#It’s just that I used to love megas xlr

[adeptus-quintinius]

Someone else can correct me if I’m wrong, but if I recall correctly they’re using these movies as tax write-offs. It’s predatory as hell because not only does it fuck over and waste the time of everyone who worked on it, but it also means that they LEGALLY CANNOT air it in any capacity whatsoever. Cartoon Network’s already done this a couple of times with shows like Megas XLR and IGPX, both of which you can’t find or watch anymore outside of pirating them or MAYBE Itunes if you’re lucky. There’s probably something else about screwing over paying those involved like why Netflix doesn’t usually renew a show past two seasons, but I can’t say for certain on that.

So imagine something that you’ve put your blood, sweat, tears, heart and soul into, have it be ready to show the world what you and others have created, and then have it just go… poof. It’s gone, and will probably never be seen by those you made it for.

All because one person has a phone pole up their ass over what counts as ‘real art’, or whatever his bullshit justification is.

THAT’S why WB’s being sued.

And honestly? Let the fuckers burn.

Hope this helps.

Like to charge reblog to cast

Count your fucking days Devil

[popculturebuffet]

Next up for Cartoon Network era of shows, who is your favorite character from each of the mid-2000s CN City-era shows you've seen like: Megas XLR, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, Life & Times of Juniper Lee, Camp Lazlo, My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Ben 10 2005, Squirrel Boy, and Class of 3000?

Okay since I didn't fuckup last time we can jump straight in

Megas XLR: Coop. He's a fun walking disaster and voice acted amazingly. As for the show itself.. it's pure gold to me. A classic. A fun, nonsensical mech show with a clever premise and beautiful animation. It could use a tweak or two if it was revivied, but I dig it.

Fosters Home for IMaginary Friends; Wilt. He's one of Phil Lamar's best rolls, has a great design and the good wilt hunting special fleshed him out heartbreakingly. As for the show itself it's pretty good: it does suffer from that issue the earlier cn shows had where sometimes it's a bit too mean spirited, but it's not nearly as frequent and the colorful character design, wonderful premise, and truly outstanding cast from Frankie, everyone who was into women's crush as a kid, to Herriman who I hated as a kid (and still do at times, he's a prick), but now respect as a more complicated genltemanly prick who simply need to ease up a bit, but you get WHY he's like this as he's running a pretty wacky boarding house and madam foster while kind isn't really doing the day to day stuff. A truly great cartoon.

Hi HI Puffy AmiYumi: I like yumi. As for the series itself..ehhh. Besides the obvious of "You shoudln't of had two american women, even really talented ones, play two japanese women', it's just kinda .. there? the music's good, the character design is great, but it's got no real substance. Maybe on a rewatch i'd be wrong, but it's just kinda eh.

Life and Times of Juniper Lee: Out of the regular cast, Dennis, who evolved from "just kinda being there" to "a fun addition to the main cast". Supporting it's Kai Yee, as most of June's rogue's gallery is weak (Aunti Roo and Loki accepted), but he was the shot in the arm the series needed and had the series stuck around I wouldn't be suprised if we saw him again. The show itself is solid though: Judd WInnick copied Buffy's notes well, while adding his own spin to things, and the tragic idea of June being stuck is heartbreaking but intresting. IT has a good mythology, a solid lead and it's only weakness was June's friends being locked out, which is something they WERE going to work on but got canclled. Not in the highest tier of the animated superhero shows at the time (Jake Long eats it's lunch), but still worthy of being part of them all the same.

Camp Lazlo: Hard choice as everyone is pretty great, but I have to go with Edward who started as just a generic bully but evolved into this petty dick who can't accept no one likes him for good reason that just stands out to me. I do mean it when I say I love pretty much everyone though. This show is a fond part of my childhood, one I wish was streaming on max and given hbo's current practices, will hopefully land on Tubi as it's underated. Admiteely I love a good summer camp story, and this series might be why, so i'm biased.. but my love for Joe Murray's other big work helps me see it was also just THAT good, a fun summer camp adventure. Ignore the finale I haven't seen and don't intend to, but enjoy everything else. This series is a treasure that's on rocko's level, at least from memory and deserves all the praise.

My Gym Partner's A Monkey: MONKEY MONKEY MONKEY. I like Ingrid for her having to lean down and crush on Adam and I like Principal Bulfrog for both being hilarous and being at the center of the only episode I really loved so let's call this a tie. Their both great. And as you can tell by that last part yeah.. I hate this one. It has a decent if stupid premise, but it leans way too heavily on kafka comedy: adam tends to get buffeted around for no reason, jake is an asshole, and most of the cast follows suit. Even Bullfrog is a dick, he's just at least you know.. funny. The episode with the robot teachers is the one I like.. because it's just wacky nonsense and ends with a wizard for some reason. The show had chaotic energy but squandred it on making adam miserable when he'd done nothing wrong.

Ben 10: Vilgax. Max was close, he's a great mentor.. but Vilgax is such a memorable villian despite only showing up as an ominous guy in a tube for most of season one and only in his full glory four times, one of which I haven't seen. But Steve Blum leaves an impression for him, this unstoppable MONSTER who easily tears through Bens creatures. Ghostfreak is also close, but Vilgax has more personalitY: While his goals are simple, to conquer you get a sense of arrogance and superiority he ENTIRELY backs up. The series made their own thanos or darkseid and it was glorious. He suffers a bit in the sequels as the mouth thing was a BAD design choice, but man is he great. As for the series itself.. also great. Really need to rewatch it at some point, but it's a solid superhero show and sets itself apart from the other kid sueprhero works of the time.. by having it be a child instead of a teen, with all the impulsivness, over the top names and enthusasim that entails. Ben's a brat, but he's not a bad kid and his childish impulsivness lets the series go more places. The concept of taking dial h for hero and applying truly awesome alien designs to it is fucking brilliant and improves on the original idea amazingly. Add in tons of lore, great villians 3/4 seasons, and you can see why Cartoon Network milked this series as long as it did and why it'll probably return some day after some cooling off.

Squirrel Boy: Kurtwood Smith dad only for virtue of being voiced by Kurtwood Smith. I almost picked no one. This show wasn't good, it was boring and I don't like it. A waste of everyone involved and not one I really care to revisit. It's probably not bad as my memory but lord it isn't good.

Class of 3000: SING, NA NA NA NA NA. Principal Luna both for being consitantly funny and his awesome music number. And I only didn't see season 2 because I wasn't aware it happened till it was too late. I need to rewatch this one. A true cult classic that deserved better: Andre 3000 was clearly all in and game for whatever, the series itself had a great cast, and the musical numbers are all bangers all the time.

So that ends this one. Next I see a LOT more superhero shows coming, robots in disguise and more. I actually love doing this as it givces me a chance to talk about great shows I simply haven't yet.

[monsterfuckerconfessions]

Ryuusei Date SRW style robotfuckers welcome? y/n/fuggit, I'll know if it gets posted

Either way, I have definitely honked my bobo to Transformers, Mobile Suits, SRW grunt mechs, Scope Doggs, Big Sword Obari Posing bois, Super Robots, Real Robots, blatant bandai toy commercials, subtle bandai toy commercials, you name it, if it's made of metal, it's probably worked it's way into my brain on cum in some capacity.

The details are very unclear and when loads were blown thinking about what mechs, but my most distinct memory is the definitive awakening moment of nutting to some Char's Counterattack art of Sazabi and Nu Gundam with some lovingly detailed battle damage.

So as dumb as the franchise gets, no matter where that roller coaster crashes, Amuro and Char will always hold a special place in my heart as THE vaguely one-sided hatefuck relationship fighting bisexual boys.

One, a tired overgrown child who's childhood sucked really bad with bisexual leanings but a probably unreciprocated mancrush from his anime co-worker.

Another, a tired overgrown child whose childhood also sucked but he also lies like crazy and is a strong challenger for Patrick Bateman's "World's Unreliable-est Narrator" coffee mug title, so we don't really know exactly how much shit he just made up on the fly getting shitfaced during Garma's funeral, but I wanna hazard a guess of...a lot.

Two autistic manchildren fighting it out over a desperate ghost lady who just wants to watch them bone from the cuck couch in the space ghost love hotel and film it for ghost generations to pass down.

A dumb guy who got smart enough to bring a gun to a sword fight and a much dumber mama's boy who didn't just call his old besty because it was the 80s and Tomino didn't see mobile phones catching on in the Universal Century where actual non-metaphorical non-space real Hitler just canonically existed in a way no retcons will ever let us truly overlook.

Tale as old as time

Song as old as rhyme

Baby and the Bitch

(I got sidetracked hard, but Megas XLR was cool and right. Chicks Dig Giant Robots. And hoo boy, I am CHICKS.)

.

[ben-talks-art]

Let's talk about entitlement

A couple of weeks ago I discovered that a voice actor from my country, an incredibly popular figure that is known for voicing super big roles such as Superman, Samurai Jack, Optimus Prime, Coop from Megas XLR (my favorite dub from the dude btw, he absolutely kills it!), and also acting as the voice for many popular actors such as Jim Carrey, was cast to play the role of Future Devil in the Brazillian dub of Chainsaw Man.

Now... I myself have not watched anything dubbed in my home country in eons, in fact, the Puss in Boots 2 movie was the first time in a while where I saw any form of media dubbed with Brazillian voice actors, if only because I wanted to see this thing as soon as possible so I just rushed to the nearest cinema I could find, and sadly Brazillian cinema doesn't show animated movies in their original dub...

So anyway, I wasn't exactly going "OMG!! Superman is gonna voice the "the future rules!" guy!!!" or anything like that. I was mostly just going "Oh, neat!", but after watching Puss I was kinda curious to find out how the whole Brazilian Future Devil thing went and... Ugh...

Apparently, the voice actor got a lot of hate on Twitter because they didn't adapt the line from the manga in the same way it was done by the fan translations... I repeat, people got angry at the actor because the line was different from the FAN TRANSLATIONS! And he received so much backlash from the watchers that he decided to drop out of the show and thus won't be returning for a future season.

Cool...

So... Let's talk about entitlement a little bit

Let's just assume for a moment that there is a girl you really, really like (I'm using "girl" but just replace it with whatever works for you), but she couldn't care less about you, so you try to make yourself look better, more desirable, more "worthy" of her by, let's say... Having a very well-paid job, or being someone who donates a lot to charity, or paying for the surgery of her grandma, or finding the cure for cancer, or ending world hunger... Let's just assume you did everything you could to be considered the most perfect person ever...

You're still not entitled to that girl's affection, appreciation, or even attention if she doesn't want to give you that.

Entitlement is the mentality of "I earned this, so I deserved it!"

But the fact of the matter is, unless you're paying someone for a job, and they agree to it, nobody really owes you anything.

(Although I guess one could argue that you're also owed your parents' support in order to survive since they're the reason you're here at all but... I'm not sure I have enough knowledge to talk about this so casually.)

But long story short, entitlement is this idea that you should have things done in the way you want them to be, just because you convinced yourself that this is how it should be.

I mentioned before in my Makima post that I really don't like this mentality because it works to make people think they have power over something they have nothing to do with.

This happens a lot with fanbases. Sonic, Kingdom Hearts, Chainsaw Man, Star wars... There are so many pieces of media where the public will go "this isn't how I wanted" or even worse "this isn't how it is supposed to go!" as if they were the creators or something.

They use arguments like "I complain because I care!" but in reality, it isn't about caring. This isn't about displaying your love for an IP you care about, it's about you not being able to handle a reality different from what you wanted.

It's basically the premise of the movie "Misery" where this one fan wants to act like she knows the story better than the actual author.

Now... Thinking that you deserve something even though there is nothing that says you technically do aside from your own belief is already bad enough, but it gets even worse when people use it as an excuse to act violently.

Harassing a voice actor and making him give up on his job just because a line was changed is just beyond silly. It's not the fans' duty to tell how a story should be told, same way it isn't right for fans to harass an actor just because they played an unpopular character in a live-action performance like it Happened with Rose in Star Wars, or telling someone they should kill themselves just because they made a joke about an infamous ship in Chainsawman.

It's even weirder in Chainsawman's case because part 2 literally starts with someone getting so much harassment by their classmates that it makes her want to die, which just makes me wonder if people are even trying to pick the messages of the story they are consuming.

Bottom line, entitlement is ugly. It is in my opinion THE ugliest mindset anyone could have.

It makes people perform actions out of selfishness, arrogance, anger, and it only works to spread pain and misery. It makes you look at other people as objects that only exist to satisfy your desires and makes you forget they have feelings and that they can get hurt, all because they happen to want to do something you disagree with.

If someone writes a story in a way you don't like it, you're not entitled to attack that writer. If someone performs the role of a character in a way you don't like it, you're not entitled to attack that actor. And if someone has an opinion about a piece of media that you disagree with, you're not entitled to attack that commenter.

You NEVER have a reason to attack anyone. Trying to put others down just to make yourself look big, ironically, doesn't make you look big! It just makes it look like you don't have enough faith in what you stand for and are too afraid that someone might prove you wrong.

Entitlement and aggressiveness are huge symbols of insecurity, cowardice, and immaturity, because people who truly believe in what they believe in, don't resort to harassment so fast just because a different point of view showed up.

We only attack when we feel threatened, when we feel someone is trying to hurt us or trying to take something important from us.

Attacking should only be reserved for self-defense, or the defense of someone who can't defend themselves (and even then I feel like there is a whole other grey area of debate on how to know who needs and should be defended and from whom, which I really don't feel I have the skills or maturity to properly talk about myself).

A random line on a fan translation of a popular manga that got changed when the official dub came out... Is just not a good enough reason to feel threatened, and not a good enough reason to attack someone, even if it's just an online attack.

We all know the line, "If you have nothing good to say, don't say anything!"

Unless someone is asking for your opinion, unless someone is paying you to speak and make a criticism or provide some sort of honest feedback, or unless you're being harassed first, you are NEVER entitled to use your words or body to try to harm someone!

You are free to live your life in any possible way you want, as long as no one is getting hurt from it.

...

At least in my opinion...

I am not a psychologist, or psychiatrist, or a psychic, or any form of expert in the field of the human mind.

These are just my casual thoughts about a... Not so casual topic, but I feel it's important to be talked about nonetheless because I feel not many people seem to realize how big of a problem entitlement really is, and how it seems to be getting worse as the years go by as the media and internet keeps making us feel like we have more power over other people's lives than we actually have.

Just... Try to think twice before you get that sudden urge to want to complain about the way something is or how someone is acting just because you don't agree with it. Think a little about who might be getting hurt from it and if it's truly worth it getting so upset about it.

...

Anyways, this was a downer talk... Anyone seen Puss in Boots 2 yet?

[purefandomonium]

MASTERPOST

This blog is for anything fandom-related that I'm currently into. Main is @cheerfulmelancholies I'll post fanart, writing, comments about a series, anything. In no particular order, my most common posts revolve around:

Pokepastas--Mainly Glitchy Red and Strangled Red, FNF Hypno's Lullably, and honestly just any one that I deem interesting.

Danny Phantom

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk--Seriously, play it if you haven't. If you love JSR or JSRF, you'll love it. If you don't love those two, you'll probably still enjoy it anyway.

Lupin III

Dead Plate

Pizza Tower

Code Lyoko

Megas XLR/Generator Rex/Ben 10--basically any Cartoon Network series from the 2000s and 2010s. I grew up on that shit.

Motorcity (Disney XD show)--Seriously check it out if you're able. The animation alone makes it worthwhile. But be warned, Disney XD really fucked that show hard and it's a shame it wasn't allowed to run longer.

Initial D

Anime

Video game stuff

Fanart of practically anything if I happen to like it.

There's more stuff I post or reblog, like FNAF, Pokémon and FNF, it really just depends.

My ask box is always open. I'm down to chat about fandoms or my own works. I don't do requests. Please use common sense when interacting.

Any of my own writing I will post under the tag 'my writing.' Right now it's just a handful of Glitchy Red fics, a cross post of my Dead Plate fic, and a Hot Wheels BF5 fic. The main Glitchy Red fic is called 'Connection' but there's also 'Limits,' and 'And Again' as well as some headcanon posts and miscellaneous stuff. The BF5 one is called 'Mysterious New Member.' Dead Plate is 'It's The Thought That Counts'. You can find any of those tagged under titles as well as the respective fandom names. For other people's writing I tag with, well, 'other's writing' or 'other's works' if you're interested to see any written stuff. Otherwise everything else usually falls under 'fanart' in some way, or the name of the fandom.

Here's some AO3 links to my main fics if that's easier than finding them on tumblr.

[burade]

but to elaborate I think the Mario Movie should be a mix of… Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Scott pilgrim, Megas XLR, with the world based on Stephen Gibb art, and one other game…

A movie which serves more as a one giant love letter to gaming culture and video games as whole like how Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood in a love letter to the golden age of cinema

that also has many references to other works that most who have played those games will understand, with that feel that ya we made this for you just enjoy the ride, and the giant appreciation for retro game but still showing love to new ones, and having many concepts that you think won't work but it does and it makes the whole experience a lot better, like Scott pilgrim and Megas XLR.

and with a world based on the art of Stephen Gibb the only Canadian artist, when you get down to it the Mario series is weird, in a sense it kind of knows it but still uses it to it's advantage, so why not have the world of said movie based on someones art which is visually strange but sticks with you leaving you with a feeling of confusion, but still feeling as if you entered a new world. so a little something like this

oh i see!!! thank you for explaining!

[multi-muse-transect]

It would be funny if Deck Nine reveals another Life Is Strange game that was supposed to be an expansion to Double Exposure but grew to be its own game and it’s revealed that it’s a non canon crossover with MEGAS XLR that focuses on an adult Chloe who finds a MEGAS aka giant robotand uses her old truck as the cockpit. The entire story like MEGAS is a spoof and love letter to anime, tokusatsu, and Kaiju movies alongside spoofs on legacy sequels.

And also maybe it features Hailee Steinfeld as the voice actress of the daughter of Megnanamous which means it’s just Hailee Steinfeld as a giant floating head and Chloe beats the shit out of her when she gets on a robot.

Also Max just teaching class at the university and sees Chloe on TV fighting the alien villain with her conflicted if she should join in but when Chloe wins the fight, Max is like:

Though I feel a game like that would just be the you used me for land development meme but replace it with Chloe saying you used me for crossover material with Square Enix saying at least you get to pilot a robot.

[mmoxie]

so i been tinkering with a psp as a hobby and it's fun

but there's a lot of weird niche shit to learn, like "don't have USB charge on while file transferring if you're using a third-party battery" which is a series of events which mysteriously cause the battery to just, die, permanently (i have two replacements coming, lmao)

but the advantages of learning these little quirks and keeping the PSP from annihilating itself are pretty big

if you're discerning and keep deleting shit you don't actually enjoy, you can have an insanely robust library on just a 32gb memory card

i've got big stuff like Peace Walker, and tiny stuff like N+, and anything i especially love i have externally on UMD, like Death Jr. or Katamari

but that's just official titles and isos

there's a whole world of wrapping PS1 games into an "eboot" file so you can play things like FF9, Spyro, and even Duke Nukem on this thing

and beyond that, why not slap on a GBA emulator and play a fully-translated copy of Mother 3?

why not reskin the entire menu system, strip out all the defunct buttons for dead online services, and put the entirety of Megas XLR on there to watch whenever?

but it has quirks. jpg file too big? "what the fuck, we don't do that in 2008," says the PSP. so you crack open MS paint and crunch up your nice 1920x1080 wallpaper by 50%, drag it back onto the machine, and boom, it looks fine

mp4 file too modern? crack open handbrake and re-encode it with IPOD 5 COMPATIBILITY. why does that work? who knows! but now you can rip a blu-ray of Morbius and cram some morbin' time into the least convenient screen you own, for bathroom watching

plays music just fine. i might be the first human being to play Bustin' on a psp, so that's cool

it's genuinely the coolest little handheld i've ever played with, and it's so nice to have a hobby where learning every part of the process makes you feel like, well

and that's worth more than anything tbh

[soul-dwelling]

Do you have any anime you like as well as soul eater? Any recs for me? Or just anything you think of tbh, ‘ppreciate it 🧡🧡

“As well as Soul Eater”

There’s only one–Fullmetal Alchemist.

It’s hard for me to think of any other anime I like as much as Soul Eater–Fullmetal Alchemist is about the only one that I feel just as strongly about. That’s not to say that other items on this list aren’t also enjoyable, and in ways that Soul Eater is not.

But FMA is like the antithesis to Soul Eater: I enjoy FMA because I really get into its story, I “enjoy” Soul Eater in that I nitpick it to shreds, seeing what it could have done that would have been so much better than what we got.

Both FMA and Soul Eater got me back into anime, at different points in my life. Having some of the same editorial staff as Soul Eater, both at SquareEnix and Studio BONES, a lot of the same sense of humor and sentiment persists across both.

Whether you’re watching the 2003 FMA anime or Brotherhood, you definitely get an epic, in the most classical sense of that word.

Trying to identify any commonalities it has with Soul Eater (distrust of authority) is so broad that it’s hard to find in both works, given how drastically different they are in terms of comedy and sincerity in its messages (Arakawa seems more committed to a message, Ohkubo keeps undermining his own message or being sarcastic).

And below is just all the other tons of anime I would recommend. I’m not saying anything below is stuff I “like as well as Soul Eater,” but it’s all stuff I would watch again.

Speaking of FMA, let’s talk about other stuff I enjoy watching…

Foodie Anime

Silver Spoon: From FMA’s creator Arakawa, this delightful slice of life story about agriculture, horticulture, and cooking demands a viewing.

Restaurant to Another World: I haven’t gotten to the second season, some of the fanservice stuff is tacked on, but episodes are so short, giving a quick crash course on the history and process of making certain meals. It’s the kind of show to put on when cooking or eating.

Dagashi Kashi: I haven’t gotten back to this series, and, yeah, the fanservice stuff is going to be annoying. But just for learning about the history of candies, it’s decent.

Robots

Patlabor: Too much copraganda, but seeing as the show itself is intensely self-critical of police practices, you can stomach it. And it’s a comedy, with most of the story coming out of the characters. If you want a mecha story that is down to earth, similar to what you get in Megas XLR, you’ll like this one.

G Gundam: Aside from how bad the “Captain Nationality” motifs are, this is about the only Gundam series I enjoy, just for how silly it all is, and how awesome the action is. But speaking of Gundam…

Gundam Build Fighters: Like I said, I’m not a Gundam fan, which is why I enjoy this series. If you are a Gundam fan, you’ll love all the Easter eggs. If you’re not, the story works on its own, very much a kind of Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh story.

The Big O: Boy, this was a great one-season series. Sure was excellent how that one season combined all that was great about the gotham noir of Batman: The Animated Series with giant robots. Sure glad Cartoon Network didn’t screw it up with a second season that had its head up its own ass with philosophical bullshitting trying to act like all the world is a stage and that this was all reality warping crap. Sure glad we gave up giant robot battles for pseuod-intellectual muck. (Is it any wonder this series and Fire Force do the exact same things I hate in storytelling? Please, whoever at Toonami is producing anime: get better at this–I can’t think of one anime that Toonami or, hell, even Funimation or Crunchyroll has produced that I thought was super-good. The Big O, Fire Force, but also IGPX, Dimension W, the goddamn FLCL sequels, even In/Spectre which I largely enjoyed, all US/Japanese co-productions that just have so many flaws that just don’t work.)

Zoids: Chaotic Century and New Century: You get Star Wars with giant robots, you get a sports competition with giant robots–what’s not to like?

Other Shonen

Gintama: The series gets the best of both worlds–it gets to embrace sincerity when it comes to loss, grief, and trauma, and it gets to take the piss out of its own overly sentimental moments by being a parody-based gag-oriented farce. Some jokes really do not hold up and are awful, but when there are so many episodes, you can mostly skip those awful parts in an essential-watching marathon. I only value a lot of what the series does right all the more, given that I’ve seen manga really screw up and engage in some of the worst storytelling choices that Gintama was making fun of a decade ago.

Blue Exorcist: The first anime has the same problems you’re getting with Soul Eater–it does its own ending, and it’s so abrupt that it feels like it contradicts plot points and messages that came earlier. The soft reboot continuation manages to do a fun short saga that sticks closer to the manga, but it feels like a tease of more to come–and, unless another season ever happens, you’re stuck with the manga.

My Hero Academia: I hate to say it, but I fell off from watching the anime around the Nighteye arc. Some of it owes to, as far as I can see, the theatrical films taking up resources that really should have gone back into improving story pacing and animation quality in the main series. The manga remains engaging, if not always for good reason (there are some bizarre plot choices), while I just haven’t gotten back to watching the rest of the anime.

Yu Yu Hakusho: I’m ambivalent as to its ending, but it is seminal storytelling for how to write and build up stakes in a fight.

Dragon Ball Super: I never liked any Dragon Ball stuff–so I was shocked that Super was something I legitimately enjoyed. It took this franchise so long to get to something that I think works in all regards: the animation is more colorful and pleasant to watch, the characters feel like they actually have depth and care about each other, the humor is ramped up, and, hey, more Saiyaman!

Sports Anime

Hajime No Ippo: As I said before, I so do not like sports. So, getting into sports anime is hard for me. While I enjoy something like Haikyuu, I screwed up and skipped to the manga’s ending, which kind of ruins where the story goes for me. Ippo is different: I have seen where it’s going in the manga–and that just has me more excited to see it get an animated adaptation. While I whine so much that an animated reboot of Soul Eater would make things worse, I think an adaptation of the rest of Ippo at least would still have some good boxing matches, and show some real highs and lows that happen in that career. Ippo does not shy away from the good and bad that comes from boxing. I never got into Ashita no Joe, and nothing against Megalobox, but Ippo has the right mix of heartwarming and realism that I can keep going back to it. (Except Takamura. Fuck Takamura–bullying, plot-armored, sexist sack of shit.)

Light and Laid-Back

How to Keep a Mummy: I got into this series late. It’s a relaxing, charming story, basically what I would love to see the manga Magu-chan: God of Destruction get in an adaptation. If you like the supernatural bizarre stuff from Soul Eater, this is like a younger kids version of that, where people just accept that reanimated corpses, ogres, and so on are real, but it’s chill.

Tonkatsu DJ Agetaro: Take the short-form structure of Pop Team Epic, add some foodie stuff, and teach the audience about music–that’s a winning combination.

Ouran High School Host Club: I am debating including this here, not only because of that certain actor in the lead role in the English dub, but also that so much “fair for its day” stuff was, no, it was homophobic and transphobic, that didn't hold up even in "its day." But if you can look beyond that–and that is a lot to “look beyond”--Studio BONES did produce a well-animated, visually stunning, hilarious, heartfelt adaptation.

Other

The Devil Is a Part-Timer: Like the title says–it’s goofy fun, even kind of a reverse-isekai without all the baggage that story motif has had.

Lupin the Third Part 4: As with Dragon Ball Super, it took way too long for this franchise to create something that I found enjoyable, that got over its worst instincts and delivered something that wasn’t just intelligent but had some legitimate sincerity. It takes all that works from The Castle of Cagliostro and adds far more of the heist stories and rough edges from the manga and the anime. Plus, it gave us Rebecca, someone who can actually keep up with Lupin without just being a copy of him–please, bring back Rebecca for a full-length movie or season arc.

Bungo Stray Dogs: If you love the soundtrack to Soul Eater, you’ll at least love the soundtrack to this series, as it’s the same person, composer Taku Iwasaki. Studio BONES brings the same intensity of animation, action, and bizarre character designs and visual choices (the fisheye lenses). This is more seinen, but it feels like a soft transition from shonen tropes to seinen tropes. Plus, if you’re a literature nerd, you get to enjoy the namedrops to various authors and their most famous works. The more comedic chibi series Wan is also highly recommended–and, jeez, for a more comedic show, it is still grim, sentimental, and sad in spots.

Noragami: Another series from Soul Eater’s musical composer Iwasaki and Studio BONES, this is basically Soul Eater if Fire Force didn’t screw up its ending. It says everything Ohkubo was trying to say, only better and before he did: it reflects on what gods actually mean to humans, what roles they and religion serve, and it still has people that turn into weapons. I would skip the OVAs, as they engage in some sexist humor.

Blood Blockade Battlefront: Yet another Studio BONES production–it’s just a wild ride. And since it’s from the creator of Trigun, I should also recommend Trigun for getting a thoughtful meditation on what it means to take a life.

Pop Team Epic: Its short structure means that, if you don’t like one segment, wait a bit, a funnier one is coming up. It is so bizarre and worth one watch.

Space Dandy: I hated how this series started. By the end, it was an intelligent set of one-off stories, each with their own style and story, all of them eventually reflecting on the art of storytelling without getting to Evangelion levels of trying to say something meaningful and smart and instead just saying something superficial about the artifice of stories. It’s funny, it’s bizarre, it can bounce between hilarious and tear-jerking sentimental. And it actually says something about fanservice rather than only “hey, look, boobs.”

Toradora: This romance has pain, but at least it’s a comedy, so you’re not getting some tragic ending that is just a gut-punch with little weight. It’s funny, it’s heartfelt, you are rooting for the main duo.

Duel Masters first English dub: This thing should not have worked. Don’t bother with the Japanese version–just watch the gag dub, it’s great comedic relief.

Outlaw Star: Reboot this, kill off Gene, replace him with Hilda as the lead, you will get rid of 99 percent of your gender-based problems and get a protagonist who isn’t gross.

[madokamagicasecrets]

You've dug your own grave. Do the prime numbers

Joke's on you, I love when you send me prime number asks <33333

2. "Do you drink tea or coffee? How do you take it?"

I like both, but iced coffee has been my jam lately. I'm especially hyped for pumpkin spice to return!~

3. "What was the last song you listened to?"

I've been thinking about Nausicaa for ages and I just keep looping it, it's a straight banger yo,

5. "Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?"

Not right now, because my bed is only big enough for my body pillow and me. But when I get a bigger bed, I'll be sleeping with Blahaj too!

7. "What's your ideal number of blankets to sleep with?"

Just the one. I like being covered but I don't like being hot, so I can't really do more than one. If cooling blankets existed I would use one.

9. "When is your birthday?" My birthday is December 27th, an unfortunate date to be sure but I've come to accept it.

11. "What color are your eyes?"

Blue! Some people think my eyes are gray but they're fairly bright. Nothing like Violet Evergarden, but still.

13. "Fears?"

I hate the idea of being in the middle of the ocean with nothing but the abyss below and no land in sight. It scares me so much. That and I get paranoid about being watched while I sleep, which has manifested lately as grey aliens.

17. "Want any piercings? Where?"

I might consider ear piercings? But I kinda wanna roll with ear cuffs.

19. "Do you have a best friend? How long have you been friends?"

My BFF is @nana-shi and always will be!!!! We've known each other for like 5 years now and she's remained the person that is closest to me. I wanna visit her in Brazil someday and kick it and get my hair dyed...

23. "Do you believe in aliens?"

I don't really feel like I can say one way or the other on if aliens exist. The universe is so massive, and our understanding of how life forms is a sample size of 1 (Earth). It's hard to know the restrictions within which life can form or how likely it is for life to exist in the universe. I know it's a cheap answer, but I'm giving that a big question mark.

29. "Does it take you a long time to make decisions?"

Sometimes I take ages making up my mind, sometimes I'm instantly decisive. It depends on how bold I'm feeling.

31. "What are you looking forward to in the distant future?"

look forward to being a pretty girl <3

37. "Do you prefer dogs or cats?"

I prefer cats, but honestly I love both cats and dogs. I just have trauma associated with dogs...

41. "What's your favorite cartoon?"

I really really like Megas XLR. Anyone here who likes mecha anime should consider it a mandatory watch, it's so brilliantly funny and self aware.

43. "Do you have any siblings? How many?"

I have 1 sibling, my brother!

47. "Have you memorized your phone number?"

Yep, I know my phone number by heart. I used to get it confused with my dad's though for some reason.

[henlp]

Most anime is bad.

It's fair to say anime's success in the West, starting in the 80s-90s but gaining mass recognition and appeal in the 2000s, mostly comes from a wide range of premises for stories told, and how emotional payoffs are (for the most part) earned by the writing, be it hype moments, shocking scenes, or the often-expected bittersweet finale.

However, in spite of these positives, it's very frequent that the story for an anime/manga/novel/game/etc. ends up being bad; and for the longest time, I couldn't figure out exactly why. Even a decade ago, when I was far more lenient and forgiving to the content I consumed (because I had yet to achieve the jaded, joyless state I find myself in <current year>), I could tell something was amiss.

Think I first took notice of this when the era of the Big Three was coming to an end, with One Piece carrying on as Fairy Tail instead took the shovel to the head. Alongside Bleach and Naruto, these three manga series all suffered major issues in their final arcs, so blatant that it became too difficult to accept. Something stank in Denmark Japan, and it made no sense why these (supposedly) good series where floundering as they neared the finish line.

A few years later, with more media under my belt, out came Black Clover. Both my weeb cousin and a good friend had spoken highly of the series, alongside many of the places I used to check for animus, so I watched the OVA... and hated it. There wasn't anything inherently wrong with the pilot for the story, mind you, at that point it was only the screeching from the protagonist that bothered me. When the series proper began, I made the conscious effort to try and power through in spite of the awful first impression, to see what the hype had been about... and I still wasn't seeing it. In fact, the story's erratic and hyperactive pacing, alongside its cheap animation, made it almost impossible for me to watch. Only by virtue of the previously aforementioned hype moments on occasion and the catchy OPs did I stick around long enough for the story to get interesting and for me to have any investment in the characters. It didn't get good, but it had at least become tolerable. Lucky for me AND it, I was still at a point where I wouldn't drop shows as easily.

It wasn't looking good for my outlook in regards to japanese entertainment. Even if I would end up consuming more anime than any western shows (at least animes don't fucking despise their audiences), my eye kept getting more critical, and I kept getting less adventurous, due to several shows disappointing. But I still couldn't figure out why this was. If anime and manga were appealing to me still, why was I less inclined to give 'em a pass, why was I more and more dissatisfied. And then I got my answer in 2021, thanks to two shows: Jujutsu Kaisen and the second anime adaptation of Shaman King.

A story's quality can generally be quantified based on three things: characters, world, and plot. Each informs the other two, and a good story never has one of these working against the others. But it can also happen that all three work in their own right, but not in tandem. A fourth, rarely-considered factor for evaluating story is EXECUTION. So when it comes to anime, manga, novels, games, etc, the problem usually is in execution. You could argue that there are different cultural sensibilities for storytelling in Japan, or corporate factors interjecting themselves in the process; but that would be an explanation, not an excuse. And nowadays, enough japanese creators quote some of their influences as not just being other japanese creators, but also creators from around the globe (past and present). There's not this magical bubble keeping the Land of the Rising Sun ignorant of other types of storytelling and development processes.

So how did I arrive at this conclusion thanks to Jujutsu Kaisen and Shaman King 2021? Both shows suffer terribly when it comes to execution of their stories, although in different ways:

-With Jujutsu Kaisen (at least the anime, I've not read the whole manga), there were several instances where I found myself asking "Did I miss an episode or something?", because you frequently had characters reacting and conducting themselves with one another as if there was a deluge of development between them off-screen. No better example than EmoBangs McGee, who becomes BFFs with the protagonist in less than 5min, later having a fight that was probably meant to be very heart-wrenching, except there was no development for their relation (and powers), so it made no sense for them to act in that fashion (if this is different in the manga, by all means let me know);

-With Shaman King 2021, meanwhile, I was well-familiarized with the characters, the world, and the plot. I knew the main elements of the story, I had in fact rewatched the show in the past decade, and in spite of filler content and Black Sabbath cameos, still remembered it strongly. But as I am watching the new show, the word that comes to mind is "cheap": cheap animation and rushed pacing. Maybe this is due to certain events, or the studio trying to rush past the initial stages of the story, but still. All it had to do was clear the filler, give each scene and character the love and care they needed to make their moments the best they could, and let it go from there. It's been twelve years since FMA Brotherhood, if you're going to be a greedy bitch and redo an anime adaptation, there's no excuse for it to be of such low quality.

As you can see, both failed in execution, with the latter in its new adaptation and the former (possibly) in its original format. When I realized this, suddenly the fog dissipated, and I could see why all those stories had failed: Bleach failed because its power creep and character conflicts were executed horribly; Naruto's atrocious pacing (in both manga and anime) was done solely to extend the story needlessly; Fairy Tail's final arcs (although not only that) dropped the ball because Hiro Mashima was actively trying to ensure there were no sad elements to the story or the end of his characters' arcs; Black Clover‘s poor execution came in how its first few arcs play out, trying to speed up through the world-building, which left most characters too anemic and underdeveloped until far later into the story.

But of course, this is an issue that exists in far more IPs than just the ones I’ve mentioned so far and others of the same caliber. It happens with the cream of the crop as well: Boku no Hero Academia's more recent decisions have been executed very poorly, when they were just a single step away from being done very well; post-timeskip One Piece has relied too heavily on characters having skills and forms that we aren't familiarized with, and fights that don't resolve in a smart fashion, but due to nakama power fueling Luffy; season fucking 2 of One-Punch Man is the poster child for terrible execution of anime adaptations, considering the original webcomic, the manga, and season 1. This issue is (almost) everywhere, and yeah, I get it: anime and manga are produced through such a hellish process, that a lot of times the authors or production staff don't have the time to go through their stories to make sure everything's on the up-and-up. Yusuke Murata is not exactly a common example, of someone that's allowed to go back to both redraw and rewrite entire chapters; and I am somewhat glad that, at least when it comes to JUMP, they seem to be getting slightly more lenient with the talent and their teams if it means better results in the long run.

However, the issue persists. I neither know nor think that anything can be resolved even if the extremely demanding workload of manga/anime production were to be alleviated (we've had plenty of examples in the West, of media that has all the time and money in the world, still imploding and salting the earth around it), but at the very least, it can be something that creators who are not under those retraints to take into account, so as not to make those same mistakes.

Do not try to subvert conversations that SHOULD be happening, just because in anime there's a stereotype of scenes where everything stops in its tracks just so characters can have a conversation, be it executed well or poorly (an aspect I'd wager stems from when the source material is manga or a novel). Don't think that because a character's power level let's them blow up the moon from orbit, that immersion can't be broken if you don't justify how they might struggle against another on the same tier. Be wary of the very common issue with 'Wanime' (Western animation using the anime style), where creators completely put aside depth for spectacle, to the point that it becomes indistinguishable from a parody show such as Megas XLR.

Always remember, execution is the be-all and end-all to every character development, emotional payoff, hype moment, world building, and plot progression. Think about every scene, and if it actually informs the audience of what should be happening. If it doesn't, then you'll have to try and fix it before, not after. And if you can't do it (which is fine, most of us are fucking dumbasses), now you understand why even a lot of shonen action series have a bunch of slice-of-life, semi-filler scenes interjected in-between big events, so that you can have context and weight to what will transpire.

[takatofan]

20 Years of Digimon - for me.

I was introduced to Digimon late in the game. I was a pokemon fan first. My cousin twisted my arm to watch Digimon. I resisted for a long time. But sometime in the middle of summer 2001, I gave in. I very quickly became a bigger Digimon fan than even my cousin was. Even though I was just seeing random episodes of 02.

Just when I was getting familiar with everything, Tamers started. Tamers was such a different thing - in a good way. I understand why some didn’t like it, but I loved the slow build. Some of the eps in Tamers where nothing happened - or next to nothing happened - are some of my favorites. I related to - and still relate to Takato SO MUCH. I was just an average kid. (Though Takato had more friends than me.) Just the biggest fanboy making fan art. (I was writing fan fiction before I knew it had a name.)

Really, I see pieces of myself in all the Tamers cast. Except I guess Ryo and Suzie. (But I still like Ryo, even if I can’t relate).

I remember in September renting Digimon: The Movie for the first time. Loved every second of it, though the middle part, Our War Game, is by far the best. I also loved the soundtrack. Still listen to them all to this day, occasionally. (BTW If you are reading this and didn’t know, the dub version of Matt’s song from the TV show, “I Turn Around” that was used in the Christmas ep and one other, is on youtube in full!)

The next spring ABC family started showing reruns and that’s how I got to see Adventure and 02 from start to finish.

Once in early 2002, I got a Saturday detention, and missing Tamers was the worst punishment I could ever have!!! (Glad the VCR didn’t fail...)

Another Saturday I worked (Started working when I was 15) and I worked with my sister, who had her own house. So I recorded the two new eps, 28 and 29, at her house. When we came home, she went in the other room, and I watched the eps. Now, I had been trying to convince people Digimon wasn’t ‘just a kids show’ that it was deeper than you’d think. She could have came back in the room when they were talking about being lost... no. She could have came back in the room when Takato was reading the letter from his mom... no. She came back in the room, just as Calumon started to sing “I was having a yucky day but now WOO HOO I get to play! Other Digimon were so mean, the nastiest you’ve ever seen! .... “ I was SO embarrassed!!! Of all the scenes XD. I do love that scene but when you are trying to convince people it’s deeper than it seems, that’s NOT the scene you want them to see!

I did give Frontier a chance - and several chances since then - But I just can’t get into it. Ironically, “FIRE!!” and “Innocent” by Wada Kouji continue to be my favorite Japanese themes, and hearing them take me right back to the summer of 2002.

I could go on and talk in depth about every single experience I had with Digimon... (And I want to! I already skipped great memories.) But I figure no one wants to hear all that, but here’s the short version of the rest:

I never had a lot of friends, and Digimon made me so many friends. I made a great friend in another state that I would actually buy phone cards and CALL and talk to for hours! Shortly before we lost touch, I made another amazing friend and that friendship lasted 5 years or so. (Though we are still friends, not as close as we used to be.) A year later, I made another friend who is STILL my best friend! I have an amazing artist friend that I used to do art trades with, and I still feel so lucky that this amazing artist wanted to trade with me. :) (And we still are friends!) But in 2009, I met my boyfriend, which we are still together. He had his arm twisted to watch Digimon too. But we started talking and we got together. It’s been 12 years, and I am so happy with him. :) He lives in Germany (I’m in the US) and I’ve flown there to see him 4 times, and he’s flown here many more. Long distance is hard but we make it work, and it’s worth it for us. Never would have happened without Digimon.

So many more memories I feel bad not typing... okay here’s one anyway - I looked all over for a D-Ark when they came out and I only ever saw ONE in a store. THE ONE I BOUGHT!!!! :D. - But I dunno where I’d be without Digimon. I feel weird saying that because it’s “Just a TV show” but... Digimon got me to join message boards and write fan fiction. If I stayed with Pokemon I’m not sure I would have ever gotten into the fandom. I looked at fan sites and stuff with Pokemon but I never got involved. I don’t think that I would have even become an anime fan with Pokemon. - Especially since I didn’t get the WB where I was. I could only see Pokemon on the VHS tapes I bought cheaply at Odd Lots (Later Big Lots), or a local Fox station playing them at 6 AM (Which when I was in Junior High I got up earlier than I had to to watch it...). But watching Digimon on ABC family led to Beyblade, and talking to the friend I called led to Yu-Gi-Oh! (Which I also had to wait until Cartoon Network reran) which led to Megas XLR (I know that was US but it was anime style so that helped) Which led to Adult Swim, and before you know it, I’m an anime fan!

(And for the record since I didn’t mention: I do love Savers/Data Squad and LOVE Applimon! That was SO much better than expected!)

Thanks for the memories Digimon, and all the friends I’ve had along the way. :).

[amtrax]

Megaton Girl FAQ Masterpost

Here is a bunch of potential questions that you may have about Megaton Girl for both new and long-time followers!

What is Megaton Girl?

Megaton Girl is a scripted podcast (which is to say a radio play) that I would describe as a superhero comedy with lots of action, adorable romance, and an overarching story. The pilot is available here and I highly recommend checking it out if you want an idea of what the style and tone of the show will be.

Okay, well what’s the basic story?

From the official description:

After getting struck by a radioactive meteor, Connie Opland becomes the latest contender in a world of super hero celebrities: Megaton Girl. With the help of her girlfriend and secret publicist Laurel Fitz, and her mentor and manager Kirby, Connie aims to dethrone the corrupt and arrogant Captain Valiant as the greatest hero in the world!

That sounds totally radical, dude.

Thank you, 90′s-slang-spewing question asker.

I have very specific tastes. How will I know if I like this show?

If you enjoy any of the following, you’ll probably really really like this show: Stories with LGBTQ protagonists, Marvel and DC comics, Megas XLR, Teen Titans, The Adventure Zone, Critical Role, The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Mission to Zyxx, Hello from the Magic Tavern, Sonic Boom, Swat Kats, and honestly just check it out. The pilot’s only like 15 minutes long, and I think you’ll really love it if you check it out.

Well, who is the show about?

Connie Opland AKA Megaton Girl: A snarky, bubbly and easily excitable young woman with a love of food and low tolerance for jerks. After a bad run in with a corrupt superhero named Captain Valiant, Connie gets struck by a meteor and gains super powers. She dons the persona of Megaton Girl and begins a career in super-heroics, hoping one day to dethrone Captain Valiant and give the world a hero that actually gives a shit. She’s not very bright or quick to the uptake, but she has a ton of grit and determination. No matter how many times she hits the mat, she’s always back on her feet and ready to fight back. She lives with her best-friend (and now girlfriend), Laurel, in a cheap apartment in Los Dioses, California. Powers: Super strength, flight, energy beam attack (expelled through mouth), enhanced durability. She still feels pain and isn’t completely invincible, but she can withstand a megaton explosion and walk away alive (though VERY hurt).

Laurel Fitz: A shy, composed and brilliant lady with wonderful artistic talent and a passion for documenting the feats of superheroes. She is the newest member of the Olympus Illustrated news team. Her job is to essentially write and illustrate comic pages documenting the latest superhero news. When she gets on the bad side of her boss (whom is secretly Captain Valiant), she gets humiliated and demoted in front of the whole bullpen. When Connie gets superpowers, Laurel begins to secretly rebel against her boss by publishing a website dedicated to documenting the feats of Megaton Girl. She also begins learning the basics of superhero coaching from Connie’s manager, Kirby, who sees a ton of potential in her. She lives with her best friend (and now girlfriend), Connie, in a cheap apartment in Los Dioses, California.

William Kirby: A grumpy, no-nonsense old man with a long, once-celebrated history of superhero managing. He represented and coached the best of the best for decades before being forced into an early retirement by his last client, Captain Valiant. He distanced himself from society and lived out of his gym locker room for 15 years, until Connie and Laurel popped into his life asking for help. He’s long past his prime, so he calls in favors from heroes around the globe and beyond to assist in training Connie to be a hero herself. On the side, he begins to teach Laurel how to be a superhero coach, seeing her as a worthy future successor to his business.

Chuck Bradford AKA Captain Valiant: A vain, pompous, power-hungry man who is a superhero in job title only. He does everything for personal gain, even when it comes to stopping crimes. Once represented by Kirby, he cast his old manager aside when Kirby refused to coddle his ego. He lied, cheated and beat his way to the top of the superhero world, and stood unopposed as the most powerful hero in the world for a little over a decade. To fuel his ambitions, he runs the Olympus Illustrated news outlet, wildly overemphasizing his own deeds and often minimizing the efforts of other heroes. There are few heroes who verbally oppose him (and even fewer who physically oppose him), as he has been known to turn the world against those who seek to bring him down. Powers: Super strength (amplified by years of bodybuilding on top of his natural superhuman power), flight, energy beam attack (expelled through eyes), enhanced durability (comparable to Megaton Girl, though with a much higher pain tolerance due to more years explosions and bullets in his face).

Doctor Menace: A bombastic, bumbling, over-eager supervillain with copious amounts of intellect, but none of the brilliance to put it to much use. None of his plans have ever succeeded, his inventions are in perpetual “early-access,” and no hero or villain ever takes him seriously. In spite of his endless list of failures, he sets high goals for himself and always gets back up after every failure, with just as much vigor and excitement as ever. He just loves being the bad guy, no matter what gets in his way. He dreams of one day being the respected arch-nemesis of a powerful superhero with whom he can be locked in ceaseless bloody combat for all time, and to join a league of supervillains with which he can begin his conquest of the world. Also he’s stuck in a too-small tin can of a mech suit. Haha. Powers: Extraordinarily high IQ, high tech armor and gadgets with seemingly endless resources to create more, and limitless determination.

I watched the pilot and I [totally loved it]. Where’s the rest of the show?

We’re working on that! We want to turn this into a full series and already have several episodes written, but in order to produce a full series we will need funding to make sure that everyone involved is paid for their time. One possible goal is to get the show picked up by a podcast network so that we can run the show like a podcast with commercials. Another possibility is Patreon or some other form of crowdfunding.

Is there anyway I can help with that?

The absolute BEST thing you can do right now is to share the pilot. Reblog it, retweet it, TALK about it. Get the word out, and I do mean the word.Use the #MegatonGirl hashtag on Twitter. Tell people what you think, because word of mouth is the best form of getting people to listen. Tell US what you think! Share your thoughts on the pilot, leave iTunes reviews, leave Youtube comments! We want to know what you think!

This sounds like it’s gonna take a while! I want the show now! And an Oompa-Loompa too, daddy!

PUT THE GUN DOWN! WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS, OKAY?! Alright, okay okay. How about we make a full first episode for now, and see what happens? We’ll produce a full origin-story episode about how Connie and Laurel become girlfriends, how Connie gets her super powers and begins her rivalry with Chuck, and how Connie stopped her first supervillain? It’ll be about an hour long and be a proper start to the series. That sound cool?

Looks like you keep your kneecaps today, sir.

Thank you for your blessing, gender non-specific question asker.

I have fanart/AUs/other fan related content that I want you to see. What’s the best way to get your eyes on it?

Tag me on Tumblr @amtrax or on Twitter (at)amtraxVA, and/or use the proper “#Megaton Girl” tag on Tumblr and the #MegatonGirl tag on Twitter! I have gotten some LOVELY fanart and I love seeing all of it, so if you have some and you want it seen, that’s the best way to get it seen!

Hey don’t you run away from me! I have other questions!

And I’ll gladly take them, any time! Either leave them in my askbox or Tweet it at me! I’ll always answer it as best as I can without spoiling too much of the show. I also put out a call for questions and art requests every week for Megaton Girl Megatuesday, so keep any eye out for that as well.

For now, I think that’s a good spot to leave this. I will update this later as necessary, but I hope your basic needs are tended to for now! Thank you for your time and hope you enjoy what’s to come next!

[aion-rsa]

Marvel’s Avengers Game: Who is MODOK?

https://ift.tt/2ZbfwgZ

When you want to tell a big, epic Avengers story for your big, epic Avengers video game, you have to choose your big bad carefully. At this point, Red Skull, Loki, Ultron, and Thanos are old news. The Marvel Cinematic Universe covered them. Galactus is a bit too big a threat for the first of what Square Enix and Marvel likely hopes will be a whole series of games. Kang the Conqueror hasn’t appeared in the movies, but do you really want your first game to be bogged down by time travel nonsense? Dr. Doom is a little too attached to the Fantastic Four.

Fortunately, Square Enix has finally revealed the main villain for Marvel’s Avengers and it’s a great choice. Taking on the likes of Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Ms. Marvel is none other than MODOK, the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing.

MODOK is the perfect mix of a villain who is recognizable and threatening, but also one who hasn’t made an appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For good reason, but I’ll get to that in a second.

In the meantime, here’s the trailer where we get some story snippets and see George Tarleton’s gradual transformation from mad scientist to malevolent giant head:

MODOK is a Jack Kirby/Stan Lee original from all the way back in 1967, first appearing in full in Tales of Suspense #94 (he had a teaser cameo in the previous issue, as was the fashion at the time). George Tarleton was a member of Advanced Idea Mechanics, otherwise known as the bad guy organization from Iron Man 3 and the main faction of villains in Marvel’s Avengers. AIM was obsessed with science experiments where the ends justified the means, and upon creating a Cosmic Cube, they used Tarleton as a guinea pig to build some kind of evolved genius being from the Cube’s energies.

And so, MODOK was born. A giant head with a giant brain inside, but normal-sized limbs. A horrific sight with excessive smarts and psionic powers. Naturally, the elephant-sized brain man took over the whole outfit.

Initially, he was a different type of anti-Captain America. He was to brains what Cap was to awn, but was a terrifying mutation instead of the ultimate male model.

While MODOK started off as a Captain America villain, he soon became enemies with pretty much any hero that got in his way – as well as AIM itself sometimes. He took on the Hulk, Iron Man, the Carol Danvers version of Ms. Marvel, Alpha Flight, and so on. He was one of Marvel’s leading mad scientist characters who could be plugged into whatever story and appear threatening to even the newest reader because of his unique appearance. In Spider-Gwen’s alternate reality, MODOK is a giant Donald Trump lookalike called MODAAK (Mental Organism Designed As America’s King).

Yuge head. Very bigly.

While MODOK’s never carried his own solo series, he did have a very entertaining villain-based heist miniseries back in 2007 called Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK’s 11. He’s also getting his own Hulu animated series soon and he’ll be voiced by Patton Oswalt in a comedy about being an unemployed suburban father with a mid-life crisis.

Read more

Games

How Marvel’s Avengers Prequel Comics Set Up the Game

By Rob Leane

Games

How Marvel’s Avengers and Spider-Man Are Shaping the Superhero Games of Tomorrow

By Bernard Boo

MODOK has appeared in countless cartoons and video games, including as a playable fighter in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, where his ultimate plan was to steal and wear Galactus’ helmet. On the cult-favorite animated series Megas XLR, the legendary Bruce Campbell played a MODOK parody named Magnanimous. The Marvel area at Universal’s Islands of Adventure features a giant cutout image of MODOK getting smacked upside the head with Cap’s shield, leading tourists to wonder, “What the hell is that supposed to be?”

So if MODOK is such a big deal, why hasn’t he been in the movies? I suppose, in the end, MODOK is the Aquaman of Marvel. I don’t mean in the thematic counterpart sense (that would be Namor the Sub-Mariner, obviously). It’s just that despite being a classic fixture of comics loved by many fans, casual audiences and people who don’t follow comics might find his design a bit silly. Perfect for animation, but in live-action, a giant head with tiny arms and legs is a really hard sell.

Luckily, we’ve reached Marvel Phase 4 and people are a bit more open to high-concept, weirdo comic characters. Aquaman made all the money in the world by “making him sexy and likable.” Well, I can’t imagine we’re going to get a sexy MODOK (though I did just type that into Google Image Search out of morbid curiosity). It’ll take some effort to make MODOK look formidable and not hilarious or look like pure nightmare fuel for the kids.

What it seems we’re going to get in Marvel’s Avengers seems like a good start. When treated as serious, MODOK can be seen as the ultimate threat: giant brain with giant brain lasers. Considering AIM is supposed to have ties to the upcoming Black Widow movie, perhaps MODOK’s big video game final boss role could be a stepping stone towards doing him right on the big screen.

Marvel’s Avengers launches on Sept. 4 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia. The game is also coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X this holiday.

The post Marvel’s Avengers Game: Who is MODOK? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[gregolwman]

" WHY BE THE [Little Sponge] WHO HATES ITS [$4.99] LIFE

WHEN YOU CAN BE A

[BIG SHOT!!!] " ~ Spamton , Deltarune

Greetings and bienvenue , loyal customers . Today , do I have the deal for you . Now you may think to yourself : " This guy again . Ugh , I thought you got the message . No one cares ! " . To which , I say : " Bah ! " . But enough , about the haters and naysayers . Let's talk about something people love to hate . Self - Insert fanfiction .

Everyone wants to be a [BIG SHOT ! ] . [ BIG SHOT !! ] . [ BIG SHOT !!! ] . But barely anyone wants to put in the elbow grease or has the moral flexibility of a piece of chewed gum in order to become one . As such , they tend to default to their favorite pop culture franchise and then ask themselves the question : " What if ... I was part of the story ? " . Now , as most fanfiction aficionados know and more casual readers are just finding out , this type of fan work is very self-indulgent . You might ask naively : "How self-indulgent can they be ?" . The sad answer is that they can quickly get into porn without plot territory or even cross into the forbidden realm of ... Mary Sues !

If your curious what a Mary Sue is , then ... look it up on TV Tropes . Honestly , I am an used idea salesman not a walking pop culture encyclopedia . But , long story short , they are overpowered little goody two-shoes with supercomputers for brains and who can do no wrong . Some authors tend to start as subversions to this idea , but slowly as the plot thickness they tend to cross the point of no return and become the very thing they swore to avoid . And this idea is not even exclusive to fanfiction , since it can be the main plot point of a TV show or a book . While not a literal Mary Sue , the titular mecha of Megas XLR is a literal fighting machine that can do anything and it cannot be defeated , although it's pilot is anything but that since he is a gearhead from New Jersey with the appetite of an entire nation .

Anyways , derailing this train of thought for now . Getting back on track of the original topic , Self - Insert stories tend to have a very common elements of how the plot evolves from the reincarnation or insertion of the main character into the target franchise by a random omnipotent being , the hero's journey to meeting the cast of their favourite piece of media , their attempts at using their seemingly infinite knowledge of the series to influence the narrative to their own goals , the emo phase where the main character angsts about missing the people back in their dimension , the reveal of their status as an interdimensional immigrant , romancing one of the characters from the fictional universe , the reveal of some edgy backstory and then either creating a alternative universe or following the same plot points of the original stories , but with extra steps . There is also the other variety of Self - Inserts that end up in Harem situations or desire to do their very best Doctor Doom impression and try to take over the Universe ! As you can see , it is rather self-indulgent if I do say so myself .

Now admittedly there are some Self - Insert stories that manage to make this narrative easier to digest and be fun at the same time , both for the writer to drone on about and for the random online person to read . One such story would be " This Bites ! " , a Self - Insert story about a random guy getting dragged into the One Piece universe , where he joins the infamous Straw Hat pirates , but rather than being a poor man's wet dream , it is an interesting retelling of the original universe , which adverts some of the more ... iffy parts of a Self - Insert narrative such as the aforementioned romancing whatever fictional character you happen to have a crush on and the big drama over being from another dimension . The latter being beautifully subverted by One Piece's main character himself , Luffy D. Monkey , who pretty much tells the main character in no uncertain terms to keep it to himself if it doesn't endanger the crew . Simply marvelous .

Admittedly , I am rather biased about this whole mess , since I read so many Self - Inserts that were obviously pulled from someone's private diary , that I grew jaded with the whole concept . You would too , after reading so many fanfictions about being a rather influential character in Harry Potter or Naruto and you are romancing the titular characters regardless of gender orientation or care for the original material . I mean , what deal would a civilian musician have with a military operation , even if Commander Sheppard recruited an archeologist and a tech-savvy vagrant , both of them were literally informants to an ongoing investigation and had their lives in danger . There is no sense , it is like the random omnipotent being gave the main character a +1 to their charisma or something , since they managed that feat of luck . Or just importing a flipping lightsaber and barely changing some terminology . Honestly , if you gave me five minutes and gave me some time to read through the codex , I could write something more believable from an in-story perspective with just the available lore . Like instead of magic space crystals , just say that it is a graphene blade that is created from a micro - forge in the hilt and agitated by mass effect fields to the point of being a high frequency blade . It stays true to canon and it is original , which are both good things . Then there is the whole sub-genre of " The Gamer " fusion fiction , which all I have to say is , go play a video game rather than read about it . Also , how could a person memorise an entire wikia page about a series to the point of being able to make a minor character's astrological chart without having their memories of the past erased just to make space ? And how can they just adapt to their new circumstances with no issues ? It's not like people of the modern era speak the same languages that were spoken in the Renaissance or even know how to operate future technology that requires information that didn't exist yet . It just boggles the mind to think about .

As you can all see , I happen to have opinions and those writers also have some "interesting" opinions of their own . Maybe , I am reading too much into the whole thing and lost track of the original desire of just reading something for fun . After all , fans tend to become rather toxic when someone threatens their headcanons . But enough about that . Rather than tell you about ideas I dislike , I will tell you about ideas I like . As such , I would rather read a story about a casual fan of a series being sent to their favourite piece of pop culture , where they have some general knowledge of how things will turn up , but not the entire series bibble worth of it , who will ultimately end up living their own adventures of learning about themselves and other through interacting with alien cultures and traditions , which haven't been explored in the lore rather than be shanghaied into the more action packed main plot . Their life story might intersect with the original narrative at some junctions , but it is more self-contained since the self - insert is having a blast with a plethora of original characters rather than worrying about some omnious doom only few know about . On the subject of their knowledge , I would rather skip the part of the whole dramatic reveal of their origins since at this point it is rather insignificant and serves only to burden the characters with a self-awareness that is just ripped out of the 90's . I don't say that the confidants of the inserted player couldn't be notified of this in order to reinforce the bonds they have , but it is a rather dead horse trope that needs to be left to rot in peace .

In conclusion , we all have something to trash talk something out of a need to vent the frustrations caused by an unrelated incidents from our real lives . What's important is to be a constructive critic , since you can moan about your hate boners all you want , but if you don't tell people how to improve , then your just contributing to the problem .

Now that I got off my high horse , you can comb this essay for whatever ideas you want to use for the low price of your attention span .

This has been Greg for Owlman's Previously Owned Ideas . We do not advise you to buy gold . We also do no refunds .

[bulma-laboratory]

why do all the female fighters have to be so skinny? I like Ribrianne a lot, people only hate her because she is fat and ugly, if she had remained on her normal form everybody would love her. Fat characters never play an important role, they’re only used for comedy relief, I’d never seen a fat character as the main protagonist.

Hi anon! While it’strue that most  female characters are skinny af (caulifla, kale, n18) there are 2 females fighters with chubby bodies so far (ribrianne and monna). As for ribrianne, I don’t think everyone hate her because she’s fat, but because of her poor character development. I'm sure people actually wouldn’t dislike her as much if she wasn’t taking away too much screen time, she needs to do something interesting and be less repetitive (my opinion). But If you like her, that’s great :)

-“Fat characters never play an important role … I’d never seen a fat characteras the main protagonist”

That’s not true, many series and movies have featured (as youput it) “fat” characters that play the “main protagonist” or the “main hero”role, and that a lot of people love: (If I’m forgetting one, please let meknow)

Steven (Steven Universe)

Clarence (Clarence)

Choji and his daughter (Naruto-Boruto)

Majin Buu (Dragon Ball Z)

Po and Shrek (Kung-fu panda, Shrek)

Russell (Up)

Coop (Megas XLR)

Homer and Peter (The Simpson, Family Guy)

Fred (The Flintstones)

Peppa (peppa pig)

Try to not pay attention to negative comments on the socialmedia, as many people you see that hate something, there are probably as many thatlike it, not everyone can be pleased, and many people will criticize anythingjust for the sake of complaining (haters gonna hate xD).