#I'll just be rambling in my corner

[shsl-analyzer-guy]

thinking about the dr3 anime yet again and I need to complain once more about that fuckass ending bc at no point was bringing Hope's Peak back EVER a good idea and I genuinely don't understand the argument that it was a good ending for the Hope's Peak Era. I really don't. In no world can I conceptualize this being a narratively satisfying ending

like, everything from dr0 to the second-to-last episode of the dr3 anime goes to such lengths to show not only that Hope's Peak as an entity had become corrupted, but that what allowed that corruption in the first place was the structure of the system in place. Imbalance from systemic structures allows for those in power to corrupt; that's such a major point of the series. The reason Hope's Peak researchers got cocky is because they saw the talented as having inherently more worth as a result of their talent. Hope's Peak, as it initially existed and was presented in THH, was to encourage talented people to enhance those talents and enter the workforce to increase infrastructure, but relying on these few talented people and building a society that depends on them to function created a power dynamic between the talented and everyone else that led Hope's Peak itself to want to increase that power, hence why in all future installations, it doubles as a research facility to try and breed talent artificially.

The moment where Hope's Peak went into a point-of-no-return was its nosedive into greed. It opened up a Reserve Course of normal students with normal teachers that received nothing special other than the Hope's Peak name, and charged a fuckton out of these students because that's all Hope's Peak saw them as useful for. They made that power imbalance that exists between the 'chosen talented' and the 'majority talentless' and exacerbated it for greed, so that they could lab-grow their own talents. But the reason it got to this point was because of the idolization of Hope's Peak as an entity, not in spite of it, and that's what I think DR3 forgot in its ending.

Yes, former students like Yukizome and Munakata did idolize it, because they were the chosen talented. They had nothing but good faith for Hope's Peak as an entity because they didn't have to see the harm it was doing to everyone else in the country that wasn't talented until the Tragedy began. Munakata's way of thinking is inherently flawed because he can only see his narrow-minded view of Hope's Peak-defined hope, and this should've been what Makoto shattered. But Makoto deciding to RE-OPEN Hope's Peak goes immediately against that, because all that does is continue to idolize the system as it existed. No, you cannot fix him(Hope's Peak)!!! The reason that it fell to corruption was because the way in which the system was inherently designed created an imbalanced caste system that the greed of the Steering Committee exacerbated. If Junko hadn't shown up, who knows how much worse things would've become? The second Hope's Peak generated artificial talent with Izuru, any shot of Sakakura's and Yukizome's infiltration doing anything to stop them basically died. All the Steering Committee had to do was unveil their little lab pet, and Hope's Peak's favorable reputation and government backing would've done the heavy lifting to move forward with the project. Building a second Hope's Peak in tandem with the first was never a good idea. It was only expanding the talent empire that Hope's Peak had started.

Idk, the anime bothers me in its insistence that "Actually, all the problems were just the individuals in power, it's actually just having the right person in charge and then all the problems go away!" very Harry Potter epilogue of you Danganronpa, nice FUCKING going with that one

[welcometogrouchland]

Batman #149 by chip zdarsky is mostly unremarkable, but I'm really fascinated by how it makes a great case for 'good' endings not saving 'bad' stories*. Because there's a lot of interesting concepts in this issue (bruce having to deal with his rapidly aging and decaying clone making him think about his own life, re-establishing a 'nest' so to speak for his family after pushing them away, etc) but bc of the OOC slog that came before it, almost every moment w/ the batfamily comes off as unearned and disingenuous imo.

Like, everything with Damian is the perfect example in this. Because in isolation it's...fine. admittedly it's a missed opportunity to not go deeper into how Damian would feel about a clone of his dad who tried to kill considering Damian's relationships with clones of himself (the heretic rejects and respawn) or with former enemies who wanted him dead but who were manipulated and/or brainwashed (like suren and maya).

Zdarsky doesn't go into any of this but you could maybe excuse it as the issue not being about Damian. However, coupled with the previous bizarre characterizations of Damian in 147 and 148, it ends up not being fine- instead it starts to feel...icky how Damian (who, despite often being drawn and written as white, will never have his connection to the non-white al ghuls forgotten and will always be effected by racism even when not portrayed as a poc) is constantly written as overly violent, uncaring and narrow minded in this run. Coupled w/ trying to recanonize the morrison origin for Damian it's like. OH this is badly written and laden with subtle bigotry, sick**

That's me going into detail on it with Damian but it's applicable to other things in this issue- the way Cass, Steph and Duke have all been ignored or turned into jobbers makes their inclusion in the 'family' here feel hollow instead of satisfying. Bruce proclaiming that Zur was still a part of him and he needs to accept responsibility for his actions (when it means taking in clone son) wrings hollow when just last issue zdarsky was bending over backwards to separate Bruce and Zur bc otherwise the Jason thing would get really awkward. Ends are achieved through means that feel hollow or strange. I'm at my destination but damn why'd the bus have to do all that???

I only really have opinions on this latest arc of zdarskys Batman bc it's the one I've read the closest (bc I'm a hater, masochist and avid follower of even the bad damian storylines) but it's not saying great things.

Bc zdarsky can do one thing good in this book, and it's write Bruce and Tim. And yet this entire story, whether of his own volition or editorial mandate, includes other characters who aren't Bruce and Tim, the fabric starts to unravel in very telling ways.

(p.s, I think pennyworth manor is an interesting idea but I feel like in execution it's just gonna be 'bruce living in a house haunted by the memory of the people he couldn't save' but with a different dead guy this time. Illusion of change and whatnot)

*whether or not the ending is good is up to you ofc, as is your opinion on the proceeding arc! I saw some ppl complain that the ending was too "WFA" for them, which I get even if I dont think it'll literally be the same premise. If anything it's probably a lead into the new tec run. Likewise many ppl who aren't in the weeds of Damian and Jason characterization liked the previous arc! But I have my opinions and rest my case before the bench

**disclaimer, I'm white and portrayals of bigotry in comics are complicated and subjective, but I am basing my point here off what other poc comic fans on socmed have been saying about 149. Also the "sick" is sarcasm incase that wasn't obvious

[lieutenantselnia]

I randomly felt like watching this edit again and ohh ... the feelings😭😭 This video basically carried me through my last semester and final exams at high school, I literally watched it multiple times every day (I swear a couple hundred views are from me alone), on the bus ride to school in the morning, when I got home again, before going to bed, just in between because I felt like it ... Internally I wasn't doing that well at the time, and it just brought me so much comfort. Also I'm pretty sure it plays a significant role in how I fell more and more in love with 2nd Dimension Heinz💕 This edit just means so much to me and I love it so much <3

[peachsukii]

Might be a little radio silent today and tomorrow, but I'll be back soon. Gonna run off a queue & pop in and out. 💜

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

I had a guy I have spoken to once (not a real conversation, just introduction basically) come up to me and be like "I'm gonna head out, gimme a hug" today and like. I KNEW that there are Weird Church Dudes like that but I haven't encountered one until now. awkward church side hugs ftw I guess?

[silverselfshippingchaos]

ugghhh wintertime sucks!! I'm sad and tired and sad all the time.. I need a nap.. and f/o cuddles.. and another nap..

[majorproblems77]

Me writing stuff for Exodus and looking at Saga and thinking, how can I make the windfish like cool and fit in universe

Fire eagle.

Fire eagle.

Big ol FIREBIRD THAT LIVES IN A VOLCANO

So, anyone wanna talk AU stuff with me cause i wanna talk about it ngl

[nugatorysheep]

Sometimes I think about how, back when the roster was much bigger, me and my old friend group all picked out WTL characters that we thought the others were the most like, and almost universally people thought Druid was the most like me. That probably should've been my first clue that none of them knew a single thing about me, but hindsight is 20/20

I also often think about how, after several days of going through things that had happened to me over the last four or so years, I was told 'You seem like a person who wants to be understood', and it hit me that until then, I had never met someone who ever really got me. Now that I have, I could never settle for less.

[trouble-warning]

It's Chews-day

*nomnomnomnom*

[quatregats]

Hmmm perhaps it is time to do something about the fact that I am still not registered for courses because the one that I had set my heart and soul on conflicts with one of my required classes and that was so upsetting to me that I haven't looked at the course registration page since November :')

[vexacarnivorous]

i won't post it for now since i use real names in it, but i sent the website i made for one of my best friend's birthday to her and she liked it :)

[revelingrexan]

this project started because my brain was like "oh Spark's sticker (yellow team leader) has a really nice smile. :) ... nice smile = White HatOHCOME ON"

then i needed to see him in all the poses (in the blue team outfit for the rest because he'd be blue team)

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

it's like. everything happens so much. it's all happening right now but at the same time nothing is happening whatsoever. it's a liminal space of an existence. it's slowly crushing me under the weight but when I look up there's nothing actually bearing down on me. there shouldn't be any weight. something is wrong but nothing has happened. I'm simultaneously overwhelmed and utterly bored. nothing is happening and maybe that's the everything that's happening. maybe the everything is the nothing. we aren't there yet but it's all so imminent. either everything is going to crash down or nothing is. I'm just waiting to figure out which.

[tetrameryxx]

Y'know, I think where some of the major issues that I have with my art lately have at least in part come from my lack of like... doodling. I used to doodle all the time as a teenager, just characters and original species and shit, and lately especially, all my art is for commissions or final pieces or studies, and so little of goofy little drawings

[silverselfshippingchaos]

I fucking HATE how the fandom treats m.ine. it's so bad 😭

[lovebugcody]

like the very mature adults we are, we basically avoided each other at work today and the only time we made eye contact was when we had to because he needed me to process something.

i'm going to corner him tomorrow and tell him to treat me like normal, act like i never said any thing, and warn him that if he calls me sweet again i'm going to gut punch him. he loses that word. i'll go back to being called cute and short, but not sweet. never again.