vaarsuvius6

[vaarsuvius6]

I wonder how all the gross steven x gem shippers feel now that they're disgusting ships are dead forever

[vaarsuvius6]

"I must've missed the part where I implied that Steven Universe was the most flawless show of all time."

You compared it to Star Wars and Dragon Ball, two of the most popular and influential science fiction/fantasy franchises of all time (granted, there are aspects of those franchises that didn't age well, but it can't be denied they were incredibly influential). You didn't oughtright say "the show is flawless", but you did kind of imply, at the very least, that SU is as important to pop culture as Star Wars is. That probably wasn't what you intended to say, but it is kind of what you implied.

"You can't call my arguments bad faith when you don't know what I'm arguing against."

No, I get what you're arguing against, I just didn't think you did it well. Again, you're argument is "this kind of story arc wasn't controversial back in the 90's, why is it controversial now?" To which the answer is "it's not the 90's anymore." So bringing up old franchises like Star Wars and Dragon Ball IS a bad faith argument, because those franchises were made a while ago and SU is more modern. You might as well try to defend a controversial book like Save The Pearls (if you've never heard of that book...good) by pointing out the racial stereotypes in the Narnia books. Just because something wasn't controversial back then doesn't mean it's not controversial now.

"I was complaining about people like Lily Orchard and her ilk who use progressive sounding word vomit to spread a transparent hate campaign."

I've never watched Lily Orchard, but if that was your intent, you didn't really convey it that well. It came across like you were talking about people who criticized the show IN GENERAL, even if that wasn't the intent. Also, just because Lily Orchard says the sky is blue doesn't mean the sky is actually green - sure, I'm aware that Lily is widely regarded as a garbage content creator, but other reviewers like Pieguyrulz criticized SU's writing decisions, and those reviewers were not controversial like Lily was. And again, I'd like to point out that at least some of the people who didn't like how SU handled its writing decisions were BLACK.

"I was complaining about the part of the internet that insists on turning SU into a joke..."

I don't know how to say this, but if people want to treat a show like a joke, that's their perogative. I know it hurts to hear a show you like insulted, but people have the right to pan whatever shows they want. I'm not even saying I agree with all of the criticism, I'm just saying people have a right to go "this show sucks" if that's how they honestly feel. I mean, if you don't like a show, what are you supposed to do? Lie and say you liked it when you didn't?

"...and completely obliterating it's legacy in ensuring that better, more progressive shows like the Owl House can even exist."

By that logic, no-one is allowed to criticize Destiny of a Shrine Maiden because it paved the way for better yuri series in the future. If you're not a weeb and don't know what that is...Destiny of a Shrine Maiden was one of the first yuri series to give the leads a happy ending together instead of going the "kill your gays" route (okay, technically, they get reincarnated...long story. Point is, the gay leads are alive and well when the series ends, which was a big deal at the time). However, the series didn't age well, and while it did pave the way for better stuff, that better stuff is so much better that you could easily argue that Destiny of a Shrine Maiden is just not worth watching anymore. I am capable of thinking that a show paved the way for a later writers success while also thinking that it didn't age well.

Or if DoaSM is too obscure - Harry Potter paved the way for a lot of YA literature. Does that mean no-one can criticize the House-Elf slaverly supblot?

"I was complaining very specifically about the mindset that "flawed media = bad person" that fandom has largely become, especially pertaining to Steven Universe."

Agreed, but just because some of the people who criticized the show were way too hostile to the creators doesn't change the fact that the show is flawed. I mean, Ahmed Best got way too much hate, to the point where he considered committing suicide, but does that make everyone who didn't like Jar-Jar Binks automatically wrong?

"And I was complaining about the double standard shown towards large franchises when queer creators don't even get half that amount of slack, especially as Dragon Ball and Star Wars still are ongoing and, thus, open to the same criticism."

Again, I don't know much about Dragon Ball other than that it was very influential, but Disney Star Wars was HEAVILY criticized. Among many things, one of the complaints people had about Rise of Skywalker was that some people found Kylo Ren's redemption arc flawed, especially since The Last Jedi strongly implied he WOULDN'T be redeemed. And it's my understanding that the people Vegeta killed were brought back via the Dragon Balls (because death is cheap in that franchise), while Steven Universe makes it clear that the Off Colours shattered by the Diamonds ain't coming back any time soon. One of the more popular recent DB movies, Broly, made it clear that Broly was a child soldier forced into villainy, so it made sense the heroes forgave him, while White Diamond did everything she did of her own volition.

And if you want to talk double standards? Maybe I'm biased here, but I've seen minority reviewers attacked for not liking something just as much as I've seen minority creators attacked for making something (i.e. women who criticized Age of Ultron for being sexist being told to "shut up"). I'm not saying either double standard is good, but again...why do the minorities who criticize stuff deserve less sympathy than the minorities who created it?

I'm sorry if I came across as being overly hostile. I was having a bad day, and maybe that was reflected in the verbiage I used. But I reject the idea that criticism of SU was automatically unfair, because a lot of the people who criticised the show were minorities who felt it handled topics like racism and ableism badly. And they had every right to feel that way.

"Steven Universe is Nazi propaganda because characters who destroyed planets got a redemption arc!"

You guys act like two of the most popular redemption arcs in fiction didn't also happen to characters who destroy planets.

Hell, the Galactic Empire Vader works for is supposed to be a direct analogue to the Nazis for fucks sake. No one is calling Stars Wars or Dragon Ball Nazi propaganda just because these two got character development. That'd be fucking absurd.

Like, complain about how the Redemption Arc got rushed all you want (even if that's on the producers for canceling the show early and not the writers), but please just acknowledge the calling the Jewish woman a Nazi sympathizer because you didn't like her kids cartoon is fucking vile.

[vaarsuvius6]

"You guys act like two of the most popular redemption arcs in fiction didn't also happen to characters who destroy planets."

I don't know much about Dragon Ball, but unless I'm remembering wrong, Vader never actually destroyed a planet. The Death Star destroyed a planet. Don't get me wrong, Vader works for Palpatine, who ordered the Death Star built and used, but technically, no, Vader never destroyed a planet.

"Hell, the Galactic Empire Vader works for is supposed to be a direct analogue to the Nazis for fucks sake."

And Return of the Jedi ends with Palpatine dying, while SU ends with the Diamonds living in a palace. Okay, the movie says they aren't in charge of the Gem species anymore, but they're still living in a palace. So while I won't say that Star Wars is perfect, I will at least say that it handled its themes better. (Also, Anakin used to be a mostly normal guy until Palpatine started gaslighting him, so his character can be viewed as a metaphor for people who get sucked into cults and extremist ideologies. White Diamond, on the other hand, has no sympathetic backstory to speak of - no-one convinced her to go around being a dictator, she chose to do that of her own volition.)

"No one is calling Stars Wars or Dragon Ball Nazi propaganda just because these two got character development. That'd be fucking absurd."

Here's the thing. Star Wars was made in the 70's, Dragon Ball was made in the 80's and 90's. SU was made in the 2010's. Like it or not, people are going to be more critical of media released today than they are of media released a long time ago. For example, people forgive writers like C.S Lewis for having dated politics in the Narnia books, because Narnia was written in the 50's. A book that used the same tropes that Lewis did would be criticized harshly if it was released today. So if you're saying "Why do people forgive these old villains being shown in a sympathetic light, but not do the same for these new villains?", my response to that is "Because the old villains were made a long time ago when standards were different, and the new villains were made in a decade defined by political turmoil and the rise of right-wing extremism". SU's finale was aired while Trump was president of the U.S. and Bolsonaro was president of Brazil. Star Wars and Dragon Ball were made in a simpler time. Steven Universe was not.

"Like, complain about how the Redemption Arc got rushed all you want (even if that's on the producers for canceling the show early and not the writers)..."

The show being cancelled early didn't create problems. It just enhanced problems that already existed. One complaint was that the Diamonds (authoritarian dictators) recieved more sympathy from the writers than Keven (a jerk who never killed anyone). That problem began much earlier than Season 5. Executive meddling may have made the writing issues more obvious, but it didn't create them.

"...but please just acknowledge the calling the Jewish woman a Nazi sympathizer because you didn't like her kids cartoon is fucking vile."'

While I agree that calling Rebecca Sugar a sympathizer for fascist regimes is obviously immoral, I feel the need to add two points. Firstly, calling it a "kids cartoon" is dishonest - like Pixar movies, it was aimed for the whole family not just kids. I mean, have you seen some of the jokes they got away with? The show was clearly trying to appeal to more than just kids, or the writers wouldn't have tried to tackle tough topics like abuse (Jasper and Lapis) or colonialism (the Diamonds) or ableims (the Off Colours), which they did. So if they wanted adults to watch the show, that means adults have the right to complain if they felt it handled those topics badly.

Secondly, while I'm not accusing Sugar of sympathising with real-world extremist ideologies (as you say, that idea is ludicrous), I do think that Sugar doesn't get how dangerous or how toxic real-world extremist ideologies are. The end of Steven Universe was not long before the rise of QAnon. And in the post-QAnon age, the idea of people with far-right views being redeemed because of some big speech seems awfully naive. If reasoning with extremists was that easy, then forums like Qanoncasualties would not exist, but they do.

I remember Sugar once saying something like "The idea of a world where people are inherently good is no less absurd than the idea of a world with aliens and spaceships." That's not the exact quote, but it was something along those lines. But after Covid and January 6, it has become clear to me that Sugar was wrong - a world where people are inherently good IS more absurd than a world with aliens and spaceships. And that wouldn't bother me, except the show was being written at the same time when right-wing extremist groups were gaining popularity in the US, and the writers didn't really seem to grasp that the political message they were trying to send seemed increasingly out of touch. In a world where people were forced to fight back - sometimes literally - against the alt-right, a show that said "Well, maybe the right-wing dictators just need a hug" seemed in increasingly poor taste.

I'm not accusing the SU writers of being racist. I am, however, accusing them of not thinking through the subtext of their story. And I maintain that the subtex of SU is, at best, dated to the pre-Trump era - the era when Obama was president and it seemed like things were getting better. It's subtext that didn't age well, is what I'm saying.

And yes, Sugar is Jewish, but many people who criticised the show were themselves minorities. For example, black critics pointed out that "Bismuth" has the black-coded Gem who advocates using lethal force against her oppressors be the villain. And this is my big problem with your post - you're saying that the minorities who worked on the show deserve sympathy, but the minorities who criticised the show do not?

For the record, I don't hate Steven Universe. I think it's a mediocre show that had a lot of good ideas but poor execution (i.e, the Off Colours being introduced and then mostly forgot about by the writers. Yes I know the show was shortened by the producers, but even in Future, the Off Colours barely did anything. Other than Lars, they didn't even have any dialogue.). I like the fanfics more than I like the actual show. I don't hate the show. It had some good episodes despite its many flaws. But you're saying "Well, this kind of character arc didn't raise eyebrows in the 90's, so why is it raising eyebrows now?" And that is not a good faith argument.

"Steven Universe is Nazi propaganda because characters who destroyed planets got a redemption arc!"

You guys act like two of the most popular redemption arcs in fiction didn't also happen to characters who destroy planets.

Hell, the Galactic Empire Vader works for is supposed to be a direct analogue to the Nazis for fucks sake. No one is calling Stars Wars or Dragon Ball Nazi propaganda just because these two got character development. That'd be fucking absurd.

Like, complain about how the Redemption Arc got rushed all you want (even if that's on the producers for canceling the show early and not the writers), but please just acknowledge the calling the Jewish woman a Nazi sympathizer because you didn't like her kids cartoon is fucking vile.

[vaarsuvius6]

During a German convention appearance, Sakae Esuno explained that the design of Deus on his throne is supposed to invoke a bird that’s hatched out of its egg yet won’t leave the broken shell. He went on to say that this speaks to how Deus has never really let himself grow attached to humanity or the other creatures of Earth; it visually illustrates how he’s sheltered himself away, in spite of having every chance to do far more.

[vaarsuvius6]

Why ‘Big Order’ (the anime) failed where ‘Future Diary’ succeeded

Going into Big Order‘s anime in 2013, there was a lot of hype for the adaption that many considered the heir apparent to Mirai Nikki’s hit anime..

It was another big manga from Sakae Esuno…

….one that once again fused action, horror and fantasy into an intense, twist-laden tale centered around a relationship that looks pretty goddamn unhealthy when it begins…

It was once again adapted by Asread, and they were bringing practically all of the crew back together that worked on their adaption of Future Diary.

The theme song was even another epic jam from Yousei Teikoku!

The end result was an anime that garnered a lot of attention when it started. And yet…

By episode three, viewers were already complaining it was “stupid nonsense.”

By the finale, it was labeled by some as containing “some of the worst writing in anime in years.”

So what went wrong? The answer is pretty obvious.

Those 59 chapters converted into 26 episodes were adapted with some condensing but not a massive amount. Granted, they also tossed one chapter of Mirai Nikki: Mosaic into the anime, so it’s more like 60 chapters condensed into 26 episodes.

55 chapters crammed down to TEN EPISODES TOTAL……..what the fuck were they THINKING?!

Well, Asread was thinking that, if Mirai Nikki was praised for its “all killer, no filler” super-tight structure that didn’t allow them to veer off into the consequences of events much, instead keeping the attentions squarely on the action/suspense and characters… why not push that trend even farther? They took Big Order and condensed the provided story into just the most intense or amusing scenes, peppered with little to no explanation as to the background of the events. The result is that it became “nonsense” pretty quickly.

I do recommend the manga, but the anime is like a Cliff’s Notes document written by someone who wasn’t even there. It’s worth a look as either a soft introduction into the manga’s weird “X-Men meet Post-Apocalypse meet Mind Games” world, or a point of curiosity after you’ve read the manga…. but there’s little else.

[vaarsuvius6]

happy 19th anniversary to the greatest album of all time - american idiot by green day !!

[vaarsuvius6]

Rincewind v/s Ipslore the Red

(being an adorable dork and trying to protect Coin the little sorcerer with an half-brick in a sock)

Cᴏᴍᴍɪssɪᴏɴs Oᴘᴇɴᴇᴅ

[vaarsuvius6]

Sadly relevant.

[vaarsuvius6]

i was thinking about them a lot

[vaarsuvius6]

"𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔..." -- upcoming cloud x tifa standee ❤️

[vaarsuvius6]

Is it bad that I'm still angry that Greg didn't use his money to buy himself an actual house? Like, dude, you deserve better and you basically got yourself a ticket to a better life please don't waste it. Or at least build an extra room for yourself in the temple or something :/

Exactlyyy! I feel like making Greg a millionaire was only so we could have Mr Greg where the musical episode is taken over by I miss Rose 100th edition by Pearl

[vaarsuvius6]

[vaarsuvius6]

“It can't be a Black man'. But ... but that's the whole point of the story!" Feldstein sputtered.”

Judgement Day (1953)

The story, by writer Al Feldstein and artist Joe Orlando, was a reprint from the pre-Code Weird Fantasy #18 (April 1953), inserted when the Code Authority had rejected an initial, original story, "An Eye For an Eye", drawn by Angelo Torres, but was itself also "objected to" because of "the central character being Black".

The story depicted a human astronaut, a representative of the Galactic Republic, visiting the planet Cybrinia, inhabited by robots. He finds the robots divided into functionally identical orange and blue races, one of which has fewer rights and privileges than the other. The astronaut determines that due to the robots' bigotry, the Galactic Republic should not admit the planet until these problems are resolved. In the final panel, he removes his helmet, revealing himself to be a Black man.

As Diehl recounted in Tales from the Crypt: The Official Archives: This really made 'em go bananas in the Code czar's office. "Judge Murphy was off his nut. He was really out to get us", recalls [EC editor] Feldstein. "I went in there with this story and Murphy says, 'It can't be a Black man'. But ... but that's the whole point of the story!" Feldstein sputtered. When Murphy continued to insist that the Black man had to go, Feldstein put it on the line. "Listen", he told Murphy, "you've been riding us and making it impossible to put out anything at all because you guys just want us out of business". [Feldstein] reported the results of his audience with the czar to Gaines, who was furious [and] immediately picked up the phone and called Murphy. "This is ridiculous!" he bellowed. "I'm going to call a press conference on this. You have no grounds, no basis, to do this. I'll sue you". Murphy made what he surely thought was a gracious concession. "All right. Just take off the beads of sweat". At that, Gaines and Feldstein both went ballistic. "Fuck you!" they shouted into the telephone in unison. Murphy hung up on them, but the story ran in its original form

[vaarsuvius6]

thinking about khr out of nowhere….

[vaarsuvius6]

[vaarsuvius6]

My ongoing struggle with the ages of our leads

When I first watched Future Diary, I legitimately had trouble accepting the stated ages for many of the characters because:

1) They speak too intelligently for middle-schoolers IMO, particularly in regards to their awareness of their own feelings, emotions, traumas, mental processes, etc.

2) They also look too physically developed at times — an issue that's much more pronounced in the anime adaption (and is most blatantly obvious with the girls).

Of course, when I first saw this series I'd only ever watched something like four or five animes seriously. I'd later realize this is a somewhat common issue regarding the portrayal of middle schoolers in anime. Especially #2, thanks to how Japan routinely fetishizes teenage girls.

It wasn't until much later when I learned how #1 makes sense for this story given how neglect and/or abuse can often lead to someone speaking/acting mature beyond their years.

But I have to be honest: All these years later, I still struggle with the whole "14 years old" thing for Yuki, Yuno, Akise, Hinata, etc. Wouldn't some of you agree that it's much easier to picture them as being in high school, at least? Junior high age feels like a serious stretch for how these characters are portrayed; I think that's one of the reasons the live-action spinoff/adaption shifted focus to university-aged characters.

[vaarsuvius6]

♡ xj-9 ♡

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