#Rat I love you so much I'm sorry for disagreeing with a way a fictional character is handling their fictional pregnancy

[harry-trumans-dishwasher]

Magic Nerds should be forbidden from talking about art.

Transcription under the cut.

Me: 9:19 No, I disagree with everything this sarcastic man says. The version of Magic I love has always been goofy and bizarre and full of artists doing their own thing. Google Phil Foglio and pause the video at 9:18. I thought this video would be an intelligent discussion about conflicting tastes and artistic sensibilities, but all he's doing is pointing at a cowboy hat and saying "This is cringe. Everyone who likes this BAD ART should be embarassed. Nothing like this would've flown in the Good Ol' Days."

Innocent Bystander: Goofy is intrinsic to Magic, don't get me wrong. It just used to be like 10 - 20% goofy, now it's 70 - 80% and it's strangling everything that actually matters out of the set. If you want all goofy all the time then there are the un-sets.

Me: Okie-Dokie. That's a very respectable opinion to have. You say it used to be 10-20%. Now it's more like 70-80%. In your mind's eye, you have every card you've seen lined up from least-to-most goofy -- all the cloning chambers, the robots, the dinosaurs -- you've put your finger down and decided for yourself what is and isn't goofy. Me, I think every card (even ones like "Cut a Deal" or Tarkir's upcoming gummy-bear-dragons) is inherently silly -- but that's just my perspective.

What we both agree on is that variety is important :^] People like to express their individuality with these cards, so it's a good thing that there's always at least 10% for people like me and 90% for people who... like their genre-fiction straight. This youtuber does not agree with the two of us.

Now listen to what this man says at 9:43. Listen to him say that even a singular alternate-art card in an otherwise perfect set is enough to make him disgusted with the whole thing. Listen to how fatigued he is when he starts it with that "I'm sorry but..." He's so embarrassed to be associated with any of it. If it were up to him, that 10%, 20%, 70%, 80% would all just go away so the hobby he's built his career around can be respectable again.

In a way I'm glad. Roth's "The Rat Fink" style was not conceived to appeal to self-serious, white bread types like HIM. As soon as I saw the alternate art for the Bloodghast, I knew it wasn't going to appeal to everyone, but my friends and I were ecstatic to see that level of underground punk culture make its way into Magic. I don't at all care for the Exhaust or Start your Engines mechanics, but I'll admit it's my own fault for feeling so injured when I see someone with this big of an audience write this art off as....

Bad Art. Art that "doesn't matter" as you say.

I try not to mind it, but it makes me angry to see him lump it in with the goddamn Sherlock-hats.

That's the personal side of this. But on the topic of hats, I think there's a LOT of criticism one could have for stuff like "Marchesa Dealer of Death." You could talk about the creative bankruptcy of bouncing from one flavor of genre fiction to the next. You could have a Herzog-level of discussion about how the world is running out of unique images. Running out of hats, if you like. But no! He just cringes at it all in that sarcastic voice of his! He completely side-steps the clownshoes New Capenna and Bloomburrow sets since he knows most people like those cards, and he provides the same level of artistic criticism as a pre-teen groaning about how lame Cartoon Network has gotten.

Now he's allowed to do it. He's allowed to wince and cringe and spew hot air at [checks viewer count] hundreds of thousands -- people who lack this much self-awareness ought to be loud so I'll know to steer clear of 'em. But tell me, Not-A-Dragon. What is wrong with the art we're supposed to hate at 9:17? It's colorful. It's unique. It's individualized! It's like nothing I've ever seen before on a Magic card! Why are we supposed to hate this!? The Broadcast rambler! I've downloaded this art on my phone and shown it to everyone who'll tolerate me. "It's Fine" "Looks Cool" Why is it SILLY? All I see is something that looks different!

I'm listening to this horrible man speak, and my only conclusion is that he simply lumps all art that doesn't appeal to his own personal tastes as "silly." As if the whole field of art criticism can be boiled down to a singular scale. He simply does not want to engage with any of this art that makes him feel embarrassed or surprised. I don't watch a lot of MTG-Youtubers, but it's abhorrent to see people talk about any form of art like this. If this is what I have to look forward to, I'm just going to keep playing and talking about art with my own friends.

We hate the Hasbro company for our own reasons, so we make our own proxy cards; none of us are artists, so they look pretty childish. Goofy. Special.

I have to stop myself from crying when I imagine someone might listen to this hateful man and feel too frightened to create their own drawings.

I don't know his name, but please reject what this man says, Not-A-Dragon. I don't expect I've changed your mind about Rat Fink or Cowboy Hats, but please. Draw your favorite character riding a Vespa. Write your own story about the Tarkir dragons meeting the bloomburrow gang. Pick out your favorite Magic Artist, learn about their inspirations, and find similar beauty elsewhere. You can even draw how you imagine me! With a big ol' dunce cap and a clown nose.

For the love of god, do not imagine how this vitriolic man might react to any of it.

Please.

[izukukuzi]

(1/?) I'm back with a rant..... I am definitely with that fellow anon about their dislike for bkg. Like I didn't like him for the fact that what he did just was shoved to the side and never talked about to begin with. Then I came into the fandom and I was like "!!??!!??" like people are not only doing what canon has done and forgotten what he did, but now they are literally shipping them together? And thinking he's "soft boi" and he has drastically changed and made up for what he did? Like where

(2/?) Because while yes in some aspects he has changed. He no longer physically attacks Izuku outside of training (besides bk v dk #2 and finals), but that doesn't mean that he's learned right from wrong. He just realizes in bk v dk #1 that Izuku won't put up with his violent outbursts anymore and also sees that he is not the only one to have a powerful quirk in 1-A. Izuku also changes by being able to gain actual friends and not the toxic and abusive one he had with bkg so he breaks away from

(3/?) Bkg and thus Bakugou realizes he can't control Izuku anymore and he also would have back up and seeing as most of the class wanted to be his friend at the beginning he knew if he pulled that shit no more UA whether the class rats him out or Aizawa won't put up with his shit. But Jesus the stans..... like they don't listen to canon because they have their own views on what Bakugou is like. I have written an analysis on him in volume one and got a "cold take" response.... like I put

(4/?) actual quotes and scenes from it and somehow that's a cold take even though it literally happened??? Also I'm fine with ships like that's you not me, but I don't understand where people can ship BKDK because before they date they "talk"? Like yes they need to talk about the shit that happened in middle school, but talking doesn't erase what Bakugou did. Like at all. It would still be a pretty toxic ship because it's obvious Bakugou scarred Izuku with the use of his quirk like those don't

(5/?) Just up and leave because they talk? And basically I got a response that "no no no you don't understand they have chemistry because they are linked and they have most scenes together" like do the shippers know that like 90% of those scenes Bakugou is either beating Izuku up or yelling insults at him? Like how could any abuser/victim relationship be healthy. Then there are the stans that also blame Izuku for overexaggerating because he's the main narrator. Like ah yes because we don't have

(6/?) Scenes from Best Jeanist, Aizawa, All Might, other pro heroes, and other UA students that express their worries over Bakugou's behavior. Then there's the stans that think antis don't want to see him grow, overexaggerate him, or think we hate him because of his past actions, instead of thinking on why would someone hate this character who 1. Never faced any consequences and learned that what he did was wrong. 2. Has yet to apologize to Izuku for all the shit he did to him. 3. Everytime he

(7/?) He grows he then goes back to his old ways and sometimes contradicts what he just did. 4. Some people have been abused and so he reminds them of what their own bully/abuser did and so they cannot like a character like that. Like I have yet to meet an anti who just up and says "I hate Bakugou for no reason" and also antis get yelled at by his stans for "not understanding his character" or are even given death threats and are told that we just spread hate. Sorry for the long rant, I can't

(8/8) I can't stand his stans because they can get quite obnoxious (even putting their love in the anti tag to rile up the antis) and for reasons above and just argh never have stans made me hate a character even more. Because Bakugou isn't like Karma from Ass Class no matter how hard hori tries or how much his stans depict him that way. Because I'm pretty sure if Karma was in MHA Bakugou would have been put in his place the instant Bakugou realized he could harm Izuku and get away with it. 🎤🎤

I definitely think this can all be indications of how important it is to consider the humanity of those you interact with, and how that takes priority over the... dignity??? the perception (I dunno what I’m trying to say) of a fictional character. more often than not, I think bakugou is a shitty person; I think it’s shitty to ship him with his abuse victim (of ten-ish years); I don’t really understand where most people are coming from with their Very Positive feelings towards bakugou, and I will rant and rave about that on my blog for as long as it bother me because that’s my space to do that.

HOWEVER, what’s more important to me than my dislike of bakugou, is the well-being of the people I interact with while talking about his character. I would never send bakustans hate, regardless of how much we disagree with each other; I may get sassy with rude anons, but I never aim to harm anyone because... like, it’s bakugou lmao. he’s not real. so, in that same sense, I wish people were a bit kinder on the other side of things too. you can like bakugou/bakudeku if that’s really what you’re into, but there’s no real reason to be hateful or send death threats to someone just because they disagree with you over a ship/anime character. those things aren’t that important and, like you brought up, plenty of people see the characteristics of those who have hurt them in real life in bakugou, so it’s not always a matter of just fighting over (dis)liking a character for the fuck of it (and I understand that the same can be said for those who do like him. there are understandable qualities that people may identify with, but I think that’s all the more reason to approach and treat those who disagree with you how you want to be treated).

but anyways, ignore my rambling. thank you for sharing your thoughts!