#And to be clear. I also have gripes with people who go out of their way to push interactions around eggs. Streamers are allowed to not

[hyperfixation-symposium]

I try not to get annoyed at people talking negatively about the egg event but man :/

Y'all PLEASE it's so obvious they didn't expect the event to go like this. It's clear they've tried out different ways to end it and it's clear they've had to readjust and plan based on the reactions of the characters and the cc!s. Don't forget there are also people behind the eggs who are also very attached to their character and the people they interact with.

You can't just end something like this. something you could write genuine research papers on. If you do so incorrectly it could hurt a lot of people. But they have to try and figure out a plan basically on the fly, constantly.

Have an event where the dragon comes back? They wanted to fight the dragon, convince them to keep their kids. 'the most I could ask for is keeping you' from so many people.

Kill them? Clearly that's not working. It's hurting people and clearly would impact how they play on the server and their motivation to do so for many. And to kill many of these eggs at this point you have to play unfair, which just isn't satisfying. It's crushing, it feels bad.

They can't make the eggs grow up suddenly, and it's clear they don't wanna exclude the new people from the events. So they're making it work the best they can.

Saying "the egg event needs to end" doesn't accomplish anything. We know. It's clear the team behind the story knows. But pretending like finding a good solution is an easy thing to do doesn't help anyone!

They have to care for their players first and foremost. Right now ending the egg event is not a good way to care for your players.

So yeah if you're posting egg event negativity please feel free to just block me lmao. There's nuance here and ofc they don't want to metagame this shit but you also just can't ignore the effects the eggs have in rp and in real life.

[noistanaccount]

Ryoko Kui Does Not Believe in Epiphanies (or: why Marcille and Mithrun's endings are great actually)

I have seen a couple of people who are upset about the way that Mithrun and Marcille's stories were resolved so I'm writing this to clear some things up. Ryoko Kui does not believe in epiphanies. An epiphany is a sudden and usually brief realization, an "aha" moment. Epiphanies are emotionally powerful moments. Both Marcille and Mithrun have powerful moments of realization, epiphanies.

Whether or not you like these resolutions, there's something you need to understand, Ryoko Kui does not put that much stock into these moments. Immediately after Marcille has her realization, Tansu responds like this:

While this is mostly his own opinion, what he is pointing out is that epiphanies are brief, they are singular moments that do not define a life. Life is long, and epiphanies do not sustain you. Marcille might feel like this now, but what about tomorrow? what about nex year? ten years, a hundred years, five hundred years from now? How often have you felt a sudden understanding? a burst of inspiration, or perhaps a realization that everything is pointless? It generally passes quickly, and you make dinner, and go to bed.

Think about the best meal you have ever had, it was probably a special occasion, maybe it felt like something magical, in the moment you might have felt like your life was changed. Then, in the morning you were hungry, so you ate breakfast. You cooked, you did the dishes, you went on with your life. What "meaning" did that meal have if you were hungry again the next day? Mithrun has to rebuild everything, every day he has to come up with new desires to do the very basics. None of it comes naturally, he has to find a reason to eat beyond being hungry, a reason to want to do anything when he doesn't want anything. Ryoko Kui tells us outright, that there is no magical solution:

The same thing applies to Ryoko Kui's representation of racism in dungeon meshi. Around when the orcs appeared in the anime I saw people gripeing about the way racism is treated. They seemed to think that Laios's party having dinner with the orcs was presented as them "solving" racism. Once again people misunderstand, they did not solve racism in a single moment. A few people, understood each other a little better, came to an arrangement and then parted. This was merely a moment in their lives. The characters continue to do micro-agressions, hold stereotypes, and have implicit biases. In dungeon meshi, characters don't suddenly stop being racist in the course of an evening. Life is a process, learning about others is a process, it's about the accumulation of experiences through the meat and potatoes of life, the daily activities that we actually fill our lives with, not the sudden realizations. Once you make learning about and living with other people into part of your routine, once it is embodied, then it is part of your life.

This is the real conclusion: life is not lived in a state of epiphany. Life is about chores, cooking, eating, shitting, working, and sleeping, it's everyday. Life is about doing simple things and doing them well. An epiphany is a useful tool for telling the reader that everything is going to be alright, we love to read epiphanies and be swept up in them. They can also be a breaking of a pattern, an escape from a spiral.

This is the other take away, it's about the people you do those things with, the way they rub off on you, the way they help you be human. For Mithrun and Marcille their paths would be impossible without other people pushing them back on the path as they stray. Mithrun literally would starve to death except for the thought that kabru and others don't want him to. Eating is a communal activity, so is living, you can have an epiphany on your own; you can't live on your own.

[saintsenara]

would you want to elaborate more on your thoughts on Alan Rickman as Snape? I'd love to hear more of your take on it. I dislike him in the role so much and it's insanely difficult to actually have a conversation about it sometimes because of how much some people like movie!Snape in large parts of the fandom

I have so many gripes with what happened to Snape, from how movie!Alan!Snape is a completely separate character to book!Snape (and how less flawed movie Snape overshadows the much more interesting and gray book version), how much I dislike his acting choices in certain moments to how much I dislike how he sees and describes the character in interviews

I've never heard of the diaries you mentioned, what did he say in them? I'm honestly also just curious if he even read any of the books because some of the things I've heard him say really make me doubt it 😭

there are dozens of us!

and i have no issue with being a #hater on the public timeline. for fun and profit.

but i'm actually going to start with two bits of rickman defending [it's giving diplomat].

the fact that the adult cast of the films was massively aged up in comparison to their book versions makes perfect sense. each individual film not only needed to be accessible for people who’d never read the books, but for people who'd never seen another film in the sequence - and so having a visual distinction between harry and james’ generations is completely necessary. we - as people who are undeniably more invested in the series than the average person - know that the great tragedy of the later books is that james and lily died so young that harry looks virtually indistinguishable from his father as he walks into the forest. but that doesn’t always work on screen…

it also doesn't bother me unduly that rickman doesn't physically resemble the canon snape. plenty of actors don't look anything like the characters they give brilliant performances of [and not only fictional characters, but real people], and it doesn't matter in the slightest - being an exact physical match for a character says nothing about an actor's ability to portray what they're like.

which is where my beef with film!snape starts...

the thing that never hits for me is that rickman plays snape - regardless of the situation he finds himself in - as emotionally repressed, cold, and controlled.

[even down to the costume - he was behind the decision to have snape be, literally, buttoned up].

i simply don't know how anyone could read the books and come away with this impression of snape without having fundamentally misunderstood the character. snape is incredibly emotionally demonstrative! he’s the male character other than harry - the literal narrative perspective - whose emotional state is described the most frequently! and his emotional state is always described in terms which make clear that he’s someone who feels very deeply and who registers his emotions clearly on his face!

rickman's version of snape bears no resemblance to this - and it means that his portrayal of two key aspects of snape's canon character always feels flat to me.

the first is snape's main negative trait - his cruelty. something is really lost in the fact that film!snape's cruelty is reduced to something arch and precise - and that it doesn't have the petty, childish, vindictive tone that it does in the books.

and the second is - of course - the experience which defines snape's canon arc - his grief. this is so inextricably bound up in the state of arrested development - still living at school! still beefing with people he knew when he was fifteen! - that the absence of snape's childish side in rickman's performance means that the way he portrays snape's grief is always going to feel half-baked.

and - specifically - rickman's emphasis on emotional repression in every aspect of snape's character undermines the fact that - in canon - snape's mingled love, grief, and guilt for lily is the only emotion he goes out of his way to repress, which allows the revelation of his feelings for lily in deathly hallows to actually feel like a mystery being solved.

snape is an interesting character precisely because he's so... feral - and rickman’s buttoned-up, suave, nowhere-near-as-gratuitously-mean-as-he-should-be take on him is the cause of many of the least complex and least compelling fanon!snapes [in particular, the snape prominent in pairings with female partners in which he’s kind, sophisticated, romantic, and definitely not really ugly].

the snapewives phenomenon was incredible, though. fair play to him for inspiring that.

when it comes to the diaries... what's complicated is reconciling two particular truths.

on the one hand, a diary is inherently a space for a person to record their private thoughts [they were published with the consent of his family, but they weren't originally written with the intention that they'd be published] - and, therefore, to record impolite, unpleasant, or unadmirable thoughts which they wouldn't express in person. rickman's diaries are incredibly whiny - and often quite unkind - but it's clear that this isn't because he was particularly whiny or unkind in person. obviously, it's a good and healthy thing that, if someone was pissing him off at a dinner party, he was cordial to them in conversation and saved that he thought they were an idiot for his private diary!

but, on the other hand, there are several threads which run through these private thoughts which made it impossible for me not to feel considerably less fond of him.

[gracexthoughts]

Okay, I have a lot of thoughts about the Percy Jackson show and the discourse I have been seeing about it. This is going to be long and possibly all over the place but I just want to share. If you disagree, that’s fine. Just don’t hate because you have a different opinion. Deal?

I want to start this by saying I am a new fan. I did not read the PJO books when I was a kid. I watched the first two episodes when they came out in Dec purely out of curiosity and was just immediately in love with the world. So in true ADHD hyperfixation fashion, I devoured Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus books and I am currently on Book 1 of Trials of Apollo. And maybe it's because I am a newer fan but a lot of the gripes I see about PJOTV just don’t make sense to me and I feel like they really are just rooted in nostalgia. Watching the show and all the interviews of the cast and crew, it is clear to me they wrote this season with the intention and hope that they would get to make all 5 seasons, and possibly even further. I can see how all the changes make sense when looking at the narrative as a whole. They are really setting up this world and this story in a way that I think lends more to the future of this narrative better than The Lighting Thief book does.

I also want to say I have yet to find a book to screen adaptation that is beat for beat accurate. So much of what works in novels, especially novels told in first person, just does not translate to third person screen adaptations. Ultimately, literature and film/TV are art forms and what works for one may not work for another and the creators are allowed to make changes, especially when it is for the overall good of the product.

To start, the exposition dumping didn’t really bother me that much although I agree it is there and noticeable. Now, I watched the first two episodes before reading the books but after reading the books, I think the exposition is just as noticeable in the books as it is in the show. Percy walks into this world without knowing or believing in any of it. In the book, he learns about this world through the people around him explaining it in dialogue. It is just condensed a little more in the show which makes it feel a little heavier. Nonetheless, fantasy tends to have a lot of exposition because there are a lot of things you as a reader/ viewer need to know at the start of the story. It is part of the nature of the genre, especially when it is intended for a younger audience. Exposition that seems clunky to an older viewer is probably not going to feel the same way to a younger audience member (which is the target audience).

The biggest complaint I see, and disagree with, is that the kids are “too smart which ruins the suspense.” Annabeth has been at camp since she was 7 and it is clear, both in the books and the show, she is determined to prove that she is strong and capable and intelligent. She has been training to go out on a quest since she was 7 years old. Annabeth would have been studying these monsters and these myths so of course she can figure out the traps. They aren’t that hard to figure out, even for someone who isn’t super knowledgeable about Greek mythology.

Grover’s job is a protector of demigods. It makes sense he knows these myths like the back of his hand. I imagine that after Thalia, Grover would have studied and worked so hard to prove he was ready for another chance. Grover in the books also fell a little flat in The Lighting Thief to me because it seemed like most of his personality was just to be scared and funny until later books. I love what they did with Grover in the show because he feels like an actual character with his own goals, intelligence, trauma and authority.

Now onto Percy… I have so many thoughts about Show Percy so bear with me.

While I was reading the books, I was confused as to why Sally didn’t teach Percy about Greek mythology. Book Sally seemed to just hope Percy being attacked by monsters and going to camp isn’t going to happen or just assumes that when it does happen, Percy will figure it out. Sally always knew what would happen to her son, at least to some extent, so why wouldn’t she do everything in her power to prepare her son for this life she knows is inevitable? I loved the addition of her teaching Percy about Greek Mythology and Ancient Greek because it makes so much sense because I never saw her as a just “sit back and wait” kind of character. Percy is her son, her baby, her miracle. She is terrified for him (which we see in EP 7 in the flashbacks) and, to me, it makes sense she would do everything in her mortal power to prepare him in a way that doesn’t scare him or reveal to him who he actually is. (It is also such a beautiful call back to Rick telling his son these stories as a kid, like I just think that is beautiful).

While on the subject of Ancient Greek, I saw someone complain how Percy doesn’t inherently know Ancient Greek in the Olympus scene in EP 8. “Poseidon and Zeus looked at each other. They had a quick, intense discussion in Ancient Greek. I only caught one word. Father.” - The Lightning Thief, page 343. This moment was literally pulled straight from the book! Percy talks about Annabeth tutoring him in Ancient Greek in the book (The Lighting Thief, page 107) and I loved how the show changed it to be his mom that taught him because of the previous reasons I gave above.

In general, Percy is an unreliable narrator. We see that in The Last Olympian when Rachel painted him defeating Antaeus. Percy is shocked at how he looks. We also see this in Heroes of Olympus where he is constantly talked about as this powerful and sometimes scary person whereas Percy never describes himself as anything other than kind of mediocre. Percy is constantly underestimating his intelligence and power in his POV because at his core he is still an insecure kid who was bullied and uses humor as a defense mechanism. But no matter what he thinks, he is smart and powerful and capable and I love that we get to see that in the show because it isn’t in first person.

In the books I was constantly frustrated that they weren’t seeing the traps. Aunty Em’s is so clearly out of place and weird and creepy but the Book Trio just ignores it? Also the Medusa story change was beautiful and needed and added so much depth to what was a very simple scene in the books. The Crusty’s scene was jarring at first, but in hindsight it didn't bother me either because Hermes told them about the entrance. Why wouldn’t he tell them about the trap too? The way Hermes is portrayed, I get the sense that he really wants Percy to succeed, in the books and show, and that he is holding onto hope that somehow, someway, he can still save his son. Why would he send them somewhere just to lead them into a trap that does not benefit Hermes in any way? (And us not seeing that conversation happen is showing and not telling BTW)

Also, the overall claim that Percy, Annabeth and Grover know everything is just… wrong. (@pareiwheeler made a post about this that really made me realize this so go read their post too: https://www.tumblr.com/pareiwheeler/740600563986808832/theres-know-mystery-or-suspense-they-know) They know the small things but the big things? They didn’t think Luke was the thief, they didn't know it was Kronos, they didn’t know they would lose the fourth pearl, they didn’t know the casino would mess with time, they didn’t know the shoes were a trap, etc etc. They walk into these situations thinking they are prepared, thinking they know everything they need to but they DON’T And that is where the suspense lies, in the overarching storyline that is the driving force of the plot. Not in these moment to moment scenes that are not the main conflict.

Now onto the smaller changes that, in my opinion, benefit the overall narrative of this story.

Missing the solstice deadline: Not only is Percy choosing to continue the quest despite missing the deadline such a great character moment for him but this ups the stakes so much!! Zeus and Poseidon are currently at war for the last two episodes of the show and even if they don’t talk about it much, that knowledge is still there in the characters' heads and in the viewers’. Every moment they take in the Underworld, you are watching with the knowledge that war is raging above. And it's a great way to show the kind of hero Percy is and what he will become. Percy doesn’t care he “failed” because he didn’t come all this way just to run back to camp with his tail tucked between his legs because that is not Percy. Percy sneaks out of camp twice to go on quests he was not invited on because he will not let someone’s rules get in his way while he is protecting people he cares about. Percy doesn’t want war to happen so with even the slightest chance he can stop Zeus and Poseidon, he takes it! Also the addition of Poseidon stepping in and saving Percy from Zeus was beautiful.

I also loved that Poseidon gave them 4 pearls instead of 3 because such a small detail shows how Poseidon cares about Percy and Sally. And, plot wise, it didn’t change anything. Percy still left the Underworld without his mom. But starting with 4 pearls gives them hope that they actually can complete the quest AND save Sally. Percy leaving the Underworld without Sally is so much more impactful in the show than the books because of this tiny detail change.

The fact that the pearls take them to the east coast rather than the west coast works well too. I loved that they returned to the cabin because of how important that cabin is not only to Percy and Sally but also to Poseidon.

Hermes being added to the Lotus Casino and bringing in Luke’s background earlier on was beautiful and Lin Manuel Miranda’s performance was one of the standouts for me. It is such a beautiful moment and you can see the anguish in Hermes at his feeling powerless and I think it sets up Percy learning about Luke’s family in The Last Olympian in a great way. This is one of those moments where you can tell the writers and showrunners are playing the long game with this series.

Last but not least, the change in the betrayal scene. I love it. I do. Not only in the changes in the way it happens but how they characterized Luke. Luke clearly does not want to hurt Percy, he wants Percy to help him and to come with Luke because he cares about him. The prophecy states “You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend” and Luke in the book didn’t really seem to care about Percy or view him as a friend at the end of it. But Show Luke? He cares about Percy and he is heartbroken that Percy doesn’t side with him. Also the addition of Annabeth hearing Luke’s betrayal first hand was brilliant, in my opinion. Not only were Walker, Charlie and Leah ACTING but it was so much more impactful that Annabeth sees Luke turn and chooses Percy in that moment. And I don’t think it will change much of Annabeth’s actions in the future because you can see how hurt she is and how desperately she still wants him to come back and be good.

Anyway, I think the show is brilliantly done. That isn’t to say it doesn’t have its faults but nothing is perfect and if you were expecting this show to be 100% perfect then I think you just set your expectations too high because that is not realistic.

If you made it to the end of this, I love you. The Percy Jackson brain rot is real and if we don’t get an S2 announcement soon I’m going to riot

[maxwellatoms]

Would you trust ANY Korean studio for hand-drawn animation today? I ask because, when The Powerpuff Girls came back in 2016, I noticed how slow and stiff the Korean animation was. Since then, most Burbank cartoons animated in Korea, namely Cartoon Network shows, have been like that — mostly on 2s & with less inbetweening. Look at any Digital eMation episode of Victor and Valentino or Samurai Jack Season 5; do they animate as loosely and smoothly as Digital eMation episodes of Billy & Mandy do?

Sure I would. It would all depend on the studio and the circumstances. There are good studios and bad studios, and either of those will treat your show differently based on their perception of how valuable it is to their client. In the early 2000s Rough Draft was a top-notch studio. One of the reasons I switched over to eMation from Rough Draft was that I felt like Rough Draft was putting all of its resources into making Samurai Jack look beautiful, and we were still calling retakes on three year old issues. I knew we weren't a priority to Rough Draft, and I knew that stemmed from Cartoon Network's negotiations with them, so my griping was only going to get us so far. It seemed to me that I needed a studio that was smaller and scrappier like we were. We were putting in a lot of work on our end to make cool stuff and it wasn't ending up on the screen, so we needed people who were just as hungry on the back-end, and eMation stepped up.

There's also the fact, though, that animation itself has changed a lot in the last fifteen years. Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack's animation always seemed to have an air of "motion comics" to it. And frankly, that's part of what I love about it. It was all a throwback to the old UPA cartoons, which were built on strong, clear poses and made for the cost equivalent of a turkey dinner. Likewise, CN storyboard artists usually had around four weeks to write and draw their boards on paper, so there just wasn't time to take the effort to do anything too complex. It was all about snapping between those 300-ish storyboard drawings and momentarily savoring them for their humor and design mastery. Now we have tons of digital tools that make the basics of animation a lot more accessible to everyone, and have changed the entire studio pipeline. Things just won't look like they used to because nobody makes them that way anymore.

When I've had to choose an overseas animation studio, the network's production arm usually gives me one or three choices and tells me that's all there is. Deals have already been made. (Sometimes they make you pick two to save on costs, which (IMO) usually results in two studios that are less functional than any one of them would have been.) The studios usually have reels, so that gives you a basic idea of what they can do. You can (hopefully) find some other show creators who have worked with the studios and get an honest review. It's an important enough decision that it's worth whatever research you can put into it. Even over good bones, an ill-fitting skin can ruin the mood.

The most important thing to remember, I think, is that it's your job and your crew's job to make animating the show as easy as possible. Really, it's everyone's job to make the next person in line's job as simple as they can. Ideally, there shouldn't be a lot of questions because the materials you sent down the chain are clear.

So... yeah. I'd still trust Korean studios as much as I'd trust any overseas or domestic animation studio. You get out of them what you put into them by feeding them money and your own labor. It's quite possible that the shows you mentioned didn't do enough of either.

I imagine the overseas studios are hurting right now, so who knows what that landscape is even going to look like in a few years.

As with every step of the process making a TV show, you just sort of have to weigh your options and find the path.

Hmm. That got long.

[relaxxattack]

Hi i want to thank you for the QPR vs Moirail venn diagram. Its a rly excellent way of showing the difference. My gripe is about human romance, and how people will either 1- conflate it in a 1:1 ratio with Matesprit, or 2- claim it is “all the quadrants”. I personally feel both are false equivalency, and that the human romance is similar to both pale and red rom* and SO i was wondering if you agreed w that assessment, or if not, if you have the time to explain your thoughts on human traditional romance vs the quadrants (perhaps w another nifty graph)?

* which is why Rose’s destructive tendencies during sburb & her descent into addiction on the meteor were not addressed by kanaya, who feared palezoning herself like she did with vriska

OH MY GOD! YES!!!! why am i getting such great asks today?!

no, you're EXACTLY right. people are constantly conflating matespritship in those two ways; "all of the quadrants" being especially irritating (since Some humans occasionally argue, Occasionally in a kinky way, and i guess that means that they totally have all of kismesissitude covered?? :/).

matespritship is its very own thing. of the two interpretations above, i feel the idea that it's 1:1 to human romance is the closest to true. i mean, that's what they literally say in the comic, for gog's sake.

humans do not truly incorporate moirallegiance, kismesissitude, or auspisticism into their lives in any meaningful way. while it's possible for humans to sometimes have romances that might seem more like one of those than matespritship, they're considered abnormal or toxic-- and they often ARE, because humans do not have the same sort of biological drives or social understanding of these things that trolls do. humans do not understand the true needs and ramifications, or even the ROMANCE of moirallegiance. humans would be hard pressed to understand a kismesissitude in a 'healthy' way. i don't even need to mention how auspisticism flies over people's heads.

so, yes, humans only have the one quadrant. (and karkat vantas, i am sorry to say, is not going to "human date" anyone as the "solution to his quadrant problems". this would literally be the same as him trying to stick only to matespritship, and we all know exactly how that turned out.)

however! matespritship is not an exact 1:1 on human romance either. the direct quote from the comic is;

"[It's] the closest parallel to the human concept of romance trolls have." [x]

this is not really expanded on much in the text, honestly-- the intricacies of the social and biological traits of matespritship aren't shown enough for us to draw clear distinctions between them and human romance.

however, i think you're right that rose and kanaya are the best example we have of that-- despite them both aiming for matespritship, they have cultural misunderstanding quite often from some of rose's flirting, or even just her needs, crossing wires into a pale threshold that kanaya is weary of.

it's entirely possible that the differences between troll and human "hearts" might have made it difficult for kanaya to really connect with rose's problems and discuss them with her.

which might explain why when things go "better" for them in the retcon, they're portrayed reading a book on troll romance together:

it could be implied here that searching for a more in-depth understanding of quadrants actually helped rose with her ability to connect to kanaya-- and maybe, reading into it a little too hard here, this also could have been an opportunity for kanaya to work through her vriska-based hangups with the pale quadrant. that's entirely speculation on my part, though.

at the end of the day, we don't really KNOW enough about the details of quadrants for me to paint a clear picture of how matespritship differs from human romance. i mean, i could try, but it would certainly be more of a headcanon post than an analysis one!

[artheresy]

Dan Heng, Dan Feng, and Unreliable Narrators

WARNING: Some Leaks Discussion, don’t read if you don’t want to know any leaks

A bit of a rant regarding Dan Feng and Dan Heng and where I think their story might go if Hoyoverse doesn’t contradict in their lore hopefully ?

No because let me tell you how this recent animation is all setting up to an eventual reveal of how Dan Heng is an immensely unreliable narrator and the story then at that point will want the players (at least those who havent yet read every little bit of lore) to come to question the Vidyadhara Preceptors and the Ten Lords Commission because THINK, THINK WITH ME GUYS

First off, the whole image we see of Dan Feng is absolutely not the real Dan Feng, but people who aren’t looking into lore leaks and story leaks and looking in every single crevice won’t have that point clear to them. Think of the description of the literal animation:

“Never a person with love, hatred, sorrow, or joy like everyone else in this world.”

The view Dan Heng has of Dan Feng has only ever been shaped by the consequences of the sin he committed that condemned Dan Heng as well despite being a different incarnation of him. That sin was the reason for his imprisonment for much of his childhood until he was eventually banished once again due to that sin. Even once he had left the Luofu, the reason behind being pursued and hunted down by Blade IS their shared sin. All that he knows of Dan Feng is a curated by the Higher Powers of the Xianzhou Luofu, he does not truly understand the man who came before him. (Something he has admitted to by the way, but let’s also look beyond just his own admittance.)

Fundamentally, the biggest evidence of such comes from how Dan Feng appears in his mind in the Animated Short that was just released. In it, Dan Feng haunts him, and specifically when he speaks, he talks of the High Elder succession. He speaks of it as something that cannot be broken, something that he cannot run from. That death is the only redemption for those who defy it.

But the thing is, this doesn’t sound like Dan Feng AT ALL. (Specific warning for Jingliu voiceline and character story leaks)

If you have kept up with leaks, you’ll see that Dan Feng would never EVER say such things as he did in the animated short to his next incarnation. And why you may ask? Because it is evident from the VLs and CSs that… Dan Feng himself seems to have longed to escape his role as High Elder. There is not any firm confirmation of either what the sin he and Yingxing committed nor what his motivations exactly were. However, there is a strong case to be made that the sin committed could be related his attempt to create a new high elder with the possible motive of wishing to escape his role of High Elder and the loss of identity he had to experience due to that role.

But of course… Dan Heng doesn’t know this, he is unaware of whatever gripe or distain Dan Feng may have had for the role he carried out, the one he couldn’t escape. He only knows the words of the Preceptors and anyone else he was allowed to have contact with while imprisoned after his rebirth. And y’know… when you listen to what Dan Feng says in the animated short, it sounds more like something the Preceptors would say instead. Those words read more as Dan Heng’s projection of them instead placed upon Dan Feng who he has always been taught to view as a traitor, a sinner, rather than a person.

And hmm, who could stand to benefit the most from Dan Heng viewing Dan Feng as a villain…

HMM I DUNNO, PERHAPS THE PEOPLE WHO LIED TO DAN FENG AND PURPOSEFULLY SET HIM UP!!! The same people that Dan Heng has confirmed were his primary source of information regarding who Dan Feng was just as I said before.

Additionally, I’m tryin to find screenshots of it, but there are memories that come from certain Vidyadhara eggs when you interact with them that further suggest that the Preceptors sabotaged Dan Feng likely for the goal of wishing to maintain control over him/fear of the fact that he was becoming to powerful, that he was wavering from his role. So of course again, who else could benefit quite as much as them from Dan Heng hating Dan Feng? It is a way they still exercise control over his next incarnation. They control the narrative of his past self, they control what he knows about him to paint a specific picture that they want him to see. And once he is old enough, they further take care of him and exorcise a last bit of control by banishing him from ever returning. Sending him out into the universe having shaped his views and behaviors and of course what not to be like through their propaganda.

I just want to emphasize here how deeply important Dan Heng’s view of Dan Feng is for shaping his character as well as through the insight into him from that angle, we gain information on the Judges and the Preceptors.

With all of this known, I want to talk about where I think their story could be heading! Of course, please note this is strongly speculation and I don’t think my interpretation and prediction of what could happen is the objective truth or only way to view things. I could be very wrong honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised lol! But I think, at some point, we will in fact get an event where Dan Heng will realize the truth of who Dan Feng was. What he wanted, what he truly did, and why he did it. With the continued emphasis on what he was taught and how his perception is based upon what he learned in his imprisonment, I think it would simply make sense to have a turning point where he learns the truth.

A turning point that shines suspicion upon the Preceptors and Ten Lords Commission. However, I don’t think such a thing will happen for a LONG while given a few different reasons that I will outline here! So I don’t think this realization will be anytime soon due to the following:

1) We like literally just helped the Luofu. Its the beginning of the Xianzhou story as a whole given us being in the beginning of HSR, there are other ships to look into as well. Highly doubt they would cast suspicion upon the higher powers of the Luofu through Dan Heng’s lens so soon. It wouldn’t make much sense when there’s a lot left to work with

2) We know for Kafka that we will definitely come back or be back in contact with the Xianzhou Luofu given the whole reason she had us come to the ship in the first place being that she needs them in debt to the Astral Express for a future plan. Of course, they might not coincide, but in the cast that they do, I think it gives more justification to push back such an occurrence since the order would likely be Kafka’s thing first and then the realization? Of course again, I could be wildly wrong, time will tell in the end

3) and lastly, I think that Dan Heng having a realization of the truth of Dan Feng, his motivation and most of all his sin, especially if that would include finally having a true reveal and confirmation of what his sin exactly was, could very well relate to the relic lore line, “Pairs of objects are destined for an eventual reunion. The long years of grudges and hatred between them should be savored, like ice-cold aged liquor, one slow sip after another until the bottle of resentment is finally empty.” involving Blade. I mean think about it, Dan Heng finally having the full picture could very well lean into the event that the line is foreshadowing. And paired with the finality of that line, plus Dan Heng and Blade’s importance each individually as a Nameless and Stellaron Hunter respectively… yeah no way in hell would they get a conclusion so soon.

So yeah, I’m convinced Hoyoverse will absolutely stretch out and drag out the story, keep up waiting keep us on the edge of our seats, but I think eventually Dan Heng will be given the chance to realize the truth and not only will his view of Dan Feng change, but the view of those who had taught him and punished him as well. Or at least, I severely hope he will get the chance. To end his character so soon would be a true shame.

And for anyone struggling to understand my rant because I tend to go on tangents and become incoherent (I get it and I’m sorry!), here’s a tl:dr! From officially posted sources as well as some leaks, it can already be seen that Dan Heng is a unreliable narrator regarding Dan Feng. His perception of him in the animation directly contradicts the desire Dan Feng is shown to have to escape his role. I think at some point in the story, he will be given the chance to find out the truth given the continued emphasis of his lack of understanding regarding who Dan Feng truly is as well as the fact that he learned who Dan Feng was from the very people that punished him. Given the fact that different sources directly hint to the fact that Dan Feng was set up by the Preceptors to fail for the sake of maintaining control, Dan Heng’s realization about Dan Feng would likely be utilized to cast suspicion upon the Ten Lords Commission and the Preceptors.

Even that was still long but, I tried to condense as much as I could. Please forgive me if I make any spelling mistakes in this post or if the whole post itself seems completely weird or smth. Im writing this at 3 am after hours of brainrot. I am unwell to be true, anyways! Night night!

[sweet-honey-tears]

Dance

Greek god Shinso x Female Reader

SUPRISE! I wrote this in one day 👁👄👁 please like it. I was gonna do yandere but that didn't happen… I hope you enjoy🤍🖤 I tried to proof read- this was about three pages 💥👄💥

Other Greek god stuff: these are old so they may be crap Kirhsima and Bakugou as gods Yandere Kiribaku gods saving the reader from sacrifice

Shinso watched your feet move to the rhythm, your body turning like water around a rock. Moving smoothly as your skirt decorated with coins sang with your movements. Your face held a smile but a drop of confidence in every movement you took. You were smiling but focused. Shinso smirked as you brought out the red fans, twirling them in the wrist to symbolize the death of an enemy. Shinso peered over at Bakugou and Kirishima, the two gods seeming pleased. Bakugou gave a slight grin as he watched the pain trace your brows as you twisted your body to show the havoc the god of war could have on the person he deemed worthy of his wrath. Kirishima seemed happy at your recognition of the brotherhood he represented, grabbing onto your fellow dancer's hand to show union among soldiers. 

Shinso, unlike many other gods, he didn't have a dance. A temple,  yes, but no accurate recognition within the arts. Regardless, Shinso was the god of the mind. That small thing that controlled everyone, he was the person who decided who had control over their bodies in fits of anger or even intelligence, yet he paled in recognition when standing next to the other gods. The people would say a second or even third tier, though most had the intelligence to never say such aloud.

When the ceremony ended, Shinso watched you quickly bolt away, the sweat on your tired body cooling with the autumn air. 

"It's interesting." Kirishima's voice broke the silence among them. "Why do you think she left so quickly when she led the dance?" There was more curiosity in his voice than disdain or offense. 

"Who cares? One extra leaving among them is nothing to worry about."

"Maybe they're tired," he heard Mina pipe up, the god of dance and fun. Bakugou grunted, and the purple-haired god could only roll his eyes. You were a favorite among the three gods; your diligence with dance and worship to them was clear as day. Mina also seemed extra excited the moment you started to practice, your laugh echoing the square as you and your fellow dancers practiced. Then Kirishima would lean over Mina's shoulder, smiling toothily at your loyalty to the sport and your dancers. Then Bakugou, who would laugh proudly at your determination and rather fire spirit. Picking up a discarded shoe and chucking it at a passerby who dared gripe about your routine.

Shinso enjoyed you for another reason: your dance. You made one for him, only him. You had come up with it when you were young, and Shinso watched you with fondness and a smile when you were a toddler tripping over your feet. He is only a few years old, then you are the time, and found your determination to an unworshipped god as himself endearing; maybe that is why you were one of the smartest of the village. Now you were an adult, unmarried but married to dance. Perfecting the dance for the mind god. Now, you scurried to the safety of your home, stripping yourself of the fiery red jewels and placing them delicately on the table. Shinso, invisible to your eyes, stood near the door, watching as you began the dance. Moving yourself to walk a circle, your body still exhausted from the dance you had just finished. Your hands moved up, and you drew shapes as you spun and moved. The bells on your wrist jingling. 

You were smooth on your feet, and Shinso watched, struggling to not move, as you collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily. You had managed to finish the dance perfectly before your body gave. And Shinso, struggling to not catch you, watched. He couldn't make his presence known that clearly; it would go against nearly everything the gods stood for. So, instead of the next morning, as you left your tiny home for dance and worship, a slick cat sat a foot away from the door. Its bright purple eyes staring at you. Shinso watched with a smirk as you baby-talked the cat, scratching it behind the ears. When the feline meowed loudly, you froze before returning and giving a high pitch meow as well. Shinso watched, likely to your horror if you knew.

₪₪₪₪₪₪۞₪₪₪₪₪₪

Ten days had passed, and as usual, you danced for Shinso- the god of intelligence every night. And every day, a cat would greet you at the door, dropping flowers, small objects, or itself at your feet. 

It was this one time, midnight, when you had a candle lit as you danced. That's when you were caught. To be honest, Shinso wasn't even sure what you did wrong. Human rules seemed so asinine and meaningless. But yet you stood barefoot on your wooden stage, the one you used to dance on daily. Around you, men with lances and spears stood, waiting with bated breath for permission to end your beautiful life. You were going to dance till you collapsed, where then you would be stabbed and bled to death for the villagers to see. 

Shinso was unaware of where his fellow gods were, likely busy with other villages and wars, unaware of their favorite being told to dance till exhaustion and death. 

The back of your mind screamed at you; had you taken the hand offered to you a year ago, you would have been free of this horrid nightmare. Just trapped without dance and movement, but not in this particular torment. Yet you knew that would have yielded a more slow and steady death than this, forced to stay home and never dance again. 

Your eyes peering at your sisters of dance, some holding coldness, others pain, a few seeming happy at your demise. Snakes, you had thought, happy to watch their lead go so they could take your place. 

"Dance for your god, Traitor." 

There it was, Shinso's mind clicked; the town didn't worship him. They must refuse to. That alone was a death sentence for some gods, though Shinso wouldn't usually care. However, this was different. The flutes started, adapting to your rhythm as you showed your improvised dance for the god. It seemed to Shinso that the band that also played for you seemed sorrowful. Their music, while lively, seemed dead and soulless. One young man banging the wooden drums, the thick skin of cattle attached over the top, seemed to be quietly weeping. 

You spun, the mocking purple dress they dressed you in floating with you, the broken coins on the dress colliding and jingling. Your face held a scared and happy look. Your smile tight, feet moving with a perfect rhythm. When it ended, the man from before shouted: "Again!" And so it began. The hair on the back of Shinso's neck rose, and his jaw tightened as you went again, your bare feet scrapping the rough wooden stage, causing what he imagined splinters and rips in your trained souls. 

"Again!"

"Again!"

“Again," your sloppy movement led one man to jab his spear at you, barely missing your side. Roars of laughter ran through the ground. The drummer wept louder as your sister in dance screamed in dread.

"Enough!" He boomed. The world went silent; he couldn't stand to watch your decimation of him be turned more into the way of torture. You collapsed, legs shaking from exhaustion from completing this draining dance 5 times. Shinso had reached his limit; the other gods could rip him apart later for disregarding the rules. The village cared little for signs of his presence; that was made clear when the black cat looming and hissing was pushed aside. The purple-eyed feline hissed louder, only to be kicked. He gave them a warning, but they chose to disregard it. Shinso walked to the stairs, flipping his wrist at the guards who dared block his path. Their bodies snapped to boards, stiffly standing upright with their lances lying on the ground. Shinso walked to your crumbled form; even in pain, you managed to go to your knees. Head down to show respect. He could hear small sniffles and saw why when peering over your hunched form. Your heels, souls, everything was splattered with drops of blood and sharp pieces of wood. Anger rose in his throat. "you punished the favorite of the gods." He spoke slowly and calmly. Anger faltered heavily in his voice. "Mina. Kirishima and Bakugou will hear of this betrayal." He spoke, watching the crowd grow tense with fear and worry. 

He could hear the quickening of your heartbeat and breathing. Slowly and surely, he picked your body up. Allowing you to struggle and break free if you wish, yet you didn't. Instead, you stayed in his hold, silently letting tears slip from your eyes as you gazed at the crowd that once upon a time adored you. "You will know their wrath, as well as mine, very soon." It was a promise, and the village soon broke out in chaos and fear as the deity, and you seemed to vanish. 

₪₪₪₪₪₪۞₪₪₪₪₪₪

"They did WHAT?!" Bakugou screamed. Your bandaged form leaned further into Shinso's side, causing the god's heart to flutter slightly. Your feet were skillfully wrapped in bandages and dressed in fine silks. You watched the red-haired god grow increasingly irate, pacing around the room as he listened to Shinso. Mina sat on the counter with a sweet smile as she listened, though her grip on the marble counter led it to start cracking increasingly more. "They underestimate us. They must take our omens as nothing more than coincidences." Kirishima spoke. Mina hummed in agreement. Shisno didn't say anything; he knew they took their omens seriously, and by the way, Bakugou looked at Kirishima, he knew as well. Yet neither of them said anything. "Then we show them." She mused, a wicked grin stretching her lips. Shinso's hand rubbed your back, allowing you to hide further from him.

₪₪₪₪₪₪۞₪₪₪₪₪₪

Shinso watched you dance on the marble stage, your body moving like water once again. You dance every gob's recorded dance. Your body finding unlimited energy in its new goddess form. 

You were a minor-minor goddess only worshipped by the remainder of your village. Specifically your sisters of dancers, the musicians, and a few townspeople who cried and wailed at your failed execution.  

The cats, purple eyes, and various fur coats meowed and chirped at your dancing. Amused and interacted with the movements and tingling of bells and charms.

"Shinso!"

You called, your smile bright and happy as you finished the dance of sleep. You reached your hand out, the golden bells jingling. "Come dance!" You called, grabbing his arm and pulling him on the stage. He allowed you to, smiling lazily you both freely danced. The goddess of dance moved with the mind god. Dancing still, their audience grew tired and fell into a purring slumber.

₪₪₪₪₪₪۞₪₪₪₪₪₪

@bookishgalaxies

[harocat]

Perhaps this is inaccurate, but does it ever feel to you like general cdrama fandom takes the FL being a “mature” character as the end-all indicator of the show’s quality? Recently with legend of Shenli I see quite a few people start their praise along the lines of “unlike those other garbage xianxia with their annoying FLs”. And often it becomes clear they’re trashtalking Lbfad specifically

This is not just Cdrama fandom, it's fandom on the whole; the girlbossification of female characters.

I've generally always favored characters that get this treatment. Riza Hawkeye (badass) vs. Winry Rockbell (immature), Sango (badass) vs Kagome (immature). Sorry those examples are anime, but they're very well known so 🤷

These are also often healer characters, which is a trope that tends to be... sort of maligned. How dare a women be relegated to just being a healer! But IDK, I'd rather have a well written healer than a generic, flatly written warrior any day. XLH would definitely fall under the healer class.

(One good thing I've noticed is that while all the above mentioned girls got a lot of hate back in the day, as time has gone on, they've grown to become beloved characters. You rarely see hate for any of them nowadays. It's great.)

Keeping in mind fandom's general disinterest in women, so naturally the appreciation that does exist is often extremely shallow. Characters that tend to catch their attention because of this are ones that are 'badass' or that they want to 'step on them' or whatnot. A character that starts out more mature is more likable to them because they don't need to look beyond the surface to see how 'cool' she is.

This is not an implication that Shenli is a shallow character (I am only on ep twelve, so I'm not here to give any kind of overall impression), but just that she from the beginning has more traits that are easy for people to glom onto as a 'strong female character' Do these specific people (this is obviously not all fans of Shenli) who say 'finally a mature character' write meta about Shenli? Do they gush on her and share fanworks and create and all the like. Generally no, because in my experience people who like characters for 'girlboss' reasons don't really appreciate them beyond the surface.

These people will gripe about characters like XLH, sing the praises of 'strong female characters', then go back to only caring about male characters 90% of the time.

Xiao Lanhua takes too much work for these kinds of fans. Obviously we know she is strong, we know she is badass and brave, but the XLH we meet at the beginning is silly, immature, and boy crazy. To appreciate her character fully, you have to do more than just look for five seconds and go 'wow badass'. She's a layered, richly written character, but she doesn't start out as the kind of character that fits a girlboss reading.

On the other hand, almost because of this, you can find pages and pages of meta, fic, and fanworks about her, and almost any fan of hers can give you a plethora of reasons they love her that have actual depth.

On the subject of maturity, it's often a case of the kind of immaturity that's acceptable. Dongfang Qingcang is deeply immature at the start of the series. I don't need to explain why.

But his immaturity is appealing to fandom; cute, likable, and funny. It's good immature, cool immature. And I think this is because in addition to being a male character, we're also taught that being immature like Xiao Lanhua is--- is like... a horrible thing to be? But that's not the case at all. It's just normal! Again, back to girlboss feminism. Women and female characters are held to an impossibly high standard. Female characters that act in a way that might be seen as cringe (if they aren't also badass)? Yikes.

Yes, Xiao Lanhua starts out flighty and silly, but she's also a hard worker, and even from the beginning, she's courageous (despite her timidity when confronted with bullies). She's a good character, even at the beginning; she is lovable, charming, and so, so funny. People just refuse to see beyond their first impression.

The goal in writing a female character should be to make them well written, and in that sense, Xiao Lanhua is a great character. She just happens to also be extremely brave and badass, but some people are too shallow to see it. At this point in time I don't even argue with XLH haters. I'm just like 'well fine, I'd rather not have you here anyway.'

[dykekingofhell]

Season 2x08 Thoughts (pt 1?): Armand

My biggest gripe with the finale (which also had a lot I loved) is the "twist" that it was Lestat who saved Louis at the trial rather than Armand and that Armand intended for Louis to die. I'll preface this by saying that I was not going into this episode deluded into thinking Armand isn't a monstrous creature. Hell, going into season 2 I was really hoping to see the frankenclaudia experiment as described in The Vampire Armand on screen. I also was looking forward to Louis and Armand's divorce; their simple separation after years of them both retreating inwards becoming shells of people, barely speaking to each other but being too cowardly to leave for 70 years is one of the fascinating parts of the book to me.

Yes, Armand always directed the play (in the book's case scripted Lestat in the trial), but his motivations have been greatly altered in the show in a way that feels less compelling and to a degree flattening, of course, though this is impacted by personal taste. In the book(s) Armand's actions during the trial (and beforehand psychically manipulating Louis to turn Madeleine) are done out of a warped perception of love in part based in ownership and isolation. Armand views Claudia as he does most others that he does not love, as an insignificant pawn, in this case, an obstacle for Louis' "growth" and and obstacle in the way of their relationship. He genuinely believes that by enacting the cruelty of Claudia and Madeleine's deaths he can isolate Louis into loving him entirely. He states plainly before the trial (when it's already been set in motion):

"She's an era for you, an era of your life. If and when you break with her, you break with the only one alive who has shared that time with you. You fear that, the isolation of it, the burden, the scope of eternal life." (pg 221)

and after the trial:

"I used to believe you would get over it, that when the pain of all of it left you, you would grow warm again and filled with love, and filled with that wild and insatiable curiosity with which you first came to me, that inveterate conscience, and that hunger for knowledge that brought you all the way to Paris to my cell. I thought it was a part of you that couldn't die. And I thought that when the pain was gone you would forgive me for what part I played in her death. She never loved you know. Not in the way that I loved you, and the way that you loved us both. I knew this! I understood it! And I believed I would gather you to me and hold you. And time would open to us, and we would be the teachers of one another. All the things that gave you happiness would give me happiness; and I would be the protector of your pain. My power would be your power." (pg 260)

Armand is desperate for Louis (bringer of change, embodying the 19th century) to continue to love him past their early infatuation to be Armand's new window into the world and a replacement for Marius (embodiment of the Renaissance) and Lestat (the 18th century which has already rejected him). His longing for that all-consuming companionship characterized by isolation, manipulation, and ownership becomes most implicitly clear I think when Armand speaks nostalgically about Venice, "I wish I had the artist's power to bring alive for you the Venice of the fifteenth century, my master's palace there, the love I felt for him when I was a mortal boy, and the love he felt for me when he made me a vampire. Oh, if I could make those times come alive for either you or me . . .for only an instant!" (pg 222) (in a way the trial and subsequent isolation IS him trying to make those times come alive)

Ultimately Armand's greatest transgression, the murder of Claudia, is born out of selfish and twisted love for a man (who he has incorrectly perceived as full of endless curiosity and wonder) who he has placed the weight of his world onto. Before the trial even begins he says, "No, I've had to wait and watch for you. And now I'll fight for you. Do you see how ruthless I am in love?" (pg 223)

However, in the show, his transgression is the attempted destruction of LOUIS along with Claudia, and Madeleine. Rather than being born out of selfish love and desire, it is instead born out of Armand's passivity to the status quo (which he clearly wavers on and struggles with as seen by the the Lourve scene, his look of regret outside the restaurant following the judas kiss, and his eventual taking Louis from the coffin). But to me, this aspect of Armand is just as well commented on and explored in an ending closer to the novel in that an orchestration of the end of the coven or a seeking for connection with the age can not be done through himself but only through another acting as a savior. Another compounding possible motivation for Armand's actions is the belief that Louis does not love him and never will love him in the way he needs, and this is him cutting his losses by preserving the coven. This would fit well with the look of guilt and regret outside the restaurant as it immediately follows confirmation from Madeleine that Louis does in fact love him but is withholding. His look could be read as a realization of miscalculation. However, frankly, I don't think that this angle is really explored or built up strongly within the season. And I think that's at least in part because I don't think that their dynamic and its strengths and flaws in the Paris era had enough room to breathe this season. In the last few episodes, their relationship in that era felt to some degree sloppily ill-defined. Ultimately I think that not enough was gained in the twist when it caused Armand's ruthless love to be lost.

Also, I HEAVILY dislike that the reveal comes by way of the Talamasca rather than organic probing from Daniel and Louis leading to a confession from Armand. (I honestly haven't loved most of the Talamasca use this season in general and think the organization is better suited to show up in more general investigative work like with Jesse Reeves in the books rather than in the context of interfering with the interview which felt much more intimate and contained without it). I find Armand's admission of his role in the trial to Louis in the book born out of an attempt to bait Louis into feeling SOMETHING even if it was rage at him after decades of them both living in monotonous misery infinitely more interesting than Daniel being given a file with the answers. I don't think that the reveal needed to play out exactly like in the novel, but if they were going to change it, I wish it had been to another equally strong character moment instead of Talamasca bullshit. Part of me wishes that this season had had another episode because the finale just had so much it needed to include and balance that this cop-out almost feels as if it was born out of necessity to keep everything within runtime.

Anyways, I adored the burning the coven segment, I'm happy Daniel's a vampire, and I really liked the Loustat reunion scene even if I don't love how we got there. I didn't originally intend to post any thoughts on the episode until after my second watch later tn with some friends but it was plaguing my mind so this is the initial ramble. Might have more to say late tn or tomorrow.

[ducktracy]

What are your opinions on Looney Tunes: Back in Action? I personally have a soft spot for the movie nostalgia or not, plus it was my introduction to the Looney Tunes so I'll always love it for that.

I'M DUE FOR A REWATCH! i'd like to give it a fair shake, because i think the last time i saw it was in 2021. i unfortunately am not the biggest fan :((((((((( my stance on the LT movies i think is "i prefer Space Jam [the original] over BiA while acknowledging that BiA is superior to Space Jam in every way".

BiA is not an exhaustive shoe commercial, so that helps immensely. it's clear that it was made by fans of the shorts and there are a lot of deep cut cameos that i really value and appreciate. i think part of my aversion stems from my contrarianism that i've been able to curb PRETTY well in the past few years, but being a child of the early '00s, i grew up surrounded by the Corporate Chuck Jones LT aesthetic and BiA is the pinnacle of that to me--i naturally have an aversion to that style and i've been good at overcoming it (i now love Joe Alaskey as Daffy, but it took me a long time for this to be the case), but BiA falls into so many of the trappings of that era that i really just don't like. stuff like acting like The Hunting Trilogy shorts are the only LT shorts ever made

i also have a hard time taking it seriously, and that is a problem because i felt that this film often tries to get you to take it seriously and i just can't. i said this last year and still stand by it in discussing its "Hollywood pathos":

I THINK PART OF IT ALSO IS LIKE. again. unrealistic contrarianism. sorry but if Daffy Duck were thrust in my lap and i had to go on a wacky road trip with him i would be ECASTATIC. i hate how he's treated as like "uhhhhhh only people who live in their mom's basement like you as a character lol because you suck and are mean and rude!!!!", and i know he's trying to prove otherwise etc but i'm just soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired and averse to that narrative. Bugs is amazing Daffy sucks yahoo yippee. it feels like they missed the intent of the originals in that Daffy Does Not Actually Suck and is in some cases exhaustively more competent than Bugs, but he's just so quick to be foiled by his own impulses and vices.

most of my critiques against the movie are moreso in regards to my tastes rather than an indication of its objective quality. i do wish other characters got more screen-time, i think i would like it more... i'm not the biggest fan of the Bugs and Daffy cartoons because they enable a lot of my aforementioned gripes. i've slowly been able to turn around on them and even love shorts like Rabbit Seasoning! but their dynamic always runs into the same trappings and i get rubbed very raw by those trappings. what i want from Bugs and what i want from Daffy, i don't get out of either of them at all when they're paired together. and so i'm obviously not going to like an entire movie centered on that dynamic

i do want to give it another shake though because i may be able to appreciate it more now or, at the very least, be able to suspend my reservations more. but it's just not for me. which is a shame! because, kind of like TLTS, i've tried many times and seen it multiple times to try and understand and see what other people see in it but i just can't. the curse of being too protective of the duck

[blackautmedia]

Watching someone play Twilight Princess after having gone through Tears of the Kingdom just made me remember why I enjoyed so much of it.

For all of my other gripes with the writing and character design issues, Twilight Princess does make this commentary on how it humanizes the Twili.

Midna has a moment before you enter the Twilight Realm where she stops to tell you about her home.

The game pretty consistently conditions you into thinking this is a dangerous place, the people referred to as descendants of interlopers.

But Midna also acts as a consistent and critical force toward Hyrule's governing structure (which is made more interesting by the fact that they don't tell you outright that Midna is a ruler herself until pretty late in the game) and toward the spirits.

A lot of the temples in Twilight Princess -- about half of them actually-- are designed with the attitude that you're not just exploring a temple but entering a space where people live and exist. The Forest Temple, Goron Mines, Snowpeak Temple, City in the Sky, and Palace of Twilight all follow that pattern.

It urges you to remember this isn't just a temple for you to clear but a place where real people who deserve safety and humanity live too. These aren't "interlopers" you need to be wary of.

This same scene also has Midna's apology, a bit of explanation to what was going on, and her resolve that the situation you're in requires helping and protecting both worlds.

Honestly--her setting her sights on prioritizing the well-being of her people and the dismissive way she treated you for it isn't even something I fault her for even if the game tries to frame it differently.

That's not to say the game is without its issues, particularly in a lot of the designs for its characters and the framing that comes with it, but I do really appreciate how the game goes out of its way to humanize a group of people Link has been conditioned to believe are less than in many ways.

The light spiirt didn't really give you a shining description, yet Midna urges you to see this not just a place where people live, but a beautiful place to live and experience.

Then when you actually go in, the very first thing Midna does is make a request related to her people and to request you help the people who live there.

Meanwhile, the same series has the way the Gerudo are largely seen as evil others by default and only granted sympathy when they're explicitly aligned with Hyrule. Even TP does that with Midna in how her dying move was to save Hyrule's people. I realize the Twili still run into a lot of savior narratives centering Link, but I still appreciate this little portion of the game.

I wish the series as a whole took that sort of attitude because that dehumanization is often just done straight, but there is the freedom to critique Hyrule, its leadership, and its governing structure that I feel isn't quite there in the series now and even Twilight Princess still doesn't quite scratch the itch.

I really wish Rauru got more of the Midna treatment in how he can openly share his thoughts and feelings, how he can be a voice of criticism but also be criticized himself narratively much like Midna did.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Midna is overwhelmingly considered the best companion Link has had by so many people.

[picnokinesis]

if you would be interested in sharing your thoughts about the star beast, i would love to hear them!!

Ooh okay, so - well, first, just to start off: I think The Star Beast is a really important episode, and was very much a needed episode. The current climate in the UK regarding the trans community and their rights is getting extremely rancid, to put it lightly. Having an episode of Doctor Who with an explicitly trans character, having the other characters around her be affirming and supportive - that was awesome. Extremely awesome. And I'm really glad that RTD is loudly putting himself on this side of the whole 'debate' (which isn't really a debate, because it's just straight up bigotry from the anti-trans side, and we need people like RTD outwardly speaking out against that bigotry).

When I talk to cis people offline about this episode, that is pretty much what I say and also where I stop.

I'll put the rest under the cut hahah - there's a bit of negativity here, just as a warning for all the hardcore RTD stans, but I think it's well-founded and not vitriolic at all, just like, miffed hahaha. Also, I know there were a few trans folks who found this episode really affirming, so just to be clear: this is just my opinion, personal thoughts, and also influenced by the conversations I had with other trans people that I know and care about about the episode.

When I talk to trans people - offline or online - about this episode, I go in a lot deeper, because whilst it was a very important episode, it was somewhat flawed. It also came off the back of several things RTD had said and done that really ticked me off, and so I wasn't really in the interest of being entirely uncritical about what, to me and a lot of trans dw fans that I spoke to, thought was a very "cis" trans story. And when I watched it, I thought 'oh geez, is this how poc feel when white people try and write poc stories with good intentions but don't really get it right??" because like. Ho boy.

The thing about this episode was that RTD wanted to write an affirming trans story, and mostly did that, but also, imo...doesn't actually understand what gender and transness actually is. I think my main gripes were definitely with the climax scene - the whole 'we can let go bc we're women' thing literally made me go 'what' out loud at the screen because...well, it's just gender essentialism. Trans inclusive, sure! But trans inclusive gender essentialism is still gender essentialism. Women aren't better than men. There's actually an exceptionally good essay written by a trans woman who was still in the closet about her experiences in queer spaces that had a very prevalent anti-men attitude, and I've seen it myself irl too. It's not helpful - it's harmful, in fact - and it leans on this strange mysticism about women that is fundamentally anti-feminist, in my opinion. Women aren't "innately better at emotional and intangible, instinctive things" (and it's unspoken counterpart - "thus men are better at logical, rational things" - is also untrue). Women aren't magically better at 'letting things go' than men are - I reckon you could make an argument about men being socialised to not be emotional, and that would be an interesting conversation to have, but that was not what was being said - especially with the Doctor being raised in a society that didn't even perceive gender in the same was as humanity.

Also, the thing that REALLY got me was 'if you were a woman, you'd get it' - first of all, no. Thirteen never let anything go in her life and repressed to the max, if anything she was WORSE than tenteen at that lmao. Second - and this is the more salient point - I think it's a strange thing to suggest that tenteen is fully a man, at this point? Like, regardless of what he looks like, regardless of how he identifies or how thirteen identified, he just lived a lifetime in a body that looked like a woman, and thus was treated as such by the rest of the universe. He wasn't going to forget all of that. I actually really liked how the Chibnall era approached thirteen's gender - or, rather, her complete ambivalence to it, where it seemed like gender was more of an annoying thing that kept happening to the doctor that she kept having to remember, rather than something she felt - however I really REALLY wish they'd actually dug explicitly into the transness of it all, and so when they didn't, I'd hoped that RTD would do that instead. Especially since we KNEW Yasmin Finney was in it and we knew we were going to get a trans character!! I was like, this is the PERFECT opportunity to get the Doctor to actually talk about their gender and how it, fundamentally, doesn't really change between bodies, just how people REACT to it changes. But instead, the episode seems to present the doctor as having flicked a binary switch - once woman, now man - and thus made sure to remind us that every time thirteen was mentioned, it was framed around the fact that she was The Woman Regeneration, but also that tenteen was Now a Man Again. And even if that WAS THE CASE, it still wouldn't mean that tenteen came out of that experience completely mindwiped of everything about 'womanhood', right?? Like he lived as a woman! He was a woman 45 minutes ago, but now you're telling him that he couldn't possibly understand anything about this because he's a man now? Like first of all, his physical body's characteristics have nowt to do with his ability to let things go, second, it's just....okay, it reminds me of the dichotomy between all these detransition horror stories the anti-trans folks like to spew out, versus when you talk to actual detransitioners, who are quite often gnc and extremely positive about the trans community, and whose experience within that community and transitioning impacted how they view the world.

And I think it fundamentally comes down to RTD not really understanding either womanhood or transness. He actively speaks out on both of these things, which is great, but I don't think he understands them fully. I think the fact that he didn't think that David Tennant could wear a t-shirt, braces, trousers and coat because they were "women's clothes", and that when he cast David Tennant that was one of the first things he immediately decided is kind of telling.

There's also the whole 'male-presenting timelord' thing, which, again, I just don't think RTD really understood what that meant, like I'm not sure what his point was there, genuinely. Like, on a technical level it's acknowledging that the Doctor isn't necessarily male, just looks like a man (correct) buuuuuuuuuut the full line was saying 'you'd never understand this because you're a man' SO LIKE...okay? So he's not actually a man, but actually because of his male-adjacency, he's incapable of coming to the same conclusion that a woman did? So he's still...defined by his maleness? Hm. Strange sentence to write coming out of a trans woman's mouth.

What would have been better? I wish they'd just had Donna and Rose say 'because we're human', or maybe 'because we're the Nobles'. I also know a lot of people really didn't like the misgendering scene with the kids on the bikes - I think my personal feelings on that are a little more complicated, as a trans person who is not out irl and functionally uses my birthname almost everywhere, but also isn't triggered by it. It's not a deadname, more like a paperwork name rather than my preferred name, right? But I know for a lot of trans people, deadnaming is like psychological warfare and it's really awful, especially when done with malicious intent (like shown in the scene with the boys on the bikes). However...I do understand why RTD included this scene, and actually kind of agree with him. Because the boys on the bikes are the sort of people who are also watching the show. And so then seeing that kind of thing being condemned by the narrative by a key, beloved character, is probably something that's actually helpful. On the other hand though...in the Doctor Who Unleashed (or whatever the behind the scenes thing is called now), you've got this interview with Yasmin Finney saying that it was actually a pretty triggering scene to film for her and genuinely affected her, and I'm like....okaaaaaay then I REALLY hope they had someone she could talk to on set. Like, fundamentally, I think telling these stories are important, but, yknow, not at the expense of the actual actress' mental wellbeing, right? So that concerned me a bit.

I also think that the scene between Sylvia and Donna in the kitchen talking about Rose was brilliant. And this is because it was about cis people trying to understand and support trans people whilst not completely getting it and making mistakes, but also trying their best!! Which RTD does understand, very well!! And it felt so real. It was fantastic. There's also the part with the whole 'did you assume the meep's pronouns' whiiiiiiiich I have mixed feelings about? I think here, RTD was trying to poke fun at the people who do say that sort of thing to make fun of trans people, and having the Doctor be like 'actually this is a good point we should be checking this sort of thing'......however. I don't think I've ever heard 'did you assume my pronouns' come out of a trans person's mouth. It's always been a cis person mocking our community. So it felt a bit...incongruent. And all that needed to be changed was having Rose say 'how do you know the meep is a he?' - like that was all it needed!!! Also, it was a shame that after the delightful moment of the doctor being like 'SAME HAT' regarding the meep's pronouns, that.....we then had NO OTHER DISCUSSION about the doctor's gender!! Like, Russel, dude, you're really gonna have Rose hear the 'male-presenting' guy say 'oh yeah I do that with pronouns too!! :D' - have her NOT REACT TO THAT AT ALL - and then you're gonna have her say by the end 'oh you don't understand bc you're a man :)' after her non-binary power move moment? Sighs. Yeah.

I think another important thing to remember here is that there were no trans folks in the writer's room on this. Now, this is a tricky one because I think people who aren't part of a certain community should be writing stories outside their own knowledge and experience, and should be encouraged to do so!! I don't think that you need to have everything rubberstamped, and even something written by someone in a certain community isn't going to resonate with everyone in that community. Actually, I think it's unhelpful to start getting into the politics of 'who is allowed to write what' - I think anything written with care and good intention is valuable, especially if the writer is willing to listen to constructive criticism and learn from any mistakes that are made. But I think, as a writer myself, if you are going to write a story about that community, it might be worth 1) talking to them a bit more than I think RTD did - but, to be fair, I don't actually know how much research he did, but, well, see above on the fact I don't think he really got what he was writing about - but also 2) not dismissing writers from that community (and others!), which RTD did in an interview not thaaaaaaat long before the episode aired. Again, to be fair to him, he has since then been like 'oh, we need to mentor and encourage the new generation of trans writers and writers of colour', which, great! But also, sir, then why were you saying that all the scripts you got from minority writers were all awful, angry, and lacked any love for tv like skksks SIR. SIR. The thing that gets me about that comment in particular is that, as someone currently starting out in script writing, I know exactly how hard it is to get at all noticed. It takes a lot of effort, a lot of passion, a lot of hard work and a lot of skill - and a lot of luck too, granted, but not luck along. So, RTD, if these writers got their scripts to your literal desk, as showrunner of Doctor Who...I think they have some love and passion. They HAVE to, to get to the point where he is reading those scripts. Also maybe RTD should unpack the fact that he thought the scripts were bad because they were too angry - I mean, I haven't read them, so I don't know, but maybe, sir, feeling uncomfortable about the anger in a script isn't a bad thing. Not every story is meant to be an easy pill to swallow. There are aromantic stories I want to write about romance as horror, romance as a virus, romance as a destructive force, that I think a lot of alloromantic people will find uncomfortable. Does that mean they're bad? Maybe, lol. Mostly they're bad because they're not written yet lmao, but I don't think the anger and discomfort in them makes them inherently weak. In fact, I think often anger can make a story stronger.

So then, I think The Star Beast left a sour taste in the back of my mouth, despite all the positive aspects of it, because of that. I think that comment also kinda left me frustrated about Dot and Bubble, even though I think that was a fantastic episode and genuinely really well done, and very effective - and I'm genuinely loathe to criticise it at all because I think it was so important - but. Having RTD talking in an interview about wondering how long the audience will take to notice that the cast is all white (and, thus, the depicted society is racist) whilst sitting in a writers room that's all white iiiiiiiiiiis uh. I don't think he thought about that SKKS. I think a lot about Sacha Dhawan talking about how you can be as inclusive on screen as you like, but if it's all 'white behind the lights' then how much does that inclusivity actually mean?

RTD definitely had good intentions and wrote a mostly good story. But he definitely fell down in some regards, aaaaaand well. I don't know. My personal opinion is that he's kind of arrogant and thinks he's infallible as a writer (and I may feel this way bc of the way parts of the fandom seem to put him on a pedestal, if I'm honest) - but I think that he's just human. He doesn't get things perfectly right all the time, and that's absolutely fine, but I think it's interesting and important to discuss those pitfalls, and I just wish he'd stop making it feel like he thinks he can write trans stories better than, yknow, actual trans people, and then write the most cis trans story I've ever seen SKSKSKSK

(AND ACTUALLY - sorry, this is getting long, but it's kind of indicative of the whole industry at the moment? The industry is calling for more diverse voices, more diverse stories - but they also want stories that can appeal to the widest possible audience, the common denominator, and thus "trans stories by trans people for trans people" doesn't actually tick that box. This didn't hit me until I wrote a trans horror script that got shortlisted for a script call, but when I spoke to the (cis) producer and director (who were LOVELY, the producer had a gorgeous dog called Biscuit HAHA) I very quickly realised that they did not get it. They didn't understand. "Why do we have to kill the mirror demon that's the girl part of this trans man?" they asked. "She should get to live too!" But: "She was never a part of him," I had to say. "She was the idea of him that everyone around him thought he was, and thought it so strongly that she became real. It was her or him." They didn't really understand, but on the plus side it did highlight to me what was unclear in my script that none of my (trans) proof readers had picked up on (although my transfemme friend made the HILARIOUS comment that maybe the mirror demon could go and find a nice trans girl to possess? WHICH SKSKSKSKKSKSK I MEAN -))

Anyway. -gestures nebulously- I feel like my thoughts were a lot more concise and well constructed in the week after this episode actually aired hahaha, but I didn't want to throw my hat into the ring back then. I did find it amused how the majority of my cis trans-affirming friends were like 'GREAT EPISODE, RIGHT?!!' and the majority of my trans friends were sending me the grimace emoji in the week after the episode aired LMAO

[shadystranger]

I never took dean's extremely antagonistic attitude towards sam drinking blood as compared to anything else really seriously. While in first seasons they were still new to weird and their reactions might have been not as desanitized as later seasons it was always kinda clear he was illogical about this. The immoralness of demon blood was a pretense at most. An excuse dean could latch onto to clad his deep-seated personal unadulterated hatred to sam seeking someone else. And also his insecurity that his place- his entire purpose is easily being replaced/filled by ruby and taken right from under his nose and he's so driven up the wall he acts unreasonably and borderline psychotic like locking sam up and emotionally manipulating him to prevent it, when that doesn't work he resorts to violence. He was rationalizing his ugly feelings of hostile defensiveness and jealousy as some kind of a higher moral endeavor, but it was painfully obvious that was not the case. Dean literally at some point implies he agrees that sam is doing good and he's willing to accept him back but ruby is a deal breaker he unintentionally makes a visible distinction between it being a corruption/-humanitydescend issue and a more gripe that demon blood is rooted in dependence on demons and/or the constant need for supply; leaving sam not entirely dependent on dean alone. (Combine this with dean's emphasis on them finally being together and for nothing to come between them in s2&1)

Sam killed demons, he could exorcise people without killing them, he could kill Lilith and prevent the apocalypse (what they believed at the time) all objectively good acts. But dean blatantly did not care. Because his issue was never in the moralness of it or ''becoming less human'' hell this guy covered up for sam in an instant when he killed a hunter without thought. He threatened anyone to not lay a finger on sam when he thought sam was 100% going to turn into a monster and start killing them all (rather wanted to stay with him). Come demon blood and he suddenly is narratively very expected to kill sam out of moral obligation? Nahh it's a very fucked up psychotic break from a possessive driven mad who used up all his cards and is not willing to hand down what he finally owed to someone else so he's going to make sure no one else can have what he doesn’t. Dean stringed bobby along with him thinking they were both doing a savior mission for sam's ultimate sake and the world's when they were both on very different pages. Heck bobby is not the only one dean had fooled it was the audience and the narrative too. Insanely ironic

[irradiatedsnakes]

Hi! I really like your furry aus! They really inspired me to branch out species in my own. I was wondering how you chose such a wide array— I’ve noticed a bias towards mammals in my own, with birds following close behind. Do you have any tips on collecting species & looking for furry symbolism? Thank you!

HI HELLO so i typed out most of an answer to this like a month or two ago then it got deletd and this languished in my askbox since so let me try again and emphasize the stuff that i think is the most important when i'm making my furry aus

biological interest and diversity

i think the biggest thing that gets my goat when i look at other furry aus is the lack of animal diversity. and, i need to be clear here, this is ENTIRELY a personal gripe/preference- it just kind of annoys me when i see furry aus that are entirely familiar, domestic mammals, yknow? where at least half the characters are dogs and cats. like, no shade to people who do or like those, i cannot emphasize enough how this is a meaningless Me pet peeve, i just really really think furries in general should broaden their horizons and try out more out-there species. and i'm not perfect in this way either: there's an OBVIOUS bird bias in my choices, and a MASSIVE tetrapod bias: almost none of my furries are fish or inverts, despite fish species outnumbering tetrapod species, and invertebrate species outnumbering vertebrate species by massive orders of magnitude.

i think my point is: try getting more unconventional with it. i also really like including extinct species because that's just my jam. pterosaurs, man, consider them

i often will do wikipedia trawls for animals when choosing species for furry aus- i'll have a general idea of the animal i want (ie, horsefly, wallaby) and i'll get to peruse the various families/genera/species under those more general umbrellas til i find something that works either visually or symbolically better than the others.

i'll also say that there will often be a very obvious choice for characters- like, spider for annabelle cane, or something. i encourage, in cases like this, don't go with the obvious choice, see if you can find something more subtly meaningful and interesting. (see: a hummingbird for annabelle cane. they steal spiderwebs in order to weave their nests, but can become trapped in the webs instead and get eaten by the spider.) it can also help to actively try and choose animals- like inverts and fish- that don't usually immediately jump to mind for you.

i also highly recommend getting Specific with it. always do your best to choose a Species of animal, rather than a genus, family, or more general group. it's always more interesting.

2. The Process

so very first thing when i'm choosing a species for a characetr is ENTIRELY vibes-based. like what does this character Feel like. sometimes this step is skipped, if there's like, an obvious symbolic or mentioned-in-canon choice that would make more sense (see: condor callum crown). but most of the time for me: Vibes. i'm just gonna list a few of my dialtown furries and my thought process (as i remember it, may be inaccurate) for how i chose them? hopefully that helps a bit.

oliver, to me, feels like a soft and fluffy mammal. he's outgoing, friendly, kind of an in-your-face personality. just feels like a mammal to me! but he's also a complete freak, so i was like, oh, he has to be a marsupial or a monotreme. the Strange mammals! i decided that, from there, he feels most like one of the megapodes (kangaroos, wallabys, those sorts) to me. kangaroos look too scary and imposing, with a frightening Buff Man kind of vibe, so those were out. went to wallabies, because they get that cute fluffy mammal vibe that i wanted for him. i eventually settled on the yellow-footed rock wallaby: they have bold, stripey patterning that i think fits his vibe, and rufous coloration on their limbs that meshes well with his red color palette.

or let's take randy. vibes here were some sort of Trash Animal, those sorts like pigeons and raccoons that adapt well to living in human garbage and most people regard as a nuisance. randy also feels very Birdy to me. from there, i think it was fig who suggested an animal that preys upon swans, and that's really funny. i eventually landed on gulls: some larger gulls will hunt swan chicks, and gulls are a perfect epitome of Trash Animal. i went with the great black-backed gull in particular- randy jade being the biggest, most imposing, apex-predator ass gull is really funny to me. also: i like great black-backed gulls.

karen! she was pretty straightforward for me: karen very much felt like a bug. some sort of insect or arachnid was my starting point: i felt that the Bug Vibes fit her well and that the segmented leg look would work well for her visually. flies are a group i like a lot and felt fit well here- overlooked, often seen as generic or boring (but are actually really cool), and also i like them. and, like, i couldn't resist the pull of Oh She Should Be A Horsefly. She Needs To Be A Horsefly. much like for oliver, the species was chosen for visual reasons: needed to be brown or tan to complement her color scheme, and i didn't want it to be one of the like, larger/scarier horseflies. band-eyed brown horseflies fit her color scheme and are pretty to look at.

3. uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

that's most of what i've got, i think. sorry for the lateness, hope this can provide some direction.

[2af-afterdark]

What in Hell is Bad?: June 3, 2024 update

Alright people! The game has updated and I have thoughts about everything they have done. Excuse me while I mindlessly ramble about them down below.

Customizable hotbar

Let's start with something I actually like* for the most part. The new customizable hotbar is really fun and allows players to decorate their homescreen the way they like. It's a nice touch. Not necessary, but enjoyable. My only caveat is that, once you switch icons, the basic icons aren't avaiable to switch back to. I don't know why they aren't an option yet, but I hope that will be fixed soon.

My other gripe is that Beelzebub is not included in the shop. His icons are avaible in the Nightmare Pass, which feels like a middle finger to his fans and f2p players since most of the icons are on the superior pass route (one is on the free route). I don't like that.

Pancake Shop Update

We got a warning some odd months back that this was coming, but... oh boy do I have mixed feelings on it. On one hand, I like the accessories that you can buy from the new pancake shop in addition to having some L character people may want. On the other hand... I miss the old items I could buy from the shop. I bought my 30 red keys everyday, which is why I have over 3,000 of them at the moment. It was also really easy to use the pancake shop to fulfill any mission that required me to purchase items from the shop because of how cheap they were.

And I am almost positive that's why they changed the shop. The rate at which one could get pancakes versus how they were used made them pretty easy to use in a way I'm sure PB saw as unbalanced but that I, as a player, personally saw as unstressful. Instead... we now have there new nightmare pancakes.

I do not like the sell rate for these. Converting duplicates into these new nightmare pancakes is a lot less lucrative. S-ranks cards seem to go for 6 nightmare pancake whereas anything A+ or lower is exchanged for coins and books instead (a resource I have personally never struggled for. I currently have 25,000,000 of each. I don't need more).

By the time I converted my old pancakes, I had 150 of these new bastards and that was enough to clean out the entire shop. I don't know what I'm supposed to keep doing with these now. I guess I can get more Story Clear Tickets and maybe and L card I want every now and again, but... Unless they restock, the new pancakes just aren't as good or lucrative for a player.

All these items could have been added to the old pancake shop and the prices jacked up if they really wanted people to burn their pancakes.

Main Story Clear Tickets

I like them. I know they have to be bought with pancakes or gems at the moment, but they solve an issues I've had for a while. I hate grinding for candies by replaying the same level over and over. I like have skip tickets for that. And I'm sure someone will point out that we can do the Dark Sanctuary battles for free, but... I would point out that some games require all fights to use tickets (like Nu:C). PB is actually rather generous to only require them on main story fights, of which the only unique resource is candies. Basically, you only need tickets to farm free candies. And if you don't have candies? The boss fights aren't actually very complicated (I literally don't interact with my phone during the fights at all). Plus, you get 10 free skips a day from the looks of it, so... the tickets are just extra.

I MISUNDERSTOOD WHAT A STORY SKIP TICKET WAS!

THEY LET YOU SKIP FIGHTS THAT YOU MAY BE HAVING TROUBLE WITH WHICH SOME PEOPLE WILL FIND VERY USEFUL INDEED. YOU CAN STILL SKIP THE BOSS BATTLES 10X TIMES THOUGH! STILL LIKE THESE, JUST MISUNDERSTOOD THEIR USE.

Nightmare Pass

Fuck you, PB! I say that as a whale who has almost every card in this fucking game (missing 4 total). I know they need to make money. I try to be sympathetic to a company's need to make an income to pay for everything, but this is fucking ridiculous. The Lucifer (Victory) Nightmare Pass just ended and the Niflheim event is currently running. You cannot drop Nightmare Pass (paid content) one after the other without draining your fanbase dry. You need to put some space between those events. Once every other month is the most often I would reccomnd running these Nightmare Passes and even that is excessive.

You especially cannot have multiple events running at once. It forces players to split their attention between the multiple battle types and missions that are currently running. It's so player unfriendly that I fucking scoff and the gall of it all. This is real fast way to anger your playerbase. Not all whales are limitless wallets. Everyone has their breaking point. For some, that's needing to drop a stupid amount of cash for a card, and the first time they don't whale because they haven't had the time to rebuild their funds between these exploitative practices? They'll realize they don't need to whale at all.

And, as I said earlier, some of the default decorations are locked behind this nightmare pass (the Beelzebub ones), so that is just.... just shitty of PB.

Unholy Board

What the fuck happened here and who thought it was a good idea? Somehow, the update made it so that missions will light up in the unholy board when they are not completed.

Notice how the orb is blue, but the mission clearly isn't finished? That's what I mean. It has made trying to figure out which missions I have or have not finished much harder. I used to just look at the grey bubbles, but now I have to check the colored ones too. It's so much worse that what they had.

Yes, missions that are ready to be claimed still sparkle, but it's hard to find the unfinished ones.

For reference, the green checks are completed, the red Xs are not. Trying to keep this straight is a nightmare, especially since I try to finish the entire unholy board and not just the main path.