#Really what a waste of potential. I am so sad all the time haha

[longagoitwastuesday]

Both Nobara and the blonde witch (Momo?) make good points about the role of women in this Jujutsu society. Momo points out that power is not enough for them, that that which is good enough for men isn't for women, that they are held to higher standards, and for them scars aren't badges of honour as they are for men, but make them undesirable and damaged goods.

And then there's Nobara, pointing out those are sexist standards one doesn't have to adhere to, that it's on them for playing by the rules and having those exigences in mind. That she likes clothes and looking pretty, but for herself, she doesn't expect it from others or respect more someone who does as well if they don't want to, like she likes Maki but dislikes Mai. And she too is right! It's true that adhering to those exigences perpetuates the standards! But what she says doesn't negate what Momo says, which is the fact that, yeah, okay, it sucks, but that's how it is and not playing by the rules just makes everything harder. And harder still for someone like Mai (or Maki) to whom perfection isn't just the goal, but the very starting point being people from one of the main clans. So she can understand and defend Mai's position and approach to the problem, as Nobara understands and defends Maki's.

This all gains layers of complexity and juiciness considering Momo and Mai are Utahime's students and Todo's classmates. I am sure the manga won't go there, but wow is it intriguing how Utahime's situation may have influenced their views. What a pity the manga won't go there

[katatty]

Shifting Priorities

Thank you for all the nice comments yesterday! Some really helpful perspectives that gave me a lot of ideas on how I can tackle my simmer's block :)

Mostly, I think I need to trim down the number of neighbourhoods I consider "active" and the amount of projects I am doing in general. I have a hard time letting go of neighbourhoods, especially if I am still somewhat invested in them! But I also need to face the fact that I only have so much free time, and do not want playing the sims to be the sole thing I do with that free time XD

For some neighbourhoods I will also be trying out a more stripped-down approach to blogging, similar to what I've been doing with Driftwood. It makes me a little sad because I like my sims to feel fleshed out as characters and giving them voices is a big part of that! But maybe I can save the prose/dialogue for times when it is particularly needed, rather than including it as a default.

Finally, I am going to prioritise based on what I actually have the most fun with, rather than letting popularity drive my decisions!! Some neighbourhoods I feel sad about potentially retiring because I know people enjoy them, or I feel bad admitting I am never going to finish projects people were excited for, but I have to remember simming is something I do for myself, not for popularity or for other people.

So, plans for my neighbourhoods:

Pleasantview Plus - will continue in its current form for the most part, but holdholds I found less inspiring will just get short summaries rather than extensive documentation. This hood is waaaaaaay too big and I think not that many people follow it all that closely, but it's also my one true love and I would like to start prioritising it again rather than it always being on the backburner

Uberhood Challenge (YouTube Series) - This is a short-term series, and will continue as planned until I finish the challenge, which I'm over halfway through :)

Hollyhead - I hate to say it because I know a lot of people love it, but I feel like I have sorta outgrown this neighbourhood? Some simmers like their settings to be an escape from the real world, and when I made Hollyhead I think it was what I needed too, but these days I find how upbeat & wholesome it is a bit, idk, constraining?? I crave drama and conflict in my stories!! I also have kinda lost interest in the BACC rules and have started to find it more book-keeping and hassle for what I get out of it... Whenever I do open the neighbourhood I still really enjoy actually playing it, and I love the characters so much, but I just haven't found the events interesting enough to want to write about. I think this neighbourhood will not be retired completely (yet), but I will move towards writing much shorter updates in the form of newspaper articles and see if that helps. If by the end of this season I still feel ehhh about it, I might formally end it <3

Driftwood - no complaints about this hood, I'll probably continue with the current style of documenting major events & new builds only

Spruceburg (YouTube series) - I would like to do another season of this next year, after I finish the uberhood challenge! But I will probably go for a schedule of like, one season of series per year, rather than posting consistantly. I enjoy YouTube a lot, but its a lot of work too and I think has majorly taken away from my blogging time this year, which I am mourning now lol!!

The Fiero Legacy - it is probably time to throw in the towel with this and admit I just don't enjoy playing legacy style or with story progression that much! I always enjoy the period where the heir is dating but once they settle down and have kids it becomes a chore and a grind, plus with story progression's time system I always feel rushed and like I can't take a sim out of the house for an outing without potentially missing important milestones - the urban setting feels so wasted when its all family gameplay, haha. Hallie should be at the club!! It was an interesting experiment and a nice change of pace, but idk if I really see myself returning to it. I love the sims themselves and the setting, but whenever I actually load up the neighbourhood I just feel kinda stressed and overwhelmed :(

As for my building projects like Belladonna Cove, perhaps at some point I will get really inspired and return to them but for now they are on indefinite break. I remember saying a few time in the past that I didn't really feel much need to make over Pleasantview and Strangetown because if I wanted nice makoevers I would use frottanas, and tbh I feel the same way about Belladonna Cove - if I was playing it I would just use plumbtales makeovers XD With my past neighbourhood makeovers I was really inspired to make them because there wasn't anything out there that was exactly what I wanted but, well, there's loooooads of nice Belladonna cove makeovers these days so I just don't feel much drive to make my own version I guess?? I think I also have lost interest in building a little becasue I am no longer into super heavily decorated lots - I prefer lighter lots that won't cause lag lol! So yeah, I am probably not retiring from building forever but its no longer a priority for me :)

[sterakraffulz78]

This is hilarious and fateful

I saw the episode, and I never really thought that wasting time like this would be a suffering that lasted too long. I'm going to get good and bad things from what I saw

first for good, okay?

1. The deaf imp

In itself, I was very surprised by this character and to tell the truth I can consider him better than the other deep and sad Pseudos that only serve to make the panties get wet because of the Fujoshits, and it is something that in this program is seen very little or is scarce in Yes, it made me tender that Fizz treated him well.

2. Fizz and Asmodeus' relationship

What can we say, the relationship itself is healthy, and superior to many of both series and when Asmodeus protected Fizz it is something nice on his part, not like a certain owl who is only interested in the red cock who is a tremendous fucking creep unable to defend his """"little""", this relationship is one of the few salvageable things in this series

Now with the bad things

3. The songs

For the love of God... why? All the songs seem forgettable and super stupid to me, it seems that the only thing this chapter does is create time and necessary filler that will never contribute or amount to anything

4. The imp hater by fizarolli

This was expected, it doesn't surprise me much to tell the truth... just imagine that you are so hurt by harmless criticism of your program that you only hope for a good change and to be guided to do a good deed, but you prefer to spend and overexploit the Poor workers who only want some money to encourage your resentment in a lively way, this is ridiculous and makes others feel sorry for Viviana Medrano

5. Mammon

This is the first most annoying, loudest and most obnoxious thing I've ever seen followed by Chaz, the only thing he knows how to say is pure rudeness in every damn sentence, it's a fucking audiovisual blister that seems to never end, apart from the cringe I feel about it, the Deadly sins of this show will never be taken seriously and more that sexist phrase about "Women are not funny" and then you're dead... Damn you Medrano bitch, can't you at least respect a simple woman even if she has a tertiary role in your shitty program? (And ironic why you make penis jokes and swear words to wait for someone to laugh and praise you)

6. I HOPE THEY FUCK YOU BLITZ

Is it really necessary to put Blitz in every episode? For the love of God, am I already sick of listening and seeing that red cringe guy making those embarrassing faces and hearing his voice why can't I listen to Brandon normally anymore without remember this abusive and manipulative guy swearing!? They shoehorned this guy in just to get "laughs" and make him stick to Fizz when he was given the biggest tragedy of his life

7. Good vs bad, hAha ​​tHeY aRe RiGht wHy tHEy aRe nExT To thE bOyS aNd uwu sOfT

As always, our wonderful writing writing the bad characters, like the black ones in this Turkish soap opera and making them caricatures for mockery and portraying them as the soft boys and uwu the good ones. These characters are already predictable, if there is a soft and sore young gay uwu, he will be the good one because he is the soft and sore young gay uwu and we are all forced to take his side, while those who have the potential to be good villains like Striker, you position them as silly, cartoonish and you are the generic antagonist of a series for children under 6 years old, for example Asmodeus against Mammon

It's good that the views are getting lower and lower, so soon we won't be able to stand this series in decline and the next more ridiculous, repulsive, mediocre, cringe and pathetic chapter written by a ridiculous, mediocre, cringe, pathetic, misogyny, sexist, Transphobic , racist, xenophobic writer who only ruined her own work so that her little friends the Fujoshits (I already saw you SatorRojas, TeaTheKook and Dani) get their panties wet and buy more panties again to get them wet because they can't stand two boys together

[astral-from-afar]

Once again I am back to talking about a jjk poll because it's been on my mind today. I just wanna look at the top 10 and talk about the misogyny choices of the fanbase.

Megumi - I think Megumi's alright and I don't have anything against him. His involvement in the main story keeps him relevant but I dunno, I still don't have anything to talk about sorry

Yuji - I once again want to advocate that my boy Yuji should have been #1. He keeps getting overshadowed in these polls and I wish that he was given justice.Unfortunately this may be the last poll but Yuji will be no.1 in my heart.

Gojo - Okay let me be real I thought box boy would be #1 just to mess with Gege after he got released. Like Gege would 100% kill him off in the cruelest way if he was first but it would be hilarious nevertheless.

Geto - wait is this him + kenjaku? Geto has been getting more promo leading up to s2 + he's one of the more significant characters to the overall story so I shouldn't have downplayed his popularity. But I feel like he should be lower down compared to some of the other characters on the list.

Yuta - He's higher than last time so that's nice. I'm a firm believer that he should have been fourth instead of Geto and that gap was WAY too large.

Naoya - haha very funny. Yeah the guy with no character and was supposed to develop both Maki and Mai's characters and he was higher than BOTH of them COMBINED. Like what has he really done? Bffr. This is most likely due to him looking 'attractive' compared to other members of the Zenin clan who are NOT on the top 30. Like I said before, there are characters below him that have been in the manga way longer and had a far greater impact. But hey that's shonen fanbases for you.

Nanami - Another good day for Nanami fans.I'm surprised he's still in the top 10 and was expecting him to land around 14-16 but I was proven wrong. I do enjoy his character though so I don't really mind that he's in the top 10.Hope to see him shine in s2

Inumaki - Okay before I get sniped let's be real. He has not done anything to deserve being in the top 10. I literally ran an account counting how many days he was gone and there was barely any signs of him coming back until recent events occured. He really should have been in the 10-20s and while I do like his character I can't deny salmon boy was kinda irrelevant.

Maki - This is what happens to a female character in a shonen series. People always go on about how the female charcters in jjk are 'so developed' but when it comes to it, they are barely recognised in polls like these. Her achievements SHOULD place her to top 5 (top 3 imo) as her character has been integral in so many events and has one of the most emotional stories in the series. Her being below characters like Naoya and Inumaki is a disservice to her character and I urge people to reread her arcs to see why she is one of the best characters in the series.

Choso - Still salty about this. This is mainly because I consider Choso wasted potential but I feel like it's more criminal to see him be on here instead of Yuki. I know I am a resident Yuki fan so I may be biased but she has been in the story numerous times. Her ideals and philosophies are interesting and complex and her showdown against Kenjaku (although a bit dissapointing) is one of the most unique fights in the series. Two intellectual characters with a deep history with the jujutsu world and real word experiences going head to head. Then you look at Choso's arc with his brothers along with himself and it just pales in comparison. I do think Choso should have been in the 10-20s as he is still a good character but not having the SPECIAL GRADE SORCEROR and former STRONGEST SORCERER on the list. I'd also argue that this was a case of fandom misogyny as she is one of the more important characters but is constantly undermined or vilified by the fanbase

All in all, the list is kind of sad to see. Mainly due to the female characters being overshadowed by male characters who may not have deserved the place. I invite conversations to talk about the poll but I'm not fighting people over this

[charlesemersonwinchesteriii]

For dating game: Donna Noble for a non Mash option from something I'm pretty sure I've seen you reblog stuff from, BJ, and Klinger

I can't believe I got 2 Donnas for this game and neither were the MASH one haha. And yes I AM a Doctor Who fan but like with Twin Peaks I'm only a shallow fake one because I only feel really passionate about RTD era :( sowwy again. I'm 0 for 2 today. But at least I didn't skip MASH s1-3 AND I didn't skip the 9th Doctor AND I read Laura's diary + Dale Cooper's tapes. So now everyone has to give me a little headpat and forgive me and say they're not mad at me thank you <3

Donna Noble

I couldn’t handle Donna QwQ I couldn’t match her energy it’s very sad :( I feel like I would do the exact opposite of what the Doctor did for her in terms of bringing out her most amazing qualities. And I do really try to highlight and praise the qualities of people in my life!! I just don’t know if I could help her reach her full potential. Which sounds like one of those weird therapy-talk approaches to relationships but unfortunately sometimes when you really admire someone you actually do start thinking about things like “am I supporting her journey effectively” and all that. But this is just a date right so it can just be a casual thing. I feel like Donna is someone with whom I could straight up be like Hey so I was never socialized properly and your last relationship ended comically terribly so do you want to like try practicing dating with each other? I think it could be fun! And then eventually she could move on to find happiness with Mr. Temple :)  

Wait actually sorry quick tangent if Donna doesn’t remember the Doctor what does she think happened to her fiance from way back when. Does she. Does she remember the giant alien spider or. Hang on--

BJ Hunnicutt

BJ Hunnicutt is the human equivalent of Disneyland. Everybody in the entire nation is absolutely obsessively feral over it it’s sooo beautiful it’s sooo fun you just HAVE to experience it it’s a quintessential expression of the American dream blah blah blah. But I will never attend this overpriced (constantly borrowing money) and overcrowded (too much competition from the rest of Mashblr) theme park. I do not care for its fastpass system (willingness to cheat on his partner) or its uninspiring coaster design (anger issues), and I am further offended to hear of the constant introduction of cost-cutting measures that harm visitor experience (growth of mustache). Not even the prospect of purchasing a fully functioning Cogsworth clock (chance to join the Punnihawk polycule) is enough to tempt me. It’s not happening. I am going to Dollywood (Maxwell Klinger).

Maxie my beautiful girl Maxie whomst is so very adored by me

My wife my kitten my sweet snuggly wuggly good time gal. My Dollywood. Know that I love and adore Maxwell for eternity <3

BUT. I must love her from afar because I couldn’t in good conscience waste her time when I figure there must be a more compatible match out there, ya know? Like, I know hardly anything about baseball and I wear the same clothes every day and I don’t eat red meat so I can’t even share those beloved hotdogs. Max deserves the Best as I’m sure we all agree, and we know he wants a serious long term partnership. I want the same thing, so I know that such a lifelong, committed relationship should be with someone who finds themself more easily compatible with Max’s tastes and interests.  

On an unrelated note, Charles sure seemed to get super into baseball in War For All Seasons, huh? :) And we know he cares a lot about his clothes, as we see him hiring a personal tailor at least once! :) And he was surprisingly eager to get to share in Max’s hotdog delivery in The Grim Reaper, too! :) So many random fun facts in this world \^w^/

[thebookpandemonium]

Book Review - The Never King - Nikki St. Crowe

Rating: ✭✭

I have seen this book dozens of times, on bookstagram, on booktok, on goodreads, on storygraph. It was everywhere. And now I know why.

Spoilers incoming, be aware!

The Never King is the first book in a dark Peter Pan retelling, which now consists of four books. It was written by Nikki St. Crowe and it follows Winnie Darling, Peter Pan and some Lost Boys.

Synopsis:

Winnie Darling is set to be kidnapped by Peter Pan on her 18th birthday. Or so, she is told by her mother, who according to legend has been kidnapped by Peter Pan as well, same as all the Darling-women that came before her, dating back to the Original Darling: Wendy! However, Winnie is a bit sceptical about the whole affair, as her mother always has been a bit unstable and, dare I say, insane.

But, Peter Pan does come for her, and everything she believed to be madness, suddenly become true. Peter and his Lost Boys hold many secrets, and they believe Winnie somehow can help Peter Pan and Neverland from the fading magic. A tumultuous time is unleashed on Winnie, together with several good-looking young men. A recipe for disaster if you ask me.

Review:

This book had so much potential. So much! I mean, dark retelling, Peter Pan, good looking Lost Boys, sign me up! However, this book was somewhat underwhelming... From the first moment I started reading the book, I disliked Winnie. She felt one dimensional, shallow and obsessed with s*x. However, I was willing to accept that because I was here for Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. Sadly, they turned out to be nothing better than Winnie Darling.

I mean, there was a plot somewhere. However, it was completely covered in smut, which is truly a missed opportunity, if you ask me. However, Nikki St. Crowe did pull my interest and is more or less forcing me to read the sequel to this literary fantasy p*rn book, which I must admit is very clever of her, haha.

See, there is this Lost Boy, Vane, and he is very mysterious, dark and twisty, violent and all things wrong. He is the only one without a POV, and though there is some discussion about who and what he is, still there is a lot left that will keep you guessing. So, I want to know more about this creeper. Winnie, Peter Pan, Bash and Kas are all mweh, smut-obsessed and semi-boring. But Vane, the man without a POV is the hidden force of this book, I'm sure.

So, to summarize:

✅ The Peter Pan world full of magic and all we ever wanted from Neverland: Mermaids, Pirates, Faeries, you name it, they have it!

✅ It's definitely a lot darker than OG Peter Pan

✅ Mysterious, but highly interesting character, Vane

✅ A plot which has a lot of potential, which can still lead to a nice sequel with an epic fantasy plot

💢 Too much smut

💢 One-dimensional smut-obsessed main characters

💢 Smut without sufficient reason behind it, which showers over the plot that could have been nice

💢 There is fast pace, and there is Formula 1 pace. This is Formula 1 pace. Take the time to get to know the characters, man...

And I know, I complain about the smut. I despise the smut. And I know that the so-called 'spice' is the main reason people read these books, but it so sad to sell it as a 'Peter Pan retelling', while you could have used some random names for a random fantasy-driven plot and still you would have ended up with the same thing. I read Peter Pan retellings, because I loved Peter Pan as a child, and now I want to enjoy it as an adult. And I really don't mind spice, I like it in most books, as long as it makes sense.

In the current setting of the book, the characters have turned in to s*x-obsessed beasts, which is a waste of the characters as well. All of them, especially Winnie, could have been amazing characters, if she would not have said 'I don't care, I love having s*x', at least a dozen times. And if not every POV of her would be her thirsting over not one, but four men. Get a grip, woman!

Anyway, I am set to read the sequel. I was told it would get better, less smut-driven and all that, so who knows! To be continued.

-S.

[beyourownanchor6]

I think they were good out of context, as standalone. But some things never made sense. Like after the first one where Supergirl joins, it's like. She found out there's a whole universe where there's no superman or supergirl, no clark kent or kara danvers, which potentially could mean krypton never exploded, and she can get to that universe with the help of her friend barry's friend cisco, and she does... absolutely nothing with that information. No desire to visit au!krypton. No desire to see her parents again. No desire to take Clark, who has no ties to his own culture because he lost it as a baby, to go see krypton. Nothing. And like she knows there is life on other planets and it matches the life in other planets on her universe because of the dominators, the alien main villains of that crossover who also exist in her universe. It drove me crazy.

Yeah i definitely went through it. But it made me stronger in the end. Yeah i loved/hated 13 reasons why. It was definitely wild. And thank you so much! One of my best friends says i should write an auto biography, but i can't imagine anyone being interested in reading about my messed up teen years. Like "ooh i was an alcoholic in high school" big deal, like, doesn't make me special. And yeees. My mom is my best friend (not in a norman bates kinda way), we're very close. Recently she's been hinting that it might be better for me to move out because i need to work on independence, and i meed to be free to fornicate at home. I'm unsure if i want that, because i love living with her.

Lol oh i'm like that with scooby doo.

Yeah, i love foggy too. No spoilers (unless you want them) but yeah, very limited foggy. Rumor has it it's basically a cameo. And yees punisher is coming back. I never got into him but he is nice to look at. Especially his nose (i have a thing for noses, i'm weird).

Thank you! I subscribed to you :D

Thank you! I'll try beans with my mom, maybe she'll get that.

Yeah indeed, second opinions are important. And it was definitely helpful! Now I can plan accordingly. And that sounds like a great weekend! I hope you have a great week!

gonna respond under the cut 😎

i think supergirl definitely ruined a lot of the series/crossovers bc they never really tied it together with everything like you said? seemed like a lot of wasted opportunities. i tried to watch supergirl a couple times but quit both times lol. it definitely had a lot of plot holes from what i remember, which honestly isn’t much lol. idk why but dc shows/movies just always seem to fall short compared to marvel stuff, imo. it’s like they just don’t know what they’re doing half the time and just go with whatever

sometimes we have to go through some shit to make us stronger in the end. the show definitely got very dramatic but i loved it anyway and was invested lol, but i can see not wanting to engage with that after all you went through. hey ya never know! your story could be just the thing to help someone out who’s maybe going/gone through something similar. LOL, i do love me some psycho. did you ever watch the show bates motel? living alone (or at least without your parents) is definitely nice! i live with my brother but he’s much more easygoing then my dad so it works. it’s like having a roommate but we get along haha. it’s a big step though so i think it’s ok to take your time and make sure you’re ready!

dang, that makes me sad. kinda weird to do daredevil without him i’d think. that shall be interesting. the punisher was one of my favorites. i really wanted more seasons of that, but i kinda felt that way about all the marvel netflix show lol

oww thanks! hope you enjoy 🥰

beans are a fun way to describe it for me. or it makes me feel less blahh about it lol

that’s always a helpful thing! thanks, i am on a trip with my bff this week but i got horribly sunburned and dont feel like doing anything now lol. hope you’re weeks been good!

[man-monsters-and-aliens]

Have you seen MVA specifically the tv series and what are your thoughts about it?

yes I have! like twice? or three times selectively? and that was like 2 years ago!

short answer; this show has all my love and hatred for its existence

long answer?

I like the concept of the monster agents having to "share" living space with the aliens, and I do like the idea of the different aliens sort of being foils or compliments to the monsters

the ongoing plots like coverton's relationships with the monsters and how he has redeeming qualities is really nice! and I appreciate some of the continuity like the teleportation bit. I am sad that didn't get resolved or that we got to see through with coverton's invasion plans

sqweep's relationship with link is especially sweet and I hold it so dear to my heart, and even small interactions for sta'abi with the others are also really nice

I adore and appreciate how the monsters interact with each other because they absolutely nailed the family vibe, and just how they behave with the aliens in general since there's that bit of speciescism in there

my favourite eps are;

‌The Toy From Another World

‌Frenemy Mine

‌Maximum B.O.B.

‌It Came... on a Field Trip

‌The Thing with One Brain

‌98 Pound Cockroach

‌Screaming Your Calls

‌It Came From Level Z

‌Driven to Madness

‌The Beast From 20,000 Gallons

‌It Spoke With Authority

‌This Ball Must Be Dodged

‌It Ruled With an Iron Fist

‌Race to the End...Zone!

‌That Which Cannot Be Unseen

(though I honestly don't remember what some of these were about haha)

now onto what I don't like

firstly, Butterflyosaurus isn't there, and secondly, Ginormica isn't ginormic all the time, but we'll touch on these later

the fact that nickelodeon produced it already had my expectations low, and the fact that it was in 3d made it worse. based on the style of the concept arts, I would've loved it better if it was animated that way in 2d.

the character designs for the aliens are so ugly and unappealing (except sqweep she's decent) but even the models are weirdly scaled and disproportionate for the humans. again, the concept arts for coverton, sta'abi, and vornicarn were so much better than the end result, it's a real shame honestly

the characterization for the monsters were awfully flanderised early on so it was very annoying how Bob was portrayed, and though it did improve a lot as the eps progressed there was always something better they could've done, which was frustrating and agonising to watch

I don't remember having any particular loathing towards any certain eps? because I kinda wanna stay positive about it, but my god were some of the writing just nauseating and aggravating I would get so frustrated and angry cause of how stupid it is

a major theme throughout monsters vs aliens is the use of camera angles and the sense of scale, and the other thing is accepting change since her entire life got flipped. that gets completely erased and the quantonium is replaced with hyperium in the pilot, so Susan can go big or small whenever she wants and the whole movie was a waste of time!! it might as well be a superpower instead of considering her a monster cause her whole thing was being abnormaly big!! and it's clear the show did this for convenience sake which really makes it unauthentic, hence why butterfly isn't there or mentioned at all. susan isn't even a main character most of the time it's bob, then doc, then link, and THEN..... coverton.

how poorly this show was mostly handled made me seethe so much that I have an idealised reboot in my head out of spite and love

it had the potential to be good, it just wasn't the best

[sapphicscholar]

For the fandom asks, how about Supergirl for 001 and Swan Queen for 002? :)

Since I've already got an ask for Supergirl on the list, I'll just do Swan Queen here :)

When I started shipping them: started in Neverland (though on rewatch, which I'm doing for your gift fic :) I ship them earlier!), and I was a goner by the time Regina was gifting Emma a happy life filled with happy memories

My thoughts: so much wasted potential!

What makes me happy about them: I am delighted by the moments they clearly choose to believe in each other, which actually makes me appreciate the moments when that trust falls apart or fails to hold because it really underscores the fact that they're constantly having to fight against a history that would pit them against one another

What makes me sad about them: I mean there's the obvious haha but mostly I'm sad that Emma seemed to lose her spark - we got to see Regina grow over the seasons (even if there are writing choices I'm sure we can all question), but Emma seemed to be a main character in name only once she was in a relationship, and she lost a lot of the spunkiness that made her fun to watch and root for

Thing done in fanfic that annoys me: when Henry isn't adopted by Regina - the show fumbled this in a lot of ways, but I love it when fanfic can do better! And having Emma have always kept Henry or having Regina be pregnant with him seems to lose some of what's compelling to me about this family that pieces its way together (I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule and honestly I've probably read some, but as a general thing!)

Things I look for in fanfic: oh man idk there's so much swan queen fic I love I don't actually know how to describe my criteria!

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: hmm maybe Regina/Maleficent and Emma/Ruby (my s1 first watch ship haha)

My happily ever after for them: to get to live a life built on their own desires instead of one structured around everyone else's expectations, wants, and needs <3

[levi-supreme]

REEEI!

For your character Bingo, may I have my husband, his tall sniffy bestie and whacko scientist bestie? (not asking about his grump bestie because you already did that :P)

i.e.: Erwin, Miche and Hange

MRS SMITHHHHHHHHHH ❤️ and with this, we have The Vets hehehe <3 also, my answers are probably going to get really long HAHAHA.

Erwin

I knew you would ask me about your husband HAHA because who else would as me about Mr Smith right???

Okay tbh I wanna talk about the 'wasted potential' here. Yeah a lot of people would definitely wonder how different everything would have been if Erwin was given the titan serum instead of Armin and yada yada yada. Of course I would want Erwin to live and continue leading the Survey Corps. With his brain (and big balls lol), his wit, and the fact that he dares to take risks and gambles, he really is a leader capable of achieving great things.

That being said, and although I am likewise extremely upset over his death, I felt like his death was necessary to somehow show that a leader can't be there forever. Eventually the leader has to step down and someone new would takeover the role, and this is how they learn to become great leaders. Also, if not now, when will Armin (and Hange) step up and achieve greater things? Everyone praises Armin for his analytical ability and all that, but if he isn't given the opportunity to showcase what he is actually capable of, then when will he get the chance to do so?

So yup, when I say 'wasted potential', I don't mean that Erwin's death was wasted. I meant it in a way that it was kinda sad he didn't get to live on to see the results of what everyone had been dedicating their hearts and lives for, but his death was necessary to keep the story going. (side tracking and some kny spoilers) It's kind of like how Kyoujurou's death in mugen train broke my heart and soul and I don't think I'll ever recover from his death, but his plot was necessary for Tanjirou's growth. If Kyoujurou never died, Tanjirou would never have achieved and done everything he did in the later part of the manga.

Also yes tbh I feel like I would be afraid of Erwin irl because he's sooooo intelligent and an extremely good talker, I feel dumb next to him lol and most of the time I think I'll just be listening to what he says without really understanding it HAHA. Also side tracking again... I know different people interpret characters differently and you can write whatever fanfiction you want about the characters. But honestly, I can't see eye to eye with a lot of the kinks and tropes people write Erwin with. Maybe I'm just boring HAHA and I am not throwing shade at anyone!!! It's just a personal preference and tbh I don't read a lot of stuff so yup. Call me close-minded or too picky, but yup I can't see Erwin as a kinky person.

And finally!!! Erwin + Levi + Mike THE BEST TRIO EVER. VETERAN WIVES UNITE. And with Hange, they can now drop their latest dapper top-selling album.

Mike

THIS. THIS AMAZING PERSON IS THE ONE WHO I FEEL IS THE REAL 'WASTED POTENTIAL'.

We hardly knew much about Mike and his life in the Survey Corps, and how Erwin, Nile, and him were all friends. I hated how people somehow only remember him for things like how he always sniffs people, how his olfactory senses are the most sensitive amongst everyone, and how he's the tallest character in the series.

Mike needs more love!!!!! He's more than that. He's the second best after Levi, but how many people actually know and remember this? Levi and Mike complement each other whether they're in combat or not, and I absolutely love them. I absolutely love Erwin and Mike's friendship too. They've been friends and comrades for the longest time, they know each other well.

I feel like Mike is always the middle man between Erwin and Levi whenever things get too heated between them. It's kind of evident with the little amount of Veterans content we have. When Erwin wanted Levi to join the Survey Corps, Mike was the one holding Levi and being in control of him. When Levi went berserk and shouted to Erwin saying that he'll kill him, Mike is the one holding Levi back too.

And somehow!!! I've incorporated their dynamics into my own writing too. In Levi's Valentine, Mike was the one holding Levi back after Levi and Zeke got into a fight.

Man, I just love Mike a lot and I'm so disappointed that people forget about him and only recognise Erwin + Levi + Hange. I wish we saw more about Mike. Honestly speaking, I just wish we learnt more about all the Veterans!!!!

Hange

Omg Hangeeeeeee!!! My irl best friend is a Virgo like Hange, so I can somehow guess and visualise how Hange would be like irl too.

Also!!! (snk manga spoilers!!!) I checked the 'wasted potential' not because I think Hange shouldn't have died. I checked it because given Hange's brain, thirst for knowledge and the curious mind to want to learn more about the world and everything beyond the borders, I feel like Hange would've contributed soooooo much to titan research and everything else after the war. I can totally imagine Hange being excited to empart knowledge down to the next generation and just being so enthusiastic over every small thing, so yup. To me it's wasted because Hange wasn't able to showcase all of their talents and they're just gone like that.

Also Hange is a really relatable and endearing character. I don't think I've come across anyone saying that they hate Hange, because tbh what is there to hate about Hange???? Given the little amount of time they had, I think Hange did a really great job as the Commander of the Survey Corps after Erwin died. And Hange laid a good foundation for Armin to take over too.

In conclusion, I love The Veterans. I love them more than anything else. And when I say The Veterans, I don't only mean Erwin Levi Mike and Hange. I'm also referring to Moblit, Nanaba, Rico, Ian, The OG Levi Squad and sooooo many others who have given their lives and hearts for humanity.

And if you've read till the end.... I love you haha.

Character opinion bingo!

[zkfanworkweek]

ZFAW Fan Content Creator Interviews: HayleyNFoster

Hey everyone! We hope you’re all excited for ZFAW, and to honor (ha!) ZFAW’s commitment to supporting and celebrating fan content creators in the Zutara fandom, we’re going to be rolling out a series of interviews with well-known and widely-beloved content creators over the next few weeks. We’ve got artists and fanfiction authors, some names you recognize as well as a few phenomenal up-and-coming talents, and we can’t wait for you to meet them all!

For the second interview in this cycle, we have our best propaganda creator and this fandom’s hottest new artist/undisputed queen of the animatic, @hayleynfoster!

1. Tell us about how you came to ship Zutara. What does this ship mean to you?

When I was around 14 or 15 and caught Avatar: The Last Airbender on television, I was drawn in by the art style, the humor, and the wonderful characters. I caught the episodes out of order, and the first one I saw and wasn’t prepared to be sucked in by was The Waterbending Scroll. It intrigued me at that age, and the line “I’ll save you from the pirates” combined with the tension between Katara and Zuko in that whole scene was electrifying. I remember my teenage self thinking these two have so much chemistry! And when I saw a commercial on Nickelodeon that featured fanart submitted by fellow Avatar fans, I realized that I could do that to! So I set about making Zutara fanart for myself. I stumbled onto Youtube, practically in its infancy, and discovered that people set clips of Zuko and Katara set to music (And this was still in season 1 days… so people who made these amvs were the real mvps because they were able to make compelling narratives in their amvs with like practically nothing to work with!). The AMVs really spurred my interest in this couple, I remember distinctly one Zutara AMV using the Dido song White Flag utterly capturing my imagination. I found fandom shortly after, getting into deviantart and forums. But the ship really began to mean something to me when, as I was working on my drawings in the computer lab at school, a buoyant presence hovered over my shoulder noticing my Zutara art on the computer screen. The girl was someone I had never really talked to and had only seen from afar but she immediately started excitedly saying she shipped Zuko and Katara too! In this simple shared obsession, I made one of the best friends I’ve ever had and we’re still friends to this day. We would theorize and fangirl over Avatar like it was nobody’s business; we poured over bootleg San Diego Comic Con footage that showed spoilers for season 2 before it aired; we lost our freaking minds when we finally saw The Crossroads of Destiny. We had watch parties every week as Season 3 of A:TLA aired, and comforted each other when the show ended as it did (much ranting was shared). Those are some of my happiest memories from high school… all because this one pairing from this wonderful show. Even though Zutara didn’t happen, we still chat every now and then about it. Zutara will probably be a lifelong obsession, always bubbling under the surface. And without it, I would have never realized that animation was a viable career path. It really did inspire everything including the work I’m doing to this day in the animation industry. I owe a lot to this ship and to Avatar: the Last Airbender.

2. What inspires you to create zutara fanworks?

The resurgence of Avatar: The Last Airbender this year really helped sort of spark that dormant love I had for Zutara. The show’s ending still disappointed me on the rewatch, but Zuko and Katara’s relationship arc was as captivating as ever, so I turned to some fanfiction and looking at people’s pretty Zutara art and AMVs to just revel in fanon instead of getting to hung up on the actual ending of the show. But then I realized, with quarantine and my work load being pretty light, I had time to actually make all new Zutara art for myself, art I was never fully capable of making as a kid, but now could do with my 7 years of industry experience and just… life experience. And I was inspired to do some corrective animatics to satisfy my own desire for a different ending. I just really like exploring these two characters, doing different and interesting things with them, and frankly I’m inspired to make cute, fluffy, romantic art simply by virtue of living in a really sad and depressing world. Things are so crazy right now, creating art about two characters I love being in love, is comforting. And it helps to have inspiring music and amazing Zutara amvs to just sort of stir up my emotions and imagery in my head to make into animatics and art.

3. Be selfish - if you could request one fanwork based on your own art/fanfic, what would it be? What would you absolutely love to see someone create?

Ohhhh… Well, It’s always nice to have people write fanfiction that puts words to my animatics. I am not that great at coming up with dialog myself, so I’ve just chosen to indulge in visuals and emotions for my boards. But when I read things like RideBoldlyRide’s take on my Reunion Animatic, it makes me pretty giddy. (They finally have voices!) :) And this is the MOST selfish thing I could request, but I’m not shy about saying how much I love well done amvs, so I will literally kill for someone to make Zutara AMVs to songs I like… Like, most of AURORA’s songs but especially Exist for Love, Sunseeker by The Naked and Famous, Promises or Take Me by Aly & AJ, Adore You by Harry Styles, Human Enough by ONR, Never Let Me Go by Florence + The Machine, and/or Almost (Sweet Music) by Hozier just… I can see the AMVs so clearly to any of these songs in my head, but I don’t have the tools or skill set at my disposal to make a compelling fan video. When I was in high school, I originally thought I wanted to go into video editing simply because I loved making very crappy AMVs (they were so bad you guys), but I figured out being a storyboard artist was more in my wheelhouse. haha

4. Any words for people who are new to the fandom and/or nervous about sharing their work for the first time?

If you’re new to the Zutara fandom, just have a good time! Don’t waste too much time arguing with people over your shipping preferences. I wasted so much of my teen years having pointless shipping wars with people on DeviantArt, and I’m just so much happier nowadays because I’m just making Zutara art in my little corner of the internet, and honestly, in the politest of ways, I don’t give a shit if people don’t like my art or Zutara. haha I think that’s sort of a key thing for people thinking of posting creative works here in the fandom, just make art for yourself, satisfy your own desires for the pairing, get your creative sparks flying, and create just for the joy of creating. It’s always nice to get comments and such, but simply making the art should be what spurs you on, not the external validation. And have a good time, don’t worry too much - I say as someone who worries about EVERYTHING. But honestly, making art for A:TLA is some of the most relaxed I’ve been because I make it just for me. I’m lucky others seem to like it too!

5. What’s an idea for a fanwork that you have but haven't gotten around to making?

I have an idea for a second generation storyline with my Zutara kids that involves Kya (the eldest firebending daughter) falling in love with an airbender boy (tentatively named Gora in my headcanon who’s a bit of a rabble rouser and one of Aang’s kids he had with a Kyoshi Warrior), and then they start a socialist revolution in the Fire Nation in order to dismantle all of the hierarchical societies across the Avatar world… Together Kya and Gora Fan the Flames of revolution… ehhhhh... Get it?? Oh! Oh, and then Katara, who had put in legit liberal reforms in her time as Fire Lady listens to her daughter after resisting in the first part of the story, but then realizes she can actually play a part in the dissolution of the royalty and is also active in the revolution realizing that moderate liberal reforms are no substitute for a society free of serving royalty (which she had always been uncomfortable with but had rationalized with herself that she was doing good in her capacity as Fire Lady.) I just feel like there’s a lot of cool potential for discussing these ideas and also having some aspirational change in the Avatar world. lol For aesthetics and just happy fluffy times, I can indulge in Fire Lady and Fire Lord Zuko stuff, but really at the end of the day, I take issue with the structures in a society that have to exist for monarchies to exist. Soooo, I kind of want to do my own corrective story for that… if I ever have the time or guts. On a less ambitious note, I would love to do a Zutara sparring animatic to practice doing action, but I need a good story; I am not good at doing fights just for fighting’s sake. Those are just some things I have rattling around in my head.  

6. Are you participating in ZFAW? If so want to give us a hint as to your plans?

Yes! The most I can say is I have one animatic almost finished and one that’s still being thumbnailed. The rest are probably going to be comics or emotive single pieces based on the fanfics I really like right now. :)

[hellothere-generalangsty]

I HAD A BRAIN WAVE MOMENT

DO YOU REMEMBER WAYYYY BACK WHEN EVERYONE HATED ASOKA? DAVE DID THAT ON PURPOSE SO HE WAS IN CONTROL OF WHAT PEOPLE HATED ABOUT HER. OK NOW THIS MIGHT BE A LONGSHOT THAT HOPEFULLY DOESN’T END UP LIKE LONGSHOT THE CLONE, BUT, IM HOPING THATS WHATS DAVE IS DOING WITH TBB. BEING IN CONTROL OF WHAT THE FANDOM HATES ABOUT IT AND THEN IMPROVING IT SLOWLY BIT BY BIT.

PLEASE IM DESPERATE FOR A EXPLANATION!

(also where’s my explanation about why the clones are white washed, dave? hmm? where is it dave?)

OMG LOOK.

It wouldnt excuse the whitewashing or the weak scenario, because he got us used to some good stuff now (tcw s7, Mandalorian, that kind of things)

But it would make sense - to a certain extent - to work that season as a "cliché team in a cliché scenario" and see how people react to be able for a second season (if there's a second season) to improve it

_

Disclaimer: I'm a white, abled person so I'm not trying to speak on behalf of poc/disabled people, but I think it's important to support them and listen to the critics they make about SW and it's content

Also this is quite long I got carried away but worth it it is!

I linked some of @rebekadjarin 's post here because I read a bit through her blog today and agreed with her posts; and I invite you to check out the "#whitewhashed tbb" if you want more extanded and developed information about that matter! (As my knowledge on the matter is still quite limited/ incomplete due to my privileges, and this post is more of a summary than a real analysis)

_

So here, we know that the fans are unhappy about:

- the whitewashing of the Bad Batch (especially since they proved they could animate dark skinned people/ more generally poc with the first seasons of tcw, Kanan in Rebels and the Separatist in the latest TBB episode)

It is a real problem and it shouldn't have happened in the first place. Even if they are different, the Batchers are still clones and it's really not that hard to show their enhancement while keeping Temuera's features and skin colour (I mean, look at all the artists who did and do it everyday on this app; no excuse here)

Star Wars has wasted a lot of potential on numerous occasions because they keep doing stuff like this; and it's quite ironic (and very sad) to see that racism, ableism and stereotypes are prevalent in a universe where people fight for equality and peace...

Here and here are two posts about it (if you're the author of these posts and want me to delete them from my post please tell me so; I took the liberty of adding them because I think they highlight quite well the issue and do a clear job at showing the whitewashing in SW/ around the clones)

~

- the way Crosshair is treated; both by the Batchers and the writers, he's manipulated by the chip yet no one is talking about rescuing him and we see nothing about the effect of his absence on the Batchers (they don't mention him, don't try to save him, and Hunter is more distraught by Omega's absence than by his own brother's)

And don't get me wrong, Omega is a kid and she's nice, of course they have to take care of her and protect her

But they also don't know her purpose; why is she here? She could be a bad omen (maybe she doesn't even know it! The Kaminoans probably didn't tell anyone about her real purpose and I stand by the idea that the infos they got about her are all wrong and purposefully misleading) and I have the dark feeling that she will be the end/ death of the Batchers by the end of the serie, even if she didn't wanted it that way

But Crosshair is never mentionned, except for when he's needed in the scenario. Which is a shame, because he's a Batcher too even if he's mind-controlled and (for now) working for the Empire. He's supposed to be a main character, and he's a key element to the plot; yet out of 10 episodes we saw him in only 3, and only the moments where he was acting bad (i'm excluding the lonely moment at the end of ep2 because it had a lot of potential about him fighting the chip but that was all we had and i'm still bitter about it lol)

Here is a post about it

~

- speaking of plot; I feel like it's always the same disk playing since episode 2-3: They have a mission given by Cid, they do it, things go wrong, Omega saves the day and they get the money.

Crosshair is doing bad guy stuff so no need to tall about him (haha right?)

Now. I'm a good public. I know when to activate the Dummie™ in me and enjoy a show about a found family doing crazy jobs for a criminal and raising a newly adopted daughter at the same time. It's fun, it's sweet, sometimes it get emotional and the animation is beautiful (the lights are amazing I am always in awe)

I can enjoy it and be in awe and see Echo sniffing food and Tech smiles and Wrecker playing with Omega and feel happy about it.

But I also expected more. I hadn't any clear idea because I didn't wanted to set expectations (how ironic) but I can't help but feel sad about the wasted potential around Empire! Crosshair and the rise of said Empire.

If you want to antagonize one of the main character, do it, but do it fully and do it well. Show us Crosshair getting really invested in a plan to catch the Batchers and suddenly making a scene for a tiny detail that could blow it up; show us Crosshair and Hunter fighting each other hand to hand after they disarmed each other, and Crosshair getting the upoer hand until something holds him back; just enough for Hunter to take control again

Show us a complex character who suffers but doesn't fully realise it, and show us brothers mourning yet hoping to get the family back again you know?

~

- the way Echo is treated by the Batchers. And as much as it saddens me, they do him dirty in the show.

Echo is a war veteran, an ex- prisoner and a disabled character. He went through a lot; first he lost the Domino squad, then he lost brothers on Kamino (including 99 who was close to his squad), then the Citadel happened and he lost both his legs, an arm, his freedom, his brothers and probably any hope to be saved.

Then they found him in that freezer, and he probably realised that, if Fives wasn't here to save him, it meant he lost him too.

Then he left Rex to go with a team of 4 because he probably didn't feel like he belonged with "regs" anymore; he chose strangers over brothers because he thought he couldn't find his place there. Which in itself is sad and problematic.

And now he's with the Batchers, and they don't seem to grasp the importance of his trauma. I mean; they always had the 4 of them and never lost a brother (apart from Cross; which is another wasted potential here because they could have exploited that trauma and made a parallel with Echo being so used to losing brothers and them experiencing it for the first time on such a personal level you know) and they do some crappy stuff to him.

Selling him as a droid? Not cool.

Brushing off his trauma for a mission and some credits? Not. Cool.

And Echo can't say anything because he chose them, and now he has nowhere to go anyway because Order 66 happened; and he probably doesn't want to be a burden to Rex, and he probably doesn't want to abandon his brothers especially now that Cross is gone and they have a child to take care of

But yeah there are a lot of things happening - or NOT happening - around Echo and his trauma and his disability that are wrong and people are right to talk about it

Here is a post I read and I agree with it

~

- Overall, the way the show and the characters are handled; they often feel very stereotyped/ cliché and the basic plot doesn't really help for character development or improvement

I read a post about it and it was really interesting; they linked the whitewashing of the characters with their abilities/enhencement

Tech and Crosshair are the smartest and the whitest in the group (which is bad)

Wrecker is portrayed as the Bid Dummie™ and he's the one with the "darker" skin and the features closest to Temuera/ Maōri features (also very bad)

Hunter is straight up a Rambo with a face tattoo, and Echo - and you guys know I love him - is whiter than a sheet of paper (all so bad)

Not only this, but there is no improvement in their personality or thinking

They don't seem to evolve, and just like their mission, they end up playing the same song over and over again

Hunter is the broody soldier and though people enjoy talking to him as a Dad (count me in) but he's not a good dad for Omega (he calls her soldier and is always acting awkward and uncomfortable around her)

Wrecker could be a better dad for her; but again they display him as a big dummie and give the impression he couldn't take well care of her

Tech is here to be the smart one, we only see him when they need someone to do the smart speaking and the complicated computer things

Echo is the grumpy reg, the "more droid than man" and sometimes the Mom™ but they never show him talking about the Empire or the trauma or how the I am not Freaking Out™ I did came back for this Shit™ he's just here to... Be here and be grumpy and bring the oldest clone wars fans to watch TBB

And Crosshair is almost non-existent.

Here is another post about it

~

What could it be then?

So either Dave is pulling a Ahsoka on us; but he'll still have a lot of things to correct and explanations to give because I can excuse a bad plot but I draw the line at blatant racism ans ableism (especially when they KNOW the fans and they KNOW what people want and they KNOW it would probably bring more people to enjoy and get invested in the show)

- If he's doing this, he will probably work with the animator to correct the whitewashing (because it really is the only really wrong thing in the animation, the rest of it is quite good to be honest like the light, framing and all)

- Understand that Tbb and Mandalorian are two different shows and cannot be treated the sale way; so he'll get back to the main plot and hopefully work on Crosshair's arc and hos his absence/ him being controlled by the chip affects him/ the Batchers/ their relation

- He'll probably work more on displaying the effect of their trauma; collective and personal, and see how it reflects on their relations (and give Echo the healing he deserves)

- By extension, give the characters more depth and complexity, dig their stereotypical surface and reveal their true nature (show me a ruthless yet easily overwhelmed Hunter; a smart but constantly anxious Tech, a very emotional Wrecker playing the big explosive dummie to protect himself, etc.)

Well, that's what I would do

Or he's just... Doing this and not planning any changes; in which case I'll probably do what I did with SPN s15: stop watching, scroll through tumblr to get some infos and gifs and tell everyone about how dirty they did the characters, and they did us.

~

But I really hope he's hearing us and taking our remarks into account; the show in itself had a lot of potential and I'm still hanging on the thin hope that the ending could "save it"; but I also have no expectations and am in fact waiting for a disappointing ending

On a brighter note, I'm glad the fandom exists because I see artists and writers and gif-makers and theorists and all kind of people creating and sharing their own content, headcanons, art, writing and they all feel right and better than the canon

Like yes, give me a in-character dark skinned clone who deals with his trauma and the sudden changes around him in a realistic way

Tell me about the real effects of the war on soldiers, and the truth behind the corrupted government taking over the galaxy, and the efforts everyone has to make to survive, exist and live together

If Dave and his team cannot do it, I know you guys can and that's why I'm glad to be here too; you give me hope when they fail to do so 💙

~

I hope I like... Answered this correctly? 😂 I got carried away but yeah, though I'm usually not vocal about it and try to enjoy it with my Dummie Energy™ I still see and read about what you all think, and usually I agree with you; the show deserved better and we deserved better

Now back to ignoring the canon and writing a fic about my very much alive and beloved Fives 🥰

[tomodachimeter]

Answering old asks

m(__)m

That is all.

Emojis aside, I really am so very sorry it’s taken me so long to get around to responding to messages since the manga ended, I’ve been extremely busy in my personal life so it was kind of all I could do to cope with the manga ending during that time too, haha. As of now even the last volume and fanbook are already out, but I’ll leave a few comments on the messages I’ve been sent as they were. I’m also grouping together messages that are more of readers’ own comments rather than questions for me and responding all at once, so please forgive me if I couldn’t get around to responding individually!

“My heart pains to seeing the end ahahhhhh ashiya and abeno parted waysI really really really hope for something to come next. it kinda feels sad for meabt this ending”

“Honestly I like the ending but I didn’t like how the author left out information about abeno’s background. For instance, what happen to his parents?, where did he come from?, how did he come meeting Ao?,etc. I really wanted to see all of that, including how ashiya told his mom and sister about sakaes death. Other then that, I REALLY LOVE THE PROPOSAL!!! What is with shouen manga/anime with these different type of propsals like, “I’ll skate infinity with you”, “ I will die so you won’t be alone”,etc. Like COME ON!!! I also want to see a adult ashiya and abeno 🙏.”

I feel the same, I love the ending in its own way but I also expected so much more and I wanted to see more of their adventures. So I respect sensei’s decision but that just means it’s a free-for-all in terms of headcanons after!!

“Now that the manga has ended, I really wish the anime hadn't screwed up with the season 2 ending, so we could have gotten a continuation... I really miss animated Fuzzy running around, Ashiya's screaming and Abeno's "Hah?" (´꒳`)♡”

I wonder what they’d do for a season 3 if it ever came to pass. There are a few ways they could go about it like kind of just continuing down the manga, or they could ignore what they animated at the end of s2 and then keep going (Ao no Exorcist style), or I don’t even know, honestly. No matter how dissatisfied I am with how they do anime, I’d still watch it though. :U

“Wow I can't believe it took me so long to realize this! Recently, I noticed that the dynamic between Hanae-Sakae-Aoi-Abeno and the plot revolving around them is very similar to what happens in the manga Switch (Kai-his dad-Hal's dad-Hal). The relationship between Kai and Hal is similar to Hanae and Abeno's. Kai's dad died and this is related to Hal's dad, who has survived thanks to the death of his friend (Kai's dad). Plus Kai manifests what seems to be his dad's personality when he's in danger.”

“So much tears! I really don't want this to end, but I knew it was too good to be true. Though, the way the way the manga ended felt like a new beginning. Hanae made a promise/vow to Itsuki that he will return, no matter how long it takes, so he hopes Itsuki will wait for him. Also, that picture of Sakae and Aoi on the counter makes me hope that Hanae and his family (plus Sakae in heaven) has peace now. I felt like crying more. Thank you for everything and I hope to see you again!”

“ok rip Abeno's past... rip yellow eyes... rip this cliffhanger ending...“

“Suddenly I see that anon ask about OPs and EDs and partings & separations in a new light... darn. (╯°Д °)╯╧╧”

Fittingly enough, Sensei mentioned in the fanbook that Mononokean has always been a story about meetings and partings too, but still...! More...!!!

“I think this ending is very fitting. Ashiya was never truly part of the youkai world, he was always taking one step in only to step out soon after, and going back and forth between loving youkai and being afraid of them. Ashiya's state of employment has always had a "temporary" feeling to it, including, for example, the fact that he never changed his clothes, and his Mononokean-crest clothes were "borrowed". UItimately, Ashiya didn't seem like he could dedicate his life to youkai, unlike Abeno. (continuing from my previous ask about "Ashiya not being part of the youkai world") It wasn't only Ashiya's feelings on the matter that kept him away from the world of youkai. Abeno contributed greatly to this, as he constantly tried to keep Ashiya away from the Underworld, from danger, from knowing too much, and from youkai themselves, even though Ashiya was technically his employee. If Abeno had tried, even a little, to pull Ashiya into his world, Ashiya would have responded to him, I'm sure. (another "Ashiya not being part of the youkai world" ask) The fact Abeno actively blocked Ashiya from his world was the greatest reason why Ashiya didn't feel like he belonged there. But he still felt connected to Abeno, at least. Rather than dedicate his life to youkai, Ashiya seemed like he might dedicate it to Abeno. Yet this feeling was also met with a wall. By the time Abeno realized how precious it was, having someone who saw the same things as him by his side, it was already too late. (last ask in the series "Ashiya not being part of the youkai world") Ironically, the Mononokean and most other youkai were more open and willing to welcome Ashiya into their world. Still, if and when Ashiya can see youkai again, I hope Abeno will have realized the opportunity he'd wasted. When these two reunite, I hope Abeno won't push Ashiya away again. That's all. I wanted to share these thoughts with you. Please let me know your opinion on the matter. Thank you for reading! :)”

I think you’re right on point with the themes you’ve pointed out and I believe that’s what Sensei was going for too, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s terribly lonely for them to be separated from each other. ___(:3 At least we’re left with a (high) possibility of them getting back together (heh) and even moreso with the fanbook extra content too, so here’s to their continued adventures.

“I am not sure if you are familiar with this anime/manga/light novel series “No. 6” because the end of the Mononokean manga series appears similar to the end of the former in terms of the bond between the two male leads if you get what I mean.”

I know of it and it’s something I’ve always meant to get around to watching, but I have not seen it yet!

“Nooo, I can't believe it's over! 😭 But you know, ever since FNM's ending was announced, I've been looking for something to fill the void this precious story would inevitably leave in my heart, and then someone said "Watch Natsume Yuujinchou, the themes are similar and it's heartwarming". So I started it and, oh boy, I've been screaming at every episode because I'm not used to people openly showing their affection! 😂 So much hugging, hand-holding, head-patting... I'm melting!! (send help pls)”

“Hello Spring! We've reached the end of this wonderful journey, it seems. It's time for a new start. Thank you so much for everything you've done for this fandom, it wouldn't have been the same without you! Seriously, thank you, from the bottom of my heart! 😌 (PS: I forgot to mention, I opened this blog on my old old laptop, with its 1280x720 resolution, and the "ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE" strip was right there covering Ashiya's and Abeno's faces, I had such a good laugh! I'm sorry I laughed!!)”

“This ending was really beautiful and yet sad. The promise made me hope but.. it's still so angst that maybe it will take years to hanae be able to see yokais again. I wonder if wazawa-sensei is okay, like, usually when a manga is ending they advertise previously, but the news was so suddenly that made me worry about sensei's health status. I also don't think that the publisher canceled the manga. So, I still don't know if this sudden ending was planned or not.”

Haha when I first made that tumblr theme, I kind of liked the effect that the strip had in covering Ashiya and Abeno’s faces somehow, but it always moves around depending on resolution lol.

In the afterword of the last volume and the fanbook, Sensei touched lightly on their various reasons for ending the manga (which I plan to cover eventually... when I have time...) and while I don’t think we’ll ever know fully, I got the impression that sensei personally seems in good health and even expressed that they would like to make another manga in the future, so as readers and fans we don’t need to worry too much.

“The manga ended well but we are left with unanswered questions : What is Abeno's past ? / Are golden eyes and hair special ? / What about Aoi's face ? / What really happened the day Aoi came back injured ? At this time she wasn't infected but Sakae died trying to save her (something is wrong with the plot) ?! / What about Fuzzy gender and his "human form" ?”

I will just say we got answers to some of those questions in the fanbook, and some we did not. :Y Please hold on for fanbook info!

Hey there. I’ve just read through the last chapter of the Mononokean. What a story. There are still a few questions that left me wondering: (1) What is the origin of the Mononokean itself?, (2) What is the origin of the Influence that flows within specific characters of the story?, (3) If Aoi was able to provide young Ashiya with a part of Sakae’s “Influence,” could it be done again?, & (4) If Ashiya could still see Fuzzy, what do you think this means for his potential abilities?

1. We were told in the first fanbook that the Mononokean was originally a well-loved tea ceremony room, and as we know in the Mononokean universe (also generally a concept in Japanese culture/religion, you can looked up the term “tsukumogami”), things that are used/loved sometimes end up gaining a sentience of their own, and if I remember right that’s how the Mononokean came to be too. (it’s been a while since I’ve reread the first fanbook so if I’m wrong please do correct me). As for any other specifics, we only know that Aoi and Abeno have been the first and second masters respectively, I’m pretty sure.

2. This was answered in the fanbook, which I’d like to summarize eventually! But Influence seems to be a natural power that develops in babies who have been in close contact with yokai before they were born, and golden hair and eyes are also a sign of that.

3. The partial Sakae Influence (lol wording) that Aoi gave to Ashiya as a baby was what Ashiya returned to Aoi to save them. I suppose since they’ve already done it before it’s technically possible, but that’d defeat the whole purpose of what they tried to do already haha.

4. I think it’s as Abeno theorizes, that Ashiya always did have a bit of ability to sense yokai on his own as well!

“I was looking for more FnM content and found out about your fanfictions on Ao3, so I read them all and oh my Lord! They were *so* good!! And I was very surprised and very glad to find out you ship Ashiya x Abeno, I'm especially happy because you ship them in that order, since I was so sure everybody would be shipping them in reverse order! Thank you so much for sharing your works!! (≧▽≦) ♡”

Thank you for your kind comments, I’m always so happy to hear someone loves my fic! I do love writing them even though I haven’t done it for a while and I have so many ideas and WIPs that I’ve still never gotten around to completely, but I swear I will do them someday... While I do think the reverse order is more popular in general, there’s a decent AshiItsu (the Japanese term for the ship haha) fandom thriving on Twitter!

Again thank you so much everyone! Look forward to fanbook info I’d like to get around to posting about soon!

[channydraws]

The Warlock and the Witch

In a world of spells and mischief, there lies a Boss Monster who works hard as a professor and the tales of Boss Monsters possessing incredible fire magic. He worked hard, trained hard, using most of his childhood to master his magic for good yet this made his social skills come out pretty rough as he seems full of himself and quite strict. Even then there is much warmth to this Boss Monster who was given the title of “Warlock of Flames” teaching creatures how to use fire magic.

In this hour in the middle of the night, he was looking for ingredients for something that may be useful for his cooking. After all, what use of fire magic if one only knows how to use it to bring destruction and mayhem. As fire can be used to help bring warmth in the cold, bring comfort in the dark, and make food all the tastier. That last bit made him giggle and uses one of his paws to fix his hat.

“Ah, cooked mushrooms sounds good right now. Mushroom soup maybe for today's meal...-”

He felt his ears twitch as he heard something moving in the bushes, sounded a little different than what the average creature that one may normally find in the forest. His eyes narrow as he looks upon the bushes.

“Come out from there. I know someone is there!”

There was not a sound, it was as if whatever it is doesn't believe his words, making him bring up a fireball above his paw.

“If you do not come out, then you may face some burning.”

With that threat out of his mouth the sound of the bushes moving about was heard and there his grey eyes saw a small humanoid figure wearing...

“A witch? No, not just that-”

“What do you want? Is it a crime to roam about the forest at night now?!”

“No, Hmm?!”

There was a loud roar, sounded like it was behind the witch. Most likely they accidentally disturb the creature as they roam about the forest at night or rather, this creature may have thought them as their prey.

“Run to me witch, now!”

“You don't need to tell me that!”

“. . .Get down, right now!”

The witch jumps down out of the way with mushrooms following out of their pockets as the tiger jumps out of the bushes, the Warlock throws the fireball at it. Causing it to be hit by flames directly at its head and it falls in the middle of its jump right behind the witch as it cries in pain, dying as it was consumed up by flames. It was just a snap of a finger where those cries stopped and it's movement ceased. The Warlock slowly walks up to the Witch and bought a paw out to them while the flames themselves died down.

“Are you okay?” He said with a neutral tone and expression.

The witch looks up to him, their red eyes meeting those lifeless grey ones as if telling one that he holds much knowledge but even with knowledge... something was missing that caused those eyes to be what they are. The witch was about to grab his paw but then moves their hand away, picking themselves up as if being stubborn of accepting help. They started to brush the dirt and dust of off them and then pick up their hat.

“I didn't need the help.”

“I was correct, you are also human. It is rare for me to spot a human in this forest.

“What was your first clue?”

“Your skin.”

“I wasn't being serious with that question! Why do you even care?”

“It's interesting, I thought I knew everything that is about this forest and here you are.” He said as he looks upon the mushrooms that got all dirty up from the ground they landed on.

“Were you looking for ingredients?”

“. . .Yes”

“For what?”

“I wanted to figure something out with them.”

“There are plenty that mushrooms could do. Sadly, all I know to do with them is to make food.

“Food?! You can do more with certain mushrooms! You could even make medicine!”

“. . .Medicine, isn't really my... forte.”

He felt their red eyes looking upon him, his white furry face, and those paws they saw of his reminded them of monsters like Toriel or Asriel.

“Do you know Toriel?” The human asked.

“Ah, I... Do... But, we're not directly related. I'm from a late Dreemurr family that has passed away. I'm the only one left of my “Dreemurr” family. I live alone in these forests, a little cottage that is a little hard to spot. Unless you know the signs.”

“That's weird, you're weird.”

“I could say the same about you, human.”

“It's Witchi!”

“Huh?”

“My name! It's Witchi!”

“Witchi?”

“Before you say anything dumb. It's Ichi but mom thought it would be cute if it was like wit-chi instead because she was-”

“Your mother was THAT human witch I presume.”

“You know?”

“. . . Gossip has a way of spreading quickly. I only learn of this news once it was too late and when I was of older age. It's not something that people stop talking about. Now, this leads me to ask. Who do you live with?”

“. . .”

“Do you not have someone living with you, what about your fath-”

“Do not even mention him.”

“ . . .Ah, sorry. . .” He spoke softly as he looks upon their red eyes that were staring at him, eyes that hold flames of anger, perhaps of revenge.

“Regardless of your living condition, do you mind coming with me to my cottage?”

“Why should I come with you?”

“Well, I cannot just eat that roasted animal all by myself and cooked lion meat is pretty good therefore it would be a shame to have it go to waste if I cannot finish it.”

“Hmm. . . Fine.”

As they answered they saw the Warlock pickup the lion using both of his paws. “Stick close.” He said as he started heading to his home.

As the witch followed the Boss Monster they will take notice of them looking at the tree, grass, and other little details while explaining to them why he is doing so. Like the fungi on the tree points to the direction of the cottage, the burn marks around the tree was those he made to help make sure to remind him he was going to the right track and some of the grass was shorter than the ones deeper in the forest telling him home was close by. Soon, it was there the Witch saw the small cottage made out of stone with a single-window and chimney. By the side were a little building, a stump, a stack of wood, and an ax that was used to cut the wood in half.

“We are here, sorry if it wasn't what you expected. I'm a simple creature with a simple life, with simple wants and needs.”

As he walks up to his door he realized it would be rather hard for him to turn the knob of the door to open it.

“Witchi, could you open my door, please. I don't want to drop the animal and it would save us time.”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” They said as they turn the knob and open the door.

“Go ahead, you can enter first.”

“. . .Alright.”

As Witchi enters the house, they could see the single large room. It had a fireplace, a round wooden table at the center, a few tool stools which can be used as chairs, a little section for doing laundry, a little section for storing food, a section for cooking which was close to the fireplace, two smaller rooms one of those being a small bedroom. All and all it was a simple home with the basic needs to live.

The Warlock enters his home and spoke. “Sorry if it isn't much, I'm just that simple of a creature.”

With that said he placed the burned creature near the cooking area. Taking out some sharp tools as he starts taking bits and pieces out of the tiger.

“Could you bring me some of my stone bowls, I can place our share into each of them. I know some ways to make it taste even better.”

The witch looks about the food area just to see a few wooden bowls on a counter, grabbing them and passing them to the Warlock who had a sharp fork and knife, pulling out the good meat bits and places them in the bowls. It wasn't a pretty sight but hey, at least the tiger was already dead and cooked. It would be some time until both of their bowls were filled.

“Go ahead and take a seat. I'll bring you your food.”

Taking their bowls he uses his magical flames to heat up the bowls and what was inside them. Going to one of the counters he takes out some spices and starts mixing it with the meat. It would be only a moment until he walks over to the table and places the bowl of meat in front of Witchi while placing one where he was be sitting. A seat across from the witch.

“Why are you doing all this?”

He heard the Witch ask the question. It really had no reason to. Just some company was enough to warrant it.

“I'm just a lonely warlock, all I do is teach students and go back home. Not many people care about my company. After all, my “Dreemurr” family is all but gone. Who wants to spend time with an old creature like me and what's worse is I won't age anymore until I have children. Well, I look slightly young, I'm a young adult at the very least haha.”

He gives a quiet laugh as if to hide his loneliness as he looks upon the human taking a bit out of the tiger meat. Seems like it was pretty good, had a good spice to it. Seems like this Warlock had some experience in cooking.

“This is really good, I didn't expect meat like a tiger could be this tasty.”

“Ah! I'm glad you like it. With spices and the right ingredients you can make something that tastes alright into something that could make one's mouth water.”

“Soooo, You're all alone?”

“For the most part. Just me, the students I see as the academy and whatever lies in the forest until I return to my little cottage here. I don't get many visitors besides the occasion small animal that comes to ask me for some food.”

He took a bite out of the meat, giving a soft sigh with his peaceful life.

“Why did you tell me about how to get to your place?”

“I thought if you want to visit someone you can come to visit me. I'll be happy to have your company once and awhile Witchi.”

“Me, give you company? You are strange. I am no one special especially for some warlock like yourself.”

The Warlock places his bowl down as he looks upon the witch.

“Not true, I see greatness within you. A fire in your eyes that reflects your soul.”

“. . .”

“You may be silent and unaware of your potential but I see it. Even if your eyes show anger, sadness about what has happened in your life. You are strong, strong to keep moving forward, and keeping the flames of your soul lit up bright.”

As he spoke he saw the human standing up from their seat. “Thank you for the food, I-”

“Wait! Hear me out!” He said as he raised his paw up gesturing to hold on. The human just stares at him, keeping still. Watching as the same paw went to his hat.

“I've been looking for someone to be my pupil. Yet, none of those students I have has no fire in their hearts. No passion at all and just content with doing what they have now. You, You want to do something more! You're the only one I have said this to so...”

He slowly takes off his hat, revealing a hornless white goat with grey eyes that seem rather dull. “Would you be my pupil in my arts of flames?”

Witchi stares at him intensely thinking about his proposal. They looked like someone they knew and yet there were differences that were apparent. “I'm not sure fire magic is something I need to know. I don't want to hurt people even if I want-.”

“No, no, no! Understand that fire isn't just about destruction, it can be a source of light as well. It brings warmth, it can help light a dark path to help you or others and most importantly you need a way to defend yourself. What fire is depends on the user, without fire we as a civilization would be nothing and blinded by the darkness.”

“. . .What's your name?”

“My name?”

“Yes, your name. What is it?”

“. . .My mother named me Asriel. My parents were not very creative with naming. I normally just call myself the Warlock of Flames the title I've earned. I. . . Didn't have many friends, I used up all of my childhood to master my fire magic. . .”

The witch took another moment to think, Asriel... Just like the one they knew. How old was he to share the same name and surname? Yet, his eyes bothered them. . .So dull, was that because of this loneliness. If they become his pupil maybe that would help him. Learn fire while befriending someone who has no friends, no family. Perhaps that was a reason good enough to. Even then, it wasn't something they would admit straight up.

“Asriel, Warlock of flames. I. . . I decided to be your pupil.”

They could see those grey eyes shine just a little as if a flame sparked in them. Then a smile was seen.

“I am happy to hear that, Witchi. My pupil! Tonight, we will have a lovely meal and I will walk you home if you wish. When you visit me, I will be happy to start your lessons.”

"Okay, Teacher."

With that marked the beginning of their friendship, a lonely mentally old man making his first friend and pupil in the ways of the flame. Now, his future doesn't seem all so lonely anymore. Perhaps because the teachings were of fire perhaps it made the witch think. Maybe in some situations, that fire can help bring others closer like sharing a campfire and telling stories. Regardless. . .Learning fire may be useful during their adventures. Who knows, perhaps even a witch can teach a warlock some new tricks.

THE END

___________

The Warlock of flames now has children on his hands.

Again, this story is very good Seth!

[princewarmachine]

starscream for the character thing?? :3c

Don’t mind if I do

Favorite thing about them?

This is difficult to say. I love, like, everything about him. He's just been a huge part of my childhood and I mean, I loved him ever since I laid eyes on him. Sounds crazy, but it's like we have a strange bond. I guess I love how he can be super complicated, and even in the G1 series you watch how he acts and how he interacts with the world and think, "How did he get to this point?". Something about how he always seems to die, and be resurrected sticks with me. And just every time I see him, I feel so excited. It really breaks my heart when his character is written poorly or treated poorly with no rhyme or reason. There is more to say on the subject, but I have no idea how to put it into words. I love him, dearly.

Least Favorite thing about them?

It's really hard for me to dislike things about characters because I feel that most of the time, in a story, every element and character adds something and is in its place, even if it seems useless. So, really, I don't ever feel anger at a character. But I mean, I am highly empathetic when I invest into fictional worlds. I would say, I dislike how dead end or cut off his storylines seem most of the time. I'm also really tired of the trope of him being abused and getting no sympathy in the writing. Or no redemption arc, when he is clearly set up to have one. I guess I'm saying, the thing I least like about him is his wasted potential.

Favorite Line?

He has a lot of really good lines, a lot of them stuck with me as a child. I would say that a line of his that stuck with me that hardest was this scene in G1 , where he is screaming "I'm stupid! I'm stupid!". It really disturbed me as a child how Megatron was treating him, and the way Starscream was so scared made me really upset. I could never understand why people found it funny. Now I realize that it's probably because the scene and the way he begs mirrored the abusive situation I was watching my parents go through. Weird, right? Otherwise, I'd say my favorite line is "Wanna bet?" :). It's the first time on screen we see Starscream TRULY betray Megatron, and I think it's just fucking crazy.

BroTP?

Sounds weird, but Grimlock and Starscream. This is pretty self indulgent, because Grimlock is my sibling's favorite transformer, and Starscream is my favorite. Also, probably Alexis and Starscream from Transformers: Armada. It really showed an intense friendship, and Armada is just so fucking good. One of the best versions of Starscream I've seen, and Alexis is just such a sweetheart to him and he really becomes soft in their friendship.

OTP?

Well, since I mostly ship G1 characters, there are endless possibilities. The thing with G1 characters is that, anything seems to go. It'll most likely be cute either way. Sooo... most of my ships are crack ships. That being said, Shrapnel/Starscream and Optimus/Starscream. But also, I will probably find most other ships with him in them cute. :)

nOTP?

I'm not a big fan of Megatron/Starscream, unless it's in Shattered Glass. Which is sad, there is so little series where they have a GOOD and healthy friendship, or even dynamic. I'd love to see that change.

Random Headcanon?

Hmm, I always like to imagine that he was a very decent person before the war. He had friends, he had a career in science, he seemed content. Then, with war, he became a much, much different situation.

Unpopular Opinion?

Haha, well I probably don't have a lot of unpopular opinions. Probably the one that fits the most in there is that I don't think of him as having bad intentions/being evil at the start of the war. I very much like to think that he is a very groomed individual, but I think that applies to all the transformers, Autobots and Decepticons. When you look at how all the characters act after knowing what a fucked up situation the military is, especially the US military, it puts it in a bit more perspective how absolutely brainwashed everyone is. Though, I do think that since most of the characters, especially Starscream, did not leave the war, and he especially craved the power the war gave him, the Cybertronian war just consumed their being. I suppose what I'm trying to say is, I cannot sit here and positively feel good about my analysis of his character by just thinking "He's evil and a bitch". Though, I am adding a bit too much personal stuff on him, I will admit. Though, here's the thing! If you want to get a better idea on what I'm talking about with the corrupt military and such, you should listen to the podcast Eyes Left. It's two veterans who talk about their experience with being in the military, and why they became dishonorably discharged. For more perspective on how damaging being in the military is, I'd recommend listening to Jacob George's album 'Soldier's Heart'.

Song I associate with them?

There are a lot of songs, but I the first one that popped into my head was A Conversation with Death by Khemmis. I think it really captures some of my strange feelings to his deaths and reincarnations.

Favorite Picture of them?

Hard to choose, but here’s a funny meme @sasukes-divorce-lawyer made a while ago that I love to bits. I just giggle when I see it.

[nightcoremoon]

so for the first time I saw batman: the killing joke.

...

it was okay I guess. but massively overrated. I expected some fucking masterpiece of cinema but instead it was just two unrelated short films that were more style and flash than substance.

so first off, barbara's storyline was mediocre. franz wasn't a compelling villain; just a creep, and a trust fund brat. oh wow he's a mafia kid who stole his family's fortune by hacking. if it was the falcone family I'd have cared more but it wasn't so it's just some faceless deathfodder rando. who gives a shit. the whole situation was just a vehicle to shove batman's dick into babs. which kinda fucks over bruce's character here and judging by the timeline kinda makes him a bit of a groomer, yikes. bruce and gordon have known each other since bruce was a young boy and we know that bruce is way older than babs so yeah bruce totally knew her from birth until present day, he literally utilized an active power dynamic to police her crimefighting activities, and he should have fucking known better and stopped her when she kissed him because it would (and did) compromise their professional dynamic, but hey, batdick. and at least barbara recognized that she was behaving emotionally rather than logically when it came to bruce and paris and took the high road out. that would be a serviceable standalone episode to write her on a bus in a serialization but THIS IS A MOVIE. so for a waste of an already short runtime it's like having an appetizer before your meal but instead of something like a crab cake before stuffed flounder, you get greasy onion petals that are more fried batter than onion before getting a well done cheeseburger that's just a glorified hockey puck on a sponge with a kraft single on top. the animation and vocal delivery were excellent of course, not gonna disparage that aspect, so it was well made, but the writing was just not very good. a polished turd. quantic dream must have developed it then because it feels like I watched a david cage production.

so in a 78 minute movie, five of which were the credits, we had a half hour Disney/Pixar short except those bring joy and this brought boring. also there were a lot of shots of her ass tits and underwear that were obnoxiously male-gazey and there was a token gay for the sole purpose of dangling a carrot on a stick for the queers. look kids, warner brothers and dc comics cares about the lgbts! give us money! a waste of time before the real reason why anyone came to see the movie that literally only exists to pad out the runtime to make it a feature length (even though paying a full ticket would've been a total ripoff because, again, IT WAS ONLY 78. even 9 was 81 minutes long and that had an amazing storyline so I forgave it, but 78 minutes? ugh.

also, GOTHAM RAGE??? CRINGE. SO CRINGE.

alright now for the joker segment.

*ahem*

what the fuck? that sucked! *throws tomato*

mark hamill and the joker's lines and the art and the cinematography and the choreography was all good and the plot was cohesive. I get it.

but holy shit was the writing weak as fuck.

okay so some rando breaks the J-ster out of Arkham (already unlikely but ugh whatever), he didn't turn a trick or recruit or anything, he just went to purchase a carnival. or, steal one. but wait, he DID recruit, but he went to get all of the stereotypical Circus Freak™ stereotypes. little people, fat lady, bearded lady, wolf man, strongman, diaper man (wait, what?), and the two headed woman. I guess if you don't really think about why all of them were super readily available in the outskirts between arkham and gotham [i just realized they both end with -am] then it makes enough sense. and then literally right after that HE RECRUITS SOME GUYS TO HELP HIM KIDNAP GORDON. and then strips and photographs barbara. um. ew. you can tell the writer and director were men. Alan Moore is constantly molesting women in his comics and this one trick pony should be put down already. but whatever. the plot is weak and it only gets saved by the flashback sequences.

oh.

oh no.

they're not that great.

he's a failed unfunny comedian who just wants some money to move his wife to a better house so he turns to thievery with the mob. OR YOU COULD JUST STOP GOING TO THE BAR AND BLOWING IT ALL ON BOOZE. I mean the cops knew where to find him after all so clearly he's a repeat customer (or moore is a bad plot writer who relies on convenience and shut the fuck up and don't critically analyze it). alright so he gets wrapped up in the mob to perform a heist on a playing card factory. GET IT, BECAUSE HE'S THE JOKER??? and he uses the moniker of the red hood to retain his anonymity. I expected the mobsters to be working for francisco but no the paris storyline was only cooked up screenplay for passing the runtime so why would they do something clever and interesting and make the film cohesive? that'd be really stupid to make the movie feel more like one movie and not two short films. at least when grindhouse & planet terror did it they advertised themselves as an anthology film. whatever. he falls in the vat of acid which melts the red hood to his face and I gotta say that's actually a pretty good idea to get his face white and his hair green and his lips red. I like that part. oh wait I forgot about the most important part! his wife gets shoved in the refrigerator. OH WOW THAT'S JUST SO COMPELLING AND ORIGINAL, TOTALLY NOT SOMETHING THAT ALREADY HAPPENED TO GREEN LANTERN. TWICE. although she wasn't literally shoved into a literal refrigerator like alex was. rip in frozen pieces you absolute legend of a trope namer. alright, so... so the joker is sad because his wife died. you know, the wife we saw for two minutes and knew the moment we saw her drenched in sepia she was gonna die. and she died offscreen. kyle's gf died and he was fine. gordon's wife died and he was fine. batman's parents both died and he was fine. oh boo hoo someone I love died! fuck off. I am so goddamn sick of people trying to justify their evil with "I was sad once". it's a stupid trope and it's not compelling. the only valid version is doctor doofenshmirtz' evil(er) version in the PF movie because it's hilarious that it's because of a toy train because that's the emotional depth that fridgewomen is treated with in all of these storylines. but at least batman said so. oh yeah, I almost totally forgot, batman's in this movie.

batman punches people and nonlethally takes them out. by suffocating them and letting them get stabbed and throwing them into pits of spikes and HEY WAIT A GODDAMN SECOND! okay let's just ignore that bit and hope that the little people squeezed between the gaps in the spikes and the strongman could breathe in the face mask and the two headed women had KO gas and the fat lady was fat enough that the knives only stabbed her cellulite. it wouldn't be the biggest reach one would have to make in watching this fucking disaster of a plot mess.

now I did like that it was actually batman, and by that I mean he gave a shit about the insane because he recognizes that mental illness is not a cause of dangerous or criminal behavior, just a potential exacerbating factor if it wasn't treated. yeah he brutalized mobsters and crime lords but they were mostly in self defense while gathering intel. he politely asked sal maroni and the sex workers for information and they gave it to him without violence- he manhandled maroni but only after he reached into his pocket for a cigar which could've been a gun. also batman says sex work should be decriminalized if only by not ratting them out to the cops. he was a genuinely good person in the second half of the movie. too bad it was ruined by the shitty first half that made him a borderline groomer.

joker's song was... bad. mark hamill performed his ass off but the song wasn't that good. it just tried to be willy wonka if he was a voyeuristic monster. oh yeah have the only girl character be paralyzed stripped and photographed only to give her father ManPain™. again... the fuck? joker and batman were both gross but, again. male writers. if it was a one-off I could drop a thermian argument because, alright one and done makes sense, especially 1988 standards. but it saturated and soured the entire goddamn movie because of abhorrent pacing decisions. so you're goddamn right I'm gonna bring it up twice! joker was a creep, his plan was dumb, nolan and burton and lord/miller and even ayer had better motivations. YES I AM SAYING THAT JARED LETO'S JOKER HAD BETTER WRITING THAN MARK HAMILL'S JOKER. not nearly to the level of ledger nicholson or galifanakis but hamill didn't have a lot to work with here and I maintain that his performance was amazing; honestly I like his the best out of all of them but just... not here. but I think I can cut some slack to firelord ozai and luke skywalker even if he just phoned it in here which he didn't. writing was just weak. and that's all there is to it. don't anon me and threaten to remove my bones ok?

alright so batman and joker fought and joker got the upper hand and was gonna kill him but it was a prop gun. haha. they had a heart to heart and batman tells joker that he wants to help him get better, even after joker killed robin and molested barbara and traumatized gordon and did countless other travesties, he still said he would help. but joker said no, and told a joke that was good enough to make batman laugh. and then the credits rolled.

...

what a completely pointless and empty ending. oh it's deep and meaningful and poignant? ok sure, I guess, movie, but you didn't earn that. shyamalan did the same thing a dozen times. that doesn't make him any less of a shit writer.

I can understand the concept of batman laughing at joker's joke, humanizing him.

I get it. I see what they tried to do. I respect it.

but this movie was massively overhyped and overrated and I expected it to be so much better than it was. but overall to me it was just another batman cartoon to throw on top of the pile. maybe it was influential to graphic novels. maybe it shaped batman into what he is today. it published right as tim burton's movie and I can respect its place in the pantheon of comic history. but sometimes things that are classic...

aren't that great.

citizen kane, casablanca, the maltese falcon, the treasure of the sierra madre, gone with the wind, singing in the rain, all of them are classic and legendary pieces of art. but they're just not that good, interesting, appealing, watchable, or FUN. they were good at the time- I mean come on we all know them today- but on going back you'd have to really appreciate the finer details to still love the movies today. and this belongs there, in the vault, to be appreciated from afar. influential if dated.

but god am I still disappointed nonetheless.

TL;DR

it was just okay. had some good ideas, had some really bad ideas, had some ugly stuff. overall mediocre. first half 5/10, second half 7/10, overall 6/10.