#well aware that screenshots will never do this scene justice

[gayanimebitches]

[i-am-bitterly-jittery]

On Death's Doorstep (pt 22/?)

[<<First],,,,[<Prev],[Next>] [ODD Masterlist]

Word count: 1442

Rating: Teen

Pairings: None in this part

This is a preliminary warning: the warnings of this chapter contain major spoilers for not just this chapter, but for future chapters. I feel that these spoilers are necessary to include in order for you, the audience, to decide whether or not you'd like to continue with this story. If you don't need warnings, you're free to scroll past the warnings and avoid the spoilers altogether.

The warnings are directly below the cut, followed by a random screenshot of Logan (for spacing purposes). After this screenshot, the chapter begins

Warnings (contains spoilers): Major character death (it's a temporary death, but it will not be reverted in this chapter, or in the next chapter. This character will likely be dead for several chapters, but they are guaranteed to come back), blood mention, explosions

~~~START~~~

Over the past few months, Logan found himself straying from his usual patterns more and more frequently. It was irrational and illogical, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop; like an addict, he was hooked, and he would do anything for his fix.  

He would do anything to spend a little quality time with his daughter, even if she didn’t know.  

Janus, at the very least, had taken notice of his change in behavior, and he was well aware that they were taking advantage of his distracted state in order to further their relationship with Virgil — six months ago, this would not be something that Logan let slide, but now… he had to admit that Virgil was not playing some sort of long con in order to bring them to justice; Virgil and Janus were both adults, and if they both wanted to pursue an untenable relationship, it was none of Logan’s business.  

Besides, while Janus was using his distraction for their own benefit, Logan was using their distraction to his. It was a win-win situation as far as he was concerned.  

It had been a shock when his database had matched the name of his long-estranged daughter to the face of Sandman, but in a way, it had also felt like a blessing. He was finally getting contact, even if she didn’t know it — even if she didn’t know him.  

The fact that Julieta had removed any trace of Logan being the father of her daughter was painful, but not entirely unexpected. Not with the way things had ended between them… 

Remy’s crime fighting skills were improving in leaps and bounds, and she’d even managed to catch a few non-meta criminals. Luckily, she hadn’t yet managed to subdue a meta criminal long enough for the police to pick them up — he’d seen the files that Janus had stolen a few months back and he would hate for his daughter to be unwittingly contributing to unethical human experimentation.  

After about three months on the scene, Remy had added a few homemade gadgets to her repertoire; gadgets that, Logan had noted with pride, were clearly reverse engineered from his own that she’d nabbed from the twins.  

Remy was a thorn in his side and he absolutely adored her. He was growing soft.  

Normally, Logan would not do two jobs in one week unless they were time-sensitive, and he certainly wouldn’t have pulled two jobs on consecutive days unless absolutely necessary. But here he was, pulling a frivolous job one day and an important one the next.  

Yesterday he had pulled a bank job (an actual bank job! Never in Logan’s carrier had he knocked off a bank, as though he were some common thief) in order to see his daughter; today he was hitting a genetics lab in order to steal some of their research. The media had taken notice of his increased activity, but they were incorrectly assuming that this either meant that Dr. Frankenstein was entering his end game for world-domination, or that he was struggling to maintain himself, and might soon disappear for good. 

Both theories were patently false, though they did amuse Logan greatly — as if he would want to tackle the logistical nightmare that was world-domination. No, Logan was a smart and level-headed man, he made reasonable and achievable goals. But they were correct about one thing, he was so close.  

“Not this time, Frank!” Logan suddenly found himself knocked away from the lab’s mainframe and into a filing cabinet.  

One of the things Remy had learned was to attack first and announce herself second. It was truly stunning how much pride and irritation Logan was able to feel at the same time.  

“Sandman,” he spat, brushing himself off and glowering at the hero.  

Sandman, for her part, seemed pleased with herself as she stood between him and the mainframe. She was twirling the USB drive Logan had been using between her fingers.  

“Gurl, what don’t you take up needle-point or something,” Sandman shook her head. “It’s gotta be easier than all this. At the very least you’ll be less likely to break a hip.” 

“I assure you,” Logan replied, observing his daughter closely under the guise of assessing his opponent. “My stitches are impeccable, but they will not help me achieve my goal as quickly as this data will.” 

“Sorry,” she smirked as she noticed his gaze lock on the USB. “Was this important?” 

Now it was Logan’s turn to smirk. “Not particularly.” 

He barely had a moment to relish her look of surprise as he activated the drive’s failsafe before he was off and running. The drive made a pop sound as the small amount of explosives in it detonated, destroying the circuits, and causing smoke to spill out of the casing — it would not be enough to hurt a person holding it, but it would be rather surprising.  

The USB drive would be no great loss, the data it was mining was transferred to a receiver tucked safely in Logan’s coat, and the drive itself would be easy enough to replace.  

Sandman’s yelp of shock was abruptly cut off as the door to the lab swung shut behind Logan of its own accord, adding a little to his head start. Not as much as he would like though, as Sandman quickly broke it down with the help of her energy shield.  

Logan was a quick runner, and in a foot race he hardly ever worried about his opponent catching up to him. This was not a foot race however, and Logan had learned months ago that Remy could fly faster than he could run. Outmaneuvering her was really his only choice. Most of his gadgets for slowing down a pursuer were intended to be used in a foot race, and the halls of the lab were incredibly sparse of furnishing he could animate to get in her way, but he did have one thing.  

A couple weeks ago, he’d been inspired while watching a Spider-Man cartoon with Patton and Remus, and now seemed like the perfect time to try out his new toy.  

Logan placed small discs on either side of a doorway as he passed through it, and seconds later, a sticky, but quite durable, web of synthetic spider-silk filled the passage. Sandman didn’t have time to stop herself before she was shooting through the doorway, the webs tangling around her as she passed, causing her to fall, unceremoniously, to the floor.  

“You bitch!” She screeched after him.  

Logan smirked to himself; she would untangle herself soon, but it seemed as though children’s cartoons did indeed have their merits. He was finally starting to see why Emile– 

Nope. Now was not the time for that.  

He needed to get some height before he exited the building. The mainframe had been in the basement, but even exiting through the first floor was out of the question as law enforcement would no doubt be converging on the building by now. No, he needed to exit from the third story at the lowest, and since there was no way he was going to risk getting trapped in an elevator, stairs it was.  

Stairwells didn’t exactly provide enough space for him to use his rocket boots, but luckily Logan was very good at stairs. He laid a few traps as he climbed in case Sandman freed herself before he could escape the building, but he never heard another door open before he was bursting out of the stairwell on the fifth floor. 

The building to the east was four stories, which would provide excellent cover for losing law enforcement on the ground, so Logan oriented himself towards an east-facing window. He threw a sonic bomb in front of him to take out the window pane and prepared to activate his rocket boots.  

The glass shattered out, and he had just barely launched himself out the window when he was hit with a shockwave that knocked him off balance and sent him careening into the neighboring rooftop.  

His ears were ringing, and he could feel blood beginning to drip down his face from where his head had collided with an old crate, but all of that was secondary to the shock. That explosion hadn’t been his.  

Logan managed to push himself up to his knees just in time for a second explosion to go off.  

The second blast was stronger. Windows shattered in surrounding buildings. Car alarms went off. People were screaming. And all Logan could do was watch in shock and horror as the building he had just escaped — the building that his daughter was still in — collapsed. 

~~~END~~~

:)

Shoutout to @kiapet2 for commenting “calling it now, Remy is Logan’s daughter” back on chapter 11 for making me rewrite both Logan and Remy’s backstories because that was so much better than what I’d had planned

I hope I’ll finish the next chapter by next week, but if I don’t, Happy One Year (next week) of On Death’s Doorstep! I literally don’t know how I got here, it’s like 35k wtf

ODD taglist:

@royalty-of-all-things-snuggly @pixelated-pineapple @arsonic-knight @misunderstood-shadowling @lost-in-thought-20 @remy-the-lemon-berry @jinxcrafter @apinkline2715 @gothfoxx @donutsarepartybagels @xoaningout @meganmoneky14

[tearblossom]

Orbital Station Scene Analysis: Part 3

Lmao here we go again. Ready to fall even deeper down the rabbit hole that is this scene with me!? This one scene functions simultaneously as my source of joy and depression and I watch it more than I would care to admit. So, naturally, I have even more to say about it! It’s going to be long. Sorry.

Part 1- https://tearblossom.tumblr.com/post/645095661644251136/scene-analysis-this-is-just-what-i-personally-feel

Part 2- https://tearblossom.tumblr.com/post/645776311115186176/i-was-thinking-some-more-about-the-final-scene

In this one, I’ll be going into more detail explaining the emotional mask that I believe Takemura is trying so desperately to keep on during this scene (and undeniably fails at several times, with it coming off entirely upon the scene reaching a certain pivotal moment) and also pointing out the instances that I feel the mask slips occur. Honestly, it’s pretty easy to tell for reasons that I will explain. I’m going to reiterate the fact that I am not a facial expression/body language expert. This is just one human being looking at another human being and trying to figure them out. This is just my personal interpretation of this scene. Prepare yourself for many, many screenshots and gifs. Also, I will be using the same video sources as the other two posts because I don’t have my own footage. 

https://youtu.be/ra-Ij1KU8r4

https://youtu.be/PUmQqVOq5oY

I failed to mention before the reason that Takemura even had to put up the cruel facade in the first place because I didn’t want to state the obvious and insult everyone’s intelligence. We all know the reason but I’ll just say it here anyway: Arasaka. 

Arasaka is listening to Takemura’s every word so he literally cannot say shit to V that would hint at any sort of affection for him/her and absolutely nothing that would indicate any growing uncertainty in said corporation. Words mean nothing here. He has to speak through his eyes and expressions because that is all he has to offer, the only cards he has to play. That is why the meaning of this scene can be so easily missed and flies over so many people’s heads. I do not fault anyone that may have missed this on a first playthrough or even those that are still unaware of it whatsoever because Takemura is very, very convincing at first (his face becomes an open book once the contract gets brought out but we’ll get into that later) and besides, to truly understand something that involves emotions as complex as these caused by equally as complex reasons or anything involving subtext really, takes multiple viewings to truly appreciate.

In summary, what I believe is happening here is that during the entire scene up until the contract gets brought out, his mental state is constantly teetering on the edge of a cliff so to speak. He is trying so hard to fight his sentimentality and control his emotional responses not only to V’s misery and pain but also his own wavering faith in Arasaka because they are watching, listening, and monitoring. And he succeeds extremely well at first but it gets harder and harder for him to maintain the mask. The closer he physically gets to V, the harder it is to pretend, to hide. His eyes alone betray him on several occasions but eventually the whole facade just crumbles and he falls. And when the contract comes into play is when he truly, honestly looks at V and the communication through his eyes really begins.

Here is the key thing- it is the most important visual clue to understanding when things happen: When Takemura is feeling any doubt or his emotions begin to overwhelm him or he fears that they might, he promptly averts his eyes to get himself under control and readjusts the mask that has slipped. 

He looks away from V during these moments!

(Just to clarify, I don’t think that every single moment in the scene that he looks away from V has this deeper meaning behind it. When people talk it’s completely natural for them to turn their heads, avert their eyes to look at other things, etc. These are just some moments that particularly stood out to me as signs pointing to my little theory.) 

Okay...let’s start deciphering this conflicted, broken mess of a man.

Scene starts. Takemura is fiddling with the Rubik’s Cube. He puts it down. Expression cold as ice.

mask on full display in all of it’s glory

They talk about Saburo being back in the body of his son and have this exchange of words:

V: “Saw Saburo Arasaka’s back. In Yorinobu’s body.”

Goro: “Yes. Justice has been done.”

And then it happens for the first time...

(Could this be...doubt perhaps? Has justice really been done?)

Moving on- he walks over to stand behind the chair across from V, telling them of their imminent death.

Goro: “I will be blunt - the surgery did not help. You will be dead before winter.”

And then he proceeds to make this face immediately after...

(Lovely, isn’t it? Just full of sympathy. His mask game is strong. But don’t worry though because V wins in the end BIG TIME.)

Understandably, V gets very upset upon hearing this news.

V: “How... how’s that possible? Arasaka’s got the best and the brightest.”

And then something happens again. Whatever could it be, I wonder!

But wait, there’s more!

(He couldn’t even wait until he finished talking before looking away! It’s getting more difficult for him to look at V with a straight face every second! Also, his expression here is the most broken looking yet.) :(

He must not reveal what is hidden behind this emotional wall that he’s worked so hard to build up specifically for this meeting because the room they are speaking in may just as well be made of glass with Arasaka’s unrelenting gaze, an ever-present entity, on the other side of it. He will do so soon though, when he offers V salvation. The contract raises the stakes. The rules change. He feels the wall breaking and there isn’t anything he can do about it and he knows it.

IT’S CHAIR TIME, CHOOMS!

He looks away another 6 TIMES! Leaning more and more over that edge. Feast your eyes...

IT’S CONTRACT TIME, BABY!

Oh, shit!

It’s happening!!

He does look away here but there’s no mask on when he looks back...only despair.

It’s gone.

TO SIGN OR NOT TO SIGN

The disguise is off now. From this point onward, Takemura looks at V with his true feelings on display. This is where the ability to read the emotion portrayed solely through one’s eyes really comes into play because even though he’s not trying to hide anything anymore, he still can’t say what he really wants to say. We have to feel it through his expressions. His thoughts are so loud during these final moments of the scene that we don’t even need words to know what he’s saying.  

REFUSE TO SIGN

SIGN

HOLY GRAIL MOMENT!

(I’m literally going to copy and paste what I have in my part 2 analysis about this section because I explained my thoughts on it about as well as I am able to there and have nothing else to add. My apologies for repeating myself but I feel the exact same way about it so it still applies here.) 

These reactions make perfect sense because we’ve always known that he cares deeply for V and never stopped. He just couldn’t hide it! But even with this treasure trove of emotional mask slips and unintentional displays of affection, I still wasn’t sure exactly how deeply he cared for V. In other words- if he was actually in love with V or not.

Is he already in love or is he still in the process of falling in love? Is it just a friendly love? (hell no! I knew that was definitely not the case but I still had to ask just so I could cross it off the list!)

And then the two of them walked to the door and said their parting words.

V: “Gonna see each other again?”

Goro: “I believe we will.”

V: “So… see you.”

Goro: “Visit me in Kagawa - I will show you what is real food.”

And then…

he proceeded to make these faces…

HOLY

SHIT!

(The mask isn’t just gone now- it’s burned, splintered, shattered, exploded in a million pieces, disintegrated!)

This man just had the biggest revelation of his entire life: the realization that he is in love with V. These are looks of love and I will not be convinced otherwise. I’m not a facial expression expert or anything, only stating my humble opinions here, but are you seeing this!?

He realizes the truth and it catches him so off guard that he has to look away. He contemplates these newfound feelings and tries to sort them out in the few seconds that he has left with V. And he does. He accepts them. He welcomes them. The gentle, knowing look he gives V when he looks back at them is saying just this.

He also knows that he is now fucked because his love for V is going to complicate things so much more than they already were. Now that he is fully aware that he is in love, these feelings are going to directly conflict with his duties to Arasaka later if a situation arises that places V and Arasaka on opposing sides and I think we all know that is most definitely going to happen at some point.

And now he has to see the love of his life die and just leave this place and go on with his day. Damn. This is turning into one of the saddest love stories I’ve ever seen. Something major is going to happen in the dlc that is going to force his hand one way or another: V or Arasaka? I hope that Arasaka somehow fucks up so bad that it makes his choice easier but my heart breaks imagining the amount of conflict and torment that await him.

The Beginning and The End

[adventuresingamingville]

Dororo is a girl (with evidence)

I didn’t really want to step foot into this terrible debate on Tumblr, but this issue has been eating away at me for so long, because I felt guilty for not saying anything. I disliked people disregarding creator intent and pushing Western POVs on Asian media, so I eventually couldn’t stay quiet anymore.

Honestly, Tumblr is pretty much the only popular site that vehemently thinks Dororo was written as a trans boy, and had spread the toxicity to the Wiki. The echo chamber of Tumblr is getting out of hand with misinformation. Sometimes I would even hear people saying that Dororo uses male pronouns which they heard from Tumblr, but there is no male/female pronoun that you use to refer to yourself in Japanese, only pronouns genders more commonly use. When the show first started I checked the wikis and they all said Dororo was a girl (I got spoiled by this), but after the “discourse” happened here I noticed the wikis were all changed into Dororo being trans. People really wanted to control the narrative.

As well, I know there are others that agree with me but are afraid to use “she”, or think of Dororo as a girl out of fear of being bullied off the site. So I’ll say it for you. Dororo was intended to be a girl most likely by Tezuka, and definitely by Mappa.

Part 1) THE MANGA (1967)

First of all, we have to acknowledge that this series is Japanese. The Eurocentrism is very strong in the Dororo Tumblr debate. There is a common trope in Japanese series of women living as men, or being raised as men. Especially in that time period. I think anyone who has read a lot of manga will be familiar with this trope. Rose of Versailles is a good example of an old one.

Tezuka is also very fond of this trope, but he will always insist that in the end that no matter how masculine the female character is, the characters “want to live femininely” or whatnot. There’s a semi misogynistic undercurrent that in the end, a girl should be girlly. This is a series from the 1960s, so while disappointing it’s not surprising.

In the Dororo manga, this is prominent from Hyakkimaru’s commentary. While from a Western modern POV he’s kinda being a dick, in 1960s Japan Tezuka was writing him as the hero and voice of reason to the childish Dororo.

Similarly, Hyakkimaru’s comment “Could it be you don’t really know yourself?” on Dororo being raised as a boy was Tezuka giving an explanation for why Dororo was raised the way that she was. The idea was that Dororo was raised by her parents as a boy so she would become tough during such cruel times. However, hiding the truth from their daughter caused Dororo to not understand her actual gender.

However, due to the manga being cut short, these plot points weren’t truly handled well or brought to a close. Judging by how he wrote other gender bender stories like Princess Knight, most likely Dororo would have “grown up” and lived as a girl like Hyakkimaru was saying. This of course is pure speculation, but these tropes are usually handled in this manner in anime. The PS2 “Blood Will Tell” Dororo (officially by Tezuka Productions) ended the series in this way.

Part 2) THE ANIME (2019)

The anime wrote Dororo much more mature and thoughtful than the manga, and is the main series I wanted to talk about regarding this. Dororo in the anime, unlike the manga, is actually aware of being a girl.

The reason it’s important in this context, is because the 2019 Dororo is not only about demons and fighting, but also about human suffering during the warring periods. And very notably, the difficulties of women in the past.

This is highlighted through the contrast of several prominent women in the series. The most notable is Mio and Dororo’s mother. They are women put into similar circumstances, that had to find ways to survive on their own. Dororo’s mother was too proud to go into prostitution and ended up starving as a result. Mio was able to survive because she put aside her pride.

Other women include Hyakkimaru’s mother and Mutsu. Hyakki’s mother was the lords wife who had to listen to his orders, even though she did not agree with them. She is also sometimes “put into her place” by misogynistic phases like “What do women know about politics?” by her husband. Mutsu on the other hand, is in a similar situation as Dororo. To serve as Tahomaru’s retainer, she had to dress and live as a male. The historical context makes the reason obvious, women were simply not taken seriously in those times. It doesn’t need to be spelled out to be understood.

Mappa was purposely highlighting that scene between Mio and Dororo talking about her job, because Dororo understood the choices that women had to make to survive. The added layer to that scene was Dororo understanding that if she had lived as a lone girl, she would also be faced with the same choices that her mother, as well as Mio were. This was one of the implicit themes in the scene between Dororo and Mio, and is also why Dororo was quick to understand Mio’s situation and not pass judgement.

This is why it bothered me that this entire narrative of women’s hardships that centered around Dororo hiding her gender was being erased by the 2019 Dororo fandom.

But hard evidence always speaks louder, so I will show official tweets by Mappa just to dispel any doubts.

In the first screenshot they explicitly say “Dororo is actually a girl.” In the second, “with the map on her back, how will she use it for the battles to come” they use 彼女 “kanojo” to refer to Dororo, which is the same as “she” Or referring to someone as a girl. I already knew about this word in Japanese but double checked these translations with my friend who could read Japanese and she confirmed this.

The tweets explicitly refer to Dororo as a female, they did not have to add “kanojo” to refer to her and use ways around it, but they did. It is purposeful. This is from official twitter accounts, even retweeted by the official Dororo anime twitter, so there is no mistake.

CLOSING STATEMENTS

I’ve never had a problem with people having headcanons in ways that they found meaningful, but I had a problem with the way the word “transphobic” was being weaponized to quash opposing views, the toxicity, and the misinformation being spread about one of my favorite anime series. Mappa truly was trying to create something artistic with the new anime, full of symbolism and subtlety. The out of context black and white views of this series did not do it justice.

[persephonealmana]

My Thoughts On The Vic Situation

I’m aware that I’m going to be called a “cunt”, “bitch” and other vile names for speaking my opinion but this is just my thoughts on the whole situation. 

~*~*~*~*~*

Considering that I'm more caught up with Overwatch VA's these days, but I have sadly learned of a situation with a VA that I loved.

Read the journal for more information:

There are some journals about this.

I never thought that the #metoo movement was going to be a problem movement. It was originally combating against Sexual Harassment, but I guess there are people out there to twist it for their own agenda. Like Monica and Jamie did. They twisted it to fit their own agenda to take a person down, just like anyone that uses this movement to twist it for their own personal gain. These fucking idiots felt like using it as a weapon to ruin people's lives JUST for the hell of it. Susan B. Anthony must be rolling in her grave right about now, I can't blame her though. Since all of her female descendants are poisoning the feminist movement and forgetting about equality.

I also forgot that Vic was accused of sexually assaulting girls at cons, which there is no EVIDENCE of him doing that.

Both Monica and Jamie DON'T have evidence that Vic did this to them. Allegations like this require evidence and so far Monica & Jamie show none of it.  It's all a hearsay.

These people basically don't know what sexual harassment is! They never met anyone or experienced what sexual harassment is like or how to feel. They decided to say; well I was sexually harassed by this person, but I don't know what it's like being sexually harassed anyways.

Was Vic being inappropriate? No. But yes, he is a bit of a touchy guy but he doesn't mean to be touchy it's just who he is. He always asked permission before giving hugs and kisses on cheeks, but there are at times where he does it without consent. The fans are ok with that. But what was his crime? Being Overly-friendly to people. Being too nice to people even his co-workers, now he's going to be afraid to hug his fans again after this situation, he's going to be afraid to give out his hugs and kiss on the cheeks to fans. Since he won't know if they will sue him or file harassment against him. Studying Vic's body language, tone, and speech during his apology he displays textbook remorse, sorrow, and self-awareness.  From what I have seen he clearly got comfortable with treating everyone fairly, assuming everyone wanted to be hugged, kissed or fan serviced with a scene of one of his popular characters. The man has already apologized for becoming too lazy about hugs which display self-awareness and remorse.

They, Monica and Jaimie, think hugging and kissing on the cheek is sexual harassment. Which is not! Vic is very affectionate to his friends and fans, he's not afraid to hide that. Even they should go to some European countries that are big on giving hugs and kisses on the cheeks.

The fact that the voice actors of DBZ are throwing Vic under the bus to save face makes me sick to my stomach even their comments, don't get me started on the comments some made. Personally, they have a personal vendetta against him, which I'll explain at the end, they know Monica and just want to defend her of all this BS. Then again the majority of these voice actors at Funimation are narcissistic Leftists.

Funimation dropped Vic without hearing his side, cons banned him and now he's left with nothing. He's banned from Cons and fired for doing a job that he loves and a community that he adores.

It's funny that they dropped Vic without evidence, but remember the incident where another VA of FUNimation was accused of Child Pornography? FUNimation decided to wait until the evidence comes out. But with Vic? Nope, sorry bud you are cut from the scene.

The only voice actor that is on Vic's side is Todd. He is standing by Vic's side, which I praise him for.

I literally lost respect for Funimation, which I haven't watched them for years, they fired Vic without evidence shown. While Funimation said that they don't condone harassment, they still have Monica, Jaimie, and Sean who openly harass fans who question them over the lack of evidence.

Monica is basically acting like a bully who constantly says that they are going to tell on you but with her, it's like "I'm gonna screenshot this to show my lawyer!" She obviously now thinks she can sue people for disagreeing with her. Can I say that those who were sexually harassed sure as hell won't go online to tell the whole world what happened!

I’d say if you’re accusing someone of something serious you are OBLIGATED to provide evidence. Where has the mentality come from where you accuse someone of something horrible and serious and you expect people to go off nothing but word of mouth alone and treat the accused as 100% confirmed guilty? That’s a disgusting backward way of thinking.

Especially with screenshots being capped of people wanting to edit photos of Vic to make him look guilty because of their twisted sense of justice. The people who felt uncomfortable exist, but don’t you dare sweep under the rug the proven false allegations still circulating and people with malicious intent trying to lie to make things worse.

You can’t accuse people and when someone asks you to bring more info and proof to the table you essentially say “I don’t owe you proof, you’re supposed to just believe me completely.”

NO. That’s not how things should ever work in real life. It’s illogical and illogical to expect that of people.

Does she not realize serious allegations like this can lead Vic to depression and suicide? But then again she doesn't care nor does SJW's care about whose career was destroyed. Which I hope Vic doesn't consider even doing. No one wants that.

Monica Rial has officially gone on a complete meltdown on twitter. She's showing her true colors: she's a textbook narcissist with false victimization tendencies.  She displays compulsory to lying, passive aggressiveness to hold herself accountable. She doesn't want to stop the harassment on Twitter, she's fueling it. She said that she had to be far from social network because of her lawyer's advice (which is the best solution honestly), and now she keeps threatening people like that. She threatens those that question her for evidence and to show proof. How can she still work at Funimation after this, this is unacceptable. She didn't give us any PROPER photo evidence, video or audio evidence to back it up these claims. Now if there was evidence I'll happily change my mind but this is all just a hearsay. When Monica threatened to sue anyone who simply makes a video that has a different opinion than her, it showed a guilty conscious. She bragged about getting his job after this, she claimed he didn't have the right of innocence before being guilty outside of court. Can I just say it's funny that I know two people that are treating Twitter like a courthouse? Monica Rial & Timethy Heller? Both are treating Twitter like it's their personal courthouse just to be sided with.

And FUNimation is basically defending her through this BS. Monica personally LIED to take Vic's job away from him.

Also, how can fans follow this VA that constantly harasses people that asks for evidence? Like, how can you still support her after what she's doing? She has no video evidence, no anything to prove her point that Vic did this to her, it's all a hearsay!

But now let's take a look at this at another angle, this is just a thought: If Monica Rial and other coworkers apparently knew that Vic Mignogna had been this “sexual predator” for years, why didn’t anybody do anything about it beforehand? Why didn't they report his behavior to HR(Human Resources) if he was sexually harassing them? Or even try to talk with him to curb his behavior.

How were they still working with him that whole time? No investigation, no police report, no credible evidence, nothing? And she’s saying she doesn’t owe any sort of explanation? Yes, she does! She OWES an explanation to fans about him. She and others put fans in danger because of him if he was a "Sexual predator".

Especially if she’s trying to make claims against someone regarding sexual assault or sexual harassment. Those are serious offenses that should be reported to law enforcement immediately, not some angry Tweet to vent to some fans and subscribers about on social media years after the supposed offense.

If Vic is proven guilty (which I doubt cause I've yet to see hard solid proof but there hasn't been any) then they should be held accountable as well cause they let a predator on the loose and turned a blind eye to his wrongdoings and all the people he "sexually harassed" after that are because of them cause they knew but didn't stop him.

Thanks to them they banned someone who's the most sweetest VA anyone has met, a lot of people had met Vic and they literally said he's the sweetest person.  Vic also defended the LGBT+ community and told off a bunch of Christians in front of the building where the con was being held to leave so that those that were attending can enjoy.

To those who say he's "homophobic", he supports the LGBT. He might be Christian but he defends and supports the LGBT+ community.

Much to the saying says; Rethink your heroes and never met your heroes. Since you may not like who you meet. It's like a punch to the gut for fans to realize that these VA's of DBZ are shitty people.  All respect that fans had for them, they lost their respect for them.

But I'm also saying that there are friendly VA's that you should meet and that you should have a great experience with. Just remember that VA's are humans too and they can have emotions just like us.

Continuing,

I need to add that Sean Schemmel, Goku's VA. Funny enough, I liked Sean since he seemed like a cool guy but after this situation (probably from the youtube videos that make him look like a cool guy).  I stopped liking him as a person, I love him as a VA but not a person, he's also coming to Wisconsin Comic Convention so a lot of fans will give him shit about this situation. I bet that no fans would ever wanna meet him in person anymore and avoid him because he turns out to be such a rude, disrespectful douche. A fan talked about Sean that he's a mixed bag, he can be nice & Friendly but he stresses a lot, another said he has Bipolar Disorder.

He basically defended Monica and Jaimie after this situation, he absolutely has lost my respect by his behavior to some people. Some people like myself are trying to stay neutral and objective about this, but Sean is making it personal by tweeting this out.

Only, I think Sean jumped into the Vic situation because he doesn't like him. Maybe that he has a fear that he's not going to be FUNimations poster boy anymore since Vic is a very talented Voice Actor. People give Monica, Sean Schemmel, Chris Sabat and so on way too much credit. They've been planning to get rid of Vic for years, ever since Vic stepped into the studio. Now that the Super Broly movie has gotten so much praise, it was the perfect opportunity to get Vic in trouble with false accusations. Vic is a white European male who has strong Christian ties - it's exactly who the Leftists love to side against. This man is literally one of the nicest guys out there. And there's also proof that was leaked of people planning to stage evidence against Vic, such as photoshopped pictures to accuse him of something he didn't do.

Monica is one of many threats. There's also Chris Sabot, who stated only the so-called 'survivors' know the truth and that we should listen to them. Sonny Strait is also attempted to back up Monica's claims. And there's that Neil, who openly admits he's always hated, Vic. He posted a video of Vic riding on the guy's shoulders at convection. Almost like a damn parody, he tried using that video as evidence, claiming he felt assaulted. Which wasn't an assault, he got on his shoulders and was having himself a good time, Neil looked like he was having fun too.

Then there's Jamie, who stated she basically wants Vic dead. How psychotic do you have to be? Jamie is an absolute psycho, just like that Marzbitch(Who started the whole kickvic campaign). Even Jamie has a lot of nerve to tell Vic to apologize to her. What for, Jamie?! If you ask me, Jamie Marchi needs to apologize to him for the death threats, name-calling treating him like shit. She needs to apologize, but she won't because she'll refuse too. Every FUNimation VA's chose a side, some have remained silent on the matter, but some have decided to add fuel to the flames making it bigger.

Anyway back to Sean, he is dragging us through the mud throughout all of this bullshit. Fans want answers. Monica made this public on twitter. It is our business now. Which it shouldn't.

If they wanted to handle this professionally and privately, they would have done so. They did not do so. They are acting like children. Monica took to twitter, she made it public and now it's the fans business now. She's treating Twitter like a courthouse so that she can be believed and have fans turn against Vic, she's manipulating them into thinking that Vic is this monster, which he isn't. Those that want evidence, they know what's going on and they don't believe her. There is more proof coming out of the woodwork.

To everyone defending Monica, stop. You have fallen for her lies. This woman, instead of going to the authorities, staying neutral til proof was presented, choose to talk about something this serious on Twitter. She wants attention and she got it. Hell, her withholding information like this alone makes her a shitty person because of she alone, for those who believe that Vic is a monster, put more people in danger.

She knew that saying she was a victim would get everyone on her side because she voices Bulma, a very well-known and loved anime character. And you believed her. No questions asked just “Omg not you too!” “I’m so sorry you had to go through that!” “NoT mOnIcA!”

Doesn't take much to win y'all over huh? Anyone could say that Vic touched them inappropriately at this point and you’d immediately believe them without proof or a bit of an explanation on what happened, and no, saying “He was creepy” isn’t good enough. Not when it comes to accusations like this.

If they didn't want any of this to happen, they should not have gotten their fans involved. Now some people could be in serious danger because of these FUNimation VA's releasing private information. Do they think about their fans? No. This just shows their true colors, they don’t care about them. They don't care that they put their fans in a serious situation because they couldn't keep their mouth shut.

The swatting incident is absolutely awful and I hope whoever did it is found and charged with attempted murder. Sean talked about this in a tweet. This has already happened several times in the gaming community and has even lead to someone being killed. Swatting is a very serious matter and should not be done on any side. I know that a voice actor almost getting killed is terrible (it's a relief Reuben is alright and alive), but scapegoating the Vic supporters into this is just idiotic. We have nothing to do it with it and even if were someone who supports Vic, he's not doing a good job and we disassociate that person from us. If Vic is innocent, this is not how you prove it.

He's digging his grave ever deeper, just like Monica is. He's ruining his reputation more. He's showing more of how much of a douche he is. He's making more of his fans losing respect to him.

All of it is his fault, not the fans.  He's dragging the fans down with him.

He said he was going to "stay off of twitter" but he decides not too. Why is it that hard for him to comprehend that?! If you want to "stay off of twitter" then do what you said before and not do a freakin' 180. All he had to do was say nothing. Stay out of this shit show, but no, he just had to take a side and add his fuel to the flames.  

All of this SHOULN'T HAVE BEEN MADE PUBLIC. There are reasons why lawyers tell you to stay off the media to avoid letting people know about this. When this goes to court, these tweets can and will be used against them.   Monica obviously should've listened to her lawyer's advice but nope, she refused to listen and threatened anyone who wants proof since "she has a lawyer". Obviously, Vic has a lawyer so he's doing a good job of laying low and not saying anything until they go to court.

Then what would Funimation do if these tweets are used against Monica? They would face an option on firing her,  then try to find someone to voice Bulma or just keep defending Monica once everything was revealed.

In the end, if Vic is found innocent. Then we can all say karma played her sweet role in this.  That still won't recover Vic's career sadly, since it's already been tarnished because of these allegations and it won't be the same. I even doubt he would even want to step foot in FUNimation ever again, due to all of them stabbed him in the back and ruined his career for good.

[welcometocheers]

1x20 - Someone Single, Someone Blue

I have so much to say about this episode so I apologize now because this will be completely unstructured as I mentally puke my feelings out in this post.

“I’m no longer looking for a job, I’m now begging for one.” Norm Peterson is me & I am Norm Peterson.

I adore Norm’s lack of self-awareness when he talks about how sad it is that a man sat next to him at the bar for 11 hours the day prior as well as Diane’s lack of self-awareness as she says her mother is “nothing like [she] is” and then describes her as “eccentric” and “hard to take at times”. That particular gag will never not be funny. 

“I didn’t want to go through life being handed money on a silver tray,” Diane says, as money is tossed onto her tray. Absolutely brilliant. Screenshotting this won’t do the scene any justice. It’s such a perfectly executed joke that I might have to just post a clip of it later.

Diane does the absolute most to keep everyone at the bar from talking to her mother (except for Coach because she loves him so much and knows he would never embarrass her) and I adore it.

I also have to point out that Carla is actually doing great work trying to get Sam and Diane to get married. What an ally. She SUGGESTED they should get married and yet we’re supposed to believe she is so against the two of them. Also, the fact that she said the “steaming under the silks” line in front of Diane’s mother. I’m--it’s one of those things I can’t believe they got away with on TV.

“I care nothing-I feel nothing-Sam WHO?” She couldn’t be more transparent. I love two (2) lovesick cows.

Diane: Would you be willing to marry me?

Sam: Boy, this cologne must be doing its stuff.

It’s adorable how nervous Diane is to ask Sam to marry her. If she really didn’t feel anything at all for him, there’d be no reason for her to be so stuttery. Diane’s soft “really?” when Sam does finally agree to marry her is so precious & he’s got the cutest smile when he says “yeah, you bet.” Maybe I love them. It’s also fun to watch this again after seeing season 5 (*SEASON 5 SPOILER WARNING. SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT*) where Sam asks and asks and asks Diane to marry him or Diane asks and asks and asks him to ask her again so she can finally say yes. If they’d just got married here they could’ve saved themselves a lot of trouble, huh? 

Also, the heart eyes they have for each other in that scene are too much.

Sam and Diane are pretty much already married though. This is evidenced by the way Sam says “sorry dear” after Diane tells him to shut up. His tone ends me & she’s got the cutest smile on her face and I love them. Not sure if I’ve mentioned that before.

Coach: The day that Diane walked in here I knew the two of you were going to get together, Sam. 

Sam: Coach, this is just temporary.

Coach: Oh, I knew that, too.

The “wedding” scene is one of my favorite things in the series. First, Diane jokes about the situation they’re in and it’s so cute to just see her and Sam laugh together but THEN he reaches out to hOLD HER HAND but the most important thing is watching her eyes during all of this. She starts by looking at him smiling and then her face gets more serious and she’s really looking at him and there’s a moment he realizes her eyes are on him and he kinda stops and turns toward her and does a double take and tries to subtly move away. Like, he’s NERVOUS because he can see on her face that this isn’t just nothing to her. They’re fascinating. Knowing that the next episode is the start of their relationship makes it even better. The feelings here, to an extent, WERE real. They obviously felt something. It’s why she was so hurt regarding the “leer”. They’re so bad at lying to themselves. 

“You’re beginning to sound like my wife or something” and Sam calling Helen “mom” (!!!) are just further pieces of evidence that Sam & Diane are married. Nobody can convince me otherwise.

Diane: I hate your guts and I always will.

Sam: Yeah, well, that goes double for me.

Norm: I understand they wrote their own vows.

The last scene is really sweet. Sam’s first concern is how Diane’s getting home so once again, I’m here to tell you he loves her. Also, I want to point out that Sam & Diane are left alone at the end of this episode. Just saying. Boggs was supposed to be their ride but he left with Helen. And Diane would’ve needed some way to get home. So. Do what you will with that.

Other favorite things:

Strange that you have a mother that wants to see you.

how could anyone miss Diane’s mouth?

you’re almost as handsome as she says you think you are.

Coach’s story about Janet and Frankie

Beagle out there with your name on it.

[brendagilliam2]

How to shoot print work for your portfolio

With a bit of photographic know-how, a half-decent DSLR and a sprinkling of art-direction flair, there’s no reason why you can’t shoot pro-quality images of your printed works that will do them justice on screens and online portfolios.

“Don’t worry if you’re not the most skilled photographer or don’t have the best camera on the market,” advises photographer Neil Watson.

“These days even the most basic cameras and equipment will get you a long way; any entry-level DSLR or high-end compact camera with an external flash can be used to get great results.”

So let’s find out how to photograph printed and tangible design projects professionally.

50 brilliant design portfolios to inspire you

01. Set the stage 


“The way in which we photograph our projects is a part of what defines our visual style,” says graphic designer Patrice Barnabé. “First of all, be aware that photography, as much as design, can be a victim of trends.”

“Remember the trend of holding a giant poster with your fingertips in front of you? Or framing all of your posters? A few years ago everybody was doing it and now it looks completely outdated. Don’t be tempted to imitate a photographic trend; instead, find your own way to do it and your pictures will stand the test of time.”

02. Consider background colour carefully

Try using a colour background that relates to the look and feel of your project, like Robot Food did for this project

Chris Logan of The Touch Agency likes a neutral colour for the background: “It works well when you have a variety of projects of different size, colour, print finish and scale to accommodate. It also allows for consistency across all of our project shots.”

Barnabé warns against creating something too clinical. “When you create your set, make sure it doesn’t look like a laboratory. White or pale grey backgrounds can be cold and inexpressive. Don’t be afraid to incorporate a colour background that relates to the look and feel of your project; it will help create a cohesive set of pictures.”

03. Think about your theme

“You can adorn your set with objects that give an indication of the project theme. For example, if you designed the identity for a flower shop, a few rose petals distributed harmoniously next to your stationery can add a sensible and fun touch.”

Think about adding props to indicate a theme, as Neil Watson has done here

Watson echoes this: “I sometimes like to add props that create a sense of an environment. This could be something as simple as a shadow from a plant, or even a cup of coffee.”

But don’t go overboard with your accoutrements; Julian Zimmermann of Deutsche & Japaner stresses that it’s important to stage the work in a well-balanced way: “Don’t over-stage the imagery; let the work shine in the foreground.”

04. Lighting matters

You can make your own mini studio with white card and a light source, like Watson

When you’ve worked out your set or backdrop, you’ll need to think about lighting. Watson has a clever technique for creating a miniature studio that works with a DSLR and an external flashgun (also called a speedlight).

“Place a large sheet of white card against a white wall and set up the work you wish to photograph on the card. Attach the external flash to the hotshoe of your camera. Most speedlights have a rotatable head; point this upwards so it is facing the ceiling. Take the picture by standing above your work, looking down onto it so the flash is pointing directly at the wall.

“Shooting with a flash in this way uses the wall to create a softer light source that will make a shadow below the item you are shooting, and shouldn’t create too much reflection on it.

“You can also have another sheet of white card balanced against your legs, facing back into the shot, which will act as a fill light, softening some of the shadows at the lower half of the frame.” (A fill is a light source used to reduce contrast.)

If you don’t know much about lighting and don’t have any special equipment, Barnabé recommends natural daylight. “Cloudy days and afternoons are ideal since they create smooth shadows and they reduce high contrast. Create your set next to a big window and reduce the impact of direct light with a translucent white curtain.”

05. Get the angle right

Vary your angle for interest in a series of shots

Logan recommends a tripod for taking your pictures: “Especially if you want to achieve a consistent vantage point, point of focus or angle – it’s much easier to re-arrange the printed matter and get the shot you want once you have the setup locked down.”

Watson points out another advantage: “It also means you can shoot a few variations and comp them together afterwards if needed.”

There’s no harm in hand-held shooting though; Barnabé prefers a variety of angles to keep things interesting: “Don’t shoot all your set in the same 45 degree angle – it will end up becoming boring and predictable. Only use a tripod if you want to show different layers of a single piece, such as different spreads of a magazine, or different screenshots of a website.”

06. Focus on the finishes

Think about the textures you want to capture – shiny like Watson’s book image under tip 4 or smooth like this identity by Barnabé?

Capturing paper textures and print finishes can be done with close-up shots and some tweaks with your lighting. “Getting foil blocks on printed items to look metallic can be tricky,” says Watson.

“Use your tripod, and hold up a small piece of white or black card to create good reflections. Better still, ask someone else to hold the card so you can look through the camera to see how it is affecting the picture; this can give you that light-to-dark effect in the shiny surface that can be retouched back into your main image.”

07. Use the right lens

Using image stabilisation and a fast shutter speed will reduce the chance of blur up close

You’ll need to switch out your lens for the closer takes. “I use a Canon 60D and use a very basic 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens for most of my shots, and a 50mm f/1.8 for close-up shots when I want to show paper texture, print finishes or small typography,” says Barnabé.

“For details and close-ups, choose a wider aperture that will decrease the depth of field – that’s the amount of the scene which is in focus. Between f/1.4 and f/2.8 is good. For bigger general shots never go below f/4.0, otherwise you will end up with blurred parts in your picture.”

If you’re having trouble with blurring or camera shake, Barnabé recommends using the image stabilisation feature of your lens and a shutter speed of at least 1/200.

Following this advice should get you some great results, and with a little experimentation and practice you’ll be shooting perfect images with relative ease.

Related articles:

Build your first in-house photo studio

10 ways to improve your photography skills

5 things every creative needs to know about print design

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from Brenda Gilliam http://brendagilliam.com/how-to-shoot-print-work-for-your-portfolio/