#also I’m glad people think it’s in character

[sufferu]

Honestly with the way your portraying Rem - which I really appreciate because she is really fucked up & it makes her relationship with Subaru fascinating, especially with outsider POV’s looking in -I’m quite curious how the cast will react to the From Zero speech and the toxic heroism mentality that installs in Subaru since the Dogshow cast actually feel human in how they react to things instead of reacting to something like how a character would. I’d honestly also be curious how many people would actually agree with Subaru’s wish to run away which is to them basically trying to protect himself from further death & trauma since they’d not know how the Sloth IF turns out.

Also, something totally unrelated but. Since you were talking about Romantic relationships in BTZ it made me wonder… do you have any plans for Subaru in No Refunds to actually enter a romantic relationship at some point or do you just genuinely think he’s too damaged for it? If the question is spoiler territory, sorry for pushing there, I just found it interesting how other peoples perceptions of Subaru changing so radically might impact his ability to form a connection on that level since they likely consider Subaru mentally disabled with his AWFUL survival instincts, not to mention a horribly traumatized mess even without the mental disability.

Glad you like it :D

Yeah the best way I can describe their reaction to the From Zero speech is…complicated. Cause the thing is — on one hand, no, they don’t think that Subaru running away to marry Rem is a good idea, at all, because they do not have a good opinion of her right now, and also they were totally expecting her to take this opportunity and run with it, so the fact that she actually refused his offer is a shockingly pleasant surprise. Plus, she legitimately does help Subaru pick himself up when nobody else could snap him out of his spiral, she DOES manage to do that. …But on the other hand…yeah, they’re probably not huge fans of the hero complex she helped develop here :/

As for romance in No Refunds — yeah, that’s a spoiler ;) A lot of that story is about characters reassessing who Subaru is and what their relationships with him should be, so…that’s fun! But I guess I can just say — I’m not the type of writer who really cares about romance all that much? Most of the time I actually find platonic relationships much more engaging. (But I will say: in the case that there isn’t a romantic relationship between two characters — it’s not necessarily because he’s too “damaged,” but instead because that may simply…not be what suits their new dynamic best ;))

[dulcewrites]

Daemon, that little bitch. Throwing in his own name instead of supporting his wife is SO in character for him.

Essentially splitting the vote between their household when Rhaenyra is already at a disadvantage (some at her own peril/bc of her own choices but some of it just bc the realm doesn’t like women)… yeah he’s going to hell fr

He’s def the type to be like “But you’ll be queen… consort :)”. He would spin in to Rhaenyra as some sort of favor to her. That it would be better if they ruled together versus Aegon. Unfortunately knowing how he groomed her, Rhaenyra would probably think he meant that regardless of what her gut is telling her ☹️

Tangent but I imagine her becoming disappointed/disillusioned with her marriage after the council happens. Though the idea was silly to say the least, and that’s putting it nicely, there was a reason why she went to Daemon (outside the grooming). She thought she would be protected. That her claim would be safer with another targaryen, especially one as volatile as Daemon. I think a humbled, frankly slightly depressed Rhaenyra would be interesting to see. It also might finally get her to see where Alicent was coming from all those years. How much her trauma and paranoia drove her to choices

While Alicent, though it does not wipe out the horrible trauma she went through, can try to reconcile that it was worth it bc Aegon is king and her family is safe. Rhaenyra on the hand has to work through that mess… basically alone :/

[canine-economy]

On Swansea’s (often understated) role in Mouthwashing

I say this as a big swansea fan but I don’t rlly understand why ppl are acting like he’s not also complicit in what happened to Anya? AUs where “Anya tells Swansea” and he jumps to violently defend her don’t make sense to me because canonically she does tell him, as he admits to Jimmy. But swansea represents another way of interacting with the capitalist heteropatriarchy that ALSO harms victims: holistic jadedness and resignation.

Swansea is across the board unkind to the Tulpar crew. We can’t forget that he calls anya a “so-called nurse”

and says this to Jimmy, which (if unintentionally) reiterates Jimmy’s own warped perception of Anya’s usefulness and competence. This allows Jimmy to feel justified in his imagination of the nurse’s inferiority. Swansea’s clear lack of respect for Jimmy does less to hurt Jimmy than his lack of respect for Anya harms Anya, because at the end of the day, Swansea’s attitude is contextualized by the violent culture it exists in and he does nothing to reconcile with that when Jimmy becomes the captain. His resignation can thus be weaponized even by Jimmy, a man who Swansea disrespects but whose power he doesn’t try to meaningfully jeopardize, because his across-the-board disdain punches people already marginalized by the environment twice as hard as it does those with power.

Swansea doesn’t position himself as an ally, he positions himself as willfully uninvolved in everything, an observer to the shitshow ride to hell. Just because he dislikes Jimmy doesn’t mean he aligns with Anya. He makes it clear that he’s not on her side, either. After a life of doing what he felt was expected of him, Swansea on the Tulpar looks out for Swansea and Swansea’s comfort. In trying to situate himself outside of the politics of it all as an older white man, he simply allows them to play out. The toxic culture keeps existing, playing out in the microcosm that is this freighter, and Swansea in all his experience recognizes that shit has hit the fan and elects to coast through it, even explicitly numbing himself to it by breaking his sobriety. It is, of course, hard to force yourself to be sober—to see clearly. But had Swansea forced himself to get involved sooner, he might have set a precedent for Daisuke to recognize Jimmy’s abuse, which could have saved Daisuke’s life as well as created a safe space for Anya. But Swansea’s inaction forces both victims to confront an abuser on their own, unable to reap benefits from his privilege and experience.

Jimmy is clearly intimidated by swansea in a way he is not by Anya, Daisuke, or a post-crash Curly (Swansea, for example, physically manifests as an aggressor in Jimmy’s “responsibility sequences”, and Jimmy ties Swansea up to avoid what he sees as the real possibility of pushback that he doesn’t conceive of Anya being able to do). Swansea has a power he does not act on or with until it is far, far too late. In fact, he acknowledges in his final monologue that he was dissatisfied with the discomfort with opening his eyes and living an exemplary “good man”s life. The best days of his life are ones in which he’s belligerently drunk—days in which he didn’t have to hold himself accountable. He regrets the life he spent performing for higher-ups and we watch him reject it by scorning Captain Jimmy, but he also doesn’t want to be held responsible for helping other people when it’s their turn to endure the expectations and violence from similar (if not the same) higher powers. Tragically, he possesses the hindsight to recognize that how he acted on the Tulpar consequently wasn’t what Daisuke needed out of a role model, leading to Daisuke becoming a victim. His hands-off approach to emotional engagement with his young male intern (another symptom of patriarchal gender norms) may have been to avoid Daisuke turning out miserable and jaded like himself, but it doesn’t actually indicate to an already-confused Daisuke what the dangers of that attitude are. Swansea never admits his own shortcomings in a tangible way which, had they come from a man with experience and prestige like himself, may have shifted that culture that failed Anya. She comes to him with the story not because he has situated himself as any earnest friend, but likely out of desperation on a ship Jimmy now controls.

When we allow “the machine” (Swansea’s own words) to beat us down to the point that we don’t find it productive to challenge unjust power dynamics, we become complicit. I think too many people get hung up on his disdain for Jimmy and Jimmy’s fear of Swansea as a marker of allyship with Anya, but the truth is that Swansea. Is a bad ally. He’s hardly one at all. His long stint in the demanding capitalist environment molded a perfectly complicit result out of him, as it aspires to do, even if Swansea bitterly recognizes that. Jimmy’s overt violence from a position of power is a different and much more brutal approach to abuse enabled by people who have been left too tired and bitter to care that he does it. A man who could’ve intimidated and even threatened Jimmy is too resigned to try until there is literally nobody but himself left to fight for, which is an attitude carefully cultivated among the lower rungs of hierarchies to keep the top safe. Swansea in particular seems very unhappy with the capitalistic, patriarchal expectations laid out for him as a father, husband, and laborer. This becomes particularly resonant when you realize the symbolism of his role as mechanic: a job that can be deeply unpersonal, tasked with keeping the ship (the machine, if you will) itself going while other roles are more focused on managing the humans inside of it (e.g. nurse, captain). His decision to just stop trying and spare himself the grief instead of questioning why those expectations exist and how they would hurt the others onboard only delays him being directly targeted by Jimmy and doesn’t interrupt the latter’s violence.

Not a single man in mouthwashing is innocent in Anya’s victimhood. This is a statement tentatively uninclusive of Daisuke, because I think the game very deliberately positions him outside of manhood through his youth and thus struggling with the concept of “fitting in” to the patriarchy. Curly, Jimmy, and Swansea all represent different failures that ultimately perpetuate Anya’s suffering and force her to defend herself and finally take her life into her own hands. A holistic analysis of rape culture in MW necessarily engages with all three of them. Only not being a friend and ally to rapists and other male abusers isn’t enough, and Swansea proves it.

[un-pearable]

so sonic prime part 2 is looking great

come on wildbrain. TWO multiverses??? (cross-fandom context: sonic prime and ninjago are produced by the same studio. ninjago just revealed it’s latest season is ALSO about multiverse stuff. shenanigans abound.)

[kakavashazz]

idk man i just feel like if i knew that the guy i’m working with was actually a slave under the threat of death i just wouldn’t berate and degrade him all the time

[the-valiant-valkyrie]

honestly schell games were so fucking real for showing a genuine full color image of roxana before the game even dropped. they made sure it was full clear she was a black woman before anyone else could have interpreted her as white. in the evil dimension they didn’t elaborate in time. in the evil dimension she’s scary.

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Teller of Small Fortunes

lighthearted fantasy adventure

follows an immigrant fortune teller who travels between villages telling small fortunes for people

when she runs into a (mostly reformed) thief and an an ex-mercenary searching for his lost daughter, she ends up traveling with them in the hopes she can help, along with a baker they meet along the way,

they encounter various magical creatures and adventurous situations, and eventually she has to face her past

no romance

[no1ryomafan]

i was thinking about besides devo getting a anime the most controversial getter anime they could make is a remake of Armageddon cause despite the fact it could absolutely fix the issues the show has it be one of those things that wouldn’t be necessary and people would be sick of more arma content.

But then I thought about “okay but then they could make Kei actually trans if they had the fucking balls” and I know this would NEVER happen but that would make people seethe more then arms being remade and I found that so funny. (And yes this is very much related to my last post)

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

I saw a comment on the post-trial shortonegaming video that went something like this: "everyone loves Gonta, but no one respects him," and honestly, I think that's a great way to sum it up. They all love him and care about him, but they don't really take him seriously.

And it's noticeable in smaller things, like when almost everyone brushes off his comments about tiny bugs (and in bonus interactions he talks about it A LOT). But in the 4th trial this is even more obvious. They don't see him as a person who could kill for everyone's sake. They only see him as a victim.

Gonta is a very observant person with strong moral principles and a desire to be helpful. But mostly he's seen as a kind but very naive child. And this is a different, but really heartbreaking kind of pain💔

(Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember people saying much when he calls himself stupid. He does this a lot, but people often don't go out of their way to convince him that it's not true. They scold Kokichi when he says this about Gonta, but they don't say much when Gonta says so himself. Of course, I could be wrong, maybe I need to pay more attention to it next time)

Anyway, I really enjoy reading your thoughts about Gonta! I liked him before, but you made me appreciate him on a whole different level❤

I haven’t seen shortonegaming’s post trial video yet, but yeah. That’s a really accurate way to put it. Gonta has always seemed so isolated from the others, never having one close friend/ally for longer than one chapter. He was always appreciated and loved, but not respected as a person so never fully integrated into the group. Its part of why I think going from having a small group of people working with him in the student council to being completely by himself in chapter 4 (with his ideas always dismissed in this chapter, even if it was to stop him from sacrificing himself) added to everything he was feeling at the time.

And it SUCKS. Because as you said, nobody says anything when he self deprecates, only when Kokichi really pushes it in chapter 4. Even when Miu is rude to him in previous chapters a couple of times, nothing. Because they take his self loathing at face value despite the fact that he IS smart. He’s very thoughtful, observant, and brave. One thing that stuck out to me in trial 4 was Himiko defending Gonta from Kokichi’s accusations, she said something along the lines of “Gonta couldn’t have done all of that! He’s not smart-“ before getting interrupted by Kokichi with something else. Not only do a lot of them casually brush him off, but they also agree with his own judgements of himself without questioning it.

The only person who ever tried to push back against Gonta being hard on himself, if I remember correctly, was Kaito. Sometimes, when Gonta would apologize for something a bit excessively, Kaito would say “a man shouldn’t apologize so easily!” (Which isn’t exactly a good way to correct that but. Thank you Kaito for trying). The only other time I remember was that moment between them in the virtual world right before Gonta goes to kill Miu, where Kaito directly counters him calling himself stupid. But I genuinely can’t remember any other character saying anything like this. (If anyone else remembers, please let me know!!)

But yeah. It’s just so so tragic. And it’s why I think post game Gonta would be such a lonely person.

And thank you for the kind words q^q it makes me more happy than you could know to hear that me posting about Gonta has got people to appreciate him more. He’s such a special character to me and it’s so rare to find fanworks going into these parts about him

[throwawayasoiafaccount]

magic in asoiaf is genetic. and that is intresting. and the fact that grrm doesn’t shy away from the implications of this makes me love asoiaf even more.

because it’s very understandable that these people who could ride dragons would see themselves as more gods than men. it’s understandable that the practice of sibling-sibling incest would become common in order to keep this ability in the family/to not lose said ability. it’s also understandable that these people would see their race as superior because they are able to do these things that others could not.

it also makes complete sense that this human civilization collapsed in a horrific magical event due to their own hubris because they saw themselves as gods when they were always only men.

and that is peak world building.

some more peak world building is that the noble houses of westeros also clearly gained power and held onto their power through the use of their magical abilities inherited from their ancestors.

a godlike existence like Garth the Green being the ancestor of all the oldest and most noble of the reach houses makes perfect sense for this world!and it also makes sense that the lords without this ancestry are discriminated against in this region that still holds onto the values their society cultivated in the past in order to maintain their magical superiority, even though most of these noble and old houses no longer exhibit these abilities.

and it also makes sense that these people no longer have access to these abilities as they no longer practice the religion that was centered around these powers; plus their blood is simply diluted at this point as these houses have married into a different ethnic group so often that the magical gene just doesn’t surface anymore.

but the fact that it still matters if you can trace your ancestry back to Garth the Green? peak! peak! peak!

george does such an excellent job showcasing the stagnation of westerosi society here because why should it matter if you’re connected to this magic guy if magic is no longer commonplace? however, it also makes total sense that the ruling class of the reach still harps on and on about this as it’s how they maintain the status quo and differentiate themselves from those they consider lesser now that they no longer have access to magic themselves.

and this is also why it’s very important that the Starks still retain the blood of the first men. because the first men interbred with the children of the forest and other elder races, which is what gave these humans these powers. it’s also worth noting that before the direwolves connected with the Stark children, none of our current Starks were able to awaken their abilities by themselves, which shows that even now they are very far removed from their ancestor who’s genetic makeup gave this bloodline these abilities. and it makes sense that the Starks experienced this slow magical decline because magic itself was declining in the world after the doom of valyria.

another reason for this decline is because Andal culture started heavily influencing the North and slowly changed the way magic was perceived. so now in the present, a warg/skinchanger/greenseer has become something to fear being because that’d make you different and therefore puts your life at risk, which means that there’s now practically no safe environment to cultivate these abilities and no secure way to pass down any knowledge you do have about said abilities.

i can’t help but be reminded about how Jon Snow has rejected his nature and how that has led to the stagnation of his abilities, and then i think about Arya and Bran and how their new environments have led to an astonishing growth in their abilities, which shows that it’s not just genetics that matter, environment is also just as, if not more, important.

i bring all of this up because magic being genetic in asoiaf is not as problematic as people try to make it out as. in real life, sometimes people just have genetic gifts. some people can become olympians, and some people are disabled. some people are born 10 times smarter than the average human, and some people believe that covering their faces in lemon juice would turn them invisible. that is reality. and in this universe, some people have access to magic and some don’t, and it’s all based on genetics. it’s unfair! and that makes it realistic.

not everyone gets to ride dragons and not everyone gets to travel back in time, and that grounds asoiaf, which is what grrm was going for.

and how these societies have organized themselves in response to these genetic abilities and the dangers they pose makes absolute sense. on one hand we have the valyrian freehold, which was a magic hotspot and the people who lived there used magic to propel their society to new heights, and on the other hand we have the seven kingdoms that demonize anyone too different, and all magic practitioners are different from normal humans.

and the fact that george decided to go this route with asoiaf is so juicy to me cause:

we have characters like Varamyr and Euron who use their abilities to commit great evils and we know that their powers have influenced the way they see and interact with others. on the other hand we have characters like Dany who use their abilities to fight against evil violent institutions. and through characters like her we learn how vulnerable fledgling magic practitioners/characters with these abilities are to these older and more dangerous institutions and individuals who are perfectly aware about the knowledge gap between them and these younger characters and know exactly how to exploit them.

so, while it’s understandable that the fandom is uncomfy with the practices and values that grrm has written about, this isn’t bad world building by any means. it’s logical and well thought out. and i truly enjoy that grrm doesn’t shy away from writing about the more worrying aspects and implications of magic being a matter of genetics. i also like how the seven kingdoms and the valyrian freehold are kinda extremes on the matter of magic and how this is/was detrimental to both of these societies and at the individual level. a horrific magical firey doom is not any better nor any worse than a slow drawn out icey decline.

imo, what is important to remember is that in the world of asoiaf, people with magic are the ones who are discriminated against (bc most POV characters are in Westeros and magic is a no no there). so they are the ones who are in danger if they out themselves as magic users. now, it is true that some societies are more tolerant (Qarth is a great example of this and Valyria before the doom was likely the most tolerant to have ever existed in this world), but as of now most societies simply aren’t. remember jojens warning? he didn’t pull that out of his ass. bran would’ve been in a lot of danger if he came out and told the wrong people about his dreams/abilities. also, jon’s assassination may have been partly motivated by the mutineers fear of wargs. this is the life-threatening danger magic practitioners are in for simply existing in an intolerant society.

tbh the reason i typed all this up is because it’s very annoying when people try to ignore the reality, which is that the dragonbond depends on genetics. now, i’m sure there are other ways to ride a dragon, as dragons are magical animals so of course there may be a one in a million chance of a dragon allowing some rando to ride it, but this doesn’t change the fact that there is such a thing as a genetic ability that gives these certain humans the ability to form a connection with a dragon.

(another example that i can’t help but remember is that melisandre was able to get ghosts approval by using some of her tricks. of course there could be other reasons for ghost to have done this, but the most likely reason is that ghost simply fell for melisandre’s trick and this influenced how jon saw mel. but this doesn’t change the fact that melisandre will never have the kind of bond jon and ghost have because melisandre is not a warg. this is also another example of how vulnerable fledgling magic practitioners are to older ones.)

so, sorry not sorry that george decided to create a realistic representation of what a society would look like if only certain bloodlines were able to ride dragons <\3.

[postmodern-blues]

gonna watch and hopefully enjoy it anyway bc of the autism but i agree with your takes about the saturday night movie. the no research and actively encouraging the actors not to interact with their portrayals thing is so weird 🙁

So glad you agree and i’m not just screaming into the void. I will also be watching it because my outrage and curiosity are inextricable. Hopefully there will be some things to enjoy about it but I can already tell they will be overshadowed by bad (or at least ill informed) performances.

[lyriumsings]

i think it’s funny people are getting mad people died in acolyte like it wasn’t about them? lol it’s about osha and mae and their masters lol we don’t need 50 side characters pointlessly getting random ass narratives (like in mandalorian lol) they didn’t die for “shock value” they weren’t central to the story. it’s not that deep. it’s literally not about them they’re side characters. like *gestures at andor* plenty of people died in that and it was also sad but jfc they aren’t the focus

[cuteniarose]

Sometimes I wish I had more people interested in my creations, but then I get hit by thoughts like “Imagine the outrage you’d be faced with if your Avatar Suiren AU was more popular. This is the fandom that still cannot ‘forgive’ Korra for SOMETHING THAT WAS DONE TO HER, calling her the worst Avatar for losing the connection to her past lives (which came about because she HAD RAAVA LITERALLY RIPPED OUR OF HER) and acting like that is somehow a worse offence than, say, inaction leading to genocide. The hate you’d get for intentionally making Suiren the last Avatar would be IMMEASURABLE” and go “… actually, I’m glad that for the most part it’s just @katkastrofa and I–”

(Though then again… would it even be an AU by yours truly if it didn’t contain at least one cancellable offence? 😁)

[saltinesinsoup]

reading this one YA book. it’s making me laugh bc the main character is a mary sue for sure (not like. the worst thing to happen but it’s very obvious things are gonna come up Io) and also it’s got some of that patented corny YA dialogue along with those crazy coincidences that everyone is in the same city! and our mcs have no issues navigating which just ties back to the mary sue/plot armor point. but i am enjoying it still

[cachu302]

Kamen Rider Legend is the antithesis to Kamen Rider Decade

Say what you will about Kamen Rider Decade, be it the mess of writing that made the show or every subsequent appearance that Tsukasa Kadoya has made since the show ran its course, but one thing that has remained constant is the character of Tsukasa himself. No matter which series or movies that he appears in, Tsukasa's character has remained consistent, which, in my opinion, makes him much more likeable and understandable. Even if every other Rider might disagree.

His surprise appearance in The Future Daybreak has him interacting with the gold-plated knock-off, Legend, which just made me want to see more of Tsukasa and less of Kaguya. Looking at them side-by-side makes the differences all the more apparent, and baffles me as to why tokutwitter thinks that Legend "saved Gotchard" when everything about Legend contrasts Tsukasa's character.

One thing that we are constantly told by the show is that Decade as an entity is a destroyer, and that he is a threat to the Rider multiverse. Tsukasa has no idea what any of that means, and frankly, none of the other AR Riders do, despite believing in Narutaki's claims that Decade is dangerous. So they fight, and Tsukasa is dragged into whatever plot the AR World of the two-week set piece happens to be. And there's the catch: Decade is inserted into the story of the AR Rider World to destroy whatever plot device is obstructing the progression of the plot that would likely be derailed otherwise without his intervention. Yeah, he's still a smarmy asshole the entire time, but that's part of the appeal of his character. As LittleKuriboh stated, Decade has basically "weaponized being a Gary Stu." Without that intervention, the conflict of each mini-arc would still be going on. Metaphorically, Decade is the intervening force that eliminates writer's block.

In universe, however, the reason that Decade/Tsukasa is considered a threat is due to his past/forgotten ambitions as the former leader of Dai Shocker. Prior to the series, Tsukasa had planned to conquest and subjugate all of the other AR Worlds using the Aurora Curtains that his sister, Sayo, could control. Then he was stranded in Natsumi's world with amnesia, and no idea why his pictures all turned out bogus. At this point, all he wants to do is exist, yet every world he comes across denies his existence due to his moniker as the destroyer of worlds. When he recovers his memories in All Riders VS Dai Shocker, Tsukasa is abandoned by everyone: his allies, his friends, his sister, and is basically at his lowest. And in comes AR Joji Yuki, who's there to take revenge against Tsukasa for the former betraying Dai Shocker. Tsukasa's response?

All the lessons and meetings that Tsukasa’s had since beginning his journey are at odds with his former ambitions of conquest. What else can he do at this point? Seeing him in this pathetic state convinces AR Yuki that taking his life is meaningless, as he can see that Tsukasa has been going through a lot of development of his own.

“You’ve wronged your world, so make it right. Don’t just accept your title as destroyer, make it mean something!” AR Yuki rips off his arm in preparation for battle, sparking something in Tsukasa, who then sets off to eliminate Dai Shocker, save his friends and sister, and maybe figure out who he’s supposed to be.

By this point, Tsukasa’s been traveling through enough worlds to understand how each AR Rider is defined. AR Kabuto is defined by his bond with his family, AR Faiz bridges the gap between human and Orphenoch, AR Blade proves that rank doesn’t matter much in the long run, etc. So now he’s searching for what defines Kamen Rider Decade. As the rest of the Riders arrive to back him and DiEnd up, Ichigou and Nigou state:

And these two statements are things that Tsukasa really seems to take to heart in every subsequent appearance. Who is Decade? The one who will be there to back up other Riders in crisis.

Moving onto Movie War 2010, Tsukasa, having accepted his role as the destroyer of worlds, fights, defeats, and seals the memories of each Rider into his cards. What’s the purpose? To ensure the survival of each AR Rider World upon his death, which is why he goads Natsumi into killing him. Each world has been destroyed and created anew with his death, ensuring that the memory of each world, the story of each world, is preserved.

But then, what about Decade?

After some collective reminiscing and revival-through-memories, Tsukasa and crew set off to stop the new conquest of Super Shocker, led by Narutaki, who for some reason, decided the best way to celebrate the death of his one-sided arch-nemesis would be to continue the conquest of the worlds. (Massive YOU WOT MATE)

That is what defines Decade, what defines Tsukasa. He’s someone who will step in if the world’s resident hero can’t step up in time. And every time someone asks, the answer will always be the same.

Whenever large crises that are beyond the scope of the current Rider occur, Decade is often one of the front-liners that will show up. In Super Hero Taisen, he knew that tricking all the Sentai and Riders into fighting each other would absolutely result in uncontrollable chaos, so he and Marvelous took the reins to prevent such from happening. In Kamen Rider Taisen, for as badly written as that movie makes Hongo out to be, as well as his appearances in the cluttered mess that was Zi-O, and especially Zi-O VS Decade/Decade VS Zi-O; no matter where he appears, Decade is one of the forces that is going to right the course of the story. He finds trouble, helps out, and then leaves, like a Tuxedo Mask that actually does his job. And again, yeah, he’s going to be a smarmy asshole about it the whole time, but at this point, that’s all he knows how to really act around others. The destroyer of worlds would look bad if everyone knew he was soft. And if he’s ever defeated, like how he was when he and Sougo A fought against Oma Zi-O in Zi-O VS Decade, he’s just going to come back. After all, as long as Decade is needed, he will truly never die, never rest, at least until he decides that enough is enough and Decade’s story is complete.

To summarize, Decade/Tsukasa is defined by the following:

He just wants to exist without his role as destroyer getting in the way.

He doesn’t go looking for trouble, trouble finds him.

His fights with the other Riders are all caused by interventions out of his control (Narutaki).

He destroys whatever obstacle that is freezing the plot progression, not the world itself.

He will be there to resolve anything that obstructs his journey/purpose.

Now then… contrasting ALL of this is the existence of Kamen Rider Legend, a boy who was saved by Decade in Zi-O Over Quartzer and decided that the best career choice would be to follow in his footsteps. How does he do this? By basically subjugating the entire world to his whim using the powers of all the Riders that “begged him” to do so. Uh… Run that fucking by me again?? You mean to tell me that this twink somehow convinced several Primary and Secondary Riders to willingly give up their powers? Like… Souji “No one can beat me because I am the best” Tendou? Eiji “Willing to reach out my hand to anyone in need” Hino? Sento “I hate war and I hate myself for allowing my Rider System to become a weapon” Kiryu? Haruto “I will be the hope for others who don’t have any” Soma? Takumi “Leave me the fuck alone” Inui? Takeshi Hongo and Hayato Ichimonji, the original Double Riders, who fought against Shocker to ensure that what happened to them would never happen to anyone else? And especially Riders like Kouta, Touma, and Ace, who are all essentially GODS?! All of them decided it would be a good idea to hand over their powers to a sparkly man child?

Not only that, when he’s first introduced, he basically states that Houtaro isn’t very gorgeous as a Rider, when, chronologically, only TWO EPISODES have gone by. Houtaro is at the start of his Rider journey! He’s only befriended Hopper1, Steamliner, Odoripa, Kamantis, and Skebows at this point! Of course he’s not “gorgeous,” HE’S LITERALLY STILL AT THE STARTING LINE!

The Gotchardriver malfunctions, and Houtaro is basically stranded in this wack dimension. Then Hundred appears and because Kaguya isn’t initially willing to step up, Houtaro goes out to fight them as himself, not as Gotchard, and only just before the fighting begins, Kaguya appears, with the Gotchardriver miraculously fixed. IF YOU COULD HAVE FIXED IT EARLIER, WHY DIDN’T YOU DO IT, YOU EGG?!

Then several months go by, and suddenly Kamen Rider Legend’s secret weapon goes missing and lands in Gotchard’s world, causing several Hundred officers, who ALL have Dark Rider powers, to arrive, planning on destroying everything that gets in their way, because evil. Which leads to THREE WHOLE WEEKS of the plot being hijacked by Legend, during which, Kaguya demonstrates that he’s an even worse offender of the “Chemies are tools” philosophy when he steals Hopper1 to do a finisher, gets butthurt because Houtaro has friends other than him, and then attacks Houtaro because “gorgeous time is over”, AKA “I work alone, stay out of it.”

So basically, Kaguya

Wants to exist and also wants to let every single world know about it.

Dragged the Gotchard cast into his problem because his super weapon has the worst security protocol.

Instigated the fight with Houtaro because “gorgeous time is over.”

Hijacked the plot, causing nothing of note to happen in the episodes he took over, save for revealing that Tamagon/Nijigon was inside the Gotchardriver (also Hijacked Majade, Valvarad, and Lachesis Valvarad screen time).

Showed up at the last minute to make an entrance when Saigetsu/Dark Kiva is about to use the never-before-seen Wake Up Three, when he could have been involved from the start instead of just sending Butler to find Houtaro.

All of this would at least be palatable if we were shown how Kaguya came to claim all of this, like how we were shown Tsukasa’s journey of becoming the destroyer of worlds, but instead, we are constantly told, by Kaguya himself, how great he is. Remind me how this knob “saved Gotchard”?

Now with the spoilers for The Future Daybreak, somehow he loses the Legend Chemy Card(?) and Tsukasa shows up to encourage him. Uh… okay. The actual conversation between the two better be “Do better, kid” and not “You’re doing good, keep it up”.

TLDR; Decade is better than Legend.

[unforeseen-idiot]

Shovelwarewolf Season 1 Review

Ah, Season 1. It’s definitely the weakest season of the show, but there’s a certain charm to the low budget and short episodes. For these reviews I’m just gonna break it up into categories and than give it an overall score.

Episodes:

Horrorland: Solid opener, had some weird quirks like SWW biting the tv. It takes a little while for Ivan to turn which is nice, helps introduce the character.

Nat Geo: Not much to say, the narrator slays me.

Ski Doo: Not much else to say, I love his description of the buttrock. That guy with the banana befuddles me to this day.

Six Flags: Pretty funny. The lil Donald Trump joke was funny (never stop making fun of him). I like his rant about moving the Wiimote. Also it ties into the next episode which is neat.

Duck Dynasty: Ah yes the mega shovelwarewolf everyone thought would come back at some point. Duck Dynasty the game is one of the funniest games of all time in my opinion. “John Luke, FORGIVE ME!!” Also the “Oh That’s Not Good” track sounds a lot like Stranger Things (probably the synth).

Rudolph: I love this episode. Santa has the greatest villain arc. SWW mimicking the Abominable Snowman gives me life. I also like the the little Carol of the Bells at the beginning.

Music rating: I also figured I’d rate the music used in each season since AJ wrote some pretty good tracks for this series. Plus I have strong opinions on the different variations of the opening and transformation themes.

Season 1 opening: I love it, very subdued compared to later ones. But this is a great composition of music that works any way you do it. Specifically I love the piano in this variation.

Season 1 transformation: Again like the last one, very subdued, I like this one fine it goes a little fast but uses the piano similarly to how the opening did which works really well.

Oh That’s Not Good: Like mentioned above it sounds a lot like Stranger Things in the best ways. I love how it’s used in the scene transition to show Ivan’s hopelessness. Great piece.

Trepak: Not an original piece, just a public domain song used in the Rudolph episode. It works for the scene but I don’t have much to say.

Couch Gag: This season’s couch gag was very simple, just SWW drawing on the whiteboard (on his stomach I guess?) I love it for its simplicity and just thinking of Ivan trying to pass the time in any way possible. I wish we could’ve seen what he would’ve drawn for Duck Dynasty.

Overall: This season was alright. It’s only the weakest since it hasn’t been thought as through as the later ones were and the production value is just a little bit lower. I think it works and provided a great platform for the amazing seasons we got down the line.