#and a lot of it is just obnoxious tropes and stereotypes

[wanderingnork]

Having finished all Wizard101 worlds, I can actually make a full tier list! And yes, I know some of these are DEEPLY controversial opinions. (Polaris not being best world? Le gasp!)

I’ll explain the rankings, worst to best, below the cut.

F: Avalon. It’s the worst world. I, a myth wizard with subpar gear, soloed everything except the Indigo Giant boss, who I just needed help with because of his stupid damage output. The world design is cramped: you’ll be asked to go on an epic quest to retrieve something from a villain who lives right around the corner. The entire Lakeside area, with several distinct “biomes” (I don’t know a better word), is either the same size or smaller than the Caer Lyon area—which is a single town. The cartoony square trees and simplified textures are out of place in Arc 2’s more complex world designs. Its placement in the Arc 2 narrative is jarring. Yes, it gives us some Morganthe background, but that’s not remotely the core of the plot. Sandwiched between Zafaria (atmospheric, relatively high stakes) and Azteca (somber, arguably the highest stakes in the game), it feels…silly. It could have been a side world and if it was, I’d have a lot less beef.

D: Marleybone. While it has some redeeming qualities (I do love the steampunk elements very much and the Big Ben dungeon is a goddamn blast), it’s overall…meh. Every area is virtually identical various shades of gray—at least in Mooshu, also repetitive, the color schemes change by area. It’s terribly classist and when you look any deeper than the surface things get weird. Why the fuck are we attacking street sweepers???

D: Empyrea. My complaints about cramped world design go for this one, too. The supposedly huge Aeriel Jungle is smaller than all of the city of Zanadu. As much as I love the game’s pop culture references, this world took it too far. A wink and a nudge or a clever spin is WAY different than just dumping the cast of Star Trek into the main plot. And it’s every two steps in Part 1! The NPCs are 50/50 endearing and obnoxious to me. I adore the Aero Plains, at least. It’s one of the most aesthetically pleasing areas of any world. And Part 2’s focus on the Raven-and-Spider conflict is really good.

D: Zafaria. There’s an essay to be written on the troubling tropes at play in this world and more expert people than I have written those. Tldr, the sheer volume of stereotypes, the use of the “noble savage” trope, and mishmashed cultures are really an issue. And there isn’t a lot else going for this world, plot-wise or cool-NPC-wise. I find Zafaria forgettable, unless I’m cringing. Or thinking about the awesome giraffe librarian, who is indeed awesome.

C: Celestia. It’s just really uneven. I fuckin love the District of the Stars and Stormriven, but the Floating Land and the fact that I have to deal with Marleybonians are not thrilling. The crab empire is…fine. Quirky and par for the course. I appreciate how the story advances toward the more epic elements of the setting and the postapocalyptic history as you go along, but getting that far can be a drag.

C: Mooshu. This one shares most of Zafaria’s racial issues and suffers from Marleybone’s deeply repetitive area design. Repetitive enemies, too—monstrology on that world is visually boring as fuck. But it’s a lot less forgettable. The War dungeon is one of my favorites in the game, and the first time I can remember going “oh hey this game does more than kid’s book isekai.” Taking it as a whole, and including Catmandu and Kembaalung which have gorgeous design, it’s a perfectly average kind of world.

C: Wysteria. LORD BRAMBLE WAS RIGHT GODDAMMIT WHY CAN’T I SIDE WITH HIM??? I mean…it’s a Hogwarts Triwizard Tournament expy. It’s cute. I like having a world with no vast plot impact. The library dungeon design is absolutely kickass. But it’s just not…big enough to rate super highly. It’s there and gone. If we ever get to go *back*, I’d probably put it higher.

C: Wallaru. It’s pretty cool. The Outback area was gorgeous and as a horror fan I fucking adore Freddie Kroaker. The bosses were great, I’m a huge fan of the cheats in Wallaru (soloed almost all of them). What I couldn’t quite figure out is how I feel about the politics. It felt…off, how they handled the association between this fictional world and real Australia. I’m not educated enough to speak extensively on it, just to say that it felt Weird from what I do know. And hoooo boy. As much as I fucking adored the finale with the Doom Moon, I am N O T a fan of the sudden conspiracy reveal. Can we…not do antisemitic tropes like that? Please?

C: Aquila. It’s super cool and aesthetically gorgeous but ultimately it’s a collection of cool dungeons and epic combat challenges. As a player who primarily is here for the story, I am completely neutral on Aquila.

C: Novus. This got kicked down from B (where it belongs on plot reasons) by three things. One: the puzzle monster dungeon THAT ACTUALLY MADE ME MOTION SICK. I’m sure they were trying to get creative. N O P E. Two: while I know the NPCs needed to be unlikeable, they may have taken that too far. Mario di Mario specifically was so obnoxious I like to think my wizard actually punched him. Three: the Marleybone area was dumb as hell visually. Why the fuck did they use fire hydrants as houses? In context of all Marleybone stuff we’ve previously seen, it makes no sense.

B: Krokotopia. Suffers from somewhat repetitive level design, but the color scheme changes in every area and each area’s new theme is a banger. Especially Tomb of Storms. I adore the Manders so much. The issues of Marleybonian colonialism—which will come back all the way down the line in Novus—are at least loosely addressed. Including House of Scales, which has incredible design, music, and combat, I enjoyed pretty much everything in this world. (Caveat: Selenopolis hasn’t been released as of this list. Krokotopia position subject to change.)

B: Polaris. Wonderful world. Way too fucking cramped. Why is the Forlorn Tayg, a supposedly vast area, barely the same size as the Gulag? It also moves too fast for me, I could have done with a little more lingering and sidequesting. But I fucking love all the NPCs, I love how you meet a male ballerina wearing a tutu who’s not a joke and the penguins don’t have deranged sexual dimorphism in their designs, and the Borealis Titan is incredible.

B: Mirage. Many lovable NPCs and many beautiful areas, with special shout-outs to the Chronoverge and the Alkali Barrows. Loved the cat politics. The Pacman dungeon is hilariously brilliant and the Sands of Time are glorious. Suffers from SEVERE stereotyping and racism, I spent a lot of time absolutely cringing. Brought back deranged sexual dimorphism in character designs (why are the camels Like That). I may be the only person who didn’t like Istar and I’m okay with that.

A: Wizard City. It has its ups and downs. I include the Catacombs here, as well. There’s just so much content for so many levels, you know? I love the vast majority of it, both old and new designs. I don’t love the Gobblers, that’s…always been weird to me. Surprisingly I’m not a Catacombs fan. But everything else, the Three Streets and Unicorn Way and Ravenwood and the Commons…yeah. I love it. It really feels like home, somehow.

A: Karamelle. WE GET TO JOIN A UNION AND TEAR DOWN CAPITALISM. There are gummy bears you can fight! Fields of candy corn and orchards of gumdrop trees! I did almost this entire world solo, including the optional bosses, except the Bundozer. Has one of the creepiest areas in the entire game—you know the model town where the speakers play the Karamelle theme? Ever go to the edge of that map, where the speakers fade and the whole world goes quiet? It’s great. I don’t like gross-out humor though, so loses points for Gobblerton. And…the accents were painful.

A: Dragonspyre. While it struggles with deeply repetitive area design, there are enough unique locations—the Crystal Grove, the Great Spyre, and the Grand Chasm stand out here—that it’s not as overwhelming as Mooshu and Marleybone. More importantly, to me this is where the game gets its stakes. The threat that Malistaire presents—waking the Dragon Titan—stops being theoretical. You’re walking through the consequences of the last time the Titan woke. You get your quests from the ghosts of Dragonspyre. It’s serious now. Your eventual victory means something in a way that other victories haven’t.

S: Grizzleheim. Including Wintertusk here. Has some of the best, most unique level designs in the entire game. Areas are of reasonable size to traverse, but still give a powerful sense of scale to the world. Stunning music throughout. While I affectionately call it “Grizzlehell” for being so fucking difficult, that’s actually really amazing. It feels like a true challenge, especially when the worlds around it are speeding by. The stakes grow in a reasonable way throughout the quest line, from the easy stuff in Savarstaad Pass until it makes sense in Wintertusk that you’re here to stop the end of the world.

S: Lemuria. God. I loved this so much. It falls victim a bit to the problem of Too Many Shout-Outs that Empyrea did, but here…they mean something. The use of Silver Age/pulp fiction heroes is meant as a thematic exploration of what heroism means. It’s not pop culture for the sake of the thing, it’s an analysis of that culture through affectionate parody. What does it mean to be a hero? Is “heroism” a single thing, or something more? Can something be heroic sometimes and villainous another? It’s a good interrogation of that concept, is what I’m saying. The areas are reasonably sized for easy travel, but still have diverse “biomes” without feeling cramped. Each one is so unique! The heroes of Lemuria are endearing, and Dasein is wonderful. The unfolding plot is strong, too. I was genuinely sad when I left Lemuria and cheered aloud when I got to see the Heroes again at the end of Wallaru.

S: Azteca and Khrysalis. These two have to go together. I get why people don’t like them. They’re…kind of a lot. They’re full of “defeat and collect” quests with shitty drop rates, the bosses have insane health, and there are just so damn many quests. But…not only are they both beautiful in design with gorgeous music, they also have some of the highest stakes in the game. After so many worlds of victory, Azteca’s finale is a punch in the face. With brass knuckles. You fail. You lose. A whole world is destroyed. And the narration throughout the world, pointing out your heroism and superiority, makes it hit even harder. (As a paleo nerd, it makes me smile that Azteca is dinosaur-and-Aztec themed. The Chixulub impact crater is off the Yucatán Peninsula, home of the Aztecs—the world of non-avian dinosaurs ended there. Cool nod to real geological history.) And that failure makes Khrysalis feel intense. You now know that this game won’t always guarantee victory, so stopping Morganthe has a genuine sense od suspense—will the game makers let this be a victory? Or will Arc 3 be dealing with the fallout of the end of the Spiral as we know it? And Khrysalis is fucking dark. A whole sidequest is finding a mother’s lost child, who has been brainwashed into a military cult and may die. This was changed in a recent update, but when I played through the world the “defeat and collect” quests were “kill and collect.” It pulls no punches and never tries to make things simpler or friendlier. There are pop culture references, sure, but many are to older grim fantasy stories like those of Michael Moorcock and his contemporaries. It’s heavy. There are truly high stakes. You feel like you can fail. And to me, that story makes the combination of Azteca and Khrysalis the best worlds in the game.

[whereconfusionisarhyme]

okay the way the fandom draws hobie brown is such an interesting indication into the way subconscious racial stereotypes play into characterization and it's,,,it's just interesting.

now, i spend A Lot of time in this fandom. and something i've noticed a lot of is hobie brown being drawn HUGE. like, they're making mans into a TANK. and he's just,,,not that??

like yeah, he has broad shoulders, and he's tall, but that's literally just most any black teen boy let's be honest. if you look at his actual canonical character design, he is LANKY. and yet everyone is drawing him super buff. now at first i didn't think much of it--people like buff men, and fanartists are always gonna take some liberties (honestly, i love when they put their special little twists on the characters). but as i saw it more and more, it bothered me more and more and felt a lot more indicative of some underlying biases within the fandom.

hobie being mischaracterized and stereotyped isn't shocking or new, but that mischaracterization leaking into physical depictions of him is! not to get too deep into it, but throughout american history*, black men have not been able to protect their loved ones in any way other than physical thanks to slavery and horrid mistreatment within an inherently racist system. thus gave birth to the trope of the big, aggressive black man who solves his problems with his twists. and after that, the big aggressive black man who is actually a sweetheart on the inside, but just has raging anger issues (and probably an abusive father as well).

*im aware that movie!hobie is not american and that not the entire fandom is either, but seeing as a large chunk of it is, and are going to be viewing hobie through an american lense, i think this is an appropriate connection to make. also, african slavery was very much a thing outside of america as well. also ALSO, the rest of the worlds perception of black men is affected by american (and english) views just because of how huge the two countries are within the global landscape.

now, the reason this was even bothering me at all in the first place is because when i first watched the movie, the fact that hobie wasn't overly muscular was super novel to me. i was glad that we got to see a black male character who was strong without taking strength from others, loud without obnoxiously talking over others, violent without being aggressive, assertive without being framed as forgetting this place or naive about the world. in terms of personal experience, it pisses me just that bit more than the last time whenever i hear my father insist to my (very sensitive and emotional) brother that the proper way to deal with any and every problem was by fighting. i was glad my brother (severely lacking in good black male role models) got to see this cool guy, someone you're meant to look up to, who is strong without being ripped and punching all of his problems. that black masculinity is more than how well you can fight.

so, the way a lot of the fandom forces hobie into this box, this preconceived idea of what a black man (or boy, more like, but the erasure of childhood from black kids is a topic all its own) should be, just. sits wrong.

[bushkit]

Soooooo for this MiD rewrite, I might have replaced Ava-

Now I have my reasons for doing so, which I will explain now. First off, I don't like Ava, I find her really obnoxious and frustrating. I know we will only have one season so she can’t develop, and that upsets me a bit. I also find her “anxiety” issues stereotypical, coming from someone who has been diagnosed. Some of her behaviors are relatable, but there's only a few times that I feel like I can relate to her. It feels cheap and forced to me. This is a smaller complaint, but I also don't like her design. She’s just Aphmau but with magenta eyes and a bitchy personality.

The second reason I changed the Mc is because of a massive issue I have with MiD in general. Harems. I fucking despise harems in any shape or form. I think they are one of the absolute worst tropes in media. In most harems the main character is boring, usually they have no personality whatsoever. Luckily MiD doesn't really have this problem, Ava’s personality makes it at least watchable. However, the other much more glaring issue I have with harems are the other characters. They are almost always one dimensional and cliche, and unfortunately MiD does have this problem, especially with the daemos and some other side characters as well (ex: Jake, Lorelai’s friends, Avas parents). I find Harems unhealthy and boring, as it almost always ends with the Mc choosing all potential lovers, or none of them. Its just extremely frustrating to watch. For this rewrite, I need to change the harem into something else, and the best way I can find doing it is to replace Ava. Now I am a huge, huge fan of the “found family” trope, it is far more meaningful and interesting to me. Of course as with all things it can be done badly but I find myself enjoying most shows that use it.

So lets talk about Jaiden! :D

Name: Jaiden Woods Species: Human Pronouns: She/her

Theme song: I made an entire playlist cause I couldn't pick, but I'd say World’s Smallest Violin (Ajr) and Could’ve Been Me (The Struts) are perfect for Season One.

Background: Jaiden is a thirteen year old human girl from a wealthy family in Portland, Oregon. She was originally born in San Francisco, California, but when she was very young her family moved to Portland. Because her parents are wealthy/of nobility, she's used to having a lot of things, knowing a lot of people, and sadly, knowing what its like to be lonely. Her parents run a business, so they don't make much time for her and are often out of the house. So at a young age, Jaiden had to learn how to take care of herself. In what would be season one of this rewrite, her parents have left on a business trip that will last a couple months. So Jaiden needs to find ways to entertain herself and keep her spirits high. But with no siblings and hardly any true friends, its getting more and more difficult.

Jaiden doesn't understand why its so hard for her to make connections with people. She likes to think she's the nicest person ever, she's optimistic, energetic, willing to try new things, and always willing to help others. But the people she's surrounded with aren't normal people who have emotions like she does. They're all grown adults that are all wealthy and stupidly snobby and boring. The school she attends isn't much better. Nobody wants to talk about Anime, animals, videogames, pop culture, or anything Jaiden finds fun. So she finds herself a weird outcast, and outcasts are targets for bullies.

She’s constantly being picked on by bratty rich girls at school and in her neighborhood for her interests and behavior. They are making sure Jaiden understands that bubbly, excitable, and loud people are not welcome in their town. Jaiden tries her best to ignore them and not take it seriously, but over time those words begin to take a toll on her emotionally. Jaiden no longer enjoys learning at school, she's always anxious awaiting for someone to call her a freak again. For most classes, she's picked on even by teachers. Except for her P.E class, more specifically, Track. Jaiden can run very fast, and is even titled with being the fastest kid in her school.

Her excellence in her Track lessons are one of the few things her family and others praise her on. But it isn't all she wants to be. Jaiden truly doesn't want to have a career in Track, or inherit her family’s wealth and business. She just wants to be her own person, and help as many people as she can. This is even why with the money her parents give her, she uses a bit of it to donate to charities. She loves the feeling of being helpful and making people happy, so that is what she devotes her life to doing. Now, if only she had people to help. Jaiden is very lonely, all she wishes is to have people who are not boring “npc” snobs to hang out with. She manages to make some online friends, but they aren't quite enough to fill the hole in her sociable soul.

Until a couple days after her parents left for their business trip, she spotted five cosplayers in her backyard.

Fun fact: Jaiden was originally going to be a Mystreet oc, but I decided to make her a MiD oc because I fell out of the Mystreet fandom. I also think she fits a little better in MiD, especially with the story I've given her.

Y'all will be seeing a lot more about her and her relationship with the Daemos in the future! Bye pookiesss! :D

[n3v3r-trust-th3-living]

And finally....the moment of truth...

So ive been working at a movie theater over a year now and used one of my movie passes to see Beetlejuice beetlejuice and my short review of it?

SPOILERS BELOW

3-3.5 out of 5 or 6-7 out of 10 so good/pretty good like slightly above mid.

But I still liked and enjoyed it a lot, it was fun and I liked the nostalgia fuel being a fan since childhood in the late 90's and 00's and I plan to see it 2 more times, once in 4DX (thank you employee discount). I also have merch put aside for me at work lol

The good

It was fun, well acted, practical effects were great, music was well implemented into their scenes and great choices of music, Catherine O hara stole the show as Delia, sets looked amazing, especially the netherworld iim glad we get to explore more of it.

I liked the jeremy twist (although the hints were kinda obvious to me At least to me). Their parallels to Beetlejuice and Lydia were good and i also felt a parallel between Jeremy and Beetlejuice's teen death rocker alter ego he used to trick lydia from the original unused script, Maybe iits just mee tho.

It is sad to see Lydia become a shell of herr self over the years not tto mention addicted to pills but i think its an interesting way to go especially with her ptsd from beetlejuice, I can see it. (I just wish they used this more as an explanation on her current state and the rift in her relationship with Richard and Astrid as well as as lydia's powers)

I enjoyed the parallels too the musical seeing lydia sort of adopt Charlie's role and astrid be in the shoes that musical Lydia was interesting. Not sure how intentional it was with that or if it was intentional at all tho.

the not so good

The begining slogs a bit, and once we pick the pace up it feels rushed especially during the wedding after the musical number (which Was good), other parts seem rushed too, it feels like a lot going on at once like they pushed multiple ideas for sequels all together which also gave a lot of new characters barley anything to do and made me feel liike they're kinda useless.

I love Delores, im absolutely self shipping with her but it feels like shes just there for eye candy and to be the ficy "other woman" trope.

Willam Defoe's character is fun in theory especially a cocky actor/stuntman playing a cop who died from a scene and is a wannabe cop in the afterlife but in execution he feels pointless.

I wanted to like Astrid more, im glad she wasn't like horribly written, I LOATHE when activist characters especially young ones are written by people who make them unlikable and obnoxious but she felt kinda .... boring sorta like a bit of a rehash of movie and musical lydia (with a dash of cartoon) in one but we only get glimpses into her interests and a lot of it is similar to Lydia even the activist part. And yeah obviously she can share interests with her parents I get she probably got it from them but i wanna know other stuff about her. Although a thing i do like is she is a sceptic while Lydia knows the paranormal exist.

Sorta related to that above there's a bunch oof cool ideas i wish weren't rushed through or they'd explore more.

we also get more netherworld lore which is cool and good but some of it leaves more questions then i had for years with the original.

lastly because this is my biggest Tim Burton beef is that there was still racial stereotypes in the film, he has learned bit over the years with Wednesday but it's still obvious he has some way to go with the Asian dry cleaner and the Soul Train scenes where we see most of the black characters in the film mind you probably the most black people we've seen in any Tim Burton film LOL (speaking as a black fan)

WOW uh I wrote way more than expected lol i have more thoughts but that's it for now, hopefully I will be posting here more in the near future.

[nezumiva]

I assume this will somewhat be addressed in the podcast for Watanagashi, but I've been reading it with a friend(reread in my case), and the first 2 chapters have just been... really bad and pervy? I love the rest of this series, but god this has been a lot, and I know this is not the end of it. How do you deal with it, and address it to new readers?

Yeah...

It is a bit of an ever-present dilemma in Higurashi, unfortunately (and while it improves over time in When They Cry as a whole, it's unfortunately a bit of an issue in a lot of Ryukishi's work). I do think the chapters in and of themselves are very good, to be clear, but those types of jokes do tend to drag it down massively whenever they (however briefly) rear their ugly head. As it pertains to generally recommending the work, I'll get to that in a moment, but first and foremost I think it's just good to know the limits of your friends, if that's the sort of reading situation you're in. For me, and the people I know - we all definitely hate the unnecessary sexual humor, but we all also grew up on a lot of anime and manga, back in the late 90's and early 2000's, which had far less restraint about these things than it should have. Obviously it wasn't good, but while we dislike it, we tend to roll our eyes and muscle past if at all possible. Thankfully, in Higurashi's case, while it is often extremely obnoxious, it is easily ignored in the context of the story at large. That's us, though, and everybody's comfort level for ignoring that sort of thing is different. When it comes to general recommendations, there's just no escaping the huge asterisks you're going to have to attach to the work at large. Like many things I love with less than stellar aspects (problematic stereotypes in One Piece, similarly gross humor in Danganronpa, etc.) there's not often a way to soften the blow of these things for people who wouldn't have been able to power through regardless, and that's completely understandable. (And even if it's less problematic, obviously, Higurashi still has a lot of elements that are difficult to casually stomach regardless, so it does sort of inherently narrow the pool of people you can get into it, lol.) This doesn't really make up for it, obviously, but this is almost doubtlessly a product of the game's release timeline and where it was released, as well. This was a self-published game in the very, very early aughts being marketed to primarily otaku at Comiket. Galge was still very prominent, and while it has thankfully managed to grow beyond the need of being strictly pornographic (and thank god Higurashi never went that far), the kind of sketchy, ecchi variety of shit did unfortunately sell and draw more eyes to a game back then. Given how small 07th Expansion was (they only sold 2 copies of Onikakushi at the time, I believe), I wouldn't doubt they felt the need to shove things like this in to push units. (In a sense, I do think some of the tropes are there to be intentionally subverted. While most people know Higurashi has horror now, they didn't then, so in some respects Ryukishi was ripping the rug out from under people who just thought they were here for a dating sim, but attributing that to every instance of weird shit in Higurashi would obviously be oversimplifying the issue.) TL;DR: Higurashi is definitely a product of its time in many respects, and while I think it is a fantastic story that surpasses its occasional failings with gross sexual humor, that is an unfortunate mark of the time and circles it was made in. It may have been a play to help it sell, or to throw off galge genre readers, or both, but either way it still kinda sucks a lot. That is always unavoidably going to be a huge asterisk when recommending it to anyone in the current day.

[rad-hound]

Top five writer pet peeves you have. Hell, artist as well if you have any

TOP FIVE WRITER / ARTIST PET PEEVES

1. Overuse or repetition of tropes or stereotypes in fiction:

This includes, but is most certainly not limited to, tropes you may begrudgingly stumble across on fanfiction-housing websites like AO3, such as: borderline or unapologetically racist depictions of black and brown people. And especially upon the likes of AO3, if you know, you know. As well as fetishized depictions of trans men... of which is sadly common in the Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance community, as well, in primary reference to how they write Raiden. And while I'm no stranger to trans headcanons of my own, a lot of the work on AO3 where Raiden is depicted as a trans man seems... tasteless. Seeing how most of these depictions I find myself irked by appear to have been written by people who aren't trans themselves. Or, at least, not to my own knowledge. (Typically, my know-how is whether or not they tag their work as, "Trans [redacted] written by a trans author." But of course, this is but a shallow assumption to be taken with a grain of salt.) Such other, lesser consequential and controversial repetitive (albeit, with a grain of salt) tropes I often see in writing are primarily some nitpicks of mine, such as how some people who clearly aren't Southern try to write or depict a Southern accent, without so much as speaking to, much less interacting with someone who may live in the U.S. South within an inch of their life. Or how Latino men in fiction are often treated as these... promiscuous, dangerous rebels who fruitlessly try to whisk their love interest away from their already-existing, usually white or eurocentric lover. I see this with how people write Jetstream Sam / Samuel Rodrigues in fanfiction, despite his base depiction not at all reflecting the odd fashion which fans always seem to write him within. Though, I wouldn't know, maybe such depictions are equally as controversial, or perhaps they cannot be compared. But these are ones that I notice right away that sort of make my brain itch. Not enough for me to gripe at a writer face-to-face about it, but... just a thought, since we're here. Don't burn me at the stake.

2. "Woobification" of antagonists & the morally ambiguous / exclusion & sanitization of moral ambiguity in fiction:

The same sentiment is equally applicable in the very opposite manner; the manner in which people who write fanfiction for some reason crank the edge factor up to 90, when the canonicity of aforementioned character's moral ambiguity is much more subtle and lesser obnoxious than they believe. Yet another phenomenon I see occur in characters like Raiden, where—while yes, at points, or a point, he is rather... unsavory—this lesser subtle, more violent side of him comes to surface even once, it feels as though fans completely disregard his other personality traits entirely. But if you were to ask these very same people to give the same treatment to the version of Raiden that is present in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, you will hear nothing but crickets, despite his history of being a child soldier being present and stable within both games. Because, with that version of Raiden, the forced feminization—infantalization—he already endures conflicts with his more violent, unapologetic nature that exists within the canon of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. However, the opposite sentiment was not what I wanted to bicker about, my primary focus being how fans have a tendency to not only water down, but entirely disregard a morally-dubious character's behaviors and history, all for the sake of... "making their favorite character easier to digest," so to speak, so that it may leave less of a bad taste in their mouth whenever they faun over them so restlessly. Or, rather, resorting to the quite popular, fandom-intersectional excuse of, "the writing was bad," to void and excuse the fact that they enjoy a morally dubious character, while also simultaneously voiding themselves of the reality that they—as a person who indulges in and digests media—may or may not indulge in a problematic piece of fiction. When, in reality, the fact that we as people are even able to witness this side of fiction—while potentially unsavory, and triggering, in which case one should browse carefully—should serve as a testament to encourage us to broaden our own palette, and to exit our own comfort zone. Because it isn't wrong to read, or even think about, such stories, and it doesn't make us horrible, irredeemable people for doing so. So long as one isn't glorifying or praising the events or actions which may be portrayed through said stories. Because, at the end of the day, simply reading or liking a piece of fiction does not equal endorsement of anything to occur within it. It NEVER has equalled or equated to endorsement, in any sense of the word. Unless you're very outspoken about your own moral ambiguity and problematic views, simply liking a problematic character whose own views do not equate to your own does not make you somehow equal to them on a scale of morality. No one is judging you for enjoying Sundowner from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, I assure you. Sincerely, a person whose current favorite Metal Gear character is, by far, the most unapologetically evil piece of shit in the entire series. And while it is not the hill I will die on, I've made myself clear.

3. Erasure of key character / ethnic traits of fictional characters in official IP art & fanart:

While this may not necessarily be in regards to how some characters are portrayed within written works or fanfiction, I still believe there is a conversation to be had about how frequently characters—especially characters that are black, brown, indigenous, etc.—are regularly misrepresented through not just artwork created by an IP's fans, but a lot of the time by official works leased by the companies who hold ownership over said IPs. The very same can be said about overweight or fat characters, who may regularly be drawn slimmer or skinnier to better suit the artist's own "comfort level," however even when such artists may be tasked through commission to draw a person's character that may be fat, they somehow still miss the mark. And, truthfully—in both discussing fat erasure and the erasure of POC in fictional media—I find that to be utterly ridiculous, because several black artists across every art or fannish community under the Sun have taken it upon themselves to not only create brushes to better emulate black features in digital art programs, but have—with their God-like patience—taken it upon themselves to create tutorials on how to not only draw black features, but how to color and shade black and brown skin, as well. Unfortunately, official artwork leased by the companies that create these characters aren't all that great about ensuring that all of their customers and fans are well-represented, either, as the most prime examples of companies which come to mind typically have a tendency to either be openly racist, colorist, sexist, homophobic... the whole nine yards. A sort of prejudice that is also very much present in a game like Metal Gear, or more particularly, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, where several of the characters—either Costa Rican or Hispanic—are pasty pale, with very Eurocentric features. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) But, with situations such as these, I find myself feeling grateful for the fans of any IP that create artwork and fanart where these characters are given their proper, adequate features, either to make up for where the parent company of aforementioned IP failed them, or to make up for the already significant lack of representation that marginalized communities receive from aforementioned companies.

4. Usage of generative AI to create literature / fanfiction & for other intents & purposes:

This, in particular, applies to a more broad area than simply fanfiction alone, given people's tendency to resort to using artificial intelligence to pick up their slack in other areas, as well. Such as college essays—of which is already quite common, and often results in students being ruthlessly flunked from their courses for even considering such a course of action, and rightfully so, because most generative AI programs are trained on both accurate information AND misinformation—and roleplay. Where, at some point, I must beg the question: is this truly helping us? Now, don't get me wrong, artificial intelligence has already existed for decades, and has already helped humanity on a number of fronts; from the creation of the internet and its algorithms, to the aiding in the creation of modern medicine... but as we've seen again and again, generative AI really doesn't help anyone. And as we've seen again and again, those who shill and are the most vocal about this push to include generative AI in every facet of our lives have proven that, actually, they don't give two squats about the integrities or livelihoods of human artists. For instance, what we're seeing occur with the Glaze program, where artists are tainting their own art with cloaks in hopes that it would poison the already-vast dataset that exists within generative programs such as MidJourney and otherwise, likely already acquired by legally dubious means. But seeing the founder of Stability AI's willingness to break the law in order to scrape data, we already knew that. But, even when we put aside the very clear legal hurdles that the likes of generative AI present, there is also the very opaque matter of people using the likes of generative AI to not only generate pieces or the entirety of their fanfiction—of which is already a hot topic and very controversial within fandom and fanfiction spaces, particularly AO3—but also to fill in the gap for a roleplay partner which they might not have. Entirely defeating the purpose of roleplay at all; to make friends, connections, and to bond with those you roleplay with. In a manner no infinite amount of shallow AI could give you. And it pains me to see more and more young people finding themselves talking to an algorithm to get those experiences, or to fill in such an absence within their own online experience. To my roleplayers out there: roleplay forums do exist still, and there are thousands of them! Such examples include Forum Roleplay, RP Nation, RPG Initiative, RPGnet Forums... the list goes on and on forever! One that I personally reccommend from days of yore would be Chicken Smoothie, which doubles as a roleplay / art forum, and an animal adoption and trading game. Hell, there's a covert roleplaying community that is present here, on Tumblr! You don't have to resort to a shoddy AI to have a little bit of fun.

5. The concept of competitive & "the academic" arts in school settings / educational environments:

This very much applies to high school and / or college courses, the likes of which encourage students to, for some reason, "replicate" famous artists and their staples from the past. For example, Pablo Picasso, whose style was not only abstract, but a landmark at the time... something the likes of which no one has ever seen before. And it was that... new, innovative way of creating art that drew people in, that still draws people in to this day. As do several other famous artists in this world's history; Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo... even pop artist Andy Warhol. But... that's just it. I understand if there is some deeper merit of experience or a notion of, "hey, I tried this," when it comes to the task of replicating—or attempting to replicate—the styles and staples of famous artists in the past... but the one thing that all these artists have in common was that their minds were new, their works innovative... so why shouldn't art students be tasked to reach within the very same depths of their own soul to bring out their inner innovative artist, as well? Instead of simply replicating art from the past, and putting it into a portfolio in the hopes that some lousy liberal arts college finds them interesting. Of course, learning the history of art, and of famous artists, is rivetting, and is very interesting in its own rite. However, I believe curriculums should be encouraging artists to think outside of the box, instead of restricting them to a singular prompt or already-existing art style to simply replicate. And I understand, while restriction can be quite good for innovation at points... it shouldn't be the entirety of the curriculum. Give student artists a sense of importance, embolden them to discover their own identity through their art! Encourage them to do as they please! I've learned my lesson, and never again will I consider the notion of either attending an art school, an art class, nor will I submit porfolios of my art to any sort of institution. For my written works, maybe... but with physical artwork... that is a very different ballpark.

Anyways, those are my top five artist / writer pet peeves! Sorry, it drones on forever, but I simply had to take advantage of this ask and let it alllll out. So thank you, @miz-orque, for this ask, as it gave me a good opportunity to reflect upon my vices. ^_^

[funkymbtifiction]

In a recent ask you said "Being artistic and sensitive is not 4". Can you please similarly say what's something people constantly get mixed up about each dominant function? Like I constantly see Fi doms described as artistic and sensitive, but is it really an IxFP thing or just a general human trait? Also: I wish you the best on your new ventures and thank you for all the work you've done for the typology community, you'll be missed 💐

Hmm.

Fe-dom: [stereotype] "unselfish." While EFJs usually care about their larger impact and reputation, they are not nicer to people or less selfish than any other type -- they can be selfish and want their way. It varies between EFJs. You will meet a lovely one who is so sweet and words things so carefully to avoid hurting your feelings and lets you "be," and then meet an EFJ who pushes their values off on you, and thinks that they can say whatever they want and it's all "okay" even if it's hurtful to you.

Fi-dom: [stereotype] "selfish." Yes, Fi-dom is self-centered, as in, their sense of everything is centered in their inner lens, but this does not make all of them exhibit what society calls "selfish behavior." The stereotypes about IFPs not being considerate of others are erroneous and cause many IFPs to mistype; IFPs can spend a lot of time and effort being a "safe space" for other people, and trying not to hurt their feelings (because they wouldn't want their own feelings hurt). As with the above, you may meet an IFP who is highly considerate of you and your feelings, or you may meet one who says what they think, without concern for whether it will offend you or not.

Te-dom: [stereotype] "workaholic." Yes, ETJs love to get things done, they are highly organized and motivated individuals, but the workaholic trope comes from very specific Enneagram combinations rather than is standard for all ETJs. Many of them know when to go out with friends, go home, etc. Another stereotype is not caring about people -- they care a lot, it's just that their brand of helping their loved ones tends to center around how to find solutions, as opposed to just crying with someone. As with the above examples, you will find an ETJ who cares a lot about their employees and does not want to fire anyone, and finds workarounds to keep them on staff even though it is costing their bottom line, or you will find one who only cares about the bottom line.

Ti-dom: [stereotype] "obnoxious, argumentative, hair-splitting." Not every Ti-dom is "Sherlock." Many of them just want to do their own thing, and for things to make sense. And not all of them are inventors or mechanics, either. Some of them are artists, actors, or writers. They can and do understand how things 'work' and want to make sense of them in their own mind, but not all of them are gifted in innovation or technology or in building an airplane from scratch. Some of them will be obnoxious and hammer people for their bad logic, but others don't see the point in trying to change your mind.

Se-dom: [stereotype] "party animal, shopaholic, unfaithful." Yes, they are energetic and outgoing and can do a lot in a day, but not all of them enjoy excess socializing, care about their wardrobe, or can't keep a relationship going due to a roving eye. Se is about hands-on learning and opportunism, seeing a good thing and going after it, rather than a certain set of expected behaviors. Some ESPs will work at things (including relationships) and others will "skip out."

Si-dom: [stereotype] "remembers everything." No, they only recall what is of specific interest to them, such as their favorite author's books or hairstyles from the 1950s. They don't have better memories than anyone else for generic facts and daily remembrances. Another stereotype is having no interest in trying new things -- wrong, some of them hate new things and some of them want as many experiences as possible to build their collection of memories or internal experiences.

Ne-dom: [stereotype] "can theorize about anything on the spot." Yes, if it interests them, but if it doesn't, they won't generate any ideas related to it. They are not automatic idea-machines, they need something to bounce off of and inspire their creativity. If they deprive themselves of those things (books, movies, music, etc), then their creativity can get stifled. They also don't have a thousand ideas in their mind all the time; rather, once they start working on and thinking about something, ideas "occur to them" along the way. Some ENPs have way more of a busy mind than others (7s).

Ni-dom: [stereotype] "mastermind." Not all Ni-doms have a life plan or know what they want ten years down the road, but all of them have a future focus, tend to get strong impressions and/or instincts about where life (theirs or yours) is headed, and they trust their insights. But they are not all evil masterminds who plan things down to the smallest detail; their mind is more impressionistic than that. And yet, there will be occasional "genius" INJs who do just that.

[nictelsm]

In addition to my MSPA ideas

Prison Part 2, also known as Jailbreak: Extended Play, is basically a different version of the Jailbreak adventure, including dialogue, animation, narrative shiftings from 1st person to 2nd person between characters, and even interactive pages... IF I CAN CODE THEM. Each stick figure character will be named, and some will look distinct.

This is the "Beyond Canon Mockery" adventure I mentioned on my previous post, also known as "Homestuck: Beyond Fucked Up" or "Beyond Awful." It's a changearound of Beyond Canon's story, with worsened content, but mocked in a self-aware way, has a lot of pop culture stuff, also mocks the controversy and culture around Homestuck, and introduces a character named " The Story Wizard," an obnoxious, plot fiddling, story changing, retconning, King of Town alien who's always here to make the story worse. In this adventure, John actually hates everything around him, probably just me making fun of his descent into depression, wheras in the original comic he's an emo James Rolfe, while here, he's nihilistic.

Freeplay is an adventure with no plot, no story, no gods, no masters, no author, just fun, but a few set of rules. You can do anything you want here. It's the infinite canvas of MS Paint Adventures, with loads of creativity for one simple panel.

There are a trinity of commands, however. NULLIFY will reset everything, REGRESS will revert a command that someone has submitted, and DISORDER will scramble the story you create into random, inconvenient places.

Nepal Silo was an adventure I was thinking about earlier this year. It's about a group of young researchers who live on a cold, snowy landscape, sometimes peppered with aliens and oddities. It's gonna have the same style as Homestuck, but it's not gonna have that "There's a teenager in his room and he shall be named, plus a world ending supergame" bullshit.

I was also planning to give this adventure a Kelly Bailey inspired soundtrack, obviously because of the planned influence from Half Life.

And here is one I dare to create. Adventure Boy! Planned to be an adventure about some kid (oddly looking similar to Zoosmell Pooplord) in a fantasy world that doesn't know him at all. The main, titular character is extremely joyful, almost stereotype joyful, and yet the world he's in ranges from dark to careless. Yeah, it's obviously one big trope made into an MS Paint Adventure, but I don't care.

Another one I'm thinking about is this oddball. It's a story about your favorite spider bitch doing really stupid stuff towards every other troll in the style of a Homestar Runner storybook (See: Sbemail 100 or Homestar Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest). Later in the book, the protagonist redeems herself off of being too mean.

But least could we forget, another project in the making. It's been done before, but we'll do it again. Comedy gold, adequate. Irony, stunning.

SWEET BOR AND HELLA JYEFF VIDYA GAEM DUDES INNERACTIVE COMIC made by ya boy Dave s. with iorny

Yes, I'm doing a Sweet Bro & Hella Jeff adventure. This one is more gaming based than slice of life or adventure. Think of it as early SBaHJ.

There's also gonna be a few new "bros" introduced into this comic. One's with a green shirt whom I call "THAT DUDE," and a pink shirt named "STAN-SO-CASH." Does Geromy count as a bro? WHO KNOWS!

At last, we have this.

An MS Paint Adventures adaptation of Homestar Runner's "Thy Dungeonman." This is basically gonna be a warm-up to everything else I'll do on MSPFA, sort of a practice to see if I can actually work on what I can correctly. I ended up doing Jailbreak: Extended Play first. The command system of Thy Dungeonman would be really hard to replicate in the MS Paint Adventures format, so suggestions will be sent one by one. Or I could just do the Bard Quest treatment.

So uh, BYE!

[yuripira4e]

ur points are fine but do you really have to put an obnoxious anon in the mgs tag talking shit abt one of the few games with gay male rep "made up yaoi" and claiming bb/eva is like a Real Canon pairing and not they fucked one bc eva was trying to get something from him and if you want to talk about women her feelings towards him were clearly a lot more complicated than it just being a ship. virtue signaling is also acting like you have to publicly blog about female characters to show that you care and respect them. also strangeboss WAS very popular, more so when the game came out for what its worth. if you really want to get into the nitty gritty im always pretty disappointed that ppl interpret their relationship as cute mutual attraction and ignore that strangelove has an obsession with the boss that likely makes her an unreliable narrator, which imo isnt a bad thing!! i legit think thats really interesting, zero and bb talk a lot about the boss and her will from the pov of soldiers but strangelove equally puts her on a pedestal imo. yeah thats not a good trope for a lesbian character but again! if you want to get nitty gritty. theres a really clear pattern in the mgs series where only villains are CANONICALLY bi/gay, but theres a lot of heavy handed queer coding among the "good guys"

I agree with you too. I’m sorry for putting discourse in the tag. 1. strange boss is a complex dynamic and as much as I love it it is ultimately from Strangelove’s pov. I think that’s just a reoccurring theme with the boss in general. I mean the entire game is centered around the misinterpretation of her will and everyone taking what they thought she meant from it and warping it to for their own perception. I do think strangeboss was mutual but Strangelove was definitely not healthily crushing on the boss either. I haven’t been in the fandom that long so I actually didn’t know the ship was that popular at one point but you have to admit it does get overshadowed as do a lot of female pairings (straight or queer) in the fanbase

2. I already said I don’t ship bb ships. I love Eva and I think her complex relationship with bb and other characters should absolutely be talked about and I enjoy their dynamic so that’s why I said I liked their relationship but not endgame

3. I do think the made up yaoi thing was kind of rude bc I don’t think it was made up at all (I should have said that on that but I don’t really feel like starting arguments or defending shit). I think the mlm representation in the game is honestly really groundbreaking even if it does adhere to a lot of stereotypes and unfortunately villainize it a lot. But it has multiple relationships and single characters in queer or queer coded mlm relationships that differ in age, ethnicity, dynamic, and backstory which is just insanely cool. From like canonically queer characters like volgin and vamp and I’m gonna say ocelot bc I think pw put him past queer coded and into fully implied queer territory to deep, healthy, interesting queer coded relationships like otasune and even liquidmantis I think it’s amazing and should not be minimized even if it could be improved or there are faults in the way other characters are treated because of it at times which is something every fanbase has. Even other ships that I don’t like have a lot of really interesting dynamics and feelings that are undeniably queer coded and I think we should just look at all of it and enjoy the queer media we’ve been given while being able to critique it and not turn on each other

[alexturne]

8, 12 and 49 for the ask game!! and 50 :3

Thank yoooouuu 😘 I'm stealing your very brilliant idea of screenshotting the questions!

Oh, great question! I actually used to be very inspired by AM songs and lyrics when I first started writing. Having a lyric pop out to me and spark a whole story in my head or a simple line becoming the title of a fic I simply had to write. Hence why all my fics have lyrics as their titles 😎

To answer the question! Temptation Greets You Like Your Naughty Friend! I've got a very tiny wip called "keep your charm where i can't see it (and your hands where i can)" because I just LOOOOOVE that line. And it sparks so much tension and temptation and I had the idea of a spin the bottle/get drunk at a house party/accidentally make out with your friend and BOOM find out you feel very differently than you thought about said friend. The whole trying to resist the temptation because it just feels so good but you don't want to ruin the friendship... That kinda thing. Who knows if it will ever see the light of day 😘

Hmm, I don't know if there are any tropes really to speak of that I didn't like.. But I've gotten a lot better at reading scary/horror themed stories. We have so many incredibly talented writers in this fandom who write the most amazing scary stories and I simply had to learn 😂 Even if they still scare me sometimes! I don't really think I'll ever be able to write any myself tho. The closest I've managed is a very brief wip inspired by What We Do In The Shadows, and let's be real, that's really not scary at all 😂

Ooohh. My current wip is... Well, it's really my white whale. The one that keeps me up at night. It's the first milex fic I ever came up with, the thing that really started it all. And it's just. My baby. I love it so much and I've literally been trying to write it for TWO YEARS and it's just the most difficult thing I've ever tried to write. I'm at about 70k at this point and every word is a struggle but I want it done. I don't know if the two years of effort will be evident in the final work so don't have too high expectations please, but it's just so very important and special to me.

It will be called "you've got control of everyone's eyes (including mine)". And here is a small snippet:

Miles just looked at him, as if expecting Alex to say something. But if Miles thought his mere presence alone was enough to rattle Alex, to throw him off his game, he thought wrong! If he thought he could come here and ruffle Alex's feathers and get him all worked up he was sorely mistaken. Alex didn't care! Not one bit. He was cool. Miles had no effect on him whatsoever. Not tonight, that was for sure, if that's what he thought. Alex was calm and collected and all that.

Aaahhhh you made me choose one too 😂🥰

I'll take this cheeky opportunity to talk about question 17, an au I would like to read/write even if no one else will appreciate it..

Because that's the second long wip I've got going at the moment.

I'm writing a high school rivals fic, complete with americanized stereotypes, the hot jock, the mysterious punk badboy, the obnoxious gossipy cheerleaders.. and of course it's just chuckful of cheesy 90/00s romcom teen moments. Something along the lines of movies like 10 things I hate about you, bring it on, good old stuff. I adore it so far and I really hope I'll one day be able to finish it as well! 💅✨

Thank you so much for the lovely questions!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[cielelyse]

My favourite dynamic slash misguided summary of some ships I've been into, which is in no way true or all-encompassing:

Phil Coulson/Clint Barton

"I am repressing my desires for you because being a composed, well-respected, badass g-man means I have to abide by fraternization regs," says Phil, rolling his sleeves up to his elbows, "and also because I think your affections are misplaced."

"That's a condescending thing to say, sir, even for our age gap." Clint grins. "Can I blow shit up? Jump off those buildings? Maybe if I put myself through danger, I can forget all about my pathetic puppy pining."

"That tends to make me terrified of losing you," says Phil, "and then I'd have to do something about our situation."

"Huh," says Clint, "well then."

They end up fucking six ways from Sunday and ruining Coulson's suits with unspeakable bodily fluids. There is a lot of Aww, shirt, no during the whole thing.

Getou Suguru/Gojo Satoru

"See, I think our appeal is that we are powerful, attractive, tragic, obnoxious idiots, and one of us is dead," says Gojo. “Plus, there’s a good dose of the found family trope. We don't often get a couple who separated and then simultaneously went into parenting."

"Yes," says Getou, "what an all-inclusive package deal."

"Also whoa, is that your 'I'm so fondly tired of him' look?" says Gojo, once again eating like diabetes is a mere Greek word instead of a chronic disease. "You've been giving me those looks ever since we became friends, and hey, if ‘fondly tired of' means ‘want to bone’, then the sentiment is returned."

"I wish I was fully dead, so I can have some peace," says Getou. "At this point I'm not even sure if you'll be alive for long."

That, somehow, makes their romance that much more fun.

Sirius Black/Remus Lupin

"I am so broken inside," says Remus.

“Same, but in a different way,” says Sirius.

It actually ends up working out really well for them. Until the ill-judged betrayal, that is.

Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish

"Why do people think I'm the mean, rugged, dangerous one when you're the one who's literally killed a man?" says Ronan. "This is stereotyping at its finest."

"Will you just shut up and fuck me," grumbles Adam.

That, as does most of Adam's plans, seems hella solid.

Guren Ichinose/Shinya Hiragi

“I love you,” says Shinya.

"I love you, too," says Guren — except instead of actually saying it like a normal person, he expresses his affections by annihilating 80% of the population and full-on triggering the apocalypse. Somewhere out there, Eren Jaeger is proud.

.

[jacquelinemerritt]

Final Fantasy VII: Machinabridged Episode 2 Review

Originally posted on September 11th, 2015

Episode 2

Real life is full of assholes. Self-entitled, manipulative, obnoxious assholes. And Takahata101 knows this. And more, he knows that the most extreme groups in the world, the ones that will stop at nothing to get their way, are filled with even worse assholes.

These assholes, more often than not, have a guiding philosophy or set of beliefs that allows them to justify their assholery. Militant atheists have the teaching of Dawkins, radical Christians have the teachings of their pastors, and AVALANCHE has a twisted environmentalism as its guiding philosophy.

And the leaders of AVALANCHE, Tifa and Barret, are so convinced that “saving the planet” through violence is a good thing that they will use any tactics to do so, from blowing up a power plant, to using threats and manipulation to recruit members.

This is why I find the prison rape threats held over Cloud to not only be unproblematic, but thematically poignant. Prison rape jokes in general are fairly unfunny, serving to reinforce homophobic ideas and harmful stereotypes about prisoners as well as reducing a severely traumatic event to a punchline, and there aren’t many occasions where they can be redeemed.

But Takahata101 does just that by leaning into the real horror behind rape, and acknowledging that Tifa reinforcing those fears onto Cloud is utterly reprehensible. It makes for a dark turn, and while it happens somewhat abruptly, it’s completely effective at establishing the immorality present in AVALANCHE, who originally were goodhearted underdogs.

This deconstruction of our heroes shows a lot of promise, and if Takahata101 and Anthony “Antfish” Sardinha continue to handle this darkening of the source material this well, it’ll make for an excellent thematic core to the series (especially if they also follow through on Cloud’s identity crisis).

On a similar note, we’re only two episodes in, and yet I’m already finding the incredible contrast between Final Fantasy VII: Machinabridged and its source material to be absolutely fascinating. I mentioned last week that Final Fantasy VII is frequently lauded by its fans as the greatest RPG of all time, and while I don’t agree with that statement,1 I do believe that FFVII is a wonderfully written RPG, thanks to how well it deconstructs its characters.

Cloud is your typical antihero, but then it turns out he’s not, and has been lying about being this antihero since the beginning. Barret easily fits the “Angry Black Man” trope, but he’s primarily concerned with being a good father and protecting the environment. Tifa’s tough physicality and visible sexuality doesn’t preclude her from having a strong intellect and an incredibly kind heart.

I could go on,2 but I wanted to highlight the difference between the characters we’ve met so far in FFVII:MA. Cloud is no longer brash, confident and brooding; he’s a nervous wreck with no sense of identity. Barret is cruel, vindictive, and probably not a very great parent, and Tifa is cruel and manipulative instead of kind and caring.

Now, in Episode 2, unlike the last, each of these characterizations hit on an emotional reality (last episode they were caricatures crafted to fit the theme, which was perfect for the first episode), and that emotional reality drives their relationships forward just as well as their characterizations in the original, even though these new characterizations can be a lot darker.

Rating: 4.5/5

Stray Observations

1On the grounds of writing alone, FFVII falls short in comparison to other games in the series, like VI, Tactics, and XII, all of which have stronger and better developed characters and storylines than VII (not even mentioning more recent Westerns RPGs like Oblivion, Mass Effect, or The Witcher, which outshine the storytelling of FFVII even more).

Gameplay wise, it’s also definitely one of the worst in its series (materia is fun but ain’t no esper, and they really weren’t ready for 3D until FFX), with only II and XIII really being definitively worse. And while very few Western RPGs outside of Dark Souls have gameplay I would consider “good,” they’re still streets ahead of FFVII’s clunky menus and Active Time Battle (which was perfected in VI).

2Seriously, every single character in this game is a deconstruction of their own archetype. Aerith is a manic pixie dream girl who abandons the male hero she’s “supposed to save” and sacrifices her life for everyone, leaving the male hero more alone and broken than ever.

Red XIII is a scientifically engineered wolf-creature who uses his fierce appearance to hide extreme intelligence and sensitivity. Cid is a loudmouthed redneck who is interested in and competent at flight and interstellar travel, and he also chooses to abandon his dreams of traveling into space in order to save the life of his assistant.

Reno and Rude, two “mindless thugs” from Shinra, are suave, cool, and genuinely good people, who refuse to question the actions of the men who have treated them incredibly well since the beginning. Rufus Shinra is a spoiled bratty kid who constantly questions the legacy of his father, and doesn’t realize until it’s too late that he’s been on the wrong side since the beginning.

Sephiroth… is a bit harder to pin down, because he’s mostly a parallel to Cloud as well as a warning to him of what he could become. His “ultimate” design is also interesting, as when he is at his strongest and has achieved “godlike power,” he takes the form of not only a fallen, but a broken, one-winged angel, showing the futility of his quest.

“REBELANCHE!”

Tifa: “Let me guess, you’re all pissy because that was ‘freedom-fighting’?” Cloud: “No, that was terrorism!” Tifa: “Oh, come on, how was destroying a factory that sucks the life out of the planet terrorism?” Cloud: “Every part of it was terrorism!”

Tifa the Liar.

Barret: “Did you f*** up?” Cloud: “What even is f***ing up?”

“Shinra determined that the explosion was caused by the group AVALANCHE.” *sounds of jubilation* “Little is known about this group…” *more jubilation* “Until today.” *sounds of dismay*

“Coming up next, the dark, demented reality of Chocobo breeding.” I’m literally shivering thinking about those horrors.

Cloud: “Please, like anyone’s gonna recognize me from that picture.” Tifa: “Hair.” Cloud: “Oh, you’re so right.”

Cloud: “That metaphor makes me uncomfortable.” Please let this be this series’ “I need an adult.”

[sapphire-weapon]

I think in general people expect too much from the movies. They aren't supposed to be box office sell outs that make it to the Oscars. In short, "hey, of you're a fan, here's some extra story to play around with" is the goal in my eyes and mostly always has been. I enjoyed DI because I went in expecting a trash fire. The fact thought went into the villain and each main character got their small moment was enough to make it really good. That's it, that's my review, it's fun to watch and that makes it my favourite CGI work.

Even the Rotten Tomatoes reviews for CGI works are a total mess (not that I treat RT as a quality bible, but my point still stands). I mean ffs, Degeneration rates higher than both Vendetta and ID. That's absurd. Even Damnation cane out at 100%. I mean... Damnation's fine but it isn't that good, lmao! If I wasn't a fan of the games, it would've been turned off in five minutes.

In short, RE has never been a meticulously written masterpiece. It's a horror game (... mostly) that often depends on cheesy outdated tropes to move the story along, that's just how the franchise is for the most part. Yes, it can be argued that they're now slowly trying to redo that aspect, but the OG timeline... isn't good. It's enjoyable and fun to analyse and make fun of, but it isn't GOOD. I think recognising that and not expecting a genre changing, award winning writing is a necessary part of allowing oneself to enjoy it.

I like Claire and Jill, I also have to accept that they don't have as much effort put into them as their male co-characters (?). I like Ashley and Ada, I have to accept that they depend on a LOT of really sexist stereotypes. I like Chris and Leon, I have to accept that both (OG at least) are a 90's male-power-fantasy cringefest. Leons clothing choices in Vendetta and Damnation are massive icks by themselves (lol).

DUDE LEON'S DAMNATION OUTFIT LMAO

damnation was the first time i looked at leon and was like "dude you really need a girlfriend, i can't even trust you to dress yourself anymore"

like

every part of it is bad

EVERY SINGLE PART OF IT

THERE'S NOT A SINGLE PART THAT'S EVEN SLIGHTLY OK

his DI look is pretty bad, too. he literally looks like he just rolled out of bed and didn't bother to change his shirt and threw on a pair of jeans

like can we PLEASE get this man a girlfriend he clearly can't take care of himself

sorry i know that wasn't the point of the ask but

LMAO

i think that people expect too much from the OG timeline in general. if you come into the series from remake, i have no idea how the fuck you start digging through OG and don't immediately go "wow fuck this canon i'll just wait for the next new one"

especially if you're a leon fan, like

OG leon and Remake leon are so different

like at their core they're not, but their outward personalities super are

and OG leon is kind of an obnoxious fuckboy

[mortallyclearwonderland]

Top 10 tropes/cliches/trends that I'm sick and tired of!

In no particular order.

1. Get down!

Someone screams ''Get down!'' or ''Look out!'' but not everybody gets down. Most of the time it's fine. The characters don't have enough time to react and get hit with an attack or whatnot. What I am actually mad about is when characters have quite a lot of time to get out of the way and they're not distracted by anything yet just choose to just stand there and do nothing.

That also applies to whoever is screaming for them to watch out. You see your friend is in danger, you have an ability that can be useful, do something!

But the most infuriating iteration of that cliche is when they say a character's name before whatever they are screaming and it somehow makes anybody else unable to hear what they're talking about.

''Bob, the train is coming!''

‘’My name is Eric, not Bob. I guess I'll just stand on the track and not even acknowledge what I've heard.’’

Extra salt to the wound when the character can totally see what is coming or at least they should but the animators couldn't be bothered to keep track of who and what is where in relation to each other.

2. Meta

I fucking LOATHE this new trend where they make self referential humor to mock the earnestness of the old stories.

Can’t they just let us get immersed in the universe without having those “We know it’s cliché *wink wink*” Especially when they do nothing to deconstruct it, show it in a new light, have an interesting spin on it, nothing. They just point it out like in CinemaSins! And it's especially annoying when they're ''breaking the stereotypes'' which have been broken years ago.

‘’She's not like other girls/princesses! She fights, speaks her mind, and doesn't want to get married to someone she doesn't love at all.’‘

Wow, you broke new ground. It's not like princesses in the 90s were already independent, princes Leia was a badass in the 70s, and even the older princesses, Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, get way too much hate. Go subvert the cliche which hasn't been used in years and replace it with this other cliche. There are adults and children today who haven't seen a legitimate, 100% helpless, damsel in distress. Seriously, at this point, I would've been more shocked if there was an actual romance in a Disney princess movie.

And they act so smug about it too. Do you want to talk about unwanted marriage? How about you talk about child brides right now? Because that would be actually controversial in those countries!

Just make a movie about a badass princess, nobody cares!

3. Squidward like character

Do you remember how in the bad episodes of Spongebob, Squidward would be just minding his own business, not harming anyone and then Patrick and Spongebob would just barge in and mess everything up. Squidward would straight up say that he wants them to leave but those two numskulls couldn't take a hint. The episode just ends with no consequence whatsoever for the people who made an innocent person's day a living nightmare.

This used to be everywhere! Seemingly every cartoon channel would at least have one cartoon like that if not more.

I guess the idea is that the children are supposed to relate to the annoying obnoxious little brats energetic and innocent little angels who just want to have fun with their parent/older sibling friend but he's being boring and doesn't know how to have fun.

How did the meme go? The older you get the more you relate to Squidward.

4. Why are you surprised by this?

Don't you just hate when a character doesn't know something that should've been common knowledge?

Ash not knowing pokemon can only say their own name, not knowing what contests are or whatever the gimmick for the season/game is.

People not knowing what mutants are or where to go when they find out they're a mutant.

I know shows and movies need to explain their lore and world building but can't you find a better way than creating that one moron character who asks all the basic questions and gets lectured and info dumped on. At least make them like Tarzan, raised in the jungle not knowing anything else about the world.

5. Super-let-down

When you have a team of superheroes one, if not the most, important and interesting part is their relationship and dynamic. Who's the parent of the team, who's the heart, who's the jokester? How do their superpowers mix, who needs to be careful to not hurt who, what combo moves they can pull off, how they cover each other weaknesses?

Wouldn't it be cool to see super villains do something like that? Guess what? They just argue all the time and when they fight they just get in each other's way. It's especially frustrating when they stop attacking the hero to fight each other. Even more so when the hero is egging them on by saying something along the lines ''Shouldn't you be the leader?'', ''Who's going to be the one to finish me off?'' or ''Are you going to let them treat you like that?'' It makes the villains look like complete idiots with the mentality of a kindergartner.

What a waste of a potentially great team!

Sinister six from the Spectacular Spider-Man is the closest to the satisfying villain team. Wish they had more screen time! They had great chemistry and their banter went above throwing insults at each other.

6. Too many supers in New York City

Since the MCU became big average people started to wonder, if all those superheroes exist in the same universe, then where were they when -insert huge event from a solo hero movie here- was going on.

At least DC has an excuse that pretty much every superhero has their own city to take care of.

It's especially outrages when you have the avengers, fantastic four, spider-man, and probably many others I can't remember right now leaving in the same city. What's also funny is when they meet and act as if they never heard of each other.

7. Stop with all the food!

Recently a lot of Disney movies and shows will have excessively long scenes of food making and I don't know why.

I know that movies that want to showcase some culture focus on the food too because it's part of the culture but come on. I don't want a tutorial on how to cook, put it on a DVD. Animators just want to flex how great they are at animating food, just like anime.

I know it's a weird thing to get hung up on but in a movie, every minute counts and the movie just wasted 1-5 minutes on food porn. Just put the food in the background, make it last a couple of seconds, or be part of the story.

8. Characters look never changes

I know characters always having the same clothes saves time and budget. Animators even make jokes/try to justify it by showing multiple versions of the same outfit.

It gets confusing when supposedly years have passed yet everybody looks the same. That's why I appreciate HTTYD. They let their characters grow up.

9.Did you switch bodies or voices?

I know that you want people to be able to tell who is in who’s body but vocal cords aka voice are part of the body and should stay in the body they belong to.

Change characters' posture, body language, way of speaking, etc.

But please don't change the eyes. It somehow makes even less sense and looks creepy.

10. Fight-cut-Scene

Do you ever see those fights when characters talk for a bit, throw a punch or kick, stop to talk some more, and again and again? Looking at you CW! Also, a massive amount of cutting to hide that the actors don't know how to fight and imitate speed. You know you can just show people being fast, right? Just because something or someone is out of the frame doesn't mean they stopped existing.

[romilly-jay]

Never Work With Animals (Or - Do? If You Want To? /// Still Trying To Let People Like What They Like... Why So Difficult?)

*** spoilers ***

Sorry, but this one needs to be a spoiler blog because it's a trying-to-figure-out-why blog. I know there's something I'm reaching towards but not quite sure whether I'll be able to express it - yet.

I've just seen 2023's Puppy Love on Amazon and - I really liked it. Not all of it. But tone - YES. Trying to figure out WHY. Like, specifically, what choices did they make that just fell DEAD RIGHT for me?

NB for the title image, I've chosen the cheaty Seattle skyline shot - chosen because I think Seattle is my favourite US city and cheaty bcz a glance at IMDB told me that of course they filmed in Canada. Obvs.

Here's a lil montage of stills from the trailer. Thank you trailer because once again you have more or less all the best bits. Not all. But many.

In no particular order, I liked:

Gender reversing of the main character traits - he's super nervous, she's commitment-shy, he's obsessively house-proud, she's a slob.

They are flawed but not obnoxious. They are both kind to animals. He complains because she stuck him with the vet's bill, but no, next time they meet, she pays him for half of it. She goes out hurt because she thinks he's rejected him and yes, she has too much to drink but she absolutely doesn't make out with the (terrible) rich guy to lose herself or to get back at him. And when she brings Terrible Guy home, it's NOT because she's planning to heedlessly or vengefully make out with him but because she wanted to keep her promise about taking the dogs for a walk. I really dislike the // let's lie / let's be terrible people // "romance" tropes and appreciate that these people were sweet but just a bit broken in sort of opposite ways.

The stakes are not huge but not ridiculous. He's in a spiral after Covid and struggling to make himself go back to the office. He needs to get past social phobia to cope with his ordinary job-life. She is doing the archetypical romcom job (she stages luxury homes) but that job almost never appears on screen - it's given about the right amount of relevance - and what matters more is the path she didn't take (art school) and the reason she didn't take it (bereavement).

After the showdown. They. Talked. To. Each. Other. OMG. Thank you.

[There was a little bit of slightly weirdo editing in the after-they-reconciled section which suggested to me that maybe the order of how things played out was switched around and they didn't have QUITE enough of the right footage in the can to make it 100% smooth. I might be making that up - just a little hint of failing to remember that they'd done the bust-up/move-out/reconcile/back cycle a mere matter of moments earlier (for viewers, that is). ]

I appreciate the carefully chosen in-unison use of the F-word at the climactic moment. They're nice people but they're not pushovers. This felt earned and it showed them being connected and aligned. Worked for me. Lots about this movie worked for me.

Things that didn't work (for me). The male MC's Black BF/boss was IMO written to be trite and unfunny, stereotypical and presumably thankless to play. Gives terrible dating advice but later, this paradoxically seems to work for him. Is constantly warning the male MC that he's about to be fired - but that never pays off. Supposedly he's the guy's manager but the status tells never ring true.

The female MC also has a POC best friend (two, but the second one is really only allowed to be there to fill out the table in the bar scenes). She's under-used but at least better written than her story counterpart and I think there's at least one scene where she's not simply there to talk about men (but, counterpoint, she absolutely never gets to talk about her own life - only her friend's issues...).

Bridgerton - which I stalk from the side-lines as opposed to actually watching - does 1000% better at giving Real Roles to non-white cast (even if the cast world of Bridgerton is still far from fully blended).

Back on the topic of things that work or don't work according to one's own framing / tastes / preferences - personally, I felt an instant, unforced, heart-lift of happiness at the reveal that they've gender-swapped Michael Stirling for Michaela in Francesca's story.

It makes sense to me, it sits well with me, it's a way forward into the story that I actually feel *more* happy with than the original. I'm in no doubt that not everyone feels that way and okay, some people think it's a bad solution. Possibly it's a purist thing rather than a bigotry thing (??) and of course I've never really been able to connect with the pitchforks brigade - like, not just on this specifically, but in general - the Not My [conception of the source character] gang.

Okay, you have a different vision for the story or you'd made up in your head that it would be told in a particular way or - sigh. I'm tired. That's great that you like it to be that way. Let the rest of us enjoy exploring this way of telling the story and if you don't like it - that's really okay. I don't need to insist that you like it. Go, read the book?

Finally, little shoutout to The Guardian for their coverage of B3 pt2. No, they didn't wade into the debate / mudslinging around the hottie topic of Can We Accept The Francesca Storyline Being Queered.

They went for a different hottie topic - length of ahem intimacy scenes. Again haven't watched it, but understand that everyone who follows Bridgerton is aware by now that there's a LONG scene in episode 5-of-8 (i.e. the first of Part Two). Apparently Billie Piper has a longer - of this type - scene in the excellent Everybody Hates Suzie (which I've also - not seen) - although it's, as the cancelled Woody Allen once put it, "sex with someone I love", and the scene lasts as long as it does because it's the framing for a series of flashbacks.

I enjoyed the journo making jokes about their internet search history being trashed forever and the gossipy lil anecdotes about commuters finding out the up close and personal way that this viewing is NSFT (not suitable for travel). More to the point - on the topic I've been *trying* to explore, above - the article defends the Polin sex as being appropriate and necessary to the story. Moves the relationship along. Builds the storyline. Shows C and P learning something relevant about what they mean to each other, who they can be together.

Hmmm, okay, so, retrofitting that idea - I think I have round-about-ed my way into understanding what frustrates me about these sweet lil stories when they DON'T work for me...

The whole point of romcom is two lonely hearts finding solace and satisfaction in each other - I find that for me (personal thing) I sort of need to want those hearts to be happy. I thought I was anti the "chaos girl" trope. I'm not. I'm anti the "this is a terrible person but I'm supposed to hope that they end up happy even if they are obnoxious and psychopathic for 80% of the story" trope.

Unfortunately for my ability to suspend disbelief for 98% of Hallmark-type romances - I can't take the "problem" seriously. Yes, I understand that you are highly motivated to get a promotion. No, I can't really get on board with the idea that throwing a great party is going to be the decider. I think it's more likely to be, you know, meeting your targets consistently. Hitting those project KPIs. Booking the client business (no, not this one book launch - the entire runway). The stakes are too trivial/small but treated as large. Rightsizing the reactions to the amount of action the plot and budget has room for - totally different matter. We want to throw a great party because we're leaving town and it would be nice to leave on a good note. I want to get into college but other options are out there if I don't make it. Am I doing this wrong? I thought Puppy Love got the stakes pretty much bang on. I extra loved that her big work success was almost irrelevant in the overall story arc.

And now we're at the biggest pet peeve - the makes-no-sense misunderstanding that keeps the couple apart for one extra act. Nobody could possible misunderstand the other person in that egregious way (at least, not if they are in fact supposed to be perfect for each other). He's talking to his ex. Perhaps it's innocent or there's a reasonable explanation? She looks sad, so she can't be into me. OMG. Talk. To. Each. Other. Or. Die. Single. My God.

And breathe. Cool, okay. Thanks. Good chat. I learned something.

[colorfulatlas]

I am just now starting to understand how obnoxious and corny chicano mexican rep actually is, mostly with all the faux bilingual shit which is starting to bother me a lot. I still like most rep even the overdly stereotypical or outdated ones like Speedy Gonzales, I do not think they're "harmful" in the way some people think, but the "familia" bullshit is SO corny (I think this is why we HATED Primos... because that trope got old super quick)