#I'd be shamed actually not that bad compared to death

[brainfilehasstoppedworking]

Thinking of how if I was born in the Medieval Times, I'd have been punished horribly for the person I am...

[cosmos-dot-semicolon]

Leshy's Dual Nature (Act 2, Kaycee's Mod spoilers)

You know, I'm really divided on how Leshy is characterised in Inscryption. Like about everything he's portrayed as goes two ways.

He's both the world's spirit of nature and somebody intrinsically aware he's in a video game. He's revealed to not have been evil in the way that he kills actual humans for his card game, but he also did stab out one of his colleague's eyes and turn them all into animals and then lock them away for years. He's a game designer, but also a tyrant actively vying for control over his world.

The most interesting portayal of this is his friendship with Kaycee and his attitude towards human players as a whole.

I know a lot of people see this as purely good and wholesome because he only cares about making a good game (and his campaign clearly has more effort put into it than act 2 and 3), but the game itself hints that even that has more sinister undertones to it.

Rebecha is one of the few outsider perspectives you get on the Scrybes' enmity, and she chooses not to mention how he imprisoned his colleagues, but instead his relationships with the player.

He is in this for the thrill of playing the game, above everything else:

(sorry for the Docs screenshot I don't have the original on hand)

If anyone's played Doki Doki Literature Club, he almost reminds me of Monika, but like? Not romantically attracted to the player and actually fleshed out with a philosophy and character beyond edgy aesthetics. Which makes sense, given Mullins has cited that as an inspiration for some of the meta plot in Inscryption.

But regardless, that's what brought both Luke and Kaycee to their deaths. It could be argued that this is a neutral thing/survival instinct on Leshy's part, but I'd ask you to compare that to Grimora, who's portrayed as doing the right thing in bringing down the game (at least within the constraints of the meta plot)

And while I don't think the fault of this lies entirely on Leshy, you see Kaycee start to suffer from social isolation and weird behaviour long before she actually gets (presumably) assasinated by her company. Her death is by no means on him, but had she lived, I can't imagine she would've turned out to be a well-adjusted individual under the influence of the disk.

Like I get being attached to your own OC projects which maybe 1 other person in the world will enjoy (my AU of this game), but like girl. I think something is happening to you there.

Their friendship is absolutely genuine, but it's clear that the disk is a sort of cursed artefact that Leshy has no gripes with keeping her near. Like as far as Kaycee's Mod's plot goes, she never discloses this to the other programmers, and just continues to slowly obsess over her mod and the game's secrets alone.

And like. From experience, that's just not a healthy way to go about it. Even just having one other real person to discuss your creations with will go a long way in making you feel less stuck in your head.

I don't think any of this makes Leshy's characterisation worth throwing away or condemning or anything. It's fascinating that he has so many layers to him, even if they're not all well-executed (I want to comment a bit on how his philosophy is kind of blunted by the twist that he's not killing real humans, but this post is long enough).

But I think it's worth reading into this guy as more than just 'the least bad Scrybe along with Grimora'. He's the densest character you get from this game and I think it's a shame people don't explore that.

[journey-to-the-attic]

i'd love to hear your thoughts on the remaining three (for the Sin Thing) even if it is just you pulling thoughts out of a hat

alright, then here we are! levi and belphie aren't in any particular order, i think they could go either way around - but lucifer is meant to come last.

warning long post ahead. now let's go!!!

levi:

levi is an interesting one because despite being the most insecure of the brothers, i think he's actually one of the most comfortable in himself as a demon

which actually relates to his insecurity i think - since he thought of himself as a 'useless angel', it follows that a 'useless angel' would make a 'good demon'

plus his arc in nb s1 is all about him coming to terms with his choice to follow lucifer, and deciding he doesn't regret it, which i feel would contribute to that

so building on all this... the idea is that levi's insecurity often makes him compare himself to his brothers, and the idea is that - having watched his brothers recover from their Sin Thing and really come into their own as avatars, his envy makes him feel inadequate all over again

he's not even a good demon anymore because they all make better demons than him, he's certainly not a good brother because he's been totally useless in saving any of them so far, and he was a useless angel back then too

his symptoms would initially just make him more reclusive, so it takes the others a while to notice, which only exacerbates his thoughts

thinking of the jokey comic i made on this topic though... i think levi's solution would actually work in this way

sitting him down and seriously talking to him would make him panic - he doesn't want to confront these feelings, and he's bound to convince himself that any comfort is insincere, just trying to make him feel better

whereas just shocking him so much that it grounds him would be much more likely to make him think more rationally

though i think i'd take the situation a bit more seriously

so levi has a kind of explosive fit, then leaves the house of lamentation - hides at the bottom of a lake, it's raining like hell, similar set-up to the comic

rather than standing to the side and yelling at him, though, ik wades into the lake and enters his inner world there

levi's inner world would be some kind of fantasy setting - a performative feel-good hero's journey story, except all the npcs keep making odd little snide side-comments (these are his thoughts peeking through)

ik goes through this setting deadpool-style. she is not taking ANY of it seriously, she makes fun of all the monsters, cracks jokes instead of engaging in dramatic dialogue, etc.

the idea is that she's just kind of batting away these 'i suck so much' ideas because they're not even slightly possibly true to her

she's 'breaking the fourth wall' until the levi in the inner world 'becomes self-aware' - i.e. finally gets grounded enough to take what she has to say to heart

so he wakes up in the lake, the rain stops; the other brothers are waiting for them

supportive brother moment <3

the key thing for ik is that she's not expressing he's 'enough' for her, but just that she wants him by her side, which i think is a sentiment levi would prefer

the idea of being 'enough' is such that he'll always convince himself that he isn't, but knowing that ik still wants to stay with this loser of a big brother regardless of any of that comforts him

belphie:

now initially i did think to connect belphie's Sin Thing to lilith

but it ended up making his whole deal too similar to beel's - with the same idea that he represses/has a bad reaction to his sin because of shame, the idea being that he was too idle - too 'slothful' - to save his sister

and, to be honest, i think it's kinda a discredit to belphie to center all of his character conflicts around lilith

is lilith's death a defining moment for his character? yep! can he have emotional hang-ups and encounter obstacles in his progress that aren't to do with it? also yes!

(also ngl i'm just kind of sick of lilith and her whole deal. don't tell anyone)

so instead i'm going for the idea of belphie feeling 'left behind'

ig it does connect to lilith but it's more of a residual thing - it's not really to do with his grief for her death directly, more to do with his own Bad coping mechanisms

the idea is just that he feels like they all move on too quickly

they pick themselves up so quickly after their Sin Things, they were up on their feet so soon after falling, they seemed to forget everything that happened to them in the war so fast

this is once again to do with the idea that belphie, as the youngest brother, has been detrimentally coddled in regards to these things, and has NO fucking idea how to properly deal with loss

(which resulted in devastating consequences in the original timeline)

the others haven't tried to talk to him about his grief for lilith, nor about their experiences during the celestial war; when they all had to support each other after the fall, they comforted him, but never ever discussed the pain of it all

it's like the doctor refusing to talk about your actual symptoms because they're afraid of making you uncomfortable, and instead just soothingly going "it's okay, just take some ibuprofen and see me in the morning"

and since belphie doesn't know how to heal from these things, he just represses and forgets about it - and he becomes increasingly afraid that the others will get too far ahead to catch up and they themselves recover

to be fair, it's not entirely his brothers' fault; belphie himself is also used to being complacent, and so hasn't actively sought out healing either

it's kind of similar to levi actually, in that they both feel bitter about the others' progress - except levi turns his feelings against the others (envy), while belphie internalises and blames himself (his sloth stops him from working to keep up)

belphie's frightened of moving on, too - he doesn't want to tie the pain to himself forever, but he feels like it's wrong to forget, too

and all this compounds to indecision and a refusal to linger on it

so when the sloth takes over he defaults to "i can't do anything, nothing will change, just lie down and go to sleep"

but he also can't bring himself to sleep - so instead, he goes around incredibly sluggishly, putting as little energy as possible into anything, not caring about anything else that happens around them

then once his brothers finally wrestle him to bed, he goes completely still and doesn't wake up

belphie's inner world would just be a completely empty void, with him at the centre, completely alone with his thoughts - forced to confront it all, but unable to because he doesn't know how

so when ik gets there, what she says to him would be similar to what she does in chapter 40 of jtta - reassurance that it's normal to grieve, to feel anguish, that it's not his fault he doesn't know how to deal, that he will one day be able to carry it and he will deserve to do so

apart from that, i think she'd just sit there with him, let him turn it all over in his mind, let it out, cry like he's been stopping himself from doing until now

belphie's been tempted to simply focus all his anger on humanity, blaming them for the war and everything, but having made fast friends with ik when she first gets nightbrought - this is also proof to him that he isn't governed by his grief

also, it's probably especially important to ik that she do this right - after all, in her original timeline, belphie didn't get this help, and in the long run ended up killing her because of it

lucifer:

it's generally the trend that lucifer comes last with these things

i did change this for the pact order in jtta, but that was because i felt it made more sense, given the different direction lucifer's arc takes to canon

here though, it does work (with my own reasoning for lucifer's sin thing) for him to come last

now. all of the brothers have self-worth issues on some level or another, but lucifer's in particular are on a whole other level

he thinks he's always right. he hates himself more than any being in the universe. he can't fathom being second-best. he knows he is awful. he thinks he's better than everyone. everyone is a far better being than him. he's strong and useless and he must be chosen first even though he doesn't deserve it

i think lucifer would've known he'd go through this Sin Thing from the very beginning, but his brothers are fairly convinced he'll either fight it off immediately or never have it happen in the first place

it's a constant thing with him, he's never as capable as the image he projects, and because he hates letting it fail - he doesn't reject the idea that he'd be immune

and i think part of him would actually be a little convinced; surely he of all demons would be able to resist this stupid force?

lucifer can be extremely close-minded sometimes, and this is working against him right now because he hasn't realised that all of that 'i'll be fine' spiel is the pride talking

so when he starts feeling it happen, he sort of spirals, which only exacerbates the effect - especially since he instinctively isolates him with his work, not wanting his brothers to see him like this

what makes it worse is that he thinks "didn't i learn my lesson? didn't i learn to stop doing this? if mammon didn't think to go to ik, and if ik hadn't come to me, i wouldn't have accepted any help. i would've tried to do it all myself, and we might've lost satan in the process. we might've lost our whole family in the process. i was entirely useless for whole ordeal."

and he knows what he should do, but he can't because his pride is in control - what's more, he feels it's his own fault that he can't stop it, which only lets the sin dig its claws in deeper

plus, because lucifer's so well-practised at keeping this facade up, none of his brothers notice what's happened for about a week

mammon can tell something is off, but lucifer squarely rejects his offers of support and brings up his trouble-making in response, which successfully chases him off

i feel like in this case, it's important that lucifer actively accepts ik's help - rather than her just jumping in to get to him, as has been the case with everyone else

she'd have noticed something was up as well, and has been making gentle attempts at asking him what's wrong - which lucifer has brushed off, reasonably naturally

after hearing how he completely rejected mammon's offer of help, though, she decides to throw caution to the winds and goes to see him in his office

lucifer's response is to yell at her

now he's proven himself capable of being a massive bitch before now. however, this is on a whole new level

he's never insulted ik herself before, for example, but with his pride talking he's stooping to levels never before seen

once he's done ik just kind stands there and stares at him blankly

now, this is the SEVENTH GODDAMN TIME ik's had to put up with this sort of thing. fourteen if you count the first round back in the original timeline

she is so tired. so she really can't be blamed for crying

you would not believe the levels of regret lucifer immediately feels

in fact said regret is so strong it actually drowns the pride out for long enough for him to immediately start apologising

ik (very embarrassed by the crying) just kind of shakes her head like "it's fine, it's fine, forget about it, look can you just fucking listen to me"

in this case, there aren't any big dramatic speeches. the fact that ik's still attempting to help him after he just made her (who, famously, basically never cries no matter what happens to her) cry with his own awfulness is enough to snap him out of his funk, for long enough to let the others get through to him

see, mammon, sensing a disturbance as soon as the tears began, crashes into the office soon after that, and the ruckus duly attracts the other brothers

now lucifer's instinct is to go "shit", because now they're seeing that their eldest brother is not infallible

except his brothers' immediate reaction is not shock, or (rightfully, he thinks) disgust, but rather concern

who could've guessed, lucifer? your family fucking loves you

sure, you fucked up (and they're going to scold you for being mean once this is over), but that doesn't make you any less their beloved big brother

lucifer essentially gets saved by a combination of dadcifer instincts and his family's care, which i think is very fitting for him

[akechi-stole-my-heart]

If I may ask: how would you have written/rewritten Sumire's confident story? 😊 Unless it's too close to what you did in code violet, sorry 😂 Personnally, I thought the first half wasn't THAT boring, she was endearing but I felt like she was either in denial or hiding her grief about her sister's death - and then I got the truth 😂 I've become a shusumi fan quickly but I still think there's *something* lacking for it to click. And the last scene we see Sumire was underwhelming imho 🥲

yeah! there are a lot of similarities to what i do in code violet, but it's not identical, since I have a lot more freedom in my fic than there is in the game.

i wouldn't change much if anything about the first half. i agree it isn't that boring, what really makes it seem that way are (1) high expectations for the New Special Girl to be exceptional since she wasn't in the original game and (2) comparing her to the other team members who you're already invested in, her conflict just isn't as interesting (at least to me). basically, you start out every other thief confidant already knowing the core of their conflict because of their palace, so you're already invested in their arcs, while with sumire that is reversed, where you don't learn what's actually going on with her later. so, the "boringness" of the confidant is really exaggerated by that. if you didn't like the way they inserted her into the opening sequence (i never had an issue with it, but royal was my first experience, though i did know the stuff with her was added in the rerelease) so she made a bad impression on you, then it's understandable why people wouldn't like her (at first, anyway)

but let's get to the point. my issues with her confidant. they can basically be summed up in 2 points, and the two of them intersect quite a bit (1) the way she idolizes both kasumi and joker and rely on them for her self worth is not properly unpacked and (2) her role as the waifu REALLY impedes her arc.

basically, sumire idolizes joker. her outfit mirrors his exactly, and her arc in third sem is all about...learning that since joker loves her, she wants to both rise to his expectations and can learn to value herself. and that's not bad, but certain lines about how she wants joker to see her really rub me the wrong way. specifically in her rank when they go to the mall and she picks an outfit for herself. i like the part about her wanting to be seen as herself, and the part about joker's reaction ultimately being irrelevant to whether she likes the outfit, and i would emphasize those points more strongly. but the parts about her wanting joker to see her feel a little like she's trying to be a person he will like? rather than being the person that she is. some of the dialogue is pretty meh, and it feels like she's getting her self worth from joker.

the bones of the confidant are good. great, even. but there's just subtleties in the execution that make it not quite land for me. choosing the romance route ends up feeling unhealthy for both of them, where sumire is putting too much of her worth in someone else and joker is entering an unequal relationship where sumire doesn't give him as much as he gives her because he just isn't in a place to. and i think that's a shame.

for me to get behind shusumi, sumire needs to be on equal ground with akira, and she just isn't. and the game is even aware of this--sumire says on white day that she isn't, but that she wants to be someday. and like, it could be her being self deprecating, but either way it's not what either of them deserve. i wish we could get a moment where she's there for akira like he's there for her, but atlus is allergic to joker's friends being there for him so we never get that.

so honestly, i really wouldn't change much. i'd leave the first half how it is, tweak some dialogue in the second half so it seems less like sumire is getting her self worth from joker, and add a moment where sumire explicitly says she's there for joker and wants to be there for him as much as he's been there for her, so they're on emotionally equal ground with each other.

finally, i do wish we got to see more of her journey, since she really is just at the very beginning of her arc of recovery at the end of the game. but i think it's okay that we don't. there is only so much time allotted to watch her grow, and we see her grow a lot in that time. there's questions she could ask herself that she doesn't have the time to get to, like if she really wants to be a gymnast for herself, or if she's just doing it for her sister. that sort of thing. but again, i think it's okay we don't get to that. i might add a line or two where she says she wants to be a gymnast for herself because she enjoys it, though.

and i guess that's it? i'm sorry for how disorganized this answer is. i haven't really thought in depth about what i'd change if restricted by the confines of the game, and so it's kind of difficult to do a rewrite when that's different than just having problems with what exists. a lot of what i would change can be found in code violet, like how i emphasize that it's "joker makes me want to be seen for who i am, and see him in return" rather than the one-way dynamic of "joker makes me want to be seen and so i will try to be a person he likes" which some of her lines really come across as sometimes. honestly, i think the entire confidant could have been improved by leaning more into the rivalry dynamic. sumire and akechi already have plenty of similarities/parallels, and joker kind of inherits kasumi's role as sumire's rival. so i think it'd have been really powerful if they leaned into that and made it clear that this time, sumire and her rival are equals.

but yeah! sorry this is so rambly. i'm going to end the post now

[bitchatcloudtower]

Do you think something being adult like fate could work like maybe the trix spin off. They could have them partying hard and outfits showing off but also being more mean to other people and stuff. Probably alot of swearing too

I definitely could see a successful live action happening but not with the direction Winx is going currently (and has been for a good while.) I think there are a lot of things that need to be taken into consideration and they're things that very few people (much less Brian Young) can handle well.

Issue One: Style

Seasons 1 through 3 handle the balance between style and substance fairly well, everything is clearly stylised but it's very character and emotion driven. Winx is a show that has to be heavily stylised, but it can't rely on that over substance. Season 4 onwards lean too heavily on style and aesthetics (as awful as the aesthetics are) and the stories and characters flounder for purpose. I'd say The Idol is a show that is heavily stylised (there are beautiful shots and cool aesthetics but when it comes to the content and the Meat of the show, it's bad.)

Winx has to look good, yes, it's why so many people were initially drawn to it to begin with. But without substance, as the later seasons are, there's very little keeping an audience there. There's only so long we can look at pretty sequences and shots before we get bored. I'd compare it to Euphoria, especially in Season 2, the aesthetics are still good, but the emotional weight isn't there.

It's also a hard aesthetic to balance. Fate looks awful not necessarily because it's ugly in itself (the location is beautiful and some of the outfits do work), but because it looks wrong for a Winx adaptation. The colours are wrong. The clothes are wrong. The world is wrong. Fate is more Harry Potter than it is Winx Club. But leaning too heavily into fairy and ethereal aesthetics also wouldn't be right; it's not meant to look like LOTR. And replicating the costumes 1:1 would simply look ridiculous on human beings (see: the released images of Netflix's ATLA adaptation and how flat Aang and Katara's costumes look on actual humans.) The set and costume styling has to be deeply embedded in actual fashion, but also be timeless enough that it doesn't look dated within a year or so, but also convey the fantastical and sci-fi roots of the show.

I don't think a Winx show needs to have revealing clothes, necessarily. Or even a Trix show. You can dress teens/young adults in an age appropriate manner without putting them in revealing clothes. I know 2021's Gossip Girl was widely hated, but I do think the styling for it was very well done and they manage to dress the characters in ways that are character appropriate that look (somewhat) age appropriate without putting them in lingerie (Zoya comes to mind: she wears sneakers where Luna wears heeled boots, she wears oversized cardigans where Monet wears stiff blazers, she has earthier tones where Audrey wears preppier colours)

Issue Two: Substance

I think Winx, at its core and best, is character driven, and that's why we as fans chose to stay and are still talking about it now. Bloom can't even achieve her base transformation without undergoing significant development in her belief in her own ability. When her magic is taken from her, it's not an external force that brings it back, it's her reconnecting with herself and her past that does. Even when she lost her powers, it was because of emotion (the fight with Diaspro, her returning to Gardenia in shame after, her fear of what the Trix would do to her parents.)

Charmix requires the Winx to overcome a fear/personal challenge that was introduced much earlier (Layla's fear of abandonment, Musa's distrust of Riven, Flora's shyness), and Enchantix requires the girls to come to peace with death. There's a lot of emotional substance to these power upgrades and without that emotional substance, you get a magical world that has no interaction with the characters (an issue we see in Fate, where the characters simply exist within the magical world rather than actually interacting with it.) The characters of Winx Club are driven by their world and drive their world forward. They are this way because they live in this world, and their world is the way it is because they live in it.

Issue Three: Huge Cast

An issue with writing Winx, including fan written versions, is that there are too many characters to flesh out in a meaningful way. A lot of fans complain that there's too large of an emphasis on Bloom in the original show, but it's necessary, otherwise the show would be too massive and sprawling. Especially given the amount of lore that needs to be crammed in.

It's part of the issue with Fate (well at least irt writing) where there's too huge of a cast and how nothing has real emotional weight. I want to care that Beatrix is dead, but she's one of 15 main characters and there isn't time to actually come to care about any of them. When she dies, I (and some others) saw it and kind of just, shrugged it off. There isn't room to care about anyone because they're trying to juggle Bloom's lore, Terra's insecurities (and gayness as of s2), Aisha's emotional issues, Stella's mommy issues, Sky's daddy issues, Riven/Dane/Beatrix's unhealthy relationship, Silva and Farrah's involvement with the Burned Ones, Musa's hatred of her powers. I'm not even touching on the love triangles or Sam, Grey, Flora, or anyone else introduced in s2 of Fate. There's too much going on to actually care about any of them. That's why there's this disparity between what we actually see on screen and the amount we're supposed to care.

I think a Trix driven story, as you suggested, would fix that. There's only three characters to focus on. But I have issue with that mostly on the grounds of "a villain driven story is a hard sell." A Trix spin off, maybe, but not an entire series.

Issue Four: Young Adult

The issue with Fate isn't necessarily the "adult content" (sex parties drugs etc,.) but more the way it's handled. Riven(?) tossing a knife around in the trailer was unnecessary and the shot of that was included solely to make him seem edgy. The references to all the sex being had in the show don't really have a purpose, we know something is going on with Riven, Beatrix, and Dane. We know something is going on with Sam and Musa. We know something is going on with Stella and Sky. The references to sex is unnecessary. The vaping was obnoxious, yes, but that was believable for the version of Riven we see in Fate, he would vape in your face, he would be annoying about it. I think Terra making weed brownies was believable given that we know her character is insecure and a pathological people pleaser, and it's a nice manifestation of those traits without making her outright pathetic.

Another issue is that "young adult" always manifests in characters being snarky to each other and Fate does it in a way that makes the characters appear hostile to each other, and to the audience. It's hard to tell where Musa's snark ends and her actual hatred of the others begin. Is she overwhelmed by her powers? Is she being funny? Does she genuinely hate Terra and want her dead? It doesn't make the show edgy or "dark" or mature, it just creates a hostile environment where none of the girls seem to like each other. This and the aforementioned forced inclusion of sex/drugs/whatever feels like the equivalent of them flashing a massive sign on screen saying "this isn't REGULAR Winx, this is ADULT Winx."

[sailormoonandme]

If there was a new Sailor Moon reboot anime someday I'd want it to respect the core values and spirit of the original manga and anime, but do something different. I don't think it is necesarry to re-tell the Dark Kingdom arc all over again, at least not in the same way, let alone methodically follow that up with the Black Moon, Infinity, Dream or Stars arcs.

I think that'd be refreshing for older fans (who currently are the primary target demographic for the brand) and for newer fans (who I actually think should be at least equally the target demographic at some point in the future) they won't know that we are deviating from what we've seen before anyway.

There are no end of ways you can change things up of course, but for the sake of argument lets say Sailor Moon is a seasonal anime, meaning it realistically has 12-13 episodes to tell its arc in.

There are no end of anime or western cartoons that can tell compelling arcs in that amount of time, but the limited episode count almost locks you into replicating Crystal and the manga if you are married to the DK arc or married to how the DK arc unfolded. Namely, introducing the Senshi one by one, building towards the drama with their pat lives etc. So just immediately off the bat you've eaten up minimum 6-7 episodes of your season on set up as each episode is going to be setting up one of the Senshi, Tuxedo Mask, etc. I'm a Crystal defender/apologist, but I see no point doing that again if we are doing a new reboot.

Instead, here is a radical idea. Why not start the series off with the Inner Senshi already established as a team and Usagi is the audience avatar who is being introduced to them, their HQ and their mission when she is recruited to the Sailor Team. Not only will that work for people unfamiliar with Sailor Moon, but for us old geezers who've seen every version out there (and read many more through fanfiction ;) it sort of speeds things up. We can get to the character dynamics and interpersonal relationships with our girls off the bat. In addition, it provides a more organic reason as to why Usagi is less combat savvy compared to the other girls, the latter have just been doing this for longer whilst Usagi is a newbie.

Arranging things this way is also how a lot of Super Sentai (one of Takeuchi's primary sources of inspiration for Sailor Moon) seasons kick off too, they build the team within the first episode or two as the team is the heart of the story.

Here is another radical idea. What if the Dark Kingdom and the reincarnation angle isn't even the plot of the first arc? What if we're dealing with some new villains or the Death Busters even? The Death Buster's base of operations was a school. In a sense, they are even more natural villains for a team of superhero school girls to go up against out of the gate. You could draw out the huge reveals of everyone's past lives and so on across the whole series rather than make it the first arc. Like imagine if Queen Beryl and Metalia were not simply the final villains of the first/only arc, but the Final Big Bad of the entire series?

That's not even getting into all the villains beyond the mainline manga that you could make use of, modernising them or adapting them into an anime for the first time. Ail, An, Fiore, Snow Kaguya, Queen Badine, Shaman Apsu and the Opposito Senshi, Past Wiseman, Death Vulcan, Dark Nibiru, Coatl, Dracul, Vampir, Lilith, etc.

I'm just saying this franchise is replete with rich concepts, characters and ideas. Creatively there is A LOT that can be done with it for old fans and new. It'd be a shame if we never got more and an even bigger shame if what we got was what we have seen before.

[hopelesscrawl]

Yo

5 Questions 15 Mutuals

Tagged by @jcamilov06, thanks a bunch! :)

1. Are you named after anyone?

I'm not entirely sure, but my mom once told me that there was a song or a person that had my name and she liked it. Yeah. Dunno if it's true though.

2. When was the last time you cried?

(Trigger warning: Death)

Today in the morning, I was on my way to work and came across a dead fox and this fucked me really up tbh, I'm still emotionally agitated. I didn't even expect to cry that much but it was such a sad and heartbreaking sightning. And it made me think about other things as well, which made me cry even more.

3. Do you have kids?

No.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

I do, but not with everyone, because some people don't get it or I'm afraid to seem like I'm mean or something.

5. What sports do you play/have played?

When I was a pre-teenager, I joined an athletics club and we were focused on running, long jump, javelin throw, weight training, and stuff like this. I stopped when I was around 16 because of school and other reasons. It's actually a shame and I definitely wanna do sports again but I need way more discipline.

6. What's the first thing you notice about people?

It depends, most of the times I caught myself always looking at their arms and I really don't know why, I kinda like it when I see people with strong arms. But I never thought about it, I just think the eyes or hair are also very noticeable at the first sight. The whole face I'd say.

7. What's your eye color?

Green with a slightly touch of grey

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Ugh, these are hard to compare, like I enjoy watching both but for my mental health I mostly prefer the happier ones because I get scared and saddened very easily.

9. Any special talents?

I don't know, my smelling sense is veeery sensitive, like so many people told me that they would never smell this or that and I always catch EVERYTHING, so bad smell is even worse for my sensitive nose than for others. So, if you need a sniffing dog... here I am. I don't know if that counts as a special talent, but it was the first and only thing that came to my mind.

10. Where were you born?

In Austria.

11. What are your hobbies?

Watching youtube, playing Minecraft, listening to music, dreaming, drawing, reading, ...

Do you have any pet?

We got a dog, her name's Zora :) and birds!

13. How tall are you?

170 cm / 5,5 ft

14. Favorite subject in school?

History and sometimes Music and Geography

15. Dream job?

I don't have one anymore, because I realized day by day that capitalism is a cruel bitch and most companies are just interested to exploit you. Most jobs don't apply to me, and I really dislike the whole working class society and the whole concept. But things that I'm interested in are pharmacy, working with animals (and helping them), art and maybe voice acting. I also love to play different roles and characters, let's see if I'm able to find something that isn't just totally exhausting and horrible.

I will tag @eluice @prosopagnosias @requiesticat and everyone else, feel free to do it if you want to! No pressure! Love ya ya'll.

[sharkiegorath]

rambling text post (suicide mention, in a past/recounting context) (sudden lore drop)

I’m 26 and I’ve had two friends who killed themselves. Completely unrelated. 7 years apart. We weren’t close, but they were important to me. They were named David and Dave. They were both talented artist-writer-poets who died on the 14th of an early month. They were passionate about theater and politics, and they had ostentatious middle names honoring historical figures.

I know suicide intimately, not because of my own depression, but because there's more empirical evidence for suicide's role in creating me than God's. I'm close to my grandma, who'd raised one of her younger brothers, a genius who ended up violently killing himself in his early 20’s. It’s still a big shameful open secret contributing to our family’s collective trauma. Then my grandpa (the same grandma’s husband) tried to kill himself when my mom was 9; that was one of the reasons why they migrated to Singapore. So suicide has changed the trajectory of my existence before I actually existed. 

I'm hypersensitive but the funny thing is, I tend to handle death pretty well, even sudden death. I don't mean 'well' in the sense of, like, Getting a Good Grade in Grieving. I mean the general enormity of loss doesn't stagger me and that's good because it lets me help the people grieving harder. I’ve lost friends, family, and pets. I was sad each time and mourned. Yet before Dave, the 'hardest' I'd ever grieved was over a pest rat caught in a cage, who was taken away by a freak meeting with an exterminator before my dad could release it in a jungle to get eaten by a snake. Make of that what you will. 

When David died in early 2016, I was in a long depressive-sometimes-manic-generally-overall-miserable episode. Most of our friends had just started college, and a lot of us had major mental health issues. I'd isolated myself but I think we felt the loss in an amplified way because of that shared struggle and anxiety. I learned about David's explicit political motivations through his dad's memorial blog. I wailed after a semi-uncomfortable outing because I clumsily brought it up, and a comparatively stable longtime friend said they wanted to "remember the good" about David. I felt that David would've wanted to be accepted for 'the bad'. I wasn't even 20 yet.

Right before Dave died last year, I was the happiest I’d been in a long time, and I'd been pretty stable for years. I was writing a lot. I was recording videos and teaching myself to edit. I was excited for the future and amassing unprecedented peace with the past. I’d just watched Our Flag and it rewired my brain chemistry, so I was getting these epiphanies like "you have experienced love and belonging (you were just too traumatized and self-loathing to realize)", "a big chunk of your life is ahead of you", "you aren't unknowable and unlovable"...and then suddenly someone who made me feel known and loved, whom I'd known and loved, was gone for reasons I'll never understand.

Of course it also reminded me of the guilt and trauma surrounding David. I mean, they had the same name. I used to visit Dave's blog and think "haha that's funny, I knew a similar David! Good thing this one is alive!!" and maybe I'd think something about Goliath. I don't know.

I didn't process Dave's death properly because my family had emergency roof repairs on the day I found out. I had to ''staycation'' with my highly anxious, unwell mother and our highly anxious dogs, requiring a lot of movement and logistics. It rained the whole week. I had my period, which is near-debilitating. My parents were really kind about the situation, I love my dogs, but there was nothing we could do. My mom has a (consensually taken) video of a concerned Bonbon circling me 30+ times while I cried on a swivel chair. I tried to write to meet deadlines and all of my stories became about death or loss and they were bad but not interestingly terrible.

I've waited this long in the post to mention I've had past suicide ideation and periods where I just didn't want to live. It hasn’t been a Problem since I was 18. (A whole 8 years ago!) I get better every year. I'm firmly in a place where I know I want to stick around. I don't just 'not want to die', I want to live; I would be pissed if I couldn't. Still. I’m surprised at how hard it is to find suicide bereavement resources for people who are also suicidal. Weird, right? Nobody talks about the shell-shocked survivor’s guilt. Nobody talks about the multifaceted jealousy. Nobody talks about the part where, if people around us are mirrors, what can you conclude when a mirror somehow smashes itself? 

David and Dave were both always nice to me. I mean it when I say they made me feel loved and seen, in a special way I've rarely felt. I only knew them a little yet what little I had meant so much. But David was demanding and hypercritical of his loved ones. Dave got into a lot of internet fights and discourse, some justified or funny, some uncomfortable or imo wrong. All humans are complex but they categorically weren’t just ‘sweet kids’. They didn't get to mature or learn. I know for a fact that I would've disappointed them if we'd been closer; maybe I already did. The reality isn’t always this complicated, right? Maybe? I assume? I honestly don’t know what a ‘typical’ suicide is like, because I haven’t personally known a suicide victim who wasn’t a confrontational Marxist with very strong opinions about theater. And I'd prefer not to know a variety. Jesus.

Eventually, I told my therapist about David and Dave. I said it was hard knowing that friends with my intensity of emotion had killed themselves. She said I was different from them because I'm a girl (lmao) and because I'm "not angry". I accepted it at the time, since fighting isn't a crucial part of my personality, but I got angry after thinking about it. Because I'm not so different when it counts; because I'm the kind of person who'd grieve a friend's suicide by complaining it was wasteful, ill-timed, and/or politically incoherent. I hope they would've appreciated being challenged. It's the best I can do for them now.

David hated Singapore and reportedly viewed America as a better option; he wanted to live in New York City. Dave lived in New York and viewed America as the ultimate evil. They would've deeply understood each other in many regards, but also gotten into a fistfight about Western imperialism. I'm the only person connecting them. What do I do with that? It feels like eldritch knowledge. Because of my upbringing and brain, it’s cognitively impossible for me to say it’s just a freak coincidence. I feel like I'm one of Job's sole surviving servants. I think there was A Reason, but that Reason is recursive; it’s just so I would know. 

Two years ago, that Marvel TV quote kept getting passed around. "What is grief but love persevering?" Oh, fuck that. What's that supposed to mean for me? I didn't feel intense grief for the family/friends/pets I've lost, even at the very moment, so I don't really love them? I feel intense grief for one random rat and friends I held at arms' length, so I must love them the most, even when I resent them or planned to let the rat die displaced in the wild anyway? I can never separate Dave and David from each other, or from me. I’m going to be dragging this around for the rest of my life. I live in a carcass.

[sawthatmountainburn]

first off, based on what data do you think Israel's war against Palestine is "well below the average of civilian casualties"? how do you measure this average? is it net number of deaths or per capita? which other wars are you comparing it to?

second of all, nobody is saying Israel is the only state to kill civilians or commit atrocities. but it is a state currently at this moment committing these things, the current campaign has been going on for months and has only gotten worse and more cruel, so it's going to be the current topoc of discussion. just like a lawyer would be laughed out of court if he tried defending their client by saying something like "Your Honor, there's other crimes being committed out there, it's unfair thay only my cliemt is being judged!" it's also laughable to try and pull this defense here. yes, other people and nations do commit crimes, but this case isn't about all crimes ever, it's about something specific that happened / is currently happening.

furthermore, it's worth naming the exact atrocities it's committing and it's worth talking about other injustices it perpetuates. there are laws in Israel that massively privilege non-Palestinian Israelis over Palestinians, Palestinians have their homes seized by Israelis with the government either not giving a shit or supporting the thieves, Palestinians routinely have their power shut off, aren't granted access to water or food, and they're prevented from returning to their place of birth if they're away for "too long". these and more are all acts that prove there is an intent to ethnic cleanse the whole region of Palestinians, that Israel is currently an apartheid state. sure, it's a war, but there's no war in history that was started for shits and giggles, so what exactly is the goal of the war? because everything points to trying to get rid of the Palestinians for good. if you're so upset by calling this genocide, do inform me what the correct term for this would be.

and by the way, it's actually bizarre to claim that calling it apartheid is exceptionalizing it, considering the very word comes from the institutional decrimination in 20th century South Africa. it is, by its very definition, saying "this injustice is just like this other injustice". but I digress.

plenty of leftists DO talk about how this is similar to things other nations have committed. there's the aforementioned comparison to South Africa, there have been comparisons to what settlers on the American continents did and are still doing to Indigenous Americans, comparisons to what the US has done in the SWANA region in general, and so on. some of them, the more anarchist-leaning I'd say, also talk about how they are indeed against states in general and against borders. you however, have reblogged at least one post that argues this is an illegitimate argument and actually they're secretly targeting Israel specifically. so which is it? are all states subject to criticism and leftists aren't focusing on it enough, or is it particularly unfair to criticise Israel?

honestly, just seems like you'd rather nobody talk about the specific actions currently carried out by Israel, but rather stick to general statements about how war is bad, without ever naming any particular nation as a perpetrator. and I'm sorry, it sucks to have a nation you're attached to be named and shamed for carrying out injustice, but this is not a reasonable or good faith demand. Israel, the state, intends to ethnically cleanse Palestinians and is doing so by various means including the current war. if the current war ends, it does not end all the suffering and humiliation Palestinians have to endure, and denying the intent behind the war will only ensure their suffering is allowed to continue while the rest of the world looks away.

One of the most frustrating parts of the extreme rhetoric around Israel/Palestine (besides the obvious reliance on antisemitic & anti-Arab, Islamophobic tropes) is that it exceptionalizes so many things that are actually pretty standard features of nation-states and war in a way that completely compartmentalizes the criticism of these things into just being about criticizing the “few bad apple” countries instead of criticizing the entire institution of nation-states and war as a whole.

For instance: the fact is that war kills civilians, at an alarming average of 6:1 civilians-to-combatants deaths. The status quo of war, across the board, is that way more civilians die than combatants. And yet, despite the high death toll, despite Hamas using civilian infrastructure & noncombatants as human shields (which Hamas has openly admitted to doing), despite the imprecise & destructive nature of using bombs on urban targets, and despite the inadequate humanitarian aid that has been able to make it into Gaza… the IDF has still managed to stayed well below the average of civilian casualties.

The point of saying this is not “this is what war looks like so it’s not a big deal” it’s “this is what war looks like so we as a species need to stop doing it”—seeing the devastation war has brought to the people Gaza should move you, and it should make you never want to see another war again. It should make you want a ceasefire not just for Israel and this war but all wars always. And obviously, in practice, it’s not that simple—peace is more than “just don’t do war” and the thing about ceasefires and peace treaties is they kind of have to be mutual to mean anything—but the point stands: War Bad.

However, if instead you see the destruction in Gaza and think it’s an exceptional case, where Israel is evil and the only way war could be this destructive is genocide, you get to preserve this romanticized, idealistic fantasy of war as, violent yes, but perhaps only in a cathartic, tragic-but-beautiful way—a glorious struggle where two armies clash on a battlefield far removed from everyday life and only soldiers die. You get to preserve your belief in Just War, to look forward to a morally uncomplicated Glorious Revolution™️—you may even preserve your ability to cheer on the death of Israelis.

And that’s just one issue. There are others: the claim of “ethnostate” obscures criticisms of nation-states as a concept, the claim of “apartheid” obscures criticisms of how borders & citizenship are set up across the world, etc. This inverse Israeli Exceptionalism where Israel is treated as uniquely or exceptionally problematic isn’t simply discriminatory or rooted in prejudice (which are reasons enough to criticize it, as I have), it’s actively impeding the left’s ability to criticize the actual structural systems that are the problem.

[cave-monkey]

Monkey King 2009 Episode 11

Ohhhh I really liked this one.

First, I have to say it, comparing the four generals now to Episode 1, they have come a long way. At least in regards to the tactical side of their jobs (they should still not at all be directly responsible for children). When they thought the enemy had found their camp and were closing in, they were on their shit. Marshal Ma was snapping out orders immediately, no one was contradicting anyone else or squabbling or anything, and it was definitely a Sign Of Growth.

Or the major and repeated servings of humble pie they've been swallowing recently. Active war will probably do that to you, especially when you can't blame your scapegoat for your failures after you ran him off.

Also once again showcasing their highly conditional displays of respect and goodwill. Stone Monkey pops back up with Six Ears and he's being called a "Little Hero" now, huh? You literally drove him out of the troop to his possible death and didn't care much at all not that long ago, my guys. We all saw you. You can't fool us.

And, eyyyy, Six Ears. Buddy. Bud.

Oh no.

I can see where it's coming from, is the thing. He used to be the kid pulling off the stupidly risky feats and being praised and rewarded for it. "Earning his place". The sacrificial lamb to Stone Monkey's scapegoat. Neither is a great role to be filling, but Six Ears doesn't know that, and the life of a sacrificial lamb probably still looks a whole heck of a lot better when you're looking at it from the place of the scapegoat. And now it looks like Stone Monkey's taking his place, right, and without that...where does he fit? He knows how conditional the approval of the four generals is, and at the start of the series he dealt with their hot-and-cold reception of him by flippantly ignoring it, but he did experience it. Stone Monkey has had it "worse", but Six Ears isn't so far removed from it that he can't easily imagine himself being in Stone Monkey's place, I'd think. So it's no real wonder he's territorial of his "place" in the troop, feels like the four generals', the troop's, (and possible Old Monkey King's) regard is a finite resource, and reacts badly to feeling like it's all being "stolen". Jealousy is rooted in insecurity, and Six Ears has absolute heaps of that.

And speaking of insecurity, it's also worth noting that he keeps continuously being captured and having his autonomy and ability to protect himself removed, over and over and over again, and this time he was almost tortured. By having his ears cut off while he was tied down and unable to fight back. We don't know how long it took the kids to track down the troop again, but since we're meant to assume the entirety of the surviving troop made it to the cave, the commanders would have needed to have at least enough to time to track the scattered groups down. In that case I'd imagine this is several days later at least, but still only days. Maybe a week or two at most. Six Ears probably hasn't had the time to really process what almost happened to him, but it would still be there in his head. He also, unfortunately, didn't have a whole lot of agency in his own rescue either, so that lack of control, that lack of feeling like he can keep himself safe, and shame at his own helplessness has got to be eating him alive. Take the above belief that he needs to earn his troop's support or risk losing it entirely with the fact it's very unlikely this kid has actually felt safe anytime in a very long time, not since the Demon King's incursions first really started honestly, and Six Ears is definitely not going to be doing well. So double up that insecurity and set it on fire with a heaping spoonful of desperation and you probably have Six Ears's emotional state right now.

*sigh*

He's definitely going to pull some shit, basically.

And holy cow someone actually called General Beng out on his pretentious language. General Ba was NOT having it. I actually almost kinda felt bad for General Beng. He's just trying to make his report, starts tripping over his literary references, and General Ba comes out swinging immediately. "Come ON. Do you think we have the time for you to be pulling out this grandparent talk?! SIT DOWN." And General Beng is like "):".

Like, harsh, General Ba. Fair! But dang. It wasn't the time at all, but General Beng trying to comfort himself by falling back on his quotes and poetry was actually kind of, I don't know, sad. Everyone is just really upset here. General Beng's trying to self-soothe, General Ba is lashing out, and the Marshals are...uh...dissociating back there? (Hey, actually, yeah, Marshals, why are you letting your generals struggle through delivering this very important report to the king instead of doing it for them? Or swooping in at least, when they fumble? What do you even DO?)

And I'm not 100% sure, but General Ba also seems to make a pun on General Beng's stuttering over 此乃 (fancy schmancy "this is")? Or at least that's how I read it, and it kind of made me laugh. Honestly my Chinese isn't good enough to catch most wordplay, so I could also be barking up the wrong tree entirely, in which case, don't mind me. I'm still gonna giggle at it, though. (General Beng: "This g-, uh, This g-" General Ba: "This GRANDMA.")

General Ba even liked that turn of phrase so much he repeated it again later. Poor General Beng will never be able to use his beloved 此 in General Ba's hearing ever again without having "How's it feel being a GRANDMA" yelled at him immediately.

But honestly, General Ba is pulling zero punches here. He's genuinely rattled, since he's finishing General Beng's report for him by going, "Look, fancy language or no fancy language, all I know is we took everyone to the back of the mountain and the enemy was already there. They are everywhere. We have nowhere to go and we are fucking dead." He also has this really haunted look to him. General Beng is only the first casualty. General Ba has looked death in the eyes and is going a bit feral about it. No one is safe.

Plus that one monkey soldier coming back and breaking down in tears because "the monkeys without weapons are getting the worst of it...they had to run away."

"Run away". Right.

Listen, guys. Just say they died. We understand.

I'm actually noticing this cartoon is fine with having soldiers screaming KILL THEM ALL with no hesitation, graphic death threats abound, but they don't like admitting anyone actually died. Especially not the monkeys. I think that's a bit of an odd line to draw, but I'll respect it.

(They definitely died, though. Those tears tell all. Non-combatants led around to the back of the mountain and straight to their deaths, I guess. Yikes.)

Bless Ginseng Fruit for trying to defend the boundaries in Stone Monkey's life. By creating boundaries for him without Stone Monkey's input or approval <3 "It's fine," says Ginseng Fruit. "He only needs boundaries with other people. I'm different." Godspeed you weirdly intense little fruit. Glad Stone Monkey has a handle on that, generally by means of straight up covering Ginseng Fruit's mouth and doing whatever it was he was going to do anyway. I guess if it works for them it's fine?

Also appreciated Stone Monkey leading them all to the waterfall and then his face that perfectly speaks to the fact that Stone Monkey is having the abrupt realization that his last time entering this cave was a complete accident caused by reckless use of logs and a total shattering of the laws of physics he isn't positive he can repeat. Do you think he imagined asking Marshal Ma to surf a log up the river and just crash straight into the waterfall, no, really, it'll be fine, for approximately two seconds before his brain shut down on itself in self-defense and also despair? Absolute gold.

And the writers slipping in a little reminder of the tenuous and fickle regard of the troop by having a few of the soldiers immediately ready to believe the worst of Stone Monkey right then and there. Thanks, writers. We might have forgotten.

Not gonna lie, I was looking at the Demon King's army in slight confusion wondering at some of these character designs (the artists are actually usually pretty good about using familiar character models for every crowd shot, so the new guys stood out), before I remembered that Demon King had the great idea to issue a fake decree in Heaven's name. OH, went I. HA.

I mean, I'm sure that's not going to backfire spectacularly in any way at all. Heaven probably loves having random demons lying and using their authority to stir up trouble only to then point the agitated results of their tomfoolery right to their doorstep. Everyone loves having their name dragged into a fraud case!

But also...okay, jumping topics entirely, but why couldn't anyone just jump back and grab Sixth Eldest? Any one of those guys could have made the jump there and back in half the time it took the kid to finally do it himself. Yes, of course, "but the tension!" or whatever. I call contrived. As far as I'm concerned, the only one with an excuse was the one monkey apparently responsible for handling six children by herself. What was she going to do? Toss the one baby to save the other baby? She's got her hands full.

Watching Sixth Eldest make that jump though, I was just thinking the whole time: Wow. How much would it suck to be the reason your entire community was overrun by murderous enemy forces? As it is, this kid is probably going to be hearing this story at every drunken feast for the rest of his entire life. RIP, little buddy. (I'm also counting children and if Yellow Flower Monkey has six kids to look after total, that means Sixth Eldest is the youngest. Who's the kid being held in her arms, then?! Why's the littlest kid out there toddling over sheer drops and water-slick rocks by himself while this baby gets the VIP ride? Is it...*gasp* favoritism? Yellow Flower Monkey's secret dark side?!? /j)

Old Monkey King excitedly waxing poetic about Water Curtain Cave, though? Cute. Super cute. He was incredibly excited and I don't think we've ever seen him this tickled. It was amazing.

None of the adults actually bothering with rationing until after the food was already gone, though? Less cute. They even called themselves out!

"It's better not to wait until these kind of things become a problem to sort out a solution." *sage nodding* *cut to elderly monkeys literally collapsing from hunger just down the hill* "By which I mean, it would be better, but all the food is already gone." "WHAT."

And it can't just have been gone either, since people aren't generally out here just immediately collapsing from hunger the second the the last fruit is plucked off the branch. Even if they are elderly. How long were they out of food before they had a meeting about it? Guys. I just said you were getting your shit together.

Ginseng Fruit, reading the room and dragging Stone Monkey away before he can volunteer to feed the whole troop from enemy-infested territory single-handedly, pointing a very stern finger at him: "No...nO..."

Stone Monkey: UGH. I KNOW. I wasn't GOING-

*aforementioned collapsing elders and Yellow Flower Monkey (again)*

Stone Monkey: ...to WAIT. Off I go, I guess! See you later, Ginseng Fruit. Hold down the fort while I'm gone, okay?

Ginseng Fruit is over here running their hands down their face shaking and screaming violently on the inside, I bet. If they'd seen that elder go down before Stone Monkey did, they absolutely would have buried the poor man alive, I'm sure. Like shoving a mess you don't want your guests to see in the closet. Except with a living person. And mounds of cold, wet Earth reminiscent of a shallow grave. Look, all's fair in love (/platonic) and Not Letting Your Favorite Person Die For The People Who Left Him To Die Regardless Of His Feelings On The Matter war. Sorry, old man. Nothing personal. (I do not actually think they would have done this, but I do think it would have crossed their mind. Let Ginseng Fruit be a little unhinged. It's funny.)

On a sidenote, gotta appreciate the old man for apparently recognizing their limited food supply well in advance of anyone else and taking care to make sure the young got what they could while they could. What a guy. I like that guy.

Six Ears...definitely has ulterior motives for going with Stone Monkey, but also this is still the kid who took it upon himself to hunt Stone Monkey down every time he took off by himself on dangerous missions in the past too, so him going through the old song and dance of noticing Stone Monkey was just straight gone without a word halfway through a conversation (Stone Monkey will never outgrow that, will he? Lol) and knowing from experience that Stone Monkey was definitely off to Solve The Problem and promptly running after him is basically their old dynamic in its entirety.

It's just...sad now. Because Six Ears is definitely going to be making some bad choices and do something that's going to hurt because he's hurting and it's going to suck and I don't wanna see it. And meanwhile Stone Monkey's just happy to have Six Ears with him.

I love them ):

Stone Monkey actually noticing Six Ears being kind of subdued once they're out of the cave, though! My boy! He never does that! Or at least, that's how I interpreted it since there's an animation of him jumping up to walk next to Six Ears, who is frowning at the ground, and the animation has him glance sideways at him, look away, glance sideways again, and then away again. And he's also frowning the same way. They did that on purpose! Tell me Stone Monkey isn't noticing something.

But of course they're interrupted before it can go anywhere. Ergh.

[rawwkfingers]

Planet of the Spiders

Wow, what a way to go. I think, if I hadn't already seen the regeneration scene a few times in various compilations so was already aware of it, this would have been the second time Classic Who made me cry

While I don't think you could say this was the best written of Pertwee's serials, it was a perfect fit for everything that I enjoy in movies and tv from this time period. The show's first serious deep-dive into the New Age movement (elements of which had been touched on in past serials but never to this degree) combined with a pulpy scifi planet and some absolute peak 70s fashion (I never found Yates attractive until this serial showed him in civilian clothes but damn he's hot)

Unfortunately, all that good also comes with some extreme bad; namely the racism and ableism inherent in so much fiction of this time. The yellow-face Choje was a horrific stereotype and the way that they referred to Tommy as being "fixed" once his mental disability was magically erased was so incredibly offensive. Its a shame that Pertwee's final serial ended with so many negative elements because his era was, largely, the most progressive in Classic Who so far

Sarah Jane was in top form though. I love that her job is always relevant whenever we have a story set on Earth. It's one of those little touches of writing that does so much for a story; it's a tool to get her into places she otherwise wouldn't have access to and it's a way to help move the plot forward without needing to come up with a reason why UNIT is involved. I loved Jo but it took awhile for that love to grow; Sarah Jane is truly shining right from the get go and I am loving it

I'm really sad to see Pertwee go. While I'm sure I'll love the future Doctors, there's certainly an energy to his performance that no other actor matches. He reminded me a lot of Capaldi, who is my favorite Doctor as a whole by a HUGE margin, so that's high praise. He was kind and charming when needed but he never took shit from the bureaucratic nonsense he so often had to deal with. I love that his Doctor was the first to really begin selling the pacifist nature of the character. Having his final moments be begging the "Great One" to stop her plan, not because it was evil but because it would result in her death, was the best possible way for his character to go

Ranking his companions is made easy by the fact that I'm not counting Sarah Jane since her story isn't over yet

Jo Grant. As I said before, it took a while for me to love Jo but I really, truly did by the end of her run. Her departure was one of the saddest moments in Classic so far (and from what I've seen online, in general.) To me, she began as another Susan surrogate, written mainly to be a screaming damsel with some hints of a parental nature in her relationship with the Doctor but not given much room to explore. But they actually put the work in to show how she grew in her time with the Doctor, so that when she finally left you really felt like this was where her story would always go. I love her and I'll miss her so much

Liz Shaw. It's a shame that she only got one season because the writing team proved with Jo that they knew what they were doing with long-term character growth. I'd have loved to see where they took the scientist, arguably the first companion the Doctor took seriously and treated as an equal, if she'd been given more time. But, unfortunately, that's not what we got. That isn't to say she was bad though. Liz was fantastic, it's just that she never stood a chance compared to a character who was on the show three times as long as she was

My season 11 ranking:

Invasion of the Dinosaurs. Just, one of the best episodes of Doctor Who ever imo. Unlike Silurians, which I also say is one of the best, I hesitate to say this one is a piece of scifi because its so specifically Doctor Who. Silurians could have come from any scifi mag, but you couldn't get a story like Dinosaurs anywhere else

Planet of the Spiders. A really fantastic sendoff to my favorite Classic Doctor (so far) and also my third favorite of all time (so far.) It really *felt* like a story made in the 70s, both good and bad

The Monster of Peladon. Had lots of things that I loved, but also lots of things that felt cliche and predictable. Perfect for a story in the middle ranking I guess

The Time Warrior. Had some good moments, but the historical writing is just bad in Classic Who and was a huge detriment to what could have been a great introduction to the Sontarans

Death to the Daleks. I just don't like when Daleks are used in comedy, sorry :(

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

what are your song rankings for the cross the line album?

I haven't actually listened to the album yet, so I'll put it on in the BG as I do some chores and then let you know what I think.

Cross A Line - LOVED this. I don't know what to call this genre - I guess a mix of hip-hop and... jazz...? Smooth hip-hop? man idk - but it's one I really enjoy and one that I think Japanese hip-hop excels at. The radio theme is really fun, and the beats/rapping are very good. Compare this to some earlier songs, and you can see major improvement from many of the voice actors. I'm going to listen to this to death.

Enishi - DUDE. I love this too! The singing style (particularly at the beginning) is really in vogue in Japan right now, and I think that, combined with the emphasis on singing as a group, makes this song sound more like a typical idol series J-pop-esque song than you normally get in Hypmic. Even with that, though, there's still the trademark Dotsu Hon brass (the Dotsu Horns, if you will), but it's much more mellow and mature sounding for them. The lyrics (from what I can hear of them; I don't have them in front of me) and the singing alike are very beautiful. This kind of feels like Re:start to me in terms of pretty, chilled out music. Again, this rocks. I love it.

Ikebukuro West Block Party - BRUH. I like this one slightly less than the first two, I think, but this fucking slaps. I never like Hypmic songs this much on the first lesson. What are they doing on this album? Absolutely killing it! Jesus. Again, this one feels more idol song-y than you normally get in Hypmic, but the beat is EXCELLENT. I'm folding laundry right now - or supposed to be folding laundry, rather, as I think I did more grooving holding a pair of shorts than any actual folding. This would make a super fun dance song. Rapping is also great, esp. for Ichirou and Jirou. Dude, keep it up, Cross a Line, you are nailing it.

Scarface - (10 seconds in) FUCK!! (After listening) Sorry, I got excited there. First off, I fucking love Latin pop/rock, and when you mix it with hip-hop? mmmmMMMMMMMMMMMMMM THAT'S GOOD STUFF, BABY! I have five hands and they're all doing the pinching finger emoji. The singing on this was really smooth at the beginning. I'm not a super huge fan of the way they sung "paradise" (Samatoki low-key sounds like he's dying...) and I lost my mind at the "Say hello to my little friend" "What, these cockroaches?" "RRRR!!!" part midway through. Well... that's MTC for you! I'd never show this to someone I care about, but I'll love it and cherish it for a long time. And that's what's important.

Torima Get on the Floor - While I'm sitting through this H&M ad waiting for the video to load, I do have to say that I'm excited for this one. I know Afro Parker worked on it, and I love the fuck out of their work. Plus, if it's anything like the rest of this album, it's going to be right up my alley. (After listening) I think this is my least favorite so far, which isn't to say that I dislike it at all. It's very fun, but maybe only because I've listened to so many other things I really like first, it's not completely thrilling me. It fits in nicely with the theme of the album, and it's very catchy/fun to dance to. It sounds to me like a video game soundtrack song (like you'd hear in a shop, maybe). I can def. hear the Afro Parker sound at the end. Lyrics are fun, esp. with the call-outs (love Dice going "bullshit stories" and Gentarou going "Hm?") and the "gero-gero-get on the floor." I think this'll grow on me, esp. once I get used to Ramuda's voice in this. Gentarou sounds great in this one, for what it's worth.

Synchro City - Okay, this one's actually my least favorite on this CD for real. I think maybe because all the others have gone so hard that I'm just not feeling it. It's not bad at all, but it's not doing much of anything for me. That's kind of a shame, since I normally really like Matenrou songs - I think Doppo and Hifumi have great singing voices. (Incidentally, the kind of singing Jakurai is doing here sounds very nice. He doesn't usually straight-up sing like this.) There's been a lot of straight singing on this album, huh... Maybe that's why it feels more idol focused. These lyrics are very sweet, though. It's a nice, chill song, and I think I'll enjoy it more later. I don't know how I feel about in the midst of everything else that's more upbeat, though.

Dera Sugee Utage - (first two seconds) I see we're back to upbeat. (After listening) LOVE THIS TOO. This reminds me of RIP in a good way. SUPER catchy, and all the singing in this is on point, especially Kuukou's. I really like how his voice actor voices him and his accent in general. Super good one to dance to as well. Damn. DAMN!

In conclusion:

Wow. I don't think I've enjoyed any Hypmic album as much as this one before. Apparently the secret to me enjoying something is to make it upbeat and put a lot of horns in it. What'd you guys think? I've been seeing a lot of positive responses to it. Is everyone in agreement that it's good?

[urupotter]

So while I've said before that I don't like the HP subreddit, I still frequent it because occasionally I read something insightful. This is one such case, where I read a reading of Lupin that I'd never seen before in response to a comment of mine analyzing the shrieking shack confrontation between Snape, Remus, Sirius and the golden trio, where I mentioned that Lupin was a gaslighter so I wanted to share. It was created by reddit user u/UsuallySiSometimesNo and is posted here with his permission. We had a little conversation in the comments. Read it under the cut

UsuallySiSometimesNo: That struck a cord with me, too. I didn't think about that on a conscious level before, but when I read it, it felt instantly true.

Honestly, I think the strongest examples of Lupin gaslighting are actually done to himself. The biggest, character-defining example, I think, is that after finding friendship with James, Sirius, and Peter, he becomes so desperate not to be ostracized from them (due to his issues of self-worth and his personal brand of impostor syndrome) that he deliberately and routinely feeds himself false narratives about their behavior until he can no longer tell fact from fiction, even as he's experiencing it.

Their relentless bullying of Snape? A childhood rivalry.

Their casual bullying of other students? Kids being young and stupid.

Their clear disinterest verging on contempt for Peter, someone less fortunate and vulnerable with whom they're supposed to be good friends? Just mates being mates.

Even actions taken against Lupin, himself, are revised in his memory to be 'no big deal', because he desperately needs that to be true. Let's pretend for a moment that Snape indisputably deserved to be slaughtered by a werewolf the night Sirius told him how to get past the Whomping Willow. Sirius did not send Snape to be killed by any old werewolf. What happened that night was that Sirius - one of Remus' best friends, if not his actual best friend - attempted to use Remus' curse/illness against someone (which is a big enough betrayal on it's own) without ever telling Remus that when he woke up in the morning (covered in blood and in the presence of a shredded corpse) it would be to find that he had committed the act he was most petrified he might one day commit. In setting Snape up to be killed by Lupin, Sirius, at the very least, risked Lupin's sanity, and, at the very most, risked Lupin being sentenced to death.

Now, I understand that Sirius wasn't thinking about all of that when he did what he did, and I, as a someone removed from the situation (and armed with the additional character/situational knowledge granted to a reader) can even understand why Sirius' own trauma led him to grant such a blind death sentence to Snape (which I think is related to a point you made elsewhere, u/Adventure_Time_Snail, about Sirius' "violence towards those who trigger his fundamental fear of wizard fascists" because of his abusive upbringing). But Lupin's perspective is not one of an unbiased observer. And once James found out what was happening and pulled Snape back before it was too late (which, I would think, was more to save Lupin than to save Snape) and once Remus awoke the next to day to discover everything that transpired the night before, I find it hard to believe there wasn't at least some conversation about the true gravity of the situation. And yet, even all these years later, Lupin doesn't bat an eye when Sirius not only doesn't display shame when the event is mentioned in POA, but offers something akin to regret, NOT at the fact that his actions could have gotten Lupin killed, but that that they DIDN'T get Snape killed: "It served him right...", he sneered. etc. etc.

I think the obvious question here, is 'Even disregarding what Sirius did to Snape - how can Lupin be okay with the knowledge that Sirius has no regret, at all, for what he did to him, even now that they're adults?' Well, we're not in Lupin's point of view in the books, which means we can't hear his internal monologue, but I think a satisfactory answer to the question is that he's done a substantial amount of internal gymnastics in order to get to a point where he doesn't see this as a big deal, or even as something that he has a right to be upset about.... just like a gaslighter does to their victim.

Again, because we're not in Lupin's POV, we can't point to the exact instances that such internal gaslighting took place, but, based on what we do observe from Harry's POV (and based on external knowledge of gaslighting as a true-to-life concept) I wouldn't be surprised if Lupin so desperately needs everything to be okay that he derides himself for feeling bad or betrayed, that he calls himself stupid for thinking terrible things that have happened to him are a big deal, that he wars with himself about how people who are his friends and who are so good to him and who are better friends than he thinks he deserves could possibly do something to harm him/others, and that he beats down whatever emotions and senses and gut feelings he has that tells him something his friends have done might be very wrong. What we see in the books is a man who makes excuses for his friends and harbors a warped perception of reality in much the same way victims of gaslighting do, and he seems to exploit his own insecurities in order to instill doubt in his own experiences in much the same way perpetrators of gaslighting do.

I can't help but think that, by the time Lupin tells Harry that Snape harbors a particularly strong hatred for James because James was a better Quidditch player, Lupin has become so adept at gaslighting himself that he actually believes it.

tl;dr: One of Lupin's defining characteristics is that he gaslights himself out of a desperate need to be liked by others, since he has a difficult time liking himself and seems to believe all of his relationships are incredibly fragile.

Urupotter:

This is a fascinating reading on Lupin that I've never seen. I don't read him the same way, in that I think Lupin actually does know that what he's doing is wrong, he just doesn't have the moral courage to act on his conscience. (I view him as the anti Snape, great conscience, but abysmal moral courage, while Snape had unbelievable moral courage but a shitty conscience. Their arcs are about growing their moral courage and their conscience respectively) Realizing that his negligence almost got Harry killed is what triggers his arc, concluding when he goes back to Tonks and Teddy after running away, taking responsibility for his actions for the first time.

But this reading is so interesting that I'll have to reflect on it. Do you mind if I post it on my Harry Potter tumblr blog? I'll credit you of course, I would just like to discuss it with my followers. Of course if you don't want to I won't.

UsuallySiSometimesNo:

Honestly, I think the lack of in-depth conversation about Remus Lupin (at least compared to fan favorites Sirius Black and Severus Snape) is a missed opportunity and a shame. Don't get me wrong, I can discuss Sirius and Snape until blue in the face, but Lupin's arc is just as powerful in an understated (and often underestimated) way. The muddy, oversimplified truth is, without the fatal-flaw decision making of all four Marauders throughout their lives, the series of events proceeding the first chapter of the first book don't happen, and the story we all know and love never comes to be.

And speaking of sparking a discussion about Lupin...

I think Lupin actually does know that what he's doing is wrong, he just doesn't have the moral courage to act on his conscience.

You know what? I agree. And that's what makes him so interesting, I think. He is constantly and dependably full to bursting with internal conflict. When his friends are wrong/do something wrong/say something wrong, he can and does immediately identify the situation as wrong. When he does something wrong, or when he does nothing in the face of something wrong, in that moment I believe he knows the full weight of the situation. Like you said, he has a strong conscience, as well as a deeper, perhaps more nuanced understanding of right and wrong than do, for example, James and Sirius. Now, Lupin needs his friends. They're not just people to hang out with, they're a lifeline for him. He's not going to engage in conflict with them if there is even the slightest chance that he might lose them (for a variety of reasons, he lacks, as you said, the moral courage to do so). But he's also a generally decent human being, and with a strong conscience comes the capacity for sincere guilt and remorse. So, not only will he not confront his friends, he needs it to be okay that he doesn't confront them. And it's at that point that I think the self gaslighting is triggered.

But Lupin is intelligent and nobody's fool, so the gaslighting creates only a thin layer of ice over the problem. Just enough of a cover that he can live with the things he would otherwise deeply regret. I do think he believes the alternative reality he makes for himself to be accurate as long as it isn't really challenged. Crack the ice, though, and we see him express remorse and reveal an underlying awareness of past and present truths. But then the moment is over, and the war between the uncomfortably and full weight of the truth and his need for the companionship of his friends returns, and then the gaslighting begins again, allowing him an easier return to his closest friends (and eventually his closest friend, singular, after the others have been taken from him as was his fear all along) without conflict and with minimal strain on his conscience.

Once Sirius, the last of his original chosen family is gone - truly gone, as opposed to 'located elsewhere' as he was when in prison - following OOtP, suddenly Lupin's arc takes off at a greater speed than at any point prior. He's now literally lost all of the people he'd been terrified of figuratively losing. Although there are still people and things he cares about, he isn't as dependent on any of them as he was on those foundational friendships, and the finality of their absence allows him to finally grow beyond his stifling cycle of reality shifting, confront the truths of his reality and his circumstances, and, as you said, finally take responsibility by returning to Tonks and Teddy - a decision that, ultimately, triggers his death (I don't mean to imply that it was a bad decision or that it's the sole cause of his death, but Rowling has said that being 'out of practice' contributed to his loss at the Battle of Hogwarts, which makes for a fantastic tragedy).

I don't mean to overstate the importance of this theory or imply that it's always present when he's on-stage, and, as with anyone, many other elements, of course, factor into his actions/words/motives. But I think it's a fascinating potential component of his character all the same. If you have more thoughts on this, I love to hear them - and I look forward to reading the discussion on your blog!

So what do you think? Is this a valid reading of Lupin? I'd say it is, but I'm interested in reading my followers thoughts!

[babyflash]

Dick and Artemis being convinced linda (and Hartley) aren’t real is so funny. It’s okay Linda doesn’t think THEIR real either out of spite. Though I do love the idea of linda accidentally crashing in on a team hang out in central one day and just…adding herself to the party at hand with no shame.

Honestly, there could also be a really interesting dynamic there since in the comics Linda expressed some concern sometimes early in their relationship that sometimes she felt a little lame compared to Wally’s superhero friends which idk? I really liked that part not only because 1) Linda and Wally talked about shit like a normal couple 2) Linda was aloud to have concerns and fears 3) talks about some of the tribulations OF dating a hero that are kind of more mundane compared to life or death danger.

dick and artemis are like "yeah your FAKE FRIENDS you MADE UP you fucking DWEEB" and then linda and hart being like "oh you mean the fictional friends you use as an excuse not to hang out with us?" and wally is just like perpetually annoyed like THEY'RE REAL OH MY GOD WHY DOES NO ONE THINK I HAVE FRIENDS

1. yes so true!!! wallinda healthy couple arc. they talk and she's able to express her concerns and insecurities because honestly they're totally valid fears. if my bf was off galavanting with fucking super heroes i'd be insecure too!! but then he's able to reassure her and let her know that a) his hero friends are total losers and she's way cooler than them and b) remind her that "normal" isn't bad and that he loves her and all the things!

2. LINDA IS A REAL PERSON ALERT!!!! guys breaking news women are actual people with feelings and emotions!!!! i agree w u anon i feel like so often the WAGs of heroes are pushed to the side and seen as these totally and completely understanding doormats and it's like no! dating a superhero would be so fucking weird! you're both going to have issues with the way you handle it in the beginning because for wally, all this shit, the having to leave work and events, the danger, the time away from home dedicated to hero work is all normal! in my mind by the time they get together he's already well established as a hero/sidekick (i'm gonna say he's taken up the flash mantle by now so barry can focus on raising his kids) and so he's used to having to leave at a moment's notice. for linda, all the superhero stuff is new! yeah she knew wally was kid flash a while back but now that he's a leaguer and a superhero in his own right, everything's changing and on top of that they're together now! it's a partnership, and linda 100% deserves to have a say in that relationship. she's not just a damsel for wally to save and kiss and bam hero moment, she's his girl, his partner.

3. yeah!!!!! mundane shit that's not life threatening or life changing is so regular and yet it's never talked about. like people experience insecurity in relationships all the time, especially if you think your s/o's friendgroup or coworkers or w/e are cooler than you!

[a-god-in-ruins-rises]

I'm interested in your comment that the French Revolution was good. Mind expanding on that?

https://kasaron.tumblr.com/post/656592715239325696/you-will-in-the-course-of-your-revolution-have

I wonder if you've got any thoughts or comments? What's an acceptable cost of life and innocence, direct and indirect, for a power change?

I asked you a bit ago about John Brown, and I enjoyed your response to that. How would his theoretical revolution fare, realistically? Would it be a 'good' one like the French?

Also, you posted once about the merits of the Confederacy vs. the Union; was that revolution a good one? You pointed out that the South had no potential, compared to the Union. How much potential did the French? How much potential was lost with the American Revolution?

Apologies for the long ask, it's just something I wanted to get your perspective on.

lol no need to apologize. i'm happy to answer!

alright so let's break this down (gonna try to keep it simple, since it's a lot of stuff to address).

expanding upon the french revolution's goodness:

yeah, i find the french revolution good because of a lot of reasons, but primarily and most obviously because it put an end to the old regime and feudalism. it was a glorious and terrible climax to the enlightenment. it was a revolution that changed not only france but the world for the better.

but even ignoring that, even if it wasn't good (which i maintain it was), it was still undeniably great. it was deterritorializing and reterritorializing. it was an engine of potentiality. it wasn't even just about the ideals. it was about its impact. it was great by virtue of its significance.

and i love it for that. i affirm it.

with regard to that post you linked:

cringe. sounds like something written by a coward or someone who is content with the status quo. idk which is worse. either way, it's surface level pretending to be deep. most revolutionaries know the risks of revolution. and being a revolutionary doesn't necessarily entail committing wanton violence. the people who do the violence are going to mostly be the ones capable of violence. those who can't will have a plethora of other support roles to fulfil. there's a place for everyone in the revolution! just speaking statistically, even in fully fledged war, very few of the participating combatants actually kill anyone.

(almost) no one believes the revolution will be easy or bloodless. and i think the amount of blood that is deemed acceptable will obviously differ from person to person. but me personally? well obviously to depends on the power change. to realize /my/ vision? i think any amount of blood is acceptable (though obviously i'd like to keep it minimized and am not in favor of indiscriminate violence). utilitarianism is weak. a thing isn't made more good for spilling less blood, or more bad for spilling more. i always roll my eyes when capitalists talk about how many people communism has killed. as if that's an argument.

tbh some things are made greater and holier by the blood spilled. but y'all aren't ready for that conversation.

blood blood blood. blood is a good word.

oh, also: 

“Why, it was like reading about France and the French, before the ever memorable and blessed Revolution, which swept a thousand years of such villany away in one swift tidal-wave of blood—one: a settlement of that hoary debt in the proportion of half a drop of blood for each hogshead of it that had been pressed by slow tortures out of that people in the weary stretch of ten centuries of wrong and shame and misery the like of which was not to be mated but in hell. There were two “Reigns of Terror,” if we would but remember it and consider it; the one wrought murder in hot passion, the other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one inflicted death upon ten thousand persons, the other upon a hundred millions; but our shudders are all for the “horrors” of the minor Terror, the momentary Terror, so to speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe, compared with lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty, and heart-break? What is swift death by lightning compared with death by slow fire at the stake? A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief Terror which we have all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror—that unspeakably bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves.”

— Mark Twain

with regard to john brown:

i'm no expert, but from my understanding his "plan" (if you can call it a plan) was essentially to take harpers ferry with the hope that it would inspire more white northerners to join him and hold the town, which would then inspire slave revolts, and then he and his armies would go around liberating more slaves and then ferrying them north to canada.

realistically realistically? i don't think it was very realistic at all. hence why it didn't work out. lol. but i think you're more asking....if it did work out in his favor, would it have been good? correct me if i'm wrong.

i probably would have supported the cause, so long as that's all it was. him freeing slaves and sending them to canada. i don't think it would have had nearly the same kind of impact as the french revolution though. but i do think it would have been a good cause, yes.

with regard to your last few questions:

i'm sorry but i don't really understand what you're asking. what revolution do you mean in regard to the union and confederacy? i said the south didn't have potential? i probably did. but in what sense? lol i don't even remember what i said if i'm being honest. i'm not sure if i meant potential in a broad, metaphysical sense? or like in the sense of self-determination? or economic potential? can you send me a link of where i said that? then i can give a better answer.

[monkberries]

Wait what's wrong with the AKOM How Do You Sleep episode? I remember it being fine but its been ages since i listened to it so if you've got any thoughts I'd love to hear them :)

Be aware, this is only about the first episode, not about the George-focused episode. If they resolve any of the issues I have with the first episode in the second episode, then I sincerely apologize.

First, there are some things they talk about that I agree with! Near the end of the episode, they discuss the dynamic between John and the people around him in a really insightful way, and in a way I’ve often thought about it; both John and the people around him were all kind of in this mindset of “oh, Paul rejected us? Well, we didn’t want him ANYWAY! So THERE!” They also discuss the fact that John was very easily manipulated, and nearly his entire support system (minus Ringo, and shame on them for not mentioning that) basically egged his anger and viciousness on. And they also play/read some interviews with John about the song and tangential subjects, and it’s always nice to hear primary sources.

However, much like their post about Lewisohn, I find a lot of this episode excessive, overtorqued, and generally far too exaggerated. They perceive an imbalance in narratives (which I do think is there, just not to the extent they say) and overcorrect, imho.

First, I want to get my opinion on the song itself out of the way: I listen to it a lot. It’s on my Fall 2020 playlist. I enjoy the musicality, the style; the mood it evokes is extremely strong to me. Sometimes it’s fun to indulge in feeling evil or mean without having to actually be evil or mean! Plus, I love playing it right before Jealous Guy, or Steel and Glass, or I Know (I Know), just to get that maximum John Lennon Mood Whiplash effect. I think George’s solo is vicious and perfect for the mood as well. However, the lyrics are pretty horrendous in terms of their effect on Paul and his feelings; they’re also horrendous in that they’re just not well-written lyrics. IMHO you can tell it was written by three different people all throwing insults at the wall to see what would stick and rhyme. Half of the digs don’t even make sense. “So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise/You better see right through that mother’s eyes” Wut? “The one mistake you made was in your head” ??? The hell do these things even mean lmao

Anyway. Onto the episode itself.

Around 1 minute in, they say that there’s not a lot of check and balance in the Beatles fandom w/r/t this song, and that much of the fandom espouses that HDYS was “deserved” and “honest”. They reiterate this sentiment over in different ways throughout the episode, and I just do not see that kind of thing being a majority opinion in Beatles fandom spaces at all. Perhaps they are occupying different fandom spaces than I occupy (tumblr/Hey Dullblog/beatlebioreview), and it is true where they are? (In which case, my goodness, find some better blogs to follow, babes!) They talk about how they’ve never seen anyone pick it apart before, and that the discussion around it has not changed, that people have been saying Paul deserved it since it came out. Again, this is does not jive with my experience in the Beatles fandom.

From Shout!, a book with a well known anti-McCartney streak, published in 1981: “John’s Imagine album - despite the plea for universal peace and brotherhood in the title track - launched a thermo-nuclear strike back at Paul with ‘How Do You Sleep?’ a title suggesting crimes almost in the realm of first-degree murder. The McCartney references were unmistakable, and, often, cruelly unjust: ‘The freaks was right when they said you was dead... The only thing you done was Yesterday...’ There was even a two-fingered gesture of contempt for Paul’s new outdoor life with Linda on their Scottish farm.” Also, the RS review spends two paragraphs talking specifically about how heinous and unjustifiable HDYS is. You can definitely say that rock journalism takes some of the attitude of HDYS and runs with them, such as Paul’s music sounding like muzak - that sentiment certainly persisted. But I would argue that most of the shit journos are reacting to and buying into comes from Lennon Remembers primarily, where John says all the same crap and more, and worse, rather than HDYS itself, which they seem to balk at.

They make the claim as well that the Imagine LP has been elevated to some kind of untouchable, un-criticizeable status. In the years after his death, I think there is probably some truth to that, although again, untouchable is an extreme word. Even in 2003, the LP was number 80 on Rolling Stone’s top 500 albums of all time. However, it was 227 on NME’s list in 2013 and dropped to 223 on Rolling Stone’s new 2020 list, suggesting a waning in popularity over time and a willingness to look more objectively at the quality of it.

The thing that really bothered me about this episode is like... They talk about the need for nuanced discussion of the song, right? And that’s all fine and good, and I agree, nuance in any Beatles discussion is essential if you want to get close to any actual truth. However, they then go on to say, quite adamantly, that if you say the music of the song is good, even if you think the lyrics are awful, then they wouldn’t even bother having a conversation with you. It’s very “We want nuance! NO NOT LIKE THAT! YOU’RE DOING NUANCE WRONG!” Like, I’m sorry, the music is good, in my opinion! John is very good at evoking a mood! The fact that I think George’s solo is incredible, or that the keyboard riff gives me chills, or that I think the bass goes super hard, doesn’t mean I don’t understand how rough the lyrics are or the effect they had on Paul. In fact, imho, I think it’s important that we discuss how quality the music is because it underscores the calculated cruelty John exhibited. He worked hard on this song. He wanted to create a very specific feeling out of it, and he succeeded in spades. I think if it had been crappy musically, people would have been much more contemptuous of it than they already are. As I said earlier, some of the digs don’t even make sense; I think they’re bolstered and propped up specifically because the music underneath them is so good. Also, it’s not fucking wrong to enjoy a groove.

I also take some issue with them saying that HDYS was easily among the worst things John ever did. Like... equivalent or worse than going on anti-Semitic, homophobic rants? Yikes.

There are many instances in this episode where they will go “I often read things like...” or “Jean Jackets will say...” or “I see this a lot...” and then never actually talk about where they see these things or quote directly from them. One instance goes “I often read things like, ‘John Lennon is expressing years of pent-up resentment over creative differences’, as if John is some kind of, like, drunk art teacher doling out free advice to Paul on his music.” I’ve read a lot about HDYS and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that. Just about every discussion of the song I’ve seen says very clearly that it was an unjustified, deeply personal attack. I realize there is an aversion to publicly Naming Names when you’re calling out people who perpetuate a bad narrative. But I want to know where this stuff comes from. I want to actually see what it is they’re upset about.

Lastly, they talk near the end about music innovation and experimentation, and this is where I think things go much too far in overcorrecting a narrative. The well-known narrative for many years post breakup was that Paul was a boring square who wrote granny music. That is true; he was much maligned in the press about that. However, I think post-Hertsgaard, post-Revolution In The Head, post-Complete Recording Sessions, and post-Many Years From Now, that attitude has changed quite a bit. Most serious Beatles fans know now that Paul was the first one to really get into Avant-Garde stuff; most fans know about the fact that he made McCartney 1 basically alone in a homemade studio. Most fans have probably heard or at least heard of Temporary Secretary, lmao.

But it feels like these women are still living in the past where Paul was still being maligned for being a square, so instead they go way far to the other end and say “Paul was the musical innovator, not John.” And that is just flat out NOT true. They were BOTH musical innovators. The fact that Paul was the first to get into avant-garde art does not exclude John from also being incredibly innovative and experimental in his own way. Perhaps he wasn’t doing that on Imagine; they are right that Imagine is a collection of really good but fairly commercial songs. But they utterly discount the fact that he did Strawberry Fields Forever, and I Want You (She’s So Heavy), popularized backmasking, was one of the first if not the first to use amp feedback in a song in I Feel Fine, experimented with recording his voice differently with Tomorrow Never Knows and Revolution, and also the entirety of Plastic Ono Band!!! You don’t have to downplay or erase John’s experimental contributions to music in order to elevate Paul’s. You can elevate both of them. It’s fine.

Also, this is the episode where they say Lewisohn’s book is exactly the same as all the other Jean Jackets books except thicker, and I have a viscerally bad reaction to that for many reasons I have already outlined on this blog. Suffice to say, it is demonstrably untrue (not least because Lewisohn hasn’t published anything in his Tune In series that goes beyond 1962) and unfair to someone who has done an unbelievable amount of legwork to back up his writing. They also compare Lewisohn to Goldman (???????) and call them John and Yoko’s “fuckin bitch boys saying the same shit over and over again.” I have to imagine Goldman was a misspeak and she meant someone else, but still that jarred me lmfao