#there is also the fact that my stupid autism brain is still fuming over the website changes

[textfromthelookout]

Did you hear of the news?

I have. :(

Everyone else has their tributes so, here, a summary of my experience with Dragon Ball.

I was in fourth grade art class. A kid had the February 2005 issue of Shonen Jump, back when Shonen Jump was still physically printed here. I recognized Atem on the front cover because the Blockbuster around the corner from our house had DVDs (I think they were DVDs and not VHSs then since I distinctly remember it having a menu and special features) of some of the later episodes of Duelist Kingdom and my brother and I watched them on repeat. So I was like oh, hey, what's this? They make books of that stuff? I don't remember the conversation but the kid ended up giving me that issue, and I took it home with me.

There were a LOT of significant, groundwork things happening in that issue, now that I think about it. We were just beginning to see Sanji truly in action against Pearl. The Dark Tournament was in it's early stages still with Roto fucking around and finding out against Kurama. Sakura shears off her hair in a move that rearranged sexualities the world over. The reason Atem was on the cover was because Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium World was just debuting its first and second chapter. Bleach wasn't even serialized yet. And Dragon Ball, of course, was also there, about a hundred and fifty chapters ahead of everybody else.

Keep in mind that this was my first experience with manga, period. So my very first experience with Dragon Ball opened on this:

and ended on this:

Yeah. Truth be told, at the time Yu Yu Hakusho piqued my interest more than Dragon Ball (a guy fighting with plants? how creative!) but I never did forget these chapters. I thought the art style was so different from the others.

At some point after this, probably between several months and a year and a half, the TV happened to be on one evening when Toonami was airing Dragon Ball Z. Oh hey, I said, I recognize that art, I know those characters. So I hung around and watched some of episode 281. Two things about watching that episode stick with absolute crystal clarity in my mind to this day. Firstly: Buu choking Vegeta out with his arm freaked me the FUCK out as a child. I could not tell you why I had a fear reaction to it but hey, there you go. The second is this:

Specifically I remember 'You died once. If anything happens to you now, you won't exist anymore. There'll be nothing I can do to bring you back.' Not precisely word for word over the years, but Schemmel's tone of voice on this particular lineread. If I had to guess I'd say it was because at that point in my life, uh, death was kinda permanent? So wait, what do you mean died ONCE. Doesn't that apply to everyone?

This still wasn't enough to get me super invested in it though, it just didn't seem like something that would appeal to me that much. So a couple years go by, I don't think about it all that much, and then of course, TFS hits the scene and drops DBZ Abridged. So you know. As a shithead middle schooler with a shithead sense of humor I thought it was the best damn thing since sliced bread. (My biggest character flaw is that I still think a lot of Season 1 is genuinely funny)

And that was really the extent of my interaction with the franchise for the next several years. Say what you will about DBZA but they did manage to put it all together such that someone who had a nonexistent concept of what the original context was could grok it with not a lot of effort. Some time in high school, I think I was around 15, I decided to bite the bullet and read all the manga, as much to increase the funny factor of DBZA as sheerly for the sake of being able to say I had. Stick it to the other weebs, y'know. Now they can't say I didn't know anything about good anime. This was unfortunately at a time when all that was available online were dirty poor-quality scans and questionable translations, but read it I did. I went 'yep, that sure is about what I expected', and proceeded to get on with my life. GT came and went, I looked up and saw Battle of Gods coming out and went 'oh hey that's still a thing huh', kinda was peripherally aware of all the divisiveness of Super as it was happening, didn't really pay it much attention, just stuck to DBZA and quite a lot of wiki-ing.

And then, this time of year about three years ago now, in the middle of conversation with @prophecydungeon, Dragon Ball somehow came up. Something to do with 'Even though I'm not hugely into DBZ's story or whatever Toriyama does have some great character designs' (yes I was referring to Vegeta and Future Trunks at the time, no i will not stop being predictable, yes i am a parody of myself). They eventually brought up the DBS Broly movie and said, and i quote: 'that was a solid 1.5h of unbelievably fun and wacky animation'. Having seen the Gogeta vs Broly part of it on twitter and been like 'damn that animation's kinda off the hook actually, good for them good for them', my response was to be like. Oh word? I've got a spare hour and a half to kill, sure, fuck it, why not, time to watch DBS Broly.

I think that movie was precision crafted to hit me in the hyperfixation, if we're being honest. Opening on a solid 20 minutes of Lore and Worldbuilding and then having most of the rest of the runtime being mindless slobberknocker fun by way of some of the hardest animation flexes ever? I was done for.

In summation. I have been aware of Dragon Ball for a lot of my life, in that its presence was pervasive and enduring as I grew up. I may have been late to the game of actually wholeheartedly enjoying it, but enjoy it I do. Dragon Ball is the roots of a vast tree of anime, and in reading it I began to understand why that is. I respect it for that, and I love it for that. My current fixation may have shifted, but as far as time devoted to one individual thing goes... it took me a year and a half to watch my way through all of the anime and read all of the manga. ALL of it. So there's something good in there, I'd say.

[roccoroks]

Anti-vax... The new crazy?

We have all been there, talking to someone that regardless of sound fact, reason or otherwise will never back down from an argument. Someone that is so lost in their convictions that they feel the need to impress them upon everyone within ear shot. Right wing, left wing, Sanders supporters, Trump supporters... They all have a place reserved in the loony bin for their 10% of loud assholes who shout without thinking first. I’m not here to berate anyone about bout their political beliefs, that is not the kind of guy I am. I’m here to berate an entirely different group of people, and not necessarily just anti-vax people... I’m here to berate people who... change the facts and set rules to their own arguments.   We were all young once, obviously, and in that time would would make friends and play games. But sometimes we would run into little johnny son of a bitch who just had to win an argument or a game. They would set rules that will ensure them an automatic victory and lord them over you. How does this equate to today’s anti-vax argument? let’s take a look at a very distilled down argument... Vaxer: I’m taking my kids to be vax’d on wensday 

Anti-vaxer: Vaxing causes autism and poor fuel mileage, you should never vax your kids! Vaxer: I have done research and I do not believe this is true. Anti-vax: It is to true! This website filled with boner pill ads and endless spam site traps sites real studies!  Vaxer: Those sites are bunk! They cherry pick data and drive a false narrative. Anti-vax: Oh really? Where do you get this information from? Vaxer: Studying the actual results of the study, researching the guidelines of the criteria they used. Anti-vaxer: Well... vaccines contain MERCURY!  And a whole host of other chemicals that are BAD! Vaxer: Those BAD chemicals are safe in the chemical compositions in which they are placed in the vaccine. Mercury absorption rates vary wildly dependent on what form they are in. Anti-vax: And where did you get this information? Vaxer: In high school and by not sleeping through chemistry class... Anti- vaxer: Ha! I knew it! Government funded education! They taught you what they want you to think!  See, no matter what you say to people like this, they will just change the rules and refuse logic as if it were a fuming bowl of mercury salts. Despite the fact that we have advanced so much in life on the planet due to science, people will bend and break it to their will to feel validated. Holy are those who truly find pleasure in the facts and having the willingness to stand up to people like that. If you were to push the thread of the anti-vax argument and truly debunk everything they ever said with solid fact, some would still change their narrative. They would claim that you are brain washed and that you are yourself unwilling to see reason.  To people like that, there are no facts. Only right and wrong. They are willing to believe in something so preposterous as a global conspiracy to be right. Big companies do their far share of evil, we all know this, but they also do a lot of good. But to some people, they are unwilling to see any good if they are searching for evil and vice-versa. But for someone in the anti-vax camp, and ounce of evil will out weight a metric ton of good.

 Big pharma did some shady things and to them they are therefore evil. That makes anything they have to say wrong regardless of fact. If a scientific study comes out and proves vaccines to be in a good light... They are evil because they 1. Do not fit the narrative and 2. once took money to fudge a study. Never mind that it was not them that took the money, some group somewhere, doing the same line of work they are doing did it, therefore everything they say is suspect. Even if they have a flawless track record, even if they support some of their movement. Nope! it’s all or nothing baby! This kind of mentality has got to come to an end! Self validation is now causing mass hysteria and stupidity. Not ignorance, stupidity. I firmly believe in this day and age, where you can watch a youtube video and build a house to code, ignorance is no excuse! Q: Why does the government and vaccine companies have millions set aside for ‘in the event of’?  A: The first check you write is for the home the second is for the insurance... it would be daft to think everything in this world went perfectly all the time. one slip, one accident and millions are effected. Vaccines are a medical product. Even if they did not have insurance set aside for something to happen, then people would site that the program is too dangerous because of it. That argument has been cropping up lately and I felt the need to site it here and now.  So in closing, people want things to be cut and dry, on and off, black and white. our brains crave answers, so much so that our brains will reason things to the best of our ability to what it wants to see. Validation is a hell of a thing and we crave it like water in the Sahara, the two go hand in hand. When we reason to ourselves that we have the right information, we are validated and when someone tries to prove us wrong, we fight back to continue on our dopamine fueled ride of stupidity.  Listen to both sides, use your brain objectively.