#not gonna post any actual movie art for a while this is a spoiler free blog. but it was good !!!!!!!!!!!

[lepitorus]

so that family photo, eh

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 309: Gotta Go My Own Way

Previously on BnHA: Muscular was all “well if it isn’t the protagonist on his solo journey of self-discovery, for some reason I’m unironically glad I get to fight you!” Deku was all “hey Muscular before I finish kicking your ass would you please take a moment to answer these two survey questions? Question one, do you regret being a total piece of shit? And question two, if you could do anything at all in the world other than being a total piece of shit, would you?” Muscular was all, “pfft, no and no.” Deku was all, “thanks buddy, your feedback helps make me a better hero, here’s a coupon for fifteen percent off your next ass-whooping.” Then he whooped his ass.

Today on BnHA: Deku is all “what up All Might can you believe you’ve been here this entire time?” All Might is all “I sure can since that’s literally my catch phrase, anyway how are your magic movie 1 gauntlets holding up?” Deku is all “they’re holding up fine, how are Hawks, Endeavor, and Best Jeanist doing?” Hawks, Endeavor, and Best Jeanist are all “we, your fellow co-conspirators, are also doing fine, thanks for asking!” Flashback!Deku is all “anyway so I secretly have All Might’s quirk and the most dangerous people in the world are after me, so sorry mom but that’s why I’m dropping out of school.” Inko is all “I CAN’T ACCEPT THAT” while totally accepting it. All Might is all “I GUESS WE’LL JUST HAVE TO GO ALONG WITH IT SINCE I DON’T FEEL LIKE TRYING TO STOP HIM.” Hawks, Jeanist, and Endeavor, as previously mentioned, are all “yeah that sounds like a good plan”, and Gran is all “see ya kid, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” So basically everyone in the entire world has suddenly teamed up with Deku to defeat AFO, except for the one person whose entire foreshadowed endgame is “teaming up with Deku to defeat AFO.” O Kacchan where art thou.

dear tumblr image limit: okay look. you don’t like me, and I don’t like you. but just as an experiment, I’m gonna try writing this recap with as few images as possible and we’ll see how it goes

(ETA: spoilers for how it went: it didn’t, lol.)

oh my god WHY ARE WE OPENING WITH MORE KETSUBUTSU ACADEMY KIDS.ffs we’d better at least finally get some Ms. Joke content out of this

(ETA: seriously who do I have to bribe.)

so these two KB kids who no one cares about are watching Deku leap away from the scene after dispatching Muscular. but more importantly wtf is this chapter title omg. “I can’t stay being a child” so that’s how it is huh. we’re gonna have feels and we’re going to like them. well then

oh my god he’s hauling Muscular away dhfksklfkh okay this is gonna have to be our first image because I can’t fucking help myself. look at this

just. Deku is so tiny and he’s carting away this massive unconscious lump of a man like it’s nothing why is this so funny to me. it’s like when people buy furniture, and they don’t want to pay extra for delivery and so they’re like, “I can definitely fit this king-sized mattress in the back of my compact sedan if I fold the fucking seat down, idk.” and they refuse to be talked out of it, and the next thing you know you’re watching them drive home with their open trunk door haphazardly tied down with bungee cords, and somehow it fucking works. because it turns out the compact sedan has super strength

anyway for SOME REASON now Horikoshi is all “have fun with that Deku, meanwhile we now return you to your regularly scheduled SHINDOU CONTENT” whyyyyyy

look at this. we’re really using up a whole fucking entire page on everyone arguing over who gets the honor of carrying Shindou

love how the civilians are all, “shit lol is this actually our fault?? quick, how do we play this off all casual like we were the reasonable parties here all along”

turns out all it took to finally get them to listen was making them watch while a kid got his insides ground into a pulp because of their stupidity!! what a heartwarming conclusion to this little standoff

anyways THANK GOD we’re cutting back to Deku now!! well actually we’re cutting back to Muscular who is being dropped off at the police precinct, good bye and good riddance lol

so Deku’s leaving him there and bounding away and okjdlSKFJLKJDSL OH MY GOD

no fucking way. no fucking way this little jaunt is All Might-sanctioned and approved. are you serious?? then who else is in on this?? what the hell is going on

so All Might is just WAITING FOR HIM IN AN ALLEY FFF WHO ARE YOU, JIM GORDON. or would Alfred be a better analogy here?? but like, Alfred if he ditched the suit for a moto jacket and shades

this new ensemble of All Might’s may or may not severely impact my ability to take this forthcoming conversation seriously; please stand by

also, quite the spectacular landing there, Deku. seriously lol what was that

“HOW ARE YOUR LIMBS” “THANKS TO YOU THEY’RE COMPLETELY FINE” I’M SORRY WHAT

LOL WHAT. “THANKS TO THE POWER OF THESE MAGIC GLOVES” OH I SEE THAT EXPLAINS IT

are these the same gauntlets from the first movie, then? well that’s all well and good, except that now there’s going to be more Deku Discourse than fucking ever lol. so if it’s all the same to you guys, I’m gonna once again go ahead and declare this week’s post a discourse-free zone, at least when it comes to the specific discourse of Deku’s merits as a MC, and the impact that him kicking ass and having working arms has on said merits. this has been something of a low mental energy week for me, so I’d rather reserve the energy I do have for more fun topics, such as All Might’s bitchin’ leather jacket

anyway so All Might’s saying that the gauntlets will help reinforce Deku’s arms, but they can’t withstand OFA at 100%. so basically it’s a support item designed to maintain the status quo lol. we’re basically in the same situation we were before, arm-capability-wise

homg All Might’s getting a call. time to see who else is in on Operation: Deku Alone?? or not so alone for that matter

omg

HI HAWKS, WHERE ARE YOUR WINGS

(ETA: seriously are they really gone for good?? why would he even be back on active duty then?? does he have his own American ex-boyfriend who can hook him up with exclusive support items?? dammit Horikoshi we want answers.)

looks like Jeanist and Endeavor are teaming up as well, just like they said they would. I would gladly follow this trio around all day long tbh

is this the same giant villain from the very first chapter??

looks like it to me, and it would tie in with that callback from the end of chapter 306. we all thought that was Muscular, but maybe it was this guy, and Deku left these three to deal with him while he ran off to take Muscular down

oh my god now Deku is running off again just like that

kids these days

ffffff I have not had nearly enough sleep to follow along with whatever tf Hawks is talking about here sob

like, is he trying to say that All Might is keeping Deku’s whereabouts unknown to anyone except for him?? in order to keep him safe?? but Hawks is pointing out that that’s a bad strategy and probably won’t do shit against AFO and it’s better if he lets Deku work with the rest of them?

(ETA: so @hanashimas​’ translation makes a lot more sense -- it’s not All Might who’s being overprotective, but Deku. in other words he’s trying not to drag All Might into his battles. and in addition Hawks is saying that their strategy is to take the offensive and go after AFO themselves rather than wait for him to come to them. which I’m not too sure about myself, but that’s another topic for another day.)

btw I can’t help thinking how much better this entire conversation would be if All Might was still wearing his sunglasses. put them back on my dude. it’s not too late. embrace your inner badass

DKLJSLDKFJL FLASHBACK ALERT, FUCKING FINALLY

“turns out, we were just trying to scare you straight. fuck lot of good that did though lol”

also what is this. one true love: the hospital bed. is that a scanlator joke or is Horikoshi actually that funny omg

SKLJDFLJLK

ITSA ME!! omg I love this hospital so much. though it’s sure not helping me in my quest to try and keep this post below ten images. I’m already up to eleven haha r.i.p. to me if tumblr doesn’t get its shit together

whaaaaaat, so he’s saying that Deku’s injuries were external (i.e. Tomura beating the shit out of him) rather than internal this time?? whaaaaat. excuse me but that’s some bullshit lmao. believe me, I was there

okay now he’s going on to explain that Deku’s “internal structure” seems to have been protected from the inside and out, and the corresponding panel seems to be implying that using Blackwhip as a brace paid off. huh

and also that his body is just stronger now?? so I guess he’s better able to withstand the quirk after an additional year of training?? I’M NOT SURE IF I BUY ANY OF THIS LOL but I’m willing to suspend my disbelief

OH MY GOD RED ALERT, INKO IS ASKING ALL MIGHT TO EXPLAIN WTAF DEKU’S QUIRK IS, IS IT FINALLY THAT TIME OMGGGG

SO HE’S EXPLAINING IT TO HER OFF-SCREEN, AND INKO IS JUST LIKE

I GUESS THAT’S FAIR LOL. IT’S TRUE INKO I’M SO SORRY, YOUR SON IS A PROGATONIST R.I.P.

AHHKKJH DEKU ANGST IS IT FINALLY THAT TIME OMGGGGGG

what is this soft pop beat that’s suddenly being pumped in over the speakers. I’VE GOT TO MOVE ON~ AND BE WHO~ I~ AM~~~, I JUST DON’T BELONG HERE, I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAAAAAAAND. also, follow-up question, when is Kacchan finally going to come back so he can jump in with the “WHAT ABOUT US~~~” bridge, huh. come the fuck on, Horikoshi

lmao All Might jesus christ

but given that it’s a stupid-ass decision...

anyway, yes!! finally that sweet, sweet “I don’t want to put anyone else in danger” angst!!

mmm that’s good angst Brent. Kacchan with center panel honors as usual, you love to see it. anyways though who do I have to yell at to get Deku a goddamn HUG around here seriously

so Inko is of course reacting with panic, and sensibly saying that she doesn’t approve of Deku’s “RUN AWAY AND FIGHT THE BAD GUYS ALL ON MY OWN, DON’T WORRY MOM I’LL JUST GET STRONGER, EASY AS PIE, IT’S A FOOLPROOF STRATEGY” plan

son of a bitch this manipulative green asshole is really gonna sit here and smile fondly at his mom and try to convince her that he’s Not A Little Kid Anymore. the hell you’re not mister

y'all are really just gonna sit there and let him talk you into this?? surely it can’t be that easy??

OH MY GOD

THE FEELS oh my god oh my god. BUT ALSO YOU’RE SERIOUSLY JUST GOING TO COLLAPSE INTO HIS ARMS SOBBING AND LET HIM DO WHATEVER THE FUCK HE WANTS LKJLJLFK. WHERE ARE ALL THE STRICT PARENTS AT?? AIZAWA, GANG ORCA, MITSUKI, SOMEONE PLEASE COME AND TELL DEKU TO SIT HIS ASS THE FUCK DOWN. NOW LISTEN HERE YOUNG MAN!!

“EVEN IF I TRY TO STOP YOU YOU’LL STILL LEAVE” WELL SURE, IF BY “TRY TO STOP HIM” YOU MEAN POLITELY TRY TO TALK HIM OUT OF IT FOR THREE SECONDS. HE’S SIXTEEN WTF WHEN DID HE BECOME THE BOSS OF YOU ALL. SOMEONE NEEDS TO COME AND TELL HIM HE’S GROUNDED

anyway sob so that’s the story of how Deku talked his parents into letting him drop out of school, and even convinced All Might to be his own personal Guy In The Chair. holy shit. this kid really went and rolled a nat 20 and the rest of them had no choice but to fold without argument

meanwhile here’s a panel of Best Jeanist trying to braid his phone into his hair just cuz

I’m dying to know which part of his language he considers to be crude here. you literally didn’t even use a contraction my guy

so now flashback!Deku is talking to Gran in the dark, and Gran is all “can you believe I’m not fucking dead yet lol that’s too funny. anyway, you sure I can’t interest you in killing Tomura after all?? no?? okay then here’s my cape.” truly a heartwarming scene

I’m kind of torn here tbh. on the one hand, my adhd ass wasn’t all that interested in sitting down and having an extended scene between these two when there’s so much else that I want to get to. but on the other hand, even I can admit that cramming this entire reunion into a single page seems just a BIT rushed. idk. like maybe someone can let Horikoshi know it’s a marathon and not a race. Deku didn’t even get any dialogue here, some of us want to know his thoughts!! but anyway

AND JUST LIKE THAT?!

how did all four of them let him con them into this. I literally just watched it happen and I still can’t figure out how. “I GUESS THIS SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT IS OUR LEADER NOW” ffflfjf. when Aizawa finds out he’s gonna go apeshit. AND DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON BAKUGOU KATSUKI, WHO I HAVE BEEN ASSURED DOES IN FACT STILL EXIST. WHAT ABOUT USSSSS, WHAT ABOUT EVERYTHING WE’VE BEEN THROUGH. WHAT ABOUT TRUST???! YOU KNOW I NEVER WANTED TO HURT YOUUUUU

btw lol don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying this, and I’m honestly glad Deku’s not alone because that would suck for him! but that said, Hawks and Jeanist have lost any credibility they might have once had as far as being The Responsible Ones, and as for All Might and Endeavor, fucking hell lol. everyone just deposited all of their fucks in a bank somewhere for safekeeping and decided to never look back. godspeed you mad lads

[danhoemei]

Tag game

I was tagged by @oddishblossom (but I’m writing from this blog instead of my tagged main @fismoll7secinv , because people rather know me here and maybe won’t be too baffled if I tag them xd)

Rules: tag nine people you want to get to know better.

Favorite color: green 💚💚💚 (which you could probably guess xd)

Currently reading: ghhhh nothing really because after I finished tyk, I’ve been dwelling on it too much to start anything else. I planned to move to other things or watch the drama after I finish my first fic, because I wanted to keep my impression from the book before it gets mixed up with the drama’s, but then I just got repeatedly flooded with more and more ideas for writing and I can’t let gooo. So yeah, I’m kinda into rereading tyk, so may do just that if I have any time to read. And after that I have so many new titles on the list to read, like other priest novels and so many more danmei novels I learnt about since I fully joined this fandom not long ago 💚 So excited about them

Last song: Astronaut by Sir Sly 💚 It's so far my song of 2021 and I even have a song radio with similar songs ajksfnjg

Last movie: I- honestly don’t remember when I last watched a movie and what it was?? I’m this meme

Last series: The Haunting of Hill House (rewatched with a friend) 💚 It’s such a great series, I could rewatch it again. It’s a horror but more focused on the psychology of the characters, their (broken) relationships and family issues running very deep. As the show goes you slowly learn more and more about this family and the story of each member, how they got to where they are now, what they struggle with, and who they were in the past. They are also one of the most complex, diverse, and well played characters I’ve seen. Everything is done in such a beautiful way, from storytelling to setting and even camera work, some scenes are still so vividly stuck in my head. And the music is gorgeous, especially this piece which became one of my fav piano pieces of all time. I freaking just made a post of my live experience because it pretty much says everything (without spoilers). This show took me through so many emotions, very anxious towards the end, but smoothed and untwisted them steadily, ending with a sense of completion and calmness. I felt literal catharsis and was left full of good emotions after experiencing a worthwhile story. I wholeheartedly recommend. But yeah, it’s still a horror with some scary scenes (but mostly in the beginnings, it gets chill towards the end because you learn what’s the deal and know the ‘monsters’). It didn’t scare me but my friend was more jumpy xd

Sweet, savory, or spicy: spicy my beloved. I can’t handle too much sweetness and savory is very much nope (vege go brrr)

Craving: I bet violet and green with a pinch of night sky on top and a smell of white-golden light would taste amazing

Tea or coffee: hard choice because I can’t live without coffee but I would lead an unhappy life without tea

Currently working on: oh boi so many things, so I’m toning it down to only danmei fandom stuff. So there is this fic that I’m slowly working on, I have the whole list of events and a general outline, plus a wip of the next chapter, and it’s gradually gaining more and more details to the point of already being a whole-ass au in my head. There is another fic (this time smut with some wenzhou-typical banters and shenanigans xd) which I had an idea for while still reading tyk, and I decided to commit to it and actually write it, so for now it’s a wip with some outline and a messy intro. Also I have ideas for 3 more drawings connected to this silly art of mine, because I need to meme and it’s gonna become a stupid compilation of a group of clowns lmfao

Tagging: aaa I don’t know many people here, I’ve only recently crawled out of my lurking cave. So feel free to ignore me or let me know if you want me to remove the mention 👉👉

@gaygothfarmer  @wrrinkl  @thaya-wamani  @contraltoviola  @lil-sestra  @nightjar-draws  @verycharismaticdragon  @marsipanart  @a-very-fond-farewell @carriewangxian

[jayjaysocks]

Listing my favorite animes (because I’m jumping on the bandwagon)

❗️⚠️ *spoilers!! (Duh)* ❗️⚠️

5. Deadman Wonderland

I was really really sad when I found out this anime got cancelled. The music was fantastic, the animation was really good, and the voice acting was incredible. Even the fucking dubbed version (I loved the voice they chose for Senji. God he was hilarious). I binged this show so fucking fast it wasn’t even funny. I loved watching the characters go through their own struggles and grow as people in the very small amount of episodes provided. There was a lot of development within the snippet that we actually saw, and I was thoroughly impressed with how well it was done. I wanted to scream or something when I found out there wouldn’t be a second season.

Sigh. Oh well. At least we got some of the manga’s masterpiece translated into a show, even if we were missing some fucking awesome characters.

4. Guilty Crown

Ugh, don’t even get me started. This anime was beautiful and I got so invested so freaking quickly. I literally go back every few years to rewatch it because I get ship starved.

Shu and Inori’s story was so beautifully done; between Shu uncovering his courage and Inori’s journey of self-discovery, I was continuously awe-struck and filled with feelings—I mean, I had never felt such raw emotion while watching something and I was completely blown away by the affect it had on me. Anger, hatred, sadness, it was all there (even for the main character lmao) and it was one of the first times I had ever felt a ship so heavily that I literally cried at the end. It was one of the very first Animes I’d ever seen and was one of the reasons I got such a taste for them. Thanks for throwing me down that rabbit hole, GC.

3. Soul Eater

This was literally the first Anime I’d ever seen, and my god I couldn’t have asked for a better starter. What I like about this one is that it’s style is so unique and different. It’s very punk and grunge, something I admired and appreciated in a genre that is normally the opposite (like Guilty Crown, for example). Also the fight scenes were badass, like holy shit just look at that gif ??? Freaking amazing.

I loved the way the show transitioned from light hearted to intense and adrenaline pumping so effortlessly. That can be said about a lot of shows, but this one went from *haha cute show* to *holy shit, like they’re actually gonna die ohmygod howaretheygoingtosurvivethis* so smoothly I was genuinely surprised. They made one of the main villains actually cool and each character had their own beautifully done arc. I loved and adored how the show solidified and expanded on the different friendships/relationships that were involved—specifically Soul and Maka’s (also, holy shit, Stein’s arc? Fucking prime, dude). There was a lot of growth in each and every friendship (CRONA!!!), and that really pushed the viewer to invest in the individual characters.

I am fucking delighted that this was my first anime, and (though the ending was a little anticlimactic) it remains one of my top favorites to this day. It set the bar pretty fucking high, and for that I am extremely greatful.

No one asked for Soul Eater: Not! It is the unspoken sin of the Soul Eater world (then again, it is called Soul Eater: Not!)

2. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

If you have been following me for a while, then you are no stranger to my love of FMAB. Some of my most popular posts are about this anime, and for good reason.

Unfortunately, I was late to the party. I actually didn’t watch this until last year, but got invested really damn quick. I have a tendency to be extremely picky about the animes that I watch/like (which is why NONE of these shows are that recent), to the point that I will literally research them before I start watching (a bad habit, do not copy me). I have an incomparably hard time finishing a show when I start, because I get bored really quickly, but this was an exception. I started watching and I just... didn’t stop. I spent a straight week watching FMAB, gobbling it up during any small amount free time I could manage, and finished it before I even knew what happened. I wasn’t picky about it, I didn’t research it, I just dove right in and gosh, I was not disappointed.

The subtle romance that was alluded throughout the entire show was super cute, the devotion the brothers had for each other was to die for, and the struggles that each person went through was more than moving. I never once found myself bored while watching, and that’s saying a lot for my adhd ass. I was invested in each and every second of that damn anime and I was never, ever left underwhelmed. That probably had to do with the fact that every. Single. Character. Had a purpose. I’m not even kidding. Every single person contributed to the big fight at the end and that alone is fucking fantastic.

Not to mention ALL the women, every female character, was a badass bitch. None of them were reduced to sex appeal or romantic subplot, they all had real feelings, real arcs and real, unadulterated badassery that I thoroughly admired and appreciated. I could watch this anime over and over again every single month and I wouldn’t get bored. Between the emotional struggle, self discovery, and personal development of each character, I promise you will not see a lack of plot or meaning here. The more you watch, the more you discover and that is not a lie. There are so many layers to its story, which only makes me wish I had watched this sooner.

There is nothing I have to offer in the ways of criticism, and for that I couldn’t be happier. Thank you, Hiromu Arakawa, for such an incredible piece of art. You deserve every bit of love that this manga/anime gets. You go girl.

1. Cowboy Bepop

Holy shit holy shit holy shit this anime is so fucking good and it has been my favorite for so damn long. I have been watching anime for years, and while some of the shows in my list have moved around, this one has yet to be bumped down from the top (and I doubt it ever will). There’s a reason it became such a cult classic.

For starters, the animation. I mean, just look at Spike and the way they animate his fighting (yes I am aware that this gif is from the movie, but that still doesn’t change my point). The sequences in the show/film have been reused in many other shows and for good reason. It’s good, incredible, actually and they make him look so badass with just a few hand movements. I was consistently impressed with the way the fight scenes were portrayed and wasn’t ever left underwhelmed or disappointed (or, for that matter, feeling like they completely over exaggerated/overcompensated the scene with huge close-ups and tons of debris and lights). I loved watching this and my heart was always pounding with every intense interaction. I didn’t feel bored during any of the episodes and always found myself laughing when they cracked a joke—pretty much all of their funny lines hit and that’s saying something, dude.

The show, while having a lighthearted surface, has a heavy meaning that you don’t see at first glance. It’s about dealing with grief and loss, and how the characters themselves accomplished that in different ways. The most prominent quote is the biggest indication of its moral “you’re gonna carry that weight”. Basically: ‘You’ve gotta pick up your baggage, because the world moves on, with or without you’. Or ‘You’re going to carry that weight whether you like it or not, because life keeps going’. When I figured out the show’s actual message, while staring at my ceiling in the long hours of the night, I almost cried. This realization brought something entirely different to the table, a new understanding of the show’s characters and overall essence.

The main characters, all of them, had depth. They had real, palpable depth, and even if you didn’t want to care you found yourself seriously interested in their lives. Each of them had relatively shitty pasts. Faye with her lost memories, Spike with Julia and the people who fucked him over, Jet with his old flame and the ISSP, Ed and her/his father... throughout the entire show we got to see how all of them dealt with these things, whether they wanted to continue on with life or not. The way they portrayed it was engaging, because the characters individual, contrasting journeys weren’t repetitive or one note. The beauty that the show holds so achinging close to its core, the layers of grief that the characters are wrapped in so delicately is almost suffocatingly real—because they’re all different. It’s something you discover when you think on the subject in a deeper light, which is another reason why I enjoy it so much. It has both a surface story and a deeper one. You can either take the show at face value or choose to understand the underlying moral.

This show inspired my very first, thoroughly fleshed out OC, and continues to inspire me to this day. It has contributed to my own personal growth, and has helped push me to continue my art and writing. It is beautifully written, beautifully executed and even though some of the episodes seem like filler, it has never disappointed me. I rewatch it all the time because there’s something so infinitely refreshing about the beauty of this anime, whether it be the way we watch the characters develop or the overall moral it portrays. This show has given us a message that is essentially timeless, it can be ‘carried’ through generation after generation, and still have the same impact—something I absolutely fucking adore.

I owe so much to this anime, including my very own artistic development. I discovered it during a really shitty time in my life and I couldn’t have asked for better timing. I will never tire of the bittersweet message or the thoroughly fucking fantastic animation. Everyone who contributed to this masterpiece deserves love, because it’s seriously fucking gold.

[lavenderek]

i have a thought to express, feel free to scroll past.

i’m gonna discuss rape and sexual abuse in this post. it’s also long because i don’t really have a conclusion, it’s just some thoughts. 

so i was looking into that reality show that facilitated shane dawson’s horrible movie “not cool” and i stumbled across a reddit thread posted by someone who was a fan of his as a preteen. the OP alleged that shane’s content contributed to them developing some serious issues including body dysmorphia and the normalization of sexual behavior involving children. 

some of the comments were in support and agreement, but a large amount of them were like, “where were your parents? it’s not shane’s job to police what you see online. it’s not his fault you were too young for his content.” 

now, shane was well aware from the jump that his fans were mostly kids and teens - he talked about it multiple times - but that’s not what this post is about. this post is about that particular argument, which does not sit well with me.

it reminded me of a couple years ago when i made a very critical post about c*ptive prince. 

pause: i want to make it crystal clear that i am not drawing a comparison between people who like cp and shane dawson. i’m not mad anymore, so i am not making this post making a value judgment on cp or fans of it, positive or negative. 

specifically, i was really bothered by the way cp content was posted and shared with no mention of or reference to the actual material. people were calling it a queer romance. it was a little-known series by a little-known author, so there were no synopses anywhere online, only the summary you’d see on the back of the book. so people would seek out cp thinking it was a romance and be blindsided by the fact that, spoilers, the story is set in a fantasy world where child rape is a major tenet of society. the scenes are explicit, detailed, and many. it’s not a thing that happens once or twice and is a major plot point, it’s a thing that happens multiple times in every chapter and is just kind of a thing that’s going on. if you’ve ever read twilight, i would compare the presence of rape in cp to the presence of rain in twilight.

like, that’s how often it happened, that’s how it was treated. sometimes with indifference, sometimes with a negative opinion, sometimes it caused problems, bella talks about it every two pages. it is a very rapey series. 

and people like, did not want to discuss this. they were like, “the characters decide the rape is bad in the end. and that’s not even what the story is about, it just happens in the story. i don’t know what to tell you.” like... people were not receptive to any kind of conversation about this topic lmfao, it was very touchy. they wanted to acknowledge that rape itself is bad, and then they wanted the subject closed. 

now, why is this a problem? i read the books. there were parts i enjoyed, and there were parts i didn’t enjoy. i’m not gonna reread them, but i’m still game to talk about it. ultimately i wanted to be able to talk about books with a friend of mine, and while i was like, “yikes, this is a lot of rape, was not expecting the volume of rape,” it didn’t occur to me this would be a pervasive issue at all until a different friend of mine happened upon it. this other friend was a rape survivor, and i happened to know she would find this content very upsetting. when she said she was thinking of buying the book, i was like, “halt, you know what happens in it, right?” 

nope! she didn’t. she saw cute fanart and a ficlet on her dash, somebody told her it was a queer romance. nowhere was there any indicator in summaries online or the posts she was seeing that the book would describe a person being drugged and sexually abused. she was pretty relieved that i’d warned her and shaken that that’s what happens in the books lmao. she would never have guessed. the cp fandom was made up of people who loved the main pairing, and they’d talk about them being in love and draw them being in love, and it felt like everybody was just acting like the rape wasn’t even present in the books lmao. 

pause: i didn’t go in the tags. this is not representative of the fandom as a whole. this is just my and my friend’s experience of it as passive internetgoers.

people got uncomfortable and a little defensive if i brought it up. they’d agree to tag for cp, but if you don’t know what cp is about, that isn’t helpful information. like that post that’s like, “waterboarding at guantanamo bay sounds like a lot of fun if you don’t know what either of those things are” lmao. if you don’t know what cp is about, tagging for it just tells you what it’s called. and it very clearly ruined everyone’s fun if i talked about this. 

so that’s what i was mad about, i was mad that i felt as though there was no recourse here, and i was mad because i felt like the cp fandom was the emperor’s new clothes. nobody was acting like it even existed and everybody got uncomfortable if i brought it up, like, i legitimately wondered at some point if i had somehow accidentally read a kinky rewrite of it, that the real version did not have rape in it and nobody knew what i was talking about. i felt like i was going crazy and i got shitty in the middle of the night one time, and wrote that post. 

i ultimately deleted it, so i do not remember how it was worded; but i do recall that it was a venting post, it was not intended to reach a wider audience. i was not trying to convince anyone in that moment, i was just talking shit. so i can bet that it probably came across as very judgmental and unkind. 

i made a bunch of people very angry with that post. somebody got thousands of notes by reblogging with an impassioned smackdown saying basically what those redditors were saying about shane - it’s not their job to police what people see online. it’s not their fault you were unprepared for cp. 

i do not think this is a nuanced enough argument because i do not think it acknowledges that not all content is created equal. 

i even got an anon ask in good faith saying, well, a huge trigger for me is body horror, and people will draw or reblog stuff with body horror in it, and i can’t hold that against them. 

and like, no, you can’t, but body horror is not the same as rape or child sexual abuse. body horror isn’t the same as sex trafficking. right? like those things aren’t comparable in the way that i think the anon was wanting them to be. they were saying that both of these are common triggers that people would want tagged and be unable to move past in media, you know? and i get that, i got what they were saying. 

kind of like that cartoonist who wrote a spooky horror comic a while ago and somebody sent them an ask being like, “that was really scary, you usually post fun comics, this was damaging, unfollowed :/” like obviously a stranger’s fear of spooky things is not something he should be expected to take on on his own blog lmao. i am deeply afraid of ghosts, by the way. 

but according to rainn.org, 1 in 5 women experience rape in their lifetime. 1 in 5 women are not frightened by literal ghosts in their lifetime. 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 7 boys aren’t body horrored. body horror and ghosts aren’t used on a global scale as tools to control and abuse people and they do not have the same connotations of shame, degradation, and control. the things are not the same. 

i don’t have an easy answer. i can’t wave my magic wand and make people not enjoy the rape erotica, nor was that my goal in the first place. i wasn’t clutching my pearls like, “how dare you! do not draw this art! think of the children!” and i don’t know how else i would have solved the problem, aside from having a weird disclaimer under your art of two dudes cuddling that says “warning, these dudes are from a book that’s got several thousand words of explicit rape in it, and i know that, you’re not the only one seeing that,” like that’s a lot and i get it. 

i don’t have an easy answer because there isn’t one. i felt like “well, that’s not my problem” was an easy answer. 

as i get older, the more responsibility i have as an adult online to maintain boundaries between me and minors, for example. i am not responsible for their internet experience and they can’t get mad at me for cussing or writing about gay werewolves on my blog, but i do have to be mindful of that context if i’m interacting with someone online. that’s where the complexity comes in. you can’t wash your hands of the context of the things you say and do online. 

just how to solve these problems, i did not know then and i do not know now. i guess we take it on a case by case basis. 

if you’re curious about shane dawson and his horrible movie, by the way, this guy did a few funny videos about the horrible movie and this guy did a not funny but comprehensive breakdown of shane and his career. 

and i tried to tint my eyebrows for the first time the other day, i have red hair and my eyebrows are darker than my hair for some reason, so i tried to use an eyebrow tint to lift my brows just like, a shade, so be closer to my hair? but in doing this i discovered that my eyebrows are a mixture of red and brown? 

so the red hairs lifted to a sunny orange, and the brown hairs stayed brown. so my eyebrows are fully like, calico right now. boom, orange juice, that’s life

[paladin-andric]

Tag Catchup

Hey there everyone. I’ve gotten a few tag games recently on the backlog, so I’m gonna knock em’ all out in one post. S’ what happens when you’re not on the site for a while. Sorry!

#1: First and Last Tag Game

Rules: Post the current first and last lines of your WIP.

Tagged by @corishadowfang! Thank you very much. I’m excluding context, because it is the finished product.

First:

The dawning sun streamed in through the window of a lavish bedroom.

Last:

“The sun has risen, and its light touches us all.”

These are pretty good, since they’re too vague to give any real spoilers. They’re also great first and last lines for a story.

#2: OC Theme Song Tag Game

Rules: Come up with the name of your OC’s theme song(s), were they to appear in a movie/show/game/etc. and tag one person per OC included! Musically-inclined participants can include how the songs would sound, such as what instruments or vocal parts would be included, but this is not required.

This one’s from @homesteadchronicles! Thank you, this tag’s really interesting!

Alexander: Great Awakening

Senci: Fantasy

Lexius: Journey’s End

Leianna: Holy Work (Atonement)

Wurie: Shoulder To Lean On

Tourthun: The Wounds Within

Razorwing: Burning Heart! The Mighty Razorwing!

Paul: Two Hearts (Alter Ego)

Charles: Mark Of The Beast

Andric: Et Lux In Tenebris

Eignach: A Place To Call Home

Clara: Martyrdom

Aurelio: The Black Soul Hurts No More

Basilrin: Shattered Memories

Julroul: Dance Of The Mad Dragon

Gira: Precious Memories

Helical: Paper Dragon

Ikon: Joy of the Hunt

This is my most comprehensive list of the characters of Blackheart yet. A few remain, but they’re ancillary characters mostly. This list is notable for being the first time where certain characters, including villains, are mentioned! These were on the spot. Some draw from events in the story (Alexander’s is a reference to his character arc, from a flawed and hateful knight still fighting for good, to a courageous hero worthy of his legend), some from character traits (Senci’s innocence and desire to be heroic, Paul’s past as a heartless bounty hunter driving him to help the citizens he put in this hellscape), and some were just really quickly thought up. Razorwing’s fits his overdramatic, super-heroic persona. Andric’s is actually the Latin version of the Bible passage John 1:5, meaning: The Light Shines in Darkness. Probably the coolest one, if I’m being honest.

#3: Last Line Tag

Well, this one might count in #1, but I’m doing the last line I edited.

The last one here is from @writer-candy! Good to hear from you.

It came into being out of nothing, and vanished as quickly as it had manifested. Things remained normal for a moment more, before another flash and an explosion of magic rocked the area. The burst of magic flowed over the knight, and it felt like he was being torn asunder invisible hands pulling his limbs in different directions. There was a great force as he reeled from the impact, teeth chattering and body flying backwards. 

Alexander always seems to be having a rough time. Maybe it’s karma for being a huge jerk for the first quarter of the book.

Well, that’s it! I’ll be dropping a couple tags, more just to say hello than for anything else. If you’re wondering about Blackheart, it’s...still just about done. I’m just waiting on some art and the book cover before I can publish it. Should be out soon, fingers crossed! You’ll be the first to know.

Tagging @lady-redshield-writes, @paper-shield-and-wooden-sword, @sheralynnramsey and @oceanwriter, along with the three taggers. Feel free to do all, any or none of these, whatever floats your boat really.

[spacedragonsxx]

TROS REVIEW (spoilers)

Well...it was better than TLJ and there’s some pros and cons, so I’ll list them below👇👇

Things I didn’t like :

* FORCE ABILITIES

- I already hated force-FaceTiming, now you can apparently teleport objects through force connections??? Ummm yeah no.

-FORCE HEALING HAS ALWAYS BEEN CANON, BUT NOT TO THAT EXTENT WHAT THE KRIFF. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they wouldn’t have done the whole IMPALING KYLO AND THEN HEALING IT COMPLETELY thing😒. Also, it ruins other movies because there are so many instances where this could have been used. And you can say that it’s a new force ability that was discovered by Rey and Kylo (or perhaps Luke? And he taught it to both of them like when Ben was young and when Rey was training) but if that’s the case then, HOW DOES BABY YODA, WHO HAS NO TRAINING OR EVEN CONCEPT OF WHAT THE FORCE IS BC HES A BABY, KNOW HOW TO DO IT!? ok so let’s say that you have to be EXTREMELY powerful in the force to do it. So, we can say Baby Yoda is a clone of Yoda and Rey is the emperor’s granddaughter, ok so they’re really powerful and they can do it. But, why can Kylo (assuming that’s what he did to bring Rey back since both cases are channeling force energy into another being) do it? What makes him anymore powerful than Luke or Anakin? Why couldn’t they do it? Or why couldn’t Yoda do it in the Clone Wars (if Baby Yoda is his clone and obv. Yoda would be strong enough for an ability like this)? Idk the whole thing is very confusing...

- FORCE GHOSTS CANNOT INTERACT WITH THE PHYSICAL WORLD!!!! Whyyyyy would they make any indication otherwise because, once again, it ruins other movies. If force ghosts can hold objects and use the force, then why not help in battles? Is there like a force ghost code that says you can’t help your friends after death so that you don’t interfere with anything involving the way or the force or “destinies”? This just opens more questions and plot holes...why not just keep force ghosts how they were (guides/advisors that were at peace)? Instead, Luke can apparently hold his lightsaber and use the force to pick up his X-Wing. Isn’t he one with the force now? Isn’t he just a part of the flow of the force? imo, he shouldn’t be able to interact/interfere with anything in the physical world besides speaking and appearing to others.

* PLOT HOLES (there were lots of wait how did they do that, why is he here wasn’t he just-, can they do that...Moments. Also the concept of time in this movie is really bad...felt like GoT season 8 with the way they just seemed to be here and then somewhere else within 5 minutes with no real concept of time<<<but then again JJ did have a lot to cram in with this movie due to TLJ not really taking the plot ANYWHERE).

* FAKE DEATHS (too many. That’s all I’m gonna say😂).

* LACK OF LUKE IMPACT

- THIS IS HIS LEGACY. He was hardly in the Sequels and had little impact in them overall. I feel like at the end, he should have had something to do with the Emperor’s death ( my thought would be to have his force ghosts appear behind Rey and help her push back the force lightning since apparently force ghosts can do that now and that way he could have a larger role as a hero in the story and be directly involved in fulfilling his fathers final goal).

* Space Jumping

- I don’t think you should be able to exit hyperspace in the middle of the atmosphere of another planet. Also, doing it that quickly doesn’t make sense as well (once again concept of time/plot holes^^^).

Anyways....negativity is over!! 👇

Things I liked :

* The concept of the plot

-I actually liked what they tried to do with the plot, however it was just very jumpy and forced in your face sometimes (more of an explanation for this point with the points bellow). But I feel like TLJ left this movie with a lot to pick up from soooo...once again, I’m cutting it some slack.

* Sith lore

-OK SO THE THRONE ROOM (which is actually original concept art for the Emperor’s throne) AND SITH HOLOCRON/RELIC THINGS AND THE WHOLE CONCEPT OF THE DARKSIDE WAS VERY COOL.

- It gave more of an idea that the sith were a cult sort of thing it felt very tied to the history of the dark side/sith culture and I liked that a lot.

-gave a more in depth look at palps power👇 and his role in the sequels which ties it to the other trilogies as well.

* Rey/Kylo dynamic

- Not specifically Reylo (though I’ve never had a strong opinion about the ship, and I’m fine with them getting together bc I never really cared about that part) but the concept of: Ben👉🏼born out of light (Leia) but falls to darkness VS. Rey👉🏼 Born out of darkness (Palpatine) but raised in the light. Both are tempted to swing the other way around ( Kylo temped by his parents, Rey, and the force itself to go back to the light and Rey tempted by her grandfather, her need for a legacy/purpose, and Kylo to go towards the Darkness). However, in the end, Darth Vader’s grandson and Emperor Palpatine’s granddaughter (two of the most powerful Sith in history) must unite to destroy the ultimate evil and the darkness once and for all. Plus Ben’s sacrifice for Rey is really the only thing that made that kiss acceptable to me (other wise it would have been forced for fan service imo).

* Palpatine

- I think his broken body hanging from the crane was extremely terrifying (which is a good thing because you’re supposed to FEAR the emperor) and I loved the whole concept of him repairing himself with the life energy of Rey and Ben. His voice even sounded more demonic before he healed himself and I thought that was cool.

-Him being Rey’s grandfather explains A LOT about her abilities and fixes some of the parts of the movie that I didn’t like while watching.

-making him be the one to create Snoke (via cloning as we saw) was good because it shows how Snoke was just a tool he used to orchestrate this entire thing (in a way it fixed the crap pulled by killing him off in TLJ).

* Lightsaber Battles

- Let’s be real, I may not like the Force face timing or teleportation of objects via force connection....BUT that battle where Kylo figures out Rey’s location by breaking the stand Vader’s mask was on was pretty clever and the fight itself was well done.

- THE BATTLE ON THE DEATH STAR WAS VERY COOL (minus the “killing” Kylo part 😒). I liked the pure rage they both had while fighting and the jumping over the waves

* Other small parts I liked :)

-c3po (he was pretty much the comedy in this movie)

-Lando (he wasn’t in it much but they handled his character VERY WELL).

-prequel references (first time the sequels reference the prequels via quotes, lore, voices)

-voices cameos (along with what I said above^, it was REALLY cool to hear TWO animated characters make an appearance: Ahsoka and Kanan. <<<really ties it in to the rest of the franchise and makes everything more connected)

-Leia/Luke flashback (LEIA TRAINED AS A JEDI AND HER LIGHTSABER WAS SO PRETTY JSIDJDJFKFNFKGK). Side note: I was also fine with Leia’s death (she pushed all of the light-sided energy she had into Kylo, which resulted in her death but Ben’s rebirth 🥺).

-Final Scene on Tatooine (as Maul said in Rebels: “It ends where it all began. A desert planet with twin suns) ...ok but why bury the lightsabers :(

So was it the perfect ending to the Skywalker saga? No. But it did the best it could with what it had to work with. Overall, I’m happy I think and I’m just going to leave it at that. Feel free put your own opinions (I’m open to any and love to discuss SW so😂). Also there were a ton of Easter eggs that I plan on making a separate post about (I’ll probably have to watch again before that to see if I missed any)!

[caden]

i feel we should examine the whole idea of “do spoilers matter” or not at a deeper level then ‘people who complain about spoilers are annoying so spoiler warnings are stupid’. like the idea that a lot of you guys seem to have of “if having the plot spoiled ruins the movie for you then the plot wasnt any good anyways” seems sort of... not fully wrong but also underdeveloped to me. like, there are tons and tons and tons of stories that are widely considered to be amazing and have clear artistic merit that you absolutely wouldn’t want spoiled. Like, you wouldnt want to know darth vader was lukes father. you wouldnt want to know bruce willis was a ghost the whole time. For drama to be effective you need tension, and a very very efficient way of keeping the audience engaged is by putting them in a mindset where they’re unsure of what will happen next, or by revealing a game-changing plot twist, or by suddenly putting a character into an unexpected position. It seems totally disingenuous to me to be like ‘well it shouldnt matter to the audience whether or not they get to be surprised by what happens in the film they’re watching’. You can’t honestly believe that to be true. Being able to be surprised by a story is like one of the fundamental draws of good storytelling and probably has been for all of human history. Imagine how much worse US or Get Out or any Shakespeare play would be if you knew exactly where the plot would go before you saw it. I know there’s some research that suggests people actually enjoy stuff more if they already know what will happen but you can cast a lot of doubt on that data-- i think that it indicates more that people are more likely to appreciate a good plot once they understand it more thoroughly, hence why you might like a great movie more the second time you watch it. That doesnt mean there isnt value in the first time, it’s just a different way of viewing it.

All that said, the stuff with people not wanting spoilers for endgame has different wrinkles to it. (dont worry im not about to spoil anything). It can’t all be chalked up to ‘people care super deeply about the characters and plot and the writing is always so unpredictable and engaging that they dont want to know a single thing before going in’. Ive spent a lot of time recently thinking about the way infinity war and endgame are constructed, and they’re made in such a way that REALLY facilitates them being ‘spoiled’. because they’re written around moments. The plot isn’t so much a naturally moving thing with motivations and momentum of its own as much as a connective tissue between various cool things happening. Like, whoa, spider-man just met the guardians of the galaxy. oh sick, theyre in wakanda. holy shit, half of them died. Endgame goes REAAAAAALLY hard on this style of writing. And as a method of milking emotion from the audience, it really really works. Assuming the moments themselves are all effective, you’re guaranteeing constant engagement because every three minutes another epic thing is gonna happen. And I think when people fault marvel fans for being obsessed with spoiler warnings, this style of filmmaking is really what they’re trying to critique. because there’s a suggestion that if your movie is just jumping from crazy twist to shocking death to funny reference to epic fight, you’re losing the thing that should actually be the connective tissue of a film-- its themes, character arcs, ideas, setting... etc. And while I personally don’t think those things are mutually exclusive, (bc i do believe that infinity war and endgame genuinely have themes they try to discuss), i would also agree with the argument that reliance on shocking moments over actual ideas is bad writing. But as I mentioned earlier, a filmmaker like Jordan Peele whose works are generally agreed to be very good also uses this writing style-- his plots escalate via twists and turns and are expertly constructed to keep the audience wondering what’ll happen next, and he does a really great job with it. 

Now, i DEFINITELY think there’s an argument for ‘disney intentionally plays up the spoiler warning angle in a way that’s ultimately toxic to the filmmaking process’. Like I don’t believe that the “tom holland doesnt get to read the script” stuff is true, I 100% think it’s all a publicity stunt-- but they shouldnt be setting a precedent that makes people think doing something like that to a lead actor is acceptable. It’s not how films should be made, and the only reason I’m sure its all fake is because I have enough filmmaking experience to know itd literally be impossible to efficiently shoot a big-budget film under those conditions. Of course all the buzz about endgame spoilers is HUGELY beneficial to their marketing teams, so obviously they’re gonna go hard as hell on enforcing that narrative. Like they 100% WANT everyone to both be spoiling the movie and getting anxious about having the movie spoiled, because its all free advertising for them. But in terms of ‘big movie studios having greedy practices that harmfully affect the artistic process and make their films worse’, its incredibly low on the list of bad stuff that studios do imo. 

So, like, if you’re gonna critique all the various aspects of that, I think you should A) put your efforts towards exposing all the spoiler panic through the lens of how it affects the way that films are produced and consumed, or B) put your efforts towards analyzing the media itself, watch the film and ask ‘is this film more engaging and well-made because of its reliance on moments that can be spoiled? If no, why is that not working? If yes, is that engagement coming at a cost or is it justified? Essentially, I’d like to feel that the criticism was either coming from a social angle or an artistic one. And if that were the case I think i’d have less of an issue with it. Just saying “people are dumb for caring about spoilers” is silly. Maybe it’s dumb, but that’s not the point. People will consume media however they want to and if they want to care about spoilers then they have a right to care. You guys aren’t wrong if you think marvel shit is stupid and badly made, because art is subjective and no opinion on it is wrong. But other people also aren’t wrong for liking and caring about it, and being like ‘we should spoil it for them to teach them a lesson” is gross and totally unproductive. I know 99% of it is jokes but you gotta remember that some people have spent a very long time being very excited to see this movie and doing something that wrecks that for them is just mean and inconsiderate. It’s not about whether them feeling that way is stupid or not, because yeah, it’s stupid to be that invested in superhero movies. It’s about it not being cool to intentionally hurt someone just because you can. And the reason i don’t have a lot of tolerance for it is because I feel like saying “caring about spoilers is stupid” is a kneejerk, surface level attempt at media criticism and we can do better. I obviously care pretty deeply about the way we consume and criticize pop culture and i think it’s in everyone’s benefit to have more productive discourse about this stuff. No ill will towards my friends who are saying the things that i’m ragging on, i obviously don’t think it’s coming from a malicious place or anything-- this is just my read on the situation. Was gonna post this like two days ago but then decided someone would prob message me a spoiler because of it lol

[honeylikewords]

Gimme your thoughts about Us, I’m still dumb af - You know who it be

I’m putting off an essay to write this but let’s ROCK and ROLL, BABY!

So, spoilers below the cut, just as a warning for anyone who still wants to see Us (2019), dir. Jordan Peele. If you’re unable to see the movie for whatever reason, you can feel free to read this and garner some ideas from it, but I still suggest seeing the film, in the end. A lot of this won’t make sense unless you’ve seen Us!

I normally don’t go out for too much horror, but I do think the Jordan Peele movies are legitimately great works of art, and very culturally relevant, so if you want to be supportive of black artists, black art, and the vocalization of the black experience, I highly suggest going to see these movies or watching them at home. 

They’re not actually overly violent or exploitative, and understanding that the violence in the films is meant to be metaphorical for the systemic violence perpetrated against oppressed groups helps to contextualize the stuff you do end up seeing. So, without further ado, let’s get into some Thoughts about some Cinema.

So, first of all, I have to say that I haven’t stopped thinking about this movie since I saw it at, like, 5:30 pm on Sunday. It’s been on my mind non-stop, and I’ve been fixated on the soundtrack, particularly “Anthem” and “Pas de Deux”, along with the “Tethered Remix” of “I Got Five On It”. I love the intentionally jarring combination of sounds, and how “Anthem” is directly reflective of the idea of the “U.S. Anthem”. “Us Anthem”. 

Jordan himself has been very open about the fact that the title Us is meant to also represent “U.S.”, and when Red is asked “what she is” and she rasps out “We’re Americans” it just... stuck with me. 

The nonsense-singing of “Anthem”, too, fixates me, since the scorer for the film has talked about how it’s the “voices of the Tethered”, and how they’re “angry” and “ready to get free”. We know that the Tethered cannot speak, which is a major and interesting facet of their life, to me, since they’re never given “a voice” beyond this kind of animal screaming and groaning. 

It’s what makes a lot of viewers see them as “sub-human”, but always gets to my heart and makes me think about the fact that they are so very keenly human. It makes me think about the repression of “lesser” languages, native languages, “non-verbal” languages. The Tethered DO have a means of communication-- clicks and rasps, cries and screams-- which definitely do pull at the human fear of “unnatural” noises, but also remind me of native languages that utilize clicks or throat sounds often not found in English. 

The Tethered are deeply, intimately human. While it is mentioned by Red that two bodies cannot share the one soul, that doesn’t mean to me that the other is soulless. I really don’t think that about the Tethered. I think that they are their own people, and that their rising proves that. They’re not hollow machines that just mimic their “original” on the surface, but are just people with their own souls, people who have been wrongly oppressed and mistreated.

Us is openly a discussion about the way we, as people and as Americans, treat “others”. Whether that means the racial other, the cultural other, the class other, the gendered other, or anything other system we try to dichotomize, binarize, or diametrically oppose to something else, it’s very definitely about the ways we abuse and mistreat people in order to systemically oppress them and gain from that.

Adelaide represents this interesting kind of class-traitor, in a way, because she rises “above the others”, both literally and figuratively, and instead of making an effort to free those around her, she just rises to the top and forgets where she came from. Whether that’s about assimilating into white culture and “rejecting” the culture one came from (joining in the oppression of your own people by claiming to ‘not be one of those kinds’) or about rising to a wealthy position and oppressing the poor, forgetting what it was like to be poor one’s self, or about any number of other things, that’s up for interpretation. But the issue is still there.

Jordan intentionally left the specific meaning of the film open so that every viewer would be forced to engage with it personally. Who do you, personally, help to betray? Who do you, personally, help to oppress? Whose suffering do you, personally, benefit from? You’re forced to grapple with that, and forced to acknowledge the reality that every single one of us is part of the issue. You only climb higher by putting someone below you, and this movie forces you to recognize that. 

I’ve heard people complaining that Us isn’t as good as Get Out specifically because it’s more open-ended, but I think that’s what makes both films fantastic and beautiful. Get Out brazenly exposes the direct experience of everyday black horror, and is completely open about it. It’s a one-to-one analogy. But Us is for everyone, making you wrestle with yourself. You are your own Tethered. You are the good and the bad of yourself. And neither one is fully good and neither one is fully bad. Get Out was a master-class in analogy, but Us is more of a metaphor; it doesn’t need to have everything laid out. Its horror and its beauty lay inside of its intentional cloudiness.

I’m really obsessed with the rabbit imagery, too. I love bunnies, and seeing them become symbolic of this horror really was an interesting take. Jordan himself has expressed being uncomfortable with and scared of rabbits, specifically because he can see that they’re “soulless” inside; he says that if you took the brain of a rabbit and put it in a person, you’d get Michael Myers. Totally void, just ready to hurt. And I think that’s an interesting take on them. He also points out that the image of rabbit ears, the shape of their head, mirrors the shape of the scissors that the Tethereds use.

I also love the way that rabbits are largely docile little creatures, but can bite pretty hard if provoked, and I feel that’s a good way to look at the Tethered. I don’t see them as inherently evil or violent, just pushed beyond their own limitations. They did what we all did as Americans: they led a violent uprising against their oppressors, then ‘peacefully’ took their place, all the way across America. They are us, for better, for worse. 

The choice to use the 80′s references really often also caught my attention; Jordan talks about how the 80′s nostalgia is this double-edged sword, since everyone is longing to go back, but not realizing the costs and weights of that, the evil lurking under the placidity and “wholesome American image” that the 80′s sought to project.

The all-American, apple pie, small-town fun and games of the 80′s also came with the Reagan administration, the AIDs crisis, the war on drugs, a massive rift between the rich and the poor (with a steadily more wealthy middle class expanding from just middle class into rich, upper middle class individuals and extremely poor lower middle class), and “sublimated racism”. We pretended, as a nation, that we were now post-racial, but that was such, such, such a huge lie.

So setting the memory scenes in the 80′s, using 80′s film references, 80′s imagery, 80′s sound-a-likes, the Michael Jackson stuff: it all points to the duality of what we love, what we are nostalgic for. Michael was a hero of the 80′s, but now... 

Speaking of Michael Jackson, notice carefully the costuming of the Tethereds. Red jumpsuit, single glove, ‘the monster is not what it seems’, the “Thriller” t-shirt... why, Jordan, one might think that you made the Tethereds look like Michael in “Thriller”!

Which he obviously did, guh-doy.

I mean, the glove/sharp symbol also is an homage to good ol’ shithead Freddy Krueger, too, but it’s definitely a potent nod to Michael Jackson. We know that Adelaide (now Red) had seen the “Thriller” video as a child, and that she wanted the shirt with him on it, so the image of the Tethered is this combination between the Hands Across America symbols and the Michael Jackson look in “Thriller”. Adelaide (now Red) never forgot. 

Also, god, Hands Across America? Talk about 80′s false optimism! It’s incredible how potent that image is for the issue being discussed. For those of you who don’t know, Hands Across America was an initiative in the 80′s to help end hunger and homelessness in America. The idea was that every person in America would join hands and form a line “from sea to shining sea” across the entire lower 48 continental states, and for each person in line, $10 dollars would be donated to the cause.

The event, of course, failed in many ways. First, there’s no POSSIBLE way for people to join hands across the whole continent; the terrain of the US makes it entirely impossible. Plus, the time necessary to conduct that would be incredibly exhausting for people standing in line! But what’s worse? The project did successfully raise ~$34 million, but nearly $20 million of that disappeared into “event costs”: paying the celebrities that endorsed it, paying the event organizers, et cetera. Only around $15 millions made it to the homeless and hungry. While $15 mil. is no small number, that’s.... less than half of what was raised. So where did all that go? Into the pockets of the already rich. It’s such powerful symbolism, especially within the context of the film.

Oh, also, while still on the 80′s talk, the opening shot of the film features a VHS copy of the movie C.H.U.D., a movie about “sub-human underground sewer dwellers” who rose up to eat the surface humans. These “CHUDs” were one-to-one analogies for the homeless and impoverished.

I cannot get over how strong the storytelling is in Us, I just can’t. I’m obsessed with it. I cannot help but wanna talk about it all the time! It’s so GOOD and I’m so FRUSTRATED that I’m gonna cut myself off here to stop from ranting about every teeny tiny thing and every big major thing because no one will know what I’m on about, but, seriously, do yourselves a favor and go see Us. 

This movie will make you have to sit down and think about whose suffering you’ve benefited from, and what you need to do within yourself to change this.

Also, before I go, I just gotta say I love, love, love the decision Jordan made about having the 1980s version of the hall of mirrors be “Native American” themed, only to have that “politically corrected” in the 2010s to be “Merlin’s Hall Of Mirrors”, which is just a facade thrown up over a still-racist, exactly the same hall of mirrors. The problem lurks within, never gone, just covered.

Also, that ties to the Kubrick connection (The Shining is a major inspiration for Jordan) and the genocide connection, so, uh, it’s deep out here, lads.

Anyway, I have opinions about movies.

[comicteaparty]

February 11th-February 17th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from February 11th, 2019 to February 17th, 2019.  The chat focused on Sombulus by Christina Major.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Sombulus by Christina Major~! (http://www.sombulus.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PST), so keep checking back for more! You have until February 17th to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 3. What do you think caused Rana, Astyr, and Sydney to wind up bound all together since Astyr didn’t do it on purpose? Do you believe the trio will be able to become unbounded? How might this affect their relationships?

QUESTION 4. Who exactly are Hannah and Vuudo working for? Why are the two so intent in spying on Astyr? Further, what about Kazar? What spying activity is Kazar doing and why was Yanell’s presence of interest to her? How will these spying activities affect the main trio?

Delphina

It's my comic! I'm so excited!

khkddn

I have not started reading yet but I wanted to say the website looks really nice. The archive is so neat looking!!

Delphina

Thanks! I know the archive is long, so having a nice-looking archive page that would be helpful for seeing where you left off was important to me. XD

varethane

I think Sydney is my favourite, but that is liable to change at any minute cuz I like Astyr and Rana and Tenge a lot too lol

kayotics

1. I think I like lot of the more recent scenes the best. I really like the emotional depth that's happening between the main characters, specifically Astyr and Sydney. The scenes where Sydney was actively working with Astyr are some of my favorite, just because it shows a lot of character growth. 2. I like Tenge a lot (I'm a sucker for nerds), but I think I like Astyr and Sydney the best! Mostly I like their dynamic and the emotional development that has started between them. Overall, the cast is really fun because they all have something unique about them. 3. I don't really have much speculation on how they became bound together, but I do think that they're going to eventually become unbound from each other, but I think that at least Rana will choose to stay with Astyr after becoming unbound. 4. Again, I haven't speculated too much on who they work for, but my guess on why they're intent on following around Astyr is he's caused some sort of significant disruption in magic before (it seems that he does that frequently enough), or he's important in some sort of larger plot that he's not aware of.

keii4ii

Can I just say I love the main trio a lot + Tenge? Also, I'm entertaining a vague AU idea about half-ascended Astyr with one blue eye.

kayotics

Oooh I like that AU

Delphina

He looks like that guy from My Hero Academia XDDD

kayotics

huh, you're right

RebelVampire

QUESTION 5. Do you believe that Tenge will destroy his own Morphid father? If not, what do you think he’ll do alternatively? Whether he does it or not, how do you think further contact with his father will affect him? What about his relationship with Astyr?

RebelVampire

1) its hard to pick so im picking two. the first one is the scene where sydney is confronted with the fact not all demshull can do magic. i felt at that point in the comic thered been a lot of build up for sydney being confronted with her own racism, and i felt that moment was a great pay off. especially cause sydney's facial expressions in the moment are just fantastic and like she got hit with a ton of bricks. for the second fave scene though, the one where astyr and sydney first meet rana and rana discovers that basically her life is a lie. there was something fantastic in the pacing and atmosphere that really drove home the fact that this was a life changing moment for rana. 2) Astyr. I like how Astyr is sort of this gray character where he's not terrible yet he causes lots of property damage that makes you think Sydney is kind of right about him. And I really just like this complicated dynamic cause it makes you feel unsure about whether to trust him or not. I also love though that deep down hes willing to risk a lot of people he cares about. 3) i actually think it was rana who bound them all, not astyr. theres one moment where rana is looking off into the distance getting internally emotional and then suddenly the alarm about essence going off triggers. and rana is shown to basically be kind of weird where thats concerned, so i think she inadvertantly bound them so she could leave with them. Regardless, I consider it inevitable that they'll become unbounded. While Rana and Astyr will probably be fine, Sydney I think is gonna be most affected. Cause at that point she's either going have to destroy the friendship or admit that Astyr isn't so bad. I assume she'll choose the latter after all the build up, but itll certainly strengthen the relationships since the relationships will have to become by choice and not force.

4) i actually think hannah and vuudo are working for whoever organized the experiments all the half-bred children were part of. cause hannah seems like the type whod do that. so obviously if that's the case, that's why theyre watching astyr. hes their favorite experiment kid and maybe someday hell do something useful. as for kazar, idk. at the moment it just feels like kazar is just doing generic spying, possibly charged with making sure there's no peace to be made (hence why yanell is of interest to her). As for the effect of hte main trio, I think theyre just gonna become public enemy number one for both groups for various reasons, cause theyre clearly super powered weirdos who know too much and should be stopped. 5) I don't think Tenge will go through with it. He'll certainly try, but I think Astyr's pleas are gonna haunt him and he'll hesitate wondering if there is some merit to his father. However, I kind of think Tenge will banish him and still not talk to him. Overall, I think Tenge is gonna start questioning his place in life more. Wonder why he continues when he has to hide out avoiding everyone. As for his relationship with Astyr, eh, it'll probably continue to just be strained cause Astyr has bigger fish to fry right now I think.

Stefan G

@Delphina I have to take additional time to read more comics ... but the first impression is [beautiful cartoons/drawing] ... and the website looks really nice [like how you added a store, archive and how to support your art - good job ... I might steal that ] ... did you code that website yourself or do you hire somebody to do that?

Delphina

Thanks so much! My coder buddy Kemayo built me a very simple webcomic CMS, and the store functionality is powered by Gumroad, but all the HTML/CSS was done by me!

lomcia (princess_lom)

1. DETAILS! It's the best detailed page, colors are nice for eye

2. I don't have yet fav character.... but for now Brendolyn looks ok

And I read it and I need to say, that seeing how your style changed make me impress. I got a question actually, everyone got move to do comic because of some event, movie, game etc. a] Who/what inspired you to do that comic? (I'm asking everyone that question, I just want and need to know!) b] What you feel now, when you look on your comic, how characters develop and how your style improved?

Delphina

Thanks so much! I really had a lot of fun with the colors in this whole scene, so I'm happy you like them! For me: a) Sombulus was a NaNoMango project (like a NaNoWriMo community except for comics) that I started when I was putting off what I thought was going to be my bigger, better story. The main trio of characters and the idea of world-hopping to lots of weird magical places just wouldn't leave me alone. The shape of it has changed a lot, but I'm really happy with where it's gone and it's exciting to be dropping some of the big big spoilers I've had in my head for years! b) I'm going through a lot of Act 3 right now preparing things for print, so I've been staring at pages I did 5 years ago a lot recently. Part of how I designed Sombulus was because I knew it would take a long time, I wanted to incorporate the idea of each world being in a different style. When I didn't have a lot of practice, it was much easier to get the story going in black/white until I got faster at art, but it's also nice to have a built in reason to try different software and brushes. Of course, there's a lot of loose and sloppy anatomy in the past, but I'm the kind of person who really values seeing that as a sign of growth so I'm trying not to update that much and just focus on making parts of the story clearer and more supportive of where it eventually went.

(I know this chat is specifically focused on the comic of the week, so if you want answers from people who aren't me, you might want to ask in #general maybe!)

lomcia (princess_lom)

Yeah, I asked, not everyone is answering, so I'm using week and thirsday bookclub to ask

rae

Nanomango is super good at giving people a kick in the ass for projects. You've done really good with getting it off the ground

Delphina

Thanks, Rae, it's been... whew... a while! Nanomango is a good little group project, though now that I've been at this comic for 9 years, I really think trying to do 30 pages in 30 days (even as sketches) was never going to work for me, and it's never fun to feel like you've failed to meet a goal. But one thing that I think was really good for me was participating year after year gave me sort of a drafting process? Letting what I had done stew and simmer for a few months let me see everything with fresh eyes when I came back, so I could come back the next time and focus on the parts I wanted and cut the parts that didn't seem like good directions anymore.

rae

i feel like it was easier to do 30 comics with the community we had

and yeah, editing is def a thing I wish I could do more for webcomics. >_>

RebelVampire

QUESTION 6. Who or what do you think Rana is? Why was Rana locked away in the Library? What does all this potentially have to do with Rana’s strange abilities that seem to have some ill affects on magic? How will Rana’s abilities affect the group further?

keii4ii

I don't have theories because I'm the type of the reader who just wants to see the answers as they come, but I wanna say I am super curious about this #6.

kayotics

I read the same way, but yeah I’ve been curious about Rana too. Considering some of the recent pages have shown that Sydney has a very strange origin story, it might be safe to assume that Rana is the same. I like that Rana seems to often get the group out of trouble too. Rana has a lot of mystery around her that makes me intrigued to see what the full extent of her abilities are, since I think there’s a lot more to her

Delphina

Rana is so problematic because I love coming up with ideas for her, but it also means I gotta find a million references for gadgets and machines to draw scenes where she does cool things.

kayotics

Rana, the problematic fav

Kezhound - What it Takes

Considering we just found out that Sydney is the daughter of a spear and a magic spring, I'm guessing whatever Rana is, it's a kind of spontaneous creation too. Maybe she's the result of a computer dropped into a magic volcano

it's always possible she IS a machine from another world, one so advanced no one can figure her out

but...have we ever seen her bleed? Or injured?

https://tenor.com/view/arnold-schwarzenegger-blood-leaf-flannel-shirt-gif-3519051

Delphina

I am so here for the Compucano ship

varethane

omg

RebelVampire

QUESTION 7. What do you think happened in the past that ruined Yanell’s peace talk progress? Do you believe that the Kanites and Demshul will continue their fear-mongering ways, or will Yanell advance peace again? What is your reasoning?

RebelVampire

@Kezhound - What it Takes I love this Rana is a machine theory. That is so far from something I would guess, yet would love to see be true to a degree. It fits with all the symptoms.

RebelVampire

6) I think Rana is some mega essence container or something. Like connected to the origin of it all or something like that. It adds up to me why Morphids are so super affected by her presence and why she'd be locked up in the library. You don't just leave your essence power house unattended. You lock them away where they can be "safe." As for future affects, I mean I figure at some point someone somewhere is gonna be like "Hey wait a second weird magic stuff? Isn't that the person we locked in the library?" And then more manhunts ensue. 7) I'm taking a stab in the dark and saying I think it's direct sabotage. Like Yanell's disappearance and entrapement wasn't just happen stance. There is a shadow puppet somewhere making sure that no peace will ever be had. I do think they'll get to peace though. Mostly because I'm an optimist and assume peace will prevail. And also because their entire conflict seems to be based more around fear mongering than actual things they should be that mad about.

Cheshire777

I think that Hannah and Vuudo are working for whoever is messing up Yannell's peace treatys; they're pretty much the only wild cards at this point besides the morphids.

RebelVampire

(the archive for Offshore Comic is now up! https://comicteaparty.com/post/182818407550/february-4th-february-10th-2019-ctp-archive @Stefan G )

so basically its all a giant conspiracy because ppl be hating on peace? O_O @Cheshire777

Stefan G

@RebelVampire Thanks for everything, RebelVampire ... 1) really enjoyed everyone’s comments and suggestions for Offshore. Thanks y’all 2) I also rewrote/fixed the js-code on my website [www.offshorecomic.com] ... now the strips flow smoother and I added a counter in order to better follow your progression. Check it out

Cheshire777

@RebelVampire I'm guessing that the "Big Bad Boss" has some ulterior motive/motives besides just indefinitely extending the war, whether the war is a side effect or that they will profit directly from it (I've just been reading back through the old Akatsuki storyline of Naruto) I have no guess.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 8. Given what’s shown of Astyr’s past, what do you think the experimenters were attempting to do? Why were they targeting half-breed children like Astyr, Cioara, and Tenge? What was their ultimate goal having Astyr explore the Weave?

RebelVampire

8) I feel like theres some power source theyre searching for in the Weave. Maybe a person, maybe just a thing, but they need someone super good at exploring the Weave to find it. I cant fathom why though, albeit i doubt it's anything good. As for why half-breeds, I think it's because they have a different sort of connection with essence and the Weave. Like we've already seen how Rana's strange relationship with essence affects Cioara, and i dont think that's entirely on Rana. I think it's just who Cioara's own strange relationship with it too since plenty of others interact with Rana fine. Either way, I think the experimenters are just trying to figure out if their atypical nature has practical uses for stuff like that.

Cheshire777

8. I think that they were probably recruiting/kidnapping anyone with odd powers, and those three just happened to be half breeds. I think that they briefly refered to other compounds? As for what they are looking for, at this point it could be a whole lot of different things, but a magic/essence/mana/etc store is quite likely.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 9. Do you believe that Astyr and Sydney will be able to successfully restore Sydney’s physical form? How might the ordeal change their relationship? How might it also change Sydney’s views on Demshul in general?

Cheshire777

They probably will, it has been established that Sydney is dissolving: a) Sydney is one of the main characters. b) we're right in the middle of finding out her backstory. She is finding reality at odds with her brainwashing (mosty through experiencing Astyr's memorys) and will have to come to terms with that.

snuffysam

1) act 3. acts 1 & 2 I was like "essence? jumping between worlds? currency? what the heck is going on?". act 3 was like "ohhhh i get what this comic is. it's a bread comic." and i love it.(edited)

2) the combo of vuudo and hannah. something about the way our heroes just keep falling for their lies, the pairing of hannah's planning and vuudo's acting... i just love them.

snuffysam

3) my interpretation is that binding is just something that happens when a demshul tries to bring someone world-hopping. since astyr is inexperienced, he goofed up and brought sydney along for the ride.

snuffysam

4) hannah's doing a truman show starring astyr. no further explanation needed. for kazar, I'm guessing she's just working for the government as a spy in general.

looking at #5, i'm wondering... is tenge & ciora's father a morphid, or the morphid? morphids seem to endlessly divide, and neither tenge nor the morphids seem to have a "hive mind". is it possible that there's just one morphid, and it happens to be in a lot of places at once?

Cheshire777

@snuffysam From what I've observed so far, the Morphid (and Tenge's) multiplication works vaguely like Naruto's shadow clones- when they split all of them have the same base memorys, they have separate experiences and basically act like different people (that are clones of each other ), and when they "regroup" the single has all the experiences of the doubles.(edited)

snuffysam

which would explain why astyr could say something along the lines of "oh, you're one of the ones that recognizes me"

RebelVampire

QUESTION 10. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

RebelVampire

i assume theyre a single being, but tbf i dont discount the possibility theres multiple morphid originals. in the sense that there were multiple "original" people who split into morphids. just cause it still fits with astyr saying one of the ones that recognize me. cause i highly doubt if theres multiple originals they know whose morphid is whos. again tho, just not discounting the possibility. i do get more of the sense that they were once a single entity.

9) yes because narratively i cant forsee the comic semi-killing off a main character quite yet. and sydney has unresolved matters as well, like her meeting with her old mentor and such. idk if the experience will change her view on demshul, but i think shell come to terms that astyr has some inner demons, is a weirdo, but also has a good heart. and that he isnt out to see sydney's demise. 10) im looking forward to more of everything. i wanna see all the inner turmoils, and i especially want to find more hints as to what the deal with rana is. cause astyr and sydney dont seem to care much rana is a weirdo outside of when she doesnt eat, so i will care enough for the both of them.

Delphina

I just want to thank you all for reading Sombulus! I know it's got... several pages, so I really appreciate folks who make it through everything, and such amazing thoughtful questions and responses!

keii4ii

My brain is a mush right now and I can't articulate my feels thoughtfully, but I really want to say Sombulus updates really help brighten my day, every time. I always look forward new pages and am glad it updates twice a week

Delphina

(Also this discussion made me draw Tenge as Naruto. Poor guy, I torture him so.)

snuffysam

before the chat ends, I just wanted to say that I really love sombulus, and I can't wait to see where it goes next!

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Sombulus this week! Please also give a special thank you to Christina Major for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Sombulus, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://www.sombulus.com/

Christina Major’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Delphina

Christina Major’s Store: http://www.sombulus.com/store

Christina Major’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Delphina2k

[smdarling]

Re:This Blog and Spoilers

My personal policy when a new MCU movie is gearing up and coming out for tagging/blacklisting purposes (not tagging this post so anyone that could possibly benefit from it will definitely see it ha press J now if you don’t care):

TLDR:  Anything Infinity War related that has new content (released today- on) that I cannot resist reblogging OMG will be tagged Infinity War and Infinity War Spoilers. But that will be very limited, not even fan art. Unless I majorly fuck up, I intend to keep this blog 97%+ free of new Infinity Wars content from now, April 7 (minus fic recs, but those would be tagged and you’d have to click on the link and read the fic to get spoiled) til at least the beginning of June, and until Ant-Man and The Wasp I will do my damnedest to tag 100% for spoilers.

Joking speculation (I don’t do serious speculation) will be tagged (although I’m still gonna cry) if you don’t even wanna see that.

I try very hard NOT to reblog anything spoilery in the lead up (so like I’ve reblogged the initial trailers and fan art related to them, and the character posters, and joking speculation but I’m 90% sure I haven’t reblogged any serious speculation which will continue), and now - with the new thing that came out today, and when the movie itself comes out - I basically don’t reblog ANYTHING with new stuff for Quite A While. (think until next movie comes out, some exceptions are fic recs but I try to tag )

(I’m only now starting to reblog Black Panther fan art that has anything spoiler-y, and other Black Panther stuff I still mostly don’t reblog but when I do I still tag “Black Panther spoilers”. As soon as I see Infinity War, btw, I will reblog Black Panther under “fandom nonsense” and “fan art” without apology.)

I’m gonna probably write a post once I see Infinity War that’s gonna be mostly OMG SCREAMING THE THING AND THE THING???!!! Not actually elaborating on The Things and an open invitation for people to scream at me via messaging or in my ask box. If my brain is still functioning enough I’ll tag that too, but there won’t be actual spoilers. 

[askjonfreeman]

JUSTICE LEAGUE (mostly) SPOILER FREE REVIEW

jumping back into this business of posting reviews.  I'm gonna focus more on single page bits. TL;DR = It's a pretty good movie.  Find the rung on the ladder that's labeled "good movie" and place this one on the rung just below it. While you won't mind actually seeing it, it's not exactly one to whole-heartedly recommend to people (hence the super weak 91mil domestic opener on a film with a 300-ish mil budget) How does it compare to BvS? - BvS is a total train wreck you can't look away from. - JL is a car crash that you can walk away from and still laugh about. ... micro spoilers ahead.  be ye warned ... OVERVIEW Snyder started off with a 3 hour brood-fest marathon, then was forced to reshoot a lot of the film for overall course direction.  Then after he left for family reasons, Joss Weedon came on to finish it out.  Surprisingly, even with all this, it doesn't really feel like a schizophrenic mess.  Though if you watch it with a savvy eye you can spot which parts were done during which phase of production.  (and mind you, this is downhill slope Joss ... so expect the same "missing something" you experienced in Ultron) Also also, they trimmed it down to 2 hours 1 min.  Basically cutting out a ton of fluff to get to the better parts faster (and I'm guessing a lot of the slower parts).  This, coupled with the nack of banter Joss has, made it a pretty enjoyable experience ... just not a great one ... or a good one.  But it is pretty enjoyable. THE GOOD Actors did their part and they did it well. - Batfleck is still the best balanced bruce/batman, which is a shame since he's not going to be doing it any more due to the hollywood sex-land scandal thing going on.  Oh well. - The flash is one of the best parts, surprisingly - Wondie's still good (even with her habit of weird faces) - Aquaman ... my brothers and I think that Snyder wanted him to be OH SO COOL SO BADASS (which nobody buys) ... so Joss provided chinks in the armor to make him more human.  So he's surprisingly cool - Cyborg is the weakest link, but you can't blame the actor.  There's subtle nuances about how he acts and thinks inhuman in a convincing way. cinematography - This is snyder's strong point.  Most of it carried though, but a lot of it got cut or reshot - But this got hampered by things below.  so it's not as pretty as Snyder's other films. It's enjoyable - I didn't actively wish for the film to be over. THE BAD ... again, remember, it's enjoyable despite all this.  THAT IS SAYING SOMETHING. action choreography - Imagine a 6 year old with toys going "and then he goes BWVOOOM and he flies over here" - That's a lot of what you get here.  Broken physics, no consequences, tons of wtf, and a lot of repetition - saw it with extended family, my mom fell asleep in the final battle because it was repeating itself a bit snyder-isms - pretty pictures without meaning - a lot of it got cut, but there's still a good number in montages remaining - also, threaten the children.  that's another snyderism - no Frank Miller whores, though art direction - is bad.  Best summation is the badguy, Steppenwolf (who's a Jack Kirby minion of darksied) here's a couple of his Jack Kirby iterations (being a little unfamiliar, I'm not sure it's the same guy, or if he plays counselor and general at different times) www.cosmicteams.com/newgods/im… cdn2us.denofgeek.com/sites/den… and here's his more current iteration cdn2us.denofgeek.com/sites/den… - ... this is what we get in film ... i0.wp.com/www.heyuguys.com/ima… a 9 foot tall rubber cg giant wearing reject bayformers crumpled tinfoil.  ZERO COLORS. - ... for reference on how to do Kirby right ... www.cinematographe.it/wp-conte… - this really gets bad when I have to second guess if it's a parademon or cyborg, since they're both 99% silver the CGI - even ragnarok had moments of bad CG.  it happens when the budget gets stretched ... but this film had very few points of GOOD CG.  (not sure if it's art direction or what) - and a lot of this is due to bad art design, but it's a bleed over - half the action sequences are just vague green screen flailing against the Superstasche - so, backstory time in case you didn't hear ... Henry Cavill got called in for reshoots along with everyone else - Unfortunately, he had already started filming Mission Impossible and was unable to shave his mustache due to contract - LOOK AT ITS MAJESTY cdn.flickeringmyth.com/wp-cont… - so WB had to remove it digitally - It looks bad - in theatres (again, saw it with extended fam) the film opens with a celphone recording of Supes (flashback).  My mom immediately leans over "Is that the same actor?  I think it's the same actor? I can't tell.  He looks different.  Whaaaaaaaaaaa?" - There's a solid reason: lips used by most people to lipread (even on a subconscious level).  So if that's off it triggers uncanny valley. Is there a silver lining? - This is where I get into business, and this is the highly abridged version. - Recipe for good business: master your craft, treat customers fairly, do marketing right, remember the customers are paying you (free exchange of currency thanks to capitalism)     - the recipe ISN'T figure out how to get more money.  Do that and you'll end up like EA Games. - Disney/Marvel is clearly on this path.  The evidence is in their films which are genuinely getting better over time (Ragnarok is honestly one of the best films out there). - the DCEU was born out of a need to make another superman film in order to keep the rights (ya have to do some spelunking to 2010-2013, but that's the truth), which led to the rushed Justice League film - in other words = WB was focusing on retaining and earning money. ... WHY I BRING THAT UP ... Justice League had the weakest opening weekend out of any DCEU film.  And given the negative word of mouth, it's not going to pull a wonder woman and stick around (especially with Ragnarok STILL in theatres and Star Wars just around the corner). Even with extra investments and heavy changes, JL didn't match their goal of more money. ... As such, I don't know how WB will respond to this. Hopefully they'll keep on this new trajectory, 'cause it is better.  But with money hungry execs you never know.

[mlpandminecraftgirl1]

My Thoughts on the New Steven Bomb (WARNING: SPOILERS)

WELL THEN

I’ve finished watching the new Steven Universe episodes (not JUST finished watching, mind you. I watched them about a week ago) and I thought, with all of this time on my hands, I’d share what I thought about it.

And what I’ve got say is: - WHAT?! and - DOUBLE WHAT?!

(WARNING: These next sections concern the new Steven Bomb and will most definitely contain spoilers. I was unfortunate enough to have the new characters spoiled for me via Instagram (and my impatient non-suspense-wanting self looked at the plots on the wiki before watching the episode on YouTube because I couldn’t watch them on my TV, long story) but I am aware that some people excel at being spoiler-free (whoever you are, you’re very lucky) and I can not and will not be held responsible for anyone who ends up have the Steven Bomb spoiled for them. I apologize in advance).

Ok, so the plot of the first episode (“Doug Out”) starts out simple enough: A simple “filler” episode where Steven and Connie hang out with Connie’s dad while he’s on a stake-out. A very cute episode that I personally enjoyed and one that I know a lot of the fandom wanted after seeing the events of “Nightmare Hospital” unfold. (Also, I’d like to point out that Doug already seemed to know about Connie taking up sword-fighting and all of that at this point, so I’m guessing they already told him, which I thought was a very nice personal touch by the Crewniverse, seeing how this took away the stress of revealing this stuff to him). I also liked how he seemed genuinely O.K. with it and how he seemed more comfortable and friendly around Steven than Connie’s mom was. And of course, the bit at the end with the new gem silhouettes sent me for a loop. It was some good quality filler if I ever saw any, and I have.

The second episode, “Are You My Dad?” (I’m covering “The Good Lars”, along with “Stuck Together” as a whole because I have a lot to say about it.) was a very clever concoction of plot points and drama. We get a throwback to a VERY old episode (A very clever throwback, I might add) and we get to see two new gems: Aquamarine and Topaz.

Aquamarine is….well, she seems to be a very interesting character. It’s very interesting to see a character who is actually villainous and doesn’t also have any emotional problems like Jasper or Blue Diamond. (Inner me: You forgot about Eyeball. She’s villainous and she’s unemotional, sorta. Real me: Shut up, me).

Not that I don’t think that you can’t have real emotions and still be a villain. It’s just that I felt like the Diamonds got a little bit of hate from the fandom because they weren’t really what the fandom expected, which were intergalactic tyrants (Connie’s words, not mine). Granted, they were pretty mean-looking and they seemed pretty evil, but they were really just big ladies with insecurities for days. Jasper was the same way. She was an interesting antagonist and character but it turned out to be her insecurities that were her downfall. Appropriate concept, but a little cliché, you know? There’s a way for character to be developed without touching on sensitive emotion-y bits. So it was nice to meet a gem like Aquamarine. Her voice actor fits her perfectly and I hope to see more of her.

As for Topaz, I have just three words to say about her (breathes):

I. LOVE. HER.

Not just because of her quality voice acting, which is so cool, because her voice is so unexpected for her character yet it FITS SO WELL. It’s like how Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch are voicing George and Harold for the Captain Underpants movie (which I am very excited about. I’ve read all of the books at least once, except for the last two). Kevin and Thomas make George and Harold sound older than elementary kids, but they tackle it so well, I can’t imagine anyone else voicing them.

No, the reason I love this character is because I relate to her SO. FLIPPING. MUCH. Particularly, this line:

Topaz: They’re always sending me on these miserable missions. I’m always pretending that I’m fine with it. I have to pretend I’m fine.

And this is one of the relatable things I’ve heard on this show so far. If there’s one thing this show has taught me, is that it’s ok to feel bad about something. It’s ok to be sad or angry about something you can’t control, and yes, there are people out there who have these problems who like to pretend they’re fine. Most people think that this is the person’s own choice, but some people (bless their hearts) they don’t HAVE a choice. Some people know that it’s better to just hide it than to drag people down with them or to have to justify it or to keep it from slowing them down. It’s not healthy or wise to pretend you’re fine when you’re not, but most people do it because they don’t really have a second choice on what to do most of the time.

And I should know. I am (or at least, used to be) one of those people.

Anyway, I can’t wait to see more development on these new gems!

Now, for the main event…..

The Lars episodes.

“The Good Lars” and “Stuck Together” were, in my opinion, some pretty good episodes, mostly because of the Lars character development (that’s not the only reason I liked them, of course). I mean, we get to see these new sides of Lars, which show that he loves baking (which is awesome) and that, just like everyone else, he’s scared of what people think of him.

But that’s not what I want to talk about. You see, I’ve been hearing rumors (and seen fan art) that suggest that Steven and Lars are gonna fuse. Now, none of my friends really watch Steven Universe, but if any of them did, I’m sure they would’ve asked me “Do you think that Steven and Lars are going to fuse?” And my answer to that is: yes and no.

You see, I don’t exactly know what level a relationship has to be on in order for two beings to be able to fuse, but I’m guessing it has to be pretty high. I mean, Connie and Steven are the best of friends (“Alone Together”), Steven and Amethyst had a pretty strong relationship already (“Earthlings”), the Rubies were a pretty strong team (“Hit the Diamond”), Pearl and Amethyst are a good team (“Giant Woman”), and Garnet is….well, Garnet (“every episode ever”). I know that consent has to play a role, too, given the circumstances with Malachite. (I’m not going to mention Jasper’s fusion with the corrupted gem, because, as sad as it is, that gem wasn’t in its right mind to give consent at that moment, so it doesn’t apply).

Also, since Steven can fuse with Connie, a human, it’s a good guess that he can fuse with other humans as well.

So why Lars?

You don’t really need to watch every episode with Lars and Steven together to see that Lars can be a bit of a jerk, especially to Steven, but we know that Lars is just covering up the fact that he’s insecure (Inner me: just like everyone else on this show. Real me: Me, what did I just say? I said shut up), but I can’t help noticing that we’re getting a lot of character developments with Lars, and since I don’t think it would make sense to have all of this development without something big happening (and no, I don’t think he’s going to die, despite what they’re saying on Instagram), then it is definitely a possibility for a fusion to take place. Maybe we’ll end up getting a “defining moment” for their relationship like we got in “Earthlings” during this bomb.

On the other hand, the reason I say no is because of something I’ve noticed in the show, but something I’ve noticed in general, and I’m pretty sure that fandom has noticed it, to

No disrespect to the Crewniverse, but when it comes to giving people what they want, they can be a little late on their delivery.

Now, I know what that this isn’t their fault, but let’s be honest, they’ve made it a habit of raising fan’s hopes, and then shattering them. I mean, people have been asking for a Lapis/Peridot fusion for Lord knows how long, and don’t even get me started on the hate I saw on Instagram about “Rocknaldo”. I’m not trying to be disrespectful or trying to question their methods of storytelling, but if there’s one thing that this show has taught me, it’s that when expecting something big to happen, one shouldn’t hold their breath.

Like I said, I’m not saying a fusion between Steven and Lars is impossible. After all, another thing this show has taught me is to expect the unexpected. No one expected Steven and Connie to fuse, and look at them now.

Also, in Rebecca Sugar's defense, she may not give us what we want, but she gives us what we need. Anyway, that's all I have to say about this bomb so far. I can't wait for the next new episodes, because I'm sure they're going to be mind-blowing, and thank y'all for listening to my VERY LONG post about what I thought. Please like and reblog if you want me to keep on posting stuff like this and I will see you guys later! Adios!

[spudenfinkle]

30 Gaming Questions

So this was going around Twitter a while back and you were supposed to answer each one as a single tweet, but with these questions I’m going to have to use WAY MORE than 140 characters to answer them because I’m me. So without further ado:

1 - Very first video game

I got an NES around age 5 and got a lot of games with it, but I’m pretty sure that the first one I played was the original Super Mario Bros. It was that half cartridge that also had Duck Hunt too. :)

2 - Your favorite character

You know what? I’m gonna go with Mario on this one, purely for the iconic nature. Plus he’s held almost as many jobs as Barbie, and his games somehow find ways to stay fresh while staying in relatively the same genre all these years. Mario > Luigi 4 eva.

3 - A game that is underrated.

The aptly titled game “Remember Me” is always my go-to for this kind of question. It came out around the same time as a couple bigger titles and didn’t have much marketing behind it, but I loved all the innovative ideas it put into a AAA title.

4 -Your guilty pleasure game

Nothing guilty about it! Uno on the Xbox One is my “I don’t feel like playing anything in particular right now, but I want to play something” game!

5 - Game character you feel you are most like (or wish you were)

So this seems kind of like two different questions, so I’ll cover both. I could not think of any character that I feel like, so I asked my wife about it and got Allistair from the Dragon Age series. He’s a snarky romantic who’s empathetic and likes to deflect things with humor. Also apparently I’m “cute like he is too”. As for who I wish I were most like? I think I’ll go with my version of Lee from the first Walking Dead game from Telltale Games (where your choices determine the story). Lee was someone who assumed the good in people, but if proved wrong was not afraid to take action and stand up to defend those he cared about.

6 - Most annoying character

Okay this one’s a tie for me between Natalya from Goldeneye and the big dumb Hat thing that hosts Mario Party 8.

7 - Favorite game couple

I’m going to go with Varric Tethras from Dragon Age and his trusty steampunk crossbow Bianca. A match made in heaven.

8- Best soundtrack

The game that got me to obsess over game soundtracks was also the first one released commercially through a major record label. Halo: Combat Evolved, and every Halo since has had consistently note-perfect soundtracks.

9 - Saddest game scene

So I could just put most of Mass Effect 3, but the moment that can get me to tear up even when explaining it to people happens towards the end of the Priority: Surkesh mission. No spoilers for people who are running through the trilogy fresh in anticipation for Andromeda, but… :*(

10 - Best gameplay

I’m going to give this one to the Rock Band series. It’s always felt so satisfying to play their instruments, and the gameplay itself helps you live the fantasy of being a rock star.

11 - Gaming system of choice

As was the case even before I got my current position, that would be the Xbox family. 💚

12 - A game everyone should play

Mario Kart. Every age, and every skill level has a blast with that game.

13 - A game you’ve played more than five times

There’s…a lot of those. Gonna have to go with the Mass Effect series here, and it will definitely not just be the second appearance on this list. I’m honestly surprised that there’s only been 2 mentions so far!

14 - Current or most recent gaming wallpaper

15 - Post a screenshot from the game you’re playing right now

16 - Game with the best cutscenes

See, you’d think that I’d be writing Mass Effect here, but I’m actually giving this to the Uncharted games. From the first one to the most recent one, they’ve done the best job at incorporating cutscenes and gameplay as seamlessly as I’ve ever seen while retaining movie-calibur production quality.

17 - Favorite antagonist

The Joker from the Arkham series. Mark Hamill. Playing off of Kevin Conroy’s Batman. Nuff Said.

18 - Favorite protagonist

This is kind of a cop-out, but I’m picking Deadpool from the Deadpool game. They nailed his manic nature, 4th wall breaks and all.

19 - Picture of a game setting you wish you lived in

20 - Favorite genre

Action RPG’s are my fav, though I play pretty much every genre. It comes from when I worked at Best Buy and felt like I had to know as much of the product that I was selling as possible.

21 - Game with the best story

Gonna sound like a broken record here, but the Mass Effect series is by and large my favorite franchise of the last generation. The story is a master class in great characters, witty banter/dialogue, and a wide range of emotions that all lead to greatness.

22 - A game sequel which disappointed you

Especially with how much promise the setting held, I was let down by Assassin’s Creed III. “A half British half Native American fighting through some of the most important events of the Revolution but with an Assassin story overlaid” sounded like the coolest thing ever, but pacing and weird design decisions made it one that I couldn’t even finish.

23 - Game you think had the best graphics or art style

So…those are two very different questions. I’m constantly amazed at the graphical fidelity of David Cage games (Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls), so I’ll vote them for most photorealistic, but in terms of art style I’ve got to give it to Okami or Journey.

24 - Favorite classic game

Either Battletoads for the NES or Mario Kart 64.

25 - A game you plan on playing

MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA. Next question.

26 - Best voice acting

So you’d thought that I’d go Mass Effect here too, wouldn’t you? And while yes, that whole series has some of the best VA in the business, I’m giving this one to the Uncharted series as well. While they get a little added benefit by getting performance capture to enhance their VO, the initial performances are consistently good. Literally every person in the game brings their A game.

27 - Most epic scene ever

If you know me you know that I love Star Wars. Nothing has ever been more epic to me than playing The Force Unleashed and single handedly bringing down a Star Destroyer from orbit to crash into a planet.

28 - Favorite game developer

Bioware. They got their hooks in me early with the original Knights of the Old Republic, then between Mass Effect and Dragon Age they pretty much cemented their place as my favorite game dev. That and so many of their employees are extremely active on Twitter, and they genuinely love interacting with their fans. I’ve even had a few conversations with Bioware devs on there, and I eagerly await my exploration of Andromeda.

29- A game you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving

So there was a free game for the 360 that was a blatant commercial tie-in called Dorito’s Crash Course. It was basically like the TV show Wipeout but a side-scrolling platformer focused on speed runs. It was strangely addictive, because the controls were solid and the game was, too! They made a second one that focused a little too much on microtransactions, but that first one was a very pleasant surprise.

30 - Your favorite game of all time.

So…I play a lot of games. This question is super unfair. I can maybe whittle it down to 3 games, and each one for different reasons. The first one is Knights of the Old Republic. This is the game that got me head over heels into RPG’s, and is by far the best Star Wars video game I’ve ever played. It also introduced me to my favorite game dev, so for that I am grateful. Next is Spec Ops: The Line. This game left a marked impression on me. It starts like any other generic 3rd person military shooter, but as the game progresses you see that there is way more going on. It messes with your head, and deconstructs the entire “machismo shooter” genre that was saturating the market at the time. I almost put it on the “Underrated” question, but I feel like more people are aware of it nowadays. Lastly is Halo: Combat Evolved. It was the first really “mature” game that I played. The story, music and gameplay had me sold already, but the social aspect was what had staying power. So many LAN parties dedicated specifically to Halo. I printed out topographical maps of all the multiplayer maps and drew out my strategies. I got into the tie-in novels. It connected me with other gamers even more than the Mario games (which is saying something), and I wouldn’t trade those years for the world.

[strawberryspeachy]

K so like I talked to another dude from tinder last week

(I was talking to 5. The asshole my preivious posts were about, a dude I worked at the haunted house with, a French dude a state away, a Swedish dude who I’ve been talking to for a while and hopefully is not my next nightmare story cause he seems really cool, and this terrifying dude)

Anywho I add this dude and he talks pretty normal. He went on about how he didn’t have any friends which the other guy with 1000s of friends said as well - idk why tinder guys always give some kind of sob story- but he talked about how he likes doing art and stuff blah fine

So I agreed to meet him sometime and we picked getting pizza which was actually the same day I went out to meet the other guy afterwards.

So I see him and he looks a bit different and is just generally not what I find attractive at all - but I’m like whatever - I’m lonely I could always use more art friends.

Now what should have been strike 123 bye - he showed me a picture of a dead animal “he saw on his way and wanted to show me” and I was like wtf um why would you take a pic or show me. And he backtracked and talked about other stuff - I so bullits

1) he kept trying to shame me for not watching dragonball super recently while trying to tell me spoilers even though I told him repeatedly I didn’t wanna hear about it

2) he kept trying to convince me I should like random anime’s I don’t like and should get back into that shit

3) he kept shining a light on his keychain in my eyes when I told him to stop and tried to ok this by saying he liked being annoying

4) I said I was gonna leave if he kept doing one of those things and he put his foot up on my bench and told me not to

Ok so I should have never talked to him again after that esp since I was so bored that I just wanted to leave - but I wasn’t suffering. I also hung out with annoying ass kids in high school like that and didn’t really take most of it as grounds to just opt out

So he messaged me the night that dude had me drive to his house and then blocked me and I was upset and I mentioned it and also told him I’m not interested in him that way but that I’m ok with being friends (bad me bad me)

And he responded by saying he just wants friends and it’s fine but also immediately going “so this means you’re free Saturday” and since I felt bad entirely rejecting him I said I was and after a lot of me saying ya we can just meet up and hang out and him going let me take you to dinner and the movies and pick you up

And I just said fine after like 40 min of that

Ugh so Saturday comes and he didn’t overtext me or anything so I thought it was fine... time for bullit points again

1) it was pouring rain and he sped and stopped at the last second

He ran every stop sign I didn’t point out and when he’d see them as he passed them he just got angry

He had major road rage for absolutely no reason and was generally a bad driver and terrified me while he got angry at red lights and other people while he attempted to merge really badly. Also at me when I gave him directions far in advance and he’d act like it was last second as he acted like he didn’t understand “get in the right lane” for over a minute

2) he told me he bought me a Christmas present that was over 200 dollars and did this thing I realized he had been doing where when I tell him no thanks he gets offended going “you’re rejecting me??”

3) he told me he likes to cat call women but one time a girl liked it and it was weird to him and made him awkward

4) he told me when he lived in Mexico there were wild dogs that he and his family one time went and hit with baseball bats because sometimes they were territorial and would pretend they were gonna bite you and it scared him — mind you not in the same instance

5) he still kept shining that fucking light in my face all day no matter how many times I told him to stop

6) he was playing that whole “I’m a really nice guy so you should date me” russe and just making me really uncomfortable constantly asking me if I’m happy and that he’s doing this all to make me happy and like... I was being nice and friendly and hiding how uncomfortable I was so like... there was no reason for that

7) at the movies I took out my little squishy toy which I had showed him earlier and he had no interest in but because I was about to play with it he like demanded i give it to him to play with first which I didn’t cause the way he seemed he was totally gonna rip it in half

8) he spent like 10 minutes throwing his phone at me because “it was too heavy and he didn’t wanna hold it” HIS phone

9) he kept making plans for us for the future the whole day and ALL these things we were gonna do together

10) every story he told me from him not wanting birthday party’s to his friend cancelling plans with him after being so happy she cried last time he saw her to the male half of his family physically fighting over small stuff because that’s how men do things - was just creepy

By the end I seriously wanted to cry I was so uncomfortable and miserable like I couldn’t breathe.

Before we went in the theatre i thought “this boy might actually kill me and for the first time I would not appreciate that - I do NOT want him to be the last thing I ever see” that’s a first for me

And yet again my being stupid had got me in a predicament where a terrifying guy knows where I live and I’ve never wanted to block someone more but am afraid they’ll show up at my house

Like like like it’s not fair. It’s like life punishing me for freaking out at guys who entirely go out of their way to fuck with me and play with me and just be super mean to me after saying they want the complete opposite to me. And I just try to treat people nicely and considerately and instead get myself in situations with.... these terrifying guys

Like like I had a legit stalker in 8th and 9th grade. I wasn’t friends with this boy but he followed me around right behind me. Watched my every move. Memorized my schedual from when my bus got there to which hallways i took to each class and my morning hang out spots. Do you know how I got this stalker? He was a super weird kid that stuttered and picked his nose and shit but I didn’t make fun of him with everyone else. I don’t even specifically remember ever going out of my way to be nice to him I just remember telling my friends “aw leave him alone - he didn’t do anything to you” I assume I probably said hi to him in passing sometimes - or smiled at him briefly as I do with people I accidentally make eye contact with

What did I do to get a stalker? I treated him like a normal person and wasn’t an asshole to him. This is always how I end up having to deal with crazy people.

Literally so many that havnt entirely freaked me out to the point where I think they’ll show up at my house (I seriously had a strategy for if they dude from 8th grade showed up at my house) but just in general. I’ve had weird experiences with so many crazy people just because I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and treat them like humans.

[mononohke-archive]

Anime Roundup - Winter 2017 [Spoilers]

As always, this season flew by despite how disappointing it was (for anime that started airing during it, not leftovers from Fall 2016). Well, maybe it was also because near the end I started playing video games and fell behind on my normal watching schedule. Either way, it didn’t feel like a whole 3 months. I’m a little late, as usual, and I didn’t write as much this time around. (Chalk it up to laziness and distraction by the aforementioned video games.)

Overall: I think this season qualifies as the worst I’ve seen yet. So many disappointments but only one or two highs.

Featured Anime: Ao no Exorcist S2, Gintama., Rakugo Shinjuu S2, 3-gatsu no Lion, ACCA, All Out!!, ClassicaLoid, Nanbaka + S2, Onihei, Trickster

Total: 10 | Average Score: 6.8 | Word Count: 4,581

~ (DIRECT) SEQUELS ~

Ao No Exorcist: Kyoto Impure King Arc [5/10]

Let me be blunt, the only thing I actually give a crap about in Ao no Exorcist is Yukio. Specifically, Yukio as a character and his brother complex for Rin. That is really what carried me through the first season of AnE and made me feel like it deserved more than a 5. In season one, the whole dynamic between them, Yukio’s complicated feelings for Rin, and their rivalry was the main theme of a significant part of the show. But in this season and arc, Yukio is barely there at all. The shift focuses more to Suguro, his family, and the Impure King. While I don’t dislike Suguro (Nakai Kazuya being his voice helps), I really don’t care enough to watch a whole cour about him and his family. There’s a lot of Rin too, of course, but he’s the main character and that’s obviously unavoidable. 

Well, at least there a little bit of Yukio, however. He’s there for a few episodes and there’s like half an episode dedicated to his and Rin’s relationship, but that’s a pittance compared to the last season. For those reasons, AnE has dropped one point and just went into boring/average territory. If Yukio is a major part of next season or some future season, the score will go up to 6 again, but this one will stay at 5.

To give some credit though, I’m really grateful that they brought back all the original cast for this long awaited sequel. Unlike D.Gray-man last year, I never felt like something was wrong because all the voice actors and art style were different. It is unfortunate that they couldn’t get Keiji Fujiwara to reprise his role as Rin and Yukio’s father, but still 99% of the cast is the same.

Gintama. [8/10]

It is with a heavy heart that I have to give a title in the Gintama series less than a 10 (only applies to the main show and not movies/specials/OVAs). Unfortunately, the recent change in Gintama’s pace is tiring and got boring rather quickly. This problem was beginning to show in the previous season, but at least that had enough episodes and arcs to have more change. 

This season honestly didn’t have a bad start... it was really great seeing the Joui4 together again especially Sakamoto (since he appearances are normally so limited) but then it went into Kamui and Umibozu’s backstory arc. To be clear, I like Umibozu, don’t care about Kamui, and love Kagura, but this whole arc was mostly about Kamui, Umibozu, and Kouka (Kagura and Kamui’s dead mother). Kagura herself felt like an afterthought in this arc. This was more about explaining Kamui’s issues with his dad and how Umibozu met Kouka. 

Now, aside from my general disinterest in Kamui, the problem is not really with the backstory itself. It’s the fact that Gintama had turned into a battle shounen. I really dislike the pacing in battle shounens, especially if they are done badly *coughsNanbakacoughs*, and the worst part is that Gintama normally does these bits right in previous drama arcs. In this one though, it was boring... maybe not unbearable, but I found myself tuning out a lot more than I would watching Gintama - y’know, one of my all time favorite anime. 

Personally, I think the comedy in Gintama has always been stronger than the drama. The drama, when done in arcs between a lot of comedy, is really when it’s at its best because that is when the show brings a necessary change of pace and adds more depth to the characters. When it’s just one drama arc after the other, the battle shounen portions tend to take over. Plus, I just really miss the humor. It always gelled with me and that’s why I loved the show so much from the beginning. I miss laughing my ass off every episode, but in season I only chuckled a few times.

There is one silver lining though and that is Utsuro, who is becoming more and more interesting. While it is kind of cliche that he came back from the dead and turned out to be immortal, I think the way it’s presented is really good, and I can’t wait to see more of him. The last episode giving his backstory definitely pulled me in for the next season. I just hope it lightens up a little more because the comedy is where Gintama always shined the best.

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu: Descending Stories [9/10]

This show... how am I supposed to talk about it? I want to do a proper review that does it justice, but obviously that review would be spoiler free. In this post though, I think I’ll just quickly summarize my overall feelings.

First, let me say that Rakugo has totally met my expectations in S2. It expanded on the story pretty much just as perfectly as it needed to. There was one little thing that ruined it just a teeny bit near the end, but honestly it was otherwise masterful. For me to articulate exactly how I feel, I really need to rewatch both seasons. Sorry, I’m gonna skip actually putting effort into this lol, but I will try my best to get out a proper review on MAL later. Maybe one day I’ll even attempt an analysis, but that’s far off.

~ INDIRECT SEQUELS  & NON-SEQUELS~

3-gatsu no Lion [9/10]

3-gatsu no Lion is easily one of the best and most emotional anime that I’ve seen recently. I’m actually surprised that it is a Shaft production (most famous for the Monogatari series and Madoka Magica), but it has Shaft all over it with Akiyuki Shinbo at the helm. I know some people have mixed or negative feelings on his style of direction, but I like it in all the other Shaft shows I watched and I especially like it here. It’s the first time I’ve seen Shaft do an anime like 3-gatsu, which has no fanservice, no harem (elements), no strong humor, nor any fantasy or supernatural elements.

In my opinion, they did an excellent job. If 3-gatsu was not presented in the way it is, it might not have been as interesting as it is. It would’ve been so easy to make this a dry and boring adaptation, but Shaft brings it to life with such incredible bold, imagery. And it pulls off mood whiplash (sudden mood changes) a lot better than most anime I’ve seen. Normally, I think they clash with the overall tone, but when 3-gatsu does it, it feels like an exaggerated version of what happens in real life, where tone does not stay consistent between moments.

Then there’s Rei, the main character. He really skirts the line between being relatable or not. On the one hand, he is a Shogi genius and makes his own living at age 17. On the other hand, he has a complicated past, depression, and is a very down to earth and nice person. The whole series really rests on Rei’s shoulders, as he is the narrator and everything revolves around him. But I think he’s excellent written and relatable despite being essentially a child prodigy. 

Speaking of the shogi, I was also worried that it would be hard to understand the series because I don’t know shogi very well. Thankfully, that’s not the case. While there is a significant amount of focus on the shogi, the real focus on the characters. I’m sure for people who are familiar with shogi, it gives an extra layer to the narrative, but even for those who aren’t, it’s not so focused on the games that there’s nothing left. At least shogi has similarities to chess, which most westerners have a passing knowledge of. Still, even if you know fuck all about shogi and chess, I think the great depth of characters and the wonderful visuals carry the show and make it incredibly watchable.

ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu-ka [7/10]

I... liked ACCA. Don’t love it, but liked it well enough. It has a uniqueness to it that you don’t see often in anime. For example the cast are all adults and most of them are government bureaucrats, the plot revolves around a conspiracy, and the anime is fairly slow paced and is very light on action. More than half the series is spent on world-building, with very little romance or other cliches. I could probably go on.

The color palette and art style is also a highlight with lots of bright, pastel colors. ACCA is just a neat little package of an anime that I appreciated watching for being something a little different. Have to say though, I’m not sure how much this will stick to me in the long run. Some of the world, maybe, and definitely the art style/colors, but not really the characters or plot.

All Out!! [6/10]

What initially drew me to All Out!! is a) rugby, never seen that sport before in an anime and b) incredible diversity in body types with a very wide variation in height, muscularity (although most are muscular guys), and weight (never seen so many chubby guys in an anime). So, while All Out!! does have some things that set it apart, unfortunately in literally every other way, it’s pretty much exactly the same as other sports anime. The protagonist is, OF COURSE, a newbie who joins the sport for the first time as a high school freshman. He’s overly energetic and most of the rest of the team thinks he’s annoying, but he’s super motivated and improves at an incredible rate. And he has another freshman friend who is a lot more experienced and naturally talented at the sport who serves a foil (especially since they have opposite personalities). The captain is an extremely motivated guy who’s tough on his team, but he’s also incredibly protective of them ie. team dad, and so on. The cliches just don’t stop...

That doesn’t mean AO is unenjoyable, just that the unique elements in the beginning wore off rather quickly and I was left with another run-of-the-mill sports anime (especially since this show is 25 episodes and not 12). My ratings for sports anime thus far have worked on a different scale than most other anime simply because sports is such an unusual genre with its own strict conventions that I have no choice but to rate them compared only to others in the genre. That means if sports anime were judged relative to the rest of anime I’ve seen, they would be rated lower (by between .5-1 points) because 95% of them have the exact same plot and many of the exact same characters. 

I mention this because as I’ve watched more and more sports anime, my standards have steadily been getting higher and are finally starting to match the rest of my rating scale. If this was one of the first sports anime I ever watched, it would easily be an 8/10. Now, as the dozenth sports anime I’ve seen, it’s only a 6/10. I am finally getting really tired of the old sports anime cliches and want more unique experiences. That’s why I praised Baby Steps so much for being different when I recently saw it. Looking back, I may have to re-rate some of the other sports anime I’ve seen, especially more recently like Days of the Summer/Fall seasons last year.

So, do I regret watching All Out!!? No, it has some good and fun stuff in there. Will I watch if there’s another season of it? Probably (even though I don’t necessarily want to) because I only avoid sequels if I give the first series a 5/10 or less... even then sometimes I’ll keep watching for the sake of keeping up (fcking K). Would I recommend AO in the end? Nah, unless you’re really interested in rugby.

ClassicaLoid [8/10]

I... feel almost ashamed to give this show such a high rating. Looking at MAL, my score is a whole 1.53 points higher than the standard deviation, and one of the most incongruous scores I’ve ever given - in the positive direction. In the negative direction, I happen to have some highly unpopular opinions on anime like Erased, Sword Art Online, and Mirai Nikki. 

For a long while, I just couldn’t decide on a score. Normally, I know pretty early on what score I’m going to give an anime, give or take a point in either direction (or two if the anime pulls something towards the end). By the end of a show’s airing, I usually pretty much know exactly what I want to give it. (This doesn’t apply so much to my precise ratings, but rather the broad score I give on MAL.)

For ClassicaLoid, I didn’t know whether I wanted to give this show a “guilty pleasure, I know this show is bad but I enjoyed it a lot” 6/10 rating, a “fuck it, because I loved this show that much 8/10 rating”, or a 7/10 as the balanced alternative. As you can see, I ultimately decided on an 8 (more specifically a low 8, but an 8 nonetheless) in the end. Yes, I really do love this show, and I did find it just that enjoyable and hilarious. It’s one of the funniest comedies I’ve seen recently and definitely my favorite comedy of 2016 (over the likes of Sakamoto Desu Ga? and Handa-kun).

The thing about ClassicaLoid is that if I didn’t love the characters so much and find it funny, it would be a pretty bad show. It seems pretty polarizing because a lot of people think this show is stupid and hate it for that reason. In my opinion, it is stupid, but it has some self-awareness and never takes itself seriously. The other thing is the humor. If the humor does not gel with you, you will hate this show, and that’s also highly subjective and polarizing. I think the humor is spot on most of the time, with great comedic timing and gags. There’s also, I guess, the “gimmick” of the show which is arguably the whole point - the remixes of classical music in the vocaloid style. 

Tbh, I’m not at all familiar with vocaloids and even so, I found the remixes to be mostly average or even a bit cringeworthy. They were the weakest part for me, but that only applies to the songs themselves. The actual visuals that accompanied the almost once-an-episode sequences? They were not bad. Sometimes they were even funny or resulted in hilarious things (Schubert’s fish adventure comes to mind), but most of the time they were a pretty mindless distraction. 

One of the real strengths is the characters. I seriously either love the characters* or I like them. They bring life to the show with their varied personalities. It’s kind of amazing because many of them skirt the line between being one-note quirky archetypes and actually being kind of deep. My favorites include (in no particular order):

- Kanae, who is mostly the straight man character, but plays beautifully off the rest of the cast because she has to put up with so much shit, but has her own silly and selfish sides. (Also, she’s one terrible idol.)

- Schubert, definitely my favorite classicaloid of the bunch. I was kind of surprised because he was introduced a little later than the rest, but Schu is so genuine... so weird, yet so underappreciated in-universe that I think is the opposite irl. His unpopularity is what makes him popular in the first place because aside from being a catty bitch to Mozart (who deserves it, btw), he tries really hard to be a good person.

- Liszt, who is amazing, I love that she’s badass and reliable (the only one who pays rent) but also a sucker for love. And she’s basically a trans women, isn’t she? She’s not the only originally-male-irl classicaloid to be given a female body, but she’s the only one who completely embraces it. 

- Chopin, who in my opinion is a little underused, although that’s partially justified because he’s always hiding. He’s definitely the most relateable, being a shut-in who just on the computer all day playing games or watching stuff (sounds familiar), but he’s also blunt af and has such witty lines. 

- Beethoven, I initially had mixed feelings on him, but came to love him over time. See, he may be voiced by my favorite voice actor (Tomokazu Sugita), but at first all his jokes revolved around GYOZA!!! and being a gigantic fucking ham. It got old kind of fast, but thankfully he gets more jokes and depth over time. I especially love his dynamic with Kanae and Schubert.

*The sole exception is Mozart. Here is where I rant about Mozart because thaT FUCKING PUNK BITCH IS THE WORST, AND IT SUCKS THAT HE’S A MAIN CHARACTER WHO GETS SO MUCH SCREEN TIME AND EPISODES DEDICATED TO HIM. ... Okay, I’m gonna calm down. I’ll stop shouting now and explain why I hate this pos. Here we go: He. Is. Not. Funny. Or. Likable. In fact, the only one who is not funny or likable. He’s always annoying, unhelpful, sexually harassing Kanae, and genuinely a terrible person except when it benefits him. Actually, the problem is not even that he’s terrible, but rather that he’s terrible and gets away with it. 

Compare him to someone like Sousuke, who’s a little similar in some ways, except... hey, get this, there are consequences (funny consequences) when he’s being a douche. Sousuke, along with Schubert, are the butt monkeys of the ensemble. Sousuke is even referred to as “tool” by Liszt and mostly everyone else. If Mozart was also a butt monkey, he would be a lot more tolerable, except he’s not. Mozart behaves like an annoying dick 98% of the time and the anime has the fucking audacity to try and make him sympathetic. 

I also have to bring up his voice actor, Yuki Kaji, who is easily my least favorite voice actor, so maybe I do have some inherent bias against him. See, if Mozart were played by someone who’s not annoying as shit, then maybe he would’ve been more likable, but Yuki Kaji has the range of a triangle (he’s one-note). Compare him to Beethoven, who could easily be so fucking obnoxious, except he’s played by the exceptionally talented and charismatic Tomokazu Sugita. /sighs. Well, I think I’m done ranting now.

Finally, I want to cover the jokes. It’s true, at first they appear to be of the very “lol random xD” type humor, but I think they are deceptively well constructed. There were many episodes where I was laughing out loud and some episodes where I spent the entire time laughing my ass off (again, I bring up the Schubert fish incident). With a few exceptions, I don’t think the humor or gags ever got old because the anime keeps doing more and more with the characters, throwing them into crazy situations. The absurdity of it all is hilarious and the likableness of most of the characters supports it. 

I’m probably one of 10 people in the west who is very excited and happy that there’s a season 2. Only two more seasons left until it’s back :D.

Nanbaka [6/10] / Season 2 [4/10]

I’m put in kind of an awkward position by this show... At first, it was going to be published with the Fall 2016 Roundup until I realized that there was going to be a second season. So then I delayed it for Winter 2017 except the quality of the show has gone down significantly between the first and second season. I wrote most of my thoughts for the first season already, so I’m just gonna talk about season one first by itself and then compare it to season two. Here are my thoughts on S1:

At first glance, yes, the character designs are incredibly silly… an anime podcast I listen to described them as “deviantart ocs”, (which is not too inaccurate), and everything sparkles like a shoujo manga for some mysterious reason. But aside from the strange design choices, the humor was pretty solid and characters are pretty likable. Not just the main 4 characters, but Hajime (my favorite) and the other prison wardens, and their fellow prisoners all have a charm to them.

The first half of the show is pretty damn funny, definitely a solid 7/10, but then the New Years competition arc starts and the pacing screeches to a halt. There are four whole episodes dedicated to this arc and they actually introduce a plot, drama, and some intense action near the end. It comes out of nowhere. The problems don’t stop there, unfortunately. I can forgive the terrible pacing somewhat if they kept up the laughs, but that’s not what happened. Instead, the genre switches and suddenly becomes a drama with a whole conspiracy plot about some of the main characters. Insofar, the only comedy anime I’ve seen pull off dramatic arcs is Gintama (but as I’ve said even that gets tiring after a while). Nanbaka is simply not as well-written as Gintama in either way, and the actual “plot” was a total let down compared to the humor which I genuinely liked.

This plot continues for another few episodes and it takes a little while to get back to the laughs. Humor and characters are the only thing this anime kind of nails. When the author attempts drama, it turns into another generic shounen anime. What a shame. If this anime stuck to being a pure comedy, I definitely would’ve rated it higher.

Ohhhhh boy, now onto season two. My worst fears for the anime basically happened. Imagine the New Years Competition arc I just complained about. Now, slow down the pacing another 500%, take out all the humor from the first season, and chuck in some boring ass cliche shounen crap. That is what S2 is in its entirety. It’s like they sucked out all the fun and hilarity of the first season just to “advance” the plot. I put advance in quotes because the pacing is seriously glacial. It rotates between plot exposition/backstory and “action” comparable to a Naruto filler arc for the entire run time. 

For example, my favorite character Hajime gets locked in a jail cell early on. Then some of the jail mates (including Jyugo, the main character) decide to break him out a little while later in the show. Guess when they reach Hajime? If you guessed the very last episode, you’d be correct! Inbetween is just pointless, boring fight after pointless, boring fight and fucking endless exposition! Either the character talks for minutes on end about their powers or the strategy of their enemies or about some thing in the past or there’s a flashback/backstory explaining the characters (by the way, a whole bunch of new characters are introduced except without the humor, they’re all shit) or the plot, it’s just UGH. 

Halfway through, I came to dread Nanbaka. Most of the time, I would put on the show and zone out as much as possible, although in reality, I spent a lot of time bitterly remembering how funny the first season is and how it actually had characters I liked in them doing funny shit and being likable. If the first season was a lot of fun but was bogged down by the action/drama, then the second season is the bog. Watching it is liking wading through a swamp about waist high. It won’t kill you and it’s doable, but it’s unpleasant, tedious, and you rather wished you just walked around it. 

If you really want to enjoy the show, just watch season one. Even then I only recommend the first half and the last couple of episodes. AVOID SEASON TWO AT ALL COSTS. I am certain there’s going to be a season three later this year or next year, but hopefully I’ll resist the temptation to watch it just because I watched the first two seasons.

God, it makes so angry how this show could’ve been a fairly pleasant humorous affair but ruins it completely and chucks it in the fucking garbage disposal. Way to waste your potential, Nanbaka.

Onihei [6/10]

Onihei is... unremarkable, but not a hard watch either. It’s just... alright? Very very middle of the road, but I can kind of appreciate that because it didn’t require much effort on me to watch, and I could just enjoy it without thinking too much about it. It helps that I’m already into samurai, but I admit I was hoping for more initially. Once I accepted that it was just going to be a simple collection of samurai/pre-modern japanese stories, then I began to enjoy it more. 

My biggest complaint is that there were too many episodes not focused on Heizo (aka Onihei, the main character). Heizo really was the best part of the show, and I liked it most when they focused on him and his backstory, but about a quarter of the show is about other characters that I just didn’t really care for aside from two or three of them. It’s fine that this show is mostly episodic, but because it frequently shifts focus, it is quite inconsistent because some episodes are better than others.

There’s also the fact the show looks very cheaply made, especially in those creepy ass CGI people in background shots. It has almost a B-movie feel, but not as much of the B-movie charm as I’d like. Still, it’s not really bad at all. It’s a good thing I like historical anime and that the main character is great because that is what pushes it up from a 5 to a solid 6. 

Trickster [5/10]

First, let me just say that Trickster baited me - and baited me successfully with the promise of attractive boys and homoerotic subtext. At least it delivered and pretty much met my expectations 100%, but unfortunately, it did not surprise me by being better than I thought it would be. It’s kind of a pity because Trickster actually has pretty good production values, but it falters in more important places: the characters and plot. Both of those elements are pretty clumsily handled. If not that, then they feel cliche, like I’ve already seen [x type] character and [y] trope countless times.

The characters in particular I feel like could’ve made up for the plot, but the anime chooses to focus on the least interesting ones (yes, I know this is a book adaptation). The main character, Kobayashi, is unlikable from the start and even when you unlock his tragic backstory late in the anime, it feels too little too late and it’s another overused trope. Hanasaki, the character who probably gets the most screen time is... actually alright. He’s annoying at first too, but his character development is not handled that badly either. The best characters are probably Inoue and Akechi; the former barely gets any attention at all, and the latter’s subplot is so fragmented by the rest of the characters and their own plots that it gets lost.

In fact, what I just said may just sum up the biggest problem I have with this anime. The whole thing feels fractured, like the writer wanted to give all the main characters (except poor Inoue) their dues, but didn’t know how to tie their separate plots together elegantly or didn’t know how to give all of them development/depth in one flowing plot. With tighter focus, I’m sure it would’ve turned out better, but the cliches and their rather bland execution still drag it all down.

The production values do deserve some praise though. The voice acting is great as always and the animation is overall good, but the music and direction had some standout moments that really elevated certain parts of the show. Unfortunately, the overall mediocreness of Trickster put it at a 5/10.