#Criticizing certain designs for not being identical misses the point. Them being identical is a preference not a critique.

[real-reulbbr-band]

“Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer don’t even look exactly alike how can their owners not tell them apart”

The implication in the lyrics was that by the time the owners got to the scene of the crime the deed was done and they couldn’t tell which cat had done it. The whole point is that they can’t tell the cats are collaborating and that enables them to succeed again and again. Them looking similar is a bonus.

“Or after supper one of the girls suddenly missed her Woolworth pearls

Then the family would say, "It's that horrible cat!

It was Mungojerrie or Rumpelteazer!"

And most of the time they left it at that”

Even later, the family and cook are only notified about Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer’s actions after the fact. They didn’t see anything happening.

“When the family assembled for Sunday dinner

Their minds made up that they wouldn't get thinner on

Argentine joint, potatoes and greens

Then the cook would appear from behind the scenes

And say in a voice that was broken with sorrow

"I'm afraid you must wait and have dinner tomorrow

The joint has gone from the oven like that!”

“Then the family would say, "It's that horrible cat! It was Mungojerrie or Rumpelteazer!" And most of the time they left it at that.”

The song even ends by stating the family can hear the destruction they’ve caused but haven’t seen anything. And so they can only discuss who it could’ve been and move on.

I think this also answers another common question I see which is “why do Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer’s owners keep them?”

“It’s that horrible cat!” Cat, as in one cat. Not two. They think only one of them did it and don’t want to get rid of both their cats if one is “innocent”. So they keep them both and ponder on.

[dokidokitsuna]

Inventor/Invention

-In case you didn’t notice, I’ve been trying to make most of the characters in this AU look like they’re age 50+...which is something I’ve never done before, and it might explain why the designs have been so hit or miss. ^^;;;  Fortunately, Susie seems to be a hit; I like how this drawing came out. ^^ I think this body type + clothing aesthetic + age demographic is a particularly rare combination; personally I’ve never seen a character who looks like this before. And yet, I managed to make it work~.

-Susie (the current ‘President Haltmann’, btw) is basically Magolor’s right hand, and helps him with all the technological aspects of his conquest-- not only did she create Auto-Nightmare, she also had a large hand in cloning Blade, and studies the progression of her disease throughout the story. In return for playing the tech support role, she’s allowed to have the Haltmann Works Co. drain resources from all the worlds that Magolor conquers-- which he would agree to, of course, since it would be an easy way to keep his new subjects in line (read: oppressed and afraid) while he’s off looking for more heroes to murder.

It makes me wonder, though, what would happen if the “player” chooses to have Magolor become nicer over the course of the story…like, if he really does turn himself around, he and Susie would have to come into conflict over this deal eventually. ^^; Maybe I just won’t let him get to that point; maybe the best he can do for the purposes of the story is learn to love Blade and take care of her…while completely ignoring all the evil he’s done to the rest of the universe, and simply not giving a damn about letting the HWC consume everyone and everything he left behind. XD

-P.S. Susie basically has two main designs: she’d appear in this physical form for certain cutscenes, but fight exclusively with her mecha (which I totally will draw at some point…I promise…⚆u⚆; )

-Auto-Nightmare is the result of me wanting to finally use Nightmare in an AU for once, but wanting to do it in an unorthodox way. ^^ Besides, I can’t really see a more canon-esque Nightmare willingly being subservient to someone like Magolor…and in terms of traitors/fickle allies, Mags already has his hands full with Marx. I don’t need another character in the party who plays the same role…

So Auto-Nightmare was born, combining the Power Orb with some of Nightmare’s accessories to create this cuter, more unassuming design. Which eventually informed his character concept.

-”Auto” is not really Nightmare; not even an amnesiac-reset version of Nightmare. Technically he’s just a machine that was designed to force Nightmare’s Power Orb to awaken…but ultimately failed, and now simply draws from its power to create his own identity and abilities. The result is this walking bundle of anxiety who feels inferior to his “former self”, and tries to make up for it by doing everything his bosses tell him to do. ^^; However, over the course of the story, he befriends Blade, and starts to become more assertive. He may not be able to stand up for himself, but he quickly learns to stand up for his ailing friend, even to the point of openly criticizing Magolor for his treatment of her.

-As you might have guessed, this is where his ���death” comes in. ^^ Soon after I decided he should be Blade’s only real friend, I kinda knew he had to die, because he would end up getting in Magolor’s way. Isolation is a large part of what makes an abusive relationship work; a victim with a staunch supporter who genuinely wants what’s best for them will escape your control eventually... …Besides, Magolor is terribly petty, and would probably be offended by this ‘magic tin can’ talking back to him…enough to snap and shatter his face while Blade is unconscious, if the "player" so chooses. =T

Because Auto isn’t really alive, he doesn’t exactly die…the Power Orb itself can even reform on its own. But breaking it in the first place causes his whole system to reset: he reverts to a silent, emotionless shell who just stands around and follows simple commands...and this is a devastating, soul-crushing event for Blade. Especially if you go one step further and choose to have Magolor lie about what happened to Auto, and/or imply that she killed him accidentally during one of her Malady flare-ups.

-On that note, if you don’t choose to have Magolor go down ^that sickeningly cruel path and just leave Auto alone, Blade actually does kill Auto accidentally, leading to a similar outcome. But at least then, it becomes an opportunity for Magolor to help Blade through this traumatic experience, and start to form a genuine bond with her. Again, if the "player" so chooses~.

[retrocritter]

[REVIEW - en] Breath of Fire 4

It is certain that a very reluctant feeling is awakened when I think about playing any title from the Breath of Fire franchise. Throughout the years, we came across very harsh critiques about its fragilities, which has almost convinced me that, although having an emotional relation with the characters, they were not games worth revisiting.

The previous contacts were very erratic: small tries in childhood and pre-teenage years that were brief, both motivated by the language barrier and the intricate points of the narrative, especially in Breath of Fire 2. In that sense, the sensation of being in a repetitive cycle while trying to finish games that maybe just don't work for me is very present.

At the same time, I love an underdog. When a game or franchise is widely criticized - specially in JRPGs - being it at release or throughout time, my first impulse is always trying to see from another perspective.

This is mainly due to little belief on mainstream industry cultivated values (yes AAA, this is about you) and an understanding that we are increasingly moving away from the possibilities of experimenting games that frustrate us, do not commit to expectations built by billion-dollars teams with hundreds of people and, in particular, are imperfect, brittle and mirror learning and adaptation processes of the people that developed them.

That is the case of Breath of Fire 4 (at some level). Although more polished than its predecessor in context of the 2D - 3D transition on PS1, the game accidentally put us on unresolved graphical dilemmas on the intersection of these two paradigms.

On one hand, the 2D sprites show us the maturity of 7 years of franchise with vibrant animations, carefully selected colors and a visual identity that enhances the impressions we have of the characters and their relationship with the world.

This certainly reflects an extremely singular skill of pixel art expression, heritage of decades in which it was developed as a craft. By the same measure, it is also an omen of its shrinking to give space to 3D models in the current videogame generation at the time and the ones that would still come.

On the other hand, the 3D models of the scenario, the camera controls and the level design of the cities early in the game look like a still embryonic attempt of adequating to the industry standards, a crisis that affected other japanese giants and intensified even more throughout of the first decade of the third millennium.

This is the first duality among lots that we would find in BoF4. Divided by the affection i felt for the character design and the constant irritation with movement angles, difficulties visualizing the scenarios and the proximity of the camera without possibilities of control, the narrative at first innocent stole my attention from its lacks, until I realized I was very involved by the proposal that the game was actually putting on the table.

The story follows the pattern from the previous titles: Ryu is a silent main character with an unknown past. through his path, he meets other anthropomorphic beings that are involved in political conflicts and their encounter orbitates the search for a missing person.

Throughout the journey, a detail about Ryu emerges: he is a dragon. In this case, not only that, but he is the other half of the dragon god of the continent that antagonizes the one he is in, enemy in an intermittent and grandiose conflict.

The duality between the split-in-half dragons, separated by the prophetic time by which the dragon god would be complete, intrigued me by its political messages in subtext.

The allusions to the west and east of our world (in particular, the known historical friction between Japanese and the United States’ culture), the wars that involved them and the flexibilization of their own culture regarding political and economical power is evident. This is illustrated by the soundtrack, which refers to Indonesian music on the other continent, and to european music on the inicial continent.

The identity crisis of both sides and the lack of mutual recognition as resemblants, problems that we usually buy by the western perspective, are presented here in an intimate, vulnerable way by the side that, after using its resources to replace god, produces a misshapen quimera of the parts that represent the whole.

In opposition to the prophetic encounter of the two parts of the dragon god, the quimera is a compulsory encounter: carries within itself the feelings of domination inflamed by the war and the will of not existing, for it represents the conflict as a body.

Its persona, until then envisioned by the group while we play, now marks a painful event of a difficult choice: to recognize the changing of what we desire when the dream is distorted by the world. To Regain conscience of what the dream means in reality, but also in a broader way on the path, interlaced by the world’s destiny.

The game places us in much more passive positions when it comes to war and destiny, compared to others of the same genre (Final Fantasy in general, but particularly Tactics, Suikoden and Fire Emblem), although the main character carries within himself what would resolve the conflict. The comes and goes between the sides of the planet, as well as the conflicts that convey in the built relationships, microcosmos of an enormous disposition, affected me as I eventually noticed that the bigger events happened far from the view of the main group or right before they arrived at the destination.

In that sense, we have a masterfully built sample of the relationship between destiny and free will, the dimension of our actions in face of matters much bigger than us and the power of collective memory that disapproves selfish decisions made by greedy rulers.

Breath of Fire 4 establishes a more just fictional relation of cause and effect than the ones we live in our worlds, but could accidentally reinforce messianic beliefs out of the screen that don’t carry the same fairness. Still, it can strengthen the purpose of those who were subjected and wait the ruin of the ones who subjected them.

[hanazou]

matching onesies with him.

Books : Dazai | Chuuya | Oda

Shelf : Mixed

Genre : Fluff, domestic

Note : I did this of my own accord because I am, in fact, a softie

Dazai Osamu

This clingy crackhead.

Dazai will be the first to come up with the idea. It's actually a random one and he asked it so spontaneously, he doesn't expect you to actually say yes.

"Sure, why not?" You agreed.

He's both surprised and elated, and he didn't hide this reaction at all.

"Oh, darling!" He wrapped a hug around your neck. "You always revive my heart with your love!"

You both will be enthusiastic about picking the onesies and agree to surf the net instead of looking from shop to shop since Dazai is under the supervision of a certain angry Kunikida

It almost feels like babysitting. Not that you hate it right? Should you get an identical pair with different sizes? Or complementary ones?

Dazai will call the customer service to ask if they have black crow onesies since crows represent death in some cultures. The response is obviously no and it's obvious that the customer service was confused.

"That's a shame," Dazai whined disappointedly, shoulders dropping. "Wouldn't it be both cute and poetic if we had a double suicide while wearing matching crow onesie? Two achievements in one!"

At that point you wouldn't even be surprised anymore. You will just take the phone away from him to apologise and thank the customer service. You have to convince Dazai that you won't find a onesie of that kind

"Wait, don't tell me," You stared at him. "The reason you want to get onesies is just to wear a matching crow pair?"

"Is it?" He grinned mischievously. "Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong, but I just want to match with you."

Other ADA members will wonder what you and Dazai were doing, Kunikida the most. He isn't exactly curious, more like suspicious. What's that good-for-nothing Dazai up to now?

Eventually you find a pair of identical ones. Kind of rare designs too! Guess what?

Crabs! In red! The little eyes on the hood!

It will take less than a week for the onesies to arrive in a small box. When it does Dazai will pull out a cutter so energetically Atsushi will think he's going to pull a suicide attempt with it

"AAH! Dazai-san! No!"

Nothing will happen aside from Dazai stabbing the box (while making sure he doesn't cut the onesies inside. he's good with blades, ex Port Mafia and all)

The crab pincers for your hands are soft like mittens and so smooth???? Imagine sweaterpaws but with crab pincer mittens (!!)

It will take everything in you to stop Dazai from wearing it that instant since a client Fukuzawa talked about will be coming. You will need Atsushi's help to take it off him but let's not talk about it

Both of Dazai's legs are already in the onesie too..

It seems like Kyouka wants one. Yosano and Naomi will tell Atsushi to buy the girl one and match with her

When Dazai and you go home together, he will be so excited to wear the onesies immediately. Dazai will be light on his feet.

And when you finally put yours on? Pictures. Dazai will take lots of pictures of you. You're a piece of art and he wants pictures so he can recall the image anytime

"Oh, dearest~ How is it possible for you to be so cute?" He began his dramatic poses, a hand over his head while spinning like a ballet dancer.

You both will take a lot of couple pictures.

"Love, you are so adorable I want to eat you!"

"Is it me who's cute or the crab?" You teased back.

When Dazai makes a troubled expression to answer your question, you will have to pinch him 💢

If you can cook crab soup, wouldn't it be funny to make and eat one with Dazai while wearing crab onesies? He will be so clingy when you do it, like an old school married couple; when you cook, he'll be bugging you while hugging from behind. It feels cozy, don't blame him

You have to be keen with your eyes so you won't miss Dazai secretly pouring ajinomoto to the soup. Get him a healthier diet, I'm begging you.

"Look, the crab is red like us." He pointed at the soup. "And like your face when I do this." He took advantage of you turning your head to peck your cheek.

He will also pinch your nose with his pincer mitten. "Boop!" It's a challenge. Boop his nose back.

You think he's already as clingy as he can be, huh? Wrong. You are absolutely wrong. If he previously sticks around you like a magnet, this time he's glued to you.

Even in the shared living space, he won't let you go. Is it the softness of the onesie under his touch, the warmth, or your cuteness? Well, it's all of them. What then?

Snuggles.

You both cuddle together in the futon until falling asleep together. You feel twice as warm.

He's the big spoon, let him feel the smoothness of the onesie while feeling your heat. And for once, the double suicide joke stopped for the rest of day. That's how much this impacts him, and you're proud of him.

Nakahara Chuuya

Matching with Chuuhuahua in a onesie? You lucky fella.

You have to be the one initiating it with Chuuya. Baby boy will be like "Eeh?" at first. He's not against it at all but more like, confused. The request is out of the blue

"Come on, why not?" You tilt your head. "It will feel so soft to cuddle with?"

That's it, that's the spell for him to agree

Mans is a Port Mafia executive, you can't go out from shop to shop in a mall to get your onesie with his schedule, so you have to settle with online shopping with this guy too

Only when he has time to spare from beating up people

You will sit together on a couch at the headquarters once Chuuya and you don't have missions. It's a good chance to relax and unwind together too

Chuuya knows best where to find clothes, including onesies. There are so many options! Dinosaurs, frogs, bears, Sanrio characters, Doraemon, Pikachu, Line characters, pandas, unicorns, penguins!! (I should stop fantasizing Chuuya in each of them)

Chuuya will act cool and chill about it at first, but he actually got invested in choosing and thankfully he isn't a crackhead unlike a certain someone

He has a good fashion sense I don't accept criticism, and this side of him will jump out while both of you scroll the catalogue. He nails both street wear and mafia outfits daily, so you can bet he'd pick the best onesies for you both

"This one doesn't suit you," He moved to the next option. "These are the only colours available? Pass.", "What's with the unnecessarily long tail?", "Oh maybe this? Wait, I don't like the stripes."

Of course, he will listen to your opinion too but since you feel he's better at this, you just either nod or shake your head with him

You have to be careful with your words when picking the size (this is much more valid if you're taller) or he'll go "I'm not that short!"

Kouyou and Mori (+ Elise) will catch you both on the couch together while browsing, comfy and all, and Kouyou asked what you two were doing. Chuuya's face will be as red as wine.

When you want to explain, his gloved hand will cover your mouth and he frantically shakes his head, screaming "Don't!" silently.

But alas, while you want to tell him there's nothing to be embarrassed of, Kouyou will take the phone from your hand with a curious grin and a "What's this~?"

Chuuya will just accept fate at that point, growling to himself and all

Kouyou and Mori won't expect to see a catalogue of onesies, apparently. The "Huh," on their faces are hilarious, and Mori will be instantly inspired to get a full set for his Elise-chan, much to her distaste.

While Mori and Elise are going at it, Kouyou will actually share her opinions. Chuuya will crawl out from his burrow of embarrassment and listen to her with you.

"Rather than identical ones, these would be much better. They have variety." Kouyou said. And you both will agree. You both have been eyeing a specific pair anyway

You both will decide to get complementary ones! Chuuya's will be a brown teddy and yours a white bunny! (Try googling Line's Brown and Cony, they're cute you won't regret it) Kouyou will totally agree with the decision.

When the package arrives, both of you will open it together. Chuuya's eyes for clothes are never wrong, the quality is immaculate. So warm and smooth, not a seam out of place.

Imagine the blush on Chuuya's face when you put on the white bunny onesie. The bunny ears on the hood! The fluffiness! His flustered face!

He will be slightly hesitant to put his own on, but when he does, you swear you can die from the cuteness. Want to see more cuteness? Tease him about it, and maybe he'll tickle you down until you're too breathless to tease him.

Chuuya doesn't want to say it explicitly but it does feel really comfortable, it's suitable for winters too.

As usual, Chuuya will be the big spoon. You will melt into his warmth and the smoothness of his onesie, and you can tell he's enjoying it too, from the way he'll drag his hand all over you to feel the smooth fabric

"It's a good thing we listened to ane-san's suggestion, hm?" You asked. "I didn't exactly like the matching penguin pairs."

"Yeah, this isn't bad at all." Chuuya admitted, snuggling his chin into the crook of your neck. "You're so warm."

Oda Sakunosuke

First off I'm Odasaku's lover before I'm anything else.

When the weather gets cold, it's your idea to get onesies for the kids. They could use some cute onesies to sleep in.

Unlike Dazai and Chuuya, Odasaku will have time to spare to go shopping with you. Being the handyman of Port Mafia has its good sides, after all.

The atmosphere is identical to a date! You both meet up at evening after work, have a simple dinner first, then start the shopping. Shopping for the kids' onesies with him makes you feel like a parent doesn't it?

Odasaku and you will make sure not to pick flimsy, thin, or rough ones. Only the best for the kids. Both of you put your keen eyes to use, examining every considered piece

Odasaku and you will definitely discuss whether to get five identical or different ones. After considering that the kids have different personalities, choosing different pieces will sound more ideal. You both will grant them the liberty of picking themselves.

"We just have to make sure they don't fight over it." Odasaku said.

Lion, dinosaur, piglet, panda, and penguin. That's what you both will choose!

Odasaku is a man who doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeves, so you relied on his eyes when it comes to him. You will see love and sincerity. He picks each piece with careful consideration.

The store clerk will throw an unexpected (yet clichéd shoujo) question at you both. "You picked such good choices. We have sets for adults too, why not match with your children?"

Odasaku and you will widen your eyes. First of all, parents? And match? Both of you stare at each other in confusion. Should you get two get a pair for yourselves?

"Why not?" Odasaku eventually said.

Odasaku's will be a brown dog and yours a white cat (remember that one official art of Odasaku with puppy ears? <3)

Odasaku and you will immediately visit the kids and give them their onesies. Their excitement in picking one for their own made you smile, and you can see the joy in Odasaku's eyes when the kids thanked him and you. He doesn't smile, but you don't need him to just to know he's glad his children love your pick. The way he pats their heads already speaks volumes of love.

Thankfully no kid wrestled to get what they want. You were especially concerned Kousuke will compete with someone

Odasaku will bring a secondhand polaroid he once bought at Yokohama's flea market to take pictures of the kids. You will herd the children to gather for the picture while Odasaku looked for the right angle in the other side of the room.

"Why don't you stay there for the picture too?" Odasaku asked you, half of his face behind the camera.

You kneel behind the kids and put your hands on Sakura and Yuu's shoulders, the ones who stood on the far left and right. That much is enough to warm Odasaku's heart, but when you too, smile for the camera, he freezes for a while to take the sight with his eyes

The picture comes out nicely. You will end up convincing Odasaku to take more but with him in it, together, all seven of you. You would need the curry diner owner's help to take the picture

"Sakunosuke, smile, will you?" You held his shoulder while you both kneeled behind the kids for the picture. He would be a little stunned

He smiles, but it was faint. Nevertheless, you recognise the content in his eyes in the photo, and it's enough.

When it's just the two of you in the living quarters, you will have to remind Odasaku that he too, bought a onesie. He will gladly put it on him since you look so eager, he's curious how it feels too

Your heart stops when he put on the hood with the puppy ears. You will have to fight back the urge to attack him with cuddles right there and then when his confused and innocent face matches the onesie so much!

"You're adorable," You smiled half teasingly, taking in the look of confused Odasaku who looked down at his onesie. The weight of the material felt right, it's like a cozy blanket.

"Try to put yours on," He says. When you did, his heart also missed a beat. The kitten ears on your head! The pure snowy white on you!

Odasaku is a bear hugger and when he hugs you, his embrace will feel tighter than usual. It's no surprise, he likes you and cats, and the way you interacted with the kids that day played tricks on his heart. You hug him back and ruffle his head while he mumbles his thank-you's at you

That night's sleep will be filled with nothing but cuddles of love and adoration. Yes, Odasaku is the big spoon, but you will also hold his arms tighter around you as you both drift into the night, chatting about life.

[soul-dwelling]

Have you heard something about Ohkubo being racist? I saw some twitter links, which due to personal reasons I cant check for myself, but otherwise couldnt find anything on.

Shared September 18, 2021

I've sat on this question for a long time, and yet my answer will still be incomplete. As I am white, I want to be aware of the white privilege I have, and I anticipate I am going to give a response that fails to address certain topics and concerns--and is just going to be flat-out wrong in a lot of parts. I anticipate I will get things wrong below, I don't like that, but I want to be open to reading more and figuring out what I'm getting wrong so I can fix what I get wrong. And I want to learn from any responses I receive--so I encourage any responses, and I will read and consider them.

At the time when I received this question, I was not aware of any Twitter links regarding accusations of Ohkubo being racist. Despite being a huge fan of Soul Eater, this was something I was unaware of, and I was purposefully ignoring--because I was ignoring any discourse around Fire Force, not around Ohkubo or Soul Eater in general. While I have followed what Soul Eater stuff is out there, I have purposefully avoided a lot of Fire Force content since the anime was announced--including muting any Fire Force stuff on Twitter. While I do not regret avoiding Fire Force stuff (there is only so much annoyance I can take from that franchise), I do regret overlooking this discussion around racism in Ohkubo’s works, I regret that, and I apologize for overlooking it right now--and in the past.

Because I have overlooked racist elements in Ohkubo’s prior works, including in Soul Eater, including on this very blog. I don’t think apologizing is enough, and I am determining what steps I can take to handle this better--and that starts with acknowledging the racist elements in his works. I think some have unfortunate implications that need to be debated.

For example, one Twitter remark I read asked why the South American meister had to be Enrique instead of a human. (And, I anticipate, how that leads to its own set of unfortunate implications, associating being from South America to being a monkey, regardless Tezca, his visual conceit, and his powers being derived from, not South American cultures only or exactly, but from Aztec and indigenous Mexican cultures.) I don’t think adding Enrique as a meister is bad, when the joke works; I think adding Enrique, and not more South American human characters, is a problem, and when your one South American meister is a non-human animal, when no other meister in the series, especially of a Death Scythe, has been a non-human animal, this is going to stick out and be offensive. I have seen and written stories with animals as meisters to weapon partners; it is a great idea, having Enrique be that character is great, but it is a missed opportunity that erases a spot where a person of South American could have been. Having Tezca as one such South American person helps, but again, this is a missed opportunity.

As an aside, this also opens up unfortunate implications to having Black Star being mistaken by Liz as a monkey, given headcanon I’ve seen from fans about Black Star’s identity with regard to Japanese ethnicities and the fact that Black Star does have dark skin.

And another set of Twitter remarks focused on the stylized designs to the band playing at the DWMA Anniversary Party (and here). Regardless whether stylization was used on white characters in that scene, the stylization on the Black characters who were performing in the band is drawing upon a history of racist images (the lips on drummer and cellist) and is racist. I’ll get to this later, but I agree with this remark that it’s bizarre that Ohkubo did this despite what he has done well with inclusiveness amongst his cast. And like I’ll also say later, it’s like me sitting here thinking “How could he do so well at writing a girl lead like Maka in an action series, then fail so badly writing Tamaki in his follow-up series?” My pathetic answer is that no creator is perfect, they make mistakes--and it becomes infuriating when they screw up so badly and don’t seem to learn from that screw-up, don’t show regret, don’t fix what they broke, and don’t improve. I’ve ranted enough here on this blog that I don’t think Ohkubo has grown with his audience: I think he keeps making the same immature mistakes (immature in terms of his craft, immature as well in terms of his humor).

And since I did bring up the monkey remarks about Enrique and Black Star, there are the major sets of discourse around racism in Ohkubo’s works, that being Maka referring to Sid, who is Black, as a gorilla (not to mention “thuggish”), and Shinra in Fire Force referring to Charon, who has dark skin, as a gorilla.

Regardless the excuses made (“racism in Japan is not the same as racism elsewhere”--which, no, fuck that, people globally including in Japan know the racist associations made where being Black or brown is associated by racists with non-human primates), I don’t get why no one, from Ohkubo to his editors to distributors to audiences including me, do not say more about this racist detail.

And I don’t get why no editor or localization staff bothered to change it. I have not sat through the Fire Force dub, but I hope someone working at localization changed the line. (It’s one thing to change a subtitled line and avoid something offensive at the cost of accuracy in translation, including accurately translating content even when it’s awful, or else you’re just covering up for the awfulness in the original work. But it’s another thing to not revise the line for dubbing, when you should have more flexibility in that kind of adaptation.)

(And that’s not getting into casting white actors as Black characters in the Soul Eater dub, but I hope I can address that another time with more depth should Soul Eater ever get a continuation or a re-dub...which, given how enough of the original dub cast have fucked over their careers and revealed their abusiveness and toxic bullshit in their personal lives, either a new anime or a new dub sounds good right about now.)

The responses to this criticism have been to rightly point out that Ohkubo does include numerous varied portrayals of Black characters (also here and here and here), drawing upon Black identities from the United States and Africa, especially for characters like Kilik and Ogun. But, me personally, pointing out what is done well does not negate what is done badly. (And yes, just because I think Maka Albarn is a great representation of a girl character in shonen doesn’t negate how Ohkubo fucked up with Chapter 113 and all of Tamaki in Fire Force).

As a creator, you’re supposed to fix what you did wrong, you don’t distract from what you did wrong by doing something else well later. You fix the character in front of you, not only make new characters and let that distract the audience from what you did wrong. You fix Sid (which, for me, means some potential adjustments to character design and not calling him a freaking gorilla); you don’t distract by creating Kilik and Ogun. You fix Tamaki (give her more to do, don’t make every joke around fanservice, stop fucking sexualizing a 17-year-old); you don’t distract by pointing to Maka or Maki. That’d be like me excusing something I did wrong in one set of responsibilities by asking you to look at something good I did: that doesn’t fix what I did wrong by mistake. Asking people to “leave the medium” is not helping: this is a debate, you get to watch something, you get to decide for yourself whether you think something is racist or misread, I’m not up for gatekeeping people to block them from either criticizing something or enjoying something.

And while your enjoyment of something can reflect on your values (if you keep liking jokes calling Sid a gorilla, what does that say about you?), I said “can,” not “does,” it is by context and debate (you can enjoy slasher movies without being a serial killer, etc).

I wish I had something more meaningful to say, and I don’t like that I don’t. I want to be a better ally, but just being aware that there are racist elements to this series, and just stating awareness, is not sufficient for me. It’s one reason why my focus is on uplifting fan content that does far better at handling inclusiveness and representation in this series. But my focus has been on representations of gender in the series--and that is my fault for not doing more to focus on representations of race and ethnicity, and I wish my apology would be enough, and it’s not, so I’m trying to figure out what I can do that is better. I will read feedback to do better.

[yurimother]

LGBTQ Game Review - A Summer’s End – Hong Kong 1986

Before diving into the meat of Oracle and Bone’s A Summer’s End, I want to talk about the women behind this game Tida Kietsungden, and Charissa So. So and Kietsungden have done nothing but impress me since the announcement of A Summer’s End. They have repeatedly demonstrated their immense effort and dedication to creating a beautiful and thoughtful experience. Through conversations with the studio and reading their blog entries, I gained a remarkable understanding of how this game is both a tribute to classic cinema and a love letter to the Yuri and LGBT community. Through careful research and thoughtful expression, the two women navigate and acknowledge complicated issues, including Asian LGBTQ history and Hong Kong’s delicate political situation with grace and maturity. I am in complete awe of both women and their work. However, regardless of my profound respect for these creators, I still endeavor to offer my unfiltered thoughts on the visual novel, giving praise and criticism where appropriate.

A Summer’s End – Hong Kong 1986 is a Yuri visual novel set, as you may have figured out, in Hong Kong in the year 1986. The game follows a young office worker, Michelle (Fong Ha) Cheung, who has a chance encounter with a free-spirited woman named Sam (Ka Yan) Wong. Both women feel drawn to each other, and the game explores this mutual attraction and the budding relationship which emerges from it.

This plot follows the standard girl meets girl story that has permeated the Yuri genre for the past several decades. Like most Yuri stories, the older and more experienced woman, Sam, is rebellious and beautiful, with long dark hair and a dominating persona. Michelle, although far more naive in the ways of love, breaks the trend of this trope by being the more sullen of the two. I would have liked to see the game diverge a bit more from the standard story of the genre. Fortunately, A Summer’s End is a romance story between adults who do not work together, setting it apart from the norms. It even includes a coming out section that creates a more robust LGBT identity than any tale of temporary schoolgirl love.

The story is well put together and well presented. The story is told primarily from Michelle’s perspective. It mostly takes place over a few days, during which Michelle engages in a whirlwind romance with Sam. This story features the struggle between her feelings and passion and her devotion to tradition and her mother. The progression of her affection is unrealistically fast. The story feels a bit rushed, and many of the societal and personal quagmires the game stumbles upon are not sufficiently developed or confronted. Had the game indulged in a more prolonged and tumultuous struggle for Michelle, conclusions would have felt much sweeter, and the story would have gone from good to great.

Even with this massive missed opportunity, there are plenty of exemplary moments and aspects of the narrative. The game pulls no punches addressing Michelle’s slightly overbearing mother and the conflict between the two. It would have been incredibly simple to take the easy route on this one. Still, the developers stuck to their guns and manage to explore a challenging situation satisfyingly, all while keeping the characters realistic and sympathetic. In fact, every scene relating to LGBT rights and history is flawlessly executed.

There are also some fantastic chapters, including a thrilling but refreshing bike ride and a flashback scene that recontextualizes certain events from another perspective. The many references and allusions to classic cinema including some older lesbian films and plenty of Asian works, are particularly noteworthy. However, the best part of A Summer’s End by far is the setting.

The location and time period is intrinsic to Sam and Michelle’s tale, as it is shaped by and reflects contemporary culture and LGBTQ rights. Oracle and Bone create a vibrant and lively world, a jaw-dropping depiction of Hong Kong in the 1980s. Everything helps feed into the creation of this world, including a fantastic and retro UI, small touches such as a Cantonese subway announcement, and objects encountered like a disposable camera help convey a strong sense of the period. However, the soundtrack sells it more than any other element, save perhaps the artwork, transporting the player to the era. While a few tracks are the standard easy listening affairs one expects from visual novels, there are tons of excellent city pop and disco beats, complete with plenty of synths and confidence! Finally, a visual novel soundtrack that contributes more than just background noise!

Sadly, the game’s dialogue choice system and branching paths are far more of a hindrance than a help. I can honestly say that the game would play better and be way more enjoyable as a kinetic novel. Most choices feel inconsequential, changing nothing of the story and resulting in almost the exact same response from other characters yet, they have a hidden points system. If you do not earn enough points, parts of the optional adult content will be unplayable until one goes back to find the right choice. I spent several hours replaying, and eventually skipping through, the game to unlock all the scenes, and finally gave up with one CG left unseen. The only choice with any actual effect is painfully evident in its consequences. One option leads to the bad ending, which is well written, but no reasonable player would go down that path unless they just wanted to see the whole game. The second unveils the true good ending, which no player in their right mind would not pursue, as again, the choice is obvious and adds nothing to the game. There is no reason to put in an alternative ending or tedious dialogue choice.

The characters in A Summer’s End are well constructed. Sam is adventurous without being obnoxious and has a mature though appropriately unrefined demeanor. Michelle is extremely curt and somewhat distant, although she displays a sharp wit and more timid nature on occasion. Both women participate in engaging, deep, and thoughtful discussions, often with each other, although sometimes internally, and thus feel well developed and complex. Unfortunately, their chemistry, while not absent, is not enough to sell the whirlwind romance. There is insufficient expression of their feelings and attractions, both internally or through dialogue and actions, so their inevitable closeness feels unearned.

However, even in the short game, both characters change with each other, especially Michelle, as she becomes more affectionate, confident, and caring. She begins to embody some of Sam’s warmness while never losing herself. Some of my favorite dialogue and interaction came from her towards the end of the game, although I will not spoil it. Additionally, side characters have a strong presence thanks to their firmly established characteristics and a profound effect on the narrative. Each has their own sprite and mannerisms, helping cement them as fixtures in A Summer’s End rather than tacked on assets.

The visual novel contains optional adult content, which is installed in an extra patch and can be toggled on and off. I played through the game with and without it and can happily report that the story is just as fulfilling and complete without it. Although the unlockable nature of these scenes is aggravating, they are very well written and sensual without being exploitative. There were moments I did not care for as much, such as Sam getting carried away at one point, but it felt very realistic and incredibly sensual. The artwork in these sexual encounters is some of the best in the game, embracing darker colors and showcasing intense desire.

Speaking of the artwork, it is stupendous. The game is bright and striking, with amazing backgrounds complete with luminous neon signs, glaring televisions, and life and activity oozing from every corner. The backgrounds are so beautiful and detailed they could effectively serve in place of CG art, although there is plenty of that asides. The character models and designs are similarly excellent, with expressive poses and faces. The various outfits, of which the game has many, embody iconic 80’s fashion. Artist Tida Kietsungden draws both the characters and CGs with a distinctive hand-drawn style, which allows them to play well off each other and add to the beautiful presentation. The detail and care that went into the aesthetics are enormous and elevate the game at every moment. 

A Summer’s End – Hong Kong 1986 is a vibrant and intimate experience. The fantastic setting and flawless artwork surround a compelling and thoughtful story about lesbian love and desire, societal expectations, and the bonds between family and lovers. It is rough around the edges, with a slightly rushed story that leaves little time to wallow in complexity and an awful dialogue system. However, it will win players over with its striking presentation and sophisticated subject matter. I look forward to more from this studio and highly recommend you check this game out!

Ratings: Story – 7 Characters – 6 Art – 10 Music – 8 LGBTQ – 8 Sexual Content – 3 (8 with patch) Final – 7

Purchase A Summer’s End on Steam and itch.io, available April 23

Consider supporting Yuri news, reviews, and content on the YuriMother Patreon

[alistonjdrake]

June’s World Building Cheat Sheet Part Nine: Multicultural

I kind of touched on these subjects before but as I’ve been doing lately I’ve had more thoughts and I want to do a deeper dive. 

Honestly while I’ve been thinking about this for a while and briefly mentioned it in a previous post, it really hit me when I was playing Crusader King’s 3 and my character became the Norwegian-Irish Emperor of Britannia and France, and a lot of my subjects had some qualms with my cultural identity and as I watched areas of England get Norwegian-nized and names changed I started thinking about cultural markers. 

To put it simply, a “cultural marker” is basically just something to quickly pinpoint where someone is from or what their heritage is. Of course these are not always super specific and there is overlap. Like, me saying I speak English does not immediately make it obvious that I’m American. But if I talked about what I grew up eating, regional slang, some things people wore commonly, you would probably be able to narrow it down. There’s also what I tend to refer to as the stereotypical cultural markers so if someone was to say “I’m from X” what’s the first thing that comes to people’s mind that they relate to that place and that culture?

I also started thinking deeply about language and language as an extension of someone’s identity. This also stood out to me in the case of empires or in places were dozens of cultures have blended. At some point, language either is or isn’t an extension of someone’s background but the language someone does speak can say a lot about them or the area they grew up as I mentioned in my last post with regional dialects or when a certain language might be considered the “default” among some characters.

Now, as always, I have to say I do not think it’s extremely pressing to give fantasy cultures so many layers. I don’t think it’s always necessary to have a throwaway line about people speaking multiple languages in your metropolitan city or the fact that the culture is either not a monolith on its own or new people have moved in. Do I think it spices things up a little bit? Of course. That’s why I’m talking about it.

The lack of especially falls short to me in settings, as mentioned, that are empires or densely populated or considered “centers” of the world. How many times have I read a fantasy university or guild settings or these expansive cities and all the characters were more or less from the exact same place, all spoke the same language, pretty much ate the same things, and had the same opinions on anything not a huge plot point. 

So Let’s Talk About Language (Again)

I’m not gonna lie. My nerd brain loved it when my Norwegian-Irish emperor took over England and instead of the names of familiar places changing completely they were just changed to sound slightly more Norwegian while still looking enough like what it used to be. I am upset with myself for never considering this before in my own work or thinking about it when I craft fantasy worlds, especially in settings where one group or place takes over another. The language would change or there would be shifts due to either

The sounds for the original thing they’re trying to say do not exist in their language

That’s simply how they pronounce it

Maybe they were feeling frisky that day and decided to change it just because. 

I think we see this most often especially with borrowed words. When a word more or less exists in several languages maybe because they’re taking on a title or a position, it’s not so much that the word changes but each one has to put their spin on it. Not always intentionally it might just be how they say it given either the limitations of their own tongue or how they heard it. 

In my last post I began to touch on this with the introduction of people speaking the same language differently in my Grazan Escan vs “regular” Escan dialect (the basis of this discussion just that people who live in Graza in my setting speak the language slightly different than non-Grazans which sometimes makes the language hard to understand for even native speakers). Last night I had another breakdown about how much I hate the common tongue and the concept of the common tongue and I’d like to also mention that if there is going to be a “common” language in a setting, I myself tend to use Escan as the common language because Escan is an imperial nation and have intentionally spread their language all over the place so a lot of my characters speak it, I think it is important to have some context as to why a language would be so widespread/ common. Someone would have had to go to these far places and teach people how to speak this language (and somehow walk away with it having no regional differences). Why would people in this setting think it a good idea to even learn this language if they have their own and rarely communicate with people outside of their community? What is the impact of a character having to take up another language in order to? In my recently finished draft of The Night Court, due to my own temporarily fleeting memory I forgot one of the main characters was going to a place where he could not speak the language and spent that entire half of the book asking for translations and not being able to speak to certain characters directly. Which, now that I’m done with the draft I appreciate more because I’ve definitely been in situations where I’m in a new place and my poor planning and education made me the only one who couldn’t speak the language and I had to have friends help me.  

This is where language as an extension of identity comes in. Could this character have assumed that his first language was dominant enough where he could travel to new places and not have to learn anything else? Or was it just bad luck and now he feels isolated in a setting where he cannot speak to anyone? What are the implications behind someone’s first language based on where they live? I just wrote two posts now talking about Prince Toli of the Escana Empire’s first language not being Escan and how that impacted his early life and how he appears by the time we meet him in the books. What does it say about the world characters live in where what language they speak and what language they learned to speak first has such an impact?

And in the reverse, what is the perception of someone being multilingual? It is expected in a setting? It is a bonus? A requirement of certain jobs or positions? A necessity to live in certain areas? Given how much court intrigue and political scheming I write I tend to have characters switch languages to avoid spies or eavesdroppers but on the other hand it’s also easier to make new allies if you extend the branch by speaking their language. 

Are there official languages? Court languages? Trade tongues? Coded languages you’d only learn for very specific purposes? 

Clothes And Culture: Sumptuary Laws & The Fashion Police.

This is a point I missed completely in my fashion post and I’m sorry about that. As with all my “advice” I feel it important to note I don’t ever expect anyone to go the extra mile nor do I usually think people need to. These are just things I like to sprinkle into a setting to give in breathing room or background information so it doesn’t feel like it was created just to serve a story purpose, but that it’s a world people live in. 

On that note. I’m very passionate about clothing. I’m encountered a lot of fantasy fashion in my day and I understand why people don’t ever find it relevant to mention certain things but as my setting is a late 18th century world in which the common people are starting to realize that royalty kinda sucks, it’s something I can talk about.

Like, the extensive labor that goes into making sure my royal characters have 100s of different outfits. Fashion is cheaper than its ever been but that was not always the case. There’s a reason why often see people in ye old days with only like 2 outfits for any given occasion. Characters and people who had constant changes weren’t just fashion forward, they were showing off wealth whether or not that was front of mind. To give some context as a lover of historical fashion and beautifully detailed garments, I did some quick math to see how long it would take me to recreate one of my favorite gowns by and. Given the intricate details, all the delicate beading and lace and all the fabric I’d have to buy (I didn’t even get into costs) it would have taken me at minimum 50 years. 

Now does anyone need characters going around talking about how Princess Zurina is wearing a gown that would have taken one man 50 years if not for the staff of seamstresses who likely work on her wardrobe? No. If a character in a setting is a seamstress or if the story has anything to do with wealth distribution and the extravagance and waste of the super rich, sure maybe throw it in there. One half of the book I’m working on is about political cartoons criticizing the royalty and wouldn’t you know if I go back to the time period I’m basing my work off of, you can find a lot of jokes and slights towards outrageous dress because people back then understand the labor that went into these garments. 

This is where I’m going to mention sumptuary laws. Basically, whenever I do my dives into fashion history I’ll find a lot of policing towards the way people dress. I mean we still have them now but maybe they’re not as apparent to us? And a lot of them used to be more class-oriented. One should not dress above their “means” or status which is where we get certain fabrics or colors meant only for certain types of people. But it also happened in the reverse where certain groups are designated things to wear so other members of the community know who and what they are. People not being allowed to wear certain things either because they would be related to deviance or offensive. Like characters in my setting cannot wear any shade of green around the king because dark green is the Escana mourning color and it would be considered as cursing the king to die.

Are there punishments for wearing the “wrong” thing? Is exaggerated wealth or having too many outfit changes something calls criticism if the character is at the top of the food chain (or maybe criticism them no mater social standing)? Are there any unwritten dress codes in a setting that people unknowingly follow? In settings where multiple cultures might exist or people from different backgrounds exist in the same place, do their choices in dress reflect cultural markers? And is there a stark difference between traditional (to a culture) clothing and modern dress? 

I think really I’m spewing this out because I want to see more culturally rich settings that reflect some of the stuff that I think is the most interesting things about a person which is what they wear and how they speak. But again, this is a personal preference and it’s just stuff I think about. 

[sbooksbowm]

The ‘Does This Make Sense?’ Check - Chapter 4, Part 2, Methodology and Motivation

Part 1 covers the introduction of Chapter 4, The Bookbinders.

Part 3 covers how bookbinding fic completes the fanfiction communication circuit

Part 4 covers how ficbinding challenges traditional publishing norms 

Part 5 covers how ficbinding reveals the tensions of material preservation

Methodology

The primary evidence for this chapter consists of interviews conducted with twelve bookbinders via Discord, a chat communication app. There was a preexisting community of bookbinders on Discord who use the app to share resources, techniques, and their completed projects. I coordinated with the founder of the server, @armoredsuperheavy​, to introduce my dissertation topic and the opportunity to participate in interview questions. Participation was opt-in, and participants read an information sheet about the project and signed a consent form before being given access to a locked channel on the server.

Questions were posted in the locked channel over the course of two weeks; most interviewees responded directly in the thread to aggregate and reference one another’s responses. I followed up via private chat with four participants who preferred to answer all of the questions via Word document, and in one case, in an audio-only interview conducted over Discord.

In line with fan studies methodology, which prioritizes transparency and participation, all participants reviewed two drafts of this chapter to clarify the meaning of their statements, and they will all receive a copy of this dissertation. I refer to the binders anonymously (i.e. ‘one binder’, ‘another binder’) to respect their privacy.

Motivation: Bookbinding as Fannish Response

Bookbinders bind fic for many reasons: they want a print object to reduce screen time and to carry around; they want to gift book objects to fic authors; they enjoy the challenge and craft of putting a book together. One binder wrote that her major motivation is her ‘love of some fics that I read REPEATEDLY (too late at night when I should be sleeping and I can't set my phone down), but I do miss having something physical to hold’. The urge to have a material version of favorite fic is a theme. Another binder wrote, ‘I really like the idea that I can give fics to the author to help them know that others enjoy their fic and hopefully really cement their love of sharing that fic with others’. By reciprocating a gift to the author, there is explicit encouragement to continue sharing their work, completing the communication circuit (Figure 1). Many binders consider bookbinding an alternative form of fannish response, allowing them to reciprocate a gift to the author who gave them their favorite fic. Intentional preservation falls lower on the list for most binders, but is the primary motivator for one binder.

Figure 1 I.D.: Model labled ‘Fanfiction Communication Circuit’. Two circuits, connected by arrows. The right hand circuit begins with ‘author’, points to ‘publisher’, points to ‘distributor’, points to ‘reader’. The center of the circuit reads ‘circulates text’. The left hand circuit begins with ‘fic writer’, points to ‘distributing platform’, points to ‘reader’, points to ‘fannish response’, which has a red circle around it. The center of the circuit reads ‘circulates text/creative products’. The two circuits connect at ‘reader’. End I.D.

Hard copies of fic appeal for numerous reasons, including beauty, a sense of accomplishment, and the challenge of book-making. One binder wrote, ‘it’s quite fun to hold something both beautiful and entertaining’. Another concurred that ‘the appeal lies mainly in the process of making the book, honestly’. A third added, ‘It’s about the Fwoomp when you put it down. No, in all seriousness: I like my hard copies because I like making them, more than I like having them. I like the challenge, I like learning about formatting and design while I do it’ [1]. The satisfaction of making a book is as appealing as having the object itself, and practicing a self-taught craft in leisure time aligns with the non-professional precedent of fandom.

Binding fic is also a form of reader response. Most of the binders read the fic before they bind it; only two bind fic based on recommendations from trusted friends or before they finish reading it themselves, trusting their friends’ intuition. All the binders select fic to bind based on what works they keep returning to. Some choose based on criteria such as certain themes, like queer kink or transgender identity or struggles, or established tropes, such as ‘enemies-to-lovers’. The binders also consider the fic’s length to see if it is an appropriate size for a book, sometimes combining shorter stories into an anthology to give the book a proper heft.

In preparing the text, binders spend considerable time typesetting, cleaning up the remnants of HTML, and selecting typefaces and ornaments to complement the story. Each binder prefer different elements of the process: one noted that the covers and endpapers are most important to her in communicating the book’s aesthetics. Another echoed that the binding can reflect the contents of the book: ‘I’m ordering bookcloth in red/yellow/green/blue for a series of Hogwarts fic in which the founders have their own story’ to match the color themes of the four school Houses. A third described this design process as ‘incorporat(ing) some elements of the visual identity of the universe in which the fic takes place’ in the book’s construction and presentation, like matching the binding to characters’ signature colors. One binder painstakingly chooses ornaments and typefaces ‘based on the time period, for historical fiction, or to compliment themes in the book’. Another attends to the aesthetic of published works in the genre; for his Lord of the Rings fic, he cross-referenced four different publishers and learned the ‘rules of Tolkein’s legendarium’ to match the book with its the fictional universe. The incorporation of story elements into the visual expression of the fic demonstrate that the binders are not simply creating a product but thinking critically about the work as a reader.

Citations

‘Fwoomp’ is the sound a book makes when placed on a surface

[dippedanddripped]

Debbie Harry doesn’t believe in harbouring regrets. “I have made many, many errors, but nobody leads a perfect life,” she reflects down the telephone from New York. “So, should I regret anything? No. It is a waste of time. It really is a waste of time.”

Dial back to the turn of the 70s and the life that Harry led before fronting Blondie – prior to her image being burned onto the retina of popular culture – was colourful to say the least. “I was so desperate to live life,” she says of her time spent hanging with the outcasts and artists of downtown New York. “I was jamming in as much experience as I possibly could and I don’t know if I could have done anything differently. I learned a lot.”

The old Bowery music venue CBGBs has long passed into music folklore as the place that called the likes of Television, Patti Smith, and the Ramones their house bands. It was also where punk and new wave progenitors Blondie cut their teeth before they sashayed into the wider world with the protean panache that would make them a household name. Classic singles such as “Heart of Glass”, “Call Me”, “Atomic”, and “Rapture” have been responsible for more worldwide rug-cutting than an industrial carpet tool. To imply that they were merely a solid singles band is to do them a cardinal disservice, however.

And although they’ve always cocked their attention to the things ahead of them, Harry and her Blondie cohorts have spent a lot of time looking back just lately. Harry’s long-awaited autobiography, Face It, hit the shelves last year, and Blondie co-founder and one-time partner Chris Stein published Point of View: Me, New York City, and the Punk Scene, a photography book featuring personal snaps taken during the band’s pomp in the 70s and early 80s. “We can’t keep on touring and doing club dates the way that we used to. It would be physically impossible,” Harry concedes. “Living through this pandemic has certainly made us take a long look at the value of what we’ve got with our body of work.” Asked if it is a process of attempting to frame their legacy, she admits it’s something that they “have to do”.

This deep-dive into their canon has culminated in a mouth-watering archive set, Blondie: Against the Odds 1974-1982, slated for release next year. Coming in four formats, it promises to include extensive liner notes, “track by track” commentary by the entire band, a photographic history plus rare and unreleased bonus material. The group will also go out on the road – coronavirus permitting – for an autumn Against the Odds UK tour with Garbage.

The artist born Angela Trimble was put up for adoption only a few months after she was ushered into the world in the summer of 1945. A loving New Jersey couple took her in, rechristened her Deborah Harry, and raised her as their own. She grew up in a suburb that she “never left”,  was voted best-looking girl in her high school yearbook, and oscillated within a social circle that consisted of “many of the same people” throughout her childhood. “I was somehow shy within that,” she recalls, “(but) somebody once said to me that being shy was an ego trip and a light went on in my head. I thought, ‘Oh, uh-huh, let’s have none of that!’”

Harry travelled by bus as a curious teen to nearby Greenwich Village, imbibing the febrile inner-city atmosphere. In 1965, she graduated from junior college with an associate of arts degree and New York’s allure became too enticing to resist. She decamped to the bright lights of the city and made ends meet with a succession of odd jobs, including secretarial work for the BBC, waiting tables and an infamous nine-month stint as a Playboy Bunny.

The period was a traumatic one, too, with Harry enduring an ex-lover-turned-violent-stalker and a near-miss with serial killer Ted Bundy (although Bundy���s identity is contested by others). In her memoir, she writes candidly of the time she was raped by a man wielding a knife while on her way home from a concert with Stein. Music offered a vessel for her creativity, and she spent time as part of girl group The Stilettoes and folk ensemble Wind in the Willows before her meeting with guitarist Stein which set the foundations for Blondie. Their classic lineup was completed by Gary Valentine (bass), Jimmy Destri (keys), and Clem Burke (drums).

“Somebody once said to me that being shy was an ego trip and a light went on in my head. I thought, ‘Oh, uh-huh, let’s have none of that’” – Debbie Harry

Although they self-identified as punks, the parochial and nihilistic mandate as promulgated by the genre’s militant diehards never fit Blondie comfortably. The group looked outwards from the moment they started, drawing inspiration from their cosmopolitan city. Their sound was a melting pot pulling at the seams of culture’s fabric, and they would weave their own patterns from it.

Harry agrees that their eclecticism was down to good fortune in coming from the “metropolitan area of New York” where they ingested “a lot of musical influences”. Taken as a whole, their catalogue bears this out. Blondie never stood still musically – yet never sounded like anyone else – and they loaded their songs with more hooks than a fisherman’s trawler. 1976’s punchy, eponymous debut married surf-rock textures with 50s girl-group sensibilities, and their palette had expanded exponentially by the time of seminal third album, Parallel Lines (1978). Eat to the Beat and Autoamerican followed, by which point they could boast flirtations with disco, rocksteady, funk, hip hop, and more within their enviable output.

When asked to pick one track that encapsulates the essence of Blondie, Harry opts for their 1981 US number one single “Rapture”. “What happens in ‘Rapture’ is very comprehensive,” she says. “It took a form of music that was, or still is, very modern and can be very political. Rap and hip-hop songs back then didn’t have their own songs. Rappers would just rap on somebody else’s music. (‘Rapture’) was crafted specifically for that rap. Until then that hadn’t been done. It was a breath of fresh air.” It stands as one of the things in her career that she feels “very good about”.

Blessed with the sort of features that could sell sand to the Saharans, Harry’s appearance caused a stir from the band’s earliest days. “That’s part of showbiz,” she says to me, trying to downplay it. “We always had an eye for that, the entire band. We always had an idea of making a look that represented our sensibilities and links to British pop and mod.” Maybe so, but it was Harry alone who was immortalised by Andy Warhol in one of his iconic silkscreen prints, and who posed for era-defining photographers including Robert Mapplethorpe and Anne Leibowitz.

Did the disproportionate attention she attracted ruffle feathers within the Blondie camp at the time? “Yes and no,” Harry remembers. “We were all happy that it was working. I suppose there was a certain amount of competition or jealousy but ultimately, no. I think that’s a better question for Clem or one of the other members in the band. Of course my relationship with Chris was so close that he was very happy about everything.”

The band’s wheels eventually came off after their muddy and unfocused sixth album, The Hunter, dashed against the commercial rocks in 1982. They had to abandon their subsequent tour after Stein became gravely ill with a rare autoimmune disorder, pemphigus vulgaris, that proved extremely difficult to diagnose. Blondie had no option but to bow out of the public eye, and they broke up quietly.

15 years later, with Stein fully recovered, the group reconvened and released a critically acclaimed and commercially successful comeback album, No Exit. They even topped the UK charts with lead single “Maria”, but faced tussles with erstwhile members at the time too. Former bassist and co-writer on “One Way or Another”, Nigel Harrison, and guitarist Frank Infante attempted to sue the rest of the band over their omission from the reformed lineup. And when Blondie were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, Infante grabbed the microphone to express his ire publicly.

Fast-forward to 2020 and the settled iteration of the band are working on a new album with John Congleton, who produced 2017’s Pollinator. Does Harry have a formula when it comes to songwriting these days? No, as it happens. “When a phrase or a sentiment makes me respond emotionally or physically, I write it down and I save it,” she explains. “At a certain point, I’ll sort of review things. A lot of times I like to just work with a rhythm track. Just a drumbeat or some kind of drone-y rhythm, a groove. Other times people will give me a rough sketch of some chord changes – an idea that they’ve got. I seem to work in a lot of different ways.”

Thanks to her effortless chic and timeless looks, Harry’s relationship with the fashion industry has been a mutual love-in since forever, and she recently announced a revival of her partnership with ethical fashion designers Vin + Omi – the duo responsible for her profane ‘STOP FUCKING THE PLANET’ cape worn at the Q Awards in 2016 and throughout Blondie’s Pollinator tour. They have teamed up for a new sustainable clothing line entitled HOPE, and her enthusiasm for the project is palpable. “I love Vin + Omi,” she says. “They are so creative and adventurous. They have this desire to prevail and do things that are smart and modern in terms of recycling and making energy count. I think that is brilliant.”

As a fledgling bee-keeper, the plight of the bees is also something close to Harry’s heart. It was one of the reasons why 2017’s Pollinator was, well, named exactly that. “You’re either being stung by a bee or you’re going to eat its honey,” she chuckles softly, marvelling at the absurdity of the contrast. “But bees and water are two issues we cannot escape from. We should be concerned with finding better ways of living, using our resources in the best way possible.”

Help is coming, she hopes, through the election of Joe Biden, who is “firmly attached” to the idea of helping the environmental cause – and she believes his ideas can help the economy, too. “I’ve been saying for quite a long time that solar and wind power are renewable (energies) that can create jobs,” she says. It’s a far cry from her feelings towards outgoing President Trump and his “daily infusion of bullshit” and “thunderstorm of endless diatribes”.

“One of the most exciting things about rock’n’roll was that it was about breaking the rules, and (‘WAP”) is certainly a part of that. It’s titillating and aggressive and it is part of what is exciting about popular music. The nature of what we try to do is to shock and entertain at the same time” – Debbie Harry

What strikes you when you speak to Harry for an extended period is not only her warmth, but her unexpected humility for someone so staggeringly famous. I reference a Bob Dylan BBC interview from the 80s in which he observed with sadness how his fame had the ability to change a room’s energy and how he missed seeing people act naturally around him. She paws the comparison away, saying she’s nowhere near famous “to the degree of Bob Dylan”, whom she calls “such a megastar”. This could sound like false modesty coming second-hand, but in person it feels like a sincere statement, even if it is a little bewildering coming from an international icon. She will concede, however, that she has “definitely noticed and felt something like that” and has often wished she could simply be “a fly on the wall”.

There is also an inquisitiveness that makes the conversation a more two-way affair than your quote-unquote typical ‘interview’. She fires questions back at you, not as a deflection tactic, but to expand and explore a topic further. This happens when conversation turns to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s ubiquitous “WAP”. A recent interview had her fangirling over the track, but Harry’s feelings no longer appear to be as clear-cut and she wishes to discuss the song further. “I love it and hate it at the same time,” she now shares. “One of the most exciting things about rock’n’roll was that it was about breaking the rules, and (‘WAP’) is certainly a part of that. It’s titillating and aggressive and it is part of what is exciting about popular music. The nature of what we try to do is to shock and entertain at the same time.” She pauses. “I don’t know. Everything is revealed and maybe sexual explicitness has come of age.”

Pushed about what she dislikes about “WAP”, she says she would “hate it” if any young girl or woman was hurt by the song’s message. “I think that, in a way, men have to know that women think like this, and that there is this component,” she says, “but I would hate it to mean that everyone should be treated like this. I don’t think anybody should be hurt by sex”.

Harry has long championed the LGBTQ+ communities. When she refers to her dearly departed friend and Hairspray co-star Divine as a ‘drag queen’ in Face It, she acknowledges the term in some instances is no longer accurate or politically correct. I suggest that it can often seem as though the evolution of our language is speeding up in the digital age – by necessity, of course – and ask her if online culture fills her with concern when it comes to using the right terms. “Yeah, (because) in many cases it can be a slip of the tongue, especially for an old dog like me! Things do move so very, very quickly. It is hard to keep up,” she observes. “Fortunately, I have a lot of godchildren!”

Speaking of younger generations, Harry likes to think she’d have coped with social media if she were coming up today, but is thankful that she had her “dark cocoon” in which to “bloom out of”, a place where she was able to “ripen”. “When you’re under the harsh glare of constantly being analysed, that shapes you whether you want it to or not,” she says. “It’s a germ or a seed that’s planted in your mind. It can take surprising turns and it can affect your growth. For good or for worse, who knows?”

“When you’re under the harsh glare of constantly being analysed, that shapes you whether you want it to or not. It’s a germ or a seed that’s planted in your mind. It can take surprising turns and it can affect your growth” – Debbie Harry

One thing that remains is her fierce level of self-criticism. “I always want to do better,” she declares matter-of-factly. “I’ve always been very critical of everything. I hear things or look at them and say, ‘Oh God, it should have been that (instead).” Maybe this hypercritical inclination is what still drives her forward. “I honestly don’t like resting on my laurels. I like working and I like creating. I always beat myself up about not being more creative or more prolific.”

When looking at the bounty of projects she has lined up, no one in their right mind could put Debbie Harry and laurel-resting in the same sentence. Aside from the new album, archival set and fashion project, the paperback edition of her autobiography will be released with a brand-new epilogue in April of next year. (Just don’t ask her what’s in it – “I don’t remember what I wrote. I’ll have to look it up!” she says with a laugh.)

The signs are that the musician is done looking into the rear-view mirror, though. Time may be passing, the tide may be higher, but Debbie Harry is doing more than merely holding on. Her eyes are locked to the future and she’s positively thriving.

Blondie: Against the Odds 1974-1982 will be released next year; Face It is out now via Harper Collins

[5thcomplex]

in  brainwashing,  the agent (the  brainwasher) must have total control over the target (the  brainwashee) to the point of  sleep  patterns,  eating,  all  basics  needs;   forcing them to become completely dependent upon the will of the agent.   in the 1950s,  robert jay lifton studied former prisoners of war and decided that they had undergone a multiple step process to destroy the self, each stage must take place within an environment of ‘isolation’,  removing all  normal  social reference points.   mind-clouding techniques like  sleep deprivation,  malnutrition  are often a large part of the process.   there is often a presence/constant threat of physical harm,  adding a difficulty of thinking critically and independently.   i’m going to focus on the first five points of lifton’s brainwashing theory.

assault on identity:  you are not who you think you are,  a systematic attack on the sense of self and core belief system.   the agent denies everything that makes the target who they are (‘you are not a solider/you are not a hero/you are weak/you are meat’). the target is under constant attack for long periods of time,  causing exhaustion,  confusion and disorientation.    guilt:   with an identity crisis setting in,  the agent is creating an overwhelming sense of guilt within the target,  repeated and merciless attacks on the subject for any mistakes (or sins)  the target has committed.   ‘he may criticize the target for everything, from the “evilness” of his beliefs to the way he eats too slowly.’   thus creating a sense of shame in association with everything they do. self-betrayal:   disoriented and guilty,  the agent forces them to agree with them (often with threats of physical harm/physical harm/continued mental attacks) to denounce their friends/family/peers who share the ‘wrong’ beliefs.   this betrays their own belief system and the people they feel a sense of identity with,  therefore creating an increase in shame and loss of identity. breaking point:   shame,  an identity crisis and self-betrayal,  the target undergoes ‘a nervous  breakdown’ (a collection of severe symptoms indicating a number of psychological disturbances).   it often involves uncontrollable sobbing,  deep depression and generalized disorientation.   they have often lost their grip of reality and feel completely lost and alone.   when the target reaches this point,  their sense of self is gone and they have no understanding of what is happening to them. leniency:   in a state of crisis,  the agent offers some kindness or reprieve from the abuse (a  drink  of  water,  food,  asking  them  what  they  miss) and the target will often take this experience as out of proportion,  as if the agent has saved their life.   the small kindness/reprieve from the abuse is misinterpreted by the brain and begins the process of ‘salvation’.

classical  conditioning  is easily broken down into two stimuli are linked together to produce a new learned response. classical conditioning is broken down into three very simple steps.

pre-conditioning:  within this stage the unconditioned  stimulus (UCS) produces an unconditioned response (UCR).   this means a stimulus in an environment has produced an unlearned/unconditioned behavior and is therefore,  a natural response that has not been taught. 

during conditioning:   during this stage,  a stimulus that produces no response (neutral) is associated with the UCS which becomes the conditioned stimulus (CS).   for classical conditioning to be effective,  the CS should occur  before  the UCS,  rather than after or during the same time,  thus the conditioned stimulus acts as a signal or cue for the UCS.

often  during  this  stage,   the UCS must be associated with the CS on a number of occasions or  trials  for the learning to take place.

after conditioning:   the CS has been associated with the UCS to create a new condition response (CR).

while both brainwashing and classical conditioning both have effects on  how  the  deputy  kills eli,  they overlap in certain places but i’ll break them down separately first and then together.

in the game,   upon hearing only you,  the deputy goes into a frenzied rage and begins to kill,  a  conditioned  response.   the game plays slightly fast and loose with classical conditioning,  blurring the lines between neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus often.   both ‘only you’ by the platters and entering the wolfs den have no unconditioned stimulus and are thus,   neutral stimulus',  breaking the law of traditional classical conditioning. 

the killing of eli is done through the movement of conditioning the deputy to preform specific actions upon hearing only you.   

entering into a replica of the interior of the wolfs den,  having them experience the exact movements and paths they would have to take in order to kill eli when only you plays so when they are placed at the entrance of the real wolfs den and hear only you, it is already so deeply ingrained into their mind that they fire shots in specific areas and are conditioned to a) kill anything that gets between them and the end target and b) come out when they stop hearing the song.   the conditioned  response of hearing the song is to kill and in this case,  to maneuver through a specific environment to complete a single action.

an already sleep deprived and tired deputy is more likely to more easily slip into the role of being conditioned.   (completing the trials correctly > a likelihood for an act of leniency).   this encourages them to complete the trials quickly and correctly (while equally becoming desensitized to killing someone within a specific environment).   even when in the real wolfs den,  the deputy shows no breaking of the conditioning until after they killed eli,  thus the ending of the song and breaking from the trance-like state. 

jacob trains her specifically within an exact physical replica of the den,  built from wooden walls to gain the correct movement and motion for when she is to enter and kill eli.   weak soldiers are put up against her to be culled,  allowing her to get used to the psychological impact of killing someone within the wolfs den so there is no chance of her breaking out of the conditioned trance.   she is programmed specifically to act and kill within the confinements of the wolfs den,  designed for exactly to allow her to be the most efficient when killing eli.

upon exiting the den,  you experience several beacons playing the song but lack the original conditioned response,  indicating that while it was conditioned to specifically activate correctly within the wolfs den.

classical conditioning plays into the triggering of the song,  hearing it and acting into the conditioned training (killing eli) and the brainwashing acting as a backing into her submission & willingness to follow orders due to being mentally broken down and helping the genuine level of dissociation while acting in the conditioning.

her memories of the trials,  specifically,  are very hazy and loose;  dominated by red streaks and blurred sight.   thinking of it makes her head and body hurt,  only existing in flashes and unable to pinpoint down specifics.   making her way through the wolfs den and culling it,  is on the same plane of memory until she breaks from the trance when she pulls the trigger on eli.   

she is brought to the wolfs den by jacob with a blindfold on and earphones in,  entering the wolfs den with an ar-cl and the music activating when she steps in.   the cameras inside of the wolfs den are watched as she cuts through the members of the whitetails and the second she fires a shot at eli,  jacob cuts the music;  allowing her to fade back into existence.

as shown in the walk away ending,  hearing the song still triggers something in the deputy’s subconscious to act upon hearing the song and falling into rage,  as undoing both brainwashing and classical conditioning isn’t something that can just be undone.   elizabeth struggles the  rest  of  her  life  with the programming jacob put into her;  becoming heavily dizzy and disorientation (in trying to fight her natural instinct to fall into wrath and activate the movements of killing in the wolfs den) when hearing the song.   both the lyrics and the tempo/music alone can begin to hold effect on her psyche & her perception of reality.   she never fully deprograms herself from the conditioning.

[claudia1829things]

"BLEAK HOUSE" (2005) Review

"BLEAK HOUSE" (2005) Review Previously, I have confessed to not being much of a fan of Victorian novelist Charles Dickens. And if I must be brutally honest, that confession still stands. I have only seen at least five adaptations of his novels - two movies and three television miniseries. Out of the five productions, I tend to be more tolerable of the three television productions. And one of them is the 2005 miniseries, "BLEAK HOUSE", the third adaptation of Dickens' 1852-53 novel.

"BLEAK HOUSE" has several subplots . . . typical Dickens. But all of them are somehow connected to one plot that centers around a long-running legal case called Jarndyce v Jarndyce, which came about due to conflicting wills. One of the potential beneficiaries under the case is landowner named John Jarndyce, who is designated the legal guardian of two wards, Ada Clare and Richard Carstone, who are also potential beneficiaries. He also becomes the guardian of a third ward, an orphan named Esther Summerson, whom he hires as housekeeper for his estate and Ada's companion. Unbeknownst to everyone, Esther is the illegal daughter of a former Army officer and drug addict named Captain James Hawdon aka "Nemo", who makes his living as a copyist for law firms; and Lady Honoria Dedlock, the wife of baronet Sir Leicester Deadlock. As it turns out, Lady Deadlock is also a potential beneficiary of the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case. When she and Sir Leicester are informed of the court's decision regarding the three wards by the latter's solicitor, Mr. Tulkinghorn, Lady Deadlock visibly reacts to the handwriting on an affidavit. Mr. Tulkinghorn notices and sets out to investigate the identity of the affidavit's copyist, in the hopes of financially benefiting from Lady Deadlock's past. He also recruits the help of Lady Deadlock's maid Mademoiselle Hortense, his associate Mr. Clamb, a greedy moneylender named Mr. Smallweed and the unintentional assistance of a young man named Mr. Guppy, who works as a legal associate for John Jarndyce's solicitor, Mr. Kenge. I also enjoyed two other Dickens productions to a certain degree - the 1998 miniseries, "OUR MUTUAL FRIEND", and the 2008 miniseries, "LITTLE DORRIT". But if I must be honest, I found the narratives for both productions a bit hard to follow, due to the slightly chaotic nature of the source materials. "BLEAK HOUSE" turned out to be a different kettle of fish. Like the other two productions, it possessed a good number of subplots. In a way, it reminded me of "LITTLE DORRIT", as it focused on the mindless and useless confusion of the chancery. But what I really admiIt was probably due to all of the subplots' connections to the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case. Or it could be that Dickens had simply created a main narrative that I found easier to follow. Just about every subplot either connected directly or indirectly to the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case. A good example of a subplot that connected directly to the story's main theme would be Richard Carstone's blatant attempt to pursue a ruling on the case that would favor him and his fiancée/wife, Ada Clare, who also happened to be a potential beneficiary. And excellent example of the narrative's indirect connection to the Jarndyce case proved to be the subplot involving Lady Deadlock (another beneficiary), her illegitimate daughter Esther Summerson and her husband's solicitor, Mr. Tulkinghorn. In fact, this particular subplot proved to have the biggest impact upon Dickens' narrative. I thought it was certainly the most interesting. It also helped that the story's leading woman character, Esther Summerson, did not prove to be another one of Dickens' "angels in the house" types. Yes, Esther was a warm and decent woman whom most of the characters liked. But she was also a woman who remained traumatized by her status as an illegitimate child and the emotional abuse she had endured from a self-righteous and highly religious woman she believed to be her godmother, but who turned out to be her aunt. Because of her abusive past, Esther suffered from a lack of esteem. I must admit that I am only familiar with at least four Dickens novels. Because of this, Esther proved to be the first Dickens leading lady who was portrayed with such complexity. In regard to characterization, my only disappointment with "BLEAK HOUSE" proved to be the story's antagonists. As I had earlier pointed out, I am only familiar with four of Dickens' novels. For a man who had no problems with pointing out the evils of modern 19th century society, he seemed very reluctant in creating villains who are from the social elite. His villains are either lower or middle-class . . . or they are foreigners. The closet Dickens came to a well-born antagonist in "BLEAK HOUSE" was the selfish and amoral sponger Harold Skimpole. However, in compare to Sir Leicester Deadlock's middle-class solicitor, Mr. Tulkinghorn, and Lady Deadlock's French-born maid, Madame Hortense; Skimpole is, at best, a minor comic villain. I have few other complaints about "BLEAK HOUSE". One complaint I have about the production was Kieran McGuigan's cinematography. I had no problem with the production's exterior shots. Since the miniseries was shot in High Definition Television format, McGuigan's photography in the exterior shots captured all of the details of the set designs, props, the performers' costumes and make-up. However, I could barely see anything in those shots set at night time and especially many of the interior shots. There were times when I felt I was merely looking at a dark screen. And I must admit that I found some of McGuigan's camera angles rather disconcerting and there were times when I found it difficult to ascertain what was going on in a particular scene. Jason Krasucki and Paul Knight's editing did not help. Both men had utilized an editing method that I found irritating. Whenever the miniseries moved from one scene to another, the two film editors utilized a fast shift that I found unnecessary and tonally off-putting. Perhaps producer Stafford-Clark had hoped that the fast shifts between scenes and the odd camera angles would make "BLEAK HOUSE" look modern. Honestly, I found these aspects of the production tonally off and unnecessary. I have one last complaint. I never understood why Stafford-Clark and the BBC felt it was necessary to present the miniseries, with the exception of the first one, in half-hour episodes. Others had complained, as well. The response to this criticism was that Dickens' long and complex novel required the fifteen installments in which it was presented. But honestly . . . the BBC could have presented the miniseries in eight hour-long episodes. Why was that so hard to consider? Every time an episode ended after 27-to-30 minutes, I felt a sense of frustration. And there were times when I found myself trying to remember which episode out of the fifteen installments I had to choose to continue. Unfortunately, the BBC went on to utilize the same format for its 2008 miniseries, "LITTLE DORRIT". Aside from those complaints, I really did enjoy "BLEAK HOUSE". For me, the heart and soul of the production proved to the array of characters and the fabulous actors and actresses who portrayed them. "BLEAK HOUSE" featured first-rate performances from the likes of Timothy West, Alun Armstrong, Richard Harrington, John Lynch, Sheila Hancock, Tom Georgeson, Anne Reid, Richard Griffiths, Joanna David, Catherine Tate, Louise Brealey, Harry Eden and especially Ian Richardson, whom I found particularly entertaining as the kindly, yet witty Chancellor. I also enjoyed those performances from Warren Clarke, who gave a broadly entertaining performance as Mr. Boythorn, an old friend of John Jarndyce; Hugo Speer, the proud and struggling former Army sergeant and former friend/subordinate of Captain Hawdon; Pauline Collins, who struck me as particularly poignant in her role as the warm-hearted, yet long-suffering Miss Flite; Lilo Baur as the ambitious and vindictive foreign-born lady's maid, Madame Hortense; and especially Phil Davis, whose colorful portrayal of the mean-tempered and greedy moneylender, Mr. Smallweed, made evil look so entertaining with his caustic remarks and now famous catchphrase: "Shake me up, Judy! Shake me up!" Nathaniel Parker gave a particularly memorable performance as the manipulative, yet self-absorbed sponger, Harold Skimpole. A part of me remains amazed that John Jarndyce had regarded him as a friend for so long. Carey Mulligan gave a warm, yet interesting performance as one of Mr. Jarndyce's wards, Ada Clare. What made the actress's performance interesting to me was her ability to convey not only Ada's positive traits, but the character's unrelenting blindness to her love's flaws. Speaking of Ada's love, Patrick Kennedy was excellent as Mr. Jarndyce's other ward - the charming, yet undependable Richard Carstone. I must admit that Richard proved to be one a rather pathetic personality, who was always chasing a path toward quick riches, whether it was by jumping from one profession to another or putting all of his hopes on the Jarndyce v Jarndyce case. Burn Gorman was a hoot as the friendly, yet ambitious and clever law clerk, William Guppy, who became enamored of Esther Summerson and who figured out the connection between her and Lady Deadlock. As much as I liked him and Gorman's performance, I could not help but suspect that Guppy's idea of love was somewhat shallow In my personal opinion, there were four performances in "BLEAK HOUSE" that reigned supreme. Those four performances came from Anna Maxwell-Martin, Gillian Anderson, Denis Lawson and Charles Dance. Now, I would not regard the character of Josiah Tulkinghorn as subtle or even two-dimensional. But thanks to Charles Dance's subtle and malevolent portrayal, which earned him an Emmy nominatino, audiences were privy to Mr. Tulkinghorn's talent for manipulation and coercion. Denis Lawson earned an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of John Jarndyce, the kind-hearted landowner who took in Esther, Richard and Ada. Lawson did an excellent job in balancing Mr. Jarndyce's wise counseling of the three young people, willful blindness to Mr. Skimpole's machinations and subtle selfish desire for Esther's hand in marriage. Gillian Anderson earned both an Emmy and a British Academy Television Awards nominations for her portrayal of the story's femme fatale, so to speak - Lady Honoria Dedlock. The American-born Anderson did a superb job in conveying her character's complex and mysterious personality. Superficially, the Esther Summerson character seemed like another one of Dickens' "angels in the house". Thanks to the author's pen and Anna Maxwell-Martin's superb performance, Esther proved to be a warm, yet troubled young woman struggling to find a place for herself in the world and overcome her past trauma at the hands of an emotionally abusive guardian. Not only was Maxwell-Martin received a well-deserved nomination from the British Academy Television Awards, she also won. No movie or television production is perfect. I had some problem with the miniseries' editing, camera angles, and television format for "BLEAK HOUSE". But aside from these quibbles, I can honestly say that I truly enjoy this adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1852-53 novel. It is one of the few Dickens' stories that do not seemed marred by too many subplots that are unrelated. And I believe that screenwriter Andrew Davies, directors Justin Chadwick and Susanna White, along with a superb cast led by Anna Maxwell-Martin truly did justice to the novel.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

STARTUPS AND UNIVERSITIES

Ironically, hackers have brought this on themselves. It's easier to make an inexpensive product more powerful than any other. Whereas companies that sue startups for patent infringement generally do it with explicit goal of keeping their product off the market. And for a startup the initial release acts as a shakedown cruise. Startups are right to be paranoid, but they miss the critical point: it's good enough. It's ok to be optimistic about what you can see that people there actually care what paintings look like. In practice this seems to work much as in LA. I had to do it, do it. So why do universities and research labs continue to judge hackers by publications?

Users are a fickle wind, but more powerful than to make a powerful product cheaper. But there are plenty of people strong enough to resist doing something just because that's what one is supposed to do where they happen to be, there are two founders with the same natural ability as Leonardo couldn't beat the force of environment, do you suppose you can? One ingredient of its meaning is certainly Ajax, which I can still only just bear to use without scare quotes. The definition then spread to people who don't believe in gods, life commands respect. It should be a pencil, not a sedan with giant rims and a fake spoiler bolted to the trunk. This is what real productivity looks like. Why not in business? But it means if you have kids. Perhaps the most important quality is in a startup. But you don't want so many founders that the company starts to look like a car was supposed to mean using the web as a platform didn't live much past the first conference. As of this writing, Cambridge seems to be becoming dramatically more liquid. What happened to him?

Most good hackers have unbearable personalities, could we stand to have them around? You're most likely to get money. You'll have to adapt to the whims of investors. If you made a graph of GNP per capita vs. If someone asks them at a dinner party what a programming language is obviously doesn't know what these things are, and that probably made a difference. Raising money, in particular, is a huge win in developing software to have an elaborate business plan. The biggest ingredient in most bad habits is denial. It's an exciting place. So why do I have to keep repeating. It's just 178 square miles at one end of it, we were a bit sheepish about the low production values. What hackers and painters have in common is that they become part of their identity, then all other things being equal, the best way to do that are not only new, but actually worth solving. If a hacker were a mere implementor, turning a spec into code, then he could just work his way through it from one end to the other like someone digging a ditch.

You want to be in a position to do that is to implement it. Maybe, I suggested, he should buy some stock in this company. The control systems inside machines used to be safe, using the Internet. So while they're often nice guys, they just can't help it. I've never been 100% sure whether patents help or hinder technological progress. The most efficient way to reach VCs, especially if you only want them to know about this choice. Since no one can be proven wrong, every opinion is equally valid, and sensing this, everyone lets fly with theirs. Even in college classes, you learn to hack. For example, the corporate site that says the company makes enterprise content management solutions for business that enable organizations to unify people, content and processes to minimize business risk, accelerate time-to-value and sustain lower total cost of ownership.

That last test filters out surprisingly few people. This was not uncommon during the Bubble and was very popular with startups. Erdos was particularly good at this. They didn't know. On Reddit, votes on your comments don't affect your karma score, but they also laugh at someone who tells them a certain problem can't be solved. It would have been reluctant to hire anyone who didn't. Quite small, but important out of proportion to its size.

Odd as it might sound, we tell startups that they should try to make a cup of tea and check the news again, then answer a few emails, then suddenly notice it was almost lunchtime and I hadn't gotten any real work done. The most important is distance. Design begins by asking, who is the user? He explained that he'd just bought it in Thailand. Hackers should do this even if they don't and you stick around, people will pay attention to you, because if they don't and you stick around, people will pay attention to you, because odds are they'll have to deal with in a startup founder about whether it might be worth a hundred times as much if it worked. But it's possible to be part of a painting didn't depend at all on how closely he expected anyone to look at things from other people's point of view is practically the secret of success. How long do you think it would take them on average to realize that it was a description of Google?

It's expensive and somewhat grubby, and the most productive part of the conversation. You can sense it when you start a company at 18 if they wanted to. Whatever they're doing, you'll be less likely to depend on this sort of test. Already most technology companies wouldn't sink to using patents on startups. The simplest way to protect yourself is to use the trick that John D. Notice all this time I've been talking about the designer. I'm designing a new dialect of Lisp. Don't hire people to fill the gaps in some a priori org chart. That's a known danger sign, like drinking alone. The 20th best player may feel he has been misjudged.

[thecomicsnexus]

SUPERMAN: LEVIATHAN RISING / EVENT LEVIATHAN #1-6 / SUPERGIRL #34-35 / ACTION COMICS #1010-1014 / WONDER WOMAN ANNUAL #3 JUNE 2019 - JANUARY 2020 BY BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, MARC ANDREYCO, GREG RUCKA, MATT FRACTION, STEVE ORLANDO, STEVE EPTING, ALEX MALEEV, BRAD ANDERSON, SZYMON KUDRANSKI, YANICK PAQUETTE, MIKE PERKINS, STEVE LIEBER, EDUARDO PANSICA, JULIO FERREIRA, NATHAN FAIRBAIRN, PAUL MOUNTS, FCO PLASCENCIA, V. KEN MARION, SANDU FLOREA AND HI-FI DESIGN

SUPER SHORT SYNOPSIS

Late eighties anti-hero recruits spies from all known organizations and takes over Talia’s Leviathan, planning on releasing all types of secrets to the world, thinking Superman would approve.

Lois Lane: more important than anybody in the world.

REVIEW

If you enjoyed “Batman: Hush” and “The Long Halloween”, you will probably like this thing.

When you do a mystery story, the key is to not hide clues to the readers. Otherwise, you are cheating. The excitement of reading this type of stories relies in the user being able to go back and see all the clues to the climax. None of that happens here.

This story started in Action Comics a long time ago, I stopped reading when I realized I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it month to month.

Yes I stopped around the time Lois and Clark revealed they had secret identities as Spyral agents. If you thought was going to play any kind of importance in the story you were wrong. They blow their covers in a few pages. Tiger gives Lois all of Spyral’s secrets. Now, on his defense, he didn’t seem to have much of the choice (unlike other characters), but almost everyone suspected Lois was Leviathan.

And that was one of the many things that are mentioned and are never properly explained. There is a list of suspects, some of the characters named weren’t in the story until that point (and they don’t actually appear either). Then Batman gathers a group of “detectives” that includes Green Arrow and Manhunter. You could think Manhunter was a good option, but it was put there because Batman got manipulated to include her (as she was being framed). However, there were no real reasons to have her there. Then Lois gathers a second group of detectives that includes Harvey Bullock, Zatanna and John Constantine. Also Elongated Man, who at least you could say is a detective. These things just appear out of nowhere. Because Bendis is only showing you what he needs you to see for his story to have something in it. It is very hard not to compare this story with the “Sixth Sense”. In the end, the story only works if you are manipulated to not see things.

Like this scene. We are led to believe Leviathan knows a lot about Plastic Man. He even mentions the Freedom Fighters and the All-Star Squadron. Plastic Man history with those groups relies on a Golden Age existing, and it being the post-crisis history of the DCU. But as Batman later says, Leviathan has access to all the information from all those agencies. It is possible for one of them to have access to other timelines, I suppose.

Also (as introduced in the Year of the Villains special), the bat-family suspects Red Hood is Leviathan. And they even have the theory that he doesn’t know he is Leviathan because Roy Harper just died. This from the group of detectives where the only efficient investigator is Jessica Jones Lois lane.

I forgot Deathstroke was also one of Jessica Jones Lois Lane detectives. I don’t even remember him speaking. Also Renee is there. But why Bullock, was he ever a good detective in the first place?

There is a Wonder Woman annual tie-in that you could easily skip.

As I was saying, information is deceiving during the story, no one acts like themselves, Batgirl accepted to be part of Leviathan to do nothing for 6 issues and then appear with something that will prevent them from exposing everybody’s secrets. Which is very absurd on itself.

But I think the final insult is when Damian looks at Manhunter’s stick and realizes there were other Manhunters before, and this leads to the big reveal. I actually had a facepalm when this happened. Who would have imagined that Mark Shaw was even canon? I know he appeared after the new 52 but he wasn’t manhunter. I mean I guess there were clues because at a certain point Lois and Clark go into a library that has copies of the “Janus directive”. Right?

Mystery cases are hit or miss in comics, mostly because writers don’t do their homework, editors demand casualties and tragedies and characters have to fill up roles they shouldn’t.

Which leads to my main problem with the story. Dialogues and Lois Lane. The dialogues in this book are broken. They add very little to the story and they constantly take you out of it because they don’t sound like themselves. And the main issue seems to be with female characters. They honestly sound like Jessica Jones. Lois Lane seems to be a super-hero here, but she isn’t even working when the story starts. I mean, technically, no one discovers anything.

Why would the reader suspect of Mark Shaw until the end of issue #5? Did I miss anything? Why not Peacemaker?

Also, for the extra giggles, this panel is from Doomsday Clock #11

Who is that Manhunter?

Anyway, I hate to be so critic of Bendis. I really enjoyed his Ultimate Spider-man, but his throw-away dialogues take any story down. In the tie-ins you can read Andreyco’s dialogues and they don’t take you out of the story. They sound as they should. I think he should try what Giffen and DeMatteis did, and concentrate on plot, leaving dialogues to another writer. I am pretty sure Bendis knows how to write these characters, but somehow, in the creative process, he loses himself into these generic characters he likes to write. Then again, the plot of Event Leviathan wasn’t particularly good and his Lois Lane is out of character from the plot.

I was hopeful when they announced his Man of Steel, but he has been disappointing me even more than Tom King.

By the way, there is no ending. There is another phase to this story coming up next year.

The art deserves its own section here, because they are all good artists, even in the tie-ins. There are moments where Alex Maleev does shapes instead of characters, but it’s not that often and I can live with that. In general Event Leviathan kept the aesthetics, and that is more than the standard these days with events.

So very unpredictable mystery thriller paired with amazing artists. Just like “Batman: Hush” and “The Long Halloween”.

I give these issues a score of 6.

[roguesurvivor]

Narcissists By Rebecca Fischbein

When Lisa* met Adam* in graduate school, she thought she’d hit the dating jackpot. “He was very wealthy, very charismatic, and at first he was very charming,” she says. “He was constantly showering me with gifts, fancy dinners, and romanic nights out. He was playing by this 1950s courtship rulebook.” But over time, Lisa says, Adam became condescending, controlling, and cruel. He criticized her working-class background and tried to mold her in his image. He learned her insecurities and trigger points and used them against her. He made her write him an apology letter every time they had an argument. Ultimately, he became physically and sexually abusive. It took Lisa years to escape him.

“I was in my mid-20s, a hopeless romantic, painfully insecure,” she says. “Here was a guy who was charming and handsome and going to help me fit in. I was so eager to please.”

Though Adam has not been clinically diagnosed, to Lisa’s knowledge, he exhibits classic characteristics of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, which the Mayo Clinic defines as “a mental condition in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for excessive attention and admiration, troubled relationships, and a lack of empathy for others.” What we tend to think of as “narcissism”—vanity and extra-heavy doses of self-confidence—is a spectrum, and people can tip more heavily toward one end or the other. But someone with NPD is more than just self-interested and self-obsessed.

“It’s a lifelong pattern that a child started in childhood to cope with a certain family environment,” Elinor Greenberg, PhD., the author of Borderline, Narcissistic, and Schizoid Adaptations: The Pursuit of Love, Admiration and Safety, says. “In adulthood, they overvalue achievement, they do not understand love, they have low emotional empathy.”

Julie L. Hall, a journalist and the author of The Narcissist in Your Life: Recognizing the Patterns and Learning to Break Free, characterizes narcissists as individuals who, to repress feelings of shame and inadequacy in childhood, take on an exterior persona designed to insulate themselves from criticism. “They miss out on numerous developmental milestones,” she says. “They do not form a secure sense of identity and self-esteem. They do not learn good emotional regulation, they do not learn to self-reflect, they do not learn emotional empathy. They do not develop a complex, mature sense of their own universe or the emotional lives of others.”

People with NPD are not able to see other people, which means they do not make for good romantic partners. Many can become abusive, emotionally or otherwise. If you’ve inadvertently entered into a relationship with a narcissist, it can be hard to figure out what’s going on at first. Here are some signs to help you out.

They put you on a pedestal (at first)

Narcissists see everything in black and white, including people. People are either “good,” which means they’re idealized, or they’re “bad,” which to a narcissist essentially means they’re garbage. If a narcissist is pursuing you as a romantic partner, that means you’re in the “good” category, and you’ll likely find that they shower you with compliments and charm to win you over. They’ll make you feel wonderful, special, and, ironically, seen right off the bat.

“Narcissists become infatuated. They tend to idealize a potential partner or love interest,” Hall says. “It can seem like you’ve met your soulmate, like, ‘Wow, I connect so much with this person.”

Narcissists may also try to alter themselves in an effort to mirror your personality. “They may suddenly share the same interests as you, and agree with you and your core values,” Hall says. “These are not necessarily things the narcissist is or believes, but they’re trying on your identity, and showing you what they think you want to see.”

But once you get deeper into the relationship, a switch gets flipped. “In the beginning, you’re getting all the wonderful things from them and they don’t even notice your flaws,” Greenberg says. “As you come closer, and they’re not just in chase mode, suddenly they’re going to see all these things about you they didn’t see before, that bleed through their image of you as perfect and special.”

Many of us idealize our partners in the beginning but recognize that everyone has flaws, and eventually the idealization gets swapped out for love and trust. But with a narcissist, there’s no substitute. “You flip into ‘all bad,’” Greenberg says. “That’s when they start their construction project.”

They try to “fix” you

Greenberg describes narcissists in search of a romantic partner as “looking for piece of cheese with no holes.” And since everybody has holes, that mission is doomed from the start. Once the narcissist sees those holes—which can be as minor as, say, you unloading the dishwasher in a way they don’t like, or mispronouncing “bagel,”—they can either “fix” you or dump you.

“You’re like a building under construction to them,” Greenberg says. “They feel like the Prince in Cinderella.”

Lisa experienced this with Adam. “He knew my background and upbringing and gave me tips on how to hide it,” she says. “One time, I mentioned I learned piano as a kid and that I wished I could go back and learn it. He said he would get me piano lessons for my birthday, because, ‘I think it would look better for you if you were a classically trained musician.’”

She adds, “It was like The Princess Diaries, where I was going to be this middle-class, out-of-place kid, and he was going to build me into this perfect little partner. I was this blank slate that he was just going to make his masterpiece.”

They have no boundaries and a sense of entitlement

One of the defining characteristics of any personality disorder is a lack of boundaries, emotional or otherwise. People with NPD are no exception.

“They often feel entitled to violate boundaries most of us accept and abide by,” Hall says. “Sharing intimate details about other people you don’t know about, wanting to get more committed really quickly, promising things or wanting promises from you like commitment, marriage, having kids together right away. Things that are really premature before you’ve had a chance to get there.”

Hall says narcissists just feel entitled in general. They can’t abide by the golden rule of do unto others as you would have them do unto you. “A narcissist walks around with very unreasonable expectations,” Hall says. “They feel entitled to get things other people shouldn’t get.”

Narcissists can have big “May I speak to the manager?” energy. They might mock or criticize other people behind their backs. They may be rude to or yell at servers. And they walk around believing and/or telling people they’re better than everyone else.

Lisa says that Adam, for instance, would wear a necklace with a formula engraved on a tag. He claimed he invented it, and that it was the “formula for the universe.”

“He said, ‘I solved the universe. This solves everything. And when someone questions my power, I just remember I’m more powerful than them,’” Lisa says.

They don’t hold back in a fight

It’s healthy for couples to argue sometimes. But when narcissists get into spats with their partners, their lack of empathy can lead to a nasty fight.

Greenberg says narcissists often do not have “object constancy,” which is the ability to maintain positive feelings for someone even in times of conflict. “Object constancy is what keeps people from abusing their mates,” she says. “People with object constancy can remember that they love you even when they’re mad at you.”

But narcissists can’t always do that. “If you’re in a fight with someone with no emotional empathy, who can’t remember they love you, they will hit below the belt,” Greenberg says, “All bets are off. They can say vile things to you.”

Narcissists love to argue—winning an argument is another way for them to prove that they’re better than other people—and they know how to push your buttons. They also tend have extreme emotional reactions. So if your partner is frequently hurtful, even over minor infractions, that’s a red big flag. And what comes after a fight can be a red flag, too:

They never apologize

Narcissists are incapable of self-reflection, which means that they rarely recognize when they’re in the wrong. So if your partner tends to sling throat-cutting insults at you during a fight and doesn’t ever meaningfully apologize for it, well, you might want to reassess the relationship.

“Being able to see that people have good and bad qualities, able to see that in themselves and other people, that’s something an NPD person can’t do,” Hall says. “They’re unable to look at things from an emotional perspective beyond themselves.”

If they do apologize, it can be more of an insult in of itself. “Sometimes narcissists throw out faux apologies with the narrative that you’re really too sensitive,” Hall says. “They’re unable to see things from your point of view, or validate your feelings as being legitimate.”

They turn their exes into villains

Here is a big one: If your partner or prospective partner has a narrative in which everyone they ever dated was “terrible,” “horrible,” and solely responsible for the destruction of the relationship, that’s a massive red flag. Sometimes someone does date a couple of assholes, but generally most people are able to reflect upon the ways in which both parties contributed to a relationship’s demise. Narcissists can’t accept criticism, can’t see the middle ground, and can’t self-reflect, which means they’re unable to recognize their part in a breakup. To protect their fragile egos, they are “good,” which means the ex must be “bad.”

“They often have a really negative assessment of previous relationships,” Hall says. “They pathologize and villainize their exes. The other person is a ‘jerk,’ an ‘asshole,’ a ‘disappointment.’” Basically, they don’t learn from relationships, and they’re constantly externalizing anything negative.

They gaslight you

With no boundaries, empathy, or checked egos, narcissists delight in manipulating people. It’s one of the ways they can feel superior than others, and it’s another method of proving to themselves that the rules don’t apply. It’s hard to tell if someone is gaslighting you—the very nature of gaslighting, i.e. psychological manipulation to make someone doubt their own feelings and lived experience, is set up to slowly chip away at your conviction so you think you’re the problem. But if you start to sense that your partner is manipulating you, get the hell out.

Lisa says Adam would frequently gaslight her. “We would be out at a bar or restaurant or something, and I would see him put his hand on the small of a woman’s back, and touch her ass or something,” she says. “In the car ride home, I would say something and he would freak the fuck out.”

He would deny it, they would argue, and in the end, Adam would manage to convince her that she was in the wrong. “The rule was that every time we got into an argument, I would have to write him a letter giving him an outline of how the argument began, who said what, and that I was sorry,” Lisa says. “At the end [of the letter], I’d be like, ‘You’re right, I didn’t see that, I must have been drunk.”

Narcissists do not truly understand or care about your emotional experience, your pain, and your personhood; moreover, they always have to be Right, and if you oppose them or call them out on their shit, that means you’re Wrong. That means they can pretty much do whatever they want without remorse, and they may do what it takes to convince you that their misdeeds are your fault.

If you’re dating someone who exhibits a number of these signs, consider confiding in someone you trust—friends, family, a therapist—and cutting ties. Narcissists can sometimes mitigate their worst impulses through therapy, but people who lack empathy have to do a lot of work to gain it, and they inflict psychological and emotional damage upon others in the meantime. You deserve better.

[simonjadis]

Anon I’m ASSUMING that these are from the same person; apologies if they are not

I would say that my feelings are similar to yours, but not quite identical ...

Disney’s handling has been imperfect, and some of the mistakes have been made the highest level (I know that people give Kathleen Kennedy a hard time, but if rumor is to be believed, some of the interference that made IX kind of weird came from higher than that)

for example, Kennedy said in an interview that she tries to find people who just make big, successful movies to make sure that these are also big, successful movies. I can understand that as being a safe bet from a business stand point, but that’s not the same thing as finding someone passionate about very specifically telling good, new Star Wars stories, which we did not really get in the Sequel Trilogy

(one of the most common theories that I saw from TLJ apologists was that people didn’t like that it was new/different than what they were expecting, which was really not the issue for me or my friends. Also it was just a speedrun of parts of Episodes V and VI)

I think that I’m “too close” to Star Wars to see it as a financial asset rather than a beloved universe full of characters and stories that I adore, but I don’t think that “literally just rehash the Original Trilogy for two movies and barely acknowledge any other part of Star Wars until IX” was a good idea

Rey deserved her own story. and Luke deserved to not be retroactively robbed of his

as for George Lucas, I do think that years of backlash over the Prequels sucked the fun out of it for him. Also, who doesn’t want four billion dollars? it was a sweetheart deal for Disney, of course

the sad thing is that this meant the end of Clone Wars, because Disney took one look at Lucasfilm’s budget and was like “OH NO YOU CANNOT SPEND THAT KIND OF MONEY ON A CARTOON” which is why Season 6 was paid for by Netflix and why Maul: Son of Dathomir was a comic

I love Star Wars Rebels and I’m not trying to knock the show at all, but the budgetary difference was palpable. Clone Wars did have it a little easier because of the Clone Troopers (all having the same face), but on Rebels, you notice that 90% of the Imperials are the same guy wearing a hat with his visor obscuring most of his face. market scenes show just a few people (but plenty of Storm Troopers)

the designs of the main characters -- Ezra, Hera, Sabine, Zeb, Kallus, Thrawn, Kanan, etc -- are great and loving and detailed and most of those change a little over time, but there’s a reason that we only see so many planets on Rebels. look at the huge armies and crowds in Rebels. my friend @drunkkenobi​ is the first who pointed out to me that in Clone Wars, you sometimes see lines of ships (Space Traffic) and each ship in line will be unique, distinct from the others

it’s not Rebels’ fault that they didn’t have that kind of budget. that’s also why their space battles (and space ships) never quite look right. meanwhile, for Clone Wars, if they wanted a particular scene or ship that went over their planned budget, all that they had to do was ask Uncle George

eccentric billionaires funding expensive media isn’t necessarily the most sustainable model for storytelling, but it sure worked out well for Clone Wars and for The Expanse

(Jeff Bezos personally called up the head of Amazon Prime programming, who had already been considering acquiring the extremely good but expensive show, and was like “hey the cast from this show is at a thing where I am, I’d love to just tell them that their show is saved, give me it?” and we saw as many new locations in Season 4 as we did in the first three seasons)

but streaming -- where you actually get money directly from customers who then, through their activity on your platform, show you exactly what they want to see aka what is keeping them on your platform -- offers a new opportunity for high quality genre media. remember, scifi and fantasy were EVERYWHERE in the ‘90s and the early aughts, and then because too expensive for regular TV unless they had huge audiences. only through streaming do we have these new Star Treks, The Witcher, and the real possibility of a new Stargate series

why do I bring up streaming? because

The Mandalorian goes to show that Disney can 100% do good Star Wars. Rebels was good, despite its budget, but can you imagine how much better it would have been if it had aired on Disney+

as with the DC movies (three of which are good and I’m also excited for Birds of Prey), the solution to the our-movies-made-a-lot-of-money-but-aren’t-strictly-speaking-good is literally just “let the people who do the cartoons make the movies”

and now we’re getting a final, seventh (half) season of Clone Wars! twelve episodes looking better than the show has ever looked!!

if you’re like me, you probably thought to yourself “gee, only 12?” and, cynically, you figured that it’s a trick -- announced at ComicCon in 2018 to build up the first wave of hype for Disney+

and it is ... but it 100% worked on me, I signed up for Disney+ and will pay anything for Clone War

my HOPE is that this is a test run to see if people really like high-quality animated Star Wars stories enough to continue with it. there’s only so much clone wars that one can cover (my suspicion is that we will see Ahsoka fake her death during Order 66 in these eps, so yep, that’s the end of the Clone Wars right there)

imagine a well-written series with everything that Clone Wars had in terms of content and visual quality, but it’s set after Episode IX. to my frustration, IX ends with effectively the same worldstate as VI which essentially means that nothing much happened in the Sequel Trilogy. but imagine a series set after IX. we could see a new set of (Force-wielding) characters. we could see Rey, Finn, Poe, and Rose during some episodes. Rose could finally get to do something that’s not an insulting fool’s errand (she deserves so much better!!!!!)

we don’t need a new Big Scary Empire/First Order thing, just organized crime and pirates and Hutts and bounty hunters and individual planet systems going to war as the characters try to assemble a NEW New Republic (gods I hate the unchanged worldstate)

now, I know that Star Wars Resistance is not ... reassuring. this is the only screencap that I have from it because I couldn’t get into it. it’s not the animation (I enjoyed Tron Uprising and Iron Man: Armored Adventures and this is the same kind of deal), but three things:

-I watch Star Wars for the Force primarily; other stuff can be cool but I need the Force

-I will never care about ships racing and really I don’t care about an individual ship flying; I’m a Command Ship kind of space nerd

-apparently the writing doesn’t improve much during the first season. people tell the main character to not do something, then he does it, and disaster ensues. that’s ... it’s fine, it’s fine to exist as a show, it’s just not for me

obviously, not all Star Wars media is for me, but when something -- like TLJ or the Sequel Series as a whole (even though VII and IX are enjoyable) or Resistance -- disappoints me, I would never accuse it of “ruining Star Wars”

Star Wars is a whole franchise. the breadth of canon isn’t all wiped away by some disappointments. was the MCU ruined by Age of Ultron? no. it was a bad movie but from the same franchise that gave us The Winter Soldier and Thor Ragnarok. hell, Dawn of Justice doesn’t “ruin” Wonder Woman or Aquaman or Shazam. bad movies aren’t contagious

for the past several years, the Entitled Dude crowd has felt empowered. they were radicalized in the altright/redpill/MGTOW/meninist/nazi/gamergate/comicsgate/etc spheres of the internet and now they just have a reflex where they see any sort of representation and decry it as “SJW,” which they also seem to think is a bad thing

in the same way that well-meaning people on tumblr can get radicalized into being antis/puriteens, people with certain vulnerabilities on reddit or youtube can get sucked into a world that tells them that they are the default and that other people existing is “political” in media and in real life, and that people being upset by outright cruelty towards them is both funny and means that the cruel person is the victor. they need therapy and studios need to not listen to them

unfortunately, sometimes there are movies that are bad despite having things like solid representation. Ghostbusters 2016 was a delight, but my friends and I with whom I saw TLJ (all of us queer feminists) left the theater angry. we’ve bitten our tongues a lot (even if it seems otherwise) because publicly criticizing the film too often leads some incel monster to chime in with agreement, and we’re just like

the redpillgate crowed et all is a natural ally of conservative white evangelicals, even though the former group is generally made up of New Atheists (the short version is atheists who hold socially conservative views because racism/misogyny/transphobia benefit them without using christianity as an excuse). it’s kind of like how terfs will side with conservative hate groups because, though they’re natural enemies, they both despite trans people just for existing

unfortunately, when you’re looking at who went to see a movie or who hated it, not everyone posts with an ID card saying exactly their demographic. which is only going to make studios like Disney even more nervous about including queer content in Star Wars and in the MCU (I mean real queer content with characters whose names don’t have to be searched on a wiki)

that was a bit of a tangent, but yeah. sorry if I missed anything

[dreamtofbluebirds]

SHUICHI SAIHARA

While timid and particularly unobtrusive, Shuichi is a person of integrity. Years spent with a detective uncle had carved a formidable foundation for law-abiding behavior.

{ POST-GAME. }

In his primary verse, he was thrown into Danganronpa unwillingly and upon waking up from the Virtual Reality, was missing quite a bit of his original memories. Between physical and mental therapy, he’d find that his past would always be elusive but a few things remain solid. His friendships, his family situation, and his nature remained consistent. What became a hurdle was the fact that Danganronpa had not known prior to kidnapping him that he was a trans male, and thus did not alter his in-game avatar. Upon his release, he would find renewed difficulty in the dysphoria but a clearer understanding of himself.

As a note, if I write with anyone WITHIN the game’s timeline, I will change the mishap over his avatar in the VR to accurately reflect his born sex instead. This is because I am fond of this concept, and I’d like to keep that aspect of him consistent as I write.

{ HOPE’S PEAK. }

Standard verse, taking place during his years at Hope’s Peak. He lives on-campus at a dorm and is often gone over any significant breaks, doing cases or visiting his Uncle and Aunt. He’s more often than not away on any and all days off, going to the city to explore, experience events and festivals, or otherwise, work off his physical energy so he can focus on his studies later that night.

{ P4. }

Split into two halves. One centers around Hope’s Peak –> P4′s plot, without DR.

In his secondary verse, Danganronpa existed within the world of Persona, spurred on by severe influences within the Metaverse. Himself and others were dragged in but through the trials they faced, they awakened to their potential, and Chapter Six was a boss battle as the Metaverse seeped into their Virtual Reality simulation. Upon waking, they retained their personas and made a vow to seek the truth, no matter the cost. He is of the Death Arcana, capable of summoning AUGUSTE DUPIN, same as the legendary fictional detective.

Accompanying these two verses, it’s available for Shuichi and Naoto to be brothers. They lived separately and don’t know much about each other–even down to opening up about their gender identity which would only end up being implied, as both would be too awkward to talk about it during family events.

{ P5. }

Split into two halves. One centers around Hope’s Peak –> P5′s plot, without DR.

In his secondary verse, Danganronpa existed within the world of Persona, spurred on by severe influences within the Metaverse. Himself and others were dragged in but through the trials they faced, they awakened to their potential, and Chapter Six was a boss battle as the Metaverse seeped into their Virtual Reality simulation. Upon waking, they retained their personas and made a vow to seek the truth, no matter the cost. He is of the Death Arcana, capable of summoning AUGUSTE DUPIN, same as the legendary fictional detective.

{ POKEMON. }

The third verse is a pokemon verse where he’s a P.I. with two pokemon, a Growlithe and an Umbreon named Lee and Bree. After the show ended, he returned to his Uncle’s work as a part-timer and on low-risk cases, and was given an Eevee at the time. Growlithe has been with him since before the show, so both pokemon work together to ensure he keeps a calm head.

{ APOCALYPSE. }

This is an apocalypse AU in which the undead arose while he underwent high school life at Hope’s Peak. He’s great for tactical approaches and working hard, but the loss of Kaito and many others weigh on him. His only comfort is that Kaede remains by his side.

{ VAMPIRE. }

This verse is split into two groups; one remains post-game, and the other is Hope’s Peak. Each of these will be tagged with both tags.

The post-game verse is a vampire verse in which he was bitten before the game. It’s my only non-VR AU with the killing game included, but the game doesn’t have to go as it did in canon because I’d love to interact with certain characters regardless. He’s young and without a sire, but I’ll be taking a bit of lore from Vampire: The Masquerade and say that his humanity is extremely high. This grants him the ability to hide what he is extremely well, among other things. He has the power of suggestion, but he’s very untrained with it and would hate to use it unless he morally had to.

The alternate verse is in which he’s at Hope’s Peak and handles the results of being bitten on a case during a break, uprooting his entire lifestyle.

{ AVIAN. }

Sixth verse is one in which he’s winged, mirroring the pattern of a blue raven with their mostly black, glossy-blue wings and his bright eyes. They’re too big to hide and he can fly, but he’s timid about it and prefers to stay grounded out of safety.

{ REMNANT. }

A verse where DR2′s plot was V3′s, and the ‘older classmates’ that helped were DR2′s cast. The verse is spliced into three parts. Shuichi acting as an active Remnant of Despair is the first segment, him inside Future Foundation’s custody is the second, and post-NWP is the third. He’s ruthless and hellbent on punishing criminals, turning his personality to mirror a sadism that he’s sickened by. He kidnaps Kaito during the active remnant days as well as attempts to kidnap and punish other classmates/remnants in the name of justice.

He’s very similar to Future Foundation’s leaders at the time but believes them to be corrupt/weak, seeing as Junko still captured him and others.

{ BLIND. }

During a case overseas, Shuichi was a victim of an acid attack. It stole his sight during his final year at Hope’s Peak as a result, bringing him to a long hospital stay and therapy in the coming months to regain some resemblance of autonomy.

{ SUPERHERO. }

Shuichi is one of the top officers in the city not for his experience, but his knack for being in the right place at the right time, and his ability to talk to the villains at least somewhat civilly. He often accompanies Kaito and does his best to do what’s right, regardless of what the police force thinks he should be doing, which puts him in a tough spot.

He does have an ability, which is that all psychological abilities have a significantly decreased effect on him. He essentially has a mental fortitude buff.

{ METAL HEART AU. }

Shuichi suffered a car crash that all but ruined his physical body, save for his mind. His Uncle and Idabashi had been good friends, and right as the roboticist entered stages of humanlike development on his own project, Shoma all but pleaded for a chance to give Shuichi a new body.

Codenamed S4U-1C41, he would end up living with the roboticist as he regained mobility while Kibo, the man’s son, was accepted into the Saihara’s household given his own love of detective work.

Regarded as inhumane, Shuichi understands the importance of his secret and hides his true identity.

{ TWINS. }

Fairly straightforward as an AU and can be in conjunction with almost every other AU he has. His birth name would be Shiho still, but the next part depends on who takes the role of Shuichi–if the other twin does, then the name he’d choose for himself is Shouhei Saihara regardless of what last name he inherited. If he takes the role of Shuichi, then he’d have chosen Shuichi Saihara as his new name.

His dynamic with the sibling depends on the personality of said twin, but his own personality remains fairly responsible–even to the point of taking the blame for his brother and proving incredibly loyal. A large detail that changes him is that loneliness is a persevering trait of his and I like the idea that he and his brother were split up a lot as their parents were not prepared for two, resulting in an on-off stay with Uncle Shoma. This means that while he craves closeness with his sibling, he remains awkward about it and uncertain of what is really acceptable or desired of him.

As a result, he’s extremely sensitive to criticism.

{ PREGAME. }

After much consideration, this verse was added. Shouhei Saihara is a boy with high expectations placed on him. Although his Uncle is less strict than his parents were, he was forced into attending Spring Field Academy and forced into living with his Uncle and Aunt while his parents continued pursuing their careers.

He’s used to being treated differently due to his status and loathes it, often avoiding saying his name, hiding his face, and otherwise being suspicious of those who talk to him. His social skills are terrible due to moving from school to school and lacking the ability to have too much freedom beyond studying. His world-view is pessimistic and his love for Danganronpa stems from hoping most of the characters die, believing them to be terrible people, aside from the rare favorite.

{ GOFER PROJECT. }

Shuichi grew up as the world fell apart, heavy-hearted and devastated by the collapse. From the meteors to the sickness, then the Gofer Project and the rise of the opposing cult, he clung to any minuscule stability he had before going on the run, hiding from friend and foe alike. While he feels unworthy of being in the project he understood the necessity of it at the time and still does.

His natural role as a peace-keeper and helper come out full force in this AU as being alone remains the worst thing he could do to himself. His anxiety over being transmale increases due to the heavy promotion of having children, but he comes to the understanding that their new world needs law and not every one of the students were designed to be on board purely for procreating–Kiibo and Kirumi, for example, whose talents center around enrichment of others and coexistence rather than something so base.

{ ROYALTY. }

Born to the King and Queen of a kingdom, Shuichi was able to escape the confines of sophisticated life to grow up under his Uncle’s care, who was a simple detective within the kingdom. Because so little information about the heir to the throne was ever released, when he was called back, few questioned his identity and the ones that did only assumed he may have been the nephew of the rulers and that the ‘princess’ had died. His head knight is Kaito and the chief of security and intelligence is Maki. Kirumi is both the head maid and cook for him, and he’s tentatively worked out a deal where she lets him help in the kitchen when he can.

The kingdom itself is steeped in arts and literature due to the King’s love of stage play and the Queen’s love of writing for such things. This gives the land an easygoing feel, but it’s ill-equipped to handle threats as a result and Shuichi holds a vastly different view of what should be going on–and he’ll soon be King when they step down to finally abandon their royal duties in favor of the arts. It’s a lot, and he’s pressured to find a spouse before the coronation. Men aren’t excluded from this, though his parents specifically have chosen to avoid mentioning it.