#I kinda don't want any reblogs on this since i can SEE the sheer amount of people coming at this being like GRRRRR but feck it

[smilingperformer]

I thought the Kalos League was a million times better I don't get why so many people found the Alola League hype. Just compare the two and you'll see. Ash should have won there and the writers messed up which is why they let him win now. It's bs really with how they wrote sun and moon with especially with the lackluster animation. I hope gen 8 is better and they bring back serena or even lillie. Lillie was the only thing I liked about alola everybody else felt like filler characters.

Hoooo booi, can’t say I didn’t expect this kind of ask to pop. Buckle up gentlebeings, cuz this will be a long long ride:

First and farmost, I have to ask: Did you actually watch the same show I did? And many many more people did?

Because I sure as hell see a lot of people who haven’t watched the show say this exact same thing. Or the people who just have decided to have a negative view on things and not let themselves enjoy it for what it is. I don’t mean to get in a fight with you, nor do I mean to say that you haven’t watched the show. You just right away give off that vibe.

Lately, the animation did get a hit during the League, which btw is pretty much due to the bestest animators working on Ni no Kuni movie at the time of the league production btw. This I agree with. However, the overall quality and the sheer amount of Sakuga’s, which is a term for high-quality, impressive animation sequences iirc, tells that the animation is incredibly in this series. Hell, the latest episode showed amazing animation during Zoroark vs Pikachu, it’s awesome to look at and the sheer amount of movement makes me keep my eyes on the screen the whole fight. Also, the animation still looked mostly good during this league, esp. when Iwane and Shinohara and Ohashi were up.

On a weekly-airing show that is Pokeani, it’s hard to keep constant animation quality up, but Sun & Moon has by far the best consistency on it. And I’m just gonna say this: The best quality in XYZ series is in the fact that it looks pretty. There. I said it. The animation looks awesome when it does, yes, like real good, esp. during Kalos League, but I feel like the best animations only started at around Citron vs Satoshi episodes. I can say this by having watched XY(&Z) for idk... 5 times now? I think there were couple episodes before this that had great animation as well, but the fact that I can only remember the first amazing animation drive from this battle, which is during the midway of the series, tells a lot about it.

But to move away from the animation: Why did people find Alola League more hype? For me: the fact that it had character development and stories involved.

Previous leagues were mostly focused on Satoshi, and Satoshi alone. There were also his rivals from the respective series to make the league more interesting, but mostly it was just watching him win his rounds and then see him lose. Here? It is truly everyone’s league and I find that absolutely awesome!

I love how Mao and Suiren have a deep friendship bond with each other and are able to help each other grow. I love how Kaki and Mamane had this bond of a mentor and student, where Mamane, who’s always felt like he’s got no chance against Kaki, actually wants to finally beat him. I love the fact that we get to see the development of Aether siblings, Gladio and Lilie, culminate in a way where the two are battling with respect and no sore relationship problems between them, like they were having at the beginning. I love the fact that Guzma’s character grows from a person who hates Kukui and wants nothing more than destruction to his dream, to actually walk away with a smile, learning to finally show love to his Pokémon, and realise the family around him. I love the fact that Hau had his small arc of feeling like never reaching his grandpa’s expectations, but eventually getting the kind of recognision from him that he’s always wanted. Those are the reasons I myself found Alola League way more enjoyable and way more fun to watch.

When I look at Kalos League, having watches it 5 times now, I do totally love it, but I come to realise that it’s not for the characters or the story involved in it. It’s because of the fact that it’s so well animated and hyped up. Just that. I have to agree when people say that Kalos League was indeed rushed, and had Alola League not decided to actually focus on everyone instead of just Satoshi, I swear it would have had same treatment as Kalos did: only shows the last few rounds from top-8′s later half battles onwards. I swear that would have happened, because I do see why they did Kalos league the way they did: because they wouldn’t have had enough rivals for Satoshi to beat. I hear it’s also because of lack of time and how they had to rush things due to not realising the end being so near during production, but idk for sure of that. Correct me if you want to.

On characters, since you just had to bring this up as well: I quite honestly learned to love every single character on the show. Every. single. one! That is rare for me.

I love how Mao is the big sis of the group and always makes sure things work out and makign sure people like Mamane don’t say inconsiderate things. (Mamane’s just so sassy, askjfhsfh)

I love how Suiren’s this, quiet shy gal who has a big tendency to troll her friends, and has this amazing side of just becoming a very, very pissed person, if her buttons are pushed right. I absolutely adore this, and also love the fact that she is, after while, a battle-oriented girl. She’s by far the most skilled of the group’s girls, and I dare say she’s way more skilled than Mamane, and rivals Kaki and Satoshi. Had Guzma not been so ruthless in the league to her Ashirene, she’d def be the Champion. no really she would be

Mamane is a character I at the start didn’t care for, but then came to realise that his focus episodes were actually really close to home for me, and I become to adore the way his characterisation was done. He felt so real, and his love for researching electric types and developing gadgets is just awesome to see. Some people might say he’s Citron 2.0, but I see way more than that.

Kaki? Oh god Kaki has stolen my heart with his absolute passion for life, nature, Wela Volcano, his sister, etc etc etc.... I just freaking adore how he’s shown to be this cool, serious rival to Satoshi, only to actually be a total softie.

And then Lilie. Oh Lilie, she grew so much, had amazing development with her brother and mother, conquered her fear of touching Pokémon by finding the source for her fear, facing the source of her fear to save her Mother from it, refusing to let the Sandshrew tribe in Lanakila’s caves to be left to Tyranitar’s clutches alone, earning her z-crystal- oh, this is actually true to all:

I absolutely love how everyone’s treated as an equal in this series, with everyone earning their own Z-rings, own Z-crystals, having own development goals and just being so awesomely unique.

And then you just had to say the word filler. It seems like people don’t know what filler means. It’s probably become a term that’s imagined differently by everyone. But I’m pretty sure the main point of a filler, is that it doesn’t affect the story or plot points in any way possible. And you call the cast of Sun & Moon filler? In a series where everything matters, where almost every single character introduced comes back in one way or another, where everyone in Alola Squad has had a role in the main arcs of the series, and do I need to keep going?

I’ve watched Sun & Moon in marathon runs 5-6 times now. Some episodes I’ve seen a dozen times. I cannot think of how this series would have made me love it as much as I do, had it actually not had this amazing cast that it has right now. Had it not given us the amazing Alolan Family that is Satoshi, Burnet, Kukui and all of their Pokémon. Had it not given us the most happy version of the Aether Family, who might become even happier with Mohn possibly returning to the family by the end of the series. There’s so many things I love in Alola, and I feel sad that you have to come and bash it like that. If you don’t like it, then that’s fine. But please respect the fact that there are a lot of people like me, who are darn happy about this series, darn proud of how Satoshi’s grown and showcased his lovable personality in this series, and so darn proud of him finally winning a league that actually matters on same level as other game-related leagues.

Be proud of Satoshi finally winning. Don’t be salty. It’s not good for your health. Nor anyone’s.

That’s it. End of the post.

Thanks for reading everyone, I had lots to say.

[sachirou-senpai]

Never let me go - Tanaka Ryuunosuke x Reader

Warnings: FLUFF!!! it's so cute omg. friends to lovers (my favorite troupe!!!) kinda n*fw cause like dry humping but it's really not that intense. i love Tanaka with all of my soul and I'm really proud of this so please hype it up for me. 💞💞

A/n: I'm so soft for Tanaka. Oh my god.

You and Tanaka Ryuunosuke were glued at the hip. It was to be expected, considering you'd both been friends since you were born. Your closeness was envied by lots of people- especially Saeko who claimed he loved you more than her. No matter what, you two were inseparable.

Every Friday night, Tanaka would come over to your house- or vice versa- to watch some sort of absolutely terrible movie. Low-budget action, disgusting romance, and sometimes even crazy conspiracy movies. It was a tradition the two of you had gotten used to, and it was always a perfect way to end your week. No amount of schoolwork, bullying or long practice hours could be worried about when the two of you were together, watching junk movies and eating equally junky food. You always made sure to keep your Friday nights going- unless one of you was out of town or he was at training camp. Not that either of those things would really stop you, because FaceTime was a thing and you two used it far more than you'd both like to admit. You were practically addicted to each other. Always talking, always texting, and more than often, always touching.

Recently though, the touches had gotten more intense. Holding hands while you walked home, long hugs every morning and night, and surprisingly intimate cuddles every Friday. The movies had changed, too. Instead of watching the action ones, like Tanaka usually preferred, you had started watching more and more romance ones. All terrible, mind you. But you felt like it was doing something to you. Of course, you'd always been slightly attracted to your tall and muscular friend, I mean who wouldn't be? Something about watching all the romance movies was really doing something to you, though. You tried to convince yourself that it was just the movies, that you weren't falling for your best friend. You were not going to be one of those girls, who falls for their best friend and has to watch them grow up and fall in love with another woman. That thought was the only thing that kept you sane, and you're pretty sure if you weren't so afraid of losing Tanaka, you would've just confessed to him already. Wait confessed? You don't even like him. You jump in shock, startling yourself out of your thoughts.

"Woah, you okay there?" Tanaka's voice makes you jump again, causing you to suddenly remember where you were- in your crushes lap! You flush a deep red and thank God for the dim lights. "I- uh, yes, I'm fine," you sputter out. "You sure about that? You're looking a little flustered," he says in a teasing voice. "I mean, c'mon it's not even that realistic. Cocking your head at him, you turn your head back to the TV. You regret doing so, your entire body going rigid. You're pretty sure you forgot how to breathe, because there, on the TV, was one of the steamiest sex scenes you've ever seen in your life. "Oh! Oh, my god, I didn't even see that!" You immediately turn back around and bury your head in Tanaka's shoulder, blushing furiously. His laugh rings out, partially tuning out the rather lewd moans. "You sure, princess?" You heat up even further, because there's that nickname again.

It happened sometime around the beginning of high school, after he saw you in a princess dress. To be fair, it was a Friday night, and you should have expected him to come over, but you were so engrossed in playing princess with your little cousin, you completely forgot. So the nickname stuck. And god, it did things to you. Your face never failed to flush when you heard it, and you cursed yourself for letting it get to you so easily. His arms running up and down yours sides bring you out of your thoughts, and voice calms you down even further. "Hey, let's turn it off, okay? We can watch something else, no problem." Reaching for the remote, he turns the movie off, beginning to browse for something else. You're straddling him now, and you begin to feel the exhaustion set into your body. Being so close to him made you feel so safe, and so, so sleepy. "Can we just sleep? I don't wanna watch anything else," you say, slowly beginning to slur your words. He smiles at you, god, he's so in love with you. "Whatever you want, princess."

There was no doubt, he knew what that nickname did to you, which is why he always used it. There was nothing sweeter in the world to him than your blush. No candy, not even pure sugar. Yes, Tanaka was in love with his best friend, that much was clear. It wasn't until Nishinoya caught on and forced him to act on his feelings that he actually fully came to terms with it. The team assured him that you were just as much in love with him as he was you- even Tsukishima gave a surprisingly convincing nod. That alone would have been enough to convince him. So he did. Romantic movies, nearly excessive skinship, meaningful glances and of course the use of his favorite nickname. He wasn't sure it was working, but then again, here he was, with you in his arms. Looking down at you, he stills when he realizes you're sleeping, careful not to disturb you. He figures now is a better time than any to tell you how he feels, so kissing your head, he takes a deep breath.

"I love you. I love you so, so much. I've loved you for so long it just feels like second nature at this point. I can't imagine a life without loving you." Pausing, he chuckles. "And I don't mean platonic love. No, I Tanaka Ryuunosuke have fallen head over heels in love with my best friend. It's nearly embarrassing- not that you're embarrassing, not at all. I just didn't expect to be one of those people to fit into such a stereotypical troupe, y'know? That's the embarassing part. Oh, and before you even think about it, yes, I'm going to be one of those self-sacrificial guys, the ones that are like 'I just want to see you happy.' If you don't return my feelings, of course. If you do feel the same though, I'll promise you this- I'm never letting you go." Tears are streaming down his face now, but he doesn't care. Nor does he make any move to wipe them off- no- he's not letting you go, not while he still has you.

Caught up in his confession, he doesn't feel you freeze. You were never asleep to begin with, just too shocked to move. Your heart is beating a million miles an hour, the love of your life just poured his heart out, never expecting you to hear any of what he said. You take a couple deep breaths to calm your racing heart. You know exactly what to do. Leaning up and grabbing his face, you say with as much conviction in your voice as possible: "Tanaka Ryuunosuke, don't you dare let me go."

And with that, you bring your lips to his. You've never felt anything more passionate in your life, you're absolutely certain you're going to faint. It's a perfect harmony, lips on lips. It's everything you've ever wanted, and little do you know he feels the exact same. He pulls you closer in an attempt to close the already practically non-existent gap between you, successfully grinding your hips together. The whine you let out is nothing short of sinful and he knows he has to hear more. With one hand on your face and the other on you hip, he helps you grind against him. When you break the kiss only to bring your lips down his jaw, he absolutely short-circuits. He lets out a breathy moan which only spurs you on further, kissing farther down his neck and lightly sucking a mark into his skin. Both lf his hands are on your waist now, grinding you down with much more fevor and desperation. It's practically heavenly. Sure, you've been aroused before, but it's never been like this, you feel like you're on fire.

You know you could continue like this forever, or at least until one of you came in your pants, but you stop him. It's only because you've realized it's probably not appropriate to be dry humping your childhood friend and longtime crush in his living room, especially not when his parents and sister were home. But of course, it's far too late for that, because Saeko has already walked in on the two of you locking lips.

"FUCK YEAH!" She screams. "I fucking called it! Mom! Dad! They finally fucking got together! It's only been like 8 years since you've been in love with her, right? It's about fucking time! Wait, you're together right? Ryuunosuke, I swear if you don't make her your girlfriend I will make your life a living hell." The two of you practically jump apart, shocked and thoroughly embarrassed. All you can do is stare at him in awe. "Eight years? You've been in love with me for eight years?" Your voice is barely a whisper, but you know he can hear it. He looks right into your eyes, and you're overwhelmed by the sheer amount of love in his gaze.

"Yes. Best eight years of my life."

Please reblog if you enjoyed.

[wherestoriescomefrom]

Hey, I have an academia aesthetic tumblr((not Desi, it's kinda exclusive , I do talk about my desi identity but mostly i post yk English/Italian photos)) , and I post, about my academics their, what I'm reading and learning (mostly stem). I do like cottagecore as well.

So, I read your post and I do not understand it. I am well aware of the casteism and I am not ignorant but I don't understand that what's wrong with this.

I just happen to like aesthetic, fuck colonisers but their architecture be good, yes, so is Indian architecture but I'm just liking that more these days so what is the problem.

I'm privileged, very, but I feel like a piece of shit since your post, I do not understand.

I am acknowledging it that so many people do not get to study and I'm not romanticizing it, I'm just talking about my life, and how I read and love to read and it is indeed a celebration of a "privilege" but what do i do? Not do this? Idk man? Idk

man i regret making that post. okay i reblogged it lately with more of an explanation, and here's the pull quote: "okay i was. in a mood the night i wrote this and i just wanted to say that i wish i had framed this with less anger and more gentleness. this was more of a personal rant, which has made it into the circles it speaks of. but for what its worth: i don’t actually have a right to be angry over this. i am UC, and as such, gentleness should come with my privilege. most of all, i wanted to apologise because this post makes it look like im not a part of this culture, which isn’t true. it isn’t as if i haven’t made posts about bollywood, or uncritically used the word “desi.”

i know this kind of online culture gives people joy. i have just seen too much of it which engaged uncritically, without acknowledging the wide wealth of history that is not uppercaste or north indian. (i think seeing another reclist with jhumpa lahiri on it did it for me. i’m sorry, i really dislike her as a writer… for personal reasons). i just wanted to express my problems with the version of india this kind of aesthetic produces, and provide context for my thoughts."

secondly. i know i'm not obligated to tell you what this means, but here goes nothing. often times, i feel, as UC people, we have a lot more access to global rhetoric. as such, being on very american spaces like tumblr, we get to talk to people outside of the mainland about our aesthetic, which is more often than not UC. the aesthetic that is used here makes me deeply, deeply uncomfortable mostly because of the sheer amount of labour that it glosses over. who do you think built the mughal buildings? do you remember the old story about the taj mahal, that shah jahan cut the labourer's hands after it was complete? for that matter, who do you think stitches the elaborate lehengas, the detailed zari work, and everything else it entails? it isn't us. we don't even pay a fair price for it. what makes me angry is that while there is more and more of an awareness of the inherent colonialism in dark academia, there is just not the same amount of awareness for casteism in indian academia. especially when brahmanism literally means that others don't get to study. idk, you can listen to Anurag Minus Verma's podcast on this, or maybe Buffalo Intellectual's. both good.

the aesthetic wouldn't even bother me so much if it wasn't for the rec lists. look, as upper caste people who have global audiences on tumblr, people pay attention to us. we're articulate, soft spoken, savarna. when i see reclists that regurgitate the same five indian authors as the be-all and end-all of south asian writing, i don't like it mostly because i know some non-indians are going to find it and think the same thing. it feels like such a disservice to the VARIETY of GOOD South Asian writing out there!!! i don't want to self promote, but here. i wrote a reclist a few weeks ago.

lastly. i don't actually care. you can engage with this aesthetic if you like, you can choose not to after this post, you can choose to engage with it more critically, do whatever you like. my intention was never to make people feel bad about what brings them joy. i don't think i was ranting for any reason except for my own, and i wish i'd either a) been gentler in what i was saying b) hidden the criticism from people who like leaning into this kind of online presence.

i don't care in the same way that i don't care about dark academia as a whole. it's imperialism, but it affects me very little as a mainlander. same with #desiaesthetic. it's more for nris than it is for me, and i can assure you, no one living in india actually cares either. i don't wanna say im involved in politics, but as someone with some experience of just student politics and indian academia, it's not like any of us sit and get mad at desi dark academia moodboards. as such, engage with it in whatever way makes you happy. me ranting to myself shouldn't affect your happiness, because you don't know me, and i might be a terrible person for all you know. who am i to pass judgement on what you do? i have no horse in this race. i do not make moral judgements on how you should engage with your media, that's entirely up to you.

i hope this answer made you feel better, genuinely. i don't want anyone to feel bad about the things i say, it was never my intention to do that. rest easy, sleep well, enjoy what you like in whatever way you like it.

unironically, love,

[writingonjorvik]

Alright, but you have to keep in mind that this is talking about actual years of stuff and between some mutual blockings and just the sheer amount of time, I cannot get all my receipts. I will do the best I can and feel free to reach out to me if you want more follow up. My main is @amelias-hart or you can @ me on Discord, amelias-hart#9919.

First of all, Ginny and I do not get along and we have to go back to 2019 to clear that up. Back then, I was still running an SSO Discord of which one of the requirements to join was to introduce yourself or reach out to me if that made you uncomfortable. Ginny proceeded to call me ableist because I wouldn't change these rules for her because she didn't want to do either, despite me saying basically "I'm the only one moderating and this is how I want to run my Discord in a way that best helps my anxiety." Here's my last reblog on that thread prior to her comment, I cannot get a link for her last comment because blocked, but I'm sure the magic of the internet will not stop you. As a point to this as well, I asked several individuals in the community at the time and none of them were even remotely aware that we had "gotten into arguments" before and even after rereading any interaction between us, do not know what she's talking about other than that I've disagreed on some of her comments or defended some of my statements when she responded to mine. But nothing outright hostile from my memory or a couple of third parties.

She then (and this is where time is an issue on receipts) threatened to reviewbomb my recently (at the time) released book. She made a very directed comment on her blog about how she had a lot of friends on bookblr as a professional reviewer and an author and how bookblr is a small world and you shouldn't be rude to people on the interent, etc. Again, I cannot find this post now and didn't at the time because it was my first book and I didn't want to start anything. If willing, I do have a witness to the event and we can see if we can't loop in on that in a private conversation, supposing the post is still up. So to say the least, I don't have a good relationship with Ginny and I think that bias should be cleared before we go further. I blocked her at the time and just left it there.

More recently, this post went up which led into a whole series of discourse ended with the reblog I have included. To summarize, when SSO removed the W tap to maintain a gait, Ginny argued that this was making the game too easy and that SSE's stated explanation that it was to help individuals with disabilities was for brownie points. I then responded saying that "Hey, this is kinda ableist, this is a game for kids and faux difficulty doesn't make a game harder, since you say you want to make games, maybe you should think on that." Which then got the response from a then SSO game dev and a current SSO game dev's reblog saying loosely, "Yeah, Amelia's right." Along with their insights as people who worked on that change or supported it happening. To note though, I didn't call her ableist, I said these comments were rooted in ableism and maybe you shouldn't as someone who wants to make games and reflect on this to make games more accessible. I don't like to throw those accusations around, both because of severity and having been not great about it before myself. Everyone learns, I strive to continue my learning.

Despite however a pretty clear response from the community that they agreed with me, to include a number of individuals with physical disabilities that this change in game helped, Ginny doubled down on this point here and in her further reblogs of the previous post. While commenting that she "was happy it helped some people," Ginny leaned in to a number of comments which I would argue are victim blaming, stating that if you have disabilities you shouldn't engage with activities that cause your disability to flare up, instead of maybe the more open argument that we work on making hobbies more accessible for people with those disabilities. We're obviously not going to succeed everywhere, but I think there is worth in the effort where Ginny's arguments have leaned into that those people should just abandon those hobbies. Her defense is that she has a disability (which I don't dismiss or deny, it's her experience) and therefore can't be ableist (not a claim I made). Although, as an autisitic NB/trans person who identifies with the gray ace spectrum, there is absolutely still prejudice against individuals even if you are part of a minority, particularly if you're a minority in a minority. This felt like a "I have a black friend" defense, but at this point I was blocked and not interested in pressing the issue with alts. Ginny then left the ssoblr community specifically and has not posted since then about SSO on Tumblr, though she is still on the platform.

If you want answers on her lying about being a game developer, that one is easy to prove and she puts the receipts of it on her own socials. Ginny has been working on a project for about five years now called Mystic Riders. Now I'm not here to criticize this project and everyone starts somewhere on their journeys as creators, but I will criticize Ginny's presentation of this project because she is massively misleading. This project has been in the works with two devs for five years. Only this week, as of writing this (Dec 16, 2021), have we seen any concept work for this project at all. Which for a for fun, hobby project, absolutely fine. But Ginny markets herself as a professional game developer, to the point of suggesting repeatedly in her content that SSE should pay her for her feedback because she knows so much about game design (the repeated "I will not do SSO's job/I will not do work for SSE for free" in her content). We'll skip over the irony in that statement as a professional reviewer who has likely done reviews for free books and the whole concept of creators supporting creators vs. creators fighting creators.

Which then if we look at her game if she's a professional, begs a number of questions: Why in the five years of development has this game not produced a kickstarter of some kind, a slice, a demo, any concept work until now? Not even on a coding level, actual concept art, there are now only three pieces of concept work that is not writing for a visual media. Or, considering neither of the current devs know how to code, walked the scale of the project back at all to something more manageable for this team from the currently ambitious goal of an MMO? Worse, Ginny has been called out multiple times for attempting to talent snipe from other projects, or even convert projects to working on Mystic Riders. This is on top of the way she continues to talk down to any devs who are younger than her, regardless of their experience level. This is all on private Discords that I don't have access to anymore, but again, DM me and we can see if we can't loop some of these folks in privately for comment. And between both, she continues the extremely hostile approach of making an "SSO killer" like this is a productive way at looking at creating any form of media. But she also brands herself as being a professional game developer despite the actual misuse of that term for what she has done for the project and the absolute lack of experience of any kind in the field outside of blogging. Which, again, we all start somewhere, I started with blogging myself, but I have actually coded games at this point now and I don't call myself a professional. Quantifiably have more experience than she does here, as the point of reference.

Again, I have a strong bias but I am not the only one she's left a sour taste with and I despite that she is actively lying about her experience and misleading the community acting like she's an expert. But now that she's being much more overt about her prejudices behind the guise of caring about diversity, here you go.

Oh my god...the game blogger who lies about her experience as a game developer who doubled down on the ableist remarks she was called out on also forgot to hide her transphobia and racism to bash on SSO. I am so surprise.