#I wanna go into depth about this episode in general though because it is really that good regardless of this

[fictiongods]

God episode four of season one in supergirl is so so good for so many reasons, but the queer metaphor being so obvious in it really has a special place in my heart. Like the fact that they keep saying Kara should come out as supergirl and then Kara’s immediate response is “omg Alex you should come out too!! Telling Eliza about the DEO would feel really freeing and Y’know just cause you’re scared she’ll be mad at you and not accepting of me we should still…” like it’s SO obvious. SO present. And even though Leslie was being kind of negative about it, the line about Kara [she does kind of give off a sapphic vibe with that butch s chest plate.] was so great. And they end the episode talking about a gay story in the media. LIKE ITS SO THERE. Take me to church cover being in the background of the scene between Alex and Eliza’s conversation is just the cherry on top.

[chaifootsteps]

gonna drop my initial thoughts on the recent episode here real quick-

my first thoughts is that is wasn’t THAT bad, at least from the last few episodes I think it’s a step up. It just doesn’t clutch the same impact Ozzie’s had for me though

Glitz and Glam kind of fucked honestly- I think I like them. Sad that they’re probably just gonna be one-offs cause I liked the general idea of their designs and whole vibe. Wish we saw more of them (granted they’re female Viv characters so I’m not surprised). Wished they didn’t blend into the background and their designs didn’t have so many patterns it hurt my brain when they moved. Sad how they didn’t feel much like antagonists and were just sort of there

Mammon sure does exist. I somehow got more disappointed and frustrated with his design. Mostly because when I realized he was also supposed to be a spider I really wish Viv leaned more into the spider aspect than the fucking Christmas tree motif. Even his big demon form is lackluster it just looked like his original design but bigger- more Christmas tree and with a vague spider body and tiny ass eyes that got really fucked up the further away they were

bet you that Viv only really thought about the circus theming how hell with Mammon as a clown and Lucifer as a ring leader and just stopped it there- but she’s gonna insist it’s present!

Blitz felt sort of pointless in this episode. To keep it brief it didn’t feel like his and Fizz’s relationship went anywhere and it was just replaying emotions they already had from the previous episode.

Im trying to keep this short lol- another thing is that I think they really struggle with writing these more complex and emotional themes. They just keep repeating the same “are you okay” “I’m fine” “you don’t have to do this” “it’s for Mammon” “I’m fine I’m fine I’m fine” over and over and over again

It felt like they had the same scene over and over again but it also felt like we didn’t even learn much

as usual the episode was very fast paced but it also felt like nothing really happened

that sign language scene was nice though. So glad they didn’t ruin it with a shitty joke, for a moment they actually cracked how to write a nice wholesome scene

Fizz and Ozzie are fine. Much better than Stolas and Blitz by a mile.

I’m curious to see where they go from here- like how Mammon intends to make Ozzie “regret saying he loves Fizz”

I really wanna analyze and critique this episode more in depth later but uhhhhh real quick Viv thought she was being cheeky with the “women aren’t funny” joke that was followed up by her credit popping up. Ironic cause I didn’t laugh at all during this episode and the entire opening humor was just more cursing and expecting the audience to laugh

I have things I want to say turning in my head- I will very likely be back lol

They're good thoughts! I didn't even really notice just how repetitive the scenes were until you pointed it out, but it's true. It was just the same exchange over and over.

[mx-piggy]

I've decided that I'm going to be reviewing every episode from the new season of Futurama. No one asked, but, hey, it's my blog and I like to think people may have mild interest in my opinion. So, here are my thoughts on 'Children of a Lesser Bog'.

Once again, if you wanna chat about the episode in the notes (comments, rbs) or via DMs, feel free!

I really enjoyed this episode, I think more than I enjoyed the Impossible Stream. With the Impossible Stream, you had the novelty of 'hey, new Futurama!', with an okay story and some good jokes. But, I feel like this episode worked better for me because I adore when Futurama allows itself to examine its characters in stories that have a genuine sense of emotion. Plus, I'm biased because I love Amy and it was really great to see a rare moment of her explored in so much depth. I feel like there are only a handful of episodes that focus on Amy, and even fewer that are so genuinely touching.

The plot was actually really good, in my opinion. I assumed the writers were just going to do something a little sitcom-y with Kif and Amy becoming parents and struggling to balance everything, so I liked the way the story went with Kif being away from his family and trying his best to get home to them, and Amy struggling to cope with motherhood as well as experiencing insecurity. I like how the plot was resolved in a genuinely heart-warming way, with the conclusion of Amy's love for her kids being more important than any biological link to them she lacks. Also, I'm interested to see how they handle this idea of Kif and Amy being parents going forward. In the Comedy Central years, they preferred to maintain the status quo of the show (hence Fry and Leela's muddled relationship), so I'm wondering if being on Hulu will mean that the show will be less afraid of shifting the status quo.

So, I want to get my more negative thoughts out the way before moving onto things that I liked/loved, since I'd rather emphasise the positives of the episodes considering I had a very positive opinion of the episode overall.

I only really noticed it in this episode, but a lot of my issues with the animation/writing from the Comedy Central era of the show, and probably before then, too, is how the show has a tendency to have very limited animation when a group of characters are gathered together but only a few of them are actually talking. It always feels clumsy and odd because there'll be so many characters just standing there, not reacting to what's going on, which is out of character for most of them. I understand that it's not really the fault of the animators and that it's a tough industry. It only really registered in this episode because of how it was strange to see Zapp just standing there in the background expressionlessly, without having said anything in the episode (or even this season, to my recollection) prior. Also, it was odd to see the Planet Express crew just watching on with unchanging expressions and without saying anything as the Grand Midwife threatened to take Amy's kids away in a genuinely heart-wrenching scene. I just wish there was more reactivity to the characters in the background, to make the characters feel more fully realised and as though they have meaningful relationships to one another. Otherwise, it has the same lifeless quality to most of Family Guy and its various knockoffs.

A problem I had with this episode specifically is that I found it a little contrived that Leela would forget that she knocked up Kif because the writers needed an excuse to exposition dump information that a lot of the audience would remember. It felt very out of character for her. In general, not a lot of this ‘reminder’ dialogue felt natural. I'm worried that this will happen in the show going forward when it continues plotlines from previous episodes (e.g. Parasites Regained). I feel like it's kind of a time-waster to have them spend almost five minutes of a 24-minute-long episode reminding the audience of information they could easily access from rewatching Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch if they don't remember it. I feel like they would have cut this part of the episode out if it was airing on TV rather than on a streaming service, because of the differences in time-strictness.

That said, Sex Across the Universe and drunk Leela were pretty funny to me, so I guess I can somewhat get over this issue.

This is a very personal issue for me, and it's that I feel like Zapp didn't have as much of a presence in this episode compared to previously in the show. Don't get me wrong, I think it's fine for there to be an episode that has Kif and Zapp in it but has Kif be the focus rather than Zapp. What I mean is that Zapp is this larger-than-life character who has some of the funniest lines in the show even when he's a minor character in an episode, and I just didn't get that from him in this episode.

The show feels very different just vibe-wise compared to the original run and the Comedy Central run, but I feel like, at times, the CC run could also feel a little lifeless, if that makes sense. I don't know how to describe it, really. With the original run, there was always a sense of life to it, without any moment feeling like 'dead air'; maybe it was because of the animation had more of a human touch- or feels that way, anyway- than the more recent instalments of the show. But, the style and delivery of jokes at times have felt increasingly slow and empty to the point of feeling clumsy. It's something I've always felt about Futurama as well as the Simpsons, but I have no idea if I've effectively articulated it.

Now, onto the more positive things!

I'm so happy that they've finally figured out how to handle Amy and Leela in a way that doesn't feel irritating and at least mildly sexist. In the past, I've really hated how they've had the two main female characters of the show be so unpleasant to each other, whilst the male characters can get along just fine and have close, meaningful bonds. Like, it just felt like a bunch of male writers saying 'we think women are two-faced and catty so Leela and Amy will just be like that'. I'm in the process of writing a fic that explores Amy's harsh treatment of Leela as a result of the envy Leela causes her, because I'm so unhappy with their canon relationship and I wanted to see them to have a kind of meaningful relationship. Actually, I found it interesting that the conflict between Leela and Amy in the episode is sparked by Amy's jealousy.

After this episode where they have some of the most pleasant interactions between them out of the whole show, I'm actually optimistic that the show will make Amy and Leela have a pleasant relationship after this episode, though I can only hope they can have a somewhat meaningful relationship going forward, in the same way Fry and Bender have one.

I actually think the conflict between Leela and Amy in the episode is perfectly understandable and logical, more so than the random catty comments Amy would make at Leela's expense in the prior seasons. This time, Amy's actually really hurt and insecure about her kids favouring Leela over her. I feel like it was a good, compelling storyline, not only looking at Leela and Amy's relationship to one another but also examining the broader theme of motherhood or parenthood as a whole, and how Amy may not be the kids' biological mother, but she is their mom and she loves them. And, I really like how they didn't go down the route of Leela trying to take the kids away from Amy. I feel like it's a plot line you could kind of justify because of Leela's own issues with being an orphan and whatnot, but it wouldn't have been in character for her, at least in my opinion. I really liked how they positioned Leela as the kids' aunt, rather than her being jealous of Amy for having kids.

There were a lot of funny jokes in the episode, and I've compiled them into a bullet point list:

Bender coming third in Masterchef Junior.

The noise the Professor makes when his mouth is stuck together by the honey.

‘Buy A Church’ and ‘reassure Kif’ on Amy's schedule

Axl (the biggest of the three kids) in the stroller was a funny visual gag.

Kif being one of those wine moms with his mineral water.

Zapp's pleading cries as he is dragged into cave- it reminded me of Love's Labours Lost in Space, with Billy West's hilarious delivery of 'oh, God, no!'

“AND STAY AWAY FROM MY SCROTUMS!!”

"Daddy’s coming to tuck you in. To your graves.”

“Scruffy’s stuff gets around.”

Visual gag of Kif ripping off his shirt and proceeding to fold up his skirt.

“I did what a daddy had to do.”

Other little things I liked, compiled into a bullet point list:

I'm happy that they replaced Billy West as Mr. Wong’s voice actor. Sort of unrelated, I'm hoping that the King of the Hill revival does the same for Kahn.

I really liked how the kids kept going over to Leela. The first time especially, it was really funny.

Also, the kids were really cute! I like how they were different ages (physically/developmentally, anyway), because I feel like it'd feel too cliché if they were all babies. I don't know why; I think it'd just make it feel too sitcom-y having Amy and Kif take care of babies.

I loved Aunt Leela; it was nice seeing her interact with them.

I really liked seeing Zapp and Kif in action together. I feel like it's something surprisingly rare on the show to have Zapp and Kif doing something that doesn't directly involve the Planet Express crew, so it was interesting to see them together on a DOOP mission.

[magical-girl-topic]

Possible most hated magical girl anime

Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt is a magical girl anime which many people have had a problem with the past couple of years. I'm not really on either side of the argument about this anime, but I would like to talk about it on here. <3 Both sides have great points, and I would really like to share it with you guys. Thanks for the support recently :3 I'll get on w/ it now.

Ever since its come out, I've heard a lot of mixed opinions on PASWG, and I can see why. I watched this anime in early 2020, due to getting A TON of cosplays of these two angel sisters on my tiktok fyp. x3

To get it out of the way, personally I do really like this anime, I think its very funny, the character design is awesome! And overall, its just fun to watch. I understand why so many people have a problem with it though

The first problem I've noticed, was racism.

One of the biggest controversies paswg has had with the magical girl, and overall just anime community, has been their many racist character designs. While this was made in the early 2010's (2012 to be exact), and it is based off of popular adult animation at the time, like South Park, and Family Guy, which also has had some very offensive characters in it, it doesn't really change the fact that the designs we're racist, and very offensive to a lot of viewers.

In PASWG, they used a lot of racist stereotypes against POC for their designs, a lot of people have only recently spoke out about this, and the anime, and fandom, has gotten a lot of backlash.

(When I say recently, I don't mean too recent, I'm kinda late on this subject, but I do still see a lot of people talking about it to this day. When I mainly started seeing people speaking out about this, it was late 2020- early 2021)

While that is obviously a problem for the anime, it's not completely bad, I mean don't get me wrong, the anime isn't the greatest, but personally, I don't think it deserves too much hate.

I think the artwork is incredible, the animation style and just the way everything moves is insanely gorgeous, the colors chosen for every single scene is pure eye candy.

There's loads of references in every episode, it has me so focused on every little thing to find every little easter egg possible its insane. xD Their pet, chuck, himself is an entire reference to Gir from invader zim. I've found a list of every reference in each episode, which I'll link here if you wanna look.

You should check that out its pretty cool <333

I'm not going to go full in depth of every problem and every plus there is to this anime because loads of people have done that, and I'm just writing this for fun and because it's what I enjoy. There's loads of other blogs and articles on paswg, which if this was of any interest to you, I advise looking into it <333

PASWG is a super cool, but pretty strange anime, and if you've got the time and wanna check it out yourself, theres only 14 episodes, so you totally should and let me know your opinion on paswg! <3 (And I'd love to hear urs if you've already watched it!! :-))

Thank you for reading this blog, it means a lot. :33 I love u guys sm, thx 4 the support, be ready 4 some more blogs and I'll cya soon! xoxo bye bye!

[lightningfilledsaber]

i have a quastion. what is dungeon meshi like i’ve considered watching the anime since it looks amusing…. i trust you as an authority on this hence why i’m in your asks :3c

Dungeon Meshi is so good!!!

So Ryoko Kui (the author of the manga) is a super super great artist and writer in general, and her knowledge of intimate and expansive worldbuilding, including the cultures of different fantasy races is VERY apparent in dunmesh without being super in your face. It strikes a perfect balance between showing and implying and telling; giving you information when you need it but not holding your hand throughout the process. Ecology and biology of creatures and the places (mostly dungeons but yk) is SUPER important and expanded upon in the story. It scratches my Creature autism SOOO well. And all of the characters are VERY distinct and fun AND THE DESIGNS FUCK SOOO HARD. Dungeon Meshi has become one of my favorite series of all time, because it's so. so fucking profound. There are a LOT of funny moments and gags but there's an equal amount of genuinely serious and emotional moments. The character dynamics. GOD. Cannot recommend it enough.

Also. Dungeon Meshi is super fucking horny. LMAO. Not in a "fanservice-y" way (in fact, there is only ONE character that ever gets upskirt/panty shots and it is Senshi, the bearded dwarf man. He's my fave btw <3). But dunmeshi uses consumption (and to a lesser/technical extent cannibalism as well) as a... metaphor for love and obsession, and frequently eroticizes it. I hesitate to say metaphor because it's honestly VERY obvious lmao. Especially with how genuinely autistic Laios is about monsters and eating them. Then there's also transformation and change that's also VERY eroticized. A lot of the focus of Dungeon Meshi is desire. How people experience it, and just how far people will go for it. Which, again, is super eroticized a LOT. All done in a tasteful(? not sure if this is the right word but yk) way and not in a surface level "LOOK, SEX!!!!!!!!!" way. Not that there's anything inherently WRONG with being horny and not being like profound about it but I'm just trying to make a point lol

Now to specifically talk about the anime since that's what you mentioned wanting to watch (though I REALLY reccommend the manga, it is fucking GORGEOUS and there are so many hilarious panels that haven't been brought over to the anime, despite how well it's been doing with that so far. It just happens with turning a manga into an anime yk?)! It's doing a really good job so far!! The only issues I have are relatively nitpicky (I've gone into detail abt it if you wanna see here) and more of an issue with modern anime overall so! They're doing a really great job of translating over from the page to the screen and the voice acting work (both the original japanese and english dub) is really fucking good. And I don't typically like modern english dubs. The layout of the episodes is really nice so far too, centering around the "dish/es of the day" without feeling too constrictively like your typical "monster of the week" type episodes. It helps that Dungeon Meshi as a media itself strikes a really good balance between that and its storytelling. Though again. Laios is genuinely SO fucking autistic about monsters and eating them lmao and the series focuses on him/his party so! There's so much good in depth discussion about monsters, both their biology (especially in relation to their taste hehe) as well as their natures, and ecology!

I'm also really a fan of netflix releasing the episodes weekly instead of dropping them all at once. It's refreshing coming from netflix specifically considering their... track record.

But anyway yeah! TYSM Marty for coming to me about this and letting me go on an autistic talk about it!! I only apologize for not being more specific, but a lot of my dunmesh posting (reblogs anyway since I'm pretty sure the posts I've MADE about it have been relatively vague??) is already pretty spoilery and I'm a firm believer in a first watch/read being as spoiler free as possible!! It makes subsequent rewatches/rereads all the more fun to me personally <3 Though that's obviously up to you lol

[bonetrousle]

ok nobody asked but here are my feelings on good omens 2 (contains spoilers, obviously, though i doubt there is anyone on this website left who hasn't been spoiled.) but anyways. This gets a little long too haha I just have a lot to say

Well first off I just wanna say that it was so bad. So so bad. I honestly thought I'd come online after my spoiler-avoiding absence to find people posting about how terrible it was - not the case, it would seem! I was so bored and frustrated by the pacing, directing, editing, the score and the acting. Oh, and of course the writing. lmfao. There were multiple moments where we laughed out loud watching it because the edits/acting/directing were so bad. My general reaction was "that whole season was just like a fanfiction :/" and then I came online to find everyone saying "that whole season was just like a fanfiction!! 😍" like. I don't actually want my professionally-produced with a budget of more than $5 shows to be like a fanfiction, actually, thanks!!

The Beelzebub/Gabriel thing fucking blindsided me so bad and felt like it came out of nowhere. I hated it!!! I also hated the recast of Beelzebub! Like, no hate to the actor, but they were WAY too pretty to be playing Beelzebub. Why is it that they started a romantic plot with them and they also conveniently got more conventionally pretty. :/ Look how they massacred my boy!!! HATE!!!!!! This to me was the most fanservicey feeling part of the show, and I did not care for it :^) I could go on about this for quite some time in more depth, but I won't haha. all im saying is they did not do the mahi to get the treats. i'll leave it at that!!!

Sorry I hated the lesbians too. They were so annoying. Why did they have to be in every scene. shout out to neil for making me actively dislike a gay pairing, it's not easy to do!! Again, I could go on; I won't right now though!

TO THE POSITIVES: (spoilers ahead obvs) The last 15 minutes were genuinely so good, to me. So here's the thing. I was unwillingly spoiled for the fucking leaks by people posting on here about them without giving any warning at all. I had to unfollow a few accounts, but the damage was done. At least I didn't have any context for what was going to happen, but having avoided most promo, my assumption was this- there was only going to be a season 2, that was going to be the end, done and dusted. Aziraphale and Crowley would assumedly get together, and they'd all live happily every after, blah blah. Ok, fine! Great! I was super ready for that. My favourite experience of the show was the dawning realisation of horror during the most emotional part of the show that season 2 was not the end, and it was about to end on a fucking devastating cliffhanger. Like I was flabbergasted. In shock. THAT'S GOOD SHIT RIGHT THERE!!! It also explained why the whole season felt like a bad movie 2 in a series of 3, in that nothing really fucking happened at all. Seriously. the plot felt so paper thin, there was really no need for every episode to be 45 mins +. Some tighter editing and it could've been 30 mins an episode. there just wasn't enough there to justify the run-time, to me!

Generally speaking of course, I loved all the aziraphale and crowley interactions, though some of them were unbearable (what was that shit with the laudanum in scotland, so cringe, auughh). In general I felt there could have been a bit more... subtlety in the acting and writing as a whole. It all felt very OTT, all the time. We went back and rewatched the cold open of season 1 episode 3 and it felt like it was emmy-winning in comparison in terms of pacing, directing, writing etc. SIGHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Anyway, the setup for season 3 was delicious, so I have higher hopes for that season potentially actually being good. But I'm not going to get my hopes up TOO high after that. General consensus to me is that that season was so bad, but no one cares/wants to acknowledge it because of the gay shit, and everyone's gonna pile neil up with applause and commendations, which he still doesn't deserve, imo!!! I'm a hater from the rave to the grave! he shouldn't have got in a twitter argument with my partner online!!! He made it personal!!! I'M IN YOUR WALLS!!!!!

Anyway, maybe after a rewatch I'll find more to enjoy. HAH! expect me to reblog gifsets about it anyway.

[ancientstone]

hey there! i've been seeing a lot of tmnt on your blog and i wanna ask something. i really wanna start the rise series and i was wondering, is it all shenanigans and fun or will there also be the depth and seriousness and thoughtfulness i see on tumblr? (i mean bc sometimes with kid's media, it's the fandom that constructs the deep parts from what canon only implies and never fully acknowledges) so like, is it actually deep or is it a case of the fans going "it's not that deep but i'm imagining that it is"? either way is fun, i just wanna know what to expect. i'm super excited to start btw!

If you cut me in half, tmnt would be at my core haha 😅 I feel honoured that you chose me to ask!

Hm, good question. I'd say 50/50 depending on what subject you're talking about.

If it's about the family dynamics, then it's very much canon the closeness of the brothers and them with April, and how they care for each other. With Splinter it develops more over the seasons, but it's also there. Tumblr may notch it up a little, or give them more serious topics to talk about than what happens in the show, but it's based of a solid base.

If it's the 'Leo being the front man with jokes to hide pain' part, eh, more headcanon? He makes a remark once about hiding behind jokes during the series (the episode portal jacked, I believe), and since the movie people have taken that and ran with it given the topics that covered (they may have before as well but I wasn't active in the rise fandom then so I couldn't say)

In fact, most of the mental health stuff is more along the fandom route, as the show is typically more lighthearted. Though I think part of that is because Rise suddenly had it's second series cut and the writers had to rush the final four episodes, so there wasn't much time for the emotional scenes they probably would've wanted put in, therefore fandom 'fills the gaps'. (Rise had a 'Network Keeps Screwing Us Over' problem.)

That being said, there's still lots of more emotional moments and depth in the show! Especially in that series 2 finale and the movie (seriously, the movie is so good! If it doesn't get nominated for best animated picture I'm gonna cry!)

Also, as a side note if you're watching for the first time: The episodes got aired out of order (see; the Network keeps screwing us over problem), so it's good to look up the actual order to watch in!

Also also, the first number of episodes are generally considered the weaker of the show, so stick with it and give it a chance!

[ciaossu-imagines]

Sure thing 💕 And don’t worry about it sounding silly, it’s how you feel and that’s what’s important. And you are absolutely succeeding. I love brutal honesty when it comes down to stuff like that. I’m looking forward to reading those stories when you also post them. Especially the Bandō story and Ever Young because the Bandō story left on such a cliffhanger and I’m intrigued about everything that will happen in the Ever Young story. And that paranormal investigation team sounds interesting. Do you think you’ll continue it one day? And I’m really glad you’re getting happier by the day because you absolutely deserve that, no matter what. You’re not. Though I actually don’t tend to stop and just continue writing it. Like when I did that horrible thing at the beginning of my last arc, I was crying my eyes out while writing everything since I was in the flow, knew what I wanted to write and don’t want to stop it. Though there have been other times where I’m fangirling because of something that’s happening in my story and then I do stop to calm myself down 😅 Yeah. I generally reread my stories at least once before I post them but because this one is so long and it means a lot to me, I’m gonna reread it twice. Though before that, I plan on posting another story which is much shorter and I’m unable to get around to rereading it, which sucks. Though now the plan is to reread it close to the day I plan on posting it and hope I go through with it. That’s dedicated. But yeah, I understand that since it’s quite normal to want your stories to be as perfect as can be.

Yeah. Like even if she messed up, Haruki would calmly tell her in what way she did and once that conversation’s over, he’d smile at her and would ask her whether she wants to do anything. Also, since Haruki’s morality is a dark shade of grey, he wouldn’t be mad at Sumiko if she did something’ ‘wrong’, but would still tell her to be careful Yeah. Like all those babies are in their sixties now and Sumiko is four by the end of the story so they’d be seventy-something by her teenage years. Yeah. Yata is one of my few favourite characters that doesn’t die or come into mortal danger or anything like that and I’d like to keep it that way. And I see. Writing fluff is a good general way to get around it. Like after an angsty plotline, I generally write something more cheerful or at the very least less heavy. Thank you so much. And unfortunately, most blogs I follow of the fandoms we share are hardly ever active. Yeah, I saw KHR won the poll by quite a lot. And you’re getting through it fast. I like saw on Wikipedia that it’s 302 episodes so probably loads of chapters. Yay, Jujutsu Kaisen. Be warned, there is much pain in the second season but it’s still so good. How far did you make it?

Of course. You have a life outside of Tumblr after all.

C

You are so nice and sweet as always! I really do appreciate you. And thanks for looking forward to it. I do plan on finishing up the Shouhei one first, just because it was further along, but I do want to get most of the askbox cleared, finish a commission, and really be up to writing long fic and feel confident in it before I finish the last two of those things. Then comes Bandou! And I probably will dabble with the paranormal investigation one first in my spare time, just for me, to get comfortable writing long fic again…if it's just for me, then I don't need to worry if it sucks, after all. And I cannot write and cry, haha. I am not a quiet or calm cryer. I don't cry long but when I do, it's all out sobbing. Now I can fangirl and still write because that makes me wanna put the words down faster and faster and get it done and out. And I hope you do go through with it as I am sure you did a fantastic job and it's a lovely story!

And I love the fact that these really nice, kind characters do have that morally grey side to them because it gives them this nice complexity and depth. And see, I have a problem of either ignoring Yata or killing him far more than I should, so it's probably a really good thing I don't write a lot for him outside of specific requests. And yeah, really light is needed after a good angst fest and it's normally when I start asking for match up requests because those make me feel really good and relaxed and light. And I am getting that impression. It seems like ask blogs/imagine blogs have kind of died out for either the fandoms I enjoy or just in general here on tumblr so I'm wondering if my number of followers is there mostly because I'm one of the few surviving ones haha. As for KHR, there's about 403 chapters, so I'm almost half-way through, but that is because I did skip the Daily Life arc this time…mostly because I know it and it's really kind of a slog to get through, so it always slows me down. I'm probably not going to rewatch the entire series as well, but am definitely going to check out the filler arcs because, while I'm normally a downer on filler episodes, I actually really enjoyed the fillers for KHR. And something tells me there's going to be so much pain in Jujutsu Kaisen period. It just seems that sort of story where there are absolutely NO guarantees that characters will survive, no matter how important they seem.

[teememdee]

2022 Art Summary!!! I'm extremely proud of both how much I've made and how much I've improved this year :D and because I love talking about my work I wanna go through each month under the cut because I didn't put some things on here but I feel they're important

JANUARY

After two years of it being the same picture, I decided to start the year update my twitter pfp, and I think I'll keep up the tradition this year, because not only has my art style evolved, I'm now over 4 months on T so I want to reflect that. Other than this piece I started work on another late in the month, but wouldn't finish until February.

FEBRUARY

And there's the big piece. Based on my own fanfiction would your heart know, I had been wanting to draw this scene for a long time. Ahri and Kai'Sa's Runeterra designs take forever to draw and I spent ages on Kai'Sa's expression. Fun fact, for the background, I painted over a Breath of the Wild screenshot for reference, and Link is crouching behind Kai'Sa if you turn her layers off. I like this piece still, and I'm glad I made it, but I like the other piece from this month more. I love drawing characters from games I don't play! I love Yae Miko's design and love making myself suffer with small details, so this happened. I can't remember the exact number but each piece of jewelry is an absurd amount of layers. This piece helped me improve both my hair and metal rendering, plus I just love the colors. ALSO: published the first chapter of my Kahri Proposal fic, the stars align for you and i!

MARCH

One piece this month, as this time of year is always the worst, both mental health wise and school-wise. Still, I wanted to make art for Kai'Sa's birthday on the 7th. To be honest I don't really like this piece that much, I could sit here and nitpick it but no one wants to read that. People on Twitter liked it though!

APRIL

I don't think I was as miserable in April but I didn't draw / finish anything (I definitely did stuff for my art classes, but nothing fanart related + I was still writing fic at the time) until the 24th. I did this in one night after the "Hollow Mind" episode of The Owl House. A fantastic episode from a fantastic show. This piece gave me the confidence that I could make simpler yet still really good pieces in less time.

MAY

Evidently, I was much happier in May. Kujou Sara was another "I just think they're neat" piece that turned into me teaching myself how to render hair and skin way better, and about gradient maps. I did the whole piece (minus the mask) in greyscale and then basically just fucked around. I'm still really happy with how it looks. Then I finally drew a kiss I liked. This is another piece I could now sit here and nitpick but generally I still like it, especially the hand. THEN THE RELEASE OF BEL'VETH RUINED MY LIFE. The color story Pinwheel WRECKED me. I drew the "You, and your father" piece the same day it came out. Not only did this teach me more about expressions and ESPECIALLY environment lighting, the author of the story liked it on Twitter!!!! I was already obsessed, but Pinwheel threw me into the depths of brainrot regarding Kassadin and his family (Kassfam). Due to a distinct lack of canon material, I have a boat load of headcanons that I won't get into here, but the family portrait is set in K/DA-verse when Kai'Sa is two years old, not long before her mother dies. TL;DR the Void won't leave this family alone and I'm obsessed with them. Then, a piece that was in my head for a really long time, I couldn't stop thinking about how Kai'Sa was only ten years old in Runeterra when she falls into the Void. I adore this piece, wish it got more attention on Twitter but oh well haha ALSO: published the second chapter of the stars align for you and i!

JUNE

My birthday month!!! The first piece was a gift to myself, and I love it so so so so much. It's so cute. I love them. I'm so proud of how Kai'Sa's second skin looks and both of their expressions. This piece was also my first steps into getting better and rendering Ahri's tail + hair. I love it. It's one of my favorites from the year. Then Star Guardian 2022 started!!! I finished this piece the day after SG Kai'Sa's voicelines dropped, and because I'm a firm believer in Kahri being soulmates, I went wild over this line. I really love how Ahri looks, she's so cute. This piece taught me how to cope with my ship being so, extremely not canon LMAOO

JULY

More Star Guardian!!! The big Kahri piece is approximately one billion layers (200+) and took five years off my life. I'm very VERY proud of it, but I'm never drawing full body pieces of those designs again. KAI'SA MENTIONING HER MOTHER IN ANOTHER SKY WAS FOR ME PERSONALLY. I'm the only person obsessed with her. I love this piece it's so cute. I hope one day DeadWife gets a canon design but for now I love her like this. And then a big smooch!!! This started as a sketch I was doing bc I was miserable + found a good reference and then it turned into my most popular piece of the year, and I adore it. Definitely a step forward in regards to rendering Ahri's hair and showing motion + emotion.

AUGUST

Just one piece because I was busy, but good practice. I love Sarah Fortune and wanted to make her Star Guardian version look more like how she does in Runeterra. Love her expression and nose shape especially. ALSO: published the first chapter of my copium Star Guardian Kahri fic, be the light to carry me!

SEPTEMBER

Simple pieces I knocked out in one day each. The Runeterra kiss is my favorite, I want to say it's the best rendering I did all year. Admittedly I don't have much to say about the Star Guardian piece. Could have been better but it's good! Twitter loved both of these :)

OCTOBER

I've always wanted to draw Seraphine because I love her, then her Legends of Runeterra design came out and I knew it was time. I LOVE her hair. I love Seraphine. She's my bestie. Then my favorite piece of the year!! No reference, just brainrot. They're so cute. They love each other so much. They're married. I adore them. That's all. And next I wanted to practice gradient maps again, so I did this one night and am so, so proud of it. Another contender for favorite piece of the year. Kai'Sa is such a tragic character and I feel like this really shows just how sad she is. I love her. ALSO: published the second chapter of be the light to carry me!

NOVEMBER

And of course I made an Ahri companion piece. Same deal, done in greyscale then I messed around with a gradient map. I especially love the background here. Can you tell I love Runeterra Kahri. I wanted to update my Twitter banner because it was an old piece, and so this happened. Again, their designs are so much, but the effort is always worth it. Notably this piece taught me more about environment lighting. I just love how they're holding each other. Noticed after this I've been coloring Ahri's shoulder armor wrong, but oh well. I love this so much.

DECEMBER

And here we are at the end of the year!!! Ahri's birthday means she gets art, and I love all the photos she has in an album in that official Spotify playlist cover art, and always wanted to make something involving that. This piece started off with a different sketch but I didn't like how static it felt, this is much much better. Super proud of the expressions here. I tried to get the handwriting at the bottom as similar to Ahri's canon handwriting (it's in a photo Seraphine posted), and writing out Kai'Sa's name in her handwriting made me stupid emotional. Lastly, for the past two years of brainrot, I've drawn a piece of Kahri in some winter scene, and WOW is this an improvement since last year. I also finally figured out how to do drapery in my style, I think. I literally finished this piece today, and I adore it. I just love this ship so so much and I'm not sorry.

IN CONCLUSION:

I made a lot of art and got much better at it!! I mostly wrote all of this for me, but if you read all of it, thank you so much! This was also the year I joined tumblr because my home base Twitter is. yeah. but I had wanted to make an account for a long time and have lurked for even longer. Glad to be here and glad that you are too!! Happy New Year!!! May you all have a good 2023 :D

[beacon-lamp]

with hermitcraft season 7 slowly coming to an end, i figured it was time to consolidate all of the Informative Posts about hermitcraft that i and some of the other members of hermitblr have made over the last several months.

if you enjoy:

minecraft youtube content, but want to see more traditional vanilla minecraft gameplay like building and redstone

fun, lighthearted interactions between genuine friends including Elaborate pranks, collaborating on massive projects, light roleplay, proximity voice chat mod

weekly 20 - 40 minute long youtube videos and consistent upload schedules

chill grind stream weekends where CCs interact with chat and each other

an entire youtube channel dedicated to weekly 20-minute recap videos on what all the hermits have been up to so you don’t have to piece it together from the posts on your dash/timeline

insanely talented people who have been doing mcyt for nearly, if not more than, a decade and essentially built minecraft youtube from the ground up

give hermitcraft a try!  

you will find all of the information you will Ever Need below the cut.  it’s Very Long so view it on desktop.

and if you ever have any more questions, just shoot me an ask :)

what is hermitcraft?

the Basics: what, who, where, how

more details on the Basics

bonus: the historical impact many hermitcraft members have had on mcyt

where do i even start watching?

start with grian.

good mix of Incredible builds and fun server shenanigans.  instigator of many server-wide events.  interacts with many other hermits.  generally entertaining to watch.  but zero redstone knowledge.

check out hermitcraft recap.

great way to be introduced to other hermits and learn what everyone’s up to.  if you find what a hermit’s been working on interesting, go watch their video and maybe give them a like and subscribe.

official hermitcraft website with links to every member’s channel

more information on every hermit’s attributes and general vibes

do hermits every stream?

short answer: yes, most do!  but these streams are mostly chill grinding or buildling streams.  and you don’t have to watch the streams to be caught up on content.  check the official hermitcraft website for each member’s twitch links.

long answer that covers most of the hermits

what do they do on hermitcraft?

let’s start with some examples of their incredible builds.

hermit cribs: some of the megabases in s7

goodtimeswithscar’s s7 magical village with shaders

stressmonster’s bakery and ren’s star wars world

Capitalism

they have a shopping district where hermits can set up shops and sell items and resources that other hermits can buy with diamonds.  here’s season 7 shopping district set on a mooshroom island:

some of the most advanced redstone you’ve ever seen

if you’re more into the technical side of minecraft, you can be rest assured that hermitcraft has some of the Biggest Brains in redstone.

tangotek: a fucking madlad.  Singled-handedly created the minigame Decked Out.  im Begging you to watch his tutorial video on how to play.  currently finishing up his Among Us but in minecraft minigame. all of this was built Entirely in survival vanilla minecraft.  get this man to 1M subscribers.

mumbo jumbo: the man himself.  built a 128 x 128 block industrial district in both season 6 and 7 packed to the Brim with mechanical farms.  half the brain behind the masterpiece of engineering that was Sahara in season 6.  currently working on Pacific, the sequel to Sahara, in season 7.

iskall85: the other half of the brain behind Sahara and working on Pacific with mumbo in season 7.  also has an industrial district like mumbo’s in season 7.

xisuma: built an automatic potion brewer in the second half of season 7.  this thing churns out potions by the Shulker Box.  can also turn a shulker box full of potions into splash potions and extend duration all with a press of a button.

impulseSV: incredible example of form + function.  farms are scattered throughout his base.  he has a farm for nearly every farmable resource in vanilla minecraft.

etho: the pioneer of some of the most widely used redstone mechanisms to date.  content isn’t super redstone-focused.  mostly does compact modules that serve a specific function.

zedaph: makes strange contraptions.  he’s basically if grian knew how to redstone.  impeccable vibes and fairly underrated.

bdoubleo100: he occassionally does this segment called “redstone with bdubs” and it’s the only redstone i understand so that’s why he’s here.

what about roleplay?  and lore?  

yeah they have Plenty of that too.  

it generally comes in the form of self-contained storylines that involve most members on the server and take place over the course of several weeks in multiple videos.  it’s fairly light roleplay, if that’s not your thing.  but the plotlines also have a Massive Potential to be angsty and whatnot if you really look into it, which a lot of people also do.

here’s a more in-depth look into the Major Plotlines over the last 2 seasons (season 6 and 7).  huge spoiler warning though.

um also there’s this post that highlights how truly cursed hermitcraft can be if you dig deep enough hahaha.

so do the hermits only make hermitcraft content?

nope!!  many of them are involved in other mcyt content as well and are friends with other prominent members of the mcyt community!!  

MCC

mcc9 blue bats video essay: the time the hermit team won the whole damn competition.  a wonderfully made video worth Every second of your time.  especially if you don’t typically watch the hermit teams.

falsesymmetry: mcc10 ace and mcc’s First Back-to-Back Winner

lord grian dreamslayer: that time grian Popped Off, killing dream, tubbo, and fundy in mcc9 survival games

Vault Hunters

a modded minecraft server coded entirely by iskall85′s team.  all the content is streamed live on twitch.  

current members are: Iskall85, AntonioAsh, Stressmonster101, HBomb94, CaptainSparklez, Fundy, CaptainPuffy, 5UP and Tubbo

more info on the series 

3rd Life SMP

hardcore minecraft server with a twist that started on 4/20/21.  all content is posted to each member’s respective youtube channels.

every member has 3 lives, as indicated by the color of their name: green for 3 lives left, yellow for 2, red for 1.  if they lose all three lives, they can only spectate the world (like in hardcore mode).  the series ends when all members have lost all three lives.

the twist: once a member is on their 3rd and final life, as indicated by a red name, they are Hostile and their goal is to take the lives of the remaining players.

the members (hermits are italicized): BdoubleO100, bigbst4tz2, Etho, GoodTimesWithScar, Grian, impulseSV, InTheLittleWood, Renthedog, Skizzleman, Smajor1995, Smallishbeans, SolidarityGaming, Tango, ZombieCleo

the tumblr tag for 3rd Life is “#3rdLife”, “#3rdLifeSMP” and “#3LSMP” if you wanna see more content, as it’s Not supposed to be cross-tagged with “#hermitcraft”.

do you have any free serotonin to spare?

here’s a bunch of posts that’ll make you smile

scar’s friendship with a bunch of the hermits

grian, false, cleo, bdubs, iskall: why they deserve so much respect

same post as above but with an addition about ren

small hermit things that give you serotonin

why you should watch tfc

if you’ve made it this far you are Contractually Obligated* to watch one (1) hermitcraft episode and reblog this post.

*for legal reason, this is a joke.  you’re not contractually obligated but consider this: Please. i spent way too much time on this.

shoutout to everyone who’s posts i’ve linked and anyone who has helped answer a question about hermitcraft.  this all started because i was frustrated that people were writing the hermits off as cannon fodder in mcc and im genuinely so glad that many of you have given hermitcraft a shot.

[starfire-s]

here’s a list of the best, mediocre and worst kdramas i watched in 2020

no one asked for this but it’s happening because i have thoughts (also all opinions are my own if you disagree then get well soon i guess... no i’m kidding make your own posts about it don’t hate me please) ahsjsj anyways click to read a lengthy post and if you actually read the whole thing then thank you i hope you enjoy this wild ride! 

THE BEST KDRAMAS -

mystic pop up bar - this show had everything i ask from a kdrama literally i can name it all found family (to real family), well thought out characters, a mystery plot, special effects, soft romances that were well written, a happy ending! no show in 2020 even comes close to how good this one was! the writers literally guided you throughout the whole thing so you could come up with theories and didn’t do a ‘aha! gotcha’ thing where they want to prove the audience wrong but they wanted us to be right and satisfied! the worst part about the drama is that it’s still so underrated and people just brush it off as some random fantasy show but it’s so much more than that! 1000/10

flower of evil - who doesn’t want to see lee joon gi being the son of a serial killer, living with the name of a man who is in a coma, and hiding his real identity from his wife who is a detective? this show constantly had me at the edge of my seat on a weekly basis so the emotions i went through while watching this are unparalleled! the writers also did such a good job on writing a coherent story that made sense and tied up all the plot points in the end. just a really satisfying show to watch! 10/10

where your eyes linger - i literally bought a $8 viki pass to watch this show so it should tell you everything you need to know about how i feel ahsjsj the episodes were 10 minutes long but we got a good story with well written characters who got character development in a total of 80 minutes it’s insane! honestly it’s still hard to believe this show had rookie actors because they were just so emotive that you could feel all the happiness, sadness, yearning and pining! probably one of my fave kdramas this year because of the acting that i always constantly rewatch! would recommend 10/10

crash landing on you - okay so this drama was actually released on my birthday last year and it was a time in my life when i was going through a lot so maybe it’s the comfort this show provided me through that time this is why i have such a soft spot for it? like the romance was good, it was funny, there was found family, the nk soldiers were all softies, there were strong female leads, soft male leads!!! ahh!! no other show on this list made me think about the unification of south korea and north korea irl because i wanted se ri and jeong hyeok to be together 4ever! but the only issue i had with this show was the ending they gave seung jun if they didn’t do that i’d give this show a 10/10 but just for that they get a 9/10

psycho but it’s okay - this was one of those shows where you’re literally like ‘wow everyone here needs therapy’ but this show was amazing i loved the story telling and how each episode related to children’s book/fairytales! the writers also did a good job with how carefully they talked about mental health in depth without villainising their characters but actually tried to make the audience understand why they were this way which included all the side characters too who had a well thought out story in each episode! also the dynamic between moon young, kang tae and sang tae was everything to me the actors all did an amazing job portraying their characters, it truly was a healing drama. the only thing i didn’t like about this show was the whole plastic surgery plot with the mother like that was very far fetched but it provided drama so i’ll let it slide because the rest was amazing. this show is a solid 8.5/10

18 again - another underrated gem! who would’ve thought a remake of that zac efron movie could be this good!! lee do hyun stole this show for sure the way he portrayed his character and gave heart eyes to his kids (when he’s only 25 irl was the best thing i saw this year ahsjs) i loved the family dynamics in this show, i loved how it talked about what it’s like to be young parents and how society still think it’s taboo to be divorced! it’s a show that makes you laugh and cry at the same time and that’s why everyone should watch it! however, the biggest clown thing this show did to me though was that i got sls for the first time while watching a kdrama... hwang in yeop if u’re reading this i love u and u deserved better 🤡 that aside this show was a 8/10

itaewon class - i actually didn’t watch this drama as it was airing because i thought i wouldn’t enjoy the plot but when i watched it i binged the whole thing in 2 days and my biggest regret is i didn’t watch it sooner! everyone knows i have a soft spot for park seo joon since he’s my favourite actor i’ve literally watched all his dramas like he could star in the trashiest drama out there and i’d still watch it and be like wow (looking at she was pretty 👀) this show aside from the acting had one of the best revenge plots in a kdrama! just watching a character realistically hustle his way to reach the top while fighting the corrupt man whose son killed his father was so so satisfying to watch! however, the love triangle in this show was questionable idk what they were trying to do with that but it personally annoyed me! but still i’ll give this show a 7.5/10 because i enjoyed it a lot!

do you like brahms? - kim min jae and park eun bin.. that’s all you need to know about why this is a good kdrama! i’m usually not a big fan of melodramas and everyone knows i prefer rom coms but this show was just so perfectly melo that i loved all the angst and pain we got!! also just watching two introverted people awkwardly fall in love was amazing! the characters story arcs were also handled pretty well with song ah finally learning to speak up for herself and joon young learning to express how he truly feels! but... the love square? was probably the most annoying thing the rest in my opinion was nicely done! i know people had mixed feelings about the ending but i loved that after all the pain joon young and song ah went through they got a happy ending together! 7/10

find me in your memory - okay this show started off very slow and it was confusing at the start but as it progressed everything in the plot started to fall into place! i mean this show really took opposites attract to a new level where the male lead could remember every single detail from his life but the female lead had to forget some of her traumatic memories to help her cope with her life! they were also tied together through a mutual character who was a big part of their lives in a different way! just an interesting melodrama with interesting characters i liked it! and moon ga young... i love you queen!!! 7/10

THE MEDIOCRE KDRAMAS -

more than friends - was the storytelling in this show groundbreaking? no. was the acting decent? yes. also probably the main reason i stuck with this show until the end! i think we can all agree lee soo had the best character development on this show he started off as a bad boy who wore one ear stud to actually becoming a well liked character... who else did it like him? no one. also the chemistry between the mains was 🔥 but the second male lead was so annoying is there a opposite word for second lead syndrome because i had that for sure! i think the best part about this show was the people i watched it with on here... shoutout to the five of us ahsjsj also this show introduced me to a talented actor/singer like ong seong wu (y’all know my kpop knowledge is nonexistent so no i didn’t know he was in a band called wanna one) all in all a predictable show but i had fun watching it so 6.5/10

tale of the nine tailed - i didn’t actually watch this show i watched it through gifs and instagram posts ahsjsjs so am i qualified to talk about my opinion definitely no... will I talk about it anyways yes lmao. lee rang deserved better that’s all goodbye and take care. 5.5/10

start up - probably one of the most awaited opinions. y’all thought this would be in the worst kdramas section but i decided to give this show some rights. the show started off strong, lost it’s way after episode 6 and then the last episode gave me what i wanted so i have mixed feelings. the writing was not the best i think we can all agree, love triangle as a plot device? wow so groundbreaking 🤡 the characters on the other hand... i loved every single one of them i mean ship wars? i don’t know her. the show had a lot of potential that was wasted but we also got some cute moments between the characters so there was really no winning or losing with this show? but in all honesty you can’t put a talented cast together like this and then just decide to give the audience a mediocre plot but the writers did exactly that! i think i can redirect y’all to my ‘crimes this show committed’ post for a in-depth analysis. lastly nam do san was a GOOD and REFRESHING male lead and ji pyeong was also a GOOD and FUN second male lead!!! this show gave me the ugliest ship war ever that i was transported back to my high school tvd days so thank you for that!! but the cast was loveable and all had a lot of chemistry together so here’s a 5/10 maybe that's too generous but... i think the reason why i didn't enjoy watching this show as much was definitely because of the tag on here lmao

THE WORST KDRAMAS -

the king eternal monarch - i miss clowning this show so much. the amount of braincells i lost while trying to understand this plot... i should be compensated by the writers. however, woo do hwan was a treat to look at on a weekly basis... however the writers kept decreasing his screen time even though he had a dual role... make it make sense? and i cannot comment on the plot of this show because i still don’t understand anything? also in my opinion tae eul and lee gon were the most bland couple of 2020, there was no chemistry between them and there was just a random kiss in episode 5 and they randomly said i love you... where was the development? also lee gon was soooo boring and such a one dimensional male lead! literally all the side characters were so much more interesting and the cast was good... but this plot. 2/10

do do sol sol la la sol - i wanna fight the writer who decided that the plot twist on the show would be that jun is a minor? i had no expectations from this show but it looked cute and nonsensical but that plot twist made me run the other way so fast that i never looked back! just because jun is a boy they really thought this would be excused like lmao we all have critical thinking skills???? the clown behaviour. a solid 1/10

record of youth - i hate this show so much. imagine not utilising park so dam who just starred in the biggest oscar winning movie to her full potential. imagine just making her a love interest to park bo gum’s character in the year 2020. i watched it up until episode 6 and i kept waiting for her character to get development... but it never happened so i dropped this show. also this show featured the MOST useless love triangle i have ever seen in my life like what was the point? also park bo gum’s characters family was straight up annoying (minus the grandpa) but they got so much screen time like that should’ve been given to park so dam... also villainising a gay side character for no reason at all in the year 2020? this show was a waste of my time i want the 6 hours i spent watching this back. -100/10 

backstreet rookie - i watched one episode of this and literally wanted to rip my eyeballs out of my head. idk what ji chang wook was thinking when he signed this drama i think he lost his ability to read because that's the only reasonable explanation for why he chose to star in such a dumpster fire show! this show had a racist character... had a high schooler kiss an adult... sexist jokes... just the worst things you can think of in a drama... this show had it. i still can’t believe so many people watched this show to the point where it had better ratings than pbio... really made me question everyone’s taste? but sorry can’t relate my taste is excellent so here’s the rating this show actually deserves -1000/10

if you made it this far... thank you for reading. let’s continue to love some kdramas together and get clowned by others in 2021! looking forward to it 😅

[omar-rudeberg]

Omg I have been loving your Parallel posts and reading your take away from different scenes. Especially the one you did on colour theories!! How did you learn about all the meaning behind tiny details and nuances? And do you really think they had all of those details so intentionally in their minds when they were creating it? Specifically things like Wille always being surrounded by blue (the Queens outfit for his first statement, his scarf, his bed covers etc), and how golds and yellow kind of followed Simon. I also loved what you wrote about character growth with the two parallel of the boys at the windowsill and the two scenes in the music room.

I just think to be able to notice these seemingly insignificant details and take such clear intention from them is amazing insight on your part and it’s been so interesting to read them then go rewatch the series with all that in mind.

I really hope you’ve got more thoughts to write!

I need you to know that first and foremost I am jaw-droppingly surprised that you took the time to pop in with this message, and it’s so thoughtful and considerate !! Thank you so much ?!

My Young Royals Parallels posts are the first seeds of ideas I thought others may possibly be interested in, and the first content I really made, so they’re like my little babies - thank you for treating them with so much TLC !!

Look, in terms of whether or not the show’s creators had every single minute detail that I’ve alluded to in the front of their minds when planning and shooting the series... no. I don’t think so. Some of it I believe was definitely intentional - all the B L U E in the boys’ end of episode 4 sequence? I’d have a hard time believing that was coincidence, especially with the removal of all their blankets and deep blue pillows for the start of episode 5. The Queen I’m on the fence about, as blue has been a Swedish royal colour for a long, long time, but I do think some of Simon’s golden imagery was very planned. Specifically the “We haven’t done anything wrong.” scene, where the blues & golds (or orange & teal, if you follow modern mainstream film critical colour theory) are screaming that they’ve been put there to serve a higher purpose.

Whether the writers / directors / set designers / costumers / cinematographers had all of this planned out to the tiniest detail or not though is, in my mind, irrelevant. I subscribe to the death of the author theory, which I believe I may have alluded to in my post about ‘blue curtains’. Once a piece of Art is released into the world, there is birthed an Audience for the Art. And this Audience is comprised of different perspectives that will reflect the Art back on itself in different ways, always and evermore creating New Art within the initial frame. As a viewer of Young Royals, you fill in the gaps in the story with your own experiences, and connect the dots in your own unique way. Your Young Royals is not My Young Royals, is not anyone else’s. But some of our beliefs, thoughts, ideas about the show may overlap; your ideas may spark ideas of mine; my ideas may feed into yours. The sincerest joy I have known in this Young Royals tumblr space is that there seems to be this inherent respect between different people’s interpretation of the Art, and willingness to engage with different perspectives to greater your own knowledge and depth of understanding of the emotion in the work. This is community. This is storytelling. This is connection.

Now... you wanna know a secret? I’m not really sure how I’ve come to think in these parallel-esque ways. I despised studying Literature in high school. I did a business degree and am currently working in quite a procedure-driven job. I’m not even a fan of too much critically “Good” media - you know, those books & films & tv shows & plays that people tell you to read/watch, because you simply ‘have to’, because they ‘changed the face of xyz’, generally filled with allegories and symbolism out the whazoo?

But I was a prolific reader when I was younger, so maybe that helped? I’ve been making & playing music since before I could spell my own name. And I’ve always had this innate ability to draw in information, synthesise it together and put out a coherent narrative - both with Things and with People / Relationships, so possibly that too? I also have such a passion for the abstract / absurd / impressionist perspective, and this has led me to think about colour, line, mood and metaphor in intricate ways.

But at the end of the day, I’m afraid I don’t have any real answers, my friend. I’m convinced that somehow Young Royals is just zapping secret sauce through our screens into the brains of us all who have been mysteriously, creatively awoken (again) by it’s siren call.

I’m just following the call & diving in deep.

[supercantaloupe]

okay yeah actually, i’ll bite. i’ve got some of my own thoughts about the unsleeping city and cultural representation and i’m gonna make a post about them now, i guess. i’ll put it under a cut though because this post is gonna be long.

i wanna start by saying i love dimension 20 and i really really enjoy the unsleeping city. i look forward to watching new episodes every week, and getting hooked on d20 as a whole last summer really helped pull me out of a pandemic depression, and i’m grateful to have this cool show to be excited about and interested in and to have met so many cool people to talk about it with.

that being said, however, i think there is a risk run in representing any group of people/their culture when you have the kind of setting that tuc has. by which i mean, tuc is set in a real world with real people and real human cultures in it. unlike fantasy high or a crown of candy where everything is made up (even if rooted in real-world cultures), tuc is explicitly rooted in reality, and all of its diversity -- both the ups and downs that go with it. and especially set in new york of all places, one of the most densely, diversely populated cities on earth. the cast is 7 people; it’s great that those 7 people come from a variety of backgrounds and identities and all bring their own unique perspectives to the table, and it’s great that those people and the entire crew are generally conscious of themselves and desire to tell stories/represent perspectives ethically. but you simply cannot authentically represent every culture or every perspective in the world (or even just in a city) when your cast is 7 people. it’s an impossible task. this is inherent to the setting, and acknowledged by the cast, and by brennan especially, who has been on record saying how one of the exciting aspects of doing a campaign set in nyc is its diversity, the fact that no two new yorkers have the same perspective of new york. i think that’s a good thing -- but it does have its challenges too, clearly.

i’m not going to go into detail on the question of whether or not tuc’s presentation of asian and asian american culture is appropriative/offensive or not. first of all, i don’t feel like it’s 100% fair to judge the show completely yet, since it’s a prerecorded season and currently airing midseason, so i don’t yet know how things wrap up. secondly, i’m not asian or asian american. i can have my own opinions on that content in the show, but i think it’s worth more to hear actual asian and asian american voices on this specific aspect of the show. having an asian american cast member doesn’t automatically absolve the show of any criticisms with regard to asian american cultural representation/appropriation, whether those criticisms are made by dozens of viewers or only a handful of them. regardless, i don’t think it’s my place as someone who is not asian to speak with any authority on that issue, and i know for a fact that there are asian american viewers sharing their own opinions. their thoughts in this instance hold more water than mine, i think.

what i will comment on in more depth, though, is a personal frustration with tuc. i’m jewish; i’ve never really been shy about that fact on my page here. i’m not from new york, but i visit a few times a year (or i did before covid anyway, lol), and i have some family from nyc. nyc, to me, is a jewish city. and for good reason, since it’s home to one of the largest jewish populations of the country, and even the world, and aspects of jewish culture (including culinary, like bagels and pastrami, and linguistic, like the common use of yiddish words and phrases in english colloquial speech) are prevalent and celebrated among jews and goyim alike. when i think of nyc, i think of a jewish city; that’s not everybody’s new york, but that’s my new york, and thats plenty of other people’s new york too. so i do find myself slightly disappointed or frustrated in tuc for its, in my opinion, rather stark lack of jewish representation.

now, i’m not saying that one of the PCs should have been jewish, full stop. i love to headcanon iga as jewish even though canon does not support that interpretation, and i’m fine with that. she’s not my character. it’s possible that simply no one thought of playing a jewish character, i dunno. but also, and i can’t be sure about this, i’m willing to bet that none of the players really wanted to play a jewish character because they didn’t want to play a character of a marginalized culture they dont belong to in the interest of avoiding stereotyping or offensive representation/cultural appropriation. (i don’t know if any of the cast members are jewish, but i’m assuming not.) and the concern there is certainly appreciated; there’s not a ton of mainstream jewish rep out there, and often what we get is either “unlikeable overly conservative hassidic jew” or “jokes about their bar mitzvah/one-off joke about hanukkah and then their jewishness is never mentioned ever again,” which sucks. it would be really cool to see some more good casual jewish rep in a well-rounded, three-dimensional character in the main cast of a show! even if there are a couple of stumbles along the way -- nobody is perfect and no two jews have the same level of knowledge, dedication, and adherence to their culture.

but at the same time, i look at characters like iga and i really do long for a jewish character to be there. siobhan isn’t polish, yet she’s playing a characters whose identity as a polish immigrant to new york is very central to her story and arc. and part of me wonders why we can’t have the same for a jewish character. if not a PC, then why not an NPC? again, i’m jewish, and i am not native, but in my opinion i think the inclusion of jj is wonderful -- i think there are even fewer native main characters in mainstream media than there are jewish ones, and it’s great to see a native character who is both in touch with their culture as well as not being defined solely by their native-ness. to what extent does it count as ‘appropriative’ because brennan is a white dude? i dunno, but i’m like 99% sure they talked to sensitivity consultants to make sure the representation was as ethical as they could get it, and anyway, i can’t personally see and glaring missteps so far. but again, i’m not native, and if there are native viewers with their own opinions on jj, i’d be really interested in hearing them.

but getting back to the relative lack of jewish representation. it just...disappoints me that jewishness in new york is hardly ever even really mentioned? again, i know we’re only just over halfway through season 2, but also, we had a whole first season too. and it’s definitely not all bad. for example: willy! gd, i love willy so much. him being a golem of williamsburg makes me really really happy -- a jewish mythological creature animated from clay/mud (in this case bricks) to protect a jewish community (like that of williamsburg, a center for many of nyc’s jews) from threat. golem have so often been taken out of their original context and turned into evil monsters in fantasy settings, especially including dnd. (even within other seasons of d20! crush in fh being referred to as a “pavement golem” always rubbed me the wrong way, and i had hoped they’d learned better after tuc but in acoc they refer to another monster as a “corn golem” which just disappointed me all over again.) so the fact that tuc gets golems right makes my jewish heart very happy.

and yet...he doesn’t show up that much? sure, in s1, he’s very helpful when he does, but in s2 so far he shows up once and really does not say or do much of anything. he speaks with a lot more yiddish-influenced language than other characters, but if you didn’t know those words were specifically yiddish/jewish, you might not be able to otherwise clock the fact that willy is jewish. and while willy is a jewish mythological creature who is jewish in canon, he isn’t human. there are no other direct references to judaism, jewish characters, or jewish culture in the unsleeping city beyond him.

there are, in fact, two other canon jewish characters in tuc. but...here’s where i feel the most frustration, i think. the two canon jewish humans in tuc are stephen sondheim and robert moses. both of whom are real actual people, so it’s not like we can just pick and choose what their cultural backgrounds are. as much as i love stephen sondheim, i think there are inherent issues with including real world people as characters in a fictional setting, especially if they are from living/recent memory (sondheim is literally still alive), but anyway, sondheim and moses are both actual jewish people. from watching tuc alone you probably would not be able to guess that sondheim is jewish -- nothing from his character except name suggests it, and i wouldn’t even fault you for not thinking ‘sondheim’ is a jewish-sounding surname (and i dislike the idea/attitude/belief that you can tell who is or isn’t jewish by the sound of their name). and yeah, i’m not going to sit here and be like “brennan should have made sondheim more visibly jewish in canon!” because, like, he’s a real human being and it’s fucking weird to portray him in a way that isn’t as close to how he publicly presents himself, which is not in fact very identifiably jewish? i don’t know, this is what i mean by it’s inherently weird and arguably problematic to portray real living people as characters in a fictional setting, but i digress. sondheim’s jewish, even if you wouldn’t know it; not exactly a representation win.

and then there’s bob moses. you might be able to guess that he’s jewish from canon, actually. there’s the name, of course. but more insidious to me are the specifics of his villainy. greedy and powerhungry, a moneyman, a lich whose power is stored in a phylactery...it does kind of all add up to a Yikes from me. (in the stock market fight there’s a one-off line asking if he has green skin; it’s never really directly acknowledged or answered, but it made me really uncomfortable to hear at first and it’s stuck with me since viewing for the first time.) the issue for me here is that the most obviously jewish human character is the season’s bbeg, and his villainy is rooted in very antisemitic tropes and stereotypes.

i know this isn’t all brennan’s fault -- robert moses was a real ass person and he was in fact jewish, a powerhungry and greedy moneyman, a big giant racist asshole, etc. i’m not saying that jewish characters can’t be evil, and i’m not saying brennan should have tried to be like “this is my NPC robert christian he’s just like bob moses but instead he’s a goy so it’s okay” because...that would be fuckin weird bro. and bob moses was a real person who was jewish and really did do some heinous shit with his municipal power. i’m not necessarily saying brennan should have picked/created a different character to be the villain. i’m not even saying that he shouldn’t have made bob moses a lich (although, again, it doesn’t 100% sit right with me). but my point here is that bob moses is one of a grand total of three canon jewish characters in tuc, of which only two humans, of whom he is the one you’d most easily guess would be jewish and is the most influenced by antisemitic stereotypes/tropes. had there been more jewish representation in the show at all, even just some neutral jewish NPCs, this would not be as much of a problem as it is to me. but halfway through season 2, so far, this is literally all we get. and that bums me out.

listen, i really like tuc. i love d20. but the fact that it is set in a real world place with real world people does inherently raise challenges when it comes to ethical cultural representation. especially when the medium of the show is a game whose creatures, lore, and mechanics have been historically rooted in some questionable racial/cultural views. and dnd is making progress to correct some of those misguided views of older sourcebooks by updating them to more equitably reflect real world racial/cultural sensitivities; that’s a good thing! but these seasons, of course, were recorded before that. the game itself has some questionable cultural stuff baked into it, and that is (almost necessarily) going to be brought to the table in a campaign set in a real-world place filled with real-world people of diverse real-world cultures. the cast can have sensitivity consultants and empathy and the best intentions in the world, and they’ll still fuck up from time to time, that’s okay. your mileage may vary on whether or not it’s still worth sticking around with the show (or the fandom) through that. for me, it does not yet outweigh all the things i like about the show, and i’m gonna continue watching it. but it’s still very worth acknowledging that the cast is 7 people who cannot possibly hope to authentically or gracefully represent every culture in nyc. it’s an unfortunate limitation of the medium. yet it’s also still worthwhile to acknowledge and discuss the cultural representation as it is in the show -- both the goods and the bads, the ethically solid and the questionably appropriative -- and even to hold the creators accountable. (decently, though. i’m definitely not advocating anybody cyberbully brennan on twitter or whatever.) the show and its representation is far from perfect, but i also don’t think it ever could be. still, though, it could always be better, and there’s a worthwhile discussion to be had in the wheres, hows, and whys of that.

[everythingsinred]

Let's Talk About NatsuMikan: The Anime (pt. 1)

I could go on and on about these two and I think I will, just because I don’t often see people talk about the analysis behind them. The meta I have seen about them has included a perspective that equaled the anime and the manga and I don’t think that’s an accurate way of viewing their relationship.

The anime is a different species than the manga, something that frequently happens during the adaptation from page to screen. Since they’re so different, I’ll analyze them separately.

There's going to be many parts to this so I'll keep a table of contents right here so people can more easily navigate (though you can also read through the "let's talk about natsumikan: the anime" tag on my blog):

Anime Analysis

Part 1: Exposition & Episode 7

Part 2: Episodes 8, 9, 10, & 11

Part 3: Episodes 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, & 17

Part 4: Episodes 18 & 19

Part 5: Episodes 20, 21, & 22

Part 6: Episodes 23, 24, 25, & 26 & Conclusion

The anime makes changes, as anime adaptations often do. The most outstanding changes are appearance related, as Natsume now has brown eyes instead of red, in addition to other characters who have hue-shifted eyes and hair. But there are also story changes, and I’ll be focusing on the changes that occur, specifically in regards to Natsume and Mikan and their relationship.

For one, their relationship starts evolving much earlier in the anime. I think it’s pretty undeniable that in the anime, Natsume started liking Mikan at the end of the dodgeball game. That scene never happened in the manga, but in the anime, it’s a crucial step in making sure nothing seems too sudden or forced.

The anime is 26 episodes long. If Natsume only starts liking Mikan after she saves him during the Reo Arc, then we’re already halfway through the show when positive feelings between the two appear. On the other hand, the feelings develop more slowly in the manga because there’s more time to properly develop the relationship in a more drawn out way.

My analysis will start with the anime, because it’s shorter and easier to discuss.

Exposition

It’s impossible to say that the anime was completely loyal to the manga. It very frequently couldn’t be, because it needed to fill in time in episodes or give closure early before the manga even addressed it (Natsume’s backstory in the anime, for instance, is vaguely referred to and implies deviation from the manga).

The most obvious difference between the manga and the anime from the get-go is visual. Not only do they have differing art styles (I don’t dislike the anime style but Higuchi Tachibana’s art style is so distinct and unmistakable while the anime’s isn’t so unique), but the setting is also different.

While the manga started in the depth of winter, the anime starts off in summer/fall. It always struck me as odd that while the first page of the manga has Mikan running after Hotaru in full winter-wear, the anime starts off warm and idyllic. You could almost think of that as a general warning for the difference between the anime and the manga. After all, while the anime has a reputation for being a cutesy and upbeat story about friendship and magical powers, the manga is much darker and discusses many morbid and depressing themes that can and WILL fuck you up. Warm vs. cold seems like an accurate difference, though I don’t think that was intentional.

We see way more of the village life in the anime, including Mikan’s efforts to keep the school from closing. This is a welcome change because Mikan’s passion to keep the school open is nothing compared to her friendship with Hotaru, and even after the school is saved, she runs away to see her friend, even if it means she goes to another school. The manga doesn’t imply that Mikan knew already about the school’s fate, and since she is always so preoccupied with Hotaru anyway, we don’t really get the impression that she cares very much. To Anime!Mikan, Hotaru is more important than saving the school, something she was so passionate about she rallied to get signatures. It’s an extra scene to prove just how much Hotaru matters to Mikan, and to show even more how selfless Hotaru was to go to Alice Academy, since she knew how much the school mattered to Mikan.

“Sign my petition to get a Gakuen Alice anime reboot!!!”

My boy Natsume is only introduced properly in the second episode, when we actually see his face and he speaks. His appearance is different from the manga’s too. I’m not sure if this was to appeal to a younger audience or what, but Natsume’s eyes are changed to brown instead of their iconic red, something that was always my biggest peeve about the anime adaptation. His hair is also somewhat purplish instead of entirely grey/black and, although this does bother me a lot less than the eyes, I wonder why they made this change when other characters have black hair. It might have been to differentiate him from Hotaru, another main character with black hair, though I’ve never had issue in the manga telling them apart.

His first interaction with Mikan is a lot more pleasant in the anime than in the manga, although that’s not really saying anything. Mikan’s skirt simply falls off and Natsume draws attention to it, rather than the unpleasant events that took place in the manga. This different event makes it a lot easier to support a relationship between the two of them right off the bat. They are still antagonistic but it’s not as terrible as it is in the manga. This makes it easier to establish romantic feelings earlier on, and might have been changed in order to achieve just that, or possibly also to appeal to a younger audience. Maybe both? Who knows.

“You can’t sit with us!”

With Natsume presented the way he is in the anime, it’s easier to make the claim that he’s simply a good guy who acts the way he does to protect people. And it’s true! He is! But he is also so much more. In the manga, he’s a more complicated character. Although he is a good person, he still requires character development, which is something he does go through, and something I’ll talk about more in his meta analysis later.

Most of the events at the beginning of the anime parallel the events of the manga. Mikan goes to Alice Academy at the same time of year, Natsume shows up with an explosion, Mikan has to go through the Northern Woods, she discovers her powers in her fight with Natsume, etc. Some of the continuation from episode to episode is different than the transitions between chapter to chapter, there’s extra scenes inserted to fill up time, and some of the exposition seems strangely presented (in the anime, Mikan finds out more about the school when she finds Narumi and Iinchou waiting for her at a tea party, which is…. Super weird…), but all in all the information and events are mainly the same. The big differences start with the dodgeball episode.

“Look how happy she is. Makes me wanna barf.”

Episode 7 vs. Chapter 9

I love the dodgeball episode. I feel like for the most part, the anime does deviation from the manga pretty well. With the last arc as an exception, I generally enjoy their changes and additions to the plot. The anime has to be different, has to progress at a different pace, has to introduce topics at different times. They have an episode to fill, and less time to build relationships. Natsume and Mikan are both different characters in the anime but it’s very subtle and has to happen due to the fact that the anime is shorter and seems more designed for younger audiences, in addition to wrapping up before the manga could explore more of the story.

Anyway, let’s talk about the dodgeball episode. AGAIN THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN IN THE MANGA THE SAME WAY so when discussing NatsuMikan as a concept, the anime events cannot be treated the same as the manga events. A lot of people maybe forget that the manga is very different than the anime when it comes to this episode. I see the two media conflated in plenty of fanfics, where seventeen year old NatsuMikan reflect on the dodgeball game from their youth that changed everything, and I get it because the anime version of the dodgeball game is cute! It's shippy! It's fun! But it doesn't happen in the manga the same way.

There's a similar trope with the sakura tree, which I can only remember from the anime, and yet it's such a fundamental aspect of NM fanfic it might as well have played a vital role in both anime and manga. Nothing wrong with any of this, of course. I'm just making it clear that my analysis will cover the two media as separate for the sake of a cohesive essay. Separating them in fanfic is far less important.

This look could probably kill someone. I’m surprised Mikan is still alive, TBH.

The chapter’s focus is Mikan starting to feel more at home in Class B, making friends with her once-hostile classmates, but the episode is more preoccupied with Natsume and Mikan’s perspectives on each other. While in the manga, the game ends with a tie and Mikan accidentally hits Hotaru in the face with the ball, the anime draws out the game to fill an episode and to introduce an evolution in the way Natsume sees Mikan. The first part of the anime episode is Mikan introducing her friends to her new senpai, Tsubasa. After she invites her friends, we see Natsume glowering at her and promptly ditching the next class, saying to Ruka that he can’t stand being in the same class as her. This addition to the plot already foreshadows that their relationship will change in some way by the end of the episode.

Tsubasa tells a frustrated Mikan that if she wants Natsume to be less unpleasant, he’d need to release some of his toxic energy. Thus, the sporty Mikan introduces the concept of dodgeball to the unwelcoming class. When they finally agree, Natsume gives one condition: that they play with the notorious Alice Ball, which is powered by the thrower’s alice (a detail absent from the manga). This Alice Ball is particularly terrifying with the threat of Natsume’s dangerous fire alice. Mikan also needs to get more people on her team, another aspect absent from the manga. While in the manga, Mikan only had her few friends on her team (including a wandering Ruka) and this ended up playing to her advantage, the anime has a humorous plot of Mikan tracking players down for her team, including a fake mustache she makes with her pigtails (she’s so cute, I love her), paying Hotaru to be on her team, and blackmailing Ruka to participate. This was mainly to fill time, but it makes the dodgeball game more important as well.

In the manga, we don’t see how the game ends, just that the teams tied and that everyone in class is having fun and bonding. In the anime, more emphasis is put on the “Mikan vs. Natsume” aspect, so a tie like the manga’s would be anticlimactic. Thus, the anime concludes the dodgeball game with Mikan and Natsume being the only kids left on the court, and Natsume not using his alice when he throws the Alice Ball. Even Hotaru leaving the game is something she does out of boredom instead of injury, further separating the other characters from the plot. It’s about Natsume and Mikan, and everyone else is mostly a side character. (Though Ruka also plays a vital role to this episode AND chapter, and it’s at this point that I think he started developing real feelings for Mikan as well. So when it comes to the anime, he and Natsume fall for Mikan around the same time, but in the manga, Ruka likes her first and the “he liked her first” argument for Natsume vanishes, though he never had that “advantage” to begin with.)

“Thank you!”

Natsume wins (something that shocked me at twelve years old) and is ready to walk away with his handy “tch” and all but Mikan thanks him for not using his alice and he goes off on her, demanding to know why she’s still smiling despite her loss. She says she’s happy that he had fun and was involved with the rest of class for once, and that in a way that means she wins. For Anime!Natsumikan, this is it. This is the turning point. “I just wanted you to be happy and have fun,” is what Mikan might as well be saying. “Really, this was all for you!” It’s sweet and it’s thoughtful and I don’t think Natsume ever imagined he’d be on the receiving end of her kindness, especially after all their beef. Manga!Mikan would probably not say these things to him, even if she meant them, for the sole reason that Mikan is stubborn and holds onto her pride, especially when it comes to her early relationship with Natsume, but Anime!Mikan is much more forgiving and much more willing to extend an olive branch, like in the dance episode. In any case, Natsume starts falling right then, and it’s obvious too, because he is pissed, and even more angry because he’s not even mad at her. He’s angry with himself for his change of opinion. This is the girl he was fully content to hate forever and yet here he was, starting to like her. Not ideal.

This scene, something so crucial to the development of Anime!Natsumikan, is completely absent from the manga. In the manga, Natsume still dislikes her by the end of the game although he does have fun.

He's not angry, just disappointed. In himself.

I’m not going to say one is better when it comes to starting up NatsuMikan because they’re very different creatures and I actually thoroughly enjoy both.

Anyway, the NatsuMikan after episode 7 is almost the same as in the manga, but the events carry a different weight since we know Natsume likes Mikan now (even if he would never admit it).

Summary

I hope this first part was interesting, and that it introduced the idea of Anime!NatsuMikan as being a little different from the manga's version. Yes, it is more or less the same story, but with so many thematic and plot changes, they take a different form as well, in a perhaps more subtle way, kind of like a slightly canon divergent fanfic. Fanfic where Natsume starts liking Mikan a bit earlier on in the story.

Next Part ->

[starrybouquet]

On Seasons 9 and 10 of Stargate SG1

A note: I wrote a series of essays several weeks ago, when I was feeling particularly crappy. I'm not particularly proud of them--they're pretty dramatic--but they do explain several of my more personal fandom feelings. I know I don't always tend to be the best at explaining things on the spot, so I'm posting these with the hope that I can refer people to them the next time that happens.

Um, I mentioned they're a little dramatic. I'm really, really sorry about that. But hey, if I can't be dramatic on Tumblr, in fandom, where else is that gonna go?

But still - if you're feeling a little sensitive today, maybe you wanna skip this. Or not. Just a light warning. :)

This piece is on seasons 9 and 10 of Stargate SG1, but they aren't all Stargate-related. I'll be posting them in the next few days, hopefully.

To those of you who like s9-10: I have nothing against you. Some of you I know better, some less well. In general, though, I like you, you seem like fine people. This is not about you, I hold nothing against you for liking those seasons. In fact, I envy you. This is more a personal post about why I'm an idiot. If you want, feel free to scroll down past this. I won't be offended. I'd put it under the cut but I'm on mobile.

Okay. Why, hello, those of you willing to read this rant...

No matter how much I denounce and ignore it, I cannot get past the pain of seasons 9 and 10 of Stargate SG-1. I've never watched them in full. Seen a few episodes here and there.

I cannot, repeat, CANNOT stand the thought today. It hurts.

It's an old pain, and it's not just SG1. SG1 is just one of the highlights in a long line of books and shows that have repeatedly broken my heart by being SO GOOD and then taking an, uh, precipitous right turn, shall we say. Because a hard right seems too kind, and a precipitous drop too harsh.

I love SG1. I love love love it. I like the plots and I love the science, but what I really fell in love with was the characters.

I loved all of them. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if Sam, Daniel, or Teal'c had been on any other show, I guarantee you they would have been my favorite by far. Jack is just so...Jack that he has to be my favorite. That's SG1 for you.

I've never had super close friends. I have good RL friends, don't get me wrong. They're nice people. But we don't have much in common.

That's okay. That's been my experience forever--really nice folks who maybe didn't always get me or have anything to say to me, but were good, decent people.

And this is good. Really, it is. It's just that SG-1, for me, has always represented the promise that there *are* people out there that are your true friends, and you will do brave and brilliant things with them. It will happen.

It's naive, I know. But I haven't been able to let it go. Maybe someday. But not right now.

Which brings me to s9-10 of SG1. It hurts.

It hurts that SG1 scattered to the wind.

It hurts that they sent Jack away from a place where he was happy, where he'd found friends and meaning in life again, away to fucking DC. To be...what? A politician? I could write a whole post just about this. Actually, I have. I could still write more posts about it!

It hurts that Sam went to Area 51, and nobody seemed to mind, the 'Gate didn't spontaneously combust as we were always led to believe it would.

It hurts that Daniel's personality supposedly changed that much, in the absence of his friends. Though some of his lines are funny, they aren't the earnest, idealistic, thoughtful Daniel I fell in love with. I get the idea that new-look Daniel would roll his eyes at s3-8 Daniel, and beat up floppy hair Daniel. And floppy hair Daniel is my baby and anyone who doesn't appreciate his brilliance can face my wrath. That includes you, buff s9-10 Daniel, and also whoever decided/approved that change in characterization.

Really, the only one who doesn't hurt is Teal'c. Because it feels like he's moving forward, toward happiness.

So...here we are. Season 9. Mitchell, Landry.

I often say I hate Mitchell. Do I resent him for replacing Jack? Yes. I do. We can talk about plot reasons and all that, but at the end of the day, I was going to hate anyone who tried to be Jack.

This is true in real life, too. You can't try to be anyone else. You've gotta walk your own path.

Now, people say that I didn't give Mitchell a chance. I say that the way he was portrayed, in the few episodes I've seen, tells me enough.

I can think of lots of ways Mitchell could have been interesting. How would Daniel and Teal'c react to an old, actually bad tempered (not Jack bad tempered, actually bad tempered) hardass after eight years of their best friends leading them? Or--start with his actual character. Mitchell, he hasn't been at the SGC. Wouldn't he get some flack from the longtime team leaders of SGs 2-5ish? They'd be insulted, right?

Or we could've gotten a nice Daniel Teal'c episode arc and then we could've had one Samantha Carter as team leader, though we won't get into that.

Bringing me to my next point. Co-leads?? Seriously?? You're trying too hard, folks. Telling me Sam used to know Mitchell does not actually make me like him.

Same thing with Landry. Unlike Mitchell, I guess I don't really have an opinion on Landry. He's just....there? No character development for this man.

Anyway, back to the team.

One of the things I love about SG1 is how the humor and friendship was so damn natural. Other than a few episodes (Urgo comes to mind), the plots weren't intentionally humorous. They were campy sci-fi plots sometimes, sure. They were funny because Jack was funny, yeah. They were lower budget than some other sci-fi. But they were as serious as sci-fi gets. It was how the characters reacted that made it funny.

Similarly, we were never told SG1 were found family. We just Knew. Because of the way they acted with each other. Because of the way Jack would "order" them to do things.

And hey, by the way, they weren't always family. Sam used to be less willing to ignore Jack. Daniel used to be less willing to trust Teal'c. Jack used to be a little more stern.

So...they meshed together. Like all found families do.

Every time I see a photo of new-look SG1 in seasons 9 and 10, I can't help but feel that they're trying too hard. I don't get the family feel because they aren't a family, damn it. It doesn't matter how many times you *tell* me they're super close. One of the reasons the original team got so close is because they all needed each other. Jack was depressed, Daniel was grieving, Sam was alone and had lost her mom and wasn't speaking with her dad and had never opened up to anyone in her life, Teal'c was an alien fighting for freedom after spending 100 years essentially as a slave.

And partly because of that, by season 9? Daniel and Teal'c (and Sam, when she comes back) don't need a family the way they used to. They have each other. They have Jack, or at least they *should*. *Glares in angry at Jack in DC vibes*

So...they simply don't have the relationship with Mitchell they do with each other.

It'd be different if Mitchell needed a family. It's not that SG1 hasn't added people before--I think Jonas is a perfect example of this. He wasn't Daniel, and that always hurt. But he was young, and naive, and innocent, and he needed SG1 because he'd left everything he'd ever known.

And that worked.

Without needing family, Mitchell is just a coworker. He can be a friendly coworker. A friend. But if he wanted to become better friends, family, he needed to show depth and vulnerability. He needed to need SG1.

And he never does, from what I've seen and heard about and read about. Or if he does need SG1, he doesn't need them badly enough to show more than an occasional bout of thoughtfulness before returning to his normal pale-Jack-imitation ways.

Now, I don't know why that is. I lean toward bad writing. I haven't watched Farscape (it's on my to watch list) but it seems like Ben Browder is a fine actor.

So, seasons 9 and 10 are probably fine TV. I'm never going to watch them through, so don't ask. I've tried and failed and every time it just tears my heart a little more and I'm won't be doing it again.

Those seasons...they just lost everything I watch SG-1 for, and so...yeah. I feel the hate strongly. Not because they're bad--I think they're different, not necessarily bad. My hate is only because in creating those seasons, they tore down the parts of SG1 that I loved most.

So s9-10 show me a few nice hugs and laughs? That's nice. I like comedies, I do. However...that's not my Stargate. Not the one I love. I liked the sarcastic one, the one full of wonder, the one where they had to scrape and claw their way through the galaxy with naivety and courage and brilliance. The one where they ate together, fought together, died together, were resurrected together.

It hurts, man. It hurts when the things I love turn into something that's lukewarm. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

That's why we have fanfic. And, with any luck, I'll actually start that AU I've been talking about.

It's fanfic, and so it'll be my Stargate. The ending I wanted--which really wasn't an ending at all, more of a closure of one chapter of the story.

Damn, did that turn dramatic. Um, sorry about that, and also sorry for spilling my feelings all over you guys. Thanks for reading, if you got to the end of this.

[kbsd]

not sure if you’ve answered this before, but what’s your process look like when you make an amv? i’m just curious and in constant awe of ppl who can make videos like you do :)

hello all!!! i have answered this before and i have a vid help tag with other asks i’ve gotten about stuff like this! but i’ve gotten several more messages along these lines so i’m just going to answer a bunch of them together (under a cut since i love to ramble about editing lol). i do just wanna say i’m definitely not the authority on video editing and obv everyone has their own techniques!

edit: i just finished typing all this up and it’s SO long so sorry in advance LMAO god bless anyone who reads this entire thing

so i work in news tv and we have a very specific workflow for writing scripts, sourcing video, producing, and editing. i’ve just applied that to making amvs! for every video i make, i copy the song lyrics into a google doc and adjust them to match the song i’ve cut (i often will trim songs for time and/or content purposes). then i start planning! i’ll mark down what clip i want to use for each lyric next to that line, and any sound bites i want to use (with episode numbers!). i’ll color code between video and sound bites and lyrics, so my scripts end up looking something like this (for my honeybee amv):

doing the planning ahead of time makes everything much easier when it’s a video that spans the whole show or involves a lot of sourcing, like honeybee or sports analogies. that way when i get to the actual editing process, i already know what i’m going to do and have a game plan. for videos like happy ending or believe it or not, where i’m mainly just pulling from a few episodes, i can just plan it in my head as opposed to writing it all down, and produce as i edit. obviously i do make in-the-moment decisions while editing—sometimes a shot doesn’t work the way i thought it would, or i go where the video takes me—but planning ahead definitely helps. i know some people use spreadsheets as well, with columns for lyrics, video clips, and sound bites if applicable. once you find a system that works, it actually goes pretty quickly.

as for sourcing clips themselves/finding clips within episodes, i talked about that here and kind of here. the short version is that transcripts are a must, and the supernatural wiki is hugely helpful by cataloguing all the hugs, prayers, phone calls, etc. in the show. gifmakers that tag episode numbers on their posts are your friends. it gets easier the more video you make—that’s another huge reason i make the google docs for each video (even the ones i plan in my head, i end up going back and making a loose script with episode notes just for reference). if i can’t remember where something is but i know i used it in another video, i can easily reference past scripts!

i also cut all my videos in the same project in premiere pro, so i can flip between them easily. instead of checking a past script, i can just go to the video sequence itself and copy the clip i’m looking for! this was especially helpful when i match cut together the 5x18 and 4x22 wall slam shots for my bestie video, and then stole it from myself for honeybee hahaha. at any given time i have at least 8 sequences open:

because of the sheer volume of videos i make, it’s worth it for me to download the entire show—i have all 327 episodes in HD, plus deleted scenes. if you think you’re only going to make a few videos, i’d start with scene packs. you can usually just google “destiel [or whatever ship/character you’re looking for] scene packs” and there will be any number of ones you can download. if you need other specific scenes, you can always download/torrent individual episodes or screen record netflix (that’s what i did before i got HD download links). i’m happy to share my links if you DM, but be warned it’s a lot of disk space (about 500GB on my hard drive). someone also compiled every destiel scene, downloadable here.

having every episode already loaded in premiere for all my projects also makes it a lot easier to source clips. once i use a clip in a video, i’ll put a marker on the episode file, so that after a while i have most of the important scenes/lines marked to easily find them. to give you an idea, this is my episode file in premiere for 12x10 lily sunder has some regrets (markers at destiel scenes, the car fight, hot girl cas, etc.). markers are the green tabs along the bottom:

premiere also lets you color code and name markers, so ONE DAY i will go back and color code them all. the ones above are all the same color, but in a perfect world, i’d have a myraid—for destiel shots like hugs, touches, looks; for important pieces of dialogue; for action shots; etc. but for now this works ok for me, so that’s a project for another time!

between detailed scripts, one giant premiere project, markers, the wiki, and my own memory, i have so many points of reference that i can usually find any clip i need in about 2 minutes max. sound bites are often harder to start out, or tiny specific shots i haven’t used before, and that’s when i turn to tumblr gifsets or beloved mutuals to crowdsource. but if you’re as obsessive about marking/keeping neat scripts as i am, it gets easier and easier with every video you make. that’s part of why i’m able to cut videos together so quickly. (also i want to stress i do this for a living and have to produce/edit a new piece for my show every day so i’m used to it. and compared to constantly updating content/sources and news that changes every day, 327 highly documented episodes that never change are much easier to handle hahaha)

this is all great for me since i make so many videos and plan to continue doing so, but if you’re only making a few, this level of work isn’t worth it imo. really it’s all about developing a system that works for you. whatever you do with episodes/sourcing, though, i cannot recommend planning things out in a script ahead of time enough. 

everything i just mentioned is producing, though. for the editing process, i usually do it in this order:

music first. any parts i want to cut, i make sure it all sounds smooth

then soundbites. i usually try to weave them into the lyrics—i have characters talk in breaks between lines or instrumental sections as much as possible. i’ll sometimes go so far as looped/extending an intsrumental part to make room for the soundbite i want there lol. if i do have dialogue over a line, i do the sound mixing/levels at this point as well to make sure everything is audible/one doesn’t overpower the other. (also i always include the video that goes with these bites when i drop them in, and decide later if i want to show the character speaking or have other clips cover the dialogue)

once i have all the audio locked in, then i bring in all my other video clips. sometimes i edit completely chronologically, sometimes jumping from section to section—it depends on the song or how i’m feeling

double check sound mixing. i usually listen to my videos through a few times, with headphones and without to make sure it’ll sound good no matter how people watch it

once i have picture and audio lock, i go through and color correct my clips. i’m basic and just use lumetri color in premiere, and usually just play with brightness, saturation, temperature, and tint until i like it

render and export! :)

i always have several audio tracks, but i try to keep my video tracks condensed. i’ll drop clips on a V2 level, and edit a section there, and drop the whole chunk down to V1 so i know it’s finished. that way when i leave and come back i can know where i left off/what’s done/etc. to give you an idea, this is the timeline for my what the hell video:

i always render as H.264 with high bitrate, and make sure to check “render at maximum depth” and “use maximum render quality” for the best quality. i’m sorry, but i don’t know what the equivalent options are in final cut, imovie, kdenlive, etc. i post on youtube mostly so i don’t have to sacrifice quality, but usually just using a lower bitrate will get you under the tumblr file size limit and it’ll still look good.

as for the anon who asked about “polishing”: first of all, thank you!! second of all, it’s in the details. all of this is a matter of taste and my own insanity, but here are some little things i always try to do:

after i color correct, i blur out any credits from the starts of episodes. i use gaussian blur for this, but really any blur tool works

as much as possible, i avoid clips where we see a character’s mouth move but don’t hear the words. in tv/film we call it “lip flap” and i just think it looks messy. also i’m trained to avoid it at all costs at work hahaha. it’s more for serious videos that this matters a lot to me (e.g. i think i did a really good job eliminating lip flap in my happy ending amv)—for comedy videos i don’t sweat it as much

i put audio fades on the start and end of every single audio clip i use, even if i don’t think i need it, to make sure everything sounds smooth

i use markers for timing, especially in action-y videos like what the hell. i’ll put a marker on the clip i’m using at the exact moment a punch lands, and in the song on the beat. if i have the magnet/snap in timeline tool on i can just easily snap them together instead of having to spend time finagling it

this is such a small thing but i dip/cut to black for a tiny bit at the start and end of every video. this way if i post with tumblr video player, there’s black between the loops, and it gives you a beat before the video restarts. i do this even on videos i post on youtube, just because i think it looks nicer/more professional

this is 1,500 words so i’m going to stop myself before i pull something. if you have follow-up questions feel free to ask and i’ll continue to add them to the vid help tag, but any more questions about sourcing clips or my process in general i’ll just link this post going forward. anyone who made it this far, i am sending to a telepathic kiss. thank you for reading and happy editing!