#( i'll also review my roster as i do it )

[temeryte]

archived. like this and i'll follow you on a new blog!

[libraryofgage]

so i wrote this yesterday and now it's become a whole thing

basically: Steve is actually smart but nobody realized it until he just fixes their various STEM related problems

anyway this is Eddie's very first experience with how smart Steve Harrington actually is

also please don't call me out if my physics explanations are wrong. just suspend your disbelief, i'm begging you lmao

also also, if you see any typos, no you didn't

---

"You're going to fail my class, Munson."

"Gee, no need to sugarcoat it," Eddie mutters, shoving his hands into his pockets and avoiding Miss Chester's gaze. His eyes land on one of the posters behind her desk, a cat hanging off a tree branch. Maybe it would like to trade places.

Miss Chester sighs, looking pointedly at the desk closest to hers. She waits until Eddie sits on it, legs hanging over the edge. "I'm serious," she says. "You're going to fail, Eddie. I don't want you to, but there's just some...disconnect happening here."

He appreciates that she's not totally blaming him. Most of Eddie's other teachers would've been berating him for his laziness by now. This, among other things, is why Eddie likes her class even if he can't wrap his head around physics at all. "I don't know, Miss. It just doesn't make sense."

"So I'm noticing." Miss Chester leans back in her chair, her finger tapping against her desk. Eddie immediately recognizes it as the drum beat from a KISS song. "You know you'll probably be held back if you fail, right?"

"Not the first time."

Miss Chester waves off his words, looking deep in thought. "What do you think about tutoring? I think you'll do better in a one-on-one setting. If you understand the concepts better, I can start grading you based on the work you do with the tutor."

"It wouldn't be you?" Eddie asks, frowning slightly. He's not sure he wants some random geek tutoring him. Not that he has anything against geeks, of course, but he's never known one to talk in a way he can understand. They get all...technical and Eddie's eyes glaze over whenever he overhears their conversations.

"No, I don't have the time. But don't worry," Miss Chester says, smiling reassuringly before pulling her roster close and looking down the list. "The student I have in mind probably knows more than me, if I'm being honest. He should be able to answer any question you have."

"What student?"

"His name is Steve."

Of course, Eddie immediately thinks of that Steve. King Steve. Steve "The Hair" Harrington with his blinding smile that's always looked a little strained in Eddie's opinion.

He then dismisses Steve Harrington as a possibility and reviews the other kids named Steve at Hawkins High. There's Steve Paulson, Steve Meyers, and Steve Barns. Maybe it's Barns? He's the only one that Eddie could imagine being somewhat good at physics.

"Are you open to tutoring?" Miss Chester asks. "For one session, at least?"

"Yeah, sure, one session. Won't help, though."

Miss Chester smiles like she knows something Eddie doesn't. Which, to be fair, she does. She knows a lot more than Eddie in terms of physics, at least. "I'll set it up. Just come by tomorrow after school."

--------

On his first day at Hawkins High, Steve realized two things.

One, his parents weren't kidding when they'd said public school would be vastly different from the private group tutoring he'd received up to that point.

Two, if he wanted to have a good high school experience, he needed to be cool. And being cool, it seemed, meant not being smart. He didn't need to be dumb, but he couldn't breeze through his classes, either.

He's done a good job of it so far. He's bored beyond reason in most of his classes, sure, but he's also popular. Nobody bothers him or tries to copy off of him, and it's great. He can even swallow down the weird surge of frustration and annoyance and guilt whenever his classmates assume he's too dumb to be a good project partner, or when his parents ask why he isn't enrolled in AP classes, or when his teachers give him confused looks after he aces tests for a unit he seemingly didn't pay attention to.

Anyway, he almost rejected Miss Chester's request to tutor a student from a different class period. He was just about to say he didn't have the time when she leveled him with a look so profoundly hopeful that he just couldn't. So, Steve said yes and now he's hesitating outside the physics classroom.

What if the student inside uses this against him? Steve thinks he could play it off, maybe convince his friends that the kid is lying, but he's not sure. Nothing dire would happen, but Steve would have to reorient himself to a new place on the social ladder, and that sounds exhausting.

"Just get it over with," he mumbles. Then, before he can chicken out and just leave the other student hanging, he opens the door and steps into the classroom.

Miss Chester isn't there. Steve knew she wouldn't be. She'd said something about a department meeting that would take her time but leave them with the classroom to themselves.

The only other person in the room is Eddie Munson, bent over a notebook and furiously scribbling on the page. He looks up when the door opens and freezes at the sight of Steve. They stare at each other for a few seconds before Eddie breaks the silence by asking, "What, get lost on your way to the locker room, Harrington?"

Steve blinks, frowns slightly, and takes a deep breath. Okay. Fine. Eddie Munson it is. "Nope. Miss Chester asked me to tutor you," he says, because that's the only reason another student would be in this room after school has let out.

Eddie laughs. He nearly falls out of his chair with how hard he laughs. He's wheezing and clutching the edges of the desk by the time Steve moves another desk to face him and sits down across from him. "Are you done, Munson?" he asks.

"Holy shit, you're serious," Eddie says, his voice slightly strained and his face red from laughing. "No fucking way Steve Harrington is here to tutor me in physics. You probably don't even know what two plus two is!"

"It's four. Do you know what 12 times 40 is?" Steve asks, watching as Eddie blinks.

"I'm not a fucking calculator, man."

"No, you're not. It's 480, by the way."

"You could've just memorized that."

Steve sighs and reaches into his bag, digging around some before pulling a calculator out. He places it on Eddie's desk and says, "Ask me something."

Eddie looks at him like he's grown a second head but still pulls the calculator closer. "1,239 plus 378."

"1,617."

He watches Eddie use the calculator, feeling smug when his face twists into confused disbelief. He then puts the calculator down and frowns at Steve. "So you can add, big whoop. Doesn't mean you can teach me shit about physics."

"Won't know until we try," Steve says, resting his elbow on the desk and propping his chin in his palm. "So, what don't you get?"

"...All of it. Just assume I don't know shit."

"You don't know Newton's laws?"

Eddie snorts, looking back down at his notebook. "There's that motion one and the reaction one," he says.

"Right. Newton's first law and his third. What about the second?"

"It's just...some equation or some shit."

Okay, Steve is starting to get an idea of where things stand. He thinks for a moment before asking, "What kind of stuff do you like?"

"What?"

"What do you like?"

Eddie looks so shocked by the question that he doesn't really think before answering, "Heavy metal. And, uh, D&D, too."

Steve knows heavy metal is music, and he could work with that but the D&D Eddie mentioned might be better. "What does it involve? The D&D?"

"It's a fantasy role playing game. Like, using your imagination to go on adventures with friends and stuff. Needs dice to work."

Oh. Perfect. "Do you have dice with you?" Steve asks. After another brief pause, Eddie nods and pulls one out of his pocket. He passes it over and watches as Steve turns it between his fingers. "Oh, an icosahedron. Cool."

"A what?"

"Icosahedron," Steve says, looking at Eddie. "It just means a twenty-sided polyhedron."

Eddie still looks confused, and Steve is about to explain it again when Eddie says, "Just call it a D20, dude."

"Oh. Sure. Anyway, let's use this," Steve says, rolling it between his fingers before letting it clatter to the desk. It bounces a few times before settling, a 17 facing up. "Do you know what made it stop moving?"

"The desk. I'm not an idiot, Harrington."

"I didn't say you were, Munson," Steve replies, leaning back slightly. "Just...yes, the desk stopped it. This is Newton's first law. If the desk wasn't there, it would have kept falling until it hit the floor. It stopped bouncing because it lost power each time it hit the desk. An object, the D20, will stay in motion, falling, unless acted upon by another force, the desk."

"That...kinda made sense," Eddie says, blinking a few times.

"Great!" Steve says, unable to help the bright smile at knowing Eddie understood him. "Okay, for the second law, the equation is mass times acceleration equals force. Basically, the movement of an object depends on how much it weighs and how much force you apply."

"Aaaand ya lost me," Eddie says.

"Okay, uh, you fight things in that game, right?"

"Yeah, kind of the whole point."

"Right, yeah, and the stuff you fight comes in different sizes, right?"

"Well, an orc isn't gonna be as big as a dragon, is it?"

Steve isn't really sure what an orc is, but he nods anyway. "Right. So if you want to move a dragon, you need to land a stronger hit than you would need for an orc."

"Duh. You're not gonna fell a dragon with a basic cantrip."

"Not sure what that is, but yeah. For this example, moving, or defeating, an object, or a dragon that weighs more than an orc, relies on how much force you apply, which is the strength you use."

"Oh. So, because an orc weighs less, I don't need as much force to defeat it," Eddie says, grinning as he fidgets with his pencil. "This doesn't really sound like math, though."

Steve shrugs. "We'll get to the math part later. Right now is basics. You need to understand those to do more complicated stuff. So, the third law, this is the action-reaction law. Music might be better for it. What happens when you strum a guitar?"

"It...makes a sound. Because it's an instrument."

"Well, yeah, but do you understand how the sound is being made."

"By...strumming it?"

"Yeah, that's part of it. Sounds are vibrations in the air that we can understand. If you touch your throat while talking, you'll feel your voice box, your larynx, vibrate to make the sound of you talking."

He waits as Eddie does exactly that. While holding his fingers to his throat, Eddie says, "Didn't know it was called a larynx. Oh, fuck, yeah, there are vibrations."

Steve nods, waiting patiently as Eddie hums for a few minutes before looking back at him. "So, vibrations. Instruments make sound because playing them causes vibrations. When you strum a guitar, the strings rapidly move back and forth, and that movement is translated into notes."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but yeah, I'm following you."

"So, the action of strumming a guitar creates the reaction of the strings vibrating. That action of the strings vibrating creates the reaction of air rippling, and those ripples create the reaction of audible noise. Did that make sense?"

"Yeah. It did," Eddie says, his voice soft as he stares at Steve like he's really seeing him for the first time.

Steve shifts uncomfortably, unused to this aspect of himself being known so well by someone at school. He's almost tempted to end things now and apologize to Miss Chester for walking out halfway through a tutoring session. Steve is practicing the apology in his head when Eddie says, "Hey, by the way, sorry for earlier."

"What?" Steve asks, trying to blink away his confusion and failing.

"You know, earlier, when I laughed at you? Pretty shitty of me to do. So, yeah, I'm sorry."

"Oh." Steve stares at Eddie for a few seconds before his shoulders relax. "It's fine. I'm not exactly known for being smart."

"Why not?"

"It's just...easier to let people think I'm dumb. Most of our classmates look at me and think I'm just, you know, a typical jock. They don't expect more from me than that, and I don't expect them to look any deeper."

"Does anyone else know, though?"

"My parents and the teachers. And you."

"Well, don't worry, big boy. Your secret's safe with me."

"Big boy?"

"Don't like it? Would you prefer Stevie?" Eddie asks, grinning as he leans in and exaggeratedly waggles his eyebrows at Steve.

Steve can't help snorting at the sight. "Whatever. Just call me what you want, Eddie," he says.

He tries to ignore the weird swooping in his stomach when Eddie's smile gets wider and he says, "You better not regret it, Stevie."

[so-bitya]

Whitewashing in Anime - Agni ft. Cithis

Browns of the Same Shade

Hello again! I decided to revisit this topic again now that we have Agni's official appearance in the anime. I also wanted to go over some aspects that I did not get to include in my first post.

In the end, Agni also got lightened! His skin tone was always somewhat darker than Soma's in both the anime and manga appearances. Yana does describe his appearance as a "dark-skinned woman" in her genderbend sketches. So, for the anime to lighten him this much to such an degree is disappointing.

The skin diversity in the anime has been pretty lacking so far. Once again, A1 studios was not perfect, but they did manage to give all three Indian characters different dark skin tones, while this anime has every Indian generally the same lightened shade.

(every indian character in the anime are the same skin tone... cloverworks stand up, you can't let a-1 studios beat you like this)

Personal opinion of mine, I feel like animation studios aren't willing to play with skin color values as much anymore. I remember even seeing white characters being various shades of brown, especially under certain lighting and environments. Unlike now, when every character looks bleached the second they hit the sun.

I also wanted to review what I think of Soma's appearance. Soma's skin tone isn't any darker than it was in the teaser shot sadly, so we can't blame the lighting. I already was expecting it, but it's still a shame.

One positive feature I'll give to the anime is that Soma's nose isn't pronounced all the time. In certain scenes, his nose isn't as sharp as it would be for other characters. I believe that's just the style for the anime and its dependent on the shot.

Anyway, I felt this image was pretty on topic with Soma and Agni's situation and just anime remakes/reboots in general lately:

Brown ≠ Grey

Something I'm embarrassed I forgot in my last post is saturation! I mentioned often how darker skin tones tend to be neglected, but not only that, but the color! The vibrancy in the skin, the life!

A common feature I noticed, especially in East Asian media, is how they avoid the "brown" in dark-skinned characters, by constantly making their skin tone duller, ending up with more grey-toned skin.

I often see art advice for digital artists that they should pick desaturated colors or colors in the "grey zone" as to not overwhelm the art piece. Which is fine most of the time! But when you apply that advice for brown skin, what you get are mostly grey tones, and end up having your character look like a zombie.

Here are some colors I randomly picked. The colors on the left are those sandy, dull grey tones I was talking about. If you want to get those richer, deeper-toned browns, you need to pick colors with more saturation like the ones on the right.

Now of course, color is relative and you can't just color pick your way around without considering how it fits in with the rest of the piece. You can even end up washing out your brown character despite choosing a strong brown color. You have to consider the background, lighting, undertones, the environment, and how they'll affect your character. There may even be times desaturated colors work better, but you have to at least consider why it works "better".

Let's take a look at everyone's favorite manga artist right now, Ryoko Rui! Ryoko Rui is praised often for her diverse character roster and creature design, however I always found her darker skin tones rather... lacking, as such for the elf Cithis.

(I color picked her skin tone and it matched my light grey shades above lol)

Her skin tone is very washed out and grey. She not nearly as dark as she appears in the manga. Once again, there's that dissonance between skin tones. Now take a look at the manga's grey tones.

When you see this, what skin tone do you imagine for her? Do you imagine the greyish, washed out tones from above or do you imagine something more akin to these black fae models I found?

(credit: @jaharajayde on twitter and @glassmarigolds on pinterest)

I'll give Rui credit that her color illustrations of Cithis improved and she's gotten better giving Cithis stronger undertones. I really like how the fandom has been illustrating her too, there's been some amazing fanart of Cithis such as these (the lighting in the last one is lovely).

Just adding saturation helps so much with skin tone. I even found an fan edit of Soma that added more color back into his skin, and he looks so much better for it.

One might say, "Oh what's wrong with having grey skin tones in a fantasy story!" Well... nothing really! You can have green or purple or blue characters if you like. But when there's already a startlingly lack of brown characters in a fantasy story, it can get awfully uncomfortable seeing the story portray different fantasy "races" with obviously non white racial features... but don't want to include any black/brown skin tones.

(fantasy artists would sooner give an orc dreads than a human, forget a "noble" creature like an elf... such decisions only reveals the artists' viewpoints)

It all just comes back down to avoiding that dreaded "brown". When it comes to these "reasons", we have to question whether they aren't just more excuses to not include black and brown people in stories, which makes me come to my next point:

Essence of Brown

There's some severe misinformation I want to address about Soma. I saw a fan a while ago say that Soma has a white mother which explains why he has light skin.

Firstly, that information is false. It was a concept Yana had for Soma, but quickly decided to drop it. Soma is not half white.

In the early drafts of the series, Soma had a white mother and, thus, white skin. However, this was later omitted in final revisions.

(quoted from the official kuroshitsuji wiki as an excerpt from the character guide)

Yes, you can have mixed parents and any kind of skin tone really! But it feels... dishonest to create "reasons" why the manga's first major Indian character, joining a cast of white people in a European country, should have white skin as well. Especially considering Yana's artstyle, without Soma's skin tone and Indian wardrobe, is his physical characteristics like his face even distinguishable enough for him not to be mistaken as white?

Imagine I wrote a story set in France, and teased an appearance of an African character in story that only had white characters until now, only for him to be completely white in appearance, and identical to every other white man, except for the occasionally exotic dress and other drab stereotypes.

What would you think? That his race is only a dressing to fulfill an exotic need at times? That he's a supposed homage to another culture, but it's wrong to have him actually look like the majority of people who made said culture? Why is he even this way?

Did he have a white parent? A white upbringing? Lived in a white culture, lived a white life? Maybe he was separated from birth! From his hometown, his country, his people, anything to justify why my "brown" character is so divorced from that part of his identity, from that side of the family whose skin tone runs a little too dark.

And I think that's why Yana decided to drop the concept of giving him a white mother. Why go through all those loopholes and explanations? Why all that justification for him to have white skin?

It's just another way to avoid the "browness" again for a character, what makes them brown in the first place and related to black/brown cultures. It's what we should consider in the future when we find ourselves coming up with "reasons" why black/brown characters should be anything but themselves.

Whitewashing in Anime - Soma ft. Usopp

[torque-witch]

Soft-launching my new Ko-fi store and page!

Support Death's Head Divination on Ko-fi! ❤️ - Ko-fi ❤️ Where creators get support from fans through donations, memberships, shop sales and more! The original 'Buy Me a Coffee' Page.

It's only stickers and prints so far, but I do want to use it as a space to re-grow my art business while I'm still working on art shows during the year. I'll also be working on blogs, witchy/pagan book reviews, art processes and memberships.

I really want to get off of Etsy ultimately because

They support AI art

It's all drop-shipping or copied listings (fake)

They are banning real artists daily

They bring in zero traffic these days

People really don't trust Etsy anymore as a service

So if you want to follow along, please visit my site! I will also be re-adding slots for commissions of various types like statues, digital art and runes. I will also add Tarot readings back into the roster.

The goal is to not need to Doordash, especially as my health has been a bit precarious over the last few years. I want the majority of my energy for art shows, which have really been going well throughout 2024.

Other than that, please feel free to chime in about what you would like to see from me in the future!

[crankyweasel]

Second season of Arcane just dropped, and boy am I exited.

------------------------------------

First of all, the only thing I write here is apparently my options and stuff, so sorry 'bout that. So without further ado, lemme share my review on the first act of Arcane season II:

Honourable mention amongst everything is of course the music, tho I can't really believe that they got Woodkid again (gotta love 'em tho),

I gotta give out another honourable mention to the spec ops Enforcer squad that Cait put together. For some reason I wish we got to see moar of them. That, and we got knock-off Vander, but enforcer? He's the highlight of the squad, hands down.

---------------------------------------------------

Runner up is gonna have to be (for me) the weird sisterhood that Sevika and Jinx formed. I didn't expect it at all, but gotta say I'm here for it. I do like the fact that both of 'em were like "well we were pawns... ain't no more bitch". Like the whole first season they hated each other's guts and now it's like "we gotta do some'n about the Undercity situation...bet".

---------------------------------------------------

Next up, we have Heimerdinger adopting Ekko's whole crew. The lil old man just found his place in the Undercity apparently, and it's pretty nice I gotta say. He's a great addition to the tree community centre situation they've got going on,

Continuing off from this, is the whole teacher - protégé relation between Heimerdinger and Ekko. It's nice, it's cute and quite honestly an interesting dynamic.

---------------------------------------------------

Moving on now. I've no clue where to rank this (this is actually not a ranking post), so I'll just put it smack dab in the middle. I GOTTA give immense love to hobo jesus Viktor. Also ain't no one telling me he isn't hobo jesus. His weird godly-hood comeuppance was a whole ass rollercoaster. First we got him butterfly style cocooned (also, comatose I guess), he then reawakened, body moar purple than Thanos, he then proceeded to do a confession a.k.a that whole "affections" thing (the fuck you mean Vik, the fuck we mean Riot?!), moves back to the Undercity and promptly becomes hobo jesus, like the hell? All in all I fucking loved that arc, 10/10.

---------------------------------------------------

Powering the fuck on, in my eyes and opinions, a huge "fuck you" to the one and only Ambessa Medarda. Man does her character piss me off. She is the ultimate player and that makes me tip my imaginary hat to her but that's 'bout it. She is a master manipulator, she's cunning, annoying, I swear if she was an animal she'd have scales and her every opinion/ advice is titled "war".

---------------------------------------------------

Next up on the roster is, the man, the myth, the legend...(drumroll please) clueless Talis himself! This man is so confused and lost CONSTANTLY that it's not even funny anymore. His only guidance is in the form of Mel, he's all over the place and his moral compass is questionable at best. Love this idiot to bits tho,

After blues clues boy, I find it appropriate to mention probably the best part. Which is, the root of all problems apparently...the magic, a.k.a the arcane. Which, as we find out is on acid? I don't know what corrupted amalgamation was that in the chamber but it felt like the arcane was on acid and so was I simultaneously. Suffice to say it was wild, the arcane is wild.

---------------------------------------------------

Before I reach the end of this review/rant thing, I must mention a point that I'm most excited about, and a point that I absolutely hate, so here we go again:

We finally see glimpses of Warwick, which undoubtedly I'm most excited for, because let's be real that beast-man will rock everyone's shit (if he turns out to be a cheap imitation of what and who Warwick is imma be pissed),

I fully and whole heartedly want to kill the old fucker doctor hoodless a.k.a Singed. He creeps me out, gives me slight Dr. Frankenstein vibes (but worse), he's got his fingers in a lot of pies and he's old as fuck but somehow still alive?! Like this crazy motherfucker is 70, someone kill him please!

---------------------------------------------------

And I shall end it with the lovely and incredibly stupid sort of couple VI and Cait! At first I was like, "please don't fight, don't hurt my blacked out soul". Then, in the Undercity I was like "yes! please stay together, trust each other and perhaps love each other", to my absolute shock and miracle it seems like Riot heard our collective cries and made them happen just to rip it all away. I hate y'all at Riot, but man do I love y'all too. Their emotional turmoil rollercoaster was both daunting and electrifying. Suffice to say I loved it.

---------------------------------------------------

That's it, that's all (for now, just wait till the next and then the last act comes out). Thanks for reading this rant, have a nice acid-trip day everyone! Till next time.

[synergysilhouette]

Guide to my Rewrites (and other content)

I post a lot of things, and some of those things are rewrites. As such, I thought this would be a nice guide for fans of my rewrites in particular. I'm still adding new things! Lemme know what you think.

Alternate Takes (Disney)

These are projects that have the same characters and settings (for the most part), but different plot points. These particular alternate takes suggest ideas that would've made me enjoy the movie more (or at all) and aren't a fanfic so much as bullet points with pictures.

Aida

Pocahontas

Hercules

The Princess and the Frog

Tangled

Frozen

Big Hero 6

Moana

Frozen 2

Raya and the Last Dragon

Encanto

Strange World

Wish (Note: working on a full-length rewrite unrelated to the ideas used here)

I also did rewrites for two Dreamworks movies:

The Road to El Dorado

Sinbad

Reimagining Disney Movies

These are projects that take Disney's framework (ie a fairy tale) and create my own characters, plot, setting, and song titles for it.

The Snow Queen

Kingdom of the Sun

Rapunzel

Reimagining Disney eras

These posts are designed based on what if Disney eras made different decisions (either based on my own ideas or rejected concepts) for their films. Note: I made the revival post before the renaissance and post-renaissance posts, so they kind of flow in different continuities. I also wanted to include future ideas for Disney's next era. These posts also work independent of my "Alternate Take" posts.

Reimagining the Renaissance

Reimagining the Post-renaissance

Reimagining the Revival era

Plotting out the Reinvention era

Marvel

Not quite as detailed as my other rewrites, but I thought I'd include them.

Dr. Strange: Multiverse of Madness

Thor: Love and Thunder

X-Men (Because they have more content than my other Marvel things)

This pretty much just includes my rewrites.

X-Men: Evolution--New roster, Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, Roster (Timeskip), Season 4, and Season 5 (I did a poll months ago, and maybe I'll do a post brainstorming a Marauders spinoff).

Wolverine & the X-Men--New Roster, Season 1

Fox's X-Men films (I may remake this)--Part I (First 3 films) and Part II (Phoenix, NM, and Dark Phoenix)

Extensive rewrites

TV shows that I've remade episode-for--episode, perhaps removing and adding some as I see fit.

Miraculous Ladybug--Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, Season 4 (currently working on Season 5; been dragging my feet with that!)

Anime as comic books

Yes, this is a topic. I remember when I was in this headspace, and it was really fun. I basically reimagined what if popular anime had been created as superhero comic books that golden or silver age.

Dragon Ball

Naruto

Anime rewrites

Black Butler

Naruto: Part I (Part II is not cancelled; I just put it on the backburner)

High Card: Season 1 (Season 2 is not cancelled; I just put it on the backburner)

Video Game Rewrites

These aren't quite as detailed as my usual rewrites.

Bayonetta

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Fire Emblem: Fates

Fire Emblem: 3 Houses

Kingdom Hearts

Hogwarts Mystery (MAYBE; ongoing internal discussion)

My OCs

This section covers my original characters for a few fandoms. Thinking of making OCs for books/anime/comics, but I do not have the confidence that I know the universe(s) well enough.

Fictif

The Arcana

Hogwarts Legacy

Baldur's Gate 3

Mood Boards

Just something I've made for fun to inspire others! Not an expert on making them, but it was still something I wanted to do.

My Wish rewrite (temporary)

Disney's Swan Lake

Disney's Hansel & Gretel

Disney's Rumpelstiltskin

Disney's Red Riding Hood

Sub-Saharan Disney musical

Disney Superhero Film

Japanese Disney musical

Actors who could play Disney villains

Choices: Stories You Play

REALLY into this game for a period--but it started to get awful when "Witness" came into play. Here's a list of reviews (which I've stopped doing) as well as concepts for new books (originally on Reddit before I got banned).

"Before I Say I Do"

"Celebrity Status"

"Summoned to Court"

"Arkikara"

"Fairy Godparent"

"Hierarchy: Scheming University"

"Willow Falls"

"Late at Night"

"Spellcaster"

"Four"

"America's Most Eligible" (Review)

"Desire & Decorum" (Review)

"High School Story" (Review)

"Rules of Engagement" (Review)

"The Freshman" (Review)

"Queen B" (Review)

Winx Club Content

Rewriting the Winx

Rewriting the Specialists

Rewriting the Villains

Monster High Content

Plotting out Gen 4

Comic Book Content

Remaking Major X

Rewriting Iceman coming out

Making changes to Tim Drake

[lazysunjade]

2024 simblr resolutions:

new year, new aesthetic: "idgaf"

finish Chosen of the Sun

post more often

play sims 3...?

more interior posts

modern AU

resurrect the fallen (wcif naiven. kerrigans? never met em)

lower my standards challenge impossible

I'll be honest, after reviewing the astounding lack of posts I made this year, I was a bit sad and a bit ashamed. part of me wants to go back to doing stuff that I used to years ago, even if just to see if it still brings me any joy. whether it does or not, I want 2024 to be the year I start caring less about hitting impossible benchmarks and holding myself to brutal standards just to fail anyways, and start just posting things that make me happy. that means no more locking myself in to one particular theme or content type. I've had an itch to actually post interiors again. and maybe I'll even post some sims 3 stuff to this blog. I think I'll still primarily stay in Blender because it makes me happiest, but some things are too much effort. very likely you will be seeing more modern and less fantasy content on this blog, because it's less stressful and quicker to make. I do miss some of my older sims and families, but also I won't lie. I'm happiest posting Yeryn, still, I'll at least put in some effort to expand the roster.

I'm not committing to any big new projects but I've an idea to do something a bit different from my usual stories with the Yeryn modern AU. the format will be completely new for me, and not as confining as things like CotS or even legacy. I put it on the list but I don't expect to make much headway, I just want to give myself a push to try and see if I like it.

anyways thanks for sticking around with me, especially considering I almost entirely moved away from the game this year, and y'all still supported me and followed my posts and love you for it, truly. I think a year's break and changes in game and out has given me a much needed rest and some perspective. all I really want for the new year is to be more active and make stuff I love and not have any regrets when the clock strikes midnight a year from today. let 2024 be the year we all be a little messy if that means more damn posts on dash

Happy New Year's to all of you!

[mercuriallily]

Cosplay year in review (plus more)

2023 has been quite the year for me. I turned 25, moved away from the only city I've ever lived in, started university, and adopted a cat. I dealt with several personal issues and health problems. So much in my life changed this year - but what remained constant was my love of cosplay.

I added two new cats to my cosplay roster (Demeter and Mungojerrie), plus song pieces for Rumpleteazer. (I also started a non-Cats cosplay, Katherine Howard from Six the Musical.) I learned how to knit warmers and make fluffy tails for Cats cosplays, and even got to do a few commissions and trades! I did a presentation for school in cosplay, and started a cosplay-centric Instagram account.

Cosplay is not a cheap or easy hobby. It is very expensive and takes a lot out of me. There are times when I consider giving it up, but the joy it brings me and the support I get keeps me going. Thank you all.

I plan to add two more cats to my roster in 2024: Mexico Rumple (already halfway there!) and freestyle feral kitten Bomba. I'd also like to get song pieces for Mungo and maybe a replica Deme wig if possible! I'll be revamping my commission info as well, so if you're looking for warmers and/or fluffy tails I hope you'll keep me in mind.

So, in classic year in review fashion, some highlights!

My top 5 most popular cosplay posts this year: 1 2 3 4 5

My top 10 personal favourite pics this year:

Shoes, makeup, belled collar, Demeter arm warmers, Mungo warmers and tail by me; spikey collars by jelliclecatscorner on Instagram; everything else by @pixiedustjellicle

Thank you so much for this year, and I hope you're looking forward to 2024!!

[romancomicsblog]

Marvel's Secret Invasion wastes potential & fantastic actors - REVIEW

I'll be honest, the announcement of Secret Invasion being adapted into a Marvel television series was somewhat disappointing. After seeing this story successfully adapted through Avenger's Earth Mightiest Heroes, and with the MCU's ever growing roster of heroes, it felt like a story well suited for the big screen.

None the less, when it was revealed to be an espionage thriller centered around Nick Fury, with the feel of Captain America the Winter Soldier, I was very excited.

As the cast grew, Ben Mendelson, Emilia Clarke, Cobie Smulders, Don Cheadle, Olivia Coleman, Kingsley Ben-Adir, I thought this show was going to be something very special.

Unfortunately, while most MCU shows have been a mixed bag, none have been more mixed baggier than Secret Invasion.

Before I get anymore deep into this rant, I must say:

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ALL OF SECRET INVASION.

I will say a few nice things to start.

Excellent Actors

Although I think many of these actors were wasted as far as how much screen time they had, and their role within their show, the show is ridiculously stacked with talent and it's a delight to watch.

Olivia Colman, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Don Cheadle and Ben Mendelson are highlights to me, but Samuel L Jackson, Emilia Clarke, and others are also fantastic.

Colman as Sonya I think will leave this show as a fan favorite, and possible eventual successor to Fury. She has a good mix of fun energy and intimidation, and clearly is having a ball.

Don Cheadle's "Rhodey" is for once doing something interesting in this show. As a secondary antagonist, Cheadle is able to chew up scenery as a Skrull and be a sinister rival to Samuel L Jackson, for once using Cheadle's fantastic acting skills properly.

While Gravik is an ordinary Marvel villain by all means, Ben-Adir gives him an anger and viewpoint that feels fresh. His monologue facing Fury in the final episode really brings the pain out for me. I don't know if he'll work as a character for others, but for me, due to the performance, Gravik is a step above many others.

Solid Ending

Secret Invasion ends on some very interesting notes, and I think overall sticks the landing where other MCU shows fail.

Wrapping up the story of Gravik with a giant Super-Skrull fight (which was a lot of fun), it leaves the MCU in a very interesting place, with the President calling on all aliens to be considered enemies.

This leaves assassinations running rampant, Skrulls on the run, and people anxious and scared.

This leaves Sonya and a new super G'iah as uneasy allies to protect the Skrulls and mankind.

This also pushes Fury to keep his promise and go up to Saber to continue his mission with his wife.

Overall, I like this ending. It sets up good stakes for earth that aren't just multiversal stakes. We can feel the ramifications of this show for years to come, and seeing what Fury, Sonya, and G'iah do next does excite me.

Plus, who doesn't love a Super Skrull fight?

Excellent Complicated Love Story

I think often where reviews and reviewers fall short is complaining about what a show isn't as opposed to examining a show for what it is.

While part of me thinks this isn't the time for a Nick Fury love story, I also have to point out that this is a great love story.

Charlayne Woodard as Nick Fury's wife Varra/Priscilla Davis adds an excellent layer to Fury's character.

While the chemistry is there, the acting performance between these two were captivating. There is an excellent scene where you have no idea what each character might do, guns on the table, talking about their past mistakes.

This was by far my favorite scene of the show.

It also brings to light many of Fury's flaws and possible prejudices, and gives you a firsthand look at what Skrulls go through on a daily basis.

Overall, I loved the inclusion of Varra, and would love to see her pop up more often.

But now on to my problems with the show. Starting with:

Meaningless Deaths

While a story like this definitely needs death to carry weight, I'd argue two characters die for absolutely no reason.

First I'll talk about is Talos. This fan favorite character dies in my opinion the saddest death. At the end of Talos' life, he has lost his wife, his daughter has lost faith in him, he has been stripped of his seat at the table of the Council, he has lost the faith of his people, and he just dies.

Now, a death like that you think would impact our main characters in any sort of significant way. But Fury, like with most deaths, has no reaction. It does not change or effect Fury's view of himself, he does not reflect on his regrets. You'd assume he was a nothing soldier, not a brother in arms.

But at the very least we got more Talos this season before his fatal end.

Maria Hill and Cobie Smulders deserved so much more.

Besides her death being used as leverage for the world to be after Nick Fury, which truly doesn't affect him at all, Hill's role is simply to die to imply stakes.

Using Maria just to die in such an unheroic way is really insulting to the character. When they killed Coulson, at the very least they did it with him trying to protect one of our heroes. Here, she is tricked by Gravik, and dies doing nothing of importance in the series.

I think having another character to provide a view point between Talos and Fury's argument of the Skrulls could have been beneficial. And having a larger group of agents would've added to the drama of who you could trust, who is really a skrull.

Instead they wasted not one but two of Marvel's most underrated characters.

Twists we see Coming

Rhodey being a skrull, G'iah not being dead, even G'iah being Fury in the final battle were all rather predictable twists. While there were genuine moments of suspense and shock, none of these worked for me.

Perhaps if they hinted strongly The President was a Skrull, and it was revealed it was actually Rhodey, that might've worked more for me, or hiding G'iah is alive for a few episodes. But instead none of them felt particularly hard to figure out.

Easy to figure out who you could trust

The point of a Secret Invasion storyline with many characters is to not trust anyone.

With the exception of Rhodey, Ross and Fury (ONE TIME), we don't get anyone impersonating our heroes. No one pretends to be Talos, or other MCU heroes, and Fury's crew is easy to trust throughout the entire show.

They do a half-hearted reason as to why Fury can't call other Avengers but really the best reason was right under their noses: he doesn't know who is real. That should've been the driving force of the show. Fury putting all his best mates to the test trying to figure out who he can trust and undo this invasion.

That's what a Secret Invasion story is.

All in all, Secret Invasion has just enough weight and great performances to warrant a watch and maybe even a future. It surprisingly sets up a second season very well, even with two protagonists who aren't Fury.

If this were to continue, it definitely needs to push the stakes, the conflict, and more than anything, the suspense. We should all be like Agent Prescod wondering desperately as it goes on, who do we trust?

If not, I'm afraid this show is destined to be forgotten in the middle of the road of the MCU.

Thank you for reading! If you'd like to support me, you can follow me here on my socials!

[vocaloid-girlnament]

SUBMISSION PERIOD: OVER!

(propaganda is always open, though!)

CURRENT ROSTER

like vocaloid* music? like girls? like vocaloid* music about girls? you have found your people. one must rule them all.

*"vocaloid" is used here to increase traction; songs made with any vsynth engine under the sun are welcome!

welcome :-) got a character from a vocal synth song you really like? well, if they're girl-adjacent, toss them in my direction!

you can also submit propaganda on why that girl should win

[thank you to vocalokat's discord server KATNATION for this idea...!]

the submission period is currently over!

please read the criteria under the cut before submitting!

submission criteria: • the submitted character is from a song with a title formatted as "(ADJECTIVE) girl" or anything adjacent • the submitted character has a design that differs at least marginally from the design of the vocal synth used for the song (all with nuance of course, submissions will be present to The Council™ for review)

submission guidelines: • you can submit more than one girl, just keep it to one per ask, please! this is for sorting reasons! • it'd be cool if you could include a link to the song your girl is from! youtube, spotify, vocadb, niconico, etc. all work • you can include an image, that'd be so awesome! do note i might end up digging for an image myself so i can set up image aspect ratios right and whatnot ^^" • if you can, please check the current roster section below to see if the girl you want to submit is already registered! there's always the chance that i've gotten them in already! additionally, even if i just haven't updated the roster yet, don't be afraid to send in a girl you don't see in the current roster, i'll understand if i get repeats and the girl is not already on the roster!

...and, that's all you have to worry about if you're just submitting a girl! but, if you really, really want to convince the people to vote for your girl, you can also submit propaganda! submitted propaganda will be attached to all polls the girl is featured in. your propaganda will be posted anonymously, even if sent off-anon, as a bulleted list beneath the poll!

propaganda guidelines: (these are a little heftier, sorry! this is the scarier section because it's free writing on your end) • the "one per ask" rule is opposite here, please, as much as you can, if you are one person submitting propaganda, keep it to one ask! i can forgive forgetting one or two things in your ask and needing to squeeze in another, but for maintenance's sake, please avoid spamming as much as possible • stay appropriate please. this is not the confessions altar this is a random internet poll

[purplesurveys]

1837

What is your favorite breakfast food? Fried rice with eggs and hotdogs, or tapsilog :) Such comfort breakfast food. I like Eggs Benedict and Monte Cristo too, but let's be real I never have either for breakfast and only get them at restaurants when I feel like having breakfast food on a non-breakfast hour.

Who do you (romantically) love? Nobody.

Have you ever considered yourself dirty? In a few aspects, sometimes. Like how I have a bad habit of putting trash in my handbag, and end up having a pile of papers and wrappers after a few days.

What do you do to relax? Playing with the dogs eases my worries more than anything, but I also like turning to YouTube.

Do you enjoy kissing? Sure, but I haven't done that in a couple of years. That's okay with me though, I'm not a very sexual person in general.

What about making out? ^ Eh, just about the same.

Where are you most ticklish? My tummy and waist. I don't like even getting hit in that area, no matter how lightly, cause I'll end up squirming hahaha.

Have you ever been to an arena concert? Yes, most of the concerts I've attended have been in arenas. The only exceptions were One Direction (which was held in outdoor concert grounds) and Se So Neon (happened in a large indoor tent).

Where was the last place you kissed someone? It may have been outside my house, right by my car. Memory's hazy.

Do you know anyone who is expecting? I know someone who was due in like a couple of weeks when I first met her, so she has likely given birth by now. As for currently expecting, I don't think so.

What does your third text message say in your inbox? Just my bank telling me there was a recent transaction on my card.

Do you use speed dial? I never used that.

If so who is number 5?

Have you ever kissed someone of the same sex? Yes.

Where do you want to get married? I've always wanted a hotel wedding just so everything - or at least most things - can be set for us lol. They have the ambiance, they've got catering, the sound system, some hotels already have their roster of hosts...considering how all over the place I can get, that much would be a big help.

Do you plan on having both your parents at your wedding? If I ever get married, of course.

If you could visit one person right now, who would it be? No one, I like being alone right now.

Do you like school? The social part of it was really great; some of the best years of my life. I liked learning too but only to an extent, as there were some subjects I found to be a waste of time + some teachers didn't have the best attitude.

What is your all time favorite subject that you have ever taken in school? History. < Mine too :)

Do you have a current teacher who you wish taught all of your classes? Not current, but I wish my high school music teacher had been my teacher for everything.

What has been your favorite part of this calendar year so far? Being able to save as much as I have.

Are you going on vacation any time soon? No plans currently. My parents are planning this huge party for my grandparents in June so that will 100% kill off any vacation plans; Reena just came back from a trip to Thailand so I'm sure she'd want to save for the next few months; Angela's super busy with boards review. In any case I plan on going to Seoul next year for when BTS are back, so it'll be smart for me to not book anything for now.

Do you catch yourself staring at inappropriate times? Sometimes.

How many times have you been fall-down drunk? Less than 10 times.

Has a friend ever really hurt you and you never told them? Sure.

Where would your most romantic getaway spot be? Somewhere remote in either Palawan or Baguio.

Have you ever stayed on a ride at a theme park to ride it again? I'm sure I did this during the school fairs. I was in the rides committee so I had a few perks lol.

Have you ever used your sexuality to get you something you wanted? I'm sure I have, but only with a partner.

What do you count as too spoiled? Anyone who overreacts/makes a fuss over the smallest things. It can be very telling of how they've always had everything handed to them that they're incapable of handling the most minor of inconveniences.

When you don’t feel good, where do you want to be? Just my room, or the café we have in the village. It's never crowded and is fairly hidden, so it's a nice quaint little place to escape to.

Have you ever set an alarm on your phone to remind you to do something? Sure.

Where do you want to raise your children? The city. The stimulation and sensations would be good for them, I feel.

What is your favorite Crayola scented crayon? Idk I was never around them much.

What is your favorite childhood TV show? Hi-5!

Do you ever look at yourself and not believe it’s you? Eh, sometimes. I try not to get existential like that often.

What’s your favorite hideaway place? That café I mentioned. Not a lot of people in my circle know about it or would travel to get there + the signal in that area just so happens to be weak, so it's literally a place you can 'escape' to.

Do you have a secret you have kept from your family? Sure.

Have you ever slow danced to a song you didn’t know? I'm sure I have.

Where do you study? I don't anymore.

Do you study at all? Nope.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I wanted to be a journalist, but I've since gone a little west of that – I'm currently a PR practitioner.

Has someone ever dedicated a song to you? I don't think so?

How many people have you kissed this month? None.

Do you like do have your hair pulled? Sure.

Are you close with your parents? We're on much better terms now but I still prefer to keep some kind of wall up.

How much do you wish/ hope for something before you give up? I can be very passionate and will fight for things/people, but if I feel like I'm not getting the same energy back I slowly let go.

Have you ever hung out with a complete stranger? Sure!

Do you work any holidays? No.

[crehador]

brother crab's winter 2024 parting thoughts: ishura s1

tl;dr was originally meh on this for reasons that really aren't fair, ultimately wound up enjoying it well enough to pick up s2, but wouldn't necessarily recommend (especially if you'll be bothered by the fact that it's Very slow)

full review:

you know what i think for the first half of the season i really didn't give this show a fair shake. based on a skim of its summary and the fact that it had the battle royale tag, i went in thinking it would be structurally similar to shuumatsu no valkyrie (which i'd recently binged and enjoyed immensely)

and that sort of battle royale, a tournament between a roster of op heroes, does seem to be coming up. but unlike snv, ishura doesn't dump us straight into the tournament. there's a whole lot of buildup to it, in fact...

the whole first season is buildup for the tournament to choose a hero, which isn't necessarily a bad thing! just isn't what i expected, so i was a bit on the fence for a while

ultimately though i think i did enjoy this series. it's heavy on the action (and gore) but most of the fight scenes are pretty banging, and the cast is full of fairly interesting characters (many of whom are not long-lived lmao)

some of the characters are so cool, in fact, that it feels like a shame to not get more time with them. the pacing didn't feel bad or anything, but it's a very, for lack of a better word, scattered series. not in a negative way, though, because the relatively huge cast provides a wider look at the world. it's just a lot of build-up and so far not much payoff (but clearly it's the start of a longer thing, so i guess to me that's fine)

the worldbuilding to me is by far the strongest point of the series, even stronger than the action sequences. there are some elements of it that i really love, like the naming conventions ("taren the guarded" "dakai the magpie" "alus the star runner" and so on, instead of family surnames) and the word arts magic

the (fairly early) reveal that not only humans and wyverns but even these... constructs? that seemed like mechanical golems? could use this word arts magic was fantastic to me, and i hope we get to see more interesting things of that nature as we continue

ishura has had a second season announced and even though i was a bit lukewarm on it for half this season, i do think i'll continue. if only because the cast is absurdly stacked and i go where my favorite voice actors go lol

i would still say it isn't exactly exceptional as a fantasy action series, but does do some interesting things with worldbuilding that i don't think i've seen much of before (but i also haven't watched fantasy extensively yet, so don't have too much to compare)

dakai my beloved freak i miss u already umu it was such a trip hearing hoshi souichirou voice a character like dakai though lol i mean i'm sure he's done many before but i more associate him with darling momo revale (and more recently saiyuki swk) so this was. new. and a treat

[theizzifromosaka]

Here it is! I'm starting my review series of Monster Girl media, and for the first entry, I'll be reviewing

Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls

To be perfectly clear, this review will be foucsed on the Monster Girl aspect of this series. I'm not sure if my opinions on the actual show itself would be worth listening to, I'm not trying to sway anyone one way or another.

Monster Musume follows "Darling-Kun" as he adapts to life with a rapidly growing cast of Demihumans. They learn about Japanese culture, and he finds himself pressured to pursue a relationship with one.

Darling-kun, whose name I don't think we ever learn in the anime, is kind of a weird dude. Throughout the course of the series he sees a LOT of naked girls, and he NEVER gets used to them. Other than that he's mostly just one of those generic anime nice guys, though he's aware the girls like him, unlike most of his peers.

Moving on.

Miia the Lamia

The Classic

The most iconic and recognizable character from this seris, Miia is a Lamia (go figure) with a lot of affection for Darling. She gets jealous easily and can be very clingy but still manages to be one of the most reasonable girls in the roster. She tends to see every new girl as a rival for Darling's affection and at this point you've probably noticed her entire personality revolves around Darling. This is standard for all the girls in this series and any deviation from this is considered strange.

Lamia in Greek mythology was the queen of Libya who, as you do, had children with Zeus and incurred Hera's wrath. Hera killed her children and this drove Lamia to madness, she lived out her days eating children and became monstrous in appearance. The story of Lamia was kinda like the Greek version of the Boogeyman.

I always encourage doing your own research on these topics, and take anything I've said with a grain of salt.

I'll refrain from asking why an apparent reptile has breasts as I could ask that about most Monster Girls, but aside from that, why are her genitals at her waist? They should be at the end of her tail.

Papi the Harpy

God damn it.

Okay, so Papi's name comes from the Japanese pronunciation of Harpy (would be something like Haapi). She's a very childlike adult, which is apparently typical of Harpies. They don't completely physically mature so they're light enough to fly, and she's a "bird brain". She claims to see Darling as a big brother but seems to have no idea what that really means.

Harpies are also Greek, they were birds with features of human women. They were seen as undesirable, ugly and foul and yeah, all the boxes are checked here.

Okay, it's not fair to judge Papi on these terms. We ought to be judging the creator of the series here. Honestly if not for the constant sexualization I probably wouldn't mind her too much.

Centorea the Centaur

Double damn it.

She's one of them warrior women that acts all stoic "but hides the heart of a woman" or whatever. I don't care for her, and unlike with Papi, I think it's her fault this time. I don't like her character, and I don't like her design.

Centaurs, yet again, are Greek in origin. They're half horse half man and are named after Centaurus, the first Centaur. Pop culture depicts Centaurs as being a Warrior Race, probably stemming from Chiron, among the most famous Centaurs in Greek Mythology. It is speculated the image of a Centaur arose from people seeing horse mounted warriors and either misinterpreting what they saw or a Telephone Game effect eventually resulting in what we're familiar with today.

Her design is a perfectly passable Centaur besides her Serious Honkers. Her real set of Badonkers. She's packin some Dobonhonkeros. I'm sure you don't need me invoking a copypasta to tell you she looks ridiculous.

Suu the Slime

Oh baby a triple!

Another child coded character. Suu is a shapeshifter so she doesn't always resemble a child, but her mannerisms are harder to change. Throughout the course of the series she becomes more intelligent and capable, going from a shapeless blob to barely coherent to regularly speaking full sentences. Suu is like... THE Slime Girl too, the first case of the author coming up with a wholly original design.

I'm not actually sure if Suu is the first Slime Girl but her influence can't be ignored. Slime Monsters overall are a pretty recent thing, and hard to track the history of (by that I mean they don't have a Wikipedia article). Their origins can be traced back to many sources, including classic Monster Flick The Blob, the Gray Goo Global Catastrophic Scenario, Tabletop RPGs and Dragon Quest.

(in absence of a Wikipedia article)

Honestly Suu would be cute and endearing if she wasn't subject to so much fanservice. Her personality, as it develops, is very childlike, with no sense of tact and little in the way of a filter. In this case I think I'd prefer it if they made her MORE childlike, and I wouldn't mind one bit if she remained a shapeless blob the whole time.

Mero the Mermaid

it was Big! Scary! and PINK!

Mermaids in this universe romanticize tragedy, and that ends up being one of Mero's most defining features. She states outright to ease Miia's worries that she does not want to marry Darling, she just wants to be his mistress. She's very soft-spoken but occasionally says some weird things.

So Mermaids have a lot of history and multiple origins, ranging from Greek Sirens to misidentified Manatees to just disoriented pent-up sailors seeing a Thicc Fish. The story of The Little Mermaid is very influential, and the in universe reason given to why Merfolk romanticize tragedy so heavily.

Honestly Mero might be my favorite of the main cast, her taxonomy is vague, she states that her skin secretes mucus, she's got tiny little arms on her hips, and in the 11th episode she tries to drown Darling, which if you ask me makes her best girl by default. I lament that most of the time she just looks like a girl in a wheelchair, and I also have to mention the fin ears.

Rachnera the Arachne

Not so itsy-bitsy

Rachnera is perhaps one of the most fleshed out characters in the show, she has a backstory and is capable of a range of emotions. That said most of the time she's just horny. Her initial foster family greatly disliked her but tried to "put up" with her, and after an incident resulting in their daughter being injured they sold her to a shady man who wanted to sell her silk on the black market. She starts off not exactly fond of humans but in typical fashion a single interaction with the main character all but changes her opinion.

The Greek story of Arachne is about a woman who challenged the Gods and was turned into a spider by Athena. She won by the way, the moral of the story is the Gods are jerks I guess.

This girl is a mixed bag. On one hand she has motivations that don't involve the main character, but on the other hand she very quickly becomes a vessel for bondage fetish pandering. As for her design, I like her eyes, it's a bit overdone to represent spider eyes like this but that's for good reason. I also don't really like how if you erase her human parts you're left with kind of a dumb looking spider. Overall I'd rank her pretty low, but not the worst.

Lala the Dullahan

So no head?

Lala is only in the show for about one and a half episodes, plus gets some screentime in the OVAs. She's a Chuunibyou who claims herself to be Death and gives the rest of the cast quite the spook.

The Dullahan is from Irish mythology, originally referring to any headless spirit, but eventually invoking a Headless Horseman, said to use a human spine as a whip. The image of a Headless Horseman can actually be found in various parts of Europe, and even in the Americas thanks to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which is apparently where the Jack-O-Lantern head thing comes from.

This is probably gonna be a recurring point of friction throughout this review series but you can't just paint a girl blue and call her a monster. Given the monster she's supposed to represent in this case I suppose I can't fault them too much, but in my opinion painting her blue somehow makes the design feel MORE lazy. Other than that I could criticize her inaccurate scythe for not having grips but that seems to be an anime thing.

Overall I'd say this series has surprisingly competent worldbuilding, reason is given to why most of the infrastructure doesn't accommodate demihumans and, though shallow, the different cultural origins of the girls play a part in how they interact with Darling and each other. That said the girls' designs are all very safe and same-y, with the most out there design being Polt, a character that only shows up in one of the OVAs. If I had to pick a favorite from the main cast though, it would have to be Mero. Her little arms really sell her design for me, and her gimmick of wanting to live out a tragedy actually got a chuckle or two out of me.

Overall, would I recommend this series? It depends. If you're a fellow Monster Girl Connoisseur then the sheer influence of this series earns it a watch, and if you're the kind of person that enjoys a good hate watch, or if you like ecchi (no judging) then you could probably get some enjoyment out of it. Outside of those spheres, nah it's not worth it.

Next review:

[undisputed-queer-a]

Let's talk about the Diva's Title

I said I'd do this so...um yeah that thing. Once again I'll try not to reiterate ground that has already been beaten to death. Seriously it looks so sh*t. It looks like it's sold at Claire's, if your not British let me translate- it looks like sh*tty jewellery for 13 year olds. But yes it looks terrible but instead of just saying that in 50 different ways how does it compare to other women's title's at the time.

(From left to right: TNA's Knockouts World Championship, Shimmer's Shimmer Championship, Stardom's World of Stardom Championship, WWE's Women's Championship, Ice Ribbon's ICE Cross Infinity Championship and WOW's WOW World Championship)

In my opinion the most important thing for a wrestling title is that it looks like an accolade, that it looks like something people would want to win. And I think that all of these belt fit this criteria with some excelling but then again good looking championships are subjective (Knockouts Championship my beloved) so the important bit is that they look important and like well championships. The Diva's Title doesn't look like a championship, it looks like a really bad accessory.

Ok let's zoom in for a second and compare the diva's title to one of these other title, and because I have the most history with it, let's pick the TNA's Knockouts Championship. Okay first off while I know that cagematch isn't always the best place, I'd like to mention that it rates the Diva's title at 2.62 and the Knockouts one at 7.91. And now let's compare some reviews of these belts.

"Not as good as the women's title and division and never liked the look of the diva's belt. The division is too much about eye candy and not enough hardcore action. There are no true HC matches such as ladder, cage, TLC or no holds barred matches. Also tired of seeing the black divas used as jobbers and think Naomi should have a reign as divas champ and Alicia should have a second reign. Only one black woman has held the title so far in it's history which is not right in my view."

"A very poor championship. The very design of the belt itself represents inferiority and relegates the belt and all who hold it in limbo. It's not a representation of a true women's belt and has been designed more for a pr teen or adolescent. As the design of the belt is that of a pink butterfly. Nothing against butterflies per say but it seems to have purposely over feminized in such a way as to make it seem worth much less then every other belt on the roster. I actually find the belt somewhat offensive and do not take it seriously. There have been a lot of great women's wrestlers that have held the belt but they and the belt are so-called Divas which in my opinion marginalizes them and the title itself."

A scathing admonishing of this belt, it's role in the company and the treatment of it's women. Now compare.

"While a lot of dumb things - lockboxes, hypnotism, ect. but it is still a bright spot, especially during the 2000's period where only TNA and places like shimmer cared for woman's wrestling, and there have been plenty of fun matches for this title, still a good title, just needs some for focus on the title."

I think that the KO Belt has a higher batting average of good feuds and good matches.

Ok fun game time, Name a good Diva's title match.

Ok sorry that was a bit hard, Name a good Diva's title feud.

Maybe you could, but I couldn't. And that's part of why this Title was sh*t (wow I've said sh*t a lot in this post) I can't name a single good thing to come out of it...maybe Paige Vs AJ...maybe Paige Vs Charlotte excluding the really uncomfortable reference to Charlotte's dead brother. Also it's design and name do a lot of work to undermine the women who held it, but I think you knew that already. It's important to mention though. They didn't call them 'women', they f*cking called them 'divas'

In conclusion, I have talked about the Diva's title for far too long and would like to stop. At least things are a bit better now. A bit.

This has been Undisputed Queer-a.

Slay The System, Shock The Cis-tem, and see you next Monday.

[joemcstinky]

Quick Stink: Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO

(2024, Developed by Bandai Namco)

"I'm a lot like Vegeta in a way*..."

All the way back in 2018, I was properly introduced to the Dragon Ball franchise by way of the film 'Dragon Ball Super: Broly'. In that moment, I was introduced to the DB series, and I quickly fell into the franchise in a big way. However, as the years pass, I've found myself a bit disenfranchised with the series, it's overuse of Goku, Vegeta, Frieza, and underusage of the other wide and varied cast.

'Sparking! ZERO' has revived my love of Dragon Ball.

From the very start of my time with Dragon Ball, I was in love with the cast, a wide variety of weirdos who have strange, sometimes humorous abilities, yet are still incredibly powerful and deadly. For an example, The Ginyu Force, a team of elite mercenaries tasked by the vile Lord Frieza to eradicate his foes.

They also do this.

'Sparking! ZERO' shows off these and many other of the dangerous eccentrics that spewed from the late, great Akira Toriyama's mind in possibly the best form they've been in in years. with a base roster of 182 playable characters (including the dozens of transformations, who've all been given unique movesets, making it so you do in fact have 19 Gokus that all feel unique from each other), there's truly no stone unturned. You want Cell? Jiren? Kefla? You get them, and... well a lot more.

Personally my favorite is Mr. Satan, the champion of the Budokai Tenkaichi tournament, who may or may not have cheated his way to the top. That is no different here, with him more often than not failing to even harm his opponents, and being surprised when they are. His full meter attack includes his dear friend Majin Buu, one of the strongest characters in the series, who arrives to help you out.

Look, I'll be honest with you, every second I type this out is another second I'm not playing it, and that's just unforgivable, so how's about we cut the formailites, and get the review over with. Play the game if you're a Dragon Ball fan, and if you aren't one... I dunno, go read Dragon Ball then.

6/7

*much like Vegeta, I too am very strong, cool, and have a very pretty romantic partner.

[dreadwhoop]

Reviewing the All Elite Wrestling personnel 2023 Edition (Part 0) -

New to this? Please refer to https://dreadwhoop.tumblr.com/post/697331836428353536/reviewing-the-all-elite-wrestling-personnel-2022 to recap 2022 or understand what this is all about.

Yeah. Where to start?

A brief rundown. Usually these go out around the anniversary of the weekly TV show AEW Dynamite. Here I'll ruminate the overview between last year and this year. After we'll address the roster's ratings and then who to PUSH or GET RID OF and then, if I can, some other factors to complete the annual review. This will likely be a lighter affair than the previous years since I echo the sentiments said before and, as a principled individual, don't like changing my mind once committed to an ideal - if it's good it's good if it's bad it's bad I'll continue regardless. Having said this, every time I publish a PUSH or GET RID OF list I never change the decision or repeat it so you'll always see new entrants. Anyways let's move on!

Since last year we've seen the end of AEW Dark and AEW Dark Elevation and in return the inclusion of AEW Collision as weekly offerings alongside Dynamite and Rampage. The videogame AEW Fight Forever also released this year after significant delays which makes certain roster inclusions oddities as a result. By far though the most important day for AEW was All In at Wembley Stadium - their biggest event to date by far.

AEW continues to find a measure of success in places, put on some notable matches, and effectively make 2023 the defining year where MJF is the major draw which is why it'll be a bad blow to the company upon his inevitable departure following the firing of CM Punk and loss of Jade Cargill, two names they built up strong, whilst keeping under contract even more names than ever before. Here's something to look over with the documentation done over these 4 years. If you regard official active wrestlers, we've gone from 79 in 2019-2020 to 108 in 2020-2021 to 132 in 2021-2022 to now 156 in 2022-2023. Rumours of Tony Khan buying New Japan Pro Wrestling, Shimmer, and other shows as he did with Ring of Honor only dillutes the waters further. Let's make one thing clear - you only have a roster this bloated if you expect them to get injured so you can substitute someone else in, talent be damned. Dante Martin took a bump which effectively renders his past career over whilst Jon Moxley took a nasty stinger and now both AEW's cornerstone and capstone are sidelined leaving Tony Khan to DANCE WITH GARCIA BABY LET'S FORGET THE BAD TIMES LET'S DANCE BABY!

Moving on…

This whole story with MJF and Adam Cole bromance better end with MJF and Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. being together and, for both their sakes, in WWE with her as his valet who wrestles too. MJF goes on about being a generational talent well it's only proven by having an incredible 2nd-generation talent with someone also talented especially after the botching of her 'abuse victim' T-Shirt. Anything less is fraud on the payoff and no don't feel sorry for Adam Cole because what they should of done with him was not what happened and instead has dragged MJF down to a level which insults the intelligence of its audience and his ability.

I want people to direct their attention to Netflix's documentary on OVW (Ohio Valley Wrestling) and how, despite the distance in audience and finance, the same problems in OVW crop up in AEW: lack of new fans. Retaining an audience is one thing but genuine interest is floundering. It's also worth noting the only difference between the success and failure of a promotion is how much revenue it has - OVW could be given a billion dollars and achieve just as much success as AEW so keep it in mind - context matters. Mahabali Shera is great would love to see him in AEW doing well. I'd also recommend Hollyhood Haley J, if only to get her to catering to get a decent meal because she's painfully thin and understand why, but you'd have to steer her to get the best from what could be a huge draw - making her lean into saying Tammy Sytch is her hero, got 'a-head' using Al Snow to work her way up, and generally make her an outrageous antithesis to Toni Storm who wants to be regarded as a star whilst Haley wants to burn everyone like a star or Julia Hart who plays at the darkness whilst she breathes it. Neither will reach the platform of WWE without a proving ground like AEW to see how well they thrive with established talents. Like Brian Pillman Jr. and Dark Side of the Ring, they can't afford to miss on such opportunities given the buzz. Hire some talent from OVW Tony.

Finally want to mention the series Markyd123 was doing on AEW was refreshing, as we need new takes, but of course the fanbase ran his interest off. Great job guys - let's continue to sabotage diverse voices whilst pretending we want diversity. As paraphrased by a relevant person to this conversation, you're either growing or you're dying. We'll see which AEW is come next annual review.