#THEY CAN HAVE FLAWS THAT SHOW THAT THEY'RE NOT 100% GOOD PEOPLE IT WOULD BE BAD WRITING OTHERWISE

[tongues-and-teeth-and-reblogs]

I'm starting to question if y'all actually read the story or if you just come on here and post about it.

[g1rld1ary]

long time no see - aaron hotchner x hs gf!reader

wc: 1395

cw: minor drinking

me: first time writing for hotch so sorry if there are characterisation issues!!!! i love this pairing so feel free to send reqs if u want more from them bc they're cuties <33

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“Aaron Hotchner am I dreaming or is that you?” You called from across the semi-quiet bar of some middle-of-the-road restaurant. You weren’t 100% convinced it was really him, but the upright posture and stern side profile brought back a lifetime of memories.

Aaron turned quickly, almost paranoid, but his face flashed through a thousand emotions as he took in the sight of you. He settled on what looked like joy, though it was always a little bit of a gamble with him, especially after so many years apart. The intricacies of his expressions weren’t intimacies you were entitled to anymore.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, reciprocating your warm embrace, “You look great.”

“As do you, Aaron. This suit is really nice.” You ran your fingers along his lapels. It was a gesture probably too familiar for two people who hadn’t seen each other in fifteen years, but seeing Aaron had already had an effect on you.

“Do you live around here?” Hotch asked again, a hand warm on your bicep even as you’d stopped hugging.

“Just moved back,” You answered brightly, “Spent the last decade or so in New York but, you know, my parents are getting older. Thought it was time to come home.”

“I’m glad. It’s really great to see you.”

“What are you up to now? Still—”

“Hotch!” A voice interrupted, “Our table’s ready. Who’s this?” The man was obviously a few years younger than Aaron which made you question their relationship — coworkers was the most likely answer, but they seemed awfully comfortable together. Behind them, you caught a glance of a larger group all looking at you curiously. You weren’t ashamed to say you were intimidated.

Aaron took a long look at you as he considered how to answer his friend’s question.

“An old friend from high school.” He introduced you both, and you took particular notice of the title Morgan was given.

“SSA?” You asked, “Like the FBI? I thought you were going to be a lawyer, Aaron?”

“Your friend is team leader of the BAU,” Morgan laughed as Hotch’s humble nature started to show, “He’s a bit of a top dog around the FBI.”

“I can see that.” You were impressed, you hadn’t imagined your high school boyfriend would end up as an important FBI agent.

“I was a prosecutor for a while,” Aaron conceded to make you feel better, “But I’ve been with the FBI for a while now, I feel like I’m making more of a difference.”

You shook your head with a small laugh, “You’re as good as you used to be, Aaron Hotchner. Tell me, has he developed any flaws since he’s been at the BAU?” You directed the question over to Morgan, whose interested surprise was clear in his expression. Evidently, he didn’t exactly agree with you, though you could see plainly how much he respected him.

“Let’s just say you wouldn’t want to be an incompetent local cop — I’m pretty sure he knows more insults than the rest of the team combined.”

“Will you eat with us?” Aaron changed the subject suddenly, “Unless, of course, you have other plans.”

You glanced over at the novel sitting in your now-vacant seat and didn’t think twice. You nodded enthusiastically, bouncing over to collect your things and return before the invitation could be rescinded.

You tried to stay calm as you approached the immensely intimidating table of FBI agents, all doing a poor job of acting as if they hadn’t just been talking about you.

“Hi,” You smiled, sitting down in the empty seat next to Aaron. You were immediately bombarded with questions. About yourself, your life, your relationship with Aaron. It was overwhelming, but you liked the energy and you liked seeing Aaron all grown up.

It was clear his team respected him, you could see it in every look they gave him, and you didn’t even need to be a profiler to notice it. You were strangely proud of him despite not having been in his life for the majority of adulthood, but you supposed everyone always had a bit of a soft spot for their first love.

“Why did you two break up?” Doctor Reid, the youngest of the group, asked as you all tucked into your food. You looked at Aaron for a long moment, a million memories slingshotting themselves to the forefront of your brain.

“I hardly remember,” You answered finally, “I’m sure it wasn’t a good reason — it rarely is when you’re young. I daresay I was probably jealous of the college girls getting to see Aaron every day whilst I was in AP Lang.”

“You’re younger?” Elle asked with sudden interest, a teasing smile on her lips. You nodded, picking up your wine glass.

“Two years.”

“My man!” Derek cheered and you were sure he would have tried to dap his boss up if it wasn’t so entirely anti-Hotch.

The dinner, though definitely a little strange, was full of joy and you enjoyed it immensely. The BAU were a group of such lovely people, they were immediately welcoming to you. They did, however, make you feel old.

Spencer was practically a child, only twenty-three, you and Aaron had already been broken up for a few years by twenty-three! Elle wasn’t much older, and Garcia and Morgan acted a bit like twelve-year-olds when together. You were told stories about Gideon, an older agent who’d built the BAU, but apparently he’d flaked dinner.

The meal wrapped up, and you couldn’t stop your gratitude flowing out for the wonderful night you’d had. Maybe you were a little bit wine drunk. Luckily the team all reciprocated, expressing fond wishes to see you again.

“Can I drive you home?” Aaron asked as the table began collecting their things and pulling on coats.

“That would be nice,” You beamed, “Just let me pop to the bathroom or I’ll be pissing in your car seats again. Uh, don’t ask.” Garcia giggled behind her hand as you darted off through the restaurant.

“She seems nice,” Elle said, buttoning up her coat.

“She is nice. It’s nice to reconnect with an old friend.”

“She might be nice but she’s not a friend, man. She looks at you like you hung all the stars in the sky.” Hotch shook his head at Derek’s accusation, but there was definitely the hint of a smile playing at his lips.

“It’s true,” Reid piped up, “Her pupils dilated significantly when looking at you, she was almost always leant towards you with open posture, and she brushed her hair behind her ear sixteen times during the meal.” He awkwardly reciprocated Morgan’s offered high-five.

Hotch was a perfect gentleman, even when you weren’t dating. He’d given you his arm as you strolled down toward his car in a nearby parking lot and opened the passenger door for you to hop in. When you’d told him the address to your flat he didn���t plug it in the GPS which was inconsequential but hugely impressive.

“Who would’ve thought after all these years we’d be back in the same city, driving around town late at night?” You sighed contentedly, watching lights and buildings pass through the rain-spotted window.

Aaron hummed in agreement, both hands on the steering wheel. You liked to watch them, you always had.

“Let’s not leave it so long next time, hm?” Aaron said as he escorted you up to your apartment door. You didn’t invite him in and he showed no indication of wanting to enter. The night was enough. “It was really great to see you.”

You smiled, a warm, genuine one that had Aaron smiling back. For a moment you saw his eighteen-year-old self in it, the image of him kissing you goodnight after his prom fresh in your mind.

“Aaron?” You called him back and he didn’t hesitate, long strides bringing him back to you in moments. You pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, pleased by his gentle surprise, “I really missed you.”

[angelshizuka]

You know the writing is good when you can understand all character perspectives.

Like, I 100% understand why Stolas was willing to give his life for Blitz, especially since he had no time to think and had to act fast. But then there's Octavia's "You never loved mother. And you don't love me. You love him." line from the trailer that's gonna show up in Sinsmas. I also 100% understand why she would feel like that (especially with Stella and Andrealphus being there manipulating her) after Stolas almost died, aka leaving her behind, for the imp he told her not to worry about.

That's one of the main reasons I don't get the people who hate one character in any of the relationship dynamics going on in this show, when the entire point is they're all flawed and act based on their own perspectives, because they don't have the full picture like us as the audience do.

[catinasockinsideabox]

In Dickbabs defense:

I can try explaining most of the pictures here in really short, I hope:

First picture, Barbara is kinda right being mad. Second, Dick was being a bit arrogant and all in that comic. Third picture, I might be mistaken but wasn't her father in danger? Sure, she's not completely excused for kicking him of course, still, try to understand her. Fourth picture... What is wrong with that? That's basically training? Those aren't even real spikes. She's yelling because in A REAL situation like that he needs to be fast. Fifth picture, did you guys even read the AFTER of that one?

Like every relationship, especially at the start, it has their problems. Barbara is holding back because of her legs, because she's in a wheelchair. However, she asked him for some time, he said he's gonna give it to her.

Next picture:

Again, have you read the after?

She's not being serious, she IS mocking but not with actually mean intentions.

"Barbara is jealous and shows her disdain for Koriand'r" um, okay? As if Kory was never jealous of a girl and Dick?

"Barbara dated Bruce!" Another universe.

"Barbara married Tim!" Another universe.

"But Barbara and Jason!" But Jason and Kory?

"Barbara also slut shamed him!" I can't 100% defend her, but she didn't know what actually happened on the rooftop, did she? I think no one knows what happened to Dick that night, Barbara only knows that he and Tarantula kissed. Of course she wasn't happy.

As said, I can't completely defend her over that, however, you can't completely hate on her. Also, that's probably bad writing by Devin Grayson. Helena once kissed Dick in front of Barbara, she wasn't really happy about it but didn't lash out. Plus, if I'm not wrong... Kory slept with both Jason and Roy in the new 52. Yes, that's bad writing and people don't count that, so why do we count this? Please be coherent.

Barbara to Kate Kane: "War? Pfft. I've dated Dick Grayson. You dated Dick Grayson?" How...is that sentence a reason to hate on the ship? I think it is pretty complicated to date our boy. Always missing dates or running off in the middle of them, for good reasons, but you can't blame the girls for feeling bitter about it. And before someone says it never happened with Kory or stuff like that, I'd like to remind you that he and Kory dates when they're in the Teen Titans. A team. Where there's always someone to help out and you're not alone. In Blüdhaven, Dick was alone, he used to mention it quite a lot too.

"Barbara blamed him for getting shot and forgetting about her" Okay, again, can't 100% blame her, but I feel like that was the stress talking. She was worried about him, she tried to get him back, now that everything is over, the whole situation hit her HARD, aka, she's stressing. Which is something I believe they both do a lot. You know... Being vigilantes and all, can you blame them?

You can't base their relationship as a normal one, how it would work for us, because it's not that simple. They both have a stressing and complicated life.

Last note, a little plus.

I've seen people hating on Barbara for this:

Now, I'd like to ask you, have you ever met someone who can't read? I'm adding this bonus because I did know someone like that. And let me tell you: It wasn't easy. If you add the importance and stress of the situation the characters are in, it's even more understandable why Barbara got stressed and lashed out like that.

Overall, you can't tell me she doesn't care about Cass, because she does. Like she does with Dick.

Dick and Barbara have a complicated relationship, but a good built up. It has its flaws, but they care about each other. And I feel like Tom Taylor isn't "trying to brainwash us into believing their relationship is all good and rainbows", obviously I can't say he wrote them all that good. Still, their relationship developed. You know, it happens.

It is built on retcons? Yeah. Is DC built on retcons? Absolutely. Their relationship is NOT the only thing that gets affected by retcons. I do believe that DC trying to erase Dickkory is a bit shitty though.

But in the end, why are you guys so unhinged about a fictional relationship? And a fictional character (Barbara). Some people act like she's a real person who committed war crimes, what in the world did a fictional character do to you? People take this stuff too seriously.

I've seen Dickkory fans acting surprised if someone agrees about Dickkory being better than Dickbabs, as if when you open the comment on YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr under a Dickbabs post you won't see the typical comments:

"Kory >>>> Barbara"

"Dickkory >>>> Dickbabs"

"I prefer Dickkory"

"I hate this ship"

"I hate Barbara"

"I prefer Dickkory but..."

To be honest, I always see more posts and comments against the Dickbabs or Barbara instead of ones against Dick and Kory.

[lunarbard]

I legitimately think that the first three borderlands (as in 1, 2, & TPS) are good dystopian satire, despite their questionable writing at times. A game/series that took itself more seriously could highlight this better, but Borderlands would lose a lot of its edge if it did.

Handsome Jack isn't just some charismatic villain that garnered a lot of affection from players by some fluke, but rather an excellent personification of the dystopian elements of Borderlands' background setting that make it engaging.

If you look at Borderlands 1, for all its effective lack of plot, the game is about these megacorporation's disregard for the human lives they ruin and their self-defeating obsession with attaining power and control (as seen with Commandant Steele's death). Borderlands 2 took that premise and swapped out the corporate antagonist, but it's not just a new coat of paint/roster of enemies: the motivations change while following similar themes as implied in BL1, now personified in Jack.

In BL1, the Atlas Corporation believes it owns Pandora, and everything (and everyone that primarily DAHL brought), on it is unrealized property they have free claim over. They believe the vault and its contents are owed to them, and it falls on the vault hunters showing up in the nick of time to remedy the potential resulting calamity.

Handsome Jack, meanwhile, has that similar belief that Pandora is "his," just that it's his to "save." He's Hyperion's current CEO because he is willing to do whatever it takes to get what he believes he is owed, one of which is respect as a hero of the people. The people he hates the most are those who deny or deprive him of those things: see his treatment of his daughter, after "what she did to her mother." His ego and disregard for the humanity of basically anyone else, treating them as a character in his story to be stepped on and/or discarded reflects an attitude of the megacorporations that makes the backgrounds of Borderlands so dystopian. I 100% believe that the system that makes a person like Handsome Jack could have produced nearly anyone in a similar mold.

Meanwhile, the Borderlands 1 vault hunters in 2 stand in stark contrast to not just Handsome Jack/Hyperion but also DAHL. Unlike Jack, they don't care about the aesthetics of heroism; they're just trying to protect as many people as they reasonably can from the horrors of Pandora. Unlike DAHL, they didn't abandon the planet and the survivors still there when the thing that brought them in the first place didn't pan out.

I think there's also something to the crude city of Sanctuary supporting plenty of residents versus the pristine city of Opportunity that's almost completely vacant of anything except instruments of war.

Of course, Jack's fall is thematically different from Atlas. Atlas gets defeated when it's claimed "property" slaughters the military sent to claim it; Jack gets defeated by watching his notions of heroism fall apart as the vault hunters cut down the calamity he summoned to "save" Pandora.

Then you get to Borderlands 3, which understood nothing but the aesthetic of the preceding series.

The only difference between the corporations you ally with and those you fight is the former have some friendly franchise blorbos (Rhys, Zer0, and Hammerlock). The corporations aren't fundamentally flawed factions that drive the terrible conditions of the setting for their lust for profit, they're just sometimes headed by someone evil and/or incompetent who maybe wants a merger (The "merger war" between Atlas and Maliwan is a good idea in theory, but it's ruined by going "this one is good" rather than focusing on helping those caught in the crossfire).

Meanwhile, the twins don't present a coherent threat as an element of Borderlands' underlying dystopia. They're just bad guys with lore things (derogatory) and their streamer gimmick. What I think is most insulting about them, though, is that they're just an excuse to use bandits everywhere with no though for an underlying point. The bandits of Pandora are the people DAHL left behind on that desolate rock of a planet, many of whom never wanted to be there in the first place. The twins could have shed some light on how receptive the bandits are to promises of salvation by whatever means because they have no hope otherwise.

I feel like a game that was trying to be more thematically coherent with previous entries would have flipped the villain script: the twins should have been misguided/tragic figures actively striving for a new, redeemed life for Pandora, while their corporate allies use them up and discard them.

[millionmaggots]

RGG Show was Mid, + a Tangent About Goro Majima

Ok, yeah, I'm glad I didnt get my hopes up, bc WOWIE the amazon prime RGG show is Not Good.

I wanted to like it, but in 100% full sincerity, i would recommend that you watch the unhinged 2005 movie over this.

The games beautifully mix genuinely serious story beats / subject matter with completely absurd moments of levity. This contrast allows you to see the silly and charming sides of the characters, making the story especially engaging precisely because those moments of happiness contrast so sharply with the characters' hard lives. Seeing what they could have makes it hit so much harder when they're put through the wringer.

Kiryu will go through the most gut-wrenching tragedy, then immediately after, you'll do a side quest about helping people find their lost items or something. Ultimately, the series is about humanity, and flawed people in horrible situations doing what little good they can.

The 2005 movie is ridiculous and borderline incomprehensible, but it still captures that mix of tragedy and farce. It's weird, it's campy, it's horny, and it makes little to no sense - It's fun.

I can't say the same about the new Prime series. It lacks the charm and silly antics that separate RGG from any other crime drama, and that self-serious nature just sucks all the appeal out of it.

I'm not upset that it isn't totally loyal to game canon - in fact, one of my main hopes was that it would reconcile Majima's super inconsistent characterization in Kiwami 1.

Him kidnapping Haruka just to get to Kiryu, holding a woman at knifepoint, etc., was all written for the original game in 2005 when he was meant to be a wildcard minor antagonist/villain.

The Majima Everywhere mechanic was added in the remake in 2016 after gradually becoming a much more complex and likeable character in 11 years worth of subsequent games after the original game's release.

However, the added content more in line with his later characterization was tacked on to the original iteration of him with little consideration for consistency, making him feel like one of two different people, depending on the scene.

With the show having the benefit of hindsight, I really hoped they would do something interesting with him, and balance out the genuinely detestable things he does with the silly amicable rivalry he has with Kiryu.

The story of the first game is mostly about Kiryu, Nishiki, and Yumi, but the marketing made a point to say it was (however loosely) adapting Kiwami 1. While I understand not wanting to advertise a brand new show with 2005 PS2 era graphics, I feel like that implied that it would reflect the minor narrative/framing changes and increased prominence of Majima, just as it does with Nishiki from the original game to Kiwami.

Essentially, I wasn't too excited about this series, but I had some hope because they had an opportunity to clean up the story and retell it without the limitations of being a remaster of an old game and following an eleven year old script almost word for word.

Instead, they told a gritty and joyless version of the same story without taking advantage of the freedom to rework a flawed but enjoyable story/script, and in doing so, lost its grip on the central theme of the series.

[renthony]

I haven't enjoyed a Marvel movie since I stopped bothering to keep up with the MCU in 2014. I don't care for most Marvel movies. I think Marvel Studios is a case study in things that are shitty in the entertainment industry. But holy shit, pretentious posts along the lines of "haha, I don't watch Marvel films, I have real taste, go watch another movie!" are so fucking annoying.

Like, go put up your middle finger at some preps or something. People are allowed to watch whatever they want and enjoy whatever movies they want and make whatever fandom stuff they want, and that doesn't say anything about their intelligence or morals or character. It doesn't mean they are somehow bad at watching movies, or are too stupid to realize whatever nugget of wisdom ye high-and-mighty Marvel Haters think you're the only ones to understand.

Again, not personally a Marvel fan, but this whole "haha, I'm better than Marvel fans" relates to something I've been musing on about media analysis as a whole. There is a persistent idea that mass entertainment is inherently lower quality or less artistic because it's made for a wide audience, and that bad art isn't worth analyzing or engaging with just because it's low quality. In this mindset, the only art that has the possibility to be any good at all is 100% independent projects made by amateurs, and anything produced by a studio or with wide appeal is inherently poser art with absolutely nothing meaningful to say. In this mindset, you can't possibly learn anything or take anything from bad art, and if you find meaning in bad art, you're clearly just stupid and uneducated and have bad taste.

The thing is? Liking bad art is not a sin. Having a different opinion about what constitutes "bad art" is not a sin. Finding something entertaining despite its flaws is not a sin. Studying bad art is not a sin. You can learn a lot from bad art, you can learn a lot from interpreting propaganda, you can learn a lot from engaging with things even if you don't think they're very "good."

My vaudeville research keeps turning up author after author who talks about vaudeville as some sort of "point of no return," like the performing arts all turned to shit the second things were intended to be seen by more than a single audience for a single show. Popularity gets equated with lack of skill or quality, because all the performers were "just pandering to the audience" instead of relying on "real skill."

For one, what the fuck does that even mean, but for two, the theatrical quality of vaudeville isn't what makes it interesting and worth engaging with. Every single thing that ever came out of vaudeville could be 100% total utter garbage, but vaudeville would still be worth studying because of how influential it still is on arts and entertainment today. It has significant historical and educational merit. And some of it is still genuinely fun and entertaining, once you pick out all the things that didn't age well or were just plain bigoted. There's artistic merit in those old sketches and songs, and there's meaning to be drawn from plenty of it even here in 2023.

You want to learn about the Hays Code? Well, let's talk about how early films were shown on projectors on vaudeville stages, so vaudeville censorship went on to influence American film censorship. Let's talk about how we still use slang to this day that originated on vaudeville, such as "skit" or "one night stand" or "ad lib" or "the big time." Vaudeville is still in the bones of the modern American entertainment industry and pop culture, and you can't really escape that influence.

People in modern day use Marvel movies as proof that big studio films are singlehandedly responsible for the decline of art, and there is nothing to learn from them or see in them at all, ever. But to me, "Marvel movies are bad" is such a flat, uninteresting observation, because when it comes to media analysis, it doesn't really matter if Marvel films are good or entertaining. If you want to actually dig into the problems with big-budget summer Hollywood blockbusters, and the way they're impacting the industry as a whole, you have to go deeper than "pop culture is all stupid stuff for stupid people, unlike me, who isn't like other girls actually has good taste in media!"

There are so many more factors at play than "mass entertainment = bad art." Let's look at the ways capitalism screws over small creators and forces them to seek funding from the very same studios that fuck them over. Let's talk about how the actual workers in the industry are fighting tooth and fucking nail against the exact same things all the Marvel haters harp on about. Let's talk about studios that accept funding from the United States Government to turn superhero comics into propaganda films, and then threaten the actual workers with never having a career again if they complain or quit. Let's talk about how the actors are regularly abused and treated to hostile work environments.

Let's talk about the people who made the films, because the films were not made by a CEO pressing the "make movie" button. The workers made those films. The workers were exploited by those studios. Let's try giving a shit about them, instead of taking the "haha, Marvel fans are stupid and cringe" route.

There is so much more fucking nuance and detail and conversation about mass media as a topic, and boiling it down to, "art made for a wide audience is inherently shitty and has nothing to say."

You're not a better, more intelligent, more educated person just because you don't like Marvel movies. Making posts about how much better you are than Marvel fans does nothing to either explain or tackle the issues in the entertainment industry.

It just makes you look like a dickhead.

[tobiasdrake]

UGH. YOUTUBE HAS MADE THEIR SITE TOO COMPLICATED FOR USERS. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH IT BEFORE, BACK IN 2005-2009?

Well, they're owned by Google. So. Y'know. Same thing that was wrong with their search engine.

Which is to say, Google has grown beyond the point of sustainability for a publicly-owned company with growth incentives.

The fundamental flaw of the U.S.'s growth-based economy is that it imagines a world in which an infinitely expanding revenue intake is possible to achieve. This, unfortunately, flies in the face of reality.

The way a growth-based economy works is that if your company made 100% of all money that exists on Earth this year, it would have to then make 104% of all money that exists next year. And then 108% of all money the year after that.

This is a problem that isn't apparent for small up-and-coming businesses. How can I grow my company's market? Easy. Expand my customer base. Sell more products to more people.

But there's a ceiling. A point at which infinite forever-growth ceases to be achievable through simply doing business. You already have as many people buying your product as are ever going to buy your product; There is no reasonable avenue available to turn your 50 million customers into 75 million. You've hit a plateau.

Or worse, they already bought your product last year so they don't need to buy it again this year. Why would I need to buy yearly tractors?

That's a problem, because the demands of investors do not let up just because it's not actually possible to keep growing the business by doing business. The guy who put in $30 million expects to get $45 million back out of it. Your job is to make that happen. Nothing else that the business does actually matters. Go grow the market value and get back to me when it's done.

Once a business grows beyond the point of sustainability, that's when it starts having to get creative. If you can't grow the customer base, then you need to find ways to get them to pay more money for less product. Increase revenues and decrease costs while supplying to the same set of customers you were before.

This is why the film and AAA video game industries have lost their goddamn minds. They've long-since passed the point of sustainability.

This is what CEOs mean when they say it's "Too expensive to make games." They don't mean they can't make profit by making games. They mean they can't hit their profit growth goals unless they come up with yet another new way to get the existing base of gamers to pay them even more money this year than they did last year, without proportionally increasing their costs to achieve it.

They need the line to go up. And they can no longer achieve that by doing the thing that their business exists to do.

This is also where things like planned obsolescence come from. Why would I need to buy yearly tractors? Because the tractors are designed on purpose to fall apart after a year so I have to go to the store and buy a new one. That's a solution to the "Everyone already bought my product" problem. An evil solution a problem created by unsustainable economics.

Google, too, is long past the sustainability ceiling, and it's causing them to shit themselves and reveal their true colors. Because Google's customer has never been their users. The users are the product that they sell to advertisers. Their revenue comes from getting your eyes on an advertiser's products. That's it.

And as they continue beyond the sustainability ceiling with each passing year of infinite forever-growth, they're having to pursue more and more nakedly predatory means of churning their userbase into mass-produced views.

Why is their search engine so shitty? Because if you have to search for something five times, you're gonna see five times as many ads. That's good for Google's growth margins.

YouTube is the same. Their algorithm is designed to feed people into loops. Not to show you content they think you'll like to see, but to show you content that will keep you engaged. That will make you watch the next video and the ads that go with it. It's clickbait in video suggestion form.

And it's just going to keep getting worse and worse and worse until either legislation steps in or the bubble pops. Those are the only two futures possible for a company that's beyond the sustainability ceiling. And they've gotten very good at postponing the popping of the bubble.

This, all of this, is what people are talking about when they use the term "late-stage capitalism".

[td-brick]

I talked about this a while ago (I think) but it annoys me when people use the stupid "well if the roles were revered/if Sierra was a guy you wouldn't defend her" strawman when talking about Sierra and her relationship to Cody as if Sierra as a character would even exist if she was a guy. Her writing and how she acts is entirely driven by misogyny and the people who wrote her seeing women as more neurotic or whatever than men. And this document (which is really good and you should read) goes more in depth about how a lot of her writing and her being depicted as eager/perverted is racist as well but. yeah. And you can recognize this about her without "defending" her or whatever. Yeah she was creepy and weird but MANY other characters in td are and they don't have nearly as much discourse surrounding them as she does.

Anyways I digress... going off my first point I feel like people forget how much misogyny (and racism in sierra's case, what with her being a woc) affects how characters are perceived and written in things. Sierra's character would not be what it was if she was a white guy. You can write flawed female characters who might have traits similar to sierra without being misogynistic and its actually bad if all your female characters are 100% perfect angels because that's misogynistic in its own right. but like there are still stereotypes you have to be aware of and if someone is misogynistic and writing a female character their misogyny will show through in her writing, like sierra. Watching world tour/all stars it feels like they're not giving her any of her own charm or positive traits, it's only attached to other characters (namely cody) and when she exists on her own (barely) she's just doing stuff to make you hate her.

And in and of itself the fact that her character is literally ONLY attached to cody (or cameron in all stars) is misogynistic. She is clearly a really strong person on her own, especially in total drama. like physically she's super strong and agile, she has a good understanding of the contestants already because of watching TWO seasons of the show many times and she probably knows a lot about how the game itself works, etc. Clearly she's also good at finding information about people so she would probably know how to use certain contestants traits to her own gain (to form alliances and otherwise). But for some reason they never really elaborate on that and especially in world tour just attach her at the hip to a random guy who she drags super far through the competition without ever getting any character development of her own and its so UGHHH. And I wouldn't even have a problem with her being a huge fan of Cody in specific (although I do wish they would focus on her being a td superfan as a whole more) if they just handled it better. which they don't. and the shit with Cameron in all stars is just dumb as fuck I'm sorry I don't think I even need to elaborate on that

[imminent-danger-came]

SWK being so flawed is like one of LMK's strongest bits. I feel like a different show would just have him be infallible or have him be like a twist villain or irredeemable or something. But he's neither of those, he's just incredibly flawed. It's also interesting that even though Mei and Pigsy are critical of him, they're still shown to care about him.

All in all, hes a more complicated character than people give him credit for :/

I 100% agree!

Honestly, if Sun Wukong wasn't flawed I'd find him a bit boring. You remove his flaws and you remove the meat of his character. Even all the way back in season 1 you get the feeling he's withholding information and concealing his past ("Show me the real Sun Wukong! The old you would have leveled this whole mountain range to stop me!"), and that only becomes more and more prevalent as the show goes on.

Wukong is first introduced as a hero, as the King who defended the world from DBK. Next he's introduced as a mentor, planning to make MK his successor (which I think is pretty debatable at this point, as I've said I personally think he just needed an excuse to train MK).

Slowly we learn SWK is pretty terrible at both of those things. He's not the hero or mentor anyone thought he would be—he's not even the mentor he thought he would be:

Macaque: “Haha, you saw a story about a hero who got handed everything, who didn’t have to work for anything, and you thought you were the other guy? The second the hero got real power, he couldn’t care less about his friends.” [ - ] "You know, I meant what I said—you really are a good kid. A good kid, with a really terrible teacher." (2x07 Shadow Play)

-

Pigsy: "Back from what? Your vacation? No- what could have been SO important you'd leave MK alone to face that- that thing! You're supposed to be his mentor!" (2x10 This is the End!)

-

Sun Wukong: "I know I can never make it up to you. Honestly I- I never thought I'd live as long as I have let alone be someone's mentor—turns out I'm not very good at it. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry MK, for all of it." (3x14 Destiny Fulfilled)

-

(he's staring sadly at a bowl of soup, never a good sign.)

s1 of Monkie Kid, as well as the Revenge of the Spider Queen special, establish a baseline. We meet Wukong as we're meant to know him—the legendary yet cheeky hero. Now that he's retired, Monkey King is training the next generation to protect the world and be the heroes in his place.

Right?

Well, just like our perception of Wukong, our perception of the role of the hero slowly degrades as well:

Lady Bone Demon: “Heroes? Please, you’re mere agents of chaos, the very thing I aspire to eradicate in this new world. No more destruction, no more disorder, I WILL HAVE PERFECTION.” (3x12 The Corrupted King)

-

Curse MK: "We’re just like Wukong. A fraud! A trickster! Destructive! Why would our legacy be any different? Actually, no no- the chaos and destruction we’ll bring upon the world will make Wukong’s past look like nothing." (4x07 Pitiful Creatures)

-

MK: "That can't be true! Monkey King's a hero he wouldn't just—" Azure Lion: "You saw it with your own eyes! His betrayal, his brutality—he took the only friends I had from me." (4x08 The Brotherhood)

-

Heroes aren't people fighting for the side of good, or even for what they think is right—they're agents of chaos. Destructive. "All doomed to play a role in tearing this world apart." Heroes are introduced as one thing, and then slowly revealed to be another.

Heroes, just like Wukong and anyone else, are flawed. They still make wrong choices. They still hurt people. Of course Wukong isn't a twist villain or irredeemable, because ultimately he IS a hero with plenty of the positive traits that come with that. But heroes are also flawed, and this is something I think is at the core of Lego Monkie Kid.

You can love someone, and that someone can do plenty of good, but that doesn't mean they're not broken, or that they aren't capable of causing suffering. This isn't something that only applies to Wukong either—pick any character and I'm sure you could apply this to them.

Now, all this to say that Wukong's two fatal flaws are his lack of communication and his self-sacrificial tendencies. Like Azure Lion says—he has a habit of keeping people at arms length, and more often than not doing that to protect them. These tendencies lead to his downfall.

So! Let's make some lists of where we see these flaws in the show.

Wukong's lack of Communication:

"Look, I'm going to come clean—um, I've been kind of watching you."

Leaving MK and lying to him during s2 (this includes lying about both going on vacation AND that LBD had returned)

Keeping his plan to stop LBD a secret during s3

"Where I got my staff!" "Got or took, right? You took it?"

Not telling the gang about the 4th ring

Other lies I'm sure have yet to be revealed (such as the truth about MK's origins, if that's the direction the plot's going)

Him and Macaque's past

Wukong's Self-sacrificial tendencies:

Leaving during s2 to find a way to stop LBD on his own

"What!? You're not going I'm going!" "Yeah so, here's the problem, you guys have this thing called mortality, so-"

Gravely injuring himself to get the samadhi fire Map

Blocking the brunt of the samadhi fire to protect MK in 3x10

Originally planning to put the Samadhi Fire in himself

Going off to fight the Lady Bone Demon alone

Protecting MK from the curse in 4x01

(and this post here that travels into theory territory)

Now, most, if not all, of these decisions lead to something bad happening. It's very in line with MK's words in 4x08:

MK: It doesn’t matter if I want to help people or not! Everything I do just- it just makes things worse!”

Wukong, even if he has a very questionable way of going about it, is truly motivated by protecting the people he cares about. However, these choices also hurt those same people. Not to reference samadhi fire Mei another time, but this is EXACTLY what she points out:

Mei: "We trusted you! All of us! How could you lead us into the fight without a real plan? Time and time again I've watched you put MK in danger leaving him to figure out EVERYTHING on his own. Don't you realize you're hurting the people who care about you the most?" (3x10 The Samadhi Fire)

But that's the point, isn't it? Even with all these flaws and after all these mistakes, Wukong still tries (he's very much like Mei in that regard):

Sun Wukong: “Point is, mistakes happen, but so long as you leave the world in better shape than you found it, then it’s all good. Right?” (4x01 Familiar Tales)

-

Sun Wukong: “We can’t change who we were yesterday or in a past life, or a hundred life times ago! We live with the choices we’ve made, for what matter is the choices we make RIGHT NOW! Only we decide who we are and what we do with the power we have.” (4x07 Pitiful Creatures)

-

This is who Wukong is. He's not a hero or a mentor, but he's someone who cares (and maybe that's what a hero is). That's the tragedy of his character, really. That's the tragedy of both him and MK. They're people doing the best with what they have, but still failing anyways.

"Nice hero speech bud, but I know better—deep in your hearts, you don't believe a word of that."

-

But people still love you anyways.

[icantthinkyandere]

What do you think abt two yanderes fighting eachother to get to their master? Like im having so many brain rotting ideas my brain has a cavity.

Who do you think would be best to fit these rolls??

{Arjuna alter vs Morgan Le Fay}

Hear me out.

I love Arjuna a lot after reading his interlude a long time ago, and I love Arjunalter even more. I also love Morgan a lot after reading Avalon. So, they're on my mind a lot and very biased.

They're both very desperate for love now that they're on Chaldea and able to relax. They can have it.

While they can still fall for a staff but it's more likely to get obsessed with the master since they've seen them at their worse but yet they are still kind to them now that they're in Chaldea.

They know full well they can't kill or fight each other. They 100% want to because they want to protector and devoted lover of their darling master. The only thing they can really do is throw catty insults at each other. The Fea Knights have offered to take care of him for her, but she doesn't want them to get in trouble or fade away. Morgan doesn't want that because she wants Baobhan to have an actually good step parent that doesn't lead to her death.

They're not very manipulative mainly because they think their relationship with their beloved is fine. Even if they're not (or something have stopped them from thinking they're in a relationship with you already) in a relationship, they think the relationship is perfectly. You've already accepted their flaws, and they're a wonderful partner for you.

Arjunalter can't get anyone on his side to support his relationship because he's not the most trusted servant, and the only people Morgan can get on her side are the Fae knights. They're all trying their best, even if it's not the best in reality.

Arjunalter and Morgan are trying their hardest not to go back to their violent ways because they want to prove that they've changed. But they hate each other so much since they believe they are either in a relationship with you or are on the edge of getting married.

The only thing they can do is throw insults at each other and pray that something happens to make the other disappear completely

{Merlin vs Lady Avalon}

I feel like anyone else would say Merlin and Lady Avalon would work together. But I just don't think they would. They both want what they want and won't let even themselves get in the way.

They already knew how similar they were, and then it really set in when they realized they had the same exact plan to isolate their love to make them dependent on them. They're getting in each other's way by interrupting personal time at any chance.

Da Vinci and Sherlock suggest maybe just working together? They declined, saying that even they know two of them is too much. The real reason being they'll just argue about what to do or it'll quickly show their darling that these aren't real lessons, just them trying to isolate you from other servants and staff

They're teachers, mentors, etc. They give a lot of themselves to other people, so now that they have such strong feelings for someone, they would like to be a little selfish for once. Which means not sharing even if that person is you with a different look.

Unlike Arjunalter and Morgan, who are trying to be on their best behavior despite wanting to rip each other's throats out. These two only look like they're on their best behavior. They are playing 20 D chess with each other, with them trying to manipulate anyone they can to their side into believing the other is evil and should die.

This goes with the person of their affection, too. Constantly trying to make the other look as bad as they can, from pointing obvious already known flaws, making things up, and finding the most obscure Merlin facts they can find.

Sometimes, the race to be the only one gets so intense that they forget they're even battling for someone's affection, allowing some other servant or staff member to get uncomfortably close. So, they have to derail their plans to ruin each other, to get this person away while trying to make sure the other isn't getting closer to their love in the process! It's a loop of desperately trying to stay one step ahead.

They don't really care about the other servants that they ruin the reputation of, unless it's Arthur and the Artorias. Even if they do think Merlin and Lady Avalon are weird, they still trust and love them. So, making them believe the Merlin/Lady Avalon is evil as well as other servants does hurt them. They can only hope they understand the end goal. Being happily together with their soulmate away from the world.

🎉BONUS ODDITY TIME!!!🎉

Yanderes who work together

{Okita Souji and Qin Shi Huang}

While they don't like it, they have a mutual understanding that this person is very important to them both, and they want to protect them more than anything in the world.

They are two sides of the same coin, with Okita being a more violent protector whole. Qin Shi Huang is a peace protector. Qin Shi Huang, while trying their best to be peaceful, knows that somethings can't be avoided anymore. Okita knows that her more aggressive behavior is off-putting and very intimidating. Working together allows them to cover different types of caretaking.

Qin Shi Huang can take care of more emotional needs, and if someone needs to die, Okita can kill them.

They take turns interacting with their shared beloved, learning new things, and cross-referencing what they've learned. They don't get very far most of the time with planning and strategies because they'll start talking about something cute you did or someone who is seems to be dangerous because they were over analyzing a situation.

[mdhwrites]

if you've seen Steven universe how would you compare it to TOH? I've seen many takes that TOH is Steven Universe 'done correctly' which drives me up a wall, especially since TOH has a lot of the same flaws as SU (pretty much everyone has to be tied to steven in some way- the same way everyone's gotta tie into Luz, White Diamond pisses me off for the same reason the collector does and dear god both finales are messes and the worldbuilding is also kind of messy) but pretty much everyone can agree that Steven Universe's themes of restorative justice are good, its themes surrounding interpersonal relationships and intergenerational trauma is good- I've seen people justify how TOH handles its villains 2 ways "its doing steven universe's restorative justice but like correctly" or "its about killing your oppressors, which steven should have done" which is dumb. Idk this fandom has a huge hate-boner for SU and Amphibia in general though. I also saw someone have the take the collector and belos where foils which... Is weird I can see where they come from but they never are put together in a way that highlights their similarities and differences. So what are some actual comparisons that can made between the shows outside of LGBT characters and surface level stuff?

Sadly I have not seen Steven Universe so I can't really comment on much of it. I've seen the first episode (both halves), decided the gems were insufferable to me and Steven was okay and went on with my life because at the time, I was a full time college student and a part time Walmart employee. I do like some of the songs that have reached me but I never got an in with the show, especially since my early experience with it was much like Gravity Falls where I heard a lot of high concept stuff about it but not much about why I would actually enjoy a given episode, what was enjoyable about the characters, etc. like that. Honestly, the only criticism I know of for it is that people hate the ending.

BUT.

I have seen one other thing. I have seen about twenty minutes of the Steven Universe movie. With that I can say one thing definitively even if it's not clearing a high bar: The Diamond's turn to good is better than the Collector's because they have literally ANY reason to listen to the person preaching at them. The Collector doesn't. In fact, he has no reason to reform and it is drastically out of character for him to care about... Anyone?

Let me start on the Diamond's side because I don't have a lot to say about this but it is something I'm surprised I haven't heard anyone talk about: They were clearly traumatized by the loss of Pink Diamond. Whether or not you think this is a good part of the plot isn't what matters, the point is that this is a literal fact to the story. This grief has gone unresolved for literal decades (just going by Steven's lifespan, someone in my Discord provided the context that they blamed themselves for her DEATH, not just disappearance, for CENTURIES which only bolsters the point I'm making) and has festered in them a desperation for their old comrade? Friend? I don't 100% know but you get the point. So when her son arrives and can't be kept by force, they're going to be pretty amenable to listen to whatever demands means keeping him around. Is that great? No, I wouldn't say it is as the question of what happens when Steven dies is there but it works for forcing them to consider the consequences of their actions and how they may need to change to have the life they desire. It is a compelling force for the first step of change. It's not amazing but it is at least functional from a narrative standpoint, an emotional standpoint and from a character standpoint. Not that it's great but that it is functional. You can string together how this works without having to just invent bullshit.

The Collector has none of these three because he's the literal fucking worst.

I've talked about this before but the Collector isn't the child the fandom treats him as. Even if we try to disconnect the second season version of the Collector, who very much so knows what death is and the consequences of his actions, S3 Collector does have a foil to Belos: He's an actual colonizing piece of shit. Not in that he is literally colonizing places but in mindset. Everything to him is something to be used for his entertainment or enrichment or it is to be stripped of all rights and brutally oppressed until it fits the role he desires. This is what happens when you become a LITERAL. FUCKING. DOLL. And he even has enforcers like the armies colonies would use that have wildly more powerful magic, i.e. technology, in order to make that oppression more seamless. Remember: Hexside is actively hiding from roaming stars that he just has going around the Isles that hoover up people, making at least those who resist into dolls immediately without question, and then bringing them to him to be new play toys in his game. That is explicitly what he has been doing to the entire Isles for MONTHS once S3 episode 2 happens.

People do not matter to him and this even extends to King. When King steps out of line, The Collector cracks the whip. He's even willing to KILL KING for having the gall of caring about anyone other than him. Those death games would be just as lethal to King as it would be to Eda and Luz after all. And if you actually do divorce S2's "PLAY AMONGST THE BONES!" line (which is fucking awful because you have to remove literally all of the first appearances of a character which is usually considered, you know... Bad) and believe that he doesn't know what death is... He knows what pain is. He knows what torture is. He knows the despair of being trapped in a space where you can't move or act or do anything except watch as an observer on a world that could destroy you at any moment because your prison is all of your being.

And then he makes people into dolls, with consciousness, without a second thought. He is willing to BREAK people in order to make them play along. His literal plan was to shatter the bodies of the Owl House trio over and over and over again until they were subservient to his desires. That is WORSE than just wanting to kill them. And he only stops to throw a tantrum because he fails to succeed and starts whining about it like any selfish asshole not getting his way. Not like a child: Like a selfish asshole.

So with ALL of this, what does the show do to try to make him consider the consequences of his actions? Well... Nothing. It claims it's trying to do something but the tour with the trio is much more a circle jerk about how amazing the show was and how much could have happened if not for the shortening ("That sounds like something that could have been its own spin off!" Or whatever King says to Eda talking about her and Raine's time at Hexside) than it is about talking to the Collector. There's a couple lines here and there, talking to him about what works for making friends but does it stick?

No, the Collector learns nothing and in mocking Steven Universe, they make that clear. The Collector is told that people are complex and you must show compassion. Rather than actually believing this, he uses it like a blunt hammer, just like all of his other solutions, to make a problem of his go away. That's why he hugs Belos and assumes it will work. He is not considering the complexity of humanity or the person he is applying this to. It is just to solve a problem so he'll get praised and go back to playing his games. Nothing. More.

And then he fucks off instead of fixing the damage he'd done because why would he stay? Why would he help? He hasn't learned anything and he doesn't want to help these people. He has NO motivation for why he helps save the Archive except otherwise he loses his sweet crash pad. So afterwards? He's gonna go somewhere where he can be himself and not be scolded for it because this toy is no longer fun.

Edit: He does stay to change everyone back from dolls. That much more falls into the "It's the ending, we have to have the problem only he can fix be fixed by him" despite the fact that he is responsible for so much more destruction that would theoretically be pretty easy for him to fix as well. He only does what is demanded of him for the sake of a happy ending, not because of character motivation, not from how I see it at least.

The most condemning part of this is that it's all around Luz. All around someone he doesn't like. He sees Luz as trying to take away his only friend after all and, you know, he is correct about that. They don't even try to hide that fact during the tour. They're still clearly upset with him and not even trying to be his friend, they're just lecturing him. It doesn't work from a character perspective, a narrative perspective or an emotional one. King MIGHT have with better writing, there's a reason I always wanted the Collector redeemed by one of his games forcing him to have to kill King by the rules he made before breaking it and having to face how that's unfair and cruel to others since they wouldn't get that leniency, but that's not how the show plays it. King is an unwilling servant for one episode and then VERY against the Collector in the next until after the death games. When he first shows up, King isn't trying to mediate, he is ready to fight just like the other two. He's not the Collector's friend and he never was so why would the Collector bother listening to him?

That is why me saying the Diamonds, even with my limited knowledge, works better than the Collector is almost literally the worst you can do when it comes to something like this. All the setup is wrong, the catalyst requires explicit retcons and don't work with the character and the payoff is... Nothing. Literally nothing. The only way to have done it worse is to have had everyone praise the Collector before he then stabbed Amity and no one acted like that was a problem. It can only function because we are TOLD he's redeemed even if he never shows it.

Andrias standing alone as a farmer, accepting the punishment for his actions and trying to make better on them, is such better payoff to a redemption arc than anything the Collector gets and his redemption was in character and setup by his past. So then let's get to one of your last points: Why is it that the TOH fandom rags on SU and Amphibia so much, especially for their endings, when theirs is such shit?

Well... Because that's the reputation of TOH. That it is the 'good' one. That it is better than almost all other media. The show itself, with moments like the Collector mocking the SU ending by hugging Belos, reinforces this. As such, for you to criticize TOH as failing in a department that other shows are not rapturously praised for is to fall out of sync with the show itself. As such, all other works must be placed beneath it, especially if those are widely believed to have a flaw in an element to then raise TOH up with. This is part of why so many people want to say the Amphibia ending is wrong because the Amphibia ending is brave and controversial and saying something while the TOH ending?

I mean... Do you really think the Collector's the only part of it objectively flawed like this? Because if a major redemption for your big bad is botched this badly, you can bet other problems exist. I've talked about them at length. But there are probably people out there who would call me the Lily Orchard of TOH if I was better known.

See you next tale.

======+++++======

That last line isn't an endorsement of Lily Orchard btw, just that I have to imagine it's the label I would be given. What little exposure I've had to her works is... YIKES. Just fucking yikes. My Discord has really enjoyed every time I've live reacted to a video of hers they've posted there. sigh

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[rewrite-this-story]

I know no one watches this show, and that's really unfortunate, but I have so many thoughts about Smash that I want to share, so you all get to either hear them or ignore this post entirely. I don't really care which.

First of all, Megan Hilty is an absolute queen!! I wish her name was more well known on Broadway because wow. Her voice is so powerful and I cry every time I hear her sing don't forget me. And I actually love ivy as a character with all my heart. She's beautiful and strong and so interesting. Yeah, she's flaws and human, but she tries so hard. I was so happy when she started getting the recognition she deserved in season 2. She makes mistakes, but then she gets back up every time. I also think she had incredible potential for directing and would have like to see that explored. She just deserved better in general.

I also don't like Karen at all. Not only is she kinda boring as a character, but she's not nearly as talented as everyone seems to think. Yeah, she's pretty and has a gorgeous voice, but she's really just a so-so actress and dancer. Her songs rarely make me feel anything like Ivy's do. At the end of season 1, I only cried during her version of don't forget me because I felt Ivy's frustration so deeply. Also, Karen is kinda rude and arrogant. Like, she has no clue how theater works but acts like everyone else is constantly out to get her just because they're asking her to do something differently. She can't remember her blocking and then complains that people don't like her. And she's so sensitive. No one can tease her or even comment anything that isn't 100% positive about her without her getting upset. Furthermore, Ivy's an interesting character who makes us really care about her because of how hard she tries and fails only to get back up again. Then, they throw in her past and emotional trauma and struggles with addiction. It's really hard not to care about and root for her. Why should I care about Karen? I liked hit list only because of Jimmy, Kyle, and even Anna. Karen didn't matter at all to me because she didn't really have to struggle or fight for anything. She was kinda just along for the ride.

Third thing, Derek sucks and is super problematic, but it was nice to see him stay to grow and improve. I would've liked to see where season 3 might've taken him. I do really like his relationship with Ivy because she calls him out on stuff, and he actually listens to her. It was dumb that he never saw how truly incredible an actress she was. They would have made a great team after she really became more sure of herself and he realized how awful he was. His obsession with Karen was really weird, but I like to imagine he probably got over it by the end of season 2.

Tom and Julia were interesting, but I was actually happy to see them split at the end of everything. She always kind of took advantage of him and it bothered me. He also deserved a real relationship story, but I'm not surprised he didn't get one since he was a gay character in 2012. His relationship with Kyle was kinda creepy and Kyle should've dated either Sam or that dancer we saw him flirting with earlier in the season. Either one of those would've been less uncomfortable. Him and Sam were also never really a good match. Plus, he did Sam kinda dirty in season 2. But yeah, he should've gotten a good relationship.

I do think Sam should've gotten the lead in hit list. He deserved it, Jimmy didn't. Jimmy did a good job, obviously, but he wasn't reliable and was really uncooperative. He could've just given feedback as a writer instead of being the lead actor. I get why they did it the way they did for the TV show, but realistically, it just didn't make sense.

Kyle's death was awful. I wish we saw more of him. I think his relationship and history with Jimmy was interesting, I think it should've been explorers more instead of Jimmy and Karen, who's relationship was kinda predictable and overused. It would've been nice to see him and Jimmy sing together sometime. I wish he sang a few more songs in general because he has a really cool sound.

Jimmy and Derek also could've had a really interesting relationship if it hadn't centered around Karen as much as it did. I think they could've really helped each other. Jimmy didn't take any bullshit and Derek didn't put up with any bullshit, so they could've kept each other in line. Derek also saw something in Jimmy that few people did and I think it would've been neat to see him become a bit of a mentor.

Finally, Derek and Tom had so much potential that was never explored. Their history and their future are so unclear, but I have so many questions.

So yeah, I really did enjoy the show. It's not the most incredible show ever made, but it was fun and interesting. It's a shame it only got two seasons. I kinda blame the marketing team since so few people know it ever existed.

[coralpolyp]

I'm not dead!

Hey look here's a redraw of the really terrible bit of digital art I did for last year's Mar13 day as proof! Apparently I didn't even finish the first one on time! Yikes!

I'm well aware that it's been a minute or two since I last posted anything on here or on AO3 - to be more precise, it's been since Splatoon 1 died and I wrote that 8000 word depressing thing - I don't know why 8000 words always seems to be my sweet spot, but it's good to know that I have one. That being said, and with Side Order: Dark Side Mix currently MIA, I thought it'd be a good idea to to have what it is that I'm doing right now on-record in some capacity, for the one or two people who were wondering.

The next few weeks are exam season, so I don't think it's going to be smooth sailing per se, but Dark Side Mix will be completed. After running into a snag with the opening act - namely with the fact that it sucks - I started reworking the entire fic from top to bottom under a new name...and then I lost motivation to do that because perfectionism set in, and I haven't really touched it in a little while.

In the time that I've been away from it, I feel like I've become increasingly aware of how that perfectionism negatively effects me and my work - namely the fact that very little of it actually exists. I mean, sure, people seem to like the stuff that does exist, but there isn't much, and a lot of things are unfinished - usually because I placed too much value on the potential of "the idea", and spent so long labouring over the start of it that by the 10,000 word mark I had realised the flaws of the idea and lost interest in it.

I can't help thinking that's a bit lame. Every other writer has 100s and thousands of words of terrible amateur works they can go back to and laugh at, before they created the masterpieces they're known for now, and my story is that I just kinda show up every once in a while.

I think there's a real beauty to that - creating for the sake of creation, with no fucks given. Maybe this isn't the finest example, but I finally started listening to My Dad Wrote a Porno recently and...I mean... the sheer lack of fucks given is well and truly a gift that keeps on giving. Same goes for Philosophy of the World. Or SMG4 back in like 2014. Or old Eddsworld stuff. There's just a certain carefree joy (or existential dread in the case of the Shaggs) to it all that you never get anywhere else. It's like the difference between a 30 second gesture drawing and 6 hours of carefully-deliberated-over anatomy.

All that is to say - Dark Side Mix is a fundamentally flawed story. It is not high art, it never will be. I should probably just get it out there in it's entirety for the world to see in the time I have available to write, and then move on to the next "brilliant-idea"-that's-actually-just-ok. Nobody likes an "idea guy" - what good is it to spend one's entire life going around saying "I never finished this story, but it was great in my head, and the bit that you can actually read was alright too,"? Creativity should be about getting in there, making a mess, and having fun - let fanfiction be fanfiction, with that being addressed to nobody but myself, because nobody else needed to hear it.

Oh, also, another reason for my absence besides creative block and exams - I'm getting into comics! That, and practising my art fundamentals a whole bunch - I don't think my drawabox is particularly interesting to look at, so I haven't exactly been posting it. I've decided that I want to try giving an idea I had for what would've been another depressing Squid Sister 8000-worder the comic treatment, although you shouldn't expect to see that anytime soon, considering how long it's gonna take, and the fact that I would want to release something like that in no more than two parts.

[timeskip]

Rambling about favorite anime and especially FMAB and HxH

I keep thinking about HxH and FMAB and why HxH so easily overtook FMA as my Favorite Anime (though as a note, HxH is NOT my favorite manga. It's second after Our Dreams at Dusk) and I've come to the conclusion that while FMA is more tighter as a story and you could make an argument about HxH taking more risks--ultimately it all comes down to the deeply subjective thing: I care more about the characters of HxH. The characters of FMA are good, but they're not Gon and Killua, and that's all there is to it :P

And like. I also think part of it is that I had FMA as my fave through a sense of obligation to it as the anime that got me into anime. But at the same time, as I've gotten more years away from watching it for the first time I can see the flaws of it more clearly, which hasn't stopped me from loving it, but it feels different now. I don't want to raise it up to be "the gold standard" or even "my favorite" anymore, except that I didn't really think about it that deeply because it's not like I had any anime to replace it??? I love Mob Psycho 100 and Zombieland Saga and A Place Further than the Universe and Revue Starlight and Sonny Boy, but I never felt a need to quantify those as my sole favorite. They are favorites plural but I don't really like to keep a "top 10 best anime" list on hand because it could change at any time (I made a loose list of maybe 20 shows not too long ago but even then I feel like many of them could easily get swapped out if I find something amazing). But having a sole favorite is nice just to be able to say to people "I love this thing, it's my favorite" when the chance comes

As for HxH, I read the manga first and it exploded my brain. I've mentioned this before I think but I fell out of being into shounens? And then HxH is actually really good??? Whoa. Lifechanging. And all the story things really work for me, the themes, even the flaws I regard with so much love because it creates such a lovely story that I'm so attached to. And the best thing about it is the character writing and the consistency, how Gon and Killua (and co) change and grow through their journey in ways that feel earned and good and I love them so so so much. Such interesting, complex characters. And then I watched the 2011 anime and appreciated it even more. I love FMA, and I was obsessed with it for a small time, but truly I wasn't obsessed with it for a whole year and a half. It's just incomparable.

And at first, I still kept FMA as my favorite. Obligation and nostalgic love. But then I mean. The longer I love HxH, the more episodes I think about or rewatch, the more I realize how much the structure of it into defined, different arcs that increase in complexity surrounds the characters surrounds the themes, the more I realize it's. it's REALLY good. I wouldn't blame anyone for saying that FMA is "objectively" better--it's the anime community's collective favorite (second favorite now with Frieren, maybe? I don't want to act like MAL is the only opinions that matter on that, obviously, so idk) for a reason. FMA is cleaner, well plotted out. The ending *just works* and HxH has no ending. FMA wears its themes on its sleeve while HxH takes some digging through arcs I liked but other people might not. FMA is a lot of people's anime go-to. FMA has different characters that would connect with people better than they do with me. FMA is interesting and complex in its own right, and it doesn't try to be *a battle shounen* in the way HxH does (though, to be clear, I still think FMA counts as one. HxH just deals with the tropes directly)

And like. It's also been a while since I watched FMA. I've watched it maybe 4 times over the years? If I watch it a 5th time maybe I'll Get It all over again, and fall in love with it again. But, uh. Rewatching things isn't really in the cards rn. If I watch FMA any time soon it'll be the 2003 version which I never watched.

Notably, I kind of listened to all the people who prefer Brotherhood over 2003, but lately I've been thinking I should probably watch it myself and see what it's like. And since it's been long enough since I watched FMAB I'll be able to go in without constantly comparing it to Brotherhood like I probably would've even a few years back. So yeah, I've basically decided that if I watch FMA again it'll be the 2003 version with a whole original section at the end. Exciting!

Basically, yeah. idk. I love FMA still but it's now just one favorite anime among many, and that's good! I like having HxH as my top favorite because it affected me the most personally and not because I think it's the "objective best"--and to be clear, FMA did personally affect me, I just don't think it did anywhere near to the level that Gon alone has affected me :P And that's the fun thing about art, and I hope someday I find an anime that gets to me more than HxH has, and becomes my new favorite. Conclusion: HxH is really REALLY good. I love it.

[sinnamonsters]

Why your favourite Sparklecare patient SUCKS!! (and also why they're swag!)

I feel like in the Sparklecare community that it's been too long that people put characters on a binary scale of "asshole who deserves to explode" and "awesome person who i love and cherish no matter what", because the characters in the story are nuanced. Every single one of them has done bad and good (minus Cuddles and Mr. V of course) in the story and more people need to see that, so I'm here to put in some of the ups and downs of all the main patients.

Barry Incredibly smart and willing to help! Throughout the story, he's been shown to help the others with his intelligence time and time again, and the main patients wouldn't be able to do nearly as much without him.

BUT he's also very argumentative and refuses to take no for an answer, and egotistical, believing himself to be above everyone else because of his aforementioned intelligence. He also sometimes acts like what he's doing isn't wrong when it absolutely is.

Uni Very kind and caring for her friends, she's seen time and time again doing what she can for others, even Doom, someone who everyone else sees as an evil monster because he does the whole doctor thing, showing that she absolutely doesn't hold grudges, and can give people the chances that they deserve.

BUT she's also rude and messy, making backhanded jokes towards others, and refusing to clean up her space, even when others are present. And, she's very possessive, how she acts about Barry is incredibly selfish, and not how someone should go about having a crush on someone.

Caroline Loyal and clever! While Barry might be the book smarts of the cast, Carrie would be the street smarts, if you will. She knows how to talk to people to get what she and her friends need, and can make a damn good plan, considering how many times she's probably attempted to escape the hospital.

BUT she gets upset very easily, and holds grudges too much. You can see her acting mean to other patients constantly over other things that they've done, and seems to be against Uni wanting to be with Barry purely because of the times that he's been rude or otherwise mean.

Hemera She does her best to help everyone else stay alive! Even though her methods may be less than ideal, keeping the others from getting killed is ultimately a good thing. She's also been said in the cast page to help others with tech issues, so it's safe to assume that she also helps people with other problems!

BUT, as said before, her methods of helping others can be seen as bad by others, and has caused harm before. She's also controlling, wanting everything to go exactly the way she wants it to, and that everyone would see things exactly as she does.

Jay One of the most helpful patients in the hospital, Jay is a nice, caring, and creative person that helps everyone in (almost) any way that they can! Very friendly, Jay has very few patients in the hospital that actively dislike them, and for good reason.

BUT, yes, even Jay has their flaws! They're seen multiple times standing by, not doing anything for the others, even when it's most important. Just because they aren't doing anything, doesn't mean they're not doing anything wrong.

Does this mean any of these characters are 100% good people, or that they're bad people who deserve bad things?

Fuck no.

All of these characters have depth and nuance, not a single one can be put under a binary label of "good" or "bad", they all have their ups and downs, as we all do. Hell, I would've even gone into more of the characters, if I had the time.

You've been an asshole at one point or another. Does that make you a bad person? Do you not deserve love and care like everyone else does? No. Obviously not. And these characters aren't any different in that regard. So don't treat them like they are. Thank you.