency for the sake of the genre’s typical story progression/pace. o~o?

I like this show!  ^o^  The protagonist is super relatable and adorable!  Sengoku-san had me laughing soon into the episode!  ("Excuse to get close to girls"?  C'mon man.  LOL)  And I'm intrigued by Shizuku's situation.  If she's so dedicated to dance that she's protective of it vs people who don't take it seriously, but the teachers think she hasn't decided on any life path yet, then why is she keeping her passion for dancing a secret?  Are her parents ashamed of her dancing?  How is she going to the dance studio so often without them knowing?  Do her parents actually permit her to dance, but expect to her grow out of it as a career?  o.o?????  

And is it just me, or do Fujita and Shizuku remind anyone else of Haikyuu's Hinata and Shimizu?  They've all got such similar character designs!  Even Shizuku's name is smilar to Haikyuu's Shimizu Kiyoko!  ^o^  Well, I who didn't see that coming?  The manga industry does ride trends.  When Bleach became popular Otomen and lots of other series came out with smiliarly designed characters.  Suddenly, all the female mentor characters were no nonsense bad asses with short, dark hair, just like Rukia Kuchiki.  And the entire Shonen genre had become so trendy through Bleach, Naruto, and Death Note, that even Shojo manga-ka were being told by their editors to make a "Shonen series".  Even Watase Yuu, whose series are "all girly all the time" suddenly had a male protagonist series.  That was crazy.  (Especially since the male protagonists still had all the stereotypically "girly" problems.)  And most of all, Soul Eater homaged all 3, Bleach, Naruto, and Death Note.  The manga/anime/Japanese videogame industries ride trends.  I seriously doubt Persona 5 would have had a volleyball character, if Haikyuu hadn't made the sport so popular.  And that's not to mention all the articles I've read about the sudden interest in practicing swordplay, among women in Japan, after Touken Ranbu became popular.  And let's not forget the rekijo (female history geeks) were mostly spurred by manga/anime set in the Sengoku Era.  Anyway, it might be fun to imagine a Hinata type of character in this predictably romantic character set-up.  

There's something weird about this direction in the 2nd half of the episode.  I had really liked it so far.  But that imagery of Fujita being impressed by the dance competition DVD was really jarring.  Now that I think about it, I don't think there was any other imagery that surreal, so far yet in the episode.  I know it's meant to really sell the impact of pro dancing on Fujita, but it was mostly just odd.  The episode so far, hadn't eased me into that much surrealism.  So far, the episode had portrayed all the emotions with very realistic, yet very effective use of minutia, detail, and subtlety.  But that revelation moment's jarring oddness was too distracting to take seriously.  

And now this scene with Fujita saying he wants to sign up for dance lessons, even though he's _thinking_ with absolute certainty, "I can't do this"?  The juxtaposition is too odd.  I feel like the camera work is changing to contrast the Fujita asking for lessons and the Fujita rattling off a list of very realistic reasons why I CAN'T take lessons, to make them seem like 2 different people...But when has this character showed that dichotomy so far during his character set-up?  There was that one moment when he glared at the bullies, but it was very small and very quickly covered up by his submissive personality.  This is just too much contrast at once!  Another jarring contradiction.  

I don't want to be jarred out of this series though.  Everything from the character design to the animation, says that this series will carry a tone of subtlety, a recognition of the significance of the little things...Everything I love about the "slice of life" genre.  But unless that genre sets up very early and very often that it can switch back and forth between squishy chibis and serious scenes, it's all too much to take during the last third of the introductory episode.  I mean, look at all the lines defining each character's eyes and facial expressions!  The sakuga for every pointed toe on the dance floor!  This is the kind of thing that usually gets left in the manga, but doesn't get translated into an anime adaptation.  *o*  Everything about the line work, the lighting, the music (or lack of), the solidly drawn characters with such realistic volume and weight, the set-ups of the scenes are all just so realistic, that when this show does surreal imagery or unbelievable character actions...it just feels unrelated to everything that's been set up so far.  I'm really confused.  ~_~  

I don't know...this is really weird.  I know that the "reluctant teacher" is a time-honored trope since the story of the Daruma's disciple...But is it really fitting to set up this adversity to the protagonist's spirit, when the episode hasn't satisfactorily set-up a determined will for the protagonist?  I don't feel invested in Fujita persisting in The Box, or even dancing in general.  Usually in sports anime, the protagonist's introduction at least establishes his determination, so that during the training, we're cheering for him.  But even Fujita doesn't know what he really wants.  How can we?  Sure, there's been those sequences of him impressed by dance, but there have been a lot MORE scenes of him feeling wishy-washy and not even *that* determined to find something to be passionate about.  The amount of screentime spent on portraying something matters; it determines the emotional impact.  He was doing more sulking than exploring options.  He followed Shizuku to the dance studio _by accident_.  He was just wandering, directionless, and only slightly curious about her.  In fact, the most passionate I've seen Fujita during his initial introduction, was when he saw Shizuku also hadn't decided on her career form in the teacher's office.  He just liked that he had a comrade in his directionless indecision.  I feel like Fujita is motivated more by that fear of being alone at the bottom, more than a fascination with dance---even after that surreal impressed sequence.  

But I understand.  The entire premise of this series is that the protagonist needs to find something to be passionate about.  That dictates that he start out as a character who is listless and directionless.  But did the episode have to spend so much time establishing that listlessness, that it's hard to believe he's suddenly passionate about something, when the episode came to that?  If this were a more typical sports anime about "a protagonist who gets into ballroom dancing because he wants to find *something* to be passionate about", I feel like the protagonist would more typically have been the enthusiastic type, running around, trying anything and everything, for a place to belong.  His lack of passion wouldn't have been a problem, but finding an outlet for that passion would have been the conflict to resolve.  But I see that this series was trying to be different.  By not giving Fujita an inherent drive for anything, despite not knowing what to direct that determination towards, his character arc becomes more focused on finding passion, rather than finding an expression for passion.  Still, maybe that sports manga cliche, became a cliche, because it's just so effective.  ^^;  

I mean, the story *needed* Fujita to start his dancing lessons, so it essentially turned him into someone else, during that scene where he asked to join the dance studio. Someone who would definitely set him on the path into dance. Shouldn't the series have drawn that out longer, so it would have been more believable for him to start dancing?  But, no.  You can just see where the first chapter of the manga was about to end, and they needed to get the plot rolling, ending on that cliffhanger of him being accepting into classes, so readers would look forward to him tackling challenges.  That's just how the weekly manga is structured.  Every week, new first chapters of new manga series are all competing to get a spot in the next month's issue, to continue on as a series.  

Maybe the set-up of this series would have been better served emphasizing portrayals of the joy Fujita should feel at finding any passion or direction in life.  There should have been a series of little struggles and tiny, mundane discoveries of finding a passion---Maybe even spending time defining multiple interpretations of what Passion is.  And you can't tell me that this series wouldn't know how to portray the minute, subtle, everyday things.  That's what it's been doing with every animation of its characters faces and even taking the time to shadow the unique curves of individual characters' facial features.  And this series's tone has been "slice of life" overall, THE genre for portraying the significance in every tiny moment.  If this series had established Fujita by a series of little moments of direction/passion which bring him great joy, then it would have built up to the moment when Dance impressed him.  

Right now I'm not sure why *THIS* character should garner my investment in *THIS* task.  I like this character, but I'm not so sure dancing should be his direction in life.  And yet the story is already moving along, assuming we're already invested.  Please don't do this to me, show.  I already like this character.  Yuri on Ice did the same thing to me, empathizing with the protagonist but losing me on the sport in question.  This can't happen AGAIN so soon.  ~.~;  At least Yuri on Ice kept me invested in the "character study" side of the story.  But who is this Fujita?  Is he the same Fujita that was introduced at the beginning of this episode?  Has the story given me adequate reason to believe in this drastic change in his personality or at least his actions?  I'm just really confused.  

I mean, normally I love these moments when the sports anime protagonist pushes through a wall through sheer determination, but this is Fujita we're talking about?  Where would that determination even come from?  I don't understand how he's such a different---completely different character all of a sudden.  Sure, you can say because he's so impressed by dancing and he's finally found something he wants to be passionate about.  But a jarring, surreal sequence that felt like someone had changed the channel to another series, then a scene where Fujita's actions were COMPLETELY OPPOSITE from what he was thinking AND what he had been narrating all the way up to that point, aren't enough to sell me.  It wasn't effective.  Not emotionally, not logically.  It was someone else.  Who is this???  

I mean the only way this series might get by now, is if Fujita turns out to be some sort of prodigy, like Yui from K-on.  Someone who can keep progressing and performing the thematic activity of the series, even without any logical resolve and determination.  The problem is that Fujita is male.  And that makes him a "Shonen genre" protagonist.  They always have to have that "manly" determination and resolve.  ...But I just don't buy why he's having resolve about dancing.  I just don't buy it yet.  I mean, I love watching it, I love watching these type of "determination pushing through adversity" scenes, that's why I love the Shonen genre.  But there's some real dissonance going on there.  @_@???  

But damn, the direction of this series, when it comes to individual movements is great!  ^o^  

I mean, I love these training cliches, sports anime cliches, and plucky shonen protagonist cliches---I love these themes of determination---but...Does it really fit?  I mean, I paused the episode to get some tea, and when I came back, the training scene with The Box reads well, in and of itself.  But is increasing the effectiveness of a scene by divorcing it from everything else that's been established since the beginning of the episode, of this series, really considered "effective" (storytelling)?  Even Sengoku-san has made a sudden change from altruistic, happy-go-lucky, admirable "manly" guy to abrasive, "reluctant mentor".  This series has some serious character-consistency issues.  o~o  

Maybe this story assumes too much.  It assumes that the viewer is from a culture where there is constant pressure from a young age, to already know your path in life.  Even by junior high, Fujita's grade level, having a completely blank career form is already very late and very concerning.  As discussed in a Mother's Basement video essay about My Hero Academia (https://youtu.be/LmRfmJqE0kM), the pressure of choosing career early in life and the weight of indecision is a visceral, every day, concern in every Japanese youngster's life, from may age 11 to onwards and forever.   I'm sure most Japanese don't need a story to "prove" to them why they should care so much about this character's concern for direction in life.  With the Japanese audience's real life background, they're probably already impatient for him to find his passion and rooting for every second Fujita inches closer towards a passion.  But I'm American.  A story needs to sell those themes to me, needs to make me care, needs to be emotionally effective in establishing those assumptions, so I will be invested in the rest of the story, that his built on those assumptions.  

I'm sorry.  I really like Fujita, Welcome to the Ballroom is beautifully animated and art directed, and I want to look forward to continuing this series.  But I'm kind of indifferent.  *sigh*  

I'm probably still going to get Fujita's Nendoroid though.