#the guardian opinions

[thedepartmentofdiscoveries]

This made me laugh 😂 and then roll my eyes 🙄 at the killjoys banning their fun.

[deeneedsaname]

Ultimately, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is about recovery. Everyone at the end dancing…even some of the most tortured ones among them…Nebula and Rocket, who were pulled apart limb by limb and were spit on, told that they were worth nothing…they recovered, and they’re happy. And I think that’s one of the most beautiful things a movie can be about.

[agdreamtale]

Ah, you make Dream look a little bit more masculine.. It's quite nice! Thanks for your time :3

AWW thank you although it's unintentional - i think i just prefer androgynous but masc leaning dream in terms of design :) i don't think he really cares what he looks like, he just likes being himself! - wyllaztopia

[starmunchandthefunkybunch]

body language (and some other stuff) analysis: peter quill and rocket raccoon (roquill focused)

I am not a body language expert this is my theory based on body language research and studying the characters don't @ me.

We're doing this by movies folks!

GOTG VOL. 1

Rocket Raccoon and Peter Quill mirror each other constantly throughout the first film, constantly.

If Peter holds his hip, Rocket holds his, as soon as Peter relaxes his pose (both arms by his side), Rocket relaxes his.

Mirroring is a sign of attraction and I think it all started in the Kyln.

In the beginning, when they're in the Kyln, after getting sprayed with that goo, and Rocket walks in naked, his pose is very guarded and self-conscious because he's in a vulnerable position, (his shoulders rounded, his ears flicked slightly forward, and his eyes shifty while avoiding anyone's gaze, he adopts that pose many times, each time with Peter being mentioned or Peter being there, I'll get into that later) Peter, although curious, he...says...nothing. He doesn't take advantage of Rockets vulnerable state, he doesn't make fun of him, he doesn't pity him, he stays silent. That was the beginning of Rocket's affinity for him. That was the beginning of his little crush/like/appreciation/attraction.

(this scene always stood out to me for Rocket's posture and Peter's reaction to Rocket's scars and cybernetic enhancements. The 'unspoken things' passing between them.)

He starts to be aware of Peter's movements, and engaging in contact

- people say, 'hey why are Peter's hold ups explored, his hold ups with dating/being attracted to a raccoon (although rocket ain't a regular raccoon, he's person, a him, he's as much an animal as human beings are) and not Rocket's hold ups with dating a humie well here's this: he engages, multiple times, with Peter with touch. He initiates touch multiple times. He just doesn't really appreciate when someone else initiates touch. I honestly don't think rocket even thinks about it as humie vs raccoon. I think he more of thinks of it as his insecurities vs the world.

But Peter didn't mind his insecurities. So, he's aware of Peter's whereabouts, instantly scurries to follow him, puts a hand on his thigh, and whispers 'Quill', which is really a plea for not going further. He doesn't stop him, he asks him.

AND EVEN THEN!! they're mirroring each other. Or Rocket, more specifically, is mirroring Peter.

Eyes! Peter always, always, looks for Rocket and when Rocket does or says something, he looks for Peter, first.

The first person in trouble they both look for is each other, to make sure they're safe.

Peter immediately, after Rocket crashed his plane into Ronan, checked on him.

They're usually standing near or next to each other, with open arms and open torso. The only time Rocket closes this is when he's doing his, insecurities vs the world or vs the group, thing, or he's coming to a decision or he feels too vulnerable, or he's trying to be....firm....on his decision, so he'll cross his arms , look away, hunch his shoulders.

Peter actually sorta adopts the same pose when he's embarrassed, holding his arms closer together, messing with his fingers, looking away, hunching his shoulders.

Peter often ducks his head to meet Rocket's eyes, nobody else really does that, Rocket usually has to look up, and will swivel his head to pay attention to what Rocket says.

Interest ^ he's actively interested.

Rocket is invested in Peter, in the background often times, he's looking at Peter and observing what is going on

Rocket's super observant. He's even more observant with Peter. His ears twitch and his head tilts a little.

Interest ^ actively interested.

Anyways, overall, in the first movie, Rocket is a lot more touchy and close to Peter and Peter calls Rocket his friend two seconds after knowing him. Peter immediately sees him. There's a click! here.

This is what I like to call...a slight attraction, a small crush, on Rockets part. Peter? Peter thinks Rocket is interesting, he's his friend, c'mon, but Gamora? Gamora is the pretty girl that can kill him. He's already got a lot on his plate. He's already got someone.

There's an unspoken thing alright but it's not just the one you're focused on, buddy.

-my words to Peter ^

Mirroring, looking, choosing, interest. Tilted towards one another or paralleled, don't even get me started on the goddamn music! (That's for another time)

In GOTG VOL 2, all of that changes.

VOL 1 , Attraction

VOL 2, Love

GOTG VOL 2

Immediately, there's more of a rift between them.

It is so palpable. It's dense. There is an air between them, with Rocket in the beginning sorta trying to make Peter feel better about the high priestess being a not very nice lady and winking at Quill but it not being received well, and Peter not really joking too much with Rocket. Rocket pulling away. It's a very tense air. There is tension.

This movie, Rocket focuses on interacting with baby Groot, Gamora, Drax. He, unlike in the first movie, hardly ever interacts with Peter unless it's to tease him or to defend him (in the beginning of Vol. 2)

There's a noticeable pushing away.

And, unlike the first movie, there is little to none mirroring. There isn't any mirroring but there is a lot more, from Rocket's part, self conscious posing and guarded expression while Peter is still dynamic.

Possibly because Rocket is a little more closed off and he's compensating because he's not used to Rocket pulling away like he is, especially from Peter and on some level Peter doesn't know how to cope with that so it's making Peter agitated as well, and well

Rocket doesn't like to be open, vulnerable like that. He doesn't. So he's pushing Peter away.

And the reason why? The reason why he hunches his shoulders, his ears hang forward, and he avoids eye contact? The very things he does when he's feeling vulnerable? Is because he loves Peter and is trying to cover it up.

He loves him. What happened last time he loved someone dearly? What happened?? So he pushes them away so they don't get hurt because he blames himself for the hurt that's happened in the past.

He pushes Peter away.

He only ever adopts that body language in the movie when Peter is brought up or he is talking to Peter, and the only reason why he didn't act that way when getting the music together or whenever talking to the high priestess is because he was 1. Focusing on something else, and 2. He was defending Peter, he had his arms crossed in front of him in a defensive, guarded posture, his feet shifted slightly, and his chest puffed, because what the priestess said about Peter pissed him off.

(he is imperfect, his friends of past were imperfect, he's been dealing with this shit his whole life, he's mad, and trying to make Quill feel better. It doesn't work, the rift deepens, yadda yadda.)

When Yondu brings up Peter while they're waiting for baby Groot to grab the fin, Rocket does his vulnerable pose, whenever Peter leaves and tells him, 'are you trying to make everybody hate you?', he does that pose, and besides that he also does the pose when he's trying to get dressed in the Kyln, after getting sprayed down.

Another positioning aspect I noticed, is that, throughout vol 1 and vol 2, Rocket is in between Gamora and Peter. Consistently in between Gamora and Peter. The only time this ceases is after Yondu makes Rocket acknowledge he's in love with Peter ('for what? for honour? for love?' Rocket looking at Yondu with a heart broken expression of surprise because he saw through him, because he knows.) And Rocket and Peter mend their breaking chain by Rocket apologizing in his own way ('and he stole batteries he didn't need?' 'of course not.'). Because they needed to mend that broken chain, because Rocket needed to know that he felt the way he felt and accepted that and moved on with acceptance because Peter likes/loves Gamora. Peter doesn't feel that way about him. And so, after their relationship is mended, and Rocket realizes this, he literally and metaphorically moves out of the way of their relationship.

Only after Peter and Rocket's relationship is mended does Peter enter a relationship with Gamora.

Because! Peter and Rocket has always been the most important relationship in the group. Everything would go out of tilt if they had a rocky relationship. (heh puns)

Anyways. 2nd Vol. Love, and 1st vol. Attraction.

More Things I noticed:

Rocket's resting position is his arms crossed, and feet neutral, posture neutral. He crosses his arms often, but depending on the look on his face and the things goin on, changes why he's crossing them, and Peter's resting position is both his hands on his hips, sorta like he's about to put his fingers in his pockets. Both Peter and Rocket talk with their hands.

Whenever Pete is pissed, he brings his arms closer to his body and balls his fingers into fists. He, much like Rocket, goes from 0 to 100. Especially when it involves those he loves.

Whenever Rocket is pissed he spreads his feet evenly for more balance and brandishes his claws and shows his teeth (unless he has his guns, or he's drunk, then it's slightly different as with Peter.)

Whenever Mantis went to pet Rocket the first time, he was listening and barely snapped at her fingers with his teeth. He heard Drax joking, is my theory. He coulda snapped her fingers clean off. He didn't.

Peter has open body language most of the time, his arms open, and his feet apart, he becomes more closed off and tense when he's angry (body language right) and he becomes more deflated when he's embarrassed (shoulders hunched, eyes downcast, twiddling with fingers/thumbs, not as talkative)

Peter checks on Rocket more than he does anyone else when they are fighting (except baby Groot, he checks on baby Groot a lot, everyone does, he's baby Groot). Not out of lack of trust or doubt of capability but out of worry and care. When he was fighting Ego, he didn't look for Yondu during the fight, until after Yondu was already getting crushed, but multiple times, he looked for Rocket.

Whenever they landed in the area they needed to to connect the bomb to Egos core, Peter slid over Rocket and landed at his feet and Rocket smirked at him. (It was a soft, sorta fond smirk, not the devious smirk he usually does.)

This was a lot of information. I hope this made sense. I got distracted 60 times. I lost count and recounted. That's probably not an accurate number. Please leave questions in the notes for me to answer if you have any, and I will do GOTG VOL 3 after I have it so I can rewatch it as many times as I need.

Thank you, Rocket loves Peter, and Peter loves Rocket (although he doesn't really realize it in GOTG VOL 1 and 2. I think he knows there's a fondness maybe but it's not a conscious thing.)

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

I love gamora, please, she's amazing. This is not hating them, it's literally just a rocket and quill post.

Tags:

@cheeburgah99 @wisefoxluminary

[doverstar]

for me it wasn't the arm-grab or the black eyes bit. I started shipping it when Quill said "she only calls me Star-Lord when she's mad at me"

[zoe-oneesama]

Hi Zoe! I see you're done with Party Crasher. If I'm not wrong, Frozer is up next. What do you think about the episode?

This episode is a prime example of why Season 2 has nearly no rewatch value after you've endured Season 4. It's so hard to watch with hindsight.

So, the biggest funk of this episode was definitely Chat Noir - it was him when the episode came out and it still is now. Literally opening the episode with another romantic gesture when Ladybug confirms this MUST be post "Glaciator" because she very gently and sadly reminds him that he knows she's in love with someone else.

Well, he took the rejection SO WELL in "Glaciator", so why should we expect any different here?

This episode (paired with "Glaciator") is the episode that launched the "Nice Guy(tm) Chat Noir" idea. He says things in this episode that I swear were pulled right from reddit. He decides they should go solo because she turned down his rose... "We don't always have to do everything together, after all. It's not like we're a couple." Seriously dude? All this time together, our partnership, our relationship, our friendship, it all means nothing because I don't want to be your girlfriend? Because I was honest about having feelings for someone else? THAT'S the kind of person you are? What a great role model.

But then he's over it, like, immediately. I'm so confused as to why this was even here. To make Chat Noir look like a dick? Way to sell your main love interest, show~

So Sadrien sadly takes his sad rose to fencing practice and gets his sad ass handed to him by Kagami, who's like "wtf kicking your ass is boring if you just let me" and he asks her "do you ever feel like you're stuck, replaying the same story over and over again and hoping for it change but nothing ever does?"

And Kagami's response is her infamous "the biggest mistake a fencer can make isn't choosing the wrong technique. It's choosing the wrong target. Change targets" advice.

First of all, her metaphor sucks. Fencing is a 1 vs 1 sport, you can't "change targets". You can switch from aiming for the chest to aiming for the leg, but it's still the same opponent, weirdo.

Second of all, nothing about what Adrien just asked you suggested he was talking about a person or a romantic suitor whatsoever. Your only hint was that he was holding his Reject Rose, but even so, why wouldn't your first thought be that he's talking about his father???

Seriously, this could've been a good lead in for the Adri////gami set up if Kagami had assumed he was talking about Gabriel and responded with empathy. "Yes, sometimes I feel like that with my own mother, but I realized I don't like feeling like I'm waiting for change to happen. I make my own change happen. If you want your story to be different, maybe it has to come from you."

And Adrien, still thinking romantically, is struck. 'Wow' he thinks, 'she understands me in a way that honestly? Not a lot of people would.' And he declares that she's right, he's going to change his story starting now, and hands her the rose, starting their romance story.

But no, sure, a bad fencing metaphor about how he should forget other hoes and look at her, that works too, who needs BUILD UP amiright? I was a fool to think that maybe Kagami would need a REASON to be into the Writer's Pet Adrien when he's OBVIOUSLY already PERFECT.

Not that any of this matters since Adrien all but tells Kagami to her face "I had a great time but I'm sticking to my original pick." and she says she'll wait for him, girl, have some self respect.

But that's getting ahead of ourselves. After the two part ways, we have a scene with him and Plagg about Adrien maybe switching targets, and uh..

Look, I noticed a real problem with the dialogue in this episode - there's a lack of connectivity throughout the episode with the things people say. I know I make jokes about the show having five writers per episode who don't communicate with each other, but here it reeeeeally feels like maybe that's not a joke.

Like here: Plagg suggests that Adrien is going to start pursuing Kagami and Adrien rejects this idea because he's in love with Ladybug ("No, no way. Ladybug's the only one I love), and it probably wouldn't work with Kagami anyway because it's his technique that's wrong and he needs advice on what to do.

This seems to suggest that Adrien isn't going to go after Kagami, and if he did, it would be to test out a technique on her. Like going out with Kagami would be practice. Now that's obviously not verbatim what he said and could justifiably be seen as reaching, but do you see my confusion? Not once does he say anything about being into Kagami or wanting to go after her (though admit-ably he did give her the Reject Rebound Rose).

But then two scenes later when he's asking Marinette for help, he's describing Kagami as if he's in love with her, as if he's really interested in her. Where did THAT come from between scenes?! Writers! COMMUNICATE!

Also he says in the French version that they have classes together, and in English that they study together, and I would just like to see WHEN?!

There's another example when Marinette goes off to the bathroom after Kagami gives more..."advice". Tikki asks why she's sad, and instead of pointing out the very obvious "Oh, I don't know Tikki, my crush asked me for advice on how to get close to another girl, I'm third wheeling his date and am forced to watch them skate around holding hands, she practically claimed him when Phillipe was trying to recruit Adrien for his ice rink by reminding him AND me that Adrien is with HER, aaaaand I fell on my butt in front of him, her, and the guy who I also have caught feelings for but am feeling bad about potentially leading him on because of my lingering feelings for Adrien. And then my crush's date basically told me it's my fault that all these things are happening to me because I 'hesitate'. That might have something to do with why I'm sad."

But instead her answer is she likes Luka but doesn't know if what's between them is that they're just friends, like with Adrien????

Even if that WERE a part of it, that's not the thing that started this or even the thing that set her off. So why is that the thing they made her stuck on??? That's like the fourth thing on the list of Things That's Made Her Upset. Her answer sounds like it comes from a pre-edited script or something.

So yeah, the dialogue is...weird. But that's almost normal for Miraculous Ladybug at this point.

So anyway, Adrien vows to get advice from someone who is Not Plagg and realizes very quickly that every adult in his life is utterly worthless so he scouts out his friends. Except of the 4 couples he zones in on (Marc and Nathaniel, Ivan and Mylene, Alya and Nino, Juleka and Rose) 3/4 of them are together because of Ladybug and an akuma.

"Hey bro, I need some advice, how'd you and Alya get together?"

"Oh, Ladybug locked us in a panther cage during an akuma attack after you tried to set me up with her best friend."

Maybe it's not as crazy that he went to Marinette as I initially thought.

(That said this gave me flashbacks because for some reason all my friends came to me for relationship advice despite being chronically single for most of high school, so, I felt that pain Marinette.)

And just...wow, writers, I know Marinette is your punching bag but this was just cruel. Having her crush, the guy YOU'RE SELLING as her true love go off about how pretty and special and amazing this other girl is right to her face? Is this supposed to be an equivalent heartbreak to what happened in the first scene? Because this doesn't feel equal, this just feels malicious on the writer's end. Ladybug didn't grind into Chat Noir's face how AWESOME the mystery boy is and at least Chat Noir got to throw a tantrum about it, where's Marinette's tantrum?!

I'll say the one point I give to the Girl Squad is them telling Marinette she's crazy for agreeing to third wheel this date and that she should definitely cancel on Adrien. If he can't handle being alone with the girl he wants to date, that sounds like a them problem, there's being selfless and then there's being masochistic, girl.

But then they lose that point for yelling over her when she tells them she's going to try being Just a Friend for Adrien.

The Girl Squad scene is also frustrating in this way that Miraculous is continuously frustrating in that the characters just don't quite say the thing that makes sense (like in "Maledictator" with Marinette calling Chloe "useless" instead of things that would actually stick like "bully"). Marinette says she's giving up on Adrien because she stutters around him and dating would be impossible if she can't even talk to him, and that she's calmer when she's trying to be his friend instead of dating him.

But what she should have said was "he just asked me advice on how to ask out someone else, he's clearly not into me!"

She has a good point with the stuttering thing, but that puts all the weight on HER for the relationship not taking off. It's HER that can't get it together, it's HER that can't get her words out, it's HER that's stopping them from being together. Meanwhile Adrien's over here asking out other girls, calling her "just a friend", not showing up to meet ups that she'll be at... Hell, he tried to set HER up with SOMEONE ELSE ("Animan"). He doesn't want to date her! Message Recieved!

So she brings in Luka, (which honestly, smart move, because how much would Kagami have REALLY hated Marinette if she showed up by herself on THEIR date) and we get The Metaphors.

Marinette is clumsy, this is a known fact, yet the only times she's clumsy at the ice rink is because she's focused on Adrien - when she focuses on Luka, she's smooth, easily let's him guide her, and is pulling off professional moves. ALMOST like he's a good, calming influence compared to the chaotic energy that Adrien brings.

The "problem" (if you're writing for this show and want to encourage Adrien and Marinette being together) is that the episode never challenges why this should be a bad thing. They want her to be with Adrien, soooo why are they basically visually proving why Luka is the better option? Why does this whole episode feel like it's actively trying to turn Marinette away from Adrien?

I mean obviously they're starting the Love Rival drama, but I mean long term. With the Skating Metaphor and Marinette bringing up how her own inability to think clearly around Adrien is a problem, and then never COUNTERING those problems, why are we supposed to root for them again?

Oh because Luka gave his consent in the end, not because of any merit that Adrien brings to the table, got it.

Then there's the obvious Two Guys Reaching Out to Help Marinette Up and She Hesitates Because Her Heart is in Conflict Metaphor. I only give this one props because at least none of the characters explained that one, they just let that one speak for itself, even if it was obvious.

Though that one accidentally extended when the reason Marinette doesn't choose is because Phillipe forces his way into the interaction to beg Adrien to join his rink - kinda like random, out of pocket shit that she has no control over is CONSTANTLY MESSING UP HER ATTEMPTS TO MAKE MOVES.

Gosh Kagami, maybe Marinette would've made a choice if she'd gotten five seconds between them without INTERRUPTIONS! Maybe she even would've grabbed BOTH of their hands, then what would you have done?

Sighhhh, I'm sorry Kagami, I don't mean to rip on you. It's just that you were so freaking RUDE in this episode to anyone who wasn't Adrien (and also a little bit to Adrien tbh). You can turn Phillipe's offer down without telling him his favorite sport is basically trash. You can help Marinette up without rubbing it in that you got the guy first. You can let Adrien turn Phillipe down himself without peeing on him, as if you're jealous of a this guy just for asking Adrien to join a sport ("he already fences with ME!"). Let the boy speak for himself - maybe he actually was interested, did you check in on what he wants?

Yes, Adrien shouldn't just go along with people to make them happy, but he's not going to learn to stand up for himself if you just speak for him.

And Luka...well you're just here for a good time, aren't you? So patient, so kind, so the only person in the room who can read the writing on the wall. At least someone in this group isn't lying to themselves.

I'm losing steam, so let's rapid fire:

I knew I'd hate Phillipe as soon as I saw him and I was right. He's annoying and I bet he's the reason no one wants to come to his stupid ice rink because he's lurking there interrupting other people's dates. I was on Andre's side when he ragged on him for trying to force people to join (though dude you gave him ten minutes, what did you think would happen?)

Luka's so magical he can play electric guitar without an amp or any sound amplifying device, impressive. Or the people on this show have never touched an instrument.

Also Luka, your advice to just be natural and go with the flow is great and also WASTED on Adrien, his "natural" is a DISASTER.

Adrien panic-lying that he brought Marinette to teach him how to skate was pointless. Maybe Kagami would've thought it was endearing you were too nervous to go on a date with her alone if you were just honest about it, but now it's just Another Thing Kagami has to turn into a competition because she sees Marinette as a RiVaL (which honestly amazing jumping to conclusions because wut, where'd you get that idea?)

Also, does Kagami shoot a bow? She says she only participates in "noble" sports, like bow or fencing, but I can't tell if she's listing sports she considers noble, or listing sports she participates in. Also what does a "noble" sport even mean?

S-stalac-Tikki...and Plagg-lagla. I know it's Plagg-Glacier in English, but it's Plagg-lagla in French and it sounds like Adrien's VA is gargling or stuttering when he tries to say it.

What happened to Luka and Kagami, you're not even going to show them frozen?!

Frozer is so ugly omigoooood not looking forward to drawing him.

So yeah, anyway, Frozer is hard to watch, especially with hindsight, the bad parts with Chat Noir are really bad but don't stick around long, so there's that, and while it doesn't feel like the characters are being too bad during this whole "dating" fiasco, it suuuuure feels like the writers were~

[shinneth]

My souring sentiments on Sailor Moon's manga

It'll be a surprise to no one who knows me even remotely that Sailor Moon was my everything back in my childhood. From the age of 9, I was utterly obsessed with it.

That was just a couple of years shy of 30 years ago.

Since then, I've often revisited the series. I watched the entirety of the Viz dub of the classic anime; all 200 episodes.

And I loved it all the same, if not more so than before. Because now I have context for why exactly the anime was the way it was, including its gradual diversion from the manga source material. And I respect the hell out of the staff who poured their life into this work, while concurrently running with the manga and doing whatever it could to not completely outpace it in the narrative.

Are there a lot of fillers in the OG anime? Yes. Too many? Well, not so from a functional standpoint (this show had to run weekly for 5 years), but there are definitely some fillers you could skip and miss nothing in doing so.

But a story like Sailor Moon honestly needed some breathing room in order to properly flesh out the cast.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, the live-action reimagining of the show, was phenomenal back then (despite looking low-budget even by 2003 standards), and having re-watched the whole series recently, I can safely say PGSM more than holds up and deserves way more love and respect than it gets. It's THE perfect example of reimagining the story of Sailor Moon while still respecting its roots and maintaining the soul of the franchise.

Which is exactly why I couldn't stand Sailor Moon Crystal. We knew from the off that it was supposed to be completely faithful to the manga, but one look through @crystalvsmanga will show you Crystal took shitloads of "creative liberties", and the amount of changes I could dare to call "good"? I could count them on one hand.

The animation is low-hanging fruit, because everyone and their dog knows how godawful it was for the first two story arcs. But more than that, I actually loathed the general art design. Yukie Sakou's style DID NOT closely resemble Naoko Takeuchi's. People kept saying it, but I couldn't really see it. The eyes especially are a far cry from Takeuchi's style. And Sakou's style did NOT facilitate the OTT cartoony expressions that were definitely present in Takeuchi's manga; everyone looked so goddamn soulless, like overly-expensive porcelain dolls.

My biggest gripe with Crystal was the story, of course. While a great deal came from just being from the manga (which I'll get to in a bit), the changes they made went a long way to actively make the manga's story worse. My main takeaway from Crystal S1-2 is that it took itself waaaaay too seriously.

That being said, I did like Crystal's third season a lot better BECAUSE Chiaki Kon had way more competence and held a lot more respect for Sailor Moon. Like, my god, for once it felt like there was a soul in this show! It can actually take the piss every now and then!

Some silly things kinda broke my immersion (such as the Senshi just being able to fuckin' fly and Chibi-Moon in particular was literally sky-stepping), but most of that can be blamed on the source material it was adapting. While I was fine with Crystal3, I definitely didn't feel it was anywhere near as good as Sailor Moon S. Outside of Hotaru/Sailor Saturn having more of a presence, there wasn't really much in Crystal's take on Infinity that I liked better than S.

But most of that comes down to the fact that I liked S more than manga's Infinity arc to begin with.

Which is a good segue to talk about the manga proper.

I have not yet watched Eternal or Cosmos. the movies that adapted the last two manga arcs, but it'd be redundant since I know ahead of time what they're going to be about, and so far I haven't heard about any of them deviating from the source material, so it'd be moot to talk about them even if I had watched.

When I first got my hands on the manga, which was when I was around 12-13 and thus got the crappy MiXxZine translations, I was fine enough with it. Thought it was too fast-paced and didn't care for 99% of the villains being one-and-done jobbers, but I was also reading it with my impressions of the 90's anime characters still intact. I was reading the manga like an extension of the anime, rather than the other way around.

It wasn't until many years later when I grew older, when the manga was properly translated, when I acquired the wisdom my teenaged-ass self lacked, and learned to look at the manga as a completely separate entity that I started to see the cracks in the manga's narrative.

Further rereads have left me in something of a mindfuck, as I experienced the manga the proper way. And I realized:

The more I read the manga, the more I disliked it.

The manga is lauded for having an infinitely better depiction of Mamoru, as well as his ~Miracle Romance~ with Usagi.

Objectively, the manga definitely spends lots more time giving UsaMamo attention as a couple than any other aspect of the story...

I'd say they're also more developed as individuals in the manga too, but usually the beats, uh...

... let's say they usually ring hollow, when these two (and sometimes their daughter) are the only ones who consistently get shit done across the series. Hell, on the rare occasion that the Inner Senshi weren't rendered into street pizza, Neo Queen Serenity basically told them to fuck off and let her daughter, past self, and past hubby take on motherfucking DEATH PHANTOM/NEMESIS BY THEMSELVES.

It's likely because my first exposure to Sailor Moon was via the 90s anime, which had more of a focus on friendship and comradery between Usagi and her friends than it did her romance with Mamoru. I mean, romance was DEFINITELY a prominent thing even in that iteration of the story, but that wasn't where my interest lied. I was, am currently, and always will be more interested in Usagi's galpals than I'll ever be interested in her love life.

And, well, I'm sure this qualifies as a hot take, but...

This one moment with Usagi and Mamoru in the elevator (hell, their interaction across this entire episode was great) resonated with me far more than any ultra-romantic declarations of eternal devotion that Usagi and Mamoru kept regurgitating at each other in the manga.

Granted, the manga had a FEW moments early on where their dynamic was more playful, but they were pretty much confined to the early chapters and this element of their chemistry pretty much died not long after this.

Some say 90s anime Mamoru was far too mean-spirited in his teasing of Usagi. And I mean, sure, he was kind of a douche at times, but he usually got some karmic blowback from it (I remember one time he made Usagi cry without even really meaning to, and she cried so loud in public that randos nearby were giving Mamoru the evil-eye or a scolding). But honestly, after R, Mamoru kinda became a bland, generic love interest, just as he almost always was in the manga. The only difference was that anime Mamoru was never granted powers that were literally equal to Usagi's. The manga gave him a GOLDEN FUCKING CRYSTAL.

There was that infamous break-up arc in R that, yes, was shitty in concept and execution. But if I had anything positive to say about it, it at least shook up the status quo. It didn't make him immediately fall into the bland, generic love interest he would soon become. And it gave us some of the most emotionally-charged Usagi moments in the entire anime.

Conversely, in the manga, we had THIS shit for our UsaMamo "drama":

(the former incident with Usagi literally accusing her boyfriend of falling in love with a kid, by the way, happened while MOST OF HER FRIENDS WERE KIDNAPPED BY THE ENEMY AND COULD'VE BEEN DEAD FOR ALL SHE KNEW AND YET SHE FUCKING HAD TIME FOR THIS STUPID SHIT)

Everything seemed to revolve around Usagi and Mamoru (sometimes Chibiusa too). It lowkey came off that way at times even in the 90s anime, but in the manga or Crystal? You'd be hard-pressed to find the girls engaging in their stated hobbies at most points in time, because they're usually all together and talking about their prince and princess.

Hell, even Haruka - Sailor Uranus herself - seemed much more interested in Usagi than she ever did in Michiru, her actual girlfriend.

So... am I just missing something? I've seen people say that as they grow older, they prefer the manga/Crystal to the 90s anime. But I've never seen anyone other than myself express the opposite sentiment.

But it's true - unless I completely leave my brain at the door, I have a hard time enjoying the manga for what it is. The characters I'm most interested in or attached to quickly get swept aside for the characters I have the least interest in. No more does that ring true than the Stars arc of the manga, where Naoko Takeuchi basically speedruns killing off literally the entire cast until Sailor Moon's the only one left standing. Most characters don't even get to go out in a blaze of glory or anything - it's got nothing on the finale of the 90s anime's first season in that regard. If you're lucky, you'll get a single panel where your entire existence is ripped to shreds - but sometimes you'll be killed literally off-screen!!

There's a number of questionable manga-exclusive aspects that rubbed me the wrong way as well, such as poor Sailor Pluto being assigned as a child to guard the Door of Time in complete and total solitude. While I appreciate more Silver Millennium lore that the manga provided (the anime hardly mentioned it past the first arc), it was more than a little uncomfortable knowing the OG Queen Serenity conscripted the Inner Senshi as small children to become Princess Serenity's guardians. Really casts Queen Serenity and her Moon Kingdom in a much darker light - like maybe Queen Beryl and Queen Nehelenia had a point in trying to take them down (though the manga I believe retcons all past villains as incarnations of Chaos, so that arguably removes all prior villains' agency?). Lots of little things that I didn't think twice about, but now that I look at them again, I'm wondering WTF Naoko Takeuchi was thinking.

Though I don't want to be too hard on her. Poor girl was working under stress far longer than she'd planned to (she'd intended on ending the story either by the Dark Kingdom or Black Moon arc), so it's no surprise there's a lot of clunk and clutter in the narrative.

I often wondered if Naoko Takeuchi really wanted to make Sailor Moon with a Super Sentai-esque setup in the first place. After all, her first big hit was Sailor V, which was exclusively Minako and Artemis fighting evil with Minako having her own masked love interest she ended up being at odds with and he eventually died. With a scant few secondary characters here and there.

It led to me thinking about what Sailor Moon would be like if Naoko kept the cast to a more Sailor V-like size. That, perhaps, the Sailor Moon she really wanted to make would be quite a different beast from how we know it to be today.

So this lengthy diatribe about my personal conflicts with my waning fondness for the manga versus my strengthened love for the OG anime and live-action show was actually a preamble to a bizarre AU I wrote an outline for over a year ago but never posted in public. I had considered posting it to Sailor Moon's Reddit back then, but I (probably wisely) held off, as my musing went way off the rails.

But I figured now's a good time as any to share it here, at least. Though it'll need to be its own post since I wrote so goddamn much in this post alone, wow.

On that note, I'll end with this: The only iteration of UsaMamo that I unironically enjoyed and rooted for is...

[captainwaffles]

Character development of the Guardians

Spoilers ahead

Start obvious with Rocket. He went from this edgy criminal who couldn’t accept himself to someone who let himself heal. He made himself a new family. He stopped letting his past haunt him and came to terms of who he was and where ha came from. He allowed himself to be the good guy. The hero in his own story

Quill found out it was okay to be sad. You can’t run forever. He loved a version of Gamora that died. He had to leave her dead. This Gamora is not his and she’s not ready or willing. He is allowing himself to grieve and grow and that’s amazing.

Gamora oh my god. I don’t remember what she said but it was something along the lines of like I’m not yours or something. She’s not she’s not the males love interest. She doesn’t need a man. She got herself a family. She found a place she finds safe by herself. She’s reconnecting with Nebula too. Amazing

Nebula, my love. She really grew from endgame into this. She made a family and found something she loves, taking care of people. She let herself grow close to Quill and Rocket and everyone else. She started sharing emotions and thoughts.

Mantis. I’m so mad. I feel like since she was introduced they punched up her silliness, especially in this film. She doesn’t understand some things but they made her overly stupid. Which feels wrong. They finally gave her some peace though. They allowed her to speak her mind and say she doesn’t need help and does stuff differently and that’s amazing. I wish they didn’t have to make her just the butt of jokes for it though

Drax. A lot of the same from Mantis. He was not that empty and stupid in GotG 1. As the series continued the more they made him, let’s make him stupid and a laughing stock. At the end we finally got to see his more complex sides with being a father and that grief he still has for her. But he also realized he can be a dad and not a fighter

[wolfsbanesparks]

Do you think Sterling Morris ever considered adopting Billy?

That's a good question.

I think that Billy often tries to downplay his own situation to Mr. Morris a lot, sometimes by pretending to be his own dad, but that Mr. Morris still has his suspicions and tries to do a lot for Billy because of it. He takes him on little outings and trips so that he can have some childhood fun despite his very adult responsibilities. I also think that if he'd ever known for sure that Billy didn't have a family/anywhere to go, he would offer to take care of him (similar to how Uncle Dudley does in some continuities) but would respect Billy's decision to be independent if that's what he wanted. And that's what makes his relationship with Billy so special--the respect.

Thanks for the ask!

[nullbutler]

dadbastian stans have some fascinating ability of lacking reading comprehension

I know!!! its so annoying that people have the audacity to make AUs where a DEMON could feel PLATONIC PROTECTIVE FAMILIAL LOVE. thats such a canon breaking AU, a demon has NEVER done that ever not once in the lore of black butler-

OH WAIT

[bloodraven55]

manga/crystal mamousa >>>>>>>> live action pgsm mamousa >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 90s anime mamousa

[arthurian-owls]

Ok guys be real with me: who's the most likely out of all the owls to make a yo mama joke.

I think it's gotta be Boron. Barran would side-eye him but laugh about it later.

The face of a man about to destroy another member of parliament

[mayasaura]

Hello I see you are succumbing to the Ace Attorney Brainrot TM. If Harrow is Edgeworth, then presumably Gideon is Phoenix. Does that make the very bad teens or Palamedes her court-assigned weird little girl?

WELL, thank you for asking!!! You might just live to regret it.

The main connection is really Harrow 🤝 Edgeworth: I only think I killed my own father daddy issues, and that special kind of dorky tsundere approach to relationships. "Thanks to you, I am saddled with.... unnecessary feelings." vs. "[You were born so attractive] because everyone would have throttled you within the first five minutes otherwise," ect.

Then, of course, there's the counterpart of Gideon 🤝 Phoenix: "All books are basically the same size, right?" vs. "I tried to read a law book, and it made my head hurt. Then I dropped it, and it made my foot hurt." A sarcastic internal monologue that rarely becomes external, a drive to help others boarding on the self-destructive. And, of course, so desperate for a certain someone's attention, they'd switch career paths and life's ambition rather than be ignored. If some spoilers I've seen for later AA games are to be believed, they also both get the depression and hole themselves up in response to the world's overwhelming shittiness. 😔

So! To finally answer your actual question, Gideon's court appointed weird girl could go two ways:

1) Jeannemary and Isaac assigned baby siblings at crime scene when Gideon's mentor, Abigail, is murdered.

2) Completely change the dynamic, and Camilla is the "assistant" who herds Gideon around, gives her hints in court, and is occasionally possessed by Gideon's kind and wise mentor, Palamedes. I think I like this one better because Abigail never actually met Gideon, and making her Mia is trading solely on her psychopomp cred. Palamedes and Gideon had a connection. She trusted him. And Camilla standing trial for Palamedes' murder is so juicy.

I think that's about as far as I can take it. Slotting the rest of the characters into the Phoenix Wright setting would mostly take writing entirely new mysteries.

Unless.....

Pyrrha should be high up in the police force, but she's no Gant. If John isn't Von Karma, he could be Gant as a different breed of genial monster with a taste for the grandiose. Ianthe has potential as Lana—extremely unhelpful, in over her head, and trying to protect her sister.

Ortus is Gumshoe. I am not accepting constructive criticism at this time. <3

[starmunchandthefunkybunch]

Things that I noticed in the first vol.: (Mainly Roquill)

in the beginning of Vol 1, in the Kyln, whenever Peter's getting shocked the shit outta him, Rocket looks on with sympathy, and interest. Genuine concern. (Gamora looks amused and interested I fucking love her my God, lmao.) He looks to be staring at Peter on the floor in understanding sadness, and also slight confusion. (He doesn't know why this song means so much to Peter.)

when Rocket gets sprayed down and he walks into that room where Peter was, and Peter gives him his concerned expression. His pure empathy. His understanding and feeling for Rocket is so sweet.

Whenever Rocket hears Quill simply move and is already up to get him. Chasing after him with concern and care, touching his leg and, basically, asking him to stop. THE CONCERN IN HIS VOICE. Makes my heart melt. The lilt of a question on his voice, like, 'what are we planning to do here? What're you planning to do here that I'm sticking around for because I care about you.'

I just realized that Peter and Rocket had an almost instaneous bond.

The subsequent 'oh crap' Rocket says after is SUCH a 'look at what my idiot boyfriend is up to again.' seconds after meeting him, lmfaoo.

Rocket holding a hand over his eyes, but not leaving. Showing his concern but also, like, God, what has my boyfriend gotten us into? MOMENTS after meeting him. Reminds me of when a spouse is watching their spouse do some dumb shit they can't stop but they also can't leave because they're concerned.

Whenever Peter convinces Drax to drop Gamora, Rocket looks proud and...slightly shocked. His expression is like, 'damn! He did that?! Awesome!'

PETER CALLING ROCKET MY FRIEND AND SMILING AT HIM SO FONDLY MY GOD. Peter looks at Rocket so proud, like a spouse when their partner accomplishes something, when they're in the hall discussing units and the escape plan.

The mirroring in this scene. The way that both their arms are in front of their bodies, their eyes meeting each other, feet turned toward one another. Rocket being cocky and confident and Peter just smiling at him. Their matching expressions and actions when Gamora reveals the units for the ball (infinity stone but they didn't know). They're just...so cute.

Rocket still placed in between Peter and Gamora.

Peter from day one has just been going along with what makes Rocket happy while motivating him to be better, while Rocket has been doing the same thing. They're just so cute and good to one another.

Anyways.

When Rocket says that he needs the guys leg, and really, throughout the whole explanation, Peter looks amazed and shocked and slightly confused, but still goes along with it. Such couple vibes already.

Whenever they're sitting at the table, Rocket leans more towards Peter and looks more into Peter's eyes, while Peter leans closer to Rocket, which shows how they want to be closer to each other.

Rocket shouts at Peter to figure out how to get the battery and Peter looks away like a scolded husband. I can imagine in his head, he's thinking like, 'that did not hurt, nope. Nope it did not.'

Throughout most of the conversation Rocket is leaning towards Peter, he even moves his tray out of the way, to lean in closer to Peter.

Throughout most of the conversation, they look at each other.

I FUCKIN LOVE GAMORA OH MY . The way she jumps and then kicks that guy in the face to then land on top of him??? How swiftly she took down all those guys???? Are you kidding me????

How quickly Drax protected Rocket from getting harmed, showing how he valued his life, already , to get him out of there, and tossed Rocket the gun.

Drax really has been everyone's best friend, huh?

How Rocket HUMS when he gets the device ready for them to be able to break out.

(another reason why they have the best dynamic, both music lovers from the start)

Gamoras and Rockets friendship is severely underrated and for what? For what? She helped him up from Groot, she's thoroughly impressed whenever he turns off the artificial gravity. Are you kidding? Friend goals. Love them.

Rocket's knee up on the dash so he can reach the controls? Are you kidding? Too cute. I love him. Star-Lord, species fucker extraordinaire, definitely would've thought the escape plan was hot, just saying. He would've thought the knee was cute.

The dialogue between them like they've known each other for ever. 'they crumpled my clothes up into a ball. That's rude! They folded yours!' too cute. Most of their dialogue, it feels like they've known each other for years. Instant connection loves. The whole bomb discussion.

'whats a box gonna do?' Peter sounding exasperated but fond, entertained and amused. Rocket being genuinely hurt by the 'shut up.'

My God, Rocket pointing his gun absent mindedly at the girl when she enters to beckon them to the Collector. Funny as hell. Peter seeing exactly what it takes to calm Rocket down.

Cosmo! Rocket growling at Cosmo!

Peter quickly shaking his head no whenever The Collector asks if Rocket is Groot's pet. I love how mindful he is of Rocket.

I FUCKING love how Peter's still somewhat sides with Rockets way of thinking. Not all the way, he still challenges his way of thinking, but he agrees still. Like with the handing off the ball infinity stone thing, he's like...let's just hand it off to someone who won't arrest us for money. Him and Rocket are just... Perfect for one another.

They also mirror each other through that entire interaction.

PETER QUILL IS SMART, STOP SAYING HES STUPID. He's the one who informed Rocket to use the pods as weapons. He's the one who highjacked an enemy aircraft to shoot Necroblasts. He's the one who got Yondu to help him save Gamora.

Also, Rocket begging Peter to stay in his pod, come back with him, not to die. The concern in his voice, my God. Pleading with Quill, 'You'll die in seconds!' his heartbroken expression! Lost and helpless.

He definitely had a crush on Quill. He definitely felt something for Quill.

Groot knew Rocket wouldn't feel good about abandoning them, 'I know they're the only friends we've ever had!', so he had to say something. But the way Rocket acquiesced so quickly, tells me he was already leaning that way, just needed some encouragement.

Our companions Rocket is so soft.

Another spousal moment, instant connection, been around each other for years: 'Rocket, for god's sakes, we figured it out, we're fine.' 'Oh hey, Quill' literally gonna kill people, an entire ship full of people, for Quill and could only be dissuaded by Peter's own voice. Rocket is soft.

Bickering married couple from Vol 1. Jesus . The entire conversation from 'Oh, hey Quill' to the 12 percent plan. They bicker like old married couple. Bicker flirting! 'You're just copying when I said I had a plan.' Rocket's flirting hardcore.

Whenever Rocket takes a stand, Peter, again, looks like a proud boyfriend. Fond, and so admiring.

I love that their dynamic is: mischievous boyfriend who does mischievous things and the one who has to (willingly) deal with it. It changes. Sometimes Rocket's mischievous, sometimes Peter, sometimes both.

I love the Starmora moments too, like how in the beginning when they're all at the table in the Kyln, Peter looks at her nervously for a moment. Cute.

Rocket's victorious face whenever he crashes the aircraft into Ronan.

Peter's concerned face when he instantly goes to check on Rocket! When he checks out his entire body for wounds while he's holding unconscious Rocket in his arms. Rocket nuzzling into Peter's chest! Peter looking into Rocket's face with consideration and worry.

Groot really saw these people treating Rocket, and him, but especially Rocket, with care and consideration, and noticed that his friend now had a huge crush, and was like...yep, now we are Groot. I'm keeping your crush and found family alive, buddy.

Peter's always smiling so softly at Rocket, especially when Rocket's teasing. Whenever the Nova Corps, Denarian Day, is escorting them, he starts saying what they can't do. Peter looks at Rocket the entire time. He smiles fondly when Rocket says the stealing line.

It seems like Peter checks Rocket out as he walks away too.

I also love how it's implied that Drax and Rocket went searching for a pot for Groot and that's why they were late to the meeting. I love their best friendship.

Anyways, huge post, things that I noticed in vol 1. Lemme know if you'd like me to do vol 2 and the other movies. If you have any thoughts or questions, feel free to state them in the notes!

[demonicfarmer69]

Q: Does Jiujiu ever talk to JL about his maternal grandparents? 

🍋: he speaks of them with respect. but if my jiujiu raised me like my grandparents did, i....