#tbf also just dislike saying i love you a lot due to other reasons

[hotdaugvoid]

me trying to figure out how people apparently actually feel a type of love towards friends? like LOVE love like platonic LOVE being like "I love you" and meaning I LOVE YOU uhh

like don't get me wrong I care abt ppl but people actually would say LOVE when referring to a platonic relationship?? like "I LOVE u (platonically)" ...oops

[calliecat93]

When I started TNG, the biggest curiosity I had was why Dr. Pulaski was so hated. I heard plenty about why, but at the same time I wanted to see for myself and be able to draw my own conclusions. Well now that I’ve finished S2, I think that I can safely state my opinion and the reasons why she had such a bad reception.

My general opinion is… Pulaski’s fine, but she got an bad start. She’s a very competent doctor who is devoted to her duty. She’s a bit of a smartass, but otherwise a friendly enough person. She’s a VERY much based off a certain CMO form a certain other Star Trek show that came out before this one, but we’ll get to that later. Pulaski honestly had a lot working against her and she just wasn’t able to get over them despite her actress Diana Muldaur (who played Miranda Jones in TOS) doing an excelent acting job. It ultimately ended with Pulaski being dropped all together and Crusher returning in Season 3.

While I understand the hate against Pulaski and can’t say that it’s unwarranted to an extent, I think that a lot of it that I saw was overblown. Now if people disliked the character, that’s fine. Everyone has different tastes and reasons for what they like and dislike and should be free to have and express those thoughts. But a lot of the issues with her that I had were taken care of very early on and she became much better by the end of her tenure. So why do I believe that Pulaski ultimately failed? Well I’ve come up with three explanations based off my own observations from watching the show and what I got from fandom consensus. Now this is all my opinion based on those observations and is not objective fact whatsoever, so take this with a grain of salt. So I believe the reasons that Pulaski failed are:

#1. She Is Essentially a Female Dr. McCoy… Sort Of: Pulaski was clearly heavily based on Dr. McCoy from TOS. She’s an middle-aged, somewhat world-weary doctor. She’s stubborn, grumpy, and doesn’t put up with anyone’s crap. She’s witty and always ready with a biting comment. She has the dedication to her job. She has the bantery relationship with the Science Officer, which we’ll go into that here soon. She is a doctor before she is an officer and that will always be her top priority, even at great risk to herself. She has a zero tolerance towards authority and isn’t afraid to talk back to anyone no matter how much they outrank her. She even outright has a hatred of teleporters that McCoy had. The parallels are all there. It may be why I’m a bit more lenient on her since McCoy is very much my favorite character in TOS and so far all of ST. But I think it is very much the root of the problem.

While Pulaski has several of McCoy’s traits, I think the writers really only understood McCoy on a surface level. They forget to include his compassion, his empathy, his humanism, his loyalty to the captain even when he opposes his actions, all of the things that make McCoy… well, McCoy. I don’t even know if the pacifism is there. Also McCoy had over 70 episodes of TOS and at that point five films (Undiscovered Country hadn’t been made yet). Pulaski had about 20 episodes and her relevance depended on the episode. McCoy had that as well, but he also had more material so we had FAR more time to get to know him. Pulaski didn’t get to have the time to gain that depth or care from the audience. Like… can I imagine Pulaski hypoing someone so that she can be tortured in their stead and it have the same impact that The Empath did? Can I see her counseling and assuring Picard if he’s having doubts like McCoy did for Kirk in The Ultimate Computer (okay tbf that would be Troi’s job but still)? Could I imagine any of the main cast being crushed about Pulaski dying of a terminal illness and choosing to stay on essentially a doomed spaceship with someone she just met and feel as gutted as I did in For the World is Hollow…? Honestly… given time maybe but in the end no. Now could I imagine McCoy risking getting an aging illness to possibly cure a child and others of it ala Unnatural Selection? Yes, albiet I think he’d be smart enough to bring protective equipment with him to be safe. Could I imagine McCoy telling someone like Data they’d be wrong to sit by a woman giving birth because he wasn’t human ala The Child? Hell no. Maybe he would if he was worried it would cause potential distress the one giving birth, but it sure as hell wouldn’t be because they’re an android. But I could imagine that someone who just saw McCoy as ‘grumpy doctor with a bad bedside manner who says witty lines and argues with the logical Vulcan character’ would get that interpretation. Thus why I think that Pulaski may have ended up how she did.

Now mind you I do think it IS a double standard to excuse McCoy’s dickish momemts and flaws, but demonize Pulaski for her’s. It’s like saying a man can be that way because it’s just expected of them and they can be forgiven, but a woman doing so or being assertice is wrong and they are horrible and unforgivable for having these traits or having flaws even if they correct them. That being said I do think that it’s more than that and it all comes down to the fact that TOS and TNG are two different shows with different character dynamics and ways of doing things. TOS mainly followed a Triumvirate (for the most part but that’s a different post entirely), TNG is much more of an ensemble. Pulaski didn’t have a Kirk nor a Spock to bounce off of or either let her traits shine or be kept in check like McCoy did nor did she really develop any unique relations for herself aside from maybe with Troi. We hear about her empathy and humanitarianism, but we don’t really see it on-screen like we did with McCoy. She has his surface level traits, not the deeper ones that the Triumvirate dynamic along his doctor position allowed him to showcase. In other words, Pulaski was put in a series that wasn’t designed for her while McCoy was exactly where he needed to be in order to thrive. It really speaks to how much the TNG writers didn’t really seem to get McCoy or why and how his character worked, which is strange since they got him right when he showed up in the series premiere. But maybe that was due to DeForest Kelley and him absolutely knowing the character he’d played for so long. But yeah they tried to replicate McCoy, and it just didn’t work with TNG’s already established character dynamics nor did they fully get the character that they were trying to recreate. If I want McCoy, I’ll go watch TOS or AOS. I didn’t need Pulaski for that.

#2. Data and Misconstrued Character Dynamics; This is in relation to the first reason and REALLY shows how much the writers didn’t think the dynamics through. We all know how much Spock and McCoy bantered. How they are opposite ends of the spectrum and how their perspective points helped Kirk in making his decisions. Well clealry they wanted to re-create that with Pulaski and Data. Makes sense, Pulaski represents the humanism and Data the logical. But there’s one big, BIG problem with that: Data is NOT Spock. A lot fo people have pointed this out, but here’s the thing about Spock. Despite whatever he may have said, Spock DID have emotions. He kept them suppressed due to the issues in his upbringing and that wasn’t necessarily healthy, but he did have them. And despite speaking in a calm manner, he was also an utter sass bucket, could be rude, and had no issue putting down humanity if he had a point to make. He and McCoy were very much equal in their bantering and yes maybe McCoy could go too far with his insults, but there was always an equal balance and Spock was also perfectly capable of starting/escalating their spats. There were also plenty of moments to show that in spite of it, they were still friends and cared a great deal about each other with probably the best examples of this being The Immunity Syndrome, Bread and Circuses, The Empath, and plenty of moments in others like Miri and For the World is Hollow… Those who have been following me know how much I love the Spock/McCoy dynamic and I could go all day, but the point is it’s a complex relationship that may seem like disdain on the outside, but is so much more when you examine it up close.

Data however? Data is intelligent and the Science Officer with a calm demeanor, but that’s about where the similarity between him and Spock ends. Data is an android. I do not believe that he is emotionless, he just has a different wiring that causes him to feel things differently. He’s never shown disdain towards humanity at least from what I’ve observed thus far. If anything, he actively seeks to understand it and emotions more. He actively has hobbies like Sherlock Holmes. He tries things like sneezing and growing a beard in an effort to understand more. Data is more or less a child with a child-like understanding of things and he doesn’t really understand social cues or things like humor, but he DOES have emotions and feelings. There’s too much on-screen evidence to say otherwise. He just has his own way of processing it. This is what makes Pulaski look so bad. When she calls Data a machine, says he can’t understand, and even purposefully mispronounces his name, she comes across as an outright bully. She is essentially bullying a neurodivergent child. Do I need to explain why that’s awful? Data, while by no means a doormat, isn’t the type to sass back or make any biting comments back like Spock would. There is no balance. There is no equal footing. There are not enough positive interactions outside the banter to show that there is something deeper there at the end of the day like Spock and McCoy did. Heck you can even compare how Pulaski and McCoy talk to Data via McCoy’s guest appearance in Encounter at Farpoint. He DOES make a quip about Vulcans when talking to Data and when Data points out he’s an android not a Vulcan, McCoy mumbles “Just as bad.” But immediately after he gives Data genuine heartfelt advice on treating the Enterprise with care. It’s clear that ultimately it’s McCoy being his usual grumpy self who’d be acting the same way towards anyone else and is otherwise perfectly civil and encouraging to Data. We’ve known him long enough to know this. Pulaski didn’t have that luxury, coming off as condescending towards Data at best and considering that she’s a doctor, it looks especially bad.

Now to be fair this only lasts for about four episodes. Pulaski does start catching herself by her second episode, and stops completely after Unnatural Selection when Data helps her and stays with her after she gets the aging virus. After that she’s MUCH moe civil to him, even defending his choice going against the Prime Directive in Pen Pals and was at his retirement party in The Measure of a Man. But clearly the damage had been done. Data is a very beloved character and by Oulaski’s intro had already been established and well-liked character. Data was treated equally and was valued as far more than just an android among the rest of the crew, Crusher included, so Pulaski coming in a season later and acting that way also didn’t help. The writers did not think through why Spock and McCoy worked and how to try figure out a unique dynamic for Pulaski and Data. Instead they just tried to copy TOS, and it utterly failed. It ruined Pulaski’s chances before she could even really start running. But I do believe that she could have rebounded and as I said, she DID get past it. She did relapse some at the end of the season in Peak Performance to the point I wanna say that maybe it chronologically happened earlier in the season, but even then she felt realized her screw up and apologized. It’s still an improvement from early on. But things just weren’t meant to be, which leads is to…

#3. She Only Lasted One Season/She Replaced Dr. Crusher: I believe that the biggest thing that worked against Pulaski is simple: she was cut after Season 2. Pulaski was created when Gates MacFadden left the show. I’ve seen conflicting reasons as to why, but regardless she left and a CMO was needed. IDK how popular Crusher was, but I had really enjoyed her. She was essentially the mom of the ship which added something different from TOS (wel McCoy was also the mom lets be real XD), had a son onboard which also added something new, was very much capable and devoted to her job, and was a badass when she got to use a phaser. Her being written out sucked, but that’s not necessarily a reason to hate Pulaski. But as I highlighted above, she just didn’t work. They tried to make McCoy, but without the dynamics and depth that let McCoy flourish. TNG is not TOS. Whenever TNG tried replicating TOS like with The Naked Now? It blew up in their faces. The key to a spinoff or reboot is to keep certain themes and tone alive, but to not just replicate what came before. TNG flourished when it began to find it’s own footing, and ultimately lasted four seasons longer than it’s predecessor due to it.

I genuinely believe that Pulaski COULD have developed into her own character and could have found her place the same way that McCoy did. But alas that didn’t happen. People wanted Crusher back, so they managed to get MacFadden to return and thus Crusher was put back in her rightful place. Because of it, Pulaski was just forgotten about. She didn’t get the chance to form her own character. She didn’t the chance to develop further and leave her early days behind. Why? Because she simply wasn’t given the opprotunity to do so. I can’t say it was the wrong choice, but it’s an utter shame because I do believe that Pulaski was on her way to improving. But it was too late. Her bad start with Data, her character not working in the TNG dynamic, and her replacing an already perfectly likeable character who did fit the dynamics all amounted to the character’s abrupt end. And because she didn’t get the chance to develop further and find her own path, her bad reputation has stuck to this very day.

In the end, the whole thing just feels like a waste. Pulaski had potential, but it just didn’t work in the end. I can’t say that I hate her. If anything, I feel bad for her. The writers failed her at the end of the day and by the time they tried correcting their errors, the audience had already made their judgement. It may have been for the best to just drop her and bring Crusher back, but I also hate seeing character potential just so utterly wasted. I hope that if any side material used Pulaski, they were able to find a much better direction for her. I can’t say that I love Pulaski. In a more TOS-like setting maybe she’d have worked better. But in the end I think that Pulaski was a decent character who just had too much working against her and they caused her to crash and burn. Just an unfortunate case all in all.

(Image Source)

[angelamontoo]

You know what? Fuck it! I'll give a million thoughts and headcanons

So let's get real, first. Louie is possibly the most adorable character peter lorre has played and thats saying something. The way he rubs his eyes when he wakes up, the way he feels so dang good about himself in his nice suit, the way he just wants lobster with thermidor, his big sad eyes whenever he's scared or worried. I...just love him so much, man

Honestly, the characters in this flick are adorable in general. My favourite Peter Lorre film is aaol and the main reason is that every character in it is so loveable or at the very least enjoyable. I find this is actually pretty rare for a Peter film, where usually the only loveable character is him and maybe to a lesser extent, one or two others and everyone else can go jump in a lake. But I'll give a million is the only other Peter lorre film I can think if where im so invested in so many of the characters

Jeans definitely the second best character. I love her so much! So peppy and nice and no nonsense. I love her voice, I love her fun outfits, I love the way she's ready to throw hands with a cop for bothering her friends and I especially love the way she just lies so much. Even when she probably didn't have to, like saying Tony was cool with getting shot out of a canon if the other guy couldn't do it. Queen.

I'm a big fan of uncle Victor too. He such a chill, nice old man and I love him being the one to fill the role of the brides parents at the wedding

Something that is a bit uncomfortable about IGAM is how unsympathetic it is towards the homeless. I mean yeah, what can you expect from a film from 1938, but the homeless are mostly portrayed as freeloading drunks and criminals. Even louies implied to be a drunk and is stealing shit at the end(although I chalk that up entirely to kopelpeck making him do it). I guess the more well off people in the film are shown to be greedy, unkind scumbags themselves tbf, but still

Speaking of, it's crazy how far being nice to peter lorre gets you where likeability is concerned-at least for me. I feel like I should hate Tony for his lack of self awareness about how much better his life is than most peoples. But Tony has a redeeming quality that most similar leading male characters in Peters films don't. He's not a complete see-you-next-Tuesday to the loveable peter lorre character for no godamn reason. This is especially admirable in IGAM since he's honestly the only character who doesn't kick poor louie around at least a little

Maxie is so gross. But! so fun to watch. Mr fritz Feld did an amazing job. Wonder if this guys the French nephew of kasper Gutman

Speaking of headcanons, Wikipedia says that Louies full name is Louie Monteau, but he's referred to as a German in the restaurant scene. So im thinking Louie was born and raised in Germany to a French father and a German mother. Maybe he moved to/ran away to France hoping to have connections from his French family that didn't end up working out, possibly due to them rejecting him because they disapproved of his mother since that sounds about right giving the films trend of everyone just being awful to Louie

Louie and kopelpeck is probably my most obscure ship rn. The good thing about nobody else having seen this film is that there are no fun police to reprimand me for grasping at the fact that they were sitting next to eachother at Jean and Tony's wedding as proof that they became a couple

I also HC Kopelpeck as being kind of the jealous type and disliking/not trusting Tony because he thinks Louie has a crush on him. Whether or not Louie actually does have a crush on Tony is something I go back and fourth on since he does call him handsome and a gentlemen and talks about him pretty dreamily, but if he didn't, kopelpecks distrust would fit the theme of people rudely accusing louie of things

That guy at the end who narrates Tony's actions with the cheque book is pretty good too. Again, like aaol this film has a lot of great small bits with characters who are barely in the film

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

uhhh isn't the whole 'slapping some sense into them' thing from Makoto's confidant a pretty common trope though? like there's Mitsuru and Yukari, Yu and Yosuke in their 10 rank, Louis and Legosi's fight in Beastars, various shounen series, etc. Are those examples different or do ya just not like the trope itself?

Bad trope, but specifically handled bad in P3/5′s case. Makoto and Mitsuru/Yukari event are bad examples of it. Yu/Yosuke....it’s not really a “good” example but it’s not bad. Louis and Legosi/shounen in general....(I’m assuming we’re just talking first season) it’s a bit....yeah....different....Former two bad (and the trope I dislike the most), latter two “good” (not as problematic, usually)....cause they are different tbh......probably cause they are diff tropes.

Under the cut cause length

So let’s go over the slap thing. I might refer to each Makoto/Yukari/Mitsuru/Yosuke stuff as P5/3/4 so just a heads up. 

(I will say I think if I compared the two girl slap scenes between YukaMitsu and Mako, YukaMitsu one is “better” due to it being in private and not as....big of a slap, it’s still shitty tho) I’m not a fan of Yukari and Mitsuru as friends (let alone as gfs) tbh, mostly impart of this scene. I do not think that slap was a good foundation, and I think it should’ve gone in the opposite direction. Tbh I think it should’ve made things worse. Mitsuru is at her lowest point, she’s literally had 14 goddamn days to process her father’s death ON TOP OF her student council duties, and dealing with her company (on top of stuff happening behind the scenes such as apparently being engaged). She has all these adult responsibilities thrust onto her, and she’s had 14 days to deal with it. She’s processing her grief and she’s in a “what’s the point phase.” Then Yukari comes along, a girl who’s....kinda been giving her grief up to this point, yeah Mitsuru has a right to say “what’s the point in us being friends” or even being friends in the first place, you’ve been kind of an ass to her the whole game Yukari, regardless of you apologizing (no one needs to accept an apology). You haven’t been close. So with all that context, pretend you’re the one who’s stressed, in the middle of a fresh grieving process, with someone they aren’t exactly close to, and when they question if their life has meaning.....How would you feel if someone slapped you? I’d be like “Ex-fucking-scuse me????” Like it comes off as Yukari feeling Mitsuru isn’t grieving fast enough for her, like she hasn’t had a decade to process her dad’s death (which is a fault of Yukari’s character that’s never addressed, it’s her way or the high way, she forces her emotions on other people and her being friends with Mitsuru after this feels like a reward for bad behavior). I’d be livid if I was Mitsuru, a slap is not what she needs. You can just passionately shout her speech to Mitsuru, it’s a helluva lot better than literally hitting someone while they are emotionally vulnerable. Her speech is freaking just fine without a gd slap to the face, and ruins the scene. Esp when Yukari gets to have a hissy fit earlier in the game for a similar crisis (but you know, with the context she’s already come to terms with his death for the past 10 years, while Mitsuru’s only had about 14 days), but you don’t see anyone slapping her to get a hold of herself? Even tho, she’s even more emotionally unstable at a certain part, and lashes out, but no we can’t slap her. But she feels justified in slapping someone else? Bullshit. (btw yeah she says sorry but it’s so blase I’m like “really? just a quick ‘srry’ and that’s it?”) 

Then there’s Makoto just....freaking....this girl. Giant walking contradiction, will be characterized opposite of previous characterization just to fit the freaking scene. Makoto will be “hot headed who doesn’t think” for the Kane arc and Slapping eiko, but she’s like 100% chilled to the bone for the rest of the game. Which is it? Which is it P5? Can she make plans and think calmly or can she not? You can’t have both, and if it’s the latter she shouldn’t be in that position. *inhales* ANYWAY! Let’s look at this whole thing from Eiko’s perspective.

Eiko’s feels like she has nothing going for in her life but Tsukasa, she loves him, and she thinks he loves her. She has a friend in Makoto, the perfect girl who has everything Eiko wants. But now that friend wants to take away the one thing SHE has and that SHE cares about??? She keeps saying things but doesn’t show proof iirc (except when she tricked Tsukasa, but she doesn’t give Eiko enough time to digest it and it’s all happening so fast, I think she mentions the text she gets from him but she doesn’t show the texts to Eiko, regardless Mako has another avenue to explore...which I’ll get to). Of course Eiko is confused, why is the girl that is perfect want to take something from her? She’s at her lowest, yeah not the same kind of low as Mitsuru, but she’s not in a good place. So how do you think it feels, to be slapped HARD and IN PUBLIC? And this isn’t like news to Makoto, she told her all this shit in the previous rank. Makoto’s had time to mull it over, so on top of all that, Eiko also feels like “She knows how I feel yet she’s still trying to ruin the one good thing I have??? I don’t understand.” And yeah she’s starts lashing out, but Makoto isn’t exactly handling it well either. Mako’s speech is just fine withtout the gd slap, but the slap brings it down for her character (which I’ll get to after the plan) Which brings me to her plan.....

So then there’s Makoto’s plan.....she really doesn’t have a back up plan? An obvious one? One that actually doesn’t go against their MO....you know changing his heart (INB4 ‘but silly they need his yadda yadda” yeah and we’ve done mementos bosses where we need to dig up dirt, it’s not exactly that hard esp with like Ichiko and Lala and just the general area, we know where he is we just need a full/real name, we know more info about him then most targets it’s not that bad). So why do this whole public thing? Why not meet privately with the receipts? WHY EVEN BOTHER WITH THAT AT ALL WHEN YOU CAN JUST CHANGE HIS HEART! And no this isn’t “you can’t rely on heart changing all the time” the game is ass at that message to start with so why beat around the bush??? Futaba gets help 3 gd times (I’m not saying they shouldn’t have, but if it’s a personal thing I don’t think the thieves are against it). Like listen, why.....don’t we change his heart? This isn’t about “oh why do that when we can solve it another way” no we’re past that, this guy is and has been preying on girls. Why the hell are we letting him run around???? Y’all give Mika shit (and tbf I’ve seen people give Mako’s CoOp the same shit for what I’m stating now), but 1) we didn’t find out about her shitty behavior till the last min and 2) she was caught and the situation was resolved without the need of a change of heart.....Tsukasa is neither of these things, he’s 1) a main antagonist throughout the CoOp 2) while he gets away from Eiko, he’s left to his own devices to hurt other people later (except the anime apparently? but we are talking about the game). Like seriously, change his heart, you help all the girls+Eiko, you can then comfort her without you know the public embarrassment. Hell if you want to keep the freaking speech from the slap scene you can! At least she’s not slapped! Just don’t slap her! Both P3/5 can get by with these scenes without NEEDING the slap! It’s not necessary and god freaking forbid people imitate it IRL (I’ve seen it happen first hand, people are not friends after that kinda BS).

There’s also the fact she and Eiko make amends after off screen and it’s like???? I don’t believe Eiko would go back to Makoto after that sort of public humiliation tbh. I need to see this “apology” (esp since Mako was soooo great at hers the first time with ANne after you know dragging them into the Mafia.....of course I’m being sarcastic, her apology was so gaslighty and her trying to get them to drop it like??? no you are being called out for good reason) And then there’s Makoto post slap, and she’s like ‘oh man was that ok???” like no bitch it wasn’t and the fact you get POINTS FOR ENCOURAGING HER???? Like I always say a negative thing and make her know what she did was wrong. And yeah she’s like “oh geez I didn’t mean for that :(” just.....sigh....doesn’t matter what you mean, you did it.....you have to own it......*inhales*

Now for the unfortunate implications, which if I was a Yukari/Makoto fan I wouldn’t be happy with how Atlus handled them. Already talked about Yukari (her way or the high way, butting in, gets rewarded for bad behavior yadda yadda), Makoto is similar. She’s just more bossy about it (cause she’s older probably, Yukari had it reign it into going behind Mitsu’s back cause of the whole senpai/kohai thing). But the slap reinforces Makoto’s....a bit.....physically abusive with her friends..... I don’t think that was the intent, but it’s an unfortunate implication. Who does Makoto hit (that’s not a shadow)? Ryuji (twice counting Royal), and Eiko (former for “comedy~!” and the latter for drama, yes she’s joined by the other girls in one of the events but she’s still been physical more than them). She also is known for threatening violence on top of that or just being ~intimidating~ (which hits differently when you’ve develop a streak of hitting friends rather than just someone who doesn’t do that?) And yeah it’s for comedy.....but after awhile.....ergh....(esp when they do it once for drama). It doesn’t help she’s also the damsel a lot, and literally can’t fight back against people who have ill will over her (told you she’s a contradiction), or just doesn’t bother putting up a fight tbh. Which.....then sends a message she...only hits her friends cause....she can take them on? kinda thing..... it just....makes me feel gross tbh. It’s just BS that Chie gets labeled a physically abusive person cause she “hit Yosuke in the balls” when she DIDN’T, it was all a misunderstanding! But when actually Makoto does it’s ok???? 

Yukari and Makoto have a lot in common, they get away with a lot of shit, their way or the high way a lot of the times, esp when they do things that’s....really rude and mean and shitty but hey I guess it’s ok with Atlus~! (for a game series that’s like “you are responsible for your own actions and the consequences it brings” it sure likes to let certain chars slide with their actions~! :D :/) It’s such a shame with P3 that we have Fuuka and Natsuki, while not explored a lot (such a shame) is written a lot better than YukaMitsu/MakoAnne/MakoEiko friendships. And they do it without the need for a slap, and the aggressor actually gives a legit and sincere apology??? All on their own??? All because they feel guilty and want to make amends ON THEIR OWN!!!! And actually takes responsibility too???? I’m usually neutral on them but seriously they handle this issue like fine wine compared to the other three. 

Ok let’s go over Yu/Yosuke. So when I say it’s not good but not bad, I mean like....you shouldn’t do it irl cause it’s dumb....but like....the message is a lot better. P4, it’s consensual. Yosuke ASKS to be hit. See “ASKS!” And they knowingly go in for a brawl/sparring match. Because they want to. Eiko and Mitsuru didn’t ask to be slapped, this isn’t an equal footing. P4′s is. P3/5 is someone who’s emotionally vulnerable getting slapped by someone that claims to care (and the friendship is rocky at best and barely formed at worse) and then somehow coming out as friends???? P4, strong bond, very good friends, consensual.

As for Beastars.....again I’m assuming we’re talking about their fight in S1 after the one person (vague for spoilers) gets kidnapped.......here’s the thing.....they....aren’t exactly friends. I guess if I had the beat up/slap trope as a spectrum, this would be on the opposite side of P4 (with P3/5 being in the middle). You don’t want to be in the middle, I think it leads to unfortunate implications (only time I can think of it being ok is if they deal with the fact they were slapped realistically, calling the person out). 

So on one end we have P4, strong friendship, it’s a consensual fight, it’s even (there’s no ....I guess the best word would be “power imbalance”). The other end is Beastars, they aren’t exactly friends, this fight is like....a brawl cause there is bad blood now, tbh it’s just a normal fight fkldsajflkjf; which like is fine, they become friends later, but in a similar sense this fight is even too (I mean not physically but like they are both like “LET’S GOOOOOOOO!”). But in the middle it’s the “we’re new or kinda friends but I’mma slap them when the person is down because I think they need a ‘wake up call’” is bullshit, it’s not even, one person gets slapped and the slapper somehow gets the friendship??? Like how does any of this work??? Only good ending to that is the person really giving a good ass apology or there not being a friendship. 

The only real time I can think of slapping someone to legit have them get a hold of themselves, is if there is a life and death situation, and they are too shell shock to move, and you need to bring them back. Or if they are unconscious and you are trying to wake them up (usually cause there’s bad stuff happening around). And it stems from fearing their safety and you tried everything else and it was the last resort. None of these fit P3/5 scenes tho. P4/Beastars/Shounen is just “dumb bois brawling” (which dumb girls brawling is valid too), they’re different tropes. Slapping for slapstick is closer to P3/5′s trope than the P4/Beastars/Shounen one.....that one is a veeeeery fine line tbh (the more over the top the better, because it’s more distant from reality, the less over the top the closer it is to the drama one and the closer it is to reality and........it ironically becomes unrealistic). 

but yeah there’s just a couple things......that’s wrong with the scene than just the slap, but really those slaps are so unnecessary???? Like the majority of the scene is the speech, just focus on that. I think it takes more skill to metaphorically slap someone with your words than with your literal palm. 

[kaoarika]

I’m not really one to be speaking a lot about ships (even though I’m very passionate of some, and even more, my OTPs), but it’s even more rare that I dare to speak about ships that I don’t like or I’m particularly “meh” about.

Sure, I try my best to not do so. I don’t want to come out as a jerk, especially because most of my reasoning in some seem to be... “ehhh”, and I don’t want to make ppl feel bad... I guess? Also, discourse over some unharmful ships in plain 2020 it’s just laughable.

I have been thinking a bit on some comments that I saw when I was binge reading the 3g*atsu scanlation in MD during the latest arcs because they kicked my gut very badly. We all have reasons to dislike ships (I certainly do), but the way it was worded I was like “dude, you could... you know, just don’t say anything about it and left it as it is”.

So, let me talk a bit about Rei and Aka*ri, and my interpretation about their relationship.

Tbf, when I started the series on blind, I certainly thought that there could be smth between these two. It’s Akari one of the first people that gives Rei a shoulder and a hand to help him. But, in a way, I also don’t thnk it was ever for something “romantic”. Rei is someone that needs emotional support and all kind of love in his life - familiar love, platonic, and heck, if we go by it, romantic, too. But, all in all, I think familiar love is what he needed the most, especially after living under the Kurodas for years and breathing a very toxic environment there.

He certainly found a comfortable “home sweet home” kind of life with the Kawamoto sisters, that always brings him memories of his own family (like what we saw during that one time he fell sick and he spent the time recovering in their house). And being with them brings him happiness as well. It’s certainly something that he needs that is beyond “I owe them for saving me”.

I don’t think, canonically speaking, that Rei saw Akari in a broader romantic light as the other suitors/fans (like Issa or Smith or the other plenty shogi professional players who frequent Misaki’s bar), and more likely the older sister (or mother) he could have wanted to have but didn’t (like, his adoptive sister emotionally abused him). He had his feelings mostly focused in the survival aspect of his life, until he started realizing the impact that the Kawamotos gave him started to affect him even more to his heart (i.e. Hina’s bullying).

For Akari, I don’t really think that she ever saw him as a partner prospect, either. At least in the start. There was this time they were comparing Rei as a stray cat (as bad as it sounds) because Akari picked him up and started helping him (feeding, etc) similar to the cats that live under the Kawamoto’s household. In a way, I suppose that Akari saw him as a little brother, as well, and a kindred spirit, too. Someone who was forced to act as an adult from a young age due to life circumstances.

Later it is explained that Akari, in some ways, cannot see herself with a romantic partner because she fears she would end up as her mother. Rooted from her father’s absence and seeing how her mother lamented that even before she died.

But, certainly, I don’t think Rei was in the picture (especially later on as, say, Hanashida-sensei or Shimada) because I think that some boundaries aren’t meant to be broken. Perhaps she would feel even older than she is supposed to be when she interacts with Rei. Even if she is surprised that Rei started developing feelings over Hina.

Although it is said that Rei saw the Kawamotos as the family he (kinda) needed, he developed feelings over Hina, but I also think it’s probably because they are a bit more closer to age than he is to Akari???  I am not sure how to explain it fully.

Like... even though he and Akari understand each other in a deep level, perhaps he doesn’t see himself “worthy” to be seen as a romantic partner to her. He is thankful for what she had done and helped him, but I suppose the impression that Hina has on him was even more bigger than Akari’s.

If you ship those two together, be my guest. Even if I don’t really ship them romantically, those comments ticked me off because they were unnecesary for bashing this ship as “wrong” - for example, I don’t see problems with the age gap (as minimal and both of them are adults, Rei at the present point of the story is 19 and Akari is around 23) between Akari and Rei “prob*lematic”, even if she is the older one there, even in a cultural aspect :/c (I mean, what’s wrong with a woman older than a dude by a couple of years in a relationship?)

I’m not going to tag this with the fandom tags just out of respect an to avoid useless discourse. I just wanted to share some observations on how I feel about these two. Sure, you could say I ship them... but in a platonical sense. A kindred spirit-like sense if you wanna.

[calliecat93]

Top 5 Likes of Red vs Blue: Season 1

(Top 5 Dislikes)

Alrighty, the first Dislikes post is up. Which even calling those things Dislike is stretching it, to be honest. So let’s get to the Likes! Which there s honestly a lot to like in this season. Even though the Blood Gulch seasons are my least favorite and as a saga it’s just barely over Freelancer, these seasons are very endearing. I always enjoy going back over them, and I’m glad to be able to talk about a few of the reasons why. So let’s get to it~

#5. Early Installment Weirdness

You know everything I listed on that Dislikes list? That’s all due to Early Installment Weirdness. That essentially means things early on were quite strange when you compare it to a show’s current standard. It’s only natural that a show needs time to find it’s footing and not everything will work out or be done well. Especially for a webseries like this made by a bunch of video game nerds for what was originally planned for a miniseries, but the more ideas they got, the longer it went. So as I said, many of these things are very forgivable.

Plus, like I also said on that list, these things make the show endearing. The Blood Gulch Chronicles are very comedic driven compared tot he later seasons that are plot-driven. Things like the amateur voice acting, the weird stuff like the afterlife, and even the audio quality adds to the charm. It’s this weird show being made via a video game by some video game nerds. It feels like a newcomer’s indie project… which I guess it kinda is. And while machinima has been around before this, no one quite did it like how RvB did it. These things, as well as the other things I’ll get to soon, just help make it stand out.

Plus, if anything, it helps show how far we’ve come. Every dislike I listed has been improved. The voice acting is stellar, the audio is much better, the characterizations are stronger, and while there are still the occasional continuity issues many of them have gotten reasonable explanations. It’s fun to go back and see the lesser developed parts. You don’t feel annoyed with it, you have fun watching it not just because it’s funny, but because we’ve seen the evolution of the show. We can have fun with the older stuff, and that’s a great thing. It’s why I think these things should be celebrated, not mocked. I only put them on a Dislikes list out of necessity, but I love these things. I don’t want them to go back to it cause production standards are higher, but I’ll always enjoy revisiting it.

#4. Church Dies

Okay maybe phrasing it like that is kinda mean, but it is what happened so…

So I knew this was coming because Ten Little Roosters had this fact as a joke in Episode 2. But despite knowing about it, it was still a surprise to me. I mean they killed a main character? In Episode 7? And the character of the creator to boot?! Wow, that is ballsy. But the part I didn’t know about was that Church came back as a ghost. I guess I should have known since I had seen people talking about Church and he was still listed as a main character on Wikipedia when I was looking up stuff about the show. But tbf I didn’t know he died this soon or that it was only the first time.

It was certainly a thing that took me by surprise. Especially since IIRC, Burnie hadn’t planned on doing it. He just came up with it since I guess at this point they knew it was going to go for longer than intended. Honestly knowing that a lot of this season was made up on the spot explains a lot of the weirder stuff like the afterlife scene… anyways! Yeah, it was something that legit shocked me. The ghost thing confused me for the longest time, but I was just glad to have Church around soon since he has easily become my favorite (sorry Grif, it wasn’t always you…) and this one on the spot decision? It lead to some of the best parts of RvB. BOth comedically and once it was time to become more plot-driven, it made some of the best drama and lead to my favorite saga in the show with Recollection. It’s a minor thing, hence hwy it’s at 4, but it lead to so much more and I love it~

#3. The Tex Twist

Adding Tex to this season was a great move. For one it allowed a lot of great things for later, like the Freelancers and the plot after Blood Gulch. Even before all the Freelancer stuff came out, having these agents who were pretty much paid mercenaries added plenty of potential for stories and even comedy down the road. It also helped that we had someone who was actually competent among the main cast, adding an actual threat level. Not to mention she has a very blunt sense of humor that helps her stand out despite being the only female character aside from Shelia.

Heck, making Tex be Church’s ex-girlfriend was a great move. It adds something a little more personal and also helps Church’s character. He was the grumpy, snarky one among the Blues and then he died not even halfway through. But this helps give him another dimension as a character since he clearly still cares about Tex and wants to free her of the AI. Sure he’s still grumpy, being dead will do that to anyone, but he showed some competence once Tex got captured and again still cared about her. Tex’s bluntness and non-caring attitude about these things as well as owning her bitch-like personality helped her not just be ‘the girl’ either. She’s the competent one, but she isn’t just there cause she was Church’s girlfriend. She’s tough, takes no shit from anyone, but she never really gets annoyed or exasperated by the others either. Her straightforward personality is not only funny, but lets her shine as her own character and the later seasons only help.

While IDR if Tex was planned, her being Church’s girlfriend I remember Burnie saying was not. This is kind of a precursor to something I always admired about the show, taking small things and weaving them into the story. Like taking the joke that the teleporter turns armor black and the Blues using that to their advantage to trick the Reds. You almost can’t tell that this wasn’t going to be nineteen episodes cause they did so well finding ways to extend the story by using what they had. Tex is a perfect example of this. Not just because of later, but even for this season it added some more humor, added to her character when she could have easily been this standard tough guy, and also helped Church’s character. It’s probably the best decision that Burnie made for this season, and I’m glad that he did.

#2. Character Interactions

On Dislikes, I talked about how the characters were not very fleshed out. This, as well as the show being machinimated, meant that the comedy and dialogue had to be really good. Fortunately, that was by far the thing that they nailed most in this season. As I said while the characters aren’t fleshed out, they /do/ still have character. Heck Burnie basing them off the people he cast was a very good mood in this regard. People like Gus and Geoff have known each other for years, for example. So this made for a lot of natural character chemistry and a lot of really good interactions. I mean people love having Grif and Simmons together for a reason. They just play off of each other so freakin’ well..

The interactions and dialogue are really good and even funny. Sure sometimes maybe they dragged a joke out a little too much. Like when Church was starting to talk about Sidewinder and Caboose kept interrupting, you just wanted Caboose to shut up so Church could get to the point. But at the same time, Caboose’s interruptions and Church’s annoyance felt so natural and funny. Or how Grif and Simmons messed with Donut and tricked him to get headlight fluid, and everything that led to. Not only were the contrivances funny, but the characters just bounced off each other so well. They didn’t need to be deep in this season because they all balanced each other out so well, which is pretty key when it comes to comedies.

I think that this is what allowed the show to thrive. People didn’t mind the machinima or how bizarre things got because we liked seeing these characters together. We enjoyed seeing them bicker and them getting themselves into something stupid. The dialogue was funny, the jokes, while some could drag, were timed well, and it just felt so natural. Despite most of the cast recording from different parts of the country (and in Gus’ case another country), you wouldn’t know it going off the interactions. It just worked very well and is very much what helped the show endure for this long, and it’s something I don’t feel has ever faltered even at it’s lowest point. That is saying a lot I think.

#1. Memorability

“Hey?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you ever wonder why we’re here?

You already heard the voices the second you saw the screencap, let’s be real. You look at Season One, and it’s clear that it’s not exactly a cinematic masterpiece. It’s made by people who had no idea what they were doign. Everything is pretty amateur. The comedy, while good, is pretty much aimed more at middle/high schoolers and some probably would not pass today. I know if I tried to watch the show when it came out when I was nine years old, my mom probably would have banned me from it. So then… why did it succeed?

Like I said, it’s flaws and character interactions made it endearing. There’s a lot in this season that we still remember. ‘Why are we here’ is the most obvious one, but this led to so much. Church being a ghost got us Recollection. Tex got us Project Freelancer. There are so many quotable moments, like Tucker’s Voltron line or picking up chicks in a tank. Moments like the first scene, Church’s death, Tex’s arrival, Donut’s pink armor/awesome throwing arm. We always remember these things. We always end up going back to Season One in one way or another. Sure, some stuff is jarring, but we don’t care. 

Season One is just fun. No one knew that it would lead to one of the longest-running webseries made, including RT themselves. I mean this allowed RT to exist period. It’s just got so many moments that we remember and still quote to this day. Even the show will call back to several moments. I mean how many ways have they incorporated ‘why are we here’ into the show now? Not only is it still funny, but it shows how far we’ve come since. We wouldn’t have the rest or RvB or anything else we enjoy from RT without this season. As such, I think that it’s memorability and just general existence is the best part about it, and is my pick for Top Like of Season One~!

Okay, one season down. Fourteen more to go. Thank you for reading everyone~! This is done, but I’m just getting started! So stay tuned for Season Two~!