#THIS VERSION OF THEM IS JUST SO MEMEABLE..

[neurotheologist]

everyone would just fucking hate them

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

The MCU changing Thanos' goals from trying to score with the literal embodiment of death to "prevent overpopulation" is, to me, indicative of the MCU's embarrassment and slight disdain for the medium it draws from.

Comics are silly! It's what makes them fun! Instead, it feels like every five seconds the MCU has to look at the camera and lampshade how "dumb" it all is. There's no sincerity, or heart or any real passion in it anymore. It's just actors in front of green screen wearing dull, "tacticool" versions of their character's costumes making quips while going through a heavily stripped down story from the comics while the writers and artists who MADE the story and characters will get nothing at all.

Look at the Raimi Spider-Man films. Yeah, their goofy and memeable, but they're filled with so much life and emotion! They're not ashamed of their comic book roots. Even now, 20 years later, people still love and remember those movies.

Lately, I can't really say the same for the MCU.

It's... yeah.

[scaryspears]

MK1 critique: Titan Shang Tsung

When it comes to the MK storymode I feel like I'm the only one who personally doesn't have a problem with it. Such as, how it played out and ended.

I only have one complaint, and that is Titan Shang Tsung. It's not the fact that he's in the story because I love Shang Tsung, but it actually has to do with his physical appearance. I'm not talking about his face model. Our Shang (Liu Kang's timeline) is clearly quite young, like mid 20s, and we pick up on his immaturity quickly. Titan Shang Tsung in the last game looked like he was in his early 40s, probably because that's around the age Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa was when he played Shang Tsung in the 90s.

Tagawa was so great in his role that he reprised it for the game, and MK1 even imitated his vibes. Alan Lee does a great job as young Shang, when I first watched the intros and storymode I did a double take, but could tell there was something different.

What I'm getting at is, Titan Shang Tsung should've appeared a little different. At first I thought Titan Shang should have a pointier nose and maybe longer hair or something, but that would've taken away the point that Our Shang immediately saw himself. So instead, I think Titan Shang should've appeared older, maybe taller. Old enough to pass as Our Shang's father, but look similar enough that we can tell it's Titan Shang.

Alan Lee is great at Shang Tsung, but I think they could've at least done some kind of voice modulating thing that makes him sound more refined and mature, since Tagawa and Alan have a different pitch to their voices. I understand that each game has a different take on the characters when it comes to vibes and characterisation, but they felt too similar. Titan Shang felt like more of an evil twin brother rather than an older and much powerful version of self.

Our Shang feels like he was made for Gen Z, like come on he's a scam artist that's funny as hell, and bro is trying to do NFTs, he's so memeable. I'm pretty sure we all bumped into him in high school/secondary school at some point. MK11 Shang feels like that one person you're not sure whether or not you should trust, like a scary business man. That is the point of his aura, but you get what I mean. Our Shang seems like he is easy to irritate, MK11 Shang is so reserved and collected, when he does show irritation he appears like a King about to execute someone who just committed treason. When Our Shang kills someone it's like watching Amber as Ghostface, when she wasn't being loud and acting like the joker.

All I'm saying is, there should've been a completely different air Titan Shang carried, like Titan Kitana and our Kitana.

Edit: Why does Titan Shang have claws too? He wouldn't use them, he's already got his golden acrylic thingies. Our Shang stabbed Reiko like he walked out of a slasher flick, Titan Shang wouldn't do that.

[tasty-littl-snack]

Trying to understand the logic of people saying they’re done with Watcher and Ryan and Shane but will turn around and watch Buzzfeed Unsolved which has *checks notes* Ryan and Shane.

Yeah tbh. I think I can kinda understand it, it's like you're listening to earlier albums of your fave music artist, because they changed the genre with their latest album and you don't vibe with their new songs or watch a tv show's earlier seasons because the later one's totally destroyed the characters you liked. (Happened to me, like some things seriously had only two seasons and I'm ignoring the five next ones and two movies or whatever.)

So in that aspect I can kinda get it. Bfu started 8 years ago, that's a whole almost decade, and sometimes you don't really think of the quality of the content (because I will once again die on the hill that waverly gf ep is much better than waverly bfu I'm still confused how a show this badly made took off in the yt algo back in the day), but what it made you feel like, or where you were in life when you first watched/got into it. There's a kind of nostalgia attached to it and I imagine all of those fans who are like "I hate ghost files but I loooove bfu it's my comfort show", don't really care that it's Ryan and Shane it's the familiarity of watching it over and over for years and it being more memeable and quotable because those lines got repeated and memed to death over the years.

For example I don't really find myself coming back to the earliest eps of bfu if I had to rewatch them. I much prefer Ryan's normal voice to his theory one, and that's because seasons 6 and 7 are when Watcher was a thing, and their interpersonal relationship changed to a more "I like it here, we are friends". In the earlier seasons they aren't that close, Shane is more closed off and assholeish towards Ryan, and well Ryan is younger and thus more kind of playing a cool dude. I feel like he got to be more himself as the years went on and I like that.

That's also the odd thing about being a fan of real people as there is an interesting dichotomy to it. Like on one hand I respect them for what they do their comedy/craft/ability to express their creativity. On the other there's the respect for them as individuals, acknowledging that at the end of the day they are like. Just some guys making stuff. And people grow and change. You're not the same person you were at 25 when you are 34, you are not the same person you were at 30 and 38, but since you got immortalized at 25 and 30 and continue to make content for years people expect you to be always like that. A character that doesn't change, or changes according to a logic of a story. But real life is so much stranger and more interesting than that! There's no logic to your actions, you make mistakes and grow from them. At the time of making a decision you have no idea if it's a good or bad one or how it will go, and if you think you do I don't think you had serious choices to make in your life yet. But I think people expect of them to be those characters who don't change or grow. I assume those people have no respect for Ryan and Shane as real human beings, because they have some imagined version of them how they are presented in those episodes they watched over and over. So to them it doesn't matter that bfu has Ryan and Shane, because those are seen as different characters, not the "evil greedy capitalists who made their own company", but your friends that you know the best because you can quote their lines as you watch them in the background. And additionally there's the nostalgia of watching your beloved show that makes you feel younger because life was simpler back then. You didn't have your worries of adult life because you were in college/high school, and bfu reminds them of that. The fact that it's not giving watcher any money is only better for the haters bc it's like pirating. You still enjoy your favorite part of your blorbos, and don't feed "the big evil watcher" so kinda best of both worlds.

Some people also can't admit that the content didn't change that much, they just lost interest/grew out of it (and it's fine, interests change that's normal), but that's not on them, that's surely on Ryan and Shane for changing and evolving in their craft.

Baffling to me tbh because if I was a fan of them I'd wish them well not for their downfall and contribute to lower views by giving it to a big corporation (which isn't watcher). But that's just me.

Sorry this got deep I just am so tired of people saying bfu is better. It's really not you just miss the person you were when you watched it for the first time. That's the case with every 'comfort' show. It's why it brings you comfort. Real people behind it don't really matter.

[kaibutsushidousha]

How would you rank the Pokemon champions and villain bosses?

1) N: The most written character in all of Pokémon.

2) Guzma: Nothing in Pokémon made me feel things as much as first visiting Po Town did. That plus his background tidbits form a very sympathetic loser I care for a lot.

3) Lusamine: The tragedy of her family is delightful on all of its members, but Lusamine is certainly the weakest link to it due to being more of a perpetrator than a victim. I also love both of her designs, with her Nihilego form being easily the second-best-looking Pokémon woman, behind on Valerie.

4) Maxie and Archie: Accidental comedy duo. Their goals are stupid in the most endearing and memeable ways, and their reactions to the consequences of their actions somehow still manage to be a resonating moment. Ranking them separately is silly, but if I had to, Maxie is the best for his general pretentiousness, inside jokes, and being the Jouji voice in Master Sex.

5) Blue: The rival becoming the Champion for 5 minutes is a perfect endpoint of a rival arc and every one of Blue's successors, even the ones that are better characters than him, suffer from not being the one who pulled this off. Raticate-based content is also often good.

6) Alder: A cool design can carry you a long way. Seriously, he nails the wandering monk aesthetic so neatly. Volcarona, Reuniclus, and Chandelure are also sublime picks. And I love how his contributions to the plot are meaningful advice rather than the more distant and professional company that Wallace and Cynthia offer.

7) Rose: Funny anxiety man, arguably cuter and more memeable than the Hoenn villains, only lower than them because of how messily the Galar finale is delivered. Immense bonus points for his part as an accessory to Bede's character.

8) Wallace: Like with Alder, a cool design can carry you a long way. Milotic as an ace is also an immense plus. I suppose Emerald also makes him useful, but if that was a major factor, Cynthia would have been a lot higher.

10) Lance: Having the second-to-last boss become a sequel final boss always has a big feeling of downgrade, but that's offset well enough by making him cool in the Red Gyarados arc and his relationship with Clair.

11) Cynthia: Infodump character for Sinnoh mythology, which is not nearly as interesting as it should have been. Gets some points for the generally great choices of Pokémon and for actually feeling powerful in gameplay.

12) Kukui: Funny professor with a lot of presence but none very memorable. Being the Champion fight, and a surprisingly challenging one, is a big shock, but nothing really amazing on further thought.

13) Archer: Pathetic underling, therefore immediately more interesting than his nothingburger boss.

14) Leon: Dude that game insistently tries to sell as cool but never actually gets to be cool. Only above Steven because he's the one who gets to make the poignant commentaries on Sword/Shield's themes and because he's genuinely good as an accessory to Hop's arc.

15) Steven: Generic champion that never gets to be interesting, but gets points for only having cool Pokémon in his team.

16) Cyrus: Gets points for being memeable but not enough to compensate for how unfun his actual character is. Being soulless by design doesn't make it meaningful when the Sinnoh games are not saying anything about emotion.

17) Ghetsis: Plot device to make N innocent. Only above Giovanni because I like some Pokémon in his team.

18) Giovanni: Just a yakuza boss without any fun projects. The Gym Leader twist was a wow thing on the first run but never amounts to anything, like with Kukui being the Champion fight. Did he ever interact with Silver? Not in anything I played, I think.

19) Diantha: Has the bare minimum story presence and doesn't even use it well.

20) Lysandre: Has one of the stupidest villain plans, made even more ridiculous by the version differences between X and Y, but his aesthetic and delivery are so bad that it manages to make it not funny.

[invaderarizona]

My Unpopular opinion: Velvet and Veneer are Vexy and Hackus that done right and better than them

The one thing that Vexy and Hackus have something in common with Velvet and Veneer is that they’re both villainous twins in the franchises that involves the small happy little creatures that are almost like Santa’s elves and kidnapped one of the small creatures for stealing the essence reasons.

Vexy and Velvet are both sister leaders of the duo, have the latter V for a name and both have two different voice actresses where one does the speaking and the other one does the singing. While Veneer and Hackus are both brother sidekicks who are not very bright except Hackus is far more stupider and gross while Veneer at least pretty smart at the end and more clean than him.

The big differences between them is that Velvet and Veneer are far more popular and have better memorable villainous chemistry than what Vexy and Hackus got.

Velvet and Veneer are actual real fun villain duo and a twin relationship between with a mean sister who wants to famous and the gay brother who doesn’t wanted to be famous deep down and wants to be loved but was still on her side until the end. Their moments together are very funny, memeable, charming and just reminds me of a Trollsverse version of Sharpay and Ryan from high school musical or Devin and Matthew from Big Mouth (if they had chemistry but just saying for the characters comparison). Even though some people says that they don’t belong in Trolls (which I respect their opinions) but for me in a way, they at least still make sure that Trolls are still Trolls and just added new things to it, which I think them along with introducing interspecies relationship with Bruce’s family did an amazing job at it.

Meanwhile for Vexy and Hackus and as another negative thing to say about The Smurfs 2 but here we go. Even though Vexy was the only fun character of that movie and on her own but being around and teamed up with her twin, Hackus. I will say that Vexy and Hacks together are one of the most boring part of the Live Action movies and they’re a really boring villainous twin duo between a rebel and a dimwitted slop with no personality and both are all about getting into trouble before redeeming.

The problem is that they barely had any fun chemistry, they’re not funny together and extremely unmemeable (even websites like TikTok, Instagram or Twitter wants nothing to do with them). While V&V does make sure Trolls are still Trolls, Vexy and Hackus are one of those things that doesn’t make Smurfs to be Smurfs. Not only they made the Smurfs to be more like Alvin and the Chipmunks rip offs but Vexy and Hackus also feel like they belong in the universe of Disney’s Descendants due how the way of how they wanted to be cool and hip, feel more like Shrek parodies and with ridiculous character designs in my opinion (especially Vexy seems more like a mini version of Mal or Evie). Their dynamic are so boring that after the Smurfs live action series lasted for 2 movies with 2 holiday specials and moved on into reboots, they never wanted these two to come back and most people nowadays (including me) decided to no longer care about this Smurf duo.

[gffa]

Hey! Love your blog for the sw content but ngl you have me window shipping dickbabs more and more everyday. I’m not reeeeally a comics person unless it has quality online format but I have been known to enjoy cartoons. Do you have any show recs to get me into the batfam? Sorry if this has already been asked (and answered somewhere else). Thanks again for all your great content! Love your blog!

Hi! Thank you for the kind words and I'm glad to be helping to at least tempt you into this pit, and I wish I had better recs for you, but I've been turning this over in my head for the last couple of days and keep coming back to that I don't know that I would recommend most of the animated series or movies/TV series for DC. Even the best bets would be: - Young Justice 2010 cartoon, which is overall decent, but DickBabs doesn't happen until like season 3, I think? (And I think Dick dates Kory for awhile before that?) And they're a very minor part of the show, even the Batfam as a whole is only one aspect of the show, it's really a multi-fam kind of series. As long as you know that it will have some major differences in relationship and character dynamics (like Superboy in the show and Kon from the comics share certain aspects, but they are also vastly different and I'm not sure you'd recognize Kon as the same character), it's a fun show to watch overall! - Batman: The Animated Series 1992 + The New Batman Adventures 1997 was absolutely, incredibly groundbreaking at the time it came out, but that means it's 30 years old now and a lot of it is going to be incredibly dated compared to current stuff. I do still love it and the Dick/Babs episodes are TOP NOTCH (so much delicious yearning oh my god) and the flashback to when Dick was a kid are also great, but there's a LOT of basic cartoon action stuff that's not that exciting anymore and it might feel like a long haul. Cautiously recommended if you don't mind viewing it through an old-fashioned lens, don't mind that Dick tends to be more in his "angry teenage years" than his more settled 20s, and you're okay with zipping through any parts that bore you. - The Batman 2004 is another series that's pretty dated, but in a way I find deeply charming, because it really leaned into the gothic aesthetic and wasn't afraid to try some new things with the character designs. I usually suggest skipping forward to season 4 when Dick shows up (and I greatly enjoy his and Babs' dynamic, they're kids at the time, it's not a romance here, but it's not hard to see that one day they could grow up into the characters they'll be in other versions) but the whole show is just a good Batman cartoon! Honorable mentions: - Justice League: The Animated Series 2001 which I don't think Dick or Babs ever appeared in, but is still probably THE best DC animated series. It's not super complex, but what it did, it did very well, and is still pretty influential to this day. - If you don't mind reading an online comic, the Wayne Family Adventures webtoon is a very easy intro point, has very pretty art, and will get you reasonably familiar with the characters! (I sort of liken it to LEGO adaptations, it's meant to be light-hearted and occasionally genuinely touching, it focuses on extremes of the characters and memeable moments, rather than the more sharp-edged comics, but that makes it all the better for an entry point imo.) Beyond that, I can't really think of anything I would necessarily recommend to help get new fans into the Batfam characters (I wouldn't recommend the Harley Quinn show as a starting place for them, nor the Teen Titans cartoon, and I don't really personally care for any of the animated movies personally, other than maybe Super Sons, which was absolutely adorable and a great intro to Jon and Damian), because DC has a really weird track record on adapting them into non-comics mediums and I just enjoy the comics so much more. Though, if others have recs or would offer a rebuttal against some of the suggestions, feel free, because I would love to have easier ways into the comics

[susandsnell]

🔥 Batman comics in general

Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion.

Oooh! I do think a lot of my saltier Batman comics opinions aren't exactly unpopular in nature (too much grimdark and never in the right direction, the misogyny, Killing Joke was a mistake, BruceBabs was a mistake, stop misusing Rogues), so I'll try to bring up some less-discussed ones! (Or at least ones I see discussed less, lol.)

Batfam is conceptually good, but nobody is handling it well. As I've previously expressed, Batfam content constantly oscillates between "Bruce is an abusive kidnapper of traumatized children he trains into child soldiers despite having the means to have them live in luxury, does not provide with love or positive reinforcement, and regularly pits against each other" and some of the most facile, cringey, early 2010s Tumblr conception of found-family to be seen, when I think it's more dramatically effective to find a happy medium between the two. A loving superhero found family with its share of dysfunction, hurts, and mistakes and appropriate nuance being brought to these conflicts is apparently too much to ask for (as is writers remembering Robin(s) and Batgirl literally exist as kid appeal characters).

Likewise, canon Harlivy is seldom handled well. As I said on Twitter the other day, "corporate Pride ate Harlivy". Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy's relationship, both back when it was subtextual and later on as it became Harley's main ship in iterations where she's able to get out of her abusive relationship with the Joker was groundbreaking and important. It was absolutely crucial to middle school me. But somewhere along the way, people lost the plot that they are indeed villainesses (whose queerness was meant to make them more endearing/sympathetic/relatable, but not change this status), and it fell prey to the respectability politics traps that plague just too many sapphic ships once they go canon. In order to be 'good representation', their villainy extends to 'haha RANDOM' irreverent chaos, and their personality gets boiled down to the shallow archetypes of 'chaotic and perky' Harley and 'snarky and sexy' Ivy. Their relationship to one another is 100% fluff, because God knows any nuance, tension, flaws, or friction between two master criminal characters with canonically tragic histories can't possibly be allowed. Because of the misogynistic expectations of Women Being Soft And Good coupled with the homophobic respectability politics of being as toothless, soft, and desexualized as possible to appear nonthreatening, sapphic ships are held to such unfair standards wherein the slightest conflict will be termed abusive and bad representation, and as such, they're written cardboard-flat, and unfortunately, this has befallen Harlivy in most canons where they're together. Even if it's realistically exploring things like recovery for either lady, because that's messy, and complicated, and nonlinear, and who wants that when you can have a memeable 'be gay do crimes'? Oh, but don't worry. Sometimes they will be sexually active - for the titillation of straight men. In-universe. (Don't get me started on the Harley Quinn show...) And poor Selina gets roped into third-wheeling/cheerleading the most boring possible version of them too often...

A lot of the most popular/famous titles are not the better ones. (Not you, Long Halloween, you're a delight and everyone loves you.) Everything that's there to say about The Killing Joke and The Dark Knight Returns has been said better by people smarter and better-versed in comics than me, but Batman: Hush is just contrivance upon contrivance, everyone and their mother is tired of the shit-billion stories about Joker fridging yet another person, and perhaps my most unpopular opinion is that Batman: Year One is entirely overrated. I like the noir atmosphere, the truly corrupted Gotham it gives us, and the sweet triumvirate between Gordon, Harvey, and Bruce, but seeing adaptations like The Batman (2022) and even The Dark Knight (yes, I'm saying something nice about Nolanverse for once lolol) take these elements and do so much more with them really highlights the weaknesses in this story. There's some really good origin/character work for Bruce becoming Batman and the psychology behind it, but past that, not a whole lot happens beyond a very thin and confusing police corruption plot, and everyone is just too damn mean for the sake of the grimdark setting. Bruce injures an already exploited child in the red-light district and sexually harasses the Gordons to throw them off his trail for being Batman, and the latter is played for laughs. Jim cheats on his pregnant wife with a coworker half his age and both women are portrayed as stereotypically in these roles as humanly possible. Selina Kyle is...there, to be angry and sexualized and not much else. It just feels like a lot of buildup without much payoff.

Lastly, and jumping off the above, I'm taking away the Gordon family from writers until they've learned to play nicely with them. I don't know what it is about Jim Gordon that makes writers - men in particular - work through justifying their weird issues about women, but my God, the poor man has been character assassinated to hell and back. (Everyone has in comics, but it's always in the same way with Gordon that properly grosses me out.) If he's not cheating on his housewife with a much younger coworker he's presented as oh-so-noble for not outright workplace harassing, he's neglectful, abusive, or otherwise aggressive to his loved ones in ways that are almost always justified or excused narratively because he's 'dealing with a lot' or xyz past trauma. He's frequently made into a mouthpiece for misogyny, calling women "bitches" in the Arkham series and making other such delightful comments, fetishizing Harlivy (in the Harley Quinn show!), or putting down Barbara's capabilities. If he's written to be struggling with addiction, it's always played as a joke. And for Barbara's part, since The Killing Joke, she's always such a favoured writers' punching bag/doll to put in uncomfortable relationships, often having her talents, skills and intelligence undermined in favour of portraying her as a sex-crazed, overemotional disaster who's in it for the thrills until she is narratively punished in some gendered way. I don't get it! I'm all for what makes characters tick or challenging them or giving them flaws or new horrific situations to work through, but why is it always the same tired, offensive hows and wherefores for the Gordon family? Let them rest!

[caparrucia]

12, 13, and 17 for the fic writer asks, please?

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

I still don't read it widely, because most of it hits my "but what's the point then?" pickiness for AUs, but a friend recently explained her time travel fix-it AU as a version of an isekai and that sort of made the appeal of it click in my head in a way it'd never had before. I still think the trope itself is not something I'd go as my first choice, because my vibe is more either miscommunication or mystery, and having a POV character that knows everything - and very often has no reason to not share/use that knowledge - makes it very conflict-free for me. The thing that clicked for me is the same way that my favorite isekai stories are ones that either the OP protagonist doesn't know they're OP or their OPness is gated behind world knowledge that they have to acquire first before making use of said OPness. So I think I like time travel fic in theory now, I just haven't read one that hits the spot because it's not a trope I seek out often. But I kinda get it now! I think!

13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don’t anymore?

Modern renditions of enemies-to-lovers are so fucking exhausting in how hard people are trying to sand down any bit of objectionable, problematic aspect of that kind of relationship. I love me a good, brutal actual!enemies to actual!lovers story that wrestles with the history and baggage of that kind of thing. But post!Reylo fandom is more worried about "not romanticizing abuse" than telling a good, compelling story. E2L are supposed to be messy, problematic, dark romance stories full of questionable tropes. That's what makes it fun! But the way any whiff of conflict is constantly smothered away because "We Do Not Condone That Here" messaging is more important than a coherent, IC story is just. Blah. One day, my favorite toxic love trope will come home from the war. One day.

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

Witcher 3 fusion AUs are my personal catnip. I specify Witcher 3 because I understand the Netflix trainwreck was the entry point for a lot of the fandom and that's great, but the writing of the Netflix show is infinitely subpar to the actual books and even the Witcher 3 version of the characters. The Witcher 3 softens a lot of the harsher edges of characters in the books (hi Emhyr, my forever problematique baby girl, how are you today, your imperial colonialist dipshit incestuous majesty?) but it still maintains the tone in a way that makes it so the harsher, more shocking aspects of it don't read like "for shock value" and have actual consequences. It's a rough world with rough edges and it's a setting rife for stories of all sorts, to scratch that nice medieval pseudo-realistic fantasy setting itch, while still allowing space for some hilarious comedy and nuanced politics.

However, somehow, people who played the game somehow come out with the urge to write unironic, mindless colonialism apologia - we all know why - or quirky funny romance because Netflix!Jaskier is so memeable.

Look, I have almost 3K hours in the Witcher 3, I understand I am not the target audience for Witcher fandom which is why I don't really wade into it often, but I want people to write more Witcher 3 fusion stories because it's a fantastic setting to grab your favorite characters and plop them into and see what they do. It's great.

[mofffun]

[Rambling] Rita + Yanma ep28

tbh i'm still on the fence if Rita-in-Yanma feels a wee bit ooc* but i've been telling myself it's their stress reponse. Bet they still have paperwork from last week's prison break.

*i don't like using this term casually because it feels like i'm closing myself off from learning a new side of this person.

The production blog said the director was aiming for an exaggerated impersonation from from the cast, so it's understandable Rita's most memeable traits are shown. In that regard I think Yuzuki played a more convincing Yanma than Aoto a convincing regular version of Rita. Or maybe my Yuzuki rose-glasses are too tinted 😅

Arresting people left and right can be very easily rationalized as trying to regain control by sticking to what they know best in a wildly free nation like N'kosopa. NGL I might've been projecting but I really wanted Rita to feel accepted and loved in N'kosopa instead of the two making a mess of each other's nation (ahem Watanabe Aoto you set me up). That said, their rivalry is somehow believable because it's the two of them?

Where I felt most out of place was when Rita pulled down their mask to smirk at Jeramie after the team's first defeat in act 1. I could still get behind "let's train, and beat that guy" but Judge, are you being a little too delighted to be able to take on N'kosopa's crime boss?? Guess I'm falling into the flawless-ification of my blorbo. They can be a bit indulgent in arresting people, as a treat. It's Yanma's face now anyway, who cares if anyone sees that.

(another point I saw pointed out last week already was, Aoto rolled his eyes during Rita Scream, but Rita always screamed with their eyes shut.)

I think another angle is Rita allows themself to be a bit indulgent, a bit less impartial, BECAUSE they are using Yanma's body now. Maybe they are trying their best to hold up to Yanma's persona as well, and the mass arrest was AFTER that failed. They were trying to find a gym but the subjects just wouldn't leave them alone lol. It definitely would drive them crazy how unsensible devoted the N'kosopans are for their Prez after he sent them to jail lol.

+ i need to figure out the timezones and propose WHEN during the day they switched. Because that's definitely not like Himeno waking up since they don't want to build new bedroom assets. My bet is Rita WAS snoozing curled up on the court bench 😏 (their eyes were just too heavy on the way back... just for a while I'll just sit for a while...) Yanma's probably up catching up on the tech development the past two years. It's not exactly like his "palace" has a window that tells what time it is outside right.

But one thing I really appreciate is Yanma zipping the mask back on after act 1. Off screen, it's every fan asking for more unmasked Rita time and I'm sure Yuzuki wants that too; On screen, since Rita said the Moffun is something they asked for, the two must've contacted over phone before they all met up at Gira's. So if concealing their face is so important and I'm sure Yanma would've been happy to comply, if not under a little help from a contempt charge, that means Rita allowed him to stay unmasked and Yanma zipped it back up out of respect after the initial teasing (if not also out of praticality of Gokkan's cold 😆) - no wait. wouldn't it be more likely Rita zipped it back up after they said his body is useless 😆 wait there're too many if's!!

Besides the stress of not being in your own body, the fast pace and high technology of N'kosopan life might've messed them up a bit too. In the most straightforward interpretation of Rita's confusion when asked to pass a cable in the movie and the general lack of digitalization in Gokkan, it shows that Rita is probably unfamiliar if not bad with all those flashing neon lights. At the very least, the background noise of snowfall versus yankii brawls is already very different 😣

all aside, team wings, as much fun as the actors were having, IS the C-plot this week. I have faith next week's gonna pick it up (precedent being 13→19 and 18→20) or at least have balanced screentime each nation (like ep10, 25). Shiokara and Morfonia are the more eye-catching reatiners and if Wings already had beef over who to arrest and release, the attempted regicide charge is only gonna further worsen the relationship between the two countries?! I said these two forget it the next day like playground fights but it's not that easy this time now. Who could guess Shiokara's "internatioal incident!" murmur came true 😰

[heavencasteel420]

At this point, I’m inclined to think that the St4ncy ship-tease was written to be (a) maximally flattering to Steve but (b) minimally impactful to Nancy. I suspect that it was included in the first place because love triangles, love them or hate them, drive audience engagement; however, I don’t think Steve and Nancy were ever going to get back together. The ship-teasing is for another reason: making Steve look good.

I say this because I can clearly picture a version of S4 where a St4ncy endgame is a serious possibility, and I might not even totally hate it if the show did right by Jonathan. Here’s what it would look like:

Steve and/or Nancy express some clear interest in each other before Eddie/Robin/Dustin suggested it. Ideally, it would be established that Nancy has been hanging out with Steve and Robin, and that their (especially his) company is a source of joy in her life. At minimum, either Steve needs to be the one to tell Eddie/Robin/Dustin that he still/again has feelings for Nancy, or Nancy needs to actively seek out his company early on in the action of S4. It’s one thing to have a cheerleading section; it’s another if the section seems to have initiated the idea.

Steve and Nancy’s future goals are more aligned. I don’t think this would be super-hard to write. Have Steve explain that he’s working towards a career in a field that matches with his demonstrated skills—teacher or firefighter or (sorry) cop—and have him make some comment about how his dad’s not thrilled but fuck him. Or even have him go, “yeah, I’m staying in Hawkins until Robin graduates, then I’m going to get out, see some of the world, and decide what I’m going to do.” They can bond over looking after the kids but don’t have him mention any babies they might have—that’s just a lot, regardless of Nancy’s feelings about eventually having children. He doesn’t need to be a hard-charging entrepreneur, just show some initiative and not focus so much on procreation.

This kind of relates to the previous point, but there’s less emphasis on Steve developing into a nicer, more accepting character. That’s great for Steve, but Nancy didn’t walk away from their relationship because Steve was mean or prejudiced; it was because they had different approaches to dealing with the past and also she was more attracted to Jonathan. The emphasis should be on how they’re closer to being on the same page re: fighting Vecna. Also, it should be acknowledged that Nancy has changed over the past couple of years since their breakup; she hasn’t been standing still while Steve got his shit together.

The fact that she’s with Jonathan is taken seriously. Steve doesn’t need to go to bat for Jancy—all’s fair in love and war—but he does need to show awareness that it exists (after he starts making cow eyes at her) and display some curiosity about how Nancy feels about that relationship. Nancy, for her part, has to be further along in her maybe-things-won’t-work-out-with-Jonathan journey, or at least let Steve know that she feels conflicted and has to figure things out with Jonathan. When it’s just glances and a pre-battle confession that don’t lead to anything, her existing relationship can be quietly deemphasized, but if it’s serious, that’s a different story.

This is maybe subjective, but I think it would work better if Steve has actually moved on from the Nancy he dated two years before, and now he’s falling in love anew with the person she is now. That’s way more romantic in my book.

Instead, the ship-tease is geared to make Steve look (a) cute and sweet and fun and memeable (like the bulk of the T-websites fandom seems to appreciate) but also (b) a credible wish-fulfillment figure who kicks ass and is attractive to women (like the more Reddit-ish crowd seems to want). To wit:

He can’t be too active in pursuing Nancy or display too much awareness of Jonathan because it makes him look less “wholesome.”

He has to be all about romance and babies because that’s cute while also according him some future status as a husband and father. His career is left tacitly unmentioned, so he could be anything from a stay-at-home dad to a cop—whatever the audience finds most attractive.

The emphasis is on his being a nicer person who cares about children because that’s what the audience loves about him.

He has to have never gotten over Nancy so the audience (most of whom probably have had an unrequited crush or unwanted breakup) can feel a little sorry for him…but not outright pity him, since he’s a badass and a major female character who’s portrayed as intelligent/capable/beautiful at least seems to see him as a viable romantic partner.

In short, he’s trapped by his own popularity, because the writers are going to play it pretty safe with him, lest he lose his appeal. It’s like the Single Female Lawyer episode of Futurama. The Single Female Lawyer can’t get married, because that’s not what people watch for.

Meanwhile, Nancy may think that Steve is a great guy and like how he looks without a shirt, but, between fighting Vecna and and helping Eddie and worrying about her relationship with Jonathan and getting to know Robin and confronting her Barb-related demons and stressing over the Cali Crew’s radio silence, her frisson with him comes off like a pretty minor concern for her. Even if she and Jonathan ultimately break up, I don’t think it’ll be because of Steve—it’ll be because of college.

I could be wrong, of course. Maybe the show will do something stupid and sloppy and wave away Steve’s RV dreams so he and Nancy are more compatible all of a sudden. Maybe it’ll do something stupid and offensive and wave away Nancy’s dreams. Or maybe the world will have changed so much that this is all a moot point. But I feel like the show’s invested enough in Steve’s semi-underdog status (which the audience loves) and Nancy’s ambitiousness (which gives them some non-sexist cred) to keep them apart.

[rjalker]

Made with speech to text

Nimona was very blatantly created for the sole purpose of providing Fandom(tm) with little scenes to gif and that's the only reason those scenes exist. to be marketable and relatably memeable and they have literally nothing to do with the story and mean nothing to the characters. They're literally just there to be fandomized so that people who don't give a shit about the story having an actual story will do free advertising for the movie and tell everyone who listens that it is amazing because look at this gif from this scene that has nothing to do with the story and is literally just there for this exact fucking purpose. To be memorable. To look good as random little gifs divorced from any sort of context. So that people who haven't watched the movie yet will go oh wow that looks good let's watch it and then you realize oh yeah none of this has anything to do with fucking anything.

Nimona is the most blatant fucking cashgrab and fandomgrab I have ever fucking seen. And that is not a fucking compliment. This movie is literally demanding that you do all the emotional labor of applying emotions and characterization to these fucking characters who do nothing but dance around in a little memeable way so that the fandom will make gifs and do free advertising and not say anything about the fact that the story doesn't fucking work and is just throwing in random shit because the creators know that "oh yeah the people who make gifs are going to love this!"

Literally this movie is just a bunch of scenes that are marketable and memorable thrown together and then the barest traces of a fucking plot are just haphazardly strung between them to try and make it all work together but it doesn't because you can very clearly fucking see that the story is not about the characters, it's about the fucking marketing bullshit with these little random scenes that make good gifs. And have nothing to do with anything.

These characters don't have personalities. They are literally just whatever will make the most marketable and shareable and memorable gif or reaction image.

This movie is very very fucking blatantly relying on fandoms ability to just make shit up about characters and fill in the entire fucking character with some fandom version that has nothing to do with the story that is literally what this movie is banking on. The audience just making shit up and writing these characters brand new personalities because they have no fucking personalities.

I'm not even joking. This is the worst movie I've ever seen because it is not even trying to hide the fact that this is what it's doing. If it's entirely fucking designed to attract fandom to force the fandom to fill in all of the blanks and fill in all of the gaps and give it meaning because there is no fucking meaning. It's literally just some cool scenes that they decided would be marketable enough and cool enough and no would attract attention when made into random little gifs completely divorced from the rest of the story.

Having the context of the gifts does fucking nothing because there is no contact they are literally just fucking thrown in there willy-nilly because that's what fandom wants. Bullshit that they can project all of their favorite traits onto. It is literally just empty trope upon empty trope strung together because they they know they don't have to do fucking shit because the fandom will just make up whatever the fuck they want, and it doesn't have to fucking make sense for the characters or the universe or anything.

So of course one of the only fucking Black character in the whole movie is the woman who dies within the first like five fucking minutes. Because you can't expect a fandom to do the work of filling in all this shit for a Black woman now can you. Oh and that other black character? The one who picks up a fucking sword and calls Nimona a monster. As the fandom needs any more fucking incentive to hate Black people and demonize them and vilify them /s

And yes this movie is fucking queerbating and you know why? Because of all of you people making gifs making it seem like Nimona is canonically nonbinary and not ever saying oh by the way she's not actually nonbinary. You are literally doing the queerbating for the fucking movie. And that's literally how it was intended to happen.

This movie was so fucking blatantly designed every step of the way to attract fandom to get the audience to do literally all of the fucking work and it's working. So I guess we can expect a new wave of fucking movies that have no fucking plot or characterization because the writers know that the fandom will just fucking inserted all themselves and then claim that the original is an absolute Masterpiece because they cannot fucking tell the difference between the shit they have made up for themselves and what is actually in the goddamn movie.

[purple-l0tus]

Based on fight intros, which version of Kung Lao do you prefer? MK X or MK 11?

I think MK11 intros for the most part really flanderized most of the characters from MKX. Like, it feels like the writers took the parts from X that seemed to resonate the most with people, and then basically distilled the 11 intros to the most 'memeable' parts and turned them up to - pardon the pun - 11.

So that's all a long-winded way to say I prefer Kung Lao's X intros, as I do for most of the characters that were in both games (save for Kitana who got justifiably dialed back just a bit in 11).

[hihimihwa]

Tried making a meme template out of this photo my mom took when my lil brother and I were younger- Hehe it literally looked SO memeable I had to

+ wips I have!!

Slide 3: drawing of a stranger i saw(more info on slide 4), my ver of the template i jusf made- listen to mha podfics a lot, so I thought of drawing baby izu and kacchan. Uhmmmm next are mlp drawings teehee. And and Pyramid Game comic, im working on, the episode I watched made me so giddy i couldnt NOT draw something

Slide 4: There was this pretty lady with the prettiest fit I've seen that day, so I started drawing her on my notebook and then decided to draw digitally at the same time to really see the difference yknow? Drawing in a new notebook too, I'm trying out some markers I took from my older brother's old pencilcase hehe

Slide 5: This cafe had a 2 for 1 breakfast platter deal($10!!) so my mom and I went for it rq! The fruits were delicious, my mom loved the coffee, and the scrambled eggs were yummy. The waffles were kinda dry, which ye its expected, the deal was probably to use up all the leftovers. It was easily saved with the maple syrup, butter, and strawberry jam tho!

Slide 6-8: Jax x Zooble Jax x Zooble Jax x Zooble

1st comic's abt Jax almost getting abstracted? Zooble saves him hehe and then uhh they have a moment, Jax is being a baby but Zooble's made of baby toys so it worked out. He played around with her a bit, she agrees to help whenever he gets overwhelmed again. 3rd comic is them being a thing, the groups reaction, and them cheering each other on for games! I am cringe but I am free.

Slide 9-10: sketches I sorta inked enough to post! Im not actually allowed to watch hh but uhhh im mature :> Haven't watched sweethome kdrama, but i LOVE the webtoon. Hyun went through so much, just lemme put 3 versions of himself in a battle to duke it out. Talentless Nana manga is also rlly cool rn, I love the character development going on!!

#art #artist #illustration #sketch #comic #digitalart #digitalartist #digitalillustration #digitalsketch #digitalcomic #traditionalart #traditionalartist #traditionalillustration #traditionalsketch #traditionalcomic #meme #tadc #hh #sweethome #talentlessnana

[purplesurveys]

1750

Think back to yesterday, what were you doing around this time? I think I was just playing a game on my phone, taking breaks in between to baby Cooper and squish his cheeks.

What was the last thing you watched on the TV? The music video of 3D. :)) The song is really catchy but holy shit can it stand on its own without the rap. I almost immediately preferred the alternate version and am so grateful they decided to make one.

Do you think pets can get annoying easily? Uhhhhh, no. Pets can get annoying on occasion, but if you're easily irritated by them then maybe you're the problem...

Did you know that pickles have no calories? No, but I also don't have any strong feelings about learning this because I don't even like pickles haha.

Do you enjoy family get togethers? It depends on the side I'm seeing. I always enjoy the food lol but I have different relationships with different relatives, and there are certain sides that I can much more easily vibe with.

That said, my family's dynamic definitely falls under the Filipino stereotype of my dad's side typically being more boring, and my mom's side being lots of fun to be with (for the most part).

In a group of three, do you often feel like the third wheel? I mean, it depends on who the other two are. I am louder around certain people and quieter around others.

What color are your pants? I'm not wearing pants but my current shorts are purple and white.

Is there snow on the ground where you are? No.

What is keeping you warm right now? Nothing, actually, even though I'm feeling increasingly cold. I should get my blanket soon.

Has anyone bought you a piece of jewelry? Yes, a previous significant partner and a close friend.

How far away is your next birthday? Seven months away.

Do you have plans for that birthday yet? Not really yet. I don't start planning on what I want to do until the start of the new year.

When did you last take a shower? This morning.

Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon? Nope, I've never seen it.

Have you ever flown somewhere alone? No and I don't know when I'll ever have the courage to do so haha. It feels so daunting! I don't even think I'm ready to travel on my own yet.

Are you more serious or funny? I definitely try to be more lighthearted but I know when to be serious. Work drains me enough during the day so I like to let loose once I'm out of that headspace.

Is there someone that annoys you but you haven’t told them? Eh no one annoys me these days other than, like, certain celebrities that I have muted on social media anyway so that I never see them.

When is garbage day in your area? Wednesday.

Who/What was the last thing to really irritate you? My brother acts like he's king of the fucking world and never does any chores. The untended pile of laundry we had earlier was irritating me to no end so I just folded everything so that that part of the house can look neat again, even though I'm already in charge of a couple of other chores.

I feel like he thinks he gets a pass because college life is supposed to be exhausting, but it feels like such a funny insult to the 9-6s my sister and I have, lmao. In any case, I ended up enjoying folding the laundry because I found it therapeutic after my long day.

Do you think people either love or hate spongebob? At least from how I see it, most people love Spongebob either for its nostalgic factor, the timeless memeability of the show, or both. I fall under the category of loving Spongebob for both of those reasons.

The people I know who aren't interested only feel that way because they didn't grow up watching the show, but they don't actively dislike it.

Have you seen that new “Lie To Me” show? I've never even heard of that. I love the 5SOS song that shares the exact same title though, hah.

What is something you’d rather be doing right now? I'm perfectly content where I am right now.

Do you find that people are too hard on you? No, but I'm sensing that it's about to be that way soon. I don't want to talk about it now though.

Do you take surveys often? I wouldn't say so, but my activity does come in bursts. It'll be radio silence for most Monday-Fridays, but I might take 3-4 a day on weekends.

Do you tend to slam things around when you’re mad? Sometimes, but I wouldn't call it a habit. I wouldn't want it to be one.

Do you know anyone who hates/dislikes chocolate? I don't think so. I don't dislike chocolate per se, but I tend to avoid it because I find it too sweet.

Could you vote in this last election? Yes; I've been voting since 2016.

Have you taken a shower today? Yup.

How much sleep did you get last night? Around 7-8.

Do you have more girl friends or guy friends? Girl.

What is your current mood? Relaxed, happy, content.

Is there anything on your mind at the moment? How I'm in a really uncomfortable position but I'm too lazy to move around. Also thinking about how much my back and neck hurts, and my stomach is also beginning to feel upset most likely because of how I wolfed down that samgyupsal earlier lol.

Are there any movies out that you’d like to see? Oppenheimer, but I'll save that for when my dad's back home so we can watch it together.

Have you ever been on a website called Stickam? No, I don't think I've heard of it either.

Have you ever hated yourself? Yes. I don't anymore, but I did, and it wasn't a good place to be in.

Are you hungry? No, I am VERY full hahaha.

Did your parents ever ground you? Yes. At the time I had actually been very surprised that they did, considering 'grounding' isn't at all a thing where I live. Anyway, I had gotten in trouble on multiple occasions both for swearing and having horrible grades, so my parents would take away my laptop for indefinite periods.

Where was the last place you went out to eat? This Greek place where I had a Very Corporate Lunch with my workplace's CEO (aka my new boss from here on out), Bea, and one of our clients. I felt sick the whole time. Why am I even in this position? I don't care for corporate talk. Can I go back to being a manager who is more hands-on with the dirty, day-to-day work?

Have you ever felt like you needed a better life than the one you have? Better isn't really the word for it. Maybe 'more fulfilling' is more apt, and I'm definitely feeling that way now.

Do you own an MP3 player of some kind? No, not anymore.

Do you have a moment in your life you wish you could replay over again? Yes, Yoongi's concert. I think of going back to that time at least once a day. Every time I remember I've seen a member of BTS I always break out into a stupid giggle and feel like I'm floating on air for the next half hour haha. UGH I LOVE YOONGI BRING HIM BACK TO ME

Have you ever been in a play? If so, did you like it? I mean I guess, in my first school, but it was always a class performance where we'd do a song number. No, I never enjoyed those mandatory performances.

What is one musical artist you wish wasn’t making music? Chris Brown. I wish everyone can just start ignoring him.

When was the last time you cleaned something? Earlier tonight when I mopped the floor, tidied the dining table, and washed everyone's dishes.

Have you ever been so sick you had to be taken to the hospital? Yes, on two occasions.

Do you like your smile? Yes. :)

Do you have someone that you think truly understands you? Sure.

When was the last time you doubted yourself? Yesterday at the aforementioned lunch. My feelings at the time were like 20% doubting myself, 80% openly acknowledging within myself that, "holy shit, I CANNOT fake it til I make it here. Everything they're talking about, from next year's contract and the company's profit is making me want to vomit all over this table."

Is there anything currently bothering you? Yes my entire back is killing me and I just need a masseuse who'll use my back as a punching bag for five hours straight.

Would you say that you’ve got something ‘special’ about you? I think about that way about myself and everyone. We all come with our own charms.

Who was the last person to cheer you up when you were down? Jin.

Are you scared of what you do not know? I'm past that point already, considering what I've been able to survive before. I just enjoy going with the flow now.

Is there anything in the next six months that you’re looking forward to? Leaving my jobbbbb. I've decided to stay for the time being just so that I can avoid looking like an asshole who leaves as soon as she gets promoted, but resignation actively hangs in my mind everyday because the more I get settled in my new job, the more resentful I get.

Were you/are you popular in high school? I was in the inner circles, but I hated being in the spotlight so I still preferred to be the wallflower in my groups.

Do you really care what people think about you? No. I have other things to think about.

Do you find yourself treating others like you’d want to be treated? Not always. I will snap sometimes without meaning to and it always makes me feel guilty and self-reflect at the end of the day, but in general I do my best to go about every day thinking of two things: treat people the way I'd want to be treated, and that I never know what people are going through at a given moment so just be fucking nice.

Are you constantly envious of others? I genuinely cannot tell you when I last felt envy.

Are you more of a whiner with things or a do’er of things? Doer. I'll grumble within myself but it's not like I have a choice for the most part so I just go ahead and do Things.

List three of your favorite TV shows: Breaking Bad, Friends, Descendants of the Sun.

Would your friends say you’re a relaxed person or stressed? STRESSED, lmao. They will be the first to tell you that, for sure.

What do you find yourself worrying most about these days? How well I can adjust into my new role at work. Maybe I'll get into it more another time, but it's 11 PM on a Friday night and mulling over work feelings is the last thing I want to be doing.

Would you say it’s hard to earn your trust? It's easy for me to trust people and just as easy for me to take it away.

Who was the last person to compliment you? Coleen.

Anything interesting happen this past week? Sure, but it's not the good kind of interesting.

When was the last time you felt scared? Wednesday, when I had to go through multiple unfamiliar roads to get to my destination that day.

What’s on your mind this very second? How I want to skip the current song that's playing, anddd I just did.

Do you know the difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re’? Yes.

Do you correct other people’s grammar/spelling when talking to them online? Never.

Is bacon one of your favorite foods? I love bacon, but it's not my favorite.

Are you one of those people who like to sleep in on the weekends? No. I'll barely sleep during weekends since it's my only time to do normal life things really.

Do you like things vampire related? Eh, just Twilight.

Have you ever cussed at a parent or teacher? Nope. I've sworn around my parents, but not at them.

When was the last time you saw snow? I've never seen snow.

Have you ever felt stupid after saying something? Yes.

Do you find yourself cold at the moment? Not anymore; I turned off the aircon for now since the cold had been getting too uncomfortable earlier.

Are your nails currently long? Yeah a little bit and I'll have to cut them soon.

Are you the kind of person who does not like talking about their past? Certain remnants of it sure, but I'm generally an open book.

Do you have long slender fingers or short chunky ones? My fingers are long and slender and I loveeeee them.

Do you think your foot size fits your body type? I guess so. My feet are really tiny hahah I'm like a size 6.

Are you the competitive type? Yeah, in every sense of the word. I mean I've gotten better at handling losses but I still like to treat most things like a race/contest; it's just a better mindset for me to be in to be motivated to do my best.

Are you more of a mommy’s person or a daddy’s person? Dad's girl.

[yumedoca]

I've been noticing your posts of Detective Conon (is that how it's spelled?) anyways I'd been noticing them and tbh I'd forgotten who it was and I'd been seeing the little boy wondering why he looked so familiar before I remembered where I'd seen him.

He's from the Lupin III X Detective Conon special. That's when it clicked that you were posting Detective Conon. Bro I didn't realize it was him till I remembered this- 😭

[Warning: Rambling's of a fangirl Ahead]

Hai there! Hope you're having a great day!!

Yeah, The Conan (as in Arthur 'Conan' Doyle) X Lupin special was a thing, lol. The thing is that I'm just like you except I'm on the other side of the spectrum, I've only watched Detective Conan, but I haven't watched Lupin at all. I've watched the special as well, but it seems that it was more Lupin focused (I heard it was made for anniversary or something??), so I was kind of confused for some of the parts. There's a crossover movie as well, but after my reaction to the special, I figured that I'd watch both after I have consumed Lupin media. I still haven't watched it but that's because I'm too busy to watch anything at the moment now, but once I'm able to have more free time, I'd love to start watching Lupin since it seems like a lot of fun!!

I'm pretty sure the crossovers were made because both shows share the same animation studio. Detco's (short for detective Conan) mangaka, Gosho Aoyama is a huge fan of the series, even stating Fujiko is his ideal woman. There's even a character who's based off of Fujiko in detco as well!

As for Detective Conan, considering all the fandom I've seen you be a part of (You have great taste BTW), I feel like it would be a shame if you didn't check out the series because I feel it fits perfectly into your tastes. I myself started the series when I heard there were Urusei Yatsura references in the series:

Couldn't find a clear anime counterpart of this so have the manga version instead. This is only just one of the references though.

And while looking up the reference, I came across a small plot summary and it intrigued me. Then I started the anime and I've been obsessed since. Like Ace Attorney, Detco is a mystery series with tons of lovable characters. It also has an overarching plot which keeps you intrigued at the same time. A series filled with Love, Thrill, Shock and Suspense to the brim. I would highly recommend it!!

You can experience the series by either manga or anime. I'd say for you anime might suit better since the manga is still ongoing, over 100 volumes, is officially licensed but it has localization (the names, 96% of the fandom uses the Japanese names), it is readable on the VIZ app for a small subscription, but the localization problem still exists. Of course, you can read fanscans without localization as well. Mangadex is good site for that.

As for the anime, it has over a 1000 episodes (+ movies and OVA and other stuff) but that's because it has tons of fillers. 65% of the series is canon to the manga. You can easily look up a filler list and watch which are canon according to that. There are good fillers, but you can watch those in your own time. There are movies as well, which even though not canon, I'd definitely still recommend.

I'd say if you're watching the TV series in the quickest time, it would take a few months. I think I took 5-6 months, but I also took a lot of breaks in between so it isn't all that relevant.

Anyways, even though watching Detco is time consuming it is still something I do not and will never regret because of story and characters this amazing (and memeable) and I'm pretty sure everyone else who have watched it feels the same.

Detco does have a sister series called Magic Kaito which is much shorter in case you've decided not to watch Detective Conan. It's a phantom thief focused series with 5 volumes and 25 something episodes. However, if you do watch Detco, you will come across Magic Kaito whether you like it or not..

In the end, the choice is up to you. Sorry for all the rambling, when I start talking about any my favorite things I just can't seem to calm down..

If you have any queries, feel free to ask! I'm open to any discussion!!