#[she likes all of them!!! she doesn't dislike anyone lmao but unfortunately you gotta have a least fave and that's rei]

[pyonpyonpyon]

Sora's favorite division members, ranked in order:

Ichiro!!!

Jyushi

Gentaro

Ramuda

Hifumi

Samatoki

Rio

Doppo

Saburo

Jiro

Rosho

Sasara

Dice

Hitoya

Jakurai

Jyuto

Kuko

Rei

[callieponders]

Okay. So. The Candy Jams episode, Girl Fest. I have so many thoughts on it, good and bad. This is gonna be another long thoughts post, so let's get into it. (Under the read more because this is Really Long)

On principle there isn't a bad message here, in fact, to this day it still has relevancy. Plenty of female singers playing faux feminist when they are more than willing to put other women that work alongside them down in order to raise themselves up, rather than trying to cultivate a good community, especially in regards to younger fans. This is definitely not new, same in regards to male singers that promote toxic masculinity to their own audiences.

My issues stem from, of course, the usual "errrrm, isn't it funny how we act uncertain if Laney is a GIRLLLLL, lawl!" ass humor. Like god that shit is garbage I'm glad we mostly phased that type of shit out. Yuck.

Not just that, of course, that's more of a Grojband, "this is from the real early 2010's" issue in general. I also take issue with the approach it takes touching upon the whole "this idol can't actually be trusted" thing. I understand it's watered down to be a little easier to understand, babies first feminism and all, as well as it being a little more niche in the addition that it's someone proclaiming to be all punk rock while in reality being a poser. That isn't a problem in theory, but in practice, I definitely think it came out clunky...

Which message wise, is a little rough. However, it actually comes off as a much more interesting character read of one of the most important characters, Laney, and even TRINA to an extent.

To understand what I mean, we gotta go down the list of things we find out about Candy Jams first. Keep in mind she is promoted to be this 16 year old (assuming she's the same age as the other older teenagers in the show bc it'd be weird if not since she dated nick) punk chick who doesn't take crap from anyone, acting condescending towards the male members of Grojband, and even going as far as to tell Trina she needs to be in charge of her own feelings— "You should be the voice of your own soul, girl!"

Candy Jams appears calm and collected about Nick. She even says she broke things off with him for making her too soft. This is shown not to be the case almost immediately, as while they're not dating, she clearly still has an infatuation for him.

Secondly, it's revealed she's very enthusiastic about clothes. I know, what a revelation, but keep in mind being fashion crazy is often a stereotype used negatively against women as a means of calling them shallow.

Her lyrics are written by her manager, who is an adult male (the adult part really isn't important unfortunately, because I feel like it should've been).

Finally, she says that lyrics with harder words in them make her head hurt (she calls it brain ouchie btw), which is... I guess it's calling her stupid? Not as smart and a thinker that she says she is? I mean, common thing to say to indicate a character is dense, but it just feels weird to tack on. I guess it enhances the fact she doesn't write her own lyrics since she says the last song he wrote had too many hard words for her to sing.

Alright, so, we went down the list... now, there is like... so much to unpack. First off, I don't dislike the ideas here, I definitely don't, because all these things show hypocrisy in Candy Jams branding (except maybe 4 that might just be like, her being a teenager still learning things lmao). It's a pretty classic "don't meet your heroes" situation for Laney, who looked up to her, now feeling shattered because she did not live up to expectation. However, what kills it for me is the already present misogyny shown in Grojband consistently.

Laney is misgendered for comedy constantly because she doesn't present herself as traditionally feminine, nor acts traditionally feminine. Like. It kind of bitters the damn message if you go "respect women in rock, unless it's funny, then don't" in the episode about... recognizing female talent in the rock scene and criticizing the posers sending bad faith messages to their younger audience.

However, despite all this, this episode is REALLY good to dig into Laney's character, and additionally, Trina's, as they both are fans of Candy Jams.

Laney herself is shown to be infatuated with Corey, not to the extent Trina is with Nick, but regardless of that she holds a massive spark for him. We can often see it in her face how she feels about Corey, finding herself at a loss of words when he gets as much as near her at times. She's also into extremely hyper-feminine things, decorating her room with frills and being into things that she would otherwise roll her eyes at— in secret.

So, in other words... she's a poser. She does the exact same things that Candy Jams does, if not being worse for doing it, as she calls Candy Jams out for her behaviors while doing the exact same thing to an even YOUNGER audience. Let's not forget that Grojband's two groupies are young, elementary school aged girls. Laney is just as much an influence to them as Candy Jams is.

Now, am I saying exactly that she's a poser? Not really, no, but you get what I'm saying in pointing out the fact she has far more in common with Candy Jams than she would be comfortable with. It's most certainly due to internalized misogyny at that, especially in a scene that doesn't recognize or respect female voices to begin with unless they denounce anything feminine, either about themselves or other women— Corey himself had to be shown that "lady rock" is in fact, legit.

Keep in mind this is during the early 2010's, so it isn't the same situation now as then exactly, and I'm definitely not saying critique towards traditionally feminine culture isn't valid. It ABSOLUTELY is, but this isn't about criticizing it, Candy Jams AND Laney both outright hide the parts of themselves that enjoy it. Candy Jams because she's an industry plant, and Laney because of her shame in indulging in it at all. Maybe Laney saw herself in Candy Jams a little too much, and was deeply ashamed of what she saw, due to previously having projected herself onto Candy Jams's exterior persona.

Now, where does Trina come into play? Well, similar to Laney, she hides parts of herself that are more vulnerable to others, parts she is ashamed of. She's an intellectual, both with math, literature, and writing. Her being adept with writing is, admittedly, if you count her diary being so well written it can be used as lyrics for songs that in universe, are GREATLY well received. Unfortunately, due to nerd culture being shown as undesirable, ESPECIALLY for/towards women, she only indulges in academic pursuits covertly as an entirely different persona. Additionally, she changed her name just to fit her new mean girl, cute and popular chick lifestyle, and with it her kindness.

Like Laney, she too saw herself in Candy Jams, specifically in her songs. She found herself spoken to in regards to her love for Nick Mallory in one of her songs (and Laney likely did as well), and was equally upset when Candy Jams revealed it WAS about Nick. It made her feel like she didn't own her own feelings, which is something that is far more devastating for Trina than you'd think on a base level alone. She HAS to be in control of her own feelings, she has literally hand carved herself into the person she is today by regulating exactly what she feels, how she conducts herself, and who she hangs out with.

Makes you wonder how she'd feel if she knew that Corey was using her feelings to make his songs.

All in all, though, this episode is pretty surface level and not even the worst I've seen, it's definitely one of the more interesting Grojband episodes. For a feminist message? It somewhat does it's job, especially for 2013. I, for one, think it does an even better job at looking into the thoughts and feelings of the two most important female characters of the show.

[undeadvinyls]

mmmmmm maybe everyone's relationships with eachother? (your tenth class ocs) is there anyone who doesn't get along?

Oh yea!! Prepare this is probably going to be a long answer-

Let's start with Electri. She's one tough nut to crack when it comes to fully understanding her and befriending her. At first she only trusted Phys and Medic, since they are her parents and she came to Mann.Co with them, so for the most mercs she was unreachable, with a big snarky attitude. What's unsual for her is that she QUICKLY became best friends with Assailant and Scout (later her bf <3). With Assailant it took a longer while than Scout though, you could hear her saying thing such as "Ginger, if you want us to be friends ya gotta stop acting like an asshole."

About Astronaut and Glider, Electri absolutely loves them, she appreciates their helpful hands they give her all the time and besides she's lovestruck in Glider's cooking. They do argue and disagree a lot tho, mostly it's pretty much "softie vs. punk" case, but other than that they stay on positive terms.

Painter is her bestest friend!!! She loves her very much and they're both tough gals who will punch ya in teeth <3

She doesn't really get along with Hijacker that much, she just prefers his more cocky and agressive twin.

Assailant next. As I said, Electri is his best friend and it took him a while to get used to her as well, Lant unfortunely has really big trust issues, but he does trust Electri a lot. She's really the only girl that likes him for what he is...

Assailant gets along super well with Astronaut! She sometimes just works as his personal taxi and she carriea him everywhere while he shoots at people <3

Painter is his beloved girlfriend, oh boy. He loves her so so much you dunno how. He always gets so emotional around her, and absolutely spends as much time as he can with her.. He has a fragile soul hidden under the coat of a tough and strong cocky guy!

Assailant with Glider and Phys are... Positevely neutral? There's nothing deep about them, he still very appreciates them as teammates and works with them very well, but there's nothing to add. It's just friendship.

Assailant with Hijacker? Well.. Their brotherly bond is complicated. They sure do love each other a lot and care about each other but they still playfully bully each other like spill drinks on each other shoes or call eachother by their full names (they hate it lmao). Sometimes the mercs think they're abusive to each other but they reassure them it's just brotherly rivalry.

Astronaut on the other hand is literally loved by almost everyone. My bunch still finds her bubbly, childish, oblivious and naive behavior annoying, but they know she means well and being bubbly is like her copying mechanism.

They appreciate her helpful hand as well, especially Glider. Did I mention that The Leetle Glider and Towering with 6'7ft Astronaut are bestest friends in the world? Unfortunely Astronaut is easy to manipulate for your own gain because of her naiveness, but she is assertive. It's just she falls into temper tantrums sometimes and gets angry at everything, but the mercs know one thing: You never upset Astro.

Painter is one mysterious lady. She's silent and quiet, it's like she doesn't care. That's what my bunch thought at first, but they just had to approach her from a better side. A quieter and more peaceful side to co-work with her perfectly. Painter values everyone, but Electri and Assailant are her beloved friend and boyfriend. With Hijacker it's more complicated. She likes him as Assailant's brother since she sees how much care he gives him but she's... Neutral to him as a person? No one knows what sits in Painter's mind to chose the "dirty, stupid and brain-dead" twin over the "elegant, smart and intelligent" twin.

Glider gets really well with everyone too, especially Astro. Astro could sacrifice herself for her little friend while Glider would do anything to help Astro. They're just a match made in heaven <3

At first most of my bunch were sceptic toward Glider, they thought she'd be super weak and they hired a weakling, but her acrobatic and gliding skills were what made the mercs respect her. Of course, some of them (especially Assailant and Hijacker-) jokingly say how she's "so small you'll get killed first!!" and she gets bothered about it a lot. Then when she's angry she sounds like an angry desert rain frog.

Glider gets along... Horribly with Phys. Spending time with her is truly a nightmare for her, she always thinks she's going by any second put her on operation table. The fact that she dislikes doctors doesn't help at all.

Physician is complicated too... Most of my bunch sees her as the biggest mother figure ever, the fact that Electri absolutely loves her and she loves her very much too helps her image a lot too. Electri is Phys' most prescious thing, her little princess, her whole world.

Youngsters from the bunch think of her as a step-mom too, mostly Assailant and Hijacker, the two that really wished to have parents.

But what worses it is the fact she's just as mad as medic, maybe even more. They're concious of what she can do, but she assures them she's not going to hurt or use them for her advantage. Still, most of the mercs fear her.

She has a short temper though. She uses the "GET TO WORK OR I'LL PUT YOU TO ETERNAL SLEEP" kind of trick to intimade the mercs, but other than that and few other crazed things she loves them all.

And lastly, Hijacker. I'm still working on developing his character, so I haven't figured this out yet.

But. He has this loving brotherly rivalry with Assailant but from his side it's more of passive-agressiveness than lashes like Assailant does.

Overall, the mercs have really mixed feelings about him, from one side he's super charming but from the other side he's a big bossy boot. But he has a kind heart of a showman.