#This is some jim crow type SHIT

[meret118]

Private individuals and groups, who did not represent the U.S. government, have for decades brought the majority of Section 2 cases to court. Those cases have challenged the redrawing of voting maps and other steps in the elections process with claims that the voting power of people of color has been minimized.

U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, ruled in February 2022, however, that only the head of the Justice Department, the U.S. attorney general, can bring Section 2 lawsuits and dismissed an Arkansas redistricting case brought by advocacy groups representing Black voters in the state.

On Monday, that lower court ruling was upheld in a 2-1 vote by a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

[ca-suffit]

A lot of this fandom draws Louis like a Jim Crow Era caricature and it makes me wonder if this is how they see Louis when he’s on screen. His features are always too dark, he’s always too hard faced and ends up looking like Random Black Jazz Guy #47. It’s very concerning and disrespectful to Jacob and his beautiful face and these people don’t get called out enough. And then on the flip of a damn Armand is drawn too light. What are your thoughts on that?

idk where to start on this tbh bcuz it's such a huge topic. ur right that it's an issue and it continues to be an issue bcuz ppl don't want anyone to talk about race or racism in this fandom. ppl are always quick to defend usually white artists for "learning," even if some of them have been here for *years* and still haven't fixed much of shit. just like with anything, if we could open and honestly have these convos, the issues would be fixed p instantly. we intentionally don't, so they continue on and everyone says it's the ppl bringing up the issues who are "mean" and "bullies." racism 101 handbook type stuff.

artists need to have awareness of racial stereotypes and how to draw different skin tones, hair textures, whatever. get used to feedback on it too, even if it's "nasty." if u keep hearing the same comments then reflect on why, don't blame other ppl. every fandom always has a racism issue with graphics and art bcuz every fandom stifles these convos. the same issues are underneath all of them and it's not that hard to uncover what they are and learn how to fix ur shit.

it also helps if ur new to the fandom to understand who runs with white fandom and which artists they promote, bcuz it's never anyone worth supporting. even the ppl who might get coloring right but stay silent on fandom racism issues otherwise aren't worth supporting (that's rly every popular iwtv artist tbh). it would also help if this fandom ever supported any damn artists of color in the first place!!! when has that happened yet?!?!?!

[c1trvswurld]

Whats with Fandom and like...interracial couples. It's genuinely disturbing being how they will fetishisize the non white partner and make the white partner domineering(like on some manifest destiny type shit). And the reason why I am specifically mentioning white+non white interracial ships is because it's sooooo frequent there I notice?.

Like I try not to get to real on this blog as it is my form of escapism and I already deal with racism misogynoir etc. On the daily but it's becoming sooooo hard not to notice in my Fandoms.

With Asian + white couples they will ALWAYS infantilize and forcefully feminize that character for their white counterpart ( especially if it is a gay ship). Or god forbid the Asian person is not light-skinned. Then they are portrayed as animalistic and controlling. And not saying that you cannot play with those dynamics it's just Moreso the fact that they will actively use stereotypes that can be traced back to things like 'the white burden'.

Or with black + white couples and the horrible Jim crow level shit ive come across that has genuinely made me sick. Seeing ppl real time mentally justify the brutality and hypersexualization faced against black bodies.... it's getting fucking weird

And I can talk abt sooooo much more awful dynamics with different races and the intricate details of power and race in relationships but I'd need a whole afternoon and a half to even get to the TIP of the iceberg...

[strawberryraviegutz]

I really REALLY hate those kinds of stupid “hot take” posts. I think they’re just garbage to purposely farm more discourse to cause infighting, but I’ve been holding this in for so long and I need to get it out of my system so here it goes.

Alastor fans are allowed to dislike Valentino. Valentino was made to be a dislikable Villain while Alastor BY VIV’S OWN WORDS is a chaotic neutral antihero based off of Dexter with a moral code. Of course people are gonna like Alastor more than Valentino. The antihero/vigilante is a very popular beloved trope. I mean just look at Magneto and Venom.

You guys claim to want more nuanced characters but when we try and tell you that Alastor is more nuanced BASED OFF OF EVIDENCE FROM THE CREATOR and little possible context clues in the show we get accused of “babying/woobifying him”(as if Val fans haven’t done that to Val). This isn’t a hit piece against all Val fans/simps btw. I may hate that moth, but you guys should be allowed like him without receiving hate and or death threats.

It’s not “hypocrisy” to dislike Valentino or the Vees and like Alastor for the reasons I said above and the four of them aren’t comparable. Yeah they share some traits but overall the only thing Alastor and the Vees have in common are the mistreatment of the souls they own. Like I said, Val fans shouldn’t be attacked for liking him but the thing is…if you’re gonna preach those words then do the same for Alastor fans/simps because we get attacked too.

(Again it’s not all Val stans but it sure it a lot of them. I’ve all so seen Val haters do it too.) Yall claim not to harass people over fictional characters yet will go under Alastor posts and or discussion threads and be like “Uhm actually him and Valentino are the same🤓☝️”.

“He’s worse than Val” “Why can’t we just have a good villain” “Just accept that Alastor is a villain stop babying him” when we’re just minding our own business. Not to mention people going under fanart of Angel! Alastor and being like “erm actually he’d never go to heaven🤪”.

Along with yall bullying the hell out of Alastor selfshippers/simps and using tumblr sexyman as an insult(which reaks of internalized misogyny btw because majority of Alastor simps are women + women are always the first to be made fun of when it comes to characters that Classify as tumblr sexymen being found attractive by them or any character you personally wouldn’t find attractive.)

And yall going around and keep calling Alastor ugly under posts about people gushing about him and i don’t mean lighthearted jokes either because i make fun of the back of his head sometimes too. And full blown harassment. When an Alastor fan provided evidence of Alastor being a more nuanced character which were clips from Viv’s streams, people in the comments and qrts were being extremely rude and dismissive. It got so bad that op deleted the og tweet.

Don’t go around and claim to be against cringe culture but then make fun of people for finding Alastor attractive. And for goodness sake STOP FUCKING CALLING HIM A SLAVE OWNER. And yes he owns souls but that doesn’t matter.

Alastor is canonically half black and its overall disgusting to slap the label “slave owner” onto him knowing damn well that he grew up in the Jim Crow era of America in the Deep South of Louisiana. His existence as a mixed black person back then was basically considered an abomination. With how terrible it was for black people back then, Alastor probably bore witness to a lot of messed up shit growing up and if that’s the case then it’s no wonder he’s so messed up in the head.

This type of behavior has been going on since the days where we only had the pilot and it’s only gotten worse since the show came out. As soon as I saw that scene with husk and Alastor in hell’s greatest dad I automatically knew what was coming. I’m not saying that Alastor Is a good person nor am I saying that what he did to husk was ok. But to go after/make fun of Alastor fans,purposely denying evidence of his character while in the same breath preach against bullying people over liking certain characters makes YOU the hypocrites. So much for anti-harassment. I’m tired. Bye.

[yooniesim]

I know nobody gives a shit about this in comparison so posting a save file with uncredited builds in it, but reminder of that time @mapanou started calling me out of name and spewing hateful nazi ideology at me out of nowhere just bc i made a lukewarm criticism of a paywaller and I dared to say black people are often criticized more for being angry... but since only one of my parents are black that ain't allowed 😬 some of yall acted like this was okay but I didn't forget it, I notice how some of their friends are acting all betrayed now bc their homie turned out to be a sims content thief but you knew who you were laying down with clearly. You were glad to support an extremely nasty ass person when the vitriol was directed at me, but God forbid someone not credit a build! anyway guess who was struck down and it wasn't me bitch 💀

That aside, since the insufferable cunt had the nerve to mention the One Drop Rule, which has been used as a tool to discriminate against all black people and keep their mixed offspring othered for as many generations as possible, here's some sources on what it actually refers to (and some related articles about the struggles of mixed race people). It's a method of discrimination by white supremacists, not a way for mixed race people that you think are unworthy of speaking to "claim" to be black. If you're lurking, mapanou, i hope you and your friends read them and understand something you should have already at your "very big age".

One Drop Rule on Wikipedia (for the basic concept + more sources)

How The "One Drop Rule" Became a Tool of White Supremacy

How The Nazis Were Inspired by Jim Crow

Understanding the Stressors and Types of Discrimination That Can Affect Multiracial Individuals

Exploring Black mixed-race experiences of Black rejection

Not Enough Or Double The Prejudice: On Being Black & Asian American

Why Imposter Syndrome Goes Deep for Multiracial People

When Your Own Family Is Racist Toward You

^ the basic gist for the lazy. and just an added bit. I don't know if mapanou has ever seen me, because I barely know them and certainly didn't share with them, but I have been doxxed plenty and my pics probably shared to them by others and im obviously not white though i am light skinned. im very proud of my dark natural hair, brown eyes, thick lips and big nose that I all got from my father. I have nothing to prove nor hide about who I am. I am black and asian and white and I love every part of what makes me, me. I am mixed race and if you don't believe or like me as I am that's your problem not mine. just wanna clear that up for all the people that may have been confused about it. and for all my followers that are mixed, especially black and asian, I love you and you have a place here. your voices and experiences are valuable and you deserve to be heard. that's all I got to say.

[woomycritiques543]

maybe let actual trans people and gnc people say what they have an issue with instead of acting like…one episode of a cartoon on youtube that has people do drag is going to result in mass murder?

idk it’s just funny to me that you seem so upset over what you think episode 5 will be

Stereotypes have literally caused genocides in the past, multiple times! Jim Crow laws even came from stereotypes of people like me, people who are poc! Not just that, but the stereotypes being portayed in the newest episode, are the same stereotypes being used as an excuse to try to kill drag queens, and children, right now!

The episode is literally going to show Moxxie, in drag, as a "danger around children" by depicting him trying to harm someone in front of kids, the exact type of stereotypes that

When if the media stopped constantly representing drag queens as "a danger to children", would attacks like this would have happened?

Actually... NO! Because this happened because of generations of misrepresentation, generations of public misinformation.

This isn't about "this makes this happen". It's about representation. -and the fact that so many of you forget what representation is to benefit a cartoon made by a cis white passing woman is actually disgusting. This episode literally has stereotypes that can and will cause more problems for the lgbt+ community, same for how Angel Dust caused more people to sexualize gay men being molested because of people like Ralphielle, same for how the pilot and episode 4 of S2 caused more people to say the r slur. This shit effects people, universally, it's not a "you have to be ___ to see that something is causing issues" ordeal. Misrepresentation is a universal problem that effects literally all minorities, all of us! Drag queens being misrepresented as a "danger around kids" is why the laws trying to ban them are happening... in the first place! Representation effects the reputation of us all! So speculation or not, do I, and multiple people from the trans community who have now said the same thing, have a right to be concerned? Yes! Yes, we all do, stop gatekeeping because you want to get off to Moxxie's femininity. It's gross, and people do have a right to be concerned.

Stereotypes are not "harmless". They effect all of us, the more stereotypes show trans women as a "danger" to kids in the bathroom, the more that drag queens are seen as a "danger around kids." The more that black lives are seen as "savages." The more that people who are disabled are seen as "stupid and useless". All of the stereotypes in Helluva Boss are stereotypes created from generations of oppresion. None of this is "ok."

There are literal threads about stereotypes like this being wrong everywhere. This isn't "for" me to "look good online/white knight", that would involve making assumptions with no other says.

This is for them, to say what they've all been saying now for DECADES! Trans lives are not "a danger to kids", these stereotypes need to stop, not just for their safety, but for the safety of all the lgbt+ community against conservative stereotypes!

EDIT:

SPEAK OF THE DEVIL!

-and just to make it worse:

They even had the violence be done to the ONLY DARK SKINNED KID IN THE ENTIRE EPISODE!

HOLY SHIT Vivienne, this is some of the most unsubtle version of queerphobia in a cartoon that I have ever seen. Literally, all the episode does is fetishize Moxxie for being in drag, while he's meant to be disguised as a minor, while also literally, having even worse since Moxxie here isn't depicted as being a danger "around" kids like I thought he would be- he's a danger TO them! Which is even worse!

Because this year, an entire church full of children was attacked by transphobes for these exact assumptions about the drag community! These stereotypes have now gone too far, way too far, and now I wish that I begged harder for this episode to be post ponned because THIS YEAR Florida is planning to even cause physical harm to the drag community- for these exact stereotypes, that were originally created by conservatives... in the first place!

The Helluva Boss fandom even called the trans genocide "GOOD LAWS!" THEY'RE NOT EVEN BEING SUBTLE WITH THEIR TRANSPHOBIA ANYMORE!

This is literally how Vivziepop stans responded to my post trying to warn Spindlehorse to post pone this episode- they aren't just transphobic, Vivziepop stans actually want the trans community dead.

THIS EPISODE IS LITERALLY CAUSING MORE PEOPLE TO WANT THE TRANS COMMUNITY TO BE KILLED BY THESE LAWS! THIS IS A REAL FUCKING ORDEAL AND WE NEED TO STOP NORMALIZING THE STEREOTYPES IN THIS SHOW BEFORE THINGS GET ANY MORE OUT OF HAND!

Look. Stop turning your heads away and look at the harm the stereotypes from this show have now caused!

Again, for the last time, actually read my posts because so many of you said "But it's not going to be-" while not even looking at the previews, what I wrote, or anything! For fucks sake- Stop excusing Helluva Boss's stereotypes just because you want more episodes of a cartoon. These fictional characters are not more important than real people! It's a public show, and conservatives can and will see this episode it weaponize the imagery as a means to cause harm to us, the exact same way 4chan did so after episode 3 of S2. This shit is really getting out of hand. Which is all the reason why that my video on the Sallie May controversy will be released, Vivziepop will be held accountable, and I will make sure that not a single piece of vital info is excluded from that video in question.

[broken-clover]

🍓🔪🍬🦴🥤 :D

Wheeeee

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

Tbh you think I'd remember but I really don't. I have vague memories of making Pokemon OC's but wasn't really introduced to the concept of fanfiction until my older sister got me into Hetalia and I found out about it while looking up fanart. I think I've discusses it before, though, that I didn't feel confident writing full-on fanfic for the longest time because I was too terrified about writing characters OOC. Idk what exactly made me get over it, maybe GG just instilled enough brainrot I couldn't help it

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

See I dunno about 'weird' but I've done a lot of random shit I never thought would be relevant until I had to go look for it. Hard to objectively say what was the oddest so I'm just gonna make a list of some off the top of my head

-(I've repurposed a surprising amount of my learnings from mortuary for anatomical and medical reference)

-Giraffe/horse autopsy

-Introductory guides to Jamaican Patois

-"Can bats get polio"

-"Common clothing of Nepal"/"Common clothing of Tibet" (notable in that it ended up being relevant for half a paragraph)

-"Cheeses of Bhutan"

-"What is the highest proof alcohol you are legally allowed to buy"

-Profanities of numerous languages, including sign

-"How old are children before they can pronounce 'x'"

-Brazilian cryptids

-"least flammable bed fabrics"

-Treatment and recovery time of a PCL tear

-Step by step guides for kimono-wearing

-Bone throwing as a form of divination

-Adult clubfoot treatments

-"what type of video is security camera footage"

-"autoimmune diseases caused by stress"

-psychogenic stuttering

-how to replace/modify a clutch disk for a stick shift

-French homicide law

-Pyretic drugs

-LOTS of fish biology

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

Probably in part due to oversaturation, but Bridget is just...kinda boring. I find her concept and story endearing and sympathetic, of course, but she doesn't have the same kind of complicated themes and bizarre lore that engages me like a lot of the series' other characters to the point where I can delve into it and get on that level of brainrot.

🦴 ⇢ is there a piece of media that inspires your writing? 

Can't simply say 'a.' I feel like I take a lot of bits from a lot of different stuff! I find I like to try and find 'weird' media frequently, though, I like seeing the bizarre concepts people can cook up and wonder if I'm not thinking outside the box hard enough. Likewise for horror, to a lesser extent

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

hweeeehhhh why do you always give me the tough ones. There's some really obvious picks, you and Jim and Roy and Crow, but I've probably done you all like three times already! Easy picks

Lemme see, if I wanna try and do something a little different than the obvious, I do have a couple recs! For anyone that's into Psychonauts, I totally recommend BabyCharmander (ESPECIALLY 'Cavity,' do not read anything else before you go into it, reading it for the first time hits you like a truck to the face) and The_Angst_Alchemist (Particularly if you're a Thorney Towers fan, they write the inmates with such panache and easily some of the best interpretations of Fred) It's a little more niche, but if you're an ARMS fan I recommend anything by MeltyMetroid, for a series that has such little lore they've written several incredibly fleshed out and well-constructed longfics (I'd recommend 'DisARMed' and 'Broken Mirror' for the plot-heavy jaunts and 'The Brass that Saved Christmas' if you want a good laugh)

Admittedly in general I don't pay as much attention to specific writers as I should, or the series I look for stuff for is so niche it doesn't really have dedicated writers

[taiwantalk]

Trump is gonna be the first former us president to lose election twice and the first to lose while leading in every poll and the first to lose and have a stroke from old age while calling his opponent old and frail.

He’s gonna be the first to go straight to jail without pass after the election.

The truly truly the historical significance is that we collectively now see as self evident is how Jim Crow really emerged.

Jim Crow emerged as the first ever peaceful coup in United States as the south scared the north into letting them back in congress by buying off the Republican Party despite that the later potus was the general that beat the slavery south. And each successive gop potus after Lincoln were worse than the predecessor.

Self evident in that once the peaceful coup happened and that the south was permitted to return to power in congress and to run the states, the south took meticulous time to undo 14th amendment.

Just like right now, this moment, this congress with too many gop in congress and too many gop running the states by gerrymandering (a form of another type of coup), gop is crippling any good potus like grant and biden with any kind of unacceptable shit in otherwise anywhere else in the world but they’re getting away with it because the right wing people don’t give a fuck to reason and are willing to strap themselves with political wmd to shut everything down-everything that’s been working for more than 200 years.

The right wing who takes everything for granted just because they are so narcissistic that they cannot see how they’re the one driving the bomb in their political suicide attacks.

Democratic people of the world, watch and learn that some things in politics are not ever as peaceful as they seem and without long term cost. Watch and learn if America does not emerge from the crazy trump supporters.

The same lame provisional govt of china after 1911 fucked china for a century and so did Russia.

I am not saying that a country needs tyrant or to excuse a newly formed govt to be vicious and kill off oppositions. I mean the “people” must come together and resist the temptation to sell out vulnerable groups for some fake glory.

as Eisenhower said, everyone must participate and engage in politics as civic duty and not let any industrial complex hijack the democratic machinery that’s becoming well running.

[scarlethyena]

I just remembered this happened to me about a month or two ago, and I don't think I ever told anyone but I cannot continue living with this knowledge alone because holy shit

So I didn't get a pic because I was driving at the time, but once I saw this car pulling a trailer that had all this pro-life political messaging on it. Which is part of living in a conservative area unfortunately, plenty of reactionary shitheads to go around, but also this trailer had all this imagery depicting "aborted fetuses" (I seriously doubt that's what they actually were as the babies looked more developed but either way they were bloody pics) and also pictures of holocaust victims and lynchings (they also had images of Jesus being crucified just to verify that they were, in fact, religious zealots). The whole point was comparing widespread abortions to the holocaust and jim crow which is just...I don't even know where to begin. Comparing women's autonomy to actual genocides is disgusting to begin with, but there's also the fact that they were driving around with such graphic imagery plastered over their little trailer. Some people might be triggered by that imagery because like, those are atrocities that people actually experienced?? Even if they didn't experience it themselves, generational trauma is a thing??? Also these same types would probably piss their pants if they saw a drag queen reading stories to kids, but putting up pictures of dead bodies for all to see, including children? Yeah that's perfectly acceptable.

[mr-double-downer]

it’s always some death of the author type shit when it comes to religion because some people can’t fathom what an allegory is. Of course, calling works like LoTR or Narnia satanic is also equally as funny considering how unsubtle they are. People think liking stuff written by Christians is going to somehow make them bad people but I think what they really fear is realizing they have things in common with the faith, and I say all of this as a atheist who’s baptist father fell out due to questions about where God was during slavery and the Jim Crow era.

Like in short, it’s okay to like stuff made by people who’s views you don’t necessarily agree with for one reason or another. Definitely hasn’t stopped anyone from shutting up about Harry Potter despite the daily JKR Rowling discourse.

[thechanelmuse]

That little ass comment box and it’s limits on the length I can type is driving me nuts. Let’s do this on a clean post 🙃.

@khalif-horton

I don’t know Yvette Carnell like that; I only know of her looking for a gold sticker for whatever she’s doing/done and being a leader of an organization. I’m not in search of a leader. I’m firm on lineage-based federal and state reparations for Black Americans (preferably federal before states), an Anti-Black Hate Crime bill and data disaggregation. Lineage-based because our ancestors built the United States through forced chattel labor that others immigrated to, and you can’t do anything to benefit one race (so they say 🙃) because it violates the 14th amendment.

Data disaggregation makes things clearer in wealth disparity amongst other things, but also for anyone having that strange identity crisis as to who they truly are simply because they were born in the United States. This is why lineage matters. I can’t be me while they’re being me and them simultaneously. Hence the student union example. Disaggregation should’ve been done, but wasn’t as another layered undermining tactic. Heavy state and federal penalties needs to be attached with falsifying to simply garner whatever benefits and resources. You also won’t have shit like the likes of Rachel Dolezal and Mindy Kaling’s brother sliding through.

Racially Black people are different ethnic groups with distinct histories, cultures and the ancestral lands where our ancestors were ultimately rooted. We’ll prob disagree on that. You’re a Pan-African and I am not. 

Reparations is not for racism. It’s a debt owed. But I also want genocide and theft in there which links to Jim Crow and it’s governmental sanctions, the bombing and torch of our businesses and towns that were kept desolate or turned into lakes, 15 million acres of land—including farmland and heirs property—stolen down to 1 million acres left, etc. People be out here passing around videos of Black Americans being exterminated by the slave patrol police like white people used to do with those postcards of lynching barbecues. It’s genocide. (It’s not lost on me it happens to other racially Black people who look like us.) 

Black Americans make up 50% of the homeless in our country, including our vets and those on Skid Row. Our median wealth is projected to be 0 by 2053. We have to advocate for us. Ain’t nobody coming to save us. People are just onlooking. Ain’t no UN coming despite us checking off every box per their definition of genocide:

Killing members of the group; 

Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; 

Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; 

Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [black maternal mortality]

Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. [that child trafficking CPS that remove a child for any reason they choose and ASFA]

So, you don’t support a particular form of reparations, but you’ve been involved in reparations work for 2 years? What does that even mean?

CARICOM has their own reparations plan going to get what’s owed from that damn Queen and other countries that played a part in the enslavement and labor of their ancestors. The African Union has their own thing going for the Scramble for Africa. Black Americans will not survive without reparations and the country won’t survive without us. The government knows it. It’s spite. People know. So what do you support specifically as redress for Black Americans?

SN: What I mean by ���racially” Black - We know race doesn’t exist, but is a caste here which people who immigrate or are born here via immigrants are funneled into by choice or not. Opposed to “Black” as an ethnicity, which some Black Americans still use like an ethnic group.  

And about that celebrate part you mentioned in your other comment. I’m doing it for the ancestors. Ancestors like Callie Guy House and Isaiah Dickerson been leading the way, like when they started The National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief Bounty and Pension Association in 1894. People like them were waking up other ancestors to be firm in knowing they were owed. A lot of Black Americans today have awakened while others are continuing to wake up. So I celebrate for the ancestors even if it’s small strides leading to bigger ones. 

[femuscleblog]

Hater Comments - Instagram Idiots (December 23,2021)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by MB (@femuscleblog)

The internet does provide a wonderful space to express one's self. The unfortunate part is that people of low intelligence have access to it. Two users vinn201 and ericksijen2739 took to insulting an image of Laura Creavalle posing at the 1994 Ms.Olympia. Vinn201 just sees things that are not there.

"I can almost see her beard line on her face"

Well our friend needs his eyes checked, because Laura does not have a five o'clock shadow. An ophthalmologist is needed. I get that there are people who do not like muscular women, but making something up is an entirely new level of stupidity. Then comes a weak retort.

" My eyes are fine. Maybe you should get your eyes checked ."

Thinking must be really hard because seasoned troll come up with more insulting comments. This just lacks any effort. It would be more of an offense to call him an immature middle school student. Apparently I struck a nerve because he blocked me. This was followed up with a going away message :

"want some d cause I’ll give you some now keep talking back And I’ll give you another one like this."

How sad that this man is talking about his very small organ. Perhaps if he actually did more than troll, he could be a useful member to society. Possibly a door stop or a crash test dummy

The next poor soul is someone who not reached a state of political and cultural consciousness. When you hear comments like this, it makes you realize Malcolm X is needed now more than ever.

"Looking like a whole nigga"

"It works by her taking a shit ton of steroids that ends up making her facial features look more masculine."

"No female can look like this naturally 😂. If you think she didn’t take anything then you shouldn’t even be running a page like this. And her face is a masculine as fuck."

Ericksijen2739 is a sad example of a self-hating black person. While nigga has been used in rap and hip hop music it derives from an ethnic slur used to dehumanize people of African descent. Those who grew up in Jim Crow America understand the painful legacy behind that word. There just might be people too far gone to reach of level political consciousness. Ericksijen2739 is such an embarrassment he is the type that Stokely Carmichael would disparage. Then without evidence, he claims Laura is on steroids. How original, a drug use accusation. I doubt that this Instagram user has knowledge of drug testing. Women can build muscle without drugs. Even if Laura did use them, so what ? People have the right to do whatever they want to their bodies. The fact is there is no evidence that Laura did use them. Even so, that does not take away how great of an athlete she is. Ericksijen2739 then says Laura's face looks masculine. Her face is not manly nor does she have a beard . Youtube and Facebook tend to get an awful wrap for slow witted commenters . Yet, Instagram should not be forgotten. If it were not for these platform I doubt anyone would pay attention to these fools. The views of these Instagram idiots seem to be in a minority compared to the higher amount of positive comments. The post has gotten 1,723 likes. I detect that some men are jealous of a fit woman's physique. Better just stick to your computer trolling. It's the only thing you will be good at.

[kingjaffejoffer]

It's low key hilarious how quiet you are on China racially targeting Africans over Covid-19 and trying to make black people the face of this virus when it originated in China. Yet when when it was being called China virus you made sure to be outraged over that. You claim you're pro black but are always oddly silently when it comes African issues or black people dealing with racism from other "POC". And since u have little regard for us Africans then stop objectifying our women.

Before I respond to your absolute DRIVEL, let me provide some critical context for those reading:

Months ago, I don’t remember how long ago, but it was definitely before COVID. There was a news article showing Asian-Americans in the U.S. having racist things to them done by white people. The responses and comment section were the typical race-to-the-bottom / low-hanging-fruit fare you typically find from people who would be better served not speaking up on social issues at all.

So I jumped into the comments like “Yo, why are y’all rejoicing over the hardships of other POC”??? And the response I got was about how solidarity is a myth... blah blah.

So here we are many months later, and there are reports of landlords in China kicking out African immigrants over Covid.... which led this poor soul into my inbox. 

1. Donald Trump referring to COVID as a “Chinese Virus” is a political tool used to deflect the fact that tens of thousands of Americans are dying due to our leadership being unprepared for this crisis. Any time you call it a “Chinese Virus”, you are aiding him on that mission. How does this benefit Black people? This is not a rhetorical question, answer it.

2. The United States brand of White supremacy is the one of the most destructive and powerful forces in human history, why are y’all so hell bent on sending Black people on a suicide mission to destroy this force alone? When I call for solidarity between POC, its not out of the goodness of my heart. It’s because its going to take everyone working together to win. WE. NEED. TO. WORK. TOGETHER. TO. WIN. PERIOD. 

3. Using context clues from your ill-conceived message, I’m guessing you’re African. But let me speak to Black Americans for a second. 

Black Americans want everyone else to use all the context in the world when it comes to how they view our people. But we are not willing to extend that same courtesy to others.

For example, when it comes to the plight of Black Americans, our incarceration rate, our income, etc. We want everyone to understand there has been a system set in place by the White Power structure for us to lose. Everything from slavery, to Jim Crow, to COINTELPRO, to racist drug laws. And all of that is correct and true.

But the Chinese people in China have lived under a brutal and oppressive system that has taught and indoctrinated them since birth to hold some of the ignorant ass views they have about Africans and Black people. They don’t even have access to a free and open internet to educate themselves to the level that we do. 

If we want people to understand why Black Americans don’t always make the best decisions, I think its fair to have that same consideration for another marginalized and oppressed people dealing with their own crisis with their own government. 

4. I didn’t speak publicly on this issue because I didn’t feel I needed to. What do y’all want me to say? CHINESE GOVERNMENT BAD.

Yeah, no shit. Water is wet. Of course the Chinese government is a piece of shit.

I don’t have the authority of speak on African-Chinese issues the way I have authority to speak on American issues happening in America. 

-----------

In conclusion:

The most unsophisticated way to bond with your own race is to rejoice over the destruction of another race. That’s low hanging fruit that appeals to the most basic parts of our brain. 

Before someone takes this out of context. I am not suggesting that Black people go march in the street on behalf of chinese people. 

All I ever suggested is that we NOT celebrate their hardship because it does not serve our mission in combating White supremacy.

How is this controversial?

I swear to God if I knew what your username was, I would block your ass on Instagram for even making me have to open my laptop to type this.

Loud and wrong. 

[beastars-takes]

Zootopia Takes: Darker’s Not Better

The Shock Collar Draft

So, it sounds like people are largely positive on me doing some Zootopia posts on this blog, and I wanted to talk about this tweet I saw the other day:

I’ll punt on explaining why Beastars isn’t “Dark Zootopia”--that’s a great topic for another post. But I would like to talk about why this popular yet stridently uninformed tweet is so, so wrong. Why the shock collar draft was not better, actually.

And obviously, I’m not writing several pages in reply to a single tweet--this is a take that’s been around since the movie came out, that the “original version was better.” It’s been wrong the whole time.

Let’s talk about why!

Part 1: “Because Disney”

Let’s start with this--the assumption that the film’s creators wanted to make this shock collar story and “Disney” told them to change it.

That’s not how it works.

I try to keep stuff about me out of these posts as much as possible, but just for a bit of background, I’ve worked in the animation industry for about half a decade. I know people at Disney. I have a reasonable idea of how things are there.

There is this misconception about creative industries that they’re constantly this pitched battle of wills between creative auteurs trying to make incredible art and ignorant corporate suits trying to repress them.

That can happen, especially in dysfunctional studios (and boy could I tell some stories) but Walt Disney Animation Studios is not dysfunctional. It’s one of the most autonomous and well-treated parts of the Disney Company.

The director of Zootopia, Byron Howard, isn’t an edgelord. He made Bolt and Tangled. He knows what his audience is, and he’s responsible enough not to spend a year (and millions of dollars in budget) developing a grimdark Don Bluth story that leadership would never approve. It wouldn’t just be a waste of time--he would be endangering the livelihoods of the hundreds of people working under him. Meanwhile, Disney Animation’s corporate leadership trusts their talent. They don’t generally interfere with story development because they don’t need to. Because they employ people like Byron Howard.

Howard and the other creative leads of Zootopia have said a dozen times, in interviews and documentaries, that they gave up on the shock collar idea because it wasn’t working. They’ve explained their reasoning in detail. Maybe they’re leaving out some of the story, but in general? I believe them.

But Beastars Takes, you say, maybe even if Disney didn’t force them to back away from this darker version, it still would have been better?

Part 2: Why Shock Collars Seem Good

I will say this--I completely sympathize with people who see these storyboards and scenes from earlier versions of the movie and think “this seems amazing.” It does! A lot of these drawings and shots are heartbreakingly good, in isolation.

I love these boards. They make me want to cry. I literally have this drawing framed on my wall. Believe me, I get it.

But the only reason we care this much about this alternative draft of Zootopia is that the Zootopia we got made us love this world and these characters. You know what actually made me cry?

Oh, yeah.

So let’s set aside the astonishing hubris of insisting Zootopia’s story team abandoned the “good” version of the story, when the “bad version” is the most critically-acclaimed Disney animated feature in the past SIXTY YEARS.

“But Beastars Takes!” I hear you say. “Critics are idiots and just because something’s popular doesn’t make it good!”

Fair enough. Let’s talk about why the real movie is better.

Part 3: The Message (it is, in fact, like a jungle sometimes)

This type of thing is always hard to discuss, in the main--a lot of people don’t want to feel criticized or “called out” by the entertainment they consume, and they don’t want to be asked to think about their moral responsibilities. But it’s hard to deny that Zootopia is a movie with a strong point of view. Everything else--the characters, the worldbuilding, the plot, grows out from the movie’s central statement about bias.

And the movie we got, with no shock collars, makes that statement far more effectively.

To dive into the full scope of Zootopia’s worldview and politics (warts and all) would be a whole post on its own, so I’ll just summarize the key point of relevance here:

Zootopia's moral message is that you, the viewer, need to confront your own biases. Not yell at someone else. No matter how much of a good or progressive person you consider yourself to be--if you want to stand against prejudice you have to start with yourself.

That’s a tough sell! For that message to land, we need to see ourselves in the protagonist.

Judy’s a good person! She argues with her dad about foxes. She knows predators aren’t all dangerous. She’s not speciesist. Right?

Ah fuck.

Let’s fast-forward to the pivotal scene of this movie. In an unfortunate but inevitable confluence of circumstances, Judy’s own biases and prejudiced assumptions come out, and she shits the bad.

Nick, who’s already bared his soul to her (against his better instincts), is heartbroken. But not as heartbroken as he is a minute later when he tries to confront her about what she’s said, and she makes this face:

Whaaaat? Come on, Nick. I’m a good person. Why are you giving me a hard time?

People like to complain about this scene. That it’s a hackneyed “misunderstanding” trope that could be easily resolved with a discussion. They’re wrong. Nick tries to have a discussion. She blows him off.

This isn’t Judy acting out of character, this is her character. Someone who identifies as Not A Racist, and hasn’t given the issue any more thought. This is not only completely believable characterization (who hasn’t seen someone react this way when you told them they hurt you?) it’s the film’s central thesis!

Yes, Nick somewhat provokes her into reaching for her “fox spray,” and her own trauma factors in there, but she’s already made her fatal mistake before that happens.

(As an aside, people also make the criticism that the movie unrealistically deflects responsibility for racism onto Bellwether and her plot. It doesn’t. All the key expressions of prejudice in the film--Judy’s encounter with Gideon, her parents’ warnings, the elephant in the ice cream shop, Judy’s early encounters with Bogo, Judy's views on race science--exist largely outside of Bellwether’s influence. She is a demagogue who inflames existing tensions, she didn’t invent them. Bogo literally says “the world has always been broken.”)

So, anyway. But we love Judy. She’s an angel. She also kinda sucks! She’s proudly unprejudiced, and when her own prejudice is pointed out to her she argues and doesn’t take it seriously. This is bad, but it’s also a very human reaction. It’s one most of us have probably been guilty of at one point or another.

Look at Zootopia’s society, too--it’s shiny and cosmopolitan, seemingly idyllic. Anyone can be anything, on paper. But scratch too deep beneath the surface and there’s a lot of pain and resentment here, things nobody respectable would say in public but come out behind closed doors, or among family, when nobody’s watching. It’s entirely recognizable--at least to me, someone who lives in a large liberal city in the United States. Like Byron Howard.

Wow, this place is a paradise!

Wait, what’s a “NIMBY”?

Part 4: Why Shock Collars Are Bad

So, with the film’s conceit established, let’s circle back to the shock collar idea. Like I said, it’s heartbreaking. It’s dramatic. It’s affective.

It also teaches us nothing.

If I see a movie where predator animals are subjected to 24/7 electroshock therapy, I don’t think “wow, this makes me want to think about how I could do better by the people around me.” I think “damn that shit’s crazy lmao. that’d be fucked up if that happened.” At a stretch, it reminds me of something like the Jim Crow era, or the Shoah. You know, stuff in the Past. Stuff we’ve all decided couldn’t ever happen again, so why worry about it?

The directors have said this exact thing, just politely. “It didn’t feel contemporary,” they say in pressers. That’s what it means.

If anything, the shock collar draft reifies the mindset that Zootopia is trying to reject--it shows us that discrimination is blatant, and dramatic, and flagrantly cruel, and impossible to miss.

And...that’s not true. If you only look for bias at its most malicious and evil, you’re going to miss the other 95 percent.

The messaging of this “darker version” is--ironically--less mature, less insightful, less intelligent. Less useful. Darker’s not better.

Part 5: Why Shock Collars Are Still Bad

So what if you don’t care about the message? What if you have no interest in self-reflection, or critical analysis (why are you reading this blog then lmao)? What if you just really want to hear a fun story about talking animals?

Well, this is trickier, because the remaining reasons are pretty subjective and emotional.

The creators have said that the shock collar version didn’t work because the viewers hated the cruel world they’d created. They agreed with Nick--the city was beyond saving. They didn’t want to save it.

The creators have said that Judy was hard to sympathize with, not being able to recognize the shock collars for the obvious cruelty they were.

Fuck you, Judy!

But we haven’t seen the draft copies. We haven’t watched the animatics. We have to take their word for it. Anyone who’s sufficiently invested in this story is going to say “well, I disagree with them.” It doesn’t matter to them that they haven’t seen the draft and the filmmakers have. The movie they’ve imagined is great and nobody is going to convince them otherwise.

But the fact remains that the shock collar movie, as written, did not work. And, if behind the scenes material is to be believed, it continued to not work after months and months of story doctoring.

There’s even been a webcomic made out of the dystopian version of Zootopia. It’s clever and creative and well-written and entertaining and...it kind of falls apart. The creator, after more than a little shit-talk directed at Disney, abandoned the story before reaching the conclusion, but even before then the seams were beginning to show. How do you take a society that’s okay with electrocuting cute animals and bring it to a point of cathartic redemption? You can’t, really. The story doesn’t work.

Does that mean people shouldn’t make fanworks out of the cut material? That they shouldn’t be inspired and excited by it? Hell no. This drawing is cute as hell. The ideas are compelling.

But I suppose what I’d ask of you all is--if you’re weighing the hot takes of art students on Twitter against the explanations of veteran filmmakers, consider that the latter group might actually know what they’re talking about.

See you next time!

[theliterarywolf]

How was the sequel to Tales from The Hood, a shitshow?

The original Tales from the Hood, while having some campy horror elements, still managed to present its stories and tone competently while still incorporating themes of struggles of black Americans in urban areas. 

Examples: 

A black politician who’s been trying to fight against police corruption gets beaten to death and injected with drugs post-mortem by said corrupt cops to slander his name. The politician returns from the dead to exact vengeance. Obviously this short tackles police brutality and corruption.

A little boy and his mother who are constantly beaten and abused by what he draws and identifies as a ‘monster’ who, it turns out, is the mother’s new boyfriend. The theme here is Domestic Violence and how often people try to brush it under the rug as just a way of life in the community. 

A former klansman-turned senator buys a building called ‘The Dollhouse’ that is of high historical significance to the local black community, despite their wishes and complaints, to serve as the headquarters for his racist campaign to become governor. The house in of itself was where a confederate-supporter, after the loss of the Civil War, decided to murder all of his slaves rather than see them freed. Their restless souls haunted the place until a ‘voodoo woman’ managed to calm their souls and place them into dolls. You can pretty much guess where this is going and the themes.

The final entry centers around a gang-member who, after getting hunted and shot down by rival gang-members, is taken into police custody and is given one last chance for freedom by a doctor’s new, radical behavioral therapy program. Said therapy takes a note right out of A Clockwork Orange and bombards our main character with alternating images of brutal gang-violence and KKK lynchings. After which, he is berated with apparitions of all the people he’s shot and killed; including a little girl who was a victim during one of his drive-by shootings. Of course, this kind of therapy will only be successful if the subject shows some remorse...

And all of this is wrapped in a framing device of three gang-members trying to find some drugs at a funeral-home, even harassing the funeral-director, which turns out to be a portal into hell.

... *deep breath*

I have to do a ‘Read More’ because this post got long. But I implore you guys to read on to see the abyss of insanity and bad directions that were taken in regards to the sequel of this movie. Please.

The sequel decided to throw ALL NUANCE AND TACT out of the window and give us such wonderful stories as: 

A white girl and a black girl are on a road-trip and decide to go to the... ugh... Museum of Negrosity where the owner chastises them on thinking that the uncomfortable racist memorabilia he owns (collections of minstrel show cartoons, golliwog and pickaninny dolls) are things of the past instead of acknowledging them as parts of America’s racist past. And, for some reason, the white girl is obsessed with buying one of the golliwog dolls because she had one when she was little. Anyway, they sneak back in later with the white girl’s brother who happens to be the black girl’s boyfriend, so they can steal one of the dolls. Through hijinks, the doll comes to life and grows to the size of a human being. The brother/boyfriend gets whipped to death, the black girl gets cut in half by a minstrel-colored guillotine, and the white girl... Fucks the giant golliwog doll, gets pregnant, and a few days later, has her stomach torn open as a bunch of baby versions of the doll go flying out everywhere.

Some gang-members track down a former pimp who’s changed his ways to try and shake him down for some owed money. He doesn’t comply, so they kill him but, golly-gee! How are they going to get the money now~? Oh, I know! Hold a scam medium hostage so he can perform a seance to talk to the pimp to find out about the money. But, oh no~ It looks like the medium’s powers decide to actually work this time~ Ooh~

Two douchebags hookup with two hot chicks and, after the world’s worst game of Cards Against Humanity, they decide to roofie the girls so they can record themselves raping them so they can post it to ‘le dark web’. ... Lo’ and behold, the girls turn out to be vampires who were playing 4D chess to rope the two douchebags in so they can use them for their own recording-something-brutal-to-post-online scheme. 

And... The LAST one. Oh my God, the LAST ONE. *deep breath* Okay.

So we follow a black republican councilman who is married to a white woman and they’re expecting a baby after a long line of miscarriages. But the wife is having weird bouts of bad dreams and insomnia. What are the bad dreams about? 

... I need you guys to understand. That I am not shitposting when I type the following words. *deep breath* Okay. 

The wife is being haunted by the ghost of Emmett Till telling her that she doesn’t deserve to have her baby. You know? Emmett Till? The victim of one of the most brutal, horrific murders in America due to one of the most disgusting, vile acts of racism? THAT EMMETT TILL?!

So..! The black councilman is working for a white politician who... I’m just going to put a direct quote from the movie so you can get where they were coming from.

“That man wants to close down ten more voting locations, all of them in black districts!”

Anyway, after a house-call from a doctor who brushes off the dreams as hormones, the councilman hosts a party for the politician who’s running slogan is ‘Let’s take Mississippi back!’ Gee-golly-willickers! Can’t imagine where they were coming from with that one!!

So the party goes on, the politician even congratulating our councilman on his ‘white wife’, but said wife rushes downstairs after having another dream; ranting about ‘that boy from the field has decided to LIVE! And if he lives, our baby’s going to die!’ And she runs outside with a machete to try and kill the ghost of Emmett Till (who, again, very real person and victim of racist brutality). 

So the councilman’s mother and the local voodoo expert drive up and the voodoo expert tells the councilman that Emmett Till is trying to talk to him about the nature of sacrifice. The next day, the wife is talking about how her stomach is getting smaller, but the councilman doesn’t want to hear any of it and calls the doctor again. And, guys..?! If shit hadn’t jumped the rails before?! The train just starts doing cartwheels from here. 

The doctor is suspiciously short-tempered with the politician this time around and he does examine the wife to confirm that her stomach is indeed shrinking. However, when he’s told that the councilman is the father, he storms out and snaps “I don’t work for coloreds!” 

Then the wife runs out of bed and tells the doctor that the councilman isn’t her husband and that he kidnapped and raped her. So both the wife and the doctor drive off and the councilman realizes that the world has somehow gone back to the era of Jim Crow. 

... Oooh my gosh, typing this is making me want to commit toaster-bath but it gets so much worse..!

So, after the voodoo expert comes to chastise the councilman about not ‘respecting the sacrifices that have been gifted to you’, he is able to see the ghost of Emmett Till (who was a real person, why is this happening..?!) who is there to tell him that he’s decided that he wants to live. Which means that the world will never see the brutal images of his body at his funeral and that will cause a Butterfly Effect in history that will make it so that the Civil Rights Movement never happened. 

You may be questioning the logistics of this, but don’t worry! The ghosts of the girls killed in the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing in Birmingham come to explain and further berate the councilman about ‘respecting the sacrifices that have been gifted to him’ and working for a racist politician. 

But wait! There’s more! *whines* I keep crying out to God but he won’t answer...

They’re soon joined by the ghosts of the three Freedom Riders who were killed during the Mississippi Burning Murders, the ghost of Civil Rights Activist Medgar Evers, and DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. 

Not to mention several other unnamed figures who walk up while everyone else starts chanting about ‘respecting the sacrifices that have been gifted to you’, who look like Rosa Parks and Frederick Douglass, just to name a few. 

... I need a drink. I need a cold, stiff drink. ... Almost done. 

So, in comes the Klan. You know, the white-robed bastards; I hear they have an outreach center a few cities away from me. Sure, fine, whatever. The wife is leading them along with the white politician who hits the councilman’s mother in the face with a baton and Emmett Till stops time just as reinforcements show up to tell the councilman that, in order for everything to go back to normal, he has to join the ranks of those who sacrificed. 

“If what you want is worth us dying for, how come its not worth you dying for?!”

And, at first, the councilman disagrees; even being dragged away by Klansmen. However! It’s his wife angrily spitting in his face that makes him realize that this world isn’t the world he wants to live in. So he runs over to Emmett Till to tell him that he will join him... And then he’s beaten to death, becoming a sacrifice to get the world back to normal. And, once it is, his spirit joins Emmett Till’s and walks off into the great beyond. 

So! Not only did this schlocky, B-movie horror movie sequel decide to use a REAL LIFE VICTIM of racism-driven brutality as a story-device, but it also wants to put forth the message that the people who lost their lives during the Civil Rights Movement? Yeah, they HAD to die! Otherwise the Civil Rights Movement would never have happened~!

You see why I hate the sequel to Tales from the Hood so much? Not even mentioning the terrible framing segments of a racial-profiling robot being told these stories so it knows what ‘criminals’ to go after, but this movie is just a temple of ‘WHY?! WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?!?!?!’

[elemental-daddy-neos]

YGO! Questionnaire

Tagged by @cipher-wise

Pleasantly surprised to be in one of these, so let’s go

Favorite series: *Gestures to icon* Is it any surprise I’ll be picking GX? I love GX with all my heart and soul. The story’s pacing is very good and never feels like it’s dragging its feet to get to where it’s going, most duels are over in less than a full episode with the longest one being three, there are so many good characters to get invested in, and this boy right here is your protagonist.

Look at him blow kisses to the audience after beating Crowler, how could anyone not love Jaden Yuki? I care him so much. Even the filler episodes in GX are pretty fun to watch most of the time, and it’s the good kind of filler that may not advance the plot much or at all, but it’ll give you plenty of good memories to take with you. Who could possibly forget the eggwich thief? Not to mention the soundtrack fucking slaps.

Favorite protagonist: I mean...

Yeah it’s Jaden. GX hooked me immediately when I started watching it because of how much I loved this boy. He’s that perfect mix of cocky and sweet when it comes to dueling because he’s confident in his own abilities, but he never stops having fun and being amazed at what his opponent can do, he cares about all of his friends and does his best to help them with their problems, he’s kind to strangers, and he has exactly half a brain cell. 

I feel the gif speaks for itself, but Jaden’s dialogue when he turns around here is “I’m such a sucker for things like this! I’ll help you, ma’am!” Dorothy says “No, you’ll be late... Don’t you have a test today?” And Jaden replies with “Who cares if I’m late? I couldn’t leave a lady in trouble!” Jaden Yuki is my absolute favorite protagonist.

Favorite rival: Oh man is that a tough one. Am I allowed to pick two? It’s a hard call to make between this dumb edgy bitch-

And this dumb gay bitch

Honestly they’re tied for favorite rival in my book. I absolutely loved Chazz when I watched GX, and I thought his arc about breaking through his inferiority/superiority complex and learning to accept loss as a part of life without letting it define him was wonderfully written, and seeing him grow as a person throughout the show just made me feel happy for him. Shark... I really thought I wasn’t going to end up liking Shark at first, but god he just gets so much better as Zexal goes on, starting out as this mean spirited middle school bully in episode one, and slowly ending up as Yuma’s boyfriend closest friend. It’s incredible to look back at how Shark acts when he’s first introduced and compare it to... season 3, I think it was, where just hearing the words “Yuma’s in danger” is enough to send him running to his rival’s side. Chazz and Shark. They are my favorites.

Favorite BFF: Him

Crow Hogan is an absolute treasure and he was my favorite part about watching 5Ds. This little bird man first gets introduced by stealing cards for his kids and clowning on Sector Security, and he’s a source of so much good throughout the show. Excellent best friend (technically brother but I’m counting him), wonderful father, 10/10 person all around. Plus the fact that the only thing stopping him from berating his bitchass brother even more was Yusei having to literally pick him up and pull him away is definitely extra points in my book. What a powerful little bird. His only weakness is people that are taller than him, which is unfortunately most people.

Favorite GFF:

Yuzu. Have I actually watched Arc V yet? No, but I’m still picking Yuzu for my number one here. Tea and Tori are just awful characters, I’m neutral towards Alexis, and Akiza... Did have potential to be something interesting on her own, despite how uncomfortable she made me in seasons 1-2 of 5Ds, but her relevance is alllll downhill from there. I’ve seen one clip of Yuzu yelling at a man eating pie and calling him a 100th rate duelist, and that was all I needed to know she would be my favorite. (Clip here) 

Favorite villain: Oh boy

The fuckin carrot is my favorite villain, and I say this as someone who fully believes he didn’t deserve to be in the last episode. Vector did some fucked up shit in his day, and he only continued to do fucked up shit in Yuma’s day, but I have to say he was pretty effective when it came down to his goals. He got things done and went right for what he wanted by taking direct action to seize Don Thousand’s power, and he manipulated Yuma perfectly by preying on his kind nature and love for Astral to use him to further his goals. 

...Plus I mean just look at his subbed dialogue God he’s such a slut. Evil slutty alien.

Tl;dr Vector was a horrible horrible person, but he was a good villain, and he was so entertaining whenever he was on screen that it was impossible not to like him. Still kinda wish he got what he deserved though, and what he deserved definitely wasn’t another chance.

Speaking of Don Thousand though, can we talk about how unfairly pretty he is? If I had to pick a runner up villain in terms of looks alone, it would definitely be him.

God it was not fair how pretty the big bad of Zexal was. He’s fucking gorgeous, and in my opinion, the best looking villain at the very least.

Favorite card: *Sweats in Duel Links* Favorite? There’s so many cards out there to pick from, but since I’ve already broken the rules with my two favorite rivals, I’ll be picking two of each card type: Spells, traps, and monsters. One for the aesthetic, and one for how often I make use of it.

First up, the Aesthetics group

What can I say, Vampiric Koala is such a cutie, Dwimmered Path has some really pretty card art, and Rainbow Life is an eternal flex on any heteros I may encounter while playing Duel Links. Nothing better than a gay trap card.

Now for usability

Dragon Knight of Creation is suuuper helpful in any dragon themed deck and has a permanent slot in my decks for Mokuba and Kaiba, PoG is always a fun way to boost up weak monsters to ridiculous heights, and Dark Bribe just lets you block your opponent like “Okay I know you wanna hurt me but I will let you draw another card if you do not do that thing”, and they can’t refuse you.

Favorite episode: I’ll be copying cipher’s format here and picking one for each series, but this will still only total out to five for me since I’ve yet to watch past Zexal ^^; Soon I’ll get to Arc V! One day...

Season 0: Episode 16:  Turnabout by a Hair's Breadth - The White-Robed Crisis I’m a sucker for my son Joey, and this was a good Joey episode about him and his sister, plus it was nice seeing that doctor get what he deserved :) Duel Monsters: Season 5, episode 12-14:  The Deciding Match for Duel King - Yugi vs. Leon/Golden Castle of Stromberg/KC Grand Prix Ends  Probably a weird batch of episodes to pick, I know, but a lot of DM was kinda forgettable to me, and these are some of the few episodes I do recall. I just... really felt for Leon’s situation, and I wanted good things for that boy. I care him. GX: Season 3, episode 34: Dark Fusion! Inferno Wing!! Jim. Jim Jim Jimmmmm. This was the episode that finally made me understand why saviorshipping was a thing because it hits you with all these memories Jim has of Jaden and shows how they bonded before all this Dark World shit happened, and the whole thing was very emotional. 5Ds: Season 4, episode 2-3:  Recollections, Entrusted with a Friend's Dying Wish God Crow, my precious bird son. I really liked the backstory they gave him, despite how much it hurt. It was probably the best character development he got in the whole of 5Ds, and let you see a side to him you probably wouldn’t expect. I loved watching him get his justice. Zexal II: Season 2, episode 5-6:  Alito the Silent Fighter - Reunion of the Passionate Duelists!/ Be Revived! The Duelist Soul That Transcends Life!! I picked these episodes for Nistro and Nistro alone. He was one of my absolute favorites in Zexal, and seeing how well he and Dextra were doing was good for the soul. Just look at this good lion man right here.

Look at him!!!

Favorite decks to use: Elemental Heroes, Aromages, Red Eyes, Six Samurai, and Crystal Beasts.

Fusion, Ritual, Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum, or Link: I’m a simple girl, I love fusion/tributes for how easy they are, but synchro can be pretty fun, too

Years in fandom: ??? Even I don’t know the answer to this one, friends. I used to be in the fandom when I was in middle school, wrote/read a few fanfics here and there, but then I fell out of it for... Well I’m 22 now and only got back into things 6 months ago? I started rewatching the abridged series of Duel Monsters in March, and from there I just wanted to consume actual Yugioh content and never went back.

Who am I tagging: @finding-fallen-petals @dizziedaikonn​ @chazzaroo​ Go wild y’all