#yes...finally... a dedicated post i can put stuff from the art dump in...

[chaozfantazy]

I need to shoutout the Chance player who shot his flintlock at me (Telamon) because I walked up behind him and scared him apparently

[gunnerpalace]

When ever people analyze bleach and its flaws everyone always seems to convinetly leave out Kubo getting really sick, his injury to his arm, the Voltile relationship he and Shonen had, him runing out of time and missing deadlines because of said injury anf constantly being sick. Shonen telling him he had so much time to finish stuff.

I’m awake right now because I have mild heartburn, and I saw this. And it pissed me off so much that I decided to get up to go to my computer so I could answer it properly.

What a miserable pile of fucking excuses.

He was sick? Who gives a shit. Here’s a list of famous writers who dealt with crippling illnesses. You might recognize names such as Dickens, Updike, Wharton, Proust, Orwell, Milton, Joyce, and Melville. His arm was injured? Boo-fucking-hoo. You want painters? How about Frida Kahlo, a true badass? Here’s a list of famous painters who dealt with physical disabilities. Do Michelangelo, Van Gogh, and Matisse sound familiar? Hey, how about Peter Longstaff, a contemporary artist who is missing both arms and paints with his feet? Or Mariusz Kedzierski, who was born without arms but still paints? You want to go into other arts? How about Beethoven, who was deaf? We can go on!

A truly passionate artist creates regardless of their circumstances, because they want to or, more accurately, have to, in spite of their health.

“Hey, it’s really not cool to suggest that artists should put their work ahead of their health!”

I agree! And that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying in general that a truly committed artist will do so regardless of what you tell them to do, because they can’t stop themselves. And more often than not, that artist will also takes steps to mitigate the damage to their health in the process.

Let’s talk actual manga and mangaka. There’s Berserk, which has been running since 1989, and is frequently on hiatus because Miura focuses on other things. Maybe you think that’s not a fair comparison because it’s seinen and appears in a monthly publication. Okay, are you familiar with Hunter × Hunter? It’s been running since 1998. It’s published by Shueisha in Weekly Shounen Jump and is constantly on hiatus, sometimes for years, because Togashi deals with illness.

Hmm. Why does Shueisha treat Togashi so differently, I wonder?

Here’s the thing: That Man explicitly chose not to take a break. You’re telling me he couldn’t have? He clearly could have. Togashi proves it. Maybe Shueisha discriminated against him, you say. Okay, so whose fault is that likely to have been, and why? It clearly doesn’t have to do with taking your time.

Bleach went inexorably downward in popularity following the conclusion of the Soul Society arc. Its volume sales plummeted. It was consistently at the bottom of Weekly Shounen Jump’s ratings. Aizen was defeated in chapter 423. The manga ended on chapter 686. That’s 263 chapters, or 38% of the manga’s runtime, to wrap things up with rock-bottom ratings. 263 chapters published across more than 5 years, because chapters 424–432 were released in a volume on April 11, 2011, and that happens many months after their original publication. And you’re trying to tell me that he was on a deadline?

What the fuck did he spend all that time doing? Because it sure wasn’t answering most of the questions he’d posed or explaining his manga. 

And when they finally said “No more,” what did he do with his remaining chapters, pray tell? Draw shit like Mayuri Kurotsuchi fighting a literal fucking giant hand, like Kenpachi getting a bankai that did literally nothing and advanced his fight not one jot, and spend his last 5 chapters very deliberately and very methodically producing the shittiest ending possible that assassinated all of his characters. Bleach would’ve ended with more integrity if Yhwach had literally just killed everyone.

Could there be a little more nuance to his relationship with Shueisha? Sure. Every story has two sides. But the truth is not always somewhere in the middle.

The evidence is pretty clear that Shueisha gave him plenty of time, and he pissed it all away on completely self-indulgent and frivolous shit that essentially nobody wanted.

It seems evident to me, if less substantiated, that he became embittered and burnt out at the lack of embrace of his grand vision by both his editors, publisher, and audience, and decided to cut the nose off the face of his work to spite all parties in the end. 

From where I sit, Noriaki “Tite” Kubo was a primadonna whose bad working relationship with his publisher stemmed from his own arrogance and hubris. I think that is self-evidently clear from what he chose to spend his time focusing on and how it was received. He was not ever interested in exploring his work. He was interested in giving the appearance of depth through the shallowest of means, of designing ever more characters, and in focusing on “cool fights” (none of which were actually particularly good compared to many of those of his peers).

“But shouldn’t an artist show integrity?”

Yes. To their work. That Guy showed integrity to himself. The two are not the same thing. The former is passionate creation. The latter is masturbatory self-indulgence. Individual artists or assemblages of artists will often do stupid shit that is poorly received and try to say that they were being “true to their vision” ex post facto to excuse it, when even a casual investigation will show that their “truth” was a betrayal of the premises, tone, themes, or characters in question, which is precisely why it was stupid and poorly received. Bleach is no different in that regard than say, Mass Effect 3.

I have talked before about how he betrayed his creation in an aesthetic and ethical sense. I stand by that completely. We were presented with what he thought was good, not what was true to the work itself. He put his ego ahead of everything else, and in my opinion that is reflected in his bad working relationship with his publisher, in his refusal to take breaks, in his refusal to plan or plot ahead properly, in his refusal to properly pay-off his story, and in his refusal to provide a proper conclusion. 

He blew his property up, dumped his notes on Narita, and promptly fucked off.

To compare to another mangaka, look at Gintama, where Sorachi was shuffled from Weekly Shounen Jump to Jump Giga, and then finally to his own app when he just couldn’t finish it in time. That is passion and dedication in being true to one’s work.

Fuck Noriaki “Tite” Kubo and fuck his fucking excuses. Less privileged people have done vastly more, vastly better, with vastly less.

And don’t even get me started on that almost certainly bullshit story about the anonymous sick child who told him to stay true to his “original vision.��� Fuck that. Fuck that in detail, and fuck it in general. That kind of tunnel-vision bullshit is what leads to train wrecks like the endings to How I Met Your Mother or HBO’s version of Game of Thrones. Art evolves and grows. Courage is not desperately clinging to your original vision in spite of your work having taken a different course than you imagined. Courage is allowing your art to blossom and bloom naturally.

I said I could call him much worse than just Noriaki? I can. He’s a fucking Art Criminal. I hope he legitimately never makes another creative thing again for the rest of his miserable life. I will never forgive him and in my opinion he is the ultimate example of how not to conduct yourself artistically. He is The Donald Trump of Art. He is Anti-Artist One. He is the Art Antichrist. If I wanted to show my real feelings regarding him I would call him The Shitlord instead of Noriaki or That Guy. He deserves the epithet.

Fuck him.

[annieoftheshitposts]

this post used to be a link to the old canons page but i’m turning it into a text dump of the revised one for people on mobile [or who have bad wifi/computers that the fancy schmancy script on the canons page wouldn’t play well with.] theres a lot sorry not sorry. here we go.

Canon Info

 Much more is said about Annie in external sources than the game itself, here's copypastes of all I know of and go by.

From the 3rd DLC Character Voting page:

As popular figures in nationwide folktales, a children’s television adaptation of Annie and Sagan’s adventures was inevitable. The show’s success lies in its pair of live action hosts, who are as convincing as their cartoon counterparts. Though what the public learns about the real Annie might surprise them. Annie is a seasoned fighter who has been around for a long time, acquiring many skills and powers along the way. Her sword is forged from a meteorite and can channel the power of the stars in its sweeping cleaves. Her right eye bonds her to her Remote Parasite and partner, Sagan, who grants her powers of a galactic motif. While some of her abilities carry more of a sparkly magical girl motif, Annie tries to execute them with the same sternness.

From "The canon info thread" on Skullheart Encore forums:

-Annie is several-century-old. Her immortality was gained when her parents wished on the Skull Heart so that Annie would never have to experience the hardship of adulthood, thereby making her forever a child. -She has had many different weapons and abilities throughout her life. - Sagan, her remote parasite. keeps her right eye in his mouth. - She’s physically not able to swear due to her condition - She is familiar with Double due to her experience fighting Skullgirls - Annie has encountered a lot of Skullgirls and has killed a lot, but not the same a lot. She’s seen the cycle multiple times and seen how they become stronger each time and is looking for the underlying source now. - The Annie of the Stars show is very similar to the Super Mario Bros. Super Show with live action segments with cartoons and PSAs and commercials in between. - Sagan can talk. Somehow. - Annie hides her immortality by getting a new hairstyle every few years. The show tells the audience that they have simply changed the actress. Eliza also pulls a similar trick

and finally some other misc. scraps that weren't covered above:

-annie has some kind of "super" or "powered up" form, in which she seems to fuse with sagan. it can be seen on her

move concept sheet, in the end of robo-fortune's story mode, and as a very tiny feature on one of robo-fortune's merch posters, but to my knowlege it's never really been talked about.

-she's been depicted with an "incognito outfit", presumably for going out in public and not being recognized by fans.

-sagan is named after renowned astrophysicist carl sagan. this isnt really relevant to anything but it's not on the wiki so i figured i'd share :b

-and this random pic of annie in the past with a different look, plus gun and minus eyepatch, apparently official art from the "digital art compendium". i haven't seen the source for this one myself though, and count this one more as speculative canon since that ingame image up there with her eye uncovered doesn't show a scar or any kind of damage from this.

-another canon fact about annie is she is strong and brave and i love her.

Headcanon (Annie)

this is pretty disorganized bc i come up with and revise random shit on a fairly regular basis, but the very least it should be all here and up-to-date. [though on this text post version i may forget to keep it updated oops.

she can still only normally see from the one eye in her head [and likewise probably has terrible depth perception lmao], but she can “project” her vision into the one sagan has if need be, during which time both he and her main eye are blind.

even though sagan’s vision is his own and she doesn’t actively “see” through that eye most of the time, the stuff he sees still becomes part of her memory and she can recall it if need be, though it’s far less tangible and kind of a surreal experience trying to do so.

the space where her other eye was is now just...space. like empty starry void stuff. yes, TECHNICALLY, you could put stuff in it but why would you. sagan can feel when something interacts with it and it’s really just weird and uncomfortable for both of them.as sagan is the source of their powers, the strength of her abilities is slightly dependent on her distance from him. something like long sustained flight is really only capable if they’re touching, but she still has ample firepower and ability to zip around for a pretty good range otherwise.

Not interested in anime

absolutely hates being called her full name; hasn't gone by anything other than "Annie" for longer than anyone that should be alive today should know.

part of her curse of eternal youth is remembering everything up until the point it kicked in and she stopped aging [i.e. when she was Actually a kid] exactly as well as if she hadn’t aged.

from that point however, a lot of it is hazy as shit aside from more recent times [as you’d expect from someone who’s been around hundreds of years]. this one's gonna be angsty as shit when i address it and you can thank @sandstriker for that. fucker.

also hates being restrained. by the concept sheet and beo's story, her fighting style is very kinetic and relies heavily on mobility; take that away and you get one very uncomfortable and very angry starchild. [this one's 'cause of y'all with the handcuffs asks. this is part of why she's so agitated rn.]

what's in the pouch? whatever is alternatively convenient. is it snacks? is it a quick incognito disguise? is it her whole entire sword? who knows. i think it might be infinite hammerspace in there.

i haven't put much though into this side of her story yet, but i've decided part of the mythos of the "annie of the stars" character as a figure of legend is that she literally lives, among the stars.

if there's enough folktales about her to base an entire show off of, i'm willing to bet she used to be less elusive when she was just about fighting skullgirls before dedicating herself to the whole "looking for the underlying source" thing.

Headcanon (Sagan)

tl;dr: as far as things go here, he's essentially a cat and/or younger sibling.

Sagan's canon information and characterization is basically nonexistant, so i got to do pretty much whatever i wanted with him lmao.

simply put, he's a little gremlin of a partner, but he is genuinely good-natured and a happy-go-luckly little dude. mischevious, loves to get up to Shenanigans, go off and hide/disappear to fuck knows where for several hours, climb and sit on tall things[or failing that, annie's head], etc. @sawkinator has described him, regrettably accurately, as "the Token Disney Animal Sidekick". he has a lot of mannerisms like an animal, but is still very much a being of at least average human intelligence. he's also surprisingly indestructible. far from invincible of course, but in canon he's been shown to be quite stretchy and...possibly have minor shapeshifting capabilities?? he's pretty much immune to being squashed and feels very little [if any] pain from most things. really, as far as i can tell he's pretty much a weird sentient plushie. like, if it's not going to damage a plushie, it's not going to hurt him; examples being: getting knocked back really hard or falling a long way? not a problem. fire? problem.

Sagan tends to be somewhat nonverbal and generally only uses a few words or short phrase at a time when he does speak, which sounds something like the voice clip below. that being how it is, he can be kind of inscrutable and more than a bit jarring to most people--though at this point annie's been with him more than long enough to be completely desensitized to it and doesnt quite get why anyone would be perturbed. fortunately, with that familiarity also comes understanding, and she can easily "translate" and articulate more from his expressions. this understanding is a two-way street, and on its other side is sagan's sensitivity to her moods. annie's not particularly...communicative of her emotions, but sagan can always tell when she's having an off day or something's bothering her, and is far better than anyone at helping her feel better. all things said and quirky antics aside, he and annie are exceptionally close and fiercely protective of eachother the moment it comes to it. they don't make a big deal of showing it outwardly, but they know they've always got eachother's backs.

he's taken quite a liking to beowulf as well, and beo defintiely shamelessly enables sagan's shenanigans.

as i see it, annie may be the passion and power of their operation, but sagan is the heart and soul. beowulf is like....comic releif and emotional support. not entirely necessary, but certainly welcomed to have around. yeah. listen im a big sap i just want them all to be good friends ok. i love them.

also sagan does like and watch a lot of anime.

Blog Canon

miscellaneous happenings that either have continued relevance/significance, or y'all just won't let die. there's not a overarching plot to this thing at all, but geez we’ve kinda gathered some history here huh?

taught sagan to say fuck [and other swears, in her stead]. he used to have to do it on command but he's gotten really good at filling in for her.has a

stoat fursona that beo helped her make. she thinks it's neat/cute but has no real attachment to it.

attempted to sue the crystal gems for ripping off her entire shtick [it didn't go well]

beowulf also taught her how to dab.

@sparkeletran is a nuisance and must be stopped

the 70$ pile of high school musical merch. sagan and beo both wear the t-shirts sometimes. she hates it. don't let her attitude fool you though this is actually the best and most important ongoing joke in this whole damn thing.

the first handcuffs stint. they’re gone now but they had a good ~30-post run, and she did take to learning lockpicking because of it.

this.

hey. guess fucking what lads. handcuffs ROUND TWO 'cause y'all just don't fuckin' quit. the first mini story arc sorta thing, in which she visits the cirque des cartes and has an aggravting encounter with taliesin. [currently ongoing][hopefully soon ending]

[[redacted for ""spoilers""]] due to said encounter with taliesin

sparkeletran is a nuisance,

"the official annie of the stars instagram is just cat memes but with sagan" it's canon but i haven't decided whether it's something she would have had already or a recent thing. [either way, hasn't been touched on yet due to the arc taking so long]

badart annie is sorta like her own thing at this point but nothing that happens with her is canon; she p much just shows up for exceptionally dumb posts. we did give her noclip though which is terrifying. on that note i may as well include the things that are Not canon but y'all won't let me forget

beo's animated belt thing. look. it doesnt talk.

spray-on boots.

the lawnmower weapon

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh homestuck