#was just a plot device to sideline them for a bit

[seri-tonin]

With the vampirism ability now being lifted, I'm honestly kinda disappointed that asagiri never really did anything with the infected characters other than akutagawa

[cherrybomb107]

Now that I know that the “writers room” for this season functionally didn’t exist, everything makes perfect sense now! So here are some things I would change if I had the chance

1. We’d have three seasons. Two seasons is just an awkward length for me in general, so 3 just seems like a sweet spot

2. We cut the soundtrack in half. We have 23 songs as of right now, so let’s have no more than 11-13 max. That’s not crazy for 9 episodes

3. Speaking of the soundtrack, there’d be more Black artists. Syd, Little Simz, Tyler the Creator, FKA Twigs, Yseult, JID, Akintoye, Brandy, Doechii etc all would’ve fit the vibe.

4. Last one about the music, I promise. It’d be quieter. I feel like the music was louder than the dialogue at some points, and it completely took me outta the scenes

5. Onscreen development! “Oh but they don’t have to spell everything out for us!” Cool! But wanting to SEE characters meaningfully interact does not fit the definition of “spoon feeding” or “spelling things out” in my book.

6. There would have been more foreshadowing that Maddie was a spy. It was obvious, but it also wasn’t set up properly.

7. Ekko wouldn’t have been sidelined for an entire act. His relationship with Vi would be present. Best believe I would give him the chance to cuss Vi and Caitlyn out for what they did as enforcers

8. Speaking of that, Vi would have wrestled with the decision to become one. Notice I said “decision” because it should’ve been her choice. Caitlyn had no right to guilt trip her and then strong arm her into becoming one

9. Vi would have fought with Caitlyn over her wanting to use The Gray. The Vi I know and love would not go so hard in rationalizing the use of it

10. Caitlyn would’ve gotten meaningfully redeemed. In order to do that tho, we would have to show the true weight of using The Gray and enforcing martial law in Zaun. Caitlyn would be forced to confront the harm she caused with her own eyes, and actually be genuine remorseful

11. Let Jinx be unhinged! I love my baby regardless, but I do agree she was defanged a bit this season. Let her kill more enforcers and act up in front of Isha before realizing where she is and what she’s doing. Let Jinx want to be better and then develop into the kooky version of herself she is in season two

12. Isha would be more than a plot device for Jinx’s story. Let Isha live on and be happy with Jinx. Killing her was just for shock value.

13. Part of the reason why I think Isha should live is so she gets to grow up in a better Zaun. A free Zaun. She deserves better. They all do.

14. The au episode would’ve been way different, cause it doesn’t makes sense for centuries of oppression to just magically go away all of a sudden because one kid(and a Zaunite kid at that) died.

15. More scenes of Sevika guiding Jinx in how to rally the troops and get ready to fight for their freedom

16. Ekko and Jinx reconciling because although there’s no shortage of bad blood between them, there is love buried deep in there somewhere too. Let Jinx be the main freedom fighter and have Ekko back her up today, so he and the Firelights can focus on community building and organizing tomorrow.

17. Jinx’s rocket should’ve killed more people. All the Councilors(sorry Shoola but you too girl) except Mel, Jayce, and Viktor should’ve died. Viktor and Jayce should’ve been in critical condition but Mel would’ve been fine.

18. Heimerdinger and Ekko’s relationship would be fundamentally different. He should NOT be cozying up with that little furball whose inaction is directly responsible for the current conditions in Zaun

That’s all that comes to mind for now, but yeah. It would’ve been a completely different story. What could’ve been for real 😭😭😭

[abhainnwhump]

There's this little thing I like to call Passive Villain Syndrome (probably an actual term for it somewhere but I don't know it), which is where the villain of a story is introduced, the reader is told how evil they are and then . . . they don't do anything until the story needs a climax or the series needs a finale.

My biggest issue with this is that it reduces what could be an interesting and memorable character to a mere obstacle, a plot device. They're evil and they're said to do evil things. It's hard to explain, but it's just boring. It's a similar reason where I don't like stories about a kind character becoming evil just by grabbing a knife and going on a killing spree with a crazed smile. You can put any character in that scenario and they don't stand out. Am I saying you need a deep complex motive for your villains? No, some of my favorite villains are evil because it's fun. But the key thing is that they have creative ways of causing pain and chaos and they feel like a real threat. This got a bit off topic, but my point is these kinds of villains aren't memorable. Your villain should have as much thought put into them as the hero so there is tension and a sense of danger.

It also causes "show don't tell" violations where the reader is told how twisted and dangerous a villain is, but they're never shown. It's worse when the villain is defeated in about 3 pages after all that build up. (cough cough Harry Potter cough cough)

Yes, I know wanting mystery around the villain is a thing. But even something as simple as the villain holding one of the hero's friends captive as they torture them is something. Or keep the identity of the villain a secret, but throughout the story, murders or crimes happen that apply more pressure on the hero to not only find who's doing this, but to also stop them. Present day events, not flashbacks, that's important. I also suggest having smaller encounters throughout the story to build a relationship between the two, put some personal stakes and grudges between them.

TLDR: Please have main villains that don't sit off on the sidelines of the story until the climax needs to happen.

[daystarvoyage]

I loved your video on the masculization of Luz Noceda. Gender non-conformity is valid and woc who identify as such deserve representation. What is not okay is that a tomboyish Afro-Latina girl was paired with a feminine white girl which reinforces stereotypes about black women. This wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t so common in fiction. Interracial sapphic couples often have the butch be woc and the femme is white. There are exceptions, but they are far rarer. I would have preferred if Lumity was fem4fem, butch4butch, or Luz was fem and Amity was masc.

I feel this is the problem throughout todays disney media,how stale it reflects there previous works, they have put out that effected this, yes looking at toh, it was fine to have a main poc character contribute to diversity, and ok explore her sexuality which i commend the show does however,

It falls flat of not exploring luz's family,Ecthnicity, & show great cultural represenation like other works in disney like seeing the PS sponsors about different cultral backgrounds, cuisines and heritages.

The three shows did it better (molly mcgee, Moon girl & amphibia were better examples of how to do it right) and felt the crew of toh didnt have a clue or proper reseearch on how to execute a story of differences, ecthnicty & culturals. I mean you live in a fantasy world with over 100 species and your telling me, the show only fcous on the humanoid shape priveldege characters (which fans only pay attention to In beauty standard way. SMH

DO BETTER STAFF

However the big egg on the face after rewatcing the show ad reading the wiki, felt some parts being subpar, the way they potrayed luz and shelved aside, in favor for amity! it gotten to the point where along its writing and potrayal of the two was trite & selfisih writing.

I for one were along with critiques & well minded fans or who get it, that luz's Feminine traits were watered down, to favor amity's fem persona knowing fans would gravitate to her, and times the show pused luz aside (like other characters) in fans favor for the little white girl whos picture perfect and drained of what makes her unique even if the show doesnt catch on yall still find a way to defend her, Like the writing and storytelling of the show was Trite & Fradualent.

at times even if luz didnt had a proper sexuality to show her feminine side cause fans like to based people off sexuality instead of writting oraganic stories nowadays. (it wont matter a bit) cause at the end the potrayal of darker people are always degraded & disrespected,

along with the fandoms distaste and judgement of camilla knowing full well shes doing her duty as a mother! (whos also dark skin along gus so Picture how there portrayed.)

the way the fans and series portray luz without showing her girly side is that of a trope thats been done throughout to show agenda whcih is the girl boss movement to blame, so ima try not to be too long,

but it was foul how they made practically all the toh poc characters more obscured or watered down in writting cause everyone favored more of lighter skin characters as the show went on,

(the eclipse lake episode, HUNTER AMITY AND EDA TAKING OVER THE SHOW WHILE WILLOW AND GUS BE SIDELINED, LIKE THEM IN SEASON 1 FINALE, HUNTER BEING A PLOT DEVICE FOR HUNTLOW TO HAPPEN WHICH DOES NOTHING FOR THE STORY ITSELF INSTEAD SHIPPING DISCOURSE.)

so people need to understand the words favoritsim and bias at this point. cause they way they want to be with the in crowd badly and drawing or potraying luz in a butch way can stifle how we see POCs as nothing but masculine or tomboyish has be tiresome just to show a girlboss agenda yet you dont know WHO LUZ IS.

i thank you for sharing this with me cause i worked hard and loved that video cause its to bring to light of how the gaming industry trend is now leaking into animation now.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS & ENJOY THIS READ ABOUT MORE OF AFRICAN AMERICA MEDIA PORTRAYAL

[pumpkinpie59]

ranking the tmnt shows based on plot writing, character writing, and what my preferences are:

first off, plot writing

6, tnm

idk what to put here.

5, 2012

it really sucks because its first season’s writing is unironically my favorite writing in the franchise. but then the show steadily gets messier and more inconsistent writing as it goes forward. especially in season 4. i wish i could defend it more but it is at the bottom for me. besides tnm ig

4, 87

i actually like the arcs in 87, but the thing with 87 is that … the plot isn’t the point! but i don’t consider that a flaw. the show is a comedy first, and it’s great at what it does. so yes, even if the plot episodes are pretty forgettable compared to the goofier episodes, it’s not the worst thing in the world. but it’s still number 4.

3, rise

rise is kinda weird because even tho most of the series is comedy filler like 87, it’s most known for its plot. but i think it earns that because sometimes the show will throw in episodes that foreshadow the big plot at the end of the season, and it handles it pretty well for the most part.

2, tales

i honestly really enjoyed the way the plots were set up in tales. since it’s pretty new, i won’t spoil it, but i think my only actual complaint was the framing devices they used. but otherwise it was pretty good.

1, 03

every once in a while, the show would have a hiccup writing-wise, but overall i liked the flow of the arcs and stories it was trying to tell. out of all the tmnt shows, 03 was the best at juggling several arcs at once and committing to giving them closure (cough. unlike 2012-).

okay character writing rankings.

6, tnm

tbf this one has venus. and a pretty good donnie.

5, rise

this is so controversial i know. but i just get so frustrated with how the show handles leo and donnie’s writing specifically. they feel ooc half the time and there’s little consistency. and then raph and mikey (my favorites of the team) were sidelined a lot.

4, 2012

mikey has no character growth whatsoever and is an adhd stereotype. donnie’s development gets thrown to the background so you only notice it if you’re paying attention to him the entire time. leonardo gradually gets worse over the course of the series and we never see him get better. they couldn’t decide what to do with karai half the time. april’s arc got switched for a different one halfway through (i still love her tho). the only one with a decent arc is raph, and i still think it could’ve been better ://

3, 03

this is not a knock at 03. i just think that character growth wasn’t its priority. telling stories was. however we do occasionally see them go through arcs. most obvious is leo, but i also enjoy seeing raph get less hostile and trusting leo more over the course of the first season.

2, 87

you’d have to watch the whole show to see it, but there’s almost … an accidental ?? arc for each turtle??? raphael gets angrier up until it reaches typical raphael levels in red sky, donatello goes through ups and downs of wishing he was never mutated while still pursuing human-level knowledge, michelangelo early on in the show wished he was more human (he changes his mind after becoming human once, but the feeling lingers a bit sometimes), and leonardo goes through anxieties related to his team (he acts differently about being without them depending on the season). but even without considering development, their personalities are written fantastically and i love seeing how they interact with the world around them.

1, tales

this is suspect to change since we’ve only had a movie and a 12-episode show. but what i’ve seen so far, i’ve really liked. my only complaint is that donnie feels different in the show vs the movie ://

and ,,, my biases

6, rise

sorry.

5, tnm

guilty pleasure idk what to say. uh. venus de milo. and turtlelamb <33

4, tales

i liked it a lot! i just want more characters and world building. we’ll see where it goes in the future.

3, 03

i love many aspects of the show. it’s not quite as entertaining to me as the next to tho. idk why but my attention span just can’t handle too much of it.

2, 2012

i grew up with this one. does it suck? oh yeah for sure lmao. but it’s nostalgic and i like a lot of the characters. and season 1 particularly is amazing. sucks for the rest of the show tho lol. i will unashamedly bully it.

1, 87

wow. who would’ve— i mean. man. who could have possibly guessed— this one has lotus blossom so i’d say this one can’t be beat.

[thecourtoflionsandwolves]

I'm so sorry there were stupid people on the post where you were criticizing xo kitty. I fully agree with you. actually crazy the amount of people saying that we should just be happy with what we got :/ and that the show is a telenovela (... Have these people ever actually watched a telenovela 😭😭 bc this is nothing like one. I'd say it's more like a romance k drama but anyway)

also I just think it's weird how the people making the show know how popular the straight ship is, aka the show has a huge straight viewership and then they basically use the gay ship like that :/ feels weird to say but I feel used (as a woman and as a lesbian, like they gave no respect to the characters that are like me, were literally just a plot device) but I may be a bit dramatic because I'm processing everything but that's also pretty common in fandoms and I wish the rude people could understand that and have a bit of compassion, like they could just keep scrolling instead of saying insensitive shit

Thank you so much for your kind words and I'm so sorry you got disappointed too. I hope you haven't received such messages, but if you have, just remember you can ignore and block them. Protect your inner peace.

I gotta say I'm frustrated, but not surprised. I had the fear that would happen seeing the fandom and general audience. And that even if they did give Kitty x Yuri a chance, that people would be pretty mean about it and ruin the experience anyway. I mean, we always get the shortest end of the stick, so unfortunately we can never afford being completely hopeful about anything.

I just expected to get at least one thing for a little while, you know? I know there are telenovelas tropes, kdramas tropes, love triangles, love webs and a lot of drama... But all f/m and m/m characters/ships got a little something and we weren't even thrown a bone. The message is clear. I saw some people saying they were afraid to get canceled for being too queer or something, but if you really want to honor the queer characters and queer audience, you gotta take some risks. If you're just going to sideline or completely ignore the sapphic storylines, than you're not better than any other bigot out there (I'd even say you're one of them but too coward to admit it).

Anyways, this is a reminder to just do a lot of research about a show, their author, fandom etc before giving it a try. I allowed myself to jump blindly into this because for once I wanted to just watch something and not spend minutes learning every single detail beforehand, you know? Privileged people never have to do that and it just feels exhausting to do it every single time. And I rarely can find something that is a total 10/10 for me, so I still need, for a lack of a better word, tolerate some stuff or I'd never have entertainment in my life. But between that and having to deal with what happened now, I'd rather do that crazy research to avoid this kind of situation. Because this is even worse.

Anyway, I've personally dropped Xo Kitty at least for now. If there's a season 3 and I get the impression they've made up for their mistakes with at least one sapphic character/pairing, maybe I'll try again. Maybe I won't. Or maybe I'll try, but will never be able to trust them again and drop it for good. I guess we'll see, Netflix loves canceling shows and I overall found the season pretty weak besides that as well. Still, I just wish the cast the best because they tried to make the scripts better and they all seem very sweet.

Anywayyyyy, thank you again for being so kind. Hope you're doing okay and feel free to message or even call me on the chat if you need to talk. 💗

[drakiandh]

@cosmicrain-draws @otherxagnela Remember that fusion idea? Im writing out the first chapter rn, and I'm making it a Steven Universe AU. I'm hopefully going to make it a 5 part thing, if I'm able to restrain myself. I'm planning for it to be separate from the shows plot. Here's the original AU idea below!

Scarab is called Painite in this AU. He was made by Pink Diamond as a War General during the Gem War in an attempt to keep up face. He's basically the same just with added loyalty to PD. I'm going to keep him on Earth, more on that later. He is very good at what he does, and I like to think his main power is that he's very very good at shifting his shape and becoming any gem as long as his own gem is covered. I'm saying he can change his red skin to yellow instead of it being red in the new form and can make a fake gem anywhere on his body. A kinda of spy ability, if you will. He doesn't use it often as shifting is exhausting outside of work (and he doesn't have a lot of practice with it as Amathyst does) so he mainly just sticks as a front-lines fighter (even though he's a general, he's fantastic at fighting, so he joins his fellow gems in the main fights instead of being on the sidelines). He has wings, absolutely he does. And his gem got cracked in the war, taking his ability to fly away, like Lapis. I like to think his weapon is like his canon Cyrstal device, as his gem weapon can change into anything he wants it to be. He mainly either keeps it as a spear, a scythe, or an axe. Mainly a scythe tho

Prismo is a bit of a mix for me, can't really decide what gem he should be. So far, I'm going to make him a sapphire. Specifically, a Star Saphire. He was a gift from Blue Diamond to Pink to help with her wartime planning and attacks as he is a lot better at seeing the outcomes of things than other sapphires. His power (other than the future vision thing which he doesn't use cuz it gives him a headache) would be similar to Time-Woods Sīdus. I like to think he can make things, like he can make anything using his gem as long as he either has the right raw materials (which can be anything) or enough energy. He can make everything, ranging from weapons, clothes, to anything you can think of. Even food, but he doesn't make that a lot cuz it grosses him out. At the start of his time with Pink, he acts exactly as he's made, scared that he'll be shattered since he's really the first of his kind. After some time, he and Pearl start talking about how great Pink is (Star wouldn't fawn over her, as he really has no loyalties to any of the Diamonds other than to himself) and he would eventually notices how unhappy she is. Cue them being attacked, and he learns that Pink is actually Rose Quartz. Instead of shattering him, she offers him freedom if he helps with the gem rebellion. He'd take it, hating the oppressing atmosphere of Homeworld, and become the Wishmaster amongst the gems. He'd get that title because he can make, as I said before, anything, and that includes a milder version of Rose's healing tears. Cracked gems would come to him to get healed, he'd help plan attacks on Homeworld forces, and he'd make anything they needed whenever things were going too fast for them. He earns his place in the Crystal Gems and becomes part of the main gang, always seen by Pearl and Rose. His gem weapon would be a similar thing in Seraphyllic, him making 2D versions of his hands and swinging them like a mad man. Painite would have one hell of a time trying to get a hit on Star.

After the war, Painite gets left behind and would survive the diamond blast by hiding deep under the crust of the earth. He would still get corrupted somewhat, which would give him his more buggy features. Star would survive because Rose would pull him under her shield as well and would start just wandering the Earth after all of it is said and done. They accidentally meet when Painite searches for a cure. Of course, Painite sees Star as a traitor and attacks, ending with Star poofing Painite, but not shattering him. Painite's crack wouldn't be healed by Star just yet, I want that to be an intimate moment. Painite would definitely glitch out because of the crack and turn more savage because of the corruption, temporarily losing his mind whenever he got too overwhelmed. Of course, Star is always there to calm him down.

I'm still finicky about the plot, but so far, I'm making Painite go around Earth during the peace and hunt down the other corrupted gems, think the diamonds would heal them once he'd get back to Homeworld. And Star would just be wandering around, exploring Earth and leaving his own little rsster eggs that Painite sees and is always confused about. Yes, Painite still thinks there are no other non corrupted gems on Earth.

Lemme know if you've got any of your own ideas and stuff. I went for a Steven Universe AU cuz I got absolutely stumped on how I could make their shadow versions fuse in a way we haven't seen already. Great work on that art btw, Rain!

[brightbeautifulthings]

Mister Magic by Kiersten White

"The show was the worst kind of bad. The kind that makes you pretend so hard that everything is okay, you forget yourself in the pretending. Bad that insists you look right at it and call it good until you believe it."

Year Read: 2025

Rating: 3/5

Thoughts: I have mixed feelings about this. On the whole, I think it's pretty well done. I was interested in the story and the world-building, and the mystery and supernatural aspects were enough to keep me turning pages. I liked Val well enough, and for the most part, I was able to buy in to her connection to the circle of friends even if she didn't fully remember them. There's a bit of found family there that's nice, even if we don't get to see a whole lot of it on the page.

The commentary on "programming" and the idea that our nostalgic childhood favorites are probably more insidious and conservative than we realized as kids is interesting, but at times it feels like the book's agenda is overpowering its storytelling. If I agree with the message and still feel as though I'm being preached at, then I can't imagine it actually swaying the people who need to hear it.

The plot started to drift away from me in the last third or so, and much like with Hide, I'm not sure I love the direction it takes. It just feels a little tired, and I've never been able to maintain much enthusiasm for conspiracy as a plot device. (It's right up there next to "It was a cult!" as one of my least favorite explanations for things happening.) So I came away from it mostly feeling like it was fine, if not exactly earth-shattering. Spoilers below the cut.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. TURN BACK BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

There are also spoilers for Kiersten White's Hide ahead, so stop now if you're planning to read that one. Is it just me, or is this essentially the same book as Hide, with the same basic premise and the same plot twist? Cult of powerful rich people makes a pact with a vague supernatural entity and uses it to exploit less rich and powerful people? Except at least in Hide, we got to see the monster eat them. Also like with Hide, the supernatural seemed to get sidelined in favor of the conspiracy, and there was never quite as much explanation of it as I wanted. The ending also felt a bit neat. Everything else has been eaten up by the entity over time, but Val is able to keep it at bay indefinitely with her super strong willpower alone, I guess.

[arsonists-oatmeal]

I had finished watching Transformers: Earthspark yesterday. Got a few notes, spoilers below:

-"Malto-bots" awwwww my heart -shit starts ramping up after the halfway mark of the season. which is classic and I did not realize how much I missed that type of pacing -oh, hello body horror in a kids show, didn't expect to see you here! -did not expect to get as invested as I did in the human parts of the plot, like how the rest of humanity is reacting to the Terrans. I think for a kids show they wrote that bit pretty well -speaking of: its clear from the get-go that the whole Terran plot is allegorical to a lot of things. Immigrant families, biracial families, being a first generation citizen, etc. I've seen a lot of media try to use aliens as a plot device for "bigotry is bad", but very rarely have I seen it actually like, show how it hurts people and effects how they see themselves, and show that you have to shut that shit down if you want to be an ally, and not just tolerate your racist uncle, friend, etc. I think this show did a pretty good job of that. It had made parts of me feel seen and heard for the first time ever. -The way they handled the Starscream thing was kind of weak though, imo -Man i wish we got to see Hashtag having more moments with the seekers, she'd fit right in -Nightshade!!! I like Nightshade, I think some parts were a little on the nose (like how they're the only person who introduces themselves with their pronouns), but its not as some people are making it out to be. Idk if its just me but I also feel like they got sidelined more than the rest of the characters, which is suspicious. But anyways, every group needs a mad scientist character who can be slightly unsettling and I'm glad Nightshade is there to fill the role. -Ok i get this is a kid's show, and there was already more nuance than i expected (which was none) about the decepticons, but I do feel like they didn't make the final leap in logic here. -"Ok not all decepticons are bad, but we still wont stop surveilling and locking some of them up because they chose to do bad with their second chance". Has anyone here heard of the word "REHAB"?? -Megatron is cool. Cool theme, no comments there -Really liked the fight scenes as well, especially the shots of the transformers fighting it out in the background where the camera focuses on the humans running away. It really shows the scale of things. Small detail but the fact that we've got several bots using their inbuilt guns' recoil in fights is really cool! Megatron essentially did a rocket jump. One critique however is that nothing really looked like it had weight. -Also I wished that they kept Karan Croft as the lead antagonist till the end. Like idk, show that this whole oppression thing is systematic in nature. Could have had Dr. Meridian change sides given the fact that he was being put in a similar position to the transformers by the humans in charge (he was also fighting for basic resources to live after his first defeat). -Also this one may be unpopular: It looks like at the end the Terrans get their own symbol/badge. Which I think sorta breaks the whole "the war is over, there's no more sides and factions" things that they keep repeating throughout the show. It just feels like they've created a third faction now, and the continuing dynamic is now autobots vs decepticons vs terrans. Which, no. You're going to replace your war with another.

Overall, good show, 8/10, I think it fumbled the ending. I know im not the target audience here but also its not like kids are stupid.

Also representation matters. The choices of having the lead human characters be a non-white biracial family, having the first nonbinary transformer, having the terrans be allegorical, it may not mean anything to some viewers, but for others it could be the first time someone has actually acknowledged them, has said "I see what you've gone through and I know it to be real and I will take it seriously". The diversity in the show only serves to make it better

[fancylala4]

ykw's something that annoys me about Disney's Tangled?! It's not the movie itself, it's what came after it. People try to make Rapunzel out to be more badass and like a "strong feminist female character" than she actually is! Like, yes she is physically strong, and she is also shown to be strong-willed, optimistic, determined, plucky, and courageous; she certainly has the potential to be a strong female character...but the movie makes everything about Flynn and hardly lets her show the chops she deserves to show! Like she is shown to be badass with her hair and in excellent control over it(which is impressive, because it's literally like a 70-foot rope that dangles from her head), but we rarely get to see it outside of mere gags or scenes that don't mean anything, but are just performative displays of the badassery that she possesses that SHOULD be more displayed. Like how she swings from her hair in the scene right before the cave water scene with suspenseful music to go with it, but then it's just used to segue into Flynn fighting Maximus with Rapunzel watching. It frustrates me so much and is super manipulative! But it sadly works on the intended audience who genuinely thinks that Rapunzel fought the guards and was absolutely a sufficiently strong and awesome action heroine when really the movie gives you crumbs and then tells you to fill in the gaps for yourself. And anyway the real reason I said all of this was because of the scene in Wreck-it-Ralph too where Rapunzel of all princesses literally says "do people assume that all your problems got solved because a big strong man showed up?" Like. In your case it was true tho? She never would have left the tower if Flynn didn't show up? What the hell is this? But ofc the naive Tangled fans will fall for it hook line and sinker. It maddens me as someone who still really likes Tangled and Rapunzel but can't look past what they did to the story. Rapunzel deserves better than to be reduced to a prop in her own movie but who is given occasional bits of action to pretend she has agency. She deserves better, and this entire movie deserves better in the form of a massive rewrite.

That’s actually one of my gripes with the movie and rapunzel fans. I don’t have a issue with characters who need saving and are dependent on others. But I do have a issue with people making a character to be something they are not. Rapunzel’s fans think she’s this badass who fought many guys to get to her dream and doesn’t take shit from anyone. However, In actual movie, she’s none of these things. She’s needed Flynn though out the movie and couldn’t even defeat her own villain. Worse of all, rapunzel fans trash other princesses who needed help like Snow White and Cinderella. It makes me so angry that they criticize those two for being “weak” and needing a man as if rapunzel wasn’t in the same situation as them in her movie.

I agree that the movie does a good job of hiding the fact that she isn’t independent and can’t fight. One thing I noticed about the movie was how different the narrative treated rapunzel and Flynn with a frying pan. Rapunzel is treated like a joke with it while Flynn is treated like he’s a threat with it. The fact he got a fight scene while rapunzel was in the background watching him fight shows how sidelined rapunzel was in HER own movie. I also found it weird how she never used her hair to fight. Disney took this idea from rapunzel’s revenge and that rapunzel could fight using her hair. I guess for some reason Disney didn’t want rapunzel to fight.

That line from wir was so ironic coming from rapunzel. Like you said, she was going to stay in the tower if Flynn didn’t show up. I feel like Disney is trying to change how people see rapunzel’s movie. They keep on repeating the same phrase over and over in their art books. Like how she drives her story and how she is a independent character. It’s like Disney knows rapunzel wasn’t independent and was a plot device. But they want people to think she’s one of their most feminist characters.

I agree. This whole movie suffered from sexism. Changing the name, making that cradle robber the protagonist and reducing rapunzel to a plot device was all bad. We deserved so much better than this movie.

[kirric-the-fan]

power of Hope precure full bloom episode 12

As always, spoilers under the cut:

Just a fair warning, these ones are all scrambled chronologically:

Natts just gets sidelined at the end. Pretty much not even mentioned in the post-battle stuff.

I kinda wanted to see Komachi take a more active community role in the town and get recognition for that. The sort of gal that'd become mayor or something in the future.

As do the OG team after the battle. No grown up Nagisa Honoka or Hikari. Nor any exploration of how they have their powers too. It was something I'd wanted to see some explaination of.

The timeflower dropping a seed just feels like a bit of a cop-out tbh. I mean, I don't mind Nozomi being alright in the end, but it just feels a bit like 'oh, the flowers weren't realy dangerous', despite having dangerous side-effects. I think they've ruined what could be a decent story device for future use.

I'm not surprised Nozomi and Coco got together in the end. The wedding shots were Completely ruined by having him in his fairy form, but it did look silly enough to be funny.

Talking about funny, the interrupting precure moment was hilarious. Toei too coward to even let them kiss in a series set for adults.

PRIME MINISTER MILK O.M.F.G. I am going to be laughing about this for the rest of my life! (that is too entertaining)

I liked the fight music during the main fight. More of that please!

NEW FINISHING ATTACK! NEW FINISHING ATTACK!

YES SHINY LUMINOUS!

Damn, I thought for a moment we might get Michiru and Kaoru transformations when they followed the others after the shadow, but nope. Ah well.

It's good to see everyone doing well for themselves in the end

Ofc Honoka is working as a scientist. The one canon-iest canon.

Nagihono preserved!!! Thank goodness. That ship is still seaworthy. (Sorry Saki and Mai)

Verdict:

I wonder if we were supposed to think from the start that this is an epilogue series instead of the potential start of something new? I think that has counted against it a lot. None of us knew what to expect coming into this series, and while the plot and execution have been a bit dubious, the character development has been fairly conistent, natural, and well done. More or less. For an epilogue series. There's bits I like more than others, but overall I did like it more than I disliked it. But from this side, it feels more like a long-time fan's indulgence than a serious series of its own. One more chance to see your favorite characters. That's what they were leaning on.

Going forward, I think I'd want the same joy and hope and whimsy of regular precure being done with adults if we get another Otona precure. Just them going to jobs and the bar, instead of school and homework. But finding that same youthful hope and enthusiasm that they had when they were young. That you don't need to lose it at all.

I think I'd like that. Especially with some familiar faces.

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Bimonthly Media Roundup

- The Locked Tomb (Books) - My sister's currently listening to the audio novels for these, and talking about them has reignited my love for the series. There's rarely ever such a big fandom presence around wlw-centric media, and for this one to come from a sci-fi/fantasy novel series is particularly incredible, I guess it just proves how entertaining the series is.

- Spx X Family Code White (Movie) - The Spy x Family movie is on Crunchyroll now which catches me up with the animated part of the series. I like the show as a whole though I don't think the movie was it's strongest showing. It wasn't bad per say, I did like Yor's misunderstanding infidelity plot-line as well as Lloyds mission to gather materials to make a dessert, but Anya (the most entertaining character) was a bit sidelined and overall the movie spent too much time on bland action scenes and montages. There was also an annoyingly long poop joke and a lack of the generally good comedy the series overall has, particularly in the latter half. I wouldn't call it a skip as I still enjoyed these characters, but it's not really a must see either, fans aren't missing anything substantial by skipping this one.

- Cowboy Bebop (Anime) - Not much to say yet only a few episodes in, but boy do I miss 90's anime character designs and detailed space western backgrounds, even with the square ratio it's a treat to look at.

- Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime) - Still in Gego Hell. In between the fanfics I've been reading I've been writing an enemies to friends to lovers Actor AU with nepotistic child actor turned type-casted romance lead Gojo being forced to costar with recently famous and well respected prestige indie actor Geto, which is fun to think of scenes for even if it will most likely never see the light of day.

- Steins;Gate (Anime) - Welp we finally finished Steins Gate, and while I definitely wouldn't call it the worse thing I've watched, It is the largest gap I've ever seen in regards to it's hype and reputation versus it's actual quality. MAL might not be the only measure of popularity but it's usually pretty good at gauging overall fan opinion, and this series is the 3rd highest ranked anime of all time with 9's and 10s across the board, with it frequently popping up on anitubers favorites lists. I'm not usually one to give things number scores as I think they are too vague to be useful, but if I were to give this series one it would probably be a 4/10, 5/10 at best, and that's me being generous. Honestly the only real positive I'd give this series is that the 'sending text messages and memories into the past, altering the present such that only the protag keeps their memories" is a pretty interesting time travel method, even I don't think it gets used to the best of it's abilities here. Other than that though I cannot for the life of me imagine how the series got so popular, other than the obvious nostalgia value combined with pandering to otaku culture/self insert harem protag combined with pseudo-intellectual science babble. I'm npt normally this mean but man, the first few episodes of this series were almost unwatchable with a bland color pallet, annoying archetypal characters who babble on with inane and honestly cringe dialogue, and absolutely no notable plot progression. About halfway in the plot picks up and it becomes mildly more interesting, but not enough to excuse the lackluster visuals and lack of any interesting characters or relationships, especially given that they go for the most basic of all time loop plots of "no matter how you change the past this innocent character dies over and over" without really justifying why in the same way that Madoka or even Life is Strange does. I'll probably watch some video essays on this as I'm genuinely curious why people like it, though I doubt my own opinion will change. Groundhog day loops are some of my favorite story devices but even as a big fan of the trope I wouldn't recommend this one, half of it is straight up painful to sit through and the other half has been done far better in other media.

- One Piece (Anime) - The Sabo and Imu stuff is neat but I am seeing what people meant when they said One Piece is a much better binge read than serial experience, I like the story but the short episodes and week wait time makes all the time wasting with random unimportant characters thst much more noticeable.

- Tiger Tiger (Webcomic) - The new pages are so cute, with Jamis not understanding why he's so jealous, Remy having his 100th existential crisis, and Arnos dumping some crazy lore then just watching in silent amusement at Jamis and Remy's mutual pining. A+

- Cult of the Lamb (Video Game) - Watched a friend play this on vacation and it looked so cute and creative that I bought it myself. I love how cute the little player Lamb character is, though the side noses + both eyes on one side of some of the character designs are a bit off-putting. Raising your own little cult in a game tied to Lovecraftian style old gods but in a cutesy animal aesthetic is right up my alley, I'm excited to learn a lot more of the lore surrounding them.

- Genshin Impact (Video Game) - Natlan is here! Not sure why everyone is so white, which is annoying, but I'll probably still be trying hard to get the geo lion girl as a geo healer would pair perfectly with my Navia. Natlan's Savannah/safari environment and new animals are neat though I'm not big on the new movement styles as I would prefer to stay as myself rather than switching between animal forms, even if the animals are pretty cute.

Listening To: Good Luck Babe, Red Wine Supernova, My Kink is Karma, Casual, and HOT TO GO! by Chappell Roan, Harpy Hare by Yaelokre, The Mind Electric by Miracle Musical, Dial Drunk by Noah Kahan, Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl by Chloe Breez and Annapantsu, Too Sweet, Lunch, Bitter, and Stick Season covers by Reinaeiry, Tounges and Teeth and Metaphor by The Crane Wives, Espresso, Taste, and Please Please Please by Sabrina Carpenter, Like a Prayer by Madonna.

[autumnslance]

Accommodations

There’s a lot of commentary out there at the lack of consequence for Y’shtola’s floating in the Lifestream (twice! Even if the second time was far shorter), and especially with recent translation clarifications that her aethersight is NOT really a life-threatening danger; the interchangeable ways “aether” and “lifeforce” are used already pointed to that, but nowhere else is it stated as a danger to her. Tiring and a strain, perhaps, but not killing her as assumed due to the EN phrasing and delivery of Matoya’s line in Heavensward.

Which is understandably frustrating, given so many people feel she’s already “getting around” her disability with plot-strong aethersight in use to replace her eyesight. Not to mention how disability is so often treated in not only FFXIV, but media in general.

But Y’shtola is still using an accommodation to get around her vision problems*. She’s still having to spend aether and strain to see at all, there are some limits to it, and what she can see and how versus her comrades.

A decent analogy my FC came up with is Star Trek’s Geordi La Forge (played by LeVar Burton, a sighted man). Geordi began as the Enterprise-D’s pilot--a blind man, driving the ship, was (former pilot) Gene Roddenberry’s joke. Geordi quickly rose to Chief Engineer. He was only able to see via his VISOR--a device covering his eyes, with implanted connections in his temples. He did not see in the usual human lightwaves, but in heat and energy patterns, like a souped-up infrared. He eventually obtained ocular implants, but his vision was still far different from other humans.

Occasionally, Geordi’s VISOR and unique manner of sight was a plot point used to save the day. Less often, it was a liability used against the Commander and his colleagues. Most of the time though, it just wasn’t an issue; it was simply a normal, everyday part of Geordi.

Y’shtola is using a magical accommodation, in the same way Geordi used a science-fiction accommodation. Sometimes her unique sight is a plot point used to advance story and save the day. Very occasionally (perhaps not enough yet) it’s a liability against the Archon and her colleagues. Most of the time though, it’s just not an issue; simply a normal, every day part of Y’shtola.

This can also come back around to the concept that someone isn’t “really” disabled unless people see them suffering or limited by their disability. When they cannot be effectively sidelined because they’re still leading a full and happy life, even if they already have to take some extra steps to do so. There are arguments all the time of characters in fiction “not really being disabled” due to their magical or science-fiction accommodations--even if those aids cause stress, strain, pain, or have other issues and difficulties (Edward Elric of Full Metal Alchemist, for example; yes his automail is cool, but it’s also difficult to maintain, painful, and stunts his growth, among other complications).

There are characters all through FFXIV with various disabilities; missing eyes is a common one, Raubahn lost an arm, Arenvald’s learning to adjust to his new normal. Raubahn is also not shown to be slowed down, suffering, or otherwise hampered by losing an entire limb he would otherwise use for a second sword or a shield. His prowess as a warrior is not questioned, though Pipin can get away with a few wry comments and a boast that if he still had both hands, his father would have totally wrecked the WoL in their duel. Raubahn’s a bit less forefront than Y’shtola, perhaps, and far less reckless than our snarky sorceress.

Basically the question becomes, what really bothers about Y’shtola’s blindness--which still does have effects on her, even if she stiff-upper-lips through most of them--and her use of an accommodation to see in another way? Is it that people mistakenly thought she was in a danger and actually isn’t so feel “cheated” of a consequence--which, why did she need one anyway--that never was (which can partially be blamed on unclear writing and line delivery)? Is it because she isn’t “suffering enough” to seem “disabled enough”, especially compared to other disabled (male) characters? Is it because the characterization quirk isn’t defined enough and what she can and cannot see shifts as plot needs and who’s writing this quest today?

In my opinion only one of those is really a valid grouse, and the others may take some potentially uncomfortable reflection to consider and unpack.

EDIT: Check out the link added in comments to a blind person’s essay on Y’shtola’s bad rep at blindness--which is true--but also ways to fix the bad tropes, and ways it’s been done better in FFXIV and other media. Y’shtola’s blindness does need a narrative purpose for why it was done to her as a character--as well as better defined scope and limits on her aethersight--but my beef is how people seemed miffed she isn’t suffering for her disability, including dying for it. At this point narratively it feels like it’s just so she has the vision necessary that no one else has to wear the goggles anymore and they don’t need to animate that. But it could be a lot more, and without needing to be “cured”, or her becoming helpless and suffering.

-

[*Consider too: even today in the modern real world, glasses and/or contacts to improve or correct sight are one of the most common accommodations for vision disability, ranging from mild to severe. So much so that most people (and governments) don’t consider it a disability and accommodation for compensation or aid, though getting necessary eye wear can be quite expensive for many folks. Even though many of us couldn’t function without them and are ourselves effectively blind otherwise.]

[theloganator101]

To be honest I feel like a lot of Class 1A's problems come from their lack of development. Due to the lack of focus by Hori a lot of them as the story has gone on feel like Cardboard cut outs.

The main members of 1A given focus by Hori

1) Izuku (Deku) - Mr Shonen Protag Main Character

2) Katsuki (Explosion Murder God Dynamight) - The 'Shonen Rival'. Although to me he's a poor example of one.

3) Shoto Todoroki (Shoto) - Deutragonist but even he has been sidelined in favor of Katsuki, his father and the Todofam drama a lot.

4) Aoyama (I can not stop twinkling) - the reluctant traitor.

5) Uraraka (Uravity) - the one who will save Toga whether Toga wants to be saved or not.

Nearly everyone else in 1A has begun to feel more and more like a cardboard cutout the more the story has gone on. Since Hori has been puppeteering them to do what he wants for the sake of plot when it should have raised more issues with them.

I.e the Class 1A vs Izuku fight being led by Bakugou - are we meant to seriously believe any of Izuku's friends just went with that? Wtf Hori?

Also I feel like fanon gives more care to those in 1A than Hori himself and gives answers to things Hori left hanging. Such as Denki, a joke character whose quirk fries his brain and a bit of a goof whose love interest is the one to laugh first when he does that to himself. The fanon have taken him and allowed him to come into his own and gave him more of a character with relatable struggles like learning difficulties.

All of this is sad because canonically the more that the story has gone on the more I find it hard differienate between any of 1A (other than the 5 I listed above.)

TLDR - all of 1A have missed potential and it seems like Hori has cared about them less and less the more the story has gone on. This is really sad because 1A could have been the basis for a really good support network and found family for Izuku.

This series is an example of the side characters being more interesting than the main characters.

Like Izuku is great and all but he gotten so watered down as the series went on, Uraraka's been sidelined to focus more on the stupid love triangle with Toga, Bakugou's an asshole, and Shoto's nothing more than a plot device in his own arc.

And I'm not even going into the whole traitor thing with Aoyama because that was just thrown in as a gotcha moment.

I wanna learn more about Sero, I wanna learn more about Hagakure, I wanna learn more about Aoyama.

These characters have stories waiting to be told but we don't get any of that. Hori's so focused on making a beeline to the next major plot point that the story doesn't have any breathing time to really get to know these characters and make a bond with them.

It really should've taken place over the course of 3 years instead of cramming it all into one because everything feels so muddled now that after the 1A vs Izuku fight, I just don't care for the canon characters anymore.

I'm with @marunalu when they said this, I do hope the villains win and this series becomes a tragedy because of them allowing people like Bakugou and Endeavor to get away scott free while the victims APOLOGIZE to them! It's not a good look for the series at all.

[nekropsii]

I bought pesterquest and I loved it but it was also a narrative garbage fire as someone who loathes hs2

Most of the characters were amazing and I loved the story of it, my favorite one was karkat since he was so freaked out about someone having the same blood color as him. However there were also ones and I disliked or downright hated

Jakes route is where you have to ignore all of his issues because if you don’t he shuts down and you can’t solve anything. I personally just find Jake a little infiruraring but that’s just me/gen

Aradia route was not friending her in the universe, she is from canon and therefore extremely different than how she would be without sburb. Her story deals around the narrative of the story and breaking canon and while I do love her for that I wish the route was a little more focused on her instead of the narrative

And dirks. Oh god dirks. His entire route was narrative usage. We were completely unable to befriend him before ult dirk stepped in and fucked shit up, it dealt with the epilogues so heavily (again I quite hate them) and he was just a plot device for the story. I like his character a lot and was pretty upset when he was just used for the narrative without a lick of actually getting to know him

Anyways there’s my pesterquest rant, I never played friendsim so there were a few references I didn’t get but that’s neither here nor there

Yeah, this falls pretty in line with a portion of some of the complaints I heard. Dirks route especially is one I've heard of and found a bit... Wince-worthy. From what I can gather, a notable portion of Pesterquest is dedicated to shilling Postcanon, which... Is not very good. It's its own game, don't turn it into an advertisement... Come on. :(

Other complaints I've heard include how allegedly hard it banks on Dave and Karkat's relationship, while Rose and Kanaya's relationship gets totally sidelined... Like, that's just gross to me, sorry. As much as I love Dave and Karkat's relationship, their relationship is nowhere near as important as what Rose and Kanaya have going on, both narratively and to each other as people. Big yikes, dog.

[robbyrobinson]

Any Sport in a Storm (Review)

A Willow and Hunter episode. It was pretty good in all respect. Given how Willow had been in the sideline for a good bit. "Understanding Willow," for instance isn't so much about her; rather, it's Amity having to face the demons of her past with Willow serving as a plot device. "Wing It Like Witches" is more of an overall sports-related episode where Luz instigates the competition.

I love how Willow looking at her reflection mirrors how Boscha did with hers, especially how they both motivate themselves differently.

Willow: After years of thinking I wasn't good enough, I finally found something I can be good at. Something I wanna be good at. Switching to the Plant Track was just the beginning. I'm on my way to becoming the witch I wanna be.

Boscha: You are talented. You are a star. You may be hated, so long as you are feared.

Now with our boi, Hunter is left a message by Belos claiming that he was being tested with overseeing the Coven Heads. But...then they all made a change of plans leading to the revelation that Darius was a Golden Guard once. He states that he doesn't think Hunter deserves that title, so Hunter tries to get some recruits by infiltrating Hexside.

I just love Hunter; he is just so awkward and has no idea what he's doing and he needs more than just therapy. But he gets a break when Willow invites him to join her club.

Meanwhile, our two lovebirds Amity and Luz try to find the author of the Azura books after speculating whether she was a human or a witch. It's hilarious that they acknowledge some of the wild theories that fans had on who the author could be such as Camila who may've added some embellishments to the tales.

I also just love how they ignored Boscha in this one: after being such a sociopathic brat for no reason, and being a total B word that rhymes with witch, it's cathartic and is ironically even harsher of a punishment than her getting reprimanded for her actions back in WILW.

Boscha: You guys aren't cute! I still have more friends than you!

Yeah, sure you do, Boscha.

But I ended up liking Darius a bit more shockingly. After coming off at first as a narcissistic asshole, I do like his interactions with Hunter and even gets impressed when he stands up to him. Come to find out that he even knew about his Palisman and is keeping it a secret from the Emperor a pretty ballsy move.

Though at the same time, I'm not going to immediately jump to the "this guy's alright in my book" because Hunter himself confirms that the coven leaders have a habit of backstabbing each other all the time, and I can easily see Darius being a prick and spilling the beans to Belos about Hunter's Palisman. I do have some sense that Darius COULD potentially turn good, but I am honestly scared.

But another real surprise: I really liked Hunter's interactions with Willow. I have seen fanfics and fan art about the two despite them not formally meeting, but I do like how comfortable Hunter was feeling around her. Perhaps she is one of the key factors to Hunter potentially defecting from the Emperor.

Overall, great episode.